BusinessMirror March 04, 2021

Low bank lending data dims rate hike option

By Bianca Cuaresma

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HE two-month contraction in the country’s bank lending numbers is likely to kill any hopes of a rate hike to curb inflation in the near future, a private economist said.

In his recent analysis after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported the January credit contraction, ING Bank economist Nicholas Mapa said with low capital formation and bank lending in the red, the prospect of tightening monetary policy will “likely be low on the list of priorities at the Central Bank.”

Mapa said, “A rate hike at this stage will all but ensure that

DEMONSTRATORS with placards lie on the railway tracks in an attempt to disrupt train service during a protest against a military coup in Mandalay, Myanmar, February 17, 2021. In the month since the February 1 coup, the mass protests occurring each day are a sharp reminder of the long and bloody struggle for democracy in a country where the military ruled directly for more than five decades.

Story on A5. AP

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bank lending stays in contraction and for a much longer time as any signal from BSP that monetary support is on its way out of town would usher in financial market panic last seen in 2018.”

Data from the BSP released Tuesday afternoon showed bank lending contracted by 2.4 percent in January.

January was the tenth consecutive month that bank lending has slowed despite BSP’s aggressive efforts to lower interest rates and boost liquidity conditions.

In comparison, the Philippines’s bank lending growth rate was at 13.6 percent in March 2020.

Bank lending first collapsed See “Bank,” A2

MAPA: “A rate hike at this stage will all but ensure that bank lending stays in contraction and for a much longer time as any signal from BSP that monetary support is on its way out of town would usher in financial market panic last seen in 2018.”

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KEY RISKS TO RECOVERY’ 25 priority bills Ledac listed doable, says Salceda

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

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LEADER of the House of Representatives said Congress has enough time to pass the 25 items on the Common Legislative Agenda (CLA) of Congress and the Executive Branch before the election period.

House Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said majority of these bills were already approved by the lower chamber on the final reading.

“We have enough time to complete all our legislative priorities.

We should not worry about the coming election season. There’s plenty of session time between today and COC [certificate of candidacy] filing. We are getting paid by the people to work until end of term, so we should work until end of term. That’s what the supermajorities in both houses are for,” Salceda added.

Salceda said that his committee will urgently take up any measure in the CLA that is automatically referred to his panel.

WORKERS wearing protective masks against the coronavirus walk past empty outdoor dining tables at the Uptown Parade restaurant row in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, March 3, 2021. NONIE REYES

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By Bianca Cuaresma

HE rising costs of goods and unimproved mobility in the country are key risks that may hamper hopes of economic recovery for the country this year, an international credit watcher said.

In a webinar on Wednesday afternoon, S&P Global Ratings Senior Economist for the Asia-Pacific Vincent Conti said their expectations that the Philippines will recover this year from its 2020 recession are largely pinned on the resumption of consumer spending, especially toward the second half of the year.

However, the two emerging risks to the economy—which are inflation and low mobility—diSee “Inflation,” A2

CONTI: “If restrictions are in place much longer than what we’re currently seeing, that does put a big dampener on the growth prospects of the economy.”

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.5710

TIGHTER PUBLIC-PRIVATE LINKS IN COVID RESPONSE PITCHED

By Elijah Felice Rosales

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UBLIC and private leaders have agreed certain measures must be adjusted and specific policies pursued to improve the national Covid-19 response, especially now that the country is entering the vaccination phase.

Cosette Canilao, former executive director of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, on Wednesday said the government needs to reactivate its efforts in stringing together the public and private sectors in developing state hospitals. She shared such a move was initiated during her stint with the PPP

Center, but is now rejected as a primary option by the present administration.

The government under President Duterte has changed its style in building its infrastructure, as it shuns PPPs as a form of funding developments in favor of foreign lending and tax hikes.

During Canilao’s time as PPP Center chief, she said the government was exploring a project in which the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) was being studied for partnership with private firms.

Investors are considering the RITM as a possible developer See “PPP,” A2

CANILAO: “In government, there are certain regulations that we have to follow, secure approvals from not only the executive but at times the legislative sector. That’s the system that we have in place.” PPP.GOV.PH

SALCEDA: “We have enough time to complete all our legislative priorities. We should not worry about the coming election season.

There’s plenty of session time between today and COC [certificate of candidacy] filing.”

“As principal author of much of the CLA, I welcome the promotion of these bills by both Congress and the Executive. Everything is quickly moving. Just this week, the House committee on health approved the CDC bill, which I wrote personally. I thank the Congressional leadership and the Executive Branch for the trust,” he said.

“My assurance is that anything that has to go through my committee will be approved on time. In fact, all the tax measures in the CLA were already approved by my committee even before the Ledac set the deadline. So, on my end, things will move without delay,” he added.

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4554 n UK 67.7905 n HK 6.2616 n CHINA 7.5060 n SINGAPORE 36.5168 n AUSTRALIA 37.9728 n EU 58.7369 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9499

Source: BSP (March 3, 2021)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Thursday, March 4, 2021

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25 priority bills Ledac listed doable, says Salceda

Bank…

Continued from A1

into contraction territory in December by 0.7 percent. This was the system’s first lending decline in 14 years.

“Thus, despite the recent surge in consumer prices, BSP will hold off on the urge to hike policy rates in the near term and provide the economy much-needed support for as long as it can, knowing fully well that this inflation episode will fade once supply-side bottlenecks are addressed,” Mapa said.

The economist said the contraction in bank lending can be traced to weaker demand for loans as households and firms are likely putting off investment plans for now.

“Banks may have also turned averse to doling out funds given the increased level of risk in the market given the recession,” Mapa said.

The economist expects bank lending to remain in contraction territory for the next couple of months, with bad loans also likely edging higher as the recession takes root.

The BSP’s next monetary policy meeting is on March 25. This will be the second monetary policy meeting of the BSP for this year.

Following their announcement of another contraction in bank lending, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno reiterated the BSP’s readiness to deploy “appropriate measures” as needed in support of the recovery of the economy, consistent with its price and financial stability mandate.

Continued from A1

The lawmaker also said that the approval of new tax measures that have no impact on the broad population is crucial.

“The Senate, I understand, is hearing POGO taxes and taxes on offsite betting stations tomorrow. They will be considering the House versions as base versions.

I’m always ready to go on bicameral conference committee proceedings on these bills. They are short, so I expect the Senate to finish them quickly,” Salceda added.

The solon also hopes that the rest of the tax reforms could be completed this year.

“I think the real property valuation and assessment reform will be very critical to pass this year.

Together with the PPP Framework which I am writing in TWG right now, it will help us build infrastructure faster because we can solve right-of-way issues quicker,” Salceda added.

As for the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery Act (Guide), Salceda believes the bill will work best if the government will release the funds for credit programs under Bayanihan 2.

“The funds for government lending have not yet been released.

GUIDE will work best if that is released as soon as possible,” Salceda added.

The CLA includes 12 items slated to be enacted by June 2021.

These include GUIDE; the third and fourth packages of the government’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, or the Valuation Reform and Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation measures; amendments to the Public Service, Retail Trade Liberalization and Foreign Investments laws; Rural Agricultural and Fisheries Development Financing System Act; Creating a Medical Reserve Corps Act; Creating a Disease Prevention and Control Authority Act; Imposing Amusement Tax on Digital Platform and Offshore Betting Stations of Licensed Cockpits; Establishing the Tax Regime of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators; and Strengthening Local Government Participation in National Development by Increasing the Share of Local Government Units in the National Internal Revenue Taxes.

Of the 12, nine have Salceda as the principal author.

The other 13 bills, for enactment by December 2021, are:

• Creating a Department of Overseas Filipinos Act

• Creating a Department of Disaster Resilience Act

• Creating a Boracay Island Development Authority Act

• Creating a Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension of the Military and Uniformed Personnel Act

• National Land Use and Management Act

• Internet Transactions Act

• Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers Act

• National Housing Development Act

• Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act

• Modernizing the Bureau of Fire Protection Act

• Modernizing the Bureau of Immigration Act

• Amending/Repealing RA 10192, or the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016

• Reviving the Death Penalty

by Lethal Injection for Crimes specified under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

POPE Francis, white figure standing alone at center, delivers an Urbi et orbi prayer from the empty St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, March 27, 2020.

AP/ALESSANDRA TARANTINO

Pope to hold special mass for 500 years of PHL Christianity

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By Samuel P. Medenilla

OPE Francis will be holding a special mass in the Vatican this month for the celebration of the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines.

According to an article in CBCP News online, the pontiff will preside over the historic Eucharistic celebration at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican at 10 am on March 14, 2021.

Filipinos are invited to watch the event, which will be broadcast and livestreamed online.

Among those who will attend the mass are Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Cardinal Angelo De

Donatis, the pope’s vicar of Rome.

The last time Pope Francis held an event dedicated for Filipinos was in 2019, when he presided over a traditional Simbang Gabi (Night Mass).

The local celebration of the quincentennial of Christianity in the Philippines will officially start on April 4, 2021.

Each diocese is expected to mark the event with special activities, which focus on the theme: “Missio ad Gentes [Mission to the World].”

BIG DATA SHOWS STEEP RISE IN DOMESTIC ABUSE SEARCHES IN PANDEMIC Continued from A8

The data showed these tweets contracted by 4 percent, the third lowest. At the bottom of the rung were Singapore, which recorded a contraction of 40 percent, and India at 55 percent.

The report also noted that social-media posts that referenced misogyny, victim blaming and misconceptions reached 26 percent in the Philippines.

Social-media posts referencing justice, law and regulations

accounted for 38 percent in the Philippines, while NGO support and community support were at 22 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

The data showed social-media posts that referenced religion, tradition and caste, as well as mainstream and social-media roles in VAW, increased.

“The study clearly shows the crucial role digital platforms can play in helping address violence against women,” said Bjorn Andersson, UNFPA Asia-

Pacific regional director.

“It also underscores the urgent need to provide digital literacy skills to disadvantaged populations, to ensure access to potentially lifesaving online tools. Supporting women and girls impacted by the digital divide must be a priority for governments and partners as countries build back better in a post-pandemic world,” he explained.

The report focused on eight countries: Bangladesh,

India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The analysis spanned periods from September 2019 to November 2020 and covered about 20.5 million unique searches and 3,500 keywords on violence against women.

The report also obtained data from 2,000 posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and ShareChat and the Facebook pages and social-media posts of 32 service organizations.

Tighter public-private links in Covid response pitched Continued from A1

and manufacturer of vaccines frequently used in the Philippines.

“The public health system, when I was still with the PPP Center, was one of the things we were pushing then on how we can use PPP to improve our public health system,” Canilao explained in a webinar on public-private collaboration hosted by the Ateneo School of Government and the Ayala Corp.

“In the early days of my being with the PPP Center, we looked at the RITM, working with private partners, to manufacture vaccines and for common vaccines that we typically use here in the

Philippines, but that didn’t push through. Those are the things we should look at again, because we saw how the public sector can help in improving our social services,” she added.

Canilao reminded policymakers they need to involve the private sector in responding to these trying times, as relying solely on government measures may come up short due to bureaucratic red tape.

“In government, there are certain regulations that we have to follow, secure approvals from not only the executive but at times the legislative sector. That’s the system that we have in place,” Canilao said.

Angara weighs in

SEN. Juan Edgardo M. Angara agreed with Canilao’s assessment that government procedures, at times, hinder authorities from acting on pressing issues.

He said the Covid-19 Vaccination Program Act signed in February by the President may change the way things are carried out, particularly on the local government level. Angara cited, for one, the amendments introduced to the Local Government Unit Code and the Auditing Code to give localities the ability to make down payments for vaccine purchases.

“I think in the recently passed vaccination law, we had to amend

our LGU code and the auditing code because precisely we have to respond to these times,” Angara said.

“We had to adjust them because LGUs, for instance, were not allowed to make down payments for goods which have yet to be delivered. We know that vaccines have to be paid 50 percent in advance, [and] we had some frantic mayors and governors calling us up they might be sued [if they violate the law],” the lawmaker added.

Angara vowed the Senate, in coordination with the House of Representatives, will keep an eye on laws that need amending to improve the cooperation between the public and private sectors.

Inflation…

Continued from A1

rectly hinder the potential rise of consumer spending in the country.

S&P Global Ratings forecasts a 9.6-percent GDP growth for the Philippines for 2021.

For example, inflation has been rising quickly in the last few months due to supply-side pressures. In January, inflation breached the government target and hit a two-year high rate of 4.2 percent.

For February, the BSP forecast inflation to likely hit 4.7 percent. “[Pressures to inflation] are supply side, in the sense that they’re driven by food, pretty much pork and vegetables, and they are transitory but they do weigh on the disposable income that is left for households to spend on other types of consumption at a time when things are already being very difficult,” Conti said.

The economist also said that further extensions to movement, travel and operational restrictions due to the rising cases of Covid-19 in the country pose another key risk, based on their assessment.

“The pace of relaxation, if it stalls much further than what we’re currently seeing, is indeed a key risk for us. For instance mobility indicators have barely improved and restrictions continue to be in place much longer than we expected,” Conti said.

“That really is a downside risk given that from here on, the key drivers for the macro recovery that we are looking at would be the household spending with the lifting restrictions releasing pent-up demand and also improving employment outcomes,” Conti said.

“If restrictions are in place much longer than what we’re currently seeing, that does put a big dampener on the growth prospects of the economy,” he added.

Mobility indicators

THE BSP has recently added “mobility indicators” as a new measurement to track economic activity in the country, especially in relation to pandemic recovery.

In late January, BSP Governor Diokno said rough data show that the Philippines is among the slowest in the Asean-5 to regain its mobility in 2020.

As of December, the Philippines has the lowest mobility indicator followed by Singapore and then Thailand.

Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia are already back to pre-Covid mobility levels.

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The Nation BusinessMirror

Trillanes told: Battle is still far from over

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Department of Justice (DOJ) indicated on Wednesday that the government might consider other legal options to make former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV pay for the crime of rebellion in connection with the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

Justice Secretar y Menardo Guevarra made the assurance following a Court of Appeals (CA) decision that set aside the order issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City Branch 150 reviving the rebellion case against Trillanes.

The appellate court held that the DOJ failed to comply with the procedural rules in assailing the validity of the Makati RTC’s dismissal of the rebellion case on September 7, 2011, based on Proclamation 75, issued by former President Aquino granting amnesty to the opposition senator.

The CA pointed out that Makati RTC Branch 150 Presiding Judge Elmo Alameda committed grave abuse of discretion when he granted the DOJ’s omnibus motion to set aside the dismissal of the rebellion case against Trillanes by virtue of Proclamation 572 issued by President Duterte which revoked the grant of amnesty to Trillanes.

In seeking the reopening of the rebellion case against Trillanes, the DOJ held that the senator failed to prove that he actually applied to be granted amnesty

and that he expressly admitted his guilt to the crimes committed pertaining to Manila Peninsula takeover as required under Proclamation 75.

But the CA noted that the DOJ did not file an action for the annulment of, or for relief from the order of September 7, 2011, nor did it move for the issuance of a writ of certiorari to invalidate the said order.

The dismissal of the rebellion case, according to the CA, was merely assailed by the DOJ through an omnibus motion filed in the original case, which prayed for the issuance of a warrant of arrest and hold departure order against the petitioner.

But Guevarra noted that while the CA has set aside the Makati RTC’s order granting DOJ’s plea to reopen the rebellion case, it upheld the constitutionality of Proclamation 572.

He said this has given the government the opportunity to still pursue the rebellion case against Trillanes through other legal options.

“I have not received a copy of the decision. I have neither discussed the government’s move with the Solicitor General but based on what has been reported in the media, the same decision of the CA upheld the validity of the proclamation revoking the amnesty granted to [former] Senator Trillanes,” Guevarra said.

“If this is so, it opens a number of legal options to the government, and if I may say, the battle is certainly far from over,” he added.

House OKs measure banning use of billboards during typhoons

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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HE House of Representatives has endorsed for Senate approval the bill banning the use of billboards during typhoons.

This, after lawmakers, voting 205 affirmative, zero negative, and four abstentions, approved on third and final reading House Bill 7174, or the proposed Bawal Billboard Tuwing Bagyo Act. The bill states that the billboard operator will take down outdoor advertising materials within 12 hours following an official weather disturbance announcement of Typhoon Signal No. 1, or any other significant weather disturbance by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

Penalties will be imposed on billboard operators or any person who violates the provisions of the bill. A fine of not less than P300,000 or imprisonment of six months to one year will be imposed to the guilty party.

Deputy Speaker Bro. Eddie Villanueva and Rep. Domingo Rivera of CIBAC party-list, authors of the bill, said while a total ban on billboards would be economically unfeasible given the amount of

revenue and jobs that it generates, especially in the advertising field, a step forward in the regulation of billboards is the prohibition on its active use during a calamity or severe weather disturbance.

“Billboards are undeniably a mark of a progressing economy.

However, public safety should not be compromised. As our country is frequented by typhoons, strict regulation of billboard use must be done to safeguard people and properties,” Villanueva said.

HB 7174 indicates that it is the policy of the State to mitigate the risk of billboard-related incidents during typhoons; therefore, operations of billboards during weather disturbances must be banned for the safety of motorists and pedestrians.

The bill wants the prohibition to be effective for the entire duration of the typhoon. This includes tarpaulin-based billboards to be taken down, while electronic-based billboards shall be switched off.

“If there is a typhoon signal, even if it is still signal number 1, but accompanied by strong winds, it should be a standard operating procedure to all operators to bring down their billboards for the safety of people and their properties” Rivera, for his part, said.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, March 4, 2021 A3

Pasay City urged to ‘suppress’ spread of South Africa variant

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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CTA Research Fellow Fr. Nic a nor Au st r i aco on Wednesday expressed fears that the AstraZeneca vaccines expected to be delivered to the country today, Thursday, may have diminished efficacy against the B1351 (South Africa) Covid-19 variant, a development which he described as “most concerning.”

In an online forum, Fr. Austriaco urged the Department of Health (DOH) and the local government of Pasay to prevent the spread of the South Africa variant, saying it may sharply reduce the efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccines from 70 percent to 10 percent.

“If we do not eliminate the B1351

variant in the Philippines, then the 17 million doses of AstraZeneca that we have bought will be ineffective,” Fr. Austriaco cautioned.

He stressed, however, that there is still a window to eliminate the B1351 from circulation.

“I am hoping that Pasay can contain the spread. If the LGU [local government unit] can eliminate the B1351, then we are safe. Otherwise, we will have to talk about other options,” Fr. Austriaco said.

He added, “We would have to model the spread of the variants in the NCR [National Capital Region], even as he lamented that it is very challenging to manage the Covid-19 because we do not have adequate genome surveillance to truly determine the extent of the variants in the population.”

Seamless: Four LGUs link Covid contact tracing apps

By Roderick L. Abad

Contributor

@rodrik_28

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OR K ING together to achieve a seamless digital contact tracking system, the local government units (LGUs) of Valenzuela, Pasig and Antipolo have welcomed Mandaluyong in their joint efforts to integrate the technologies they use to detect the location of possible Covid-19 carriers in their respective jurisdictions.

Officially entering a Contact Tracing Net work Consortium Agreement with the three localities, the latter’s MandaTrack application is now interconnected with Valenzuela’s ValTrace, Pasig’s PasigPass, and Antipolo’s Bantay Covid-19.

With their collaboration, their local residents need not have to download separate QR codes used in their own city as they are registered and used in any of the other three LGUs included in the consortium agreement.

This initiative started with the digital contact tracing concept implemented by Valenzuela in its jurisdiction last October 5, 2020, which proved to be an efficient and effective way of seeing recent Covid-19 exposures and contacts of a patient.

It works by requiring all citizens to have their own ValTrace QR codes and for businesses to scan the QR codes of all visitors entering the establishments.

Currently, the ValTrace QR codes are used by the city for its VCVax Covid-19 Vaccination registration where the LGU continues to experience the benefit of having an existing database of its residents and provides for optimal targets for the vaccination registration.

ValTrace has been integrated with PasigPass since December 7, 2020 and Bantay Covid-19 since January 10, 2021.

With MandaTrack ’s official

merger with the three apps, the local chief executives of the participating cities are more hopeful that more LGUs will join their integrated digital contact tracing solutions.

“This is a good news, especially for Pasigueños who frequently go to Mandaluyong as they don’t need to download a new QR code or fill out contact tracing forms.... I commend Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian of Valenzuela for pioneering this, and also Mayor Andrea Ynares of Antipolo and Mayor Menchie Abalos of Mandaluyong. This is a big help for us to fight against Covid-19,” Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Ynares is more than happy with the consortium agreement and hopes that the move of the cities will be a model for other LGUs. She said: “It’s a good feeling to know that the spirit of bayanihan is very much alive…

May it serve as a model for the people how the cities of Mandaluyong, Valenzuela, Pasig, aand Antipolo work hand-in-hand.… I am hopeful that more will join us.”

Seeing the success of their partnership he first initiated, Gatchalian thanked Abalos for accepting their offer to link the contact tracing app used in Mandaluyong to their respective tracking systems meant to ease the travel and movement of their constituents within their jurisdictions.

“Now that our interlinking agreement grows, I believe that one day we will have a single QR code used all over the Philippines,” he said.

Abalos, for her part, reminded everyone to remain vigilant and observe the minimum health standards while the country is still under the threat of Covid-19.

“May the other LGUs in Metro Manila and nearby provinces be with us to have a solid cooperation, collaboration, and teamwork to strengthen our ties and campaigns against Covid-19,” she said.

“But estimates [indicate] that it will take 6 to 8 weeks for variants to become dominant. This is based on the experience of other countries in the world,” he said.

Fr. Austriaco also stressed that an additional booster shot of AstraZeneca is needed to fight off the Covid-19 variant first found in South Africa, “This means a person will need three doses of AstraZeneca vaccines instead of the normal two doses.”

Containment measures

PASAY City Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano said they are working overtime to contain the South Africa variant from spreading after it was detected in the city.

The three patients that were identified by the DOH, she said, have already recovered.

“Subalit ganun pa man ay pag-ibayuhin pa rin natin ang ating ginagawang pag-iingat at pagsasagawa ng ating daily EMI, habit para makatiyak tayo na hindi tayo madadapuan ng sakit na ito [Despite that, we should remain vigilant and strictly observe EMI habit, to make sure that we will not contract the virus],” Rubiano said in a television interview. EMI stands for “Ensure to wash your hands, Mask is a must. Implement physical distancing.”

Currently, 77 barangays are placed under localized lockdown, one barangay in total lockdown and only 210 households are under localized community quarantine.

As of March 3, 8,203 people were infected in the city. Of the number, 521 active are cases, 7,466 have recovered but claimed the lives of 216 people.

DAR widens urban farming program to emerging cities We are collaborating with other government agencies like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Public Works and Highways, local government units and even the military forces because we want to give our services to the farmers in a whole government approach.

BM

DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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HE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has implemented its urban farming program, Buhay sa Gulay, in Barangay Kawayan, Tacloban City in a bid to turn a 20-hectare idle land into a productive vegetable garden.

This is the first time that the project, which was first launched in Tondo, Manila last year, is implemented outside Metro Manila, according to DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones.

“This urban farming project aims to contribute in ensuring food security and encourage the people that they could still farm even in urban areas,” he said.

The program is in partnership with the DA and the local government of Tacloban, where a 1-hectare lot would be utilized for its initial phase.

“We will make idle lands become productive because the true essence of social justice is to make good use of lands, as they say, ang lupa ay buhay,” DAR Support Services Office Undersecretary Emily Padilla said for her part.

Castriciones was in Tacloban City as part of various activities in Eastern Visayas last Tuesday, March 2.

During the Eastern Visayas trip, Castriciones and other officials of the agency provided agrarian reform beneficiaries in the province a total of P48.23 million worth of support services projects and distributed

137.12 hectares of agricultural lands.

The DAR turned over the Sta. Cruz communal irrigation system (CIS), worth P25.43 million, to the local government of Barangay Sta. Cruz, Jaro, Leyte.

The said CIS is expected to improve farmers’ yield since it is estimated to service 116 hectares of lands.

Castriciones also noted that farmers in Barangay San Vicente, Matagob, Leyte was given an opportunity to have cheaper and easier access to transport their products in various markets with the construction of a P22.80-million San Vicente steel bridge implemented under the Tulay ng Pangulo Para sa Kaunlarang Pang-Agraryo.

During his visit, Castriciones also distributed a total of 137.12 hectares of lands to 88 landless farmers from the towns of Alangalang, Babatngon, Dagami, Dulag, Jaro, La paz, Pastrana and Tacloban City.

“We are collaborating with other government agencies like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Public Works and Highways, local government units and even the military forces because we want to give our services to the farmers in a whole government approach,” he said.

Tacloban City farmers also received various assistance from the DAR in the form of organizational development and strengthening livelihood training, farm machinery, and farm inputs.

Mayor Belmonte witnesses vax rollout at Quezon City hospitals

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S part of the national government’s vaccine rollout, health-care workers in one of Quezon City government’s local hospitals were inoculated with their first dose of the CoronaVac vaccines on Wednesday.

On Tueday, the Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH) received an initial 300 doses of the CoronaVac vaccines from the national government through the Department of Health. These were given

to 300 health-care workers who signed up for the program.

Only health-care workers aged 18 to 59 and in good health condition will be inoculated by their fellow QCGH doctors.

“This is a milestone in our Covid-19 response. We have begun the vaccination process starting with our health workers whose lives have been constantly at risk since the pandemic began last year,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said.

