BusinessMirror March 26, 2021 by BusinessMirror

IT-BPM sector books $26-B revenue in ’20

HE information technology and business-process ma nagement (I T-BPM) sector did not grow last year, but it also did not register significant decline in terms of performance despite the pandemic. The pandemic-induced economic slump stunted the growth of the IT-BPM industry's revenues and employment in the past year, SPi Global Senior Vice President Celeste Ilagan said during the Asia BPM Forum 2021 on Thursday. Ilagan also sits on the board of trustees for the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap). Ilagan reported that industry revenues slightly dipped to $26.2

billion last year from $26.3 billion in 2019. Employment figures remained at 1.3 million. The figures met the industry outlook for 2020. “Our flat growth is of course because of the pandemic and because of the global recession due to the pandemic. Recording a flat growth is actually an achievement in itself,” she explained. Ilagan recalled that the first two months of lockdown last year was a struggle because productivity level was only around 50 percent. At the time, she said the industry was adjusting to the lockdown measures amid the pandemic as it stabilized operations. By the end of 2020, however,

the SPi Global official noted that industry productivity reached 95 percent after gradually improving in subsequent months. “We are fortunate to have been included among the essential industries and therefore, allowed to operate but needed to pivot a very different work model which we have not done significantly before,” she noted. This meant having a mix of work-from-home and work-atoffice arrangements, she said. Outsourcing firm Transcom, which has over 9,000 employees in the country, felt the pinch du r i n g t he lo c k do w n . M a rk Lyndsell, the global chief executive officer of Transcom, said the

n Friday, March 26, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 166

firm spent about $7 million to $8 million to support its Filipino employees. Lyndsell said the support covers hotel accommodations to house the employees, extra allowances such as hazard pay and point-to-point shuttles to transport the workers. “Even now, we test our folks with antigen every 14 days,” he added. Startek, which has 15,000 employees across the Philippines and Australia, has also been extending support to its workers, including hotel accommodations and transportation since last year. It also sent out computers for workfrom-home setups. See “IT-BPM,” A2

DESPITE NEW INFLATION RISKS, BSP KEEPS RATES P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 18 pages |

PHL EXPORTERS CHAFE AS PANDEMIC DELAYS PRODUCT SHIPMENTS By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

XPORTERS are still left with no choice but to bear the brunt of delayed shipments—which are seen to cut industry revenues—as the global pandemic forced business activities to slow down. Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) Assistant Vice President Flordeliza C. Leong told the BusinessMirror that constraints in shipping began when production picked up in the last quarter of 2020. While there is no conclusive report yet, she said that delays usually range from two weeks to one month. She explained that the delays are caused by piling up of goods in the shipping lines and the traffic going to the ports. In addition, she noted that ports have no regular operations at the moment and employees are

Household personnel of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Las Piñas clean the church’s stained glass. The government has mandated a so-called “NCR-Plus bubble” or a general community quarantine in the National Capital Region and Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan and Rizal, with religious gatherings prohibited from March 22 to April 4 while Covid-19 cases surge. NONIE REYES

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary Board opted to keep all monetary policy levers unmoved in its second meeting for 2021, shrugging off its own projection of an inflation target breach for this year. See “Despite,” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 48.6810

@tyronepiad

working shortened hours amid the pandemic, among others. Leong said she has talked to traders and logistics service providers to find solutions to the shipping delays. However, it appears that she has no luck yet. “There is nothing to do but to wait [if there is a shipping container already],” she lamented. However, the Philexport official said it may help if exporters consolidate their orders and book early shipments.

Lower export revenue

The delays in shipments could also explain the lower export revenues because the earnings will not be reflected immediately, she said. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, exports in January dipped by 5.2 percent to $5.49 billion from $5.79 billion for the same month last year. See “PHL,” A2

Food shortage seen on global supply woes By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

HE Philippines could be facing a looming “ food shortage” and anemic export performance in the coming months due to global supply chain

problems, such as rising shipping costs and lack of vessels, industry players warned. Royal Cargo Inc. (RCI) COO Jet B. Ambalada told the BusinessMirror the country is not spared from the global shipping and logistical problems that arose as complica-

tions of the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the container imbalance, lack of vessels, and congestion at transhipment ports, importers and exporters are now experiencing delays and high shipping costs for their shipments, according to Ambalada. “We are facing shipping and lo-

gistics problems. For example in Europe, there are a lot of delays due to Covid-19 problems and challenges such as lockdowns. We are now encountering two weeks to a month delays in our arrivals,” Ambalada said.

n japan 0.4478 n UK 66.6540 n HK 6.2667 n CHINA 7.4607 n singapore 36.1725 n australia 36.9099 n EU 57.5166 n SAUDI arabia 12.9820

See “Food,” A2

Source: BSP (March 25, 2021)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, March 26, 2021

Despite... Continued from A1

In its post-monetary policy setting briefing on Thursday, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno announced that they have decided to maintain the interest rate on the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase facility at 2.0 percent. The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were likewise kept at 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. The decision was made despite their newest inflation forecast, which was adjusted to 4.2 percent for this year, up from the 4-percent projection in the previous meeting. This means that the BSP is preparing for inflation to breach the government’s target of 2 to 4 percent for this year. BSP officials said they are able to keep the monetary policy accommodative for the time being as inflation drivers are largely supply side in nature and transitory. This means that monetary policy is not the most appropriate tool to lower this kind of price swelling. The country’s central monetary authority has been aggressively accommodative in 2020. In total, the BSP has lowered the country’s benchmark interest rates to its all-time low of 2 percent by cutting 200 basis points in a span of less than a year. This accommodative stance, however, is being threatened by rising prices, a problem which is usually resolved by tightening or hiking interest rates. The BSP said earlier that, at the moment, current monetary policy rates remain appropriate and that inflation risks remain temporary and transitory. “It is in the nature of supply disturbances that it is temporary and transitory. What we have to guard against is the possibility of that being translated to second round increases in prices. As of this moment there is really no evidence of any spillovers to other commodities apart from those that are subject to the supply shocks,” BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila said. For next year, the BSP also revised its inflation forecast slightly upward but still within target from 2.7 percent in the previous meeting now to 2.8 percent. Diokno, meanwhile, reiterated that they stand ready to respond to rising inflationary pressures should the need for monetary policy intervention is needed, even if it means unwinding their aggressive easing in 2020. “The BSP will remain watchful for any signs of inflation becoming broader based. The BSP is prepared to take immediate measures as appropriate to ensure that the monetary policy stance continues to support the BSP’s price and financial stability objectives,” Diokno said in his statement. ING Bank Manila economist Nicholas Mapa said the BSP is likely to keep its monetary policy settings low for as long as they can to support the ailing local economy. “We expect BSP to keep policy rates unchanged in the near term, with BSP willing to look past the supply side-induced price spike for now to maintain support for the economic recovery,” Mapa said. “BSP may only consider a possible rate hike should inflation remain stubbornly high, which could disanchor inflation expectations and spark second round effects such as wage and transport fare adjustments,” he added. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) economist Michael Ricafort also agreed with the BSP’s move to help pull the economy out of recession. “The economy still needs all the support measures that it could get. Monetary easing, at least by keeping policy rate steady at the record low of 2 percent, would still be needed to support economic recovery prospects from Covid-19,” Ricafort said. However, the economist warned that the BSP will have to tread “a delicate balancing act” between inflation and the economy down the line, especially if spillovers to price increases start to show.

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Verbal row over reef militia sizzles; Duterte, Huang meet

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla & Recto Mercene @rectomercene

HE presence of a fleet of Chinese ships in the Julian Felipe Reef were among the issues discussed by President Duterte during his recent meeting with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian, Malacañang said on Thursday, as harsh exchanges on the subject, from various parties, continued to rule social media. In an online press briefing, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque confirmed the discussion happened last week around the time he tested positive for Covid-19. During the meeting, he said the President expressed concern over the incident in Julian Felipe Reef.

“The President said...that we, like any other country, are concerned with such large number of ships. The Chinese ambassador said [the crew of the said ships] are fishermen, who sought shelter [in the reef],” Roque said. The claim that Chinese fisher-

men sought refuge in the reef from turbulent waters in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) was earlier floated by the Chinese embassy, but critics pounced on this, citing Beijing’s record of decades-long misrepresentations about their activities n disputed waters, now deemed a flashpoint in the region. In the course of their discussion, Roque said, Duterte reiterated the position he made during his speech before the United Nations in September, that he will protect the country’s territories in the WPS, including the Julian Felipe Reef. Last Sunday, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) reported the entry of 200 ships in the Julian Felipe Reef (Whitsun Reef) on March 7, 2021. The Julian Felipe Reef is a boomerang-shaped shallow coral reef, which is part of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf (CS) since it is located approximately 175 nautical miles west of Bataraza, Palawan.

Roque clarified the meeting between Duterte and Xilian was scheduled long before the controversy over the reef presence of the ships, which experts said look more like militia ships than those of fishermen. “It was a social call because it is the birthday of the President,” Roque said. The President will celebrate his 76th birthday on Sunday. For the special occasion, Roque said, Duterte wishes for an end of the pandemic and a restoration of a sense of normalcy in the country.

Sharp rebuke

On Thursday, the Chinese Embassy issued a sharp rebuke on Twitter in the wake of the increasing exchanges of notes in social media, saying: “If the so-called ‘facts’ are false from the beginning, you couldn’t be more wrong to repeat the mistakes. Understand and respect the fact before you make any comment.” Continued on A4

DESPITE COVID, REMITTANCES SEEN TO HIT $31B IN 2021 By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

ESPITE disruptions in the local economy anew due to the renewed restrictions, the local economy is expected to receive greater support from external sources—particularly from Filipino migrant workers—this year as the rest of the world tries to normalize, according to a privatesector expert. In a recent webinar, Security Bank Chief Investment Officer Noel Reyes said they forecast full-year remittances growing

by 4 percent for this year to hit $31 billion from $29.9 billion in 2020. “Full-year remittance growth only decreased by 0.8 percent year-on-year. The performance was even better than the central bank’s revised forecast of -2 percent and an earlier forecast of -5 percent during the peak of the pandemic...With vaccination programs under way, this will continue to improve,” Reyes said. Security Bank’s projection is in line with the government’s projection as earlier announced by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

IT-BPM... Food... Continued from A1

Continued from A1

Startek Chief Operating Officer for Philippines and Australia Parikshat Nagpal said the firm makes sure to look after the welfare of its employees while assuring clients of business continuity at the same time.

The problem in the global shipping industry stemmed last year when Covid-19 forced the global economy to halt to curb the spread of the virus. Due to the lockdowns and lack of drivers, vessels and containers were docked in major ports like those in the US and Europe, Ambalada explained. When the global trade gained a bit of momentum last year, the shipping industry was overwhelmed with orders from developed countries like the US and China, resulting in a container imbalance with countries that are not a major shipping point or route, like the Philippines, at the losing end, he said. Ambalada added that container turnaround is also delayed due to lack of drivers in Europe, which is experiencing its third wave of Covid-19, with the spread of more transmissible variants. Ambalada said huge economies like China, Singapore and US have been more aggressive in terms of imports and exports, thus concerning the bulk of the available vessels and containers in the world. “The major problem is that our transshipment points are already congested. For example, Singapore and China ports are congested since these countries are sourcing a lot of raw materials,” he said.

Investment haven

Despite the struggles amid the pandemic, the country is still attractive for investors, Lyndsell said. “ T he Phi lippines is sti l l a country destination where our clients want to invest. That is something that we are continuing to see,” he explained. Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), for its part, said that it will continue to bring investments in the country. Peza Director General Charito Plaza said that there are around 410 economic zones nationwide as of November 2020, majority or 290 of which are IT parks and centers. “Despite facing the new normal, the Philippines is still an investment haven. We in Peza will continue to pursue our mandate and do our best in harnessing Philippine investments’ competitiveness,” she said. In March, Peza approved 30 projects of registered business enterprises amounting to P13.19 billion; 11 of these are for IT. T he investment promotion agency hopes to book P100 billion worth of investment pledges this year. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Soaring costs

Due to this situation, shipping costs for exports have increased by “10-fold” with outbound shipments being delayed by a month to three months at worst, Ambalada pointed out. Ambalada said the cost of shipping one dry container from Manila to the European Union has ballooned to $5,000 from the usual $800; one 20foot container from Manila to US West Coast only used to cost about at maximum of $1,000 but is now hitting $5,000. Inter-Asia shipping rates have also ballooned to unprecedented levels with Philippines to China

Latest data showed that cash remittances sent by Filipino migrant workers declined by about $45 million in January 2021 compared to its level in the same month last year. Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFW) remittances hit $2.603 billion in January this year, posting a 1.7-percent decline from the $2.648 billion in the same month last year. This is the second consecutive month that remittances declined after consistently being in the growth territory since September 2020. The January remittance level

costing now as much as $2,000 from the usual $200 since we are outside the “preferred routes” of shipping companies, Ambalada added. “We are being outbidded by our neighbors who can afford $5,000. The question is, who can bite the bullet among our exporters? Instead of catering to the Philippines, the vessels will just go to China en route to Europe since they can pay higher,” he explained. Increase in shipping costs of importing goods from Europe and the US to the Philippines “is not significant” since there’s available containers and vessels from these areas, Ambalada said. Ambalada said they started to experience the problem in the last quarter of last year after countries like China started to buy more imports and were able to jump-start their economy again amid the pandemic, hence, exporting more goods than any other country. Ambalada also noted that domestic shipping costs are at “all-time high” since local firms, some of them exporters, have opted to sell their goods domestically instead of exporting them due to high costs, such as banana producers. At the other side of the trade, import-dependent manufacturers have started to source raw materials locally to avert price increases, he added. Felix Ishizuka, president and CEO of Reefer Filipinas Express Line Inc., said it is undeniable that the industry was overwhelmed when demand surged in the latter half of last year. “It is always supply and demand. Obviously, the demand went up and the container supply is scarce in every port due to congestion,” Ishizuka added. Also contributing to the delays, he said, are the rules of countries to quarantine cargo and shipments in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19. “China, for example, is getting heavy congestion for fresh produce. Normally they do not quarantine these but now every container must undergo a minimum of three days. That is obviously going to pile up,” he said. Ishizuka said the unavailability of space

is also $287 million lower than the $2.89 billion level of remittances in December of 2020. Reyes said other potential sources of growth for this year include the passage and implementation of key economic legislation. “Opportunities for growth can also be taken to action as the Financial Institutions for Strategic Transfer [FIST] bill has been signed by President Duterte and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises [CREATE] bill is awaiting the president’s signature,” Reyes said.

is felt across all segments of the shipping industry from dry cargo containers, break bulk to reefers. Ishizuka pointed out that the cost of renting a reefer ship has now skyrocketed to $25,000 per day from the $9,000 to $10,000 per day recorded in June of last year. “Freight cost is crazy right now; it is now at a level never seen before. Never seen these reefer ship prices in the last 15 years of the industry. The most affected businesses are the small players who ship 5 containers at maximum,” he said. “The cost of moving used cars from Japan to the West Coast, say South America, is now at $5,000 per container from $1,000,” he added. Due to lack of certainty that unloaded imported cargo would have an export replacement, Ishizuka said importers are now shouldering additional costs in the form of prepositioning fees.

Food security

However, Ambalada, who is also a director of the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc., warned that the current shipping and logistics problem is worsened by the challenge of sourcing raw materials for food manufacturers, like processors. Furthermore, delays in arrival of imported goods may pose food security problems for the country, Ambalada added. For example, meat processors are now struggling to import mechanically deboned meat of chicken since the country lost about 60 percent of its import source after the government slapped temporary blanket bans on European countries over bird flu concerns, he explained. “This is really a perfect storm. If this won’t be eased or resolved, then we’re up for a looming major food shortage. Take, for example, processed meat products. What will be our alternative protein source if we lose processed meat products or they hike their prices amid rising pork and chicken retail prices?” he said.

PHL...

Continued from A1

Apart from this, Leong cited issues with higher storage costs if products stay longer undelivered. A silver lining in the situation is that customers are understanding of the shipping delays, she said. “The good thing about this is it is a global thing. Alam din ng mga buyer nila na this is happening [The buyers are aware of the situation],” Leong said, noting that some exporters are negotiating with their buyers to have a longer turnaround period. If the buyers agree, there will be no order cancellations but delays instead, she said. In general, Leong said that exporters have accepted that they have to adjust their production timeline. However, there are still concerns for perishable items, Leong said, adding that air shipment is usually the solution to make sure the products arrive fresh. This may not be applicable to some nonperishable items as fees could be higher if ever, she added. So far, Leong said she has not encountered an exporter who decided to cut production because of the shipment delays. A garment exporter, Leong shared, is even seeing continuous flow of orders from the US. “They have to decline orders only because of order capacity, not because of the shipping problem,” she added.

Semicon industry

The semiconductor sector, a major contributor to the Philippines’s export industry, is dealing with challenges in shipping out its products outside the country. Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) President Danilo Lachica confirmed to the BusinessMirror that the industry’s supply chain has been disrupted during this pandemic amid the implementation of lockdown protocols. Lachica noted that the reduced flights and ships have been causing bottlenecks in the shipments of semiconductor players. Delays usually take weeks, he said. Despite the shipment del ay s, Seipi i s not wor r ied about not meeting the 7-percent growth forecast for this year. “We have factored in our 7-percent forecast,” Lachica explained. Data from Seipi show electronics accounted for 65 percent of total Philippine exports in January. Exports for the segment inched up by 1.48 percent to $3.55 billion in the first month of 2021 from $3.50 billion year-on-year, supported by growth in four sectors. Med ica l /industr ia l instrumentation led the sector with 84.31-percent growth to $22.99 million for the period. Consumer electronics, electronic data processing, and control and instrumentation, grew by 28.2 percent, 24.38 percent, and 8.89 percent, respectively. Me a nw h i le, automot i ve electronics declined by 61.64 percent; telecommunication, 27.24 percent; office equipment, 4.59 percent; components or devices, 4.37 percent; and communication or radar, 3.47 percent. Last year, total electronic exports dropped by 8.8 percent to $39.67 billion from $43.39 billion. The top destinations for Philippine electronics exports are Hong Kong, China, United States of America, Japan and Singapore.

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, March 26, 2021 A3

Solon to Navy: Hasten procurement of warships By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

MID China’s repeated incursions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the chairman of the House Committee on Strategic Intelligence on Thursday urged the Department of National Defense (DND) to advance by three years the acquisition of 16 new warships.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel issued the statement in light of the reported presence 220 Chinese vessels, believed to be Chinese maritime militia, swarming west of Palawan. The Philippines has already filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing over the Chinese maritime militia’s swarming in Julian Felipe Reef. Pimentel said the 16 warships

lined up for procurement are on top of the two South Korean-built multi-role guided missile frigates—BRP Jose Rizal and BRP Antonio Luna—recently put into active service by the Navy. “Instead of getting these 16 new combat ships in phases between now and 2028, the Navy should get them all by 2025,” Pimentel said. “The biggest threat to our sover-

eign rights as a nation is clearly in our strategic waters, so we have to give top priority to rebuilding our naval fleet,” Pimentel added. The lawmaker also urged Camp Aguinaldo to fine tune the military’s modernization program and give preference to funding the Philippine Navy’s plan to get hold of another four frigates and 12 corvettes.

“In the annual national budgets from 2022 to 2025, Congress should also provide the additional appropriations needed for the Navy’s expedited acquisition of the new warships,” Pimentel said. The Navy is getting the money for new warships from the annual budget for the revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program, which has an allocation

of P27 billion this year. The Navy also plans to buy 18 offshore patrol vessels, 40 fast-attack interdiction craft and 42 smaller multipurpose attack craft. “Coupled with strong diplomacy, we need highly visible warships to demonstrate our readiness to protect and enforce our rights over our 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone,” Pimentel added.

Govt urged to create ‘special team’ to assist firms in vaccine acquisition

AW M A K ER S on T hursday urged the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) to relax the conditions they had set for the private sector in the procurement of their own Covid-19 vaccines, saying it is premature to assume that the industries would use the vaccines it intends to acquire to promote their products. Rep. Ronnie Ong of the Ang Probinsyano Party-list said that while it is provided under Republic Act 11525 or Covid-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021 that private entities may procure vaccines for the exclusive use of their employees, it also requires them to enter into a tripartite agreement with the DOH and NTF and the vaccine supplier. This provision in the RA 11525 is now causing some snag on the initiative of private companies to procure their own vaccines, Ong said, as he claimed that he had received reports

that some companies which expressed intention to procure their own anti-Covid jabs are being given the runaround by the DOH and NTF. Ong said while he understands the need to ensure the safety and the efficacy of the vaccines that are administered to all Filipinos which explains the provision to require the DOH and the NTF to facilitate private sector procurement, the government should make sure that this is done smoothly and expeditiously.

Team

ONG also recommended that the DOHNTF should create a team that will be tasked to facilitate all private sector procurement and ensure the immediate delivery of their procured vaccines. Ong also the brainchild of the proposal to create a vaccine passport, which is now called the “vaccine card.” “Since it would take time to repeal or introduce amendments to

RA 11525, it might be best that the NTF would create a special team that would take care of all private sector procurement,” Ong said. According to Ong, the task of the DOH and the NTF should be able to help the private sector get their vaccines without delay instead of becoming an unnecessary obstruction to the private sector’s desire to vaccinate their employees and bring back normalcy to their operation. “The future of our economy depends on the private sector which is our country’s main economic engine. We have to help them get back on their feet the soonest possible time,” Ong said. Last week, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged the government to allow the private sector to procure Covid-19 vaccines directly from accredited sources without restrictions or conditions. The PCCI complained that their

effort to vaccinate their own employees is being stymied by the tripartite provision in RA 11525.

Premature

DEPUTY Speaker for Trade and Industry and Valenzuela First District Rep. Wes Gatchalian, for his part, said it is premature to assume that companies manufacturing tobacco and infant formula products will use the Covid-19 vaccines to promote their products. Gatchalian was reacting to the statement of local World Health Organization (WHO) representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe who said the proposed exclusion of those companies was due to the concern that vaccines they would be procuring and distributing could be used to promote their products. “At this time when we have to win against a pandemic that has caused numerous lives and continues to negatively impact the ability of the Filipino

people to work, to go to school, to see their families, we need to unite and make sure no one is left behind and discriminated upon,” Gatchalian said. “It is premature at this point to assume that these companies may use the vaccines to promote their products. Let me call the attention of the WHO representative to Section 5 of Republic Act 11525 wherein it is clear that the vaccines to be procured are for the exclusive use of such companies,” he added. The lawmaker said that given the scarcity of the vaccines, a more reasonable and realistic assumption is that these companies will prioritize their employees and the families of their employees. “Even if they had already incurred huge losses because of the pandemic, they are still prioritizing the welfare of their employees by ordering their own supply of vaccines. And by doing so, they are lessening the burden of the

national government by not requesting for allocation,” he said. Gatchalian said that at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, while many companies have closed, many of them remained open so they can continue to help their work force provide for their families and pay taxes to contribute to the provision of government services despite the pandemic. “My appeal to public health authorities like WHO whose expertise we greatly value in advising us policymakers and regulatory officials is to set aside certain assumptions they have about certain companies and help us as a nation make sure that no one is left behind,” Gatchalian said. Meanwhile, Gatchalian lauded Malacañang’s announcement that all private companies, including manufacturers of tobacco, may procure vaccines against Covid-19 through a tripartite agreement with the national government. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

A4 Friday, March 26, 2021 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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DTI chief bares 64.65-percent investment growth in Q1 2021 O

P300-M pandemic aid for workers remain unclaimed, DOLE exec says

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported on Thursday a 64.65-percent increase in investments in the first quarter of the year, compared to P83 million generated during the same period last year. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez lauded the continuous inf low of investments in the country, which created 12,013 much-needed jobs at a time when 4 million workers are unemployed amid the economic disruption caused by the novel coronav irus disease (Cov id-19) pandemic.

New industries

AMONG the latest employmentgenerator is the manufacturing of internationally certified and medical grade personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face mask, and other medical equipment. “So for example for mask, 2.4 million pieces per month of N95 mask were manufactured. Before [the pandemic] this was in zero capacity,”Lopez said during the public address of President Duterte on Wednesday evening. Other newly established industries in the country brought about by the pandemic, Lopez said, are the manufacturing of coveralls, ventilators, and filters for face masks. He said BOI is now also in talks

So for example for mask, 2.4 million pieces per month of N95 mask were manufactured. Before [the pandemic] this was in zero capacity. Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez

with six companies interested in setting up a vaccine manufacturing plant in the country. “We are doing this so we will no longer rely on imported vaccine in the future,” Lopez said. The trade chief noted that among the recent emerging popular businesses are e-commerce related, which involves deliveries due to the still existing movement restrictions. “E-commerce business registration has now reached 88,000. This started from 1,700. So it is now 40 times bigger compared to last year,” Lopez said.

