BusinessMirror March 28, 2020

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By Elijah Felice Rosales & Cai U. Ordinario

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ITH Covid-19 restricting a lot of human activity around the world, it seems the pandemic has brutally frontloaded or fast-tracked the resort to FIRe (Fourth Industrial Revolution), because now, people are forced to automate or leave many tasks to virusimpervious robots or AI just to live even the most minimally normal lives as possible.

However, according to an industry leader, government shouldn’t use the coronavirus pandemic to force businesses to automate their operations to prevent operations stoppage, as the issue here lies with the state’s lack of planning to combat the pandemic, an export leader said recently, as a Luzon-wide lockdown entered its second week.

Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. President Sergio R. OrtizLuis Jr. said it is up to firms to decide whether they should introduce automation to their activities. As much as automation would have saved the operations of many businesses at a

time like this, he explained that investing in new technologies requires heavy capital, making it difficult for many to adopt them.

Furthermore, Ortiz-Luis said work would not have been called off if only there were enough preparations in the first place, especially on the side of the public sector.

The Duterte government has initially declared a “community quarantine” covering just the National Capital Region on March 13.

However, late on March 16, it declared a Luzon-wide “enhanced community quarantine” that banned public transportation, forcing work-

ers to scramble for a ride home to meet the midnight deadline.

Businesses, especially in manufacturing, were paralyzed the next day, and economists mostly foresee a recession.

Health ecology

“I DON’T think the coronavirus pandemic will fast-track our advent into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Its first and foremost effect will be on health ecology, as well as the communications system of the government,” Ortiz-Luis told the BusinessMirror.

“Obviously, in times like this,

we can’t just remove our labor from offices and factories even if the firm’s operation is automated because who will manage the technologies?” he added.

The best thing to do in the future, Ortiz-Luis argued, is to prepare well for a similar crisis. This way, there won’t be a need to place an entire island under community quarantine and force firms to call off work in the process.

Medical sector

IF there’s a sector that should welcome the innovations of the Fourth Continued on A2

The humming of Chinese plants returns as rest of world reels

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By Bloomberg News

its massive aviation market to a size smaller than Portugal’s, carriers are slowly restoring flights.

Scheduled capacity rose 2.4 percent last week from the previous seven days to 9.2 million seats, while all the other top 10 markets in the world continued to decline, according to flight-data analytics firm OAG Aviation Worldwide.

Other signs include Chinese subway traffic increasing 21 percent last week, and online sales of large appliances rebounding in both volumes and average prices on a week-to-week basis, according to Bernstein.

Much of China was closed for weeks starting in late January after the outbreak extended a Lunar New Year holiday break. Here’s where some manufacturers in China are now with their ramp-ups:

HILE much of the world’s output is grinding to a halt because of the coronavirus, China is slowly emerging from its shutdowns by restarting production at factories and resuming some flights.

A recovery in the world’s second-largest economy provides some relief for global manufacturers in the months ahead as the outbreak continues to wreak havoc in Europe, the US, India and Latin America.

Employees are returning to work, production lines are starting to roll and even the original outbreak epicenter of Wuhan is ending its lockdown soon. Car sales in China probably hit a bottom last month and are set to gradually rebound as the spread of the virus slows and consumers return to shopping, an auto industry group said this month.

“Real-time indicators show that

China is restarting its industrial complex,” analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein said in a note Tuesday. “Clearly the restart is at an early stage, but things are gradually improving.”

Data released on Wednesday showed that car sales in China, the world’s largest market, have now increased week-on-week since the start of February.

While last week’s sales still represented a drop of 40 percent from a year earlier, it’s an improvement from declines of as much as 96 percent last month, according to data from China Passenger Car Association.

At the nation’s airline industry, whose slump last month decimated

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 51.0740

BMW

EMPLOYEES work on an assembly line at a Dongfeng Honda plant in Wuhan on March 23.

STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

PRODUCTION at BMW AG’s Shenyang plants resumed on February 17, and the German carmaker said it is confident the Chinese government will manage the crisis and defeat the epidemic.

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4669 n UK 62.1162 n HK 6.5885 n CHINA 7.2241 n SINGAPORE 35.6986 n AUSTRALIA 30.8436 n EU 56.3448 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.6016

Source: BSP (March 27, 2020)

HAIYIN | DREAMSTIME.COM

DRONES TO DISINFECT STREETS. KIOSKS TO MOVE MONEY. HAS THE SOCIAL DISTANCING THAT GOES WITH COVID-19 FORCED PEOPLE TO REVISIT THEIR AUTOMATION BLUEPRINTS?

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News BusinessMirror

Saturday, March 28, 2020

A nurse’s story: PGH worker shares life at Covid-19’s frontlines

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Story & photos Bernard Testa

S the saying goes, mother knows best. The nurse is akin to a mother—she nourishes, cherishes, helps heal and uplifts someone from a weak condition.

Lilibeth Liu, 47, is a single parent. She has a 9-year old son, Luisito, but these days she cannot physically care for him. Instead, she must, like thousands of medical frontliners in the war against an unseen enemy, do her duty to fight Covid-19.

Her sister looks over her son.

“Tawag tawag lang, ganun.” Small talk, usapang text, napakahaba na sa amin ‘yung isang linggong duty.

Ang importante safe kami [Mostly we talk by text. A week ’s duty seems so long for us; but what’s important is we’re all safe].”

She works at the Philippine G e ne r a l Hos pit a l O p e r at i ng Room (OR) Complex, but when the call for troops to fight Covid-19 came and the lockdown that began midnight of March 17 banned public transportation, it became important for her and her coworkers to find a place nearby where they can rest after an exhausting day, and temporarily escape from the anxiety of whether one will be the next medical frontliner infected.

Nothing can replace a home, she says, “pero dito comfortable ka, medyo safe. It’s just walking distance from the hospital, and whatever shift you get, you’re safe,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino.

She is one of the nurses staying at City State Tower Hotel on Padre Faura. The family of the late Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua earlier offered five of their accommodation establishments to house the doctors, nurses and medical workers from

hospitals near these places.

In Manila, three Cabangonowned hotels—City State Tower in Ermita, City State Palanca and Vista Hotel—house mostly PGH workers.

The Dahlia in Pasig and Bermuda in Mandaluyong are also being used for anti-Covid purposes.

PGH workers look upbeat, despite their burdens, as they embark on another long day from their “home” at City State Tower Hotel in Ermita, Manila.

Risky commute

L ast Friday, March 20, Liu suffered an unfortunate incident, highlighting the risk of workers commuting from their homes to the hospital. W hile waiting for a ride around 4:30 a.m., “I got held up near Caloocan, just before I took a ride. Because that was my schedule last week, I took t he r isk .” She su f fered bruises and contusions in her right knee and left arm.

She was thankful that when City State Tower offered the accommodation for them, saying it gave her a sense of security.

In City State, they can rest longer and need not worry about being harassed by criminals.

PGH workers board a shuttle bus that picked them up from City State Palanca in Quiapo, Manila.

“Instead of going home daily, we can rest longer, more comfortably. We can shower right away,” she added, noting the importance for them to clean up straight from duty in Covid’s war zone.

Instead of going home daily, we can rest longer, more comfortably. We can shower right away...We are safe here. I don’t want my coworkers to be held up like me. We’re already risking our lives with our work in PGH.”

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absolutely no family around them,” she said.

“This is one of the most horrific things.”

A third-year resident, Doobay, who works at New York University Langone Medical Center and B ellevue Hospital, said being among the doc tors and other health- care workers tr ying desperately to deal with the wave of sick and dying patients coming into cit y hospitals is “unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, it’s ver y chaotic, it’s over whelming.”

“I’ve never felt so physically and emotionally burdened in my life, I’ve never felt so deeply sad and distraught,” the New York Cit y native said.

Wh i l e t h e co ro n av i ru s ca u s e s m i l d o r moderate symptoms in most people, it can l e a d to m o re s e ve re i l l n e s s e s, i n c l u d i n g

“We are safe here. I don’t want my coworkers to be held up like me. We’re already risking our lives with our work in PGH, life in PGH is almost like suicide. Everyone should feel safe with good accommodations. This, too, shall pass,” she added.

She told BM that even before this pandemic, they were already giving 101 percent of their best to the patients at PGH. But now, they needed to double the effort because the virus spread faster.

Her advice to Filipinos in this time of crisis? “Please, let’s all follow what authorities tell us so the problem can be resolved quickly. We don’t even read social media these days as we’re focused on work.”

pneumonia and death for some, like those who are older, or have underlying health issues.

The impact it’s had on the city’s hospitals also has health- care providers like Doobay worried about their own exposure, and wanting officials in charge to do everything possible to get hospital workers the protective equipment they need to protect their own health.

“We did not go into this field thinking we’re going to be mar t yrs,” she said. “This is a serious crisis that we’re in and we deser ve to be protec ted. We’re not in a battlefield.

We’re not in a war zone.”

And she worries about the kinds of choices all doc tors could be faced with: Who should get what kind of help if the number of cases and hospitalizations continues to

increase past the point where there is enough e q u i p m e nt, l i ke ve nt i l ato r s, to m e e t t h e ex treme patient need?

“Who does that ventilator belong to?

These are questions that, you know, I think about when I go home at night and for tunately, haven’t had to make those decisions yet,” she said. “But we’re getting there.”

She hoped the general public would listen to the exper ts and do all they can to limit the virus’s spread through self- quarantining and similar measures.

“It’s really painful to see someone die. It’s really painful to not know what the future holds. And we’re really working hard to protect you,” D oobay said. “So I hope that we can all join in solidarit y to protec t each other.” AP

Spanish doctors forced to choose who to let die

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n the emergenc y room at one of Madrid’s biggest hospitals, Daniel Bernabeu signed the death cer tificate for one patient and immediate ly t u rn e d to h e l p a n o t h e r w h o was choking.

People are dying in waiting rooms before they can even be admitted as the coronavirus pandemic overpowers medical staff. With some funeral ser vices halted in the Spanish capital and no space left in the morgues, corpses are being stored at the main ice rink .

Inten s i ve - ca re wa rd s ove r f l ow i n g a n d new rules dic tate that older patients miss out to younger people with a better shot at sur viving, B ernabeu said by telephone. “That grandpa, in any other situation, would have had a chance,” he said. “But there’s so many of them, all dying at the same time.”

As Covid-19 sweeps the continent, t h e f o c u s i s t u r n i n g t o S p a i n w i t h d i re w a r n i n g s f o r p a r t s o f Eu ro p e s u c h a s t h e UK that only recently have taken more c o m p re h e n s i ve a c t i o n .

The number of fatalities in the countr y of 47 million people is now rising faster than it

did in China, where the virus first emerged, and faster than in Italy, where the disease took hold this month.

S p a n i s h a u t h o r i t i e s re p o r te d a n o t h e r 738 people had lost their lives, making it the deadliest hot spot on Wednesday while elsewhere countries unveiled more measures to deal with the economic carnage.

The daily count of fatalities dropped to 655 on Thursday. Spain’s total death toll, now at 4,089, already over took China’s this week.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who less than three weeks ago was still brushing off the threat of the virus, has warned the population that most of them have never experienced a threat of this scale.

“Only the oldest, who knew the hardships o f t h e C i v i l Wa r a n d i t s a f t e r m a t h , c a n re m e m b e r co l l e c tive situations that were harsher than the current one,” he said on March 14 as he imposed a state of emergenc y with loudspeaker drones buzzing around Madrid ordering people to get inside. “ Th e o t h e r generations in Spain have n e v e r, e v e r h a d t o f a c e a s a c o l l e c t i v e

Luzon teachers, students affected by ECQ all accounted for, DepEd official assures

By Samuel P. Medenilla

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he Department of Education (DepEd) said all teachers and students affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ ) in Luzon, are now safe and sound in their homes.

In a news briefing, Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla said their monitoring team as of Friday has yet to receive any report of any students from kinder to Grade 12, who were displaced because of the ECQ. She, however, said they have an existing protocols for students who may need to be brought home despite the prevailing 30-day ECQ wherein all public transportation is suspended.

Sevilla said this includes ensuring the concerned students are free form novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and escorting them so they could pass through checkpoints.

ECQ adjustments

NYC physician narrates ‘too many people are dying alone’ E W YORK—As an emergenc y medicine physician in New York Cit y, Dr. Kamini D oobay has always known that death is par t of the territor y when tr ying to care for the cit y ’s sickest.

But it hasn’t always been like this— patients hit the hardest by the coronavirus, struggling to breathe and on ventilators, with no visitors allowed because of strict protocols to prevent spreading the virus.

“So often a patient will be on their d e a t h b e d , d y i n g a l o n e , a n d i t ’s b e e n incredibly painful to see the suffering of family members who I call from the ICU, hearing the tears, cr ying with them on the phone,” said D oobay, 31.

“Too many people are dying alone with

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

something so hard,” he said.

At La Paz hospital, the sprawling complex of 17 buildings where B ernabeu works, there were 240 people on the emergenc y room at one point on Tuesday waiting to be admitted.

D oc tors on the front line are not wearing full protection, just a cotton robe and a mask. They have the recommendation to keep a meter of distance with patients, but that’s impossible.

“Colleagues are falling sick around us,” B ernabeu said. “I’m a radiologist, I’m not supposed to be in ER, and yet here I am in the trenches.”

On March 8, Sanchez was encouraging Spaniards to join a mass demonstration in suppor t of international women’s day despite t h e l o c kd o w n t h at h a d b e e n i m p o s e d i n nor thern Italy.

