BusinessMirror June 05, 2020

Special session on ‘Bayanihan’ likely

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HE possibility of the President asking Congress to convene a special session to finalize the Bayanihan 2 package of Covid-19 response measures arose on Thursday as the Senate adjourned for a seven-week recess after waiting in vain for a Palace certification that would have allowed it to shortcircuit the second- and third-reading approvals of the P140-billion bill.

The Bayanihan 2 version of the House of Representatives provides a P162billion standby fund to support response measures to address the Covid-19 pandemic, and House leaders had hoped to approve this on third and final reading by extending their session to Friday (June 5).

However, since the Senate has adjourned, a special session appeared to be the only recourse for enactment of the timebound

STRANDED passengers wait outside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 in Pasay City. The hundreds of “locally stranded individuals or LSIs,” as authorities called them, flocked to the airport on the basis of apparent fake news that there are government-sponsored flights for them to return to their home provinces. They are aspiring overseas jobseekers who got stranded in Metro Manila when the Covid-19 lockdowns came. Story on page A3. ROY DOMINGO

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measure, which takes over from where the original Bayanihan law—the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act—ends.

The second Bayanihan, or the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, is to take effect when Bayanihan 1 lapses on June 24.

Asked to confirm information from House sources that the Palace certification was not sent since the Department of Finance (DOF) still had “32 amendments” it wanted inserted into the Senate’s second-reading version, Senate President Vicente Sotto III replied, “Yes.”

Asked if Senate leaders were consulted on a possible special session, Sotto again replied in the affirmative.

On Wednesday, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri had indicated they will send to the Executive branch, through DOF, the Senate version after senators closed their

period of amendments, adding that he expected Malacañang to subsequently send them a presidential certification of the bill as “urgent.” The certification would allow lawmakers to skirt the rule requiring three days’ gap between second and thirdreading approval of a measure.

On Thursday, however, the certification did not arrive, prompting senators to adjourn at about 5:30 pm.

In declaring the first regular session of the 18th Senate closed, Sotto said the chamber will continue to help create “a legislative agenda committed to saving lives” while “maintaining growth in the economy.” And, he added, for as long as Covid-19 persists, the Senate will help in “unifying government policy” as the nation struggles to live “in a new world.”

Butch Fernandez, Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

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Friday, June 5, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 239

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HOUSE OKAYS P1.3-T ‘ARISE’ BILL TO BOOST RECOVERY AMID VIRUS

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“KINGS of the Road” no more, jeepney drivers from the Airmen’s Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association plying the Nichols-Tramo route are forced to wait out the coronavirus storm amid a government ban on public transportation. Three months since the lockdowns, they say they have yet to receive any cash assistance from the national government, except for the P2,000 that Pasay City Hall gave them. Malacañang Palace said Thursday it was considering cash aid for still-idled drivers for June. Story on page A8. NONIE REYES

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

N the last session day of Congress before a seven-week adjournment, the debate over the second tax reform package—now called Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE)— heated up with government economic managers, economists and industrialists weighing in in favor of the measure. Several business groups also sought its early passage.

The former economic managers’ group chided critics of the proposal for “rehashing old arguments and delaying what we know to be a necessary boost” for the country’s early economic recovery. Their statement comes days after 26 economists, including deans from leading schools, warned against rushing CREATE’s passage, saying it infuses renewed, needless uncertainty among businesses seeking to recover from the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic and its lockdowns.

The 17 signatories issued a joint

statement seeking the swift congressional passage of the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, formerly known as the Trabaho bill, then renamed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (Citira), before its incarnation as CREATE.

‘Necessary policy’

THEY argued that this is a “necessary policy” for retaining and creating jobs in light of the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Continued on A2

Business groups seek higher stimulus package

By Elijah Felice Rosales

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USINESS groups on Thursday appealed to government to increase its stimulus financing, as the Philippines is reported to be one of the lowest spenders for recovery among Southeast Asian nations.

In a joint statement, business groups said they are in favor of passing a second and wider pandemic aftermath support that is contained in the Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) bill. Formerly the Philippine Economic Stimulus Act bill, the ARISE bill will be crucial in efforts to bounce back from the ill effects of the health crisis, they argued.

“We appeal to the House of Representatives, the Senate and the admin-

istration to have thorough but speedy deliberations to produce a law for this stage of the crisis and recovery. We support the calls for President Duterte to call a special session of Congress to act on this and other similar legislations,” the statement read.

Citing data from the Asian Development Bank, the business groups pointed out that the Philippines has one of the lowest spending for stimulus programs, as well as package per capita, among Southeast Asian nations. Thailand leads the way with a total package of $84.09 billion.

Indonesia and Singapore are spending $64.27 billion and $45.06 billion, respectively, for their economic recovery.

On the other hand, Malaysia and Vietnam are allocating $35.47 billion and $26.39 billion, accordingly, for their respective

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.1700

stimulus packages.

The Philippines lags behind its rival manufacturing economies with a budget of $19.82 billion for its bounce-back program, only ahead of Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar and Lao PDR.

“A law along the lines of ARISE would act on the lessons that many countries are heeding from previous recessions: that swift, substantial intervention is needed.

The administration’s fiscal management has provided financial strength and fiscal space to do this,” the statement read.

“We can and should increase stimulus spending to approximate or exceed those of many of our neighbors, according to some comparisons,” it added.

As the country eases most of its quarantine restrictions after a two-month lockdown, it is but needed to pass a new

law that would inject cash on many sectors to boost consumer and investment confidence, the business groups argued.

“Unemployment funds and wage subsidies will help workers provide for their families, keep their children in school and fuel the economy. Loans, grants and guarantees will help businesses pay suppliers and banks, strengthening all of them for the challenging months and years ahead,” they added.

The joint statement was signed by a total of 44 business groups, including the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

HE House of Representatives on Thursday approved the proposed P1.3trillion Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) seen to propel economic growth amid the expected economic contraction this year.

Voting 216 affirmative and 7 negative, House Bill 6815 or the proposed ARISE was approved on third and final reading, and was to be transmitted to the Senate for its own deliberations.

The Senate passed its Bayanihan to Recover As One measure on second reading late Wednesday. The two chambers are rushing the measures responding to the Covid-19 pandemic before going on a scheduled seven-week recess from June 5 to July 27.

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda, one of the principal authors of ARISE, said this stimulus package is expected to protect and assist up to 15.7 million workers, create 3 million short-term jobs, and 1.5 million infrastructure jobs over three years, and help up to 5.57 million micro, small and medium enterprises, both formal and nonformal.

The bill was also principally co-authored by House Committee on Economic Affairs chief Sharon Garin and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo.

“The GDP impact, based on our staff estimates, is immense: if implementation is rapid within the year, we may see our GDP grow slightly by 0.2 percent from the current expected decline by -2.8 percent in 2020. The specifics will evolve as we go through the legislative process, but the principles, by and large, will remain the same,” he said.

Salceda, however, said the package of reforms will cost about 3.6 percent of GDP, or P688 billion in new spending on its first year.

“This would be roughly the same size as most of our neighbors, Indonesia [3.9 percent of GDP], Vietnam [3.5 percent] and Malaysia [2.9 percent of GDP, in three packages]; and would be about a third of that of Singapore [13 percent of GDP], Thailand [at least 9.6 percent of GDP]. As it is, we believe it to be a healthy balance between fiscal responsibility (our duty to the children of the future), and decisiveness in action (our duty to the children of today),” he said.

“Sometimes, this duty involves borrowing from those in the future so that those in the present may live,” he added. “What the House of Representatives hopes to do is to borrow responsibly from the future, and get whatever is borrowed to achieve the highest socioeconomic returns it can obtain and save as many people as we can from falling into poverty and unemployment.”

Under ARISE, funding for this economic stimulus comes from the Department of Finance through the Bureau of the Treasury, government financial institutions and government-owned corporations as well as bonds.

It grants the President power to realign within six months items that cannot be utilized due to Covid, such as travel and forced savings. The bill also extends the validity of the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Acts to 2021.

It also extends the power of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, particularly the provisions on testing, wage subsidies, DOLE’s TUPAD, loan payment extension, assistance of DTI and DA, ease of credit rules, health protocols to mitigate transmission, reallocation and realignment of appropriations.

See “Arise,” A2

PASSENGERS have their temperatures checked before boarding buses bound for Fairview and Novaliches, in front of the National Housing Authority main office on Elliptical Road in Quezon City. The local government is providing free rides using 20 Saulog Transit buses at limited capacity, ferrying passengers every half hour. BERNARD TESTA

n JAPAN 0.4608 n UK 63.1038 n HK 6.4734 n CHINA 7.0497 n SINGAPORE 35.9204 n AUSTRALIA 34.7227 n EU 56.3760 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.3716

Source: BSP (June 4, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, June 5, 2020

‘Covid likely erased poverty-reduction gains of past 3 yrs’ Continued from A8

Ateneo de Manila University John Gokongwei School of Management Dean Luis F. Dumlao said unemployment in April would likely reach 20 percent.

Dumlao said year-on-year job losses could reach 6.8 million. This includes as much as 1.5 million unemployed workers in the transport and storage sector and 1.1 million in the accommodation and food services.

“Nobel laureate Paul Krugman calls it ‘corona-coma.’ It’s what happens when parts of the economy are shut down or are in self-induced coma in attempt to minimize adverse effects of the health crisis,” Dumlao told this newspaper.

Former University of the Philippines Dean Ramon L. Clarete told the BusinessMirror that with unemployment expected to increase, incomes will likely decline and more Filipinos will become poor.

Clarete, however, said it is still impossible to determine which households’ income declined and by how much. This makes it difficult to estimate how much of the gains in poverty were erased by the current crisis.

Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) Director Alvin P. Ang, meanwhile, was more conservative and said the unemployment rate may reach 10 percent in April.

Ang said this was just based on the number of layoffs reported by the government. However, he said, it was better to rely on the official data that will be released today (Friday).

Unionbank Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, meanwhile, agreed that the country’s unemployment rate would likely be “at its highest” in April due to the ECQ.

However, Asuncion remains hopeful that the gradual reopening of the economy will help recover some of the jobs and poverty gains lost due to the pandemic.

“April unemployment is not encouraging. I do expect unemployment to be at its highest last April because of the ECQ. Since it was a sudden stop of economic activities, poverty reduction efforts may have been significantly affected,” Asuncion said.

Based on the January LFS results, unemployment was at 5.3 percent, one of the lowest in the country’s history. There were a total of 2.3 million Filipinos who were jobless at the start of the year.

In 2018 poverty incidence among population was at 16.6 percent, while for households or 17.6 million Filipinos, it was at 12.1 percent or three million households.

The PSA estimated that the poverty threshold was estimated at P10,727, on average, for a family of five per month in 2018.

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DBCC sees disbursements hike to widen deficit to 8.4% of GDP

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

HE Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) now expects the country’s budget deficit to widen to 8.4 percent of GDP or P1.612 trillion this year, and to narrow down to 6.6 percent of GDP or P1.428 trillion by 2021.

The expected rise in the country’s budget deficit this year owes to the foreseen further increase in disbursements to P4.225 trillion from the P4.175 trillion earlier approved by DBCC in its special meeting on May 12.

The DBCC approved the new revisions in the growth assumptions and fiscal targets via a referendum on May 27.

The new budget deficit projection for this year was up from DBCC’s earlier projection of 8.1 percent of GDP or P1.562 trillion.

“In spite of the expected rise of the budget deficit to 8.4 percent of GDP this year, the government will gradually bring down the deficit for FY 2021 and 2022 to return to sustainable debt levels,” the De-

partment of Budget and Management (DBM) said in its briefer on the 2021 budget priorities framework released late Thursday.

While the DBCC kept its budget deficit projection for 2021 at P1.428 trillion, it revised downward its equivalent share of GDP to 6.6 percent of GDP from the earlier 6.7 percent of GDP. For 2022, the government still targets a narrower budget deficit at 5 percent of GDP or P1.180 trillion.

Based on the updated projections, the government’s economic managers are still seeing a debt-toGDP ratio of 49.8 percent of GDP for this year.

However, the DBCC sees debtto-GDP ratio to rise to 51.5 percent

of GDP in 2021 and P52.3 percent of GDP in 2022.

The BusinessMirror earlier reported that the DBCC has also revised upward its GDP growth outlook for 2021 to 8 to 9 percent, coming from its earlier projection of 7.1 to 8.1 percent.

The changes in the growth assumption for next year were attributed to the expected additional infrastructure spending in 2021 that is expected to stimulate the economy and produce jobs.

In a separate statement, the Department of Budget and Management said the government has also set a public infrastructure program of P1.131 trillion equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP for 2021 in an effort to push the completion of a number of major flagship projects for 2021 and 2022—seen to create some 140,000 to 220,000 additional jobs through direct and indirect employment.

The public infrastructure program for 2021 is up from the reduced 4.6 percent of GDP this year due to the reallocation of budget and health and social amelioration programs.

2022 growth

AS for 2022, the economic managers had already cut their growth assumption to 6 to 7 percent, citing

the base effect from upward prospects for 2021. The new projection was lower than their previous forecast of 7 to 8 percent for 2022.

For this year’s GDP growth, the DBCC also kept its earlier projection that the economy would contract by 2 to 3.4 percent. This could be the country’s worst GDP growth rate since the economy contracted by 6.9 percent in 1985 based on 2018 constant prices.

The DBCC earlier said the national government’s deficit-to-GDP ratio will remain in the median of comparable countries in Southeast Asia and East Asia, among peers with similar credit ratings, and among other emerging-market economies as the ratio does not exceed 9 percent.

Below this threshold, the DBCC said the debt-to-GDP ratio will be around 50 percent, far lower than the most recent peak of 71.6 percent in 2004.

In 2019 the government recorded a budget deficit of P660.2 billion or 3.4 percent of GDP.

Last year, the country also enjoyed its lowest-recorded debt-toGDP ratio of 39.6 percent of GDP. A budget deficit occurs when expenditures exceed revenues, while debt-to-GDP ratio is used to gauge a country’s ability to pay off its debt.

‘COMPENSATE COVID-19 FRONTLINER VICTIMS NOW’ A N angry President Duterte gave concerned government agencies only until next week to finally release the financial compensation of medical frontliners who were infected or have died because of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

He issued the ultimatum after it was revealed in a Senate hearing on Tuesday that none of the affected frontliners received the compensation stipulated by Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, despite it having been passed by Congress in a special session as an emergency response to the pandemic.

At the Senate hearing, it was

revealed that the compensation could not be given out because of the lack of the necessary implementing rules and regulations (IRR), which the Department of Health was tasked to craft.

Under RA 11469, frontliners who tested positive for Covid-19 should be given a P100,000 sickness benefit, while the beneficiaries of those who died from the sickness should get P1 million.

“President Duterte was outraged [by the reported delayed release of the compensations] . . . He gave the concerned agencies until next Tuesday [June 9] for the concerned agencies to accomplish this,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a

press briefing on Thursday.

A few hours after Roque made the announcement, the DOH said it will soon be releasing the said benefits after it signed the necessary Joint Administrative Order with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for its implementation.

It said it is now coordinating with the families of the medical frontliners who died from Covid-19 to inform them of the requirements for releasing the compensation.

“No amount will be enough to compensate for the lives of the

healthcare workers who died while taking care of patients who were infected by Covid-19. We hope this [compensation] would provide even a little peace for their families,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said in a separate online briefing.

“We will do our very best for them to receive the said benefit,” she added.

As of Tuesday, the DOH reported 2,675 health workers were infected by Covid-19.

Of this number, 1,186 still have active infections, while 1,457 have already recovered from the disease.

Samuel P. Medenilla

ARISE… Continued from A1

The measure will include:

• P10 billion for massive testing this year and another P10 billion next year.

This will boost consumer and business confidence;

• P110-billion wage subsidy for two months. This payroll expense subsidy requires employee retention to qualify for subsidy. This will include self-employed, freelancers and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs);

• P25 billion for cash for work of the Department of Labor and Employment this year. This helps 3 million beneficiaries at P10,000 each. Also, P5 billion in assistance will go to technical and vocational learners;

• P42 billion in educational subsidy;

• P50 billion for Small Business Corporation’s existing loan programs for MSMEs this year and another P25 billion next year;

• P50-billion program for SME and agrifishery this year under the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines’ Interest-Free Loan Program;

• The loan guarantee program by the Philippine Guarantee Corporation (PGC) shall get P20 billion this year and another P20 billion in 2021. An amount of P20 billion is appropriated as additional paid-up capital of PGC;

• P10 billion to DTI as additional assistance to MSMEs this year. This seeks to help 1 million establishments;

• P58 billion to the Department of Tourism (DOT) as assistance to the tourism industry this year;

• P70 billion to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) as assistance to the transportation industry this year;

• P44 billion this year to the Board of Investments (BOI) for grants and technical assistance to business entities engaged in exporting or importing, and those manufacturing new products and services to meet the needs of the domestic market, in order to restore or identify new global market trends to increase competitive advantage;

• P15 billion for cash-for-work program in agriculture;

• P66 billion to Department of Agriculture to support the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program under EO 114 of 2020;

• P100 billion for the National Emergency Investment Vehicle (NIEV), to be created under the proposal to enable faster recovery of certain critically impacted businesses vital to the economy. Also, P25 billion is appropriated as equity of the national government in NIEV. An additional equity of P25 billion shall be appropriated in the 2021 General Appropriations Act.

Also, the proposed ARISE will include an enhanced Build, Build, Build program worth P650 billion in three years starting 2021; provided that 20 percent shall be appropriated and released in 2020, 40 percent in 2021, and 40 percent in 2022.

Ex-econ managers in final push for ‘CREATE’ Continued from A1

disputing the view of critics that passing CREATE could deepen the disruptions suffered by businesses, especially the small ones.

“We, former Secretaries of Finance, former Socioeconomic Planning Secretaries, and Filipino economists, reiterate our support for the immediate passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, formerly known as the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act, as a much-needed boost to the recovery of the Philippine economy, and as a necessary policy tool for retaining and creating jobs that will help our people secure their livelihoods against the adverse impacts of Covid-19,” read the joint statement released on June 3 but was only sent to the media on Thursday by the Department of Finance.

In their joint statement, the group pointed out that “even sectors that had made known their reservations in the past have signified qualified support for its [CREATE] urgent enactment.”

The 17 signatories also warned against delaying the passage of the reform, adding that “during crisis periods, inaction on crucial reforms leads to even greater cost to society.”

“The shift in industry sentiment toward CREATE demonstrates what the undersigned have always asserted: that any delay in passing the reform causes undue business uncertainty, and costs the Filipino people inordinate amounts of foregone opportunities for better jobs and better business prospects,” the statement read.

“What we do in the coming weeks will be recorded in historical accounts of this challenging period and what will follow. Let it not be said by future generations that we spent the most crucial days rehashing old arguments and delaying what we know to be necessary. Responding to this crisis effectively and efficiently includes passing CREATE into law on behalf of the Filipino people,” it added.

The signatories also argued the outright 5-percent cut in the corporate income tax from the current 30 percent to 25 percent as early as July this year under the measure “strikes a good balance between the fiscal needs of our country and the need to support businesses,” including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“The reduction in the tax rate will provide businesses more resources to pay for their expenses and keep their employees. The rate reduction could be conditional on job retention or creation. The immediate cut sends a strong, clear signal to both the local and international business community that the Philippines is serious about competing for investments,” it said.

Aside from the reduction in the CIT under CREATE, the pending bill also seeks to extend the net operating loss carryover (Nolco) from the current three years to five years.

The Nolco benefit, they said, will “provide more businesses more resources to pay for their expenses” and help protect the employment of hundreds of thousands of Filipino workers.

The group also backed the CREATE provision that empowers the

President, upon the recommendation of the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB), to grant longer incentives or additional nonfiscal incentives to investments that have a massive positive impact on the economy, saying this “repositions the country to compete for investments.”

Signatories to the new joint statement include former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr.; former Finance Secretaries Roberto de Ocampo, Margarito Teves, Jose Camacho and Jose Pardo; former Prime Minister Cesar Virata; Monetary Board (MB) member and former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Felipe Medalla; former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Ateneo professor Cielito Habito; MB member Bruce Tolentino; former Finance Undersecretary and Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) vice chairman Romeo Bernardo, former UP Los Baños vice chancellor and current Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) board member Fermin Adriano; dean Joel Tan-Torres and tax and incentives policy experts professor emeritus Epictetus Patalinghug of the University of the Philippines (UP) Virata School of Business and professor Renato Reside of UP School of Economics (UPSE), UPSE Alumni Association (UPSEAA) president Jeffrey Ng, former Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) president Gilberto Llanto, and Action for Economic Reforms (AER) coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana III.

