Manila Standard - 2020 April 4 - Saturday

HOMAGE.

The word “merci” (thank you in French) is displayed on the Eiffel Tower in a tribute to healthcare workers, security personnel and workers mobilized during a lockdown in France aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 in Paris. AFP

VOL. XXXIV • NO. 52 • 2 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PH joins race for virus cure Lab tests begin on 4 drugs under WHO’s Solidarity Trial

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

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HE Philippines will join more than 45 countries that will hold clinical trials to test four different drugs or combinations of drugs in search of a treatment for the deadly COVID-19, which has infected 3,018 and killed 136 people in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

The department reported the biggest single-day increase in COVID-19 fatalities and confirmed 385 new cases Friday.

Health officials said they expect an even sharper spike in the number of cases as mass testing is set to begin April 14.

To date, they said, 52 people have recovered from the disease.

Full-scale testing began in eight laboratories nationwide Thursday, and 66 other laboratories are being prepared to handle more tests.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the World Health Organization (WHO) clinical trial—dubbed the Solidarity Trial—is a global search for Next page

House panel looks into slow-motion aid releases

By Maricel V. Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo

the Bayanihan Act will conduct hearings through teleconferencing next week to assess the implementation of the law amid the slow release of cash aid for those hurt SPEAKER Alan Peter Cayetano on Fri- most by the lockdown imposed to contain day said the House panel tasked to review the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 PH

At the same time Cayetano said he will leave it to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases to determine the duration of the ongoing enhanced community quarantine Next page

AT A GLANCE

(AS OF 4 PM APRIL 3)

3,018

NUMBER OF CASES

136 DEATHS

52

LGUs tapped to clear way for deliveries

By Alena Mae S. Flores, Maricel V. Cruz, Vito Barcelo and Rio N. Araja THE Energy Department sought the cooperation of local government units to ensure unimpeded delivery of petroleum products amid reports that some deliveries are being held at checkpoints during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

“We have been receiving reports that delivery of petroleum products are being held and delayed at LGU checkpoints,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

RECOVERIES

385

NEW CASES

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One of the proposed quarantine areas at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila gets a makeover to fit the requirements of the Department of Health led by Secretary Francisco Duque III (inset, right). The 112-bed quarantine area will be manned by the AFP medical corps and be made operational next week. Two other ‘instant hospitals’ are being built at the Philippine International Convention Center and World Trade Center.

Norman Cruz, DOH

the US, Spain and Britain all seeing their worst days yet.

The United States now accounts for around a quarter of

THE World Bank has approved the first steps in a plan to roll out $160 billion in emergency aid over 15 months to help countries deal with the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The board of the Washington-based development lender approved the first set of fast-track crisis projects, with an initial $1.9 billion going to 25 countries, and operations moving forward in another 40 nations, the bank said in a statement.

“The goal of the World Bank in this

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White ribbon: Global cases soar past a million; US posts highest death toll Love in the time WORLD ROUNDUP of lockdown THE number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world has soared past one million and deaths have topped 50,000 as the United States reported the highest daily death toll of any country so far.

Despite more than half the planet living in some form of lockdown, the virus is continuing to spread rapidly, and to claim lives at an alarming pace, with

By Randy Caluag GUIGUINTO town in Bulacan near the North Luzon Expressway north of Manila has adopted white ribbons, or anything white piece of cloth, as a symbol of love in this difficult season of COVID-19, which has infected 3,018 and killed 136 in the country.

Those in the middle-income sector and officials of Barangay Malis have discovered a simple way to maximize the limited supply of relief goods to the lower-income residents.

Families were asked to put up white Next page

COVID making people fatter, nutritionist says

World Bank sets $160-b aid to 25 nations

Hour-long concert raises P1.5 m

THE coronavirus has shaken the world like nothing else.

But beyond the terrible toll of death, economic devastation and fear, the virus is likely to leave another lasting mark.

THE online hourlong Bayanihan Musikahan fundraiser, a live conce r t- f ro m - h o us e of musical theater artist Lea Saonga has scooped up

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Corona beer also a virus victim THE Mexican brewer of Corona beer said it was suspending production because of the health emergency in the country over the COVID-19 pandemic.

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News

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PH joins...

From A1 drugs that can treat COVID-19, which has infected more than 1 million people and killed more than 50,000 people worldwide.

As deaths continue to mount, WHO and its member countries have been rushing clinical trials in the hopes of finding an off-label drug that can treat the new strain of coronavirus.

More than 45 countries have announced their participation in the Solidarity Trial, the WHO said and more have expressed interest in joining.

The clinical trials will test four different drugs or combinations of them.

Among the drugs that will be included in the trial are remdesivir, lopinavir and ritonavir combined, two drugs plus interferon beta, and 4) chloroquine.

Remdesivir has been used to treat Ebola virus while ritonavir/lopinavir is used for HIV infections. Interferon-beta is a molecule used to regulate inflammation in the body while chloroquine is used to treat malaria.

Their effectiveness will be compared to what is called standard of care — the regular support hospitals treating COVID-19 patients use now.

The first batch of patients has already been enrolled in the program.

Duque said Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases President Dr. Marissa Alejandria will be representing the Philippines while Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire will be serving as the DOH liaison for WHO.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on Wednesday said that it will be conducting tests on virgin coconut oil (VCO) and how it can be used as treatment for COVID-19.,” DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said the research on VCO is planned to have two arms: one hospital-based and one community-based.

He said the hospital-based study, entitled “Virgin Coconut Oil and Omega3a Adjunctive Therapy for Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19,” will be conducted at the Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) by the team of Dr. Marissa Alejandria.

“The VCO will serve as a supplement to the daily treatment regimen of the COVID-19 positive patients,” De la Peña said. “The study aims to assess the possible benefits of VCO if given to patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 in addition to the drugs being assessed in the clinical trials.”

De la Peña said the study may last for at least one month or until they reach the minimum number of patients required.

Also participating in the study are the UP-PGH Clinical COVID-19 Research Group and the Metro Manila Health Research and Development Consortium of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST PCHRD).

He said another study will be led by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute at quarantine facilities in Metro Manila and Calabarzon with the help of DOST CALABARZON and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

In these tests, coconut oil will be incorporated in the food provided to patients under investigation for COVID-19.

“The study aims to assess the possible benefits provided by VCO for patients with COVID-19 as well as contacts and other high-risk groups,” De la Peña said. “The project team is planning to conduct the same to their previous intervention studies and the dietary supplementation may possibly run for at least four weeks.”

There is no vaccine or cure yet for the new strain of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) assured the public that it will shoulder the full cost of treatment of COVID-19 cases until April 14, 2020.

In its advisory addressed to all accredited hospitals and health facilities in the country, PhilHealth clarified that after April 14, it would provide financial coverage to COVID cases through a recomputed case rate.

“The reason for this accommodation window is due to the novelty and the wide range of severity of the disease in the country for which no existing case rate or package based on accepted protocols has yet been established,” the agency said.

PhilHealth said it was confident that

by April 14, more about the behavior of the disease in the Philippines can be learned, a final protocol will be established, and an appropriate case rate can be developed.

Under the newly passed Bayanihan Act, all health workers will be covered even beyond the April 14 2020 cut-off date for all work and COViD-19-related health services. This will also include all other personnel necessary for the operation of a health facility.

The chief implementer of the National Action Plan against COVID-19 said Thursday night the government would speed up accreditation of subnational laboratories so mass testing of persons suspected of having COVID-19 could begin soon.

“We expect that by April 14, we should be able to start mass testing,” said Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., presidential peace adviser.

Aside from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, hospitals that have been accredited so far for COVID-19 testing are the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Western Visayas Medical Center, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, Southern Philippines Medical Center and the University of the PhilippinesNational Institute of Health.

The government is also in the process of converting the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, World Trade Center, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, and the Philippine International Convention Center into quarantine facilities.

Senators said Friday the plan for mass testing would save more lives.

Senate President Ralph Recto said mass testing is essential. For those who will test positive, he said the government must have facilities to isolate and care for them. He said this will reduce the transmission rate of the disease and will save more lives.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, too, emphasized the importance of mass testing for people with symptoms, saying this would identify those infected so they can be isolated to prevent the spread of infection.

World Bank...

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House...

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crisis has been to take broad, fast action, that makes it most effective if we can have a broad response that helps individual countries but that helps the group as a whole,” World Bank President David Malpass told reporters.

“The poorest and most vulnerable countries will likely be hit the hardest, and our teams around the world remain focused on country-level and regional solutions to address the ongoing crisis.”

India will be the largest beneficiary of the first wave of programs with a facility for $1 billion, followed by Pakistan with $200 million and Afghanistan with a little over $100 million, but funding is going to countries on nearly every continent, the bank said.

Included in that $160 billion total is approximately $14 billion in debt repayments from 76 poor countries to other governments that the bank, along with the International Monetary Fund, has asked rich nations to suspend.

Malpass told reporters the organizations are calling for “a standstill in their repayment expectations,” to begin May 1 and extend through June 2021.

That “provides new financing to the poorest countries to meet healthcare needs and many of their other needs,” he said, adding that there appeared to be a willingness among G20 nation but each country would have to negotiate individually.

The bank also is working to redeploy $1.7 billion of existing funding, including the use of “catastrophic deferred drawdowns,” a type of emergency credit line.

In addition, the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, is providing $8 billion in financing “to help private companies affected by the pandemic and preserve jobs.”

that has paralyzed the country.

“While our primary concern is the increase in the number of COVID cases, my worry is the ability of the people to sustain unemployment in the long term, that may lead to starvation and death,” Cayetano said. “The cure may turn out to be worse that the disease” In addition, Cayetano expressed concern over the snail-paced distribution of cash and food assistance by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Cayetano said it has been more than a week since the law was enacted, and yet the supposed assistance has not been delivered by the DSWD. Deputy Speaker for Finance and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuete said the DSWD should immediately deliver cash transfers to 18 million families that were hard hit by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

“In keeping with President Duterte’s latest directive on the immediate delivery of cash transfers to 18 million families hit the hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, the Defeat Covid-19 Ad Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives believes the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) could actually do

so right away by releasing the P5,000 to P8,000 subsidy this weekend to as many families possible on its list of poor and low-income families plus other vulnerable sectors,” Villafuerte said.

He said the ad hoc panel chaired by Cayetano will suggest to “the DSWD to do away with the tedious process of validating roughly 80 percent of the target beneficiaries of the Emergency Subsidy Program (ESP) by releasing the cash transfers to the 15 million families on its list, many of whom are already receiving financial aid from the government’s assorted social protection programs on a regular basis.”

“If the DSWD were to do so, the DSWD could kick-off this biggest ever social protection program in the country by releasing the emergency subsidy to an initial list nationwide this Friday, with the rest for delivery this weekend and next week,” said Villafuerte, a member of the House ad hoc panel and the principal author in the Bayanihan Act. Villafuerte said the DSWD could then proceed with the sign up and validation of the remaining 3 million households targeted for financial aid under the new law but who are not yet on DSWD’s list.

“In keeping with the President’s April 1 directive that there should be no delay anymore in the delivery of financial aid to the most vulnerable Filipino

families, the House panel believes the DSWD should distribute the money pronto to the 18 million beneficiary households, beginning with those on its... list,” Villafuerte said.

The Palace said Friday thousands of poor families from Manila and Paranaque were the first batch to receive their emergency subsidy.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino and poor families in Manila and Paranaque will receive subsidies of from P5,000 to P8,000 per household monthly for two months to enable them to cope with the Luzon-wide lockdown.

Nograles, spokesman of the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said the DSWD had already received the first P100 billion of the P200 billion worth of cash aid for about 18 million poor families affected by the month-long enhanced community quarantine of Luzon.

The grant of emergency subsidy to 18 million poor households is provided for in Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act that was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 24.

Nograles said the subsidies for other beneficiaries living outside Manila and Parañaque would be distributed “in the next few days.”

It is going to make us all fatter.

“I don’t know if we are going to come out of this experience stronger, but we will have gotten fatter,” warned nutritionist Beatrice de Reynal, who said that was only one thing to do – eat less.

“It is going to happen to us all, even if we try to exercise,” said the similarly fatalistic Julian Mercier, a French sports, health and cooking coach.

With more than a quarter of humanity shut up at home or under lockdown, and with many worried they will get the virus next, the temptation to comfort eat was hard to resist.

“I am the first to turn to chocolate rather than to an apple,” Mercier admitted. “And that is what risks being our undoing.”

The arithmetic of the situation is hard to argue with.

By doing little or none of the physical activity we normally do, an adult is likely to burn off up to 400 fewer calories a day,

said dietician Jennifer Aubert.

Which is why we have to reduce our portions and move as much as we can – as long as it is not to the fridge and back.

Other experts point to people who have panic-bought a cupboard full of fresh food, finding themselves dutybound to eat their way through it.

Being alone and coping with the stress of the situation, as well as worries about whether they will have a job to go back to, can tip people into overeating, the British Nutrition Foundation warned. AFP

“We are in the process of lowering production at our plants to the bare minimum,” the company said in a statement, adding it would complete the suspension in the following days.

Mexico’s government has said that only key sectors such as agribusiness will be able to continue to function.

Grupo Modelo said it was ready to operate with 75 percent of its

staff working remotely to guarantee the supply of beer, if the government agreed.

Mexico’s other major beer producer Heineken – which makes the Tecate and Dos Equis brands – could also stop activities on Friday, the Reforma newspaper said, although the company did not confirm the report.

On Wednesday, the northern state

of Nuevo Leon, where Heineken’s Mexican operations are based, said it would stop the production and distribution of beer, which led to panic buying.

Since the start of the virus crisis, Corona beer has been the punchline of jokes and memes, and an online rumor said sales in the US dropped by around 40 percent after the outbreak. AFP

Corona beer...

From A1 Grupo Modelo – whose brands also include Pacifico and Modelo – said the measure was in line with the Mexican government’s order to suspend all nonessential activities until April 30 to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Global cases...

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COVID...

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break, Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents the analysis,” the ADB said. to cover their faces when outside and Vice The Manila-based bank said a shorter President Mike Pence said there would be a containment period could pare the lossrecommendation on the use of masks by the es to $2 trillion. all known infections around the globe, general public in the next few days.

Slowdown in Spain and its death toll is rocketing up.

Economic losses Europe has been at the center of the crisis for weeks, but there have been may reach $4.1T 100,000 body bags The coronavirus pandemic could cost signs that the epidemic could be apabout 6,000 people have died in the US outbreak, according to a tally by the global economy $4.1 trillion, the Asian proaching its peak there.

Spain and Britain saw record numJohns Hopkins University, more than Development Bank warned on Friday.

The estimated impact is equivalent to bers of new deaths in a 24-hour period 1,100 of them in the last 24 hours.

White House experts say between nearly five percent of worldwide output – 950 and 569 respectively.

Italy and Spain together account for al100,000 and 240,000 Americans could based on a range of scenarios, but the lender said losses from “the worst pan- most half of the global death toll, but exultimately die from the disease. perts say the number of new infections in Disaster response agency FEMA on demic in a century” could be higher.

“The estimated impact could be an both countries is continuing to slow.

Thursday asked the US military for “The data show the curve has staunderestimate, as additional channels 100,000 body bags.

Around 85 percent of Americans are such as...possible social and financial bilized” and the epidemic has entered under some form of stay-at-home order. crises, and long-term effects on health a “slowdown” phase, Spanish Health In New York, the epicenter of the US out- care and education are excluded from Minister Salvador Illa said. AFP

Hour-long...

