BusinessMirror November 05, 2018

WORLD BANK DEFENDS METHODOLOGY IN DOING BUSINESS SURVEY T

Newly built high rises are seen at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig in this BusinessMirror file photo by Stephanie Tumampos.

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

HE World Bank has defended its methodology, amid complaints filed by the Philippine government that the country’s Ease of Doing Business ranking did not reflect the true state of the business environment in the country.

On Wednesday last week, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Finance (DOF) issued a joint statement opposing the results of the 2019 World Bank Doing Business Survey.

The results showed the Philippine declined 11 notches to 124th in the 2019 report, from 113th in the 2018 report. This was largely due to the country’s Getting Credit score, which fell to five from 30.

“The Doing Business report follows a robust methodology that is relevant, appropriate and allows

for global comparability,” the World Bank Doing Business team said in an e-mail over the weekend, parrying Manila’s protest over what it described a flawed data gathering in the Getting Credit survey.

“In the case of the Philippines, the Bankers Association of the Philippines [BAP] Credit Bureau has been included in the analysis of Doing Business for the past few years.

While we are aware of the presence of other credit reporting service providers in the country, the BAP bureau fits with the parameters of the Doing Business methodology,” the team added.

The Washington-based lender explained that the Doing Business survey’s Getting Credit indicator covered the strength of credit reporting systems and the effectiveness of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending.

A broader look at today’s business n

Monday, November 5, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 26

PHL hopeful of keeping trade privileges with EU

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

HE Philippines will most likely retain its trade privilege with the European Union, as the economic bloc reportedly found improvements in the country’s human-rights situation.

Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo Jr. said the EU mission tasked to deliberate on the

country’s General System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) took note of strides made by the Philippines in

terms of adhering to human-rights standards. With this, he expressed confidence the EU will allow the

₧120B Worth of Philippine exports benefiting from the EU’s GSP+ trade preferences, especially in the food and agricultural sector

country to keep its GSP+ status.

“What we did during the mission was really technical. That is how our engagement with the EU is. [It is] very technical, [it deals with] numbers, we bring them to the community for them to see [who Continued on A12

Vietnamese girl who rode water buffaloes named Miss Earth 2018 ANILA—A girl who grew up reading books about birds while riding a water buffalo as it strolls across rice fields near the Great Mekong River in Vietnam has been crowned the new Miss Earth.

Nguyen Phuong Khánh, 23, a marketing student from Ben Tre, beat 86 contestants from around the planet to become the top Earth Goddess after a fast-paced finals on Saturday night, November 3, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Motoring-show anchor James Deakin was “recycled ” as the host of the environment-themed

Miss Earth Philippines 2017 Karen Ibasco (left) passes on her crown to Miss Earth 2018 Nguyen Phuong Khánh of Vietnam at the pageant night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City late Saturday. The titleholder will dedicate her year to promoting specific projects and addressing environmental and other global issues through school tours, tree planting, street campaigns, coastal cleanups and eco-fashion shows, among others. NONIE REYES

PESO exchange rates n US 53.6060

business news source of the year

Election Series #2: Signatories to PPP contracts Alberto C. Agra

ead

L AlbertoPPP C. Agra

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oes the change in administration following an electoral exercise affect public-private partnership contracts entered into by their predecessors? Are PPP arrangements coterminous with the officials who signed them? Do elections affect the integrity of PPP contracts? Do newly elected officials have the license to unilaterally terminate or amend awarded PPP contracts?

Continued on A11

‘Hot’ money net inflow shrinks, but 10-month outflow much smaller

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@misscharlize

2017 ejap journalism awards

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week

By Bianca Cuaresma

By C. Mendez Legaspi

Continued on A12

See “World Bank,” A2

BusinessMirror

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It added that the credit reporting subindicator also measured the coverage, scope and accessibility of credit information available through credit reporting service providers, such as credit bureaus or credit registries.

These credit bureaus and registries, the World Bank said, help address the challenge of providing access to financial services, including credit.

By sharing credit information, they help reduce information gaps, increase access to credit for small firms, lower interest rates, improve borrower discipline and support bank supervision and credit risk monitoring.

“This year, the Doing Business team had the opportunity to visit the Philippines to verify the data and their accuracy on the ground.

The data used for the report are received directly from the credit

@BcuaresmaBM

HORT-TERM investments made by international players continued to flow out of the country in the first weeks of October, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

According to the Central Bank, registered foreign portfolio investments (FPI) for the first two weeks of October hit a net outflow of $101.29 billion.

This is a continuation of the net outflows seen in the previous month at $440 million. It is, however, smaller compared to the $625.5-million net outflow seen in the same period last year.

FPI are known as “hot” or “speculative” money because they are easily pulled in and out of the lo-

$60.43M Total FPI net inflow of the country for the entire year up until October 12, much smaller than the $831.8-million net outflow seen in the same period last year

cal platforms in the slight change of global and local sentiment.

This brings the total FPI net inflow of the country to $60.43 million for the entire year up until October 12.

Despite the small net inflow, this is still a better indicator compared to the $831.8-million net outflow seen in the same period last year.

See “Hot money,” A2

n japan 0.4740 n UK 68.1279 n HK 6.8346 n CHINA 7.6937 n singapore 38.7131 n australia 38.0871 n EU 60.8160 n SAUDI arabia 14.2919

Source: BSP (31 October 2018 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, November 5, 2018

Despite growth, PHL not seen to hit SDG goal of zero hunger

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

Taiwan. . .

children—to meet the target.

The four UN agencies cited a study in 2016 which found that the key drivers of child stunting were “poor dietary quality and quantity for children under two years, poor nutrition of women before and during pregnancy, and poor sanitation and hygiene practices in households and communities.”

The report added that “primary importance of both good maternal nutrition and appropriate child-feeding practices with timely introduction of diverse complementary foods” were also needed to prevent stunting.

“Wasting and stunting share several common causes, including poor maternal nutrition before and during pregnancy, poor diets of young children, poor personal hygiene, poor household sanitation, and household poverty,” the report stated.

Data made available by the report showed the coverage of 90+ iron folic acid supplements among pregnant women in the country was only 34 percent.

This may have contributed to the slight reduction recorded by WHO in the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age in Asia between 2012 and 2016, as indicated in the report.

The report explained during pregnancy, women should receive iron folic acid supplementation within the first trimester and for a minimum of 90 days to prevent anemia.

“The receipt of any iron folic acid supplementation and the receipt of 90+ days of iron folic acid supplementation are global indicators used to track progress in anemia reduction,” the UN agencies said.

Apart from these, water and sanitation also play important roles in improv ing nutr ition nationwide. However, the performance of the country has re-

Continued from A12

Due to political factors, Taiwan has been excluded from Interpol for 34 years.

The “One-China policy,”adopted by the United Nations, says there is only one country of China, despite the fact that there are two regimes, People’s Republic of China and Republic of China, with the official name of China.

Because of its exclusion from Interpol, Taiwan “lacks timely access to key intelligence shared via the I-24/7 global police communications system and the affiliated database concerning stolen and lost travel documents [SLTD]. This has seriously hampered Taiwan’s ability to implement security checks at its borders and fight against terrorism, human trafficking, and other transnational crimes,” said Commissioner Tsai Tsan-Po. The ROC’s long-term exclusion from Interpol has led to delays and disparity in the exchange of critical information, and prevented it from participating in related meetings, activities and training courses, creating a major gap in the global security and counterterrorism network, Taiwan asserted.

Taiwan applied to attend the 85th Interpol General Assembly as an Observer in 2016 and to host an Interpol major event support team (IMEST) in 2017 for security at the Summer Universiade in Taipei. The ROC said Interpol rejected both applications, citing the 1984 resolution it adopted when China attained membership and suggesting that Taiwan contact the National Central Bureau in China.

“No resolutions or arrangements by Interpol should override the aim of strengthening police cooperation and the prohibition of political interference so clearly expressed in its Constitution,” the ROC said.

Meat importers ask DA to lift special safeguard duty on chicken meat

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

HE country’s economic success has not brought it any closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of zero hunger, according to a study released by four United Nations agencies.

The report entitled “Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition” was published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN agencies said stunting in the Philippines is over 30 percent, which is deemed a “very high prevalence,” while wasting in the country is between 5 and 10 percent, of the population, which is of medium prevalence.

“The situation is similarly challenging in nutrition and health areas, where a large majority of countries in the region risk missing the SDG and World Health Assembly targets. These developments in food security and nutrition are at odds with the region’s continuing high level of economic growth,” the regional heads of the four UN agencies wrote in their joint foreword.

The report stated that while economic growth, particularly higher levels of per capita income, has helped improve nutrition, relying on economic growth and higher incomes is insufficient.

While the Philippines’s performance was still above expectations, the average annual rate of reduction in the prevalence of stunting in the country was slow and closer to flat growth.

The report stated that countries like Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam did better in reducing stunting among AsiaPacific economies.

The incidence of wasting among children under five years old in Southeast Asia, which includes the Philippines, needs to be reduced by 44 percent—or 2.3 million

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A boy carries his younger brother to a spot on the sidewalk where their mother is lying down, somewhere in Makati City, in this file photo. According to a UN four-agency report, hungerreduction efforts are at risk despite the Philippines’s growth performance. FILE PHOTO

mained lackluster.

The agencies noted that in the Philippines, there are 57 million Filipinos who do not have piped water supply within the premises of their households.

While this is nowhere near the gap in India where 742 million people do not have piped water supply in their premises, this still makes the country part of the top 10 countries with the most number of people lacking piped water supply in the Asia-Pacific region.

Data also showed that in terms of sanitation, less than 80 percent of Filipinos have access to basic sanitation services. This means over 20 percent of Filipinos do not have basic sanitation services.

The report said there are 6 million Filipinos who continue to practice open defecation, the same as Cambodia. India has the most number of open defecators at 522 million followed by Indonesia with 22 million.

The UN agencies cited various reasons this practice persists: traditional practices, least priority for households, and lack of knowledge about the health risks. Poverty and urbanization has also contributed to this problem.

“The percent of people practicing open defecation has actually increased recently in China, India and the Philippines,” the report stated.

“Open defecation in urban areas is driven by a lack of space to build

Through participation in Interpol, Taiwan said it seeks to share experiences in fighting transnational crime.

Taiwan noted its effort to combat crossborder crime over the years and solve many criminal cases in collaboration with law-enforcement agencies of other countries. Earlier this year, Taiwanese and Thai police conducted a widespread crackdown on economic crime, recovering 120 million baht ($3.69 million) in illicit funds.

Also this year, Taiwanese and Philippine police worked together to capture a Philippine city councilor wanted for drug trafficking who had fled to Taiwan. And following a cyber attack on a local bank in October 2017, Taiwan relied on intelligence provided by the National Central Bureaus of Interpol member-states to intercept stolen funds worth over $60 million.

“These achievements have received international acclamation and recognition. In line with common values and ideals, Taiwan wishes to further contribute to global initiatives that help create a safer world. Indeed, a seamless global security network can be ensured only if Taiwan participates in Interpol.”

“Taiwan is a good neighbor and will help make the world safer,” Tsai said “Fighting crime is the common mission and responsibility of police forces worldwide. Nations cannot singlehandedly address the three priorities under the Interpol Strategic Framework 2017-2020, namely, counterterrorism, cybercrime, as well as organized and emerging crime,” the ROC added.

“As a member of the international police community, Taiwan’s police force should not be left on the sidelines. It has the obligation, responsibility, willingness and ability to stand on the frontlines with its worldwide counterparts in the fight against cross-border crime.”

toilets in high-density settlements and an unwillingness of tenants to invest in toilets where landlords do not provide them,” it added.

This is the first time that the four UN agencies responsible for helping countries in Asia and the Pacific achieve food security, improve maternal and child health and welfare, have jointly published such a report.

Their joint efforts underline the urgency of the present situation and represents a united front and call to action in urging governments to show greater resolve in meeting previous commitments to end hunger and improve food security and nutrition across the region.

The four UN agencies summarize the report’s findings: “What is becoming increasingly clear is that the world cannot meet the 2030 target of zero hunger if Asia and the Pacific— the world’s most populous region—is not leading the way. It is a hard reality but one that must be faced with a united determination to turn things around.”

The report concludes with a cautious note of optimism. “Together, we hope that the findings of this report will contribute to a more informed dialogue. Without doubt, all stakeholders must make much greater efforts to accelerate progress toward the goals of a healthy and hunger-free Asia and the Pacific but their action is needed now. The sense of urgency cannot be overstated.”

World Bank. . .

Continued from A1

reporting service providers and published as such,” the World Bank said.

“Doing Business will continue to monitor the credit information system in the Philippines, evaluating the status of credit reporting service providers in the country based on a rigorous application of the methodology,” it added.

In the joint statement, the DTI and DOF attributed the country’s low score on the alleged failure of the World Bank to gather correct information on the country’s credit information database.

This resulted in a substantial decrease in the credit bureau coverage to 2.7 in 2019 from 8 in 2018, and reduced scores on depth of credit information to zero from 5.

The government also said the country would have obtained a higher score if the World Bank included data from all the credit bureaus—the BAP Credit Bureau Inc., TransUnion Information Solutions Inc. and Microfinance Information Data Sharing Inc. (Midas), to name a few.

“Moreover, it is ironic that the Philippines’s Getting Credit score slumped from 30 points in the 2018 survey to only 5 points in the 2019 survey, when credit is growing yearon-year by 19 percent mostly to micro, small and medium enterprises, the highest among the Asean-5,” the DTI and DOF pointed out in their letter-protest.

The Ease of Doing Business report is a World Bank Group flagship publication and the new report is the 16th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.

EAT importers are asking the government to lift the special safeguard duty (SSG) on chicken meat until January next year to make available “affordable” poultry products this holiday season.

However, local broiler raisers are opposing this proposal and say that the suspension of the SSG has done more harm than good to the local poultry sector and consumers.

Documents obtained by the the BusinessMirror showed that the Bureau of Customs has reinstated the SSG duty on chicken meat imports following the request of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol.

Former Customs Commissioner Isidro S. Lapeña issued Customs Memorandum Circular 209-2018, dated October 17, that formalized the reimposition of SSG duty on imported chicken and chicken products.

In a letter to Lapeña dated October 4, Piñol requested to reinstate the SSG on chicken meat imports, as its suspension did not result in any “significant” reduction in the retail prices.

“Based on the price monitoring of the Department, there was no significant reduction on the retail prices of chicken meat even after the SSG was lifted,” Piñol said in his letter, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror.

“In view of this, we are requesting the reinstating of the pricebased SSG duty imposition on the above-mentioned products effective immediately,” he added.

The government lifted the SSG on poultry imports in August as part of its measures to cut retail prices and help ease inflation.

Countries levy the SSG duty when the price of imports is below or at the trigger price. The current trigger price for poultry imports is P93.96 per kilogram.

Chicken imports are slapped with a 40-percent tariff.

Under Republic Act 8800, SSG duty is slapped on imports outside the minimum access volume, while those within the quota are exempted.

Revert Meat Impor ters and Traders Association President Jesus C. Cham told the B u s i n e s s M i r ro r that he asked Piñol for the reimposition of the SSG on imported chicken meat and products in January to give them more time to bring in “cheaper” imports.

Cham said that majority of the importers have just recently placed their orders, as the formal lifting of the SSG on chicken was made only over a month ago.

Cham added that they need more time for the shipments to arrive in the country and make them available by the holiday season, or else importers may just cancel their orders abroad.

He said imports usually arrive in the country in about 45 days to 60 days.

“What is important is that importers know the timeline for arrival so they can plan accordingly.”

With the expected port congestion in the weeks leading to the holidays, “we need to give additional days for this contingency,” he said.

“If the SSG can be reimposed

Hot money. . .

Continued from A1

Last month the BSP attributed the net outflow of FPI to investors’ continuing concerns on trade tensions between the United States and China, the weakening of the

anytime, then importers will not bring in products due to said risk,” he added.

Cham said Piñol told him that import orders made before the reimposition of the SSG would still enter the country without the additional duties.

However, Cham cautioned that this may not still sit well with the importers who made the orders when the SSG was suspended.

“For products on order, although the DA says previously shipped products will be [exempted], the recent event highlights the risk importers face,” he said. “Some may decide it is not worth the risk and just pull out.”

Rebuke United Broilers Raisers Association (Ubra) President Elias Jose Inciong said the lifting of the SSG on imported chicken has only resulted in “forgone government revenues and windfall profits for importers.”

Worse, this also led to the collapse of the farm-gate prices of broiler in the past months to below break-even levels, according to Inciong. He noted that the suspension of SSG did not yield “any substantial lowering of consumer retail prices.”

“The lifting of the SSG has caused the collapse of farm-gate prices to way below cost-toproduce range of P80 to P85 per kilo liveweight. Based on media reports, retail prices are still at highs of P150 [per kilogram] to P160 [per kilogram],” he told the BusinessM irror.

“Clearly, imports have no impact on consumer retail prices, notwithstanding the academic notions by economists about the law of supply and demand.

Inelasticities at the segments beyond the farm gate have undermined basic economic theories,” he added.

Inciong also pointed out that lifting the SSG anew may hurt the local poultry raisers more, as their current farm-gate levels have remained below production costs.

The latest Ubra price monitoring survey showed that the average farm-gate price of broiler as of November 2 ranges from P61 per kilogram to P70.07 per kilogram, depending on the size.

Inciong said farm-gate prices have declined by at least P15 since September 28 on the back of higher production volume and total supply.

“Local supply has increased because of better production conditions. Imports have definitely increased, especially with the lifting of SSG,” he said.

“If the production trend continues, this problem will persist up to the first quarter of next year. Supply is outpacing demand,” he added.

Inciong said the current farmgate price situation for broiler is unusual compared to previous years, as demand tends to pick up by this time leading to the Christmas season.

“There should be at least be a trend toward an increase in farm-gate prices and if at all, any decline should not be this brutal,” he said.

Piñol told the B usiness M irror that he would hold another dialogue with concerned stakeholders to discuss the matter of SSG on imported chicken.

Philippine peso and the continued uptick in inflation which may have been aggravated by the effects of Typhoon Ompong (international code name Mangkhut).

The US continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 73.7 percent of total hot money remittances during the month.

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OFWs’ unclaimed terminal fee refund now ₧.5B–Miaa

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By Recto Mercene

@rectomercene

ORE than half a billion pesos of cash that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) failed to claim from airport authorities, despite their entitlement to a refund in airport terminal fees, is sitting idle, according to the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa).

It was learned that since the international passenger service charge (IPSC) was collected, the Miaa has generated more than P1 billion, and half of the amount (P500 million) remains unclaimed

by OFWs. “No one can take it except the overseas Filipino worker who is the holder of the airline ticket,” explained airport general manager Ed V. Monreal.

The amount represents the pa ssenger ter m i n a l fee t h at OFW recr uiters have paid in advance, which the airline

carriers have included in the passenger’s ticket.

However, many OFW were unable to refund the cash for varying reasons, chiefly because once employed abroad, they don’t have the time nor the inclination to run after the cash, said Jess Martinez, head of the Miaa’s media affairs office.

All overseas Filipino workers and other special category passengers have five years to collect unrefunded IPSC, the official tag for the terminal fee.

The PSC was first integrated into

airline tickets for domestic flights on August 1, 2012; while international PSC integration followed on February 1, 2015.

In March 2017 Monreal announced that terminal fees for OFWs and certain other special category passengers, such as diplomats and athletes, would formally be waived as part of efforts to streamline airport charges that had been debated during the Aquino administration.

The Miaa started collecting an integrated airport terminal fee amounting to P550 in 2014.

However, OFW groups such as the #NoTo550 Coalition opposed the move and cited the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995 that directs that the fee should be waived upon presenting an overseas employment certificate (OEC).

OFWs, nevertheless, had no choice but to pay for the IPSC as it was already integrated into their plane tickets.

“Passengers can get the refund [of] their terminal fees any day they can, even after five years,” Martinez said.

Under the memorandum of agreement and implementing guidelines for the IPSC Integration Project, air carriers are required to remit their collections to the Miaa based on flown passengers.

Flown passengers mean actual number of passengers who boarded the flight.

For tickets bought online, the OFW must present the OEC to the airline counters for refund. Those who have not brought the OEC with them may proceed to the Miaa administration building from Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. except holidays, for refund with no expiry date.

“Our OFWs are our modern heroes for helping our country’s economy to achieve robust growth through their remittances,” Monreal said.

Monreal said “OFWs who fail to claim their refund due to lack of time before boarding their aircraft can claim their refund whenever they can or wish to claim, without expiration date or deadline.”

Monreal reiterated that OFWs can claim their refund by presenting the copy of their e-ticket/ boarding pass, and passport with immigration stamp.

The airlines have since already stopped col lecting t he P550 terminal fee from all leg itimate OF Ws regard less of whether the ticket is purchased online or from a travel agency eit her i n t he Ph i l ippi nes or abroad, said Monreal.

Monday, November 5, 2018 A3

Compulsory preshipment inspection of containerized cargo seen to boost BOC take

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UHAY Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza has urged President Duterte to order the compulsory preshipment inspection (PSI) of all “containerized imports” to thwart the large-scale smuggling of illegal drugs through the Port of Manila.

“The President is in a position to administratively direct the mandatory PSI at the country of origin of all containerized cargo destined for the Philippines,” Atienza, the House senior deputy minority leader, said.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) already requires all “bulk and break-bulk imports” to undergo PSI. “Containerized imports should also be required to go through PSI,” Atienza, former three-term mayor of Manila, said.

All of the estimated P21 billion worth of methamphetamine or shabu smuggled through the Port of Manila in three batches between May 2017 to July 2018 arrived in 20-foot shipping containers from China, Malaysia and Taiwan.

PSI is the practice used by governments, mostly in developing countries, of requiring importers to engage accredited third-party surveyors to verify shipment details, such as the price, quantity and quality of goods, before cargoes depart the exporting country.

PSI is used to prevent the undervaluation of taxable imports and to compensate for the inadequacies in the importing country’s customs and other administrative structures, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Infuriated by rampant corruption that

enabled P11 billion of the illegal drugs to slip through in August, President Duterte last week ordered the “military takeover” of the BOC. Malacañang has since clarified that soldiers would merely be deployed to the country’s ports to help deter crooked BOC officials and employees.

Atienza said PSI would also put an end to chronic corruption at the BOC that costs the National Treasury tens of billions of pesos in lost import taxes every year.

“Only those engaged in smuggling as well as rotten officials are opposed to PSI, because they stand to lose a lot of money from their rackets at the BOC,” Atienza said.

Atienza estimates that the BOC could easily increase its annual collection of import taxes by 50 percent, or by P350 billion, once PSI is in place for containerized cargo.

“We are counting on PSI to effectively prevent not only illegal-drug shipments, but also the widespread smuggling of high-value farm products, cars, electronics, apparel and what have you stashed in containers,” Atienza said.

The BOC is the government’s secondlargest collector of tax income after the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

This year, the BOC was originally tasked to collect P637 billion in import taxes. This target has since been lowered to P581 billion, and then raised to P598 billion.

The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee expects the BOC to collect P662 billion in 2019.

Economy BusinessMirror

A4 Monday, November 5, 2018 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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COA: Lapses bog down ₧134.98-B infra projects

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE government was unable to fully implement P134.982 billion worth of infrastructure projects in 2017 due to deficient plans, procurement delays and the failure of agencies to impose sanctions, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

The COA noted that 27 agencies experienced delays in implementing or rolling out various infrastructure projects.

Among the reasons cited by

the COA for the partial, or nonimplementation of projects were deficient planning, supervision and monitoring, noncompliance with contract provisions and

operational guidelines, non-imposition of sanctions.

The biggest backlog was with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which failed to implement various infrastructure projects costing P78.188 billion last year, the COA report noted.

Of the amount, the COA said P73.351 billion were programmed for flood-control projects, school buildings, farm-to-market roads, among others.

The COA report noted that the DWPH was unable to complete 2,344 projects within the time specified in the contract, while 135 projects were suspended and 15 are up for termination.

The remaining amount of P4.837 billion were allocated for the implementation of foreign-assisted infrastructure projects.

Other agencies that failed to fully implement infrastructure projects include the National Economic and Development Authority, University of the Philippines System, Department of Education and Department of Transportation.

The state auditors said these agencies must “accelerate project implementation through proper scheduling and planning in consonance with the annual procurement plan.”

“Strictly follow the time schedule for each procurement activity to ensure timely project implementation and efficient fund utilization. Closely coordinate with other government agencies like the DPWH,” the state auditors said in a report published recently.

The COA also urged concerned government agencies to “identify the lapses in the procurement

process” and “institute mechanisms to address the issues identified to effectively carry out all the planned activities and projects for the year.”

“And adjust the implementation schedule of the infrastructure projects, anticipating the effects of failure of bidding and other related reasons of delay to expedite implementation of said projects,” the report read.

The COA also said 28 more government agencies were unable to implement P13.611 billion worth of other projects in 2017 due to various delays.

The Duterte administration had been banking on the roll out of bigticket projects, particularly those that included in the “Build, Build, Build” program, to boost GDP and create more jobs.

October inflation seen easing to 6.5% on stable food prices

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

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HE October inflation rate likely contracted to 6.5 percent, from the 6.7 percent recorded in September, as food prices have started to stabilize, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

Based on the latest DOF economic bulletin on inflation, inflation for all commodities may have slowed to 6.5 percent in October, as the start of the rice harvest season and the recovery of the vegetable sector made food prices stable.

“Rice harvest season starts, rice imports by the NFA [National Food Authority] and the private sector have started to come in, and the vegetable industry has partly recovered from the prior month’s severe weather disturbances. Other administrative streamlining measures signed

by President Duterte to boost food supply are under way,” the DOF said in a statement. While the projected inflation rate for October is lower than September’s 6.7 percent, it is still faster than the 3.12 percent recorded in October 2017.

Broken down, prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages may have settled at 9.15 percent, from 9.72 percent in September and 3.18 percent in the same month last year.

Rice is expected to settle at 10.49 percent, higher than last month’s 10.39 percent; meat at 7.76 percent, from 8.41 percent; fish at 12.94 percent, from 13.38 percent; vegetables at 14.26 percent, from 20.99 percent; and nonalcoholic beverages at 12.41

percent, from 12 percent.

Inflation for alcoholic beverages and tobacco may have accelerated to 22.1 percent from 21.79 percent the previous month and last year’s 7.23 percent. Alcoholic beverages may record a slight uptick and settle at 6.64 percent, from last month’s 6.6 percent, while tobacco may also inch up to 29.94 percent, from 29.41 percent.

The inflation level for nonfood items is seen reaching 4.09 percent, from 3.94 percent in September and 2.84 percent recorded a year ago.

In October inflation for clothing and footwear likely settled at 2.65 percent; health, 4.24 percent; communication, 0.54 percent; recreation and culture, 3.09 percent; education, 4.03 percent; and restaurants and miscellaneous services, 4.14 percent.

The increase in the price of housing, utilities and fuel is seen hitting 4.59 percent, from September’s 4.58 percent, furnishings and household equipment at 3.78 percent, from 3.62 percent, while 8.35 percent for transport, from last month’s 7.96 percent.

The Meralco rate per-kilowatt hour (kWH) may have declined to P9.98, from last month’s P10.07 and P9.28 recorded in October 2017. Generation charge likely reached P5.19 in October, lower than September’s P5.27 and last year’s P4.72.

The DOF pointed out that the month-on-month decrease in electricity rates helped temper the rise in fuel prices.

“Meanwhile, domestic pump

A FISH vendor debones and removes the scales from a milkfish while waiting for customers at a wet market in Makati City in this file photo. The Department of Finance said inflation in October will be lower than the 6.7 percent recorded in September as food prices have stabilized.

prices of diesel and gasoline peaked during the month as Iran sanctions threaten to push up international crude oil prices anew,” it added.

In the National Capital Region, diesel prices likely averaged P50.95 per liter in October, from P48.55 per

liter in September, and last year’s P34.51 per liter. Average gasoline prices may have also increased to P61.92 per liter coming, from P59.82 per liter in September, and P46.89 per liter in October 2017.

In September President Duterte

issued Administrative Order 13, as well as Memorandum Orders 26 to 28 to stabilize commodity prices and the supply of basic agricultural products. The government made the move after inflation surged in recent months.

Oil firms roll back prices for 4th consecutive week

Night differential, hazard pay eyed for state workers

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WO Senate bills granting nightshift differential pay and hazard pay for government workers are up for plenary consideration and approval as soon as Congress reconvenes regular sessions next week.

Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV confirmed that Senate Bill 1562 and SB 559 are now in line for early approval on second reading as endorsed by the Committee on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation.

“Hard-working government employees toiling in the wee hours or in hazardous areas could receive new night-shift differential pay and hazard pay under two bills now being tackled by the Senate,” Trillanes, committee chairman, reported over the weekend.

The senator said the two bills were crafted in recognition of the fact that state workers have “long suffered neglect and poor working conditions.”

“This Act is just a simple effort to repay them for their service and to recognize their role as the backbone of our government,” Trillanes added.

In a statement, the senator pointed out that SB 1562 was crafted to provide a night differential pay for government employees at a rate not exceeding 20 percent of the hourly basic rate of the employee for each hour of work

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

IL firms implemented a price cut for the fourth consecutive week as the international prices of various petroleum products continue to soften.

Phoenix Petroleum Corp. led the price rollback with a P1.10-perliter reduction in gasoline price and P1 per liter in diesel. It was the first to announce last Saturday the downward price adjustment, which took effect at 6 a.m. of November 4, “in order for motorists to enjoy lower pump prices.”

Eastern Petroleum Corp., PetroGazz, Seaoil Philippines also announced last the same price adjustment, which takes effect 6 a.m. of November 5.

Seaoil is also implementing a P0.65-per-liter price rollback in kerosene.

Pilipinas Shell and PTT Philippines, meanwhile, said it would implement a P0.90-per-liter reduction in diesel and P1 per liter in gasoline effective Tuesday, November 6. Shell also reduced the price of kerosene by P0.65 per liter.

Other oil firms are expected to follow suit.

From October 15 to November 5, the price of gasoline has declined by P5.20 per liter, diesel by P2.65 per liter and P2.40 per liter for kerosene.

The price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) also declined last week. Phoenix said it implemented a reduction of P7.50 per kilogram (kg) effective November 1.

Petron also reduced LPG prices on November 1 by P82.50 for a standard 11-kg Gasul tank. Likewise, Petron’s AutoLPG prices declined by P4.20 per liter. “These reflect movements in the international contract price of LPG for the month of November,” said Petron.

The price reductions happened after diesel prices went up by a total of P5.85 per liter, gasoline by P5.05per liter and kerosene by P4.65 per liter from August 14 to October 9.

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

T

performed between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

He explained that the night-shift pay was endorsed by the Senate committee for plenary approval “in recognition of the sacrifices of government employees who work late at night and in the wee hours of the morning.”

Trillanes affirmed “it is only fair that they should be given substantially the same benefits as those given to employees in the private sector.”

The senator added that, SB 559 proposes a hazard pay which shall be received by all government employees who are stationed or assigned to work in hazardous areas, as may be declared by the Secretary of National Defense; difficult areas or hardship posts characterized by distance, inconvenience of travel due to bad roads and conditions of the terrain, isolation, inaccessibility and extreme weather conditions; x-ray units, clinics, laboratories, sanitaria, leprosaria, observation posts and other similar stations which offer risks to health and safety due to exposure to radiation, contagious diseases and volcanic activity.

Hazard pay shall also be provided for workers in: institutions that tend or care for mentally deranged patients; places that are subject to depredation by criminal elements as those in prison reservations and penal colonies without adequate police protection; plants and installations of the arsenal;

aboard aircraft and watercraft in crossing bodies of water; and, other similar work conditions which the Department of Budget and Management shall consider hazardous on the basis of exposure to environment, health and social risks.

According to Trillanes, the Senate committee believes “that it is only fair and reasonable that the officials and employees of the government be provided with appropriate compensation for the risks they assume in connection with the performance of their duties.”

Trillanes said.

“After all, it is the government’s responsibility to protect and look after our government officials and employees whose lives are constantly at risk in order to serve our people.”

At the same time, the senator clarified that both bills state that the night differential pay and the hazard pay could be received by government employees “regardless of the nature of their employment, whether permanent, contractual, temporary or casual.”

He added that under SB 1562, night differential pay would also apply to workers of government-owned or -controlled corporations. He, however, clarified it “would not cover public health workers already given such benefits under Republic Act 7305, or the country’s uniformed personnel, which has a different salary rate.”

Tesda chief’s goal: Help poor learn new skills

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HE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) will prioritize the poor and help them secure jobs and learn new skills via its training programs, its newly installed director general said.

Tesda chief Isidro S. Lapeña said Tesda will “win the hearts of the people” through its skills training programs and services.

“As a public servant, I am challenged and at the same time humbled, to be given this task of helping the country create opportunities to ensure that our human capital remains not only competitive but productive and world class,” Lapeña said.

“We at Tesda should ensure that those who have less in life would have more in opportunities to increase their chances to secure their own livelihood, selfemployment or inclusion in the labor market,” he added.

Lapeña made the assurance during his acceptance speech as the newly appointed Tesda chief during the turnover ceremony from Officer in Charge Deputy Director General Rosanna A. Urdaneta held at the Tesda Women’s Center in Taguig City on October 31.

Urdaneta acted as Tesda OIC after former Director General/ Secretary Guiling A. Mamondiong resigned from his post to run for governor in Lanao del Sur in the May 2019 national elections.

Lapeña thanked President Duterte for the chance to head the 24-year-old government agency.

When informed for the first time of his appointment, Lapeña asked himself: “What will I do in Tesda?”

However, the President explained to Lapeña the correlation between maintaining the stability of peace and order in the country, and the task of developing skilled human resource, specially among those in the lower strata of society.

According to the President, reducing dissatisfaction among the citizens by providing more than enough opportunities will further guarantee the stability of peace and order in the country.

“Tesda is here to provide better technical vocational education for as many as possible. Accessible education and training mean better jobs, and better jobs mean better lives,” Lapeña added.

Lapeña also said that there will be no room for corruption under his administration, proof for which was his request that he will be joined by officials of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission during his oath of office.

Urdaneta encouraged officials and rank-and-file employees of Tesda, particularly the employees union known as the Association of Concerned Employees, to support Lapeña during his transition period.

Prior to Tesda, Lapeña was the commissioner of the Bureau of Customs. Lapeña said he considers his reassignment to Tesda a promotion.

Lapeña is a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, Class of 1973. He has been in the police service for more than 30 years before he retired in 2007. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, November 5, 2018

House seeks law against turncoats

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O stop political butterflies during and after election period, the chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms on Sunday said the lower chamber plans to pass the antiturncoatism bill into law before the 17th Congress.

Citizens Battle Against Corruption (Cibac) Party-List Rep. Sherwin N. Tugna said the measure will be passed on second and third reading when Congress resumes session on November 12.

According to Tugna, the panel chairman, the unnumbered bill substituted four measures, including House Bill (HB) 697. The latter was principally authored by former President-turned-Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and envisions changing the norm of having political butterflies during and after elec-

tion period.

He added the bill can be approved, especially with the support of Malacañang.

“Yes it can still be approved [when session resumes]...with the blessing of the President,” Tugna said.

For her part, Arroyo said the proposal aims to give importance to party ideals and policy agenda rather than political pragmatism and survival.

She said that “turncoatism” should never be encouraged nor tolerated since it only distorts the

concept of word of honor and dignity of a leader.”

The substitute bill aims to institutionalize and strengthen political parties in the country by introducing reforms in campaign financing and providing financial subsidies to political parties to augment their expenditures for campaign.

Under the bill, any member of a political party wanting to change affiliation after being elected on the party’s ticket should first resign from his elective position and seek a fresh mandate from the electorate.

Likewise, defecting persons can neither be appointed nor hold any position in any public office until after the expiration of the term within which they were elected.

The bill covers political parties duly registered with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

It mandates political parties to craft a clear policy agenda and program of governance consistent with their party philosophy and ideals.

Each party shall formulate a system of nomination and selection of candidates, in which all party

members are involved.

Contribution

THE bill said voluntary contributions to any political party shall be limited to the following maximum amount: 1) up to P1 million from a natural person; 2) up to P10 million from a juridical person shall be allowed to make a volunteer contribution under existing laws; and 3) any contribution in cash or in kind to a political party for campaign purposes, duly reported to the Comelec, shall be exempt from donor’s tax.