The joint statement came on the heels of another statement of support for CREATE from over 30 of the larg-

est business and professional organizations in the country. They called on Congress to act “quickly and decisively” in restoring market confidence and providing the “most direct, costefficient and instant relief” to enterprises suffering from the coronavirus pandemic’s economic fallout.

Senate runs out of time

AT the Senate, however, where Citira had been pending since the House approved it in September 2019—with Citira being overtaken by Salceda’s new version of the Covid-era CREATE—senators focused on extending the Bayanihan Act to give the Executive wide fiscal leeway in providing funds to the hardest hit sectors.

Senators late Wednesday approved the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act on second reading, and were expected to pass it on third and final reading on Thursday.

They opted to, meanwhile, steer clear of sharp divisions over CREATE, signaling it’s only Bayanihan that is the utmost priority as Congress, set to adjourn this week, resumes sessions on July 27.

“Let them fight it out first,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III told the BusinessMirror in a text message, when sought for reaction to the position paper of 26 economists who said earlier that passing CREATE now is ill-timed. “Hayaan mo munang magaway sila nung mga in favor,” the Senate leader added, noting the full-page newspaper advertisement to drum up support for the bill.

The Trade and Commerce panel’s

chief, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, however, thinks the break will enable lawmakers to review the proposal.

“We have time to study CREATE,” Pimentel said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said he will “present my amendments when we tackle substitute CREATE bill at the Senate.”

Asked for comment on the 26 economists’ warning against rushing CREATE, Recto said, “most if not all of my amendments address those concerns.”

To complaints that the Senate had long sat (eight months) on the measure, Sen. Imee Marcos, who chairs the Economic Affairs committee, noted that the version had been changed several times, thus requiring further study each time the measure is tweaked.

On Thursday, she reiterated her position, as told in an exclusive BusinessMirror story, to split the measure into two in order to hasten passage of the first major plank, for which there is universal support—the reduction in corporate income tax from 30 percent to 25 percent this year.

“The reality is it’s the last session before adjournment, just no time left and the critical Bayanihan extension remains pending,” Marcos told the BusinessMirror, adding: “I earlier recommended that CREATE should be split into at least two separate bills: CIT, which can be passed immediately, then [followed later by] a separate incentives bill which, given the depressed economic context, requires serious re-evaluation and debate. Inspiring confidence is a tricky business, and misjudged timing,

in addition to conflicted messaging, could be catastrophic.”

The view vs CREATE

EARLIER this week, at least 26 economists argued in a joint statement that the revenue loss to the government resulting from the cut in the CIT reduction is not worth the price, saying that this “tax relief” would leave out MSMEs and will not likely deliver extra income growth and investment from large corporations given the shock to aggregate demand triggered by the pandemic.

The bill also sends a message of uncertainty to existing locators in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, aggravating their financial situation due to the pandemic, they said.

IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa also earlier lamented that the government is “giving up P667 billion in potential Covid-19 response funds to boost corporate profits” through CREATE bill and the poor is being made to pay for the “meager” Covid-19 response through debt and the proposed “higher consumption taxes.”

President Duterte has certified the bill as urgent and the President’s economic team already appealed to lawmakers to pass CREATE before the sine die adjournment of Congress.

In a worst-case scenario where it is not passed by June 5, the President should call on Congress to convene a special session for the purpose, according to House Ways and Means Committee chairman Joey Salceda.

With a report by Butch Fernandez

The Nation BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘Yellow alert’ amid ample power supply alarms DOE

By Lenie Lectura

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@llectura

HE Luzon grid was placed on yellow alert for three hours on Thursday despite sufficient power supply.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the issuance of the yellow alert, from 12 noon to 3 p.m. was due to unplanned power plant outages and Malampaya’s natural gas supply restriction.

“While our power forecast indicates sufficient supply to meet rising demand due to the shift to the general community quarantine in the National Capital Region, the DOE considers both the recent forced outages, as well as the natural gas restrictions to be alarming,” it said.

As such, the agency called on the generation companies, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, and the natural gas fuel supplier to explain at the soonest why this happened.

“The energy industry must work together to ensure sufficient and stable power supply at all times.

We also ask our industry players to approach us for any assistance the department could provide to fasttrack the necessary restoration activities,” said Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi.

Should forced outages persist, the Energy foresees the potential occurrence of a Red Alert.

“We assure the public that we will exhaust all possible measures to help prevent power interruptions from occurring during this challenging period,” Cusi said.

Based on DOE data, the power plants that went on forced outage are SMC Masinloc Power Partners Coal Plant Units 2 and 3 (344 MW and 355 MW, respectively); Pagbilao Coal Plant Units 1 and 2 (382 MW each); SMC Limay coal plant (135 MW); San Buenaventura coal plant (455 MW); and Southeast Luzon Power Corp. (140 MW).

Also, a number of power plants did not produce their expected output.

Free flight that never came: 1,000 LSIs fall victims to ‘fake news’ at Naia’s Terminal 3

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

E

XPECTING to get a free ride back home on the day regular commercial flights were to resume on Thursday, more than a thousand stranded Filipinos in Manila trooped to the premier gateway only to be told that they were victims of “fake news.”

The first few hundred returning overseas Filipino workers, who have been quarantined in the National Capital Region (NCR), opted to proceed and slept on card board and blankets at the curbside of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) as early as Wednesday night, hoping they can board a Philippine Airline (PAL) flight back for free to Bohol, or Mindanao.

“Somebody told us there will be a free flight bound for Mindanao on board Philippine Airlines,” said Flor Alonzo, who hails from Cotabato.

She said she heard from her neighbor of a free flight being offered so she

rushed to Naia, having been stranded in Cavite for the past four months.

“I am so eager to see my children,” she said in Filipino.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) distributed packed lunch and fried chicken meals to all the hopeful passengers waiting for the free ride.

Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) General Manager Ed Monreal sent his policemen and personnel bearing placards reminding the crowd to observe social distancing. The appeal fell on deaf ears, even as they were told that there are no available free flights for the day.

The OWWA told the migrant workers they would be advised if there will be free flights in the future.

Those armed with tickets and with Covid-19 certificates were allowed to enter the airport for their flight to Bohol.

Meanwhile, budget carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) mounted special flights from

Manila to General Santos, Cagayan de Oro and Naga that started Wednesday, bringing stranded Filipinos to their respective provinces, while those that were caught by the lockdown in the provinces were brought to Manila.

Charo Lagamon, CEB director for Corporate Communication said that the flights they have mounted are not for leisure travels. The passengers were told to check the guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and with the local governments of their destination for the required documents.

She said only guests wearing a face mask and with valid travel documents the destination should be under enhance general community quarantine, and with the permission of the local government unit.

Lagamon and PAL spokesman Cielo Villaluna said, “the situation is very fluid and passengers are requested to be patient, as we restart our operations.”

“Rest assured that we are committed to remain agile in adapting to the evolv-

ing situation. We urge you to keep posted through our Facebook page and web site for updates and announcements.”

PAL and CEB reminded passengers that only one carry-on luggage is allowed inside the cabin. The luggage should be 56 cm x 36 cm x 23 cm, which can be easily carried and stowed in the overhead bins.

“For your own peace of mind, bring your personal hand sanitizers with maximum alcohol content of 70 percent and not bigger than 100 ml,” the carriers said.

Passengers were also advised to be at the airport three hours before domestic flights estimated time of departure.

Both carriers’ pilots and cabin crew have undergone rapid antibody tests before they are assigned to operate flights, Lagamon and Villaluna added.

No free flights–Monreal

THE management of Naia, meanwhile, appealed to what it termed “locally

stranded individuals,” or LSIs, wanting to go back to their provinces, “not to proceed to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport unless they have confirmed flights.”

Monreal admitted the terminal was overwhelmed on Thursday when thousands of LSIs came thinking there are free airline flights to the provinces.

Monreal said he was told the LSI obeys a supposed leader who brought them to Terminal 2 because there was a flight that would bring them home to various parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

The LSIs refused to leave the terminal, saying they will wait no matter how long a flight becomes available.

Monreal said he is concerned that the LSIs’ continued and prolonged stay outside the airport building pose risk to their health.

He appealed to other LSIs to make sure they have confirmed booking and valid tickets for the day to avoid going through the same experience.

Approved investment pledges fall 58.1% to ₧114.77 billion in Q1

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

I

NVESTMENT pledges from Filipino and foreign nationals approved by the country’s Investment Promotion Agencies contracted 58.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA data showed total investment pledges made by Filipino and foreign nationals plunged to P114.77 billion in the first three months of the year from P274.23 billion in the same period last year.

“Approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals in the first quarter of 2020 were expected to generate 34,814 jobs, lower by 17.6 percent compared with the previous year’s projected employment of 42,245. Out of these anticipated jobs, 89 percent would be absorbed by projects with foreign interest,” PSA said.

The investment pledges came from only six IPAs. PSA said no investment approvals were reported from BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM) for the reference quarter.

The six IPAs were the Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza). SBMA holds the largest decline in approved investment pledges with a 77.9-percent

Go praises DA chief’s support to BP2, food security programs

S

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, June 5, 2020 A3

EN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go has lauded the recent pronouncements of Agriculture Secretary William Dar on the provision of agri-enterprise assistance to beneficiaries of the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program, which seeks to accelerate countryside socioeconomic development.

“I would like to thank the Department of Agriculture’s steadfast support to the BP2 program like the provision of agri-enterprise assistance to its intended beneficiaries. The DA’s support would prove to be a big help not only for the program but also in our food sufficiency drive,” the senator said in Filipino.

Go pointed out that agriculture is one key area that must be utilized to provide livelihood opportunities for BP2 beneficiaries and increase agricultural productivity to ensure food security throughout the country, “especially these days when our economy has been affected by the pandemic that have to go ‘back to basics,’ and we now begin to appreciate the true value of agriculture in our livelihood.”

He added: “We could bring back the vibrancy of our economy if we focus on agricultural growth in the regions.”

DA has vowed to support the implementation of the B2P program as it will not only decongest Metro Manila, but will also facilitate equitable regional development, distribution of wealth, resources and job opportunities in the countryside.

As a form of support, DA has allotted agri-enterprise assistance for the beneficiaries of the BP2 program in the event they decide they want to venture in agriculture. Dar added that they are

also providing starter kits for those who would like to cultivate their own backyard vegetable gardens to support the agency’s objective of ensuring food security for all Filipinos.

The agency is also encouraging overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to venture into agri-preneurship. According to news reports, DA has allotted at least P2.5 billion for three of its loan programs to support the revival and reboot of the country’s agriculture industry.

“We are opening our doors to OFWs to join the ranks of our new breed of agri-preneurs who will help us revive and reboot the countryside and, at the same time, support the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa program,” Dar said, adding that the loan programs are accessible through its Agricultural Credit Policy Council.

These loan programs include the Expanded SURE-Aid and Recovery Project or SURE COVID-19, Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs and the Agri-Negosyo.

The agri chief further mentioned that free technical trainings from the Agricultural Training Institute are also available for OFWs. Expressing his gratitude to Go for proposing the BP2 program, Dar said, “We commend Senator Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go for spearheading the BP2 program as it realizes our vision of a modern and industrialized Philippine agriculture sector.”

“Hence, on behalf of the entire DA family we extend our full support to the BP2 program as a national master plan to decongest Metro Manila and pump-prime the country’s agriculture, fishery, agribusiness, food processing, and logistics sector,” the DA chief added.

contraction followed by the BOI with a decline of 65.7 percent.

Total investment pledges approved by the SBMA declined to P790.38 million in the first quarter of 2020 from P3.58 billion in 2019.

PSA data showed BOI’s approved investment pledges declined to P83.37 billion in the first three months of 2020 from P243.07 billion in the same period of 2019.

Data also showed that Peza approvals also contracted by 28 percent to P16.5 billion in 2020 from P22.9 billion in 2019.

Only the CDC and Ceza recorded higher investment approvals with 102 percent and 84.6 percent in the first three months of the year, respectively.

Meanwhile, of the total, P29.36 billion was made by foreign nationals in the first quarter of the year. This was a 36.2-percent contraction from the P45.98 billion posted in the first three months of 2019.

The foreign investment (FI) commitments for the first quarter of 2020 were mainly driven by investments from the United Kingdom which accounted for 20.9 percent, followed by the United States and China.

The UK committed P6.1 billion, while the USA and China pledged P5.7 billion and P4.9 billion, or 19.6 percent and 16.7 percent of the total approved FI, respectively.

A4 Friday, June 5, 2020

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Friday, June 5, 2020 A5

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Friday, June 5, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

Was the ECQ successful?

T

he Press/Media and armchair epidemiologists are obsessed with the number of cases of Covid-19. When the data is reported, you have to read to the last paragraph to get the important information.

Armchair professional boxing experts look at the “punches thrown” if the result is close. It does seem obvious since boxing is a sport that is built around trading punches. But more important is the number of “punches landed” and as a percentage of the total punches thrown.

But the most important statistic and the one that usually—but not always—goes to the winner is the “power-shots landed” because those are what hurt the opponent.

The amount of Covid-19 cases is important for two reasons. More cases will obviously lead to more serious symptoms and more deaths.

But what was critical at the beginning was that the number of hospitalizations might overwhelm the medical system. But now even with the headlines highlighting “Nearly 20,000,” our health-care facilities are not overly stressed.

Of the total 9,169 isolation beds marked for Covid-19 patients, 63 percent are still available. About the same percentage of Intensive Care Unit beds are not being used, and 80 percent of the available mechanical ventilators are thankfully sitting idle.

Now we move to the “power-shots landed” or deaths from Covid-19. Assuming 1,000 deaths and all occurring in the National Capital Region with a population of 10 million—which is much too low—that means a population death rate of 0.01 percent. While the percentage of deaths based on the number of cases is important, it is an impossible figure unless 100 percent of the population is tested, which will not happen. Yet even based on the 19,000 plus cases, the current fatality rate is 4.93 percent. That is not the best but certainly not the worst. The global Case Fatality Rate (CFR)—the ratio between deaths and confirmed cases—is 6 percent.

As we have written, Covid-19 is extremely dangerous to the elderly and particularly those who have hypertension, diabetes, heart disease or other serious health conditions. Sweden has been in the news for its high CFR. However, of the 4,542 deaths, 96 percent were 60 years old and above. The headline reads, “In Brazil, Covid-19 hitting young people harder.” But that is false as 69 percent were aged 60 or older, while only 13.6 percent of Brazil’s population is 60 or older.

In the Philippines, 68 percent of the Covid-19 deaths were elderly in spite of the fact that only 10 percent of the NCR population is in that age group. Considering then a relatively low total numbers of deaths and CFR, the ECQ may have been very successful.

While it might have been more sensible to confine only the elderly, look at living conditions in the Philippines. We have a huge number of households with three and even four generations under one roof, particularly in the lower economic classes, unlike in the West.

One noticeable result of the ECQ may be that we did not have any major outbreaks in the informal settlers’ areas, which can hold thousands of residents with a very large number of elderly. While we may have been able to keep these elderly folks quarantined, it would have been the children and grandchildren that could have infected them.

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A disturbing lack of urgency Sonny M. Angara

Better Days

W

hen we crafted the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, we included there certain forms of emergency compensation for our medical frontliners—because we knew that no matter how careful they would be, some of them would get sick, or sadly fall in the fight against Covid-19.

According to Department of Health (DOH) data as of June 1, 2020, some 2,669 medical frontliners have been infected, or about 15 percent of all cases. Unfortunately, 1,199 of them are still sick, while thankfully some 1,438 have recovered. And currently, among sick frontliners, one has a severe case of the Covid-19. Unfortunately, there already have been 32 deaths—most of which were physicians, while a few others were nurses and nonmedical staff.

And yet, during recent interpel-

lations in the Senate where we defended our proposed “Bayanihan to Recover As One” Act, my colleagues and I were deeply disturbed and, frankly, disappointed to find out that not a single one of our healthcare workers who had been infected and were eligible had received the emergency compensation that we included in the first Bayanihan Act (RA 11469). What’s worse—the reason for the delay given to us was that guidelines had not been finalized at the time.

The first Bayanihan Act provided

Siding with foreigners?

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rothers and sisters, it is of great wonder for many of us that perceive the apparent preferential or special treatment given by our government to foreigners from China.

The latest proof of this was the release of the swab test results conducted on the Chinese, which were included in the test results of 490 workers for a tenant in Clark Freeport in Pampanga. Their inclusion with those who received early results was discovered when the Philippine Coast Guard or PCG released the list of repatriated overseas Filipino workers that were found negative for Covid-19.

Many of our fellow Filipinos who came home from different countries wondered when they saw the list that includes foreign names. It was also revealed that the results of the foreigners’ swab tests were processed only within four days, while other OFWs that have stayed in quarantine facilities are still waiting for their results so they will be able to go back to their families.

Conducting swab tests for the

Chinese nationals occurred after the authorities discovered a “makeshift medical facility” in a resort in Clark that was reportedly treating foreigners with Covid-19 infections.

The said facility was illegal, and it exposed to danger other people in the resort who are unaware of the existing yet hidden hospital. Since there weren’t any lawsuits filed by the police against the two Chinese nationals running the illegal hospital, they were eventually released as if nothing happened. Aside from the fact that no one was held accountable for the illegal hospital conducting a dangerous operation, the foreigners were even using our testing kits and our own health workers in conducting these tests for them, while the Department of Health moves too slowly in testing our medical frontliners and others who need to undergo tests, like the

With the Bayanihan Act ending this month, the fact that not a single peso of compensation has been given is unconscionable.

This is why my colleagues and I have signed a letter calling for the immediate release not only of the P1,000,000 benefit for the families of those who have passed away, we have also requested that the P100,000 for frontliners who have been critically infected be made available to all qualified healthcare workers as soon as possible. the following benefits: a Covid-19 special risk allowance; a directive for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. to shoulder all medical expenses of public and private health workers related to the Covid-19 pandemic; compensation worth P100,000 to public and private health workers who contract severe Covid-19 infection while performing their duties; and finally, compensation worth P1,000,000 to the families of public

Since there weren’t any lawsuits filed by the police against the two Chinese nationals running the illegal hospital, they were eventually released as if nothing happened. Aside from the fact that no one was held accountable for the illegal hospital conducting a dangerous operation, the foreigners were even using our testing kits and our own healthworkers in conducting these tests for them. returning OFWs. If what happened in Clark is not infuriating enough, the operations of POGOs or Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators continue amid the ongoing quarantine even if POGOs are not included in the list of essential sectors. The government itself, specifically the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., provided the POGOs with substantial exemption from the ECQ policies.

The palace also defended POGOs against critics. They explained that POGOs are part of the business-process outsourcing sector.

The BPOs were already allowed to operate, and there is one POGO in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone that denied an inspection team of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority,

and private health workers who will fall in the fight against Covid-19.

It is absolutely mind-boggling how the entities in charge of making sure the support systems are up, running, and servicing our medical frontliners took so long just to issue simple guidelines, after all this time that the Bayanihan Act has been in active.

Indeed, Senators Panfilo Lacson and Richard Gordon, my esteemed colleagues, have pointed out that the lack of guidelines should not be an excuse or hindrance to the implementation of the relevant provisions of the first Bayanihan Act. It should be easy to confirm if a health-care worker was sick because of Covid-19, and to what extent. And, however cold it may sound, it should be easier to confirm if a health-care worker has succumbed to Covid-19.

With the Bayanihan Act ending this month, the fact that not a single peso of compensation has been given is unconscionable.

This is why my colleagues and I have signed a letter calling for the immediate release not only of the See “Angara,” A7

which wanted to check that POGOs aren’t continuing their operations.

And let us not forget what the BIR said, that almost all POGOs aren’t paying their taxes.

It is wrong to say that we must not allow foreigners to enter our country, including the Chinese, but we must make sure they are following our laws and policies.

This means that there shouldn’t be any special treatment for them. If they disobey the law, they must be held accountable. If they are evading taxes, they must be made to pay. Therefore, the special treatment foreigners receive must be exposed, especially those violating the rules. As said in the book of Proverbs 29:2, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”

Brothers and sisters, according to the Pacem in Terris, society will not develop if there aren’t any leaders who bet on and ensure to address the interests of all. Which begs the question, what will our nation achieve if only the interests of some are being prioritized?

Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 Ang Radyo ng Simbahan in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph, and follow its Twitter and Instagram accounts @veritasph, and YouTube at veritas846.ph. For your comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

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Opinion

The second Camelot

The world according to a dying Cyrano

BusinessMirror

Manny F. Dooc

T

Bobby was the second most powerful official in the government of President John F. Kennedy. Aside from being the President’s brother, he served as the US Attorney General and had the full ears and complete trust of the president. He strongly advocated civil rights and pursued battle against organized crime.

When his brother died, he resigned from his post and successfully ran for the US Senate representing New York. As a senator, he championed racial equality, clean government and social justice. He also opposed the Vietnam War, earning the ire of President Johnson.

Bobby was a changed man and matured ahead of his age after JFK was assassinated. As the oldest surviving male member of the Kennedy clan, the torch was inevitably passed on to him. While Ted Kennedy became a Senator ahead of him, Bobby was seven years Ted’s senior and the Kennedys looked up to Bobby as the rightful heir of the political legacy of JFK. And he was fully aware that such an eminent role came with an awesome responsibility. In a speech he gave in South Africa in 1966, he boldly said: “Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.” Post JFK, Bobby was the compleat person he described.

And so he decided to seek the US presidency. It was just eight months into the elections when he announced his candidacy. He campaigned fast and furious and crisscrossed the country to gain support and catch up. He called on his deep friendships with Martin Luther King, Jr., the farm workers led by Cesar Chavez, the industrial labor through Walter Reuther and the legions of JFK’s loyalists. Early campaigner Sen. Eugene McCarthy who had the support of the young voters was breathing down his neck, but Bobby gained the upper hand before his campaign was ended by an assassin’s bullet on June 5, 1968, exactly 52 years ago today. It would have been the second Camelot.

In eulogizing his brother, Ted Kennedy said of Bobby: “My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good

Angara. . .

continued from A6

P1,000,000 benefit for the families of those who have passed away, we have also requested that the P100,000 for frontliners who have been critically infected be made available to all qualified health-care workers as soon as possible.

Clearly, this is an issue borne of an improperly missing sense of urgency in the DOH’s leadership. It also speaks volumes about issues that might be making implementation harder, be it from systems, protocols,

Bobby never became a president of his country, but almost. Sirhan B. Sirhan shot him to death after Bobby had just delivered his victory speech for winning the Democratic Party primary elections in California. He was on his way to become the official presidential nominee of his party.

He could have stopped Richard Nixon from becoming the 37th President of the US and saved the nation from the trauma of Watergate. and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.” But to Juan Romero, Bobby was larger than life. Romero was the 17-year-old busboy in Ambassador Hotel who aided Bobby when he was shot in the kitchen of the hotel. He comforted Bobby, wrapped a rosary around his thumb and held his bleeding head so it would not touch the floor. Bobby had just shaken Romero’s hand when several shots exploded. “I will never forget his handshake and the look...with those piercing eyes that said: I’m one of you. We’re good. He was not looking at my skin, he was not looking at my age, he was looking at me as an American,” Romero recalled.

Dolores Huerta, Bobby’s campaign coordinator, wanted to bring Bobby to the ballroom of the hotel to meet more supporters but another person led Bobby to the kitchen to get to his room faster. It was a wrong turn, which changed the course of history.

Bobby never became a president of his country, but almost. Sirhan B. Sirhan shot him to death after Bobby had just delivered his victory speech for winning the Democratic Party primary elections in California. He was on his way to become the official presidential nominee of his party. He could have stopped Richard Nixon from becoming the 37th President of the US and saved the nation from the trauma of Watergate. He had a great vision for the American people, which he encapsulated earlier by saying, “Some men see things as they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” An assassin denied him the opportunity to make his dreams come true, and America is still reeling from that loss. or existing guidelines and policies.

The welfare of our health care workers should be first and foremost, as they are the ones who are holding the line against this pandemic. We must not deny them that support because of a bureaucratic blunder. Let us not make our support for them to be mere lip service.

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 and Instagram: @sonnyangara.

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Tito Genova Valiente

TELLTALES he lockdown has introduced me to an inseparable company—the Netflix. Last week I watched the documentary film titled Bobby Kennedy for President. It featured Robert Francis Kennedy, better known as “Bobby” and his quest for the US presidency. Before I watched the film, I didn’t have a favorable impression of the guy. To me, Bobby was the ruthless member of the politically minded Kennedy siblings and a political opportunist who joined the 1968 Democratic primary elections after Sen. Eugene McCarthy had pierced the supposedly invincible armor of President Lyndon Johnson who everyone believed then was running for reelection. John F. Kennedy was definitely my King Arthur while Sen. Ted Kennedy was my Lancelot. Bobby’s image was not definitely helped by his earlier role as legal counsel of the Senate Committee headed by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, which investigated alleged communists in the government during the early1950s.

Friday, June 5, 2020

annotations

I

N Act V of Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the great swordsman and poet is back in the convent visiting Roxane.

The beautiful woman has entered the convent after her great love, the handsome Christian, has died. Roxane will soon know that the letters that made her fall in love were written by Cyrano, and the voice in the dark that was her heart’s passion was that of this man about to die in front of her. Earlier, a man has dropped a log hitting Cyrano on the head. For all his injuries, he has to fulfill that visit to the woman he would love forever. Hiding his wound, Cyrano delivers the “Gazette” to Roxanne. It is a daily report of what is happening to the world outside.

If Cyrano were here today, what news will he tell Roxane before the moonlight comes to take him, when his spine has been gripped by the great frost?

These, I believe, will be the contents of Cyrano’s Gazette: “It is not easy to travel now from one’s home to a friend’s abode. Town mayors and village chiefs realized they have borders and decided to close them. One needs a pass if one wants to go to another village and a bigger pass if one plans to leave one’s town or city.”

“Families are banned from gathering when a new member is born and when someone passes away. Birthdays have been declared illegal; funerals are decreed to be unnecessary. There are exceptions: if you make laws, you are exempted from following them.

If you are tasked to enforce the laws, there is no need for you to be bothered by them. If you have a gun or guns, the laws are nonessential.”

“The health experts of the country are finding it difficult to count the number of people afflicted by the virus because they do not know how to count. Or, if they do, they are scared to count correctly lest their Chief castigate them. They are not sure how many just got sick and how many were sick as far back as three months ago. In their uncertainty, they have decided to declare that the plague is over and everybody is now free to move around.”

“And so, people have started to move around. Those who work in factories and bakeries are asked to report early to work. Business as usual, the big and small bosses, decreed. Workers from all over the land woke up very early one morning to catch all means of transportation but there was noth-

“But there is no time for confusion in this age of magic and mystery. One major mystery being solved is about the wealth of the nation. Where did our gold and silver meant to help those who died, are dying, and sick, go? But the king of the land, with love in his heart as he claims, called everyone to gather before midnight or some witching hours and declared: We are poor.” ing for them poor people on the road.

Those who were wealthy took their cars out and those who had friends who were wealthy, too, brought out their vans and other huge cars.”

“People have stopped being kind to one another again. The plague after all is gone, or so they say.”

“People walk for hours to get to the nearest road where they expect to see vehicles and buses. There are none. Many fearing for the life of their jobs walk for hours going to work and walk for hours again on their way home. An old man, one chronicler announced, waited for three hours for a ride and fainted.

The other people, younger and more able-bodied, looked at the old man.

They were too tired to help.”

“The government gazettes are filled with notices and complaints from these people who walk for hours.

A young politician who was earlier hailed as the prince of good news and urgent actions for these sad, sad days of dying is asked what solutions he would provide to people who walk and walk for hours. His reply was silver and short: If there is no ride available, then they should walk.”

“Did he really say that? This was

the confused query from some men and women who pinned their hope on the youth of this tyrant.”

“But there is no time for confusion in this age of magic and mystery. One major mystery being solved is about the wealth of the nation. Where did our gold and silver meant to help those who died, are dying, and sick, go? But the king of the land, with love in his heart as he claims, called everyone to gather before midnight or some witching hours and declared: We are poor.”

“Blessed are the poor, the Churches pray. They pray and pray alone in their huge churches. In the name of health and not in the name of any god, their churches were commanded to close. If they would hold services, it was ordained that the high priest do it alone, with the adepts standing far. Lonesome and lonely is faith.”

“There is no certainty about the plague. The rulers of the land have been meeting in secret. People thought they were talking about the plague and how to confront it correctly. This morning, at the break

of dawn, we were informed of a new law. This ruling compels us to be quiet about the plague, the problem of wealth, and the crisis of poverty.

The new rule simply says we cannot speak ill of the king and his families.

It states we cannot curse the palaces and big houses of those who hold our destiny in the palm of their hand.

We cannot even whisper about any doubt as to the reign of princes and dukes and village chiefs. The law has a new name for those who call the law dumb: Terrorist.”

At this point, Cyrano, beholding that Death was upon him, eased closer to Roxane and handed his beloved the written gazette. In a barely audible voice, Cyrano pleaded to Roxane to keep the written news in her locket, to hide it, until the True Terror is gone from the land. Then blooms from the huge fire tree began to be blown by an errant wind, chill descended upon the star-crossed lovers, and Death, hooded but gentler than Life, looked down on this land and wept.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

History of pandemics due to ship voyages

By Atty. Dennis Gorecho

M

any Filipinos are avid Koreanovela fanatics, especially now that they had to stay home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Kingdom is one interesting Netflix series that revolves around the story of crown Prince Lee Chang as he struggles to save his people from the spread of a plague and prevent the royal dynasty from being overthrown.

Kingdom takes place in the late 15th or early 16th century—in the Joseon dynasty period—after the Japanese invasion. It is a fiction based on the historical plague that swept through Korea during the Joseon dynasty, killing thousands of people within days.

The infection spreads at an alarming rate, transforming the locals into yowling monsters that crave human flesh and blood. In one scene, the higher officials decided to burn the infected peasants’ bodies, but they bury those from higher social class.

As the plague continued to spread, the noblemen attempted to return home via the only ship in dock. Unfortunately, said voyage brought the infection closer to the seat of power, causing more outbreaks.

The gates of the fortress were closed as a form of quarantine against the infected.

The term “quarantine” is derived from the Italian word quarantina, or 40 days. It was first used in the 14th century for ships suspected of carrying a contagious disease, which were

held in isolation offshore for 40 days before passengers and crew were allowed to disembark.

History has seen the desolating role of ships as transporters of innumerable pandemics when viruses travel with international trade across geographies.

The pandemics of plague in the sixth, 14th and 20th centuries were spread along the international trade routes as rice and wheat grains, clothing, and trade merchandise were infested by infected fleas.

The primary hosts of the fleas were the black urban rat and the brown sewer rat.

In October 1347, some 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Italian port of Messina. They were called “death ships” as most sailors aboard were dead or almost dead.

The plague became known as the “Black Death,” which moved from the ports to land and to other ports in Europe.

Cholera pandemics throughout the 19th century that originated from India were also attributed to

British army and naval ships traveling from India to the Persian Gulf.

The disease eventually made its way to European territory in 1821.

What aggravated the worldwide occurrence of the 1918-1919 Spanish influenza was increased travel.

Soldiers on overcrowded troop ships originally carried the disease during the First World War. The rate of transmission on these ships was rapid, and soldiers died in large numbers. The global death toll was estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million.

Fast forward to Covid-19 times.

The current Covid-19 pandemic has again brought to international attention the cruise industry, although cruise ships have a long history of infectious disease outbreaks.

Ships have been notably vulnerable to the spread of diseases due to the fact that there are hundreds or thousands of passengers in a relatively confined environment for days or weeks.

Cruise ships are particularly susceptible as they are intended to engage the passengers in public activities like dining, swimming and dancing together in enclosed spaces over a sustained period of time.

There were even reports that virus particles spread from room to room through the ship’s ventilation, which relies on recirculated air.

As the Covid-19 pandemic spread globally, many cruise shipping com-

panies initially negotiated for their passengers to disembark, talking with countries and local governments cautious of sick travellers.

Sadly, most crewmembers remained on board vessels floating off-coast as the pandemic disrupted voyages around the world.

Reports of infected seafarers and fatalities raised fears among seafarers that some companies failed to protect their workers, including their right to healthy and safe environment, as well as their repatriation under international law, like the Maritime Labor Convention of 2006.

International Labor Organization Director-General Guy Ryder earlier asked governments “to ensure that, in these challenging times, seafarers are adequately protected from the Covid-19 pandemic, have access to medical care, and can travel to and from their ships, as necessary, in order to continue to play their crucial role.”

The International Transport Workers’ Federation said that it will not let up the pressure until every seafarer is home safely and those seafarers that have patiently waited at home to relieve their colleagues are on board.

Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, send e-mail at info@ sapalovelez.com

A8 Friday, June 5, 2020

UN office raps human rights violations in PHL G ENEVA—The UN human-rights office called on the Philippine government in a new report Thursday to end all violence targeting suspected drug offenders and to disband private and state-backed paramilitary groups.

The UN rights office chronicled longstanding concerns about state-backed and vigilante violence in the Philippines under President Duterte, who has particularly drawn domestic and international condemnation for a deadly crackdown on drug offenders and users.

“A heavy-handed focus on countering national security threats and illegal drugs has resulted in serious human-rights violations in the Philippines, including killings and arbitrary detentions, as well as the vilification of dissent,” a summary of the report said.

It said many of the human-rights concerns “have become more acute in recent years.”

The report, requested by the UN-backed Human Rights Council, is based on nearly 900 submissions as well as government input, court and police records, and interviews with victims and witnesses.

It noted that official figures have documented more than 8,663 people have been killed since the government's campaign against illegal drugs began four years ago, “with some estimates putting the real toll at more than triple that number.” The Philippine National Police placed the death toll of what officials call the “drug war” at more than 5,600.

The report also noted killings of and threats against human-rights defenders in a country known for a vibrant civil society, and pointed to prosecutions of journalists.

“Unfortunately, the report has documented deep-seated impunity for serious human-rights violations, and victims have been deprived of justice for the killings of their loved ones,” said

LOW PRESSURE AREA (LPA) 510 KM EAST OF BASCO, BATANES EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE EASTERN SECTIONS OF VISAYAS AND MINDANAO as of 4:00 am - June 4, 2020

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

“People who use or sell drugs do not lose their human rights,” she said.

There was no immediate comment from Duterte or the police. But they have stated in the past that there is no state policy condoning extrajudicial killings in the crackdown. The tough-talking president, however, has repeatedly threatened drug traffickers with death and produced a list of suspects, including local politicians, some of whom were later killed in still-unsolved attacks.

Duterte has also threatened independent investigators looking into the killings and barred them from entering the Philippines.

Manila’s e-mail

AHEAD of the report, the Philippine diplomatic mission e-mailed a letter from Ambassador Evan Garcia to reporters in Geneva saying his government "has always maintained a positive approach to addressing claims and allegations and investigating claims of violations, on the basis of facts."

It included a May report by the government on human rights in the Philippines. It said that popular support for Duterte and his administration were “inconsistent with the picture of systematic and widespread human-rights violations and civil society crackdown being painted of the Philippines in the international community.”

An independent poll, however, showed that 76 percent of Filipinos stated that there were many human-rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, in the campaign against illegal drugs. The poll also stated that 73 percent said the number of illegal drug users had fallen since Duterte took office in mid-2016. The Social Weather Stations surveyed 1,200 people from December 13 to 16 in a nationwide poll that has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. AP

‘Covid likely erased poverty-reduction gains of past 3 yrs’

T

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HE coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic and the lockdown that placed the economy at a standstill in the past two months may have already erased the gains in poverty reduction in the past three years, according to economists.

In a presentation at the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) this week, Ateneo de Manila University Associate Professor Geoffrey M. Ducanes said even with the assistance extended by the government through the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) and private sector, more Filipinos would fall into poverty due to the pandemic.

The pandemic, which was among the major causes of the 0.2 percent contraction in economic growth in the first quarter of 2020, is also

the main reason for the possible double-digit increase in April unemployment. This is affecting incomes and causing millions to fall into poverty.

“Covid-19 and ECQ [enhanced community quarantine] have potentially a very large effect on poverty, possibly reversing all the gains in poverty achieved since 2012,” Ducanes said. “[Based on scenarios with the cash transfers and other assistance, it showed that these transfers] will mitigate the effect of poverty but not fully offset the effect of Covid-19 and the ECQ,” he also said.

Ducanes said the study assumed that the lockdown prevented people from working and that social distancing will impact jobs that require close human interactions, limiting employment options.

Based on data from the 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) and Labor Force Survey (LFS), Ducanes said household poverty before Covid-19 was at 14 percent.

Without any cash transfers, this could increase to 17.9 percent assuming that 30 percent of the workers lost their jobs during the lockdown for one month to as much as 23.5 percent, assuming 60 percent of the workers lost their jobs for three months.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) survey estimated that around 44 percent lost their jobs during the two-month lockdown.

Applying this to Ducanes’s estimates, the data showed that if 40 percent of workers lost their jobs for two months, this would increase household poverty to 21.2 percent or by 7.2 percentage points.

Poverty gap is also expected to worsen under this scenario from a baseline of 3 percent to a minimum of 4.4 percent and a maximum of 6.4 percent. This means, poor Filipinos will require more funds to even reach the poverty line.

“So possibly more than a 100percent increase [in poverty gap] which means that not only are there more poor but on average, they are further from the poverty line, more poor and farther from the poverty line,” Ducanes said.

With cash transfers that were perfectly targeted for the poorest 18 million low-income households and 50 percent of the workers who lost their jobs for two months, Ducanes said household poverty incidence would be at 18 percent, lower than the estimate of 21 percent without cash transfers.

The data for poverty gap would also improve to 4.1 percent under the same conditions from the 5.6-percent rate estimated without cash transfers.

Meanwhile, Ducanes also estimated the impact of higher prices on poverty among households. If there was a 5-percent increase in food inflation, even with the cash grants, poverty incidence would increase to 19 percent; 10 percent food inflation to 20 percent; and 15 percent food inflation, 22 percent.

“If food inflation was 15 percent higher, this would be enough to offset the effect of the Bayanihan cash grant,” Ducanes said.

Coronacoma

AS the government releases the results of the April round of the LFS on Friday together with the May inflation report, local economists agree the country’s unemployment rate would likely reach double digit and worsen poverty in the country.

Continued on A2

Ping hopes terror bill’s critics won’t be victims

S

EN. Panfilo Lacson, main champion of the anti-terrorism bill, on Thursday allayed apprehensions over the remedial legislation, amid concerns it could be misused to crack down on government critics, as he assured the public it is intended to “protect not destroy.”

Countering what he described as the massive disinformation campaign mounted against the bill, Lacson, who served as Philippine National Police Chief before joining the Senate, said: “Terrorism knows no timing nor borders.”

The senator said “some of our country’s policy-makers, especially our people, should know better than just criticizing and believing the massive disinformation campaign against a measure that can secure and protect us as well as our families and loved ones from terrorist acts perpetrated in a manner so sudden, least expected and indiscriminate—as in anytime, probably even today, tomorrow or next week.”

As he reiterated his support, protesters mounted rallies in Quezon City, braving strict quarantine guidelines against mass gatherings while observing physical distancing as they held aloft streamers and placards.

The protests erupted as soon as the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading its version of the measure, seeking to amend the Human Security Act of 2007.

In a statement, Lacson assured he was “always mindful” of the Bill of Rights enshrined in the 1987 Constitution when he conducted the public hearings and sponsored the bill on the Senate floor last year up to February 2020, when it was approved on third and final reading by senators.

He added: “That said, I incorporated most of the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism laws of other strong democracies like Australia and the United States, further guided by the standards set by the United Nations, save for the reglementary period of detention in which we adopted the shortest time of 14 days—compared to Thailand with up to 30 days; Malaysia, up to two years; Singapore at 720 days extendible to an indefinite period of detention without formal charges; and Indonesia, up to 120 additional days.

Also, safeguards have been put in place to ensure the rights of those detained.”

At the same time, Lacson acknowledged “the help of many of my colleagues who interpellated and proposed their individual amendments, including all the members of the minority bloc.”

He recalled being “more than accommodating” in accepting proposed amendments by fellow senators “as long as we would not end up with another deadletter law such as the Human Security Act of 2007, which has so far resulted in just one conviction after more than a decade of its implementation and just one proscribed terrorist organization such as the Abu Sayyaf Group.”