From A1 P1.5 million in total donations Thursday intended to give muscle to the fight against COVID-19.

Salonga, known for her role in “Miss Saigon” in the 1970s after the fall of the South Vietnamese capital to the communists, began and ended the 60 minutes concert, livestreamed on FaceBook, with composition by the principal organizer of the project, national artist for music Ryan Cayabyab.

Salonga underlined citizen participation in this unprecedented pandemic season, which in the Philippines killed 136 and registered 3,018 positive cases by 4 pm Friday while health authorities are shifting to high

LGUs...

From A1 Cusi called on the governors, mayors, barangay captains of LGUs to allow deliveries of petroleum products to pass their jurisdiction on the way to the delivery points.

“This will help assure that the nearby areas will have adequate supply of petroleum products, which is very important to people’s lives and provision of service,” the Energy chief said.

Cusi earlier assured the public of continuous and sufficient oil supply in the National Capital Region during the 30-day ECQ from March 15 to April 14 imposed by the government as part of efforts to contain the spread of the corona virus disease 2019.

“During this most challenging time, it is imperative to ensure the continued supply of fuel products, especially in areas under quarantine.

Having sufficient petroleum supply is vital, making it a critical concern amid this crisis. The entire energy family is working 24/7 to make sure that energy services remain unimpeded,” Cusi said.

Based on the agency’s assessment of the country’s oil inventory as of Feb. 29, about 2.7 billion liters of crude and oil products were available equivalent to 45 days of fuel supply.

The department said this indicated that inventory was well supplied for the one-month quarantine period in NCR. The 45-day fuel supply is above the minimum inventory requirement being observed by the oil industry.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, spokesman for the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the government would use a Quick Response (QR)-based pass system at checkpoints to better enforce social distancing and speed the passage of vehicles passing through them.

“The reality is that while the majority of the population remain home during the ECQ, there are still people who need to leave their homes to report for work, such as our health personnel and those working in essential industries,” Nograles said.

“However, the question is, how do we limit contact between exempted individuals and personnel manning our checkpoints? How do we ensure social distancing when individuals must show their IDs and documents?”

He this could be solved by a system where personnel manning checkpoints can use QR scanners on their phones to scan QR codes that will be assigned to authorized individuals.

White ribbon:...

From A1 ribbons or any form of white cloth on their gates to indicate they are waving off the food packs in favor of their neighbors who need more help.

“We asked our more fortunate residents to make way for our neighbors who need them (relief goods) more.

We are so thankful many responded positively to our call,” said Barangay Malis chief Cezar Mendoza said in an interview with a TV station, beamed nationwide.

Just like what other barangay executives have been experiencing, Mendoza said they were at a loss on how to distribute their limited support to all their affected constituents.

President Rodrigo Duterte has put the country’s main island of Luzon, where there are more than 27 million households, in a modified lockdown since March 17.

That prevented movements of workers and allowed only essential business in the medical and food industry to operate.

Displaced workers who get their income on a day-to-day basis--public utility drivers, construction workers, sidewalk vendors and the like -- have not been able to work and earn for their family.

gear to beat the coronavirus.

The amount will be added on to the earned P22.3 million already raised hours earlier on Thursday, which encouraged Filipinos at home and abroad watching from their homes – in the forced self-quarantine restrictions imposed by the national government – to donate.

The donated amount is expected to help increase the fund-raising momentum and speed up delivery of food packs to the marginalized communities in Metro Manila, where nearly 13 million of the country’s 108 million people live.

The Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid, a 70,000-member urban poor organization, began distributing the Bayanihan Musikahan food packs from a few days after the launch of the marathon concert series.

News P’que hands cash vouchers to trike, pedicab drivers

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Manila LGU protects COVID-19 patients

By Willie Casas

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HE Manila government has made discrimination against persons with the coronavirus disease, those suspected with infection, and all health workers, punishable by law.

By Joel E. Zurbano PARAÑAQUE City Mayor Edwin Olivarez has distributed P10 million worth cash vouchers to 10,000 tricycle and pedicab drivers affected by the enhanced community quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

City chief information officer Mario Jimenez said the financial support, which came from the mayor’s personal pocket, is being given to all duly registered tricycle and pedicab drivers including their operators in the city The P1,000 worth SM gift check can be used in buying daily commodities and foods in Savemore, Hypermart, Alfamart and SM Supermarket which are open in several cities in Metro Manila, according to Jimenez.

The beneficiaries are urged to coordinate with the Traffic and Parking Management Office and Tricycle Regulatory Office or officials of their respective associations.

Around 14,000 members of the city tricycle association and about 1,000 pedicab drivers earn their living on a daily basis, but were unable to ply their usual routes after the enhanced community quarantine started March 17, Jimenez said.

He said the financial relief will enable the affected drivers to buy food for their families.

This is on top of the food assistance already being extended by the city government following the lockdown and suspension of transport system in the city.

Aside from cash voucher, the city government is also working on other programs to help tricycle drivers whose livelihoods have been affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to COVID-19.

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AMNESTY. The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait is urging OFWs and undocumented Filipinos to avail of Kuwait’s amnesty program and come back home.

Gov’t must hasten implementation of nat’l ID—Win

By Macon Ramos-Araneta THE government needs to hasten the implementation of the national ID system for a quicker health and calamity response in the future to prevent a repeat of the mistakes committed in tracing persons suspected with COVID-19 infections, according to Senator Win Gatchalian.

The law, which was signed by President Duterte in August 2018, is aimed at creating a single official identification card for all citizens that would interconnect government-issued IDs. He said the National ID System will have basic information to be sourced from data collected by the Philippine Statistics Authority. The cards will be given for free.

The government has started pilot testing the national ID system last year which originally was set to run up to June this year before formally rolling out the

project in July next year.

Gatchalian recalled that during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health assessing the Philippine government’s preparedness on the outbreak of COVID-19 last February, Health Secretary Francisco Duque admitted that they encountered difficulties tracing people who came in contact with COVID-19 patients because some have incomplete or erroneous contact details listed with airline companies.

Gatchalian said some countries with lower COVID-19 cases like Taiwan used their respective national data to trace their citizens’ travel history.

Since January when the world started taking notice of a new coronavirus disease that was rapidly spreading from the Chinese city of Wuhan, neighboring Taiwan integrated travel records from its National Immigration Agency with the National Health Insurance Administration’s (NHIA) existing database to alert

doctors of their patients’ travel history.

By scanning the patient’s NHI card, an alert will pop up if the patient has traveled to or transited through countries with high cases of COVID-19.

Singapore also made use of its National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) for collecting information for the purpose of contact tracing and other measures in its fight against COVID-19.

Taiwan and Singapore have each recorded two deaths as of March 26 while the rest of other nations grapple to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Philippines may learn from the experiences of Singapore and Taiwan on how these countries harnessed their national IDs in containing the outbreak that is sweeping across the globe. That’s why the government needs to implement the national ID system as soon as possible to ensure that we will be more ready in case of future pandemics,” Gatchalian said.

City Ordinance No. 8624 or the “Anti COVID-19 Discrimination Ordinance of 2020” prohibits any form of harassment or discrimination against the abovementioned persons as well as government forces in the frontlines.

The Manila ordinance was created following reports of persons being evicted from their houses or rejected from establishments out of fear that they could infect others.

Some social media posts went as far as spreading names of individuals who are allegedly infected with coronavirus.

Under the ordinance, people who will make false utterance, humiliate, harass, discriminate, and refuse to provide assistance to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, those who are under monitoring and investigation, recovered patients, and frontline workers will be penalized.

Penalties include a fine of P5,000 or imprisonment of up to six months, or both.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday also ordered the police and military to watch out for anyone who will harass health workers.

This came after a hospital personnel in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat was allegedly attacked by strangers by throwing bleach at his face.

DAR lauds 10 farmers group for feeding program

By Rio N. Araja THE Department of Agrarian Reform on Friday lauded 10 agrarian reform communities in Cagayan Valley for their noble act of feeding frontliners in the fight against coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) as well as the needy farmers.

The agency’s regional director, Samuel Solomero, said 10 agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations in the province are doing charitable acts of feeding frontliners, manning various checkpoints and sharing their produce to fellow farmers in distress due to the month-long enhanced community quarantine.

He identified the 10 organizations

as the Bantay Farmer-Producers Cooperative and SOWESFACO in Solana town; Lasvinag and Sunrise Multi-Purpose Cooperatives in Gattaran town; Payagan Farmers Cooperative and Nararagan Valley ARB Cooperative in Ballesteros town; Evergreen ARB Cooperative in Baggao; Santa Cruz MultiPurpose Cooperative in Pamplona; Villarey ARB Cooperative in Piat, and Santa Praxedes Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

He said the farmers’ organizations have taken it upon themselves to go around and provide the front liners manning various checkpoints -- the barangay public safety officers, police and soldiers -- witn packs of food and snacks.

The groups also distributed relief goods to needy farmers, especially those belonging to the poorest of the poor, “reliving in the process the Filipino concept of the bayanihan spirit in their respective communities, he said.

“Indeed, at this time of the crisis, good Samaritans come to the rescue, feeding the front liners and sharing goods to fellow farmers in distress,” the DAR official said.

“It goes to show that our efforts in implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program is bearing fruits according to our mission and vision -- uplifting the farmers’ living condition, making them more productive and empowering them to be of service to their fellowmen,” he added.

PepsiCo donates food, drinks to frontliners

AMELIORATION. Peace Process Secretary Carlito Galvez (wearing light blue shirt), the chief implementor of the government’s national policy on addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic; and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez (in blue shirt), lead the distribution and house-to-house delivery of the P8,000.00 cash as part of the government’s social amelioration program in Brgy. Vitalez, Parañaque City on Friday (April 3, 2020). The social amelioration is based on the maximum subsidy per region determined from the region’s minimum wage levels as these are close approximations to the amount needed to buy basic food, medicine, and hygiene essentials. PNA Photo

TRUE to the bayanihan spirit, all plants of the Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI)—the exclusive manufacturer of PepsiCo beverages and snacks in the country—are initiating donation drives for the benefit of the country’s unsung frontline heroes who are manning checkpoints during the time of COVID-19 pandemic.

For Luzon operations, all of its business units donated more than a hundred cases of drinks, and lent to local government units tents for the use of frontliners across the region. This was led

by Metro Sales’ General Manager Jojo Laurena and Senior General Manager Alvin Valencia.

The Southern Tagalog Region Operations, led by General Manager Oliver Onrubia, also went out to personally handover hydration drinks—including Premier Water, Gatorade, and Pepsi— to six checkpoints around the STRO plant. The main areas include Sto. Tomas Exit, Sto. Tomas-Calamba Exit, and Sto. Tomas Tanauan Exit.

The same donation drive was done in the company’s Central Luzon Operations, specifically in San Fernando, Pampanga plant, which was led by General Manager Ed Apolonia.

WELCOME BACK. Department of Foreign Affairs officials welcomed 248 crew members of MSC Divina who were repatriated from Miami, USA. MSC Cruises, the manning agency of MSC Divina, chartered the flight that brought the repatriates from the said non-COVID-19 infected ship home. The plane landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 at 6 a.m. DFA Photo

Malabon to endorse residents for SAP

By Macon Ramos-Araneta TO ENSURE a comfortable life for all Malabonian families under the enhanced community quarantine, Malabon City Mayor Lenlen Oreta announced his plan to endorse all families living in the city to avail of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s social amelioration package (SAP).

“As early as 2015, no less than the Philippine Statistics Authority has already recorded a total population of 365,525 people, which roughly translates to more than 86,000 families,” Oreta said.

“We definitely have more families today yet the DSWD has allotted only 44,032 slots for the whole city,” also said Oreta, citing a letter from the DSWD informing him of the agency’s program.

As such, the local chief executive has instructed all 21 barangays to update their database of families so he can endorse a master list of all Malabonian families and to avail of the national government’s much-awaited social amelioration package.

“COVID-19 spares no one, rich or poor. Every family deserves aid from the government in these extraordinary times. No one should be left behind,” he added.

For its part, the City Government of Malabon has mobilized e-trikes under its “Palengke-on-Wheels” program in line with physical distancing. It has distributed almost 3,000 sacks of rice, more than 300,000 canned goods, almost 150,000 sachets of coffee, and over 16,000 relief packs from various donations weekly to reach all families living in the City.

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Opinion

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Red tape in government relief SANTA Banana, some of my friends have done nothing but complain about the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Metro Manila and Luzon. They say that since there is nothing good coming out of all this, they have stopped watching TV, listening to the radio, or browsing the Internet.

The result is a delay in much-needed help for the poor.

But how can you keep yourself in informed about what is happening when you shut the world out? Certainly I do not have that luxury, because I am a journalist who must write three columns a week. Information is our ally during this pandemic. *** The most common complaint these days is red tape in the distribution of assistance to the poorest of the poor.

Since it is the barangay that is the frontliner in the implementation of the lockdown, officials have to be guided by instructions from the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Unfortunately, this guidance is much delayed.

The result is that the barangays cannot act, much to the detriment of the people.

This week we heard how some members of the urban poor community demanded that they be given food. And what did the cops do? They arrested them! Since when has it been a crime to cry for help?

This is the problem with the police,

They lack maximum tolerance. This crisis demand sacrifices from everybody. *** There is an ongoing debate on whether the lockdown should be lifted or extended.

The Inter-Agency Task Force is now studying whether it should extend the lockdown of Luzon (originally up to April 12) and Metro Manila (up to April 14). Some people say the lockdown should be extended for one more month; otherwise our gains will go to waste.

My wife and I are now at our wits’ end. We are staying with my daughter, and it is difficult for us to just stay indoors when we need food and medicine. We have a 24-hour curfew in Paranaque City. Still, we know that everybody must sacrifice and that the lockdown should be extended—with some compromises—for the common good.

Lifting the restrictions would be toying with the lives of people. My wife and I see the need for draconian measures. Santa Banana, we have not yet seen the peak of this!

The Philippines is number 33 in the list of countries suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. First on the list is the United States. China, where the virus started, is third; Italy is second.* * * Makati Mayor Abigail Binay reported that the city has started distributing the midyear bonuses to senior citozens.

I am supposed to receive P5,000 while my wife is supposed to receive P4,000.

The problem is we cannot go out of our homes. I wonder if there is a way we can get our bonuses without having to leave our daughter’s home in Paranaque. Just asking, Mayor Abby. *** I will not have a column next week. I will devote my time to meditating and reflecting on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Just remember that without Good Friday, there will be no Easter Sunday.

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Choices in COVID-19 times

T

HE eve of Holy Week in the Gregorian calendar, less than two weeks before the end of the onemonth lockdown, which comes 40 days after Ash Wednesday, is a Christian tradition observed in many denominations.

This is the hallowed stretch of sacrifice leading up to Jesus’ death and Resurrection.

During Lent, Orthodox Christians, Catholics and some Protestants prepare for Holy Week by fasting, praying and reconciling with the Lord.

The observance of Lent this year, when people review their relationship with kin, friends, their neighbors and their community, is underlined with the continuing rampage of the pandemic coronavirus, known as CoViD-19.

As we watch the frontliners rise to the challenge of this unprecedented disease and those quarantined in their respective homes, some thoughts get to

the appreciation of keen observers.

Perhaps this is the better time to evaluate our choices in life: how we treat our kin, our friends, and those in our community, how we made our choices and rejig the same today, given this nightmare.