The bill also mandates the creation of a State Subsidy Fund (SSF), which shall be used directly and exclusively for party development and campaign expenditures of accredited national political parties, such as 1) party administration, recruitment and civic education; 2) research and policy development; 3) education and training of members; 4) institution building and constituent outreach program; 5) other reasonable logistical and operational expenses that are essential in strengthening the party; 6) operating and traveling expenses; 7) information dissemination, advocacy

campaigns, production and distribution of electoral paraphernalia; and 8) other expenditures under Section 102 of the Omnibus Election Code.

Moreover, the bill provides that the SSF shall be distributed as follows: 1) 5 percent shall be used exclusively for monitoring purposes and the conduct of information dissemination campaigns and voter’s education; 2) 30 percent shall be proportionately and ratably distributed to accredited political parties represented in the Senate based on the number of seats obtained in the most recent general elections; and, 3) 65 percent shall be proportionately and ratably distributed to accredited political parties in the House of Representatives based on the number of seats obtained in the most recent general elections.

The measure also mandates the Comelec to be the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the provisions of the Act. The bill mandates the creation of a Political Party and Campaign Finance Department within the Comelec. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Labor coalition urges Duterte to fix ‘weak’ region-based wage-setting system

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E A DER S of Nagk a isa, a coalition of over 40 of the big gest l abor g roups in the country, called on President Duterte to finally reform “weak” region-based wage fixing system.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the coalition said the reported P25wage hike approved by the Regional Tripatite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) exposed the flaws in Republic Act (RA) 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989.

Nagkaisa said labor representatives in these boards are usually outvoted by three representatives from the government and two from employers in deciding the amount of the wage hike.

It said this usually result to a minimal wage hike for workers.

“It manifests a subdued or tamed bargaining power of labor in the RTWPB where representation is not in parity with employers and government representatives who hold the majority,” Nagkaisa said.

Nagkaisa Chairman and Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President Jose Sonny G. Matula urged Duterte to fulfill his campaign promise of restoring the national minimum wage mechanism.

“There is a need to revise our law on minimum wage [fixing], which was placed under [the jurisdiction] of the regional wage boards in 1989,” Matula said.

Prior to RA 6727, it were lawmakers who decided on the minimum wage of workers nationwide.

Matula also appealed to include a provision of “industry-bargaining” approach in deciding minimumwage rates.

Under the said scheme, minimum-wage rates will differ depending on industry rather than geographical location.

Nagk aisa ex pressed disap pointment over the said P25wage hike in NCR since it was way below the P334-wage hike being proposed by the Trade Union Cong ress of t he Phi lippines (TUCP), which it also supports.

Last week Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III denied the P25pay hike is already final. He said he will be announcing the official new amount of the minimum-wage increase in NCR in the morning of November 5.

TUCP Vice President Louie Corral warned a P25-wage hike in NCR will lead to a a widespread industrial unrest. Samuel P. Medenilla

BAR EXAMS

Some of the more than 8,000 people taking this year’s Bar Examination take a break as they leave the University of Santo Tomas campus on Sunday, the first of four Sundays of November for what is deemed the most grueling professional test in the country. ROY DOMINGO

Comelec to accept bids Nov for P78-M SD cards project

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HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will be starting this month the bidding process for its P78-million contract for the acquisition of secure digital (SD) cards it will use for the 2019 polls.

The poll body said it will, conduct a pre-bidding event at 10 a.m. on November 5 at the Basement Conference

Room of the Palacio del Gobernador Building in Intramuros, Manila.

The opening bid for the contract will be on November 19 at the same venue and time of the pre-bid.

To participate in the opening bid, the Comelec said interested parties must first get the complete set of bidding documents and then submit

their official bid to the poll body on or before 9 a.m. of November 19.

The bidding documents could be purchased for P50,000 at the Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee Secretariat or downloaded at the web sites of Comelec or the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System. Samuel P. Medenilla

Day 1 of Bar exams peaceful on strict rules, police presence

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ORE than 8,000 aspiring lawyers trooped to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila on Sunday to take the first of the four-Sunday 2018 Bar examinations.

The Supreme Court reported no untoward incident during the start of the exams as at least 400 policemen were deployed to main peace and order around the UST premises.

As part of the yearly tradition, Bar send-off activities were held by law schools, fraternities and sororities, organizations as well as families and friends for the examinees on the first Sunday at the designated areas outside the venue.

Prior to the Bar exams, Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, chairman of this year’s SC Bar exams committee, met with law school deans for their traditional breakfast. Bar-related issues were discussed.

Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, former law dean of the University of the Philippines (UP), was also present at the venue to check on the security operations and to give moral support to the examinees.

“Eat well, sleep well. Don’t panic and take the exam one question at a time,” he told the Bar examinees entering the UST campus.

As part of the security measures, the Manila City government imposed liquor ban within the 100-meter radius of UST and a “no parking” policy is implemented along the streets of España and Dapitan during the conduct of the exams.

“No tent and tarpaulins” and “no loud music” policies at the vicinity of the venue are also imposed for the four-Sunday exams.

Medical personnel were also deployed for emergency situations.

This year’s examinations will consist of 100-percent essay-type questions.

The Bar examinees took the exams on Political and International Law, and Labor Law and Social Legislation for the first Sunday. Civil Law on November 11; Mercantile and Criminal Law on November 18; and Remedial Law, and Legal and Judicial Ethics and Practical exercises on the last Sunday of the month.

A total of 1,724, or 25.5 percent of the total of 7,227 examinees, passed the 2017 Bar. Deput y Clerk of Cour t and Bar Confidant Ma. Cristina B. Layusa said the number of Bar examinees this year is the highest in recent years. Joel R. San Juan

Las Piñas alternate routes to cut travel time for holiday traffic rush–Villar

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RAFFIC in major thoroughfares in Las Piñas and neighboring towns and cities is expected to ease in time for the holiday season as the second phase of the Las Piñas and fourth phase of the Zapote River Drive road projects have been opened to motorists.

Sen. Cynthia A. Villar and daughter

Camille Villar led the inauguration of the partially completed Phase 2 of the Las Piñas River Drive, a 600-meter road connecting the CAA Bridge to Manuela 4B. It will pass through the Villanueva, de la Cruz and Batibot compounds, through the Daimar Subdivision and end at Manuela 4B. Once completed, the entire

1.2- kilometer Phase 2 of the road project will cover the foot of the CAA Bridge up to the Carmella 3D Bridge.

The first phase of the undertaking spanned 1.7 kilometers and covered Navas Road and passed through the Doña Julita Subdivision to the C5 Extension Road.

The Las Piñas River Drive projects seeks

to provide homeowners and travelers and alternate route connecting the CAA Bridge to the C-5 Extension Road and take motorists away from the busy roadways of the city.

The Villars likewise opened the 1.2-kilometer Phase 4 of the Zapote River Drive, which cuts through the Manuela Subdivi-

sion, the Samanta Village, the Christianville Subdivision in Talon 5, and across Soldiers Hills 2 and Almanza 1 subdivisions. Phase 3 of the road undertaking was inaugurated last year, which covered a full kilometer of flood-control structures and improvements from Pegasus Street, Moonwalk, Talon 5 to M. Alvarez Avenue.

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The Phase 1 of the road project started at Barangay Zapote all the way to Margie Moran Street to Pegasus Street in Moonwalk Village. The Zapote River Drive road project is expected to cut travel time to and from the City of Las Piñas by 30 percent, and at the same time address flooding concerns plaguing the city government.

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6th Dangal A

Business

Monday, November 5, 2018

‘Don’t call us old’: Exceptional elde

This year’s Dakilang Adhikain ng Ating Lahi awardees (from left) Salome Bautista, Quezon City; Necita Sa Ma. Corazon Benavidez, Pasig City; Cornelio Valencia, Mandaluyong City; Julia Chupungco, Pateros; and L Binuya, Aurora Province; are joined by Chuchay Fernandez, BusinessMirror editor in chief; Antonio Carlos G United Bayanihan Foundation assistant manager; Vincent Guerrero, RiteMED general manager; T. Anthon Cabangon, BusinessMirror publisher; and Claire Papa, Unilab head of external affairs and social partnershi

Former senator Eddie Ilarde (fourth from left) receives the Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Award, the highest Dangal Awards distinction given to legendary senior citizens. He is joined by (from left) Chuchay Fernandez, BusinessMirror editor in chief; Vincent Guerrero, RiteMED general manager; Atty. Dave Escalona, Unilab head of legal services; Claire Papa, Unilab head of external affairs and social partnerships; and T. Anthony C. Cabangon, BusinessMirror publisher.

T. Antho BusinessM Gonzaga Foundat Vincent general Papa, Un affairs a joined b Associat of Maka

Eddie Ilarde receives the Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Award from BusinessMirror Publisher T. Anthony C. Cabangon.

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By Jt Nisay

ON’T call us old. We are just older.” With a mic in front of him and the attention of people around, Eddie Ilarde was in his purest form. The entertainment/ politics crossover pioneer was accepting the Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Award—the highest honor bestowed at the recent 6th Dangal Awards, which recognized senior citizens for their outstanding role in the community.

Ilarde’s speech embodied the living legend’s vintage self: Comedic, sharpwitted and delivered in that sweet, sweet radio voice.

“Don’t let anyone call you old,” said the 84-year-old radio/TV icon and one-time senator, speaking to the audience at the Unilab Bayanihan Center in Pasig City last week.

“Besides, tayong mga senior citizen ang pinakamayaman sa lipunan: Compared to everyone else, we have more silver in the hair, gold in the teeth, stones in the liver and gas in the stomach.”

Dangal stands for Dakilang Adhikain ng Ating Lahi, and is an offshoot of the pioneering retirement program Unilab launched for its employees in 1959 called the United Retirement Plan. Over the years, the program expanded, and has become the biggest elderly-dedicated annual awards showcase it is today through the joint undertaking between the BusinessMirror and Unilab, with the support of United Bayanihan Foundation and RiteMED. T. Anthony C. Cabangon, publisher of the BusinessMirror, presented Ilarde with the prestigious recognition named after his late father. He said the former ambassador believed in the capacity of the elderly to serve as productive members of society.

Carlos Bayanih manage RiteMED Papa, Un affairs a and T. An BusinessM by repre Quezon Develop Senior C

T. Antho BusinessM Gonzaga Foundat Vincent general Papa, Un affairs a joined b the Legi (LOVE) o

Awards 2018

sMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Monday, November 5, 2018

A7

erly honored at 6th Dangal Awards

alivio, Manila; Loreto Gonzaga, ny C. ips.

This year’s Dangal Awards saw the largest contingent of nominees in both the individual and group categories with a total of 27 nominees. The Dangal Awards finalists also represented provinces as far as Aurora and Bohol.

ony C. Cabangon, Mirror publisher; Carlos a, United Bayanihan tion assistant manager; Guerrero, RiteMED manager; and Claire nilab head of external and social partnerships; by representatives of the tion of Retired Teachers ati Inc. (Redmak)

Gonzaga, United han Foundation assistant er; Vincent Guerrero, D general manager; Claire nilab head of external and social partnerships; nthony C. Cabangon, Mirror publisher; joined esentatives of the City Social Services and pment Department (SSDD) Citizen Volunteers

ony C. Cabangon, Mirror publisher; Carlos a, United Bayanihan tion assistant manager; Guerrero, RiteMED manager; and Claire nilab head of external and social partnerships; by representatives of ion of Vibrant Elders Inc. of Parañaque City

keynote speaker Sen. Grace Poe

“Mataas ang respeto niya sa mga senior citizen na patuloy na lumilikha ng daan upang matupad ang kanilang mga pangarap [He had a high respect for seniors who continue to find ways to pursue their dreams],” Cabangon said. “Sa pagdaan ng panahon, ang respetong ito ay naging panata ng aking ama, panatang kilalanin ang samut-saring kontribusyon nila sa komunidad at sa bayan [With time, this respect became my father’s vow—a vow to recognize their contributions to community and country].”

Besides Ilarde, the Dangal Awards honored six individuals and five groups committed to raise the welfare of senior citizens in their respective communities.

Day care for elderly

One of the individual awardees is Ma. Corazon Benavidez of Pasig City. A 74-year-old retired teacher and current barangay captain, Benavidez pitches projects to keep her senior constituents active and engaged. Her initiatives include free fitness programs such as Zumba, aerobics and tai chi, as well as a planned “Elderly Day Care.”

Benavidez envisions a facility where the elderly can come in and spend the day occupied with mental exercises, handicraft sessions, information seminars, and even basic computer classes to learn how to use an iPad or write an email—all while waiting for their family to come off from work.

“If it gets the approval, I want the Elderly

Claire Papa, Unilab head of external affairs and social partnerships

Day Care project to be my legacy,” Benavidez said on the sidelines of the event. “But overall, I’m just so happy because my seniors are enjoying their lives. Maybe that’s why even at 74, I’m still full of energy.”

Another Dangal individual awardee, Julia Chupungco of Pateros, has been an officer of the Pateros Office of Senior Citizen Affairs for 21 years. The 84-year-old finds fulfillment in bringing closer together senior members of her community through fund-raising projects and community-building activities.

According to Chupungco, nothing compares to the bond between senior citizens. “Masaya ang samahan namin kasi magkaka-edad kami at nagkakaintindihan kaming lahat [Our relationship is happy because we are of similar ages and understand each other],” she said. “At ayaw naming nasa bahay lang—walang gagawin. Pero ’pag magkakasama kami, naaliw kami [We don’t want to stay home idle. When we’re together, we’re engaged].”

A sense of belongingness, of understanding, both of which ultimately trace to one thing: attention. It is also what Salome Bautista of Quezon City focuses on in her community work, as she believes it’s the one thing that matters most to the elderly.

“Mababaw lang ang kailangan ng mga senior.

Kailangan lang nila ng pansin [Seniors have simple needs. They just need attention],” said the third Dangal individual awardee. Bautista works for the

Nonoy Lacza

Dr. Israel Francis Pargas, acting senior vice president of the Health Finance Policy Sector of PhilHealth, shares the latest updates on senior citizens’ benefits.

Diocese of Novaliches mainly as a parish organizer, leading cooking and livelihood projects in the seven parishes under her jurisdiction. She is committed to serve the people as long as she could, a pledge driven by love, faith and humility.

Rounding out the six individual awardees are Loreto Binuya of Aurora Province and Cornelio Valencia of Mandaluyong. Binuya is a retired US Marine officer who came to Aurora and saw the hardships suffered by many senior citizens in his hometown. Using his own resources, he went to the rural areas and promoted an active lifestyle among the elderly. Meanwhile, Valencia is a retired officer of the Philippine Army. He organizes handicraft sessions and information drives to help senior citizens in his area become familiar with laws outlining their benefits.

The Dangal Awards also recognized local organizations of senior citizens. The winners of the group category are Parkhomes Senior Citizens Association Inc. (Pasca) of Muntinlupa City; SSDD Senior Citizen Volunteers of Quezon City; Association of Retired Educators of Makati City Inc. (Redmak); Senior Citizens Group of District 1 of the City of Manila; and Legion of Vibrant Elders (LOVE) of Parañaque City.

Among the event’s distinguished guests was keynote speaker Sen. Grace Poe, who maintained that the elderly is close to her heart. She said her affinity with them is rooted in her mother,

77-year-old actress and former Dangal awardee Susan Roces.

“I can say my mother is lucky because her daily needs are met, and she’s supported by the people she loves,” the senator said in Filipino, adding that “unfortunately, not everyone at that age is as lucky.”

Poe cited the Philippine Statistics Authority projection that by 2030, the elderly will comprise 11.15 percent of the country’s population. This, despite the fact that the Philippines reported a measly pension coverage of 28 percent for all retirees age 65 and above.

Poe said that along with her office filing bills that aim to support senior citizens, these people should also be accorded with the respect and gratitude that they deserve.

Addressing the senior citizens in the audience, Poe said: “If not for your guidance and care, we would not be here. Whenever we got sick, you stayed awake to watch us. When we were hungry, you prepared our meals. It’s time for us to return our respect and show gratitude,” Poe added.

Green Monday BusinessMirror

A8 Monday, November 5, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

As world’s air gets worse, India struggles to breathe

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EW DELHI—A toxic fog is creeping over New Delhi. Children trudge to school with plastic masks strapped to their faces.

Sports events are canceled. Eyes burn. Throats itch.

Chests heave. It’s the dreaded pollution season in India, when the amount of vehicle fumes, dust and smoke from agricultural fires spikes to levels so high that experts say children breathing this air could suffer permanent brain damage.

Agra. Lucknow. Varanasi. New Delhi. India’s most fabled cities are now among the world’s most polluted. According to some recent rankings, India holds nine of the top 10 spots.

In a sign of how many people—especially the elite—are distressed about this, shops in Delhi now sell “pollution guard” sunscreen and shampoo.

Toxic air has become a global menace that kills 7 million people each year, the United Nations Environment Program said in a bleak report released on Tuesday. The bulk of these deaths are in the Asia Pacific region, it said.

This past week the World Health Organization held what it billed as the first global conference on air pollution and health at its headquarters in Geneva.

Air pollution is the ‘new tobacco’

Thousands of Vietnamese on scooters make their way through the city of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Wikimedia Commons

Earth’s carrying capacity strained by population growth

By Michael A. Bengwayan | Special to the BusinessMirror

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EW YORK CITY—Earth’s renewable resources and carrying capacity is being severely strained to “support with some degree and comfort and individual choice” the world’s human population.

This is due to an overrun of fertility rates since 2000 that caused a global population swell feared to reach 10 billion before 2050, the US Council on Environmental Quality and the State Department said in a three-year study called “Reconnaissance of the Future Global 2000.”

“The declines in carrying capacity, already evident in scattered areas around the world, point to a phenomenon that is fast spreading,” the study noted.

“Unless nations collectively and individually take bold and imaginative steps toward improved environmental, social and economic conditions, reduced fertility, better management of resources and better protection of the environment, the world will expect trouble most of the 21st century,” the study warned.

Grim outlook

As excerpted by the Population Reference Bureau in its Intercom publication, “Global 2000” gives a rather grim outlook for the world in this century.

The study details some of the consequences should global population trends continue unchanged in this century: n Extinction of at least 500,000 plant and animal species by 2050. n A 40-percent slash in all remaining forests in the less-developed countries and loss of several inches of topsoil from croplands the world over. n Much less arable land per person, only one-quarter hectare on the average, from the four-fifths of a hectare. n More than half of the world’s 2 billion barrels of original petroleum reserved resources will already be consumed. n Upsurge in prices of vital resources over the inflation level. n Declines in per-capita water

supply by 35 percent to 47 percent. n Four-fifths of the world population will live in less-developed countries. n Widening gap between the richest and the poorest with great disparities within countries. n More deaths from hunger and diseases, especially among babies and young children, and more mentally and physically handicapped cases among those surviving infancy.

The most troubling of these outcomes is the drop of productivity of Earth’s renewable resources, according to the study.

Technological advances will not stop the inevitable

A nd more troubling, the study sug gested, is that even a l lowi ng t he tec h nolog ic a l developments a nd adopt ions, t he w o r l d ’s h u m a n p o p u l a t i o n w il l only be w ithin a few generations of reaching the entire Ear th ’s car r y ing capacit y.

So what are the chances of stemming the tide and averting the consequences? Not too good.

As the study bared, there is no silver bullet. “There are no quick or easy solutions, particularly in countries and regions where

population pressure is already leading to a reduction of the carrying capacity of the land.”

The assessment stems from observations that living conditions spawned by population-induced environmental deterioration render more difficult reduction of fertility to replacement level (at which the population of a country stops growing).

Some nations will be hard up in feeding their population

As the grim scenario looms, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) bared that at least 28 developing countries would not be able to feed their respective countries by the middle of the century because yields will be adversely affected by climate change and genetic erosion.

Four of the 28 countries are in Asia—Philippines, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam; seven in Latin America—Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Windward Isles and Guatemala; and 17 in Africa—Tunisia, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Benin, Upper Volta, Togo, Mali, Malawi, Namibia, Comoros Isles, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda.

The reasons, UNFAO said, are inferior planting seeds and genetic resources, increasing desertification, prolonged droughts and diminishing water supply, deteriorating soil quality and global warming.

Loss of genetic resources

Biorich areas in the world responsible for food and medical genes important to humanity face erosion most critically in this century, the US Council of Environ-

Unless nations collectively and individually take bold and imaginative steps toward improved environmental, social and economic conditions, reduced fertility, better management of resources and better protection of the environment, the world will expect trouble most of the 21st century.”—Study

mental Quality report pointed out.

As such, these regions holding potential genetic properties of plants or animals that can be used to develop better varieties of crops in farming or develop better livestock need priority conservation efforts if the world is to tame the population boom.

Genetic diversity is being lost as species are becoming extinct; pharmacists are losing raw materials from which new drugs are developed; agricultural scientists are losing wild relatives of crop plants that can ensure more productive or pest- and disease-tolerant food crops; and wild animal breeds are being lost, which could have improved farm-animal breeding.

In its September 2018 report, the Swiss-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the world’s watchdog of flora and fauna, said an additional 27,000 species are in danger of becoming extinct.

Of the number, 41 percent are amphibians, 5 percent mammals, 34 percent conifers, 13 percent birds, 31 percent sharks and manta rays, 33 percent corals and 27 percent selected crustaceans.

Wild species are building blocks for the betterment of human life, but their loss can mean loss of mankind.

The study suggested one way humans may evade the inevitable—by going back to the way of traditional communities.

“Indigenous peoples or ‘Ecosystem people’ value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood as well as through cultural and religious sentiments. A great variety of crops have been cultivated in traditional agricultural systems, and t his per mitted a wide range of produce to be grown and marketed throughout the year and acted as an insurance against the failure of one crop. In recent years farmers have begun to receive economic incentives to grow cash crops for national or international markets,” the study reminded.

It may be well to learn from them.

Bengwayan has a masters degree and PhD in development studies and environmental resource management from University College Dublin, Ireland, as a European Union fellow. He is currently a fellow of Echoing Green Foundation in New York.

Air pollution has become the “new tobacco,” its director general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote in an op-ed last week. “The world has turned the corner on tobacco,” it said.

“Now it must do the same for the ‘new tobacco’: the toxic air that billions breathe.”

In its new report, the United Nations Environment Program outlined 25 measures that could easily reduce air pollution (which also contributes to climate change). One tactic: stopping the burning of agricultural waste like the countless farm fires sweeping across northern India right now.

While data from across India shows that hazardous air pollution continues to rise, progress is being made. The central government, for the first time, is spending more than $150 million to dissuade farmers from burning their fields.

Take the village of Bishanpur Channa, in the northern state of Punjab. Every November, for as long as anybody can remember, Bishanpur Channa’s farmers burned dried-up rice stalks to clear the land for the next season’s wheat crop.

The sky became so sooty that the afternoons resembled evenings. The smoke drifted nearly 200 miles southeast, blanketing New Delhi.

Dalbir Singh Kaleka, a farmer with a snowwhite beard, said he and his neighbors put up with the discomfort because burning was cheap and easy.

“We all did it,” he said.

But this November could be different. Kaleka and his fellow farmers have been buffeted with public-service messages, including a new hit song, “Don’t Burn the Stubble Brother, Don’t Burn.”

Subsidy for alternatives

More persuasive, perhaps, is the $156-million chunk that the Indian government has set aside for subsidizing alternatives to crop burning, such as renting big steel machines that push the excess rice stalks into the ground to act as a natural fertilizer.

This year, Singh said he and many of his neighbors were trying to burn as little as possible.

“Look, I do not want to pollute,” he said. “My son tells me, ‘Even if you lose money, we should save India’s image.’”

Clearly, Indian government agencies are capable of taking bold steps. Beyond the subsidies in Punjab, this month authorities shut down the last coal plant near New Delhi, and they have rerouted traffic and banned some dirty fuel sources.

Cut pollution but open doors to dirty air

B ut Indian environmentalists say their government is lost. At the same time it passes some measures to cut pollution, it passes others that fling open the doors to dirty air.

This year, the central government proposed removing environmental clearances for construction projects up to 50,000 square meters, or about 540,000 square feet, more than doubling the previous threshold. Dust from such projects is a major polluter; the new policies would surely create more.

Like many developing countries, India is walking a precarious line, trying to spur infrastructure, industry and economic growth, all of which take their toll on the environment.

Unlike in China, where a communist government has responded to its own toxic air by slapping criminal charges on polluters, India’s political system is much freer and messier, a sprawling democracy that often shies away from using the stick. Last week, when a group of civil servants and environmentalists took a tour of West Delhi, they found construction sites managed by government agencies among the most flagrant

polluters. At a new subway station, the overseers had not even put up proper barriers or sprinkled water to keep the dust down. “They are taking the undue advantage of being government organizations,”said V. Selvarajan, secretary of Green Circle, a group that works on environmental issues.

The subway system was ordered to pay a fine of 500,000 rupees, or around $7,000.

In the coming weeks, air pollution here is expected to hit a choking peak. Winter will slow down the winds, meaning that still air and cooler temperatures will trap the soot and smoke that rises up from India’s incredibly crowded, growing cities.

Profitable days

For those in the pollution-mask business, these are profitable days. Four years ago, when Jai Dhar Gupta, an Indian entrepreneur who went to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, started selling pollution masks, he was lucky to move 200 a day.

Now, he says, his company, Nirvana Being, sells thousands in a single day.

“We’ve seen online orders coming from villages, the northeast, Goa, places I don’t even know,” Gupta said. But it makes sense, he said, because “this is a pan-India problem.”

So many of India’s larger failures feed into the dirty air. Lacking a good system for waste disposal, for instance, many people simply burn their trash, sending plastic, rubber and other toxins into the air.

The situation is especially bad in northern India, where the Himalayas form a towering barrier that keeps clouds of dirty air parked over some of the country’s biggest urban areas. But data shows how bad the air is in just about every major Indian city.

In Chennai, on the southern coast, average annual concentrations of PM 2.5, insidiously small particles that scientists estimate have killed millions, have quadrupled in the last three years to 105 micrograms per cubic meter from 24, according to data from the first 10 months of each year gathered by the US Consulate. Hundreds of miles north, in Kolkata, the numbers nearly doubled to 78 micrograms per cubic meter, from 40 during the same period.

The latest figures are eight to 10 times the level of hazardous particles that the World Health Organization considers acceptable.

Authorities clueless; ‘investing in emission’

The air in Mumbai, India’s seaside commercial capital with some 20 million residents, is also getting worse. With two smoggy months still to go, average annual concentrations of PM 2.5 shot up nearly 50 percent in the last three years.

Experts blame a mix of factors, including Mumbai’s thickening traffic, noxious gases from landfill fires, construction dust and emissions from coal plants in the suburbs. A few local groups are trying to put pressure on the government to get serious, but they say the authorities are clueless.

“They’re trying to build more vertical roads, coastal roads, increase car traffic and put less emphasis on public transport,” said Ashok Datar, chairman of the Mumbai Environmental Social Network. “It’s like we’re investing in emission.”

India’s Supreme Court routinely steps in, like in a recent order restricting firecracker usage during the coming Diwali holiday. Its orders are not quite ignored, but they usually are not vigorously enforced either.

In Punjab, home to several million farmers, thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide have typically been released into the air every burning season. But this year, there is reason for hope, said S.S. Matharu, a government engineer working for the Punjab Pollution Control Board.

In just two years, Matharu said, the number of fires dropped by nearly 70 percent after stiff fines, advances in farming technology and aggressive outreach in villages and on social media, including the catchy new song.

“The motherland has birds and other living creatures to feed,” the song goes, “don’t burn rice straw to choke them to death.”

Model village

Described by one farmer as the “most forward village in all of Punjab,” Bishanpur Channa has become a model. Many farmers here said that, instead of burning, they planned to use machines like one called the Happy Seeder, which mixes excess straw into the dirt.

“Our objective is to reduce pollution,” said Harinder Singh, 45, who yells when he talks.

But in poorer villages, people seemed less inclined to change their ways. About 20 miles down the road, a group of farmers who had gathered near a field offered a list of grievances.

A government program that subsidizes harvesting equipment is still too expensive, they said. Government agents promise new equipment and then disappear. Politicians seem less interested in the poorer farmers, because their plots are so small. New York Times News Service

Biodiversity Monday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Monday, November 5, 2018

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph

A9

Coral gardening: Boon or bane?

‘T

Story by Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

he road to hell is paved with good intentions.” This proverb also applies in the case of an effort to rehabilitate degraded environments, such as the country’s coastal and marine environment, particularly its coral cover.

A coral-monument project of a nongovernment organization triggered a debate on social media about coral transplantation or coral gardening.

Danny Ocampo, an award-winning underwater photographer and expert diver, chanced upon the controversial nursery project during a dive with his friends in what is known as the Basura dive site in Janao Bay, in Barangay San Jose, Mabini, Batangas, on September 1.

‘Save our oceans’

A catchy slogan, such as “Save our Oceans,” is commonly used by project proponents with good intentions.

“During the dive, we saw an underwater structure with the logo of JCI [JCI Parañaque Pambato] with the words ‘Save Our Oceans’ under it and several coral heads [scattered] in front. What called my attention was the coral heads [not fragments] laid out in front of the sign on the sandy substrate. Some of the coral heads were bleached already, while the others were in the early stages of bleaching,” Ocampo, also an environmental advocate, told the BusinessMirror.

Ocampo photographed what he and his friends saw, and again after almost a month, and compared the photographs.

He posted them a month later on his Facebook account, showing the deterioration of the coral heads before and after, as if they were in a state of bleaching, or dying, if not already dead.

“Most of the coral heads were attached to a rocky substrate and placed on the sand with some almost smothered by sand and silt,” he said.

Not an ideal site

According to Ocampo, Basura is a muck diving site with mostly sandy or silty substrate and some seagrass bed patches. It is, apparently, not an ideal site for coral transplantation or coral gardening.

“During the habagat season, huge waves enter the Janao Bay, stir up a lot of silt and changes the contour of the coastline,” he said.

Done incorrectly, coral transplantation is as good as rendering a death sentence to fragments, especially if they were cut out from a living coral for transplantation or coral gardening in another location.

Through the years, Ocampo said he had observed efforts to do coral transplantation and nurseries, but most of them have failed and just led to the death of corals.

“I have called these out on my

Facebook page posts, such as these foliose corals transplanted on the sandy substrate, and most of them are already dead and dying,” he said.

There were efforts to put up coral nurseries and or propagation areas in the past, such as mounting corals on metal poles above the sand, he noted.

Coral gardening

Coral gardening is defined in a policy brief of the De La Salle UniversityAngelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies as the process of restoring cover of a damaged reef by affixing live coral fragments.

The reef-rehabilitation method has been gaining popularity in the Philippines. But the authors of the study titled, “Coral Gardening: Issues and Challenges,” said that, while it has its applications, it should be the last option for bringing a reef back to a healthy state.

The authors include Michelle Z. Reyes, Darwin J.C. Raymundo, Sameen J. Rizwan and Wilfredo Y. Licuanan of the Br. Alfred Shields, FSC, Ocean Research Center, De La Salle University, Manila.

Better ways

“Proper management of reef resources through marine protected areas, removal of stressors and easing of fishing pressure provide a broader and more holistic approach while allowing the reef to recover by itself,” the authors said in the study.

According to the study, “if coral gardening is the only viable option available for rehabilitating a certain reef, careful consideration must be put into site selection, coral species to be utilized and the management of transplantation sites.”

It added that national and local government permits required for operating a coral-gardening initiative should also be obtained, and a monitoring plan formulated to assess its effectivity in the long run.

Coral gardening in the Philippines boomed in 2012 with a governmentfunded project that was rolled out in several provinces, it said.

Almost half a million coral fragments in more than 500 coral nursery units have been deployed all over the country since then, including those that are funded or implemented by nongovernment organizations and individuals.

Corals of opportunity

In looking for coral fragments for purpose of transplantation or coral gardening, the study suggested to obtain corals of opportunity (COP),

A healthy coral reef in Palawan. Gregg Yan, Best Alternatives Campaign

or coral fragments washed ashore or those that were already detached by strong waves or by accident, rather than intentionally breaking them off from live corals.

These COPs picked up from the shores or ocean floor, however, must still be alive and viable, for them to grow after transplantation.

If corals are to be cut off from live coral-hosts, there must be a high coral cover to help ensure the hosts can recover from extensive damage.

Poor coral cover

A recent study covering 166 coral reef stations all over the Philippines found an average of 22 percent hard coral cover, 10 percent lower than that reported in the 1990s, citing a study

by Licuanan et al. in 2017.

“Most local reefs may, therefore, not tolerate the further loss of corals from harvesting for gardening,” the study suggested.

Other issues include the high mortality rate of corals during transplantation, which is also affected by factors like the suitability of transplantation site or area chosen for coral gardening.

Permit required

The implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 10654, which amended the Fisheries Code, state that all coral farming and propagation activities require an Aquatic Wildlife Farm Permit issued by the Department of Agriculture, particularly its Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Moreover, the study noted that gathering of corals for any other reason outside of scientific and research purpose is illegal.

Most coral nurseries and rehabilitation initiatives in the country operate without the proper national government permit, the study revealed.

No permit

Vincent Hilomen of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Biodiversity Management Bureau said the DENR has not issued any permit for coral transplantation in Mabini, Batangas.

In fact, even within the DENR, there was a debate on the issue. As far as JCI is concerned, he said the DENR only issued a permit for the installation of small structures for divers, but specifically, coral transplantation was not allowed.

“It is just for a small area, and we specifically said no coral transplantation,” Hilomen told the BusinessMirror in an interview on October 23.

Hilomen, the project manager of SMARTSeasPH, an expert in marine biology and who is listed in the roster of Philippine experts for the coastal and marine ecosystems of the DENR, said they discourage coral transplantation or gardening because of the cost and potential adverse environmental impact.

“We discourage coral transplantation also because of the very high mortality. There are only one coral species that is sturdy, but we discourage its transplantation because it might lead to imbalance, like in monocropping,” he said.

Plan, advice of experts needed

Co r a l t r a n s p l a n t a t i o n a n d propagation, he said, needs to be planned carefully and with the advice of experts.

T he proje c t , O c a mp o l ate r learned, is part of a “coral-monument project” with no mention whether it was meant to be a coral farm or a coral nursery.

There was also a claim from the dive professional who helped JCI that the coral heads were “rescued from a shallow area, where they were carried by waves due to the strong waves, and the marker was placed there to easily identify and locate the area.”

“Because of the attention given to the Facebook post and the involvement of JCI members, its national president Rix Rafols stepped in and requested for a meeting on October 1 to discuss the matter,” Ocampo said.

During the meeting, several agreements were reached.

R ecog n i zi ng t h at t he pl ace threatens the survival of the coral heads, JCI will ensure they will be transferred to another site.

As an interim measure to ensure

the corals are not smothered by silt, JCI will take measures and consult scientists and experts on how this can be done.

Ocampo and his friends suggested other ways to contribute to ocean protection—such as deploying buoys for boats so coral breakage from anchoring will be avoided and helping in the campaign against illegal and destructive fishing.

However, Ocampo said the story did not end there.

“After the meeting, the same dive professional posted on Facebook, making it appear that the corals are alive and well, and that this is the best way to deal with rescued corals for a coral farm/nursery,” he said.

JCI’s response

Sought for comment, JCI allowed a member of its diver group, Leo Veses, to reply for the group. Veses explained that the JCI Parañaque Pambato project, called “The Coral Monument: Save Our Oceans Program,” was implemented on August 11 and commenced a series of programs that are dedicated to making the marine ecosystem better and healthier.

The total area of the project site is 2 meters by 2 meters, including the coral marker and the coral fragments area. The coral fragments were covered by around a dozen coral heads.

“The program began with underwater and coastal cleanups, a coral rescue and propagation, a forum on how to clean up after our oceans, and the installation of our JCI coral marker,” he told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on October 27.

“We did it out of our concern for the environment. We are just trying to make things better. JCI is committed to helping our fellowmen. For this project, we even shell out money from our own pockets to make this happen,” he said.

Veses explained that the marker is a symbol for the future JCI generations “of our desire to help and to make an impact on the well-being of the oceans.”

“It is also envisioned that it will be

turned into a coral-reef site,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said the corals used in the “coral-rescue program” were rescued coral heads that were picked up from the shoreline.

“The intention was to revive them through coral propagation,” he said.

According to Veses, the JCI team was assisted by the Philippine Coast Guard and some dive professionals.

“Unfortunately, while transporting the coral marker, a rope snapped, causing the marker to fall on a sandy shoal. It was never the destination of the structure. To add to the difficulties, the supertyphoon was already occurring and the Coast Guard deemed it unsafe to continue. The team did not have a choice but to leave the rescued corals beside the marker in the meantime until the weather clears up,” he explained.