QCGH Director Joseph ine Sabando stated that most of its health-care workers were willing to be vaccinated. However, when the vaccine to be used was identified, some hesitated. But after attending their town hall meetings where they were presented with facts and studies, many doctors, nurses, and other medical staff changed their minds and registered for the vaccination.

“Since we are continuously ad-

dressing Covid-19 cases, Mayor Joy really convinced us to get vaccinated because this would protect us from infection by the virus. Also, seeing other doctors and nurses get vaccinated really helped a lot in convincing our own team to register,” Sabando said.

“With this vaccine, we are preventing moderate to severe cases among our health-care workers.

Once vaccinated, there will be almost complete protection from

hospitalization, intubation, even death,” Sabando said.

With the steady increase of Covid-19 cases and the confirmed presence of the Covid-19 variants in the country, Belmonte urged health-care workers to get the initial doses of CoronaVac vaccines since these have passed through all regulatory offices for safety and efficacy.

“I want our doctors and healthcare workers to be protected in any

way possible. This vaccine is the best vaccine right now considering that this is what is available to us,” Belmonte added.

The second dose of CoronaVac vaccines is expected to be delivered after 4 weeks.

Belmonte also visited East Avenue Medical Hospital, St. Lukes Medical Center-Quezon City, and National Kidney and Transplant Institute to observe and witness their vaccination program.

A4 Thursday, March 4, 2021 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DOLE chief: ‘No vaccine, no work’ policy illegal

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

T

HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) warned on Wednesday that companies that will implement a “no vaccine, no work” policy may

face possible sanctions Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III issued the warning after receiving reports that some companies are requiring their employees to be inoculated for novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) before they could return to work.

He explained the dismissal or termination of a worker for refusing to be vaccinated is considered illegal.

“It is not legal for employers to require the employee to get vaccination before they can enter the workplace.

It has no legal basis,” Bello said in an online news briefing on Wednesday.

The labor chief announced he would be issuing a new department order to protect workers from the said discriminatory policy.

Under the pending order, erring employers who will engage with the said practice will face administrative penalty for committing

illegal suspension or dismissal of their workers.

Currently, DOLE is still presenting the draft of the order to stakeholders to comment on its provision before it could be finalized.

On Monday, the Associated Labor Union (ALU) expressed alarm

Lawmaker pushes passage of zero waste lifestyle bill

Retail trade law amendments to take off steam from Cha-cha train–Drilon

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

T

HE immediate passage of the proposed amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act will boost economic recovery and remove the justification for Charter change in the House of Representatives, which wants to relax economic provisions in the Constitution, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said.

“The immediate passage of this law will remove the steam that powers the Cha-cha train in the House of Representatives,” Drilon said on Wednesday as the Senate plenary discussed Senate Bill 1840, or the proposed amendments to RA 8762.

The amendatory legislation seeks to further relax foreign restrictions by removing investment categories and setting an across-the-board minimum paid up capital investment equivalent of $300,000 in Philippine peso.

The retail trade law amendments is part of a trio of far-ranging reforms that Senate leaders have said would do far more to liberalize the environment for foreign investors than politically risky Charter changes. The other two are the amendments to the Foreign Investments Act and the 80-year-old Public Services Act. On Wednesday, as the chamber tackled the bill amending retail trade law, Drilon said that “by amending the Foreign Investments Act [FIA], further relaxing retail trade restrictions and amending the Public Service law, the Philippines will generate up to $30 billion in foreign direct investment [FDI] a year,” Drilon said.

“We are all bombarded with questions about the so-called economic charter change. Well, we do not need to be bothered by such talks because we can immediately better the investment climate,” Drilon said.

The proposed Charter change in the House, which seeks to insert the catch-all provision “unless otherwise provided by law” and gives Congress flexibility to tweak Charter provisions through mere legislation, is not necessary, Drilon said, “What we need now [to] address the economic slowdown is a concrete solution through the enactment of various economic measures such as the amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act and the Public Service Act.” Drilon is the principal author of Senate Bill 1840. The measure is sponsored by Senate Committee on Trade Chairman Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III. “Amending the Retail Trade Liberalization Act will address a number of foreign investment roadblocks,” he said.

Under the current Retail Trade Liberalization Act, enterprises with a paid-up capital below $2.5 million in peso equivalent are reserved exclusively for Filipino citi-

zens and corporations wholly owned

by Filipino citizens.

The bill removes the investment categories and sets a minimum paid-up capital investment equivalent of $300,000 in Philippine peso for foreign retailers.

Drilon said that 26 years after the passage of RA 8762, “the Philippines still have a very poor retail trade investments portfolio.”

He likened the Philippines to “an ostrich” that for 66 years buried its head in the sand, “refusing to fully recognize that retail trade liberalization is not bad as an economic policy.”

Drilon said the country continues to adhere to the same protectionist policy under the 1954 Retail Trade Nationalization law despite the passage of the 2000 retail trade liberalization law.

Only 5% growth

THAT, he added, resulted in the Philippines lagging behind in terms of foreign investments.

Since the enactment of the law, the share of wholesale and retail trade to total net FDI indicates that net investments inflows to the Philippines have been very minimal with an average annual growth of only 5 percent, according to Drilon.

Over a five-year period from 2012 to 2016, Southeast Asian nations received an average of $17 billion in foreign retail sector investment. The share of the Philippine total during the same period averaged $107 million or 0.006 percent, he added.

According to Drilon, in 2016 alone, the Philippines received only $101 million in foreign retail sector investment, while Thailand had $3.2 billion, Malaysia got $2.5 billion, Indonesia secured $2 billion, and Vietnam received $2 billion. Singapore received over $8 billion, almost more than all other economies combined, Singapore has no restrictions on foreign investment in retail and enjoys a per-capita income of $88,000, he added.

As of 2021, there are only 46 foreign retail corporations registered with Department of Trade and Industry, or a growth of 2 retailers per year since 2000, he noted.

The amendment to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act is also among the identified 11 priority measures by the LegislativeExecutive Development Advisory Council (Ledac).

The other priority measures include the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives for Distressed Enterprises (Guide), Package 3 (Valuation Reform), Package 4 (Passive Income and Financial Intermediaries Taxation Act), Public Service Act, Foreign Investment Act, AgriAgra Law, Medical Reserves Corps Act, Creation of a Disease Prevention and Control Authority, Tax regime for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators and for Off-cockpit Betting Stations (OCBS) and Pension reform for military and uniformed personnel.

over the plan of some companies to implement a “no work, no vaccine” policy, which it said is a violation of labor rights.

The labor group said the policy will cause a surge in labor disputes if not immediately addressed by DOLE.

A

ROUTINE TOWER CHECK

Telecommunications technicians wear safety harnesses as they perform a routine maintenance check on a cell tower along A. Mabini Street in Rodriguez, Rizal. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has adopted a new conceptual framework to improve Internet speed in the country. PNA/JOEY O. RAZON

Lorenzana seeks ‘patience’ in payment of 2018 pension differentials for MUPs

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HE secretary of the Department of National Defense on Wednesday appealed to retired military and uniformed personnel (MUP) who have raised concerns about their 2018 pension differentials to be patient as the government needs to prioritize funding for Covid-19 response.

During his courtesy call to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco in the House of Representatives, Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana made the appeal amid the issue sorrounding the P20 billion slashed from the Pension and Gratuity Fund (PGF) for retired uniformed personnel under the 2021 General Appropriations Act. Lorenzana said the payment of pension arrears “can wait” as he called on the pensioners to do their share in helping government fight

the pandemic simply by “becoming more patient.”

“The government is not backing away from its obligation,” he assured.

Lorenzana also said “there’s no harm done” with the delay in the payment of 2018 pension differentials to retired MUP. The Department of Budget and Management had originally proposed P172.9 billion under the PGF to partially fund the payment of the 2018 pension differentials for MUP. However, in the final version of the GAA, the amount was reduced to P152.9 billion or a difference of P20 billion, thus affecting the payment of the 2018 pension differentials.

“Ito lang po ang paalala natin sa pensioners na nagde-demand na makuha na ’yung arrears ng 2018 na

kung pwede lang po sana ay maghintay lang tayo ng konting panahon dahil ’yung pera kinain ng Covid at marami tayong pagkakagastusan dito. Bibili pa tayo ng vaccines so baka hindi kayanin,” Lorenzana said.

House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Eric Yap had explained that the P20 billion was in fact a buffer fund, which the DBM, the House and the Senate all agreed to realign in favor of budget items meant to address the Covid-19 pandemic, including the procurement of vaccines and personal protective equipment of medical frontliners.

Yap earlier disclosed that he had been instructed by Speaker Velasco to file a supplemental budget of P50 billion to augment the PGF for MUP in the 2021 national budget.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Study outlines impact of lockdowns on LGU reproductive health services

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T least two local governments nationwide have decided to discontinue the delivery of reproductive health services due to lockdowns, according to a study undertaken by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

In the study Process Evaluation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act (RA 10354): Local Service Delivery Component, PIDS researchers led by Fellow Michael R.M. Abrigo found, however, that many services, including the provision of family planning supplies continued.

“Among LGU survey respondents, many reported that there were no changes or disruption in their delivery of RPRH [Responsible Parenthood

and Reproductive Health] services, although some reported wholly or partially discontinuing some services in at least one health-care facility within their LGU,” the researchers said.

Some of these partially or wholly discontinued services to city LGUs included medical and surgical procedures such as breast-conserving surgery, mastectomy, hysterectomy, and hysteroscopy.

Municipal LGUs partially or wholly discontinued services such as the provision of information on family planning methods and for skilled birth attendants among others.

These LGUs also halted partially or wholly family planning supplies such as condoms, family planning charts, oral contraceptive pills, injectable contraceptives, among others.

The list also included medical and surgical procedures such as intrauterine device insertion and removal; depomedroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injection; and integrated management of childhood illnesses.

“In one of the FGDs [Focus Group Discussions], one participant also mentioned that pre-marriage orientation and counseling sessions that usually run for around four hours were condensed to only 30 minutes in response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the researchers said.

“However, the respondent noted that only few couples avail of recent pre-marriage orientation and counseling, which the respondent claims to be due to fewer people getting married in response to the pandemic,” they added.

Cai U. Ordinario

LEADER of the House of Representatives is pushing for the passage of a bill seeking to advocate a zero waste lifestyle by institutionalizing the practice of extended producer responsibility (EPR).

In House Bill 8691, or the proposed Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2021, Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar said her proposal aims to require producers to manage the impacts of their products throughout their entire life cycle, including take-back, recycling and proper disposal.

The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

The EPR concept shifts the responsibility to importers and brand owners for the environmental impacts of their plastic products and packaging, which will effectively tackle the plastic pollution problem.

“This may be a new concept for us but this practice has already been observed by several organizations worldwide. As we introduce this concept, we heighten the importance of waste segregation among households and hold manufacturers accountable for their post-consumer items and packaging,” said Villar.

“Through this measure, we intend to advance awareness on EPR programs although some private organizations and business entities have already adopted such mechanisms in some areas. Also, we are hopeful that Filipinos will pool their used plastic and packaging materials and learn to increase the recycling rate, reuse, or dispose of them at the cost of the manufacturers,” Villar added.

According to Villar, the recycling rate of post-consumption plastic packaging among Filipinos is also relatively low.

Plastic waste makes up a significant share of the overall generated waste in the Philippines.

In fact, the Philippines is the third-biggest polluter next to China and Indonesia. It produces 2.7 million metric tons of plastic waste each year.

Under the measure, producers are required to adopt producer responsibility schemes for the proper management of wastes generated from their discarded containers and packaging materials. Incentives also await firms that adopt extended producer schemes.

Villar added that the measure, if passed into law, will also help local governments that pay hefty amounts annually for solid waste disposal, and such funds could be used for more social programs.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

New international group urges ADB to end fossil fuels financing

C

IVIL-SOCIETY organizations and people’s movements from Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia on Wednesday called on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to end its financing and support for gas, coal, and oil consistent with its own energy policy review to demon-

strate meaningful climate leadership and end its support for fossil fuels.

Glenn Ymata, Energy Campaigner of the NGO Forum said the new international coalition aims to influence the bank to rewrite its energy policy to align it with the global call to limit global warming to 1.5 de-

grees and avert catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Ymata said that if the ADB is indeed committed to the Paris goal, it must stop supporting fossil fuels and withdraw its remaining investments in the current and pipelined fossil fuel-based projects.

“To rectify ADB’s long-standing mistake, financing and investments should be channeled to rapid deployment of renewable-energy projects.

It must provide affordable energy to poor communities through smart microgrids and initiate a just transition strategy intended to increase human

capacity and resiliency,” he said.

Calling itself the Fossil Free ADB Coalition, the new group is composed of civil-society organizations and people’s movements from Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia coming together to launch the “Fossil Free ADB” campaign “to pressure

the ADB” to use its own energy policy review and demonstrate meaningful climate leadership.

According to an ADB energy sector evaluation report, the “current policy is no longer adequately aligned with the global consensus on climate change.” Jonathan L. Mayuga

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

The World

Kenya receives 1 million Covid vaccines from COVAX initiative

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AIROBI, Kenya—Kenya has received just over 1 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in the first batch from the global COVAX initiative that was created to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have fair access to vaccines.

Some 1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, arrived in Nairobi early Wednesday, according to a joint statement from UNICEF, the World Health Organization, international vaccine alliance GAVI and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

Kenyan Health Minister Mutahi K ag we expressed excitement and optimism that the vaccines would help stop the spread of the coronavirus that h a s forced t he Ea st A f r ic a n countr y to partially lock down its economy with devastating consequences for many citizens.

“We have been fighting the pandemic with rubber bullets but what we have acquired today is equivalent, metaphorically speaking, to bazookas and machine guns,”

Kagwe said.

The minister said the vaccines will be administered to some 400,000 medical workers and the rest will go to other frontline workers such as teachers and police officers.

Many Kenyan public health care workers have been disgruntled over the inadequate supply of personal protective equipment, and they say they were never paid the allowances that the government promised them for the extra work and risk while combating Covid-19.

Austine Oduor, an official with the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers, said there is no palpable excitement from members of his union and nurses who were forced by a court order to resume work last week after a 70-day strike.

“What they really wanted was payment of the allowances,” Oduor said. “ In fact, some are questioning whether the distribution will be done fairly in a country where corruption is rampant.”

Kenya has more than 106,000 confirmed virus cases including more than 1,800 deaths. AP

Hong Kong makes 100th arrest under new national security law

H

ong Kong has made its 100th arrest under a national security law imposed on the former British colony by China last year, while dozens of pro-democracy activists return to court for a mass bail hearing before their trial on subversion charges.

Former Next Digital Ltd. Executive Director Stephen Ting was detained on fraud allegations, the Oriental Daily newspaper reported, citing people it didn’t identify. Police issued a statement late Tuesday confirming the arrest of a 61-year-old man “after in-depth investigation by national security department.” Police didn’t name the person or his affiliation with Next Digital.

As of Tuesday, 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of activities harming national security, police said in a separate statement Wednesday. The accused include 83 male suspects and 17 female suspects, ages 16 to 79, police said.

One of the most high-profile operations under the security law involved the arrest of 55 opposition figures in January. They were rounded up for taking part in an unofficial primary election and accused of trying to gain a majority in the legislature to paralyze the government.

Some 47 of those people are attending a third day of arraignment hearings to decide whether they will receive bail before their subversion trial. The defendants include some of the city’s most prominent activists such as Joshua Wong, Benny Tai and Jimmy Sham, and most have objected to government requests to keep them in jail while also delaying further proceedings until at least May 31.

The case comes before an annual meeting of China’s legislature opens in Beijing on Friday, with senior officials calling for lawmakers to overhaul the former British colony’s election system to further diminish the influence of pro-democracy politicians.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam plans to travel to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the National People’s Congress.

Before the hearing started Wednesday, the owner of a local diner brought food and drinks to supporters of the defendants outside the courthouse. “I want to support the people here,” said Cheong Wong. “This is the least I can do.”

Amnesty International Hong Kong was critical of Monday’s hearing, which started at 11 a.m. and ended about 3 a.m. the following day when one defendant fainted. Three others went to the hospital after saying they felt unwell, local media reported.

An extended hearing “along with insufficient time to rest could potentially violate the right to a fair trial, and such a violation could warrant legitimate grounds for an appeal,” said Lam Cho Ming, a program manager at the human rights group. “Fair trial rights demand that there must be adequate time and facilities to prepare the defense.”

More than four-fifths of people arrested since the law’s enactment have been accused

of participating in some form of political activity, such as displaying banners, posting in support of the city’s independence on social media or organizing primary elections for legislative seats. Some suspects have been arrested more than once. Only one previous arrest involved an allegation of violence.

“The early arrests have inevitably focused on low-hanging fruit,” said Bing Ling, a professor of Chinese law at the University of Sydney. Public expressions of anti-China sentiment are easier to prove in court and detaining high-profile individuals has a bigger deterrent effect, he said.

The law granted broad new powers to authorities to stifle opposition opinion and deter protests, such as the large and sometimes violent demonstrations that shook the Asian financial hub in 2019. Lawyers, activists and Western governments have criticized the legislation for its broadly defined provisions, which bar terrorism, secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces.

Lam, the city’s Beijing-appointed chief executive, has credited the law with restoring stability to the Asian financial center. Chinese and Hong Kong officials have said since it was announced that it targeted “extremely few” people suspected of endangering the country’s security. In June, the Hong Kong government said in a statement to Bloomberg News that it would be “irresponsible and scaremongering” to say that the law would provide the government sweeping powers to jail or disqualify opposition figures.

So far, prosecutors have brought charges against 56 of those arrested by police. One of the most prominent is Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai, who has been denied bail while awaiting trial on charges he colluded with foreign powers to impose sanctions or engage in hostile activities against Hong Kong or China. He also faces a fraud charge.

The collusion charges are based on Lai’s social media posts and comments to foreign media outlets, and on donations police say his company made to an advocacy group, according to court filings and local media reports citing police documents. Lai denies the allegations.

The 47 opposition figures are being prosecuted over their roles in helping organize a primary that drew more than 600,000 voters in July last year to choose candidates for Legislative Council elections that were later postponed. Authorities say the primary and plans to force the resignation of Carrie Lam using a provision of the mini-constitution were an illegal attempt to paralyze the government.

The efforts by authorities to rein in opposition appear set to continue, even though protests have mostly ended. In January, Secretary for Security John Lee said the government would strengthen intelligence gathering because behavior that endangered national security may be “driven underground.” Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

Thursday, March 4, 2021

A5

Myanmar coup crisis grows after years of neglect by US

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ASHINGTON—Nearly a decade ago, the United States was touting Myanmar as an American success story. The Obama administration reveled in the restoration of civilian rule in the longtime US pariah as a top foreign policy achievement and a potential model for engaging with other adversaries, such as Iran and Cuba.

But today, Myanmar is once again an international outcast, facing a new wave of US sanctions.

A coup has returned the military to power and pro-democracy activists, reform advocates and journalists have been attacked and detained in a brutal crackdown.

The collapse is not America’s fault, to be sure, but it follows inconsistent efforts to nudge the Southeast Asian nation further toward democracy, enthusiasm for which was diminished by a systematic campaign of repression against Muslim minorities in the country’s north.

After years of robust diplomacy with Myanmar under President Barack Obama focused mainly on then-opposition leader and now jailed State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, the Trump administration adopted a largely hands-off policy. It focused primarily on Myanmar’s strategic importance in the competition between the United States and China for influence in the region.

Myanmar has become a reminder that, for all the hopefulness and anticipation of Obama administration officials—many of whom now serve in the Biden administration—there are limits to America’s ability to shape developments in another nation, particularly one so reclusive and far away.

The restoration of civilian rule after six decades of dictatorship was at least partially the fruit of one of the Obama administration’s earliest attempts to reach out to a country long denounced by the US. Overtures to Iran and Cuba would come later, buoyed in part by what appeared to be success in Myanmar. Sanctions were eased, diplomatic representation

bolstered and aid was increased.

Obama made t wo tr ips to Myanmar, also known as Burma, as president and his two secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, each visited the country twice themselves. Clinton’s visit in 2011 was the first by a US secretary of state since 1955. She met with Suu Kyi at the lakeside home where the opposition leader had been held under house arrest for years.

Just six years earlier, President George W. Bush’s Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had branded Myanmar as one of six “outposts of tyranny” for the military’s refusal to brook dissent and rejection of democratic elections.

And, in 2007, as world leaders gathered at the annual United Nations General Assembly, a crackdown on Buddhist monk-led protests, the so-called “Saffron Revolution,” attracted widespread concern and international condemnation, including high-profile repudiations from Rice and thenfirst lady Laura Bush.

Thus, the opening initiated by Obama and Clinton in 2010 augured what many hoped would be a new beginning for Myanmar, whose military leaders were then ostensibly concerned about being overly reliant on China for trade and security.

There was initial enthusiasm over the thaw, over Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi’s elevation to a leadership role despite being barred from running for office, and over Myanmar’s steady but hesitant opening of its once cloistered country. But that soon faded, most notably over the government’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims, who became the target of a ruthless

Anti-coup protesters display pictures of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar on March 2. Police in Myanmar repeatedly used tear gas and rubber bullets on Tuesday against crowds protesting last month’s coup, but the demonstrators regrouped after each volley and tried to defend themselves with barricades as standoffs between protesters and security forces intensified. AP

campaign of repression and abuse.

Repeated entreaties to Suu Kyi, who was appointed State Councilor after her National League for Democracy won 60 percent of the vote, and others on behalf of the Rohingya and other minorities went unheeded. Still, the Obama administration continued to have faith in her.

“Proud of my friend Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma for never giving up in the long struggle to bring change to their country,” Clinton said in 2015, after having devoted an entire chapter of her 2014 memoir “Hard Choices” to the Obama administration’s policies toward the nation.

Despite Kerr y’s two trips to Myanmar, the administration became rapidly consumed with the Iran nuclear deal and normalization of ties with Cuba. At the same time, it was pursuing an ill-fated effort to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

So Myanmar’s halting and imperfect democratization was left largely untended by officials in Washington. When President Donald Trump took office in 2017, his administration made no secret of the fact that it was focused less on bilateral ties than in concentrating on a broader effort to blunt China’s growing regional influence.

In November 2017, Trump’s first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, made that administration’s only high-level visit to the country and on his return declared that the military-backed violence against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine state amounted to “ethnic cleans-

ing.” Sanctions on the country’s top military leaders followed the next month.

But since then, US attention to Myanmar has been sporadic, dominated primarily by public expressions of disappointment in Suu Kyi, who defended the military crackdown in Rakhine and opposed efforts to initiate and international investigation into it.

Stirrings of the February 1 coup, coming as those elected in November 2020 elections won by Suu Kyi’s party were to take their seats in parliament, did not appear to be a priority in Washington, where officials were preoccupied by domestic political problems of their own.

In its final weeks in office, the Trump administration made no public comments about growing civilian-military tensions in Myanmar despite speaking out about democracy concerns in Venezuela, Tanzania, Uganda, Cuba, Iran and Russia.

After taking over on Jan. 20, the Biden administration was similarly silent until Jan. 29 when the US Embassy in Yangon signed onto a joint statement with several other embassies to support democracy in the country and to oppose “any attempt to alter the outcome of the elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition.” The warning went unheeded by the military. “ There was a risk that the Burmese generals were playing us,” Clinton w rote about the 2010-2011 rapprochement with Myanmar in “Hard Choices.”

T h at fe a r m ay h ave b e e n presc ient. AP

Intense preparation paves way for Pope Francis to meet ayatollah

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AGHDAD—In Iraq’s holiest city, a pontiff will meet a revered ayatollah and make history with a message of coexistence in a place plagued by bitter divisions.

One is the chief pastor of the worldwide Catholic Church, the other a pre-eminent figure in Shiite Islam whose opinion holds powerful sway on the Iraqi street and beyond. Their encounter will resonate across Iraq, even crossing borders into neighboring, mainly Shiite Iran.

Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali alSistani are to meet on Saturday for at most 40 minutes, part of the time alone except for interpreters, in the Shiite cleric’s modest home in the city of Najaf. Every detail was scrutinized ahead of time in painstaking, behind-the-scenes preparations that touched on everything from shoes to seating arrangements.

The geopolitical undertones weigh heavy on the meeting, along with twin threats from a viral pandemic and ongoing tensions with rocket-firing Iranian-backed rogue groups.

For Iraq’s dwindling Christian minority, a show of solidarity from al-Sistani could help secure their place in Iraq after years of displacement—and, they hope, ease intimidation from Shiite militiamen against their community.

Iraqi officials in government, too, see the

meeting’s symbolic power—as does Tehran.

The 90-year-old al-Sistani has been a consistent counterweight to Iran’s influence. With the meeting, Francis is implicitly recognizing him as the chief interlocutor of Shiite Islam over his rival, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

News of the meeting heightened long-standing rivalries between the Shiite seminaries of Najaf and Iran’s city of Qom over which stands at the center of the Shiite world.

“It will be a private visit without precedent in history, and it will not have an equal to any previous visits,” said a religious official in Najaf, involved in the planning.

For the Vatican, it was a meeting decades in the making, one that eluded Francis’ predecessors.

“Najaf did not make it easy,” said one Christian religious official close to the planning from the Vatican side, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the visit’s delicacy.

In December, Louis Sako, the patriarch of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Church told The Associated Press the church was trying to schedule a meeting between Francis and the ayatollah. It was included in the first draft of the program, “but when the [Vatican] delegation visited Najaf, there were problems,” he said, without elaborating.

