BusinessMirror October 06, 2020

Fitch Solutions sees lower inflation forecast

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

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@Tyronepiad

ITH stable inflation and strong peso, Fitch Solutions is expecting lower average consumer prices this year, revising its outlook for the Philippines.

In a commentary on Monday, the London-based think tank said that headline inflation is seen averaging at 2.5 percent this year, lower than the previous forecast of 2.7 percent.

For 2021, it is maintaining its 3-percent inflation forecast.

“The downside surprise to headline inflation in August and continued strength of the peso has led us to lower our outlook

SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, and Dr. Meliton Zurbano, Valenzuela Schools Division Superintendent, inspect the rollout of distance learning at the Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science on Monday. Among others, the city is rolling out the Valenzuela Live Online Streaming school, which utilizes Facebook Live to stream classes. ROY DOMINGO

for inflation in 2020,” the Fitch unit said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recently reported that inflation decelerated to 2.4 percent in August from 2.7 percent a month earlier, bringing the year-to-date figure to 2.5 percent.

The drop in inflation was attributed to lower prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Meanwhile, the peso—which has been trading above P48 level recently—is being recognized as the strongest currency in the region now.

Like the think tank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier revised downwards its inflation outlook for the country. The Central Bank now sees inflation settling at 2.3 percent this year from 2.6

percent. Next year, inflation is expected to average at 2.8 percent from the previous forecast of 3 percent.

Amid a lower inflation forecast, the Fitch unit noted that the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index recently rising to 50.1 in September is a sign that domestic activity is on its path to recovery.

Google mobility data, however, shows that retail and recreation; and grocery and pharmacy activities are still below regular levels.

“As such, we believe demand-side inflationary pressures will remain subdued such that inflation averages lower,” it explained.

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9-MO REVENUE OF BOC, BIR DOWN 12% TO P1.8T

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Tuesday, October 6, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 362

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages |

‘HUGE DIGITAL DIVIDE BLUNTS PHL’S GAINS FROM TECHNOLOGY’

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

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TEACHERS of Parañaque Elementary School Unit II are busy on the opening day of classes in the unprecedented pandemic-impacted school year on Monday. The Department of Education listed 24.7 million students enrolled, only 89 percent of the previous school year.

Around 398,000 students from private schools transferred to public schools amid the pandemic. Due to the Covid-19 threat, classes resumed through blended learning, where students do not have to go to school to avoid possible transmission of the virus. NONIE REYES

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE revenue take by the government’s main collection agencies from January to September this year is still down by 12.13 percent to P1.82 trillion from P2.073 trillion a year ago, as the pandemicinduced lockdown forced the economy into a standstill.

This, despite both Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) exceeding their combined collection target of P1.683 trillion for the ninemonth period this year by 8.26 percent.

According to the preliminary data shared by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III with finance reporters on Monday, BIR and BOC still fell short of their revenue collection last year.

In a span of nine months this

year, BIR collected P1.424 trillion, an 11.16-percent drop from P1.603 trillion in the same period in 2019.

However, BIR breached its P1.31trillion revised target for the period by 8.67 percent.

On the other hand, BOC’s tax haul for January to September slid by 15.43 percent to P397.51 billion this year from last year’s P470.05 billion, although this is up by 6.81 percent versus its P372.16-billion revised target.

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PHL hosting Asean insurance meetings, online

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HE Philippines is hosting the 23rd Asean Insurance Regulators’ Meeting (AIRM) and the 46th Asean Insurance Council (AIC) Meetings, which for the first time in history, will push through online.

The discussions will zero in on the challenges being faced by the industry especially in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The meetings were originally scheduled this month in Mactan,

Cebu.

At an online press conference held via Zoom on Monday, AIRM Chairman and Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa announced that the AIRM is set to meet online on October 27.

Meanwhile, the Joint Plenary Meeting with the AIC is slated on October 28.

“The Philippines’ hosting of the AIRM and the AIC Meetings this year highlights our collective abil-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.4630

ity to adapt and transcend difficulties, particularly the threat brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It conveys a message of hope and recovery to all,” Funa said.

For his part, AIC Chairman Nopadol Santipakorn from Thailand expects the online meetings to promote networking and collaboration among the regulators and industry leaders and strengthen the spirit of cooperation within the regional bloc.

“I look forward to seeing our fruitful discussion and proposition to build an agile and resilient economy in moving the next wave of our insurance industry,” he said.

AIC Secretary-General Evelina Pietruschka said the industry feels the AIC meeting “is one of the valuable platforms to exchange key development relating to Covid-19 among the members.”

HE gaping digital divide in the Philippines is preventing more Filipinos from harnessing the benefits of digital technologies, according to a report by the World Bank and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

The report, titled “A Better Normal Under Covid-19: Digitalizing the Philippine Economy Now,” said around 60 percent of Filipino households do not have access to the Internet. This, despite findings by We Are Social that Filipinos spend 10 hours online daily.

World Bank Economist Kevin Chua, the lead author of the report, said in a briefing on Monday that most Filipinos rely on mobile data to connect to the worldwide web. Part of the reason is that digital connection in the Philippines is expensive, slow, and has a low broadband penetration rate.

“Internet connectivity—the foundation of the digital economy—is limited in rural areas, and where they are available, services are relatively expensive and of weak quality,” said Ndiame Diop, World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

“Upgrading digital infrastructure all over the country will introduce fundamental changes that can improve social service delivery, enhance resilience against shocks, and create more economic opportunities for all Filipinos,” he said.

Where Internet services are available, Filipino consumers experience slow download speeds. At 16.76 megabytes per second, the Philippines’s mobile broadband speed is much lower than the global average of 32.01 Mbps.

In the region, the report said 3G/4G mobile average download speed stands at 13.26 Mbps compared to only seven Mbps in the Philippines. Chua said the most commonly used in the country is 3G, which is the lower version of Internet connection.

The World Bank also noted

that efforts to enhance digital infrastructure in the Philippines are hindered by a lack of competition, as well as restrictions on investment in the telecommunications markets.

These restrictions include the public utility designation of telecommunications, which limits foreign ownership and places a cap on the rate of return.

“In this society-wide digital transformation, the government can take the lead by speeding up e-governance projects, such as the foundational identification system and the digitization of its processes and procedures, which will help promote greater inclusion, improve efficiency, and enhance security,” said Chua. “Moreover, the government can take an active role in fostering policies that reduce the digital divide and create a more conducive business environment for the digital economy to flourish.”

Force the hand

UNIONBANK Vice Chairman Justo Antonio Ortiz, who was a member of the panel in a briefing on Monday, said the government can hasten digital technologies by issuing an Executive Order that can end the use of cash payments at a certain time.

Ortiz said such an abrupt change in making payments could force the hand of businesses to change their business models; the government to innovate their processes; and for Filipinos to become more acquainted with the digital economy.

He said the ongoing pandemic has done exactly this for e-commerce. Ortiz said when the pandemic hit, thousands of small businesses turned to the digital world to continue operating while others became digital entrepreneurs overnight.

Data shared by the Department of Trade and Industry supported this. DTI Assistant Secretary Mary Jean T. Pacheco said total business name registration is already 22 percent higher this year at 780,000 compared to the entire 2019 record year of 637,000.

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n JAPAN 0.4594 n UK 62.6287 n HK 6.2532 n CHINA 7.1113 n SINGAPORE 35.5274 n AUSTRALIA 34.7044 n EU 56.7744 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9214 Continued on A2

Source: BSP (October 5, 2020)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, October 6, 2020

9-MONTH REVENUE OF BOC, BIR DOWN 12% TO P1.8T Continued from A1

For the month of September alone, BIR and BOC collected a total of P168.86 billion, plunging by 19.31 percent year-on-year from last year’s P209.28 billion. Nonetheless, both agencies breached by 8.72 percent their combined adjusted target for the same month at P155.31 billion.

Compared to its revenue take of P150.48 billion in September last year, BIR suffered a double-digit decline of 21.16 percent, only managing to collect P118.63 billion in the same month this year. Still, the bureau managed to slightly surpass its P117.59-billion adjusted target by 0.88 percent.

For its part, BOC’s tax haul slipped by 14.57 percent to P50.23 billion in September this year from P58.80 billion in 2019.

Meanwhile, the bureau exceeded its revised P37.72-billion target for the month by 33.17 percent.

In a separate statement, BOC attributed its positive revenue collection performance to the intensified collective effort of all ports, gradual improvement of importation volume and the government’s effort in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally, considering the pandemic situation. The bureau has also maintained its border security measures against undervaluation, misdeclaration and other forms of technical smuggling in a bid to efficiently collect revenues.

By year-end, the government expects to collect a total of P2.52 trillion, 19.75 percent down from P3.14 trillion in 2019.

Even if revenues are down this year, the government is still expecting disbursements to rise by 14.14 percent to P4.335 trillion from P3.798 trillion in 2019 due to the implementation of stimulus measures to keep the ailing economy afloat in the middle of the health crisis.

Given the revenue hit, the government has also ramped up its borrowing program from P1.4 trillion to P3 trillion this year to cover the expected doubling of budget deficit, as well as to fund its spending requirements for Covid-19 response.

The budget deficit is seen to rise to 9.6 percent of GDP or P1.815 trillion from only 3.4 percent of GDP or P660.2 billion last year.

Fitch Solutions sees lower inflation forecast Continued from A1

Key policy rate

FITCH Solutions said that the recent decision of the BSP to maintain its key policy rate was parallel with its forecast.

The think tank expects the 2.25-percent interest rate to be kept until late next year.

“As such, the BSP has noted ‘ample liquidity’ and we believe as domestic activity picks up, demand for credit will rebound, proving the financial conditions sufficient,” the Fitch unit said.

The liquidity measures by the BSP are seen to have released P1.5 trillion into the financial system.

Apa r t f rom its pol ic y rate trimming, the Central Bank also reduced reser ve requirements for commercial banks and small banks; and entered into a P300billion government bond purchasing agreement.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Investors seek 5-year tax relief under CREATE bill

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

OCAL and foreign investors have sought a five-year exemption from paying new taxes under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) bill to give them time to recoup losses from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Industry groups on Monday asked President Duterte and legislators to consider the impact of the health crisis on business operations before approving the CREATE bill. Should the measure be enacted into law, they said cost of doing business will balloon in a time it should be brought down due to the pandemic.

“The pandemic has raised production costs for export firms, whose foreign markets have been badly impacted with depressed economic growth and massive em-

ployee layoffs,” the business groups said in a statement.

As such, they appealed to policy-makers to exempt them for up to five years from paying the additional taxes that will come along the passage of CREATE bill.

Likewise, they reiterated they prefer maintaining the status quo to keep on enjoying fiscal incentives as proposed by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto.

Investors said they agree with Recto’s push to retain the incentives

of export firms, as shifting them to the CREATE bill’s fiscal regime will only double their taxes.

As a consequence, exporters— most of which are multinationals— may pack up their operations here and relocate to another investment site. In the case of Lipa, Batangas, where Recto hails from, this could mean job losses for at least 60,000 workers. “[Recto] is concerned these firms will leave, more firms will not invest, and Lipa will have fewer instead of more workers employed,” industry groups said.

They also said the CREATE bill should include a provision allowing existing investors to reg ister e x pansion act iv it ies and renew incentives. They argued this was promised to the pr ivate sector by A lbay Rep. Joey S. Salceda and Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary K arl Kendrick T. Chua, when he was Finance undersecretar y.

The business groups said permitting existing investors to register their expansion projects and renew tax perks will encourage foreign investments into the Philippines, as well as uphold the

government’s goal of making the grant of incentives time bound and performance based.

If passed into law, the CREATE bill will bring down corporate income tax to 25 percent, from 30 percent, on one hand. On the other hand, it will rationalize incentives, including the 5-percent tax on gross income earned paid in lieu of all local and national taxes, granted to investors.

As a whole, the industry groups who signed the statement are made up of about 3,000 firms, in manufacturing and business-process outsourcing, employing nearly 2 million workers.

The statement was signed by members of the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines. The Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines, Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, Philippine Ecozones Association, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. and the US-Asean Business Council signed the statement as well.

LOCSIN EYES U.K. FOR COVID-19 VACCINE COOPERATION

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OREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., underscored the importance of making vaccines a universal public good and said the Philippines will look to multilateral global alliances such as the Covax facility which the UK is part of, for Covid-19 vaccine cooperation.

“The UK’s interest to help Asean member-states combat Covid-19 shows that the UK remains a dependable partner for the region,” Locsin said during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-UK Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Covid-19 cooperation via videoconference last September 30, 2020.

He said we have a better understanding of the contagion after

Facebook user Sen. Bato: Just explain takedown rule Continued from A8

At the same time, dela Rosa reminded that given its crucial role in terms of communication, “Facebook must always adhere to the laws of the land.”

A former Chief of the Philippine National Police, dela Rosa clarified he was simply seeking an inquiry for Facebook to “explain the reasons behind the recent censorship to ensure that the Filipinos’ right to freedom of speech and of expression will not be curtailed, as well as to tackle the implication of the said censorship on the national security in the country.”

Moreover, dela Rosa stressed “the importance of clarifying the grounds for the censorship action of Facebook, particularly what the social media giant considers as “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” That’s why he called for a Senate hearing, he said. Butch Fernandez

six months from the spread of the pandemic, “but our priorities are the same: strengthening health-care systems, joint research and development of vaccines, increasing production and supply of medicines and medical equipment, keeping our markets open and safeguarding supply chain connectivity.”

Locsin asked the UK to continue protecting Filipino health-care professionals and uphold their wellbeing, “and remember their contributions as they continue to answer the call of nations all over the world to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The DFA chief added, “I take pride that Filipino health-care workers are among the best to venture forth to

the frontlines anywhere in the world; famous as much for technical competence as genuine loving care.”

The Meeting exchanged views on ways to enhance cooperation in tackling socioeconomic challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Both sides agreed on the importance of rebuilding sustainable, green and resilient economies, as well as fruitful and substantive means of cooperation between the Asean and UK in tackling public health emergencies.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab emphasized the UK’s commitment to the region and how their cooperation with Asean has gone from strength to strength.

‘People back Duterte-led Covid response’

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

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RESIDENT Duterte’s glowing trust ratings reflect public support for government measures against the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, according to Malacañang.

“It is the promise of the President that he will do everything so we can recover from the pandemic and to set aside politics,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an online press briefing on Monday.

He said many Filipinos appreciated the P200-billion Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as well as the assistance from other government agencies to those affected by the pandemic.

On Monday, Pulse Asia released the result of its survey on 1,200

respondents, which was conducted last September 14 to 20 to measure the awareness and performance ratings of top national officials.

Low rating

DUTERTE got the highest approval rating of 91 percent. Only 5 percent disapproved of his performance while the remaining 5 percent were “undecided” on it.

The same survey also covered the approval rating of other top national officials including Vice President Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo (57 percent); Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto (84 percent); House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (70 percent); and Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta (44 percent).

Roque attributed the low trust rating of Robredo to her frequent observations on how to improve the government’s Covid response.

“Like what I previously said, we

PHL hosting Asean insurance meetings, online “Indeed, it will be important to discuss how Covid-19 has impacted our insurers in Asean, from business, investments, and operational resilience perspectives. Much has been done in our respective jurisdictions by both the industry and insurance regulators to support insurers and policyholders during this extraordinary and challenging period. There is room to learn from each other, which the ultimate goal is for Asean to have a robust, holistic and practical recovery

He singled out Locsin’s eloquent articulation of history as constituent elements for Asean’s cooperation with the UK. The Meeting welcomed the UK’s commitment to refocus its funding to Covid-19 initiatives that aid Asean in recovery, including the 1 million GBP commitment to the Asean Covid-19 Response Fund and funding support extended to the Asean Secretariat and the AHA Center.

Aside from Locsin, the virtual meeting was attended by the foreign ministers and high representatives of Asean member-states, including Asean Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi and UK Foreign Secretary Raab. Recto L. Mercene

framework to minimize the socioeconomic effects of this pandemic, while propelling the economic trajectory,” Pietruschka said.

Leaders of Philippine life and non-life insurance sectors, namely Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA) President Benedict Sison and Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) Chairman Allan Santos also underscored that the pandemic brought up the need for digitalization for insurance companies

have yet to hear any new suggestion coming from VP Robredo. This is probably why she got a 50-percent trust approval and performance levels,” Roque said.

Trump concern

MEANWHILE, Roque said President Duterte also expressed his concern for the well-being of US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania after both recently tested positive for Covid-19.

“You know the President and President Trump…and his message is he wishes President Trump and First Lady Melania a full and speedy recovery,” Roque said.

Duterte and Trump last talked by phone in April about bilateral cooperation.

Trump is running for reelection in the November US presidential polls against former Vice President and Democrat Joe Biden.

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to cope with the impact of the pandemic.

The AIC Meetings have already begun even before the formal announcements were made.

Two of AIC’s working committees—the Council of Bureaux (COB) that tackles the harmonization of regulations related to crossborder insurance in Asean and the Asean Natural Disaster Research and Works Sharing (Andrews) —have already finished their online meetings.

Two other committees, the Asean Insurance

Education Committee (AIEC) and Asean Reinsurance Working Committee (ARWC), will be meeting online as well on October 7 and October 8.

All important matters discussed in these meetings will be brought to the AIC Plenary Meeting on October 16, and issues that concern the regulators will be presented to the AIRM-AIC Joint Plenary Meeting on October 28.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

‘HUGE DIGITAL DIVIDE BLUNTS PHL’S GAINS FROM TECHNOLOGY’ Continued from A1

Pacheco added that since the community quarantines started in March 15, there was a 4,435-percent increase in business name registration of online businesses or those engaged in retail sale via the Internet. “ This pandemic has caused substantial disruptions in the domestic economy as community restrictions have limited movement of people and reduced business operations nationwide. As we are now living with the new normal, the use of digital technology and digital transformation have become important for Filipinos in coping with the present crisis, moving towards economic recovery, and getting us back on track towards our long-term aspirations,” Neda Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said.

Fiber backbone

IN order to support the country’s efforts into the digital new normal, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said its primary project is the National Broadband Network (NBN).

DICT Assistant Secretary for Digital Philippines Emmanuel Rey R. Caintic said in a presentation that the NBN will lead to significant savings in terms of Internet use.

Caintic said the project will bring down the government’s Internet costs to P50 from the current estimate of P350. This will lead to total benefits worth P5.9 billion between 2020 and 2025.

“I want to dream for the stars, at least I’ll hit the moon. So that’s the primary objective of the DICT in delivering connectivity. Without the fiber backbone, we have nothing to talk about because there’s no way to distribute,” Caintic said.

However, he said, this is only a minimum estimate. If the House of Representatives grants the DICT additional funding and the agency secures funding from the country’s development partners, the benefits will even be higher.

Based on their estimates, the DICT would need an additional P17 billion to undertake additional improvements in the country’s fiber backbone, Caintic said. This is on top of the P18 billion that they already have for the NBN. The additional funds will cover the additional fiber backbone as well as the construction of microwave radios for places in the country which are remote such as Tawi-Tawi, Itbayat, Mahatao, Catanduanes, Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Siargao, Puerto Princesa, Marinduque, and Quirino.

