BusinessMirror March 29, 2021

CREATE SIGNING CHEERS BUSINESS; DTI PREPS SIPP

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Monday, March 29, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 169

P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 20 pages |

MEDICAL, NONMEDICAL TOOLS MUST GO WITH LOCKDOWNS­—EXPERTS

By Cai U. Ordinario

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VENDORS sell “palaspas” (palm fronds) to devotees entering Baclaran church in Paranaque on Palm Sunday. It is a moveable Christian feast, observed on the Sunday before Easter, commemorating Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Catholics each year hang or display the blessed “palaspas” on their homes, and believe it helps protect them from evil. ROY DOMINGO

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By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @Tyronepiad

HE business sector heaved a sigh of relief with the signing of the long-awaited corporate tax reform measure a day before lapsing into law, but continued to weigh the impact of the veto of nine provisions.

Also, the Department of Trade and Industry moved to adopt the Strategic Investment Priorities Plan (SIPP) following the

enactment of CREATE. The SIPP is a list of investment sectors qualified to apply for fiscal incentives under the measure.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.6310

Over the weekend, the BusinessMirror talked to several industry leaders following the enactment of the buzzer-beater Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, and most of them welcomed its signing last Friday while others said they’re still reviewing the items vetoed by President Duterte.

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Chair Alegria Sibal Limjoco cheered on the signing of CREATE “after two years of rallying.”

Limjoco, also the vice chairman of the Philippine Franchise Association and Philippine Retailers Association, commended the recalibration of the measure to make

it more responsive and relevant to the present needs of the business sector, especially the firms affected by the pandemic.

“It’s [CREATE] a well-crafted legacy law that will benefit our country economically for generation to come,” Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) Private Sector Representative George T. Barcelon said.

Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) President Danilo Lachica said the group appreciates the immediate reduction of corporate income tax (CIT), which is among CREATE’s primary goals.

Continued on A3

@caiordinario

HE gover nment c a n ma ximize lockdow ns and more stringent quarantine measures if these are implemented in tandem with other medical and nonmedical measures, according to economists.

These nonmedical measures include the provision of targeted cash transfers and food subsidies, Action for Economic Reforms (AER) Coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana III told BusinessMirror on Sunday.

“My concern in fact is that the current ECQ is short. Virus incubation takes two weeks more or less. The problem we have in doing lockdown is that our lock-

down is ‘porous’, to use the World Bank term,” Sta. Ana said.

“The problem therefore is not lockdown per se (when it is unavoidable) but how we design the lockdown. Lockdown by itself is insufficient. Other medical and nonmedical measures are essential to gain the longer-term benefits from a timeout,” he added.

Sta. Ana also said the newly enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act would do little to nil under the ECQ. “CREATE is for the medium term and longer term. Ang makakatulong: ayuda [What will help are cash transfers]. Relief spending, which is not in place,” he said.

Continued on A2

CREATE brings relief for MSME, labor–DOF chief

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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@BNicolasBM

INANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the timely enactment of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act will provide the much-awaited relief for many businesses, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and their workers reeling from the Covid-driven recession.

President Duterte on Friday signed the CREATE law, which provides one of the largest stimulus packages ever in the country’s history through a drastic reduc-

tion of the corporate income tax (CIT) rates and redesigned fiscal incentives system to better attract investments and create jobs.

However, Duterte vetoed nine items.

Nonetheless, DOF said MSMEs, which employ a majority of Filipino workers in the country, will be the biggest beneficiaries of CREATE through the grant of the “largest ever CIT rate reduction” in the country.

“The CREATE Law will right away benefit MSMEs by way of lower CIT rates and other tax relief measures.

Continued on A4

n JAPAN 0.4456 n UK 66.8336 n HK 6.2599 n CHINA 7.4274 n SINGAPORE 36.0577 n AUSTRALIA 36.8672 n EU 57.2387 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9683

Source: BSP (March 26, 2021)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, March 29, 2021

DND CHIEF: MORE ASSETS DEPLOYED IN REEF AREA

By Rene Acosta

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@reneacostaBM

HE military has increased its deployment of assets at the Julian Felipe Reef as Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana guaranteed the military’s readiness to defend the country’s interests over the reef, where the security situation has tensed up with the presence of nearly 200 Chinese maritime militia vessels.

The Chinese ships have been in the country’s maritime waters since March 7 despite calls from officials for the Chinese communist government to remove them. By the latest count of the military, at least 183 vessels are remain holed out at in the reef.

“We are ready to defend our national sovereignty and protect the marine resources of the Philippines.

There will be an increased presence of the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard ships to conduct sovereignty patrols and protect our fishermen in the West Philippine Sea,” said Lorenzana on Saturday night.

“I assure our people that we are addressing the situation. We stand by our position calling for the immediate withdrawal of Chinese vessels in the Julian Felipe Reef, which was communicated to the Chinese ambassador,” he added.

Filipino and Chinese military officials met before the weekend in order to defuse the situation. Lorenzana’s call for the removal of the Chinese maritime militia vessels was also relayed by military officials to their Chinese counterparts.

No development was however

reported after the meeting and the Chinese government, apparently, has not taken any action.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. on March 21 said his agency had filed a diplomatic protest with China over the vessel swarm, though Chinese officials insisted these were simply fishing boats seeking shelter from rough seas.

Several countries, including Australia and Japan, have since backed the call of the Philippines, urging China to observe maritime laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

Lorenzana said that while a Philippine navy ship and a Philippine Coast Guard (vessel) are currently at the reef monitoring the actual situation, the Philippine Air Force is also using AS211 jet aircraft “every day with the same mission.”

“Our air and sea assets are ready to protect our sovereignty and sovereign rights in the WPS (West Philippine Sea) and KIG (Kalayaan Island Group),” the defense secretary assured the public.

Lorenzana said the Department of National Defense is coordinating with other government agencies like the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to coordinate the country’s effort in the WPS and the Kalayaan Island Group, which he stressed is part of the Municipality of Pag-asa.

“By securing the West Philippine Sea and its islands in the Kalayaan area, the Philippines reinforces its commitment to keeping the freedom of navigation and maintaining regional peace and stability,” he said.

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Rites marking 500 yrs of Christianity to proceed, mostly online, says CBCP

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By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

ESPITE the raging pandemic and its quarantine restrictions, the celebration of the 500 years of Christianity this Holy Week and its succeeding activities will still push through online, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

In its schedule of activities for the Jubilee Year 2021, CBCP announced most of its events will be streamed online due to restrictions on mass gathering, particularly in areas currently under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and its surrounding areas (NCR Plus).

The National Quincentennial Celebration of the First Easter Mass in the country will be held on April 4, 2021.

It will be marked by the simultaneous opening of the Jubilee Doors in all Cathedral, which will signal the opening of the 2021 Jubilee Year in parishes nationwide.

“Let it also be the occasion for the opening of a jubilee door in every cathedral in the whole country,

as well as in select Churches during the rest of Easter,” CBCP President and Archbishop of Davao Romulo G. Valles said in a pastoral letter.

It will be followed by the reenactment of the First Baptism to be held in front of the Magellan’s Cross in Cebu City, and a mass and cultural show in the Basilica del Sto. Niño, also in Cebu City.

On April 18, 2021, cathedrals and parishes will commemorate the First Baptism, by holding the said sacrament.

During this year’s Labor Day, the National Shrine of St. Joseph and Cathedrals and Parishes nationwide will simultaneously hold the national consecration of the patron of the Universal Church.

Pope Francis declared 2021 as

the Year of St. Joseph. During this period, the faithful could gain plenary indulgence through several activities, including the praying for protection to the saint for protection during work. The commemoration of St. Joseph will end during the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, 2021.

The faithful could also gain plenary indulgence by making a pilgrimage to any of the designated Jubilee Churches as listed by the CBCP. The list of such churches are posted in BusinessMirror’s online portal, www.businessmirror.com.ph.

Based on Pope Francis’s recent decree, the faithful can receive plenary indulgence when they make a devotional pilgrimage to one of the designated “Jubilee Churches” until April 22, 2022.

When the faithful make the pilgrimage, they have to meet the usual conditions of going to confession, receiving the Eucharist, and praying for the intentions of the pope.

Pilgrims are also asked to pray “for the fidelity of the Filipino people to their Christian calling, for the increase of priestly and religious vocations and for the defense of the family, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer, the profession of faith, and

an invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary”.

An indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins, which have already been forgiven.

Throughout the year, CBCP and Church-run Radio Veritas, will hold several other online activities related to Quincentennial Celebration.

These events include the launching of the Year of Mission ad Gentes (Nov. 8); virtual pilgrimage (starting March 2021); webinars on Mission for Youth (Jan. 23 to March 2021); Pista ng Pananampalataya (April 10); Lecture Series on Philippine Church History (May to July 2021); Webinars on Mission for Ecclesial Movements (May 22 to June 26); webinars on the mission of clergy (July 24); webinars on Mission for Christian Living Educators, Campus Ministers, and Catechists (Aug. 28 to Sept. 25); Webinar/online short course on Historical Research (Sept.); webinar on Mission for pastoral workers, parish Basic Ecclesial Communities Leaders (Oct. 23); and Webinar on Mission for Women Religious (Nov. 27).

The 2021 Jubilee will end on April 22, 2022 with the closing of the Second National Mission Congress in Cebu City.

NG borrowings in January surge 6-fold to P710.32B

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

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HE national government’s gross borrowings in January this year surged to P710.32 billion, rising more than six-fold compared to the same period a year ago.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed gross borrowings for the first month of the year amid the Covid-19 pandemic jumped by 574.43 percent from P105.321 billion in January 2020 mainly because of the national government’s P540-billion short-term borrowings from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Almost 96 percent of the gross borrowings for the month came from domestic sources while the rest was sourced from foreign entities.

Domestic borrowings for the month ballooned to P680.76 billion, growing nearly 17-fold from just P41.17 billion in the same period last year.

Apart from short-term borrowings from BSP, the government also borrowed through Fixed Rate Treasury Bonds (P90 billion) and Treasury Bills (P50.761 billion).

On the other hand, foreign borrowings for the month plunged by 53.9 percent to P29.56 billion from last year’s P64.16 billion.

Program loans amounting to P19.08

billion comprised the bigger share of foreign borrowings while the remaining P10.475 billion came from a project loan.

For this year, the national government programmed to borrow around P3 trillion this year, almost the same amount it programmed to borrow in 2020.

The government has since ramped up its borrowing plan to finance the expected higher budget deficit and to boost its war chest against the pandemic.

Gross borrowings in 2020 soared to P2.74 trillion, nearly triple the P1.016 trillion posted in 2019.

Debt service

MEANWHILE, the national government also reported debt payments in January reached P219.8 billion, up by 50.5 percent from P146.05 billion in the same month a year ago.

Most of the debt payments for the month went to amortization while the rest was used to pay interest.

Year-on-year, amortization payments in January climbed to P172.77 billion, more than double last year’s P84.64 billion.

Interest payments, meanwhile,

slipped by 23.43 percent to P47.02 billion from P61.415 billion in the same month in the previous year.

Domestic interest payments in January amounted to P29.38 billion while P17.647 billion were spent for interest payments of foreign liabilities.

Of the total amortization for the month, P122.88 billion was used for foreign debt and P49.89 billion for domestic debt.

Total debt payments last year hit a record P962.47 billion as the national government needed to keep up with more financial obligations for its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a 14.25-percent increase from P842.45 billion in 2019.

This was also the biggest full-year debt payment made by the government since the Bureau of the Treasury started collecting data in 1986.

This year, the government has programmed to spend P1.79 trillion for its debt service, bigger by 78.4 percent from P1.005 trillion it programmed in 2020.

The country’s total outstanding debt as of end-January this year has already reached a new record high of P10.327 trillion. This was a 33-percent jump from P7.76 trillion recorded a year ago.

MEDICAL, NONMEDICAL TOOLS MUST GO WITH LOCKDOWNS–EXPERTS Continued from A1

“Truth is, support won’t happen next week because government is not ready. But it has to be done if this government cares for the hungry and the unemployed. Hunger and unemployment won’t vanish just because ECQ is lifted,” Sta. Ana added.

Data analysis, testing

MEANWHILE, De La Salle University economist Maria Ella Oplas said the government should also focus on better data analysis and implement mass testing.

For one, mass testing should have been implemented as early as the onset of the pandemic, to trace all infected persons and isolate them as soon as possible, Oplas said.

She added that if mass testing were implemented now, the Philippine economy could remain open even without the arrival of vaccines to inoculate the population.

“How do we know that the vaccine can stop the latest strain of virus? Better management for the government means doing mass testing first. There would be no need for a lockdown if we have identified those who are positive,” Oplas said.

Sta. Ana said the lockdown is an“instrument of last resort to contain the surge.” However, he said the government and the public should not be fooled into thinking that the spread of the

virus can be contained in a matter of weeks.

“Do you honestly think we will contain a surging virus in a week when all systems are dysfunctional? It really betrays a wrong mindset. A new rethinking has to happen,” Sta. Ana said.

Economic growth

FOR Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) Senior Fellow and John Gokongwei School of Management Dean Luis F. Dumlao, the ECQ will lead to a minimal impact on the economy.

Dumlao said if it weren’t for the spike in Covid-19 cases, the economy would have contracted 5.6 percent in the first three months of the year and grown 1.1 percent in the second quarter.

With the ECQ, the first quarter would see a deeper contraction. The worst case scenario for the second quarter, due to base effects, will be zero growth this year.

“Because ECQ happened so late in the first quarter, the further contraction will be mild.

If ECQ and vaccination effectively slow down the spread of infections, lockdown may end just two weeks into the second quarter and we can still see positive growth in the second quarter,” Dumlao said.

“The only way the second quarter will have negative growth is to have a worse shutdown than what we had in the

second quarter of 2020 which is the biggest contraction since 1947,” he added.

To Dumlao, if the ECQ and vaccinations slow down the spread of Covid-19 infections, the country’s lockdown may end two weeks into the second quarter, leading to a positive growth in the April to June period.

University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics Dean Cid L. Terosa believes that at present, the ECQ imposed between March 29 and April 4, is too short to affect the economy.

Terosa also thinks the possibility of extending the ECQ beyond the second quarter of the year would be unlikely.

The government tightened the quarantine restrictions of the“travel bubble”in the National Capital Region (NCR) and its surrounding provinces, enforcing a full-scale lockdown starting Monday as Covid-19 cases breached the 9,000 mark on Saturday.

In an online press briefing, Presidential spokesperson Harr y Roque said President Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to reimpose ECQ in the said areas to slow down the surge of infections.

He said the declaration will also give the government time to open more quarantine and isolation facilities and allow medical workers to rest.

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Limited public transport allowed in Holy Week lockdown–DOTr

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HE Department of Transportation (DOTr) assured the public on Sunday that public transport will continue to be available even during the short enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed in the National Capital Region Plus (NCR+) bubble.

All authorized transport operators and drivers are required to implement health and safety protocols such as the wearing of protective equipment and the disinfection of their units. The ECQ runs from Monday (March 29) until Sunday.

Transportation Assistant Secretary for Road Mark Steven Pastor said public utility vehicles (PUVs) are allowed to operate at 50 percent of their capacities—or one seat apart.

“We recognize the role of drivers and operators during this time, hence public transport will continue. However, those allowed to operate should run at 50 percent capacity. This is applicable to buses, UV Express, public utility jeepneys, shuttle services, tricycles, taxis, and transport network vehicle services,” he said.

Motorcycle taxis are also allowed to operate, while provincial point-to-point buses can only accommodate authorized persons outside residence.

Meanwhile, the railways sector

will operate at a maximum capacity of 30 percent. However, a preventive maintenance shutdown for all lines —Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2, Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, and the Philippine National Railways (PNR)—has been scheduled for the Holy Week.

“The regular annual Holy Week preventive maintenance shutdown of all lines will continue as programmed. Lines 1 and 2 will stop operations on Wednesday, the MRT-3, Tuesday, and the PNR will run until Thursday,” he said.

For the aviation sector, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said both domestic and international flights will continue to operate out of Manila, but are limited to essential travelers.

“In our thorough study about the air sector, we don’t see the need to reduce the capacity of airlines because current operations are at 30 percent from pre-Covid capacity and average load factor is at 50 percent,” he said.

Arcilla noted that international inbound passenger capacity will remain at the limited capacity of maximum of 1,500 passengers per day, the maximum volume that the quarantine and testing facilities can accommodate. Lorenz S. Marasigan

No local-vaccine facility this year–investments regulator

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By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

@TyronePiad

VEN if deals for establishing local vaccine facilities are sealed in 2021, the Board of Investments (BOI)—which is negotiating with potential manufacturers—said it will still take a few years before the country can produce its own Covid-19 doses.

BOI Executive Director for Industry Development Services Maria Corazon H. Dichosa told reporters it’s impossible to put up a vaccine plant this year even if partnership agreements on the matter are settled before the year ends. Should this be the case, however, the “earliest signs” of a vaccine facility will still be seen by 2022 or 2023, Dichosa added.

Ordering modules for the vaccine plant, she explained, would take some time. The official said the licensing and approval from

the Food and Drug Administration should also be factored in.

Dichosa further said that a filland-finish vaccine facility will take an estimated three years to put up before it operates. This type of facility imports the antigen and completes the fill-and-finish process, putting the vaccine into vials.

According to recent estimates, Dichosa said establishing a fill-andfinish facility will cost at least P300 million, excluding the consumables.

Additional costs will be needed for

Govt OKs inoculation of elderly, Pinoys with co-morbidity as Covid cases spike

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HE Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has agreed to fasttrack vaccination not only of the health-care workers (HCWs) but senior citizens (A2) and persons with co-morbidities (A3) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Greater Metro Manila area where cases of Covid-19 are surging, the Department of Health (DOH) announced last Sunday.

The announcement came after the DOH recorded an additional 9,475 Covid-19 cases, the third day in a row that the country has surpassed 9,000 new daily cases.

As of 4 p.m. of March 28, the DOH said that the total number of cases in the country stood at 721,892.

There were also 22,000 recoveries and 11 deaths recorded under “Oplan Recovery.”

“Oplan Recovery” is an initiative wherein a patient is tagged as recovered when certain conditions are met even without repeat RT-PCR testing.

This initiative is recommended by the Philippine College of Physicians and the Philippine Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

It is characterized by enhanced data collection, validation and reconciliation efforts between the DOH Central and Regional Offices and the Local Government Units (LGUs).

Of the total number of cases, 14.6 percent (105,568) are active, 83.6 percent (603,154) have recovered and 1.82 percent (13,170) have died.

These figures exclude the numbers from seven laboratories who were

unable to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System on March 27.

Inoculation site

AS the cases spike, the Department of Education (DepEd) said public schools should only be used as last option for vaccination sites as the government continues its inoculation drive.

“Under our current policy, school buildings should only be used as a last resort if there is no other place,” Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones said. “Existing policies with regard to use of DepEd facilities still apply to vaccination centers.”

In a memorandum on the use of DepEd schools and other facilities sent to officials and school heads, Briones enumerated the following general guidelines: schools shall be the final option as vaccination sites; the site should pass the requirements of the DOH and the IATF; and, no other Covid-related activities must be conducted in the selected venues.

Briones noted that the DepEd’s policy in the implementation of the Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan (NDVP) for Covid-19 noted that schools selected as last resort should be in a strategic location with sufficient space, facilities and human resources, among the other requirements set by the DOH. “We are ceaselessly attuning with the DOH and the LGUs in determining the schools that are capable to meet their standards because we

know that not all schools have the facilities needed for an immunization activity,” Briones said.

She emphasized that pilot schools identified for face-to-face learning and schools with ongoing healthrelated projects are excluded from being a possible vaccination center as the agency is putting first the safety and welfare of DepEd personnel reporting onsite and the learners.

“Since last year [and] until now that we are edging closer to the longterm solution to this crisis, we [are] ensuring the delivery of education to our learners,” Briones said. “With the administration’s vaccination efforts in place, the department will make sure that no learning continuity operations in schools will be interrupted by this.”

The Regional Offices have the power to allow the use of schools as vaccination centers based on the endorsement of the Schools Division Offices (SDO).

Moreover, LGU and health officials will decide whether to use a school as an isolation site or immunization site since utilizing it for both purposes at the same time is discouraged.

Informed decision

THE DepEd also maintained its commitment to educate the public and the learners amidst the pandemic and help them make informed decisions regarding the Covid-19 vaccination program.

“DepEd’s role is and has always

been education. And education— having access to correct information, and having the ability to make correct decisions based on those available information—is as relevant as ever,” Briones noted.

To augment the education campaign on Covid-19 vaccination drive, the DepEd will utilize its multi-media platforms, learning modules and activities and learning action cell sessions to disseminate integrated information about the benefits, risks, and other matters related to vaccines.

“Everyone is enjoined to constantly seek opportunities to obtain correct information about the vaccines and vaccination and about the government’s plan and efforts related to Covid-19 Vaccination,” Briones concluded.

San Juan vaccination

SAN Juan City Mayor Francisco Javier M. Zamora said they will start vaccinating the senior citizens and constituents with comorbidities on March 30. As of March 27, a total of 3,375 medical frontliners and HCWs have been vaccinated already, according to Zamora.

“Also, medical frontliners who haven’t been vaccinated can still be inoculated as well,” the mayor added. “This simultaneous vaccination of the remainder of the medical frontliners and the first batch of senior citizens and those with comorbidities has been allowed by the IATF to speed up the vaccination process.”

Cavite to open 584-bed capacity isolation center

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MUS CITY, Cavite—Local government officials inaugurated a 5-storey, 141 rooms Covid-19 Isolation Facility in Barangay Palico IV last March 28 as the number of cases of coronavirus continues to surge.

City of Imus Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi led the inauguration of the center named after Saint Dymphna, the patroness of those suffering nervous and mental afflictions as well as victims of incest.

According to Maliksi, the new facility will start operating in a week’s time. The building can accommodate around 584 patients in 143 regular rooms and six family rooms, he added.

Maliksi said the facility will accept asymptomatic patients in an isolation area. There is also a

“step-down” area for the patients in need of additional days in isolation but already tested negative for Covid.

According to the mayor, they fasttracked the construction of the facility as six hospitals in Imus, “including the Ospital ng Imus, already reached full capacity.”

Imus City has a total 3,971 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 702 active cases as of 3:00 p.m. of March 28. Barangay Buhay na Tubig was recorded to have the highest number of active cases at 47, followed by Barangay Pasong Buaya 2 with 44 active cases, data from the Imus City Health Office revealed.

The data also bared that around 2,547 healthcare worker frontliners of the locality have been inoculated.

Dennis Abrina

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, March 29, 2021 A3

CITY of Imus Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi (left) speaks during the inauguration of the Saint Dymphna Covid-19 Isolation Facility in Barangay Palico IV last March 28. The newly-constructed 5-storey facility can accommodate around 584 patients, according to Maliksi. DENNIS ABRINA

other investments and spending such as land or leasing fees.

She added that the agency is currently in talks with several potential vaccine manufacturers who are willing to invest in the country. But they are still looking for technology partners to establish their facilities if ever, Dichosa said.

Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said the Philippines is also in talks with technology sources from Russia, Korea, China and India.

Meanwhile, the interested investors are studying the size of the market and their operations’ feasibility and viability.

“In fact, gusto na talaga naming siyang i-fast track but ’yung mga tataya ng pera nila, they also want to ensure na hindi naman rin sila malulugi [We want to fast track the developments but investors also want to ensure profitability],” Dichosa explained.

She said there are companies looking at initially manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines in the country as these are urgent. Some may start producing flu vaccines first given that it

has already a “big market.”

“It [flu vaccine] is quite a big market and even the private clinics and hospitals actually [administer doses], so it is not dependent on the government immunization program,” Dichosa said. “Some would have a mix, some would have probably start with the flu vaccine then go to the Covid vaccine.”

If ever, other investors’ production will depend on the technology provider’s portfolio as well, she added.

“We would want to have a capability to supply at least part of the requirements for vaccines against Covid-19 immediately but given the timelines, [maybe] at the very least we could start the process from a [fill and finish],” Rodolfo added.