The church kept insisting.

“We know the importance and impact of Najaf in the Iraqi situation,” Sako said. What value would the pope’s message of coexistence in Iraq have, they determined, if he did not seek the support of its most powerful and respected religious figure?

Sako finally confirmed the meeting in January, weeks after the pontiff ’s itinerary had been assembled.

Rarely does al-Sistani weigh in on governance matters. When he has, it has shifted the course of Iraq’s modern history.

An edict from him provided many Iraqis reason to participate in the January 2005 elections, the first after the 2003 US-led invasion.

His 2014 fatwa calling on able-bodied men to fight the Islamic State group massively swelled the ranks of Shiite militias. In 2019, as anti-government demonstrations gripped the country, his sermon lead to the resignation of then-prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

The Vatican’s hope was that Francis would sign a document with al-Sistani pledging human fraternity, just as he did with Sunni Islam’s influential grand imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, based in Egypt.

The signature was among many elements the two sides negotiated over extensively.

In the end, Shiite religious officials in Najaf told the AP a signing was not on the agenda,

and al-Sistani will issue a verbal statement instead.

Each minute of Saturday’s meeting will likely unfold as meticulously as a scripted stage play.

The 84-year-old pontiff ’s convoy will pull up along Najaf ’s busy column-lined Rasool Street, which culminates at the Imam Ali Shrine, one of the most revered sites in the world for Shiites.

To the side is an alleyway too narrow for cars. Here, Francis will walk the 30 meters (yards) to al-Sistani’s modest home, which the cleric has rented for decades. Waiting to greet him at the entrance will be al-Sistani’s influential son, Mohammed Ridha.

Inside, and some steps to the right, the pontiff will come face to face with the ayatollah.

Each will make a simple gesture of mutual respect.

Francis will remove his shoes before entering al-Sistani’s room.

Al-Sistani, who normally remains seated for visitors, will stand to greet Francis at the door and walk him to an L-shaped blue sofa, inviting him to take a seat.

“This has not taken place by his Eminence with any guest before,” said a Najaf religious official. AP

A6 Thursday, March 4, 2021 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

The coronavirus is still very much in control

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resident Duterte on Sunday welcomed the arrival of 600,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac, which were donated by China and delivered by a Chinese military aircraft.

On Monday, the country started its Covid-19 vaccination program amid public skepticism over the Sinovac vaccine. For example, only one of 10 health workers at the Philippine General Hospital wants to get inoculated against the coronavirus using the Sinovac vaccine, according to a survey.

Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, the director of the Philippine General Hospital, received the first dose of the Chinese jab. Prior to this, in a town hall meeting attended by PGH health workers, Legaspi said his decision to get the Sinovac vaccine was based on nothing else but science. “I told the health workers, let’s remove our view on the vaccine, separate from politics, party, administration, whatever belief. Let’s base it on science that is clear.” He expressed confidence that FDA Director General Eric Domingo and the vaccine expert panel will not approve a vaccine that is not safe. “The [Sinovac] vaccine may not be good in a lot of people’s opinion but if you examine it deeper, you will understand why I volunteered to be first to get vaccinated.”

The vaccination of the decorated neurosurgeon drew cheers and applause from the hospital staff and media representatives covering the historic event.

It also served to convince other health workers to take the vaccine. Among those vaccinated at the PGH were FDA Director General Eric Domingo, MMDA Chief Benhur Abalos Jr., Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., and Dr. Edsel Salvana of the DOH Technical Advisory Group.

Public opinion polls earlier revealed a resistance among a majority of people due to uncertainty over the safety and efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine. It has been found to be 50.4 percent effective in Brazilian clinical trials, according to the latest results released by researchers. This is barely over the 50 percent needed for regulatory approval. Researchers in Turkey said it is 91.25 percent effective. Turkish trials had included over 7,000 volunteers, but the efficacy result was based on data from 1,322 people. Indonesia said the vaccine is 65 percent effective based on trials involving some 1,600 people. Brazil has run the biggest trials so far with around 13,000 participants, and the Sinovac vaccine appeared to be safe in a late-stage clinical trial, as preliminary results have shown in October.

Despite having one of the region’s worst coronavirus problems, the Philippines is the last Southeast Asian nation to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. The Duterte administration is aiming to vaccinate 70 to 80 million Filipinos, but global supply problems have prevented the country to play catch up with Asean neighbors. This prompted vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. to quip, “Let’s not wait for the best vaccine. There’s no such thing. The best vaccine is the one that’s safe and effective, and arrives early.”

From the Associated Press: A senior World Health Organization official said on Monday it was “premature” and “unrealistic” to think the pandemic might be stopped by the end of the year, but that the recent arrival of effective vaccines could at least help dramatically reduce hospitalizations and death. The world’s singular focus right now should be to keep transmission of Covid-19 as low as possible, said Dr. Michael Ryan, director of WHO’s emergencies program. “If we’re smart, we can finish with the hospitalizations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic” by the end of the year, he said.

A year ago when Covid infections almost overwhelmed hospitals in many countries, the world would have been delighted with a vaccine that had 50 percent efficacy. Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing severe and moderate infections, 77.96 percent effective in preventing mild cases, and has an overall efficacy of 50.4 percent in Brazil’s final-stage trials.

The 600,000 Sinovac doses can potentially save the lives of 300,000 Filipino doctors, nurses, and other health workers if they get themselves vaccinated.

Unfortunately, as we wait for other vaccines to arrive, the coronavirus is still very much in control.

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Beer: Building the Philippine economy John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

W

E need to turn our attention to something important— beer.

Humans and beer have been around for about 9,000 years. Beer—of course—was first brewed in China around 7000 B.C. But there is some dispute whether it was beer or bread that came first.

Some scholars contend that beer was discovered accidentally through grains used for bread making that fermented. Others claim that beer was developed intentionally as an intoxicant. I go for number two, having more respect for the human male’s desire to get high, stoned, or drunk as part of our DNA code.

In fact, one of my regrets in life is that my own father died at too early an age that we were never able to have a beer together. I made sure that did not happen with my own sons.

Beer is the third most popular drink after water and tea, and the most widely consumed alcoholic beverage. Beer is part of culture.

“24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a

case. Coincidence? I think not.”— H.L. Mencken. “Beer is the Danish national drink, and the Danish national weakness is another beer.” Indian chef Maneet Chauhan: “Beer is such an integral part of the Indian culture.” “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”—Benjamin Franklin.

Life is much easier if you are a beer drinker. While the wine and whiskey folks are talking about their beverage, the beer people have had three and two plates of sisig while singing karaoke.

People became interested in the differences between Lager, Porter, Stout, Blonde Ale, Brown Ale, Pale Ale, American Pale Ale, India Pale

San Miguel is the undisputed beer leader in the Philippines, with a market share of roughly 90 percent. According to San Mig, “Pale Pilsen is a pale, golden lager with a rich, full-bodied flavor. Its smooth, full-flavored taste makes it a perfectly balanced beer.”

Ale, and Pilsner. No longer could you walk in and order a “beer.” For the last 20 years there is a web site called “RateBeer.”

The number one beer in the world is US “Toppling Goliath Kentucky Brunch.” “An intensely-flavored, reddish-brown to black colored ale.

Roasty-burnt malt with deep dried fruit flavors, and a warming, bittersweet finish. Aroma of maple, chocolate, bourbon, vanilla and coffee.”

Ok, but does it go well with chicharon bulaklak or papaitan?

San Miguel is the undisputed beer leader in the Philippines, with a market share of roughly 90 percent.

According to San Mig, “Pale Pilsen is a pale, golden lager with a rich, full-bodied flavor. Its smooth, fullflavored taste makes it a perfectly balanced beer.”

At “RateBeer” Pale Pilsen has a

score of 2.03 out of 5 from 378 ratings. The best, a “5” with the comment: “The San Miguel from the Philippines is by far the best! The colour of the beer is great and the flavour is very satisfying!!!”

The worst is a “0.5” from a Brit who said, “Awful piss water that is so bad it has to be served nearly frozen to be able to drink it.” Rightly or wrongly this is from a country that made a contribution to global cuisine called “mushy peas,” which is exactly what it sounds like.

Our national beer being maligned by a guy from a country that was rated the “Worst Place to Live in Europe” on the 2011 Quality of Life Index. The “World Beer Index 2021” says that the average price of a beer in the Philippines is $4.25 or P206.

That includes beer at a five-star hotel.

The index says the average per capita adult consumption is 114 beers annually. And based on the “average” price, the average Filipino spends P23,000 a year on beer.

Maybe so. But I think of my beer drinking as “Building the Philippine Economy.”

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.

Conservation of wildlife, forests is our vaccine, too

By Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim

T

he unprecedented rate by which we are losing our wildlife had hit much closer to home when the Covid-19 pandemic and its global consequences affected our ways of living and brought suffering to many places in the world. While the rollout of vaccines boosts confidence, this does not fully protect and immunize us from new and emerging diseases that result from the many human-driven activities in our midst.

In celebrating World Wildlife Day, the Asean Center for Biodiversity (ACB) likewise takes the opportunity to direct attention to the role of wildlife habitats, most especially forests. The theme of this year’s celebration—“Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”—is a timely reminder of the life support that forest ecosystems provide.

The high species diversity and endemicity in Asean forests makes the region one of the world’s critical habitats. However, according to the Global Forest Resources Assessment of the Food and Agriculture Organization, from 2.18 million square kilometers in 2000, the total for-

est areas in the 10 Asean memberstates contracted to 2.07 million sq km in 2020. Inevitably, this decline has been causing fragmentation and habitat loss for important animals and plants, not to mention the displacement of indigenous peoples and the reduction of natural buffers for calamities.

This ongoing health crisis has brought about deeper reflection and discussion on the repercussions of our relationship with wildlife and the many pathways to safeguard nature.

In a recent webinar on preventing pandemics hosted by World Wildlife Fund, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, and Cornell

In this year’s celebrations of World Wildlife Day, we are encouraged to value the interconnectedness of wildlife and people, and appreciate the significant contribution of healthy forests to livelihood and public health. In the long run, protecting wildlife and their habitats somehow also acts as a vaccine that can help build our capacity to withstand socioeconomic challenges and ensure a sustainable future.

Atkinson Centre for Sustainability, and moderated by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, the ACB emphasized that apart from enforcing laws against wildlife crimes at the national and regional levels, it is crucial to stop emerging diseases at the source, meaning actions should begin before animals are taken out of their natural habitats. Increasing the coverage and improving the manage-

ment of protected areas will reduce threats on ecosystems and lessen opportunities for viruses originating from wildlife to spill over to domestic animals and humans.

Indeed, protecting our wildlife species contributes to increasing our resiliency. They not only contain and regulate diseases, but they also contribute to the ecological balance and expansion of forests. Wildlife supplies raw materials to sustain the livelihoods of communities living in and around their habitats, and provides basic necessities, such as food and natural cure for various ailments. As we face one crisis after another, we need to take into account the importance of the diversity of flora and fauna in our response and recovery efforts.

The Asean Comprehensive Recovery Framework, which was adopted by the Asean leaders in November 2020, calls for a wholeof-community participation and collaboration among sectors. The ACB is optimistic that an integrated See “Lim,” A7

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

India’s agri deregulation Cleansing the temple questioned by former World Bank chief economist Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS

T

he world’s longest and biggest farmer strike is taking place in India. It started in November and is continuing up to the present. At one time last year, the warm bodies involved in the strike reached 250 million when the Indian trade unions expressed support to the strike. A rally of close to a hundred thousand tractors was also held early this year.

And yet, the Indian strongman, Narendra Modi, has remained unmoved. India’s court system is the one sorting out the issues arising from the passage in September of three laws deregulating the agricultural sector. The first law, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce, allows the free play of private traders in markets that are regulated by the government. The second law, Farmers Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, facilitates contract farming, thus placing the Indian farmer in the global corporate food chains.

Finally, the Essential Commodities Act removes cereals and other crops from the list of essential commodities.

In brief, these laws dismantle the role of the government-run Food Corporation of India (similar to our defunct National Food Authority) in supporting price stability for cereals and other products.

The laws also push farmers to sell outside the so-called mandis, the government-controlled grains buying markets.

The policies reflected in the foregoing laws are not new to Filipinos.

Contract growing, phasing out of government’s role in the rural markets and reduction of support to cereals and other food items have been institutionalized as far back as the 1980s and 1990s—under the IMF-WB’s agricultural deregulation program. The dismantling of the NFA in 2019 under the Rice Tariffication Law was the culmination of these agricultural deregulation program.

What is new is the capacity of mainstream Indian economists to adjust their economic lenses and question some of the old neo-liberal beliefs they once held sacred.

One of these economists is Kaushik Basu, former Chief Economist of the World Bank (2012-2016).

Basu was once an ardent believer in “agricultural reforms,” which the neo-liberal economists equate to agricultural liberalization and market deregulation.

Recently, Basu startled the mainstream economists worldwide when he wrote that the above Indian laws “are a global problem.”

He explained that after reading the “fine print of the legislation,” he realized that he “missed” the insights of the protesting Indian farmers on the workings of the agricultural markets in a deregulated environment. He explained that there is no farmer trust on what the Indian government was saying, that is, farmers gain by selling to private markets that are outside the control

Lim. . .

continued from A6

approach in protecting and conserving wildlife, along with effective immunization programs, are concrete steps toward Asean’s recovery as well as in building resilience against future pandemics.

In this year’s celebrations of World Wildlife Day, we are encouraged to value the interconnectedness of wildlife and people, and appreciate the significant contribution of healthy forests to livelihood and public health. In the long run, protecting

The foregoing observation of Basu reminds us of what happened right after the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law. A dozen or so big corporate importers immediately imported 3 million or so tons of rice and flooded the domestic market with Thai and Vietnamese rice. This resulted in the collapse of palay farm-gate price to as low as P7 a kilo, which is way below the cost of production of P12 a kilo. of the government. He wrote that if the Indian government gives up the “guaranteed minimum support price [MSP]” for wheat and rice, “millions of farmers will be forced to sell their products to four or five big agribusiness corporations.”

The foregoing observation of Basu reminds us of what happened right after the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law. A dozen or so big corporate importers immediately imported 3 million or so tons of rice and flooded the domestic market with Thai and Vietnamese rice.

This resulted in the collapse of palay farm-gate price to as low as P7 a kilo, which is way below the cost of production of P12 a kilo.

The point of Basu is that there is no such thing as “a playing field” if the big corporations are allowed to dominate freely the buying and distribution of major food items. Deregulation, which allows the entry into the market of these corporate giants, “is not desirable” even if it provides the farmers “more choices.” He likens creating choices in an unequal situation such as giving people of color in the US “freedom” to opt for slavery or allowing Chinese workers to have the option to work in export processing zones by giving up basic labor rights.

Basu concluded: “What we need is not market fundamentalism, but a market that functions freely, within the broad parameters set by well-crafted laws.”

Now, will the Filipino mainstream economists who lobbied for the Rice Tariffication Law do a similar mea culpa and ask for the law’s repeal? Will these economists see that the view from below, at the farm level or at the community grassroots, is starkly different from the so-called free interplay of supply and demand forces under a deregulated market? Who wins and who loses in this market?

For inquiries, please e-mail reneofreneo@ gmail.com.

wildlife and their habitats somehow also acts as a vaccine that can help build our capacity to withstand socioeconomic challenges and ensure a sustainable future.

Happy World Wildlife Day! Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim is the executive director of the Asean Center for Biodiversity (ACB).

A veterinarian and wildlife management expert, she was the director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines prior to joining the ACB. She also chaired the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) from 2017 to 2018.

F

or John (2:13-25), the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem

by Jesus was such a fundamental statement by Him that it deserved to be located theologically at the beginning of His public ministry, unlike the other evangelists who placed the event chronologically towards the conclusion of Jesus’ public activity. It was a dramatic announcement that Israel’s messianic expectations have been fulfilled.

Zeal for the Father’s house The works on the magnificent temple of Jerusalem with its profusion of gold and marble started by Herod the Great in 19 B.C. were already in their 46th year when the confrontation between Jesus and the temple authorities took place. The outer temple area surrounded by a colonnade had been turned to a frenetic marketplace: animals intended for sacrifice—oxen, sheep and doves— were for sale; money-changers were busy converting to the only accepted temple currency the various foreign currencies brought in by pilgrims to pay their temple tax. The bargaining and haggling, and the diddling and bilking going on must have filled the air in the temple area.

The temple of Jerusalem was at the center of the religious life of Israel. It was God’s dwelling place in the midst of His chosen people, a sign of divine election and protection. But it must also be a sign of the people’s fidelity to God’s covenant.

The prophet Jeremiah described the contradiction of the people stealing, murdering, committing adultery and perjury, and going after strange gods, and yet coming to stand before Yahweh in His temple: “Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds...will I remain with you in this place...Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves?” (Jeremiah 7:5.7.11). For Malachi (3:1-3), the inauguration of the messianic times

The anatomy of fake news Val A. Villanueva

Businesswise

T

here was this sense of elation that I felt on Monday when, at exactly 9:40 a.m., the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in the country was officially injected by nurse Chareluck Santos on the arm of Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, director of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH).

Although my family members and I have reservations about the efficacy of Sinovac’s CoronaVac, some 600,000 of which were donated by China to the country, I consider the vaccine’s distribution in the country as the “rebirth” of a nation that has been upended by the pandemic for almost a year now. It signals the beginning of a series of moves by the government to roll back restrictive health protocols.

But the administration now faces the daunting task of convincing those who have been brainwashed into thinking that the vaccine will do more harm than good. Surveys conducted by Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia showed people’s distrust of the vaccine, even if it were given away for free. Incredible as it may seem to rational people, there are those who have been hoodwinked by conspiracy theorists and fake news purveyors into believing that the pandemic is a hoax being rammed down our throats by Bill Gates and US pharmaceutical giants, so they could make huge profits from the global sale of the vaccine.

This QAnon line of thinking, which originated from the US, is now being peddled by some Filipinos who passionately believe it to be the Bible truth. QAnon or simply Q, is a disputed far-right conspiracy group espousing a theory that the US Democratic Party is a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles running a global child sextrafficking ring, among other farcical claims, including the Gates-Pharma conspiracy theory.

This comical belief has gained traction at the outset of the pandemic among Filipinos cooped up in their respective homes. With the lockdown psychologically weighing down on their mindset, they must have had some of their brain screws loosened, blurring their critical eye, and hampering their ability to discern fact from fiction. They share their misconceptions and false

narratives to various social-media platforms in alarming levels and frequency, such that my FB messenger has been deluged by their ludicrous claims.

Perhaps some of them may have been influenced early on by Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO) Chief Persida Rueda Acosta who waged in 2018 a hysterically sidesplitting campaign against the Dengvaxia vaccine manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur. Her office had filed several criminal and civil complaints against former and incumbent health officials responsible for the government’s anti-dengue vaccination campaign that used the Dengvaxia jab. Her campaign served as the battering ram that burst open the floodgates of suspicion on vaccines in general.

But what essentially is the reason people fall for fake news?

When someone shouts “Fire!” (even if there’s none) in a crowded movie house, you will witness people jumping up from their seats, frantically looking for the nearest exit.

More likely, you’d be among those panicking bodies, pushing against fellow movie-goers for “survival.”

Why? You infer that there must indeed be a fire because other people will begin screaming as they scramble over each other to rush out of the cinema. As children, we develop social cognition or the skill to understand and deduce other people’s state of mind based on their intentions, desires, and emotions. In this case, a panic button is pushed within us, triggering our drive to survive a dangerous situation. The people around us believe that a dreadful event is transpiring, and we flee from it because we are not equipped to fight a “fire.”

Most of the time, we mindlessly swallow more information than we can properly chew. Our mind pays little attention to the information’s veracity, merely relying on ancillary material that does not originate from any outward cause or have any logi-

Thursday, March 4, 2021 A7

would see the Lord’s sudden coming to the temple: “But who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye.

He will sit refining and purifying, and he will purify the sons of Levi.”

Zechariah (14:21) too prophesied, “On that day there shall no longer be any merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts.”

Destroy this temple, I will raise it up

The bold action of Jesus in throwing out the merchants and animals out of the temple precincts clearly claimed the fulfillment of the prophets’ words. Greed and hypocrisy have no place in “my Father’s house,” said Jesus as he commanded them out.

Used 27 times in John’s gospel, “my Father’s house” means likewise the kingdom of eternal life (John 14:2); this relationship between the temple and heaven in eternity makes the commercialism and materialism in the temple of Jerusalem more abominable. His disciples later thought that “Zeal for your house consumes me” (Psalm 69:10) aptly described Jesus as he cleansed the temple made marketplace.

But in relation to Jesus, the temple points yet to another dimension as God’s dwelling place with the people. Challenged by the Jews who were asking for a sign that would validate his action, Jesus

Interestingly, far-fetched and outrageous claims were ranked at the top of shared fake news stories on Facebook in 2019, according to the nonprofit organization Avaaz, which reported that political fake news garnered more than 150 million views in 2019. cal basis. We begin to suffer from socalled information overload. With too much data endlessly available and easily accessible to us in this digital world, we get swept up in a deluge of oftentimes unverified social information. When a piece of information results in making us hold two contradictory beliefs, or puts our behavior and belief in misalignment, we begin to suffer from cognitive dissonance. Feelings of unease and tension bubble up within us, causing us to find relief in different ways.

Without critical thinking skills, we tend to go with what seems popular or acceptable to most people, regardless of the information’s accuracy, relevance, or logic.

The digital ethos has colored the way we process information. It has spawned something new—total reliance on social information that exposes us to misinformation or disinformation hazards, errors, manipulation or “alternative facts,” a phrase coined by Kellyanne Conway, former counselor of twice-impeached former US president Donald Trump.

Danish researchers Vincent F. Hendricks and Pelle G. Hansen call this an “information storm,” which they define as “a sudden and tempestuous flow of social information suggesting an intriguing alternative to the narratives of human folly and unreason so often applied to fake news and tribal divisions online.”

In their book Infostorm, Hendricks and Hansen point out that “when you don’t possess sufficient information to solve a given problem, or if you just don’t want to or have the time for processing it, then it can be rational to imitate others by way of social proof...When we either know very little about something, or the information surrounding it is overwhelming, it makes excellent sense to look to others’ apparent beliefs as an indication of what is going on. In fact, this is often the most reasonable response, so long as we have good reason to believe that others have access to accurate information; and that what they seem to think and what they actually believe are the same.”

Interestingly, far-fetched and outrageous claims were ranked at the

dared them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

The temple of his body, where God is present to humankind and where man can be one with God, is now the only sign for anyone. No other sign can surpass the Paschal Mystery of the death and resurrection of the Son of God. His enemies would actually try to destroy the temple that is Jesus with the wood of the cross, but it was raised up in the glory of the resurrection. The glorified humanity of the risen Christ can die and be desecrated no more, an eternal temple of perfect worship to God. Alálaong bagá, Jesus replaced the temple of Jerusalem and its liturgy with himself. In his glorified humanity in complete communion with God we have the definitive and primordial sacrament of our salvation. In baptism, redeemed by the Son and adopted by the Father, we have been sanctified as temples of the Holy Spirit. Then as now, any desecration of God’s temple courts purification, a Lenten task each one must undertake. As ever, the temple consecrated to God must be a living sign of the divine presence as well as of our fidelity to God. Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

top of shared fake news stories on Facebook in 2019, according to the nonprofit organization Avaaz, which reported that political fake news garnered more than 150 million views in 2019. Another research done by Dartmouth University computer scientist Soroush Vosoughi, PhD, and colleagues uncovered that more people are reached by fake news that spreads more quickly than the truth.

According to David Rand, PhD, a professor of management science and brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, this development alarms psychologists and other behavioral researchers. “Fake news has important implications in politics, but also in areas such as health and nutrition, climate science, and financial information.” He posited this basic question from a psychological perspective: “How can people possibly believe this stuff?” Rand challenges the idea that it’s our reasoning that is biased. “The dominant explanation for why people believe fake news has been that their reasoning is held captive by partisan biases— their thinking gets hijacked.” His studies paint an alternate picture: “People who believe false things are the people that just don’t think carefully.”

This bolsters my belief that fake news operatives in the employ of corrupt politicians and some business people are taking advantage of some people’s non-existent or reduced critical thinking skills. The inability of social-media users, most especially the youth, to think critically is what enables these fake news purveyors to manipulate information to benefit themselves or their clients. A case in point was the proliferation of social-media news—due largely to his family’s and supporters’ ongoing revisionist campaign—that Ferdinand Marcos was the best president the Philippines ever had, exonerating him all of his misdeeds during his tumultuous 20-year dictatorship. The false narrative has been lapped up by the gullible and the opportunists who have shared it a thousand times over.

The takeaway, Rand says, “is that people who scroll quickly through social media might be less susceptible to misinformation if they simply slow down to consider what they’re reading,” explaining that “our findings suggest that getting people to reason more is a good thing.” He says, “When you’re on social media, stop and think.”

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

A8 Thursday, March 4, 2021

‘Covid-19 NCR case surge alarming, but still remediable’

I

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco | Correspondent

F the trend continues, the National Capital Region (NCR) will record 2,200 cases per day by the end of March 2021, the country is projected to have 665,000 Covid-19 cases and 14,000 deaths by end of this month, OCTA Research Team warned on Wednesday.

“Reproduction number (Rt) of 1.2 should be reduced to lower the projected number of cases and deaths by the end of this month,” Professor Guido David said in a media forum.

