“To this end, we are pursuing the country’s rst-ever medium-term scal framework, which will widen our scal space to allow for continued investments in public infrastructure and human capital development,” Marcos said. “This strategy will enable us to reduce poverty sharply and upgrade the country to upper middle-income status,” he added. Greater participation THE President also said the passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act or CREATE, and the economic liberalization measures will allow “wider participation” of foreign investors in local industries.“Wehave expanded the space for foreign investments in and joint venture opportunities for industry players employing cutting-edge technologies,” Marcos said. “We invite strategic investors from the international community to take part in the Philippines’ economic resurgence,” he added. Marcos’s speech was followed by the preWAGE and salaried workers are the ones who bear the brunt of high commodity prices, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). In a virtual briefi ng, Neda Undersecretary for Planning and Policy Rosemarie G. Edillon said among these workers, the most affected are those who have fi xed incomes whose purchasing power getsInfleroded.ation affects the purchasing power of Filipinos. Based on the infl ation rate of 6.3 percent in August, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the purchasing power of the peso is at 0.86, which means buying P100 worth of goods in 2018 would now cost P114. Kapag mataas iyong infl ation ibig sabihin po nito ay bumababa iyong sinasabi nating purchasing power lalo na po doon sa mga wage [and] salary workers na hindi po tumataas iyong suweldo nila [If infl ation is high, this means purchasing power declines, especially among wage and salaried workers whose salaries do not increase],” Edillon said. Iyong mga fi xed income earners, ito po iyong medyo dehado rito kasi nababawasan iyong puwede nilang mabili [ e fi xed income earners are the ones who suffer more because the goods they can purchase are reduced],” she added. Edillon said these workers would have to be more resourceful in terms of fi nding cheaper goods in order to stretch their budgets. “So ang suggestion po namin is t alagang maging very informed ang bawat isa at talagang maghanap po kung saan pwedeng makabili ng mas mura at kung maaari piliin din po iyong produkto na mas mura sa ngayon [Our suggestion is for each one of them to be well informed and look for places where they can purchase cheaper goods right now],” EdillonApartsaid.from this, Edillon said, the government has also been providing subsidies to Filipinos such as the “libreng sakay” program for commuters in Metro Manila as well as students who are already attending face-to-face classes.
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FINANCE Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno urged Singaporean investors to do business in the Philippines, saying now is the best time to do so as the country’s economic prospects are “bright and promising.”Speaking before the business and fi nance communities in Singapore, Diokno said the Philippine economy grew by 7.4 percent in the second quarter of this year despite the ongoing risks posed by rising commodity prices and current geopoliticalDiokno,risks.who heads the government’s Economic Development Cluster, also vowed that the administration is committed to establishing an “even more business and investment-friendly environment” in the country. “As we rebuild our economy and gun for rapid, broad-based growth in the next six years, we have opened our doors even wider for mutually beneficial investments. is is why we believe that this is the best time to do business in the In a presentation at the organizational meeting of the House Committee on Flagship Programs and Projects, Neda Assistant Secretary for Investment Programming Roderick M. Planta said the 73 projects were culled from the 112 Infrastructure Flagship Projects (IFPs) of the previous administration.In total, the 112 IFPs amount to P5.04 trillion. is also includes eight projects worth P55.43 billion that were completed, and four projects amounting to P69.07 billion which were inaugurated and partially operational. “ is Build, Build, Build program is intended to address the development challenges in infrastructure development as articulated in the Philippine Development Plan. Going to the Infrastructure Flagship Projects, this is technically a subset of the Build, Build, Build program,” Planta explained. “ is IFP was conceptualized in 2017 with the aim of prioritizing game changing and urgently needed projects of national security class significance,” he added. e 73 projects include 47 that are ongoing construction and implementation, worth P2.33 trillion; and 26 projects undergoing pre-construction activities, worth P1.71Aparttrillion.from the ongoing proj-
PESO EXCHANGE RATES US 56.9500 ■ JAPAN 0.3989 ■ UK 65.6007 ■ HK 7.2551 ■ SINGAPORE 40.4906 ■ AUSTRALIA 38.3615 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 15.1551 ■ EU 56.4204 ■ KOREA 0.0413 ■ CHINA 8.1890 Source: BSP (September 7, 2022) C A BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business www.businessmirror.com.ph P. | | 7 DAYS A WEEK■ Thursday, September 8, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 335 2021 Pro Patria Award 2018 Data Champion EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS P4-T BIG INFRA PROJECTS TO BE FINISHED BY 2028 3, 2022. He is among many farmers waiting for the promised government e Marcos earlier called DA’s attention on the delay of the release of the P8-billion C A C A Best time to invest in PHL, Diokno tells SG bizmen PBBM pitches digital infra, agri, tourism S “PBBM,” A CNN PHL, ALLTV TIE-UP (From left) Advanced Media Broadcasting System (AMBS) Chief Finance Officer Maryknoll Zamora, CNN Philippines President Benjie Ramos and AMBS President Maribeth Tolentino sign a partnership agreement between the two networks to broadcast CNN’s flagship news program News Night in Filipino on AMBS’s ALLTV, Monday to Friday starting September 13, 2022. Story in Companies, B1 NONIE REYES B C U. O @caiordinario THE AuthorityandNationalaccordingadministration,thefiwhichP4.05projects,infrastructurebig-ticketcompleteintendsadministrationMarcosto73costingtrillion,werenotnishedduringprevioustotheEconomicDevelopment(Neda).
INVEST in “Asia’s fastest rising star.” This was how President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pitched the country to Singaporean investors during the economic brie ng held by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in Singapore last Wednesday. In his keynote address for the event, Marcos highlighted the country’s readiness “to outperform its regional peers” with its planned investments in digital and public infrastructure, and transportation developments. Other sectors with potential growth, he said, will be the agriculture industry and the tourism industry.
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sentation of members of the eco nomic cluster of his Cabinet.
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CREATE provides an immedi ate corporate income tax rate cut of 10 percentage points for do mestic, micro, small, and medium enterprises and a 5-percentage point rate cut for all other corpo rations.Likewise, CREATE provides a “generous” incentives package that is performance-based, timebound, targeted, and transparent for businesses that undertake ac tivities considered a priority by the government.Apartfrom CREATE, Diokno said the passage of economic lib eralization laws widened the space for international firms to invest in previously protected sectors and form joint ventures with Filipino companies.eseinclude the amendments to Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Public Service Act, and Foreign In vestment“ForeignAct.investors are now wel come to bring their capital into the country, especially in the fields of telecommunications, airports, toll roads, and shipping,” he said. To complement these structural reforms, Diokno said the economic team’s Medium-Term Fiscal Frame work will serve as the blueprint to reduce the fiscal deficit, promote fiscal sustainability, and enable ro bust economic growth. Joining Diokno in the panel discussion were Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe Medalla, National Economic and Develop ment Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, Department of Budget and Management Secretary Ame nah F. Pangandaman, and SM In vestments Corp. Vice Chair Tere sita Sy-Coson.ePEBin Singapore was con ducted in cooperation with the Philippine Embassy Singapore and the Philippine Trade and Invest ment Centre Singapore, together with partner banks, namely, BoFa Securities, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, SMBC Nikko, Standard Chartered Bank, and UBS.
OFBEARWORKERSFIXED-INCOMEBRUNTINFLATION
TRADE Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said he is working on increasing the number of the Philippines’s trade deals with other countries in order to attract more foreign investments. garments, and auto parts for the Philippines; and pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and auto parts for SouthMeanwhile,Korea. as he repeatedly said, Pascual said, “we’re working very hard to get Senate ratification of RCEP,” which he said will also open up markets for companies lo cated in the Philippines. RCEP is a free-trade agreement among Asean countries and their trading partners Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. Touted as the world’s larg est trade pact, RCEP represents 30 percent of the global gross domes tic product (GDP). It entered into force on January 1,2022. In terms of negotiations, Pascu al said there are ongoing talks with the European Union (EU) for the renewal of the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+). e next step here, he said, would be the “restarting of the negotiation” that the Philippines commenced in 2015 for a free trade agreement be tween the Philippines and the EU. Since December 2014, the Phil ippines has enjoyed enhanced trade preferences with the EU un der the GSP+. Under this “special incentive arrangement,” around 6,274 Philippine products can be exported to EU countries without tariffs. Agriculture goods, includ ing processed foods and fishery products and manufactured goods, highly benefit from GSP+. e GSP+ will expire by the end of 2023. In order to renew this GSP+ privilege, the Philippines is subject to a regular monitoring of its obligation to the effective imple mentation of 27 core international conventions on human and labor rights, environmental protection and good governance. Apart from the efforts to in crease FTAs, Pascual also noted that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) “has 22 trade in vestment centers spread across the world in 22 countries and we have about 35 trade secretary officers that are manning and womanning these various centers.” He added, “And the frontliners, if there are prospects, they tend to fly to that place and do intensive follow-up.”
Signed agreements SECURING additional foreign in vestments were among the priori ties of Marcos in his State Visit in Singapore, which was concluded lastDuringWednesday.thetrip he also signed several memorandum of under standing (MOU) which strength ened Philippine-Singapore cooper ation on Personal Data Protection, Counter-Terrorism, water collabo ration, and the development of the New Clark City. Press Secretary Beatrix “Trixie” Cruz-Angeles said an agreement between the Department of Mi grant Workers (DMW) and Min istry of Health of Singapore for the deployment of additional Fili pino healthcare workers was also signed. “ e government of Singa pore was pleased with the service of our healthcare workers especial ly during the Covid-19 pandemic so they want to hire over 3,000 Fili pino healthcare workers through a government-to-government ar rangement,” Angeles said in a Face book post. Samuel P. Medenilla
Best time to invest in PHL, Diokno tells SG bizmen C A C A PBBM...
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Philippines,” he said during Marcos Jr.’s administration’s first interna tional Philippine Economic Brief ing (PEB) on Wednesday. “ e country’s solid macroeco nomic fundamentals enabled us to withstand the headwinds and mount a strong recovery. is is the foundation on which the Mar cos administration commits to build a robust economy for a faster, greener, and more inclusive growth that benefits Filipinos,” he added. Singapore has been the Philip pines’s top source of foreign direct investments (FDI) and the coun try’s sixth largest trading partner. It is also the Philippines’s third biggest source of Overseas Filipino remittances.ecountry’s investment-ready environment bolstered by the cali brated reopening of the economy and the enactment of several key structural reforms enabled the continuous climb of investor con fidence in the Philippines, Diokno said.Last year, net FDI inflows reached a record high of $10.5 bil lion. For the first five months of this year, the country’s net FDI in flows reached $4.2 billion, up by 19 percent from the previous year. Moving forward, Diokno vowed that the administration will “faith fully implement” the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE).
Edillon also said the govern ment is extending fuel subsidies for the food and agriculture sec tor along with fertilizer vouch ers to help farmers and fisher folk cope with rising prices of inputs and fuel. She said the government has also provided targeted cash subsidies for poor Filipinos along with the educational aid extended by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).Despite the increase in com modity prices and the impact of high inflation of the purchas ing power of the peso, Edillon reiterated the optimism of the economic team in attaining its growth targets. e key to the attainment of these targets, Edillon said, is to bring back the confidence of consumers, tourists, and inves tors in the Philippines and the economy.“What is essential is to re store the confidence of people, of tourists—in a word, resume economic activity,” Edillon said.
During the Economic Briefing between the Philippines and Sin gapore on Wednesday, the Trade chief said among the ways that “we are going to attract foreign invest ments is by improving or increas ing the number of our foreign trade agreements.”Pascualwas asked on the specif ic steps being planned to improve the business environment around foreign direct investments (FDI). e Trade chief stressed that the Philippines currently has 10 free trade agreements (FTAs), while Singapore has “about, I think, more than 20 Meanwhile,FTAs.” Pascual also noted that “other countries in the neigh borhood have about more than what we have in the Philippines, so I’m working on that.” As for the efforts being done to clinch more FTAs, he expressed hope that by November, he will be signing the Philippines’s FTA with Korea. Manila and Seoul concluded their FTA talks in October 2021 af ter over two years of negotiations. eir FTA talks covered Trade in Goods, Trade Remedies, Rules of Origin, Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation, Economic and Technical Cooperation, Competi tion, and Legal and Institutional Issues.Prior to this, the Philippines and Korea inked in November 2019 an Early Achievement Pack age, which cited the progress of the trade negotiations. is covered priority products such as bananas, ects, Planta said the IFPs also in clude 27 projects in the pipeline amounting to P869.69 billion. is comprises six projects worth P79.57 billion that are up for government approval and 21 projects amounting to P790.12 billion that are under prepara tion.Based on the Neda’s esti mates, 10 projects worth P73.19 billion will be completed this year and 90 projects worth P4.84 trillion will be completed in 2023 and beyond. Data presented at the hearing by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Senior Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain showed that of the 90 projects for completion in 2023 and be yond, 37 are already ongoing construction.Ofthe37 IFPs ongoing con struction, 17 are under the DPWH including the Boracay Circumferential Road; NLEXSLEX Connector Road; Flood Risk Improvement and Manage ment Project-Cagayan de Oro River; and Arterial Road Bypass Project Phase III, among others. e 10 other projects are be ing implemented by the Philip pine Statistics Authority; De partment of Information and Communications Technology (DICT); Department of Health; Department of Transportation (DOTr); and the National Irri gation Administration (NIA), among others. e list also includes 11 IFPs that are undergoing detailed en gineering design (DED); seven that are ongoing processing and financing; eight ongoing pro curement; another eight ongo ing government approval; and 19 undergoing project prepara tion.Some of the projects under going DED are the Metro Manila Bridges Project; Cebu-Mactan Bridge and Coastal Road; New Manila International Airport; and the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Phil ippines, among others. Undergoing financing pro cessing are the Davao City Ex pressway; Ambal-Simuay River and Rio Grande de Mindanao River Flood Control Projects; and the LRT 2 West Extension, amongoseothers.undergoing procure ment include the Panay-Guima ras Negros Bridge Phase 1; Cebu Bus Rapit Transit; New Cebu In ternational Container Port; and EDSAProjectsGreenways.upfor evaluation of the Neda Investment Coordina tion Committee (ICC) include the Quezon-Bicol Expressway; Metro Cebu Expressway Project; General Santos Port; and the UP-PGH Cancer Center Project, among others. e 19 projects undergoing project preparation include the TPLEX Extension Project; New Bohol International Airport; MRT 11; C5 MRT 10 Project; Cebu Monorail System; Ninoy Aquino International Airport; Davao Sasa Port; and NLEX Harbor Link Extension to Anda Circle, among others. e ICC is the highest deci sion-making body that approves Major Capital Projects of the Government.Itevaluates programs/proj ects costing P2.5 billion and up, as well as agencies and GOCCs projects covered by the Build Operate Transfer Law that is worth P300 million. e committee also evalu ates projects of LGUs covered by the Philippine BOT Law, cost ing P200 million and above, and Joint Venture proposals with government counterpart of P150 million and above.
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DTI working to clinch more trade deals to lure more investments
H ouse Minority Leader Mar celino “Nonoy” Libanan issued the statement after he facilitated a news conference in the lower chamber wherein Philippine Chi nese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PCCCII) officials appealed for the government’s help against kidnapping syndicates that have been targeting the FilipinoChinese community. We want these kidnapping gangs preying on the Filipino-Chinese com munity stamped out right away. We do not want their nefarious activi ties to mutate into a larger threat,” Libanan said. “ This is clearly a law enforcement problem. The only reason these kid nappers are getting bolder is because they have not been apprehended, and they have not been put behind bars,” Libanan said. PCCCII Secretary-General Beng sum Ko said most of the kidnappings were reported in the cities of Pasay, Parañaque, Makati and Taguig. During the news conference, Ko read aloud a letter signed by PCCCII President Lugene Ang, claiming that they have received 56 reports of kid napping incidents in the last 10 days alone, excluding unreported cases. Recent disturbing events create a state of fear and uneasiness among the Filipino-Chinese community. This is because of the recent rampant kidnapping cases both in Metro Ma nila and some parts of Luzon,” Ang said in his letter addressed to Con gress and coursed through Libanan. “ These kidnappers are worse than animals. They use torture and intimidation, rape women and send the videos to the victim’s relatives demanding huge sums of money. In some cases, victims were even sold to other kidnapping groups,” Ang revealed. A ng said the kidnappings “threat en not only the safety of our citizens but also normal business activities.” He appealed to Congress and law enforcement agencies to “take a more active role and act swiftly to suppress these criminals and eradicate these kidnapping syndicates.” A ng said, “no bail should be grant ed” to Andkidnappers. thetruth of the matter is that these kidnappers are foreign ers, Chinese for that matter, so we should never allow these foreign criminal syndicates to do whatever they want in our country,” Ang said. PNP Officer in Charge Lt. Gen. Jose Chiquito Malayo and Presiden tial Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) Undersecretary Agapito Guanlao were also present during the news conference at the House of Repre sentatives late Tuesday. For his part, Malayo guaranteed Camp Crame’s prompt action on all information that the PCCCII had gathered about kidnapping incidents that were apparently never reported to the police. Only four kidnapping cases were reported to the police, Malayo said. okays
DENR, for its part, continues to deal with court cases arising from the “[removal] of illegal structures in protected zones,” she said.
TWG eyed to help manage Boracay Island, post-BIATF
A mong other points raised, according to stakeholders, who requested anonymity, was the creation of a “Workers Village” in mainland Caticlan. This was among the plans of the BIATF, which have been left pending. “We can haggle for additional carrying capacity if we can de congest [the island] and have a site for the Workers Village. This was a project discussed a long time ago by the BIATF,” said a stakeholder. For her part, Mansinares said the plan includes the relocation of informal settlers in critical areas such as wetlands to said village in the mainland. “They just have to identify the site for the village,” sheTnoted.heDOT official said dur ing the meeting, Mayor Bautista also promised to “revisit” their masking mandate, as tourists go to the island to breathe in its fresh air. Tourists who forget to put on their masks while walking on the beach have complained of being harassed by the Philippine National Police. While they are not being arrested, the tourists are detained on the beach for unusually long periods, while the police personnel take down their personal details.
BIATF projects still notcompleted THE BIATF was created under President Rodrigo Duterte, and oversaw the rehabilitation of the island, which included fixing of easement issues and cleaning up portions of its environment. Prior to the termination of the task force, it “turned over” the island to the local government supposedly due to the comple tion of their rehabilitation work. I n actuality, the drainage proj ect on the island still remains to be completed by the DPWH, as well as the completion of the main road, in the portion go ing to Mount Luho. The DPWH continues to have right-of-way problems with regard to the main road project, as informal settlers continue to reside there. T he DPWH picked up the slack from the local government units, which were supposed to have solved the right-of-way problem. Mansinares and other stakeholders interviewed by the BusinessMirror said DPWH did not say when these main projects will be completed.
MONSADA TWITTER PHOTO GRAB
By Lenie Lectura @llectura FORMER energy secretary Zenaida Monsada took her oath of office as one of the new members of the Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. (PNOC–EC) Board. Z enaida served as first woman secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) from October 23, 2015 until July 30, 2016. She also held the position of undersecretary of the agency from 2002 to PNOC-EC,2014.the oil, gas, and exploration arm of the national government, welcomed the new members of the Board of Directors,” the state firm said Wednesday.Asidefrom Monsada, the other new directors are Rafael Del Pillar, Adrian Ferdinand Sugay, Romeo Solis Jr., and Benedict Cutiongco. Two other new members of the board will be joining them soon, added PNOC-EC. T hey were all sworn in by DOE Secretary Raphael Lotilla, who is also the chairman of PNOC-EC at the DOE office. PNOC-EC is mandated to take the lead in exploration, development, and production of the country’s oil, gas, and coal resources.Atpresent, it has seven petroleum service contracts (SCs), namely: SC37 (Cagayan), SC 38 (Malampaya), SC57 (Calamian), SC58 (West Calamian), SC59 (West Balabac), SC74 (Linapacan), and SC75 (Northwest Palawan). It also holds four coal operating contracts (COCs), namely: COC41 (Malangas), COC122 (Isabela), COC 185 (Buug-Malangas), and COC 186 (Imelda-Malangas). As part of its business, the company also trades coal through its coal terminal located in Malangas, Zamboanga Sibugay.
Reacting to the report, Retired Police General Reynaldo V. Velasco, chairman emeritus of MTFI said the findings only proves that na tive trees are precious and they have medicinal value waiting to be “Ittapped.isa m atter of time that cure to various illnesses could be discovered and developed into life-saving d rugs that can help save millions of lives,” he said.The former chairman and admin istrator of the Metropolitan Water works and Sewerage System (MWSS) is the prime mover of the success ful Annual Million Trees Challenge (AMTC) that saw the planting of 5.2 million trees in five years from 2017 to 2021. The MTFI, which was estab lished to sustain the gains of the AMTC, targets to plant 10 million more trees in critical watersheds in various parts of the country by “These2030.
Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, September 8, 2022 A3BusinessMirror The Nation
T HE Million Trees Foundation Inc. (MTFI) has lauded a re port by De la Salle Dasmari ñas College of Pharmacy, which revealed the antioxidant proper ties of the bark and branch wood of the critically-endangered Narra has the highest Oxygen Radical Ab sorbance Capacity or ORAC scores in the country and among the Top 10 in the world. A method developed by scien tists at the National Institute of Health and Aging to measure the antioxidant capacity of different foods, ORAC is also the unit of measure of antioxidants which is the body’s natural defense ver sus harmful compounds that are linked to multiple illnesses, in cluding weakened immunity, dia betes, heart disease and cancer.
By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga
A ppropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Elizaldy Co lauded Remulla for creating the Prosecution Integrity Board and the Case Decon gestion Task Force and adopting the electronic inquest system. Co also commended the DOJ for maintaining its law enforcement Tier 1 ranking in the US Human Traffick ing Report these past seven years.
landmark findings about the medicinal value of the Narra tree give us more reasons to pursue our ambitious goal of planting 10 more million trees by 2030,” said MTFI President and Executive D irector Melan drew Velasco. It was learned that over the years, native trees planted in IpoAngat watersheds, through AMTC and MTFI stakeholders, include Narra, Batino, Malaruhat, Ram butan, Cacao, Guyabano, Bayog, Kawayan Tinik, Malaruhat, White Lauan, Mala-igot, Malapapapaya, Makaasim, Lipote, Ipil, among oth ers. Various native tree species have also been planted by the group in La Mesa and areas around Laguna de Bay, Kaliwa-Umiray and Upper Marikina watersheds.
By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie WITH 56 reports of kidnapping incidents in the last 10 days alone, a leader of the House of Representatives urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to suppress the rash of kidnap-forransom (KFR) incidents before they become a bigger menace to Metro Manila’s peace and order situation.
House panel swiftly
PCCCII bares 56 kidnap cases in last 10 days; police urged to crush KFR groups
DOJ’s budget2023plan
IBP urges deeper probe into ambush of CPA lawyer, son in Mandaue City Monsada, 4 others take oath as PNOC–EC Board members ‘Million Trees’ lauds scientific study on medicinal values of Narra tree
By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
A TECHNICAL working group (TWG) is expected to be formed to continue to manage Boracay Island, one of the country’s most popular tour ismTdestinations.heproposalto create the TWG was discussed in a meeting called by Aklan Gov. Jose Enrique “Joen” Miraflores on Tuesday and at tended by representatives of the local government units of Aklan and Malay; the Departments of Environment and Natural Re sources (DENR), Interior and Lo cal Government (DILG), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Tourism (DOT); and the is land stakeholders’ groups. I n an interview with the BusinessMirror , DOT-Region 6 (Western Visayas) Director Christina Mansinares said Mi raflores wanted to find out from the key government agencies what developments have en sued following the end of term of the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) on June 30. They “discussed updates on the Boracay Action Plan, and the creation of a TWG for Boracay to continue to harmonize/align sustainable development ef forts,” she said. A s per the discussion, the TWG will be chaired by Mira flores and co-chaired by Malay Mayor Floribar Bautista, and will include Region 6 direc tors of the regular line gov ernment agencies, along with representatives of the indige nous peoples community, and other stakeholder groups. The governor is expected to issue an executive order creating the TWG, as soon as the “focal persons” for each agency and stakeholders groups are iden tified, she added. Projects for 2023 THE participating government agencies also discussed their proposed projects for Boracay for 2023. For the DOT, said Mansin ares, it will be “basically capac ity-building projects, since the Tieza [Tourism Infrastructure and Economic Zone Authority] project has already been ab sorbed by the DPWH. So the DOT projects will revolve mainly on marketing and promotions, and product development.”
T he DOJ reported to Congress that it has reduced its case backlog to 25.48 percent in 2021 from 57.4 percent in 2013 with a matching im proved case disposition rate of 92.35 percent in 2021 from 78.30 percent in 2013. Its prosecution success rate climbed to 91.8 percent in 2021 from 68.3 percent in 2013. For 2023, the total appropriations for the DOJ amounts to P28.2 billion, consisting of 94.7 percent (P26.7 bil lion) in new appropriations and 5.3 percent (P1.5 billion) in automatic appropriations. The2023expenditure program of P28.2 billion of the DOJ is 5.7 percent or P1.5 billion higher than current year’s program of P26.7 billion. Similar to previous years, the Of fice of the Secretary has the biggest share or P8.4 billion. Of the DOJ agencies, the Bureau of Corrections has a proposed budget of P5.9 billion, the Public Attorney’s Office has P5.03 billion, and the NBI has P1.85 billion. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz
T HE Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) renewed its call on Wednesday for a concrete and wider effort to pro tect the members of the legal pro fession following the ambush of a Cebu Port Authority (CPA) lawyer and her son in Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City last week. O n the other hand, the Na tional Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has already launched its own investigation into the am bush that resulted in the injury of 43-year-old lawyer Karen Qui ñanola-Gonzales and her son, Jer emy Gonzales, upon the request of their family. NBI spokesperson Giselle Dumlao said the agency’s Cebu District Office will handle the investigation. “On this note, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines reiterates its call for a nationwide effort to protect our lawyers, judges, and their families. Members of the le gal profession must be able to do their duties freely, without fear of reprisal or violence. More often than not, lawyers are given the dif ficult task of striving for justice, as unfortunately, many have done so at the cost of their own lives and at the risk of their family’s safety,” IBPTsaid. hegroup also challenged the Philippine National Police and the NBI to leave no stone unturned in determining the motives and iden tities of the Moreovershooters. theIBP respectfully calls upon our law enforcement agencies, particularly the Philip pine National Police and the Na tional Bureau of Investigation, to thoroughly investigate the matter, exact accountability, and all the more significantly elevate state responsibility to guarantee that lawyers can do their job without any threat to their safety and se curity,” the IBP stressed. T he IBP also sought the PNP or the NBI’s assistance in providing security protection to the victims until the suspects are arrested and the case is resolved. L ast year, the SC announced several measures that will prevent the rising incidents of red tag ging, threats, intimidation and killings of lawyers and judges in theTcountry. hemeasures include compel ling all lower courts and various law enforcement offices to fur nish the Court with relevant in formation that would shed light on the number and context of each and every threat or killing of a lawyer or judge within the past 10 years. T he SC also decided to refer the letters that they received with specific incidents of red tagging, killing and intimidation of law yers and judges to the relevant trial courts, that would order the parties to convert their letters to proper remedies such as writs of amparo and habeas corpus.
For his part, Justice Secretary Je sus Crispin Remulla vowed that the DOJ would continuously investigate the extrajudicial killings.
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By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
THE House Appropriations Committee swiftly approved on Wednesday the proposed budget of the Department of Jus tice (DOJ) and its attached agencies. A lbay Rep. Edcel Lagman moved to terminate the deliberations with out any interpellation and members will ask their questions during the plenary deliberations. But ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro asked the DOJ for updates on the so-called Bloody Sunday and extrajudicial killings. DOJ Undersecretary Brigido Du lay said 30 personnel from Philippine National Police are now facing mur der related to the incidents.
T he DSLU study revealed that the ORAC scores of all methods tested displayed similarly high levels of antioxidant potency.
Economy V. Vitug
A fter more than a week of tedious and lengthy budget deliberations with the individual departments, Quimbo said Tuesday that the proposed P5.268-trillion national spending plan for 2023 is still on track for its third and final reading pas sage by October 1. “As of yesterday [Monday], 14 out of 34 agencies have briefed Congress regard ing their respective budget proposals,” Quimbo said. “ With two more weeks of budget brief ings, the appropriations committee, led by Chairperson Elizaldy Co, gladly shares that we are still on track with our target date to pass the GAB [General Appro priations Bill] by October 1, 2022. On September 16, we are expected to fin ish the budget hearings and head on to plenary debates by September 21. Even before the budget hearings commenced, everyone took their tasks seriously by having clear communication lines with the agencies,” Quimbo said. GAB is the budget measure to be filed by the House just before the plenary debates. T he P5.268-trillion National Expendi ture Program (NEP) for 2023 is the precur sor of the GAB. “ Healthy exchanges between depart ments and members of Congress trans pired during the said budget briefings. Among the agencies that briefed the Committee on Appropriations were the DBCC, [Development Budget Coordina tion Committee] DA, DOE, DILG, the DENR, DOT, and the Office of the Presi dent. Today, the hearing for the DSWD is underway,” Quimbo said. S he shared that thus far, the discus sions in the budget briefings have re volved around some of the key spend ing priorities of the 2023 budget. These include the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Program and the Total Electrification Program, among others.
Sugar MEANWHILE, Salceda said the sugar issue is clearly affecting overall prices—26-percent year-on-year inflation rate for this commod ity—and it has pass-through effects on bread and non-alcoholic beverage prices, which have alsoAlthoughincreased. sugar itself is not the healthiest portion of the basket of goods, it is a reliable source of calories for Filipinos. I expect only very moderate declines, if not outright in creases, in the prices of sugar from here on, until we are able to address the issue of how much we really need to import. I continue to champion stronger government support to wards a more efficient domestic sugar sector [fertilizers, more modern milling, more effi cient refining and transport],” Salceda added. Salceda also reiterated his position that the country’s import program should be more rational and data-driven under a national committee of experts on sugar, while domes tic support should be streamlined in the DA, which has a better implementing capacity than the Sugar Regulatory Administration. “ The SRA in other words should be abol ished and better institutions should be es tablished or designated in its place,” he said. A lso, Salceda said addressing the nutrition crisis is very crucial. “Eggs tend to be the cheapest source of protein available to the ordinary family. Veg etables should be the largest component of a healthy diet,” he said. I have also already made reference to these commodities and expanding production in the domestic sectors for these goods as critical to Filipino nutrition. We need to expand domestic production in eggs and vegetables, especially as face-to-face classes have begun and children will require proper nutrition to learn,” he said. Salceda also said he is expecting inflation to peak by November at the latest, so August inflation beginning to slow down on a yearon-year basis is a positive development.
