BusinessMirror November 23, 2020.pdf

EXPORTERS MISS OUT ON $654-M GSP PERKS w

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Monday, November 23, 2020 Vol. 16 No. 46

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DELAYS, TWEAKS IN ODA PROJECTS SWELL COST BY P2B—NEDA

By Cai U. Ordinario

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ELAYS and adjustments to infrastructure projects could increase the cost of these Official Development Assistance (ODA)-funded undertakings by at least P2 billion this year, according to official government data.

Data obtained from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) showed that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has requested for cost increases for two projects.

This has caused the country’s total ODA cost overrun stock to increase to P61.58 billion in the January-to-June 2020 period from P58.84 billion as of 2019.

“The cost overrun stock sums up all the amount of cost overrun requests under various ICC review stages [Secretariat review, ICC-Technical Board, ICC

Fallen leaves, withered branches and twigs were turned into fancy and unique décors just in time for the Christmas season at the Fontana Leisure Park in Pampanga. The raw materials used were all gathered from the rich, lush green spaces of Fontana by its Art Department. PHOTO COURTESY OF CDC-CD

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

XPORTERS have missed out on the opportunity to get duty-free treatment for $654 million worth of shipments to the United States, and have been advised to maximize the country’s trade incentive from Washington in order to recover from Covid-19 losses.

PESO exchange rates n US 48.2790

@caiordinario

In a webinar last week, Special Trade Representative Nicanor S. Bautista called on exporters to avail themselves of the duty-free shipping to the US packaged under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). He argued that the Philippines is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in tariffs that could have been paid for by the GSP. According to Bautista, the Philippines last year exported $1.6 billion worth of GSP products to the US, but it failed to apply for exemption to $654 million in eligible goods.

“I would really encourage our exporters to talk to your importers [and] tell them your products are GSP,” Bautista explained. “Because if they are, then your importer may be able to purchase more or you can export more of your products because they are duty free.”

He added that exporters should demand from their buyers in the US that they apply for the GSP benefits, as he described the procedure just involves filling out forms and nothing else.

Continued on A2

Cabinet Committee], incurred by all active ODA loans as of the reporting period,” Neda said in an e-mail to BusinessMirror.

“A cost overrun request is excluded from the stock upon meeting any of the following conditions: [a] ODA loan project with cost overrun has closed; [b] request is disapproved by the ICC; or [c] the implementing agencies withdraw the request,” it added.

Based on the data, P2.74 billion was added to the cost overrun stock of the country due to the DPWH’s Flood Risk Management Project-Cagayan, Tagoloan and Imus River (FRMP-CTI) and the Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Measures in Low Lying Areas of Pampanga.

Both projects were earlier identified by the Neda in the 2019 ODA Portfolio Review as among those were slated to be restructured this year.

Continued on A2

‘Stimulus, not herd immunity or vaccine, key to recovery’

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HE government’s projection that GDP growth will reach 6.5 to 7.5 percent next year can be achieved if it would pump more money into the economy, according to economists from the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) Acerd said stimulus spending, and not the vaccine or herd immunity, will help the economy which contracted in the second quarter following the implementation of

lockdown restrictions meant to stop the spread of Covid-19.

In a recent presentation at the Philippine Economic Society (PES), Ateneo School of Social Sciences Dean and Acerd Senior Fellow Fernando T. Aldaba said the combined impact of Bayanihan 1 and 2 as well as the national budget will lead to a growth of 4 to 4.5 percent next year and 4.5 to 5 percent in 2022.

n japan 0.4655 n UK 64.0373 n HK 6.2271 n CHINA 7.3336 n singapore 35.9085 n australia 35.1809 n EU 57.3410 n SAUDI arabia 12.8744

Continued on A2

Source: BSP (November 20, 2020)

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A2 Monday, November 23, 2020

IC issues CDOs on 3 nonlife insurers short of P900-M rule

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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@BNicolasBM

HREE nonlife insurers were slapped with cease and desist orders (CDOs) and were placed under conservatorship after they failed to comply with last year’s P900-million net worth requirement.

Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa told the BusinessMirror that only one nonlife insurance firm was able to comply out of the four insurers reported last month to be undercapitalized.

“Of the four, only one was able to comply. The three have been issued CDOs. The three are still trying to get investors to invest in their company,” Funa said in a message.

Show-cause orders were issued before the CDOs were issued to these three nonlife insurers, he said.

“CDOs were issued different dates this year. Placed under conservatorship.

There’s a process for that under the Insurance Code,” he added.

Being placed under conservatorship status means that the company cannot engage in selling new insurance products. The company, however, is obliged to serve its existing pool of policyholders.

Funa also revealed that one of the three nonlife insurers that were placed under conservatorship “is still hoping to merge with another”company that is“not on the list” of those undercapitalized.

But should after some time these three firms still fail to get investors to infuse funds, he said these “will be liquidated.” However, Funa did not identify these nonlife insurers, including the one that has already complied.

“For the one that’s already infused, it’s unnecessary to expose it to reputational risks. Insurers are sensitive to that

because trust is the foundation of insurance business,” he said. “For the others, they are still striving to talk to investors hoping to salvage the business. I don’t want to undermine their efforts and sabotage their talks. It is enough that they are no longer selling but still servicing their clients. If it is clear that no investors will be coming, then we can make the announcement.”

Sought how the one nonlife insurer was able to comply with the net worth requirement, Funa said:“Their conglomerate sold a real property for around P2 billion. So a portion of that went to the insurance company. That real property has been pending since last year. It was delayed by the pandemic.”

Under Republic Act 10607 or the Insurance Code, insurance companies must have a minimum net worth of P900 million by end-2019 and P1.3 billion by end-2022.

Earlier this year, the Insurance Commission (IC) served show-cause orders to six nonlife insurance companies for not complying with the minimum net worth requirement.

The IC also previously suspended these show-cause orders due to the travel restrictions and temporary suspension of business activities to contain the spread of Covid-19. But it still directed all life and nonlife insurance companies to comply with the minimum net worth and minimum capital investment requirement.

According to the list provided in the IC’s web site, there are 54 nonlife insurance companies, 27 life insurance companies, five composite companies (life and nonlife), one professional reinsurer and eight servicing insurance companies that have valid and existing certificates of authority as of October 12 this year.

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Digital fraud on the rise, masked as Covid-tied transactions–BSP

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HE Anti-Money Laundering Council is urging Filipinos to be more “cautious and vigilant” in their digital transactions, as suspect digital activity has been on the rise along with digital payments due to the pandemic.

AMLC Chairman and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno particularly called on banks and financial consumers to both practice and adhere to the process of “know-your-customer” (KYC) rules as he warned against money launderers abusing digital platforms that were largely adopted in the midst of the global health crisis.

Diokno reported that suspicious

transaction reports (STRs) related to online activities increased by 57 percent in the first eight months of this year compared to the same January-to-August period last year.

The rise in STR filings during the period, the governor said, are manifested through three top means: (1) unauthorized account access through skimming and phishing and other violations of the Electronic Commerce Act at

49 percent of all reported transactions, with an estimated value of P2.7 billion; (2) Online sexual exploitation of children and related crimes, at 13 percent and with an estimated value of P P84.5 million; and (3) Suspected money mules/ pass-through accounts at 9 percent, with an estimated value of P 406.9 million.

“Proper know-your-customer and customer due diligence procedures must always be conducted, while clients’ risk ratings must be periodically assessed. Likewise, online fund transfer service providers are advised to be vigilant especially during the pandemic,” Diokno said.

He warned the public of suspicious activities masking as legal or legitimate transactions. He said some of these include fraudsters pretending to be affiliated with a government unit and a govern-

EXPORTERS MISS OUT ON $654-M GSP PERKS Continued from A1

Bautista said exporters can take advantage of opportunities that will arise from the suspension of Thailand’s trade privilege next year. In October, Washington decided to suspend the grant of GSP

to Bangkok for its failure to expand market access for US pork products.

Taking effect on December 30, the suspension opens a window for GSP beneficiaries, such as the Philippines, to fill in the gap in the US market to be left by Thai exports.

“This is another opportunity for us, as we export a lot of similar products to Thailand,” said the trade official, who is stationed at the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in New York. “So we should look into this.”

In spite of the suspension, Thai exporters can transact with their clients in the US as per usual; it’s just that the duty-free treatment for their goods will be removed, Bautista clarified.

The GSP allows the Philippines to export a total of 5,057 products, or nearly half of the 10,600 US tariff lines, to the American market at zero or reduced duties. In exchange, the beneficiaries should comply with 15 criteria involving mainly labor welfare, human rights, intellectual property and market access.

In February, six Democratic senators pleaded with the Office of the

US Trade Representative to suspend the Philippine GSP over President Duterte’s human-rights record.

They insisted that extending the trade privilege in the face of drug war killings under Duterte could be seen in the international community as a signal of approval for the bloodshed. Aside from the US GSP, the country’s preferential treatment from the European Union has been put at risk as well with the jailing of Sen. Leila M. de Lima and the shutdown of TV network ABS-CBN. Last year, merchandise trade with the US improved more than 5 percent to $19.63 billion, from $18.69 billion in 2018, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Exports to the American market jumped nearly 9 percent to $11.56 billion, from $10.63 billion. Industrial products and garments made up bulk of the country’s shipments to the US. The US last year stood as the country’s largest export destination to lead Asian markets Japan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

DELAYS, TWEAKS IN ODA PROJECTS SWELL COST BY P2B—NEDA Continued from A1

The FRMP-CTI is a Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) project. The approved cost for the project was P7.5 billion but it is now seen to cost P8.82 billion.

The additional P1.32 billion or 17.55-percent cost increase, Neda said, was due to higher costs for the Imus River component of the project as well as higher Right-of- Way acquisition (Rowa) costs. “[The] cost increase [will be used] to cover the price escalation and the supplemental agreement for additional consulting services for the Imus River component; and [b] changes in cost for the Right-of-Way acquisition,” Neda documents stated.

Meanwhile, the Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Measures in Low Lying Areas of Pampanga is funded by the government of Korea.

It’s original approved cost was pegged at P6.15 billion but is now expected to cost P7.57 billion. The P1.42 billion or 23.07-percent cost increase is due to an increase in the dollar-exchange rate for civil works.

Other reasons cited by Neda for the increase in cost is the change

of project scope and a higher budget needed for Rowa based on the assessment made by a third-party appraiser.

“Cost overrun is defined as additional costs over and above the ICC-approved project cost [Section 2.1 of the IRR of the ODA Act].

Agency requests for cost overruns undergo the ICC review process, mainly to determine whether the project continues to be economically viable,” according to the 2019 ODA Portfolio Review.

Meanwhile, Neda said the total ODA received by the country reached $26.21 billion as of June 2020. This is composed of $24.6 billion worth of loans and $1.61 billion.

The country received the most ODA funding from Japan, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Korea.

ODA from Japan amounted $10.1 billion or 38.53 percent of the total; ADB, $7.07 billion or 26.98 percent; World Bank, $4.98 billion or 18.98 percent; AIIB, $957.6 million or 3.65 percent; and Korea, $679.65 million or 2.59 percent.

ment agency in soliciting Covid-19 donations and Online shopping swindling schemes involving cryptocurrency.

Other notable red flags include large incoming or outgoing transactions for Covid-19 or other humanitarian causes with no valid documentation, unsubstantiated deposits or fund transfers as alleged payment for products and/ or services rendered to government units for Covid-19 relief efforts and receipt of large deposits allegedly caused by changes in the nature of employment, allegedly due to the pandemic.

Some also mask digital criminal activity as large deposits allegedly for the sale of medical items or donations for Covid-19 relief efforts from unusual senders or channels, such as virtual currency companies. Bianca Cuaresma

‘Stimulus, not herd immunity or vaccine, key to recovery’ Continued from A1

“If they add more stimulus and spend more, it’s [government forecast of 6.5 to 7.5 percent] possible given base effects,” Aldaba told BusinessMirror over the weekend. “[At the current level of spending the] fastest recovery [could happen] maybe in the second half of 2022 where we can grow over 6 percent, but getting to the 2019 level will most probably be in 2023,” he added.

Based on the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) estimates, GDP is expected to average 6.5 to 7.5 percent in 2021 and in 2022. This, after the economy posts a 4.5-percent to 6.6-percent contraction in 2020.

Aldaba said confidence remains a problem in the Philippines. Ending the lockdowns, Aldaba said, is not enough to restore the confidence of Filipinos and will undermine the economy’s growth. The uncertainty brought by the Covid-19, Aldaba noted, has already altered the behavior of Filipinos even without restrictions imposed by the government.

In order to restore confidence, efforts to implement effective contract tracing should be intensified; the implementation of credible and consistent communication about health interventions; and delivering public health measures and protocols effectively and sufficiently to prevent transmission.

“We need, really, confidence. We have to build confidence for economic recovery. We shouldn’t really wait for the vaccine or herd immunity because that will take maybe 2-3 years. So the government and other sectors must really be able to build confidence so that our economic recovery will resume,”Aldaba said in his presentation.

Aldaba noted that surveys done by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 85 percent of adult Filipinos are worried that their immediate family members could catch Covid-19.

The SWS survey results also showed 77 percent of adult Filipinos considered it risky to go to the market and 65 percent of those who have jobs consider it risky to go back to work.

He said these findings are similar to the results of the Pulse Asia survey showing 97 percent of Filipinos expressed concern about getting sick due to Covid-19 and 84 percent of Filipinos are worried about contracting Covid-19.

Aldaba said in the end, this is what it takes to provide a much-needed boost to the economy: Filipinos should be confident enough to travel and commute; go to retail stores; groceries and pharmacies; parks and entertainment centers; and go to their workplaces.

Earlier, Senator Ralph G. Recto explained that if the country did not experience a pandemic, the economy would have grown to around P20 trillion to P21 trillion from the estimate of P19 trillion this year.

Accounting for the pandemic just this year, Recto—a former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary—estimated that the cost to the economy could mean 10 million minimum wage jobs.

Given these dismal estimates, Recto said limiting the GDP’s contraction to just around 6.6 percent this year would prove to be difficult. Cai U. Ordinario

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Pharma group supports price negotiations use to buy drugs

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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HE Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) expressed support on the use of price negotiations to strengthen government’s leverage in purchasing medicines.

“In this time when resources are scarce, institutionalizing price negotiationswillhelpthegovernmentmaximize limited resources and enhance the support provided to Filipinos,” PHAP Executive Director Teodoro B. Padilla said.

Padilla added that price negotiation strengthens the bargaining power of the government to drive prices down, “eventually providing medicines for free or at significantly lowered prices for the people.”

The Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) recently released a draft joint administrative order (JAO) that tackles the constitution of a Price Negotiation Board.

The Price Negotiation Board is expected to “recognize that competition through public bidding is more effective in determining an efficient market price.”

PHAP, representing the researchbased medicines, vaccines and diagnosticssector in the country, saiditcontinues to collaborate with the government on strategies to make medicines available and affordable through competition.

Padilla said they believe there are tools available that government can use to drive down prices of medicines.

He noted these tools include pooled procurement and price negotiations.”

The PHAP said the pharmaceutical industry has been adversely affected by lockdownmeasuresagainsttheCovid-19 pandemic. The significant contraction in the prescription market and unexpected disruptions in the supply chain, along with the imposition of mandatory price caps on medicines added to the burden of pharmaceutical companies struggling to recover losses, the PHAP added.

Instead of mandatory price regulation, other countries implement price negotiation to improve medicine affordability and availability, the group said. It cited as example the People’s Republic of China, which introduced a price-negotiation mechanism in 2017.

Doing so allowed the Communist Partyled nation to achieve discounts of up to 71 percent by consolidating medicine requirements among its provinces.

In the Philippines, public-private partnerships that produced consolidated volume across government hospitals have resulted in major discounts of up to 50 percent to 74 percent for kidney transplant drugs and breast cancer treatments, according to the PHAP. Facingtheresponsibilitytoprovidelifesaving medicines to Filipinos, the PHAP also emphasized the need to continue investments in pharmaceutical research, especially with the ongoing pandemic.

Security Council defends fund allocation for Davao

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By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

@joveemarie

FTER some lawmakers questioned the allocation for the barangay development in Mindanao, the National Security Council on Sunday defended the barangay development funds allotted for Davao City, saying it would be able to generate substantial economic activity and progress for the Davao region, as well as the whole of Mindanao.

In terms of economic growth, National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr. told lawmakers that Davao City is the hub of economy in Mindanao with a Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) rate of 9.4 percent; thus, it needs protection against insurgencies.

“The abundance of culture, people and wealth makes it an attractive resource for the NPA [New People’s Army], particularly

in terms of ease of logistics for the insurgents,” Esperon said.

“Hence, the overall progress in Mindanao points to the fact that we cannot forgo the stability, peace and order now prevailing in Davao City.”

In a statement, Esperon defended the P1.58 billion funds allocated for the 15 communities in Davao City, saying the selection had undergone scrutiny and

thorough validation from various national government agencies particularly the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“Should Davao City succumb to the NPA; so goes the rest of Mindanao. This development program will uplift the plight of the people affected by arm conflicts in the identified barangays nationwide.

These fund will bring projects which will help them bring their lives to normalcy” said Esperon, the vice chairman of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

The Regional task Force XI of the NTF-ELCAC had included geographically-isolated and disadvantaged areas of Magtuod, Tapak, Colosas, Salapawan, Lumiad, Maula, Panalum, Mabuhay, Tibuloy, Salaysay, Malamba, Gaitan, Biao Joaquin, Talandang and Dominga.

Ea rl ier, members of Ma ka b ay a n blo c que s t ione d t he repor ted a l location of P1.58 billion of alleged counter-insurgency funds under the proposed 2021 national budget of the NTF-ELC AC to several barangays in Davao City.

The militant solons specifically stated that there are no armed conflicts in Davao City.

The Regional Task Force had recommended the inclusion of several other barangays to NTF in consideration of local issues of conf licts and specific areas identified by former rebels; hence increasing the total number of identified barangays in Davao City for the Barangay Development Program to 83.

Because Davao City is surrounded by provinces of Region 11, Esperon alleged that the indigenous people and children here are “vulnerable to recruitment for the NPA.” The AFP noted also that Davao City is within the vicinity of five guerilla fronts with one front inside its jurisdiction.

He noted data from security forces indicate that Davao Region is a recruitment and training ground for the NPA. He charged that last year, more than 55 Salugpungan schools illegally operated and recruited indigenous children into armed conflict.

“In Davao City alone, several Salugpungan schools have been identified,” Esperon said.

Cabinet seeks opening satellite tech to small Internet providers

DHSUD to oversee building centers in typhoon-hit areas

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HE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) said they will be relocating poor households and overseeing the construction of safe evacuation facilities in typhoon affected areas.

In a statement, the DHSUD said this is part of its efforts in the “Build Back Better” task force, which is currently assessing the extent of recovery and rehabilitation efforts after recent typhoons.

Through the task force, the government intends to use a sciencebased approach in pushing for rehabilitation and recovery efforts in areas severely affected by Typhoons Rolly, Siony, Tonyo and Ulysses, the DHSUD said.

“What we need now is an assessment on the ground, which can be taken from the post-disaster risk assessment that should be conducted by the Office of the Civil Defense in coordination with all the government agencies on the ground,” DHSUD Secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario said. “So we can immediately get readings on the ground and included therein are the LGUs [local government units], affected LGUs.” Malacañang earlier said that the task force will complement the operations of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council as the Department of Disaster Resilience, which is being proposed by some lawmakers is not yet established.

The task force also seeks to establish more resilient communities around the country, as well as further bolster LGUs’ disasterpreparedness programs.

The task force is co-chaired by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The DHSUD will lead the “Stronger Shelter and Resilient Settlement Committee” of the Task Force.

“All we need to do is to have that post-disaster team that will go to the provinces affected by these three typhoons to give us a full picture of the damages and give an assessment and that will be the basis of our Task Force on what rehabilitation concerns that we must undertake,” del Rosario said.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, November 23, 2020 A3

HOPE

A belen (Nativity scene) made by the Don Bosco Technical Institute and out of indigenous material stood out despite being nearly destroyed as typhoon Ulysses made landfall on the Philippines. The Nativity scene, part of the 13th “Belenismo sa Tarlac” festival, spells out the word “Hope;” a commodity much needed during the pandemic and an economic recession. NONIE REYES

Building resiliency needs family planning–Popcom

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

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UILDING resiliency against pandemics and other natural disasters also means planning Filipino families, according to the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom).

In a statement, the Popcom said overcrowding in households make Filipino families vulnerable to pandemics. The Popcom earlier said 3.785 million Filipinos or 27.2 percent of its 13.867 million population live in 812,584 housing units that are under 20 square meters (sqm) each.

Undersecretary and Popcom head Juan A. Perez III earlier said that with an average number of 4.7 persons in each household, that leaves a living space of only 4.25 sqm per person “making it nearly impossible to achieve physical distancing.”

“Our resiliency against the pandemic and other related crisis situations starts from our decision to form a family. We need to consider our preparedness and capabilities to

provide each member their physical, social, emotional, and other pertinent needs,” Perez said.

“When families are planned well, vulnerabilities diminish; thus, communities can overcome major disasters such as pandemics and natural calamities,” he added.

Popcom explained that physical distancing—a critical health and safety protocol being implemented by the government—has proven to be difficult to implement among households of small residential units.

Ideally, Popcom earlier said, there must be a standard of 6 sqm allocated per person to practice social distancing at home. The Popcom said data showed that nearly a third of Metro Manila’s population live in less than 20-square meter homes.

Perez earlier said the poorest in Metro Manila estimated at 2.066 million or 14.9 percent of the megacity’s population live in less than 20 sqm single-detached homes.

“The importance of understanding and considering the demographic situation of populations in formulating development initiatives that

aim to uplift lives of people and their communities, especially at this time of the pandemic and the series of natural calamities, cannot be underestimated, given the government’s limited resources,” Perez said.

In accordance with the celebration of Population and Development (Popdev) Week, Popcom called on all government stakeholders and the public to address prevailing issues that affect the integrity of populations and communities.

Perez said practicing family planning and responsible parenthood should be part of medium- to long-term solutions toward building the resiliency of families and communities.

This, Perez said, would enable couples to have greater capacity to ensure their health, financial stability and other social protection in the future.

He also called on local authorities to factor-in population variables in implementing their policies, programs and solutions—moreso in the time of Covid-19 and the so-called “new normal.”

HE Cabinet Economic Development Cluster (EDC) is set to recommend the Satellite Liberalization Act as a priority measure of the Duterte administration to liberalize access to the country’s orbital so that smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) and socio-civic organizations can make use of satellites to provide Internet connectivity even to remote areas of the country.

The Office of Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has learned this from a key government official that Satellite Liberalization Act or House Bill 7081 will be recommended to President Duterte as a priority measure.

Salceda said satellite-based technologies are seen as cheaper and easier to install than broadband, which requires right-of-way and massive capital investments.

He added they have been working with partners in the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Philippine Space Agency “to come up with this policy that will improve Internet connectivity in rural areas and enhance competition among Internet service providers.”

The DICT advocated for the approval of the measure by the country’s economic managers.

“We need a basket of solutions for the Philippine Internet problem. Good broadband is certainly in the mix; and we are fighting for the Faster Internet Act, which will do exactly that. But we are also pushing for satellite liberalization for rural and underserved areas.”

According to Salceda, satellite-

based broadband as one of the country’s modes for making Internet access more inclusive and more diffuse is an alternative that can be quickly and easily deployed as they do not rely on wire-based systems, satellite-based Internet can service rural areas and even the most far-flung islands the country.

