BusinessMirror November 13, 2020

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Friday, November 13, 2020 Vol. 16 No. 36

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

POVERTY AMID PANDEMIC’

TYPHOON Ulysses brings back painful memories of Ondoy, which flooded huge parts of Metro Manila in 2009. From Wednesday evening well into Thursday noon, Ulysses brought heavy rainfall, swelling rivers and flooding low-lying areas, just days after strong typhoons struck the country in quick succession. In photo (clockwise from top left): the swollen Batasan-San Mateo Bridge; residents wait for rescue on the rooftops of their houses in Doña Pepang Subdivision in San Mateo, Rizal; residents salvage what they can from their flooded homes; vehicles float away in floodwaters; and a rescue team clears a street of a fallen tree in San Andres Bukid, Manila. NONIE REYES/ROY DOMINGO

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

OVERTY incidence in the Philippines this year could have worsened if the Duterte administration did not approve the rice trade liberalization (RTL) law as stable rice prices mitigated the impact of income contraction caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is one of the preliminary results of an ongoing study by Philippine Competition Commission Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan and Dr. Majah-Leah V. Ravago of the Ateneo de Manila University, titled “Growth, Poverty, and Food Policy in the Philippines: Lesson for the Covid-19 Era and Beyond.”

The study seeks to “revisit the growth-poverty conundrum in the Philippines using the more recent national household level data from 2000 to 2018,” Ravago said.

Ravago explained that they used the Engel food shares “as a proxy for household welfare and taking account of differential welfare

effects of food price changes across segments of the population.”

The researchers used the latest 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) data.

The economic theory Engel’s law by Ernst Engel states that incomes allocated for food decrease as incomes increase.

The theory also states that lower-income families spend more of their money on food compared to middle- or higherincome households.

Thus, lower percentage shares of expenditures for food may indicate better welfare for families.

See “RTL,” A2

15 nations to sign China-led free-trade zone F IFTEEN Asia-Pacific nations including China aim to clinch the world’s largest free-trade agreement this weekend, the culmination of Beijing’s decade-long quest for greater economic integration with a region that encompasses nearly a third of the global gross domestic product.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which includes Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, aims to reduce tariffs, strengthen supply chains with common rules of origin, and codify new e-commerce rules that may disadvantage some US companies and other multinationals outside the zone.

See “As tariffs come down, can farmers,

labor compete?” on A4.

Following the withdrawal of India from RCEP negotiations last year, the re-

maining 15 nations sought to announce the agreement by the end of this week’s Asean Summit, which Vietnam is hosting virtually. Malaysia’s Trade Minister Azmin Ali told reporters the deal would be signed on Sunday.

“After eight years of negotiating with blood, sweat and tears, we have finally come to the moment where we will seal the RCEP agreement,” Azmin said in a televised press conference on Wednesday after attending the final ministeriallevel meeting.

The impact may extend beyond the region. The deal’s advance illustrates how US President Donald Trump’s 2017 decision to withdraw from a different regional trade pact—then called the Trans-Pacific Partnership—has diminished America’s ability to counterbal-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.2370

ance China’s economic clout with its neighbors. That challenge may soon shift to President-elect Joe Biden if, as expected, he’s officially certified the winner of the November 3 election.

The question of whether RCEP changes the regional dynamic in favor of China depends on the US response, said William Reinsch, a trade official in the Clinton administration and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“If the US continues to ignore or bully the countries there, the influence pendulum will swing toward China,” Reinsch said. “If Biden has a credible plan to restore the US presence and influence in the region, then the pendulum could swing back our way.”

Continued on A2

AZMIN: “After eight years of negotiating with blood, sweat and tears, we have finally come to the moment where we will seal the RCEP agreement.”

MORE STABLE WTO COURT SETUP MAY HELP BOOST PHL’S CASE VS THAILAND

By Elijah Felice Rosales

T

HE Philippines may get its chance to retaliate against Thailand in their cigarette dispute, as the election of a new United States president is expected to stabilize the court system at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Former trade officials told the BusinessMirror the Philippines stands to benefit from the reversal of Trump actions, including the deadlock at the WTO and trade conflict with China. They said it will provide Manila the opportunity to pursue its interests in global trade if the protectionist policies enforced by Donald J. Trump are revoked.

For one, the Philippines can soon secure the WTO’s approval to suspend concessions on $594 million of Thai imports for Thailand’s noncompliance with the ruling on their cigarette dispute.

Lawyer Anthony A. Abad argued the US is seen to support the multilateral trading system in full again under the leadership of Democrat Joseph R. Biden. He said Democrats tend to favor free trade and enterprise, as opposed to Republicans who promote protectionism.

“In shifting to a Biden administration, we can expect the operations of the USTR [Office of the US Trade Representative] and its policy work to normalize, to return to WTO procedures,” Abad said over the phone.

The Appellate Body, the supreme court of international trade, is operating with just one sitting judge of the seven available seats. The chamber can only review cases with a quorum of three members, and the US under Trump had blocked the appointment of any new judge.

The lack of quorum at the Appellate Body has been preventing the Philippines from sanctioning Thailand for its failure to Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4582 n UK 64.0346 n HK 6.2209 n CHINA 7.2910 n SINGAPORE 35.7841 n AUSTRALIA 35.1358 n EU 57.0017 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.8618

Source: BSP (November 11, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, November 13, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

In policy tweak, ADB says to help DMCs cut coal use

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

HE Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it will be revising its energy policy to help its developing member countries (DMCs) reduce their dependence on coal.

ADB’s Energy Sector Group Chief Yongping Zhai said part of the reason for the revision of ADB’s energy policy is the recent findings of the Independent Evaluation Department (IED) of the bank’s energy investments.

The IED cited a need for ADB to clarify its formal institutional position regarding the financing and use of coal energy resources, even if it has refrained from investing in coal-fired power plants since 2013.

“The low-carbon energy transition will be a big challenge in Asia because most countries have depended on fossil fuels for a long time—and coal in particular,” Zhai said.

“Coal-fired power stations often have a lifespan of more than 30 years, while the average age of the Asian coal fleet is about 12 years. This means that phasing out coal will be a complex and enduring process,” he added.

Remember 2009?–ICSC

EXECUTIVE Director Red Constantino of the international policy group Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) agreed that “phasing out coal will be a complex and enduring process,” but added quickly, this may have been avoided.

Constantino said if only ADB had listened to the counsel of civil society organizations to veer away from coal when the 2009 energy policy of ADB was being crafted, the current dilemma might have been avoided.

He added that another problem is cropping up with fossil fuels. On Thursday, Reuters reported that ADB is one of the multilateral institutions that did not make the pledge to phase out fossil fuel investments.

“They might be making the same mistake today the way they speak so fondly of fossil gas as a bridge, the way they embraced the

delusion of ‘clean coal’ in 2009 when they approved their current energy policy,” Constantino said.

“The reality is fossil gas is the only bridge in the world that has no end, until economies sink, that is, from the combined weight of stranding fossil assets and worsening climate-change impacts,” he added.

Zhai said the new energy policy will help members develop sustainable and resilient energy systems that will foster economic growth and provide secure and affordable modern energy services.

He said the seven operational priorities through innovative crosssectoral approaches, including solar pumps for irrigation, green jobs for women, renewable energy for clinics and schools, electric vehicles for transport, energy efficient water supply systems, and smart buildings in cities, among others.

Zhai said the revised energy policy will be presented to the ADB Board for approval in the last quarter of 2021. He added that a series of stakeholder consultations will be conducted as part of the process.

The consultations will include development partners, international organizations, energy policy and technology experts, civil society organizations, and the public.

He noted that the existing energy policy, crafted in 2009, was instrumental in guiding $42.5 billion in energy

ZHAI: “The low-carbon energy transition will be a big challenge in Asia because most countries have depended on fossil fuels for a long time—and coal in particular.” ADB.ORG sector support across all DMCs from 2009 to 2019.

Zhai said the ADB is now seeking answers to questions such as technologies and innovations in the next five years and how they can become game changers for climate goals and identifying cross-sectoral issues such as the energy-water-transport nexus.

He added that ADB seeks to identify the needs and priorities of developing countries in Asia and the Pacific that require more support and assistance from ADB and the long-term impact of Covid-19 on the energy sector.

No time to waste

HOWEVER, as far as ICSC is concerned, Constantino said the ADB has to “confront over a decade of mistakes” with regard to the use of coal in several energy projects it sup-

ported through the years.

Constantino also said that more than fighting over innovations and technologies, the ADB and its DMCs cannot afford to waste time and energy when it comes to finding ways to decarbonize.

“It’s not a fight over which technologies should prevail. The debate is about time horizons, and how early its developing country members can establish firm decarbonization pathways that benefit the working families of the region,” Constantino said.

“Developing countries in Asia cannot afford to waste more resources in terms of money, political will, and, most importantly, time that it does not have much of,” he added.

In 2018, Zhai said coal generated almost 60 percent of electricity in Asia and it plays an outsized role in the bigger countries, generating 66.5 percent of all energy produced in the People’s Republic of China, 73.5 percent in India, 56.4 percent in Indonesia, 44.6 percent in Malaysia, and 52.1 percent in the Philippines.

The ADB said with the Paris Agreement, countries have committed to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. Based on the International Energy Agency, if all countries in Asia and the Pacific pursue a low-carbon transition more aggressively, the share of coal power generation will fall to 25 percent by 2030, dropping to 10 percent by 2040.

15 NATIONS TO SIGN CHINA-LED FREE-TRADE ZONE Continued from A1

Even though RCEP isn’t as farreaching as the TPP, its implementation could make it harder for US businesses to compete with a Chinese-backed partnership that encompasses 2.2 billion people with a combined GDP of about $26 trillion.

Biden and TPP

STILL, many countries participating in the trade deal are also wary of becoming too economically dependent on China. Japan is among countries that have looked to reassess supply chains in China, and Beijing’s move to effectively ban key Australian exports after its government called for an investigation

into the origin of the coronavirus underscored the risk of relying too much on the world’s second-biggest economy.

While it remains politically tricky for Biden to join the successor to the TPP, now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership, some analysts still see that as the best vehicle for the US to deepen economic ties with the region.

“The choice for Biden is clear,” said Mary Lovely, a Syracuse University economics professor. “Return the US to the Trans-Pacific Partnership to ensure access for US companies.”

Several sticking points remained among RCEP nations even days before the signing. Vietnam’s Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dzung said dur-

ing a briefing on Monday that the signing will depend on whether “internal procedures” of the participating nations are completed.

“There are still issues on RCEP,” said Deborah Elms, founder and executive director of the Singapore-based Asian Trade Centre, whose firm consults with businesses trading across Asia and who is in frequent contact with officials across Asean, said last week. “The sticking points remain the same: an inability of some member pairs to finish the last details of the tariff schedules. These are negotiated bilaterally, especially for sensitive products.”

India exit

SOUTHEAST Asia, which was forced to tackle the virus as it spread from China

early this year, has seen an uneven recovery. The 10 countries vary greatly in their starting economic position, number and severity of successive outbreaks, ability and willingness to offer fiscal and monetary stimulus, lockdown timing and stringency, and concentration of hard-hit industries.

Thailand’s GDP is among those set to be worse off in 2020, contracting by about 7.2 percent this year, while Vietnam is set to be a rare economy in the world to eke out growth.

India surprised participants late last year when it abandoned the Chinabacked trade agreement. At the time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was guided by the impact it would have on the lives and livelihoods of all Indi-

ans, especially vulnerable sections of society. Despite its withdrawal, officials have said India could rejoin talks if it chooses to do so at a later date.

India’s exit from the deal ended up removing one of the biggest impediments to the pact. In June, ministers of the RCEP countries reaffirmed their determination to sign the agreement as global trade, investment and supply chains face unprecedented challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“All big negotiations and even smaller ones come down to a crazy rush at the absolute last minute,” Elms said.

“Officials always hold out on their best and final offers until there is literally no time left for any other compromises.”

Bloomberg

More stable WTO court setup may help boost PHL’s case vs Thailand Continued from A1

comply with the ruling on their cigarette dispute.

In February, Manila filed a petition before the WTO to suspend concessions and obligations to Bangkok covering $594 million worth of imports yearly. It seeks to sanction its Southeast Asian neighbor for resisting to abide by the decision on their cigarette dispute.

However, Thailand has been delaying procedures by exploiting the crisis at the Appellate Body.

With a pending appeal, it argues the Philippines needs to wait for the chamber to decide on the matter. It warns the Philippines will bypass the dispute process—and, therefore, the multilateral trading system—if it chooses to retaliate without WTO approval.

“We can expect the US to start supporting the appointment of new Appellate Body members. As such, the WTO can soon begin the review of disputes and appeals, such as that of ours and Thailand, as soon as Biden takes over the White House,” Abad explained.

In 2008 the Philippines initiated dispute proceedings at the WTO to settle what it deemed to be discriminatory rates assigned to its cigarette exports by Thailand.

Abad served as one of the

country’s litigators for that case.

In 2011 the WTO issued a decision in favor of the Philippines, which Thailand appealed and lost the following year.

In spite of losing both the proceedings and appeal, Thailand made no changes to its fiscal and customs measures applied on Philippine cigarette products. At first, Manila deferred the option to exercise its retaliation rights. Instead, it asked the WTO to investigate Bangkok for its failure to observe the provisions of the 2011 ruling.

Last year the WTO’s compliance panels concluded Thailand was indeed violating the decision.

As a final recourse, the Philippine government filed a petition to suspend concessions on Thai imports in exercise of its retaliation rights.

Environment for FTAs

A RETURN to the old normal in the multilateral trading system would also grant the Philippines the environment to negotiate free-trade agreements (FTA) with its economic partners.

“We should be aggressive in forging bilateral and multilateral FTAs once the international trade flow stabilizes with Biden as US president,” Abad said. “This is a time to reflect and take stock of what we have and take off from there.”

The Philippines has been negotiating trade deals on various fronts, such as a bilateral FTA with South Korea and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with Asia-Pacific trading partners.

The RCEP, made up of Southeast Asian nations and Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, is scheduled to be signed on Sunday. On the other hand, the proposed FTA with Seoul is slated to be concluded this November, but negotiators from both ends have yet to say if this will push through.

Former Tariff Commissioner George N. Manzano also said the Philippines stands to gain from a reversal of trade actions taken by the Trump administration.

He noted that the Philippines failed to pull American investors who relocated their operations from China after Trump slapped hundreds of billions of dollars in additional taxes on Chinese goods.

Last year, for one, investments from the US declined by nearly 9 percent to P11.72 billion, from P12.85 billion in 2018, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

For Manzano, the country missed out on the opportunity to reel in multinationals moving their supply chains to Southeast Asia; as such, it is in its best interest that

the trade conflict ends and global trade is normalized.

“Ceasing the trade war will diminish country risks in Southeast Asia. Improved US-China trade would mean improved exports for the Philippines, as the country is part of the Chinese supply chain, especially for electronic products,” Manzano said.

AmCham’s view

JOHN D. FORBES, senior advisor for the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, also described how a US return to the multilateral trading system benefits the Philippines.

Manila should witness an upswing in orders of electronic parts from Beijing if Biden decides to repeal Trump’s tariff aggression on Chinese goods, Forbes said.

Since Trump assumed office in 2017, Washington has slapped additional duties, from 10 percent to 30 percent, on $550 billion worth of Chinese imports, mostly on agricultural and industrial products.

“If Chinese exports to the US containing Philippine-made components increase, then there will be more jobs in the Philippines,” Forbes pointed out.

Based on industry data, Philippine exports of electronic parts improved more than 4 percent

to $43.32 billion last year, from $41.63 billion in 2018. The US and China ranked second and third, respectively, as the largest buyers of electronic components made here.

Merchandise trade between Manila and Washington reached $21.4 billion last year, according to data from the USTR. Shipments to the US totaled $12.8 billion, while imports amounted $8.6 billion. As such, the Philippines maintained a goods surplus of at least $4 billion.

Top exports to the US include electrical machinery, $4.6 billion; machinery, $3.4 billion; optical and medical instruments, $561 million; knitted garments, $480 million; and leather goods, $469 million.

Moreover, agricultural shipments to the US totaled $924 million last year, of which over two-thirds were tropical oils, processed fruits and vegetables, and juices.

Last week Americans headed to their polling places to either retain Trump in office for a second term or vote Biden to return to a Democratic leadership.

In an election to decide who is going to lead the US in its Covid-19 recovery, Biden collected 290 electoral college votes to boot Trump out of the White House. However, the Trump team is challenging the results of the polls in the courts on allegations of fraud.

RTL… Continued from A1

Below 20 percent RAVAGO explained that they used a food share-based poverty incidence as an indicator of well-being instead of incomebased poverty assessment, which ignores differences in family size and household characteristics as well as scale economies in consumption.

“As a takeaway from this study, we show that economic growth in recent year would have been strongly propoor, if not for the misguided policy of food self-sufficiency,” Ravago said during a panel discussion hosted by the Philippine Economic Society on Wednesday.

“Without the reform of rice policy [RTL] pre-Covid-19, the impact of the pandemic and economic crisis on poverty could have been even higher,” Ravago added.

Based on the authors’ initial calculations, the country’s national food sharebased poverty incidence in 2018 was at 17 percent compared to the 16 percent indicated by an income-based assessment.

Based on their simulation, foodshared based poverty incidence this year may have reached 20 percent.

However, Ravago pointed out that this has not factored in the mitigating effect of stable rice prices this year as it only accounted the income contraction caused by the pandemic.

“[The poverty incidence this year] should be lower than 20 percent [due to the RTL law],” Ravago told the Business­ Mirror in an interview.

Food share in total expenditure BASED on the authors’ simulations, without the RTL law, the food share in the expenditure of the bottom 30 percent of Filipino families would have increased to an average of 1.21 percent this year to 0.582 from 0.575 in 2018.

Ravago said the food share increased to 0.592 percent for families in the first decile or those considered the lowest 10 percent income group, while food share of households in the second decile grew to 0.584 percent.

But with the RTL law in place, paving the way for stable rice prices, the food share in the expenditure of the bottom 30 percent of Filipino families declined by 8.34 percent to 0.527.

Ravago pointed out that the absolute figures are bound to change since they are still preliminary; but what matters is the “direction and magnitude of change and not the absolute values of shares.”

“We know that due to Covid-19 a lot of people lost work, especially poor families. Based on our simulation the decline in rice prices had a huge favorable impact for the poor families,” she said.

Ravago noted that the poor Filipino families benefited the most from lower rice prices as indicated by bigger percent change compared to those in the middleand higher-income classes.

For example, families in the top 10 percent income group only experience a 6.31-percent decline in the share of food in their overall expenditure, based on the authors’ simulations.

Flexible supplies FORMER Agriculture Undersecretary and Monetary Board member V. Bruce J. Tolentino said he agrees with the study’s findings as the RTL law “enabled rice supplies to be more flexible” during the ongoing health crisis.

“Thus, without RTL [law], the lockdowns would have had greater negative impact on food supplies and prices because of our dependence on [National Food Authority],” Tolentino told the Business­Mirror.

Latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed that the average monthly retail prices of well-milled rice from March to September ranged from P41.19 per kg to P42.02 per kg compared to P42.02 per kg to P43.77 per kg quotations recorded in the same period of last year.

Likewise, rice prices at the height of the Covid-19 lockdowns in March, April and May were lower by 1.44 percent to as much as 7.35 percent, PSA data showed.

Neda’s take THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) believes the passage of the RTL law is instrumental in reducing poverty next year.

Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua earlier said the law could help bring down poverty incidence rate to between 15.5 percent and 17.5 percent in 2021.

Chua added that Neda expects the RTL to reduce poverty incidence by 1.2 percentage points, since a large majority of households are net buyers of rice.

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, November 13, 2020 A3

Ulysses exits PHL after turning Luzon into massive swampland

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga Lenie Lectura @llectura

& Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

T

YPHOON Ulysses exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Thursday afternoon, leaving a big part of Luzon flooded after dumping a huge volume of rainwater since Wednesday morning.

Its rains, evoking memories of the 2009 Typhoon Ondoy, caused severe flooding in lowlying areas, prompting immediate evacuation in Metro Manila and other areas in Luzon.

The volume of water still stunned some communities, leaving scores trapped on rooftops and requiring rescue.

The copious volume of rainfall caused dams and rivers to reach spilling levels, compounding the floods.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said strong winds and torrential rainfall are expected to continue until Friday morning as Ulysses makes its final exit out of Philippine territory.

Pagasa weather specialist Ariel Rojas, at an 11 a.m. news conference, reported that Ulysses, international code name Vamco, continues to maintain strength as it hovers over Iba, Zambales, on its way out of the Luzon land mass Thursday morning.

The typhoon battered Luzon with destructive winds and torrential rains as predicted by weather forecasters, severely damaging public and private infrastructure.

Massive brownouts were also experienced for hours, and telecommunication services, including Internet and Wi-fi services, were out of commission for hours.

“As of this morning, the eye of the storm is already out of the Luzon landmass but because of the wide coverage of the typhoon, it will still bring strong winds that can damage houses made of light materials,” Rojas said.

In the next 24 hours, heavy rainfall is still expected in Luzon and some parts of the Visayas, as it moves westward at 25 a speed of km/hour, he said. “Ulysses is expected to regain strength above water in the West Philippine Sea,” he said, hence, maintaining its typhoon category.

Ulysses brought destructive winds and torrential rainfall over Western Pangasinan, which remain under Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal (TCWS) No. 3.

Affected were Bayambang, Bautista, Alcala, Santo Tomas, Malasiqui, Santa Barbara, Mangaldan, Dagupan City, Basista, San Carlos City, Calasiao, Binmaley, Urbiztondo, Mangatarem, Aguilar, Bugallon, Lingayen, Labrador, Infanta, Mabini, Sual, Dasol, Burgos, Alaminos City, Agno, Bani, Bolinao, Anda; and the provinces of Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac, and Pampanga.

Pag-asa warned against geohazards associated with heavy rainfall such as floods, landslide in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes, and storm surges of up to 3 meters high, threatening coastal areas still affected

by TCW Signals.

Rainfall volume

IN the last 24 hours, from 8 a.m. of November 11 to 8 a.m. on November 12, Pagasa recorded the average rainfall in various monitoring stations, at times exceeding normal average rainfall previously recorded in those areas.

Tanay, Rizal received 356 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours; followed by Daet, Camarines with 271 mm of rainfall; Infanta, Quezon 255.1 mm, and Casiguran, Aurora, 238. These areas are in the Eastern side of Luzon, the areas where the eye of the storm was spotted Wednesday night, Rojas said.

Other areas with huge rainfall volumes are Ambulong, Tanan City, Batangas with 208.4 mm, Alabat, Quezon, 199.8; Virac, Catanduanes 176.7; Legazpi, Albay, 173.8 mm, Science Garden, in Quezon City, 153 mm; Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Pasay City 137.

Rojas noted that in September 2009, Ondoy dumped a total of 455 mm of rainfall as measured in the Science Garden rainfall monitoring station.

“It’s possible that heavy rain was experienced in the Sierra Madre where we have no monitoring stations,” said Rojas, explaining the massive flooding in low-lying areas in Metro Manila, particularly Marikina City.

Dams, rivers

RICHARD ORENDAIN, Pagasa weather specialist, meanwhile, said water in six Dams reached critical levels, prompting the opening of gates to release water in excess of the dam’s capacity.