“Some surprises could still take place in the world market for oil, but generally, I see that we should be focusing on food price in flation now. The effects of fuel price hikes on food inflation will dissipate much later than fuel prices will begin to decline [fertilizers, machines, and other inputs will have been made with much higher fuel prices]. These are what we call lagged or second-round ef fects,” he added. “Food prices are especially crucial for our learning recovery. The empirical link between high food prices [especially protein], and low academic performance is well established in literature. If we want to accelerate our catchup from learning losses due to Covid-19, we need cheaper food soon,” Salceda said.
Currently, Minority Leader and 4Ps Rep. Marcelino Libanan said out of DSWD’s 32,842-strong work force nationwide, only 3,286 workers have regular positions. Libanan said 15,811 personnel from the DSWD Central Office are reportedly under contract of service (COS) or job order workers, making up nearly half of the agency’s working population.
“ This is a concern considering the stylized fact in economics that a nation can only begin to industrialize with a sufficiently developed agriculture sector,” she added. Quimbo said the agriculture sector was severely impacted by the pandemic and other natural disasters, which, in turn, led to sky rocketing prices of food.
T he lawmaker said keeping government employees in contractual or job order positions is not only “insensitive” but also goes against the DSWD’s core principle of compassion and care for the welfare of the Filipino nation. A ccording to Libanan, nonregularization of employees also negatively impacts the agency’s overall quality of workflow, especially when hardworking COS and JO employees decide to resign to seek greener pastures. The DSWD, being one of the most important agencies of the Philippine government, should have more institutional support to be able to regularize hardworking individuals and boost their morale,” he said, noting its urgency considering the impending rightsizing of government offices.
D uring the budget deliberation at the lower house, Secretary Erwin Tulfo said the DSWD had previously requested the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to convert 846 COS positions to regular positions and processing is under way. H ailing DSWD as one of the most important government agencies in the country, Libanan pledged support in securing sufficient budget allocation from the DBM for the DSWD to regularize COS and JO positions. “Just give us the information that we need so we can request for the creation of permanent positions,” he vowed. For 2023, the DSWD will receive P194.7 billion. It is lower from the P202.5 billion allocation of the agency for 2022.
Salceda, Quimbo urge govt to shift inflation focus from fuel to food
Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie E
CONOMIST-LAWMAKERS on Tues day said the government should now shift its inflation reduction focus from fuel to food. A lbay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo made separate state ments as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s inflation rate slowed to 6.3 percent this August. Data showed inflation slowed compared to July when inflation reached 6.4 percent. How ever, inflation in August 2022 remained higher than the 4.4 percent posted in August 2021. As I said, fuel inflation is gradually but surely decelerating, although month-onmonth, fuel prices from July to August still accelerated by 1.9 percent. I expect the Au gust to September month-on-month figures on fuel to begin declining [or be negative], not just slowing down,” he said. As such, and reiterating my statement, we must begin to shift the focus from fuel to food inflation, which has also been slowing then, but which remains elevated and takes up a much larger share of the Filipino bud get,” he added. Salceda said month-on-month, which is what households really feel instead of yearon-year, food has continued to increase in prices by 0.7 percent, the largest increases of which have been in sugar at a very high 7.3 percent, milk, dairy, and eggs at 2.7 percent, vegetables at 2.7 percent. For her part, Quimbo, senior vice chairman of the appropriations committee, said now is the time to focus on the agriculture sector. The source of inflation rate, a lot of it, beyond our control like the Russia-Ukraine conflict, increasing interest in the US so it is now important the assistance coming from the government, particularly DSWD [Depart ment of Social Welfare and Development], to help public,” said Quimbo during the Ugnayan sa Batasan news forum. “One to reduce the inflation rate is to make sure that we have adequate [food] supply. If you could address food inflation pretty much you can manage inflation rate,” she said. Quimbo said the agriculture sector lags behind the industry and the services sector in terms of share in GDP and growth rates.
Budget dept pressed to act on job regularization of DSWD workers
THE minority leader of the House of Representatives on Wednesday called on the Department of Budget and Management and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to initiate the regularization of more than 800 workers, saying that implementers of social protection programs deserve security of tenure.
Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz
Thursday, September 8, 2022 • Editor: Vittorio
We have to make sure that [we help] our farmers, It’s really about time that we focus on agriculture, halos lahat doon sa supply chain may problema, kaya sa proposed budget ng DA [Department of Agriculture] may increase lahat ng inputs,” she added. In 2021, Quimbo said agriculture’s share to total GDP was 9.6 percent, significantly lower than industry’s share of 29.9 percent and services’ share of 60.5 percent.
A4 BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.ph
T HE House of Representatives will look into the absorptive capacity of national government agencies in considering requests for budget in crease in 2023. D uring the Ugnayan sa Batasan Ma jority News Forum, Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, said 14 out of 34 agencies have briefed Congress regarding their respective bud get proposals and almost all of them are asking for budget increase. “Almost everyone asked for budget in crease consideration from their budget proposal submitted to the DBM. Although it was supported by many congressmen, it is not yet clearly identified where the bud get increases can be sourced,” she said. T he DBCC set the 2023 budget ceiling at P5.268However,trillion. the budget utilization rate of some agencies is not that high. The absorp tive capacity of the agencies is a perennial challenge so the attention should really be focused on monitoring the execution of the budget,” she added.
House leaders set criteria for agency budget increases
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CHINA CAMC ENGINEERING CO. LTD. PHIL BRANCH Unit 2104-a West Tower, Psec Exchange Road, Ortigas Ctr., San Antonio, City Of Pasig
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Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Brief Job Description: Manage large amount of calls, handle customers concerns. Basic Qualification: Foreign language speaking. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 2. ANDERSON HENDRIO Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Manage large amount of calls, handle customers concerns.
Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 15. NGO THI NGAN Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication mandarin speaking.
BIG EMPEROR TECHNOLOGY CORP. Eastfield Center, Cbp1, Macapagal Blvd., Barangay 76, Pasay City 34. CHONG SHAO NAM Malaysian Customer Relations Officer Brief Job Description: Handles the concerns of the people who buy their company’s products or services
Basic Qualification: Has Excellent Problemsolving and Communication Skills in Malay, With Related BPO Experience Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 35. HSIEH, MandarinTSUNG-CHENCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Offer full range of customer service to employer and clients Basic Qualification: At Least College Level and Able to Speak, Read Write and Type Fluently in Mandarin Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 36. NGUYEN THI PHUONG Vietnamese Customer Relations Officer Brief Job Description: Handles the concerns of the people who buy their company’s products or services
Basic Qualification: Bachelors college degree. At least 3 years’ experience in the job position mentioned, ability to confidentmulti-tasking,meticulous and have excellent communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 ASIAN TECHNOLOGY SERVICES, INC. 11/f Tower 2, Double Dragon, Macapagal Blvd., Barangay 76, Pasay City 32. LEE, DAEHO Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: To assist customers regarding their queries, complaints, and promotions
Basic Qualification: Must be 4 years bachelor degree with critical thinking and problem solving skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 27. SONIA Indonesian Programmer Officer Brief Job Description: Managing systems performance, providing tech support, reviewing and updating.
Brief Job Description: Perform customer support via phone, chat and email both in English and their national language Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean SalaryfluentlyRange: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: With good and oral communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 ALPHA PHILINDO SOLUTION INC. 2/f 134 Bldg., 134 Jupiter St., Bel-air, City Of Makati 25.
BusinessMirror A5www.businessmirror.com.ph Thursday, September 8, 2022
Basic Qualification: Foreign language speaking. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 777 KORPHIL HOLDINGS CORP. Unit 2604, 26th Floor Ibp Tower, Julia Vargas Ave. Cor. Jade Drive, Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig 6. CHOI, CustomerKWANGWOOServiceSpecialist
Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 12. HO THI ANH HONG Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication mandarin speaking.
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE 7 PRIME TECH, INC. 10/f Ewestpod, Eton Westend Square, Yakal St. Cor. Don Chino Roces Ave., San Antonio, City Of Makati 1. AGUNG EKA PRATAMA Indonesian Speaking Customer Service Officer
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Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 ACSTREAM MANAGEMENT INC. 2204b/2206, 22/f Pbcom Tower, Ayala Avenue, Bel-air, City Of Makati 22. LIU QUAN PHUONG Mandarin Speaking Online Payment Specialist Brief Job Description: Assist internal and external customers with questions related to payments
ANOC99 CORPORATION 5/f To 10/f Ayala Malls Manila Bay Building D., Macapagal Blvd. Cor. Aseana Street, Tambo, City Of Parañaque 30. JONNY GO Indonesian Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries
41. TAI SIEW WEI Senior Hr Executive Brief Job Description: Senior HR executive provides clerical and administrative support to human resources team Basic Qualification: At least 3 years’ experience in the job mentioned,positioncollege graduate, with good communication and strong leadership skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
VO TAN DIEP Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication mandarin speaking.
9. MIN, CustomerTAEHOService Specialist Brief Job Description: Perform customer support via phone, chat and email both in English and their national language
17. PHAM THI HOAI MO Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication mandarin speaking.
CONG HIN HEN Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication mandarin speaking.
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7. IM, CustomerJUHYUNService Specialist Brief Job Description: Perform customer support via phone, chat and email both in English and their national language Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean SalaryfluentlyRange: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean SalaryfluentlyRange: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Brief Job Description: Develop long term strategic plans for the Philippines; preparing business cases for further investments in the Philippines market; work on new system, process implementations; bring knowledge and expertise from the mother company to the local entity; work with and strengthening the local finance team Basic Qualification: 20 years of internal experience leading and building finance teams; knowledge of local market and head office; post graduate in management and business administration in depth knowledge on finance and business process; strong communication skills Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 ALLRAY FASHION INC. Unit No. U-42 3/f Baclaran, Bagong Milenyo Plaza, Barangay 76, Pasay City 24. KOVALEV, ALEKSEI Marketing Specialist Brief Job Description: Conduct market research and analyze trends to identify new marketing opportunities
Basic Qualification: Must be 4 years bachelor degree with critical thinking and problem solving skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 AMAZON OPERATION SERVICES PHILIPPINES, INC. B21 Three E-com Moa Complex, Harbour Drive Cor. Bay Shore, Brgy. 076, Pasay City 28.
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VAN THIEL, MIRJAM JOANNA GHISLAINE Project Manager Finance
ALYSSA RAGIL ILMAVIRNO Senior Process Executive Brief Job Description: Service Support Solution includes diagnosis, resolution, and reporting of customer issues and questions Basic Qualification: BA or BS Degree Hodler; Minimum of 2 years customer service support experience Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999 48.
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COMMUNICATION AND RENEWABLE ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE CREI PHILS INC. Unit A, 7th Flr., Clipp Center 11th Ave. Cor. 39th St. Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig50.
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Basic Qualification: Fluent in mandarin and English language both verbal and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 55. LI, ProjectNINGManager
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Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience.
Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 67. YONG CHOON HENG Mandarin Branding Specialist Brief Job Description: Responsible for managing company’s brand.
78. SALEM Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking.
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin project manager, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 INTEGRITY GLOBAL GROUP, INC. 2/f-3/f Ayala Malls Circuit, A.p. Reyes Ave., Carmona, City Of Makati 85. NAKAHARA, YUKI Multilingual Customer Service Representative Brief Job OutstandingDescription:inresolving conflict, has patience, and adaptability to assist Japanese clients. With exceptional positive attitude and Customer service skills towards Japanese Clients.
NGUYEN QUANG HUY Senior Process Executive Brief Job Description: Service Support Solution includes diagnosis, resolution, and reporting of customer issues and questions Basic Qualification: BA or BS Degree Hodler; Minimum of 2 years customer service support experience Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999 COLAS RAIL PHILIPPINES, INC. Unit 708 7/f Tower One & Exchange Plaza, Ayala Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati 49. D’ESCRIVAN, GREGOIRE,FRANCIS,HENRI,ROGER Finance And Administrative Manager Brief Job Description: Finance management Basic Qualification: Master’s Degree, 17 Years Experience Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999
Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 79. VI THI DUOC Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking.
Brief Job Description: Responsible for managing technical issues on materials used
BusinessMirrorA6 www.businessmirror.com.phThursday, September 8, 2022
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE
45. CHONG NYONG KWONG Bi-lingual Speaking Data Analyst Officer Brief Job InterpretsDescription:data,analyzes results using statistical techniques and provides ongoing reports Basic FluentQualification:andproficient in writing and speaking at least two of the following languages: English, mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Bahasa, Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesian, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese/ 1 year experience of working in a similar role Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Fluent in mandarin and English language both verbal and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 59. LIAO, SupplyZHIPENGChainManager Brief Job InternationalDescription:andlocal procurement management.
Basic Qualification: Experience in Management, , strong personal and judgment, with good oral communication skills specifically Japanese and English speaking. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Brief Job Description: Plan material glow management system to meet production requirements Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English Language Both Verbal and Written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 53. DU, ProjectTINGManager
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin operation system supervisor, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 82. ZHANG, MandarinXIAOFENGSalesManager Brief Job Description: The mandarin sales manager will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE
Basic Qualification: Fluent in mandarin and English language both verbal and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 FLASH EXPRESS SOFTWARE (PH) CO., LTD. INC. 11/f Cybersigma, Lawton Ave., Mckinley West, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig 60. GUO, SHENG Area Manager Brief Job Description: Provide training and development for staff, ensuring quality consistency and increasing sales and profitability in their region.
Basic Qualification: Good social and presentation skills excellent oral and written communication skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 INSPIRINGPG INC. 3/f Filhome Builders Center, 68 Dona Soledad Avenue Better Living Subdivision, Don Bosco, City Of Parañaque 84. YUAN, MandarinPANProject Manager Brief Job Description: The mandarin project manager will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.
POSITION
Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 76. LUO, YUNXIAN Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking. Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 77. MUHAMMAD AGUNG SAPUTRA Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking.
Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Job-relevant degree/ 5-10 yrs. Supervisory/managerial experience in logistics or operations/ multilingual Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 64. SUTHANTHIP, SUWANNEE Product System Specialist Brief Job Description: Responsible for understanding the business process of each department then come up with business requirements for information system
Brief Job Description: Responsible for managing technical issues on materials and equipment being used.
ASAD, MUHAMMAD Operations And Maintenance Head Brief Job Description: Ensure the risk assessment is reviewed and updated at least once per year with all related stakeholder or partners responsible to deliver the maintenance contract Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Telecom (IT), Engineer with 10 years managerial experience Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 FIBERHOME PHILS., INC. U-19d 19/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati 51. PU, AccountXIA Manager
GEDI CONSTRUCTION DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Unit A&b 20/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati 72. CUI, MandarinLEI Site Supervisor Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Site Supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.
44. HO NGOC PHUONG Bi-lingual Speaking Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Resolves product or service BT clarifying the customers complaint Basic FluentQualification:andproficient in writing and speaking at least two of the following languages: English, mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Bahasa, Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesian, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese/ 1 year experience of working in a similar role Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin sales manager, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 INNOVATIAL INC. 32a Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor V.a Rufino St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati 83. ZHAO, SHUAI Chinese Language Marketing Specialist Brief Job Description: Help develop, execute and monitor marketing programs across a variety of channels.
Basic Qualification: Job-relevant degree/ 5-10 yrs. Supervisory/managerial experience in logistics or operations/ multilingual Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 62. HUANG, ProcurementCHENGManager Brief Job DiscoveringDescription:profitable suppliers and initiate business and organizations partnership.
Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 68. FAROLD TAN YI CHIE Mandarin Operations Specialist Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate sales record. Basic Qualification: Can speak Mandarin. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 69. TANG SZE MARN Mandarin Operations Specialist Brief Job Description: Maintain accurate sales record.
Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English Language Both Verbal and Written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 52. HUANG, MIAN Logistic Manager
INVECH TREASURE PROCESSING CORPORATION 3rd Floor, E Six West Campus Le Grand Avenue, Mckinley West,, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig 86. HEE WOOI LOON Malaysian Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PHILIPPINES, INC. 2nd, 3rd, And 4th Floors, Science Hub Tower 4 Bldg., Mckinley Hill Cyberpark, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig 46. SHARMA, SWATI Deputy General Manager Brief Job Description: Conduct skill planning and budgeting initiatives in alignment with business needs Basic Qualification: 12-15 years of experience in the Training need analysis and human improvementperformance Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 47.
NATIONAL
Brief Job Description: Responsible for managing technical issues on materials used Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English Language Both Verbal and Written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 54. FENG, ProjectJIANYUNManager
Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs.
Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Job-relevant degree/ 5-10 yrs. Supervisory/managerial experience in logistics or operations/ multilingual Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 63. CAI, ProductYIQINGManager Brief Job Description: To perform a supervisory or a team leader role and to assess the impact and risk on the system performance.
HAIER ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES PHILIPPINES INC. Blk 11 Lot 35 B Acropolis, Green Subd., Bagumbayan, Quezon City 80. GAO, YAMING Mandarin Speaking Operation Manager Brief Job Description: Responsible for keeping track of the big picture and identifying potential areas of improvement
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Vietnamese and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 88. WINNIE WONG KING Malaysian Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Job-relevant degree/ 5-10 yrs. Supervisory/managerial experience in logistics or operations/ multilingual Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 FLYING FUTURE SERVICES INC. 3/f Salcedo One Center, 170 Salcedo St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati 66. LING WEI SING Mandarin Accounts Staff Brief Job Description: Assist is determining pricing quotes for customers.
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Site Supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 73. ZHANG, MandarinCHAOYUSiteSupervisor Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Site Supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MALAY and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 89. LI, MandarinWEN Customer Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN , AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE
Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 75. JACELYNE LIM Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking.
Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English Language Both Verbal and Written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 58. ZHANG, ZONGZHI Project Manager Brief Job Description: Responsible for managing technical issues on materials and equipment being used.
Basic Qualification: Fluent in Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 HECTECHURE CORP. Units A&b 20/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati 81. WANG, YUNFENG Mandarin Operating System Supervisor Brief Job Description: The mandarin operation system supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.
Basic Qualification: Fluent in mandarin and English language both verbal and written. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 56. QIU, ProjectFENGManager Brief Job Description: Responsible for managing technical issues on materials and equipment being used.
GLOBALLGA BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING, OPC Ground Level, Level 2-5 Floor, Silver City 4, Ortigas East, Ugong, City Of Pasig 74. EDMUND CHUNG EVE HUAT Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in mandarin speaking.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 135. HOANG THI HUYEN Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries. Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 136. LY VONG MINH Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires
KYNDRYL PHILIPPINES, INCORPORATED 9th Floor 1800 Eastwood Avenue Bldg., Eastwood City Cyberpark 188 E. Rodriguez Jr., Bagumbayan, Quezon City 118.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MALAY and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 105. DO NGOC VietnameseKHANHCustomer Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 94. HUA VAN PHUOC Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: A passion for delivering excellent customer service, Excellent communication skills in Chinese, both spoken and written, Previous experience in a similar role in the offshore/ online gaming industry or less experience but a good attitude and motivation to learn. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Superior Customer Service Skills, Nice to Have Experience Working With Online Gaming/Offshore Gaming Industry or Less Experience but a Good Attitude and Motivation to Learn, Excellent Communication Skills in Chinese, Both Spoken and SalaryWrittenRange: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 110. VONG MUC SANG Customer Support Specialist Brief Job Description: To work with a variety of customers and use your expert relationship-building skills to provide worldclass service
Basic Qualification: More than 15 years of experience in Human Resources such as Business Partnering, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Training, and DegreeManagement.TalentBachelor’sinHumanResources Business, or a related field required. Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above LAZADA E-SERVICES PHILIPPINES, INC. 23rd Floor Seven/neo, 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig 120.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 133. HOANG PHI HUNG Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries. Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 134. HOANG THI CUC Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries.
LUONG THI KIM OANH Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
JELLYFISH EDUCATION PHILIPPINES INC. Unit 902-a, East Tower, Psec Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig 115. MATSUNO, MIZUHO Nihongo Instructor Brief Job Description: Teach japanese language from intermediate to advance; create curriculum for special class and cases. Basic passedlevel;EnglishQualification:dailyconversationalnativeleveljapanese;thejapanese language teaching competition test; completed 420hrs of japanese language teacher training course accepted by the agency of cultural affairs person or prospective graduate; can work for a long time; completed major/minor in japanese language education at a university.
LE THI MINH THUY Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
FOREIGN
DENG, XIANGJIAN Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in VIETNAMESE and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE 90. YE, MandarinSIRUI Customer Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
NGUYEN DOAN PHUONG UYEN Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 131. CHONG NHIT CHAN Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 132. DINH THI HUONG Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Vietnamese and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 101. TRAN NGOC AN Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints. Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 102. TRINH VAN KHANG Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
XU, XIANBANG Benefits Analyst Brief Job Description: Ensuring the smooth execution and ongoing improvement of day-to-day operational activities such as eligibility validation, invoice reconciliation, claims and payments, administration, and employee support.
Basic Qualification: Superior Customer Service Skills, Nice to Have Experience Working With Online Gaming/Offshore Gaming Industry or Less Experience but a Good Attitude and Motivation to Learn, Excellent Communication Skills in Chinese, Both Spoken and SalaryWrittenRange: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 103. VUONG DINH TINH Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
HO CHI HUY Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 127. LIAO, JIANYONG Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 128. YU, JIANNAN Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires
ADDRESS
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Vietnamese and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 104. BUI VAN VietnameseTAMCustomer Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
113. JIANG, GamingQISupport Specialist Brief Job Description: Being the voice of our players within our fast-growing online/offshore gaming platform, stay on track with the game updates, implementing procedures to support players, work creatively across multiple projects and platforms at the same time.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 93.
LONG CHI TINH Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints. Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Vietnamese and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 97.
Basic Qualification: Draw upon professional concepts to collaborate with others to carry out assigned Salaryduties.Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 L’OREAL PHILIPPINES, INC. 2nd, 2208-2209, 23/f Robinsons Equitable Tower Adb Ave., Ortigas Ctr,, San Antonio, City Of Pasig119.
Basic Qualification: Graduate,University/collegeatLeast 1yr. Professional Relevant Work Experience, Able to Speak Korean and English (or Filipino) Fluently, Able to Read and Write Korean and English With Clarity Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999
ITECHNO SPECIALIST INC. 7/f Aseana I Bldg., Bradco Avenue Aseana Business Park, Tambo, City Of Parañaque 108. GAO, CustomerGUANGHUISupport Specialist Brief Job Description: To work with a variety of customers and use your expert relationship-building skills to provide worldclass service
VAN A CustomerMUISupport Specialist Brief Job Description: To work with a variety of customers and use your expert relationship-building skills to provide worldclass service
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 107. PHAN VUONG THI MY DUYEN Vietnamese Customer Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 106.
Basic Qualification: Superior Customer Service Skills, Nice to Have Experience Working With Online Gaming/Offshore Gaming Industry or Less Experience but a Good Attitude and Motivation to Learn, Excellent Communication Skills in Chinese, Both Spoken and SalaryWrittenRange: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 111. ZHANG, CustomerJIGANGSupport Specialist Brief Job Description: To work with a variety of customers and use your expert relationship-building skills to provide worldclass service Basic Qualification: Superior Customer Service Skills, Nice to Have Experience Working With Online Gaming/Offshore Gaming Industry or Less Experience but a Good Attitude and Motivation to Learn, Excellent Communication Skills in Chinese, Both Spoken and SalaryWrittenRange: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
ESTABLISHMENT / No. NAME OF NATIONAL POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE
112. ZHENG, CustomerZEXINSupport Specialist Brief Job Description: To work with a variety of customers and use your expert relationship-building skills to provide worldclass service
Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE
Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 123. DUAN, YINCHUAN Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 124. HE, YANGSHENG Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires
BusinessMirror A7www.businessmirror.com.ph Thursday, September 8, 2022
JIDA COMMUNICATION (PHILIPPINES) INC. Unit A,b & C1 17th Flr, Strata 100 Building,, F. Ortigas Jr Road Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of 116.Pasig CHANG, YU Project Manager Brief Job Description: Plan and develop the project idea Basic Qualification: Fluent in Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 KOREA SME BUSINESS CENTER CORP. U-1807 18/f One San Miguel Avenue Condo., San Miguel Ave. Cor. Shaw Blvd., Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig 117. LEE, BusinessHAKJUNDevelopment Manager Brief Job Description: Business Development Manager is concerned with improving and growing a business, by establishing and developing relationships with customers, suppliers and other partners
Basic Qualification: A passion for delivering excellent customer service, Excellent communication skills in Chinese, both spoken and written, Previous experience in a similar role in the offshore/ online gaming industry or less experience but a good attitude and motivation to learn. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 96.
114. LIU, GamingFANGMINGSupport Specialist Brief Job Description: Being the voice of our players within our fast-growing online/offshore gaming platform, stay on track with the game updates, implementing procedures to support players, work creatively across multiple projects and platforms at the same time.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in VIETNAMESE and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 99. NGUYEN HOANG HUY Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints. Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Vietnamese and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 100. NGUYEN HONG SON Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 129.
HA THI GIANG Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 91.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Vietnamese and at least college level with related BPO experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 95.
AIGUIER, LAURENT JOSEPH Senior Manager, Lazpay Brief Job Description: Act as commercial leader to drive FI and NBFI projects. - Synergise local business and regulatory requirements. To act as the country FI/NBFI evangelist at regional forums and steercos. Conduct market landscape and build target book of strategic business opportunities. Engage shortlisted partners. Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s/College Degree. Experience in Financial Services consulting and in negotiations within a complex, matrix environment, is a pre-requisite. Product knowledge of Financial Products Payments,includingMerchant Acquisition and Buy-nowpay-later is preferred. Preferably with digital or technology background. Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 LEEKIE ENTERPRISES, INC. 8/f Techzone Bldg., 213 Sen Gil Puyat Ave., San Antonio, City Of Makati 121. FENDI TAN Senior Network Engineer Brief Job Description: Maintain and update the network topology Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree with 3 yrs work experience Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. 4th-11th Flr. Nexgen Tower, C4 Rd. Edsa Ext., Barangay 76, Pasay City 122.
BUI VAN HUY Vietnamese Customer Support Representative Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints. Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 92.
HOANG NGUYEN TRANG Vietnamese Customer Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.
Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 125. HUANG, MINGKUN Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 126. LI, SHUPENG Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires
Basic Qualification: Superior Customer Service Skills, Nice to Have Experience Working With Online Gaming/Offshore Gaming Industry or Less Experience but a Good Attitude and Motivation to Learn, Excellent Communication Skills in Chinese, Both Spoken and SalaryWrittenRange: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 109.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in vietnamese and at least college level with related bpo experience. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 98.
ZHU, QUAN Chinese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquires Basic Qualification: Able to Speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 130. AU MY HANG Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries
PANDIT, PRIYA Human Resource Director Brief Job Description: Build HR strategy for business unit according to business issues, and define the HR master plan through deploying groups projects. Attract, select, and identify talent by ensuring direct care management and lead succession plans in order to develop the motivation and commitment of talent, to reinforce retention and to ensure optimization of skills within the group, in particular through training needs.
Brief Job Description: The mandarin site supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.
GAN, ChineseYANJUNCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 146. LI, ChineseMIN Customer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents. Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 147. LI, ChineseXIXI Customer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
VESTAS SHARED SERVICES A/S - PHILIPPINE ROHQ 12/f Five E-com Center Bldg., Bayshore Ave., Barangay 76, Pasay City 177. CHAGINA, Analyst-sustainabilityYULIA Data Center Brief Job Description: Establish and lead Vestas Conflict Minerals program by working closely with our external supply chain data management solution and internal cross-functional teams in Global Procurement
ZHAO, ChineseLINZHICustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 145.
Basic Qualification: Excellent interpersonal, listening, written and verbal communication skills, ability to work collaboratively in a team environment. Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin site supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 169.
Basic languageandreadingProficientQualification:inspeaking,andwrtingenglishtheirrespectivenativefortheposition applied for. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin superintendent,mechanicalexcellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th/f, Pearl Marina Building Pacific Drive, Don Galo, City Of Parañaque143.CHEN,ChineseJINMEICustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE National Capital Region located at DOLE-NCR Building, 967 Maligaya St., Malate Manila, within 30 days after this Pleasepublication.inform
BusinessMirrorA6 www.businessmirror.com.phThursday, September 8, 2022
Basic Qualification: Minimum of 2 years experience in Economics or Finance, must be a native Korean Speaker, language proficiency in English.
Basic Qualification: College inPreferablyGraduate,1YearExperiencetheSimilarField,Speaks and Write Fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 155. TRAN THI BICH NGOC Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin financial manager, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 164. LI, MandarinLIXIA Hr Supervisor Brief Job Description: The mandarin HR supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.
WANFANG TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT, INC. 6-9/f Tower 2 Double Dragon Plaza, Edsa Cor. Macapagal Ave., Barangay 76, Pasay City
Basic Qualification: College inPreferablyGraduate,1YearExperiencetheSimilarField,Speaks and Write Fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 153.
178. TRAN MY VietnameseTHUONGAdmin Support Specialist Brief Job Description: Conduct market research to find answer about consumer requirements, habits and trends.
179. HOANG NGOC LY Vietnamese Marketing Specialist Brief Job Description: Conduct market research to find answer about consumer requirements, habits and trends.
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE 137. NGUYEN THE LONG Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries
Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 SHANG SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC. 11/f Pbcom Tower, Ayala Avenue, Salcedo Village, Bel-air, City Of Makati 171. JIMMY WIJAYA SURYA Bahasa Indonesian Language - Trade Specialist
Basic FluentQualification:invietnamese (verbal and written skills). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 174. NGUYEN DUC THINH Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Attracts potential customers by answering product and service queries; suggesting information about other products and services. Basic FluentQualification:invietnamese (verbal and written skills). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 175. VU VAN THUONG Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Attracts potential customers by answering product and service queries; suggesting information about other products and services.
Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 148. LIU, ChineseFENGCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree, excellent communication skills, technical expertise. Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above NORTHERN OPERATING SERVICES ASIA INC. 8/f Tower 3, 9 East 11th Drive, Uptown, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig 157. COONEY, ANTHONY Head Gfs Apac Brief Job Description: Manages multiple business units typically through direct local/regional management and strong partnership and collaboration with global Business leadership in Global Financial Services (GFS).
Brief Job Description: Ensure that all prices changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, and Other Relevant Courses, Fluently Speak and Write Chinese, Bahasa Indonesian, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Thai to Cater Foreign Market Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 SIKA PHILIPPINES INC Unit A & B 888, M. Alvarez Ave.,, Talon Singko, City Of Las Piñas 172. PHAM NGOC CHAN Underground Works- Manager Brief Job Description: Develops key projects for tunneling and undergrounds businesses/ markets by attaining turnover and sika share targets in the Philippines Basic Qualification: Minimum of 10 years’ experience in manufacturing and SalaryconstructionRange: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 SOMI UNLIMITED SOLUTIONS, INC. 10/f Tower 2 Double Dragon Plaza Bldg., Edsa Corner Macapagal Ave. St. Zone 10, District 1, Barangay 76, Pasay City 173. BUI DUC CANH Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Attracts potential customers by answering product and service queries; suggesting information about other products and services.
Brief Job Description: The mandarin site supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.
Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native language). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 152. ZHANG, JIE Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents
YU, ChineseLIFENGCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
Basic Qualification: Must Be 21 Years Old and Above; Graduate of Any Vocational or Bachelor’s Degree Course; at Least 1 Year Experience as Data Analyst or Customer Service; With Good Oral and Written Communication Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 139. NGUYEN VAN DUC Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 140. PHAN TRONG VIET Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries
CHEN, MandarinQINGXUNQuality
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin quality inspector, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 167. HU, MandarinLEHUASite Supervisor Brief Job Description: The mandarin site supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.
Brief Job Description: The mandarin project supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.
ZHAO, MandarinQINSite Supervisor
Brief Job Description: Prioritize daily workload to meet department and corporate goals, process credit notes resulting from research.
Inspector Brief Job Description: The mandarin quality inspector will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE
Basic Qualification: 2+ years if experience in supply chain sustainability, responsible sourcing and/ or mining ChainsforDueKnowledgepreferred.ofOECDDiligenceGuidanceResponsibleSupplyofMineralsfrom
Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 149. LIU, ChineseHONGYANCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
GUAN, ChineseXIAOYANCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
Basic FluentQualification:invietnamese (verbal and written skills). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 TENERITY PHILIPPINES CORP. 12th Floor, W Fifth Building, 32nd St. Cor. 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of 176.TaguigMAZO
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin project supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 166.
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin HR supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 165. WANG, MandarinYAWEIProject Supervisor
applied for. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 *Date Generated: Sep 7, 2022
Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 151.
DIAZ, BRAHYAN ALEJANDRO Customer Care Specialist I - Bilingual Spanish Brief Job Description: Respond professionally, accurately and in a timely manner to customer contacts (primarily inbound calls and may also encompass outbound calls, emails, etc.
NOH, FinanceJEONGHOSpecialist
Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native language). Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 154. INGIN MyanmariMAYCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin site supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 168.
Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 138. NGUYEN THI NGOC ANH Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries
Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 144.
Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 NOKIA SHANGHAI BELL PHILIPPINES, INC. Penthouse W Fifth Bldg., 5th Ave. Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig 156. CHENG, CHUEN PING Director Of Sales & Head Of Sbmu Ibg Brief Job Description: Run the daily business of mobile networks for the international business group whose business is predominantly in the philippines.
Basic Qualification: Proven strong people management, coaching and development skills, influencing and persuasion skills to work with peers, partners, senior management and external Salaryparties.Range: Php 500,000 and above OGROUP FIRSTONE ENTERTAINMENT CORP. Unit 2108 2109 & 2110 Park Triangle Corporate Plaza Building, 32nd Street Corner 11th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig 158. BANG, JEONGNAM It Manager Brief Job Description: Manage Information Technology and Computer Systems Basic Qualification: College Graduate Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 159. LEE, CHANHEE Vice President Marketing Brief Job AnalyzingDescription:existingbranding and marketing strategies and improving upon them Basic Qualification: College Graduate Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 PACIFIC SEA BPO SERVICES, INC. 16/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., Bel-air, City Of Makati 160. AGARWAL, TARUN Data Analyst Officer Brief Job MultilingualDescription:customer support, specifically for other Asian language Basic Qualification: Must Be 21 Years Old and Above; Graduate of Any Vocational or Bachelor’s Degree Course; at Least 1 Year Experience as Data Analyst or Customer Service; With Good Oral and Written Communication Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 161. LY CAM MUI Data Analyst Officer Brief Job MultilingualDescription:customer support, specifically for other Asian language Basic Qualification: Must Be 21 Years Old and Above; Graduate of Any Vocational or Bachelor’s Degree Course; at Least 1 Year Experience as Data Analyst or Customer Service; With Good Oral and Written Communication Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 162. PADALA, GANDHI Data Analyst Officer Brief Job MultilingualDescription:customer support, specifically for other Asian language
Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin site supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 QIAGEN BUSINESS SERVICES (MANILA), INC. Units A & D 12th Floor, Cyber Sigma, Mckinley West, Lawton Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig170.
ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No. NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE
Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 141. PHAN VAN GIANG Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 NEPC POWER CONSTRUCTION CORP. 15/f Cyber One Bldg., Eastwood Cyberpark City, Bagumbayan, Quezon City 142. LI, MandarinXISHENGMechanical Superintendent Brief Job Description: The mandarin mechanical superintendent will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.
Basic Qualification: College preferablyGraduate,1yearexperience in the similar field, Speaks and write fluently (Native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 150. SONG, ChineseKAIYUANCustomer Service Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.
ZHANG, MandarinMINGSHENGSiteSupervisor
Basic languageandreadingProficientQualification:inspeaking,andwrtingenglishtheirrespectivenativefortheposition
DOLE National Capital Region if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.
Conflict-Affected and High Risk Areas and proven experience of implementing it in the Procurement/ Supply Chain Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999
PHILIPPINE ZHENCHONG CONSTRUCTION INC. 1015 Unit 3208 Sunview Palace Condominium, M.h. Del Pilar St.,, Barangay 666, Ermita, City Of Manila163. TAO, MandarinJIAFUFinancial Manager Brief Job Description: The mandarin financial manager will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long-term goals.
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla THE Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is considering the implementation of a “liberalized” protocol in the wearing of face mask outdoors, specially among so-called low-risk individuals.
chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food is pushing for the pas sage of a bill creating the Swine and Poultry Competitiveness Enhance ment Fund (SPCEF). Panel chairman and Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga said he filed House Bill 3570 last month to strengthen the local swine and poultry industry and amend Republic Act No. 8178, or the Agricultural Tariffication Act. RA 8178 adopted the use of tar iffs, Enverga said, in lieu of non-tariff import restrictions to protect local producers of agricultural products affected by the lifting of the quan titative import restrictions. According to Enverga, the Agricul tural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) was created where tar iff revenues of imported agricultural products under the minimum access volume shall accrue and to be used for various programs and projects and other forms of assistance and support to the agricultural sector. However, the lawmaker said the funds were only used to ex tend credit assistance to enhance competitiveness.“TheACEFFunds had a life of nine years. Republic Act No. 9496, enacted in 2008, extended the life of ACEF up to 2015,” he said. “Republic Act No. 10848 again extended ACEF up to 2022 and earmarked the funds for 80 per cent credit; 10 percent as grant for research and development; and 10 percent for grant-in-aid program for agri-related courses,” he added. In 2019, Enverga said Republic Act No. 11203, amended RA 8178, which lifted the quantitative import restriction on rice and created for the purpose the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund to help cushion the impact of the liberalization of the rice “Furtherindustry.amendments are now be ing sought with the emergence of dis eases and outbreaks in the livestock and poultry sectors, e.g. African swine fever and bird flu, which necessitated the importation of pork and chicken meat in order to cope with rising prices and supply gap,” he said. Enverga said the sectors most af fected are calling for the creation of the Swine and Poultry Competitive ness Enhancement Fund where tar iff revenues for imported pork and chicken shall accrue, and to be used for programs, projects, and activities to strengthen the local swine and poultryEnvergaindustries.saidthe country’s ailing hog and poultry industries need all the support to survive in this impor tation“Letregime. ushelp ease their burden and come up with a dedicated fund to put up the needed programs, proj ects, and activities that will cushion the impact and will eventually make them competitive and flourish again, after all, food security is our main goal,” he Underadded.thebill, the SPCEF shall consist of all tariff revenues collected from the importation of meat and poultry products by the Bureau of Customs to be automatically credited to a special account in the general fund of the national treasury, which shall be in place within 90 days upon the effectivity of the act. The bill said the secretary of ag riculture shall be accountable and responsible for the SPCEF in coor dination with other government agencies concerned. Also, it added the DA and other per tinent agencies shall submit an annual report containing the status of the SP CEF and an impact assessment of the programs implemented under the act, to the congressional oversight commit tee on agricultural and fisheries mod ernization (COCAFM). The COCAFM shall conduct a periodic review of the use of the SPCEF as necessary. At the end of the sixth year, the bill said a mandatory review shall be conducted by the COCAFM to deter mine whether the SPCEF and its use as provided for under the proposal shall be amended, terminated, or extended for at most five years. Once the SPCEF is terminated, the bill said the setting aside of collected duties for the purpose shallHowever,terminate. themeasure said any remaining balance(s) at the date of expiration of collection of duties for the SPCEF shall remain in the spe cial account and shall continue to be used for the purpose for which it was collected and set aside. Subject to the usual accounting and auditing rules and regulations, the bill said the SPCEF shall be al located and disbursed as disease prevention and outbreak, including vaccination; competent and modern diagnostic laboratories; research and development facilities; subsidies for transportation and freight cost, swine and poultry development, propagation and promotion.
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Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the CA Committee on Constitutional Commissions and Offices, presided over Wednesday’s meeting of the panel deliberating the ad interim appoint ments of Garcia and Karlo Nograles as Civil Service Commission chairperson for terms expiring on February 2, 2029.
Tolentino also asked Garcia if the Comelec is willing to remove a provi sion in the CSC that allows the poll body to disseminate personal data of individuals who filed their COCs. Garcia told the committee that the commission is willing to include the proposal because it is what the law provides under Republic Act (RA) No. 6646 of the Electoral Reforms Law of 1987 and RA 9369 or the Automated ElectionMeanwhile,Law. Sen. Risa Hontiveros, also at the CA panel hearing, grilled Nograles on CSC-related matters.
Thursday, September 8, 2022 A9BusinessMirror News THE
OCTA prescription MEANWHILE, OCTA Research fel low Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP, sug gested that masking must remain on public transportation and health care“Thisfacilities.will allow some Omicron spread but in light of the decision of many Filipinos not to get boosted, it is better to allow for Omicron illness among those whose immunity is wan ing now to strengthen population im munity rather than to face a possible deadlier variant in six months that could kill more people,” he said. Hybrid immunity, or immunity from both vaccination and infection has been cited as one of the reasons for the relatively low incidences of Covid deaths in the Philippines in the last month compared to the same period last year. But even scientists who put forward the opinion that natural immunity is more robust than vaccine immunity still believe that getting vaccinated and boost ered would be the best strategy in avoidingConcepcionillness.had earlier noted that booster vaccinations remain a chal lenge, but that he is supportive of the government’s vaccination efforts. He said, however, that vaccination mandates may not be practical at this time as the focus has now shifted to nursing the economy back to health. Other mitigation strategies will also depend on whether or not Presi dent Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. follows through with his plan to extend the State of Public Health Emergency until“Thisend-2022.willaffect how the new vaccines will be purchased. If the manufacturers are able to secure Certificates of Product Registra tion for their vaccines and sell these through drug stores or we continue with an Emergency Use Authoriza tion, all this must be cleared soon once the President makes his deci sion,” said Concepcion.
Easing of outdoor face maskrule GO Negosyo founder Joey Concep cion, meanwhile, welcomed the rec ommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to lift the outdoor mask man date, adding that it is now crucial for the Philippines to have mitigation strategies already in place. These mitigation strategies against Covid-19 include stocking up on antiviral pills, which he believes is a more practical move. “We should ensure that we have enough supply of antiviral pills, espe cially Paxlovid, which we are currently out of stock in the country. This will become crucial as people start mov ing around without masks outdoors,” Concepcion said in a news statement. “If voluntary outdoor masking be comes policy, it will allow Filipinos to manage their own risks,” he said. “We must be diligent in practic ing common-sense health protocols like having good ventilation, physi cal distancing, and handwashing. I think we have had enough practice in the last two years to know how to keep ourselves from being infected,” he said.
SPCEF pushed to boost poultry, swine industry competitiveness
At a news conference on Wednesday, Press Secretary Be atrix “Trixie” Cruz-Angeles an nounced IATF issued its Resolu tion No. 1, series of 2022, which seeks to ease the mandatory wear ing of face masks nationwide. “This [wearing of face masks] will become optional in open spaces or non-crowded outdoor areas with good ventilation, provided that se nior citizens and those immuno compromised individuals are highly encouraged to continue wearing masks,” Angeles said. The Palace official stressed President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. might approve the IATF recommendation and issue a new ex ecutive order before the new policy can take Departmenteffect. of Health (DOH) Officer in Charge Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said Marcos has only given his verbal approval on the said new policy as of Wednesday.
CA confirms Garcia as Comelec chief; Nograles as CSC chairman
Meanwhile, Popcom said deaths caused by neoplasms, or various forms of cancers, declined 10.3 percent. “Many of the diseases that caused increased mortality are prevent able at the primary level of care, but the health system was not flexible enough to treat and care for both Covid and non-Covid patients,” Perez said. “The decrease in cancer-related deaths was most likely due to the lack of tertiary level of diagnostic and therapeutic care, as ‘COVID’ cases crowded out actual and undiagnosed cancer patients.” The Popcom chief believes that from top to bottom, the Philippine health system was severely chal lenged in 2021, thus: “Its recovery requires more resources in the im mediate future.”
“There was not much difference on the rise of cases [between the two groups],” Abalos said.
Onions, garlic SEN. Imee Marcos, the president’s sister, asked the agriculture depart ment to conduct an inventory of white onions after prices soared. Her brother’s department said the outlook for supplies, including red onions, is sufficient, but it is studying whether there’s deficit in the white variety. The agriculture department plans to confiscate white-onion and sugar stockpiles suspected of being hoard ed and sell them to the public at lower prices, Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said in a television in terview. The country also imports much of the garlic it consumes, and the government is looking to boost local production. Corn, wheat, rice THE country is a chronic importer of corn and soybean meal, used for animal feed, and rice and wheat. The US Department of Agriculture fore casts overseas corn purchases to rise by half to 900,000 tons in 2022-23 from 12 months earlier, a record in data going back to 1960-61. Soybean meal purchases have held above 2.6 million tons every year since 201516. The nation is the world’s biggest rice importer after China, and a major wheat buyer, USDA data show. Pinoy deaths highest in yrs continued Sugar, salt shortage worsens PHL’s food supply problems continued
These were attributed to ischemic heart disease which increased by 29.7 percent; cerebrovascular disease, 15.3 percent; diabetes mellitus, 21 percent; and hypertensive disease or hyper tension, 31.5 percent were among the top causes of deaths in the country. Deaths due to malnutrition also in creased by 47 percent. BusinessMir ror reported that starvation has killed 355 Filipinos between 2006 and 2020. At least 90.14 percent of these deaths, or a total of 320, happened just in a span of four years: between 2017 and 2020. (Full story tion-to-phls-doorsteps/)inequality-brings-death-malnutrione-nation-undernutrition-when-nessmirror.com.ph/2022/07/28/here: https://busi
The optional wearing of face masks is expected to be piloted in some areas by the last quarter of the year, “provided there is improvement in the Covid-19 booster vaccination coverage,” according to Angeles. Low booster coverage VERGEIRE noted they will only con sider there is such an “improvement” if they would be able to provide boost er shots beyond their initial target of 30 percent of the eligible population. As of September 6, 2022 data from DOH showed only over 18.33 million or about 25 percent of the 72.67 mil lion completed their Covid-19 pri mary doses got their booster shots. Health experts recommended for those who are fully vaccinated to get their boosters due to the waning ef fect of primary Covid-19 jabs. Depending on the results of the National Booster Week from September 26 to 29 and the overall result of the government’s vaccina tion drive, Vergeire said the IATF might also consider easing of indoor face mask protocols. “We are now drafting the concept paper on how the pilot should be implemented. When we say pilot, we are going to implement it in selected areas nationwide to see if our system could handle it or not,” Vergeire said. Policy basis THE IATF issued its new resolution after reviewing earlier this week a recent executive order issued by Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama, which made the wearing of face masks out doorsTheoptional.policycontradicted exist ing IATF protocols since removal of face masks outdoors is only allowed when eating or during certain wellventilated activities. Aside from Cebu City, Interior Secretary Benjamin D. Abalos Jr. said IATF received appeals from other lo cal government units for them to be allowed to also lift their own face maskAbalosmandate. noted that the IATF de cided to recommend the easing after data presented by experts showed that there were minimal differences in the Covid-19 cases in countries in Southeast Asia with mandatory face mask wearing and those which removed the requirement. In the said data, Abalos said, Co vid-19 cases for Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam actually de clined even after they eased their mask wearing protocols. During the IATF deliberations, Abalos said experts presented com parative data of countries, which lifted their mask mandate and those which still implement the said policy.
Some of the products in short supply: Sugar THE nation missed its sugar produc tion target after weather and high fertilizer costs cut harvests. Imports early in the year were delayed by a court order requested by producers who said the overseas purchases were poorly timed. In August, the sugar regulator approved a plan to import as much as 300,000 tons, but this was over turned by Marcos a day later. In a further apparent reversal, Marcos said later that the country was in deed looking to import sugar to tame price increases. Still, the government has said the shortage is artificial and caused by traders hoarding supply. Salt EVEN though the Philippines is an archipelago with thousands of kilo meters of coastline, salt is in short supply. The country imports more than 90 percent of its needs be cause production has declined over the years. Business leaders say that a law some years ago that required the addition of iodine to salt killed the industry. The agriculture depart ment is looking at ways to revive it.
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Garcia and Nograles answered queries from members of the CA panel on various issues involving their respective offices before the screening committee endorsed the confirmation of their appointments to the CA plenary. Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano also expressed support for Garcia’s ap pointment as Cayetano recalled his experiences with electoral fraud from his candidacy as Taguig City council or in 1992 until he ran for a Senate seat in 2007. Cayetano said Garcia is well known in Comelec and in the practice of election laws. In fact, he added, Garcia was the lawyer of many CA members’ opponents. “I think that is a testament that we believe in his integrity. So with that manifestation, Madam Chair, I think my vote is obvious,” Cayetano said. For his part, Sen. Francis Tolentino
By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM S ENATORS , sitting in the Commission on Appoint ments (CA) panel on Con stitutional Commissions and Of fices, on Wednesday endorsed to the plenary for confirmation the nomination of lawyer George Er win M. Garcia as chairman of the Commission on Elections, but also sought his help to recodify the Omnibus Election Code which they said badly needed updating. Senator Imee R. Marcos, during Wednesday’s Commission on Ap pointments (CA) hearing, backed the confirmation of Garcia’s ad interim appointment while noting, “As a dis tinguished election lawyer and as the Comelec chairman, you are more than aware that the present set of election laws need serious updates of the 1985 Omnibus Election Code…” She asked if she could count on Garcia’s support “to commit time and manpower to help us in the Senate to recodify our election laws.... I have filed my own imperfect version but nevertheless an ambitious effort to have a new election code and I count on the chairman and the commis sion’s support.” In response, Garcia vowed to re view the voluminous pages of the proposed new version of the Election Code, which the senator submitted before the Comelec.
from a16
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asked Garcia if the poll body is open to include a new requirement in the cer tificate of candidacy (COC) that will incorporate a provision in Comelec Resolution No. 9366, prohibiting or ganizations accredited by the Comelec from advocating violence or unlawful means to achieve goals.
Tourism impact ANGELES said the government is also considering easing the protocols in wearing of face masks upon the recommendation of the Department of Tourism (DOT) to attract more foreign“DOTtourists.made the push, saying that in certain states where there was easing in face mask [proto cols], there was an increase in their tourism,” Angeles said in Filipino. “Sincetourismisinfrontandcenter of our economic recovery, this matter is being taken seriously,” she added. In the data cited by Abalos, tour ist arrivals in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and even Indone sia rose by 35.6 percent to as high as 771.1 percent after they lifted their maskCurrently,mandate. tourist arrivals in the country was pegged at 722,217, which is almost at par with the 733,000 of Vietnam and 743,000 of Indonesia after they already eased their face mask protocols.
www.businessmirror.com.ph
IATF reso pushes nationwide easing of face mask protocol
Australia has ramped up surveil lance and measures at borders to prevent an incursion after the dis covery of foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia, where it has swept through cattle herds and reached tourist hotspot Bali. The disease is a serious threat to Australia’s livestock industry and a widespread outbreak would potentially have a direct economic impact of A$80 billion ($54 billion).
‘Sardine supply more than enough to meet demand’
T he EFSA’s advice will be used to support the commission’s review of animal welfare legislation, which is part of the EU’s so-called farm-tofork sustainable food plan, with a proposal expected next year. T he farm-to-form strategy is com ing under pressure as farming groups argue that the livestock industry is already facing higher costs from energy and inflation due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A s FAO’s 2022 flagship report The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture reveals, aquaculture has witnessed dramatic growth and consumer demand is expected to drive further expansion. The growth of aquaculture, particu larly in Asia, lifted total produc tion of fisheries and aquaculture to an all-time high of 214 million tonnes in 2020. Global consumption of aquatic foods (excluding algae) has increased at an average annual rate of 3 percent since 1961, reaching 20.2 kilograms per capita, more than double con sumption in the 1960s.
PIECES of beef rib displayed for sale at a meat stall in Mangwon Market in Seoul, South Korea, on February 9, 2021.
L ast month, the USDA revised upward its rice import forecast for the Philippines in 2022 by 100,000 MT from an earlier es timate of 3.1 MMT. T he USDA said it revised upwards its rice import projection for the Phil ippines because of the “strong” pace of imports this year.
P SA said in a report it released last month that the country’s un milled rice production contracted by 0.63 percent to 8.743 MMT in January to June, from last year’s 8.799 MMT.
T he DA said data from the Na tional Stock Assessment Program of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) showed that sardines stock “has significantly improved resulting in more sardines reaching maturity and appropriate catchable size.” The stable supply is attributed to the effective implementation of the National Sardine Management Plan, a five-year plan which harmo nizes all the policies and programs on sardines including conservation measures such as the closed fishing seasons,” it said. “Since its implemen tation in 2020, a notable improve ment in production and supply has been recorded.”
America are free of the disease, ac cording to the World Organisation for Animal Health. I n July, Australia found traces of foot-and-mouth disease in a sample of pork floss imported from China that was being offered for sale in Melbourne. While the test did not indicate a live virus, of ficers seized the product from all linked supermarkets and a ware house in Melbourne.
A4 BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.phA10
By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas THE Philippines’s rice imports in January to August have reached 2.719 million met ric tons (MMT) and are poised to surpass the 2.777 MMT it imported in 2021.Thelatest data from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) data showed that the country’s rice imports dur ing the 8-month period was about 64 percent higher than the 1.66 MMT recorded a year ago. Imported rice arrivals in August alone rose by more than 50 percent year-on-year to 380,244.5 metric tons (MT) from 228,353.97 MT. BPI data indicated that 5,920 MT of rice entered the country on September 1, bringing the total rice import volume from January 1 to September 1 to 2.725 MMT. T he agency said 137 eligible traders and importers brought in rice from Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sin gapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Bulk of the country’s rice imports or about 2.226 MMT came from Vietnam followed by Myanmar’s 201,799.28 MT, based on BPI data. The country’s rice imports from Thailand as of September 1 reached 139,651.375 MT while those from Pakistan reached 139,095.675 MT. T he country’s top rice importer based on the latest data was NAN STU Agri Traders with 132,360 MT followed by Manus Dei Resources Ent. Inc. with 127,061 MT. Complet ing the top five rice importers are Lucky Buy and Sell (120,723 MT), Macman Rice and Corn Trading (112,500 MT) and BLY Agri Venture Trading (98,341 MT). R ice industry sources told the BusinessMirror that total rice im ports this year would easily eclipse last year’s total import volume given the current pace of import arrivals. T he United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier project ed that the Philippines, the world’s second-biggest buyer of rice, may import a record 3.2 MMT this year, driven by higher-than-expected purchases abroad.
T he country’s total rice inventory as of July 1 declined to its lowest level in four months of 2.034 MMT. The volume was also 143,000 MT lower than the 2.177 MMT recorded stock inventory in July 2021, the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed.
A USTRALIA has banned im ports of meat products for personal use from all coun tries with foot-and-mouth disease, a step that the government said was unprecedented to keep the country free of the virus.
F AO Director General QU Dongyu opened last September 5 the 35th Session of the Com mittee on Fisheries (COFI35), the only global inter-governmental forum that provides recommen dations and policy advice to gov ernments, regional fishery bod ies, civil society organizations, as well as the private sector and international community.
Code of Conduct MEMBERS will also discuss the implementation of the Code of Con duct for Responsible Fisheries, a key instrument which has been guiding efforts to advance sustainable fisher ies and aquaculture around the world for over 25 years. To further support the imple mentation of the Code, the Com mittee will call on countries to endorse the first Voluntary Guide lines for Transshipment, a new in strument that will provide Mem bers and organizations with critical standards to apply in their policies andRregulations.egulating,monitoring and con trolling transshipment supports sustainable fisheries. The aim is to tighten the loopholes that enable fish derived from illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing to be transferred from one vessel to another without authorization and enter the market.
PHL rice imports jump by 64% in Jan-August
A number of incidents have drawn more attention to the risks if live transportation. Some 1,800 bulls starved to death or were eventually put down after a ship that left Spain in late 2020 became stuck at sea for months amid Cov id-related disruptions. Thousands of livestock were left packed tight on ships when the Suez Canal was blocked last year. In 2019, 14,000 sheep drowned after a ship sank off of Romania. More countries are limiting or phasing out the transportation of live animals altogether. New Zea land has said it will phase out the practice by 2023 and the UK has pledged to ban such trade. Animal rights activists at Compassion in World Farming are campaigning for live animal exports outside the EU to be banned. T he bloc exported 1.46 billion animals in 2020, or 81 percent of the global total, according to data from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.
Thursday, September 8, 2022 •
THE Department of Agricul ture (DA) has assured the public that the country’s sar dine supply is “more than enough” to meet domestic demand amid re ports that there is a looming short age of tamban. C iting the projections made by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the DA said the country’s sardine production this year would reach 293,431 metric tons (MT), almost 200 percent over the estimated total demand of 101,367 MT. [The] sufficiency level for sardine or tamban is pegged at 222.58 per cent for the first quarter of 2022, and 409.06 percent for the 2nd quarter,” the DA said in a statement.
Australia tightens meat import rules for foot-and-mouth disease
“ Today, more than ever, as we face many global challenges, fish eries and aquaculture play an in creasingly important role in provid ing food, nutrition and jobs across the world,” Qu said, adding: “our valuable aquatic resources must be managed and used responsibly and sustainably, guided by the best sci ence available” in what FAO terms a Blue Transformation.
Agriculture/Commodities Editor: Jennifer A. Ng
T he new restrictions will cov er some highly processed meat products for personal use, such as pate, pork crackling or meat floss, Murray Watt, the agricul ture minister, said in a statement Wednesday. He added that this was the first time such strong measures had been enforced.
FISHERIES and aquaculture can potentially contribute more to improved global food security and nutrition, but efforts must be stepped up to ensure further devel opment is efficient, inclusive and sustainable, and recognizes the vi tal role of small-scale fishers and fish farmers, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
T he agency reminded CSAP that commercial fishing vessels are al lowed in municipal waters but only within 10.1 to 15 kilometers from the“shoreline.TheDA-BFAR reiterates that under Republic Act 10654 or the amended Philippine Fisheries Code, small and medium commercial fish ing vessels may be allowed to oper ate within the 10.1 to 15 kilometers from the shoreline in the municipal waters provided that the local gov ernment unit enacts a municipal ordinance allowing their operation,” the DA said. “As the primary government agency mandated to manage the country’s fisheries and aquatic re sources, DA-BFAR remains strongly committed to increasing produc tion and ensuring fish sufficiency through sustainable means and without compromising the ecological integrity of our aquatic and marine environment.”Lastmonth, the Philippine Sta tistics Authority reported that the value of crops produced in the first half fell by 2.2 percent, while that of fisheries declined by 3.9 percent. T he output of the fisheries subsec tor in January to June was buoyed by yellowfin tuna, big-eye tuna, grou per, squid, and bisugo or threadfin bream.
T he DA made the statement following reports that the Canned Sardines Association of the Phil ippines (CSAP) had supposedly warned the public of a looming shortage of sardines.
T he value of the country’s agri cultural output in the first half con tracted by 0.4 percent, mainly due to the anemic performance of the crops and fisheries subsectors. Data released by the PSA showed that the value of farm output in Janu ary to June (at constant 2018 prices) reached P853.087 billion, lower than last year’s P856.66 billion.
Shipping live animals MEANWHILE, the European Union’s food watchdog called for better ship ping conditions for live animals such as cattle and pigs as pressure mounts to ban controversial crossborder trade. About $22 billion of live animals are exported each year globally, and the EU is the biggest shipper. But there are growing calls to improve animal welfare and reduce the risks that diseased ones can pose to hu mans, especially after a series of high-profile accidents in recent years that led to thousands of animals be ingIkilled.nadvice to the European Com mission, the European Food Safety Authority said animals need more space to reduce stress. Most cattle and pigs should be transported at temperatures below current limits of about 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahren heit), the EFSA said. It stopped short of recommending stricter limits on transportation times.