The countr y had 589 confirmed cases of coronavirus at that point and four people had died. Some 120,000 people joined the event in Madrid that day, including several ministers and Sanchez’s wife, Begona Gomez.

Since then, Gomez has tested positive along with Equality Minister Irene

Montero and Deputy Prime Minister C a r m e n C a l v o, w h o i s 6 2 a n d h a s b e e n h o s p i t a l i z e d s i n c e S u n d a y.

By the nex t day, the number of confirmed cases had doubled and Sanchez and Spain were swept up in a spiraling, deadly contagion as the virus ran out of control. He imposed a lockdown less than a week later.

The initial days were dizzying as Spaniards came to terms with unprecedented restrictions on their daily lives and Sanchez and tried to gear up the health- care system for an avalanche of cases.

With a critical shor tage of intensive care beds, ventilators and protective gear, doctors feared they would be over whelmed. And, in a stark warning to other European governments, so it came to pass.

In several care homes for the elderly, staff abandoned the residents to their fate. Army units mobilized to disinfec t the facilities found some patients lying in squalor and others remained where they had died in their beds, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Monday. Bloomberg News

With the suspension of all classes during the ECQ, Sevilla reiterated DepEd has already given the go signal to teachers to start computing the final grades of their students even without their completion of their fourth quarter of the school year.

She said the final grade will be based on the performance of the student from first to third quarter of the school year, as well as portions of the fourth quarter.

“We already released the transmutation or equivalent grade of a

child based on his or her accomplishments,” Sevilla said.

She said the teachers will soon be informing their students if they have passed, or will need to do enhancement, or remedial classes.

DepEd said the graduation, or moving up rites of the students, which was originally scheduled on April has been postponed indefinitely due to the threat of Covid-19.

“It may be rescheduled [by school division heads or superintendent] or they could decide to forgo it, but it should go through the consultations with the parents,” Sevilla said.

Allowed use

The education official also addressed concerns by some local government units (LGU) on whether DepEd will allow its schools and facilities as temporary shelter, or isolation rooms, for patients under investigations (PUI) or persons under monitoring (PUM) due to Covid-19.

Sevilla assured DepEd had already signed the necessary memorandum with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to implement the said initiative, which they support.

However, she noted the LGUs wou ld have to coordinate w ith DepEd officia ls and meet the standards set by the Depar tment of Hea lth (DOH) for using DepEd including ensur ing it w il l be free from Cov id-19 after they use it.

U.S. cases now most in world, capital sees more infections

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ORONTO—The United States’s caseload o f co ro n a v i r u s i n f e c t i o n s s u rg e d to the most in the world and its capital repor ted more infections, as Italy shut most of its industr y and masses of Indian day laborers received food rations after a lockdown put them out of work.

Increases in the number of cases have been expec ted as testing becomes more available.

The US passed China with more than 85,000 cases, and Italy also exceeded 80,000, the t h re e c o u n t r i e s t o g e t h e r a c c o u n t i n g f o r almost half of the world’s infec tions from the new virus.

Most of China’s patients have recovered, while places where the virus arrived later are now dealing with over whelmed hospitals and supply shor tages and are rushing to conver t public spaces for treating the sick.

Washington, D,C., confirmed 36 new cases Thursday, raising its total to 267. The distric t is under a state of emergenc y, its major attrac tions like the Smithsonian museums and National Zoo closed and White House and Capitol tours canceled. Police have blocked off streets, bridges and traffic circles to prevent crowds coming to see Washington’s blooming cherr y blossom trees.

The stay-home order for India’s 1.3 billion people threw out of work the backbone of t h e n at i o n’s e co n o my— r i c k s h aw d r i ve r s, fruit peddlers, cleaners and others who buy food from whatever they can earn in a day.

The government announced a $22 billion stimulus to deliver monthly rations to 800 million people.

In some par ts of India, people got rice rations, or bank deposits, from local authorities, and aid groups were working to expand their reach. The nation’s vital and massive train system was also halted, and jobless workers are now attempting to walk hundreds of miles to their home villages from India’s major cities.

D eaths fro m Covi d-19 have su rpa ssed 24,000, more than a third of them in Italy, a cco rd i n g to a J o h n s H o p k i n s U n i ve r s i t y tally. The US had about 1,300 deaths, almost a quar ter of them in New York Cit y, where hospitals are over whelmed.

In China, where the virus was first believed to have jumped from wild animals to humans, the National Health Commission on Friday repor ted 55 new cases, including 54 it said were impor ted infec tions in recent arrivals from overseas.

O nce again, there were no new cases repor ted in Wuhan, the provincial capital where the coronavirus emerged in December.

China is barring most foreigners from entering as it tries to curb impor ted cases.

The economic damage of the pandemic was growing. Italy shut down most of its industr y, and a record-shattering 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in a single week.

Companies in Europe are laying off workers at the fastest pace since 2009, according to sur veys of business managers. And the US is bleeding jobs as well: The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week was nearly five times the old record, set in 1982.

Dann Dykas, 37, of Por tland, Oregon, was laid off from his job helping design and set up displays for trade shows.

“Ever ything is so surreal,” he said. “I can’t even get an inter view for another job, and we now have to worr y more about being careful and taking care of ourselves.”

Wa l l S t re e t r a l l i e d f o r t h e t h i rd straight day after an unprecedented $ 2 . 2 - t r i l l i o n e c o n o m i c re s c u e p a c k a g e to h e l p b u s i n e s s e s, h o s p i t a l s a n d o rd i n a r y Americans pull through the crisis won p a s s a g e i n t h e S e n a te. Th e re s c u e p l a n , w h i c h i s e x p e c te d to b e vo te d o n i n t h e H o u s e o n Fr i d a y, wo u l d d i s p e n s e c h e c k s o f $ 1 , 2 0 0 p e r a d u l t a n d $ 5 0 0 p e r c h i l d.

Elsewhere around the world, South Africa, w i t h t h e m o s t i n d u s t ri a l i ze d e co n o my i n Africa, began a three -week lockdown Friday.

The countr y is already in recession, with an unemployment rate of 29 percent.

And Britain unveiled another relief effor t, this time aimed at the gig economy, many of whose workers are facing financial ruin.

The government will give the self- employed grants equal to 80 percent of their average profits, up to $2,975 per month.

Th e o u t b re a k h a s p u t h u g e p re s s u re o n f o re i g n s t u d e n t s, e s p e c i a l l y t h o s e a t universities in Nor th America and Europe.

Zoey Wang recently returned home to the southwestern Chinese cit y of Chengdu after her in-person classes and exams at the University of Toronto in Canada were canceled.

Her parents’ desire to have her home and the possibility of high medical costs if she became sick persuaded her to make the arduous return trip, she said.

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Industrial Revolution, it should be the medical industry. The export leader said automation will work well for the sector in streamlining its workflow, especially at a time when there’s a surge in the number of patients being admitted to hospitals and health workers are having a difficult time getting to work—assuming they remain healthy. At press time, seven prominent doctors, mostly those involved in training health workers, had died after attending to Covid-19 patients .

“FIRe [Fourth Industrial Revolution] would bode well with the medical industry. I think this is a wake-up call for our government to invest heavily on the medical side,” he said.

The entire Luzon mainland is placed under ECQ by the government, as it tries to arrest the surging number of cases of the fatal coronavirus disease, or Covid-19. As such, classes and work, except for those in the delivery of basic services, are suspended to reduce the number of people going out of their homes.

This virtual lockdown has heavily affected business operations in general, with many suspending work for the duration of the policy until April 13.

Reforms on FIRe

THE national government is looking to push for the amendment of laws to fast track FIRe efforts in the country after the coronavirus crisis blows over, according to the National Economic

and Development Authority (Neda).

Neda Undersecretary for Planning and Policy Rosemarie G. Edillon said that while the current focus of the government is to address the Covid-19 crisis, the government recognized there is a need to push for reforms with regard to FIRe. “Let’s wait for the situation to develop into something more manageable. Then, push for the needed economic reforms,” Edillon told the BusinessMirror via SMS. “For now, we focus our energies on addressing [the] current situation.”

Philippine Institute for Development Studies Research Fellow Jose Ramon Albert told the BusinessMirror that currently, the consciousness on FIRe is still low.

For one, he said, only the City of Pasig has taken advantage of the benefits of automation at a time when social distancing has been seen as an effective prevention measure against Covid-19.

Albert said the use of drones in disinfection is just one means to use automation in fighting the virus. He said this just reflects the low consciousness, even among local leaders, about the benefits of FIRe. “[This is not part of the] consciousness [of the majority]. Only a few understand and make use of innovation. [It seems] the problem is that managers are themselves not getting capacitated to adopt innovation,” Albert said.

Asean context

LAST year, Southeast Asian leaders committed to promote inclusive eco-

A CARABINIERI (Italian paramilitary police) officer maneuvers a drone to check people’s movements, at the Naples Scampia neighborhood in Italy, March 25, 2020. FABIO SASSO/LAPRESSE VIA AP

nomic growth by equipping Asean to maximize the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution through deepening trade facilitation measures for stronger economic cooperation.

Leaders said they are looking forward to enhancing digital inte-

gration with the development of the Asean Digital Integration Framework Action Plan 2015-2025 and improving connectivity through sustainable infrastructure, as well as to achieve inclusivity by narrowing development gaps in the region.

Duterte also earlier expressed

the Philippines’s support for the establishment of an Asean Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development Council.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) said 56 percent of workers in Southeast Asia could be displaced by the global shift to automation.

In the Philippines alone, ILO Enterprise Development and Skills Technical Officer Jordi Prat Tuca said at least 18 million workers could lose their jobs to automation over the next 20 years if Manila will not retool them for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The humming of Chinese plants returns as rest of world reels A TAXI driver wearing a face mask stands in the taxi queue at the Beijing Railway Station, March 25, 2020. Some train stations and bus services reopened in China’s Hubei Province on Wednesday and people who passed a health check would finally be allowed to travel for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak surged in January. AP/ MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

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“We remain confident in the medium- and long-term business outlook of our No. 1 market worldwide,” the company said in an emailed response to questions.

Fiat Chrysler

THE company said its manufacturing operations in China have restarted production under the approval of the relevant regional and national governments. More than 90 percent of its dealers and 95 percent of staff at the joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group are back online, and “the overall manufacturing and commercial operations are gradually resuming business,” Fiat Chrysler said.

Ford

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. said this week it’s back at full seasonal staffing earlier than anticipated, suggesting the Taiwanese company is confident of resolving the labor shortages and logistical hiccups that threatened to smother the flow of iPhones and gadgets to America and the rest of the world.

Honda

THE Japanese carmaker said capacity is gradually recovering at its two Chinese ventures and so far they haven’t had problems caused by parts shortage there due to strain in supply from outside of China.

Nissan

ALL Nissan Motor Co. factories in China have resumed work and production is set to align with government mandates, the company said.

THE US carmaker said its Chinese plants resumed production on February 10 and are continuing to ramp up. Both its local joint ventures have achieved almost 100 percent recovery, though some Hubei or Wuhan employees are still under travel restrictions.

SAIC

Foxconn

TESLA Inc.’s factory in China has recovered from a virus-related shutdown better than many in the industry, helped by aid from local authorities. After resuming

FOXCONN, an important manufacturing partner to global names from Apple Inc. to HP Inc., is steadily getting back on its feet. Foxconn unit

ALL SAIC Motor Corp. plants in China have resumed production, with the company adjusting output levels based on demand. The carmaker has contingency plans to secure parts in case of any disruptions, it said.

Tesla

operations on February 10, the plant—Tesla’s only one outside the US—has surpassed the capacity it had before the shutdown, reaching a weekly production of 3,000 cars, a company representative said Friday.

Toyota

THE Japanese auto giant’s plants in Guangzhou and Changchun have returned to their regular twoshift schedule, while in Tianjin, all production lines are back to twoshift arrangements except one that remains at one shift. The Chengdu plant is sticking to its usual one shift. More than 98 percent of Toyota’s dealerships are open again, and the company has no plans as of now to adjust its 2020 China sales target, it said.

Volkswagen

ALMOST all production sites are back to operational, Volkswagen AG said. Challenges include a slow national supply chain and logistics ramp-up, as well as limited travel options for employees. All of Volkswagen and its partners’ component production sites are producing again, it said. The company is adjusting its output levels based on current conditions, such as by moving to one shift instead of two previously, according to the German company.

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MILITARY CHIEF SANTOS TESTS POSITIVE for COVID-19 INFECTION; LORENZANA ON SELF-QUARANTINE

By Rene Acosta

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rmed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Felimon Santos Jr. has tested positive for coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19), Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana disclosed on Friday. The defense chief said that with the findings, he would have to go into voluntary self-quarantine since he had been with the top military chief on two occasions.

The confirmation was made by Lorenzana h i m s e l f t h ro u g h a s t a t e m e n t h e s e n t t o militar y repor ters.

“I shall be on self- quarantine effective today [Friday]. This morning I was informed

by CSAFP [Chief of Staff Armed Forces of the Philippines] Gen. Santos that he tested positive of the Covid-19 the result he got yesterday [Thursday],” Lorenzana said.

“I had close proximity with him [Gen. Santos] on two occasions: In VAB [Villamor Air Base] during the turnover of medical supplies to me last March 21, and again last March 22 [afternoon], here in GHQ [General Headquarters] and at the Heroes Hall, Malacañang. I have no symptoms but protocol says I have to self-quarantine for 14 days,” he added.

Lorenzana did not say how Santos caught the coronavirus.

Early this week, Santos disclosed that a senior military officer and his wife were tested positive for the virus and were already being treated at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center.