As of 6 a.m. water elevation at Angat Dam was 211.3 m, exceeding the normal high water level of 210.

Areas like Norzagaray, Angat, San Rafael, Bustos, Baliwag, Pulilan, Plaridel and Hagonoy,

all in Bulacan and situated along the Angat River, were expected to experience flooding.

Other dams that reached critical levels are Ipo Dam, where four gates were opened upon reaching the 101.2 m spill level, threatening the same areas. Ipo Dam and Angat are situated within the same river basin.

Meanwhile, water elevation at La Mesa Dam, as of 8 a.m. reached 80.15 m, exceeding its capacity. Affected areas were Quezon City and the Camanava area or Northern Metro Manila area.

Ambuklao’s water level reached 751.08 m, exceeding its normal high water level of 752, prompting dam managers to open all eight gates to release water.

Water level at Binga and Magat Dams also reached critical levels, prompting the opening of the gates early Thursday morning.

Orendain said Pagasa issued General Flood Advisories for the Cagayan River Basin, Bicol River Basin, Pampanga River Basin, Agno River Basin; and Pasig, Marikina and Tullahan Rivers, all traversing Metro Manila.

He said flood warnings were issued for the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley Region, Region 3, Region 4A and 4B, Region 5 and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

According to Orendain, upstream of the Marikina River Basins received a total of 234 mm of rainfall over the past 24 hours. “Almost all monitoring stations [for Marikina River] registered above-critical levels,” he said.

This was also experienced in the San Juan River, and Tullahan River.

Power plants

THIRTEEN power plants in Luzon were placed on preventive shutdown, shaving off over 4,000 megawatts (MW) of power generating capacity in the grid.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said Thursday that 4,231.8MW from 13 power generating facilities in the Luzon grid were affected by Typhoon Ulysses.

At 1 p.m., the agency said only 306.9MW of power generating capacity was back online.

In areas covered by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), 1,940,333 customers experienced power interruptions as of 12 noon of Thursday. Of these, 760,477 customers are in Metro Manila.

Early in the day, affected Meralco customers reached 3.8 million. The number went down to 2.5 million at 10 a.m. Meralco registered almost 7 million customers as of end-September.

Meralco could not say when it would be able to fully restore power in affected areas. “It’s very difficult. There has been improvement in terms of numbers that are coming in. Hopefully, by tomorrow, a big chunk could have their power back,” said Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga.

The National Electrification Administration (NEA) told the DOE that Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Pampanga still have no access to power.

NGCP report

MEANWHILE, system operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) reported that 31 transmission lines were downed by the severe weather disturbance.

The NGCP is assessing the typhoon’s impact on the resumption of electricity services.

It said restoration works have commenced, but are significantly slowed down by strong winds, heavy rains and flooding.

Electricity trading was suspended by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) after Luzon was placed on Market Intervention due to un-implementable Real Time Dispatch (RTD) brought about by Typhoon Ulysses.

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi assured the public that the entire energy family has been working hard to immediately restore energy services in Central and Southern Luzon.

He said the DOE-led Task Force on Energy Resiliency convened to harmonize the energy industry’s disaster preparedness and response protocols before Typhoon Ulysses made landfall. Local government units that may be affected by the typhoon have likewise been informed.

“TFER is working round-the-clock to coordinate the efforts of all our industry players, who remain on their toes and at the ready. We commend the exemplary response of our power generation, transmission, and distribution sectors, as well as our oil players,” said Cusi.

MMDA to LGUs: Help Marikina

MEANWHILE, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) appealed to several local government units in the National Capital Region (NCR) to aid cities like Marikina which were severely affected by Ulysses.

In a virtual meeting conducted by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Thursday morning, MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim said the agency requested non-affected LGUs to extend assistance to other LGUs.

News

BusinessMirror

A4 Friday, November 13, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

As tariffs come down with RCEP, can PHL farmers, labor compete?

A

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

RE Philippine farmers and workers prepared to face foreign competition in the market at a time consumer and job demand are weakened by the virus?

Trade Secretar y R amon M. Lopez told the BusinessMirror the Philippines will soon bring down tariffs on imported goods once the Asia-Pacific trade deal that will be ratified on Sunday takes effect. The reduction

comes in two schedules: duties on some products will be eliminated all at once, while those on some others will be slashed in portions.

“Some one time, some with tariff reduction schedule,” Lopez

replied, when sought how tariffs will be cut under the package proposed by negotiators.

State leaders of Southeast Asian nations, along with Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, will sign on Sunday the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The RCEP is one of the world’s largest trade deals covering at least 25 chapters on multilateral relations among its negotiating parties.

It will set the rules and regulations on trade in goods, trade in services, investments, intellectual property, movement of people, e-commerce, dispute settlement, rules of origin, among others, with the objective of opening up the

economies of RCEP countries.

The 15 RCEP parties account for roughly 29 percent of world GDP, but it used to be 32 percent back when India was part of the negotiations.

India last year withdrew from the RCEP talks on hesitation to reduce its tariff rates as required by the trade deal.

According to a report from Nikkei Asia, the RCEP to be signed on Sunday will erase the tariffs on 61 percent of food products from Southeast Asian nations, Australia and New Zealand; 56 percent from China; and 49 percent from South Korea.

Lopez said his office will release a primer on the details of the RCEP to explain how it will

affect the supply chains of local manufacturers. As of this writing, however, the Department of Trade and Industry has yet to issue any such document.

Moreover, the government has yet to orient the labor sector of the changes in services trade to be brought about by the RCEP, triggering anxiety among workers that its ratification will result in an influx of foreign laborers.

Based on the July Labor Force Survey, the country’s unemployment rate swelled to 10 percent, from 5.4 percent during the same period last year. This translated to around 4.6 million jobless Filipinos at a time the economy is in recession.

RITM: We assess, but don’t pitch products

THE Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) has clarified that the Institute does not implement a “pass or fail” system in evaluating kits following news reports that South Korea’s SD Biosensor failed in the final validation.

“Recent news stories are making the rounds claiming that RITM has publicly announced the evaluation results of STANDARD Q COVID-19 Antigen Test by SD Biosensor. No such announcement happened; as per our standard operating procedure, we forward detailed results of our evaluation activities to the Food and Drug Administration [FDA]—the duly recognized regulating body for food, drugs, cosmetics, and devices in the country—for their appropriate action,” RITM Director Celia Carlos explained.

Carlos likewise clarified that the Institute’s efforts are directed towards providing scientific expertise and technical evaluation to appropriate decision-makers, and not to prescribe specific commodities.

“The kit evaluation results from RITM is only one source of information. Decision-makers take into account all available data and technical input from other health authorities such as the World Health Organization [WHO],” she said.

While no public announcement did take place, RITM provides a summary of evaluation results for Covid-19 PCR, extraction, antigen, and antibody test kits through its official web site after formal reports have been submitted to relevant agencies.

This summary is meant to serve the continuous efforts of the Institute to maintain transparency amidst the pandemic.

RITM stressed that its evaluation activities do not serve to endorse companies, manufacturers, distributors, or brands for commercial purposes.

In Guidance Document on the Technical Requirements for SARSCoV-2 Rapid Antigen Tests published

by Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC), the antigen test kit from South Korea only yielded a 71-percent sensitivity, which is lower than the 80-percent sensitivity recommended by the WHO. The HTAC is an independent adv isor y body w it h t he overall role of providing guidance to the Department of Health and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. on the coverage of health interventions and technologies to be funded by the government.

“STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test Kit showed 71.43 percent sensitivity and 100 percent specificity among asymptomatic patients as compared to the reference PCR test and 100 percent specificity among asymptomatic healthy volunteers,” the RITM report read. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Rescuers wade in waist-deep floodwaters in Barangay Ampid in San Mateo, Rizal, after Typhoon Ulysses flooded Metro Manila and nearby provinces Wednesday night. NONOY LACZA

High alcohol, tobacco use lands PHL on Aspac ‘unhealthiest’ list

By Cai U. Ordinario

H

@caiordinario

IGH alcohol consumption and tobacco use made the Philippines among the unhealthiest countries in the Asia and the Pacific region, according to a study released by Singapore-based Value Champion.

The study showed that the country ranked 11th out of the 12 Asia and the Pacific countries in terms of health. Thailand ranked 12th and, together with the Philippines, led in terms of the “riskiest lifestyles” in the region.

Filipinos consumed 10.5 liters of alcohol per person per year, the highest in the region. Tobacco use in the Philippines was at 24.3 percent, also higher than other countries.

“This unfortunately heavy alcohol use leads to an equivalent of 4 healthy years of life lost, in addition to above average rates of cancer and liver cirrhosis deaths attributed to alcohol,” the report stated.

“Fi lipinos a lso use more tobacco [24.3 percent], have higher cholesterol levels and have one of the lowest physical activity rates [roughly 40 percent of people don’t get enough physical activity compared to the average 32 percent],” it added.

Based on the study, the Philippines alcohol risk score was at 6.5; tobacco risk score, 9; and biological risk factors score, 7.63.

The country with the highest alcohol risk score was South Korea with a risk score of 11; for tobacco, Indonesia with a risk score of 12; and biological factors, Malaysia at 9.5.

The data also showed that in terms of total alcohol consumption per capita, Filipinos consumed 6.9 liters. Those who had heavy episodic drinking reached 12.1 percent; alcohol dependence 2.9 percent; and alcohol use disorders, 5.3 percent.

“To measure a country’s alcohol use, we looked at 4 metrics: recorded and unrecorded alcohol consumption per capita [a more

accurate measure of alcohol use in a country], 12-month prevalence of alcohol dependence, 12-month prevalence of alcohol use disorders and the percentage of people who indulged in heavy drinking in the past 30 days,” Value Champion said.

In terms of tobacco use, the Philippines posted the 4th highest tobacco use in the region. Indonesia had the highest at 37.9 percent while New Zealand had the lowest at 14.8 percent.

Measuring tobacco use, Value Champion said, they looked at the countries with the largest smoking population and the agestandardized estimated tobacco use. Tobacco use also included smoking and non-smoking usage.

Biological factors Meanwhile, biological factors included obesity; insufficient physical activity; raised blood pressure; and increased nonhigh-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol above health levels.

Data showed that the obesity rate in the Philippines was at 6

percent; insufficient physical activity rate was at 39.7 percent; and raised blood pressures, 19 percent.

In terms of non-HDL cholesterol, the data showed this at 17.2 percent among males and 21.3 percent among females.

Obesity The country with the highest obesity rate was New Zealand at 32 percent; insufficient physical activity rate was also New Zealand at 42.4 percent; raised blood pressure, Japan at 26.7 percent; and non-HDL cholesterol, Malaysia at 24.3 percent for males and 23.9 percent for females.

“While each of these metrics were measured as separate from each other, it is important to note that they are all intertwined. Inactivity is believed to be a direct link to not just NCDs, but also plays a role in obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Similarly, obesity is linked to high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” the study stated.

Surge of 11/11 e-commerce sales ups risk of online fraud

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

W

@Tyronepiad

ITH the recent Singles’ Day sales surge for the e-commerce sector, a California-based data analytics company is warning the public about the increase of online fraudsters.

Fair, Isaac and Company (FICO) said that scammers are taking advantage of the boom in online shopping, tricking the public into giving their personal information and sending fraudulent e-mail offers, among others.

“Criminal groups are also targeting digital wallets and other digital payments channels which have grown in popularity over the pandemic,” said Subhashish Bose, FICO’s lead for fraud, security and compliance in Asia Pacific.

“Research firms are predicting Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] will result in a boost of 20 percent or more in e-commerce sales, delivering fraudsters the perfect opportunity to lay more traps and scams for consumers,” he added.

With these concerns, FICO told the banks and e-commerce sites to carefully monitor their process of authenticating transactions. It explained that an appropriate and nonrepetitive authentication scheme helps in building trust in a payment system.

At the same time, the data analytics firm is urging the banks and e-commerce firms to improve fraud detection rates and reduce false positives through machine learning models.

“Lastly, consumer education is paramount,” FICO said.

“Banks should look to educate their customers on how to identify scams and to learn behaviors that will protect them from fraud.”

On the part of the customers, FICO said that customers should inform their banks if they believe that their already paid transactions appear to be suspicious. The public is also urged to verify first the e-mails sent to them promising bargains, especially if it contains fake web site links.

The firm said that customers should opt in the step-upauthentication of their digital merchants to have enhanced security when transacting online.

It is also helpful to check the card transactions frequently, FICO said.

FICO said the rise of online shopping in the Asia Pacific region was ignited when e-commerce giant Alibaba introduced Singles’ Day (November 11) in November 2009.

The anti-Valentine’s Day promotion has become the biggest online shopping day in the world, the firm said, noting that $38.4 billion worth of sales were recorded last year within 24 hours.

Citing research provider eMarketer, Asia Pacific is expected to record 25-percent growth in e-commerce sales this year, which translates to $2.271 trillion. This represents 64.3 percent of global e-commerce spending.

“With social distancing rules in place in most countries in Asia Pacific, retailers have been sharpening their online offerings in anticipation of the holiday shopping season,” FICO said.

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

The World

UK becomes 5th country to exceed 50,000 deaths

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ONDON—The United Kingdom on Wednesday became the fifth country in the world to record more than 50,000 coronavirus-related deaths, a level that one of the nation’s leading doctors says “should never have been reached.”

Figures from the British government showed that 595 more people in the country died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus, the highest daily number since May. The figure took the UK’s total death toll from the pandemic to 50,365.

The UK, which has the highest virus-related death toll in Europe, joins the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico in reporting more than 50,000, according to a tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University.

The UK’s overall death toll is widely considered to be far higher than that as the total reported only includes those who have tested positive for the virus and doesn’t include those who died of Covid-related symptoms after 28 days.

Like other nations in Europe, the UK is experiencing a resurgence of the virus and has imposed new restrictions to curb infections over the past few weeks. Though England was put under lockdown last week, the government has been criticized for having imposed it too late, a charge it also faced when it imposed a UK-wide lockdown in March.

Following the news about the death toll exceeding 50,000, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK is better equipped to handle outbreaks than it was during the first wave in the spring, when the country reported more than 40,000 deaths.

In addition to the prospect of a vaccine or vaccines against the coronavirus, Johnson pointed to a ramp-up in testing. Last week, the government started its first citywide testing program in the northwest England city of Liverpool. It is planning more mass testing, including of university students in early December ahead of their return home for the holidays.

“We have two boxing gloves to pummel the disease in the weeks and months that follow,” said Johnson, who was hospitalized with Covid-19 in April. “But I have got to stress that we are not out of the woods yet. It does

require everybody to follow the guidance.”

In Wednesday’s daily update, the British government also said that another 22,950 people tested positive for the virus. While the number of new cases is much higher than 24-hour statistics recorded in the summer, daily confirmed cases appear to be stabilizing, or at least, growing far more slowly.

Because of time lags, the number of people being hospitalized and dying are expected to continue rising for weeks, even after the number of confirmed infections do start going down.

“Sadly the upward trend is likely to continue, and it will be several weeks before any impact of the current measures—and the sacrifices we are all making—is seen and is reflected in the data,” said Dr. Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England.

Under the terms of the current lockdown in England, nonessential places such as pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, golf courses, gyms, swimming pools, entertainment venues and stores selling items like books, clothing and sneakers, must remain closed until at least December 2.

Unlike the UK’s spring lockdown, schools and universities in England are remaining open this time, as are construction sites and factories.

In a visit to a supermarket in southeast London, Johnson said that “hopefully” the four-week lockdown in England will be eased enough for people to have a Christmas that is “as normal as possible.”

Whatever happens in the nearterm, there are calls for a public inquiry to assess a range of issues that many think have led to more deaths in the UK than should otherwise have occurred, from problems with the testing program to shortages of personal protective equipment at the outset of the pandemic, as well as the high death rates in care homes and within ethnic minority groups.

“Today’s figure is a terrible indictment of poor preparation, poor organization by the government, insufficient infection control measures, coupled with late and often confusing messaging for the public,” said Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, council chair of the British Medical Association, a union for doctors.

“This is a point that should never have been reached.” AP

Chinese shoppers spend over $100 billion in shopping fest

C

hinese consumers spent over a hundred billion dollars during this year’s Singles’ Day shopping festival, signaling a rebound in consumption as China recovers from the coronavirus pandemic and a battering of the economy.

From November 1 to November 11, shoppers spent 498.2 billion yuan ($75.1 billion) on Taobao and Tmall, the e-commerce platforms operated by Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company.

The final sales figure exceeded last year’s $38.4 billion over 24 hours, after Alibaba extended its sales period this year for the first time as it sought to help boost sales for merchants affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

On rival platform JD.com, consumers racked up 271.5 billion yuan ($40.9 billion) in sales over the same period.

The annual Singles’ Day shopping festival, the world’s

largest of its kind, offers shoppers generous discounts on a variety of products, from fresh produce to luxury items.

Merchants big and small, from small online stores to international brands like Apple, Nike and L’Oreal, participate in the festival by slashing prices on their products.

The annual shopping festival is closely watched as a barometer for consumption in China. Alibaba, which pioneered the shopping festival, held its first Singles’ Day sale in 2009. Over the past decade, the shopping bonanza has become the world’s largest, regularly dwarfing Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the US. The Singles’ Day festival is named as such because the main shopping day falls on November 11, which when written numerically as 11.11 resembles “bare branches”, a Chinese expression for the single and unattached. AP

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 13, 2020

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Texas tops 1 million infections as Covid-19 surge engulfs US

T

exas on Wednesday became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said all restaurants, bars and gyms statewide will have to close at 10 p.m. starting Friday, a major retreat in a corner of the US that had seemingly brought the virus largely under control months ago.

He also barred private gatherings of more than 10 people.

Texas, the second-most populous state, has recorded 1.02 million coronavirus cases and over 19,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early March, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California, the most

populous state, has logged more than 995,000 cases.

T he US has recorded over 240,000 deaths and more than 10.3 million confirmed infections, with new cases soaring to all-time highs of well over 120,000 per day over the past week. Health experts have blamed the increase in part on the onset of cold weather and growing frustration with maskwearing and other precautions.

Cases per day are on the rise in 49 states, and deaths per day are climbing in 39. A month ago, the US was seeing about 730 Covid-19

deaths per day on average; that has now surpassed 970.

Among the many health officials sounding the alarm was Dr. Julie Watson of Integris Health in Oklahoma.

“We are in trouble,” she said. “If nothing is done soon to slow the rise in cases, our hospitals will be more overwhelmed than they already are and we won’t be able to be there for all of those who need it.”

Oklahoma’s health department said Wednesday that 1,248 people were hospitalized for confirmed or probable coronavirus, shattering the previous one-day record of 1,055.

Texas reported 10,865 new cases on Tuesday, breaking a record set in mid-July. One of the hardest-hit places is the border city of El Paso; its county has nearly 28,000 active cases and has suffered more than 680 Covid-19 deaths.

The American Medical Association renewed its plea for maskwearing, physical distancing and

frequent hand washing.

“With the holidays quickly approaching, each of us must do everything possible to reduce the spread of Covid-19,” AMA President Susan Bailey said. “Failing to do our part will prolong the suffering and disruption to our lives and inevitably lead to more deaths of our friends, neighbors and loved ones.”

Meanwhile, many traditional Veterans Day celebrations gave way to somber virtual gatherings on Wednesday. Many veterans’ homes have barred visitors to protect their residents from the virus.

In New York City, a quiet parade of military vehicles, with no spectators, rolled through Manhattan to maintain the 101-year tradition of veterans marching on Fifth Avenue.

More than 4,200 veterans have died from Covid-19 at hospitals and homes run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nearly 85,000 have been infected, according to the department. AP

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers to resign en masse

H

ONG KONG—Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers announced on Wednesday they would resign en masse after four of them were ousted from the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s Legislature in a move one legislator said could sound the “death knell” for democracy there.

The resignation of the 15 remaining prodemocracy lawmakers will ratchet up tensions over the future of Hong Kong, a former British colony that has long been a regional financial hub and bastion of Western-style civil liberties but over which China’s government has increasingly tightened its control. A new national security law imposed by Beijing this year has alarmed the international community.

The mass departure will also leave Hong Kong’s Legislature with only pro-Beijing lawmakers, who already made up a majority but can now pass bills favored by Beijing without much opposition.

The lawmakers told a news conference they would submit their letters of resignation on Thursday. The announcement came hours after the Hong Kong government said it was disqualifying the four legislators—Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung.

The ousters came after China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed a resolution this week saying that any lawmaker who supports Hong Kong’s independence, refuses to acknowledge China’s sovereignty over the city, threatens national security, or asks external forces to interfere in the city’s affairs should be disqualified.

“Today we will resign from our positions because our par tners, our colleagues have

been disqualified by the central government’s ruthless move,” Wu Chi-wai, the leader of the pro-democracy camp, told reporters.

During the news conference, the lawmakers held hands and chanted, “Hong Kong add oil!

Together we stand!” The phrase “add oil” is a direct translation of a Chinese expression of encouragement.

“This is an actual act by Beijing...to sound the death knell of Hong Kong’s democracy fight because they would think that, from now on, anyone they found to be politically incorrect or unpatriotic or are simply not likable to look at, they could just oust you using any means,” lawmaker Claudia Mo told reporters.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam defended their removal, saying legislators must act properly and that the city needs a body comprised of patriots.

“We cannot allow members of the Legislative Council who have been judged in accordance with the law to be unable to fulfill the requirements and prerequisites for serving on the Legislative Council to continue to operate in the Legislative Council,” Lam said.

Still, Lam said that the Legislature would not become a rubber-stamp body, and that diverse opinion is welcome.

“In terms of legality and constitutionality, obviously, from our point of view, this is clearly in breach of the Basic Law and our rights to participate in public affairs, and a failure to observe due process,” Kwok, one of the ousted lawmakers, told reporters, referring to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

In recent months, Beijing has increasingly clamped down on Hong Kong, which was handed back from British colonial rule in 1997, despite promising at the time to leave the territory’s more open legal and economic systems intact for 50 years until 2047.

Beijing imposed a national security law in June that some have labeled draconian after anti-government protests rocked the city for months last year, and it has used it to crackdown on opposition voices.

In response, the US leveled sanctions on several officials, including Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader, several Western countries have suspended their extradition treaties with the territory, and Australia and Britain offered Hong Kongers easier paths to settle in those countries.

In Washington, President Donald Trump’s national securit y adviser, Rober t O’Brien, denounced China’s ouster of the lawmakers.

“Beijing’s recent actions disqualifying prodemocracy legislators from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council leave no doubt that the Chinese Communist Party has flagrantly violated its international commitments under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and its promises to the people of Hong Kong, including those under the Basic Law,” O’Brien said “ ‘One Country, Two Systems’ is now merely a fig leaf covering for the CCP’s expanding one party dictatorship in Hong Kong.”

Australia said the disqualification of the four lawmakers “seriously undermined” Hong Kong’s democratic processes and institutions.

“Australia calls on authorities to allow the

Legislative Council to fulfill its role as the primary forum for popular political expression in Hong Kong, and to remain a key pillar of the rule of law and the “One Country, Two Systems” framework,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement.

Britain also said the decision raised further concerns. “This campaign to harass, stifle and disqualify democratic opposition tarnishes China’s international reputation and undermines Hong Kong’s long-term stability,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement.