PHOTOGRAPHER: SEONGJOON CHO/BLOOMBERG FAO: Fisheries and aquaculture key to providing food, jobs
Foot-and-mouth is a highly con tagious disease that affects cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. It is character ized by fever and blister-like sores on the tongue and lips, in the mouth, on the teats and between the hooves. T he disease is often spread by humans via their shoes, clothes and luggage—and particles can even live in people’s noses, where they may survive for up to 24 hours. The virus can also be trans mitted via contaminated meat and other animal products, and sur vive in the environment for several weeks. It is considered one of the most important livestock diseases in the world, and can potentially cause billions of dollars of losses each year. A lthough the virus comes from the same family—Picornaviridae —as those responsible for com mon colds, hepatitis A and polio, foot-and-mouth disease crosses the species barrier to infect hu mans only rarely and with little effect. It shouldn’t be confused with the fever and rash-causing hand, foot, and mouth disease in humans. This is an unrelated and usually mild infection mostly in children caused by different viruses, mainly coxsackie A and enterovirus 71. It is endemic and estimated to circulate in almost 80 percent of the global livestock population, mainly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as in a limited area of South America. Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe, North and Central
FAO said it is committed to “Blue Transformation,” a visionary initia tive to meet the twin challenges of food security and environmental sustainability while ensuring equi table outcomes and gender equality.
RICE grain during harvesting in Saraburi Province, Thailand. PHOTOGRAPHER: ANDRE MALERBA/BLOOMBERG
T his week’s COFI meeting, which will run until September 9, will discuss how to grow global aquaculture sustainably and eq uitably, improve fisheries man agement and increase efforts to eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and how to ensure biodiversity conserva tion and sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture in the context of a changing climate. T he COFI opening session in cluded remarks by Peter Thom son, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Oceans and Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, with which FAO has ex tensive cooperation.
Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
Bloomberg News
“COFI35 will provide an opportunity to discuss this further in the context of advancing environment-friendly policy and practices, as well as tech nological innovation.”
“The current threat landscape can take this projection up a few notches if we are to consider the real situation worldwide,” Kamluk said. “So, it is natural to ask why we are investing so much into cybersecurity and wouldn’t it be worth saving all this money for somethingNonetheless,else.” investments in a safe cyberspace are huge because the threats and repercussions are also gargantuan.Cybersecurity, Kamluk explained, is more than just installing antivirus applications—it involves more than just algorithms and codes, but is ac tually a string of processes, people and policies that leverage technology to keep the digital ecosystem free of crime—or at least lessen or prevent digital criminal activity.
Reduces integrity WITH all the energy, manpower resources and cash injected into cybersecurity, is it really necessary for us to invest in cybersecurity? Is it essential at all? Kamluk said it is possible for the world to just stop investing in cyber security. But he likened it to a digital dystopia—a world without order but a whole lot of chaos. “A world without cybersecurity would mean a world with no encryp tion or no secrecy, no access control, no integrity validation—so these are three pillars that we are going to lose if they say that we don’t need cyber security,” he said. From an individual level, hav ing no encryption or secrecy means that people have no protection from thieves. Malicious users can simply access your bank accounts, credentials and steal your income or even your Cyberbulliesproperty.can,likewise, use private data to coerce individuals for monetary or personal gain. Having no encryption and secrecy also reduces the integrity of almost all industries that have embraced digital transformation, such as banking and finance, healthcare and even tourism, among many others. Without access control, anyone can claim to be someone from anywhere. This simply means that anyone can claim to be you online and operate on your behalf—make deals, purchase things, or transfer money.
Lastly, a world without integrity validation means that we won’t be able to afford the luxuries of having information verified and authenti cated before we consume them. This means that fake news and disinformation will be rampant and undiscoverable, unscrupulous in dividuals have the ability to install backdoors on any digital system and it will be impossible for businesses to goTrust,online.security and privacy—these three are the things we will lose as individuals if the world stopped in vesting in cybersecurity. Now imag ine the repercussion of losing that for businesses and governments. It will simply become catastrophic. “I see a world without cyberse curity as a digital dystopia where no one can fully harness the op portunities brought about by the latest technologies that we have in our hands,” Kamluk said. “Without companies and solutions working in the background to protect our data, our identity, the news we consume and the applications and devices we use, we will be left on our own to wade through the risks and I am sure no one would choose to live in a chaotic world like this.
Digital dystopia THIS also means that election re sults or surveys may be rigged in favor of anyone and there will be a rise in fraudulent transactions on line, theft of media products and denial of services.
NE and three quarters of a trillion dollars. Read that again: $1.75 trillion and let that sink in. That is how much the world is ex pected to spend between 2021 and 2025 to keep the cyberspace safe and secure for everybody—$1.75 trillion dollars. The cumulative price tag of a safe cyber world through 2025 is almost five times the current gross domestic product (GDP) of the Philippines: about a tenth of the Chinese economy and about a twentieth of the US economy. A huge amount if we think about it—monies that could have gone to fuel the operations of tens of thou sands of schools, provide shelter to millions of homeless individuals, feed millions of hungry families, or it could even start funding the $175 billion yearly budget to “end poverty.” “Instead of using these money to something mainly to develop prob ably some economies for growth, we are using these money to protect humanity from itself,” Kasper sky Director of Global Research & Analysis Team (GReAT) for Asia Pacific Vitaly Kamluk said at the recent Cybersecurity Weekend in Phuket, Thailand. Huge investments EVERY year, the whole world is ex pected to spend more and more on cy bersecurity. On the average, the earth is projected to spend 15 percent more each year to protect cyberspace from digital criminals, data from research and data analytics firm Cybersecurity Ventures Inc. showed. From $262.4 billion in 2021, econo mies around the world are expected to invest $301.8 billion in cybersecurity this year, $347 billion the following year, $399 billion in 2024 and $458.9 billion in 2025.
“Today, cybersecurity is often an invisible part of our life which we take for granted, but we owe it almost everything we have achieved as a civilization,” he added. Back to the old age WITHOUT cybersecurity, everyone will be vulnerable to attacks and the frequency of cybercrime is also ex pected to rise—even as cyberattacks are already by the billions annually. From July 2021 to August 2022, Kaspersky has detected and blocked over 7.2 billion attacks by malicious objects including malware and mali cious web content worldwide. This is only a fraction of all the threats in the world. According to Kamluk, a more “realistic number” of cyberthreats and attacks would be five times more than Kasper sky’sThefigures.Philippines and the rest of Asia Pacific “appear” to be a vulnerable re gion with 35 percent of detections of infection attempts coming into the region. This figure is 15-percentage points more than the figure recorded the year prior. The Philippines ranked 8th in the region in terms of attacks, with Kaspersky recording 70 million detec tions this Kamlukyear.humored that the world Continued on A12
TheBroaderLook BusinessMirrorEditor: Dennis D. Estopace Thursday, September 8, 2022 A11
By Lorenz Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
O
GIVEN the persistent threats to the global and local cyberspace, Filipinos have to be more aware, open and responsive to the digi tal defense needs of individuals, companies and government bodies. As the Philippines continues to be consistent in seeing and experi encing attacks—from the notorious Comeleaks to the recent mobile spam and spear phishing acts—it has all the more reason to be more cautious andAccordingalert.
“Our recent findings show that the cybercriminals behind this threat have started implementing ransom functionalities,” he said. “If this modification proves to be successful, chances are other malicious groups will copy the same technique of steal ing data and holding devices hostage.” Not exclusive to Android BUT mobile threats are not exclusive to Android users. As bad actors con tinue to innovate and make their at tacks more sophisticated and multi dimensional, iOS users are also now vulnerable to new threats. A threat actor based in China called the Roaming Mantis carries out mali cious campaigns that target Android devices and spreads mobile malware initially via DNS hijacking and cur rently through smishing.
Whole-of-nation approach THE Marcos administration recog nized these observations and said that it is doubling down efforts to provide Filipinos with a safer cyberspace.
Major danger THE major danger of APT attacks is that even when they are discovered and the immediate threat appears to be gone, the hackers may have left multiple backdoors open that allow them to return when they choose. “This increases the importance of guarding mailboxes—an entry point they usually exploit to get a foothold of an organization’s net works,” Shabab said. To be able to search for potential spear-phishing signs without dimin ishing the company’s actual security, Kaspersky suggests private and public companies to install protective antip hishing solutions on mail servers as well as on employee workstations. Enterprises should also utilize an advanced security software that can detect sophisticated APT attacks. For governments, Shabab suggests defining better spam regulations to curb spam risks. “Fewer spam emails from legiti mate organizations means people are less used to receiving unexpected emails every day and are more vigilant when they are being targeted with malicious spear phishing emails,” she said.
TheBroaderLook BusinessMirrorThursday, September 8, 2022 www.businessmirror.com.ph
CKasperskywithoutaImagineworld
YBERSECURITY has be come a major buzz word in the Philippines today, as text scams and digital fraud acts have been aplenty over the last couple of months. No one has pinpointed the source of the recent attacks on individuals, but some have specu lated that these might have been sourced from data held by compa nies, governments, or even banks. These attacks prove how cyber security has become an essential part of our everyday lives, albeit invisible to the human eye. Kaspersky has been providing organizations and individuals with cybersecurity services since 1997, detecting and foiling sophisticated attacks across the world. And we can only imagine how the world with look like without it. So how does a world without Kaspersky look like? If Kaspersky weren’t around, in 2015, the world would not have learned of a $1-billion cyber-rob bery act conducted by the Carbanak cybercriminal group. Together with Interpol, Europol and au thorities from different countries, Kaspersky uncovered the criminal plot behind the greatest heist of theFreecentury.decryptors (tools that de crypt files) will also not be an ad vocacy of many without Kaspersky co-founding the “No More Ran som” initiative that, since then, grew from four partners to 188, contributing 136 decryption tools and helping over 1.5 million people worldwide decrypt their devices. “In 2017, we kicked off an indus try benchmark with the launch of Kaspersky’s Global Transparency Initiative, as part of which we be came the first cybersecurity com pany to offer its source code for third-party review,” Chris Connell, Managing Director for Asia Pacific and Vice President for Global Sales and Network at Kaspersky, said. These are just some of the few examples if Kaspersky were to have not“Fiveexisted.years after and with 25 years of expertise on our sleeves, we are now a team of over 4,500 pro fessionals, creating a cybersecurity ecosystem as well as developing its own operating and IT systems that are inherently secure to bring on a cyber-immune future. Because we know the world needs cyberse curity and we are ready to do our part to bring on a safer future for everyone,” Connell said.
Continued from A11
“However, we must take two things into account—the increasing sophis tication of mobile bankers’ social en gineering techniques and malware arsenal and the possibility for human errors,” he added. “Remember that both Anubis and Roaming Mantis re quire user’s participation before they can take over a device.” According to Ishimaru, with more than half or 63 percent of digital pay ments in the Asia-Pacific region doing their financial transactions online through mobile devices, awareness is no longer “Protectingenough.oursmartphones is a step that everyone should be doing by now,” Ishimaru said. In the Philippines, text scams are becoming more and more rampant nowadays with speculations of data breach from banks, telcos, vaccination sites and government being pointed as possible culprits for the massive and coordinated attacks. Be careful of your emails ASIDE from smartphones, hackers and bad actors are also leveraging the ubiquity of email correspondence to pull off tricks that can help them in stealing data and personal financial information.Kaspersky Senior Security Re searcher Noushin Shabab revealed that the Asia Pacific receives 24 per cent of the global malicious spam mails being detected and blocked by Kaspersky solutions. This means one in four junk electronic messages were delivered to computers in the region. Unlike its mobile counterparts, malicious spam is not a “technologi cally complex attack, but when done with sophisticated social engineering techniques, it poses a severe threat to individuals and enterprises alike,” ShababSpammerssaid. and cybercriminals are sending out spam in mass quantities hoping to make money from individu als who respond to their junk emails, or run phishing scams to obtain pass words, credit card or bank details, or spread malicious code onto the recipi ent’sTherecomputers.areover 267 billion spam emails sent and received per day and the percentage of spam emails to the total number of emails is estimated to be as high as 84 percent. “Malicious emails could be in dif ferent forms, there could be mali cious files attached, or text emails,” Shabab said. “The top file formats of malicious objects in every month, the most detected malicious object, was the different malware like trojans and executable files that are malware.” With the dense population in Asia Pacific and their high adoption of digi tal services due to the lockdowns, the region has become a great target for badShababactors. explained that the re gion accounts for almost 60 percent of the world’s population, which provides scammers more potential victims compared to other parts of theTheirworld.extensive use of online services—including the pandemicinduced demand for online shop ping—also makes individuals more susceptible to falling victim to scams. There is also the lingering pan demic aftermath which led to lock downs and work-from-home set up in the region where people took their work computers home. Home net works are usually less protected from cyberattacks.“Since2018, the number of ma licious spam mails detected by our solutions has seen a gradual decline after its peak in 2019. This, however, does not equate to our mailboxes being cleaner and safer,” Shabab ex plained. “Our constant monitoring of the current and new Advanced Persistent Threats [APTs] operat ing in Asia Pacific showed that the majority of these notorious threat actors use targeted phishing called spearphishing to crack into an or ganisation’s systems.”
Step one CABANLONG added that the transfer of knowledge must be supported in stead of forever managed services— cybersecurity services managed by third-party—which can introduce more risks to the government data, provides the opportunity for corrup tion and can halt the cybersecurity operations of the government, if not renewed on time, due to the nature of the procurement law. “Today, the government already has the tools but the question is the government workforce ready? By then, it will be fully operational,” he said. Cabanlong further said the gov ernment must move forward with its cybersecurity plan, which “became si lent and went under the radar” in 2019. “Today, government initiatives are returning to step one. With this, the cybersecurity community is hoping that DICT must recommend to the BBM administration to place an expert or technocrat who knows what it is to lead the country to cyber resiliency,” he added. “Putting a qualified person to the job will determine the present and future state of our cybersecurity.”
Using the same techniques, the smishing messages targeting iOS us ers contain a very short description and a URL to a landing page. If a user clicks on the link and opens the land ing page, there are two scenarios: iOS users are redirected to a phishing page imitating the official Apple website, while the Wroba malware is down loaded on Android devices. Once the victim inputs his cre dentials to the phishing website, it will then proceed to the 2FA or two-factor authentication phishing website. This allows the attacker to know the user’s device, credentials and 2FA Ishimarucodes.said there is a notion that the iPhone Operating System (iOS) is a more secure operating system.
The group also asked the presi dent to consider making a National Cybersecurity and Information Security Act (NCISA) as a priority legislative measure of the admin istration and the establishment of a National Cybersecurity Com mission (NCyC) as an attached agency of the DICT to pursue the cybersecurity protection of the Philippines.“TheNCISA should be well-fit un der the umbrella of a broader overall National Critical Infrastructure Pro tection Act,” the paper read. For his part, former ICT Assistant Secretary Allan S. Cabanlong said it is high time for the government to focus on ensuring a safer cyberspace for Fili pinos, especially since the Covid-19 situation created a whole spectrum of opportunities for cybercriminals to thrive.Henoted that the pandemic has de fined the new global threat landscape and the overall state of cybersecurity. Cabanlong, who is now the president of nongovernment organization Cy berGuardians, observed that work ing from home, online meetings and conferences, online shopping and the massive use of the internet have given great opportunities to cybercriminals to victimize internet users. According to Cabanlong, the gov ernment must beef up its cybersecu rity workforce and provide morale, instead of politics, in order for these cybersecurity-trained technical peo ple to stay in the government.
Example of APT THE Sidewinder threat actor is an example of an APT that targets key entities in the region through mali ciousShababemails.explained that the Side winder threat actor has been using “new malicious JS code with recently created C2 server domains.” Known for targeting military, defense and law enforcement agencies, foreign affairs, IT and aviation entities in Central and South Asia, Sidewinder is considered one of the most pro lific threat actors monitored in the APACTheregion.attacker, also known as Rat tlesnake or T-APT4, “targets victims with spear-phishing emails contain ing malicious RTF [rich text format] and OOXML [Open Office eXtensible Markup Language] files.” Shabab noted that some of the main characteristics of this threat actor that make it stand out among the others are the sheer number, high frequency and persistence of their attacks and the large collec tion of encrypted and obfuscated malicious components used in their operations.Sidewinder has been going to town by sending malicious emails since 2012. Sidewinder also continues to expand its victimology and to sharpen its phishing tactics, she added.
FOR example, to reduce the suspi cion raised by some of their spearphishing documents that had no text content, the group followed their first attempt to attack the victim— a spear-phishing email containing a malicious RTF exploit file—with an other similar email, but in this case, the title of the malicious document was “_Apology Letter.docx” and it contained some text explaining that the previous email was sent in error and that they are reaching out to apologize for that mistake. “There are many more well-oiled APT groups like Sidewinder who are constantly upgrading their tools and tactics to target high-profile victims in APAC through believable spam and phishing emails,” Shabab added. “The implication for enterprises and gov ernment organizations here is that a single malicious email when clicked can crumble your most sophisticated defenses and usually, APTs like Side winder just need one door to open, one machine to infect and then it can hide and stay undetected for long.” One does not have to be a govern ment agency, major financial institu tion, or energy company to become a victim. APTs target any sensitive data that they can use for their benefit.
Strengthening PHL cyberspace
to a policy paper devel oped by Democracy.PH, “there is an immediate need for the Philippines to elevate its cybersecurity posture and“Thecapability.”government should imme diately take steps to increase the level of Philippine cybersecurity,” the groupThesaid.31-paged paper was forwarded to the administration of newly-elected President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. According to the position paper, “a quick win” is for Marcos to issue an executive order mandating that government agencies adopt minimum cybersecurity standards, designating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Office of the Executive Secre tary to be the point agencies to ensure effective implementation. “The best framework to adopt at the minimum among all the international standard and best practices would be the National In stitute of Science and Technology [NIST] Cybersecurity Framework,” the paper read.
According to DICT Director IVCybersecurity Maria Victoria Castro, cybersecurity “is not anymore an op tion, but a must.” “This is the reason why the Mar cos administration is working double time in instituting cybersecurity programs and activities that are geared towards strengthening the cybersecurity posture of the coun try,” Castro said. “And as cybersecu rity is a whole-of-nation approach, the department’s programs also give prime importance to the roles of other government agencies, critical information infrastructures [CIIs], business/private sector and indi viduals in promoting cybersecurity.”
A12 has the option of going back to the old age and stop using technology al together to stop cybercrime without cybersecurity.“Itsoundslike a huge setback be fore we had any digital products and platforms. Are you really ready to live in it?” he said, noting that providing safety and security in the cyberspace allows the world to be more open to developing and incorporating technol ogy in their daily lives. “Technology is only possible when you can do things without fear,” Ka mluk added.
Well-oiled groups
Saving humanity from itself: Trillions to be spent on cybersecurity through 2025 throughFurthermore,2028. the DICT is also bolstering its manpower capacities, building up talent through knowl edge sharing with their foreign counterparts.“Acountry that is serious in im proving its cybersecurity posture must take stock of its current land scape by identifying its inadequacies and vulnerabilities so it could develop strategies to achieve its goal,” Castro said. “The NCSP serves as the frame work by which government agencies, military, CIIs, businesses and the ac ademe base their own cybersecurity strategies.”
multidimensionalSophisticated, threats INVESTMENTS in cybersecurity are necessary. And investing more has become the norm, as actors have developed more sophisticated, even multidimensional tools to threaten theCybercriminalscyberspace. are no longer just targeting individuals and organiza tions through their large computers and hardware. They now aim to gain access to personal and corporate data through mobile phones and other handheld devices. As of today, there are about 6.6 billion smartphones in use globally. So imagine how big the target is for cybercriminals.Hacksandthreats through smart phones have become more persistent this year, when Kaspersky noted a tri pling of malicious installation pack ages for the first half of 2022 versus the full year figure in 2021.
Today, the DICT Cybersecurity Bu reau (CSB) is assessing the National Cybersecurity Plan (NCSP) 2022 and is now moving towards updating it
Last year, Kaspersky detected 3.46 million malicious installation packag es for the 12 months ending December, but for the first six months of 2022 alone, Kaspersky has already detected 11.5 million malicious installation packages, showing how big hackers are in targeting smartphones. Kaspersky Senior Malware Re searcher Suguru Ishimaru warned that Asia Pacific has become suscep tible to mobile attacks, as more and more people adopt mobile banking in theIshimaruregion. said Kaspersky’s active monitoring showed the notorious Anubis Trojan now delivers a com bination of mobile banking Trojan with ransomware functionalities to its target smartphones. Ransom functionalities MOBILE banking Trojans are one of the most dangerous species in the malware world. This type of threat steals money from mobile users’ bank accounts usually by disguising the Tro jans as legitimate apps to lure people into installing the malware. The latest form of mobile bank ing Trojan is called Anubis, which accounts for 10 percent of the mobile banking threat in the second quarter of 2022, according to Ishimaru. Anubis works by providing An droid users with legitimate-looking and high-ranking but malicious apps available on Google Play. Aside from this initial infections may be done by smishing (phishing messages sent through SMS) and Bian malware, an other mobile banking Trojan. Once in, this infamous mobile banking virus can do a complete de vice takeover. It can steal personal information and identity, access pri vate messages and login credentials, record sound, request GPS, disable play protect, lock the device’s screen andIshimarumore. explained that Anubis is known for compromising hundreds of bank customers per campaign, proving that it’s among the most ac tive malware targeting Android users right now.
FRESH sell-off hit Asian equities on Wednesday as concerns over a stronger dollar and rising global interest rates added to pressure on capital flows.
South Korea’s Kospi index down 1.6 percent; Kospi 200 down 1.7 percent.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 down 1.4 percent; New Zealand’s S&P/ NZX 50 down 0.4 percent.
The “strong dollar is never good news for Asian markets,” Sanford C. Bernstein strategists includ ing Rupal Agarwal wrote in a note late Tuesday. “It tends to increase the cost of foreign debt, results in higher capital outflows and puts pressure on central banks to main tain the attractiveness of their ex ports and the yield spreads.” Regional currencies were under pressure, with the Korean won at its lowest in more than 13 years, the Philippine peso dropping past 57 per dollar for the first time, and the Malaysian ringgit falling to a 24-year low. Such rapid deprecia tion can further damp appetite for Asian assets. By contrast, Chinese equities held up relatively well. The CSI 300 Index was little changed as chip makers advanced after President Xi Jinping called for a stronger effort to advance key technologies. Still, the nation’s Covid-19 lockdowns continue to expand, keeping a cap on equity gains. A risk-off mood is taking hold ahead of Federal Reserve Chair man Jerome Powell’s speech on Thursday, as well as a line-up of other Fed speakers at various events this week. Investors ex pect Powell to signal a continued aggressive tightening cycle after the August ISM services index un expectedly rose to a four-month high. Bond yields soared across tenors and a dollar gauge climbed for a third session to a fresh high. Global funds have net sold about $507 million worth of emerging Asia excluding China shares this week, adding to the $2.4 billion in outflows seen last week, according to latest data com piled by Bloomberg. Taiwan has ac counted for much of the outflows, with geopolitical tensions and worries about the semiconductor cycle causing net redemptions of $41 billion in Valuations2022.for MSCI’s Asia gauge continue to crawl toward a pandemic low. The measure is trading at about 12 times forward earnings—hing closer to the 10.6 multiple seen in March 2020.
A
UN: At least $1 billion needed to avert famine in Somalia
By Rod Mcguirk The Associated Press C ANBERRA, Australia— Australia’s prime minister on Wednesday urged China to allow detained Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei to make her first contact with her children in more than two years. Prime Minister Anthony Alba nese renewed his government’s call for Cheng to have access to her fam ily after China’s Ambassador Xiao Qian offered the family his help.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped as much as 1.8 percent to its lowest since May 2020 as most sectors were in the red. Tech shares led declines, given the sec tor’s sensitivity to higher borrow ing costs and the global economy. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea fell the most, with the former two edging toward a 2 percent slide.
FATUMA ABDI ALIYOW sits by the graves of her two sons who died of malnutrition-related diseases last week, at a camp for the displaced on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, on Saturday, September 3, 2022. Millions of people in the Horn of Africa region are going hungry because of drought, and thousands have died, with Somalia especially hard hit because it sourced at least 90 percent of its grain from Ukraine and Russia before Russia invaded Ukraine.
East Med, Middle East at risk as world heats up, report warns
Asia “is a difficult story” right now, said Steen Jakobsen, chief investment officer at Saxo Bank. “We see relatively weak growth on the consumer side in China, and relatively weak stories across” except for certain sectors such as energy, commodities and defense, he added.
MICK TSIKAS/AAP IMAGE VIA AP
Asia stocks tumble to lowest since May 2020 on strong dollar pain
A change of government in Australia for the first time in nine years at May elections has pro duced signs of a thawing of frosty bilateral relations. Xiao said on Tuesday he had sympathy on humanitarian grounds for Cheng’s family, that includes a young son and daughter who live with their grandparents in Melbourne, Australia. “Personally, I have sympathy to her family, her kids and their rela tives that they face such a difficult situation,” Xiao told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “On the humanitarian basis, I’ve been trying to see if I can be help as ambassador to facilitate a possible much easier access” be tween Cheng and her family or the Australian Embassy in Beijing, XiaoXiaosaid.said his intervention would be “based on humanitarian considerations.”“Icannotgetinvolved with the legal procedure,” Xiao said. Cheng’s Papua New Guineabased partner Nick Coyle said in a television interview last month that Cheng’s access to her family was “virtually nonexistent.”
“Cheng Lei should have access to her family. Australia continues to make representation and we have a very strong view about her treatment, and we’ll continue to make representation,” Albanese told“There’sreporters.been no transparency in any of these processes at all. And the Chinese Government needs to do better,” Albanese added.
By Edith M. Lederer
The Associated Press UNITED predictedUNhumanitarianNATIONS—ThechiefTuesdaythatat least $1 billion will be needed ur gently to avert famine in Somalia in the coming months and early next year when two more dry sea sons are expected to compound the historic drought that has hit the Horn of Africa nation. Martin Griffiths said in a vid eo briefing from Somalia’s capi tal Mogadishu that a new report from an authoritative panel of independent experts says there will be a famine in Somalia be tween October and December “if we don’t manage to stave it off and avoid it as had been the case in 2016 and 2017.” The undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs told UNcor respondents that more than $1 billion in new funds is needed in addition to the UNappeal of about $1.4 billion. That appeal has been “very well-funded,” he said, thanks to the US Agency for International Development, which announced a $476 million donation of hu manitarian and development aid in July.The Famine Early Warning Systems Network, created by US AID, said in a report Monday that famine is projected to emerge lat er this year in three areas in So malia’s southeastern Bay region, including Baidoa without urgent humanitarian aid. Up to 7.1 million people across Somalia need urgent assistance to treat and prevent acute mal nutrition and reduce the number of ongoing hunger-related deaths, according to a recent analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC, used by the network to describe the severity of food insecurity. The Horn of Africa region has seen four straight failed rainy seasons for the first time in over half a century, endangering an es timated 20 million people in one of the world’s most impoverished and turbulent regions. Griffiths said meteorologists have predicted the likelihood of a fifth failed rainy season from October to December, and a sixth failed rainy season from January to March next year is also likely. “This has never happened be fore in Somalia,” he said. “This is unprecedented.”“We’vebeenbanging the drum and rattling the trees trying to get support internationally in terms of attention, prospects, and the possibilities and the horror of famine coming to the Horn of Africa—here in Somalia maybe first, but Ethiopia and Kenya, probably they’re not far behind,” Griffiths said. He said the UNWorld Food Pro gram has recently been providing aid for up to 5.3 million Somalis, which is “a lot, but it’s going to get worse if famine comes.” He said 98 percent of the aid is given through cash distributions via telephones. But many thousands are not getting help and hungry families in Somalia have been staggering for days or weeks through parched terrain in search of assistance. Griffiths said a big challenge is to get aid to people before they move from their homes, to help avoid massive displacement. Many Somalis raise livestock, which is key to their survival, but he said three million animals have died or been slaughtered because of the lack of “Continuedrain.drought, continued failure of rainy seasons, means that a generation’s way of life is under threat,” Griffiths said. He said the international com munity needs to help Somalis find an alternative way of life and making a living, which will require develop ment funding and funding to miti gate the impact of climate change. Griffiths, a British diplomat, said the war in Ukraine has had an impact on humanitarian aid, with UNhumanitarian appeals around the world receiving about 30 percent of the money needed on “Toaverage.those countries, which are traditionally very generous, my own included, and many others,” he said. “Please don’t forget So malia. You didn’t in the past. You contributed wonderfully in the past. Please do so now.”
By Ishika Mookerjee
Saltier water from rising sea lev els and low rainfall can severely damage crops and fisheries.
AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits a chemist store in Kingston in Canberra, Australia, on Wednesday, September 7, 2022. Albanese urged China to allow detained Chineseborn Australian journalist Cheng Lei to make her first contact with her children in more than two years.
Australia urges China to allow detained mom to speak to kids
Arid climate zones will ex pand northward and snow-capped mountains in more northern climes will diminish during this century, said Dr. George Zittis, who co-authored the report. Al though the sea level in the region is projected to rise at a pace similar with other global estimates, many Mediterranean countries are un prepared to deal with it, he said. “This would imply severe challenges for coastal infra structure and agriculture and can lead to the salinization of coastal aquifers,” warned Zittis.
AP/FARAH ABDI WARSAMEH N ICOSIA, Cyprus—The east ern Mediterranean and Middle East are warming almost twice as fast as the global average, with temperatures pro jected to rise up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century if no action is taken to reverse the trend, a new report says.
The region will experience “unprecedented” heat waves, more severe and longer-lasting droughts and dust storms and rainfall shortages that will “com promise water and food securi ty” for the region’s 400 million people, according to a summary of the report released Tuesday. The eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East are more suscep tible to warming trends because of their unique natural characteris tics, like large desert expanses and lower water levels, the study said. The report was prepared by an international group of scientists overseen by The Cyprus Institute’s Climate and Atmosphere Research Center and the Max Planck In stitute for Chemistry. Originally published in June in the journal Reviews of Geophysics, it aims to underscore the impact of climate change in the region ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Egypt this November.
“Lei hasn’t been able to make a phone call or anything like that to her children, to her parents to any of her loved ones now in two years,” Coyle told Sky News. Australian embassy officials ask for family contact each month but Chinese officials never re spond, Coyle said. “Lei just needs to get home to the kids and kids need their mom,” Coyle said.