The officer, whom Santos did not identify but

sources say was a Navy commodore and currently the military’s assistant chief of staff for operations, had, on some occasions, been with the chief of staff before he turned positive of the virus.

Meanwhile, Lorenzana said he was looking forward to working with Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Carlito Galvez Jr., whom President Duterte tasked to implement efforts in combating the Covid-19.

“I look forward to working with Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. as the chief implementer of the government’s efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19 under the National Action Plan,” he said. “ S e c re t a r y G a l ve z , S e c re t a r y Ed u a rd o Año [of the Department of the Interior and Local Government] and I will ensure that the government’s lockdown measures are strictly enforced. We shall also take charge of the logistics of the government effort against the Covid-19 so that the frontliners and health workers, can focus on their job of tracing, isolating and treating victims of the Covid-19 virus. We shall also manage the transportation requirements of the NTF [National Task Force] and IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force]. Secretary Galvez will manage the day-to-day operations of the TF [Task Force],” Lorenzana added.

“Once again, I call on the Filipino people to exercise their civic duty and manifest their patriotism by following the lockdown. Let us all do our part in stemming the spread of infection and flatten the curve as soon as possible,” he added.

U.S. Indo-Pacific command cancels Balikatan 2020

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he United States Indo-Pacific Command has canceled this year’s Balikatan military exercises for American and Filipino troops due to the coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19), which has also hit both the Philippines and the US. The cancellation of the annual and biggest war games involving troops from both countries was announced by the US military forwarded by the US Embassy in Manila.

Past training under the Balikatan have also been attended by allies and other countries, including Japan, Australia and Asean members.

“Due to concerns for the health and safety of the par ticipating exercise forces and local populations near the planned exercise areas, US Indo-Pacific Command [Indo -Pacom] has canceled Exercise Balikatan 2020 scheduled for May 4 to 15 in the Republic of the P h i l i p p i n e s,” a n e w s s t ate m e nt f ro m t h e Hawaii-based Indo -Pacom said.

It said the cancellation was in accordance with international travel restrictions implemented by the US Department of Defense (DoD), as well as the Republic of the Philippines in response to the ongoing outbreak of Covid-19.

“In light of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Covid-19 pandemic and in the best interest of the health and safety of both countries’ forces, it is prudent to cancel Balikatan 2020,” said Admiral Phil Davidson, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command.

“We remain deeply committed to our longstanding alliance and friendship,” he added.

The Indo-Pacom said the “protection of service members, their families, and the department’s civilian work force” remain as priorities for the US DoD along with “safeguarding and maintaining our ability to defend the nation and its interests; and supporting our allies and partners in this fight.”

Rene Acosta

Even in time of Covid-19, get-rich-quick scams thrive, SEC-Davao City warns

By Manuel T. Cayon

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AVA O C I T Y — I l l e g a l i n v e s t m e n t schemes continue to thrive amid the g ove rn m e nt ’s u p h i l l b at t l e a g a i n s t the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Davao ex tension office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned.

K at r i n a J a m i l l a Po n co - E s t a re s, a c t i n g director of SEC here in Davao City said “some entities have continued to deceive individuals into buying their supposed investment products even when they do not have legal personalities.”

She said these entities “are tr ying to take in illegal investments from unwitting victims amid the Covid-19 disease.”

In its Investor’s Education and Information advisor y, the SEC listed some 20 entities suspected of seeking and taking in investments from the public under the get-rich- quick scheme, offering as much as 400-percent payout in 30 days for a designated investment.

Others offer similar schemes with some a d d i t i o n a l i n c e n t i ve , s u c h a s a p o s s i b l e ownership of a condominium unit upon reaching a multilevel recruitment.

While most are operated by Filipinos, one of these entities is repor tedly owned by a Korean national and operates in four countries and another is repor tedly based in Malaysia.

The SEC office here said it was closely watching the operation of two entities operating here and has warned that its agents may also face sanc tions.

The same group of people operate the t w o e n t i t i e s t h a t w e re e n g a g e d i n t h e “manufacturing, distributing, and/or selling of health and wellness products, fertilizers, and other livestock solutions but also uses their Facebook pages as a marketing tool in proliferating their investment taking activities.”

“These illegal entities and their agents, or brokers, are attempting to capitalize on the current climate surrounding the virus outbreak as this provides them an oppor tunit y to prey on people when they are most susceptible,” Estares said.

She called on the public to be on guard for a surge of illegal investment taking activities.

“Protec t your hard- earned money by first studying the company offering the produc t, or investment. Ensure that these companies have secondar y licenses from SEC aside from having primar y licenses,” she said.

The SEC has recently issued several advisories against entities that offer illegal investment opportunities with incredible returns.

“These scams can take various forms.

Some are using Ponzi scheme, while others are focused on recruiting in the guise of multilevel m a r ke t i n g, n e t wo r k i n g o r c r y p to c u r re n c y ventures. We are also monitoring those who offer foreign-exchange trading, which is illegal in the Philippines,” said Estares.

She urged Filipinos to be vigilant when these entities recruit them as members and promise high returns in such a shor t period of time.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

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The ‘ship of the damned’ shows vessels’ virus woes

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By Recto L. Mercene

T’S a story faintly echoing Bethlehem’s “no room at the inn” on Christmas eve. Like dozens of other cruise ships that once were the stuff of everyone’s best holiday dreams, yet another vessel is stuck at sea, with over 200 Filipino crew members on board, while some passengers are already displaying possible Covid-19 symptoms.

One of t he sh ips of Hol l a nd America Line, MS Zaandam, has b e e n du bb e d , “ t he s h ip of t he damned,” unable to find a docking place in the midst of the pandemic.

On board are 1,200 passengers and almost 600 crew members.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday there are 203 Filipino seamen aboard the MS Zaandam.

Assistant Secretary Eduardo “Ed” Meñez told the BusinessMirror that only “about 50 to 100 have requested to be repatriated.” Meñez did not say whether any of the Filipino seamen have been infected.

At least 13 guests and 29 crew have reported influenza-like symptoms and have been quarantined, “out of an abundance of caution,” said the ship’s Facebook account on March 23.

MS Zaandam is one of the latest victims of the pandemic that has

found docking almost impossible as health authorities in distant ports would not give them berthing rights for fear of the coronavirus infection.

At least nine people died after being on the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined off the coast of Japan in February. Of the 3,711 people aboard the cruise ship, 712 contracted the coronavirus.

Of the more than 500 Filipino crew members aboard another vessel, the Grand Princess, 444—consisting of 438 crew members and six passengers—were repatriated to the Philippines last March 15.

Another cruise ship, the Costa Favolosa with 500 Filipino crewmen out of 1,110 crew members, was reported to be steaming full speed toward Bridgetown Barbados, with hopes of being allowed to dock and disembark passengers. Some crew members are reported sick and those who showed

Covid-19 symptoms were allowed to depart earlier.

Rendezvous at sea

In a March 24 update on FB, Zandaam’s management said since all ports along its route are closed to cruise ships, their mother company deployed another ship, the “Rotterdam, to rendezvous with Zaandam and provide extra supplies, staff, Covid-19 test kits and other support as needed.”

Rotterdam was reported carrying 611 crew and no guests, and departed Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on March 22. It was scheduled to meet Zaandam “evening of March 26 off the coast of Panama.”

Earlier, Zaandam tried going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, seeking port authorities’ help for berthing rights. “Alternative options also are being developed. No one has been off the ship since March 14 in Punta Arenas, Chile,” the ship said on FB. Complimentary telephone counseling services from the ship’s care partner, Empathia, were made available to guests and crew needing such support in crisis.

“For those with family members on board, they can call the following numbers for information: 1-877425-2231 or 1-206-626-7398.”

T he latest repor t said Zaandam was prevented f rom dock ing in Flor id a by the Broward Count y Commission, “to avoid a potentia l spread ing of the d isease,” af ter consulting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

MS Zaandam left Argentina on March 7 but Holland America suspended all cruise line operations,

aiming to have passengers disembark its ships as soon as possible. Holland America said MS Zaandam had earlier obtained permission to disembark at Punta Arenas, Chile, but “we were not permitted to do so.”

The cruise line said no one has left the ship since March 14 when it was in Chile. The sick have been isolated, and their close contacts quarantined.

All passengers were required to stay in their rooms and receive meals by room service.

50,000 PHL sailors

With the pandemic, major cruise operators Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Holland America, Celebrity, Costa and MSC lines have stopped operations and about 100 cruise ships are now at home ports or still at sea heading toward ports in the US or Europe.

According to recruitment consultant Manny Geslani, “some 50,000 Filipino seamen are on board those 100 cruise ships, whose jobs are now at risk due to the threat of the coronavirus disease which has hit badly the cruise industry.”

Filipino seafarers are tasked to do the job of waiters and waitresses, bar attendants, cabin stewards, chefs and cleaners. On cargo ships, however, Filipinos with degrees in seafaring are allowed to assume higher positions to navigate their ships, Geslani added.

“Many of the cruise operators have stated that they don’t expect normal cruise operations to start till the middle of May while some have announced that June may be the best time to start cruising during the summer months of the Western world,” Geslani said.

Bong Go asks banks to freeze interest rate hikes during ECQ

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en. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go pleaded on Thursday for a freeze of an impending increase in bank interest rates.

“I am appealing to all government and privately owned banks, quasi-banks, credit and lending facilities, financial institutions and the like—for the benefit of all Filipinos—please do not increase interest rates for consumer and commercial loans while we are still under enhanced community quarantine [ECQ],” Go said.

In a news statement, the senator added he was also encouraging the banks and other financial institutions to “come up with flexible and convenient restructuring of existing loans to enable your clients to pay their arrears at a later period and at a lower amount.”

Go stressed that “in this time of national crisis, ever ybody must sacrifice for the greater good. Huwag po natin mas pahirapan pa ang taumbayan .”

The senator stressed that both the government and the private sector must work together and do what may be deemed necessary to address and respond to the growing threats of Covid-19 and the socioeconomic impact that comes with it.”

“We appeal for everyone’s cooperation and compassion. Magbayanihan po tayo. Tulungan

natin bumangon ang bawat Pilipino bilang isang nagkakaisang bansa ,” Go said, adding: “Together, we can heal as one.”

Salute to health workers at the frontlines I n separate news statement, the B ankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), said the group salutes our health workers and is one with them in the fight against Covid-19.

“The nation is indebted to the brave men and women of the health services who risk their own lives to save others,” the BAP statement read.

“The BAP fully suppor ts the effor ts and action done by the national government to immediately arrest and contain the spread of the Covid-19. We can assure the public that our member banks are here to continuously provide critical services amid difficulties and challenges,” the news statement added.

Despite operating on skeletal work force, BAP said, “we kept some branches open, ATM machines working and the financial markets going. We are committed to delivering these services to ensure the continuity of the flow of goods and services which are even more vital at this time.”

The statement added: Given the limited

personnel that the banks can deploy during the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, we appeal to the public for your patience and understanding in availing your financial re q u i re m e nt s d u r i n g t h e s e e x t r a o rd i n a r y circumstances.”

BAP assured that banks are doing “exceptional measures” to ensure continuity of access to banking services in the most efficient and sustainable manner. “Now, more than ever, the public’s cooperation and understanding are needed and crucial in mitigating this health crisis,” the BAP statement said.

BAP said that with the passage of Republic Act 11469, group is in close coordination with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for a smooth implementation of the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.” “The banking industry is here to support the national government and do what is necessary to help win the fight against Covid-19,” the statement said.

LandBank’s vow The state-run LandBank, meanwhile affirmed its commitment of unhampered banking service amid travel restrictions and other constraints brought

by the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

In a news statement, LandBank said majority of its branches nationwide remain open for financial transactions. Starting March 23, 2020, it added all branches operate from 8 a.m. until 12:00 noon.

LandBank added it is also implementing tight screening procedures in every branch, social distancing inside the branches by limiting the number of customers on seating capacity. In the same way, social distancing is observed while queuing among its ATMs. While LandBank said it encourages cashless and online transactions, it also assures cash availability in all our ATMs should there will be a need to transact via ATMs. At the same time, the bank said it is giving a 60-day extension for all salary loan and creditcard payments with due dates of up to April 15.

LandBank also said it has waived fees for fund transfers to other banks via InstaPay and PESONet starting 6:30 p.m. of March 18 until 11:00 pm. of April 30.

For commercial loan clients, the bank said it is also giving longer tenor and grace periods as part of restructured loan amortizations. New loans can also be granted to clients affected by the crisis.

Butch Fernandez

PHL gets 1st batch of testing kits, masks donated by Jack Ma, Alibaba foundations

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h e D epar tment of Health received on Friday the first batch of donation to the countr y by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation, which included face masks and testing kits for coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19).

The shipment was par t of the donation to four Southeast Asian countries that include Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The four nations will receive a combined total of 2 million face masks, testing kits for 150,000 people, 20,000 protec tive suits and 20,000 face shields.

“The arrival of the first batch of donations underscores the generosity of the

Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation and their genuine desire to help developing countries like the Philippines fight the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed thousands of lives worldwide and battered the global economy,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

D ominguez added that the donations will “cer tainly boost effor ts of the government and the private sec tor in the Philippines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and save lives.”

“We hope the donations will help the Philippines to protec t against Covid-19.

We are doing all that we can to help

the global fight, racing against time and overcoming logistical challenges to deliver essential medical supplies,” said the Jack Ma Foundation.

“The second batch of medical supplies are expec ted to arrive in Manila in the nex t week.”

The donation is among a number of aid initiatives from the Alibaba Foundation and Jack Ma Foundation to suppor t the areas of the world most affec ted by the Covid-19 crisis, sourcing and delivering various t ypes of medical supplies to China, Southeast Asia, United States, Africa, Italy, B elgium, France, Slovenia,

Spain, Germany and Latin America.