As for his critics, Lacson said: “I dare say: I hope the day will not come when you or any of your loved ones will be at the receiving end of a terrorist attack, so much so that it will be too late for you to regret convincing the Filipino people to junk this landmark legislation.” Butch Fernandez

Still-idled PUJ drivers may get cash aid in June, Palace now says

By Samuel P. Medenilla

T

@sam_medenilla

HOUSANDS of public utility jeepney (PUJ) drivers, who remain temporarily displaced because of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis, could get an additional financial assistance from the government.

T his af ter Ma l aca ña ng on Thursday announced the government may extend support for the drivers, who are still not allowed to operate by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) due to concerns on how social distancing measures will be implemented in their PUJs. “It is now being studied if jeepney drivers will be given [cash] assistance for a third month, [as they] lost their livelihood because they are still not allowed to travel their routes,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said during an online press briefing.

He said the fund for this will be

sourced from Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.

Prolonged suspension

THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was earlier given over P200 billion to provide cash aid for 18 million poor families affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

Among the beneficiaries of the program were 90,000 transport network vehicle services (TNVS) and public utility vehicles drivers in the National Capital Region.

DSWD disbursed over P496 million for the drivers.

Currently, they were supposed to get the cash aid for first and second month of the enhanced community quarantine in NCR, which started on March 17, 2020.

Thus, transportation and labor leaders have expressed concern over how the drivers will be able to get by on June, which is the third month of the suspension of PUJ operations in NCR.

T he transpor tat ion sector counts around 110,000 PUJ units, each with at least two drivers nationwide.

Additional bus routes

WITH the lack of PUJs, many employees have had a difficult time returning to work since June 1.

Roque said President Duterte took notice of the plight of workers and has ordered the DOTr to increase the number of operational bus routes in NCR. Starting on Friday, he said DOTr will add three more bus routes in NCR and another three more next Monday as part of its “gradual and a calibrated approach” to resume the public transportation in the region.

“The LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] will be meeting with concerned bus operators today [June 4] to discuss the bus deployment as ordered by the President,” Roque said.

Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Expansion of store network boosts AllHome Q1 income

A

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

llHome Corp., the retailer led by former politician turned businessman Manuel B. Villar Jr., said its income in the first quarter rose 30 percent to P270.2 million, from last year’s P207.1 million, mainly as a result of its expansion.

Revenues for the period rose 41 percent to P3.4 billion from P2.4 billion in the same period in 2019, the company said.

“AllHome’s growth in the first quarter of 2020 was mainly driven by the additional contribution

from the new store openings from the last quarter of 2019,” said Villar, the company's chairman.

“We are very pleased with our performance, which remained strong despite the occurrence of unforeseeable circumstances, such

as the eruption of Taal Volcano and the enhanced community quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The company said it is evaluating its expansion program after it grew its store network to 45 by the end of 2019, from 23 in 2018.

“We still view 2020 with optimism as the lockdown condition eases out. I would like to highlight that if the situation improves, we have the capability to fast-track construction and fit out and subsequently, open new stores as we see fit,” the company said.

Camille A. Villar, the company's vice chairman, said AllHome plans to capitalize on the new normal mindset of mainly staying at home.

“More households are taking the opportunity to recreate their personal spaces by prioritizing

comfort, refurbishing and renovating their homes since they spent most of their time during the ECQ inside the house,” she said.

“We also added measures to enhance the safety of our transactions such as touch-free payments and various delivery options, including curbside pickups, the use of personal shopping services and beefing up our e-commerce platforms.”

To help mitigate the risk of the spread of the coronavirus 2019, she said some of the store protocols implemented by the company include early closure of stores to allow for more stringent sanitation and the replenishment of essential products, the practice of social distancing, as well as the placing of limits on customer traffic at any one time inside all stores.

Half of Subic Freeport firms resume operations

By Henry Empeño Correspondent

S

ubic Bay Freeport—Practically half of all the registered Subic Bay Freeport business locators are now operating under various manpower load and production level, after the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) placed the economic zone under a less restrictive general community quarantine (GCQ) on Monday.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the SBMA has lately greenlighted 14 companies to start operations under GCQ rules, thus bringing the total number of open businesses here to 868.

The total includes the 568 firms that remained open when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) took effect on March 16, and 286 companies that were allowed to resume business after Subic shifted to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) on May 16.

Eisma said most of the firms operating now are manufacturers of export products, producers and suppliers of food and medicine, into logistics operation, and utility operators.

“The total number of locators that are now allowed to operate is just half of the 1,648 enterprises registered in Subic, but we are expecting more reopening in the coming weeks, as more qualified companies comply with minimum safety protocols specified under

government guidelines,” she said.

“Still, we have to remind everybody that we don’t allow companies to just open—even if they are qualified to open under InterAgency Task Force [IATF] guidelines—without first passing compliance assessment by the SBMA." The assessment entails an ocular inspection by SBMA health and safety officials, as well as the Incident Management Team, which coordinates the agency’s Covid-19 response program, and is based on guidelines on workplace prevention and control of Covid-19 issued by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Eisma said among the requirements for submission is the company’s Personnel Deployment Plan (PDP), which takes into consideration social distancing in work areas.

Meanwhile, SBMA Deputy Administrator for Business Kenneth Rementilla said that IATF guidelines categorized industries into four groups: 100 percent or full operational capacity; 50 percent up to full operational capacity; 50 percent work-on-site arrangements, work-from-home, and other alternative work arrangement; and not allowed to operate.

He said all applications for company reopening is checked against the SBMA Business and Investment Group’s consolidated list of locators that listed the firms under the four categories.

The industries that broadly fall

under Category I, which allowed full operational capacity, are: agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; manufacturing and processing plants; hospitals and clinics; retail establishments; laundry shops; food establishments and waterrefilling stations; logistics and delivery service providers; and those engaged in power, energy, water, information technology and telecommunications.

Also allowed for full operation are firms doing water collection, treatment and supply; waste collection, treatment and disposal, and materials recovery; sewerage, pest control, garbage collection and disposal, sewer maintenance and treatment; repair and installation of machinery and equipment; real-estate activities; gasoline stations; construction work accredited by the Department of Public Works and Highways; manufacturing companies and suppliers of equipment or products necessary to perform construction works; and media establishments.

Meanwhile, those in Category IV which are not allowed to operate include: gyms, fitness studios and sports facilities; entertainment and amusement industries; libraries, museums, and other cultural centers; tourist destinations; travel agencies, tour operators, reservation service; gambling and betting stations; personal care services; and any other leisure establishments that promote mass gathering.

GBF-URC face shields get seal of approval from hospitals

T

he Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF) and Universal Robina Corp. (URC) completed the distribution of over 100,000 reusable face shields to 33 hospitals, as the country ramped up its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Health workers in the frontlines gave a thumbs-up to these face shields.

“Given the variety of face shields that we got from our warehouse, these were the most user-friendly,” said laboratory manager Ma. Lourdes Gatbonton, of The Medical City.

“They provide the right amount of distance between the user's face and the shield. The person using it can breathe much better, unlike with other face shields,” said Gatbonton. “They also do not moisten or have that clouding effect so it allows us to see better and work around the laboratory without trouble.”

According to Dr. Joseph Angelo Kiat of the surgery department at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, the clearer acetates also help with visibility.

“They are light-weight and sturdy. The face shields are also easy to clean for reuse,” said Kiat. “These face shields are already distributed to our hospital employees including our janitors, orderly, and food servers assigned to our Covid wing and wards.”

URC, one of the Philippines’s largest food firms, repurposed parts of its production line to manufacture tens of thousands of reusable face shields badly needed

Waldy Berras, procurement head of The Medical City, in a reusable face shield that was designed by URC and distributed by GBF. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO by frontline health workers battling Covid-19.

David Lim, URC’s senior vice president for quality, engineering,sustainability&technicalservices,designed the URC face shield. “We decided to come up with a face shield design that can both be easily manufactured and is reusable,” he said.

URC’s face shields are made from just three basic materials, making mass production easier: a polypropylene strip that is 14mm thick and about a meter long; an 8-by-13-inch PET sheet; and some staples.

The company buys the PET sheets and staples, but it produces the PP strips in its facility in Calamba, Laguna.

Because it does not have foams that absorb a lot of microbes, URC’s face shields can be dipped in a steril-

izing solution and reused. Dr Maria Julieta Germar, who works at the Philippine General Hospital’s obstetrics and gynecology department, said this makes the face shields easier to disinfect than other types.

GBF Executive Director Grace Colet related that the innovative solution of the URC engineers allowed GBF to respondfasttothehospitals'needsforqualityfaceshields.

“Since these were manufactured locally and efficiently at URC's repurposed plant line, we were able to secure face shields at a more affordable cost which allowed GBF to distribute to more hospitals in need," Colet said.

GBF distributed the face shields to, among others, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Philippine General Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Heart Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Rizal Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, The Medical City and Chinese General Hospital.

Colet said hospitals were picked based on the number of Covid-19 cases they were handling and their public call for donation.

URC is one of the largest food and beverage manufacturing companies in the country, producing well-loved Pinoy brands like C2, Great Taste, Piattos, Nova, Cream-O and Cloud 9, among others. From the same parent company, GBF is a foundation dedicated to contributing to the country’s progress by helping educate its workforce in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Under GCQ, the SBMA relaxed access to the Subic Bay Freeport as more business locators resumed operation, but Eisma said strict health and safety measures against Covid-19 will remain in force in the Freeport zone.

Friday, June 5, 2020

PSEi gains, nears pre-pandemic levels

S

hare prices rose for the seventh consecutive trading day on Thursday, with the main index nearing the level recorded before the lockdown was implemented in the country in mid-March.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 271.84 points, or 4 percent, to close at 6,517.49 points.

The main index now nears t he pre - pa ndem ic level of 6,770.38 points posted on March 6, according to PSE data.

“Philippine stocks finished higher Thursday, adding to several sessions of gains as economic data pointed to less severe damage from the Covid-19 pandemic than feared, leaving major equity benchmarks at their loftier levels since early March,” said Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp.

Philstocks Financials Inc. said the upward trend was also caused by the optimism in the global economy as several Western nations have already declared that they are now open for business.

Value of trade surged to P11.52 billion on 165,916 total trades, with foreign investors now net buyers at P1.3 billion.

Gainers led losers 132 to 65 and 42 shares were unchanged.

Other sub-indices all closed higher led by t he broader All Shares index that gained 126.72 points to 3,785.03 points, the Financials index surged 75.01 to 1,341.11, the Industrial index rose 119.23 to 7,835.01 and the Holding Firms index added 343.97 to 6,686.22.

GT Capital Holdings Inc. was again the day's top traded and it gained P59 to close at P444 per share, Ayala Corp. added P42.50 to P798, SM Prime Holdings Inc. rose P0.45 to P33.95, Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P5 to P77, SM Investments Corp. climbed P52 to P997 and Ayala Land Inc. was higher P1.50 to P37.50. VG Cabuag

B1

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, June 5, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

June 4, 2020

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

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

46.5 108.9 76.85 20.4 7.81 43 9.11 17.02 23.1 45.55 92 20.25 101 54.25 0.68 16.3 2.41 0.9 0.29 610 0.61 172 1620 1.02

47 109 77 20.45 7.82 43.1 9.58 19.7 23.5 49.8 114.1 20.5 104 54.5 0.72 16.4 2.71 1 0.305 650 0.64 172.5 1685 1.05

45.65 103.1 69.8 19.8 7.45 39.9 9.5 17.02 23 44.8 91.1 20.7 105 54.3 0.68 16.4 2.52 0.88 0.305 650 0.62 172.5 1650 1.02

47 109.5 78 20.5 7.97 43.2 9.58 17.02 24.2 53 91.1 20.7 108.9 54.75 0.72 16.4 2.95 1.02 0.305 650 0.65 175 1685 1.05

45.65 103.1 69.8 19.8 7.45 39.8 9.06 17.02 22.95 44.8 91.1 19.2 99.75 54.2 0.68 16.3 2.33 0.88 0.295 650 0.61 172 1600 1.02

47 109 77 20.45 7.82 43 9.11 17.02 23.1 52 91.1 20.25 101 54.5 0.68 16.4 2.71 1 0.305 650 0.64 172 1685 1.05

12300 5759360 9084770 237000 5979800 11993000 22400 200 1562400 1400 20 158700 4544930 17070 7000 3900 53000 16000 130000 20 150000 1590 60 24000

577655 617360850 691777761 4801484 46305845 500780330 204755 3404 36458870 71660 1822 3153356 471024654 928225 4800 63930 142240 15660 38550 13000 93560 275132 99900 24840

INDUSTRIAL

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

2.23 0.94 29.8 0.166 20.45 57.4 287.8 12.22 3.04 2.49 11.2 17.98 8.08 7.45 2.8 73.05 12.4 15.28 4.4 5.24 7.8 71.5 0.54 1.35 31.25 132.9 28.15 6.17 0.124 1.81 6.49 1.79 4.28 1.4 0.107 134.9 0.86 52 1.15 9.03 5.28 7.9 6.39 8.34 0.72 0.65 1.72 2.35 3.3 4.31 23.75 1.62 5.91 1.11 4.13 1.36 7.7

2.24 0.95 29.95 0.167 20.5 58.5 293.4 12.26 3.05 2.54 11.44 18 8.17 7.5 2.83 84.9 12.98 15.32 4.41 5.28 7.82 71.6 0.55 1.36 31.75 133 40 6.18 0.146 1.9 6.5 1.8 4.49 1.43 0.11 135 0.87 60.5 1.16 9.2 5.29 7.91 6.45 8.79 0.75 0.66 1.79 2.38 3.5 4.35 24 1.63 5.94 1.12 4.6 1.37 7.75

2.29 0.93 30 0.164 20.55 56.7 286 12.3 3.07 2.49 11.38 18.12 8.11 7.62 2.8 73.05 12.98 15.28 4.45 5.26 7.85 67.8 0.55 1.35 31.5 132 40 6.19 0.12 1.91 6.6 1.8 4.49 1.4 0.11 132 0.86 51.05 1.13 8.34 5.57 7.95 6.5 8.33 0.76 0.65 1.79 2.23 3.4 4.37 23 1.6 5.57 1.1 4.05 1.32 7.89

2.3 0.94 30.35 0.167 20.85 58.5 293.4 12.46 3.07 2.55 11.5 18.12 8.17 7.63 2.9 73.05 12.98 15.32 4.45 5.4 7.87 71.5 0.55 1.37 31.75 135 40 6.2 0.122 1.91 6.65 1.85 4.49 1.43 0.11 135 0.88 52 1.16 9.28 5.58 7.95 6.7 8.8 0.76 0.66 1.79 2.35 3.4 4.37 24 1.64 5.92 1.12 4.05 1.38 8.23

2.23 0.92 29.35 0.159 20.45 56.7 285.4 12.14 3.01 2.4 11.2 17.9 8 7.4 2.76 73.05 12.5 15.26 4.21 5.2 7.73 67.8 0.53 1.33 31 129.5 40 6.02 0.12 1.8 6.35 1.8 4.48 1.4 0.11 130.1 0.84 51.05 1.11 8.34 5 7.88 6.05 8.33 0.68 0.63 1.79 2.16 3.4 4.3 23 1.59 5.57 1.09 4.05 1.28 7.6

2.23 0.94 29.8 0.166 20.45 57.4 293.4 12.22 3.04 2.55 11.5 18 8.08 7.5 2.8 73.05 12.98 15.28 4.4 5.24 7.85 71.5 0.55 1.35 31.75 133 40 6.17 0.122 1.91 6.5 1.8 4.48 1.43 0.11 135 0.87 52 1.15 9.03 5.29 7.91 6.45 8.8 0.75 0.65 1.79 2.35 3.4 4.35 24 1.63 5.91 1.12 4.05 1.36 7.7

5187000 457000 1211500 1230000 2977800 544890 520470 4461700 2196000 41000 296000 1602200 85900 530900 1216000 80 2000 2372900 12000 5096900 3332600 143580 2461000 7946000 20100 2078530 1000 708600 310000 6000 932000 501000 11000 11000 20000 2153940 12007000 830 12827000 3467700 3021300 935500 17635000 1200 526000 959000 3000 1418000 16000 1044000 220400 3743000 801900 511000 1000 3672000 5959000

11761250 427000 36164825 197760 61290135 31184124.5 151012826 54786288 6680590 100680 3374802 28849600 694626 3994876 3440140 5844 25180 36261316 51010 26860570 26063125 9982701.5 1310370 10713740 625800 274344079 40000 4350129 37720 11150 6082681 907200 49340 15550 2200 288491627 10273920 42616 14603690 31549694 15870896 7409406 111499683 10502 383160 621770 5370 3177870 54400 4491220 5234500 6087810 4636164 563990 4050 4922440 46755540

559000 306089078 63171252 -643980 7153572 46537795 -11829760 21565915.5 -173218.5 6500 105773 10149090 160000 -40809380 -22893387 -16503548 -1993508 1090920 -4678386 39883 128490 -257020 152260 -12630 9090256 -23999162 3437312.5 6040 -709940 424700 46963164 -228917 6000 -5730 2984700 -1100 50722263 -9570 366540 150842 1565111 7920 -11439078 57850 -4474020 -0 1630 -737032 -35840 432978.9997

HOLDING & FRIMS

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

0.52 7.85 796.5 50.95 6.55 1.79 6.01 0.46 0.57 5.48 4.39 8.31 0.165 444 3.45 62.3 0.51 2.56 8.5 3.31 2.72 0.99 150 992 100 0.65 138 0.19 0.145

0.53 7.98 798 52 6.56 1.8 6.2 0.54 0.58 5.53 4.4 8.4 0.18 444.4 3.49 62.5 0.53 2.58 8.7 3.32 2.97 1.02 156 997 100.1 0.69 139 0.193 0.147

0.51 8.01 745 49.5 6.27 1.78 6.01 0.51 0.57 5.5 4.38 9 0.175 401 3.35 59 0.52 2.59 8.33 3.15 2.66 1.05 156 940.5 100.5 0.7 137.9 0.18 0.15

0.53 8.01 798 52 6.65 1.83 6.2 0.55 0.58 5.6 4.45 9 0.175 449 3.5 63.1 0.54 2.6 8.7 3.31 2.8 1.05 156 997 103.7 0.7 139 0.19 0.15

0.51 7.84 745 49.5 6.27 1.75 6.01 0.51 0.56 5.45 4.31 8.4 0.165 399.6 3.35 59 0.51 2.55 8.15 3.13 2.66 1.05 150 940.5 100 0.65 137 0.18 0.147

0.53 7.85 798 52 6.55 1.79 6.2 0.51 0.58 5.53 4.4 8.4 0.165 444 3.45 62.5 0.51 2.58 8.7 3.31 2.72 1.05 150 997 100 0.65 139 0.19 0.147

6953000 70900 998270 2357700 27050100 3016000 3600 49000 1410000 5236700 20791000 15000 30000 2225020 115000 4670790 413000 914000 3177100 110324000 5000 1000 2640 694010 680760 3000 2780 770000 1310000