Guido said the Rt in NCR is currently estimated to be 1.5 based on a 7-day average, while the Rt in the Philippines is 1.2. The Rt provides the average number of secondary infections by each infected individual.

“The reproduction number in NCR appears to be on an increasing trend, because as infections become more widespread, reversing the spread of the virus becomes more difficult,” he said. Under the current trend, “the number of new Covid-19 cases per day will increase from its current average daily value of 770 to 2,200 by the end of March 2021, unless the spread of the virus is curbed.”

He added that, “The rise in new Covid-19 cases in some local government units (LGUs) in the NCR has become a serious cause for concern.”

Guido said the 4-day average in NCR was 942, while the 7-day aver-

age was 762, which is an increase of 61 percent from the previous week and 94 percent from two weeks ago.

“This pattern of increase is similar to the patterns observed in Cebu City, Mountain Province and Benguet, where the SARS-Cov-2 variants were identified. The positivity rate in NCR increased to an average of 6 percent over the past seven days, based on 18,000 PCR tests per day,” he said.

However, hospital bed occupancy in NCR was still low at 36 percent while ICU [intensive care unit] bed occupancy was 52 percent. The twoweek daily attack rate in NCR was 4.4 per 100,000.

While Cebu City still had the most number of new Covid-19 cases, averaging 209 per day for the past 7 days, its upward trend has slowed down, as the reproduction number in Cebu City decreased to 1.38.

Where spikes are

In NCR, steep upward trends in new Covid-19 cases were observed in Pasay, Quezon City, Manila, Makati, Malabon, Taguig, Parañaque and

Navotas, while Valenzuela, Caloocan and Las Piñas had a smaller increase in new cases.

Guido noted that four LGUs in the NCR have recorded “sharp twoweek rise” in new Covid-19 cases from February 24 to March 2: Pasay recorded a 91-percent increase in cases, Quezon City with 58 percent, Makati with 79 percent and Manila with 37 percent.

In Pasay, Makati, Malabon and Navotas, the daily attack rate had exceeded 7 per 100,000, which classifies these LGUs as high-risk areas according to DOH guidelines. Pasay had the highest daily attack rate at 21.75 per 100,000.

Meanwhile, in CAR, the number of new Covid-19 cases in Baguio City, La Trinidad and Tabuk, Kalinga, also had upward trends, while the daily attack rate in these three LGUs were above 7 per 100,000.

Mitigation possible

For his part, Professor Ranjit Rye said that “this potentially serious surge in the NCR is still in its early stages and can still be mitigated.”

While the situation in the region is still manageable, Rye stressed the need to act as one and “we need to act now to prevent the surge from becoming full-blown and potentially overwhelming the health care system in the NCR.” He said the key is implementing “timely and appropriate responses to reverse the surge. In the highrisk LGUs identified in the NCR and other LGUs around the country, we urge the local government units concerned to further intensify their

efforts at testing, tracing, and isolation to reverse the increase in transmissions in their communities.”

Furthermore, he said, in the identified high-risk LGUs, the implementation of more aggressive and effective localized lockdowns with stricter border controls is urgently needed to suppress further viral transmissions.

Both the national government and LGUs “must strictly monitor and enforce compliance with minimum health standards such as physical distancing, the wearing of face mask and face shields and proper hygiene to reverse the increase in transmissions at the community level,” he said.

He underscored the need for the national and local governments to work together to limit the spread of new cases by increasing testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine, and the implementation of targeted lockdowns at the community level.

Covid cases

The Covid-19 cases in the country surged to 582,223 after recording 1,783 additional infections.

As of 4 p.m. of March 3, the Department of Health also recorded 330 recoveries and 20 deaths.

Of the total number of cases, 6.0 percent (35,056) are active, 91.9 percent (534,778) have recovered, and 2.13 percent (12,389) have died.

Seven laboratories were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System on March 2, 2021.

BIG DATA SHOWS STEEP RISE IN DOMESTIC ABUSE SEARCHES IN PANDEMIC

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

O

NLINE searches relating to domestic abuse have risen significantly in the Philippines between October 2019 and September 2020, according to the United Nations Women (UN Women).

In the report titled, “Covid-19 and Violence against Women: The Evidence behind the Talk,” UN Women partnered with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and analytics company Quilt.AI and determined that these online searches surged 63 percent in the Philippines.

These online searches included specific references to “men hitting women,” “spouse abuse,” “boyfriend hit me,” and “controlling men” or “controlling husband.”

“The so-called ‘shadow pandemic’ of violence against women and girls under lockdown is widely recognized by now, and this analysis proves what we have long anticipated,” said Mohammad Naciri, Asia-Pacific Regional Director of UN Women.

“This analysis of big data now gives us a better picture of exactly what different women need most urgently, and how all support agencies—government, privatesector, international organizations and civil society—can improve the ways they reach out to these groups,” Naciri added.

In the Philippines, the study

noted that the online volume between April and September 2020 grew for search queries such as “how to stop domestic violence,” “being raped,” “sexual assault,” “Owwa [Overseas Workers Welfare Administration] helpline,” “whipped with belt,” and “emotionally abusive husband.”

The data showed searches per 100,000 people for violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the Philippines reached 1,048, the third highest among the countries included in the study.

The highest was in Singapore at 6,299 and Malaysia at 2,396.

India was a far fourth at 612 online searches per 100,000 people; Nepal, 463; Indonesia, 232; Bangladesh, 178; and Thailand, 175.

Help-seeking searches related to VAWG increased 10 percent in the Philippines since Covid-19.

The average search volume for help-seeking keywords reached 1,735 since the pandemic.

Meanwhile, data also showed the number of Tweets with misogynistic language between October 2019 and October 2020 in the Philippines increased 953 percent. The highest was in Thailand at 22,384 percent.

However, the percentage change in Tweets with references to support for victims of violence, between October 2019 and October 2020, declined in the Philippines.

Continued on A2

Ex-envoy to Brazil Mauro breaks silence

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

F

ORMER Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro, dismissed for maid abuse, on Wednesday broke her silence and said she “completely regretted the incidents in the videos and the shame it has brought upon the Department of Foreign Affairs.” But, she insisted, she was not given due process by a DFA panel because of what she deems the haste to heed calls for “mob justice.”

She said she relayed this apology several times to the DFA authorities, including Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. “to reassure the public that I have made amends and have deeply regretted my behavior. I have asked my kasambahay’s [maid] forgiveness, which she has given.”

However, she said her pleas had fallen on deaf ears and “I chose instead to keep silent simply because I trusted the DFA administrative system to follow the prescribed procedures in investigating what really happened.”

She claimed, “There was absolutely no interest in giving me the benefit of the doubt and considering possible mitigating and even aggravating circumstances that have contributed to my behavior.”

Mauro said the DFA Hearing Panel “disregarded the documentary evidence she and her lawyers have painstakingly gathered, reviewed and submitted to them.”

Mauro said the video footage of her official residence shown on Brazilian TV, with instances of her hitting her maid and throwing a piece of clothing at her, were taken out of context and “created a negative public impression that judged my character as a person and competence as a seasoned diplomat.”

She said selected footages were illegally and stealthily obtained, patched together and eventually released to the Brazilian media to shame and embarrass her "by Bra-

zilian local hires, one of whom was fired with the DFA authority."

Mauro insisted, “my kasambahay and I are family.”

The maid had been in her family’s employ “on and off for more than 30 years. We grew up together.”

Mauro said the public doesn’t realize “there were heavy family dynamics involved in her kasambahay, “a familiarity that has caused me to cross boundaries I would never cross.”

“It is this same familiarity that my kasambahay has also crossed on many occasions,” she said.

She said in her 26 years with the DFA, her utmost priority was “the protection of rights and the promotion of welfare of overseas Filipinos,” adding she had consistently pursued this mission with integrity, dedication, commitment and sheer hard work.”

She claimed this dedication was much appreciated by the Filipino communities in Northern Italy, Brazil, Colombia, Suriname “and other countries where I was assigned.”

She said she had developed the political, economic and socio-cultural cooperation between the Philippines and these countries, leading to enhanced bilateral diplomatic relations.

President Duterte announced Mauro’s dismissal during his weekly address in Malacañang, upholding the DFA’s recommendation to terminate her service.

It would be hard, she said, “to find any overseas Filipino to say that I mistreated him in any way; that I have acted or have been cruel towards anyone.”

Mauro said the DFA should have determined whether her behavior “was merely a severe lapse in judgment especially under the stress of managing an Embassy with the threat of the pandemic.”

She said the DFA should have considered the letters of support from overseas Filipinos to attest that she is not the cruel person depicted “in those uncontextualized videos.”

March 3 was World Wildlife Day. To mark it, the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) drew attention to the role of wildlife habitats, most especially forests. It pitched an integrated approach in protecting and conserving wildlife, along with effective immunization programs, which it deems concrete steps towards Asean’s recovery as well as in building resilience against future pandemics. Photo provided

by ACB shows a Burmese elephant couple. PHOTO BY THOMAS @ SWAN PYAE LYNN

Senate thumbs down govt-issued guns for firefighters

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HE Senate, voting 13-4 with two abstension, thumbed down Wednesday a proposal for government to also issue firearms to firefighters.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III initially accepted Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri’s move to table the motion after Senator Grace Poe pointed out that carrying firearms is “not a job of firemen,” but Sotto later called for the

division of the house to settle the issue.

This, as Senator Francis Tolentino put on record that “once the proposal (to arm firemen) is accepted, the burden is on Senator Ronald dela Rosa as sponsor” of the plan to arm firefighters.

Sotto noted that Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, however, had asked to first be given a copy of the the proposal “instead of acting on

it right now,” so the proposal was tabled.

Zubiri noted, for instance, that firemen are not armed in the United States, prompting Sotto to observe that “when you talk of the Philippines (situation) it is different,” adding that because the issue is “very controversial, it is best we table it.”

For his part, Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former National Police

chief like Dela Rosa, sought to be provided clarification from proponents on whether government will “also issue firearms to firemen or just permit to possess.”

Lacson cited Section 4 of the Firearm Law which, he said, provides that “any individual, as long as qualified,” may be issued a firearm, indicating this can be taken to mean “any fireman can qualify.”

Butch Fernandez

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, March 4, 2021

B1

Lopez urges Chinese investors: Focus on products of the future

T

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

HE Board of Investments (BOI) has asked Chinese investors to set up shops in the Philippines for the manufacture of products of the future, especially now that the economy is poised to grow capital inflows as part of its recovery.

Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon M. Lopez on Wednesday said investments applied to the BOI jumped more than double to nearly P122 billion for the first two months of the year. He appealed before Chinese manufacturers, as such, to take a look at the Philippines to locate here their expansion projects.

“Investments registered in our BOI showed sustained growth of 151.02 percent year on year in the first two months of this year, reach-

ing P121.93 billion or $2.5 billion for two months,” Lopez said at the first Manila Forum for PhilippinesChina relations.

Citing data from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Lopez reported that projects signed by Chinese contractors in the Philippines in the last three years surged close to 28 percent. In 2019, for one, new contracts amounted to $6.4 billion, and this expanded to $9.59 billion last year.

“But even with all these business

deals, there are still a wide range of investment opportunities available in our country that investors can take advantage of presently,” Lopez said.

He pitched to Chinese investors the following industries: manufacturing of electric vehicles and bicycles, and traditional bicycles; manufacturing of connectivity devices, bags and textile; and Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and production of smart devices. The BOI eyes to turn the country into a manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia for products of the future.

The trade chief said these areas for production are where China can set its sights first, even as investments from Beijing have been sweeping into the traditional industries.

DITO Telecommunity, for instance, is now on its way to become the country’s third player in the telecommunications competition. Lopez also cited the Chinese investments in the fields of steel making and renewable energy that are seen to benefit mainly the countryside.

Lopez, for his part, thanked China for donating 600,000 doses of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine that arrived in the country on Sunday.

Now that the vaccines are coming in one by one, investors can expect the economy to rebound over the next months, he said. Proof of this, Lopez said the Philippine manufacturing output in February remained the same as in January at 52.5, indicating that factory activities in the country are now recovering.

FFCCCI buying vaccines

On Wednesday also, the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry announced it is purchasing 500,000 shots of the Sinovac vaccine to be injected on what the group calls economic frontline workers.

The initiative will be financed by volunteer donations from the group’s 170 members nationwide. It is cooperating with hospitals from across the country in carrying out the actual vaccination on entrepreneurs and their workers.

Meralco electrification program on track

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

M

ANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) is on track to complete its P1.1-billion electrification program by June this year, according to a ranking official.

Meralco SVP Ronnie Aperocho said as of December 2020, Meralco has already energized 296 sites, which brings its energization level to 55 percent. Another 240 sites are now under different levels of construction.

Converge bares new solutions to boost SMEs

C

ONVERGE ICT Solutions Inc. introduced on Wednesday two new connectivity solutions that provide small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with more bandwidth to increase their productivity.

Jesus Romero, the company’s COO, led the launch of Converge Flexibiz, which include two new solutions that enable its SME customers to be “more flexible” in using their connectivity plans.

“Converge ICT is aware of the operational struggles that small-and-medium enterprise owners face every day, as the pandemic continues. By developing Converge Flexibiz, our goal is to offer new products that allow SMEs to have the flexibility and option to choose how they will utilize their internet and maximize their valuable connectivity investments,” he said.

Flexibiz Daytime allows customers to have double the bandwidth between 7 a.m. and 6:59 p.m., or the peak working hours within a regular day. On the other hand, Flexibiz Peak provides connection speeds of up to 300 Mbps at any time of the day. Romero explained that the company developed these two new solutions as current services in the market are tailored for big companies.

“As we continue to face the uncertainty of the pandemic, Converge will keep on coming up with more solutions and innovations that are designed with the customer’s needs in mind. We will always try to help in supporting and uplifting small and medium Filipino businesses. We are all about better experiences, be it at home or in business,” he noted. Lorenz S. Marasigan

“We are set to complete priority 2 and 3 groups with a P1.1-billion budget which cover 536 and close to 27,000 households with December 2020 and June 2021 completion targets, respectively,” he said in a press briefing. Aperocho is confident that Meralco will be able to complete its targets despite the community quarantine restrictions as it is “committed to bring light to our unserved and underserved customers.”

With the completion of these projects, he added, “Meralco would have already complied with the 100

percent household electrification.”

Meralco initially wanted to complete the electrification of its entire franchise area last year, but the restrictions brought about by the pandemic caused delays in the construction of its projects.

Meralco serves Metro Manila, where it is the sole electricity distributor, as well as some nearby provinces, like Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon. It has 7 million customers.

The company’s social development arm, One Meralco Foundation

(OMF), also complements the energization program with its efforts in household and school electrification.

In 2019, over 8,000 homes of lowincome families were energized and are now enjoying the benefits of electricity. Among those energized were two communities in Pasig City, which did not have access to electricity for more than 15 years due to tenure and right-of-way issues.

Under school electrification, OMF typically installs 3 kW solar PV systems to power lights, fans, and learning tools in off-grid schools.

Duterte lauds Eternal Plans on 40th anniversary

P

RESIDENT Duterte has lauded industry leader Eternal Plans, Inc.’s strong commitment in responding to their client’s needs.

In a message to the company for its 40th anniversary, Duterte cited the important role that Eternal Plans plays in helping planholders secure their future. “For decades, you have assisted your clients in securing their future through your pension, education and memorial life plans,” he said.

Duterte also conveyed his well wishes to the company and expressed hope that this milestone may further inspire the men and women of Eter-

President Duterte MALACANANG PHOTO

nal Plans “to continue striving for excellence and setting the standards in the pre-need industry.”

Eternal Plans was founded in 1981 by Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua as a provider of preneed products that meet the basic needs of Filipinos. Forty years later, it remains a trusted pre-need company that is committed to “Keeping the Passion to Build Better Lives for 40 Years More,” which is the theme of their celebration.

Eternal Plans is a member of the ALC Group of Companies, headed by its chairman, D. Edgard A. Cabangon.

Facebook narrowly averts Senate contempt citation

F

ACEBOOK narrowly avoided being cited in contempt after vowing to attend the next Senate hearing on how social media platforms have enabled criminals engaged in women and child abuse.

The popular platform incurred the ire of Senators Francis Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros when not even one local Facebook representative registered attendance at the Senate committee's hearing held Tuesday, even though it was just a virtual hearing.

Hontiveros late Tuesday said she was considering a contempt citation on Facebook, but on Wednesday morning clarified that she accepted an explanation of local Facebook representatives that they did not get an invitation.

She said she was satisfied with FB officials’ assurance they will join the next hearing.

The inquiry was triggered by

findings that the number of online sexual exploitation incidents reported in 2020 soared to 1.2 million or three times the level in 2019.

The Senate inquiry was triggered by reports reaching lawmakers on how Facebook and other platforms have been "used for online child sex abuse/trafficking."

Hontiveros’s panel is hearing Senate Bill 2068, to be known as the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) Law. “We have heard their explanation that their policy team did not receive the invitation that was sent, and we will call a next hearing to provide a platform for Facebook and other social media outfits to explain their side and open themselves to questions from legislators," she said Wednesday.

Apart from Facebook, the lawmaker likewise prodded Twitter to also "crack down on criminal activi-

ties in their platforms and cooperate in an OSAEC inquiry," even as Hontiveros called on major social media giants to also go after online sexual exploitation of women and children.

She reminded that fake news is not the only one getting a free ride on social-media.

She said the tripling of reports of online abuse in 2020 “is a dramatic rise in a span of only a year.

It has worsened in the pandemic, especially since people spend more hours on social media. Social networks should prioritize ending the proliferation of these crimes before even thinking of expanding their products,” Hontiveros said.

Last year, she called on the National Bureau of Investigation to take down pages that are sexually exploiting children. She had called on the agency to arrest the users running pages and groups that propagate child sexual abuse materials. Butch Fernandez

No prepandemic level for maritime trade till 2023, says PPA

T

HE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) forecasts that through 2023, the volume of maritime trade and travel in the country will not return to the pre-pandemic levels, even with the reopening of the economy and the lifting of certain travel restrictions.

Jay Daniel Santiago, the port regulator’s chief, said his group forecasts “conservatively optimistic” growth rates for cargo and passenger volumes from 2021 to 2023, as the effects of the pandemic are expected to drag on in the next three years.

For cargo, he said the port authority expects volumes to increase to 246.70 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 2021, to 249.17 MMT the following year, and 256.29 MMT by 2023.

This is still about 4 percent lower than the pre-pandemic cargo volume of 266.42 in 2019, but is 11 percent higher than the 2020 cargo volume of 20.43 MMT. Santiago noted that the vaccination and the easing of travel restrictions will help drive cargo volume recovery in the

next three years.

“The main driver of cargo volume is consumption. The moment consumption increases, cargo volume will also increase. In the meantime, we have yet to see the easing up of movement.

We are very conservative but we are optimistic on the trend of cargo traffic,” he said.

For passenger traffic, the port authority expects an almost flattish increase in sea travel through 2023.

From 24.79 million passengers in 2020, the port regulator expects a very minimal increase to 25.84 million passengers this year, 26.10 million by next year, and 26.79 million in 2023.

Passenger volumes last year dropped drastically by 70 percent from the 83.72-million passenger volume in 2019.

“The authority doubts that volume will drastically pick up immediately even with the new IATF directive for movement,” Santiago said, referring to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases. Lorenz S. Marasigan

DNL income falls 23% in ‘20, but sees recovery in 4Q

By VG Cabuag @villygc

C

HEMICAL manufacturer D and L Industries Inc. said its net income fell 23 percent last year to P2.01 billion from the previous P2.62 billion, but the company saw a jump in earnings in the last quarter that it said will be an inflection point for its earnings in the succeeding quarters.

DNL president Alvin Lao said the company hopes to at least match its 2019 earnings by the end of the year, recovering what it lost in 2020.

“2020 was a challenging year to say the least. But at the same time, these extraordinary conditions further built our resilience and strengthened our conviction in our long-term strategies. It demonstrated the highly relevant nature of our businesses’ catering to basic industries, and our operational adeptness as even in the worst of times, even at the peak of the lockdown, the company never saw negative net income,” Lao said.

“In the final quarter of 2020, we managed to surpass pre-Covid performance, with our net income growing 8 percent year-on-year.

This accompanied the gradual opening of the economy and inspires confidence, as it shows that earnings growth is gradually coming back,” he said.

Income for the fourth quarter alone reached P637 million, up 8 percent from the previous year's P590 million. Lao said the company should sustain such level of income every quarter this year to reach its 2019 levels.

Sales last year fell 3 percent to P21.74 billion from the previous

P22.38 billion, a narrower decline attributed to the strong performance of its non-food sector. For the fourth quarter alone, sales was flat at P5.8 billion.

“There is reason to believe that our 2021 results will likely be better than 2020. Furthermore, our products generally serve basic industries. From our past experience, after every crisis, when recovery starts, we usually start seeing good growth in the businesses we are in.

As a sign of our confidence, we remain committed to our expansion plan in Batangas and the Lao Family continues to buy shares in D&L. The family has acquired about 91 million shares or 1.3 percent of outstanding shares so far since the pandemic started,” Lao said.

He said the company’s optimism largely stems from the performance of it’s non-food businesses.

As of the fourth quarter of 2020, Chemrez’s specialty plastics and aerosols, which combined account for 75 percent of total earnings, are already operating above preCovid levels.

The food segment, meanwhile, were still down since most of the restaurants and hospitality industries are still struggling in their operations as many people scrimp on eating out due to their lower income.

The food ingredients segment now accounts for 25 percent but compared to year-ago pre-Covid levels, earnings for this segment in the fourth quarter were still lower by 45 percent, as various food companies still feel the impact of the lockdown; and foot traffic in malls and other commercial establishments remain well below pre-Covid levels.

PAL offers 80th anniversary deals, assures public of worry-free travel

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LAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) celebrates its anniversary on March 15 by offering the "80th anniversary Deals enabling you to 'Prepare for Take-Off.'" PAL said people can avail themselves of one-way economy base fares for domestic flights for as low as P80, and roundtrip economy base fares for international flights for as low as $80.

Booking period is March 1 to 14, 2021.

Travel period for domestic flights

is March 1, 2021 onwards while the travel period for international flights is on March 16, 2021 onwards.

PAL encouraged the public to experience safe and worry-free travels with unlimited booking.

It assured them it is strictly implementing new normal health and safety protocols to ensure that travelers are protected.

"Rebooking must be made 7 days prior to departure. Fare differences may apply," PAL advised.