Loan, livelihood support

ASIDE from the attracting more investors, Lopez said the DTI is also

engaged in providing loan support for companies struggling to cope with the quarantine restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. As of March 23, 2021, DTI was already able to release around P2.6 billion worth of loans through its Covid-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) programs. A total of 22,310 micro, small, and medium enterprises availed of the loan. They were also able to extend livelihood kits and entrepreneurship seminars to at least 26,000 beneficiaries. Government economic managers earlier project the economic impact of Covid-19 will persist beyond this year, which will require additional support for local businesses.

VER P300 million worth of cash assistance remain unclaimed by beneficiaries of the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) cash-assistance program for workers, affected by novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) since last year. Of the said unclaimed amount, P111,804,920 are from the Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP), which provide workers in the formal sector a one-time P5,000 cash aid. Also, still pending in the remittance centers and DOLE’s regional offices are the P109,210,000 for the Abot Kamay Ang Pagtulong for OFWs (AKAP) and the P81,785,924 from the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD). AKAP is a one-time P10,000, or $200, financial assistance for overseas Filipino workers (OFW), while TUPAD is a temporary emergency employment for informal sector workers. DOLE spokesman Rolly Francia said the unclaimed amount, which

Magat Dam opens gates after heavy rains, cautions downstream residents By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

Look beyond numbers in debt, ADB tells Asian economies continued from a10 “Although most of the emerging Asian economies maintain relatively lower debt-to-GDP ratios—emerging Asia’s average debt-to-GDP ratio is 63.5 percent in the fourth quarter, 2020, much lower than the global average of 105.4 percent according to IMF data—they may not be complacent for the following reasons,” Kang said. He said the first of these reasons is that based on history, a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio usually increase as economies mature. This takes into consideration aging populations and social entitlement requirements. Kang said these factors will only add to the medium-to-long term debt burdens in emerging Asian economies. Another reason is that developing countries lack capacities as opposed to advanced economies. If developing countries have high debt levels, this would lead to credit rating downgrades. Kang also said that while low interest rates can prompt cheap borrowing, increasing borrowings can strain debt-to-GDP ratios, especially if growth rates are not high. “In terms of the pandemic, we are not out of the woods yet. Now is not the time to withdraw proactive fiscal expansions. Many countries have to continue to strengthen fiscal responses and be-

yond, to bounce back from the economic downfall and ensure sustainable and resilient economic recovery,” Kang said. This week, data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed the country’s debt-toGDP ratio at 54.5 percent last year is “slightly higher” compared to the average debt ratio of Asean-5 at 51.5 percent. Based on the 2017-2020 data provided in the economic bulletin of Finance Undersecretary and Chief Economist Gil Beltran, it was only last year that the Philippines’s debt ratio exceeded the Asean-5 average. Aside from the Philippines, countries included in the Asean-5 are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Despite the Philippines’s debt-to-GDP ratio rising to a 14-year high last year from a record low of 39.6 percent in 2019, Beltran said the Philippines is “at the middle of the scale” within Asean. Beltran noted, though, that lower interest rates “helped cushion” the fiscal impact of the country’s higher debt-to-GDP ratio. He noted that interest payments rose only by 5.4 percent to P380.4 billion in 2020 from P360.9 billion in 2019.

is taken from the funding of Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Bayanihan 1) and Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2), should have benefited 49,598 workers. He pointed among the common reason for the pending payment is that beneficiaries have either change or lost their phones. “The reference code for claiming the benefits in remittance centers are sent through mobile number. The problem is many beneficiaries changed or lost their phones,” Francia said in an online news briefing on Wednesday. He said there are also instances where some beneficiaries failed to provide their contact details. Francia urged concerned workers to coordinate with their DOLE regional offices to avail of their financial benefits as soon as possible to avoid automatic forfeiture. “It if it remains unclaimed, it will be reverted to the [Bureau of the] Treasury. I don’t know the deadline for this, but they should [file their] claim [at] the soonest possible time,” Francia stressed. Samuel P. Medenilla

HE Nat iona l Ir r igat ion Administration-Magat R iver Integrated Irrigation System (NIA-MARIIS) announced it has opened its gates by at least 200 cubic meters per second (cms) to maintain a safe water level in the reservoir amid a heavy downpour brought about by the northeast monsoon. In a Facebook post on Thursday morning, the NIA-MARIIS reminded residents near the Magat River that the dam would be opening its gates at 10 a.m. “Mula sa dalawang daang metro kubiko bawat segundo [200 cms] ang pakakawalan, ito ay maaaring madagdagan depende sa lakas ng ulan sa magat watershed,” the NIA-MARIIS post read. (We will release water at a rate of at least 200 cms, which can increase depending on the rainfall in the Magat Watershed.) The NIA told the BusinessMirror that as of 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 25, 2021, Magat Dam’s reservoir level was at 192.14 meters above sea level (MASL), just 0.86 meter from its 193 MASL spilling level. The reservoir inflow at that time was at 342 cms while outflow was at 342

cms, based on NIA data. NIA data showed that one spillway gate remained open as of 2 p.m. Thursday at a rate of 195 cms. “We are doing this as a precautionary measure. There’s no more rainfall in the area,” NIA spokesman Eden Selva said via SMS. The NIA-MARIIS said it had received an advisory for a commencement of flood precaution period flood warning zone in the Magat River Basin from Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (Pagasa) Chief of the Hydro-Meteorology Division Engr. Roy A. Badilla. The NIA-MARIIS added that the advisory was also submitted to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMCIsabela) and Pagasa-CRFFC Tuguegarao, Cagayan. “In reply to this Advisory, the Dam and Reservoir Division [DRD] confirmed to Pagasa that its warning equipment and facilities of the Flood Forecasting are in normal and operational condition. Further, flood forecasting personnel were dispatched downstream of the Magat Dam. Hence, DRD is ready to receive Pagasa’s further information,” it said.

Verbal row over reef militia sizzles; TC urged: Hike pork tariffs to cut Duterte, Huang meet continued from a2 importers’ profit continued from a10

The embassy did not make clear

to whom the message is directed, but the belligerent tone followed the expresssion of support aired by several embassies in Manila, calling both the Philippines and China to settle the issue in a peaceful manner. Earlier, the United States, UK, Canada and Japan issued similar calls, supporting Manila’s call for the Chinese militia’s withdrawal, and at the same time, asking both parties to settle their differences peacefully. Earlier, the Chinese embassy said the Philippines and China can “properly handle relevant issues” on the South China Sea. This was a response to the US Embassy’s statement saying, “Chinese maritime militia intimidate, provoke and threaten other nations.” The US said it stands with the Philippines, their oldest treaty ally in Asia. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. tweeted, also on Thursday, “We have enough to trigger the Mutual Defense Treaty if just one of our frigates or Philippine Coast Guard vessels are attacked in defense of our national territory. OR NOT. It depends on the US.” He said the “deterrence theory

gives powerful assurance the USA will support the Philippines, adding, “The cowards in CINCPAC [Commander-inChief, US Pacific Fleet] have retired.” The Harvard-trained lawyer said: “Whether you like Americans or not, US is the only hegemon that pays in blood & treasure to protect your country’s sovereignty—what you do with it is your problem. “And it asks nothing in return. It is dead set on beating back Oriental despotism however materially successful it is.” In another tweet, the former lawmaker and journalist repeated the changes in the country’s foreign policy, thus: “Friend to friends, enemy to enemies. A worse enemy to a false friend. Peace is overrated. It cannot be at any price especially of loss of honor.” On the Chinese embassy’s telling him one of his tweets seems misleading, Locsin said Chinese social media had interpreted his expression “fire at will”—as an order to fire guns at Chinese boats, when he meant, “unmistakably our diplomatic protest.” Locsin said, “I am not responsible for totalitarian distortions of plain English. Correct it yourself.”

The rates would subsequently increase to 10 percent (MAV) and 20 percent (outside MAV), respectively, for the duration of nine months. “Once a final action on the said petition is issued, this Commission will provide you with the necessary information on how to proceed with your petition,” Mendoza’s letter to Sinag read. President Duterte can exercise his tariff modification powers as soon as Congress suspends session on Saturday (March 27).

‘Tackle both petitions together’

IN a separate letter sent to Mendoza on Thursday, the agriculture group said they want their petition to be “tackled at the same time” as the DA’s petition since the tariff structure of pork commodities “is anyway already under review.” “The whole agriculture sector is awaiting the verdict of the Tariff Commission as this will impact on the lives of millions who depend on the hog industry,” the group’s letter read. Under Section 1608 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act,

any interested party, including domestic manufacturers, importers, exporters, customs brokers, and government agencies may file a petition for tariff modification before the TC. TC rules state that a petitioner is required to accomplish TC Form 3 which is publicly available and downloadable from the body’s web site in order to file a formal petition. If the petition is found to be “meritorious under 1608,” then the petitioner must pay a P5,000 filing fee per tariff heading, which is collected prior to the conduct of public hearing, according to the TC. Furthermore, a legal research fund fee of P50 per tariff heading is also collected from the petitioner, based on TC rules. “Petitioners also share in the publication cost of TC’s Notice of Public Hearing [which is published in two newspapers of general circulation]. A petitioner’s share in the publication cost is based on the number of products he is petitioning for tariff modification and subject of the public hearing,” the TC said.

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

TheWorld

Stuck vessel in Suez Canal imperils shipping worldwide

SMAILIA, Egypt—A skyscraper-sized cargo ship wedged across Egypt’s Suez Canal further imperiled global shipping on Thursday as at least 150 other vessels needing to pass through the crucial waterway idled waiting for the obstruction to clear, authorities said. The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground Tuesday in the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula. In the time since, efforts to free the ship using dredgers, digging and the aid of high tides have yet to push the container vessel aside. Egyptian officials and others were due to begin work again to free the vessel on Thursday morning after halting for the night. So far, dredgers have tried to clear silt around the massive ship. Tug boats nudged the vessel alongside it, trying to gain momentum. From the shore, at least one backhoe dug into the canal’s sandy banks, suggesting the bow of the ship had plowed into it. Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages the Ever Given, said the ship’s 25-member crew is safe and accounted for. The ship had two pilots from Egypt’s canal authority aboard the vessel to guide it when the grounding happened around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, the company said. Canal service provider Leth Agencies said at least 150 ships were waiting for the Ever Given to be cleared, including vessels near Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea, Port Suez on the Red Sea and those already stuck in the canal system on Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake. Cargo ships already behind the Ever Given in canal will be reversed south back to Port Suez to free the channel, Leth Agencies said. Authorities hope to do the same to the Ever Given when they can free it. Evergreen Marine Corp., a major Taiwan-based shipping company that operates the ship, said in a statement that the Ever Given had been overcome by strong winds as it entered the canal from the Red Sea but none of its containers had sunk.

An Egyptian official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief journalists, similarly blamed a strong wind. Egyptian forecasters said high winds and a sandstorm plagued the area on Tuesday, with winds gusting as much as 50 kilometers (30 miles) per hour. An initial report suggested the ship suffered a power blackout before the incident, something Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement denied Thursday. “Initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding,” the company said. Tuesday marked the second major crash involving the Ever Given in recent years. In 2019, the cargo ship ran into a small ferry moored on the Elbe River in the German port city of Hamburg. Authorities at the time blamed strong wind for the collision, which severely damaged the ferry. The closure could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Mideast, which rely on the canal to avoid sailing around Africa. The price of international benchmark Brent crude stood at over $63 a barrel on Thursday. The Ever Given, built in 2018 with a length of nearly 400 meters (a quarter mile) and a width of 59 meters (193 feet), is among the largest cargo ships in the world. It can carry some 20,000 containers at a time. It previously had been at ports in China before heading toward Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. It also remains one of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners. In 2015, the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest vessels. However, the Ever Given ran aground south of that new portion of the canal. The stranding on Tuesday marks just the latest to affect mariners amid the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands have been stuck aboard vessels due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, demands on shipping have increased, adding to the pressure on tired sailors. AP

EU moves toward stricter export controls for Covid-19 vaccines

RUSSELS—The European Union moved Wednesday toward stricter export controls for coronavirus vaccines, seeking to make sure its 27 nations have more Covid-19 shots to boost the bloc’s flagging vaccine campaign amid a surge in new infections. The EU’s executive Commission said on the eve of a summit of the EU’s leaders that it has a plan to guarantee that more vaccines produced in the bloc are available for its 450 million citizens even if that comes at the cost of helping nations outside the bloc, most notably Britain. EU officials said trade with the United States should not be affected and assured nations that sought to have an open, transparent relationship with the bloc that they had little to fear. The EU move is expected to be a blow to Britain, whose speedy vaccination rollout has been eyed with envy by many EU nations, especially since it came as the UK formally completed its Brexit divorce from the bloc. The latest figures show that 45 percent of Britons have had at least one vaccine shot, compared to less than 14 percent for the bloc. “I mention specifically the UK,” said EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis. Since the end of January, “some 10 million doses have been exported from the EU to the UK and zero doses have been exported from UK to the EU.” “So it’s clear that we also need to look at those aspects of reciprocity and proportionality,” he said. In the post-Brexit era, both sides have been fighting over everything from diplomatic representation to border controls and red tape, but they did not want to take the same confrontational tone over livesaving vaccines, especially when the World Health Organization is raising alarms over rising new infections across Europe. Only hours after the Commission move, both the EU and the UK said in a joint statement that “we are all facing the same pandemic and the third wave makes cooperation between the EU and the UK even more important.” “In the end, openness and global cooperation of all countries will be key to finally overcome this pandemic and ensure better preparation for meeting future challenges,” the statement said. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said

global cooperation over vaccines has been the EU standard. The bloc has approved sending 41 million vaccine doses to 33 countries in the last seven weeks and believes that it stands at the forefront of international vaccine-sharing efforts. The overall total of exported vaccines is bigger still since many more were not covered by the recent export regime. Some EU member states gearing up for Thursday’s summit were fearful, however, that too tough an export stance could amount to a de facto export ban that undermines the EU’s reputation as an open trading bloc. Under a less stringent export control system in force so far, only one vaccine shipment in 381 has been barred. That was heading to Australia, which has a very limited coronavirus outbreak compared to the third surge of infections now facing many EU nations. “We have secured more than enough doses for the entire population. But we have to ensure timely and sufficient vaccine deliveries to EU citizens,” von der Leyen said. “Every day counts.” Under the new regime, EU officials would also take into account reciprocity and finding a right balance. Canad a a lso gets vaccines shipped from Europe and has received assurances “that these measures will not affect vaccine shipments to Canada,” a Canadian government spokesperson said. The EU has been feuding with AstraZeneca for months over exactly how many vaccine doses would be delivered by certain dates. Several vaccine producers, including Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca, were hit by technical production delays over the winter, just as worldwide demands for coronavirus vaccines soared. AstraZeneca has been producing less than half the doses the EU was counting on. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has sought to ease the tensions over vaccines, speaking by phone in the past few days to European leaders including von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron. “The partnership we have with our European colleagues is very, very important and we continue to work with them,” Johnson told lawmakers on Wednesday. “I don’t think that blockades of either vaccines...or ingredients for vaccines are sensible.” AP

BusinessMirror

Friday, March 26, 2021

Brazil becomes second nation to top 300,000 Covid-19 deaths

āO PAULO—Brazil topped 300,000 confirmed Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday, becoming the second country to do so amid a spike in infections that has seen the South American country report record death tolls in recent days. The United States reached the grim milestone on December 14, but has a larger population than Brazil. On Wednesday, Brazil’s health ministry reported 2,009 daily Covid-19 deaths, bringing its pandemic total to 300,685. On Tuesday, the country saw a single-day record of 3,251 deaths. According to local media reports, the latest coronavirus figures might be affected by changes in the government’s counting

system. Newly appointed Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said in a press conference that he was going to check whether the numbers had been artificially reduced. With daily death tolls at pandemic highs, state governors and mayors in Brazil have expressed fears that April could be as bad as March for the country’s over whelmed hospitals. Just in the past 75 days, Brazil has registered 100,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths, a spike health

The body of a Covid-19 victim lies in a body bag at the ICU of the Sao Jose municipal hospital in Duque de Caxias, Brazil on March 24. AP/Felipe Dana

experts blame on a lack of political coordination in fighting the virus, new variants that spread more easily and a disregard for health protocols. President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday held a meeting with the heads of other government branches to coordinate anti-virus

efforts. But he didn’t propose any policies to deal with the pandemic. Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the severity of the pandemic, insisting the economy must be kept humming to prevent worse hardship, and he has criticized health measures imposed by local leaders. AP

AstraZeneca confirms strong vaccine protection after US rift

st r a Z e n e ca i n s i s t ed on Wednesday that its Covid-19 vaccine is strongly effective even after counting additional illnesses in its disputed US study, the latest in an extraordinar y public rift with American officials. In a late-night press release, AstraZeneca said it had recalculated data from that study and concluded the vaccine is 76 percent effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19, instead of the 79 percent it had claimed earlier in the week. Just a day earlier, an independent panel t hat oversees the study had accused AstraZeneca of cherr y-picking data to tout the protection offered by its vaccine. T he panel, in a harsh letter to the company and to US health leaders, said the company had left out some

Cov id-19 cases that occurred in the study, a move that could erode trust in the science. Data disputes during ongoing studies usually remain confidential but in an unusual step, the National Institutes of Health publicly called on AstraZeneca to fix the discrepancy. AstraZeneca had been counting on findings from a predominantly US study of 32,000 people to help rebuild confidence in a vaccine that, despite being widely used in Britain, Europe and other countries, has had a troubled rollout. Previous studies have turned up inconsistent data about its effectiveness, and then last week a scare about blood clots had some countries temporarily pausing inoculations. Now the question is whether the company’s newest calculations end the tension.

Two trapped drivers become 1st Australian flood fatalities

ANBERRA, Australia—Two men trapped in vehicles hundreds of kilometers apart have become the first fatalities of record flooding on Australia’s east coast. A car got trapped in floodwater northwest of Sydney at dawn on Wednesday and emergency services later recovered it with a body inside, officials said. The body, believed to be that of a 25-year-old Pakistani national, has yet to be formally identified. An emergency crew later retrieved the body of David Hornman from an upturned pickup truck in a flooded creek 680 kilometers north near Gold Coast city in Queensland state, police said. The 38-year-old was last seen on Monday. While rain has eased across New South Wales and southern Queensland, flooding has persisted. Most rivers had peaked by Thursday, but 20,000 people were still evacuated from their homes, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said. Emergency services have made hundreds of rescues since the flooding began last week. Parts of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, have received one-in-50-year and one-in-100-year rainfall records in the past week. Insurance companies expect the damage in New South Wales to exceed 1 billion Australian dollars ($760 million). Before the Queensland death was reported, Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressed the Parliament’s condolences to the family of the man who died in the rural suburb of Sydney. Morrison reflected on the state’s recent struggles—years of drought across most of the state culminated in catastrophic wildfires last summer. The fires were followed by the coronavirus pandemic and now record floods. “We have seen so much over the course of the past year and more as this country has battled so many things—floods, fires, viruses, drought and now these floods again,” Morrison told Parliament. In the Vatican, Pope Francis offered encouragement in the aftermath of the Australian flooding. “In the past days, great floods have caused serious damage in New South Wales,” Francis said in his customary Wednesday remarks to the faithful. “I stand close to the people and the families hit by this calamity, especially those who saw their houses destroyed. I encourage those who are helping to look for the dispersed and to bring their support,” he added. A flotilla of boats was delivering crucial supplies to isolated communities on the flooded Hawkesbury River northwest of Sydney and ferrying stranded residents to safety. Morrison took a flight over the river to survey the damage Wednesday. “The expanse of water that went right across that region was quite devastating to see and to see the homes, only their roofs and those of out sheds,” Morrison said. Cabinet Minister Peter Dutton said more than 700 defense personnel would soon be deployed as the floods recede to help people return to their homes and businesses as quickly as possible. AP

Earlier Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, told reporters he hoped that when all the data was publicly vetted by federal regulators, it would dispel any hesitancy caused by the spat. He predicted it would “turn out to be a good vaccine.” AstraZeneca’s newest calculations were based on 190 Covid-19 cases that occurred during the study, 49 more than it had included earlier in the week. The vaccine appears especially protective against the worst outcomes, with no severe illnesses or hospitalizations among vaccinated study volunteers compared to eight severe cases among those given dummy shots, the company said. It didn’t provide a breakdown of the rest of the cases. Eu rop e a n aut hor it ies h ad questioned how protective t he vacc ine is in older adu lts. In t he US study, it was 85 percent

effective in volunteers 65 and older, the company said. The study didn’t turn up safety concerns. T he up d at e d i n for m at ion “confirms that our Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective in adults, including those aged 65 years and over,” AstraZeneca research chief Mene Pangalos said in a statement. He said the company looks forward to “the rollout of millions of doses across America.” The study hasn’t ended so additional Covid-19 cases can accrue. AstraZeneca cautioned that 14 additional possible cases already are being examined, which could lead to further changes in the data. The company intends to seek Food and Drug Administration clearance of the vaccine within a few weeks. The FDA will publicly debate all the evidence with its outside advisers before making a decision. AP

BusinessMirror

A6 Friday, March 26, 2021

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS NO.

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS POSITION

24/7 BUSINESS PROCESSING INC. 11/f Capella Bldg. L-3&4 B2, Asean Drive Filinvest Alabang Muntinlupa City 1.

HU, YAFEI Chinese

MANDARIN SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5-10/f Tower 1 Pitx Kennedy Road Tambo Parañaque City 2.

PENG, HONGYUN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

AMAZING HOUSE, INC. G/f Oceanaire Residences, Cbpi Sunrise Drive Brgy. 076 Pasay City 3.

GAO, JINGLONG Chinese

CHINESE CUISINE SPECIALIST

AMUSETECH BUSINESS OUTSOURCING 2/f Rivergreen Residences 2217 Pedro Gil St. 096, Bgy 880 Santa Ana Manila 4.

CHEN, YONGJIAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

LI, CHANGQING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

LI, MENGQI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

YANG, BINGBING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

ANOC99 CORPORATION 5/f Ayala Malls Manila Bay Building D. Macapagal Blvd. Cor. Aseana Street Tambo Parañaque City

NO.

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HAOLI BUILDERS CONSTRUCTION CO. INCORPORATED 1219 Soler Cor Masangkay St. 028, Bgy 294 Binondo Manila

39.

XIE, MENGMING Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

89.

ZUO, JINGQIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

136.

CHEN, JIWANG Chinese

LEADMAN (STEEL WORKS)

40.

YI, DONGJUN Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

90.

HUYNH KHA VAN Vietnamese

VIETNAMESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

137.

SHI, LUNYANG Chinese

LEADMAN (STEEL WORKS)

41.

ZHANG, HONGLEI Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

91.

VONG KIM NGUYEN Vietnamese

VIETNAMESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

42.

ZHANG, YUE Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

43.

NAUNG JAR Myanmari

IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

44.

NGUYEN THI MINH CHAU Vietnamese

IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

45.

TRAN THI MY LINH Vietnamese

IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

CARDINAL HEALTH INTERNATIONAL PHILIPPINES INC. W City Center Bldg. 7th Ave. Cor. 30th St. Bonifacio Global City Taguig City 46.

WERNER, ROBERT MAXWELL American

DIRECTOR

CASH PROCESSING SOLUTIONS INC. Unit B-2 21/f Pet Plans Tower 444 Edsa Guadalupe Viejo Makati City 47.

HISCOX, BRADY HOBSON American

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

CONNEXIAL CORP. 7/f Ba Lepanto Bldg. Paseo De Roxas Bel-air Makati City 48.

CHEN, GANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST

10.

NGUYEN TONG TUNG Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

11.

YE, MINGSHUI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

12.

YE KYAW LIN Myanmari

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

13.

ZHAO, JIAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

14.

CHEN, YANMING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SPECIALIST

51.

15.