To date, Caintic said the DICT is already in talks with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for an P8-billion loan to provide fiber broadband facilities for the country’s eastern seaboard from Sorsogon to Eastern Mindanao.

With this, Caintic said, the DICT only needs around P10 billion more to carry out Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the NBN. The DICT may also turn to the World Bank for assistance.

“An additional P17 billion, just P17 billion, will be able to completely traverse the entire nation by next year, light up the NGCP [National Grid Corporation of the Philippines] fiber backbone that we have,” Caintic claimed.

The World Bank said the rapid adoption of digital technologies can help the Philippines overcome the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, recover from the crisis, and achieve its vision of becoming a middle-class society free of poverty. The report said use of digital technologies such as digital payments, e-commerce, telemedicine, and online education, is rising in the Philippines.

This has helped individuals, businesses, and the government cope with social distancing measures, ensure business continuity, and deliver public services during the pandemic.

The Nation BusinessMirror

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, October 6, 2020

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Dare to place your bets: Who would lawmakers elect as House Speaker?

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By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

@joveemarie

F an election were to push through on October 14 for the highest position in the lower chamber of Congress, both camps of contenders Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco are asserting that they have the numbers for the speakership post.

Deputy Speaker Danilo Fernandez and Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte issued separate statements following the claim of Velasco’s camp that the Marinduque lawmaker can win the speakership vote because he has 154 supporters from the party-list bloc, PDP-Laban, and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Villafuerte said Cayetano has the support of 190 “real” lawmakers to keep his post. Currently, there are 300 lawmakers in the lower chamber.

“All this lying is bound to catch up with them sometime. Especially since we already have 190 real, actual, living members who have reaffirmed their support for the Speaker, and at least 30 more who have indicated that they will support Speaker Cayetano should it come to a vote, following the President’s statement that he will not intervene in the choice of individual members,” Villafuerte said.

“Let me remind Congressman Velasco about what the President said

—the budget is more important to him than who sits as Speaker. When he rejected the President’s request, he already showed that nothing will get in the way of his ambition. Not the President, not his colleagues in this House, and certainly not the people,” the Bicol lawmaker added.

For his part, Fernandez said the number does not add up because Velasco’s allies did not consider those from party-lists and PDP-Laban blocs who have said they support Cayetano’s continued leadership.

Fernandez said there are members of the party-list bloc who support Cayetano but are still being counted as voting for Velasco.

He said even Rep. Francisco Datol, who passed away last month, was included in the total number being quoted.

Fernandez also noted that Deputy Speakers Johnny Pimentel and Aurelio Gonzales, who were previously allied with Velasco, are now supporting Cayetano, having both signed the manifesto of support for the Speaker and voted to reject his resignation.

“They’re having a hard time

even in simple arithmetic,” he said.

Earlier, Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza claimed that Velasco has 154 supporters from different political parties in the lower chamber.

Negros Oriental Third District Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. also said Velasco has the support of the party-list bloc, the PDP-Laban and the NPC. Velasco camp has said 65 PDPLaban lawmakers, 54 membes of the party-list coalition and 35 members of the NPC are supporting the Marinduque lawmaker.

Earlier, AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Sharon Garin said the camp of Velasco will declare the Speaker post vacant if Cayetano will not resign on October 14.

“They will pursue the 15-21 agreement and then declare the position vacant and then we will see how each and every congressman will decide,” she said.

Under the term-sharing agreement for the speakership, Cayetano leads the Lower House for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress, while Velasco will assume leadership for the last 21 months.

Gatchalian pushes passage of ITA to stem ‘fraudulent’ online purchases

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HE chairman of the House Committee on Trade and Industry wants to hold both e-commerce platforms and courier services accountable for damaged, or lost goods purchased online.

Valenzuela First District Rep. Wes Gatchalian, the panel chairman, said the immediate passage of the proposed Internet Transactions Act (ITA) would address fraudulent and deceptive practices like the reported news that a college student from Guimaras who bought a laptop via an online app received three worthless rocks instead.

Gatchalian said ITA is one of the priority measures mentioned by President Duterte in his latest State of the Nation Address as he urged his colleagues in the House of Representatives expedite the passage of the bill.

“We also really need stricter rules to hold both e-commerce platforms and courier services accountable for damaged, or lost goods purchased online.

Doing so would drastically reduce the incidence of fraud and theft of goods while in transit to the consumer,” the lawmaker said.

Gatchalian said that this was not the first time he has heard of complaints of items being stolen and replaced by stones and rocks while in transit to the customer.

He stressed that incidents of lost or damaged items are not good for both buyers and sellers.

“In this case, the student is fortunate because the seller, who is located overseas, promised to replace the lost laptop. But most, if not all the time, consumers have no other option but to use the courier services utilized by online platforms in order for them to be able to purchase the items they want even if those courier services have a less than stellar reputation,” he said.

The Valenzuela lawmaker, author of House Bill

6122, of ITA, specifies obligations and liabilities for ecommerce platforms and online merchants, including the delivery of goods to consumers in the condition as required by the sales contract.

The bill also establishes a code of conduct for online businesses, including allowing the tracking of deliveries by online merchants and provide complete records of the goods purchased and have them delivered within the promised time and described condition.

Moreover, the ITA expressly states that any agreement between buyer and seller is “valid only if, at the time of the conclusion of the contract, the consumer has knowledge of the specific condition of the goods and the consumer has expressly accepted this specific condition when concluding the contract.”

“During these times when people are under a pandemic and relying heavily on online transactions, an enabling law that will impose stricter rules and regulations on the medium to avoid consumers from falling prey to these unscrupulous individuals is all the more needed,” he said.

“If we want to stop the practice of unscrupulous sellers and courier employees of replacing high-value items with rocks and stones and prevent more Filipinos from being duped, we must pass the ITA sooner rather than

Senators back probe into alleged illegal influx of Chinese workers

By Butch Fernandez

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@butchfBM

ENATORS are set to conduct a probe into Filipino workers’ complaints over the alleged “incessant and unabated influx” of illegal Chinese workers into the country, especially in infrastructure projects, depriving local workers of livelihood opportunities.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto promptly affirmed on Monday his support for an inquiry into the Filipino workers’ lament in a text message to the BusinessMirror, saying: “I am in favor and advocate for buy local and hire local.”

This, as Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon declared readiness to pave the way for Senate hearings to look deeper into the complaints of local workers, saying, “Yes, I am willing to file a resolution asking the Senate Labor Committee to look into this.”

“We will support any investigation into that,” Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara assured.

At the same time, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III also declared “full support”

for an upcoming inquiry into what he described as an illegal influx of Chinese workers in the country. “Bawal ’yan. Because if the work can be done by Filipinos then bawal ’yan.”

In turn, Sen. Joel Villanueva, chairman of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, confirmed readiness to convene the upcoming Senate inquiry soon as the matter is referred to the labor panel.

“Sure. I have been raising that issue, even in the budget hearings, and will raise it [anew] on the floor during the plenary debates on the CREATE bill,” Villanueva said, referring to the proposed law called Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises.

For their part, Senators Francis Pangilinan and Ronald dela Rosa readily replied in the affirmative when asked if they would support the appeal for a Senate probe, with dela Rosa stressing it with “a big yes!” in a separate text message sent to the BusinessMirror.

later, especially since we foresee that online transactions will be the new normal after the pandemic,” he added. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

A4 Tuesday, October 6, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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Farm-gate price of broiler What is corruption? recovers amid output dip Cartel

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE farm-gate prices of regularsized broilers saw quick recovery last week as average quotation rose by 7 percent to P74.33 per kilogram (kg) but an upward trend remains uncertain.

Latest price survey by the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) indicated a price uptick in the average farm-gate prices of all sizes of broiler last week.

The average farm-gate price of offsized broilers rose by 13.54 percent to P72.67 per kg from the previous week’s P64 per kg.

Meanwhile, prime-sized broilers are now sold at P74.17 per kg, 7.2 percent higher than P69.19 per kg previous quotation, based on UBRA data.

However, UBRA President Elias Jose Inciong could not give a direct reason behind the sudden price increase last week.

Inciong told the BusinessMirror that the current market situation is “hard to read” and described it as a “roller coaster.”

But Inciong pointed out that this year has been the “hardest” year for

broiler raisers due to the extreme price volatilities they are experiencing.

“It seems when farm-gate prices are up, players would increase production at the same time and then there will be a glut at harvest time,” he said. “The same pattern with imports. When prices increase then there will be a rush to unload frozen inventories.”

Inciong said the industry is currently building up data on the dayold-chick loading of the industry to see how the supply side of the value chain is doing.

Agriculture industry groups have been complaining on the lack of sound and reliable data covering the sector that could help and guide farmers with their planting and production intentions.

The lack of data forces farmers to be “blind” on how the market is performing, particularly demand,

that results in a glut of commodities at times. (Read related Broader Look story here: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/03/14/ fuzzy-ph-agriculture-data-leadsto-glut-confused-farm-sector/) The loss of key broiler markets such as hotels, restaurants and institutional (HRI) buyers, which accounts for 30 percent of total demand, has created a glut in domestic chicken meat supply.

This was coupled by high imported chicken meat products that has been stalled from being unloaded due to lack of demand as well.

Latest National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) data showed that nationwide dressed chicken inventory in accredited cold storages as of September 21 was at 73,127.42 metric tons (MT).

NMIS data indicated that about half of which, or around 33,740.45 MT, were locally produced while the remaining volume of 39,386.97 MT were imported.

The latest volume was 11 percent higher than last month’s 65,859.76 MT and was 152.42 percent over last year’s 29,085.04 MT, based on NMIS data.

Given current market conditions, a Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report projected that the country’s total chicken meat output this year may decline by 13.79 percent to 1.25 million metric tons.

A cartel is an agreement (formal or informal) among competing companies to coordinate prices, marketing, or production, of a good or service.

Cartel members may agree on matters such as prices, total industry output, market shares, allocation of customers, allocation of territories, bid rigging, establishment of common sales agencies, the division of profits, or a combination of these.

The PCC is always on the “hunt” for cartels.

By Henry J. Schumacher

I

HAVE to admit that I have been involved in corruption a long time ago. But I am proud to state that I have been in anti-corruption for a good number of years now. I have signed the Integrity Pledge of the Integrity Initiative Inc. and I am living up to the commitments laid down in the Pledge.

Having said this, I am still amazed that a lot of people—in government and in the private sector—still have difficulties to understand what corrupt practices are. Assuming that we are all interested to stop corruption in government and in the private sector, allow me to highlight a number of the bad practices:

Abuse of functions

Abuse of functions occurs when an employee, or office holder, uses his or her position to perform an illegal act, or an act that he/she has no legal authority to do, to pursue a private gain.

One form of abuse of functions is the use of information for personal gain.

Agent

An agent is a person (natural or legal) with the authority to act for, or represent, another person, or party. Companies can be held liable for their agents’ acts of corruption, including channelling of bribes, for not reacting to corrupt acts, or other bad deals the agent does for another person, or party.

Bid rigging

Bid rigging is a form of collusion in which bidders on a contract decide between themselves which bidder should be successful in the tender and then draft their bids accordingly.

Forms of bid rigging include bid rotation, complementary bidding and cover pricing. Bid rigging can constitute a cartel, or antitrust offense, which is also regulated by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).

Bribery

Bribery is, according to Transparency International (TI) “the offering, promising, giving, accepting, or soliciting of an advantage as an inducement for an action which is illegal, unethical or a breach of trust. Inducements can take the form of gifts, loans, fees, rewards, or other advantages [taxes, services, donations, favors, etc.].” Bribery occurs during an interaction between two parties. Usually, both the giving and the receiving parties of the bribe commit a crime.

Collusion

Collusion is a non-competitive agreement, usually secretive, between two or more persons, or businesses, to limit open competition, typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage. It can involve an agreement among companies to divide the market, to set prices, to limit production or to share private information.

It may also involve bid rigging. The aim of collusion is to increase individual members’ profits. The PCC is fighting collusion!

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest exists when an individual has competing professional obligations, or personal, or financial interests, that have the potential to influence the exercise of her/his duties. Private or personal interests include family and other relatives, personal friends, the clubs and societies to which an individual belongs, private business interests, investments and shareholdings, and any person to whom a favor is owed.

Corruption

There is no single globally accepted definition of corruption. TI, the leading international nongovernment organization in curbing corruption, defines it as “the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain.” The main forms of corruption are bribery, embezzlement, fraud and extortion.

Cronyism

Cronyism is a form of favoritism shown to close friends. A typical situation of cronyism would be the political appointment to office of a friend without regard to the person’s qualifications, or more severely, providing vast privileges to a “friend” like franchises, projects, dominant market positions, etc.

Donations

A donation is understood as a monetary or non-monetary gift to a fund, or cause, typically for charitable reasons. If a donation is given with the purpose of giving a company an undue advantage, it will likely be considered bribery. Many companies address the use of political donations in their code of conduct.

Extortion

Extortion is the unlawful use of one’s position, or office, to obtain money through coercion, or threats. One example would be when Customs officials request undue “customs du-

ties” from importers as a condition to clear their goods.

Fraud

Fraud involves the use of deception, trickery and a breach of trust to gain an unfair or unlawful advantage. Occupational fraud entails the use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse, or misapplication of the company’s resources or assets.

Graft

Graft is a form of political corruption in which an official acquires financial gain by dishonest or unfair means, especially through the abuse of one’s position. Unlike bribery, graft does not require the official to provide an undue advantage; it is enough that she/he gains something of value apart from her/his official pay when working.

Kickbacks

Kickbacks are a form of bribery where one party obtains an undue advantage and a portion of the undue advantage is “kicked back” to the individual who gave, or will give the undue advantage. It differs from other forms of bribery in that it implies a form of collusion between the two parties.

Money laundering

Money laundering is a process in which the ownership, destination and origin of illegally obtained money is concealed, or disguised.

The objective of money laundering is to make illegally obtained money appear to originate from a legitimate source.

Patronage

Patronage is a system in which a number of organizations, companies and/or individuals bestow support, or financial benefits, upon one another. Political patronage occurs when political supporters are rewarded for their support (e.g., by being appointed to public office or receiving contracts, subsidies or other benefits), regardless of merits (cronyism revisited).

Price fixing

Price fixing is an agreement between competing businesses to buy, or sell, a product, service, or commodity at an agreed upon price. It can also entail maintaining the market conditions so that the price is kept at a given level by controlling supply and demand.

Price fixing seeks to coordinate pricing for the mutual benefit of the traders. The group of “market shapers” involved in price fixing is sometimes referred to as a cartel.

Antitrust laws commonly criminalize price fixing and the PCC is watching you closely.

The “corruption directory” is much longer but the main areas I have tried to cover. I would appreciate, however, if you could comment and give additional examples of corruption. Please e-mail me at schumacher@eitsc.com

SBMA releases P22.73-M hazard pay for ECQ work

By Henry Empeño

S

Correspondent

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—Workers who physically reported for assignments during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) here recently received a total of P22.73 million in hazard pay from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

A total of 1,739 employees received the compensation that was released under Administrative Order 26 dated March 23, 2020, which granted hazard pay to government employees and contract workers during the public-health emergency, said SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma.

“Most of those who received sig-

nificant amounts are security officers and firefighters, who were on field assignments at a time when most of our departments worked from home,” Eisma said on Monday.

“The security officers enforced border controls, while the firefighters disinfected offices, facilities and public places to keep the Subic community safe,” she added.

The SBMA board of directors duly approved the release of the hazard pay based on recommendations of the management last August. AO 26 pegged the hazard pay at a maximum of P500 per day per person.

According to the SBMA Finance Group, those who received hazard pay included 1,074 employees in plantilla positions, 550 workers engaged through contract of service,

101 personnel under government contracting, and 14 casual hires.

Plantilla employees received an average of P13,438 hazard pay, while contract workers got an average of P12,912, it added.

Finance Group head Antonietta Sanqui said that under guidance from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the SBMA computed the hazard pay at P62.50 per hour from the P500 per-day government ceiling and applied this pro-rata to actual number of work hours based on daily time records.

The biggest amount went to two security officers, who logged in a total of 984 man-hours each since March 17 when the ECQ came into effect, and until May 31. Each received P61,500.

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

The World

US and Russia to hold nuclear arms control talks in Finland

H

EL SINK I—T he United States and Russia will hold a round of nuclear arms control talks in the Finland’s capital, Helsinki, on Monday to follow up on negotiations in Austria this summer, the Finnish president’s office said.

“The round of discussions on strategic stability and nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia, which began in Vienna in the summer, will continue in Helsinki on Monday,” the office of the Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in a brief statement late Sunday.

The office said nuclear arms negotiators from Washington and Moscow met at a previous time in

Finland in 2017.

“Finland welcomes the negotiators, this time [US] Ambassador [Marshall] Billingslea and [Russian[ Deputy Foreign Minister [Sergei] Ryabkov,” the statement said, adding that Niinisto would meet both representatives after the talks.

The talks are aimed at producing a new agreement to replace the New START treaty that expires in February—the last remaining pact constraining the arsenals of the world’s two major nuclear powers.

According to Russian news agency TASS, the previous round of consultations between Billingslea and Ryabkov were held in Vienna on August 17 to 18. AP

Pope Francis: Market capitalism failed in pandemic, needs reform

R

OME—Pope Francis says the coronavirus pandemic has proven that the “magic theories” of market capitalism have failed and that the world needs a new type of politics that promotes dialogue and solidarity and rejects war at all costs.

Francis on Sunday laid out his vision for a post-Covid world by uniting the core elements of his social teachings into a new encyclical aimed at inspiring a revived sense of the human family.

“Fratelli Tutti” (Brothers All) was released on the feast day of his namesake, the peace-loving St. Francis of Assisi.

The document draws its inspiration from the teachings of St. Francis and the pope’s previous preaching on the injustices of the global economy and its destruction of the planet and pairs them with his call for greater human solidarity to confront the “dark clouds over a closed world.”

In the encyclical, Francis rejected even the Catholic Church’s own doctrine justifying war as a means of legitimate defense, saying it had been too broadly applied over the centuries and was no longer viable.

“It is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war’,” Francis wrote in the most controversial new element of the encyclical.

Francis had started writing the encyclical, the third of his pontificate, before the coronavirus struck and its bleak diagnosis of a human family falling apart goes far beyond the problems posed by the outbreak. He said the pandemic, however, had confirmed his belief that current political and economic institutions must be reformed to address the legitimate needs of the people most harmed by the coronavirus.

“Aside from the differing ways that various countries responded to the crisis, their inability to work together became quite evident,” Francis wrote. “Anyone who thinks that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing, or to refine existing systems and regulations, is denying reality.”

He cited the grave loss of millions of jobs as a result of the virus as evidence of the need for politicians to listen to popular movements, unions and marginalized groups and to craft more just social and economic policies.

“The fragility of world systems in the face of the pandemic has demonstrated that not everything can be resolved by market freedom,” he wrote. “It is imperative to have a proactive economic policy directed at ‘promoting an economy that favors productive diversity and business creativity’ and makes it possible for jobs to be created, and not cut.”

He denounced populist politics that seek to demonize and isolate, and called for a “culture of encounter” that promotes dialogue, solidarity and a sincere effort at working for the common good.