Weeks later, Veses said the team was notified about the state of the corals, referring to Ocampo’s group, prompting JCI to initiate corrective measures.

“It was decided that the JCI team will come back to the site immediately, create a temporary solution by adding layers of rocks that would serve as a temporary bed for the corals while consulting the help of experts in fixing the situation,” he said.

According to Veses, JCI and Ocampo’s camp also agreed to help one another on advocacies that are important to the ocean; that coral experts and scientists should be consulted to determine the best course of action to reduce the possibility of other untoward incidents.

Meanwhile, Veses said they have also met with the international group, Reefcheck. Their team joined Reefcheck’s coral conservation forum, and dove with them to learn more about the seas, their group and their advocacy.

“The JCI team learned to be more vigilant on the steps to revive the corals. Right now, there is an open line with Reefcheck. They assured [JCI] that they will help and are in the process of finding a better solution to protect the coral heads,” he said.

Veses said JCI appreciates the support and advocacy of Reefcheck.

“It also strengthened the JCI commitment to help in the advocacy of maintaining the well-being of the corals in the country. Rest assured that JCI will keep up to its promise to help heal the marine sanctuary and activate more mindful projects.

The progress will be constantly shared with the public as part of the organization’s social responsibility. Please accept its gratitude to organizations and people who help them be better,” he said.

According to Ocampo, since JCI is now tapping Reefcheck to institute corrective measure, he expressed “hope they will learn their lesson well from all this,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Ocampo said there is a need for an expert opinion to provide guidance on what steps are needed to ensure the survival of the coral heads, as well as others that will be “rescued” to avoid future projects that may be doing more harm than good to the marine ecosystem.

Experts to meet on link of biodiversity conservation on the health sector

‘T

he world is facing a serious threat of biodiversity loss, which will direc tly affec t human health and survival.”

This was the warning given by Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim, international biodiversity expert and executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), as she announces the holding of a workshop that will address interlinkages between human health and biodiversity in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The three - day workshop star ting November 5 will convene experts from t h e M i n i s t r i e s o f Env i ro n m e nt a n d

Health in the Asean member-states to discuss national experiences and best practices on mainstreaming biodiversity and health, and incorporating biodiversity considerations in national and regional health programs.

Hosting the event are the Philippines’s Departments of Health, and of Environment and Natural Resources, in cooperation with the World Health Organization, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations University’s Institute for International Global Health.

Lim said the workshop is part of a series

of Asean advocacy on mainstreaming biodiversity—the integration of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in development sectors such as health, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, science, technology and education.

The advocac y also highlights the impor tance of biodiversity in sustainable development, pover ty reduction, climate-change adaptation and mitigation, business, trade and international cooperation. Lim explained that biodiversity loss is a crosscutting environmental threat that will affect the health sector, as the natural ingredients of medicines

come from plants and animals.

“Losing our biodiversity means losing the source of raw materials for our medicines. It is important that government agencies and pharmaceutical companies integrate biodiversity conservation in their policies, decisions and programs. This is one of the many reasons why mainstreaming biodiversity in the health sector is important,” Lim emphasized.

During the workshop, health and environment experts will discuss biodiversity and health as they relate to food and water; diseases and traditional and modern medicine; physical, mental and

cultural well-being; and adaptation to climate change.

The workshop is expected to identify gaps in integrating biodiversity conservation and health programs in the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans of the Asean member-states; promote transboundary and regional cooperation; and align national health plans with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and relevant decisions of the Conference of Parties to the CBD. Human health ultimately depends on ecosystems services that are made possible by biodiversity and its products. Biodi-

versity provides humans with food and water—and materials for shelter, clothing and medicine—among other basic needs for survival. Forests indirectly contribute to human health and safety by regulating climate and disease, purifying air and water, and preventing soil erosion.

The ACB is a center of excellence established by the Asean member states in 2005 to facilitate regional cooperation leading to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, for the benefit of the Asean people. ACB promotes the mainstreaming of biodiversity into development sectors.

A10 Monday, November 5, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

BOC: Financial agency or law enforcement?

A

NCIENT Rome gave us concrete and the forerunner of the flushing toilet. The Romans also gave us tariffs on imported goods and created one of the most corrupt systems known to civilization.

These duties were called portoria and customs officials were responsible to ensure that portoria were paid and smugglers held accountable. But, then as now, some officials required a little extra for their own pockets.

From a research paper published by the Charles Sturt University in Australia: “Corruption continues to plague customs administrations around the world regardless of their level of development. No country is immune to the problem.” Filipinos have consistently rated the Bureau of Customs (BOC) the most corrupt of all government agencies.

There are several reasons Customs is a corruption cesspool. GAN Integrity Solutions, a Denmark-based firm, created its “Business Anti-Corruption Portal.” One section of its country corruption assessment is the “Customs Administration.”

For the Philippines, it reads, “Companies cite burdensome import procedures and corruption at the border as being among the most problematic factors for importing.” The Philippines is not alone. For Thailand: “Burdensome import procedures and corruption at the border are obstacles to doing business in Thailand.”

The more complicated the rules, the more potential corruption. Thailand: “Businesses voice concerns about the amount of discretionary power exercised by customs authorities and the arbitrary application of Thailand valuation methodology.” Import valuation rules that are subject to “interpretation” open the door for giving bonus money for favorable tax treatment.

In principle, the Customs office is not much different than buying something at your favorite supermarket. One grade of rice is P70 a kilo, and another is P45. All the cashier would need to do is incorrectly charge for the expensive rice in return for a kickback.

But if that happened constantly, the store would go out of business, costing employees their jobs and customers a place to buy goods. The Customs office will never “go out of business,” and both “customers” and employees know that. If the government is cheated out of taxes and customers and employees pocket the difference, it is a “victimless crime.” It takes a person with a high moral standard to avoid saying “no one got hurt.”

President Duterte’s plan to put the military in the BOC brings another point.

Is the Customs office a “financial agency” or a “law-enforcement agency?”

The Philippine BOC is under the Department of Finance. Are Customs officers “revenue collectors” or law-enforcement officers? The BOC Mission is: “To increase revenue collection, to facilitate trade aligned with international practices and to strengthen efforts against smuggling and other customs fraud.”

The Customs and Excise Department (Hong Kong) is part of the Security Bureau of Hong Kong, and is to “to protect Hong Kong against smuggling and to protect and collect revenue on dutiable goods.”

The Thai Customs Department, under the Ministry of Finance, has the mission to “promote the national economy and collect revenue.” The Australian Border Force is “the frontline border law-enforcement agency and customs service, to protect Australia’s border and enable legitimate travel and trade.”

Is there any evidence that Customs, as a bureaucratic agency with that function, career goals and mindset is any less effective than as a law-enforcement agency with “Duty, Honor, Country” mentality? The answer is “yes” and “no.”

For nations with a history of being relatively corruption-free, like Germany and Singapore, it does not matter. However, the severe punishments that can come with violating the standards of a law-enforcement/military organization can “encourage” more professionalism in a customs agency.

Morality in leadership Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

I

N the office setting, we have all had our brush with leaders or bosses who may not fit our image of a moral leader: Those who take credit unjustly, those who belittle, insult or humiliate workers in front of others, those who harass employees or coworkers and many other forms of offense. In the government, people in general are also looking for leaders who are trustworthy or reliable, respectable and those whose values are intact and solid.

It is only natural to gravitate toward leaders, whichever organizational form or structure is concerned, whose practice is aligned with the general view on moral leadership.

A research team from Georgia State University and Erasmus University performed a study on moral leadership and examined data from 1970 to 2018 to determine how the morality of an organization’s leader affects the performance of the entire

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else sees it that way. It’s important for leaders and organizations to get these differences out in the open and discuss them to avoid future misunderstandings and misconceptions.” He further adds that a leader must be able to define his or her own code of ethics and recognize that his or her approach may not exactly be to the liking of his constituents or followers.

I do believe that the findings from this study may be applied to other organizational forms or structures as well, like public governance. Common sense dictates that a leader who has a strong sense of morality will be able to run and nurture a positive organization, and inspire or promote “increased performance, engagement and motivation.” Ultimately, facts show that morality would be a pretty logical criterion to include in our list of qualifications when we choose our leaders in the next election. When that time comes, I hope we can remember the results of this research.

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Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

group. This study appears in the journal of the Academy of Management Annals. They found that “leaders who value morality outperform their unethical peers, regardless of industry, company size or role (and that) leaders who prioritized morality

had higher performing organizations with less turnover and that their employees were more creative, proactive, engaged and satisfied.”

The only challenge, however, is defining what “morality” is. For some people, a leader may just be “joking around” when he or she makes an improper remark; and yet others may be offended by it. A coauthor in the study, Jim Lemoine, assistant professor of organization and human resources at the University of Buffalo, says, “Morality can be subjective, and how leaders put their own ethics into practice can have massive implications for the effectiveness of their leadership, teams and organizations.”

To avoid misunderstandings and offending some parties, a good leader needs to be open and talk about the sensitive issues. Lemoine’s professional advice: “Morality is a great thing for managers to incorporate into their leadership styles, but just because we consider something ‘moral,’ we can’t assume everyone

LEGALLY SPEAKING

E

VERY Filipino can sing, dance, act, entertain and perform.

After all, we are a “happy” people—despite or because of the daily grind and realities of poverty, hunger, unemployment, miseries and other human concerns. We take pride in our countrymen performing abroad in classy hotels, nightclubs, Broadway/ West End productions and winning in international and regional talent competitions. Yet, while international performers (through the companies/paid managers representing them) demand monetary compensation/royalties for each of their songs/performances here in this country, we have not been as vigilant nor concerned about protecting our very own Filipino performers here and abroad. But change appears to be happening.

The Intellectual Property of the Philippines (IP Philippines) has asked for a consultation meeting with our Filipino Performers through the Performers’ Rights Society of the Philippines led by Leo Martinez, Gina Alajar, Joel Torre, Mitch Valdez and Cherie Gil, among others, to discuss The Beijing Treaty For Audio Visual Performances (BTAP) of 2012. (I have advocated with some of these performers in the recent past!) Although Audio Visual Performers are given coverage in the existing Intellectual Property Code (under Chapters VI and XII), “recent developments in technology for the fixation, transmission and replication of audiovisuals may compromise or interfere with the protection and monetization of performers’ rights” (Debbie P. Gaite, managing director, PRSP).

The Beijing Treaty on Audiovi-

sual Performances was adopted by the Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances, which took place in Beijing from June 20 to 26, 2012. The Treaty deals with the intellectual property rights of performers in audiovisual performances. It grants performers four kinds of economic rights for their performances fixed in audiovisual fixations, such as motion pictures: (i) the right of reproduction; (ii) the right of distribution; (iii) the right of rental; and (iv) the right of making available. n The right of reproduction is the right to authorize direct or indirect reproduction of the performance fixed in an audiovisual fixation in any manner or form. n The right of distribution is the right to authorize the making available to the public of the original and copies of the performance fixed

in an audiovisual fixation through sale or other transfer of ownership. n The right of rental is the right to authorize the commercial rental to the public of the original and copies of the performance fixed in an audiovisual fixation. n The right of making available is the right to authorize the making available to the public, by wire or wireless means, of any performance fixed in an audiovisual fixation, in such a way that members of the public may access the fixed performance from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.

This right covers, in particular, ondemand, interactive making available through the Internet.

As to unfixed (live) performances, the Treaty grants performers three kinds of economic rights: (i) the right of broadcasting (except in the case of rebroadcasting); (ii) the right of communication to the public (except where the performance is a broadcast performance); and (iii) the right of fixation.

The Treaty also grants performers moral rights, that is, the right to claim to be identified as the performer (except where such an omission would be dictated by the manner of the use of the performance); and the right to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification that would be prejudicial to the performer’s reputation, taking into account the nature of the audiovisual fixations.

The Treaty provides that performers shall enjoy the right to authorize the broadcasting and communication to the public of their performances fixed in audiovisual fixations. However, Contracting Parties may notify that, instead of the right

of authorization, they will establish a right to equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of performances fixed in audiovisual fixations for broadcasting or communication to the public. Any Contracting Party may restrict or—provided that it makes a reservation to the Treaty —deny this right. In the case and to the extent of a reservation by a Contracting Party, the other Contracting Parties are permitted to deny, vis-àvis the reserving Contracting Party, national treatment (“reciprocity”).

As to the transfer of rights, the Treaty provides that Contracting Parties may stipulate in their national laws that once a performer has consented to the audiovisual fixation of a performance, the exclusive rights mentioned above are transferred to the producer of the audiovisual fixation (unless a contract between the performer and producer states otherwise). Independent of such a transfer of rights, national laws or individual, collective or other agreements may provide the performer with the right to receive royalties or equitable remuneration for any use of the performance, as provided for under the Treaty.

As to limitations and exceptions, Article 13 of the Beijing Treaty incorporates the so-called “threestep” test to determine limitations and exceptions, as provided for in Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention, extending its application to all rights.

(The “three-step” test was first enacted in the 1967 Revision of the Berne Convention. It provides that “it shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to permit the reproduction of such works (a) in certain special cases, provided that See “Kapunan,” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, November 5, 2018 A11

Subscription e-commerce Election Series #2: Signatories to PPP contracts is growing rapidly

By Alberto Agra

PPP LEAD

Filbert Tsai

DEBIT CREDIT

I

N a survey done by McKinsey in February 2018 for the US market, they found that 15 percent of online shoppers have signed up for a subscription box on a recurring basis. While there are no similar surveys specifically for the Asian market, the US adoption rate is quite telling of the opportunities. The same study found that a majority of subscribers tend to prefer curation services, suggesting a preference toward personalized goods or services Our consulting business has been working closely with a few subscription e-commerce start-ups in creating sustainable business models.

With our foot in the market, we saw a few key challenges which give rise to opportunities that subscription ecommerce start-ups should leverage.

While ease of purchase is the idea of a subscription e-commerce business, consumers are not immediately comfortable with committing to a subscription.

We noticed that it usually takes a lot of effort to woo consumers and convert them into subscribers. This also means having a high customer acquisition cost (see point two below). But we also noticed that there are cheaper ways that can minimize costs.

De-risking your customer is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to do this. De-risking means to remove the risk that customers will pay for what they don’t want about the subscription.

An example of this is what Philippine start-up StyleGenie has been doing with their curated styling boxes.

When customers are not satisfied with their orders, they can just throw it back in and a replacement will be made. It’s as simple as that.

Most subscription start-ups invest too much in acquiring their customers who end up not subscribing anyway. Typically, these investments include providing massive discounts or lengthy free periods that reduce the perceived value of their subscriptions.

While we cannot ignore the importance of customer acquisition, customer retention is a much more important metric for subscription e-commerce start-ups.

Most subscribing customers leave subscription plans not because of a competing product, but because the value of the subscription diminishes for them. One way of addressing this is through personalization—the timing of and the items included in the subscription. Let me illustrate this with an example.

I used to have a subscription of single-origin cocoa bars when I was

Kapunan. . .

continued from A10

(b) such reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and (c) does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.”) Such limitations and exceptions as established in national law in compliance with the Berne Convention may be extended to the digital environment. Contracting States may devise new exceptions and limitations appropriate to the digital environment. The extension of existing or the creation of new limitations and exceptions is allowed if the conditions of the “three-step” test are met.

The term of protection must be at least 50 years.

The enjoyment and exercise of the rights provided for in the Treaty cannot be subject to any formality.

The Treaty obliges Contracting Parties to provide for legal remedies against the circumvention of technological measures (e.g., encryption) used by performers in connection with the exercise of their rights, and against the removal or altering

living in the United Kingdom. It was great to be surprised every month with top-notch dark chocolate bars, except when I spent most of my time overseas (which was more than 75 percent of the time).

What made the experience exceptional was that I could just use my personal dashboard to reschedule the subscription from monthly to bi-monthly (or even quarterly, depending on when I wanted to receive the bars).

This way, instead of me unsubscribing and/or becoming a one-time customer, my cocoa subscription ran throughout my stay in the UK. Another core weakness in the subscription market is the continuous drive to get more money from customers upfront. Yes, it’s good for cash flow and helps you extend your runway, but on the flip side, your customer thinks the same way.

Because of poor banking rails and a lack of payment services, it’s still difficult for customers to pay in subscription-basis (versus in advance) here in the Philippines (maybe our Asian neighbors have it easier).

While there is usually an autodebit arrangement, setting that up is definitely not a walk in the park, and using third-party payment services can also be expensive.

There’s a massive opportunity out there for both subscription ecommerce and fintech start-ups to leverage this gap in the market.

While I’m looking at subscription e-commerce optimistically, there’s a lot more failures than successes in the business.

So, if you want an advice, proceed with caution. If you’re more of a risk taker, then “the higher the risk, the higher the reward.” Take your pick.

Filbert Tsai is the chief strategy officer of continu.ee, a membership-based e-learning platform for professionals that provides quality continuing professional education courses. He is also the chief strategist at UpSmart Strategy Consulting Inc. This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.

of information—such as the indication of certain data that identify the performer, performance and the audiovisual fixation itself—necessary for the management (e.g., licensing, collecting and distribution of royalties) of the said rights (“rights management information”).

The Beijing Treaty will enter into force three months after 30 eligible parties have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession with the director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

It is hoped that our Philippine Senate will be among the first to accede to this Treaty—it is time we did something for our Filipino performers…who paradoxically sing (perform) for a living but are “unsung” and in penury upon death.

We have just lost OPM Icon Rico J. Puno. Many other world-class Filipino performers have gone before him and received the adulation and recognition they well deserve. I hope that their families and loved ones will enjoy the royalties and equitable remuneration long after they are gone.

We love you Rico J. Puno. Go in Peace!

Continued from A1

T

HE answer to all of these are no, technically. n Real party to PPP contracts. PPP contracts should remain intact or must be respected by the successor administration, despite changes in leadership and the assumption into offices by new signatories. It is the implementing agency (IA) or government agency, i.e., national government agency (NGA), government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC), government instrumentality (GI), government financial institution (GFI) and local government unit, not the signatory, who is the real party to PPP contracts.

The heads of the IAs are just the representatives or agents of and acting for their respective IAs, not for themselves. PPP contracts, especially long-term agreements, and their benefits outlive their leaders. n Classifying the signatories.

In terms of manner by which they are installed into office, government signatories are either appointed by the president or elected by their respective constituencies. The secretaries of NGAs, and the presidents, administrators or general managers

The ‘Cordova effect’ Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

A

LAN and I were together at West Point. I was ahead of him by two years. Physically fit, he was the one who kept me at the right pace for me to pass my 2-mile run in the Army Physical Readiness Test. We ran together, regardless of the weather, and went to the gym as often as possible to keep me in shape.

We also shared a few vacations when we were cadets, where I witnessed his leadership potential at his early age.

Alan Cordova served the Philippine Army very briefly. As soon as he became

a lawyer, he practiced law in Dumaguete City. He and I also worked together very briefly at the Bureau of Immigration. What surprised most of his colleagues, both in the military and legal profession, was his desire to serve the country in a different yet challenging capacity—be a voice of his constituents in Dumaguete City.

On a shoestring budget, he ran for city councilor as an independent candidate in 2007. He took the 8th slot out of 10 available seats in the council of the City of Gentle People. In 2010 he ran and won again, this time as vice mayor. Running without any party affiliations, Alan is currently the top councilor in the city.

As a new member of the city council in 2007, Alan worked long hours, engaged all the people in the city, and introduced game changing ordinances. For instance, Alan turned

representatives of PO’s NGOs, CSOs and other marginalized sectors, as quasi-members of City Council standing committees. This simple yet unique innovation of allowing these sectors to debate on the floor, propose ordinances and author resolutions gives them an active voice in policymaking. The presence of these sectors theoretically made city ordinances more reasonable, more proactive and genuinely responsive. In Alan’s words, their presence also “provided accountability for councilors who otherwise are too lazy to think of solutions or even attend committee meetings.”

The concept is so revolutionary that other local governments in the province are in fact introducing the same thing—sectoral representation although without voting rights.

When asked what is his secret in winning elections despite the obvious

of GOCCs, GIs and GFIs are presidential appointees. The regional and provincial governors, city and municipal mayors and punong barangays are elected through popular vote.

The members of the governing boards for GOCCs, GIs and GFIs, and local legislative councils are appointed or elected, respectively. These collegial bodies approve or ratify PPP contracts signed by the head of IA to bind the IA, otherwise, the head of agency will be personally liable. n 2019 political exercise.

Mark this on your calendar—May 13, 2019. The electorate will vote for 12 senators, 238 district representatives, 59 party-list representatives, one regional governor, 81 provincial governors, 145 city mayors and 1,489 municipal mayors.

The changes in PPP signatories,

by June 30, 2019, shall be confined to LGU-PPP contracts. The new governor and mayor, however, cannot terminate or amend unilaterally the duly awarded PPP contract. Provisions for termination or modification of the PPP contract must be observed. Judicial intervention may,

likewise, be sought.

There will be no PPP-related shifts in Congress because it is not an IA, and not with NGAs, GOCCs, GIs and GFIs because the heads and board members are appointed. This does not mean that we will not witness shifts in NGA-GOCC-GI-GFI signatories before, on and after May 13. They/we can be changed tomorrow. Cabinet secretaries, and the presidents, administrators or general managers and board directors of GOCCs, GIs and GFIs serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. Heads of GOCCs, GIs and GFIs appointed in 2016 are now on holdover capacity.

Come 2022, there would be nationwide changing-of-the-guards since with the new president, in the exercise of his/her executive discretion, can make new political appointments.

So, if these are all clear, why did I qualify my answer to the preliminary questions with “technically?”

Reality in the Philippines has taught us otherwise. Successor risk is the perceived No. 1 one risk.

lack of funds, he shared that there is no substitute for hard work. He did not take any short cuts for him to be known in the community. His passion to make things better is what drives him to serve. Aside from having gone to good schools like West Point and Silliman University, Alan has the charisma to be able to talk to all kinds of people. He has the boyish smile that can disarm the harshest critic. When he decided to run for public office, he wanted to be very different from the usual politicians who Alan considers as virtually indifferent to the plight of the ordinary Dumagueteño. Prior to entering government service, Alan felt that he and the ordinary mortals in his city were mere statistics in the eyes of the traditional politicians, something to be exploited come election time by way of dole outs and political gimmicks. Alan neither belongs to a powerful political family nor does he have vast financial resources to run a campaign using guns, goons and gold. Alan simply worked hard.

Going around the city, I managed to talk to street vendors, hotel and restaurant employees, security guards, using my rudimentary knowledge of the Visayan dialect. And much to my delight, they all have a certain degree of fondness toward Councilor Cordova who they simply call as “Alan.” He achieved a “rock star” status and made himself a household name because of sheer hard work coupled with some charisma and competence.

In the Bible, Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is more desirable than great

riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” We can all build or destroy a good name in our lifetime. Knowing him during our cadet days, Alan never desired fame and fortune. In the same way, these quasi members of the city council only yearn for a good name, not for themselves but for the sectors they represent in particular, and for the people in Dumaguete in general.

Relatedly, the Fellowship of Christians in Government will be having its annual fellowship on November 8, 2018, in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, with participants from over 50 different agencies in Metro Manila.

The mission of FOCIG is to mentor and empower strategic public servants to advance righteousness, peace and joy.

This year’s theme, “Transformative Leadership: Managing Your Wealth,” will definitely give participants a different yet eternal perspective, hopefully similar to how Alan Cordova manages his wealth of a good name as a servant leader.

Servant leadership transcends the interest of the leader or even his own constituents. A true servant leader like Alan Cordova seeks to develop the people around him and improve the community he swore to serve. This is what I call as the “Cordova effect.”

He sees himself as an ordinary politician. I agree to a certain extent, but I see him just as another person who simply lives up to the core values of our alma mater, Duty Honor Country.

Military watch: A fresh start for BOC Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza

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HEY never saw it coming. Nor did it ever cross the mind of Bureau of Customs officials that one day, they will wake up to a morning of uncertainty and virtually out of job as the entire operation of the BOC is taken over by the military, upon the order of the President.

But I would not blame President Duterte for blowing his top. He may have run out of patience when smuggling at the BOC became even more rampant and blatant, especially when large volumes of illegal drugs started slipping out of Customs gates.

Malfeasance at the BOC has practically been institutionalized that its system of corruption has outlived commissioners and even presidents. Thus, Duterte’s appointment of former AFP Chief of Staff and Marina Administrator Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero to replace Isidro S. Lapeña at the BOC after allegedly P11 billion worth of shabu slipped through Customs gates recently, and the military take over of the BOC’s

operations, would be the first-ever total overhaul of the second, if not the first, most corrupt government agency in the country. This does not mean that Lapeña and Nicanor Faeldon are guilty. As the President said, it’s the system that’s the problem at the BOC. Already, the country is losing more than P200 billion worth of duties and taxes each year due to smuggling. These monies could have been used to construct more roads, school buildings and hospitals for the Filipinos. However, these monies have ended in the pockets and bank accounts of smugglers and corrupt customs officials.

And since the common concern of Filipinos today regarding the military

takeover at the BOC is that its assigned military personnel would have problems familiarizing themselves with the way transactions are done at the BOC, we in the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI)—knowing as a matter of survival that, this will not only hamper the flow of imported raw materials for our factories, but more important, the situation could be exploited by the smuggling syndicates operating at the Bureau—would like to offer our help to the new customs leadership in assisting its assigned military personnel, if only to help facilitate the unhampered flow of imported raw materials to our factories and the export of our finished products to the world market, as well.

Moreover, we would like to help the assigned military personnel at the BOC so that they will not be given the runaround by smuggling syndicates operating at the Bureau. We are bound to our commitment and advocacy to help protect the local industry from unfair competition posed by the influx of cheaper but lower quality illegally imported materials and finished products. We are also morally obliged to help protect consumers from substandard imported materials. And most important, as law abiding Filipino citizens, we find it our responsibility to help the government from being duped of its much needed revenues from duties and taxes on imported goods due to smuggling.

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

For starters, we shall provide the new Customs leadership a copy of the series on the antidote to smuggling, which I wrote as FPI chairman. The anti-smuggling series where its findings and recommendations are all based on the actual experiences of our members and by our assigned technical experts at the BOC to help Customs officials in determining the standard specifications and classifications of imported raw materials and finished products, also saw print in this newspaper. We find the opportunity to help the assigned military personnel at the BOC very timely as they are all coming in fresh. Their appreciation of Customs procedures are still free of biases and the influence of smugglers or “players,” as they call themselves at the BOC. For decades, we have seen how corrupt Customs officials and smugglers have made a mockery of all the reforms introduced at the BOC. As new methods are formulated to address corruption and smuggling at the BOC, smugglers and corrupt Customs officials for their part, are stepping up their illegal operations to be ahead of the government’s anti-smuggling campaign.

Thus, the FPI commits its 100 percent support to the new Customs leadership, if only to help establish law and order at the BOC. The members of FPI and the industry sector are, therefore, hoping for the BOC to favorably consider our offer to help.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, November 5, 2018

Farm damage from Rosita hits ₧1.85B; death toll at 23

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas & Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

RODUCTION losses incurred by 19,213 farmers and fishermen in four regions due to damage from Typhoon Rosita last week have reached P1.85 billion, according to the latest report of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

This, as the death toll from Typhoon Rosita climbed to 23 following the recovery of a total of 14 bodies as of Sunday from the buried buildings of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Mountain Province.

The DA reported that Rosita affected 93,209 hectares of farm lands with an estimated production volume loss of 98,870 metric tons (MT).

“The increase in value [is] attributed to reports in rice and corn from Pangasinan and in fisheries from Cagayan, Isabela and Aurora,” the DA said in the report.

Ty pho o n R o s it a a f f e c t e d production in Cordillera Adminis-

trative Region, Regions 1, 2 and 3, according to the report.

The DA report showed that rice farmers suffered the brunt of the damage, with rice accounting for 76.22 percent of the total production losses.

The rice farmers lost 74,136 MT of palay, valued at P1.41 billion, planted on 79,513 hectares.

At least 4,921 rice farmers were affected by Typhoon Rosita, according to the DA. Farmers who planted highvalue crops, including coffee, vegetables and fruit trees lost 24,203 MT of production valued at P373.86 million. Initial esti-

76.22% The percentage of Rosita-related damage accounted for by rice farms, according to the DA

mates from the DA showed that 7,375 such farmers had planted these cops on 7,040 hectares.

Damage to the corn sector was estimated at P48.57 million, with 530 MT of production volume losses in 6,657 hectares.

Typhoon Rosita also caused damage to the fisheries sector, estimated at P13.56 million; while losses incurred by livestock raisers were pegged at P2.51 million.

16 still missing

ON the human toll of Rosita, local officials said at least 16 people remained missing and are still the subjects of the ongoing search and retrieval operations on buildings buried by the debris in Natonin, Mountain Province, where families have not given up hope of finding relatives alive.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported 11 dead from

the typhoon, and added that a combination of clearing, repair and rehabilitation were still ongoing in typhoon-hit areas.

A big area of Northern Luzon was still without power, but the NDRRMC said that local electric cooperatives and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) were working double time to restore power.

Among the provinces still without power are Abra, Quirino, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao and Kalinga.

In Isabela, only the municipalities of Cabagan, Delfin Albano, San Pablo and Tumauini and the city of Ilagan have been reenergized, while power has been restored in the rest of the provinces in Northern Luzon.

The NDRRMC said that 24 road sections in Region 2 and in the Cordillera Administrative Region were still not passable, along with two bridges in Isabela and Kalinga.

The typhoon affected at least 65,068 families, or 253,298 individuals in all; 370 barangays in Regions 1, 2, 3 and 8 and in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

A total of 7, 881 houses were also either totally or partially damaged in the affected regions.

‘FOOLS’ AND ‘DRUNKS’ TAG ON SAINTS JUST ANOTHER DU30 JOKE

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

F

OR the nth time, Malacañan Palace has explained away yet another controversial remark

by President Duterte—this time calling Catholic saints as “fools” and “drunks” during the weekend —as a joke.

Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo made the clarification on Saturday as Duterte’s statement after a briefing in typhoon-hit Isabela province drew flak from several religious leaders.

During the event, Duterte was quoted to have said “Why is there an All Saints’ Day and also an All Souls’ Day? We don’t even know who those saints are. Who are those fools? A bunch of drunks.”

“The President was only making light of a serious situation briefing on the damage wrought by Typhoon Rosita,” Panelo said.

“A joke is a joke and the same

By Recto Mercene

T

@rectomercene

AIWAN, which calls itself the Republic of China (ROC), wants to be included in the International Police (Interpol) organization as it seeks to work with law-enforcement agencies around the world to jointly combat crime, fill gaps in the global security network, and create a safer world through joint cooperation.

“With transnational crime on the rise, it is imperative that lawenforcement agencies worldwide establish mutual links and efficient cooperation,” said Tsai Tsan-Po, commissioner, Criminal Investigation Bureau, ROC, Taiwan.

“To achieve Interpol’s key aims, such as ensuring and promoting the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities, Taiwan must be included.”

Taiwan has “earned widespread acclaim for its public security and the inter national communit y should not exclude Taiwan in the fight against transnational crime,” the statement added.

Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province, is the world’s 22nd-largest economy and 17thlargest exporter, occupying a strategic location connecting Northeast and Southeast Asia. A 2016 online report by Forbes named it the best place in the world for expats to live in, and it was ranked 34th among 163 countries surveyed for the 2018 Global Peace Index by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace.

In order to preserve its public security in a world increasingly challenged by cyber crime and terrorism, Taiwan said it must cooperate with worldwide law-enforcement agencies.

According to the ROC, “Taiwan’s exclusion from Interpol creates a gap in intelligence sharing and a loophole for criminal activity.”

See “Taiwan,” A2

EASING GRIDLOCK Sen. Cynthia Villar and daughter Camille, along with Las Piñas government officials and homeowners of private properties in the city, tour the second phase of the Las Piñas and fourth phase of the Zapote River Drives road projects, which were opened to motorists. The senator sees traffic in major thoroughfares in Las Piñas and neighboring towns and cities being significantly cut in time for the holiday season. Story on A5.

PHL hopeful of keeping trade privileges with EU Continued from A1

benefits from the GSP+]. Plus and minus, they see [the beneficiaries], then it is up to them to decide,” Rodolfo said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“So far, our engagement is in good standing. We are hopeful [the GSP+ will be retained],” he added in a recent interview.

The GSP+ allows the Philippines to export duty-free 6,274 products to Europe. In return, the country should implement 27 international conventions on labor welfare, human rights, good governance and environmental protection to keep this preferential market access.

EU Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen in January had claimed “an estimated P120 billion worth of exports were benefiting from GSP+ trade preferences, especially in the food and agricultural sector.”

Jessen added, “This makes the EU the Philippines’s second-largest export partner after Japan and before the United States and China.

As part of the Philippines’s commitment under GSP+, the EU and the Philippines have an ongoing dialogue on the implementation of 27 international conventions on human and labor rights, the environment and good governance.”

Manila’s trade privilege, however, was imperiled due to the alleged extrajudicial killings under President Duterte’s watch. The thousands of lives that were claimed under the President’s war on drugs put on trial during the 2017 review the country’s compliance with human rights conventions.

This year was a different year for the Philippines, Rodolfo pointed out. He said several strides made by the country on human rights

were noted by the EU mission.

“In our exit interview, there were of course issues that were raised.

Nonetheless, the overall review was a success. The same issues [were asked]. The good thing is that there is continuous discussion, and if there were improvements made, the EU mission looks into those,” Rodolfo explained.

One of the developments that could boost the Philippines’s chances of retaining its GSP+ status is its election to the United Nations Human Rights Council, which was opposed by human-rights watchdogs here and abroad.

The country in October garnered 165 nods out of 192 votes cast by UN member-states. With the election, Manila gets to serve in the 47-member Geneva-based council for another three years from 2019 to 2021.

does not require an explanation.

Nor should it be given as a religious slight,” he added.

Panelo said this was proven by the laughter of Duterte’s audience when the President made the statement. He also noted the Church should exercise more confidence that its teachings and practice cannot be undermined by a “playful jab on its saints.”

“The strength and credibility of a religious faith that has been there for more than 2,000 years and survived wars and internecine [conflict] cannot be affected by what some deem as an assault by nonbelievers,” Panelo said.

Instead of being critical on the President’s “jest,” he said the people should “give more weight” to his actions in commemorating All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. “The President visited his parents’ tombs in Davao City last Thursday, coming straight from the Isabela situation briefing,” Panelo said.

Vietnamese girl who rode water buffaloes named Miss Earth 2018 Continued from A1

Taiwan vows to fight global crime, seeks Interpol entry

www.businessmirror.com.ph

pageant while musical guest, Grammy-nominated American R&B singer Brian McKnight, sang his 1999 hit “Back at One.” Khánh was crowned by Miss Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco from the Philippines. Her Elemental Court is composed of Miss EarthAir 2018 Melanie Mader from Austria; Miss Earth-Water 2018 Valeria Ayos from Colombia; and Miss Earth-Fire 2018 Melissa Flores from Mexico.

The top 18, eliminated after the Beauty of Face and Poise round, included Sayonara Veras from Brazil, Belvy Naa from Ghana, Mio Tanaka from Japan, Katarina Seckovic from Montenegro, Priya Sidgel from Nepal and Denisse Andor from Romania.

The Top 12, eliminated after the Beauty of Figure and Form round, included Antonia Figueroa from Chile, Margaretha de Jong from the Netherlands, Danijela Burjan from Slovenia and Margo Fargo from South Africa.

The top 8 included early-favorite Telma Madeira from Portugal; nursing student Sofia Pavan from Italy; Diana Silva from Venezuela, who wasn’t at the top 4 announcement after fainting backstage; and Celeste Cortesi from the Philippines, who faltered at the Question and Answer Round with #malnutrition.

“My perspective on malnutrition actually depends on my values and beliefs. I think that it’s about respect, and I think that respect is the key to serve the purpose of our knowledge and humanity,” was Cortesi’s off-tangent reply.

The top 4 was asked one question: “Being a millennial, what do you think is the most pressing issue of your generation?”

Colombia’s Valeria Ayos, 24, an international relations student from San Andres, replied: “The most important thing of our millennial generation is that we all have the possibility to have a voice and to be heard. Social media, for example, is a great platform when we can spread awareness on environmental issues or worries. I’m proud to be a millennial, because we are all empowered and we can always share a message to the world.

Thank you.”

Ayos was crowned by her countrywoman, Juliana Franco, Miss

Earth Water 2017.

Mexico’s Melissa Flores, 20, a psychology student from Michoacán, replied: “One of the first problems as a girl in the 90s is the controversial issues with technology. We need to learn how to use it correctly to send the right message to society and send the correct message to the new generation to give good advice. Thank you so much.”