3618060 44910 557322 11825 781769880 134078185 120206815 83499505 175,723,544( 23,602,978.0004) 5396680 -12430 21883 -8060 25830 802580 28899489 1597307 91414120 -286980 127715 5150 950338056 -60803996 391500 -291750 290250297.5 155088058.5 212970 2352720 26641519 9864242 358513070 -4114230 13700 1050 398610 685539885 74113705 69091660 -6939763 2040 383829 83117 144730 192870 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.54 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.53 0.54 219000 117990 8.8 9 8.99 9 8.8 8.8 8000 71938 ANCHOR LAND AYALA LAND 36.8 37.5 36 37.5 35.1 37.5 18397500 677912085 1.01 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 2000 2100 ARANETA PROP BELLE CORP 1.4 1.42 1.39 1.42 1.39 1.4 218000 305360 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.6 0.56 0.57 1954000 1114720 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.72 0.75 0.73 0.74 0.71 0.74 60000 43570 CROWN EQUITIES 0.121 0.124 0.124 0.124 0.121 0.121 410000 50720 6.12 6.38 6.05 6.38 6.05 6.38 209300 1294784 CEBU HLDG CEB LANDMASTERS 3.9 3.95 3.88 4 3.87 3.95 1064000 4179300 0.4 0.405 0.405 0.405 0.39 0.405 8740000 3480750 CENTURY PROP CYBER BAY 0.26 0.27 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 750000 195000 17.5 17.78 17.26 17.8 17.24 17.5 326900 5720310 DOUBLEDRAGON DM WENCESLAO 6.67 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.65 6.7 63600 426010 0.275 0.28 0.3 0.3 0.28 0.28 3830000 1094050 EMPIRE EAST 0.101 0.104 0.1 0.104 0.098 0.101 2270000 226780 EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND 1.02 1.03 0.96 1.03 0.96 1.02 40054000 40076770 0.8 0.81 0.83 0.83 0.8 0.81 140000 113510 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 10.02 10.24 10.3 10.3 10.02 10.2 10100 101578 0.83 0.85 0.88 0.88 0.83 0.85 2515000 2151280 PHIL INFRADEV 0.68 0.74 0.69 0.69 0.64 0.64 10000 6450 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 3.19 3.2 3.13 3.26 3.08 3.19 54093000 172204650 0.15 0.151 0.15 0.154 0.15 0.151 11010000 1668990 MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES 0.315 0.32 0.28 0.32 0.28 0.315 820000 256250 1.44 1.45 1.47 1.47 1.44 1.44 123000 178600 PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND 18.7 18.72 17.2 18.88 17.2 18.72 5766400 105467674 0.235 0.241 0.228 0.243 0.228 0.241 760000 178200 PHIL REALTY 1.5 1.51 1.48 1.51 1.48 1.51 104000 155960 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 2.69 2.7 2.65 2.7 2.65 2.69 37000 98660 1.84 1.96 1.93 1.98 1.91 1.98 111000 215220 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 33.55 33.95 33.45 34.3 33.25 33.95 20534200 694235955 3.75 3.85 3.8 3.85 3.75 3.85 46000 175000 VISTAMALLS SUNTRUST HOME 1.23 1.24 1.27 1.29 1.22 1.24 5262000 6563640 3.79 3.8 3.74 3.8 3.66 3.79 6450000 23960550 VISTA LAND

207698315 22460 2240 -13070 836805 15800 -1106150 4165138 -791600.0001 -100070 5767200 -28308 -10938130 179380 12705230 14900 10690 44160 281990645 -12503570

SERVICES ABS CBN 15.5 15.52 15.38 15.6 15.38 15.52 304000 4707846 4.91 4.95 4.86 4.92 4.85 4.92 691000 3373480 GMA NETWORK MANILA BULLETIN 0.375 0.38 0.36 0.375 0.36 0.375 500000 186450 14.7 15.18 14 15.96 14 14.76 9800 140916 MLA BRDCASTING GLOBE TELECOM 2176 2200 2150 2200 2130 2200 113740 247181140 1215 1220 1210 1220 1190 1220 276785 334700035 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.051 0.052 0.05 0.054 0.05 0.052 85400000 4381900 2.75 2.8 2.8 2.83 2.79 2.8 266000 744870 DFNN INC 2.54 2.55 2.65 2.66 2.5 2.54 59269000 151434240 DITO CME HLDG IMPERIAL 1.21 1.49 1.22 1.23 1.21 1.23 17000 20710 0.078 0.08 0.078 0.079 0.076 0.078 910000 70470 ISLAND INFO NOW CORP 1.79 1.8 1.79 1.84 1.76 1.79 3541000 6348740 0.175 0.179 0.178 0.18 0.175 0.179 1430000 253450 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 2.45 2.46 2.35 2.46 2.33 2.45 2733000 6561220 9.46 9.5 9.55 9.55 9.25 9.5 90900 859225 2GO GROUP 16 16.4 16.4 16.4 16 16 4500 72040 ASIAN TERMINALS CHELSEA 3.21 3.23 3.27 3.28 3.18 3.21 975000 3149470 44.6 44.7 44.1 44.6 41.65 44.6 681900 29702600 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 105 105.6 95 105.6 95 105.6 3543320 353756056.5 13 13.44 13 13.58 13 13.56 4900 65222 LBC EXPRESS 5.11 5.12 5.2 5.32 5.01 5.12 7764200 40056764 MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A 2.41 2.43 2.4 2.49 2.38 2.41 1619000 3889490 2.26 2.5 2.25 2.5 2.25 2.5 10000 23520 METROALLIANCE B PAL HLDG 7 7.08 7.35 7.35 7 7.08 63800 451430 0.85 0.88 0.84 0.9 0.82 0.85 1166000 1013220 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.15 1.25 1.12 1.16 1.12 1.15 191000 218870 0.027 0.028 0.025 0.029 0.025 0.028 59100000 1606400 BOULEVARD HLDG 13.38 14 13.28 13.38 11.8 13.38 4700 62618 GRAND PLAZA WATERFRONT 0.405 0.41 0.39 0.41 0.39 0.405 350000 139850 620 850 845 845 845 845 370 312650 FAR EASTERN U STI HLDG 0.295 0.3 0.3 0.31 0.285 0.295 16140000 4812500 2.1 2.16 2.09 2.16 2.07 2.16 78000 165870 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 6.75 6.78 6.59 6.9 6.52 6.75 6096400 41196108 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.94 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.88 1.94 21000 40080 1.5 1.51 1.5 1.51 1.5 1.51 201000 301940 LEISURE AND RES MANILA JOCKEY 2.8 2.88 2.83 2.98 2.56 2.8 193000 544240 2.27 2.4 2.21 2.49 2.15 2.41 147000 337980 PH RESORTS GRP PREMIUM LEISURE 0.315 0.32 0.295 0.32 0.29 0.32 27410000 8293600 8 8.2 8.2 8.2 8.2 8.2 1000 8200 PHIL RACING ALLHOME 5.67 5.8 5.26 5.88 5.24 5.67 13578800 75415503 METRO RETAIL 1.65 1.66 1.63 1.65 1.59 1.65 4847000 7849710 46.2 46.4 46.3 46.4 45.65 46.4 4588000 212208005 PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 70.15 70.4 71 72 70 70.4 428100 30304743 129.7 134 131 134 131 134 900 117969 PHIL SEVEN CORP SSI GROUP 1.22 1.23 1.19 1.23 1.16 1.22 4501000 5368130 16.54 16.64 16.4 16.72 16 16.64 4537300 75194044 WILCON DEPOT APC GROUP 0.3 0.305 0.295 0.305 0.295 0.305 1250000 372750 6.9 7.1 6.55 7.15 6.53 7.1 111500 759072 EASYCALL 282 312 305 314.8 305 314.8 150 46640 GOLDEN BRIA PRMIERE HORIZON 0.214 0.215 0.211 0.218 0.211 0.215 5160000 1113380

-51209270 -54611875 41900 -1731840 3680 23145 -70400 3250 3727890 32688616.5 2497913 33400 -3449500 19264599 12050 -393850 5344939.9996 -966080 105585855 -5528030 112684 -1486970 15444174 16375 -

MINING & OIL

APEX MINING 0.97 0.98 0.97 1.01 0.97 0.97 2497000 2449470 ABRA MINING 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.001 1251000000 1251300 1.87 1.9 1.87 1.9 1.87 1.89 7000 13250 ATLAS MINING BENGUET A 1.22 1.39 1.4 1.44 1.22 1.44 128000 172360 0.171 0.187 0.186 0.187 0.186 0.187 70000 13030 COAL ASIA HLDG CENTURY PEAK 2.67 2.71 2.68 2.71 2.67 2.71 454000 1215630 188400 DIZON MINES 7.1 7.15 7.04 7.15 6.99 7.15 10500 74220 0.81 0.82 0.79 0.81 0.79 0.81 2563000 2055980 56460 FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE 0.2 0.204 0.202 0.202 0.2 0.2 160000 32050 0.075 0.077 0.075 0.076 0.074 0.074 2050000 154140 LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 0.075 0.082 0.075 0.075 0.075 0.075 370000 27750 0.0062 0.0064 0.0064 0.0064 0.0064 0.0064 1000000 6400 MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B 0.007 0.0083 0.0071 0.0071 0.0071 0.0071 1000000 7100 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.53 0.51 0.51 431000 220840 MARCVENTURES 1 1.03 1 1.03 1 1 65000 65130 -20000 NIHAO NICKEL ASIA 1.71 1.72 1.66 1.71 1.66 1.71 13187000 22374120 3847460 0.48 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 50000 25000 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 2.3 2.34 2.29 2.3 2.28 2.3 208000 476420 -142120 11.74 11.76 11.46 12 11.46 11.76 3006700 35400430 3015862 SEMIRARA MINING 0.0038 0.0043 0.0037 0.0039 0.0037 0.0039 5000000 18900 UNITED PARAGON ACE ENEXOR 6.74 6.75 6.54 6.74 6.5 6.74 40900 270908 2600 0.0083 0.0084 0.0083 0.0083 0.0083 0.0083 17000000 141100 ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B 0.0085 0.01 0.0085 0.0095 0.0085 0.0095 10000000 90000 0.0075 0.0077 0.0078 0.0078 0.0075 0.0075 9000000 68100 PHILODRILL PXP ENERGY 5.02 5.05 4.98 5.09 4.86 5.02 2256000 11253560 799410

PREFFERED AC PREF B1 500 502 502 502 502 502 20 10040 -5020 CPG PREF A 99.6 100.2 100 100 100 100 5000 500000 100 101.4 101.4 101.4 100 100 490 49376 DD PREF GLO PREF P 510 520 510 510 510 510 320 163200 997 1000 999 1000 997 1000 810 807920 GTCAP PREF B PNX PREF 3A 99.1 99.4 99.5 99.5 99.1 99.4 13390 1328037 997.5 999 999 999 997 997.5 570 569025 PNX PREF 4 1020 1045 1020 1020 1020 1020 250 255000 PCOR PREF 3A SMC PREF 2C 77.1 77.45 77 77 77 77 600 46200 75 75.5 75 75 75 75 25040 1878000 375000 SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E 75.1 75.5 76 76 76 76 370 28120 77 79.95 77 80 77 79.95 69300 5456188 SMC PREF 2F

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 14.1 14.68 14.48 14.5 14.1 14.1 75800 1085048 -429200 GMA HLDG PDR 4.8 4.94 4.8 4.98 4.8 4.98 135000 654910 630910

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.71 0.74 0.7 0.71 0.7 0.71 31000 21830

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 2.05 2.06 1.94 2.09 1.92 2.06 7150000 14461710 74660 KEPWEALTH 6.86 6.87 6.75 6.99 6.7 6.86 180200 1234267 0.59 0.6 0.59 0.6 0.59 0.6 828000 493410 XURPAS

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 97.8 98.5 94.95 98.9 94.5 98.5 55810 5438848 543060

www.businessmirror.com.ph

AboitizPower unit sets sight on PSA for Navotas plant

T

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

herma Mobile Inc. (TMO), a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp., is hopeful that it could soon forge a new power supply agreement (PSA) involving its 242-megawatt (MW) bunker-C fired power facility in Navotas, which has been placed on temporary shutdown.

The company told the stock exchange on Thursday that TMO’s bunker-C fired diesel power plants will be on reserve shutdown in the absence of a PSA duly approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

TMO signed last April 26, 2019

a PSA with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) for a term of one year.

This contract has not been renewed and currently, TMO has no ERCapproved PSA. TMO has already told Meralco that it will physically disconnect from the latter’s distribution system. TMO

will also deregister as a Trading Participant in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market effective July 15.

Similar notices were sent to Philippine Electricity Market Corporation, Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines Inc., Department of Energy, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, and ERC. “The Meralco extension contract expired and we have yet to enter into another agreement. Same as last year, in order for the plant not to be subjected to the must offer rule, we see the need to deregister and disconnect.

We can reconnect once we have concluded a new power supply agreement, either to supply energy or ancillary services, hopefully in the next 30 to 45 days,” AboitizPower President Emmanuel Rubio said via SMS. TMO is a wholly owned subsidiary of AboitizPower through Therma Power Inc., its holding company for

its investments in thermal energy.

At end-March this year, AboitizPower posted P2.1 billion in net income from P3.6 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The company’s performance was affected by power plant outages and lower selling prices.

Rubio said the company continues to adapt to the constantly changing business climate due to the Covid-19 situation and would make further adjustments when necessary, to sustain the business.

“The pandemic has affected the timeline of GNPD [GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co.]. Unit 1 will synchronize by the fourth quarter of 2020 and will commence commercial operations by the first quarter of 2021.

Unit 2 will synchronize by the first quarter of 2021 and will commence commercial operations by the second quarter of 2021,” he said during the company’s recent annual meeting.

MORE Power blames Peco for brownouts

M

ORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) on Thursday blamed Panay Electric Co. (Peco) for the hours-long power outages that occurred last month.

The company said it had no choice but to implement maintenance works on substations, transformers and distribution system since it took over from Peco on February 28.

MORE Power President Roel Castro said the maintenance works were necessary because the distribution system was left “rotting, in state of disrepair” and “like a ticking time bomb.”

Unfortunately, the company said the required maintenance works caused the longest brownout in Jaro district. “The required maintenance works that caused the longest brownout was in Jaro district on May 17 after MORE Power conducted preventive maintenance work on Jaro substation.”

Castro said the five Iloilo City power substations are an integral part of the power distribution system as they reduce voltage to a level suitable for local distribution. Apart from stabilizing the system, substations also protect the consumers from sudden drops or surges of electricity.

Based on recent inspections on these facilities, Castro said the inspection team found “high levels of dissolved gas due to degradation of oil and paper insulation.”

“If we liken it to a person who underwent blood analysis, the oil in the substations have high cholesterol, uric acid, and triglycerides.

The substations are very sick because there are gases that are over 100 times over the limit. I am sorry to be frank but the system is rotting when we took over,” he said.

Castro cited the Mandurriao substation which showed high levels of methane, ethane, ethylene, and acetylene.

He also said four of the five substations are over 90 percent loaded against the normal load of 70 to 80 percent. Over the past three months, he said 10 overloaded transformers exploded.

MORE Power has so far replaced and upgraded 96 transformers and erected 98 new concrete poles. It also replaced almost 11,000 new electric meters since they took over from Peco.

To avoid bigger damage and longer interruptions, MORE Power started a so-called Comprehensive Preventive Maintenance of the substations. The preventive maintenance work lasted for 13 hours.

“On the part of the substations, we have to undertake the maintenance works and implement brownouts because if we don’t do this now, the facilities will explode, and we will suffer from longer brownouts,” he added.

A week before the scheduled maintenance works, MORE Power said it conducted a “massive” information dissemination campaign.

Castro said Peco failed to implement new capital expenditures for the last 10 years to improve and upgrade the facilities.

The MORE Power executive issued the statement after Peco said the other day that the recent power outages were expected to happen “when you force major upgrades within a short span of time, rather than spreading it out over a period of time, checking your records what were previously replaced, which lines are previously upgraded, and only upgrading what needs to be upgraded as of the moment.”

Engr. Fil Sonza of MORE Power’s Technical Services Division said Peco did not conduct a comprehensive preventive maintenance “that’s why there was not much scheduled power interruptions during their time but more on unscheduled power interruptions.” Lenie Lectura

AirAsia resumes flights at Clark airport on June 5

C

lark Freeport—AirAsia has announced that it is set to gradually resume services from the Clark International Airport (IATA Code: CRK) on June 5 following the Philippine government’s directive of easing community quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila and several parts of the country.

The resumption up of services will initially be for key domestic routes and will gradually increase to include international destinations by July 1. These flights are open for booking via the AirAsia web site and mobile app.

Here are the following flight routes starting on: n June 5: Clark-Cebu-Clark Z2 901 | 902 n June 11: Clark-Puerto Princesa-Clark Z2 951 | 952 Teri Flores, spokesman of the Luzon International Premiere Airport Development, which operates and maintains CRK, said only passengers with valid travel documents will be allowed to enter the airport.

She said passengers are also advised to comply with airport, airline and government measures to ensure a safe and hassle-free travel experience.

AirAsia announced that “this is a developing situation and we wish to inform all passengers that CRK and AirAsia will continuously post updates on flight status according to the latest developments.”

Cebu Pacific advisory

Cebu Pacific said on Thursday it plans to mount four flights between Manila and Cebu from June 5 to 7.

The airline said these flights are on top of the previously announced schedule for flights between Manila, General Santos, Naga and Cagayan de Oro. Cebu Pacific said flights may be booked via its web site, www.cebupacificair.com. For passengers with existing bookings, the airline said they may rebook to these flights through the “Manage Booking” page on its web site.

“This is a developing situation. Flight schedules may change, and we may add new flights, depending on approval from the Inter-Agency Task Force, the local government units and other concerned government agencies. We will provide updates through our web site and official socialmedia accounts,” it added. Ashley Manabat

mutual funds

June 4, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 204.46 -23.78% -9.49% -5.42% -18.83% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.0157 -38.18% -14.45% -6.58% -26.51% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.7565 -34.27% -14.11% -7.99% -25.06% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7003 -26.82% n.a. n.a. -21.94% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6807 -24.23% n.a. n.a. -19.85% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.4079 -21.12% -7.06% -4.8% -17.27% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6944 -22.54% -10.04% n.a.

-18.65% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 75.09 -38.67% n.a. n.a. -27.33% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 41.1745 -22.8% -7.84% n.a. -19.71% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 438.36 -20.89% -7.28% -4.55% -17.72% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.8868 n.a. n.a. n.a. -13.91% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.0359 -23.41% -7.63% -4.08% -19.5% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 30.5243 -23.08% -7.07% -3.78% -19.45% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8121 -24.24% n.a. n.a. -20.23% -3.47% -19.68% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.1955 -22.42% -7.32% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 701.63 -22.31% -7.29% -3.67% -19.54% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.639 -32.55% -11.19% -7.71% -24.95% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.257 -26.29% -8.48% -4.83% -22.62% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8058 -22.37% -7.41% -3.6% -19.48% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.9637 -22.52% -5.77% -2.87% -18.88% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 94.1771 -22.11% -6.8% -2.83% -19.48% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $0.9375 -1.48% -1.37% -2.69% -8.84% 5.05% n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.34 8.41% -2.81% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5444 -11.98% -4.76% -3.96% -1.18% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.0629 -11.95% -4.61% -2.14% -5.42% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.4443 -8.82% -2.29% -2.92% -7.11% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1887 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-17.42% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8503 -5% -1.09% -0.42% -5.75% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.4958 -6.73% -2.36% -1.64% -7.74% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.6008 -7.71% -2.57% -1.79% -8.02% -3.48% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.9359 -10.72% -1.52% -8.93% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.3238 -15.1% -4.29% -2.73% -13.98% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.948 -7.33% n.a. n.a.

-6.67% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8588 -16.1% n.a. n.a. -13.81% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8376 -18.02% n.a. n.a. -15.67% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8224 -17.98% -5.25% -3.9% -15.63% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03829 4.39% 2.46% 1.56% 0.16% -1% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $0.959 0.99% -0.1% -7.6% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.7805 4.51% 3.5% 2.74% -3.33% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.0946 1.77% 1.6% n.a.

-3.03% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 363.98 4.22% 3.01% 2.49% 1.73% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9362 2.55% 0.86% -0.09% 1.8% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1816 4.66% 5.15% 5.1% 2.1% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2783 4.97% 2.79% 2.18% 2.4% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4309 6.39% 3.17% 1.86% 3.04% 3.81% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.5483 10.88% 2.29% 4.01% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.2871 6.71% 3.87% 2.1% 2.42% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.9187 7.7% 4.12% 2.12% 3.44% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.023 10% 3.35% 1.54% 6.09% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1487 7.74% 4.68% 2.74% 2.37% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7337 6.85% 4.1% 2.25% 1.92% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $471.83 3.39% 2.41% 2.57% 0.77% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є214.86 -0.61% 0.55% 0.77% -2.22% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.213 3.4% 2.66% 2.31% 0.48% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0259 1.97% 1.32% 1.12% 0.39% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0643 -1.27% -0.34% -0.06% -2.82% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4247 5.59% 3.05% 2.68% 0.87% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0601931 2.51% 1.78% 1.64% -0.2% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1646 4.4% 2.04% 2.09% -0.34% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 127.72 3.78% 3.13% 2.37% 1.54% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0396 2.65% n.a. n.a.

1.3% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2809 3.27% 3.02% 2.56% 1.29% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0438 1.7% n.a. n.a.

0.64% Feeder Fund Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.93 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-6.06%

a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 2 - Launch date is November 15, 2019. 3 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019.