As an outgrowth of that, Francis rejected the concept of an absolute right to property for individuals, stressing instead the “social purpose” and common good that must come from sharing the Earth’s resources. He repeated his criticism of the “perverse” global economic system, which he said consistently keeps the poor on the margins while enriching the few — an argument he made most fully in his 2015 landmark environmental encyclical “Laudato Sii” (Praised Be).

Francis also rejected “trickle-down” economic theory as he did in the first major mission statement of his papacy, the 2013 Evangelii Gaudium, (The Joy of the Gospel), saying it simply doesn’t achieve what it claims.

“Neo-liberalism simply reproduces itself by resorting to magic theories of ‘spillover’ or

‘trickle’—without using the name—as the only solution to societal problems,” he wrote. “There is little appreciation of the fact that the alleged ‘spillover’ does not resolve the inequality that gives rise to new forms of violence threatening the fabric of society.”

Francis’ English-language biographer, Austen Ivereigh, said with its two key predecessors, the new encyclical amounts to the final part of a triptych of papal teachings and may well be the last of the pontificate.

“There is little doubt that these three documents ... will be considered the teaching backbone of the Francis era,” Ivereigh wrote in Commonweal magazine.

Francis made clear the text had wide circulation, printing the encyclical in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and distributing it free in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday to mark the resumption of printed editions following a hiatus during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Much of the new encyclical repeats Francis’ well-known preaching about the need to welcome and value migrants and his rejection of the nationalistic, isolationist policies of many of today’s political leaders.

He dedicated an entire chapter to the parable of the Good Samaritan, saying its lesson of charity, kindness and looking out for strangers was “the basic decision we need to make in order to rebuild our wounded world.”

“That a theme so ancient is spoken with such urgency now is because Pope Francis fears a detachment from the view that we are all really responsible for all, all related to all, all entitled to a just share of what has been given for the good of all,” said Anna Rowlands, professor of Catholic social thought at Britain’s University of Durham, who was on hand to present the encyclical on Sunday at the Vatican.

Francis enshrined in the encyclical his previous rejection of both the nuclear arms race and the death penalty, which he said was “inadmissible” in all cases.

Francis’ call for greater “human fraternity,” particularly to promote peace, is derived from his 2019 joint appeal with the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam. Their“Human Fraternity”document established the relationship between Catholics and Muslims as brothers, with a common mission to promote peace.

The fact that he has now integrated that Catholic-Muslim document into an encyclical is significant, given Francis’ conservative critics had already blasted the “Human Fraternity” document as heretical, given it stated that God had willed the “pluralism and diversity of religions.”

Vatican encyclicals are the most authoritative form of papal teaching and they traditionally take their titles from the first two words of the document. In this case, “Fratelli Tutti” is a quote from the “Admonitions,” the guidelines penned

by St. Francis in the 13th century.

The title of the encyclical had sparked controversy in the English-speaking world, with critics noting that a straight translation of the word “fratelli” (brothers) excludes women. The Vatican has insisted that the plural form of the word “fratelli” is gender-inclusive.

Francis’ decision to sign the document in Assisi, where he travelled on Saturday, and release it on the saint’s feast day is yet further evidence of the outsized influence St. Francis has had on the papacy of the Jesuit pope.

Francis is the first pope to name himself after the mendicant friar, who renounced a wealthy, dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and service to the poor. AP

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

A5

Global cases exceed 35 million; Trump doctor sows confusion

G

lobal coronavirus infections surpassed 35 million as focus remained on the health of Donald Trump. Stocks climbed on the possibility the US president may be discharged from the hospital as early as Monday.

Doctors said Trump was given a drug typically used in more severe patients, amid contradictory and confusing accounts about the president’s infection.

President Trump’s physician admitted to giving a misleading statement about the president receiving oxygen, the latest in a series of contradictory and confusing accounts about Trump’s coronavirus infection.

White House physician Sean Conley told reporters on Sunday that Trump had received supplemental oxygen on Friday, after saying the previous day that the president hadn’t been treated with oxygen on Friday.

He said he gave the misleading information initially to “reflect the upbeat attitude” of Trump and his doctors.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tested negative for the coronavirus on Sunday, marking the second time he has been screened and cleared in three days, his campaign announced.

The former vice president’s campaign scrambled to get him and his wife tested on Friday morning after Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the virus. All four had attended Tuesday’s debate in Cleveland and while they remained distanced, neither of the candidates wore masks on stage.

Mea nwh i le, t he US added 47,827 new cases, a 0.7 percent increase compared with an average 0.6 percent rise in the previous seven days. Total cases are 7,379,846.

Another 642 people died, in line with recent daily increases, for a total of 209,335 fatalities.

New York City Mayor Bill de

Blasio said he plans to close businesses and schools in nine neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens where there’s been a surge in coronavirus infections.

Indoor and outdoor dining will also be closed in these areas.

Houses of worship will stay opened with restrictions, he said. The state would have to approve the mayor’s plan.

Other developments:

Japan to offer free vaccine to all residents

Japan’s Health Sciences Council on Friday approved a proposal from the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to provide free coronavirus vaccinations for all Japanese residents, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. The health ministr y plans to submit a bill to revise the countr y’s immunization law this month.

Fashion designer Kenzo Takada dies from Covid-19

Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada has died in Paris from Covid-19. He was 81. Takada’s epony mous brand Kenzo and its owner LVMH confirmed his passing in social media postings on Sunday, with a tribute from LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault. Born in Himeji in central Japan, Takada went to France in the 60s and built his fashion career there—becoming known for his colorful and lighthearted clothing designs, and later his perfume line. Takada sold his brand Kenzo to LVMH in the 1990s, but remained active in fashion and design, most recently developing a collaboration line of furniture.

India reports 75,800 cases in 24 hours, recovery high

N

EW DELHI—India has registered 75,829 confirmed coronaviruses cases in the past 24 hours, a day after crossing 100,000 total fatalities.

The Health Ministry raised India’s confirmed total to more than 6.5 million on Sunday and said at least 101,782 people have died of Covid-19 since the pandemic began.

India is still registering the highest number of daily cases globally but with the recovery rate at more than 83 percent, the number of those recovered has surpassed 5.5 million, the Health Ministry said.

India also has the low fatality rate of 1.56 percent, which is nearly half the global one.

The Health Ministry credited the increased testing in the country for a sustained low death rate.

India has conducted nearly 79 million tests so far, according to official data.

Ind ia is prepar ing to reopen c i ne m a s a nd e nt e r t a i n me nt pa rk s w it h l i m ite d c apac it y beg inning October 15, in a n ef for t to rev ive t he economy.

Hea lt h e x per ts wa r n t he move

has t he potent i a l for t he v ir us to spread dur ing the upcoming rel ig ious fest iva l a nd w inter season.

India is also making plans for an eventual vaccine, with officials saying they hope to immunize at least 250 million of the countr y’s 1.4 billion people

by July 2021.

Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that the government will ensure “equitable access” to a vaccine and is in the process of identifying high-risk groups that will be the first in line to receive it.

Vardhan said the topmost priority will be given to frontline health-care workers.

India is testing three potential vaccines, including one being developed jointly by the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca.

That vaccine will be mass-produced by India’s Serum Institute, the world’s biggest vaccine producer. The Serum Institute has said that it will produce 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for developing countries, including India. AP

Brazil reports fewest cases since May

Br a zil reported 8,456 cases, the fewest since mid-May. That compares with almost 70,000 cases reported on July 29. Reporting over the weekend tends to be low, but the nation—which has the third most cases after the US and India—just ended a week with the fewest cases since mid-June. Total cases are now 4,915,289, according to the Health Ministr y.

Another 365 people died, for a total of 146,352 fatalities.

UK to vaccinate less than half of population, FT says

Less than half the U.K.’s population can expect to be vaccinated against Covid-19, the Financial Times reported, citing the head of the government’s vaccine task force. People deemed at risk, such as those over 50 and health workers, will be the focus of the government’s vaccination efforts, K ate Bingham told the newspaper. She said the government was aiming to vaccinate about 30 million people, out of the countr y’s population of about 67 million.

UK cases soar after reporting issue

The UK reported almost 23,000 new cases, a number it called “artificially high” after a reporting error that has since been resolved. It recorded 22,961 cases on Sunday evening, almost twice Saturday’s tally and four times as many as Friday’s.

“An issue was identified overnight on October 2 in the automated process that transfers positive cases data” to Public Health England. Figures for this weekend include 15,841 additional cases with specimen dates between September 25 and October 2, the government said on its web site.

France to close Paris bars as cases spike: AFP

The French government is planning to shut down bars in the Paris region and impose other new restrictions in the area as the country struggles to contain a spike of

new coronavirus cases and avoid a second nationwide lockdown, according to Agence France Presse.

Paris and its inner suburbs will be declared a maximum alert zone on Monday, then the measures will go into effect on Tuesday to last 15 days, AFP reported late on Sunday, citing a statement from France’s Prime Minister’s Office.

Ireland health officials push for strictest lockdown

Ireland should move to a level 5 lockdown, national health author ities have recommended, broadcaster RTE reported on Sunday. That’s the highest level of shutdown, with most stores closed, household visits banned and limits placed on how far people can leave their homes. Most of the country is now at level 2, with Dublin at Level 3.

While the government is set to consider the recommendation in coming days, there may be a reluctance to make such a drastic step because of the potential impact on the economy.

Italy cases slow

Italy reported 2,578 cases on Sunday, compared with 2,844 Saturday, which was the highest since April 24. Daily tests dropped below 100,000 to 92,714. Another 18 virus-related deaths were reported and patients in intensive care units rose above 300 to 303.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza confirmed in an interview on RAI 3 that the government is considering making the use of masks outdoor compulsory. Italy wants to keep schools open and avoid a national lockdown like in March, he said.

Myanmar reports record surge

Myanmar reported 1,294 new cases and 41 more fatalities, the highest single-day surge since the pandemic broke out late March, the Ministry of Health and Sports says.

As of Sunday, Myanmar has reported a total of 17,794 cases and 412 fatalities. The majority of infected people are from Yangon, the country’s biggest city.

Bloomberg News

A6 Tuesday, October 6, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

On resignations

I

t is quite difficult to make an elected official give up an office, especially in this country, but sometimes it does happen. On August 3, 2011, Senator Miguel Zubiri resigned as senator, after his victory in the 2007 midterm elections was questioned before the Senate Electoral Tribunal.

“Without admitting any fault and with my vehement denial of the alleged electoral fraud hurled against me, I am submitting my resignation as a duly elected senator of the Republic of the Philippines in the election for which I am falsely accused without mercy and compassion,” Zubiri said in a privilege speech.

No less than Senator Koko Pimentel, the candidate who would take over Zubiri’s seat, said it took a miracle for him to be declared the rightful winner.

Had Zubiri not resigned and withdrawn his counterprotest, the process of settling who got the 12th and final slot in the 2007 senatorial election could have lasted all the way up to 2013, the end of the term itself. We’ve seen the same delaying tactic employed many times by various candidates in past elections.

Zubiri said he resigned because the accusations against him had divided the nation and cast doubts on the country’s electoral system, affecting not only himself but also the Senate as an institution.

Indeed, some quarters had said Zubiri should have resigned a lot sooner, or that he just preempted the inevitable, because Pimentel was winning the protest anyway. But, really, most politicians in the Philippines would not have done what he did.

In this country, elected officials rarely leave their offices, even those who blatantly seem to have violated laws thereby demanding their removal, because government institutions seem to lack the political will or the tools to enforce it. There is little ability to force scandal-plagued politicians out of office.

In that sense, Pimentel was right. It was, indeed, a miracle that Zubiri practically just handed over his seat to Pimentel, giving up all the perks, power and prestige of being a senator. Many others would have simply tried to hold on to their posts, fight out their electoral cases to the end, until they are forced to vacate their seats.

Zubiri perhaps redefined the usual practice of Philippine politicians by this one act, putting the country before self, the public interest above private gain and partisanship.

After being a plain citizen, Zubiri took another stab at being senator and won in 2016, perhaps proving our people never forgot his statesmanship. He is now the incumbent Majority Floor Leader of the Senate.

In contrast, the nation recently witnessed Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano’s resignation as House Speaker, or more specifically, his melodramatic offer to resign during the House plenary session on Wednesday, which Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza called “another version of telenovela insincerity.”

“I’m offering my resignation, here and now, to you my dear colleagues.

My fate and the fate of the 2021 budget, and the fate of the leadership of the House is in your hands,” Cayetano said in a privilege speech before his fellow lawmakers, which included his fellow Taguig Representative and wife Lani Cayetano, who was the first to stand up and applaud him.

During his speech he bared details showing, yet again and quite obviously, that both he and his rival Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco seem to so focused on obtaining the blessing of President Duterte for the speakership, at a time when the entire country is suffering from this pandemic.

The No. 1 qualification for the speakership seems to be that he is a man of Malacañang. There is no mention of upholding shared principles and values, of the national agenda and the Filipino people, of good leadership, honesty and trustworthiness.

This is why we were against any term-sharing agreements to begin with, as if the speakership is a resort condominium unit being sold by some crafty salesmen, with no less than the President giving his final blessing to the contract, which in the end, the parties involved cannot even honor.

At one point, Cayetano even noted in his speech that celebrating his 50th birthday as House Speaker was part of the term-sharing deal.

Right after said speech, Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor moved to deny Cayetano’s offer to resign, and the House plenary approved the motion through voice voting.

Hence, Cayetano kept his post, after his resignation that was not really one, giving more fodder for Filipinos who cannot anymore stomach the futility and utter lack of decency in Philippine politics.

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Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur

W

e should reopen the economy further to restore the millions of jobs lost to Covid-19. Doing so can prevent further damage to the economy and lift the spirits of our workers.

The country’s economic performance in the third quarter of 2020 may be a foregone conclusion. The gross domestic product may have contracted again in the July-September period, extending the recession that started in the first quarter of the year. Mobility and current quarantine restrictions have prevented our workers from going to their workplace. Our malls are virtually empty, except for a handful of shoppers and diners, mainly because of public transportation limitations and the shuttered services sector, a labor-intensive industry.

I don’t want to sound pessimistic but a key domestic trade data released last week tells us the real picture of the economic damage wreaked by the pandemic. The number of franchised stores has fallen 35 percent, or 70,000, to 130,000 so far this year from 200,000 in 2019 after Covid-19 forced many enterprises to close shop. The Philippine Franchise

Association sees the decline being carried over to 2021, with an additional 20,000 franchisees stopping their operations. The data suggests that hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost in the franchising sector alone, assuming each store employs a minimum of three people.

Our small entrepreneurs, including owners of restaurants, retailers and those in the franchising sector, in their own little way have significantly contributed to our GDP growth and employed hundreds of thousands of people. We should find a way to revive their operations and we can only do that by reopening the economy further and bringing back their customers.

I fully agree with the proposal of the Department of Trade and Industry for the faster opening of business establishments in the Category 3, or services sector, that are currently operating at only 50 percent of their normal capacity. Fully

Lourdes M. Fernandez

John Mangun

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reopening these businesses will get back more workers and support our economic recovery.

With Covid-19 infections plateauing to under 3,000 cases last week, the government can now revisit the work-at-home arrangement it encouraged at the outset of the health crisis. The workers in the services sector have grown accustomed to health protocols, such as frequent washing of hands, wearing of face masks and face shields in public places, and social distancing.

We should now bring back our employees in such services as legal and accounting, management and consultancy, architecture and engineering, science and research development, advertising and market research. The government should also encourage workers in computer programming, publishing, printing, film, music/ TV production and employment activities that include recruitment and placement agencies for overseas employment, photography, wholesale and retail trade and motor vehicles repair, to go back to their workplaces to support the economy.

These are labor-intensive industries that can reduce our unemployment rate. Six months of quarantine or lockdowns have taught these workers to be responsible and extra careful in avoiding Covid-19 infection. I believe the key to a more aggressive reopening of the economy is still the strict enforcement of the health protocols.

Covid-19: ‘Massive societal shifts’

T. Anthony C. Cabangon

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We can lessen the damage to the economy

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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he Covid-19 pandemic has created a wonderful opportunity for politicians and pundits. Local politicians—state and city in the US and city and barangay in the Philippines— have earned a fortune, power, and fame. Pundits have had something to write about.

The key to the deal, though, is that the pandemic has changed the world at least in the foreseeable future.

Much of the focus on the changes that we are facing has been on the workplace and business in general.

Many jobs in the developed nations will not be coming back after the crisis ends. Already, millions of small businesses have been destroyed, decimated by Fed policies that favor huge companies. Further, there had been a surge in automation prior to the pandemic that will continue into the future.

A year ago, low-income workers were demanding and going on strike

for a higher US minimum wage. Now they are jobless and especially in the fast-food business, robots are the future.

The fact is that the push for globalization has often put the interests of the big corporations above that of a nation’s economy. However, also a fact is that the only way to compete on the world scene is to lower production costs across the economy. So, either send manufacturing overseas to countries like Southeast Asia—and China—or automate.

But China’s largest private employer, Foxconn, which manufactures the iPhone, has installed over

a million robots. Eventually, “you run out of places to chase the [cheap] labor,” says Rodney Brooks, an Australian roboticist. This is where automation and robots enter the picture.”

However, the changes in labor are only one part of the situation.

American Professor of Political Science Andrew Latham teaches in his course Plagues, Pandemics and Politics. “Pandemics tend to shape human affairs in three ways. First, they can profoundly alter a society’s fundamental worldview. Second, they can upend core economic structures.

And, finally, they can sway power struggles among nations.”

He cites that the Antonine plague, which wiped out at least 25 percent of the Roman Empire’s population, triggered a transformation in the religious culture. Christianity had only 40,000 adherents in the Empire. Within a generation of the end of the Cyprian plague, Christianity had become the dominant religion in the empire.

Motivated by Christian charity and an ethic of care for the sick, the empire’s Christian communities were willing and able to provide care. Pagan Romans opted to flee outbreaks of the plague or to self-

The fight against Covid-19 will not be over until the successful testing of candidate vaccines. In the meantime, we should recalibrate our strategies again as the battle progresses. From enhanced community quarantine to granular lockdowns, we can now focus on preventive health care as our doctors suggest.

Our Covid-19 data shows that only a small percentage can be considered serious cases. Many infections are mild ones and are treated merely with doses of vitamins to boost the immune system of the patient.

I fully agree with the proposals of doctors to promote the intake of proper nutrition to strengthen immunity to the coronavirus. The prevention or early treatment will surely help ease the burden of our hospitals. Building up the immune system of our workers and the rest of the population through state intervention at the barangay level will prevent Covid-19 cases reaching our hospitals.

The virus prevention measures should prepare some parts of the country, especially Metro Manila, to more relaxed quarantine rules next month. As I have been saying in this column before, we should reopen more aggressively to help the economy recover. Reopening is the only way to avoid a permanent damage to the economy.

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

isolate in the hope of being spared infection. The Black Death broke out in Europe in 1347 and by the time the pandemic ended, a labor shortage created a free market for workers, breaking the serfdom and slavery of previous centuries.

Until the plague of Justinian from A.D. 542 until A.D. 755, the Mediterranean area had been relatively unified by commerce, politics, religion, and culture. Rome was crippled by the plague but also was its rival Sassanid Persia. Neither could take advantage of the other. But the Islamic Rashidun Caliphate in Arabia was largely unaffected by the plague.