Austria’s Melanie Mader, 26, a medical assistant from Vienna, replied: “As a millennial, we tend to not pay attention about what’s happening around the world because of all the technologies we’re using, like social media. But we can use social media in a positive way.

We millennials can use it to spread awareness on what’s happening in our environment, and if we do that, everybody will be informed on what’s happening, and we can live a better future, not just for us human beings, but for the creatures on Earth. Thank you.”

Incidentally, Mader was elevated to Miss Philippines Eco Tourism 2016, when she represented the overseas community of Austria.

Like her predecessor, Miss Earth Air 2017 Nina Robertson from Australia, Mader is also half-Filipina.

Khánh watched Miss Earth 2010 held in her country and has since dreamed of becoming one. She stated her advocacy in her pageant bio: “More and more as technology is part of development and Vietnam transforming itself to an industrialized nation, I being Miss Vietnam Earth will do my part in maintaining balance in the ecosystem especially in our rivers and forests. This is to keep our motherland be Earthfriendly but not sacrificing harmful effects because of waste products from manufacturing facilities and pollutants from the increased number of motorbikes. I shall ask the assistance of my countrymen to embrace both nature and technology and respect Mother Earth.”

The Vietnamese is the first woman from her country to ever win a major global pageant. Her winning reply goes: “Good evening, everyone. My answer is our ignoring. We have so many technologies, and we just use social media and only care about ourselves. We should spend our time to think and feel with what’s happening with the Earth right now. One small action multiplied by a million people can transform the world.”

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, November 5, 2018

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Amatelco joins bid for 3rd telco spot...

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

A

MA Telecommunications Inc. (Amatelco), which got its telco franchise two years ago, is partnering with Gulf companies to vie for the third telco player’s spot, committing to quickly roll out its plan should it win the auction.

Felizardo Colambo, who sits as president at Amatelco, said its partnership with the undisclosed Middle Eastern companies involve both technical and financial aspects, with the group bidding as a “member of a consortium of investors with prospect of delivering the highest committed level of service and lower subscription cost.”

“If selected, our commitment is to build telecom infrastructure up to the farthest barangays in the Philippines, which is more than compliant with the terms of reference of the bid,” he said.

So far, 10 companies have bought selection documents for the third

telco spot.

In selecting the third telco, the government veered away from the traditional auction model, and instead adopted a “beauty contest” that essentially takes into account the highest level of commitments on three aspects: speed, coverage and financial capability.

Each contender will get points for each category, based on thresholds and minimums.

Deadline for the submission of bids is on November 7 at 10 a.m., during which the bids will be publicly opened and a provisional third telco player will be named.

...as Villar group backs out

By VG Cabuag

T

@villygc

HE group of former politician Manuel B. Villar said it is backing out from its bid to become the country’s third telecommunications provider.

“After extensive discussions by management, Streamtech Systems Technologies Inc. has decided not to proceed with the current bidding for the third

telco and focus on our internal expansion programs and strategies,” Manuel Paolo A. Villar, chairman of Prime Asset Ventures Inc. (Pavi), said in a statement.

Streamtech is a unit of Pavi.

Paolo is the son of the former senator who now heads the family business.

The move comes after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) begins to receive bid documents from interested parties starting on Monday through Tuesday.

Alorica opens 2 new sites in PHL, 1 in Japan

By Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28 Contributor

B

USINESS-process outsourcing Alorica Inc. has expanded its footprint in the country, bringing the total number of facilities to 19. The two new sites in the Philippines will open employment opportunities in the BPO industry for 3,800 local talents.

Alorica By the Bay will hire 2,800 employees by 2019. It will serve clients in the communications, media and entertainment, financial services, health care, retail and consumer goods industries.

Located at the Three E-Com Center, Block 21 Harbor Drive corner Bay Shore, Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, this stand-alone 16-story building will hold approximately 4,550 workers.

Dubbed “Clark 2,” the second site in Angeles City, Pampanga, will join the company’s 18 other locations nationwide, making Alorica the second-largest BPO provider in the country.

Seated on the SM City Clark shopping mall, it will house approximately 1,000 employees, catering to customers in the communications, media, transportation and logistics industries.

With this new facility, Alorica is creating over 2,000 jobs in both Angeles City sites by next year.

Apart from the Philippines, the BPO firm also opened its second facility in Japan, following its successful launch in Sendai.

The Yokohama contact center holds about 100 employees to provide customer care, na-

tive language and technical support services to Japanese-speaking consumers on behalf of a global media services provider.

“Our strategic moves in Asia reflect Alorica’s commitment to grow its global delivery network in key international locations, increase and diversify language flexibility, and provide in-country solutions to multinational brands expanding into new markets,” said Bong Borja, president of Asia at Alorica.

These new locations, he said, will allow them to offer their clients an international workflow in which customer service can seamlessly be handled by and passed between sites in different time zones to increase responsiveness and maximize the quality they give to customers.

“Through these investments, we look forward to helping our clients create and amplify customer experiences that forge impactful impressions and profitable growth,” he said.

Founded nearly 20 years ago, multinational Alorica is the world’s largest provider of customer experiences to North American consumers. Its contact centers and operation hubs manned by more than 100,000 work force span the globe with 130 locations in 14 countries.

Alorica has 23 call centers in Asia, employing more than 38,000 people in China, Japan and the Philippines.

The three new sites will add to the 28,000 jobs the company will create in 2019 to accommodate newclientsandtheongoingdemandforoffshore customer service solutions with a domestic feel.

Lazada premium service to deliver orders on same day/next day basis

O

NLINE shopping platform Lazada is scaling up its capacity to offer a so-called premium service, which essentially allows customers to receive their orders either on the same day or the next day of their online purchase, to more locations in the Philippines.

Same-day/next-day delivery was earlier made available only to shoppers in select cities in Metro Manila, Laguna and Cavite. It was recently launched in Metro Cebu and Davao City, two of the country’s largest retail hubs outside of Metro Manila.

By mid-2019, the e-commerce giant targets to offer premium service in more parts of Greater Manila Area: Manila, Mandaluyong, Marikina, San Juan, Pateros and Caloocan. It also plans to offer same-day/next-day delivery to key cities in Batangas.

“The expansion of our ecosystem of

strategically located warehouses and logistics partners has paved the way for Lazada to offer premium service in more locations,” Lazada Philippines CEO Juan Pavez Spencer said.

At present, Lazada operates three warehouses strategically located in Cabuyao, Laguna; Mandaue City, Cebu; and Davao City.

Aside from items sold and fulfilled by Lazada, customers may opt for the premium service for items bought from its native digital mall called the LazMall, such as products from Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, JBL, Philipps, Mac, L’Oreal, Dove, Olay and Levi’s, among others.

“We will continue to explore opportunities to expand our operations in order to bring our fulfillment services within the reach of more Filipinos and make their online shopping experience even better,” Spencer added. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Opening of bids will begin on Wednesday, the NTC said, and at least 10 groups are expected to submit their respective bids, inc lud ing Davao businessman Dennis Uy; Pampanga-based Dennis Antony Uy, who is rumored to make a backdoor listing at the

Philippine Stock Exchange using Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corp.; and other parties, including Chinese and Norweigian telecom firms.

St rea mtec h, mea nwh i le, recently received its telecom franchise from Malacañang to install, establish, operate and maintain for commercial purposes and in the public interest an international gateway connecting the Philippines to other countries.

It secured the franchise

T he government aims to award the third telco spot—together with 210 megahertz of

frequency bands—this month, so it could be up and running by mid-2019.

on October 18, which allowed them to offer wired or wireless telecommunications, internal and national broadband, mobile and cellular.

The Villar family earlier said they are ready to spend big on ticket items, such as becoming the country’s third telecommunications company and infrastructure, on top of running its own integrated hotel and casino.

Paolo Villar said their family is serious in all of the three endeavors, all of which, he said,

hopes to contribute to national development.

“Like gaming, we’re looking seriously in telco. We’re obviously looking at partners to do certain things, but we want to be active in the sector. The family is looking seriously at getting involved in the telco,” he said earlier.

Paolo Villar heads property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. as its president and CEO, while also doing some of the private businesses of the family through Pavi.

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Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, November 5, 2018

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

October 31, 2018

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS ASIA UNITED BASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE BDO LEASING COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE

58.9 59 122.1 81 28 4.27 11.32 65 39.55 73.05 101.9 28.5 141 66 1.34 2.33 15.28 3.98 1.52 0.435 810 184 1,830

59.2 59.5 122.4 82.15 28.15 7 11.4 65.55 39.6 77.95 122.9 29 144.4 66.9 1.39 2.44 15.68 4 1.57 0.475 825 188.5 1,889

59 59 122 79.8 28.3 7.89 11.52 64.55 40.5 78.25 108.9 29.4 143.6 65.9 1.34 2.45 15.7 3.97 1.5 0.475 810 190 1830

59.2 59.5 123 82.15 28.3 7.89 11.52 65.55 40.5 78.25 122.9 29.4 145.2 66.9 1.4 2.45 15.7 4 1.53 0.48 810 190 1,830

58.8 58.75 120.3 79.8 28 7 11.28 64.15 39.6 73.05 108.9 28.5 138.8 65.9 1.34 2.45 15.7 3.9 1.5 0.475 810 185 1,830

59.2 59.5 122.4 82.15 28 7 11.32 65.55 39.6 77.95 122.9 29 144.4 66.85 1.34 2.45 15.7 4 1.53 0.48 810 185 1,830

74,180 51,360 3,091,460 1,723,280 54,700 1,800 883,900 4,669,860 204,700 100 2,860 8,200 688,820 530 71,000 15,000 500 254,000 124,000 270,000 150 550 5

4,379,986.5 3,042,857.5 378,275,249 140,026,294 1,538,035 13,579 10,028,326 301,667,010 8,159,200 7,605 338,132 236,785 97,038,111 34,951 95,600 36,750 7,850 1,008,740 189,600 128,350 121,500 102,990 9,150

INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY ENERGY DEVT FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG PHIL H2O MERALCO MANILA WATER PETRON PETROENERGY PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER AGRINURTURE CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT GINEBRA JOLLIBEE MAXS GROUP PEPSI COLA SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH CONCRETE A CEMEX HLDG DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP HOLCIM MEGAWIDE PHINMA TKC METALS CROWN ASIA LMG CHEMICALS CONCEPCION INTEGRATED MICR IONICS PANASONIC SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG

1.27 32.9 0.212 6.75 15.6 63.7 4.33 360.6 25 8.1 4.05 0.95 10.8 48.55 5.19 17.74 16.1 13.36 6.85 11 6.95 84.95 0.95 24.3 271.6 10.74 1.63 10.36 2.19 4.79 0.122 129.9 1.61 61.35 2.11 4.71 14.76 8.8 6.16 17.9 8.95 0.95 1.56 4.81 37.8 10.72 1.62 5.95 1.56 38.75

1.29 33.7 0.218 6.87 15.62 64.05 4.55 367.8 25.4 8.13 4.14 0.96 11 49.5 5.2 17.8 16.98 13.44 7 11.4 6.96 85 0.96 24.9 276 10.76 1.65 10.38 2.24 4.8 0.126 130 1.62 66.55 2.12 5.3 15.2 8.88 6.44 17.94 9.06 0.99 1.57 4.85 38 10.76 1.64 6.15 1.58 39

1.26 32.6 0.21 6.88 15.8 63.65 4.42 356 25 8.2 4.06 0.96 11 48.5 5.2 17.9 16.1 13.48 7 11 6.95 85.45 0.93 24.5 267.8 11.14 1.7 10.4 2.19 4.79 0.126 131 1.54 62.05 2.09 5.34 14.98 9 6.44 17.9 9.02 0.94 1.56 4.81 38 11 1.66 6.15 1.49 37.35

1.3 33.7 0.22 6.88 15.8 64.1 4.55 367.8 25.45 8.27 4.15 0.96 11 49 5.2 17.9 16.1 13.54 7 11.4 6.96 85.45 0.96 25.5 277 11.42 1.7 10.5 2.27 4.79 0.126 131 1.62 62.05 2.12 5.34 15.2 9 6.44 18.38 9.06 1 1.56 4.81 38 11.3 1.66 6.15 1.6 39

1.25 32.3 0.21 6.87 15.58 63.65 4.32 355 24.85 8.1 4.05 0.96 11 48.5 5.19 17.7 16.1 13.36 6.8 10.94 6.91 84.95 0.92 24.5 265.4 10.76 1.65 10.38 2.17 4.79 0.126 129 1.54 61.1 2.07 5.34 14.98 8.8 6.44 17.8 9.02 0.94 1.56 4.81 38 10.7 1.61 6.15 1.49 37

1.29 33.7 0.219 6.87 15.62 63.7 4.55 367.8 25 8.1 4.05 0.96 11 48.55 5.2 17.8 16.1 13.36 6.8 11.4 6.96 85 0.95 25 276 10.76 1.65 10.38 2.19 4.79 0.126 130 1.61 61.1 2.12 5.34 15.2 8.88 6.44 17.94 9.06 0.99 1.56 4.81 38 10.76 1.63 6.15 1.58 39

429,000 3,371,800 90,000 36,600 628,000 99,220 57,000 363,350 1,041,700 554,900 53,000 375,000 16,900 154,700 75,800 173,800 1,800 69,200 3,100 4,446,100 364,500 413,050 2,475,000 3,400 1,466,050 267,400 345,000 105,700 143,000 13,000 10,000 1,228,610 7,322,000 30 2,900,000 500 440,800 2,031,300 5,100 5,675,000 20,000 352,000 15,000 68,000 100 2,852,700 224,000 5,000 55,000 661,500

536,400 111,865,770 19,180 251,692 9,813,760 6,349,765 250,680 132,501,312 26,080,365 4,516,714(2, 215,280 360,000 185,900 7,543,440 393,908 3,102,244 28,980 930,842 21,100 49,838,696 2,527,112 35,119,155 2,349,890 84,350 400,244,638 2,893,832 569,800 1,099,494 312,020 62,270 1,260 159,660,059 11,638,440 1,852 6,070,560 2,670 6,662,694 17,877,102 32,844 102,708,852(5, 180,800 337,550 23,400 327,080 3,800 30,800,250 362,630 30,750 84,950 25,394,810

4,367,618 2,165,370 20,315,965 5,145,672.5 (400,885) (5,078,324) (61,044,851) (3,712,485) (2,920) 11,768,695 (1,982.5) 430 (6,775,895) (180,931) (5,112,184) 717,863.5 48,350,256 23,046,090 561,885.9999) 12,150 (5,523,555) 31,200 (185,638) 917,382 19,294,350 (1,635,800) 1,089,672 (5,640) 158,042,836 (391,832) (531,250) (1,047,004) (9,291,119) (1,298,360) 2,271,690 6,502,276 163,409.9997) (3,800) 16,419,700 8,918,275

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL 0.455 0.46 0.47 0.475 0.455 0.455 25,630,000 11,878,250 (28,700) ASIABEST GROUP 25.05 25.35 25.45 26 25 25.35 24,500 629,105 (104,930) AYALA CORP 918.5 920 900.5 945 899 920 461,150 423,446,635 (70,550,010) ABOITIZ EQUITY 46 47 45.95 47 44.1 47 2,428,900 111,432,560 31,412,395 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 11.32 11.36 11.54 11.56 11.34 11.36 6,127,200 69,961,516 6,527,628 ANSCOR 6.2 6.22 6.2 6.21 6.2 6.21 103,900 644,290 575,980 ATN HLDG A 1.25 1.27 1.25 1.31 1.24 1.25 17,856,000 22,814,070 ATN HLDG B 1.27 1.28 1.27 1.34 1.27 1.28 3,185,000 4,113,800 1,519,180 COSCO CAPITAL 6.77 6.9 6.97 6.98 6.77 6.77 1,029,100 7,041,290 (188,913) DMCI HLDG 12.36 12.84 12 12.9 12 12.84 9,680,900 123,059,132 74,387,266 FILINVEST DEV 7.08 7.23 7.08 7.23 7.08 7.23 15,800 113,384 FORUM PACIFIC 0.19 0.22 0.224 0.224 0.224 0.224 10,000 2,240 GT CAPITAL 759 760 765 770 759.5 760 167,960 127,674,960 (12,730,785) HOUSE OF INV 5.82 6.01 5.83 5.83 5.83 5.83 3,500 20,405 JG SUMMIT 47.25 47.3 47.5 48.7 47.3 47.3 1,707,300 81,427,325 35,652,685 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 4.32 5.11 4.31 4.31 4.29 4.29 20,000 85,940 LODESTAR 0.5 0.53 0.54 0.54 0.5 0.53 41,000 20,610 LOPEZ HLDG 4.22 4.23 4.28 4.28 4.23 4.23 2,757,000 11,672,960(1, 976,869.9997) LT GROUP 14.24 14.5 14.6 14.6 14.2 14.5 844,800 12,240,868 (9,678,152) MABUHAY HLDG 0.53 0.54 0.55 0.56 0.52 0.54 1,206,000 641,570 METRO PAC INV 4.78 4.8 4.8 4.84 4.74 4.8 48,220,000 231,132,870 (131,892,390) PACIFICA 0.036 0.038 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.037 2,100,000 77,700 PRIME ORION 2.28 2.31 2.28 2.32 2.28 2.28 112,000 258,220 PRIME MEDIA 1.19 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1,000 1,200 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.69 2.7 407,000 1,098,830 SM INVESTMENTS 898 900 883.5 908 883.5 900 380,410 342,495,695 125,708,520 SAN MIGUEL CORP 169 171 169.9 171 168.9 171 621,260 105,694,623 92,575,675 SOC RESOURCES 0.77 0.8 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77 15,000 11,550 TOP FRONTIER 279.4 280 280 280 267.4 280 2,330 651,964 WELLEX INDUS 0.231 0.235 0.228 0.235 0.227 0.235 2,600,000 605,030 ZEUS HLDG 0.193 0.217 0.217 0.217 0.217 0.217 300,000 65,100

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.64 0.65 0.68 0.68 0.65 0.65 320,000 208,180 ANCHOR LAND 11.06 11.98 12 12 10.98 11.04 8,000 88,354 AYALA LAND 40 40.05 40.65 41.25 40 40.05 9,919,200 399,019,725 (94,117,715) BELLE CORP 2.42 2.49 2.51 2.65 2.42 2.42 1,822,000 4,484,570 (3,325,530) A BROWN 0.85 0.87 0.88 0.88 0.85 0.87 262,000 226,380 (3,440) CITYLAND DEVT 0.92 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.92 0.92 14,574,000 13,408,280 CROWN EQUITIES 0.225 0.233 0.222 0.233 0.221 0.233 9,940,000 2,267,340 CEBU HLDG 5.37 5.4 5.35 5.37 5.35 5.37 21,500 115,409 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.29 4.42 4.36 4.42 4.29 4.42 361,000 1,592,110 (455,260) CENTURY PROP 0.44 0.445 0.435 0.445 0.435 0.445 4,490,000 1,975,400 CYBER BAY 0.39 0.415 0.395 0.395 0.39 0.39 210,000 82,600 11,700 DOUBLEDRAGON 19.4 19.5 19 20.25 18.72 19.5 711,700 13,819,843 (2,056,540) DM WENCESLAO 8.34 8.49 8.51 8.65 8.34 8.34 854,000 7,267,778 (3,369,840) FILINVEST LAND 1.43 1.44 1.43 1.45 1.43 1.43 2,297,000 3,299,620 (331,940) GLOBAL ESTATE 1.12 1.15 1.1 1.15 1.1 1.15 276,000 306,420 8990 HLDG 7.24 7.28 7.22 7.3 7.22 7.28 180,200 1,309,476 674,560 IRC PROP 2.3 2.31 2.37 2.37 2.23 2.3 12,511,000 28,669,870 525,790 CITY AND LAND 0.93 0.94 0.94 0.97 0.94 0.97 94,000 89,300 MEGAWORLD 4.4 4.41 4.44 4.44 4.37 4.4 8,627,000 37,964,870 18,987,180 MRC ALLIED 0.62 0.63 0.64 0.65 0.61 0.62 72,478,000 45,723,170 1,837,550 PHIL ESTATES 0.445 0.45 0.44 0.45 0.44 0.445 630,000 280,300 PRIMEX CORP 3.94 3.99 3.86 4.1 3.85 3.99 1,126,000 4,458,420 299,230 ROBINSONS LAND 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.4 19.9 20.3 888,400 17,990,635 ( 574,775.9996) PHIL REALTY 0.425 0.44 0.435 0.435 0.42 0.435 410,000 177,600 ROCKWELL 1.92 1.99 1.98 1.98 1.92 1.92 210,000 407,150 4,200 SHANG PROP 3.16 3.17 3.17 3.17 3.17 3.17 30,000 95,100 (95,100) STA LUCIA LAND 1.15 1.18 1.17 1.18 1.15 1.18 377,000 441,920 SM PRIME HLDG 36.1 36.15 37 37.1 36.15 36.15 12,400,100 451,809,305 (103,876,790) STARMALLS 6.5 6.57 6.52 6.6 6.45 6.57 118,400 771,347 VISTA LAND 6.05 6.09 6.04 6.17 6.04 6.09 2,580,900 15,710,718 (11,004,470)

SERVICES ABS CBN 21.4 21.5 21.5 21.5 21.4 21.5 10,300 221,235 GMA NETWORK 5.1 5.14 5.15 5.15 5.1 5.1 24,000 122,992 MANILA BULLETIN 0.4 0.42 0.4 0.41 0.4 0.4 120,000 48,600 GLOBE TELECOM 2,032 2,090 2058 2,090 2,002 2,090 63,350 131,554,620 15,619,530 PLDT 1,382 1,390 1355 1,398 1,340 1,390 131,710 181,344,080 21,678,035 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.039 0.041 0.039 0.041 0.039 0.041 6,500,000 265,000 DFNN INC 7.42 8.45 7.39 7.42 7.39 7.42 1,100 8,159 IMPERIAL 1.81 2.05 2.02 2.02 2.02 2.02 2,000 4,040 ISLAND INFO 0.105 0.106 0.105 0.105 0.105 0.105 420,000 44,100 ISM COMM 3.19 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.16 3.2 7,268,000 23,270,000 (7,217,030) JACKSTONES 3.09 3.24 3.1 3.24 3.07 3.24 31,000 96,110 NOW CORP 4.34 4.35 4.48 4.54 4.3 4.35 2,014,000 8,796,740 21,850 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.51 0.52 0.51 0.52 0.5 0.51 14,264,000 7,340,910 18,800 PHILWEB 3.5 3.56 3.51 3.56 3.47 3.5 658,000 2,307,710 (1,729,600) 2GO GROUP 10.94 11 10.78 10.94 10.7 10.94 10,000 107,964 (3,234) CEBU AIR 64 67.45 67.5 67.5 64 64 166,900 10,998,179 6,491,401 CHELSEA 6.26 6.27 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.26 1,349,700 8,449,058 (230,085) INTL CONTAINER 90.3 91 89.9 91 89.45 90.5 7,582,670 679,673,415.5 ( 57,063,621.5) LBC EXPRESS 13.78 14.4 14.4 14.4 14.4 14.4 200 2,880 1,440 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.79 0.8 0.8 0.81 0.77 0.8 187,000 149,390 (28,800) MACROASIA 17.2 17.22 17.4 17.4 17.04 17.2 169,200 2,907,518 134,120 METROALLIANCE A 1.23 1.27 1.23 1.27 1.23 1.23 60,000 74,560 HARBOR STAR 2.83 2.84 2.79 2.9 2.79 2.84 1,644,000 4,704,690 (404,150) WATERFRONT 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.59 0.56 0.58 3,405,000 1,921,170 22,799.9999 FAR EASTERN U 890 900 890 900 890 890 250 222,700 IPEOPLE 11.24 11.96 11.2 11.24 11.1 11.24 8,600 96,268 STI HLDG 0.68 0.69 0.7 0.71 0.67 0.68 11,589,000 7,914,560 (5,705,280) BERJAYA 1.68 1.69 1.68 1.72 1.66 1.69 1,399,000 2,367,400 111,790 BLOOMBERRY 8.32 8.4 8.12 8.5 8.12 8.4 11,218,900 93,313,301 14,213,346 PACIFIC ONLINE 10.64 10.9 10.94 10.94 10.62 10.9 13,300 144,910 LEISURE AND RES 3.36 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.35 3.4 322,000 1,086,670 (27,010) MANILA JOCKEY 5.3 5.4 5.3 5.4 5.3 5.4 50,300 266,750 MELCO RESORTS 7.1 7.15 7.09 7.15 7.09 7.15 2,919,900 20,803,445 5,111,809 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.73 0.74 0.75 0.76 0.73 0.74 4,411,000 3,262,300 (59,360) TRAVELLERS 5.19 5.2 5.16 5.2 5.15 5.2 5,124,700 26,506,220 (17,049,163) METRO RETAIL 2.21 2.22 2.21 2.22 2.21 2.22 491,000 1,088,930 202,070 PUREGOLD 40.55 41.05 41 41.5 40.3 40.55 789,700 32,010,685 1 ,476,274.9997 ROBINSONS RTL 75.8 77 77.5 78 75.15 75.8 828,550 63,360,204.5 (17,342,831) PHIL SEVEN CORP 102.1 105 104 105 104 105 80 8,390 SSI GROUP 2.7 2.72 2.65 2.76 2.65 2.7 35,631,000 96,569,510 11,284,900 WILCON DEPOT 11.2 11.3 11.3 11.4 11.3 11.3 2,019,100 22,899,670 17,011,140 APC GROUP 0.435 0.445 0.455 0.455 0.435 0.435 450,000 197,850 EASYCALL 9.42 9.43 9.9 10.3 9.43 9.43 185,000 1,793,531 GOLDEN BRIA 310 319.4 310 319.8 307.2 319.4 4,360 1,370,064 IPM HLDG 7.6 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 12,500 97,500 PAXYS 2.95 3.24 3.1 3.25 3.1 3.25 18,000 56,310 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.345 0.35 0.34 0.35 0.34 0.345 200,000 68,600 SBS PHIL CORP 6.8 7 7 7 7 7 7,300 51,100 (50,400)

MINING & OIL ATOK 13.4 14 14 14 12.52 14 24,900 343,220 APEX MINING 1.82 1.83 1.73 1.83 1.73 1.82 7,111,000 12,747,980 3,444,470 ATLAS MINING 2.9 2.97 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 2,000 5,800 CENTURY PEAK 1.9 1.92 1.89 1.92 1.89 1.92 309,000 584,040 DIZON MINES 7.18 7.27 7.18 7.21 7.13 7.19 1,600 11,457 FERRONICKEL 1.81 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.8 1.82 463,000 837,520 (16,260) GEOGRACE 0.205 0.208 0.206 0.211 0.203 0.211 160,000 32,690 LEPANTO A 0.107 0.109 0.109 0.109 0.107 0.109 340,000 36,600 MANILA MINING A 0.0068 0.0074 0 0.0069 0.007 0.0066 0.007 31,000,000 208,600 MARCVENTURES 1.17 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.17 1.2 121,000 143,330 NIHAO 0.99 1.03 1.05 1.05 1.03 1.03 2,000 2,080 (2,080) NICKEL ASIA 2.54 2.56 2.57 2.6 2.54 2.54 802,000 2,052,650 (43,460) OMICO CORP 0.59 0.6 0.62 0.62 0.59 0.6 23,000 14,100 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.94 0.96 0.97 0.97 0.93 0.96 702,000 666,520 PX MINING 3.48 3.51 3.54 3.54 3.48 3.48 1,364,000 4,786,190 136,730 SEMIRARA MINING 27.95 28 28.1 28.1 27.2 27.95 653,100 18,143,645 (664,100) UNITED PARAGON 0.006 0.0063 0 0.0061 0.0061 0.0061 0.0061 2,000,000 12,200 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 45,200,000 587,600 PHILODRILL 0.011 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 50,700,000 608,400 PHINMA PETRO 4.03 4.1 4.14 4.21 4.1 4.1 141,000 589,290 PXP ENERGY 17.82 17.84 17.66 17.98 17.66 17.84 1,498,000 26,730,410 3,500,322

PREFFERED

HOUSE PREF A 96 98 98 98 98 98 300 29,400 AC PREF B1 461 465 465 465 465 465 20 9,300 (4,650) AC PREF B2 490 492 492 492 492 492 50 24,600 DD PREF 95.1 96 96 96 95 96 39,830 3,818,236 SMC FB PREF 2 977 1,000 1000 1,000 1,000 1,000 2,100 2,100,000 GLO PREF P 462 489 470 470 460 460 1,020 469,400 LR PREF 1.01 1.03 1.01 1.02 1.01 1.02 13,000 13,230 (3,030) MWIDE PREF 100 101.9 101.9 101.9 101.9 101.9 110 11,209 PNX PREF 3A 100 102.7 100 100 100 100 500 50,000 PNX PREF 3B 103 105 104.9 105 104.9 105 1,550 162,717 SMC PREF 2B 75.05 75.9 75.05 75.05 75.05 75.05 10 750.5 SMC PREF 2C 75.85 76.05 76.05 76.05 76.05 76.05 5,010 381,010.5 228,150 SMC PREF 2D 72.6 74.4 74.35 74.4 74 74.35 3,430 254,581.5 SMC PREF 2E 72.6 74.9 74.9 74.9 74.9 74.9 15,040 1,126,496 SMC PREF 2F 74.1 75 75 75 75 75 605,200 45,390,000 SMC PREF 2G 73.5 75 74.5 75 74.5 75 7,800 584,600 SMC PREF 2H 73.5 74.9 74 74.9 73.95 74.9 105,510 7,810,182 740 SMC PREF 2I 74.6 74.9 73.55 74.9 73.5 74.9 49,800 3,708,056 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

21.2 4.91

21.4 5.17

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

2.27

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 4.45 XURPAS 1.54

2.28

2.31

2.37

2.28

2.28

114,000

263,410

6,899.9999

4.49 1.58

4.53 1.63

4.59 1.72

4.45 1.52

4.45 1.54

228,000 31,597,000

1,024,600 51,005,700

178,000 (6,434,480)

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

106.9

-

107.5

106.2

107.5

106.2

107.5

4,100

436,749

1,075

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Metro Pacific to hike use of RFID payments to avoid delays in tollways

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

M

@lorenzmarasigan

ETRO Pacific Tollways Corp. aims to increase the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on the expressways it operates to help curb delays along toll plazas usually caused by long payment time when using cash.

Rodrigo E. Franco, the company’s president, said his group aims to hit

the 50-percent mark in electronic toll collections technology usage in

the next three years, a feat that will help the company take on its projected increase in traffic along its expressways.

The company operates the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex), the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (Cavitex) and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).

“Usage of electronic toll collections for Nlex and SCTEx is at 22 percent to 23 percent, and for Cavitex, it’s 30 percent. We want to push it even higher, especially on Nlex and SCTEx. We want to make it at least 50 percent in the next three years,” Franco said.

He explained that the push for

electronic payments, which essentially removes the need for giving change and instead makes use of a frictionless technology for toll collection, will have a “huge effect on the buildup problem” that Filipino expressways usually face.

“In the future, if traffic continues to grow, and we will not have any more area of expansion for toll lanes, it will be a problem. So we are banking on increasing the use of e-payments at the toll plazas,” Franco said.

He noted that achieving 50-percent in the next three years is doable, but noted that it is only just the start.

“If we exceed it, then it’s even better,” Franco said.

MVP Group interested in coal plants AC Energy plans to sell

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

T

HE group of Manuel V. Pangilinan is interested to take a look at the 4x135-megawatt coal-fired power plants in Mindanao that AC Energy Inc. has put on the auction block.

“We heard about that. We’re trying to get data. What I am told, it is a coal project. It seems to be almost finished so it’s ready for operation.

So, it looks interesting because we don’t have to wait for all sorts of approval, will probably take a look at it,” said Pangilinan, chairman of the Manila Electric Co. Meralco PowerGen Corp. is the power-generation arm of Meralco.

After AboitizPower sealed an agreement with AC Energy in September for the purchase of a stake in the latter’s thermal business, AA Thermal Inc., valued at $579.2 million, the power arm of conglomerate Ayala Corp., announced it was selling the rest of its thermal portfolio,

which includes the GN Power Kauswagan plant.

Pangilinan said nothing has been decided on yet.

“There’s no commitment at this stage. We’re looking. It looks attractive because the plants are almost done, I was told. It appears to be super critical plant. I will take a serious look at it,” the Meralco official said.

The power facility, the Meralco official said, would boost the power capacity in Mindanao, which still lacks supply, contrary to what others observed that there is oversupply of power in Mindanao.

“It doesn’t seem that way from the ground.

My impression is that it continues to suffer from brownouts. So, we will take a look at it,” Pangilinan commented. Should Pangilinan’s group decide to push through with its interest in AC Energy’s GN Power Kauswagan plant, this will most likely cement its power-generation portfolio fortress across grids.

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK LAST WEEK

SHARE prices gained last week, a three-day work week, as investors took the opportunity for their usual month-end window-dressing activities.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) was closed on November 1 for the All Saints’ Day holiday and November 2 for All Souls’ Day. The benchmark PSE index rose 75.96 points to close at 7,140.29 points.

Trading for the week was again lackluster as investors chose to stay on the sidelines for the first two days of trading and then go all out on Wednesday, the last trading day for October.

“The index is recovering nicely after testing support at 6,700 three weeks ago. In general, the market traded sideways again this week with value turnover better than expected because of the short trading week,” said Christopher Mangun, research head at Eagle Equities Inc. Average daily trading for the shortened work week was at P4.8 billion, while foreign investors were net sellers at P1.1 billion.

“Foreign investors were net buyers on Wednesday, something we have not seen in the last two months. Most of the gains for the week came on the last day with increased trading value as well,” Mangun said.

All of the other subindices went up, led by the All Shares index that rose 37.87 points to 4,370.46 points. The Financials index gained 44.34 to 1,607.9; the Industrial index climbed 126.38 to 10,648.79; the Holding Firms index was up 45.66 to 7,003.53; the Property index added 1 to 3,495.49; the Services index was higher by 0.96 to 1,462.55; and the Mining and Oil index surged 160.83 to 9,572.05.

Gainers edged losers 104 to 90 and 32 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers were Synergy Grid and Development Philippines Inc., Philippine Trust Co., Da Vinci Capital Holdings Inc., Liberty Flour Mills Inc., Xurpas Inc. and Philippine Savings Bank.

Top losers were Easycall Communications Philippines Inc., Jolliville Holdings Corp., IRC Properties Inc., Arthaland Corp., STI Education Systems Holdings Inc. and iPeople Inc.

THIS WEEK

SHARE prices may continue their rise this week, the start of trading for November, as companies release their nine-month earnings report, but analysts still warn of price volatility.

“The coming weeks present good trading windows, having seen a lot of fundamentally strong stocks beaten by the selling stigma. Expect volatility, and always remember the concept of ‘strong recovery,’” broker 2TradeAsia said.

Meanwhile, Mangun said if the main index can sustain this run and break above resistance at 7,200 points this week, this may signal that the main index has bottomed out.

“If the index does not start to recover soon, then we may be in for more losses,” he said.

STOCK PICKS

BROKER Regina Capital and Development Corp. recommended to buy the stock of Bloomberry Resorts Corp. when it reaches its support price of P8 per share.

“Interestingly, bearish momentum is beginning to accumulate for Bloomberry, given how it began to register lower lows in the last few days,” it said.

“What is important here is for Bloomberry to find a support to jump-start its rally back up, given that it is already gaining upward momentum,” it added.

Bloomberry closed last week at P8.40 per share.

Meanwhile, the broker advised to take profit on the stock of San Miguel Corp. after its stock skyrocketed from P158.02 to P168.13 in a matter of three days without establishing a solid support.

“Participants would want to lock in some gains before repositioning. Indicators remain bullish, which is understandable, as upward momentum is still strong. But near-term, expect investors to lock in some gains first,” it said.