“In countries with similar geographic and socioeconomic issues around Internet access inclusivity, satellite technology is already being used,” Salceda added. He cited that in Japan, “an archipelago like the Philippines, with its own rural areas far from usual metropolitan regions, mobile service provider SoftBank has deployed 460,000 Wi-fi hotspots nationwide connected via satellite broadband.”

He added that his office has been working with the DICT and the PhSA to make Internet connectivity faster for all areas of the country, including remote regions.

“It will be a quick fix to issues of Internet connectivity in the most underserved places,” the lawmaker said.

Earlier this week, Salceda’s proposed Faster Internet Act was also approved by the Committee on Information and Communication Technology of the House.

Under the bill, access to satellitebased technology will be made more inclusive and the regulatory framework will be made clearer.

The DICT is more explicitly mandated to be the agency in-charge of regulating the use of satellite-based technologies outside commercial telecommunications. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

DAR gives out land titles, relief packs in typhoon-hit provinces

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HE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) announced on Sunday the distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (Cloas) and relief packs to agrarian reform beneficiaries in Cagayan and Isabela provinces, two of the most severely-devastated provinces following the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses.

The DAR team distributed 47 Cloas and 900 relief packs in the towns of Enrile, Solana, Amulung at Alcala in Cagayan province and in San Pablo and Santo Tomas in Isabela province, the DAR said in a statement.

Each relief pack contains supplemental food and non-food items which include rice, bread, canned sardines, four liters of distilled drinking water and hygiene kits.

The Cloa distribution was led by Bureau of Agrarian Legal Assistance (Bala) Director Marjorie P. Ayson.

She was accompanied by Administrative Service Director Cupido Gerry Asuncion, Cagayan Valley Regional Director Samuel S. Solomero and Cagayan Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer Arthur E. Faeldon in four different towns of Cagayan and two towns of Isabela. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

A4 Monday, November 23, 2020 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

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China’s Covid-19 rule worries banana growers

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) has expressed concern over China’s mandatory disinfection of food imports as a precautionary measure against Covid-19, as it could hike business costs and affect shipments to the Philippines’s second-largest export market.

PBGE A Execut ive Director Stephen A. Antig told the BusinessMirror that the shipments of some of the group’s members were disinfected by Chinese officials even if the guidelines are not yet “implementable.”

Citing the Department of Agricul-

ture (DA), Antig noted that China has just submitted the proposed guidelines to the World Trade Organization for comments.

Antig said at least three PBGEA members have reported that their shipments were disinfected in at least two different ports in China.

He said the disinfection of food imports, particularly cold chain food, prior to distribution could pose problems for banana exporters as it will increase their cost and result in the deterioration of the quality of their shipments.

Antig said PBGEA received an English translation of Beijing’s latest guidelines on food imports last week from the Philippine Agriculture Attaché to China.

“If they implement these guidelines it may increase cost and affect the quality of fruits. China’s plan is to spray disinfectant on the boxes of bananas arriving in China and let it dry for 3 to 4 hours in an open area,” he said.

“So, there is a possibility that after spraying six sides of the boxes the disinfectant may seep into the fruits. So what if the chemicals they sprayed have some effect on the health of consumers? Then that will be a problem for us.”

Antig said PBGEA has already raised the issue with concerned DA agencies, but his group is planning to submit a formal letter to Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar. He said PBGEA will urge the DA to hold a dialogue with Chinese officials on how the guidelines would be implemented and to determine the impact of the rules on banana exporters, particularly on small growers who depend on China.

Antig noted that the guidelines did not specify the entity that will shoulder the cost of disinfection.

Also, drying the boxes in an open area for a few hours could mean lost opportunity for exporters, he said.

If problems arise after the disinfection is done in China, Antig expressed concern that the cost may be borne by the importing entity and the exporter.

“If that happens then importers may request price reduction or just pass on the additional

costs to their consumers which may affect demand.”

Antig said PBGEA is now in the process of determining the cost implications of China’s new guidelines as well as the scientific explanation on how the disinfection could affect banana shipments. The results would be submitted immediately to the DA. “We understand why China wants to do it but definitely not at the expense of our export commodity. China is one of our top markets, and a growing market for that matter, and we do not want to lose it,” he said.

China is now the country’s top banana export market after it dislodged Japan as the number one buyer of Philippine bananas in 2018 (See “China wrests Japan’s 30-yr record as top buyer of PHL bananas,” in the BusinessMirror, April 22, 2019).

However, Japan is poised to overtake China as the Philippines’s top

banana export market this year as total purchases by Japan at endSeptember grew 8.8 percent on the back of firmer consumer demand during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Preliminary Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) trade data showed that banana exports to Japan from January to September reached 1.138 million metric tons (MMT), which was 27 percent over the 893,628.177 MT shipped to China last year.

Latest PSA data showed that the country’s 9-month banana shipments to Japan were 8.8 percent higher than the 1.046 MMT it exported to the East Asian country a year ago. However, banana shipments to China plunged by 32 percent from last year’s 1.178 MMT, PSA data indicated.

PSA data also showed that the value of banana exports to Japan rose by 6.3 percent to $571.283 million while those shipped to China fell by 28.2 percent to $365.363 million.

Senate panel to probe delays in implementation of Balog-Balog projects

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

T

HE Senate Committee on Agriculture will open an inquiry into the slow implementation of projects under the P7.7-billion Balog-Balog Multi-Purpose Project (BBMP) in San Jose, Tarlac, which started during the term of former President Corazon Aquino.

The inquiry will be conducted after Sen. Panfilo Lacson flagged the delayed BBMP projects cited in a 2018 Commission on Audit (COA) report.

Interpellating committee chairman Sen. Cynthia Villar during plenary deliberations on the agriculture budget for 2021, Lacson said the BBMP should be looked into because it provides a “good case study” for the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), which is perennially bugged by project delays.

In the 2018 audit report, P20.704 billion of delayed projects were listed, of which, Lacson noted, “one of the highest aggregated contract costs is for the 5 projects of the Balog-Balog Multi-Purpose Project in San Jose, Tarlac, amounting to P7,773,510,386 or 37 percent of the P20.704 billion worth of delayed projects.”

To this, Villar raised the possibility that either she, or Lacson file a resolution calling for a “special hearing on this” in order to ferret out the reasons for the delay and prod the implementors to fast-track work on the delayed projects.

“We cannot solve this now, this is just an interpellation. I am willing to do a hearing on this. Maybe [Senator Lacson] can file a resolution and I will do a hearing, they will be there to answer,” Villar said, partly in Filipino.

“If you look at the budget now it’s 70-30 —70 [percent] for new facilities, 30 [percent] for repairs. You just have to watch over them and teach them to be more efficient. I will try to influence them that they choose better contractors.”

Slippage

Balog-Balog, other projects

MEANWHILE, Lacson asked Villar to provide a list of the 15 contracts or projects which incurred negative slippages, and Villar replied, “We will make a report, we will ask NIA to make a report to you.”

However, Villar also reported that NIA had “corrected some of their bad practices,” like devoting a disproportionately big share of their budget to repairs instead of setting up new irrigation facilities, as a result of congressional prodding.

“They [NIA] used to spend 50 percent of budget for repairs and 50 percent for new irrigation facilities,” she said. “I asked then Budget Secretary [Benjamin] Diokno what is a reasonable amount [for repairs] and he said, 20 percent. From then on they have been in transition, now they are doing 70-30, we’re trying to reach 80-20; now they do less repair but more irrigation facilities.”

According to Villar, in the private sector, if repairs take up more than 10 percent of budgets, it’s considered a bad ratio. “We’re trying to adopt new practices that will make them more efficient.”

Asked by Lacson how NIA responded to her advice, Villar replied,

MEANWHILE, Villar said Lacson was free to suggest for inclusion in the planned Senate inquiry on delays at NIA “any project you would want to include,” noting that inquiries by lawmakers make officials “more alert; but if not, they become even slower.”

Lacson said he recently sent his staff to follow up on any progress made in the Balog-Balog project since a 5-part documentary was aired on television in 2019.

“Just to check on the status of the implementation of the project, I sent a team to the site.

These are their findings, and we compared the status of the implementation in September 2019.

What they discovered only this month, November 16, 2020, when they visited the site, that’s the comparison. The project barely moved,” reported Lacson in a mix of English and Filipino.

Showing a series of slides on the part of the project for the Balog-Balog storage dam in September 2019 and November 2020—with a contract cost of P5.863 billion, started on June 21, 2017, Lacson pointed out the gross slippages.

According to him, the original target completion for the project was June 2020, revised to January 2021, and later further revised to June 2021.

“Following the date of its implementation, it is undergoing construction for three years with only 29.56 percent completion. Compared to 93.56-percent planned accomplishment. The plan is good, but actual completion is just at 29.56 percent. So this gives us an idea of how glaring the negative slippage is at 64.03 percent.”

He recalled the actual construction of the Balog-Balog irrigation canal and a dam began in 1988 during the presidency of the late Corazon Aquino. It involved the construction of a 105.5-meter elevation. Lacson described it “as a massive project, dam and reservoir irrigation network and drainage canals in San Jose, Tarlac.”

In 1992, Lacson said, the NIA proposed to implement the BalogBalog project in two phases. Phase 1 covers an area of 12,475 hectares and mainly consisted of the construction of a diversion dam, a conveyance canal, and a siphon underneath the Tarlac River to connect the conveyance canal to the Tarlac River irrigation system main canal.

The BBMP dam project Phase 2 was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority in May 2015, entailing the construction of new irriga-

tion service for 21,935 hectares and stabilization of water supply to the currently irrigated areas of 12,475 hectares developed under BBMP Phase 1.

He recalled that the BBMP Phase 2 was originally expected to be finished in 2018, at a total cost of P13.37 billion. Lacson said he checked the data from the General Appropriations Act (GAA) from 2015 to 2020. “ Total appropriations as of GAA 2020 amounted to P7 billion. The total appropriations for the BBMP until 2020 amounted to at least P7 billion, while it received no appropriation in 2018.

For 2021 there is a proposed appropriation of P500 million.”

Lacson then asked Villar, as sponsor of the budget of DA and its attached agencies: “Considering the track record of the construction delays and other issues involved, what can P500 million accomplish to contribute to the completion of the project in 2021?”

In turn, Villar explained that the project is multiyear, and the segments as completed are supposed to provide incremental benefits to the wide area covered by the total of 18 small dams under the ambitious program spanning the two Aquino presidencies.

She described BBMP as the “favorite project” of President Benigno Aquino III, noting that the allocations in GAA were much bigger during his term—P5 bil-

lion in 2015 and, P3 billion in 2016.” Still, she added, “since this is from Tarlac, I think President Aquino [the son] should have finished it during his term.” The allocations after 2016 have since become much smaller, for various reasons. Among those she heard were “conflict with cropping season, pandemic, insurgency, flooding, unresolved right-of-way.”

Villar added, “But I guess this is part of the government bureaucracy.

The only thing I can promise is from now on I will monitor this so we will do a better job in the future.”

On Lacson’s query whether it still made sense to allow P500 million for 2021, a sum he deemed “too small an amount considering the delays and billions of pesos poured into the project during the past several years,” Villar said in her view, the allocation, though measly, should stand.

Lacson said he was inclined to “propose to delete altogether the P500 million, “adding that “if it will accomplish nothing, let’s just put it into another project, maybe within DA or some other agency with more urgent need of the money.”

Villar asserted, however, that, “even if that’s just P500 million, for as long as it’s continuing every year it’s fine with us. The local government of Tarlac will supervise this better.” But she stressed the need to have someone monitor it closely, “otherwise, it’s really so slow.”

Biotechnology offers opportunities for growth—Cimatu

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

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HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) underscored the importance of promoting biological technology and its benefits amid the devastating socioeconomic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent typhoons that hit the country.

Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu said in a statement that biological technology or biotechnology “sheds a gleaming light of hope that there are still interventions that can be done to resuscitate the economy and society.”

“With Covid-19 and Typhoons Quinta, Rolly, Siony, Tony, and Ulysses happening in the same year, hopelessness seems abound. But through biotechnology, we want to show that there are still opportunities for growth and for refreshing changes in our contemporary world,” Cimatu said The DENR chief issued the statement ahead of this year’s celebration of the National Biotechnology Week (NBW) from November 23 to 27 with the theme “Bioteknolohiya: Pagbangon at Pag-asa tungo sa Matatag na Komunidad, Kapaligiran at Ekonomiya” to adapt with the current events under the new normal.

The DENR through its research and development arm, the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB), is leading this year’s celebration of NBW. For this year’s celebration, the ERDB has lined up online activities with focus on strengthening the economy while promoting biotechnology.

COBS of GMO corn sit on display in the Monsanto Co. booth during the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, on August 29, 2017. BLOOMBERG NEWS

The NBW has been annually celebrated every last week of November through Presidential Proclamation 1414 since 2004.

T he event ser ves as advocac y to increase awareness on biotechnolog y and its contr ibutions to agr icu lture and food secur it y, hea lth-care ser v ices, education, industr ia l

and economic development, and env ironmenta l sustainabilit y.

During the weeklong event, seven Philippine government agencies—together with private, local and international organizations—will enlighten the public on the misconceptions and negative connotations on biotechnology.

Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World BusinessMirror

G-20 summit opens as leaders urge united response to virus

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UBAI, United Arab Emirates—The Group of 20 summit opened on Saturday with appeals by the world's most powerful leaders to collectively chart a way forward as the coronavirus pandemic overshadows this year's gathering, transforming it from in-person meetings to a virtual gathering of speeches and declarations.

The pandemic, which has claimed more than 1.37 million lives worldwide, has offered the G-20 an opportunity to prove how such bodies can facilitate international cooperation in crises—but has also underscored their shortcomings.

"We have a duty to rise to the challenge together during this summit and give a strong message of hope and reassurance," Saudi Arabia's King Salman said in the summit's opening remarks.

While G-20 countries have contributed billions of dollars toward developing a vaccine for the virus, they have also mostly focused on securing their own vaccine supplies. Countries such as Britain, the US, France and Germany—all G-20 member states— have directly negotiated deals with pharmaceutical companies to receive billions of doses, meaning that the vast majority of the world's vaccine supply next year is already reserved.

US President Donald Trump highlighted what the US has done to response to the coronavirus and rebuild the economy and work on vaccines, which are expected to become available soon, according to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

Trump, however, appeared not to have acknowledged that Joe Biden won this month's presidential election.

“It’s been a great honor to work with you and I look forward to working with you again for a long time,” Trump said, according to audio obtained by The Guardian. The South China Morning Post reported similar comments.

A day before the summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that while $10 billion has been invested in efforts to develop vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, another $28 billion is needed for mass manufacturing, procurement and delivery of new Covid-19 vaccines around the world.

Guterres called on more G-20 nations to join COVAX, an international initiative to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to countries worldwide. The United States has declined to join under Trump.

The pandemic has had a far-reaching economic impact on developing countries and pushed millions into extreme poverty. It has also plagued the world's wealthiest nations, with nine G-20 countries ranking highest globally for the most cases of Covid-19 recorded. The United States tops the list, followed

by India, Brazil, France, Russia, Spain, the UK, Argentina and Italy, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Three G-20 leaders participating in the summit have been infected by the coronavirus this year: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Trump.

The virus shows no signs of abating as major cities in the US and Europe bring back lockdowns and

curfews. The World Health Organization says more cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the past four weeks than in the first six months of the pandemic.

The International Labor Organization says an equivalent of 225 million full-time jobs were lost in G-20 countries alone in the third quarter of 2020.

G-20 member-countries represent around 85 percent of the world's economic output and three-quarters of international trade.

In a sign of the times, the traditional "family photo" of leaders in the summit was digitally designed and superimposed on a historical site just outside the Saudi capital, Riyadh, which would have hosted the gathering. The kingdom has presided over the G-20 this year.

As part of the summit, seven leaders released video messages on “Pandemic Preparedness and Response.” France's President Emmanuel Macron warned of the challenges in obtaining “universal access to health technologies against Covid-19,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for strengthening the World Health Organization and stressed the pandemic can only be overcome if an affordable vaccine is available to all nations.

In a video statement released ahead of the summit, Johnson appealed to global leaders to harness the resources of the world's wealthiest nations to end the Covid-19 pandemic and tackle climate change.

“Our fates are in each other’s hands,” said Johnson, who plans to attend two virtual events at the summit while self-isolating at home in London after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19.

Bolsonaro, who spent months downplaying the severity of the virus while deaths mounted rapidly inside Brazil, emphasized in a video message that world leaders “should take care of people’s health and of the economy at the same time.”

President Trump also participated in the closeddoor virtual sessions that are taking place Saturday and Sunday. It does not appear that any leaders dropped out of the summit, despite calls by rights groups, lawmakers and EU parliamentarians for leaders to boycott the gathering to protest Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and war in Yemen.

G-20 heads of state last gathered virtually for an emergency meeting in March as the coronavirus was fast spreading around the world. At the time, they vowed “to do whatever it takes to overcome the pandemic.”

G-20 nations have since agreed to suspend debt payments for the world's poorest countries until mid2021 to allow those nations to focus their spending on health care and stimulus programs. The UN secretary general, however, has called on the G-20 to extend debt repayments through the end of 2021 and expand the scope to middle-income countries in need.

“I am confident that the Riyadh summit will deliver significant and decisive results and will lead to adopting economic and social policies that will restore hope and reassurance to the people of the world,” King Salman said. AP

C

alifornia reported record infections for the second consecutive day as total US cases surpassed 12 million. New Jersey also broke a record, passing 300,000 cases.

California added 15,442 new coronavirus cases, hitting a new high as the state’s nighttime curfew kicks in Saturday night.

The new cases topped Friday’s record of 13,005 infections, bringing the total to almost 1.1 million. The number of deaths increased by 86 to 18,643, state data showed.

The increased patient load left California’s hospitals with just 1,921 intensive-case unit beds available, near the low in July.

A 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew will be imposed in most counties for a month to ease the rate of infection.

The US reported 1,870 fatalities on Friday, in a week in which the death rate rapidly rose, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.

The daily average over the last week is now 1,440, compared with 1,177 the week before. That’s the highest level since last spring, when the outbreak in New York and the northeast pushed fatalities to a daily peak of more than 2,600 in late April.

New York reported 5,972 cases, the fifth straight day over 5,000 and the most since April, when the state was the nation’s early epicenter of the virus. While cases have risen rapidly in the last several weeks, the state’s overall positive test rate is 2.9%. That is among the lowest in the nation.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has set restrictions on a growing list of “micro-clusters” around New York City and upstate, with positive rates as high as 10 percent. Overall positivity of those clusters is 4.3 percent, he said in a press release.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has escalated its warning for cruise travel to the highest level and continued to recommend avoiding any trips on cruise ships worldwide.

The agency raised its warning to Level 4 from Level 3, citing “very high” risk of Covid-19 on cruise ships. Passengers are at increased risk of person-to-person spread of Covid-19 and should get tested and stay home for at least seven days after travel, according to its web site.

“For most travelers, cruise ship travel is voluntary and should be rescheduled for a future date,” the CDC said.

Portugal to limit travel over next 2 weeks

Portugal will limit movement between municipalities on November 28 to December 1 and Dececember 5 to 8, two periods that include weekends and national holidays on each following Tuesday.

The number of daily new infections continues to be “worrying,” even if the pace of growth has decelerated, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said at a press conference in Lisbon.

Pope Francis: Involve poor people in planning post-pandemic economy

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ATICAN CITY—Pope Francis urged young economists, entrepreneurs and business leaders on Saturday to promote post-pandemic development models that involve the poor.

Francis, in a videotaped message for a forum of young people in Assisi, Italy, said the worst reaction once the coronavirus pandemic ends would be to “fall even more deeply into feverish consumerism and forms of selfish self-protection.”

Instead, Francis said, the poor should be invited to participate in discussions about creating a “different economic narrative” that he thinks is urgently needed.

The pope pressed young people to help change production systems and consumption patterns to make them more sustainable.

He said the future will be a “time that reminds us that we are not condemned to economic models whose immediate interest is limited to profit and

promoting favorable public policies, unconcerned with their human, social and environmental cost.”

During the pandemic, Francis has decried that the people on society's margins have been among those suffering the most during the health crisis.

In his message to the young people, Francis said more must be done than "meeting the most essential needs of our brothers and sisters. We need to accept structurally that the poor have sufficient dignity to sit at our meetings, participate in our discussions and bring bread to their own tables."

Such an approach goes beyond welfare, Francis said.

“We are speaking of a conversion and transformation of our priorities and of the place of others in our policies and in the social order,” the pope said.

He says it's time to shun economic models focused immediately on profit. AP

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California reports record cases as US infections pass 12 million

Key developments:

In this October 20, 2020 file photo, Pope Francis attends an inter-religious ceremony for peace in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, in Rome. Pope Francis in a videotaped message for a forum of young people in Italy on Saturday, November 21, 2020, urged young economists, entrepreneurs and business leaders to promote post-pandemic development models that involve the poor. AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia

Monday, November 23, 2020

France infections hit 2.13 million

France’s virus cases rose by 17,881 to 2.13 million on Saturday, with the pace of new infections continuing the slowdown of the past two weeks. The seven-day average of new cases fell to 24,636 cases, the lowest in a month and less than half the pace two weeks ago.

The rate of positive tests fell to 14.8 percent, down 0.2 percent points from a day earlier and falling from more than 20 percent in the first week of November.

Deaths linked to the virus increased by 253 to 48,518. The seven-day average fell to 610 deaths, compared with a first-wave peak of more than 900 daily deaths in early April.

Greece reports death record for 2nd day

Greece reported 108 more deaths, a second straight record increase, and intensivecare units in Greek hospitals are 82 percent occupied. Plans to begin a gradual lifting of nation-wide lockdown restrictions on Dec. 1 are no longer realistic, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Friday.

New UK cases below 20,000

The UK reported fewer than 20,000 new cases for the second time this week. Another 19,875 infections were reported on

Saturday, below the average of 22,287 over the previous seven days. Cases have risen 50 percent this month to almost 1.5 million. The 341 deaths compare with the daily average of 426 this week.

Italy cases, deaths slow

Italy reported 34,767 new cases Saturday, down from 37,242 a day earlier. Daily deaths fell to 692 from 699 on Friday.

The Rome government sought parliamentary approval for 8 billion euros of extra deficit this year, as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte battles to shield the fragile economy from coronavirus resurgence. A cabinet meeting chaired by Conte approved the request to parliament late Friday night.

The government also signed off on a third package of aid, worth 1.95 billion euros for 2020, chiefly for shops and businesses hit by a soft lockdown in regions including Lombardy around Milan.

Spain to start vaccinations in January

Spain’s campaign to vaccinate its population against Covid-19 will begin in January and will be voluntary, El Confidencial reported, citing Health Minister Salvador Illa.

Spain expects to vaccinate about half its people by May, Illa said. The government plans to reveal further details of its vaccination strategy on November 24.

Hungary posts record deaths

Hungary reported a record121 deaths from the coronavirus on Saturday, though the number of hospitalized patients and new infections showed signs of leveling off. Hungarian authorities have been bracing for a further deterioration in the pandemic through midDecember.

WHO envoy criticizes response in Europe

Europe, and Switzerland in particular, have failed to learn the lessons from the first wave

of the virus, said David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid-19 preparedness and response. While Asian countries maintained restrictions after lowering infections, the response in Europe was incomplete and governments missed the opportunity to strengthen infrastructure during the summer when the first wave was brought under control, Nabarro told Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende.