Caliph Abu Bakr quickly conquered the entire Sasanian Empire and kicked Rome out of the Levant, the Caucasus, Egypt, and North Africa.

Latham leaves us with this thought: “But just as past plagues made the world we currently inhabit, so too will this plague likely remake the one populated by our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

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Why (and how) I plan to die with an empty bank account

‘Morir antes demitir’

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In my latest move away from what many financial experts preach, I’ve forgone the aspiration of leaving a financial legacy. The concept of bequeathing an inheritance just seems to make less sense today. Instead, I want to experience my legacy by spending most, if not all, of my money on meaningful experiences and investing in the people and causes I believe in—all before I leave Earth.

This financial philosophy has grown increasingly popular with the ultra-wealthy. Laurene Powell Jobs, who inherited over $20 billion from her late husband, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, vows to give away all her assets during her living years, contributing to social and economic causes that need financial support. Before that, Sting, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett all pledged to not leave their children much, if any, inheritance.

But the idea should become mainstream. After speaking with Bill Perkins about his new book, “Die With Zero: Getting All You Can From Your Money and Your Life,” I was shocked to find myself convinced that spending more money while you’re alive is more fulfilling than leaving behind a nest egg.

“With each year that passes … our ability to convert dollars into positive life experiences declines over time,” Perkins tells me. The “optimal utility of money,” as he calls it, is using money to have the maximum greatest experiences you can in your living years. It’s important because experiences are what actually drive fulfillment and happiness. “I’m more about saving your life than saving your money,” he says.

Of course, the challenge with this approach is to not die with less than zero, leaving debt behind for someone else. The philosophy doesn’t give my husband and me permission to overspend. Instead, it forces us to practice restraint and deliberation as we choose how to allocate our money while we’re alive.

Nail down “enough.” Yes, we still need to save for retirement, but primarily with only our personal needs (and the needs of any remaining dependents) in mind. Instead of accumulating for its own sake, we’re determined to have a specific monetary goal.

In his book, Perkins, who first made his fortune in finance, calls this your personal “survival number.” It’s the amount you need to support yourself with regards to health, shelter and food when you no longer have much income.

Your survival number is more bare bones than the standard retirement savings recommendation of needing between eight and 10 times your salary or living off of 80 percent of your pre-retirement income. Maybe that figure can be closer to 40 percent or 50 percent, especially if you downsize earlier or live in a more affordable place.

For example, we just bought our home in New Jersey and plan to stay here for the next 15 years or so until the kids are finished with high school.

After that, it wouldn’t really make financial sense to keep our residence, given the enormous town taxes, which

mainly serve the public schools.

Optimize spending. After determining what’s “enough,” Perkins advises mapping out the expenses and experiences that are critical to your fulfillment and the impact you want to have on the world. For us, that’s putting money toward supporting our kids’ education and well-being, traveling and giving back.

Before aiming to die with zero, I wanted my family to be able to spend an entire month each summer living in a foreign country. Now, this dream looks all the more worthwhile as the type of enriching experience I value.

And, depending on what happens with travel post-Covid, it can be more achievable, since I won’t be putting it off just to have a bit more saved for retirement.

The idea of leaving nonprofits money in our will also feels a bit detrimental to the causes we want to support.

Why not give sooner if we can? To that end, I’ve automated some of my giving plans similar to how we contribute for retirement.

Rethink retirement. One of the first books on this concept, “Die Broke” by Stephen Pollan and Mark Levine from 1998, prescribes a four-step plan to ensure you utilize every dollar while alive. Step three is to “not retire.” It was a radical suggestion back then. Today, not so much.

This is an important consideration for those (outside the super-rich) who want to die without any debt and spend their later years living on “just enough.” I’m already thinking about getting my real estate license in my 50s to generate some additional income and supplement our needs in retirement.

Have a plan for the kids. Not leaving an inheritance to your children doesn’t mean you don’t care about them. Instead, it means that you bestow your wealth upon them when they’re young and most likely working to start a business or a family or investing. The best part is you can bear witness to it all.

“If we’re trying to have the maximum impact on our kids’ lives, we want to basically deliberately choose to give them money in a certain time frame,” Perkins says, “not when they’re in their 60s and their health is declining.”

Do we risk spoiling them? Not if we explain our plan and if they understand that the money they’re receiving in portions is to help them build a strong and meaningful life for themselves and their kids. And yes, we’re fully aware of the gift tax (the US taxes the transfer of money or property to another person above $15,000 per year). So while our kids are young, we’re filling up as many investment buckets as we can for them that carry tax advantages, from a 529 college savings plan to a custodial Roth IRA. We also have life insurance, as that’s integral to taking care of our kids, should one of us pass away sooner than expected.

I’m not sure what the afterlife has in store for us, but I do trust that this alternative financial framework will enable us to make the most of our living years. And the kids? They’ll be alright.

Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES eath before resignation.” That’s roughly the English translation of the title of this column. People find it difficult to leave their positions once they have enjoyed the perks of their office. This is particularly true to those who occupy a public office, whether elective or appointive. They cling to their posts since it means power and privilege.

Once they leave their office, all the perquisites appurtenant to their position cease. It’s typical for appointed officials to seek renewal of their appointment or extension of their service after their term has expired. And even in the face of a mounting public clamor for them to resign, they would always seek refuge to the worn-out excuse that they serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority and that for as long as they enjoy their patron’s trust, they will stay in their position. Thus, our present day officials are bereft of the values of “amor propio” and “delicadeza.” Now, these once cherished ideals belong to the ages previously practiced by the ladies and gentlemen of the old school. And for those elected, they will do anything, even sell their souls to the devil, just to get re-elected. Once they have served out their maximum term, despite the term limits prescribed in our Constitution, they always find ingenious

ways to circumvent the law. A public office becomes a part of the family heirloom transferable to other family members. Others get “demoted” and run for the number two slot vice his or her spouse, a son or daughter but actually “runs” his former office like a conjugal or paternal/maternal partnership. We see this set up in many provinces and cities in our Republic. And once the legal bar is removed, they can regain their old post. A political dynasty is created in the process, which perpetuates the family in power. It’s a curse that the statesmen of our Constitution have foreseen but the demagogues in Congress have ignored by not simply passing a law to implement it. Ask any kindergarten pupil and he would tell you the reason why. Lord Acton answered it more than a century ago in a profound way: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” So why give up power?

I don’t think we will ever get an

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relief bill. But Americans should be confident that the government can still function. The 25th Amendment specifies procedures for transferring the president’s powers in an emergency, while the Presidential Succession Act identifies who assumes office should both the president and vice president be incapacitated. Although no one could’ve predicted precisely this chain of events, officials have long contemplated—and prepared for—a crisis in the executive branch.

Even so, the next few weeks will no

The current imbroglio in the House is a problem created by the two principals to the conflict. Personally, I do not support any term-sharing agreement. It’s a betrayal of the trust reposed by the people to their chosen representatives. If one deserves to be the Speaker, let him convince his peers to elect him as their leader.

After all, his colleagues can always remove the Speaker once he no longer enjoys their confidence and ceases to serve the people’s interest. Anyone who can offer a better leadership and program can offer himself to the members of the body and challenge the incumbent. This is democracy in action. The speakership is the 4th highest position in our government and should not be the subject of backroom negotiation, wheelingand-dealing and compromise. The fact that it was even brokered by the President betrays the lack of independence by a co-equal body. And now they ran to the President to resolve the impasse. It was bad at inception and worse at resolution. But now that it’s done and the first half of the agreement has been completed, the only honorable option is to let it run its course. Calling for a vote this time to determine if the other side has the numbers is not an option anymore. It was forestalled 15 months ago when the parties had their agreement. How can the other side compete against the incumbent who had gained adherents by giving them powerful committee chairmanships and memberships that conferred them

more entitlements? The incumbent speaker is a good and hardworking Speaker who has delivered the goods to this administration. He led the House in enacting legislations that are crucial in addressing the health, economic and law and order concerns that beset our country. He is a better and more experienced legislator than his adversary, having served in both Houses with distinction. For all we know, he could have won the speakership fair and square when the 18th Congress opened in 2019.

Instead, he opted to enter into a term-sharing agreement with the other leading contenders to assure himself that he gets the post. An honorable gentleman of the House honors his agreement.

Getting the first crack has its own advantages. We are aware of the legal maxim that “possession is 9/10 of the law.” It also gives the first occupant of the post a tremendous opportunity to avoid fulfilling the agreement. But on final reckoning, occupying the speakership until the next presidential election brings new dimension to the position, which one with a great potential and ambition will fight to death.

“Morir antes demitir.”

Published reports said that the President has obtained a commitment from the present occupant of the office to turn over the speakership on October 14. Let’s wait and see if an immovable force will listen to reason. Let’s find out if 15-21 will lead us to rediscover the Philippines as a country where a person’s word is a law.

Tax provisions under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act Fulvio D. Dawilan

Tax Law for Business

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he Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (“Bayanihan 2”) was passed to strengthen the government’s efforts in mitigating the effects of Covid-19. Among the response and recovery interventions provided in the act are tax reliefs that would somehow help ease the burdens of taxpayers. There are also exemptions from tax effects of some of these interventions, which would otherwise be imposed under normal circumstances. And there are incentives granted to specific transactions. I will discuss two of these tax provisions.

First is on the carry-over of net operating loss carry-over to the succeeding years. Ordinarily, the NOLCO can be carried over to the next three consecutive taxable years immediately following the year of such loss. As part of mitigating the costs and losses stemming from the disruption of economic activities, Bayanihan 2 extends the carry-over of the NOLCO as deductions to the next succeeding five consecutive taxable years immediately following the year of the loss.

Note that this extended carryover shall pertain only to the net losses incurred by businesses or enterprises for the taxable years 2020 and 2021. As defined by Revenue Regulations 25-2020 (RR 25-2020), a taxable year shall be understood to mean the calendar year or the fiscal year ending during such calendar year, upon the basis of which the taxable net income is computed by the concerned taxpayer.

The five-year carry-over should

therefore cover losses sustained by taxpayers using the calendar years ending on December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2021. Likewise, taxpayers whose fiscal years falling within said periods are covered. As clarified by RR 25-2020, the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 shall include all those corporations with fiscal years ending on or before June 30,2021 and June 30, 2022, respectively.

Thus, losses incurred by taxpayers using fiscal year ending on June 30, 2021 can be carried over to the next five years. The same applies to losses incurred by taxpayers whose fiscal years will end on June 30, 2022. Similarly, taxpayers using fiscal years in between these dates are allowed the same period of carry-over.

The taxable year entitled to the five-year NOLCO carry-over likewise includes a fractional part of a year, in case a return is made for such period.

For instance, a taxpayer who changes its taxable year is required to file a short period return. I believe the

Trump’s illness shouldn’t be a governance crisis he news that President Donald Trump has contracted the coronavirus has made a very strange year even stranger, and a stressed and battered political system has suffered a new blow. With a bit of prudence and foresight, however, the country can cope.

It’s tempting to entertain dire scenarios at such a moment. The president’s illness will complicate everything from the debates to his pending Supreme Court nomination to negotiations over a new economic

honest answer to this question. nnn

By Farnoosh Torabi | Bloomberg Opinion

f 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that life is uncertain. Through this lens, I’ve started to abandon some conservative personal finance principles. This summer, for example, I went against the adage of “staying the course” with retirement and stuck my hand in my IRA to shed some stocks. I also bought a house in what can be considered a risky environment. To date, I have no regrets.

Tuesday, October 6, 2020 A7

doubt pose a challenge for American democracy. Elected officials, including the president, will need to summon an unusual degree of sobriety and goodwill to ensure that order is maintained and the election proceeds smoothly.

As a start, the White House should level with the public, not only about the president’s health but also about who else is infected, what protective measures are in place and what contingency planning is underway. It must be conscientious about further test-

ing and contact tracing, while keeping people apprised even of not-so-good news. Congressional leaders in both parties should likewise aim for maximum transparency. The goal should be to reassure the public, calm markets, bolster America’s allies and generally turn down the temperature.

Another obvious challenge will be the election itself. Politics will not— and should not—stop because of this news. Both parties’ national committees should publicly explain their procedures for replacing a nominee

ing due, or any part thereof, on or before December 31, 2020. Thus, while extensions or restructuring of loans may necessarily result from the grant of grace period in the payment of amounts due, the DST shall not accrue on the extended or restructured loans.

Compared to similar exemption provided in Bayanihan 1, the coverage and the implementation of the DST exemption under Bayanihan 2 is more straightforward. And I hope the tax authority will do away with the requirement for submission of certain reports as prescribed in the implementing rules of Bayanihan 1. The law does not require such submission, and so creditors should not be penalized for noncompliance with a requirement that is not provided in the law.

Aside from these two, there are other tax exemption/incentive provisions provided in the Bayanihan 2, such as the exemption of compensation provided to public and private health workers who contract the Covid-19 disease in the line of duty, incentives on the manufacture and importation of certain critical equipment, among others. I hope the tax authority will also provide implementing rules on these matters for the guidance of those concerned.

loss incurred in that part of a year, provided that period falls within the taxable years 2020 and 2021, shall be allowed to be carried over to the next five years.

In essence, losses incurred by taxpayers for the years 2020 to 2021 may be carried over as deductions by the same taxpayer within the next three taxable years, following the usual rules on carry-over. If the loss is not utilized or fully utilized as deduction within that three-year period, the taxpayer may still utilize the same within the next two taxable years.

Another tax provision in the Bayanihan 2 relates to the one-time 60day grace period to be granted for the payment of all existing, current and outstanding loans falling due, or any part thereof, on or before December 31, 2020, and thereby extending the maturity of the said loans.

Ordinarily, any alteration of any evidence of obligation or indebtedness, including the extension of maturity dates, are subject to another round of documentary stamp taxes.

Accordingly, with the one-time 60day grace period effectively altering the maturity period of existing loans, the extension should be subject to the documentary stamp taxes. This is, however, addressed by the Bayanihan 2 by providing that the resulting loan term extensions or restructuring arising from this requirement shall be exempt from the documentary stamp taxes. This exemption is made clearer by the implementing regulations (RR 24-2020), which provides that no additional DST shall apply to term extensions and credit restructuring, micro-lending including those obtained from-pawnshops and extensions thereof granted by covered institutions for loans fall-

The author is the Managing Partner of DuBaladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a member-firm of WTS Global.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at fulvio.dawilan@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 8403-2001 loc 310.

in an emergency. More important, the campaign should proceed with a spirit of generosity and good faith that has not exactly been in evidence so far. Former vice president Joe Biden hit precisely the right tone on Friday: To the man he had viciously sparred with on a debate stage just days before, Biden offered only prayers and good wishes.

Finally, this jolt should be a reminder—both to the White House and to the public—that this pandemic is nowhere near over. With many states attempt-

ing to reopen their economies and return to some degree of normality, it was all too easy to yield to complacency or exhaustion. After eight months and more than 200,000 American deaths, the virus remains uncontrolled— a threat even to the most carefully guarded man in the world.

In the weeks ahead, there will be time to assign blame, question decisions and assess where things went wrong. For now, wish the president— and the republic—nothing but the best. Bloomberg Opinion

A8 Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Facebook user Sen. Bato: Just explain takedown rule

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DMINISTRATION Senator Ronald de la Rosa clarified Monday there was no move to ban the popular network site Facebook, even as he asked the social-media platform to clarify the recent takedown of pro-Duterte administration FB posts.

In a statement, De la Rosa said they were “just seeking fair treatment,” insisting he was “not pushing to ban social networking site Facebook in the country.” This, as he stressed the need for Facebook to “explain the reasons for the recent take down of some pro-government accounts and pages, a definite concern in terms of national security.”

De la Rosa asserted he was not advocating for the closure of Facebook in the Philippines, acknowledging “the importance of Facebook to the lives of at least 77 million Filipinos who rely on it as a source of information and income, and as a means of communications with their loved ones.” He himself is a regular Facebook user and finds it useful, he said.

However, the senator called on Facebook to “exercise fairness for all its users at all times instead of choosing to listen only to the lobbyists of the anti-government groups.”

He added: “Why are they taking down only the pro-government, anti-communist, anti-terrorism groups? Why aren’t they looking at the pro-communist, anti-government ones? Are you sure these aren’t fake accounts, why aren’t

these being taken down?”

De la Rosa earlier filed Resolution No. 531 asking the Senate to look into Facebook’s recent censorship on some pro-government and anti-communism accounts and pages. Among those most cited is the account of “Hands Off Our Children,” set up by parents fighting violent extremism, and the recruitment of minors into the CPP-NPA. The proposed Senate inquiry, in aid of legislation, was referred to the Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.

De la Rosa assured the public he was just seeking fair treatment from the popular social-media platform. “I am fair and square. If they allow those expressing dissent against government like the NPA [New People’s Army]...that’s fine with me as long as we’re fair. If you allow them to use Facebook, you should also allow the pro-government advocacy groups to use Facebook. Don’t take them down. Let’s allow both sides to do their thing.

They shouldn’t be one-sided in the implementation of their rules,” the senator stressed, speaking partly in Filipino.

“As I have said, I don’t want Facebook to be banned because I am a Facebook user myself; but I just want them to be fair,” the senator added.

Continued on A2

Boracay resorts seek antigen pilot-testing to lure tourists

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By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

ESORT owners are urging the government to allow the pilottesting of an antigen test for entry to Boracay, to allow more tourists to come to the world-famous resort island.

Henry Chusuey, owner of the Henann Resorts Group, said in an online press briefing hosted

by Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, “What is important to us now is the employment of our workers, for their livelihood to return. But the resort still can’t bring them all back [because tourism is still poor]. So our request is for antigen pilot-testing in Boracay, to make it easier for the tourist to go Boracay. They take the antigen test before boarding so it’s not such a hassle because the RT-PCR test,

you still have to go to the hospital.

And tourism is still nonessential, so if it’s a hassle [for them to get a Covid test], they won’t come.”

Of the six resorts numbering 1,600 rooms, owned by the Henann Group on Boracay, Chusuey said only one resort is open, and only “less than 20 rooms” are occupied. From 2,200 worker pre-Covid, the resort company has only 100 working on the island at present.

Antigen tests cost a fraction of the RT-PCR test’s costs with results in minutes, but are not accurate in determining if a person has Covid-19. The Department of

Health reported on September 30 that South Korea’s SD Biosensor’s antigen tests failed to pass the World Health Organization’s recommended diagnostic standards.

Said test is currently being pilottested in Baguio City, which opened a travel corridor with the Ilocos region on October 1.

According to Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores, visitors to Boracay have been increasing, albeit slowly, since it opened to more tourists on October 1. Last Friday, 53 tourists arrived, compared to 47 on October 1, and 35 on October 1. “But we expected this, since tourists still have difficulty coming here, they’re still a bit afraid. But we think in the new few weeks, in the next few months, more tourists will come to Boracay, because they can see the beauty of Boracay has returned to its state in the 1980s.”

He underscored that resorts on Boracay have also cut their room rates by as much as 75 percent, so the cost of the staying in a resorts “offsets the expense paid for the RT-PCR test.” An RT-PCR test costs anywhere from P4,000 to P6,500 with results as short as five hours to five days, depending on the testing center. All tourists now entering Boracay, even those from Western Visayas, are required to undergo such a test, 48 hours prior to the arrival on the island. (See, “DTI’s

Lopez: Boracay workers don’t need mandatory Covid-19 testing,” in the BusinessMirror, October 5, 2020.)