QU, PEI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SPECIALIST

FLYING DRAGON NETWORK PHILIPPINES INC. 4th-11th Floor Aseana 3 Building Aseana Avenue Corner Diosdado Macapagal Tambo Parañaque City

NOODLE MAKING SPECIALIST

BAYVIEW TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 43/f Yuchengco Tower Rcbc Plaza Ayala Ave. Cor. Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. Bel-air Makati City 18.

YAU CHUN YEE ISIS, YAU CHUN YEE ISIS Chinese

QUALITY INITIATIVES ASSISTANT MANAGER (MULTI-LINGUAL)

BBOPHIL (HOLDINGS) INC. Unit 604 6/f Itc Bldg. 337 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. Bel-air Makati City 19.

CHEN, ZHENGUO Chinese

CHINESE-MARKETING MANAGER

BIG EMPEROR TECHNOLOGY CORP. 5f-13f, Jiaxing Tower Building Aseana Avenue, Aseana Business Park Tambo Parañaque City 20.

CHANG NAM KIEU Vietnamese

COMPUTER SYSTEM ANALYST

21.

CHUNG LEE DING Malaysian

COMPUTER SYSTEM ANALYST

22.

NGUYEN VAN BIEN Vietnamese

COMPUTER SYSTEM ANALYST

23.

ONG AI TIEN Vietnamese

COMPUTER SYSTEM ANALYST

24.

LUO, CHUANG Chinese

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

25.

ZENG, DELI Chinese

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

26.

ZHANG, PEIBIN Chinese

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

27.

FANG, WEI Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

28.

LUO, GUOSHENG Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

29.

WEI, JIA Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

BIGCAT SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC. 18/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Avenue Cor. Rufino Street Salcedo Vill. Bel-air Makati City 30.

KASTHURIRAJAN, KARTHIK Indian

INDIAN LANGUAGEBUSINESS ANALYST

BONIFACIO LANDMARK HOTEL MANAGEMENT CORPORATION 2/f Gt Tower International 6813 Ayala Ave. Cor. H.v. Dela Costa St. Bel-air Makati City 31.

WANG, YONGJUN Chinese

SPECIALTY CHEF

BRITISH EMBASSY MANILA 120 Upper Mckinley Road Mckinley Hill Taguig City 32.

GARCIA ROJAS FONTECILLA, CLAUDIA Mexican

LOCAL STAFF REGIONAL PROSPERITY FUND CONTRACT MANAGEMENT LEAD

CAMPAIGN COMPLETE SOLUTIONS PHILS. INC. U-2310 & 2311 Cityland 10 Tower 1 156 H.v. Dela Costa St. Bel-air Makati City 33.

SHEARWOOD, COLIN WILLIAM British

COUNTRY MANAGER

CAPSLOCK INC. 7th & 8th Flr. Y Tower Bldg. Coral Way Drive Cor. Macapagal Brgy. 076 Pasay City

POSITION

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

SAITO, TAKERU Japanese

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

ZOU, SHILING Chinese

17.

NO.

88.

NGUYEN MAI PHUONG Vietnamese

NOODLE MAKING SPECIALIST

POSITION

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

16.

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

TIAN, BINGYUAN Chinese

KURAMOCHI, KAZUNORI Japanese

NO.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

38.

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AOJ UMAI RESTAURANT & CAFE INC. G/f Mazda Makati Bldg. 2301 Chino Roces Ave. Extn. Magallanes Makati City

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DAXIFA CORPORATION Mpire Center 93 West Avenue Project 7 Bungad 1 Quezon City 49.

LIU, XUAN Chinese

ONLINE SUPPORT ANALYST

DKP SERVICES, INC. Units 3&4 28/f Zuellig Bldg. Makati Ave. Cor. Paseo De Roxas Urdaneta Makati City 50.

MAAS, JOSEPHUS Canadian

PRODUCT PLATFORM MANAGER (PPM)

FLY ASIAN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION Eighty One Newport Blvd. Newport City Va, Brgy. 183 Pasay City HONG, JUNJUN Chinese

MARKETING CONSULTANT (MANDARIN SPEAKING CLIENTS)

FRONTIER INTERMEDIARY TECHNOLOGY, INC. 2/f And 11/f Makati Sky Plaza Bldg. 6788 Ayala Ave. San Lorenzo Makati City 92.

SHINOZUKA, TAKEHIKO Japanese

GENERAL MANAGER

93.

ITO, RINA Japanese

MANAGER

FURUKAWA SANGYO KAISHA PHILIPPINES, INC. U-1004,10/f Orient Square Bldg. Don F. Ortigas Jr., Rd., Ortigas Ctr. San Antonio Pasig City 94.

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TheWorld Friday, March 26, 2021

www.businessmirror.com.ph

US, Europe, NATO close ranks to counter ‘aggressive’ China

RUSSELS—The United States and European countries are closing ranks to respond to what the US calls “aggressive and coercive” behavior by China, days after the US and its allies launched coordinated sanctions against Chinese officials accused of rights abuses in the far-western Xinjiang region.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that he wants to work with the US’s partners on “how to advance our shared economic interests and to counter some of China’s aggressive and coercive actions, as well as its failures, at least in the past, to uphold its international commitments.” Blinken agreed in talks with senior European Union officials on the launch of what EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described as an EU-US dialogue on China “to discuss the full range of related challenges and opportunities.” “We share an assessment of China’s role as a partner, as a competitor, and a systemic rival,” Borrell told reporters after their meeting in Brussels, where Blinken has been underlining the importance that alliances and international partnerships play for the Biden administration. Earlier, at NATO headquarters, Blinken said “when we are acting together, we are much stronger and much more effective than if any single one of us is doing it alone.” He noted that alone the US accounts for about 25 percent of global GDP, but up to 60 percent with its allies in Europe and Asia.

“That’s a lot harder for Beijing to ignore,” he said. On Monday, the US, EU, Britain and Canada imposed asset freezes and travel bans on a group of officials in Xinjiang. China retaliated by slapping sanctions on 10 Europeans, including lawmakers and academics, and four institutions. Beijing said they had damaged China’s interests and “maliciously spread lies and disinformation.” Initially, China denied the existence of camps detaining Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang but has since described them as centers to provide job training and to re-educate those exposed to extremists. Chinese officials deny all charges of human rights abuses there. Blinken said at NATO that Beijing’s retaliatory sanctions “make it all the more important that we stand firm and stand together, or risk sending the message that bullying works.” But views on the way that business and trade should play out differ across the Atlantic. The EU is China’s biggest trading partner but they are also economic competitors. As Beijing has become more assertive in recent years, the 27-nation bloc has struggled to balance its commercial interests

China tech giants dive as delisting threat heightens crackdown fears

ech giants from Tencent Holdings Ltd. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. dived after US regulators revived threats to toss China’s largest cor porations off US bourses, compounding concerns of a widening domestic antitrust crackdown. Tencent and A libaba slid more than 5 percent in Hong Kong on Thursday before paring losses, joining a US selloff that wiped more than 20 percent off Chinese tech names including Tencent Music Entertainment and iQiyi Inc., Baidu Inc.’s Netf lix-like streaming subsidiar y. T he Hang Seng Technology Index slid as much as 5 percent to its lowest since November. The losses followed a warning from the Securities Exchange Commission that it’s taking steps to force accounting firms to let US regulators rev iew the financial audits of overseas companies—the penalty for non-compliance being ejection from exchanges. That threat worsened sentiment in China’s giant tech sector just as Beijing is widening a crackdown on the count r y ’s l a rgest cor porat ion s, fearful of their growing clout after years of relatively unfettered ex pansion. “Sentiment got hurt after

C h inese tec hnolog y stoc k s slumped overnight on Nasdaq,” while local reasons accelerated the selloffs, including a lack of upside surprises in Tencent earnings and worries about government regulation on the sector, said Daniel So, a CMB International analyst. On Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported China’s government has proposed establishing a joint venture with local technology giants that would oversee the lucrative data they collect from hundreds of millions of consumers. The preliminary plan, which is being led by the People’s Bank of China, would mark a significant escalation in regulators’ attempts to tighten their grip over the country’s Internet sector. Tencent executives sought to tamp down the impact of Beijing’s heightened scrutiny after reporting revenue growth that barely met expectations. “T he major reason is st i l l va lu at ion,” sa id Linus Yip, F i r s t S h a n g h a i S e c u r it i e s a na lyst. “Even a f ter suc h a big d rop, t he sector is st i l l not c heap. I don’t t h in k t he tec h stoc k s w i l l resu me up wa rd t rend a ny t ime soon. A ny bad news w i l l t r ig ger further selloffs, be it Nasdaq plunge or news about China’s reg u l at ion.” Bloomberg News

with a country that it sees as “a systemic rival” and has human rights concerns about. The two sealed a major investment agreement in December giving European businesses about the same level of market access in China as those from the United States. It was announced just weeks before President Joe Biden took office and raised some concerns that the Europeans were undercutting Biden’s leverage as he looked to take a tougher line on China. But Blinken said “the United States won’t force our allies into an ‘us-or-them’ choice with China.” He warned of Beijing’s threatening behavior, but said “that doesn’t mean countries can’t work with China where possible, for example on challenges like climate change and health security.” In terms of China’s military aggressiveness, Blinken noted its “efforts to threaten freedom of navigation, to militarize the South China Sea, to target countries throughout the IndoPacific with increasingly sophisticated military capabilities. Beijing’s military ambitions are growing by the year.” NATO Secretar y- Genera l Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance does not “regard China as an adversary, but of course the rise of China has direct consequences for our security.” He noted that China is investing heavily in military equipment, including nuclearcapable missiles. “More importantly, China is a country that doesn’t share our values. We see that in the way they deal with democratic protests in Hong Kong, how they suppress minorities in their own countr y, the Uyghurs, and also how they actually try to undermine the international rules-based order,” Stoltenberg said. AP

China attacks foreign clothing, footwear brands over Xinjiang

EIJING—China’s ruling Communist Party is lashing out at H&M and other clothing and footwear brands as it retaliates for Western sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region. The attacks began when the party’s Youth League on Wednesday called attention on its social media account to an H&M statement in March 2020 that it would stop buying cotton from Xinjiang in China’s northwest. The Swedish retailer, in words also used by some other brands, said it was “deeply concerned” about reports of forced labor there. On Thursday, a party newspaper, the Global Times, cited Burberry, Adidas, Nike and New Balance as having made “cutting remarks” about Xinjiang cotton as early as two years ago. A separate Global Times report cited what it said was a statement by Zara that it had a “zero-tolerance approach towards forced labor.” Celebrities including Wang Yibo, a popular singer and actor, announced they were breaking endorsement contracts with H&M and Nike. Beijing often attacks foreign clothing, auto, travel and other brands for actions by their governments or to pressure companies to conform to its official positions on Taiwan, Tibet and other sensitive issues. Companies usually apologize and change websites or advertising to maintain access to China’s populous market. But Xinjiang is an unusually thorny issue. Western brands face pressure at home to distance themselves from possible abuses. More than 1 million people in Xinjiang, most of them from predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, have been confined to work camps, according to foreign researchers and governments. Beijing denies mistreating them and says it is trying to promote economic development and stamp out radicalism. AP

Friday, March 26, 2021 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Prepare: It’s the end of the world!

ohannes Stöffler, a German mathematician, predicted that a flood would cover the world on February 25, 1524, when all the known planets would be in alignment under Pisces.

The San Francisco Call newspaper published this headline on February 8, 1910 when Halley’s comet was due to appear: “Comet May Kill All Earth Life Says Scientist.” Obviously, the science was not settled. Many religions and mythologies have an end-of-the-world scenario. The Aztecs believed that a never-ending solar eclipse would end the Earth. The end of the world, according to Norse mythology, happens in an all-destroying battle between the gods. Zoroastrians believe that the Earth will be devoured by fire. Perhaps the prediction of the Native American Hopi tribe that the world will be covered with iron snakes, stone rivers, and a giant spider’s web is most ominous. We might assume that the snakes, rivers, and web are symbolic. Maybe not. “Rat ‘apocalyptic plague’ ravages eastern Australia. A massive plague of rats and mice has ravaged Australia in the past week.” Some farmers have already lost entire grain harvests to the rampaging mice, while hotels have had to close because they cannot keep the animals out of the rooms. Eschatology is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity. That “ultimate destiny” usually ends badly. But if you can write a bestselling book on the subject, at least you can greet the end-times with a fat bank account. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought out the people that are anticipating Armageddon or Ragnarök or whatever as the final curtain of humanity. But you must admit the global condition is a little strange, Covid and Australian rats notwithstanding. “With nearly two-thirds of the United States abnormally dry or worse, the government’s spring forecast offers little relief, especially in the West where a devastating mega drought has taken root and worsened. Weather service officials warn of possible water cutbacks in California and the Southwest, increased wildfires, and damage to wheat crops.” In 2020, armies of locusts the size of major cities marched across parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “Millions of farmers had their crops wiped out, and experts told us that it was unlike anything they had ever seen before.” Now it is happening again. “Swarms of the pests in Kenya are wreaking havoc on the food supply.” The United States Geological Survey says that the world gets about 15 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater each year. Currently in 2021, we have already had 7 that are magnitude 7.0 or greater, and that includes a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that just shook Japan. That is worrisome. Everyone fears earthquakes. But here is the reality. Mice numbers boomed after unusually heavy summer rains fell across eastern Australia. Data from tree rings suggest the Southwest drought is the worst in the region in 500 years. Perhaps a 500-year rain cycle? Kenya has not seen so many locusts since the 1950s, not in recorded history. In 2019, there were 10 magnitude 7 or greater global earthquakes and in 2020 there were only nine. Based on the 100-year average, 2021 should have more than 15 large earthquakes. Maybe it is too soon to predict the end of the world. Since 2005

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Better Days

he recent Decoding Global Talent survey by JobStreet has revealed some interesting employment trends amid the pandemic. For one, there is a global downtrend observed in people’s willingness to work abroad. Where in the 2018 edition of the survey 57 percent of respondents said that they were willing to work abroad, this had fallen to 50 percent in the recent round. Interestingly, the drop is a lot more pronounced in the Philippines. Where willingness among Filipino respondents to migrate for employment was 75 percent in 2018, in 2020 this had fallen to 54 percent. This overall slide isn’t that surprising considering the mobility restrictions the pandemic has imposed on the world. But for a country like the Philippines that has long suffered from brain drain, the drop may be heralding a sea change. But while it would be preferable if more of our people choose to stay, this comes with its share of challenges. As it is, many Filipinos working abroad have already come home. Last January, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that out of the 520,000 or so Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who have been displaced by the pandemic, more than 400,000 of them have been brought home while another 40,000 are waiting to be repatriated. Their repatriation plus the decreas-

ing willingness of Filipinos to work abroad only intensifies the urgency of generating the jobs that will sustain and keep them all here—considering that the pandemic is only causing unemployment and underemployment to rise. There is no single way of addressing this issue. But for sure, an avenue worth pursuing entails going digital— and in particular, digitally enabled remote work. The JobStreet survey found that 49 percent of some 15,000 Filipino respondents said that they are willing to work remotely for a foreign employer, with Australia, Canada, and the United States being the top 3 choices for remote employment. In many ways, such work setup is not entirely alien to the Philippines. Prompted by the lockdowns last year,

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many companies started implementing their own work-from-home (WFH) and telecommuting arrangements, and continue to do so today. Currently, there are some 12,000 remote work listings on Jobstreet available for job seekers. But even before the pandemic, Filipino online freelancers had already experimented and proven the viability of a remote work setup as a form of employment. According to Paypal’s 2018 Global Freelancer Insight Report, our country has one of the highest numbers of freelancers per capita, with roughly 2 million Filipinos engaged in freelance work. Meanwhile, Payoneer’s 2020 Gig Economy Index stated that the Philippines was the fastest growing freelancing country in the world—with us being ahead of India, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, and Mexico in this regard. One upside to remote work is its flexibility, allowing online workers to be anywhere in the country so long as their Internet connections are fast and reliable. Such flexibility has allowed for “workation” packages to prop up across the tourist areas such as Boracay Island and Bolinao, Pangasinan, where remote hostels and homesteads have converted themselves to co-working spaces with assured Internet connections. While such innovations were born out of the pandemic, one can’t help but think about how such flexible setups can be leveraged as a way to decongest our urban spaces and spur economic growth in the countryside. Remote work might in fact be a way for the government to achieve its Balik Probinsya objectives.

Asia falling behind SDG/CC targets: Time to reset growth strategies

Lourdes M. Fernandez

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Remote work for recovery?

LABOREM EXERCENS

N 2015, the UN Member States adopted two historic agreements —the Paris Agreement on Climate Change mitigation and the 17-point framework for sustainable development. Both have 2030 as the target date for completion by Member States of their commitments under the two agreements. Both seek to address two existential threats to humanity: global warming and runaway social and economic inequality. The Paris Agreement requires Member States to limit their collective emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the ideal 1.5-degree celsius above the pre-industrial era. Beyond 2.0-degree, a super-hot planet will trigger sea rise (up to 2 meters), violent typhoons, droughts, desertification, etc. These catastrophic consequences of unchecked global warming are well ventilated in the mass media, social and official. This is why majority of the people around the world understand the threat posed by global warming. In fact, the new temperature

records being registered in various regions of the world are being blamed for the disasters that happened in 2020, e.g., devastating fires in Australia and the United States, melting of the permafrost in Siberia, super-typhoons that hit the Philippines and other Asian countries, and even the outbreak of diseases that are wiping out the animal population in many countries. What is not fully understood is that governments of signatory countries to the Paris Agreement have the duty to come up with concrete measures to stop GHG emissions, foremost of

which is the need to have a bold and holistic program of “transitioning” from dependence on fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) towards reliance on the renewables (wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, biomass and ocean). In this connection, advocates of the renewables are questioning why the share of the renewables in the Philippine energy consumption has been going down at a time when prices of the renewables have become cheaper compared to the fossil fuels. Further, they ask: why is the government’s Philippine Energy Plan 2018-2040 has no explicit stepby-step energy transition program. They also ask why the Department of Energy has declared a moratorium on the establishment of “new” coal plants, and yet the DOE is not discouraging the production expansion of newly-built coal plants and the large long-term supply agreements between the big coal plants and distribution companies led by Meralco. Further, the DOE has been pushing for new legislation providing incentives to the construction of terminals and infrastructures for natural gas at a time when Europe and America have already declared that they are putting in place exit programs from natural gas usage. As to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), popular under-

Obviously, remote work comes with its fair share of challenges—not least of which includes our spotty Internet connectivity. Hopefully, with some of the regulatory roadblocks to building towers and cell sites freed up because of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (RA 11494), we will see some connectivity improvements in the coming years. A recent survey commissioned by Asus found that Asia-Pacific companies are not attuned to the “work from anywhere” trend, with only 28 percent of business owners on average expecting employees to continue working remotely after the pandemic, and with almost 40 percent expecting a return to office. Meanwhile, some have also complained about how telecommuting has blurred the boundaries between work and home, with the lack of distance between the two causing unprecedented levels of mental stress. For sure, remote work will need some getting used to—which is why earlier this year upon our suggestion, the DTI eCommerce Office in collaboration with WorkRemote and Microsoft, held an online Work Remote Conference as a way of mainstreaming the idea among professionals and business owners. All the same, we feel the idea deserves some consideration. Sen. Sonny Angara has been in public service for 16 years. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate. E-mail: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara

standing is quite limited. The 17 SDGs and the various targets under each of the SDGs are not as dramatically concrete as the disasters triggered by rising global temperature. And yet, these SDGs, taken together, are crucial because they address life-and-death societal issues such as poverty, hunger, health, education, water, energy, decent work, industrial development, sustainable community, and so on. One of the slogans used by the UNDP in its advocacy of the SDGs is “No one shall be left behind.” This slogan, often quoted by glib politicians, simply means no one in society will go hungry, water-less, uneducated, untreated when sick, jobless, homeless, without decent standards of living, and so on. In short, there should be equality in development and opportunities for all. How can this be realized? It is abundantly clear that the 17 SDGs can only be achieved if the government and the citizenry are working together to build an inclusive, equitable and sustainable social and economic order. This cannot happen in a society that is divided between an elite few and impoverished many. And the deeper the division, the more problematic is the issue of society’s sustainability. If the numerous impoverished are left

See “Ofreneo,” A9

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

1SAMBAYAN: Unity in diversity

Friday, March 26, 2021

Violating the invisible: Asian women in the US and somewhere Tito Genova Valiente

annotations

Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES Part Two

hat are the chances of the opposition in the forthcoming national elections in 2022? If the Otso Diretso debacle during the 2019 elections was a portent of things to come in 2022, then the prospect of the anti-Duterte forces is bleak. Normally, the midterm elections are stacked against the administration since its anointed candidates labor under the burden of the ruling regime’s performance during the first half of its term, which more often than not, is always found wanting. But Duterte’s team overcame this handicap and its lopsided victory in 2019 is a credit to the welloiled political machinery and effective organization of Duterte. President Duterte, not the party,

commands personal loyalty from his minions who are willing to do his biddings. It’s not fealty to the party, PDPLaban, which the President himself calls a ragtag group when it adopted and endorsed his presidential run in 2016, but to the persona of President Duterte. Outside of Senator Koko Pimentel, former Governor Lutgardo Barbo and the original and die-hard PDP-Laban members, I doubt if others can recite the objectives of the party and its platform of government. Very recently, Secretary Alfonso Cusi’s endorsement of President Duterte to run for VP in a possible tandem with either Mayor Sara or Senator Bong Go, which earned Senator Manny Pacquiao’s (PDP-Laban President) ire, speaks of the lack of party discipline and consensus within Duterte’s own party and reflects the incoherence and lack of discipline within the ranks of the President’s own party. Going back to the 2019 senatorial contest, the total annihilation of the Liberal Party senatorial bets, as well as the five candidates fielded by the labor and Makabayan bloc, at the polls betrayed the bankrupt state of the opposition in our country. No doubt, the anti-Duterte slates offered more talented and experienced candidates yet they suffered ignominious defeat at the hands of virtual political neophytes whose only major qualification was their closeness to the President. The ticket was led by a former presidential candidate and former senatorial topnotcher, a law dean, a prominent election lawyer and senior citizen advocate, a bar topnotcher and former solicitor general and others who had glowing qualifications and fitness for the job. Yet except for the decent showing of the opposition in Bicol and Western Visayas, largely owing to the support given by the regions to their favorite son, Mar Roxas, and Vice President Leni Robredo, Otso Diretso’s political clout was nowhere in sight. Even Metro Manila, which has been a traditional bastion of the opposition, did not deliver its much-vaunted antiadministration votes. If they want to reverse their fortune in 2022, 1SAMBAYAN should learn the lessons of the past. The effort to unite all opposition groups is not a new experiment. Many have tried it but they failed. Selfless leaders can sacrifice their own interest for the sake of party unity. But this is a virtue that is direly in short supply nowadays. Our so-called leaders do not believe that they can also lead without staying in front. In the rare occasion where selfinterest gave way to national interest, the opposition candidate, Cory Aquino, won over the well-entrenched incumbent, Ferdinand Marcos in the 1986 presidential snap election. And this happened only after the leading candidate of the opposition, Doy Laurel of Unido who had worked so hard to achieve the pole position had given way to the surging public clamor for then housewife Cory to run. In contrast, the nascent presidential campaign of Fer-

Ofreneo. . .

continued from A8

behind, governance of society eventually becomes unstable and unsustainable. This is, in fact, at the roots of insurgencies, social conflicts, uprisings and revolutions in the history of many countries. In this connection, the UN Eco-

nado Poe, Jr. failed to gain solid traction in the 1994 presidential race when another opposition candidate, Senator Ping Lacson, declined to withdraw his candidacy despite efforts by influential persons and groups to give way to the opposition frontrunner. Have the Filipinos suffered enough from the present dispensation to galvanize them into a concerted action to effect a change in our national leadership? 1SAMBAYAN should be able to unleash the anti-Duterte sentiments, which have piled up since President Duterte took office. All the alleged failures and abuses perpetrated by the officials and partisans of the current regime such as violent anti-drug war, the unabated graft and corruption in government, the red-tagging, ineffective implementation of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and the alarming spike in the killing of lawyers, militants, labor leaders and human rights activists should be brought to the public consciousness and be made part of the public conversation. These are potential rallying causes that can capture the political ardor and strong commitment of the public who are sympathetic to the opposition alliance. They will be the core supporters who will advance the cause of freedom which 1SAMBAYAN stands for. Like the Cory Movement for President during the Marcos dictatorship, 1SAMBAYAN should not just be a political party but a movement where its adherents staunchly believe the ideals it is fighting for. Only 14 months are left before the E-Day and the first half of that will be spent in selecting the standard bearer of 1SAMBAYAN. The period will be marked by intramurals, bickerings and in fighting among the aspirants, which may only place the movement asunder, instead of being united. This will be the biggest challenge to the convenors—how to maintain unity despite the divisive process. Likewise, respecting the selection process and honoring its result will be a test of the statesmanship of the losing aspirants. The intention is for 1SAMBAYAN to serve as the political umbrella for all opposition forces united under its shade to do battle against the ruling regime. Loss will be inevitable if 1SAMBAYAN fails to find the recipe to unite the so-called democratic forces. The convenors take pride in claiming that 1SAMBAYAN is the broadest political coalition at present. It is joined by the leftist groups, it is reinforced by the rightist elements and held together by the centrist advocates. The founding fathers of 1SAMBAYAN should succeed in securing a balance of these conflicting forces without unduly favoring a particular sector. It should not go right, go left or stay at the center. The only way to succeed is to forge ahead and move forward taking into account their competing interests. To be worthy of its glorious name, 1SAMBAYAN should act as One Nation, One People in pursuit of One Dream—to prevent a Duterte-anointed candidate from winning the presidency in the 2022 national elections. nomic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific has been issuing warnings on the likely failure of Asian countries, in all the sub-regions (East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia), to meet the SDG targets by 2030. In its 2019 SDG Report for Asia, ESCAP wrote that all countries are missing the SDG targets and are even unable to make progress in a number of SDGs: zero hunger (SDG2), clean water (SDG6), good health (SDG3),

T began in cinema, where else but in spaces of artifice and allure. In films, Asian women are killed first. They vanish easily in tales and movie enthusiasts—even hardcore critics –could not care less. The film has still a long way to go—the White Woman is still alive. It is her story and it is her sufferance that should affect us.