Earlier this year, local pharmaceutical firm Glovax Biotech Corp. announced its partnership with Korean vaccine manufacturer Eubiologics Co. Ltd. to produce EuCorVac-19 in the country. It has an annual capacity of 100 million doses and can allocate 40 million to the Philippines.

CREATE signing cheers business; DTI preps SIPP continued from a1 Under CREATE, the CIT rate is reduced to 20 percent from 30 percent for domestic corporations with net taxable income of P5 million and below and have total assets of P100 million and below effective July 1, 2020. All other local firms and resident foreign companies are imposed a 25-percent income tax.

“People are facing hard times, whatever savings that could be obtained from the reduction of income tax [is beneficial],” Barcelon explained.

Competitiveness enhanced

WITH such a policy in place, the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) said that the country’s competitiveness will be enhanced, attracting more investments.

“The law will not only give relief to our business from the pandemic but will in the longer term improve the competitiveness of the country as an investment destination,” Finex President Francisco ED. Lim said in a recent statement.

Makati Business Club Executive Director Coco Alcuaz, meanwhile, said the signing of CREATE ended the uncertainty over the corporate tax reform, and focus can now shift to obtaining job-creating investments.

The German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (GPCCI) agreed with this. “The good point for existing and new companies is that there is now visibility after such a long time of uncertainty,” GPCCI President Stefan Schmitz said.

For now, Finex called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue to issue the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) “in time for the tax deadline this April.”

Schmitz said that GPCCI hopes the IRR will be finalized quickly so the companies can benefit immediately.

On vetoed items

PRESIDENT Duterte vetoed nine items on CREATE Act, which are still being reviewed by the Confederation of Wearables Exporters of the Philippines (Conwep).

“We are still analyzing the full impact of the veto message, as President vetoed lines only,” Conwep Associate Director Rosette Carrillo said.

Other business groups, Seipi and GPCCI, are also studying the impact of the vetoed items and seeking members’ comments.

Barcelon, meanwhile, offered his sentiments towards two vetoed items: automatic approval of incentives applications within 20 days and value added tax threshold of real proper ty.

“Some clauses such as automatic incentive given a time lapsed was not approved which would have lessened the bureaucratic impact. The other issue on

real estate value cap wouldn’t water down the spirit of the law,” he said.

For his part, Senator Panfilo Lacson said it was just as well that President Duterte vetoed some provisions of the bill which, he said, either violated the Constitution or merely advance the commercial interests of “some legislators.”

“The constitutional infirmities were evident under the CREATE law as passed

by Congress as they were violative of the ‘one title, one subject rule’ provision under Article VI Section 26(1) of the 1987 Constitution,” Lacson pointed out in an SMS to B usiness M irror ’s query on Sunday.

As it turned out, Lacson added, “a number of those non-revenue provisions dealing with fiscal incentives became the object of the line item veto power by the President, which if not lumped with a revenue measure such as CREATE would not have been possible.”

“On second thought,” he added, “it is also a good thing since a number of those ‘rider provisions’ were intended to advance the personal and business interests of some legislators.” He did not name the lawmakers.

Finex, meanwhile, said it disagrees with President Duterte’s veto of some of the items. The BusinessMirror asked the group to elaborate but it has not yet responded to the inquiry.

Investment sectors

TRADE Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba said in an online event last week that DTI is set to adopt the SIPP—a list of investment sectors that may apply for fiscal incentive— after CREATE’S signing into law.

“Of course, in terms of the incentives, these are [a] much higher menu of incentives [and] reduction in corporate income tax rate,” Aldaba said. SIPP breaks down the investments and projects into three industry tiers.

“For example, Tier 1 includes high potential for job creation and emerging industries owing to potential comparative advantage, while Tier 2 includes activities that produce supplies, parts, and components. Meanwhile, Tier 3 includes [research and development] with significant value added, high productivity, breakthroughs in science and health, and high-paying jobs,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said in the same event.

Under SIPP, the critical industries include electrical and electronics; chemical and pharmaceuticals; machinery and transport; agriculture and agribusiness; information technology-business process management; research and development; and artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, and digital technologies.

With a report by Butch Fernandez

Agriculture/Commodities

A4 Monday, March 29, 2021 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PHL to lose ₧548M from rice tariff cut–group

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said the government may lose P548 million, or more than nine-fold higher than the P60-million estimate of the Tariff Commission, if rice tariffs on imports from nonAsean countries would be reduced to 35 percent.

FFF said the total value of rice imports from non-Asean countries last year reached P3.65 billion, which would translate to a tariff collection of P1.826 billion at the current tariff rate of 50 percent.

The group estimated that at 35 percent, tariff collection from nonAsean rice imports would decline to P1.2786 billion, resulting in a difference or an estimated loss of P548.004 million.

FFF’s computation also showed that possible foregone revenue loss from combined rice imports coming from India and Pakistan alone would reach P247.019 million.

“The TC itself concluded that reducing the tariff on Indian and Pakistani rice will just bring their

landed costs at par with those from Asean countries,” the group said in a statement.

“Even then, it admitted that any savings on tariffs could be pocketed by traders as additional profits, and would not necessarily be passed on to consumers.”

The BusinessMirror broke the story last week about the findings and recommendations of the TC on the petition of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to lower the inquota and out-quota tariffs for rice imports from non-Asean countries to 35 percent. (https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/03/26/govtto-lose-p60-million-annually-onlower-rice-import-tariffs/) The TC said it believes the re-

THIS BusinessMirror file photo shows an assortment of commercial rice on sale at a grocery store in Antipolo City.

duction in the tariff rate of rice imports to 35 percent could lead to lower rice prices as this would translate to cost savings.

“Based on available data, importing rice is a profitable business with estimated profit margins of at least 20 percent. If tariffs are reduced to 35 percent, [the Commission] estimates cost savings of at least 3 percent,” it

PhilMech farm machine distribution hits 50% of goal

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WO years after the enactment of the Rice Trade Liberalization (RTL) law, the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) has delivered 50 percent of its machine distribution target using its 2019 and 2020 funds.

PhilMech data obtained by the BusinessMirror showed the agency has distributed a total of 7,947 units of farm machinery and equipment as of March 21, which is half of its target of 15,918 for its combined 2019 and 2020 rice competitiveness enhancement fund (RCEF).

Since 2019, PhilMech receives half of the annual P10-billion RCEF created

by Republic Act 11203 or the RTL law.

PhilMech data showed the agency has the highest percentage delivery for combine harvester at 76 percent as it has distributed 1,304 out of 1,717.

This was followed by delivery of four-wheel tractor at 75 percent completion: PhilMech was able to distribute to farmers 2,040 units of the farm machinery out of its 2,709 combined target.

PhilMech also posted above 70-percent delivery rate for precision seeder (74 percent) and riding type transplanter (72 percent). PhilMech data showed it delivered, as of March 21, 108 precision seeders out of its target 146 and 296 riding-type transplanters out of the 413 target.

For rice reapers, PhilMech delivered 1,087 units out of its 1,690 target or a 64-percent delivery rate while it was able

to deliver 2,236 hand tractors out of the 4,316 target for such unit.

PhilMech data showed that it was only able to distribute 28 percent or about 545 out of the 1,947 floating tillers it aims to distribute under its combined P10-billion fund.

PhilMech data also showed that it recorded a 21-percent delivery rate of as March 21 for the distribution of walk behind-type transplanters (312 units out of 1,454 units).

For axial flow thresher, PhilMech has been able to distribute 5 axial flow threshers out of its target of 1,174 units; and 14 of 312 rice mills funded by the 2019 and 2020 RCEF budget.

PhilMech data showed it has not been able to deliver a single unit of mobile recirculating grain dryer, recirculating dryer petroleum fueled, single pass rice mill and multi-pass rice mill.

Using its combined 2019 and 2020 RCEF funds, PhilMech plans to distribute 6 mobile recirculating grain dryers, 28 recirculating dryers (petroleum fueled), 2 single-pass rice mills and 302 multi-pass rice mills.

In a statement last week, PhilMech said it has “stepped up” its distribution of farm machinery.

“As the agency accelerated its bidding, awarding and purchase of various farm machines, our field personnel and suppliers also stepped up the delivery of farm machines to qualified FCAs (farmers cooperatives and associations) at no cost as mandated by the RA 11203,” PhilMech Executive Director Baldwin G. Jallorina said.

“This was done despite the varying degrees of lockdowns all over the country. The stepped-up distribution of farm machines to FCAs also show that more and more rice farmers and groups are realizing the benefits of mechanizing their operations, and adopting post-harvest technologies, as they are more than willing to be recipients of the farm machines distributed at no cost to them,” he added.

In January, BusinessMirror published a Broader Look story on the challenges and future of the government’s RCEF-backed farm machinery distribution tack (Related story: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2021/01/07/mechanizationmoves-agriculture-sector-slowbut-sure-to-modern-farming/).

A 72-page DA paper reviewing the RTL law 18 months after its enactment explained that the mechanization component was delayed “due to the complicated and cumbersome procurement process as well as the need to address failures in the past on the provision of public funds for machinery.”

PhilMech also saw delays in receiving its budget, curtailing its conduct of activities related to the RCEP mechanization component.

The P5-billion fund for the RCEP mechanization component in 2019 was carried over to 2020, with initial distribution of machines only happening in June despite promises that it would be completed as early as the first quarter. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

said in its report, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror.

“These savings can be retained by traders as additional profits or passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices.”

The FFF also scored the TC for its computation. The group argued that the TC’s computation was “deceptive if not erroneous” as the body

Meat processors file price-hike bids with DTI continued from a8

“There’s no way we can maintain our prices of meat loafs, hotdogs, siomai and others. And all of which have become the center of the plate given that prices of pork chicken and other fresh meat have become out of reach to most consumers,” Ong added.

Ong hopes the price increase petition of some of their member companies would be approved by May 1 at the latest.

Bans on Europe sources

SINCE last year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has suspended the importation of poultry products from European areas, which eventually expanded to country-wide bans, that have confirmed outbreaks of bird flu.

To date, the European countries that are banned from exporting poultry products to the Philippines are Denmark, France, Sweden, United Kingdom, Russia, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland and Germany. Likewise two areas in two European countries are also banned: Menen municipality in Belgium and Kerekegyháza town in Hungary.

Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) data showed that Europe accounts for 60 percent of the country’s chicken MDM supply. With the suspensions in place, the country

CREATE brings relief for MSME, labor–DOF chief

This culmination of years-long intense discussions on the rationalization of tax incentives for businesses spells finis to the prolonged investor uncertainty over the final shape of this corporate taxation reform, and signals to the rest of the world that the Philippines is back in the game to attract investments, create jobs and achieve inclusive growth,” Dominguez said in a statement on Sunday.

CREATE cuts the current CIT rate at 30 percent—the highest in the Southeast Asian region—to 20 percent, for domestic corporations with a taxable income of P5 million and below, and with total assets of not more than P100 million.

All other domestic corporations will benefit from an immediate reduction of the CIT rate from 30 percent to 25 percent. Foreign corporations currently paying the regular rate will also enjoy a reduced 25-per-

cent CIT rate.

“In the long run, savings from the reduction in CIT rates will provide enterprises with more resources to reinvest in their businesses or expand their operations and thus create more jobs. The modernization of the fiscal incentives system with the inclusion of more generous or attractive comeons will let the government attract the right kind of investors that it wants to do business in the country to provide quality jobs and better opportunities for the Filipino people,” he added.

The finance chief also thanked Duterte and legislators for supporting the swift recovery of the country’s enterprises hard-hit by the coronavirus-driven global economic recession.

“The enactment of CREATE amid the lingering pandemic is a muchawaited relief for many businesses,

especially our MSMEs, and their millions of Filipino workers reeling from the unprecedented economic turmoil set off by Covid-19 across the globe,” he said.

Under the law, corporate taxpayers whose gross sales or receipts do not exceed the value-added tax (VAT)-exempt threshold of P3 million and are subject to the 3-percent percentage tax will only pay 1 percent instead from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2023.

Proprietary and non-stock educational institutions and hospitals are also among the major beneficiaries of this law: CREATE will reduce the preferential tax rates they are paying from 10 percent to 1 percent from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2023.

On the long-overdue fiscal incentives reform, CREATE proposes more flexibility in the grant of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives,

used costs as declared by importers which the group claimed could be undervalued and not reflective of actual import costs.

“In addition, the Commission lumped the costing for all grades of rice imports together, despite the fact that more than 96 percent of imports from non-Asean countries were exclusively for well-milled rice

grades,” the group said.

“Our computations show that if we use the [Bureau of Customs’] reference prices instead of declared import costs and limit the analysis to rice with only 5 percent brokens, rice from India and Pakistan will still come out cheaper even if we do not change tariff rates.”

The TC said importing rice from Asean, the major source of the country’s rice imports, and India “may soon be a challenge due to the current global economic situation caused by the pandemic and other factors.”

The other factors include natural causes like the monsoon season in India; Chinese dams drying up the rivers in Vietnam and Thailand, which are major sources of the country’s rice imports, as well as ongoing political uncertainties in Myanmar, according to the TC. “It would be prudent to widen options for supply sources of imported rice given the current circumstances.

The current situation of ample rice supply and stable rice prices may not be guaranteed in the short term,” it said. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/02/01/ tariff-cut-to-expand-phl-sourcesof-rice-imports/ and https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/02/05/ lower-tariffs-on-non-asean-indian-rice-imports-pushed/).

deemed critical as the country competes for high-value investments from overseas now and in the post-pandemic era.

For enterprises undertaking activities considered priority by the government,DOF said CREATE provides for a “generous incentives menu” that offers tax discounts on the basis of their strategic benefit to the country, such as ability to create jobs and promote countryside development.

Investment promotion agencies (IPAs) will also maintain their key investment promotion functions and powers under their respective charters, but the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) will have oversight power over them.

The governance of tax incentives will also be placed under the FIRB, to be chaired by the DOF and co-chaired by the DTI. Dominguez said this

has lost half of its supply base, leaving Belgium as the lone European country where processors can source their chicken MDM. Belgium accounts for about 12 percent of the country’s annual chicken MDM supply.

Ong said they have been appealing to DA to shift the countrywide bans to regionalized ones, as what it did in 2017. The sector has held several dialogues with DA officials to discuss concerns on tightness of supply.

“They are deeply concerned about the situation and they would like to strike a balance between ensuring food safety and security,” he said.

Ong’s group is also proposing that DA allow even just the Pampi member-companies to import chicken MDM from banned Europe countries, subject to the stringent science-based guidelines and science just like four years ago.

In 2017, the DA allowed Pampi members to import chicken MDM from the Netherlands on the grounds that it will go straight to their facilities and the raw materials would undergo the required heating requirement to inactivate any virus.

Royal Cargo Inc. COO Jet B. Ambalada, who is also a Pampi director, said the situation of the meat processing industry is a “perfect

storm,” having lost the majority of its supply while businesses face delays in shipment arrival while global shipping and logistics problems fester.

Ambalada told the BusinessMirror that arrival of shipments is delayed by two weeks to one month these days. “[Meat processors] are only able to supply 80 percent of [their] demand contracts. We have a problem on availability of supply plus we are facing shipping and logistics problems,” he said.

“This is really a perfect storm.

If this won’t be eased or resolved, then we’re up for a looming major food shortage. What will be our alternative protein source if we lose processed meat products or they hike their prices amid rising pork and chicken retail prices?” he added.

The BusinessMirror broke the story last week that global supply chain problems, such as rising shipping costs and lack of vessels, are greatly affecting importers and exporters. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/03/26/foodshortage-seen-on-global-supplywoes/ and https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/03/26phl-exporters-chafe-as-pandemic-delays-product-shipments/)

continued from a1 set-up mirrors international best practice and is a major win for the Filipino people. The FIRB will ensure accountability and transparency in the grant of tax incentives to private corporations.

A Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) will also be formulated every three years to identify priority projects or activities that will receive the new set of generous incentives.

P477-B tax perks

PRIOR to CREATE, the government gave away P477.17 billion in tax discounts and exemptions to favored enterprises in 2018 alone, based on a DOF study utilizing data made available through the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act (TIMTA). These were granted without any mechanism in place to assess the net benefit to the economy derived from this select group of

enterprises.

With CREATE, Dominguez said the administration has already accomplished about 90 percent of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), pursued since Duterte assumed office in 2016.

However, the initial success of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act—the first package of CTRP—and the passage of CREATE cannot be attributed solely to the current government efforts to push tax reforms in the Congress, Dominguez said.

“In fact, our tax reform program is a logical continuation of the decades of reforms arduously passed by previous administrations,” he said. “We are not navigating blindly in pursuing these reforms. Instead, we are marching forward guided by the paths already plotted out before us.”

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Suicide bomber targets Mass in Indonesia, 9 people hurt

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AKARTA, Indonesia—A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a packed Roman Catholic cathedral on Indonesia's Sulawesi island during a Palm Sunday Mass, wounding at least nine people, police said.

A cellular video obtained by The Associated Press showed body parts scattered near a burning motorbike at the gates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.

Wilhelmus Tulak, a Catholic priest who led the Mass when the bomb exploded at about 10:30 a.m., told reporters that a loud bang shocked his congregation who had just finished the service.

Tulak said the church's security guards suspected two motorists who wanted to en-

ter the church. One of them detonated his explosives and died near the gate after being confronted by guards.

He said the attack caused no casualties among churchgoers.

South Sulawesi police chief Merdisyam said at least one bomber died and four guards and five civilians were wounded.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, has been battling militants since bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Attacks aimed at foreigners have been largely replaced in recent years by smaller, less deadly strikes targeting the government, police and anti-terrorism forces and people militants considered as infidels. AP

2 tugboats speed to Suez Canal as shippers avoid it

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UEZ, Egypt—Two additional tugboats sped Sunday to Egypt's Suez Canal to aid efforts to free a skyscraper-sized container ship wedged for days across the crucial waterway, even as major shippers increasingly divert their boats out of fear the vessel may take even longer to free.

The massive Ever Given, a Panama-flagged, Japaneseowned ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, got stuck on Tuesday in a singlelane stretch of the canal. In the time since, authorities have been unable to remove the vessel and traffic through the canal — valued at over $9 billion a day — has been halted, further disrupting a global shipping network already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Dutch-f lagged Alp Gu a rd a nd t he It a l i a nflagged Carlo Magno, called in to help tugboats already there, reached the Red Sea near the city of Suez early Sunday, satellite data from MarineTraffic.com showed.

The tugboats will nudge the 400 -meter-long (quartermile-long ) Ever Given as dredgers continue to vacuum up sand from underneath the vessel and mud caked to its port side, said Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which manages the Ever Given.

On Saturday, the head of the Suez Canal Authority told journalists that strong winds were "not the only cause" for the Ever Given running aground, appearing to push back against conflicting assessments offered by others.

Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei said an investigation was ongoing but did not rule out human or technical error.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement maintains that their "initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding." However, at least one initial report suggested a "blackout" struck the hulking vessel carrying some 20,000 containers at the time of the incident.

Rabei said he remained hopeful that dredging could free the ship without having to resort to removing its cargo, but added that "we are in a difficult situation, it's a bad incident."

Asked about when they expected to free the vessel

and reopen the canal, he said: "I can't say because I do not know."

Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the company that owns the vessel, said it was considering removing containers if other refloating efforts failed.

The Ever Given is wedged about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the canal's Red Sea entrance near the city of Suez.

A prolonged closure of the crucial waterway would cause delays in the global shipment chain. Some 19,000 vessels passed through the canal last year, according to official figures. About 10% of world trade flows through the canal. The closure could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East. Already, Syria has begun rationing the distribution of fuel in the war-torn country amid concerns of delays of shipments arriving amid the blockage.

A s of Sat u rd ay, over 270 ships waited to travel through the Suez, either to the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, according to canal services firm Leth Agencies.

Dozens of others still listed their destination as the canal, though shippers increasingly appear to be avoiding the passage.

The world's biggest shipping company, Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk, warned its customers that it would take anywhere from three to six days to clear the backlog of vessels at the canal. Already, the firm and its partners have 22 ships waiting there.

"The current number (of) redirected Maersk and partner vessels is 14 and expected to rise as we assess the salvage efforts along with network capacity and fuel on our vessels currently en route to Suez," the shipper said.

Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world 's secondlargest, said it already had rerouted at least 11 ships around Africa's Cape of Good Hope to avoid the canal. It turned back two other ships and said it expected "some missed sailings as a result of this incident."

"MSC expects this incident to have a very significant impact on the movement of containerized goods, disrupting supply chains beyond the existing challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic," it said. AP

Monday, March 29, 2021

A5

Myanmar forces kill scores in deadliest day since coup

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ANGON, Myanmar— As Myanmar’s military celebrated the annual Armed Forces Day holiday with a parade on Saturday in the country’s capital, soldiers and police elsewhere killed scores of people while suppressing protests in the deadliest bloodletting since last month’s coup.

The online news site Myanmar Now reported late Saturday that the death toll had reached 114. A count issued by an independent researcher in Yangon who has been compiling near-real time death tolls put the total at 107, spread over more than two-dozen cities and towns. That's more than the previous high on March 14, which ranged from 74 to 90.

The killings quickly drew international condemnation, including a joint statement from the defense chiefs of 12 countries.

"A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting—not harming—the people it serves," it said. "We urge the Myanmar Armed Forces to cease violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions."

The European Union's delegation to Myanmar said that the 76th Myanmar Armed Forces Day "will stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonor."

"The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, are indefensible acts," it added.

US Ambassador Thomas Vajda in a statement said "security forces are murdering unarmed civilians."

"These are not the actions of a professional military or police force," he wrote. "Myanmar's people have spoken clearly: they do not want to live under military rule."

The death toll in Myanmar has been steadily rising as authorities grow more forceful in suppressing opposition to the Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup reversed years of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule.

Figures collected by the Yangon researcher, who asked not to be named for his security, have generally tallied with the counts issued at the end of each day by the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, which documents deaths and arrests and is widely seen as a definitive source. The Associated Press is unable to independently confirm the death tolls.

Up through Friday, the association had verified 328 deaths in the post-coup crackdown.

Junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing did not directly refer to the protest movement when he gave his nationally televised Armed Forces Day speech before thousands of soldiers in Naypyitaw. He referred only to "terrorism which can be harmful to state

2 in Seattle, San Francisco face anti-Asian hate charges

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AN FRANCISCO—Prosecutors in Seattle and San Francisco have charged men with hate crimes in separate incidents that authorities say targeted people of Asian descent amid a wave of high profile and sometimes-deadly violence against Asian Americans since the pandemic began.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday, the latest in a series of rallies in response to what many said has become a troubling surge of anti-Asian sentiments.

"We can no longer accept the normalization of being treated as perpetual foreigners in this country," speaker Tammy Kim told a rally in LA's Koreatown.

At rally attended by more than 1,000 people in San Francisco's Civic Center, the city's police chief, Bill Scott, drew loud applause when he said, "Hate is the virus, and love is the vaccination."

On Friday, prosecutors in King County, Washington, charged Christopher Hamner, 51, with three counts of malicious harassment after police say he screamed profanities and threw things at cars in two incidents last week targeting women and children of Asian heritage, The Seattle Times reported Saturday.

In San Francisco, Victor Humberto Brown, 53, made a first court appearance after authorities say he repeatedly punched an Asian American man at a bus stop while shouting an anti-Asian slur.

Brown was initially booked on misdemeanor counts, but prosecutors recently elevated the case to a felony, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. He said in court that he has a post-traumatic stress disorder.

In Seattle, according to court documents, Hamner yelled profanities and threw things at a woman stopped at a red light with her two children, ages 5 and 10, on March 16. Three days later, authorities say Hamner cut off another car driven by an Asian woman, yelled a profanity and the word "Asian" at her and then threw a water bottle at her car after charging at her when she pulled into a parking spot.

Hamner was being held on $75,000 bail on Saturday. It wasn't immediately clear if Hamner, who has not yet made a court appearance, had retained an attorney or would be assigned a public defender.