The foundations are also funding research and development of Covid-19 virus treatment options in China and at the Peter D oher t y Institute for Infec tion and Immunit y (Australia) and Columbia Universit y (USA). More donations are expec ted to be announced soon.

The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation have published and distributed a handbook detailing learnings and best prac tices from the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Universit y School of Medicine, for treating Covid-19 patients.

Rene Acosta

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

A6 Saturday, March 28, 2020

Exports jump 4.4% to $94.4B last year, hitting national target

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OTAL Philippine exports of goods and services jumped by 4.4 percent to $94.4 billion in 2019 from $90.4 billion in 2018, according to the BPM6 data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on March 20, 2020.

The 2019 figure is within the $93.7billion to $96.4-billion target set in the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2018-2022.

“The 4.4-percent export growth was the result of a whole-of-nation effort from the government and the

private sector,” said Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary for Trade Promotions Group (TPG) Abdulgani M. Macatoman.

Both goods and services exports have been steadily growing since 2014. Goods exports increased by 2.69 percent to $53.4 billion in 2019 from $52 billion in the previous year. The 2019 goods exports even surpassed the PEDP’s $51.2billion to $52.7-billion target.

Meanwhile, services exports jumped 6.71 percent to $41 billion in 2019 from

$38.4 billion in 2018. While a big leap from 2018’s values, services exports landed just below the PEDP target of $42.6 billion to $43.7 billion.

The PEDP lays down strategies to increase the exports of goods and services from the Philippines to at least $122 billion by 2022.

The three main strategies include (1) improving the overall climate for export development, (2) exploiting existing and prospective opportunities from trading arrangements, and

(3) designing comprehensive packages of support for selected products and services sectors.

“As the direct group concerned with growing Philippine exports, the Export Marketing Bureau [EMB] will continue to employ the PEDP’s strategies. To cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, we have opened our lines to address all concerns of Philippine exporters during the enhanced community quarantine and afterward,” DTI-EMB Director Senen M. Perlada assured.

DTI-EMB program seeks to upgrade exporters’ proficiency in digital trade

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N an effort to further encourage digital transformation among Philippine exporters, the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) organized a Philippine Export Competitiveness Program (PECP) info session focused on 2020’s International Trade Trends held on February 27, 2020, at the DTI International Building, Makati City.

To highlight the digital technology’s important role in transforming international trade, the latest PECP info session featured topics on: Quick Response (QR) Code 101: What You Need To Know; Making your Payment Scheme Easier Through QR Code Technology; Adopting a National QR Code Standard for Payments in the Philippines; HighTech Philippine Startups Offering Transformative Technologies; and Global Trade Helpdesk.

DTI-Trade Promotions Group (TPG) Undersecretary Abdulgani M. Macatoman noted that it is essential to focus on the digital trade trends in the Philippines and in the global arena as a whole to encourage exporters to transform digitally.

“We believe that our Philippine entrepreneurs can exceed more challenges, accomplish better business results, and eventually have lower operational costs by embracing new technologies offered by these business enablers,” Macatoman said.

The PECP is a yearlong seminar series for exporters which is aimed at increasing the competitiveness and productivity of Filipino exporters. The first two PECP info sessions for this year were anchored on the theme of the 2019 National Export Congress, which focused on “Driving Exports through Digital Transformation.”

For the month of February 2020, the PECP conducted an interactive knowledge sharing on local and international trade trends in 2020. The morning session highlighted the trending digital payment technologies in the Philippines, while the afternoon session focused on high-tech Philippine start-ups and a presentation cum pilot testing of the “Global Trade Helpdesk” of the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Vincent Norman Goyena, agent network head of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

(RCBC) made a thorough discussion on “Quick Response [QR] Code Technology: What You Need to Know.” He provided vital information such as the history of this innovative technology, variations/types of QR Codes that could be generated, applications/uses across various industries, and its important role in transforming domestic and global trade.

Jarette Aotriz, senior lead for Government

Programs of PayMaya followed suit with her extensive presentation on “Making Your Payment Scheme Easier Through QR Code Technology.” She discussed PayMaya’s innovative digital payment schemes such as its digital platform which is anchored on the QR Code Technology. She enlightened the PECP participants on this trending payment technology by providing them with the technical know-how on using this type of digital payment for their business transactions.

Marie Kristine Pajarillo, bank officer V of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) discussed the topic “Adopting a National QR Code Standard for Payments in the Philippines.” She provided a comprehensive briefing on this strategic initiative, which aims to transform the country’s QRdriven digital payment services into interoperable payment solutions. Her discussion focused on the rationale for BSP’s adoption of this valuable policy in terms of improving the QR-enabled payment services offerings of the country’s Payment Service Providers (PSPs).

Katrina Bausa Chan, director of the QBO Innovation Hub, provided a presentation on the “HighTech Philippine Startups Offering Transformative Technologies.” Chan started her briefing with a

discussion on the role of the QBO Innovation Hub in helping promote start-up technopreneurship in the country. She then proceeded with an extensive discussion on Philippine start-up companies which are now offering innovative technologies that are transforming digital trade in the local and international market.

Anna Jankowska-Eriksson, market analyst, trade and market intelligence of the International Trade Centre conducted a livestreaming presentation on “Global Trade Helpdesk.” She, likewise, spearheaded the platform testing of the ITC portal www.globaltradehelpdesk.org. The briefing/testing was done through Skype in coordination with PTIC-Geneva. Global Trade Helpdesk is a multiagency initiative led by the ITC, Unctad, and WTO that aims to integrate global trade information and market access conditions for trade officials and entrepreneurs.

For exporters interested to attend our free info sessions, contact the DTI-EMB Export Assistance and Business Matching Division (EABMD) at telephone number 8465.3300 local 109 or email pecp@dti.gov.ph.

Please visit our Facebook Page: fb.com/dti.export to stay updated on DTI-EMB’s new and upcoming events and programs.

DTI’s SSF LIKHA Fab Lab makes face shields for frontline workers

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S the number of Covid-19 cases increases in the country, there is also an increasingly growing concern about the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for our frontline workers.

Thus, the Labspace for Innovation, Knowledge-Honing and Application (LIKHA) Fab Lab of the Batangas State University (BatStateU), together with the Department of Trade and Industry Region 4A, is manufacturing face shields using 3D printed face bands and acetate films for our health workers as communities from makers and fab labs in and outside the Philippines are collaborating for this endeavor.

The LIKHA Fab Lab, established on December 27, 2018, is a Shared Service Facility (SSF) funded by the DTI 4A where business enterprises engaged in top industries in the region such as furniture-related processes and electronics, can converge with modelers/ designers to create and develop models/designs, and make prototypes for mass production. It is a digital fabrication that enables collaboration and promotes transparency among designers and modelers aided by computer-controlled machines.

Stored digital design using the sophisticated technology provides an array of services to help the whole furniture design and manufacturing team for detailed designs, analysis, documentation and fabrication.

“The supply of additional protective face shields is our way of solving the problem in the lack of PPE for our frontliners,” said LIKHA Fab Lab Center Head Louie Villaverde.

According to Engr. Villaverde, they already donated 130 face shields to Batangas Medical Center. They are also planning to provide more by producing about 30 to 40 face shields a day to different hospitals in Batangas, then later on to the hospitals in the Calabarzon region and to other frontline workers like the Philippine National Police.

The team is composed of BatStateU President Dr. Tirso Ronquillo, Vice President for Research Development and Extension Services Engr. Albertson Amante, head of LIKHA FabLab Engr. Louie Villaverde, 2D/3D designer Jo Louis Valencia, and Machine Operator Arvin Cedrick Gutierrez.

The team is currently working from home, operating at regular hours with eight 3D printers distributed in three locations. Through rapid prototyping, a machine can print a face shield within an hour and 42 minutes, allowing them to produce a maximum of 48 face shields a day with their eight 3D printers.

Villaverde noted that for now, they are in need of additional materials. Any donations or supplies of raw materials will be of great help.

“We are strongly supporting the effort and initiative of LIKHA in developing innovative and effective solutions to help in combatting Covid-19. As we, in the DTI, work alongside with LIKHA, we are urging everyone, especially in the Calabarzon region, to support their very important work,” said DTI 4A Director Marilou Q. Toledo.

SB Corp. opens P1-B loan for MSEs affected by lockdown

MSME EXPORTERS PLEAD FOR SUPPORT AS LOSSES MOUNT DUE TO COVID-19

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ISTRESSED micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) exporters in the Philippines are appealing for government intervention, primarily financial assistance and tax breaks to offset their losses and enable business continuity as the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic continues to destabilize global trade and economy.

Thirty-six respondents representing 13 sectors made the appeal in a survey conducted this month among members by the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on business operations.

More than 70 percent of the MSME exporters polled shared that they trade with China and other severely affected countries, including the US, Japan, and Singapore, and are thus experiencing business disruptions with the outbreak of Covid-19.

A large number of respondents have

O support micro and small businesses and cushion the economic impact of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) virus in the country, the Small Business Corp. is setting up a P1-billion Enterprise Rehabilitation Financing facility under the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (named Covid19 P3-ERF).

The facility will be implemented once the community quarantine declaration is lifted by the national government and/or respective local government units.

Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the P3-ERF facility is part of the economic relief program of President Duterte for small businesses greatly affected and further marginalized by the Covid-19 epidemic.

The SB Corporation, an agency under the Department of Trade and Industry, said the ERF loan fund is open to micro and small enterprises with at least one year continuous

operation prior to March 2020, and whose businesses suffered a drastic reduction in sales during the ensuing epidemic.

Micro enterprises with asset size of not more than P3 million may borrow P10,000 up to P200,000, while small enterprises with asset size of not more than P10 million may borrow a higher loan amount but will not exceed P500,000.

The loan shall be used to help the enterprise stabilize, or recover from its losses. Specifically, the following purposes are qualified: updating of loan amortizations for vehicle loans or other fixed asset loans of the business; inventory replacement for perishable stocks damaged, and working capital replacement to restart the business.

The interest rate shall be at 0.5 percent per month (discounted basis), and a grace period on payments shall be given until such time that the economic crisis has abated.

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reported late shipments, canceled export and import orders, as well as loss of buyers and suppliers as the virus continues to spread across the world and travel restrictions are imposed.

Other issues raised include newfound difficulties in getting loans (financing squeeze), canceled loans, canceled trade fairs, travel difficulties, liquidity and excess manpower, and delays in remittance.

Slowdown in market demand is the biggest problem identified by the respondents, followed by higher costs of raw materials and intermediate goods and increase in logistics cost.

Three respondents said they have incurred losses of $35,000, $50,000, and $500,000, respectively, due to the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.

With border shutdowns and travel restrictions due to the novel coronavi-

rus, majority of those surveyed said they are currently turning to the domestic market to temper their losses, and are urging the government to strengthen the local market to allow enterprises to continue operating.

Notably the most recommended intervention is financial assistance. The respondents are asking for financial support for affected companies, including refund for canceled trade exhibits, tax breaks, and loan assistance, among others.

Other recommendations are for the administration to strengthen e-commerce, subsidize highly appreciated local and international shows, expedite release of shipments at the ports, and look for other buyers aside from China. In addition, the respondents are requesting a review of the implementation of the red lane/x-ray requirement for exports.

OurTime BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Dindo Danao: Feeding children and promoting entrepreneurship in poor communities

ODYSSEY Foundation’s Executive Director Dindo A. Danao with community partners at a supplemental feeding project.

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

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N 1991, Dindo Danao started his career with food manufacturing firm CDOFoodsphere as a marketing consultant for public relations and corporate communications. ln 2004, the company established Odyssey Foundation Inc. (OFI) to serve as its social development arm. Its mandate is to develop programs concerning children’s nourishment, childcare and education, livelihood enhancement and health and nutritional advocacy, and to generate funds via solicitation and fund-raising activities to support its programs.

The 62-year-old Danao volunteered to join OFI because its advocacies were close to his heart. He has served as OFI executive director for the last 15 years.

“When the company gave me the foundation as an extension of my job, I grabbed it because I came from a poor family,” Danao said in a phone interview with the BusinessMirror.

“My father worked as a sanitary inspector under the then Rural Health Unit of the Department of Health in a fifth-class municipality in the northern part of Cagayan. In my elementary days, I joined my father in his inspection trips, and those experiences served as my exposure to the lives of the marginalized,” he said.

This led to the development of Danao’s strong affinity to social services.

OFI advocacies

SUPPLEMENTAL feeding is one of OFI’s major programs. For the last 45 years, CDO has allotted 7 percent of its revenues for the health-care needs of consumers that belong to the D and E markets.

“As a food company, CDO-Foodsphere considers nutrition, through supplemental feeding, as its core competence in its corporate social responsibility,” Danao said.

Christian Valdez, a six-year-old son of carpenter Hilario Valdez and Jennifer Valdez from Barangay Gen. T. de Leon, Valenzuela City was considered underweight for his age. After undergoing a 90-day supplemental feeding program organized by OFI, Christian gained 3.1 kilograms.

Christian is among 25,000 childrenbeneficiaries of OFI’s Nutrition Program dubbed Gabay Nutrisyon, which is a nationwide campaign of OFI designed to eliminate hunger among children two to six years old.

The campaign has reached out to children in underprivileged parts of Metro Manila and far-flung communities such as Santa Ana, Cagayan; Malilipot, Albay; Presenta-

cion, Camarines Sur; Benguet and Leyte. OFI has basically provided intervention to the serious problem of malnutrition in country.