Beijing has rejected the criticism and lashed out at what it calls gross foreign interference in Chinese politics.

Earlier in the year, the four lawmakers were barred from seeking reelection in a vote originally scheduled for September—but remained in their posts. They were disqualified over their calls for foreign governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and Beijing.

The government eventually postponed the planned September election by a year, citing the coronavirus, but the pro-democracy camp criticized the move as an attempt to block them from taking a majority of seats in the Legislature—which was a possibility in the coming election.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that the disqualification was necessary to maintain rule of law and constitutional order in Hong Kong. “ We f i rm ly s u p p o r t t h e [ Ho n g Ko n g ] government in performing its duties in accordance with the Standing Committee’s decision,”Wang said at a regular news conference on Wednesday. AP

Islamic extremist rebels blamed for Mozambique mass beheadings

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APUTO, Mozambique—Reports of more than 50 beheadings by Mozambique’s Islamic extremist rebels have raised international alarm over the new level of violence in the country’s north.

The killings mark a bloody turn in the three-year insurgency in Cabo Delgado province, prompting condemnations from the United Nations secretary-general and the presidents of France and Zimbabwe.

In the past two weeks, the extremists have seized nine towns in the Muidumbe district of Cabo Delgado, extending their range from the port of Mocimboa da Praia, which they have held since August, according to reports in local media.

Capturing the town of Muatide, the insurgents established a center on a soccer pitch where they beheaded more than 50 people, according to Pinnacle News, which has correspondents throughout the province.

The rebels abducted 15 boys participating in traditional initiation rites and their five counselors.

All 20 were beheaded along with another nine people, Pinnacle reported on Nov. 2. The extremists went on to cut off the heads of 22 more people, Pinnacle reported on Nov. 7.

Mozambique’s government has not confirmed the killings, but Luiz Fernando Lisboa, the Roman Catholic bishop of Pemba, the provincial capital, said this week he had confirmed with a number of sources

the report of the killings of the boys at the initiation ceremony. He said it was impossible to say how many had been beheaded in total, according to an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

UN Secretar y-General Antonio Guterres was shocked by the “reported beheading and kidnapping of women and children,” his spokesman said this week. He urged the country’s authorities “to conduct an investigation into these incidents, and to hold those responsible to account.”

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the violence in a tweet Wednesday. “More than 50 people have been beheaded, women kidnapped, villages looted and then set on fire. Barbarians hijack a religion of peace to sow terror: Islamist terrorism is an international threat that calls for an international response.”

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa tweeted that he is “deeply shocked” by the reports of the beheadings. “These acts of barbarity must be stamped out wherever they are found,” he said, adding that Zimbabwe “is ready to assist in any way.”

The extremists’ three-year insurgency in Cabo Delgado has claimed the lives of more than 2,200 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. More than 355,000 have been forced to leave their homes, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said at the end of October.

What started as a few dozen unemployed and

disaffected young men inspired by radical Muslim ideology has grown to a force estimated at 3,000, Yussuf Adam, a Mozambican academic who has studied Cabo Delgado for years and visited the province last month, told The Associated Press.

The fact that the rebels have held the Indian Ocean port city of Mocimboa da Praia for three months shows their growing strength, he said.

Fur ther south, the cit y of Pemba and the surrounding areas are inundated with families fleeing the violence. International aid agencies including the World Food Program, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders are working to provide emergency food and services to the displaced.

The increasingly assertive extremists launched an attack last month across the border on a town in Tanzania, the Tanzanian government confirmed.

The extremist violence is also threatening the multi-billion dollar investment being made by international companies in Mozambique’s massive deposits of liquefied natural gas along the Indian Ocean coastline of Cabo Delgado province.

In its military response to the insurgency, Mozambique’s army has been accused by Amnesty International of several atrocities, including the killings of more than 10 people and burying them in a mass grave. The Mozambican government has also engaged private security companies to help battle the rebels, according to reports in the local media.

Although Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi has discussed the problem posed by the extremist rebels with the 15-nation regional group, the Southern African Development Community, he has not officially requested their assistance.

Zimbabwe, South Africa and other neighboring countries will not intervene without an official request from Mozambique and agreement by the group, say experts.

Zimbabwe’s ruling party spokesman Patrick Chinamasa in October said although Zimbabwe “has the full capacity to intervene in Mozambique,” any action “must be a collective” initiative of regional countries.

Zimbabwe has sent troops into Mozambique before, sending soldiers to fight the Renamo rebellion in the 1980s and 1990s.

“Militaries in southern Africa are by and large trained for conventional warfare and the situation unfolding in Mozambique may not be amenable to conventional approaches,” said Lawrence Mhandara, an expert on regional security.

“Also, many economies in the region are not performing well and counter-terrorism operations can be expensive financially and in terms of the human cost. There could be a feeling within the region that a military-centric approach to the conflict may not be the best at this moment,” said Mhandara, who teaches in the department of political science at the University of Zimbabwe. AP

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Friday, November 13, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

‘Rescue rescue ‘muna’’

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HEN Typhoon Ulysses—which pummeled a large part of Luzon overnight with heavy rains and howling winds— caused record flooding that trapped hundreds on rooftops, the blame game quickly began. The speed of bashers was only matched by the speed with which the ever-reliable Philippine Red Cross volunteers mounted rescue operations for people in mortal peril, particularly in Marikina City and Rizal province.

Blamers targeted the weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and the Office of Civil Defense and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), described in some quarters as having been “caught flatfooted.”

But the record shows these agencies were on the ball as soon as Ulysses began threatening the country, or even before it entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR). The NDRRMC’s text alerts, meanwhile, came in, as one cell phone holder described it, “fast and furious” and in fact had been the subject both of jokes and of anxiety this week. It’s the reason many private companies, following government’s cue, sent home employees early on Wednesday. It’s the reason local government units in the paths of what were projected as possible storm surges undertook preemptive evacuation, as they did before Supertyphoon Rolly struck last week.

The NDRRMC notices were so frequent, and for some phones the alarms were so scary, that some people half-jokingly complained about them.

But still, the rains of Ulysses poured down so long and in such copious volumes, that certain parts of Metro Manila like Marikina were stuck in another “Ondoy” moment. Noting that Marikina’s city hall was itself flooded, Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro said Ulysses’s water volume had exceeded Ondoy, that unforgettable September 2009 typhoon that dumped a month’s level of rainfall in just a few hours.

Teodoro, who has a solid record as a hard- working mayor with a robust respect for science, conceded that they were overwhelmed by the impact of Ulysses, notwithstanding all the preparations they made. The mayor openly begged other Metro Manila local government units for help, as even with four dozen rescue boats it had acquired through the years, the eastern city still needed more of these.

Meanwhile, even while half of Meralco’s customers were hit by power outages, social media was alive overnight—with some quarters zeroing in on the NDRRMC and PAGASA. But were the blamers even paying attention when these agencies kept saying that Metro Manila, which Rolly spared, could this time around be hit smack by Ulysses?

Critics listed the “factors” for what was seen as a disastrous response to the disaster: one, the agencies were not as aggressive in warning people as they were before Rolly struck; two, there was “no President” leading the nation in a national exercise of collective anxiety buildup; and three, nothing can match the reach of ABS-CBN in terms of communicating to people before and during disasters.

Of the last, no one disputes the capability of the network in helping convey urgent messages to people, and vice versa, alerting authorities to those in distress during calamities. That was pointed out well before Rolly struck. But as shown earlier, the NDRRMC’s mandate—and the telcos’ obligation under the law—to provide timely alerts have been in place for nearly two years now. In Ulysses’s case, was the excess rainfall a problem of miscalculation by scientists? That’s not something that should be discussed in the crucial wee hours of Thursday. As one reporter chided critics, “Rescue rescue muna, ser.”

And speaking of rescues, no one’s surprised that the Philippine Red Cross, that organization maligned as mukhang pera for simply demanding PhilHealth pay over a billion pesos in Covid-19 testing services, was again first in those areas where people needed rescue at dawn of Thursday. Red Cross volunteers, though smarting from that mukhang pera tag, let nothing stop them from doing what they do best, and so willingly. Their hashtag is perfect: #AlwaysFirstAlwaysReadyAlwaysThere.

On a final note, we hope this rush to blame the NDRRMC, the Office of Civil Defense and PAGASA are not meant to stampede lawmakers into creating a separate Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR), which some senators recently warned have fiscal implications. Just setting it up, not even to start operating it, would entail a minimum P1.2 billion. It is well to note that recently established separate departments, i.e., for information and communications technology and human settlements, are grappling with funding woes.

Ardent advocates of a DDR cite good arguments, but the cons have equally compelling points to consider. If we must rush, it shouldn’t be to pad the bureaucracy while professing to rightsize it, but to save lives, rebuild damaged communities, and “build back better” because the next disaster might be lurking just days away.

As our recent string of typhoons showed, these disturbances do not practice “physical distancing,” and could come right next to each other.

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rothers and sisters, while the pandemic is still raging worldwide, many of us have lost our homes, and our crops, possessions, and livelihood equipment were destroyed by the recent series of typhoons. Many of us are in debt because we lost our livelihood these past months.

Because of the calamities and the Covid-19 pandemic, severe issues surrounding poverty in the country have been exposed even further. After Typhoon Rolly, many farmers in Bicol would have sown the rice they cultivated if not for the typhoon.

They still attempted to gather their soaked crops even if prices had dropped to seven pesos per kilo. Even before the typhoon season, the price of grain dropped to P11 to P12 per kilo in some parts of the country such as Surigao del Sur, Cavite, Bulacan, and Agusan del Sur. The importation of rice under the Rice Tariffication Law also doesn’t help.

While the provisions given to

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by lower levels of government must be fulfilled then. This is accompanied by another principle propagated by the Church, the principle of “participation” of the people for their development.

Most likely, the projects proposed by the NTF-ELCAC were established when there wasn’t a pandemic. It would be better if we look back at the barangays and municipalities if there is a greater need that must be addressed. However, the citizens also need to speak up to their leaders about their needs. Because of the gravity of the needs and the lack of funds, the people must speak up so they will be heard.

Brothers and sisters, in our Holy Gospel, when Jesus asked for the sick and the disabled, his question was: “What do you want me to do for you?” or “Do you want to be healed?” Our freedom from poverty begins with us by speaking up about the kind of help we need. True prosperity can only be achieved if those in need participate.

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Trump’s desperate assault on American democracy

✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Publisher

those devastated by Typhoons Quinta and Rolly continue, the question is: How will they be able to rise in the long-term after having been severely affected by the typhoons? According to the Department of Agriculture, there are loans available for farmers amounting to P25,000 that can be paid within 10 years without interest. But since there are many farmers already buried in debt to middlemen and traders that lent them money needed to cultivate crops, surely these farmers will have second thoughts in accepting the additional loans offered by the government. It is better if they would just be given

a cash grant, or enrolled in crop insurance programs.

The national budget is still being discussed in the Senate. One of the questions raised by critics is in regards to the funds that will go to projects administered by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). One senator suggested dedicating some parts of this budget for the people severely affected by Typhoon Rolly and for the medical and health needs in addressing the pandemic. In hindsight, there is also the worsening case of hunger, which, according to the Social Weather Stations, has reached about 7.6 million Filipinos in September. Gravely plenty of needs, with limited funds.

How can we ensure that the government’s limited funds will be spent on what is most needed?

Compared to national agencies, local governments have more knowledge about the needs of the people they govern. Therefore, the voice of the local governments must be listened to the most in discussing and deciding where the national budget must be spent.

Even the Catholic Church agrees with the principle of subsidiarity. It is stated through this principle that government affairs that can be taken

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resident Donald J. Trump’s refusal to concede defeat and allow an orderly transition doesn’t violate our Constitution, as his Republican allies have pointed out. But it does violate unwritten norms that have attained a quasi-constitutional status in American elections. His defiance is dangerous. Even without violating the letter of the law, Trump’s resistance has the capacity to undercut the democratic legitimacy of this election, and the election process as a whole.

From the standpoint of the Constitution (the 12th Amendment, if you’re following along at home), the transition to a new president doesn’t officially begin until the states send their slates of electors to be opened in the presence of the vice president and both houses of Congress. Once those Electoral College votes are counted, the candidate who gets a majority “shall be the president.” This election cycle, the electors are supposed to vote in their states on December 14, 2020. Congress is supposed to meet in joint session to count the votes on January 6, 2021.

In fact, the modern practice of peacefully transferring power operates quite differently. Concession is

usually triggered by a custom that appears nowhere in the Constitution, namely the decision desks of the TV networks and newspapers calling the election for the candidate who amasses an unbeatable lead. That custom has developed into a quasiconstitutional norm, one that has been repeatedly followed for many election cycles.

There is even a federal statute that arguably relies upon this norm without expressly mentioning it.

The law that governs transitions says that the transition begins when the director of the General Services Administration “ascertains” the “apparent” winner of the election and issues a letter saying so, triggering

the statute’s transition provisions.

The statute doesn’t give the director of the GSA any guidance on how to ascertain the apparent winner, perhaps because the drafters of the statute—and those who have applied it—think it’s obvious: The winner is apparent by the consensus of the networks and newspapers, and the subsequent concession of the loser.

But Trump has refused to concede.

His campaign has filed various weak and unconvincing legal suits in an attempt to change the outcome of the election. No credible legal expert believes any of them have a chance of succeeding.

The only optimistic thing one can say about these lawsuits is that they give Trump and other Republicans an off-ramp from the current course of refusing to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory. Maybe, just maybe, Trump could concede when the last of these suits is dismissed by the courts and the Supreme Court refuses to review the dismissals.

But even after these toothless lawsuits come to their inevitable end, Trump may still refuse to concede.

Frankly, it seems possible—even likely—that he’ll never concede.

That would deepen the conspiracytheory skepticism currently spreading among some Republicans, according to which Trump actually won the election.

That doubt is disastrous for the

democratic legitimacy of US elections—and hence the legitimacy of American democracy as a whole. The more people think you can’t trust the networks and newspapers who have called the election for Biden (including Fox News), the harder it will be for people to accept Biden as the actual and legitimate president when he is sworn in.

No one can really say for certain whether Trump is seeking to undermine the legitimacy of the electoral outcome simply because he is a sore loser who doesn’t want to admit defeat, or because he actually believes he might be able to get a number of state legislatures to set aside the election results in their states to appoint a slate of pro-Trump electors. Maybe even Trump doesn’t know which it is.

My own view, expressed in this column before, is that a scenario of legislative substitution of Trump electors is extraordinarily unlikely to happen, and even more unlikely to succeed. It would take hundreds of state legislators in multiple states deciding to engage in a coup d’état.

And the courts, including the Supreme Court, would have to stand by and let it happen.

But even if he’s just being a sore loser, Trump’s breaking of the unwritten concession norms is very costly. The reason we need to rely on networks and newspapers is that the US electoral system isn’t centralized.

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The economy in the 2nd Writing up a storm (written in the middle of a storm once more) quarter of Covid Tito Genova Valiente

Alvin Ang

EAGLE WATCH

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hilippine economic performance continued to be anemic this 3rd quarter of 2020. Year on year, the economy contracted by 11.5 percent as the country continues to grapple with the right policy levers to bring back confidence and economic activity.

Although this is already quite an improvement compared to the -16.5 percent contraction in the 2nd quarter, the country is still experiencing a significant slowdown. Thus, the questions that arise from this result are—how long are we going to be in this contracting stage?

What will be the sectors that can help us get out of this crisis soonest? To respond to these, we analyzed the details of the report generated by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), we find that there are both bright and dark spots that should be highlighted.

First, the bright spot is on the faster recovery of manufacturing from a deep slump of -21.25 in the second quarter, it was able to trim the slowdown to -9.7. Although still contracting, the rate of contraction has slowed down despite the imposition of the tough modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in August. This, in a way, is suggesting that activities are picking up in the higher value-added sectors and possibly more integrated to the global value chain. Related to the improvement in manufacturing is the relative improvement of trade data during the same period. The trade data is critical to approximate how strong is the recovery of our trade partners, particularly China. With Chinese 3rd quarter gross domestic product (GDP) at 4.9 percent fueled by increasing industrial production which should be pulling up the countries in its global value chains. Exports improved from -37 percent contraction to -14 percent, while imports is at a much slower -22 contraction. If factory outputs continue to improve, then we can see manufacturing trimming its contraction further in this 4th quarter ahead of a much earlier recovery next year.

The challenge, however, is that manufacturing contributes only at most about 1/5 of total output.

Services led by wholesale and retail trade is the most exposed to the lockdown impacts. With about 17 percent of GDP, the sector also exhibited an improving level of contraction from almost 14 percent in 2nd quarter to -5 in the 3rd quarter.

This implies that trading activity has improved despite the continuing lockdowns. It is possible that some of these improvements came from the migration to online selling of even the large retailers and suppliers. The July labor force survey also hints that the decrease in unemployment did not come from new jobs, but from the increase of self-employed. It maybe that retrenched workers find opportunities to become self-employed during the period—effectively increasing retailers and suppliers. Hence, about 40 percent of the economy exhibited strong potential to recover based on these figures and in spite of the imposition of the MECQ in major economic activity areas of the country.

These private sector-led activities, however, were not equally supported on the expenditure side. In particular, household consumption

remained slumped, contracting at a still high level of -9.3 percent from -15 percent in the second quarter.

Historically accounting for more than 70 percent of expenditures, it only improved marginally. Overseas Filipino workers remittances, which were erratic during the quarter, may have led family recipients to lessen expenditures and focus only on essentials. For the second straight quarter, household consumption prioritization have remained around communication, utilities and food.

All the other elements of the consumer baskets have all exhibited declining shares and declining expenditures. The ADBI survey of Asean economies released this September showed that the Philippines has the highest job loss in the region of 71 percent followed by Vietnam of only 38 percent. The same survey showed that 83 percent of the surveyed reduced their consumption/expenditures. This effectively shows why consumption barely improved. Underlying all of these conditions is the still high level of worry of catching Covid as revealed in the September SWS Survey. The survey says that 85 percent of the population remained afraid of Covid, implying a low level of confidence to consume and take part in sustained economic activities. Same results are exhibited by the Google mobility reports saying that the Philippines has the lowest change in movements from March this year.

As confidence remains low, it is imperative for the national government to pick up the slack. As our statement in March says—government should spend whatever it takes—so that economic slack will not fall in deep. This 3rd quarter, government expenditures slowed to only 5.8 percent from 22 percent in the 2nd quarter. This reflected also in the fall in construction levels further from declines of -33 percent in 2nd quarter to a worse almost -40 percent contraction in the 3rd quarter. This implies that Build, Build, Build hardly moved even after the economy has been opened.

The resources have been released so it is that we again experienced the absorptive capacity constraints.

This has to be addressed no matter what—the recovery of the economy largely depends on government handholding the sectors and providing the necessary economic activity not just liquidity. In short, government has to spend, spend and spend to perk up household consumption and support private sector initiatives to bring back confidence.

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or how long will I be writing about storms and typhoons?

I can understand the filmmaker who does films about the poor: he or she sees it everyday, hears the hunger, and soon, savors the wild aroma of despair. Instantly cinematic and with the wealthy Western world a ready market, the films about us become the legitimate/illegitimate porn display of our identities.

Poverty storm there is; is there a typhoon porn as well?

The two are close to each other— poverty is the bed of the destruction the typhoons bring. Have I seen the word “bed” linked to storms? My memory did not fail me. Indeed, Pablo Neruda in his Ode to Storm writes about it as a woman: She came all of a sudden/newly unleashed/ out of her furious planet,/her cavern in the sky;she longed for sleep/ and made her bed:sweeping jungles and highways,/sweeping ountains,/ washing ocean stones,/and then/as if they were feathers,/ravaging pine trees/to make her bed.

When the first typhoon registered Signal no. 5 battered Bicol, I was aware of its intensity. I listened to the sound of the wind. I would not sleep. Never sleep through a storm, my father would remind us. Never sleep through tragedies. Who knows if you need to run away, to escape the winds and seek refuge somewhere?

Our grandparents’ home in Ticao Island was a refuge for many. During one of those calamities, the old, grumpy parish priest sought shelter in our house. True to the singular (sometimes irrational) hospitality

The name is Bond. James Bond

Bloomberg Opinion

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he development of what looks like an effective vaccine against Covid-19 has ignited hopes that the worst of the pandemic will be over relatively soon.

If successful, it will also vindicate a strategy that has proven controversial: Slowing down the spread of Covid-19 through draconian restric-

tions on people’s activity.

The basic idea behind “lockdowns” was to flatten the curve of contagion so that it wouldn’t overwhelm hospitals. This strategy had one major flaw: It didn’t bring about a definitive end to the outbreak. The pandemic abated in in the summer, thanks to the restrictions governments introduced in the spring.

After politicians relaxed the rules, however, the virus regathered its

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

The Scottish actor was born into a working class family in Edinburgh, Scotland on August 25, 1930. His father was a lorry driver who could not provide him sufficient education. He enlisted in the British Royal Navy at a young age. After his military service in 1949, he found a job as a coffin-polisher and bricklayer.

At this stage of his life, who would ever imagine that he would end up in the glamorous life of acting? He became enamored in weight lifting and bodybuilding. With his built and handsome looks, he became a male model, which left the door ajar into acting. A local production of “South Pacific” hired muscular guys to play the role of American sailors and Sean got hired. He enjoyed his beat role and the other minor parts he played later on. He was convinced that acting was more rewarding than laying bricks and working on coffins. It did

reopening of your economy.

The proponents of “herd immunity”— and opponents of lockdowns— often start from the premise that there’s no point trying to slow down the virus, since eventually we’ll all have to catch it. Shutting schools, shops and restaurants only delays the inevitable. It’s an idea that made Sweden famous in the first wave of the outbreak (even though the country denied it was ever a goal).

The announcement from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE this week — if confirmed by further data — knocks down this line of thinking. It confirms that at least one vaccine will probably be available widely from early to mid-2021. If so, it makes sense for countries to continue to constrain the virus for another few months, in order to minimize deaths until there’s widespread immunization. Assuming governments can

distribute the first doses to the most vulnerable, and they’re effective, only a few months of waiting could save many lives.

This doesn’t mean governments have to opt for full lockdowns.

Some countries such as Germany contained the first wave with fewer restrictions than states such as Italy and Spain. Effective tracing systems and strong hospital networks were important.

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o introduction of a name, real or fictional, has captured the world’s imagination than James Bond’s. Since the name was first introduced in the movie “Dr. No” in 1962, James Bond has become one of the most recognizable names in the world. Unfortunately, the actor who first portrayed the role of James Bond and starred in the first 7 Bond films between 1962 and 1983, Sean Connery, died on October 31.

strength. The same pattern appears to be emerging in the US, as New York City and other places battle with a rising second wave.

Buying time makes sense if you’re trying to reduce the number of people who catch the most severe forms of Covid-19 at the same time, allowing doctors to take better care of them.

But it’s less effective if you’ve no good endgame to look forward to, other than the constant closing and

the recognition given to him by the People Magazine as the “Sexiest Man of the Century in 1999”. He quit doing movies officially in 2006. He is one of the most admired actors of all time and respected by his peers and co-workers. Definitely, he is a movie icon of the 20th Century.