In the first instance, the woman told her 10-year-old daughter to try to take a cellphone photo of the man. The woman, identified by KIRO-TV as Pamela Cole, posted about the incident on social media and a friend's husband identified Hamner as a possible suspect.

The second woman who was accosted had a dashboard camera in her vehicle that captured the license plate of the other car, which is registered to Hamner, according to court documents. The police detective investigating the case reviewed the video and determined the women's assailant "was clearly Hamner," according to the charges. AP

Anti-coup protesters prepare makeshift bow and arrows to confront police in Thaketa township Yangon, Myanmar on Saturday, March 27, 2021. The head of Myanmar’s junta on Saturday used the occasion of the country’s Armed Forces Day to try to justify the overthrow of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, as protesters marked the holiday by calling for even bigger demonstrations. AP Photo

tranquility and social security," and called it unacceptable.

This year's event was seen as a flashpoint for violence, with demonstrators threatening to double down on their public opposition to the coup with more and bigger demonstrations. The protesters refer to the holiday by its original name, Resistance Day, which marks the beginning of a revolt against Japanese occupation in World War 2.

State television MRTV on Friday night showed an announcement urging young people—who have been at the forefront of the protests and prominent among the casualties—to learn a lesson from those killed during demonstrations about the danger of being shot in the head or back.

The warning was widely taken as a threat because a great number of the fatalities among protesters have come from being shot in the head, suggesting they have been targeted for death. The announcement suggested that some young people were taking part in protesting as if it was a game, and urged their parents and friends to talk them out of participating.

In recent days the junta has portrayed the demonstrators as the ones perpetrating violence for their sporadic use of Molotov cocktails.

On Saturday, some protesters in Yangon were seen carrying bows and arrows. In contrast, security forces have used live ammunition for weeks against what have still been overwhelmingly unarmed and peaceful crowds.

The US Embassy said shots were fired Saturday at its cultural center in Yangon, though no one was injured.

The military government does not issue regular casualty counts, and when it has released figures, the totals have been a fraction of what independent parties such as the U.N. have reported. It has said its use of force has been justified to stop what it has called rioting.

In his speech Saturday, Min Aung Hlaing used the occasion to try to justify the overthrow of Suu Kyi's government, accusing it of failing to investigate irregularities in last November's general election, and repeating that his government would hold "a free and fair election" and hand over power afterward.

The military has claimed there were irregularities in the voting rolls for the last election, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won in a landslide.

The junta detained Suu Kyi on the day it took power, and continues to hold her on minor criminal charges while investigating allegations of corruption against her that her supporters dismiss as politically motivated.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Saturday's events showed that the military, known in Myanmar as the Tatmadaw, should be prosecuted in international courts of law.

"This is a day of suffering and mourning for the Burmese people, who have paid for the Tatmadaw's arrogance and greed with their lives, time and time again," he said. AP

A6

Monday, March 29, 2021 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Why ECQ was inevitable

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he headline reads that the Philippines has gone “full circle” with the current ECQ. That is not completely accurate. To go “full circle” is like travelling to the mall and returning to your same home.

After the first ECQ, the virus has mutated, vaccines have been approved and sadly some 700,000 Filipinos have tested positive, more than 13,000 have died, and nearly 600,000 have been classified as recovered. But the “full circle” thought deserves the benefit of the doubt.

However, it was predictable that we would return to this heightened “lockdown” as health protocols were not followed as they should have been.

The beaver—North American and the Eurasian—is one of the most interesting animals on the planet. Through Divine Design or nature’s selection, the beaver is physically, instinctively, and socially constructed to build dams of wood, rocks, and mud on small waterways. This offers protection from predators and creates a constant food source. The largest known beaver dam measures 850 meters in length.

The dams are built and maintained by all the beavers in the area.

No beaver would ever consider doing anything to damage the community dam. Beavers are smarter than humans.

While certain quarters want us to believe “everything” is a result of government actions, in the Philippine context, the health protocols of mask wearing and social distancing may have prevented the current “full circle.” And the vast majority followed those rules until the last months.

We all have a personal responsibility for our health and safety. You do not travel by sea in a small boat during a raging typhoon even if a foolish government official says it is safe. Common beaver sense.

But then ordinary Filipinos trying to survive if not thrive started seeing government and private sector “celebrities” not following the protocols.

The government first banned all religious gatherings. Then a Bishop of the Catholic Church “called on Catholics to defy the government’s ban on religious gatherings. They are wrong, and we should not follow such guidelines.”

A local singer expressed admiration for jeepney drivers as he become one for a day. This wanna-be jeepney driver did not wear a mask—face shield only—as seen in his YouTube vlog. The husband of a fairly wealthy “matron” tests positive two weeks ago. But the wife does not change her routine, including her trips to the casino. Four days later he is in ICU. The Department of Tourism found another case of falsification of travel documents by a Quezon City resident that arrived in Coron, Palawan on March 9. Coron is one of the most expensive tourist destinations in the country. But if you can afford the resort, you can certainly afford fake documents. Breaking the law calls for a P20,000 to P50,000 fine or prison time. The 24-year-old male tourist was confirmed Covid-19 positive. Rules are for the little people.

Unlike the beavers, everyone has his or her own agenda. Restaurant owners want their businesses open but not the cinemas. Places of worship, good; hotel meetings, bad. Sixty-four years old is not a senior citizen. Getting a manicure is acceptable. Getting a haircut not so much. And no one wants the bars open.

The current closure of many businesses probably makes sense. But the fact remains that there is the attitude that opening my business is safe and opening your business is not safe. You should wear a mask.

I wear one when I feel like it. ECQ is unfortunate but was inevitable.

Four things to get us through the quarantine period Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

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atholics are observing holy week this week, right at the start of another quarantine period for the National Capital Region and four other nearby areas. The conditions are not ideal for this particular religious observance because we cannot go to mass and cannot participate in holy rituals and practices like the Visita Iglesia. We are confined to our homes and may be more inclined to focus on the global struggles related to the pandemic, but we must fight this tendency and instead focus on more positive things.

We can choose to focus on nature instead, how beautiful, nurturing and enduring it is. We can choose to appreciate the nature around us —the birds and the songs they sing in the morning, the energy-giving sunshine, the air that sustains us, the strong trees and refreshing greenery in our garden, for instance. There is

so much about nature that we can celebrate this holy week, and so instead of being afraid and anxious, we can turn those feelings into gratitude and appreciation.

The practice of mindfulness is another journey we can take this week.

Mindfulness is all about awareness of things that we do, say, feel, think,

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

Thomas M. Orbos

STREET TALK

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and being aware of our environment, too. It is all about being conscious of the present moment, which is a practice that can bring us to a place with less stress and toxicity. There are numerous organizations worldwide that have incorporated a mindfulness program into their corporate culture. As a result, their members are more relaxed, healthier and more productive.

Self-care is another point of focus that we can consider not just this week, but during any period of struggle. When we love ourselves and treat ourselves with respect and utmost care, we show others how we

want to be treated. This can be seen in the way we take care of our body and mind, in the way we conduct our relationships, in the things we tell ourselves, and so on. We give to ourselves the kind of care or nurturing that we give to the person we love the most, and then we can watch ourselves bloom beautifully.

Finally, we can choose to focus on love. This means focusing on loving ourselves (see paragraph above), showing more love to people around us, and keeping love in our minds as often as we can. Marianne Williamson said, “Love in your mind produces love in your life.” She completes the thought by saying that fear in your mind produces fear in your life. As we go through the struggles of the pandemic and our individual lives, let us not focus on fear. Instead, let us focus on love. Let us focus on nature, on mindfulness, on self-care. These are deep concepts and practices that are also somehow related to each other.

I would like to wish you all a blessed and meaningful week ahead.

Back to where we started, but still in the game

Since 2005

Founder

As we go through the struggles of the pandemic and our individual lives, let us not focus on fear. Instead, let us focus on love. Let us focus on nature, on mindfulness, on self-care. These are deep concepts and practices that are also somehow related to each other.

T

oday is the first day in Metro Manila and nearby areas that are placed back on hard lockdown or enhanced community quarantine. If this was a road trip, we are practically back to where we started, with all the time and effort of the past year all gone for naught. It is tiresome and frustrating and, even worse, heartbreaking as we see the virus hitting closer to home with people we personally know falling ill or losing in this battle. And humans as we are, we cannot be blamed for doing the blame game. Blame the government; blame the institutions; blame ourselves and everyone else who relaxed and thought we had our lives back in our control. Let that sink in, but not for long. Let us move forward and be thankful to have reached this far. Let us also bring back that needed cautiousness and fear and learn from our mistakes. We may be back to square one, so to speak, but we are still in the game. Let us make sure we stay the course and win this time around.

One thing evident from this experience is that we are responsible for our actions. We cannot continue to just depend on government to carry us through to the safety line.

For some that I know, it has become convenient for them to let their guard down for the simple reason that government has relaxed the restrictions.

Allowing restaurants to open doesn’t mean going on a drinking binge or having gatherings. Allowing people back to work does not mean we could eat our lunches together in the office.

This is the one incident most recalled

by people who got infected by their co-workers. We let our guard down and abused the little gains we had.

That was what happened.

On a bigger scale, another realization is that we cannot depend on others for our survival. And I talk here about us, the Philippines in a global setting. With the vaccine, we are practically at the mercy of the rich countries. We had our orders done sometime late last year. Both the government and the private sector made payments. But the committed dates of arrival of these lifeline vac-

On a bigger scale, another realization is that we cannot depend on others for our survival. And I talk here about us, the Philippines in a global setting. With the vaccine, we are practically at the mercy of the rich countries. We had our orders done sometime late last year. Both the government and the private sector made payments. But the committed dates of arrival of these lifeline vaccines kept on being pushed. This is not entirely the government’s fault.

cines kept on being pushed. This is not entirely the government’s fault.

It is a fact that nations will prioritize their populations. We then need to realize that in this new world order, we need to take care of ourselves.

Other countries have or are developing their own jabs. Indonesia is developing one in collaboration with China. Vietnam has its own. Even a smaller country like Cuba is making its own vaccine. We need to have our own too, because we need to accept that this pandemic environment will not end with this round of vaccines.

There will be more viruses that will endanger us, our way of life and our future. One good thing is that we have good Filipino scientists. It is time to believe in them and support them.

On another note, yet equally im-

portant is to bring our attention to the plight of cancer patients in our country. This for me hits close to home with my wife, brother, and father-in-law as cancer survivors.

I can attest to the life-changing impact this disease has not just on the patients but also on all family members. The physical, emotional and financial effect of this disease lingers long after the remission with the danger of recurrence always there for the rest of your life. And it is more difficult now. Cancer patients are more vulnerable in this pandemic.

Thankfully, we have a law—Republic Act 1125 or the National Integrated Control Act, signed in 2019, that can provide the needed care attention to our cancer patients especially in these times. The budget necessary to fund such attention is in place as well. What is just needed is to set up and convene the council, as provided for in the law, to oversee and implement this. What a tragedy, if the barrier to the needed assistance to our cancer patients in the face of this global health crisis is just this one bureaucratic step that should have been done earlier. Our plea, then, to the authorities is not to waste any time longer to see this through.

Thomas “Tim” Orbos is currently a transport policy advisor for an international organization and worked in government on transport and urban development matters. He is an alumnus of Georgetown University and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail—tmo45@ georgetown.edu /thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu

Opinion BusinessMirror

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UK variant hunters lead global race to stay ahead of Covid-19

Little women (with great faith) Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

By Danica Kirka | Associated Press

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ONDON—On March 4, 2020, when there were just 84 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK, professor Sharon Peacock recognized that the country needed to expand its capacity to analyze the genetic makeup of the virus.

The Cambridge University microbiologist understood that genomic sequencing would be crucial in tracking the disease, controlling outbreaks and developing vaccines. So she began working with colleagues around the country to put together a plan.

Within a month, the government had provided 20 million pounds ($28 million) to fund their work.

The initiative helped make Britain a world leader in rapidly analyzing the genetic material from large numbers of Covid-19 infections, generating more than 40 percent of the genomic sequences identified to date. These days, their top priority is finding new variants that are more dangerous or resistant to vaccines, information that is critical to helping researchers modify the vaccines or develop new ones to combat the ever-changing virus.

“They’ve shown the world how you do this,” said Dr. Eric Topol, chair of innovative medicine at Scripps Research in San Diego, California.

Genomic sequencing is essentially the process of mapping the unique genetic makeup of individual organisms—in this case the virus that causes Covid-19. While the technique is used by researchers to study everything from cancer to outbreaks of food poisoning and the flu virus, this is the first time authorities are using it to provide real-time surveillance of a global pandemic.

Peacock, 62, heads Britain’s sequencing effort as executive director and chair of the Covid-19 UK Genomics Consortium, known as COG-UK, the group she helped create a year ago.

During the first week of this month, COG-UK sequenced 13,171 viruses, up from 260 during its first 12 days of operation in March last year, according to weekly reports on the group’s web site.

Behind that growth is a system that links the science of genomic sequencing with the resources of Britain’s national health-care system.

Positive Covid-19 tests from hospitals and community testing programs around the country are sent to a network of 17 laboratories where scientists spend their days extracting the genetic material from each swab and analyzing it to identify that virus’ unique genetic code. The sequences are then cross-referenced with public health data to better understand how, where and why Covid-19 is spreading.

When mutations in the virus correspond with an otherwise unexplained increase in cases, that’s a clue that a new variant of concern is circulating in the area.

The importance of genomic sequencing became obvious late last year as the number of new infections began to spike in southeastern England. When cases continued to rise despite tough local restrictions, public health officials went to work to find out why.

Combing through data from genome sequencing, scientists identified a new variant that included a number of mutations that made it easier for the virus to hop from one person to another.

Armed with this information, Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a national lockdown, scrapping a strategy of local restrictions that had failed to contain the new variant.

The scientific sleuthing is crucial, but it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack because researchers must sift through the genetic sequences from thousands of harmless variants to find the rare dangerous ones, Peacock said.

“It’s vital so that we can understand what variants are circulating, both in the United Kingdom and around the world, and therefore the

implications of that on vaccine development and the way that we may have to adapt vaccines,” she said.

The effort is a worldwide collaboration, with more than 120 countries submitting sequences to GISAID, a data-sharing hub originally created to track influenza viruses.

Iceland, Australia, New Zealand and Denmark actually sequence a higher percentage of their Covid-19 cases than Britain, and Denmark does the work faster. But COG-UK’S work, combined with Britain’s size and high number of cases, have made it the world leader in sequencing Covid-19. The UK has submitted 379,294 of the almost 898,000 sequences in the GISAID database.

That work is paying dividends even for advanced countries like Denmark, where scientists use tools developed in Britain to analyze their own data, said Mads Albertsen, a professor at Denmark’s Aalborg University who is part of the country’s genomic sequencing effort.

“What the UK has just done by far best is the whole setup,” Albertsen said. “So they have many more researchers and a much more professional structure around how to use the data.”

The US is also trying to learn from Britain as the Biden administration reverses the anti-science policies of his predecessor that slowed the country’s sequencing efforts, said Topol at Scripps Research. Representatives from COG-UK took part in a recent call with American researchers and the Rockefeller Foundation aimed at building capacity in the United States.

“To Peacock and the crew’s credit, they didn’t just stop at sequence,” Topol said. “They organized labs to do this other work, which is actually very intensive lab assessment.

And then there’s the epidemiologic assessment, too. So everything has to fire on every cylinder, you know.

It’s like a car with 12 cylinders. They all have to fire to move.”

The UK’s sequencing success was built on the foundation of groundbreaking genetic science in Britain, stretching back to the work of James Watson, Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin, who were credited with discovering the chemical structure of DNA. Other British scientists developed early sequencing techniques and later new technology that slashed the time and cost of sequencing.

That success attracted investment, such as the Wellcome Trust’s 1992 decision to create the Sanger Centre to help map the human genome, further expanding the pool of expertise in Britain. And Britain’s National Health Service provided a wealth of data for researchers to study.

Yet colleagues say Peacock personally deserves much of the credit for COG-UK’s success, though she prefers to highlight the work of others.

A ferociously good organizer, she glued the nation’s DNA detectives together through goodwill and chatrooms. Part of the trick was persuading eminent scientists to put aside their egos and academic rivalries to work together to help fight the pandemic, said Andrew Page, an expert in computer analysis of pathogen genomics who is working with COG-UK. Peacock’s work on the project has earned her notoriety and the moniker of variant-hunter-in-chief. But she prefers a simpler term.

“I consider myself, first and foremost a scientist that’s doing their best to try and help both the population in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to control the pandemic,’’ she said. “Perhaps there’s a better phrase for that, but scientists will do it.”

Monday, March 29, 2021

Last part

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verybody loves a courtroom story, be it told in the crisp pages of a book or through the visually enticing cinema screen.

When a legal battle stretches for a prolonged period of time or when its direction seems to take a series of frustrating twists and turns, the outcome can easily cause dejection.

But for Princess Delphine Boel, who endured a seven-year legal battle to be recognized as the daughter of Belgium’s former king and eventually be confirmed as a princess, the verdict was worth every legal obstacle she had to go through. As then King Albert II consistently denied being her father, Princess Delphine, an artist by profession, was constrained to lodge a paternity suit that was littered with many challenges! Among others, this 2013 case had to hurdle the royal immunity from prosecution before abdication, King Albert II’s refusal to take a DNA test, which was not obligatory in Belgium, and of course, public denigration. On appeal, DNA tests in January 2020 finally showed that Albert II was indeed the father of Delphine Boel.

Months thereafter, princely titles were granted to her, as “Her Royal Highness Princess Delphine de SaxeCobourg,” as well as to her children, the “prince and princess of Belgium.”

The courtroom drama resulted to a satisfying victory to the family as the former king acknowledged and even met up with his daughter.

This Princess’ saga finds its counterpart in the Biblical life of five seemingly unknown women (Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah), the five daughters of Zelophehad. During their time,

the census of the new generation of God’s people contained all the names of the heads of the tribes, clans and families. All in the list were men, no women. Hence, these women, who were not “numbered,” stood before Moses and, before the entire congregation, said to Moses, “Our father died in the wilderness.

He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the Lord, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son?

Give us property among our father’s relatives.” (Numbers 27:3-4). It took sheer audacity, if not great faith, for these daughters to elevate their concern to Moses, the judge in this otherwise “courtroom litigation.”

The verdict eventually became the foundation of our laws on inheritance—the topic I love teaching the most in law school. These five daughters, perhaps the first-ever female activists, gave birth (pun intended) to a liberating decree that allowed female offsprings to be given property rights. These daughters not only gained an inheritance for themselves, but for all women for generations to come. In brief, as it was commanded through Moses, inheritance should pass to sons, then to daughters, then to uncles, then

to the nearest blood relative. Today, under Philippine law, inheritance should generally pass to children and descendants first, then to parents in default of children, and spouse before it goes to collateral relatives.

Another “little woman” in the Bible named Acsah exhibited a trait of similar doggedness, usually found in most women in this day and age.

Being a woman in those days in the Old Testament, Acsah has no legal right to hold land in her own name.

But since Acsah was so certain about what she rightfully deserves, she boldly demanded it from her husband Othniel and her father Caleb.

As such, Caleb bestowed upon her daughter Acsah with a blessing of a huge parcel of land, and, upon her insistence, the upper and lower springs of water near such land.

What Acsah did back then, asking from our father whatever we think we deserve, was exactly what entrepreneur Stephanie Dan did a few years ago. Born to and raised in a Filipino-Chinese family, Stephanie encountered difficulties as she endured a four-year respectful crusade for her family to accept a non-Chinese (and a showbiz personality at that) for a boyfriend and husband.

In addition, her passion in plants was not aligned with the thriving family business. While there was no courtroom drama, Stephanie stood up for what she believed was right and eventually got the nod of her parents to (1) welcome into their family a Filipino actor named Victor Basa and (2) create “Happy Plant Co.”—one of the leading rare plant-sellers today.

As to how these women managed to convince their father to accede to their wishes, I can only surmise that it took the values of respect and humility coupled with great faith and an audacity of hope. With great faith, Princess Delphine demanded for royal titles and equal treatment with half-siblings from her father King Albert II. With great faith, the

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five daughters of Zelophehad petitioned for land and equal footing with men from their father figure Moses. With great faith, Acsah asked for more property rights from her father Caleb. With great faith, these women all succeeded in getting what they thought they deserve. All of these women obtained their earthly inheritance, in terms of family and property rights, by simply asking their respective fathers, ostensibly with great faith.

To celebrate the efforts of these women, now and then, may we be reminded of the kind of faith they displayed. We should be confident and assured of the promise that true inheritance awaits for those who are Christ believers. As heirs of the promise, we, as His children, can humbly ask and expect great blessings from His generous hand. In the Bible, Jesus Christ told us in John 14:1-3: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Let’s hold on and live up to this promise, in the same way how these little women did with their fathers here on Earth, by asking and seeking Our Father what we need, especially during these trying times under another enhanced community quarantine, with great faith.

A former infantry and intelligence officer in the Army, Siegfred Mison showcased his servant leadership philosophy in organizations such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Malcolm Law Offices, Infogix Inc., University of the East, Bureau of Immigration, and Philippine Airlines. He is a graduate of West Point in New York, Ateneo Law School, and University of Southern California. A corporate lawyer by profession, he is an inspirational teacher and a Spirit-filled writer with a mission.

For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

How MSMEs can thrive during an economic downturn Crystian Diamond G. Singh

DEBIT CREDIT

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icro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), comprising 99 percent of all the businesses in the Philippines and employing 63 percent of the work force, are greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a research conducted by the Asian Development Bank, around 70 percent of the MSMEs have temporarily closed during the Covid-19 outbreak.

When these MSMEs go out of business, their assets are also gone, such as client lists, inventory, distribution channels, and other truly valuable assets they’ve built over the years. But what if there are ways these businesses can survive, even if with limited capital. What if there

are ways to generate revenues still, so they don’t let go of their people and continue operating?

So, here are my suggestions on how MSMEs can pivot, survive, and even thrive during an economic downturn: 1. Work your customer list: Go through your customer list and check their profile, such as their age, gender, location, preferences, then find other products or services they might be interested in buying based

on their profile. Find the suppliers to form a deal to introduce their products and services to your customer list, and then split the profits.

2. License successful systems and processes: Do you have distinct processes such as marketing that attracts significant buyers, selling methodologies that convert well, cash flow management strategies, and other systems and processes that outperform the competition?

If you have, license these systems and processes to other businesses of the same or different industry and earn licensing fees. The Intellectual Property Office is the regulatory office to transact with for this matter.

3. Find opportunities for your marketing and sales team: Instead of letting go of your highly trained marketing and salespeople, find businesses with the products and services that people are still buying but lack enough marketing and sales force. Make a deal to help them sell their products and services, then split the profits.

4. Form strategic alliances and joint venture partnerships: Joint venture partnering is one of the easiest, safest and fastest ways to help you survive and thrive during an economic downturn. To do this, you must find out what your customers buy (1) before, (2) together, and (3) subsequent to your products and services and form strategic alliances with the suppliers and other key stakeholders of these products and services. These are three leverage points to help you propel your venture forward.

The pandemic has undoubtedly caused a significant impact on the economy and MSMEs. Business owners must realize that their problem is a solution to other business owners’ problems and that every adversity comes with equal opportunities.

Crystian Diamond G. Singh is a Certified Public Accountant who works with business leaders to solve their pressing problems and capitalize on their opportunities. He serves as a consulting CFO of MSMEs.

China signs 25-year deal with Iran in challenge to the US

By Arsalan Shahla Bloomberg Opinion

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hina and Iran signed an overarching deal aimed at charting the course of their economic, political and trade relations over the next 25 years.

Beijing plans to invest in Iran while buying oil from the Islamic Republic, further straining its relationship with the US, which has already been frayed by China’s imports of covertly-shipped Iranian crude.

The “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” agreement, signed in Tehran on Saturday by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, has been in the works since 2016, when President

Xi Jinping became the first Chinese leader to visit the Iranian capital in over a decade.