The region is rapidly overtaking the European Union as a source of greenhouse gases and becoming a major emitter on a global scale, the paper suggests. China, the US, India and the EU are currently the world’s largest emitters. Several Mediterranean countries are also part of the European bloc. If the Paris Agreement target of limiting warming to 1.5C (2.7F) is met, it would limit the tempera ture increase in the region to about 2C (3.6F), the study said. The re port urged the region to quickly reduce its reliance on greenhouse gas emissions, especially in the energy and transportation sectors. The study’s projections for the region are in line with other scien tific studies, including a major re port published by the Intergovern mental Panel on Climate Change earlier this year. The UN’s climate report termed the Mediterranean as a climate change “hot spot” which is vulnerable to droughts, coastal erosion and heat waves.
Markets at a glance MSCI Asia Pacific Index down 1.6 percent.Japan’s Topix index down 0.6 percent; Nikkei 225 down 0.7 percent.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index down 1.9 percent; Hang Seng Chi na Enterprises down 1.7 percent; Shanghai Composite little changed; CSI 300 down 0.1 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex index down 1.8 percent.
The region’s most vulnerable groups, including the elderly, chil dren and pregnant people, will face major health challenges, said Max Planck Institute Director Jos Le lieveld, who was part of the study. Many European nations already have initiatives to aid vulnerable people in extreme weather.
India’s S&P BSE Sensex Index down 0.5 percent; NSE Nifty 50 down 0.5 Singapore’spercent.Straits Times Index down 0.4 percent; Malaysia’s KLCI Index up 0.2 percent; Philippine Stock Exchange Index down 1.2 percent; Jakarta Composite Index down 0.6 percent; Thailand’s SET Index down 0.1 percent; Vietnam’s VN Index down 0.7 percent. Advancers SOHO China jumped as much as 18 percent in Hong Kong, the big gest gain since March 10, after the property company said its Chair man Pan Shiyi has resigned to focus on supporting the arts and philanthropic pursuits. Anji Microelectronics Technol ogy surged as much as 19 percent to the highest since August 2020, after the company’s filing showed its controlling shareholder is transferring 1.5 million shares through a private transfer. Shidax rose as much as 16 per cent, its biggest intraday climb in nearly a month, after Colowide says it made a proposal for its food service business. Decliners PHC Holdings fell as much as 11 percent after it was cut to neutral from outperform at SMBC Nikko. Posco declined after the steel maker said its entire production is down at Pohang steel mill with a typhoon flooding South Korea’s largest steel plant. With assistance from John Cheng / Bloomberg
BusinessMirror Thursday, September 8, 2022 The World www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Angel R. Calso A13
Sectors to watch SHARES of China aluminum pro ducers including Shandong Nan shan rallied after a report that President Xi Jinping has vowed to strengthen key technologies. Producers of the metal in broader Asia fell as stockpiles jumped. PLDT led declines among Phil ippine telecommunication stocks as Maybank Securities downgrad ed the sector to neutral, citing ris ing competition and slower growth expectation in broadband fiber. Nippon Yusen and other Japa nese shipping stocks fell, after a key official flagged concerns over an economic downturn. Asia’s energy-related shares including Santos slid after oil re treated to the lowest level since January on concern a global slow down will cut demand in Europe and the US just as China’s Covid Zero strategy hurts consumption.
The journalist for CGTN, the English-language channel of Chi na Central Television, has been de tained in China since August 2019. She was tried in Beijing in March on espionage charges. Aus tralian diplomats were denied per mission to attend the proceedings. No verdict has been announced.
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Bad economic times and less money required more “sex” from government then as now. And the global financial situation has never been any worse because of catastrophic government debt. What is the modern “bread and circuses” in the West? Abortion on demand? Euthanasia? Pedophilia as a “choice?” Ignoring “minor” crimes? War? No problem. Just keep your attention away from the government’s financial statement. This is not in any way a matter of morality. Notice that the US prohibition over evil alcohol, begun in 1920, was lifted in 1933 during the depth of theAfterDepression.decadesof strange lights in the sky, now the US Congress—authored by Senate Select Committee on Intelligence—suddenly seems to have admitted that it does not believe all UFOs are “man-made.” Who benefits from US government claims that the UFO threat is increasingCalifornia“exponentially?”isbanning gasolinepowered cars by 2035 even as “Californians Told Not to Charge Electric Cars—Not Enough Electricity.” High oil prices? The US Secretary of Transportation says buy an EV, with an average price of $55,676. A new gasoline powered compact car is $25,240.Inperiods of great economic distress, nothing that government says makes much sense as they struggle to offer more “sex” in the time of no money. E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.
Millions of people go to bed hungry editorial
www.news.businessmirror@gmail.comThursday, September 8, 2022 • Editor: Angel R. Calso Opinion BusinessMirrorA14
The 2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) reported that the number of people affected by hunger globally rose to as many as 828 million in 2021, an increase of about 46 million since 2020 and 150 million since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Almost 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2020, up 112 million from 2019, reflecting the effects of inflation in consumer food prices stemming from the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to contain it,” the report added.
From the Associated Press: The UN humanitarian chief predicted Tuesday that at least $1 billion will be needed urgently to avert famine in Somalia in the coming months and early next year when two more dry seasons are expected to compound the historic drought that has hit the Horn of Africa nation. Martin Griffiths said a new report from an authoritative panel of independent experts says there will be a famine in Somalia between October and December “if we don’t manage to stave it off and avoid it as had been the case in 2016 and 2017.” In the Philippines, some of our countrymen are dying of starvation. Based on data obtained by the BusinessMirror, starvation has killed 355 Filipinos between 2006 and 2020. At least 90 percent of these deaths, or 320, happened just in a span of four years—between 2017 and 2020. While there were years —2014 and 2016—when no deaths due to starvation were recorded, the years 2017 to 2019 saw exponential growth in starvation deaths. In 2017, there were 106 fatalities due to starvation; in 2018, 103; and, in 2019, 99 Filipinos died of hunger (Read, “One Nation Undernutrition: When inequality brings death, malnutrition to PHL’s doorsteps,” in the BusinessMirror , July 28, 2022). Monetary Board Member Victor Bruce J. Tolentino said he was willing to bet that deaths caused by starvation still happen in advanced countries. This may be because starvation is not only a result of the inability to purchase food, but also access to social services. “We don’t want to see it grow here and it is not then only a question of access to food, it might also be the appropriate social services for those who are really in desperate straits. It may be that starvation is already the last step after you lose your job, after you don’t have relatives or friends who can help, after you cannot gain entry to a convent that’s a haven for the hungry, after you lose access to any facility, or the Department of Social Welfare and Development—you have been left entirely in the streets, or something like that,” Tolentino said. The number of Filipinos suffering from moderate or severe hunger by the end 2021 was estimated at 48.8 million; and about 5.3 million Filipinos experienced severe hunger last year. Former Agriculture Undersecretary Fermin D. Adriano described the situation as “scandalous,” saying the number of food insecure in the country is more than the population of Australia (26 million), Canada (35 million), and Malaysia (30 million). “If this happened in developed countries, it will be enough to replace the sitting government. But we are not a developed country and, hence, our policymakers can get away with a crime,” he added. The Philippine Gross Domestic Product posted a growth rate of 5.6 percent in 2021. Amid this rosy picture, there’s a hunger nightmare in the country. It would do well for the Marcos administration to redouble its efforts to address food security. Increased production can help make food affordable for the poor. It is ironic that the Philippines continues to suffer from food scarcity despite being blessed with rich natural resources.
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The Covid-19 pandemic and unpredictable extreme weather events have fuelled a global food crisis that is growing because of the war in Ukraine, which is driving rising prices of food, fuel and fertilizer. Millions of people across the world are at risk of being driven into starvation unless action is taken now to respond together and at scale, according to the World Food Programme, the food-assistance branch of the United Nations.
Abbasi said the civilization at Mohenjo Daro, also known as “Mound of the Dead” in the local Sindhi language, built an elaborate drainage system, which has been critical in flooding in the past. Though the floods have touched all of Pakistan, the Sindh province has been among the worst hit. On Monday, army engineers made a second cut into an embankment at Lake Manchar, Pakistan’s largest freshwater lake, to release rising waters in hopes of saving the nearby city of Sehwan from major flooding. The water from the lake has already inundated dozens of nearby villages, forcing hundreds of families to leave their mudbrick homes in a hurry, many fleeing in panic.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is flying to Pakistan on Wednesday to express solidarity with its people and “to appeal for the massive support of the international community to the Pakistanis, in this hour of need after the devastating floods that we are witnessing.” He said the floods are a result of climate change that is “supercharging the destruction of our planet,” warning: “Today it is Pakistan. Tomorrow it can be anywhere else.” The flooding has not directly hit Mohenjo Daro but the recordbreaking rains have inflicted damage on the ruins of the ancient city, said Ahsan Abbasi, the site’s curator. “Several big walls, which were built nearly 5,000 years ago, have collapsed because of the monsoon rains,” Abbasi told The Associated Press. He said dozens of construction workers under the supervision of archaeologists have started the repair work. Abbasi did not give an estimated cost of the damages at
The ruins of Mohenjo Daro— located in southern Sindh province near the Indus River and a Unesco World Heritage Site—are considered among the best-preserved urban settlements in South Asia. They were discovered in 1922 and to this day, mystery surrounds the disappearance of its civilization, which coincided with those of ancient Egypt andTheMesopotamia.swellingwaters of the Indus, a major river in this part of the world, have wreaked havoc as heavy rains and massive flooding unleashed devastation across much of Pakistan. At least 1,343 people have been killed and millions have lost their homes in the surging waters, with many experts blaming the unusually heavy monsoon rains on climate change.
Meanwhile, rescue operations continued Tuesday with troops and volunteers using helicopters and boats to get those stranded out of the flooded areas and to nearest relief camps. Tens of thousands of people are already living in such camps, and thousands more have taken shelter on roadsides on higher ground. Ghulam Sabir, 52, from the outskirts of Sehwan, said Tuesday that he left his home three days ago after authorities told them to evacuate. “I took my family members with me and came to this ... safer place,” said Sabir, staying by the roadside where he has set up camp. He echoed complaints of several other villagers—that no government help had reached them yet. Sabir said he did not know whether his home had collapsed or not.
Hunger is a “scandal” whose crime “violates basic human rights,” according to Pope Francis. In a recent united nations meeting in rome, the Pope argued that the world holds enough food for all yet sees prevalent hunger. Pope Francis specifically urged “bold local and international policies,” adding “it is everyone’s duty to root out this injustice through concrete actions and good practices.”
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In flood-stricken Pakistan, rains damage archeological site
More sex because no money
The “children” topic is mainly confined to the “if and when” and duties and responsibilities for childrearing after the kids come along. Sex and money are a day-to-day discussion and sources of contention. In former times the elites married for money and power as two kingdoms joined in the holy matrimony of the prince and princess. There might be love but the children were to secure a royal legacy. The peasants married for sex and more kids to work in the fields and much less for money except in those cultures where a bridal dowry is required even from the poor. Both are still prevalent in the 21st century. The vast majority of us do not fall either in the “wealthy/elite” or “peasant” classes. But we ordinary folk are the ones arguing most about sex and money. And the reason is rather obvious. Spouses, “significant others,” and partners argue because they are not satisfied with the sex or money in the relationship and 99 percent of the time it is because of not gettingHowever,enough. there is an interesting dynamic. Life is all about trade-offs and do not confuse that with the idea of “compromise.” A compromise is a negotiated settlement between parties. A trade-off is different, and it particularly applies to “sex and money.” We may not like it or feel comfortable to admit it, but when it comes to sex and money in a relationship, more often than not, an abundance on one side can offset a lack on the other. It may not be the ideal situation, but a lot more wealth can make up for less sex. And the other way around. A popular song during the US Great Depression when everyone was broke had these lyrics: “Oh honey, through all kinds of weather, What if the sky should fall? Just as long as we’re together, It doesn’t matter at all.” But in “normal” times, a recent survey found that 68 percent of
OUTSIDE THE BOX John Mangun r elatIonsHIP psychologists have concluded that couples/ partners—regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or identity —argue about three topics: sex, money, and children in that order.
IslaMaBaD—In flood-stricken Pakistan where an unprecedented monsoon season has killed hundreds of people, the rains now threaten a famed archeological site dating back 4,500 years, the site’s chief official said tuesday.
Mohenjo Daro. The site’s landmark “Buddhist stupa”—a large hemispherical structure associated with worship, meditation and burial—remains intact, Abbasi said. But the downpour has damaged some outer walls and also some larger walls separating individual rooms or chambers.
Americans in relationships say that finances cause more tension with their partner than their sex life does. If you look deeper, you see this dynamic is an integral part of all human relationships far beyond spouse, “significant other,” and partner. No better, the dynamic of the “sex and money argument” is found between “We the People” and “The Government.”Understand that in every country the government is the most “Significant Other” for all of us and has been doing a version of the sex and money tradeoff for 2,000 years. Roman poet Juvenal wrote in the first century A.D. that “The People anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.” From a precious metal content of 98 percent, the government was well into currency devaluation and high inflation when Juvenal wrote that. By 150 A.D. the metal content was 50 percent less.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif urged Pakistanis in televised remarks Tuesday to generously donate to flood victims, most of whom are relying on government help to survive. Sharif has also repeatedly asked the international community to send more aid to the flood victims. He insisted that Pakistan is facing a climate-change-induced tragedy.Inastatement Tuesday, the UN refugee agency said it handed over See “Pakistan” A15
There is an interesting dynamic. Life is all about trade-offs and do not confuse that with the idea of “compromise.” A compromise is a negotiated settlement between parties. A trade-off is different, and it particularly applies to “sex and money.”
By Munir Ahmed | The Associated Press
T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes D. Edgard A. Cabangon Benjamin V. Ramos Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan
JINpINg renewed calls for China to step up the develop ment of technology critical to national security, issuing a forceful reminder just as escalating US sanctions threaten Beijing’s efforts to become self-reliant in semiconductors.
The US, after years of targeting specific companies like Huawei Tech nologies Co., is enacting a series of broader restrictions on the entire Chinese economy. The Biden admin istration implemented new controls over the sale of artificial intelligence chips to Chinese customers, a blow to the development of cutting-edge technologies, and is weighing an executive order that would curtail investment in the country. In calling for direct government intervention, Xi is pursuing a play book that in recent years has priori tized the role of state institutions over private giants such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. or Tencent Holdings Ltd. in spurring technological advance ment. Since 2020, Beijing has cracked down on private tech giants, particu larly in the consumer Internet arena. “This meeting readout is a signal that Xi is likely to double down on the state influencing the direction of the domestic chip industry, as opposed to increasing the influence market-drivers have on resource al location,” said Jordan Schneider, a senior analyst at Rhodium Group and host of the China Talk podcast. An escalation in US efforts would only stoke increasing frustration in Beijing with a years-long failure to develop semiconductors that can replace US circuitry. China has launched a flurry of anti-graft probes into top chip in dustry figures in past months. Senior officials are angry at how tens of bil lions of dollars funneled into the sec tor over the past decade haven’t pro duced the sorts of breakthroughs that emerged from previous national-level scientific endeavors, Bloomberg News has reported. Instead, the perception is that Washington has managed to strong-arm Beijing and successfully contain its technological ambitions. “Competitive advantages should be achieved in certain sectors to win strategic initiative opportunities,” state broadcaster Central China Tele vision cited Xi as telling a high-level Communist Party committee he chairs. “Pool resources to get major undertakings done.”
Xi renews call for China tech push after US escalates curbs New UK PM Truss vows to tackle energy crisis, ailing economy
“There are Russian troops now who don’t understand what’s hap pening, don’t assess the risks cor rectly,” Podolyak said. “There is a number of our workers there, who need some kind of protection, people from the international community standing by their side and telling (Russian troops): ‘Don’t touch these people, let them work.’” On Monday, the IAEA said Ukrai nian authorities reported that the plant’s last transmission line link ing it to the nation’s power grid was disconnected to allow workers to put out a fire caused by shelling. Ukrainian Energy Minister Her man Halushchenko told Ukrainian television: “Any repairs are impossi ble at this point — there are ongoing hostilities around the plant.” In the meantime, the plant’s only remaining operational reactor will “generate the power the plant needs for its safety and other functions,” the IAEA said.
Pakistan . . . continued from A14 Truss quickly began appointing senior members of her Cabinet as she tackles an inbox dominated by the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which threatens to push energy bills to unaffordable levels, shuttering businesses and leaving the nation’s poorest people shivering at home this winter. Truss—Britain’s third female prime minister—named a top team diverse in gender and ethnicity, but loyal to her and her free-market politics. Kwasi Kwarteng becomes the first Black UK Treasury chief, and Therese Coffey its first female deputy prime minister. Other ap pointments include James Clev erly as foreign secretary and Suella Braverman as home secretary, re sponsible for immigration and law andMakingorder. her debut speech outside her new Downing Street home in a break between torrential down pours, Truss said she would cut taxes to spur economic growth, bolster the National Health Service and “deal hands on” with the energy crisis, though she offered few details about how she would implement those poli cies. She is expected to unveil her en ergy plans on Thursday. British news media reported that Truss plans to cap energy bills. The cost to taxpayers of that step could reach 100 billion pounds ($116 bil lion).“We shouldn’t be daunted by the challenges we face,” Truss said in her first speech as prime minister. “As strong as the storm may be, I know the British people are stronger.’’ Truss, 47, took office earlier in the day at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, when Queen Elizabeth II formally asked her to form a new govern ment in a ceremony dictated by cen turies of tradition. Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson formally resigned during his own audience with the queen a short time earlier, two months after he had announced his intention to step down. It was the first time in the queen’s 70-year reign that the handover of power took place at Balmoral, rather than Buckingham Palace in London. The ceremony was moved to Scotland to provide certainty about the schedule, be cause the 96-year-old queen has ex perienced problems getting around that have forced palace officials to make decisions about her travel on a day-to-day basis. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a call from Truss on her first day. She spoke with US President Joe Biden, too. Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter: “I was the first among foreign lead ers to have a conversation with the newly elected British Prime Minister, Liz Truss. I invited her to Ukraine. I thanked the people of Britain for their leadership in the military and economic support of Ukraine.” Biden, who worked closely with Johnson in confronting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was quick to congratulate Truss. “I look forward to deepening the special relationship between our countries and working in close coop eration on global challenges, includ ing continued support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression,” he said on Twitter. Truss’ office said she and Biden discussed the Ukraine war and de fense cooperation, as well as eco nomic issues and maintaining the British-Irish Good Friday Agree ment. The leaders were expected to meet in person soon — likely around
But as a national leader selected by less than 0.5 percent of British adults, Truss is under pressure to show quick results.
Ed Davey, leader of the opposi tion Liberal Democrats, on Tuesday called for an early election in Oc tober—something that Truss and the Conservative Party are highly unlikely to do since the Tories are slumping in the polls.
Xi is expected to receive a third term as party chief at the congress next month, despite a slowing econ omy, geopolitical tensions and frus trations over his zero-tolerance Co vid strategy. The precedent-breaking move will extend his mandate to pursue sweeping goals to overhaul the country’s technology sector. “US competition strategy is leaning more blatantly towards containing China by blocking off access to the resources needed to develop advanced semiconductors,” said Kendra Schaefer, a partner at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China. “Top leaders are seeking to make sci-tech not just an endeavor for the government, innovators, and researchers, but a whole-of-society effort not dissimilar to the Sovietera space race.”
By Danica Kirka & Jill Lawless | The Associated Press L ONDON—Liz Truss became UK prime minister on Tuesday and immediately faced up to the enormous tasks ahead of her: curbing soaring prices, boosting the economy, easing labor un rest and fixing a national health-care system burdened by long wait ing lists and staff shortages.
By Hanna Arhirova | The Associated Press K YIV, Ukraine—The UN atomic watchdog agency urged Rus sia and Ukraine on Tuesday to establish a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the Zaporizhzhia power plant amid mounting fears the fighting could trigger a catastrophe in a country still scarred by the Chernobyl disaster. UN agency calls for safety zone around Ukraine nuclear plant
About a trillion dollars of govern ment funding have been set aside under the technology initiative, part of which will be used by central and local governments to jointly invest in a series of third-generation chip projects, Bloomberg News has re ported. Top chipmakers and research institutes have submitted proposals to the ministries of science and in formation technology, all vying for a place in the national program and a share of the financing. Beyond self-sufficiency in tech nology, Xi also stressed the impor tance of conserving energy, spurring health care advances and rural de velopment—familiar policy priori ties for China’s leader. That includes more efficient use of resources from water and grain to minerals and raw materials, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Xi. He called for lower carbon emissions in the production of goods and services, and opposed “extravagant consump tion and Ling.Bancairetosources,progressnhuaasthatshouldAmongover-consumption.”otherthings,Chinasetupapricingmechanismreflectsresourcescarcityaswellthecostofecologicaldamage,XicitedXiassaying.“Itremainstobeseenhowmuchtheycanmake.Unlikereit’sdifficultfor‘innovation’bestate-directed,”saidUnionPriveeanalystVey-Sern With assistance from Jason Rogers/ Bloomberg.
China has launched a flurry of anti-graft probes into top chip industry figures in past months. Senior officials are angry at how tens of billions of dollars funneled into the sector over the past de cade haven’t produced the sorts of breakthroughs that emerged from previous national-level scientific endeavors, Bloomberg News has reported. Instead, the perception is that Washington has managed to strong-arm Beijing and successfully contain its technological ambitions.
this month’s UN General Assembly meeting in New York. Truss became prime minister a day after the ruling Conservative Party chose her as its leader in an election where the party’s 172,000 dues-paying members were the only voters. As party leader, Truss auto matically became prime minister without the need for a general elec tion because the Conservatives still have a majority of lawmakers in the House of Commons.
First introduced under Mao Ze dong to help the then-fledgling Communist China industrialize, the “whole nation” approach was crucial to helping Beijing attain a number of top national priorities, from develop ing its first atomic bomb in the early 1960s to achieving Olympic sporting success. After that it was largely set aside as officials shifted to focus on economic growth. But following a series of US sanctions that exposed the vulnerabilities of China’s chip capabilities, Xi is once again reac tivating the mechanism to achieve breakthroughs in advanced chip development and manufacturing.
Grossi expressed concern that that could hamper the staff’s response in an Theemergency.reportsaid the team saw Rus sian military personnel, vehicles and equipment at various locations, in cluding several military trucks on the floor of two turbine halls. It called for “the removal of vehicles from areas that could interfere with the opera tion of safety and security systems andTwoequipment.”inspectors from the IAEA mission remained at the plant, a de cision welcomed by Ukrainian presi dential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
Johnson, 58, became prime minister three years ago after his predecessor, Theresa May, failed to deliver Britain’s departure from the European Union. Johnson later won an 80-seat majority in Par liament with the promise to “get Brexit done.” But he was forced out of office by a series of scandals that culminated in the resignation of dozens of Cabinet secretaries and lower-level officials in early AlwaysJuly.colorful, Johnson said he was “like one of those booster rock ets that has fulfilled its function.” “I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific,” he said. Many people in Britain are still learning about their new leader, a one-time accountant who entered Parliament in 2010. Unlike Johnson, who made him self a media celebrity long before he became prime minister, Truss rose quietly through the Conservative ranks before she was named foreign secretary, one of the top Cabinet posts, just a year ago. Truss is under pressure to spell out how she plans to help consum ers pay household energy bills that are set to rise to an average of 3,500 pounds ($4,000) a year—triple the cost of a year ago—on October 1 un less she Risingintervenes.foodand energy prices, driven by the invasion of Ukraine and the aftershocks of Covid-19 and Brexit, have propelled UK inflation above 10% for the first time in four decades. The Bank of England fore casts it will hit 13.3 percent in Oc tober, and that the UK will slip into a prolonged recession by the end of theTrainyear. drivers, port staff, garbage collectors, postal workers and law yers have all staged strikes to de mand that pay increases keep pace with inflation, and millions more, from teachers to nurses, could walk out in the next few months. In theory, Truss has time to make her mark: She doesn’t have to call a national election until late 2024. But opinion polls already give the main opposition Labour Party a steady lead, and the worse the economy gets, the more pressure will grow. In addition to Britain’s domestic woes, Truss and her new Cabinet will also face multiple foreign policy crises, including the war in Ukraine and frosty post-Brexit relations with theTruss,EU. as foreign secretary, was a firm supporter of Ukraine’s re sistance to Russia. Truss has also pledged to increase UK defense spending to 3% of gross domestic product from just over 2 percent— another expensive promise. Rebecca Macdougal, 55, who works in law enforcement, said out side the Houses of Parliament that time will tell whether Truss can turn things“She’sround.making promises for that, as she says she’s going to deliver, de liver, deliver,” Macdougal noted. “But we will see in, hopefully, the next few weeks there’ll be some announce ments which will help the normal working person.” AP writers Susie Blann, Sylvia Hui, Joanna Kozlowska and Kwiyeon Ha in London and Zeke Miller in Washington con tributed to this story.
World leaders have called for the demilitarization of the plant, which has been occupied by Rus sian forces since the early days of the war but is being run by Ukrai nian engineers. In its report, the IAEA did not assign blame for the shelling at the plant. The agency has sought to keep out of the political fray. It did note that on several occa sions, the plant lost, fully or in part, its off-site power supply because of military activity in the area. The UN agency said a backup power supply line should be reestablished and asked that “all military activities that may affect the power supply systems end.”
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Mycle Schneider, an independent analyst in Canada on nuclear energy, said that means the plant was prob ably functioning in “island mode,” or producing electricity for its own operations.“Islandmode is a very shaky, un stable and unreliable way to provide continuous power supply to a nuclear plant,” Schneider said. He said that “many if not most islanding attempts fail.” Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Berlin and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Thursday, September 8, 2022 Opinion A15BusinessMirrorwww.news.businessmirror@gmail.com
“We are playing with fire, and something very, very catastrophic could take place,” Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned the UN Security Council, days after leading an inspec tion visit to the plant. In a detailed report on its visit, the IAEA said shelling around the Europe’s largest nuclear power plant should stop immediately. “This re quires agreement by all relevant par ties to the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the plant, it said. At the Security Council meet ing, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres likewise demanded that Russian and Ukrainian forces com mit to halting all military activity around the plant and agree on a “de militarizedGuterresperimeter.”saidthiswould include “a commitment by Russian forces to withdraw all military personnel and equipment from that perimeter and a commitment by Ukrainian forces not to move into it.” Asked by reporters about es tablishing a demilitarized zone, Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the proposal “is not serious.”“TheUkrainians will immediately step in and ruin the whole thing. We’re defending, we’re protecting the station,” he said. “In fact, it is not militarized. There is no equipment at theSpeakingstation.”to journalists later, Ne benizia said Russia wanted to see details of the proposals for demili tarized and protection zones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country needs to look at the specifics of the protectionzone proposal and could support the measure if it envisions the demilitar ization of the plant. In his nightly address to the na tion, Zelenskyy praised the IAEA report’s “clear references” to the pres ence of Russian troops and military equipment at the plant. He urged the agency to explicitly back Kyiv’s longheld position that Russian forces need to withdraw from the facility and its Shellingsurroundings.continued around the plant on Tuesday, a day after it was again knocked off Ukraine’s electri cal grid and put in the precarious position of relying on its own power to run its safety systems. Normally the plant relies on power from the outside to run the critical cooling systems that keep its reactors and its spent fuel from overheating. A loss of those systems could lead to a meltdown or other release of radiation. “For radiation protection profes sionals, for the Ukrainian and even the Russian people, and those of central Europe, this is a very worry ing time—and that’s an understate ment,” said Paul Dorfman, a nuclear safety expert at the University of Sussex in RussiaEngland.andUkraine accused each other of shelling Enerhodar, the city where the plant is situated.
The Ukrainians also charged that the Kremlin’s forces fired on a town across the Dnieper River from the powerThestation.Ukrainian mayor of Ener hodar, Dmytro Orlov, reported a powerful blast in the city around midday. The explosion left the city of 53,000 cut off from its power and water supplies. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the blast.
The IAEA also said the staff is not being given unrestricted access to some parts of the plant and must get permission from the Russian occupying forces to reach the cool ing ponds where spent fuel is kept.
thousands of tents and other emer gency items to the Sindh govern ment, meant for those affected by the flooded areas in the province. Multiple experts say that since 1959, Pakistan has emitted about 0.4 percent of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, compared to 21.5 percent by the United States and 16.4 percent by China. Last week, UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres also called on the world to stop “sleepwalking” through the crisis. He plans to visit flood-hit areas on September 9. According to Pakistani officials, Guterres will travel to Sindh but it’s unclear whether he will visit the ar chaeological site.
Invoking the so-called “whole nation system” that propelled China’s space and nuclear weapons programs, Xi exhorted top officials to pool their resources and focus on breakthroughs critical to the country’s future. The government should play a more active role in orchestrating this process, he told a Party summit attended by senior policy-makers including Premier Li Keqiang.Xi’spersonal intervention sug gests growing concern in Beijing about stepped-up US efforts to con tain China’s advances in fields from artificial intelligence and biotech to the $600 billion global semiconductor arena. The statement, while scarce on details, could signal a desire to give the campaign greater standing in party policy, since it comes little more than a month before a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress.
In addition, the IAEA warned that the Ukrainian staff operating the plant under Russian military occupation is “under constant high stress and pressure, especially with the limited staff available”—a situ ation that could “lead to increased human error with implications for nuclear safety.” It recommended that “an appro priate work environment, including family support,” be reestablished.