Long ago, in 1938, in a film adaptation of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth, Luise Rainer, a German-American actress played O-lan. As if that was not enough artistic license, the husband, Wang Lun was portrayed by Paul Muni. Rainer would be honored by an Oscar for the portrayal. Later in war drama, Dragon Seed, Katharine Hepburn would play another Chinese, Jade. There would be more examples, with the practice reaching its peak or pit with Linda Hunt essaying the role of a Chinese-Australian midget in The Year of Living Dangerously. Or maybe, this predilection goes back further to the grandest illustration of human character and spirit— the opera. Madame Butterfly. Cio-cio san in the libretto; choucho in Japanese for butterfly. For the world, a woman that could only be saved by the White Man. She of unusual beauty would fall in love and be acclaimed for her gentle way but the man would leave her. The man would come back but he is with his wife, a White Woman. The Asian woman legendary for fecundity has to give up the child of their union produced under the moon and blooms of a forbidden night. She would give up her child because there is no hope in her own country. But that is not enough, for her guilt would be just too much she has to kill herself. And the balance is restored. Days ago, the universe of the White Man became precarious during one season. There was too much Asian allure in the United States of America. One has to keep the balance. Use the women and annihilate them.

In another time, the murder of Asian women would have been dismissed easily. The moralists at the wings are ready to lunge at those who defend them: they were whores servicing men. But the time has come for these voices to be heard. Not the Black and not the Latino, but this “race” that is difficult to classify—as far as the White perspective is concerned. Are we colored? Are we different from each other? Many are quoted saying Asian women look the same. Now, the protests about Filipinas portraying the Vietnamese in Miss Saigon make sense. We, the Filipinos, have become enablers. We supplied the singers and dancers for the theatre of violence; after all, the White Producers believed we are the island of talents for the West End, for Broadway. We had fun—and wealth—disappearing under the skin of the Vietnamese. We rationalized the use of arts. But there can only be so much about the downfall of Vietnam or the rise in the wounding of the American psyche in those boys who were trained to kill, only to come home maimed from the memories of the disaster their country exported to Asia. Now murder is close to home and yet whitewashing remains part of the industry of illusions. Asian intellectuals have spoken back and, it seems, discourses about race and erasures of identities can be dealt with by minds that are lucid even as they are enraged. (Dr.) Deirdre de la Cruz was one of those intellectuals who responded immediately to how the United States of

A, its media online and in hard copy forms treated the mass murder. Listen to her: “I canceled my undergrad class today, redirecting students to several events holding space for processing and learning about anti-Asian violence. I canceled because I’m not up for having to convince anyone that the murder of six Asian women in Atlanta is absolutely about race, when almost every mainstream establishment from the media up to the president is saying that it’s too early to know because we’re taking this white supremacist/ misogynist/fetishist at his word—ya know, because he’s a white dude who just ‘had a bad day.’” Deirdre’s friends consider her a Filipina. But there are more in her blood— Hawaiian, and many more. She has the appearance of what we Filipinos call Tisay. She is a candidate for erasure, for the question, where are you from? You speak very good English! You are very intelligent! But this woman who heads the Doctoral Program of Anthropology in the University of Michigan took a singular stand—she felt threatened. Why would she be not threatened? More than being an Asian, a Filipina, she is human. Hear her speak: “Sometimes vulnerability can be a good place to teach from but for me right now it’s not and I don’t feel like being anyone’s model for the pedagogy of the

teachable moment.” The protests have started; Filipinas comfortable in their corporate positions (this is a fact) and settled in homes that are not demarcated by racial zones (this is also a fact) are coming out. This new anti-misogyny movement, which is not new after all, has also brought out keen, wise analysis of the situation. But, I turn to de la Cruz again who talks about an article that mentions nowhere in the analysis the name, the Philippines. It is, however, in the Philippines where, according to Deirdre de la Cruz, “US imperialism cut its teeth long before its mid-twentieth century wars in the Pacific, where members of its military have raped, brutalized and murdered Filipino women from the turn of the twentieth century to the present… where much of the racist misogynistic vocabulary used to describe Asian women was coined, all of the above fueling visions of obedient smiley wives and/or hypersexualized submissives whose worth would be measured by how well they fulfilled white men’s expectations and whose lives could be cut short if they didn’t.” For these Filipina intellectuals, crafting manifestos and protest papers will be easy. But will the State find it easy to protect them as well?

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

In consideration of the guaranteed maximum deposit insurance

The first peg is in accordance with the standard of living. There are different measures of the standard of living, but one that is common and is relevant to the issue is the per capita income. In current terms, the 2009 per capita income was roughly P90,000 per year while the 2019 per capita income was P170,000. Hence, the “standard of living” has increased by a factor of 1.9. By using this peg, the deposit insurance will keep up with the state of economic development. Hence, the proposal set out by Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. through Senate bill number 1260 to double the maximum deposit insurance from P500,000 to P1 million is reasonable. The second peg is in accordance with the cost of living. Using the consumer price index or CPI, the same basket of goods worth P100 in 2009 is worth approximately P140 in 2021. Hence, the cost of living has increased by a factor of 1.4. By using this peg, the deposit insur-

ance will keep up with the cost of living. Hence, the present maximum deposit insurance of P500,000 should increase to P700,000. The technical issue with pegging the maximum deposit insurance with the standard of living is that it is inconsistent with the proposal set out by Sen. Sonny Angara through Senate bill number 2089. In the said proposal, “The Board of Directors can increase the amount of the maximum deposit insurance coverage to an amount indexed to inflation.” If the main peg of adjusting the past maximum deposit insurance to the present is the standard of living, then it will be inconsistent to peg future adjustment with the cost of living. However, Senator Angara’s proposal has a qualifier that includes others stating, “in consideration of other economic indicators.” This implies that the Board of Directors may index to both inflation and per capita income. The

problem is that the difference in the increases in the two are too divergent, 1.9 versus 1.4. The divergence may then leave the Board of Directors too much discretion to adjust the maximum deposit insurance. The third peg to consider is financial sustainability. Sometimes it does not matter whether a certain benefit or protection like deposit insurance is extravagant, just, or unjustly small. Even if unjust, if there is no resource to pool from, the end game is to pay only up to what is financially sustainable. It is no accident that the Secretary of the Department of Finance or DOF is ex officio Chairman of the Board of Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. or PDIC. As Chair, the Secretary will be able to voice to the Board whether certain adjustments are sustainable. Whether deposit insurance payment is printed money or the public’s pool of deposits, etc., in the end, taxpayers will bear the cost. As Chair, the Secretary in theory is there to represent the interest of the taxpayers. However, because financial sustainability is only voiced by the Chair, the peg is only implicitly or even discretionarily considered. Instead of the Chair having to voice the need for financial sustainability, it should be explicitly stated as a consideration the same way that inflation is explicitly stated. Not exactly a peg, but rather some points of comparison. In some of the Philippines’ neighboring Asean partners, the approximate maximum deposit insurances are P260,000 in Vietnam (125 million VND), P340,000 (100 million IDR) in Indonesia, P8 million in Thailand (5

quality education (SDG4), clean energy (SDG7), and decent work (SDG8). These failing grades are due to the reality that the fabled growth achievements of Asian countries are not filtering down to the unwashed masses of Asia. Now with Covid flattening the economies of Asian countries in 2020, the SDG scorecard for Asia worsened and is likely to worsen further in 2021. ESCAP, in its recent 2021 Report, wrote that the maternal mortality rate is

likely to increase in 14 countries, from 184 to 214-263 per 100,000 live births. Most worrisome are the projections of ESCAP on the poor people doubling in number (from 640 million to 1,276 million). As it is, the unemployed increased by 15 million in 2020. The sad stories are endless. The point is that meeting the SDG as well as the Paris Agreement targets require a change in the growth paradigms for the Philippines and

other Asian countries. Inclusive, balanced and sustainable Asia means a more egalitarian and participatory system of socio-economic planning and development, which is different from the present system of obsessive preoccupation with marketization in a globalized and deregulated setting. Asset and social reforms are a must to insure equal opportunity in life for all. With the unresolved Covid pandemic, Asia has the opportunity to re-think

Luis F. Dumlao, Ph.D.

EAGLE WATCH

N 2009, Republic Act 9576 was enacted wherein among others the guaranteed maximum deposit insurance was raised from P250,000 to P500,000. If in 2021, the said maximum deposit insurance is to adjust, there are three pegs in which to adjust the amount.

million THB), and P3 million in Malaysia (250 thousand MYR). In the United States, the maximum deposit insurance is P12.5 million ($250,000). The last point of consideration is that raising the maximum deposit insurance too much may result in the opposite of moral hazard. In moral hazard, an entity chooses to be riskier knowing that if the risk does not pay off, its insurance will cover some costs. In the opposite of moral hazard, a depositor chooses to be safer by putting more of one’s extra money to a deposit account knowing that that money is insured. If a person has an extra P1 million and that s/he knows that the maximum deposit insurance is P500,000, s/he is nudged to put the first P500,000 in a deposit account and to put the second P500,000 to some liquid investment, for example in a time deposit account. Better yet, the person might end up spending the second P500,000 in entrepreneurial endeavors. On the other hand, if a person has an extra P1 million and that s/he knows that the maximum deposit insurance is P1 million, s/he is nudged to put all P1 million in a deposit account. In discernment and in my back and forth weighing of the pros and cons, I take the position of raising the maximum deposit insurance to P700,000 while allowing the Board of Directors to increase the amount of the maximum deposit insurance coverage to an amount indexed to inflation subject to financial sustainability.

the existing growth paradigm. A “reset,” a favorite term of Neda, is indeed in order. But it should not be a reset to go back to the old and unequal pre-Covid order. It should be a reset for an inclusive, balanced and sustainable order.

Luis F. Dumlao, PhD, is the Dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management, Ateneo de Manila University.

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo is a Professor Emeritus of University of the Philippines. For comments, please write to reneofreneo@ gmail.com.

A10 Friday, March 26, 2021

TC urged: Hike pork tariffs to cut importers’ profit

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

FEW days before the President can modify tariffs on pork imports, an industry group wrote to the Tariff Commission (TC) to propose an increase in pork tariffs to as much as 44 percent to “shave off” importers’ profit take and boost the country’s revenue.

In a letter submitted to TC Chairperson Marilou P. Mendoza, the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) explained their proposal to increase the current in-quota tariff for pork imports from 30 percent to 40 percent and out-quota rates from 40

percent to 44 percent. In its letter dated March 23, a copy of which was provided to the media, the group claimed that “importers are raking profits at the current tariff rate with no corresponding reflection on the retail price of prime

pork cuts.” Citing Bureau of Customs (BOC) data, the group said the landed cost of pork belly and kasim is at P81 per kilogram from January 2020 to 2021. The group argued that at these prices, importers are making P200 to P250 per kilogram since retail prices of pork belly and kasim is at P350 to P1400 per kg. “As late as January to February this year [2021], when retail prices of local pork spiked, imported pork was being sold between Php 350-450/kilo. Importers claim that they are not violating any law and are just following the retail price of pork,” the letter read. The group argued that increasing the tariff rates would mean higher revenues for the government, especially since the Duterte administration’s economic blueprint is “anchored on additional government funds to support its accelerated spending” for infrastructure and social services programs.

“Reducing tariffs will deprive the government of much needed revenues. Revenues that would support the Covid-19 vaccination program and efforts to help the livestock industry recover from the African Swine Fever [ASF] pandemic,” it added.

Petition on hold

TC Chairperson Mendoza responded to the group’s letter, saying that they are “constrained” to put the tariff hike petition on hold until the current petition made by the DA to lower pork tariffs is resolved. The DA earlier petitioned the TC for the lowering of pork tariffs to as low as 5 percent. The Cabinet-level Committee on Tariff and Related Matters has submitted to President Duterte its draft executive order for the tariffs for in-quota imports to 5 percent and 15 percent for out-quota volume for three months. Continued on A4

Covid Rt rate dips but new cases hit 8,773

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco | Correspondent

HILE OCTA Research reported that the reproduction number (Rt) of Covid-19 in the National Capital Region (NCR) has gone down to 1.91 from 1.99, the Philippines on Thursday recorded its highest single-day increase in the number of new infections with 8,773. The country’s total number of cases stood at 693,048. Despite the observed decrease in the Rt, OCTA Research stressed in its March 25 report: “It is too early to tell if this is the beginning of a hoped-for downward trend in the reproduction number, given that the NCR was placed under the GCQ [general community quarantine] bubble.” Rt is the number of people that one infected person can infect. However, for Chairman Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the improvement in the Rt is a good indication. “Hindi na ganun katindi [The number of persons infected is not that much]. So, effective ang ginagawa natin sa metro [So, what we are doing here in Metro Manila is effective],” Abalos told the BusinessMirror. He hopes the observed improvement will continue in the coming days as the NCR is currently under a GCQ “bubble” along with Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal. As of 4 p.m. of March 25, the Department of Health (DOH) also recorded 574 recoveries and 56 deaths. Of the total number of cases, 14.4 percent (99,891) are active, 83.7 percent (580,062) have recovered, and 1.89 percent (13,095) have died.

Look beyond numbers in debt, ADB tells Asian economies

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

MERGING economies need to look beyond the numbers when it comes to debts, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In an Asian Development Blog, ADB Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department Principal Economist Jong Woo Kang said there is no perfect answer to questions that focus on the optimal debt level of countries. Debt has increased in 2020 mainly due to the pandemic. Debt to GDP ratio among emerging market economies increased to 63.5 percent by the fourth quarter of 2020 from 52.4 percent in the same period in 2019. “Asian economies need to look beyond the simple numbers and look for ways to wisely use debt financing opportunities while safeguarding their economies from the risks of runaway debt accumulations and poor debt management,” Kang said. Kang noted that economists Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff earlier suggested that median growth rates for countries with public debt over roughly 90 percent of GDP are about 1 percent lower than otherwise. He also said the Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Framework for low-income countries as of March 2021 set the present value of total public debt at 70 percent of GDP as the threshold for strong debt-carrying capacity. The European Union’s Stability and Growth Pact, Kang said, recommended that countries should not allow their public debt to exceed 60 percent of GDP. Continued on A4

Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Greenergy, Abacore unit ink deal to operate food terminal

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

reenergy Holdings Inc. has struck a deal with an affiliate of listed firm Abacore Capital Holdings Inc. for the development and operation of a logistics center and food terminal in a 3-hectare property near the Batangas Port.

The company led by businessman Antonio L. Tiu said it signed a memorandum of agreement with Abacore unit’s Ala Eh Inc., whose existing shareholders will infuse the 3-hectare property into the company in exchange for shares equivalent to 40 percent after the increase of its authorized capital stock. The said property is in Barangay Santa Rita, Aplaya, Batangas City. According to the plan, Ala Eh will increase its authorized capital stock

to P1.5 billion, change its primary purpose to allow it to engage in the business of operating, managing, leasing and developing the logistic center and the food terminal complex and also change its corporate name. Greenergy will then subscribe to the increase of Ala Eh’s capital stock to as much as 60 percent or about P900 million, effectively having a controlling ownership in the company. Greenergy said in its disclosure

that it “shall manage the construction, development and operation of the logistics center consisting of cold and dry storage facilities, agriprocessing facilities and other facilities that are necessary for marketing and procurement activities.” The facility, which is accessible to the Batangas port, will ensure that agricultural produce are safe and fresh before they are distributed to their respective local and international markets, the company said. The logistics and food terminal complex is envisioned to boost agricultural productivity and enable farmers and fishermen to reach a wider market in the country and across the globe. It will also enhance Greenergy’s food storage capacity and boost its trading and export capabilities, it said. “It is the first step in Greenergy’s goal of establishing food terminals in each region of the country that would help in achieving food security and rolling out a commodity and futures exchange,”

the company said. Greenergy has been diversifying its portfolio to include agriculture, agri-tourism, real estate development, banking and finance and information technology. The said deal was made after the board of Abacore recently approved the acquisition of Libertad Logistics Integrated Zone Builders Development Corp., which owns prime properties contiguous to the Port of Batangas. The property is valued at P6.5 billion or at a price of P23,600 per square meter as appraised by an independent appraiser as of March 16. “Abacore likewise authorized management to negotiate, enter and finalize joint venture agreements and partnerships with qualified developers, and operators for the operations of a logistics center, food terminal, grains silo, blast freezing facility, warehouses and other facilities allied to the Batangas Port project where the Libertad property is located,” it said in an earlier disclosure.

LTG: 9 in 10 workers willing to get vaccine

key to reopen our economy. While we may not immediately return to our old ways, it’s an important step to regain our freedom and the life we once had. I therefore enjoin everyone to get that jab.” In November 2020, LTG joined some of the country’s biggest conglomerates in signing firm orders for AstraZeneca vaccine through a tripartite agreement with the national government and business advocacy group Go Negosyo led by Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion. LTG earlier said its attributable income last year fell 9 percent to P21.02 billion from the previous year’s P23.12 billion.

The tobacco business accounted for P16.83 billion or 80 percent of its income, followed by lender Philippine National Bank which contributed P1.55 billion or 7 percent to the income, liquor firm Tanduay Distillers Inc. contributed P1.1 billion or 5 percent, Eton Properties Philippines Inc. accounted for P799 million or 4 percent, while Asia Brewery Inc. contributed P583 million or 3 percent. The company’s 30.9 percent stake in Victorias Milling Co. Inc. accounted for P264 million or 1 percent. The company’s balance sheet remains strong, with its debt-toequity ratio was at 4.3:1 with the bank, and at 0.16:1 without the bank. VG Cabuag

ost of the employees of the companies owned by business tycoon Lucio Tan are ready and willing to be vaccinated once the firm’s orders arrive by the middle of this year. Listed firm LT Group Inc. (LTG) said during its recent sign-up, about 90 percent of its more than 50,000 employees and service providers agreed to be inoculated. The high vaccine acceptance was attributed to the aggressive information drive the group has been conducting since early February, the company said in a statement. LTG president Michael G. Tan said the group has vaccine orders for close to 40,000 employees and

14,000 third party service providers of all firms belonging to the Lucio Tan Group. Service providers include those that employees interact with on a daily basis like security guards and canteen concessionaires. Mechanics are also being drafted to allow employees to access vaccines for their families and households, he said. “Vaccination is a crucial step towards the path to normalcy. Not only does it protect you from getting severely sick but also protects everyone around you—your family, friends, co-workers and customers—from catching the virus,” Tan said. “Getting vaccinated is also the

‘Quarantine rules won’t affect PLDT services’

Cebu Pacific cancels several flights

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

he PLDT Group assured customers and subscribers of continued service despite the new quarantine rules in the National Capital Region, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, and other affected provinces. Alfredo S. Panlilio, Smart President and CEO and PLDT Chief Revenue Officer, said the group is operating with “adequate staff and resources” that can cater to the needs of its customers. “We offer various platforms that allow Filipinos to keep in pace with the times and accelerate their own digital transformation—e-learning, telecommuting, e-commerce and e-health—changes that affect individuals, families, businesses and government simultaneously,” he said. Staff deployed for fieldwork are provided with personal protective equipment and are regularly tested for Covid-19. The telco group is also enforcing strict safety protocols in its brick-and-mortar stores. Smart Communications Inc. has also provided community loading stations to ensure that retailers and subscribers have access to loading facilities.

