BusinessMirror October 27, 2020

Weak dollar to boost PHL, other EMs–Moody’s

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HE Philippines will stand to benefit from a potentially prolonged dollar weakness, as it will translate to lower peso values of its foreign currency liabilities, Moody’s Investor Service said in a recent assessment.

“Some market experts have suggested that a period of prolonged dollar weakness could be on the horizon. While this would weigh on the profitability of some companies with significant US dollar revenues, it would lower debt-servicing costs for Asian issuers,” Moody’s said.

“On the sovereign side, those with large foreign-currency liabilities—e.g., Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines whose foreign currency debt accounts for more than a third of total debt—could potentially reap savings from the weaker dollar,” it added.

The local currency has been enjoying its strength against the dollar in recent months. In September, the peso appreci-

WOODWORKING apprentice William Suarez, 22, arranges religious wooden sculptures at an antiques and furniture store on Lilac Street in Marikina City. Suarez, who was studying to be an architect before the pandemic, decided to forgo online classes because of limited learning, according to him. He is hoping his newfound woodworking skills could be put to good use when he pursues his architecture studies in the future. BERNARD TESTA

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ated by 0.7 percent to average P48.51 to a dollar, from averaging at P48.84 to a dollar in August. The volatility measures also eased to 7.6 percent in September from 22.5 percent as it traded narrowly between P48.37 to a dollar and P48.63 to a dollar during the period.

Latest data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) showed the peso traded at P48.395 to a dollar on Monday.

For comparison, on October 25 of last year, the peso closed trade at P51.135 to a dollar, appreciating from P51.24 to a dollar from its previous trade day. The total volume was at $1.396 billion. This is about P2.75 added in peso value to the dollar in a year’s time.

Allianz Global Investors Asia Pacific Senior Economist Christiaan Tuntono echoed this view, adding that a weak dollar may also drive positive sentiment to emerging market economies such as

the Philippines.

“A weaker US dollar would reflect the relative outperformance of emerging markets [EMs] compared with developed markets; this outperformance could also be the result of stronger global trade. We anticipate that the weakening of the US dollar is likely to coincide with the world economy gradually stepping out from the impact of Covid-19, and global trade recovering from its current state,” Tuntono said.

Moody’s, however, stressed that even in the event of prolonged weakness in the US dollar, its status as a global reserve and transaction currency is secure for now.

“As the durability of rival platforms and international financial arrangements remains uncertain, the pace of transition out of the dollar will likely be gradual and unlikely to dampen its dominance,” Tuntono said. Bianca Cuaresma

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

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DATA CHAMPION

9-MO BOP SURPLUS HITS $6.878B AMID PANDEMIC www.businessmirror.com.ph

n

Tuesday, October 27, 2020 Vol. 16 No. 19

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

FISHERMAN Jun Pagal moors his boat to safety in Cavite as the weather bureau enforces a no-sail restriction due to very rough seas brought by fast-moving Typhoon Quinta. Signal No. 3 was raised in various Luzon areas and classes were suspended in Metro Manila. NONIE REYES

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By Bianca Cuaresma

HE country’s transactions with the rest of the world in the first nine months of 2020 surpassed last year’s dollar surplus despite the economic disruptions brought by the global pandemic.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday that the Philippines’s balance of payments (BOP)—or the summary of the country’s overall transactions with the rest of the world—yielded a $6.878-billion surplus as of endSeptember this year.

The BOP is usually considered as an important economic indicator in an economy as it shows the level of earnings or expenses of the Phil-

ippines with its transactions with the world. A surplus means that the country made more dollar earnings than its expenses during the period.

The $6.878-billion BOP surplus came as the country clocked in a $2.104-billion surplus in September alone. This is the second largest monthly BOP surplus for the country this year, next to May’s $2.431 billion.

See “BOP,” A2

DA firm on poultry ban as Brazil goes to WTO

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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ANILA is standing its ground and is keeping the ban on Brazilian poultry products, except mechanically deboned meat (MDM), until it is satisfied with how Brasilia curbed the Covid-19 outbreaks in its meat-exporting plants.

In a statement on Monday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said it welcomes the action of the Government of Brazil to raise a dispute case against the Philippines at the World Trade Organization

(WTO) for maintaining the import ban, which it called an “unjustified and undue barrier.”

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said the Brazilian government has yet to comply with all the documents that the Department of Agriculture (DA) is requiring regarding the Covid-19 infections in Brazil’s Philippine-accredited foreign meat establishments (FMEs).

“Although we have maintained an open communication line with our Brazilian counterparts, the Department of Agriculture welcomes the initiative of Brazil to elevate

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.5870

the matter to the WTO,” Dar said.

“We have not yet lifted the ban on poultry, especially whole chicken, as the Brazilian government has yet to furnish the Philippines a report on the rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection in their respective foreign meat establishments, where our imports are sourced,” he added.

The DA said the additional reports that Brazil has yet to submit are part of the protocols of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) that will be used for a “more in-depth risk analysis of the situation.”

“It is within the scope of the

importing country to preemptively ban FMEs with apparent biosafety lapses until such time that the Philippines is satisfied with evidence of compliance and/or commitment by the FME concerned,” Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Director Ronnie D. Domingo said.

Domingo, who is the country’s Chief Veterinary Officer, added that the Philippine government has been prompt in responding to the issue, citing Manila’s partial lifting of the ban on Brazilian poultry MDM after it received “partial

PHL, S.E.A. NEIGHBORS MUST SHUN MID-INCOME TRAP—EU-ASEAN POLL

By Elijah Felice Rosales

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WO in every five European investors in Southeast Asia have warned that economies, including the Philippines, may find themselves caught in the middle-income trap due to a lack of cooperation among governments in the region.

In a survey, the EU-Asean Business Council reported 60 percent of European firms said they are confident Southeast Asian nations can move past their middle-income status. However, 40 percent admitted they are uncertain about the prospect of climbing to upper income.

The World Bank classifies all Southeast Asian countries except Brunei Darussalam and Singapore as middle-income economies.

Based on the World Bank’s classification, high-income economies keep a GNI per capita higher than $12,535. On the other hand, upper middle-income economies range between $4,046 and $12,535, while lower middle-income economies post between $1,036 and $4,045.

An economy sinks in the middle-income trap when it develops beyond its low-cost competitive advantage, but fails to produce goods and services with added value required to compete with its upper-income counterparts.

See “EU-Asean,” A2

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.46425 n UK 63.4206 n HK 6.2697 n CHINA 7.2665 n SINGAPORE 35.7889 n AUSTRALIA 34.6571 n EU 57.6242 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9562

Source: BSP (October 26, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, October 27, 2020

WTTC 2021…

Continued from A8

ROMULO PUYAT: “We hope that hosting this major event will make us the center for a global exchange of knowledge, culture, investment and tourism.”

“The Philippines is honored to have been selected as the host country for the WTTC Global Summit, as it strengthens our MICE campaign and affirms our continuing strategies to position the Philippines as the MICE hub in Asia,” said the DOT chief.

The WTTC Global Summit is an annual event that gathers some 1,000 participants composed of chief executive officers, presidents and chairpersons of the largest and most prominent international travel and tourism companies from airlines, hotels and resorts, travel agencies, tour companies, global distribution system, transportation, and allied enterprises; as well as Tourism Ministers and officials from international organizations, such as the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

In 2018, the DOT launched an ambitious MICE Roadmap 2030 to raise the country’s MICE revenues to some P25 billion by 2030, from P4.6 billion in 2016. Its targets have been somewhat derailed, however, by the Covid-19 travel restrictions around the world.

(See, “Long Road Back,” in the Business­ Mirror, August 30, 2020.)

“Hosting the WTTC Global Summit allows the Philippines to demonstrate its commitment in the midst of current global concerns on health and safety, environmental sustainability, and local community engagement in tourist destinations. The country also hopes to share success stories on the rehabilitation of tourist sites and contribute to shaping future policies, directions and programs to better manage tourism destinations and create opportunities for community livelihood and sustainable jobs, such as farm and rural tourism,” the DOT chief added.

The event creates an avenue for the private sector and local tourism industry stakeholders to consider bigger markets, and wider market segments, and presents them an immense opportunity to network and link with international partners and global distribution networks.

“We hope that hosting this major event will make us the center for a global exchange of knowledge, culture, investment and tourism. Most importantly, the event is set to generate substantial investments as CEOs and presidents attending the summit are looking for investment areas and opportunities to expand their businesses and strengthen their market presence in the region,” emphasized Romulo Puyat.

MICECONline 2021, an annual event meant to energize the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions industry, is ongoing until October 30, with a host of global experts and guest speakers discussing ways for the sector to adapt to the “new normal,” while living with Covid-19.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

NCR construction price hike slowest in Sept 2020–PSA

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By Cai U. Ordinario

HE increase in wholesale construction prices in Metro Manila slowed to its lowest rate for the year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA data showed that the Construction Materials Wholesale Price Index (CMWPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) only posted growth of 0.5 percent in September 2020.

The CMWPI annual rate in August 2020 was recorded at 1 percent and in September 2019, 3.8 percent. PSA said the CMWPI

posted an average growth of 1.4 percent in the January to September period.

PSA said the prices of construction materials such as plywood and plumbing fixtures; reinforcing structural steel; and fuel and lubricants all contracted.

The average price of plywood and plumbing fixtures and acces-

sories/waterworks contracted 0.6 percent; reinforcing and structural steel, -2.5 percent; and fuel and lubricants, -9.1 percent.

PSA data also showed that the year-on-year increases in the prices of concrete products and cement slowed to 1.2 percent; and painting works at 0.6 percent.

However, PSA said, a higher annual gain of 1.5 percent was observed in the index of sand and gravel during the month.

The 2012-based CMWPI covers 101 items in the market basket. It includes selected construction materials identified from the different lateral and vertical construction projects in 2012, with accompanying bills of materials provided by the Department of Public Works and Highways,

National Housing Authority and Subdivision and Housing Developers Association.

Construction materials were grouped according to the different categories based on the 2000-based CMWPI market basket and as recommended by the members of the Interagency Committee on Price Statistics on the rebasing of the CMWPI. The CMWPI is done by the price collectors of the PSA NCR, while the prices of selected construction materials are monitored from the first week to third week of the reference month.

Data are collected from the sample outlets which are chosen according to their popularity; consistency and completeness of stocks; permanency of the outlet; and their geographic location.

PHL RED CROSS CITED FOR KEY ROLE IN COVID RESPONSE

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ECOGNIZING its “extraordinary accomplishments” in the country’s fight against Covid-19 and in providing humanitarian assistance, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) commended the Philippine Red Cross as it also set the standard worldwide for its testing capacity that has reached over a million people.

“I want to express our support globally for the work of the Philippine Red Cross and acknowledge the extraordinary contribution they’re making by testing over a million people all throughout the country. And I hope very much that it continues,” said Robert Kaufman, head of the IFRC’s country office.

He added that the PRC is setting the standard worldwide for the humanitarian organization’s test-

ing and is the only society out of 192 that received a letter from IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain acknowledging its extraordinary accomplishments on testing.

That accomplishment, he said, is a critical life-saving action.

“While we have incredible work in many places, this is one of the extraordinary Red Cross societies across the globe. They set an example to membership, staff and volunteers all around the world,” he added.

Kaufman also pointed to the importance of the community’s trust and partnerships, which grow stronger after trust has been gained, in the success of the PRC’s endeavors.

“But they [PRC] can’t do it alone. It requires partnerships. And those partnerships are essential to success. Trust has to be earned every day with good decisions and

the right actions. And PRC is doing that,” he added.

The IFRC, the world’s largest humanitarian organization, aims to inspire, encourage, facilitate and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies, with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering, and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.

Founded in 1919, the IFRC comprises 192 member Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, a secretariat in Geneva and more than 60 delegations strategically located to support activities around the world.

On October 6, the PRC announced that it has reached another milestone in the fight against Covid-19 after it exceeded the

1-million mark in tests conducted.

At present, the PRC has 21 laboratories strategically located in 10 areas all over the country, with a total combined capacity of 42,000 tests per day, strategically located in 10 areas all over the country.

There are three more under way, according to PRC.

However, the PRC’s initiatives are being stalled by the cash crunch it has found itself in after the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) failed to pay P1.1 billion that Red Cross says it incurred under an agreement where PRC tests individuals covered by PhilHealth, such as returning migrant workers.

Red Cross was forced to stop testing PhilHealth-guaranteed individuals last week, and negotiations are under way for the state insurer to pay up. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

DOJ upholds PhilHealth’s deal with Red Cross on Covid testing

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HE Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

(PhilHealth) is now willing to pay half of the P930 million it owes to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) for the testing of thousands of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

In an online press briefing on Monday, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made the disclosure after PhilHealth finally received the position of the Department of Justice (DOJ) upholding the legality of its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with PRC.

DOJ said the MOA is allowed under the Universal Health Care Law. Likewise, said DOJ, the advance cash payment of P100 million made by PhilHealth to PRC for the purpose of the testing of OFWs is legal as long as it is authorized by the President.

“If they [PRC] accept 50 percent [payment] right now, it will be paid but they should resume the testing [of OFWs],” Roque said.

On Sunday, PhilHealth said in a brief statement that it was willing to pay PRC on October 26, 2020, “subject to the completeness of billing requirements submitted by PRC” and in compliance with the rules of the Commission on Audit (COA)

Roque, however, lamented that PRC continued to refuse the partial payment and insisting it be paid in full instead.

Processing improvement

PRC suspended the processing of the swab samples of OFWs on October 15, 2020, because of the late payment of PhilHealth.

It noted it needed the fund so

it could replenish its stock of reverse transcription-polymerase reaction (RTPCR) test kits for Covid-19.

The deferment of PRC’s testing left at least 6,000 OFWs stranded in Metro Manila last week because of the slower processing time of government laboratories to release the test results of the concerned OFWs.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said the processing has since improved, which enabled it to eventually send home 7,000 OFWs in the last four days.

Currently, OWWA administrator Hans Cacdac said 5,200 OFWs are staying in accommodations in the National Capital Region (NCR) to wait for their test results.

“These are ones who arrived from October 21 onwards,” Cacdac explained.

Limited arrival

TO ensure government laboratories will be able to keep up with the submission of swab samples, Cacdac said the National Task Force for Covid-19 (NTF) decided to limit the number of arrivals of Filipinos in the country.

Prior to PRC’s suspension of its testing, he said they were able to register an average of 1,500 to 2,500 OFWs per day.

He said this was limited to just 1,000 to 1,500.

The OWWA chief assured the public that PhilHealth will pay for the testing of OFWs regardless if it is processed in PRC or in government laboratories.

He issued the clarification after PRC reported it got reports of some OFWs allegedly being charged P20,000 to get their test results. Samuel P. Medenilla

DA firm on poultry ban as Brazil goes to WTO Continued from A1

documents” from Brazil.

“MDM goes directly to accredited local meat processing plants upon which the Philippine government can impose direct monitoring and regulation,” he added.

Nonetheless, Dar said the country “has always been facilitative of trade and open to discussion on trade issues which may not be acceptable to a trading partner.”

He added, “We welcome con-

tinued bilateral consultations with the Brazilian government, as we have always been, to discuss this matter further towards mutual resolution.”

Jhunafe A. Ruanto, a trade facilitation analyst, said the country’s import ban on Brazilian products is covered by its right to impose such stringent measures over food safety and health concerns amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In terms of trading, when we see or hear reports that products test positive to certain diseases or bacteria, we have the right to impose an import ban,” Ruanto said in a press briefing organized by Tugon Kabuhayan on Monday.

“Sometimes, we ban meat from countries

for an identified period of time.

The import bans [will be lifted] until [the exporting country] certifies that their products are safe, especially during this time when people have been more conscious of their health due to Covid-19,” Ruanto, who once worked on updating the country’s non-tariff measures database, added.

In a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Embassy of the Federative Republic of Brazil said the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil has “promptly forwarded the required information and clarifications” regarding the Covid-19 outbreak concerns in its meat-packing plants to the Philippines.

Furthermore, Brazil’s Embassy reiterated that “it had adopted preventive measures to ensure the high level of sanitary safety in refrigeration plants to guarantee the continuity of healthy food to society” based on latest international guidelines.

“Bearing these actions in mind, MAPA has indicated that there are no technical-scientific justifications for the differential treatment of MDM poultry imports in relation to other types of poultry meat, or even meat ‘in natura’, considering the concerns derived from the current pandemic situation,” the letter, dated October 19, read. It was also sent to the DA.

Sans the scientific justification on the import ban, Brazil’s Embassy said it violates Articles 2 and 5 of the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures.

“Such an unjustified and undue barrier has not been lifted so far. Brazil is determined to resort to the appropriate multilateral fora, including the filing of ‘Specific Trade Concerns’ to the detriment of the Philippines at the WTO, anchored by the guidelines recommended by that organization,” the letter read.

EU-Asean…

Continued from A1

To get out of the middle-income trap, European investors asked Asean governments to work with one another—and with the private sector—to enhance human development. Based on the survey, 52 percent of respondents are satisfied with the cooperation of the region’s leaders; the rest argued that work has to be done in the area of joint action.

On public private partnership (PPP), two-thirds of European firms recommended collaborating on programs that will provide access to quality education across all income groups.

Further, 65 percent pushed to develop technical skills for the digital economy, while 61 percent pitched for enhancing institutional reform in finance, government and legal systems. The survey also reported 60 percent suggested investing in English-language proficiency for all employees, while 51 percent proposed increasing individual responsibility for productivity.

Likewise, half of European investors said PPPs can be executed to coordinate Asean policies on human development; accelerate spending on research and development; and immerse the domestic markets in the global supply chain.

The EU-Asean Business Council cautioned 36 million people in the region live in poverty and will stay there if Southeast Asian nations fall in the middle-income trap. As such, it said Asean governments need to invest in human development, especially at a time economic growth has slowed due to Covid-19, to avoid multigenerational poverty.

“The middle-income trap is particularly problematic due to its compounding effect on poverty,” the survey pointed out.

According to World Bank records, Southeast Asia hosts several of the countries with the worst inequality based on Gini ratio.

Gini coefficient measures are represented by a set of values from zero to 100; the higher the value, the worse the inequality.

Last year, Thailand leads the region in terms of Gini ratio with 84.6; followed by the Philippines, 83.7; Indonesia, 83.3; Malaysia, 79.6; and Lao PDR, 79.4.

In July, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua claimed the Philippines was supposed to improve to upper middle-income status this year had the World Bank retained its old classification.

Based on the multilateral’s data, the country recorded a GNI per capita of $3,850 last year, from $3,830 in 2018.

The EU-Asean Business Council survey gathered the insights of 159 European investors, from manufacturing to banking to transportation to tourism, between January 31 and May 18.

BOP… Continued from A1

“Based on preliminary data, the current BOP surplus was supported mainly by higher net foreign borrowings by the national government and lower merchandise trade deficit along with sustained net inflows from foreign direct investments, personal remittances and trade in services,” the BSP said.

“The BOP surplus in September 2020 reflected mainly the inflows from the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, and the national government’s foreign currency deposits with the BSP. These inflows were partly offset, however, by the national government’s payments of its foreign currency debt obligations,” it added.

Earlier this month, the BSP revised its BOP forecast for this year to take into consideration the “resilience of overseas Filipino remittances and foreign direct investments, and the build-up in gross international reserves (GIR).”

In its revised forecasts, BSP sees the overall BOP position to post a surplus of $8.1 billion (2.2 percent of GDP), up from $600 million (0.2 percent of GDP) as earlier projected for 2020 and $3.4 billion (0.9 percent of GDP) in 2021.

“The new set of forecasts takes into account the macroeconomic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the latest global and domestic economic developments,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno earlier said. “The revised forecast supersedes the BOP projections approved by the Monetary Board last June 11.”

The latest BOP projections also considered improved global activity due to the reopening of economies.

Remittances posted a strong rebound in June and July this year as host economies started to reopen. This led to a lower contraction of 2.6 percent for January to August 2020. FDIs, on the other hand, continued to post growth for the third consecutive month in July 2020. BSP data show that the country’s GIR as of end-September 2020 surged above $100 billion.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

SC urged to act on motion to issue injunction against ATA and its IRR

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and the Movement Against Tyranny on Monday filed a motion before the Supreme Court to immediately grant their plea to issue a status quo ante order, or a preliminary injunction, to enjoin the implementation of the Republic Act 11479, or the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

In their manifestation with motion filed through the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), the groups argued it would cause “grave injustice” to the petitioners, particularly those who have been red-tagged and labeled as “terrorists” front organizations by various government security agencies, if the implementation of ATA and its IRR would not be enjoined pending the Court’s ruling on the merits of petitions filed assailing the constitutionality of the ATA. As of today, there are already 37 petitions filed before the SC seeking to declare null and void the provisions of the ATA for being unconstitutional.

“The issuance of the IRR has set the stage for the unimpeded implementation of the assailed law; the targeting of activists and critics of the government; the suppression of dissent; and the curtailment of civil and political rights, all in the altar of national security,” the groups said.

“Thus, the petitioners beseech this Honorable Court to consider and grant their respective applications for provisional injunctive relief if only to protect them and countless citizens who stand to be victimized by such a draconian law, while awaiting further proceedings in the main cases and a final judgment therein,” they added.

The petitioners claimed the IRR merely reproduced the “objectionable, broad and vague” definition of terrorism under the law and even added new provisions not present in the law itself.

O ppositors of t he ATA of 2020 argued that the definition of terrorism under the law is “vague and overbroad” which may be used as a weapon against constitution-

ally protected speech and speechrelated conduct.

The petitioners noted that the ATA creates the new speech crime of inciting to terrorism under Section 9 and then ties it to a new definition of the crime of terrorism which is found in Section 4.

The ATA’s definition of terrorism, according to the petitioners, encompasses speech and conduct protected by the Constitution, including non-violent assemblies like the 1986 People Power.

All the petitioners are seeking to nullify Section 5 (threat to commit terrorism); Section 6 (planning, training, preparing and facilitating the commission of terrorism); Section 9 (inciting to commit terrorism); Section 10 (recruitment to and membership in a terrorist organization); Section 11 (foreign terrorist); Section 12 (providing material support to terrorists); Section 25 (designation of terrorist individual, groups of persons, organizations or associations); Section 26 (proscription of terrorist organizations, associations or group of persons); section 27 (preliminary order of proscription); and Section 29 (detention without judicial warrant of arrest).

“A careful review of the IRR would show that it also features the same objectionable and unconstitutional aspects of the assailed law, including but not limited to utterly vague, or overly broad definition of terrorism and terrorism-related offenses, the infringement of fundamental rights and the inordinate grant of powers to the Anti-Terrorism Council, which violates the principle of separation of powers and usurps functions exclusively reserved for the judiciary,” the petitioners argued.

“As a matter of fact, the IRR pushes way beyond the scope and parameters of RA 11479 by further infringing on constitutional, and giving greater, undue power and discretion to officials and agencies tasked to implement the same,” it added.

Likewise, the petitioner said that while the law penalizes expressions that “incite others” to commit a terroristic act, the IRR expanded it by stating that “the incitement is done under circumstances that show reasonable probability of success in inciting the commission of terrorism.”

DFA suspends CO operations in Laguna, Batangas, Albay

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HE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced on Monday that its Consular Offices (CO) in San Pablo, Laguna; Lipa, Batangas; and Legazpi, Albay will be closed on October 26, 2020, due to inclement weather brought about by Typhoon Quinta “and in line with the pronouncements of their respective provincial governments.”

CO San Pablo, CO Lipa, and CO Legazpi may resume their regular operations today, October 27, 2020.

Affected applicants with confirmed appointments who were unable to avail of consular services due to the suspension of operations must secure another appointment by sending an e-mail to CO San Pablo (sanpablo.co@

dfa.gov.ph), CO Lipa (lipa.rco@dfa.gov. ph) or CO Legazpi (legazpi.rco@dfa.gov. ph) with the following information:

Name

Date of birth

Original appointment date and time

Preferred date and time of new appointment The preferred new appointment may be on any working day (Monday to Friday) from October 27 to November 27, 2020, during the CO’s regular operation hours (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).

Applicants who need an emergency or urgent consular service may contact CO SanPablo(sanpablo.co@dfa.gov.ph),COLipa (lipa.rco@dfa.gov.ph)orCOLegazpi(legazpi. rco@dfa.gov.ph) by e-mail. Recto Mercene

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, October 27, 2020 A3

Quinta batters Luzon, Visayas; leaves 1 dead, 13 others missing

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

& Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

D

ISASTER authorities reported a lone fatality and 13 fishermen missing as Typhoon Quinta battered Luzon and a big portion of Visayas hours after it made successive landfalls in Albay in the Bicol region, affecting thousands of people.

The Philippine Coast Guard reported that a yacht with eight people on board sank while a cargo and passenger vessel ran aground on Monday morning, both in Batangas, due to the typhoon, as another ship caught fire in the waters of Cebu.

Quinta, packing strong winds and heavy rains, pummeled a big part of Luzon and the Visayas for hours after it made two succeeding landfalls in Tabaco City and Malinao, both in Albay, triggering widespread flooding and landslides in some of the affected areas.

Power outages were also reported in 69 cities and municipalities in the provinces of Quezon, Camarines Sur, Albay, Masbate, Catanduanes and Sorsogon due to transmission lines that have been damaged, or toppled by strong winds and falling trees.

A number of key bridges and roads in the affected provinces in Luzon and in the Visayas remained impassable due to a combination of flooding and landslide, even as weather forecasters warned on Monday that Quinta’s rains are to peak within 24 hours.

Philippine National Police chief General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan said during a news briefing on Mon-

day that a lone casualty was recorded in Cagayan Valley, as reported by the Police Regional Office 2 (PRO 2).

“We have a total of 40,682 evacuees. PRO 2 has 88, PRO 4A has 3,542, PRO 4B has 571, PRO 5 has 36,456 and PRO 8 has 25,” he said, citing a 6 a.m. consolidated report from all the police regional offices in the typhoon-hit areas.