In the privacy of our thoughts, perhaps, while looking at the evaluation bulletin board, we can “feel” the call to change some of the attitudes we have had for years, what some call the self-absorption and our way of interacting with our fellowmen.

One lesson during Lent that can be adopted during the out-of-control behavior of COVID-19 is the practice

of generosity, which can rise with different profiles.

Instance, do we choose to just stay flies-on-the-wall while we see others falling off their erstwhile health stance, or must we—assuming exemption from the lockdown protocols—lend a generous hand by helping, in the permitted possibility, of helping the ones not in hospitals but off these places with perhaps food supplies that otherwise would not be available to them?

Been said that generosity is an attitude. To have this at this time demonstrates the highest rung in a person’s humanity: where people, whatever their religious and political persuasions are, feel that they are loved.

In another lingo, this underlines what is the essence of the spirit of selfless giving.

This places the well heeled in solidarity with the poor the gifts of sacrifice and almsgiving often declared during Lent.

Unrest in the time of #COVID19PH

THE almost three weeks of the Metro Manila lockdown due to #COVID19PH has revealed how incompetent, insensitive, non-responsive, and irrelevant this government is in meeting the demands of addressing people’s needs in times of crisis.

Metro Manila has been locked down since March 15. Despite Congress’ immediate approval of Republic Act No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One” law granting President Duterte the emergency powers he sought to address the pandemic, and all the talk about the hundreds of billions of pesos that will be released to millions of poor Filipino families needing assistance, NOTHING substantial has been received by families who are now going hungry because of loss of livelihood owing to the lockdown.

No wonder, there is widespread discontent and restiveness among the Filipino people, rich and poor. People are angry for many reasons.

COVID-19 has shown the ineptitude, slowness, and incapacity of our Department of Health (DOH), particularly its leadership to deal with a health crisis. People are unable to forgive Health Secretary Duque for dilly-dallying in terms of preparing for this virus. If only DOH acted promptly and strategically, the country could be in a better position now.

People are very angry at DOH for violating its own protocols on testing for the virus and giving priority to politicians and their families in terms of testing for the virus even if they do not exhibit symptoms. Many ordinary Filipinos who exhibited symptoms were refused testing and hospitalization in the name of DOH protocols, while the same precious testing kits were used for those who hold government posts.

This unequal treatment has resulted in people dying without even knowing if they caught COVID-19.

People were and are livid at Sen. Koko Pimentel, a person under investigation (PUI) who eventually tested positive for the virus. He was supposed to be quarantined. But he INTENTIONALLY went to Makati Medical Center (MMC) with his pregnant wife.

This irresponsible action on the part of a senator of the Republic violated strict

protocols for PUIs and put in danger the lives of everyone who got exposed to Pimentel as well as their families and households.

No wonder MMC issued a strong statement condemning Pimentel’s breach of protocol. A number of hospital staff had to be quarantined, resulting in the further decrease of health personnel who could work to save lives of patients. No wonder, #KokoResign was trending in social media for days.

Not a few want Koko jailed.

People are angry for many reasons.

People mourn and will not forgive government for the deaths of doctors and other medical health workers (HCWs) due to the acute shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Until now, our hospitals and HCWs continue to BEG for PPEs and other supplies.

We have seen pictures of HCWs improvising and resorting to using plastic bags, trash bags, plastic/rubber gloves, raincoats, motorcycle helmets, etc. just to have some protection against the virus. As one doctor said, “wala na ngang PPE, wala pang dignidad.” Needless to say, HCWs are frustrated and there are talks that many want the Health Secretary to resign or be replaced.

President Duterte himself is a target of people’s grumblings. His penchant for late-into-the-night public addresses despite announcements that these would happen many hours earlier is constantly criticized. His preference for police and military solutions despite the fact that COVID-19 has evolved to become a health, social, and economic crisis has not escaped people’s ire.

His pronouncement about wanting all COVID-related donations centralized in the Office of Civil Defense for distribution received a lot of criticisms in the midst of the rapid increase of COVID-19 cases in the country as well as the number of people dying from the disease AND the turtle-paced action of government.

Government is at the receiving end of people’s anger with news reports of dissenters being harassed.

Residents of Sitio San Roque, a poor community in North Triangle, Quezon City with a population of approximately 6,000 families went out Turn to A5

Preparing for the worst be understated given the lack of enough testing kits then, the mass testing to be conducted ten days from now will reveal the real extent of COVID-19 infection in the country.

I DON’T want to sound pessimistic but as we enter the fourth week of the Enhanced Community Quarantine, we cannot expect the number of the COVID-19-infected to subside. Rather, it will be more on the contrary. We don’t need rocket science to come up with this grim projection.

First, it seems that the test results being released by the Department of Health are about five days delayed.

Meaning, the results released last Thursday showing 322 new cases, were taken most probably last March 28. Counting 14 days backward, the incubation period for the coronavirus, we could place the date of their infection around March 14.

Hence, we still have to see the results of the chaotic March 16 and 17 when people surged at the checkpoints set up in the boundaries Metro Manila shares with its neighboring towns, disregarding calls for social distancing. As I have discussed before, even if only one turned out to be infected in any particular checkpoint, he or she would be enough to infect a hundred more.

Second, the Inter-Agency Task Force announced it would ready for mass testing starting April 14. As Health Secretary Francisco Duque had earlier admitted, the number of those infected might

We have yet to see the numbers soar. cerWhile we pray for the best, we cer tainly have to prepare for the worst, especially in coming up with the much-needed quarantine facilities. Reports coming from the ground have it that many people are dying not due to COVID-19 but because of being left unattended in the oven-hot tents outside hospital facilities. According to some accounts, some of those who died in the triage had tested negative for the virus.

It’s a good thing then the government and the private sector have made available some facilities on stand-by for quarantine purposes.

According to social media postings, the Iglesia ni Cristo has made the Philippine Arena available for use for quarantine.

The government has announced the availability of several edifices in the Roxas Boulevard area, the PICC, the World Trade Center, etc.

But the more novel idea which would literally serve its purpose as quarantine areas, is the use of passenger ships as proposed by Senator Francis Tolentino, to which Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has responded favorably.

The deployment of ships, either privately owned or from the Philippine Coast Guard, as emergency hospitals, will greatly ease the burden of public medical facilities in addressing the growing need for hospital beds during this time of national health emergency.

In his letter to Tolentino, Tugade bared the transportation department will initially provide three passenger vessels—one for Luzon (Manila port), Visayas (Cebu port), and Mindanao (Davao port) to serve as hospital ships, with each vessel able to carry up to 1,200 passengers.

Tugade however added it would the Department of Health and the Department of Public Works and Highways who will be in charge of retrofitting these ships for immediate use as health facilities for COVID-19 patients and persons under investigation.

Unlike other agencies and local government units which seem to still groping through their way as the virus continues to devastate the country, Tugade seems ready for the challenge as acting on Tolentino’s suggestion, he immediately called a meeting of the concerned attached agencies such as the Philippine Coast Guard, Marina and Philippine Ports Authority to discuss the plan to commission private passenger vessels and if necessary, PCG vessels, as hospital ships.

Tugade even instructed Marina head Vice Adm. Narciso Vingson Jr. to coordinate with ship owners and the health department and operationalize the plan Turn to A5

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Opinion

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

New policy choice: Dollars vs. deaths?

Barking up the wrong tree

(Conclusion) UNDER the Epira Law, power plant operators and distribution utilities have only up to five years to comply with the divestment requirement or up to June 8, 2006. Section 28 was intended to encourage participation of the general public to wipe out the huge indebtedness of Napocor and to temper the wide economic disparity in our society. This underscores why the emergency power under R.A. No. 7648 was extended with an added assignment of forcing the owners to divest their stock ownership.

Rather, the opposite happened. A well-entrenched power cartel was created with an insult that instead of the oligarchy helping the government wipe out Napocor’s unpaid loans they created, they took turns in sinking the industry deeper in debt that today has an unpaid loan almost equal to the amount it guaranteed to construct the whimsically mothballed BNPP. R.A. No. 9136 was completely ignored as if the provision never existed.

The power industry cartel employed the dual approach: first, by deregulating the industry, and second, by defanging the ERC of its police power to regulate the market. It was bonanza for the demigod tycoons that stand today as modern-day maharajahs.

In a last minute attempt to restore the financial viability of Napocor, R.A. No. 9511 was passed on December 1, 2008 or “An Act granting Napocor a franchise to engaged in the business of conveying or transmitting electricity through high voltage back-bone system of interconnected transmission lines, substations and related facilities.” First, the decision to chop Napocor was necessitated by the fact that no private corporation was willing to assume its enormous liabilities.” Second, the players in the industry, mostly the power plant operators have already been allowed to generate their own power and sell them directly to the various utility operators, undercutting the price set by Napocor, insisting that its diesel-powered plants cause much pollution. Third, the confinement of the transmission grid to NGCP means the operators can only demand an increase in their so-called “wheeling fees” if generation plant owners and distribution utility operators are given their rate increase, which under the “performance rate” formula, was made automatic.

Fourth, the business maintaining and securing the transmission grid entail high

risk as the lines are prone and vulnerable to sabotage by rebels in the hinterland.

Thus, the entry of State Grid Corporation of China right after the dissolution of Transco was to give way to the creation of NGCP. SGCC was joined

by Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., led by Henry Sy, Jr. acquiring 30%, and Calaca High Power Corp., by Robert Cuyuito, Jr., also with 30%. SGCC represented by Zhu Guangchao owns 40% of the stocks after submitting the highest bid of $3.95 billion for a 25-year franchise to operate. SGCC’s participation is in accordance with the Constitution, and with our Foreign Investment Act of 1993 on top of the law specially creating NGCP.

A well-entrenched power cartel was created.

tiveros to open the books of account of NGCP would unnecessarily vex foreign investors we invited. Besides, the law requires they can only open their books of account by the ERC and to the BIR to ensure fiscal compliance. Without prima facie evidence indicating anomaly, the threat of Gatchalian would amount to fishing expedition which could be enjoined by the court.

While the Senate cannot be prevented from inspecting corporations, it being plenary to its duty and in aid of legislation, without an iota of evidence such would result in grave abuse of discretion.

The Senate cannot use its legislative power to harass corporations that enjoy a valid franchise or much more usurp the functions and duties of the ERC and the BIR. Gatchalian and Hontiveros are woefully off-tangent. The only condition we impose is for it to faithfully comply with our Constitution. SGCC is a state owned corporation of China, and we cannot demand beyond what our own laws provide and grant.

SGCC though NGCP has poured in over P17 billion since 2009 to improve our power transmission by adding an equivalent of 4,325 megavolt amperes (MVA) in substation capacity, 480 circuit kilometers in transmission line, and 46 projects for better operation and maintenance. NGCP’s revenue in 2010 amounted to $233.7 billion. This means SGCC is spending more than earning from its investment.

They ignore that it was during the Ramos administration when Napocor segregated its transmission grid as per recommendation by the financial hustlers from the World Bank to lighten the cost of investment and save Napocor. In fact, it was the country’s top oligarch that invited China to participate, and accepted it with an open mind to further the friendship of the two countries.

Gatchalian and Hontiveros unexpectedly had to eat their words about the intention of China’s state grid corporation after Anthony L. Almeda, NGCP president and CEO, unexpectedly announced it will donate P1 billion to assist the Covid 19 frontline health workers, P500 million in the form of goods and medical equipment and another P500 million for response purposes as may be determined by the office of the President.

Finally, the two Senators should stop their demagoguery because it makes them appear more silly and stupid. They should stop the fear mongering that the country’s national transmission grid is being operated by the Chinese and fantasizing that China with a blink of an eye could stop and immobilize our transmission grid. They blurted that this could affect our national security which is exactly the same meme spoon-feed unto them their knee-jerk American brokers.

However, the law requiring the dispersal of ownership under Section 28 of the Epira Law was superseded by Section 8 of R.A. No. 9511 or the law creating NGCP, to quote: “The Grantee shall x x x make a public offering of the shares representing at least twenty per centum (20%) of its outstanding capital stock or a higher percentage x x x within ten (10) years (or up to December 2016) from the commencement of its operations: Provided, That the listing in the PSE of any company (stockholders) which directly or indirectly owns or controls at least thirty per centum (30%) of the outstanding shares of stock of the Grantee shall be considered full compliance of this listing requirement.”

On the other hand, Section 6 gives a proviso, to quote: “x x x That the foregoing limitation shall not apply to any transfer or issuance of shares of stock x x x pursuant x x x to any foreign or local investors pursuant to or in connection with any increase in the Grantee's authorized capital stock which results in the dilution of the stockholdings of the Grantee's then existing stockholder x x x.” This has particular reference to China as investor of NGCP. SGCC is a foreign corporation operating in accordance with Section 11, Article XII of the Constitution. SGCC was invited to help raise the much-needed capital when Napocor was experiencing financial difficulty. Moreover, Monte Oro Grid Resources Corporation and Calaca High Power Corporation can also claim exemption under Section 28 much that the two corporations are already listed with the PSE, meaning the public can purchase at anytime their shares stocks.

Altogether, the threat made by Senators William Gatchalian and Rissa Hon- rpkapunan@gmail.com

Lord of the storm enters Jerusalem THIS Sunday we commemorate Palm Sunday. It is the triumphant entrance of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the eternal city. On this day two millennia ago, Christ, astride a donkey, entered the Holy City and was met by a throng of worshippers, laying palm leaves and spreading their cloaks along the path and crying out in acclamation Hosanna!

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel."

In this tempest, we are given the occasion to choose what matters and what passes away.

The Scripture also tells us that it is the same crowd who praised him earlier that shouted "crucify him" as he was being presented bound, wounded and bruised, before Pontius Pilate; the same crowd that chose Barabbas, a murderer and a known robber, to be freed; disenchanted that a while ago he was performing wondrous deeds but now before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate, he is utterly helpless and cannot defend himself from his malicious accusers.

At the Urbi et Orbi blessing delivered from the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica last March 27, Pope Francis meditated on the crisis facing the world today, On that unique and momentous occasion, he

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within five days from March 26. As of yesterday, Vingson reported back to Tugade that he had made the proper coordination.

I have criticized Tugade in the past.

But at this point, I have nothing but

reflected on a passage from the Gospel of Mark when Jesus calmed a furious squall that unnerved his disciples. The Scriptures says that Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Much like the disciples, we are in the midst of a tempest which has drowned and is drowning hundreds of thousands amongst us, gripping all of us with terror of getting infected and fear of the future.

The pandemic has been personal to me. So far, five persons I know have already died from COVID-19, the latest this week being Yel, the sister of a Jesuit priest close to me, followed by Noe, a seminarian whom I taught philosophy.

Yel died alone in a New York hospital.

Noe was a simple, good young man from Digos, Davao del Sur who did nothing more than being faithful to God’s calling. The news of their passing broke my heart.

But a storm is no time to turn our backs on Jesus, the master of all storms, and question his love. This is the time to cling to him with all our might and sing halleluiah even as we are buffeted ever so strongly by the viral storm.

In one of the gospels last week, Jesus said to his disciples, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM." By this, according to Fr Adonis Saclolo, a formator of the Redemptoris Mater Mission Seminary, Jesus meant, depending on what was happening to you: “I am . . . your shepherd xxx your salt and light xxx your Messiah xxx the Son of Man xxx the bread of life xxx the way, truth, and life xxx the Father’s son xxx the word through which all things

were made xxx your friend and brother xxx your companion all moments xxx the example and model xxx the prophet of justice xxx your teacher.