The latest alliance between Beijing and Tehran is a challenge to US President Joe Biden’s administration as it sets about trying to rally allies against China, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said is the world’s “greatest geopolitical test.” “ The document can elevate bilateral ties to a new strategic level,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a televised interview. The deal focuses on boosting private-sector collaboration and Iran’s role in Xi’s flagship infrastructure and investment program, the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

A draft copy of the outlines of the accord that surfaced on media last year showed plans for longterm supply of Iranian crude to China as well as investment in oil, gas, petrochemical, renewables and nuclear energy infrastructure.

Lured by the prospect of cheaper prices, China has already increased its imports of Iranian oil to around 1 million barrels a day, eroding US leverage as it prepares to enter stalled talks with Tehran to revive a nuclear deal.

The Biden administration has indicated that it’s open to reengaging with Iran after then-President Donald Trump abandoned the accord nearly three years ago and reimposed economic sanctions, but the two sides have yet to even agree

to meet. Iran exported around 2.5 million barrels of oil a day before American penalties resumed.

Iran’s closer integration with China may help shore up its economy against the impact of the US sanctions, while sending a clear signal to the White House of Tehran’s intentions. Wang Yi, who arrived in Tehran on Friday, also met with President Hassan Rouhani to discuss the nuclear deal.

In a televised speech, Rouhani raised the prospect of restrictions being eased before the end of his second and final term as president in early August.

“We’re ready for the lifting of sanctions,” he said on Saturday.

“If obstacles are removed, all or at least some sanctions can be lifted.”

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Meat processors file price-hike bids with DTI

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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@jearcalas

HE Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) said some of its membercompanies have filed a price increase petition with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) due to rising raw material prices caused by tight supply worsened

by shipping delays.

Pampi Vice President Jerome D. Ong told the BusinessMirror their buying price for mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken has more than doubled to $1.5 per kilogram CIF (cost, insurance and freight) due to a series of bans on major import sources by the government.

Ong said the price of MDM

only ranged from $0.5 to $0.6 CIF from last year to $1.2 to $1.5 CIF today.

“We are deeply concerned with the shortage of MDM because of the series of bans. The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks has resulted in countrywide bans across European countries, which are our major source of MDM,” he said.

“As expected, since we can only access 40 percent of our supply, everybody is trying to buy from the remaining sources, thus, increasing MDM prices to rise to more than 150 percent from pre-ban levels,” he added.

The increase in prices of raw materials, Ong said, could lead to a price hike of as much as 25 percent—an inopportune time

when the industry’s stockpile is dwindling as well.

He disclosed that the industry’s processed goods inventory is ranging from 21 to 30 days while its raw material inventory is at about the same level. This means that after 1 and a half months to two months, local meat processors would be utilizing higher-priced chicken MDM, thus, forcing them

to increase their prices.

“That’s the problem. We are trying our best to provide safe, affordable, and nutritious meat products, especially for the masses, but very soon we won’t be able to do that because our inventories have either run out or are running low on stocks,” said Ong, president of CDO Foodsphere Inc. Continued on A4

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, March 29, 2021

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AboitizPower eyeing to hike investments in RE projects

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

boitiz Power Corp. has identified opportunities that would boost its renewable energy (RE) portfolio in order to hit a 50:50 balance between thermal and renewables by 2030.

Aboitiz Power President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel V. Rubio said during a virtual press briefing last Friday that the company is working on several RE projects with a primary focus on solar, wind, and hydro.

It recently completed the commissioning of two wind met masts in Pangasinan and targets to start construction on a 50-megawatt (MW) solar project in Central Luzon within the second half of the year.

In addition to 815 MW of service contracts already secured and in various phases of development, the company is also identifying and evaluating additional pipeline projects, most of which are based in Luzon. Current activities are focused on permitting, feasibility studies, and tendering.

At end-2020, the power firm recorded 4,429MW of capacity. Of which, 79 percent accounts for thermal and 21 percent renewables. It is targeting to grow its capacity to more than 9,000MW in 10 years.

“We aim to double our current fleet size. We will selectively build baseload capacities, with options of either coal or gas. We still have those options especially in our brownfield sites. We are really looking at, and very seriously, as gas as the next option. We will pursue our international aspirations with focus on RE in high growth, geographic markets,” said Rubio.

He identified possible sites for its planned LNG (liquefied natural gas) project. These include Pagbilao, Quezon; Mariveles, Bataan; and Subic, Zambales. “We’re at the stage where we’re looking project development but initially just looking at feasibility studies based on the sites we’ve identified as possible locations.”

AboitizPower, through Therma Luzon, Inc. is the independent power producer (IPPA) of the Pagbilao coalfired power plant. “By February 2026, Pagbilao will be turned over to us.

That site is a potential site for gas.”

The company is also exploring, together with partners in GN Power, if it can actually buy land in Mariveles for that possibility, as well.

Rubio mentioned the site where RP Energy is building a coal plant in Subic. Therma Power Inc. holds a 25-percent stake in RP Energy. “Given that we’ve had some issues with the geological condition of the site, it could be a site for a small LNG unit.”

The company is also pursuing RE projects abroad after it terminated last year its planned $46 million wind power acquisition in Vietnam. Rubio said the company has “rebooted” the team and is now ready to proceed with its overseas expansion projects in Vietnam and Indonesia.

“Vietnam is really very aggressive in really growing their renewable energy capacity. We actually stopped, walked out on projects

San Miguel to mount food donation drive

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AboitizPower’s 59-megawatt peak solar power facility in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental. Contributed Photo

that are almost in the finish line last year. But we are resourcing, we are actually already in touch again with potential partners, projects in Vietnam,” he said. The business model—acquisition of greenfield projects—for its international business remains the same for now. “Will we shift from just participating through equity and look at being an operator? It’s something that we’re considering as a business model. But to date, we haven’t changed our approach.

We will continue to look at projects that we acquire until we make a decision to shift with this model.

It’s something that’s being evaluated today.”

Rubio said the company intends to participate in the programs of the government on renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and the Green Energy Option program (GEOP). He said these would help the company achieve its 2030 goal.

“This transition is not easy, but is definitely achievable. It is possible with the private sector and the government working together to ensure that the country’s renewable energy supply is more sustainable.”

RPS mandates power industry players to produce and source a certain percentage of electricity from RE sources such as biomass, wasteto-energy technology, wind energy, solar energy, run-of-river hydroelectric power systems, impounding hydroelectric power systems, ocean energy, and geothermal energy.

The GEOP is a mechanism where electricity end-users are given the option to choose RE as their preferred source of energy.

‘EO on CARS compliance out by June’

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @TyronePiad

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he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) made an assurance that an executive order (EO) providing relief for participants of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program—an initiative to boost local automotive production—will be issued by June.

Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head and Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo told reporters that DTI is keen on extending the production compliance period by 3 years for car manufacturers enrolled in the CARS program. He said the department understands the impact of the lockdown measures on the automotive sector, which has suffered a decline in sales.

“We are confident that an executive order on the recommendation of the IAC [interagency committee] for the extension of the compliance period for the CARS program participants would be issued before the end of June of this year,” he said in a

recent interview.

Rodolfo said the EO will be issued on or before the target deadline because relevant agencies, including the Departments of Finance and Transportation, are part of the IAC deliberating on the matter. “[It] only involves extension of the period of compliance, but the volume requirement remains intact and the notional budget caps are still retained,” Rodolfo added.

CARS program participants originally were given 6 years to manufacture at least 200,000 units and to produce body shells and large plastic parts. In return, each enrolled model will be provided fiscal support of P9 billion, but participants have yet to avail of the incentives. The program, which was signed in 2015, was given a total allocation of P27 billion.

Earlier, Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. enrolled models Mirage and Vios, respectively, in the incentives program. Initial investments of both participants amounted to P8 billion in total.

The trade official noted that the EO will also cover investments relating to model changes by the participating car makers.

He said Toyota and Mitsubishi will likely make some modifications in their car models, which will still be credited under the program to assure the local production of succeeding models. This, however, does not mean that another budget allocation is needed as long as the amount is within the fixed investment support.

The local dealer of Toyota, which accounted for 44.69 percent of market share, saw its sales decline by 38.3 percent to 100,019 units last year from 162,011 units in 2019.

Mitsubishi sales plunged to 37,366 units last year, 41.7 percent lower than the 64,065 units sold in 2019. It comprised 16.7 percent of the total industry sales last year.

Total auto industry sales fell by 39 percent to 223,793 units last year from 369,941 units in 2019, according to the joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association.

FGen Insurance increases capital stock, net worth

L

eading non-life insurance provider Fortune General Insurance Corporation (FGen Insurance) has completed in October 2020 its capital infusion of P300 million, bringing its net worth close to P1 billion at the close of 2020.

Based on its quarterly report submitted to the Insurance Commission (IC), FGen Insurance exceeded the minimum requirement of P900 million set by the regulatory body for all life and non-life insurance companies authorized to do business in the Philippines.

The IC also confirmed that the company attained a Capital Adequacy Ratio of 404 percent, which is way above the IC’s mini-

mum requirement of 100 percent.

Earlier, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved FGen Insurance’s increase in its Authorized Capital Stock, after its Board of Directors approved the raise in its authorized capital stock from P500 Million to P700 Million.

“We are committed to staying compliant with all of our industry regulator’s mandates so that we can continue providing the insurance needs of Filipinos, which is our prime objective,” said FGen Insurance President and Chief Executive Officer Manuel M. Maloles.

For over 65 years, FGen Insurance has

been serving the risk management needs of individuals and businesses in the Philippines. A member of the ALC Group of Companies founded by Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, FGen Insurance offers a wide array of insurance products, from motor car, property, personal accident, bonds, marine, engineering, casualty, and to other specialized insurance packages.

Moving forward, the company is embarking on major digital infrastructure projects aimed at further strengthening its commitment to better serve the needs of its consumers as it envisions to be the “Trusted Insurer of the Filipino’s Fortune”.

an Miguel Corp. (SMC) on Sunday said it is mounting another food donation drive to assist poor communities in Metro Manila following the government’s decision to impose stricter quarantine measures during Holy Week.

SMC President and COO Ramon S. Ang said the company sent hundreds of boxes of canned goods to boost local government units’ (LGUs) efforts to provide food for vulnerable communities.

“From our experience last year, we know that providing food is a big help to many Filipinos, especially those who live on daily paid work. If they’re unable to work, they won’t be able to put food on their tables. This is our way of helping at least narrow that gap and help keep people from hunger,” Ang said.

Initially, the company is donating 86,400 pieces of canned goods that can benefit 17,280 families in all 16 Metro Manila cities and municipality.

The company is also committed to deliver 148,200 packs of nutribun bread to Pasig City for soup kitchens, hospital front liners, and villages on granular lockdowns.

“This is just our initial effort. We will continue

to monitor the situation and coordinate with the LGUs. If there is a greater need from the communities, we will adjust and give more. We all have to do our part to ease the strain on our hospitals and medical front liners at this time. We have to help stop the spread and stay at home. To do this, we also have to ensure our least fortunate countrymen will not go hungry,” Ang said.

Last year, when the pandemic first struck, the company mounted the largest food donation drive in its history, with over P516 million worth of food donated.

Since then, its weekly nutribun donation drive has continued in critical areas, such as Malolos, Bulacan; Tondo, Manila; Payatas, Quezon City, and Caloocan. To date, the company has distributed over a hundred thousand nutribuns to these communities with the help of partner organizations and LGUs. “All aspects of our lives have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Just as we have at the beginning, we remain committed to helping out in any way we can, be it through immediate assistance and relief, to helping our country with long-term recovery efforts,” Ang said. VG Cabuag

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, March 29, 2021

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

March 26, 2021

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

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

105 82.5 22.95 7.5 9.5 46 9.68 23 53.75 17.02 120.8 69.1 1.6 3.92 3.01 1.4 0.375 950 0.73 141.3

105.4 82.65 23.35 8.2 9.52 46.3 10.2 23.05 55.5 17.5 121 69.2 1.64 3.96 3.11 1.48 0.41 970 0.77 144.4

105.1 83.6 22.95 7.99 9.63 46.5 10.2 23.5 56.7 17 121.5 69.1 1.61 3.98 3.12 1.44 0.415 950 0.79 144

105.5 83.75 23.35 8.2 9.63 46.75 10.2 23.5 56.7 17 121.5 69.3 1.74 3.98 3.12 1.51 0.415 950 0.79 144

104.6 82.45 22.95 7.99 9.49 46 10.2 22.9 53.6 17 119 69.1 1.61 3.92 3.01 1.36 0.41 950 0.74 140.1

105 82.5 23.35 8.2 9.5 46 10.2 23 55.5 17 121 69.2 1.65 3.96 3.01 1.48 0.41 950 0.74 141.2

1,930,960 2,281,440 36,800 1,200 119,900 4,676,600 37,000 985,000 910 300 173,460 15,530 791,000 164,000 7,000 54,000 30,000 30 172,000 3,060

202,872,573 188,301,913.50 851,170 9,630 1,140,007 217,276,095 377,400 22,818,910 50,691 5,100 20,928,286 1,074,881 1,304,030 647,920 21,490 78,180 12,350 28,500 128,690 435,272

INDUSTRIAL

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

6.98 1.26 24.2 0.9 29.95 70 270.4 14.34 3.12 3.69 11.02 20.7 10.22 13.66 6.89 3.37 17.5 8.91 7.3 10.18 60.7 0.62 1.37 49.7 174.9 31.25 7.17 5.85 0.315 6.81 1.04 1.4 0.138 133.8 0.83 52 1.16 2.92 11.02 7.28 5.56 6.4 11.98 1.1 2.12 2.07 1.94 4.5 4.4 5.24 10.14 1.09 5.61 1.29 6.05

6.99 1.28 24.4 0.91 30.05 70.6 272 14.36 3.13 3.8 11.16 20.8 10.3 14.8 6.99 3.45 17.56 9.05 7.32 10.32 61 0.64 1.38 50.85 175 31.75 7.64 5.89 0.325 7 1.05 1.45 0.139 134 0.84 53.9 1.17 2.93 11.5 7.34 5.58 6.45 12.2 1.12 2.13 2.09 2 4.8 4.47 5.5 10.6 1.1 5.94 1.32 6.1

6.98 1.3 23.9 0.88 29.95 72 274.6 14.42 3.08 3.9 10.98 20.8 10.3 15.28 6.8 3.32 17.54 9 7.22 10.4 61.3 0.61 1.37 50.5 178 32 7.01 5.9 0.31 6.82 1.03 1.37 0.141 132.5 0.83 53.9 1.16 3 11 7.4 5.54 6.6 11.98 1.17 2.21 2.07 1.9 4.8 4.4 5.35 10.36 1.09 5.61 1.29 6.2

7.12 1.3 24.9 0.93 30.1 72 274.6 14.6 3.14 3.9 11.26 20.95 10.3 15.28 7.09 3.45 17.56 9.1 7.32 10.4 61.3 0.62 1.39 50.9 179 32 7.65 5.9 0.325 6.85 1.05 1.37 0.142 134.7 0.85 53.9 1.18 3.08 11.5 7.4 5.62 6.64 12.2 1.17 2.29 2.13 2.01 4.8 4.48 5.4 10.6 1.13 5.94 1.32 6.2

6.96 1.28 23.85 0.87 29.9 70 270.4 14.2 3.07 3.8 10.98 20.5 10.2 13.66 6.8 3.21 17.32 8.9 7.2 10.18 60.35 0.61 1.32 50 174.7 31.75 7 5.85 0.305 6.8 1.03 1.37 0.136 130 0.81 53.9 1.15 2.92 11 7.21 5.45 6.4 11.98 1.1 2.1 2 1.9 4.8 4.4 5.3 10.12 1.09 5.61 1.28 5.91

6.99 1.28 24.2 0.91 30.05 70.6 270.4 14.36 3.13 3.8 11.16 20.8 10.22 14.82 7 3.45 17.56 9 7.32 10.32 61 0.62 1.38 50 174.9 31.75 7.64 5.85 0.32 6.81 1.04 1.37 0.139 134 0.84 53.9 1.16 2.92 11.5 7.34 5.58 6.45 12.2 1.12 2.12 2.08 1.94 4.8 4.47 5.3 10.6 1.1 5.94 1.3 6.1

18,195,500 11,000 2,754,800 234,768,000 326,100 115,060 172,810 1,834,800 6,263,000 14,000 1,363,000 192,100 52,600 9,500 3,423,000 4,178,000 1,232,400 70,100 447,100 669,200 3,190 39,000 11,641,000 63,060 904,700 1,600 8,200 129,000 5,110,000 18,000 848,000 10,000 4,930,000 559,840 12,878,000 150 1,511,000 5,159,000 15,300 68,500 96,200 621,500 45,700 330,000 7,219,000 1,421,000 199,000 1,000 11,000 467,800 188,400 634,000 400 533,000 1,842,300

60,284,939 -123,297,973 -202,060 -803,795 -91,796,130 -17,148,105 -7,372,225 -1,040,989 -3,700 -264,960 -12,240 28,500 -41,450 -

127,885,590 14,160 67,405,805 212,271,290 9,790,215 8,161,378.50 46,946,700 26,478,212 19,386,120 53,330 14,995,864 3,989,720 538,286 134,996 23,653,534 14,207,840 21,592,156 630,522 3,242,028 6,868,440 194,362 23,880 15,702,510 3,161,610 158,797,316 51,000 58,489 758,333 1,608,850 122,601 884,280 13,700 688,380 74,597,784 10,748,640 8,085 1,754,250 15,375,860 175,602 502,931 531,426 4,042,698 556,912 376,780 15,846,340 2,925,100 390,530 4,800 48,820 2,493,965 1,960,804 698,500 2,277 692,360 11,102,160

-50,187,207 -27,519,905 -2,134,030 2,566,080 -1,149,499.50 -36,874,304 -1,013,464 -2,427,140 -3,440,070 18,540 76,443 -3,555,960 -1,822,340 -1,064,379 -281,090 -130,931 -348,940 -1,034,020 -49,040,815 764 99,267 -26,800 4,729 -72,640 -2,840.00 5,859,832 -409,740 -775,430 126,860 114,800 -465,526 143,344 -573,818 -390,260 101,080 -98,710 -26,580 -71,622 -119.9999 231,120 302,141

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 1.13 1.14 1.19 1.23 1.13 1.13 80,594,000 94,614,010 ASIABEST GROUP 7.2 7.28 7.1 7.3 6.82 7.2 12,700 89,322 742 744.5 757 757 740 742 100,830 75,045,405 AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY 35.4 35.55 35.75 36.05 35.4 35.55 1,340,300 47,928,860 10.56 10.66 10.58 10.68 10.48 10.66 1,285,800 13,584,532 ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG 2.93 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.93 2.95 682,000 2,010,790 6.6 6.75 6.7 6.7 6.6 6.6 3,600 23,770 ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.63 0.65 0.65 0.68 0.62 0.63 1,765,000 1,141,390 ATN HLDG A 0.76 0.77 0.76 0.78 0.76 0.77 4,023,000 3,095,440 0.76 0.84 0.85 0.85 0.8 0.84 83,000 68,170 ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL 5.16 5.22 5.25 5.26 5.15 5.16 262,400 1,363,350 5.43 5.44 5.35 5.55 5.35 5.43 11,423,500 62,005,258 DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV 8.15 8.69 8.15 8.15 8.15 8.15 100 815 520 521 524 525 512.5 520 81,960 42,438,445 GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT 59.7 60.05 61.45 61.45 59.7 59.7 737,330 44,288,733.50 1.08 1.1 1.1 1.12 1.07 1.08 3,743,000 4,068,230 LODESTAR 3.37 3.69 3.4 3.45 3.35 3.37 20,000 68,220 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 13.52 13.68 13.66 13.68 13.44 13.68 1,968,500 26,579,710 0.465 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 40,000 20,000 MABUHAY HLDG MJC INVESTMENTS 1.72 1.74 1.74 1.74 1.74 1.74 6,000 10,440 3.72 3.75 3.73 3.8 3.72 3.72 12,853,000 48,091,460 METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG 3.49 3.53 3.49 3.53 3.49 3.49 8,000 28,000 2.82 2.83 2.94 3.08 2.82 2.83 7,939,000 23,145,180 PRIME MEDIA SYNERGY GRID 340 355 355 355 355 355 30 10,650 SM INVESTMENTS 974 980 972 983.5 960 980 192,720 187,989,550 120.2 123 121.9 123 119 123 168,460 20,530,034 SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.71 0.69 0.69 79,000 54,710 138.1 143 143 143 143 143 80 11,440 TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS 0.25 0.255 0.24 0.255 0.24 0.255 5,880,000 1,475,350 0.197 0.207 0.218 0.218 0.214 0.214 30,000 6,460 ZEUS HLDG

7,296,710 -13,690 -11,725,795 -7,405,555 -4,293,450 -2,950 2,560 -25,200 -841,447 -6,876,881 815 -12,046,180 -25,057,777 56,400 -20,370 -24,484,076 -19,650,540 2,953,170 -54,574,490 6,947,396 4,140 11,440 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.65 0.62 0.64 703,000 449,620 AYALA LAND 34.95 35 35.1 35.2 34.6 35 17,345,500 607,751,225 33.2 33.35 33.15 34.25 33 33.2 1,089,800 36,278,565 AREIT RT BELLE CORP 1.48 1.49 1.48 1.5 1.48 1.49 89,000 131,830 0.89 0.9 0.9 0.91 0.89 0.9 843,000 758,360 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.78 0.8 0.78 0.83 0.78 0.79 169,000 134,200 0.13 0.135 0.133 0.133 0.13 0.133 2,580,000 337,880 CROWN EQUITIES CEBU HLDG 6.38 6.49 6.38 6.38 6.38 6.38 1,000 6,380 CEB LANDMASTERS 5.69 5.7 5.72 5.73 5.63 5.7 1,177,300 6,696,755 0.375 0.39 0.385 0.39 0.38 0.38 11,560,000 4,440,750 CENTURY PROP CYBER BAY 0.32 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 180,000 59,400 13.28 13.3 13.44 13.44 13.14 13.3 621,700 8,286,912 DOUBLEDRAGON DDMP RT 2.24 2.25 2.24 2.25 2.24 2.24 102,432,000 229,590,480 6.96 6.98 6.99 6.99 6.96 6.96 22,600 157,486 DM WENCESLAO EMPIRE EAST 0.275 0.285 0.275 0.275 0.275 0.275 150,000 41,250 0.09 0.091 0.089 0.09 0.089 0.09 300,000 26,780 EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND 1.11 1.12 1.11 1.13 1.11 1.11 4,456,000 4,953,240 GLOBAL ESTATE 0.8 0.82 0.82 0.83 0.8 0.82 1,789,000 1,445,700 7.18 7.23 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.2 7,000 50,400 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV 1.34 1.35 1.35 1.36 1.33 1.34 208,000 279,490 1.36 1.39 1.32 1.54 1.32 1.36 11,713,000 16,842,230 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 3.56 3.57 3.45 3.56 3.45 3.56 24,833,000 87,508,310 0.38 0.385 0.395 0.395 0.385 0.385 22,630,000 8,813,350 MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES 0.475 0.48 0.5 0.6 0.475 0.475 143,630,000 76,998,550 PRIMEX CORP 1.93 1.95 1.99 2.06 1.92 1.93 5,561,000 10,958,120 17.64 17.66 17.9 17.92 17.62 17.66 1,980,400 35,044,578 ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL 1.53 1.55 1.53 1.6 1.49 1.55 825,000 1,275,230 2.7 2.74 2.7 2.74 2.7 2.74 618,000 1,670,480 SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND 2.29 2.34 2.35 2.35 2.24 2.34 145,000 334,910 36 36.1 35.95 36.3 35.6 36 8,839,700 318,643,435 SM PRIME HLDG SUNTRUST HOME 1.53 1.54 1.55 1.65 1.53 1.54 1,122,000 1,759,370 VISTA LAND 3.79 3.8 3.92 3.95 3.78 3.8 1,923,000 7,316,990

-85,462,300 -10,988,575 -7,450 5,980 -75,001 130,200 -50,990 -16,739,110 -1,591,860 8,100 18,620 -96,020 12,363,490 45,400 -30,600 1,377,800 -29,924,578 -340,410 1,039,560 68,541,435 -6,400 -1,341,510