“For number of infrastructures destroyed, PRO 2 has already 7 and PRO 8 has already 2. Flooded areas, we have PRO 2, 2; PRO3, 49, PRO 4A, 1; PRO 5, 53,” the PNP chief said, adding that at least 16 roads were impassable.

Cascolan said police search and rescue teams were deployed and were assisting residents in affected areas.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) spokesman Mark Timbal said 12 fishermen from Catanduanes are missing in the wake of the typhoon. The fishermen are from Barangay Pananogan in Bato and Barangays Cagdarao, Panganiban and District 3 in Gigmoto, both in the province.

The Catanduanes Provincial Police Office also said that six fishermen from Tabaco City, Albay were rescued by barangay officials in the waters of Barangay Balite and Barangay Talisoy, both of Virac, Catanduanes. A companion of the six fishermen is still missing.

The Coast Guard reported that the yacht MV Oceanic Explorer 3, with eight people aboard, sank near the Keppel Shipyard at Barangay San Roque, Batangas at around 7 a.m., while the MV RORO-12 ran aground an hour later at Bonito Island, Tingloy, Maricaban, also in the province.

Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Armand Balilo said seven of the eight people aboard the Explorer 3 were rescued, while another is the subject of an ongoing search and rescue operations.

Balilo also said that two other vessels Supercat MV Saint Nuriel and Starlite Ferries MV Annapolis ran aground in the waters of Mabini, also in Batangas due to rough sea conditions.

The Coast Guard said at least 577 passengers, truck drivers, cargo helpers, 473 rolling cargoes, 21 vessels and 10 motor bancas were stranded in various ports of Southern Tagalog, Bicol and Eastern Visayas.

Meanwhile, 2nd Infantry Division (2nd ID) spokesman Capt.

Jayrald Ternio said that 2nd ID commander Maj. Gen. Greg Almerol has ordered soldiers in Southern Tagalog to ensure the readiness of equipment for humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

Almerol issued the order after the government reported that Quinta will traverse the Southern Tagalog region over the weekend, particularly Quezon and Mindoro Island before reaching the West Philippine Sea. A total of 419 soldiers and 91 military vehicles are on “alert status and ready to be deployed” if the need arises.

Aid for Quinta victims

THE government has allocated over P890 million worth of aid to help those affected by Typhoon Quinta.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has been instructed to prepare stockpiles of food and a “stand by fund” for the calamity.

The said assistance has already been distributed to the DSWD Central Office and its different field offices.

“The quick response teams of their field offices is already activated and are now coordinating with municipal disaster risk reduction management offices,” Roque said in an online news briefing on Monday.

Based on its latest update, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said there were already 10,000 people affected by the Typhoon Quinta.

Over half or 5,700 of these individuals are now staying in evacuation centers.

Covid mitigation measures

TO prevent the spread of novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infection in these facilities, Roque said the NDRRMC has issued protocols to local government units (LGU).

These guidelines include enforcement of minimum health standards in evacuation centers, which Roque said should also have a portion serving as isolation facility for suspected Covid-19 cases.

The protocols include wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks; body temperature checks and health screening for those entering the evacuation facility, and regular disinfection.

NDRRMC also stressed that “Covid-19 mitigation measures” should be observed during relief goods distributions.

“Mass gatherings are prohibited and the LGUs were advised to put up designated areas [for the distribution] with appropriate safety markings,” Roque said. With Recto Mercene

Bill proposes to harness power of media ‘for the common good’

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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LAWMAKER is pushing for the passage of a bill mandating broadcast media and online news sites to allocate a portion of their airtime to disseminate information on enacted laws and government services involving national emergencies and public interest.

In House Bill 7819, or the proposed “Public Service Announcement Act,” Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the bill will ensure that the power of the media would be “harnessed for the common good instead of being abused for political messaging and propaganda.”

“The power of media to transmit government policy and law, as well as urgent and important public information, needs to be fully utilized for public information and education,” Villafuerte pointed out.

Under the bill, all online news sites and broadcast media are required to provide public service time of at least three minutes per day to enable the government to

educate and increase public awareness on newly enacted laws and their implementing rules and regulations (IRR), and the services offered by government agencies.

“Other matters which may require the exercise of their legal rights, or those that may increase their awareness on matters of public concern may also be a valid subject of advertisement to be aired in the said broadcast media. Provided that such public service time shall not be in lieu of the publication requirement as provided in the existing and newly enacted laws,” the bill added.

The bill said any TV or radio station facility that fails to provide the required public service time of at least three minutes per day may have its license to operate, suspended, revoked or not renewed.

In cases of emergency or exigency, as determined by the national government or local government unit (LGU), additional airtime shall be given for public service announcements, which shall be determined upon consultation with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and the Philippine Informa-

tion Agency (PIA).

HB 7810 designates the PIA as the lead agency in the implementation of the measure and is tasked to coordinate with the other branches of the government and the various state agencies for its production of public service commercials designed to promote and inform the public on relevant issues and concerns.

“This measure seeks to contribute to the realization of the mandate in Article II Section 24 of the 1987 Constitution, which states that ‘the State recognizes the vital role of communication and information in nation-building,’” Villafuerte said.

Under the bill, the PIA, in coordination with the KBP, is also tasked to promulgate the measure’s IRR. Earlier, Villafuerte filed a separate bill (HB 7820) providing workers in the media industry with security of tenure, hazard and overtime pay and other benefits enjoyed by regular employees.

HB 7820, or the proposed Media Workers’ Welfare Act, aims to guarantee the rights of media workers to self-organization, and to create a

safe, protected atmosphere conducive to their “productive, free and fruitful” work, Villafuerte said.

V i l l a f uer te a l so proposed the grant of hazard pay of at least P500 per day to media workers assigned to dangerous areas, such as strife-torn or embattled zones, distressed or isolated stations, disease-infested areas or in areas declared under state of calamity or emergency.

The bill also grants overtime and night-differential pay to media workers, as well as mandatory additional insurance benefits.

These insurance benefits include: 1) death benefit of P200,000 for each media worker who shall perish in the line of duty; 2) disability benefit of P200,000 for each media worker who shall suffer total or partial disability whether permanent or temporary, arising from any injury sustained in the line of duty; and 3) reimbursement of actual medical expenses up to but not to exceed P100,000 for each media worker who shall be hospitalized or who shall require medical attendance for injuries sustained while in the line of duty.

DAR distributes CLOAs to 605 farmers in San Narciso, Quezon

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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EPARTMENT of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary John R. Castriciones has recently led the distribution of certificates of land ownership aw a rd (C L OA s), ag r ic u lt u ra l equipment, and farm productivity assistance to farmers in San Narciso, Quezon.

In a news statement, the DAR chief said the CLOA distribution marks the culmination of the decade-

long anticipation by the rightful beneficiaries to own the lands they are cultivating for years.

A total of 605 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) received their CLOAs from DAR covering 925.1367 hectares of agricultural land in the said town.

The land titles distributed to farmers have gone through tedious legal battles, as in the case of the Lingayo property, where the farmers experienced challenging struggles. Their case even reached judicial proceedings and was decided

upon by the Supreme Court before land acquisition and distribution process resumed.

“We promise to give you support services like farm machinery, access to credit and various trainings to help you sustain the gains that you will reap from this land, which now, legally, are your own property,” Castriciones stressed.

Castriciones also vowed to provide housing projects for farmers, provision of crop insurance from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp.

(PCIC) and Accessible Funds for

Delivery to ARBs (AFFORD-ARBs) credit assistance from the Land Bank of the Philippines.

During the event, the DAR also distributed farm machinery and equipment under the Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support Project worth P789,800 to boost farmers’ household income by modernizing their farming through the provision of new equipment.

The farm machinery includes rice reaper, rice thresher, hand tractor with complete implements and trailer, pressurized power sprayer

and water pump.

The co-op members also received farm inputs worth P54,000 in recognition of the role of farmers as the modern hero of today’s war against the pandemic, by continually providing food to every household and contributing to food security and sufficiency in the country.

Castriciones emphasized that the DAR will intensify CLOA distribution and the provision of support services to the ARBs in the country to support the thrust of the ad-

ministration of President Duterte to emancipate farmers from the bondage of soil.

As part of the “Serbisyong DARto-DOOR” Castriciones personally handed over the land titles to the ARBs, who live near the venue of the event to ensure that they themselves would receive their CLOAs. Among those who personally received their land titles were Loreta A. de Jesus, Rodolfo A. de Jesus, Orlando A. de Jesus and Rodrigo A de Jesus from Barangay Abuyon, San Narciso, Quezon.

A4 Tuesday, October 27, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

PUVMP gains traction as 124,443 drivers, franchise owners join co-ops–DOTr exec

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

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HE Department of Transportation (DOTr) reported on Monday that a total of 124,443 drivers and franchise owners and operators have joined accredited transportation cooperatives for the consolidation of franchises, which is part of the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

Transportation Assistant Secretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Steve Pastor said aforementioned figures show that stakeholders are heeding the call of the government for the modernization of public transportation in the country. “ The number of accredited transport cooperatives have also grown since our last report in July.

We have accredited 84 more transport cooperatives in just over three months, making a total of 1,316

transport co-operatives nationwide,” explained Pastor.

Office of Transport Cooperatives (OTC) Chairman Medel Afalla encouraged other transport stakeholders to follow the example of their counterparts, noting that the deadline for application for franchise consolidation of transport cooperatives has been moved to December 2020.

“By forming a cooperative, the operators are strengthening their financial capacity in acquiring the PUVMP-compliant units with the requirements for roadworthiness such as new engines with lower emissions, an AFCS system, CCTVs and GPS, among others,” said Afalla.

The call for the consolidation of franchises started in 2017.

To be accredited, a group must have at least 15 units for consolidation. Once approved by the OTC, they are required to be accredited by the Securities

and Exchange Commission.

Once accredited, the newly formed entity can begin the application for consolidation, which includes submitting the necessary requirements and application forms available for download at the official Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) web site.

The transport cooperative or corporation can then proceed to the modernization of their units, where they can apply for financial assistance through government loan programs with Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines. The last step is to apply for route rationalization.

“Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 outbreak, we commend the members of our transport cooperatives, both old and new, who continue to ensure unimpeded service while safeguarding the health and welfare of commuters,” Afalla said.

Those who fail to have their units join an accredited consolidated franchise holder, the LTFRB may issue a probationary authority (PA), which is renewable every year, so long as the units pass the computerized Motor Vehicle Inspection Station (MVIS) test for roadworthiness.

Pastor said the intent of the PUVMP is to modernize the transport sector through a comprehensive system reform, including policies and regulations on roadworthiness.

“As seen by the pandemic, there is a need for a better transport system to assure safety and health of passengers in the long run. Thus, we are encouraging all franchise owners and transport groups to consolidate their units now. Along with our attached transport agencies, we are envisioning that even more transport co-ops will begin the modernization process in the following year,” he said.

Oil firms cut diesel price by ₧0.25, kerosene ₧0.15

By Lenie Lectura

O

@llectura

IL firms are bringing down the price of diesel and kerosene starting Tuesday morning.

They said Monday that diesel price will be slashed by

P0.25 per liter, while kerosene will be reduced by P0.15 per liter.

This takes effect at 6 a.m. of October 27.

Gasoline prices, meanwhile, remain unchanged.

Seaoil Philippines, Pilipinas

Shell, Petron Corporation, Cleanfuel, Petro Gazz, PTT Philippines said the price adjustment reflects movement in the world oil market.

Other oil firms have yet to announce their price adjustment as of this writing.

Based on Department of Energy (DOE) monitoring, Asia’s oil demand recovery has been bumpy and uneven across products. However, refinery runs are expected to trend higher in the fourth quarter as demand increases.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Report: CDC on track to meet financial goals

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LARK FREEPORT—Despite the pandemic, Clark Development Corp. (CDC) maintains a positive outlook for the coming years as it remains on track in meeting its financial targets.

CDC Assistant Vice President for Finance Alizaido Paras, in a report to former CDC President Noel Manankil, said the free port continuously demonstrate “strong economic foundations.”

Manankil gave up his CDC post on Friday for “personal reasons” shortly after the submission of the financial report.

Paras shared that the stateowned firm has generated P4.92 billion net income in the last four years (2016 to 2019) which accounts for 62 percent of the overall net profit achieved by CDC from 1993 to 2019. Figures also show that in just a span of four years, CDC has already surpassed its combined earnings of P3.01 billion in the past 22 years (1993 to 2015).

The corporation also remains confident that it will reach its net income projection of P4.53 billion in three years (2020 to 2022). Results of CDC’s revenue are likewise favorable. From 2016 to 2019, the revenue was posted at P9.018 billion, representing 38 percent of the total generated revenue of CDC in the last 26 years.

Notwithstanding the current situation, CDC expects its rev-

enue to achieve a 24-percent increase compared to its combined revenue from 1993 to 2015. The state-owned firm has also been active in contributing to the National coffers.

In the last 26 years, it has remitted a total of P5.20 billion dividends to the National Treasury. And from 2016 to 2019, it has submitted P3.15 billion to the government, representing 61 percent of the overall dividends in the last 26 years.

Paras also said that in 2019 alone, the state-firm has paid cash dividends amounting to P1.084 billion, where P50 million of which serves as an advance payment applicable to the calendar year 2020 dividend remittance.

CDC’s cash dividends projection for 2020 to 2022 is at P2.88 billion. Meanwhile, Manankil ensured that the state-firm will continue to create initiatives that will help to sustain the financial stance of the free port and, at the same time, assist its locators to recuperate from the far-reaching effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Currently, the free port is home to 1,262 locator-companies who employ 136,502 workers. Aside from being a premier economic hub, the free port is also a preferred sports tourism destination in the country recognized by the Philippine Sports Tourism Awards both in 2015 and 2018.

‘No deal yet on reported Naia rehab plan’

S

OME 12,000 employees of the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) are reportedly set to be affected by a proposed rehabilitation, or privatization, plan to be undertaken by construction firm Megawide Corp.

Reliable sources at the airport, however, said the rehabilitation plan is still being evaluated by the National Economic and Development AuthorityInvestment Coordination Committee

(Neda-ICC) and the Miaa.

Under the proposed “operate and transfer deal” with Megawide, the employees will have to re-apply before some of them could be “absorbed” in accordance with previous negotiations.

Since not everybody could be taken back, there are fears among the employees that many of them would be rendered jobless once the deal is approved.

However, airport authorities have

assured the employees not to be alarmed since the proposal is still being evaluated.

It was reported during a recent House plenary deliberations on the proposed national budget for next year that the Department of Transportation bared that some Ninoy Aquino International Airport workers may be terminated due to the government’s rehabilitate, operate and transfer deal with Megawide Corp. Recto Mercene

Corruption–will we ever see a change?

By Henry J. Schumacher

I

USED this headline in my column in 2018.

Looking at the headlines in national newspapers during the last few days, • DPWH chief forms task force to probe anomalies • Rody won’t forgive corrupt officials • P40 billion pocketed by corrupt BI officials—Hontiveros • Senators alarmed at influx of young Chinese ‘retirees’ • PhilHealth—ghost patients, fake receipts, admissions beyond bed capacity, ‘upcasing’ of claims, fake members, laxity in premium collection, • Corruption is corruption, be it DPWH or BIR, it is obvious that the corruption issues are still here and are affecting all of us. Now I should ask: will we see change in 2021?

We have to realize that corruption is only possible because people in power are using their “options to collect” and that the private sector is

either part of the process, or scared to blow the whistles.

It is time that the private sector steps back and support the initiatives to reduce and finally eliminate corruption. The Integrity Initiative believes that corruption is one of the biggest impediments to economic growth and prosperity and has been eroding the moral fiber of society. We created the Integrity Pledge in 2011 and invited companies to commit to change.

Given the fact that 9 years later corruption is alive and kicking, let me highlight some of the commitments (abbreviated) of the Integrity Pledge: • We will prohibit bribery in any form in all activities under our control…

• We will maintain a Code of Conduct to guide our employees towards ethical and accountable behavior at all times…

• We will conduct training programs for our employees and promote integrity, honesty, and accountability in the exercise of their duties…

• We will implement appropriate internal systems and controls to prevent unethical conduct by our employees and ensure good governance…

• We will maintain appropriate financial reporting mechanisms that are accurate and transparent, • We will maintain channels by which employees and other stakeholders can raise ethical concerns and report suspicious circumstances in confidence without risk of reprisal…

• We will enter into integrity

pacts with other businesses and government agencies when dealing with procedures related to bidding and procurement.

• To secure collective action among business enterprises, to foster ethical, clean, and transparent business transactions, we commit to: • Support a nationwide initiative intended to create fair market conditions…

• Share “best practice.” Tools and concepts which are intended to be used by all participating entities to achieve the goals of the Integrity Initiative, • Assist and contribute ideas to develop a unified “Business Code of Conduct,” acceptable to all participating entities (actually, the Integrity Initiative is presently working on a bill that will punish private sector individuals and companies involved in corruption); • Support the development of an audit and certification program (including a training program for advisers and auditors) that will offer a toolbox for enterprises to introduce and implement ethical practices in their business processes; and institutionalize the whole process to promote a culture of integrity in business.

I think it’s high time that you consider to become a member of the Integrity Initiative and be part of a growing group of ethically conscious companies, spearheading positive change in the country.

Contact me if you want to join or need additional information; my e-mail address is hjschumacher59@gmail.com

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

The World

Spain orders nationwide curfew as infections surpass 1 million

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A R C EL O N A , S p a i n — Buckling under the resurgence of the coronavirus in Europe, the Spanish government on Sunday declared a national state of emergency that includes an overnight curfew in hopes of not repeating the near collapse of the country’s hospitals.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the decision to restrict free movement on the streets of Spain between 11 p.m.-6 a.m. allows exceptions for commuting to work, buying medicine, and caring for elderly and young family members. He said the curfew takes effect Sunday night and would likely remain in place for six months.

Spain this week became the first European country to surpass 1 million officially recorded Covid-19 cases. Sánchez acknowledged Friday in a nationally televised address that the true figure could be more than 3 million, due to gaps in testing and other factors.

“The reality is that Europe and Spain are immersed in a second wave of the pandemic,” Sánchez said during a nationwide address after meeting with his Cabinet.

“The situation we are living in is extreme.”

The leaders of Spain’s 17 regions and two autonomous cities will have authority to modify the curfew in their territory to start between 10:00-12:00 p.m. and end between 5:00-7:00 a.m., close regional borders to travel, and limit gatherings to six people who don’t live together, the prime minister said.

The curfew does not apply to Spain’s Canary Islands, which were recently removed from Britain’s and Germany’s list of unsafe travel destinations due to the favorable trajectory of the virus on the archipelago.

With the mainland curfew, Spain is following the example of neighboring France, where the government ordered a 9 p.m.- 6 a.m. curfew for major cities and large swaths of the countr y this week.

Health officials have been targeting nightlife and partying as some of the main sources for the latest revival of infections.

Sánchez said he will ask Parliament’s lower house this week to extend the state of emergency until May. As dictated by the Constitution, a state of emergency

can last no longer than two weeks without the endorsement of the Congress of Deputies.

Spain’s second nationwide emergency of the pandemic is not as restrictive as the mandatory home confinement that Sánchez ordered in March and lasted for six weeks before being gradually relaxed as the number of new confirmed cases fell.

“There is no home confinement in this state of emergency, but the more we stay at home, the safer we will be. Everyone knows what they have to do,” the prime minister said Sunday.

Authorities want to avoid a second complete shutdown of the country of 47 million inhabitants to avoid dealing another heavy blow to an economy that the pandemic has plunged into recession and destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs.

But with the infection rate gaining steam ever since it started rising again in August, health experts have clamored for action at the national level, arguing that the crisis requires more than a patchwork of regional measures.

Several regional leaders, who run Spain’s decentralized health care system, had asked in recent days for the national government to declare a national state of emergency.

The state of emergency makes it easier for authorities to take swift action without having to get many types of public health restrictions approved by a judge.

Some judges have rejected efforts to limit people’s movements in certain regions, causing confusion among the public.

Spain on Friday reported almost 20,000 new daily cases and 231 more deaths, taking the country’s death toll in the pandemic to 34,752, but the true death toll is likely much higher.

Confirmed cases are rising across the peninsula, the Balearic Islands, and Spain’s two African enclaves.

Under the first state of emergency, Spain’s military battalions were deployed to disinfect retirement homes and set up field hospitals. So far, this has not been necessary with Spain’s retirement homes better prepared and its hospitals seeing a slower, if steady, uptick in cases.

“The loss of life must be as low as possible, but we also must protect our economy,” Sánchez said. AP

BusinessMirror

P

resident Donald J. Trump’s chief of staff said the United States is “not going to control” the pandemic even as he defended the White House response to the coronavirus after infections of close aides to Vice President Mike Pence.

Mark Meadows’ comment, that the US response will be focused on vaccines and treatments, not containment, became a flashpoint for critics.

In a statement, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said the remark “wasn’t a slip.”

“Meadows stunningly admitted this morning that the administration has given up on even trying to control this pandemic, that they’ve given up on their basic duty to protect the American people,” Biden said.

Meadows spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union,” hours after news late Saturday that Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and Marty Obst, a close adviser, had tested positive.

Another member of Pence’s staff has also been diagnosed with the virus in recent days, according to people familiar with the matter, though the White House hasn’t released the person’s name.

Asked why the diagnoses hadn’t been publicly revealed by the White House, Meadows said “it’s personal information” and that “it’s not something we usually do, unless it’s the vice president or the president, or someone that’s very close to them, where there’s people in harm’s way.”

“Any time that there’s someone in harm’s way, we have an obligation to let people know that, to contact trace,” he said.

Pence, leader of the W hite House coronavirus task force, tested negative on Sunday. He’ll continue to campaign for Trump’s re-election, according to a statement from the vice president’s office late Saturday. It said Pence was considered “essential personnel” under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

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Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha delivers a speech during the special session at the parliament in Bangkok, Thailand on October 26. Thailand’s Parliament began a special session Monday that was called to address tensions as pro-democracy protests draw students and other demonstrators into the streets almost daily demanding the prime minister’s resignation. AP/Sakchai Lalit Th e y n o t e d t h e p o i n t s o f d i s c u s s i o n submitted by Prayuth’s government for debate dealt not with the protesters’ concerns but were thinly disguised criticisms of the protests themselves.

Th e y co n ce r n i n s te a d t h e r i s k o f t h e coronavirus spreading at rallies, the alleged inter ference with a royal motorcade by a

A5

White House chief: ‘US not going to control pandemic’

Who’s ‘essential’?

Challenged on CNN about the “essential ” designation—it’s a term used mostly for people like police, first responders, and food workers—Meadows said Pence was “not just campaigning, he’s working.” Pence wears a mask more often than Trump, but takes it off when speaking in public.

“We’re not going to control the pandemic,” Meadows said. “We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas.”

“We are making efforts to contain it,” Meadows said, even as US cases hit record daily levels. “It is a contagious virus.”

Asked about Meadows’ comment, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said on CBS that flattening the curve of the virus and protecting the most vulnerable should be the focus—not much different from the approach taken months ago.

“Ultimately, the only thing that is going to stop this virus will be a vaccine,” said O’Brien, a task force member who tested positive for the coronavirus in July. “We’re on track to have a vaccine for Americans in less than a year.”

Short, a former White House director of legislative affairs, is Pence’s top aide, a constant presence at his side who frequently acts as a spokesman for the vice president. In the statement, Pence’s office acknowledged that he’s considered a close contact of Short under infection-tracing procedures.

Short, 50, is having “mild symptoms” of Covid-19 so far, O’Brien said. He added that Pence, in continuing to travel, is “following all the rules.”

Pence traveled to Florida to

Thai parliament opens special session over protest tensions ANGKOK—Thailand’s Parliament began a special session on Monday that was called to address tensions as pro-democracy protests draw students and other demonstrators into the streets almost daily demanding the prime minister’s resignation.

As Speaker of the House Chuan Leekpai began the session, only 450 of the total of 731 members of both houses had signed in for the meeting.

The demonstrations by student-led groups in the Bangkok and other cities have three main demands: that Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha step down, the constitution be amended to make it more democratic and reforms be made to the monarchy to make it more accountable.

P u b l i c c r i t i c i s m o f t h e m o n a rc h y i s unprecedented in a country where the royal institution has been considered sacrosanct, and royalists have denounced the protesters for raising the issue.

“The only way to a lasting solution for all sides that is fair for those on the streets as well as for the many millions who choose not to go on the streets is to discuss and resolve these differences through the parliamentary process,” Prayuth said last week.

The non-voting session of Parliament is expected to last two days.

The protesters have little confidence in the parliamentary path, declaring the government’s efforts insincere.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

small crowd earlier this month, and illegal gatherings and the destruc tion of images of the royal family.

The protesters allege Prayuth, who led a coup in 2014 as the army chief, was returned to power unfairly in last year’s election because laws had been changed to favor a pro-military party. The protesters also say the constitution,

written and enacted under militar y rule, is undemocratic.

Parliament in September was scheduled to vote on six proposed constitutional amendments but instead set up a committee to further consider such proposals, and then recessed.

Constitutional changes require a joint vote of the House and the Senate, but the proposals lack support in the Senate, whose members are not elected and are generally very conservative and hostile to the protesters.

Instead of confronting lawmakers and c o u n t e r - p ro t e s t e r s o n M o n d a y, t h e p ro democracy protest organizers have called for an afternoon march to the German Embassy, apparently to bring attention to the time King Maha Vajiralongkorn spends in Germany.

Germany’s foreign minister, questioned in Parliament by a member of the Green Party, recently expressed concern over any political activities the king might be conducting on the country’s soil.

Protesters’ criticism of the royal institution has roiled conservative Thais. Self-proclaimed “defenders of the monarchy” mobilized last week online and in rallies in several cities, in many cases led by local civil servants.

A small group of royalist demonstrators were outside Parliament on Monday morning, saying they were there to let lawmakers know of their opposition to any changes in the status of the monarchy. AP

deliver a campaign speech in Tallahassee on Saturday evening after learning of Short’s diagnosis, according to people familiar with the matter. Short, who tested positive earlier in the day, didn’t accompany him.