NPC probe shows smishing wave used P2P transmission
A16 Thursday, September 8, 2022
tified mobile numbers that sent smishing messages and are con tinuously blocking messages with malicious URL links associated with smishing. A s for other possible sources of smishing, Chief of Complaints and Investigation Division of NPC, Mi chael R. Santos, said based on the format of names, contact tracing is not among the investigation arm’s top leads. “Kung mano-mano hindi profit able, tingin namin automated kasi maramihan [If it’s piecemeal, it’s not profitable; we think it’s automated because there are so many],” said Santos at a webinar on Wednesday. M eanwhile, Santos stressed that NPC’s investigation arm has observed that based on the reports they’ve been getting from the public, mobile numbers of the perpetrators commonly contain the 0981 digits. S peaking on the efforts of telecommunication companies to address the issue on text scams or smishing messages, repre sentatives from initiatives. messagestheCorp.Globe,TelecommunicationsPLDT/SmartalongwithandDitoTelecommunitysaidtheyareallblockingnumbersofthesesmishingthroughtheirdifferent
“ Such transmission is usually coursed through a telecommuni cation company’s regular network and does not pass through data ag gregators,” said NPC in a statement on CWednesday. ontraryto a P2P transmis sion, NPC said data aggregators use an application-to-phone (A2P) transmission. Through this, the messages received will not appear to have come from spe cific mobile numbers. Instead, it will come from a sender that has SMS ID such as but not limited to bank names and organization names, which identifies the data aggregator or the brand or busi ness name using the data aggre gator’s services. A s an immediate concrete solu tion, telecommunication compa nies said they have blocked iden
THE Philippines has entered into an agreement with Indo nesia geared towards strength ening the countries’ creative econo mies, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). I n a statement on Wednesday, the Trade department unveiled that Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual and Indonesian Minister of Tour ism and Creative Economy San diaga Uno signed on Monday the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Among others, they “agree on the exchange of information on market research and policy trends, as well as facilitate co-production, co-branding programs, and mar keting of creative products, goods and Withservices.” thesigning of this MOU, we look forward to closer coopera tion with Indonesia in the develop ment of our two countries’ creative economies,” Pascual said. T he Trade chief also noted, “This agreement is also in line with our gov ernment’s goal of elevating the Philip pine creative economy and increasing its competitiveness globally.” T he MOU identified the creative community to include fashion, interior, landscape, jewelry, and architectural designers; culinary artists; filmmakers; television and radio content creators; Internet podcasters; game developers; ani mators; musicians; theatre artists; dancers; authors; and illustrators. This situation presents both ample room for growth and an op portunity for the Philippines to invest especially in creative goods and services,” said Pascual. T he Trade department added that the MOU signatories shall establish a Joint Working Group called Philippines-Indonesia Joint Task Force that would facilitate and evaluate its implementation. Moreover, the Philippines is set to participate in the World Confer ence on Creative Economy 2022 in Bali, Indonesia this October 2022. It’s worthy to note that according to the Creative Economy Council of the Philippines (CECP), about 2 to 3 million Filipino creative freelancers work locally, while 1.5 million Fili pino creatives handle international projects. Inanearlier statement, Assis tant Secretary Glenn Peñaranda, Officer-in-Charge for DTI’s Trade Promotions Group (TPG) noted that while the Philippines is con sidered to be the top exporter of creative services in the Asean re gion, the country’s total creative exports only amount to 2 percent market share in Asia-Pacific. I n his speech at the Creative Futures 2022 in July, Pascual un derscored the Trade department’s goal of elevating the Philippine creative economy and increasing its competitiveness globally. I n fact, the Trade chief said two months ago that the Philippines is targeting to become the top creative economy in Asean by 2030. He said the DTI’s Competitiveness and In novation Group has developed six roadmaps so far. A side from the six roadmaps, Pascual said DTI has also been implementing the Creative Econ omy Strategy of the Philippines (CREST PH), which seeks to build a supportive environment for the creative industries to promote in tegrated industry development for theTsector. heTrade chief also earlier cit ed data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Develop ment (Unctad) Creative Industry 4.0, noting that the value of global creative goods exports was $548 billion in 2019, or prior to the pan demic. This amount was equivalent to about 3 percent of the total value of global merchandise exports for the said year. E. San Juan
“ It took 20 years for the CDR to rise by 1 per thousand from 2000 when it was 4.8, to 2019 when it climbed to 5.8,” noted Undersec retary for Population and Develop ment Juan Antonio Perez III. “The last time the country had a CDR that high was in 1958, when it was at 8.4.”Popcom, citing PSA data, said the month which topped the number of deaths was September 2021, when 119,758 Filipinos perished. Almost 4,000 Filipinos died every day that month (3,992), and almost three every minute (2.7). A major contributor to 2021’s excess mortalities was attributed to Covid-19. The pandemic caused the death of 105,723 Filipinos which was 71 percent higher than the 30,188 overall “Covid” deaths in 2020.(Excess mortalities is) the difference between expected numbers of deaths based on a mortality schedule in a given period and the actual deaths in the same period as defined by the United States’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC,” Popcom said. A s of May 21, 2022, registered deaths due to Covid-19 accounted for a total of 10,226 deaths, or 6.5 percent of the total registered deaths from January to April 2022, according to the PSA. For almost 2.5 years since Janu ary 2020, Popcom said, there have been 146,137 Covid-associated mortalities.Excessmortality triggered by Covid in 2021 was the major reason, but the collateral impact of a ma jor epidemic weakened the health response to the leading causes of disease which altogether caused more mortalities than the trig gering event of Covid,” Perez told BusinessMirror.
Other causes POPCOM said there were 159,770 excess mortalities unrelated to Co vid-19, but were rather caused by other diseases that claimed more lives along with the deadly viral infection in 2021. “ The lockdowns affected access of those needing health care to primary levels of care and higher levels of health care. Those who died from the other leading causes of disease were probably affected earlier in the pandemic (as early as 2020) and the accumulated lack of care became more manifest in 2021 when the hospital system became overwhelmed, leading to increased mortalities as nonCovid emergencies could get only limited access to scarce tertiary health care,” Perez explained to this newspaper.
Continued on A9
SABOTAGE? Atty. Nikki de Vega, spokesperson for Dermalog, the German IT provider of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) tasked to digitize and centralize its services, fields questions from the media at a news conference to address claims by the LTO that the systems provider is to blame for the long queues of people making transactions in its district offices. Others in photo are Anjo Nuestro, Dermalog MVIS project manager; and Voltaire Encarnado, Dermalog JV representative. The supplier expressed suspicion of possible sabotage within the agency.
SUGAR, SALT SHORTAGE WORSENS PHL’S FOOD SUPPLY PROBLEMS
G lobe’s Chief Privacy Officer Irish Salandanan-Almeida said they have a reporting mechanism on their web site called the Stop Spam Portal and a 24/7 operation center which investigates these smishing messages. The remedy, she said, aims to block the message and possibly to deactivate the sim. For Dito, Data Protection Of ficer Robert Miguel Rañeses said, “Blocking is only one solution . . . we rely on the reports by subscribers but I think what’s more important is we really go to the root cause, to really find out who’s sending scam messages.” Moreover, Rañeses cited cus tomer education as one of the best solutions aside from blocking the numbers, in order to spread aware ness among subscribers to different telcos.For PLDT and Smart, First Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Angel Redoble said the 0981 digits or the first four numbers mentioned by San tos are among the subjects of their investigation, since a lot of their subscribers have also reported the same. Redoble added that they have launched an internal investigation “to identify where these SIM cards went.
By Andrea E. San Juan
NONOY LACZA Continued on A9
THE National Privacy Commission (NPC) said the result of its initial investigation shows that the recent wave of targeted smishing messages appear to have come from specific mobile numbers through a phone-tophone (P2P) transmission and do not pass through data aggregators.
By Ditas Lopez & Andreo Calonzo Bloomberg A TOP soft-drinks maker with no sugar, a burger joint out of onions and kitchens short of salt underscore the dependence of the Philip pines on food imports and illus trate some of the cost pressures fueling inflation. T he country not only buys sugar, salt and garlic from abroad, but also imports a raft of other food commodities such as rice, wheat, corn and soybean meal, and that’s after global farm prices surged to a record this year on the back of lower world supply caused by drought, heat and Russia’s in vasion of Ukraine. I nflation in the Philippines is near the highest since 2018, part ly because of elevated food and transport prices. While costlier imports have contributed to the rise, local drivers such as devas tating storms, import policy re versals and hoarding have played their part. Rising food and fuel costs have hit economies world wide because of extreme weather and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Food policy has become such a core concern for the Philippines that the President, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., has taken on the role of agriculture secretary and is proposing a 44 percent hike in the department’s budget to pri oritize farming. Inflation risk THE Philippines is one of the Asian countries most at risk from volatile farm prices because food makes up almost a half its inflation basket and the nation imports a hefty chunk of its needs, according to Moody’s Investors Service. In a clear sign of the sugar short age, Coca-Cola Beverages Philip pines Inc. said in August it had halted operations at four plants because there’s no sweetener avail able. Juan Lorenzo Tañada, its corporate and regulatory affairs director, told senators that the beverage industry needs at least 450,000 tons of premium refined bottler-grade sugar to operate at full capacity for the rest of the year, and imports would prevent companiesfrom laying off workers.
A ccording to NPC’s Com plaints and Investigation Divi sion, the smishing or fraudulent text messages “appear to have been sent using specific mobile numbers registered to certain texting services.” T he privacy body’s investiga tion arm also confirmed with the telecommunications companies that the smishing messages sent using mobile numbers are possible through P2P transmission.
Andrea
T HE number of Filipinos who died in 2021 was the high est in 63 years, according to the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom). Popcom said the crude death rate (CDR) is the ratio of the number of deaths occurring within one year to the mid-year population expressed per 1,000 population, as defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).Based on Popcom estimates, the country’s crude death rate is 8.02 per thousand Filipinos. This was the highest since 1958 when the crude death rate was at 8.4 per thousand people.
By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario
PHL, Indonesia seal accord on boosting creative economies
Number of ’21 Pinoy deaths highest in 63 yrs
Burger King Philippines said in a social media post last month that it’s offering customers extra lettuce and tomato in exchange for onions, which it said are “a bit hard to come by these days.” The food items having short ages are very close to the Filipino kitchen,” said political science associate professor Jean Franco from the University of the Phil ippines. “People will judge Mar cos based on whether the prices actually go down.”
THe management and operation of Green Hills Memorial Chapel in Plaza Divisoria, Cagayan de oro City have been turned over to eternal Chapels Mortuary and Chapel Services in a simple ceremony held at the site on august 26,“Green2022. Hills Memorial Chapel has been a landmark and a memorial care institution in this part of Divisoria for over 50 years now. We are here today to make sure that the tradition of memorial care in this exact location continues for years to come,” said eternal Chapels Vice President for Sales and Marketing Jose a ntonio V. r ivera in a brief remark during the event. in a statement, eternal Chapels President numeriano B. rodrin assured the clients of Green Hills Memorial Chapels of better service and improved facilities under the new management. “our clients can count on the eternal brand of excellence in the memorial care services that we will provide from here on out. We already have renovation plans lined up for Green Hills Memorial Chapels to upgrade our facilities and improve the services that we offer,” said rodrin. a provider of complete mortuary and chapel services, eternal Chapels opened its first branch in 2017 at eternal Gardens Greenhills in Barangay Bulua, Cagayan de oro City. Since then, the company has expanded to two more branches, one in naga City and another in Cabuyao City, laguna. Construction of its fourth branch, located in Balagtas, Batangas City, is now underway. eternal Chapels is part of the eternal Memorial Group along with its sister companies, eternal Gardens, eternal Crematory Corporation, and eternal Plans. t he group belongs to a larger conglomerate, the a lC Group of Companies, founded by the late a mbassador a ntonio l Cabangon Chua and currently headed by its Chairman, D. edgard a Cabangon.
aMBS President Maribeth C. tolentino and CFo Maryknoll Zamora signed the content rights agreement with Cnn Philippines’s President Benjamin V. r amos for the airing of Cnn Philippines on allt V a lso gracing the event was Cnn Philippines Chairman, D. edgard a Cabangon. Cnn Philippines Hour on a llt V is a 60-minute news program that showcases the day’s top stories with live reports, in-depth analysis, and live interviews with prominent personalities. t he segment will also be made available on 12 r adio Philippines network stations in key cities in lu zon, Visayas and Mindanao. allt V is under Prime asset Ventures inc. led by Manuel Paolo a Villar. according to tolentino, a llt V is banking on the years-long experience of Cnn Philippines in delivering credible news to the public. “ t hrough Cnn Philippines, we can provide our viewers with indepth local news coverage, and a global perspective on key issues, and stories from around the world,” she said during the signing on Wednesday at Mella Hotel in l as Piñas City. a s Cnn Philippines is regarded as the most trusted news source in the country, tolentino said t V viewers can be sure that a llt V will be fair and balanced when it delivers news content, political opinions and insights.Calling the partnership a gamechanger, r amos said the agreement with a llt V will further bolster the reach of Cnn Philippines throughout the“archipelago.thisisthe first of its kind, it is a game-changer. We have an opportunity to reach more people in many parts of the country, and deliver news that’s accurate, fair and balanced,” he said during the signing ceremony. a llt V is available on channel 2 on free-to-air t V and Planet Cable; Channel 16 on digital, Channel 35 on Cignal t V and Sky Cable; as well as local cable stations around the country.Cnn Philippines is a commercial, broadcast, cable and satellite t V network, owned and operated by nine Media Corp., together with r Pn, under license from Warner Bros. Discovery.
ICTSI deploys equipment in Subic
By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
ALLTV, the television channel of Villar-led Advanced Media Broadcasting System (AMBS), has partnered with CNN Philippines to bolster its news programming.
Eternal Chapels acquires Green Hills Memorial Chapel
Cnn Philippines’s flagship news program, news night, anchored by Cnn ’s chief anchor and correspondent Pia Hontiveros, will be aired simultaneously at a llt V from Monday to Friday at 6 p.m. starting September 13.
EtErnal Chapels Vice Chairman Benjamin V. ramos (2nd from left) and Green Hills Memorial Chapels President Chito Sarraga (center) seal the turnover with a handshake. they are flanked by Eternal Chapels Cagayan de Oro Manager amor leodones (leftmost), Vice President for Sales and Marketing Jose antonio V. ri vera (2nd from right) and Vice President for Finance Marvin C. timbol (rightmost).
FGen lnG Corp. (FGen lnG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Gen Corp. (First Gen), said Wednesday it expects to complete the construction of its interim of fshore lnG receiving terminal by the end of the first quarter of next year. t his after First Gen announced that it will rename the floating storage regasification unit (FSrU ) that will be used for FGen lnG’s project from the “BW Paris” to the “BW Batangas.”inapril 2021, FGen lnG and BW lnG executed a 5-year time Charter Party ( tCP) for the charter of the “BW Paris” and it is intended that the name change to “BW Batangas” will be carried out before its deployment to the First Gen Clean energy Complex in Batangas City by the end of the second quarter or early third quarter of 2023. t he “BW Batangas” will serve to provide lnG storage and regasification services to First Gen’s existing and planned gas-fired power plants and other third-party terminal users. t he lnG project, meanwhile, will accelerate the ability to introduce lnG to the Philippines, to serve the natural gas requirements of existing and future gas-fired power plants of third parties and FGen lnG affiliates. FGen lnG also said the project will play a critical role in ensuring the energy security of the lu zon grid, particularly as the indigenous Malampaya natural gas resource continues to decline. “BW lnG is proud to be working closely with FGen lnG to ensure the timely delivery of the interim of fshore lnG receiving terminal. We are honored that our FSrU will serve a critical role in meeting the energy needs of Batangas, lu zon, and the Philippines at large. t he naming of ‘BW Batangas’ aims to affirm and strengthen BW Group’s commitment to the Philippines. We hope that this is only the beginning of our participation in the Philippines’s energy transition and our direct contribution to the economic growth and development of Batangas Bay, Batangas City and Batangas Province,” said a kbar Sha, Head of Gas Solutions at BW lnG First Gen is a leading gas power generation company with approximately 2,000 MW in operating gas plants. First Gen intends to introduce lnG to the Philippines to supplement the declining natural gas supply from Malampaya.
Lenie Lectura
Villar’s ALLTV inks content tie-up with CNN Philippines
First Gen unit to finish construction of LNG terminal in Q1 2023
International Container terminal Services inc. (iC tSi) said on Wednesday it is deploying additional equipment in its terminal in Subic to “boost its landside operations and improve overall productivity in support of the growth prospects of north and Central luzon in the Philippines.” i C t S i said Subic Bay i n ternational te rminals (SB i t C ) is adding 4 rubber tired gantries ( r t G ) this month. t h ey are scheduled for delivery in the last week of September.Withthe addition of the new rtGs, SBi tC will have a fleet of 10 rtGs that enable quicker truck and vessel turnaround times for smoother cargo flow. t he resulting efficiency gains will allow SBi tC to stay ahead of the demand curve and cater to the increased cargo shipments during peak shipping season,” the company said in a statement. SBitC started using rtGs in 2019, which resulted in reduced truck dwell times, improved yard utilization and a 42-percent increase in the terminal’s static capacity. “ t he additional rtGs will enable SBi tC to further improve its service offerings to stakeholders and raise the industry standard in the region,” the statement read. SBi tC has an annual capacity of 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. it is considered as a gateway to the markets of north and Central lu zon. in March, iC tSi announced that it would increase its expenditures for 2022 to $330 million from $165 million last year to fund expansion projects for its ports in the Philippines as well as in other territories. t he company said the amount will be used to pay for concession upfront fees for its port in Madagascar, the ongoing expansion of its port in the Democratic r e public of the Congo as well as in a u stralia and in Mexico.
BusinessMirrorEditor: Jennifer A. Ng Companies B1Thursday, September 8, 2022
By VG Cabuag @villygc
“Bitcoin was at $3,000 in the first crypto winter and if you measure trough to trough, the trend is we are heading higher in the longer term,” Loo said.
BITCOIN is flirting with a test of this year’s lows following a cryptocurrency selloff that again pushed the sector’s overall market value below $1 trillion. The largest digital token has shed more than 6 percent so far this week and was trading at about $18,750 as of 7:02 a.m. in New York. Crypto market capitalization has fallen by a similar proportion in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. Ether erased Tuesday’s gains, dropping about 4.4 percent.
HSBC preps for doubling of PHL multi-millionaires
Photo by Jimmy A. Domingo
STATE-run Social Security System (SSS) sees a longer fund life if the bill scrapping the mandatory retirement age is passed into law.
By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM
Surging real interest rates—seen as the true cost of borrowing—are heaping pressure on a range of risk assets and crypto is no exception. The retreat in Bitcoin is taking it closer to a nadir of about $17,600 that was hit in June in the wake of blowups at crypto lenders and hedge funds. “The macro narrative is very hard to be able to let go and will drive risk assets,” Kevin Loo, head of investment insights at IDEG Asset Management Ltd., said on Bloomberg Television. “Bitcoin is below $20,000. We have been here before and it’s likely that we could actually go slightly lower.”
News
GREENWASHING allegations are on the rise. Corporate sustainability efforts are being politicized. The glaciers are melting. That’s all pretty grim news for most investors. But maybe it’s a good thing: Many will buy more sustainable funds when sad and depressed, according to three professors who analyzed how emotions play a key role in purchasing decisions. “When the mood decreases, it leads to higher flows to sustainable funds,” said Alexandre Garel, an associate professor at Audencia in Nantes, France.Garel, along with professors Adrian Fernandez-Perez at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and Ivan Indriawan of University at Adelaide in Australia, decided to study how emotions play a role in determining people’s preference for environmental, social and governanceoriented investments. They focused on two conflicting theories.
DEBT KNELLS Activists hold a protest in Makati City on September 7, 2022, to express solidarity with the people of debt-burdened Sri Lanka as they continue to suffer from acute fuel and food shortages. The rallyists warned that the Philippines and other Asian countries also risk a similar crisis. They also said “as of end-July, the Philippines’ debt stood at a historic P12.89 trillion, which includes recently-incurred debts of P96.1 billion in the first month of the Marcos presidency. Total debt service in 2022 amounted to P1.35 trillion or 26.8 percent of the total budget of P5.024 trillion. Next year, debt service is projected to rise to 29.8 percent of the proposed budget, or P1.6 trillion.”
The SSS earlier said its fund life is estimated to last until 2054. Senior Citizen Partylist Rep. Rodolfo M. Ordanes Jr. earlier filed House Bill (HB) 3220, which bans an age ceiling for job vacancies and repeal the compulsory retirement age of For65.his part, IBON Foundation Executive Director Jose Enrique A. Africa sees the lifting of the mandatory retirement age as an “important acknowledgment that people today can and should be productive even until their very late years.” “Scrapping it ensures that those who choose to continue working will still have their formal legal protections. However, they should of course retain the option to retire and claim full and complete benefits,” he told the BusinessMirror in a message.
SSS sees longer fund life once retirement-age rule scrapped
At the same time, there remains residual optimism from the upcoming upgrade of the Ethereum network, which some analysts hope will draw investment flows into Ether and other digital assets.
Bloomberg
By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM THE local office of the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC) announced last Wednesday that it has launched a new wealth management business in the country, allowing locals to place their money in various investment vehicles via the foreign bank. In a news briefing, HSBC Philippines officials said the lender has expanded its wealth investment offerings through its new business it branded “HSBC Wealth.” The lender said “HSBC Wealth” will be incorporated as HSBC Investment and Insurance Brokerage Philippines Inc.The(HIIB).bank said the launch is set to capture the “strong wealth accumulation” in the Philippines borne from its strong economy, noting that they expect the number of Filipino multi-millionaires to more than double by 2030. The new HSBC business is set to offer a range of Unit Investment Trust Funds (UITFs) that cover a range of asset classes and risk profiles. This expanded range, according to the bank, will complement currently available fixed income investment and investment-linked insurance products. The funds will also come in different currencies and are managed by HSBC’s partners locally and across the“Theglobe.launch of HSBC Philippines’s new business is timely given that in the Philippines, rising wealth is observed through increasing bank deposits and investments in securities. The Philippines has one of the most favorable demographics in the region. With a rising and young population, the Philippine economy is in a strong position to reap the benefits of its demographic dividends in the coming years,” HSBC Private Banking and Wealth Southeast Asia Chief Investment Officer James Cheo said. HSBC Philippines President and CEO Sandeep Uppal also said the launch “demonstrates their confidence in the country” and “reaffirms their commitment in bridging customers with the rest of the world.” In line with the new offering, HSBC also said it has dedicated a hub for client engagements of HSBC Wealth beside their Bonifacio Global City Branch. The bank said other wealth hubs will also be strategically set up in areas where HSBC is present in the country soon.
That translates to additional capital inflows of $840,000 a year for mutual funds with an average size of $100 million. The numbers support the conclusion that lower moods lead to more investments in ESG funds, Garel said. “However, our study comes with a caveat,” he said. “Given the features of our data, we cannot test if the investors’ mood improves after investing in sustainable funds.”
Being sad may be great for ESG Yen poses dilemma for Japan investor keen to buy Treasuries Fed effect rips through Asia as currencies hit multi-year lows
The first was based on the idea that sustainable assets are generally less risky, and that people with “a lower mood” tend to be more risk-averse.
BusinessMirror Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Thursday, September 8, 2022 B3www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com
Bloomberg News
The SSS said increasing the mandatory retirement age in the country for private workers will give them an extended opportunity to pay contributions and complete the qualifying conditions for a retirement benefit. Moreover, SSS said this will lead to a higher pension upon retirement given that employees will have longer working years. “The Social Security System (SSS) generally supports initiatives to increase the retirement age of Filipino workers. While raising the retirement age will lengthen the System’s fund life, SSS will also review current policies on retirement and other social benefit programs to better fit the demographic profile and serve the particular needs of senior citizen workers should this bill pass into law,” it said in a statement sent to the BusinessMirror.
The second and competing theory examined the notion that “a positive mood” promotes prosocial behaviors and greater altruism. Both theories were tested, and the overwhelming tendency was for people with a worse mood to devote a larger proportion of their money to sustainable assets because of the perception that they are less risky investments, Garel said. To capture the change in the average mood of households for a given month, the professors used a metric called “onset and recovery,” or OR. Higher OR indicates an increase in symptomatic depression and therefore a lower mood, Garel said. For people living in the Northern Hemisphere, OR is high during September, low during March, and more moderate during the summer and winter months for people living above the equator. People living in Southern Hemisphere countries experience the same pattern with a six-month shift. The scholars then examined OR levels in relation to investments in sustainable equity mutual funds in 25 countries during the 2018-to-2021 period.Ingeneral, mutual funds with higher sustainability ratings from researchers at Morningstar Inc. tended to attract more capital, suggesting that investors value these types of investments. More importantly, however, they found that when there was an increase in the percentage of seasonally depressed individuals, capital inflows into high-sustainability funds increased relative to low-sustainability alternatives by an extra 0.07 percent per month, or 0.84 percent per year.
Banking&Finance
Crypto market drops below $1T, Bitcoin nears 2022 low
“This new brokerage business marks our continued investments in the Philippines with new capital, a wider suite of products and better customer experience through our enhanced digital capabilities,” HIIB Vice Chairman Peter Faulhaber said.
THE dollar steamrolled through Asia last Wednesday as bond market bets on higher-forlonger US rates gave fresh fuel to the greenback’s rally, triggering a vocal pushback from regional officials. A gauge of the greenback climbed to a record, helped by what has become the steepest-ever surge in real yields. The yen dropped to a fresh 24-year low, the won to levels not seen since 2009, while China’s yuan was within a whisker of cracking the psychological 7 barrier. The moves pushed the Bank of Korea to hold an emergency meeting and issue a statement saying it would take active steps to stabilize the foreign-exchange market. In Japan, it prompted the strongest warnings to date from senior government officials aimed at stemming the yen’s Otherslide.markets in the region haven’t been spared. The Philippine peso recently hit record lows and currencies of South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand touched levels that haven’t been seen in two years or “Financialmore.stress from decreasing dollar supply will become even more pronounced in weaker economies,” said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. “Asian currencies are expected to grind lower” as the world economy slows. The Fed’s extreme hawkishness sets up a stark policy divergence with the Asia’s two largest economies— China and Japan. The People’s Bank of China is striving to slow the yuan’s slide even as it deploys an array of stimulus measures to try and nurse an ailing economy fighting the impact of Covid-zero lockdowns. In Tokyo, the Bank of Japan is doubling down on the world’s most-dovish policy. But the net result is pressure on their currencies, while peers around the region are not immune to the rampantTreasurygreenback.yieldssurged last Tuesday as data showing a surprising rebound in the services sector reinforced expectations the Fed will hike interest rates this month by three-quarters of a percentage point for a third-straight meeting. Policy makers in Europe and Canada are also expected to deliver their own outsized hikes Thursday. Almost every asset class is facing pressure, with global bonds entering their first bear market in a generation and global stocks down more than 20 percent so far this year. “After a prolonged period of low interest rates, the global economy now needs to adjust to higher rates for longer, in addition to heightened geopolitical tensions which will be a source of volatility for financial markets,”said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. The yen slumped past 144 per dollar on Wednesday, brushing off the strongest warnings to date from officials. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters he’s concerned about recent rapid, one-sided moves and Japan would need to take necessary action if they continued.China’s currency extended its own slide even after the PBOC set its strongest fixing on record, weakening past 6.99 per dollar as trade data came in softer than projected. The move signals policy makers’ intentions to rein in the yuan that’s weakening toward the key 7 per dollar level last touched on June 2020. The Bank of Korea said recent won weakness has been “fast” compared to the country’s economic fundamentals and it will review the latest circumstances in financial and foreign-exchange markets. The dollar’s dominance is doing plenty of damage outside Asia too. The euro has fallen below parity against the dollar for the first time in 20 years, while the pound is close to touching levels last seen in 1985. Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
While Africa acknowledged that it is possible for the unemployment figures to “nudge slightly upward to the extent that erstwhile replacement hires of younger workers may not happen”, he said this would probably be “negligible” since most work in the country is informal or through self-employment.Onwhetherthe measure would discourage capitalists to invest in the country, Africa doubts this would happen.“It’shard to imagine that lifting the mandatory retirement age will discourage capitalists from investing—many countries, including developed industrial economies, don’t have mandatory retirement ages without any adverse effect on investments,” he said. “This is because many elderly workers will still be productive even past the current retirementEconomistage.”John Paolo R. Rivera from the Asian Institute of Management told the BusinessMirror the measure should be carefully studied since this may be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on the industry.“This is beneficial to organizations that rely on the wisdom and expertise of its manpower like research firms, universities, academic/strategic/policy institutions. This may be a constraint for organizations that rely on physical manpower because they cannot easily replace aging workers,” he said. “Across the board policies like this should be carefully studied because not everyone is affected the sameLaborway.”groups have earlier bucked the bill, arguing that this will result in workers facing fewer job opportunities and having less time to enjoy their senior years. For its part, the Department of Labor and Employment earlier said it will first study the bill before it comes out with a position on the matter. However, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan of the National Economic Development Authority earlier expressed support for the bill, saying this would open the possibilities for senior citizens. He also said there are many 65 to 70 years-olds who are stillInproductive.theJune round of its Labor Force Survey, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) attributed the increase in the Labor Force Participation rate between May and June to an increase in the number of 65-yearolds and up in the workforce.
FOR Kiyoshi Ishigane, the yen’s descent to a 24-year low couldn’t have come at a worseThetime.chief fund manager of Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. is looking to increase his holdings of US government bonds from an underweight position. But the weak Japanese currency and a 10-fold surge in hedging costs since the start of the year are making it more expensive to do so. “It will be too late to eliminate the underweight position” when Treasuries start to rally, said Ishigane, whose company oversees more than $147 billion. But, “hedging costs are troubling when I think about how to doFromit.” a jump in the cost of living to the threat of capital outflows, the impact of the yen’s tumble to the lowest since 1998 is reverberating across Japan’s economy and financial markets. With few signs that a rebound is imminent, authorities on Wednesday issued their strongest warnings to date in an attempt to halt the currency’s slide. Yen-hedged Treasury 10-year yields rose above zero for the first time since late July this week after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed his commitment to higher rates at Jackson Hole last month. But this has also propelled dollar-yen above 144 for the first time since 1998, making it pricier for Japanese investors like Ishigane to buy US debt with or without currencyEvenhedging.afterthe recent rise, yields on yen-hedged US notes still fall short of those on Japan’s debt, providing little incentive for local investors to venture abroad. Funds in the Asian nation are the biggest overseas holders of Treasuries, and their buying habits have repercussions for the broader US bondStill,market.some indicators suggest that the yen’s losses may be limited. Conventional valuation measures such as purchasing power parity and real-effective exchange rates all show that the currency is much more undervalued than most of its majorThispeers.isline with Ishigane’s experience. He recalls how the currency staged a rapid recovery in 1998 when it surged 18.85 yen per dollar in just a week in October that year, four months after authorities intervened. “Once the yen starts to rise, it rises really fast,” he said. “The yen usually doesn’t change its course immediately after an intervention, but it tends to do so within a few months.”