SERVICES ABS CBN 10.96 11.06 11.06 11.06 10.94 11.06 164,500 1,814,546 GMA NETWORK 7.48 7.49 7.38 7.49 7.3 7.48 1,937,500 14,436,460 0.435 0.455 0.45 0.455 0.43 0.43 40,000 17,650 MANILA BULLETIN GLOBE TELECOM 1,900 1,914 1,915 1,918 1,900 1,900 32,385 61,749,155 1,250 1,251 1,248 1,254 1,245 1,251 86,225 107,784,410 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.198 0.199 0.201 0.204 0.196 0.199 459,620,000 91,402,540 18.8 18.82 18.68 18.86 18.62 18.8 1,116,400 20,947,392 CONVERGE DFNN INC 3.65 3.66 3.75 3.75 3.65 3.65 127,000 464,120 DITO CME HLDG 10.4 10.42 10.5 10.62 10.18 10.42 24,641,900 255,952,690 1.6 1.63 1.65 1.65 1.63 1.63 16,000 26,120 IMPERIAL JACKSTONES 2 2.05 2 2.05 2 2.05 30,000 60,980 2.64 2.65 2.65 2.65 2.56 2.65 1,548,000 4,040,090 NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.435 0.44 0.435 0.44 0.435 0.435 10,700,000 4,676,900 2.72 2.77 2.84 2.85 2.72 2.77 391,000 1,078,470 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 8.45 8.46 8.5 8.5 8.4 8.46 73,800 621,865 15.06 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 10,500 162,750 ASIAN TERMINALS 3.35 3.37 3.41 3.41 3.35 3.35 344,000 1,161,960 CHELSEA CEBU AIR 44.25 44.3 45.5 45.5 43.85 44.3 244,300 10,822,385 124.5 125.7 126 126 124.2 124.5 1,279,410 159,930,752 INTL CONTAINER LBC EXPRESS 16.52 17.08 16.6 16.6 16.52 16.52 1,400 23,168 0.95 1.06 0.95 1.06 0.95 1.06 10,000 9,940 LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA 4.81 4.82 4.9 4.95 4.81 4.81 643,000 3,108,760 2.35 2.38 2.4 2.4 2.36 2.36 184,000 436,280 METROALLIANCE A PAL HLDG 6.07 6.25 5.95 6.35 5.95 6.07 19,000 119,503 HARBOR STAR 1.12 1.13 1.12 1.14 1.11 1.12 341,000 381,450 0.085 0.086 0.083 0.088 0.082 0.085 243,790,000 20,756,880 BOULEVARD HLDG DISCOVERY WORLD 4.21 4.43 4.28 4.47 4.25 4.43 138,000 605,710 0.56 0.57 0.54 0.58 0.54 0.56 15,518,000 8,724,880 WATERFRONT FAR EASTERN U 580 590 590 590 590 590 20 11,800 0.375 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.375 0.38 500,000 189,100 STI HLDG BERJAYA 4.42 4.57 4.4 4.57 4.4 4.57 6,000 26,740 BLOOMBERRY 6.9 6.94 6.99 6.99 6.87 6.94 1,674,000 11,610,730 1.94 2.08 2.08 2.08 1.94 2.08 34,000 66,410 PACIFIC ONLINE LEISURE AND RES 1.73 1.76 1.75 1.76 1.72 1.76 71,000 124,430 2.07 2.1 2.09 2.09 2.09 2.09 3,000 6,270 MANILA JOCKEY PH RESORTS GRP 2.03 2.05 2.14 2.14 2.02 2.03 4,108,000 8,534,680 0.385 0.39 0.385 0.395 0.385 0.39 1,410,000 551,150 PREMIUM LEISURE PHIL RACING 6 6.02 6.15 6.15 6.02 6.02 1,000 6,046 7.85 7.9 7.72 7.9 7.52 7.9 639,900 4,972,069 ALLHOME 1.33 1.34 1.34 1.34 1.31 1.34 575,000 765,690 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 40.1 40.2 41 41.1 39.7 40.2 3,035,100 123,474,655 57.3 57.95 57.45 57.95 56.85 57.95 589,080 34,046,702 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 94.55 95 94.95 98.5 94.95 95 8,890 851,139.50 1.21 1.22 1.22 1.23 1.2 1.22 1,048,000 1,277,410 SSI GROUP WILCON DEPOT 17.46 17.52 17.9 17.9 17.36 17.46 503,200 8,787,428 0.39 0.405 0.4 0.405 0.39 0.39 1,960,000 772,050 APC GROUP EASYCALL 6.69 6.7 6.75 6.75 6.65 6.7 22,500 150,803 IPM HLDG 4.5 5 5 5.04 5 5 4,500 22,540 2.11 2.12 2.21 2.25 2.1 2.11 35,603,000 77,039,560 PRMIERE HORIZON

-28,711,340 -29,599,355 1,539,570 -3,695,714 186,250 5,371,590 236,700 -700 -436,710 10,933 -134,850 71,110 1,295,095 -69,305,758 -1,225,900 -44,720 4,169,870.00 -9,980 332,395 7,780 39,460 462,158 -303,580 40,047,755 17,611,579 -115,953 -7,270 -8,526,766 240,000 -2,129,690

MINING & OIL ATOK 8.5 8.53 8.06 8.59 8.06 8.5 1,283,300 10,894,099 113,190 1.42 1.43 1.44 1.44 1.42 1.42 325,000 464,190 38,450 APEX MINING ATLAS MINING 6.12 6.24 6.14 6.24 6.1 6.24 367,200 2,247,118 -2,114,425 2.5 2.52 2.53 2.53 2.52 2.53 14,000 35,410 BENGUET A COAL ASIA HLDG 0.285 0.29 0.285 0.285 0.28 0.285 740,000 207,500 2.75 2.81 2.7 2.81 2.67 2.81 177,000 485,820 480,340 CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES 8.6 9 9.5 9.5 8.5 9 18,700 166,670 17,400 FERRONICKEL 2.35 2.36 2.32 2.36 2.28 2.35 2,785,000 6,487,470 752,180 0.33 0.34 0.32 0.345 0.32 0.34 970,000 329,300 GEOGRACE LEPANTO A 0.131 0.134 0.133 0.134 0.131 0.134 2,580,000 342,850 0.132 0.139 0.132 0.132 0.132 0.132 70,000 9,240 LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A 0.0097 0.0098 0.0098 0.01 0.0097 0.0098 71,000,000 700,500 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.25 1.19 1.23 580,000 702,970 -81,450 MARCVENTURES NIHAO 2.24 2.25 2.43 2.51 2.15 2.24 523,000 1,221,010 24,350 5.22 5.32 5.04 5.38 5 5.32 4,721,700 24,649,984 5,272,375 NICKEL ASIA 0.405 0.43 0.41 0.46 0.41 0.44 80,000 34,200 OMICO CORP ORNTL PENINSULA 0.84 0.86 0.86 0.87 0.84 0.84 444,000 379,460 -1,720 4.56 4.58 4.58 4.6 4.56 4.56 140,000 641,430 78,160 PX MINING SEMIRARA MINING 13.3 13.32 13.66 13.8 13.28 13.3 5,805,600 77,945,360 -10,033,276 0.0076 0.0078 0.0075 0.0083 0.007 0.0078 110,000,000 859,300 UNITED PARAGON ACE ENEXOR 23.95 24 22.9 24 22.6 24 763,200 18,089,010 -1,329,645 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.014 0.011 0.012 1,620,600,000 20,447,700 ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 110,100,000 1,418,700 2,400 PHILODRILL 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.014 0.011 0.013 1,287,600,000 16,411,100 -72,000 8.7 8.73 8.73 8.74 8.5 8.73 195,800 1,684,705 89,124 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF B 100.3 101 100.3 100.3 100.3 100.3 100 10,030 AC PREF B2R 521.5 525 521.5 521.5 521.5 521.5 43,830 22,857,345 -21,152,040 101.8 102.5 102.5 102.5 101.8 102.5 230 23,476 DD PREF FGEN PREF G 110.2 110.9 110.8 110.9 110 110.2 41,620 4,600,087 503.5 510 503.5 503.5 503.5 503.5 8,000 4,028,000 GLO PREF P GTCAP PREF A 1,005 1,020 1,020 1,020 1,020 1,020 210 214,200 1,040 1,041 1,035 1,040 1,035 1,040 1,630 1,688,700 GTCAP PREF B MWIDE PREF 100 100.1 100 100 100 100 18,020 1,802,000 1,000 MWIDE PREF 2A 100 101 101 101 100 100 10,870 1,096,870 100,000 100.4 101 101 101 100.4 101 11,090 1,120,030 MWIDE PREF 2B PNX PREF 3B 100.5 101 101.2 101.2 101 101 13,330 1,346,460 995 1,000 999 999 994 995.5 8,510 8,469,510 PNX PREF 4 PCOR PREF 2B 1,012 1,030 1,011 1,030 1,011 1,030 315 318,655 1,100 1,115 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,100 6,805 7,485,500 PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B 1,130 1,145 1,140 1,140 1,130 1,130 1,225 1,396,400 1.7 1.85 1.68 1.68 1.68 1.68 5,000 8,400 SFI PREF SMC PREF 2C 77.75 77.8 78 78 77.75 77.75 15,510 1,206,156 SMC PREF 2E 75.8 75.85 75.85 75.85 75.85 75.85 53,730 4,075,420.50 37,925 77.6 79 79 79 77.6 79 687,550 54,316,100 363,400 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H 76.55 77.45 76.5 76.5 76.5 76.5 134,000 10,251,000 78 78.5 78 78 78 78 10 780 - SMC PREF 2I

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 10.4 10.96 10.9 10.98 10.4 10.4 41,800 448,864 -186,944 GMA HLDG PDR 7.09 7.1 7.05 7.1 6.99 7.09 698,300 4,934,327 -3,542,050

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 1.94 1.97 1.99 2.05 1.92 1.95 2,928,000 5,786,380 -91,580.00

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 19.3 19.5 19.9 19.9 19.1 19.3 226,800 4,389,794 -15,368 ITALPINAS 2.44 2.49 2.51 2.51 2.42 2.44 199,000 492,820 19,680 5.08 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.18 5.18 2,300 11,920 KEPWEALTH MAKATI FINANCE 2.53 2.59 2.53 2.53 2.53 2.53 10,000 25,300 4.95 4.96 5.04 5.08 4.95 4.96 5,968,800 29,761,930 -1,765,903 MERRYMART

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 99.2 100.9 100.8 100.8 99.2 99.2 26,320 2,636,545.50 276,753.50

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Meralco halts disconnection activities in areas under ECQ

T

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has suspended all disconnection activities in its franchise area until April 15, following the government’s decision to place the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal under a one-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until April 4.

“Cognizant of the plight of our customers amid these challenging times brought about by the pandemic and in support of the government’s effort to manage the

transmission of Covid-19, we commit to put on hold all disconnection activities until April 15, 2021,” Ferdinand O. Geluz, Meralco FVP and Chief Commercial Officer, said.

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices rose last week as investors bought cheap stocks after the huge sell-off in the previous trading sessions.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 108.53 points to close at 6,544.63 points.

The main index was down during the first and last trading days of the week but made significant gains during mid week.

Overall, however, trading remained subdued as the Covid-19 cases continued to dampen investor’s confidence in the recovery of the economy.

Average trading for the week was at P6.54 billion, while foreign investors were still net sellers at P2.55 billion. Foreign investors only make up 29 percent of the trades during the week.

All other subindices managed to close in the green, led by the broader All Shares index that rose 58.38 to 3,967.79, the Financials index was up 3.06 to 1,401.64, the Industrial index gained 69.99 to 8,590.72, the Holding Firms index added 76.47 to 6,605.40, the Property index climbed 92.63 to 3,276.96, the Services index was higher by 34.37 to 1,435.98 and the Mining and Oil index increased 122.79 to 8,633.94.

This week gainers slightly led losers 115 to 113 and 22 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers were Basic Energy Corp., Oriental Petroleum and Minerals Corp. B, Benguet Corp. B, Nihao Mineral Resources International Inc., Waterfront Philippines Inc. and Omico Corp.

Top losers were PTFC Redevelopment Corp., Grand Plaza Hotel Corp., Boulevard Holdings Inc., Prime Media Holdings Inc., Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. and 2GO Group Inc.

This week

Share prices may decline this week as the rising number of Covid-19 cases and the return to the strictest lockdown measures for the duration of the Holy Week may dampen investors’ confidence on the recovery of the economy.

Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financials Inc., said the increase in cases, the “uncertainties” in vaccine procurement and the possibilities of the implementation of more stringent restrictions are clouding their economic and corporate outlook.

“Chartwise, the PSEi rallied last week but failed to get back above the 6,600 level. Also, it failed to secure a position above its 10-day exponential moving average which closed the week at 6,555.94. With this, the local market is seen to trade with a support at 6,100 and an immediate resistance at its 10-day exponential moving average,” he said.

It will be a 3-day trading week as April 1 and 2, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, are both public holidays.

Meanwhile, broker 2TradeAsia said first quarter results may start to trickle in starting April, as investors eyes will hunt for an inflection point after a forgettable 2020 earnings from many companies.

“While we do expect better results in th first quarter, the ongoing bubble in NCR plus [National Capital Region and four nearby provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite] will weigh down on capex ambitions, and prolong the recovery curve,” it said.

It added turnover count will be hard to predict this week due to the Lenten Week and the window dressing of companies for their end-of quarter portfolio.

Stock picks Broker Regina Capital Development Corp. advised to take profits on the stock of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SCC) after the strong one-day uptick in prices reversed the indicators’ bearishness.

“The strong one-day gain in prices also pushed SCC above its key short- and long-term moving averages and to its highest level since January. Investors may secure their profits following the strong one-day gain. As a result, some pullback is likely until it settles to support,” it said.

Shares of Semirara Mining closed Friday at P13.30 apiece.

Meanwhile, it advised to trade the range on the stock of Megaworld Corp.

(MEG) as its share price continues to trade between P3.35 and P3.53, a range it has established since mid-March.

“The indicators are currently mixed. The lack of uniformity in signals suggests that Megaworld will continue trading sideways. MEG’s sideways trajectory began appearing after a general downtrend that occurred in early February.

Meanwhile, the stock reached its year-to-date low of P3.30 earlier last week,” it said.

Megaworld shares closed last week at P3.56 apiece. VG Cabuag

He added, “We hope this measure will contribute to easing the burden of our customers and provide enough relief and time for them to settle their bills.”

Geluz said Meralco will continue to be considerate during these trying times and vowed to assist its customers in need of help in their electricity concerns.

The utility firm also said it would continue vital operations such as meter reading following the order of the Energy Regulatory Commission. It vowed to also continue to work round the clock to serve its customers.

Meralco encouraged customers to send a personal message (PM) via Facebook Messenger, Twitter or call its 16211 hotline before going to Meralco Business Centers (BCs), which will be on skeleton force, for any inquiries and concerns on billing and payments as

mutual funds

a precaution to the rising number of Covid-19 cases. This measure ensures that customers can save time and effort, but more importantly, minimizes any potential and unnecessar y exposure to the virus.

The distribution utility has announced that its BCs will remain open to accept payments, applications and customer assistance.

Business hours will be from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on skeleton workforce in compliance with IATF (InterAgency Task Force) guidelines from Monday to Friday and 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays. BCs will be closed from April 1 to 3 in observance of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Black Saturday.

Electric meter reading and delivery of bills will still continue during this time, with Meralco personnel working under the strict health guidelines of the IATF.

March 26, 2021

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 211.25 24.58% -8.07% -3.79% -7.03% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.2495 50.89% -7.66% 1.19% -4.84% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.8868 25.17% -12.35% -6.03% -7.86% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7401 28.16% -7.93% n.a. -7.94% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6646 12.95% n.a. n.a. -10.38% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.6087 25.52% -6.05% -2.49% -6.73% 17.87% -9.81% -7.36% -11.98% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6688 MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 95.67 49.67% -5.63% n.a. -6.15% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 43.3564 30.35% -6.21% -2.52% -7.45% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 454.39 25.86% -6.11% -3% -7.07% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d, 1.0157 34.78% n.a. n.a. -7.44% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.0952 25.97% -5.88% -2.03% -6.25% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 32.3679 27.27% -5.88% -1.6% -6.91% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8431 28.15% n.a. n.a. -7.66% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.4381 30.82% -5.71% -1.83% -7.37% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 742.48 31.27% -5.6% -1.96% -7.38% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.6679 25.12% -9.83% -5.51% -7.09% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.3628 24.23% -7.72% -3.31% -7.2% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8489 30.6% -5.94% -2.07% -7.5% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.1115 27.32% -5.18% -0.85% -6.25% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 99.6271 31.4% -5.38% -1.28% -7.37% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.2255 50.11% 3.46% 7.9% 1.88% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.6653 58.19% 9.18% n.a. -0.45% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.6218 15.32% -2.77% -1.52% -2.8% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.1638 17.97% -2.7% -0.64% -5.32% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.5029 14.95% -1.89% -1.29% -4.72% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1883 11.82% n.a. n.a. -5.19% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.9051 11.75% 0.04% 0.63% -3% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.5689 16.75% -1.36% -0.59% -5.79% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.0059 16.27% -1.24% -0.58% -5.5% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.0051 11.87% -2.22% -0.49% -4.25% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.3984 15.53% -3.68% -1.7% -4.89% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9533 16.67% n.a. n.a. -6.78% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8744 23.31% n.a. n.a. -7.88% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8593 24.77% n.a. n.a.

-7.91% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8405 19.3% -4.53% -2.28% -5.32% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03814 3.28% 2.61% 1.42% -2.51% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.1158 32.88% 1.32% 4.59% -2.99% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.4934 42.74% 6.85% 8.01% -0.43% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1795 25.16% 3.38% n.a. -1.88% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 369.83 2.59% 3.08% 2.56% -0.33% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.907 -0.4% 0.71% 0.27% 0.35% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2167 2.33% 4.12% 4.56% 0.06% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2422 0.37% 2.1% 1.62% -2.34% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4236 2.9% 3.03% 1.75% -1.21% 1.92% -4.23% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.4385 2.27% 3.72% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3152 5.22% 4.2% 2.59% -0.45% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9542 5.15% 4.21% 2.57% -1.17% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0214 6.76% 4.05% 1.93% -1.98% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1636 4.08% 4.59% 2.77% -1.32% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7269 2.2% 3.87% 2.13% -1.6% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $482.05 2.48% 2.91% 2.45% -0.38% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є219.48 0.78% 1.07% 1.21% 0.14% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1835 9.45% 1.92% 1.31% -7.57% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0258 2.38% 1.33% 0.96% -3.01% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0565 1.94% 0.31% -0.46% -3.31% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4675 7.62% 4.19% 2.29% -2.69% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0625048 5.3% 3.22% 2.22% 0.3% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1124 2.03% 1.96% 1.03% -3.45% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.82 2.48% 3.2% 2.52% 0.01% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0496 1.57% n.a. n.a.

0.14% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.3005 2.12% 2.91% 2.59% 0.3% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0551 1.51% 1.76% n.a.

0.26% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.1861 n.a. n.a. n.a. 5% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.98 18.07% n.a. n.a.

0% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

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

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

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

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

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Banking&Finance

Be lenient with delayed tax filings, Salceda asks

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

HE chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means on Sunday asked tax agencies not to impose penalties and surcharges for delayed tax filing due to changes prompted by the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act. Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said the first test of Create will be the upcoming filing deadline.

“We have to make it [Create law] work. Tax returns are due April 15. We need the cash for SAP [social amelioration program] 3; so I don’t think we can defer the deadline. But we will explore other relief measures. Offhand, we can have an extension in consequence by deferring the surcharges to a later date,” Salceda said.

The lawmaker said he has asked Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III about an extension.

“I requested it since January.

However, given the need for SAP 3, I think it’s wiser to just modify the consequences but not the deadline,” Salceda said. He added he also asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to make sure there are no problems with the e-filing system.

IRR

MEANWHILE, Salceda said he is in talks with the implementing agencies of the Create Act to expedite the issuance of the law’s implementing rules and regulations and to prepare agencies for their roles in carrying out the new incentive regime.

He added he will be meeting with

the BIR, the Bureau of Customs, the Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs), the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Finance and the expanded Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) “to prepare them for their new roles.”

“These meetings will also be crucial as we try to craft implementing rules and regulations,” Salceda added. “I am the principal author and sponsor, so I am a resource for determining legislative intent.”

The solon said the meetings will revolve around three main areas: implementing the tax provisions; preparing the FIRB for its expanded role; and, ensuring that IPAs are equipped to be more aggressive in promoting the Philippines as an investment destination. “[The] Create [law] radically altered our incentive regime: it’s now codified and made national in scope. You can avail of incentives wherever you are in the country,” Salceda said. “So, we want IPAs to take advantage of this and get them the resources and the powers they need to really promote the country. I am the budget sponsor of many of them so I will be willing to endorse requests for expanded investment missions and promotional activities.”

The lawmaker said the approach the agencies took during discussions on the Create law “was something I want changed.”

“They took the position of existing locators without really being open to the kind of new industries [the] Create [law] will promote,” Salceda said.

“I think I have to make it clear that competitiveness means being ahead of new industries, and not propping old ones.”

BusinessMirror

Monday, March 29, 2021

Govt stamp-printer’s plan to increase prices opposed

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) opposed the plan of APO Production Unit Inc. (APO) to increase the printing cost of cigarette stamps from the current 15 centavos to 23 centavos.

In his letter to APO Chairman and President Michael J. Dalumpines dated March 15, 2021, PTI President Rodolfo F. Salanga decried the increase as “unconscionable and excessive.” Salanga also emphasized that APO is not a revenue-generating government agency and its “monopoly” of producing the tax stamps is for regulatory purposes and not to raise revenues.

APO is a government-run printing office tapped by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to run the Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System (IRSIS) project or the security tax stamps on cigarettes. The project was rolled out in September 2014 to monitor the supply and sale of tobacco products and guarantee payment of excise taxes by manufacturers.

The PTI, on the other hand, is an association of local cigarette manufacturers, exporters and leaf suppliers in the tobacco industry.

Based on the BIR’s Revenue Regulations 6-2017, the price of the in-

ternal revenue stamps on imported and locally-manufactured cigarettes shall be paid by the importer or local manufacturer of cigarettes to the APO. According to the PTI, the proposed increase was discussed in a series of meetings conducted by the APO with cigarette manufacturers together with BIR and Iris Corp. In one of those meetings, the printing agency presented the actual cost of each tax stamp is P0.11377. With the planned 23 centavos to be paid by manufacturers, APO will gain a profit of P0.11623, the PTI said.

The PTI pointed out that the APO, whose main function is to print government security-sensitive documents and not raise revenues, cannot justify its reason to increase the price, which is allegedly due to higher cost of ink and paper to produce the security stamps.

“In view of the foregoing, we believe that the 8-centavo printing-cost increase from the current 15 centavos per internal revenue stamp to

the proposed 23 centavos is unconscionable and excessive. We wish to emphasize that the intent for the internal revenue stamp is to ensure the collection of excise taxes,” the PTI said in its letter. “APO should not opportunistically use such requirement to collect internal revenue stamp printing cost with a target of more than 102 percent net profit of its actual cost.”

According to the PTI, they have already sent a series of letters to the BIR and APO beginning December last year 2020 to express their concerns about the planned 8-centavo increase. They also requested the revenue agency to review APO’s move citing certain government processes were not complied with particularly the absence of a public bidding as provided for by law.

Furthermore, PTI said APO should not implement any increase without BIR issuing first a revenue regulation to adjust the price. The group cited Section 6 of Revenue Regulation 7-2014 (as amended by RR 6-2017) on the “Payment of the Price of Internal Revenue Stamps Escalation Provisions.” That section provides that “in case of occurrence of inflation, escalation and/or decrease in costs of raw materials and equipment to be used by APO, the BIR shall accordingly adjust the price of internal revenue stamps, subject to prior consultation with all concerned stakeholders and the

B3

issuance of the amendatory revenue regulations for the effective implementation thereof.”