Pence is next scheduled to campaign on Sunday in Kinston, North Carolina.

“He was cleared by the doctors to travel,” Meadows said Sunday outside the White House’s West Wing.

Punctuation mark

Coronavirus has swept through the White House since September, infecting Trump, his wife and youngest son, and a number of top aides, including his campaign manager, his press secretary, and the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. The outbreak has served as a punctuation mark on Trump’s handling of the pandemic, which polls show has been widely panned by voters.

The US is now experiencing yet another surge of infections, with new cases exceeding 83,000 on Friday, a record. It extended the increase with a new high of 85,317 infections a day later. More than 8.6 million Americans have contracted the virus so far and the death toll now exceeds 225,000.

“Even without the vaccines, we’re rounding the turn,” Trump said Sunday at a campaign event in New Hampshire. “It’s going to be over.”

In contrast, Scott Gottlieb, Trump’s first commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that the US has reached a “ dangerous tipping point.” “ There’s really no backstop here. I don’t see forceful policy intervention happening any time soon,” Gottlieb, who departed the FDA in 2019, said on CBS. The infections of Short and Obst—as well as Pence’s exposure—risk overshadowing the closing week of Trump’s reelection campaign. Trump has repeatedly said in recent days that the country is turning a corner on the pandemic, even with a spike in infections.

“The bottom line is we have to

be vigilant, we have to be careful, we have to be ever ything, but we also have to get our lives back,” the president said on Saturday at a rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin. “We have to take our countr y back. It’s going away, it’s rounding the turn.”

Trump acknowledged Short’s infection as he exited Air Force One early Sunday. “I did hear about it just now, and I think he’s quarantining,” the president told reporters. “He’s going to be fine but he’s quarantining” Obst isn’t a government employee, but is frequently in contact with Pence and his staff and often visits the White House grounds.

He was last around Pence about a week ago but wasn’t in close proximity to the vice president, two of the people said.

Short and Obst declined to comment.

Another Trump ally, former Ne w Je r s e y G o ve r nor C h r i s Christie, was hospitalized with Covid-19 after helping the president prepare for his first debate with Biden last month. Since recovering, Christie has issued a public mea culpa, declaring he was wrong not to wear a mask at the White House and urging Americans to follow the guidance of public health authorities.

Trump has seldom worn a mask before or after his illness and discourages it among his aides and people around him. The president wore a mask on Saturday when he voted in Florida.

Pence, after avoiding the West Wing during the outbreak that sickened the president, was in the building last week.

On Saturday, the vice president was photographed wearing a mask as he walked from Marine Two and boarded Air Force Two in Washington. He didn’t wear a mask during events in Lakeland or Tallahassee but was alone on stage.

US Secret Service agents around him wore masks.

The CDC recommends that “essential personnel” wear a mask at all times in their workplaces for 14 days following exposure to someone infected with coronavirus and maintain social distancing, to the extent practicable. Bloomberg News

Malaysian PM welcomes king’s rebuff of Covid-19 emergency

K

UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Malaysia’s p ri m e m i n i s te r s a i d h i s g ove rn m e nt was prioritizing protecting people from Covid-19 amid a new outbreak after the king rebuffed his emergency proposal that critics saw as an undemocratic attempt to hold onto power.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s proposal for the king to declare a state of emergency to fight the coronavirus would have suspended Parliament and let him dodge an imminent test of his suppor t. Muhyiddin could then govern through ordinances that could not be challenged in court.

The plan sparked national outrage, but the king’s decision to reject it Sunday was praised by many Malaysians on social media.

The palace said in a statement that Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah “is of the opinion that there is currently no need for His Majesty to declare a state of emergency in this country or any part of Malaysia.”

The king also said the government has h a n d l e d t h e p a n d e m i c we l l a n d b e l i e ve s Muhyiddin is capable of coping with the crisis, though he also called for a halt to “all politicking” that could disrupt the government’s stability.

Hours later, Muhyiddin said the Cabinet noted the king’s decision and will further discuss the decree. Local media said the Cabinet is expected to meet later Monday. His aide couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. “ Th e p r i o r i t y o f t h e Ca b i n e t a n d t h e

government at this time is to protect citizens from the Covid-19 disease,” he said in a brief statement. He also welcomed the king’s advice to ensure his government’s stability.

Muhyiddin took power in March but holds only a two-seat majority in Parliament. He faces challenges from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who says he has majority support but needs the monarch’s approval to form a new government, as well as from the biggest party in his ruling coalition, which is angry about being sidelined in his government.

Muhyiddin faces a key test in early November when his government is due to seek approval for its 2021 budget in Parliament. If he is unable to pass the bill, pressure will build for him to resign or call new elections. A state of emergency could allow him to approve the budget without a vote and consolidate support.

“In whatever way you look at it, indications are that the PM has realized that he has effectively lost his majority,” said Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, political science professor at Malaysia’s University of Science.

But not all is lost. D espite the king’s rejec tion, his endorsement of Muhyiddin’s government could offer a reprieve and help the premier get the budget bill passed.

Malaysia’s coronavirus cases doubled to more than 26,000 in just three weeks following a new outbreak, mainly in Sabah state on Borneo island. AP

A6 Tuesday, October 27, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

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editorial

Children of God

P

ope Francis has often rattled the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church with his fresh and at times controversial messages. An example is his recent statement on same-sex civil unions in the documentary “Francesco.”

Pope Francis was quoted as saying: “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God. You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

In case people forget, the Catholic Church is not just the Pope. It is made up of the church’s teachings and doctrines, of its faithful (the Catholics), as well as the cardinals, bishops and priests in its hierarchy.

“The Pope’s support for civil unions does not change Catholic doctrine about marriage or sexuality. The church still teaches—and will go on teaching—that any sexual relationship outside a marriage is sinful and that, in the Catholic view, marriage—different from civil unions—is between a man and a woman,” wrote Steven P. Millies in an article featured in BusinessMirror’s Faith section on Sunday.

Millies said Pope Francis has signaled support for civil unions before, prior to his papacy, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. “So in an important sense, there is nothing to see here—nothing new. Yet Francis’s message here does matter,” Millies said, stressing the Pope’s statement calls on Catholics “to take note that they have to be concerned about justice for all people, including those in the LGBT community.”

Same-sex unions are a recurring debate in a lot of countries, including the Philippines, which is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic nations in Asia and the third-largest Roman Catholic country in the world.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said President Duterte has long expressed support for same-sex civil unions. The President attended an LGBT gathering in Davao City in 2017, where he said: “I want same-sex marriage. The problem is, we’ll have to change the law, but we can change the law.”

Changing this particular law, however, seems easier said than done. Pending before the Committee on Women and Gender Equality of the House of Representatives are House Bills 1357 and 2264, which seek to recognize samesex partnerships.

These bills seek to change the Family Code’s definition of marriage in the country as a union between a man and a woman, to allow couples to enter into a civil partnership whether they are of the opposite or of the same sex, and to provide civil rights, benefits and responsibilities to couples, previously unable to marry, by giving them due recognition and protection from the state.

Just like the Pope’s recent statement, these measures are also not new. Similar bills have languished in past Congresses and were never passed.

Senate President Tito Sotto said he doubts whether the Pope’s words will have an effect on legislation in the Philippines, noting that while not legally recognized, same-sex marriage is already practiced here in the country. “It’s just tolerated but not in the legal sense. We should leave it at that. Baka mapaginitan pa [It might be a subject of ridicule],” he told CNN Philippines.

In an interview with DWIZ last weekend, Sotto said property rights of all Filipino citizens, regardless of gender, are well protected in existing statutes, and there is no need to legislate a “same-sex civil union” for the purpose.

Sotto told DWIZ, partly in Filipino, “that is covered, they are all covered [by existing statutes]. The good lawyers will tell you that when two people living together or in partnership but not disqualified by law because both are unmarried, decide to buy a property, they share in it. No law is needed for that. They both paid for it, so they share ownership. The law looks at people equally. It is blind to your gender.” (See, “Sotto sees no need for ‘same-sex union’ law; House’s Zaldy Co pitches for one,” in the BusinessMirror, October 26, 2020).

It is interesting to note, however, that many of the countries that have decided to make same-sex unions legal are predominantly Roman Catholic, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, France, Uruguay, Colombia, Malta, Luxembourg and Ireland.

But Sotto is right. Whether the Pope’s recent endorsement—if it was indeed that—would have much sway in Congress for Catholic legislators to finally legalize same-sex unions in the Philippines is doubtful. Nevertheless, it is good to have this debate out in the open, to gauge the public’s sentiments on the issue.

Who knows? God works in mysterious ways and a lot of strange things have happened not only in politics but also in the evolution of the Catholic Church.

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THE Entrepreneur

T

he reproduction rate of Covid-19 in the Philippines has been on a decline for several weeks now, a trend that augurs well for a strong economic recovery next year.

The reduced rate of virus infections is encouraging government and health authorities to recommend the further re-opening of the economy, including allowing hotels to operate at full capacity and lifting the restriction on nonessential outbound travel.

I believe the gradual and calibrated re-opening of the economy, supported by regulatory reforms and technological innovations, will be crucial in the economic recovery, hopefully beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Along with increased operational capacity of factories, business establishments and public transportation, these measures should help the economy rebound in the October-December period from the drastic gross domestic product contraction of 16.5 percent in the second quarter and 9 percent in the whole first semester.

The third-quarter figure may have not seen a dramatic recovery because of the re-imposition of modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in August, but there are signs the fourth-quarter figure could show a turnaround.

Striking a balance between protecting public health and re-opening the economy, of course, should be the first order of the day. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, who leads the economic team, concurs with this.

For him, implementing health interventions to flatten the curve, preserve and create jobs and steer the economy to a quick and strong recovery must be our main agenda.

Economic managers now look at a full-year drop of 6 percent in 2020, but expect the economy to perform much better in 2021, on expectations the pandemic would be under control by that time, hopefully with the help of vaccines that remain under clinical trials.

The government is also banking on the enactment of the P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021, the Bayanihan 2 law, other reform measures, and ramped-up infrastructure spending under the “Build, Build, Build” program to support growth next year.

As I have written in the previous column, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is leading the BBB program through the construction of several projects aimed at decongesting traffic in the capital region.

More recently, the DPWH announced the start of the engineering design for the 32-kilometer BataanCavite Bridge that will cross Manila Bay. Once completed, the bridge will connect Calabarzon and Central Luzon without passing Subic-Clark-Tarlax expressway, North Luzon expressway and Edsa, reducing the travel time be-

tween the two regions to 40 minutes from five hours.

The P175.7-billion ($3.6 billion) bridge, supported by the Asian Development Bank, is a priority project under the BBB program that aims to boost the country’s long-term economic growth through increased public infrastructure investments.

It will also help transform the regional economies of Cavite, Bataan and other provinces through improved connectivity, new economic opportunities and jobs, according to the ADB. These projects are generating thousands of construction jobs that will help communities, where workers live, recuperate from the crisis. Thus, this is not the time to be pessimistic on the economy amid the many challenges.

On the contrary, we should appreciate every silver lining that comes our way.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno himself believes the worst is over for the economy when the Philippines started to reopen. The projected recovery is being supported by benign inflation, a strong external position, low debt ratio, remittances, appreciating peso and the stable banking system.

Mr. Diokno expects the inflation rate to be manageable within a range of 1.75 percent to 2.75 percent this year and, 2 percent to 4 percent in 2021 and 2022. An adequate supply of food, following the implementation of reform measures, has led to the lowinflation regime this year despite the supply shocks we experienced earlier in the year because of the lockdown and border restrictions.

The Rice Tariffication Law, which reformed the rice sector, helped improve food security while providing rice farmers better support. The National Economic and Development Authority has noted that the policy allowed 110 million Filipinos to have

The continuing economic chaos

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug

Senior Editors

Creative Director Chief Photographer

Lower PHL infection rate augurs well for economy

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

‘T

he period of Political Chaos began in October 2015. The period of Economic Chaos will begin in January 2020. Do not be surprised by the bizarre economic news that will soon fill the headlines.” If you did not accept that in September last year when I wrote it, you were not prepared for 2020.

The cycle is always the same: political chaos followed by economic chaos, and then followed by an economic reset.

We want to believe that the crisis of the chaos is the “reset” and things will be better. The “crisis” is not the reset that changes the longer cycle. The cycle creates a shift from confidence in the public sector to confidence in the private sector—and back and forth—and needs a great reset to happen.

You could say the crisis of the economic confidence in the private sector peaked in 1929. That was the end of a long cycle. But the economic reset did not

come until six years later, in 1934, when confidence switched back to the public sector and Western socialism was born.

Government funded public works projects and pension schemes like Social Security were instigated. The US’s First Transcontinental Railroad was built to join the eastern and western halves of the country in 1864. Government’s role was to provide a general framework for the rail lines, some government guaranteed loans, and some donations of right-ofland in return for priority services—like mail and military—on the trains.

From 1934 though, the US national

highway system and most dams and bridges were entirely government projects. This change in cycle was not limited to the US. Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei—the National Socialist German Workers’ Party—was founded in 1920. But Adolf Hitler, the party’s leader since 1921, was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933.

As the Private sector cycle took hold, there were fundamental changes.

There was a worldwide move away from planned economies towards free-market capitalism not seen since before 1929.

Under Deng Xiaoping, China embarked on extensive reforms in the 1980s, opening the country’s economy and allowing capitalist enterprises to operate. For the first time in world history, trans-Pacific Ocean trade equaled that of trans-Atlantic Ocean trade.

The private sector changed the global economy. Multinational manufacturing corporations relocated into Asia.

Free Trade Agreements were signed.

By 1989 countries with communist controlled economies were overthrown.

Government-controlled economy usually requires government-controlled politics. That was when “populist” governments were acceptable unlike for too

access to affordable rice, especially the poor who spend as much as 30 percent of their food budget on the staple.

The country’s economic fundamentals have remained solid despite the damaged wreaked by Covid-19.

The Philippines has a comfortable external payments position, with the gross international reserves climbing to an all-time high of $100 billion. The peso is strong and has appreciated by more than 4 percent against the US dollar since the start of the year to its highest level in four years. The local currency’s appreciation is supported by the balance of payments surplus, made possible by narrowing trade deficit and a rebound in remittances in recent weeks.

To make economic recovery felt by more Filipinos, we should focus on helping small entrepreneurs and businesses cope with the new business environment. The ADB in a report estimated that micro, small, and mediumsized enterprises represented 97 percent of all enterprises and 69 percent of the national labor force from 2010 to 2019 in Southeast Asia. MSMEs also contributed an average of 41 percent to the gross domestic product over the same period.

ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa has asked Southeast Asian countries to expand investments in digital infrastructure and ensure equitable access to technology. Experts said the pandemic has led to the faster adoption of digital technologies and the transformation of the labor force.

Supporting the digital needs of businesses, along with the calibrated re-opening of the economy and sustained infrastructure buildup, will hopefully translate into better economic activities in the fourth quarter and beyond.

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

many experts today.

The private sector has its share of failures also. The “Black Monday” stock market crash happened in 1987. Mexico suffered from a debt crisis starting in 1982. The US had its Savings and Loan scandal. Moving forward, the financial crisis hit East and Southeast Asia in 1997 and 1998.

We are now in a Private Sector cycle that began in 1985. It will end in 2032.

However, the major economic reset will peak in 2024.

The current leg of the cycle that started in January 2020 will run until March 2022 and we will continue to be on a wild ride. Two things to watch for: A strong US dollar will cause a debt crisis for countries (not the Philippines) with excessive foreign denominated loans.

We will see an increase in food supply problems globally. And at the beginning of 2021, expect more social unrest and protests, as most economies will not recover from the pandemic soon.

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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Tuesday, October 27, 2020 A7

‘We have to work together’ Ending the gridlock and paralysis

Remarks of UN Resident Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez at the virtual UN Philippines celebration of the 75th anniversary of the UN.

G

ood afternoon dear partners, colleagues and friends, First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to the Department of Foreign Affairs for coming together with us, in this celebration of UN Day. A special “thank you” to Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin for joining us.

Since January, we are living exceptional moments with a pandemic that has affected our daily lives and unveiled our vulnerabilities.

What started as a localized health crisis, has unfolded as a global human crisis.

The pandemic has shown that the systems on which we depend—health, food, trade, climate—are not only increasingly interdependent, but increasingly fragile.

For the first time in 30 years, poverty is rising.

Human development indicators are declining.

The crisis demonstrated that we failed in anticipation.

It also demonstrated we were not well prepared to recognize the simple fact that global challenges are better addressed with collective solutions.

Someone said that in a globalized world, “the future of any organization relies on its capacity to learn and transform.” This is the time where lessons from the pandemic should inform our vision and support our action. … and learning from this experience is not just preparing for future shocks, but also paying tribute to those who lost their lives as a result of Covid-19 and to those who are exposing their lives, every day, to win this battle. … and I take this opportunity to commend—on behalf of the UNCT— the millions of Filipino health workers, transporters, teachers, members of the security forces, and many others, for their strong commitment in this fight.

One of the most important lessons from this crisis is perhaps the most obvious: we have to work together. No country can do it alone. And we need inclusive collaboration, drawing on the critical contributions of civil society, business, foundations, the scientific community, local authorities, cities and regional governments.

As we say, anniversaries are not about celebrating the past; they are about looking ahead.

The present troubles can’t stop us reflecting on the proud history of the UN. The values of the United Nations—peace, justice, equality and dignity—are more needed than ever.

The Organization we celebrate today, emerged only after immense suffering.

It took two world wars, millions of deaths and the horrors of the Holocaust for world leaders to commit to international cooperation and the rule of law.

That commitment produced great results.

A Third World War has been avoided.

And down the decades, we had other historic accomplishments, including: n Peace treaties and peacekeeping n Decolonization n Adoption of Human rights standards n The triumph over apartheid n Humanitarian aid for millions of victims of conflict and disaster n The eradication of key diseases n Landmark pacts to protect the environment and our planet And most recently, the unanimous support for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change provided an inspiring vision for the 21st century.

The recent attribution of the Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Programme is another demonstration of the key role of the UN in tackling hunger and malnutrition.

When I was appointed as UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, a senior official from New York told me: “You can’t understand the UN, without knowing the role of the Philippines in the organization”.

Now, with just a few months in the country, I realized that this person was not exaggerating.

The Philippines is one of the 51 founding members of the UN, signing the United Nations Charter in San Francisco back in 1945 and as we know, the Philippines continues to be a very active Member State.

We have recently seen this engagement on a number of occasions, such

as the participation in the Global Compact for Migration; in the Global Compact on Refugees; in the participation last year in the High-Level Political Forum of ECOSOC, where the Philippines presented its second Voluntary National Review on progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.

We have also seen another example of such engagement in the recent Human Rights Council where the Philippines and an important number of Member States agreed—jointly with the UN—to set up the first-ever UN Joint Programme on Human Rights.

Two years ago, the United Nations Country Team and the Philippines signed the Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development, which reflects the strategic support of 17 UN entities to the Philippine Development Plan.

Most recently, as a result of Covid-19, the UN Country Team in the Philippines has been working on 3 fronts: Firstly, the implementation of a large-scale health response, guided by the World Health Organization (WHO). This intervention has allowed to support the Department of Health to carry out infection control and contact tracing, support public health communication to protect and avoid further spread while also advising on well-being and mental health.

Through the COVAX Facility, the UN and the Government are collaborating to ensure effective access to vaccination against Covid-19.

Secondly, we mobilized a robust network of national and international non-government organizations, UN agencies and the private sector around the Philippines Humanitarian Response Plan, to address the most immediate needs of 5.4 million of Filipinos. This plan, which gathers the capacities of more than 60 humanitarian partners, is a concrete demonstration of a close partnership between government institutions, national and international NGOs, the private sector and the critical support of the international community.

Thirdly, we have started—since my arrival in June—a review of the existing programming and plans to better realign our support to the government in the recovery phase of the Covid-19 crisis. We are at the final stage of this process and will shortly launch an innovative 3-year “UN Socioeconomic and Peacebuilding Framework for Covid-19 Recovery” which will mobilize the whole UN Development System in support of Government’s Recovery Plan.

The framework will make the most of the capacities of 21 UN entities. It will harness the potential of innovative partnership with international financial institutions and the private sector. It will promote South-South and triangular cooperation, it will increase funding from SDGs global funds and will make sure that the country benefits from regional knowledge platforms.

I also take the opportunity to express our appreciation to the bilateral partners of the Philippines, who channel contributions through the United Nations and make our work here possible. Please keep those resources coming, your engagement matters a great deal.

As we see, we face a foundational moment.

Those who built the United Nations 75 years ago had lived through a pandemic, a global depression, genocide and world war.

They knew the cost of discord and the value of unity.

Today, we face our own 1945 moment.

If we are to emerge from this crisis stronger, better prepared to meet other crises and build more resilient futures, we must be united. We must act in solidarity to ensure that no one is left behind.

This is the reason we celebrate UN Day every year.

Thank you very much for being here with us tonight.

Mabuhay United Nations!

Mabuhay Philippines!

Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

A

T long last, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

With still 20 months remaining in office, the Duterte administration is barreling its way to delivering its major election promise to make the gridlock and paralysis in Edsa a thing of the past. Many past administrations had been bedeviled by the horrendous traffic in our nation’s capital, which is notorious all over the world.

Driving in Jakarta, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh is no sweat compared to Metro Manila. Based on a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the National Economic and Development Authority in 2018, the traffic jam in Metro Manila costs a daily economic loss of P3.5 billion.

Unless the situation is addressed, the loss will grow to P5 billion a day a decade from now, which would seriously set back our development.

These monstrous traffic woes have been with us decades ago but it’s only during the past 20 or 25 years that commuters and motorists have complained about it. In the 1970s, I would leave my work in Pasay City at 4:30 p.m. and take a jeepney ride to Quiapo, walk half a kilometer to San Beda and still manage to attend my first class at 5:30 p.m. In the 1990s, I could schedule a court hearing in Manila in the morning, take a quick lunch and still attend preliminary investigation at the Fiscal’s Office in Pasay or in Makati at 1:30 p.m.

Traffic was manageable then and you

can catch up with your appointment on time. Now, it would take a miracle to do that.

Today, if you work in Makati or BGC and you live in Quezon City (before the work-at-home arrangement was adopted), it would be a hassle to drive to work unless you leave your place at 5 a.m. to beat the traffic. It’s the same ordeal when getting home where it will take you 40 minutes just to hit Edsa or C-5 coming from BGC or MBC. It would be hideous to subject your unmarried son or daughter to such a daily punishment. Renting or boarding in Makati or BGC and spending for one’s food will be a major expense. The option is to buy him or her a condo if the parents can afford it. What about the average workers who commute daily? What time do you think they rise from their bed to be at work on time? Do you think their kids are still awake to join them for dinner and somehow make up for leaving them still asleep in the morning?

Traffic also accounts for the loss of

family bonding, which no money can compensate. Cars, public or private, are supposed to provide convenience to the motorists and riding public.

But when there are too many cars and the road system is inadequate, the situation can cause a colossal headache on the part of the government. Metropolitan Manila Development Authority was conceived to address the complex problems like traffic congestion in the metropolis but it has been overtaken by the rapid growth of the urban centers.

We have seen quite a number of traffic experiments - removing left turns and right turns, installing U-turns, removing U-turns, synchronized traffic lights, etc.—but they failed to ease the traffic. Now, we have removed the U-turns in Edsa, relocated the bus stops and provided bike lanes but whether it will solve the bedlam in Edsa or not remains to be seen. What we need is sustainable and lasting solutions to the traffic puzzle, which has confounded every post-Edsa revolution president. The traffic bottleneck at Edsa had become a major issue in the last presidential election and posed a challenge to the candidates. And candidate Duterte boldly accepted it and pledged to solve it if elected.

Last week, the Department of Public Works and Highways has touted its accomplishments as it moves closer to significantly complete its “grand Edsa Decongestion Master Plan, composed of a network of infrastructure projects.” Secretary Mark Villar proudly announced that travel time across Metro Manila will be cut down significantly.

He proudly said that “the promise of President Duterte to decongest Edsa

will soon be a reality. Soon, travel time from North Luzon expressway to South Luzon expressway will only be 30 minutes.” Ambitious words but if you look at the ongoing projects which are poised to be completed by the end of the Duterte term, or soon thereafter, the traffic nightmares in Edsa would no longer haunt us in our sleep. The massive decongestion program consists of 14 major roads and expressways and 11 bridges with total project cost of P222.6 billion, more or less. The recently completed Skyway Stage 3 Project alone, an elevated expressway which connects the SLEX from Buendia in Makati to the NLEX in Balintawak, Quezon City, will decongest Edsa by as much as 55,000 vehicles per day. This major project was undertaken by the San Miguel Corp. There are other significant road infrastructures being built by other partner private companies such as the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. which will complement the Skyway Project. Four bridges spanning the Pasig River are expected to be completed next year while three others are in the pipeline. Some of the flagship projects, not only in Metro Manila but in other places as well, may not be finished by 2022, when President Duterte leaves office. In fact, roughly one-half to twothird of them may only be completed but no one can question that the “Build, Build, Build” program has changed the physical landscape of our country, particularly Metro Manila. And hopefully when the Edsa decongestion is completed, we can all sigh with great relief: “Free at last, free at last from the gridlock and paralysis of Edsa.”

BIR clarifies its Voluntary Assessment and Payment Program Atty. Lino Ernie M. Guevara

Tax law for business

I

S a taxpayer entitled to a “No Audit” privilege if it selects to pay not all, but just some tax types from among those it is currently registered?

More than two months to go before the December 31 deadline for taxpayers to avail themselves of the Voluntary Assessment and Payment Program (VAPP) under Revenue Regulations (RR) 21-2020, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued a circular to provide answers to taxpayers’ questions, including the one raised above.

Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 111-2020 seeks to clarify various open issues relating to VAPP availment.