The Lord is One but we experienced him in an infinite number of ways; he is everything that we need in this difficult time. As Pope Francis said last year: “With the celebration of Palm Sunday, the Lord is about to enter his passion on the cross. today, too, by his entrance into Jerusalem, he shows us the way. For in that event, the evil one, the prince of this world, had a card up his sleeve: the card of triumphalism. Yet the Lord responded by holding fast to his own way, the way of humility.

Triumphalism tries to make it to the goal by shortcuts and false compromises.

It wants to jump onto the carriage of the winner. It lives off gestures and words that are not forged in the crucible of the cross; it grows by looking askance at others and constantly judging them inferior, wanting, failures… One subtle form of triumphalism is spiritual worldliness, which represents the greatest danger, the most treacherous temptation threatening the Church (De Lubac). Jesus destroyed triumphalism by his Passion.”

As Pope Francis reminded us in his Urbi et Orbi message, this Lent, Jesus is calling on us urgently: “Be converted!”, “Return to me with all your heart.” In this tempest, we are given the occasion to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to set aside our plans and follow the voyage God wants us to embark on. When we do that, with the Lord of the storm in the boat with us, no storm is strong enough to destroy us and make us lose faith.

praises for him for acceding to a suggestion from someone who has at one time, been at the forefront of the government’s response to natural disasters and calamities—Tolentino. He is very much unlike other government officials who opt to ignore ideas coming from other people, solely trusting on no one but themselves.

As if they alone held the key to the problem’s solution.

As we prepare for the worst, we have to welcome everybody’s idea. In times like these, there is no small or big, good or bad ideas. Everything counts. *** Lives unnecessarily lost.

Last Sunday, a plane on a medical mission crashed at the NAIA shortly after takeoff killing all its eight passengers and crew. Among those who were killed

Facebook page: Professor Tony La Vina Twitter: tonylavs

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mst.daydesk@gmail.com

THE global war against the coronavirus (COVID-19) has created a monumental dilemma for the economic policymakers of the countries infected by the virus. The dilemma stems from the fact that the Covid-19 crisis has two elements: a medical/health element and an economic element. The medical/health element is the pandemic that is raging across over 100 countries on five continents, leaving over 700,000 infection cases and close to 50,000 deaths in its wake. The economic element is the virtual shutdown of the world economy, with thousands of business enterprises having to stop operating and millions of workers having lost their jobs.

It is a terrible dilemma for economic policymakers. If they accord priority to the COVID-19 pandemic and allow their national economies to progressively slide into severe recession, they will be accused of being insensitive to the dire situations of millions of families with jobless breadwinners and the hundreds of thousands of small and medium-size enterprises that are going out of business. On the other hand, if the focus of their thinking is preventing the economy from going into a prolonged recession, allocating more financial resources to relief measures for jobless workers and shuttered businesses rather than to the things desperately needed by the hospitals and health workers—especially PPE (personal protective equipment), testing facilities, ICU (intensive care unit) beds and ventilators—the economic policymakers will be charged with pursuing the wrong priority and of being uncaring about the wellbeing of the COVID19-infected and the medial personnel and the plight of the national health care system.

The dilemma has been intensified by an increasingly contentious debate between the medical scientists, who believe that it is pointless to try and restart an economy while the COVID-19 storm is still raging, and the politicians, who believe that the battle against the coronavirus cannot be allowed to bring down an entire national economy. The politicians, with their eyes on the next election, argue that it is possible to allow workers to go back to their workplaces even while the infection and death rates are growing in number. The medical scientists counter that this is not possible; the scrapping of the stay-at-home and social distancing rules will, they say, only negate whatever progress has been made toward slowing the spread of COVID-19.

The economic revival will come to a halt and necessitate a second round of

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lockdowns, they warn.

Are the medical scientists right? The world’s No. 1 politician—the president of the world’s most powerful country— doesn’t think so. And can an economy be restarted even if a pandemic is still raging? Donald Trump thinks it can.

Around two weeks ago, in the course of one of his White House press briefings, Mr. Trump told the American people (1) that the US economy was not built to be shut down and (2) that as a result of the “great job” that his administration had done, the time had come to restart the US economy. He set Easter as the timeline for the beginning of the restart: “It will be wonderful to see the churches packed on Easter Sunday.”

This is a new kind of economic policymaking.

Predictably, the medical scientists who were standing behind the US President as he spoke, were stunned

by Mr. Trump’s pronouncements and at once proceeded to politely contradict him. They said that restarting the economy would involve putting an end to social distancing, which the experiences of Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong had shown to be one of the most effective ways of stopping the spread of COVID-19. They argued that discarding social distancing before it had produced the much-sought-after results would be akin to prematurely taking one’s foot off the vehicle accelerator and, in the end, would only provoke a second wave of infections.

It is a terrible dilemma that Donald Trump and his economic policymakers are facing. On the one hand, they see more and more businesses—small and large—stopping operations, causing more and more workers to lose their jobs. And, on the other hand, they see hundreds of thousands of Americans being infected by COVID-19, with a rapidly rising number succumbing every day to this latest manifestation of the family of corona viruses. There is no precedent for the present situation in the history of US economic policymaking.

Thus far, Donald Trump is the only head of government who has resolved the economic-versus-health (or dollars vs deaths) dilemma in favor of economics. All the other national chief executives have opted to follow the lead of the medical scientists, who believe that the recovery of an economy is not possible while a pandemic continues to rage.

This is a new kind of economic policymaking. Today’s economic managers must be hoping that they never have to undertake it again during the rest of their lifetimes.

expected, #ProtectLeni also trended on social media. Sensing people’s anger, the PACC distanced itself from the issue and said that the body had no intention to have the VP investigated.

There is also credible evidence that ordinary netizens critical of this administration were summoned by the NBI about possible violations of regulations on lockdown and other laws.

This is very disturbing because if this is true, even ordinary citizens are being harassed.

The latest source of people’s anger is Duterte’s shoot-to-kill order to the police and the military against people who defy his lockdown orders. Filipinos are livid because no leader of a country should order to kill his/her people. The answer is food, not bullets. Duterte needs to understand this.

Because of this, #OustDuterte trended worldwide.

At this point, even former diehard Duterte supporters (DDS) are speaking out against this government’s ineffective, uncoordinated, and shortsighted actions during this COVID-19 pandemic.

At this point, people are already getting hungry, many have lost their jobs and livelihood, businesses are all down, people are dying, and those who are sick are not given the medical treatment they need. No wonder, unrest is widespread and people are angry.

If this administration continues this way and people are not helped as they are promised, there will be trouble soon. WE DO NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN.

in numbers to EDSA to demand help from government. They were desperate because their families were going hungry because of the absence of promised help. Instead of providing what people needed, the Quezon City Police instead went after them, resulting in some altercation and the arrest of 21 of these poor Sitio San Roque residents.

Social media exploded with thousands of angry posts by netizens in response to the news that the very popular Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto was issued a summons by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). He was asked to explain about possible violation of the BAHO law. Vico Sotto has become the darling of netizens for his laudable and solution-driven leadership in fighting the pandemic in Pasig. #ProtectVico was a trending topic in social media because even celebrities who were usually quiet spoke up defending the good Mayor. People were quick to point out that Koko Pimentel, not Vico Sotto should be investigated.

The NBI has since said that there is no case against Sotto.

Netizens were again triggered when news broke that a Commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) wanted Vice-President Leni Robredo to be investigated by the NBI for allegedly competing against and undermining government actions against COVID-19. Robredo’s office, despite having little budget, has been delivering various forms of assistance @bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth to HCWs and poor communities. As Angsioco on Facebook

were couple Marilyn de Jesus and her husband John Richard Hurst.

But according to sources, the two didn’t have to die in that plane crash— had Hurst only been admitted to a local hospital.

According to sources, Hurst was sick, not because of COVID-19, but due to Zika virus. Hurst reportedly attended the wedding of de Jesus’ daughter in Coron

in Palawan, where supposedly got infected.

Unfortunately, no hospital in the Philippines, not even RITM, admitted Hurst and they had to fly to Japan where he was to be treated.

Had he been only accepted by any local hospital, he and his wife would have no business being in that plane. They would have still been alive today.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

A6

World

TODAY SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Virus pandemic fuels hack attacks W

ASHINGTON—Internet users have seen a surge in COVID-related cyberattacks and fraud schemes which could add to the misery of the pandemic, even as some hackers have called for dialing back their criminal efforts.

A deluge of attacks has included phishing emails purported to be from health agencies, counterfeit product offers and bogus charity donation requests, according to security analysts.

Over the past month, at least 100,000 new web domain names were registered containing terms like covid, corona, and virus, many of which are considered “malicious,” according to a report prepared for the global internet registry agency ICANN.

“The pandemic has led to an explosion of cybercrime, preying upon a population desperate for safety and reassurance,” said the report released this week by Interisle Consulting Group.

The number of “spoofed” websites used for phishing to steal people’s private credentials rose by 350 percent since January to more than 500,000, according to Atlas VPN, which provides secure connection services.

Stimulus fraud coming?

These schemes could lead to unprecedented amounts of theft, identity hijacking and ransomware to extract money from vulnerable organizations, some analysts fear.

In just the past few weeks, US consumers have lost nearly $5 million to coronavirus-themed scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The potential for fraud could rise further, notably as a result of the $2 trillion economic relief package approved

by Congress this month, according to an FTC warning to watch for stimulusrelated fraud schemes.

Because of the global nature of the pandemic, hackers are taking advantage of all the attention being paid to the

health crisis to lure people into opening malicious emails and links.

The security firm Proofpoint said this week it is seeing a wave of email scams themed around stimulus payments, Australian government “coronavirus tax relief” or even a fictitious “relief offer” from the World Health Organization and the International Monetary Fund.

“More than 80 percent of all the attacks Proofpoint now intercepts have something to do with the pandemic, a level that is unprecedented,” the company said.

“These attacks appear to be working, and now they are leveraging news of the stimulus package to ensnare more victims.” AFP

Invitation to Bid Construction of Canal System of North Lawis Irrigation Project - Package 1 ITB No. NIAR3-2020-TAR-NORTH LAWIS IP-PACKAGE 1-11 1.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3, hereby invites all interested Phil-GEPS registered contractors to bid for the project, through the General Appropriations Act of CY 2020, intends to apply the sum of Sixty Six Million Eight Hundred Eighty One Thousand Four Hundred Thirty Six Pesos and 33/100 (P66,881,436.33) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the contract for NIAR3-2020-TAR-NORTH LAWIS IP-PACKAGE 1-11. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

Bidders must secure Site Inspection Certificate from IMO Office as a technical requirement for Eligibility and Technical Document (Envelop A). Non compliance will be a ground for disqualification.

3.

Only who submitted Document Request List (DRL) from PhilGEPS including updated company profile by the owner or its authorized liaison officer, will be accepted to participate in the bidding.

4.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 now invites bids for Construction of Canal System of North Lawis Irrigation Project - Package 1 located in Candelaria, Zambales. Completion of the Works is required within Three Hundred (300) calendar days.

Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instruction to Bidders.

5.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

6.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday to Friday.

7.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on March 31, 2020 to April 29, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., Monday to Friday, and April 30, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., except holidays from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P 50,000.00).

8.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April 17, 2020, 10:00 a.m. at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

9.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:30 a.m.

(PST) of April 30, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on 10:00 a.m. (PST) of April 30, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

10.

All particulars relative to the eligibility screening, bid security, performance security, pre-bid conference/s, evaluation of bids, post qualification and award of contracts shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its revised IRR.

11,

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

12.

For further information, please refer to:

BAC Secretariat/s; NIA – Region 3,Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Tel No. (044) 766-4839 and 816-8608 (SGD.) VIRGILIO J. ILAO BAC – Chairman

Noted by: (SGD.) JOSEPHINE B. SALAZAR Regional Manager (MS-APRIL 4, 2020)

Invitation to Bid Construction of Canal System of North Lawis Irrigation Project - Package 2 ITB No. NIAR3-2020-TAR-NORTH LAWIS IP-PACKAGE 1-12 1.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3, hereby invites all interested Phil-GEPS registered contractors to bid for the project, through the General Appropriations Act of CY 2020, intends to apply the sum of Forty One Million Four Hundred Thirteen Thousand One Hundred Fifty Three Pesos and 35/100 (P 41,413,153.35) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the contract for NIAR3-2020-TAR-NORTH LAWIS IP-PACKAGE 1-12. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

Bidders must secure Site Inspection Certificate from IMO Office as a technical requirement for Eligibility and Technical Document (Envelop A). Non compliance will be a ground for disqualification.

3.

Only who submitted Document Request List (DRL) from PhilGEPS including updated company profile by the owner or its authorized liaison officer, will be accepted to participate in the bidding.

4.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 now invites bids for Construction of Canal System of North Lawis Irrigation Project - Package 2 located in Candelaria, Zambales.

Completion of the Works is required within Three Hundred (300) calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instruction to Bidders.

5.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy-five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

6.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday to Friday.

7.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on March 31, 2020 to April 29, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., Monday to Friday, and April 30, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., except holidays from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Forty-One Thousand Pesos (P 41,000.00).

8.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April 17, 2020, 10:00 a.m. at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

9.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:30 a.m.

(PST) of April 30, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on 10:00 a.m. (PST) of April 30, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

10.

All particulars relative to the eligibility screening, bid security, performance security, pre-bid conference/s, evaluation of bids, post qualification and award of contracts shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its revised IRR.

11.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

12.

For further information, please refer to:

BAC Secretariat/s; NIA – Region 3, Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Tel No. (044) 766-4839 and 816-8608 (SGD.) VIRGILIO J. ILAO BAC – Chairman

Noted by: (SGD.) JOSEPHINE B. SALAZAR Regional Manager

ERUPTION. A picture taken on April 2 shows molten lava spraying during an eruption of the Piton de le Fournaise volcano, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion. AFP

UK rushes to build field hospitals as death toll rises LONDON—The UK government said Friday it was rushing to build more emergency field hospitals ahead of an expected surge in coronavirus cases, hours after recording a record 569 deaths from the disease.

Two new facilities will be built in Bristol in the west and Harrogate in the north to house up to 1,500 patients, the state-run National Health Service (NHS) said in a statement.

The announcement comes as a similar 4,000-bed facility in London—built in less than ten days—prepares to open Friday, and as criticism mounts over the government’s failure to provide screening, particularly for frontline healthcare workers.

“Further such hospitals will open next in Birmingham and Manchester, offering up to 3,000 beds between them,” the NHS statement added.

The health ministry announced a record 569 deaths from the virus in Britain in the 24 hours up to 1600 GMT on Wednesday—the largest single-day rise yet.

It followed 563 deaths over the previous corresponding period.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Britain will “massively increase testing” for the COVID-19 virus following criticism of his initial lighttouch approach to the outbreak.

Johnson has been in self-isolation “with mild symptoms” at his Downing Street official residence since announcing on March 27 that he had caught the virus.

Heir to the throne Prince Charles Thursday made his first public comments since coming out of selfquarantine after contracting the disease, telling the PA news agency the experience had been “strange, frustrating and often distressing.”

In a video message, he praised the “utter, selfless devotion to duty” of Britain’s health workers. AFP

Warship head Chinese students face uneasy reception sacked over COVID leak WASHINGTON—The Pentagon removed the captain of the coronavirusstricken USS Theodore Roosevelt Thursday, saying he mishandled communications over how the outbreak was sweeping through the warship.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Captain Brett Crozier was wrong to distribute to a wide range of people copies of an emotional, four-page letter describing the threat of the outbreak to the ship’s nearly 5,000 sailors, allowing it to be leaked earlier this week to US media before top defense officials saw it.