Dr. Philip Nakpil, Medical Director, ZP Therapeutics Philippines By Roderick L. Abad Contributor
Towards a cancer-freecervicalfuture
Editor: Anne Ruth Dela Cruz Health& Fitness BusinessMirrorThursday, September 8, 2022B4
By Rory Visco Contributor C hildren are back to school for face-toface classes. Though learning is still in “hybrid” mode, or a mix of face-to-face and virtual learning on certain days of the week, many parents are still appre hensive. And since the order of the d e partment of e d ucation ( d e pe d ) already calls for a full face-to-face, onsite learning setup by no vember 2022, the disquietude is perfectly understandable.Thechildren are excited to go back, but are the schools ready? i s our education system infrastruc ture prepared? Are protection mea sures against Covid-19 sufficient? A nd the biggest question of par ents amid the confusion regard ing what health protocols should b e followed: “What if a classmate contracts Covid-19? What will they do? ho w will the school or the gov ernment help?” A t the most recent “Stop CO V i d d e aths” webinar titled “May Covid-19 and klasmeyt ng anak ko: i s it safe for my child to go back to school” organized by the University of the Philippines, the UP Manila n ih n ational Telehealth Center, together with the UP Philippine General h o spital (UP-PG h ), d r Anna Ong- l i m, Member, d O h Technical Advisory Group, Pediat ric i n fectious d i seases Consultant of the PG h , s aid that the overall goal is about avoiding being tagged a close contact of a potential Co vid-19 patient so as not to get in fected or infect others. e s sentially, she said the most important thing to learn to stay safe in Thoughschool.there is a recent up take in the number of cases in the p ast weeks, what’s good about the situation now is that hospitaliza tion does not necessarily follow a fter having Covid-19. “We have already decoupled cases from severe disease and death due to vaccination.”
d a ta has shown that the current roster of first and second booster doses for eligible Filipinos are suf ficient in continuing the chain of protection against the severe effects of Covid-19.
A S part of its corporate citi zenship initiatives, Therma Mobile, i nc. (TMO), together with Aboitiz Foundation i nc., do nated nutrition packs to mothers a nd children of Barangay Acacia in Malabon City. The packs contained selected healthy snacks for the kids and supplements that can support breastmilk production for lactating mothers and women with high-risk pregnancies.itisimportant for pregnant and lactating mothers to start con suming nutrient rich food as early a s possible, as it also lessens the risk of malnutrition in the future,” said Malabon City he alth Officer e d na d i vina. The turnover followed the ba rangay’s recent celebration of nu trition Month, themed “ ne w nor mal na nutrisyon, Sama-samang Gawan ng Solusyon,” in partner ship with the Malabon City he alth Office. The health department con ducted a series of seminars tackling c ommunity health and nutrition, proper diet and exercise, and safe pregnancy.“Weare glad to support the initiatives of Malabon City to pro mote health and wellness among its residents, most especially pregnant women and lactating mothers,” said Camille Midua, reputation senior specialist of TMO, a subsidiary of AboitizPower.“Wehopethat these nutrition packs will be of great help in the nourishment and well being of many families in the city,” she added.Fortheir part, Barangay Captain Monching de Jesus expressed his gratitude to AboitizPower for being instrumental in supporting moth ers and promoting health care in t heir“Wecommunity. arethankful for this dona tion from AboitizPower. This is a b ig help especially for mothers who need support in taking care of their children,” he said. Safe motherhood ST i ll in line with the month-long celebration for nutrition, Therma Power Visayas i nc. (TPV i ) a lso or ganized an activity which backed u p the Barangay nutrition Com mittee of Brgy. Colon in the City of na ga, Cebu. TPV i held a “Buntis Congress” aimed at educating moms on safe motherhood, the significance of the baby’s first 1,000 days, and the importance of breastfeeding and complementary feeding. i n collaboration with the Aboitiz Foundation, it also pro vided nutrition packs to the par ticipants.
The best time to get boosted r e C e n T ly, the i nter-Agency Task Force against Covid-19 ( i ATF) and the d e partment of Tourism eased guidelines for fully vaccinated in bound travelers who have received a t least one booster shot. For ex ample, recent reports suggest that t ourist arrivals have exceeded 517,000 by late May since we opened our borders last February. This new protocol is also an ex ample of the practical benefits and n ew opportunities for boosted in dividuals who seek to reboot their lo ng-delayed travel plans. Boosted individuals can enjoy the freedom to travel with fewer requirements and restrictions, while also doing their part to keep themselves and their communities safe and protected. With more people out and about, booster doses are crucial in sustain ing protection against Covid-19. A s more Filipinos get boosted, the more we can look forward to a more normal life, where we can interact with and embrace our loved ones without having to wear a mask or maintain social distancing. This future is possible and within our reach.
By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes A PA n el of doctors and a patient advocate recently appealed to the public to stop spread ing wrong information that having cervical cancer immediately means a death sentence. This was the main message of the media forum titled “#TimeTo TalkAbout h P V: A health forum” or ganized by the Cervical Cancer Pre vention n etwork of the Philippines (C e C AP), together with the Asia and Oceania Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AOFOG), the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Soci ety (POGS), and MS d in the Philip pines. i t a lso served as a reminder that cervical cancer is preventable with regular screening tests and the h P V or human papillomaviruses vac cination.Cervical cancer is largely prevent able through both vaccination and screening for precursor lesions like pap smear at least once every three years and h P V dn A t esting for wom en starting age 30, with appropriate follow up and treatment. With access to accurate information, preventive services and routine gynecological care, most cases of the disease can be prevented and successfully treated at an early stage. i n spite of this, cervical cancer ranks as the 2nd most frequent cancer among women in the Philippines and the 2nd most frequent cancer among women aged between 15 and 44 years of age. Current estimates indicate that every year, 7,897 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4,052 die from the disease. Transmission modes Cer V i CA l c ancer develops at the en trance to the uterus from the vagina and around 99 percent of the cases are linked to h P V. Modes of transmission include sexual contact, skin-to-skin contact and rarely, through objects exposed to the virus. i t i s a highly treatable disease if detected at its early stages. The precancerous stage provides enough window for detection and treatment, and it could take as long as 30 years before it reaches malignancy. h o w ever, it is one of the most common types of cancers and a common cause of cancer-related deaths, worldwide, affecting mostly young, uneducated women from poor countries. But more recently, Covid-19 has taken a toll on women’s health as studies have shown a gap in missed routine preventive exams and screen ing visits. “ i think the world has been focused on Covid for the past two and a half years and we have overlooked other health concerns,” said d r. Anna l i sa Ong- l i m, professor and chief of division of infectious and tropical disease in Pediatrics, UP Manila Col lege of Medicine. “ it is only recently when vulnerabilities to vaccine-pre ventable diseases are being noticed once again.” Huge burden One life-altering issue that deserves focus is the huge burden that contin ues to threaten women and men, in cluding teenagers worldwide, caused by h P V. “ h P V is a virus that causes a wide-range of diseases,” said d r Mel Kohn, MS d executive director of medical affairs for vaccines and infectious diseases. “Apart from cervical cancer, h P V can give men head and neck cancer, anal cancer for both sexes and a vari ety of less common but also devastat ing kinds of cancers like vaginal and vulvar cancer and penile cancer,” he enumerated.“Genitalwarts, while it doesn’t kill you, can be quite devastating. it is quite common and very difficult to eradicate. i m agine the psychological toll on the patient. Again, prevention is the best approach here,” he added. h P V is common. it i s passed from one person to another during sexual contact. “ it ’s a quiet epidemic unlike Covid,” he warned. Unlike the measles that have obvious expression, “you don’t immediately see it when you meet somebody but it’s there and has been growing rather insidiously.”
ting up a system that allows people t o feel that it is ok to say i won’t go in and to provide an alternative to learn even when under isolation at home. it s hould be part of the new setup for the new normal,” d r. Ongl i mShesaid.emphasized that those with symptoms should take a Covid-19 test and isolate so it would be eas ier to know if they can already go on site or remain at home. Reducing Covid-19 risks in school T O enable a safe return to schools, d r. Ong- l i m emphasized constant protection of one’s self and oth ers through vaccination and the p roper use and choice of appropri ately sized face masks even when outdoors when physical distancing is not possible, stay at home when not feeling well, proper hygiene by regular washing of hands, main tain good ventilation and physical d istancing.however, she said that the United n a tions Children’s Fund (U n iC e F ) and the World h e alth Organization (W h O ) recognize that there are certain settings where physical distancing can be difficult to achieve, especially in schools with a large student popu lation or small physical space. The t wo institutions advised schools to adjust their physical distanc ing requirements depending on t he transmission situation in the community.Addedprecautions may include regular cleaning and disinfection of school facilities including the school bus, staggered lunch breaks, or minimize recess for kids with shorter class schedules, limit mix ing of class schedules. “This is an other paradigm shift that school a dministrators may think about as face-to-face classes start,” she said.
As for vaccination, d r. Ong- l i m said kids five years old and above should already have completed their primary series (first two doses) while those above 12 years old should already have their first booster. She likewise expressed the hope that this is something that parents, guardians, teaching staff will keep in mind, to continue to encourage their kids to be vac cinated.Most probably one of the great est worries of parents is the con sistency of their child’s behavior i f they are not watched over in school. i f t his is their problem, the fact that the child is already vac cinated takes away behavior-based i nterventions and ensures that the child already has that protection regardless of how they will act,” shedexplained.r.Ong-lim also pointed to the recommendation of the he alth Technology Assessment Council ( h T AC) of vaccination for chil dren five to 11 years old not only t o fight the disease itself but also its complications, including Mul tisystem i n flammatory Syndrome in Children (M i S -C) and also “long Covid” in pediatrics. Vaccination is good not just for individual protec tion but also contributes to “herd i mmunity.” it c ould also improve quality of life in households like less worry and stress among par ents about their children when g oing to school knowing they are protected. Through vaccination, it will allow the reopening of schools and proceed with more confidence and lesser disruption. i hope these pointers can help achieve the goal, that even if a stu dent or staff at school gets sick, we c annot be tagged as close contact, and the quarantining or isolation don’t need to happen.”
Children to learn how to stay safe while back in school awareness needed to fight HPV, primary cause of cervical cancer
The booster impact: How the Philippines can sustain the road back to normalcy
h o wever, one cause for concern is that only more than 20 percent of eligible Filipinos have received their first booster shot. These figures are low compared to our neighbors such as Vietnam where over 60 percent of their eligible population have received their boosters. After more than two years in lockdown, many of us are tired of the restrictions brought by the pandemic. We crave a return to normalcy. We want to see our loved ones again and carry on with our lives without worry. To help stave off a return to empty streets and overworked hospitals, we must do what we can to ensure the ground we’ve gained in the fight against Covid-19 is never lost. The science of getting boosted A S of June 4, 2022, data from the d O h shows that more than 71 million Filipinos completed their primary Covid-19 doses since the government’s vaccination program began last March 2021. One year later, many Filipinos could have de clining antibodies against the virus. A recent study from the Provi dence r e search ne twork confirms that vaccine protection against the virus substantially declines six months after the full primary doses. The d O h has also expressed concern that there may be a surge of cases should Filipinos become more vulnerable due to declining immunity.Boosters help the country stay ahead of possible threats that could increase the rate of Covid-19 trans mission. They do so by training the b ody to continuously produce anti bodies, thereby lessening the risk of h ospitalization and death.
By Dr. Philip Nakpil A F e W m onths ago, the d e partment of h e alth ( d O h ) announced that it had fully vaccinated more than 70 million Filipinos against Covid-19. Cur rently, some local government units a re experiencing an increase in Co vid-19 cases. d e spite this increase, these l G Us have recorded low Co vid-19 fatalities, and the availabil ity of hospital beds and equipment fo r the treatment of severe cases remains high. Amid an increase in Covid-19 cases, the latter developments in the country’s ongoing battle against the pandemic can be attributed to the country’s vaccination drive. l a st n o vember 2021, the na tional government released guide lines for the rollout of the Covid-19 b ooster doses to priority groups (health-care workers, elderly, and immunocompromised individu als) and adults aged 18 and above.
Increased
The elimination of cervical cancer has been defined as achieving an in cidence rate low enough for the dis ease to be considered controlled as a public-health problem; this thresh old has been defined by the W h O as fewer than 4 cases per 100,000 women per year. Carmen Auste, Chief e x ecutive Of ficer of Cancer Warriors Foundation i n c. said that the Philippines is among the countries that declared commit ment together with W h O t o finally eradicate cervical cancer in the coun try by 2040, and by 2030 worldwide. “There is already one type of cancer that we can delete or ‘block’ like social media,” she humored. “To attain that goal, we must augment h P V vaccine uptake and educate the Filipinos on h P V, vaccines and cancers caused by h P V,” she said.
AboitizPower’s units push proper nutrition in Malabon, Cebu
The Philippines has a population of 37.8 million women ages 15 years and older who are at risk of develop ing cervical cancer. About 2.9% of women in the general population are estimated to harbor cervical h P V-16 or 18 infection at a given time, and 58.6% of invasive cervical cancers are attributed to h P Vs 16 or 18. Although some of the infections usually go away on their own, at least 14 types of h P V have been found to be cancer-causing.Theageindication for h P V vac cines is as young as nine years old to both girls and boys. Teens and young adults through age 26 years who didn’t start or finish the h P V vaccine series also should have h P V vaccination. Women up to age 45 may be eligible for vaccination after discussing with their provider. d r. Ong- l i m said they are target ing the young ones because of their increased susceptibility to infections. “That particular age group dem onstrates optimal immune response. Also, only two doses are needed to achieve protection,” she shared. But more importantly, giving the vaccine at a younger age ensures that they are already protected before they become sexually active. “ h P V vac cines work best when given before exposure to the virus. We must try to catch that window when the immune system really responds very well to it,” d r. Ong- l i m explained. Manila d e claration: Call to Ac tion Against Cervical Cancer chair and practicing OB-Gynecologist d r Jean Anne Toral mentioned that the young and adult fertility study done recently, indicates that the average age Filipina women become sexu ally active is 18.2 years old. “Giving the vaccine at age nine to 15 would be beneficial as there is no life event that exactly pinpoints exposure to h P V apart from age of sexual debut,” sheTheresaid. will be seven to eight out of 10 women who would be exposed to h P V at one point in their life, “But not all women will develop cervical cancer,” d r. Toral assured. The prob ability of h P V exposure developing into cancer increases if a patient smokes, is exposed to other sexuallytransmitted diseases and has hi V
Online learning: the pros and cons dU e t o the many community lock downs imposed by the national go vernment, the d e pe d called for online learning as an instruction mode since kids cannot go back to schools. d r. Ong- l i m said that online learning had its benefits, particularly on flexibility, the op portunity for individualized atten tion in learning, the anonymity f actor also helped shy children be able to express themselves better, and learning was student-centered in many cases. h o wever, the disadvantages were also seen among students who had no capacity to buy gadgets, weak internet signals, concerns about quality education especially on courses that really need personal supervision and hands-on learn ing and more importantly, on so cialization. This may explain why e ducation authorities have always pushed the return to face-to-face classes, she said. d r. Ong- l i m noted that global health authorities have already made recommendations on how to transition back to onsite classes. One huge paradigm shift, she said, is to promote “Stay at hom e when Sick”“Thepolicy.mindset of going to work just because work is important, or going to school just to achieve perfect attendance, is not allowed anymore. This has to be ingrained in the minds of parents, students, even school administration. Set
Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • Thursday, September 8, 2022
KRISTIN ROSKIFTE’S Everybody Counts shows different people and situations from which numerous narratives and connections are created.
Purpose and gratitude boost engagementacademic
The two-day live broadcast saw more than 700 participating schools and featured over 2,000 aspiring student athletes who showcased their skills and competed with pride for themselves and their school in front of 1.5 million-plus online viewers.
❷ HåkonauthorNORWEGIANandpoetØvreås
Value goals: Discipline, respect, and determination—Part I
❶ KristinauthorNORWEGIANandillustratorRoskifte
❶ ❷ BROWN by Håkon Øvreås is a story about the adventures of Rune (Rusty) and his marvelous ability to turn into the fearless superhero, Brune (Brown).
By Mariya Yukhymenko California State University, Fresno W
B5 Image BusinessMirrorwww.businessmirror.com.ph
LAST August 26, I was invited by edamama, a new children’s online platform, to their first Family Expo at the SMX Convention Center. In my talk, titled “S.T.E.A.M. for 21st Century Learning,” I shared the many worries I had as a first-time parent 15 years ago, as well as the concerns of parents I encounter during my classes and talks. To summarize, from birth to eight years old, most parents are concerned with what “building blocks” they need to ensure kids grow up ready and happy. From eight to 12 years old, many parents often ask how to equip children to deal with life, like developing grit and resiliency, as well as how to deal with anxiety, peer pressure and bullying. And from 12 to 18 years of age, the parents I have interacted with would want to work on having a good relationship with their children, as well know how to equip their children in handling the effects of social media.Itmade me remember my list of value goals before my kids were born, because I viewed that my future children’s emotional resiliency and strength as equal if not more important than academics. Below were my personal value goals that I had focused on for my children at each stage: n 0-1: Warmth, love and tons of laughter with lots of hugs and kisses. n 2-3: Discipline, early confidence through physical activities, attentiveness in listening, warmth and fun in reading. n 4-5: Love for learning, valuing their books and play things, caring for siblings, self-expression and self-relaxation through art, respectful of and learning interaction with elders, empathy and feeling empowered to help in the family in their little way. n 5-6: Family love through rituals, self-motivation to learn, valuing and being grateful for people’s hard work, enroll in sports. This week, I am very glad to share “one solution” for learning discipline, respect, and determination, which is sports. I am glad that nutritious beverage brand MILO Philippines and the Department of Education (DepEd) celebrated the recent success of its inaugural MILO-DepEd Palarong Pambahay last June 28. The joint effort was the first-of-its-kind inter-sport, inter-school virtual competition held on a nationwide scale.
NORWEGIAN CHILDREN’S WRITERS AT SM AURA BOOK NOOK BOOK lovers are in for a treat as acclaimed Norwegian children’s book authors Kristin Roskifte and Håkon Øvreås make a stop at SM Aura Premier’s Book Nook for a storytelling session on September 16, 2022. The storytelling session at the SM mall’s community library is one of the exciting activities organized by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Manila and NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad), which will also present the authors’ books at the 2022 Manila International Book Fair at the SMX Convention Center Manila. During the event, mallgoers will get a rare opportunity to meet author and illustrator Kristin Roskifte as she reads her latest work, Everybody Counts, a seek-and-find book, a counting book, and a picture book about humanity for kids and youth. The book presents a playful view of the many connections and coincidences in our lives, and how every single one of us has a unique story, but we are all part of the same group—the world. The book is critically acclaimed for its unique approach to visual communication, and has been awarded some of the world’s highest honors for children’s literature. In 2019, it was awarded the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize. It also won Gold Awards in Norwegian Visuelt and The Year’s Most Beautiful Books, and was nominated for Brageprisen and the World Illustration Award. The book has been translated to more than 30 languages. Everybody Counts is one of the books in the United Nations SDG library in Norway selected to represent Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries. Children and adult readers, on the other hand, will be delighted to hear poet and writer Håkon Øvreås’s book reading of Brown (My Alter Ego is a Superhero), his first book in a trilogy for young readers. It is a story about the adventures of Rune (Rusty) and his marvelous ability to turn into the fearless superhero, Brune (Brown). The book is a charming and powerful tale about friendship, courage, and standing up for oneself. The book, which marked the author’s debut in children’s literature in 2013, has received numerous prestigious Norwegian children’s literature awards and nominations, including the Norwegian Ministry of Culture’s Literature Prize (Best Children’s and Young Adults Book) in 2013, the Trollkrittet Prize (Norwegian children’s/YA book writers’ debut prize) also in 2013, the Nordic Council Literature Prize for Children and Young Adults in 2014, the Dutch Zilveren Griffel (Silver Pencil) in 2015, the German Luchs des Jahres (Best Children and YA Book) in 2016, and the 2020 Batchelder Award through the American Library Association’s ALSC awards. The translation rights for the trilogy have been sold into 30 Norwegianlanguages.literature for children and young adults is rich and diverse, characterized by imagination, independence and uniqueness. A number of Norway’s acclaimed novelists also write for children, leading to a high literary quality and ensuring young readers have access to many forms of expression.Thestorytelling sessions by Kristin Roskifte and Håkon Øvreås are some of the exciting literary events to look forward to at the Book Nook located at the fourth level of SM Aura Premier. SM’s Book Nook is a free library encouraging book lovers of all ages to celebrate the joy of reading and learning, and the spirit of sharing and community.
HEN it comes to academic success for college students, having a sense of purpose and gratitude makes a significant difference. That’s what I found in a peer-reviewed study published in June 2022 in the Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice. For the study, I analyzed answers provided by 295 undergraduates to questions about whether they did better academically if they had a sense of purpose and gratitude during the Covid-19 pandemic. I wondered if students were more likely to be academically engaged—and less likely to suffer academic burnout—if they had a strong sense of purpose. I specifically asked about three types of purpose: self-growth, others-growth and careerfocused purpose orientations. I also wanted to know if being grateful for positive experiences made a difference.Idefined academic engagement as a motivational mindset that is characterized by students’ enthusiasm for school-related activities. I also looked at three types of academic burnout: devaluation of schoolwork, reduced sense of accomplishment and mental exhaustion. I found that only one type of purpose was directly relevant to engagement and burnout—career-focused purpose. When undergraduate students connect their life purpose with career aspirations, they tend to be engaged in their academic studies. They are also less likely to devalue their schoolwork or feel unaccomplished in their studies. I also found that gratitude was just as important. These findings suggest that the more grateful undergraduate students feel, the more they are engaged in their academic work and the more they feel accomplished and value schoolwork. This study adds to a growing body of research that suggests having a deep sense of life purpose is important for people’s well-being, success and ability to cope with challenging life situations. My study suggests that university advisers and faculty should recognize the role that sense of purpose plays for student success. They should also engage in practices that foster students’ sense of life purpose. For example, faculty members can use assignments to encourage students to reflect on their life purpose and connect it with their future career aspirations. Fostering gratitude is also important. This is because gratitude is also associated with greater academic engagement and less burnout among undergraduate students. My study also suggests that it benefits students if they are given opportunities to reflect on things in life for which they are grateful. Such opportunities can be incorporated into first-year experience courses or incoming student orientations. Since this study was conducted when participants had few, if any, opportunities to help others due to Covid-19 restrictions, I wonder if others-growth and self-growth types of purpose will be more relevant to academic success once these restrictions are eased. I also wonder whether classroom activities aimed at connecting life purpose with students’ future careers will lead to higher graduation rates. We will continue to examine how effective the undergraduate course I created, titled “Fostering Sense of Purpose,” is at fostering sense of purpose in life. We also plan to look at whether the course leads to lasting positive effects for students’ academic and career success, such as higher graduation rates.
BOOK lovers can discover, read, share stories and donate pre-loved books. Book Nook is a free community library encouraging book lovers of all ages to celebrate the joy of reading and learning, and the spirit of sharing and community.
THE CONVERSATION
“It is our great pleasure to partner with MILO Philippines for the first-ever MILO-DepEd Palarong Pambahay competition. Even though the pandemic has hindered most of our on-ground activities, our organization as well as coaches, teachers and parents have worked tremendously hard to make this event a reality. This is quite a milestone and integral proof that nothing can stop the Filipino champion spirit and our winning culture of bayanihan,” said Education Undersecretary Tonisito M.C. Umali, Esq. This groundbreaking online sports event opened doors for young athletes who showed their determination as they trained and competed from their homes, as well as their parent coaches who helped guide them along the way to overcome the many challenges of staying indoors. The event was just the latest of many creative and innovative programs now available from MILO Philippines designed to provide kids with an outlet to stay physically active and teach them the important values learned from sports such as discipline, respect and“Taekwondodetermination.helps build my self-confidence so that I can attain success through hard-work and determination,” said Justin Apura, who hails from the University of San Agustin, Iloilo. Apura won gold in Taekwondo and has been competing in local and international competitions since he was six years old. As schools and sports venues start to open up again, let us all welcome back kids to continue their champion journeys.
− Touch XDA Managing Partner Dyan Em-Rosal His belief that success is inclusive. “Facing the ladder to success, we must lift others up while we climb. Success is not success if it is not sustainable and you cannot sustain success if you are alone. You need a team with you, and you need to be with your team. This is the best way GGC believes we can improve the lives of the Filipinos.”
− DDB Group Chief Operating Officer and Chief Finance Officer Judd B. Balayan Ability to Embrace Change. “For GGC, change coincides with growth and he is relentless in driving both, for himself and his people. GGC isn’t the type to give lip service. He walks the talk and holds your hand through the transformation. You feel his presence and support. Which makes everyone look forward to change.”
The entire roster of Cetaphil products will be sold at the booth. The master brand Cetaphil is comprised of the iconic Gentle Skin Cleanser, the Gentle Moisturizing Lotion, and the Gentle Moisturizing Cream. All three products have recently been reformulated with glycerin (to help prevent dryness), niacinamide (to strengthen the skin barrier), and panthenol (to soothe and restore dry skin).
The Cetaphil Bright Healthy Radiance line is also present at the booth that focuses on brightening skin the healthy way, with products that are effective yet gentle on the skin. With the Bright Healthy Radiance products, you can be sure to target issues like hyperpigmentation, melanogenesis, even skin tone, and dark spot reduction.
− Optimax General Manager Ela Federigan-ChuaCollaborative and positive attitude. “GGC sees the brighter side of things, welcomes feedback with so much humility. He asks questions, invites input and opens the team to challenge his ideas. This facilitates critical thinking and ultimately an empowered team that can think on their own.”
GIL G. Chua, DDB Group Philippines Chairman and CEO
T O celebrate 75 years of being the leaders in the sensitive skin space, Cetaphil has partnered with Watsons for this year’s National Healthy Skin Mission.
T HE ultimate test of a great leader is not just seen on how successful his business has become, but on how his people have grown with him. As the saying goes, true leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.
THE Cetaphil booth at SM Makati.
Finally, for baby’s skin, the brand offers the Cetaphil Baby range. It features gentle and tear-free formulations, making bath time with your newborn an enjoyable process. Mommies can also avail of the Cetaphil Baby calendula line, allowing their babies to have a healthy start in life. While for those with Atopic Dermatitis, the Cetaphil Pro products are also found at Cetaphil’s National Healthy Skin Mission booth. Buy any of these products for your sensitive skins (or your baby’s!) and get a chance to spin the wheel to take home more free Cetaphil products. In addition, consumers get a limited Cetaphil tote bag if they buy products worth P1,500. You can also bring any empty skincare products, and get free Cetaphil products. Lastly, the brand also offers free Dermatologist consultations. Cetaphil and Watsons have a lot more in store for you throughout the National Healthy Skin Mission event. Last September 5, Mariel Padilla helped moms, especially first-time moms to navigate the world of parenting, while on September 14, Michelle Dy will host a masterclass on how to achieve healthy radiant skin. Learn more about this year’s National Healthy Skin Mission by tuning in to Cetaphil and Watsons' Facebook page.
Tito Noel, on the other hand, proudly said that his character and Eurotel’s objectives are very much aligned and that he will do his
THE winners ARNOLD Clavio and Batangas Vice Governor Mark Leviste.
A brand whose success is built on creating dermatologist-recommended skincare products for every skin story, this year’s National Healthy Skin Mission is an experimental booth located at SM Makati that will serve as a one-stop shop for all skincare needs and will allow customers to learn from trusted dermatologist experts.
Baguio City‘s viral sensation Green Soldier is Eurotel‘s newest brand ambassador best to live up to Eurotel’s image. The Green Soldier has one million and 900,000 followers on Facebook and Tiktok, respectively. To bring Eurotel closer to the hearts of everybody, the Green Soldier will visit Eurotel branches located in Las Piñas, Pedro Gil, Makati, North Edsa, Baguio, Angeles, Boracay, Vivaldi, EDSA Shaw on various occasions, for a fun-filled meet and greet with hotel guests and his Eurotelfans.is a classy and affordable haven that meets every need of a sophisticated guest or a modern traveler; it also provides a distinctive and memorable experience on its own. To know more about Eurotel, visit www. eurotel-hotel.com or call (02) 8353-6000/ (+63) 917 548-6000/ (+63) 999-888-3876 and email centralreservations@eurotel-hotel.com.
− DDB PHL Managing Partner PaoloHisArevaloinstinct for opportunity. GGC always says “Ang hindi sumasali, hindi nananalo.” This encapsulates how he always sees opportunities in everything whether in good times or in times of crisis. And how he always challenges you to go out of your comfort zone and be brave enough to seize those opportunities. I tried and joined so many things I never thought I would because of GGC's challenge from international competitions to crisis management. I have grown so much because of it. And so have many others who answered his challenge.
Cetaphil celebrates 75 years of sensitive skin leadership with National Healthy Skin Mission
− Touch XDA Chairman Antonio R. Samson His energy to motivate and inspire. "In this time of the 'great resignation', in order to gain loyalty and retention, leaders must provide a values-based environment with less hierarchy; a hybrid, blended, partially remote and partially non-employee workforce; and engagement that respects workforce members' differing needs. We have a direct channel to speak to our execom in our viber chat for any employee who simply would like to inquire or chat with them. We have a Culture Hub that provides holistic care for our people. None of these things will be possible if not for GGC.”
PRESENT during the contract signing with Green Soldier (center) were, from left, Eurotel’s key officers led by Sue Geminiano, Marketing Head; Ronaldo Sebastian, Sector Head; and Mariel Quinto, Ads & Promo Manager.