Data from Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) show that chronic malnutrition rate among Filipino children up to two years old was at 26.2 percent in 2015, the highest in 10 years.

According to studies, the first 1,000 days are crucial, and the child must receive optimum nutrition. If not achieved, the effects of malnutrition will be irreversible. Aware of the problem, OFI’s core advocacy is hunger mitigation to save children from undernutrition.

“We are actively implementing Gabay Nutrisyon supplemental feeding program to provide nourishment to children and enable them to reach their fullest potential,” Danao said, adding that OFI conducts nutrition advocacy intervention in the form of 90 days supplemental food program when nutritious food and medicine are given to the children. At the end of the feeding program, the children are expected to have reached their normal nutritional status. As of February 28, 2020, total beneficiaries of the Gabay Nutrisyon program reached 25,044 kids.

“Urgent intervention is needed to reverse the health condition of underweight Filipino children. We believe that a directly administered and closely monitored feeding program brings the needed results,” Jerome Ong, president of Odyssey Foundation, and CDO-Foodsphere said in a statement.

“Combating children’s malnutrition in its early stage can have lasting impact on their lives as they grow and become productive members of society,” Ong added.

In 2005, OFI first conducted Gabay Nutrisyon, a community-based supplemental feeding program.

By feeding the children of Barangay Paso de Blas in Valenzuela City. OFI expanded the program and launched the NEELS advocacy campaign. NEELS stand for Nutrition, Education, Environment, Livelihood and Service Humanity.

Promoting micro-entrepreneurship

IMPROVING the lives of the marginalized is being addressed by OFI, according to Danao.

Anecita C. Manayon, a 50-year-old street vendor in Dalandanan, Valenzuela City, saw her income rise after learning how to produce processed food products under a livelihood program initiated by OFI. “I used to sell only dried fish and vegetables. But when I learned how to produce siomai, empanada, embotido and other processed food products, I am now selling more products in Valenzuela City. My

income also increased, thanks to Odyssey Foundation,” Manayon said.

Manayon is one of the 3,100 beneficiaries of Odyssey Foundation’s Gabay Hanapbuhay livelihood program, which turned them into micro-entrepreneurs. The program equips mostly poor parents with entrepreneurial skills so that they can earn additional income for their families.

Danao said OFI trains beneficiaries on cosmetology, facial treatment, food processing, fancy jewelry making, dishwashing liquid and soap making, massage therapy, fancy accessories design, beads making and water lily weaving. OFI also provides starter kits to selected participants following assessment and evaluation.

The program was created to help parents overcome economic problems such as inadequate household income, unemployment and malnutrition of children.

“We tapped the mothers to augment the family income by teaching them livelihood skills,” Danao said.

Gina Briones, a 49-year-old housewife in Malanday, Valenzuela City, now earns more from selling embotido to her neighbors, after her training on meat processing under Gabay Buhay. “After the training, I received orders from my neighbors who liked my embotido. I am now able to save, if there are many orders. Even my children now spend less in school, because I personally prepare their lunch,” she said.

Helen Sumayang, a 47-year-old housewife in Barangay Pasolo, Valenzuela City, said the training on massage therapy now enables her to earn. “My neighbors and friends know that I have been well trained and call me if they need a massage. I earn P200 to P300 per massage.

This means additional income for my family,” she said.

The livelihood program started on October 8, 2011, in Barangay Maysan, Valenzuela, with 142 parent-participants under the first batch, according to OFI President Jerome Ong. As of March 1, 2020, some 3,100 individuals, mostly parents of undernourished children in poor communities from 45 barangays, have graduated from Gabay Hanapbuhay with the help of about 40 community partners and 202 volunteers.

Among OFI’s partners under the Gabay Hanapbuhay program are Ang Hortaleza Foundation Inc., Villa Corazon Homeowners Association Inc., Philippine Business for Social Progress and Friends of Win Organization.

An impact assessment of the program shows that 61.25 percent or 1,715 participants used the skills they received from the training on profitable livelihood projects, while 18.75 percent (525 participants) used their newly acquired skills for home activities that allow them to have less household expenses.

Gabay Hanapbuhay aims to promote productivity and develop livelihood skills among selected participants in a chosen community. Aside from livelihood enhancement, OFI develops programs concerning children nourishment, child education, environment and other social services.

“This is our little contribution to community empowerment. We have allocated funds to build and develop micro-entrepreneurs so that they can become more active in nation-building.

More important than dole-outs to the less fortunate are real and long-term solutions to poverty. Women, especially housewives, are empowered to contribute to household income through practical livelihood activities,” Ong said.

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, March 28, 2020

A7

Connectedness

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

I

N the Philippines it pays to be “connected.” The street lingo is, “May konek ka ba?” Konek means knowing someone who is working in a government agency who can facilitate the processing of your license, claim benefit or loan without going through the usual channels or protocols.

Recently, netizens have called out several asymptomatic politicians and other people of rank for getting Covid-19 test shots ahead of frontliners who need it more because they are putting their lives on the line. What is also galling is that they want members of their families to have test shots too! It is a blatant disregard of the protocol set by the DOH and ignores the rising public frustration and anger over the limited number of test kits.

Feeling their lives matter more, they are flaunting their privilege and making use of their “connections.”

If you consider it closely, this kind of connection is self-serving. It is all about looking out for oneself, using other people for one’s own benefit. But there is another form of connection that goes the other way. From selfinterest, the action is directed in a beneficial way to other people.

When my wife and I go to the doctor for our regular checkups, we often find ourselves in the company of people our age. At first, they look uncommunicative, but once my wife starts asking one question or two, more often than not they shed off their glacial look and begin talking nonstop, triggering an outpouring of information about themselves and their families. It’s as if they are just waiting to be asked.

From these chance encounters, my wife has built a small network of connectedness with fellow souls on the last stage of a shared journey.

People our age are going through something difficult. They need empathy and compassion the most. Many of them, however, cannot get it from their sons and daughters who are too involved in their own personal issues and concerns. Where else can they get it? From people like us, who understand what they are talking about.

It pays to have a fellow senior to listen to us, commiserate with us, or perhaps share in our gladness.

That’s why we need to think more about being connected and reaching out, not isolating ourselves. It seems to make sense that when people feel loved and are in touch with people who matter to them, it feels worth it to continue on living.

Social media, for better or for worse, can help us get connected with people from our past. That’s how I was tracked down by my former college boarding housemates. And recently, we had some fulfilling moments bonding with each other, and have vowed to stay reconnected.

When I meet with friends and peers from the past, I find it interesting that we share the same fears, the same health issues, and similar family concerns. Every time we hear about a colleague succumbing to heart attack or stroke or stricken with cancer, we just heave a heavy sigh of resignation and acceptance. Don’t ask for whom the bell tolls because it tolls for thee. Today it’s him, tomorrow it could be me. The circle becomes smaller and smaller.

The pandemic we are now confronting presents an opportunity for us to seriously

change our self-preoccupation.

Tuning in together to news bulletins and directives from authorities, we rediscover our mutual belonging. A common threat is connecting us together, even as we distance ourselves from one another.

We are all potentially at risk. We are all trying to quell the spread. We can face it together and we can help one another get through it.

Nothing can better make us realize that there is no separate, independent self and everything is interconnected in the everchanging web of life.

Ironically, the “social distancing” we are asked to practice is a call to care. It is not really just for oneself, but also for others’ sake.

Even in isolation, we can consciously kindle the lamp of compassion and connection. Our religious traditions have given us the tools we can use to work together and cherish each other.

I am glad that this anxious moment in time is eliciting unexpected acts of kindness, even while we feel as if we’re in a bad dream. As I scan posts on social media, I come across stories and reports about people who are going out of their way to bring food and personal protective gear to health frontliners and providing free transport for them. People opening their shops to accept the homeless, as well as those stranded due to the absence of mass transportation.

Only yesterday when my wife and I went to the drug store to get our supply of prescribed medicines, we were aghast to encounter a long line of people waiting to get inside the drug store. As we got to line up, the other younger looking people graciously told us to go ahead of them. We don’t know them but because we are all connected during this time of crisis, they gave way to people who are more vulnerable, even if they will now have to wait a little longer for doing so.

Even in our homes, or through social media, we can find a way, big or small, to show that we care for others. As elders, we can lovingly offer our wisdom and patience, given our long experience with loss, resilience and how attitude is everything.

When this long nightmare is over, when things get back more or less to normal, let us vow not to take the people around us for granted. Let’s start to embrace social interactions not as inconveniences but as sparks that cause the human heart to ignite and feel connected. Call a friend, a former colleague or classmate, set up a coffee date and show up. Turn off your phone and be present.

See how that makes you feel. My guess is your day will be better for it.

“The older we grow, the more we realize that true power and happiness come to us only through those who spiritually mean something to us,” Albert Schweitzer wrote.

“Whether they are near or far, still alive or dead, we need them if we are to find our way through life.”

Let us pay more attention to how we open and close doors, how we welcome and dismiss one another, always keeping in mind that in these uncertain times, as well as in the twilight of our lives, after all is said and done, we need to accompany one another safely through the dark.

Cebu imposes 24-hour curfew for senior citizens, students

By Katherine Bethune Philippine News Agency

C

EBU CITY—Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has issued a new policy imposing strict home quarantine to all students and senior citizens aged 65 and above through round-the-clock curfew, in an effort to keep the vulnerable sector from the threat of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Garcia’s order is implemented starting at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 22.

The 24-hour curfew for students and the elderly will exclude those who need to travel for medical care and other such important reasons to be out of the house. “ T hey better stay in their homes because the police and the military will question them if they will not follow,” Garcia said in a quick announcement to the media

over the weekend.

Because of this, Garcia said everyone is urged to bring any form of identification (IDs) or cedula, for the police or military to determine if one is a student, a working person or an elderly.

She said those who cannot provide an ID are advised to stay home if they have no important business to do outside.

“As of now, the general rule is, they

should bring with them an ID,” she said.

Earlier, Garcia also ordered temporary cessation of operations of establishments, including Internet cafés.

Meanwhile, the governor reminded the town mayors on the policy not allowing cockfighting while the province is on the state of calamity, as declared by President Duterte on March 16.

This pronouncement on cock-

fighting came after Garcia received reports that the village chief of Cabatbatan, Dumanjug was arrested by authorities.

Ruel Dinglasa Cuevas, 39, celebrated his birthday in a detention cell after he and another individual, Jerry Ligonas Torres, 40, organized a cockfight last Friday.

Garcia said aside from violating the law prohibiting illegal gambling activity, cockfighting is also a viola-

tion of her latest executive order (No. 5-I), which discourages such activities that gather a number of people in view of the strict social distancing policy imposed by the national and provincial governments.

“I urge all mayors to comply, cockfighting is not allowed anymore.

This executive order applies to all, whether we are in the same political party or not, you have to follow,” Garcia said.

A8

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Sports BusinessMirror

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

SPECTATORS along the road applaud the riders during the 19th stage of the Tour de France between Saint Jean De Maurienne and Tignes in July last year. AP

NESTHY: OLYMPICS CAN WAIT N

TOUR DE FRANCE HOLDING OUT P

By Jerome Pugmire The Associated Press

ARIS—Perhaps no other sports event puts so many fans in such close contact with athletes as the Tour de France, with swarms of people clogging city streets, winding roads and soaring mountain passes during cycling’s three-week showpiece and getting within touching distance of the riders.

And yet, unlike almost every other major sporting event this summer, including the Tokyo Olympics, the Tour has yet to be called off despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

For now, the start date remains June 27—and there is a possibility that the race could be held without any fans lining the course.

France’s sports minister Roxana Mărăcineanu said the Tour can still exist in a time of social distancing.

“The economic model of the Tour de France does not rely on ticket sales but on TV rights and media broadcasting,” Mărăcineanu told France Bleu radio on Wednesday evening.

“Everyone has understood the benefits of staying at home and prioritizing the televised spectacle. In the end, it would not be so disadvantageous because we could watch it on television.”

But it would be a Tour unlike any other.

The race, which was first held in 1903, is synonymous with images of thousands of crammed-in spectators stuck together like glue on winding ascents up the Alps, cheering on the riders as they go past.

On the final day of the race, a ceremonial ride into Paris, legions of yellow-jersey wearing spectators normally amass behind steel barriers along the Champs-Élysées: several banks deep and shoulder to shoulder, with fast-turning

heads catching a glimpse of the winner flashing past.

Millions of fans watch each year’s race in a festive atmosphere stretching across all areas of France. This year’s race has 21 stages, where fans traditionally stand watching all along the way, and the longest is 218 kilometers.

Thousands of police officers are needed to keep crowds under control and help negotiate safe passage for riders from 22 teams, with several often sharing hotels.

Enforcing a lockdown everywhere along the route for three weeks seems difficult—if not impossible—given that groups of people could appear from anywhere at any point.

One of cycling’s big attractions is that fans get so close to the riders, running alongside them up climbs and sometimes giving them a helpful push in the back on the toughest ones.

Sometimes they get much too close.

Two years ago, former champion Vincenzo Nibali crashed into a police motorbike on a narrow street lined with spectators and later abandoned the race. Four-time champion Chris Froome has been spat on and had urine thrown on him.

Mărăcineanu is in regular talks with Amaury Sport Organisation—the Tour organizer—but says it’s “still too early” to predict what will happen. On her Twitter account she added: “there is a time for everything.

Right now, we have a a more urgent battle to fight.”

On Tuesday the International Olympic Committee postponed the Tokyo Games to next year. Likewise soccer’s European Championship, held in several countries, moved to 2021. Another major cycling race, the Giro d’Italia in May, was postponed this month.