First off, the RMC spelled out the dates of the VAPP coverage, especially for one-time transactions. For ONETT of individuals and taxpayers on a calendar year basis, the VAPP covers all transactions from January to December 2018. For those on a fiscal year basis, the covered ONETT are those within their fiscal year 2018. If the fiscal year of the taxpayer is from May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019, the ONETT covered is within this inclusive period.

One of the more vital clarifications made relates to the question posed above. Unfortunately, the answer is NO. The “No Audit” privilege for taxable year 2018 will only be availed of if the application covers ALL tax types a taxpayer is registered under.

According to the BIR, the “(a)vailment should cover all the tax types to which the taxpayer is registered, including withholding taxes, except when the taxpayer is pursuing a claim for tax credit/refund, in which case, he can leave out the tax type for such claim” [Question and Answer No. 3, RMC 1112020]. Likewise, if a business taxpayer wants to avail of the VAPP benefit, the “availment should cover both Sections 9.a. and 9.b.” [Question and Answer No. 6, RMC 111-2020]. Further, in Question and Answer No. 32 on whether VAPP availment by taxpayers with duly issued but protested Final Assessment Notice (FAN) is allowed, the BIR said it is allowed provided that ALL tax types of the taxpayer are covered in

the availment.

Hence, no selective tax payment under this VAPP for you.

Note that RR 21-2020 presented the “amount of taxes to be paid as a condition to avail the privilege” in two SEPARATE subsections under Section 9 of the regulations. Section 9.a. spoke of income tax, VAT, percentage tax, excise tax and DST [other than DST on ONETT] while Section 9.b was for Final Withholding Taxes [on compensation, fringe benefits, etc.] and Creditable Withholding Taxes [other than CWT on ONETT]. It said that “(f)or purposes of VAPP availment under Sections 9.a and 9.b, taxpayers must apply for all registered taxes indicated therein in order to avail of the privilege set forth under Section 10.” Such separate presentation and treatment of the different tax types [i.e., segregating the withholding taxes from the other taxes] as well as the wordings of the regulations as quoted previously [i.e., registered taxes indicated therein] gave taxpayers the impression they have the option to choose from either tax type grouping to pay VAPP, that is, either under Section 9.a. or 9.b., and still enjoy the ‘No Audit’ privilege for the tax type paid. For instance, if a company anticipates no possible audit issues relative to CWT or has a strong defense for it against the ongoing BIR audit, the Company may decide to just pay the taxes under Section 9.a. only and forego availment under Section 9.b. For some taxpayers, this scenario could be more reasonable and manageable in terms of cost and in weighing the rationale or justification for the VAPP application. The BIR may wish to take a second look at this clarificatory rule in the RMC to encourage more VAPP availment.

Moreover, for taxpayers with FANs issued showing the amount of pro-

posed deficiency taxes, the BIR eases the taxpayers concern by clarifying in the RMC that the “amount on the FAN for the 2018 audit case will, in no way, affect the computation of the voluntary payment for VAPP”. Hence, those assessed amounts, no matter how substantial, should not be considered by the BIR for the VAPP computation.

The other major concern for taxpayers in deciding whether to avail of VAPP or not is the waiver rule on refund claim under Section12 of RR 21-2020 [i.e., any payment made is construed as a waiver of the taxpayer’s right to claim for refund or credit]. The RMC clarified that the waiver referred to in Section 12 of said regulations applies only to claims for refund on erroneous payment. Moreover, if the taxpayer applies for VAPP but declines to waive his right to claim for refund, he can leave out the tax type for the said refund and the same shall not be covered by the availment. Further, a taxpayer with a claim for tax credit or refund can avail of the VAPP under Section 9.a., e.g. VAT refund, and the audit/verification and processing of the claim shall be continued, even if the corresponding tax type is included in the availment. With this waiver rule clarified, taxpayers with pending refund claims but wanting to avail of the VAPP benefits can make a more informed decision as to their VAPP applications.

I was hoping that the said RMC could have shed light as well as to how the BIR determines an INVALID availment mentioned under Section 10 of the regulations. The RMC merely reiterated that the VAPP payment shall be constituted as payment of deficiency taxes assessed for taxable year 2018 and that the taxpayer will be notified by the BIR of the denial and the reasons therefor. (It appears there is no mechanism for appeal or reconsideration of the VAPP denial under the rules.) Note that said Section 10 provides for a situation where if the VAPP application was made by a taxpayer currently being subjected to an audit, the latter shall be suspended first. But the audit shall resume once the availment has been found to be “invalid”.

It then provides that despite the issuance of a Certificate of Availment, the taxpayer’s availment shall be rendered “invalid”. In this case, it shall be subjected to audit or investigation following prescribed procedures under existing rules upon “prior authorization and approval of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue” in certain instanc-

es. These instances include: (a)when there is a strong evidence or findings of under-declaration of sales/receipt or overstatement of deductions by more than 30 percent based on the revenue official’s written report stating the facts and supporting documents; and/or (b) when there is verifiable information that the taxpayer withheld but failed to remit withholding taxes.

Section 10 seems to contemplate two different scenarios where in the first, there was an “invalid” availment and in the second, the availment, or in effect, the CA, was rendered invalid, despite prior CA issuance, based on the two instances cited above. Both the regulations and the circular failed to elucidate what constitutes such “invalid” availment under the first scenario. What then should be the proper grounds for such VAPP availment to be “invalid”? Should those instances cited also apply? From the plain reading of the regulations itself, a full and timely compliance by the taxpayer with the correct amount to be paid for availment under Section 9 as well as the complete satisfaction of the conditions for availment, including the submission of mandatory and additional requirements, under Section 5 of the regulations, should merit the VAPP approval and CA issuance. The taxpayers could have been better guided and informed if the said RMC likewise dwelt on this issue of “invalid” availment.

For the other clarifications made by the BIR, you may wish to refer to the said RMC 111-2020.

The success of any voluntary payment program such as this one is always ultimately measured by the collections hauled for the government driven by clearer rules and guidelines. And this VAPP’s success could not have been more relevant at this time. The government’s clarion call to taxpayers intensifies as its need for more revenue reverberates during its continuing battle with Covid-19.

The author is a Special Counsel of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a memberfirm 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 ernie.guevara@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 8403-201 local 160.

A8 Tuesday, October 27, 2020

PHL to host WTTC 2021; quicker rebound projected

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

T

HE World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) is looking forward to a quicker rebound in global tourism with recent innovations in inbound tourism and border controls by a growing number of countries amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the opening ceremony of the virtual Philippine MICE Conference 2020 on Monday, WTTC Regional Director for Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa Nigel David said, “I’m delighted to say that we’re finally starting to see some signs of progress with a move away from border closures and blanket quarantines with a range of pre-departure testing and travel corridors starting to be implemented.”

He noted the announcement by the “Singapore government this week of their plan to roll out rapid Covid-19 tests for events such as weddings, sporting events and business conferences to help the reopening of the economy. They will use the rapid antigen test with a digital technology with contacttracing arms.”

Because of Covid-19, close to 198 million travel and tourism jobs will have been lost by the end of 2020, with world economies suffering some $5.54 trillion in

gross domestic product, according to WTTC’s latest forecast.

T he De pa r t ment of Tou r ism (DOT) has been tr ying to encourage more local government units to reopen their destinations to tourism, and has funded, through the Tourism Promot ions Boa rd ( TPB), its marketing arm, the pilot test of SD Biosensor’s antigen test in Baguio City, in a bid to fasttrack the revival of domestic tourism. Inbound tourism, however, is still being discussed by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, although outbound travel has already been permitted since October 21.

David also formally announced Manila’s hosting of the WTTC Global Summit next year. “[We are] reaffirming our commitment to the key MICE industry with the news that in 2021, WTTC will host two global summits a rearranged summit held over from this year from Cancun, Mexico, and more excitingly the global summit to be hosted in Manila later in the year.”

The announcement was welcomed by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat, whose opening remarks was read by TPB Chief Operating Officer Ma. Anthonette Velasco-Allones during the MICECon event.

Continued on A2

MVP Group, JP Morgan in talks for 45% SPEx stake T

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE group of Manuel V. Pangilinan is in talks with JP Morgan to assist the group in its interest to buy the 45-percent stake of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEx) in the Malampaya gas-to-power project.

“We are looking at it. We’ve been talking to JP Morgan who has been advising Shell on their share sale in Malampaya,” Pangilinan said in a press briefing on the third-quarter financial results of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday afternoon.

Pangilinan said PXP Energy Corp. could be used as the vehicle to acquire the stake of SPEx. PXP Energy holds interest in Service Contract (SC) 72 or the contract to explore Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea through London-listed Forum Energy Plc. It also has a direct operating interest in SC 75 northwest Palawan.

Exploration activities in the areas of SC 72, 75 and 59 were suspended due to the West Philippine Sea dispute. However, President Duterte recently approved the recommendation of the De-

partment of Energy (DOE) to lift the suspension of petroleum activities and the resumption of exploration in those areas.

PXP received last week the “Resume-to-Work” notice from the DOE. Incidentally, Pangilinan said another survey would be conducted before it proceeds to drill wells. “We are preparing our work program for both SC 72 and 75. We don’t know yet when it will be finished but we should submit it to the DOE for approval. If they approve it, the next step is to drill two exploratory wells. But we need to do another survey because the oil rig operator would need an updated survey to determine the ecology of the ocean floor,” Pangilinan said.

SMC, too

Aside from Pangilinan’s group, conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

(SMC) earlier confirmed its interest in acquiring the 45-percent stake of SPEx. SPEx, operator of the Malampaya gas field, earlier announced

plans to divest itself of its entire stake as part of its portfolio rationalization efforts.

But Dennis Uy-led Udenna Corp. (UC), which currently has a 45-percent stake in the project, said it would invoke its pre-emptive and consent rights over the stake sale.

The Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), which holds the remaining 10 percent, is being invited by UC to join in the latter’s takeover plan.

The divestment of SPEx and Uy’s interest in the Malampaya gas field prompted Senator Sherwin Gatchalian to call for a Senate inquiry to look into the compliance by the government and the Malampaya consortium with Presidential Decree No. (PD) 87 or the Oil Exploration and Development Act of 1972, and the impending sale of the 45-percent stake of SPEx. “We’re looking at the larger picture which is the energy security of the country. So we have to make sure that whoever takes over that portion of Shell should have the technical capability. They should be able to demonstrate that they can operate this rig competently with technical expertise and in the future, if ever that area has potential, they should be able to demonstrate that so they can explore and develop that area,” Gatchalian said.

Gatchalian, along with Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III and

No plan to impose another price freeze, says Palace

M

ALACAÑANG said on Monday the gover nment currently has no plans to impose another price freeze despite the extension of the state of national calamity up to next year.

In a online briefing on Monday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the price freeze implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) during the onset of community quarantine last March has already expired.

He noted the imposition of the regulation to control the prices of basic commodities is limited to just 60 days “upon declaration of calamity, emergency, and other circumstances.”

“It cannot be repeatedly reimposed even if the declaration of State of Emergency is extended up to September [2021],” Roque explained.

In March, President Duterte issued Proclamation No. 929, placing the entire country under six months of State of Calamity because of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. This expired last September 16, 2020.

He later extended this decl a r at ion t h rou g h P ro c l a m a tion No. 1021, which placed the country under State of Calamity from September 13, 2020, to September 12, 2021, “unless earlier lifted or extended as circumstance may warrant.”

But even without a price freeze, Roque assured the public that prices of basic goods will remain regulated by DTI through the use of suggested retail price (SRP).

“This [SRP] is being monitored by DTI and those who will violate will be given sanction,” Roque said.

HE Senate is on track to tackle for plenary deliberations a counterpart bill splitting Maguindanao into two provinces following initial approval of the enabling legislation by the Committee on Local Government.

The committee, chaired by Sen. Francis Tolentino, endorsed the division of Maguindanao, which has a total population of 1,173,933 as of 2015.

Justifying the split, Tolentino noted that Maguindanao “remains to be one of the poorest provinces in the country despite being blessed with rich and abundant natural resources.”

He stressed that “reforms must be done in order to remedy this predicament and one way to ensure this is by splitting the province into two.”

Enabling legislations are embodied in House counterpart bill No. 6413 authored by Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu; and Senate Bills No. 1824 and 1714 separately authored by Tolentino and Sen. Cynthia Villar, respectively, all seeking to partition Manguindanao into two separate provinces under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

DFA recalls envoy in Brazil over alleged abuse video

F

As proposed, 12 towns will comprise Northern Maguindanao, with the capital based in Sultan Kudarat; while Southern Maguindanao will be composed of 24 municipalities, with Buluan as its administrative capital.

Proponents of the enabling law noted that the Department of Finance’s (DOF) Bureau of Local Government Finance greenlighted the proposed measures to divide Maguindanao into two separate provinces, noting the partition is financially compliant under Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.

Tolentino reported that Director Ma. Pamela Quizon of the Bureau of Local Government Finance affirmed that the two new provinces to be carved out of Maguindanao have met the income requirements under the Local Government Code if the proposed partition will proceed.

The senator asserted that “unlocking Maguindanao’s potential is not just vital to help the people living in the said province but to bring down poverty in the entire country.”

OREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. on Monday announced the recall of the Philippine ambassador to Brazil following release of video footage showing her apparently mistreating her household staff.

“The Philippine Ambassador to Brazil has been recalled effective immediately to explain the maltreatment of her service staff,” Locsin tweeted.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) subsequently issued a statement, repeating the recall to the home office of Ambassador Marichu Mauro, who was appointed to the post in February 2018.

She also has concurrent jurisdiction to Colombia and Venezuela.

The video footage dated October 25 was taken from what appears to be a closed-circuit television (CCTV) of Mauro’s residence, which was shown on Brazilian television network Globo News.

Two television broadcasters, a male and female, were shown commenting about the CCTV in Portuguese, while Ambassador Mauro, a career diplomat, was seen holding a female household help by the ear. There were other forms of physical abuse on four occassions.

The blurry video could not establish whether the abuse was committed only on the female helper or other members of her household. The incident reached the Philippines via social media.

The media asked Executive Director Ivy Banzon-Abaloz how the CCTV got into the hands of a Brazilian television station, or whether somebody from Mauro’s household provided the CCTV to the TV station but got no reply. However, she confirmed the recall of the envoy.

“The household staff left Brasilia on October 21 and is back in the Philippines.

The DFA is reaching out to her to ensure her well-being and cooperation in the investigation,” the DFA said in a statement, adding that a thorough investigation will be conducted.

Dates on the CCTV footage listed the incident took place in March, August and twice in October this year.

Globo News said the events occurred inside Mauro’s diplomatic residence.

Butch Fernandez

Recto L. Mercene

Samuel P. Medenilla

Senate panel OKs splitting Maguindanao into 2

T

Senator Panfilo Lacson, filed Senate Resolution No. 533 citing the need for Congress to be apprised of the government’s plans for SC 38.

Section 4 of PD 87 states that the government may directly explore for and produce indigenous petroleum and may also indirectly undertake the same service contracts, provided that the contractor is technically competent and financially capable to undertake the operations.

Located approximately 50 kilometers northwest of Palawan, Malampaya is the country’s main domestic source of energy, fuelling five power plants as it accounts for 20.08 percent of power generation in the entire country and 29.3 percent of power generation in Luzon.

It has likewise provided the government a total revenue of P261,681,610,752.59 from January 2002 to December 31, 2019, which is a crucial source of funding for various energy resource development programs and initiatives.

Given its declining output, one of the issues facing Malampaya includes whether or not it should be extended or the government should opt to manage and operate it, according to Gatchalian.

“This is not plain and simple business transaction. It affects all of us because of energy security issues. We want to be assured that we will not run out of fuel supply in the immediate future,” Gatchalian said.

Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

B1

SM Prime 9-month income down by half

S

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

hopping mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc. on Monday said its income in the January-to-September period fell by half to P14.4 billion, from last year's P27.6 billion due to the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revenues reached P60.7 billion for the period, 29 percent lower from P85 billion last year, the company said.

“SM Prime’s core businesses, primarily its malls, showed slight recovery as the government started to re-open more industries to help the economy going in to the second half of the year,” Jeffrey C. Lim, SM Prime president, said.

“We have also implemented tighter controls on our expenses achieving a major reduction in operating expenses quarter on quarter. Nevertheless, we continue to provide further assistance to our various stakeholders

as well as to the programs led by the government in containing the spread of the virus and strengthening back our economy.”

For the nine-month period, SM Prime’s revenue from its domestic mall business reached P18.3 billion, 57 percent lower from last year’s P42 billion. Rental income accounted for P16.8 billion in revenues, down by more than half from P35.1 billion last year.

SM Pr ime’s residentia l business, led by SM Development Corp.

(SMDC), recorded a 7-percent increase in revenue to P34.2 billion

Converge shares fall in PSE debut C

on verge Information a nd Communicat ions Technology Solutions Inc., a company that installs broadband Internet in homes using fiberoptic cables, made its debut at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Monday.

The company said it is the country's biggest initial public offering (IPO), but its shares failed to fly as investors had decided to cash out.

Shares of Converge, the most traded stock, fell 9.4 percent during its first day of trade, closing at P15.22 per share from its IPO price of P16.80.

“Investors that weren't interested in holding it for the longer term cashed out,” Chistopher Mangun, research head at AAA Securities Inc., said.

“Short-term traders cashed out of Converge shares as they speculated on the prospects of the country amid the pandemic. Many are debating as to how fast the company can meet its growth targets given effects of the lockdown,” Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., said.

Aristotle Reyes, trader at UPCC Securities, explained that assuming Converge's earnings for the first half at P1.26 billion is the same as in the second half, the company will end the year with P2.5 billion in income. At the said price, it would be 50 times its price to

Google to invest in Tokopedia

G

oogle and Temasek Holdings Pte have agreed to invest about $350 million in PT Tokopedia, people familiar with the matter said, a major cash infusion that will bankroll the Indonesian online mall’s post-Covid-19 expansion.

The Alphabet Inc. unit and Singapore’s state investment firm could sign an agreement for the funding soon, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing the deal before it’s formally concluded. The financing falls short of the initial goal of between $500 million to $1 billion that Bloomberg News reported in July, though Tokopedia may still be looking for more investors.

Tokopedia, the online marketplace backed by SoftBank Group Corp., was said to have held talks with United States internet giants including Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. The backing of Google and Temasek is a vote of confidence for one of Indonesia’s biggest e-commerce operators, which rode a surge in online shopping during the pandemic. America’s largest internet corporations have looked increasingly toward Asia as growth in the US and Europe slows, seeking to tap the region’s rapidly growing smartphone-savvy population. Facebook is buying a stake in India’s Jio Platforms, while its WhatsApp unit struck a deal to invest in Gojek, which has a popular digital payments service called GoPay. Representatives for Google, Tokopedia and Temasek declined to comment.

Tokopedia co-founder and Chief Executive Officer William Tanuwijaya built Indonesia’s most valuable startup after Gojek by scoring early backing from SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder Jack Ma. Bloomberg News

earnings ratio using its IPO price of P16.80, he said.

Converge raised some P29.1 billion in fresh cash from its listing, which the company said it will spend for its capital expenditure program for the next 18 months.

“We are fully committed to building the largest fiber broadband network in the Philippines and to providing affordable and reliable high-speed Internet connectivity to millions of Filipinos nationwide,” Pampanga businessman Dennis Anthony H. Uy, the company's founder and CEO, said.

“Our extensive, proprietary end-to-end fiber broadband network will enable us to support the digitalization of the Philippine economy. With our experienced senior management, differentiated offering and strong value proposition, Converge is well-placed to address this significantly unserved demand and create long-term value for our business and shareholders.”

Fi n a nce S e c ret a r y C a rlos Dominguez III said the planned infrastructure expansion of Converge following its stock market debut will contribute to the country’s strong economic bounce-back from the pandemic and quickened transition to the digital-based New Economy.

Dominguez said Converge’s IPO and listing this week is a “strong vote of confidence in the economy’s capacity to bounce back strongly

after the difficulties brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“I encourage Converge to use the proceeds of this public offering to continue investing in network improvements to serve more Filipinos nationwide,” said Dominguez during the IPO listing of the company at the PSE. Dominguez, along with Uy and PSE President-CEO Ramon Monzon, led the ringing of the opening bells at the Bonifacio Global City trading floor in Taguig City to mark the company’s listing on the main board of the bourse.

The company, the only pure-play fixed broadband operator in the country, hopes to get 55 percent of the residential market in the country by 2025. It still is silent on its plans on how to grow the enterprise market, where it will collide head-on with telecom behemoths PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. Grace Uy, the company's president said Converge's residential business, which represent three quarters of its revenues, is the fastest-growing in the industry, while the rest comes from the enterprise business, which is also growing over three times than the average market growth.

“Put together, we have built a robust business model that has allowed us to achieve industry-leading trifecta of 65 percent growth, 50 percent margin and 20 percent ROIC [return on invested capital],

which we expect to sustain over the long run,” she said.

On the domestic front, the Converge offering secured over P4.85 billion of domestic demand, making it one of the largest domestic IPO take-ups in the country.

Meanwhile, its cornerstone investors secured over P10.93 billion, covering approximately 40 percent of the base offering, while the investments from blue-chip, long-only institutional investors accounted for over 80 percent of the transaction.

Converge is the second company to publicly list on the stock market this year amid the coronavirusinduced economic crisis, following Merry Mart Consumer Corp. IPO last June.

The benchmark PSE index ended slightly higher by 7.13 points to close at 6,491.19 points after its weak opening.

“We saw some profit taking in early trading however, investors were quick to pick up issues that pulled back. In terms of individual issues, the performance of blue chips was mixed. We may see the main index decline in the coming days as more investors secure profits,” Mangun said.

Total value of trade reached P31.09 billion, mainly on Converge's listing. Gainers and losers were almost even at 102 and 107, respectively, while 44 shares were unchanged. VG Cabuag

from P31.9 billion last year.

Operating income rose 13 percent to P14.1 billion from P12.5 billion.

Reservation sales reached P66.7 billion in the three quarters of the year, slightly higher from last year’s P66.4 billion. With the resumption of construction in new and expanding SMDC projects, the company is expecting to add more units in its inventory while offering its ready-foroccupancy units of 1,650 units, down from 2,292 units last year, it said.

SM Prime’s commercial properties reported revenue of P3.7 billion for the period, while the group’s op-

erating income reached P3.3 billion.

Meanwhile, the company’s hotels and convention centers business segment registered P1.3 billion in revenue for the period as it started to cater to a wider market with the easing of quarantine measures in key areas in the Philippines.

“As we work together to bounce back from these challenges, SM Prime will stay committed to finding solutions to serve the ever-changing needs and aspirations of its customers, while providing growth to all our stakeholders and maintaining a safe and healthy environment for everyone,” Lim said.

‘New permits to hasten network improvements’

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

F

ILIPINOS may expect better telco services in the coming months, according to the two incumbent telco operators in the country, as they implement network improvements to accommodate the growing demand for Internet connectivity during the pandemic.

Smart Communications Inc. said it has secured about 600 new permits from various local governments across the Philippines, a move that will allow the group to build new telco towers that can house its radio equipment.

“We are grateful for the government’s initiatives that make it possible for us to build more towers in order to deliver the best network quality and ‘nationwidest’ coverage, including the unserved and underserved areas in our country,” Smart President Alfredo S. Panlilio said.

Globe Telecom Inc. said its network upgrades have already yielded better customer experience in at least 140 municipalities and cities.

Recently, the company migrated the radio equipment in 25 barangays from purely 2G and 3G to LTE to provide more modern and better connection to their residents.

Joel Agustin, the company’s SVP for program delivery and network technical group, claimed that Globe customers in the said areas are “starting to feel an improved experience especially for data services used for distance learning, downloading movies, gaming and work from home requirements.”

“Our LTE expansion has primarily upgraded our capacity and technology in areas where the signal is slow or non-existent. These efforts have now gained traction based on the improved mobile experience of our customers. Aside from wider coverage, they will also see a significant increase in the speed when they use their data services,” he claimed.

Both telcos have until December to improve their telco services or risk a government takeover, a threat that came from no less than President Duterte during his most recent State of the Nation Address.

ANA to unveil restructuring plan

Emperador profits up on higher overseas sales

E

mperador Inc., the listed liquor firm of businessman Andrew Tan, said its income in January to September rose 11 percent to P5.9 billion from last year’s P5.27 billion, mainly on brisk overseas sales.

In the third quarter alone, it said its income rose 25 percent to P2.5 billion from last year's P2.02 billion, still due to the high demand of its products overseas.

The company did not provide revenue figures and its performance in the domestic market.

“The success of our international expansion boosted company earnings, bringing stability and growth at a time when the Philippines wrestles with the impact of the coronavirus. Emperador’s global business saw double-digit growth

as it adapted well to new consumption trends,” Emperador President Winston Co said in a statement.

Its brands, such as Fundador and Tres Cepas, have been growing consistently mainly in the United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and China.

In Spain, brands owned and produced under Grupo Emperador España SA continue to dominate the brandy market with a 40-percent market share.

Around the world, Fundador, the Spanish brandy that it acquired 5 years ago, has been growing even in North America. In the United States alone, Fundador achieved 23-percent growth in January to September. In Canada, sales tripled as Fundador Light has been made available in Alberta, Canada, it said.

The company said sales of Fundador has been increasing in the United Kingdom and Italy. Mexico’s brandy performance, meanwhile, rose by 8 percent during the period.

“We are glad that the company was able to deliver solid performance in the first nine months of 2020 on the strength of its international business that we have developed in the past five years.

The highest international growth comes from China, which is expected to more than double from last year, which will be driven by the premium single malt brands and brandy. We are confident that this will pave the way for further growth in the future for Emperador,” Emperador International Chief Executive Officer Glenn Manlapaz said. VG Cabuag

Allianz, San Juan to build bike pit stop

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ucio Tan-owned Allianz PNB Life has partnered with the city government of San Juan to provide biking safety solutions to the city.