San Miguel shares closed last week at P171 per share. VG Cabuag

MUTUAL FUNDS

October 31, 2018

NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 239.6 -16.12% -2.13% -0.33% -18.28% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.3715 -13.55% 2.13% 1.29% -14.11% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 3.7261 -16.38% -1.61% -1.2% -18.87% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.8495 -15.72% N.A. N.A. -16.47% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. * ********* 0.7901 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 4.9447 -14.83% -3.79% -0.97% -17.77% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * ****** 109.37 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.7914 -18.34% N.A. N.A. -20.28% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 46.3957 -15.27% -1.42% N.A. -17.73% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 484.19 -15.77% -2.66% -1.33% -17.72% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.1977 -12.7% -0.44% N.A. -14.71% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 34.8764 -12.56% -0.12% 1.63% -15.13% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 4.6642 -15.28% -0.74% 1.44% -17.8% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 778.84 -15.19% -0.99% 1.17% -17.65% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.8125 -14.08% -3.05% N.A. -15.99% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 3.8566 -13.43% -0.98% -0.01% -15.8% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 0.8981 -15.42% -0.9% N.A. -17.85% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.3236 -11.45% 0.35% -0.05% -14.65% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* *** ● 104.1484 -14.74% 0.16% N.A. -17.31% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.8991 -16.34% -0.68% -1.71% -18.88% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.1739 -3.6% N.A. N.A. -7.22% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.5997 -12.54% -3.77% -2.61% -14.16% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.1398 -11.45% -1.5% -0.5% -12.91% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.435 -10.35% -4.5% -3.22% -12.09% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* **** 1.2676 -11.98% N.A. N.A. -12.87% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.784 -8.72% -0.8% -0.53% -10.46% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.3673 -12.97% -2.89% -1.7% -14.06% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 15.1963 -12.53% -2.68% -1.68% -13.45% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* ******** 1.9967 -10.01% -0.83% 0.99% -10.95% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.525 -10.17% -1.58% -0.76% -11.79% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.8956 -10.16% -1.9% N.A. -12.22% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.0346 -3.97% -0.75% 1.31% -4.16% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9137 -10.95% -0.15% -2.38% -12.73% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.4525 -2.68% 2.98% 1.83% -5.48% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0336 -5.59% N.A. N.A. -7.07% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 341.48 1.44% 1.77% 1.63% 1.3% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ******* 1.8529 -1.89% -1.31% -0.68% -2.08% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.9479 5.51% 5.33% 5.24% 4.46% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1199 0.03% 0.99% 1.04% 0.84% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2125 -0.23% -0.13% 0.35% -0.17% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.5653 -3.01% -1.67% -1.58% -2.75% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8014 -7.06% -2.18% -1.31% -6.14% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.4598 -1.1% -0.66% -0.41% -1.28% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.8745 -6.05% -2.37% N.A. -5.28% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.749 -1.08% -0.24% 0.01% -1.01% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5278 -1.55% -0.67% -0.32% -1.41% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $446.08 0.41% 2.14% 2.87% 0.03% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є213.09 0.12% 1.19% 1.61% -0.29% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.1209 -1.16% 0.66% 1.47% -1.16% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0248 -0.8% 0.54% N.A. -0.8% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.689 -4.46% -0.7% 0.88% -4.66% MAA PRIVILEGE DOLLAR FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. MAA PRIVILEGE EURO FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. ЄN.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC* $1.0244 -5.01% -1.52% -2.96% -4.57% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1255 -4.87% -0.16% 1.94% -5.58% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.0568591 -1.07% 0.79% 1.71% -0.6% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.8762 -4.17% 0.31% 1.39% -4.53% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 120.08 2.38% 1.71% 1.46% 2.1% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1737 1.67% 0.34% 0.36% 1.41% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.2118 2.49% 2.17% 1.44% 2.22% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* ***** $1.0128 N.A. N.A. N.A. 1.41%

* - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY ** - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO *** - LISTED IN THE PSE. **** - RE-CLASSIFIED INTO A BALANCED FUND STARTING JANUARY 1, 2017 (FORMERLY GREPALIFE BOND FUND CORP.). ***** - LAUNCH DATE IS NOVEMBER 6, 2017 ****** - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 08, 2018 ******** - RENAMING OF THE FUND WAS APPROVED BY THE SEC LAST APRIL 13, 2018. ********* - BECAME A MEMBER SINCE APRIL 20, 2018. ******* - ADJUSTED DUE TO CASH DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JANUARY 29, 2018 ● - ADJUSTED DUE TO STOCK DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JUNE 5, 2018.

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Insurance body bares nonlife companies’ rankings for 2017

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HE Insurance Commission (IC) has reported the top 5 nonlife insurance companies in terms of net premiums written, assets, net worth and net income for 2017.

Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa said the rankings are based on the audited annual statements submitted by the nonlife insurance companies to the IC. In terms of premiums written for 2017, Prudential Guarantee & Assurance Inc. emerged as the No. 1 nonlife insurance company with a recorded premium income of P4.81 billion, followed

by Charter Ping An with a premium income of P4.08 billion, Malayan Insurance Co Inc. with P4.07 billion, BPI/ MS Insurance Corp. with P2.96 billion, and FPG Insurance Co. Inc. with P2.51 billion.

According to the IC, net premiums written are premiums written on direct business plus assumed premiums less cessions and retrocessions.

Based on total assets for 2017, the rankings would be thus: Malayan Insurance Co., Inc. takes the top spot with a recorded total assets of P38.81 billion.

Pioneer Insurance & Surety Corp. is second with P25.43 billion in total assets, BPI/MS Insurance Corp. third with P12.59 billion, Prudential Guarantee & Assurance Inc. fourth with a reported P12.57 billion, and Charter Ping An at fifth with P10.53 billion.

In terms of total net worth for 2017, Pioneer Insurance & Surety Corp. has retained its market leadership with a reported net worth of P13.94 billion, which is more than double the reported net worth of Malayan Insurance Co., Inc. which took the second spot with P6.90 billion.

Taking the third spot is Philippines’s First Insurance Co. Inc. with a reported net worth of P2.30 billion followed by BPI/MS Insurance Corp. with P2.08 billion and AIG Philippines Insurance Co. with P1.79 billion.

A company’s net worth is its total assets minus total liabilities, while its net income is its total revenues minus total expenses, the IC further explained.

In terms of net income, BPI/ MS Insurance Corp. recorded the highest with P427.50 million, followed by Prudential Guarantee & Assurance Inc. with P259.78 million.

Coming from the 40th spot in 2016, Insurance Company of North America ranked third in terms of net income for 2017 with P212.13 million.

Card Pioneer Microinsurance Inc., a microinsurance company, took the fourth spot with P210.34 million. And completing the top 5 list is Charter Ping An, climbing the fifth spot from its 60th spot in 2016 with P185.90million net income. Rea Cu

NG subsidies to state firms rise 698% in Sept to ₧19.6B–BTr

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By Rea Cu @ReaCuBM

HE national government has released subsidies amounting to P19.583 billion for September, a figure that is 698 percent higher than the reported P2.454 billion in subsidies made for the same month in 2017, Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.

The Philippine Health Insurance Cor p. (PhilHealth) took the bulk of the subsidy with P5.296 billion.

Total subsidy from the government for the nine-month period amounted to P124.834 billion, expanding by 49.27 percent compared to last year’s P83.625 billion.

Apart from PhilHealth, other

government-ow ned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) that received subsidies include: n The Land Bank of the Philippines with P4.945 billion; it received no subsidy in September 2017; n The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) with P4.832 billion coming from a P643-million

Moody’s eyes 25 bps hike in BSP rates by year-end

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OODY’S Analytics projects a further increase of 25 basis points in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) key policy rates before the end of 2018.

In a publication issued on Friday, the research firm said the additional increase in the Central Bank’s key rates is projected “to tame inflation, which is hovering near 7 percent year on year, due to a combination of the weak peso, high oil prices and earlier adverse weather, disrupting fresh produce supplies.”

To date, BSP’s policy-making Monetary Board has increased the Central Bank’s key rates by a total of 150 basis points to help rein in inflation and ensure price stability.

In the first nine months of the year, the rate of price inc rea ses avera ged 5 percent , higher than the government’s 2 to 4 percent target band for 2018-2020.

In September alone, inf lation rose to a multiyear high of 6.7 percent due to faster increases of the heavily weighted food and nona lcoholic beverages index.

This situation has led the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee to adjust the inf lation assumption for this year from a range of 4 to 4.5 percent, to 4.8 to 5.2 percent.

Aut hor ities, however, sa id that inflation is seen to go back to within target levels of 2 to 4

percent in 2019 with the help of monetary policy decisions, as well as measures identified to address supply issues.

Malacañang has issued a memo directing several government agencies to ensure an adequate supply of rice, vegetables, meat and fish.

Among these issuances is Administrative Order 13, which removes nontariff barriers and streamlines administrative procedures on the import of basic agricultural commodities.

A l so, Memora ndu m Order (MO) 26 was issued, directing the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to implement measures that would cut the gap between farm-gate and retail prices of agricultural products.

The Office of the President also issued MO 27, which directs the DA, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to ensure an efficient and seamless delivery of imported agricultural and fishery products from ports to markets.

MO 28, meanwhile, ordered the National Food Authority to immediately release in September some 230,000 metric tons of rice in its warehouses nationwide and immediately distribute 100,000 MT of rice that have been contracted and were expected to be delivered by the end of that month. PNA

BPO sector more threatened by AI than tax measures–Dominguez

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HE increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI)—not new tax measures—are the real threat to the country’s business-process outsourcing (BPO) sector, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said.

“The development of AI around the world is very rapid and it is going to cer tainly hit our BPO industry. And I think we must accept that,” Dominguez said in a recent briefing with journalists.

He said he explained this to BPO stakeholders earlier, in line with the planned reform of the

Monday, November 5, 2018

Philippine tax system.

“I don’t know how they are preparing for this inevitable hit in the industry,” he said.

The Department of Finance (DOF) is pushing for the reform of incentives being give n to bu s i ne s s e s a s it v ie s t o i nc re a s e re v e nu e s t o f i nance the government’s massive infrastructure program.

The Duterte administration plans to invest at least P8 trillion in its “Build, Build, Build” program.

Dominguez said the government wants the incentives given

to investors to meet four standards—targeted, time-bound, transparent and greatly beneficial to the people.

He clarified that the bid to rationalize incentives “will not immediately cutoff any incentive.”

The finance chief also pointed out that “the government has no contractual obligation to give any incentives to anybody.”

“That is a privilege and that is the sovereign right of the government to change its tax incentives when [the] tax system no longer works. There is no contracting obligation,” he added. PNA

subsidy in the same month for 2017; and n The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., which received its first subsidy from the government in September this year amounting to P2.275 billion. The PCIC received a P350-million subsidy in September 2017, which means this year’s subsidy is 550 percent higher.

Subsidies were also given to the: n National Dairy Authority

with P382 million; n Small Business Corp. with P300 million; n National Kidney Transplant Institute with P271 million; n Light Rail Transit Administration with P265 million; n Social Security System with P185 million; n Philippine Rice Research Institute with P182 million; and - Sugar Regulatory Administration with P113 million.

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A government subsidy to GOCCs aims to help agencies reduce their costs and support the growth of different sectors, among others.

In August the NG gave out total subsidies of P5.037 billion with the NIA receiving the bulk of the subsidy.

The second-biggest recipient for the month was PhilHealth with P2 billion, with no subsidy received during the same month last year.

The W

Business

B4 Monday, November 5, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Indonesia extends search for Lion Air victims, debris J AKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesian authorities have extended the search for victims of the Lion Air crash and the plane’s cockpit voice recorder.

National Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi said on Sunday the search involving hundreds of personnel and dozens of ships would continue for another three days.

The Lion Air jet crashed just minutes after takeoff from Jakarta on Monday, killing all 189 people on board. More than 100 body bags of human remains have been recovered.

Syaugi said weak signals, potentially from the cockpit voice recorder, were traced to a location but an object

World economy risks returning to sync, this time to the downside

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HE world’s major economies that entered 2018 accelerating in sync risk entering 2019 decelerating in sync.

The shift is being led by China, where the economy’s weakest performance since 2009 is set to worsen unless a peace can be struck in the trade war with the United States. Factory readings from Asia already show a fallout, with Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia slipping into contraction territory.

The euro area too is losing momentum, expanding in the third quarter at half the pace of the prior three months as Italy and Germany stagnated. That comes just as inflation is picking up, setting up a complex 2019 for European Central Bank policy-makers who have pledged to dial down monetary support.

The question is whether the US can resist the downdraft, providing ballast for the rest of the world. While a tightening labor market gives reason to hope it can, most economists forecast growth will ebb a bit in 2019 on the back of protectionism, higher interest rates and the fading support of tax cuts.

“The story is that we will probably re-synchronize,” said Joachim Fels, global economic adviser at Pacific Investment Management Co. “But this time on the downside.”

It’s a marked turnaround from April, when the International Monetary Fund declared the world was enjoying the most united upswing since 2010.

Its mood changed in October when it cut its global outlook for the first time in two years and said growth had plateaued.

There are other signs the peak has passed for the global economy.

IHS Markit’s purchasing manager indexes for China and the euro area all retreated last month to drive the overall reading to an almost two-year low, while the US gauge was little changed.

Most countries have now seen their PMIs decline over the last three months.

“The latest data strongly supports the view that the best days in the post-2008 financial crisis growth cycle have been seen,” said Alan Ruskin, global cohead of foreign-exchange research at Deutsche Bank AG. A global reversal could add further jitters to financial markets and eventually pressure central banks such as the Federal Reserve to slow their exit from monetary stimulus, although so far there’s scant sign the Fed is for turning.

Bloomberg News

hadn’t been found yet due to deep seabed mud.

Syaugi said a considerable amount of aircraft “skin” was

found on the seafloor but not a large intact part of its fuselage as he’d indicated on Saturday was possible. AP

Trump-Xi trade deal i

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RESIDENT Donald J. Trump often seems to be caught between his ideological desire to rewrite America’s trade relationship with China and a businessman’s instinct to cut a deal.

And with Tuesday’s midterm elections looming and financial markets coming off a rough October, the dealmaker appears to have the upper hand.

“We’ll make a deal with China, and I think it will be a very fair deal for everybody,” Trump told reporters on Friday after asking aides the day before to begin drafting ideas for an agreement to take to his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Argentina from November 30 to December 1. The two sides are “getting much closer to doing something,” he said.

Still, to satisfy Trump’s own inner ideologue—and the China hawks in his administration—that “something” is going to have to hang on substance. And that’s where things are likely to get complicated.

Temporary truce

XI may fill out the picture on Monday when he is due to address a trade fair in Shanghai. Analysts familiar with White House discussions, however, say any deal struck at the G20 is likely to take the form more of a temporary truce than anything that will bring a final peace in the trade wars.

Such a cease-fire could, they said, see a commitment to forgo additional tariffs, and possibly even to remove some, while high-level officials negotiate a broader pact.

Any of those things would in the current context be a significant achievement and be welcomed by markets.

But they would also leave Beijing

and Washington facing arduous negotiations ahead, as one senior administration official indicated on Friday.

“If there’s goodwill and agreement, at least personal agreement between the two presidents of the two biggest economies, we’ll move forward after it and try to work with the Chinese on details,” Larry Kudlow, the head of Trump’s National Economic Council, told a conference in Chicago. But even if conversations go well between Trump and Xi in Buenos Aires, Kudlow said, “it will still be a long, tough process.”

The reason for that, analysts argue, is that the structural and economic complaints Washington has with Beijing are far more consequential than those the US is confronting with any other trading partner.

If anything, the Trump administration has also been embarking on a more confrontational path with China of late, with recent speeches and comments by officials such as Vice President Mike Pence causing rumblings of a new Cold War. “The distance between a leaders’ statement that they would like to work something out and would like to make some progress and actually reaching a deal is ginormous,” said Scott Kennedy, an expert on USChina relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

‘Economic aggression’

AS the diplomacy sputters along, the economic evidence Trump uses to support his case for a domestic audience is mounting. US Commerce Department data released on Friday showed the US goodstrade gap with China has continued to rise, hitting $301 billion in the first nine months of 2018. That’s an increase of almost 10 percent from the same period last year. That is almost three times the deficit with the European Union and six times the size of the imbalance with Japan, two other economies the Trump administration is now embarking on trade talks with.

The Trump administration has also repeatedly labeled industrial policies such as Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” plan to lead the world in areas such as robotics acts of “economic aggression” meant to undermine America’s place in the global economy.

Abandoning—or even weakening—the state subsidies and other incentives behind that plan is a concession Xi is unlikely to make, analysts said. Likewise, leadership in Beijing is unlikely to respond favorably to US demands for it to dismantle the network of stateowned firms that control much of the Chinese economy.

Intellectual property

ONE possible area of progress is protecting intellectual property, with Beijing potentially agreeing to do more to rein in hackers or to cooperate with US authorities who have intensified a crackdown on Chinese theft of trade secrets.

Washington this week restricted US businesses from selling to China’s Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co., saying the chipmaker poses a threat to national security. Last month it secured the extradition from Belgium of a Chinese agent accused of stealing trade secrets from companies including General Electric Co. But making the sort of meaningful long-term changes to Chinese

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is likely to begin rather than end at G20 economic policy that Washington has been demanding is likely to be far more difficult for Beijing, analysts said.

“It is difficult to see what sort of commitments China could credibly make to address concerns that the US has about a host of complicated issues” like how to address “Made in China 2025,” said Eswar Prasad, a former China expert at the International Monetary Fund who is now at Cornell University. Yet “hardline members of Trump’s administration see these as existential issues in the longterm economic conflict between the US and China.”

Chinese analysts, meanwhile, say officials in Beijing continue to feel burned by their past experience in dealing with the Trump administration, which as recently as May appeared close to another deal with Beijing.

Zhou Xiaoming, a former commerce ministry official and diplomat, said one fear in Beijing was that the Trump administration would continue to demand changes that Xi could never agree to. If China can’t meet those demands, the US “will kick the ball back to China and hold China accountable for the fruitless negotiations,” Zhou said. Bloomberg News

North Korea threatens to resume nuclear program, slams sanctions

N DONALD J. TRUMP and Xi Jinping BLOOMBERG

ORTH Korea stepped up its attack on United States-led sanctions, threatening to resume its nuclear program if the measures aren’t lifted.

The Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies said it could revive its policy of economic construction and nuclear development if sanctions continue. The US “had better stop the self-destructive act of putting pressure” on the North, the Korean Central News Agency cited director Kwon Jong Gun as saying.

The measures hamper South Korea from pursuing cooperation projects with the North, according to the institute in a statement late Friday. That echoes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s recent comments, saying that “vicious” sanctions stand in the way of promoting the country’s

development and lead instead “to change and submission.”

The remarks come a week before a planned meeting between US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol to discuss details of a potential second summit between Kim and President Donald J. Trump.

Pompeo and Kim will likely be accompanied by special envoy Stephen Biegun and North Korea’s Choe Son Hui, South Korea’s Hankyoreh reported.

Hours after the statement was released, satellite imagery seen by 38 North suggested that North Korea is continuing uranium mining and milling operations at one of the country’s largest declared uranium ore concentrate facilities.

Bloomberg News

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The Regions

Monday, November 5, 2018 • Editor: Dennis D. Estopace

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E-gate facility in Cebu, Davao airports launched

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By Recto Mercene

@rectomercene

HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Friday launched its electronic gate facility (e-gate) scheme for Filipino air travelers arriving in Cebu and Davao airports.

Immigration’s Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said a total of five e-gates—three in Mactan and two in Davao—became fully operational at the two southern airports last week.

Medina said similar e-gates will be installed at Clark and Kalibo airports before the year ends, “so that with the onset of the peak

travel season the project would be operational in all of the country’s five major ports of entry.”

“We are targeting to make the e-gates operational in these major ports before the Christmas and New Year, when we expect to process a huge influx of traveling passengers.”

According to Medina, only Fili-

pino passengers with machinereadable passports may use the e-gates. The e-gate’s first stage would be for children and senior citizens, while travelers with disability will be processed at a separate priority lane.

T he e -gates were init ia l ly launched and pilot-tested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) three months ago as part of the BI’s effort to expedite processing of travelers and reduce the long queues at the airports.

The project cut down the standard immigration processing time for every traveler to eight seconds or 15 seconds from the average time of 45 seconds.

Aside from faster processing, the e-gate project also aims to bolster the BI’s ability to pinpoint or detect travelers with deroga-

tory records, wanted fugitives and those who are subjects of blacklists and hold departure orders.

Each e-gate is equipped with modern security features, including facial recognition, biometric scanning, bar code reading, and smart card recognition, all rolled into one.

Commissioner Jaime H. Morente welcomed the launching of the egate project in Mactan and Davao.

“It will help the BI address the perennial problem of long passenger queues at the airports especially during the Yuletide season,” Morente said during the launch of the e-gates in Davao. “This project really prioritizes Filipinos, to ensure fast and smooth processing of our [compatriots] so they have more time to be with their families.”

Funding Marawi rehab part of agenda of Islamic finance forum of Asean universities in Manila

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U NDR EDS of pa r t ic ipants from various sectors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), particularly academe/education are expected to converge in the Philippines for the sixth Asean Universities International Conference on Islamic Finance (AICIF) at the New World Makati Hotel on November 14 and 15.

The keynote speaker for the opening day, President Duterte, will be represented by Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno.

On the second and final day, Malaysia’s Minister of Education Yang Berhomat Dr. Maszlee bin Malik will deliver the keynote speech.

Speeches and panel discussions will revolve around the theme “Strengthening Islamic Finance in Southeast Asia through Innovation, Collaboration and Research” as the participants will dwell and delve on the intricacies of Islamic finance, its benefits to the world, countries, and communities and the challenges that lay ahead, among others.

The conference has two objectives: to review best practices to help in developing Islamic financial ecosystem, and to formulate an action plan to address corresponding challenges moving forward.

Speakers will cover topics, such as Islamic Banking and Capital Market; Corporate Governance; Money Payment System and Financial Innovation; Takaful and Risk Management; and Islamic Social Finance, etc.

Coming after the recent fivemonth Marawi siege that devastated the Muslim city in the

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Davao judge awardee: Papa is proud of his daughter

By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

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AVAO CITY—A retired judge here said she could not help but become tear-eyed upon receiving news that the Japanese government was giving her an award for her legal and welfare work with Filipinos of Japanese descent.

“I am happy, honored and privileged to be an awardee. Makahilak ko sa balita [I feel like crying at this news],” said retired Judge Antonina B. Oshita Escovilla.

Saying her deceased father, a reserved officer of the Japanese Imperial Army, “would be so proud that one of his kids has been recognized of her dedication to work.”

Her father died after the war, yet, “we still have a lot of descendants who are not yet recognized due to insufficient evidence.”

“The Japanese government can be of help if it can show a little leniency on the available documents the members have,” she added.

Escovilla is the president of the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai International School Inc. here. As a judge, she has worked out for the recognition of the Japanese descendants by the Japanese government. She said her work as president since 2012 involved screening of members to be rendered legal assistance.

She previously handled special proceeding cases of members and prepared sworn statements for submission to the Japanese embassy in Manila every time applications for resident visas were filed.

For example, in one of her regular reports to the PNJK association as president in 2015, she said “our association is so blessed with the numerous number of approved shuseki [leaders] which program is funded by the Nippon Foundation.”

“The generous financial assistance extended by the Nippon Foundation under the leadership of Chairman Yohei Sasakawa paved the way to acknowledging and recognizing

PNJK members as children of the Japanese national,” she said. “The favorable judgment obtained served as an inspiration to all movers to continue research work for those second generation who have yet to be recognized.”

She said the association saluted “the staff of PNLSC, Japan, PNLSC Manila and the Project Administrator based in Davao City under the supervision of PNJK Davao Chapter for their joint effort in processing all documents used as evidence supporting the Petitions before the Family Court in Japan.”

She said the patience of some petitions had to last for “almost six decades [and] had paid off.”

The award, made public by the embassy in Manila, said retired Judge Escovilla is a second-generation Japanese descendant who joined the Philippine Nikkeijin Kai “to assist persecuted Japanese-descended Filipinos.”

“She served as the legal adviser of the organization. While caring for the needs of the members, she investigated the ownership rights of the land possessed by Japanese ancestors and traced the roots of Japanese forefathers [for the recognition of Japanese nationality]. She also exerted efforts in improving educational environment for children of Japanese descents, helped establish the identity of Japanese descendants and contributed to uplifting their status. Since 2011, as the president of the organization, she has continued to extend support to a huge number of Japanese descendants and has garnered the deep trust not only from Japanese descendants but also many other Filipinos.”

“In recognition of her contribution to the improvement of the status of Japanese descendants, including educational environment, and to the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and the Philippines, the government of Japan confers “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette” to Escovilla.

Negrenses commemorate 120th ‘Cinco de Noviembre’ B BATANGAS ASSIST

This undated photo shows employees of Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) Inc. and children of Barangay Pinagbayanan in San Juan, Batangas, during AEV’s activity in that village. PHOTO COURTESY OF ABOITIZ EQUITY VENTURES INC.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the AICIF’s holding in the country proves timely and relevant, organizers said. Its Plenary Session 1 will discuss ways for the Philippine government to consider harnessing Islamic finance-backed schemes to raise funds for rehabilitation and rebuilding of the city, whose 400,000 residents had to f lee their homes.

Participants include academi-

cians; practitioners; researchers and regulators; international business leaders who offer Islamic financial products; policy-makers; political leaders; senior government officials from countries that have adopted Islamic finance; technology company C-level executives; business development managers; innovators in the financial technology (fintech) sector; ethical finance leaders; business specialists and managers; mid-

level management executives; business development manages, analysts; risk professionals in Islamic finance sector; Shari’ah scholars; advisors; lawyers and other legal experts.

The Mindanao State University (MSU) System under its president, Dr. Habib W. Macaayong, is hosting the conference, which is staged annually, with the host rot ated a mong pa r t ic ipat i ng universities.

ACOLOD CITY—Negros Occidental will mark the 120th year of the “Cinco de Noviembre,” the commemoration of the Negros Revolution against the Spanish colonizers, in various rites today, Monday.

Republic Act 6709 declares every November 5 a special nonworking holiday in Negros Occidental.

In Bacolod City, the provincial government will hold a program at the Capitol grounds in the morning to recognize Negrense centenarians.

In the evening, a tribute will be held for this year’s five outstanding Negrense awardees at the Capitol Social Hall.

The province will honor Olivia Yanson for humanitarian work; Cherrie de Erit Atilano, sustainable agritourism; Jeannette Patindol, academe and literature; Roberto Montelibano, business and entrepreneurship; and, the Negros Historical Council Inc., history and culture.

This year’s theme is “Pasidungog

sa mga Bag-o nga Baganihan sang Probinsya [Honoring Modern-day Heroes of the Province].”

Separate rites will also be held in the neighboring cities of Bago, Talisay and Silay, hometowns of the Negrense revolutionary heroes.

Meanwhile, Bago City will commemorate anew the November 5, 1898, revolution with the “Sigabong sang mga Kanyon” and fancy drill competitions.

After a thanksgiving mass at the Saint John the Baptist Church in the morning, a short program and floral offering will be held at the monument of Gen. Juan Araneta led by Mayor Nicholas Yulo and Vice Mayor Ramon Torres.

The city’s 24 barangays will participate in the “Sigabong sang mga Kanyon competition.”

Nine participating units of the 10th Bago City Fancy Drill competition will showcase their performance during the civic-military parade with the street fancy drill. PNA

Lack of contractors’ list delays Subic-Clark railway deal–DOTr

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HE signing by the Philippine and Chinese governments of the commercial agreement for the Subic-Clark railway project has been deferred while the Department of Transportation (DOTr) waits for a shortlist of contractors to be submitted.

The agreement was originally scheduled to be signed during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the country this month.

“As soon as we receive it, everything will be ready, including bid documents, and the joint bids and awards committee with the BCDA [Bases Conversion and Development Authority] has been organized,” DOTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John R. Batan said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

The DOTr expects that the agreement for the Subic-Clark railway will be signed within the year or early next year to pave the way for its

construction.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said that the Philippines needs to wait for the list of contractors from the Chinese government as the project is funded by China.

“When a project is Chinese-funded, those who want to be involved must come from a list of nominees for accreditation from the Chinese government. We’re now at the stage where we are waiting for the nominated consultants for the feasibility study. When they finish the list of three nominees, we will do a bidding. The winner will do the feasibility study and come up with the data and details for the engagement,” according to Tugade.

The transportation secretary remains confident that the government is on track with its target to complete the Subic-Clark railway project by 2021.

Meanwhile, the loan agreement for the Philip-

pine National Railways (PNR) South Long Haul, which will extend the railway line to Bicol, is set to be signed during Xi’s visit.

The deal will finance the services of the project management consultant, which was procured by the government in October. “The consultant will be the ones in charge of formulating the terms of engagement or terms of reference for the bidding process. Our target is that the bidding will be done by the first quarter of next year,” Tugade said.

“Once the bidding is awarded by first quarter next year, we are targeting to start the construction by August,” he added.

The PNR South Long Haul is a 581-kilometer, standard-gauge railway from Manila to Legazpi, Matnog and Batangas City. It involves the complete reconstruction of the legacy PNR railway into a single-track, at-grade railway. PNA

A DEAL for the PNR South Long Haul, which will extend the Subic-Clark railway line to Bicol, is set to be signed during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping this month. NONIE REYES

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Monday, November 5, 2018

B7

Delays in approving GMO permits scored

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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@jearcalas

HE delays in green lighting biosafety permits for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could erode the country’s status as Asia’s leader in biotechnology and may even disrupt trade with the United States, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report.

The GAIN report noted that the Philippines is still a regional leader in biotechnology for being the first Asian country to allow the planting of GMO crops. But it cautioned that the “tedious” process and “unforeseen delays” in approving permits for new genetically modified (GM) crops threatens this status.

“There have been no reported trade disruptions so far, but the resulting delays in application processing may gradually erode this leadership status,” the report read, which was published recently by the US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila.

The report attributed the “slow” processing of biosafety applications to the Joint Department Circular (JDC), a set of guidelines covering the propagation and commercial-

ization of GM crops in the country.

“Delays in the processing of biosafety permits under the JDC have the most potential to disrupt US exports of [genetically engineered (GE)] products, although there have been no reported trade disruptions so far,” the report read.

The report noted that the approval of biosafety applications “generally” takes over a year when it should only be about 85 days as per the JDC. Since the approval and implementation of the JDC in March 2016, there has been no new commercialized GM crop in the local market. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn remains as the sole GM crop that is commercially available in the Philippines.

“Stakeholders attribute the slow

COBS of GMO corn sit on display in the Monsanto Co. booth during the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, on August 29, 2017. The Philippines is considered a leader in Asia for being the first Asian country to allow the planting of GMO crops. But the “tedious” process of approving biosafety permits threatens this status. BLOOMBERG NEWS

processing to confusing procedures, limited resources, and new and changing regulatory personnel,” the report read.

“Local scientists criticized local regulations as too restrictive in commercializing local GE research compared to foreign GE crops currently being commercialized, citing the Bt eggplant project,” it added.

In 2017 the Philippines imported $928.9 million worth of GE crops from the United States, 1.06 percent

PHL to host ‘nutrition-sensitive’ agriculture conference

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HE Philippines is hosting an international conference that will focus on strategies for boosting the production of food rich in vitamins and minerals to cut malnutrition in developing countries.

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations organized the conference on “nutrition-sensitive” agriculture (NSA).

“Our food security ranking globally shrunk from rank 62 in 2011 to 72 in 2017 out of 109 countries. The FAO, through its Integrated Food Security Classification, mapped the entire Philippines as food insecure,” Searca’s NSA primer read.

“Food security is continuously challenged by poor agricultural productivity brought about by climate change, environmental degradation, higher input cost, low farm income and lack of competitiveness,” it read.

Searca said NSA is a concept that has recently emerged in light of the pervasiveness of malnutrition, especially in developing countries as the Philippines.

NSA seeks to maximize a farming system that enhances nutritional supply—especially in impoverished areas— through provision of a variety of affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate

and safe food.

“It is generally recognized that addressing malnutrition requires an integrative approach in the food chain from production, processing, retail to consumption,” said Searca.

“Making agriculture and food systems nutrition-sensitive also requires that we have to address input quality, production, postharvest handling, processing, retailing and consumption, and to deliver safe and nutritious foods all year round to the consumer,” it added Also supporting the conference are the Interdisciplinary Studies Center on Food and Nutrition Security of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños and Cavite State University (CvSU).

The conference will formulate polices and strategies to enhance NSA in relation to food and nutrition security.

In line with the Food and Nutrition Security program in Southeast Asia, Searca has put in sessions on case studies on integrating nutrition into agriculture. It will focus on success stories of addressing nutrition across stages of the food system.

Fisheries production, aquaponics, organic food farming, hydroponics, agricultural biotechnology, potato and mushroom production, nutrition in vegetables, plant factories in urban setting, Palaymanan, rice-corn blend for diabetics, and development of MSMEs

(micro, small and medium enterprises) are among the topics of the conference.

Dr. Marco Wopereis, director general of the World Vegetable Center, will speak on nutritional power of vegetables; Dr. Leila S. Africa, of Human Ecology-Institute of Human Nutrition and Food, will present outcomes of Promoting Nutrition-Sensitive School Gardens and Feeding Programs through the SchoolPlus-Home-Gardens Project (in Laguna).

Dr. Wei Fang, director of the Center of Excellence for Controlled Environment Agriculture and professor of BioIndustrial Mechatronics Engineering of the National Taiwan University, will discuss how plant factories in Taiwan promote food and nutrition security in an urban setting.

Other speakers are International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) Country Director Emily Monville (sustaining and scaling up nutrition-sensitive agriculture); Rizal G. Corales, program lead, Integrated Rice-based Agribiosystems of PhilRice, (Palayamanan as a strategy to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture); and Dr. Mallikarjuna Swamy, Healthier Rice Breeding Group of the International Rice Research Institute (nutritional security through development of healthier rice).

The conference will be held from November 7 to 10 at the Development Academy of the Philippines in Tagaytay City.

higher than the $919.1 million it imported in 2016, according to the GAIN report.

Earlier, Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines Inc. (CAMP) said the passage of a biotechnology law would streamline the approval process for new applications to propagate GM crops.

“We are losing millions because of opportunity loss. Our approval process is too convoluted right now,” CAMP President Benigno D.

Peczon, a balik scientist, told the BusinessMirror in September.

“There are too many players.

If there is no danger [from GM crops] anyway, then why should it undergo a tedious process? Why do we treat it as if it’s dangerous?” he added.

The proposed Modern Biotechnology Act calls for the creation of the Biotechnology Authority of the Philippines, which will serve as the lone approval agency for applica-

tions to propagate new GM crops in the Philippines.

At present, an interagency committee created under the JDC oversees the approval process of Bt crops in the country. The members of the committee are the Departments of Agriculture (DA), of Science and Technology (DOST), of Health, of Environment and Natural Resources, and of the Interior and Local Government.

“We have too many cooks in the kitchen. We were already experiencing difficulties in approvals when it was only the DA and the DOST that approved the applications. The approval process worsened when other agencies were included,” Peczon said.

There are currently two bills pending in the House of Representatives that seek to support the development of modern biotechnology in the country: House Bills 7705 by Speaker Gloria MacapagalArroyo and HB 7926 by Deputy Speaker Sharon S. Garin. Both bills were drafted by the CAMP and were supported by Garin and Arroyo.

The explanatory notes of both HB 7705 and 7926 indicated that it takes 65 months, or more, for a new GM crop in the country to be commercialized.

“The cumbersome regulations can no longer be justified for they effectively discriminate against local public biotech research institutions which have limited resources to comply with the existing regulations,” the bills read.

DA to launch seed production program in Negros Occidental

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HE Department of Agriculture (DA) will kick-start its nationwide seed production program, which seeks to improve the country’s rice productivity through high-yielding varieties, in Negros Occidental.

A g r icu lture Secretar y Emmanuel F. Piñol said the program would be funded by the provincial government, which would focus on producing only three seed varieties.

Under the program, the government of Negros Occidental would develop a 50-hectare area that would produce three inbred varieties developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Piñol added.

These varieties include RC 222, RC 160 and RC 216, which have production potential of up to 8.2 metric tons (MT) per hectare to 10 MT per hectare. Piñol said these rice varieties are early maturing and contain traits resistant against

various stressors, such as pests.

Seeds produced by the provincial farm would be distributed for free to farmers to help them improve their yield, he said.

“Seeds produced from the provincial seed farm will be distributed to farmers for free, according to Gov. [Alfredo] Marañon,” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

“Recipient farmers will, in turn, be required to ‘return’ two bags of seeds, which the provincial government will again distribute to two more farmers who will also be asked to pay back two bags of seeds each,” he added.

Piñol said the program seeks to address the rice industry’s problem of “multiple-variety” farming system, which has resulted in various production and postharvest problems.

“The multiple-variety farming system has proven to be a bane of the Philippine rice industry where farm management, including the

handling of diseases, has largely been a problem,” he said.