Photo from cebupacificaircorporate.com

By Recto L. Mercene @rectomercene

ebu Pacific (CEB) on Thursday announced several flight cancellations starting March 25 in compliance with the directive from Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF). The government imposed stricter guidelines in areas under “NCR Plus” until April 4. From March 22 to April 4, only essential travel is allowed in and out of Metro Manila. Following this resolution, Cebu Pacific and Cebgo will cancel the following flights beginning March 25 to April 4: round trips from Manila to Boracay, Coron (Busuanga); Legazpi, Cagayan de Oro, Cauayan, Cebu, Pagadian, Ozamiz, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Kalibo, Naga, Virac. Affected passengers have been informed via contact details pro-

vided in the booking. They may select their preferred option through the Manage Booking portal on the Cebu Pacific website (http://bit.ly/ CEBmanageflight) until 30 days from date of departure: n Rebook Rebook for travel within 90 days at no additional cost, following CEB’s permanent removal of change fees. Fare difference will be waived; n Travel fund Store the amount in a virtual CEB wallet valid for 2 years and use this to either book a new flight or pay for add-ons (e.g. baggage allowance, seat selection, etc.): n Refund Due to the high volume of requests, the process may take up to 7 months from date of request. CEB said it will continue to operate all other domestic and interna-

tional flights. However, passengers who wish to postpone their travel during this time may also avail of the same options above on CEB’s Manage Booking portal. Before going to the airport, passengers are advised to check the real-time status of flights on website:  https://bit.ly/CEBFlightStatusCheck, along with travel requirements, safety protocols, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) via  https:// bit.ly/CEBFlightReminders. Passengers are advised to update their contact details via http:// bit.ly/CEBUpdateInfo to receive email notifications on flight reminders and updates.  CEB said they will continue to provide updates as necessary. For other questions or concerns, passengers may send a message via Charlie the chatbot on the Cebu Pacific website, or through CEB’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Friday, March 26, 2021

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, March 26, 2021

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

March 25, 2021

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

BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH

104.9 84 23.05 7.65 9.52 46.7 23 55.05 17 121 69.1 1.61 3.93 3.03 1.4 0.395 0.75 144

105 84.05 23.5 8.14 9.53 46.75 23.2 56.7 17.5 121.5 69.2 1.62 3.98 3.13 1.44 0.415 0.76 145.5

104.9 84.8 23.3 7.61 9.4 46.5 23 56.7 17.02 119.8 69.05 1.56 3.97 3.12 1.4 0.395 0.8 145

105.4 84.8 23.3 8.46 9.59 46.95 23.35 56.7 17.02 121 69.25 1.63 3.98 3.12 1.45 0.415 0.8 145.5

104.3 84.05 22.9 7.59 9.38 46.5 22.95 56.65 16.94 119.8 69 1.56 3.92 3.12 1.4 0.37 0.72 144

105 84.05 23.05 8.14 9.53 46.75 23 56.7 17 121 69.1 1.61 3.98 3.12 1.45 0.4 0.75 144

2,776,900 291,508,947 1,240,320 104,578,674.50 53,400 1,234,535 7,300 55,635 178,700 1,697,851 2,635,800 123,264,320 785,600 18,062,090 160 9,071 63,700 1,082,836 563,710 67,960,095 31,890 2,206,276.50 578,000 923,630 178,000 702,300 3,000 9,360 3,000 4,250 90,000 35,450 422,000 314,820 8,040 1,162,472

INDUSTRIAL

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

6.96 1.24 23.65 0.9 29.95 70 274 14.28 3.07 3.7 11 20.5 10.2 13.74 6.76 3.32 12.92 17.42 8.9 7.22 10.28 60.2 0.61 1.36 50 178.2 31.2 5.8 0.31 6.8 1.03 4.58 1.38 0.138 132 0.81 2.2 50.6 55.35 1.15 2.98 11.02 7.4 5.55 6.55 12.16 1.13 2.2 2.06 2 5.24 21 - 10.36 1.09 5.61 1.29 6.15

6.97 1.28 23.8 0.91 30 72.3 274.6 14.3 3.08 3.85 11.32 20.7 10.3 14.5 6.79 3.34 13.16 17.5 9 7.26 10.38 60.5 0.63 1.37 50.5 179.5 31.75 5.85 0.32 7 1.04 4.76 1.43 0.141 132.1 0.82 2.25 54.95 60.2 1.16 2.99 11.5 7.7 5.62 6.59 12.2 1.15 2.21 2.1 2.01 5.5 21.15 - 10.38 1.11 5.96 1.31 6.16

6.92 1.24 23.65 0.77 29.5 69.2 273 14.4 3.02 3.86 11.3 20.85 10.28 14.5 6.88 3.11 12.92 17.5 9 7.26 10.4 59.5 0.61 1.35 49.5 177.9 31.1 5.8 0.3 6.81 1.05 4.58 1.44 0.139 128 0.79 2.2 55.4 60.7 1.11 3.03 11.02 7.4 5.55 6.2 12.2 1.07 2.08 1.99 1.96 5.33 20.45 3.76 10.06 1.13 5.96 1.3 6.3

7.03 1.28 23.95 0.92 30 72.35 274.6 14.46 3.08 3.87 11.46 20.85 10.3 14.5 6.88 3.35 13.16 17.78 9 7.34 10.4 61.2 0.64 1.37 50.5 181.2 31.1 5.85 0.325 6.9 1.06 4.58 1.44 0.141 133 0.83 2.25 55.4 60.7 1.15 3.17 11.48 7.7 5.65 6.6 12.2 1.15 2.24 2.12 2.01 5.35 21.15 3.87 10.36 1.13 5.96 1.32 6.3

6.9 1.24 23.65 0.77 29.5 69.2 270.2 14.22 3.01 3.85 11 20.5 10.16 14.5 6.74 3.11 12.9 17.3 8.82 7.2 10.22 59.5 0.61 1.34 49.5 177.9 31.1 5.74 0.295 6.8 1.03 4.58 1.36 0.132 128 0.78 2.2 54.95 60.7 1.11 2.9 11.02 7.4 5.52 6.18 12 1.07 2.07 1.99 1.94 5.25 20.45 3.76 10.06 1.09 5.96 1.28 6.13

6.96 1.28 23.65 0.91 30 70 274.6 14.3 3.08 3.85 11 20.5 10.3 14.5 6.79 3.32 12.9 17.5 9 7.22 10.38 60.5 0.64 1.37 50.5 178.2 31.1 5.85 0.315 6.81 1.04 4.58 1.36 0.14 132 0.82 2.25 55 60.7 1.15 2.98 11.48 7.4 5.55 6.55 12.2 1.13 2.2 2.1 2 5.25 21 3.8 10.36 1.09 5.96 1.29 6.15

5,769,700 138,000 1,759,200 298,079,000 288,700 7,660 262,140 1,149,600 2,174,000 116,000 1,554,700 120,900 103,200 3,200 5,693,000 1,862,000 2,600 3,182,100 53,500 510,900 294,600 31,310 139,000 2,577,000 1,100 263,590 100 249,700 9,150,000 31,100 1,814,000 4,000 15,000 15,300,000 1,413,430 3,656,000 4,000 360 10 2,208,000 22,090,000 700 25,700 409,100 1,076,900 64,600 365,000 13,979,000 1,275,000 80,000 178,200 5,700 12,790,000 322,400 70,000 100 252,000 1,491,700

-44,133,370 -36,992,904 -567,375 -1,274,329 -7,452,790 541,410.00 340,000 20,987,552 -344,650.50 420 -15,900

40,235,685 172,820 41,809,725 253,683,170 8,642,855 543,295 71,758,710 16,455,724 6,632,150 446,850 17,165,678 2,496,870 1,053,498 46,400 39,015,115 6,147,210 33,722 55,564,284 477,387 3,699,211 3,040,854 1,893,259.50 87,320 3,498,190 55,050 47,175,072 3,110 1,437,406 2,866,450 212,050 1,891,070 18,320 21,160 2,140,790 186,445,838 2,922,650 8,850 19,875.50 607 2,507,260 67,035,280 7,806 190,443 2,271,429 6,894,784 787,240 409,270 30,404,780 2,636,280 156,440 942,937 120,365 48,911,100 3,307,262 77,350 596 327,710 9,231,696

-8,986,616 18,750 -24,686,430 4,128,670 3,731,360 -77,502 -24,745,190 -11,221,116 -1,029,880 30,990 -1,821,830 -687,753 -1,769,600 -2,700,670.00 327,555 241,238 350,318.50 -136,000 -11,748,038 -892,056 157,100 -34,023 -2,080 53,059,009 400,000 -1,329,240.00 -3,470,220 -20,732 367,184 -2,222,216 -609,200 14,560 66,120 5,017,490 -647,048 34,740 321,338

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 1.21 1.22 1.12 1.21 1.09 1.21 91,899,000 107,427,820 ASIABEST GROUP 6.86 7.09 7.09 7.1 7.09 7.1 6,800 48,213 753 759.5 735 759.5 731 759.5 101,280 76,294,040 AYALA CORP 35.05 35.2 35.5 36.1 35.05 35.05 2,721,600 96,475,675 ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL 10.58 10.62 10.5 10.68 10.46 10.58 4,627,000 48,947,066 2.93 2.94 2.9 2.97 2.9 2.94 821,000 2,412,710 AYALA LAND LOG 6.7 6.86 6.43 6.86 6.42 6.7 13,200 88,158 ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.63 0.64 0.66 0.67 0.64 0.64 2,791,000 1,796,190 0.75 0.76 0.76 0.78 0.74 0.75 2,824,000 2,131,370 ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B 0.75 0.78 0.79 0.79 0.75 0.75 201,000 156,180 COSCO CAPITAL 5.19 5.2 5.29 5.29 5.2 5.2 829,800 4,324,353 5.32 5.34 5.1 5.36 5.07 5.32 8,939,300 47,140,897 DMCI HLDG 8.15 8.5 8.34 8.34 8.11 8.15 17,700 145,545 FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL 521 521.5 515 523.5 515 521 53,150 27,693,800 JG SUMMIT 60.6 61.8 59 61.8 59 61.8 1,093,120 66,865,774 1.11 1.12 1.03 1.16 1.03 1.12 13,269,000 14,722,460 LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG 3.34 3.38 3.37 3.4 3.34 3.34 107,000 359,250 LT GROUP 13.72 13.74 13.68 13.84 13.68 13.74 4,789,200 65,897,338 0.46 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.48 50,000 24,000 MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV 3.72 3.73 3.79 3.81 3.72 3.73 29,065,000 108,926,910 PACIFICA HLDG 3.51 3.6 3.4 3.6 3.38 3.51 20,000 69,810 2.92 2.94 3 3.04 2.9 2.92 4,488,000 13,206,350 PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP 1.24 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 10,000 12,500 SYNERGY GRID 340 360 350 373 321 360 1,660 558,280 984 989.5 962 996.5 962 984 200,550 197,537,915 SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP 121.8 121.9 121 122 120.6 121.9 43,680 5,314,636 SOC RESOURCES 0.68 0.69 0.71 0.71 0.67 0.68 31,000 21,080 136.6 143 143 143 136.3 143 120 17,021 TOP FRONTIER 0.24 0.249 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 110,000 26,400 WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG 0.197 0.205 0.209 0.209 0.209 0.209 10,000 2,090

1,231,520 -6,381 13,943,670 -32,362,595 32,127,986 -590,380 42,600 -3,676,842 -1,588,125.00 -54,945 2,748,840 19,100,944 -33,800.00 -141,050 -50,180,566 -54,029,820 1,727,480 13,600 -26,070,750 72,690 -5,648 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.62 0.63 0.62 0.62 0.62 0.62 36,000 22,320 AYALA LAND 35 35.05 35.1 35.9 35.05 35.05 19,333,700 680,738,005 33.1 33.15 33 33.55 33 33.15 848,900 28,144,755 AREIT RT 1.45 1.47 1.42 1.46 1.42 1.45 22,000 31,830 BELLE CORP A BROWN 0.89 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.89 0.9 1,266,000 1,133,750 0.79 0.8 0.78 0.8 0.78 0.8 79,000 61,900 CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES 0.132 0.133 0.135 0.135 0.13 0.133 48,770,000 6,342,620 CEB LANDMASTERS 5.61 5.64 5.58 5.74 5.58 5.61 1,767,000 9,980,576 0.385 0.39 0.385 0.395 0.385 0.39 6,940,000 2,678,300 CENTURY PROP 0.33 0.335 0.33 0.335 0.325 0.33 1,870,000 615,750 CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON 13.26 13.3 13.48 13.54 13.12 13.26 1,228,400 16,326,082 2.24 2.25 2.27 2.28 2.24 2.24 204,448,000 460,338,200 DDMP RT 6.84 6.99 6.67 6.99 6.67 6.99 33,900 227,858 DM WENCESLAO EMPIRE EAST 0.28 0.285 0.285 0.285 0.285 0.285 250,000 71,250 FILINVEST LAND 1.11 1.13 1.11 1.12 1.1 1.11 10,135,000 11,289,580 0.81 0.83 0.83 0.85 0.81 0.83 688,000 570,060 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 7.15 7.22 7.15 7.15 7.15 7.15 500 3,575 PHIL INFRADEV 1.35 1.36 1.34 1.37 1.34 1.35 201,000 270,830 1.3 1.34 1.32 1.35 1.3 1.33 1,305,000 1,724,710 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 3.42 3.45 3.4 3.47 3.39 3.45 26,397,000 90,952,360 MRC ALLIED 0.39 0.395 0.37 0.39 0.365 0.39 32,980,000 12,639,850 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.445 0.425 0.44 3,510,000 1,510,200 PHIL ESTATES PRIMEX CORP 1.97 1.98 2.1 2.14 1.91 1.97 13,562,000 27,139,980 ROBINSONS LAND 17.88 17.9 17.7 17.94 17.7 17.9 3,607,000 64,338,048 0.26 0.27 0.255 0.275 0.255 0.27 320,000 84,800 PHIL REALTY ROCKWELL 1.53 1.56 1.5 1.61 1.5 1.53 3,955,000 6,238,190 SHANG PROP 2.69 2.7 2.68 2.7 2.68 2.7 136,000 366,500 2.32 2.35 2.35 2.35 2.31 2.35 99,000 230,870 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 35.95 36 35.35 36.1 35.35 35.95 4,360,000 156,736,805 VISTAMALLS 3.83 3.91 3.81 3.91 3.81 3.91 35,000 133,840 1.51 1.52 1.49 1.53 1.48 1.51 444,000 667,670 SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND 3.79 3.8 3.75 3.82 3.75 3.8 1,421,000 5,390,880

-200,925,770 -5,326,960 130,000 56,100 -64,850 286,712 -263,796,480.00 -59,850.00 -3,770,820 16,300 9,520 38,330 -30,437,510 535,900 4,127,200 -53,104,646 -1,990,710 58,270,385 -1,125,690

SERVICES ABS CBN 11 11.02 11 11.02 10.88 11 55,700 612,058 GMA NETWORK 7.38 7.39 7.34 7.44 7.29 7.38 1,758,800 12,979,471 0.425 0.44 0.44 0.44 0.44 0.44 10,000 4,400 MANILA BULLETIN GLOBE TELECOM 1,899 1,900 1,910 1,913 1,900 1,900 39,930 76,016,480 PLDT 1,247 1,248 1,250 1,258 1,240 1,248 78,485 97,976,510 0.201 0.202 0.2 0.204 0.196 0.201 471,160,000 94,846,500 APOLLO GLOBAL 18.78 18.8 18.98 19 18.8 18.8 2,771,300 52,210,446 CONVERGE DFNN INC 3.75 3.79 3.77 3.83 3.71 3.75 109,000 411,800 10.36 10.38 10.1 10.36 10 10.36 27,165,500 275,645,568 DITO CME HLDG 1.65 1.7 1.65 1.7 1.65 1.67 7,000 11,700 IMPERIAL JACKSTONES 1.92 2 2 2 2 2 1,000 2,000 2.65 2.69 2.61 2.76 2.52 2.65 3,058,000 8,094,910 NOW CORP 0.43 0.435 0.42 0.435 0.415 0.43 8,810,000 3,768,600 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 2.72 2.75 2.7 2.84 2.7 2.75 1,156,000 3,191,360 2GO GROUP 8.47 8.5 8.46 8.5 8.46 8.5 89,900 762,680 15.06 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 900 13,950 ASIAN TERMINALS CHELSEA 3.4 3.41 3.35 3.5 3.33 3.4 663,000 2,253,170 CEBU AIR 45 45.65 45.45 45.8 44.5 45.65 65,600 2,962,515 126.4 126.5 124.5 127.3 124.5 126.5 1,354,300 171,253,921 INTL CONTAINER LBC EXPRESS 16.82 16.98 16.8 16.8 16.8 16.8 2,600 43,680 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.95 1.06 1.06 1.06 1.06 1.06 1,000 1,060 4.81 4.82 4.75 4.89 4.7 4.82 1,012,000 4,890,980 MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A 2.36 2.41 2.32 2.43 2.3 2.4 355,000 840,080 PAL HLDG 5.9 5.95 6 6.11 5.95 5.95 23,400 140,456 1.13 1.15 1.11 1.18 1.1 1.14 278,000 314,910 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.45 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1,000 1,500 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.083 0.084 0.084 0.087 0.081 0.084 261,520,000 22,023,780 4.22 4.43 4.18 4.44 4.18 4.43 28,000 123,860 DISCOVERY WORLD WATERFRONT 0.53 0.54 0.52 0.54 0.51 0.54 4,206,000 2,205,720 CENTRO ESCOLAR 6.5 7.13 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 100 650 6.9 7.88 6.9 6.9 6.9 6.9 2,500 17,250 IPEOPLE STI HLDG 0.37 0.38 0.37 0.38 0.37 0.375 380,000 142,350 BERJAYA 4.41 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.57 2,000 9,140 6.96 6.97 6.8 6.99 6.8 6.97 941,100 6,551,594 BLOOMBERRY 1.96 2.09 2.1 2.11 1.96 1.96 114,000 225,460 PACIFIC ONLINE LEISURE AND RES 1.68 1.73 1.66 1.7 1.66 1.7 3,643,000 6,191,180 2.13 2.14 2.13 2.15 2.06 2.13 2,908,000 6,136,990 PH RESORTS GRP PREMIUM LEISURE 0.385 0.39 0.39 0.395 0.38 0.39 1,740,000 672,650 ALLHOME 7.79 7.88 7.74 7.88 7.74 7.88 557,600 4,352,687 METRO RETAIL 1.32 1.34 1.3 1.34 1.29 1.34 3,354,000 4,401,740 40.95 41 41 41.4 40.6 41 5,464,400 224,082,495 PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 57.45 57.8 57.9 57.9 57.1 57.45 877,090 50,414,243 PHIL SEVEN CORP 94 94.9 94.95 95 94 94 601,500 56,830,835 1.2 1.22 1.21 1.22 1.18 1.2 2,012,000 2,411,560 SSI GROUP WILCON DEPOT 17.52 17.94 17.24 17.94 17.2 17.94 284,900 4,993,708 APC GROUP 0.385 0.4 0.405 0.405 0.39 0.4 900,000 353,600 6.72 6.97 6.7 7 6.7 6.98 22,800 153,310 EASYCALL GOLDEN MV 434 450 440.2 450 440.2 450 550 245,540 IPM HLDG 4.95 5 5 5 5 5 4,500 22,500 2.26 2.48 2.26 2.26 2.26 2.26 65,000 146,900 PAXYS PRMIERE HORIZON 2.23 2.24 2.06 2.23 2.05 2.23 57,982,000 123,974,610 SBS PHIL CORP 4.18 4.5 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.2 2,000 8,400

-52,097,935 -46,150,780 -1,580,590 8,922,146 -3,760 11,536,700 151,980 296,450 -226,820.00 84,600 -13,950 20,730 726,640 55,026,018 -1,174,790 -73,630 120,200 -1,796,548 -21,000 -6,043,500 -421,250 2,776,455 -3,293,520 41,376,895 -912,525 -852,630.50 -1,063,250 -1,969,772 19,500 16,800 -4,500 280,410 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 8.06 8.1 8 8.2 7.96 8.1 195,500 1,576,217 164,733 1.42 1.44 1.42 1.44 1.41 1.44 357,000 507,670 15,520 APEX MINING 6.14 6.2 6.25 6.25 6.12 6.14 604,500 3,735,268 ATLAS MINING BENGUET A 2.35 2.65 2.66 2.66 2.66 2.66 22,000 58,520 2.41 2.9 2.91 2.91 2.9 2.9 4,000 11,610 BENGUET B COAL ASIA HLDG 0.29 0.295 0.29 0.29 0.285 0.29 320,000 92,750 CENTURY PEAK 2.67 2.68 2.79 2.79 2.64 2.68 64,000 171,810 72,870 9 9.5 9.68 9.69 8.9 9 42,000 378,166 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 2.3 2.32 2.28 2.33 2.23 2.3 3,125,000 7,094,690 -205,180 GEOGRACE 0.32 0.35 0.33 0.35 0.32 0.32 1,790,000 593,400 0.132 0.133 0.129 0.134 0.129 0.134 3,840,000 505,880 LEPANTO A MANILA MINING A 0.0097 0.0099 0.0097 0.0098 0.0097 0.0098 17,000,000 166,200 MANILA MINING B 0.0097 0.0099 0.0098 0.0098 0.0098 0.0098 1,000,000 9,800 MARCVENTURES 1.2 1.23 1.2 1.22 1.17 1.22 296,000 355,110 13,920 2.41 2.42 2.15 2.5 2.15 2.41 747,000 1,739,010 -23,500 NIHAO NICKEL ASIA 5.04 5.05 4.96 5.25 4.92 5.04 1,816,000 9,116,480 762,740 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.86 0.87 0.83 0.86 0.83 0.86 310,000 261,620 4.55 4.59 4.54 4.67 4.54 4.58 416,000 1,901,030 -73,620 PX MINING SEMIRARA MINING 13.32 13.5 12.2 13.56 12 13.32 14,600,400 191,095,708 17,291,068 UNITED PARAGON 0.0075 0.0077 0.0074 0.008 0.0074 0.0077 6,000,000 46,400 22.9 23 23 23.4 22 23 330,000 7,511,170 -101,560 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.01 0.012 505,900,000 5,722,300 PHILODRILL 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 62,700,000 723,900 7,700 8.72 8.8 8.7 8.88 8.55 8.72 258,000 2,259,365 -610,871 PXP ENERGY PREFFERED HOUSE PREF B 100.3 101 100.3 100.3 100.3 100.3 4,910 492,473 HOUSE PREF A 101 101.5 100.5 101.5 100.5 101.5 276,140 27,752,210 518.5 525 525 525 518 518 2,950 1,530,370 AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2R 521.5 525 521.5 521.5 521.5 521.5 2,470 1,288,105 CPG PREF A 102.5 103.5 103.5 103.5 103.5 103.5 70 7,245 101.8 102.5 101.8 102.5 101.8 102.3 29,650 3,033,546 DD PREF FGEN PREF G 110.5 110.9 109 111 109 110.5 18,550 2,052,665 -27,625 GLO PREF P 502 515 503.5 503.5 501.5 503.5 1,460 735,090 1,010 1,020 1,007 1,020 1,007 1,020 190 191,700 GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B 1,030 1,035 1,030 1,035 1,030 1,035 2,850 2,939,000 MWIDE PREF 99.85 100 100 100 100 100 13,750 1,375,000 100 101 100.1 100.1 100 100 500 50,002 48,000 MWIDE PREF 2A 101.2 105.5 102 105.9 100 105.9 39,750 4,006,635 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 995 998 1,000 1,001 995 995 16,690 16,646,152.50 PCOR PREF 2B 1,011 1,030 1,011 1,011 1,011 1,011 3,685 3,725,535 1,069 1,100 1,067 1,100 1,067 1,100 1,060 1,133,350 PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B 1,124 1,140 1,130 1,140 1,130 1,140 150 170,050 SFI PREF 1.67 1.85 1.65 1.67 1.65 1.67 10,000 16,620 77.8 78 78 78 77.75 78 1,710 133,355 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2E 75.8 75.85 75.85 75.85 75.85 75.85 8,700 659,895 -629,555.00 SMC PREF 2F 77.6 79 79 79 79 79 3,010 237,790 76.55 76.8 76.8 76.8 76.8 76.8 15,410 1,183,488 -1,183,488 SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2J 76.6 76.9 76.95 76.95 76.6 76.6 1,800 138,405 SMC PREF 2K 75.6 76.7 76.7 76.7 75.55 76.7 33,120 2,539,729 - PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 10.38 10.48 10.34 10.4 10.34 10.38 51,300 531,734 -403,466 GMA HLDG PDR 7.02 7.04 6.92 7.03 6.92 7.03 501,900 3,505,371 -2,563,932 WARRANTS LR WARRANT 1.97 1.98 2.05 2.06 1.92 1.97 4,720,000 9,369,840 62,350.00 SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 19.5 19.9 19.5 19.9 19 19.9 111,200 2,181,676 18,880 ITALPINAS 2.51 2.54 2.31 2.55 2.31 2.51 972,000 2,427,090 1,955,830 5.07 5.18 5.18 5.18 5.18 5.18 1,600 8,288 KEPWEALTH MERRYMART 5.02 5.03 4.92 5.08 4.91 5.02 8,387,000 42,074,550 608,370 EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF 100.6 101.3 99.95 101 99.5 100.6 42,450 4,275,711 -482,374

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Govt reinstates coal trader accreditation of Semirara

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he Department of Energy (DOE) is no longer imposing a one-month suspension of Semirara Mining and Power Corp.’s (SMPC) coal trader accreditation, but maintained the latter’s liability for violating a department circular. SMPC said Thursday it received a copy of a DOE resolution dated March 16, 2021, which modified the agency’s October 15, 2019 decision. The amended order basically lowered the fine imposed on SMPC to

P610,000 from P1,735,000. “Affirming SMPC’s liability of Section 3 of Department Circular 2012-05-0006 and ordering it to pay the corresponding fine therefore in the amount of P610,000,00,” the

amended order read. Also, the DOE removed the penalty of one-month suspension. Instead, the DOE issued a warning that SMPC “should exercise more prudence and care in conducting its coal trading related transactions in order to avoid similar issues and cases in the future.” The DOE said SMPC was liable for violation of Section 3 of DOE circular, due to the coal trading it had engaged in with coal trader Gold Anchorage. SMPC filed a motion for reconsideration upon the issuance of the DOE’s October 2019 decision. It then continued with its coal trading activities, saying it had to proceed to honor its coal supply commitments to customers. The questioned coal trading activity occurred on May 23, 2019 when

SMPC reportedly supplied 4,768.73 metric tons of Semirara coal to Gold Anchorage. SMPC claimed that Gold Anchorage had given its assurances to it that it has accordingly submitted and applied for a coal accreditation certificate with the DOE. The company said earlier that it is setting aside P4 billion for its capital expenditure (capex) program this year after it deferred last year’s capex due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its business. Of the P4 billion, SMPC will utilize P2.9 billion to purchase mining and support equipment for the coal business. The rest will be split between Sem-Calaca Power Corp. and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. for their preventive and maintenance programs.