4 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.). 5 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund).

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Covid-19 insurance claims hit ₧326.95M

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

otal Covid-19 related claims paid by the insurance industry amounted to P326.95 million, with medical benefits comprising the bulk of the amount at P258.8 million, according to results of a survey by the Insurance Commission (IC).

The survey was conducted from April 16 to May 8 across four insurance s ectors: life insurance industry, non-life insurance industry, mutual benefit associations (MBA) and health maintenance organizations (HMO). It was designed to assess the financial impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and determine how these entities have responded to the related claims, the IC said.

Out of 147 regulated entities, 142 participated in the survey, with 100-percent participation from the life and MBA sectors, 96 percent from non-life insurance sector, and 89 percent from the HMO sector.

The survey revealed that 58 percent of respondents issued health insurance products. Of this, 61 percent covered pandemic cases.

While the four industries received Covid-19 related claims amounting to P308.16 million, the IC said they

actually paid more than the amount by paying ex gratia (out of kindness) settlements.

Broken down, the respondents said they have paid P307.26 million in contractual obligations and P19.68 million in ex gratia payments, which brought the total payouts to P326.95 million.

The Covid-19 related claims were classified as medical benefits, death benefits or other benefits, which included travel inconvenience, travel cancellations and delays and cash assistance, among others.

Medical benefits cornered the bulk of Covid-19 related claims paid by the four industries at P258.8 million. Of the said amount, P239.5 million were paid out of contractual obligation and P19.2 million were paid ex gratia.

Of the total medical benefits paid, P110 million were for in-patient benefit claims, P74.89 million for outpatient claims, P73.299 million for

critical illness benefits, P0.449 million for daily hospitalization benefits and medical reimbursement benefits (paid exclusively by the life insurance sector) at P0.13 million.

Meanwhile, death benefits amounted to P61.54 million while those that fell under “Other Benefits” reached P6.611 million.

Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa said in a statement on Thursday that the four sectors “displayed financial resiliency in the handling and payout of Covid-19related claims.

“The respondents honored their contractual obligations to their customers, and some have even gone above and beyond said obligations by paying ex gratia settlements,” Funa said.

Further, the IC concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic also “positively influenced the four industries in terms of willingness to consider providing pandemic coverage in their products in the future.”

The survey, Funa added, also displayed the responsiveness of, and consumer benefit provided by health insurance and HMO agreements with pandemic cover, specifically in addressing costs incurred by an individual infected

by Covid-19.

“This may be said to inspire consumer confidence in the four respondent industries, which may later translate into an increase in the number of Filipinos covered by insurance and HMO contracts,” the IC chief said.

BPI enhances ‘green’ financing framework

T

he Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said it recently established a framework pertaining to issuance of green, social or sustainable bonds or loans.

Dubbed as Sustainable Funding Framework, the Ayala-led bank said this is part of its Green Finance Framework and underscores the inclusion of projects that address social issues.

In June last year, BPI introduced its Green Finance Framework which is aimed at funding environmental projects. “Now more than ever, we have to constantly think about the broader impact of every project that we finance—how it impacts the environment, how it contributes to society and how it aligns with our vision of a better Philippines,” BPI President

Cezar P. Consing said in a disclosure on Thursday.

The framework details the use of proceeds from the issuance, review and selection of projects, fund management and reporting.

BPI said the framework is also in line with the International Capital Market Association Green and Social Bond principles, the Loan Market Association Green Loan principles and the Asean Green, Social and Sustainability Bond standards.

BPI Capital Corp. served as social structuring advisor for the expansion of the listed bank’s framework.

In September last year, BPI priced its $300-million senior unsecured fixed-rate Association of Southeast Asian Nations Green Bond, the

proceeds of which was supposed to be used for financing and refinancing of eligible green projects.

The bonds carry a coupon rate of 2.5 percent and a reoffer yield of 2.577 percent. These will mature on September 10, 2024.

The offering was subscribed by over four times, BPI said, with most of the order book coming from Asia.

The listed bank saw its first quarter earnings slide by 5 percent to P6.39 billion in the first three months due to higher provisions for potential credit losses amid the pandemic. Revenues for the period, however, climbed by 10.9 percent to P25.26 billion while net interest income surged 13 percent to P18.14 billion. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Standard Chartered cited for response to pandemic

S

tandard Chartered Bank (SCB) said it has been cited by Leathwaite International Llp among nine companies that are leading in the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

SCB said it was highlighted by the London-based headhunter for its $50-million fund to support victims of the pandemic.

From this amount, the bank used $25 million for immediate relief efforts in the most impacted communities, including a $10-million donation to Red Cross and Unicef, and $15 million allocated to local nongovernment organization (NGO) partners across its markets, the bank said. “The remaining $25 million will be used to support long-term recovery efforts through employment and educational opportunities,” SCB added. “Part of the funds for long term recovery will be donated directly by the bank’s employees through a giving campaign.”

In the Philippines, the bank gave $250,000 or P12.5 million for immediate relief efforts in the country.

SCB Philippines said the funds provided 10,000 family food packs to vulnerable communities in NCR and Region 4A, more than 11,000 sets of reusable protective personal equipment (PPE) to 40 hospitals and treatment centers in the country and financial assistance to the bank’s non-employed workers.

SCB Philippines CEO Lynette V. Ortiz highlights the longer-term economic and health impact of Covid-19.

“We have a vital role to play in supporting our colleagues, clients and our communities,” Ortiz was quoted in a statement as saying. “Our immediate goal is to deliver relief measures to support the most vulnerable. But we can’t lose sight of what lies ahead that’s why the bank is also focused on how to support economic recovery and

protect livelihoods across our markets after the pandemic.”

“We are witnessing solidarity at its best as we see communities, organizations and individuals all around the world extending practical help, “according to Mai Sangalang, head of corporate affairs, brand and marketing.

“The bank’s immediate response to the outbreak—the commitment of $1 billion to finance companies that help fight Covid-19 and the $50-million aid fund, are some of the ways that the bank demonstrates its commitment to be here for good.”

Friday, June 5, 2020 B3

A blast into the virtual space of online events

O

N May 27, 2020, the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (Pcaae), in collaboration with its member, the Procurement and Supply Institute of Asia (Pasia), launched its first online event. The executive forum, themed “Associations: Threats and Opportunities amidst the Pandemic,” drew 278 attendees to the Zoom videoconference platform and 212 more to the Facebook live stream.

The e-forum is part of the PCAAE Executive Forum Series on Association Governance and Management that aims to discuss relevant issues concerning associations and member-serving organizations, as well as seeks to engage with a broader range of stakeholders for potential collaboration and business opportunities in this era of the “new normal.”

The discussions focused on how the coronavirus pandemic has heavily impacted associations and associated-related activities such as travel, tourism and the event industry; on innovative solutions adopted; and on the opportunities that lie now and in the future. The speakers were optimistic on the “gritsilience” (grit and resilience) of all the sectors in the value chain of associations and the silver linings that lie ahead.

The high-level panel consisted of the following: Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Chief Operating Officer and lawyer Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones; Pasia Chairman and current PCAAE Chairman Charlie Villasenor; Team Asia Founder and

Association World Octavio Peralta President and Philippine Association of Convention/Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers representative Monette Iturralde-Hamlim; Amsterdam-based International Congress and Convention Association Regional Director in AsiaPacific Noor Ahmad Hamid; and, Associations Forum Pty. Ltd. (Australia) CEO John Peacock. The panel session was chaired and moderated by myself.

Among my takeaways from e-forum are as follows: Challenges: Many of the difficulties encountered by associations centered on financial-related matters such as loss of revenue from face-to-face events which were either postponed or canceled; renegotiations with conference venues, hotels, suppliers and sponsors; decline in membership dues payment due to budget constraints and loss of jobs; and lack of financial support (worker pay subsidy, stimulus package) from government to the association sector and events industry.

Innovations and solutions: To lessen the impact of the above challenges, associations have taken on technology-enabled programs such as pivoting to virtual events, seeking technology partners and suppliers to fill gaps and

i nc apac it ies, com mu n ic at i ng through interactive web sites and e-newsletters, and upgrading hardware and software (staff up-skilling) capabilities.

Opportunities: Expansion of market (beyond members), new program offerings such as hybrid (in-person and virtual) events, content curation and marketing, sponsor engagement, business collaboration with other associations, as well as with the public and private sectors, operational efficiency through the use of technology, work from home arrangement, and short-term planning were among the opportunities cited.

The “New Future”: There was a consensus that the pre-2020 days will never return as there are still prevailing uncertainties due to health and safety concerns, economic downturn, and governance capacity. “Start with a blank canvas to paint your future,” “new world, new rules,” “old formulas no longer work” and “there is no playbook” were some of the short narratives mentioned.

The column contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific the Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives. PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 8 on November 25 and 26, 2020 at the Philippine International Convention Center 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 AS8.

B4

Friday, June 5, 2020

Relationships BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Mike Fisher, 40; Mark Wahlberg, 49; Ron Livingston, 53; Jeff Garlin, 58.

Happy Birthday: Keep moving forward, and avoid drama. Focus on what’s important to you and the people who count. Make the most of what you have, and harness your attributes and skills to use selectively, where it will benefit you the most. Choose to spend more time with people who lift your spirits and bring out the best in you. Your lucky numbers are 4, 15, 23, 28, 34, 37, 46.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Look for new ways to invest your time and money. Rely on your skills to help you revise the way you approach work-related projects. Make sure contracts and personal documents are updated, and cover all concerns. Romance is favored. HHHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Shared expenses, ventures or feelings will hit a glitch.

Keep your dialogue open and, when in doubt, ask questions. It’s in your best interest that everyone agrees if you want things to turn out as planned. Don’t fold under pressure. HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Think twice before you make a wish. Someone will feed you false information that can cause an emotional problem to surface between you and someone you love.

Honesty and integrity will play important roles in the way sensitive issues develop. HHH

Dating over Zoom? Don’t be surprised if those online sparks fizzle in person

F

By Sheril Kirshenbaum Michigan State University

OR those dipping their toes into the dating pool during stay-at-home orders, it’s been like swimming in a version of Netflix’s reality series Love is Blind.

In the show, contestants must get engaged before ever actually meeting one another in person. And while a lockdown engagement might be a bit extreme, it’s entirely possible that two people have grown to really like one another over the previous weeks and months. Maybe it started with a match on a dating app, followed by flirting over text. Then came regularly scheduled Zoom dates. Perhaps they’ve even started envisioning a future together.

Now, as states start to ease restrictions, some may have broached taking the next step: an in-person rendezvous.

What are the chances that their online connection will lead to true love?

In my book, The Science of Kissing, I describe how compatibility requires engaging all of our senses.

And absent the touch, taste and smell of a potential partner, people dating online during quarantine have essentially been flying blind.

MUZZLED NEUROTRANSMITTERS HUMAN attraction involves the influence of cues that evolved over millions of years.

On a traditional date in a restaurant or movie theater, we actively gather details about someone by walking side by side, holding hands, hugging and—if things get far enough—kissing. These experiences send neural impulses between the brain and body, stimulating tiny chemical messengers that affect how

we feel. When two people are a good match, hormones and neurotransmitters bring about the sensations we might describe as being on a natural high or experiencing the exhilaration of butterflies. Finding love isn’t rocket science—it’s anatomy, endocrinology and real chemistry.

One of the most important neurotransmitters involved in influencing our emotions is dopamine, responsible for craving and desire. This natural drug can be promoted through physical intimacy and leads to the addictive nature of a new relationship.

Of course, dopamine is just one player in a chemical symphony that motivates behavior. Intimate encounters also promote the release of oxytocin, which creates a sense of attachment and affection, and epinephrine, which boosts our heart rate and reduces stress. There’s also a decrease in serotonin, which can lead to obsessive thoughts and feelings about the other person.

In fact, one study showed that people who report that they’ve just “fallen in love” have levels of serotonin similar to patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. This chemical cocktail can even lead to trouble sleeping or a loss of appetite— symptoms people often attribute to meeting “the one.”

Our noses also play a powerful role in who we fall for. The famous “sweaty T-shirt experiment” reported that a man’s natural scent may influence how women choose a partner. The women in the study nearly always expressed a preference for the odor of men who differed genetically from them in immune response to disease. Scientists theorize that selecting someone with genetic diversity in this region, called the major histocompatibility complex, could be important for producing children with flexible and versatile immune systems.

A KISS CAN MAKE OR BREAK IT WHILE a man’s natural scent may not be something women consciously notice early on in a heterosexual relationship, getting up close and personal can serve as a kind of litmus test for a couple.

A kiss puts two people nose to cheek, offering a reliable sample of smell and taste unrivaled by most other courtship rituals.

Perhaps that’s one reason a 2007 University of Albany study reported that 59 percent of men and 66 percent of women have broken off a budding romance because of a bad first kiss.

Complicating matters, factors that typically grab our attention in person are less obvious to recognize in a witty profile or photo. Studies of online dating behavior reveal superficial features are correlated with the level of interest an individual receives. For example, short-haired women do not tend to get as much attention from men as those with long, straight hair; while men who report a height of six-footthree or six-foot-four fare better than their peers at interacting with women.

The initial focus on appearance promotes pairing based on characteristics that aren’t significant in lasting relationships, compared with more important factors for long-term compatibility, like intimacy and shared experiences.

Still, at a time when many of us are feeling more isolated than ever, online dating does offer some benefits. Quarantine has encouraged men and women to take additional time to learn about each other prior to meeting, sparing the anxiety of rushed physical intimacy.

For some couples, a real-world date will kindle the spark that began online. Many others will realize they’re better suited as friends. THE CONVERSATION

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): It’s in your best interest to be receptive to what’s going on around you. Keep an open mind, and refuse to let your emotions get the better of you. If you overreact, you will miss doing something special. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Get involved in a worthy cause, but don’t jeopardize your health or well-being in the process. Offering your expertise or a donation will be good enough.

Commit to someone you cherish, and it will lead to a lifestyle change. HHHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Avoid getting into a scuffle with someone you live or work alongside. Concentrate on what you do best and bringing about a positive change that will encourage you to use your knowledge and intelligence to get ahead. HH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Sensitivity, body language and emotional awareness will help you combat any misunderstanding that you have with someone. Deal with problems quickly to avoid further trouble. Know enough to walk away if someone is too demanding. HHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take on a new hobby that will challenge you physically and help you get into great shape. Staying fit and healthy will encourage you to exceed expectations and expand your interests, skills and opportunities to advance. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Share your feelings and intentions with someone you love.

Don’t let an outsider interfere in your personal life. Stick close to home, and be disciplined when it comes to indulgent behavior or temptation. Personal improvement is favored. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Look for a unique way to use your skills and intelligence to get ahead. Updated technology will help you stay current and put you in a valuable position when dealing with anyone who tries to compete with you. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Spend more time on personal matters. Home improvements will help you stay on top of a situation that could turn into an argument with someone you love. Personal and self-improvement projects, as well as romance, are encouraged. HHHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Think before you act. An emotional incident will turn your life upside down if you aren’t sensitive to others’ needs and expectations. Be honest about what you are willing to do and what you want in return. HH Birthday Baby: You are sensitive, convincing and proactive.

You are flirtatious and adventuresome.

‘me, me, me!’ by stella zawistowski The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 “Louder, louder than a lion” Katy Perry song 5 Load-bearing Titan 10 It’s between two vertebrae 14 Continental currency 15 Worker at a forge 16 Post-shaving brand 17 Muscles exercised on a leg day in Norfolk, slangily?

20 “Ceci n’est pas ___ pipe” 21 Nora Roberts novels 22 Quickly, in music 26 Encountered 27 Thrilla in Manila boxer 28 Pigeon sounds 29 Teddy alternative?

31 Tip jar bills 32 Yank 33 This, in Spanish 35 Catch, as a crook 37 Sleepwear with a red fruit printed on it, slangily?

42 Exist 43 Oil grp.

44 Tuna that’s usually seared

46 Album Beyoncé released when she turned 25 49 “Hey! Over here!”

51 Sausage often paired with beer, familiarly 52 Lexicon from a British uni 53 Agt.’s cut 54 DNA components 57 Headwear at an Aida performance 60 Sewer critter 61 Picnic foods enjoyed near El Capitan, slangily?

66 ___ Spumante 67 Hard on the eyes, color-wise 68 Tip-top 69 Listen to, as advice 70 Like thick fog 71 Home in a tree DOWN 1 Race, as an engine 2 Yes, in Paris 3 Part of ETA: Abbr.

4 Rascals 5 Actor Ed 6 Response to oversharing, in texts 7 Dramatic courtroom shout

8 Not out and about 9 “I should’ve known better!”

10 “Humble” album 11 “...assuming it’s possible” 12 1980s TV character Remington 13 Liqueur in a kir 18 Gerund’s finish 19 Place to do yoga 22 Exam with a max score of 36 23 Unmannerly sort 24 Golden arches, for McDonald’s 25 ___ von Bismarck 30 Some Wyndham hotels, informally 31 Kimono go-with 33 Good listener?

34 Blended-family member 36 Big name in theaters 38 Month to honor Mom 39 Many NYC dwellings 40 Be worthy of 41 Roe fish 45 That thing’s 46 “Go me!”

47 Boot from office 48 “___ Fideles” (Christmas carol) 50 Sculptor’s creation

1 Gotham City hero 5 53 Foxy Brown star Grier 55 Exchange 56 Slam into 58 Tara of Sharknado 59 Bird seen in the afternoon?

62 Bro’s sib 63 Neat drink’s lack 64 Ambulance letters 65 Complete collection

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Friday, June 5, 2020

Globe, V Live bring exclusive content to K-pop fans FOR Filipino K-pop fans who are always on the lookout for their daily dose of K-pop content, you can now binge-watch all your favorite idols’ concerts and livestreams on your phones anytime, anywhere.

Globe (www.globe.com.ph) is teaming up with the No. 1 South Korean live video streaming and entertainment platform service, V Live, to be its first telecommunications company partner in Southeast Asia to provide exclusive K-pop idol content to millions of Globe subscribers in the Philippines.

Seeing the growing demand for Korean content in the country, Globe ensures that users who are K-pop fans can continue to #KmmunityHwaiting and stay connected to their favorite K-pop idols.

On V Live, fans have access to hundreds of Korean celebrities and artists, including popular groups BTS, Blackpink, TWICE, TXT and NCT, to name a few. Aside from live concerts and music videos, the app also showcases personalized idol livestreams and even allows fans the opportunity to interact with them through chat.

“As we are relying on the Internet for our main source of entertainment, we want to offer all types of content for our diverse set of users, and that includes streaming services for our subscribers who are avid fans of Korean pop music,” said Ernest Cu, Globe president and CEO. “We will continue to introduce packages and data bundles to make Korean pop culture related content more accessible to millions of our users across the country.”

To stream K-pop content on V Live, Globe subscribers can register through Globe’s prepaid data packages and promos, such as GoWATCH, GoSURF and GoSAKTO, and HomeWATCH for Globe at Home Prepaid WiFi users.

Through GoWATCH, subscribers can continue to watch hour after hour of video and streaming content without worrying about using up their data allowance. GoSURF and GoSAKTO subscribers, meanwhile, can enjoy an additional 1GB of free data each day for streaming and watching. As for HomeWATCH subscribers, up to 4GB of free data can be used each day.

V Live is the latest addition to Globe’s roster of video streaming site partners.

A sense of ending W

HEN was the last time you watched a film on a continuous screening? That question is strange for many but it is stranger even for my generations that have seen audiences allowed by practice to sit through movies from its opening in the morning to its last screening at 9 or 10 in the evening.

So many things have changed indeed with movies.

Eternal may be the form and content of films but screening and viewing conditions have changed, the latter altering our appreciation and apprehension of cinema. Remember the betamax and VHS? Who keeps those huge laser discs and the tinier (in terms of storage) VCDs? With the new technologies and modalities came the ultimate death of the old. First to go were the standalone cinemas, those palaces of entertainment that stood as a window to the world of any small city or town many years ago. The moviehouse, all by itself and not attached to any department store or mall, was a part of any youth’s memories, a rite of passage.

But more than the physical structures altered, there was the shift in viewing. The individual was now given control of the medium by which the film could be viewed. He could watch it and pause, have coffee or take a shower, and let it run again. He could view the film over and over. With copies of the film came commentaries about it and the filmmakers.