Miraflores assured would-be visitors, “If tourists have [Covid] symptoms and have to be treated, we have a complete hospital. They can call our Covid Hotline 152, if they want to get checked. Medical staff are ready.”

Roque has been in Boracay since October 4, encouraging visitors to visit. Asked by GMA News if Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat knew he was on the island and “doing her job,” Roque said, “Secretary Berna is in isolation. If she were not, her plan was to be here on October 1. So when Secretary Berna could not make it, we thought it best to share the message of the President to open the economy, especially tourism, to come here and encourage our citizens to visit Boracay again.”

He added he has been visiting Boracay since 1987. “In my first 10 years as a lawyer, when I was asked my field of specialization, I said ‘beach law’ because most of my clients were the mom and pop resorts here in Boracay. I’ve seen Boracay businesses grow, their hotels have expanded until they sold off to hotel chains....so I’ve had a long experience here in Boracay.”

Govt again looking to hike PUV ridership up to 70%

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE government is once again eyeing to increase the ridership of public utility vehicles (PUV) to help businesses expand their operations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its Resolution No. 76, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) approved the recommendation of the Economic Development Cluster to reopen public transportation “in such a manner that is sufficient and safe to the public.”

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) supported t he pronouncement to a l low more companies to operate at full capacity.

“Even if workers wanted to return to work, they cannot because they have no commute. So we wish to increase ridership up to 70 percent,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in a radio interview on Monday.

New recommendation

LAST month, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) had attempted to increase the ridership capacity of PUVs by reducing the

1-meter social distancing to 0.75 meters.

However, the policy drew public opposition due to concerns it could leave commuters more vulnerable to infection.

President Duterte ultimately decided to maintain the 1-meter rule.

In a Viber message, DOTr Assistant Secretary Goddes Hope Libiran told BusinessMirror they have yet to submit a new recommendation to increase PUV ridership.

“We will wait until it is determined that the number of active cases as reported by the DOH [Department of Health] allows it,” Libiran said.

Matter of time

PRESIDENTIAL spokesman Harry Roque said he is confident the IATF will eventually approve a policy increasing ridership capacity in PUVs since it is supported by no less than two former Health secretaries: Esperanza Cabral and Manuel Dayrit.

He reiterated that there will be minimal chances of passengers being infected in PUVs as long as they wear a face mask and face shield and follow the no eating and no drinking policy.

This chance, he pointed out, will

be minimized if the PUV will be kept well ventilated and regularly sanitized.

Provincial buses

IN a related development, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said only authorized persons outside of residence (APOR), which includes workers, will be allowed to ride provincial buses, which will pass the National Capital Region (NCR).

“When they enter Metro Manila, they should bring with them their certificate of employment, valid ID, where they work,” MMDA spokesman Celine Pialago said in a online interview.

She said this is necessary since random inspections are done at the selected terminals where provincial buses are allowed to bring passengers in NCR. For passengers coming from Cavite and Laguna, she said this is in the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITx), while those from coming from Pampanga will be brought to the Araneta Center Cubao.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) allowed the resumption of some provincial buses routes coming to and from NCR last week.

GAS, KEROSENE PRICES TO GO UP AGAIN

G

ASOLINE and kerosene prices are on the rise again this week.

On Monday, oil firms announced they will implement a P0.10 per liter increase in gasoline products and P0.20 per liter hike in kerosene.

Diesel price remains

unchanged.

Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell, Phoenix Petroleum, Seaoil, Total Philippines and Petro Gazz said they will adjust their pump prices at 6 a.m. of Tuesday, October 6.

Cleanfuel, meanwhile, said it would not implement any price

adjustment.

Last week, oil companies raised gasoline by P0.20 per liter, diesel by P0.05 per liter and kerosene by P0.45 per liter.

They adjust their prices every week to reflect movements in the world oil market. Lenie Lectura

Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Converge allots part of IPO for cornerstone investors

C

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

onverge Information and Communications Technology Solutions Inc. is allotting a portion of its P41.55 billion initial public offering (IPO) for its cornerstone investors.

In its updated prospectus, Converge—a company led by Pampanga businessman Dennis Anthony H. Uy— said some P12.7 billion to P16 billion worth of its IPO will be sold to cornerstone investors.

Converge said, however, that its cornerstone investors will not be subject to a lock-up requirement on the cornerstone shares. This means they can sell these shares anytime upon listing at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

The company is targeting to raise

P36.13 billion from the sale of up to 480.84 million primary shares and 1.02 billion secondary shares at a price of up to P24 per share. With its over-allotment option of 225.79 million shares, the amount of the public offering may go up to P41.55 billion.

Of the offer shares, 70 percent are allocated for institutional investors which include the cornerstone investors.

“Assuming an offer price of P19, the cornerstone shares represent no

less than approximately 33.6 percent of the offer shares [assuming full exercise of the over-allotment option] and approximately 38.6 percent [excluding any option shares],” the company's prospectus said.

“Cornerstone investors may also participate in the offer by purchasing offer shares through the book building process for the offer shares in addition to their cornerstone shares. The purchase of cornerstone shares will not limit the number of offer shares which the cornerstone investors may purchase as part of the offer.”

The cornerstone investors include Genesis Investment Management LLP, Ghisallo Master Fund LP, Macquarie Funds Management Hong Kong Limited, Magna New Frontiers Fund, Oaks Emerging and Frontier Opportunities Fund, OMERS Administration Corp., Segantii Asia-Pacific Equity MultiStrategy Fund and Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Warburg Pincus, through Coherent Cloud, made a commitment in 2019 to invest $225 million in Converge, all of which have now been invested, the company said.

“Warburg Pincus’ investment in the company, together with its active involvement and thought partnership, have enabled Converge to significantly accelerate its nationwide expansion plans. As the single largest institutional investor of Converge, Warburg Pincus has been partnering closely with the company to build the largest highspeed fixed broadband operator in the Philippines and is committed to supporting the company in the long term,” Uy said.

The final offer price will be determined on October 9, after the company conducts its book building process.

Converge will hold the offer period from October 13 to 19 and will be listed at the PSE by the end of the month.

San Miguel to purchase more local corn

S

an Miguel Corp. (SMC) on Monday said it will continue to purchase corn from local farmers to boost their income and ensure food security during the Covid-19 pandemic.

SMC said its food unit, San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI), has bought 436,209 metric tons (MT) of corn

from local farmers as of September 30.

Ramon S. Ang, SMC president and chief operating officer, said the company had been ramping up its local corn purchases from farmer cooperatives in various areas nationwide, including north, central and southern Luzon as well as southern

Mindanao, since quarantine protocols and disruptions in transportation have limited their ability to sell their produce.

The move is also in support of the Department of Agriculture's call for companies to continue supporting farmers during the Covid-19

pandemic, the company said. “Back in May, we announced our plan to buy more local corn, to prevent farmers from losing their capital and having the corn just go to waste, and to secure our raw materials for food production,” Ang said. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

B1

AF Payments to issue free stored value cards

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

A

F Payments Inc. will give 125,000 free beep cards— amounting to P10 million in discounted retail costs—to commuters and is now developing a cashless payments platform as an alternative to its tap-and-go payments system beep.

The company, led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., said it will help “ease the burden of passengers who have challenges buying a beep card” by providing free cards to “people in need.”

“This offer has been made possible by our Shareholders and Business Groups, who graciously donated the needed funds to pay for up to 125,000 free cards,” the company said.

Currently, beep cards are sold at P80 each, “which covers only part of the cost of logistics, production, initialization, printing and distribution.”

To recall, the Department of Transportation called for the free distribution of beep cards to commuters, after it received reports that commuters found it hard to acquire a card due to the cost.

It then threatened the company that it might be replaced with a different provider should it fail to do so.

The beep cards are currently being used in different modes of transportation, but the transport department highlighted the need for free cards for those who are riding the Edsa Busway.

Aside from the limited issuance of the free beep cards, the company is now developing a new payments system as an alternative to the beep card.

“In response to concerns that some passenger may not be able to buy a beep card, we have offered to the operators a system upgrade that will allow passengers who use the Edsa Bus Loop to use a QR ticket— paper or mobile phone—instead of a beep card. QR paper tickets will not cost anything in addition to the regular fare for the desired trip,” AF Payments said.

It noted that as soon as the QR code ticket system is in place it will no longer issue free beep cards to commuters.

“At this time passengers who do not want a beep card can instead avail of a QR ticket, which no additional cost attached and will only require the payment of exact fare between the desired stops,” the company said.

The upgraded bus validation will also be able to accept mobile phone based QR tickets that can be generated from bank applications or e-wallets.

“We invite all interested parties to sign up and participate as QR ticket issuer. We open-sourced the necessary technical specifications and made it available on the Internet free of charge for every interested party to develop the technology to issue a ticket,” the company said.

The transportation department has yet to respond to requests for comment as of press time.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Meralco: Electricity sales likely rose in September

E

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

lectricity sales in areas where the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is assigned to distribute power likely improved in September compared to the previous month due to rising demand.

However, Meralco said it has yet to release third-quarter electricity sales as the numbers are still being validated. “We have yet to determine the exact number, but indication is that September 2020 electricity sales is significantly better than that of August 2020, and it’s very near September 2019 sales numbers,” Meral-

co First Vice President and head of Customer Retail Services Ferdinand Geluz said in an interview.

Still, power sales from July to September this year ended lower compared to the same period last year. In the third quarter of 2019, Meralco’s sales volume grew by 6.3 percent to 35,005 gigawatt hours (GWh).

Geluz said third-quarter sales numbers this year would not outpace what Meralco recorded in the July-to-September period last year.

“Third quarter this year is still lower compared to third quarter last year because July and August sales this year are significantly lower compared to 2019 figures.”

From a peak of only 5,453 megawatts (MW) in April, demand has risen to 6,428MW in May and 7,051 MW in June, both due to warmer weather and increased economic activity. However, this is still lower than the peak of 7,584MW registered in March, right before the imposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). In July, Luzon peak demand shot up to 10,595MW then slightly declined to 10,422MW in August.

Meralco sold 21,139GWh of elec-

tricity in the first six months of the year, seven percent lower than in 2019. The community quarantine affected Meralco’s sales mix consumption as it shifted to higher lossto-serve residential customers. At end-June, Meralco’s customer base grew to nearly seven million, with residential, commercial and industrial segments growing at 3 percent, 2 percent, and 1 percent, respectively.

“Covid-19 has disrupted and adversely affected industries, employment, operating procedures and our way of life. The pain brought about by the pandemic is expected to be felt for quite some time,” said Meralco President Ray Espinosa.

Meralco serves Metro Manila, where it is the sole electricity distributor, as well as some nearby provinces, like Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Apollo Global unit secures credit line

By VG Cabuag @villygc

A

unit of Apollo Global Capital Inc. on Monday said it has secured a credit line from state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), which will be used as a working capital for the export production of iron ore.

In its disclosure, the company, formerly known as the Yehey! Corp., said its unit JDVC Resources Corp. secured some $8 million or P416 million as its export packing credit line from the bank.

“JDVC shall assign, transfer and physically convey in favor of DBP, its successors and assigns, all of JDVC's rights, title to and interest in the receivables arising from the LCs (letter of credit) in the amount equivalent to 80 percent of its loan value, including any and all assigned receivables which may from time to time during the tenor of the Loan/Line exist or accrue to the JDVC,” the company said. The interest rate of the said credit line is floating, based on the lender’s prevailing rate at the time of availment, payable at maturity or upon negotiation of sight/usance of the letter of credit, whichever comes first.

“The above credit line is expected to successfully jump start the commercial and profitable operations of APL [Apollo Global Capital] through

mutual funds

its 90.47 percent owned subsidiary JDVC and pave the way for the realization of increased shareholder value,” the company said.

As security for the approved credit line, 10.5 billion Apollo Global shares owned by Daniel Chua Go amounting to $10.1 million or P525 million have been pledged to DBP, the company said.

Go is one of the company's major stockholders, who owns about 16.28 percent of Apollo Global.

Apollo Global, formerly Yehey!, was incorporated on June 10, 1998 with a primary purpose to engage in the business of internet online-related products relating to database research engine; to engage in other pre-production and post-production work on web sites in internet; and to sell and market said products in the form of advertising of finished products in the domestic or export market. In 2014, the company is 66.95 percent owned

by Vantage Equities Inc. On October 15, 2015, Yehey ceased to be a majority-owned subsidiary of Vantage when the company sold its shares to a group of individual shareholders.

In October 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the company's change in name to current one as it winded down its digital marketing operations and resulting change in primary purpose to that of a holding company.

October 5, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D

per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 197.38 -19.16% -11.84% -4.31% -21.62% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.0748 -28.56% -12.86% -2.22% -22.23% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.6536 -30.04% -16.05% -6.23% -27.86% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.6757 -25.93% -12.51% n.a. -24.76% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.678 -17.5% n.a. n.a. -20.17% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.2299 -18.47% -10.02% -4.35% -20.61% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6601 -20.46% -12.25% n.a.

-22.67% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 83.87 -27.38% n.a. n.a. -18.75% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 39.5467 -20.41% -10.52% -3.09% -22.88% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 424.88 -18.02% -9.87% -3.32% -20.25% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.8888 n.a. n.a. n.a. -13.72% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.008 -19.28% -9.89% -3.01% -21.67% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 29.5715 -19.69% -9.57% -2.54% -21.97% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7821 -20.48% n.a. n.a. -23.18% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.0386 -19.97% -10.01% -2.41% -22.68% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 675.22 -19.84% -9.94% -2.5% -22.56% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.6107 -30.2% -13.8% -6.46% -28.27% -11.48% -3.97% -26.16% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.1078 -24.03% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7735 -20.09% -10.22% -2.61% -22.71% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.8238 -20.75% -9.14% -2.13% -22.7% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 90.6848 -19.73% -9.64% -1.71% -22.46% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.0605 13.47% -0.18% 4.21% 3.12% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.5147 20.61% 7.9% n.a.

9.86% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.553 -2.07% -5.43% -2.46% -0.63% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.0486 -7.95% -5.47% -0.92% -6.07% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.4001 -6.92% -4.13% -2.33% -8.79% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1729 -22.95% n.a. n.a.

-24.33% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8367 -4.71% -2.14% 0.62% -6.37% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.4665 -6.31% -3.73% -0.59% -8.51% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.4962 -6.62% -3.91% -0.66% -8.63% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.9155 -8.56% -4.87% -0.91% -9.74% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.258 -13.77% -6.11% -1.97% -15.67% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.937 -5.36% n.a. n.a.

-7.75% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8315 -14.35% n.a. n.a. -16.55% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8081 -16.44% n.a. n.a. -18.64% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.7989 -16.28% -7.33% -2.92% -18.04% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03896 0.91% 2.66% 2.14% 1.99% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.036 6.3% 0.45% 3.57% 2.37% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.1464 12.21% 5.59% 6.51% 6.03% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1622 5.82% 2.93% n.a.

2.97% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 368.46 3.91% 3.08% 2.63% 2.94% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9518 1.79% 0.98% 0.34% 2.62% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2024 3.74% 4.77% 4.97% 2.71% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2946 3.75% 2.67% 2.24% 3.2% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.454 4.93% 3.44% 2.06% 4.02% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.6362 7.61% 4.29% 2.77% 6.02% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3127 5.76% 4.39% 2.48% 4.46% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9577 5.78% 4.18% 2.37% 4.47% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0401 9.19% 3.77% 2.11% 7.86% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1889 5.18% 4.79% 3.01% 3.68% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7503 4.13% 4.16% 2.43% 2.89% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $478.55 2.79% 2.48% 2.83% 2.18% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є217.11 -1.47% 0.7% 1.19% -1.22% 3.09% 2.99% 2.64% 2.48% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2371 First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0264 1.93% 1.83% 1.76% 2.33% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0857 -1.55% 0.21% 0.24% -0.72% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4914 3.09% 3.59% 3.45% 3.66% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.061384 1.94% 2.25% 2.11% 1.8% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1851 0.15% 1.83% 2.47% 0.31% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.18 3.52% 3.32% 2.52% 2.66% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0454 2.15% n.a. n.a.

1.86% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2909 2.8% 3.02% 2.62% 2.05% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0494 1.57% n.a. n.a.

1.07% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.0153 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.94 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-5.05%

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."

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance

BTr raises ₧22B from T-bills sale despite low rates

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

he Bureau of the Treasury sold P22 billion in Treasury Bills (T-bills) from Monday’s auction even as rates went down across the board.

The auction was also met with overwhelming demand as total tenders reached P98.9 billion, almost five-times the initial P20-billion offer.

The Treasury also doubled the accepted non-competitive bids for 91-day T-bills to P4 billion, prompting the upsize of the total volume awarded to P22 billion from the initial P20-billion offer.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon attributed the decline in rates to expectations that the inflation print in September will be lower than the previous month.

“Full award; lower rates, high bid to cover as inflation print in September expected to trend lower than last month,” De Leon said in a text message. “Redemption of P18 billion adds to available liquidity with short-term buckets providing reinvestment outlets.”

Broken down, the principal custodian of the national government’s financial assets raised P7 billion from 91-day T-bills, P5 billion from 182-day T-bills and P10 billion from 364-day T-bills.

The 91-day T-bills fetched a slightly lower average rate of 1.116 percent, 0.5 basis point below the previous rate of 1.121 percent.

The tenor attracted a total of P25.235 billion, five times the initial P5 billion offer.

Meanwhile, the average rate of 182-day T-bills slid 0.1 basis points to 1.6 percent from 1.601 percent in the previous auction.

Tenders for the security reached P29.164 billion, nearly six times the P5-billion offer.

The 364-day T-bills’ average rate dropped by 5.8 basis points to 1.8 percent from P1.858 percent in the last auction. Total bids for the tenor amounted to P44.459 billion, more than four times the P10-billion offer.

For this month, the Treasury is set to borrow a total of P140 billion from the local debt market. This is lower than the P160 billion it programmed in September.

As of end-August, gross borrowings of the national government have already reached P2.47 trillion, equivalent to more than 80 percent of the all-time high P3-trillion borrowing program set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) for this year.

The government borrows to finance its spending requirements as well as to cover its budget deficit.

As tax collections are down amid lockdown measures against the pandemic, the DBCC is projecting the country’s budget deficit to more than double to 9.6 percent of gross domestic product, or P1.815 trillion, from only 3.4 percent of GDP, or P660.2 billion, last year.

The DBCC also expects the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio this year to increase to 53.91 percent of GDP—a level it hasn’t seen in over a decade—from a record-low of 39.6 percent of GDP last year.

Saving through Premyo Bonds

T

Premyo Bonds are afhe first step toward fordable. With P500, one attaining financial would already be able to freedom is to save. participate. In a way, the For an economy like the low amount needed helps Philippines, saving continGenesis Kelly S. Lontoc democratize participation ues to be a key development many Filipinos. challenge. According to the personal finance among Premyo Bonds are likewise World Bank, the gross doaccessible. Savers can go to mestic savings of the Philipthe accredited banks and financial institution pines as a percentage of gross domestic prodpartners to participate. In light of the New Noruct was only at 14.263 percent as of 2019; the mal, savers can also avail of the bonds through figure was significantly lower than the global the online channels. The convenience of being percentage of 25.233 percent. able to save while in the comforts of the home Savings are important because they help helps savers reduce cost and transaction time. support loanable funds especially for investPremyo Bonds earn financial returns. There ments. Savings are important because they are two ways to earn. help fund future consumption of people.