PPA to remit ₧3.54B to national govt By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

he Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will remit P3.54 billion to the national government to help it in its Covid-19 response initiatives, the chief of the port regulatory body said on Thursday. Jay Daniel R. Santiago, the general manager of the PPA, said the amount represents 56 percent of the stateowned agency’s net income, about the 50-percent minimum dividend remittance as mandated by law. “We anticipate that the fight against this global health emergency is a long and winding road. As a response, we are increasing our dividend to P3.541 billion representing 56 percent of PPA’s 2020 net income to help the government in its fight against Covid-19,” he said. For his part, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the dividend remittance will enable the government to procure vaccines,

while also providing assistance to vulnerable sectors. “The decision of the PPA to increase the amount of its dividend remittance to the Bureau of the Treasury is a shining example of Bayanihan spirit. Dividend remittances from government agencies help sustain the government’s efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19,” he said. Last year, the port regulator recorded a 16-percent drop in profits to P6.14 billion from the year prior, but the figure is above its target of P5.56 billion. Over the past few years, the PPA has always been among the topperforming transport sub-agencies, booking growth rates beyond its targets. The pandemic has slowed this down, and the port authority forecasts that traffic in Philippine ports will not return to pre-pandemic levels through 2023. However, the group forecasts “conservatively optimistic” growth rates for cargo and passenger vol-

EDC taps GreenFire to retrofit geothermal wells in Leyte plant

nergy Development Corp. (EDC) has tapped US-based GreenFire Energy Inc. to perform a commercial retrofit of the former’s geothermal wells in the Mahanagdong geothermal facility in Leyte. The work involves steam restoration and generation from an idle geothermal well that has not been usable due to the high level of noncondensable gases produced from the well when flowing. GreenFire said it would be able to complete its work in the fourth quarter of this year. “The heat mining system will correct this and meet its surface system pressure requirements once it is installed and commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2021,” GreenFire said. Engr. Liberato S. Virata, senior vice president and head of EDC’s Facilities Operations and Maintenance Group, said the company has been looking at GreenFire Energy’s closed-loop approach to geothermal for some time now. “While we see potential for the technology in large greenfield projects too, we see the fast payback on well retrofits as the easiest way to

start,” said Virata. GreenFire’s GreenLoop technology is a patented, closed-loop geothermal energy system that generates power from geothermal resources where conventional geothermal systems cannot effectively operate, typically due to lack of permeability, water, or pressure. GreenFire Energy and EDC are also working together to analyze other unproductive geothermal wells, and less productive geothermal fields where the potential for using this technology will be of the greatest technical and economic benefit. “Being able to generate steam from our idle geothermal wells that will enable us to supply more of that much needed clean, reliable, stable power that our country needs is all a part of fulfilling EDC’s mission to forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future,” added Virata. The first demonstration of GreenLoop was performed at the Coso KGRA in California, USA in 2019 and showed that GreenLoop can retrofit unproductive or idle geothermal wells and run successfully at field-scale. Lenie Lectura

umes from 2021 to 2023, as the effects of pandemic are expected to drag on in the next three years. For cargo, the port authority expects volumes to increase to 246.70 million metric tons (MMT) in 2021, to 249.17 MMT the following year, and 256.29 MMT by 2023. This is still 4-percent lower than the pre-pandemic cargo volume of 266.42 MMT in 2019, but is 11-per-

mutual funds

cent higher than the 2020 cargo volume. 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. March 25, 2021

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 208.33 28.54% -9.05% -4.06% -8.31% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.2373 53.15% -8.12% 0.99% -5.77% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.8503 29.84% -13.25% -6.27% -9.02% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7324 31.44% -8.58% n.a. -8.89% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6559 14.49% n.a. n.a. -11.56% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.5554 29.57% -6.97% -2.72% -7.81% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6597 21.51% -10.77% -7.61% -13.17% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 96.76 56.87% -5.29% n.a. -5.08% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 42.7561 35.24% -6.99% -2.79% -8.73% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 448.1 29.73% -6.85% -3.27% -8.36% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 1.0061 39.1% n.a. n.a. -8.31% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.0836 30.22% -6.73% -2.24% -7.24% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 31.9797 31.16% -6.78% -1.83% -8.02% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8312 32.95% n.a. n.a. -8.96% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.3774 35.62% -6.71% -2.1% -8.64% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 732.16 36.2% -6.61% -2.23% -8.67% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.6603 29.37% -10.5% -5.72% -8.15% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.3165 28.81% -8.66% -3.57% -8.48% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8371 35.54% -6.94% -2.34% -8.78% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.0758 31.75% -5.86% -1.08% -7.33% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 98.2406 36.34% -6.39% -1.56% -8.66% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.2507 62.13% 3.04% 8.34% 3.97% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.6868 69.75% 9.1% n.a. 0.84% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.6188 17.89% -3.15% -1.56% -2.98% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.1473 20.34% -3.31% -0.79% -6.04% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.4847 16.74% -2.54% -1.44% -5.42% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1867 14.26% n.a. n.a. -5.99% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8924 12.84% -0.54% 0.5% -3.65% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.5391 19.44% -1.83% -0.76% -6.57% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.8704 18.4% -1.75% -0.75% -6.3% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.9893 10.99% -2.87% -0.65% -5% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.3671 17.77% -4.36% -1.88% -5.77% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9455 19.25% n.a. n.a. -7.54% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8648 28.98% n.a. n.a. -8.89% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.849 30.15% n.a. n.a. -9.01% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.831 23.9% -5.27% -2.5% -6.39% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03814 5.71% 2.59% 1.42% -2.51% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.1272 38.44% 1.49% 4.81% -2% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.5339 49% 6.86% 8.2% 0.47% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1847 27.63% 3.39% n.a. -1.45% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 369.75 2.56% 3.07% 2.56% -0.36% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9066 -0.32% 0.75% 0.27% 0.33% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2172 2.43% 4.13% 4.56% 0.08% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2411 0.32% 2.09% 1.61% -2.39% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.422 3.49% 3.04% 1.73% -1.27% 1.9% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.4334 3.6% 3.7% -4.34% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3141 5.62% 4.17% 2.57% -0.54% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.946 5.6% 4.16% 2.53% -1.38% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0173 8.88% 3.88% 1.85% -2.37% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1588 4.13% 4.52% 2.74% -1.47% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7237 2.53% 3.79% 2.09% -1.78% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $482.14 2.5% 2.91% 2.45% -0.36% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є219.47 0.78% 1.1% 1.21% 0.13% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1863 10.54% 2.01% 1.35% -7.35% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0258 4.88% 1.33% 0.96% -3.01% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0564 1.29% 0.38% -0.46% -3.32% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4682 9.06% 4.16% 2.29% -2.66% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0625014 5.61% 3.22% 2.22% 0.29% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1117 4.17% 1.94% 1.03% -3.47% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.83 2.56% 3.21% 2.52% 0.02% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0496 1.58% n.a. n.a. 0.14% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.3005 2.12% 2.91% 2.59% 0.3% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.055 1.5% 1.76% n.a. 0.25% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.1942 n.a. n.a. n.a. 5.72% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.98 20.99% 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."

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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Bill giving Duterte power to halt SSS rate hike OK’d By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

EMEDIAL legislation granting President Duterte the authority to suspend increases in contribution of members of the Social Security System (SSS) inched closer to enactment after the Senate ratified late Wednesday a bicameral conference committee report endorsing the final version of the bill. The SSS leadership had warned earlier that halting the scheduled premium contribution rate hikes this year, as mandated by law, would substantially curtail the system’s capacity to service members. In congressional hearings, officials cited data showing the many times SSS pensions were increased versus the minimal instances that contribution rates were raised. However, lawmakers and labor groups said implementing the premium rate hike in the pandemic, when millions of workers lost their jobs as businesses shuttered, is untenable. As provided in the soon-to-be-law, the President may suspend for six

months the scheduled SSS contribution rate hike if the country is under a state of calamity. The remedial legislation also provides the President with an option to extend the suspension period. But the legislation also provided that before doing so, the Chief Executive must consult the Secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF), who also sits as exofficio chairman of the SSS. Once enacted into law, the President may suspend any increase in SSS contribution rate this year. As provided in the Social Security Act, SSS contribution rates were adjusted to 13 percent this year from 12 percent the previous year, as provided in the law allowing upward rate adjustments every two years until 2025. According to Senators Emmanuel Jose Joel Villanueva and Richard J. Gordon, co-sponsors of the remedial legislation, its early enactment into law will lighten the burden of both workers and their employers, projecting that SSS is here to stay given its steady source of funding.

Hike in pension of MUPs sought by House leaders

HE leadership of the House of Representatives on Thursday filed a bill providing for P54.6 billion supplemental budget this year to augment the Pension and Gratuity Fund (PGF) for retired military and uniformed personnel (MUP) in government. House Bill (HB) 9149 was filed by Speaker Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco, Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, Committee on Appropriations Chairman and ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Eric G. Yap, and Minority Leader Joseph Stephen S. Paduano. Velasco said the amount will be used for the payment of pension arrears of retired MUP of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), as well as the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria). “The passage of this supplemental budget will ensure the final settlement of the long-overdue pension differential of retired MUPs, who have faithfully served the country while they were on active duty,” Velasco said. Under the bill, the sum of P54.6 billion will be allocated out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise

appropriated, as additional funding and budgetary requirements for 2021 national budget. The amount shall be released by the Department of Budget and Management to the Department of National Defense for the AFP; Department of the Interior and Local Government for the PNP, BFP and BJMP; Department of Transporation for the PCG; and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for Namria, “in accordance with budgeting, accounting and auditing laws, rules and regulations.” In 2018, Congress passed Joint Resolution 1 authorizing the increase in base pay of MUP in government. President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the joint resolution in recognition of the critical role of MUP in maintaining national security and peace and order and their exposure to high-risk environments in the performance of duty. The joint resolution also suspends the indexation of the pension of retired MUP with the base pay increase of those in the active service. The suspension was lifted on January 1, 2019, resulting in the 2018 pension differential. The 2018 pension differentials for MUP remain outstanding as of the current fiscal year. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Friday, March 26, 2021 B3

Govt to lose ₧60M annually on lower rice-import tariffs

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

T a time it is scrounging for funds, the Philippine government stands to lose P60 million (about $1.24 million) in revenue every year if it decides to lower the tariffs for rice imports outside the Asean region to 35 percent. The Tariff Commission said so in its investigation report, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror. The Tariff Commission reported their findings during the February 24 meeting of the Cabinet-level Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM). A person familiar with the matter informed the BusinessMirror it was during this meeting when the body that advises the President on international economic issues agreed to recommend the 1-year reduction of tariffs for in-quota and out-quota rice imports outside the Association

of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). In its presentation, the Tariff Commission said estimated foregone revenue on importations from India, Pakistan and other non-Asean sources is approximately P60 million every year if the most favored nation (MFN) tariff rates on rice are reduced to 35 percent. According to another source who was present during the CTRM meeting, India and Pakistan were highlighted because they are “major rice suppliers.” At present, rice imports within the minimum access volume (MAV) or in-quota are slapped with 40-per-

cent tariff while those outside the MAV are levied with 50-percent tariff. “Imports from Pakistan would account [for] 57-percent of revenue foregone while imports from India would account for three percent,” the Tariff Commission said in its report. Of the total estimated foregone revenue of P59.96 million, P34.19 million would come from rice imports from Pakistan, P23.91 million from other MFN countries and P1.86 million from rice imports from India. The Tariff Commission believes the tariff reduction of rice imports to 35 percent could lead to lowering rice prices as this move would translate to cost savings. “Based on available data, importing rice is a profitable business with estimated profit margins of at least 20 percent. If tariffs are reduced to 35 percent, [the Commission] estimates cost savings of at least three percent,” the Commission said in its report. “These savings can be retained by traders as additional profits or passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices.” The Department of Agriculture (DA) earlier said the move to lower

the MFN tariff on rice imports to 35 percent was aimed at expanding the options of traders for sources of rice imports. The CTRM is chaired by the Trade and Industry Secretary and co-chaired by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Director General. Its members include the Executive Secretary, the Secretaries of Agriculture, Budget and Management, Labor and Employment, Agrarian Reform, Finance, Foreign Affairs and Environment and Natural Resources. The Central Bank governor and the chairman of the Tariff Commission are also part of the CTRM. Under existing laws, the Commission is mandated to conduct investigations on tariff adjustments. It submits a recommendation to the Neda, which subsequently makes its final recommendation to the President to issue an executive order (EO) to modify tariffs. However, the power of the President to modify tariff rates is only in effect when Congress is not in session. Congress is currently in session and would only be in recess starting tomorrow, March 27.

DBP earnings shrank on loan-loss provisions, high opex

EIGHTENED loan-loss provision and higher operating expenses shrunk the net income of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) by 30 percent last year. DBP Executive Vice President for Corporate Services Marietta M. Fondevilla said in a statement on Thursday that the state-owned bank’s profits reached P3.9 billion last year, which is lower than the P5.60 billion it booked in 2019. Still, Fondevilla noted that gross margin as of end-December 2020 improved by 5 percent to P20.91 billion from P19.9 billion year-on-year. “DBP’s financial standing mirrors the general trend in the industry as majority of the banks amplified actions in ensuring ample reserves to cover probable losses as a result of

dwindling economic activity,” she added Fondevilla, who is also concurrent head of operations of the DBP. DBP President and CEO Emmanuel G. Herbosa shared that the bank’s total assets stood at P1.04 trillion as of end-2020. This shows a 37-percent surge from P761.24 billion in 2019. Herbosa attributed the now 1 trillion-peso bank’s achievement to the double-digit growth in deposits and investments. DBP registered deposits of P817.9 billion in 2020, which is 47.6-percent higher than P554.18 billion in 2019. Investments soared by 26 percent to P260.1 billion for the period from P206.57 billion year-on-year. “DBP’s latest milestone manifests the public’s continued confidence in DBP as a strong, stable and reliable financial institution,” Herbosa said.

“We are emboldened by the fact that the bank was able to achieve this feat two years earlier than our projected timeline and despite the constraints of the prevailing public health crisis.” Last year, the bank’s loan portfolio grew by 19 percent to P423.32 billion from P356.75 billion in 2019. Majority of the lending funds were extended to critical sectors and industries severely impacted by the pandemic-induced economic slump, Herbosa said. Bulk or 53.4 percent of the borrowings, amounting to P225.9 billion, went to infrastructure and logistics. Meanwhile, the bank provided loans to social services and community development amounting to P78.9 billion; environmental projects, P44.8-billion; and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),

P32.8-billion. “We remain committed to the collective and purposive efforts of the National Government to bolster resiliency and carve a steady path to recovery and growth especially of our traditional customer segments,” Herbosa said. The bank last month sought to increase its authorized capital to P100 billion to boost borrowing funds for pandemic-hit sectors. This is nearly triple its current P35 billion in the books. This year, DBP is eyeing to finance P314.547-billion worth of loans to key sectors, including the infrastructure and logistics sector; social services; and environmental projects such as renewable energy resources, public water systems and waste management, among others. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Bill increasing depositor insurance gets House OK The State of Associations: Australia By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

HE House of Representatives on Thursday approved on third and final reading a measure empowering the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) to increase the maximum deposit insurance coverage (MDIC). Voting 185-6-1, lawmakers approved House Bill (HB) 8818 grants the PDIC the power to increase the MDIC to amount indexed to inflation or other economic indicators, subject to review and/or adjustment every three years. The bill will be transmitted to the Senate for its own deliberations. Currently, the MDIC has stood at only up to P500,000 per depositor per bank. Under HB 8818, the state-run deposit insurer will become an attached agency of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. It also empowers the PDIC to issue rules and establish separate insurance funds and insurance arrangements or structures, taking into consideration the peculiar characteristics of islamic banking and other deposit products as defined by the BSP. The bill also designates PDIC as statutory receiver of BSP-supervised non-bank instiutions with deposits or products covered by deposit insurance. The measure restricts the power

to conduct bank examination to cases where there is a finding of fraud or unsafe or unsound banking related to deposit taking or a failure of corrective action, such action by PDIC is deemed approriate and necessary by BSP. It also clarifies the applicability of Repubic Act 7656 or the Dividend Law by defining what constitutes income from other sources. It also removes from the PDIC the power to issue cease-and-desist orders pertaining to deposit-related unsafe and unsound banking, which power shall be vested with BSP. House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries Chairman Junie E. Cua, principal author of the proposal, said HB 8818 will also strengthen the regularoty framework of PDIC and to promote and safeguard the interests of the depositing public by providing insurance coverage on all insured deposits and helping maintain a sound and stable banking system. In explaning his “no” vote, House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate said the bill only demotes the PDIC to a mere attached agency to the BSP and “yet expands its powers and indirectly amends” the Bank Deposits Secrecy Law. “Without the presentation of an evaluation report that would warrant a demotion, the proposed bill relegated PDIC as an attached agency to the BSP. Upon the mere determination

of the BSP of unsafe, unsound and unlawful banking practices, the BSP bestowed upon itself in the charter of the PDIC, the power to examine and investigate bank records,” Zarate said. “This was an authority exclusive to the PDIC but is already with the BSP.” While also relegating the PDIC to a mere agency of the BSP, he said it expands PDIC’s authority to examine bank records that are used to be limited to cases due to capital deficiency. “With the proposed amendment, the examination and investigations shall now include cases where the BSP finds fraud, unsafe or unsound banking,” he said. “Whenever the BSP deems it appropriate and necessary such as when there is a finding of fraud or unsafe or unsound banking, related to deposit-taking, it will have the power to examine the records, books of accounts and require information and reports from depository institutions,” he added. Once enacted, Zarate said the confidential nature of bank deposits are no longer effectual. “Finally, I hope this would not result in the downsizing of employees in the PDIC. It would really be an upsetting situation if the demotion of a financially and administratively autonomous instrumentality would result in the streamlining of human resources, considering that the unemployment rate has been increasing due to the pandemic,” he added.

EING affiliated with the AsiaPacific Federation of Association Organizations (APFAO), I was invited by the Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) to the recent launch of its “Association Insiders” webinar series. AuSAE is the premier not-for-profit professional society representing over 10,000 individual leaders working in associations in Australia and New Zealand. The new series features monthly interviews with association leaders who will share their insights, experiences, and real-world stories from their own organizations. Kicking off the series was a panel discussion on the “State of Associations.” The high-level panel was composed of the following: Graham Catt, CEO of the Canberra Business Chamber; Megan Motto, CEO of Governance Institute of Australia; Andrew Hiebl, CEO of the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux; and, John Winter, CEO and Company Secretary of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association. Toni Brearley, CEO of AuSAE, moderated the discussion. Here are some takeaways I got from the panel discussion which resonate with local associations: 1. What was 2020 to you? The panel was unanimous that 2020 was a year of experimentation: work from home, operational digitalization, virtual meetings, webinars and everything “e” (e-documents, e-contracts, e-signature, e-regulations).

Association World Octavio Peralta It was also about engaging more with the government and communicating advocacies better. Membership in some instances became ‘transactional’ because of the inability to meet in person. Financial uncertainty also set in as revenues dipped and/or have been impaired due to cancellation of face-to-face events, decrease in sponsorships, and slow remittance of membership dues. 2. Is your membership model ‘fit for purpose’? The panel covered many aspects in this regard. They cited that volunteering will stay and, in fact, will get stronger. There will be a balancing act on serving members’ needs versus the existence of the association. More and more, associations will be looking at efficiency at all levels. A focus on the balance sheet is inevitable. Segmentation of the market will be based on technologies. Collaboration will be a strategy (and not to be perceived as opportunism) as well as mergers and acquisitions will increase. Questions like these need to be answered: Is my purpose still relevant? Where will I be next versus where am I now? What are

members going through? What do they need? 3. What were lessons learned? There were many enumerated here. Professionalization and good governance are being gauged through the lens of performance. Embedding behavioral change and intergenerational personalization are a must. Relationships between the board members, the chair and the chief executive need to improve further. New skill sets need to be developed for virtual meetings, e.g., body language and facial expressions visible only in face-to-face meetings. Associations need not operate in silos. Financial reserves are critical during uncertainty. Virtual and hybrid events will be here to stay. Associations not only in Australia have been impacted by the pandemic in many more ways than one. This has been a universal phenomenon. Those that have adapted early and quickly have survived and thrived during this sudden and unprecedented crisis. The column contributor, Octavio ‘Bobby’ Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific, Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives and President of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations. The purpose of PCAAE— the “association of associations”—is to advance the association management profession and to make associations well-governed and sustainable. PCAAE enjoys the support of Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the Philippine International Convention Center. E-mail: obp@adfiap.org.

Friday, March 26, 2021 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

Relationships BusinessMirror

That feeling of dread

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Today’s Horoscope By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Keira Knightley, 36; Keith Diamond, 59; Martin Short, 71; Steven Tyler, 73.

IMAGE FROM HAPPIFUL

Happy Birthday: Make adjustments to the way you work or how you earn your living. Strive for efficiency, and it will buy you time to work on projects that excite you. Put together a schedule focused on health, fitness, personal growth and being the best you can be. Let your intuition guide you in a direction that offers peace of mind. Your numbers are 6, 10, 22, 26, 33, 38, 46.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Finish what you start before moving on to something more enjoyable. Choose your words wisely when dealing with a friend or relative. An argument will ruin a perfect day if you choose discord over peace and love. HHH

VERYDAY, I wake up with a silent prayer on my lips that I’ve woken up to another new day. Most times, the day progresses quite routinely: I have lunch, then take my homebrewed cup of coffee (sometimes with dessert), then prop myself in front of my iMac, and start typing out the day’s stories for the paper. If there was a virtual presser that was clear enough for everyone to see and hear, the words just flow rapidly from my fingers. On some days, more interviews on a topic or the big issue of the moment need to be done, and I either call up sources to interview them, or if they’re hostaged by their Zoom meetings, we talk via Viber or text messaging. There are a few stops as I quickly glance through my Twitter feed or at the TV for current affairs or any news just to make sure the world hasn’t been blown up yet by some egocentric maniac. After I turn in my work, and if there are no pressing errands (like a quick trip to the neighborhood drug store to refill my maintenance meds, or to the community talipapa for my fruits and veggies), I breathe a sigh of relief and then plop my bottom firmly on the sofa. I quickly surf through the different cable TV channels for some entertainment, or if nothing interesting is on there, switch to the streaming services to which I’ve subscribed. There are breaks to take calls from friends, and the messaging on Viber or Facebook have become more frequent, with discussions—usually idle chitchat on the latest who’s-who are bumping and grinding—but lately mostly centering on political issues, vaccination problems, and a general discontent with the way things are being run in the government. After all is said, and the day is done, it’s off to sleep listening to calming bedtime stories of Matthew McConaughey, Idris Alba and Stephen Fry, with a blackout mask firmly planted over my eyes. I’ve read stories in the New York Times and other media outlets on the terrible toll the pandemic isolation has taken on people’s mental health. So sometimes, my friends and I chat about this, and what kind of difficulties they’ve been facing recently (mainly the agony of relearning basic school subjects to help their kids in their online classes). But a few have confessed to short escapes from their children by having a walk around the village, or going to the supermarket. They often ask me how I am because they know I live away from Big Sister and her family, and my other nieces and nephew. I love them for the concern they’ve shown me, and the food and other ayuda they send me. Super thanks, super friends. I tell them that generally, I’ve taken to this pandemic lockdowns like duck to water. Even before Covid-19, I’ve been working from home except for the times I had to attend onsite press conferences, launch events, and lunches or dinners with family and friends. So I often respond that I’m okay. Have had no mental health issues, I tell them. (I have the Golden Girls to keep me company!) Or so I thought. Lately, however, I’ve been having brief bouts of unexplained weeping while taking a bath, or just sitting on the couch, working my online scrabble. Once I caught myself bursting into tears while doing, of all things, my laundry. Then another time, it was

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Make a change because you want to, not because you are emotional or angry at someone. Look for a positive way to make your home more comfortable and your relationship with someone special better. A positive attitude will bring the best results. HHHHH