Organizers of Wimbledon meet next week to decide on

Japanese baseball players test positive

Hanshin Tigers pitcher Shintaro Fujinami loses his sense of smell while his two teammates experience a diminished sense of taste. AP

this year’s tennis tournament, scheduled for June 29 to July 12. The French Open, normally in late May and June, is pushed back to September 20 to October 4.

Tour organizers declined to comment Thursday when asked whether plans to host the race as planned this summer have changed, or whether a race without fans could be an option.

The last time the Tour was not held was in 1946, with the nation emerging from the second world war. It was also stopped during World War I. Five-time Tour champion Bernard Hinault—the last Frenchman to win the race—cautioned against it going ahead amid the uncertainty of how long the epidemic will last.

“There’s a crazy illness which is spreading and, if it happens to last months, we shouldn’t hesitate to call it off,” he said in an interview

with French daily Le Parisien on March 18. “We should ask ourselves if it’s reasonable to allow people to go out on the roads if there’s still a risk.... The Tour de France is a fantastic party. But it’s less important than life.”

T

OKYO—Hanshin Tigers pitcher Shintaro Fujinami and two teammates have become the first professional baseball players in Japan to test positive for the new coronavirus.

Fujinami was examined at a hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a doctor recommended he have a test.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported Friday that the result was positive.

The 25-year-old right-hander reported losing his sense of smell, although he exhibited no other symptoms before the test.

After checking the pitcher’s activities over the past two weeks, it was determined that two other players who dined with Fujinami reported a diminished sense of taste. They also tested positive, according to national broadcaster NHK. Unlike Japan’s professional soccer league which has canceled all games, Japanese baseball has been playing exhibition games with no spectators. The Tigers canceled Thursday’s farm team practice game and had their home park, Koshien Stadium, disinfected.

The Central League club has ordered all of its players and staff to self-quarantine, and has suspended all practice through April 1.

Japan professional baseball had earlier postponed the start of its regular season amid the pandemic and was aiming for an April 24th start, but that now seems unlikely. AP

ESTHY PETECIO lost momentum as she tries to qualify for her first Olympics but the reigning women’s featherweight world champion said she favored Tokyo 2020’s postponement for next year for the health and safety of everyone.

“The postponement is for everybody’s health and safety, it shows that the sports leaders are putting extreme importance in the welfare of athletes, officials and fans by moving back the Tokyo Olympics,” the reigning women’s world champion told the BusinessMirror on Wednesday night.

Petecio lost an automatic qualification for Tokyo 2020 when she bowed to perennial rival Iri Sena of Japan by split decision in the quarterfinals of the Asian qualifiers in Amman, Jordan, early this month.

It was in the qualifiers where she, Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno earned tickets to Tokyo by making the semifinal round.

Petecio, Marcial and Magno, as well as the other boxers and coaches who were in Amman, are completing a compulsory 15-day self-quarantine.

“The Olympics will always be there, but the life of an individual is more precious and irreplaceable,” added the 27-year-old Davao City pride Petecio, who is in isolation in a boarding house in Baguio City.

The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 organizers and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Tuesday night to postpone the Olympics, which are scheduled July 14 to August 9 this year.

Petecio looked forward to earning her slot for Tokyo 2020 in the world qualifiers in May in London but the event was canceled ahead of Tokyo 2020.

The world champion said she is itching to go back to training once the enhanced community quarantine is lifted on April 14.

“I never get out of the boarding house but the moment this quarantine is over, I would immediately go back to training with my teammates,” she said.

The national boxing team is training at the Philippine Sports Commission facility at the Teachers’ Camp in Baguio City.

NESTHY PETECIO: Life is more important than the Olympics.

UZBEKISTAN’S Oksana Chusovitina, a 1992 gold medalist seen here on the uneven bars in the World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, in October 2006, says Tokyo will be her last Olympics. AP

Record-setting Olympians stretch careers for Tokyo Games in 2021

D

ÜSSELDORF, Germany—Even if it takes an extra year, Nino Salukvadze will still be aiming for an Olympic record.

The Georgian shooter has competed at every Olympics since 1988, where she won a gold medal for the Soviet Union. At the Tokyo Olympics—now postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic—she will set a women’s record of nine appearances.

She’s happy to wait for it.

“We’re restructuring my training and there’s nothing terrible about that. The main thing is health,” Salukvadze told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from her home in the South Caucasus nation.

Salukvadze is one of a host of Olympic veterans taking the extra year in stride. There’s also 37-year-old American hurdler Lolo Jones, who is hoping to return to the track in Tokyo, and Uzbek gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, who has qualified for her eighth Olympics—breaking her own record in the sport.

Chusovitina has considered retirement before but chose to carry on. This time around, the 1992 gold medalist said Tokyo will be her last Olympics.

“It’s already good that they have postponed. Everything will calm down and everything will be fine, and I think then the Olympics will go ahead as normal,” said the 44-year-old Chusovitina, who is training in restricted conditions because of the virus outbreak. “I want to compete in Tokyo and retire.”

Chusovitina said Uzbek officials sent her home from a

training center after the Olympics were postponed, leaving her to spend unexpected downtime with her husband and dogs.

It’s a rare quiet point in her uniquely long-running gymnastics career. Chusovitina has been competing at elite level since the 1980s, long before most other current gymnasts were born.

Salukvadze hasn’t set a date for retirement, but said each Olympic cycle is tougher than the last. Experience is a strength, though.

“The physical burden is one thing, but the psychological side plays a big role,” she said.

The delay caused by the outbreak may even be a boost to the 51-year-old Salukvadze’s hopes of adding to her career tally of one gold, one silver and one bronze in shooting. She had eye surgery in December and needs time to adapt to the change.

For now, she is in limited fitness and air pistol training at home with her son Tsotne Machavariani, a shooter who competed at his first Olympics in 2016. They’re in isolation for 14 days after returning home from neighboring Azerbaijan and are passing the time with table tennis.

Salukvadze secured a qualifying spot in 2019 and the International Shooting Sport Federation told the AP on Wednesday it will confirm already-qualified athletes despite the postponement. When the Tokyo Olympics happen—no new date has been selected—Salukvadze will pull ahead of the two other eight-time female Olympians with whom she shares the record. AP

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

BusinessMirror

Computer-graphics pioneers win tech’s Turing prize

BY TALI ARBEL The Associated Press THE technology that animated movies like Toy Story and enabled a variety of special effects is the focus of this year’s Turing Award, the technology industry’s version of the Nobel Prize.

Patrick Hanrahan and Edwin Catmull won the prize for their contributions to 3D computer graphics used in movies and video games.

Edwin Catmull was hired by legendary filmmaker George Lucas to head the computer-technology division that became Pixar when Apple founder Steve Jobs bought it. Hanrahan was one of Catmull’s early

/

IF you’re on social media, you may have seen people posting about Dalgona coffee.

It’s actually easy to make with four ingredients, five if you include ice

hires at Pixar, now part of Disney.

Together, the two worked on techniques that made graphics in movies, like Toy Story look more lifelike, even though Hanrahan left Pixar years before the studio released that film. Catmull is the former president of Pixar and worked there for more than three decades.

“What makes skin look like skin? What makes a tree look like a tree? You have to understand the structure of material and how light interacts with it,” Hanrahan said in an interview with The Associated Press. Only then is it possible to translate that understanding of how the physics of curved surfaces—our hands, our noses—works with light

into the 100,00-plus frames that make up a movie.

Hanrahan’s RenderMan software helped produce Toy Story in 1995 and then a string of Pixar films like Up, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and Wall-E. It was also the backbone of CGI special effects in live-action movies, such as Titanic and the Lord of the Rings films.

The Association for Computing Machinery, which awards the prize, says filmmakers used RenderMan software in nearly all of the last 47 movies nominated for a visual effects Academy Award.

The technology has also indirectly helped the artificial-intelligence field. The chips that were developed for video-game graphics were so powerful that they could then be used to train AI algorithms.

The coffee craze that’s sweeping social media PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

M

Y Instagram feed has changed so much in the past week. From OOTDs and travel photos, the content has evolved to more food, family, pets and two recent fads—TikTok and Dalgona coffee.

OK, there have been inappropriate and insensitive posts from rich and famous people but this is not about them.

So many adults are annoyed by both TikTok and Dalgona coffee but it’s what every young person is into now. I’m not sure about Dalgona coffee but so many young colleagues of mine were already into TikTok even before the whole world went into quarantine.

TikTok is a Chinese video-sharing social networking service founded in 2012. It is used to create short dance, lip-sync, comedy and talent videos. Everyone is so into TikTok these days that under quarantine, GMA Artist Center has called for auditions via the app. You know TikTok is big because every kid wants to be on it.

To access TikTok and its videos, you need to get the app (it is available as free download from the App Store and Google Play Store) and register. You don’t need to post anything. You just need the app to follow accounts and see their posts, like and message accounts.

Now on to Dalgona coffee, a big trend on TikTok. If you have social media, you know that this is very popular right now. The drink may look complicated but you only need four ingredients to make one, five if you include ice cubes.

The drink itself is from India, Pakistan and Macau but Dalgona is the name of a traditional toffee from South Korea. On a Korean TV show called Pyunstorang, actor Jung Il-Woo traveled to Macau and tried the drink. He remarked that the drink, known as whipped coffee or beaten coffee, tasted like Dalgona.

In the past week, people have been posting videos of them making Dalgona coffee on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. These videos made us try the recipe.

You whip equal parts of instant coffee (we used Nescafe Decaf), sugar (we used brown) and hot water together with a wire whisk, electric mixer, or even a fork for around 12 to 15 minutes until the mixture is stiff. Fill your cup or glass with ice and the milk of your choice (we used evaporated milk because it was the only thing available) and top with the whipped mixture. You can even top it with the Milo chocolateand-malt powder. I read a blog post that you can also do it using an instant chocolate drink mix. I have yet to try that but of course, the taste would be different.

I’ve seen so many posts dissing those who are posting on TikTok or showing off their Dalgona coffee.

I say let these people be. They aren’t harming anyone.

There are more things to be angry about. If people want to make coffee all day to distract themselves in this time of community quarantine, we should let them. If TikTok is their coping mechanism and they aren’t harming anyone, I don’t see anything wrong with it. ■

Saturday, March 28, 2020 A9

CYBER-SECURITY COMPANY EXTENDS SUPPORT TO HEALTH-CARE INSTITUTIONS AMID COVID-19 PANDEMIC CONTINUITY of operations and data protection is extremely critical for health-care organizations.

Medical organizations are under extreme pressure and have to mobilize all their forces to help people in very challenging times. For hospitals and medical institutions, it is important to ensure the stability of medical equipment, and that data is constantly available for medical personnel while also protecting the privacy of their patients’ critical information.

To help medical organizations cope with the unprecedented pressure and help relieve cybersecurity risks that may arise during this global coronavirus pandemic, leading cyber-security and antivirus company Kaspersky has made its B2B solutions available for free.

This includes endpoint and cloud infrastructure protection products, such as Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business Advanced and Kaspersky Hybrid Cloud Security, SaaS endpoint protection (Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud Plus) and protection for Microsoft Office 365 (Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365).

“In this critical situation, health-care institutions are under immense pressure and carry huge responsibility while saving people’s lives and fighting against the infection. Doctors, nurses and all medical staff take on most of the load and therefore need any support possible. We feel that it is our duty to support the medical community,” said Evgeniya Naumova, vice president of Global Sales Network at Kaspersky.

“In order to help these organizations focus on what matters most, we now offer health-care institutions free licenses for key Kaspersky corporate products for a six-month period.”

Along with this initiative, Kaspersky also suggests that medical institutions follow cyber-security practices and implement the following measures as soon as possible: 1. Schedule basic security awareness education for both medical personnel and administration employees. It should cover the most essential practices such as passwords and accounts, e-mail security, use of USB devices, PC security and safe Web browsing. Explain to the hospital’s staff that there is an increasing risk of cyber threats for health-care IT systems.

2. It is the right time to check the hospital’s protection solution, make sure it is up to date, configured properly and covers all employees’ devices. Switch on a firewall to enable protection from threats coming from the Internet. The security solution should enable protection from ransomware as it one of the common threats for medical organizations.

3. Ensure all specific medical devices are properly configured and updated, such as ventilators. If there is a chance that the number of such devices increases rapidly, develop a dedicated procedure to quickly install and configure all new devices.

4. Some hospitals urgently hire new staff, which means growing the number of endpoints, including new employees’ personal devices. This can damage visibility and control over corporate IT, so IT services should pay special attention to adding protection to these new devices. It’s better to have security profiles, policies and licenses in advance to just add them to new devices when needed.

5. Make sure your current security solution enables purchasing of enough licenses for the increasing number of devices.

More detailed information about the Kaspersky offering and its availability can be found at www. kaspersky.com.

Globe postpaid customers may suspend their monthly spending limit GLOBE is giving its Postpaid and Platinum customers an option to suspend their monthly spending limit. This is in response to the surge in demand for voice and mobile data, as work and study from home arrangements are implemented in Luzon and other parts of the country.

“We understand how our customers’ current situation requires high reliance on continuous mobile services such as voice and data, especially among those who need to work or study at home because of the enhanced community quarantine.

We would like to help our postpaid customers stay connected by providing them with a way to suspend their spending limit as these times may call

for it,” said Rebecca Eclipse, Globe chief customer experience officer.

Spending limit is a special feature that helps customers take better control of their postpaid spending. It is the maximum amount that can be used for services when one has exceeded the monthly plan, in order to stay within budget and avoid bill shock. Customers will be sent a text message with instructions on how to suspend their spending limit to help cope with the increase in connectivity needs during this period.