“The multiple-variety farming system also poses a problem to postharvest operations [as] farmers who own small landholdings refuse to dry their palay in mechanical dryers with huge capacity because they planted different varieties. Milling is also a problem because different varieties have different grain sizes and formation,” he added.

Piñol said the concept of producing only three rice varieties came from Vietnam, which focused “on at least two major varieties which were all high-yielding and early maturing.”

“The Negros Occidental 3-in1 Rice Industry Program could serve as the blueprint for other provinces in the future,” he said.

Citing Marañon, Piñol said the Negros Occidental seed production program would start this coming planting season. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Kansas wheat estimates imperiled as heavy rains delay seeding

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NE of the wettest Octobers on record in Kansas, the largest wheat producer in the United States, may lead farmers to plant fewer acres with the grain than expected.

Parts of eastern and central Kansas have gotten double or triple the amount of normal rainfall in October, with one station in Emporia recording 9 inches, according to Paul Markert, a senior meteorologist for Radiant Solutions in Gaithersburg, Maryland. All this rain has slowed down the harvest of soybeans and delayed seeding of winter wheat on that same ground.

Some analysts were forecasting that Kansas, which grows hard winter wheat, would increase acreage by 10 percent from 7.7 million a year ago, said Justin Gilpin, chief executive officer of Kansas Wheat, which represents growers. Farmers

were expected to grow wheat on more land partly because of a favorable insurance rate and a shift away from soybeans amid low prices, he said. Some acres where corn failed to grow because of a drought were also expected to bolster acreage.

US winter wheat planting progress for the week ended October 28 stood at 78 percent, down from the five-year average of 85 percent, according to the Department of Agriculture. Meanwhile, Kansas was at 76 percent, compared with an average of 89 percent.

“Many of the acres intended for double crop behind beans in central Kansas are now in question,” Gilpin said in an e-mail.

Kansas grower Justin Knopf had planned to seed 1,800 acres with hard red winter wheat this fall. Usually, he’s done planting the crop a few days before Halloween. So far this fall, he’s

planted about 900 acres and his best case total is now 1,200 acres of wheat.

That’s largely because the wet weather kept him out of the fields, gave him only five full days to harvest soybeans and kept the soil too wet to sow wheat. He had planted 1,100 acres of soybeans this year out of a total of 4,500 he farms with his father and brother in central Kansas. A vast majority of those soybean acres were supposed to be followed by winter wheat.

Late planting increases the risk of winterkill and smaller yields in the spring, Knopf said by telephone.

Another challenge is that October 31 is the last day for planting before crop insurance for the amount of yield covered begins to decline, he said.

“Acres are going to be down because of weather in October,” he said. “This is a very extreme situation.” Bloomberg News

B8 Monday, November 5, 2018

PHILREALTY NETS P44.5 M IN THIRD QUARTER

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CEBUANA LHUILLIER AWARDS OUTSTANDING A.L.S. TEACHER

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EBUANA Lhuillier has awarded the country’s best Alternative Learning System (ALS) teacher at the National Literacy Conference and Awards recently held in Baguio City. The nationwide search, formally dubbed as the National Alternative Learning System Teachers’ Achievement Recognition (Nalstar), is the first-of-its-kind and serves as collaboration between the country’s biggest microfinancial company’s social-responsibility arm Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation Inc. (CLFI) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to honor and recognize exemplary ALS teachers nationwide.

WindelAlvarezfromCaramoan,Camarines

Sur, took home the Nalstar trophy with a cash prize of P250,000, half of which will become seed money for his own ALS school. Alvarez bested four other finalists from the original 17 nomineesperregion,namely,BienvenidoCabaro Jr. from Tuguegarao City representing Cagayan Valley;DoreenPabonitafromMisamisOriental, representing Northern Mindanao; Michaelle SaganibfromBaguioCity,representingNorthern Luzon; and Sara Tejada from Valenzuela City of the National Capital Region.

Jean Henri Lhuillier, PJLI president and chief executive officer, expressed his support and appreciation of the dedication of ALS teachers nationwide, “The success of the ALS

program can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of its educators who give more than100percentoftheireffortsinmoldingand educating the youth, especially those coming from indigent communities. The Nalstar Awards is our means to recognize their selfless commitment to teaching.”

TonisitoMCUmali,DepEdUndersecretary for Legislative Affairs, External Partnerships andSchoolSportscommendedthe30-year-old microfinancial company for its commitment to education. “CLFI’s commitment to bring education closer to the youth—especially comingfromthemarginalizedcommunities— hasalwaysbeenlaudable.Theytooktheidealsof the ALS program and made it infinitely better by ensuring that the teachers under their ALS schools have all the resources needed to make learning a fun and meaningful exercise to the students. They have also equipped their ELS educators with training programs, thus, ensuring that learning is a two-way process between educator and student.”

CLFI is one of the country’s leading proponents of alternative learning, providing out-of-school youth and those from indigent families with an opportunity to complete high school via alternative schooling.

In photo are Jonathan Batangan, CLFI; education assistant secretaries Alma Torio and GH Ambat, education undersecretary Lorna Digdino, director Marilette Almayda, CID ChiefLitaMijaresandDivisionALScoordinator Pedro Pelonio

REMIUM property-development company Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp. (RLT) achieved strong gains in the third quarter of the year, as net income after tax rose 1,725 percent to P44.5 million, compared to P2.5 million for the same period in the previous year.

RLT reported gross revenues of P1.004 billion, which is 55 percent higher than the P647.4 million recorded in the same period last year. The buoyant sales of real estate and higher rent income were the main drivers of revenue growth this year.

Philrealty chief financial officer and treasurer Edmundo Medrano said, “We are very hopeful that the awareness and the momentum generated by our sales group will spill over to the fourth quarter. Since our real-estate inventory is of the truly premium variety, our market is not affected by increases in interest rates. On the contrary, the currently high inflation rates tend to induce high-end property purchases as we have seen in our property sales. Given that bank deposits now are lower than the inflation rate, premium properties become a good hedge against inflation.”

RLT reported that real-estate sales growth for the first three quarters of 2018 compared to 2017 was recorded at 56 percent. Top-selling projects for the period were the company’s luxurious residential developments in the Metro—SkyVillas and SkyLine Towers in Quezon City, and the Icon Plaza in Bonifacio Global City.

Rental income, which increased by a remarkable 220 percent compared to 2017, reached P68.1 Million for the period

ending September 2018.

The company’s current ratio has been improving over time. They are at very healthy and comfortable levels peaking at almost 8:1 as of September 30.

Similarly, the RLT’s debt-to-equity ratio has remained very conservative. In September 2017 the company’s financial leverage ratio was at 0.58:1. It improved to 0.45:1 as of endDecember 2017 and it significantly got even better as of endSeptember 2018 at 0.29:1. The asset-to-equity ratio of RLT also showed improvements over time. It was at 1.58:1 as of end-September 2017, 1.45:1 as of year-end 2017 and 1.41:1 as of September 30.

The decreasing debt-to-equity ratios and asset-to-equity ratios of the company clearly demonstrate that the company’s real-estate business is currently being financed in a very conservative manner, with a large proportion of investor or shareholder funding and a small amount of debt.

RLT President and Chief Executive Officer Alfredo del Rosario expressed his excitement on the company’s future growth, citing new development projects in the pipeline: “We are happy with how our basic products are selling at this point. However, we are bound to surprise the market with the exciting projects that we will be doing in the next few months and years.”

Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp., a pioneer in the real-estate industry, is the name behind high-end property developments, like The Alexandra, La Isla and Tektite Towers in Ortigas, The Alexis in Pasig and Casa Miguel in San Juan.

GOV. IMEE MARCOS BATS FOR LONG-TERM FOOD SUFFICIENCY

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LOCOS Norte Gov. Imee Marcos lauded the Duterte administration for fast-tracking rice importation that will ensure abundant supply and cheaper prices of the commodity.

“The inflow of the fourth quarter palay harvest will further increase supply to put a brake on the price spiral of rice until the first quarter of 2019,” she said. She believes, however, that “palliative solutions and seasonal upticks in rice production offer only temporary relief” from high prices.

“Pansamantalang solusyon lang ito,” she said. “Kung mangyari uli, dapat handa tayo. [It is just short-term comfort.

If it happens again, we should be ready.] We need long-term solutions to protect our people, especially the poor who constitute more than 75 percent of our population, from the inflationary shocks of high food prices in the future,” she added.

“Food abundance must be our goal—food supply must be more than sufficient to keep food prices within easy reach,” she explained. “Sapat at murang pagkain para sa bawa’t pamilyang Pilipino ang dapat nating atupagin [We all must work to attain cheap and sufficient food for every Filipino family.], ” she declared.

Marcos believes that the key is sustained high agricultural productivity, complemented by efficient distribution and

marketing systems, with the needed agri-infrastructure support, and rationalized food importation policies and strategies.

“Masaganang mga bukid ang siguruhin natin. [Abundant farms must be our priority.] We must provide full support to farmers from farm implements, seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, farm-to-market roads and credit facilities. They must be able to quickly sell their products in the market at fair prices. We also need to step up agri[cultural] research to help farmers produce high-yielding crops,” she said.

She laments that, in the past two decades, the International Rice Research Institute produced high-yielding strains of rice, but these were not distributed to farmers to help them increase their earnings. “This is why we poured local government support to farmers in Ilocos Norte, including the needed infrastructure,” she said. “We buy rice directly from the farms at the right price and sell them at the same price in our Kadiwa stores.”

“If the Ilocos Norte provincial government can do it, we can do it in other provinces as well. Let’s make agriculture great again!” The governor also called for policy reforms in food importation, including loosening up the graft-prone control of the National Food Authority over rice importation that brought about the evils of hoarding and high prices.

ISUZU OFFERS A GLIMPSE OF DIESEL MOBILITY AT THE 7TH P.I.M.S. 2018

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SUZU Philippines Corp. (IPC) joined the seventh edition of the much-awaited Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) from October 24 to 28 at the World Trade Center (WTC).

And in keeping with the motor show’s theme “Future Mobility”, Isuzu boasted bringing in the Philippines the best and the latest diesel-engine technology—the Isuzu Blue power-diesel technology, which is set to provide maximum engine output, cleaner emission, superb fuel economy while maintaining Isuzu’s renowned engine durability.

At the forefront of IPC’s displays are equipped with its game-changing RZ4E Blue Power engine that represents the Japanese automaker’s realized vision of a smaller displacement engine but with an output of a larger one. The RZ4E-powered vehicles on display will be the Isuzu mu-X RZ4E LS and the Isuzu D-MAX RZ4E LS. These two vehicles represent what IPC considers the “future of urban SUV and pickup mobility.”

Visitors to the seventh PIMS also got a feel of the power and comfort of these vehicles with IPC’s test-drive offer at the motor show. The mu-X RZ4E LS-A and, the latest base model, the mu-X RZ4E LS; and the two units of the D-Max RZ4E were test-driven around WTC. Side by side with the display of RZ4E-powered light commercial vehicles (LCVs) will be the Isuzu mu-X Luxe and the Isuzu D-MAX 4x4. Both are powered by the 3.0-liter four cylinder in-line Blue Power diesel engine with turbo intercooler. These two vehicles’ powerful yet efficient engines, bold designs, and ride and safety technologies have also made them Isuzu’s bet for the “future of urban SUV and off-road pickup mobility.”

In keeping with Isuzu as one of the world’s leading

truck manufacturers, IPC also displayed its modernized public utility vehicles (PUVs), the “future of passenger mobility,” assembled using the Isuzu QKR77 platform and the rear body designed and manufactured by three of the country’s most reputable body builders.

Isuzu will also showcase an interesting concept vehicle called Isuzu VT02, which is a full-fledged lightweight truck, newly developed by Isuzu through adopting commercial vehicle technologies, with the aim to maximize loadingefficiency, tight turning performance and fuel-efficiency for customer convenience. This is Isuzu’s “future of urban business mobility.”

Isuzu once again impressed the public with its version of the “future of cargo mobility” with the public launch of its latest pride, the Isuzu EXZ QL. It boasts its four-point advantage: Fuel-efficiency. Equipped with the state-of-the-art 6WG1-TCG52 engine paired with a ZF16-speed multistage transmission, aerodynamic wind deflector, air wing for better fuel economy and offers a power of 420 PS and 2,060 Nm torque.

Comfortable driving experience. Equipped with an ergonomically designed air-suspension seats and air-conditioned double-deck sleeper cab with large storage compartments to make long travel on the road easier.

Safety. The antilock braking system is a standard on this new E-series model, coupled with wide multisectional side-view mirrors, and wheel parking and trailer brakes.

Secure and easy handling. Easy-access panel for easy maintenance, taper leaf spring for heavy-duty handling, differential lock and 315/80R22 16PR radial tires.

Apart from these exciting vehicle lineups, IPC also demonstrated to visitors at its aftersales booth its unique Isuzu vehicle-health report, a powerful vehiclemanagement tool that produces timely and accurate health reports of Isuzu commercial vehicles that are advantageous to owners and operators of Isuzu vehicles for both private and commercial uses. Through the installation of a data-recording module, the Isuzu vehicle’s performance is monitored, giving the owner and operator complete control of vehicle operating costs while increasing quality, efficiency and long-term use of the vehicle. These Isuzu health reports show the engine condition, fuel economy with history, brake-use history and even driver operating habits. The health reports also identifies potential problems and observes the operating status of key major components.

Sports

BILES PULLS OFF REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE

BusinessMirror

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| Monday, November 5, 2018

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

DIVE! Australia’s Glenn Maxwell dives over the boundary fielding a ball from South Africa’s Reeza Hendricks during their one-day international cricket match in Perth on Sunday. AP

FEW FANS, LITTLE BUZZ IN QATAR D

By Will Graves The Associated Press

OHA, Qatar—All the usual bells and whistles were there. The pyrotechnic introductions.

The in-house deejay heavy on American pop music. An aggressive social-media campaign replete with its own hashtag (#GoGymtastic).

The bright colors on the competition floor. Oh, and perhaps the greatest gymnast of all time at the height of her astonishing powers.

Only one thing seemed to be missing during the world championships’ first visit to the Middle East: people.

The majority of the sessions during the 10-day meet that ended on Saturday were held in front of significant swaths of empty blue and yellow seats at the

Aspire Dome. Most of the audience wore pink lanyards with laminated ID cards attached, a clear giveaway that they weren’t paying customers but members of one of the dozens of gymnastic federations who flocked to the desert for the sport’s marquee event, one that at times seemed more like a convention than anything else.

“It’s really different,” Simone Biles said after leading the US women to gold in the team final in front of an arena that was half-filled at best. “It almost felt like it wasn’t world championships out there because there’s not a lot of people in the crowd and most of the crowd was made up of

delegations. But it’s so exciting to see the delegation out here supporting everyone in your own country.”

Logistically there were few hiccups, another small positive step for a country preparing to host the world track and field championships in 2019 and soccer’s World Cup in 2022.

The buses ran on time and getting around in general wasn’t a problem in a place where an Uber could be found. Save for a handful of brief downpours—including one that flooded one of the training gyms and another that led to a brief power outage on the floor during

SPECTATORS attend the start of the second and last day of the apparatus finals of the Gymnastics World Championships at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday. AP

SIMONE BILES harvests six medals and 20 overall in the world championships. AP

OHA, Qatar—Simone Biles returned to training last November wondering if she could ever return to the form that made her an Olympic champion.

She doesn’t wonder anymore. Neither does anyone else.

The American star capped a remarkable 2018 world gymnastics championships by claiming gold on floor exercise and bronze on balance beam during event finals on Saturday, giving her six medals for the meet and 20 overall in the world championships, tied with Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina for the most by a female gymnast.

“I think there’s a lot to be proud, but I’m most proud of that I’m here, I made all the event finals, medaled in all of the events and I survived,” Biles said.

Something that wasn’t a guarantee when the meet began.

Biles spent the night before qualifying in the hospital dealing with pain from a kidney stone. The stone was too big to pass and she couldn’t take prescription pain medication because of doping regulations, forcing her to simply deal with it.

Biles did more than deal with it. She dominated. Just like always.

The 21-year-old will head home to Houston with gold medals from the team final, the all-around final, floor and vault, as well as silver on uneven bars and bronze on beam. She became the first woman to earn a medal on all four events since Yelena Shushunova did it for the Soviet Union in 1987.

Biles believes it’s just the beginning. She’ll visit with doctors to treat the kidney stone, go on a short vacation and then point toward 2019.

“Hopefully I feel more confident next year going into all of the events,” she said. “We’ll see about upgrades. I’m not sure. We’ll see.”

Biles finished a busy 10 days by drilling her floor routine, which includes intricate tumbling runs that are as difficult as anything done by the men these days. Though she stepped out of bounds on her third pass, her score of 14.933 was a full point better than that of teammate Morgan Hurd, who earned her third medal of the meet by finishing with silver. Japan’s Mai Murakami took third.

Biles wasn’t quite as crisp on beam, an event that she’s

struggled with recently. She wobbled during qualifying and fell off during the all-around finals. Though she managed to stay on during event finals, she found herself off balance on multiple occasions. Her score of 13.6 held up for bronze behind China’s Liu Tingting and Canada’s Ana Padurariu.

While allowing it wasn’t her best, Biles took to Twitter in between beam and floor exercise to chastise those who criticized her for not winning gold. It’s a move she felt was necessary.

“I think it’s upsetting to me whenever I see all the tweets after I do performances of how disappointed they are in me,” Biles said. “It’s not fair because they can’t set expectations on me. I have to set them for myself.”

And no one’s expectations are higher. Biles took herself to task after the all-around, unhappy with a series of uncharacteristic mistakes. She vowed to redeem herself in the event finals and responded by reaching the podium on each event.

“I’m really happy to be done,” Biles said. “Proud of my performances here. I wish some of them would have been better but I’m really proud of the outcome.” AP

women’s qualifying, the weather cooperated, too, with temperatures in the mid-80s.

Concerns about how the culture of a sport that preaches openness would be received in a conservative Muslim country evaporated quickly. The proof lay next door at a massive shopping mall, where many of the gymnasts spent their down time walking around in shorts and t-shirts alongside Qataris in culturally traditional attire.

And yet four years of meticulous preparations by the local organizing committee did little to spark widespread interest in a sport that’s still trying to gain a foothold in the region.

Minutes before the women’s team final on Tuesday, Americans Anne Josephson, Nicole Caggiano and Tina Ferriola—all of whom own gyms in the US—and Matt Goldsmith walked along a sparse concourse before what is typically the biggest night of every world championships.

They marveled at how many good seats were still available, the gymnastics equivalent of the Golden State Warriors winning a National Basketball Association title in front of friends and family and little else.

“There are more people in my gym on a Wednesday morning taking ‘Mommy and Me’ classes than there are in here right now and it’s really sad,” said Josephson, who runs Jag Gym in Culver City, California.

Josephson read the US State Department report on Qatar before her group purchased tickets and wasn’t worried about safety, though she pointed out she chose to wear black pants despite the heat because she wanted to “follow the rules.”

While they anticipated an environment that wasn’t quite as frenzied as what they experienced at the 2017 worlds in Montreal last year—when thousands of Canadians flocked to Olympic Stadium—they were struck by the lack of buzz inside the arena, which had a capacity of about 2,500 for the event.

“What an experience that we’re about to have, all 60 of us together,” Ferriola said. “Now we all are like good friends because this is a very intimate experience.”

Organizers did what they could to engage younger Qataris, holding demonstrations in the run-up to the meet and using multiple social-media platforms to provide a close look at the athletes. They gave away tickets to local schools and on the day of the men’s allaround final offered 50-percent off for adults and allowed children under 10 to get in free. And still the stands were nowhere close to full.

Save for a couple of storefront banners close to the massive Aspire Zone—the sprawling complex in the western suburbs that served as the host of the 2006 Asian Games—and the random bus, there was little proof

Biles was chasing history. Meanwhile, signs promoting a professional squash tournament lined lampposts that ran down the median of Al Corniche Street in front of the city’s signature downtown skyline.

“We are still building a sporting culture in our region, this cannot be done overnight,” Ali Al-Hitmi, CEO of the local organizers, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “We have seen the numbers in the crowd grow each day over the course of the 10-day event. The atmosphere itself has swept across our country and word of mouth has seen many ticket purchases on the door at Aspire Dome.”

The International Gymnastics Federation praised the Qatar for its effort and said it had received “no major complaints” from the delegations, though the federation expressed concern about the lackluster numbers—particularly early on—and placed the blame on a competition schedule designed to appease TV rights holders across the globe.

The team, all-around and event finals all began at 4 p.m. local time, the height of rush hour in a city of over a million people. Many families head home for evening prayer immediately after work or school, making getting to a two-hour meet difficult. Attendance did perk up during the event finals, which were held on Friday and Saturday, the weekend in Qatar.

American Morgan Hurd felt an uptick in the energy while competing in the floor exercise finals on Saturday but also allowed she received a boost because she could hear Biles shouting out her support, something that’s typically difficult to pick out when music is blaring and the stands are packed.

The world championships head to Stuttgart, Germany, next October, and ticket sales are brisk. Qatar, meanwhile, will move forward in preparations for track’s visit to Khalifa International Stadium, across the street from the Aspire Dome.

Organizers aren’t concerned about the somewhat unenthusiastic response to gymnastics having a negative impact in terms of drawing fans—particularly Westerners—to a country that’s hoping to use sports to help expand its global footprint.

“We have no doubt that the venue will be full,” Sheikh Asma Al Thani, director of marketing and communications for the 2019 world track championships, wrote in an e-mail. “We are working with many different stakeholders to ensure we can bring in as many international and local fans to the championship, offering them a cultural and sporting experience like no other.”

Maybe, but the country that promises to “Deliver Amazing” when the World Cup arrives in four years could have its work cut out delivering something else.

Enough people to watch.

Spo

Business

C2 Monday, November 5, 2018

NBA RESULTS Philadelphia 109, Detroit 99

LAKERS END SPELL VS. BLAZERS P ORTLAND, Oregon—It took LeBron James to help the Los Angeles Lakers snap a lengthy losing streak against Portland.

James had 28 points and seven assists, and the Lakers defeated the Trail Blazers, 114-110, on Saturday night.

The Lakers snapped the franchise’s 16-game losing streak against the Blazers. In addition to the streak, Saturday was the Lakers’ first road win this season against a team with a winning record.

“Great to snap that,” James said of the Lakers’ streak of futility against Portland.

“They’re a very good team, obviously. To beat Portland, you can’t just come in and win without playing really hard and really well.”

Rajon Rondo gave the Lakers a huge lift off the bench, finishing with 17 points and 10 assists in 25 minutes.

Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum each scored 30 points for Portland.

The Lakers used a 16-0 run in the third quarter to take a 17-point lead. Josh Hart hit a three-pointer with 9:44 left that gave the Lakers their biggest lead at 95-75, forcing a Portland timeout.

And the timeout might have been just what Portland needed to get back into the game.

The Blazers went on a 22-8 run, cutting the Lakers’ lead to six points with 3:34 left after a lay-up by Jusuf Nurkic.

Sloppy play once again came back to hurt the Lakers in the fourth quarter, but the Blazers couldn’t get much closer as James

Charlotte 126, Cleveland 94 Indiana 102, Boston 101 Atlanta 123, Miami 118 Houston 96, Chicago 88 San Antonio 109, New Orleans 95 Denver 103, Utah 88 LA Lakers 114, Portland 110

and JaVale McGee made crucial baskets in the final two minutes.

“LeBron closed them out over the final three minutes,” Lakers Head Coach Luke Walton said of James.

McGee, who James said is a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, also had six blocks to add to his league-leading total.

“He’s doing a little bit of everything,” James said of McGee. “He’s leading the league in blocks. And tonight he saved us and covered our defensive mistakes with blocks at the rim.”

Portland shot a 6 for 35 (17 percent) from beyond the arc and shot just 42 percent from the field overall.

“Our defense won us the game tonight,” Walton said. “They missed some threes, but we were contesting, chasing over the top and defending.”

The Lakers had seven turnovers in the fourth quarter and finished with 20 overall, but they survived their mistakes.

The Lakers sped to a good start, but the Blazers quickly regained control. Turnovers and second chances fueled a 17-2 run by Portland in the first quarter.

The Lakers bench helped get Los Angeles back into the game in the first half and outscored the Blazers subs 51-26.

“Our second unit was outstanding tonight,” Walton said. “Rondo led it and then the lift that [Ivica] Zubac gave us off the bench was incredible.” AP

UZBEK AT BOXING’S HELM PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee and Alliance of Boxing Associations of the Philippines (Abap) President Ricky Vargas (right) and Abap Secretary-General and POC communications head Ed Picson represent the Philippines in the 2018 International Amateur Boxing Association World Congress in Moscow where Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov was elected president.

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EPIC, DIFFICULT VICTORY P

ARIS—Novak Djokovic’s latest victory over Roger Federer was among the toughest and best in their epic rivalry, a 7-6 (6), 5-7, 7-6 (3) feast of attacking tennis, which had the roaring crowd on their feet and remained in doubt until the very end.

It finally ended, after three hours, when Djokovic moved 6-1 up in the tiebreaker.

Federer saved two match points but cracked in a long rally and chopped a backhand into the net.

“We had epic matches throughout our rivalry, but this one definitely ranks as one of the best,” Djokovic said.

Djokovic’s fourth straight win over Federer and 25th in 47 contests sends him into the final against unseeded Russian Karen Khachanov, who has never played in a Masters final.

“This is my best match of the year, that’s for sure,” Djokovic said, addressing the crowd in French. “Big respect to Roger.”

Federer remains one short of 100 career titles.

“When you lose a close match like this, you always have regrets,” a disappointed Federer said. “That’s why I guess I have this face right now.”

Djokovic is on a 22-match winning streak and will aim to move level with Rafael Nadal on a record 33 Masters titles.

“Novak is obviously on a roll,” Federer said. “You can feel it.”

Khachanov, who beat Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1, won the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last month for his third career title.

Djokovic, who beat him on the way to the Wimbledon title, is seeking a recordextending fifth Paris Masters title and 73rd title overall.

He was made to work far harder than when he beat Federer in the Cincinnati Masters final in August.

After they hugged at the net, Federer walked off quickly and raised a thumb to the cheering crowd.

“People enjoy the rivalry. We do as well,” Federer said. “It’s tough and fair, the way it’s supposed to be.”

Fans got everything they could have hoped for: Two players with a combined 34 Grand Slam titles, 59 Masters titles and 533 weeks at No. 1 slugging it out at a level of unrelenting yet sublime intensity.

Brilliant one-handed winners on the run from Federer down the line and acute-angle volleys at the net; astonishing elasticity while retrieving from the baseline and laser-beam forehands to the corners from Djokovic. AP

OSCOW—An Uzbek businessman who has been accused of ties to organized crime was elected president of the International Amateur Boxing Association (Aiba) on Saturday, putting the sport on a collision course with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC criticized Gafur Rakhimov’s bid to become head of Aiba, and it has yet to confirm if boxing is on the program for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The IOC has threatened to host an Olympic boxing tournament without Aiba, cutting off the financially troubled federation from a key funding source.

Rakhimov said Aiba can repair relations with the IOC, but didn’t give details.

“We can reach an agreement with the International Olympic Committee, and if we somehow don’t manage to agree, then we will think of something so that boxing doesn’t suffer,” he said.

Rakhimov beat his only challenger, former Kazakh boxer and politician Serik Konakbayev, with 86 votes out of 134 valid ballots cast.

Rakhimov is on a US Treasury Department sanctions list for alleged links to international heroin trafficking. The sanctions bar US citizens and companies from doing business with him. He has denied wrongdoing.

The IOC said in a statement, “There are issues of grave concern with Aiba regarding judging, finance, and the anti-doping programme, and with governance,” including Rakhimov’s election as president.

The IOC added Aiba will be on the agenda at the next executive board meeting in Tokyo, starting on November 30, and called for “a clear road map for long-term sustainable reform of the federation.”

Speaking before the vote, Rakhimov—who served as Aiba interim president since January— sought to play down tensions with the IOC. “Boxing will definitely be on the Tokyo Olympic Games program, and also in Paris and Los Angeles

[in 2024 and 2028], just like any future Olympic Games. It’s in no way linked to your choice of Aiba president,” he said.

“If any temporary issues arise between Aiba and the IOC, linked to the election of any Aiba official, including me, in that case we know how to solve them. Boxing and the Olympic Games are inseparable.”

Rakhimov had suggested he could take an extended leave of absence from Aiba to help repair IOC relations, but a proposed rule change that would allow him to do that while retaining voting rights on Aiba’s board was defeated twice at the congress.

Delegates struggled with an electronic voting system, which, in one test, produced more votes than the official delegate count, which had to be retaken.

Organizers eventually resorted to hastily printed paper ballots and a makeshift voting booth made of tables and sheets.

The defeated candidate, Konakbayev, said he would form an opposition grouping.

Rakhimov is based in Dubai after previous legal issues in his native Uzbekistan, where he was at one stage featured on a wanted list, then removed.

Rakhimov was a boxer in his youth before moving into business and then sports politics. In 2007 he lobbied IOC members for Russia’s bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

As interim president, Rakhimov said he’d saved Aiba from bankruptcy. Aiba reported it was in negative equity of $19 million as of June, against less than $4 million in assets.

Rakhimov said on Friday that he convinced Aiba’s creditors to “waive” much of its debt, but didn’t say how.

Besides Rakhimov’s leadership, the IOC has also objected to the frequent disputes over judging at the 2016 Olympics. That prompted a profane tirade from Irish fighter Michael Conlan, who accused Aiba and Russia of corruption after losing a quarterfinal to a Russian opponent.

BURNETT HURT BY DONAIRE

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LASGOW, Scotland—Ryan Burnett needed oxygen after being carried out of the ring with an apparent hip injury in his World Boxing Super Series bantamweight quarterfinal against Nonito Donaire on Saturday.

Burnett, from Northern Ireland, took a count of seven in the fourth round after being

injured. He looked in distress when he returned to his corner, and failed to come out for the fifth round as he lost for the first time in 20 fights.

Donaire, a 35-year-old former world champion at four weights, will take on World Boxing Organization champion Zolani Tete in the semifinals next year. AP

BOLT CHASES FOOTBALL DREAM

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YDNEY—Olympic sprinting great Usain Bolt will continue to pursue his dream of playing professional football despite his failure to reach a deal with Central Coast to play in Australian football’s A-League.

After a two-month trial Bolt this week rejected Central Coast’s offer of a $150,000 contract to play in the current A-League season. He had been hoping for sponsors to come forward to swell his salary to a reported $3 million.

After also trialing unsuccessfully for teams in Germany, Norway and South Africa, the eight-time Olympic gold medalist said he remains hopeful of eventually winning a professional contract.

“For sure. We’ll see what happens,” Bolt said

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: This one definitely ranks as one of the best. AP

on Saturday. “I think people are still contacting my agent now about opportunities, so we’ll see in which direction it goes.”

Bolt said despite his failure to secure a contract, he does not regret his time with Central Coast, in which he made two preseason appearances, scoring two goals in one match.

“It’s sad that it didn’t work out, but we parted on good terms, and that’s a good thing,” Bolt told the Herald Sun newspaper. “I had a great experience with them. The guys were great. We just couldn’t work out things with the contract. Hopefully I get another chance with another team.” AP

orts

sMirror

Monday, November 5, 2018

Milliam hikes collection to 12 trophies A LEXA MILLIAM continued to stamp her class in three divisions, hiking her title collection to 12 in four weeks after another dominant campaign in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPSPEPP) Pintaflores national age group tennis tournament at the Sacata courts in San Carlos, Negros Occidental, recently.

Milliam, 14, toppled Faith Banico, 6-3, 6-0, to rule her age division, then mastered doubles partner Sydney Enriquez twice with a 6-3, 6-4 MITCH ROBINS (right) and Manami Iijima pull off surprise victories.

victory in the 16-and-under finals and a 7-5, 6-2 triumph in the premier 18-under class of the Group 1 tournament presented by Dunlop and sponsored by PPS-PEPP. The Pontevedra, Negros, ace’s three-title feat thus stretched her girls’ singles run to four weeks after similar romps in Dumaguete, Argao, Cebu and Negros Occidental.

Davao’s John David Velez likewise kept his winning spree in the boys’ side of the event sponsored by Mayor Gerardo Valmayor,

Vice Mayor Renato Gustilo, Vice Gov. Eugenio Lacson and Julio Ledesma, and organized by councilor Criston Carmona and backed by TJ’s Clear Art, winning the 16-under and 18-under titles in straight-set fashions.

The top-seeded Velez trounced No. 2 Daniel Estanislao III, 6-3, 6-3, in the 16-under finals, then overpowered Norman Gaspar, 6-1, 6-2, to rule the centerpiece event and share the Most Valuable Player honors with Milliam for the fourth straight week.

“There seems to be no stopping these two players, whose feats should inspire and motivate the other young players in pursuit of tennis excellence,” said PPS President/CEO Bobby Castro.

“The PPS-PEPP circuit will continue to provide the youth the venue to train and develop their talent and skills.”

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Meanwhile, top seed Johnny Arcilla and No. 4 Fritz Verdad arranged a semifinal clash in the Open division with the former overpowering Rodolfo Barquin, 6-1, 6-2, and the latter easing out Norman Enriquez, 6-4, 6-1.

Second seed Vicente Anasta and No. 8 Leander Lazaro were disputing the third semis berth, while defending champion Bryan Otico and Rolando Ruel Jr. were clashing for the fourth slot at presstime.

The other winners were Puerto Princesa’s Kenrick Bona, who took the 10-unisex title with a 4-1, 4-2 victory over Gibson Nochefranca; Naga, Cebu’s Mitch Lagro, who crushed Elemar Sealza, 6-1, 6-3, for the boys’ 12-under plum; and Manila’s Alejandro Barrientos, who dominated Pete Rodriguez, 6-0, 6-1, for the boys’ 14-under diadem.

Banico, from Siquijor, bounced back from her loss to Milliam by topping the 12-under class with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Louchelaj Estember.

REVERSALS IN SUBIC M

ITCH ROBINS ended fellow Australian Sam Betten’s 5150 reign with a fiery windup while Guam’s Manami Iijima stunned Dimity Lee Duke with a solid start as they crowned themselves the inaugural Black Arrow Express 5150 pro champions on Sunday in Subic.

Robins fought Betten practically on even terms in the swim and bike stages then unleashed a strong finishing kick in the last of the two-loop run part to foil the three-peat champion’s bid and nail his second Philippine championship in the 1.5-km swim, 40-km bike and 10-km run race.

“In any day, a win is a good day. Sam [Betten] is such a tough competitor, he’s beaten me so many times. But today, I simply managed the heat a little bit better and that just gave me an advantage in the end,” said Robins, who also won here in 2013 as a firsttime Philippine visitor.

But the 30-year-old champion of last year’s Bali, Indonesia, triathlon and former winner of Ironman 70.3 Japan and Port Macquarie settled for runner-up honors in the last two Subic 5150 races, which Betten ruled to complete a rare three-peat.

Robins timed 1:54:56, besting Betten’s 1:55:58 in completing a three-title romp in wet conditions last year. He had leg clockings of 18:32 (swim), 57:10 (bike) and 36:08 (run).

Finishing behind Betten by a mere second in

HARD-EARNED WIN Generika-Ayala’s Angeli Araneta spikes one in against Foton’s Mina Aganon during their Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference match on Saturday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City. Aganon and co. won, 20-25, 25-21, 25-14, 19-25, 15-5.

TAMARAWS

SKID ENDS F

AR Eastern University (FEU) spiked its Final Four bid as the Tamaraws ripped apart the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors, 8061, on Sunday in the Season 81 University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

The Tamaraws snapped a four-game losing streak with the blowout win over the league’s newest whipping boys Red Warriors and snatched their sixth victory against six losses.

Arvin Tolentino had 18 points and five rebounds, Ken Tuffin added 17 points and four rebounds, and Kevin Ebona booked 12 points and 16 rebounds for

the FEU, which tied University of the Philippines at fourth place.

“For us it’s a new lease on life after that four-game losing streak. This is [only] our first win in the second round,” Tamaraws Head Coach Olsen Racela said.

“We’re hoping to get the next game, then another one to keep our hopes alive.”

FEU immediately set the complexion of the game with a 14-3 run from the tip-off.

Tolentino then scored 10 points in the second quarter, as the Tamaraws posted a commanding 41-26 advantage at the half.

UE’s scoring machine Alvin Pasaol unloaded 16 of his 24 points in the third period, but FEU already

Consistency bags Highlanders crown

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AGAYTAY Highlands flashed consistency in a grueling course-hopping Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines (WGAP) Cup, coming away with 3.5 points each at Summit Point, Riviera and Ayala Greenfield to crown itself the new champion recently.