Despite this, PTI said it is amenable to a 2-centavo increase per stamp on the current 15 centavos.

The PTI added this would still give APO a net profit from its actual cost of a little over 11 centavos. The group cited that the last increase in 2018 was also two centavos from the initial price of 13 centavos in 2014.

The association’s concerns, which include the lack of public bidding by APO for procurement of printing ink, paper and lease of machines and equipment, came amid a recent protest action held by APO employees on March 15 asking President Duterte to fire Dalumpines due to various anomalies and irregularities under his tenure.

Dalumpines’s management of APO had been surrounded with controversy, the APO employees said, according to PTI. News reports said APO officials are under investigation for allegedly modifying the “gun” used to scan tax stamps without the approval of the BIR. In another case, the Commission on Audit has cited the agency for violating government procurement laws. The COA questioned the spending by APO of P222.4 million for the lease of various printing equipment from private printers, which constitutes sub-contracting that is contrary to the procurement law.

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Use Art to Reignite Your

Team’s Motivation A

By Kenny White

For example, studies show that jazz musicians’ improvisational skills are achieved via heightened sensory activity in the brain alongside a deactivation of cognitive control functions, leading to an unbridled process of self-expression.

This state of flow isn’t something that only jazz artists can reach. It spans beyond the music sphere and can be summoned by workers anywhere in the world. Everyone can tap into free-flowing creativity to compose ideas outside the usual boundaries.

Here are some ways to borrow from five artistic disciplines to propel your team’s creative thinking and break up the monotony of remote working:

Paint new perspectives through visual arts

Visualization works through brain imagery, with neurons interpreting images as if they were reality. That means that when we visualize something, our brain cells perform similarly to the way they would if it were actually occurring.

Let’s consider an example. We had employees at a nonprofit visualize attending an Academy Awards ceremony. They were asked to picture which awards they would not have made the shortlist for, which awards they were nominated for and which awards they ended up winning.

This helped them realize what they were and weren’t set up to achieve: By visualizing the scenario, they could understand how they needed to reorganize and bring their goals to fruition.

Another way to borrow from the visual arts is by drawing answers to business problems. Drawing is a powerful way to open the raw, creative side of your mind. When you encourage people to change the medium they typically use to answer open-ended questions, you replace the structured, step-by-step process with something more exploratory.

People shouldn’t be drawing a flow chart or Venn diagram, but should otherwise be given minimal direction or limitations.

Entertain, energize and escape in theatrics

Improv helps people learn to read cues, laugh at themselves, listen more intently and loosen up. And because improv is a team sport, it’s ideal for connecting everyone through a shared scenario. Improv doesn’t have to involve full-on dramatics (which can sometimes scare people away). You can pull elements of improv into team meetings and exercises so people won’t immediately withdraw from the spotlight.

For example, you can get your team members to imagine they’re starting a new company with the sole aim of outdoing your current business. They have all the investment and materials they need, and they have to describe how they’d blow open the market while embodying a different character. Push them to pay attention to the details of this fictional brand’s personality and approach. Are they ruthless where your current company is cautious? Are they empathetic where your company is objective?

WWW.FREEPIK.COM

fter a year of working from home, remote teams are at risk of losing motivation. Luckily, business leaders can revitalize teams and spark fresh momentum by drawing on techniques used by more creative individuals.

Creating a character to counterbalance your own allows you to detect your weaknesses and adopt powerful traits you’ve been too shy to execute.

And don’t forget the classic improv game, “Yes, and…,” which teases the state of flow out of people by getting them to riff off one another continuously. Someone begins the game with a statement, and the participants have to provide follow-up statements starting with “Yes, and.”

The game teaches players to accept all ideas, stitch them together and compile something using only their reflexes.

gestion to get your employees moving is a walking group call where people in attendance are on the go as they chat, stretching their physical and mental muscles.

Every now and then, you can set up a Zoom dance party where people request songs, dance (having the camera on is optional), sing or simply enjoy the music for a while.

Not every second of the workday has to be serious, and this is a shared moment to be silly and human.

When you propose these activities, consider the needs of people with disabilities, so that everyone can participate.

Create harmony through dance

Use poetry to merge creativity and content

Over a third of remote workers worry they’re not moving enough at home, now that commutes and coffee breaks with colleagues are scarce. That sedentary activity can lower employees’ energy and motivation over time.

Physical movement triggers the release of endorphins, which interact with receptors in the brain, stimulating positivity. A great sug-

Poetry helps people extract thoughts from the recesses of their mind in a completely free-flowing form. It isn’t about sonnets and iambic pentameter—poetry can be as abstract and nonsensical as you like.

Try implementing a poetry session in the morning, asking people take a few minutes to note their spontaneous poetic ideas. It could

be a stream of consciousness, a six-word response to a prompt or a carefully structured poem. Don’t force people to share their creations with the team unless they want to draw out their potential—to see whether any themes emerge from their internal monologue and how these can apply to what’s happening at the company.

If people respond well to the poetry sessions, you could even organize regular online poetry slams or open mic events to give people the space to experiment with their communication style.

Jam through new concepts and connections with music

Jazz musicians’ state of flow lets them access different parts of the brain and perform in a wholly fluid manner. Like any type of flow, it gains momentum as it progresses, but there are no expectations—it’s purely reactionary.

When it comes to meetings, use music to insert energy into silences.

You could curate a playlist for when you’re waiting for people to join or

when people are reflecting on a certain topic. This music can help people relax or carry them into a pensive state. You could also propose a shared playlist, where people add songs based on their mood or recommendations. Music has an innate ability to connect people and allow them to share a part of themselves. And because music should be universal, be conscious of anyone with hearing impairments and offer them tools, such as transcriptions, music visualizers or specific-frequency songs.

The arts have an important place in business. They’re not just fun for fun’s sake— they allow employees to channel thoughts and pent-up emotions into something constructive.

If you remote team is feeling bored and uninspired, artistic activities can be a way to unite people and feel out new flows. Try out these artistically inspired techniques to see if they help your team members tap into their creativity.

Kenny White is chief creativity architect at Funworks.

How interruptions can make meetings more inclusive I

By Gia Storms

’m sitting in the back of a meeting, watching the minutes tick by, unsure how to interrupt the continuous flow of voices competing for airtime and making it harder and harder for me to get a word in.

When the stakes are high and opinionated personalities crowd the room, my default pattern is to shrink away from competing to get my opinion heard. I’ll often leave a meeting kicking myself for having contributed little or nothing at all to the conversation.

Many leaders today find themselves struggling to perform in high-pressure meetings, either because their performance anxiety causes a heightened level of fear and paralysis, or because they end up having to compete with bosses and co-workers who overtalk and take up more than their fair share of space in the room.

Others, meanwhile, work valiantly to insert themselves into the conversation but are passed over or

rendered invisible by implicit bias and exclusive group norms.

Luckily, the skill of interrupting can help disrupt group norms and bring out reserved voices.

For example, my client Max (not his real name) is a human resources leader at a Fortune 500 company.

He spends most of his days answering hard questions with polish and candor. But recent feedback from his colleagues revealed that he’s perceived as avoiding hard, messy conversations around diversity and inclusion, and he admits that when he doesn’t have the right words, he can freeze or clam up in meetings.

For two months now, Max has been trying out a new practice when this happens: interrupting.

Whenever the conversation moves toward a tense or complicated topic, Max inserts himself by saying, “I get that this is messy, and I want to try to share my perspective,” which allows him to participate powerfully and paves the way for him to share imperfectly. This simple practice has helped him

stay present and vocal in these hard subject areas. It also invites others to participate in these challenging conversations.

Interrupting is controversial.

When we’re interrupted while speaking, we can feel disrespected, and men tend to view women who interrupt as rude. Conversational style can also play a part in how a person views an interruption, as can cultural context.

However, as we work toward more inclusive workplaces, leaders can learn how to interrupt with respect to make space for the voices that are often silent (including their own). The following tips can help you skillfully interrupt and bring yourself and others forward:

Start by noticing

Observe the conversational dynamics and patterns in the room.

Who’s talking a lot and who isn’t?

Notice your own contributions.

Are you holding back? Are you oversharing? Evaluate how much psychological safety exists in the

meeting and consider the topics that aren’t being voiced aloud.

You can also review a recording of the meeting to identify patterns that might not be visible in the moment.

Practice speaking up early

If your tendency is to hold back, try speaking up in the first 30 percent of the meeting. When we take a risk and use our voice early we can interrupt our brain’s proven fearbased amygdala response, making it easier to speak up later in the meeting. Answer a question early on or make small talk with a colleague before the meeting starts to habituate yourself to speaking up and make it easier to contribute when the stakes are higher.

Pause the action skillfully

In their book Subtle Acts of Exclusion, Tiffany Jana and Michael Baran stress the importance of interrupting microaggressions in real time with a simple phrase to pause the action while putting the other person at ease. Witnesses can

interrupt by stating a helpful intention: “Can we pause to discuss something that was just said? I’m sure you didn’t mean anything by it, but….” This is a moment to reinforce the relationship by communicating that you want to help, calling the other person in instead of calling her out.

Be willing to get it wrong

In coaching, the skill of blurting gives people permission to be clumsy, messy and human in their attempts to speak their truth.

Blurting allows us to express ourselves even when we don't have the right words or the perfect way to name what we need to say. Blurt by using “I” statements to ground your observations in your own experience. For example, “I noticed that Karim was going to say something back there, can we go back?” or, “I noticed that I was holding back just there about something hard,” or, “I noticed that there’s something I want to say that’s messy, can I take a moment to try to put words to it?”

Design practices for interruption as a team

Interrupting successfully as a team requires building a group norm of doing it with skill and respect. Do your work’s cultural norms welcome interruption or punish it? Which topics and people can currently tolerate interruption? For whom is it not safe or accessible to interrupt? Start a discussion to make your team aware of these dynamics.

W hen interrupting, you will likely experience clumsiness and awkwardness. That is OK; it's a sign that the practice is working.

Over time, you’ll find it easier to insert yourself in spaces and make it safe for others to do the same. You’ll become more adept at finding the right moment to interrupt with f luidity and humility, and the systems and spaces you’re a part of may even come to welcome the interruption.

Gia Storms is a leadership coach and member of The Boda Group.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Style

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Monday, March 29, 2021

B5

Davao Fashion Design Council: A dynamic pandemic response L

IKE most fashion groups still grappling with the ravages of Covid-19, the Davao Fashion Design Council (DFDC) is responding to the pandemic with dynamism. In September 2020, it conducted a series of e-learning sessions for Davao creative communities with the International Trade Center|SME Trade Academy, an e-learning institution founded by the World Trade Organization and the United Nations to support SMEs in becoming globally competitive.

Last February, the DFDC mounted Midnight Summer Dream: A Debut Fashion Exhibit at Dusit Thani D2 Davao and Lubi Plantation Resort. And this March, they supported #TindogDabaw, a fundraising drive for fire victims, in cooperation with the LGBTQ Davao City Council. If the confusing protocols allow, they are set to participate in Panasonic Manila Fashion Festival in late April.

The group is composed of Dodjie Batu, Benjie Panizales, Aztec Barba, Bamba Limon, Windel Mira, Egay Ayag, Edgar Buyan and Emi Englis. Two other members are based in the UAE: Garimon Roferos and Popoy Barba. DFDC is part of the Philippine Fashion Coalition (PFC), with fashion director Jackie Aquino as president, which “aims to unite all sectors of the Philippine fashion industry under one umbrella with the mission to create a road map of recovery and growth for all.” Batu is on the Board of Trustees and held chairmanship of the membership committee.

Mindanao fashion recently suffered a tremendous loss: the death of its fashion czar, Alfonso “Boy” Guinoo. His closest industry “daughter”, Aztec, shared some sentiments: “Since I was a kid, I

already knew Tito Boy because he was my mom’s friend. I saw how his career flourished. He was very popular especially to the elites of Davao. From the time he knew I was in the fashion industry, he told me, “Iha, be good ha and always put your feet on the ground like your Tito Boy.” From then on, he was an inspiration to all of us. Our bonding continued during the visit of some 2016 Miss Universe candidates that

shook the Davao fashion scene. [He fought with us for Davao designers to be included in the fashion show.

And succeeded.] His legacy of promoting Mindanao fashion is immeasurable. I will truly miss Tito Boy.” What keeps the members excitedly busy is their “Homage to Davao” box. “The box contains a Kadayawan jacket with Pag-asa the Philippine eagle as a dominant print, and three face masks, all

sublimated in neoprene material. The third accessory is from our collaborative partners. The first wave was the “Araw” brooch. The second edition was an artisanal brooch from Kay Fanlo,” says Buyan.

“The third and current wave is a Bagobo Tagabawa tangkulo. Orders for the box can be made through our web site or through the council members.”

When the lockdown/quarantine loosened in mid2020, the DFDC saw how the pandemic slowed down and even stopped production of some of their ateliers and even those of their creative partner communities that they’ve been supporting through the years.

“We realized there was a need for us to do something not just for our own work force to thrive again but also for the communities which are displaced, specifically the Indigenous People artisans we have been collaborating with artistically since Day 1 of the council’s existence,” Panizales explains.

Some of these communities are the Bagobo Tagabawa Heritage Center (Lubogan Toril, Davao City), Association of Mandaya Women of Andap (New Bataan, Davao de Oro) and T-boli Center of Datu Danwata (Malita, Davao Occidental).

“We have been looking into other groups of creatives as well that are not necessarily IPs but whose works are worth promoting and could be a source of pride for the region, and, most importantly, creative groups that build each other up. We have to see that community effort survive and sustain the craft they are into. That’s how we choose our partner community. We are hoping to reach consecutive waves so that we could also tap more communities and include their products to our ‘homage box’ in the future,” adds Panizales.

“Through the sales of our ‘Homage to Davao’ boxes, we were able to give relief goods to fire victims and school supplies for their kids. It also helps our community partners support their products. Plus our industry members like the sewers, etc., are given projects to do,” says Batu, the DFDC president.

“Basically, the Homage Box is the lifeline that has helped the fashion industry in Davao since events have been kept to a very minimum. In fact, Kay Fanlo is our past winner from DFDC’s Habi Kadayawan accessory competition. With our collaboration, we make sure our winners continue with our Design Ideation and Business Incubation initiatives.” ■

An easy WFH beauty guide

LOCAL BEAUTY BRAND UNVEILS FIRST-EVER LINE OF FACIAL CLEANSERS

POPULAR local beauty brand Kojie.san (www. kojiesan.com) takes the powerful benefits of kojic acid up another notch. It unveiled recent a complete range of face care products, letting consumers enjoy the same Kojie. san skin benefits they love—but in formats that have been especially formulated for the face.

Each product in this face care range of cleansers, toners and creams is formulated with Zero Pigment Light and HydroMoist. These latest Kojie.san skin innovations zero-in on dark spots, scars and hyperpigmentation, while locking in moisture for a light skin that stays soft and supple for hours.

Kojie.san’s first-ever line of facial cleansers come in three different cleansing actions to fit each consumer’s unique needs and preferences. The Skin Lightening Facial Wash with HydroMoist is a soap-based facial wash that deeply cleanses the skin to effectively remove sebum and other impurities from skin, helping to combat oiliness and prevent acne break-outs, whiteheads and blackheads.

The Skin Lightening Facial Cleansing Gel with HydroMoist is a gel-based facial wash that gently cleanses skin to remove dirt and excess surface oil without stripping away the skin’s natural moisture. Meanwhile, the Skin Lightening Foam Wash with HydroMoist is a skin-calming facial foam wash with a light and airy texture that effectively cleanses while soothing stressed and tired skin.

The beauty brand is also offering limited-edition Kojie. san Skin Lightening Beauty Wipes that cleanses skin by wiping away dirt, oil and water-proof makeup without any sting on the eyes. All products are paraben-free, and have been dermatologically tested safe for sensitive skin so you can use them with no worries.

With Kojie.san’s first line of facial cleansers, consumers get to choose from an array of high-quality, effective, and carefully formulated facial cleansing products that fit their skin’s unique needs, giving them more ways to achieve smooth, supple skin.

WE really went from wearing full faces of makeup to Zoom meetings in April and May 2020, to turning off our cameras during such meetings in 2021. A colleague admitted that they’re now mostly halfnaked in bed when these meetings take place with a shirt on hand nearby just in case the host says, “Everyone, please turn on your cameras for a group photo!”

I am lucky that the office-supplied computer I use, an Acer, makes me look decent even if I don’t in

person. But just in case you really need to turn on your camera, here’s a cheat sheet for you: Having good skin is the best turn-on-your camera cheat but not all of us were born with it. If you haven’t yet, establish a good and solid routine. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just make sure you are consistent, meaning you need to do it twice a day. You can start with a good cleanser and moisturizer for the evening.

For the day, you need a dependable sunscreen with an SPF50. If your skin is acne-prone, look for cleansers with ingredients like salicylic acid. For those with dry skin, ceramides are your best best.

■ Try: CeraVe Renewing SA Cleanser or Cosrx Salicylic Acid Daily Gentle Cleanser Use a good base when needed. What got me through 2020’s Zoom meetings was the Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate Soft Radiance Foundation SPF50/PA. I no longer use foundation all over the face. Most days I just apply a drop starting from the middle of my face, blending outward with my fingers.

This year, I’ve been loving the Shiseido Synchro Skin Radiant Lifting Foundation, a new version of the brand’s famous Synchro Skin line (which I also love).

I like this because it provides adequate coverage but with a skin-like finish. Again, I just use a drop or two and blend outward with my fingers.

■ Try: Shiseido Synchro Skin Radiant Lifting Foundation One of the favorite beauty tips I’ve learned in quarantine is that if you want to use blush for an

online meeting with camera on, the color needs to really pop. If your application seems to be too much for real life, then you know that’s just right. Find a red or reddish blush. That would work more than pink ones.

■ Try: Issy & Co. Crème Blush in Scandal You can always forego makeup but you need to groom your brows always. A once-over with a spoolie will do. I haven’t had my brows groomed since February 2020 and it shows. I have this palette with waxes and powders that I love because it also has a mirror. It also has a tiny spoolie and a clear wax, and those are what I use regularly more than the colored waxes and powders. It’s just nice knowing the palette has everything I need just in case I want to make the extra effort.

■ Try: Benefit Brow Zings Pro Palette You don’t really need to wear a lipstick. I normally don’t anymore. But I do apply a lip balm or scrub my lips because they’re so dry and chapped lips really show up on video.

■ Try: Mentholatum Lip Ice I try to make working from home as “normal” as possible although I don’t keep the usual working hours. I do have busy days, which are usually Wednesdays and Thursdays, and I have deadlines almost every day, even on weekends. So I try to shower before I start working just so I feel refreshed.

I don’t really have Zoom meetings nor events everyday but it still feels good to be presentable even if I’m just in house clothes. I make sure to use a nice-smelling body wash or soap. Nothing overpowering; just something that smells fresh.

■ Try: Safeguard Gentle Micellar Face & Body Cleanser I’ve sort of given up on my hair. I haven’t had it colored nor cut in a while. I just try to fix the front of it because that’s what can be seen on camera anyway. I’m lucky that on most days, my hair behaves, thanks to this shampoo from a Korean brand that I’ve been using. I alternate it with an anti-dandruff shampoo.

■ Try: Jennyhouse Rebak Style Repair Shampoo

DFDC members wearing their specially designed jackets and face masks: (clockwise, from top) Dodjie Batu, Benjie Panizales, Aztec Barba, Bamba Limon, Windel Mira, Egay Ayag, Edgar Buyan and Emi Englis; Kay Fanlo brooch; Alfonso “Boy” Guinoo; and Bagobo Tagabawa tangkulo

B6 Monday, March 29, 2021

GBP conducts school electrical maintenance project in support of Fire Prevention Month

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LOBAL Business Power Corporation (GBP) subsidiaries, Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) and Panay Power Corporation (PPC), initiated the electrical maintenance of school buildings at NJ Ingore Elementary School in Iloilo City as part of their Social Development Program (SDP) and in support of the country’s fire prevention campaign.

GBP’s electrical maintenance initiative aims to fix the electrical system of the said public elementary school in Brgy. Ingore, La Paz – the power generation company’s host barangay – in order to ensure everyone’s safety especially from possible dangers such as fire or explosion. After performing an inspection, GBP’s Panay subsidiary re-modified the electrical lines and installed conduits in 11 out of 13

school buildings that were amenable for repairs to avoid impending risks due to the faulty and overloaded electrical system.

Although face-to-face classes are currently not being held at the school because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, GBP persevered to immediately implement the initiative to safeguard the welfare of students and teachers once regular physical classes resume.

“We would like to highlight the importance of doing initiatives like this school safety project, particularly in observance of the Fire Prevention Month. It is the perfect time to discuss and raise awareness about the causes, hazards, and dangers of fire,” said First Vice President Petronilo R. Madrid – GBP Panay Site Head.

True to its commitment of enlightening lives and empowering progress, GBP works hand-in-hand with the communities surrounding its plant facilities in order to address the specific problems they are facing.

Through GBP’s Social Development Program (SDP), the company gets to provide responsive solutions to community dilemmas.

SM FOUNDATION DISTRIBUTES KALINGA PACKS TO FIRE VICTIMS IN CEBU. Staying true to its commitment to being one of the first responders during disasters, SM Foundation, through its Operation Tulong Express Program (OPTE), distributed Kalinga packs to almost 100 families affected by the recent fire incident in Brgy. Mambaling, Cebu City. OPTE is a social good program of SM Foundation in collaboration with SM Supermalls and SM Markets which aims to address the needs of communities during calamities and crises.

Republic Cement recognized for environmental preservation and safety achievements by PMIEA

PCSO: no sales, lotto draws from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday

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N observance of the Lenten Season, there will be no selling and conduct of draws of all PCSO games from April 1 to April 4, 2021 (Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday).

During the Holy week, the regular selling of tickets and holding of draws will only be done from March 29, Holy Monday to March 31, 2021, Holy Wednesday.

Regular operation will resume on April 5, 2021, Monday.

PCSO Vice-Chairperson and General Manager Royina M. Garma said the suspension of the Agency’s gaming activities during this period is to respect the solemnity of the occasion and to give lotto agents, players, and PCSO employees the time to conduct their

own Holy Week Observances.

“We thank the public for their continued support of PCSO gaming products, PCSO will continue to deliver its mandate to raise and provide funds for health programs, medical assistance and services, and charities of national character. Let’s play to win a game of chance, share and care for Charity cause, Ang Larong May Puso!”, expressed by GM Garma.

Winning numbers and other details of PCSO games, products, and services can be viewed at the PCSO official website at www.pcso.gov.ph and the official FB page at https://www. facebook.com/pcsoofficialsocialmedia and PCSO GOV for YouTube. (By: Leila N. Valencia)

REPUBLIC CEMENT & BUILDING MATERIALS, INC. President Lloyd Vicente (center) is flanked by DENR Usec Jim O. Sampulna (left) and Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) Chairman Gerald Brimo (right)

R

EPUBLIC Cement wins big at the prestigious Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Awards (PMIEA), held last March 18, 2021 at the DENR Social Hall in Quezon City. For its achievements in environmental preservation and safety excellence, Republic Cement was awarded with the Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Awards for Quarry Operations

ConcepStore, Mayani, and Kumu bring fresh delight to Filipino homes through Farm to Kitchen campaign

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GAINST the backdrop of tighter community quarantines and preference for shopping from the safety of one’s home, a Farm to Kitchen 3-Day MegaSale beginning March 29 to March 31, 2021, is giving customers up to 20 percent discount on curated kitchen appliance and fresh produce bundles conveniently delivered to their doorsteps.

The campaign is borne out of the all-Filipino strategic alliance of Mayani, the country’s fastest-growing farm-to-table platform with over 10,000 rural smallholder farmers, Kumu, the leading livestreaming app for Filipinos around the world, and ConcepStore, the e-commerce arm of the Concepcion Industrial Corporation (CIC), the publicly-listed company behind popular home brands such as Carrier, Condura, Toshiba, and Midea.