Apart from this, Globe has provided a 30-day bill payment extension to all mobile postpaid customers.

To help manage and monitor their usage, customers

will still continue to receive billing notifications.

To reduce physical contact and help protect customers, Globe has also temporarily stopped sending printed billing statements and will instead send the latest bill via SMS or text message.

Customers may download and use the GlobeOne app and Globe At Home app to make it easy to track data usage and subscribe to offers.

Connectivity is essential at this time, and Globe is continuing efforts to come up with measures to empower its customers in the security and safety of their homes.

More information on spending limit and how to suspend it can be found at bit.ly/39iSJmo.

A10 Saturday, March 28, 2020

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WITH so much of the US work force and their families now cooped up at home to combat the spread of coronavirus, it’s not a huge surprise that home Internet is showing the strain. Will there be a bandwidth problem with all the devices going at once? AP

PayMaya launches donation drive against Covid-19

Home Internet jammed up? Try these steps before upgrading

BY FRANK BAJAK The Associated Press

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ITH so much of the US work force— and their families—now cooped up at home to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, it’s not a huge surprise that home Internet is showing the strain.

If you’ve had a business videoconference stutter while your teenagers play Call of Duty online, or found yourself unable to stream the news while your spouse uploads huge data files for work, you’ll have a good idea of the problem.

IS THERE A BANDWIDTH PROBLEM?

THE Internet’s core is managing the spike in traffic just fine, experts say. It has massive capacity to handle Netflix, YouTube, Zoom and other streaming services.

True, Netflix has just throttled down its video quality in Europe at the request of authorities there.

But the company already stores its programs on servers close to users’ homes already, and there’s no evidence that it’s clogging networks.

IF THE INTERNET IS SO STURDY, WHY DOES MY HOME CONNECTION STUTTER?

THE problem partly lies in the so-called last mile, the

link that connects your home to the ultra-high speed Internet backbone.

Most US homes get their Internet from cable companies and thus connect to the broader network via coaxial cable, a legacy of the cable TV era. These connections provide faster “downstream” speeds to your home than “upstream” speeds back to the Internet. Since videoconferencing sends equal amounts of data both ways, simultaneous sessions can clog the upstream channel and disrupt service for the entire household.

If that happens, one quick solution is to have some family members switch to audio-only, which conserves bandwidth. This also applies to anyone in multiplayer online games, where—per a wag on Twitter—the banter between players often resembles conference calls with occasional shooting.

You could also order a service upgrade, although that might not be strictly necessary. Some providers are temporarily offering more bandwidth, particularly for families with school-age children, in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Others have dropped service caps that charge extra when data usage passes a certain threshold.

The relatively few US households with their own direct fiber-optic connections have the same bandwidth in both directions and shouldn’t

experience serious hiccups.

DOES MY HOME NETWORK NEED AN UPGRADE?

IT might. Start with your Internet modem, the device that most likely has a coax cable connecting it to your wall. Your Internet provider often rents the modem to you.

If it’s several years old, it’s probably time to ask your provider if upgrading the modem’s internal software, or replacing the modem entirely, will help.

Older modems often can’t deliver the full bandwidth you’re paying for to your household.

Next up is your Wi-Fi router. If you have cable, it may be built into your modem. If you haven’t already, try moving it to a more central location in your home or apartment; that will ensure bandwidth is distributed more equally.

Or you can add more access points and distribute Wi-Fi with a “mesh” network. Newer routers let you add several satellite stations that boost your signal throughout the house, though you might have to arrange that with your provider.

One more possibility: You can connect some devices directly to the router with ethernet cables instead of using Wi-Fi. This may improve the performance of videoconferencing. ■

Cisco sees demand surge for Webex, Zoom’s larger rival

BY IAN KING Bloomberg News CISCO Systems Inc., the biggest maker of gear that directs Internet traffic, said its Webex collaboration service is experiencing a staggering jump in use as companies look to find a way to securely connect workers confined to their homes.

Webex daily meeting volume has more than doubled since the beginning of March and expanded two-and-a-half times from February. At peak hours, volume is up 24 times where it would be normally, the company said.

Cisco’s conferencing business is the biggest provider of such services to companies with revenue many times the size of newer rivals such as Zoom Video Communications Inc. Demand for these services from home-bound employees during the Covid-19 pandemic indicates that work practices will probably change permanently, said Sri Srinivasan, who heads the company’s collaboration unit.

“We will never go back,” he said.

“The way we work is going to change forever.

Employers are going to be able to hire workers from wider geographic areas because staff won’t have to come to the office as much, he added.

While dropped connections and delays getting into meetings has increased, so far Cisco’s technology has just about kept up with the volume, Srinivasan said. The company was able to learn from the steep increase in traffic in Asia early this year and apply those lessons to the United States, where volume is still increasing.

The peak volume for traffic is at 8 am and 9 am Monday through Friday. Internally, Cisco has started a process scheduling calls to begin outside of standard times—not the top of the hour or 30 minutes past the hour—and is recommending users do the same.

Webex opened a free sign-up and service in response to the virus outbreak that drew 240,000 new subscriptions in the first 24-hour period, the company said.

That program mirrors the growth by Zoom, which offers a time-limited free service for its multiparty conference calls and a paid service. Srinivasan said Cisco’s data policies are stricter than Zoom’s, meaning

important work that needs to remain private will continue to take place on its system.

Cisco no longer breaks out the performance of its collaboration division. The last time it did, revenue was about $4 billion in fiscal year 2015. Since then, the company has frequently cited the unit’s growth as being one of the fastest among its businesses. Zoom is on course for annual sales of about $890 million in calender 2020, according to the average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

At the same time the explosion in traffic is helping collaboration providers make better products much more quickly. Cisco uses artificial intelligence to analyze what’s happening on Webex and increasingly to enhance elements such as call-center software. The company typically deals with 39 billion events (logins, calls, videos initiated, messages sent, etc.) per day on its systems. Last week that number increased to 270 billion a day and is still rising.

Regardless of competitive dynamics, Srinivasan said it’s more important that all the services remain stable and continue to improve in order to help with the effort to stop the spread of the virus.

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES ONLINE payment platform PayMaya recently annnounced that it is opening its services so people can donate to various charitable foundations and humanitarian agencies mobilizing relief and response efforts against Covid-19.

PayMaya founder and CEO Orlando Vea said the one-stop digital donation facility that can be accessed online or in-app is part of the #OneAgainstCOVID19 drive that PayMaya launched with various partners to help raise funds for frontliners and the most vulnerable communities affected by the global pandemic. “In this time of great and urgent need, coming together in the traditional spirit of bayanihan becomes ever more important so that no one gets left behind. This #OneAgainstCOVID19 harnesses the power of collaboration and digital payments as we fight this global pandemic,” Vea said in a press statement.

By visiting the #OneAgainstCOVID19 page in the PayMaya web site (donate.paymaya.com), or by going to the Pay Bills section of the PayMaya app (available on Android and soon on iOS), Filipinos can choose from a variety of charitable organizations to support with causes that range from providing medical frontliners with meals and personal protective equipment, to giving relief and medical packages to communities, among many others. Recipient beneficiaries, meanwhile, will be able to receive the donations through PayMaya’s platforms.

For people based overseas, Vea said they can go to the #OneAgainstCOVID19 web site and donate using their credit, debit, or prepaid card. He added online donation acceptance using a Philippine mobile number with a PayMaya account through Pay with PayMaya is also available.

For PayMaya account holders, donating via the Pay Bills section of the PayMaya app or by scanning a partner’s PayMaya QR online is the fastest way to support #OneAgainstCOVID19 causes.

Partner organizations raising funds through the platform include the Philippine Red Cross, which is seeking donations for different aid packages that will be given to medical frontliners and communities affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unicef, on the other hand, is calling for donations to provide critical, medical and sanitation supplies for health facilities, as well as educating children and families on proper handwashing, providing parents with home-based educational activities for children, and psychosocial support through counselling.

For Oxfam Pilipinas, proceeds will go to helping ensure that poor families have access to water, sanitation and hygiene items to protect their health, and help them recover from the effects of Covid-19— particularly those who lost their livelihood or income during the community quarantine period.

Caritas Manila is calling for cash donations to provide Caritas LIGTAS COVID-19 kits and Caritas Manna food bags to poor communities, families and the elderly in Metro Manila, who are the most vulnerable during these difficult times.

Other #OneAgainstCOVID19 partner organizations that Filipinos can choose to donate to include the Philippine Business for Social Progress, Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership, Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, TV5’s Alagang Kapatid Foundation, PLDT-Smart Foundation, and #nowheretogobutUP, among others.

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CORONAVIRUS HAS TURNED THE FACEBOOK NARRATIVE

CLOCKWISE from top left: the Hulu logo on a window at the Milk Studios space in New York, the Amazon logo in Santa Monica, California, the Apple TV+ logo displayed outside the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles before the premiere of the the Apple TV+ series See, and a screen grab of the Disney Plus streaming service on a computer screen. AP

BY ALEX WEBB Bloomberg Opinion THE tension between the media and technology industries has long been characterized as a fight for users’ attention. The more of it they have, the greater the opportunity to sell new products and services.

The advertising technology giants Facebook Inc. and Google have turned that into a $200 billiona-year business. Now that millions of people are stuck at home trying to isolate themselves from the coronavirus, there should be greater opportunity to secure their attention. Facebook’s particular vector for securing users’ attention is connecting them with others, and in the era of self-isolation digital connections have become a lifeline.

The hitch is that when brands hit a rough patch, advertising budgets are the first things they cut.

Broadcasters are already feeling the impact: NBC parent Comcast Inc. has warned of the negative effects on its business, while Britain’s ITV Plc. abandoned its 2020 revenue outlook and dividend as advertisers cut spending. Twitter Inc. has also scrapped its earnings outlook for the first quarter.

So Facebook’s announcement on Tuesday that its business was being “adversely affected” because of a “weakening in our ads business” shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. Significantly, however, the Menlo Park, California-based company stopped short of altering its (admittedly rather vague) existing first-quarter guidance, which anticipates revenue growth that will “decelerate by low to mid-single digit percentage points” compared with the end of 2019.

For the Silicon Valley companies, the difficulties are relative. Sure, they might be enduring some bumps, but their problems aren’t as severe as those of the TV industry—the advertising market overall will still expand this year. Cowen & Co. analysts still expect the US ads market to grow 7 percent, albeit down from an earlier estimate of 11 percent. If previous years are any guide, Facebook and Google will hoover up most of that growth.

Shutdowns also seem to be forming new habits that benefit the social media platforms. More time at home seems to mean more time in front of a screen.

I’ve posted more on Instagram in the past week than in the previous two months. Facebook itself has revealed a significant jump in engagement: 50 percent more messaging in countries most affected by the virus; a doubling of voice and video calling on WhatsApp and Messenger; in Italy, people are spending 70 percent more time across Facebook’s products.

People seem to be setting aside the justifiable concerns about the firm’s data practices, which have tempered engagement in recent quarters. Efforts to ensure that accurate messaging from governments and health authorities secures prominent placement on its platforms may be securing Facebook some true good will.

If even a fraction of the new engagement trends are sustained beyond the crisis, then a few quarters of slower advertising growth won’t be a concern for Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg—it’s unlikely even that he’ll have to touch the firm’s $44 billion net cash position. He has managed consistently to increase average revenue per user because Facebook has significant power to increase the cost of ads, as does Google. The moment the advertising market returns—and it surely will, whether in three, nine or 12 months—he could well find himself with more active users.

More active users will mean more attention. And ultimately, that means more money.

Virus-shocked Hollywood gets break with streaming services

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BY LYNN ELBE� The Associated Press

OS ANGELES—Sports are on hold, theaters are closed and so are amusement parks, a disaster-movie scenario that has stunned Hollywood. But Americans held captive at home by the coronavirus can turn to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other streaming services, outliers in an entertainment industry brought to an unprecedented standstill.

The recent launch of Disney and Apple services and the upcoming arrival of NBCUniversal’s Peacock and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max unleashed speculation about winners and losers in an increasingly crowded field. With self-imposed or required isolation the abrupt reality, emerging and niche streamers could draw new subscribers—gains that may even outlast the coronavirus crisis.

The viral outbreak “has caused so much pain across industries globally,” said Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. “Yet on the streaming side, the demand for those services is going to increase exponentially over the next three to six months” as consumers around the world remain stuck in place.

Up to a 20-percent increase is likely in the amount of time subscribers spend watching streamed fare, and millions of new customers will hop aboard worldwide, Ives predicted.

Pay TV channels could benefit as well as more people become shut-ins and reconsider cutting the cord, slowing an accelerating trend, said analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak of Pivotal Research Group.

Broadcast networks facing rating declines also could see a boost in viewership, he said.

Streaming companies are reacting to the moment in varied ways, but always carefully. Media companies want to be seen as good citizens who are serving up an antidote to anxiety over the virus and housebound boredom, not capitalizing on a disaster.

For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover. Netflix, sitting comfortably in the front ranks of streamers, e-mailed customers with a gentle nudge to “Rewind. Replay. Rewatch,” followed by suggestions of previously viewed titles, such as The Crown, Schitt’s Creek and the 2012 movie Frances Ha starring Greta Gerwig. The Walt Disney Co. put the box-office hit Frozen 2 on its Disney Plus streaming service three months earlier than planned, “surprising families with some fun and joy during this challenging period.” The animated film became available in the past few days on the service in the US, Canada, Holland, Australia and New Zealand.