Modly said that while there have been 114 cases of the coronavirus in the crew so far, none has been severe and Crozier overstated the severity when he suggested sailors were going to die without fast action.

Crozier “demonstrated extremely poor judgment in the middle of a crisis” in his handling of the letter, Modly said.

“It misrepresented the facts of what was going on the ship” and created “a little bit of panic” that was unnecessary, he said.

“I have no doubt in my mind that Captain Crozier did what he thought was in the best interests of the safety and well-being of his crew,” said Modly.

“Unfortunately, it did the opposite.”

In addition to frightening families of the sailors, he said, “it raised concerns about the operational capabilities and operational security of that ship that could have emboldened our adversaries to seek advantage.”

Crozier’s letter, which leaked Tuesday, sparked concern that the virus was out of control and suggested the Navy leadership was not responding.

Crozier stunned experts by saying the ship had to be evacuated to ensure the coronavirus does not spread further.

“The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating,” he wrote. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” he pleaded. AFP

BEIJING—Chinese students flying home from overseas to escape the coronavirus pandemic face a frosty reception from sections of the public who view them as wealthy, spoiled—and potentially contaminated.

The number of officially reported cases in China has dwindled dramatically over the last month, but the country is now taking drastic steps to try and stem a second wave of infections brought in from abroad.

With most international flights cancelled and nearly all foreigners barred from entering the country, the vast majority of returnees are Chinese nationals, including many students.

The situation has exposed animosities over class and privilege in Chinese society, fuelled by online posts stereotyping returning students as ungrateful and even dangerous—using the irresponsible behavior of a few individuals as proof.

“Right now, public opinion in China is very unfriendly towards Chinese overseas students, and quarantine facilities there are mixed,” said Hestia Zhang, a master’s student at Yale University.

She has decided to stay in self-isolation on campus rather than go back, despite the United States now accounting for almost a quarter of reported global infections.

“There are also a lot of risks on the journey home, so I might as well stay here and wait it out,” she told AFP. Meanwhile Cathy, who landed in China on

Tuesday morning, is resigned to the fact that she may encounter prejudice. Using her English name to conceal her identity, she said she had “no choice but to bear it.”

Nearly half of China’s 800 imported virus cases are overseas students.

Most returnees need to spend two weeks in isolation, and a widely shared video of a returned student who tried to escape her quarantine accommodation in the city of Qingdao has prompted outrage online.

‘China-hating wretches’ A similar angry reaction met clips showing another returnee angrily demanding bottled mineral water from quarantine facility workers in Shanghai.

“They eat food from our bowl, yet turn on the motherland as soon as they stop eating. We don’t need to take them back,” wrote one user, garnering thousands of likes.

There is a widely held belief that international students see themselves as superior to their fellow citizens, said Yik-Chan Chin, a professor of media and communications at Xi’an JiaotongLiverpool University.

This is often compounded by perceptions of the students’ extreme wealth and multiple nationalities, she said.

The vast majority of China’s 1.6 million outbound students are still overseas, according to the education ministry. AFP

NOT QUITE BUSINESS AS USUAL.

This aerial photo taken on April 2, 2020 shows people visiting a night market in Shenyang in China’s northeastern Liaoning province.

AFP

Indians to hold nine-minute corona light show NEW DELHI—Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Indians to hold candles and mobile phones aloft for nine minutes on Sunday to dispel the “darkness and uncertainty” of the coronavirus crisis.

On Thursday, the confirmed number of coronavirus cases

in India passed 2,000 with 53 deaths, although some experts say that the country of 1.3 billion people is testing too few people.

India has been under lockdown since March 25, leaving millions of migrant workers suddenly jobless, and prompting hundreds of thousands to

try and get home to their home villages, often on foot.

“Friends, amidst the darkness spread by the Corona pandemic, we must continuously progress towards light and hope,” Modi said in an address to the nation on Friday.

“We must defeat the deep

darkness of the crisis, by spreading the glory of light in all four directions.”

He said people should turn off lights at 9:00 pm on Sunday, light candles and earthenware lamps and switch on cellphone flashlights on their doorsteps and balconies for nine minutes. AFP

(MS-APRIL 4, 2020)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Business

A7

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stocks close flat; Puregold rises T HE stock market closed virtually flat Friday, with many investors staying on the sidelines after another thunderous rise in US jobless claims caused by the virus crisis.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added just 4.66 points, or 0.09 percent to 5,346.97 on a value turnover of P4 billion. Gainers beat losers, 98 to 74, with 39 issues unchanged.

Puregold Price Club Inc. of retail tycoon Lucio Co. advanced 6.3 percent to P38.70, while PLDT Inc., the biggest telecommunications firm, rose 2.6 percent to P1,118.

Manila Electric Co., the largest retailer of electricity, climbed 3.4 percent to P240, but International Container Ter-

minal Services Inc., the biggest port operator owned by tycoon Enrique Razon Jr., fell 2.8 percent to P70.

Crude prices, meanwhile, slipped Friday after the previous day’s record surge as traders questioned Donald Trump’s claims that Russia and Saudi Arabia were set to slash output. Equities struggled into the weekend after another thunderous rise in US jobless claims caused by the virus crisis.

Tokyo and Seoul ended barely moved, Hong Kong shed 0.6 percent and Shanghai ended down 0.6 percent.

Sydney and Mumbai fell more than one percent, Singapore shed more than two percent and Bangkok dipped 0.4 percent.

But there were gains in Jakarta and New Zealand.

As the number of people with COVID-19 tops a million and the death toll continues to climb, investors remain hostage to uncertainty as they try to

gauge the long-term economic impact of the pandemic, which is widely expected to plunge the planet into recession.

However, with trillions of dollars pledged in government support, the wild volatility that characterized markets at the start of the crisis has given way to some form of stability.

And providing a much-needed shot in the arm Thursday was a tweet by the US president that said Moscow and Riyadh could slash output to end their vicious price war, which sent crude prices to near-two-decade lows last month.

Trump said he had spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who he claimed had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!” Trump tweeted.

“Could be as high as 15 Million Bar-

rels,” he added in a subsequent post.

The news sent crude soaring, with Brent at one point rising almost 50 percent and WTI around 35 percent. Brent eventually pared gains to end up 21 percent and WTI 25 percent, still a record jump for either contract.

However, doubts began to grow after the Kremlin denied Putin had spoken to the crown prince.

Saudi Arabia, for its part, did call for a meeting of OPEC and other major producers led by Russia to “stabilise the oil market,” just one day after the kingdom boosted supplies to record levels.

“This could of course be a very substantial development, even in view of the massive oversupply of 25 million barrels a day that the market is currently facing,” Magnus Nysveen, head of analysis at industry consultant Rystad Energy, said.

The deal “sounds too good to be true,” he added. With AFP

Manila Standard BuSineSS daily StockS review Friday, april 3, 2020

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

46 61 101.7 20.2 15.2 7.56 2.65 0.27 38.8 0.68 19.12 168 103 42.45 16.7 111.4 1,580 53.7

46 61.1 101.7 20.2 15.2 7.85 2.8 0.27 38.8 0.69 19.2 169.5 103 42.45 17.1 111.9 1,620 53.75

45.8 60.1 98.3 19.98 15 7.54 2.65 0.27 36.7 0.68 18.9 168 103 42 16.7 107.1 1,580 53.5

FINANCIALS 46 5,500 60.6 1,613,260 99.3 2,335,270 19.98 85,400 15.2 2,100 7.6 27,200 2.71 46,000 0.27 40,000 37 4,677,800 0.69 123,000 19 3,065,900 169.5 120 103 10 42 2,400 17.1 175,400 108.5 926,700 1,620 35 53.5 1,880

252,800 97,749,159 232,086,617.50 1,711,108 31,820 209,113 122,750 10,800 173,995,360 84,630 58,295,204 20,215 1,030 101,710 2,929,580 100,559,070 55,500 100,950

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

27.45 2 6.49 0.5 0.97 2.45 0.14 94 1.03 14 6.23 25.05 46.2 50 1.91 3.5 4.9 7.7 5.1 7.98 1.9 17.04 48.95 1.19 32.9 0.82 11.98 4.45 0.94 102.3 3.1 5.5 9.6 4.68 6.11 232 1.81 2.3 2.71 10.3 19 4.4 1.37 0.78 4.89 50 7.81 0.106 0.75 102.9 2.51 0.89 15.06 0.55

28.3 2.04 6.51 0.53 1 2.5 0.165 99 1.06 14 6.55 25.05 46.2 50.1 1.91 3.5 4.95 7.7 5.18 8.1 1.93 17.16 49 1.2 32.9 0.82 11.98 4.51 0.99 105 3.1 5.5 9.85 4.68 6.15 240 1.81 2.44 2.79 10.7 19.2 4.4 1.44 0.78 4.95 50.65 7.95 0.106 0.75 104.8 2.8 0.9 15.06 0.57

27 1.95 6.31 0.5 0.97 2.4 0.14 85 1.02 13.7 6.23 25.05 46 48 1.87 3.5 4.81 7.35 5.03 7.92 1.89 16 48.95 1.16 32.9 0.79 11.98 4.45 0.94 102 3.1 5.5 9.5 4.6 6.09 227 1.78 2.3 2.59 10.3 18.5 4.4 1.37 0.74 4.79 48.55 7.71 0.102 0.75 102.2 2.51 0.84 13 0.55

INDUSTRIAL 28.2 681,400 2.01 3,996,000 6.48 155,700 0.53 306,000 1 4,462,000 2.5 2,270,000 0.164 250,000 97.7 210 1.03 1,409,000 13.88 124,700 6.3 1,009,800 25.05 100 46 800 48 800 1.87 25,000 3.5 4,000 4.81 3,587,000 7.53 197,400 5.03 693,700 8.05 3,335,400 1.91 423,000 17.16 364,500 49 2,800 1.16 2,992,000 32.9 100 0.79 253,000 11.98 1,700 4.45 826,000 0.95 483,000 102 846,300 3.1 4,000 5.5 700 9.76 1,843,300 4.62 413,000 6.1 1,017,300 240 193,150 1.79 131,000 2.44 4,000 2.59 3,442,000 10.3 12,000 18.6 318,100 4.4 1,000 1.44 680,000 0.76 72,000 4.84 547,000 49.4 312,300 7.95 138,000 0.106 280,000 0.75 8,000 103 786,520 2.8 163,000 0.86 1,282,000 13 200 0.57 251,000

19,033,545 8,018,070 1,009,265 159,750 4,328,500 5,574,760 37,560 19,514 1,459,020 1,725,086 6,443,916 2,505 36,830 39,010 47,150 14,000 17,538,660 1,485,141 3,509,310 26,980,762 804,750 6,167,060 137,165 3,522,560 3,290 200,480 20,366 3,675,900 463,870 87,392,308 12,400 3,850 17,899,949 1,910,960 6,214,833 45,432,114 234,590 9,340 9,072,570 123,776 6,011,074 4,400 964,630 54,550 2,651,710 ( 15,400,430 1,081,063 29,180 6,000 81,131,660 412,930 1,117,850 2,806 138,090

0.51 38 6.78 6 5.41 0.495 0.56 451 1.5 4.85 3.78 9.3 395.2 3.7 52.9 0.405 2.79 7.32 0.44 2.44 92.6 817.5 0.58 0.83 172 137.3 0.12

HOLDING FIRMS 0.52 2,003,000 39.9 793,800 7.03 1,587,500 6 11,000 5.7 69,500 0.51 139,000 0.56 1,000 965,140 451 1.5 3,111,000 5.01 1,869,100 3.84 3,234,000 9.4 200 399 207,010 3.7 1,000 53.2 714,140 0.405 20,000 2.81 316,000 7.5 470,300 0.52 82,000 2.46 24,218,000 93 216,540 825 196,500 0.59 11,000 0.84 1,709,000 200 29,900 152.5 2,690 0.13 2,460,000

11.6 0.5 1.01 0.57 31.2 1.3 3.72 0.365 0.62 0.79 0.119 7 15.96 0.255 0.9 0.74 2.51 0.143 0.69 0.228

PROPERTY 11.6 112,900 0.51 1,081,000 1.01 405,000 0.6 1,729,000 32 8,311,000 1.33 200,000 3.95 827,000 0.365 480,000 0.74 77,000 0.79 1,000 0.12 1,950,000 7 135,500 16.12 109,000 0.315 60,000 0.91 4,144,000 0.75 173,000 2.52 45,854,000 0.148 3,350,000 0.74 393,000 0.228 10,000

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ASIABEST GROUP ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP AYALA LAND LOG COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID TOP FRONTIER ZEUS HLDG 8990 HLDG A BROWN ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP CITY AND LAND CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES DM WENCESLAO DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL INFRADEV PHIL REALTY

0.53 39.1 6.9 6 5.5 0.5 0.56 463 1.66 5 3.8 9.3 405.2 3.7 53.6 0.41 2.83 7.79 0.44 2.51 93 823 0.6 0.83 172 137.3 0.123 11.8 0.53 1.1 0.6 31.9 1.3 3.89 0.365 0.62 0.79 0.12 7 16 0.255 0.9 0.75 2.62 0.149 0.74 0.228

0.53 39.9 7.03 6.26 5.7 0.51 0.56 463 1.66 5.19 3.85 9.4 407.6 3.7 54 0.41 2.89 7.79 0.52 2.54 95 833 0.6 0.84 220 152.5 0.13 11.9 0.53 1.1 0.6 32.1 1.33 3.95 0.365 0.74 0.79 0.12 7.2 16.16 0.315 0.93 0.75 2.65 0.149 0.74 0.228

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP 133,200 -13,493,974 -83,643,382 192,977 -40,417 -43,912,440 -44,324,468 -2,903,930 -7,401,505 -3,158,120 -663,820 -771,366 1,040 -1,619,600 4,750 -594,190 628,830 1,928 -4,646,700 -1,154,211 -579,368 -241,657 -28,350 -432,570 19,600 -1,548,660 -54,712,047 -12,400 -1,650 -5,857,376 -969,580 127,249 6,179,098 -3,420 -2,465,160 -83,430 -3,764,604 -15,750 560,879.9997) 237,435 3,194,849 -55,000

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND VISTAMALLS

1.7 13.86 1.45 2.98 29.15 1.95 1.16 4.23 3.6

1.7 14.1 1.5 2.98 29.4 2 1.18 4.24 3.6

1.7 13.5 1.44 2.9 28.6 1.88 1.15 4.03 3.41

1.7 13.88 1.46 2.97 29 2 1.15 4.03 3.54

4,000 2,655,800 63,000 41,000 7,305,300 577,000 132,000 333,000 89,000

6,800 36,538,874 92,850 121,010 211,316,060 1,092,490 152,420 1,357,180 310,640

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL ALLHOME APC GROUP ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CHELSEA DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG EASYCALL GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA HARBOR STAR INTL CONTAINER ISLAND INFO LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES MACROASIA MANILA BULLETIN METRO RETAIL METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PAXYS PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRANSPACIFIC BR WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