Given the importance of savings, it is thereFirst, they earn interest. The amount of fore vital for any economy to provide availabilinterest earning that is provided is net of tax. ity and visibility of effective savings instruStill, the interest earnings are typically higher ments to develop savings consciousness and than those of the usual savings accounts and commitment among the citizenry. Common time deposits. These interest earnings proexamples of savings instruments are savings vide a stable source of cash flow to the savaccounts and time deposits. Recent finance deers. Stable earnings help support budgeting velopments though have given Filipinos more exercises. Second, Premyo Bonds also offer savings options. One such alternative would higher financial returns in the form of lube the Premyo Bonds. Given the good response crative raffle prizes like cash prizes and real to the launch in 2019, another round in 2020 estate investments. is being explored.

However, nothing is perfect in life. There There is no such thing as a free lunch in are certain things that have to be considered. economics. Government programs would need Premyo Bonds usually have a maturity of one funding sources. Popular funding sources are year. This implies that money, which is inusually through taxation and bank loans. In the tended for current spending and emergency case of the Philippines, there is a fiscal deficit funds, may need to be placed in more liquid since government revenues are less than govinstruments. The interest rate provided by the ernment expenditures. In order to address the Premyo Bonds would be low given the risk-free fiscal deficit, bonds like the Premyo Bonds can characteristic and if the inflation rate will be be offered to the public. Just like any savings significantly higher than the interest rate, it vehicle, there are benefits and considerations will mean that the purchasing power will be that have to be weighed to come up with a adversely affected. prudent decision.

Premyo Bonds offer potential wins for Premyo Bonds are literally risk-free. They Filipinos. By democratizing access, these can have the full backing of the Philippine governhopefully encourage more Filipinos to develop ment. In the case of bank deposits, these are sustained savings habits. Premyo Bonds offer only covered up to a certain amount through potential wins for the Philippine economy. the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. Such Through higher financial inclusion and fundis not the case for the Premyo Bonds. The ing of programs, economic growth is enhanced.

Philippine government has various ways and means of making sure that it is able to meet Gemmy Lontoc is a registered financial planner of RFP its financial obligations. Given the risk-free Philippines. To learn more about personal financial planning, nature of these bonds, they provide a good attend the 86th RFP program this October 2020. To inquire, alternative for both old savers and new savers e-mail info@rfp.ph or text <name><e-mail> <RFP> at who are conservative.

0917-9689774.

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 6, 2020 B3

B4

Art

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 6, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Jeremy Sisto, 46; Amy Jo Johnson, 50; Elisabeth Shue, 57; Britt Ekland, 78.

Happy Birthday: Take more time to do things that make you happy. Discuss your intentions with the people you want to be involved in your plans. Look for viable solutions that will help you dismiss situations you no longer want to have as burdens. Concentrate on learning, discovering and enjoying enlightenment. Take action, and make changes to the way you handle and earn money. Your numbers are 8, 13, 23, 28, 31, 38, 47.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Consider what you’ve been doing to earn your keep and how you can adjust your daily routine to suit your needs. Striving for a healthier, happier lifestyle will ease stress and bring you closer to someone who shares your values. HHHH Excess admiration, Mark Arcamo, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 48”x36”

I am, but not your only Truth, Jone Sibugan, 2020, oil on canvas, 36”x24”

Sending Failed, Nick Navarro, 2020, acrylic and calcium carbonate on canvas, 24”x36”

Dealing with the invisible

A

STRONG sense of aberration persists nearly seven months into the “new normal.” Not in any way does this imply that a daily global death toll in the thousands from an airborne disease should feel everyday by now nor ever, only that our present living conditions still demand some getting used to even after what feels like in equal parts an eternity and an instant.

No matter our individual adjustments, however,

Haegue Yang

there seems to be a great deal of dread felt by everyone. The mental strain, the financial hit, the emotional toll—all of it and more are the points of contemplation in Kaida Contemporary’s new pair of shows that opened over the weekend.

One is a solo exhibition featuring Mark Arcamo, a painter noted for his textured play on geometrical forms and asymmetrical shapes that carves depth in both aesthetic and message. It’s a three-dimensional style that works perfectly in his new show, titled Gaining Ground.

Arcamo visualizes the layered frustrations and disappointments of the human mind over the last few months, along with the search for something stable to hold on to at a time when everything seems to be anything but.

The artist’s latest works for the show are also imbued with a message of hope. Together with the busy lines that zig and zag across the canvass are images that are defined, albeit incomplete, as if these were puzzle pieces now scrambled but needing only the right time and set of hands to be pieced together

and made whole again.

Musings on the global health crisis extend to Kaida’s second show, titled Present Tense, which is a three-man group exhibition featuring Nick Navarro, Oddin Sena and Jone Sibugan. The trio draw on their own experiences and ways to cope with the pandemic.

In Sending Failed, Navarro portrays a dim gallery setup featuring a framed depiction of the Google T-Rex on one wall, and a TV signoff and static screens on another. Perhaps the piece symbolizes technological communications, devoid of human elements, failing to establish genuine connection.

Meanwhile, Sena’s works are reflections of the artist’s stint in bicycle delivery service. His acrylic paintings carry the titles, such as Jampacked, On the Way and Waiting.

Finally, Sibugan’s oil-on-canvas creations feature figures that melt into their backgrounds, much like how realities have in the past months.

Physical viewing of Gaining Ground and Present Tense begins today, October 6, at Kaida Contemporary in Quezon City. The shows run until October 19. n

Forum on pandemic’s effect on art to be held

American Art Museum selects first FilipinoAmerican artist for major exhibit

“Cross-Continental Conversations in the Cone of Uncertainty,” a panel discussion which tackles the challenges of producing exhibitions during the pandemic and amid the global turmoil, will be held next week in preparation for the celebrated South Korean artist Haegue Yang’s forthcoming first solo exhibition in the Philippines.

Hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, the talk will delve on the impact of the current situations in art and the cultural institutions in Europe, Asia and North America, as well as the response of the local community to these changes.

The forum will feature Jihoi Lee, curator of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea; Adelina Vlas, associate curator of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada; and Anne Barlow, director and curator of the Tate St Ives in Cornwall, United Kingdom.

It will be facilitated by MCAD Director and Curator Joselina “Yeyey” Cruz and will be conducted via Zoom on October 8 at 8 pm. Those who wish to reserve a slot may register at bit.ly/3ndKmkB.

WITH must-see, monumental destinations all across the Philippines, including the Tree of Life in Robinsons Place Naga, the Sculpture Series at SM Aura Premier in Bonifacio Global City, and the upcoming 20-story monument, The Victor at Robinsons Bridgetowne, world-renowned FilipinoAmerican artist Jefrë has unveiled his first solo exhibit, Points of Connection, at the Orlando Museum of Art, on view until January 3, 2021.

Designed to be a touchless, interactive show, Jefrë: Points of Connection will be among the first museum exhibits to launch in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Jefrë creates artworks that express the spirit of our time with energy and optimism,” says Hansen Mulford, senior curator of the Orlando Museum of Art. “Exploring his own visual language, rooted in personal experience, contemporary culture and social concern, his work strives to make connections and draw people together.”

Today, Jefrë’s work can be found in multiple destinations worldwide with prominent pieces in Metro Manila, Bicol, New Orleans, San Antonio, London and Miami. Structures, such as The Beacon and The Code Wall in Orlando, Florida, stand as a living tribute to the lives lost at Pulse Nightclub.

Jefrë: Points of Connection runs until January 3, 2021, exclusively at the Orlando Museum of Art, in Orlando, Florida, USA. For his latest works, like his official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Studio-JEFRE).

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Safe socializing will be a must if you want to maintain good health. Physical improvements will lift your spirits and prompt someone you love to notice.

Romance is in the stars and will lead to talks about intentions and long-term plans. HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Avoid getting into a standoff with someone you love. Listen, and look for solutions that will not jeopardize a meaningful relationship or your integrity. Channel your energy into creative ideas and pastimes. Don’t do anything for people who won’t do it for themselves. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don’t react irrationally regarding something you cannot change. Look for the positive in whatever situation you face, and you’ll come up with a workable solution that will encourage you to look, be and do your best. Romance is encouraged. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Calm down, stay focused and avoid emotional confrontations.

Don’t feel you have to get involved in other people’s melodramas. Consider what’s best for you and how to use your skills to get ahead. HHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Put emotional matters aside, and focus on whatever brings the highest return. Use your intelligence to come up with a unique way to use your skills to improve your personal and professional life. HH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Uncertainty at home will change the way you live and how you do things. Address shared expenses to maintain equality. Pulling your weight will make a difference in the way others treat you. HHHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Emotional spending will lead to trouble. Don’t subject yourself to individuals who have not been social distancing. A change regarding how you take care of your responsibilities will affect your income.

Be proactive, and suggest alternatives that are just as efficient. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): An emotional situation will surface if someone challenges your beliefs and values. Listen carefully, but don’t reveal your opinion. It’s best to keep the peace and go about your business. Silence is golden and will help you avoid interference. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A change you make will upset someone, but it will be beneficial.

Offer compensation for what someone has to give up so you can get your way. Maintaining equality will encourage a better relationship as you move forward. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Take care of your home, family and yourself. Rest, proper diet and exercise will help you stay healthy.

Refuse to let a change someone puts into play cause stress and anxiety. HHHHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Emotional upset will interfere with your productivity if you give in to someone’s manipulative tactics. Make changes that suit your needs and help you protect your position, reputation and financial security. HH Birthday Baby: You are sensitive, helpful and curious.

You are generous and persevering.

‘interior design’ by leonard malkin and brad wilber The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Fry source 5 “Hold it!”

9 Herb in caprese salad 14 Beloved author Morrison 15 Device that enables binge-watching 16 Dumpster smells 17 No ifs, ___ or buts 18 Holder in a film archive 19 Primed for an argument 20 Carrier to Prague (see letters 4 to 8) 23 Cassis cocktail 24 Recycling container 25 Like “it,” grammatically 28 Turn into compost 29 Manual mode’s counterpart 31 Equal: Prefix 32 Puerto ___ 35 By its very nature, in court (3 to 6) 37 Dutch-speaking Caribbean island 39 HS “ruling” class 40 Admiral’s command 41 Tool for updating online text (3 to 5) 43 Avails oneself of

4 Doubles in tennis?

4 45 Parasite director Bong ___-ho 46 Beaver’s project 48 Put another layer of varnish on 50 Morning moisture 51 Comic-strip Horrors!

54 Canadian jazz pianist who won eight Grammys (3 to 8) 58 Reason to march 60 Effortlessness 61 Peak 62 Choose to participate 63 Synagogue chests 64 Capital where “all roads lead” 65 Attack from every side 66 Apt rhyme for “infest” 67 List-ending abbr.

DOWN 1 Five pancakes, often 2 Shady kind of scheme 3 Subordinate to 4 Part of CD 5 Connecting waterway 6 Book with photos from a movie, e.g.

7 Mind ___ matter 8 Survey of opinions 9 Carried away 10 Vowel-heavy farewell 11 Summer and winter occurrences 12 Pique 13 Something dropped at Woodstock 21 2020 network for Perry Mason 22 Enthusiastic about 26 Cosmetician Lauder 27 Miniseries of 1977 and 2016 28 Spa wrap 29 Kitchen splatter catcher 30 KGB state, once 32 Having less training 33 Cara of Fame 34 Children who earn badges 35 Analogy phrase 36 University grad 38 Next (to) 42 Minimal amount 46 Abhor 47 More than mere respect 49 Davis of School Daze

50 Office furniture 51 Broad neckwear 52 Mark where a reader breathes 53 Prepare to be knighted 55 Collect, as rewards 56 Take the rind off 57 Not often seen 58 Stripped barbecue discard 59 Mimic Solution to Friday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Tuesday, October 6, 2020

B5

In the name of their fathers CLOCKWISE: Vincent del Rosario, Vic del Rosario, German Moreno and Federico Moreno DANIEL CRAIG again stars as James Bond in No Time to Die.

JAMES BOND FILM ‘NO TIME TO DIE’ PUSHED AGAIN— TO 2021 THE release of the James Bond film No Time to Die has been delayed again, this time to 2021, because of the effects of Covid-19 on the theatrical business.

MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, said on Twitter on Friday that the 25th installment in the franchise will now open globally on April 2, 2021.

No Time to Die was originally supposed to open in April 2020 but was pushed back to November 12 in the UK and November 20 in the US. It was one of the first Hollywood films to abandon its release before cinemas in the US shut down in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The film from director Cary Joji Fukunaga stars Daniel Craig as 007, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas.

In a related move, Universal moved its F9, the ninth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise starring Vin Diesel to May 28. Its previous April 2 release date would have put it in direct competition with Bond.

Other major studios have made similar decisions over the past few weeks.

Cinemas remain closed in New York and Los Angeles, two of North America’s biggest markets.

Ticket sales for Warner Bros.’s Tenet, the first blockbuster to open in theaters worldwide after months of coronavirus-related closures, have not been as strong as hoped for in the US. The Walt Disney Co. last week delayed the planned 2020 releases of a handful of major movies until 2021. They include Marvel’s Black Widow and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Universal delayed Candyman to next year.

Some major releases are still planned for 2020.

They include Wonder Woman 1984, which was pushed back to Christmas after multiple delays, and Kenneth Branagh’s mystery Death on the Nile. It is now set for December 18. AP

MENTAL HEALTH TACKLED IN STUDENT THRILLER FILM

A SHORT-FILM thriller, Bangsak sheds light on the prevalent and pressing issues on mental health.

Named after a Filipino childhood street game played akin to hide-and-seek, it is a combination of the word “bang,” as is the sound of a gun, and “sak” as in “saksak” or to stab with a knife.

The movie was made by Multimedia Arts students from the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts, comprised of director Tinkerbell Poblete, cinematographer Steve Santos, producer Layne Yap, and lighting and production managers Jeri Requiron and Dianne Suarez. The team came up with the narrative as a challenge to expound on the single word “encounter.”

The short film, which raises awareness on the importance of mental health, utilized the mechanics of the game to depict the tragic lives of who would rather lose their sense and grasp of reality to cope with their inner struggles.

Bangsak tells the story through the lenses of a boy named Sid (Lief Laraño) who lost his family in a car accident. To escape from the trauma that continuously haunts him each day, he gives in to the temptation of drugs to ease the pain. His pursuit of temporary solace leads to addiction that causes him hallucinations of his beloved sister Ysa (Dianne Suarez). In his daydreams, Ysa invites his brother into another round of bangsak.

“We believe that there are tons of untold stories in the world and these are just some of them,” Poblete stressed.

“In the Philippines, mental health is considered taboo because we often have this belief that Filipinos are strong and resilient. It is no doubt that we are, but allowing yourself to be helped is also a sign of strength— addressing mental health is strength,” she added.

“We should break the stigma. Mental health is a whole other discipline that our countrymen should perceive as a very serious issue. It should not be stereotyped and those suffering from it should not be discriminated. Anyone could be affected by this: the very ones we love and care about, such as our families and friends, classmates, celebrities and even strangers. That’s why it matters,” she ended.

B

EING the sons of business icons and popular personalities is not always easy. And life does not come with an instruction book on how to successfully follow the footsteps of your father. However, Vincent del Rosario and Federico Moreno have certainly picked up priceless gems from their respective dads.

I first met Vincent in school. Despite the fact that his father Vic owned what was then the fastest-rising film production outfit, Vincent was pleasant, smart, unassuming and grounded as a schoolmate. We would meet again many years later—he already holding office at Viva Productions, while I was in advertising.

Vincent would share with me that his father would train him in different aspects of their business and he’d quietly absorb all these, observing how his father worked and those short, precious pieces of advise that his dad would instill in his then young mind. “He always believed in me and trusted me. There were instances when I didn’t do things right or make the most sound decisions, but he remained patient and allowed me to spread my wings on my own,” he told me one time.

Viva Entertainment has been in the business for almost four decades and despite the challenges brought about by this pandemic, it continues to surge ahead and evolve. Vincent is now the president and chief operating officer of the company.

All systems have gotten the green light for the company’s latest offering, called VivaMax, touted this early as the country’s biggest Filipino streaming platform. “We have to keep up with the times,” Vincent told us, adding, “VivaMax will include originally-produced movies, series, concerts, documentaries and other interesting content that we can match with those of foreign streaming platform groups. The secret is in the variety of what we will be offering. We will have mixed genre in content that all market levels can surely feast on. Entertainment has entered into a new age, and we all have to adapt and go with the flow to survive and thrive.”

This big leap of the del Rosarios of Viva cements the company’s presence in both the local and regional entertainment circuit. With the largest film library at its core, the closest competitor would have to think of other strategies to be able to compete with Viva.

Vince further explained further: “VivaMax serves as a great catalyst during these extraordinary times.

To serve the best in entertainment remains our vision but we also look into social responsibility.

We continue to provide more job opportunities for many, including our partners and collaborators in the industry, and that certainly feels good.”

Meanwhile, Federico Moreno, son of the late German Moreno, is also making his presence felt these days in the entertainment business community.

To keep up with the new normal in the industry, Federico joined Jose Magsaysay Jr., and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno in launching the Supershow app, an application that makes it easy for the general public to inquire, book, invite artists and performance talents.

“My late dad was known to open doors for talents who aspire to make it in show business. He would discover, train and give jobs to these promising talents through his many shows and programs. I think that with this new app, in my own little way I am continuing the legacy that my well-loved father

left behind,” he said.

Federico’s father would have turned 87 a few days ago if he were alive, and as a tribute to him, the app was launched last October 4 and is currently pooling for talents to be part of the Supershow app team.

Federico added that these talents can now submit their audition video materials by logging on to www. supershow.app to know the details.

Vincent del Rosario and Federico Moreno have become the good men they are because their respective dads paved the way for them to be the best they can be. And in the name of their fathers, they continue to make their own mark in this competitive, crazy and convoluted world of show business. ■

GMA partners with FilDocs for Daang Dokyu online festival HOME to some of the country’s most awarded and acclaimed documentaries, GMA takes part in Daang Dokyu: A Festival of Philippine Documentaries, which is streaming online for free until November 5.

Organized by FilDocs Inc., Daang Dokyu celebrates 100 years of documentary filmmaking in the Philippines. It features classic and contemporary works, and gathers the country’s community of documentarists for film and television, as well as some of today’s changemakers in the arts, culture and education.

Some of the highly acclaimed documentaries produced by GMA’s Public Affairs group are part of this year’s line-up: Reel Time’s ’s “Isinulat sa Tubig,” I-Witness’s “Alkansya,” and The Atom Araullo Specials’s “Babies4Sale.PH” ’s “Babies4Sale.PH” and “Bird Hunt.” These documentaries are being streamed online until October 8. There is also a series of roundtable discussions and master class sessions on the most relevant and pressing concerns in documentary filmmaking that is open to the public.