Hulu, controlled by majority-owner Disney, is relying for now on such high-profile programs as the newly released Reese Witherspoon-Kerry

Washington series Little Fires Everywhere, based on Celeste Ng’s best-selling novel.

For Disney, streaming is the outlier in a corporate portfolio otherwise slammed by the coronavirus: The suspension of theatrical and TV productions and delays in new movie releases, including its longanticipated Black Widow, but also the closure of Disney resorts in the US, France and Asia and the sports lull’s impact on its ESPN channels.

Disney and the other major streaming services didn’t respond or declined requests for comment for this article. As financial hardship builds for people in lockstep with the crisis response, the services have yet to cut fees for new or current subscribers. The current monthly tabs range from the modest (Apple TV Plus, with its fledgling roster of shows is $5, Disney Plus is $7 for a deep bench of old and new fare) to Netflix’s top-tier plan ($16, compared to $9 for basic access).

Niche services are taking a different tack.

Acorn TV, which offers British and international programming, expanded its free trial offer for new subscribers from a week to 30 days, as have its AMC Networks siblings Sundance Now, Shudder and Urban Movie Channel. “As the extent of the Covid-19 crisis became clear, we realized that a service like Acorn TV could make a meaningful difference in many people’s lives, especially those who are facing prolonged isolation and potential economic hardship as a result of the virus,” said Matthew Graham, the service’s general manager.

Peacock’s US launch isn’t until July, but with an upside for those with budget pressures: it will include a no-cost, ad-supported version, Peacock Free, with content including next-day access to new NBC shows and full seasons of older series. Two other tiers, including Peacock Premium for $5 monthly (free to Comcast and Cox subscribers), will offer more programming and live sports.

Peacock Free is going to be “a no-brainer for people,” Wlodarczak said.

The PBS Video app, public TV’s free streaming service, stepped up its offerings amid virus fallout.

With Major League Baseball spring training games suspended and a delayed start to the season, the acclaimed Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary was added to the service and online at PBS.org.

“As many of us hunker down in the days ahead, it’s important that we find things that bring us together and show us our common humanity,” Burns said in a video message. “That’s why, in the absence of many of our favorite sports, I’ve asked PBS...to stream my film about America’s pastime. Stay healthy, and let’s look after each other. Play ball.”

(Experts have said the US Internet won’t get overloaded by spikes in traffic from the millions of at-home workers and students, although it’s possible that households may find connections slowed because of their service level.)

The duration of the crisis could affect even streamers with well-stocked libraries, Wlodarczak

said, given the widespread halt to filming. The fourth season of Fargo starring Chris Rock, which was to arrive on Hulu after its April debut on FX, has been postponed until production is back on track.

“The longer this lasts, you’ve got to find content to put on,” the analyst said. ■

SMART TEAMS UP WITH TOP OPM ACTS TO RAISE FUNDS FOR COVID-19 FRONTLINERS

PLDT mobile subsidiary Smart Communications has teamed up with some of the country’s biggest musicians and artists for Smart Music Live Online Sessions, a series of live online shows on FB Live meant to raise donations for Covid-19 frontliners.

Smart Music Live Online Sessions kicked off with Soupstar Velvet Live! Sessions presented by Smart, an eight-week music jamming session headlined by OPM bands including Moonstar88, 6cyclemind, Pedicab, Gracenote, Banda ni Kleggy, Imago and Ultra Combo composed of Pinoy rock icons Raymund Marasigan and Buddy Zabala. Velvet Live! will also feature new breed artists like Kurei, Better Days, The Vowels They Orbit, and WeGot. Smart is also teaming up with top radio FM stations Magic 89.9, Wave 89.1, Jam 88.3 and 99.5 Play FM for #GoodTimesRadio, an online fund-raising concert for the Philippine Red Cross featuring Kean Cipriano, Janine Teñoso, Rice Lucido, This Band and Brisom on March 25, Wednesday.

Smart Music Live Online Sessions is also set to unveil more performances to pay tribute especially to our dedicated public health-care workers and emergency response teams. PLDT, Smart, TNT and Sun subscribers are encouraged to donate their MVP Rewards Stars via the MVP Rewards App. These MVP Rewards Stars— which are earned and accumulated by customers every time they register to a prepaid promo, or pay their postpaid bill on time—can all add up and go a long way to support the people leading the fight against the pandemic.

Donations gathered via MVP Rewards will go to various public hospitals through the PLDT-Smart Foundation.

More updates on the Smart Music Live Online Sessions are available at www.facebook.com/ SmartCommunications.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

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Saturday, March 28, 2020 A12

There’s no safer place than 127.0.0.1 TECHNIVORE ED UY

whereiseduy@gmail.com

I

F it wasn’t for the businesses closing, people losing jobs and the possibility of getting infected by the coronavirus and dying, I actually have no problems with this ongoing community quarantine.

I’ve been working from home waaaay before it became a thing and wrote some of my best works while in my pajamas. But I do think I’m among the few people who don’t get bored at home (to the annoyance of my partner) and can stay indoors for days and still keep myself busy—and not just Netflix, TikTok or Facebook busy. I can always find something to do, whether its cleaning the house, fixing stuff, or staring at my toy collection for hours. It also helped that playing video games has somehow prepared me for this isolated life.

But for those who are still adjusting to their new work environment, feeling deprived of the lunch-outs and missing all the office (gossip) drama, here are some tips you could suggest to your team that will make everyone more efficient and productive in the next few weeks.

These tips come from Paul Rivera, ex-Googler, and CEO and cofounder of Kalibrr, the only end-toend recruitment solutions provider in Southeast Asia. These easy-to-implement solutions will ensure employee well-being, accountability and productivity as they work remotely.

First is that everyone should have access to the same set of tools—laptops, company e-mail addresses, phones/SIM cards, cloud storage (Google Drive/ Dropbox), etc.

Next is to decide on a communications channel to make sure that working remotely goes as smoothly as possible. Are you going to use Skype, Viber, or Telegram? Viber, for example, has recently doubled the number of people who can participate in group calls, now supporting up to 10 people at once. It also supports easy file-sharing, so you can send your coworkers and business partners important reports and presentations quickly up to 200MB in file size. Viber also seamlessly works on your desktop supporting chats and calls anywhere in the world for a monthly fee.

Whatever app you choose, just make sure that you clearly and deliberately assign specific channels that you’ll be using to talk to your employees.

Once you’ve identified the right channels, you’ll need to have guidelines that will accompany these.

This can include how much time is allotted to respond to messages and e-mails together, with set break times for when slowed down responses should be anticipated.

Objectives and their milestones should be communicated using the channels and methods above. Even though you are at home, the whole team should still treat this as if they are going to work—showering, dressing up and all of the prework rituals. Regular work hours should be followed so you shouldn’t have to ask employees to “check-in”.

Ask your team to send in an end-of-day report that outlines what they’ve accomplished for the day. This helps keep track of company goals but at the same time helps employees manage their own responsibilities better.

Try to create a remote culture with norms, values and ceremonies as if you were all together in the office. If it is someone’s birthday, it should still be celebrated, maybe on a video chat with a virtual birthday cake. In addition, create an accountability culture where team members collaborate, are transparent, and invest in each others success.

Among the recommended free tools by Kalibrr are: for videoconferencing—Zoom/Google Hangouts/ Skype/Discord; project management—Trello/ Notion; communication—Viber/WhatsApp/ Telegram/Messenger/Google Hangouts Chat; and for whiteboard—Jamboard/Miro/Whimsical.

TECH AND TELECOMMUTING

THANKS to technology and faster Internet speeds, telecommuting has become an even more feasible option making it easier than ever to work and study from home. The opportunity to learn, grow and discover new skills does not stop when working at home. Whether studying different languages, trying on new recipes, or learning how to make videos or graphics online, there are a lot of online resources that you can explore.

YouTube is the best place to start, with billions of videos available on just about every topic, including tutorials for anything you want to know. You can also listen to your favorite podcasts online for free.

For families with kids who are home-schooling now, this is the best time to enjoy free audiobooks and ebooks online. The Amazon-owned Audible is now offering a free-to-listen catalogue of children’s stories including literary classics, fairy tales, and a lot more for preschoolers, elementary, tweens and teens. All these are available in six different languages.

You can also be creative with fun and educational activities for your kids. Now you can explore hundreds of museums around the world from the comfort of your home. Google Street View’s Arts and Culture section now offers free virtual tours and exhibits of different museums and galleries worldwide, including Tour Eiffel in Paris, British Museum in London, Taj Mahal in India, and Lizares Mansion in Iloilo. The National Museum of the Philippines also offers a 360 degree virtual tour on their web site.

The best part is you can enjoy more than just videos and a wealth of educational tools online because PLDT Home is extending its Double Data promo for Wifi Prepaid until April 30, giving subscribers double data allocations from their FamLoad packages.

STAY HOME, STAY SANE

IT’S been two weeks, but with the rising number of Covid-19 cases, I don’t think the community quarantine would be lifted on schedule or any time soon, especially with how some of our leaders are acting or spreading the infections themselves.

For some people, “cabin fever” is already setting in. But unlike boredom, this claustrophobic reaction often manifests as extreme irritability and restlessness when a person is stuck indoors for an extended period of time.

So instead of developing closer bonds, this can even lead to disagreements and fights. Its also important to take care of your mind and body. If you are feeling frustrated, lonely (missing milk tea! or some other stuff), worried, or concerned about your finances, your health or those close to you, know that it’s OK to have these feelings.

We all react differently to challenging events and situations. The important thing to remember is that while staying home may be difficult, you are helping to protect yourself and others by not getting infected

with the virus.

If you are worried about work or money, it’s best to talk to your employer and know about your benefits/ rights. While there’s no need for panic buying, it’s best to store essential food and other items, such as medicines and vitamins that will last you for three weeks or more. If you live far from the supermarket and there’s no public transportation, you could search for delivery services like Angkas or Grab for food, or pabili services from Facebook groups like MassageMNL. If this pandemic happened in the 1990s or early 2000s, it would be hard to keep in touch with the ones we love. But thanks to faster Internet speeds and a lot of messaging and video chat apps, you can easily stay in contact family and loved ones. During these tough times, it is important to maintain healthy relationships with people you trust. If you are worried, scared, or feeling helpless, its best to talk to someone you trust and share your feelings. Who knows, you might even be helping them too! This is also a great time to talk to and catch up with other family members, or reconnect with old friends.

I know TikTok can make you bust some moves, but to really stay healthy, you need to exercise regularly, try to eat well-balanced meals, and drink enough water. Our physical health affects how we feel. Try not

to drink too much alcohol; instead, go for a walk even if its just around the house, or follow those zumba or home workout videos.

For your sanity, do not stay glued to the news all day. Try to limit the time you spend watching, reading, or listening to coverage of the outbreak, including social-media posts, as the overwhelming amount of information, both fake and real, may just make you feel even more anxious.

Last week, I emphasized that we are NOT on a holiday, which means you shouldn’t go out partying, or do other senseless things that will expose yourself to the virus. Instead, use this time to relax as relaxation techniques can help deal with feelings of anxiety. Also, try to develop a regular sleeping pattern and stick to good sleep practices. Good, quality sleep makes a big difference to how we feel, so it’s important to get enough.

Last, keep your mind active. Again thanks technology, you can find a lot of things to do—read online novels, do crosswords, complete Sudoku puzzles, learn a new skill, or try online games.

Life is changing as we know it. Heck, we don’t even know when or if things will ever be the same again.

It’s hard to sacrifice the things we are used to, and the freedom to do what we want. Still, I’d rather be bored than dead. ■

REALME PHILIPPINES ROLLS OUT ONLINE CONTENT SERIES THE top 4 smartphone brand in the country, realme Philippines expresses its solidarity with the Filipinos in the fight against Covid-19.

To provide its realme Facebook community with avenues to keep themselves occupied during the enhanced community quarantine implemented across Luzon, the fastest-growing smartphone brand rolls out different content series and online competitions.

To make the most of staying indoors and help its squad avoid cabin fever, realme Philippines is launching three online programs: realme Squadcast, realme MasterShot Series and realme Mobile Legends Cup Season 3. “realme Philippines wants to engage everyone staying at home during this challenging time. Let the brand be your home buddy. We hope that through the activities we are launching, we not only keep you company but also enable you to bond with your family. Kasama ninyo kami,” shares realme Philippines Vice President for Marketing Austine Huang.

Users can now interact real-time with the people behind realme Philippines as they discuss interesting topics every Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5 pm. The first episode, which aired on March 19, featured the origin story of the realme community and why having a close, familial community is important to the fastest-growing smartphone brand. A couple of viewers even won a realme

5i and a pair of realme Buds.

Realme Philippines is also launching an online TikTok competition, the details of which can be found at www.facebook.com/realmePhilippines. The submission of entries is until March 31. One winner will be randomly chosen via Apple David’s Instagram account (@appledavid) on April 3.

Meanwhile, highlighting the realme phones’ flagship camera capabilities is the MasterShot campaign, a lecture series on photography facilitated by professional photographers.

The MasterShot series has three mentors: lifestyle and fashion photographer Harold Branzuela, landscape and cityscape photographer Jet Ignacio, and outdoor photographer Matthew Tatad. They will be sharing tips on perfecting indoor photography at cutt.ly/ttnUEwU. Finally, realme Philippines is mounting the only smartphone-branded multiplayer online battle arena tourney—the realme Mobile Legends Cup, the third season of which is copresented by Home Credit and Codashop and organized by acclaimed esports event organizer Mineski Esports.

Logitech G joins the fun as the official gaming gear partner. Participants are encouraged to put their best gaming foot forward as the prize pool has been increased to P300,000.

More information is available also at cutt.ly/ttnUEwU.