There were bonuses in the form of critical analysis, production notes and bio-notes about the cast and crew. In other words, that difficult concept called “extracinematic” turned very real and was realized.

Locally, there were more upheavals. Independent cinema in its present and myriad forms started a different dynamic with regard to the mainstream industry. The so-called indie in its incarnation as edgier works with aesthetics that allowed such films to approach realities without compromise and not tied to financial constraints and responsibilities was gaining entrance into the consciousness and patronage of paying audiences. The mainstream was still at work, the plot tired and trivial; the indies were making loud impressions abroad even as they made inroads into the local market.

Mainstream filmmakers started looking to indies in terms of creative spirit and those identified with the latter were conscripted into the business side of the industry. Amid these developments, the National Commission of Culture and the Arts and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) were developing programs as the independence in cinematic processes became interchangeable and/or fused with regional cinemas.

Film festivals became not just venues for screenings films; they also became spaces for pitching film projects. Despite the internecine squabbles and conflicts, the horizon was bright and mornings were rosy for everyone in film.

Then the lockdown came. Everything stopped.

The only vital thing that happened between March 15, when the entire Luzon was placed on lockdown, and the days when the quarantine wobbled from “enhanced” to “modified” and to “general” was the release of a guideline for filmmaking in times of any of those conditions. This guideline came in two forms—the one submitted

by FDCP and the other was the document crafted by the Inter-Guild Alliance (IGA), a network of various groups and associations representing the different sectors of the film, television and advertising industries in the Philippines.

The two guidelines received varied responses from different sectors. There was the realization that, under the present dispensation, it would be difficult to make films. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that, for every difficulty and requirements to be

fulfilled, is an increase in the budget, a burden to the financial consideration of the production.

There are the unsolved issues of age: “Would senior citizens be allowed to make films?” You can imagine all the caveat and necessary conditions but each solution has a cost. And yet, given that film is basically art, how do we deal with the reality that most of our excellent actors are senior citizens?

Shall I generalize? How can we have good performances when the selection of good actors is hampered by the age-sensitive factor in the Age of Covid-19?

Shall I be ominous? Was Eddie Garcia’s demise a portent for the dark landscape for senior actors in this country?

The indie and regional filmmakers have different reactions to the guidelines: those rules and preventions have the well-funded productions in mind. Doctors as consultants or doctor’s presence in the set can be a financial problem for films made in the region. There is not enough for that from the small budget earmarked for every regional cinema, according to indie filmmakers.

One regional filmmaker believes it is better to sit this one out.

The sad part is that whether you are looking at the FDCP or IAG guideline, the document is aimed objectively, and finally, at professionalizing the industry.

While indie filmmakers are still coming up with ways to protect their cast and crew within their limitations, not everything should be sad though. More than ever, indie and regional cinema can prove what they are good at—in an approach that is free from whatever is state-of-the-art to sustainable art. I can fully imagine now guerilla filmmaking under the social framework of disease and pandemic and, a government that does not understand any creative process.

Who documents the pandemic in the small towns and cities? Shall the Department of Health not engage the services of the regional filmmaker to do this?

There is a sense of ending with many practices, but there is also a good sense of beginning. n

involved has that kind of strength and resolve that can inspire.

Speaking of inspiring documentaries, kudos to ABS-CBN: despite all its troubles, it continues to be recognized abroad for producing world-class stories as three of its documentaries were honored in the prestigious 2020 New York Festivals TV and Film Awards.

ABS-CBN’s DocuCentral: Local Legends episode about 74-year-old artist and environmentalist Ric Obenza, who dedicated his life restoring the forests in Davao, won a Silver World Medal, while another DocuCentral piece Alab (Ablaze), about the courage and camaraderie of Filipino volunteer firefighters, took home a Bronze World Medal in the Heroes category.

Completing the winners this year for ABS-CBN, which took home the most medals among media networks from the Philippines, is the episode Tao Po (Is Anybody Home?) by award-winning documentarist Jeff Canoy for the documentary series #NoFilter.

The piece, which won a Bronze World Medal in the Human Concerns category, revolves around the life of a mother caring for her daughter diagnosed with Down Syndrome. This is the first international award

for #NoFilter since its launch in 2019. Five ABS-CBN documentaries were also named as finalists in the competition, including HIV Rising; Local Legends: Glass Sculptor, about glass artist Ramon Orlina; Invisible, a documentary on mental health; and two more documentaries from Jeff Canoy: Ang Babae ng Balangiga (The Woman of Balangiga) and Tigdas for the now-onhiatus program Red Alert.

ABS-CBN has won several times in the New York Festivals in recent years, including Gold World Medals for the “Elsa and Sarah” TV spot of ABS-CBN Creative Communications Management in 2019, and the acclaimed Di Ka Pasisiil (Never Shall Be Conquered) documentary by Canoy and Chiara Zambrano in 2018.

In a post on Instagram, Canoy dedicated his latest win to the subjects of his winning documentary.

“This one’s for Nanay Anna and Candy. Here’s to more stories that shine a light on persons with different needs. And for us to be kinder to one another,” he said.

The New York Festivals Best TV and Film Awards aims to honor content in all lengths and forms from over 50 countries, with a jury composed of broadcast and film leaders from around the world.

ABS-CBN wins in New York Festivals

DURING this time of community quarantine, everyone I know is either watching popular K-drama series or the action-laden extravaganza Extraction on Netflix, or the beautifully shot but gravitas-lacking Hollywood. I am, however, begging everyone to watch The Innocence Files.

The Innocence Files is a Netflix docu-series that puts the focus on different false convictions in the United States. We meet Franky Carillo, who was just 16 years old when police arrested him for murder. Then there’s Kennedy Brewer, a man sentenced to death for the assault and murder of his ex-girlfriend’s three-

year-old daughter. Chester Hollman was 21 when he was stopped as a suspect of a nearby murder just because his car looked similar to the car identified by eyewitnesses.

All of them are now free thanks to The Innocence Project, a New York-based nonprofit founded by lawyers Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld in the 1990s.

And now, all three men are reflecting on the incidents that led to their cases and wrongful convictions, painting a terrifying picture of America’s corrupt and unreliable criminal justice system.

The docu-series was gripping with each episode.

And educational too, as flaws in evidentiary processes such as bite marks (famously used to convict serial killer Ted Bundy) or eye witnesses are exposed. But what’s most terrifying is the case of Hollman which saw a conniving prosecutor and police detectives braying to convict him, even to the extent of hiding evidence that will ultimately lead to his innocence.

It can be a difficult watch as we are always faced with sensational tales of abuse of power by the persons of authority almost every single day in the news especially here in the Philippines, but everyone

B5

B6 Friday, June 5, 2020

The Bellevue Resort Bohol adapts to the new normal

SM FOUNDATION DONATES COVID-19 TEST KITS TO MANDALUYONG CITY. Mandaluyong Mayor Menchie Abalos receives the donation of COVID-19 test kits from SM Foundation, turned over by SM Supermalls’ Ian Mathay. The 200 test kits worth close to PHP5M, is good for 2,400 tests and is in support of wider access to testing. This forms part of SM Foundation’s donation efforts of over P270M for hospitals and local governments to support the country’s fight against COVID-19. #SMCares

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N preparation for the gradual opening of the hotel, The Bellevue Resort – Bohol has continuously strengthened its precautionary measures to ensure a safe and healthy environment for its guests and employees.

With the resort’s “new normal” initiatives, The Bellevue Resort has been recognized as the model establishment in the province of Bohol as it was the first to strictly implement these safety measures.

They recently released a video showcasing what future guests can expect during their visit at the resort. Ultimately the resort’s goal is to promote and to restore confidence for tourism in the province.

This private sanctuary is situated along the serene shores of Doljo, Panglao, Philippines. An exclusive 5-star resort in Bohol placing emphasis on your safety, comfort and privacy.

As the province of Bohol has been recently acknowledged asthe model for “new normal” due to its successful response against COVID-19 and being one of the top tourist destinations in the country, the government is considering the tourism sector in Bohol to gradually reopen its doors in the coming months if the situation improves.

The Bellevue Resort’s outbreak readiness and response procedures outline the basics of infection prevention and control in a hotel setting based on the guidelines set by the World Health Organization and the Department of Health. The resort’s precautionary measures emerged with stronger protocols to reduce risk and also led the way to innovation and digital transformation.

Hygiene and sanitation, Physical distancing protocols at the entrance, front desk and elevators, Thermal screening of all guests, visitors and employees is done upon entry and sanitizers are available across all guest contact areas.

Guests and visitors are required to fill out health declaration forms.

All employees are required to wear face mask, disposable gloves, face shield and other PPE. Foot bath and sanitizer station in all points of entry Disinfection of luggage and bags is done before allowing entry in the premises.

Luggage trolleys are disinfected after use. Key cards are sanitized before issuing to guests.

Vehicles are sanitized using top of the line disinfecting solution.

Sanitation kits are available in all vehicles (alcohol, sanitizer and tissue paper Frequent cleaning and disinfecting of public areas and all ‘high touch’ surfaces, including elevator buttons are done every hour.

All public washrooms are equipped with hand sanitizer. Liquid soap and toilet paper are adequately available.

Disinfection of ATM machines located outside the hotel is included in the hygiene and sanitation program.

Guestrooms undergo rigorous cleaning and disinfecting using ultra-violet light sanitation device and NASA – level, high – grade, food – safe Hygiene Pro solution.

Rooms are equipped with individual disinfecting kit using eco – friendly, WHO – listed, USFDA- approved D-125 disinfecting solution.

Stringent kitchen hygiene practices and sanitation standards are in place and are monitored strictly.

On May 26, 2020, the Department of Tourism issued certification to The Bellevue Resort that certifies the resort met the qualifications and standards prescribed as Covered Accommodation Establishment under Section 4 of the Administrative Order No. 2020-001B.

“Pantawid Ng Pag-Ibig” aids more than 750K families, gears up for 2nd phase to cross 1 Million mark

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S Filipino families continue to struggle with the loss of jobs across different industries, ABSCBN Foundation (AFI) now moves to the second phase of the “Pantawid ng Pagibig” campaign with the aim of reaching a million families by the end of August 2020.

With the support of its sponsors and partners, the said campaign of ABS-CBN and AFI has raised over P400 million in cash donations and pledges as of May 31.

To date, the project has fed over 750,000 Filipino families in the National Capital Region (NCR) and nearby provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.

The cash was used to purchase food and basic necessities such as rice, canned goods, noodles, biscuits, milk, coffee, shampoo, soap, detergent, and vitamins. Also part of the campaign was the distribution of hot meals to families in need and frontliners in hospitals and partner cities, as well as distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and hygiene kits to over 80 hospitals and frontliner organizations in NCR and various provinces.

AFI managing director Susan Afan expressed her gratitude to the network and its many donors. “Because of ABS-

CBN and its partners, working hand in hand with us, we were able to scale up and help thousands of families. So it was extremely successful,” she said.

The target of the second phase is to encourage individual donors to donate at least Php 100 or USD 2 which could feed one family. It will focus on individuals, ordinary Filipinos being able to help other Filipinos. “We’re really counting and hoping that 10 million Filipinos will join us in our fight against hunger,” Afan shared.

To do this, the foundation plans to partner with digitally inclined businesses like financial technology companies and ride-hailing apps that could provide their users the option and convenience of donating through their mobile gadgets.

Initial partners include GCash, Lazada, and HSBC. It also intends to work with artists, communities, religious and non-religious organizations, and other private companies that can encourage their employees, members, and more individuals to support this endeavor.

“COVID isn’t just the enemy here.

We’re also fighting against hunger and unemployment, Filipinos not being able to put food on their families’ tables,” Afan said.

According to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) early May, around 4.2 million Filipino families (16.7%) experienced hunger at least once in the past three months due to lack of food. This is nearly double the 8.8% (2.1 million families) involuntary hunger survey in December 2019.

“With as little as Php 100, you can help feed a family with rice and a simple viand. If we can invite other equally able friends or family members to do the same, we can save a lot of people from hunger,” Paul Mercado, head of AFI marketing department said.

“Pantawid ng Pag-ibig” started last March when the government first implemented the enhanced community quarantine to control the spread of COVID-19. The Lopez group of companies, which includes ABS-CBN, provided the seed money with a donation of Php 100 million.

The initiative was launched to complement the relief efforts of Local Government Units during this health crisis. The members of the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid (SNPP) also assisted in the distribution.

ABS-CBN Foundation accepts donations through bank deposits to ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc - Sagip Kapamilya bank accounts: BPI Peso Account 3051-11-55-88, Metrobank Peso Account 636-3-636-08808-1, Security Bank Peso Account 000003312430-0, BDO Peso Account 0039301-14199, and BDO Dollar Account 103930081622. Donations are also accepted through ABS-CBN Foundation website, Cebuana Lhuillier, PayPal, Pass it Forward, GCash, Lazada, and HSBC. For more information, visit www. pantawidngpagibig.com.

More stores now open in Araneta City

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HETHER you’re craving for sumptuous treats or planning to start a home improvement project, Araneta City now has many stores open and ready to provide your essential needs!

For the foodies, there are dozens of dining options open to satisfy your appetite. If you’re looking for some Filipino favorites, Max’s Restaurant and Cafe Adriatico in Gateway Mall or Barrio Fiesta in Ali Mall might be perfect for you. For international flavors, there’s Taco Bell in Cyberpark 1, Pizza Hut in Cyberpark 2, Tokyo Tokyo in Ali Mall, and Sachi and Gloria Maris in Gateway Mall to please your palate. Dairy Queen is also open to cater to your sweet tooth. But if fast food is more your style, Popeye’s in Ali Mall and McDonald’s in the New Frontier Theater Arcade are also serving some well-loved fares.

For those looking for refreshing drinks to help cool off amid the summer heat, Starbucks Coffee, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and Macao Imperial Tea are open in Gateway Mall.

Tim Hortons in New Frontier Theater Arcade is also ready to fulfill your craving for coffee and some delectable snacks.

If you’re planning to start some home improvement projects and repairs while quarantining at home, Handyman in Ali Mall is open. Japan Home Center and Daiso Japan, both in Farmers Plaza, are also complete with various imported knick knacks to spruce up your abode. For those with a green thumb, Farmers Garden is stocked with supplies for your gardening needs.

Malls within Araneta City are expected to resume normal business operations by June 1, but other essential services such as groceries, money remittance services, banks, and wet markets continue to operate to serve their customers.

“We are eager to welcome people here in Araneta

City,” Antonio Mardo, Senior Vice President for Operations of Araneta City said. “More and more stores are now open to provide essential items and services. We have also put in place measures that are in line with the government’s guidelines to make sure that our customers’ health and safety are prioritized.”

All dining establishments provide take-out and/or delivery services and implement strict hygiene measures to ensure the health and safety of customers and employees.

Establishments within Araneta City are also encouraging shoppers to use contactless payment methods to limit physical interactions. Social distancing directives and disinfection procedures are also implemented in Araneta City in accordance with the government’s regulations.

For a complete list of open establishments in Araneta City and their operating hours, click this link: https://bit. ly/2yBDybW. Like and follow Araneta City on Facebook at facebook.com/AranetaCity.

Dusit Davao introduces new program and other ‘new normal’ initiatives

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S the entire country prepares to ease lockdown restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dusit Hotels and Resorts in Davao launches Dusit Care – Stay with Confidence program to ensure guests always feel safe and reassured.

The program, being rolled out at Dusit Hotels & Resorts worldwide including dusitD2 Davao and Dusit Thani Residence Davao, involves going beyond enhanced health and safety practices to deliver stay and dining experiences that facilitate social distancing while providing additional convenience, experience and value.

It includes the introduction of new facilities, services and operating procedures across five distinct dimensions: Flexible Stays, Safety & Well-being, Local Experience, Technology, and Dusit Care Kits.

To limit long lines and offer added convenience for guests, Flexible Stays offer flexible check-in times, while breakfast will be available at any time of the day.

Safety & Well-being will see both properties enhance their already stringent health and safety practices, which include frequent sanitization of all rooms and public areas, availability of social distancing floor markers and hand santizers in key areas, temperature checks and sanitation mats upon arrival, disinfection of guest transport after every use, mandatory travel and history checks upon check-in, provision of appropriate space in restaurants, and more measures designed to protect the health and safety of guests, customers and employees.

The staff are required to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ranging from gloves, face masks and face shields at all times. Key employees and management are also trained frequently on virus protection and control procedures based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

For meetings and events, capacity for function rooms and ballrooms will follow Davao City’s government guidelines which

is now set to a maximum of 25 persons. Healthy menu options will be available through live cooking stations or individual plated portions with dedicated food handlers.

For Local Experience, Dusit is partnering with the finest local culinary specialists and craftspeople so guests can enjoy the best of local foods and souvenirs without having to leave the comfort of the hotels.

To enable contactless and efficient service, Dusit is also implementing new Technology to allow for online check-in and check-out, online payments, and installing digital menus in its various outlets. Guests who are checked-in are also able to access the StayPlease app through their mobile phones via a QR code on their in-room IPTVs and to request various services such as laundry, room service and housekeeping while minimizing contact. Flexible meeting and conference equipment, and property-wide high-speed internet, ensure guests can always remain connected.

To offer additional peace of mind, a Dusit Care Kit will be placed in every guest room. Each pack will include hand sanitizer, a face mask, and antibacterial wipes so guests can explore Davao’s various destinations with confidence.

“The past few months have been challenging but we are looking forward to welcoming back guests as soon as we are allowed. The health and safety of guests remain our top priority which is why we have been very busy preparing the properties.

We want our guests to stay with confidence when they book with us,” explains Christopher Kuch, Resident Manager of dusitD2 Davao, Dusit Thani Residence Davao and Dusit Thani Lubi Plantation Resort.

“For now, Dusit Thani Lubi Plantation Resort will remain temporarily closed but can be opened to exclusive and private events and weddings of up to 50% of the resort capacity, based on the guidelines issued by the province of Davao de Oro,” adds Kuch.

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

Berry demands public apology from USOPC

BusinessMirror

Friday, June 5, 2020

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, A RACEHORSE, ‘OBSERVES’ PHYSICAL DISTANCING

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MERICAN hammer thrower Gwen Berry demanded a public apology from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) in light of the organization’s response to nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd.

In a letter to athletes addressing widespread demonstrations across the country, USOPC Chief Executive Sarah Hirshland said the organization “stands with those who demand equality and we want to work in pursuit of that goal.”

Hirshland said the USOPC “absolutely condemns the systemic inequality that disproportionately impacts black Americans in the US” and that she felt a “sense of despair” at the situation after Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis.

While Hirshland praised Berry, who raised a clenched fist in protest at racial inequality in the US after winning gold in the women’s hammer at Lima 2019, and Race Imboden for their admirable decisions to be an “active citizen” when demonstrating at the Pan American Games, the USOPC placed both on 12-month probation.

The USOPC also warned that others who make similar stands will be given harsher sanctions.

Berry, who said the decision from the USOPC cost her $50,000 in sponsorship earnings, first called for a written apology from the USOPC before later calling for the organization to publicly apologize to her.

“I want an apology letter...mailed...just like you and the IOC [International Olympic Committee] MAILED ME WHEN YOU PUT ME ON PROBATION,” Berry, who represented the US at the Rio 2016 Olympics, said in response to Hirshland tweeting her letter to athletes.

Berry’s reply was met with considerable support on Twitter, with some suggesting the letter from Hirshland demonstrated hypocrisy from the USOPC. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Berry said she had been subjected to death threats after her podium protest at Lima 2019 and warned incidents such as the death of Floyd would continue unless there were fundamental changes to the US system.

“The system has been corrupt for a very long time. I know that in my lifetime, there probably won’t be too much change,” Berry said. “The police act like this because of the system. The President [Donald Trump] acts like this because of the system. I feel like that’s the thing people need to realize.

“Until everyone gets on one accord, we’re going to keep seeing these things happen. We have to burn down the system,” she added.

There has been more than a week of protests across the US and beyond since Floyd’s death, for which now-fired white police officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with third-degree murder.

Footage of the incident shows Floyd, an African-American, pleading with police that he was unable to breathe as Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, even after Floyd lost consciousness. Insidethegames

Sports JOCKEY Tyler Gaffalione rides the horse named for Dr. Anthony Fauci (inset) from the paddock to the track at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, on Wednesday. AP

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RACEHORSE named for Dr. Anthony Fauci reached the finish line at a safe enough distance from others that would have made his namesake proud.