On October 30, awardwinning documentarists and broadcast journalists Kara David, Raffy Tima, and Atom Araullo are set to share their insights via

“GMA Network Masterclass.”

Daang Dokyu opened this year’s series of activities with “Martial Law, Never Again” that featured films about Martial Law that were streamed from September 19 to 21. This October, a weeklong online screening on ecology, “Ang Lahat ng Bagay ay Magkaugnay,” puts together various documentaries on individuals and communities in the face of

tragedies and calamities. It is ongoing until October 8 and had a talkback session on Daang Dokyu channels on October 3. GMA News and I-Witness host Howie Severino moderateed the discussion.

Meanwhile, from October 9 to 15, Daang Dokyu streams the “Perception is Real, Truth Not” lineup featuring films that defined and shaped the nation’s imagination. Focusing on what are considered by many as taboo topics are the “Off the Record: Health and Identity” documentaries streaming from October 16 to 22. Shedding light on the concept of Filipino identity is “Dagat ang Pagitan” streaming from October 23 to 29. Wrapping up the celebration of 100 years of documentary filmmaking is the future-themed lineup “Ganito Tayo Ngayon, Paano Sila Bukas?” which offers a glimpse of the exciting possibilities, challenges and explorations of new and unseen territories in docu-making.

Daang Dokyu: A Festival of Philippine Documentaries is streaming online until November 5 via daangdokyu. com/watchnow/.

AWARD-WINNING documentarists and broadcast journalists Atom Araullo (from left), Kara David and Raffy Tima

B6 Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Self-disinfecting face mask now available in the Philippines

Aboitiz-supported coop TMPC pays it forward by conducting relief operations in Tuba, Benguet

MEMBERS of Thanksgiving MPC pay it forward by conducting relief operations in Tuba, Benguet

M

ONTHS before its December 2020 target, Benguet-based Thanksgiving Multi-purpose Cooperative (TMPC) hit ‘P100 million in assets’, thanks to the support of Aboitiz Group subsidiaries namely Hedcor, Inc. and Pilmico Foods Corp., and its corporate development arm Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. What was once a small all-women cooperative with an initial membership of 22 and a starting capital of only P102,500 has now become an 800-strong membership that owns a total asset of over P100 million, including its four-storey building along Camp 6, Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet. — a notable milestone amid the challenges brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic.

TMPC is a multi-business cooperative that offers loans, savings and time deposits, as well as miscellaneous services such as photocopying and bookbinding.

The Aboitiz Foundation, in collaboration with Hedcor and Pilmico provided financial assistance, capacity-building, as well as livelihood skills training for its members such as dressmaking and baking, among others.

TMPC members learned how to bake bread through the Aboitiz Foundation’s livelihood skills training programs in 2017,

a skill that proves to be beneficial during the pandemic.

The restrictions of the health crisis saw TMPC’s loan applications and payments decline as cooperative members opted not to apply due to payment uncertainties as majority of them were unable to work upon the imposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in the area.

However, these restrictions soon became opportunities as the ECQ prevented other bread suppliers from entering their community. As the only bakery operating in the area, the TMPC bakery operates day and night to meet the demands of the community. This has brought their income to 117% increase in terms of sales from the month of March and April compared to January and February of the same year.

Their grocery store also saw a 50% sales increase despite the ECQ. With the success of TMPC, the cooperative pays it forward by giving back to the communities it serves. Recently, the cooperative conducted a relief operation in the affected areas of COVID-19.

“What sets us apart from other cooperatives is perhaps our belief that ‘in giving, you shall receive’. TMPC donates 10% of its annual net income to the church since the beginning of its operation in

1993. This is a true testament to our faith in the Almighty and with all the unending support of our partner agencies, the officers and the members, I can say that we made it all possible for Thanksgiving MPC to be where we are now,” Emma Golocan, general manager of Thanksgiving MPC, said.

TMPC also conducts regular medical and dental missions, participates in community clean-up drives, implements tree planting activities, initiates Brigada Eskwela every start of the school year, and other similar initiatives.

"Truly, exciting times are ahead!

With all of us working together, we can make more self-reliant organizations like Thanksgiving Multipurpose Cooperative–able to firmly stand on their own, grow their businesses, and in their own inspiring ways, contribute to co-creating safe, empowered, and sustainable communities," said Maribeth L. Marasigan, Aboitiz Foundation President and Chief Operating Officer.

Established in 1993, the cooperative officially registered with the Cooperative Development Authority and secured its capital from the Community Based Development Program (CBDP) of the Episcopal Diocese of North Central Philippines (EDNCP). Today, TMPC is accepting men as members, a move to elevate equal gender opportunity.

Aboitiz Foundation continues to support TMPC through livelihood skills training, prompting some of its members to secure National Certification II on dressmaking and baking and pastry production.

Through its enterprise development program, Aboitiz Foundation empowers cooperative members with effective organizational management and technical skills, financial and infrastructure support, and access to market to help grow and expand their business. Since its inception, the program has benefited over 53 cooperatives with nearly 16,000 members as of 2019.

NCIP celebrates the 23rd year of IPRA this October

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HE National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) is celebrating the 23rd Year of IPRA this month of October with the theme, “Correcting Historical Injustices for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Welfare,” with the 133 Indigenous Peoples (IPs) groups in the country, other government agencies, the local government units, international organizations, development partners, and other stakeholders who have been tirelessly rooting and working for the recognition, promotion, protection and fulfilment of the rights and well-being of our indigenous peoples!

The NCIP is sending a strong statement this year of correcting injustices long suffered by the Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/ IPs) as the agency pushes further for the recognition of 36 rights of the indigenous peoples from the four (4) bundles of rights enshrined in Republic Act No. 8371, otherwise known as “The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997”, whose protection and fulfilment never gained as much urgency and traction as the past two years under President Rodrigo Duterte and the current NCIP Chairperson, Allen A Capuyan.

A Virtual Opening Program for the 2020 IP Month Celebration and the 23rd IPRA Commemoration started on October 1. The opening activity had an opportunity for a direct dialogue with the ICCs/IPs across the country, the NCIP and other government agencies, and officials of various stakeholders and international partners on the historical injustices suffered by our indigenous peoples and on the evolution and ramifications of the IPRA as a landmark legislation. It also discussed the challenges that indigenous peoples in the Philippines continue to face.

The month-long celebration will proceed with a series of Webinars on topics related to the four bundles of rights on ancestral domain/lands, self-governance and empowerment, social justice and human rights, and cultural integrity spread throughout the month. Burning issues and concerns of ICCs/IPs will also be tackled through the IP Discussion Series. Nationallevel undertakings will be reinforced with a photo exhibit to be set up in all SM malls nationwide. These will be complemented by various Regional level online and community-based activities that include IP Women Congress, IP Youth Summit and Intercultural Exchange, IEC on IP rights, policies and programs cum distribution of family food packs, cultural performances in terms of songs, dances and games, social media and school lecture-discussions, radio guesting, medical missions, needs assessment consultations, fun run, and tree planting while observing the basic protocols of social distancing and wearing of masks and face shield.

It will end with the National Indigenous Peoples Thanksgiving Day and IP Month

Culmination Program on October 29, 2020.

Component activities will include proper press briefing, a slideshow of photos of different IP communities in the country, launching of three Coffee Table Books on Philippine Indigenous Peoples, “Ulat Katutubo” by the NCIP Chairperson in behalf of the Commission and the Regional Directors for the operational reports, sharing of best practices on IP rights promotion and protection by IP Mandatory Representatives and IP leaders, solidarity greetings and messages of important dignitaries who had a stake in the passage of IPRA into law as well as heads of partner agencies, cultural presentations by ethnographic region, and awarding of winners of the celebration contests. An evening program dubbed as “IP Pride and Partners” will also be conducted as NCIP’s gesture in recognizing and appreciating accomplishments and contributions for the empowerment, development and protection of ICCs/IPs, and integrated with the awarding will be the “Konsiyerto ng Katutubo” to showcase and feature IP Performing Artists.

W

ITH the global pandemic and increasing positive cases in the Philippines, face masks, face shields, and gloves have become the go-to protective outfit for those venturing out of their homes.

With safety as our utmost concern, the usual basic gear may not be as effective as the latest in health and hygiene technology.

Fine Guard Comfort and Fine Guard N95 Masks take personal protection to a higher level.

Using breakthrough virus control methods by Swiss hygiene technology company Livinguard Technology, Fine Guard’s new face masks come with selfdisinfecting properties.

It is the world’s first and only reusable mask brand in the market utilizing the multi-patented Swiss Livinguard technology, clinically proven to immediately neutralize and kill viruses and germs on contact including coronavirus with the added benefits of comfort, eco-friendliness, and cost-efficiency.

Fine Guard masks have obtained multiple FDA certifications from around the globe and are recommended in countries such as Singapore, Australia, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in their fight against Covid-19.

Livinguard uses charged ions to disrupt the atomic structure of bacteria and/or viruses, rendering them “inactive”, and has been certified as effective by the US Product Safety Labs. Fine Guard’s Face Masks is the only brand endorsed by the physicians of the Medical Wellness Association based in Houston, Texas for prevention of infection.

This breakthrough technology has been tested at the University of Arizona under the supervision of noted Environmental Microbiologist Dr. Charles Gerba, and was proven to kill 99.99% of the 229e (Coronavirus) virus on contact. Another recent research conducted in Berlin University and University Aachen proved that Livinguard technology kills Covid-19.

James Lafferty, CEO of Fine Hygienic Holding says, “As a leader in the wellness and hygiene industry, FHH is dedicated to providing hygienic solutions which go beyond the set market standards. We are proud to be providing our communities

THE Comfortable, reusable, washable, virus killing Face Mask.

and consumers with one of the most technologically advanced and effective hygienic face masks on the market today.

We look forward to making masks treated with the Livinguard technology even more widely available.”

With the knowledge that the masks may be worn over long periods of time, they are designed to fit snugly and comfortably on the face, with size choices of medium and large.

Available in blue and black, the contemporary style and simple aesthetics of Fine Guard make it a versatile choice for all genders.

The Fine Guard masks have adjustable ear bands and can be easily worn by those who use eyeglasses as the masks sit right below the top of the nasal bone. It has been tested by Nelson’s Laboratories in the US for sensitization, irritation and acute dermal toxicity and its self-disinfecting textile have passed all three standards.

Fine Guard is available in True Value, AFPCES Military Stores, Fine Guard Philippines Flagship Store in Lazada, beautybar.com.ph and True Value in Metromart and Lazada. Fine Guard masks will soon be available in Shopee, Zalora, trunc.ph, watsons.com.ph and Marketplace Supermarket via Metromart.

For more information, visit www. fineguard.me.

Globe fires up 5G sites in MM’s strategic areas

B

EING the pioneer in 5G service in the country, Globe is committed to make this cutting-edge technology accessible to more areas in Metro Manila and nearby locations. Check if your area is in one of the newly-fired up 5G sites.

As part of this mission, Globe is delighted to announce the addition of new 5G locations in strategic areas in the following cities: 5Quezon City: Commonwealth Ave., Tandang Sora Road, Mindanao Ave, Luzon Ave. 5Manila: Abad Santos Ave., Rizal Ave., Honorio Lopez Blvd.

5Marikina: Sumulong Highway, Bagong Silang 5Caloocan: Quirino Highway, C3 Road, Congressional Road Ext. 5Valenzuela: Pan Philippine Highway, Tamaraw Hill Road 5Mandaluyong: Shaw Boulevard; Boni Ave. 5Pasig: C. Raymundo Ave., Medical City Bus Stop 5Las Pinas: Alabang Zapote Road, Marcos Alvarez Ave. 5Makati: Pasong Tamo, JP Rizal, and strategic areas in Magallanes Village 5Taguig: Lawton Avenue, Philippine Army, McKinley Road, and Forbes Park 5Paranaque: East Service Road, Dona Soledad Ave., Dr. A. Santos Ave., and 5Strategic areas along SLEX and NLEX Globe’s 5G network coverage expansion is a huge milestone—expanding from the central business districts of Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Makati, Rockwell Center,

and Ortigas, as well as in strategic areas along EDSA and C5 to now more areas.

This milestone also comes shortly after the announcement of the availability of mobile 5G to its Globe Prepaid and TM customers who have 5G devices and are within 5G areas.

With this expansion, more customers can experience faster speeds that they can use to stream movies and TV shows at the highestquality; lower latency to play immersive online games with fewer lags; and clearest resolution for video chats. Businesses, learning institutions, hospitals, and other related industries in Metro Manila can also take advantage of the benefits of 5G’s next level connectivity.

To experience 5G to the fullest, customers have to make sure that they are on a Globe LTE or TM LTE sim paired with a 5G-enabled mobile device. Upgrading to a 5G phone is made easier and affordable with Globe Postpaid’s selection of the latest 5G phones that can be availed at much lower prices with ThePLAN. The introductory price and discounts applied to these mobile phones have been made available via Globe’s online shop and stores nationwide.

In 2019, Globe became the first telco in Southeast Asia to launch 5G when it introduced its AirFiber broadband service for Globe at Home subscribers. Now, the service is also available to all Globe Platinum, Postpaid, and Prepaid customers.

To know more about Globe’s 5G network, visit globe.com.ph/5g.

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

By Josef Ramos

W

HEN Restituto “Buboy” Fernandez Jr. talks, expect boxing icon Sen. Manny Pacquiao to listen.

And for Pacquiao’s next fight that’s shaping up as the biggest in this Covid-19 pandemic era, mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor poses a threat even to the eight-division world champion.

“We just cannot underestimate [Conor] McGregor. We just can’t say up to what rounds he will last because he can also punch,” Fernandez told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview on Monday from his home in Polangui, Albay, where he sits as vice mayor.

“In God’s will, as long as he won’t run and his style suits with us, I think we can go back to the Philippines early,” added Fernandez, whose friendship with Pacquiao is traced to their much younger days when, as they roamed General Santos City, neither thought they would ever become this big and famous.

Negotiations are ongoing for a blockbuster Pacquiao-McGregor fight either in December or January and in a venue in the Middle East—fingers pointing to the ultramodern city of Dubai. Both fighters

Sports BusinessMirror

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE MCGREGOR—BUBOY agree to the fight and asked their camps to seal the deal immediately.

The duel will be much the same way as the McGregor-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight in August 2017 where the 32-year-old UFC star agreed to boxing rules—no kicks, no elbows, no knees and no grappling.

Fernandez admitted he longs for the PacquiaoMcGregor fight to happen even before the Irish fought and lost to Mayweather via a 10th round technical knockout at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

“I am dreaming for this fight to happen a long time ago even before he fought Mayweather. I am hoping this fight will materialize. At the same time, McGregor also wants to fight us because of Pacquiao’s popularity,” said Fernandez, who

this early is doing his homework by watching McGregor’s fights on YouTube.

“This is going to be a good fight, but the question is where’s the venue?” he said.

A possible epic fight against McGregor next year in Dubai after the pandemic had resurfaced last month. And the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion was belittled by Pacquiao’s long time trainer and now his consultant, Freddie Roach, has his money on the 41-year-old Pacquiao.

“If this is true, Manny Pacquiao will have an easier time with you Conor McGregor than when he fought Ricky Hatton,” Roach posted in his Twitter account last September 26, referring to

Pacquiao’s devastating second round technical knockout win versus “The Hitman” Hatton in 2009.

Even Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning Coach Justin Fortune said McGregor doesn’t deserve to fight the Filipino boxing legend.

But Fernandez is sticking with his view on McGregor.

“We just cannot underestimate him, but our senator has the edge in speed and reflexes despite his age,” he said.

Pacquiao (62-7-2 win-loss-draw record with 39 knockouts) vowed to donate a portion of his purse to Filipinos who fell victim to the Covid-19 pandemic.

ONSIDER muay thai association SecretaryGeneral Pearl Managuelod a sure winner in the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) elections that started to simmer into a hotly-contested political exercise set on November 27.

MUAY Thai secretary On September 26, POC general is a sure President Rep. Abraham winner.

“Bambol” Tolentino announced his ticket as he seeks reelection after winning the organization’s top post only in July last year through an International Olympic Committee-ordered polls.

Managuelod was on Tolentino’s team as a candidate for director.

Exactly two weeks later last Saturday, Tolentino’s lone opponent, archery head Jesus Clint Aranas, bared his in a fiery video-linked news conference that targeted Tolentino’s administration.

And Managuelod was on Aranas’s roster, too. Their adopted candidate, the former Government Service Insurance System president, said.

Managuelod couldn’t be the Helen that sparked that epic and bloody Trojan-Greek war from the 2004 film Troy. For the 41-year-old Managuelod, she believes it’s her love for sports that made her a common candidate for the warring sides.

But she and her national sports association—the Muay Thai Association of the Philippines—has cemented their choice.

“My loyalty lies with the Olympic movement, the athletes and Philippine sports,” Managuelod told BusinessMirror. “But my NSA and I fully support Rep. Tolentino and our party.”

Heneral Kalentong prevails in Triple Crown series 1st leg

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Alcamo in under three-and-a-half hours.

Filippo Ganna held onto the pink jersey he grabbed by winning the opening time trial in Palermo.

Danish rider Mikkel Frølich Honoré crossed third with the same time as Ulissi and Sagan, while Ganna and the other overall favorites finished in the main pack five seconds behind.

Ganna remained 22 seconds ahead of Joao Almeida, while Geraint Thomas—the 2018 Tour de France champion—moved up from fourth to third, 23 seconds behind.

By Annie Abad

ENERAL Kalentong used its experience to edge relative newcomer Cartierruo in a homestretch duel by half a length and win the first leg of the Philippine Racing Commission’s Triple Crown series— considered as the most prestigious racing extravaganza for three-year-old horses—at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite, on Sunday.

Ridden by veteran JB Guce, the three-year-old colt stayed within striking distance of the leaders most of the way, before taking command in the final stretch and fending off the charge of Cartierruo, which ran for only the second time after a maiden appearance in a previous race.

“Heneral Kalentong is more experienced than Cartierruo,” said Guce, who rode the Benjamin Abalos Sr.-owned colt for the first time, but with outstanding result.

Sired by Union Rags (USA) out of Lorinda (USA), Heneral Kalentong came out of the gates third behind Four Strong Wing and Runway, before making a move in the final 600 meters.

Heneral Kalentong clocked one minute and 42.6 seconds in the 1,600-meter race, with quarter times of 24, 24, 26 and 28 seconds.

Only 11 Triple Crown champions made Philippine horseracing record books. They are Fair and Square in 1981, Skywalker (1983), Time Master (1987), Magic Showtime (1988), Sun Dancer (1989), Strong Material (1996), Real Top (1998), Silver Story (2001), Hagdang Bato (2012), Kid Molave (2014) and Sepfourteen (2017).

ARMSTRONG RIDES IN BEIRUT

SLOVENIAN Primož Roglič (left) sneaks in for the sprint victory over an unsuspecting world champion Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe. AP

Oops, world champ celebrates too early

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IEGE, Belgium—Tour de France runner-up Primož Roglič won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège single-day classic on Sunday after rival Julian Alaphilippe celebrated too soon.

To add insult to injury for world champion Alaphilippe, he was then penalized for an irregular sprint and dropped from second to fifth. That was for swerving into the path of Marc Hirschi during the frenetic final sprint of the six-and-a-half-hour race.