Sean Connery, outside of the movies, was voted in the Sunday Herald as “The Greatest Living Scot” in 1994. He was named as “Scotland’s Greatest Living National Treasure by the Euromillions in its 2011 Survey. Sean was active in politics in his native Scotland. He was a member of the Scottish National Party and an ardent supporter of Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. He financially supported the movement for independence until the UK passed a law that prohibited funding political activities outside of the UK. After moving to the Bahamas where he lived until his death, he vowed not to return to his homeland to live until Scotland gained its independence from the UK. For more than a couple of times, he was earlier recommended for knighthood but powerful British politicians opposed it due to his political views. However, in 2000, he was knighted by the Queen in recognition of his indelible contributions to the movie industry and the great honor he brought to the UK for his outstanding film characterizations.

Sir Sean Connery, as the title of one of your movies indicated, you only live twice but you will live in our hearts forever.

TELLTALES

He did not wake up from his sleep in his mansion in Nassau, Bahamas, the location of one of his Bond films, “Thunderball.” It was a peaceful death at age 90 for one who had led action-packed roles and violent characters in many of the movies he did.

He left his wife of 45 years, Micheline Roquebrune, and sons Jason and Stephane. His millions of fans around the world were deeply devastated by his demise as they regarded him as invincible and immortal. His son, Jason, said that his father’s passing was “a sad day for all who knew and loved my dad and a sad loss for all people around the world who enjoyed the wonderful gift he had as an actor.” For those who grew up watching his movies, Sean Connery was larger than life and the true champion of the forces of light over darkness who battled the international terrorists, crime syndicates and rogue regimes.

Last night, the typhoon became a person again. People were praying that it leave soon. In many complaints, the typhoon was a temperamental female; to some a divinity.

Then, a thread online started to gather intensity. It was about what took place last September, during the Peñafrancia festival, when the procession was called off. This meant the icon was not carried in a procession from her shrine by the river to the cathedral. Some devotees believe it was this omission that is now the cause of a series of typhoons causing havoc in the region.

A debate has ensued. One party believes the Mary who figures in the ritual is not a vindictive divinity.

Mothers can never be cruel. Another side pontificates about the primacy of material correlations.

But we continue to think, to write up a storm. In the middle of the strongest, whistling wind, we can always ask many other questions. Why are there storms in a region that believes in the good God? We can think about many things related to the tempest? What is its color? Neruda offers a dream: Last night/she/came,/livid,/night-blue,/ wine-red:the tempest with her/hair of water/, eyes of cold fire-/last night she wanted/to sleep on earth.

Despair can make us think of destruction in colors. Despair can make us write on and on and on.

In the middle of the roar of rains, we can think of silence, as Neruda says it again: All of a sudden/there was a silence:/a single leaf/gliding on air/like a flying violin-/then,/ before/it touched the earth,/you took it/you blotted out/the noise of grass/or stars…

not take long before Sean was introduced in the movie “Let’s Make Up.” After working in some unpopular films, he became a marquee name when he starred as James Bond in the first Bond film, “Dr. No.” It was a top grosser that year and the name Bond became a byword among the movie fans. He reprised his role as James Bond in 6 more Bond movies, which broke records at the cinema.

His first major film was in a gangster movie, “No Road Back’’ in 1957.

Bond films are spy thrillers where he played the fictional Spy Agent 007. His movie career spanned 7 decades where he played other roles, which tested his acting prowess. He is remembered for his memorable and successful films such as “The Hunt for the Red October,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “The Highlander,” “A Bridge Too Far,” “Finding Forrester” and many others. He ceased doing Bond flicks after some movie reviews did not look kindly on his Bond roles although the moviegoers were not in agreement.

The critics deplored the excessive action, violence and sex, which were the common ingredients of Bond films.

He moved to other genres where he won acting awards and other accolades—an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for “The Untouchables” in 1988, three Golden Globe Awards, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards twice for Best Actor, the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 2006, the JFK Center for the Performing Arts in 1999 and as a Commander of France’s Order of Arts and Literature. But none beats

Manny F. Dooc

Lockdowns make perfect sense now

By Ferdinando Giugliano

of our culture, we had to move to a kin’s home beside us so the priest could have the big room.

The regularity of typhoons makes us experts in the area of annihilation. We do not ravage the surroundings explicitly (for that would be another topic on ecology) but we know how Nature can banish structures and memories. We know how unforgiving Nature is when it unleashes its forces against us. We see Nature as a person, and like our culture seemingly operating without logic.

On November 11, 2020, Wednesday, the lessons on typhoons came to us again. I was holed in at a regular hotel in the city. It was a day after Typhoon Rolly swept through our city and the region. For weeks already before that super-typhoon, another typhoon has reduced the supply of electricity in the area. I needed to write. There were deadlines to beat. Like traffic, a typhoon has ceased to be a viable excuse for not doing anything or fulfilling an obligation.

In that Wednesday, I went out to have my lunch. A folding umbrella was what I thought to be good enough

in the rain. Walking to the mall, a strong gust of wind started rushing through the dilapidated structures of illegal vendors near the mall. I was in disbelief. Knowing my storm, I knew how to conduct my life before a Low Pressure Area; living and dying also could go on in a 100-kph-typhoon.

That wind that stopped me at my tracks and pushed me to run to the side of a building was different.

In a matter of minutes, the typhoon was at our doorstep, and yes, pardon that dumb idiom.

Rushing to the mall and rushing through my lunch, I ran from store to store to buy a stock of bread, at least. The stores were pulling down their shutters. In minutes also, the crowd in the mall could not go out anymore as the wind started to howl.

I was barely able to make it to my hotel after I called a taxi to bring me there.

That night, the wind whistled.

The online postings were unanimous about the sound of this recent typhoon. It did not moan—we leave this modifier to some poets; it whistled. The whistling was not lonesome—again we leave this sensing to the bad poet who may not be in the eye of the storm.

Correction: not in the eye of the storm but in the storm. See! Idioms do not apply to the real adventures, for to be in the eye of the storm, as an expression, means to be in the middle of a conflict or debacle. And yet, as some (we need to tread lightly on being scientists) meteorologists would assure us, the eye of the storm is the calmest part of the monster.

We have to be aware of the “wall of the storm.” Last night, that wall was around my old city. It flooded the towns around this city, covered communities, and made poor people poorer.

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Phoenix posts net income of ₧296M in Q3

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

ennis Uy-led Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. posted P296 million in net income in the third quarter from a net loss of P5 million in the previous quarter, buoyed by improving domestic and international sales.

“The growth is attributed to the company’s relentless focus on cost discipline along with a more stable

oil price environment,” the company said on Thursday.

It reported a 42-percent year-on-

year increase in total volume from July to September as overseas demand almost tripled and domestic business recovered from the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Year-to-date overall volume was also 23 percent higher compared to 2019.

Overseas volume was led by its subsidiary, PNX Petroleum Singapore, which added liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in its portfolio with last year.

Overseas LPG volume also grew by 8 percent from the previous quarter through Phoenix Gas Vietnam.

Meanwhile, domestic volume increased by 14 percent quarteron-quarter as government eased community quarantine restrictions.

Retail led the recovery with a 36 per-

cent sequential volume growth in the third quarter.

Even with public transportation yet to be fully restored to normal, Phoenix Petroleum said retail sales have already reached 80 percent of pre-Covid volume. Close to 100 percent of Phoenix’s retail network is under regular operations, with total station count at 665 as of endSeptember. LPG now comprises 17 percent of Phoenix’s domestic volume, up from 10 percent in the same period last year.

The company said it remains committed to its priority to preserve resources. To date, close to P1 billion in cost savings and at least P1.5 billion in capital expenditure rationalization has been realized.

Taiheiyo Cement expansion under way T he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Taiheiyo Cement Group is expanding its operations in the Philippines in keeping with its commitment to support the growth of the country’s housing, commercial, and infrastructure development sectors.

Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said Taiheiyo Cement made the commitment in the Letter of Intent (LOI) that the DTI and Taiheiyo, represented by its President and Representative Director, Shuji Fukuda, signed during President Duterte's official working visit in Tokyo in October 2017 The LOI, which pledged to increase Taiheiyo’s production capacity, included expanding shipping bases out of Cebu to areas such as Luzon, Iloilo, and Davao. The company also committed to enhance logistics and meet environmental protection programs through the installation of a 2-kilometer marine belt conveyor, expansion of the berth and jetty in San Fernando, Cebu, and the adoption of energy-efficient production processes.

“The new Taiheiyo Cement expansion project is a strategic investment not only in the context of the President’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program, but also from the perspective of meeting the demand of our country’s economic recovery. This is estimated by both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to reach 6.2 percent to 6.8 percent in 2021,” Lopez said in a statement.

Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc. integrated cement manufacturing facility in San Fernando, Cebu. Contributed Photo

Taiheiyo executives in Japan reported that all these commitments are under way. Taiheiyo Cement Corp. also instructed its Philippine subsidiary, Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc. (TCPI), to formally announce its decision to construct a new production line in Cebu on November 10.

The project, valued at P15 billion, includes a state-of-the-art facility employing novel and advanced technologies from developers in Europe and other leading global technology providers. The DTI said the expansion promises to increase TCPI’s cement capacity by 50 percent in the immediate term and by 150 percent in the medium term. The enhanced capacity is projected to increase Taiheiyo’s current Philippine market share from 7 percent to 10 percent.

“The project promises to adhere to green economy requirements via the introduction of energy-efficient

operations, which will bring about a reduction by 10 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from energy use in clinker production from the old line’s energy efficiency rates.”

Lopez said Taiheiyo’s expansion plans will support DTI’s cornerstone strategy, REBUILD PH or “REvitalizing BUsinesses, Investments, Livelihoods, and Domestic Demand.” This strategy is designed to jumpstart and reinvigorate the economy by enhancing both production capacity and revitalizing consumption.

The trade chief added that, “This partnership offers numerous opportunities that will complement economic growth opportunities in the Philippines as we aim to build back better.”

“That is why DTI will continue to support and pursue investments geared towards ensuring domestic sufficiency in industrial base requirements for cement, steel, petrochemi-

cals, and energy,” Sec. Lopez said.

Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said the DTI-Board of Investments (BOI) will review the project’s new technologies for incentive eligibility. He also said that BOI will be ready to provide investment facilitation services through its standing cooperation with related agencies responsible for the issuance of relevant permits and licenses.

In 2019, the Philippines imported $543.9 million worth of cement with purchases increasing by an average of 213.8 percent from 2015. This makes the country the third-largest cement importer in the world after the United States and China.

DTI Special Trade Representative Dita Angara-Mathay reported that, "This year alone, 3 new investment projects from Japan were announced amid the pandemic: two expansions and one new project in the fields of manufacturing for export and industrial operations.”

“These projects will meet the infrastructure demands of a growing domestic market, and is a fitting testimony of how Philippine-Japan economic ties are continuing to grow from strength to strength,” she said.

The Taiheiyo Cement Group headquarters in Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan runs diverse businesses from cement, mineral resources, environmental, construction materials to real estate, engineering, data processing, finance, transportation, warehousing, chemicals, and sports.

“Our mission to become an indispensable partner in the journey of our customers, employees and communities is more relevant than ever today as we navigate our way through the uncertainties together.

With the support and confidence of our stakeholders, including creditors and suppliers, we will be able to return working capital and liquidity to optimal levels and accelerate growth,” said Phoenix President Henry Albert R. Fadullon. Based on the latest data from the Department of Energy on fuels market share as of the first half, Phoenix Petroleum is now the third largest in the country.

Meanwhile, through its partnership with Mesa Energy, the oil firm introduced a genset technology that

uses propane-rich LPG to provide cleaner and reliable power supply to remote, off-grid locations. It is currently being piloted in the Balesin Island Club in Polillo, Quezon.

Scaling the business for the new normal, FamilyMart also started operating beyond its brick-and-mortar locations with mobile stores. The first 3 stores were opened in Cebu in November. These are in addition to the existing 48 stores.

“From fuel and convenience store retailing to business-to-business, we continue to strengthen our offer, deliver operational excellence in our execution, and deepen our focus on cash flows as we bring the company back to its path to profitability by year-end,” Fadullon said.

SBMA to conduct online bidding for big projects

By Henry Empeño Correspondent

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UBIC BAY FREEPORT—Due to the continuing risks posed by face-to-face interaction during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said it will now use online platforms to conduct public bidding for big-ticket projects.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said this will apply to all the agency’s Bids and Awards Committees (BACs) in charge of the procurement of various goods and services worth P50 million and above.

“All future bidding processes will be conducted via online platforms and will be broadcast live through social media,” Eisma announced on Friday, adding that going online will ensure transparency, efficiency, and safety.

“This way, the bidding process becomes faster, more transparent and credible, and at the same time it keeps participants secure from the Covid-19 virus.”

For this purpose, the SBMA created the Facebook page “SBMA Procurement Service,” which will be managed by the various BACs, Eisma said.

“Putting the actual proceedings available for public viewing via social media would be one huge stride in SBMA’s efforts toward greater transparency. This will further strengthen the system,” she added.

Michael Quintos, SBMA Deputy Administrator for Legal Affairs, also said the move to bid projects online is in accordance with Administrative Order (AO) 34 signed by President Duterte on October 23.

Quintos pointed out that while AO 34 required all government offices to bid big infrastructure projects online, the SBMA went one step further by using socialmedia platforms to go live during biddings to enable public viewing.

In pre-pandemic times, and for projects worth P50 million and above, the SBMA Bids and Awards Committee already opened bids in the presence of observers from the Commission on Audit and disinterested nongovernment organizations to ensure transparency, Quinto also said.

The SBMA also posted pre-bid announcements on the SBMA web site and other online platforms on top of the required publication in newspapers of the invitation to bid even before AO 34.

Eisma said the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic practically pushed the SBM A to step up the adoption of new systems to address new requirements and changing protocols.

Among the online transactions introduced by the SBMA over the years are electronic billing and payment, online filing for regulatory requirements, and online job application and medical consultation.

PAL closes Singaporean firm to invest in AC Energy ticketing SM malls in Luzon extend A offices aid to victims of Ulysses

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lag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it is closing its ticket offices in Metro Manila starting Thursday, except the one in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The airline made the announcement after Typhoon Ulysses (international name Vamco) struck Metro Manila and some provinces in the Bicol region on Wednesday and Thursday.

Terminal 1 ticket office is open until 2 p.m. on Thursday while Terminal 3 ticket office was open until 4 p.m. on Thursday.

PAL said its ticket office in Clark and Naga are closed but the one in Legazpi City is open and serving passengers. The airline said passengers who wish to make changes to their booking may submit a request anytime through the MyPAL Request Hub at https://mypal.vip/url/RequestHub. On Wednesday, PAL said it may take some time to restore normal flight schedules even after the weather improves as the airline would need to reposition aircraft and undertake other operational adjustments based on the revised slots and clearances at the affected airports.

PAL requested passengers not proceed to the airport “if your flight is cancelled, but instead avail of the rebooking options.”

The airline said passengers have the option to rebook the flight of their choice (on the same cabin class) within 30 days and that it would waive rebooking service fees. Recto L. Mercene

C Energy Philippines (ACEN) said it has received a P20-billion investment offer from Arran Investment Pte Ltd. Arran Investment is a private limited company incorporated in Singapore that is affiliated with GIC Special Investments Private Limited, the private equity and infrastructure investment arm of GIC Private Limited.

The P20-billion investment, which will translate to a 17.5-percent stake in ACEN, will be implemented through a combination of subscription to 4 billion primary shares in ACEN via a private placement and purchase of secondary shares from AC Energy Inc., the parent firm of ACEN. Both transactions will be priced at P2.97 per share on a post-stock rights offering (SRO) basis and is subject to agreed price adjustments.

“The Board of Directors of ACEN approved today the proposal of GIC’s affiliate to acquire a 17.5-percent ownership stake in ACEN, and

which 17.5-percent ownership stake is on the basis that ACEN’s SRO and follow-on-offering, and the infusion by ACEN’s parent company of its international business into ACEN, have been completed,” it said Thursday.

ACEN, GIC’s affiliate, and AC Energy are expected to sign in November an Investment Agreement and Shareholders’ Agreement.

AlphaPrimus Advisors acted as financial advisor to ACEN and AC Energy for this transaction.

AC Energy currently operates in 4 markets with consolidated attributable capacity of 2,600 MW including assets in operation and under construction. This includes 1,000 MW under ACEN. AC Energy has 65 percent of its attributable capacity onshore, 21 percent in Vietnam, and 7 percent each in Indonesia and India.

Onshore, AC Energy has 1,700 MW of attributable capacity from thermal and renewable sources. Of which, 1,000 MW are under ACEN.

Offshore, it continues to expand its regional portfolio with 900 MW of attributable renewable capacity. The first phase of the Mui Ne wind farm in Vietnam started operations this quarter, adding 40 MW of operating capacity to the portfolio.

AC Energy recently broke ground on the landmark 210 MW Quang Binh wind farm that is expected to be the largest wind farm in Vietnam.

The company also started construction of the 140 MW Sitara solar project in Rajasthan, and the 70 MW Paryapt solar project in Gujarat, marking its first investments in India.

AC Energy said 62 percent of its attributable capacity comes from operational assets while the balance of 38 percent reflects those from assets under construction. Renewables make up 52 percent of its portfolio while the remainder is largely composed of legacy thermal assets, which the company plans to completely divest by 2030. Lenie Lectura

Gojek stems losses after merchants go digital

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ojek, Indonesia’s most valuable startup, has staunched losses this year from key services such as ride-hailing and delivery, putting the company on track for eventual profitability.

Co-Chief Executive Officers Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi said in an interview Gojek’s annualized gross transaction value across four Southeast Asian countries climbed 10 percent from a year earlier to more than $12 billion as of the end of September. And the number of registered food merchants using its platform to reach consumers in Southeast Asia hit 900,000 this month, almost

doubling from 500,000 a year ago.

“It’s so easy to charge more for short-term profitability, but if customers, drivers and merchants think we are a better platform, then we will be able to monetize,” Soelistyo said. “For us, sustainability is the mantra.”

Gojek, which got started as a tiny call center in Jakarta connecting consumers and motorcycle drivers, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Thursday. The car-hailing giant in 2020 streamlined its core businesses and expanded deeper into groceries. Since Covid-19, its groceries business

has grown six-fold in terms of annualized total transaction value, underling surging demand during the pandemic, according to the company.

Gojek is emerging from a hard year as lockdowns and wariness about spending triggered an Indonesian downturn and forced the company to cut jobs. It now has about 38 million monthly active users across Southeast Asia, while gross transaction value in its payments-related businesses have exceeded pre-pandemic levels as more consumers and merchants turn to digital services. Bloomberg News

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M malls in Luzon provide relief support and temporary shelter to over 400 stranded individuals and other nearby residents affected by Typhoon Ulysses.

Immediate assistance such as free WiFi, charging stations, and a help desk are made accessible to all.

The malls also waived overnight parking charges on November 11.

“We have prepared ahead of Typhoon Ulysses to ensure the safety of the communities we serve. Our malls in Luzon will be open to those who need shelter and we will also be providing immediate relief assistance to affected residents,” SM Supermalls President Steven Tan said in a statement.

The water catchment basins of SM City Cabanatuan, SM City San Mateo, and SM City Masinag are also operational to reduce floods in neighboring communities.

SM Marikina is a mall built on stilts, which allows flood water to flow through its basement and prevent damages to the structure.

Over 20 of SM malls in flood-prone areas equipped with water catch-

Evacuees at SM City San Mateo were given face masks and shields. Contributed Photo

ment basins which keep malls flood free.

SM Foundation is on standby to extend relief assistance through its Operation Tulong Express program in close coordination with local officials in the affected barangays and DSWD. This is alongside continued relief efforts for affected victims of Typhoon Rolly in Bicol.

SM malls in Metro Manila and in Luzon are open today, November 12, except for SM City Marilao which remains closed due to flooding in the area.

For more updates and announcements, visit www.smsupermalls.com or the official social media page of the SM Mall near you.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, November 13, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

November 11, 2020

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

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

44.7 94.25 84.3 24 10.2 45 17.1 28.3 53.5 17.92 107 61.55 0.82 28 3.5 1.15 0.3 760 0.59 161.5 2050

44.85 94.3 84.35 24.45 10.36 45.05 17.56 28.35 53.55 17.96 107.1 61.7 0.92 28.1 3.56 1.17 0.315 777 0.61 162 2080

44.6 94.8 83.5 24.1 10.14 43.3 17 28.4 52.15 17.86 106.2 61.5 0.91 28.1 3.35 1.12 0.3 777 0.61 161.8 2030

44.7 98.15 92 24.45 10.42 45 17 28.5 53.5 17.96 108 61.8 0.95 28.1 3.56 1.17 0.3 777 0.62 162 2050

44.6 92.1 83.5 24 10.14 43.2 17 27.9 52.15 17.86 105 61.5 0.8 28 3.34 1.12 0.3 777 0.61 160 2030

44.7 94.3 84.35 24 10.2 45 17 28.35 53.5 17.96 107 61.55 0.92 28 3.56 1.16 0.3 777 0.61 162 2050

600 17,767,300 1 15,395,920 1 168500 1131100 17002500 3200 819500 6690 176800 2207860 26580 61173000 8500 22000 110000 60000 730 95000 6060 455

26790 ,698,996,276.5 ,312,332,124.5 4063305 11637194 757596855 54400 23089550 353229 3168552 235878791 1638225.5 48946370 238530 75200 124380 18000 567210 58010 977290 930050

214932613.5 105067456 206354 -53255850 -11715050 -1467402 109652777 -643236 324000 919800