Recto L. Mercene

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, March 4, 2021

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

March 3, 2021

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

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

43.5 108.6 88.7 24.45 9.92 48.35 10.4 24.9 54.55 17.34 129.1 73.2 1.9 3.9 3.33 1.51 0.42 0.8 150.6 2,198 1.02

43.6 109 88.8 24.5 9.95 48.45 10.5 25 55.4 17.5 129.2 73.5 1.91 4 3.41 1.55 0.435 0.82 151.1 2,200 1.08

43.35 109.4 86.1 24.5 9.96 48.3 10.5 24.95 54.5 17.8 133 73.8 1.98 4 3.38 1.51 0.435 0.83 151.3 2,198 1.03

43.35 109.4 88.8 24.5 9.97 48.5 10.5 25.3 55.4 17.8 133.1 73.8 1.98 4 3.42 1.57 0.435 0.83 151.3 2,198 1.03

43.35 107.2 85.75 24.4 9.91 47.5 10.4 24.9 54.5 17.34 129 73 1.84 3.9 3.29 1.5 0.405 0.8 150.5 2,198 1.01

43.35 109 88.8 24.5 9.92 48.35 10.4 25 55.4 17.34 129.2 73.5 1.9 4 3.41 1.55 0.435 0.81 151.1 2,198 1.01

200 3,139,130 1,874,020 36,300 269,400 2,907,500 5,100 99,800 910 10,400 687,530 20,520 5,000,000 8,979,000 122,000 266,000 1,430,000 64,000 23,510 300 100,000

8,670 341,537,550 164,919,485 889,130 2,674,526 139,816,350 53,420 2,493,070 50,034 181,362 89,317,805 1,506,146.50 9,430,740 35,910,630 408,340 403,710 592,950 51,960 3,550,594 659,400 101,490

-17,753,556 82,568,962 181,300 -1,740,392 5,197,140 -410,120 1,740.00 -51,251,004 -935,663 -19,800 32,435,890 835,275 659,400 -101,490

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 7.22 7.23 7.13 7.35 7 7.22 29,901,200 213,811,278 1.29 1.3 1.31 1.31 1.3 1.3 732,000 951,960 ALSONS CONS 24.45 24.5 24.9 25.1 24.5 24.5 2,018,000 49,872,180 ABOITIZ POWER 1.18 1.19 1.12 1.22 1.12 1.18 272,218,000 320,460,840 BASIC ENERGY 30 30.05 30.2 30.2 30 30 1,073,200 32,252,020 FIRST GEN 72.3 72.45 74 74 72.3 72.3 138,340 10,026,698 FIRST PHIL HLDG 280 281 276 281.6 275 281 230,380 63,998,348 MERALCO 15.3 15.32 15.4 15.56 15.2 15.32 529,700 8,105,680 MANILA WATER 3.51 3.52 3.55 3.55 3.51 3.51 795,000 2,796,630 PETRON 3.66 3.89 3.77 3.77 3.66 3.66 262,000 968,050 PETROENERGY 12.1 12.38 12.04 12.38 12.04 12.38 34,100 418,736 PHX PETROLEUM 21.9 22 21.85 22 21.85 22 155,300 3,405,630 PILIPINAS SHELL 10.28 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.28 10.28 146,600 1,507,422 SPC POWER 14.5 14.94 14.94 14.94 14.5 14.5 800 11,908 VIVANT 7.01 7.1 7.25 7.25 7 7.1 2,169,300 15,514,485 AGRINURTURE 3.39 3.4 3.45 3.47 3.4 3.4 637,000 2,182,280 AXELUM 13.2 13.6 13.86 13.86 13.68 13.7 10,000 136,924 CNTRL AZUCARERA 17.6 17.7 17.54 17.64 17.46 17.6 1,091,700 19,200,826 CENTURY FOOD 8.5 8.52 8.5 8.8 8.4 8.52 315,400 2,677,531 DEL MONTE 7.42 7.45 7.15 7.48 7.15 7.44 5,370,100 39,837,810 DNL INDUS 10.02 10.1 10.5 10.5 9.99 10.1 5,267,500 53,210,035 EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV 66.85 66.9 66.9 66.9 66.55 66.9 47,460 3,168,892.50 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.63 0.65 0.63 0.63 0.63 0.63 192,000 120,960 FRUITAS HLDG 1.49 1.51 1.49 1.51 1.48 1.5 3,857,000 5,759,640 GINEBRA 51.4 51.5 52 52 51.4 51.5 26,170 1,347,873 185.5 186 185.4 186 184.4 186 948,100 175,747,280 JOLLIBEE LIBERTY FLOUR 32 32.95 32.3 32.6 32 32 4,400 141,780 7.46 8.2 8.29 8.29 7.5 8.2 300 2,399 MACAY HLDG 6.46 6.49 6.6 6.6 6.45 6.46 90,400 587,199 MAXS GROUP MG HLDG 0.375 0.38 0.385 0.385 0.36 0.375 18,520,000 6,845,750 SHAKEYS PIZZA 7.2 7.29 7.4 7.4 7.13 7.29 20,500 148,262 ROXAS AND CO 1.15 1.16 1.14 1.16 1.14 1.16 1,061,000 1,214,800 RFM CORP 4.56 4.72 4.54 4.55 4.54 4.55 21,479,000 97,729,370 0.147 0.149 0.142 0.174 0.141 0.147 267,360,000 41,762,850 SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA 131 131.9 133 133.6 130.2 131.9 779,850 102,717,469 VITARICH 0.88 0.89 0.9 0.9 0.88 0.89 1,914,000 1,696,350 VICTORIAS 2.21 2.24 2.24 2.24 2.24 2.24 10,000 22,400 53.5 54 54.1 54.15 54 54 1,670 90,377 CONCRETE A 54.85 59.7 59.75 59.75 59.75 59.75 870 51,982.50 CONCRETE B 1.32 1.34 1.34 1.34 1.31 1.32 3,846,000 5,085,150 CEMEX HLDG 11.9 12 12 12 11.8 12 63,100 751,360 EAGLE CEMENT 8.22 8.27 8.29 8.29 8.21 8.22 82,800 683,277 EEI CORP 6.11 6.12 6.1 6.2 6.1 6.12 210,100 1,286,144 HOLCIM 7.16 7.18 7.28 7.29 7.12 7.16 1,632,700 11,714,064 MEGAWIDE 11.5 11.86 11.2 11.9 11.2 11.86 44,300 509,900 PHINMA 1.36 1.38 1.44 1.44 1.34 1.38 978,000 1,344,050 TKC METALS 3 3.01 2.92 3.07 2.8 3.01 34,743,000 102,629,230 VULCAN INDL 2.03 2.1 2.07 2.11 2.02 2.11 414,000 849,030 CROWN ASIA 2.19 2.23 2.22 2.24 2.15 2.24 231,000 507,360 EUROMED 4.81 5.02 5.05 5.06 4.8 5.04 29,600 143,302 LMG CORP 4.3 4.47 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 2,000 8,600 MABUHAY VINYL 5.42 5.58 5.41 5.58 5.41 5.58 7,600 41,286 PRYCE CORP 21.6 21.65 21.65 21.7 21.35 21.6 16,400 354,400 CONCEPCION 4.59 4.6 4.79 4.9 4.6 4.6 23,144,000 109,209,930 GREENERGY 12.4 12.46 12.82 12.82 12.34 12.4 751,100 9,347,384 INTEGRATED MICR 1.22 1.25 1.26 1.29 1.21 1.25 577,000 722,720 IONICS 5.99 6.04 6.94 6.94 5.71 6.04 903,900 5,599,892 PANASONIC 1.47 1.48 1.5 1.54 1.47 1.48 1,697,000 2,521,840 SFA SEMICON 6.59 6.6 6.79 6.79 6.5 6.59 3,933,600 26,005,087 CIRTEK HLDG

30,853,766 -17,788,180 7,772,790.00 1,808,195 -2,233,757.50 -32,127,958 537,534 -590,280 62,830 -108,944 -293,100 1,441,537 -37,710 -2,500,022 8,400 -4,865,633 10,367,528 -2,278,969 1,890 73,010 8,314,395 14,827 388,500 -14,440 -15,090.00 0 -156,630 -4,312,597 -85,540 -2,258,900 298,302 -269,546.00 -520,045 -7,621,059 -52,184 -5,547,840 -4,400 -2,470,950 -20,534 23,580 345,768

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 1.2 1.21 1.3 1.35 1.19 1.21 141,653,000 180,851,960 7.1 7.39 7.02 7.6 7.02 7.57 105,100 744,352 ASIABEST GROUP 774 782 779 782 767 782 198,760 154,529,825 AYALA CORP 42.6 42.9 42.95 43.2 42.3 42.9 765,100 32,825,960 ABOITIZ EQUITY 10.66 10.92 10.64 10.92 10.52 10.92 2,506,000 26,773,500 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 3.03 3.04 3.06 3.06 2.99 3.04 877,000 2,651,490 AYALA LAND LOG 7.37 7.4 7.37 7.4 7.37 7.37 72,300 534,160 ANSCOR 0.81 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.8 0.81 3,668,000 2,998,120 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.95 0.96 0.96 0.98 0.93 0.95 9,458,000 9,062,310 ATN HLDG A 0.93 0.97 0.96 1 0.92 0.97 145,000 142,670 ATN HLDG B 5.56 5.6 5.61 5.66 5.56 5.6 1,631,300 9,136,640 COSCO CAPITAL 5.4 5.42 5.45 5.45 5.4 5.42 2,376,900 12,906,480 DMCI HLDG 8.86 8.95 8.93 8.95 8.86 8.95 1,900 16,931 FILINVEST DEV 3.44 4.22 4 4.61 3.5 4.22 101,000 368,310 FJ PRINCE B 0.237 0.238 0.238 0.238 0.238 0.238 360,000 85,680 FORUM PACIFIC 553 560 560 560 545 560 148,970 82,750,455 GT CAPITAL 3.63 3.76 3.89 3.89 3.73 3.76 32,000 120,590 HOUSE OF INV 67 67.2 66 67.2 65.2 67.2 1,377,900 91,876,485 JG SUMMIT 4.7 5.24 4.67 5.24 4.66 4.66 3,500 16,457 KEPPEL HLDG A 1.64 1.65 1.63 1.7 1.6 1.64 18,323,000 29,978,010 LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG 3.73 3.78 3.73 3.8 3.73 3.8 248,000 939,040 13.72 13.78 13.86 13.9 13.6 13.72 9,116,300 125,528,740 LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG 0.55 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.55 0.57 478,000 271,600 MJC INVESTMENTS 1.85 1.98 1.98 1.98 1.83 1.98 30,000 57,330 4.09 4.1 4.08 4.11 4.06 4.09 15,045,000 61,383,010 METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG 4.2 4.29 5.08 5.08 3.8 4.2 1,686,000 6,988,940 PRIME MEDIA 2.59 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.6 11,096,000 28,882,360 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.75 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.68 2.8 98,000 266,370 1.4 1.42 1.5 1.5 1.37 1.43 1,095,000 1,581,810 SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID 315 325 320 320 320 320 100 32,000 1,045 1,057 1,046 1,057 1,026 1,057 197,170 206,903,325 SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP 127.4 127.9 127.8 128 126.2 127.9 49,490 6,308,302 SOC RESOURCES 0.79 0.82 0.83 0.83 0.77 0.82 248,000 199,270 139.5 141.4 139.5 139.5 139.5 139.5 70 9,765 TOP FRONTIER 0.242 0.26 0.25 0.25 0.242 0.242 410,000 100,010 WELLEX INDUS 0.245 0.25 0.255 0.27 0.243 0.249 8,400,000 2,117,480 ZEUS HLDG

-3,613,200 56,330 -62,947,910 14,828,455 5,041,118 382,860 99,900 69,430 -19,800 -3,025,344 -1,020,812 -4,390 -29,596,900 -26,320 7,111,333 -20,740 -1,295,518 2,820 -15,801,980 79,860 -1,306,060 -7,250 -44,505,650 -1,044,528 -

PROPERTY ANCHOR LAND 7.58 7.94 7.94 7.94 7.51 7.58 400 3,061 39.4 39.8 39.4 39.8 39.15 39.8 2,945,700 116,458,630 AYALA LAND 1.3 1.35 1.39 1.39 1.32 1.35 131,000 175,930 ARANETA PROP 34.25 34.35 34.5 34.5 34.2 34.25 321,000 11,032,430 AREIT RT 1.63 1.68 1.65 1.65 1.63 1.63 48,000 78,710 BELLE CORP 0.94 0.95 0.95 0.97 0.93 0.95 1,702,000 1,597,380 A BROWN 0.79 0.8 0.8 0.82 0.77 0.79 2,117,000 1,657,170 CITYLAND DEVT 0.14 0.145 0.151 0.151 0.14 0.14 10,290,000 1,462,590 CROWN EQUITIES 7.01 7.18 7.01 7.18 7.01 7.01 136,700 958,964 CEBU HLDG 5.38 5.4 5.55 5.63 5.24 5.4 3,786,600 20,336,257 CEB LANDMASTERS 0.41 0.415 0.41 0.415 0.405 0.415 1,740,000 709,700 CENTURY PROP 0.34 0.35 0.36 0.365 0.34 0.35 2,710,000 937,300 CYBER BAY 15.06 15.1 15.6 15.78 15.04 15.06 1,753,800 26,638,236 DOUBLEDRAGON 6.63 6.7 6.58 6.69 6.56 6.69 13,200 87,913 DM WENCESLAO 0.31 0.32 0.315 0.325 0.305 0.31 6,620,000 2,088,600 EMPIRE EAST 0.097 0.103 0.093 0.105 0.092 0.103 6,560,000 643,270 EVER GOTESCO 1.14 1.15 1.15 1.15 1.14 1.14 4,350,000 4,971,860 FILINVEST LAND 0.94 0.95 0.92 0.95 0.91 0.95 595,000 548,920 GLOBAL ESTATE 7.4 7.49 7.55 7.55 7.25 7.49 35,700 262,501 8990 HLDG 1.55 1.56 1.61 1.61 1.46 1.55 4,061,000 6,311,590 PHIL INFRADEV KEPPEL PROP 3.02 3.3 3.08 3.08 3.08 3.08 3,000 9,240 0.89 0.93 1 1 0.86 0.93 4,156,000 3,781,760 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 3.71 3.76 3.8 3.8 3.7 3.71 6,579,000 24,570,490 MRC ALLIED 0.495 0.5 0.5 0.52 0.495 0.5 49,888,000 25,213,505 PHIL ESTATES 0.49 0.495 0.51 0.52 0.475 0.49 42,798,000 20,958,260 PRIMEX CORP 1.54 1.59 1.65 1.65 1.53 1.59 1,549,000 2,423,330 ROBINSONS LAND 19.6 19.68 19.6 19.68 19.42 19.68 1,686,300 33,083,020 PHIL REALTY 0.3 0.315 0.315 0.325 0.3 0.3 970,000 301,350 1.44 1.45 1.44 1.45 1.44 1.44 56,000 80,960 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 2.72 2.78 2.73 2.78 2.72 2.78 699,000 1,903,940 STA LUCIA LAND 2.15 2.22 2.22 2.22 2.14 2.15 437,000 946,930 SM PRIME HLDG 36.75 37 37 37.4 36.5 37 5,624,100 208,124,360 VISTAMALLS 3.91 4 3.91 4 3.91 3.91 18,000 70,500 1.77 1.8 1.89 1.9 1.74 1.77 3,441,000 6,171,050 SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND 4.25 4.27 4.36 4.36 4.25 4.27 1,380,000 5,891,340

-6,060,135 -18,480 -3,545,325 -70,560 -15,000 -141,160 83,580 -41,100 -1,434,102 -2,464,260 920 163,140 -74,000 -6,840,680 -193,300 -939,405 419,300 -5,949,396 -18,780 1,327,360 -44,400 50,828,795 -148,140 -204,490

SERVICES ABS CBN 12.3 12.46 12.6 12.6 12.24 12.48 56,700 703,504 7.36 7.37 7.22 7.5 7.22 7.37 1,611,500 11,916,004 GMA NETWORK 0.465 0.49 0.47 0.47 0.465 0.465 100,000 46,650 MANILA BULLETIN 10.5 11 11 11 10.5 10.5 200 2,150 MLA BRDCASTING 2,002 2,018 2,028 2,028 2,000 2,002 13,790 27,694,000 GLOBE TELECOM 1,291 1,304 1,307 1,314 1,291 1,291 162,810 211,539,770 PLDT 0.265 0.27 0.249 0.27 0.241 0.265 1,471,950,000 372,345,880 APOLLO GLOBAL 18.1 18.24 18.5 18.54 18.1 18.1 7,967,300 146,037,142 CONVERGE 4.35 4.38 4.25 4.4 4.25 4.35 632,000 2,735,640 DFNN INC 15.72 15.74 14.98 15.74 14.5 15.72 73,373,200 1,094,776,758 DITO CME HLDG 1.8 1.83 1.89 2.07 1.77 1.8 516,000 944,510 IMPERIAL 0.171 0.172 0.171 0.171 0.164 0.171 8,940,000 1,504,400 ISLAND INFO 2.12 2.15 2.22 2.22 2.11 2.15 66,000 141,660 JACKSTONES 2.83 2.84 2.88 2.9 2.8 2.83 2,571,000 7,274,380 NOW CORP 0.49 0.495 0.51 0.52 0.485 0.495 38,076,000 19,027,020 TRANSPACIFIC BR 2.7 2.72 2.75 2.75 2.68 2.72 368,000 997,480 PHILWEB 8.6 8.65 8.9 8.9 8.6 8.65 56,400 488,847 2GO GROUP 4.09 4.1 3.95 4.13 3.89 4.09 2,466,000 9,804,650 CHELSEA 43.3 43.4 45.25 45.25 42.8 43.4 616,000 26,872,720 CEBU AIR 120.8 121 121.9 121.9 119 120.8 2,006,220 241,884,502 INTL CONTAINER LBC EXPRESS 16.82 17 16.4 17 16.4 16.82 42,900 727,898 LORENZO SHIPPNG 1.15 1.17 1.14 1.17 1.08 1.15 1,038,000 1,166,820 MACROASIA 5.75 5.76 6 6.05 5.76 5.76 2,499,300 14,623,040 METROALLIANCE A 3.12 3.13 2.98 3.35 2.81 3.12 12,167,000 38,109,930 3.01 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 1,000 3,200 METROALLIANCE B 6.34 6.35 6.4 6.42 6.3 6.34 88,800 564,048 PAL HLDG 1.34 1.36 1.4 1.4 1.34 1.35 670,000 912,280 HARBOR STAR BOULEVARD HLDG 0.066 0.067 0.065 0.079 0.06 0.067 894,880,000 63,686,130 DISCOVERY WORLD 5.52 5.59 5.4 5.62 5.4 5.52 1,804,300 9,991,114 0.57 0.58 0.63 0.64 0.56 0.57 27,669,000 16,457,340 WATERFRONT FAR EASTERN U 580 630 585 585 585 585 20 11,700 8.08 8.63 8.08 8.63 8.08 8.63 1,600 13,025 IPEOPLE 0.39 0.395 0.39 0.4 0.39 0.395 220,000 86,100 STI HLDG 4.41 4.63 4.64 4.64 4.63 4.63 5,000 23,180 BERJAYA 7.81 7.91 7.95 8.05 7.8 7.81 5,183,500 40,807,438 BLOOMBERRY PACIFIC ONLINE 2.1 2.13 2.1 2.16 2.05 2.13 58,000 120,770 LEISURE AND RES 1.88 1.89 1.97 2.05 1.84 1.89 1,465,000 2,775,640 MANILA JOCKEY 2.13 2.2 2.19 2.2 2.13 2.13 71,000 153,120 2.54 2.56 2.64 2.64 2.51 2.54 4,129,000 10,514,170 PH RESORTS GRP PREMIUM LEISURE 0.465 0.47 0.46 0.475 0.46 0.47 2,170,000 1,016,600 PHIL RACING 6.24 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.3 6.3 41,800 267,390 8.12 8.29 8.3 8.3 8 8.29 629,700 5,152,945 ALLHOME 1.35 1.37 1.35 1.38 1.35 1.35 764,000 1,038,390 METRO RETAIL 37.9 37.95 37.8 37.95 37.6 37.9 1,746,100 66,040,120 PUREGOLD 53.25 53.5 55.7 55.7 53.25 53.25 3,428,420 183,857,281.50 ROBINSONS RTL 98 98.8 98.05 98.75 98 98 124,660 12,217,029.50 PHIL SEVEN CORP 1.36 1.37 1.42 1.42 1.32 1.36 3,271,000 4,405,000 SSI GROUP 17.92 18 18 18 17.9 17.92 396,600 7,120,392 WILCON DEPOT 0.43 0.435 0.44 0.44 0.42 0.43 2,010,000 871,000 APC GROUP 7.31 7.45 6.9 7.89 6.9 7.45 745,900 5,613,041 EASYCALL 422 449.6 430 449.6 423 449.6 2,800 1,234,900 GOLDEN MV 5.1 5.2 5.05 5.25 5.05 5.1 13,600 69,650 IPM HLDG 2.95 2.96 3.22 3.45 2.93 2.96 341,643,000 1,072,687,230 PRMIERE HORIZON 4.45 4.49 4.45 4.45 4.45 4.45 7,000 31,150 SBS PHIL CORP

-3,265,440 -140,019,575 4,899,790 13,110,036 -175,020 16,848,528 3,910 235,620 -18,300 -13,500 87,537 656,370 -6,347,240 -28,951,560 -266,900 1,170 -2,888,511 -37,960 -912,440 203,580 -5,112,023 21,000 -5,550 37,950.00 -37,200 1,278,626 -9,590 3,962,335 -97,608,417 -333,401 -634,760.00 1,262,148 -186,606 4,193,510 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 7.69 7.72 7.33 8 7.28 7.69 4,414,800 33,217,518 97,849 1.54 1.55 1.56 1.56 1.54 1.55 2,634,000 4,087,270 -699,050 APEX MINING 0.0046 0.0047 0.0057 0.0071 0.0043 0.0046 215,454,000,000 1,252,075,000 12,953,200 ABRA MINING 7.2 7.22 7.08 7.27 7.08 7.22 1,220,100 8,778,965 -283,960 ATLAS MINING 2.75 2.98 2.97 3 2.75 2.98 23,000 65,350 BENGUET A 2.73 2.98 2.98 2.98 2.98 2.98 1,000 2,980 BENGUET B 0.315 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.31 0.33 2,270,000 719,100 COAL ASIA HLDG 12.5 12.6 12.84 12.84 12.16 12.6 163,300 2,045,590 DIZON MINES 2.86 2.87 2.9 2.9 2.83 2.86 4,571,000 13,065,340 3,473,580 FERRONICKEL 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.46 0.44 0.455 4,930,000 2,214,400 GEOGRACE 0.149 0.151 0.149 0.153 0.149 0.151 6,450,000 970,530 LEPANTO A 0.151 0.152 0.15 0.153 0.15 0.151 470,000 71,030 LEPANTO B 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.01 85,300,000 879,500 MANILA MINING A 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 10,100,000 101,000 MANILA MINING B 1.56 1.57 1.56 1.58 1.54 1.57 3,481,000 5,419,180 679,030 MARCVENTURES 2.55 2.62 2.68 2.77 2.53 2.62 326,000 833,860 5,080 NIHAO 5.69 5.7 5.69 5.7 5.48 5.7 10,367,600 58,368,807 11,477,054 NICKEL ASIA 0.445 0.465 0.44 0.46 0.44 0.46 130,000 58,150 OMICO CORP 1.18 1.2 1.24 1.26 1.16 1.2 5,997,000 7,221,140 -32,880 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 4.94 5 5.25 5.26 4.9 4.94 1,548,500 7,790,843 279,691 SEMIRARA MINING 12.88 12.9 12.8 13 12.78 12.9 3,839,200 49,523,662 17,706,522 UNITED PARAGON 0.0099 0.01 0.0098 0.01 0.0097 0.01 333,000,000 3,298,500 24.5 24.6 25.8 25.95 23.5 24.5 1,079,200 26,838,840 -295,755 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.014 0.013 0.014 0.012 0.013 910,400,000 11,845,000 0.013 0.014 0.013 0.014 0.013 0.013 8,200,000 106,700 ORNTL PETROL B 0.013 0.014 0.013 0.014 0.012 0.014 272,400,000 3,557,600 PHILODRILL 9.33 9.4 9.4 9.58 9.33 9.33 366,200 3,443,690 -308,359 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF B 100.5 101 101 101 101 101 20,100 2,030,100 99.1 100.9 100.9 100.9 100.9 100.9 100 10,090 HOUSE PREF A 520 523 520 523.5 520 520 22,020 11,466,150 AC PREF B1 101.8 103.8 103.8 103.8 103.8 103.8 140 14,532 CPG PREF A 101 101.4 101 101 101 101 27,230 2,750,230 DD PREF 505 515 505 505 505 505 70 35,350 GLO PREF P 1,005 1,030 1,005 1,005 1,005 1,005 200 201,000 GTCAP PREF A 1,035 1,036 1,030 1,035 1,030 1,035 2,450 2,528,205 GTCAP PREF B 100.1 101 101 101.9 101 101.9 39,120 3,977,845 MWIDE PREF 100 101 100 101 100 101 4,340 434,010 433,000 MWIDE PREF 2A 100.3 101.1 101.1 101.1 101.1 101.1 30 3,033 MWIDE PREF 2B 1,002 1,004 1,004 1,004 1,004 1,004 175 175,700 PNX PREF 4 1,081 1,119 1,081 1,081 1,081 1,081 10,500 11,350,500 PCOR PREF 3A 1,124 1,140 1,124 1,124 1,124 1,124 150 168,600 PCOR PREF 3B 2.05 2.1 2.6 3 2.01 2.1 554,000 1,299,120 SFI PREF 78.5 79 79 79 79 79 17,870 1,411,730 SMC PREF 2C 76.2 77.85 76.2 78 76.1 78 36,320 2,792,110 SMC PREF 2E 78 79.4 79.4 79.4 79 79 15,000 1,190,000 SMC PREF 2F 76.2 76.9 76.9 76.9 76.9 76.9 13,000 999,700 SMC PREF 2G 76.8 78.9 76.8 76.8 76.6 76.6 26,700 2,046,520 SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I 77.8 78.5 77.6 78.5 77.6 78.5 25,010 1,947,285 76.25 77 76.25 76.25 76.25 76.25 60 4,575 SMC PREF 2J

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 11.9 12 12 12 12 12 10,000 120,000 7.01 7.02 6.95 7.02 6.95 7.02 300,300 2,096,483 153,262 GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 1.95 1.96 2.26 2.27 1.82 1.95 21,063,000 41,761,150 -737,870

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 25.1 25.3 22.15 25.6 21.15 25.1 2,554,200 61,225,855 -1,546,740 2.77 2.8 2.85 2.85 2.75 2.77 1,189,000 3,311,490 16,680 ITALPINAS 6.05 6.06 6.16 6.16 6.01 6.06 55,000 333,600 12,831 KEPWEALTH 2.9 2.96 2.86 3.15 2.6 2.9 782,000 2,225,780 MAKATI FINANCE 6.52 6.53 6.5 6.63 6.35 6.53 11,750,900 76,158,997 1,174,979 MERRYMART

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 104.8 105 105.4 105.4 104.5 104.8 18,160 1,902,885 379,026

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Pag-IBIG certain of meeting ₧100-B housing loans goal

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) is now hoping to finally attain its target of releasing P100 billion in housing loans this year or next year after missing it last year due to the impact of Covid-19-induced lockdowns.

Pag-Ibig Fund CEO Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said there is no issue hindering Pag-IBIG Fund from financing P100-billion housing loan releases this year.

Moti also pointed out that housing loan releases in January this year have also gone back to prepandemic levels, even exceeding the January housing loan takeout last year.

“So the question is, are we in a position to finance, up to P100-billion housing loan releases this year? The answer to that is yes,” Moti told reporters in a press conference after the 2020 Pag-IBIG Fund Chairman's Report.

“In fact, even our investible funds our excess funds as of the moment it's even higher than the level of investible funds, as of the end of 2019, so funding wise, there’s no issue.”

“On the actual demand from our members, we’re very hopeful that our partner developers, as they committed to us they that they will deliver as much as they can deliver this year, so hopefully by the end of the year, or if not this year, definitely by 2022,

we should be able to reach that milestone, which is one of the commitments that we gave to our President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” Moti added.