Without further action now, Europe will experience a third wave early next year, said Nabarro, adding that surveillance of individuals self-isolating needs to be done by the government. It’s too serious to be left to individuals, he said.

Russia posts record Covid-19 deaths

Russia had 467 deaths from Covid-19 in the past day, a new daily record, the government’s virus response center said Saturday. That means 35,778 people have died from the disease, although more comprehensive mortality data suggests the toll was already over 55,000 by the end of September.

There were also 24,822 new coronavirus cases in Russia, which was also a daily record for the nation with the fifth-most cases globally. While the Kremlin has imposed new restrictions as the virus flared up in recent weeks, it has so far resisted a broad lockdown such as those imposed in some European countries.

Germany adds 23,000 new cases

Germany added nearly 23,000 new coronavirus infections as of Saturday morning, lifting the total above 900,000.

The regions of Bavaria, Berlin, Bremen, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony have posted the highest infection rates recently and the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care has “risen sharply” since mid-October, the Berlin-based Robert Koch Institute said.

Germany is already in a partial lockdown that has closed museums, bars and restaurants but kept schools and most shops open.

That may be extended well into next month as Europe’s biggest economy seeks to regain control over the spread of the coronavirus before people head home for the holidays, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

Bloomberg News

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Monday, November 23, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Group of 20 leaders and Pope Francis

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eaders of the 20 biggest economies opened their virtual summit on Saturday as the world continues to confront the twin crises of the pandemic and a severely weakened global economy. The leaders participating in the G-20 summit, hosted online this year by Saudi Arabia, collectively represent around 80 percent of the world’s economic output and 75 percent of international trade, according to the web site for the event.

The pandemic, which has claimed more than 1.37 million lives worldwide, has offered the G-20 leaders an opportunity to prove how they can muster international cooperation in times of an unprecedented crises. “We have a duty to rise to the challenge together during this summit and give a strong message of hope and reassurance,” Saudi Arabia’s King Salman said in the summit’s opening remarks. “I am confident that the Riyadh summit will deliver significant and decisive results and will lead to adopting economic and social policies that will restore hope and reassurance to the people of the world.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a day before the summit that while G-20 has invested $10 billion in efforts to develop vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, another $28 billion is needed for mass manufacturing, procurement and delivery of new Covid-19 vaccines around the world. Guterres called on more G-20 nations to join COVAX, an international initiative to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to countries worldwide. The United States has declined to join under President Donald Trump.

Reuters reported that G-20 leaders will help ensure a fair distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, drugs and tests around the world. “We will spare no effort to ensure their affordable and equitable access for all people, consistent with members’ commitments to incentivize innovation,” the leaders said in a draft G-20 communiqué seen by Reuters. “We recognize the role of extensive immunization as a global public good.”

Such declarations sound good, but some quarters have reason to doubt.

While G-20 countries have contributed billions of dollars toward developing a vaccine for Covid-19, they have also mostly focused on securing their own vaccine supplies. Countries such as Britain, the US, France and Germany— all G-20 member states—have directly negotiated deals with pharmaceutical companies to receive billions of doses, meaning that the vast majority of the world’s vaccine supply next year is already reserved for them.

G-20 countries, no doubt, can implement policies that can protect lives across the world by improving access to the vaccine. Poor countries, however, can only hope that policies that put this access at risk will be restrained. On April 4, 2020, the world saw how 69 governments, including India and the European Union, had banned or limited exports of face masks, personal protective equipment, medicines, and other medical goods. These practices hurt not only importers but also exporters as they raise prices, discourage investment, and provoke retaliation. Some countries have also restricted exports of certain foodstuffs. In the past, similar actions have aggravated food insecurity and increased prices.

The world’s poorest countries are extremely vulnerable to such protectionist policies. Ten exporting countries account for almost three-quarters of world exports of medical goods and nearly two-thirds of world exports of protective gear. The top 3 countries exporting medical products critical to fight the pandemic supply 65 to 80 percent of total world imports of those products.

Any restrictions on exports risk leaving most of the world without access to vital supplies, with catastrophic consequences.

As the leaders of rich nations meet, Pope Francis urged young economists, entrepreneurs and business leaders to promote post-pandemic development models that involve the poor. In a videotaped message for a forum of young people in Assisi, Italy, the pope said the worst reaction once the coronavirus pandemic ends would be to “fall even more deeply into feverish consumerism and forms of selfish self-protection.” Instead, Pope Francis said, the poor should be invited to participate in discussions about creating a “different economic narrative” that he thinks is urgently needed.

Pope Francis said the future will be a “time that reminds us that we are not condemned to economic models whose immediate interest is limited to profit and promoting favorable public policies, unconcerned with their human, social and environmental cost.” He said it’s time to shun economic models focused immediately on profit. Let’s hope the G-20 leaders are listening.

Our heroic potential Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

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oday I am writing this column in remembrance of the birthday of Benigno “Ninoy” Simeon Aquino Jr. who was born on November 27, 1932. Ninoy is our hero to the truest sense of the word, but the question is: Do we have what it takes to be heroic like him?

There is an interesting material on the Internet called “Live the Hero Philosophy” by Anthony Simeone, which argues that “heroism is a mindset, not a moment” and that regular people like us can be heroic or can become “a force for justice in this world.”

We don’t need to be a Ninoy Aquino to improve our lives and the lives of others, and to make things better.

According to Simeone, living a hero’s life has to do with having the right Mindset, Method, and Motion.

Living a heroic life is a philoso-

phy, and so it requires mindfulness and making the decision to believe in ourselves. It also requires action because heroes are focused on movement. “They take action to improve their lives and the world around them,” says Simeone.

Heroes also take the golden rule to heart: Treat others as you want to be treated. “Heroes believe that all human beings are worthy of life, justice, and the pursuit of purpose.”

Ninoy believed this. Ninoy believed that the Filipinos are worth dying for.

I

This mindset is nothing new and had been advocated by urban planners to better address common city concerns such as traffic and pollution, among others. But it gained traction in several cities worldwide during this pandemic for the simple reason that people, locked in their homes, were forced to explore and depend more on their communities.

This mindset is nothing new and had been advocated by urban planners to better address common city concerns such as traffic and pollution, among others. But it gained traction in several cities worldwide during this pandemic for the simple reason that people, locked in their homes, were forced to explore and depend more on their communities.

And we hope to carry this over to post pandemic normalcy.

What are the benefits of the “15-minute city”?

A healthier environment and populace. Since the “15-minute city” lessens the need for motorized vehicles, this translates into lesser carbon emissions and therefore a healthier environment and populace. And also,

have not seen the last of such pandemics, it is better that we come in prepared. A “15-minute city” can be better managed. It can be contained, locked down when needed. Infections are easier to trace; its spread better controlled. Distribution of goods and services, including the coming vaccine will be more efficient. If you talk about resiliency, then this is it.

One might say that the 15-minute city model is easier said and done.

Not really. But no amount spent nor infrastructure built will guarantee its success. This is a paradigm shift.

Yes, the government will need to do their part. But its success lies with us, the private individuals.

How can we make the “15-minute city” happen?

The government. Governments can better manage economies that take care of itself in smaller units.

And governments can help with the necessary policies such as tax breaks, proper land use, small business incentives and loans, as well as local

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Sometimes when we look around us we can’t help but see and feel that there is just too much negativity around us. This may make us hopeless and weary. Heroes acknowledge the presence of evil, but they also believe in the good. They have the ability to see “the world as a place of possibility, not just pain.” Ninoy wouldn’t have gone and sacrificed his life if he did not believe that the good can win against evil.

In the midst of the pandemic,

many of us lament that the future is now more uncertain than ever.

Heroes understand that it is futile to try and make this world a place of certainty. Instead, they cultivate certainty about themselves. What does this mean? It means that anything is possible and that we have the ability to create our fate and future.

The outcome largely depends on our determination and willpower.

All heroes are being called to go on an adventure, the hero’s journey.

As we remember Ninoy on his birthday, it’s also a good time to look into our lives to find out what adventure is calling us. What are we being challenged to do? It may be a small thing or a big thing, but it doesn’t matter.

Heroes understand that they need to live their lives, and they do it on their own terms as long as they do not harm others. To embrace our heroic potential, we need to use our lives and energy to achieve great things. Simeone says it’s not enough to dream about the things we want to achieve—we need to take action, even if it means taking baby steps. “This is the true way to reach happiness.”

The 15-minute city model coming soon to cities near you

Since 2005

✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua

Heroes understand that they need to live their lives, and they do it on their own terms as long as they do not harm others. To embrace our heroic potential, we need to use our lives and energy to achieve great things. Simeone says it’s not enough to dream about the things we want to achieve—we need to take action, even if it means taking baby steps. “This is the true way to reach happiness.”

Thomas M. Orbos

STREET TALK

was invited last week to speak before a forum on the state of transport and mobility in these times. Rather than discuss relevant transport models or required travel protocols, I thought it best to share a mobility mindset that I believe is most suitable in this pandemic and thereafter. This is the “15-minute city” model, which, in its simplest form, is securing most of what you need within 15 minutes of walking or biking from your residence. This means the school your kids go to, the market for your essentials, the hospital or place of recreation, and yes, hopefully, your employment, would be just 15 minutes from your home. This is more than just about mobility. This is a paradigm shift in the way we live in our cities. lesser public spending for illnesses, where funds can be used for other priorities.

A cheaper urban renewal model that is faster to achieve. With less demand for cars, spaces that are otherwise needed for roads and parking can be converted into exclusive walkways, bike lanes, parks and other recreation facilities. No need for the big-ticket infrastructure that cost so much.

A more sustainable economy. The “15-minute city” is more sustainable as it supports mainly community commerce and entrepreneurship, which are the building blocks of any economy. Money flows and stays within.

Pandemic proof. Knowing that we

infrastructure support and utilities such as telecommunications facilities, crucial to ensuring the thriving of a local economy.

The private sector. Big businesses need to incorporate such mindset in their DNA. Continue and, in fact, require work-from-home of their employees. Pursue local hires in their branches. Create pockets of business centers rather than business districts. Re-centralize rather than de-centralize.

Us. And yes, it begins with us.

Think local. Patronize the neighborhood market, barbershop, and the school for your kids. The nearer, the better. The selection or quality of goods and services near you may not be as great. Not yet. But start with what is available. Supporting your community will give it a better chance to grow and adjust to what you need. Or—adjust to what is there. Either way, your community will have a better chance to be sustainable.

Indeed, the 15-minute city mindset is our long-term pivot as we live and leave this pandemic. It will help attain the quality of life we long to have, which we even could not achieve in pre-Covid times. It may be then the only beneficial take away that we can derive from this pandemic.

Thomas “Tim” Orbos was formerly with the DOTr and the MMDA. He has completed his graduate studies at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University and is an alumnus of the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Covid-19 mutated: Can vaccines keep up?

By Faye Flam | Bloomberg Opinion

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ne of the factors that will drive the future of the Covid-19 pandemic is how the virus evolves. And last week, scientists announced the first evidence that the virus has evolved to be more transmissible.

The mutation happened around late February, as the virus moved from East Asia to Europe. The first group to publish a paper raising this possibility was led by computational biologist and HIV evolution expert Bette Korber at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She couldn’t quite convince the scientific community, but virologist Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina was persuaded enough to continue this line of investigation. Last week, after a series of experiments in cells and hamsters, he and Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin published a more complete case in Science. The implications for the history of the virus and its likely future are profound.

Natural selection favors organisms that are better at survival and reproduction. For viruses like Sars-CoV-2, that means reproducing prolifically and transmitting to new hosts easily.

So far, scientists have found only one mutation that improves the survival ability of the virus. The more transmissible strain is referred to as G614, and the ancestral one as D614. It doesn’t look like the G strain is any deadlier than the D. Being deadlier might actually make a virus less evolutionarily fit, because viruses die with their hosts.

The other good news, says Baric, is that the structure of the spike proteins on the now-dominant G strain make it more vulnerable to being wiped out by vaccine-induced antibodies. That’s true even though the vaccines were all developed to work against the ancestral D strain. And G is probably more vulnerable to antibodies from past infections as well.

To test G’s transmissibility, they started with cultured cells that mimic cells from the nasal passages down to the deepest parts of the lung. Then they genetically manipulated the D strain, adding just the one mutation that Korber thought gave the G strain an edge. And indeed, the mutation did allow the virus to spread from cell to cell better than the original. They also infected the same cells with both viral strains and found the mutant strain dominated, over and over.

That may have been how it all started—with the mutation cropping up in a human host, becoming dominant in the airways of that person, and spreading to other people in a chain of transmission that crossed continents.

To test the possibility that the mutant strain is more contagious, the

researchers also used hamsters housed in separate cages. They found viruses with the mutation were much more likely to travel through the air from infected hamsters in one cage to uninfected ones in another.

That mutation in the G strain may explain why the virus became so explosive once it got to Europe, and why, while early US outbreaks were traced to China, the bulk of US infections have now been traced to Europe. Even the predominant strain in Southern California came not from Asia but from Europe via New York. The D strain is still around, but it makes up about 2 percent of infections worldwide. Baric says there are reasons the G strain didn’t explode in China—mostly to do with the country’s much more Draconian lockdown policies as well as a system set up to support people who have to miss work if they need to quarantine.

Will the G strain find a way to evolve resistance to vaccines? It’s possible, Baric says. Once immunity builds up, the virus will be under pressure to change. As time goes on and more people develop immunity, evolution favors the viruses that are best at evading antibodies.

One way it could do that is to jump to another species, where it can evolve rapidly—as in Denmark’s minks, as Bloomberg Opinion colleague Sam Fazeli writes. Another concern is the possibility that the virus could jump to one of the world’s 1,400 bat species.

Bats are good hosts for coronaviruses, and it’s still thought they were the most likely source of SARS-CoV-2.

That’s where the danger lies, Baric says. If the virus changes what he calls its antigenic structure, our antibodies might not recognize it.

But it’s also likely that this virus will do what other coronaviruses have done and become another common cold. Vaccine- and infection-induced immunity will likely protect people from the virus infiltrating the lower respiratory tract and beyond, but it might not protect everyone from getting a sniffly infection confined to the upper respiratory tract. It would then join the four common coronaviruses already circulating among humans, all of which cause colds. Those viruses may have started off as deadly pandemics; one appears to have spread right around 1890, when there was a deadly pandemic known as Russian flu.

“Remember the virus really doesn’t want to kill anybody,” Baric says. “It just wants to replicate and transmit…so if it can manage to do that and take advantage of your nose as a major site for replication and transmission, then it’s happy as a lark because it’s surviving.”

If the vaccines work as well as hoped and the virus becomes the sniffles, we should feel the same way.

Biden needs to fix Mnuchin’s big mistake

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S Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has just put the country’s financial stability at unnecessary risk, by refusing to extend programs that’ve kept credit flowing to companies and municipalities amid a severe economic crisis. It’s now up to President-elect Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve to correct what could prove to be a costly mistake.

At issue are several emergency lending facilities, set up to address a severe credit freeze that accompanied the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March and April. With $195 billion in backing from the Treasury, the Federal Reserve made about $2 trillion available to small businesses, corporations, and state and local governments, ensuring that they’d have access to the funds they needed to meet their obligations. The mere presence of such a formidable backstop emboldened lenders, making private credit widely available on excellent terms. As a result, the Fed’s facilities have gone largely unused. For the most part, this is a sign that they’re doing their job, providing the confidence needed for markets to operate on their own.

Now, however, Mnuchin wants to shut them down. In a letter to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, he said he intends to withhold the approval needed to extend the programs beyond December 31, and asked the Fed to return the capital that the Treasury has committed. His rationale is that he’s acting according to the requirements of the Cares Act,

that markets’ thorough recovery makes removing the backstop completely safe, and that the money could better be used for direct grants.

He’s wrong on all counts. When the programs were created, the clear intent was to extend them as long as necessary, just as the Fed did with its emergency lending facilities during the 2008 financial crisis. They remain necessary: With Covid-19 resurgent across the country, the economic outlook darkening, and Congress making no progress on added fiscal relief, it would be profoundly irresponsible to remove the one remaining lifeline that companies and municipalities have. And while direct grants are undoubtedly needed, that’s a separate subject: The Treasury’s capital is a commitment that it will eventually recoup, and it in no way prevents Congress from allocating funds for grants. It’s hard not to see Mnuchin’s decision as politically motivated, designed to undermine the incoming administration.

Together, Biden and the Fed can set things straight. The president-elect should affirm that after taking office in January, he’ll direct his Treasury secretary to grant the approval that Mnuchin has refused. As long as the central bank doesn’t return the Treasury’s capital, the Fed should be able to revive the facilities.

It’s less than ideal, but the knowledge that help is on the way should be enough to get markets through what’s turning out to be a difficult presidential transition. Bloomberg Opinion

Monday, November 23, 2020

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Elementary athletics: To compete or not to compete!

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

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here is much to be adored about athletes other than their extraordinary stamina, fitness and skill. In one unforgettable “men’s 5,000-meter heats” at the world athletics championships in 2019, spectators at the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar were wonderfully surprised by the self-sacrificing act of the distance-runner from Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. Braima Suncar Dabo, instead of running ahead of his exhausted competitor Jonathan Busby from Aruba, chose to help the latter up and dragged him across the finish line.

Busby was on the verge of collapse on the last lap until Dabo came to his rescue. Together, they strode to complete the race. Busby collapsed again right after crossing the line.

These two runners do not speak the same language, and, as in all athletic competitions, were bent on winning as they intensely represent their respective countries. But amazingly, one displayed such a gesture of sportsmanship that no gold or treasure can ever purchase. During his interview immediately after the race, Dabo said, “My thoughts were to help him finish, that is the point of the race.”

All sporting events are competitive, thus the Olympic creed that says: “The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well.” Fighting well includes an athlete’s unselfish act, by every common measure, which can reverberate beyond the fields of friendly strife. That message, engendered from the heart, should have been the overwhelming aphorism for all of us who have been up and about with relief efforts since the onslaught of the recent multiple typhoons that hit the country. Young and old alike, one organization after another, friends and foes, extended an arm or two to give what they can for their fellowmen whose homes were destroyed, whose loved ones were lost, and whose means of livelihood were severely affected.

Yet during one televised press

briefing, President Duterte warned his much-publicized political rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, not to compete with him. President Duterte, likely misinformed by his aides, delivered a very venomous criticism and wildly vicious remarks against the second highest public official of the land, at the height of reinforcement operations for the typhoon victims. Triggered by the rumors that it was VP Leni herself who floated on social media the hashtag “NasaanAngPangulo” midpoint to the wrath of the calamity, President Duterte unleashed a barrage of comments that would make any decent person cringe. Perhaps it was the impact of the multitude of photos and videos demonstrating the lady official handing out goods before, during and after the typhoon that led to this presidential bawl out. Sensing the hashtag and these viral images to be either excessive or sarcastic, the Commander-inChief, who participated in a virtual Asean meeting during the height of these calamities, gave the caveat to his successor: “Do not compete with me” and “wawaswasin kita” (dress or shake down). While they are from different political parties, both Duterte and Robredo are leaders of the Philippine government whose objective, in times of national emergencies, should transcend political considerations.

Well-meaning Filipinos should know that performing good deeds, in or outside of government, knows no

To help a rival to finish a race out of selflessness may be a bar too high for some. But Dabo, the athlete from West Africa, promptly and willingly helped his competitor finish the 5,000-meter race.

Sportsmanship is a lesson in elementary athletics.

boundaries and is never a monopoly.

Whenever good deeds are shared on social media, or broadcasted in any other way, it is done more likely to encourage others to do the same.

Whenever one flaunts his good deed, with selfish motives such as those with political color, the deed ceases to be good. But whenever one displays his good deed, purposely to inform donors/sponsors where and how the donations were spent, the deed is basically predicated on drumming up more efforts from more people to stand up and help others finish the race called life.

Helping others is never about competition, unless the desire to help is premised on self-advancement. Regardless of VP Leni’s motives in allowing photographs about her relief efforts to be publicized, these are made pallid by the sanguine faces of every family whose lives she touched by her personal presence. Much as we cannot discount the proposition that a possible purpose was to advance her political career, just like that of an athlete in the track and field championship aiming to get that gold medal at the finish line, we should raise our pompoms and support her, regardless of whether we like her or don’t. Similar to runner Dabo helping Busby, Leni’s efforts, as well as those others like her (Cesar Sarmiento, Teng Zaide, my coworkers at SM, and even my daughter Regina Victoria) were geared toward the helpless and downtrodden. Such a good deed, when generated from the heart and driven by the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, should be without enmity.

We may find ourselves in a rivalry with our neighbors, or in our workplace, or in school, just as the President and the Vice President render

Make the presidency less imperial

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Presidential power has been growing for a long time and for deep-seated reasons. The Founders’ view that legislators would guard their powers from presidents didn’t take adequate account of partisanship: It turns out legislators think of themselves as members of the president’s party more than they think of themselves as members of Congress.

President Barack Obama’s most controversial executive actions were his unilateral decisions to grant work permits to millions of illegal immigrants after Congress had spent years debating amnesty. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to provide funding for construction of parts of a border wall with Mexico, again after Congress had rebuffed him. Trump also imposed steel tariffs on much of the globe without congressional approval.

Now some Democrats are urging Biden to cancel $420 billion in student-loan debt without asking Congress. While the merits of that policy are intensely debated, you can see why a Democrat who favors it would want Biden to act unilaterally. A closely divided Congress, probably with a Republican Senate, will not okay that idea and may block Biden from getting other legislative accomplishments, either. Executive government is to some extent the product of political polarization.

But it’s worth asking whether it’s also a cause of that polarization. Presidents and their parties have less need to bargain with the

primary campaign, Biden was more willing than others in his party—including, sadly, his eventual running mate Senator Kamala Harris—to acknowledge the limits of presidential authority. After going back and forth, he seems to have settled on the correct view that governors and state legislatures have primary authority to issue orders to wear masks to curb the spread of Covid-19. Much of the appeal of his campaign against Trump was that it would be nice to be able to pay less attention to the White House.

Biden has spent more time in Congress than any president in US history. It would be fitting if his time as president moved the country partway toward restoring the proper role of the first branch of the federal government.

There are a few areas where legislators in both parties may have an interest in reclaiming lost powers.

A bipartisan majority of Congress voted to disapprove of the emergency declaration Trump used to divert money to his wall, which led to a Trump veto. Congress gave presidents sweeping emergency powers in a 1976 law.

Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, has sponsored a bill to make

Ramesh Ponnuru

BLOOMBERG he last two US presidents repeatedly stretched the powers of their office to set policies that Congress had refused to enact.

Instead of following their example, President-elect Joe Biden should work with Congress to bring the branches of the federal government to a better balance. opposition when they can get their way with a pen stroke. At the same time, the opposition gets to rail against the president’s power grab without having to take responsibility for policymaking. Activists shift their focus from getting Congress to take action to getting the president to do it. If each recent president has been more polarizing than the last, it may be in part because more and more rides on who wins presidential elections.

Presidential power has been growing for a long time and for deep-seated reasons. The Founders’ view that legislators would guard their powers from presidents didn’t take adequate account of partisanship: It turns out legislators think of themselves as members of the president’s party more than they think of themselves as members of Congress. We are not going to see a sudden reversal of the trend toward presidential selfaggrandizement and congressional abdication.

But it should nonetheless be resisted, especially when the glimmer of an opportunity to do it appears.

This is such a moment. During the

loyalties to different political parties.