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 4.33 4.34 4.15 4.45 4.15 4.33 27550000 119342060 ALSONS CONS 1.44 1.46 1.45 1.46 1.41 1.46 4713000 6798320 27.45 27.5 28 28 27.5 27.5 3244100 89772510 ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY 0.219 0.22 0.216 0.22 0.215 0.22 2840000 620390 29 29.2 28.9 29.5 28.4 29.2 2310300 66996170 FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG 66.1 66.3 64.8 66.3 64.8 66.1 23720 1560973.5 310.4 312.8 310 313 309.2 310.4 156270 48528732 MERALCO MANILA WATER 14.1 14.12 14.2 14.2 14.08 14.12 1017400 14391288 3.19 3.2 3.2 3.25 3.18 3.2 4417000 14160010 PETRON PETROENERGY 3.31 3.55 3.44 3.55 3.4 3.55 59000 204670 13 13.12 12.96 13.14 12.96 13.14 168700 2205696 PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL 16.7 16.76 16.8 16.8 16.5 16.7 842400 14065204 10.64 10.68 10.8 10.8 10.08 10.64 597800 6,307,402( SPC POWER VIVANT 13.4 14.48 13.4 14.48 13.4 14.48 400 5468 8.04 8.13 8.11 8.17 8.04 8.15 396800 3224985 AGRINURTURE AXELUM 2.92 2.95 2.91 2.95 2.9 2.95 1380000 4018110 18.22 19 16.2 19.2 16.2 19 291600 5185890 CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD 17.02 17.16 17.46 17.48 16.98 17.16 3545400 60613744 5.07 5.08 5.15 5.15 5.03 5.08 94100 478116 DEL MONTE DNL INDUS 7.15 7.16 6.83 7.15 6.7 7.15 5804900 40436588 9.96 10 10.06 10.1 10 10 2379300 23807554 EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV 63.75 63.8 63.85 63.9 63.7 63.8 268120 17109309 0.65 0.66 0.64 0.65 0.63 0.65 301000 192310 ALLIANCE SELECT FRUITAS HLDG 1.36 1.37 1.39 1.39 1.34 1.37 16830000 22791090 46.3 46.35 49 49 45.7 46.35 389800 18046095 GINEBRA JOLLIBEE 196.5 197 200.2 200.2 196 196.5 1316330 260145601 39 44.95 44.7 44.7 44.7 44.7 300 13410 LIBERTY FLOUR MACAY HLDG 7.65 7.7 7.7 7.7 7.65 7.65 3300 25295 6.79 6.8 6.76 6.8 6.45 6.79 1662700 11078483 MAXS GROUP MG HLDG 0.145 0.149 0.145 0.149 0.145 0.149 230000 33940 8.44 8.45 7.65 8.48 7.62 8.44 1148200 9160498 SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO 1.21 1.22 1.2 1.24 1.19 1.22 2786000 3384860 RFM CORP 4.73 4.83 4.83 4.83 4.83 4.83 1000 4830 1.85 1.86 1.81 1.88 1.8 1.86 83000 151600 ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS 0.116 0.119 0.116 0.12 0.116 0.119 1200000 141010 152 154 149 154.9 147 154 1308450 198681574 UNIV ROBINA VITARICH 0.82 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.81 0.83 4335000 3558190 2.22 2.34 2.3 2.34 2.3 2.3 18000 41590 VICTORIAS CONCRETE A 51.75 53 53 53 53 53 230 12190 51.65 55.5 55.5 55.5 55.5 55.5 490 27195 CONCRETE B CEMEX HLDG 1.6 1.62 1.6 1.61 1.57 1.61 16549000 26439150 4.36 4.45 4.36 4.36 4.3 4.3 27000 117110 DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT 16.1 16.12 16.02 16.12 15.9 16.1 5650300 90441838 7.78 7.79 7.5 7.78 7.48 7.78 940000 7218571 EEI CORP HOLCIM 5.96 5.98 6.04 6.04 5.91 5.98 3814700 22744815 8 8.15 7.6 8.32 7.51 8 23850700 189219373 MEGAWIDE PHINMA 8.11 8.35 8.34 8.39 8.3 8.39 7400 61763 0.78 0.8 0.79 0.81 0.77 0.8 601000 468380 TKC METALS VULCAN INDL 0.81 0.82 0.8 0.83 0.79 0.81 586000 472140 122.2 145 122.1 122.1 122.1 122.1 30 3663 CHEMPHIL CROWN ASIA 1.97 2 2 2 1.97 1.97 32000 63400 1.96 1.98 1.96 2 1.92 1.96 1451000 2842460 EUROMED MABUHAY VINYL 4.34 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.3 4.4 5000 21900 4.25 4.3 4.25 4.3 4.13 4.3 262000 1117090 PRYCE CORP CONCEPCION 21.05 21.6 21.3 21.5 21.3 21.5 1200 25640 2.63 2.64 2.6 2.65 2.58 2.64 14098000 36882510 GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR 7.2 7.28 7.15 7.3 6.52 7.28 1027700 7194107 1.04 1.05 1.04 1.07 1 1.05 1316000 1370770 IONICS PANASONIC 5.07 5.4 5.49 5.49 5.49 5.49 200 1098 1.68 1.69 1.6 1.71 1.58 1.69 3483000 5764220 SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG 6.48 6.49 6.18 6.5 6.01 6.49 16169500 101400482

3550630 -7250 15754815 -4230 -13359695 477641.5 4431192 594416 689890 -3387588 2,111,941.9997) -1113471 -143850 -1730 13043786 -22359 21475365 -1245506 -7891730.5 1080890 -16795950 -59821044 -204555 3820833 1104040 -6800 90611838 429110 -574990 -79946932 105905 -9344139 -73625209 159950 -196560 -562760 228148 -49699.9998 2867121

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B BHI HLDG COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.5 8.2 868 48.45 8.74 2.79 6.35 0.66 0.91 0.91 900.5 5.39 5.23 9.12 0.212 559.5 3.36 72 0.82 2.69 12.08 0.49 4.25 3.99 0.8 1.02 190 1049 106.9 0.73 127.1 0.221 0.147

0.51 8.57 870 48.5 8.75 2.8 6.49 0.67 0.92 0.94 1350 5.4 5.24 9.13 0.235 560 3.43 72.2 0.83 2.7 12.1 0.51 4.26 4.08 0.83 1.03 211 1050 107 0.74 129 0.23 0.149

0.5 8.84 825 48.5 8.5 2.78 6.32 0.66 0.9 0.94 901 5.4 5.17 9.35 0.24 529.5 3.45 73 0.82 2.7 12.18 0.52 4.29 3.9 0.8 1.02 173.5 1056 106 0.72 126.5 0.22 0.148

0.51 8.84 870 48.75 8.91 2.79 6.35 0.68 0.93 0.94 901 5.45 5.27 9.35 0.24 576 3.45 73.9 0.84 2.71 12.2 0.52 4.3 4.08 0.84 1.03 190 1090 109 0.74 127.1 0.231 0.148

0.495 8.03 821 47.9 8.33 2.75 6.32 0.66 0.9 0.94 901 5.37 5.11 9.13 0.235 517 3.36 71.15 0.8 2.69 12.02 0.49 4.23 3.9 0.8 1.02 173.5 1046 105.9 0.71 126.5 0.22 0.147

0.5 8.58 870 48.45 8.75 2.79 6.35 0.67 0.92 0.94 901 5.39 5.23 9.13 0.235 560 3.44 72 0.82 2.69 12.1 0.51 4.26 4.08 0.83 1.03 190 1049 107 0.74 127.1 0.23 0.147

8410000 34100 478290 1441500 13875000 2915000 233800 283000 3014000 11000 300 3530200 10024800 103400 350000 740560 24000 1945050 617000 1812000 7504700 173000 25565000 118000 1156000 35000 1790 1002865 675170 191000 5280 930000 1490000

4201500 281890 409019145 69927280 120212882 8085020 1484561 188130 2731040 10340 270300 19016361 52118579 944630 82870 403244470 82410 140751704.5 502360 4885890 90849686 85540 108835730 479240 939280 36030 329677 1056047505 72530602 137970 669631 208080 220150

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND ARANETA PROP AREIT RT BELLE CORP A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CEBU HLDG CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON DM WENCESLAO EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY ROCKWELL SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

0.6 38.25 1.05 25.95 1.56 0.81 0.82 0.146 5.8 4.68 0.38 0.4 13.96 5.41 0.285 0.086 1.03 0.86 8.13 1.58 0.68 3.62 0.435 0.375 1.15 16 0.25 1.51 2.68 1.86 38.25 4.17 1.3 3.82

0.61 38.3 1.09 26 1.58 0.83 0.83 0.147 5.99 4.7 0.385 0.405 14 5.43 0.295 0.089 1.04 0.87 8.15 1.59 0.72 3.63 0.44 0.395 1.17 16.02 0.265 1.55 2.72 1.9 38.3 4.27 1.32 3.83

0.58 37.65 1.09 25.9 1.56 0.83 0.83 0.144 5.99 4.75 0.39 0.385 14.04 5.46 0.29 0.091 1.02 0.82 8.1 1.61 0.68 3.43 0.435 0.37 1.18 15.88 0.25 1.54 2.73 1.92 38 4.26 1.32 3.85

0.61 38.3 1.09 25.95 1.58 0.83 0.83 0.15 5.99 4.75 0.39 0.4 14.04 5.48 0.295 0.091 1.05 0.88 8.15 1.62 0.68 3.64 0.45 0.395 1.18 16.36 0.26 1.55 2.73 1.92 39.45 4.28 1.35 3.9

0.56 36.95 1.05 25.85 1.55 0.81 0.83 0.144 5.99 4.68 0.38 0.385 13.88 5.4 0.285 0.089 1 0.82 8.1 1.52 0.68 3.37 0.425 0.37 1.15 15.8 0.25 1.42 2.73 1.85 37.3 4.17 1.27 3.75

0.61 38.3 1.05 25.95 1.56 0.83 0.83 0.146 5.99 4.7 0.385 0.4 13.96 5.42 0.295 0.089 1.04 0.86 8.13 1.59 0.68 3.63 0.44 0.395 1.17 16 0.26 1.55 2.73 1.9 38.3 4.17 1.32 3.83

6245000 28046700 108000 647200 515000 1030000 1000 13700000 79900 147000 20930000 420000 854200 351300 2610000 230000 32301000 4275000 99200 12091000 13000 91882000 86020000 300000 550000 13798500 860000 2634000 4000 9000 24016300 66000 3862000 4964000

-514500 16460 162000820 22533625 -19021110 2682530 -2010 -1268148 6556836 -778452 151654470 -68700 -20034531 -1455620 -44190100 21778310 463010 161650 -26794430 -13543687 -548915 -127280

3678800 1061919405 114560 16774960 803820 845780 830 2023990 478601 690590 8035350 166550 11937878 1900712 757100 20610 33165060 3633310 805689 18975540 8840 325663900 37589450 111550 637130 220724616 219250 3939440 10920 16850 924847620 276650 5057230 19033960

15579.9999 621444780 -3524845 -6240 35290 -51450 -0 14080 18750 -2598096 -876250 -291850 6812590 291820 4760 137674190 1365000 -28750 8836972 42000 336642790 -1120 -821110

SERVICES ABS CBN 11.02 11.04 10.98 11.2 10.94 11.02 988600 10939854 GMA NETWORK 5.11 5.12 5.07 5.11 5.05 5.11 396700 2016452 0.415 0.42 0.41 0.415 0.41 0.415 450000 185700 MANILA BULLETIN MLA BRDCASTING 10.8 11.2 11.2 11.2 11.2 11.2 3000 33600 2040 2042 2044 2076 2024 2040 120015 244707890 GLOBE TELECOM PLDT 1401 1402 1425 1425 1397 1402 129680 182370000 0.051 0.052 0.052 0.052 0.051 0.052 21490000 1097390 APOLLO GLOBAL CONVERGE 15.1 15.12 14.86 15.12 14.86 15.1 13590200 204380464 4.17 4.37 4.19 4.4 4.15 4.17 1360000 5657540 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 6.3 6.31 7 7.05 6.26 6.3 137627600 899601625 1.38 1.42 1.38 1.38 1.38 1.38 8000 11040 IMPERIAL ISLAND INFO 0.104 0.107 0.105 0.108 0.103 0.105 4660000 490920 1.61 1.67 1.63 1.67 1.61 1.67 63000 103020 JACKSTONES NOW CORP 4.39 4.4 4.45 4.55 4.32 4.39 11931000 53128130 0.255 0.26 0.26 0.265 0.25 0.255 8210000 2091250 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 2.93 2.94 3.03 3.03 2.89 2.94 1579000 4644530 9.25 9.28 9 9.4 8.9 9.25 402000 3663081 2GO GROUP ASIAN TERMINALS 15.42 15.98 15.38 15.42 15.38 15.42 1500 23126 6.07 6.08 6.57 7.02 6 6.08 66050900 431231380 CHELSEA CEBU AIR 44 44.05 45 45.5 43.45 44 1946100 86009420 129 129.5 128 129 126.2 129 1445160 185529582 INTL CONTAINER LBC EXPRESS 15.76 16.28 15.3 16.34 15.3 16.28 297400 4749904 1 1.04 1.03 1.04 0.99 1 75000 76700 LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA 6.96 6.97 6.64 7 6.3 6.97 13956700 93802560 1.93 1.94 1.98 1.98 1.91 1.94 847000 1646300 METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B 1.9 2 2 2 2 2 20000 40000 7.15 7.16 7.3 7.48 7.06 7.15 290700 2080351 PAL HLDG HARBOR STAR 1.41 1.42 1.4 1.42 1.36 1.42 3535000 4921050 0.027 0.028 0.029 0.029 0.027 0.028 40100000 1118800 BOULEVARD HLDG DISCOVERY WORLD 1.62 1.7 1.62 1.62 1.61 1.61 17000 27440 0.63 0.64 0.64 0.65 0.61 0.63 9200000 5735200 WATERFRONT CENTRO ESCOLAR 6.59 7 7 7 7 7 100 700 STI HLDG 0.35 0.355 0.365 0.365 0.355 0.355 3610000 1295550 4.03 4.17 4.19 4.2 4 4.17 903000 3679960 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 8.59 8.6 8.39 8.64 8.36 8.6 4920500 41881716 1.87 1.93 1.92 1.93 1.88 1.93 69000 130900 PACIFIC ONLINE LEISURE AND RES 1.62 1.64 1.61 1.64 1.58 1.64 588000 954700 2.4 2.63 2.5 2.64 2.4 2.5 53000 132890 MANILA JOCKEY PH RESORTS GRP 2.57 2.58 2.29 2.61 2.27 2.58 96489000 236,334,280( 0.38 0.385 0.38 0.385 0.37 0.385 20550000 7758050 PREMIUM LEISURE PHIL RACING 6.75 6.8 6.64 6.8 6.64 6.8 12700 85572 7.73 7.75 7.82 7.82 7.6 7.75 1678400 12985100 ALLHOME METRO RETAIL 1.53 1.54 1.52 1.54 1.51 1.53 3209000 4895750 41.5 41.8 41.05 41.9 41.05 41.5 4435700 184574470 PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 64.85 65.15 64.95 65.7 64.85 64.85 1313030 85360849.5 110.8 111 111 113.5 111 111 7840 870425 PHIL SEVEN CORP SSI GROUP 1.59 1.6 1.6 1.61 1.55 1.59 8283000 13109030 15.46 15.8 15.8 15.88 15.4 15.46 2433800 37817400 WILCON DEPOT APC GROUP 0.37 0.375 0.365 0.38 0.36 0.375 4070000 1502600 7.3 7.32 7.14 7.35 7.14 7.3 206000 1485344 EASYCALL GOLDEN BRIA 370 395 380 395 360 395 2800 1077030 4.36 4.4 4.49 4.49 4.32 4.4 73000 318430 SBS PHIL CORP

-8489180 -13383425 41615406 8161012 4120 -4860 2496900 29340 -5100 12336 -933139 -22792955 55578254 7212133 29877 196070 41000 1045479 -269100 3,364,249.9997) -1966350 20100 7151250 -13179145 -1597252.5 -63270 1699460 4309562 10950 71400 -534320 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 9.65 9.92 9.68 9.96 9.6 9.94 100100 975650 2.02 2.03 1.93 2.04 1.92 2.02 10806000 21546280 1114900 APEX MINING ABRA MINING 0.0011 0.0012 0.0012 0.0012 0.0011 0.0012 526000000 600800 67200 5.03 5.15 4.8 5.2 4.62 5.15 1452000 7115390 -1689910 ATLAS MINING BENGUET A 3.08 3.15 3.06 3.15 3.03 3.15 202000 618190 3.01 3.1 3.01 3.01 3.01 3.01 15000 45150 -3010 BENGUET B COAL ASIA HLDG 0.26 0.265 0.26 0.265 0.26 0.265 990000 257450 2.47 2.49 2.46 2.49 2.46 2.49 2000 4950 CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES 8.05 8.23 8.19 8.23 8.02 8.23 17800 143955 1.54 1.55 1.52 1.58 1.47 1.55 11139000 17186150 29590 FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE 0.241 0.246 0.24 0.247 0.24 0.247 830000 199530 120000 0.159 0.16 0.165 0.165 0.158 0.159 31860000 5106220 LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 0.158 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 820000 131200 0.0099 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 17100000 171000 MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 4100000 45100 1.04 1.05 1.03 1.04 1.02 1.04 8076000 8305110 159700 MARCVENTURES NIHAO 2.64 2.67 2.62 2.68 2.61 2.64 870000 2296080 13250 4.41 4.43 4.39 4.47 4.39 4.41 14624000 64502620 9139870 NICKEL ASIA OMICO CORP 0.325 0.335 0.335 0.335 0.33 0.33 100000 33200 0.69 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.69 0.7 656000 461260 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 5.63 5.64 5.62 5.69 5.5 5.64 1434700 8037507 2899909 11.58 11.6 11.3 11.6 11.28 11.58 2609200 29988894 3997236 SEMIRARA MINING UNITED PARAGON 0.0053 0.0055 0.0053 0.0053 0.0053 0.0053 30000000 159000 6.36 6.46 6.31 6.48 6.31 6.46 122800 786235 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.0099 0.01 0.0099 0.01 0.0098 0.0099 72000000 714100 0.0098 0.01 0.0099 0.01 0.0099 0.01 20000000 199900 -190000 ORNTL PETROL B PHILODRILL 0.0085 0.0087 0.0085 0.0085 0.0085 0.0085 4000000 34000 12.14 12.16 12.2 12.34 11.82 12.16 5046200 60797412 1271408 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED AC PREF B1 511 519.5 511 511 511 511 10 5110 AC PREF B2R 504 510 510 510 510 510 34500 17595000 100.7 101 101 101 101 101 10200 1030200 CPG PREF A DD PREF 101.5 102.1 102 102 101 101.5 980 99185 110 110.5 110 110 110 110 3000 330000 FGEN PREF G FPH PREF C 500 530 525 525 525 525 10 5250 501.5 517.5 517.5 517.5 517.5 517.5 40 20700 GLO PREF P GTCAP PREF A 990 1007 1001 1001 1001 1001 200 200200 1029 1037 1030 1030 1029 1029 1860 1914445 GTCAP PREF B MWIDE PREF 101.3 101.5 101.3 101.3 101.3 101.3 310 31403 102.5 104.9 104.9 104.9 104.9 104.9 50 5245 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 999 1002 1002 1002 998 1002 4405 4406280 1012 1030 1020 1020 1011 1011 760 775065 PCOR PREF 2B PCOR PREF 3A 1065 1066 1065 1065 1065 1065 150 159750 1090 1100 1100 1100 1090 1090 450 491000 PCOR PREF 3B SMC PREF 2C 78.15 78.4 78.4 78.4 78.15 78.4 4880 382004.5 75024 78 78.2 78.2 78.2 78.2 78.2 6190 484058 -484058 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G 76.3 77 76.2 76.6 76.2 76.6 2400 183764 77 78 77 77 77 77 13600 1047200 SMC PREF 2I SMC PREF 2J 76.1 76.3 76.3 76.3 76 76.2 5180 394676.5

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 10.62 11 10.7 11 10.62 10.62 323200 3441580 -222490 GMA HLDG PDR 4.91 5 4.91 5 4.91 5 261500 1307401 -1048000

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.84 0.88 0.81 0.88 0.81 0.84 170000 145110 17600

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 13.1 13.34 13 13.46 12.92 13.34 423700 5555302 498256 ITALPINAS 3.06 3.07 3.02 3.12 2.97 3.07 4017000 12315110 -856760 5.58 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.49 5.58 68500 378346 16500 KEPWEALTH MERRYMART 4.32 4.33 4.12 4.4 4.06 4.33 37482000 158845140 397440

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 105.4 105.5 104.8 106 103.5 105.5 87300 9183950 185243

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Ayala Corp. income plunges on limited mall operations

By VG Cabuag

A

@villygc

yala Corp. said its income in January to September fell 75 percent year-on-year, but the conglomerate saw an improvement in its performance in the third quarter compared to the April-to-June period.

In its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the conglomerate said its earnings fell to P11.4 billion due to restricted construction activity and mall operations in Ayala Land since mid-March and by Bank of the Philippine Island’s aggressive loan loss provisions especially in the second quarter.

Profits were also weighed down by the base effect from divestment gains in power and education booked in the same period last year.

Ayala said its core businesses recorded lower net profits in the period

ending September as a result of the health crisis.

Property developer Ayala Land’s net income in the nine-month period declined by 73 percent to P6.4 billion as a result of lower project bookings from suspended construction activity, restricted mall and hotel operations and closure of resorts.

BPI’s net income dipped by 22 percent to P17.2 billion due to the P21.1-billion in loan loss provisions it booked in anticipation of an increase in non-performing loan levels.

Globe Telecom’s net income was cut by 10 percent to P15.9 billion, primarily driven by higher depreciation expenses from its continued network investments.

AC Energy recorded a net income of P5.6 billion, a decline of 76 percent from last year’s P24.3 billion, which included gains from the partial divestment of its thermal assets.

“It is encouraging to see improvements in the performance of our businesses as the economy gradually reopens. Ayala Land, BPI, and AC Industrials have all shown a marked recovery in their third quarter results compared to the previous period,” Ayala President and COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.

“Meanwhile, Globe and AC Energy are fairly stable components that have provided a boost in our portfolio in recent months. We are hoping to see this trajectory sustained in our businesses with a further loosening of restrictions,” Zobel added.

Ayala’s net income in the third quarter more than doubled to P3.4 billion compared to the previous

quarter, mainly on improved performance of Ayala Land and AC Industrials, lower loan loss provisions booked by BPI, and the absence of re-measurement losses from Manila Water recognized in the second quarter.

Ayala Land’s net income accelerated to P1.8 billion from P200 million in the previous quarter but Globe’s net income declined 11 percent to P4.4 billion despite healthy data revenues from its mobile and home broadband business on the back of heightened advertisement and promotions costs and non-operating expenses.

AC Energy’s net income decreased 54 percent to P1.1 billion mainly on the absence of revaluation gains on certain investments in the third quarter.

AC Industrials narrowed its net loss in the third quarter to P224 million from P1.3 billion in the previous quarter, as plant operations normalized across all regions and gross profit margin expanded due to better factory performance efficiencies.

Meralco: Bidders must submit EOI on Nov. 13

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

T

HE MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) has extended for 24 hours the deadline for the submission of formal interest to participate in the competitive auction for its 1,800megawatt (MW) power requirements.

The power distribution firm said several interested bidders requested to extend the Expression of Interest (EOI) deadline set on November 12 due to inclement weather and its effects brought about by Typhoon Ulysses.

“In consideration of the unforeseen widespread effects of the said typhoon and with a reminder to prospective bidders that waiting until the very last day of the deadline to finalize and file its Expression of Interest, Confidentiality Undertaking, and payment of the Participation Fee, is an informed and calculated risk on the part of the prospective bidder, the Third Party Bids and Awards Committee (TPBAC) hereby grants a 24-hour extension of the Expression of Interest Deadline,” Meralco said in a notice Thursday.

The new deadline is set on November 13 at 4 p.m.

Last month, TPBAC received Expressions of Interest from several firms with offered capacities totaling 3,600MW, utilizing a variety of technologies.

Identities of the 9 interested bidders were not revealed, citing nondisclosure agreements. “We are not at liberty to disclose the names of companies who expressed interest.

There are around nine generating companies,” said Meralco head of Regulatory Affairs Jose Ronald Valles. ”It’s a total of 3,600MW. Some submitted 600MW while some submitted a minimum of 150MW.” Atimonan One Energy, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Meralco PowerGen Corp., said it will participate in the CSP. Other firms that have verbally expressed interest include AC Energy, the power arm of Ayala Corp.; Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp. ; Aboitiz Power Corp.; and San Miguel Corp.’s power unit.

The winning bidders will secure a 20-year power supply agreement with Meralco.