Pag-IBIG Fund’s home loan releases in 2020 only reached P63.75 billion, plunging by 26.47 percent from a record P86.7 billion in 2019.

This was also 36.25-percent below their pre-lockdown target to release P100 billion in home loans by the end of 2020.

If not for the pandemic, Moti reiterated that it was poised to hit the P100-billion housing loan target last year.

In 2020, Pag-IBIG Fund's homeloan releases dipped to P3.8 billion in March and P883 million in April; recovering in May when disbursements jumped to P1.2 billion and rose even higher to P2.9 billion in June as government began to ease mobility restrictions. By the end of the third quarter, Pag-Ibig Fund said homeloan releases had already recovered.

Del Rosario report

In his report on Wednesday, Pag-

MPIC ’20 income falls by a third as pandemic impacts major units

C

ONGLOMERATE Metro Pacific Investments Corp. on Wednesday said its core income fell 34 percent to P10.2 billion from the previous year’s P15.6 billion as its businesses suffered from minimal toll road traffic, suspended and then reduced light rail services, and lower commercial and industrial demand for water and power.

Operating revenues fell 17 percent to P40.85 billion from last year’s P49.27 billion, as contributions from its various operations dropped 26 percent.

Power accounted for P10.5 billion or 69 percent, water contributed P3.1 billion or 20 percent, toll roads at P2.4 billion or 16 percent. Other businesses, mainly hospitals, light rail and logistics, incurred an overall loss of P709 million.

“While earnings—for the first time in our history—have been less than ideal, we purposely directed our focus on service continuity amidst the pandemic.

Together with our partners in Government, we worked tirelessly to ensure that every Filipino has access to the essential services we offer especially at the height of this crisis,” Jose Ma. K. Lim, MPIC president said.

“We have come through the most difficult year we have ever seen as the operations of our portfolio companies have been significantly affected by the pandemic. At the parent level however, we endeavored to preserve our balance sheet and optimize capital allocation as evidenced by our recent asset monetization efforts. It is difficult to ascertain the pace of growth in economic activity so we believe it is prudent to ensure

that our financial position is robust and can sustain operations and expansion even in a prolonged period of recovery,” he said.

The power generation and distribution business under Manila Electric Co. saw revenues drop 14 percent reflecting lower pass-through generation charges from reduced wholesale electricity spot market prices because of improved supply conditions and cheaper fuel prices.

The total energy sales meanwhile was down 7 percent.

The power generation business under Global Business Power saw its sale volume increase 2 percent to 4,929 Gigawatt hour on the strength of additional power supply and ancillary service agreements that commenced in the latter part of 2019.

This, however, failed to push the unit’s topline which posted a 13-percent drop to to P21.1 billion due to lower WESM prices and demand.

Revenues from Maynilad Water Services Inc. slipped 4 percent to P22.9 billion with lower average tariffs.

The hospital business under Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. saw its revenues drop 7 percent to P14.8 billion, with in-patient admissions down 46 percent to 106,546; while out-patient visits dropped 36 percent to 2.5 million as patients opted to defer elective procedures . MPIC’s hospital unit operates the largest private hospital network in the Philippines with 18 hospitals and six cancer centers nationwide. VG Cabuag

LIVELIHOOD PROJECT Clark International Airport Corp. VP for Operations Irish Calaguas

discusses livelihood programs with Jhune Angeles, an Angeles City-based fashion designer, specifically on dress-making training program where graduates may be endorsed to work for garment companies inside the Clark Freeport Zone. CIAC-CCO

IBIG Fund Board Chairman and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Eduardo D. Del Rosario also announced that they have approved to declare 93.68 percent of its earnings—exceeding the minimum 70 percent requirement under its charter and the highest in the agency's history—in a bid to aid its members amid the pandemic.

Based on its unaudited financial statement, Pag-IBIG Fund’s net income slid to P31.18 billion last year from P34.37 billion in 2019.

Of the P31.18-billion net income

by Pag-IBIG Fund in 2020, Del Rosario said they are giving back P29.40 billion to members in the form of dividends.

With this, Del Rosario said members will enjoy a higher-than-expected return on their Pag-IBIG savings.

He said that the year 2020 dividend rate for the Pag-IBIG Regular Savings shall be at 5.62 percent, while the Modified Pag-IBIG 2 (MP2) Savings shall be at 6.12 percent.

Under Pag-IBIG Fund’s charter, the agency is required to declare at least 70 percent of its annual net income as dividends, which shall be credited proportionately to its members’ savings.

For his part, Moti also assured the public that this dividend approval by the board will not imperil the strong financial standing of Pag-IBIG Fund.

“It’s also the highest dividend pay-

mutual funds

out ratio our Pag-IBIG Fund Board can declare while still maintaining our target Capital Adequacy Ratio.

Considering the challenges that we faced last year, achieving over P31 billion in net income is an achievement in itself,” Moti said.

“According to Moti, Pag-IBIG Fund maintains a Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 15 percent, which is higher than the 10-percent threshold set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for the banking industry.

Even if Pag-IBIG is not regulated by the BSP, Moti said that the agency voluntarily maintains a high CAR which includes a buffer to account for current economic challenges, to protect the funds of its members and to maintain the agency’s financial stability.”

Moti also thanked borrowers for paying their loans last year, despite the economic slowdown. In 2020, home loan payments reached P46.65 billion, while cash loan payments totaled P56.17 billion enabling the agency maintain its strong fiscal position.

“The strong financial standing of Pag-IBIG is a good sign because this allows us to continue funding our members’ home loans and cash loans, especially now when these are needed the most. By fulfilling their obligations, they are helping PagIBIG Fund bring needed service to other members, while continuing to stimulate the housing industry and the economy,” he said.

March 3, 2021

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 220.42 0.45% -8.44% -1.89% -2.99% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.3182 16.45% -6.22% 3.69% 0.4% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.0323 -0.76% -12.62% -3.64% -3.21% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7738 1.63% -7.81% n.a.

-3.74% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6952 -6.57% n.a. n.a.

-6.26% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.7768 2.47% -6.41% -1.09% -3.33% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.7074 -3.58% -9.81% -6.25% -6.9% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 100.21 9.45% -5.17% n.a.

-1.7% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 45.4135 2.79% -6.6% -0.37% -3.06% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 474.17 1.64% -6.57% -1.13% -3.03% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 1.0534 13.53% n.a. n.a.

-4% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.1335 0.92% -6.3% -0.21% -2.97% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 33.7669 2.29% -6.07% 0.39% -2.88% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.881 0.02% n.a. n.a.

-3.5% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.6475 3.19% -6.05% 0.39% -3% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 777.66 3.43% -5.93% 0.3% -2.99% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.7015 -1.38% -9.91% -3.59% -2.42% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.516 -2.68% -8.09% -1.25% -2.97% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8898 3.12% -6.23% 0.16% -3.04% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.2347 0.64% -5.34% 1.1% -2.54% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 104.3732 3.42% -5.72% 1.02% -2.96% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.3136 38.27% 5.88% 10.72% 9.2% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.727 36.08% 3.24% 10.02% n.a.

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.656 11.22% -3.07% -0.49% -0.76% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.228 9.48% -2.85% 0.81% -2.51% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.5608 4.17% -2.16% -0.22% -2.52% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1925 -5.22% n.a. n.a. -3.07% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.9468 4.03% -0.32% 1.71% -0.88% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.6841 4.09% -1.53% 0.71% -2.75% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.5259 4.4% -1.45% 0.67% -2.42% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.0588 4.06% -2.43% -1.69% 0.65% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.5102 -0.39% -4.01% -0.34% -1.76% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9853 3.83% n.a. n.a.

-3.65% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.9116 2.25% n.a. n.a.

-3.96% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8985 2.09% n.a. n.a.

-3.71% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.871 -0.07% -4.77% -0.97% -1.88% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03823 -2.07% 2.81% 1.5% -2.28% 0.77% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.1591 17.57% 2.82% 6.56% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.6127 24.26% 7.49% 9.08% 2.21% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.2014 10.64% 3.88% n.a.

-0.06% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 370.83 3.07% 3.21% 2.64% -0.06% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9052 -0.31% 0.51% 0.22% 0.26% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.217 2.33% 4.2% 4.62% 0.07% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2563 0.47% 2.34% 1.91% -1.73% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4304 2.33% 3.21% 1.84% -0.93% 4.29% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.5108 2.02% 2.29% -2.67% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3206 4.53% 4.38% 2.68% -0.05% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9649 4.16% 4.33% 2.81% -0.9% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0229 4.36% 4.06% 1.95% -1.83% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1865 2.47% 4.64% 3.23% -0.61% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7401 1.6% 3.94% 2.65% -0.85% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $483.23 2.38% 3.04% 2.62% -0.13% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є219.43 -0.64% 1.03% 1.24% 0.11% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2089 -0.74% 2.65% 1.84% -5.58% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.026 0.39% 1.72% 1.2% -2.26% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0645 -5.01% 0.54% -0.34% -2.58% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4859 0.78% 4.61% 2.65% -1.96% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0625631 2.77% 3.27% 2.3% 0.39% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1449 -3.98% 2.28% 1.44% -2.44% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.97 2.65% 3.31% 2.55% 0.12% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0491 1.6% n.a. n.a.

0.1% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2994 2.2% 2.93% 2.59% 0.22% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0544 1.35% 1.78% n.a.

0.19% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.1869 n.a. n.a. n.a. 5.07% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.98 2.08% n.a. n.a.

0%

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

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

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

6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund). 7 - Launch date is July 6, 2020.

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

Envoys&Expats BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Thursday, March 4, 2021

B3

ANNIVERSARY LOGO The Philippines and Denmark will ‘FOR SHARED FUTURES’ Ambassador Huang Xilian (second from left) welcomed Presi-

dent Duterte (center) and other government officials at the turnover rites of the People’s Republic of China’s donation of 600,000 vials of Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s Coronavac, which set in motion the Philippines’s nationwide vaccination program. Huang said that “as a good friend, neighbor and partner...China sincerely hopes that the Philippines could control the pandemic to embrace economic recovery and normal life at the earliest date.” FB: CHINESE EMBASSY MANILA

VISUAL ART EXPO Part of its efforts to reach out and build closer relationships with the Libyan people, the Philip-

pine Embassy in Tripoli—through its Chargé d’Affaires and Head of Mission Elmer G. Cato (right)—graced the exhibit of young Libyan photography enthusiasts. The exposition was held at the Dar Hassan Al-Faqih Hassan House of Culture in the old city. PHILIPPINE EMBASSY-WALTER VILLALOBOS DFA

celebrate the milestone of the establishment of their diplomatic relations this year under the theme: “75 Years of Friendship: Partners in Progress for Sustainable Growth.” The Jacob Jensen Design Studio conceptualized the official logo, which shows windmills with blades depicting the shapes of the two countries’ respective local flowers: the sampaguita and daisy. It stated: “We have created a simple, fresh and dynamic logo inspired by renewable energies, which are at the forefront of both countries’ economic and social agendas.”

Israel opens honorary PHL to bolster ties in multiple fronts with Colombia, Brazil, France, Sri Lanka consulate in Davao

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ECRETARY of Foreign Affairs (SFA) Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. received the ambassadors of the Republic of Colombia Marcela Ordoñez Fernandez and the Federative Republic of Brazil Antonio Jose Maria De Souza e Silva on February 16.

The courtesy calls were in-line with the celebration of the 75th anniversaries of the establishment of both countries’ diplomatic ties with the Philippines this year.

Locsin and Ordoñez committed to further advance bilateral cooperation in the fields of counterterrorism, transnational crime, disasterrisk reduction and management, climate change, gender and development, early childhood care, technical assistance, South-South cooperation in areas of former combatants, reintegration and youth empowerment.

Ordoñez shared plans of introducing to the Philippine market Colombian meat products and coffee; increasing the number of Filipino tourists to Colombia—especially after travel restrictions are eventually eased; and with her country as president pro tempore of the Pacific Alliance, which will bring the trade bloc closer to the Philippines and the Asean, in cooperation with her Chilean and Mexican counterparts.

Meanwhile, the SFA thanked Brazil for facilitating the delivery of six A-29B Super Tucano aircraft manufactured by the said country’s aerospace firm Embraer in October 2020, which will contribute to the

modernization efforts of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He noted the strong presence of the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. in Brazil, which has the potential to usher in more large-scale investments between the two nations.

Souza informed the secretary that all members of the Filipino community in Brazil will be inoculated with the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine as part of the universal coverage of its health care system, the prioritization of which will be determined by age.

A day prior, newly appointed Ambassador of the French Republic to the Philippines Michèle Boccoz paid a courtesy call on Locsin, as both sides reaffirmed the close ties between their countries and committed to deepen cooperation in the areas of defense, trade and investment, infrastructure, and health.

In particular, the two agreed to explore ways of assisting each other in addressing challenges resulting from the global pandemic. Climatechange cooperation was also identified as a key area of cooperation, given its adverse impacts on the Philippines and France’s leadership role in the Climate Change Conference.

The secretary welcomed the con-

A

SFA Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. with Ambassadors Marcela Ordoñez Fernandez (left photo) and Jose Maria De Souza e Silva DFA-OPCD VANESSA UBAC

THE secretary and Ambassador Michèle Boccoz DFA-OPCD VANESSA UBAC

ferment on France as Asean’s development partner, and looked forward to working further with the European country in the areas of gender justice, environmental protection, migration and cyber security, as the Philippines assumes the role of country coordinator for relations between the region and the European Union this year.

Meanwhile, Locsin and his Sri Lankan counterpart, Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, have recently agreed to focus on new strategies to further strengthen their countries’ existing economic, political, social and international relations.

The agreement was reached during a telephone conversation between the two foreign ministers, as both commemorated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their country’s diplomatic ties.

GUNAWARDENA FB: EMBASSY OF SRI LANKA (MANILA)

The two sides also discussed the establishment of an embassy of the Philippines in Sri Lanka and the commencement of flights between the two countries.

Locsin has agreed to share best practices in securing employment opportunities for Filipino workers in foreign countries. Further, he has agreed to identify methods available and assist Sri Lanka in this endeavor.

During the talks, the parties have agreed to work together in the manufacturing and services sector, as well as provide greater opportunities for the mutual exchange of views between the two countries’ respective chambers of commerce and industry.

Gunawardena expressed the gratitude of Sri Lanka to the Philippines for its support through the past six decades of maintaining friendly diplomatic relations.DFA, FB: Embassy of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in Manila

Envoy highlights PHL-Australia ties in Rotary membership meeting

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MBASSADOR of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Philippines Steven J. Robinson AO underscored the importance of the concepts of “mateship and bayanihan” as special guest of the Rotary Club of Makati West’s (RCMW) most recent gathering.

The membership meeting—the RCMW’s 2,294th and sixth for 2021, which was held virtually toward the end of February—was conducted to celebrate the milestone of 75 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Australia.

“The depth of the friendship and partnership between [our two countries] has stood in good times and bad,” affirmed Robinson. “I’m

confident the Australian notion of mateship, which admirably aligns with the Philippines’s spirit of bayanihan, will [still] form the bedrock of mutual support we provide one another.”

The ambassador shared that Australia has committed AU$500 million (about P18.8 billion) to support access to safe and effective coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, as well as to provide health security in the Indo-Pacific—including the Philippines.

“Australia’s development program in the Philippines is the largest in the world. We [were able to redirect AU$ 80 million, or about P3 billion worth of development-cooperation program to boost this country’s] re-

ROBINSON

sponse to pandemic,” Robinson said.

The envoy stated it has been his enormous pleasure and honor to live in the Philippines in the last two years—notwithstanding the pandemic—to witness first-hand the bonds that Australians and Filipinos share through defense, security,

intelligence, education, business, trade, commerce and investment linkages.

As a token of appreciation for gracing its membership meeting, President Alasdair J.W. Thomson of RCMW presented Robinson a certificate of donation to the “Gift of Life” program made under the latter’s name. The former also reiterated the club’s support for the year-long celebration of diplomatic ties of the two countries.

“We thank His Excellency Ambassador Robinson for gracing our meeting with his presence, and for sharing his wisdom and knowledge with us,” Thomson said. “We wish the Australian Embassy more success in their endeavors.”

MBASSADOR Rafael Harpaz personally inaugurated on February 22 the opening of the State of Israel’s honorary consulate to Mindanao based in Davao City, headed by Honorary Consul Jorge Marquez.

Due to pandemic restrictions, the conferment of Marquez to his current designation, as well as the soft opening of the honorary consulate, were conducted online on October 6, 2020.

The three-day official visit of Harpaz and his wife Shulamit, as well as Consul Sarit Avivi, included a virtual meeting with Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio of Davao City. They discussed the strong bond between Israel and the local government unit, which is expected to grow stronger— especially with the establishment of the honorary consulate there. Harpaz mentioned to the local chief executive that Israeli tourists would certainly come and visit Davao soon as travel normalizes.

The Israeli delegation also visited the Toril Health Center—one of the three district health centers in the area—all of which benefited from the donations of Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, or MASHAV. Harpaz personally inspected the medical supplies, equipment and earthworks improvements, which quali-

HONORARY Consul Jorge Marquez

fied the center for the health permit renewal of its birthing home facility.

The envoy also met with city officials led by Governor Edwin Jubahib of Davao del Norte, Mayor Al David Uy of the Island Garden City of Samal and Davao-based Israeli businessmen.

The physical opening ceremony was attended by embassy officials and other guests, as well as staff members of the honorary consulate. It is located at Gadol Building inside Juna Subdivision, 117 Francisco Avenue, Matina, Davao City. Embassy of Israel-Manila

US turns over C-130s to Philippine Air Force

CHARGÉ d’Affaires John Law (fifth from right) and representatives from the United States Embassy’s Joint US Military Assistance Group handed over the first of two C-130H Hercules Aircraft under a recent transfer to the Philippine Air Force through Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana (fifth from left).

T

HE United States’s Embassy in the Philippines’s Chargé d’Affaires (CDA) John Law, alongside representatives from the Joint US Military Assistance Group or JUSMAG, turned over on February 18 the first of two C-130H Hercules Aircraft to be delivered under a recent transfer to Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana and the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) leadership.

The US delivered the tactical-airlift capability worth P1.54 billion ($32.2 million) to the PAF through the Foreign Military Financing grant program to strengthen the Philippine military’s logistical capacity for military and civil-support operations—including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), as well as the distribution of supplies related to the pandemic.

The C-130H Hercules is capable of a maximum payload of 19,000 kilograms, with a flying range of over 1,900 kilometers. The 220 Airlift Wing at the PAF’s Brigadier General Benito N. Ebuen Air Base

in Cebu will own and operate the plane.

“The C-130H is a proven aircraft and [has demonstrated its reach and capability to deliver medical] supplies across the country over the past year,” Law confirmed. “We hope this additional aircraft will continue to be a steady workhorse for the [PAF] for years to come.”

As a longstanding ally of the Philippines, the US continues to provide support to the AFP through grants and expedited sales of arms and munitions to assist with urgent logistical and HADR requirements, bolster long-term AFP modernization goals, as well as buttress maritime security and counterterrorism efforts.

The Philippines is by far the largest recipient of US military assistance in the Indo-Pacific region. Since 2015, the latter has delivered more than $765 million (or about P37 billion) worth of planes, ships, armored vehicles, small arms and other military equipment, while also training side-by-side with its “Filipino allies.” US Embassy in the Philippines

B4 Thursday, March 4, 2021

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

‘PhilHealth lacked mechanisms to prevent improper payments’

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE Commission on Audit (COA) said state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) lacked control mechanisms to detect and prevent improper payments.

In a statement on Wednesday, the COA said they found out PhilHealth’s existing control mechanisms were “deficient and underperforming due to the deficiencies in the design and performance of controls, insufficiency of human resources and inadequacy of strategy to mitigate the effects of the first two problems.”

Government auditors cited, for instance, the PhilHealth only reviewed 252,408 claims out of a total 878,876 claims from March 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020 that should have undergone a “Medical Prepayment Review” or MPR. The commission said PhilHealth established the MPR system in 2019 to monitor four illnesses that were considered vulnerable to fraud.

“Of the remaining 626,648 claims, 443,162 claims were paid by PhilHealth despite not undergoing MPR,” the COA said.

On top of this, the COA also found out that only 3.2 million claims were actually post-audited by PhilHealth

out of the 16.48 million claims required to be post-audited by the state health insurer from 2014 to June 30, 2020, under its “Medical Post-Audit,” or MPA, mechanism.

This mechanism was established to detect improper payments after the health care institution received its reimbursements, according to COA. “The audit of these 3.20 million claims led to the discovery of 380,413 medical review findings. Around 13.54 million claims still remain for post-audit,” it said. “If only to highlight the importance of the control mechanisms, from 2011 to 2020, PhilHealth paid P665.28 billion to HCIs representing reimbursement of 67.95 million claims.”

In the same statement, the COA also said they found out that PhilHealth “was remiss in conducting an annual or even periodic review” to determine whether the case rate for a particular treatment under its “All Case Rate,” or ACR, payment scheme is “responsive to the actual costs.”

If the review was done and adjustments in the case rate were made accordingly by PhilHealth, the COA pointed out that any savings could have been added to its reserve fund.

“If the actual costs for a treatment are significantly less than the case rate, then a corresponding adjustment in the case rate should be made. Similarly, if the actual cost is significantly higher than the case rate, then an adjustment should also be made to the case rate. This was not done, and any savings from such adjustments could have been used to augment the reserve fund,” the COA said.

The COA issued the statement after conducting the performance audit of PhilHealth’s ACR payment scheme since its implementation in 2011 until June 30, 2020.

Despite this, the COA said PhilHealth’s ACR payment scheme improved the efficiency on the turnaround-time in the processing of reimbursement of claims of HCIs. “Based on PhilHealth data, the TAT for the processing of claims improved from an average of 55 days during the fee-for-service payment scheme in 2010 to 19 days under ACR in 2019. The implementation of the electronic claims system in 2018 also contributed to a much faster TAT,” it said.

Under the ACR payment scheme, PhilHealth pays all claims using a case rate, which is a predetermined fixed rate for each covered case or disease.

Instead of computing the reimbursements based on actual costs, HCIs will be reimbursed a fixed amount, which may be more or less than the actual cost, COA said.

“The idea behind the ACR, which is utilized in other jurisdictions as well, is to incentivize HCIs to be more efficient. If the case rate for a specific treatment is lower than the actual cost, the HCI will try to be more efficient in the costing of the treatment. On the other hand, if the case rate is higher than the actual cost, the HCI gets to keep the difference as a form of ‘efficiency gains’,” the Commission added.

Along with the release of these findings, COA said it also recommended that PhilHealth conduct an “extensive review of case rates to include Case Type-Z Benefit and Covid-19 packages to provide reasonable rates that would minimize efficiency gains and address deficiencies in the control design and ensure controls are working effectively.”

Should PhilHealth proceed with its shift from ACR to Diagnosis Related Group-Global Budget system, the COA said PhilHealth should consider the same observations and recommendations.

To better detect improper payments from claims, the Commission emphasized the need for citizen participation, adding that PhilHealth can develop a mechanism to empower members by increasing their level of awareness about ACR as well as their engagement and provision of feedback.

BSP lauds Governor Espenilla Bank rolls out digital for strides in digital initiatives wealth mgt platform

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ANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno and former Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr.’s wife, Maria Teresita led the unveiling rites for the portrait and bust of the late Governor Espenilla, which was held recently at the BSP head office in Manila.

A career central banker, “Governor Nesting,” as Espe- Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno (right) and former nilla is fondly called, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr.’s wife, Maria Teresita. succumbed to canNestor and daughter in-law Mocer on February 23, 2019. nique, Jacqueline Joyce and son-in “Building on the foundations that law Ben Joshua Baltazar and LeonGovernor Espenilla has put in place, ardo Nestor. the BSP has made great strides in Witnessing the rites with them were digital transformation and financial inclusion,” Diokno said during the Monetary Board Members Antonio S. Abacan Jr., Felipe M. Medalla, Anita ceremonies.

Linda R. Aquino, Finance Secretary Accompanying Mrs. Espenilla in Carlos G. Dominguez, Bruce J. Tolenthe ceremony in honor of Governor tino and Peter B. Favila.

Nesting are their children Nikko

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HINA Banking Corp. has recently enabled its digital trust and wealth management platform as part of its digital initiatives amid the pandemic.

In a recent statement, the listed bank said it has teamed up with financial technology player Intellect Design Arena Ltd. (IDAL) for the implementation of the said platform.

“The system recently went live and is expected to further improve relationship management and client servicing for the bank’s trust and wealth customers,” China Bank said.

Shares in China Bank ended flat at P24.50 each amid the 0.34-percent uptick for the benchmark index on Wednesday.

The bank currently has over P200-billion worth of assets under management. It offers various investments products and services, including unit investment trust funds, fixed-income securities and equities.

China Bank said that the solution from IDAL will be able to efficiently manage the growing business volume, follow regulatory requirements and provide better end-to-end customer experience.

“A strong digital backbone enhances China Bank’s value proposition as a trusted financial adviser,” China Bank Chief Finance Officer Patrick D. Cheng said. “We will continue to roll-out the right technologies and platforms to better serve our customers and to help them plan and secure their financial future.”

In February, China Bank raised P20 billion—four times the original offer size of P5 billion—from its first issuance of bonds this year. The proceeds were allocated for strategic initiatives and expansion programs.

The bank saw its net income rise by 20 percent to P12.1 billion last year from P10.1 billion in 2019 on the back of higher revenues. While the loan loss buffer surged by 3.5 times to P8.9 billion last year, it was offset by the robust growth in core business and returns from investment and trading.