“ConcepStore is focusing on the big home reboot as people learn to cope and adapt to the new normal. We are beginning to see a shift towards a safer and healthier lifestyle with more and more families staying home and eating fresh, “ said Mike Dauden, Head of ConcepStore.

“Our goal is to provide a healthier lifestyle with

SIGNING CONTRACT FOR THE CAMPAIGN ARE, FROM LEFT: Mike Dauden (Head of ConcepStore), Jojo Concepcion (Chairman & CEO, Concepcion Industrial Corporation, JT Solis (Co-Founder & CEO, Mayani), and Atty. Ron Dime (Co-Founder & Chief Legal Counsel, Mayani). us providing modern kitchen appliances, Mayani bringing in the fresh produce, and Kumu as our community builder.”

With the 60-year conglomerate CIC controlling almost 40% market share in the consumer appliance space, the alliance proceeds with what is also considered as the first-of-kind Farm to Kitchen offerings that showcase quality and inherently support the local agricultural industry, one of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic.

“We have long laser-focused on moms, health buffs, and kitchen aficionados as they are the drivers of our retail growth, so this is way to further capture more holistic data on their spending patterns and constantly come up with new offers that meet their total needs – from what they eat to how they prepare the food,” said JT Solis, the

Co-Founder & CEO of Mayani, who now also powers the fresh produce supply chain of top brands such as Shell, WalterMart, and Healthy Options.

The 20 percent flash sale on bundles such as the Multifunctional Vegetable Sterilizer with Fresh Benguet Basket and Bean to Cup Coffee Maker with Barako Coffee Beans are stackable price promotions – meaning customers can check out with multiple discounts – are only available both on the Mayani e-commerce site and Kumu app’s live commerce channels starting March 29.

Deliveries will be on April 5.

“We evolved our app not just to provide a venue to for authentic communities but also a launchpad for homegrown brands such as Mayani and ConcepStore to amplify their e-commerce roadmaps,” remarked Irving Mendoza, Vice President for Live Commerce of Kumu.

for its Bulacan and Batangas Plants, the highest honor for these respective categories.

In addition to these awards, Republic Cement was also recognized for having the Safest Quarry at its Batangas Plant, Best Mining Forest Program – Non-metallic Category for its Bulacan Plant, and a Platinum Achievement Award for Quarry Operations for its Iligan Plant.

Defying the odds of this challenging time

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HE events industry is one of the sectors that was hit the hardest by the Pandemic. But this Filipinoowned events company managed to defy the odds.

“We had to modify and face the challenges to survive the pandemic” said Martin Canate, Managing Director of 4.0 Events & Consultancy Services. “We know that the new norm is changing our industry and we must not get left behind,” added Canate during the unveiling of their new QC headquarters located in Unit 7 Valencia Hills Commercial Complex, Quezon City.

When news broke out last year about the global health crisis, sponsors were already confirmed for the Europe and North America Dance Fitness Cruise organized by Canate’s company. The event was one of their biggest projects for 2020. But, like all on-ground activities across all industries, it was cancelled.

At the time, the events company just expanded their rosters to include more talents and production crew. To avoid folding the business and laying off workers, Canate had to think fast. “We invested in state-ofthe-art livestreaming equipment despite uncertainties,” Canate shared.

To keep their clients’ trust, his team addressed the learning curve. “Everything that we need to know down to the IATF’s safety protocols, we took to heart,” Canate said. Virtual events and online shows were soon produced in their studio.

Their platform architecture can handle virtual and hybrid executions. Its setup is so stable it can accommodate more than 5,000 remote participants. His team handles the event planning, technical setup, production, dry run, live streaming, post production, and even microsite creations for clients particular about confidentiality.

Soon, Martin’s team was closing deals and endorsements. Just recently, they showed friends and loyal clients their brand

MARTIN Canate, Managing Director of 4.0 Events and Consultancy Services, at work. new headquarter. “We can now handle brandcasting, live selling, virtual corporate shows, or sales rally and product launches in a fully branded virtual experience,” he shared.

Despite the pandemic, not one employee was sacrificed. “We cannot just be together in good times, we also have to stick together even in bad,” Canate proudly said.

4.0 Events & Consultancy Services produces branded contents, live programs on e-commerce sites, TVC, rich media, vlogs and other creative materials for marketing.

They also handle programmatic/google ads buying and other media and digital placements.

4.0 Events talents include Regine Tolentino, Aubrey Miles, Daiana Menezes, Troy Montero, Joshua Zamora, Dr. Glam, Reigen Maristela and Rosie Reignee.

For inquiries call 09088657865 and 09179795399 or email: mar tincanate@4pointzeroevents.com.

For more information, visit https:// www.4pointzeroevents.com/ or go to @4.0EventsManagement on Facebook and Instagram.

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Monday, March 29, 2021 B7

The coronavirus chronicles:

Are you zoomed out?

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By Millie F. Dizon

1. Less is more

“The exhaustion you feel after a day of video calls is not just about you,” says Blakely. Zoom calls demand more energy “as you strain

n Brand & Business: At foodpanda, women in the work force drive quick commerce success

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Innovation, convenience, and safety have pushed on-demand delivery or quick commerce as a thriving sector in recent years and an essential one amid the pandemic. As a business that thrives through the contributions and success of each player in its ecosystem, foodpanda Philippines ensures to create a balanced arena that benefits everyone. This includes nurturing a gender-balanced work force and delivery ecosystem.

At foodpanda Philippines, women account for over 50 percent of the total employee population, many of which are at the helm of their teams.

Female employees thrive as leaders at foodpanda as they make up around 40 percent of the company’s senior managers and 45 percent of its team leaders. Around 54 percent of other managerial level roles are also taken up by women.

Among the different departments of foodpanda, the commercial team has the most women employees. Almost 64 percent of the team, which handles sales

operations, account management, and partner vendor acquisition, is made up of women. The same team is considered one of the obvious drivers of growth in the company as more customers and businesses sign up on the foodpanda platform. “foodpanda Philippines will continue to thrive because we are committed to creating and maintaining a balanced system wherein everyone benefits. With an exemplary and hardworking team in the company, many of whom are women who were born leaders, will surely help in serving more customers and communities effectively,” said foodpanda Philippines Managing Director Daniel Marogy.

As a provider of on-demand service, foodpanda also credits its success to a community of freelance riders that increasingly welcomes women. While riders are still mostly male, there are currently around 250 female riders nationwide who are delivering food and more to different communities. Apart from being riders, these women juggle other jobs and roles. There are mothers, call center agents, and small business owners. Being a foodpanda rider allows them to have a reliable stream of income while still having time for other opportunities outside the company.

Following the challenging year of community quarantine and mobility restrictions, foodpanda was still able to serve customers, and support its partner business-

last hours.

As a host, it is important to keep people engaged. It is important to stick to a schedule, and make plans to keep their attention.

Pro tip: Start with action.

“That could take the form of posing a provocative question to everyone or asking them to share small victories,” says Blakely. “Likewise, at the end of the call, review any necessary follow-up tasks.”

4. Stop staring at yourself

WWW.FREEPIK.COM

PR Matters

URING the early months of pandemic, we were all initially excited about Zoom meetings. Working from home, these connected us to the office, to business partners, to friends and colleagues during the lockdown.

But as quarantine stretched on, Sophie Maerowitz notes in a prnewsonline.com article that “Zoom fatigue [or Zoomed out] entered the workplace lexicon.” Employees and execs are increasingly tuning out during video meetings, and people seem “less and less enchanted by virtual happy hours and video call dinners with family and friends.”

There is, Maerowitz says in How Internal Communicators are Fighting Employee Burnout and Zoom Fatigue, “little question as to what is warranted: a novel approach to pulling remote workers out of the digital communications doldrums.”

Lindsay Blakely agrees in an article in Inc.com. Nearly a year into the world’s embrace of remote work,—“more than 40 percent of Americans are working from home—and oh, how times have changed.” And “you’re not alone if you feel like you’ve been living through something like the five stages of zoom grief.”

Indeed, how many times have we sighed, “not another Zoom meeting, not another webinar!”

To those with a love-hate relationship with Zoom, Blakely rounds up some of the best advice she’s learned about making Zoom calls “less stressful, more effective, and—crucially—a little less omnipresent in remote work” in Zoom Burnout is Real. Here are 4 Practical Ways to Cope.

to parse the information you’re hearing along with the few visual cues you can glean from staring at your colleagues in tiny boxes.

At the same time, you might be managing children, pets, or other distractions in the background.”

She adds that it’s a mistake to assume that frequent video check-ins are what’s needed to make people feel connected and productive. Those calls, in fact, require much more planning and stress on the attendees’ side than you realize as they juggle what’s necessary for some relative peace and quiet. Take a look at how frequently you’re asking your employees and colleagues to be on-camera and consider whether it’s the best way to communicate.

Blakely quotes Jason Fried,

es. In the past year, foodpanda has expanded its operations to more than 100 cities in the country. The company has also tripled the number of customers served, and more than quadrupled its vendor base. foodpanda welcomes more women in the work force who make it possible for the company to better reach its goal of creating a balanced system for everyone.

Through its dynamic and balanced team, foodpanda Philippines is more than ready to achieve greater heights in quick commerce.

n Digital: Bosch launches BeConnected app for power tools, improved digital experience for users

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Leading supplier of technology and services Bosch, launched BeConnected, a rewards and product authenticator app for the company’s power tools products and services. Launching across select countries in AsiaPacific, Bosch BeConnected is the first of its kind mobile app for users in the power tools industry in the Philippines.

“We often receive questions from users on how they can verify the authenticity of our tools, where can they buy, where they can get their tool fixed, and others—this app is our answer to that,” said William Go, country business director for Bosch Power Tools in the Philippines. “Users have become more discerning of the products that they buy because of the wide

founder of Chicago-based software company Basecamp and remote work champion who believes that, “if you have more time for yourself, you’re going to be more productive.”

Pro tip: “Consider the humble telephone or thoughtful memo that requests responses,” says Blakely, “they may be more effective and less draining for everyone.

And if a Zoom really is required, give attendees as much notice as possible.”

2. Set up a dedicated spot and forget it

Another way to make video calls less draining is to figure out the mechanics of our Zoom set-up.

Then, if possible, leave it set up so that you don’t have to worry about

availability of information online.

Bosch BeConnected leverages on the mobile trend and the need for digital solutions that provide real-time access to information.

Offering a highly personalized user experience, the app aims to enable users to achieve a better digital lifestyle.”

Available for free on App Store and Google Play, users simply need to scan the QR codes on each Bosch power tools products to access real-time information such as technical specification and warranties, product verification features, digital after-sales experience as well as ongoing promotions and rewards program.

Product information and verification features at your fingertips

Apart from offering real-time access to its power tools catalog which includes product details, peer reviews, and instructional videos on proper tool usage, the app also serves as an anti-counterfeit tool.

Users can either scan the QR code on the power tool’s packaging to verify the tool’s authenticity or manually enter the bare tool and serial number registration, as an alternative option.

Improved after-sales experience: Goodbye to lost warranty receipts and invoices As users register their Bosch tools in the app, they will be able to gain the capacity to track the status of their electronic warranties, making

it every time you log on.

“None of this needs to be expensive or time consuming,” Blakely assures us. The most important elements are a decent light source in front of you, a well-positioned camera, and solid sound.

Pro tip: In the desktop version of Zoom, Blakely suggests that we use the touch-up-my-appearance function in our video settings. “It’s not perfect, but it will smooth out the appearance of your skin.”

3. Know your responsibilities as host

Whether you’re an attendee or host, Zoom meetings demand a lot of time and energy. And one thing we should remember is that Zoom meetings are not meant to

it easier to manage and maintain their power tools fleet or collection.

In addition, the app also makes it easier for users to locate Bosch’s certified dealers and service centers nationwide.

Get more from purchases— accumulate points, redeem gifts and deals

For every action done on BeConnected, whether posting feedback on products, referring friends, or registering tools, users can earn corresponding points which they can exchange for discount vouchers or exclusive Bosch Merchandise.

n Arts & Culture: Bikol Art Group to launch virtual art exhibit on pandemic narratives

SORSOGON, PHILIPPINES—The Kurit-Lagting Art Collective will launch this April its second online art show with works that tell narratives and stories about the struggles of communities. The exhibition, titled Pagbutwa II, is inspired by the Bikolano word for the resurfacing of something long concealed. The idea refers to the Pagbutwa or emergence of the artistic product during this time of Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Geri Matthew Carretero, art director and cofounder of the art collective, the artists involved in the online show are all from communitybased organizations. “With their artworks, we want to tell the struggles of ordinary people

We all do it: When the camera is on, we tend to look mostly at our own faces. Then we get zoned out.

Before the meeting starts, Blakely suggests that we “preview our video set-up. Then remove vanity as an additional distraction—and focus on what your colleagues are saying—by hiding your own video from your view.”

Pro tip: Blakely recommends that we adopt a few active listening habits. “These include figuring out beforehand what value you can add to the discussion; repeating what you’ve just heard to solidify your understanding; and taking notes to keep your mind on the topic at hand.”

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations.

Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.

especially those coming from disadvantaged communities. We also want to focus on the results of their creative efforts for the past year so we will be showing their works in various formats by providing them an online platform to express their thoughts and ideas,” he further said.

Last year, the art group also launched the Pagbutwa I, a virtual exhibit that was part of the three phases lined up as a community art project.

“We are in the very same situation as last year. While we have been waiting for Phase two, which is the migration of the works from the digital domain to a physical community space we still cannot do that,” said Jobeth Jerao, a KuritLagting member.

“But, the pandemic cannot stop artists from being creative.

Art can help us get through this health crisis. We will also conduct a series of workshops and webinars that are interconnected during the duration of the online art show so that participants will see their progress and learn from each other,” he added.

Kurit-Lagting started as a mural painting group of six members in 2002. The group was formalized as an art collective in 2011.

Today, the Kurit-Lagting has grown into a collective artistic collaboration of Bikolano artists from Sorsogon, Albay, Catanduanes, Masbate and Camarines provinces with art advocacies on human rights and the environment.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8

| Monday, March 29, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SASO INSPIRATION FOR PHL ATHLETES P

RO golfer Yuka Saso vowed to provide inspiration for Philippine sports amid the mounting challenges wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic that just doesn’t want to go away a year after the crisis struck worldwide.

“Patuloy po akong magbibigay ng karangalan sa ating bansa. Mabuhay ang atletang Pilipino,” said the 19-year-old Saso in her short and entirely Filipino acceptance speech from Japan after being recognized as the 2020 Athlete of the Year on Saturday during the San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Awards Night at

MARCIAL

the TV5 Media Center.

Saso considered her second Athlete of the Year award in the last three years as a big honor for her and her family. She received the same award from the country’s oldest media organization— currently headed by Manila Bulletin sports editor Tito Talao—in 2018 when she shared centerstage with fellow 2018 Asian Games gold medalist golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go, weightlifting champion Hidilyn Diaz and skateboarder Margilyn Didal.

“Maraming salamat sa Philippine Sportswriters Association sa pagbigay at

VARGAS

PBA’s 46th season opening hangs ­–Comm Marcial

T

By Josef Ramos

HE Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) plan to open its 46th season on April 18 now hangs in the balance following the reimplementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the Greater Manila Area (GMA) to curb the spike in Covid-19 cases that is close to breaching 10,000 infections a day in the past week.

“We still don’t know what will happen, so I cannot say anything for now,” PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial told BusinessMirror on Sunday.

“We will see the [status] on April 5 first. Nobody wanted this to happen in the first place.”

Malacañang enforced ECQ starting on Monday in Metro Manila, Laguna, Bulacan and Rizal province because of the alarming daily increase in Covid-19 cases. Under ECQ, movement

are more restricted and gatherings are almost totally banned.

Marcial recently announced an April 18 opening day in a semi-bubble format at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo City, but everything remained on hold because of the ECQ that ends on Easter Sunday on April 4.

PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas shared the same sentiment as Marcial.

“All teams have just stopped practising [non-contact practices],” said Vargas, TNT Tropang Giga’s governor. “We are eyeing a closedcircuit semi-bubble format because it’s hard to do a pure bubble again.”

By semi-bubble, everyone involved in the games will strictly follow a home-venue-home routine—unlike in the pure bubble where players, coaches, officials and staff are confined in a closed facility.

pagkilala sa akin bilang Athlete of the Year ulit,” she added.

Saso currently campaigns in the rich Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour and is hoping to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. She is currently ranked No. 44 in the world.

Also sharing the limelight in the program presented by San Miguel Corp. and backed by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and Cignal TV, were Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol”Tolentino (President’s Award), Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner Willie Marcial (Executive of the Year) and the

Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (National Sports Association of the Year), with its president, Ricky Vargas, accepting the award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award were also bestowed on the late ambassador and basketball godfather Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, former PBA Commissioner and Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Executive Director Renauld “Sonny” Barrios and former Project Gintong Alay Director Jose Romasanta.

PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez was the special guest speaker of the first-ever virtual awards night in PSA history hosted by Gretchen Ho and

Paolo Del Rosario, with 1Pacman Partylist, Chooksto-Go and Rain or Shine as major backers.

Ramirez lauded Filipino athletes for “keeping their stars shining even brighter in these dark times.”

Boxing great Senator Manny Pacquiao was also in the honor roll as the Chooks-to-Go Fan Favorite “Manok ng Bayan,” together with the trio of Alex Eala, Johnriel Casimero and Pedro Taduran, who received Major Awards.

A total of 20 personalities and entities received citations, while a special recognition was given to athletes who served as frontliners during the pandemic.

TSUKII WINS GOLD IN SERBIA F

ILIPINO-JAPANESE Junna Tsukii bagged a gold medal in the in the International Golden Belt Karate tournament in Cacak, Serbia, on Saturday to boost her bid of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.

Tsukii beat Croatian Jelena Pehar, 2-1, in the final of the female -50 kgs senior kumite final, making her chances of joining six Filipinos who have already earned berths to Tokyo brighter.

“European players are physically strong, so they often do more short-distance techniques such as throwing and kicking,” Tsukii said. “So I needed to change my strategy by maintaining some distance first before going to my short distance technic.”

She defeated Serbian Milica Stanimirovic, 0-0, in the quarterfinals and another Croatian

Grdenic Ines, 2-0, in the semifinals.

The 29-year-old Tsukii intimated to the BusinessMirror to go all out in the Premier League in Lisbon, Portugal, in May to emerge as Asia’s No. 1, a lofty spot that will send her sailing to the Olympics.

“I really want to raise the Philippine flag on top of the world,” said Tsukii, now No. 4 in Asia with 3,712.50 ranking points. “If I will be ranked high in Asia, including other classes or if I’ll win the Olympic qualifying in Paris, I can go to the Olympics.”

The Olympics are set from July 23 to August 8 with boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Irish Magno, Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio, gymnast Carlos Yulo and pole vaulter EJ Obiena already qualified for the Games.

Tsukii, who won gold in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games along with Jamie Lim (women’s

+61 kgs also of kumite), will also compete in June’s Paris qualifiers where the top three in each class advancing to the Olympics.

She paid from her own pocket her plane tickets, food and accommodation in Cacak tournament, except for the tournament fee which was shouldered by the Serbian karate federation.

Karate Pilipinas President Richard Lim congratulated Tsukii for a job well done.

“Every win is a win morale booster for her, it’s a step-by-step process,” said Lim, who is presently with the national karate team’s Istanbul training camp in Turkey.

“There’s a possibility Junna will join us here in Istanbul after the tournament in Lisbon,” Lim added. Josef Ramos

the mnatchup to an tiebreaker.

The North division top seeds Heroes rode their momentum for a 3-0 win in the tiebreak over the Indios of GM Julio Sadorra and International Master (IM) Cris Ramayrat Jr. Fide Master (FM) Austin Literatus provided cushion for the Heroes after defeating fellow FM Deniel Causo to seal the victory.

Laguna will face the San Juan Predators, labored before ousting the Caloocan Loadmanna Knights in their own semifinal duel.

The Knights, on the other hand, cemented their grip of the Southern division but not without digging deep against the Toledo Trojans. Iloilo, led by GM Joey Antonio Jr., had to squeeze out a 2-1 in the tiebreaker to advance to the finals.

Iloilo takes on the Camarines Soaring Eagles, who dispatched the Negros Kingsmen in straight sets, in Saturday’s other semifinals.

The division finals are scheduled starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Miguel La Torre

SECOND DOSE Tokyo Olympics-bound

boxer Eumir Felix Marcial (right)—along with (from left) Jonas Sultan, Joven Jimenez and Brendan Gibbons—receive their second dose of the Pfizer anti-Covid 19 vaccine on Saturday at the Walgreen in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Top seeds Laguna, Iloilo in group finals SPORTS Minister Roxana Maracineanu faced sexism herself and says it’s time for French mindsets to change.

Calls for change in women’s rights in French sports growing louder

P

ARIS—French society is at a “turning point” for women’s rights within the maledominated sports world, the country’s sports minister said this week amid a wave of protests from female journalists denouncing discrimination.

With Paris preparing to host what France hopes will be the most equal-ever Olympics in 2024, Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu described her own experiences facing sexism and said it’s time for French mindsets to change.

“Whether we are a female journalist or a female minister or a female leader, today, if we want to advance the [women’s] cause, we need to push it forward with determination, ambition, conviction, because it can change people’s way of thinking,” Maracineanu told The Associated Press in an interview.

The 45-year-old minister, the first world champion in French swimming history and silver medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, also worked as a sports commentator on television. She said she was not surprised by the stories told by multiple female sports journalists in a documentary aired Sunday denouncing sexist remarks and harassment they routinely face from colleagues and people commenting on social media.

In recent years, similar scandals broke out in France’s health sector and in the restaurant industry, she said.

“And I’m even less surprised how very accurate this theme is in the sports sector,” Maracineanu said. “It is overwhelmingly a male world, historically male-dominated.”

On the day the documentary went on air, more than 150 female sports journalists published an appeal calling for “gaining ground” in the profession.

The top French media watchdog said that women’s voices were heard in 13 percent of all radio and TV sports coverage in the country last year. About half of France’s journalists are

women, although they make up only 10 percent of the country’s 3,000 sports journalists.

Maracineanu, who has been in President Emmanuel Macron’s government for two years, said she herself experiences sexist attitudes in her job—including some people suggesting she’s not competent or legitimate enough to supervise all sports, especially those traditionally viewed as masculine.

“They make me feel I don’t have the right to speak about some topics because social media or even some journalists or commentators feel they are allowed to call into question what I’m saying as sports minister,” she said. “I often get some remarks saying, ‘You, you know about swimming, but you don’t know about soccer or rugby.’”

Yet things are changing, she added.

“This documentary for example, where women speak out, tell their stories, dare saying what they went through. It also enables the management to discover some things they were not aware of, investigate internally, or a judicial investigation to be initiated if needed, and raises awareness among the public,” Maracineanu said.

Amid journalists speaking in the documentary, Clementine Sarlat, a rugby expert, left one of France’s most prestigious sports programs in 2018 after facing sexism and harassment as she was coming back from maternity leave.

“I’ve been discriminated against,” she told the AP. In addition to sexist remarks, Sarlat, who was initially due to co-host the show, was told she would in the end have to “step aside” and would get no salary increase.

She later publicly described the distressing environment, prompting an internal investigation in the public television group that led to the laying off of three people from the sports service last year. AP

T

OP seeds Laguna Heroes and Iloilo Kinsela Knights played true to form in Saturday’s semifinals to march with confidence in the division championships of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) All-Filipino Cup. The Heroes, powered by Grandmasters (GM) Rogelio Barcenilla Jr. and John Paul Gomez, survived the stubborn Manila Indios Bravos—losing the first set, 9-12 , but bouncing back in the second, 13-8, to send

Osaka looking unstoppable in Miami

M

IAMI—Naomi Osaka might never hit a worse shot. Not that it mattered.

The world’s No. 2-ranked woman shanked a serve that sailed over her opponent’s head, but shook off the mishit to win her 22nd match in a row Friday, beating Ajla Tomljanović, 7-6 (3), 6-4, in the second round at the Miami Open.