It may be a tough contest, a cutthroat competition, but the pressing necessity to display a compassionate heart for others ought to take primary weight regardless of the competition and notwithstanding the conspicuous antagonism. Reiterating the abiding principle in Hebrews 10:24 of the Bible: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” There is a time to compete and not compete. Helping others is never a competition! While the Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (“Faster, Higher, Stronger”) is based on a performance metric in relation to another, our key performance indicator in our personal lives is based on one standard alone as found in John 13:34 of the Bible, which says, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Love is best expressed when we do good deeds, not in the spirit of competition, but of cooperation, to genuinely help others to please Him. To help a rival to finish a race out of selflessness may be a bar too high for some. But Dabo, the athlete from West Africa, promptly and willingly helped his competitor finish the 5,000-meter race. Sportsmanship is a lesson in elementary athletics. May this lesson be re-learned by all of us, especially our leaders in government, present and future, as we shall face our Creator one day, hopefully echoing the apostle Paul’s testimonial in 2 Timothy 4:7 of the Bible that said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Amid this pandemic, let’s be reminded of a line from the movie Last Christmas—“we are lucky to be alive, we are lucky to be helping each other, one way or another.”

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

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

emergencies expire after 30 days unless Congress votes to extend them.

He has also sponsored one to require congressional approval of any tariff increase ordered by the president.

That bill, too, would claw back a power Congress gave the president in earlier laws.

A narrower bill put forward by Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia scales back the power the president got from a 1962 law to impose tariffs for national-security reasons.

Trump invoked that power for his steel tariffs (even though the Defense Department had warned that tariffs against allies might actually undermine US security).

But there are already warning signs that no retrenchment will take place. Gene Healy, a longtime critic of the imperial presidency at the libertarian Cato Institute, notes that Democratic efforts to rein in the president have mostly concerned issues specific to Trump rather than larger structural ones. Making presidents disclose their tax returns, even if it were possible without a constitutional amendment, does nothing to tackle the underlying problem. When Biden and Harris answered a survey about presidential powers, they blew right by the question of emergency declarations.

Lee is challenging Democrats who were critics of presidential overreach under Trump. “Now that it is possible the Democrats will control the White House again, I hope that interest in restoring balance between Congress and the president hasn’t waned,” he said. Let’s also hope that Lee’s Republican colleagues find their own interest in it waxing.

A8 Monday, November 23, 2020

29th EJAP AWARDS: BM NAMED ‘BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR’

By BusinessMirror

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OR the third straight year, the BusinessMirror was named the “Business News Source of the Year”by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP), an honor bestowed on the newspaper that wins the most number of individual reporting awards.

For the 29th EJAP Business Journalism Awards presented virtually—for the first time, because of the pandemic—by the EJAP and the Ayala Group of Companies, four BusinessM irror reporters got the judges’ nod for best coverage in their respective beats. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas for Agriculture and Mining; Lenie Lectura for Energy; Cai U. Ordinario for Macroeconomy; and Rea Cu for Finance.

The other individual awards were won by: the Philippine Star’s Lawrence Agcaoili for Banking, Louella Desiderio for Trade and Iris Gonzales for Best Feature Story; and the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Doris Dumlao-Abadilla for Capital Markets and Miguel Camus for Telecommunications. The awards are given for the reporters’ body of works for year 2019.

The 3-peat in the EJAP Awards comes barely a month after the B usiness M irror, founded on the promise of providing “A Broader

Look at Today’s Business,” celebrated its 15th anniversary in October. It was founded in 2005 by the late ambassador and business leader Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, whose children have continued his involvement in mass media—the publisher is T. Anthony C. Cabangon; the chairman of the board and of the ALC media group is D. Edgard A. Cabangon.

The 29th EJAP Business Journalism Awards board of judges was chaired by former Finance undersecretary Milwida Guevara. It opened with remarks by the Ayala Group’s John Philip Orbeta, who thanked the media for being a fair and faithful chronicler of Philippine business amid the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The brief virtual awards rites was keynoted by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda chief Karl Chua, who cited the work of media practitioners in helping “bring technical and policy issues” to the awareness of Filipinos, especially in a most remarkable year.

The Neda chief acknowledged the immense challenges posed by the pandemic and the string of destructive typhoons, but noted that economic data of recent months have shown that “the economy is strong enough to recover if we allow it to.”

Worried by supply, traders ask DA to issue SPS-IC now

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

OCAL rice traders and importers urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to immediately resume the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPS-IC) to ensure sufficient supply of the staple amid lost production from typhoon damage.

The Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders Movement (PRISM) said further delays in the resumption of issuance of SPS-IC for rice imports “may result in adverse implications due to late timing of approval and releases” amid anticipated port congestion and rising world rice prices.

“Our apprehension is that the delay in the resumption of the issuance of SPS-IC could be detrimental to the country’s food security; the world market price of rice is expected to continue to rise approaching December, while ports become extremely congested due to successive holidays beginning December to February, here and abroad,” the group said in a statement on Sunday.

PRISM, a rice industry-wide

group including importers, pointed out that the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) told importers at an October meeting that the issuance of SPS-IC would resume by November 15.

PR ISM disclosed that they agreed to the verbal request of BPI “to manage and temporarily halt their SPS-IC application to give way to the harvest season” during the October meeting as an “expression of good faith.”

PRISM pointed out that rice stakeholders are set to suffer anew “from losses due to high cost of sales” following the price freeze in Luzon due to the declaration of a State of Calamity; with that, they are now buying palay prices at higher prices due to the impact of typhoons on the local harvest.

“To address this issue, we at PRISM humbly request the government to recognize the willingness of the private sector of the whole rice value chain to work together to provide a normal flow of supply,” the group said.

“This teamwork will ensure the availability of quality and affordable rice in the market especially during the holiday season,” it added.

The country’s total rice inventory as of October 1 rose by 16.1 percent to a five-month high of 2.647 million metric tons from last year’s 2.279 MMT, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Likewise, the latest rice stocks estimate was 45.2 percent higher than the September record of 1.823 MMT, the PSA added. (Related stor y:https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/11/19/riceinventory-jumps-to-5-monthhigh-16-1-to-2-647-mmt-as-ofoctober-1/) However, PRISM is also asking the PSA for an updated rice stock inventory to guide the industry on the current market situation. With the deregulation of the National Food Authority (NFA), rice industry players now just rely on figures released by PSA on the nationwide

inventory, PRISM said.

“This information is crucial because for the Rice Sector, the behavior of the market based on a demand and supply principle is commonly used to project planting intention, sales and purchases,” it said.

“Previously, rice stock situation data was being provided by the NFA. But with RTL and open market regime, the sector is now blinded in navigating the real status of the domestic inventory and market forecast, especially at the outset of the Covid 19 pandemic and the recent calamities,” it added.

The DA earlier said the rice supply loss from the series of typhoons that battered the country is only minimal, at about 4 percent of the projected 8.4 million metric ton (MMT) production this fourth quarter.

In a recent virtual press briefing, the DA said the three typhoons and a super typhoon that hit the country so far in the fourth quarter— Pepito, Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses —resulted in production loss of at least 314,928 MT of palay.

This is minimal compared to the expected production in the October-to-December period of 8.4 MMT, said DA.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, November 23, 2020

B1

AC Energy keen on ditching coal assets before 2030–exec

By Lenie Lectura

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@llectura

C Energy Inc.’s exit from coal could happen ahead of its 2030 target, a company official said.

“Our commitment is to divest all our coal assets by 2030, but I don’t think we will wait by 2030,” said AC Energy President Eric Francia during an online press briefing last week.

Francia did not say when but the company is already investing heavily in renewable energy (RE).

Its current portfolio is composed of 1,300megawatts (MW) of thermal energy. The company has started divesting its coal assets since last year.

The power unit of conglomerate Ayala Corp. earlier agreed to transfer its assets in the 552-megawatt GNPower Kauswagan’s (GNPK) coal-fired power project to its partner, Power Partners Ltd. Co. It also completed the sale of a 49-percent voting interest and 60-percent economic interest in AA Thermal Inc.—which owns a plant in Bataan—to Aboitiz Power Corp.

“GN Kauswagan is expected to reach financial close by first quarter

of 2021. The balance of AA Thermal, we will be looking at the next couple of years. We want to complete the units first,” he said.

For GN Power Dinginin, Francis said unit 1 is targeted for commercial operations next year between March and April. Soon after that, unit 2 will be commercially available.

“We would like to make sure that the plant is operating well and then revisit potential divestment plan later,” added Francia.

Last week, Francia said AC Energy Philippines Inc. (ACEN) could exceed its 2025 target of achieving 5,000megawatts of renewable capacity.

“The plan is to scale up our RE to 5,000MW or even more. We are feeling confident that we will exceed our RE target. Next year, we expect

our RE to reach 2,500MW. So, we expect to be halfway through our 2025 target as early as 2021,” said Francia.

He said there are 1,500MW of RE projects lined up next year in the Philippines, Australia, India and Vietnam.

ACEN, which has 1,000MW of capacity in its portfolio, will integrate its international business, which currently has 900MW RE capacity.

“Once we infuse our international platform into ACEN next year, ACEN will have a total of 1,900MW,” he said. Of which, Francia said RE capacity is about 1,350MW. ACEN aspires to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, with the goal of reaching 5,000 MW of renewables capacity by 2025.

Cebu hotel secures tax incentives

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

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hotel in Cebu City has secured ta x incentives from the government for investing P45 million in setting up technologies for contact tracing, online booking and contactless payment.

Last week the Board of Investments (BOI) announced it approved the registration of SureStay Plus Hotel’s P45-million effort to reduce

SEC taps LandBank for online payments

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he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has tapped state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) as its depository and financial settlement bank for online payments.

In a statement over the weekend, LandBank vowed to ensure efficient collection and settlement of payments made by SEC clients through PayMaya. This will also include timely remittance of fees due to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

“LandBank welcomes this collaboration and will ensure the efficient settlement and remittance of SEC fees and other payments.

Rest assured that LandBank is one with you in the continued delivery of public services, and boosting government collection rates toward revitalizing our economy,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said.

Under the new partnership, LandBank will maintain current and clearing accounts for SEC and BTr, respectively, to credit payments accepted and deposited by PayMaya through LandBank's weAccess facility.

LandBank will also open a Guaranty Deposit account for PayMaya equivalent to the average total daily collection or in the amount agreed by both parties.

To formalize the partnership, the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was virtually signed on November 18 by Borromeo, SEC Commissioner Kelvin Lester K. Lee, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon, and PayMaya Philippines Inc. Founder and CEO Orlando B. Vea. The MOA signing was witnessed by SEC Commissioner Javey Paul D. Francisco, BTr Deputy Treasurer Sharon P. Almanza, BTr Asset Management Service OIC-Director Eduardo Anthony G. Mariño III, LandBank Branch Banking Sector Executive Vice President Julio D. Climaco Jr., and PayMaya Enterprise Head of Government Sector Marvin Santos.

In 2017, LandBank and SEC entered into an agreement to use LandBank's Electronic Payment Portal (ePP) to provide a convenient and secure means of processing payments for the SEC iView and other transactional fees. Bernadette D. Nicolas

the risk of contracting Covid-19.

The hotel, located in Cebu City, is the second hotel project put up by Cebu Quad Management Corp. next to the one in Angeles, Pampanga.

According to the BOI, SureStay Plus Hotel will adopt information technology systems for its contact tracing, online booking and digital payment.

Likewise, the hotel will install cameras equipped with thermal sensors to get the temperature of guests without having to touch them, as

well as disinfecting kiosks, as part of its measures to reduce the risk of virus transmission.

The Cebu project is estimated to generate some 32 direct and indirect jobs in its first 5 years in operations.

It will also help address the room gap on the tourism side by contributing 63 new rooms.

Further, it is expected to provide additional income to food and beverage suppliers, as well as furniture designers and handicraft makers, in Cebu. As such, the BOI found the

project as complimentary to the government’s “Buy Local” campaign promotes the purchase of products and services made by local firms to help them recover from Covid-19’s impact.

The BOI collaborated with the Department of Tourism in introducing the policy that provides investment incentives for tourism and tourism-related activities that upgrade and modernize their facilities to adapt to the new normal.

Top gainers were Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp., Synergy Grid and Development Phils. Inc., AC Energy Philippines Inc., Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corp., Bogo-Medellin Milling Co. Inc. and Liberty Flour Mills Inc. Top losers, meanwhile, were Abra Mining and Industrial Corp., Central Azucarera de Tarlac Inc., Cyber Bay Corp., Philex Mining Corp., Manila Mining Corp.

B and Forum Pacific Inc.

green. The tide is turning quickly, and while some correction is due, it's not bound to cut as deep,” it said.

The broker advised to start accumulating stocks.

Immediate support for the main index is seen at 7,000 points and resistance between 7,200 and 7,300 points.

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices rose for the third consecutive week as many investors were elated by the surprise cut in interest rate delivered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 199.91 points to close at 7,169.79 points.

Prices fluctuated towards the 7,000-point mark during the week, but rose 2.5 percent on Friday, a day after the central bank announced that it is cutting the interest rate to the lowest level in the country's history.

Average volume of trade for the week reached P9.61 billion, higher than the year-to-date average of P6.15 billion as companies continued to make deals with sentiments improving.

Foreign investors were still net sellers at P2.98 billion.

All other subindices ended in the green with the exception of the Mining and Oil index that fell 109.52 points to close at 8,189.42 points. The broader All Shares index rose 135.84 to 4,219.39, the Financials index increased 103.38 to 1,429.95, the Industrial index added 197.74 to 9,269.93, the Holding Firms index was up 189.33 to 7,405.12, the Property index climbed 91.12 to 3,619.71 and the Services index gained 16.70 to 1,557.77.

For the week, gainers edged losers 174 to 66 and 17 shares were unchanged.

This week

Share prices may continue to rise this week as companies see encouraging signs of recovery and investor sentiment improves on hopes that a vaccine against Covid-19 is ready for mass production soon.

Companies may also start their accumulation of stocks due to the month-end window dressing.

“Six months ago, when the first 1,000 cases were recorded in Manila, a vaccine in one year seemed too hasty, too dangerous for distribution. Five months ago, when the economy was most closed-off and restrictions were highest the PSEi hitting 7,000 seemed an ambition to high, too lofty,” broker 2TradeAsia said.

“Now, a half-year has passed and science is close to making a vaccine in record time, and a few corporates are turning their EPS [earnings per share]

Stock picks

Broker Regina Capital Development Corp. advised to take profits on the stock of Cebu Air Inc., the operator of Cebu Pacific airline, as technical indicators are giving strong buy signs over the stock on continued buying.

“Looking at the chart, market correction might occur before breaching its resistance at P53.13 early this week. On the other hand, support is tightly cemented at P47.85,” it said.

Cebu Air shares closed last week at P49.70.

Meanwhile, it gave the same advise on the stock of Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp. as its price went through the roof last week, recording its new high for this year.

“Indicators are aggressively bullish on the stock. Last week's gains on the stock might get capped as investors with attractive positions might start to take profits before the 48th week ends,” it said.

Premiere Horizon shares closed Friday at P0.80 apiece. VG Cabuag

MORE Power eyeing to double capacity of substations

M

ore Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) revealed plans to double the capacity of its substations to 260 MegaVolt Ampere (MVA) in the next 5 years as part of an investment program crafted by the Razon-led distribution utility firm in Iloilo City.

“This is one of the many investments we have made and continue to make, to modernize the existing, decrepit and antiquated the distribution grid of the city of Iloilo.... We’re executing an investment plan for Iloilo to have a world-class, modern, electrical grid that is stable, safe, reliable and economical,” said Enrique Razon, owner of MORE Power in a recorded speech during the inauguration of the 10MVA mobile substation over the weekend.

The 10MVA substation will serve the Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao and will be utilized to free up the Mandurriao substation, which is nearing its capacity at maximum level.

“Putting this 10MVA mobile substation here in Iloilo business park has two benefits. One, it will assure the business park of larger capacity to cater to growing demand.

And two, we will be able to transfer some load to this mobile substation to free up Mandurriao substation and to some extent the Molo substation of some load. We will provide some breathing space because the two substations are already in critical level,” said MORE Power President Roel Castro during the live commissioning of the 10MVA substation.

Castro said the 10MVA substation is part of the company’s expansion plan to double the capacity of the substations to 260MVA in the next five years to serve the growing demand in the city.

“This mobile substation is just a start of a string of capacity expansion that we are thinking or planning for the city. Before this mobile substation, the total capacity for Iloilo was 130MVA. In the next five years, we will double this to 260MVA, with the addition of this mobile substation, another 30MVA mobile substation, a new 50MVA substation here in Iloilo business park at the other end, new substations in Arevalo district, as well as expansion of the city proper and Jaro substation,” said Castro. Lenie Lectura

SMC apologizes to victims of Skyway mishap

By VG Cabuag @villygc

& Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

C

onglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) on Sunday apologized to the victims of the accident in its Skyway extension project site in Cupang, Muntinlupa.

The mishap on Saturday killed one person and injured four others, most of whom were motorists traversing the East Service Road.

Company President and COO Ramon S. Ang said that even if EEI Corp. is handling the construction as its contractor, SMC as the project proponent has the responsibility to take care of the victims.

“Even with a contractor handling construction, ultimately, we are responsible for the welfare of those who were affected. I would like to personally apologize to the victims and their families, as well as to our larger community in Muntinlupa,” Ang said in a statement.

The accident, reported to have been caused by a crane that tipped over as it moved into position, which then hit a steel girder causing it to fall on six vehicles, hitting the motorists that ply the road.

“This terrible and tragic accident has affected me in ways I can’t even begin to express. I have not stopped thinking about the people who were affected, the four that were injured and most especially, the person who perished, and his family.

There are no words that can ease the grief of losing a loved one,” Ang said.

“To the family, I can only offer my sincerest and deepest condolences, and my personal assurance that your family will be taken care of. To those who were injured, please be assured we will provide all the means necessary for you to recover and restart.”

Ang said the incident will be investigated thoroughly, and that San Miguel and its contrac-

tor EEI will make sure even stricter measures are in place at the project site.

“In a project of this magnitude and scale, there are many redundant safety measures in place. Unfortunately, we can’t predict every outcome, and I’m sure no one wanted this to happen," he said.

“Regardless, we are working with authorities to determine the root cause of this incident.

We will find out where lapses occurred and do whatever is necessary to help make sure they don’t happen again.”

Probe

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it is now investigating the incident.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said he has already instructed DOLE's labor inspector to check if the contractor of the project violated occupational safety and health standards (OSHC).

"If they are not compliant, they may face liabilities," Bello said in a phone interview.

Under the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11058, or the Occupational Safety and Health Act, an erring company may be fined between P20,000 to P50,000 daily depending on its violations.

This fine is apart from the civil and criminal case companies may face for their infraction.

The Skyway Extension is a P10-billion project that will extend the elevated expressway from Susana Heights in South Luzon Expressway to Sucat and back, and provide direct access to the elevated section of the Skyway.

It will also connect the SLEX and the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway to the Skyway at Susana Heights bypassing Alabang.

Due to the accident, SMC said the timetable for the completion of the extension project was pushed back to February 2021.

PMFTC pursues business transformation

P

MFTC Inc., the Philippine affiliate of Philip Morris International, is pursuing its business transformation amid the pandemic to provide smokers, who would otherwise continue to smoke, better alternatives to combustible cigarettes.

PMFTC Communications Director Dave Gomez said that since the company launched “Unsmoke Pilipinas,” the company’s transformation strategy to achieve Smoke-Free Future” in July 2019, it continued to engage Filipino smokers even through the pandemic and raised the level of virtual conversation about the need to quit smoking.

“We have made a dramatic move to transform our business to achieve our bold new vision to design a smoke-free future. Yes you heard it right, we are a tobacco company working to achieve a world that is free from cigarettes,” Gomez said in the first ever virtual “CreativeFest Now!” organized by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of the Philippines.

PMFTC, established in 2010 following the business combination between PMI and Fortune Tobacco Corporation, is an agriculture and consumer products company that is leading the change across the Philippine tobacco industry. Its traditional business supports two million Filipinos who depend on tobacco for all or part of their livelihood.

“We are in no denial. We know we belong to a controversial and highly-regulated industry. We manufacture a product—cigarettes—that have clear health risks, and yet a product that many adult consumers in the world still largely choose to enjoy. We are part of a bigger society and we want to behave responsibly in it,” said Gomez.

He said despite the global campaign against the tobacco industry in terms of higher taxes, restrictions in smoking areas and health warnings on packs, there

Gomez are still 16 million smokers in the Philippines today. This is because Filipino smokers are quitting cold turkey at a rate of only 4 percent, he said.

Globally, there will still be more than one billion smokers worldwide by 2030, about the same number today, according to the World Health Organization.

“So how do we make the lives of those 1 billion smokers better? The challenge and the solution to us is clear. We need to transform our business with science and innovation as our bases. Science tells us that anything you light on fire releases harmful chemicals.... The problem then is burning, and our challenge is to take the smoke out of smoking. Thus we call our vision ‘Delivering a Smoke-Free Future,’” said Gomez.

He said PMI’s goal today is to provide the world’s adult smokers, who would otherwise continue to smoke, with smoke-free alternatives. “We are going smoke-free because it is the right thing to do, and our resources today allow for it,” he said.

“With the support of top-in-class scientists, engineers, technicians and state-of-the-art R&D, our bold vision is to transform our business, to replace cigarettes with better alternatives as soon as possible. And that is to take the smoke out of smoking,” he said.

Gomez said PMI’s ‘Unsmoke’ strategy is more than a marketing or PR campaign. “The Unsmoke message is our foundation. It is the core of our way forward.

And it simply reads: If you don’t smoke, don’t start.

If you smoke, quit. If you don’t quit, change,” he said.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, November 23, 2020

Holcim PHL to merge units to streamline operations

T

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

he board of cement firm Holcim Philippines Inc. has approved the company’s merger with its subsidiaries in its bid to streamline its corporate structure.

The company said it is merging Holcim Philippines Manufacturing Corp., Mabini Grinding Mill Corp. and Bulkcem Philippines Inc. Holcim currently owns 99.6 percent of Holcim Manufacturing, which then owns Bulkcem, a company that owns a bulk terminal in Iloilo that it currently leases to the listed firm.

Meanwhile, Holcim whol ly owns Mabini Grinding, a firm that owns a grinding station in Batangas and currently leases it to the company.

Holcim Manufacturing owns a cement plant and leases most of its manufacturing assets to Holcim. “ The proposed merger will make Holcim operations more

efficient. Further, streamlining the corporate structure will result in cost savings for the company,” it said.

The said move comes after conglomerate San Miguel Corp. failed in its bid to buy the cement company for $2.15 billion as it failed to secure the approval of the local anti-trust body, which said the deal will remove competition in the local cement market, creating a merger-to-monopoly situation.

Holcim reported a 45-percent fall in its profits for January to September to P1.02 billion from last year's P1.87 billion.

Net sales for the 9-month period fell 21 percent to P18.77 billion from last year's P23.67 billion. For the third quarter of alone, it had net sales of P7.36

mutual funds

billion from P8.28 billion, down by 11 percent from last year.

The company, however, posted a 34-percent jump in its net income for the third quarter alone to P613.69 million from P457.45 million last year.

“While there are challenges ahead, we remain confident that the steps to keep our people healthy and safe, preserve cash, and be prudent on costs enable us to emerge stronger from this crisis. Opportunities abound for our business as the construction industry will play a key role in the country’s recovery from the pandemic. Moving forward, we are ready to support our partners build better and deliver great value to all our stakeholders,” John Stull, the company's president and CEO, said.