6.2 15.8 1.15 5 0.265 15 2.14 6 0.025 46 2.57 2.53 1.59 4.83 2,006 5.1 350 0.74 72.5 0.077 12.48 1.3 4.3 0.375 1.44 1.49 1.41 1.51 1.6 6.6 2.13 132 1.63 1,120 0.3 0.196 37.4 54.9 1.26 0.4 0.155 0.39 12.98

6.2 16 1.15 5.03 0.275 17.48 2.28 6 0.029 46.85 2.6 2.53 1.63 5.1 2,050 5.15 378.8 0.77 73.75 0.077 12.48 1.3 4.47 0.375 1.5 1.49 1.58 1.61 1.6 6.6 2.42 132 1.63 1,130 0.3 0.198 39.75 56.85 1.32 0.4 0.155 0.39 12.98

5.94 15.6 1.15 4.71 0.265 15 2.1 5.68 0.025 45.35 2.54 2.53 1.55 4.83 1,978 5.1 350 0.74 70 0.076 11.12 1.3 4.15 0.365 1.43 1.37 1.41 1.51 1.6 6 2.13 130 1.53 1,110 0.285 0.195 36.65 54.85 1.26 0.395 0.153 0.39 12.7

SERVICES 5.98 16 1.15 4.72 0.275 17.48 2.25 5.98 0.028 46.6 2.56 2.53 1.58 4.85 2,050 5.1 378.8 0.75 70 0.077 11.98 1.3 4.25 0.365 1.47 1.39 1.58 1.56 1.6 6.49 2.42 131 1.58 1,118 0.3 0.195 38.7 56 1.3 0.395 0.154 0.39 12.7

52,000 144,300 8,000 3,477,000 500,000 1,900 44,000 2,125,300 12,900,000 152,600 1,097,000 10,000 17,041,000 17,000 109,870 177,400 110 258,000 2,575,920 400,000 8,600 573,000 4,740,000 70,000 1,066,000 737,000 17,000 2,412,000 1,000 19,800 3,000 706,690 613,000 87,310 1,650,000 860,000 7,325,800 602,950 218,000 3,530,000 200,000 140,000 68,200

314,372 2,295,636 9,200 16,836,960 135,550 32,468 95,340 12,358,090 359,800 7,047,280 2,804,660 25,300 27,046,450 82,910 223,032,065 909,959 38,788 194,920 182,048,192 30,600 103,566 744,900 20,383,080 25,950 1,576,680 1,036,230 24,310 3,785,580 1,600 121,300 6,970 93,281,960 959,810 97,885,435 483,250 167,790 281,174,285 33,377,309.5 ( 278,830 1,395,950 30,710 54,600 871,470

-105,000 141,240.00 4,500 -690,276 -2,012,800 -12,800 168,030 -74,130,915 23,322,616 1,240 7,800 2,761,640 -124,220 395,710 -1,600 6,000 -126,820 -118,400 -26,514,375 8,116,955 24,897,087.5) -129,080 -1,311,950 -346,856

ABRA MINING ACE ENEXOR APEX MINING ATOK CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B MARCVENTURES NICKEL ASIA NIHAO ORNTL PENINSULA PHILODRILL PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING

0.001 5.39 0.7 10.86 2.6 6.07 0.58 0.185 0.076 0.09 0.58 1.58 0.86 0.465 0.008 2.03 4.2 11.74

0.001 5.39 0.74 10.86 2.6 6.2 0.6 0.185 0.078 0.09 0.58 1.58 0.94 0.465 0.008 2.03 4.4 11.82

0.001 5.1 0.7 10.86 2.6 6.04 0.56 0.184 0.074 0.089 0.58 1.53 0.86 0.46 0.008 1.99 3.97 11.48

MINING & OIL 0.001 10,000,000 5.27 5,000 0.73 183,000 10.86 6,200 2.6 260,000 6.2 3,400 0.58 2,874,000 0.184 150,000 0.074 1,250,000 0.089 50,000 0.58 165,000 1.53 3,521,000 0.9 65,000 0.46 40,000 0.008 1,000,000 2 1,145,000 4 800,000 11.82 1,311,200

10,000 26,152 133,180 67,332 676,000 20,691 1,669,730 27,740 96,570 4,460 95,700 5,463,960 58,840 18,450 8,000 2,289,210(2, 3,289,870 15,274,902

-5,140 -390,000 -74,360 -2,097,870 -13,500 000,109.9997) -108,490 2,614,024

AC PREF B2R CPG PREF A DD PREF FGEN PREF G GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B HOUSE PREF A PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G

495 99.5 97.8 107 4.9 980 95 1,016 1,022 101.6 996.5 75.5 73.55 74.35 74.5 73.75

495 99.5 97.8 108 4.9 980 95 1,018 1,022 101.6 996.5 75.5 73.55 74.35 74.5 73.75

480 99.5 97 107 4.9 980 94.95 1,016 1,022 100.1 996 75.5 73.4 74.35 74.5 73.75

PREFERRED 490 1,160 99.5 50 97.25 2,400 108 4,650 4.9 153,000 980 180 94.95 120 1,016 20,300 1,022 1,000 100.1 500 996 1,950 75.5 87,040 73.4 53,400 74.35 1,990 74.5 12,000 73.75 700

558,700 4,975 233,902.50 502,010 749,700 176,400 11,399.50 20,627,400 1,022,000 50,089 1,942,230 6,571,520 3,924,190 147,956.50 894,000 51,625

4,850 -602,700 -

LR WARRANT

0.78

0.78

0.7

WARRANTS 0.71 30,000

21,560

-

ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH XURPAS

1.91 6.04 0.47

1.98 6.04 0.48

1.88 5.9 0.46

1.9 6 0.48

134,000 19,800 940,000

256,620 118,089 436,350

19,200 -

FIRST METRO ETF

80.6

81.75

80

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 80.95 10,780

869,883

-

USD DMPL A2

9.91

9.91

9.7

MS 1,041,630 31,268,375 11,076,389 66,026 382,014 69,650 560 437,600,126 4,758,910 9,340,579 12,390,260 1,870 82,905,470 3,700 38,001,123.50 8,150 886,840 3,510,967 36,240 59,820,190 20,339,188 162,082,285 6,450 1,418,510 5,917,913 407,308 298,500 1,324,762 552,910 420,820 1,033,690 264,271,475 261,280 3,230,040 175,200 53,190 790 233,810 948,580 1,754,852 16,150 3,769,960 129,310 117,624,960 490,210 288,730 2,280

273,520 14,555,750 -5,296,701 60,000 -169,344,738 -410,444 552,250 -26,101,664 -13,128,928 -863,910 -1,822,617 -22,475,100 -77,178.50 -2,379,020 -14,000 -38,086 22,800 -84,568 11,000 19,745,560 78,000 -327,880 65,700 706,920 412,224 1,181,950 5,780,860 -

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

Trading Summary

SHARES

FINANCIAL

13,928,869

INDUSTRIAL

60,641,965

HOLDING FIRMS

44,713,427

PROPERTY

82,718,633

SERVICES

67,131,187

MINING & OIL

23,054,594

GRAND TOTAL

293,296,010

9.7

SME

DDS

3,650

35,889.50

-1,700 11,935,566 -36,680,725 -526,140 3,500

-35,889.50

VALUE 1,183.78 (down) 11.06 717,869,885.74 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 6,433.97 (up) 106.00 456,599,522.865 HOLDING FIRMS 5,265.52 (up) 30.44 968,449,508.25 PROPERTY 2,824.16 (down) 39.75 1,188.90 (up) 15.09 712,427,316.856 SERVICES MINING & OIL 4,261.87 (up) 54.94 1,146,117,535.455 PSEI 5,346.97 (up) 4.66 29,236,750.062 All Shares Index 3,259.66 (up) 21.18 4,032,384,548.58 Gainers: 98; Losers:74; Unchanged: 39; Total: 211

SEC warns fraudulent investment companies

By Jenniffer B. Austria THE Securities and Exchange Commission warned the public against fraudulent investment companies taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to cheat investors.

The SEC has flagged at least 14 groups engaged in unauthorized investmenttaking activities and other fraudulent activities since the declaration of a national public health emergency following the confirmation of local virus transmission in early March.

The SEC also warned the public against a text scam using the name of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Under the scheme, one would receive a text message stating that he or she won P750,000 from the President: Rodrigo Duterte Charity Foundation through an electronic raffle.

The foundation is not registered as a corporation based on SEC’s records.

The SEC also urged the public to stop investing in MAGINVESTKA. ONLINE (MIK.O), which purportedly trades bitcoin against the US dollar, and Azenzo-Online, which supposedly operates as an independent crowdfunding platform.

MIK.O is operated by a person or persons using the pseudonym “Mag Forex.”

It entices the public to invest with a guaranteed 2 percent return daily or 200 percent for a period of 100 days.

Azenzo-Online, meanwhile, offers the “Deposit-Donation, WithdrawalBlessing” scheme similar to that of Kapa-Community Ministry International. It promises a 30-percent return in as early as five, 10 or 15 days and a 100-percent “Donation Return” after 20 days.

Data from the SEC showed neither MIK.O nor Azenzo-Online registered as a corporation or partnership. They did not secure prior registration or license to solicit investments from the public, as required under Sections 8 and 12 of Republic Act No. 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code.

The SEC said those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of fraudulent investment schemes could be held criminally liable and penalized with a maximum fine of P5 million or imprisonment of 21 years, or both under the Securities Regulation Code.

San Miguel says all expressways fully operational

By Darwin G. Amojelar SAN Miguel Corp. said its expressway business remains fully operational despite the significant drop in vehicle traffic due to the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon to contain the spread of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).

San Miguel said the tollways unit reported an 80-percent percent drop in vehicle volume from an average of 300,000 daily at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), which connects Metro Manila to Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, and Quezon, to as far as the Bicol region in the first two weeks of the ECQ that started March 15.

“Our toll roads are very important links to keeping the supply chain of essential goods dynamic and despite the slowdown in traffic, we are committed to keeping them fully operational,” said San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang. Ang recently stressed the loss of business and profits at this time when the country is dealing with a global pandemic, is not nearly as important as saving lives.

“Saving lives is always more important than money. We need to have a healthy population, reduce the number of individuals who can potentially get sick and die. We can always rebuild and make money in the process. Once a life is lost, it’s gone forever,” he said.

San Miguel reported that some 2,000 doctors and nurses had already availed of toll-free RFID stickers valid at the STAR tollway, South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), the Skyway system, NAIAX and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX).

“We started this initiative not only to show support for our medical frontliners and government but also to inspire more businesses to step up their responses all the more and play their part in fighting the battle against COVID-19,” said Ang.

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com

A8

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

Business

ADB cuts PH growth target to 2%

By Julito G. Rada

T

HE Asian Development Bank expects Philippine economic growth to slow down significantly this year to 2 percent from the actual expansion of 5.9 percent in 2019, pulled down by the impact of coronavirus disease 2019.

It said in its Asian Development Outlook 2020 report the economy was expected to rebound strongly by 6.5 percent next year, with expansionary fiscal and

monetary policies partly offsetting slower domestic demand and disruptions in tourism, trade and manufacturing.

The government implemented a month-long enhanced community quarantine in Luzon that would last until April 12 to stop the spread of Covid-19.

ADB said a strong recovery of 6.5-percent growth would be possible in 2021, assuming the virus infections in the country would be curbed by June this year.

“This unprecedented and extraordinary public health emergency brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic will substantially slow down economic growth this year, with most of the contraction in the economy occurring in the second quarter,” ADB country director for the Philippines Kelly Bird said.

“We are anticipating a bounce back starting in the second half of this year, supported by the government’s stimulus spending and easier monetary policies,” said Bird.

Bird said ADB was working closely with the Philippine government in its fight to ease the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Filipinos. Bird said ADB provided two grants totaling $8 million to assist the government and was now in advanced stages of preparing a larger and comprehensive assistance to help alleviate the impacts of the pandemic on communities’ well-being and support fiscal stimulus.

The ADB on March 14 approved a $3-million grant to help the government deliver emergency medical supplies and equipment, including a new labora-

tory to enhance the country’s capacity to conduct more COVID-19 tests.

ADB also launched this week a $5-million project to provide critical food supplies for poor families in Metro Manila.

The quarantine measures shut down schools and most government offices and private establishments in Metro Manila and the entire Luzon island, which accounts for over half of the country’s total population and generates more than twothirds of the country’s overall GDP. Sustained public investment—especially in priority projects under the government’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure development program—and a rebound in private consumption will drive economic growth in 2021, the report says.

Coronavirus imperils over 400,000 jobs in PH aviation

Clark airport remits P130.5m to Treasury CLARK International Airport Corp. remitted P130.5 million worth of dividends to the Bureau of Treasury on April 2, a top official said Friday.

“This is CIAC’s response to the call of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade who directed DOTr-attached agencies to advance dividends to the Department of Finance to support government’s spending measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the implementation of RA 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” said CIAC officer-incharge Joshua Bingcang.

Early last week, three other agencies attached to the DOTr remitted over P10 billion in dividends to the National Treasury.

The Philippine Ports Authority remitted over P4 billion while the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Manila International Airport Authority paid P3 billion each.

Citing an “invisible but very dangerous enemy,” Tugade said DOTr was “throwing its support to this effort and to make sure that we, as a country, (will) survive to see victory in this war.” Jess Malabanan

Meralco backs DPWH in creating health hubs MANILA Electric Co. supports the the plan of the Department of Public Works and Highways to convert three multi-purpose venues into much-needed additional health and medical facilities to support the treatment and health monitoring of people infected with the COVID-19 virus.

Meralco president and chief executive officer Ray Espinosa said in a statement the company was reinforcing its service delivery during these critical times.

“We at Meralco are one with the government in providing support to our country’s frontliners, as they care and nurse back to health those who are afflicted with COVID-19. The immediate conversion of the three facilities into health centers is crucial, and we will do our part by ensuring fast, adequate and safe energization. Reliable power is critical too, and Meralco commits uninterrupted flow of electricity to the temporary structures,” Espinosa said.

Meralco vowed to work around the clock to ensure the immediate development of electrical system in the Philippine International Convention Center, the World Trade Center in Pasay City and the Ninoy Aquino Stadium at the Rizal Memorial Complex in Manila.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Gokongwei foundation mobilizes P100-m fund

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE Philippine aviation industry may lose more than 400,000 jobs and $3.5 billion in revenues because of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, according to the International Air Transport Association.

IATA said in its latest report the pandemic could cost 419,800 jobs and $3.5-billion reduction in revenues while its impact to the gross domestic product was estimated to reach $3.74 billion.

It could also affect travel demand by as many as 21.87 million passengers.

IATA said because of this, the Philippine government and other Asia Pacific countries should provide financial aid to their airline industry impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

IATA said Australia, New Zealand and Singapore announced a substantial package of measures to support their aviation industry.

“But others in the region, including India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand have yet to take decisive and effective action. Jobs as well as the GDP supported by the industry are at risk,” said IATA regional vice president for Asia-Pacific Conrad Clifford.

The Air Carriers Association of the Philippines earlier sent a letter to the Philippine government for intervention as Philippine carriers were facing “existential threat to their survival”.

ACAP requested the government to provide a credit guarantee scheme and long-term facility at attractive rates or a guaranty facility to enable airlines to restructure debt, among others.

“Governments need to ensure that airlines have sufficient cash flow to tide them over this period, by providing direct financial support, facilitating loans, loan guarantees, and support for the corporate bond market. Taxes, levies, and airport and aeronautical charges for the industry should also be fully or partially waived,” he said.