As of end-December 2020, the bank’s total assets were at P1.04 trillion. Capital accounts climbed by 9 percent to P105 billion last year, with common equity tier 1 ratio of 13.82 percent and capital adequacy ratio of 14.73 percent. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Government loans for schools hit a qtr of ₧3-B fund

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @Tyronepiad

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HE Land Bank of the Philippines has approved loans amounting to over half a billion pesos to several educational institutions to fund “study now, pay later” scheme for students.

As of February 16, the state-run bank said that it is set to bankroll P531.5-million worth of loans to 16 schools under a lending program it calls “Academe.” This amount is a quarter of the P3 billion pool launched in May last year.

LandBank said the facility can be availed by private high schools, private technical and vocational education training institutions, as well as higher education institutions such as

colleges and universities.

The loan will be released via lump sum or on staggered basis per semester. It will be directly credited to the deposit account maintained by the school with the bank.

The loan carries a fixed interest rate of 3 percent per annum and is payable within three years.

In addition, LandBank expanded the coverage of its lending facility for students. The credit support now allows students to borrow up to P50,000 for purchase of gadgets such as laptop, desktop and tablet.

This can be included in maximum loanable amount of P150,000 per student or P300,000 per parent-borrower to cover payment for tuition or enrolment-related fees.

“LandBank recognizes the need

to support students in adapting to distance learning modalities,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said. “While we await the resumption of in-person classes, we hope that the program can help students cover the financial requirements to purchase needed learning equipment and participate in online classes.”

Students of legal age are also now allowed to apply for the said financial assistance should they meet eligibility requirements. Only parents and guardians of the students were eligible to tap the credit support when it was initially launched last year.

In addition, the lending window also increased the maximum age eligibility of students to 50 years old; and included the students with

partial scholarship and non-scholar students from private educational institutions.

Expanding the credit facility was deemed necessary, LandBank said, as implementation of distance learning is seen to continue amid the lockdown protocols due to the pandemic.

The state-run bank saw its net income drop by 7 percent to P17.1 billion last year from P18.5 billion in 2019 amid the slowdown in economic activities.

Total assets as of end-December 2020 grew by 16.1 percent to P2.362 trillion from P2.033 trillion in 2019.

Capitalization, meanwhile, surged by 13 percent to P168.3 billion last year from 149 billion in 2019. Common Equity Tier ratio stood at 15.17 percent.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

EXCLUSIVE

Number of govt-insured food producers declines

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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HE number of farmers and fishermen insured by stateowned Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) last year declined by 1.78 percent to 3.09 million from 3.146 million insured in 2019, the agency’s latest data showed.

PCIC President Jovy C. Bernabe told the BusinessMirror that the decrease in the number of farmers and fishermen insured last year was caused by the movement restrictions imposed by the government as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bernabe added that PCIC employees weren’t able to reach out to farmers for the duration of the imposition of an enhanced community quarantine nationwide from March to June.

“Our employees had a hard time accessing areas due to the restricted movement amid the pandemic,” Bernabe told the BusinessMirror. “But our people still tried their best in the last semester; that’s why we were able to catch up.”

Nonetheless, the PCIC, a government-owned and controlled corp.

(GOCC) attached to the Department of Agriculture, was able to exceed its target number of Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RBSA)listed subsistence farmers covered or insured last year.

The PCIC said 76 percent or about 2.348 million farmers and fishermen insured in 2020 were provided free insurance under the “Agricultural Insurance for Farmers and Fishermen under the RSBSA” program. The number of insured farmers under the program was 24 percent higher than its target of 1.891 million last year, according to the PCIC.

“Farmers and fishermen listed in the RSBSA who are actively engaged in production may avail themselves of insurance coverage—free of charge—for their standing crops, poultry and livestock and non-crop assets used in their farming and fishing operations,” the PCIC said in a recent statement.

Of the 3.09 million farmers and fishermen insured last year by PCIC, about 1.28 million were rice farmers, nearly 426,000 were corn farmers and 285,000 were high-value crops farmers.

The PCIC added that more than 370,000 livestock and poultry farmers were insured and more than 47,000 fishermen were covered by the GOCC’s programs.

The insurance provided last year covered about 1.4 million hectares of rice farms, nearly 476 thousand hectares of corn farms, about 320 thousand hectares planted to highvalue crops and 1.3 million heads of poultry and livestock.

The PCIC added that it was able to indemnify some 594,300 farmers and fishers over P3.5 billion for losses “due to typhoons, wind and flooding, pests and plant diseases, livestock deaths and farmer and fishermen accidents and deaths.”

“Fully aware of the clients’ immediate need for relief in the face of complete loss or partial destruction of crops and animals, the PCIC has set a 20-day period for adjustment, validation and processing of claims,” it said.

The agency said that it has fulfilled this last year in 86.73 percent of the total claims.

“The cases that were not able to comply involved [the] lack of complete documentation and are currently being reviewed,” it added.

Pandemic motivated SSS to hasten digital initiative

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TATE-run Social Security System (SSS) expanded their online services to make it easier and safer for the public to do transactions.

SSS President and CEO Aurora C. Ignacio on Thursday said they wanted to make their services more accessible to its members, pensioners, covered employers in light of the social distancing and health requirements imposed by the government to stop the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

“For the past years, we have been gradually shifting our stakeholders’ way of transacting with us from faceto-face to online. The pandemic motivated us further to fast track our digital transformation initiatives, not only to provide our stakeholders with faster, more convenient and more efficient means of transacting with us but also to ensure their safety,” Ignacio said in a statement.

According to the SSS, services in the agency’s online portal now include online applications for calamity loan, pension loan, retirement benefit (subject to qualifying conditions for online filing), unemployment benefit, and funeral claim; submission of requests for member data change for simple corrections for members; and submission of sickness benefit reimbursement application for employers.

The state-run firm also introduced both members and employers to the Real-Time Processing of Loans Payment Reference Number (RTPL-PRN) facility, Benefit Re-disbursement Module, and improved Disbursement Account Enrollment Module (DAEM) with uploading of proof of account, previously known as the Bank Enrollment Module.

Moreover, SSS also enhanced its online SS Number Application facility and provided members with access to the Remittance Transfer Company/ Cash Payout Outlet (RTC/CPO) Reference Number Inquiry.

“With the continuous digitalization of SSS processes, there is a need for our stakeholders to familiarize

themselves on how to use our online facilities. We encourage them to join our webinars and monitor our posts on social media,” Ignacio said.

Aside from the new and improved online services, members also have access to other virtual services, including viewing their contribution and loan records; and inquiring on the status of their benefit claims and eligibility for benefit programs, among others. These may be accessed using the My.SSS Portal as well as the SSS Mobile App, Text-SSS, and Self-Service Express Terminals.

Through the My.SSS Portal and SSS Mobile App, members can also view their membership information, list of PRN payments, and addresses of SSS branches; file for Salary Loans; submit Maternity Notifications (for selfemployed, voluntary, and Overseas Filipino Worker members); generate PRNs for contributions; and update their contact information.

By using My.SSS Portal, members can also make an appointment with an SSS branch, send a request for SSS records, enroll in the Personal Equity and Savings Option (PESO) Fund or Flexi-fund, use a simulated retirement calculator, and view details of their Unified Multi-Purpose Identification (UMID) Card or SSS ID, as well as change their account password. With the SSS Mobile App, they can also pay contributions using PayMaya and Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Meanwhile, employers can also view their contribution and loan records, and status of payments and benefit reimbursement claims; and update their contact information through the My.SSS Portal and SSS Mobile App. They may also view their SSS information; submit Employment Reports (R-1A), Loan Collection Lists (ML2), Contribution Collection Lists (R3), sickness notifications, maternity notifications; generate PRN; and certify the loans or claims of their employees through the My.SSS Portal.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Parentlife BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Thursday, March 4, 2021

United in family well-being

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AST February 12 and 13, the Bayanihan for WellBeing Initiative led by Unilab Foundation Inc. brought us the firstever Filipino Family WellBeing Virtual Conference. With the theme “Pagsulong ng Pamilyang Pilipino sa Panahon ng Pagbabago,” the conference was aimed to open and steer a discussion that offers various perspectives on family well-being.

In 2020, Filipino families went through various challenges brought about by the pandemic and natural calamities, creating drastic changes in family dynamics, such as financial and economic concerns.

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), 73.5 percent of Filipino households had at least one member of the family experience job loss or workload reduction. This resulted in financial instability, with 85 percent of households experiencing financial difficulty during the pandemic.

In terms of psychological impact, a study, titled “Psychological Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic in the Philippines,” showed that a significant percentage, ranging from 13 percent to almost 17 percent of the respondents, rated the psychological impact of the pandemic, its effects on depressive symptoms and anxiety levels, to be moderate to severe. Meanwhile, the National Center for Mental Health noted a significant increase in monthly calls from 80 calls before the lockdown to nearly 400 during the quarantine.

Meanwhile, among the unprecedented social concerns that surfaced during the lockdown is families worrying over their children’s education

when schools shifted to online or remote learning.

Children who would normally play outside were required to stay within their homes, and adults who have shifted to working from home now had to balance household and career responsibilities, according to a 2020 report by the Humanitarian and Social Research Center.

Family well-being is central to addressing issues associated with these challenges. The National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement defines family well-being simply as the “safety, health and financial security of the whole family,” which encompasses both physical and mental health.

The vision of the Bayanihan for WellBeing Initiative is for mental health and family well-being to be holistic, inclusive and empowering, targeting particularly families in the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program to join the discussion. The Bayanihan for WellBeing Initiative is led by Unilab

5 ways parents can help kids avoid gender stereotypes

By Kyl Myers | University of Utah IN the last century, significant progress has been made in advancing gender equity in the United States. Women gained the right to vote, fathers have become more involved parents, and more people and institutions recognize gender identities beyond the binary categories of male and female.

However, persistent gaps remain. Women hold only a quarter of US congressional seats, only a handful of states mandate paid paternity leave, and state legislatures are introducing bills that discriminate against transgender people.

The majority of Americans believe there is more work to do on gender equality. As a genderqueer sociologist, a parent of a kindergartner and the author of a book on gender creative parenting, I study the importance of disrupting sexism in childhood. Here are five ways I’ve found that parents and caregivers can fight gender stereotypes in kids’ lives.

1. Acknowledge that a child may be LGBTQI+.

Gender identity and sexuality are diverse and personal experiences. However, medical institutions and parents commonly assign a sex to newborns based on physical characteristics and socialize children as one of two binary genders. For example, children with vulvas are assigned female and raised as girls, and children with penises are assigned male and raised as boys.

Many children are cisgender—meaning their gender identity aligns with the sex and gender they were assigned at birth. However, the percentage of young people in the US who are transgender—meaning their gender does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth, or who are nonbinary— meaning their gender is neither strictly male or female—is growing. And an estimated one in every 1,500 to 2,000 babies born in the US are intersex, meaning their sex chromosomes or reproductive anatomy may be different than what is typically categorized as male or female.

Additionally, nationwide, more than 11 percent of high school students say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning their sexuality. Young LGBTQ people are coming out to their families earlier than older generations did. Research shows that family acceptance of young LGBTQ people is associated with greater mental and physical health, and protection against depression, substance abuse and suicide.

2. Be aware of gendered marketing. Children’s toys and clothes are increasingly divided by gender, and many people blame the profit-driven exploitation of genderstereotyped marketing. For example, building toys and small vehicles are marketed to boys, and dolls and makeup to girls.

In children’s clothing stores, primary colors, transportation and sport graphics are often on one side, and pastels, flowers and sparkles on the other.

Children learn important social, emotional and physical life skills through play. Playing with a variety of toys provides opportunities to develop and build upon well-rounded skills, including spatial awareness and empathy. Genderstereotyped marketing can limit the kinds of toys and experiences children are exposed to. Parents and caregivers can shop all the aisles of a toy or clothing store to show children that gendered marketing boundaries are arbitrary

and can be crossed. They can let kids explore what is available and choose for themselves. Counterstereotyping—explicitly reversing a stereotype—is also a powerful way to disrupt gender stereotypes in play. For example, a caregiver can look at dolls with a boy and say things like, “Boys like dolls” and “Daddies are really good at caring for babies.”

3. Disrupt gender stereotypes at home. Parents and caregivers are children’s first models for how gender is performed. Adults can model language and behavior that challenge binary and harmful sexist stereotypes, such as the belief that women should do more housework—even when they have full-time employment.

For example, in households with more than one parent, and especially in different-gender couples, parents can share parenting responsibilities and household tasks. Actions speak louder than words, and children are more likely to reject the idea of traditional gender norms when their parents exhibit fairness and divide domestic labor equitably, not just mention it as something they value.

Parents can switch up children’s chores so they learn about housekeeping in a nongendered way. Boys can do dishes, and girls can take out the garbage. Parents can also ensure allowance is equitable, as the gender pay gap can start at home. Research suggests girls earn less allowance even when they do more chores.

4. Use gender-neutral language. Using genderneutral pronouns and other words can reduce gender bias and increase positive regard for women and LGBT people.

For example, using anatomical language instead of gendered words, like “vulva” instead of “girl parts,” teaches children that not all people who have vulvas identify as girls. This doesn’t erase cisgender girls, but is inclusive of many transgender boys and nonbinary kids. Similarly, replacing “moms and dads” with “parents and caregivers” is not only inclusive of same-sex and nonbinary parents but also acknowledges single parents and the millions of grandparents and nonrelative guardians.

In children’s books, where boy characters far outnumber girls and other genders, caregivers can change he/him pronouns to she/her and they/them. Adults can also choose books and media that represent kids in diverse and inclusive ways, and call out stereotypes when they come up in stories.

5. Encourage mixed-gender play. Gender segregation is deeply embedded in social structures and can have negative implications, such as sexist attitudes toward people of other genders. Children are often categorized in gendered groups, sometimes casually (“boys line up here, girls line up there”) and other times explicitly, like in single-sex schools.

Research shows that children who have close friendships with children of other genders hold more positive and less sexist attitudes toward their friend’s gender.

Parents and educators can create opportunities for kids to interact with children of different genders. They can stop segregating children by gender, choose sports teams and other organized extracurricular activities that are open to all genders, and host mixed-gender birthday parties, for example. All-gender activities help children recognize their similarities and celebrate their differences and are inclusive of children who don’t identify as a girl or boy. THE CONVERSATION

Foundation Inc. through its Heads Up Philippines program with the support of the Philippine Psychiatric Association, Psychological Association of the Philippines, Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association, and Philippine Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Unilab Foundation Executive Director Lilibeth Aristorenas shared: “Months after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many Filipinos still experience the effects of social confinement, financial disruptions, and the burdens of work-life integration.

Amplified by different crises in the past year, these stressors continue to debilitate the youth, families and communities from maximizing their daily life activities.”

“It is in uncertain times like these that mental health and well-being must be put at the forefront to address these stresses. Forming healthy familial relationships not only helps the youth cope with the effects of crises but are also essential in helping them feel love and security, which impacts their brain development and sense of self, and helps them grow up to become confident and resilient individuals,” added Aristorenas.

The two-day conference had sessions that explored the different aspects of Filipino family well-being, raised awareness on its value and the impact on the mental health of the family, which can hopefully build meaningful partnerships and cultivate a culture of family well-being promotion.

There was a panel discussion on the challenges and strengths of the Filipino family. A session was held that tackled how stakeholders can provide a more active role in addressing family well-being; and another session that featured different stories of Filipino families from young couples and single parents to OFWs. You can watch the sessions at www.facebook.com/ BayanihanForWellBeing. You can also support the initiative by donating Bayanihan for WellBeing Resiliency Play Bags, which encourage children’s creativity and help them express their emotions. For as little as P250, you can help raise a resilient child.

More information is available at the Bayanihan for Wellbeing Facebook page.

Let’s all help build a mentally healthy Philippines—one family at a time. n

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B6 Thursday, March 4, 2021

CSC adopts remedial measures to ensure data privacy

PLDT turns over Home WiFi Prepaid units to DepEd for teachers’ online classes

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LDT Home, through the PLDT Smart Foundation (PSF), recently turned over to the Department of Education (DepEd) one thousand units of Home WiFi Prepaid to enable public school teachers to experience a faster and more reliable internet connection as they conduct online classes, part of the DepEd’s blended learning strategy in these pandemic times.

“We are happy to assist the DepEd and its teachers in conducting online classes and facilitating learning among students amid the restrictions brought about by the current pandemic. Our support to the country’s dedicated and hardworking teachers has always been profound. Our gratitude to them, immeasurable. The PLDT Home WiFi Prepaid will definitely help them manage digital education and

reliably connect with their students,” said PSF President Ma. Esther O. Santos.

DepEd Undersecretary Tonisito Umali said, “We really appreciate these donations from PLDT. Thank you! The Home WiFi Prepaid will be a great help to teachers in their online classes. These units will be distributed to them as soon as possible and we will immediately send to PLDT the list of schools actually receiving the units.”

The Home WiFi Prepaid units form part of the proceeds from the PLDT Homesponsored virtual concert, At Home with PLDT: No Learner Left Behind, held in July last year. PLDT Home supports the No Learner Left Behind movement which aims to maintain quality education of students and youths affected by the pandemic with projects and partnerships

positioned to deliver the needed tools and proper learning environments.

Featuring famous singers and musical artists, the livestreamed concert was conducted for the benefit of students, educators, and schools nationwide so that No Learner is Left Behind. Donations during the virtual event were coursed through the PSF’s Paymaya and bank accounts.

Earlier, PLDT Home and PSF turned over five sets of School-in-a-Bag to the DepEd and distributed Home WiFi Prepaid units and load cards, also part of the virtual concert’s proceeds, to deserving scholars of AHA Learning Center and Kris for Peace Organization, among others. More load cards and WiFi units will likewise be donated to other public schools in the coming months.

AT turnover ceremony of PLDT Home WiFi Prepaid units to the Department of Education are, from left, DepEd Undersecretary Tonisito Umali, PLDT-Smart Foundation President Ma. Esther Santos and PLDT Home Product Manager Kristine Rementilla.

Okada Manila receives its 2nd FTG award

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SIA’S largest Forbes five-star ultra-luxury integrated resort welcomed auspicious beginnings and celebrated another milestone as it received its second five-star rating from Forbes Travel Guide (FTG). The award is a testament to how Okada Manila consistently offers unparalleled service and innovative, state-ofthe art features, making it a truly extraordinary and world-class resort.

Just a month ago, digital health leader Sharecare, together with Forbes Travel Guide, awarded the VERIFIED®

certification badge to Okada Manila for being equipped with industry-leading and comprehensive safety protocols, making it one of the world’s best and safest integrated resorts. “While much of the world has changed due to the pandemic, we are proud to say that we have remained steadfast in providing exceptional guest experiences in a very safe environment,” shares Okada Manila Senior Vice President for Hotel Operations Ivaylo Ivanov.

This milestone is a reflection of the company’s values and its team

members’ hard work, passion, and dedication. With its unique blend of Japanese hospitality and Filipino warmth, Okada Manila sets an unprecedented standard for guest experience and safety to thrive in the new normal.

To view the year’s full Star Ratings and see a detailed description of Forbes Travel Guide’s evaluation criteria, visit ForbesTravelGuide.com.

To learn more about Okada Manila, visit www.okadamanila.com and follow @ okadamanila on Instagram.

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HE Civil Service Commission (CSC) has immediately applied measures to ensure the integrity of its website and client data privacy.

This was assured yesterday by CSC in the face of reports on breach of security of its website.

Also, as a standard procedure, the CSC has reported the incident to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC). It continues to coordinate with the said government authorities on its following courses of action.

The CSC assures its clients that, as a data collecting agency, it takes its role of safeguarding personal information seriously. Additional security features

Drive-in hotels still reeling from pandemic's impact, but Victoria Court says all health protocols in place

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HE multibillion-peso drive in the hotel industry has been one of the hardest hit industries by the Covid 19 pandemic, affecting thousands of employees who have lost their jobs, on prolonged temporary lay-offs, or working under drastically reduced weekly working schedule.

This does not even include yet the different suppliers of the industry in various areas and whose businesses have also taken a big hit.

Even as the Department of Tourism, with the concurrence of the Interagency Task Force for emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has already allowed the reopening of hotels under limited conditions, drive-in hotels have yet to receive a go- signal to resume full operations except for long term clients.

The fact is, drive-in hotels can observe even stricter regulations by the very nature of its operating systems including check-in procedures and housekeeping protocols for the utmost protection of its guests.

Victoria Court Group, one of the leading players in the industry, shared how they ensure the health and safety both of their employees and guests, from pre check in all the way to post check out, including food ordering.

"We have very limited contact with guests; for one, we do not have lobbies or elevators where they can get exposed.

Guests have their own garages, they simply accomplish the health declaration

forms on line, their temperatures are taken, with social distancing observed at all times, then are immediately directed to their rooms." explained VC Chief Operating Officer Sam Pineda.

He added that all their rooms are sanitized after use by UV lights with all critical areas and items like the telephones, tables, door knobs, menu lists, mini refs, jacuzzi, slippers, and toilets cleaned, dried, and sanitized, and "all the rooms have their own automatic alcohol dispensers while our cleaners wear complete PPE's ."

Used linens are placed in individual plastic bags, wrapped, then brought to the dirty linen area for spraying with disinfectants, left for 24 hours and then are picked up by the laundry contractor.

When it comes to food orders, disposable food containers are used for safety. Upon checking out, guests just have to scan the QR codes inside the rooms with the option of paying on-line via G-cash, coins.ph, grab pay, and other E-wallets like we chat, ali-pay, pay maya, even bank transfers and credit or debit cards to minimize further contacts.

"We believe that with all these safety measures and health protocols being strictly observed, perhaps it is time for the DOT to re-evaluate its assessment of drive-in hotels. On our side, we are fully committed to cooperate with the government agencies concerned on any additional requirements if given the clearance to resume full operations, " concluded Pineda.

PhilHealth and NBI join forces to combat health insurance fraud

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CHEERS for the win, from left: Director of Sales and Marketing Alexandrea Herrera; Senior Vice President for Hotel Operations Ivaylo Ivanov; Director for F&B Operations Sumit Rajput; Senior Guest Experience Manager Kenji Numano; and Director of Spa, Recreations, and Kids Club Vikki Aquino.

have been incorporated within its system to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Further concerns on this matter may be brought to dpo@csc.gov.ph.

HE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) recently forged an agreement with the country’s leading investigating authority National Bureau of Investigation to go after illicit activities that are potentially defrauding the National Health Insurance Program.

The parties have agreed on a shared set of responsibilities to detect, deter, and prosecute fraud committed by health care facilities and professionals, and even those made in collusion with its own officers and employees.

Under the agreement, PhilHealth may request for investigative assistance from the NBI including surveillance, investigation, and entrapment of violators, if needed. Further, PhilHealth officers and employees may be called on as witnesses for complaints to be filed by the Bureau arising from the investigations. All pertinent records, documents, and information must be turned over by PhilHealth to the NBI to

help resolve the cases.

Quoting the Holy Scripture, Gierran said that “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.” He also said that collaborative efforts of PhilHealth and the NBI would result in a definitive action against fraud that was taken up in Congressional inquiries last year.

For his part, Distor said that the MOA, “…essentially outlines how the Bureau and PhilHealth will work together as a team in combating graft and corruption and in gaining back the trust and confidence of the people in government-subsidized health care system.”

He vowed that the NBI shall “…respond swiftly and appropriately to a complaint, relevant tip-off, information, and/or lead provided by PhilHealth whether referred

by PhilHealth head office or regional office including its legal offices, to determine possible violations.”

Editor: Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

Health&Fitness BusinessMirror

Covid-19 vaccines work differently, largely safe for people with allergies

By Rory Visco Contributor

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an people with certain allergies be vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccines? The Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (PSAAI) recently released a position statement on the Covid-19 vaccines and the possible adverse reactions on people.

However, Dr. Marysia Stella Recto, immediate past president of PSAAI and a professor of Adult and Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), said we must understand how Covid-19 vaccines work because different vaccines have different outcomes.

The viral vector and mRNA vaccines were developed to produce spike proteins and once injected, it should develop an immune response. The others—Whole virus and Protein sub-unit—will develop a more holistic immune reaction aside from the spike protein.

The nucleic acid vaccines or “genetic vaccines” (e.g., Pfizer and Moderna) use genetic material to make the Covid-19 protein, which is recognized by the immune system to trigger a response and build immune memory so the body can fight off the virus in the future. They are low cost, fairly fast to develop and should be stored in low temperatures.

Viral vector

The viral vector vaccines use an unrelated harmless virus that was modified, in this case the modified Covid-19 genetic material, as a “delivery” virus known as “viral vector.” “Once introduced into the host, the vector will discharge the genetic material and the cells will now develop an immune response after the protein of the Covid-19 virus has been formed and generates a stronger immune response. Examples are Gamaleya, AstraZeneca, Cansino, and Janssen vaccines,” she said.

The Protein vaccines contain proteins from the virus used to trigger an immune response. They can be whole proteins, protein fragments or many protein molecules packed into nanoparticles. “They have good previous safety records, and usually used with an adjuvant ‘to boost efficacy.’ These are tried-and-tested vaccines like the Hepa B vaccines. Examples are Sanofi/GSK and NovaVax,” she said.

The Whole viruses, one of which is the “Inactivated vaccines,” contain killed Covid-19 virus. Since it is a complete virus, it fights not just the spike proteins that it will develop antibodies to, but also the different portions of the virus and may need also need an adjuvant. Best example is the flu vaccine, and this is seen in Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines.