A pre-bid conference is scheduled

Nissan operating losses shrink as restructuring takes hold

N

issan Motor Co. cut its operating loss outlook for the current fiscal year by about a third, fueling optimism that the automaker is regaining its footing after the coronavirus pandemic dented global sales.

The loss for the year to March will be 340 billion yen ($3.2 billion), compared with the prior forecast for a 470 billion yen operating loss, the Yokohama-based company said in a statement Thursday. For the July-September quarter, Nissan reported an operating loss of 4.8 billion yen, compared with analysts’ average estimate for a 148 billion yen loss.

The shrinking deficits are an early sign that Nissan’s efforts to cut more than 300 billion yen in fixed costs, reduce capacity and restructure the business are paying off. That’s fueling optimism that the automaker will join Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which recently doubled their full-year profit forecasts, in recovering from outbreak-related disruptions. For Nissan, a recovery in the United States and China helped to bolster performance, according to Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at Carnorama.

“It’s not that easy to boost sales numbers without incentives, but it appears that the new models are helping to overcome that,” Miyao said. “The main concern now is whether the im-

pact from the coronavirus will derail this trend.”

Shares of Nissan fell 2.9 percent at the close.

The stock is down 36% this year, while the Nasdaq OMX Global Auto Index is up about 33% over the same period.

Sales for the latest quarter fell 27 percent to 1.9 trillion yen, matching analysts’ prediction.

Nissan raised its outlook for full-year revenue to 7.9 trillion, compared with analysts’ average projection for 7.8 trillion yen.

Midterm plan

Facing an aging lineup and suffering from a volume-focused strategy, Nissan embarked on an aggressive turnaround plan six months ago while moving past the turmoil caused by the November 2018 arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn. The plan calls for the shuttering of three production lines and elimination of about 14,000 jobs globally, up from 12,500 announced a year ago.

Chief Executive Officer Makoto Uchida said in September that he expects Nissan to return to profitability in 2021 if the current momentum continues, thanks to demand in China bouncing back from the pandemic. To further refresh its aging lineup, Nissan is launching 12 new cars in the next 18 months. Bloomberg News

on December 17, 2020, with bid submission deadline set on January 25, 2021. The bids will be opened on the

mutual funds

same day. Meralco’s preferred price will only be revealed to the bidders during the opening of the bid prices.

November 11, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 226.46 -12.48% -8.15% -1.95% -10.08% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.1657 -23.37% -10.73% -1.16% -15.65% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.1066 -20.99% -12.07% -3.93% -15.54% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7759 -17.59% -8.56% n.a.

-13.6% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.7317 -16.5% n.a. n.a. -13.85% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.8995 -10.76% -6.31% -2.06% -8.05% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.7658 -13.26% -7.54% n.a.

-10.29% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 90.5 -20.37% n.a. n.a. -12.33% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 46.2339 -12.7% -6.32% -0.42% -9.84% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 487.15 -11.26% -6.08% -1.03% -8.56% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 1.0471 n.a. n.a. n.a.

1.65% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.1443 -13.92% -6.68% -0.75% -11.08% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 34.0131 -13.05% -6.04% -0.09% -10.25% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.9083 -13.51% n.a. n.a. -10.78% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.7249 -12.3% -5.8% 0.33% -9.55% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 790.4 -12.13% -5.69% 0.24% -9.36% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.7089 -21.91% -9.87% -4.04% -16.74% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.579 -17.67% -7.8% -1.54% -14.97% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.9053 -12.35% -5.99% 0.13% -9.54% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.2564 -13.37% -5.49% 0.32% -10.86% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 106.2434 -11.9% -5.37% 1.04% -9.16% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$1.1397 12.89% 1% 4.61% 10.82% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.5946 20.44% 8.79% n.a.

15.66% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.6338 2.23% -4.17% -1.38% 4.54% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.2343 -2.09% -3.05% 0.44% 2.44% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.6092 -2.45% -1.92% -0.95% -0.85% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1978 -16.89% n.a. n.a.

-13.44% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.9534 -1.38% -0.47% 1.65% -0.42% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.7674 -1.93% -1.32% 0.9% -0.57% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.8584 -1.94% -1.41% 0.83% -0.6% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.0827 -2.45% 0.67% -1.86% -3.95% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.5386 -10.07% -3.9% -0.46% -8.41% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 1.0133 -2% n.a. n.a.

-0.24% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.9408 -8.05% n.a. n.a.

-5.58% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.9243 -9.42% n.a. n.a.

-6.94% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8757 -12.3% -4.73% -1.27% -10.17% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03918 3.51% 2.75% 2.02% 2.57% 4.14% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.1044 8.47% 1.69% 9.13% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.322 13.62% 6.38% 6.54% 10.52% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1907 7.33% 3.42% n.a.

5.49% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 369.29 3.78% 3.2% 2.71% 3.17% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.8953 -1.48% -0.04% -0.12% -0.35% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2071 3.55% 4.66% 4.89% 2.86% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2894 3.36% 2.78% 2.28% 2.97% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4457 4.28% 3.36% 2.01% 3.67% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.6213 6.53% 2.86% 5.68% 4.33% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3134 5.37% 4.37% 2.5% 4.51% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9607 5.45% 4.25% 2.72% 4.55% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0353 8.44% 3.81% 2.32% 7.36% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1809 4.29% 4.61% 3.22% 3.42% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7413 3.38% 3.93% 2.63% 2.36% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $480.79 3.17% 2.61% 2.88% 2.65% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є218.11 -0.66% 0.69% 1.17% -0.76% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2568 4.51% 3.47% 2.79% 4.11% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0265 3.11% 1.96% 1.75% 2.71% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0908 -0.02% 0.27% 0.93% -0.26% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.5146 5.57% 3.88% 3.54% 4.62% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0619368 2.89% 2.51% 2.23% 2.71% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.2148 2.34% 2.18% 2.61% 1.25% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.44 3.42% 3.33% 2.54% 2.87% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0464 1.86% n.a. n.a.

1.96% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2934 2.72% 3.01% 2.62% 2.25% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0511 1.57% 1.69% n.a.

1.23% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.0773 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.96 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-3.03%

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

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

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

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

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

latest NAVPS/NAVPU."

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Banking&Finance

UN to open lending window for farmers

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

T

he French development agency extended a €300-million (about P17.181 billion in the local currency) loan to the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to help smallscale farmers.

In a statement, the IFAD said the loan will be used to help build smallscale farmer’s in high-risk countries to become resilient to shocks and increase their productivity.

The loan from AFD aims to reverse these trends. The funds will be used to help rural small-scale farmers to increase their productivity, better manage scarce natural resources, access new markets and financial services, and build their resilience to a changing climate.

“If we want a world without hunger and poverty we have to focus our attention on the most vulnerable places where the poorest people live – and this is in rural areas,” IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo said.

“This loan demonstrates France’s strong commitment to investing in rural people, as well as the role of IFAD in assembling development finance to fight climate change in line with the Paris Agreement,” he added.

In its report titled Examining the Climate Finance Gap for SmallScale Agriculture, IFAD said only 1.7 percent of the world’s climate finance or close to $10 billion goes to the small-scale agriculture sector annually.

However, IFAD and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) noted in the report, climate change finance surpassed half a trillion US dollars for the first time in 2017 and 2018.

The IFAD report stated that the climate finance tracked for agriculture, forestry, and land use was only $20 billion per year in 2017/2018.

This represented 3 percent of the total tracked global climate finance for the period.

However, out of this amount, only 8.1 billion is specifically targeted for small-scale farmers, agrientrepreneurs and value chain actors serving them.

“It is unacceptable that the people who produce much of the world’s food, and who are at the greatest mercy of increasingly unpredictable weather, receive the least support,” Houngbo said.

“Small-scale farmers living on marginal lands are on the frontline of climate change and should have access to the climate finance they need to adapt their production,” he added.

Further, IFAD said another $1.72 billion of climate finance benefits small-scale agriculture actors through renewable energy generation, sustainable transport in rural

areas and water management.

With this, close to $10 billion is dedicated for small scale farmers.

This is only a fraction of the $240 billion worth financial needs of small scale farmers globally every year.

“This lack of financing could have dire effects, as smallholder farmers urgently need more support to sustain their livelihoods in the face of climate change,” CPI Global Managing Director Barbara Buchner said.

The IFAD recommended that public and private sectors should work together to shore up investments in agriculture through blended finance and weather indexed insurance.

The UN agency said governments should also subsidize loans and weather based insurance for small scale farmers as well as invest in innovative fiscal transfer instruments and infrastructure, among others.

The report also recommended that governments and multilateral development institutions invest in efforts to better track climate change finance, particularly those being used for agriculture.

These efforts include enhancing the reporting of climate finance for small-scale agriculture under a common definition and set methodology to better track the use of funds.

“Governments must make sure that climate finance gets to the people who need it most, and smallholder farmers should be top of that list, not at the bottom,” said Margarita Astralaga, IFAD’s Environment, Climate and Social Inclusion Director. “IFAD aims to support this by increasing public and private climate finance flows to small-scale farmers.”

Small-scale farmers currently produce 50 percent of the world’s food calories. However, IFAD said, higher temperatures - together with increased incidences of drought and flooding - destroy crops and livestock and make it difficult for them to continue to feed their communities and earn a living.

While there are no exact figures available of what climate financing small-scale farmers require, various estimates of their general needs are in the order of hundreds of billions annually, which gives an indication of the magnitude of the climate investments required.

Estimates showed that climate change could push 100 million people into poverty by 2030, with those working in agriculture suffering most. This is likely to result in more hungry people.

Almost 690 million people went hungry in 2019–up by nearly 60 million compared to five years ago.

Covid-19 could increase that number by an additional 135 million by the end of this year, with poverty expected to increase for the first time in decades.

BusinessMirror

Govt to unload ₧42.3 billion in guarantee for MSME loans

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@Tyronepiad

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lectric money (e-money) transactions are expected to continue growing until next year as the lockdown measures amid the coronavirus pandemic encouraged cashless payments, a financial technology (fintech) group said.

“Yes, I believe that the e-money transactions will sustain its growth this year and into 2021,” FintechAlliance.ph Chairman Angelito M. Villanueva told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail.

Villanueva said that e-money transactions have shown “impressive growth” and are only expected to gain more momentum through the years as the country continues to improve its digital banking.

Amid the lockdown measures, he explained that the public has found it convenient to pay for their transactions via online platforms.

“The emergence of online businesses has prompted the consumers

to migrate into e-money transactions,” he added.

On the other hand, the FintechAlliance.ph chairman stressed that the fintech industry is helping the country to achieve a higher level of financial inclusion.

“E-money helps a great deal in retail economies like the Philippines,” Villanueva said. “It is a big factor in financial inclusion as people participate in economic activities through payments and other transactions, they make using the digital platforms.”

In “The Philippines Fintech Report 2020,” it was noted that payment transactions via e-money rose by 36 percent to P730 billion in 2019.

Twelve percent of the nearly 200 fintech players in the country are ewallet providers.

Strategic advisory firm YCP Solidiance, meanwhile, is projecting the e-money transaction volume and wallet inflow to reach P370 billion and P700 billion by 2021, respectively. It noted that

@BNicolasBM

P42.3-billion credit guarantee facility by state-owned Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PhilGuarantee) is expected to be availed by 46,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the Department of Finance, its parent agency, said.

The DOF said last Thursday that PhilGuarantee expects P3.6 billion of total credit guarantees to benefit an initial batch of 6,000 borrowers by the end of this year and another P20 billion will be accessed by the middle or towards the end of 2021, which will cover 40,000 MSMEs. “This is the first time PhilGuarantee is providing guarantee coverage for MSMEs,” PhilGuarantee President and CEO Alberto E. Pascual said. Pascual added the state-owned firm is “now processing thousands of MSME loan guarantee applications.”

The MSME credit-guarantee program aims to support P120 billion in working capital loans to be granted by banks to its MSME borrowers that were adversely affected by govern-

ment’s lockdown against the spread of Covid-19.

The program provides for a 5050 credit-risk sharing arrangement whereby PhilGuarantee guarantees lending banks against the losses they will incur in lending to MSMEs. Following the launch of the program, Pascual said in the same report that more banks have been extending more loans to MSMEs unlike before when lenders would only prioritize the needs of their existing MSME clients.

He also pointed out that PhilGuarantee’s offer is higher than the 30-percent guarantee offered by Thailand to that country’s small and medium-sized businesses.

“Just like in Thailand, the freed up reserves or extra liquidity of banks

were not used to lend to MSMEs. But now we are seeing banks becoming active again and some in fact have been pre-clearing with us bigger loans for new projects,” Pascual said.

Moreover, Pascual said the average loan size under the guarantee program is less than P1 million, with the minimum loan amount set at P100,000 and availed of mostly by micro enterprises borrowing from rural banks. On the other hand, the maximum loan amount that can be guaranteed under the program is P50 million with a guarantee fee of only 1 percent per annum.

The maximum term for working capital loans is one to five years with a 50 percent guarantee, and up to seven years for term loans with the guarantee covering up to 80 percent of the loan amount.

While Pascual noted PhilGuarantee mirrors the terms of the loan that banks will grant to MSMEs, he also said they “can extend the guarantee up to 10 years depending on the banks’ risk appetite” on a caseto-case basis.

PhilGuarantee earlier said loans released by banks beginning March 16 this year are eligible for guarantee. Guarantee premium for this program has been reduced while origination fees are waived up to December 2020.

PhilGuarantee has so far accredited eight universal banks, one com-

P.E.S.T.L.E. analysis for associations

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any organizations, forprofit and not-for-profit alike, are revisiting their strategic plans disrupted by the ongoing pandemic. One framework that has proved vital in analyzing what is happening out there and the impact to an organization is “Pestle.”

The Pestle analysis tool is used for assessing political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal and environmental factors. Examples of what might an association consider under each factor are the following: Political—relates in general to political stability and how the government intervenes in the economy such as labor laws, tax policy, trade restrictions, as well as in health, education, and infrastructure. A retail trade association, for example, may prepare a position paper or consult lawmakers if there are laws or regulations affecting its industry.

Economic—covers factors that affect how businesses operate and make decisions, such as rates of economic growth, inflation, interest and currency exchange. A negative economic growth could cause unemployment and affect a trade association

E-money transactions to grow until 2021–fintech

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Friday, November 13, 2020 B3

the growth in e-wallet usage will be supported by service offerings of financial technology players and banks, such as bills and merchant payment capabilities.

Citing data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, YCP noted that e-money had an 8-percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in amount flows and 15 percent in amount usage during 2014-2018.

Usage, in terms of transaction count, had 36-percent CAGR during the same period.

The advisory firm said that bulk, or 81 percent of the e-money inflows, came from universal and commercial banks, registering P443.26 billion in 2018. This was 8.12 percent higher than the P407.25 billion notched the previous year. It had a CAGR of 9 percent in 2014-2018.

This was followed by e-money issuers, comprising 16 percent or P89.29 billion of the total e-money inflows in 2018. It recorded 11-percent CAGR within a five-year period beginning 2014.

Association World Octavio Peralta or a chamber of industry members’ ability to pay their membership dues, eroding revenues.

Social—includes population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes, safety, as well as cultural aspects and health consciousness. A growing millennial generation may cause a professional society to revise its membership recruitment policy.

Technological—aspects like research and development activities, automation, technology incentives and the rate of technological change. More than ever, associations may have to consider a digital transformation, no matter modest.

Legal—covers laws and regulations on discrimination, consumer protection, antitrust, employment, as well as health and safety that can affect how businesses operate in terms of, among others, costs and

product demand. An association could consider having a record of all applicable laws and regulations as part of its risk management system.

Environmental—includes ecological and environmental aspects such as climate change and sustainable production and consumption which have direct effects on trade associations and their members in industries such as tourism, farming and insurance.

I gained further insights on Pestle when I attended Gihan Perera’s recent webinar, “Clear Planning for an Unclear Future.” Gihan is a futurist, online presenter, conference speaker and author. Forbes magazine rated him as the fifth socialmedia influencer in the world (first in Australia) in his area of expertise.

Gihan provided the following Pestle factors that are at play within our environment today: 1. Covid-normal (hygiene, rapid testing, contact tracing, treatment, vaccine) 2. Alternative food sources (food production, supply chain) 3. Mental health issues (stress, anxiety)

mercial bank, six thrift banks and 10 rural banks for its guarantee facilities for MSMEs. The applications for accreditation of another 16 banks are also being processed to further expand the reach of the guarantee program for MSMEs, Pascual said.

Among the banks that have signed up guarantee agreements with PhilGuarantee are the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Union Bank of the Philippines, Malayan Bank, Bangko Kabayan and the New Rural Bank of San Leonardo.

Pascual also said PhilGuarantee plans to start guaranteeing loans of small-scale, medium-sized and large enterprises of up to P300 million with the P5-billion additional equity it will receive under Republic Act 11494.

“We can leverage the P5 billion additional equity 15 times. This will allow an extra guarantee capacity of P75 billion,” he said.

Pascual said that with PhilGuarantee’s unimpaired capital of P23 billion, its current guarantee capacity at 15 times is P345 billion.

PhilGuarantee’s outstanding guarantees dropped from P207 billion at year end-2019 to only about P170 billion as of September 2020, but have recently seen an increase in the number of housing and SME applications for guarantee, he added.

4. Losing key people (due to changing priorities and preferences) 5. Work from home (issues on human resource management, productivity, use of technology) 6. Consumer priorities (online sales, contactless transactions) 7. Artificial intelligence (and impact on human relationships) 8. Telehealth (remote delivery of health care services) 9. Global trade (import and export of goods and services across international boundaries) 10. Regional rising (migration from cities to regions/provinces) So what Pestle factors are affecting your association today?

The column contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific and the Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives. PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 8 on November 25 and 26, 2020 with the theme, “Leading with Agility.” The two-day virtual event is supported by Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board and the PICC. E-mail inquiries@adfiap.org for more details on AS8.

ATM deployer Encash marks 13th yr of operations

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ncash Inc., the Philippines first Independent ATM deployer, announced that marking its 13th year of operations this November 16.

On the company’s anniversary, Encash continues deployments of the “SuperPOS [Point of Sale],” our latest flagship device, the company said in a statement. The launch of the SuperPOS earlier this year achieved pioneering strides in providing ATM functions to various communities all over the country via the mobile POS format, the company added.

The company said its SuperPOS has currently been deployed to a wide variety of commercial establishments, ranging from sari-sari stores to groceries and general merchandise.

“The SuperPOS is like a mobile ATM [automated teller machine],” Encash President Juan Miguel Mapa was quoted in a statement as saying. “As long as you have an internet connection, you can transact any-

“We make sure that our partners don’t have to wait in line to get a response from us,” Mapa said. “We understand the urgency of concerns in our field, and so we hope to give all our stakeholders the service they need as soon as possible.”

Through the successful rollout of the SuperPOS thus far, Encash said it “continues to live up to its mission of providing financial access to Filipinos and ultimately lending to the overall growth and development of unbanked and underserved communities.”

Encash Inc. said it partners with local cooperatives to help financial accessibility in rural areas. Photo courtesy Encash Inc. With over 420 municipalities served, over 200 ATM where—making any establishment, terminals deployed and 1,600 POS whether private or public, a possible devices managed, ENCASH continues to grow its network of financial partner.” Moreover, the company inclusion that aims to help address said partners of SuperPOS “are promthe cash needs of citizens living in ised a direct line to Encash agents for the rural areas. any follow-up servicing concerns.

B4

Relationships BusinessMirror

Friday, November 13, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

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CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Gerard Butler, 51; Jimmy Kimmel, 53; Whoopi Goldberg, 65; Chris Noth, 66.

Happy Birthday: Set your mind free of clutter and pending problems that hold you hostage. Evaluate your life, position and goals. Settle differences, and make a move that will bring you peace of mind and the ability to head in a direction that allows personal growth, adventure and fulfillment of lifelong ambitions.

Take ownership of mistakes, and move forward with transparency. Your numbers are 7, 18, 21, 27, 32, 39, 45.

Lady Bess Howe and her new household help.

Jutes Templo has less worries over his asthma with an air purifier.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): A passionate attitude can do you more harm than good if you share with the wrong person. Don’t display your emotions when dealing with professional matters if you want to get ahead. Listen, be objective and make wise decisions. HHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Leave nothing to chance. Put your strategy in place, and follow through until you are satisfied with the results. Don’t jeopardize your health or compromise your reputation or position. Shoot for the stars; recognition for your accomplishments will be yours.

HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Keep moving forward. Do what you say and avoid criticism.

Don’t let anyone interfere with your plans or meddle in your affairs. Choose fitness and selfimprovement as your goals for the day, and incorporate a rigorous health routine into your schedule. HHH Dondi Limgenco works on his graphic designs using his mini desktop computer.

d

TOURISM Sec. Bernadette Romulo Puyat can now go on 12-hour Zoom meetings with a more reliable Internet service.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Pursue your plans. Bring about the changes that will validate your beliefs. Don’t take risks when it comes to your health or physical well-being. Look for opportunities that substantiate what you want to accomplish. HHHHH

Pandemic purchases

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HE Philippines, so far, will likely enter the Guinness Book of World Records, for having the longest Covid-19 lockdown in the world.

Frankly, I don’t see any rivals on the horizon anytime soon.

It started on March 17, and while there have been varying stages of lockdowns since then, technically, a general community quarantine, such as what we currently have in Metro Manila, still entails a lot of strict protocols (wearing of mask and face shield in malls, for instance) and a limitation on movement, although various local government units now have different curfew periods, I gather.

Suddenly my joke prediction among my friends that we’d see each other after Christmas doesn’t seem unlikely.

So most of us have had to resort to certain purchases to help us cope through our pandemic feels, some of which can be downright depressing, especially for those who aren’t used to staying home for long periods of time 24/7.

My favorite pandemic purchase has got to be VPN and Hulu subscriptions, which has broadened my horizons in terms of streaming movies and more TV series. During the last US elections, it even helped me monitor other American news networks not readily accessible via our local cable TV. (Yes, I went for the somewhat radical, right-wing Fox News, just for comparison and to find out what their hoo-has were about, and ABC TV because the guests

were former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, mouthing election commentary for the Republicans and Democrats, respectively. These guys were very sedate, actually, and more rationale compared to the sometimes noisy and irreverent commentary from CNN’s pundits.)

I asked friends (and family) what their favorite purchases were or the best purchases they made during this long community quarantine. Before they answered, I told them “no judgement”—as long as the purchase made them happy and helped them feel better while cooped up at home, either alone or with loved ones—they could say anything. n Dondi Limgenco (artist, communications specialist for a cruise line): “My best purchase is a Japan surplus Dell “mini” desktop, which came with an i5 Intel processor, which makes graphic design work faster, since I’ve been working from home. I also use it as a home entertainment system since it’s hooked up to my LCD widescreen TV. I bought it for P7,500; found it from the Facebook Marketplace.” n Lady Bess Howe (former hotel PR executive, now soap maker): “A favorite pandemic purchase is my Xiaomi robo vacuum. My helper wanted to go home to her parents in Bohol and my other helper couldn’t get back to us. So it’s such a big help with my household cleaning. It’s the BEST. And it doesn’t strain my back.” n Bernadette Romulo Puyat (secretary of Tourism): “I upgraded my Internet connection from Skycable’s broadband service to PLDT, then PLDT Fiber. I don’t get cut off anymore during my Zoom calls, teleconferences and webinars. Before, I was using my mobile phone provider’s hotspot for my 12-hour Zoom meetings!” n Jutes Templo (proprietor, Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza): “My favorite is the Tylr air purifier. It gives me more confidence that viruses are getting dissipated because it has a Hepa filter, used against the Covid-19 virus. It also has a UV And I have asthma so sometimes, I have trouble breathing.” n Cesca A. Policarpio (my niece and a bank marketing

executive): “I bought a two-seater acacia dining table for my condo to help a friend dispose of her stuff because her restaurant had to close.” n Jing Garcia (cyber journalist): “With too much time on my hands because of the lockdown, I found some sellers online selling parts, jacks and cables cheaper than usual. Some parts, especially for my RC cars hobby, are normally expensive—from P5,000 to P50,000-plus. So now I found more time for my hobbies.”