“It is critical that these countries still have a viable aviation sector to support the economic recovery, connect manufacturing hubs and support tourism when the COVID-19 crisis is over.

They need to act now and urgently before it is too late,” Clifford said.

IN BRIEF

DONATION TO CLARK. SFA Semiconductor Philippines donates 400 pieces of personal protective equipment to Clark Development Corp. for the use of frontliners. Bases Conversion and Development Authority president and chief executive Vince Dizon (fifth from left) receives the protective gears from SSP president Joonsang Kang (fourth from left). With them are (from left) SSP human resource and general affairs deputy team head Daisy Malig, SSP-HRGA team head Daekyu Kang, Clark International Airport Corp. president Jake Bingcang, CDC president and chief executive Noel Manankil, CDC director Nestor Villaroman Jr. and CDC health and sanitation division manager Dr. Clemencita Dobles.

Agencies issue joint circular to ease port congestion GOVERNMENT agencies issued a joint administrative order to decongest Manila ports amid the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

The JAO 20-01 titled “Adoption of Processes for the Expedited Release of Refrigerated Containers and Dry Vans during the period of Enhanced Community Quarantine” aims to address cargo congestion at the Manila ports.

The JAO was issued and signed by the Department of Finance, Department of Agriculture and Department of Trade and Industry in cooperation with the Bureau of Customs and the Philippine Ports Authority.

Under the JAO, importers/consignees were directed to immediately withdraw reefer containers or face abandonment proceedings.

All refrigerated containers should be pulled out of the terminal within seven days, except for chilled cargoes which are given five days.

“Appropriate penalties shall be imposed by the Philippine Ports Authority to ensure that consignees/importers withdraw the cargo within the window provided under this JAO., provided however that reefers that are unclaimed after three days from the set deadline shall be declared abandoned,” the JAO said.

“Cargoes beyond 30 days from date of discharge are required to be withdrawn within five days from issuance of this JAO. Otherwise, they shall be considered abandoned subject to immediate disposition in a manner to be determined by the Secretary of Finance,” it said.

The JAO will take effect immediately upon publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade earlier appealed to cargo owners and consignees to withdraw overstaying cargoes and help free needed space inside the Manila International Container Terminal.

Tugade aired the appeal after the PPA warned of a possible shutdown of the Port of Manila if cargo owners and consignees continued to ignore calls to withdraw cleared, ready for delivery and overstaying cargoes.

The PPA said yard utilization at the Manila international ports—composed of the Manila International Container Terminal and the Manila South Harbor—were almost 100-percent full. Darwin G. Amojelar

PH posts biggest increase in Wi-Fi use among Asian nations during lockdown

SUPPLY DELIVERY. More than 300,000 individuals benefit from the Aboitiz Group’s donation of medical and food supplies delivered by on-demand logistics company Lalamove. The Aboitiz Group, through corporate social responsibility arm Aboitiz Foundation, and Lalamove are working together to quickly and safely deliver medical supplies to different areas around Metro Manila as the country continues to battle the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019. The donations include nitrile gloves, goggles, personal protective equipment gowns, 70-percent alcohol and surgical masks.

FILIPINOS’ time on Wi-Fi at home increased significantly during the implementation of enhanced community quarantine to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and marked the highest increase among neighboring Asian countries, according to mobile analytics firm OpenSignal.

OpenSignal said in a report the time on Wi-Fi in the Philippines rose 13.4 percent week-on-week to 63 percent in the third week of March from 55.8 percent from March 9 to March 15.

“This was the largest week-on-week increase we observed across all the Asian countries that we are tracking,” OpenSignal said.

This was followed by Australia with 52.4 percent, Malaysia with 30.5 percent and Thailand with 41.5 percent.

“To put this in perspective, we only observed higher increases in Peru and

Spain—20.4 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively,” it said.

Opensignal said it also detected a statistically significant week-on-week increase in the percentage of time smartphone users in the Philippines spent on Wi-Fi in the second week of March—an increase of 4.2 percent which caused it to rise to 55.8 percent.

PLDT Inc. earlier said data traffic grew by around 15 percent to 20 percent under ECQ, while mobile data usage also increased along with voice calls and short messaging service.

PLDT said the fixed and mobile networks of PLDT and Smart have the capacity to handle the increased traffic in data, calls and SMS. Globe Telecom Inc. also assured the public it has enough capacity to handle the surge in data traffic during the ECQ. Darwin G. Amojelar

THE Gokongwei Brothers Foundation has started mobilizing P00 million in funds to help address the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, GBF earlier said it would use the fund to support two key beneficiaries—national and local frontline health providers serving in national and local public hospitals attending to the victims of the dreaded disease, and the communities where the group’s various business units operate.

The support earmarked for frontline health providers will be distributed among COVID-19 referral hospitals in the National Capital Region identified by the Department of Health, the UP Medical Foundation and other hospitals that are at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19.

“In these extraordinary times more than ever, we in the private sector recognize the need to complement the government’s programs and efforts by directly ensuring that our health care providers receive all the necessary support for them to be able to carry out their vital duties,” said GBF executive director Grace Colet.

Villar Group to fund PICC conversion

By Jenniffer B. Austria THE Villar Group of Companies said it is working with the Public Works Department and EEI Corp. to convert several halls of Philippine International Convention Center into a health facility.

The group said it would spearhead the conversion of Forum Halls 1 to 3 of PICC into a much-needed facility for the treatment and health monitoring of coronavirus disease 2019 patients, and those under monitoring and investigation.

It said the conversion was expected to be completed over the next 10 days.

The immediate conversion of PICC Forum Halls into an improvised health facility will significantly provide an optimal isolation space for monitoring of people infected by COVID-19, as most health facilities in Metro Manila have reached or were nearing maximum capacity.

Once converted, the PCCC Forum Halls would cater to the treatment of roughly 630 COVID-19 patients.

“In these challenging times, I would like to give you the firm assurance of our companies’ commitment to extend help in whichever way we can and converting PICC into a health facility in the fastest time we can is just one of them,” said Manuel Villar, chairman of the Villar Group of Companies.

Once completed, the operation of PICC’s temporary health facility for treatment and monitoring of patients experiencing mild respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough and colds will be under the supervision of the Department of Health.

Meanwhile, Ayala Land Inc. teamed up with Philippine Red Cross for the development of a new testing center.

Ayala Land through construction arm Makati Development Corp. is transforming the PRC headquarters mezzanine level in Mandaluyong City into a biosafety laboratory class 2 facility.

The center can process nearly 3,000 tests per day with the results for each batch of tests ready within two hours.

Sports

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

B1

PFF hopeful to push thru with Football League in May

By Peter Atencio

A sign placed in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas displays a message about social distancing due to the continuing spread of the coronavirus in Las Vegas, Nevada. NBA officials are studying the possibility of staging the entire playoffs in Las Vegas but nothing is close to being settled, Sports Illustrated reported. AFP

US Open in limbo as golf bodies struggle LOS ANGELES—US Golf Association executive Craig Annis conceded in comments to Golf Week magazine that it is “increasingly likely” that the US Open will be postponed in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an article posted online on Thursday, Golf Week reported that USGA officials are holding off on an announcement about the major championship, scheduled for June 18-21 at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York, as golf governing bodies around the world scramble to come up with a modified schedule for a season upended by the virus.

“At this point we are not in a position to confirm any specific dates,” Annis, the USGA’s chief brand officer, told Golf Week. “While we are hopeful that we will be able to conduct the US Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in June, it is increasingly likely that we will need to postpone.

“We have been working with our broadcast partner Fox Sports, the PGA Tour, and other golf organizations to determine what a viable postponement date could be should we need to make that decision.

“We are currently considering a number of options and expect to be in a position to announce a decision by next week.”

Golf Week, citing three unnamed sources, described “weeks of daily conference calls” among golf’s governing bodies working to put together a revamped schedule.

One piece apparently missing from the puzzle is a decision by the Royal & Ancient on the fate of the 149th Open Championship, slated for July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, and whether it will be postponed or cancelled outright.

R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said Thursday the organization was “continuing to work through our options for The Open this year” and that “due to a range of external factors, that process is taking some time to resolve.”

According to Golf Week, a rescheduled British Open could conceivably take place in September, a week before the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

If the R&A instead opts to cancel, that slot could see the US Open held at Winged Foot, Golf Week reported. AFP

NBA eyes staging entire playoffs in Vegas: report

EW YORK—NBA officials are studying the possibility of staging the entire playoffs in Las Vegas but nothing is close to being settled, Sports Illustrated reported Thursday.

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According to a story on the magazine website, unnamed sources said the league is exploring what it would take to stage games and house players in Vegas hotels and that while nothing is near being completed, there is also nothing off the table.

The report also cited several league and club sources saying there is no chance of staging a typical NBA playoffs involving travel between cities due to different impacts of the deadly disease in different areas as well as potentialy travel issues.

Quarantines for teams in one location and playing in an empty arena is seen as the only answer, with Las Vegas being the only city the league is seriously considering, an NBA source

told Sports Illustrated.

A CNBC report last week said the NBA has considered many scenarios but was not near finalizing any one-site plan, including a tournament idea that would send 16 teams in a reduced bestof-five first round, then two knockout stages to decide which teams would play a best-of-seven NBA Finals.

The NBA stages Summer League events annually in Las Vegas and so has relationships in place with hotels and arenas that could accommodate such a playoff.

But staging such an event would require thousands of players and team staffers to journey to Las Vegas, support staff at arenas and hotels to work, broadcasters to provide workers to telecast the games.

That would also require thousands of COVID-19 tests to be available and be advanced enough to quickly provide results.

And conditions would have to be advanced enough where using so many tests for an NBA tournament would not be seen as controversial, given how much of the nation has yet to be tested.

The league shut down on March 11 after Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus. Major US sports leagues and events followed and much of the sporting landscape is barren into July.

The league was already looking at up to $400 million in losses after issues with Chinese officials over a tweet supporting Hong Kong protesters by an NBA executive last year.

Losing the final month of the NBA regular season and playoffs would deliver another major blow to team owners and players. AFP

Olympics bracing for extra costs in reset PARIS—Olympic chiefs said Thursday they were bracing themselves for the extra costs incurred by rescheduling the Tokyo Games by a year to 2021.

The historic decision to postpone the summer Olympics by 12 months was taken this week amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It was the first peacetime postponement of the Games.

According to the latest budget, the

Games were due to cost $12.6 billion, shared between the organising committee, the government of Japan and Tokyo city.

The postponement affects every aspect of the organisation—the Olympic Athletes’ Village, hotels, ticketing, venues and transport, being among the major headaches.

“What is being recognised is that there

will be additional costs on one side for the Tokyo organising committee and there will be additional costs for the IOC and Olympic family,” Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games executive director, said in a conference call.

“We are looking into those with great detail. It is tens of thousands of lines of budget that need to be reviewed.”

The Tokyo organising committee, Dubi said, “had a fantastic campaign in terms of marketing, ticketing, hospitality.”

“Tokyo 2020 was in a great financial position prior to the crisis.

“It is truly helpful because the revenues are incredibly high. That’s something we can rely on.”

Dubi said it was “reassuring” that the IOC and Japanese officials had a set date for the rescheduled Games in 2021.

“It’s very good because we have a date. For us, it means we have some certainty,” he said.

Turning to questions over athletes’ participation, IOC sports director Kit McConnell said nothing had been decided on those footballers currently under 23 years of age and eligible for an Olympics in 2020, but who would be a year older A man wearing a protective face mask attends the olympic flame handover ceremony for next year, with each team only allowed three over-23 players. AFP the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, in Athens. AFP

THE Philippine Football Federation is keeping its fingers crossed that it will be able to push through with the 2020 Philippine Football League by May. PFF General Secretary Ed Gastanes said this after moving the kickoff date of the tournament from April 18 to the latter part of May. Gastanes said this is due to the situation following the implementation of Enhanced Community Quarantine throughout Luzon, and the increase in coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the National Capital Region.

“Kung puwede makapag-start na.

Pero baka mayroon pang public health emergency,” said Gastanes.

The PFF, in a statement, is urging everyone in within the football community to observe the best practices in combating the virus by cooperating with local and national authorities and be safe and healthy during the on-going state of public health emergency in the country.

Since February, eight international meets throughout the Southeast Asian region have been called off due to ongoing efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic.

Officials of the Philippine Football Federation said the decision was made by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) last week.

“We are evaluating the situation on a daily basis and there’s still an ongoing quarantine,” added Gastanes.

Aussie league denies claim NBA hopeful Ball bought team SYDNEY—Australia’s professional basketball league denied on Friday that it had agreed to sell the Illawarra Hawks to LaMelo Ball, who solidified his 2020 NBA Draft top pick contender status playing for the team last year.

The National Basketball League issued the denial after Ball’s manager told ESPN that the purchase of the Illawarra Hawks was “a done deal”.

“We own the team,” Jermaine Jackson told the US network.

Within hours, the NBL sought “to clarify the current situation” regarding Ball and the Hawks.

“The league can confirm LaMelo Ball and his management had discussions about being involved with the club while he was playing in the NBL last season,” it said in a statement.

The NBL said discussions were underway with current team owner Simon Stratford “on a number of options for what we hope will be a fruitful outcome” for Illawarra and the league.

But is stressed that the NBL “has final approval on any transfer of licence and no application has been made to date.”

Ball went Down Under in August and the point guard averaged 17.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists in 12 games with the Hawks before a foot injury ended his National Basketball League season.

The 2019 NBL Rookie of the Year wanted to make Australia part of his long-term plans after enjoying his stay with the Wollongong, New South Wales-based team.

So when Stratford and his wife Wendy posted a message saying they needed more corporate and public support, 18-year-old Ball saw a perfect opportunity, Jackson told ESPN. AFP

Sityodtong wants ONE x UFC super fight between Xiong, Zhang CHAIRMAN and CEO of ONE Championship, Chatri Sityodtong hosted a Facebook Live Q&A on Thursday as fans were invited to send in questions on a variety of topics ranging from potential signings to The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.

During the candid session which lasted almost 40 minutes, Sityodtong was asked to reveal his “dream match-up for women’s mixed martial arts.” His reply described what would certainly be the biggest fight in the history of Asian MMA and a landmark moment for the sport’s growth in China.

“For women’s mixed martial arts I would love to see Jingnan Xiong vs Weili Zhang. I think Jingnan is the one to beat Weili Zhang.”

Both competitors have taken part in

some of the most iconic fights in the history of women’s MMA in recent times.

Weili Zhang defended her UFC Women’s Strawweight belt in an exceptional display of grit and high-level striking against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in March. The fight was an instant classic.

Jingnan Xiong, meanwhile, continued her epic rivalry with ONE Atomweight champion Angela Lee back in October. In a follow-up to her memorable win against Lee in Japan in 2019, ‘The Panda’ lost via submission in the dying seconds of a pulsating affair to tie-up their rivalry at 1-1.

Before that loss to Lee, Jingnan was on incredible 9-fight winning streak, establishing herself as one of the very best in the world.

Incidentally, Lee was another name

put forward by the ONE boss when considering dream match-ups.

“I think Angela Lee VS any Atomweight in the world. Angela Lee is incredible. I’ve seen her in training. I’ve seen her go into a bout with pneumonia with doctor’s advice not to compete and I’ve tried my best to stop the fight. Angela Lee’s an absolute warrior and she’s just a genius on the ground.”

Lee is one of the biggest stars in women’s MMA and is likely to be back in action defending her Atomweight crown against Filipino challenger Denice Zamboanga in the near future.