November 20, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

November 20, 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 PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK COL FINANCIAL FIRST ABACUS FERRONOUX HLDG FILIPINO FUND IREMIT MEDCO HLDG NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

44.6 104 86.1 25.25 11.22 47.35 9.6 19.88 29.55 52.7 96 18.5 111 65.5 27.7 0.72 3.44 6.87 1.21 0.33 0.65 160.5 1990 1.07

44.8 104.7 86.6 25.3 11.26 47.5 9.79 20.5 29.6 53.2 99.9 18.68 111.5 65.8 27.8 0.73 3.58 7.45 1.28 0.34 0.66 162 1995 1.09

44.55 101 87.2 24.85 11.3 45.7 9.6 20.4 29.3 53 96 17.96 108 64.05 28 0.66 3.5 7.48 1.24 0.35 0.64 160 2000 1.07

44.8 104.7 88.95 25.3 11.38 47.5 9.79 20.4 30.05 53.4 96 18.92 111.8 65.85 28.3 0.75 3.58 7.48 1.29 0.355 0.65 162 2000 1.07

44.5 100.6 85 24.75 11.16 45.7 9.6 20.4 29.3 52.5 96 17.96 108 64.05 27.8 0.66 3.5 7.45 1.18 0.32 0.63 160 1990 1.07

44.8 104.7 86.1 25.3 11.22 47.5 9.62 20.4 29.55 53.2 96 18.68 111.5 65.8 27.8 0.72 3.58 7.45 1.21 0.34 0.65 160 1990 1.07

6200 10135730 6314520 348400 1131500 7784800 4100 500 1442800 1380 10 268900 1388680 69460 61600 792000 60000 2400 456000 2090000 491000 12640 845 11000

276335 1040939277 551514217 8756955 12703580 365803955 39590 10200 42719590 73177 960 4956078 153935807 4528195.5 1716740 557540 212950 17891 567160 716700 314460 2023875 1689925 11770

INDUSTRIAL

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

5.8 1.39 27.3 0.216 28.5 66 303 15.42 3.76 3.4 12.94 17.94 10.36 13.36 8.18 3.08 17.16 17.5 5.29 7.27 10.06 64.8 0.68 1.51 53.25 194.1 52.7 7.9 7.37 0.17 8.39 1.24 4.73 1.75 0.113 151 0.9 2.4 52.5 52.05 1.74 5.6 15.78 7.63 7.29 10.56 8.41 0.86 1.11 1.87 2.28 4.5 4.64 21.75 2.68 7.56 1.1 5.14 1.54 6.79

5.81 1.4 27.4 0.218 28.6 66.55 304.2 15.44 3.78 3.49 13 18 10.4 13.98 8.2 3.09 17.28 17.52 5.3 7.28 10.08 64.9 0.71 1.52 53.5 195 55.4 8 7.39 0.171 8.4 1.25 4.74 1.8 0.115 151.5 0.91 2.44 54.55 53.8 1.75 5.74 15.9 7.65 7.3 10.6 8.78 0.87 1.15 1.89 2.29 4.68 4.71 21.8 2.69 7.57 1.11 5.4 1.55 6.8

5.25 1.4 27 0.212 28.95 64.3 303 15.64 3.4 3.45 12.98 17.78 10.26 13.98 8.35 2.95 17.8 17.7 5.27 7.2 10.08 64.9 0.69 1.41 51.65 194 52.1 7.9 7.1 0.175 8.25 1.27 4.77 1.8 0.112 150 0.88 2.4 52 55.1 1.75 5.3 15.8 7.64 7.21 9.57 8.8 0.82 1.17 1.91 2.15 4.57 4.62 21.95 2.73 7.66 1.09 5.45 1.56 6.68

5.8 1.4 27.45 0.219 29 66 306 15.8 3.8 3.45 13 18.28 10.4 13.98 8.35 3.09 17.8 17.7 5.37 7.28 10.08 65.15 0.73 1.55 53.5 195 55.6 8 7.42 0.175 8.44 1.27 4.78 1.8 0.115 154.6 0.93 2.4 52 55.1 1.77 5.92 15.9 7.7 7.42 10.6 8.8 0.93 1.18 1.91 2.3 4.68 4.71 21.95 2.74 7.78 1.12 5.5 1.58 6.89

5.22 1.38 26.95 0.207 28.1 64.3 301 15.4 3.37 3.4 12.66 17.68 10.12 13.98 8.13 2.93 17.02 17.42 5.25 7.02 10 64.6 0.68 1.41 51.65 192 52 7.9 7.08 0.164 8.22 1.24 4.74 1.8 0.112 149.6 0.87 2.4 52 52 1.73 5.3 15.5 7.62 7.21 9.57 8.6 0.82 1.08 1.88 2.15 4.5 4.58 21.8 2.67 7.51 1.08 5.12 1.55 6.66

5.8 1.39 27.3 0.216 28.5 66 304.2 15.42 3.78 3.4 12.98 17.94 10.4 13.98 8.2 3.08 17.28 17.5 5.3 7.28 10.08 64.8 0.71 1.52 53.5 195 55.45 8 7.39 0.17 8.39 1.25 4.74 1.8 0.113 151 0.9 2.4 52 54 1.75 5.73 15.9 7.65 7.3 10.6 8.75 0.87 1.15 1.89 2.29 4.68 4.71 21.8 2.69 7.57 1.1 5.49 1.55 6.8

43621000 11717000 3273100 56290000 3499300 60240 134730 1815700 8926000 47000 137400 8260100 435200 1000 468700 3716000 62900 1050500 243000 2491800 1017500 158000 6694000 42552000 96870 530820 1330 1900 1318000 1900000 408200 6447000 1448000 2000 250000 2045300 15909000 12000 1530 100 10944000 505300 106100 361300 4247000 12493400 71300 1349000 6656000 385000 2364000 8000 533000 234600 6291000 827700 1263000 7800 1583000 9900000

238749354 16352710 89235915 11956890 100218145 3938281.5 40905782 28179858 32674670 160580 1777208 147746158 4471394 13980 3833391 11244560 1077936 18388886 1285133 17890955 10229298 10,262,720( 4709920 62776230 5100673.5 102832083 70792.5 15140 9628550 316530 3415706 8045300 6905020 3600 28160 311001205 14384690 28800 79560 5384 19060800 2870362 1672162 2766104 31168467 127229840 626975 1201810 7379380 725980 5248170 36670 2492440 5115175 17010570 6297669 1381700 41807 2468500 67262666

-9663173 163450 3678540 660970 30679520 -1902715 -9585828 849972 -436790 17000 1269198 -27158042 -825812 -670990 193180 -9419990 -637556 9146946 3263414 5,517,317.9999) 1424610 218716 -26998272 -67188 36936 -1223730 -413250 114858476 -4120 348090 -14180 694404 1041252 27880511.9996 98490.0001 3820 5120 -1405000 -613125 -6827030 -659124 -33600 18600 3155291

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.6 0.61 0.59 0.62 0.59 0.61 40162000 24428350 9.36 9.4 8.95 9.6 8.72 9.4 170800 1592273 ASIABEST GROUP 848.5 855 846 863.5 840 855 544690 467095595 AYALA CORP 46.75 46.85 48.2 48.2 46.7 46.85 2056200 96420175 ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL 9.92 9.93 9.9 10.2 9.8 9.93 12988200 129672798 AYALA LAND LOG 3.23 3.24 3.08 3.25 3.08 3.24 13942000 44485550 ANSCOR 6.39 6.4 6.49 6.55 6.38 6.39 18300 118059 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.71 0.72 0.69 0.72 0.67 0.71 1216000 845890 0.91 0.92 0.91 0.92 0.9 0.92 2027000 1850760 ATN HLDG A 0.89 0.94 0.9 0.94 0.9 0.94 9000 8420 ATN HLDG B 5.38 5.41 5.37 5.42 5.36 5.38 7592300 40835472 COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG 5.54 5.55 5.4 5.55 5.37 5.55 10872100 59808208 FILINVEST DEV 9.06 9.07 9.09 9.09 9.03 9.05 68100 616963 FORUM PACIFIC 0.215 0.232 0.215 0.215 0.215 0.215 10000 2150 602 603 561 616 561 603 499510 298537280 GT CAPITAL 3.69 3.74 3.58 3.92 3.55 3.72 199000 744500 HOUSE OF INV 72.05 73.5 72.05 73.5 71.05 73.5 1336930 97166004.5 JG SUMMIT 4.84 5.15 3.51 5.8 3.51 5.17 7087400 33050877 KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.85 0.83 0.83 754000 628400 2.8 2.81 2.71 2.81 2.71 2.8 8899000 24386460 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 13.5 13.74 12.98 13.74 12.8 13.74 5457600 71895976 MABUHAY HLDG 0.54 0.56 0.56 0.58 0.53 0.56 453000 249490 4.13 4.14 4.19 4.2 4.12 4.14 71962000 298690560 METRO PAC INV 4.22 4.39 4.15 4.4 4.15 4.4 25000 106820 PACIFICA HLDG 0.83 0.84 0.83 0.85 0.83 0.84 147000 122160 PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP 1.26 1.28 1.3 1.3 1.28 1.28 94000 121690 289 293 280 293 275 293 3050 864102 SYNERGY GRID 1031 1050 1006 1050 1006 1050 193270 201186450 SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP 125 126 116 126 116 126 532040 63667923 0.69 0.7 0.71 0.71 0.7 0.7 332000 234370 SOC RESOURCES 1.9 2.28 1.92 1.92 1.9 1.9 31000 59330 SEAFRONT RES 137.8 142 142 144.6 137 137.8 23550 3251659 TOP FRONTIER 0.229 0.237 0.226 0.237 0.226 0.237 440000 101940 WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG 0.17 0.174 0.164 0.18 0.164 0.17 34500000 5999460

-3422760 -9580 13875700 3322120 11388747 9871170 52160 -860 -7202796 7960582 -240314 85800460 9191537 -16094060 14853212 -52140750 11699250 13051046 -2172299 69000 65630

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 225.02 -11.67% -7.65% -1.53% -10.65% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.2364 -16.78% -8.05% 0.5% -10.54% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.1134 -18.77% -11.28% -3.46% -15.36% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7852 -14.25% -8.2% n.a. -12.56% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.7366 -14.54% n.a. n.a. -13.27% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.8676 -9.69% -6.1% -1.74% -8.65% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.7544 -12.9% -7.94% n.a.

-11.62% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 92.45 -16.42% n.a. n.a. -10.44%

PROPERTY PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 45.9848 -11.51% -5.7% -0.04% -10.33% ARTHALAND CORP 0.66 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.66 0.66 1803000 1215750 7.8 8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 1000 7800 ANCHOR LAND Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 484.2 -10.38% -5.51% -0.7% -9.12% 39.85 40 39.5 40 39.15 40 7562200 301091785 AYALA LAND 1.11 1.13 1.06 1.12 1.06 1.12 334000 364390 ARANETA PROP Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 1.0469 n.a. n.a. n.a.

1.63% AREIT RT 27 27.1 26.6 27 26.55 27 1561100 41901880 BELLE CORP 1.63 1.64 1.59 1.64 1.59 1.64 1182000 1917510 Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.1412 -12.77% -6.12% -0.37% -11.32% A BROWN 0.85 0.87 0.84 0.87 0.84 0.86 3767000 3217320 CITYLAND DEVT 0.79 0.81 0.82 0.82 0.79 0.79 208000 165070 Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 33.9599 -11.62% -5.48% 0.35% -10.39% 0.16 0.162 0.156 0.161 0.155 0.16 15110000 2414810 CROWN EQUITIES 4.69 4.72 4.76 4.76 4.68 4.72 739000 3474110 CEB LANDMASTERS Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.9054 -12.1% n.a. n.a. -11.07% 0.445 0.45 0.415 0.45 0.415 0.445 30100000 13082000 CENTURY PROP CYBER BAY 0.37 0.38 0.395 0.395 0.36 0.37 9730000 3587550 Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.7004 -11.08% -5.18% 0.72% -10.01% DOUBLEDRAGON 14.46 14.48 15 15.3 14.38 14.46 9879500 145450956 DM WENCESLAO 5.95 5.98 5.99 6.05 5.86 5.98 615200 3651474 Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 786.22 -10.93% -5.08% 0.63% -9.83% EMPIRE EAST 0.315 0.32 0.315 0.325 0.315 0.32 1520000 482950 0.085 0.089 0.087 0.087 0.086 0.086 2690000 231730 EVER GOTESCO Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.7157 -19.24% -8.88% -3.42% -15.94% 1.03 1.04 1.02 1.04 1.01 1.03 38652000 39752110 FILINVEST LAND 0.89 0.9 0.88 0.9 0.88 0.89 1054000 936100 GLOBAL ESTATE Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.5647 -16.47% -7.23% -1.08% -15.31% 8990 HLDG 8.36 8.4 8.39 8.39 8.2 8.39 53000 437861 PHIL INFRADEV 1.61 1.62 1.58 1.64 1.58 1.62 6853000 11046770 Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.9004 -11.18% -5.39% 0.51% -10.03% KEPPEL PROP 3.25 3.26 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 4000 13000 0.71 0.72 0.71 0.72 0.69 0.72 27000 18870 CITY AND LAND United Fund, Inc. -a 3.2558 -12.06% -4.72% 0.82% -10.88% 3.92 3.95 3.84 3.95 3.78 3.95 51794000 200832650 MEGAWORLD 0.54 0.55 0.55 0.58 0.53 0.54 385487000 213190190 MRC ALLIED Exchange Traded Fund 0.395 0.4 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.41 20000 8200 PHIL ESTATES PRIMEX CORP 1.28 1.3 1.28 1.3 1.25 1.3 1130000 1442650 First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 105.6529 -10.75% -4.77% 1.43% -9.66% 16.64 16.74 16.5 16.82 16.3 16.74 7341900 122,055,436( ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY 0.27 0.275 0.28 0.28 0.26 0.275 800000 217950 Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 1.54 1.57 1.55 1.56 1.52 1.56 130000 200210 ROCKWELL 2.69 2.75 2.75 2.75 2.75 2.75 6000 16500 SHANG PROP ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.1515 16.7% 1.29% 5.31% 11.97% 1.94 1.95 1.92 1.96 1.9 1.95 412000 794650 STA LUCIA LAND 39 39.5 38 39.5 38 39.5 6949200 271729120 SM PRIME HLDG Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.5911 19.09% 8.86% n.a. 15.41% 4.63 4.79 4.51 5.3 4.51 4.63 1452000 7009600 VISTAMALLS SUNTRUST HOME 1.49 1.5 1.51 1.53 1.48 1.49 6954000 10429980 Balanced Funds VISTA LAND 4.28 4.29 4.24 4.29 4.24 4.28 5361000 22887140 Primarily invested in Peso securities

SERVICES ABS CBN 11.34 11.36 11.32 11.4 11.3 11.36 553000 6264166 ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.6381 3.66% -3.6% -0.91% 4.82% 5.7 5.71 5.7 5.73 5.63 5.7 1830700 10408469 GMA NETWORK 0.43 0.435 0.425 0.445 0.425 0.435 830000 359200 MANILA BULLETIN ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.229 -0.73% -2.65% 0.72% 2.2% 11 11.3 11.2 11.3 11 11.3 4000 44290 MLA BRDCASTING GLOBE TELECOM 2008 2018 2026 2048 2008 2008 96810 196174620 First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.5995 -1.68% -1.7% -0.75% -1.22% PLDT 1377 1378 1382 1411 1368 1377 209940 289576815 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.052 0.053 0.053 0.053 0.051 0.053 45450000 2334540 First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1969 -15.78% n.a. n.a.

CONVERGE 16.62 16.66 15.86 16.9 15.86 16.62 20955300 344528256 4.22 4.31 4.22 4.35 4.22 4.22 164000 696460 DFNN INC 6.39 6.4 6.38 6.45 6.21 6.4 35163200 222528169 DITO CME HLDG -13.83% 1.38 1.45 1.38 1.45 1.36 1.45 21000 29940 IMPERIAL ISLAND INFO 0.117 0.118 0.113 0.118 0.112 0.117 3530000 409780 NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. - a 1.949 -0.97% -0.04% 1.92% -0.64% JACKSTONES 1.7 1.71 1.69 1.71 1.66 1.7 116000 196200 4.56 4.58 4.33 4.56 4.22 4.56 12831000 56641170 NOW CORP PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.7531 -1.41% -0.85% 1.19% -0.95% TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.31 0.315 0.32 0.325 0.305 0.31 41400000 12902650 3.06 3.1 3 3.12 2.98 3.1 1959000 5959150 PHILWEB Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.7893 -1.42% -0.97% 1.12% -1.01% 8.97 9.01 8.97 9.1 8.97 8.97 223100 2013222 2GO GROUP 15.56 15.98 15.98 15.98 15.56 15.56 16400 256132 ASIAN TERMINALS Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.0756 -3.38% -2.12% 0.9% -2.19% CHELSEA 5.52 5.53 5.5 5.6 5.35 5.53 5953200 32427053 CEBU AIR 49.65 49.7 50 51.85 48.15 49.7 2650000 133577830 Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.5336 -9.1% -3.46% -0.13% -8.54% INTL CONTAINER 127.5 128 126.8 129.7 126.1 128 1575460 201377288 LBC EXPRESS 15.32 16.18 14.06 16.18 14.06 16.18 4100 59548 Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 1.0089 -1.22% n.a. n.a.

-0.67% 1 1.02 1 1 1 1 128000 128000 LORENZO SHIPPNG 7.61 7.62 7.55 7.71 7.4 7.62 5981700 45617572 MACROASIA Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.9358 -7.03% n.a. n.a.

-6.08% 2.1 2.11 2.05 2.12 2.05 2.1 1047000 2183780 METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B 1.99 2.17 2 2 2 2 20000 40000 Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.9193 -8.41% n.a. n.a.

-7.44% 7.44 7.45 7.4 7.49 7.4 7.44 185100 1379417 PAL HLDG HARBOR STAR 1.54 1.55 1.52 1.58 1.51 1.55 6953000 10778380 Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8751 -11.11% -4.26% -0.98% -10.23% ACESITE HOTEL 1.44 1.5 1.55 1.55 1.42 1.5 22000 33690 0.031 0.032 0.031 0.032 0.03 0.032 67400000 2096900 BOULEVARD HLDG Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 1.66 1.69 1.7 1.7 1.65 1.65 18000 29750 DISCOVERY WORLD 10.72 11.6 10.72 10.72 10.72 10.72 300 3216 GRAND PLAZA Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03918 3.16% 2.73% 2.03% 2.57% 0.69 0.7 0.73 0.74 0.67 0.7 27222000 18972280 WATERFRONT FAR EASTERN U 639 640 615 640 615 640 480 299730 11.22% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.1189 2.29% 4.84% 10.56% 7.63 7.99 7.62 8 7.62 8 3700 29182 IPEOPLE 0.4 0.405 0.385 0.425 0.385 0.4 65540000 26551900 STI HLDG Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.3189 12.91% 6.48% 6.8% 10.44% 4.6 4.65 4 4.85 3.9 4.65 3339000 14621500 BERJAYA 8.76 8.79 8.5 8.9 8.38 8.76 6207000 53801535 BLOOMBERRY Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1933 7.19% 3.62% n.a.

5.72% 1.95 2 1.95 2 1.9 2 154000 301710 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.68 1.7 1.64 1.74 1.6 1.68 1807000 3020550 LEISURE AND RES Bond Funds MANILA JOCKEY 2.25 2.47 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25 1000 2250 2.98 2.99 2.99 3.03 2.87 2.98 27007000 80578610 PH RESORTS GRP Primarily invested in Peso securities PREMIUM LEISURE 0.43 0.435 0.42 0.445 0.405 0.43 41680000 17888500 6.66 7 6.66 7 6.66 7 1200 8026 PHIL RACING ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 369.39 3.66% 3.19% 2.75% 3.2% 7.72 7.75 7.75 7.86 7.7 7.75 2800300 21680781 ALLHOME 1.6 1.61 1.56 1.61 1.54 1.6 19563000 30860490 METRO RETAIL ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.8966 -1.55% 0.13% -0.02% -0.28% 43.95 44 43.6 44 43.3 44 1822500 79696810 PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 69 69.4 69.85 70.05 68.55 69.4 608880 42,258,008.5( Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.208 3.27% 4.63% 4.89% 2.89% PHIL SEVEN CORP 109.2 109.5 111 112.9 109.1 109.5 517270 56828973 SSI GROUP 1.56 1.57 1.64 1.66 1.56 1.56 20038000 32201090 Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2895 3.38% 2.87% 2.38% 2.97% WILCON DEPOT 15.98 16 16 16.04 15.98 16 2252700 36042830 0.385 0.39 0.37 0.39 0.36 0.385 5220000 1967550 APC GROUP First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4466 4.34% 3.36% 2.09% 3.71% 7.28 7.3 7.23 7.28 7.19 7.28 45600 330754 EASYCALL 385.4 399 380 399 380 399 1920 756520 GOLDEN BRIA 4.6141 Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 6.41% 4.38% 3.02% 5.52% IPM HLDG 3.7 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 7000 26250 2.2 2.3 2.18 2.3 2.18 2.3 61000 136480 PAXYS Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3146 5.3% 4.38% 2.51% 4.61% 0.79 0.8 0.82 0.87 0.78 0.8 382220000 313403360 PRMIERE HORIZON SBS PHIL CORP 4.85 4.88 4.79 4.88 4.65 4.85 121000 583150 Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.9623 5.28% 4.29% 2.78% 4.6%

MINING & OIL Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0353 8.43% 3.91% 2.47% 7.36% ATOK 9.02 9.54 9.32 9.68 9 9.54 242800 2243417 1.85 1.86 1.84 1.87 1.82 1.86 11144000 20561040 APEX MINING Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1843 4.51% 4.66% 3.44% 3.53% 0.0009 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.0009 0.0009 29484000000 26662000 ABRA MINING ATLAS MINING 5.1 5.17 5.02 5.1 5 5.1 439400 2215284 Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

1.7404 3.48% 3.94% 2.83% 2.31% 3.1 3.18 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3000 9300 BENGUET B 0.26 0.265 0.26 0.265 0.26 0.265 320000 83300 COAL ASIA HLDG Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 2.45 2.46 2.46 2.48 2.45 2.46 135000 331410 CENTURY PEAK 8.37 8.49 8.36 8.52 8.12 8.49 27300 230032 DIZON MINES ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $481.82 3.32% 2.69% 2.9% 2.87% 1.81 1.82 1.76 1.84 1.75 1.81 8082000 14571970 FERRONICKEL 0.26 0.265 0.265 0.28 0.26 0.26 1890000 504850 GEOGRACE ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є218.4 -0.55% 0.81% 1.15% -0.63% LEPANTO A 0.151 0.152 0.15 0.155 0.148 0.151 28380000 4272170 0.153 0.154 0.152 0.154 0.152 0.153 1600000 244500 LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A 0.0098 0.01 0.0097 0.0098 0.0097 0.0098 20000000 195400 4.61% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2628 5.01% 3.61% 2.89% 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.01 9000000 94000 MANILA MINING B 1.08 1.09 1.06 1.1 1.02 1.08 13540000 14482210 MARCVENTURES First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0265 2.71% 1.96% 1.66% 2.71% 2.61 2.64 2.66 2.66 2.61 2.61 955000 2496050 NIHAO 4.35 4.36 4.19 4.4 4.14 4.36 6554000 28042980 NICKEL ASIA PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0909 -0.22% 0.37% 0.83% -0.25% OMICO CORP 0.34 0.36 0.35 0.36 0.35 0.36 620000 220600 0.68 0.7 0.68 0.7 0.68 0.7 159000 108750 ORNTL PENINSULA Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.5227 5.65% 4.03% 3.58% 4.96% 4.95 4.96 4.95 5 4.82 4.95 4154000 20398990 PX MINING SEMIRARA MINING 11.9 11.92 11.6 11.96 11.46 11.92 26202400 310518952 Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0620504 3% 2.58% 2.27% 2.9% 0.0051 0.0055 0.0051 0.0052 0.0051 0.0052 28000000 144300 UNITED PARAGON 6.81 6.95 6.67 7.1 6.65 6.9 1351800 9234918 ACE ENEXOR Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.2191 2.14% 2.22% 2.62% 1.38% 0.0099 0.01 0.0099 0.01 0.0099 0.01 32900000 328710 ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.01 4000000 42000 Money Market Funds 0.0081 0.0082 0.0083 0.0083 0.008 0.0081 276000000 2228100 PHILODRILL PXP ENERGY 12.06 12.16 11.8 12.16 11.8 12.16 1031800 12418454 Primarily invested in Peso securities

PREFFERED ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.48 3.31% 3.33% 2.54% 2.9% HOUSE PREF A 100.2 101.1 100.2 100.2 100.2 100.2 370 37074 101 103 101 101 101 101 500 50500 ALCO PREF B First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0466 1.76% n.a. n.a.