A photo finish showed that Roglič narrowly beat Alaphilippe after the Frenchman lifted his arms in celebration and coasted to the line.

“It’s unbelievable. It was so close,” Roglič

said. “Just never stop believing.”

Hirschi moved up to finish second and Tour champion Tadej Pogačar got third.

Last month, Roglič was leading the Tour until fellow Slovenian Pogačar swiped away the lead in the penultimate stage by winning a time trial.

“Finally I managed to win something,” Roglič said. “It was definitely on my wish list to win a Monument.”

Matej Mohorič, yet another Slovenian, finished fourth.

British rider Lizzie Deignan won the women’s edition, for her first “Monument,” ahead of Grace Brown of Australia.

The race, like other spring classics, was

rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

SAGAN BEATEN AT THE LINE

FOR his seventh career stage win in the Giro d’Italia, Diego Ulissi beat the best in the business in a finish tailor-made for three-time world champion Peter Sagan.

Helped by a perfect setup from UAETeam Emirates teammate Valerio Conti, Ulissi outsprinted Sagan on the short, final climb to win Stage 2 alongside Agrigento’s spectacularly intact ancient Greek temples on Sunday in Agrigento, Italy.

Crossing the finish line with his arms raised several bike lengths ahead of Sagan, Ulissi completed the 149-kilometer leg from

3X3 PRO LEAGUE GOOD TO GO, TOO A LITTLE adjustment here and some tinkering there and the country’s first 3x3 professional league—the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3—is good to go on October 21 at the Inspire Academy in Calamba, Laguna.

Just like the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) which is in the process of restarting its stunted Philippine Cup inside the Clark bubble, the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 will hot the road rolling with its inaugural President’s Cup powered by TM. League owner Ronald Mascariñas thanks the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease and its Joint Agreement Order

(JAO) group—composed of the Games and Amusements Board, Department of Health and Philippine Sports Commission—for giving the league a provisionary approval to hold its first season from October 16 to 31.

“We are grateful with the IATF and the JAO for giving us the clearance to hold our bubble,” Mascariñas said. “We would also like to thank Sen. [Christopher] Bong Go for helping endorse our request to [open the league].”

“All of us are excited to get the ball rolling for our season,” he added.

The IATF initially declined the league’s original format which followed a homeInspire Academy-home protocol. The agency stressed the

league must be in a bubble venue and in no time at all, Mascariñas and league Commissioner Eric Altamirano heeded the government’s health and safety guidelines.

Under the league’s revised program, all 12 teams will have their final practice at the University of the Philippines Epsilon Chi Center in Quezon City starting from Monday up to Wednesday. After that, everyone involved will undergo swab testing.

From October 8 to 13, everyone will be under pre-bubble home quarantine before another series of swab testing before entering Inspire Academy on October 14 and 15. Teams will then begin practicing from October 16 to 18 in the Laguna venue.

FORMER American professional cyclist Lance Armstrong led a bike tour around Beirut on Sunday to raise awareness and funds for organizations helping residents affected by a massive explosion that struck the Lebanese capital in August.

Dozens of cyclists took part in the “Bike for Beirut” tour as Lebanon marked two months since the blast at Beirut’s port, where some 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrates were stored for six years before exploding on August 4. It was one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded.

“Today we’re starting here, I guess not very far from the actual explosion site,” Armstrong said outside the port. He added that the bike tour aimed to “try to bring some awareness to this community, to the people affected.”

The blast killed 193, wounded about 6,500 and caused billions of dollars in damage. It decimated the port facility and thousands of apartments in the city. It also came as Lebanon is grappling with its worst economic and financial crisis in decades, made worse by the spread of the coronavirus.

Armstrong built a world-wide following during his professional career winning races, including the Tour de France seven times, and fighting cancer.

However, his reputation crumbled abruptly several years ago following revelations he used performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong had already retired, but the confession shattered the legacy of one of the most popular sports figures in the world. AP A preseason tournament will be held on October 19 and the league begins with its first leg on October 21. Three more legs will be played on October 23, 25, and 27 with the Grand Finals, which offers a P1 million prize to the champion team, set on October 30.

Everyone in the bubble will be billeted at the Inspire Academy dormitory and they will leave the venue on October 31. They will then undergo a 14-day home quarantine.

The teams competing in the inaugural league—endorsed by the International Basketball Federation—are Zamboanga Chooks-to-Go, Uling Roasters-Butuan City, Bacolod-Masters Sardines, Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards, Palayan City Capitals, Zamboanga Peninsula Valientes MLV, Porac Big Boss Cement MSC, Bicol 3x3 Pro, Pasig Sta. Lucia Realtors, Saranggani Marlins, Pagadian City Rocky Sports and Petra Cement.

Forum on PBA bubble Heneral Kalentong edges Cartierruo in a homestretch duel.

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HE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) bubble and online kickboxing will be discussed in the webcast edition of the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday.

PBA Deputy Commissioner Eric Castro will talk about last-minute preparations at the Clark bubble for the October 11 restart of the Philippine Cup. Samahang Kickboxing ng Pilipinas Secretary-General Atty. Wharton Chan and Coach Noriel Acquisio will discuss the

Rick Olivares bleachersbrew@gmail.com

Bleachers’ Brew

For teachers

Fernandez Jr.

Pearl lusters in POC war

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Tuesday, October 6, 2020 B7

Online Kickboxing Musical Form National Championship set this November.

The 10 a.m. public sports program is presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, Milo, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. with Upstream Media as webcast partner and powered by Smart.

The session is livestreamed via the PSA Facebook page fb.com/ PhilippineSportswritersAssociation and also shared by Radyo Pilipinas Facebook page.

MOST people know me as a sportswriter and a sports analyst. Some even know that I once held day jobs as a marketing professional while doing my journalistic duties.

What most don’t know is that I teach parttime. I have and still do.

Yesterday, October 5 was World Teacher’s Day. This has been celebrated all over the world since 1994 after UNICEF and the International Labor Organization put this date of recognition together. And to be honest, this is the first time I ever thought of reflecting about it which is strange considering I have taught for a while now. As is the case with many other people in various trades and industries, the pandemic is time for some reflection. And this is my World Teacher’s Day reflection.

When asking students to write, I tell them that I will pay more attention to the substance as opposed to their grammar. I am not saying that I will overlook grammar. I’ll work on it, but I believe that I need to inculcate a love of writing and draw out that confidence and expression before thinking about grammar. Through my journalism classes and now my purposive communication classes, I have done that.

It isn’t to say, it is easy. Some of what is written is sheer murder.

Last night, I went through an essay from one of my students that was part of their prelims requirements and while I liked what he was trying to say, I was still bothered about the subject-verb agreement and other mistakes.

I immediately consulted my co-teacher in the Brooklyn school where I once taught and Ms. Debbie told me they tried an alternative approach to teaching grammar—by doing the same thing as I am doing—which is expression and writing followed by working on the technical aspects. When the sentences and paragraphs are done, Ms. Debbie reiterated, it is easier to appreciate the corrections in form.

The results, Ms. Debbie said, were better than the traditional form they knew.

That was reinvigorating.

Maybe it doesn’t work for everyone. At least in our cases, it does.

And that method is exactly what I have been doing since I returned to teaching this past July not only for my journ classes, but also my communication classes. When I began teaching in Ateneo, I never had that problem with my students. I guess, that is explanatory. But these past four months, I have had to adjust and rethink my methodology.

While people have no problem expressing themselves on social media, in a proper structure such as writing, making a speech or a presentation, or doing a video, they struggle.

So even in my journ classes, I worked on extracting that creativity and building confidence in their expression whether through writing or through photography.

I can see the marked improvement and I couldn’t be happier.

Well, my college classes still need a lot of work, but I think we’ll be able to bridge that gap.

As far as my approach, since I began teaching in 2003—intermittently I might add—my methodology was built around how I was taught as a kid. I struggled when teachers were less than patient and very dismissive.

Some teachers were even cruel. I believe it affected my learning curve.

I told myself that should I ever teach, I would be the exact opposite. I’d really work hard to nurture and encourage and well, teach. Make learning fun and interesting which is why I have an unorthodox style.

I learned more about my craft when I attended that seminar at the New York Times when I lived in the US a long time ago and befriending one of the speakers who got me to blog and do more. That has been a game changer for my career. But so has teaching.

When I think about it, what I have done professionally and even teaching-wise fits right with this year’s celebration of World Teacher’s Day—“Teachers: Leading in crisis, reimagining the future.”

I currently teach 10 times a week and I find myself exhausted after every class. And to think I have my writing deliverables as well.

And yet, I truly enjoy what I am doing. When I see my students get opportunities, to improve, and get a glimpse of their potential...it makes this old man proud.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Tuesday, October 6, 2020

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

WHAT BUTLER WANTS, BUTLER GETS

By Tim Reynolds

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The Associated Press

AKE BUENA VISTA, Florida—Biggest moment of his career. Best game of his life.

Jimmy Butler is clearly not ready to go home quite yet. With a tripledouble, he joined National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals lore—and the short-handed Miami Heat might have made this title matchup a series after all.

Butler finished with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, and the Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-104, on Sunday night to get within 2-1—doing so with starters Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic still unable to play because of injury.

“I tell coach all the time, ‘’I’m ready for this,’” Butler said. “The biggest stage, whatever you ask me to do, I can do.”

His coach, Erik Spoelstra, has clearly listened.

“This is what he wanted, this is what we wanted,” Spoelstra said. “It’s really hard to analyze or describe Jimmy until you actually feel him between the four lines. He’s a supreme, elite competitor and we needed it.”

It was the third 40-point triple-double in finals history. Butler was 14 for 20 from the field and, after the Heat surrendered a double-digit lead early in the fourth, he made sure this one wouldn’t get away.

“He’s one of the best competitors we have in our game,” the Lakers’ LeBron James said.

“Love that opportunity. For me, personally, I don’t know how many more opportunities I’m going to have so to be able to go against a fierce competitor like that is something I’ll look back on when I’m done playing. I’ll miss

those moments.”

James had 25 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Lakers, while Kyle Kuzma and Markieff Morris each had 19 points off the bench. Anthony Davis managed 15 for the Lakers.

Game Four is Tuesday night. Tyler Herro and Kelly Olynyk each had 17 points for Miami, which got 13 from Duncan Robinson and 12 from Jae Crowder.

“We had players step up this whole playoffs, and it’s no different now for us,” Crowder said.

Whenever the Heat looked ready to pull away and grab control of Game Three, the Lakers always found a way to find their best gear.

A 13-point Heat lead in the early going?

The Lakers had the lead back in less than five minutes.

A 14-point Heat lead after a 10-0 run to start the second half? The Lakers scored the next eight.

A 12-point Heat lead late in the third? It took the Lakers less than five minutes to put together a 20-6 run, taking the lead back at 91-89 with 8:55 left on a layup by Rajon Rondo.

“We were almost fighting back the entire game,” Morris said.

The last punch went to Miami, Butler simply unwilling to let his team go down 3-0. The only other time Miami was down 2-0 in a finals was 2006, when Dwyane Wade took over and led the Heat all the way back to the franchise’s first title.

This time, it was Butler—another Marquette guy, like Wade—in that role, at least for Sunday night.

“We know

how Jimmy is in these moments, and the world has seen what Jimmy Butler is capable of,” Herro said.

Miami’s starters outscored the Lakers’ starting five 89-51, and the Heat held the Lakers to a 14-for-42 night from three-point land.

James, who won two titles with the Heat, wasn’t in the least bit surprised that Miami showed up to fight.

“I know how resilient that bunch is and how resilent that coaching staff is and their franchise,” James said. “Also, I don’t feel like we’re concerned.

We’re not concerned. We know we can play a lot better. We have another opportunity to take a commanding lead on Tuesday.”

It didn’t take Butler and the Heat long to forget Sunday and start looking to Game Four, as well.

It’s going to be a tough game, Game Four,” Herro said. “But we’ll be ready.”

James had eight assists Sunday and now has 843, which is 222 more than anyone else this season—Denver’s Nikola Jokic is second with 621. That will be the biggest margin between first and second in the NBA since 2004-2005, when Steve Nash (1,031) had 363 more than Stephon Marbury (668).

Butler also became the 21st player to have a triple-double in the NBA Finals—and four of the 21 were part of Sunday’s game. James has a finals-best 10 triple-doubles, Rondo has one and so does Lakers Assistant Coach Jason Kidd.

JIMMY BUTLER takes matters into his own hands and prevents LeBron James and the Lakers from sweeping the series. AP

Years after anorexia, hiatus, Italian reaches Paris quarters

Sebastian Korda (left), son of 1998 Australian Open winner and 1992 French Open finalist Petr, beams despite easily yielding to his idol, Rafael Nadal. AP

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ARIS—Martina Trevisan has been doing video chats from her hotel room with her mental coach every day along the way to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, a run the 159thranked qualifier acknowledges is “a little” shocking, just not as much to her as to everyone else.

So after Trevisan’s 6-4, 6-4 victory against No. 5 seed Kiki Bertens at Court Suzanne Lenglen on Sunday, which was just as out-ofnowhere at this out-of-nowhere French Open as Iga Swiatek’s 6-1, 6-2 win against 2018 champion and No. 1 seed Simona Halep over at Court Philippe Chatrier, the 26-year-old from Florence, Italy, planned to stick to the routine.

It’s helped her for the past two years, not merely the past two weeks, which also featured unexpected wins over Coco Gauff and 20th-seeded Maria Sakkari.

Trevisan’s tennis coach, Matteo Catarsi, described one of the goals of the sessions with Florida-based Lorenzo Beltrame, whose clientele also includes three-time major semifinalist Johanna Konta, this way: “Not to feel uncomfortable in this environment, like someone who played in Grand Slam qualifying, but to feel like

Nadal’s starstruck foe Korda asks for autograph after rout

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ARIS—It’s not often that a tennis player calls being on the wrong end of a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 Grand Slam result “super awesome” or “definitely the best moment of my life.”

It’s also rather rare for a player to go up to the net and ask the guy who just beat him for an autographed shirt.

Sebastian Korda, the 20-year-old American qualifier who lost to Rafael Nadal by the above scoreline in the French Open’s fourth round Sunday, still was beaming afterward.

“Ever since I was a kid, I mean, I was in love with him and everything about him. I would watch every single match. Doesn’t matter who he was playing or what tournament he was playing.

He was the guy for me,” said Korda, whose cat is named after the 12-time champion at Roland Garros. “It was an unbelievable moment for me and I couldn’t have written it any better.”

Imagine how he might have reacted if he’d been in the room for Nadal’s post-match news conference, when this assessment of Korda was offered: “I really predict that he is going to have a very good future.”

The 213th-ranked Korda was the youngest American man to make it to the fourth round in Paris since 1991 and made sure to soak up every moment in Court Philippe Chatrier on Sunday, even if wind that kept kicking loose dirt off the clay surface felt “like a tornado, sometimes,” he said.

After feeling tight in warmups, Korda— whose father, Petr, won the 1998 Australian

Open and was a finalist at the 1992 French Open, and whose mother, Regina, was ranked in the Top 30—loosened up and hung in there with Nadal at the outset.

OK, for one game.

Korda’s cross-court backhand winner earned a break point, but Nadal erased it with a body serve that drew a netted return. A forehand winner to cap a 10-stroke exchange earned a second break chance, and Nadal dismissed that one with a body serve, too. Soon enough, Nadal led 1-0 and essentially was on his way.

“Gave me a belief that I can keep up with him on the clay,” Korda said. “The first game was massive for me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t close it.”

Two particular moments produced by Nadal stood out to Korda. One was a running winner off the King of Clay’s famous lefty forehand. The other?

“He almost hit an around-the-net forehand,” Korda said, “and I was kind of begging for it to go in, because that would have been the coolest thing ever.”

US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev, meanwhile, complained of a slight fever and shortness of breath after his fourth-round loss at Roland Garros, but neither tournament organizers nor his opponent Sunday seemed too concerned.

“I shouldn’t have played,” Zverev said after 19-year-old Jannik Sinner won 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals in his tournament debut. “I’m completely sick. I can’t really breathe, as you can hear by my voice.”

About 3,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted by the French tennis federation, which put players in two Paris hotels. Players wear masks when they walk into arenas for their matches, and when they leave after, but not during play—they generally tap rackets instead of shaking hands when the contests end.

Two players—whose names were not announced—were removed from the girls’ junior tournament that started Sunday after they tested positive for the coronavirus.

The tournament said Zverev did not consult its doctors before Sunday’s match, despite the symptoms he described afterward, including a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius the previous night.

Zverev stayed up to date with his Covid-19 tests that players have been subjected to every five days, organizers said, adding that his results were all negative, his most recent test was last Tuesday and he’d been informed Sunday that he was due for another.

Sinner said that from his side of the net, Zverev seemed “quite OK, you know, because in the third and fourth set he was running quite a lot.”

“I think he’s honest guy, so if he says that he has cold or fever or whatever, I trust him,” Sinner said, downplaying any risk of infection.

Sinner plays Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.

“I don’t think that I will have fever...or I hope so,” Sinner said. AP

MARTINA TREVISAN: I’d never been to this level. AP

a queen, like a star.”

Trevisan and Beltrame chat.

He gives her writing assignments.

She works to find the right words to describe her thoughts and buttress her self-belief.

The exercise is important for

where Trevisan is these days, in her sport and in her life. It’s been quite a journey, one Trevisan said hopes offers others this message: “Don’t ever give up, even in the toughest moments, where it really feels like life wants the worst for you, like it doesn’t care about you at all. Stay strong and seek the light. Because there is light there, and it will arrive.”

A decade ago, shortly after turning 16 but beset by the pressure of others’ expectations, promising prospect Trevisan quit tennis, which her mother teaches and her brother played professionally (her father was a pro soccer player).

She had anorexia, an experience and recovery she discussed in detail in a blog post two months ago.

“I hated my muscular body and I lost weight by adopting a diet that was just enough to survive,” Trevisan wrote, saying she eventually sought help and “relearned how to eat and to make peace with my wounds and to appreciate my new body.”

Then, having returned to tennis in 2014 from a four-and-a-half-year break, having toiled at tiny events offering total prize money of $10,000, having moved up the rankings enough to enter the qualifying rounds at Grand Slam tournaments but failing on her first nine attempts to reach the main draw, she finally made a breakthrough this year.

Trevisan made her debut in a major’s 128-player bracket at the Australian Open in January after making it through qualifying, exiting from the first round with a straight-set loss to eventual champion Sofia Kenin.

Trevisan learned, though, that she was ready to compete with the best.

“I’m more confident,” she says now. “I know I belong here.”

While Rafael Nadal overwhelmed qualifier Sebastian Korda, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2—the 20-year-old American, whose father won the 1998 Australian Open, was so starstruck he asked his idol for an autograph after the rout—and US Open champion Dominic Thiem held off French wild-card entry Hugo Gaston, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, the unpredictable outcomes kept arriving at Roland Garros in the fourth round Sunday.

US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev lost, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, to 19-year-old Jannik Sinner of Italy, then said he had a fever and was short of breath, two symptoms that raise red flags during a coronavirus pandemic that postponed the French Open from May-June to September-October. AP