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Tempers will surface if you spend too much time with someone who is critical or if you focus on what’s not working instead of what you can accomplish. The decisions you make will determine the outcome. Personal growth is encouraged. HH

while attending Sunday TV Mass online. (Yes, pretty much like that scene in Home for the Holidays, where Holly Hunter is sitting in bed and suddenly starts crying for some yet unknown reason.) Self-analyzing, I realized that this started happening when the surge of Covid cases was first announced. And the numbers kept rising...the highest at 8,019 cases on Monday. Almost half of the seating capacity of Araneta Coliseum when watching a basketball game. And there seems to be no real, concrete, workable plan to vaccinate us. The other day, I woke up and started sneezing. While during normal times I would have just ascribed it to my allergic rhinitis, I immediately plopped a potato chip in my mouth to see if I could taste it. (I could, so, yes, it’s just another case of allergic rhinitis, which is common this time of the year.) Then just this Tuesday, I felt like I had a general case of the bleahs, and grabbed the thermometer to check if I had a fever. (No, I didn’t. And I could still smell things and taste my food, thank God.) But while I was taking my temperature, I was furiously counting the days when I last saw the girls at lunch, and when the handyman was last in my home to make some repairs. Still, I’ve been drinking paracetamol every six hours to keep any fever at bay caused by godknowswhatever virus, and a 3-mg melatonin tablet, which medical studies show some promise in preventing and in higher doses, treating Covid. Obviously, these are all symptoms of some deeprooted fear of the unknown. It’s dread over how this Covid story is going to end for all of us. I cry-pray more frequently that the Lord somehow enlightens our country’s leaders to help the nation which now seems at its lowest point, and beg Him to continue to protect me and my family from this hateful virus. Soon after the first lockdown in March 16 last year, I often joked with my friends, “See you after Christmas!” because I suspected government inefficiencies would be unable to halt the spread of the virus. So right up until January, I guess I was still fine. Then February came and went; I spent my birthday alone although there were the reliable warm greets from friends and family on social media and messaging apps, while a series of gifts and birthday food was delivered to me. Then we came to one-year anniversary of the first lockdown. It has been exactly a year since I was with my family, physically and in person. All other countries have been rolling out vaccines for their citizens, while we’re still stuck at home, in yet

another two-week lockdown, with no apparent clear thinking from our leaders forthcoming. We can’t feel their empathy to our plight. So far, the few vaccines that have arrived have been jabbed into our health workers, and a number of local government officials who have jumped the line ahead of senior citizens and people with co-morbidities. If our leaders would only read the social-media posts, they will realize how much more vicious and angry the people now are. Even their usual defenders have called it quits and have begun appealing for more competent people to take charge of the anti-Covid program. And as we read and watch all these exchanges between defensive government officials and their critics, it feels like the light at the end of that long tunnel to a better normal after Covid is dimming. Yeah, now you’re crying, too. n

Sing, racism: The invisible, invincible jazz divas Continued from B5 that we became aware of a gift that was not upperclass but who gives a damn. Nina Simone gave a damn. She has a song called “Mississippi Goddamn,” and some lines go: “I can’t stand the pressure much longer/Somebody say a prayer/ Alabama’s gotten me so upset/Tennessee made me lose my rest/And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam.” Nina sings of segregation, of children in jail. This jazz does not sing but rants! Which brings us back to the United States against Billie Holiday. In literature and in documentaries, it is revealed that it was not just her drug use that troubled the government but her song “Strange Fruit,” which goes: “Southern trees bear a strange fruit/Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze/ Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees/Pastoral scene of the gallant South/The bulgin’ eyes and the twisted mouth/ Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh/Then the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh....” Think of Billie Holiday—ethereal, sad, sensual in her silvery gown, the magnolia fresh on her hair— moaning in deep despair, singing of lynching. n

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take note of what others are doing, and consider what you can do to improve your life. A chance to do things differently will help you stand out. Update documents, and you’ll find a loophole that will save money. HHHH

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Pay more attention to what you are doing and how you present yourself and less to what others are doing. It’s better to look for opportunities by yourself than to try to make what someone else is doing work for you. HHH

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Let your feelings dictate what you decide to do. If you follow your heart, you will discover the best way to use your skills to reach your objective. Refuse to let anyone goad you into an argument. Maintain integrity and discretion. HHH

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Look for safe ways to get out and enjoy the fresh air. Spending time in nature will encourage you to live a healthy lifestyle. Get into a routine that offers exercise, a proper diet and spending quality time with someone you love. HHH

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You’ll get a chance to change your environment, but don’t go overboard financially. You want to lower your stress, not escalate your troubles and worries. Look at ways to cut corners, and it will help you stay within budget. HHHH

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Monitor what others do or say. Someone will misinterpret what you say if you aren’t articulate. Leave nothing to chance, and you’ll outdo anyone who tries to come between you and what you are working so hard to achieve. HH

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Take a different approach to the way you handle money, and you’ll find a way to save. A post that interests you will cause you to question your relationship with someone. Go directly to the source if you want the truth. HHHHH

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Clear a workout space and get moving. Fitness and exercise will give you the boost you need to start new projects. Give your home a facelift, and host a virtual gathering with your friends or relatives. HHH

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): An emotional situation will be eye-opening. Don’t get upset when something goes wrong; use your anger to motivate you to change. Your happiness depends on the decisions you make. HHH Birthday Baby: You are systematic, insightful and unique. You are helpful and kind.

‘palindromic pointers’ by jennifer marra The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 ___ of the tongue 5 They’re above abs 9 Ships’ landing sites 14 Sheet of stamps or glass 15 Volunteer’s words 16 Rural’s opposite 17 Congratulatory lead-in to “girl” 18 Actress Chaplin 19 San Antonio battle site 20 Advice for someone visiting a kennel? 23 Get hitched hastily 24 Call from behind the deli counter 25 Broke a fast 28 Judge to be 30 Rider of the dragon Saphira 32 Doctor’s org. 35 Advice for a bard who’s frightened by Pictionary? 38 ___ party (fraternity event) 40 Shaggy Tibetan beast 41 Prudent 42 Questionable advice for someone in need of money? 47 Silent approval

8 “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” singer Franklin 4 49 Greek counterpart of Mars 51 Driving aid? 52 Little quarrel 55 Reef enclosing a lagoon 58 Advice for someone crossing the street, and a theme hint 61 Origami need 64 Indian flatbread 65 Let fly 66 Wedding destination? 67 Burst ___ the scene 68 Song a diva memorizes 69 Private journal 70 Illuminating gas 71 Mediator’s strong suit DOWN 1 Beauty spots? 2 Cappuccino alternative 3 Spy’s info 4 Stir-fry bit 5 Lewis or Clark 6 Subj. with supply curves 7 Important book group? 8 Hogwarts potions professor 9 Due doubled

0 Many start with http:// 1 11 Org. that promotes pro bono work 12 Verb for Popeye 13 ___-cone 21 Column with an angle 22 Corp. bigwig 25 Delighted toddler’s demand 26 Anatomical section within “doctor’s office” 27 Open-___ question 29 Club spread 31 Reaction to a puppy 32 Opportunity to hit 33 Roger who played 007 34 Concur 36 Card game of chance 37 Gumbo vegetable 39 Part of MOMA 43 Casual apology 44 D.C. paper 45 Keynote address, e.g. 46 Little Women woman 50 “Who cares?” 53 Ohio city known for rubber 54 Prized cut of steak 56 ___ Ingalls Wilder (Little House on

the Prairie author) 57 Earworm segment? 58 Shakespearean father of three 59 Name that sounds like a vehicle 60 Venetian blind strip 61 Paw part 62 Comedian Wong 63 Org. for moms and dads Solution to Wednesday’s puzzle:

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Show BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Friday, March 26, 2021

Sing, racism: The invisible, invincible jazz divas CLOCKWISE: Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Nina Simone

EOPLE are talking about this new Billie Holiday. We do not mean another jazz great because there could only be one Miss Holiday. The buzz is about this new biofilm of Billie and it carries the title The United States vs. Billie Holiday. In the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues, which starred Diana Ross and was directed by Sidney J. Furie, the narrative centered on Billie dominated by the drug addiction and the bad decisions she made. Vincent Canby of the New York Times says of the film: “How is it possible for a movie that is otherwise so dreadful to contain such a singularly attractive performance in the title role?” How dreadful the depiction of the life of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, inventors of jazz singing is foretold by its poster: an elegantly gloved hand raised to an insouciant toast, a handcuff dangling from the elegant pose. Now comes this film where Billie Holiday’s life is told from the point of view of a drug war racialized. And it has to be a state against an artist. Based on the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari and directed by Lee Daniels, the film stars Andra Day in the title role. The poster screams politics. Above the face of Day, the face half covered by a microphone, is the line: Her voice will not be silenced. Writing for Variety, Owen Gleiberman noted Andra Day’s performance with these words: “In this sprawling, lacerating, but at times emotionally wayward biopic set during the last decade of Holiday’s life, Day gives Billie a voice of pearly splendor that, over time, turns raspy and hard….” The fact is the presence of these so-called jazz divas in the period of racial unrest has always posed a question about their personality, genius and vocal style. A brilliant documentary from the BBC available on YouTube talks about Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Nina Simone and, surprisingly but with due respect to her name, Peggy Lee. The latter is the sole white singer in this royal parade. Jazz luminaries from Annie Ross (who knew Billie Holiday up close) and Madeline Peyroux, whose sound seems a tribute to Holiday, and instrumentalists speak of this generation of singers beyond compare. They are attractive, the narrator says, because we may never see their likes again anytime now nor in the future. Billie, Ella, Sarah, Nina—they were “creatures of troubled times.” The breathtaking footages showing them singing drives home the point how each one of them is

different from the other. While they may have had influences, when we listen to them, we hear the singular style each had forged. Ella Fitzgerald, for example, would always be quoted saying she always wanted to sound like Connee Boswell, but Ella, for fans and enthusiasts, became ELLA—the voice a velvet splendor, the rhythm as organic as the heartbeat. (As a footnote, Connee Boswell was a white crooner whose version of “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams” has inspired disparate singers from Leslie Cheung to Marianne Faithful to adapt her old arrangement.) Billie Holiday, in her biography, recited her influences from the big sound of Bessie Smith to that of Louie Armstrong. This is where the documentary veers and become more than a memory of clubs or speakeasies. All these jazz divas or royalties were born in the crucial times of racial segregation and where White America constantly reminded the non-blacks of their rightful position in the supposedly supreme “white” society. They may have been royalties—Sarah, Ella, Billie—but each time they ventured into the real world, they were reminded that the world was divided into areas where one was designated for “Colored.” Onstage, they were luminous, an extension

of Hollywood glamor; offstage, they were viewed as descended from slaves. The case of Billie Holiday has baffled fans. Could we separate the singer from her life? There were critics who went as far as to say that the quirkily unique inflection of Billie Holiday was no more a work of art than it was a result of drug use—that a voice, which reeked of long nights of whisky, was not a mere modifier but an admission about how alcohol can produce a vocal style. The hurt and rasp in Billie Holiday’s voice was also seen a result of her own sad, bad life. What about Ella’s voice? She is all cotton, suede and a wisp of smoke. Did she have an easy life that could correlate her jazz with said happiness? It appears that all black singers, the documentary claims, got it bad and, as the song goes, it ain’t good. This makes the profile of Ella even more daunting. She had a tough life. Her world was the blues, and yet she came out with a singing that even up to now has become the model for While Woman singing. All sheen and all glam. Except when she scatted and came up with all the guttural sounds to match the trombone and clarinet

CONTINUED ON B4

How to enjoy ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ NO matter what I write about Zack Snyder’s Justice League, I know that nothing has stopped or will stop you from watching the four-hour reimagining of the much-maligned superhero extravaganza that was originally released years ago. So instead of posting a review, I’d just write about the differences of the Snyder cut against the original release. First of all, the backstories. We now got a clearer understanding of the characters as the so-called Snyder Cut features the introduction of Cyborg’s mother, Elinore Stone; the love interest of The Flash; the appearance of Vulko, and how it deepened Aquaman’s arc; and a more emotional arc between Lois Lane and Superman. Then there’s never-before-seen existing footage for die-hard fans of the comics that include the Martian Manhunter, as well as extended scenes of Deathstroke and Ryan Choi. Then there’s that—spoiler alert— revelation that Steppenwolf was just working for apocalyptic god Dark Seid. Oooh...there’s also a Jared Leto appearance as Joker too. Then there’s the Snyder Cut being divided into six chapters, including a special epilogue which provided an easier viewing experience and a new musical score by Junkie XL. Indeed, the Snyder Cut is a level-up of the original Justice League. For your information, Zack Snyder’s Justice League arrived in the Philippines on HBO GO via SkyCable (the HBO GO plans can go as low as P99 a month, while Sky Fiber subscribers, on the other hand, can subscribe at P149/month).

Speaking of leveling-up, new and existing Sky Fiber subscribers can quickly enhance their productivity and lifestyle in the new normal when they maximize Sky Fiber’s leveled-up fiber-fast home Internet subscription plans that are even more affordably priced than before. A P999 monthly fee can now get subscribers up to 20Mbps, a bump up from speeds of 5Mbps or 10Mbps in previous years. To date, this is considered the most affordable postpaid plan in the country. “Subscribers will continue to have broadband plans from Sky that are affordable but at even faster speeds that will entirely meet their needs. Sky Fiber’s Internet plans were designed to assist Filipino households to cope with their combined demand for remote work, e-learning, online entrepreneurship, or content streaming,” said Claudia Suarez, Sky’s Consumer Products Group head. This value-for-money upgrade can also be enjoyed

in the other Sky Fiber unlimited broadband plan options, most notably in its highest speed plan, which was previously only 150Mbps but has now leveled-up to 200Mbps for the same price of P3,499/month. If value-conscious consumers are looking for a plan that is somewhere in between the basic and highest plan, they can opt for Plan 40Mbps which is only priced at P1,499 a month, or Plan 80Mbps which is now within the reach of most pockets for only P1,999 a month. With the recent upgrade, existing Sky Fiber subscribers nationwide also experience an automatic upgrade without the hassles of going through an application process. They just simply have to do a three-minute hard modem reset to enjoy their leveled-up Internet speed. Meanwhile, entertainment-seekers will also be delighted to know that Sky Fiber is also offering unlimited broadband + HD Cable bundle speed plans of up to 120Mbps at best-value. For P2,999 a month, instead of just enjoying a speed of 60Mbps, subscribers can double the fun when they get to smoothly stream online videos with a speed of 120Mbps while also having access to over 60 cable channels. To make the Sky Fiber Super Speed bundle plans an even more economical purchase, they all come with Sky Evo, the newest digibox innovation that offers access to over 190 Skycable channels, 5,000 downloadable apps, and preinstalled content streaming apps, such as iWantTFC, HBO GO, YouTube, Prime Video, and Spotify.

GMA WINS ANOTHER PLATINUM AWARD

MEDIA giant GMA recently received the Platinum Award for the TV Network Category at the 22nd Annual Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands Awards. The Platinum Award is the highest recognition among the trusted brands in the Philippines that are shortlisted in the Reader’s Digest annual event. Earning another accolade in their roster of awards as well were top GMA News figures Jessica Soho and Mike Enriquez. Soho was conferred the Most Trusted TV Host/Presenter for News and Current Affairs category, while Enriquez won as Most Trusted Radio Presenter. “Once more, thank you to Reader’s Digest for this award and the trust. This couldn’t have come at a better time because things are really hard right now, and we all could do with the extra push and inspiration. Thank you for going out of your way to give this out once more, despite all the restrictions and the pandemic. Congratulations to all the winners. God bless all of us,” Soho said during the virtual awarding ceremony. In 2018, Soho received her eighth Most Trusted News Presenter award—earning her the distinction of being the first-ever Hall of Fame awardee for the category. She currently hosts the country’s No. 1 program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho. Enriquez likewise expressed his gratitude upon winning his award. “Thank you very much to the Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand for this award as the Most Trusted Radio Presenter for 2020—a most cherished award. Thank you for the encouragement and inspiration to do even better, and thank you for recognizing our profession,” he said in his acceptance speech. The top GMA News anchor headlines Saksi sa Dobol B on the network’s flagship AM radio station Super Radyo DZBB 594khz. Enriquez is currently the president of RGMA. On TV, he coanchors the network’s flagship newscast 24 Oras and hosts the public affairs program Imbestigador.

B6 Friday, March 26, 2021

PCSO celebrates Women’s Month with ‘Mega Ticket for Juana’

Enactus Philippines gears up for 6th Unilever Topic Competition

NACTUS Philippines will hold its virtual Unilever Topic Competition on March 27, 2021. Five (5) Enactus teams of outstanding university students will present their livelihood programs relevant to the post-COVID-19 environment that addresses COVID-19 pandemic and projects that improve health, well-being, and the lives of people post COVID-19 pandemic. On March 9, Enactus Philippines announced the top ten (10) teams for the Opening Round of Competition. These teams were requested to produce a 77-second video to showcase the impact of their projects. Among the finalists, five (5) teams were shortlisted to compete in the Final Round of Competition on March 23, 2021. The top five (5) teams that will compete in the Final Round of the Unilever Topic Competition on March 27, 2021 are Holy Trinity College of General Santos City (Project GREW or Gas Refinement from Ecological Waste), Lyceum of the Philippines UniversityBatangas (Hygiene Monitoring Badge), Mindanao State University-Main Campus (N'ditarun Tano), University of Luzon (Project WISH or Water-Impounding for Sustainable livelihood and Healing), and University of Southeastern Philippines (Project iProseso - (problem)+(solution). During the Final Round of competition on March 27, the five (5) teams will be evaluated by executives of Unilever Philippines serving as judges for a 5-minute question and answer session. Enactus Philippines Chairman Jose P. Leviste, Jr. said that this collaboration between Enactus and Unilever is

The 1st 50 Juana players who play a minimum of twenty pesos (P20.00) for any lotto games at the PCSO Games Hub located at the PCSO Main Office, Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City will get the free Megalotto ticket. Meanwhile, the 1st 15 lucky Juanas who purchased a minimum of twenty pesos (P20.00) for any Lotto games at the Lotto terminal/s located at all PCSO Branch Offices nationwide will likewise receive the free lotto ticket. GM Royina M. Garma encourages every Juanas to participate on March 29, 2021, and get involved. PCSO has dedicated this day for our heroic women to thank everyone wholeheartedly for being dedicated and bravely facing the pandemic. “PCSO bring not only hope for the poor but we also produce millionaires and change every one’s life. I hope the next millionaire is a brave Juana who will play on March 29”. (By Leila N. Valencia)

Concepcion proposed to direct the private sector vaccine donations to the National Capital Region

both timely and necessary as it provides entrepreneurial and innovative solutions to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Enactus Country Leader Leo G. Dominguez said, "On its sixth year of collaboration, Enactus and Unilever continue to develop the next generation leaders through topic

competitions that foster innovation and entrepreneurship with a special focus this year on solutions that address the COVID-19 pandemic." This competition is sponsored by Unilever North America and supported by Unilever Philippines.

Rural banking breaks barriers with Asenso Mobile APP

HE Rural Bank of Guinobatan, Inc. (RBGI) recently launched the Asenso Mobile APP for the primary purpose of breaking location barriers to reach more people and be able to provide financial services to the needy. The app hopes to provide local business owners easy access to RBGI’s financial services. Clients can easily open and monitor their bank accounts, and receive from or transfer money to other accounts anytime, anywhere, and from any digital device. The first rural banking mobile app in the whole of the Bicol region, this innovation is a fitting match for MSMEs as it will play a significant role in the times to come. Engr. Paulo Honrado, RBGI president and lead visionary whose passion for financial inclusivity, collaboration, and

HE Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) joins the 2021 National Women’s Month Celebration serves as a tribute, a platform, and a call to action that highlights the extraordinary roles of ordinary Juanas in the society as trailblazers and harbingers of change. This celebration is also a venue to discuss and address the issues that women continue to face so empowerment can be fully achieved. The campaign is also a call for concrete, sustainable, and inclusive actions towards gender equality. On March 29, 2021, PCSO will be giving away free P100.00 worth of MegaLotto 6/45 ticket in honoring all women of today as the agent of change by contributing and promoting gender equality. As part of its celebration, PCSO spearhead by the Product & Standard Development Department (PSDD) come up with a project design dubbed as “MEGA TICKET FOR JUANA”: ISANG PASASALAMAT! The objective of this project is to recognize the little acts of women, their achievements, and women empowerment. While everyone is facing unprecedented challenges, PCSO believes that women are the most affected and bearing the brunt of the economic and social fallout brought about by pandemics.

digital transformation sets the direction for the bank’s services and innovations, said. “We are very proud of this product. This is the beginning of a long-term innovation map to transform the lives of the countryside for the years to come.” Rising above the challenges of the pandemic, RBGI pioneered a Bicol rural banking first that highlights features allowing for convenient, smooth, and lowtouch transactions right at one’s fingertips. “The growing smartphone usage even in our locality inspired us to further push and break barriers. Our small towns are ready now more than ever to experience the elevated banking experience that they deserve,” he pointed out. RBGI has been a prominent force in Bicol’s rural banking scene in its 56 years of existence. The last five years

RURAL Bank of Guinobatan pioneers a rural-banking breakthrough with the Asenso Mobile APP, a Bicol rural banking first that aims to uplift Bicolanos with a seamless end to end banking journey.

paved the way for the fruition of the bank’s vision, realizing steady growth in assets and profitability as it posted a 42 percent growth in resources, 77 percent increase in net income, and 40 percent in deposits, solidifying the organization’s stability. In 2003, RBGI started its Microfinance Program, catering to micro-entrepreneurs. The program was designed to address the need of the Philippine low-income and microenterprise sector to gain access to a wide range of financial services, ensuring participation in a growing economy in line with the bank’s vision of being the government’s partner in countryside development. To date, over 11,000 Bicolanos have already benefited from this program, strengthening their capacity to earn a living and build a path out of poverty for themselves and their families. Several partnerships geared towards financial inclusion also came to life under Honrado’s leadership including 4Ps with DSWD wherein they provided over-the-counter service transactions for conditional cash grants. The Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (FEP), in partnership with the Jollibee Group Foundation, was directed at smallholder farmers, empowering them to improve their income by linking them to the supply chain of institutional markets. In 2015, this was supplemented by Entrefarm (Entrepreneurial Farmer Loan) or locally known as the Magsasaka Loan which trained farmers on latest farming technologies, eventually organizing them into agroenterprise cluster for the purpose of consolidating supply and pooling logistics that have direct access to credits as well as broker direct supply with farmer groups and institutional markets. Rural Bank of Guinobatan, Inc. (RBGI) is the leading rural bank in the Bicol region, with four branches spread across Albay and Sorsogon. The Asenso Mobile APP is RBGI’s first mobile banking app, available for Android phone users, and may be downloaded via the Google Playstore. For more information, visit www.rbguinobatan.com

S the country reach another all-time high in daily cases since August, and with the National Capital Region (NCR) as the epicenter of this resurgence of cases, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo Founder, Joey Concepcion, announced that the private sector has decided to focus their vaccine donations to NCR. Concepcion said that he already had a discussion with Secretary Galvez regarding this matter. “We are now seeing a resurgence of cases in the country and the epicenter of these cases is the NCR. Considering the situation and with the arrival of the first batch of our order from AstraZeneca this May and June—half of which would be donated to the government for its frontliners—we are recommending to Secretary Galvez and the whole of our government, together with Tessie Sy-Coson of SM Group and Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation, to direct the 50 percent donation intended for government priority sectors in NCR,” Concepcion forwarded. “We have agreed that we are willing to shoulder the vaccination of our company’s economic frontliners and those under our donation for the government. We, in the private sector, volunteered to donate half of the vaccines to our government frontliners to achieve our common goal of vaccinating the population as fast as possible. In this way, the faster the population would be vaccinated, the faster the economy shall bounce back,” Concepcion added. With the recent statistics from DOH, NCR has 287,360

total cases (by date of onset illness) of COVID-19 as of March 23, 2021. For the last 14 days, it has a record of 38,785 COVID-19 cases while a record of 8,845 reported cases from March 18 to March 23, 2021. As of March 22 data, NCR has topped all the regions with new cases with a total of 4,103 cases, significantly far from the runner up which is CALABARZON with 1,327 new cases. “We have to remain steadfast in our strategy, the T3—Test, Trace and Treat. We really have been stable and we should continue with our targeted testing, proper and serious tracing, and applying appropriate treatment, most especially that the nationwide immunization program of the government has already started,” Concepcion highlighted. “Like what I have been always saying, our nuclear warhead in this war against COVID-19 is the vaccine. All of our initiatives of procuring these vaccines were only possible because of the government’s support. From the time when we volunteered to give half of our procured doses to our government frontliners, we have been hand-in-hand with the government in combating this pandemic. And now with the final stage of this battle, given the conditions of this war, I suggest that our arsenal shall be focused on where most of our enemies are present right now, in NCR. After eliminating this huge threat, it would be easier for us to defeat the smaller enemies that we can find in other regions,” Concepcion strategized.

Mariwasa, Batangas State University forge partnership

SIGNING the partnership MOU are Mariwasa President Jakkrit Suwansilp (3rd from left), Batangas State University President Dr. Tirso Ronquillo (2nd from left), BatStateU Vice President for External Affairs Dr. Kristoffer Conrad M. Tejada (left) and Mariwasa VP for Finance and Admin Emilie Maramag.