They unveiled over the weekend the design of the country’s first solar-powered bike pit stop that will be constructed in the San Juan City Hall Complex along Pinaglabanan St. The pit stop will also feature a bike parking area, a bikers’ resting area, and a small footprint bike repair station complete with hanger arms, repair tools, and air pump. The design of the bike pit stop was patterned after the Allianz race car pit stops

during Formula 1 races. In addition, safety bollards for bikers will be installed on major thoroughfares across the city, providing safe lanes for bikers to travel. “We are thankful for the support of Allianz.

It only shows that when we lead the way, we can build private sector confidence in government and support will naturally follow. We have been unyielding and consistent in our bike safety campaign. We hope to encourage more people to use their bikes as a means for traveling by ensuring their safety,” said San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora.

Allianz PNB Life and San Juan have launched

their respective biking initiatives—the former through its Ride Safe Movement campaign and the latter through its Bike Safety project.

Allianz is the exclusive Life Insurance Partner of San Juan City’s Bike Safety project. In line with this initiative, San Juan had earlier launched bike lanes along Ortigas Avenue, N. Domingo Street, and Pinaglabanan St., and is looking to put up more. Apart from the bike lanes, it has also deployed bike patrollers to ensure the safety of bikers and that the city’s strict quarantine protocols are observed. Lenie Lectura

All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA) aircraft on the tarmac at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg

A

NA Holdings Inc. plans to temporarily transfer workers to other companies as the Japanese airline faces billions of dollars in losses, forcing it to come up with restructuring measures to survive the plunge in air travel from the pandemic.

The carrier will cut about 3,500 jobs by the fiscal year ending 2022 and will seek to temporarily transfer employees to Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers, the Yomiuri newspaper reported over the weekend. An ANA spokesman confirmed that employees will be dispatched without providing further details.

The global airline industry is facing a painfully slow recovery from the ongoing effects of the pandemic as carriers slash jobs and secure funds to ride out the crisis. United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. both posted steep losses, with Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. planning to cut thousands of jobs and close a regional carrier.

“It will be necessary to raise new funds immediately” if ANA posts a loss of about 500 billion yen, said Yasuhito Tsuchiya, senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley. ANA, Japan’s largest carrier, is planning to secure about 400 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in subordinated loans to keep operations afloat. Japan Airlines Co. is seeking to raise about 200 billion to 300 billion yen in subordinated loans, the Kyodo news agency reported on Monday. Sub-

ordinated loans are usually given to debt-heavy or financially weak borrowers to bolster their financial health, because credit rating companies count part of such loans as capital, helping the businesses enhance their credit status. For lenders, they are riskier than straight loans but typically carry higher interest rates. A spokeswoman for JAL declined to comment on the loan report, saying that nothing has been decided and that the carrier has secured plenty of liquidity. ANA’s shares fell 1.1 percent in Tokyo on Monday. The stock is down 35 percent this year.

ANA is projected to post a loss of 81 billion yen for the fiscal second quarter that ended in September, versus 45 billion yen in net income a year earlier, according to the average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. They predict sales will decline 58 percent to 231 billion yen. ANA is on track to post a record full-year loss of about 530 billion yen, the Kyodo news agency reported last week. ANA will also sell about 30 wide-body aircraft because of their low fuel-efficiency and high maintenance costs, the Yomiuri reported. It will also utilize its customer data to offer financial and other services, while arranging code-sharing with its budget carrier, Peach Aviation Ltd., according to the report. In fiscal year 2021, the company will cut about 80 billion yen in costs, the paper said.Bloomberg News

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Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

October 26, 2020

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

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

44.55 95.2 74.6 21.7 9.6 42.4 9.51 16.78 27.5 52.6 96.05 17.5 98.9 55 27 3.65 1.16 0.56 158 1900

44.95 95.25 74.9 21.75 9.61 42.5 9.79 17.1 27.6 52.7 101.9 17.8 98.95 55.2 27.8 3.7 1.17 0.59 159 1940

44.6 97 74.35 21.7 9.6 42.25 9.51 17.3 28 52.5 96.05 17.8 99.1 54.65 27.95 3.98 1.16 0.59 160 1940

44.95 97 75.8 21.75 9.65 42.85 9.79 17.3 28.5 52.7 96.05 17.86 99.8 55 27.95 3.98 1.17 0.59 160 1940

44.55 95 73.1 21.7 9.45 42.2 9.51 16.76 27 52.5 96.05 17.3 98.85 54.65 26 3.65 1.14 0.55 158 1940

44.55 95.25 74.6 21.7 9.6 42.5 9.79 16.78 27.6 52.7 96.05 17.5 98.95 55 27.9 3.65 1.17 0.59 158 1940

3300 2800480 3508410 18400 371400 1947600 1000 7800 577300 6000 200 91000 498290 56250 723700 177000 90000 3000 180 10

147110 267720943 260737916.5 399335 3547598 82923655 9538 131710 15890060 315192 19210 1606150 49418353.5 3085309 18837770 647160 104330 1730 28510 19400

-4455 74882845.5 74504412.5 -15190 -527192 6516040 -1005270 -533134 -15503523 890489 18200000 -1180 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 3.79 3.8 3.93 3.93 3.7 3.79 26581000 101251570 ALSONS CONS 1.3 1.31 1.29 1.32 1.28 1.3 2292000 2986000 ABOITIZ POWER 28.55 28.6 28.2 28.55 28.15 28.55 2386700 67836575 0.216 0.218 0.23 0.23 0.216 0.218 14450000 3206570 BASIC ENERGY 26.4 26.45 26.4 26.5 26.3 26.4 730700 19291240 FIRST GEN 60.65 60.7 60.85 60.9 60.6 60.65 147310 8956225 FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO 297.8 298 295 298.8 294 298 140690 41826692 MANILA WATER 14.42 14.44 14.68 14.7 14.36 14.42 1251800 18102696 3.21 3.22 3.22 3.26 3.21 3.22 3650000 11799740 PETRON 3.24 3.42 3.45 3.45 3.22 3.23 41000 138550 PETROENERGY PHX PETROLEUM 12.9 12.96 13.38 13.38 12.8 12.96 757900 9834982 PILIPINAS SHELL 16.52 16.56 16.48 16.8 16.46 16.52 543800 8998182 SPC POWER 10.86 10.9 10.92 10.94 10.6 10.88 202600 2195370 AGRINURTURE 8.04 8.05 7.95 8.08 7.95 8.05 368700 2957379 2.8 2.81 2.79 2.81 2.75 2.81 2526000 6993250 AXELUM 70 71 70 70 70 70 60 4200 BOGO MEDELLIN CNTRL AZUCARERA 11.42 11.9 11.5 11.5 11.42 11.42 11000 126404 CENTURY FOOD 17.42 17.5 17.9 17.9 17.42 17.42 1130100 19726982 DEL MONTE 4.9 4.94 5 5 4.85 4.94 69000 337281 6.23 6.27 6 6.41 6 6.23 8461500 52830415 DNL INDUS EMPERADOR 10 10.02 10.02 10.04 9.98 10.02 1137800 11392239 SMC FOODANDBEV 65.75 66.45 65.7 66.45 65 66.45 266250 17618917.5 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.62 0.64 0.63 0.63 0.62 0.63 398000 250120 FRUITAS HLDG 1.26 1.27 1.27 1.28 1.24 1.27 7036000 8853720 47.3 48 47.85 48.8 47.85 48 27500 1323390 GINEBRA 176.4 176.5 179 179 170 176.4 1448520 255391827 JOLLIBEE 5.75 5.76 5.85 5.87 5.65 5.76 641900 3712509 MAXS GROUP SHAKEYS PIZZA 6.41 6.43 6.49 6.49 6.36 6.41 2281900 14722614 ROXAS AND CO 1.21 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.2 1.21 4633000 5595430 RFM CORP 4.72 4.93 4.95 4.95 4.93 4.93 9000 44530 1.82 1.9 1.85 1.93 1.82 1.82 287000 539930 ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS 0.105 0.11 0.108 0.108 0.105 0.105 590000 62950 UNIV ROBINA 140.6 140.7 141.9 143 139.5 140.7 801900 113218591 VITARICH 0.77 0.78 0.78 0.79 0.77 0.77 2674000 2071970 CONCRETE A 50.65 51 51 51.5 51 51.5 490 25135 CONCRETE B 51.3 53 51.2 53 51.2 53 40 2102 CEMEX HLDG 1.59 1.6 1.61 1.61 1.57 1.6 9232000 14616970 4.32 4.47 4.45 4.47 4.45 4.47 82000 364940 DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT 14.6 14.7 14.68 14.7 14.48 14.7 229100 3339634 EEI CORP 7.38 7.5 7.51 7.51 7.26 7.5 343300 2530760 HOLCIM 5.68 5.7 5.9 5.9 5.62 5.68 1068000 6094821 7.83 7.84 7.56 8.18 7.46 7.84 16433400 129857088 MEGAWIDE 8.13 8.25 8.3 8.3 8.13 8.25 8500 69391 PHINMA TKC METALS 0.72 0.73 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.72 71000 51120 VULCAN INDL 0.78 0.79 0.81 0.81 0.76 0.79 601000 467390 CHEMPHIL 128 142 127 147 126.9 128 530 68250 CROWN ASIA 2 2.03 2.02 2.03 2.02 2.03 7000 14150 EUROMED 1.96 1.97 1.92 1.97 1.92 1.97 871000 1707410 LMG CORP 4.27 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4 2000 8800 PRYCE CORP 4.1 4.15 4.15 4.15 4.15 4.15 13000 53950 CONCEPCION 20.4 20.45 20.9 20.9 20.35 20.45 16200 331070 2.46 2.49 2.47 2.51 2.45 2.46 7078000 17536120 GREENERGY 5.94 5.96 6 6 5.93 5.94 166800 992000 INTEGRATED MICR 0.97 0.98 0.99 0.99 0.97 0.97 465000 453230 IONICS PANASONIC 5 5.13 4.85 5.19 4.8 5.13 15500 78918 SFA SEMICON 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.49 1.42 1.43 2248000 3255790 CIRTEK HLDG 5.59 5.6 5.64 5.73 5.52 5.6 1842100 10357079

-1396750 20567955 -43700 16202055 -8397672 27457448 102084 -19110 1328920 -303976 4320 -511825 848690 -2452552 -105610 -11653458 -1827453 9797421.5 -31750 868725 32339493 -87980 24565 -2018980 -1540 37823436 31570 -143780 -463760 25568 -644284 -60945798 8150 13440 -49800 -257320 -1221760 -81501 -147000 -153670 2770

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.48 0.485 0.485 0.485 0.48 0.485 6370000 3071900 ASIABEST GROUP 7.27 7.49 7.51 7.51 7.25 7.49 53800 402151 AYALA CORP 766 768.5 780 788 751 766 442710 340860300 46.6 46.95 46.85 47.3 46 46.95 863900 40336295 ABOITIZ EQUITY 8.3 8.31 8.65 8.65 8.23 8.31 7464900 62458519 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 2.82 2.83 2.91 2.91 2.76 2.83 3013000 8499880 AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR 6.55 6.69 6.56 6.56 6.56 6.56 47800 313568 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.64 0.65 0.64 0.65 0.64 0.65 17000 10910 0.83 0.84 0.81 0.85 0.81 0.83 5525000 4592960 ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.88 0.83 0.85 266000 223910 COSCO CAPITAL 5.17 5.18 5.2 5.22 5.15 5.17 740900 3834053 DMCI HLDG 4.7 4.72 4.57 4.71 4.57 4.7 10866000 50655520 FILINVEST DEV 9.4 9.49 9.5 9.5 8.88 9.5 11700 105352 FORUM PACIFIC 0.2 0.214 0.2 0.214 0.2 0.214 300000 60140 448.8 449 450 453.6 448.6 449 408570 183871288 GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV 3.25 3.33 3.5 3.5 3.21 3.33 3338000 11116550 JG SUMMIT 66.45 66.5 66.5 67 65.95 66.5 1237020 82293991 KEPPEL HLDG A 5.02 5.29 5.11 5.11 5.02 5.02 17500 88880 LODESTAR 0.69 0.71 0.69 0.72 0.68 0.7 856000 600720 2.57 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.52 2.57 1396000 3562780 LOPEZ HLDG 12.56 12.6 13 13 12.56 12.6 10378400 131454488 LT GROUP 0.48 0.5 0.48 0.51 0.48 0.51 90000 44400 MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV 4.01 4.02 4.07 4.1 4 4.01 26326000 106036680 PACIFICA HLDG 3.08 3.35 3.35 3.35 3.35 3.35 6000 20100 0.78 0.81 0.79 0.81 0.78 0.81 33000 26050 PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP 1 1.01 1 1 1 1 2000 2000 SYNERGY GRID 168 170 170 170 168 168 580 97640 SM INVESTMENTS 981 985 971 997 953 981 513550 506170485 SAN MIGUEL CORP 103 104.3 106.5 107.8 103 103 360490 38261929 SOC RESOURCES 0.66 0.67 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.66 51000 33660 TOP FRONTIER 125.2 127 127 127 127 127 10700 1358900 0.141 0.144 0.139 0.145 0.139 0.144 440000 62590 ZEUS HLDG

525750 37660720 18192819.9999 -6859469 2418990 6560 -43380 981902 -19135870 -6650 13852266 -11067180 56017936.5 -1827900 -32892334 5384190 173461895 1455400 -562610 -

PROPERTY

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

0.57 34.1 1.04 25.65 1.46 0.8 0.8 0.135 5.8 4.64 0.365 0.365 14.36 5.51 0.28 0.087 0.96 0.76 7.46 1.52 3.1 0.68 3.16 0.405 1.17 16.1 0.231 1.52 2.67 34.2 4 1.23 3.52

0.58 34.4 1.05 25.7 1.48 0.81 0.81 0.136 5.95 4.65 0.37 0.38 14.38 5.56 0.285 0.09 0.97 0.77 7.74 1.53 3.44 0.71 3.17 0.41 1.19 16.12 0.234 1.55 2.69 34.25 4.07 1.25 3.53

0.59 33.9 1.04 25.7 1.47 0.81 0.79 0.138 5.9 4.7 0.37 0.385 14.68 5.53 0.3 0.085 0.98 0.78 7.8 1.41 3.07 0.71 3.14 0.36 1.15 16.1 0.23 1.55 2.69 34.45 4 1.22 3.47

0.59 34.4 1.05 25.8 1.48 0.82 0.82 0.138 5.9 4.7 0.37 0.385 14.68 5.58 0.3 0.09 0.98 0.78 7.8 1.54 3.07 0.71 3.18 0.415 1.18 16.14 0.23 1.55 2.69 34.45 4.1 1.26 3.54

0.58 33.65 1.04 25.65 1.46 0.8 0.79 0.135 5.9 4.64 0.36 0.37 14.36 5.45 0.285 0.085 0.96 0.76 7.2 1.41 3.07 0.71 3.1 0.355 1.15 15.8 0.23 1.52 2.69 33.7 3.98 1.22 3.43

0.58 34.4 1.05 25.7 1.48 0.81 0.82 0.136 5.9 4.64 0.37 0.38 14.38 5.57 0.285 0.09 0.97 0.76 7.75 1.52 3.07 0.71 3.17 0.41 1.18 16.1 0.23 1.54 2.69 34.2 4 1.25 3.52

345000 11651700 160000 1253000 623000 1454000 4000 2450000 25000 1507000 2580000 2050000 582400 210000 1920000 540000 13784000 1276000 125300 15434000 1000 3000 38605000 267150000 309000 2696900 240000 167000 3000 5455400 90000 1679000 4096000

201260 397129425 167440 32204060 919800 1172860 3250 331820 147500 7022090 944250 769000 8413370 1154119 549650 47390 13405430 978270 942063 23045630 3070 2130 121307230 104981700 357520 43247952 55200 256620 8070 185949355 361540 2086830 14316990

153763540 -24834410 -4972330 -54700 -1484620 49460 -325350 848900 -823330 7057560 2239950 547148 4590 103353710 129070 -3336290

SERVICES ABS CBN 11.3 11.34 11.64 11.7 11.22 11.3 517200 5923882 GMA NETWORK 5.1 5.11 5.08 5.11 5.05 5.11 604800 3075800 MANILA BULLETIN 0.4 0.42 0.395 0.42 0.395 0.42 530000 210100 10.58 11.28 11.1 11.1 11.06 11.06 2600 28764 MLA BRDCASTING GLOBE TELECOM 2034 2036 2040 2050 2024 2034 29435 59921510 1360 1361 1339 1370 1324 1360 100355 135865315 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.054 0.055 0.053 0.055 0.053 0.054 13470000 718040 CONVERGE 15.2 15.22 16.78 16.8 14.92 15.22 229736800 3649651366 3.07 3.1 3.11 3.11 3.07 3.07 24000 74260 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 6.81 6.82 6.7 6.88 6.7 6.81 39592600 268563691 1.35 1.43 1.34 1.34 1.34 1.34 1000 1340 IMPERIAL ISLAND INFO 0.085 0.088 0.089 0.089 0.085 0.088 1770000 150600 JACKSTONES 1.58 1.6 1.61 1.61 1.57 1.57 34000 54210 NOW CORP 4.85 4.86 4.9 5.05 4.8 4.85 11518000 56094090 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.235 0.237 0.234 0.237 0.232 0.237 7630000 1782020 PHILWEB 2.6 2.61 2.59 2.61 2.54 2.6 762000 1969430 2GO GROUP 8.92 8.95 9 9 8.92 8.92 45800 409280 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.58 15.7 15.68 15.7 15.68 15.7 11700 183540 CHELSEA 5.9 5.91 5.91 6 5.86 5.9 4002700 23656857 CEBU AIR 40.65 40.7 41.65 42.1 40.25 40.7 552300 22624295 116.1 116.3 115.8 117 115.8 116.3 1683330 195623673 INTL CONTAINER 14.98 15 14.1 14.98 14.1 14.98 6800 97582 LBC EXPRESS LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.97 1 1 1 0.97 1 361000 350500 MACROASIA 5.43 5.44 5.5 5.59 5.4 5.44 8167100 45013106 1.87 1.89 1.9 1.91 1.85 1.87 496000 929010 METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B 1.89 1.99 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1000 1900 PAL HLDG 7.01 7.03 7.01 7.05 7.01 7.01 195000 1368529 HARBOR STAR 1.29 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.27 1.29 2148000 2758810 ACESITE HOTEL 1.14 1.17 1.15 1.17 1.15 1.17 29000 33730 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.027 0.028 0.027 0.028 0.026 0.028 39300000 1052300 1.7 1.74 1.76 1.76 1.7 1.7 76000 132380 DISCOVERY WORLD GRAND PLAZA 10.42 11.94 10.36 10.36 10.36 10.36 5900 61124 WATERFRONT 0.41 0.425 0.405 0.43 0.405 0.41 600000 248000 FAR EASTERN U 510 559.5 560 560 550 550 150 83300 IPEOPLE 7.48 7.67 7.69 7.69 7.47 7.67 5000 38115 STI HLDG 0.325 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.32 0.325 3450000 1130250 BERJAYA 3.7 3.73 3.41 3.79 3.41 3.7 2655000 9680330 7.48 7.5 7.58 7.58 7.45 7.48 4752900 35682159 BLOOMBERRY PACIFIC ONLINE 1.8 1.88 1.9 1.9 1.8 1.88 61000 111100 LEISURE AND RES 1.5 1.51 1.57 1.57 1.47 1.5 1111000 1678120 0.34 0.345 0.34 0.345 0.335 0.345 14610000 4982400 PREMIUM LEISURE 7.05 7.13 7.05 7.07 7.05 7.05 50900 359019 PHIL RACING ALLHOME 6.88 6.89 6.91 6.91 6.62 6.88 892900 6049637 METRO RETAIL 1.51 1.52 1.45 1.53 1.45 1.52 6362000 9615730 PUREGOLD 43.75 43.8 43 43.8 42.6 43.75 2446900 106480895 ROBINSONS RTL 65.2 66.85 67.6 67.65 65.2 65.2 165670 10989587.5 111.5 113 112.5 113 111.5 111.5 505410 56615910 PHIL SEVEN CORP SSI GROUP 1.17 1.18 1.15 1.18 1.12 1.17 6702000 7788360 WILCON DEPOT 14.94 15 15.06 15.2 14.92 14.94 5711300 85629462 APC GROUP 0.3 0.305 0.305 0.305 0.3 0.3 1030000 314050 EASYCALL 6.94 7.09 7.15 7.15 6.85 6.93 72300 507896 347 370 370 370 370 370 130 48100 GOLDEN BRIA IPM HLDG 3.7 3.77 3.75 3.77 3.73 3.77 13000 48850 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.35 0.355 0.35 0.35 0.33 0.35 35860000 12348200 SBS PHIL CORP 4.17 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.17 4.17 8000 33450

24769980 -10845415 -94051344 6169463 9480 590030 54740 976024 -7350930 -31455132 -917112 4212 -7690 -208000 500 -8478477 243000 -1251600 3028715 -2134880 5995310 -2828017.5 -1317855 122730.0001 -66588044 -738100 -12600

MINING & OIL ATOK 9.2 9.27 9.85 9.85 9 9.27 133400 1232911 APEX MINING 1.8 1.81 1.86 1.86 1.8 1.81 16002000 29177700 33110 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.001 244000000 246100 2000 ABRA MINING 4.05 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.04 4.05 399000 1627950 ATLAS MINING BENGUET A 2.75 2.8 2.75 2.87 2.74 2.87 111000 304370 BENGUET B 2.7 2.79 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 9000 24300 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.255 0.265 0.265 0.265 0.265 0.265 600000 159000 CENTURY PEAK 2.5 2.52 2.55 2.55 2.5 2.52 100000 254280 254280 7.33 7.4 7.36 7.37 7.33 7.33 3000 22053 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 1.35 1.36 1.36 1.39 1.35 1.35 8830000 12014570 59880 GEOGRACE 0.24 0.243 0.246 0.246 0.24 0.24 30000 7270 LEPANTO A 0.152 0.153 0.157 0.157 0.148 0.152 16040000 2404820 LEPANTO B 0.151 0.152 0.152 0.152 0.15 0.15 500000 75020 0.0099 0.01 0.0098 0.01 0.0098 0.01 8000000 79290 MANILA MINING A MARCVENTURES 0.95 0.97 0.98 0.99 0.95 0.95 9447000 9092660 384130 NIHAO 2.56 2.57 2.6 2.6 2.54 2.56 329000 842070 -23130 NICKEL ASIA 3.77 3.78 3.81 3.83 3.72 3.77 8981000 33822190 379270 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.66 0.67 0.67 0.69 0.66 0.67 687000 457550 6700 5.61 5.62 5.6 5.7 5.52 5.61 3215700 18063217 6418397 PX MINING SEMIRARA MINING 11.96 12.02 11.72 12.02 11.72 12 4435300 53054108 -8941684 UNITED PARAGON 0.0052 0.0053 0.0052 0.0052 0.0051 0.0052 32000000 164300 ACE ENEXOR 6.34 6.35 6.35 6.36 6.25 6.34 74100 467136 ORNTL PETROL A 0.0097 0.0098 0.0097 0.0097 0.0097 0.0097 9000000 87300 0.0098 0.0099 0.0098 0.0098 0.0098 0.0098 1000000 9800 ORNTL PETROL B PHILODRILL 0.0087 0.0088 0.0086 0.0089 0.0086 0.0088 9000000 78900 -17600 10.94 10.98 11.3 11.5 10.76 10.98 3273500 36206152 1293278 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 101 102 101 101 101 101 120 12120 AC PREF B1 510 519 519 519 517 517 6020 3112380 ALCO PREF B 101.2 103.2 103 103.2 101.1 103.2 37520 3801005 518 519 530 530 519 519 6560 3404970 AC PREF B2R CPG PREF A 101.2 102.5 101.2 101.2 101.2 101.2 500 50600 DD PREF 100.5 102 100.9 100.9 100.3 100.3 99830 10022609 777008 GTCAP PREF B 1011 1024 1015 1015 1015 1015 25765 26151475 MWIDE PREF 101.3 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.3 101.5 61340 6215410 100.6 101 101 101 100.3 101 7350 742308 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 991 995 991 995 990 990 540 534720 PCOR PREF 2B 1010 1040 1010 1040 1010 1040 1175 1186900 PCOR PREF 3A 1061 1065 1063 1064 1062 1062 15675 16660050 PCOR PREF 3B 1075 1085 1075 1078 1075 1075 4060 4364530 SMC PREF 2C 78 78.2 78.2 78.2 78 78.2 158610 12372042 SMC PREF 2E 76.7 77 76.7 76.7 76.7 76.7 600 46020 SMC PREF 2F 78 78.2 78 78 78 78 35000 2730000 SMC PREF 2G 76.2 76.4 76.4 76.4 76.4 76.4 1020 77928 SMC PREF 2H 76.5 77.5 76.25 76.25 76.25 76.25 13500 1029375 SMC PREF 2I 78.5 78.95 78 78 78 78 125700 9804600

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 10.9 11 11.2 11.2 10.8 11 107500 1188320 -60500

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.84 0.85 0.8 0.85 0.8 0.85 57000 47200

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 11.98 12 12 12.18 11.56 12 603600 7185932 -23720 ITALPINAS 2.84 2.85 2.68 2.85 2.61 2.84 9025000 24974960 32210 KEPWEALTH 5.26 5.37 5.36 5.45 5.2 5.37 51800 275572 2.2 2.29 2.16 2.16 2.16 2.16 4000 8640 MAKATI FINANCE MERRYMART 3.41 3.42 3.39 3.45 3.36 3.42 27310000 93158260 6002890

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 97.8 98.3 97.8 98.3 96.5 98.3 62280 6088967 12797

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Lockdowns, LNG investment cut Meralco 9-month income

T

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday reported a 39-percent drop in its net income to P11.3 billion at end-September this year, mainly due to losses incurred from its Singapore investment.