Serving into the sun in the final game, Osaka clunked her shot off the lip of her racket, blooping the ball past an astonished

Tomljanović.

“That was actually kind of funny when I got past my frustration,” Osaka said. “The sun was like on top of a cloud, and it gave off this really weird glare effect. It was kind of my fault for being stubborn and not trying to catch my toss and wait it out.”

Other serves were much better—Osaka hit 13 aces. She hasn’t lost in more than a year, and her winning streak includes her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month.

She needs only one more victory for her best showing in five appearances in Miami, where she has historically made early exits.

“I don’t think there’s too much you can read into them,” Osaka said. “I think there’s always a

reason I haven’t done well here, and hopefully I’m able to do well this time.”

In men’s play, No. 3-seeded Alexander Zverev double-faulted three times on break point and lost to No. 83-ranked Emil Ruusuvuori, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1. Zverev was coming off a run to the title last

week in Acapulco.

No. 1-seeded Daniil Medvedev needed less than an hour to beat 37-year-old Yen-hsun Lu, 6-2, 6-2. Three other seeded men lost—No. 8 David Goffin, No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 30 Reilly Opelka.

Goffin, a semifinalist in 2016, was upset by James Duckworth, 6-3, 6-1. Dimitrov was swept

by Cameron Norrie 7-5, 7-5. No. 30 Reilly Opelka lost to Alexei Popyrin, 6-4, 6-2.

In other women’s play, No. 10 Kiki Bertens was upset by Liudmila Samsonova, 6-2, 6-1, and No. 13 Jennifer Brady lost to Sara Sorribes Tormo, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. No. 4 Sofia Kenin rallied past Andrea Petkovic, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3.

Winning in straight sets were No. 6 Karolina Pliskova, No. 8 Bianca Andreescu, No. 12 Garbiñe Muguruza and No. 16 Elise Mertens. AP

NAOMI OSAKA wins 22nd consecutive match. AP

ATHLETE of the Year Yuka Saso delivers her short speech online.

Monster bash in NBA THE Brooklyn Nets have been accused of buying a championship with their already star-studded roster receiving more reinforcement with the addition of LaMarcus Aldridge.

The Nets, who as of this writing sport a 31-15 record that is good for second in the Eastern Conference and third best overall in the National Basketball Association (NBA) behind the Utah Jazz and the Philadelphia 76ers.

They have an All-Star wing of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Blake Griffin, James Harden, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan. Word is that Andre Drummond, waived by Cleveland, is also headed to Brooklyn.

Obviously, it has spawned all these hate diatribes. While one can argue Brooklyn went into overdrive, this has happened so many times in the past. So please stop with the pleas for parity (we’ve been hearing that since Red Auerbach mastered the art of fleecing teams of solid players to become the NBA’s greatest dynasty).

Remember when the Los Angeles Lakers added Karl Malone and Gary Payton to the tandem of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant during the 2003-2004 season that ended in a 4-1 NBA Finals loss to Detroit? Remember they had brought in Horace Grant who was an All-Star with Chicago and O’Neal’s teammate in Orlando and who had won titles with the Chicago Bulls? Byron Russell, who was a starter for the Utah Jazz with Malone also came in. They had solid players in Rick Fox and Derek Fisher who had won three titles with LA. How about the time when the Lakers reeled in Memphis’s Pau Gasol? They had Bryant, former Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat star Lamar Odom and young star center Andrew Bynum. They won two NBA titles.

Before they won it, the Boston Celtics of 2007-2008 brought in Kevin Garnett from Minnesota and Ray Allen from Seattle. They won a title.

And there are the Miami Heat squads of Dwyane Wade where he helped recruit LeBron James and Chris Bosh along with some key role players.

And didn’t the Golden State Warriors add Durant during the 2016 season to a team with already three All-Stars?

Oh, wait...didn’t the Lakers of 2019-20 bring in LeBron James, Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, Danny Green, and Anthony Davis to end their title drought?

Howard not his old self? Well, is Blake Griffin his old self with Brooklyn?

Of the teams I mentioned it was only the Lakers squad of 2003-2004 that did not win a title.

You know, we can also go back to the acquisition of Dennis Rodman by the Chicago Bulls during the summer of 1995. Although I must say that no one knew how Rodman would mesh with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson because he had been disruptive towards the end of his stint with Detroit and with the San Antonio Spurs. That they kicked major butt and won three more titles says something.

Then again, the Bulls won three titles with Jordan and Pippen as the best duo in the NBA. Am I unhappy with these super teams being put up?

I think I have been numbed to it since the 2003-04 Lakers. In the Philippine Basketball Association, well, it happens a lot as well.

Whether you believe they are here to win it all now or to unseat LeBron James is beside the point.

The fact is, it’s legal. I don’t like it, but it is legal.

Didn’t we just watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win a Super Bowl by bringing in three former New England Patriots in the G.O.A.T. Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Antonio Brown (who made a name for himself outside his stint in New England)?

We all know that all-star teams do not always win. Check out Real Madrid’s Galacticos. Whether the addition of Aldridge brings a title to Brooklyn remains to be seen.

I’ll say this though, I am not hating on them. I think I am excited to see this super power race. It’s like having this kaiju monster mash with Godzilla throwing down with Rodan, Mechagodzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah.

Let’s get it on.

RealEstate BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

F E AT U RE

REAL ESTATE RECOVERS THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY

INCREASING BUILDING RESILIENCY, IMPROVING THE WELL-BEING OF TENANTS IN THE WORKPLACE

U

By Leony R. Garcia

NDER the current circumstances, going back to the old normal is not an option so the only alternative is to create a better normal.

The challenges are huge but the global health crisis also presents a lot of opportunities.

In fact, it is during these situations that leaders and entrepreneurs think of ways to solve new problems and give themselves an advantage.

When this is over, it should not be business as usual.

Property owners and developers have started to improve their building efficiency and shift the focus to sustainability. Along with the environmental benefits, health and wellness are also emphasized in this transition as the threats of the virus can be present in common areas such as the office.

Even before the pandemic, workplace strategists have been promoting a change in the concept of office spaces. Commercial buildings are no longer just containers for people but rather an experienced supercharger where most people satisfy their needs for socialization and human-to-human connection. According to Michael Glindro, associate director for Landlord Representation and Project marketing Team, KMC Savills, Inc., the function of the office should become less about maximizing workplace density and geared toward the quality of the space and the experience it delivers.

Installing green building technologies

help in containing the spread of viruses and puts building tenants in good stead against future disease outbreaks. Landlords should invest in more sophisticated systems and technology to increase the sustainable quality and efficiency of a building. This technology can help urge more people to come back as it utilizes automation, sensors, and other contactless features that will better protect and contain viral transmission.

The World Green Building Council has continuously reminded developers of the impacts of commercial establishments on public health and to the community. The WGBC advocates for better ventilation, indoor air quality, and various internal systems focused on occupant’s comfort. The council said that these are key areas of consideration in making healthy, pandemic-proof workspaces.

Dr. Ho Nyok Yong, President of the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC), said in a previous webinar: “Think of green buildings as giant N95 face masks, protecting you from harmful toxins the moment you step inside.”

Experts also suggest a holistic approach when shifting to sustainable developments.

Buildings and its subsequent modifications should be designed for value, experience, and

performance. As the pandemic drastically impacts commercial real estate in many ways, developers and building owners should be aware that office workers now expect additional precautions upon their eventual return to the workplace.

While remote work continues and staggered shifts with fewer people in the office at one time has become the norm, offices will still need to adjust their logistical and operational costs. Despite these suggested modifications and adjustments, landlords and developers should keep in mind that the goal of sustainability is to increase building resiliency and improve the well-being of tenants in the workplace, according to Glindro.(For more sustainable strategies, call (+63) 2-8403-5519 or send an email to info@kmcmaggroup.com.)

The industrial and logistics sectors are seen to lead the soft recovery of Philippine real estate in 2021

ACCORDING to property consultancy firm Santos Knight Frank many consumers were forced to adapt to e-commerce platforms for their household necessities such as food, groceries and essential supplies during the lockdown period. This accelerated the adoption of ecommerce across multiple product lines and ensured the long-lasting impact on consumer behavior, with important implications on the growth of the industrial and logistics sectors.

“In 2021, macrotrends such as the boom of e-commerce, flexible office setups and continued decentralization outside Metro Manila are likely to continue and contribute to the property market’s recovery. In addition, the demographics of the Philippines remain key in driving the real estate market’s long-term

performance. The country’s growing population will drive consumption, online retail, and the industrial and logistics sector, while its young pool of talent will help retain the Philippines’ place in the global BPO industry as outsourcing increases overall,” said Rick Santos, chairman and CEO of Santos Knight Frank.

On the other hand, the residential market is expected to display a slow but steady rebound overall. However, residential supply and demand are expected to shift from the traditional business districts to adjacent urban areas as a result of blended work set-up and increasing preference towards a less dense environment.

Meanwhile, Colliers International Philippines encourages occupiers to explore the following post-COVID recommendations in preparation for the new normal: Evaluate the feasibility of remote work; Revisit density ratio and workplace design; Explore opportunities to negotiate with longer lease terms; and Look into fringe locations when considering cheaper rents but revisit CBD options with revised rental rates.

Moreover, as property and facilities management will become more vital for occupiers, Colliers urges landlords to start implementing new measures to remain attractive to tenants such as the following: Consider lease extensions in exchange for rent-free concessions to prevent defaults; Work with existing occupiers to provide flexible lease terms; Revisit wellness and building design features (e.g. air circulation, glass ratio, and LEED/WELL certifications); and Target epidemic-resilient occupiers that cater to essential goods and services (e.g. data centers, pharmaceutical companies, and other healthcare-related industries).

Monday, March 29, 2021

Anflo Industrial Estate: The Philippines’ Premier Agro-Industrial Hub

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EVERAL industries are expecting a rebound this 2021 while the industrial sector posed as the most stable asset in 2020.

Real estate consultancy firm Cushman and Wakefield Philippines reports that the renewed opportunities brought about by the pandemic in the areas of e-commerce, food and groceries, and other essentials are seen to maintain bright prospects in the industrial segment of the property sector for the year 2021.

This puts Anflo Industrial Estate as an excellent catalyst for economic development, with site development continuously picking up from the inevitable slowdown last year. Amid the pandemic, the PEZA-registered ecozone has completed its ready built facilities and warehouses while its cold storage will see completion before the second half of the year as demand has continued to rise during the latter part of 2020.

AIE aims to develop enterprises of all sizes by providing ownership and leasing options equipped with modern infrastructure and services.

AIE manages its prime industrial lots and modern ready-built facilities, and provides its locators access to complete utilities and services such as a wide road network, stable power and water supply, 24/7 security protection, and proper sewage disposal. With the completion of its ready-built facilities last year, AIE provided more options to investors looking for a “plug and play” opportunity for industrial businesses.

AIE reported a total of 15 locators to date, 5 nationalities represented and more than 600 employees already in the park. Among these locators, four of them were able to start their operations despite the pandemic.

Year on year, AIE meets the requirements of demand with its agile site development and within a span of five years since its launch in 2016, 33 hectares have been developed including 2.1 hectares of ready-built facilities and warehouses and 2.06 km of roads. AIE reported several exciting projects planned for 2021 including the launch of their commercial area through a one-storey commercial building to cater to the needs of the employees in the park.

About Anflo Industrial Estate Anflo Industrial Estate is a 63-hectare industrial Special Economic Zone registered under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. It is the Philippines’ Premier Agro-Industrial Hub. Located strategically between two major economic hubs, Davao City and Tagum City, AIE is positioned and designed to further develop the vast potential of the agro-industry of the Davao Region and Mindanao by providing a ready market for the region’s agri-produce and efficiently exported to the rest of the world. Only 300 meters away from AIE is the Davao International Container Terminal, Mindanao’s premier container terminal for the efficient import and export of mainly agricultural products such as bananas, pineapples, etc.

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A BusinessMirr

Monday, March 29, 2021| www.businessmirror.com.ph

TRANSITIONING TO THE DIGITA Time for insurers to level-up

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By Leony R. Garcia

ONE are the days when insurance collectors would be knocking doors to collect monthly payment of insurance policy buyers.

Growing up in a family that believes in the value of education, my mother got me educational insurance in time for college.

Everytime her collector fails to come to collect the monthly premium, Nanay would be going to an office in the Quiapo area to pay her dues.

However, when her insurer decided to join the Makati head office, which was far from our Manila residence, and her collector failed to come for several months, my mother had no choice but accepted the fact that she wasted hard-earned money in paying my educational insurance.

To cut the story short, I finished college without enjoying the benefit of the insurance. Today’s technology makes this story and similar experiences on missed payments or missing collectors things

of the past. With digitization, insurance companies can use tools such as websites, apps, email, social media, live chat, text and other digital channels to reach out to customers. Moreover, customers can pay bills, view policies, and file claims via an app—right at the comfort of their homes—and brokers can receive and process all information on their end under one system.

Digital Transformation is Changing the Insurance Industry

DIGITIZATION has transformed countless commercial industries – from manufacturing and retail to hospitality and healthcare. In the Philippines, the insurance industry has traditionally been slow to modernize, but the pandemic has made it clear that the time is now for insurers to embrace digital

transformation.

Any business that wishes to stay competitive in today’s marketplace must meet customers where and when they need something.

The digital transformation of insurance – powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, mobile service, live chat, etc. – is enabling insurers to do just that, and will keep changing the industry for years to come.

The digital transformation of insurance has definitely changed the industry: operations are streamlined, customer interactions are done via chat, claims can be processed automatically, and brokers can aggregate all their information to work faster and more accurately. It is also helping to personalize marketing efforts. Robust data analytics and AI systems can tailor and target marketing efforts for insurers, using the power of social media to reach audiences they can truly impact.

According to the Geneva Association, digitalization is changing the role of insurance, from pure risk protection towards predicting and preventing risks. The risks insurers cover and the ways they underwrite, distribute, and manage claims are also changing. In an increasingly digitized world some risks will become less frequent,

Digital transformation goes front and center during the pandemic

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IGITAL transformation was the key to most companies’ survival during the pandemic even for heavilyregulated industries such as life insurance. However, it comes with its own challenges.

One of them, strict government regulations, could potentially hinder companies from fully-transforming digitally but Insular Life (InLife) views them as opportunities to partner with government units and industry associations.

“There are strict policies with regards ecommerce, data privacy and capitalization requirements which could, in a way, constrain the product development process or affect how we design the customer experience or how quickly we want to adopt new technologies,” said InLife First Vice President and Chief Technological Officer Gwendolyn D. Kelley.

Kelley identified two other factors that could deter companies from embracing digital transformation: cyber security and maturity of the buying public. “Putting in place a very secured platform that’s open to the public costs a lot.” Aside from this, the readiness of the public to adopt or adjust to new technology must be considered. “An innovation cannot be

successful if people will not use it.”

She noted that even with these constraints, it was not difficult for InLife to pivot during the pandemic. “We have built a robust technical architecture starting in 2015 when we implemented the Automated Underwriting System (AUS), a first in the industry, and replaced our core insurance system with enhanced technology.” The AUS allowed InLife to issue policies in about 30 minutes, which used to take them days to accomplish.

Later, the Company developed its Customer Portal, a self-service online servicing platform that allows its customers to pay premiums, switch funds, withdraw funds, take out policy loans, or withdraw dividends on their own.

These are services which proved to be vital to their customers during the pandemic when the community quarantine for most areas in the country was imposed. “We further expanded our customer channels by putting in place chat platforms and a chatbot in our Facebook mes-

senger account,” added Kelley.

One of the key factors, aside from the acquisition of the AUS, was InLife’s adoption of the Agile mindset in solutions development. “That paved the way for us to prioritize high value projects, increase collaboration and quickly deliver solutions and products required by the business.”

One of the important results is the launch of the company’s estore, the InLife Store (https:// www.inlifestore.com.ph/) which complemented the Company’s presence in Lazada.

Right now, she said InLife is working on automating more processes and implementing new tools that would enhance productivity, expand its e-commerce business, and improve customer experience.

This pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to companies, big and small, but for InLife’s Kelley, digital transformation must be embraced by everyone in the organization. For her, the three important factors that businesses must have in order to take advantage of digital transformation are: Top Management’s foresight, important partnerships, and ability to harness the benefits of technology with the right skills and mindset.

“First, our top management’s foresight enabled InLife to set up the InLife Virtual Business Enabler (InLife ViBE) which allowed our financial advisers to pursue their work of educating and providing insurance protection for Filipinos.

Second, we need to be open as an organization in partnering with other companies who can help us expand our presence or provide plug & play services that will improve our customer journeys.

Third, we need to be an agile organization that can quickly & collaboratively implement new technologies and execute initiatives to enhance customer experience, improve operational efficiency and achieve its goals.”

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ror Special Feature

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Monday, March 29, 2021 ables. Primarily powered by AI and its related technologies of machine learning and predictive analytics, almost every facet of insurance operations have been optimized for speed. Claims can be processed via an app instantly, and policy writing can be done in less time with machine learning capabilities. Digital transformation is also speeding up customer service, where live chat and digital assistants are helping customers in their most important times of need. nPersonalized. Customers today expect service and attention where and when they want it. They also expect it to be suited to their needs, and personalization is now the status quo across all industries.

AL SPHERE while others, like cyber, will gain in importance, and again others may cease to exist.

The real impact of digital transformation on insurance can be summarized in four benefits: nEfficient. The first and most obvious effect of digital transformation on insurance is the efficiencies it en-

Digital transformation is empowering insurers with the tools they need to give customers excellent service without overextending their resources. AI and machine learning create a seamless personalized experience for customers and brokers alike. Customers can pay bills, view policies, and file claims via an app, and brokers can receive and process all information on their end under one system. No more waiting on the phone, wondering if your claim is received and being processed; digital technologies are giving customers instant feedback and helping brokers do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. nScalable. The digital trans-

formation of the insurance industry is also helping it to become more nimble and scalable at both the front end and back end of operations. While insurance historically could be a bit “clunky,” technology today has made it flexible to current demands. On the customer-facing front, insurers today offer service everywhere and anywhere via self-service dashboards and apps and can collect valuable data from customers via IoT-enabled devices and even wearables. On the back end, this technology is collected and helps brokers and insurers make more accurate decisions on underwriting, policies, new product offerings, and more.

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nAgile. Digital transformation is also helping insurers “futureproof,” as these technologies will undoubtedly continue to evolve and create more advanced opportunities for years to come. The foundation that is being laid by AI, machine learning, blockchain data, data analytics, and predictive analytics will help insurers grow and adjust with new insurance technologies and capabilities.

However, these technologies are just the tip of the iceberg for the insurance industry. To be prepared for a digital future, insurers today must adopt the tools of digital transformation and find creative ways to optimize all areas of their operations.

Digital insurance and how it benefits the policyholder

PIXABAY

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experience. According to acko.com, embracing digital insurance solutions are the best way forward. Insurers, as well as policyholders, will quickly witness various advantages, discussed below.

IGITAL Insurance is the way insurance companies operate through digital channels and depend heavily on technology to service an insurance policy is known. In effect, the insurance company utilizes the digital insurance platform to achieve its business model.

Compared to the traditional insurance, digital insurance offers a customer-first business approach.

There are a variety of channels through which customers can research, compare and buy insurance online without the help of middlemen or agents.

Digital insurance also offers simplified coverage options. Claims, risk assessment and pricing are handled solely on modern and software platforms connected to new insurance-specific technologies.

The use of the internet and mobile phones has witnessed tremendous growth across the world. And, the insurance industry is not far behind when it comes to harnessing digital technology to scale their business model and strive to offer a hassle-free experience.

Insurance companies understand the importance of cutting edge technology since customers want to know and trust they are associated with an insurance company that is utilizing the latest technology and tools to give them the best possible

Buying Insurance Online Hassle-Free.

BUYING insurance online has made the entire process easier for customers. Nearly every insurer is offering free online insurance quotes through which customers can choose and buy different types of digital insurance online. It eliminates the need to meet an insurance agent in person. It even eliminates the need to talk or enquire about an insurance product through the phone.

Reduces Cost

TECHNOLOGY has bridged the gap between the insurance company and the policyholder to a considerable extent. This is possible due to the standardization and instant and comparable information. The traditional method of marketing by spending high on operating expenses especially in advertising and infrastructure has reduced considerably with the advent of digital marketing. With cost advantage, insurers are able to pass on the benefit to customers.

Singlife Philippines’ technologyfirst approach to life insurance

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IGITAL is a market force driving massive changes in consumer expectations across industries, urging companies to evolve and respond if not to get left behind.

The same applies to financial services, where more and more customers are getting accustomed to digital channels. They have set a higher standard for how companies should engage with them, influenced by their demand for new levels of access and mobility. To secure a strong, stable footing in the years to come, life insurers need to reassess their business model, embrace the shift to digital, and execute fast.

Some, however, are not here to play the digital transformation game. Already in existence are life insurance companies that are digital to the core, like Singlife Philippines.

Singlife Philippines is a mobile-first life insurer with financial and technological backing from its headquarters in Singapore, the center of progress in the region. It is well-positioned to meet the protection needs of people who understand the value of insurance, but have no access to it, or feel that products made available to them are complicated and expensive. This conflict in the market is what Singlife Philippines is determined to resolve, leveraging on smart technologies to provide customers solutions that fit their budget, needs, and are always on hand.

Singlife Philippines received

its license to operate in February 2020 and within the same year launched Cash for Dengue Costs with FREE COVID-19 cover— the first of its kind in the market.

Available via GInsure on the GCash app, it sells for as low as PHP700 per year with a coverage of up to PHP421,500. What makes this protection unique is that it goes beyond digitization of the purchase process, which is what most life insurers are focused on. Customers can not only buy, but also manage their policy, file claims along with supporting documents, and secure payouts online and real time.

More recently, Singlife Philippines launched Cash for Income Loss (Accidents) which will soon be followed by Cash for Income Loss (Any Cause) and Cash for Medical Costs. Also slated for release in H2 2021 is its direct to customer initiative which will ultimately put people in control of how they save and get protected.

For more information, visit www.singlife.com.ph

In the absence of an agent or a broker, there is a direct contact between the insurer and the customer.

Provides Safety

UNLIKE paper insurance policies, the risk of loss or damage to a policy is eliminated. The electronic form of the insurance policy is safe and can be accessed from anywhere and anytime by the policyholder.

Also, digital insurance offers a safety net against misselling and fraud by brokers or distributors.

Convenience of Transacting

MODERN customers require quick and instant resolution to their needs. Online transactions offer the ease of engaging in various insurance-related processes. Besides, online transac tions can be done from home and at any time, offering convenience to customers. Also, by digitizing the process related to buying, renewing and claims, the entire procedure is simplif ied, thereby enriching the customer’s overall experience.

Maintain Compliance and Regulatory

ANY mis-selling by insurance agents or brokers is eliminated since customers have to go through the entire process of purchasing the insurance himself or herself directly with the insurance company. Customers have the option to compare several insurance companies and their products before selecting the right insurance coverage.

Brand Awareness

DIGITAL marketing strives to educate customers about the insurance company’s products through their website which offers informative and quality content. Insurers can use their social media handles, apps, texts and email marketing to increase the brand awareness among potential customers.

Post-Sales Service

WHILE the initial response during the purchase stage of an insurance policy might give customers the right experience, there is a general impression that customers are forgotten after a policy is sold. However,

with digital insurance, post-sales service such as the process of raising a claim is hassle-free offering a paperless translation. Also, insurance companies are using their social media handles to receive feedback and complaints to resolve issues. This way they are able to provide a better post-sales service much faster compared to the traditional insurance companies.

Claims Being Processed Automatically

DIGITAL transformation in the insurance industry has led to efficiencies in its operations through Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and predictive analysis. Claims can now be processed through the ease of a mobile app instantly and have helped insurers to reduce the time in “policy writing.” Some of the digital insurance companies require the policyholder to upload the pictures of the damages sustained by the insured vehicle and raise a claim making it a lot faster compared to the conventional method.

Leony R. Garcia