The Highlanders topped the High-Low format for Classes A and B at the Summit Point Golf Club in Lipa, Batangas, on October 17 and at Riviera’s Langer layout under the Best Ball competition on October 24, edging Camp Aguinaldo by half-a-point in both legs.

They sustained their form in the Greensome for Classes A and C at Ayala Greenfield on October 31 to pool 10.5 points and claim the coveted crown in the highlight event of each WGAP season featuring the top five teams in the WGAP Circuit.

The victory also made up for the Highlanders’ fourth-place finish in this year’s WGAP Circuit, which Forest Hills won by the slimmest of margins, 25-24, over Sta. Elena at its home course.

Sharing the spotlight was Forest Hill’s Jhona

Bad Man Rey RICK OLIVARES bleachersbrew@gmail.com

BLEACHERS’ BREW OKAY. I cribbed the title of my column from a China Crisis song called “Black Man Ray” (from their magnificent album, Flaunt the Imperfection).

Yet, it is apt when we talk about Meralco Bolts’ forward-center Reynel Hugnatan.

Hugnatan, who turned 40 years of age when the Bolts crushed San Miguel Beer, 111-81, last Saturday, scored 13 points of his 19 total in the fourth period. And no, his output isn’t an aberration. He too is like wine—aging better.

It was the Bolts’ fourth straight win to finish the elimination round with a 5-6 record giving at the very least a playoff for the last quarterfinals berth in the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup. With the way they are playing now, they are one of the hottest teams in the league.

Of course, they are facing an uphill climb that is anything they have experienced in this conference in the last three seasons.

It was a few weeks ago when Meralco was on the verge of an early vacation. Perhaps a shocking dismal end to a run in the last two seasons that

saw the Bolts make the finals of the Governors’ Cup (only to lose in the championship series).

There was even the Fiba Asia Champions Cup, where they didn’t do too well.

What makes this late rally great is they won going on and not at the mercy of other teams.

So are they peaking at the right time?

Possibly, but it is quite an uphill climb.

Who knows if they picked up a win earlier then they wouldn’t be in this predicament? But such is the game and this is the here and now.

When I closely covered the Alaska Aces during the last years of Tim Cone with the franchise, I thought that Hugnatan was a perfect role player who was solid day in and out. Never spectacular, he always let his game speak for himself.

When he moved over to the Bolts, I thought he was a great addition to a team that Head Coach Norman Black was trying to instill a bluecollar work ethic. I personally christened Rey the “new Bandana Kid” after one of my fave cagers, Steve Watson, who actually wore a bandana

had the game tucked with the Tamaraws’ lead reaching a high of 25 late in the fourth.

Tolentino and Tuffin combined for nine triples for the Tamaraws, who drained an impressive 15 threes in the game.

Pasaol was again UE’s lone ranger with no other Red Warrior making a significant contribution. Philip Manalang, Jason Varilla and Jose Carlos Cullar each had six points for the Red Warriors, who dropped to their 11th loss in 12 games.

Ilagan, who scored a hole-in-one on No. 3 of Ayala Greenfield.

Aguinaldo scored 2.5 points in Greensome to finish second with 8.5 points, while Forest Hills failed to sustain its WGAP Circuit feat and settled for third with 5.5 points, including two points each in Best Ball and Greensomes and 1.5 points in High-Low. Sta. Elena posted two points in Greensome and wound up fourth with three points, while last year’s champion Villamor struggled in all three legs and ended up fifth with 2.5 points. during games. Hugnatan, of course, only wore it during practice and off-court. But like Watson before him, he was solid and a huge contributor.

In fact, when Meralco battled Barangay Ginebra tooth and nail in the finals two seasons ago, it was Hugnatan who (aside from import Allen Durham) gave his side a chance to bag their first-ever PBA crown. He was dropping triples and scoring inside.

That was a fun series to watch.

The Bolts may have struggled in between and other players have come and gone (either in the rotation or on the roster), but Rey keeps trucking.

When I watch the Bolts whether at practice or during games, you don’t see him call attention to himself. There is nothing flashy about him or his game. You know, walk small but carry a big stick.

And that is why he is a “bad man.” And I am also cribbing that from noted American journalist and commentator Stephen A. Smith (he uses the term for Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers).

What’s interesting to watch about Hugnatan and the Bolts right now is how they fare in each and every game. Theirs was never the deepest team in the league. You can even say that aside from a couple of players, most were discards, bench players, or even fading stars. And that was the hallmark and motivation of the old 1980s Ginebra teams or later on, Yeng Guiao’s squads with Red Bull and Rain or Shine. You can somewhat say, it is now the Bolts.

Their hunt for the quarterfinals and beyond is something I will keenly follow. The Bad Man included.

the opening swim leg, Robins battled his veteran rival pedal-for-pedal in scorching heat as they turned in identical clocking in the bike stage, setting up a thrilling duel in the deciding run part, which Robins ruled in 36:08 minutes behind a blistering run in the last 4 kilometers.

“It’s not what I hoped for but it’s a really tough race. I pushed really hard and was very happy, but the result was not what I wanted in the end,” said Betten, who lost steam in sweltering condition in the stretch. He wound up with 1:56:03 with leg times of 18:31 (swim), 57:10 (bike) and 37:10 (run) in the first of three Olympic distance triathlon races sponsored by Black Arrow Express and organized and produced

by Sunrise Events Inc. (SEI).

“If you look at our growth the last 10 years, it’s spectacular, so I expect to continue to grow.

We’ll have more races next year and we have so many people coming into the sport. The future is really bright for triathlon,” said SEI founder and President Wilfred Uytengsu, who also vied in the event along with Black Arrow Express President and CEO Allan Brizuela.

Iijima practically secured the women’s pro crown right in the swim leg, where she posted a remarkable 20:29 clocking for a huge three-minute cushion over Duke that she held to the finish despite slowing down in the bike (1:07:30) and run (42:10) stages. She took the gold in 2:13:56, slower than 24 seconds to Duke’s winning time of 2:13:32 last year.

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By Gary B. Graves The Associated Press

OUISVILLE, Kentucky—Even if he isn’t recognized as this year’s top thoroughbred, Accelerate all but assured his place as North America’s best older horse.

His signature win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic should solidify his credentials for multiple honors.

Accelerate took the lead at the top of the stretch and held off Gunnevera to win the $6-million Classic by a length on Saturday, strengthening his bid for Horse of the Year over Triple Crown winner Justify.

The race lacked the retired three-year-old star and left a wide-open field, which the five-year-old chestnut horse eventually overtook after breaking from the No. 14 post as the favorite. Accelerate made a sweeping move in the far turn and was in charge at the top of the stretch, then held off Gunnevera for his fifth consecutive Grade 1 victory and sixth of seven overall this year.

That gave trainer John Sadler his first Breeders’ Cup win since his initial starter 30 years ago.

As for the California-based Accelerate being named this year’s top thoroughbred, Sadler said he’d leave that up to media who vote on the Eclipse Awards. He noted his own bias, though.

“To me, he’s the Horse of the Year, no doubt,” Sadler said. “He’s won all those great races. To win the Santa Anita Handicap (in March) was for me probably one or two on my bucket list.

“The Classic is a newer race but a great race, and he won that so smashingly. He’s just a great horse and had a great year.”

Ridden by Joel Rosario, Accelerate covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.93 and paid $7.40, $6 and $4.40.

“He broke really well,” Rosario said of Accelerate. “I was on the outside and had to use him a little bit. I just wanted to get a position because I was way out there. I know I had a long run to the turn but I wanted to be not too wide.

“When I got to the backside I tried to be in the clear, which is what he likes to do.”

The Classic triumph capped a successful Breeders’ Cup for the jockey, who also rode Game Winner and Jaywalk to victories on Friday in the Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies Turf, respectively.

Gunnevera returned $21.80 and $11.80, while Thunder Snow paid $8 in redeeming himself at Churchill Downs after a last-place finish in the 2017 Kentucky Derby.

Off the board were Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s duo of West Coast and McKinzie. They finished seventh and 12th, respectively, after projections of challenging Accelerate in the marquee event of nine season-ending championship races.

“They looked good for a mile,” Baffert said. “They just tired and just didn’t have it today.”

Gunnevera, Thunder Snow and early pace setter Mendelssohn made things interesting before 70,423, an upside to the absence of horse racing’s 13th Triple Crown winner from the Classic. Justify’s ankle issue led Baffert to retire the colt in July, eliminating the opportunity to follow 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in pursuit of a rare grand slam.

Accelerate claimed his fourth race in a row and answered the question of if he could continue his roll

OLDER YET FASTER JOEL ROSARIO rides Accelerate to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Monday, November 5, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

after beating West Coast by 2 1/4 lengths in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita. And it followed other notable performances on the second day of the $30-million championships.

Monomoy Girl bolstered her case as the top three-year-old filly by winning the $2-million Distaff. The anticipated duel between the reigning Kentucky Oaks winner and her 2017 predecessor Abel Tasman never materialized, as Monomoy Girl made her move at the final turn and held off Wow Cat by a length for her sixth victory this season.

“She was training like a monster and ran like a monster,” said Louisvillebased trainer Brad Cox, who earned his first Cup victory. Jockey Florent Geroux

collected his fifth win.

Peter Miller made Breeders’ Cup history as the first trainer to saddle two repeat winners in the same Breeders’ Cup races. Soon after Stormy Liberal out-dueled favorite World of Trouble to retake the $1-million Turf Sprint by a neck, six-year-old Roy H swept past Promises Fulfilled and flew to a 3 1/4-length win in the $2-million Sprint. Jockey Paco Lopez earned his first Breeders’ Cup victory.

Enable followed up last month’s Arc de Triomphe victory by winning the $4-million Turf by 3/4 lengths over Magical. The four-year-old British filly became the first horse to win both prestigious races in the same year. She earned her 10th win from 11 career starts.

Cormier chokes out Lewis, retains 2nd title at UFC 230

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EW YORK—The “DC” initials that flashed on the Madison Square Garden marquee have a deeper meaning for Daniel Cormier.

Dual Champ.

Cormier draped himself in two title belts, history-making bling that cemented the 39-year-old as one of the greats in the mixed martial arts game.

“Two belts for each shoulder! I get to look at this again,” Cormier said. “It’s history and Daniel Cormier is one of the best of all time.”

He backed up his boast with authority in New York.

Cormier choked out Derrick Lewis in the middle of the second round to retain his heavyweight championship in the main event of UFC 230, becoming the first fighter to defend titles in two weight classes.

Cormier, who also holds the light heavyweight crown, made quick work of an overmatched Lewis with a rear naked choke.

He celebrated with his family in the cage as Lewis trudged out, still in his trunks unlike the last fight that made him a quick star.

Cormier (22-1, 1 no-contest) had a quick takedown in the first and turned in a dominant yet dull effort to easily take the round. He didn’t waste much time in the second and left MSG with a little slice of history.

He was still ready to rumble.

With trash talk worthy of WrestleMania hype, Cormier called out former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE star Brock Lesnar for a match in 2019.

Cormier had an itch to add a third (yet faux) title.

“Bring that belt with you when you come to my house,” said Cormier, who has vowed to retire at age 40.

Cormier won the heavyweight crown when he flattened Stipe Miocic, a bout that ended with theatrics after he called Lesnar into the cage. Lesnar shoved Cormier in the

chest while the fighters traded insults to hype a potential future bout.

UFC President Dana White has said he wanted a Lesnar-Cormier bout signed for next year, a showcase that would surely be the biggest ever for heavyweights. Lesnar is still with WWE and left the promotion’s controversial Crown Jewel event on Friday in Saudi Arabia as the Universal champion. His status remains as murky as ever—he still has to serve out the remainder of a USADA suspension—and was not spotted at MSG. Cormier beat Anthony Johnson in 2015 to win the light heavyweight title and defended it against the likes of Alexander Gustafsson and Volkan Oezdemir.

Cormier has never lost to anyone except Jon Jones, the star-crossed former light heavyweight champion who beat him twice.

The second bout last year was changed to a no-contest when Jones failed a doping test that kept him out of the sport for 15 months. Cormier will be stripped of his light heavyweight title and the 205-pound crown will go to the winner of the Jones-Gustafsson bout at UFC 232 on December 29 in Las Vegas.

Jones has ruled out a trilogy, and Cormier’s next challenger will surely give him a better fight than Lewis.

Lewis (21-6) served three-and-a-half years in prison in his early 20s stemming from a parole violation when he was charged with aggravated assault shortly after high school. AP

LEICESTER City fans roll out a giant banner that reads “RIP Vichai” during the English Premier League match between Cardiff City and Leicester City. AP

VICTORY IN GRIEF T

HE smiles returned briefly to the faces of Leicester’s players on Saturday following the most traumatic week of their careers.

In its first game since the death of club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in a helicopter crash last weekend, Leicester won an emotional and highly charged English Premier League match at promoted Cardiff, 1-0.

“That was a tough game, not just on the pitch, but mentally,” goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel said. “I am proud of this team and the club, the way everyone has handled themselves has been unbelievable.”

James Milner scored his 50th league goal as Liverpool drew at Arsenal, 1-1, to move one point clear of second-placed Manchester City. City plays on Sunday against Southampton at home.

Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho called himself “the luckiest manager in the Premier League” after his seventh-place side came from behind to win at Bournemouth, 2-1. Mourinho called his team’s first-half display a “disaster.”

Tottenham, in fourth position, moved within three points of Liverpool despite conceding two second-half penalties in a 3-2 win at Wolverhampton.

Newcastle claimed its first league victory in 11 games by defeating Watford, 1-0. Everton downed Brighton, 3-1, and West Ham swept past Burnley, 4-2.

The tears shed by Schmeichel summed up the mood at Cardiff as a huge banner, a Thai flag with “RIP Vichai” and the Leicester badge,

was unfurled before the game.

Somehow, Schmeichel and his teammates managed to put their collective grief to one side to focus on football for 90 minutes and grind out a victory.

Demarai Gray scored with a low finish in the 55th and celebrated by removing his jersey to reveal an undershirt on which was written “For Khun Vichai.” He was promptly booked by referee Lee Probert.

The Leicester fans sang Vichai’s name for the rest of the afternoon and, at the final whistle, the visiting players came together to embrace.

“We were very close to the chairman,” Leicester captain Wes Morgan said. “We know what his wishes were. He used to come down at home games, have a joke and a laugh, always say, ‘Want win and three points.’

“It has not been an easy week, we had to try and hold our emotions in today and do the best we can.” AP

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God of wisdom

OD of wisdom, You delight in those who wait for Your faithful love. In hope we pray: Teach us Your Wisdom, Oh God. Inspire students and teachers engaged in parish religious education and Catholic schools. Help societal and religious leaders to address conflict with dialogue and peaceful action. Guide medical professionals and health-care personnel to serve with compassion and to respect all life. May God bless us, keep us and renew us to love, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life BusinessMirror

ALL ACCESS: DO WE SEE A FACE-OFF FOR NEXT YEAR’S BEST ACTRESS RACE? D3

Monday, November 5, 2018

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What’s your Insignia?

TOTA PULCHRA MISS CHARLIZE

@misscharlize

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LOVI POE wears a CH Carolina Herrera White Shirt with the CH Insignia bag.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY ARTU NEPOMUCENO

HE House of Herrera is celebrating the first anniversary of its CH Carolina Herrera store in the Philippines.

“I have a responsibility to the woman of today—to make her feel confident, modern and, above all else, beautiful,” goes the mantra of the ravishing Venezuelan Carolina Herrera, who, encouraged by legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, showed her first collection at the Metropolitan Club in New York in 1981.

After 72 shows and 37 years at the helm of her empire, Herrera took her final bow after showcasing her Fall 2018 collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and appointed the American Wes Gordon as the new creative director.

When it opened last year at Greenbelt 5 at Ayala Center Makati, one of the highlights was the Insignia Collection of bags, which bears the iconic CH logo as an integral part of the design. This collection commemorated the brand’s 35th year.

But the celebration still continues, as the brand recently mounted the CH Carolina Herrera Insignia Exhibition at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater at Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The visual project, spotlighting “diversity as well as authenticity and incorporates the unique essence of the House of Herrera,” had celebrity stylist Pam Quiñones as creative director for the photo shoot, with Artu Nepomuceno as photographer and the makeup team of Estee Lauder Philippines..

Carefully selected Filipino tastemakers posed for stark blackand-white portraits wearing white shirts with pieces from the Insignia Collection, the objective being “about revisiting your wardrobe

staples—the items that have crafted your style and shaped how you present yourself to the world—while discovering new pieces to complement your existing look.”

As Coco Chanel has the LBD (Little Black Dress), Carolina Herrera lays claim to the Crisp White Shirt (CWS), an eight-style collection made of the same crisp cotton that was launched in 2013.

“I love white shirts because they feel like a security blanket. You can wear them with anything.

It’s the person and the way that they wear it that makes it different. I have been designing white shirts forever, but I don’t get tired of it,” Herrera told vogue.uk of the classic item.

The participating tastemakers are architecture and design firm tandem Budji Layug and Royal Pineda, educator Candice Gotianuy, actress Heart Evangelista, restaurateurs Jae Pickrell and Bruce Ricketts, chef Josh Boutwood, accessories designer Ken Samudio, furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue, Internet darling Mari Jasmine, indie director Sam Lee, DJ Tina Badkiss and GMA star Lovi Poe. Lovi looked lovely in a red lace CH Carolina Herrera shirtdress. “I went to the store and I had this opportunity to choose whatever it is I wanted to wear, and this is the one that I chose. It was tough to choose one dress but eventually, of course, lace always wins. And red. So, I’m a Lady in Red tonight,” said the acclaimed actress, whose “insignia” is being her most authentic self.

“The brand has been generous to us and just to be a part of this exhibit is a huge thing, because we all know that Carolina Herrera is one of the most amazing brands,” added the dusky beauty, who is taking a break from doing TV shows and is busy shooting The Annulment under Regal Films with Joem Bascon. “It would be amazing if we get a chance to meet Carolina Herrera herself.”

Lovi says she owns one of the brand’s bags but is trying to be more prudent with her shopping nowadays: “I can’t say I’ve been very smart with my recent purchases but maybe I could say that.

Because before, I would just pick whatever it is that I wanted and just grab anything that caught my eye. But right now, I really make sure that I choose the classics. I would choose something classic over something that’s trendy because I feel like I could use it more. A timeless piece would always go with anything. I’m trying to be smart about things. I’m a very proud outfit repeater. So, whatever it is I buy, I get to mix and match.” n

TOMMY HILFIGER and Zendaya

ZENDAYA PARTNERS WITH TOMMY HILFIGER

TOMMY Hilfiger, which is owned by PVH Corp., announced that actress Zendaya, who recently starred in the blockbusters Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Greatest Showman, will be the new global Tommy Hilfiger women’s ambassador and will appear in the brand’s global integrated campaign beginning in Spring 2019. Reflecting the company’s continued strategic commitment to expanding its women’s businesses globally, Zendaya will collaborate with the American designer to create a Tommy X Zendaya capsule collection that will bring her unique and confident sense of style to fans around the world.

The partnership celebrates Tommy Hilfiger’s continued vision to collaborate with icons who share the brand’s spirit and values of breaking conventions and celebrating diversity.

“I love to collaborate with people who are passionate about making their dreams a reality and who inspire the next generation to do the same,” said Tommy Hilfiger.

“Our capsule collection will fuse her eclectic style with the Americana spirit of our brand.”

“Fashion is more than just wearing cool clothes,” said Zendaya. “It’s a way to celebrate self-expression and individuality, which is extremely empowering. This is why I am proud to partner with Tommy Hilfiger.”

In the Philippines, Tommy Hilfiger is exclusively distributed by Stores Specialists Inc.

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Monday, November 5, 2018

Style

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Meghan’s wedding gown goes on display at Windsor Castle THE wedding dress with a 5-meterlong veil that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, wore and an identical uniform to the specially commissioned one Prince Harry wore at their wedding are displayed as part of an exhibition, titled A Royal Wedding: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in the Grand Reception Room at Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England. AP

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By Gregory Katz The Associated Press

ONDON—Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has described how she worked with designer Clare Waight Keller of Givenchy to create a “timeless” wedding gown for her wedding to Prince Harry earlier this year.

Harry and the former Meghan Markle recorded their memories of the wedding for an audio commentary that is part of the new “Relive the Royal Wedding” exhibition at Windsor Castle that opened on Friday.

The gown and the 5-meter-long veil Meghan wore with it are set to be the prime attraction at the 10-week display. In the audio recording, the former actress said she had a clear idea of what she wanted to wear from the start.

“I knew at the onset I wanted a bateau neckline, I wanted a cropped sleeve, I wanted a very timeless, classic feeling,” she said.

The dress also needed to be suitably modest for the May 19 wedding held in a chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle, she said.

“There was a great level of detail that went into the planning of our wedding day,” said Meghan, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child.

“I think for us, we knew how large the scale of the event would be, so in making choices that were really personal and meaningful, it could make the whole experience feel intimate, even though it was a very big wedding,” the duchess said.

Meghan described the “incredibly surreal day” when she and her fiance visited Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s grandmother, to choose a tiara for her to wear during the wedding ceremony. She picked Queen Mary’s diamond and platinum bandeau tiara from the queen’s unmatched collection. It is featured in the new exhibit. For his part, Harry said it was “very sweet” of his grandmother to lend his bride-to-be the priceless headpiece.

Harry’s wedding outfit, including the distinctive frockcoat uniform made by master tailors on Savile Row, is also on display. n

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Kevin Jonas, 31; Tatum O’Neal, 55; Bryan Adams, 59; Art Garfunkel, 77.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Put greater emphasis on home and family. Energy spent making things better, more conducive to achieving your goals and adding to your convenience will help you gain stability. Overreacting or setting unrealistic expectations will end up holding you back. A good plan with a determined attitude will help you hone your skills and bring about positive changes.

Your lucky numbers are 8, 13, 23, 29, 38, 45, 48.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Using force or anger to deal with situations that involve work or personal relationships will backfire.

Take a secretive approach to what you plan to do.

The less others know, the easier it will be to outsmart competition. HHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Whatever change you make will help add stability to your life. Listen, learn and make moves that will have long-term effects. Choose to channel your energy into being productive. Compliments will get you further than criticism. HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Focus on selfimprovements. Changing your image or physically taking charge and getting things done properly will be impressive. Honesty should be examined if someone offers information or suggests something that is questionable. Romance is encouraged and will brighten your day. HHHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Pour your energy into learning, accepting change and giving your all. Participate instead of sitting back and criticizing what you don’t like. To make positive change, you have to be a part of it, so take control and put in the effort. HH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The changes you want to make should be planned before you start. Expect to face some opposition, and be prepared to counter with incentives that you can afford. If you go over the budget, your goals will be questioned. HHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Travel mentally or physically if it will lead to important information. Knowledge is the road to success. What you have to offer will encourage others to help you reach your goals. Don’t be shy; display your skills, experience and attributes. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Speak up regarding truth and justice in a clear and concise way. Don’t let your emotions take over and fabrication set in. How you present what you want to share with others will determine how wellreceived you are. HHH

‘VALERA UNEARTHED’: CELEBRATING THE FILIPINA THROUGH A TRIBUTE OF RAMON VALERA’S WORKS

PIECES FOR EVERY FILIPINA The Filipina Z Fair has a well-curated collection of fashion pieces fit for every budget, empowering every Filipina.

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Today’s Horoscope

RAMON VALERA’S legacy lives on in his notable works that celebrate the Filipina. The Philippines’s first National Artist for Fashion Design, his creations and significant contributions to the modernization of the Filipino national dress will take stage in a special setting at this year’s Filipina Z Fair, called “Valera Unearthed.” Presented by Zonta Club of Makati and Environs, together with Security Bank, this fashion vignette will feature some of Valera’s finest creations, as well as pieces belonging to some of the members of the club and their friends that have never been publicly showcased.

A celebration of womanhood, Valera Unearthed aims to give life and pay tribute to the Filipina as a fashion icon then and now, which is reflected in the late designer’s creations. Designed to be an immersive experience, the vignette will recreate Valera’s workspace—revealing stories, beautiful creations and the creative processes of the late designer. At a time when everything was done painstakingly

h

by hand, Valera’s elegant and timeless creations were fueled by passion. His creations stir intricacy and greatly showcase the exceptional craftsmanship that went into each of his beautifully handmade Filipiniana dresses.

Valera Unearthed will also serve as a platform to unveil new designs as the late designer’s family unveils a few pieces to pay homage to Valera’s legacy of craftsmanship and artistry. This is a precious opportunity to discover up close Valera’s contributions to the fashion, design and the arts, which merited him the National Artist medal—the highest accolade given to a Filipino whose vision, artistry and craftsmanship continue to transcend time.

Valera Unearthed is made possible by the Valeras, Zonta Club of Makati and Environs Foundation, Security Bank and Zarah Juan. The creations will be on display at this year’s Filipina Z from November 9 to 11 in 8 Rockwell. Security Bank MasterCard credit cardholders can enjoy installment deals at zero-percent interest.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Fix up your surroundings. Having a functional workspace will encourage you to engage in innovative projects. Learn from experience, and include the extras that can make the difference between a mediocre outcome and an exceptional one. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Don’t let your emotions cause you to misinterpret what’s going on. Someone will play on your vulnerability if you aren’t careful. Transparency is necessary. Don’t believe everything you hear. HHHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Focus on physically getting things done. If you let your emotions take over, you will get bogged down with matters that are not conducive to getting ahead or reaching your goal. HH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Put more effort into taking care of unfinished business. Financial, legal and health matters should be your focus, along with maintaining your reputation. Don’t let someone who has bad habits influence you. Say no to pressure tactics. HHHHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Stick to the truth, and if you are unsure what that is, don’t say anything at all. You stand to gain far more if you concentrate on what you know and do well. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are compassionate, intense and resourceful.

You are open-minded and imaginative.

‘apart-ment hunting’ BY TIMOTHY E. PARKER The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker

ACROSS 1 Sofa kin 6 In ___ (harmonious) 10 Last part of a concerto 14 Oil giant 15 In ___ of 16 Some pale drinks 17 Causes a laugh riot 20 French farewell 21 Credit card feature 22 Word with “not” or “having fun” 24 Broadway divisions 27 February 14 presents 28 “All My Children” VIP 31 Laughing carnivore 33 What many mins. become 34 Sub ingredient, often 36 Chicks’ utterances 38 Bowler’s challenge 42 Book of places 43 Basecoat’s job 45 Shock and electrify 48 Overpublicized 50 Freewheelin’ Bob

1 In a slack way 5 53 Aerobics action 55 Redeem Team country 56 Aria? No, but it’s melodic 58 Shows, as fangs 61 Three-running-backs-in-a-row lineup 66 Intense or sharp 67 Actress Spelling 68 Annoying night sound 69 Contributes 70 Makes a choice 71 Divided, as glass DOWN 1 Courtroom figs.

2 Mischievous kid 3 Ready to explode anytime 4 Dropped drug 5 Words to the Little Red Hen 6 Fail to be erect 7 Yang go-with 8 French born?

9 Use filthy language 10 Egyptian city 11 Hardly new

2 Less shallow 1 13 Rate 18 “From ___ to shining...”

19 Dead broke 22 Yep, better 23 Pitchers’ stats 25 Prepare some characters 26 Visible 29 Vena ___ (heart vessel) 30 Valuable purple stone 32 The Untouchables protagonist 35 Internally 37 Kill 39 Base night song 40 Magician’s thing 41 Pouchong and others 44 Stuff stranded in the body 45 Juneau’s state 46 Bent out of shape 47 Deported 49 Wreckage remains 52 Some meat cuts 54 Pan spray 57 Uniformed comics canine

9 Sound a bit laryngitic 5 60 European volcano 62 Smart, sharp dresser 63 Food scrap 64 Smeltery delivery 65 Deliverance costar Beatty

Solution to Friday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, November 5, 2018

Do we see a face-off for next year’s best actress race?

‘Woman of Dignity’ premieres on GMA this Monday

ALL ACCESS RICKY GALLARDO

rickygallardoTFI@gmail.com

A

RE comediennes Marietta Subong and AiAi de las Alas headed for a face-off in next year’s acting award derbies?

Subong, who is popularly known as Pokwang, bagged the best actress award at the recently concluded QCinema International Film Festival, where she played the lonely embalmer in Dwein Baltazar’s Oda sa Wala (Ode to Nothing). The film, which also won the top festival prize, was a last-minute entry in the Main Circle competition of the festival after Giancarlo Abrahan pulled out his film Sila-Sila.

A few months ago, de las Alas was declared best actress at the Cinemalaya Film Festival for her difficult role in Louis Ignacio’s School Service. She played a mean, one-eyed syndicate head who kidnaps children and trains them as street beggars.

Both Subong and de la Alas were not present during the awards ceremonies where they won the plums. When she won, Subong was in the US with her partner Lee O’Brian and their daughter Malia to meet her in-laws. At the Cinemalaya awards night, de las Alas was not able to attend due to a previous work commitment. De las Alas personally went to the

AI-AI DE LAS ALAS

Cultural Center of the Philippines last week to receive her Balaghai trophy from CCP bigwigs Chris Millado and Nick Lizaso.

Subong was reported to have defeated another comedy veteran actress, Gina Pareño, who gave a powerful performance in Dan Villegas’s Hintayan sa Langit. Meanwhile, de las Alas bested early favorite Glaiza de Castro, who also showed grit as the titular character in Kip Oebanda’s Liway.

Both comediennes have been supportive of the thriving independent cinema landscape for some years now. Prior to Oda sa Wala, Subong has starred in Jason Paul Laxamana’s Mercury is Mine for Cinemalaya and Roman Perez’s Sol Searching for ToFarm Filmfest.

For her part, de las Alas also starred in Ignacio’s Area, where she won at least two best actress nods— one at the 2017 Los Angeles Philippine International Film Festival and the other at the 2017 Asean

MARIETTA SUBONG

International Film Festival in Kuching, Malaysia. She also played the lead policewoman character in Nick Olanka’s Ronda for Cinemalaya, where she scored an Urian best actress nomination.

Both actresses have gone through many challenging periods in their personal lives and professional careers, and they have taken many leaps of faith to reach their respective comfort levels at the moment The good news is that both Marietta Subong and Ai Ai de las Alas continue to remain steadfast, resilient, grounded and real in an industry where many have succumbed to the bait of temporary breakthroughs and hollow successes.

This early, we feel that at least one award-giving organization will announce a tie for the exceptional performances of these two comediennes turned serious film actors. n

WATCH “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” come to life as Kim Soon-ah returns to GMA via the riveting Korean drama Woman of Dignity this Monday, November 5.

Kim Soon-ah, known for her bubbly character as Kim Sam-soon, will do a 180-degree turn with her portrayal of Joanna, a cold-blooded and ambitious woman who will seduce her way into a rich family’s fortunes.

Erin (Kim Sun-hee), on the other hand, is a loving housewife who gets cheated on by her chaebol (rich heir) husband. Her kind nature usually gets taken advantage of, making her vulnerable to the betrayal of the people she loves the most.

Joanna is tasked to take care of Erin’s father-inlaw, and delivers well in her job. However, her goal is not to become merely an impressive caretaker, so she devices a plan to marry into the rich household—at the expense of her friendship with Erin.

Will Erin’s broken trust weaken her good heart, or will she finally vindicate herself and avenge all her heartbreaks?

Woman of Dignity airs weekdays before Eat Bulaga on GMA.

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Style

D4 Monday, November 5, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

REVERIE by Beautederm Home is the beauty brand’s new line of home scents, created in collaboration with Marian RiveraDantes.

Beauty brand releases home fragrance collection AND THEN SOME DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

I

T’S always nice to learn that more and more Filipino entrepreneurs are creating high-quality beauty brands.

For consumers like myself, it means that we have more and better choices because each brand will try to outdo itself when it comes to research and development and even pricing. It really is a win-win situation. If the consumers like the brand’s products, then the entrepreneurs benefit and they help create jobs for more Filipinos.

One such brand is Beautederm Corp. Rhea Anicoche-Tan founded the company in 2009 on the belief that beauty isn’t just skin deep, so to speak. Anicoche-Tan’s beauty principle is that to be truly beautiful, one needs to take care of the face, body and skin.

Beautederm’s most popular are the Beautederm Skin Set, which includes a patented soap, day cream and toner; and Beautederm Facial Wash and Beautederm Origin Senses perfumes for men, among many others.

Currently, Beautederm has 41 physical stores throughout the country and over 100 resellers locally and internationally.

Anicoche-Tan recently launched Reverie by Beautederm Home, a line of home scents—from soy candles to room and linen sprays—created

by Beautederm in collaboration with actress, wife and mother Marian Rivera.

The name “Reverie” is actually a play on Marian’s maiden name and the concept of the brand’s desired effect to its users—to drift away, dream and relax while basking in the scents of Beautederm Home.

The Reverie line of Beautederm Home includes Into The Woods (Bamboo Scent), Smells Like Candy (Cherry Scent), Time To Bloom (Fresh Rose Scent), Something Minty (Eucalyptus Scent), and Rest & Relaxation (Lavender Scent).

All have been created in close collaboration with Marian, from formulation to packaging.

There are many reasons to choose candles made from soy over paraffin. Soy doesn’t contain anything artificial and is nontoxic. Soy wax doesn’t release any carcinogens when the wick is burned. Soy wax scents are also more stronger and cheaper.

Now pregnant with her second baby, Marian is very excited about Reverie by Beautederm Home. “This is really my personal choice for me and my family. I am very grateful to Beautederm and Rhea for trusting me to represent this amazing line of products. Talagang ginagamit ko po ito sa bahay because I want only the best for my

BEAUTEDERM Corp. Founder Rhea AnicocheTan

family. Sobrang fresh at nakaka-relax ang amoy ng bahay namin at gusto ko itong i-share sa lahat [I really use this at home. I love the scents because they’re so relaxing],” said Marian.

“We wanted make Marian’s simple, practical yet very stylish lifestyle accessible to everyone,” said Anicoche-Tan. For more information on Reverie by Beautederm Home and exciting updates on Marian, follow @beautedermcorporation on Instagram and like Beautederm on Facebook.

So I have been using Maybelline Superstay 24HR Makeup for over a week now and here’s what I think of it so far: 1. I had no problems with application. The product is a bit thick but relatively easy to apply.

I use a paddle brush (MAC) then follow with a damp Beautyblender. I set with a translucent powder.

2. My skin didn’t break out as it usually does with long-lasting foundations, even the most expensive ones.

3. I like that the bottle has a pump. You need one pump at the most. I read that some use only half a pump of the product.

4. The color selection is great. I wear Natural Beige (220). I like that there are no orange tones in it, which is usually my problem with drugstore foundations.

5. The longest time I’ve worn Maybelline Superstay 24HR Makeup was 11 hours on a hot and humid day. It held up pretty well except for my forehead because I am super sweaty. But for the rest of my face, it was fine.

6. The finish isn’t matte and flat but it wasn’t dewy, too. I would call the finish satin.

7. Would it I recommend it? So far, yes. n

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, November 5, 2018 E1

THE TRADE WAR WITH CHINA COULD ACCELERATE 3D PRINTING IN THE U.S.

How to develop a data-savvy human resources department

By Nigel Guenole & Sheri L. Feinzig

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UMANresourcesprofessionalscan be broadly categorized into one of three groups with respect to their current analytical capability: analytically savvy, analytically willing and analytically resistant. Once you understand the different levels of analytical comfort and expertise that exist within your HR team, you can determine how to hire and develop each type of HR professional.

By Richard D’Aveni

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n Hiring for analytical capability.

Roles that require producing analytical information demand analytically savvy workers, while roles that involve interpreting and working with analytical information require analytically willing workers. You can assess whether workers are analytically savvy by examining formal qualifications, and by administering well-designed psychometric tests that measure general mental ability. General mental ability is a good predictor of performance because high scores indicate workers can acquire job-related knowledge more quickly. n Developing analytical capability. The key to developing capability among existing workers is to provide engaging learning opportunities to workers at all levels of expertise:

n Analytically savvy: Keep these workers’ skills up-to-date by providing opportunities for advanced training.

Assign them responsibility for analytics evangelism and reinforce this in performance objectives. Analytically willing: A good starting point for these employees is to provide foundational education on HR analytics. They should then put their learning into practice by applying the techniques to their day-to-day work. Analytically resistant: For these employees, focus on how analytics can enhance their personal effectiveness. The ultimate goal is not necessarily to transform the analytically resistant into data experts but to have them see the value in analytics and, ideally, embrace it as a path to success.

n Personalize learning, and deliver it at scale. Analytically related

learning opportunities for all HR professionals can be managed with a Netflixstyle online learning system, such as IBM’s Your Learning platform. Analytical skills should also be designated “hot skills” for HR professionals, and as people acquire more of these skills, their compensation should be increased to reflect their enhanced capabilities.