1.98% 101.5 108 107.9 107.9 107.9 107.9 9240 996996 ALCO PREF C 506 510 510 510 510 510 10 5100 AC PREF B2R 2.66% 3% 2.62% 2.28% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2939 CPG PREF A 101.5 102 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 500 50750 100.6 101 102 102 102 102 20 2040 DD PREF Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 110.5 112.9 110.5 110.5 110.5 110.5 7000 773500 FGEN PREF G 506 510 507 508 507 508 900 457100 GLO PREF P Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0513 1.55% 1.76% n.a.

1.25% 999 1007 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000000 GTCAP PREF A 1029 1035 1029 1029 1029 1029 670 689430 GTCAP PREF B Feeder Funds 100.8 101 100.3 101 100.3 101 21040 2115294 MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3A 100 101 100 101 100 101 26970 2721870 Primarily invested in Peso securities 103 104 102 103 102 103 7910 814530 PNX PREF 3B 987.5 990 990 990 987 990 1670 1651790 PNX PREF 4 Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.0876 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

1012 1042 1041 1041 1041 1041 10 10410 PCOR PREF 2B 1062 1069 1055 1069 1055 1069 4170 4444940 PCOR PREF 3A Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 1100 1107 1095 1100 1095 1100 970 1065350 PCOR PREF 3B 78.05 78.15 78 78.4 77.8 78.15 40510 3158690 SMC PREF 2C ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.97 -2.02% n.a. n.a.

-2.02% SMC PREF 2E 76.2 76.3 76.2 76.2 76.2 76.2 8940 681228 78.2 79 78.2 78.2 78.2 78.2 3500 273700 SMC PREF 2F

SMC PREF 2G 76.1 76.25 76.05 76.25 76.05 76.1 11740 892929 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."

-25 146948282 -32711222.5 3179045 232452 -98943880 -24257880 169000 -693865 501914 141500 -10500 -1761000 1600000 -

5440 -7800 94556155 -86120 6018715 -1067010 68800 457130 -625820 -1363100 180000 -80837350 -931367 -12800 8600 -4658630 25170 254980 99664590 -1157190 17,631,300.0001) -15500 89175705 -1123930 1279680 -20367420 -2691590 15299.9999 5217086 21300 315949 -108670 589560 -170019.9997 -2645 155800 264952 -45456660 -3291907 -5336512 -9699 573380 -46500 312800 -7588850 -79230 -15545027 -436880 95660 -511900 11640113 -2892180 797245.0004 5,601,019.4996) 16543760 603140 11293320 75600 474130 -48400 -6028330 296100 24600 228560 -2700 -13680 325340 -1305000 1996590 435990 -22620898 10640 16200 -221922 -457100 -273700 -228299.9999

76.2 76.85 76.2 76.2 76.2 76.2 2500 190500 SMC PREF 2H 76.1 76.15 76.1 76.3 76.1 76.1 9850 749699.5 SMC PREF 2J

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 11.04 11.28 11 11.1 11 11.04 7900 87080 -5520 5.5 5.54 5.49 5.54 5.48 5.54 644800 3539937 -2690100 GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.86 0.87 0.84 0.86 0.83 0.86 272000 231580

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 12.9 13 12.98 13.34 12.82 12.9 458500 5972702 88596 3.41 3.42 3.2 3.44 3.18 3.42 6473000 21649840 -2239170 ITALPINAS 6.2 6.28 6.2 6.32 6 6.2 273100 1674593 KEPWEALTH 5.45 5.46 5.41 5.48 5.26 5.46 33237000 179135988 -6026226 MERRYMART

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 107.5 108.6 105.9 108.6 105.7 108.6 19310 2060943 1059

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

AMLC jeered for ‘crude’ tracking of POGO funds

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

ENATORS have called out the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) for its apparent tepid efforts to monitor Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos) with headquarters in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other known tax havens.

At the recent hearing on the 2021 budget of the financial watchdog, Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon described as “very amateur” the council’s strategy to ferret out vital information on learning that the AMLC had simply written BVI authorities to confirm whether certain POGOs were headquartered there.

Drilon, a former Justice secretary, scoffed at this topic and wondered aloud how the AMLC expected a response from BVI, when the latter’s economy relies on hosting of foreign entities seeking tax havens.

Drilon wanted to know at the Senate plenary deliberations on the proposed 2021 budget how seriously the AMLC was monitoring the Pogos, some of which the Department of Finance has said still owed the Philippine government billions in unpaid taxes and fees.

According to Drilon, the AMLC’s strategy for monitoring does not

inspire much confidence that it can truly track money laundering.

The Philippines is under pressure from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force to tighten its money-laundering regulations. But the proposed bill amending the existing Anti-Money Laundering Act is still pending in the Senate.

The AMLC had sought a budget of P226 million for 2021, mainly to fund its badly needed modernization, but the Department of Budget and Management endorsed an outlay of only P85 million.

Despite his criticism of the AMLC, Drilon expressed concern over such miniscule budget, which is even lower than the council’s 2020 appropriation of P130 million.

Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Villar raised another issue with the AMLC: the proposal to have real estate transactions worth between P1 million and P5 million covered by mandatory pre-reporting by realtors.

Villar noted that money launderers are not the usual buyers of property in this range, but simply people earning between P19,000 a month and P67,000 a month.

The family of Villar, the richest senator based on Statement of Assets Liabilities and Networth for the second year, is in the real estate business, among other enterprises.

Perspectives

Monday, November 23, 2020 B3

Exercise power to tax fairly, uniformly, SC reminds govt

By Joel R. San Juan

In a 13-page decision released last November 9, the Supreme Court’s First Division did not give credence to the opposition manifested by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), which stood as the counsel of the BIR when the tax case was still at the Court of Tax Appeals.

The OSG insisted that the compromise agreement is not valid because it failed to prove any of the grounds for a valid compromise under Revenue Regulation 30-2002 (Basis for Acceptance of Compro-

mise Settlement). The OSG added that the BIR arrogated unto himself the power of the National Evaluation Board to decide on the offer of compromise when the BI accepted Kepco’s additional payment of P16.6 million before the NEB could approve or reject Kepco’s original application for compromise agreement.

The OSG manifested before the SC that it is entitled to collect a 5-percent success fee in case of government approved compromise agreement.

However, it asked the Court to

order Kepco to pay the balance of P343.24 million plus additional interest, fees or surcharges as a consequence of its void compromise-settlement with the BIR, and that the OSG be awarded the sum of P17.1 million or five percent of the P343.24 million.

Upholding the compromise agreement for deficiency taxes is well within the power of the BIR as stated in Section 204 (A) of the 11997 National Internal Revenue Code.

“The CIR [Commissioner of Internal Revenue] may compromise an assessment when a reasonable doubt as to the validity of the claim against the taxpayer exists, or the financial position of the taxpayer demonstrates a clear inability to pay the tax,” the SC said in a decision penned by Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez.

It added that the Court cannot interfere with the discretionary functions of the CIR without proof of grave abuse of discretion.

“Here, no grave abuse of discretion exists; Kepco complied with the procedures prescribed under the BIR rules on the application and approval of compromise settlement on the ground of doubtful validity,” the SC explained.

Kepco has maintained that there exists a doubtful validity on the assessment for the taxable year 2006, which prompted the CIR to consider and accept Kepco’s compromise offer.

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

transaction data that pass through our network are securely processed in accordance with strict global standards,” BancNet CEO Aristeo P. Zafra Jr. said.

The PCI DSS assessment looked into the payment processing via BancNet’s electronic channels, such as automated teller machines (ATMs), point-of-sale (POS) terminals and the online payment gateway.

Payment processing includes transactions through InstaPay, which is a real-time fund-transfer service by the BancNet. This platform’s transaction processing switch and clearing and settlement system

were reviewed as well and passed the tests. The evaluation concluded on October 25.

“Full compliance with PCI DSS version 3.2.1 is the latest measure undertaken by the banking consortium to protect its members’ and international partner networks’ cardholders from fraud and other malicious activities,” BancNet said.

The certificate was issued by ControlCase LLC, a US-based Qualified Security Assessor Company certified by the PCI Security Standards Council.

The global standard is aimed at building a maintaining a secure net-

T

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Supreme Court has reminded the government to exercise its power of taxation fairly and uniformly as it upheld the validity of the compromise settlement between the Bureau of Internal Revenue and electric utility provider Korea Electric Power (Kepco) Philippines Corp. over Kepco’s tax deficiencies amounting to almost P300 million for the year 2006.

The SC said Kepco already paid 100 percent of the basic deficiency value-added tax and 40 percent of the basic deficiency final withholding tax for 2006 in the amount of P134.19.

The CIR approved the compromise settlement as early as December 11, 2017.

“Thus, to allow the OSG to question the validity of the compromise settlement alleging anomalies in its approval is not only unfair to Kepco and taxpayers alike that entered into compromise agreements in good faith but there will also be no final and definitive settlement of tax compromises,” the Court added.

While taxes are considered the lifeblood of the government, the SC reminded it that the power of taxation should be “exercised with caution to minimize proprietary rights of a taxpayer.”

“To maintain the general public’s trust and confidence in the government this power must be used justly and not treacherously,” the SC stressed.

On the other hand, the Court agreed that the OSG is entitled to five percent total deficiency taxes paid by Kepco.

In line with this, the SC directed the BIR to remit five percent of the total compromise amount paid by Kepco to the OSG and declared the case closed and terminated.

work, protecting cardholder data, implementing strong access measures and monitoring networks regularly, among others.

PCI DSS is a set of global guidelines followed by major card brands, including American Express, Discovery Network, JCB, Mastercard Worldwide, Visa International and Visa USA. BancNet currently has 123 members, including banks, cooperatives, electronic money issuers, affiliate switch networks, and independent ATM deployers with over 21,000 ATM locations and more than 433,000 POS terminals.

Digital trust and consumer authentication BancNet strengthens protection measures vs fraud

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he world of digital commerce and banking has been thrown into warp drive this year. With that, a new set of expectations around functionality and convenience is expected from the financial sector, with trust a key component of loyalty.

Many large global brands are feeling threatened as brick and mortar establishments are falling by the wayside. Whoever reigns supreme in terms of the digital customer experience is likely to enjoy the greatest market share.

The landscape as we see it

Ultimately, customers will likely go wherever the interactions are easiest and where they feel safe and secure.

In the current environment, the way to offer a better customer experience is to reduce friction. And for customers who forget a password, having a PIN sent to a mobile device via text message that has to be reentered and confirmed is friction.

In response, many companies are leaning into a machine learning— based approach that enables them to understand their clients—typical, yet unique characteristics and behavioral patterns, such as finger or voiceprints and a variety of physical biometric traits. Financial firms, in particular, are working to understand how clients interact with them: how and when they usually log in, the types of transactions they perform, the dollar amount range they tend to withdraw or transfer, etc. These elements can be aggregated to produce a unique client snapshot.

For any company that maintains an interface, it’s all about optimizing the customer journey, establishing trust, and keeping the journey short and efficient enough to maintain engagement.

If customers feel as though they’re jumping through too many perceived “hoops,” they will likely simply take their business elsewhere. While the customer needs to be happy and enjoy a friction-free journey to their desired outcome, it is the responsibility of the product or service provider to make sure the entire endeavor is secure.

What we believe you should do about it

First and foremost, companies— regardless of industry—should work to connect the data, authentication, and fraud teams systematically and programmatically. Understand the governance requirements, what data

you’re pulling, who owns it, where it’s coming from, and how it’s going to be leveraged. Build a holistic culture of security.

From there, think about how to drive a better experience for your customers where they’re being asked questions to authenticate, making it easier for them to identify themselves, but perhaps more demanding to do atypical transactions. Make your clients’ day-to-day interactions as easy and painless as possible, but add a little friction where it makes sense algorithmically based on common behaviors.

Make it a priority to understand the privacy and data concerns around how, and by whom, your data is going to be used. Going forward, much of it will likely be in the cloud. Think about how to encrypt and protect it. It’s an enterprise-wide matter that can be solved by technology, but is ultimately based on the business’s desire for customers to have a better end-to-end user experience across every interaction with the company digitally.

And companies would do well to rethink the way they evaluate data.

The traditional approach of applying a massive set of rules to various data sets is no longer tenable. It’s creating too many false positives and causing too many use cases to fall through the cracks for fraudsters to pick up on. The idea of leveraging machine learning algorithms to parse that data in a more efficient manner to identify behavior-based trends is key.

Finally, be alert to the correlation between people and technologies across your overall prevent/detect/ respond process. Recognize that the process spans the entire organization internally, but also impacts the world outside your literal and figurative walls, considering issues can be triggered by a third party. In the end, it’s about lessons learned. When it comes to authenticating users, take the time to review past incidents and reintroduce them to your security protocol for stress testing in an effort to avoid reoccurrences.

The excerpt was taken from “KPMG Thought Leadership, Consumers and the New Reality.” © 2020 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a member-firm of the KPMG network of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. Printed in the Philippines.

For more information on KPMG in the Philippines, you may visit www.kpmg.com.ph.

@Tyronepiad

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lectronic banking and payment network BancNet strengthened its safeguard measures against fraud and other malicious activities after meeting the latest global data security standard.

In a recent statement, the banking consortium said that it passed the assessment for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) version 3.2.1.

“With this certification, cardholders of our members and partners are assured that their account and

Metrobank launches digital drive versus scams

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mid increasing cases of digital fraud, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) recently launched a financial education initiative aimed at raising awareness about online scams.

Dubbed as “Scam Proof,” the online platform consolidates information about different online scams and fraudulent activities and how to avoid them. Both consumers and institutions can report any fraud cases through the digital platform so the public can be warned of potential illicit schemes.

“By consolidating all our efforts, we become a community of antifraud advocates, not just among banks but also across industries,” Metrobank President Fabian S. Dee said during the launch last week.

“Significantly, we hope to empower consumers as they help detect fraud.”

Metrobank Senior Vice President Digs A. Dimagiba said that the scammers have been taking advantage of the recent digital shift, noting that a report by TransUnion Philippines showed that suspected online fraud more than doubled during the pandemic.

“Clearly, there is a need for a consolidated effort, destination or a platform for fraud prevention content,” he said. “The more that knowledge is accumulated, consolidated and shared, the more powerful and empowered we are against fighting fraud.”

In “Scam Proof,” the users can learn about the basic bank account security measures so they can protect

their confidential information. The website also provides knowledge on how to identify the red flags of potentially fraudulent activities.

All the reports about online scams will be reviewed and vetted by the administrators before sharing them on the online platform.

Apart from Metrobank, the Philippine Savings Bank, BDO Unibank Inc., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Citibank Philippines and Credit Card Association of the Philippines contributed content about online scams. The initiative is also supported by Chamber of Thrift Banks and Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines, among others.

Meanwhile, both the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP)

welcomed the launch of “Scam Proof.”

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said that the online platform is in line with the Central Bank’s strategic roadmap to boost the adaptation of digital financial technologies.

“As technology progresses, there will be other [scams] that will be created by bad actors to steal bank resources and customers’ money,” BAP President Cezar P. Consing said.

“So to have one website—that basically collates examples of the latest fraud techniques—will be beneficial for everyone.”

As of end-September, the Ty-led bank saw its net earnings fall by nearly half to P11 billion from P21.6 billion the previous year due to higher provisions for bad loans.

Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

US may force banks to lend to oil, gun companies

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Wall Street regulator appointed by President Donald Trump wants to force banks to finance unpopular businesses the industry has been known to shun—a list that includes oil companies, gun manufacturers and private prisons.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks proposed last Friday a rule that would require banks to extend services and credit to any customers that pass their risk assessments. The move addresses a concern raised by Republicans that lenders including Citigroup Inc. and

Bank of America Corp. have engaged in discrimination due to public pressure or their own distaste for certain industries. “There is a creeping politicization of the banking industry that has the propensity to be very, very dangerous,” Brooks told reporters last Friday in a call about the rule, which would affect lenders with more than $100 billion in assets.

The proposal, which the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is advancing without the backing of other US banking agencies, faces an uncertain path with the Trump ad-

ministration ending and Presidentelect Joe Biden set to take office in January. While the White House has signaled that Brooks will be nominated for a full five-year term at the agency, the law allows Biden to fire him so long as he communicates the reason to the Senate.

Banks avoiding politically sensitive customers has been a key talking point for Republican lawmakers, who have raised the specter of Operation Choke Point, an effort by the Justice Department under President Barack Obama to ferret out money

laundering in industries it considered high-risk—including payday lenders, firearms dealers, escort services, drug sales, pornography and online gambling.

“We are seeing a disturbing trend in the financial services industry— the intentional discrimination of entire industries, such as firearms manufacturers, by the largest banks in the United States,” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican, said in a Friday statement praising the OCC proposal. Bloomberg News

HarvardManagementUpdate www.businessmirror.com.ph b4 Monday, November 23, 2020

BusinessMirror BusinessMirror

Monday, July 13, 2020 B www.businessmirror.com.ph

3 Ways Companies Can Retain Working Moms Right Now

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By Dana Sumpter & Mona Zanhour

share "wins," there can also be time spent to check in on how people are doing. This generates an understanding of lived experiences that may not be familiar to all on the call. Remember that life and work are still far from normal. Employees—particularly working mothers—need compassion, empathy and understanding more than ever.

t has become alarmingly clear that the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening women’s careers.

In September 2020 alone, 865,000 women in the United States left the work force, compared to 216,000 men.

Furthermore, 1 in 4 women in the country are considering leaving their job or reducing their work hours.

1. Provide certainty and clarity, wherever possible

In our interviews, we frequently heard that uncertainty about the future was adding stress and chaos to participants’ lives. General anxiety about the pandemic, worries over job insecurity and apprehension over calls to work from home or return to the office have all caused them stress. One information technology analyst said her employer was assessing each week whether employees would have to

return to the office or keep working from home on the following one. For working parents, the oneweek windows were far too short to adequately plan for child care.

Recommendation: When possible, provide employees with certainty. Be clear about job expectations and performance standards.

Communicate policy changes in a timely manner, informing employees about what decisions are being made and why, and sharing the plan for what’s coming next.

2. Resize job expectations

As work and children simultaneously stormed into our homes, many people were not prepared for the collapse of boundaries between the two domains. Nearly all of our participants were still recovering from the upheavals of March and April.

While they wanted their lives to return to normal, child care demands remained consuming and self-care nearly unattainable. For many mothers we talked to, it was impossible to perform as they had before the pandemic. Still, we heard from some women that their employers were proactively responding to the constraints by calibrating expectations. “If you are able to operate at 50% right now, I’ll consider that a win,” one senior leader told one of our interviewees. The woman said that this recognition made her feel like her struggles were being seen.

ArthurHidden | FREEPIK.COM

A stream of advice has suggested how working mothers can work from home with children, manage work/life boundaries and handle anxiety over school decisions.

Yet when we interviewed working mothers about these challenges this summer, we learned that many have had to take it upon themselves to address the problems they’re facing, with little support from employers and managers.

These women were all employed, had children under the age of 16 at home and had partners. Our conversations revealed a situation that is not sustainable and could further push women out of the workforce. As we brace for a spike in Covid-19 cases and many areas consider new lockdowns, our findings suggest three ways that managers can ensure mothers remain on the job—during the pandemic, and beyond.

Your employees are paying attention

Recommendation: Implement parent-friendly scheduling policies, and ensure that everyone knows it’s OK to use them. Studies show that a compressed workweek or a shorter workday can reduce burnout. To help accommodate working parents, managers can also update job descriptions, enact organizational development processes or allow employees to job craft. Taking everyone’s circumstances into consideration can create developmental opportunities for employees with more bandwidth, which can foster career development. In a work-first culture, however, such policies may not be easily embraced by all managers; companies should therefore train their leaders on how to implement the changes successfully and reinforce to them that the organization is serious about

providing support to its workers.

3. Continue the empathy

Several of our participants told us that managers had been responsive and compassionate with them earlier in the pandemic, but that during the summer the empathy seemed to run out. Arriving late to a Zoom call or having a child running around in the background were forgiven in April; however, multiple participants said the mood has since shifted. “It’s like people forgot that the pressures were still there. My kids are still home!" one participant said. A part of empathy is understanding the challenges that working mothers face—something not all managers might be personally familiar with.

This is complicated by the stigma that is often associated with working mothers. A manager at an ac-

counting firm described how the weight was put on the shoulders of employees to ask for help, and noted that doing so was not made easy, as the act of asking was perceived as a sign of weakness or lack of commitment.

Recommendation: Managers should continue to (or begin to) proactively ask employees what they need, how they feel and if they feel comfortable in how they work.

Leaders can also discuss suffering and show vulnerability, to help normalize such conversations. Workplace compassion is associated with a series of desired outcomes, including enhanced collaboration and lower turnover. A very simple approach is to start all meetings with a check-in. Just as it is recommended to start virtual meetings with a time for team members to

It is no longer an option for managers to pretend that their employees do not have lives outside of their jobs, as these evaporated boundaries between home and work are not going away anytime soon. As we heard from our participants, employees are taking notes right now, paying attention to how their employers are handling this crisis. Our evidence suggests that managers who follow the suggestions we outlined above will be most likely to motivate and retain their working-mother talent, an important source of human capital.

“I went to my boss and made a different schedule," a specialist in a law firm told us. "Small adjustments made things so much better. My boss asked ‘Are you OK? I know this is so bad for you with the kids.’ They are such incredible people. It makes me want to work my butt off for them.” This commitment will likely persist even after the pandemic subsides.

While our study focused on working mothers, creating a workplace environment that is supportive of them extends support to all employees. Organizations have the opportunity to stay ahead of the curve by providing the support that their workers need. We hope employers and managers heed the call, as the productivity, well-being and retention of their employees are on the line.

Dana Sumpter is an associate professor of organization theory and management at Graziadio Business School. Mona Zanhour is an assistant professor of management at California State University, Long Beach.

Talking about mental health with your employees—without overstepping

By Deborah Grayson Riegel

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t’s been called a “second pandemic”—the burden on our mental health imposed on us by the global health crisis, political unrest, economic uncertainty, rising unemployment, social isolation, remote work, home schooling, and so much more. And while it can feel like the first pandemic has been with us long enough for employees to have found the necessary resources and strategies for handling stress, the fact is, many of us are struggling more, not less.