Meralco Chief Finance Officer Betty Siy-Yap said during an online press conference that consolidated net income at the end of third quarter was down by 38.6 percent to P11.252 billion due to recognition of the company’s share in impairment of the investment in PacificLight Power Pte Ltd. of P2.7 billion in the first quarter.

Core profit during the period was down by 15 percent to P15.727 billion from P18.453 billion in the same period a year ago. Revenues, likewise, declined by 11 percent to P214.208 billion at end-September this year as energy sales volume stood lower by seven percent at 32,539gigawatt hours (GWh). The

decline, Meralco said, reflects the net effect of the community quarantine. Still, Meralco expects to perform “better” in the current quarter and would likely end the year with over P21 billion in core income.

“We are confident that we will surpass the P21-billion consolidated core net income guidance for 2020 provided in the first half of this year and be able to meet our committed return to shareholders,” said Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan in a statement.

During the briefing, Pangilinan said full-year core income would be “slightly above P21 billion” as Meralco expects the fourth quarter “to be better than the second and third

quarters given the rising volume of power sold.”

Full-year core income last year was recorded at P23.8 billion, 6 percent higher than the P22.4 billion it posted in 2018. Reported net income remained at P20 billion in 2019 while revenues increased to P318.31 billion last year.

When asked to elaborate on Meralco’s Singapore investment, which dragged the company’s January to September performance, Pangilinan said PacificLight and its shareholders are in discussions with the creditor banks for the refinancing of its total term loan and revolving credit of S$678 million.

Meralco PowerGen (MGen), the power generation arm of Meralco, owns an effective 28-percent equity in PacificLight, which owns and operates a 2x400megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired combined cycle turbine power plant in Jurong Island, Singapore.

“The plan to combine our assets was eventually not supported by the Singapore government,” said Pangilinan, referring to Petronas of Malaysia. “So, we are now talking to another power generation company.”

Pangilinan said the company

remains to be on the lookout for ways to limit the adverse impact of the pandemic. “This pandemic has brought about unexpected and radical change in everyday life, giving rise to complex challenges as well as new opportunities. Amidst all challenges, we can play a meaningful role in the lives of our customers and in helping the country get back on the road to recovery.”

Meralco, he added, remains optimistic for 2021. Without providing figures, Pangilinan said core income is expected to rise next year and Meralco subsidiaries to do better. “It’s too early to give an order of magnitude at this stage, but it should be better.”

On Monday, Meralco also reported that its customer accounts reached 7.2 million. Of which, 92 percent are residential customers.

Capital expenditures (capex) for the nine months ending September amounted to P10.9 billion. Pangilinan said the company may need to execute close to P50 billion of capex for its distribution business and generation investments.

“We look at this opportunity to create jobs, propel business activities and stimulate consumption,” he said.

PT&T ties up with US software firm P

UBLICLY-LISTED Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) has announced its partnership with American firm VMware Inc. in its bid to enable businesses to manage their bandwidth usage.

PT&T said it sees VMware SD-WAN (SoftwareDefined Wide Area Network) solution as the “perfect complement” to its connectivity offerings as it enhances network quality and application performance, as well as simplifies support and troubleshooting.

“The inclusion of VMware SD-WAN in our product portfolio further strengthens the lineup of core business solutions aimed at continuously providing value added services to our customers,” said Ella Mae Ortega, general manager for information technology (IT) services and large enterprise at PT&T. SD-WAN is considered as the “next big thing” in multi-site interconnect technology. It works by automating network discovery and configuration, and redirecting network traffic to the most reliable links. Some solutions also add security capabilities to allow optimally protected traffic.

VMware SD-WAN is characterized by a unique feature called “Dynamic Multipath Optimization,” wherein multiple WAN links can be simultaneously used, and on-demand remediation can be applied even on a single link to enable the best user experience.

In case of problems in WAN paths, it dynami-

cally “steers” traffic to the best available route and also remediates links as required. Its zero touch provisioning feature helps remove the need for manual configuration of devices, giving users a truly plug and play experience.

VMware SD-WAN is a foundational component of VMware Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform, which converges network services with best-in-class cloud security and Zero Trust Network Access to deliver flexibility, agility and scalability for enterprises of all sizes.

VMware and VMware SD-WAN are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

PT&T offers fiber internet and IT solutions to enterprise clients. It holds a 25-year franchise to establish, maintain and operate both wired and wireless telecommunications systems for local and global communication in the country.

According to VMware Marketing Senior Director Sasha Emmerling, their company is pleased to work with PT&T to serve enterprises in the region.

“While we in VMware strive to build and market world-class solutions, it is very important to have a trusted and capable local service provider like PT&T who understands the specific needs of enterprise and institutional customers in the Philippines,” she said. Roderick L. Abad

Lufthansa abandons offices, parks planes

D

eutsche Lufthansa AG told staff that winter schedule cutbacks announced last week will cause it to bench an additional 125 aircraft and temporarily close large parts of its administrative operations.

The reduction will cut the carrier’s active fleet back to the level it operated in the 1970s, with the impact filtering through its operations, it said in a letter to employees seen by Bloomberg. Lufthansa had previously intended to use the planes in an already reduced schedule for the coming months, it said in the letter.

“Winter will be an even bigger challenge,” according to the letter, signed by Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr and his fellow board members.

“We managed to reduce cash burn from 1 million euros every hour when the pandemic started to ‘only’ 1 million euros every two hours now. Still, that hasn’t changed the drama of the situation.”

The shares fell as much as 6.3 percent and were down 1.3 percent as of 9:42 a.m. in Frankfurt. Fraport AG, operator of the city’s airport, which is Lufthansa’s main hub declined as much as 3.7 percent.

Themoveshedslightontheoperationalimpact of last week’s announcement that Lufthansa will fly only 25 percent of its planned winter schedule.

The company will operate with only the minimum

necessary resources, and Lufthansa’s airlines will use smaller and younger aircraft where possible, the managers told staff.

Its low-cost arm Eurowings will fly less than 30 jets during winter and give up its office space in Dusseldorf. Most of the group’s headquarters at Frankfurt airport will also close, according to the memo.

Labor talks

Lufthansa last week reported a narrower loss in the third quarter citing cost reductions and a modest rebound in flights. The adjusted loss of 1.26 billion euros ($1.49 billion) before interest and taxes, based on preliminary figures, was smaller than the second-quarter loss and a better result than analysts had expected.

With more than 10 billion euros of liquidity at hand, the carrier expressed confidence then that it can outlast the global outbreak that’s brought havoc to the aviation industry.

Still, management has voiced frustration about little progress with two of its main unions when it comes to reducing labor expenses, a prerequisite to return to profitability and eventually pay back some 9 billion euros of government loans the company was granted to avoid insolvency. Bloomberg News

mutual funds

October 26, 2020

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

per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 210.07 -17.84% -9.77% -3.94% -16.59% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.1299 -24.37% -10.93% -2.6% -18.24% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.8605 -26.49% -13.74% -5.87% -22.23% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7291 -23.16% -10.19% n.a. -18.81% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.7035 -18.86% n.a. n.a.

-17.17% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.5152 -16.89% -8.05% -4.11% -15.26% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.7106 -18.49% -9.83% n.a.

-16.75% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 88.09 -23.11% n.a. n.a. -14.66% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 42.6537 -18.37% -7.95% -2.65% -16.82% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 451.83 -16.73% -7.69% -3.09% -15.19% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.974 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-5.45% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.0704 -18.48% -7.95% -2.66% -16.82% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 31.5724 -18.34% -7.48% -2.19% -16.69% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.838 -19.26% n.a. n.a. -17.69% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.3572 -17.99% -7.53% -1.92% -16.58% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 728.78 -17.83% -7.45% -2.04% -16.42% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.656 -26.78% -11.46% -6.13% -22.95% -9.38% -3.68% -21.22% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.3159 -22.89% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.835 -18.04% -7.73% -2.11% -16.57% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.0327 -18.7% -6.87% -1.8% -16.99% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 97.8531 -17.71% -7.15% -1.28% -16.33% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.0859 11.87% 0.26% 3.4% 5.59% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.5465 19.59% 8.23% n.a.

12.17% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5783 -1.13% -4.81% -2.63% 0.99% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.1243 -6.1% -4.22% -0.9% -2.6% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.4845 -6.54% -2.98% -2.39% -5.59% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1883 -20.38% n.a. n.a.

-17.59% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8917 -3.86% -1.07% 0.66% -3.56% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.6007 -5.42% -2.3% -0.49% -4.97% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.1081 -5.5% -2.44% -0.54% -5.03% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.9902 -7.55% -3.58% -0.61% -6.22% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.385 -13.25% -4.8% -1.8% -12.39% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9726 -4.98% n.a. n.a.

-4.24% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8819 -12.89% n.a. n.a. -11.49% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8619 -14.61% n.a. n.a. -13.22% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.831 -15.97% -5.89% -2.68% -14.75% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03905 2.01% 2.67% 2.01% 2.23% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.0689 7.68% 1.23% 3.21% 5.62% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.2185 12.18% 5.91% 6.13% 7.87% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1732 5.97% 3.12% n.a.

3.94% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 368.84 3.81% 3.1% 2.65% 3.05% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9534 1.65% 0.93% 0.3% 2.7% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2049 3.63% 4.7% 4.93% 2.79% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2907 3.51% 2.67% 2.17% 3.03% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4454 4.52% 3.32% 1.99% 3.66% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.6273 7.14% 4.24% 2.67% 5.82% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3123 5.5% 4.37% 2.47% 4.42% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.954 5.43% 4.16% 2.33% 4.38% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0369 8.82% 3.74% 2.03% 7.53% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1778 4.51% 4.57% 2.86% 3.32% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7424 3.59% 3.93% 2.29% 2.43% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $480.04 3.01% 2.6% 2.75% 2.49% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є217.73 -1% 0.79% 1.18% -0.94% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2461 3.61% 3.2% 2.55% 3.22% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0264 2.33% 1.83% 1.59% 2.33% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0886 -0.71% 0.29% 0.22% -0.46% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.5048 4.32% 3.83% 3.2% 4.21% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0618058 2.59% 2.46% 2.17% 2.5% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1775 0.26% 1.87% 2.19% 0.07% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.34 3.44% 3.32% 2.54% 2.79% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.046 2.02% n.a. n.a.

1.92% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2922 2.73% 3.01% 2.62% 2.15% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0505 1.58% n.a. n.a.

1.17% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.0298 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.95 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-4.04%

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 BusinessMirror

BDO 9-month earnings plunge 48% to ₧16.6B

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

T

he biggest bank in the country suffered a 48-percent profit decline in the first nine months of the year due to disruptions caused by state measures against the Covid-19 pandemic.

BDO Unibank reported on Monday that its third-quarter net income hit P12.3 billion amid the continuing impact of lockdown measures. This brings the bank’s 9-month income to P16.6 billion—almost half of last year’s P32.1 billion net income.

Generally, the bank attributed their performance to the upfront provisions booked in the second quarter of the year in anticipation of potential delinquencies as the Philippine economy neared atrophy.

Compared to the bank’s performance, however, BDO’s 9-month decline is a recovery from its 78.6-percent net income decline in the first six months of 2020.

The bank, however, is not celebrating yet, saying more challenges for the banking industry still lie ahead.

“Despite BDO’s promising results, the bank recognizes that the pandemic difficulties still lie ahead.

The delinquency problem on loans have not yet peaked, interest rate caps on credit cards will be instituted soon and there are added costs in doing business as a result of necessary precautions inherent in the Bank’s operations,” the bank

said in a statement. “All of these and more are seen to put pressure on the bank’s earnings.”

BDO’s total loans rose to P2.2 trillion, driven by corporate and consumer accounts. Its total deposits, meanwhile, grew to P2.6 trillion, as pushed by the growth in current account/savings account deposits.

The bank attributed the growth to its fully-operational bank branch network since the second quarter.

Its net interest income was also up 13 percent to P99.8 billion while its non-interest income settled at P36.8 billion.

“BDO believes that its strong business franchise and robust balance sheet place the bank in a good position to leverage on a post-pandemic economic recovery,” the bank said in a statement.

Its asset and capital quality remained fairly stable during the quarter. Non-performing loan ratio remained low at 1.97 percent. Its NPL cover was at 138 percent. The bank’s total provisions for the first nine months amounted to P23.8 billion, inclusive of the pre-emptive provisions in the second quarter.

The bank’s balance sheet remains solid with a capital base of P378.6 billion. Capital Adequacy Ratio and Common Equity Tier 1 ratio were at 14.3 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively, remaining well above regulatory minimum.

Operating expenses declined by 3 per cent to P83.6 billion on lower volume-related expenses.

On working smarter and making money work for you

I

’ve given a lot of advice about business, investments and personal finance. And all throughout, I’ve always mentioned the importance of hard work to achieve one’s goals.

For me, there is no substitute for good old-fashioned “labor” and if you want to make your dreams a reality, then you need to put in the time and the effort.

However, there are two pieces of advice about money and wealth that many financial experts often give. Sadly, most people tend to misunderstand these “tips”, which causes them to eventually fall short of their goals.

But I’m hoping to change that today.

Work smarter, not harder.

This is very good advice if you ask me, because “being smart” about work is simply leveraging your knowledge and resources to accomplish things faster and more efficiently.

But many people miss out on the operative word of the first phrase. Remember that—work smarter—still has the word, WORK in it.

This means working smarter is not about being lazy. It’s not just about delegating tasks, automating processes, or getting help and letting others do all the work.

For me, working smarter means working hard first, then finding ways to make things more efficient for everyone. After which, you then use the acquired free time to work (again) on new tasks.

Don’t work for money, let the money work for you.

Again, this is very good advice that many often misunderstand.

If I were to improve this, I’d rephrase it to say, “Work hard for the money, then find ways to make the money you earned work for you.”

Do you see the difference? Too many times, I’ve seen people chase passive income as if it’s the Holy Grail of wealth—it is NOT. Passive income is just a “tool” that you use to achieve the ultimate goal—financial freedom. And just like any tool, you need to learn how to properly use it.

If you want passive income if you want to learn how to make money

Fitz Gerard Villafuerte

personal finance work for you, then you need to understand three things: Passive income takes time to build, which means you have to be patient.

They say real estate is a good source of passive income—but you have to understand that finding a buyer or a lessee to your property can take a while; not to mention the amount of time you have to spend looking for a good property to flip or buy.

Building passive income is not a race, it is a sprint marathon you need to prepare for.

Pure passive income is often too small for you to live by alone.

A time deposit account is an excellent source of pure passive income— but if you plan to live on a 5-percent annual interest, then you would have to save up to 20 times that amount.

This means you need P4.8 million in the bank to get roughly P20,000 monthly.

Now, how easy is it to save P4.8 million? Almost impossible if you’re lazy.

The best sources of passive income are those which came from hard work.

Royalty income is passive income that you earn from your intellectual property or copyright, it is payment for the right to use something you created.

But if you want to receive royalties, then you have to work hard in coming up with a profitable invention, or writing that best-selling novel, or building that successful franchise business—and these things don’t happen overnight.

Work hard, then work smart and make your money work for you. Rinse and repeat until you become rich.

Fitz Villafuerte is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personalfinancial planning, attend the 86th RFP program this November 2020. To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text at 0917-6248110.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020 B3

Govt sells add’l ₧5B T-bills as demand remains strong

Photo shows the Bureau of the Treasury building in Manila.

On Monday, the BTr fully awarded P20 billion in Treasury Bills as it saw continuing strong demand for government securities in the local debt market.

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

he Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Monday fully awarded P20 billion in Treasury Bills (T-bills) as demand for government securities remains strong.

The auction was oversubscribed by more than four times the volume offered as tenders reached P81.8 billion.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said following the auction

turnout, they opened an additional P5 billion offering each for 182-day and 364-day T-bills.

“Full award with hefty submission, with rates aligned with secondary levels; demonstrates sustained

liquidity onshore,” De Leon said.

The average rates across all tenors are lower than the previous auction and secondary-market benchmark rates.

The 91-day T-bill fetched an average rate of 1.079 percent, 0.7 basis points below the previous auction rate at 1.086 percent. Total bids for the security reached P23.44 billion, more than four times the P5-billion offer.

Meanwhile, the 182-day T-bills settled at an average rate of 1.543 percent, down by 5.4 basis points from 1.597 percent previously.

The tenor attracted bids amounting to P27.576 billion, equivalent to more than five times the

P5-billion offer.

Lastly, the 364-day T-bills posted an average rate of 1.791 percent, dipping by 0.2 basis points from 1.793 percent in the previous auction. Total bids for the security reached P30.809 billion, thrice the P10-billion offer.

For this month, the Treasury is set to raise P140 billion by borrowing from the local debt market through the issuance of government securities. This is lower than the P160 billion it programmed in September.

As of end-September, gross borrowings of the national government have already reached P2.56 trillion, equivalent to more than 85 percent of the all-time high nominal 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 (gross domestic product), 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.

GSIS opens ₧20B study-now, pay-later loan window

G

overnment Service Insurance System President and General Manager Rolando L. Macasaet announced that the state pension fund is opening a P20-billion study-now, pay-later loan window for the college education of GSIS members’ kins.

“We will allow GSIS members who have at least 15 years of government service to avail of an educational loan for their kins in college,” Macasaet said during a radio interview. “The loan has a term of ten years but we will not require them to pay anything in the first five years. So they don’t have to worry about the tuition of their children for the first five years.”

Under the GFAL-Educational

Loan (GFAL-EL), the maximum amount that may be borrowed per academic year is P100,000 covering tuition and other school fees. The interest rate is 8 percent.

A GSIS member may nominate up to two student-beneficiaries under the program. The two must be related to him or her up to the third degree of consanguinity or affinity and enrolled in a four-or five-year course in a private or public educational institution, the GSIS said in a statement.

The loan proceeds will be directly paid to the school under the student’s account every semester or trimester until the beneficiaries finish their courses.

LandBank cites aided 2.4M farmers, fishers

T

he Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) on Monday said it has helped almost 2.4 million farmers and fishermen as of end-September, exceeding its fullyear target of 2 million beneficiaries by 20 percent.

LandBank said the total number of farmers and fishermen that benefited from its loan programs was more than double of the 1.032 million small farmers and fishers (SFF) helped last year.

“About 1,630,602—accounting for 68 percent of the total—were provided assistance through the Bank’s regular loan offerings and lending programs jointly implemented with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian Reform,” the bank said.

“Also included were the 716,897 small farmers assisted through the rice farmers financial assistance and financial subsidy to rice farmers programs of the DA,” it added.

The LandBank said the remaining 48,760 farmers were supported by the bank through the bank’s countryside development foundation’s financial literacy training program that were conducted in unbanked

municipalities nationwide.

“Three months before the end of 2020, Landbank already surpassed its year-end target of assisting two million small farmers and fishers nationwide,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said.

“This accomplishment attests to our continuing commitment that Landbank remains steadfast in its support to the agriculture sector,” Borromeo added.

Furthermore, LandBank said its outstanding loans to the agriculture sector continue to expand as it grew

by P5.68 billion to P230.34 billion in September from P224.66 billion in August.

“Of the P230.34-billion worth of agricultural loans, P34.97 billion were lent to small farmers and fishers, and cooperatives and farmers associations, rural financial institutions and other conduits, while P195.36 billion were provided to other players in the agribusiness value chain,” it said.

“Landbank expects to further expand its agricultural loan portfolio to P245 billion by the end of the year,” it added. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Members, including special members, who have at least 15 years of service may apply for the loan. They must not be on leave of absence without pay, have no pending administrative or criminal case, and have no past due GSIS loans (including housing loans).

They must also meet the required net take-home pay of P5,000 after deduction of their monthly premium contributions and loan amortizations, and their agencies must not be on suspended status.

“The loan has an insurance cover to protect the interest of the borrowers and their student-beneficiaries.

Thus it will be deemed fully paid in case the member or the student dies

or becomes permanently and totally disabled,” Macasaet said.

The documentary requirements for GFAL-EL are: (1) properly filledout application form signed by the member-borrower and duly indorsed by his or her agency’s authorized agency officer; (2) photocopy of the latest tuition fee assessment form; (3) photo copy of school ID (front and back) with three signatures of the student-beneficiary. If the school ID is not available, the borrower may submit any valid government-issued ID with photo, signature and date of birth of the student. If the member has a second student-beneficiary, the same documents are required to be submitted.

Govt bank sets interest rate for ₧3-billion bonds

S

tate-run Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) announced it has set the interest rate of 2.5872-percent for its firstever “Sustainability Bonds” offer to fund environmental and social projects.

During the bank’s virtual investors’ briefing held last October 21, the offer period was initially scheduled from October 26 to November 6, 2020. However, due to the very strong demand and oversubscription, LandBank said it is now closed the offer period earlier on October 26.

LandBank said it is looking to tap and access the capital markets to raise at least P3 billion from the pesodenominated fixed-rate bond offering with a 2-year tenor. Due in 2022, the bonds will be issued in minimum denominations of P50,000 and in multiples of P10,000 thereafter, the bank explained.

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) is the sole lead arranger and bookrunner, while both LandBank and SCB will be selling agents.

LandBank will utilize the proceeds from the issuance

to finance various loan programs that support sustainable projects such as green and social projects.

LandBank said the “Green Projects” include those that contribute to environmental objectives such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, natural resource and biodiversity conservation and pollution prevention and control, among others.

“Social Projects” are ventures that help address a social concern and seen to impact on people’s lives, the bank said. “These include projects for basic infrastructure, food security, essential services, affordable housing, employment generation and food security.”

B4

Art

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 27, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Samantha Logan, 24; Kelly Osbourne, 36; Peter Firth, 67; John Cleese, 81.

Happy Birthday: Let your imagination lead the way.

You’ll crave change and jump at the chance to learn something new. Set your sights on a new adventure that will encourage personal growth, enlightenment, the desire to eliminate what is no longer working for you and the urge to pursue what makes you feel passionate.

Love, peace and happiness are within reach. Your numbers are 4, 16, 20, 26, 30, 37, 41.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Keep secrets to yourself. Share what’s necessary, and gather the information that will help you maintain your position, reputation and status. Take proper care of your health, and stick to a budget. Patience will pay off.

HHH

❶ ❶ Social

Distancing, New Realities, Juanito Torres, 2020, oil on canvas, 60”x72”

❷ Museum,

New Normal, Juanito Torres, 2020, oil on canvas, 59.5”x83.5”

❷

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You’ll gravitate toward trendy options and set the pace for those who look up to you. Your input will hold weight and position you for advancement. Turn an idea into something spectacular and lucrative. Selfimprovement is favored and will boost your confidence.

HHHH

Juanito Torres on our new reality

D

RIVING on a rainy afternoon on a literal skyway for flying cars, another airborne vehicle almost hit them head on.

“What the hell was that?” a ruffled Marty McFly asked.

“Taxicab,” said Dr. Emmett Brown.

Back to the Future Part II captured the imagination of viewers with an outlandish take on what society would look like in 30 years. Director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale presented a technologically advanced world, one that the film’s stars found themselves in after departing 1985 on a fiery trail aboard the DeLorean time machine.

“Where are we?” said Marty, after composing

himself following the near mid-air car crash. He then rephrased the question: “When are we?”

Doc told him that it was October 21, 2015. That date, which once seemed impossibly distant, was five years ago last week.

Introduced in the 1989 classic movie were a number of odd concepts and occurrences, from flying cars to bionic brain implants to the sustained prevalence of payphones and newspapers. But somehow, even half a decade after since the film’s setting, every single idea it advanced has failed to match the peculiarity of how the real future has unfolded, culminating in this truly bizarre, plagueinflicted present.

In The New Reality: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction, painter Juanito Torres visualizes life that has indeed become more ludicrous than imagined worlds.

“We are presenting Juanito’s take on current history,” said Jack Teotico, Galerie Joaquin managing director. “The Covid pandemic is history unfolding, and Juanito is able to capture that with his very compelling, artistic and creative take on the situation.”

Torres draws from his vast experience as a historian. He has worked at different museums in Batangas, Ilocos Norte and San Juan City. His

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Think twice before you act on a random comment someone makes.

If you let your emotions rule your head, someone will mislead you. Look inward, assess your situation and choose to focus on fitness, health and personal gain.

HHH

artworks are informed by prominent events and faces from Philippine history, interpreted in distinct surrealism.

For his ongoing solo show at Galerie Joaquin, the artist depicts everyday activities performed by characters donning gas masks. In Museum, New Normal, Torres’s dramatic use of lighting brings to life a scene composed of a sculpture and a painting that are being viewed by a masked crowd. Meanwhile, a pair escapes into an empty movie theater with popcorn in hand in Enjoying the Cinema.

Aside from interpreting familiar activities with the characters of today, Torres also presents classic Filipino heroes, including Andres Bonifacio, as their modern, medical counterparts.

In Darating din ang Bagong Umaga, the Father of the Philippine Revolution replicates Saint Michael.

Bonifacio is shown wearing a doctor’s coat, standing valiantly over the devil with a coronavirus head, about to get stabbed by the Rod of Asclepius.

“Gumagamit pa rin ako ng mga heroes para mas makilala pa natin sila,” Torres said. “Ang works na ito, magpapaalala na ang Filipinos ay kayang magtulongtulong.”

The New Reality: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction runs until October 31. n

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Be careful what you wish for. If you meddle or get involved in gossip, it will lead to setbacks. Pour your energy into doing your own thing. Strive for perfection and personal gain, not helping someone else get ahead. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): People and situations that you can relate to will gravitate toward you. Share your thoughts and beliefs, and you will build a solid base for projects. Opportunity and hard work will result in positive change. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Refuse to let anyone dominate you or stand in your way.

Channel your energy into what’s important to you and into meaningful relationships. Don’t make a move or buy into something because of peer pressure.

Do your own thing. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Your intelligence will play a role in bringing about change, and good fortune will follow if you are proactive in turning your thoughts into reality.