A more data-savvy HR function is entirely achievable. By understanding the levels of analytics capability in your HR team today, hiring for critical skills to fill gaps and providing ongoing, targeted and engaging learning opportunities, organizations will be well positioned to realize the promise of analytics in HR.

Nigel Guenole is an executive consultant at IBM and director of research for the Institute of Management at Goldsmiths, University of London. Sheri L. Feinzig is a director at IBM Talent Management Consulting and Smarter Workforce Institute.

The role of a manager has to change in these key ways

F

By Joseph Pistrui & Dimo Dimov

OR almost 100 years, management has been associated with the five basic functions outlined by management theorist Henri Fayol: planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.

These have become the default dimensions of a manager. But they relate to pursuing a fixed target in a stable landscape. Take away the stability of the landscape, and one needs to start thinking about the fluidity of the target. To help organizations meet today’s challenges, managers must move from being:

Directive to instructive

WHAT will be needed from man-

agers is the ability to think differently about the future in order to shape the impact AI will have on their industry. This means spending more time exploring the implications of AI, helping others extend their own frontiers of knowledge and learning through experimentation to develop new practices. Learning, not knowledge, will power organizations into the future, and the central

champion of learning should be the manager.

Restrictive to expansive

TOO many managers micromanage.

Managers today need to draw out everyone’s best thinking.

Exclusive to inclusive

MANAGERS need to bring a diverse set of thinking styles to bear on the challenges they face. Truly breakaway thinking gets its spark from the playful experimentation of many people exchanging their views, integrating their experiences and imagining different futures.

Repetitive to innovative

ORGANIZATIONS need managers to think much more about innovating beyond the status quo—and not just in the face of challenges.

Problem-solver to challenger

THE role of today’s manager calls

for finding better ways to operate the firm—by challenging people to discover new and better ways to grow, and by reimagining the best of what’s been done before.

Employer to entrepreneur

BEING entrepreneurial is a mode of thinking, one that can help us see things we normally overlook and do things we normally avoid.

Thinking like an entrepreneur simply means expanding your perception and increasing your action—both of which are important for finding new gateways for development. And this would make organizations more future facing—more vibrant, alert, playful—and open to the perpetual novelty it brings.

Joseph Pistrui is a professor at IE Business School in Madrid. Dimo Dimov is a professor at Bath University in England.

HE United States is in a cold war with China. As companies rethink their supply chains, they ought to seriously consider embracing a new manufacturing technology that’s now ready for prime time: 3D printing.

No longer relegated to trinkets and prototyping, 3D printing, which is also called additive manufacturing, is now moving into mass production. Printer makers have solved a variety of quality, cost and speed problems to the point where printers can compete with conventional manufacturers at volumes of tens or even hundreds of thousands of units.

The US military has already been working on additive as a quicker way to supply repair parts to remote locations and to make ultralight, high-performance fighter jets. The Trump administration is looking to ramp up those efforts with tax breaks and direct subsidies to companies that bring military supply chains home.

Speeding up the adoption of additive is still going to be a challenging investment, even with Pentagon subsidies. But companies making the upfront investment will likely reap even greater rewards down the line. From product design to customer outreach, additive enables a fully digitized enterprise that is hyperresponsive to market trends. Because 3D printers are so versatile, they can go from one kind of product to another with minimal time and cost for the switch-over.

That means companies can move from industry-specific factories to plants that produce for multiple industries.

Once factories develop the software to coordinate and optimize these multiindustry operations, we’ll see the emergence of “pan-industrial” corporations.

And once a pan-industrial perfects its integration software, it’s likely to create a software platform for suppliers and distributors to join. That’s the only way to fully optimize the value chain around additive. And as we know with Google and other software giants, the more companies you have on the platform, the stronger your platform will be.

The defense industry won’t be alone in pushing the additive frontier. It may just have the greatest urgency.

Richard D’Aveni is a professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business.

Research: Investors punish entrepreneurs for stereotypically feminine behaviors

By Lakshmi Balachandra

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HILE we often assume women entrepreneurs are discriminated against simply for being women, my research shows that they’re actually penalized for exhibiting stereotypically feminine traits. In fact, men are also at a disadvantage when they display “feminine” behaviors in the pitch room, while women are not penalized if they project more “masculine” behaviors.

A study my colleagues and I recently pub-

© 2018 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)

lished found that masculinity and femininity, rather than gender identification, affect how entrepreneurs are perceived by potential investors. In an elevator pitch competition, investors were less likely to select as finalists entrepreneurs who demonstrated stereotypically feminine behaviors like warmth and expressiveness, regardless of their gender.

What’s unique about our study is that it looks at how gender roles and gender stereotypes, as distinct from sex, affect the pitching process. Our findings suggest that it’s not women who have

a harder time raising money from investors, it’s anyone who fits certain feminine stereotypes.

It was behaviors, not gender, that mattered.

While this bias against feminine traits is certainly problematic, being clear on what plays well to investors is something women can use to their advantage. You can’t change your gender, but you can control how you present yourself.

Indeed, research shows that women in many fields face a catch-22 when navigating gender: They are discriminated against for being feminine (which conflicts with the norms

of jobs and industries perceived as masculine) but also penalized if they try to act masculine (which contravenes the norms of their gender).

However, our research shows that this dynamic does not apply to entrepreneurs seeking funding. Women in our study were not punished for behaving in more masculine ways; instead, they benefited by avoiding the penalty that comes with acting feminine.

Access to early-stage capital has been shown to be important, often critical, to start-up success, which is why the funding gap between men

and women entrepreneurs is so concerning. For now, women founders can benefit from having a clearer understanding of what the expectations are when they step into the pitch room and how they can present themselves most effectively.

Lakshmi Balachandra is an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusettes, and a research fellow at Babson’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership.

E2 Monday, November 5, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Education BusinessMirror

DepEd vows to continue mental health advocacy among constituents I

www.businessmirror.com.ph

51TALK EXPANDS IN CAVITE, OPENING 6TH EDUCATION CENTER

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

N

Correspondent

OTING that concern for mental health is a pressing public health issue, the Department of Education shared its significance in ensuring the health and well-being of both DepEd personnel and learners, in partnership with various agencies and organizations.

tion Division, and in partnership with the Youth for Mental Health Inc., also conducted a workshop on October 9 to engage children and youth on matters connected to school mental health.

In line with the theme “Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World,” of the World Mental Health Day celebrated on October 10, the workshop was participated by learners and their respective teachers and guidance counselors from Oranbo Elementary School, Pineda Elementary School Rizal High School and Kapitolyo High School.

The two-day forum also served as a strategic platform for education stakeholders to provide inputs to the implementing rules and regulations of the recently enacted Republic Act (RA) 11036, or the Mental Health Act, as it included a consultation facilitated by the Secretariat of the IRR Task Force created by the Department of Health. In consonance with the said law and its IRR, the DepEd shall issue a comprehensive school mental-health policy.

As stated in the said RA, the duties and responsibilities of the DepEd are the following: Integrate age-appropriate content pertaining to mental health into the curriculum at all educational levels both in public and private institutions; develop guidelines and standards on age-appropriate and evidence-based mental-health programs both in public and private institutions; pursue strategies that promote the realization of mental health and well-being in educational institutions; and ensure that mental health promotions in public and private educational institutions shall be

adequately complemented with qualified mental-health professionals.

“I am glad to announce that ahead of the issuance of the IRR of the mental-health law soon, the DepEd has already commenced its process of crafting its comprehensive policy through this forum,” Ambat said.

Early this year, the Department also launched the Oplan Kalusugan (OK) sa DepEd, which is a convergence of its health and nutrition initiatives to ensure their impact, especially at the school level. As soon as the RA 11036 was passed, the DepEd made sure that mental health would be one of the flagship programs under OK sa DepEd. Additionally, Ambat iterated the DepEd’s call for more guidance counselors in schools. The DepEd, under the direction and instruction of Secretary Leonor M. Briones, has improved the qualification standards for guidance counselors and is continuously pushing to increase their salary.

“This forum is just the beginning.

Year after year, we shall look forward to a forum where we will sit down and discuss our efforts, our learning and our successes in promoting school mental health,” Ambat said.

The DepEd observes National Mental Health Week every second week of October, as stipulated in the Presidential Proclamation 452, Series of 1994. Through the DepEd Memorandum 148, Series of 2018, all offices and schools were enjoined to administer activities for employees, learners, parents, and other concerned stakeholders to promote mental health and raise awareness on related issues.

“For the past years, the Department of Education has implemented programs, passed policies and conducted activities related to the promotion of mental health. These include the conduct of trainings on mental health and psychosocial support, and the issuance of policies as complex as child protection and addressing bullying, and even as simple as unloading children of homework during weekends,” DepEd Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Service and Alternative Learning System GH Ambat said.

“Moreover, concepts on mental health have always been incorporated in basic education curricula, especially in health and values education subjects,” she added.

To provide a venue to discuss recent researches, updates, initiatives, issues, and concerns related to mental health, especially in the school context, the DepEd, through its Bureau of Learner Support Ser-

vices-School Health Division (BLSSSHD), spearheaded the first National School Mental Health Forum on October 23 and 24 at the Millenia Suites in Pasig City.

The forum gathered health personnel, teachers, guidance counselors, and other nonteaching personnel from the Central, Regional, and Division Offices, and public schools, as well as external partners, to showcase programs and research studies related to school mental health.

The forum was the first step to harmonizing and strengthening these efforts to ensure their impact to the overall health of the learners.

“One cannot overemphasize how our learners’ health is key to helping us realize our vision for them. As emphasized in this forum: There is no health when there is no mental health,” BLSS Director Rizalino Jose Rosales said.

The BLSS-SHD, in coordination with the BLSS-Youth Forma-

STI: Holistic education for life

Finding success in the hospitality industry through ASHA

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NE of the country’s biggest educational institutions, STI, prides itself in providing innovative learning and relevant education to its students. For the past 35 years, STI has produced exemplary graduates highly prepared for the real world through its Enrollment to Employment (E2E) system—a holistic education approach for student development.

Holistic education is promoted through specialized cocurricular and extracurricular programs that allow students to hone and exhibit their talents inside and outside of their respective courses. For instance, as part of its student development programs, the school holds its annual STI Talent Search, which brings together the best and brightest students across its network of campuses nationwide.

This year, more than 20,000 senior high school and tertiary students gathered and competed in this year’s STI Singing Idol, Battle of the Bands, Hataw Sayaw dance competition and the much-awaited Search for Mr. and Ms. STI 2018. This year’s program highlighted STI’s 35th anniversary with a whole day of festivity at the Enchanted Kingdom Park in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

For the upcoming second semester, students can look forward to a lineup of activities where they can continue to showcase their creativity and skills outside the classroom. Other major events that students look forward to include the STI National Youth Convention, the largest educational caravan in the country, and the STI Sports Cup featuring the National Basketball Tournament and the National Volleyball League.

S

TUDYING abroad offers ambition-driven individuals the opportunity for both personal and professional career growth. With globalization changing many industries, it is vital for aspirants to gain the experience and edge through overseas academic learning.

For Indian national Sreeram Devarajan, coming to the Philippines for advanced study is one life-changing decision that brought him closer not only to his academic goals, but also to rewarding career prospects. Investing on his future, Sreeram enrolled at the Asian School of Hospitality Arts (ASHA), where extensive learning and hands-on training readied him in his career in the hospitality industry.

Hailing from a third-generation family of hoteliers and restaurateurs—his late grandfather, TN Narayanan, owned the Kerala Bhavan and Madras Café since 1948—Sreeram has the roots and makings of a professional cook. From his hometown in Kerala, India, he went to Malaysia where he started as a culinary student at KDU University Malaysia and later as a sous chef and banquet chef at the Holiday Villa Hotel and Suites in Subang, Malaysia.

But the awarded young chef—he was a gold and bronze medalist at the India Premier Culinary Unilever Challenge 2008 and bronze medalist (2nd Best Asian Chef) in Culinare FHM 2005, Malaysia— was far from resting on his laurels. He explored the world for higher study and work opportunities.

From Malaysia, Sreeram went to Vietnam as well as in Mauritius where he earned a Higher Diploma in International Hotel Management at HTTC. He also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Hotel and Tourism Management

from IMI Switzerland.

“It was during those travels when I saw the expanding progress of the hotel and tourism industries. I also understood that to set yourself apart from others and be well-positioned in management-related careers, I need to add an international dimension to my specialization,” he recalled.

By the time he went back to Malaysia, Sreeram was determined to level up his professional qualifications. From being an accomplished chef, he decided to specialize in a new field of study—in Food and Beverage Operations Management.

“As I was doing online research for a reputable hospitality school within Asia, I chanced upon ASHA and was attracted by the various degree and certification programs offered,” he said.

Even from the start, Sreeram already experienced the hassle-free access to ASHA’s education.

“One of the great things about ASHA is communication. After I sent my application, Dean Angie Blanco of ASHA was supportive and helped me with all the paper works,” he added.

Sreeram never felt being a stranger in the Philippines. This country is where his love for the hospitality and food and beverages (F&B) industry kept on burning.

“When I came here, I instantly knew that this is the right country for me because everywhere I go, there is food. Even on the streets, I see people eating. There are also a lot of tourists. The opportunity to learn more about hospitality and food is right here, because the demand for food is high,” he said.

Sreeram graduated in ASHA in 2011. Because of his experiences in ASHA and his passion in the

field, he successfully mastered the key skills of Hospitality Management in the F&B industry.

ASHA’s education made him ready to become an F&B Business Consultant, a Restaurant Manager, Sales and Banquet Management, an Asian Food Consultant, among others.

Sreeram is currently in the Philippines to work as an Indian Cuisine and Business Management consultant. “There are a lot of hospitality schools in the Philippines but I think ASHA has the unique advantage compared to other schools. They offered practical training that are very useful in this industry,” Sreeram said.

According to ASHA Dean Angie Blanco, it is more important now than ever for students and even established professionals to gain global competency skills so that they can succeed in the global marketplace.

“Sreeram is our first foreign national graduate, and we are proud to see how he has made tremendous strides in his hospitality career. ASHA commits itself in leading the way in making the Philippines known for world-class hospitality arts education. With a vision of excellence, values, and passion, ASHA ensures that international students like Sreeram are taught the vital strategies and tools required for thriving careers in the industry,” she concluded. ASHA’s graduates have a 95-percent employment rate because of its wide network in the hospitality industry, such as partnerships with hotels, restaurants, theme parks, convention centers and cruise ships. Internships are also available in the US for graduate students to expand further their work experience.

ASHA schools are located in Antipolo City, Kamias in Quezon City, and Valenzuela.

Seminar on How to Evict Squatters Effectively slated for Nov. 16

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PROPERTY owner’s worst nightmare is to have abusive squatters, professional squatting syndicates and unlawful tenants on one’s premises.

With the clamor of those victimized by squatters to address such issue, the Center for Global Best Practices will host a program, entitled “Property Owner’s Guide to Ejecting Illegal Dwellers Effectively: Strategies, Legal Procedures and Solutions” to be held on November 16 at the Manila Marriott Hotel, Pasay City.

The law on ejectment is a special law not taught in law schools. Many lawyers make mistakes in filing such cases at the expense of the property owners. A precise knowledge of the correct legal remedies and practical extra-legal

know-how are essential for a successful and speedy recovery and possession of your property. This program is to protect your property from unlawful occupants and how to efficiently utilize ejectment actions and provisional remedies available as effective tools in the speedy recovery of your land or building so as to avoid further damage arising out of prolonged dispossession.

The lecture will include some special laws of great concern to land developers, such as Republic Act 6552 (The Maceda Law) that governs sales on installment of real property, Presidential Decree 1517 (The Urban Land Reform Law), Republic Act 7279 (The Lina Law), Tenancy law and other related laws.

Listen, learn and ask questions from four distinct lecturers namely Judge Danilo Manalastas,

the author of book The Law on Ejectment; Ferdinand M. Casis who is an expert in Agrarian Law; Agustin S. Torres, who will share his knowledge on how to peacefully resolve your problems under the building code of the Philippines and other creative ways; and Angelito F. Aguila, a director of Policy Development, Legislation and Special Projects Group of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

Registration is open to the general public.

Public officials and government employees attending these training programs are exempted from the P2,000 limit set by the Commission on Audit based on Department of Budget and Management Circular 563 issued on April 22, 2016.

Interested participants are encouraged to avail

themselves of the early payment savings and group discounts for three or more registrants.

Preregistration is required.

For the details and a complete list of upcoming programs, check www.cgbp.org. Other featured programs on the web site include PPP Certification Program, How to Prepare Unsolicited Proposals for Government Projects, Best Practices and Remedies to Avoid COA Disallowances, Best Practices Guide on How to Prepare Your Bidding Documents, Resolving Right-of-Way Issues, Building Code of the Philippines and many more.

For inquiries, you may call lines in Manila (+63 2) 842-7148/ 59 and (+63 2) 556-8968/69, in Baguio (+63 74) 423-2914, in Cebu (+63 32) 512-3106 or 07, or Legazpi City (+63 52) 736-0148.]

N a bid to widen its operations in the country, leading online English language teaching platform, 51Talk, formally opened its sixth education center in Imus, Cavite, recently.

In line with this, the company is expected to have at least 1,000 recruits every month from its six sites located in Bacolod, Baguio, Cebu, Davao, Pasig, and Cavite, with additional four more sites to be opened before the year ends.

51Talk now has more than15,000 online teachers from across the country.

“Choosing Cavite as our sixth center is a good thing for us because of the fact that there’s a big number of quality teachers in that area and the big support the city government of Imus has given to us,” said Jennifer K. Que, vice president for 51Talk Philippine Operations. “Teachers looking for good and quality jobs no longer have to brave the everyday traffic. We are here to give teachers home-based opportunities and earn a stable income. With better access to our facilities, this center will serve as a launching pad of their careers as online teachers, where we can provide them with the necessary training and real-time coaching, to better equip them with the proper skills and ensure their success.”

In his key message during the opening ceremony, Director Reynaldo Sy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Cluster 2 underscored 51Talk’s role in generating local employment in key cities outside of Metro Manila.

“You don’t need to send Filipinos abroad anymore because there are opportunities online like what 51Talk has,” he said.

With the memorandum signed in May, the DICT and 51Talk agreed to cooperate and jointly commit to promoting livelihood and community development. This partnership

entails 51Talk’s free training conducted at DICT’s shared facilities, making the home-based teaching career opportunity more accessible in different parts of the country.

To qualify as a 51Talk online teacher, applicants must be college graduates, preferably of Education and Communication courses, possess a good command of English, and creative with teaching methods. Since it is a home-based operation, applicants are expected to have a stable Internet connection, the necessary computer hardware, and specifically, a webcam for conducting video lessons as part of the technical requirements.

“Now, if you’re not ready with the technical requirement, we could still launch you as one of our teachers after you have undergone our training and passed our performance evaluation. After signing up, you will earn while we train you for a month. After that, you can start building your own teaching corner at home, where you can teach at your convenience on flexible working hours,” Que said.

She also revealed that 51Talk online teachers can earn as much as an P80,000 monthly income plus incentives.

“51Talk is in great position right now because learning English in China is in high demand while access to English-speaking teachers is very limited and expensive. We are here to fill that gap by providing English language education that’s effective and affordable. And Filipinos can take advantage of this opportunity because they are natural teachers whom we find are fit to teach kids, have a happy disposition in life,” Que added.

Established in 2012, 51Talk is aiming to hire 100,000 Filipino online English teachers in a span of five years. 51Talk was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2016 under China Online Education (NYSE:COE).

Pampanga school gets two-story building from SM Prime, Bata Children’s Program Foundation

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AN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga—The Telebastagan Integrated School here is the recipient of a two-story, four-classroom school building borne out of the partnership between SM Prime and Bata Children’s Program Foundation through the SM Foundation.

This is the maiden joint project of the two foundations after Bata Philippines opened its first store in SM Megamall in December 2016.

Bata Philippines markets the European shoe brand Bata. Since then, more Bata stores can be found in The SM Store branches located in Metro Manila and the provinces.

The school-building donation came shortly after SM City Telebastagan started operations in May where a Bata branch will soon to open.

The newly built school building was turned over to school principal Nancy Gamboa, San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago and Department of Education Schools Superintendent Dr. Ronnie Mallari by SM Foundation Inc. and SM Prime represented by Ramon Gil Macapagal, corporate affiars and sustainability head of SMIC and Trustee of SM Foundation.

The school building is fully furnished with 200 armchairs (of which 20 are for left-handed pupils), four sets of teachers’ table and chair, 16 wall fans, eight blackboards, four wall clocks and a toilet for each classroom.

It is also emergency-equipped with a staircase on both sides of the building, fire alarm bell, emergency light at the staircase landing and with ramps and toilet for disabled people.

The desks were all made by the foundation, the These-Abled, a foundation supported by SM Foundation to ensure sustainability of its services to people with disabilities.

“We don’t just donate; we boost the PWDs’ self-pride and self-esteem with the chairs they make,” said Juris Soliman, head of SM Foundation’s school-building program.

The new school building will be used by Grades 4 and 6 and because of the donation, elementary school students will no longer have to go on shifting classes.

Macapagal in his brief message during the program said the features of SM school buildings is uniform throughout the country with a comfort room in each classroom and left-handed desks. “Where before students had to raise their hands to go out to answer the call of nature, now they can say ‘Ma’am, may I go in?’ or just go to the comfort rooms themselves.”

He said the number of left-handed people had been growing through the years and it is fitting to those people to have desks appropriate for their needs as it is so difficult to write down their lessons in a righthanded desk.

This is the 91st school building donated by SM Prime through SM Foundation in the 60 years of its operations with a total of 292 classrooms since the school-building program began in 2002 nationwide.

Telebastagan Integrated School has 1,000 students from Grades 1 to 11. As principal Gamboa explained, “TIS just started accepting Grade 11 this year with 26 students, but beginning next year we will be ready for Grade 12.”

TIS has been topping the National Admission Tests, making it the best public school in the province, proudly said Mayor Santiago, who is heavily investing the city’s resources to education by building more public schools to ensure that “everybody gets a chance to improve themselves as well as their families.”

Marketing BusinessMirror

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Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Monday, November 5, 2018 E3

Making PR work to your advantage in the digital economy T

PR Matters

By Bong R. Osorio

HE Asean PR Network (APRN) staged a one-day summit recently on “PR and the Digital Economy” coinciding with the inauguration of the Bali, Indonesia Campus of the London School of PR. The main campus is in Jakarta. This writer represented the Philippines in the summit and also delivered a talk on “PR Strategies and Tactics in the Digital Economy.” Highlights of my talk are below: The digital economy has given and continues to give birth to new business models. It impacts in an overwhelming way on business and society. Speed is the critical issue. With speed comes change, and change is harder to deal with when it is happening faster and faster.

It used to take a Fortune 500 company an average of 20 years to reach a billion-dollar valuation.

Today’s digital start-ups—if they succeed—get there in four years.

Wealth and value creation has increased in speed fivefold.

Digital platforms include artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality and widespread cloud platforms, complex walled gardens of integrated applications and the growth of the “Internet of Things.”

In 2015 3 billion people were connected. By 2020 it is projected that 50 billion people and things will be connected. By 2030 it could be 1 trillion things and people connected.

For businesses, this means they need a digital solution to thrive and succeed. Change in culture is as vital as change in technology, data is the new currency of business, and hyper-connectivity requires the development of systems and platforms. Indeed, the future belongs to the fast; legacy and lethargy are the enemies of speed and if you are not going fast enough, someone else is, and you can be run over.

Social, mobile and e-commerce are now approaching critical mass.

Data from multiple sources become connected, the technology effect multiplies the benefit as you approach the ability to target, follow and engage with identified, but unnamed individuals.

Changes in trust are redefining the PR business. The meaning of trust has also evolved over the years. Trust in the earlier days was defined by the church and state, and was driven by guidelines. In the latter days, trust was driven by brands and advertising as people chose to believe or not the brand promise.

Trust was based on belief. Today, trust is driven by collective experience. People trust people like them.

PR communicators in the digital economy must rapidly build their ability to deliver brand experiences for customers. They need to use technology twofold: to bring inspiration and transaction ever closer together, and to use technology to create new products and transform business processes. As experience replaces belief in the consumer conscience, creating commerce through experiences will be even more important.

PR agility

TO perform smarter PR communications today, you must be agile and on the ball with a world on fast forwards. Being agile is being nimble or being graceful. In an organizational context, agility means creating value and to continuously and consistently charm the customer, while promoting and responding to changes in its environment. The challenge is not only to deliver value early, but for the most part, to make people happy.

PR messages must be expertly crafted to fly in a frenzied, always on-the-go, world. To do so requires a mastery of your brand narrative, extreme knowledge on how to create a compelling story, and how you network your story.

Influencer PR

INFLUENCER PR is what PR professionals need to do in the digital economy. It is all about building relationships. You deal with influ-

all positive. It has also brought a more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world where too often business benefit is at a cost to the wider society, a world where we see a collapse of trust, as well as an overestimate of short-term impacts over long-term implications.

If the digital economy can transform the way you work and live together in society, how do you make sure that it drives meaningful change? PR professionals must continue to be a social communicator: Put your heart in your work, be a compelling storyteller, believe in yourself and your team, apply ethics and governance principles, remember that honesty fosters trust, and never stop learning.

THE Asean PR Network aims to foster partnerships among the member-countries in the development of higher competency among PR professionals in the region.

Present during the event are (from left): Bao Nguyen Quoc, Vietnam; Bong R. Osorio, Philippines; Prita Kemal Gani, founder of LSPR and president of APRN, Indonesia; Jennifer Muir, Australia; Dato Haji Ibrahim Abdul Rahman, Malaysia; and Nutthabon Pornattacharoen, Thailand.

encers, advocates and employee advocates. Building long-lasting relationships with consumers can increase passionate brand supporters, turning down the noise of negativity. You can strengthen relationships by regularly engaging your community, which can solidify your presence within. You must create unique content to educate the uninformed, and to bring them to your community, and support your most active fans, who will create advocacy for your brand.

Influencers

INFLUENCERS are people of notable status and are the focus within their community. They create engaging content, which has relevance, reach and resonance valuable to a brand or program. Advocates are individuals and groups who support a brand or product and exercise their right to be heard, particularly in situations where opinions are appropriate. They encourage more dialogue and ultimately more advocacy for the brand. Employee advocates are internal publics who are empowered to share their support for a company’s brand, product or services on their professional social channels. They inform, educate and engage with other employees or like-minded professionals.

Influencers come in many forms.

They can be content specific, super PR platform specific, themed opinions, artistic and creative approach; with many followers on multiple platforms; maven or thought-leader focused on one platform.

Advocates

ADVOCATES are brand ambassadors, brand activists, marketing partners and reputation managers. They help with word of mouth, which influences people’s purchase decisions 74 percent of the time. In choosing advocates, consider these: They work with or are interested in working with the brand, have not worked with a competitor in the past, understand the role the brand plays in the consumer’s life and the role the consumer plays for your brand, and identify the actions the brand must take to generate more advocates, and create momentum.

Employee advocates

RESEARCH reveals that brand messages travel five times more when shared by employees as compared to when they are shared by a company’s official communication channels. Employees who work for the brand can become the best advocates for the brand as they are part of the company DNA. Good employee advocates are extremely knowledgeable regarding the topic, tend to have the most passion and are inexpensive.

They should be used as knowledgeholders. Talking about the brand is great, but its messages are far more credible when they are resonated with by others, and who better to talk about the brand than its employees? People are more influenced

by people like themselves. It has been proven that brand messages sent via employees’ social accounts are more influential, and that wellimplemented employee advocacy system generates more brand buzz on social media.

Advocates are typically not incentivized for their social posts because they are already loyal fans of

the brand and are happy to speak highly on behalf of it without payment. Some advocate programs, though incorporate incentives such as product giveaways, public visibility, or surprise and delights.

The digital economy is having a big impact on society and set to transform the future. But the influence of the digital economy is not

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 organization for PR professionals around the world.

Bong R. Osorio is a communications consultant of ABS-CBN Corp., SkyCable, Dentsu-Aegis Network and government projects, among others, after retiring as vice president and head of the Corporate Communications Division of ABS-CBN. We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.

Perspective BusinessMirror

E4 Monday, November 5, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ANDY WARHOL sits in his favorite chair in New York, February 27, 1968. Warhol’s decision to turn the spreadsheet and the publicity machine into artistic mediums has touched artists from Damien Hirst to Banksy. BARTON SILVERMAN/THE NEW YORK TIMES

ANDY WARHOL INC.: HOW HE MADE BUSINESS HIS ART

I

By Blake Gopnik | New York Times News Service

N the fall of 1968, still aching from an assassin’s attack, Andy Warhol returned to work in the bright new offices he’d rented on Union Square. After years of stardom in pop art, he pondered his future. “I was confused because I wasn’t painting and I wasn’t filming there,” he recalled.

Instead, he watched his minions taking care of business. They were shooting movies under his name, selling his prints and finding him portrait commissions— one way or another, making money with art. “I knew that work was going on, even if I didn’t have any idea what the work would come to.”

That corporate work, Warhol soon came to realize, was actually some of the most important art he ever made. Business Art, he came to call it, “the step that comes after art.” It established that everything this artist had done or would do, as head of Andy Warhol Enterprises, Inc.—as portraitist, publisher, publicist or salesman—counted as components in one boundless work: part performance art, part conceptual art and part picture of the market world he lived in and that we all still inhabit.

Now the Whitney Museum of American Art is about to open a major new Warhol survey. Titled Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again,” it stars a full cross-section of his epochal creations: The Soup Cans and Marilyns of the early 1960s, which held up a mirror to American commodity culture; the experimental films of his Factory years; the society portraits, homoerotica and almost-abstractions of his last two decades. All treasures, without a doubt, but maybe just as significant for the times we now live in as aspects of his Business Art project.

The heart of Warhol’s idea— that by playing the role of businessman, an artist could turn himself into the latest, living example of a commodification he believed none of us can avoid—was perhaps as revolutionary in its time as Marcel Duchamp presenting a humble urinal as sculpture had been in 1917. Duchamp’s gesture declared that artists alone get to define what is art; five decades later, Warhol took that as permission to treat the spreadsheet, news release and launch party as creative endeavors. This set an example for some of his most notable heirs in our current century.

“I’ve wrestled with money—in an art sense—all through my career,” Damien Hirst, the longtime British art star and entrepreneur, said. “And I saw through Andy Warhol that it was possible to do that, that it was acceptable. Even though it raises questions, it’s not something to be afraid of.”

In a recent interview, writer and curator Jack Bankowsky said, “Business Art remains as important as it ever was, because Andy Warhol is as important as he ever was.” In 2009, he organized a landmark exhibition called Pop Life for the Tate Modern museum in London that was about how Warhol’s decision to turn the marketplace and the publicity machine into artistic mediums has touched today’s major figures.

Alongside Warhol the show

presented Jeff Koons, and the hard-core images of sex with his wife that catapulted him to tabloid fame and to a corporatescaled practice that even Warhol would envy.

Hirst was also central to Pop Life, not because of famous art objects like his shark-in-a-tank, but for the blockbuster auction he staged of his own works in 2008, an artistic “performance” most important for the more than $200 million it brought in. Although, as Hirst said, it would still have counted as an artistic win regardless of sales, “I knew I was pushing something to the breaking point, whether it succeeded or failed.”

The purest example of postWarhol Business Art may be the work of the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. At the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, Murakami is currently showing collaborations with fashion designer and music producer Virgil Abloh, now in charge of the menswear line at Louis Vuitton; the art on display involves mash-ups of the duo’s brand names and trademarks.

In a pioneering 2007 essay on Murakami, Scott Rothkopf, the chief curator at the Whitney Museum, wrote about how capitalist business models are at “the very core” of everything that artist has done. Rothkopf, who did not organize the museum’s Warhol show, said that by infiltrating the market systems that shape our society, artists can help us see them more clearly. Part of Warhol’s greatness, he said, lay in his “prescient understanding” of how art would come to

play such a role.

Without Warhol’s precedent we might not have seen the Oxxo convenience store that Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco installed last year inside his dealer’s gallery in Mexico City. Hundreds of the store’s beer bottles, chocolate bars and mole jars had their labels dressed up with stickers of fractured circles, signature details from the abstractions that Orozco normally sells to collectors. The conflation of popular and high-art commodities was classically Warholian. So was Orozco’s sale of a good part of his shop’s stock to a major museum in Hong Kong.

And yet Warhol, the Business Artist set such a “strange, exciting, almost toxic example,” said Rothkopf, that many artists have found him a hard act to follow. Business Art so thoroughly rewrote the rules of art-making, even maybe its morality, that many artists found more direct inspiration in aspects of Warhol’s art that are less conceptual—his techniques, his grasp of pop culture, his pioneering work on gay and transgender subjects and culture.

But the effects of Warhol’s corporate model may run so deep that they aren’t always obvious. In the decade since his Pop Life show, said Bankowsky, Business Art has penetrated ever more deeply, as “the back story” behind of any sophisticated artistic practice. A show of paintings that look like straightforward aesthetic objects may just as easily be intended to address how art circulates and sells.

“I think it’s impossible to make

The heart of Warhol’s idea—that by playing the role of businessman, an artist could turn himself into the latest, living example of a commodification he believed none of us can avoid—was perhaps as revolutionary in its time as Marcel Duchamp presenting a humble urinal as sculpture had been in 1917.

art today without somehow taking that on board,” Hirst said. “I think business in art is more important than politics.”

Last month, right after a work by the street artist Banksy sold for a record price of $1.4 million, the painting was destroyed by a remote-control shredder the artist had built into its frame. The art world, reared on Warhol and Hirst, immediately entered into a debate about whether Banksy was critiquing the art market or was complicit with it. His act might have simply been intended to increase the work’s value.

Today, money has flooded the art world in ways Warhol could not have imagined. A handful of mega-galleries, and their oligarchartists, hold the purse-strings and power, making price tags matter more than profundity. Artists not in the big-money game have been left on the margins. In the auction houses, Warhol himself, although three decades dead, is a linchpin in a $25-billion market whose oftproclaimed bubble refuses to burst.

Days after his art goes on view at the Whitney, at least half a dozen Warhol works will go under the hammer at New York’s three major auction houses.

In that context, attaching the word “art” to Warhol’s commercial ventures, or to those of his heirs, can seem like special pleading for artists who simply seek profits. But in the late 1960s, when Warhol came up with his notion, he was actually latching onto a larger art trend on the cultural cutting edge.

Traditional museum-worthy objects—including, by Warhol’s own admission, all of pop art— seemed to have hit a dead end, and many artists turned instead to purely conceptual projects that aped businesses.

Les Levine, a friend and rival of Warhol’s in New York, bought 500 shares in a volatile stock and declared his profit or loss from the investment to be a work of art. Iain and Ingrid Baxter, of Vancouver, British Columbia, became the N.E.

Thing Co., offering corporate services of all kinds—and calling it art. In 1969, Life magazine ran an entire story on the money-games artists were playing, including a piece that asked the Whitney Museum to take out a $100,000 loan against its collection and to invest the amount instead—as art.

Many of Warhol’s own capitalist schemes were in fact so goofy that they could never have got off the ground. Selling movie stars’ used underwear? A leasing service that would rent out Warhol’s socalled Superstars at $5,000 a piece?

Even Interview magazine rarely if ever recorded a profit.

Yes, Warhol made good money off some of his projects. When he died in 1987, he was rich. But unlike any real commercial enterprise—including the making and selling of paintings—Warhol’s Business Art would have been a success if it had never brought in a penny. It was the performance that mattered, not its results, the way Marina Abramovic didn’t scrub blood from piles of cow bones because she truly wanted them cleaner.

To many eyes today, Warhol must look like more of a sellout than ever. His iconic imagery can now be seen on moneymaking products including baby buggies and $14 “limited-edition” socks.

But those don’t necessarily cancel out the artistry in Warhol’s Business Art. They are more like posthumous reperformances of it, or maybe they are this art’s latest “exhibition”—the way Warhol’s Marilyns and Brillo boxes are being put on view at the Whitney so we can come to grips with them once again.

If the branded goods make us anxious about the buying and selling of art’s imagery, they have done their job. It’s a job they couldn’t do without bearing both Warhol’s name and a price tag.

Blake Gopnik is writing a biography of Andy Warhol for the HarperCollins imprint Ecco.