I also have a few pandemic purchases pertaining to food that have been may favorites and will likely reorder again, such as: n Lengua pot pie from Francesca’s (IG: ph_ francesca) in Roosevelt, Quezon City. I stumbled on their other pot pies (butter chicken and black pepper beef) on a friend’s Facebook page. He said they were good, but since he doesn’t eat lengua (ox tongue), he couldn’t assure me if the dish tastes equally well. Glad I took a chance and the owners seem nice. They sent over the lengua pie to me with just a small delivery fee, as I live basically across Edsa from where they were. The creamy mushroom and lengua combination is among my best food finds this pandemic. n New York bagels from MadBagels (Instagram: madbagels) in Greenhills. The bagels are light so even if I eat one entire piece, with smoked salmon and cream chives on top, it doesn’t leave a heavy feeling in the tummy unlike other locally produced bagels. I am guessing this is because the bagels are boiled the traditional way. According to a published story, the owner’s father passed away from Covid-19, but while ill he was craving for bagels. The daughter Isabel kept on experimenting until she got her bagels right.

To honor one’s father this way is indeed a beautiful gesture.

We’ve all been trying to find ways to cope with this lockdown, and our purchases—large or small—do make a difference in boosting our mental health.

And on the upside, it’s also helped a lot of people find outlets for their skills and talents, and put them on the road to entrepreneurship. So, bravo to that. n

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Don’t make a rash move. Look at every angle and focus on what is in your best interest. Refuse to get involved in someone else’s dream. Venture down the path that will bring you peace of mind and happiness. HH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Expand your interests. Sign up for online classes, pick up a new hobby or apply for a license that will help you further your professional goals. Share your thoughts and plans with a close friend, relative or lover. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take time to listen to what others have to say. A misunderstanding will damage a relationship that is important to you. Be part of the solution, not the problem, when dealing with domestic matters. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Refuse to let your emotions step in when dealing with sensitive issues. A clear view of what’s happening will be necessary if you want to resolve pending problems. Stay focused, be moderate and offer feasible solutions. Welcome change. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Take care of your responsibilities before you move on to other activities. Do things according to specification, or someone will point out where you went wrong. Plan something special for you and someone you love. Romance is encouraged. HHHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Get approval before making a change that will affect others. An unusual request or project will entice you. You’ll come up with a unique solution that will make your life easier. A change at home will ease stress. HH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Take care of personal matters. Find a healthy, fun way to stay in shape. Listen to regulations set by authorities to ensure that you are doing your part to keep your community safe. HH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Join forces with someone who shares your vision and wants to contribute. Call in favors and listen to suggestions. You can accomplish a great deal if you are disciplined and flexible. HHHHH Birthday Baby: You are sensitive, caring and loyal.

You are independent and curious.

‘safety last’ by jim holland The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Bean type in succotash 5 Walk proudly 10 Derriere 14 Lebanese, perhaps 15 Indoor football format 16 On the subject of 17 Really fun group, it’s said 20 Gas hidden in “Marine One” 21 Aunt, in Acapulco 22 Green ___ (elite soldier) 23 Some brews 25 Pouches 27 Porridge thief in a fairy tale 31 Word between “talk” and “talk” 34 ___ on a Grecian Urn (Keats poem) 35 Genre for Aretha Franklin 36 Cooks, as artichokes 39 Tourist attraction 41 Hanoi holiday 43 4:3, for instance 44 Most massive 46 Verdi opera set in Egypt 48 Ernie known as The Big Easy 49 ISP designed for Windows

50 Uruguay’s capital 53 ___ apparent 55 Alternatives to Wranglers 56 Earlier 59 Boxer Laila 61 Part of SNL 64 Protective setups suggested by the final few letters of 17-, 27- and 50-Across 68 Places to be pampered 69 Spanish direction opposite sur 70 Business communication 71 Answering machine beep 72 Peppery salad green 73 Big band and Prohibition DOWN 1 Most popular dog breed in the US 2 Country once called Persia 3 Mule’s mother 4 Visiting Europe, say 5 Nickname that drops “vatore” 6 Brings forth for display 7 New loan arrangement, briefly 8 Reveal 9 Chinese “way”

0 Has an afternoon meal 1 11 Person who creates a password 12 Eye sore 13 Be the emcee 18 Signs up for the Army 19 Days of Our Lives channel 24 “Evil Woman” band, for short 26 Mule’s father 27 “Gee willikers!”

28 Loathing 29 Hosiery brand 30 Freshly washed 32 Had no love for 33 Novelist Zola 37 Commits a court offense?

38 Neither amazing nor awful 40 Where to hear clucking 42 Champions 45 Texter’s “I didn’t need to know that!”

47 Actress Aisha or Sandra 51 One on the stump 52 “Am I to blame?”

54 “To ___ is human” 56 Secretive attention-getter 57 Seized auto

58 Confident declaration 60 Harp’s ancient relative 62 Suddenly change direction 63 Late Night star Thompson 65 Forbes competitor 66 No alternative?

67 Call for help

Solution to Tuesday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Friday, November 13, 2020

Memories of Tokyo and the film fest NO MORE IMPLANTS

YEARS ago, the actor got breast implants because he wanted his chest area to look heftier than it really is. It was for a giant billboard on Edsa and at the time, it was worth it. But things have changed and last year, the actor finally had the implants removed upon the encouragement of his wife who has always been afraid that they would cause health complications. The actor actually regrets doing it. Now that he is a family man, he realizes that he could have jeopardized his long-term health situation with those implants. All’s well that ends well. The actor is healthy and happy and his wife is no longer worried.

UNFAITHFUL

THE relationship of the actor and his girlfriend is a showbiz ideal. Many think it’s about time they get married since they’ve been together for a while. But the actor is allegedly not faithful to his girlfriend. He has been spotted at bars with friends and even has been photographed seated with girls without his girlfriend around. There’s even a rumor that during his recent birthday, which he recently celebrated with his girlfriend and her family, the actor had a more private celebration with friends and his girl-of-the-moment. The girlfriend reportedly knows of the actor’s shenanigans but she chooses to ignore them because she has been brought up to believe that a woman should be patient and quiet about these things.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

SO it is true that before she became the other half of a popular love team, this beautiful actress was the other woman in the failed relationship of another actress and a young actor. The actress was not that popular at the time and the other actress and the young actor were very happy and in love with each other. To be fair to the beautiful actress, she did not set out to steal the young actor from the other actress. It just happened that he fell in love with her. They became an item for a while until the powers-that-be (their management) told them to break up because their relationship would not be good for their careers. They followed their management’s advice and the beautiful actress went on to become a big star. The actor is still struggling and the other actress now has a family.

SINGLE BUT TAKEN

THE actor was once part of a fairly popular love team until he was reportedly caught cheating on his partner with their costar. The actor and the costar, a very young actress, denied everything. Time passed and the actor’s screen partner has moved on. The actor is still single and so is the young actress he allegedly cheated with. But this doesn’t mean he wants to stay single. The actor is reportedly wooing another young actress, who comes from two political clans. Her father is a famous star and politician. The young actress is reportedly not averse to the idea of dating the actor but she’s not sure if her family will like him.

More details on ‘Alden’s Reality’ this December 8

ARGUABLY one of the most awaited entertainment events in thsi crazy year, the country’s first-ever virtual reality concert Alden’s Reality (AR) happens on December 8.

Alden’s Reality celebrates the 10th anniversary in the entertainment industry of white-hot star Alden Richards and will utilize the cutting-edge technology of a virtual reality to bring him closer to fans.

And since it’s online, concertgoers from all over the world can enjoy a night full of energetic and powerful performances in a one-of-a-kind viewing experience produced by Synergy: A GMA Collaboration.

For those who have yet to secure their e-ticket, here’s how: Head over to www.gmanetwork.com/synergy and create an account. Fill out the form with the necessary information and press “sign up” button. Wait for the confirmation to be sent to the registered e-mail for further instructions.

Upon receipt of the email, go to the Synergy home page and find the “Buy Ticket” link and choose from the available options in terms of schedule, ticket variety and payment mode. Choose carefully as ticket sales are final. The e-ticket along with other concert details will be e-mailed to the registered address.

Five days before the actual date of Alden’s Reality (AR), a link will be sent to the registered e-mail to access the concert. The concertgoer will be reminded that they cannot share the link with others.

L

AST year, my autumn was made doubly magical with my participation as a film critic in the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

Typical of Japanese hosting, the coordination was pluperfect—almost to a fault. I was billeted with other film journalists in a tony hotel in the Roppongi area. The last time I was in attendance at TIFF, my hotel was right in Shibuya overlooking that famous crossing and very close to Hachiko, perhaps the greatest symbol of a dog’s loyalty to his male friend.

With a festival or not, Tokyo remains a magical place for me, notwithstanding the many years I stayed in the city for graduate studies and fellowships. And autumn is the cap to that enchantment.

This year would be different though. A pandemic has impacted the world and Tokyo and the entire Japan have not been spared from it.

Who would ever think that this year, the magic and enchantment got almost snuffed out? But cinema is a potent force in itself and no calamity or virus can ever stop a festival built around the power of moving pictures. Postpone maybe but cancel? Naah.

On October 31, the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival opened and closed on the November 9. In those 10 days of celebration, film screenings were enriched by talks and lectures. For the first time, to the calendar of events was added this note: “Physical Screening.” This underscored the fact of how in some festivals, the films were all streamed online and no warm bodies were ever admitted into actual moviehouses.

From the TIFF web site came these figures: 138 films were screened this year as against the 183 films shown in 2019 for nine days. The total number of admissions was 40,533; last year, there were 64,492 admissions.

Online events logged in a higher record of 847,873, a number that bodes well to how we have indeed adjusted and adapted to online engagements.

One of the major talks in the festival was the discussion moderated by Cannes Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda between Korean director Kim Bora and Japanese actor Ai Hashimoto. This event was part of the first session in the festival’s “Asia Lounge” Conversation Series.

The Japan Foundation Asia Center and TIFF worked together to feature daily dialogues between leading film directors from Asian countries and regions and their Japanese peers.

What began as a physical lounge where filmmakers can converse with each other on varied topics became an online event, due to the pandemic.

The same event was also streamed via TIFF’s YouTube channel, which allowed viewers to participate and ask questions, and even have the chance to ask questions of the participants.

For the inaugural event, Kore-eda appeared in person with Hashimoto, who is noted for his

appearance in Daihachi Yoshida’s A Beautiful Star (2017) and Ryuichi Hiroki’s It’s Boring Here, Pick Me Up. The other guest did not need to travel to Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, and it was because Ms. Kim was speaking from Korea. The filmmaker became known for her debut feature, House of Hummingbird (2018), which won the NETPAC Award upon its premier at the Busan International Film Festival. The film participated in other film concourses, and went on to garner more than 50 awards.

Kore-eda described Kim’s debut film as “so striking and delicate.” Kim, on the one hand, was candid enough to express her thoughts on how she made reference to Kore-eda’s film, Maboroshi and Nobody Knows. Kim pointed to Kore-eda’s depiction of loss and the urban landscape.

When the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) came to a close after 10 days of physical screenings and a range of online events, from master classes to talk salons to the new “Asia Lounge” Conversation Series, there was the announcement of the winner of the Audience Award/Governor of Tokyo Award. With the travel restrictions impacting on the presence of a more international audience, the TIFF audiences became the festival’s de facto jury.

The audiences thus had some 32 titles to choose from for the Audience Award. The films were either chosen for the special Tokyo Premiere 2020 section, or were presented in their world or Asian premieres at TIFF. The Audience Award went to the Japanese romcom Hold Me Back by director Akiko Ohku.

Interestingly, Ohku’s Tremble All You Want won the same coveted trophy at the 30th TIFF back in 2017.

The pandemic—the physical distancing and lockdowns—was a pervasive presence all throughout the festival, with Ohku noting how “the world has changed, and while other festivals had to move online, TIFF was able to have audiences inside theaters, watching the films together. While there’s still anxiety about the coronavirus, I’m so grateful to all

the audience members who bought tickets to watch them film, and then voted for it.” At the close of the speech, there is a poignancy and a reality check in “I hope I’ll soon be able to shake all your hands.”

Important to those who miss being in a physical film festival were the words of Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike: “The artistic and cultural activities of our country were deeply affected by Covid-19, and the battle is still continuing, but I’m delighted that the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival was able to hold a physical edition. When the world is confronted with a common crisis, the power of films becomes important to creating a brighter future.”

The closing film was Hokusai, the celebrated ukiyo-e woodblock artist whose 26oth anniversary is the reason for the cinematic tribute. More than his ever-present images of Mt. Fuji and other images that conjure for us the cultures and arts of Japan, Hokusai was also significant in his crusade against censorship and control of the arts and freedom of expression in the early 1800s.

Directed by Hajime Hashimoto, the film Hokusai stars Yuya Yagira, one of the children in Kore-eda’s Nobody Knows. Yuya Yagira is considered the youngest winner of the Best Actor award in the history of Cannes Film Festival. He won the award when he was a young boy portraying the 12-year-old Akira in Nobody Knows. This was in 2004; the actor is now all of 30 years of age.

The old Hokusai was played by Min Tanaka, a noted dancer.

There are lessons learned in festivals, where the majority of participants and audiences are online.

In an article by Mark Schilling in Variety, he quotes Takamatsu Miyuki, CEO of Free Stone Productions, saying: “International buyers have less information than before about the value of films since many film festivals now compete online and we have a harder time getting word-of-mouth going. That makes awards and status more important now.” n

Barbie Almalbis rendition of classic ‘Umagang Kay Ganda’ goes viral THE year 2020 has truly been a tough one for the Philippines and each of us had to cope with challenges in our own little ways. Many Filipinos have turned to drawing strength from simple things—creating short dance videos on social media, tending to indoor plants, or listening to songs while cooking and baking.

True enough, there seems to be a perfect anthem for all those that badly need a picker-upper. Recently Magnolia Dari Creme released its collaboration with singer and songwriter Barbie Almalbis through a beautiful rendition of the classic song “Umagang Kay Ganda”. The song and its music video aim to support and honor the country’s brave frontliners during the time they badly needed it the most.

Barbie shared that the power of music expressed in songs, like “Umagang Kay Ganda” has been a great source of joy and comfort, especially during the lockdown. According to her, “It has helped ease our anxiety, encouraged us toward faith, and given us comfort and pockets of happiness.”

The music video has gone viral, generating over 10 million views and 44 thousand shares on YouTube and Facebook, a testament of how much this song struck and stirred so many hearts. The comments section was flooded with netizens’ reactions, sharing how they were deeply moved by the song and the real,

authentic scenes featured in the music video.

One of the commenters who happens to be a frontliner expressed how he related to the song,

and how it made him miss his daughter even more: “Looking forward sa araw na magkakasama ulit kami ng daughter ko. Half [a] year na kaming hindi nagkikita due to the current situation at dahil na din sa pagiging healthcare worker ko. It’s her 4th birthday today and I hope she’s happy kahit malayo kami sa isa’t isa.”

Some users were inspired to post their interpretations of the song, with the intention to share a piece of solace to those who need it this time, just how Magnolia Dari Creme and Barbie did. These video responses warmed the singer’s heart, saying “I am grateful that through creativity and with the help of technology, we can still be emotionally connected to our communities and families even while we are physically isolated.”

Through the song, Magnolia Dari Creme hopes to send a beautiful reminder of the importance of our families and communities as we embrace new realities. As a household brand that supports starting each day with a wonderful breakfast with the family, we too can do what we can to rise and make each day better.

“Umagang Kay Ganda” by Barbie Almalbis in collaboration with Magnolia Dari Creme is now available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes.

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B6 Friday, November 13, 2020

Marriott, Sheraton and Courtyard welcome the festive season via Facebook Live

MARRIOTT, Sheraton and Courtyard’s holds very first virtual Christmas Tree Lighting on Facebook with KC Montero as host.

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UST the thought of Christmas gives hope to everyone even during this challenging times. While this year’s celebration may be a little different than what we are used to, all Marriott hotels in the Philippines has joined together for a festive celebration with a promise of peace and all the good things ahead.

On November 5 via Facebook Live, Manila Marriott, Sheraton Manila, Clark Marriott, Sheraton Manila Bay, and Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo welcomed the festive season together with their most meaningful tree lighting ever.

Host KC Montero livened up the event while the executives of each hotel gave a glimpse of their exclusive offers for the holidays such as their Christmas hampers, festive treats, feast packages, dining, and staycation promotions. Santa also made an appearance to greet everyone who’s tuning in. Adding to the excitement are staycation vouchers from all participating

hotels given away to the viewers.

Apart from the festivities, what makes this year’s tree lighting even more special is being able to give back to the community. Once again, Manila Marriott, Sheraton Manila, and Clark Marriott has partnered with Save the Children Philippines. Currently, Manila Marriott Sheraton Manila, and Courtyard Iloilo has launched a Charity Hamper where you can gift a Noche Buena dinner for one child from Save the Children Philippines. The hamper includes one pack of Biscocho dipped in Iloilo’s Tablea Tsokolate from Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo, one piece Hablon Face Mask crafted by Ilonggo Fashion Designer Jeff Ticao, one jar of Pickled Onion and Cabbage Kimchi from Sheraton Manila’s Korean restaurant Oori, and one pack of Candied Walnuts from Manila Marriott’s Chinese Restaurant Man Ho. For P1,500 nett, one can provide a special dinner for one child

and his or her family as they celebrate Christmas at their homes. To place an order for the Charity Hamper, contact 0917 859 9521 or 0917 624 5980.

Meanwhile, Sheraton Manila Bay has extended support to Barangay 699 through a community pantry and Cards of Care with proceeds that will go to the children of Aurora Quezon Elementary School and educational materials for children of Barangay 699.

While Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo has partnered with SOS Children’s Village Iloilo this year where they encourage everyone to come and donate children’s books, clothes, art materials, and toys for the children.

For more information, visit the hotel’s official website or follow their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram page at @manilamarriott, @sheratonmanila, @ clarkmarriott, @courtyardbymarriottiloilo, and @sheratonmanilabay.

Cebuana Lhuillier introduces pawning from home for greater customer safety

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ICROFINANCE services giant Cebuana Lhuillier has expanded its Cebuana-from-Home online platform to include pawning services as it seeks to provide greater safety and security for its customers who are adapting to the new normal where social distancing and community quarantine restrictions apply with the continuing

spread of the corona virus disease.

“The addition of pawning to the services offered at our Cebuana-fromHome platform is a testament to our commitment to bring our clients the best possible service even if we are in the middle of a pandemic,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, president and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier.

Cebuana Lhuillier is one of the country’s most accessible pawnshop chains and remittance centers in the country with over 2,500 branches nationwide.

With pawning services now part of the Cebuana-from-Home platform, Cebuana Lhuillier customers are now allowed to pawn jewelry items without going to the branch and just go online.

Then, a dedicated appraiser will come to their location and appraise the item, negotiate the value, and release the loan.

“The pawn from home service is also an avenue to bring relief to our clients and help them weather this storm,” Lhuillier noted.

To avail of this new online service, clients only need to accomplish the application form on the website and their application will then be handled by a member of Cebuana Lhuillier’s TeleSales team who assigns it to the nearest rider for the fulfillment of the transaction.

The application form can be accessed on the website by logging on to bit.ly/ CebuanaFromHome.

Lhuillier assures that the Cebuanafrom-Home platform carries the same brand of quality service and highest appraisal that Cebuana Lhuillier usually provides in its branches.

The Cebuana-from-Home platform was first launched at the onset of the community quarantine period. Through the website, Cebuana Lhuillier enables clients to send domestic remittance, pay bills to a number of billers nationwide, and purchase Cebuana Lhuillier insurance products such as personal accident insurance and medical expenses insurance.

Decode 2020 elevates cyberdefenders’ skills amid a transforming world

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REND Micro Philippines formally opened its annual Decode cybersecurity conference with about 3,000 Filipino IT professionals from across the country and the globe on November 10, 11, and 12.

Amid the new normal, Decode 2020 has transformed into a three-day virtual conference—with more than double the number of sessions, more international experts who convened discussions, and customized networking activities that are providing more learning and training opportunities for modern-day ‘cyberdefenders’ who must elevate their knowledge and skills to facilitate their organizations’ transformation in the most rapid, seamless, and secure way possible.

With the theme ‘Elevate: Transform Rapidly, Seamlessly, Securely,’ the interactive cyber-security conference facilitated six keynotes, 33 breakout sessions, two plenary sessions, and one panel discussion.

Senior Director Martin Roesler discussed how the pandemic is changing the world, while Trend Micro Director of Technology Marketing Myla Pilao shared a guide on how to distinguish innovation from disruption.

Trend Micro FTR Director for Cybercrime Research Robert McArdle tackled about cybercrime in 2020 and beyond.

Other keynote speaker, Melissa Hathaway, who served as cybersecurity advisor to two US Presidents, discussed threats to digital infrastructures. SyCip Gorres Velayo & Co Technology Principal Philip Casanova, talked about the principles for cybersecurity leaders; while Interpol Director of Cybercrime Craig Jones tackled the translation of cybercrime for law enforcement and private partnerships.

At plenary sessions, Trend Micro Director of Managed XDR Jay Yaneza facilitated the discussion about how threat actors move on Day 1. Alexandru Caciuloiu, Cybercrime Project Coordinator at the Regional Office for

Southeast Asia and the Pacific UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) presided the session about darknet and other cybercrime threats in the region. A panel discussion concluded the conference on Day 3 with three of the keynote speakers—McArdle, Jones, and Casanova.

Business Unusual sessions focus on cybercrime, vulnerabilities, and emerging and/or future threats. Among the main issues to be analyzed are cyberespionage, deserialization vulnerabilities, use-afterfree and remote code executions, hardware reversals, cyberthreat intelligence, OSS in IoT, edge computing, and insider threat.

The Digital Frontier breakout tracks were all about AI, ML, IoT, IloT, and Cloud.

Among the covered topics were security for cluster, serverless cloud architectures, cyberattack trends in the cloud, the USBee malware, machine learning in cybersecurity, and phases of data science process.

Lastly, Securing the Security Landscape sessions decoded forensics, investigations, and intelligence and response. The invited experts talked about the risks of industrial automation programming, removal of the backdoor in backdoor shell, the current threat hunting process, scalable malware clustering, factory honeypot, curbing phishing attacks, current ransomware, and threats to ICS/SCADA endpoints.

Aside from the information-packed sessions and plenaries, Decode 2020 facilitated a side-track each day which put the spotlight on women in tech, skillbuilding, and student learning sessions.