Demonstrate how you want things to unfold, and you’ll set a high standard. HHHHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Keep your guard up when working in conjunction with others. Someone will be underhanded in a situation that can affect your position. Be private regarding your beliefs, ideas and intentions. HH

British Council opens applications for online arts grants THE British Council is inviting artists, arts professionals, collectives, hubs and researchers from Southeast Asia to apply for the latest round of the Connections Through Culture grants. Applications will run until November 8.

The online grants are valued from £2,500 to £7,500 (around ₱165,000 to ₱500,000). Grantees may use the fund for platforms and conversations to meet with specialists, peers in the field and other participants based in the United Kingdom and eligible Southeast Asian countries: Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Activities should be implemented within January to June 2021.

The Connections Through Culture grants program is designed to seed exciting cultural exchanges and nurture cooperation and long-lasting relationships between artists and arts organizations in the UK and Southeast Asia. Created in August 2019, it is a first-

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Put your creativity into play at your place of employment, when working on your resume or at an interview. Separating yourself from the competition will help you stand out. Personal gain is apparent.

Celebrate with someone you love. HHHHH

of-its kind project that sparks innovative ways for participants to collaborate through the arts.

The available grants are: Collaboration Grants, which support online projects between Southeast Asia and the UK; and Arts and Creative Economy Research Grants support independent and collaborative research projects on arts and creative economy.

Prior to Covid-19, the grants would have most likely involved international travel. However, with travel restricted and uncertain at this time, the grants will be used to develop and strengthen new and existing relationships by providing funding to allow conversations to happen, and for the possibilities of online collaboration to be explored. Successful applicants will be announced in late November.

More information on the criteria for application and about the grants is available at bit.ly/31D3oYs.

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A unique project will interest you. Consider the changes you will have to make to accommodate what you want to pursue. The result will be satisfying and bring you good fortune. HHHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Stop listening and start doing. Refuse to let someone lead you in the wrong direction. Consider what you want and follow your heart. It’s up to you to protect your freedom to pursue your dream. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You’ll motivate and inspire others to do what’s right and best for everyone. Put your leadership qualities to work and make a difference. Your courage and kindness will help you gain respect. HHH Birthday Baby: You are creative, kind and knowledgeable.

You are motivated and curious.

‘help wanted’ by gary larson The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Words on a dirty car 7 Low-visibility auto accessory 14 Block houses?

15 Formed a thought 16 Employment opportunity at a ski resort?

18 Tony who sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” 19 Vigor 20 Osiris’ wife 22 Short time, for short 23 Worry about, informally 25 Place for a bubble bath 27 Marsh plant 31 Employment opportunity on a fishing boat?

34 “Fingers crossed” 37 Seating sections 38 Word on all US coins since 1938 39 Triumphant cries 40 Letter before iota 42 Stand up 43 It’s rarely taken at night 44 Small particle 45 Complained

47 Employment opportunity in a piano bar?

50 Department that works closely with marketing 51 Cal Poly city, briefly 52 Buzz from a mill?

56 Place for a mud bath 58 Luke’s mentor 60 Individual 61 Mix drinks 65 Employment opportunity in a flower garden?

67 Put on a pedestal 68 Breadwinner 69 It may return your cursor to the start of a line 70 The magic word?

DOWN 1 Bits of hair 2 Former vice president Spiro 3 Place to ski 4 “___ can I help?”

5 Cocktails with lime juice 6 Those, in Tijuana 7 Little lie 8 Celebratory poems

9 Lot’s wife’s book 10 Surgeon’s tool 11 Dined 12 Satisfied, as a need 13 Seattle summer hrs.

17 Vampire’s attack 21 Very well 24 Certain simians 26 Kick out 28 Dinner invitation?

29 Word after “Mother” or “Canada” 30 Pulled the plug on 32 Numbers game 33 Wise Hindu 34 Puts up, like a picture 35 Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Catherine 36 Of the Holy See 41 Uses a pogo stick 42 Sauce brand 44 Talk about what to buy?

46 Making a blip 48 Get cozy 49 Novice, slangily 53 Mars has two of them 54 Beginning

5 So out it’s in 5 57 Poker pot part 59 Extremely insightful 61 “___! Humbug!”

62 Brouhaha 63 Ingredient in 5-Down 64 TV actress Susan 66 Lead-in to “school”

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Tuesday, October 27, 2020

B5

Cignal TV boosts PHL education

Sacha Baron Cohen arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California, in March 2018 (left) and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, New Jersey, in November 2016. AP

Giuliani shown in hotel bedroom scene in new ‘Borat’ film N EW YORK—Rudy Giuliani is shown in a compromising position in a hotel room with a young woman acting as a television journalist in a scene in Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest mockumentary, a sequel to his hit Borat film.

The scene shot in a New York hotel room in July— which resulted in Giuliani calling police—includes a moment when Giuliani is seen lying on a bed, tucking in his shirt with his hand down his pants and the young woman nearby.

Giuliani went to the hotel room thinking he was being interviewed about the Trump administration’s Covid-19 response. The young woman is flirtatious with him and invites him to the bedroom, which is rigged with hidden cameras.

Giuliani then asks for her phone number and address. He lies back on the bed to tuck in his shirt after she helps remove his recording equipment, and he has his hands in his pants when Baron Cohen rushes in wearing an outlandish outfit.

Baron Cohen, who was disguised as part of the crew, screams that the young woman is 15 years old.

Up to that point, there is no indication she is underage.

The character, who is Borat’s daughter, is played by

Maria Bakalova, who is listed as 24 years old on the Internet Movie Database site, IMDb.com.

Speaking on his weekly radio program on WABC on Wednesday afternoon, Giuliani called the scene “a hit job.”

“I am tucking my shirt in, I assure you, that’s all that I was doing,” he said. He said he realized he was being set up when the woman asked whether he wanted a massage. “At no time before, during, or after the interview was I ever inappropriate,” Giuliani tweeted. “If Sacha Baron Cohen implies otherwise, he is a stone-cold liar.”

The former New York City mayor called police after that encounter, but there is no indication an investigation was launched. Giuliani spoke to the New York Post’s Page Six column about the encounter in July but did not mention the bedroom aspect.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who profiled Baron Cohen ahead of the the film’s release, tweeted on Wednesday about the scene: “It’s even wilder than it sounds. Beyond cringe.”

Trolling those close to US President Donald J. Trump is a central theme of the new Borat film, a sequel to the 2006 mockumentary that saw Baron Cohen’s character travel the United States, espousing

sexist, racist and anti-Semitic views and eliciting similar responses from unwitting subjects.

For Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Baron Cohen returns as his alter ego from Kazakhstan in a plot that involves trying to give his daughter as a gift to Vice President Mike Pence.

The closest Borat gets is the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he shouts to Pence that he’s brought a woman for him.

Dressed in a Donald Trump costume and with Borat’s daughter, played by Bakalova, slung over his shoulder, Baron Cohen is swiftly escorted out by security.

That leads to a second scheme involving Giuliani that ends up in the hotel room scene.

Giuliani finalized his divorce from his wife of 15 years in December.

Baron Cohen has made a history of poking fun at conservative figures. For his 2018 Showtime series Who Is America, the British comedian got former Vice President Dick Cheney to sign a waterboarding kit. A sketch with former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore involved the comedian administering a “pedophile test.” Moore has sued over the encounter. AP

‘No added pressure’: Miss Universe PHL bet unveiled as 2021 Ginebra calendar girl

By Jt Nisay THERE was no visible tension on the bright, long face of Christelle Abello, who shone Tuesday night in her wide smile and Ginebra San Miguel’s iconic red dress as she was launched as the beverage brand’s new calendar girl for 2021.

The 25-year-old communications graduate from the US was in Baguio during the first virtual launch in more than 30 years of Ginebra’s rich calendar history, preparing for the coronation of the maiden Miss Universe Philippines pageant last Sunday.

“There’s no added pressure,” said Abello, who represented the province of Aklan in the beauty contest. “For the most part, I’ve just become more confident about myself. It just made me all the more happy, all the more blessed, and I’m just so grateful. I feel ganado talaga sa buhay.”

Abello described her life as “simple yet busy.” She was as a full-time college student based in California with her mother from Cavite and father from Aklan.

After joining and winning her first beauty contest in the US, Abello decided to pursue a career in pageantry in the country, where she participated in Miss World Philippines 2015, finishing in the Top 13.

She points to Miss Universe 2015 and Ginebra San Miguel 2019 calendar girl Pia Wurtzbach as her inspiration. During Abello’s visits to the country in past years, she would drive past hulking advertising materials all over the streets featuring celebrities, and promised herself that “balang araw, magkaka-billboard din ako.”

Now the face of the Ginebra calendar, joining the

Miss Universe Philippines 2020 candidate Christelle Abello, representing Aklan, shares a photo of her in one of the six layouts of the Ginebra San Miguel 2021 calendar. CHRISTELLE ABELLO VIA INSTAGRAM

likes of her inspiration Pia and this year’s calendar girl Sanya Lopez, Abello said that she’s “overwhelmed, thrilled, and excited all at the same time.”

According to Allan P. Mercado, Ginebra San

Miguel Inc. national sales and marketing manager, Abello personifies the brand’s latest campaign, One Ginebra Nation, with her love for her countrymen.

Abello started a fundraiser, called “KapitBisig Tayo,” in line with her personal advocacy of reminding Filipinos all over the world to never forget their heritage, and to help fellow kababayans in any way possible. Abello reached out to her family and friends to help Filipinos who were out of work because of the pandemic, and to support frontliners.

“I think kindness goes a long way, no matter how small,” she said. “I’m really proud of our bayanihan spirit.”

The theme for the Ginebra San Miguel’s 2021 calendar is “Ganado sa Bahay,” a tweak on the brand’s “Ganado sa Buhay” slogan to reflect the new normal where people are advised to stay home and stay safe.

There are six layouts that feature Abello in different at-home activities.

In one edition, the beauty queen is seen painting in a black lingerie, saying that recreational activities are especially important these days for maintaining mental health. There is a layout of Abello showing her gamer side as well, and another where she practices yoga.

“We want people to see that life can still go on kahit nasa loob lang tayo ng bahay,” she said. “We can still enjoy, at pwede pa tayong matuto and improve ourselves.

We can still dream and be productive.”

As for her hopes for next year, Abello said she will try to look at each day to better herself. “I want to continue to progress in my goals and dreams and work hard for it.” n

THE the public school classes commencing earlier this month, the country’s elementary and highschool students are in for a new digital experience in contrast to the traditional face-to-face instruction that generations of Filipinos have known. Responding to this national need for an effective distance learning platform for the nearly 25 million enrollees this school year 2020 to 2021, Cignal TV, the leading Pay TV provider in the Philippines with its nationwide coverage and availability serving 2.6 million subscribers, has recently inked a partnership with the Department of Education to open up two channels dedicated to DepEd TV’s content across both Cignal TV and SatLite, its mass-market pay-TV brand.

According to DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del B. Pascua, “Recent restrictions in face-to-face classes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic compelled DepEd to adopt alternative learning delivery modalities for school year 2020 to 2021. As cited in its Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan, DepEd has identified four modalities for distance learning including televisionbased instruction and radio-based instruction.”

DepEd TV via Cignal TV channel 149 and SatLite channel 189 launched simultaneously with the start of classes. It is available to all prepaid and postpaid Cignal subscribers, as well as SatLite subscribers. The channel is available to DTH subscribers even if they do not have load in their accounts, ensuring every subscriber has access to the channel. DepEd TV is also being streamed for free on Cignal’s OTT streaming service called Cignal Play and is available for Android and iOS users upon registry via www.cignalplay.com.

Cignal TV President and CEO Robert P. Galang says, “The need to support students and families through distance learning is an integral step in helping both our students and their parents through these challenging times. We want television to provide convenience to students at home, a chance for parents to be involved, and educators to be eased.

Partnering with the Department of Education is aligned with Cignal TV’s mission to provide a broad and meaningful experience for households; merging entertainment and education in order to empower Filipinos.”

DepEd TV broadcasts are from 7 am to 7 pm, from Monday to Saturday, for the next two years. This is a small step that Cignal TV is taking to ensure that it gives back to the community through its platforms and nationwide reach.

CCP, QEFF PUT SPOTLIGHT ON MENTAL HEALTH

THE Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival for Health partner to bring awareness to mental health and health-related issues in the country through “Balik Tanaw,” a free film online screening.

Until October 30, films on Autism Spectrum Disorder, Depression, and Dementia will be screened on the CCP Vimeo channel for free. The featured films— Oh, Aking Katoto by Kelvin Aguilar, Rekuwerdo by Kristoffer Brugada, and Wish by Sheen Irerick Seekts—were part of the Third Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival.

There will also be a live talkback and Q&A with the film directors, to be moderated by actress Meryll Soriano, on October 30. Catch it on the CCP Media Arts and CCP Facebook pages.

The week-long film screening celebrates the National Mental Health Awareness Month, putting the spotlight on important health issues and hoping to spark dialogues on mental health topics. The CCP also collaborates with the Mu Sigma Phi Fraternity and the Department of Health to organize the 4th QuisumbingEscandor Film Festival for Health, a nationwide film competition that focuses on Filipino people and their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic, including the stories of those living with mental health issues.

The fourth installment of QEFF is now accepting film proposals and submissions. They are accepting films completed before October 1. Deadline for submissions is on December 19.

More information is available at forms.gle/mixWunSU57hvEVjv9.

REKUWERDO

B6 Tuesday, October 27, 2020

PHP1-M donation to go to Mindoro’s rangers this Tamaraw Month

P

ONG Capati emigrated from the Philippines to America in 1982, retiring after 30 years of work. Last July, he heard about #TogetherforTamaraws, an online fundraising campaign to help conservation frontliners affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I realized that without rangers, we cannot protect the tamaraw. I really wanted to help so I shared the campaign to my family, friends and colleagues. With my niece Sofia, we fused our love for food and art and managed to raise over PHP30,000 for our rangers.”

Other funds were raised in the most creative ways: Ruth Ann Cabria sold items online to declutter her home; Artist Issa Barte auctioned art pieces; Photographer Derald Umali raffled off a film camera.

All put, some 150 individuals and institutions raised over PHP1.1 million to help Mindoro’s tamaraw rangers and forest wardens, many of whom lost their jobs because of the pandemic. The funds shall be turned over on 29 October to cap off Tamaraw Month, celebrated in the Philippines each October.

“These creative fundraising efforts show how the worst times can also bring out the best in people,” says DENR-BMB Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon.

“Our Bayanihan Spirit lives on through crowdfunding. We thank our partners, donors and contributors in proving how everyone can do their part for conservation.”

The lockdown due to COVID-19

LEFT Mindoro’s Iglit-Baco Natural Park with little funding, cutting off the sole source of income for 32 wardens and one ranger, all members of Mindoro’s indigenous Taw’buid, Buid and Iraya tribes.

Only 23 TCP rangers and three wardens are currently patrolling a core area of 2500 hectares inside the 106,655-hectare IglitBaco park, which hosts at least 480 of the world’s last 600 tamaraws.

“The Tamaraw Conservation Programme (TCP) and Mounts IglitBaco Natural Park (MIBNP) are indebted to those who have and will continue to help us,” says TCP head Neil Anthony del Mundo. “The assistance to be given to our wardens and rangers will go a long way in keeping both our tamaraws and protected areas safe.”

Critical Time for Biodiversity

#TOGETHERFORTAMARAWS is led by the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) project under the United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP) and the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau and MIMAROPA Regional Office.

In July, the Philippine Parks & Biodiversity NGO further created the Tamaraw Society for its 20 for 20 campaign where they called on 20 organizations or individuals to pledge or fundraise PHP20,000 each.

The Tamaraw Society is currently comprised of the following 18 entities: D’Aboville Foundation and Demo Farm, Eco Explorations, Masungi Georeserve Foundation, Ecoheroes, Far Eastern University, Fund the Forest, JaDine Habb Fans Club, Kids for Kids / Bye Bye Plastic Bags, Giselle Sy, Hey Namski x FIASFUD, Michael Montesano, Oscar Lopez, Planet CORA, Elmer and Kitkat Mercado, Ruth Cabria, The Learned Tribe, Thirty Five Studio, and WWF-Philippines.

“This is a critical time for Philippine biodiversity,” says UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Enrico Gaveglia. “With Philippine protected areas undermanned because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of plant and animal poaching is at its highest. We need to do our part in ensuring that our conservation frontliners have the means and capacity to continue their mission.

After all, if not for the TCP and MIBNP rangers working hand in hand with the Mangyan communities of Mts. Iglit-Baco, the tamaraw might well be extinct.”

The donation turnover ceremony shall be held at Barangay Poypoy in Mindoro Occidental. The funds shall be used to pay for wages, supplies and equipment.

The DENR-BMB, UNDP-BIOFIN and its allies shall continue fundraising for Mindoro’s tamaraw rangers.

Individuals who wish to donate can click bit.ly/TogetherForTamaraws or email biofin.ph@undp.org while those who wish to join the Tamaraw Society can click bit.ly/TamarawSociety.

PH most fiscally transparent country in ASEAN—DBM chief

T

HE Philippines ranked as the most fiscally transparent country in Southeast Asia based on the 2019 Open Budget Survey released by the International Budget Partnership, according to Department of Budget and Management Secretary Wendel E. Avisado.

“With the recent results of the 2019 OBS, we are thrilled by the announcement that out of 117 countries evaluated for the 2019 Open Budget Survey, the Philippines secured the top spot in Southeast Asia for budget transparency. This makes the country the most fiscally transparent country in the region while ranking 10th place worldwide,” Avisado said in a virtual presentation on the results of the 2019 Open Budget Survey in the Philippines organized by Stratbase ADR Institute, De La Salle University-Institute of Governance and International Budget Partnership.

Avisado said the country’s 2019 OBI score climbed nine places to 76 out of 100 from No. 67 in 2017. This exceeded the government's 2019 and 2021 OBI target scores of 67 and 71, respectively, under the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022.

“This score implies that we were able to make budget information publicly available in a comprehensive and timely manner through the publication of all eight key budget documents such as the enacted budget and the citizen’s budget, among others,” he said.

Aside from transparency, the OBS also evaluates public participation in the budget process and budget oversight. The country’s participation score is the sixth highest worldwide (31 out of 100) and is significantly above the global average score of 14. “To improve this score, the DBM will make considerable efforts in institutionalizing and expanding participatory mechanisms in the budget process,” Avisado said.

Budget oversight also remained strong in the Philippines with a composite oversight score of 74 (out of 100), which implies adequate oversight by the Congress and the Commission

on Audit during the budget process.

“We are thrilled that the IBP has recognized our efforts in sustaining and improving on past reforms, as well as introducing new reforms in line with the administration’s commitment to accountability and transparency. In surpassing our neighbors in the region, we have further cemented our position as a global leader in Open Government,” Avisado said.

“We are ready to release P140 billion more to support the Bayanihan II Law,” Avisado said. “With fiscal transparency, the national budget becomes responsive and targeted to the needs of the citizens.”

To build on these gains, the Stratbase Institute asked the government to prioritize the digitalization of the budget system. “An Open Budget System is crucial in ensuring transparency and imposing accountability in the process and implementation of each year’s General Appropriations Act. This is a responsibility that must be shared by legislators and implementing government agencies,” Stratbase ADRi said in a statement.

Stratbase ADRi said the common denominator for enhancing the institutional capacity of a state

to remain transparent and allowing active public participation is digital transformation and an extensive and robust nationwide digital infrastructure.

“Through digitalization, the Philippine government will not only be able to consolidate and analyze big data but will also be better equipped in organizing and translating the volume of information for the clear understanding of the Filipino public,” it said.

A digitalized budget process also increases accessibility through online and digital platforms while opening opportunities for public participation, Stratbase ADRi said. ”The digitization of the budget system will enable the government to better plan and manage its limited resources to efficiently fund the most urgent programs and projects and maximize the benefits to the most vulnerable sectors,“ it said.

“Moreover, it will also strengthen the capacity of the Philippine government to efficiently provide the Filipino public with significant budget information while ensuring transparency and accountability in all its procedures,” Stratbase ADRi said.

VILLAR GETS DONATIONS FOR HER RELIEF EFFORTS DURING PANDEMIC. Sen. Cynthia A. Villar personally received medical protective materials and medicines from the Philippine Fujian General Youth Association, Inc., headed by its President James Go, during a simple turn-over ceremony. The donations include, among others, face shields and face masks and medicines. Villar would in turn distribute the donations to LGUs, frontliners and the people in communities in support of the government’s fight against Covid-19. The senator, who has been leading the efforts of the Villar SIPAG to help alleviate the suffering of those affected by the pandemic, thanked the group for their support her to beat the new coronavirus.

Sun Life, Roche tie-up to secure finances and health

S

UN Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. (“Sun Life”), the number one life insurance company in the Philippines, and Roche Philippines Inc. (“Roche”), the world’s largest biotech company and frontrunner in personalized healthcare, have inked a multi-pronged partnership to spearhead initiatives that will help Filipinos secure their finances and health.

Under the partnership, Sun Life and Roche will jointly study the creation of appropriate educational models and tools, as well as products and services to address financial, medical, and insurance needs of Filipinos. All of these initiatives will be geared towards a future where treatment to critical illnesses such as cancer is accessible and can lead to a continued productive life with loved ones. The first phase of the tie-up will focus on financial and medical literacy.

“Health and finances have always been key components of a brighter future, but amid the health crisis we are facing, these have become even more relevant,” Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), Inc. President Alex Narciso said. “We are fortunate to have Roche as our partner in this initiative.

We look forward to exploring ways on how

we can advance our advocacies together.”

“To address complex problems such as health or finances, we need an entire ecosystem of strong and dedicated partners. This is why we’re pleased to be able to work with Sun Life on this initiative and build together on how we can support the Filipino people,” Roche (Philippines) Inc. General Manager Kara Brotemarkle said.

THE Sun Life-Roche partnership was formalized via a virtual gathering on Zoom, which was attended by Narciso and Brotemarkle, along with Sun Life CEO and Country Head Benedict Sison, Sun Life Head of Distribution and Business Development Deo Orpilla, Sun Life Head of Health & Accident Ma. Lirio Torres, Roche Finance Director Vivien Bression, Roche Country Medical Director Dr. Diana Edralin, and Roche Business Leader, Sheryl Enriquez.

Clark locators join IEC webinar under new normal

A

TOTAL of 80 representatives from variougs locators in this Freeport recently participated in a two-day Information and Education Campaign (IEC) Webinar spearheaded by Clark Development Corporation (CDC).

With its theme “Bagong Kaalaman, Bagong Benepisyo tulong sa Empleyado sa Panahon ng Pandemya”, the IEC webinar aims to inform and update the participants regarding the programs undertaken by various government agencies in the time of pandemic.

CDC, through its External Affairs Department (EAD) headed by CDC- AVP Rommel Narciso, partnered with Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund), LandBank, and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to further educate the locators on the latest processes and initiatives being carried out by each agency under the new normal.

Participants, who are mostly human resources practitioners of locator companies here, were also informed about the new online procedures of PhilHealth, SSS, and Landbank.

Meanwhile, DOLE discussed Employment Preservation while GSIS talked about their Insurance process and PAG IBIG Fund shared some details regarding their programs.

The roster of speakers during the said webinar include PhilHealth Accounts Information Management Specialist (PAIMS) Joven Liwanag, Chief Social Insurance Officer Annabelle Bautista-Imana, Local Health Insurance Officer (LHIO) Rowena T. Luciano, GSIS Marketing Manager Ma. Rosanna

A. Sanchez, SSS Branch Head for Angeles City Normita M. Cruz, SSS Junior Analyst Francielyn Cuevas, and Acting Social Security Officer III Sigfred Manuel.

PAG IBIG Fund Branch Head for Angeles City Liberty C. Guerrero with Accounts Management Specialist Kathlyn Salas, Member Services Officer III Aaron Josef Nucum, LandBank Marketing Officer Valene Therese Torrecampo, and DOLE Officer-inCharge Jose Roberto L. Navata were also among the presenters during the webinar.

Some of the locator companies who took part in the said event are Outback Five Star Clark Phils. Inc., Philexcel Business Park, Inc., Beepo, Inc., Converge ICT Solutions, Inc., Federal Express Corporation, Fontana Development Corporation, Foton Motor Philippines Inc., Genesis Transport Service, Inc., Global Gateway Development Corporation, Jamco Philippines, Inc., JB Cresta Corp., Mercedes-Benz Group Services Phils., Inc., Metro Clark Waste Management Corp., Mimosa Cityscapes Inc., Pishon Clark Philippines Inc., SIA Engineering (Phils.) Corporation, Sun Valley Clark Hub Corporation, Sutherland Global Services Philippines Inc., Tanika (Philippines) Corporation, The Medical City Clark, Inc., UPS International, Inc., Xenia Hotel Corporation, Yokohama Tire Philippines, Inc., Yokoisada (Phils.) Corporation, and Federal Express Pacific, LLC among others.

The IEC is an annual activity facilitated

by CDC-EAD. This event is also part of the various programs of the state-owned firm designed to help its locators on government statutory requirements and facilitate ease of doing business in the Freeport.

CDC's EAD Assistant Vice President Rommel Narciso (6th from left) spearheaded the IEC webinar for Clark locators. SSS Junior Analyst Francielyn Cuevas (2nd from right), Acting Social Security Officer III Sigfred Manuel (3rd from right) and CEO – II, AMS Anthony Rivera (4th from right) were among the speakers and facilitators of the said activity. Also attendance were CDC – External affairs staff (from left to right) Skills and Placement Assistants Jonalyn Manabat and Jamille Tolentino, Skills and Placement Officer II Krissumpta Maree M. Adona, Skills and Placement Officer II Randy Gomez and other EAD personnel.

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

Sports BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 27, 2020 B7

BUBBLE RULES EXEMPT NO ONE

By Josef Ramos

N

O one is above the protocols inside the Clark bubble.

This was proven by the two Covid-19 scares—first from a referee and most recently, from a Blackwater Elite—whose false positives from a first test and negatives from two more procedures didn’t exempt them from undergoing 12 to 14 days of quarantine.