The other whole vaccine is the “Attenuated” type, which contains the weakened virus that is weak enough not to cause infection. Once injected, it will also cause a holistic immune response. It needs time and extensive testing, and the immune response resembles natural infection.

Example is the oral polio vaccine. The Codagenix vaccine was the one developed and is now in clinical trials.

Vaccine adverse events

There may be varying events after vaccination, such as the “reactogenic” and the “allergic” reactions. The “reactogenic” reactions may be “local” reaction (pain, swelling at injection site within the first three days) or the systemic reaction (headache, muscle pain, body aches, tiredness, fever and chills, and vomiting).

Reactions are usually mild to moderate and can be gone in three days. It can be managed by paracetamol, pain relievers, hydration, or cold compress.

Factors that may induce “reactogenic” reactions may include vaccine (injection route, adjuvants, dose number), administration (needle length, rapid injection, administration route), and intrinsic (age, ethnicity, gender, Body Mass Index or BMI) factors.

“Reactions to Covid-19 vaccines may occur but not all reactions are allergic.

While the majority of reactions are reactogenic, they are not the same as allergic

reactions,” Dr. Recto added.

In terms of “allergic” reactions, mild allergic reactions may occur, such as rashes, itchy skin, runny nose, sneezing and are usually managed by antihistamines. But the concern of many, Dr. Recto said, is that they may develop severe allergic reactions to the vaccine, such as “anaphylaxis” but it is rare. In the two vaccines introduced first in the world, Pfizer reported only 11 cases in 1 million shots, while Moderna reported only 2.5 cases for the same number of shots.

Anaphylaxis

To experience anaphylaxis, two or more symptoms such as hives/wheals, flushed skin, skin itch, swelling of face and throat, difficulty of breathing, wheezing, vomiting, abdominal cramps, dizziness, loss of consciousness, and abnormally fast heartbeat or “tachycardia” should manifest.

These happen 30 minutes after injection but may happen after one to four hours and can be managed with Epinephrine.

Recently, the World Allergy Organization Anaphylaxis Committee evaluated the different vaccines available and looked at their risks in developing anaphylaxis. The CoronaVac from Sinovac and BBiBP-CorV from Sinopharm, the whole vaccines, reported no anaphylactic events during clinical trials.

The mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) also reported no anaphylaxis reactions during clinical trials. But when used it in real life, 1:100,000 patients developed it. “But take note that these vaccines contain PEGs or polyethylene glycol, which are known to cause allergies in patients who are allergic to laxatives, certain chemotherapy drugs or certain cosmetics,” Dr. Recto averred.

The viral vector vaccines like from Astra Zeneca and Sputnik V (Gamaleya of Russia), which contain polysorbate 80, a preservative found in many other vaccines, had no anaphylactic incidents reported as well, but was also found to cross-react with PEG-allergic patients.

So who can really receive the Covid-19 vaccines?

Patients with allergy to food (such as egg), inhalant allergens (dust mites, pollen, pets) and insect venom, eczema, asthma, rhinitis, hives or urticarial, or with history of rashes to oral medicines, may take the vaccine. So far, there are no contra-indications for allergic patients.

However, for those with autoimmunity or immunodeficiencies, information is still lacking and immune response to vaccine may be reduced so we still have to wait for trials that are evaluating whether they can be given to those with immunodeficiency.

Who should NOT receive the vaccines?

There are only two contra-indications— a patient with immediate, or within four hours after vaccination, allergic reaction (mild to severe such as anaphylaxis) to the first vaccine dose, and those with a history of allergic reaction to PEGs or polysorbates.

A person in this category should be referred to an allergist/immunologist for further evaluation or given a recommendation on what vaccine should be given.

The PSAAI document also included an Allergy Risk Assessment for Covid-19 vaccination where people can see the assessment for people with Low, Moderate, or High Risk classifications. It is available at the PSAAI web site, www.psaai.org.

The PSAAI web site also offers information and guidelines for vaccination, how to recognize whether to just give antihistamine, or what to do when anaphylaxis happens. “This is our help for our colleagues in the hospitals or vaccination centers to help recognize and manage anaphylactic or allergic reactions after vaccination.”

Overall, based on current data, the benefits of receiving Covid-19 vaccination far outweighs the risks of an allergic reaction, according to Dr. Recto. “A vaccine may have had five reactions in 1 million people, but people are 100 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than to have a serious allergic reaction to the vaccine.”

Thursday, March 4, 2021 B7

Experts fear that heart failure will be the next pandemic

By Roderick L. Abad

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Contributor

VEN before Covid-19 brought the world to its knees last year, heart failure, which continues to dominate the cardiovascular disease landscape, has already been pervasive globally, affecting at least 26 million people worldwide, according to a medical expert.

“Heart failure is a pandemic that has been with us since the time of ancient Egypt and old civilizations in Greece, India, and the Romans, you name it,” Dr. Erlyn P. Demerre, chair of the heart failure program at St. Luke’s Medical Center, told reporters in a recent webinar hosted

by AstraZeneca Philippines. “The word ‘pandemic’ is now a household word because of the coronavirus, and governments are united in working hard, spending man hours just to flatten the curve.”

Patients with heart failure commonly experience physical and emotional symptoms. Such a condition restricts their activities resulting in poor quality of life. Even when resting, some of them start experiencing shortness of breath.

Their feelings get heavier each day, thus making them very vulnerable.

For many patients living with this condition is like waiting for death.

More so, they feel guilty that they cause a huge economic and emotional burden on their families.

“Much work has been put into the study of heart failure and we are definitely in a better position in the diagnosis and management of heart failure now. But, ironically, despite optimal medical management and significant advancements in therapy and prevention, heart failure is a major and increasing burden all over the world with high mortality and morbidity, and poor quality of life,” she noted, adding that it is also an important contributor to the problems of “[high treatment] cost and loss of productivity in our society.”

merre revealed that the overall known prevalence rate of heart failure is between three and 20 patients per 1,000 population, and this rises to a hundred in those aged 65 years and above.

She bared that the annual incidence of heart failure is one to five per 1,000 people annually, the relative incidence doubles for each decade of life after the age of 45, and one in three patients dies within a year. One out of four is readmitted in the hospital for 30 days with increased morbidity and poor quality of life.

“The high readmission rate of heart failure accounts for approximately two-thirds of all costs related to its management, and the global cost of the burden of disease is estimated at $108 billion,” added Demerre who is also the director of the National Heart Failure Network Task Force and the senior adviser of the Advocacy Committee of the Philippine Heart Association.

Based on the Health Analysis Asia’s report in 2019, cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths and economic prosperity are found to be inversely proportional in Asia, particularly in Pakistan, Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines with the highest registered numbers of fatality.

“The World Health Organization reiterates the fact that the poorest people in the low- and middle-income countries are affected the most

by CVDs. So the condition places a heavy economic burden on low- and middle-income countries. And we know the Philippines is not really a rich country,” she pointed out.

Global picture

Regional, local scenarios

EVERYWHERE in the world, heart failure constantly poses a threat to the lives of millions of people and substantial challenges to the health-care industry.

Citing global statistics, Dr. De-

BY the numbers, the Philippines and its fellow member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are still in the midst of the fight against heart failure.

Discussing the latest develop-

ments on heart failure in the region with a growing population of more than 600 million people, Professor David Sim, president of the Heart Failure Society in Singapore, divulged that researchers have found that 9 million people in Southeast Asia have this cardiovascular condition with an overall 15 percent mortality rate.

Referring to the publication by Dr. Caroline Lam of Singapore in 2015, Dr. Demerre disclosed that the prevalence of symptomatic heart failure is higher among Asean members compared to the rest of the world.

She added that the majority of the population in Southeast Asia is younger than 65 years, but the rapid epidemiological transition in this age group has led to high rates of premature death from noncommunicable diseases, chief ly cardiovascular disease.

“And that’s up to 28 percent in the Philippines compared to 12 percent in the UK [United Kingdom],” she said of its pervasiveness among the Filipino youth.

The figures in Southeast Asia, for her, clearly manifest that hospitalizations due to this health condition are on the rise, and compared with western counterparts, its decompensation occurs at a younger age and is characterized by more severe with worse outcomes.

“Heart failure has many phases and stages and can be referred to by different names and shades. But it is the same final common pathway of heart disease in the cardiovascular continuum that starts with the development of risk factors,” Dr. Demerre explained.

Mirrored situation While data in heart failure cases in the country are limited, foreign and local studies suggest that regional findings mirror the situation here.

In the same report by Dr. Lam, for instance, she underscored that even with known and proven effective treatments available, “there is under usage of disease modifying heart failure therapies among Southeast Asian patients, and I’m sure this is the case in the Philippines.”

Another study that was published in 2017 by Dr. Bernadette A. Tumanan-Mendoza et al. in Heart Asia determined the prevalence of hospitalization due to congestive heart failure among adult Filipino patients aged 19 years old and above.

“They concluded that for every 1,000 Filipino patients admitted due to a medical condition, 16 cases

were because of heart failure. This was in 2014. There was no gender predilection and hypertension was possibly the most common cause of heart failure,” she said.

Dr. Demer re associated the lower socioeconomic status with increased incidence of heart failure as resonated in 28 studies reviewed and published in the European Journal of Heart Failure.

Collectively, their results indicated that the adjusted risk for developing heart failure was increased by about 30 to 50 percent in low- to middle-income countries and, likewise, readmission rates following hospitalization were greater in more economically-deprived patients.

“Although fewer studies examined mortality, lower socioeconomic status was associated with poorer survival. Although [the] evidence they find in the equity of medical treatment of patients with heart failure was scarce and conflicting, we know that socioeconomic deprivation is a powerful independent predictor of heart failure development and adverse outcomes,” she reiterated.

The collated studies confirmed that the proportion of poor Filipinos, whose per capita income is not enough to meet their basic needs, was high. It started to decline though to 16.6 percent in 2018, translating to 17.6 million Filipinos who live below the poverty threshold estimated at P10,727 for a family of five per month.

Given their economic status, she asserted that it could still not save them considering that the total economic burden for heart failure hospitalization was close to P1 million per patient, as shown in another study of Dr. Mendoza and her colleagues three years ago.

“We are not so rich [as a] country. We are struggling with heart failure. So looking at the history from the ancient world to what we have seen now over the last two or three decades, there has been considerable progress in the treatment of heart failure that are now considered major pillars in the ideal management of a heart failure,” said Dr. Demerre.

“But despite all these advances, heart failure is still on the rise and is associated with a poor prognosis. We haven’t really flattened the curve. With the many compounding factors in heart failure care, the Philippines has a long way to go. The important thing is we have set our goals, united in the fight against heart failure,” she stressed.

DOH falls short of target in mass vaccination drive

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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accination can easily prevent polio, measles and rubella.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), polio is a highly infectious viral disease, measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world while rubella is an acute, contagious viral infection transmitted by airborne droplets.

This is why the Department of Health (DOH) conducted the second phase of the Measles-Rubella and Oral Polio Vaccination Supplemental Immunization Activity (MRP-OPV SIA). This mass immunization program was launched on February 1, 2021 to cover regions in Luzon and Visayas and was sup-

posed to end on February 28, 2021.

Yesterday, the DOH announced that it had extended the MR-OPV SIA until March 7 in order to reach the target population of 95 percent.

The DOH reported that as of March 1, 2020, 83.7 percent or 4.3 million children been vaccinated against measles and rubella, while there were 3.9 million or 82.4 percent of the national target have been vaccinated against polio.

In Luzon, Region 3 had the highest coverage of measles and rubella vaccination, with a total number of 881,789 or 91.1 percent of vaccinated infants and children ages nine to 59 months old, while 1.03 million or 90.6 percent ages zero to 59 months old for oral polio vaccination. In the National Capital Region (NCR),

there were 873,532 or 85.7 percent who have received measles and rubella vaccines.

Finally, Region 4-A reached 79.2 percent or 1.03 million of total coverage in measles and rubella, while 79.1 percent or 1.21 million were vaccinated against polio.

In Visayas, 87.7 percent or 579,319 infants and children in Region 6VI had been vaccinated against measles and rubella, followed by Region 7 with 78.5 percent or 544,047, and in Region 8 with 78.3 percent or 359,394 total coverage.

With the extension of the immunization program and w ith more than 800,000 kids left unvaccinated in the target regions, the DOH continues to encourage all parents and legal guardians to

have their zero to 59 months old children vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases under the MR-OPV SIA. “Millions of children are saved every year from these diseases through vaccination. Thus, we call on our local government units to continue strengthening our vaccination programs and ensure maximum coverage under the MR-OPV SIA campaign,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said.

“To our parents and guardians, let us retain our confidence in vaccines and put our trust in science.

These vaccines are proven safe and effective. Let us protect our children and not deny them the opportunity to grow into healthy individuals, free from vaccine-preventable illnesses,” Duque urged.

Sports

Pelé gets vaccine shot

BusinessMirror

B8

| Thursday, March 4, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

NESTHY PUSHES HARD W

By Josef Ramos

Paris and will instead go the the world rankings to fill up the vacant slots for Tokyo.

Petecio is the No. 2-ranked featherweight in the world—behind Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu Ting—giving her a strong chance to earn a ticket to the Olympics. Also with a strong chance is men’s light flyweight Carlo Paalam, who despite ranked No. 12, is a potential Olympian by virtue of the continental quota set for the Games.

Velasco said he couldn’t pair Petecio against Tokyo Olympics-bound Irish Magno (flyweight), Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Josie Gabuco (light flyweight), Aira Villegas (featherweight) and Analene Cellon (lightweight) because they, too, couldn’t take the 28-year-old’s fists.

“No woman can last with Nesthy because of her strong punching power level in both hands,” Velasco said. “Unlike Gabuco and Villegas, they can handle Magno in sparring.”

Tasked to take on Petecio are flyweight Marvin Tabamo and bantamweight Junilardo Ogayre.

ORLD champion Nesthy Petecio is going through the grinders in the bubble training camp in Calamba to the point that her coaches spar her with male boxers because the women couldn’t take her punches.

“We just cannot allow Nesthy [Petecio] to spar with her only sparring partner,” said women’s Coach Nolito “Boy” Velasco, referring to women’s lightweight Risa Pasuit. “She [Pasuit] couldn’t handle Nesthy’s power.

Nesthy’s always in control and she couldn’t subdue her punches against Pasuit.”

Petecio is with an 16-athlete boxing team—10 men and six women training inside the Inspire Sports Institute along with fellow Tokyo Olympics aspirants in karatedo and taekwondo.

The International Boxing Association canceled the Olympic qualifiers originally set for May in

Fernandez fills up holes at San Beda

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EAD Coach Boyet Fernandez will be working on a San Beda Red Lions team almost half-depleted by the departure of key players in the pre-pandemic National Collegiate Athletic Association season.

But he remains confident the team will be in fighting form for the league’s 96th season, the schedule and format of which have yet to be determined.

“We still have our backup point guards who played in the PCCL [Philippine Collegiate

Champions League] last year. They have the potential to lead us in the backcourt position,” Fernandez told BusinessMirror Sports.

The Red Lions reached the PCCL Finals that was completed just before the lockdown, but lost to the Atene Blue Eagles, 57-46.

“As of now, we have looked for players who can fill up our vacant spots,” he added.

Season 95 Most Valuable Player Calvin Oftana opted to forego his final season of eligibility to turn pro. Donald Tankoua, Evan

Aoki, Norman ready for PGT return

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HE Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club will be more than ready to test the men of the tour’s shot-making skills and mental toughness when it hosts the two-stage Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) and Ladies PGT

“Most of the time they spar for four rounds and then by Friday, it’s free sparring. I just let them give their best against Nesthy,” Velasco said. “So far, we’re happy with the result of the sparring sessions and Nesthy also hurt them and she is showing great defense.”

“She intimidates the men,” he added.

Petecio won gold in the World Championship in Ulan-Ude, Russia, in October 2019 and also topped her weight class in the Southeast Asian Games hosted by the country on the same yeart.

The national team will fly to Muak Lek in Saraburi, Thailand, next month for a bubble training camp and participate in the Thailand Open.

NESTHY PETECIO takes a breather from her intense training.

Nelle, Clint Doliguez and AC Soberano are also no longer at San Beda, with Nelle deciding to transfer to De La Salle.

The remaining players from the Season 95 Finals team that lost to Letran in three games are James Kwekuteye, Prince Etrata, JB Bahio, Ain Obenza, Franz Abuda, Kenmark Carino, Damie Cuntapay and Alex Visser.

“We recruited other guards from the province and we got the services of a point guard from National University,” said Fernandez, referring to playmaker JV Gallego. “If the NCAA season pushes through, we already have a guard that I’m sure will step-up.”

Fernandez also elevated from the Red Cubs Rhayyan Amsali, Yukien Andrada, Justine Sanchez and Tony Ynot and took from Far Eastern University Clifford Jopia and from Durham Crossover Brendon Ocampo.

Also in his roster are Gabriel Cometa and Lean Manloloyo from Cebu and Aljay Alloso from Davao.

“So far, our rotation is okay. I am confident that they will be able to fulfill their tasks,” Fernandez said. “But they’re still young that’s why we need to practice and train hard. But because of the pandemic, we have to be patient for now.”

events starting next week.

The Aoki layout will stage the first twin tournaments from March 9 to 12 for the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Eagle Ridge Challenge while the ICTSI

Eagle Ridge Championship will be played from March 23 to 26 at the Norman side with the PGT offering a total purse of P2 million and the 54-hole LPGT tournament staking P400,000.

Tony Lascuña edged Japanese Ryoma Miki by one to rule the last Aoki-hosted event in 2016 with the same kind of finish expected in the upcoming 72-hole tournament and the 6,990-yard layout, designed by Hall of Famer Isao Aoki, reaching top condition in time for the championship.

“The two courses are actually ready to host the PGT/LPGT as early as last December,” said Boy Blue Ocampo, golf manager of the country’s biggest golf complex, which boasts of four championship courses, the two others being the Faldo and Dye layouts.

“Despite the stigma of the pandemic that has infringed limitations in the maintenance of most courses, the ERGCC’s four layouts have managed to live up to its patrons’ expectations,” Ocampo added.

According to Ocampo, both courses have stepped up their playability preparations coming into the weeks of the event with a mini-tine aeration done to soften the greens surface.

“They were rolled over, groomed and finely sanded, offering a tricky challenge both in maintenance and playability,” Ocampo said. “Cultural works are currently being done to get them to blend more consistently. Green speed is targeted at no less than 10 in the Stimpmeter reading.”

That should also put premium on the bidders’ putting aside from shotmaking, guaranteeing a spirited chase for top honors in both the PGT and LPGT sides which are expected to be bannered by the four winners—Lascuña, Ira Alido, Princess Superal and Pauline del Rosario—of the two-tournament bubble at Riviera in a pandemic-hit season late last year.

The fairways widths of both courses are retained at 40-50 yards and are being mown at 16 mm with the current height of cuts for all grasses adjusted to ERGCC’s prevailing local growing conditions.

Both events, along with the succeeding tournaments of the ICTSI-sponsored circuit this year, will be held and conducted under strict protocols in consonance with the government’s safety and health measures.

Meanwhile, deadline for registration for the next PGT/ LPGT event, the Eagle Ridge Championship is on March 12.

For details, log on to www. pgt.ph.

PELé remains as Brazil’s national hero. AP

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TONY LASCUñA and the men and women of the tour are back for the new season.

ãO PAULO—Pelé received his first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, calling it an “unforgettable day.”

The 80-year-old Brazilian soccer great posted the news on his social-media channels along with a picture of himself receiving the shot in his right arm.

Pelé, a three-time World Cup champion, did not disclose where the dose was given, but he has been staying at his home in Guaruja, outside São Paulo, since the pandemic hit Brazil one year ago.

“Today is an unforgettable day—I received the vaccine!,” Pelé said. “The pandemic is not over yet. We must keep discipline to preserve

lives until many people have taken the vaccine.”

Less than 4 percent of Brazil’s population has been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Brazil has the world’s second highest Covid-19 death toll, nearing 260,000 victims.

Last week was the country’s deadliest since the beginning of the pandemic, with 8,244 confirmed virus-related deaths.

Pelé also urged his followers to wash their hands and stay home if possible.

“When you go out please don’t forget your mask and maintain social distance. This will pass if we can think of others and help each other,” he said. AP

Villanueva backs Kouame’s naturalization

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EN. Joel Villanueva endorsed at the Senate the grant of Filipino citizenship to Ateneo standout Ange Kouame, who is being eyed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas as the country’s naturalized player.

Villanueva, a member of the University of Santo Tomas team that won four straight University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) championships in the 1990s, credited the work ethic of Kouame, the first foreign player to win Rookie of the Year honors in the UAAP in 2018.

“Naturalization and the grant of Philippine citizenship to Kouame would surely brighten the colors of our flag and send the Filipino athlete flying high,” Villanueva said in a speech Tuesday sponsoring a bill to grant citizenship to Kouame.

“As a Filipino, a former member of the national team and a basketball enthusiast, it is my honor to support the granting of Philippine citizenship to Mr. Kakou Ange Franck Williams Kouame,” said Villanueva, who also suited up for the country’s youth squad in 1994.

Villanueva said Kouame not only dominated the basketball scene but also “captivated the admiration of many Filipinos, both young and old.”

He recalled the time when Ateneo won the

UAAP championship and Senator Richard Gordon “was flashing all these pictures” showing court celebrations and fans and supporters of UST Growling Tigers, UST’s Villanueva UAAP team where Villanueva played, were sad in the background.

“It was painful Mr. President,” Villanueva said in his speech in jest. “Nonetheless, this Growling Tiger is willing to give an assist to the sponsor who is a Blue Eagle cheerleader so he can slam-dunk this bill.”

Gordon was once a member of Ateneo’s Blue Babble Batallion.

Kouame, according to Villanueva, “has embraced the Filipino culture and tradition and our people and has made the Philippines his home.”

Kouame is a 6-foot-10 center from Ivory Coast who currently plays for Ateneo but is being recruited to play for the Gilas Pilipinas.

According to Villanueva, Kouame has committed to play for the Philippine team in the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers.

PRESIDENT’S AWARD TO PBA TEAMS

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HILIPPINE Basketball Association (PBA) teams fulfilled their commitment to their players and personnel during the difficult times wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 12 teams also played significant roles in the successful staging of the Philippine Cup bubble in Clark, Pampanga, that prevented a cancelation of the league’s 45th season.

For their financial sacrifices and deep love for the game, the PBA Press Corps are honoring all the teams in Asia’s pioneering professional league with the President’s Award in its virtual Awards Night set this Sunday at the TV5 Media Center.

The “Heroic 12” is composed of Barangay Ginebra, TnT Tropang Giga, Meralco, Phoenix, San Miguel Beer, Alaska, Magnolia, Rain or Shine, NLEX, Blackwater, NorthPort and Terrafirma.

They will share the limelight with Bulakan Mayor and 1995 Most Valuable Player Vergel Meneses, who will be accorded the 2019 President’s Award by the group that covers the PBA beat.

The hour-long program presented by Cignal TV will be hosted by Rizza Diaz and Carlo Pamintuan. It will be shown on PBA Rush on Monday.

The PBAPC will also give out the Outstanding Coach of the Bubble and Mr. Executive awards.

The other awardees are Justin Chua (Top Bubble D-Fender), Calvin Abueva, Chris Ross, Mark Barroca, Christian Standhardinger, and Chua (All Bubble D-Fenders), RJ Jazul (Mr. Quality Minutes), CJ Perez (Scoring Champion) Barangay Ginebra-Meralco Game 5 semis (Game of the Bubble) and the quintet of Aaron Black, Arvin Tolentino, Roosevelt Adams, Barkley Ebona, and Renzo Subido (All-Rookie Team).

The major awardees of the 2019 season will also be recognized on Sunday. They are Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan Coach of the Year Leo Austria of San Miguel Beer, Danny Floro Executive of the Year PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas and Defensive Player of the Year Sean Anthony.

PSC almost done on selection of 4th batch of Hall of Famers

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HE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) moved a step closer to naming the fourth batch of enshrinees to the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame (PSHOF) when the review and selection committees meet on Friday to evaluate the candidates’ shortlist.

“We asked the expertise of our notable sports media friends and form the review and evaluation committee, for they are the timekeepers of the sports scene and have covered the great achievements of our Filipino athletes,” said PSC chairman William Ramirez, who also heads the PSHOF 2020 selection committee.

The Review and Evaluation Committee thoroughly sifted the credentials and achievements of 44 nominees in a series of virtual meetings and have come up with a short list for the fourth batch of honorees.

The committee is composed of Joaquin Henson of Philippine Star, Eduardo Andaya of Peoples Tonight, Lorenzo Lomibao Jr. of BusinessMirror, Eriberto Talao of Manila Bulletin, Eduardo Catacutan Jr. of Spin.ph, Jose Antonio of People’s Journal, Reynaldo Bancod of Daily Tribune, and Prof. Theresa Jazmines of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

To be inducted to the Hall of Fame, an athlete or coach must have been a gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games, at least a silver medalist in the Asian Games, Asian Cup or regional games, or at least a bronze medalist in the Olympics, World Games or world championionships—amateur or professional.

Athletic performance should have a wide, historic and unprecedented global impact, should have unquestionable integrity either local or abroad, before and after the event, and non-conviction in a crime involving moral turpitude.

“We also consider not only the accolades, but also the timeless inspiration and stories behind every nominee,” Ramirez said. “At the end of the day, we want our future generation to live by the stories of our inductees.”