To learn more about Decode 2020, visit https://decodeph.com/.

PASAY City Mayor Imelda Calixto-Rubiano (second from right) led the lighting ceremony of the 60 ft. Giant Christmas tree at the SM Mall of Asia. She is joined by SM Mall of Asia’s SAVP for Operations Perkin So (left), and SM Mall of Asia’s Mall Manager Amy Gonzales and (second from the right) and SM SVP for Marketing Jon Jon San Agustin (right).

“Reconnection and healing”: Art by the Bay 2020

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HE Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Visual Arts and Museum Division (VAMD) supports the first online iteration of Art by the Bay, a project of the Association of Pinoyprintmakers (AP). As early as April this year, CCP VAMD and AP got together to think of ways to support local printmakers. CCP Vice President and Artistic Director Chris Millado, a regular visitor of Art by the Bay, suggested to try shifting Art by the Bay online.

Art by the Bay is AP's bi-annual open house event that is usually held at their studio in the back of the Folk Arts Theater in the CCP Complex. It started in 2010 as AP's annual Christmas gathering. For ten years now, Art by the Bay has grown an audience of artists, enthusiasts, collectors, and students, locally and internationally.

With a glass of wine on one hand and the excellent view of Manila Bay, visitors of Art by the Bay can take part in various activities such as print sales, raffles of artworks, artist discussions, printmaking demos, and just enjoy each other’s company.

The selling of works in Art by the Bay raises funds for the association's annual programs and the maintenance of their studio, and supports the sustainability of the printmaking practice of many artists.

With the theme of "reconnection and healing," Art by the Bay online advocates to bring people together once again to enjoy art and the camaraderie and compassion that comes with it. It aims to help people use art to reconnect with their loved ones and communally hope for healing from the current situation. This online platform allows Art by the Bay attendees to continue

to participate in this yearly anticipated event, and at the same time also gives artists the opportunity to sustain their increasingly precarious practice through the selling of their artworks.

Art by the Bay runs from November 7 to 14, 2020 at www.artbythebay.ph. The website was launched on November 7, in the CCP and AP's Facebook pages www.facebook. com/culturalcenterofthephilippines and www.facebook.com/philippineprintmaking.

Online activities are held every other day beginning November 7, and will be capped off with a print raffle on November 14, open to all those who purchased a print from the website.

For more information, contact the Association of Pinoyprintmakers at pinoyprintmakers@gmail.com or through mobile number 0945-7651769.

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao

CONE, AUSTRIA WARY OF FOES

PVL becomes PHL’s first pro volley league

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HE Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is shifting from an amateur to professional status after 16 years of existence.

Sports Vision President Ricky Palou told BusinessMirror on Thursday that they would make an announcement in a virtual news conference on Friday with Games and Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Abraham Kahlil “Baham” Mitra.

“Yes we are turning pro. We have been thinking of this for a long time,” said Palou, adding that turning pro would translate to more teams joining the league. “This is good for volleyball. We believe players will be encouraged to focus on playing volleyball if there’s a professional league.”

The PVL, which started off as the Shakey’s V-League, will be the country’s first professional volleyball.

At present, its roster is composed of Creamline, Choco Mucho, PetroGazz, Motolite, Perlas, BaliPure, Chef’s Classics, Army and Air Force.

Palou said they are eyeing to hold a bubble tournament in February or March next year.

Mitra welcomed the decision of the PVL to turn pro.

“We are happy that they finally saw the light and the advantages of turning professional is tremendous in terms of advertising values and growth of the league,” Mitra said.

The PVL followed the path to professional status taken by the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines, Chooks-to-Go 3x3 Pilipinas and National Basketball League (NBL) amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Josef Ramos

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By Josef Ramos

WO of the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) sharpest coaches—Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s Tim Cone and defending champion San Miguel Beer’s Leo Austria— are taking a cautious stand despite their team’s twice-to-beat advantage in the Philippine Cup’s quarterfinal round that starts on Friday.

Grand slam coach Cone expressed his concern over Rain or Shine, a team that poses problems for the Gin Kings especially wingmen Javee Mocon, Gabe Norwood, veteran James Yap and Mark Borboran.

“Rain or Shine plays big and they are long at the wing positions, which poses unique problems for teams and why they are such a good defensive team,” the 62-year-old Cone told BusinessMirror on Thursday.

Rain or Shine beat Ginebra in the eliminations, 85-82, last October 27 prompting Cone to figure out a

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s Tim Cone and defending champion San Miguel Beer’s Leo Austria are doing their homework on a stormy Thursday.

Saso-Jie showdown looms at Japan Tour Itoen Ladies

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OOKIE Yuka Saso and veteran Shin Jie could be in for an explosive Sunday thriller if they play true to form in the first two rounds of the rich Itoen Ladies golf tournament which starts on Friday at the Great Island Club course in Chiba, Japan.

Saso tied the Shin at 16-under 200 with a solid closing 63 with two holes left in last week’s Toto Classic in Ibaraki, but the Korean

Tokyo Olympics may allow foreign fans under strict countermeasures OKYO—Next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will be like no other, particularly for non-Japanese fans if they are allowed to enter in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto, after a meeting Thursday about infection countermeasures, confirmed for the first time that a limited number of nonJapanese fans may be allowed to attend.

But there will be some stringent guidelines, rule books to follow, and health apps to track fans and monitor the spread of the infection.

“By next spring we will be coming up with measures for all spectators including the non-Japan residents,”Muto said, speaking in Japanese in an online briefing. “For the non-Japanese, we need to be sure we secure a spectating opportunity for them as well.”

Initially, Muto said it would be difficult

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Friday, November 13, 2020

closed out with an eagle-birdie feat to win by three and complete her romp without dropping a shot.

Saso also dished out a gem of a final round that matched her nine-under card in ruling the NEC Karuizawa in Nagano mid-August before nailing the Nitori Ladies diadem in Hokkaido two weeks after.

But the International Container Terminal understandable, “Muto said. “We would like to be considerate of the spectators as much as possible while we take preventive measures at the same time to be able to accommodate as many spectators as possible.”

IOC President Thomas Bach confirmed on Wednesday in a briefing in Switzerland that he will be in Tokyo next week, his first visit since the Olympics were postponed. Bach gave a firm “no” response when asked if a contingency for canceling the Olympics would be discussed in Tokyo.

Bach is expected to meet new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and talk with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Tokyo organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori, and others linked to the Olympics.

Muto was asked if foreigners visiting Japan would follow the rules. Japan has been largely successful controlling with virus with just over 1,800 deaths reported.

“I think it’s difficult to control their movement and behavior,” a Japanese reporter said, speaking in Japanese.

Muto acknowledged the problem. Nearly everyone in Japan wears a mask—nearly everywhere. AP

to subject entering fans to a quarantine, and then suggested later it might happen.

“Regarding spectators from overseas, whether they need to go through a 14-day quarantine or not, whether we can waive that or not will depend on the situation, ”Muto said. “There is a possibility this quarantine is waived if they meet certain conditions.”

Organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have given themselves at least five more months—into the northern hemisphere spring—to start finalizing how they will pull off the Olympics for 11,000 athletes and tens of thousands of officials, judges, sponsors, media and broadcasters.

It was in early spring this year that the Games were postponed, unable to see a way forward and now set to open on July 23, 2021.

“The spectators’ anxiety of not knowing if they can actually go to the Games or not is

Cyclist gets 9-month ban for crash that left rival in coma

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DUTCH cyclist Fabio Jakobsen (left) hits side barriers at the start of a crash with his countryman Dylan Groenewegen in the final stretch of the opening stage of the Tour de Poland in August. AP

IGLE, Switzerland—Cyclist Dylan Groenewegen was banned from racing for nine months on Wednesday for causing a sprint-finish crash that left a rival in a coma and with severe facial injuries.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said its disciplinary panel ruled Groenewegen cannot compete again until May 7. He will miss the spring season of oneday classic races plus weeklong races including Paris-Nice, where he has won stages in previous seasons.

“The crash in the first stage of the Tour of Poland will forever be a black page in my career,” the Dutch rider said in a statement published by his Jumbo-Visma team.

Groenewegen, who has four Tour de France stage wins in his career, veered right in a sprint to the finish line on August 5, forcing Fabio Jakobsen to crash into roadside barriers.

Jakobsen was awarded the stage win after Groenewegen was disqualified. He was treated in a medically induced coma and left needing reconstructive surgery on his face and jaw.

The UCI said Groenewegen “acknowledged that he deviated from his line and committed a violation” of race rules.

“I hope this has been a wise lesson for every sprinter,” Groenewegen said. “I follow the news of Fabio’s recovery very closely. I can only hope that one day he will return completely.”

Britain’s cycling team, meanwhile, dismissed podium sprint coach Kevin Stewart for gross misconduct, including for what was described as a “long-term pattern of inappropriate relationships with riders.”

Stewart failed to act on repeated warnings about his conduct, and that “his behaviors fell short of the values and standards expected,” the governing body said.

An investigation into Stewart’s conduct had found no evidence of a physical relationship between himself and any members of the team, the governing body added. AP

Services Inc.-backed Saso would struggle in all but one of her next six tournaments, her slump leading to a missed cut stint in Mitsubishi Electric in Saitama two weeks ago that ended an impressive run of nine consecutive cuts made.

Saso’s remarkable Toto Classic performance, however, made Saso a top contender for this weekend’s Y100 million event which serves as the first of the last three tournaments in the

B7

way to break Rain or Shine’s defense.

“They have lots of defensive schemes and are difficult to prepare for. They beat us in the elimination round so we know how good they are. It will be a battle,” Cone said.

The Gin Kings closed out the elimination round tied with Phoenix Super LPG on top on 8-3 win-loss records.

But because of Ginebra’s 86-71 win over Phoenix (win-over-the-other rule) last October 21, the Gin Kings snatched the No. 1 spot.

Cone said they used Thursday’s rest day primarily to review viedos. He minced no words in offering prayers for Typhoon Ulysses victims.

“We are waiting out the typhoon like everyone else. I hope all the fans are safe,” said Cone, whose Gin Kings will face the No. 8 seed Elasto Painters at 6:45 p.m. on Friday. “In the meantime, we are reviewing videos and developing game plans.”

No. 4 San Miguel Beer, meanwhile, also enjoys a twice-to-beat advantage over Meralco in their 4 p.m. clash at the Angeles University Foundation gym.

But Austria reminded his players that the Bolts are not easy opponents and with sixthtime Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo and three-time scoring champion Terrence Romeo still on the injury list, the Beermen need to work doubl time.

“It’s not that easy. We’re not like before, but we will do our best,” Austria said.

Arwind Santos, one of the veteran Beermen, said they would treat the Meralco game “a must win.”

“It’s a no-more-tomorrow game for us.

It will be dangerous if they get a chance to beat us,” said Santos, 39, who is averaging 13 points and 9.9 rebounds in 11 games in the eliminations.

Meralco Coach Norman Black agreed San Miguel Beer is a tough task to hurdle.

“It is a difficult task so I think the focus right now is just win game No. 1 and then we take it from there,” Black said. “The biggest challenge is the fact that San Miguel Beer has the experience in the playoffs—in the all Filipino—so we have to play consistent basketball the entire 48 minutes.”

Meralco wound up with a 7-4 record to emerge as the No. 5 seed.

The remaining teams in the Clark bubble had limited practice time on Thursday because of the typhoon that caused intermittent brownouts in the area.

Northport (1-10) and NLEX (5-6), meanwhile, already left the bubble and expected to follow were Terrafirma (1-10) and Blackwater (2-9).

pandemic-shortened Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) of Japan Tour season.

But Jie is enjoying top form and the multititled campaigner, who boasts of a number of victories in the LPGA, JLPGA and Korean tours, expects to extend her impressive run against defendign champion Ai Suzuki and Golf5 Ladies winner Sakura Koiwai at 10 a.m. in the featured flight on No. 1.

The opener will be as crucial as the second round for Saso, who regained the Player of the Year lead from Koiwai and

pulled away in the money list race with strong showing last week. Like Jie, she also hopes to get going early against Minami Katsu and Saki Asai at 9 a.m. on No. 1.

Also fancied to crowd Saso and Jie for the top Y18 million purse are leg winners Yuna Nishimura, Saki Nagamine, Erika Hara, Ayaka Watanabe, Mone Inami and Ayaka Furue along with Teresa Lu, Serena Aoki, Mamiko Higa, Lee Min-Young, Ji Hee Lee, Chie Arimura, Na-Ri Lee and Yuka Yasuda and world No. 15 Hinako Shibuno.

Motoring BusinessMirror

Henry Ford Awards Best Motoring Section 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 2011 Hall of Fame

B8 Friday, November 13, 2020

Editor: Tet Andolong

Brembo introduces new online resources Story by Randy S. Peregrino

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REMBO and AutoPerformance Ph, the official distributor of Brembo aftermarket parts in the Philippines, recently introduced its new online resources. These various digital platforms are designed to meet the evolving climate. While Brembo is best known for its involvement in motorsport, as well as being the brake manufacturer for the world’s most prestigious cars, that’s not all it has to offer. Brembo has taken lessons and technology from the top end of the technical spectrum to nearly every vehicle out there with its Brembo Aftermarket line.

Promos prop up industry; virus voids lunch

Brembo Aftermarket lineup. Brembo Philippines

This range of affordable brake discs, brake pads, and accessories is designed for maximum safety and comfort for all cars and all road conditions while still performing at a level expected from Brembo. These are the most tested products in the market, being the official brake pad of the Toyota Vios Cup and Toyota Vios Racing Festival since 2014.

Having great products is only half the story and AutoPerformance Ph, Brembo’s official distributor since evaluation.

Toyot a a l so d ist r ibuted thermal scanners, face shields, alcohol, antibacterial/germicidal soaps, disinfectant sprays, bleach solutions, disposable gloves, foot baths, spray tanks, and cleaning mops in TMP’s continuing observance of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) advocacy.

Lunch I will miss

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NOCKED down, but never knocked out. That’s the car industry eight months into Covid-19.

Rol ling w ith the so-ca l led punches, our autoworld simply refuses to yield to the pandemic’s destructive ways, crafting ways to stay afloat amid the health crisis.

Easily the quickest, most effective way to survive is for the players to come up with promos too enticing for customers to ignore.

Not just discounts but huge discounts.

Not just fleeting freebies but long-haul packages.

Honda is one car brand that has been coming up with more-thanyour-usual slash-cash platforms.

Notable is its P5,000 giveaway to every referral that leads to a purchase of the BR-V and All-New City.

The bonus, part of Honda’s 30th anniversary celebration, is up to December 31.

“We would like to express our gratitude to our dear customers for their continuous patronage of the Honda brand throughout the years,” said Honda president Masahiko Nakamura. “We hope to be of service to them for many more years to come.”

Toyota school pitch, CSR

THE Toyota Motor Philippines S c ho ol of Te c h nolo g y ( T M P Tech) recently received a P5million scholarship fund from GT Foundation Inc. (GTFI) to assist marginalized but deserving students from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

This will boost the school’s program of developing Toyota’s automotive professionals due for eventual employment not only in local Toyota dealerships but overseas Toyota networks as well.

The fund also augmented TMP Tech’s “Study Now, Pay Later” plan for families affected by the pandemic amid the carmaker’s call for would-be students to have their entrance exams done online free of charge.

In-house learning is at 50 percent capacity in keeping with government guidelines as TMP Tech strictly implements Covid-19 health and safety protocols at its campus in Santa Rosa City, Laguna.

Aside from its TMP Tech, Toyota, through its Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation (TMPF), also continues to support its adopted school, Pulong Sta. Cruz Elementary School in its shift from face-to-face classes to online and modular learning.

Toyota has donated 46 brandnew laptops for the individual use of teachers, and 4,000 printed learning modules for use of students in the kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2 levels. The modules cover subjects in Mathematics, Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health (MAPEH), Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (ESP), and Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE).

The printouts are distributed to parents of students every week and the accomplished sheets are submitted regularly for teachers’

Honda’s Colene Jalalon also sent the salient features of the ongoing promo for both Honda models extended up to yearend: Variant

Special Introductory Suggested Retail Price

Special All-in Low Downpayment for as low as

All-New City 1.5 RS CVT All-New City 1.5 V CVT All-New City 1.5 S CVT All-New City 1.5 S MT

PHP 1,048,000 PHP 968,000 PHP 878,000 PHP 838,000

PHP 34,000 PHP 32,000 PHP 27,000 PHP 27,000

Variant

Suggested Retail Price

*Special / Regular All-in Low Downpayment for as low as

Cash Discount

BR-V 1.5 V CVT

PHP 1,158,000

*PHP 30,000

PHP 10,000

BR-V 1.5 S CVT

PHP 1,038,000

PHP 21,000

PHP 60,000

And, speaking of Toyota, I will miss, sadly, the lunch to be hosted

by Alfred Ty, the dapper, affable and super-warm TMP chairman, on Monday.

Irresistible almost are the email invites from TMP’s Red Ladies— sweetly worded all—that I feel guilty turning them all down.

Thank you Elijah(won) Marcial, Nadinne B. Capistrano and Jeane Sangalang for your love.

Oh, yeah, it also breaks my heart to disappoint Sir VSS’s (Vince S. Socco) kindly offer to chauffeur me to the affair.

“Di ka makakadalo sa pa-lunch ni Alfred sa 16?” came Sir Vince’s viber. “Una kong balita nag-confirm ka raw? Puwede kita pasundo.”

I told him what I also told the Red Ladies: “My doctor won’t allow me, citing my being from the vulnerable sector. KJ.” My P.S. “Finally, I can believe: Age does matter.”

But VSS was undaunted.

“Naisip ko ilagay kita sa VSS bubble—kaya pasundo sana kita.”

I had hardly started answering him when VSS’s next viber butted in: “Tapos may antigen testing naman pagdating sa lunch. Hehe.”

And before I could respond, Sir Vince again: “But I fully understand…hinay-hinay…better safe always!”

That’s how much we love each other.

But to cap our exchange, here’s me: “My Doc is ultra-conservative!

Republican yata? Hehe.”

VSS: “Haha! Immovable!”

PEE STOP A five-year or 100-km

vehicle warranty awaits a buyer of MG bought at MGPhilippinesTCCCI, not to mention a one-year free maintenance service until December 31, 2020. Also in the purchase-package are free tinting, a three-year LTO registration and a third-party liability coverage. Also, palatable discounts and no down payment schemes when you buy the MG RX5 (P180k discount!), MG5 (P110k), MG ZS (P100k) and MG 6 (110k). Call 5328-4664 or visit www.mgmotor. com.ph for details.

2012, is committed to ensuring all Filipinos can have access to Brembo.

These newly introduced online tools for customers—from wholesalers to workshops and motorists— will help find the best brakes for their car. Whether it’s a daily driver or race car, Brembo has a braking product, and AutoPerformance Ph can help customers get what they need. Starting with the Bremboparts. com web site, customers can find what specific spare parts are required for

their car. This comprehensive and user-friendly online catalog offers a search database for parts by the vehicle details, the part number, and— for brake discs—by the dimensions.

Meanwhile, the newly designed AutoPerformancePh.com web site is now a knowledge base for all things brakes. There are handy tips on everything brake related, from brake system maintenance tips, experiences from actual Brembo users, and how to choose the right product.

Apart from the newly designed web site, there’s also a dedicated helpdesk open from Monday to Saturday (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.). A trained customer service expert is on hand, ready to answer all queries, from technical support to help locate the nearest Brembo Official Dealer. The helpdesk is also prepared to accept dealer applications to qualified wholesalers, retailers, workshops, and fleets.

Last, there’s the new Brembo Official Store on Lazada. It makes choosing and purchasing Brembo products easy and hassle-free.

Brembo brake pads and brake discs for the country’s most popular vehicles are listed there, and more part numbers are added every week.

AutoPerformance Ph is proud as the first in the country to implement a Brembo Official Store in the region, with Brembo’s regional office’s support. These new tools, along with a nationwide network of over 100 Brembo Official Dealers—from North Luzon to Mindanao—make the world’s undisputed number one brake brand accessible to all Filipino motorists.

Get back on the road with Caltex Fuel

C

ALTEX, marketed by Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), brings out the Christmas cheer to Filipinos nationwide with its Fuel for Fuel promo starting November 8, 2020. Motorists can collect e-stamps and redeem free fuel to help them get back on the road this holiday season.

For every P300 spent on Caltex fuels, motorists will earn one estamp. Get a P150 fuel voucher with every eight e-stamps collected. To track how many e-stamps they’ve earned to redeem the fuel voucher, customers need to register in Caltex.com/ph/fuel-for-fuel. Customers can redeem up to three fuel vouchers per transaction.

The participating Caltex products are Platinum, Silver and Diesel.

Transactions made via StarCash, loyalty cards, partner banks and purchase order accounts are also accepted and valid for this promo.

The promo runs until January 31, 2021, and the redemption period is up until March 31, 2021. The promo is not valid in conjunction with other Caltex

promotions or discount offers.

Fuel for fuel promo is registered with DTI Fair Trade Permit No. FTEB -106808 Ser ies of 2020.

MG offers great deals until December

T

he Coven a nt C a r Co., Inc. (TCCCI)—MG Philippines—MG vehicles are easy on the eyes, easy to drive, and now with the “Ride Easy with MG” promo from MG Philippines, it’s now become even easier for car buyers to drive home their very own modern, stylish, fullyappointed British heritage ride.

The “Ride Easy With MG” promo runs until December 31, 2020, and, for as low as zero downpayment, anyone can be the proud owner of an MG car whose iconic octagonal badge is synonymous with a rich motoring lineage, cutting edge technology, and head turning aesthetics. Every MG purchased from MG Philippines–TCCCI comes with a five year or 100,000 km (whichever comes first) vehicle warranty, and one-year free periodic maintenance service (PMS) on all brandnew MG vehicles purchased on or before December 31, 2020; as well as free car tint and floor matting, three-year LTO registration, and third party liability coverage. MG owners also gain access to the My MG mobile app which allows them to easily schedule vehicle servicing from their smartphones; MG Mobile Garage service caravan for scheduled home vehicle repair services; MG Online Garage for online technical vehicle consultations with MG service specialists; and MG HERO Services, which provides 24/7 roadside support through the MG Philippines hotline (+632 328 4664). Visit www. mgmotor.com.ph.

For a full list of all brand new MG models available undeR the “Ride Easy With MG” promo, please refer to the table below: MODEL

MG ZS

MG RX5

MG 6

MG 5

SRP

CASH DISCOUNT

LOW DP

1.5 L MT Style

VARIANT

818,888.00

90,000.00

18K

1.5 L AT Style

868,888.00

90,000.00

25K

1.5 L AT Style Plus

898,888.00

90,000.00

48K

1.5 L AT Alpha

998,888.00

100,000.00

28K

1.5 T AT Style

1,228,888.00

180,000.00

1.5 T AT Alpha

1,298,888.00

45,000.00

88K

1.5T 7TST Alpha

1,068,888.00

100,000.00

-

1.5T 7TST Trophy

1,188,888.00

110,000.00

38K

1.5 L MT Core

658,888.00

55,000.00

-

1.5 L AT Core

718,888.00

55,000.00

-

1.5 L AT Style

848,888.00

83,000.00

ZERO

1.5 L AT Alpha

938,888.00

110,000.00

ZERO

ZERO DP w/ 3 months payment holiday