ARIWASA Siam Ceramics, Inc. a total home building solutions provider, recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the Batangas State University to strengthen the industry exposure of future members of the workforce by infusing industry-based skills into the curriculum, particularly Ceramics Engineering. Under the industry-academe partnership, signed by Mariwasa President Jakkrit Suwansilp and Batangas State University President Dr. Tirso Ronquillo, the two parties shall promote a dynamic cooperation in the field of Ceramics Engineering, making it possible to cultivate talented and industry-trained graduates by providing hands-on training and real-life simulations to students. The partnership also allows capability-building programs in order to infuse university know-how into the industry operations, while ensuring that students gain practical know-how, and apply theory to practice. “I expect an active and dynamic collaboration between Mariwasa and Batangas State University with this Memorandum of Agreement, a partnership which we hope to nurture with our exchange of expertise and knowledge sharing,” said Suwansilp. Covered in the MOA are the BatStateU faculty and students and Mariwasa staff and personnel, with the former developing the curriculum and outcomes of the academic program, from which the required student trainings and laboratory simulations shall emanate. On the other hand, Mariwasa is tasked with

identifying the capability training needs of its personnel and necessary support in its operations, from which the capability-building program and onthe-job training proposals shall emanate. BatStateU is also expected to provide capability building trainings and transfer of university know-how for Mariwasa in relevant fields of expertise, assigning seasoned professors and resource persons and arranging lectures and presentations for the purpose, based on the training needs as may be provided by Mariwasa, while selecting students who shall be part of laboratory immersion and on-the-job training at Mariwasa, among others. Mariwasa is also tasked to share with BatStateU its facilities for the purpose of laboratory and/or on-the-job training of students; conduct general orientation and briefing for students on Mariwasa policies and safety procedures; ensure that students are free from any form of abuse and or discrimination at the training venue at all times, and are safe through the provision of personal protective equipment as necessary, among others. A pioneer in the construction industry, Mariwasa will be marking its 55th year in the business this June as a total home building solutions provider for Filipinos. It is the Philippines’ largest ceramic tile manufacturer, with products ranging from tiles and sanitary wares, to tile adhesive, skim coat, and other home and building solutions that are available at the leading home depots and tile stores nationwide. Visit mariwasa.com.

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

Sports BusinessMirror

RAMIREZ GUEST OF HONOR IN ONLINE PSA AWARDS NIGHT

CDM Araneta expects a dozen more qualifiers for Tokyo Olympics

Pro chessfest semifinals up

OP seeds Laguna Heroes led the march in the North division while the Iloilo Kinsela Knights towed the roster from the South side heading into the semifinals of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) All-Filipino Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday. Joining the Heroes in the division semifinals were the San Juan Predators, Manila Indios Bravos and the Caloocan Loadmanna Knights. Completing the South cast were the Camarines

Vasek Pospisil stages a tantrum on the court but later apologizes.

By Josef Ramos

T least a dozen more Filipinos could potentially join the six athletes who have already qualified for the Olympics, according to the country’s Chef de Mission to the Tokyo Games Mariano “Nonong” Araneta. “I’m looking at 17 or more Filipino Olympians prior to the June deadline,” Araneta told BusinessMirror on Thursday, adding June is the final month of Olympic qualifiers in various sports. Mariano said he is hopeful on the chances of Kiyomi Watanabe of judo, Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan of golf, Eric Cray and Kristina Knott of athletics, Margielyn Didal of skateboarding and Kim Mangrobang of triathlon. Also in the radar, Araneta said, are Jamie Lim, Joanne Orbon, Ivan Agustin, Sharief Afif, Jason Macaalay, Alwyn Batican and FilipinoJapanese Junna Tsukii is of karatedo. They will vie in the sport’s qualifier in Paris or Istanbul in June. The country could also qualify two compulsory—man and woman— representatives in swimming, Araneta said. Rio 2016 weightlifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz is virtually the country’s seventh qualifier. She only needs to participate in the Asian weightlifting championships in Tashkent next month to officially seal her ticket to the Tokyo games set from July 23 to August 8. Already qualified for the Olympics are boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Irish Magno, Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, gymnast Carlo Yulo and pole vaulter EJ Obiena. Araneta said Petecio and Paalam’s addition to the list of qualifiers boosts to the country’s bid for its first Olympic gold medal. “It’s good we have two additional athletes for the Olympics,” said Araneta, also the Philippine Football Federation president. The two boxers qualified because of their high positions in the boxing world rankings. “Carlo [Paalam], Nesthy [Petecio] I’m sure will prove their worth.”

IAMI—Angry about tennis politics, Vasek Pospisil of Canada staged a tantrum and was docked a key point Wednesday in his opening-round loss at the Miami Open. Pospisil, who has been trying to set up a new group to represent men’s professional players, was beaten by qualifier Mackenzie McDonald, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. During a changeover after his meltdown in the first set, Pospisil used a profanity to describe Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, and complained about a meeting they both attended Tuesday night. Pospisil told the chair umpire Gaudenzi was “screaming at me in a player meeting for trying to unite the players—for an an hour and a half. ...If you want to default me, I’ll gladly sue this whole organization.” Hours later, Pospisil tweeted an apology for his behavior during the match. “I disrespected the game I love, and for that I am truly sorry,” he wrote. “By way of explanation, I felt deeply unnerved during a

Friday, March 26, 2021 B7

Azusa Iwashimizu (left), a member of the Japanese women’s national football team, smiles after passing the flame to the next torchbearer outside the J-Village National Training Center in Naraha in Fukushima prefecture on Thursday. AP

TORCH RUN: LIGHT OF HOPE

OKYO—The torch relay for the postponed Tokyo Olympics began its 121-day journey across Japan on Thursday and is headed toward the opening ceremony in Tokyo on July 23. The relay began in northeastern Fukushima prefecture, the area that was devastated by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and the meltdown of three nuclear reactors. About 18,000 died in the tragedy, The first runner with the torch was Azusa Iwashimizu, a key player in the Japan team that won the Women’s World Cup in 2011. Wearing a white track suit, she carried the torch out of the J-Village indoor soccer training center and was surrounded by 14 other members of that 2011 World Cup squad and coach Norio Sasaki at the rear. They were also decked out in white track suits. The ceremony was closed to the public because of the fear of spreading Covid-19 but was streamed live. “The torch of Tokyo 2020 will become a bright light for hope for Japanese citizens and citizens in the world and a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the local organizing committee and a former Olympian. Homare Sawa, the biggest star on the 2011 team, missed the ceremony. She is being treated for a condition affecting her inner ear and had to withdraw from the event. Fans were told to social-distance along the roadside as the torch passes, and Soaring Eagles, Negros Kingsmen and the Toledo Trojans. The division semifinals are set on Saturday with Laguna facing and Caloocan meeting San Juan in the North, and Toledo taking on Iloilo and Camarines battling Negros in the South. The matches will be streamed on PCAP’s facebook page starting at 7.p.m. The Heroes beat the Antipolo Cobras in straight sets, the Predators routed the Pasig City King Pirates and the Indios Bravos survived a tough challenge from the Rizal Batch Towers to advance to the semifinals.

they were to refrain from loud cheering. Organizers have said they will stop or reroute the relay if crowding becomes a problem during the four-month parade. Spectators cooperated in Naraha Town, just down the road from where the torch started its trip. A few hundred people stood on the roadside and were safely spread out. “At first I didn’t think much of it,” said 20-year-old Takumu Kimura. “But when I actually saw it, it felt like—yes, it’s the Olympics.” Setsuko Hashimoto, a 63-year-old local resident, was emotional as the torch passed. “Ten years ago there was a nuclear accident so [seeing the torch] it felt like I could really look forward to something and live,” she said. “When you become my age, this is the last Tokyo Olympics and it’s here. It was very touching.” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga chimed in from Tokyo with a statement. “The Olympic torch relay starting from today is a valuable opportunity for the people to get a real sense of the Olympics and Paralympics that are approaching,” Suga told reporters. Organizers confirmed a bit of bad luck: the flame in the torch was blown out during one leg of the relay. As has happened in other Olympics, it was re-lit by a back-up lantern that also carries the flame that was kindled in Greece more than a year ago. Local organizers and the International Olympic Committee hope the relay will turn

The Knights, however, had to face Cavite Spartans in an Armageddon tiebreaker after they split their quarterfinal match up with Caloocan winning the first duel, 14.5-6.5, but yielding the second, 8.5-12.5. The Knights, Soaring Eagles and Negros Kingsmen disposed of the Cordova Dagami Warriors, Mindoro Elgin Tamaraws and the Lapu Lapu Naki Warriors, respectively, in the knockout quarterfinals, with the Trojans pulling off a shocker in the division after beating the Zamboanga Sultans. Miguel La Torre

Pospisil stages tirade against tennis politics in Miami Open meeting between players and ATP executives last night, and I underestimated the toll those emotions took on me until I stepped onto the court. I am sorry for my on-court behavior and the language I used.” Pospisil and No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic have been trying to set up a group to represent tennis players, who have never have had a union, unlike athletes in North American team sports. The ATP didn’t respond to a request for comment on Pospisil’s tirade. He angrily launched a ball out of the court and smashed two rackets in the first set. Serving while facing a set point, he was penalized for verbal abuse to lose the set. A former top-25 player, Pospisil is now ranked 67th. In women’s play, American Sloane Stephens earned her first victory of the year by rallying past qualifier Oceane Dodin of 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2. Stephens, who won the tournament in 2018, had been 0-4 previously this year and hadn’t won a match since the French Open in September. Against Dodin, Stephens fell behind after she failed to convert two sets in the opening set, but she pulled away in the final set.

Stephens, ranked 49th, is among six former champions in the women’s draw. Wild-card Ana Konjuh of Croatia won her first main-draw match in a Women’s Tennis Association event since 2018 when she beat Katerina Siniakova 7-6 (3), 7-5. Konjuh’s career has been slowed by four elbow surgeries. Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain overcame two match points and a 5-1 deficit in the final set to overtake Bernarda Pera 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. American Danielle Collins swept Kristina Mladenovic, 6-3, 6-3, and Jelena Ostapenko defeated Xiyu Wang, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1. On the first day of men’s play, Alexei Popyrin built on his recent momentum by beating Feliciano Lopez, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Popyrin, a 21-year-old Australian who won his first ATP Tour title late last month in Singapore, will next play big-serving American Reilly Opelka, who is seeded 30th. Lopez, 39, was the oldest player in the men’s draw. Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France, runner-up at the recent Open 13 in Marseille, France, beat Pedro Sousa, 6-1, 6-3. Herbert will next face No. 11-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada. AP

public opinion in Japan in favor of the Olympics. Sentiments expressed in polls in Japan so far are overwhelmingly negative with about 80 percent suggesting another delay or cancellation. The relay and the Olympics both stir fear that the events could spread the virus. There is also opposition to the soaring cost of staging the Olympics, now put officially at $15.4 billion. Several audits suggest it’s twice that much and a University of Oxford study says these are the most expensive Olympics on record. The relay is a big test for the upcoming Olympics with fear among the public that the event could spread the virus to rural and more isolated parts of

HE country’s top government sports official will serve as the guest of honor in the San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Awards Night on Saturday at the TV5 Media Center. Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez will be the keynote speaker in the virtual event organized annually by the country’s sportswriting fraternity. The PSC is one of the most affected agencies during the Covid-19 pandemic with most of its funds sourced from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. being used to help subsidize the government’s campaign against the crisis. Ramirez is also expected to commend and praise the 32 awardees in the ceremony presented by San Miguel Corp. and supported by the PSC and Cignal TV. Young golfer Yuka Saso leads the 2020 honor roll of the country’s oldest media organization headed by Manila Bulletin sports editor Tito Talao. The 19-year-old Saso is the recipient of the prestigious Athlete of the Year award. OneSports+ will air the virtual Awards Night also backed by 1Pacman Partylist, the country. Vaccinations have not been rolled out yet in Japan to the general public. About 9,000 deaths in the country have been attributed to Covid-19. About 10,000 runners are expected to take part, with the relay touching Japan’s 47 prefectures. After the postponement a year ago, there was early talk of eliminating the relay to save money. However, that idea was quickly dropped with the relay heavily sponsored by Coca-Cola and Toyota. The relay is a prelude to the difficulties the Olympics and Paralympics will present with 15,400 athletes entering Japan, along with thousands of other officials, judges, VIPs, media and broadcasters. Athletes will be kept in a “bubble” like

CHAIRMAN William Ramirez successfully manages a sports agency hobbled by the pandemic in 2020.

Chooks-to-Go and Rain or Shine on Sunday from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Some of the country’s top athletes, sports officials, leaders and entities will be joining Saso at the virtual center stage to receive various awards. atmosphere in Tokyo and will be limited to the Athletes Village on Tokyo Bay, the competition venues and training areas. Most others will be outside the bubble and will be kept at a distance from the athletes. Organizers announced a few days ago that fans from abroad will be banned from attending the Olympics and Paralympics. Most volunteers from abroad have also been ruled out. Organizers are to announce the venue capacities in April. Ticket revenue for the Olympics was to be $800 million but will be severely reduced by the lack of fans. Japanese government entities will have to make up the shortfall. AP

Motoring BusinessMirror

B8 Friday, March 26, 2021

Editor: Tet Andolong

VW previews the T-Cross and talks about the future

Story & Photos by Patrick P. Tulfo

ESPITE the uncertainty in the economy brought about by the raging Covid-19 pandemic, which doesn’t show any signs of slowing down soon, the people at Volkswagen Philippines seem unfazed.

VW Philippines president Felipe Estrella III

In a well-attended zoom conference, that is the norm nowadays, the company presented the direction that it will take in the future wherein it describes it as energetic, vibrant and electric but still firmly rooted to

the company’s origins. Calling it as the historic crossroads for Volkswagen, the company charges into the future by employing groundbreaking automotive and digital technology on its future offerings to make the brand sustainable, inclusive and interactive for its customers. The company’s executives, led by its charismatic president Felipe Estrella III, expressed that they’re ready to tackle the next phase of global mobility. Adhering closely to its theme “Crossing paths anew with Volkswagen,” that seems to be a reintroduction of the brand that by the way now exudes a more youthful energy that’s clearly reflected

Watch out for the upcoming launch of the VW’s newest subcompact SUV the T-Cross that’s taking the world by storm

on the new design of its logo, which now symbolizes the flexibility, versatility, and the digital first quality of the brand. An important aspect of Volkswagens’ worldwide thrust, to be more energetic, vibrant and electric, is already a reality with the introduction of its initial models from the ID family. Its offering of full electric vehicle is now in full swing as it prepares to introduce six more EV models in the next three years. This is in line with the company’s compliance with the Paris Agreement as it aims to be carbon neutral by the year 2050.

Meanwhile, the company’s plan to introduce these models to the country is now becoming clearer. The global refresh of the Volkswagen brand comes at the most opportune time as the world slowly gets back on its feet from the crippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. As the local automotive market recovers from the devastating 40 percent loss in sales last year, Volkswagen shares the enthusiasm of other manufacturers in the eventual recovery of the market in the coming months. The lively discussion also touched

on Volkswagen Philippines drive to enhance its aftersales service as embodied on its campaign, “Keep your Volkswagen running like a Volkswagen,” as it aims to provide optimum enjoyment and convenience to VW owners and would-be buyers alike by the following assurances, a oncea-year pms on all its vehicles which equate to 20 percent less cost of ownership when compared to its competitors, 3 months stock on parts, enhancements on service quality via Express service, free 24/7 emergency roadside assistance (ERA), and employing technicians trained globally by certified trainers back by on-site and virtual diagnostic support. But wait there’s more, to usher in 2021 VW will be bringing in its highly successful T-Cross subcompact SUV which according to the company’s executive may be happening in next few months. The T-Cross is Volkswagen’s first sub-compact SUV and is produced in three key facilities worldwide namely in Brazil, China and Germany. Globally, it has been launched simultaneously in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Shanghai, China and was well received based on its

300,000 sales last year. The T-Cross exemplifies the automakers point that “only a Volkswagen can build a Volkswagen.” As regardless where that T-Cross came from, it follows the same global standard for each vehicle that rolls out of its production facility which is engineered and designed under Volkswagen highly strict standard for quality and safety in order to preserve the company’s integrity when it comes to quality of its products. Aside from the T-Cross, Volkswagen announce that they’ll be introducing two more models within the year. All proudly bearing the company’s global standard for design and engineering. Volkswagen has indeed set its sight on future mobility defined by technology, sustainability, connectivity and inclusivity. A seat has been reserved for VW Philippines on this exciting ride and the nice thing about it is we Filipinos are getting the best view on the next moves of the automotive giant. To learn more about Volkswagen Philippines’s plan for 2021, its current line up cars and services as well, you may log on www.volkswagen.com.ph.

Toyota introduces updated Innova Story by Randy S. Peregrino

EADING mobility company Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) is empowering Filipinos to create new memories and share stories with the 2021 update of its best-selling MultiPurpose Vehicle (MPV), the Toyota Innova. As one of TMP’s locally manufactured vehicles, the Innova itself has a rich heritage and meaningful story with the Filipino people, having been the preferred car of generations of Filipino families for being a dependable, spacious, and comfortable road companion. “The introduction of the New Innova could not have been timelier as the current situation has allowed us to appreciate moments shared with our families and loved ones,” said TMP First Vice President for Marketing Sherwin Chualim. “As

we slowly go back to the roads to rediscover the happiness of traveling together, it is important to have a car that can keep us safe while providing power, comfort, luxury, and style. The new Innova has all that and more.” Proudly assembled in TMP’s manufacturing plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, the new Innova has come a long way compared with its practical and well-loved predecessors—the Tamaraw FX and Revo. The MPV now prides itself on notable improvements in design and innovation that continuously evolved since its debut in the Philippine market in 2005. “Reaching up to 240,000 proud Innova owners to date and catering to a wide range of needs and preferences of Filipino families and drivers, the Innova indeed raises the flag and symbolizes excellence in the local manufacturing industry,”

added Chualim. Starting at just P1.18 million for the J MT variant, Filipinos are assured of Toyota’s signature quality, durability, and reliability, as well as a great value in every Innova unit. The updated features of the 2021 upgrade make the well-loved MPV safer, sportier, and even more capable of taking on daily mobility needs, whether for practical use or family leisure. The new Innova is available in 6 diesel engine variants—V AT, G AT and MT, E DSL AT and MT, and J MT.

A more stylish and sportier drive

The New Innova comes with a new front grille which upgrades every journey with a sportier, dynamic look. The robust design of the front grille and bumper is accented by LED headlamps and LED front fog lamps (for V grade) and redesigned side

turn signal lamps made to look more aggressive and eye-catching. With the ever-reliable 2.8L diesel engine and available drive modes (Eco and Power), the New Innova efficiently accomplishes any task and is always up for weekend family trips. Weekday rides to work, school or errands, and hobbies in between.

Memories made safer

All variants come with SRS airbags (7 for the V variant), three-point ELR seatbelts, Anti-Lock Brake System with Brake Assist and Electronic Brakeforce Distribution, Vehicle Stability Control, and Hill-Start Assist Control. V and G variants also now come with a reverse camera to allow drivers to see the rearview better when moving backward. These variants’ clearance and back sonars will

The updated Innova (top-spec).

Toyota Motor Philippines

also guide its users with an audible warning to make every movement safer for all the occupants.

Pricing and color availability

The top-spec V AT variant is valued at P1.739 million and available in White Pearl Crystal

Tabuena scores big for Lexus; Petron promos

EXUS scores big consistently on sales through the years but what is not known that much is its knack for picking winners as endorsers in sports. It has proven that again only last week when one of its global ambassadors hit pay dirt—on local soil at that. Miguel Tabuena, a homegrown fox on the fairways carrying the Lexus brand not that long, topped the Eagle Ridge leg of the Philippine Golf Tour through the robust sponsorship of the ICTSI owned by billionaire Ricky Razon. “I just stuck to my game plan and everything worked out pretty well for me,” said Tabuena after nailing the victory. Before him was Juvic Pagunsan, who was enlisted by Danny "Sir John" Isla, the Lexus founding president. Tabuena's victory more than made up for Pagunsan's failure. Jade B. Sison, the ever reliable wordsmith of current Lexus Manila president Raymond T. Rodriguez, wrote a dramatic piece on Tabuena’s victory. Here: “Lexus brand Ambassador Miguel Tabuena took home a hard-earned, nail-bitter of a win recently, claiming a two-stroke victory over his closest rival. “Course familiarity helped Tabuena win at Eagle Ridge for the second time, adding his victory there in 2018 before campaigning abroad. “I was pretty familiar with the conditions and the greens were actually in good shape, making for an easy read of the putts,” he said. ‘Nevertheless, it was still a hard-fought victory over some of the best golfers in the Philippines. “Tabuena fell behind early on, but thanks to his experience and skill, he was able to rebound strong, producing four birdies in a seven-hole

stretch from No. 3 to storm ahead. “Playing golf at such a young age gave me the chance to learn, from early on, how to be competitive,’ he said. ‘I enjoy the thrill of competition and I think if there’s something I learned from playing competitive golf since I was about five years old, it was how to win gracefully and lose gracefully.” “Tabuena wants his game to speak for itself. This eliminates the temptation to try too hard to make things work. “If I prepare well, remain focused and am quietly confident, the wins will come,” he said. “He is the highest-ranked Filipino golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings after cementing his dominance in our region. “He won his first Asian Tour title at the Philippine Open in 2015—the first Filipino since 2008 to win his national open. “In 2016, he had the honor of representing the Philippines in the World Cup of Golf and in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “In 2018 he won his second Asian Tour title at the Queen’s Cup in Thailand hosted by the Jade Foundation. “And now, with his PGT-ICTSI victory, Tabuena is back in his fighting form. “Not one to rest on his laurels, Tabuena has set his sights on future tournaments. “It’s a matter of getting back to work and fixing a few things that I think I could improve on,” he said. Tabuena said he practices regularly on the golf course and hits buckets at the driving range, and works hard as well on his physical and mental conditioning. “I suppose I love the pressure because it helps

Shine (+Php15,000). The G AT variant is priced at P1.592 million, while the G MT variant is valued at P1.522 million. The E AT edition, meantime, is priced at P1.355 million while the E MT is valued at P1.285 million. The base J MT is valued at P1.186 million.

assure me that I am in the right place,” he said. ‘What’s a win without the pressure?’ “One day, I hope to be someone other golfers can look up to,’ he said. ‘I know I have been given a talent by God, and this is something that I don't take lightly. I have a responsibility to hone this craft and make the most of what I’ve been given.” I’ve predicted the kid to hit it big since I saw him tail Tiger Woods, doggedly with his Mom (Lorna), from the first to the 18th green of the HSBC Championship in Shanghai, China, in 2005. I love to trust my instincts.

Petron HERoes

PETRON, the nation’s largest oil refiner, has joined the nation in celebrating National Women’s Month with its array of blazing prizes to lucky customers till the end of March. Christine Giray of Gadgets says a purchase of one 11-kg Petron Gasul refill will entitle the customer one electronic raffle entry from March 15-31 by sending the invoice or POS receipt to https://onlinepromo.petron.com. Winners will be announced on April 8 through e-raffle. Also from March 22-31, Christine says female drivers that own Petron Loyalty Car-Petron Value Card will be awarded Safety Kits each after a minimum purchase of P1,000 of any Petron fuel from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Metro Manila gas stations, namely: QUEZON CITY—Katipunan Ave. cor. Mangyan St; Commonwealth Ave. South Fairview; 811 Quezon Ave; 66 Quezon Ave. cor. BMA Ave. Tatalon. MANDALUYONG—8804 EDSA cor. Connecticut Ave.; EDSA cor Sierra Madre; 535 Shaw Blvd. cor. Wack-Wack. MAKATI—Petron Dasmariñas Station EDSA; 363 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. cor. Makati Ave. PASIG—E. Rodriguez Ave. Bo. Ugong; TAGUIG—C5 Diego Silang, Ususan; PASAY—Pres. Diosdado Macapagal Blvd; MUNTINLUPA—Pacific Rim cor. Commerce Ave, Filinvest.

PEE STOP Happy birthday to Val Sotto, my Camry-driving fellow DC5 belter of “I’ll Be Yours My Love” and who is the favorite brother of both Senate President Tito Sotto and “Eat Bulaga” legendary host Vic “Bossing” Sotto. Cheers!