For the Elite whose identity

couldn’t be revealed, he will be missing his team’s crucial elimination-round games while being isolated from the close to 400 Philippine Basketball Association entourage.

Blackwater team manager Jacob Muñez told the BusinessMirror on Monday that the protocols could be “bizarre” but admitted the confirmatory tests’ negative result on their player was a relief not only for the team but the entire league.

“We’re relieved because it came out negative but, at the same

time, a little bit confused and we are still worrying since he’s alone in isolation,” said Muñez, who doesn’t expect his player to join them right away because of the quarantine procedures.

The confirmatory tests are being conducted at the Athletes’ Village at the New Clark City, a Covid-19 facility some 30 kms from the bubble.

Muñez said they “trust” the protocols established by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and

the Clark Development Corp. under Covid-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon.

“The experts said it is still intact so I guess I am not in the right position to say it is not really effective anymore,” Muñez said.

“They said it’s not breached.”

Muñez, however, noted that the referee who is also in isolation was one of the three officials who worked their game against TNT Tropang Giga last Thursday.

The PBA and Dizon stressed they are confident that the league’s bubble remains intact despite the minor setbacks.

“The PBA bubble remains intact and has not been breached. Nevertheless, we urge all participants to be extra cautious and

strictly follow the protocols set for them inside the bubble,” a PBA statement said.

The Elite already played five games and are holding a 2-3 winloss record. If the Elite won’t make the playoffs, their isolated player will no longer play in the bubble.

At least three members of the PBA entourage are out of the bubble but not because of the virus. Two players have gone home because of injuries, while a referee was banished because of a bad call.

Guidelines for school sports’ return released DE VERA

MITRA

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RAMIREZ

CABOTAJE

By Annie Abad

HE Joint Agreement Order (JAO) group said on Monday that the guidelines for school sports’ return has been completed but are limited only to the training of student athletes and not competitions or leagues.

The JAO group also stressed that student athletes will be allowed to return to training under two modes—online or stay-in at their respective schools’ sports facilities.

Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero de Vera III, however, said the guidelines still need the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

“The general idea is to start opening up the activities in all areas so that we are slowly able to start resuming within the context of safety for everyone,” de Vera told a videolinked news conference on Monday morning.

He was joined by Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez, Games and Amusements Board Chairman Abraham Khalil Mitra and Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje. They make up the JAO group created by the IATF to supervise sports during the Covid-19 pandemic.

De Vera said the “stay-in” concept is suited for the so-called Higher Education Institutions that stage the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, National Collegiate Athletic Association and Private Schools Athletic Association, as well as the State Schools, Colleges and Universities Athletic Association.

De Vera said that under “stay-in” training, student athletes, coaches and personnel should be quartered in a dormitory or housing facility located within the school campus. He said no one will be allowed in and out of the “stay-in” facility and visits will be banned.

University of the Philippines Human Kinetics Dean Francisco Diaz, a member of the JAO group’s technical working group which crafted the guidelines, said that they designed stricter guidelines for the HEIs. But de Vera said the group highly recommends online training among athletes and coaches.

“These guidelines will be submitted to the IATF this week and we hope stakeholders and administrators of universities can seriously implement them if they so desire to open up for training,” de Vera said.

‘Baham’ forum guest

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AMES and Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Abraham “Baham” Mitra goes on board as the lone special guest in the webcast edition of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday.

Mitra will discuss the joint resolution issued by the GAB and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) that reiterates the distinction between professional and amateur sports.

The session starts at 10 a.m. The weekly Forum is presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, Milo, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and powered by Smart.

Upstream Media is the official webcast partner.

The public sports program is livestreamed via the PSA Facebook page fb.com/ PhilippineSportswritersAssociation and also shared by Radyo Pilipinas 2 Facebook page.

Pagdanganan settles for 3rd, McDonald wins by 1 stroke

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IANCA PAGDANGANAN fell short of winning her first Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) title on her rookie year and settled for solo third place in the Drive On Championship-Reynolds Lake Oconee topped by American Ally McDonald on Sunday in Georgia.

The power-hitting Filipina birdied the last two holes for the second straight day for a 70 and a 14-under 274 total at the Great Waters course in Greensboro.

McDonald ruled the tournament with a 272 output she capped with as closing 69 for a one-stroke victory over world No. 5 Daniella Kang (68 for a 273).

Pagdanganan pocketed $83,557 (P4 million), nearly matching the $83,765 she banked for a joint ninth place finish in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, one of the

Tour’s majors, two weeks ago in Pennsylvania.

She now has a six-tournament earning of $186,266.

Pagdanganan rued the missed chance of going all the way as her short irons and wedges failed to click and failed to take advantage of the course’s par-5s the way she did in the second round.

“It definitely got a little frustrating, but it’s okay,” said Pagdanganan, who birdied the four par-5s Friday to move to within one off the leader. “I guess I could’ve made birdies on the par-5s but I only actually birdied the last.”

But she stressed the three other chances weren’t necessarily makeable since they ranged from 25-30 feet out.

“I should’ve taken advantage [of the par5s] but I also don’t want to beat myself about it,” she added.

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN proves she can stay in stride with the big guns despite being a rookie.

That allowed McDonald to beat Pagdanganan and Kang behind a hot threebirdie run from No. 10.

Despite her struggle to gun down birdies, Pagdanganan remained in the hunt in a thriller of a final round so crowded that at least six players had a shot at the title.

Until McDonald birdied the 16th to go 3-up on Kang, who pulled to within one with backto-back birdies from No. 13.

Pagdanganan, the Tour’s driving leader, normed 293 yards off the tee, leaving McDonald and Kang by 30 to 35 yards based on their average driving distance. Although she went out of regulation five times, there was not much of a worry to save pars for the International Container Terminal Services Inc.backed player.

“I had one actual save-par but the

rest were pretty much tap-ins,” said Pagdanganan, who broke that par-game with a crisp 9-iron tee-shot on No. 17 and blasted off the bunker on the 18th, both to within a foot for birdies.

The title chase also heated up in a flight ahead as Mina Harigae, also of the US, threatened to within two with a frontside 33 but ran out of holes despite adding two more birdies at the back for a solid 67. She tied for fourth at 275 with a hot-finishing Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who birdied three of the last four for a 69.

Two-time major winner Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand charged back from five-down to within one off McDonald with a blistering birdie-birdie-par-eagle-birdie run from No. 3.

But the former world No. 1 reeled back with a double-bogey on the ninth and put to naught

another birdie on No. 15 with a closing bogey for a 69 and a 277 for joint sixth with Aussie Katherine Kirk, who carded a 70.

From joint ninth in a major event to solo third, things are looking up indeed for the Pagdanganan, whose Tour campaign is also backed by Skyflakes, Ping, Titleist, Footjoy and Swingdish.

“I hope so [getting closer to that first win],” she said. “But I still have parts of my game that I need to work on.”

Pagdanganan said she satisfied with how she handled the pressure playing against the seasoned campaigners.

“I really enjoyed being in contention this week. I had mixed feelings but I like where my game is headed,” she said. “I haven’t struck the ball this good in a while so there are still lots of positives to take away this week.”

PCKDF head Uy: We’re focusing on Tokyo Olympics

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EWLY elected Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragonboat Federation (PCKDF) President Teresita Uy vowed to step up the association’s focus on qualifying at least one of its athletes to the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.

Uy made the vow following her election as the PCKDF head at the Century Park Hotel in Manila on Sunday with no less than Philippine Olympic Commitee (POC) President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino gracing the exercise.

“We are waiting for the new schedule of the

Olympic Qualifying tournaments and from there, we could chart the program of our athletes,” Uy, 68, told BusinessMirror after the elections.

Uy, a longtime PCKDF board member, said they are counting on 30th Southeast Asian Games 200-meter men’s singles gold medalist Hermie Macaranas and Ojay Fuentes as the association’s top bets for Olympic berths.

Also elected were vice president Almario Acosta, secretary general Joven Franzuela and treasurer Tomas Tamayo and board members Gregorio Galang, Arnel Gabutero and national coach Leonora “Len-

PHILIPPINE Olympic Commitee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino (left) witnesses Teresita Uy’s (center) election as canoe-kayak-dragonboat federation president. With them is coach and board member Leonora “Len-Len” Escollante.

Len” Escollante.

“That’s our ultimate goal—to qualify for the Olympics,” said Escollante, adding the federation intends to send its athletes to Tacloban for training amid the Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s going to be a tough process, to qualify, especially we’re still in lockdown. But we’re on track of our chances because of our programs.”

Olympic qualifiers for the sports are set from March to May, according to Escollante.

The PCKDF, Uy said it is also preparing for the Vietnam 31st Southeast Asian Games in November next year.

Joining Tolentino was Samahang Kickboxing ng Pilipinas Secretary-General Wharton Chan. POC membership committee chairman Bones Floro witnessed the elections. Josef Ramos

No arms, no issue for Pakistani snooker player

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AMUNDRI, Pakistan—Mohammad Ikram leans over the snooker table, his face at almost touching distance behind the white ball as he assesses his options, then knocks it with his bearded chin.

At the other end of the table a moment later, a red ball sinks into the corner pocket.

With a twist of the neck this way, or a lighter nudge another, the 32-year-old Ikram has worked out how to pot snooker balls without the use of a cue stick.

He was born without arms. He lives in a dusty rural town in the northeast of Pakistan in Punjab province. He hasn’t let anything stop him from fulfilling his childhood dream of playing the game of snooker.

Ikram remembers watching other children playing on dusty pool tables outside his home when he was a 10-year-old kid. He always wished one day he could also play the game, but just needed to work out how.

“At that time I wished I had arms so that I could play the game, too,” Ikram told The

Associated Press.

Eventually he devised his own style and later went to a nearby club, looking for a game.

“People didn’t believe me in the club that I could play with my chin,” he said, “but they gradually started admiring my skills when I started hitting the cue ball with the chin.”

Mohammad Nadeem, owner of the Cue Club in Samundri, recalled the time about 10 or 12 years ago when Ikram approached him with a request to play snooker.

“I told him ‘no you cannot do this,’” Nadeem said. It’s a good thing Ikram didn’t take no for an answer.

“When he first hit the ball with his chin, it simply amazed me because it was as good as any other snooker player could have hit it with cue in hand,” Nadeem said.

So Ikram started making the 12-kilomoter daily trip to the club, where he plays on the seven snooker tables.

Ikram has won at least three local tournaments and his popularity is growing

fast—not only in his hometown but also across Pakistan, mainly because of media attention.

Ikram, who has two younger brothers and five younger sisters, holds a special place in his mother’s heart.

“I don’t go out and watch him play but his father has seen him playing and we are happy for him,” Ikram’s mother, Razia Bibi, said. “We used to say that had he got arms, he would have been very happy. But now the whole world will be happy when they see him playing.”

Ikram said he wanted to show off his snooker skills abroad, and was hoping to get some support from the government and Prime Minister Imran Khan, the former cricket star who led the Pakistan team to victory in the 1992 World Cup. “I wish, I could go abroad and play in front of other people and bring fame to Pakistan,” Ikram said, as he rested his right leg on the table, flexed his neck and yet again hit the cue ball with his chin and potted a red ball in the long pocket. AP

WITH a twist of the neck this way, or a lighter nudge another, 32-year-old Mohammad Ikram has worked out how to pot snooker balls without the use of a cue stick. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Tuesday, October 27, 2020

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

Kershaw stops steal of home, hands Dodgers 3-2 Series lead

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NEW GEN RULING CYCLING MEMBERS of the Ineos team celebrate Tao Geoghegan Hart’s victory. AP

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ILAN—Cycling’s new generation claimed another Grand Tour victory on Sunday as British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart won the Giro d’Italia after a tense time trial.

Geoghegan Hart edged Australian Jai Hindley by just 39 seconds in one of the most exciting final stages of a Grand Tour.

As well as the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey), Geoghegan Hart also beat Hindley to the white jersey that goes to the best young rider who is 25 or under. It was the first time since the 1994 Giro that the winner and runner-up in a Grand Tour were both eligible for the U25 classification.

Wilco Kelderman was third overall—1:29 behind Geoghegan Hart— at the end of the three-week race, which appears to have finished just in time with rising numbers of coronavirus cases in Italy and new restrictions announced in the country.

“Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine this would be possible when we started out in Sicily almost a month ago,” Geoghegan Hart said. “All my career I’ve dreamt of trying to be Top 10, Top 5 maybe, in a race of this stature, so this is something completely and utterly different to that and I think it’s going to take a long time for this to sink in.”

Geoghegan Hart is 25 years old, a year older than Hindley. Portuguese rider João Almeida, who wore the Maglia Rosa for most of the Giro, is 22—the same age as Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar.

“I think there’s always a new generation coming, that’s the name of the game,” Geoghegan Hart said. “There’s a lot of super talented young guys, cycling is changing a little bit with advances in technology and availability of information to younger and younger riders “I’m just super happy to be here and congratulations to Jai for a super race.”

Geoghegan Hart was supposed to be in Italy as support for Geraint Thomas but was thrust into a leadership role at Ineos Grenadiers after Thomas crashed and broke his pelvis in Stage 3.

Neither Geoghegan Hart nor Hindley had ever finished higher than 20th in a Grand Tour but the pair entered the final day at the top of the standings and tied on time—a first in Grand Tour history.

Geoghegan Hart proved to be quicker than Hindley in a tense individual time trial in Milan and that was all that separated the pair after nearly 3,500 kilometers of racing.

“What can I say, I’m pretty disappointed but at the same time it’s still a massive accomplishment for me to be on the podium here in Milan,” said Hindley, who rides for Team Sunweb. “I’m super proud.

“I knew before the start it would be hard to beat him in the time trial...I gave everything I had and that’s all I could do. I don’t have any regrets.”

Geoghegan Hart’s Ineos teammate Filippo Ganna was fastest on Sunday, with a time of 17 minutes and 16 seconds on the mostly flat 15.7-kilometer route, which finished next to

Milan’s iconic cathedral.

“Congratulations to Tao...I’m more emotional than he is,” Ganna said as he smiled through tears of joy for his teammate.

Ganna was heavily favored to win the final stage after the Italian dominated the two previous time trials in this year’s Giro. Ganna was 32 seconds faster than Victor Campenaerts and Rohan Dennis for his fourth win in 21 stages and Ineos’ seventh at this year’s Giro.

The Giro was rescheduled from its usual May slot because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Race Director Mauro Vegni said from the start that the race’s greatest achievement would be reaching the finish in Milan.

The Lombardy region, of which Milan is the capital, introduced a nightly curfew last week because of a rising number of Covid-19 cases in an area already hard hit during the first wave of infections earlier this year.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte announced further restrictions in the entire country on Sunday after the last two days saw daily new caseloads creep close to 20,000.

There was rigorous testing at the Giro and overall contenders Simon Yates and Steven Kruijswijk had to withdraw from the race after testing positive. Yates’ Mitchelton-Scott team and Kruijswijk’s Jumbo-Visma team subsequently withdrew their entire squads following a series of positive results from the first rest day.

Australian standout Michael Matthews and Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria also had to withdraw after contracting the virus. AP

HAMILTON MAKES F1 HISTORY P

ARIS—When Michael Schumacher retired from Formula One eight years ago, little did he know that he was opening the door for Lewis Hamilton to make history.

The British driver did just that on Sunday, winning the Portuguese Grand Prix for a recordsetting 92nd victory of his outstanding career to overtake Schumacher’s 91 wins. Runaway leader Hamilton is also set to equal Schumacher’s record seven championships this season.

Hamilton replaced Schumacher at Mercedes in 2013 with only one F1 title to his name and 70 wins behind the German great’s mark which was considered in F1 circles as way out of reach.

But with another contract looming at Mercedes, the 35-year-old Hamilton could get well beyond 100 wins.

“I still feel physically strong but you still wonder when is it going to tip over and [you] lose performance,” Hamilton said after his victory in Portugal. “But showing by today it’s not yet.”

His 71 wins with Mercedes have come from just 173 races, a stunning win ratio of 41 percent, while his 92 wins from 262 starts (about 35 percent) edges him ahead of Schumacher’s 91 in 306 (30 percent).

Hamilton also has the most pole positions (97 to Schumacher’s 68) and podium finishes (161-155).

But direct comparisons between the two are difficult since they raced in different eras, save for an overlapping period of three seasons when Schumacher was driving an uncompetitive Mercedes.

Who has the edge in terms of single-lap speed is hard to judge.

Some of Hamilton’s poles have been among the best ever in F1. Particularly the display at the Singapore GP two years ago and the mesmerizing control at a rain-drenched qualifying for the Styrian GP in July.

However, Hamilton’s best season ratio of 11 wins from 19 races falls below Schumacher’s masterful 13 from 18—a staggering 72 percent win ratio—during his last title with Ferrari in 2004. Schumacher’s 10 fastest laps in 2004 beats Hamilton’s eight in 2015, as does his overall total of 77-52.

Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2007 with McLaren aged 22.

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen won the title that year by one point from Hamilton, who began with nine straight podiums and a first victory in Canada after clinching a first pole.

McLaren sent Hamilton a tweet on Sunday featuring a bottle of Champagne and the words “You never forget your first.”

When he won his first title the following

year, aged 23, Hamilton was the youngest world champion until Sebastian Vettel in 2010.

In an extraordinary scenario, Hamilton won the 2008 championship by overtaking on the last corner of the Brazilian GP to finish fifth and beat Ferrari’s Felipe Massa by one point. The Italian team was celebrating wildly when Hamilton surged to break hearts at Massa’s home race.

The next four years saw Red Bull’s dominance with four Vettel titles from 2010-2013.

Then came Hamilton’s career-defining decision.

He joined his old friend from junior karting, Nico Rosberg, at Mercedes. Observers questioned the move and in 2013 Hamilton won only one race while Vettel finished the season with 13.

“Did I think we would win this many races?

Of course not,” Hamilton said Sunday about his Mercedes move.

By the end of 2013, Vettel loomed as the biggest threat to Schumacher’s records. The German driver is two-and-a-half years younger than Hamilton and, back then, led 4-1 in titles and 39-22 in wins.

But then another key moment happened as F1’s engines changed, with the arrival of the 1.6-litre hybrid. Mercedes made the best transition and results were instant with 16 wins

DODGERS rooters salute Clayton Kershaw, a three-time National League Cy Young Award winner, as he walks to the dugout. AP

RLINGTON, Texas—Clayton Kershaw’s glittering career lacked two of the most satisfying accomplishments: a win deep in the World Series and a championship ring.

He took the mound Sunday night with the Los Angeles Dodgers shaken, and Kershaw steadied his team with a gritty performance, plus one particular delivery home that will long be remembered.

Now with one more victory, the Dodgers would claim their first title since 1988.

Kershaw beat the Tampa Bay Rays for the second time in six days, escaping a fourthinning jam with a quick reaction throw to cut down a runner trying for a rare steal of home, and the Dodgers held on for a 4-2 win and a 3-2 Series lead.

Mookie Betts and Corey Seager sparked a two-run first inning, and Joc Pederson and Max Muncy homered off long-ball prone Tyler Glasnow, whose 100 mph heat got burned.

His scraggly dark brown hair dangling with sweat, Kershaw was cruising when Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts removed the 32-year-old left-hander in favor of Dustin May after getting two outs on two pitches in the sixth inning.

The mostly pro-Dodgers fans in the pandemic-reduced crowd of 11,437 booed when Roberts walked to the mound, well aware of what happened with the bullpen the previous night, when closer Kenley Jansen wasted a ninth-inning lead in a stunning 8-7 loss.

Those boos quickly turned to cheers as the LA rooters saluted Kershaw, a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, as he walked to the dugout. Kershaw improved to 13-12 in postseason play, including 4-1 this year.

May, Victor Gonzalez and Blake Treinen combined for two-hit scoreless relief. May got five outs, Gonzalez stranded a pair of runners in the eighth by retiring Randy Arozarena and Brandon Lowe on flyouts, and Treinen got three outs to become the fourth Dodgers pitcher with a postseason save.

Manuel Margot singled leading off the ninth, but Austin Meadows struck out, Joey Wendle flied out and Willy Adames struck out.

Thirty of the previous 46 teams to win Game

Izagirre tops sixth stage; Carapaz takes overall lead

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ALLENT DE GÁLLEGO, Spain—With some help from his brother, Ion Izagirre won the sixth stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Sunday, and Richard Carapaz snatched the overall lead from defending champion Primoz Roglic.

Ion Izagirre was guided by older brother Gorka Izagirre during the final parts of

the stage and made a strong attack on the final climb of the from 19 races in 2014.

Hamilton sealed the title on the last day—again—although only because of an eccentric double-points rule introduced for the final race by then-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. Rosberg, who before the race told his rival to “drive cleanly,” took pole position and made a terrible start to finish 14th while Hamilton sealed title No. 2 with a victory.

Hamilton was dominant in 2015, sealing his third F1 title at the US Grand Prix with three races to spare. In the cooldown room, Hamilton dismissively tossed a No. 2 cap to Rosberg. It appeared a calculated putdown and a clearly angered Rosberg tossed it back. This would prove a symbol of how a once-strong relationship nurtured during their karting days turned very sour.

It also spurred Rosberg on to surpass himself.

The German driver won the first four races of 2016 during a campaign that turned into a psychological war of attrition between the drivers.

They crashed into each other at the Spanish GP and clashed at the Belgian GP. They traded barbs and reproaches as Hamilton clawed back to take the championship to a finale under floodlights at Abu Dhabi.

But Rosberg had a 12-point lead and, although Hamilton won, Rosberg’s second place earned him a title to match his father Keke Rosberg’s 1982 title. Days later, Rosberg stunned F1 by retiring and this made things considerably easier for Hamilton. The decision by Mercedes

146-kilometer stage. The stage was originally planned to cross into France but had to be altered to stay in Spanish territory because of tightened coronavirus restrictions.

Ion Izagirre, a Spanish rider for Astana, finished 25 seconds ahead of Michael Woods and Rui Costa.

“I have to thank Gorka because he made things easier for me,” the younger Izagirre said.

Roglic crossed the line in 20th place— nearly two minutes after Ion Izagirre—and dropped to fourth place in the overall LEWIS HAMILTON wins the Portuguese Grand Prix for a record-setting 92nd victory of his outstanding career to overtake Michael Schumacher’s 91 wins. AP

Five for a 3-2 lead have won the title, but just six of the last 14. Teams that wasted 3-2 leads include last year’s Houston Astros.

Los Angeles did not have an obvious candidate to start Game Six on Tuesday, when Game Two winner Blake Snell starts for Tampa Bay, Walker Buehler, the 26-year-old right-hander who has supplanted Kershaw at the Dodgers’ ace, is waiting in the wings for a a Game Seven like a Hollywood understudy ready for a leading role.

With a 175-76 regular-season record, five ERA titles and an MVP, Kershaw ranks alongside Dodgers greats Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser. He won World Series openers in 2017 and again this year, but he faltered in Game Five in both 2017 and 2018 and has never won a title.

He shut down the Rays on two runs and five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. He’s 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA in 15 2/3 innings over two starts in this Series with 14 strikeouts and three walks.

Kershaw also set a career postseason record with 207 strikeouts, two more than Justin Verlander’s previous mark.

Provided a 3-0 lead, Kershaw allowed Tampa Bay to pull within a run in the third when Kevin Kiermaier singled, Yandy Díaz tripled on a ball down the right-field line that skipped past Betts and Arozarena’s single. The 25-yearold Cuban rookie asked for the ball after his record 27th postseason hit, one more than San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval in 2014.

Kershaw escaped a first-and-third, no-outs jam in the fourth after Margot walked leading off, stole second and continued to third when the ball got away from second baseman Chris Taylor for his second big error in two games.

Hunter Renfroe also walked, but Wendle popped out and Adames struck out.

With Kiermaier at the plate, Margot bolted for home as Kershaw raised both hands over his head in his instantly recognizable stretch position. While many pitchers might have panicked and perhaps balked, Kershaw coolly and quickly stepped off the rubber and calmly threw to catcher Austin Barnes.

Barnes grabbed the ball and got his mitt down on the Margot’s outstretched hand while the runner’s helmet tumbled off and cut his own lip. AP standings. The Jumbo-Visma rider is 30 seconds behind Carapaz. EF Pro Cycling’s Hugh Carthy moved to second place, 18 seconds off the lead, with Dan Martin from the Israel Start-Up Nation team close behind in third place.

Ineos Grenadiers rider Carapaz finished 12th in Sunday’s stage marked by wet and cold conditions.

“This is a reward for the team, we had worked well all week,” the 27-year-old Ecuadorean said. “There’s still a lot of Vuelta left, we will try to defend this jersey.”

Roglic, a contender in the Tour de France until the final competitive stage, had been wearing the leader’s jersey since winning the first Vuelta stage.

Monday will be the race’s first rest day. On Tuesday, riders will face a hilly 159-kilometer stage from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Valdegovía.

The Vuelta is taking place amid tight health restrictions after Spain recently endured a surge in coronavirus cases. The race was postponed from earlier in the year because of the pandemic. AP to hire Valtteri Bottas—a modestly successful driver—was astute.

Freed from feuding and with a calm teammate driving, unofficially, as a No. 2, Hamilton won the next two championships in 2017 and 2018 as Vettel blew midseason leads for Ferrari. Had Rosberg stayed, he would likely have taken wins from Hamilton and this would have helped Vettel.

For Bottas has never mounted a challenge like Rosberg did. Last year’s title was emphatic as Hamilton won 11 races compared to three for Bottas, finishing 87 points clear of him.

Hamilton will likely soon seal his seventh title and possibly has enough points already even if he didn’t finish any of the last five races. Yet he has done so much more this year, emerging as a distinctive voice against racial injustice.

“He lives his life on his sleeve,” said tennis star Serena Williams, a close friend. “He says what he says and that’s just who he is.... So that’s one thing I’ve grown to really appreciate about him.”

Hamilton has a tattoo on his back which reads “Still I Rise,” the name of a poem written by Maya Angelou, an American civil-rights activist.

Hamilton, who spoke of enduring racism as a child, has risen to every challenge so far. AP