You may have checked in with your employees back in April when the crisis was acute, but you need to keep doing it.

Talking about mental health, however, can feel tricky at best and terrifying at worst. And this can lead to a vicious cycle: The less often people at work talk about the difficulties they are encountering (even when they know they and others are struggling), the more the stigma grows. To break this cycle, you have to address the issue proactively, strategically and thoughtfully.

Managers have a responsibility toward their employees to create an open, inclusive and safe envi-

ronment that allows individuals to bring their whole selves to work.

In her Harvard Business Review article “We Need to Talk More About Mental Health at Work,” Morra Aarons-Mele shares research showing that “feeling authentic and open at work leads to better performance, engagement, employee retention and overall well-being.”

Leaders at all levels need to put mental health “on the table,” talking about it, inviting others to talk about it and working actively to develop resources for employees. This is how we reduce mental health stigma and increase the likelihood that our colleagues will feel happier, more confident and more productive.

So how do you start talking about a topic that can make even the bravest leader worry about overstepping? Here are three ways:

1. Talk about health holistically

Chances are that you’d ask your co-worker about the back pain he's been experiencing since he started working from home. You’d probably also ask your team member about the tendon she tore on a recent run. You might even share an update about your seasonal al-

lergies. When you’re asking about someone’s health, make a note to inquire about that person's mental health too. It can be as simple as, “It sounds like your back pain is getting better. That’s good news.

And how’s your mental health these days? I know these can be very stressful times—and please let me know if I’m overstepping.”

(And then stop talking.)

Sharing your own struggles is helpful too, because it normalizes the discussion. You might try, “My allergies are keeping me up at night—and so is my anxiety. It’s really hard to get a solid night’s sleep when I’m worried about my kids’ safety at school. How about you? What’s keeping you up at night?” (And then again, stop talking.) It’s important to note that if you haven’t had a close connection with a particular employee in the past, your relationship may be low on the feeling of psychological safety. To start building that up, take small steps.

You might say something like, “I know that you and I haven’t typically talked about nonwork topics, but for me, work and nonwork feel like they’re blurring together these days. How are you doing with that?”

2. Don’t try to fix people

3. Really listen

n “What would be most helpful to you right now?” n “What can I take off your plate?” n “How can I support you without overstepping?” n“Let’s discuss the resources we have available here, and what else you might need.” n “I’ve been through something similar. And while I don’t want to make this about me, I’m open to sharing my experience with you if and when it would be helpful.”

n Be clear with yourself and your colleagues that your intention in listening is to help. n Suspend judgment (of yourself and the other person) by noticing when an “approving/disapproving” thought enters your mind. Let it pass or actively send it away. n Focus on your colleagues and their experiences, being sure to separate them from yours. n Listen for overall themes, such as social isolation or financial concerns, and don’t get mired in the details, which can distract you from the big picture of what’s going on with that person. Since you’re there to offer

Leaders often succeed by navigating difficult situations and solving complex problems. But people don’t like to be “fixed,” so don’t try. An employee who believes you see him as broken may worry that you don’t see him as capable or credible, which can undermine his confidence and competence. Approach your colleagues with the mindset that he or she is resourceful and able, and that he or she may need your support but not necessarily solutions. You want to be a bridge to resources, rather than being the resource yourself.

If someone shares that he or she is struggling, here are a few things you can say:

The financier Bernard Baruch said, “Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” But it’s not enough to just listen; you need to do it well. That’s not always easy—especially now, when our own preoccupations, distractions, biases and judgments can easily get in the way.

Here are ways in which you can create an environment where your employees feel heard, respected and cared for:

support, rather than solve problems, you don’t need to know the specifics. n Listen with your eyes as well as your ears. Notice changes in facial expressions, which can give you some cues to what the person is actually feeling, as opposed to what he is saying. n Recognize that when you start thinking to yourself, “What am I supposed to do?” you’ve stopped listening. n Let your colleague know that if something is interfering with your ability to really listen, whether it’s an urgent e-mail, your child demanding your attention or your own stress—and offer to reschedule your conversation for a time when you can really attend to them.

As the World Health Organization ambassador Liya Kebede said, “Helping others isn’t a chore, it is one of the greatest gifts there is.” Your willingness to open up an honest conversation about mental health with your employees is exactly the kind of gift that so many people want and need right now.

Deborah Grayson Riegel is a professional speaker.

B6 Monday, November 23, 2020

TMP Tech creates opportunities for technicalvocational education under the new normal

Smarthouse Corporation forays into isolation centers construction Transportation Office Testing Center in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, isolation centers in Davao, Samar, and the testing laboratories in Iloilo, Makati, and Pasay.

Prefabricated material of choice is steel, which is extremely strong, enabling framing to span large spaces without the need for support columns or load-bearing walls. This allows total floor plan freedom in designing space.

“Our prefabricated technology has undergone tests and applied engineering expertise and aesthetics to create customizable systems to build decent mass housing, classrooms, dormitories, and similar necessities,” Malig noted.

The 35-year old entrepreneur added that their prefab structures are resilient to typhoons, strong winds, and earthquakes up to intensity eight, and TOGETHER WITH PARTNERS AND VARIOUS LGUS, SMARTHOUSE CORPORATION continue to fulfill construction requirements are ideal for either permanent or recreational living. The patented luxury confor fellow Filipinos as we all continue to fight the COVID-19 situation. tainer van units, which include insulated According to Smarthouse Corp. walls, roofs, windows, doors and steel OR almost a decade now, Smpresident and chief executive officer structures, are also easy to dismantle and arthouse Corporation has been Christopher Kyle C. Malig, the firm transport, making relocation quick and offering clients alternative has a track record in building the most cost-efficient. and cost-efficient building materials numbers of health, isolation and quarMalid had also founded Advanced through the use of prefabricated techantine facilities across the archipelago Intellitech Cold Solutions, and Comfort nology. Considered as the most viable which gained appreciation from differZone Portable Toilets Inc., two new inconstruction option in the market toent entities for its high-quality strucdustry leaders, whose technologies can day, because of its low cost and easy tures and excellent workmanship. be integrated with Philippine progress. acquisition they have been widely “We offer the same products and With site offices in key areas such as used in food parks, outdoor offices, services to various government agenManila, Iloilo, Leyte, Palawan, Cebu and showrooms, warehouse and factory cies and private companies, and they Davao, Smarthouse Corp., delivers and spaces, dormitories and low-cost have seen the functionality and duinstalls prefabricated modular buildings housing, among others. rability of these health facilities. This anywhere in the Philippines. It offers free Regarded as the pioneer and largdelivery and installation within Metro patented technology shifts the focus est in the industry, the firm’s mettle Manila and Butuan and Davao mainland. away from home isolation to commuwas put to the test when it was comThe Quezon City-based firm is a gennity quarantine, as the need for these missioned by the Inter-Agency Task eral construction company that can also types of facilities is given top priority Force on the Management of Emergundertake turnkey projects including by government authorities,” he said. ing Infection Diseases (IATF-EID) to The medical facilities, which was build isolation centers nationwide as allied services, such as civil works, and put together in an average of two part of the measures to contain the Comechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire and weeks, helped contain the spread of vid-19 pandemic. safety for a hassle-free building process the Covid-19 in major rural and urban A 100-percent Filipino company, for the clients. centers across the country, along the it was also tapped by various local “As the pandemic is expected to be mandatory quarantine periods, stringovernment units in Metro Manila, around until next year according to augent health protocols, contact tracing, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao for the thorities, there will be a constant need and swab testing prescribed by the difconstruction of local quarantine facilifor the installation of health facilities. ferent LGUs. ties to isolate confirmed cases, persons We will be a vital partner of the governAmong the notable projects the under investigation, local stranded inment and all stakeholders in the battle company has undertaken are the testdividuals, and returning overseas Filiagainst Covid-19 so we can progress as ing and dialysis center in Cebu, the Land pino workers. one nation,” Malig concluded.

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More Filipinos push for PPP to revive economy

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IGHT of 10 Filipinos believe that the national government should team up with private enterprises for economic recovery, according to a survey conducted by Pulse Asia Research Inc. "A huge majority of Filipinos (85%) are of the view that the country’s recovery would entail a partnership between the national government and reputable private enterprises," according to the survey commissioned by Stratbase Albert del Rosario (ADR) Institute.

It said the partnership would be geared toward building and operating key development public utilities and social service projects. The opinion is echoed by most Filipinos across geographic areas and socio-economic classes (79% to 93% and 79% to 91%, respectively).

As a continuing advocacy for an all-of-society approach in fighting the global health and economic crisis of the virus from Wuhan, Stratbase ADRi ran the survey on the Filipinos’ perception on private enterprises partnering with government to realize the operation of key public utilities, implementation of social service projects, creating jobs and alleviating poverty in the context of rebuilding the economy.

Stratbase ADRi president Prof. Dindo Manhit said in a statement: “As the limited government resources will be heavily burdened by the simultaneous crises consequent to the pandemic and the string of natural disasters, the resources and dexterity of the private sector will be critical not just in immediate assistance but in re-energizing and sustaining economic recovery.”

“The hugely positive sentiment towards the private sector proves the effectiveness and the capacity of reputable business groups in building infrastructure and delivering public services thru public-private partnerships (PPP). It will be the private sector who will take the lead in investing in ventures that will provide millions of new jobs that will give stable income to the people,” Manhit said.

"The predominant sentiment in every survey subgrouping is that the government and reputable private enterprises must work together to operate public utilities and implement social service projects, with those in Class E (91%), vocational school graduates (91%), Metro Manilans (93%), and rural

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S response to the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, Toyota Motor Philippines School of Technology (TMP Tech) has shifted to the ‘new normal’ with blended learning modalities. The premiere technical-vocational training institution has updated its curriculum, combining online teaching and face-to-face instruction for hands-on learning at the TMP Tech workshop.

For courses that require theoretical foundation, TMP Tech instructors create and conduct their modules online. With this transformation, the school is able to prioritize safety, sustain learning of students at home, and advance technical know-how of both students and teachers.

Students who have digital connectivity limitations have been identified to attend a catch-up program, which has been designed for when face-to-face classes are already permitted by government authorities.

Through scholarship programs supported by various sponsors, TMP Tech has been providing opportunities to students who are based in far regions of the country, as well as those who are challenged by the economic impact of pandemic.

Early this year, the school received a P5 million worth scholarship fund from GT Foundation, Inc. (GTFI) to assist marginalized but deserving students located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. This extends the school’s reach in developing Toyota automotive professionals and opening them eventually to employment opportunities in areas where the local Toyota

(86%) and the expansion of livelihood opportunities (75%) are the leading issues. Across areas and classes, majorities cite job creation (80% to 95% and 86% to 90%, respectively), expansion of livelihood opportunities (64% to 71% and 55% to 75%, respectively), and poverty alleviation (58% to 71% and 56% to 67%, respectively) as issues that those in the private sector can help address.

The majority opinion in every survey subgrouping is that private investors can help address three issues: job creation (75% to 96%), expansion of livelihood opportunities (54% to 75%), and poverty alleviation (51% to 75%).

dealer network has also been expanding.

Moreover, TMP Tech has expanded its scholarship program to include partial scholarships, as well as financial assistance like “Study Now Pay Later” scheme for families whose financial capability was temporarily affected by the pandemic.

As TMP Tech opened its admissions this year for new batch of students for Automotive Servicing General Job course, it announced that entrance examination will be free and accessible online. It also introduced easier payment schemes and online channels.

The school assures students its readiness for the face-to-face workshopbased training at 50% capacity under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) guidelines. TMP Tech strictly implements Covid-19 health and safety protocols to ensure that everyone at its campus in Santa Rosa City, Laguna are protected from infection and contagion

SM City Lucena commends good deeds of its security personnel

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M City Lucena’s security guards once again proved their honesty and integrity after returning various valuable items and cash while performing their duties.

SG Aries Brondo and SG Ernesto Peregrin of Vigilantes Security Agency while roving and clearing the Open Parking A and B D/S recovered a white Guess wallet with bank cards, 14 pcs. of foreign coins, 25 pound cash, P15,000 cash and a diamond ring worth P300,000.

SG Gilbert Salva detailed as Cinema guard recovered a piece of 24 karat gold earring worth P15,000 at Cinema 4, Jacqueline Diaz from Defense detailed as SMERT recovered a Huawei cellphone beside the Entrance 6 and SG Angelo Remo from Stanch recovered P4,000 cash dispensed by the BDO-ATM at Entrance 1 covered walk.

All recovered items and cash were surrendered to Community Relations Service (CRS) Office and returned to its rightful owners after verification.

Victor Glorioso, CRS Manager said that this good deeds of their security guards only show the commitment and dedication of their security force to their job and company’s core values.

TikTok donates US$300,000 for typhoon victims in PH

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Mindanawons (94%) being most inclined to believe so," results of the survey show.

Nine of 10 Filipinos (90%) also believe that private investors can help create jobs in the country. Sizeable majorities say private investors can assist in expanding livelihood opportunities (68%) and alleviating poverty (62%).

Job creation is the most often mentioned issue in almost every geographic area and socio-economic class (86% to 95% and 88% to 90%, respectively).

In the Visayas, the top responses are creating jobs (80%) and alleviating poverty (71%).

For those in income groups ABC, the creation of jobs

A TMP Tech instructor conducting online lecture using a specialized learning management platform.

VER the course of two weeks, two devastating back to back typhoons hit the Philippines. On November 1st, Super Typhoon Rolly (Goni) the strongest typhoon ever recorded in recent history struck the southern region of the Philippines. An estimated two million Filipinos have been affected, many of whom lost their homes and livelihoods.

Ten days later, Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) swept through many of the same provinces previously devastated by Typhoon Rolly, including Metro Manila and parts of Central Luzon leaving widespread flooding and power outages.

Many areas are still struggling to recover from the aftermath of these calamities.

Homes and livelihood across various provinces were lost to floods, strong winds and rain. LGUs and other organizations continue to mobilize and provide assistance to all who were affected by these typhoons, but many are still in desperate need of help.

In line with its mission to inspire creativity and bring joy, TikTok has pledged to donate US$300,000 (approximately Php15M) to support typhoon relief and rehabilitation efforts. US$150,000 has been allocated to the Philippine Red Cross for their onground mobilization efforts providing hot meals and other urgent necessities in affected communities.

“The Philippine Red Cross is always committed to reaching out to the helpless and to the most vulnerable. TikTok’s donation will surely go a long way in further strengthening PRC’s humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of those who were impacted by the recent calamities. You can be sure the Red Cross will continue to be there for the people affected,” said Senator Richard Gordon, Chairman of the Philippine Red Cross.

On Saturday, November 28 at 7:00pm, TikTok will also host the #TikTokTogetherPH virtual live fundraising concert featuring The Itchyworms, Mayonnaise, Kyline Alcantara, Rico Blanco, and Ella Cruz among other guest artists and local creators, joining one another on the app to help Filipinos in need. Proceeds from the virtual event will be turned over to partner organizations, with TikTok supplementing funds raised up to US$150,000.

“We stand with all Filipinos during their time of need and we want to do what we can to help all those affected get back on their feet. TikTok has been the go-to platform for happy and inspiring moments, now we are extending this mission even beyond the app,” TikTok said.

As it spreads joy and inspiration to millions of people on the platform each day, TikTok is also committed to doing their part in helping the broader community, through these efforts and through organizations like the Philippine Red Cross.

TikTok is available for download on Google Play and the App Store.

Style

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A MASSIVE force is reshaping the fashion industry: secondhand clothing. According to a new report, the US secondhand clothing market is projected to more than triple in value in the next 10 years—from $28 billion in 2019 to $80 billion in 2029—in a US market currently worth $379 billion. In 2019, secondhand clothing expanded 21 times faster than conventional apparel retail did.

Even more transformative is secondhand clothing’s potential to dramatically alter the prominence of fast fashion—a business model characterized by cheap and disposable clothing that emerged in the early 2000s, epitomized by brands like H&M and Zara. Fast fashion grew exponentially over the next two decades, significantly altering the fashion landscape by producing more clothing, distributing it faster and encouraging consumers to buy in excess with low prices.

While fast fashion is expected to continue to grow 20 percent in the next 10 years, secondhand fashion is poised to grow 185 percent. As researchers who study clothing consumption and sustainability, we think the secondhand clothing trend has the potential to reshape the fashion industry and mitigate the industry’s detrimental environmental impact on the planet.

THE NEXT BIG THING THE secondhand clothing market is composed of two major categories, thrift stores and resale platforms. But it’s the latter that has largely fueled the recent boom.

Secondhand clothing has long been perceived as worn out and tainted, mainly sought by bargain or treasure hunters. However, this perception has changed, and now many consumers consider secondhand clothing to be of identical or even superior quality to unworn clothing. A trend of “fashion flipping”—or buying secondhand clothes and reselling them—has also emerged, particularly among young consumers.

Thanks to growing consumer demand and new digital platforms like Tradesy and Poshmark that facilitate peer-to-peer exchange of everyday clothing, the digital resale market is quickly becoming the next big thing in the fashion industry.

The market for secondhand luxury goods is also substantial. Retailers like The RealReal or the Vestiaire Collective provide a digital marketplace for authenticated luxury consignment, where people buy and sell designer labels such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Hermès. The market value of this sector reached $2 billion in 2019.

The secondhand clothing trend also appears to be driven by affordability, especially now, during the Covid-19 economic crisis.

Consumers have not only reduced their consumption of nonessential items like clothing, but are buying more quality garments over cheap, disposable attire.

For clothing resellers, the ongoing economic contraction combined with the increased interest in sustainability has proven to be a winning combination.

MORE MINDFUL CONSUMERS? THE fashion industry has long been associated with social and environmental problems, ranging from poor treatment of garment workers to pollution and waste generated by clothing production.

Less than 1 percent of materials used to make clothing are currently recycled to make new clothing, a $500 billion annual loss for the fashion industry. The textile industry produces more carbon emissions than the airline and maritime industries combined. And approximately 20 percent of water pollution across the globe is the result of wastewater from the production and finishing of textiles.

Consumers have become more aware of the ecological impact of apparel production and are more frequently demanding apparel businesses expand their commitment to sustainability. Buying secondhand clothing could provide consumers a way to push back against the fast-fashion system. Buying secondhand clothing increases the number of owners an item will have, extending its life—something that has been dramatically shortened in the age of fast fashion.

Worldwide, in the past 15 years, the average number of times a garment is worn before it’s trashed has decreased by 36 percent. THE CONVERSATION

BY PAULINE JOY M. GUTIERREZ

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HERE is a saying that every piece of jewelry tells a story. In the case of Oscar-winning 1963 film Cleopatra, it’s about how a sinuous snake slithered into global notoriety.

It started when Elizabeth Taylor was photographed in Rome with a striking Bulgari bracelet featuring a serpent with a diamond-pavé head, hand-crafted gold and enamel scales, and a brilliant set of emerald eyes.

Who gave it to her was part of its mystery, but one thing was certain: with Taylor’s portrayal of the powerful Egyptian queen, the effect of the serpent on the silver screen (and ultimately, on the catwalk) was nothing short of iconic.

Seven decades on, the emblem remains in the maison’s catalog, only this time the Roman heritage house shines a new light on the Serpenti line in “Multifaceted, Magnificent, Maximized,” a collection featuring modern interpretations of cult classics such as the Tubogas designed for the Fall/Winter 2020 season.

Designed in the aftermath of the second world war, the Tubogas was assembled entirely without soldering to emulate shapely lines, and to create a flexible litheness designed to coil around the wrist in dramatical spirals.

The Tubogas also constituted the very first range of Serpenti timepieces created in the 1940s and 1950s, wherein the watch’s movement was concealed in a snake’s head with the dial under a hinged cover. The precious iterations to follow featured scales of gemstones or polychrome enamel.

After that was the Serpenti Seduttori, first showcased in a series of rigid bangle watches. The coiled body, however, was no more, and a

reimagined hexagonal pattern mimicking the scales of the reptile was introduced.

In the new collection, available are Serpenti Tubogas watches encased in stainless steel case, 18 karat rose gold bezel set and bracelets, as well as Sedutorri watches with brilliant cut diamonds and diamond indexes, white mother-of-pearl dial and even spiral bracelets in karung leather.

In a tribute to its spirit animal, Bulgari captures the power of seduction in its line of Viper rings and bracelets, camouflaging sensuality in a hypnotic design featuring scaled metals that wrap around the finger and the wrist, while rubellite and emerald eyes define the ophidian’s eyes in the earrings line.

For ladies, there are 18-karat gold bands that come with precious stones.

Those looking for more wearability can opt for the understated gold and diamond-pavéd combination.

Those with some serious cash to burn, on the other hand, can feast their eyes on the Serpenti Viper bracelet and necklace both in 18-karat white gold, set with full pavé diamonds and with a price tag worth approximately four to six million pesos.

Richard Burton, who played Mark Anthony alongside Taylor’s eponymous role in the analogepic era and was rumored to have given Taylor the infamous bracelet, would often say: “The only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bulgari.”

Well, who would blame her? Bvlgari can be found at The Shoppes in Solaire Resort and Casino.

More information is available at www.bulgari.com. ■

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BY HYEJUNE PARK & COSETTE MARIE JOYNE� ARMSTRONG Oklahoma State University

• Monday, November 23, 2020

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The Bulgari Serpenti: In between the classic and the contemporary

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SECONDHAND CLOTHING SALES ARE BOOMING— AND MAY HELP SOLVE THE SUSTAINABILITY CRISIS IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

B.ZERO1 18 karat Rose Gold Large Hoop Earrings set with Black Ceramic on the Spiral

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SERPENTI Viper Slim Necklace in 18 karat White Gold, set with full Pavé Diamonds

SERPENTI Seduttori Rose Gold Bracelet with Rubellites

Michele Morrone is the new face of global clothing brand

ACTOR Michele Morrone, who is known for his role in the Netflix movie 365 Days, has been named the new worldwide face of GUESS Men’s.

Guess made the announcement in celebration of its Fall/Winter 2020 collection.

Morrone is an Italian actor and singer who is known for his lead role in 365 Days, one of the most popular movies in Netflix history that is currently streaming in over 200 countries.

Morrone has been recognized for his performance in the film and its soundtrack. He is a multifaceted superstar who has gained traction on social media rapidly, with about 10 million followers on Instagram alone—an increase from 1.7 million followers three weeks before the GUESS campaign was shot.

Staged under the creative guidance of GUESS Chief Creative Officer Paul Marciano, the holiday advertising campaign was shot by fashion photographer Nima Benati in her first campaign with GUESS, at the breathtaking Villa Erba in Lake Como, Italy. Once the home of internationally renowned

movie director Luchino Visconti, this historic villa was the perfect setting for an iconic campaign and a fundamental inspiration for Paul Marciano’s love of Italian movie history. “I had a brief meeting with Michele at my hotel in Lugano last June and we immediately had a strong connection,” said Marciano. “Michele is an extremely hard worker, and a very ambitious and decisive man, and these are all qualities I deeply appreciate. In a matter of minutes, we knew we were going to work together and a few weeks after that very first meeting, we met again in Lake Como to shoot these spectacular images.”

“The moment I met Paul, I knew I found a new mentor and friend,” said Morrone. “We share the same values and goals. It’s an incredible feeling being able to have fun on set doing what I love, while having a sense of comfort that I’m now part of such an amazing family. Family and loyalty are important to me, and I want to take this brand and treat it as my own.”

“The campaign marks the launch of our new GUESS men’s collection, reflecting our new focus on elevated, classic and high-quality styles which is perfectly in line with Michele Morrone’s personality,” said Marciano. The GUESS images featuring Morrone will be featured in upcoming issues of top international fashion and lifestyle magazines and in GUESS retail stores.