EUROTEL, one of the fastest growing hotel chains in the country, recently signed a contract with Jhonwel Reyes, a.k.a Tito Noel, the viral “Green Soldier” mime performer from Baguio City, as its newest Brand Ambassador for Social Media. The contract signing was graced by the Green Soldier himself and Eurotel’s key officers led by Sue Geminiano, Marketing Head; Ronaldo Sebastian, Sector Head; and Mariel Quinto, Ads and Promo Manager. Eurotel is a unique European-inspired hotel in the heart of the major cities of Metro Manila and top tourism areas in the Philippines that was established in 2005. It is popular for its European-style room interiors, excellent service of international standards and warm and fun Filipino hospitality. Eurotel’s new social media campaign called “EUR Green Soldier,” aptly reinforces the hotel’s core offerings. “Eurotel has been known for its affordable high-standard services. With our new campaign, we are reinforcing Eurotel as the best choice of hotel for all different types of guests because it provides a comfortable and relaxing experience with our complete amenities and friendly and efficient hotel staff. The Green Soldier, being a fun and loveable personality, embodies a part of what Eurotel wishes to impart to the public,” he said.
− Ripple8 Managing Director Bobby Vito His sense of gratitude. “Being grateful and giving back, GGC has the audacious dream to provide job opportunities for 10,000 Filipinos before he retires. This is his PHL execs share leadership lessons learned from Chairman & CEO
DDB Group Philippines Chairman and CEO Gil Chua's illustrious career in advertising and marketing spans four decades, of which 30 years were spent growing DDB to become one of the largest integrated marketing communications groups in the country today. In the process, Chua has molded endless leaders − a pool of bright and talented executives who have helped lead the marketing communications group to success year after year. On his birthday this September, these leaders who have worked with Chua, or GGC as he is fondly called, share their most profound learning from the man they regard as their coach, mentor, cheerleader, andFaithinspiration.inGod, humanity “Any business needs ethics. It needs integrity. It needs a commitment to excellence. It needs a purpose greater than profit (and it also needs a solid profit to serve that greater purpose). GGC’s faith has been forged through challenges and I have witnessed firsthand how he has held on to the power of prayers to set us through many obstacles, His faith in God and in his people has been instrumental to the success we enjoy today."
CREBA MEETS WITH HOUSING COMMITTEE. National President Noel Toti M. Cariño (2nd from left) led the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA) delegation at the housing associations’ policy review meeting recently with Housing Committee Chair Rep. Jose Francisco B. Benitez and OFW Party-list Rep. Marissa del Mar Magsino (seated) at the House of Representatives. Among the key policy measures underscored by the CREBA leader is the amendment of the CISFA Law or the Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter and Urban Development Financing Program Law to help make home lending sustainable and more affordable to socialized and economic housing beneficiaries, a banner program under the group’s five-point agenda for housing. Also present in the meeting were heads of National Real Estate Association (NREA), Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) and Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
way of giving back to the country that gave him so much. GGC never fails to thank his people and the people who opened doors and gave him breaks, invested time in mentoring him and believing in him. His gratitude to others makes him the most endearing humble person we all aspire to be” − Agile Intelligence Managing Director Chewy Chua His building trusting relationship with people. “The great dependence on people across an organization's sphere of interactions will only succeed if there is a great sense of trust and a building of truly trusting relationships. Now, more than ever before, a systems perspective deals not only with processes, but with people, organizations, and processes. I look forward to another year working alongside GGC, setting benchmarks with ever-evolving insights on the road to performance excellence!”
− Tribal Worldwide Philippines Managing Director Diane Chua. When practiced and applied to your business and work life, these time-tested lessons from the beloved Chairman and CEO of DDB Group Philippines Gil Chua will lead to a happy and fulfilling life.
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DDB Group
“Putting people first is a strategic business philosophy backed by his set of actions that prioritize the people, even if it means he has made personal sacrifices. Especially in 2020 where his mandate was to Keep Our People Safe, we all worked hard to ensure no one lost their job, or had to cut their pay, and everyone felt safe. When people feel valued and cared for, they do their work with strong motivation, a deep sense of meaning, and great engagement.”
O RGANIZED by multi-awarded broadcast journalist, Arnold “Igan” Clavio, the Founder and President of Igan Ng Pilipinas Foundation Inc., the 19th Igan Cup was recently held at Eastridge Golf and Country Club in Binangonan, Rizal. A total of 217 golfers played and supported the cause for juvenile diabetes, Igan Foundation’s Lingkod Kapwa Community Pantry and Lugawan ni Igan. The tournament started its morning tee at 6:00 a.m. followed by the afternoon tee at 12:00 noon. Clavio together with Cesar Abaricia of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation and Batangas Vice Governor Mark Leviste led the ceremonial tee off. The players received generous lootbags, giveaways and raffle prizes. They were also treated to an acoustic live band and a delicious dinner buffet. The 19th Igan Cup is a qualifying tournament for the World Amateur Golfers Championship - Philippines (WAGC). The champions and 1st runnersup of all categories automatically qualify for the WAGC National Finals on October 2022. The winners of the national finals will represent the country at the WAGC World Finals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from November 12 to 19, 2022. WAGC 2022 is presented by G&W Clubshares, Inc. and GolfPH in cooperation with Golf Batangas. Clavio is a sure player at the National Finals as he won the Championship for the Celebrity/ Media Division (Male). During the awarding of grand raffle and tournament winners, the Igan Foundation acknowledged and celebrated Clavio’s 35th anniversary on his broadcasting career. A surprise letter cake and cupcakes, sponsored by Pinky Fernando’s Fernando’s Bakeshop, were presented during dinner. The 19th Igan Cup would not be possible without the support of: (Platinum) Uno Hog Feeds & Veterinary Products; MX3 Coffee, capsules, and tea; (Gold) Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation; San Miguel Corp.; New San Jose Builders, Inc.; National Grid Corporation of the Philippines; SM Prime Holdings, Inc.; JRT Telecom Enterprises, Inc. Yamaha Motor Phils, Inc.’ (Silver) Arlo Aluminum Co., Inc.; FR Sevilla Industrial & Dev’t Corp.; GMA Network; Globe Telecom; Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation; One Meralco; Hotel Sogo; Ritemed; Kampfortis; Stradcom Corp., SM Supermall, SM Investment Corp.; Champion; Value Trade Gen. Merchandising; Eurotel; The Concept Store; Kayak Construction; (Bronze) New Golden City Builders; Toyota Quezon Ave.; Robros; RFM; Uratex; MC Jim; DCCD Engineering Corp.; DCMS Construction; Ayala Land Corp.; Caddie Cares; G & W Clubshares Inc.; Premiere 101; Sogo Cares; (Hole in One) Autohub Group; Mutt Motorcycles; K & G Golf Apparels and Accessories; MAA General Assurance Philippines, Inc.; Gamboa & Sons; Silicon Computer and Telecoms; Inc.; (Media Partners) Pitchworks Incorporated; BusinessMirror; DZBB; Real Sports; World Amateur Golf Championship; Golf Batangas; and Golf PH.
The longest-running celebrity golf tournament is back!
− DDB Group Chief Revenue Officer John CompassionLucas towards employees.
− DDB MNL Managing Director Vina Henson. Focus Goals and Vision. “Employees, clients, and investors want to associate with organizations that serve a larger purpose than may be expressed in their mission statement. They want to be associated with organizations that live their values and have a commitment to societal responsibilities, environmental stewardship, and equity and inclusivity. GGC long before knew the power of creativity in shaping the hearts and minds of people. Compassion and generosity provide the perspective to his creative reach.”
South Africa lends expertise FAUSTINO and Ambassador Bartinah Ntombizodwa Radebe-Netshitenzhe of South Africa met at the Department of National Defense’s (DND) main office in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on August 26.
SENIOR Undersecretary Jose C. Faustino Jr. and Ambassador Ilan Fluss of Israel DND/PNA FAUSTINO and Ambassador Bartinah Ntombizodwa Radebe-Netshitenzhe of South Africa DND/PNA
Ambassador Agus Widjojo of Indonesia (left) exchanges pleasantries with one of the 20 exhibitors of the Indonesia Expo 2022. The event ran until August 28.
CONFIRMATION
“[The] ambassador mentioned that the Philippines and South Africa could explore collaborations on peacekeeping operations and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, among others,” Andolong said. He added that the two officials also discussed possible frameworks on defense cooperation, security and defense priorities, the Philippines’s military modernization program, including geopolitical issues in their respective regions. “The [DND OIC] conveyed that the Philippines views South Africa as a potential partner in the African region. The two sides agreed that both countries share common defense and security challenges, particularly combatting terrorism, insurgency, and other internal and external security threats,” Andolong relayed. “The ambassador highlighted that [her country] is willing to share its expertise and expressed interest in learning from the Philippines’s experiences.” He also shared that the two officials reaffirmed interest in finalizing a framework to pave the way for pursuing areas of defense cooperation.“Theofficials recalled the successful procurement projects of the Philippines with South Africa, and agreed on the importance of modernizing and capacitating both countries’ armed forces,” the spokesperson imparted. Andolong said both sides also encouraged further enhancement of defense and military relations, as well as continued discussion on specific issues, concerns and possible areas of cooperation. EU assistance MEANWHILE, Faustino cites the European Union (EU) for assisting the country’s disaster-relief efforts, as he met with Ambassador Luc Véron on August “Considering25.the effects of climate change on a country prone to tropical cyclones and other natural disasters, Senior Undersecretary Faustino expressed appreciation for the EU’s aid and assistance to the Philippines’s disaster relief operations,” Andolong revealed. Both Faustino and Véron, the DND spokesperson said, welcomed the positive developments in the ongoing bilateral relations between the EU and the Philippines, as well as the bloc’s interest in defense and security cooperation with partnercountries in the Southeast Asian region.“Ambassador Véron also shared the EU’s political commitment to working with Asean, [as he anticipates receiving the country’s delegation that will commemorate the 45th Asean-EU Anniversary in Brussels, Belgium come December],” he Andolongadded. also shared that Faustino welcomed the increasing engagement of the EU in the region, and looked forward to working with the union in the future. Regarding issues on the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea, both officials agreed on the importance of upholding the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS, preservation of freedom of navigation, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. “Ambassador Véron ensured that these principles remain in line with the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy,” Andolong added. Italy vows support A FEW days prior, the Italian government expressed its intention to aid the ongoing AFP modernization program, as Ambassador Marco Clemente of Italy made a courtesy call with Faustino on August 16.
“The officials also recalled the successful acquisition of AgustaWestland (AW) helicopters for the Philippine Navy (PN) and attack helicopters for the Philippine Air Force (PAF), to which the ambassador expressed the Italian government’s readiness to continuously support the [AFP’s] capability-upgrade program,” Andolong said. The DND spokesperson was referring to the AW-109 helicopters which are now in service with the PN and PAF as attack and combatutilityTheaircraft.PNhas two attack versions of the AW-109, along with three combat-utility models, while the PAF has eight. They were shipped between 2013 and 2016. “The two sides committed to work on a framework of cooperation to further enhance logistics cooperation between the Philippines and Italy,” Andolong said. Clemente also congratulated Faustino on his appointment to the DND, as the former shared he will continue to promote Manila-Rome mutual linkages. The senior undersecretary also extended his greetings to the ambassador in connection with the 75th anniversary of Philippine-Italian diplomatic relations. He also renewed the DND’s pact to develop the two nation’s defense links.“Recognizing that both countries are prone to seismic and volcanic activities, Senior Undersecretary Faustino and Ambassador Clemente also discussed the possibility of cooperation in the area of civil defense,” Andolong said. Priam Nepomuceno/PNA
BusinessMirror
THE Defense Department’s officer-in-charge (left) receives Ambassador Luc Véron of the European Union. DND/PNA THE Defense OIC (left) and Ambassador Marco Clemente of Italy DND/PNA
AmCham: Looking back at 120 years of service
VISIT Mayor Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City (left) welcomes Ambassador Peter MacArthur of Canada during the latter’s courtesy call with the local chief executive. MacArthur received as tokens a coffee table book about the city and a barong Tagalog fabric.
Uplifting Filipino communities PART of AmCham’s mission is to contribute to the country’s civic development. To carry out youth development and disaster-response programs, the chamber established in 1985 its socio-civic arm, the AmCham Foundation Inc. Today the foundation continues to assist Filipino communities by implementing scholarship programs, as well as providing hygiene and educational materials to public schools. It also partners with various organizations in providing medical equipment and supplies to hospitals in the Philippines. It also assists Filipino families affected by disasters by supplying relief packs and reconstruction materials for rebuilding their homes. Raising biz leaders CITING the importance of education in honing leaders, AmCham launched its Business Leadership Program (BLP) in 2002. It aims to educate and train local students to have a better grasp of the role of business in national development. Through BLP, Filipino students are given the opportunity to learn from and interact with top companies and their executives in the Philippines to gain a wider perspective of key global business and economic issues. Initially open for students of Ateneo, De La Salle University and University of the Philippines-Diliman, the program was expanded to include deserving students from other local universities and colleges. Stronger investment climate IN 2010 AmCham, together with other members of the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC), launched “The Arangkada Philippines Project (TAPP)”—an advocacy that aims to increase investment and employment opportunities in the country. TAPP is a comprehensive menu of recommendations for the Philippines, coming from JFC’s 2,000 foreign and domestic members’ proposals. Through the conduct of research and advocacy of reforms, the project aims to boost the growth of key economic reform sectors including agribusiness, creative industries, infrastructure, manufacturing and logistics, mining, as well as tourism. As part of JFC, AmCham conducts an annual assessment of the 471 TAPP recommendations. The organization holds an annual forum for private- and public-sector delegates to conduct the assessment, plus discuss findings and reforms that seek to improve Philippine investment climate.Italso communicates recommendations to leading business groups, trade and industry associations, as well as the national government.
Promoting good corporate governance
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri (right) congratulates Ambassador Antonio Manuel Revilla Lagdameo at the Senate Plenary Hall on August 31. Lagdameo was recently confirmed as the Philippines’s permanent representative to the United Nations. PNA/AVITO DALAN
Envoys&Expats
THE Philippines and its partnercountries are looking to further expand ties in the fields of defense, peacekeeping, as well as humanitarian and disaster-response operations.
ARNOLD ALMACEN/ILOILO CITY MAYOR’S OFFICE
ANOTHER advocacy of AmCham is promoting ethical business practices and good corporate governance. As chief executives of established companies in the country, members of the chamber are committed to lead by example by operating their businesses ethically and with integrity.
Acknowledging that corruption is one of the biggest impediments to the country’s economic growth, the chamber implements the “Integrity Initiative,” which ensures collective action among business enterprises to foster ethical, clean, and transparent business transactions in the Philippines. Members of the chamber are encouraged to take part by being a signatory to the “Integrity Pledge.” While celebrating its milestones throughout 120 years of service to American and Philippine businesses, AmCham is all set to spend another century being the leadership voice of trade and investments in theKnowcountry.more about the chamber by visiting https://amchamphilippines.com/.
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GREETINGS
PHL expands defense ties with partner-countries
PNA/ROBERT OSWALD P. ALFILER AS the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) celebrates its 120th founding anniversary, the organization commemorates more than a century of empowering Philippine and American enterprises in achieving their business goals and contributing to the country’s civic and economic development. AmCham traces its history back to the simple roundtable discussions in 1902 of four Manila Coffee Club members and one from the Manila Merchants Association. With common business objectives and advocacies, the five men met regularly and eventually formed the first American chamber in Asia. A century and two decades later, AmCham is known as one of the oldest and most influential business organizations in the country. To date the chamber has around 800 members, with different chapters from all over the country consisting of individuals; major corporations; as well as micro, small and medium enterprises.Sinceits foundation AmCham has become an avenue for American and non-American businessmen in the country to collaborate in achieving common goals and objectives. Through its 20 sector committees, the nonprofit association ensures the development of the Philippine business ecosystem by providing relevant inputs and opportunities that lead to economic development, social development, policy formulation, and innovation excellence. Some of AmCham’s active member-companies include 3M, AIG, Amazon, Banco de Oro, Capital One, Cargill, Converge, Eastern Communications, Emerson, EON, Globe Business, Johnson and Johnson, Marriott International, Pfizer, P&G, PMFTC, Reckitt, Reed Elsevier Phils., as well as Santos Knight Frank.
Senior Undersecretary Jose C. Faustino Jr., who is the Defense Department’s officer in charge (OIC), met with Ambassador Ilan Fluss of Israel during the diplomat’s courtesy call on September “Among…topics1.discussed were the ongoing consultations on broadening Philippines-Israel defense relations, areas of defense and military cooperation, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program,” Defense Spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said. The two officials underscored that trust and commitment between both countries remain the foundation of their countries’ strong partnership.Duringthe meeting, Faustino stated that this is the appropriate time to broaden Philippine-Israeli defense ties to further enhance logistics and procurement linkages. He also expressed appreciation for the invitations received by the department to attend securityrelated conferences and summits in Israel.“Furthermore, the [OIC] welcomed other possible areas of cooperation, including high-level visits, education and training exchanges, intelligence sharing and self-reliant defense-posture programs, among others,” Andolong said. Fluss also highlighted that defense cooperation is one of the important aspects of bilateral relations between the two countries. “He conveyed that Israel is willing to share its experience and expertise to support the Philippines’s capacity-building efforts, [while participating] in the AFP modernization program,” the DND spokespersonBothadded.thePhilippines and Israel are looking forward to bolstering defense and military relations, while working together in enhancing both countries’ capabilities.
U nlike past Commissioners who have been appointed yearly, Bachmann will hold the post for two consecutive seasons. “(We want to) begin traditions that will be passed on from host to host for seasons to come,” Fr. Suan said, hinting that more new things are coming for the nation’s premiere collegiate league.
C harging forwards with the theme “Rise As One,” Adamson University President Fr. Aldrin Suan said “..the last UAAP season made us fully alive and created champions for life. UAAP Season 85 is hoping to call the entire community to rise as one. It’s been two years since the Covid-19 pandemic (that) has yet to end. Together, we are looking to rise as a nation, helping build a better future for a brighter tomorrow,” he added.
Parañaque to build own coliseum
Tolentino debuts in Penang
THE Blu Boys pay Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines President Jean Henri Lhuillier a courtesy call.
“ We are excited to have him and see him execute his expertise and vision for our basketball tournaments, not just this season but also for...Season 86,” said UAAP Executive Director Rebo Saguisag.
W hat interesting developments and outcomes could UAAP Season 85 basketball bring us in terms of team action, game outcomes and officiating?Something watch-worthy this way comes.
Editor:mirror_sports@yahoo.com.phJunLomibao
HARMIE CONSTANTINO and Rianne Malixi share the lead with opening round 74s.
CONSTANTINO thrived on the par-5 No. 17 to salvage a two-over 74 and catch amateur hotshot Rianne Malixi at the helm just a stroke ahead of Marvi Monsalve at the start of the Interna tional Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Valley Golf Challenge in Antipolo City on Wednesday. Constantino and Malixi took charge at the end of a punishing day where the lead routinely changed hands in furnace-like conditions at Valley South with the former enduring a pair of back-to-back bogey mishaps from Nos. 1 and 14 with two birdies, the last on the penultimate hole that saved her a pair of 37s. I played okay but I could’ve have played better since there were a lot of putts that I could’ve made and a lot of up-and-downs that I could’ve saved,” said Constantino, who also flubbed a couple of birdie chances from close Malixi,range.toughened up by a three-month stint in the US, held heragainstground
T HE national men’s softball team— called the Blu Boys—are going to the World Cup of Softball later this year in New Zealand. The Blu Boys lost to Japan, 2-9, in its final match in the recent World Baseball Softbal Confederation (WBSC) Men’s Softball Asia Cup Championship in Kochi but still took the last seat to the World Cup. Re aching the finals was not easy as the Blu Boys finished only second to Singapore in Group B in the elimination round, lost to Japan, 0-7, but beat India, 8-1, enough to snatch the remaining slot. It will be the Blu Bloys’ ninth in 11 attempts entry to the World Cup where the Philippines booked a best finish of fourth place way back in 1968. We’re very proud of our Blu Boys, they accomplished their mission despite numerous challenges,” Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines President Jean Henri Lhuillier said. “We’re looking forward to their stint in the World Cup and definitely, they will get the support they need to prepare for it.” B lu Boys head Coach Apol Rosales lauded his team’s performance against Japan. “ The Japanese are No. 2 in the world, just to play them in the finals was a big accomplishment already, and we even scored 2 runs from 6 hits in that game,” Rosales said. “It’s a big improvement for us considering Japan blanked us earlier in the tournament.”
J RU is expected to make a strong statement this year, San Sebastian is set to flash its winning culture all over again, University of Perpetual Help System Dalta will rely on its intact line-up, while San Beda will try again to own the jungle with rookie coach, Yuri Escueta. A nd the Arriba team still has its sights set on a three-peat, never mind that league MVP and go-to guy, Rhenz Abando, has brought his talents to South Korea. A vid NCAA fans will have their weeks full as games are played every Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. M eanwhile, on the other side of the fence, the UAAP has announced it will begin its 85th season on Saturday, October 1. Unlike Season 84, the new season will stretch across a longer timeline, with game schedules returning to pre-pandemic play dates, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday.
Co legio de San Juan De Letran was supposed to be in the opening day mix, but several Knights were sidelined due to health and safety protocols and the defending champions don’t get to see action until Wednesday, September 14, when they face the Heavy Bombers of Jose Rizal University. A ll the teams, however, are gung-ho and eager to test the new pieces and tweaks added to their respective games during the preseason. The Mapua Cardinals seem solid as they play with an intact line-up, the College of St. Benilde (CSB) Blazers has picked up twoway player Miguel Oczon from National University and his presence should spark up the CSB bench and gallery.
There should be continuity through training and they (referees) need to call some games outside of the UAAP which will also be supervised.
PHL volleybelles compete in Thailand tournaments
T WO Philippine teams— volleyball and volleyball—flewbeachtoThailand on Wednesday to see action in separate tournaments. The same national team that finished a record sixth in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup for Women that the Philippine National Volleyball Federation hosted at the PhilSports Arena two weeks ago will vie in the Second Asean Grand Prix beginning Friday in Nakhon Ratchasima. T he pairs of Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons and Dij Rodriguez and Gen Eslapor, meanwhile, will be in Roi-et also in Thailand for the AVC Asian Beach Tour Roi-et Open from September 10 to 12 and AVC Senior Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship from September 14 to 17. It’s again a busy schedule for our national teams as they compete in these two tournaments in Thailand,” said PNVF President Ramon “Tats” Suzara from Poland where he’s tasked as a technical delegate for FIVB world championships.ExceptforIndonesia, the nationals have already faced the Thais and the Vietnamese in the nine-team AVC Cup for Women ruled by Japan. T he Philippines will face Thailand at 7 p.m. on Friday, Vietnam at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Indonesia at 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Asean Grand Prix was first staged in 2019 with two legs with the Philippines finishing with the bronze medal in the Nakhon Ratchasima and Santa Rosa (Laguna) editions. Jia de Guzman, a member of the 2019 team, will lead the squad.
A NEW and modern coliseum worth P200 million will be built in the heart of Parañaque City, Mayor Eric Olivarez announced Wednesday. The soon-to-rise Parañaque City Coliseum will be situated beside the Parañaque City College at the corner of Cavitex and Victor Medina Street, making it in the vicinity of Baclaran, the business district shared by Parañaque and Pasay City. Olivarez made the announcement after a series of meetings with city sports officials and consultants. He noted that the sports center is a project of his elder brother and predecessor Edwin Olivarez. But it was halted after the national government declared lockdowns amid Covid-19 pandemic in 2020,” Eric Olivarez said. Olivarez said that City Budget Officer Alejandro Depano and City Treasurer Anthony Pulmano assured him that the city coffers would have funds available next year for this multi-million government infrastructure project. Under the engineering plan, he said, the coliseum will have a 5,000-seating capacity that will feature the most modern technology and sports equipment available in the market today. Olivarez said that the sports center would be the official home court of the city’s basketball and volleyball teams and other indoor sports like badminton, tennis and table tennis.
Concurrent Philippine Basketball Association 3x3 chairman and former Alaska governor in the pro league Dickie Bachmann is the new guy to oversee the league’s basketball action and address its concerns.
B8 Thursday sepTemBer 8, 2022
My main task is improving the officiating of the league,” Bachmann said. “A one-year term on any commissioner is not enough.
The Rondina-Pons and RodriguezEslapor pairs, meanwhile, are among 22 teams competing in the Roi-et Open. They will compete against host Thailand (four teams), Australia (two), China (two), Hong Kong, Japan (two), New Zealand (two), Singapore (two), Chinese Taipei (two), Malaysia, Vanuatu and Vietnam. T he Philippine pairs are also among the 32 tandems in the AVC Senior Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship which has five squads from Thailand, three from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore, two from Chinese Taipei, and one from Vanuatu and Vietnam. P aul Jan Doloiras is the head coach, while Romnick Rico serves as the assistant coach. It will be Rondina, Pons and Rodriguez’s first international competition since helping the Philippines bag bronze with Jovelyn Gonzaga in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam last May. E slapor’s most recent competition overseas was the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour last March where she paired with Nene Bautista. They clinched bronze in the Women’s Challenger Division held at the Coolangatta Beach.
I’m going to meet each team...go to each school and meet each head coach to know their experiences from past seasons. I’m going to listen to them and see the positives and negatives of past seasons so we can improve on those.’
HARMIE
They’re so back!
T he UAAP has yet to release its full basketball schedule and that of other sports in the first semester, but has already announced its choice of basketball commissioner.
Joining her are Tots Carlos, Ced Domingo, Jeanette Panaga, Michele Gumabao, Ella de Jesus, Risa Sato, Pau Soriano, Kyla Atienza, Fille Cayetano, Kyle Negrito, Rosemarie Vargas and Rizza Mandapat. S herwin Meneses is the head coach with Karlo Santos and Bok Morado as his assistants and Mark Caron as strength and conditioning coach.
Blu Boys off to World Cup
the two-time Ladies Philippine Golf Tour (LPGT) winner and last year’s Order of championMeritinone of the featured flights and looked headed to wrest early control with a bogey-birdie card after four holes. But she holed out with a double-bogey on the par-5 No. 5 then negated a birdie on the ninth with a missed green bogey on the 15th, dropping her to joint lead instead, also with a couple of 37s. Not good,” said Malixi when asked to describe her round, ruing her day-long struggle with her irons. “ My iron game wasn’t that good and it could’ve been better. I wasn’t able to convert some putts, didn’t make those that mattered,” the 15-year-old rising star said. I’ll just play my relaxed game tomorrow (today) and not put pressure on myself,” she added.
CEBU Chooks! players (from left) Brandon Ramirez, Mac Tallo, Vince Tolentino and Zach Huang are ready for action.
T he National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) are holding their 98th and 85th seasons respectively this September and early October. With the previous season sealed only last May, how cool is it that in 2022 “NC” and “Yuwap” fans are going to experience two collegiate seasons in one year? T he NCAA takes the lid off their goodies this weekend, September 10, with host school Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) clashing with Arellano University at 3:30 p.m. and last season’s Final Four rivals, San Beda and Mapua carrying on where they left off in their exciting showdown in Season 97.
AND just like that, the next few days and months are gonna be busybusy-busy for lovers and avid watchers of collegiate sports.
HARMIE, RIANNE AHEAD
C hihiro Ikeda, winner of the Eagle Ridge Aoki leg last July before the Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.organized circuit took a two-month break, also birdied the 17th but her 76 dropped her two strokes off the joint leaders in a tie with Sarah Ababa, who actually tied Malixi and Constantino at one-over with a birdie on No. 12. But the one-time LPGT winner at Sherwood in 2015, who finished second to Ikeda at Aoki, dropped three strokes on the tough par-4 13th and ended up with a pair of 38s. M afy Singson, who matched Malixi’s feat at Luisita last March with a victory at windy Splendido last May, also caught up with the coleaders with a birdie on No. 11 after making the turn at 38. But the World Amateur veteran yielded three straight strokes from No. 12 and bogeyed two of the last three against a birdie on the 15th. She limped with a 77 for a share of sixth with fellow amateur Alethea Gaccion, who also gained a stroke on No. 17 for a 42-35. A bigail Abarcas, the other amateur in the compact field, snatched the lead with four straight pars but fell just as quickly as she bogeyed the next five holes for a 41 which she later matched at the back in a round marred by four bogeys and a double bogey against a lone birdie. She skied to an 82. But with the prevailing conditions at the tight, hazard-laden rolling layout, no lead is safe or no deficit is too big, guaranteeing another topsy-turvy second round today and a wild finish in the 54-hole tournament Friday. Pamela Mariano and Martina Miñoza matched 79s, Gretchen Villacencio struggled with an 80 and amateur Eagle Ace Superal and Lucy Landicho carded identical 81s.
ROY DOMINGO
V INCE TOLENTINO will have his baptism of fire with an all-Filipino Cebu Chooks! crew that will vie in the FIBA 3x3 Penang Challenger on September and to 11. The 6-foot-5 all-around forward out of Ateneo will join the country’s No. 1 Mac Tallo, No. 2 Zach Huang and No. 4 Brandon Ramirez in the Level 9 FIBA 3x3 tournament that serves as a qualifier for the 2022 Paris Masters. I’m really excited as this will be my first-ever 3x3 tournament. Definitely looking forward to competing with my new teammates and representing the country,” Tolentino said. “I’ll do my best in fulfilling my role here in the team.” V isa issues forced import Mike Nzeusseu out of the Malaysia event. This will be a good test for Cebu Chooks! on whether they can compete on their own. All of our efforts for the next month will be leading towards our hosting Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3x3 Cebu World Tour Masters and Penang will be a good test for our team,” said Chooksto-Go president Ronald Mascariñas as the Cebu Masters will take place October 1 to 2 at SM Seaside. Cebu Chooks! is bracketed in Pool A with Serbia’s Liman Huishan NE and Mongolia’s Zavkhan MMC Energy. Cebu faces Mongolia’s second-best team at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday before squaring off against the second-best team in the world at 6:50 p.m. The top two teams will advance to the knockout stages of the tournament which has a $40,000 prize pool. “I will use this tournament as my gauge on who will compose the Cebu team for the Cebu Masters,” head trainer Chico Lanete said. “Hopefully, we can bounce back in this tournament and gain momentum for our hosting.”
THE Philippine volleyball and beach volleyball squads strike a pose before boarding their flights.
Monsalve missed forcing a threeway tie in the early going of the P750,000 tournament with a flubbed par-putt on the challenging par-3 closing hole but her 75 put her on track for a crack at a breakthrough win in the tour put up by ICTSI.