Fauci the two-year-old colt finished a distant second to a horse named Prisoner and was well ahead of third-place Indoctrinate in his much-anticipated debut Wednesday at Belmont Park. In a sport known for topical names, Fauci is the first of a series of horses inspired by the coronavirus pandemic and the latest tribute to the respected director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Social Distancing, Self Isolation, Flatten the Curve, Herd Immunity and No Spectators have also been registered with the Jockey Club.

Co-owner Phillip Antonacci picked the name Fauci in mid-March after the 79-year-old started doing daily coronavirus briefings from the White House. The Antonacci family, like Fauci, is Italian-American and from Brooklyn.

“We wanted to honor the service that he’s given to the whole world: beside Covid, fighting all the other infectious his whole life,” Antonacci said. “Throughout the whole thing, he seemed like a voice that knew what was going on and, without trying to be too

F1 CEO Chase Carey: Our sport is one which at times, we can’t have 2 meters between every individual on a team. AP

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ONDON—Formula One races won’t be canceled if a driver tests positive for the coronavirus or if a team withdraws, CEO Chase Carey said.

F1 wants to avoid a repeat of the season opener in Australia in March, which was canceled when the McLaren team withdrew after a staff member tested positive for the virus.

The season is now set to start with two races in Austria on July 5 and 12.

“A team not being able to race wouldn’t cancel the race. I don’t think I could sit here and lay out the consequences. But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not

F1 RACES GO ON, NO MATTER WHAT

lead to a cancellation,” Carey said on the F1 web site Tuesday. “If a driver has an infection, [teams have] reserve drivers available.”

F1 teams have a tougher time returning to competition than teams in many other sports because of the dozens of people who usually travel to a race and the regular international journeys involved.

Carey said team members will be tested for the coronavirus before they depart for a race and then every two days. Teams will live in a “bubble” system, likely with “sub bubbles” to keep people apart if they do different jobs, he added.

“Clearly we recognize our sport is one which at times, we can’t have 2 meters between every individual on a team,” he said. “When a car pulls into a pit and has to change four tires, there won’t be 2 meters between every individual.

We need to make sure we have procedures to

manage all those risks as soon as possible.”

Formula One will finally get under way with back-to-back races at the Austrian Grand Prix in July as part of an eight-race European swing.

The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg will host races on July 5 and 12, governing body FIA said in a statement on Tuesday.

The next race will be in Hungary on July 19 followed by consecutive races at the British GP at Silverstone on August 2 and 9 after the British government exempted elite sports from an upcoming quarantine on foreign visitors.

Further races are scheduled for Spain on August 16 and Belgium on August 30, with Italy completing the European swing on September 6.

“Over the past two months Formula One has been working closely with all partners, authorities, the FIA and the 10 teams to create a revised calendar that will allow a return to racing in a way that is safe,” the FIA said. “Due to the ongoing fluidity of the Covid-19 situation internationally, the details of the wider calendar will be finalized in the coming weeks.”

There will be no spectators allowed to attend, although there may be later in the year if health conditions allow it.

“It is currently expected that the opening races will be closed events,” the FIA said. “But it is hoped fans will be able to join events again when it is safe to do so.”

Four races have been canceled this season because of the coronavirus pandemic—the season-opening Australian GP, the Monaco GP, the French GP and the Netherlands GP. F1 remains hopeful of holding 15 to 18 of the scheduled 22 races by rearranging the six that were postponed and finishing the season in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi in December.

“I want to thank every promoter and partner for their support and ongoing commitment to Formula One,” Carey said. “We know the return of Formula One will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is excited about kicking off the season in Austria.

“We are pleased to be starting...at our home circuit. It has been a huge effort by all involved and the two events at the Red Bull Ring will be a blueprint for all other races to follow,” Horner said.

“With the first eight races of the calendar now confirmed we have some positive momentum. As a race team and racers, we are excited to get going

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political, kind of calmed things and provided real data behind what was going on.”

Antonacci hoped to name a filly after Dr. Deborah Birx. In the end, though, Antonacci said he didn’t have horse good enough to name after the coordinator of the White House’s virus task force.

This colt who debuted Wednesday was named Fauci in part because his owners thought he’d be a special horse. Trainer Wesley Ward has seen that since the then-unnamed horse got to his barn in September.

“He’s a beautiful colt, done everything right on the track in the mornings, got a beautiful mind on him to where he’s not fractious or anxious and seems very, very intelligent,” Ward said. “He’s just a real easygoing guy. Not much bothers him.”

Antonacci has sensed a lot of hype surrounding the horse because of his name. Since the global pandemic began, Dr. Fauci’s likeness has been used for a plush doll, a bobblehead and a donut, and he has a namesake beer.

And now a thoroughbred.

“He’s a really, really good horse,” Ward said.

“Especially with the name that’s been assigned to him, you know that he’s got to live up to the name.”

Ward said depending on how Fauci comes out of his first race, he could be headed to Royal Ascot in England for the Coventry Stakes in mid-June.

Fauci’s debut coincided with the first live horse racing in New York since March and amid protests nationwide following death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Jockeys stood for a moment of silence to pay respects for those who died of Covid-19 and in tribute to medical professionals, then took a knee in the paddock prior to the first race as a show of solidarity with protesters in the wake of Floyd’s death.

“There’s a lot going on in the world right now and we wanted to show respect to all causes, and to all people, and to show that we here at [the New York Racing Association] support everybody,” jockey Reylu Gutierrez said. “Horse racing, in general, supports all ethnicities. Horse racing is a worldwide sport and it doesn’t matter what color you are, what religion you are, or what ethnicity you are. What matters in horse racing is that we are one.” AP again and put on a show for our fans.”

Bobby Epstein, president of the Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas, said he remains hopeful of hosting the US Grand Prix later this year. It was held on November 3 last year.

State orders from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott allow professional sports events to include fans at up to 25 percent of stadium capacity, but that has been complicated by local rules limiting public gatherings.

The US Grand Prix relies on fan attendance as a major factor in securing about $25 million in public money annually just to pay the F1 rights fee to hold the race.

“Very hopeful,” Epstein said. “There are still some uncertainties on what local ordinances will permit, in terms of attendance, but there should be more clarity over the coming month.”

The FIA and F1 are working together on a plan to have strict safety measures in place at the races.

As well as initially holding races without fans, other measures will be used to limit risk.

Any personnel attending a race will be tested for Covid-19 before traveling and must have a negative result. Regular testing will take place during the race weekend.

There will be a significant reduction in the numbers of people attending from teams, officials and suppliers. Those attending must stay within their own working group and not interact with other groups.

Travel restrictions will see charter flights used as much as possible and private transfers between venues, hotels and airports to prevent interaction with the general public.

Social distancing measures will be observed inside the paddock for activities such as the national anthem, the podium ceremony and media interviews. AP

U.A.A.P. EYES JANUARY 2021 OPENING FOR SEASON 83

By Ramon Rafael Bonilla

HE University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) is officially looking at a January 2021 opening for Season 83.

But the proposed return of the country’s most prestigious collegiate league isn’t cast in stone.

Executive Director Rebo Saguisag made the announcement on Thursday but stressed the league would take a flexible stance that hinges on the progress in the global fight against Covid-19.

“Nothing is final,” Saguisag said. “Everything is on the table. We are not in a position to make the final decision.”

The UAAP abruptly canceled Season 82

last March 14 when the whole of Luzon—and practically the entire country—was under enhanced community quarantine.

The lockdown forced the postponement or cancellation of all activities because of the threat of contamination from the deadly virus.

Saguisag and the UAAP Board of Managing Directors would continue to explore all possible options to keep the league back on its feet.

“We live in abnormal times,” he said.

Also on top of the UAAP’s priorities is how to formulate return-to-training protocols for the athletes of the eight-member schools.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases relaxed the lockdown to a general community quarantine but still prohibits

mass gatherings, including indoor sports tournaments and competitions.

“The Board of Managing Directors is tasked to create recommendations, which will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval,” Saguisag said. The managing directors are the sports directors while the board of trustees are the university presidents of the UAAP. The UAAP traditionally opens its season in July, but this was moved to September when schools were tasked to open their academic years in August.

The Department of Education set the school opening on August 24 while the Commission on Higher Education scheduled a September 1 start of classes. Both will impose online methods of teaching.

“Ready na ba kayo marinig ang maganda kong boses [Are you ready to listen to my beautiful singing voice]? HAHAHA,” Laure said on her Twitter account.

Laure will also team up with Alina Bicar, against the tandem of Gel Cayuna and Ced Domingo in a “Complete the Lyrics” challenge.

Kalei Mau will also sing as she plays the

guitar, while Panpan Pantino, Beauty Denila and Bia General will be ready to jam.

Former collegiate rivals Alyssa Valdez and Ara Galang will reconnect through the “GaDez Reacts” segment where they will react to some of their most iconic plays during their University Athletic Association of the Philippines days.

Also joining the program are Jema Galanza, Deanna Wong, beach volleyball standouts Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons and AJ Pareja and Pemie Bagalay.

Donations could be sent to Ryan Sordan through BPI bank account 8069 0632 77, GCash at 0917-5003390 and PayMaya at 09175003390.

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AMERICAN hammer thrower Gwen Berry calls for “burning down the system” to eliminate racism. AP

Volleyball stars display talent in variety show

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HE country’s volleyball idols will showcase their off-court talents online in the Serve As One Variety Show.

A fund-raising campaign for volleyball

personnel, the show—presented by Volleyball Community Gives Back PH—is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. on Friday over ABS-CBN Sports web site, ABS-CBN Sports Facebook Page and ABS-CBN

Sports YouTube Channel.

Eya Laure, one of the best young open spikers in the country today, will be singing in the program.

Motoring BusinessMirror

B8 Friday, June 5, 2020

A bounce back peering from the horizons

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HILE the auto industry continues to reel from the horrendous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, there suddenly comes a golden opportunity for a bit of a bounce back peering from the horizons.

It is basically government-made, yes, but hasn’t it been said since time immemorial that a public-private partnership is innate in every democratic environment?

In this case, public here is the government and private the corporations/companies.

I refer to the government’s bold new protocol of allowing, even partially, the opening of commerce in Metro Manila and several parts of the country.

The virulent virus remains a lethal threat, indeed, but risks have to be taken if a total economic collapse is to be honestly averted. If we need to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, then let’s do it. Let us work again—and leave everything to God. Nearly four months of virtual economic inactivity has made a major dent on business operations nationwide that it’s about time we recalibrated our approach to the

situation as a result of the crippling coronavirus scourge.

Safety and health concerns have been put in place by our wellmeaning leaders and, my golly, we just have to believe in them. And, hopefully, by God’s grace, we will pull through.

And so, again, what did the government tell us?

Our work force, while they are virtually “forced” to report for work (many others are simply just too willing to come back amid the pangs of hunger bedevilling the family), must be provided with shuttle vehicles to bring them to their places of work and next deliver them back home after office hours.

I couldn’t see a better deal than this.

This is where our car companies could come in.

They must now be aggressive in pushing for strategies to offer juicy contracts to companies in need of vehicles for their employees.

But for this to be realized, the government must exert extra effort to make companies follow the justifiable order to provide transportation services to employees and all manpower needed to resume normal operations—by hook or by crook, if need be.

Even if only 90 percent of our companies in manufacturing, services and food supply chains, etc.

would heed the government-mandated rule, I’m sure the year will still end with smiles painted in everyone’s faces.

In short, it’s a win-win situation that even the virus could not vex.

New BMW warranty

SINCE June 1, all brand-new vehicles sold by SMC ACDC dealers will be adopting the five-year or 200,000-kilometer warranty. This warranty covers all mechanical and electrical components.

Touted as the industry-leading warranty for the premium vehicle segment, new customers can take advantage of the affordable costs of BMW ownership, coupled with the peace of mind that this program brings. BMW’s Five-Year Warranty is also transferable when the vehicle is sold.

3 new BMWs

ON display now at showrooms are new BMW models, namely the BMW 520i Sport (P4,290.00), X3 xDrive20d Business (P3,990.00) and the BMW Z4 (P5,990.00).

The 520i Sport is a 2.0-liter TwinPower Turbo four-cylinder gasoline engine that produces 184 hp and 290 N-m of torque.

The BMW X3 xDrive20d Business is also a 2.0-liter BMW TwinPower Turbo four-cylinder, diesel engine that generates 190 hp and

Ford introduces new Everest Sport variant Story by Randy S. Peregrino

400 N-m of torque.

The Z4, first introduced in June 2019, is a 3.0-liter BMW TwinPower Turbo six-cylinder gasoline engine, 387 hp, and 500 N-m of torque—47 more horsepower than the regular Z4 M40i.

All of these new BMW vehicles come with a five-year or 200,000-kilometer warranty, whichever comes first.

“We are very excited to bring these new products and share the improvements we’ve made for our customers and aspiring BMW owners. Not only are we offering more options in terms of vehicles, but we are also making sure that we come up with services that make the whole BMW experience as enjoyable as it can be,” said Spencer Yu, the president of SMC Asia Car Distributors Corp.

Honda halts 4 operations

LAWYER Louie Soriano, the vice president for sales of Honda Cars Philippines, writes to say four Honda outlets will close on June 30. His statement: “In light of the closure of Honda’s four dealerships in the northern part of Metro Manila, namely Honda Cars Fairview, Honda Cars Marikina, Honda Cars Marcos Highway, and Honda Cars Kalookan effective June 30, 2020, Honda Cars Philippines Inc. [HCPI] expresses

its regrets as these dealerships have been valued partners in contributing to Honda’s local operations over the past number of years.

“HCPI values its customers and remains committed in ensuring customer satisfaction. HCPI reassures the public that the existing dealerships in Metro Manila as well as nearby provinces will be able to sufficiently service customers that may be impacted by the closure of these dealerships and continue to provide both sales and after-sales service for customers in these areas.

In addition, mobile service facilities will also be set up in strategic locations to address basic and more immediate customers’ assistance in the aforementioned affected areas.

“Notwithstanding the closures, HCPI currently stands at 34 dealerships nationwide. Customers can reach us at [632] 8-857-7240 for any queries or clarifications.”

PEE STOP The final word comes again from Nadinne C. Capistrano, who wrote to say that Toyota Motor Philippines is providing free vehicle interior sanitation for customers up to June 16. The BactakLenz, says Nadinne, is an antibacterial treatment proven to eliminate 99.99 percent of bacteria, molds and fungi inside the vehicle which can cause allergy and other health concerns. See story at bottom of page, left.

Resumption of work on Skyway Extension gains ground

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ORD Philippines has expanded its SUV lineup with the recent introduction of the new Everest Sport as an additional variant to the best-selling nameplate. Launched digitally via online conference, the new Everest Sport features an enhanced design and a myriad of driver-assist technologies.

“The new Everest Sport supports the Everest’s position as one of the safest and most capable SUVs in the market today,” said Ford Philippines Managing Director PK Umashankar. “We are confident that the new Ford Everest Sport will set another standard for midsize SUVs in the market with its design and technology that match various needs and lifestyles,” he added.

Prominent outside is the latest Everest variant unique black body accents such as a new mesh grille design, an embossed EVEREST hood badge, gloss black painted wheels along with side mirrors, black tailgate applique, and a “SPORT” decal on the liftgate. Moreover, the LED projector headlamps, daytime running lights, and 20-inch alloy wheels are also standard.

Inside, exclusive to the new Everest Sport is a unique blue stitching accent around the steering wheel, dashboard, leather seats, center, console, and door trims. Other standard features

The new Everest Sport variant with unique black trims all over.

are eight-way power driver seat function, smart keyless entry with push-button start, and a power liftgate with hands-free function. There’s also the 8-inch LCD Touchscreen, Sync 3 with Apple Carplay and Android Auto connectivity, two USB ports, and 10 speakers.

Motivation comes from a 2.0-liter Turbodiesel engine dishing out 177hp and 420 N-m of maximum torque. It is mated to Ford’s latest 10-speed automatic transmission with SelectShift. As for safety and convenience, standard features are

Ford Philippines

Cruise Control, Electronic PowerAssist Steering (EPAS), Rear View Camera, Rear Parking Sensors, and Electronic Stability Control with Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), and Roll Stability Control. All that along with seven air bags including side, curtain, and driver knee air bags.

The new Everest Sport is priced at P1.868 million. Colors available are Absolute Black, Aluminum Metallic, Arctic White, and Deep Crystal Blue (new and exclusive to the Ford Everest Sport). Customers who will

reserve the new Everest Sport on or before May 31, 2020, will get a free three-year scheduled service plan.

Enhanced Everest Titanium lineup

Meanwhile, Ford also introduced new feature upgrades to its Everest Titanium series for a safer and more convenient driving experience. Both the 2.0L Bi-Turbo Titanium+ 4x4 AT and Everest 2.0L Turbo Titanium 4x2 AT now come with LED projector headlamps. A high-mount USB feature is also added for the 4x4 variant with no price increase.

Free vehicle interior sanitation for Toyota owners

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S Toyota Motor Philippines’s way of welcoming its valued customers back to its dealerships, TMP is now offering free vehicle interior sanitation for customers who will have their vehicles serviced from May 11 to June 16, 2020.

This “Welcome Back” promo covers the use of Toyota BactakLenz, an antibacterial treatment proven to eliminate 99.99 percent of bacteria, molds and fungi inside the vehicle which can cause allergy and other health concerns. Based on medical research and studies, Sage Oil, which is one of its active ingredients, is found to be effective in reducing the spread of common colds and influenza. It can also eliminate cabin odor and foul smell. Other main ingredients are herbal extracts which are nontoxic and environment friendly and is, therefore, safe to use inside the vehicle.

The treatment is applied using a misting system, and leaves a slight pine scent after it is applied. While the main ingredients are nontoxic, part of the sanitation process is to let the mist subside for 10 to 15 minutes before the vehicle is turned over to the customer. Its effectiveness can last up to three (3) months. Toyota owners will be entitled to one free Toyota BactaKlenz Vehicle Interior Sanitation Treatment when they avail of any or a combination of the following services at participating Toyota dealer outlets during the promo period: Periodic Maintenance (PM), General Service (GS), and Body & Paint (BP).

TMP recognizes that care service is a must at this time to ensure one’s safety and peace of mind when riding a vehicle. For further details on this promo, customers can visit: https://toyota.com.ph/ promos/bactaklenz.

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AN Miguel Corp. (SMC) yesterday said construction of the P10-billion Skyway Extension project is moving at a steady pace with safety protocols in place following the government’s go-signal to resume work last May 15.

SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon Ang said that as part of the company’s efforts to get back on track with construction of the project following a 60-day delay due to the enhanced community quarantine, the Skyway Alabang Toll Plaza Southbound Entry will be closed from May 31 to June 15.

Because of the temporary closure, a new traffic scheme will be implemented with the help of the Muntinlupa Traffic Management Bureau (MTMB).

Private cars are advised to take Filinvest Entry and/or National Road to Susana Heights Entry, while trucks and buses are instructed to take National Road to Susana Heights Entry.

“We are happy to report that despite the long delay due to the ECQ and the limited work force deployed, we’ve been gaining a lot of ground in terms of construction these past two weeks. Workers are also back at the site and earning income for their families. We’re asking for the public’s continued cooperation and kind understanding for any delays our work might cause,” Ang said.

Skyway’s contractor, EEI Corp., has strictly enforced safety, sanitation and other health measures at the work site. These include: fol-

lowing the basic rules of social distancing, the use of face masks and gloves, and providing hand sanitation and disinfecting facilities, on top of on-site housing, for workers.

“These health and safety measures will remain in place while we work on delivering this critical project to the public,” Ang added.

The project’s original target completion date was December 2020, but the two-month delay is likely to push this back a little.

San Miguel Infrastructure, SMC’s concession holder for the Metro Manila Skyway, said that the closure of the Skyway Alabang Toll Plaza Southbound Entry will make way for bored piling works at the southbound section, starting 6 a.m. on May 31 until June 15.

At the resumption of the construction, Skyway management also closed about 700 meters of Lane 3 of the Skyway At-Grade section northbound from the old Alabang Entry Plaza. The one-month closure enabled workers to install scaffoldings to build the columns for Pier 34- 49.

The P10 billion project will extend Skyway from Susana Heights in Slex to Sucat and back, and will provide a direct access to the elevated section of the Skyway. With the direct access to the elevated section of the Skyway, the project is expected to ease traffic to and from the south.

The project will also increase the number of lanes on both directions to five northbound and four southbound.