More information is available at www.guess.com.ph.

LIMITED-EDITION PHILIPPINE-INSPIRED LIP PRODUCTS IT’S no secret that Nivea is one of my favorite personal care brands. I have been using their products since I

was young, my picks being the lotion and the crème in the blue tin. Nivea Philippines’s latest release includes limited-edition packaging for their Crème, Original Care Lip Balm, and Strawberry Shine Lip Balm. The products feature unique artworks inspired by the Philippines on the packaging, expressed in colorful and fun illustrations and patterns.

The Nivea Crème tins highlight Pinoy symbols like a rising sun, jeepney, the rice terraces and an

illustration of the mano gesture, while providing the same well-loved paraben- and preservative-free moisturizing cream. The Nivea Original Care and Strawberry Shine Lip Balms, on the other hand, display traditional patterns taken from Philippine textiles emblazoned on the tubes to encase their balms that provide your lips with 24-hour melt-in moisture and natural oils.

A portion of the sales of these products will be devoted to helping the education of scholars from the Fairplay for All Foundation. Using education, sports, and social business as tools, the Fairplay for All Foundation in Payatas aims to level the playing field and allow children and their families a chance to make their lives better and break the cycle of poverty.

One of the key projects of the organization is supporting scholars by providing social support through weekly Youth Groups, regular scheduled academic tutoring by their volunteers and community workers, and financial aid through the Education Sponsorship Program.

But since the closure of academic institutions and their transition to virtual learning due to the pandemic, not a few children are at an obvious disadvantage. Through your purchase, you can help these children achieve a better future by funding their online education during this trying time.

The limited-edition packaging is exclusively available through Lazada and Shopee.

I’ve already ordered three tins of the Crème and the Original Care Lip Balm in the limited-edition packaging. They’re still available although the Strawberry Shine Lip Balm is now out of stock.

ITALIAN actor Michele Morrone

Marketing BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, November 23, 2020 B7

Wastewater, what?

PR Matters

By Abigail L. Ho-Torres

Xentro Malls Antipolo grabs the top prize in the 2018 installment of the Golden Kubeta Awards.

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EFORE I joined my current company, I had no idea what wastewater was. Apparently, I was not alone. According to a Maynilad-commissioned qualitative study in 2018, the public’s knowledge about wastewater—what it was, where it came from, where it all went—was little to none.

This poses a problem. How so? If people do not even know what happens to water after they use it, how can we expect them to even care where used water—or wastewater— goes afterwards? And it’s important that we care.

Of the water that we use each day, around 80 percent ends up as wastewater. Of this volume, 80 percent goes back to our water bodies without undergoing adequate treatment, according to data from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Because water is a finite resource, it just makes sense that the water we use goes back to nature so we’ll have water to use again—and so the cycle goes on and on and on. But when used water returns to water bodies untreated, with all of the icky, potentially harmful stuff still in it, I don’t think any of us would want to use that, let alone drink it.

The Boracay experience

Let’s go back, for a moment, to that day in February 2018 when President Rodrigo Duterte called the world-famous Boracay Island “a cesspool.” At that time, that was a fairly accurate description, unfortunately. One of the major reasons Boracay reached that state: the discharge of untreated wastewater into the sea. And that practice has been going on for years.

Two months after that “cesspool” comment, President Duterte ordered the six-month closure of the tourist paradise, and even declared a state of calamity there. Massive clean-up efforts were undertaken.

To prevent the same thing from happening again, more stringent requirements, mostly in terms of solid waste management and wastewater treatment, were put in place. One of the requirements for establishments to be able to reopen was connection to the existing sewerage network or operation of their own wastewater treatment facility.

The closure of Boracay from May to October resulted in significant economic losses. A study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) titled “The Boracay Closure: Socioeconomic Consequences and Resilience Management” placed aggregate economic loss in total output—or the value of all goods and services produced in an economy—at between P20.8 billion and P83.15 billion. Compensation losses, with businesses closing down, ranged from P7 billion to P27.9 billion.

“Overall, while the results may not be very significant at the national level, it will still have its direct and indirect effects to people

A kubeta fit for royalty gave Petron E. Rodriguez branch the honor of being the inaugural winner of the Golden Kubeta Awards. Petron

After its Antipolo branch won the top award in 2018, Xentro Mall Polangui wins in the Malls and Restaurants category of the 2019 awards. Xentro Malls

A portion of the toilet that gave FEU a big win in the 2019 Golden Kubeta Awards. FEU Media Center

living in the island and in the entire municipality of Malay,” the PIDS report said.

Golden Kubeta Awards

Beyond Boracay

TEN years before the Boracay closure took place, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) placed the country’s annual economic losses due to poor sanitation or improper wastewater management practices at P77.8 billion, as stated in its report titled “Economic Impacts of Sanitation in the Philippines.”

The negative effects of poor sanitation go beyond the economic.

Untreated wastewater can cause diseases such as diarrhea, hepatitis A, and leptospirosis. Like in the Boracay example, poor sanitation practices also have far-reaching effects on the environment, including fish kills and contamination of groundwater, or water found underground.

According to a 2009 study of the Asian Development Bank, 58 percent of the country’s groundwater was contaminated by infectious wastes coming from unsanitary septic tanks (or poso negro in the vernacular), wastewater discharge from industries, and runoffs from agricultural fields and dumpsites.

Closer to our own homes, improper wastewater management practices—like not having a septic tank, not conducting regular desludging of septic tanks (should be every five to seven years), pouring oil down the drain, flushing solids in the toilet, and not being connected to sewerage lines (for those located in sewered areas)—can result in various headaches, including sewage backup (imagine poop coming out of your shower drain—yes, it can happen) as a result of clogged sewer lines.

Efforts to raise awareness

Given the importance of proper wastewater management, numerous campaigns have been put in place,

and continue to run, to underscore the need for proper sanitation. Goal 6 of the UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has to do with access to clean water and sanitation for all by 2030.

One of the global goals under Goal 6 is the improvement of water quality “by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping, and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater, and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.”

Last Thursday, November 19, we celebrated World Toilet Day. Yes, it is a thing, and it’s spearheaded by various UN agencies and other international organizations. This year’s theme, Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change, is quite fitting, given that we recently just experienced strong typhoons that resulted in massive flooding in several areas in the country.

What do toilets have to do with climate change, you may ask. The World Toilet Day web site explains: “The effects of climate change threaten sanitation systems—from toilets to septic tanks to treatment plants. For instance, floodwater can damage toilets and spread human waste into water supplies, food crops, and people’s homes. These incidents, which are becoming more frequent as climate change worsens, cause public health emergencies, and degrade the environment.”

The web site further states: “4.2 billion people live without access to safely managed sanitation. Instead they often use unreliable, inadequate toilets or practice open defecation. Untreated human waste gets out into the environment and spreads deadly and chronic diseases. Sustainable sanitation systems, combined with the facilities and knowledge to practice good hygiene, are a strong defense against Covid-19 and future disease outbreaks.”

SINCE 2016, Maynilad has been celebrating World Toilet Day with the Golden Kubeta Awards, an awareness and education campaign that seeks to bring the conversation about proper wastewater management to the mainstream. It also envisions clean and comfortable public restrooms in establishments, regardless of type and industry, all over the country. It is part of Maynilad’s Kubeta PH campaign, an integrated information, education, and communication campaign that aims to spur positive action from all stakeholders on wastewater management.

The Golden Kubeta Awards follow a rigorous three-step selection process that combines physical audits with social media nomination and voting. For the first round, nominations are crowdsourced via social media platforms, and posts have to use the hashtag #GoldenKubeta to qualify. Initial nominees are then asked to provide additional photos of their toilets to make their nomination official.

Those who are able to submit the required additional photos move on to the second round: the physical audit. A team visits each nominated establishment to do a surprise check of their toilets, as well as to conduct interviews with the people managing the establishments regarding their wastewater management practices.

Nominees who make the cut then move on to the final stage: public voting. Three finalists for each of the Awards categories—Schools and Universities, Terminals and Stations, Government Offices, and Malls and Restaurants—are subjected to online polling via Facebook, through the Kubeta PH Facebook community page. All reactions, excluding sad and angry, count as votes for each nominated establishment.

This year, Maynilad opted to forgo the usual awards program, given the pandemic. Instead, the company touched base with past winners to

ask them about their continuing journey in keeping their toilets Golden Kubeta Awards-worthy.

Atty. Gianna Montinola, Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs at Far Eastern University, shared: “At FEU, we take great pride in our services and in our facilities. We want to offer our community, especially our students, a clean, safe, and secure environment. We want the university to be a beautiful campus, but also one that functions efficiently. Proper maintenance is key. Furthermore, we want to inculcate the importance of respect for public space. It is everybody’s responsibility to do their share. We are grateful to all who support our initiatives.”

FEU was last year’s Golden Kubeta Awards winner in the Schools and Universities category, besting the University of the Philippines Diliman and Miriam College. It also bagged the People’s Choice Award with a whopping 10,000 votes.

Maynilad hopes that through the lowly kubeta, the public may come to know the importance of proper wastewater management, and lead them to care enough about the issue to do their part in ensuring our contribution to environmental preservation. I’m sure none of us would want to live in a cesspool.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Abigail L. Ho-Torres is AVP and Head of Advocacy and Marketing of Maynilad Water Services Inc. She spent more than a decade as a business journalist before making the leap to the corporate world.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.

BusinessMirror

Monday, November 23, 2020

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By Josef Ramos

HE Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) election committee denied all five disqualification protests filed by the group of presidential candidate Clint Aranas against incumbent POC head Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.

The decision was penned in an eight-page document signed on Saturday by election committee chairman Atty. Teodoro Kalaw IV and members University of the Philippines president Atty. Danilo Concepcion and former International Olympic Committee representative to the Philippines Francisco Elizalde.

The committee dismissed the protests for “lack of merit.”

“All official protests filed against [Tom] Carrasco, [Abraham] Tolentino, [Cynthia] Carrion-Norton, [Dr. Raul] Canlas and [Dave] Carter are denied in their entirety for the lack of merit,” the decision said.

“Accordingly, the certified list of candidates for the 2020 POC elections last October is now deemed final.”

Aranas’s party sought to disqualify Tolentino, Carrion (gymnastics, candidate for treasurer) and Tom Carrasco (triathlon, chairman) for receiving salaries as officials of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing

Committee (Phisgoc) during the hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games last December.

The protest bordered on Aranas’s group’s claim that receiving emoluments are a clear violation of International Olympic Committee rules.

The group also protested Carter for his judo association’s suspended registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, while Canlas allegedly didn’t complete terms rules as a national sports association top official.

The committee, Kalaw said, found

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dislodged Saso from the top of the Player of the Year derby with 1,131.78 points.

The International Container Terminal Services Inc.-backed Saso slipped to second with 1,048.85 points but her Y6.5 million in earnings kept her in the money race lead with a total of Y89,253,170. Furue jumped to second place with Y73,102,992.

That makes the last Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour event, the Tour Championship Ricoh Cup starting Thursday, crucial in the chase for the coveted crown.

The Japan Tour’s last major will be played at the Miyazaki Country Club in Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu Island.

After a bogey-free 64 to take charge Saturday, Furue kept her amazing run of form into the first nine holes of the final round, posting a two-under 33 on birdies on Nos. 2, 6 and 9 against a bogey on the seventh then birdied the 10th for good measure.

Saso, on the other hand, struggled from that ego-deflating bogey on the opening hole where after a solid drive into the middle of the fairway, approached too way short of the cup then putted short of 10 feet which she muffed when the ball veered to the right of the cup.

She birdied the sixth but yielded two strokes on the par-4 seventh to kiss her bid goodbye.

HE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will release financial assistance to members of the national team who were badly-hit by typhoons.

At least 57 athletes and coaches from nine national sports associations (NSAs) were either evacuated or lost their homes because of typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.

PSC Chairman William Ramirez assured that they are monitoring typhoon-ravaged members of the national team and are expediting the release of the financial assistance.

“It might not be substantial but we will do the best we can to help them,” Ramirez said.

“We will have this rolled out the soonest. We are just waiting for the final report from the NSA affairs so we can finalize everything,” PSC Executive Director Atty.

Guillermo Iroy Jr. said.

Most of the affected national athletes and coaches are from the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Dragonboat Federation who are residing near floodways in Rizal province.

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SAN BEDA star Calvin Oftana is eager to play for flag and country.

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AN BEDA University star Calvin Oftana is bringing his Most Valuable Player (MVP) act for the first time abroad as he joined the national men’s pool that flew to Bahrain on Sunday to vie in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asian Qualifiers.

And with South Korea’s withdrawal in the second window of qualifiers, Oftana and the all-amateur Gilas Pilipinas batch are eager to play for flag and country.

“This is my first time to be with the national team and I am excited,” Oftana, the MVP in last season’s National Collegiate Athletic Association told BusinessMirror on the eve of their departure for Manama. “I was overwhelmed that I was selected.”

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atthew Wright played true to form on Sunday night and lifted Phoenix Super LPG past TNT Tropang Giga, 9289, to move a win shy of advancing to the Finals for the first time in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Pampanga.

Wright scored 25 points he highlighted with five three-pointers and a tough turnaround fade away jumper against Roger Pogoy late in the game that kept the Fuel Masters on top en route to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

“There’s really no secret, I just really have to man up and play through pain and play through the limited mobility,” said Wright, who played with a right ankle coming off a sprain. “Thanked God that we won Game Two without me even though I played as much as I could. We’re a deep team and everyone on our bench can contribute.”

Wright played only six minutes before injuring his ankle in Game One’s 92-95 loss last Wednesday. But the Fuel Masters tied the series last Friday with a 110-103 Game Two victory with Wright seeing action for only two minutes.

Phoenix could wrap up the series in Game Four set at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Online training for kids unwraps HE Philippine Athletics Track and Field Athletics Association (Patafa) has partnered with Milo for an online exercise challenge for kids.

The Patafa and Milo intend to keep the kids to stay in shape while quarantine

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“But this is not a joke playing for your country and it would be hard for us because of eight months without basketball,” the Marketing Management senior from Dumaguete City said.

The Manama bubble is hosting the second window for Group A teams from November 27 to 30. South Korea withdrew because of Covid-19 pandemic concerns, leaving the Philippines contending with only Thailand and Indonesia.

Oftana averaged 15.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 blocks in the NCAA last season, but the Red Lions yielded to the Letran Knights in the finals, 1-2.

Oftana said they are focused to play as a team under Head Coach Jong Uichico in the bubble.

“We are playing as a team, so whatever the coaches ask us to do, we will do it,” he said.

The other members of the pool are Kobe Paras, brothers Mike and Matt Nieto, Isaac Go, Justine Baltazar, Dave Ildefonso, Juan and Javi Gomez de Liaño, Will Navarro, Dwight Ramos, Kenmark Carino, Jaydee Tungcab, Rey Suerte and Allyn Bulanadi.

Ivorian Angelo Kouame was left behind because his naturalization papers have yet to be completed.

Uichico said the pool practiced for only 10 days at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.

“But the energy and intensity of the young players are there,” Uichico said.

“It’s something new for us so we have to adjust quickly in this kind of set up.”

The withdrawal of South Korea, Uichico said, is a blessing for the team.

“It’s definitely not an advantage, but at least we will just play two to three games instead of a possible three or four games,” said Uichico.

Also with the team are Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin and Assistant Coach Boyet Fernandez. Josef Ramos

remains in the entire country because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Patafa President Philip Ella Juico and Nestle Philippines Assistant Vice President Lester Castillo announced the program in an online press conference on Friday night.

After Bobby Ray Parks’s putback with 40 seconds left that narrowed the gap to 89-90, the Fuel Masters went to Wright for that turnaround fadeway that gave them a three-point cushiom with 22 seconds left.

Jayson Castro forced a game-tying threepointer but was challenged and Justin Chua got the rebound as the buzzer expired.

After his gargantuan 20 points, 15 rebounds and four assists performance in Game Two, Calvin Abueva had another big night with 25 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and four steals, RJ Jazul and Jason Andre Perkins contributed 11 points apiece for Phoenix.

“It’s about giving that one more pass, we just want to bring joy. When the going gets tough, enjoy that moment,” Phoenix Coach Topex Robinson said.

Parks led TNT with 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Josef Ramos

Castillo said that the program will help kids to stay focused in training and safe at the same time during the pandemic.

“By leveraging on technology, we’re able to pursue our goal on national sports development in kids’ athletics while being safe indoors,” Castillo said. “It’s a way to have children return to play even while at home.”

Juico welcomed the partnership saying

Dressel sets 2 short-course world records AELEB DRESSEL set a pair of shortcourse world records Saturday at the International Swimming League final in Budapest, Hungary.

Expected to be one of the top stars at next summer’s Tokyo Olympics, Dressel became the first swimmer to eclipse 48 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly, touching with a time of 47.78.

About 40 minutes later, Dressel took won the 50 freestyle in 20.16, beating his own short-

Tolentino said.

“The truth shall set you free,” he added.

Aranas, meanwhile, said he respected the decision of the election committee.

“I will respect their decision and we’re not going to appeal anymore. If that’s their wisdom, I will respect them,” Aranas said.

The POC elections are set this Friday at the East Ocean Palace Restaurant in Parañaque City.

It will be a face-to-face secret balloting exercise.

There are 54 voters—51 national sports associations, Athletes Commission representatives Hidilyn Diaz and Jhessie Lacuna and IOC Representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski.

PHOENIX GOES 2-1 OVER TNT

PSC helps victims of two typhoons

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the protests insufficient.

Tolentino, who is seeking a full term as POC president, commended the decision of the election committee, saying it is “equitable.”

“Bereft with merit, these allegations are purely to destroy character and reputation putting anomalous accusation in the eyes and ears of the innocent stakeholders,” Tolentino said in a text message. “Little did they know that they are creating chaos not only inside the POC but also to naked eye of the public,” “There is nothing in the [POC] bylaws that mention anything about their grounds for disqualification. All false, nothing true”

Oftana bringing MVP act to Bahrain

Saso settles for third, loses grip of No. 1 in individual award race UKA SASO couldn’t sustain her fiery form on Sunday and settled for joint third in the Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open—in the process losing her grip of the Player of the Year.

An in-form Ayaka Furue picked up from where she left off at the Itoen Ladies which she ruled last week as the 20-year-old rookie from Hyogo sailed to a three-stroke victory over Korean Lee Min-Young despite a last-hole bogey for a 69 and a 15-under 269 total.

Lee snared runner-up honors with 272 after carding one of the final day’s best 66s at the Elleair Golf Club Matsuyama.

Saso, only two down after 54 holes, hobbled with a three-putt miscue on the first hole and never recovered. She hit two birdies but made another bogey and dropped two strokes on the par-4 No. 7 to finish with a 73 for joint third at 275 with Kikuchi Erika, who submitted a 70.

With Saso fumbling, Furue pulled away by six after 10 holes before Lee made a late charge in a flight ahead and closed out with three birdies in the last six holes to secure second place.

“She [Furue] is amazing and tough,” Saso said of her fellow rookie.

The victory netted Furue Y18 million. Had Saso won, she would have become the first player to reach the Y100-million mark in just 13 tournaments.

Furue gained 300 ranking points and

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

P.O.C. ELECTION BODY DENIES DQ PROTESTS

CHAIRMAN Atty. Teodoro Kalaw IV and the election committee members say protests “lack merit.”

T

Sports

course record by 0.08.

In the 100 fly, the 24-year-old Florida native broke the mark of 48.08 set by South Africa’s Chad Le Clos at 2016 Short Course World Championships. Le Clos finished second in Saturday’s race at Duna Arena in 48.45.

Dressel also holds the long-course record in the 100 fly with a time of 49.50 at last summer’s world championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

Dressel won two relay golds at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has blossomed into one of the

sport’s biggest stars since, winning a total of 13 golds medals and two silvers at the last two world championships in the 50-meter pool.

World long jump champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany, meanwhile, wants to double up with the 100 meters at the Tokyo Olympics next summer.

Mihambo won the world long jump title in Doha last year with a leap of 7 meters 30 centimeters. That was the 12th-best women’s outdoor mark in history and best since 2016.

that the program is crested to keep the children into sports.

“It’s a crucial program because many of our children are restricted indoors.

Amidst the limitation, it is vital to be committed to our journey for grassroots development,” Juico said.

The program starts on Monday and will run for 12 weeks. Annie Abad “That’s definitely the plan for next year.

I’ve noticed that I really like sprinting,” Mihambo told German news magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published Saturday, but said it would be tough to establish herself as a sprinter.

“In the long jump I’m at the top nationally and alone at my level. In the sprints there are, however, a lot of good girls. And internationally the best in the world are still a long way off.”

The 26-year-old Mihambo has sprinted occasionally during her career and set a personal best of 11.21 seconds in the 100 last year. She’s previously considered aiming for a spot in Germany’s 4x100 relay team. AP

GIRLS’ WEEKEND

Russia’s Alena Kostornaia performs in the ladies free skating program during the International Skating Union Grand Prix of Figure Skating Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, and also on Saturday, England’s Ellie Kildunne (left) is tackled by France’s Marjorie Mayans during a Women’s Autumn Nations Cup match at the Twickenham Stadium in London. AP

Rick Olivares bleachersbrew@gmail.com

Bleachers’ Brew

A matter of survival WITH professional sports now being played, or are in the process of getting off the ground—Premier Volleyball League (PVL) and the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines—the challenges are only beginning.

While speaking to Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner Willie Marcial, I posed the question about the lost revenue in terms of gate receipts as well as merchandise sales from game day. He said it is a concern.

I inquired about the possible loosening of rules on competitive brands advertising their wares during telecasts, he said he will see if it can be tabled once more.

For quite some time now, the top clubs in the pro basketball league hardly advertise during game day. That is because they believe their sports team are all the sufficient advertising they will need.

The PBA has tried to get non-competitive brands in for years and they have been successful to a point. But it hasn’t been easy. More so now, in this pandemic and more competition for eyeballs in terms of other sports leagues and other offerings such as streaming sites.

If we cast our eyes towards the PVL, the loss in gate receipts is huge for them. They usually get a large live audience.

I am not sure that the PVL or any other sports body can negotiate concessions for a non-live audience because that is not in the purview of any broadcast partner.

Why should it, after all?

Pay-per-view? Given the hits people have largely taken in terms of their earnings? I don’t think so.

The loss of revenue from the gate receipts is only one. You can add the economic viability of the clubs.

If you look volleyball, the question is...how can there be stability for the clubs? A return of investment? Not every club has a backer with deep pockets.

Didn’t a few clubs ask to cut down their salaries due to the pandemic?

I think that the powers that be should really try to come up with guidelines for volleyball that seems to be the wild west at the moment.

How viable is the sport anyways? I’d say the jury is still out on that.

Imagine the challenges of professional chess that isn’t a big spectator sport to begin with.

I think that the governing bodies of sports should really sit down and figure out how to make sports economically viable in this pandemic.

While there is news about a vaccine making the rounds, until it is proven that it really does work and this is cascaded all over the world, then sports will remain spectator-less with its related industries such as merchandising, food and concessionaires, and tours all taking a hit.

Should this pandemic go one for another year or so, then economically, that would be even worse.

This time is actually a good time to really set guidelines because local sports in spite of regulations from the Games and Amusements Board is really haphazard. There are too many rule changes, the faux sense of amateurism, and well, not enough of an audience for everyone.

Survival...after all...is the name of the game now.