The other name mentioned by Sityodtong was the supremely-talented Stamp Fairtex. The Thai became a double champion in ONE Championship by the time she was just 22 years-old, winning world

titles in Muay Thai and Kickboxing.

Despite losing her Kickboxing belt to Janet Todd in February, Stamp has her sights set on winning MMA gold before too long, and showed off the rapid evolution of her ground game with a submission victory over India’s Asha Roka last year.

“I think Stamp Fairtex could beat Weili Zhang as well. Stamp Fairtex against any female striker in the world or any female MMA fighter in the world. Even though she’s only 4-0 in MMA she’s a complete beast.”

While a cross-promotion with the UFC remains unlikely, we have seen big promotions collaborate in recent times with Rizin and Bellator co-promoting a show together in 2019 and Sityodtong made it clear that he’s open to the concept.

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong

Life

Bernadette Lunas, Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLIFE

B2

TOURISM AND CULTURE

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

VIRTUAL VISIT. Online walking tours let guests get up close, albeit not in person, with fine art and artifacts housed in some of the world’s most famous museums, including (in photos) the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C., USA and the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Hungry for culture?

Go on a virtual tour

By Steph Llarena

OTHING beats the experience of seeing a fine piece of art or a historical artifact up close and in person. But while many establishments remain close and we are required to stay home, virtual tours allow many to “visit” some of the world’s most famous museums and historical houses.

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For instance, Palacio de Memoria, the resplendent Colonial Revival mansion in Parañaque City, now opens its doors to let guests visit and marvel at its luxurious facilities and hundreds of Euro-Filipino paintings, sculptures, and historical pieces online (www.palaciodememoria.com/tours).

The virtual tour offers a highly detailed and interactive presentation of the heritage house through 360-degree videos.

“With most of us being isolated from the outside world, we hope that Palacio de Memoria’s virtual tour will not only give the public respite during these uncertain times but also keep them productive as they learn and get a glimpse of a significant time in our history that was once Manila’s prime,” said Palacio de Memoria general manager Camille Lhuillier.

The tour begins with an aerial and outdoor view of the estate which shows the restored pre-war mansion. It then leads to the first floor which shows the Los Tamaraos Ballroom and its Murano chandelier, as well as the terrazzo floor by National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil.

It also shows the showroom of Palacio de Memoria’s auction house, Casa de Memoria or the Casa, which houses the Lhuilliers’ unrivalled collection of antiques. Other highlights include the Mosphil Lounge, a passenger plane that was refitted to be a lounge for special occasions; the bridal suite which is perfect for weddings; and the recently

The Internet opens the doors to (clockwise) the Louvre in Paris, Palacio de Memoria in Parañaque, inside the restored pre-war mansion owned by the Lhuilliers, and the National Museum’s National Art Gallery where Juan Luna’s ‘Spoliarium’ is displayed.

opened museum which also serves as a chapel for intimate weddings and religious gatherings.

Other museums open for virtual tour include the following: National Museum’s National Art Gallery (www. nationalmuseum.gov.ph) which houses Juan Luna’s “Spoliarium” and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo’s “El Asesinato del Gobernador Bustamante” (The Assassination of Governor Bustamante) among other classical, neoclassical, religious, academic, and romantic art.

Presidential Museum and Library (artsandculture.google.com/ partner/malacanang-presidential-museum-and-library) which is located at the Kalayaan Hall in Malacañang Palace. Here lies a number of notable artworks, souvenirs, and portraits of former presidents of the Philippines.

museum and a historical monument in Paris, France that houses important and popular exhibits such as the Egyptian antiquities (composed of 50,000 pieces), Near Eastern antiquities, sculptures, paintings (Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”), prints, and drawings.

Solomon R Guggenheim Museum (www.guggenheim.org/collection-onLouvre Museum (www.louvre.fr/en/ line) whose some of the priceless pieces visites-en-ligne), the world’s largest art of artwork are available for viewing on-

line, including the works of Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Jeff Koons.

The British Museum (artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-british-museum) houses a huge collection of approximately eight million pieces—including the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies— which let viewers discover over two million years of human history and culture.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (naturalhistory. si.edu/visit/virtual-tour) get a comprehensive room-by-room, 360-de-

Hotel chain opens 500 rooms to Mindanao COVID-19 frontliners A BUDGET hotel chain has reopened its 23 properties in major cities in Mindanao in a bid to support frontliners engaged in the delivery of medical and other vital services during the coronavirus disease pandemic.

Following the Department of Tourism directive, OYO Hotels and Homes accepts check-ins from foreign guests, government employees, and persons employed in essential services during the enhanced community quarantine.

Davao Airport View Hotel offers rooms to persons employed in essential services during the enhanced community quarantine as well as to government employees and foreign guests.

The hotel chain is offering 500 rooms dedicated for various frontliners, with discounts of up to 40 percent from the posted rate. It is also coordinating with business process outsourcing firms and other key businesses to accommodate their employees and stranded foreign tourists.

To ensure the safety of guests and staff, walk-in guests are discouraged and hotel facilities such as swimming pools, gyms, and spas are closed in compliance with the government’s social distancing regulations.

“It is part of our responsibility as a provider of essential services and a key stakeholder in the tourism and travel industry to ensure that those who are in need of clean and comfortable living spaces have access to this necessity, especially during this challenging situation,” says OYO Hotels and Homes Philippines country head Ankit Gupta.

Participating establishments in Davao City are Humberto’s Hotel,

Davao Airport View Hotel, Sunny Point Hotel, The West Inn, Dads Bayview Pension, Deck 360 Dormitel, Braveheart Residency, Anisabel Suites, Capital Asrodel, Circle B Suites, Chateau Cinco, D’ Abirus Inn, Yellow Pad, Sharana Pensionne, and Capital World Palace.

Others are Samantha’s Apartelle, Stonewood Hotel, KTI Travelers Inn, Pensionne Alonso, and Kathy’s Home Garden Suites in General Santos City; Sakura Suites, Edilberto’s Bed and Breakfast, and Vines Ape Nap in Tagum City. Also accepting guests is Diakopes Inn in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

OYO Hotels and Homes is a sevenyear old Indian hotel hospitality conglomerate of leased and franchised hotels, homes, and living spaces. It is the world’s second-largest chain which empowers small and independent asset owners with the operational capabilities and technology to help them compete with bigger brands.

g r e e walking tour inside one of the most visited museums in the world whose exhibits include the Hall of Mammals, and Dinosaurs and Hall of Paleobiology.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (www.metmuseum.org/art/ online-features) houses over two million works of fine art including those

by Rembrandt, Degas, Vincent van Gogh, and Jackson Pollock, among many others.

National Museum of Korea (artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-museum-of-korea) where visitors can learn the Korean history and way of life from the wide range of artworks and artifacts on display.

Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok (artsandculture.google.com/ partner/museum-of-contemporaryart-moca-bangkok) houses a huge collection of valuable paintings and sculptures that promotes and highlights the rich legacy and heritage of Thailand.

Tokyo Fuji Art Museum (artsandculture.google.com/partner/tok yofuji-art-museum) is composed of approximately 30,000 Japanese, Eastern, and Western artworks that range from paintings, sculptures, ceramics and laquerware, photography, prints, swords, and medallions.

National Gallery Singapore (artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-gallery-singapore) presents a comprehensive collection composed of over 8,000 pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries that include paintings, sculptures, prints, photos, and videos.

B3

nickie.standard@gmail.com

AJ MITCHELL

drops brand-new single P OP phenom AJ Mitchell has officially released his brand new song “Spring Break” featuring Rich the Kid via Epic Records.

Arriving just in time for the warmer months, the track flaunts a breezy blend of pop & R&B that finds AJ entering a vibrant new era as an artist. Co-written

by AJ himself alongside Dan Gleyzer, Matt Bubel, Chelsea Balan, and Grant Landis, “Spring Break” is available now via all digital streaming platforms.

"I had a blast making Spring Break,” said AJ. “I haven't really made a song like this before and I'm excited for people to hear a new side to me. I've always liked challenging myself and making different kinds of music, so it was nice to make something so carefree and fun.

It's really just inspired by the idea that ‘Spring Break’ is a frame of mind. If you’re not on spring break, listening to this song will take you right there."

AJ has also released a colorful accompanying music video for the song today, directed by Psycho Films’ Joe Weil (Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Ferg, Electric Guest). Filmed across multiple locations in Los Angeles, the piece perfectly captures the spirit of spring break; when tropical days seamlessly turn into euphoric nights.

As he readies his forthcoming debut album, AJ continues to prove himself as one of 2020’s breakout artists. Across the past year, the singer-songwriter has garnered acclaim from the likes of Billboard, DuJour, Idolator and more, and has received recognition as both an MTV PUSH artist and a 2019 Vevo LIFT artist. Impressively, he’s already ranked among the Top 500 artists on Spotify and is closing in on eight million monthly listeners.

AJ released his Slow Dance EP via Epic Records in August 2019, which features the smash-hit title track featuring Ava Max. Following performances at the 2019 VMAs as well as on The Today Show and Live With Kelly and Ryan, the song maintained a position on the

K-Pop star sparks outrage with April Fools' Day prank

On April's Fools Day, Korean pop star Kim Jae-joong, a member of boyband JYJ, posted on his Instagram account with 1.9 million followers: 'I have been infected with COVID-19.

A K-Pop star has sparked outrage with an April Fools' Day prank saying he had caught coronavirus and was in hospital.

Kim Jae-joong, a member of boyband JYJ, posted on his Instagram account with 1.9 million followers: ”I have been infected with COVID-19. It is a result of my negligence, disregarding the cautionary words of the government and my friends.”

After several hours, the 34-yearold Asian pop idol edited the post in an attempt to spin his joke an attempt to raise awareness, while apologizing to his fans.

“I don't think of this as an April Fool's prank...I wanted to tell you that protecting yourself is protecting the precious people around you,” Kim said.

Korea has been largely successful in containing the outbreak with

the number infected on Wednesday climbing by 101 to 9,887, with another eight deaths, taking the total to 169.

Health authorities had earlier warned of any pranks related to the coronavirus.

Kim Jae-joong's inflammatory post was hotly debated among fans online over whether he had been joking or whether he had been trying to raise awareness.

A KCDC official told Reuters that it was not considering any punishment for Kim. Calls to Kim's music label C-Jes Entertainment Corp seeking comment went unanswered.

Under South Korean law, those convicted of deceiving or deluding state officials or state agencies may be jailed for up to five years or face up to 10 million won ($8,124.14) in fines. AFP

Top 40 Pop Radio charts for months.

Before 2019 ended, AJ continued to showcase his range with a steady stream of diverse tracks including the smooth, stripped back “Like Strangers Do,” the energetic pop anthem “Say It Again”, and the R&B-tinged “Unstoppable.”

Rising international pop artist AJ Mitchell

Mrs. Queen of Hearts Philippines 2020 candidates named

This year's Mrs. Queen of Hearts Philippines official candidates pose for a photo op with 2019 winners. Joel Maniquis

BEFORE the enhanced community quarantine was implemented, a total of fifteen candidates of Mrs. Queen of Hearts Philippines 2020 were presented to the press at Okada Manila. The official candidates are vying for seven titles at stake.

During the event, Melissa Quiambao of Quezon City, Sarima Paglas of Maguindanao and Louise Suzanne Alba Lopez of Quezon City were voted Darling of the Press.

A pageant for married and single mothers, Mrs. Queen of Hearts Philippines is a presentation of the Queen of Hearts Foundation, Inc., headed by Mitzie Go-Gil, which seeks to provide assistance to poor children, humanitarian service to the underprivileged sectors and promotes women empowerment thru beauty pageants and livelihood programs and training.

The fifteen candidates competing for the titles of Mrs. Global Universe Philippines 2021, Mrs. Worldwide

PAGEANT CONCEPT ETON CONCEPCION Philippines 2020, Mrs. Asia Pacific Global Philippines 2020, Mrs. Asia Pacific All Nation Philippines 2020, Mrs. Asia Pacific Tourism Philippines 2020, Mrs. Asia Pacific Intercontinental Philippines 2020 and Mrs. Asia Pacific Cosmopolitan Philippines 2020 are Heraldine Cuanico Barcena (Bicol), Melissa Quiambao (Caloocan), Ivy Diana Bo (Cavite), Catherine Malacad (Dasmarinas), Joana Krisanta La Madrid (Ilagan), Joybelle Corpuz Portabes (Isabela), Catherine Castillo Jordas (Laoag, Ilocos Norte), Sarima S. Paglas (Maguindanao), Dorie Pizarra (Marinduque), Darling E. Topacio (Misamis Orien-

tal), Annette Mendoza (Pampanga), Francesca Chin Yhang Park (Parañaque), Louise Suzanne Lopez (Quezon City), Glovel Tasco (Batangas) and Lalaine Federizo (Valenzuela).

Reigning queens who graced the event were Mrs. Asia Pacific Global 2019 Grand Winner Avon Morales, Mrs. Worldwide 2019 2nd runner-up Llena Tan-Arcenas, Mrs. Asia Pacific Philippines Cosmopolitan 2019 Mary Chris Abacahin-Camacho, Mrs. Intercontinental Philippines Gynes Olbes, Mrs. All Nations Philippines Jennifer Siabug-las, Mrs. Philippines Asia Pacific Tourism2019 Marjorie Barillo Orito with the newly-appointed queen, Mrs. Global Universe Philippines 2020 Rosenda Casaje.

The grand coronation of the Mrs. Queen of Hearts Philippines 2020 was set for April but has been moved to a later date owing to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Dive into the future of anime with ‘Sol Levante’ ANIME’S diverse and fantastical stories, vibrant styles and delicate lines are an art form that has evolved from its creative home in Japan, and grown in global popularity, variety, and sophistication over the last fifty years.

Today, Netflix is proud to showcase the stunning world of Sol Levante; an original anime that is a culmination of art, technology, and curiosity.

Since 2017, Netflix has been invested in Japanese anime. It’s passionate about the genre now more than ever.

By working with top talent, the popular streaming platform has been forging the way to become a home for creators and anime fans around the world.

As a studio, it continues to push the boundaries of storytelling—as art is boundless in the world of anime. To support this, Netflix technologists are constantly looking for ways to innovate

and explore new creative opportunities for filmmakers.

Given the rapid adoption of HDR capable devices in consumers’ homes, we wondered what it would take to increase anime’s resolution to 4K and introduce a wider color palette of high dynamic range (HDR) to artists’ toolsets to offer members a more compelling visual experience in the long term.

The studio quickly learned, increasing the resolution meant hand drawings needed to be completed on a much larger piece of paper than the standard A4sized paper, or scanned at a very high resolution. Either were not viable solutions, hence, drawings had to be done digitally on a tablet. The challenge was, most anime artists lack training and equipment to go digital.

It was integral that Netflix found a

From left: Katsushi Eda, Miho Tanaka, Akira Saitoh, Hisashi Ezura, and Masakazu Morinak

partner who wanted a taste of what the future of anime would look like. And so its collaboration with Japanese animation studio Production I.G. was born.

Known for projects like Ghost in the Shell and the anime portion of Kill Bill,

Production I.G. brought a small and experienced crew led by Director Akira Saitoh who were open to unexpected challenges and working in digital from scratch. Their combined curiosity led to the creation of an experimental 4K

and HDR, immersive audio anime short called Sol Levante - one of the first projects of its kind.

Watch Sol Levante on Netflix with any HDR configured device with your premium subscription.

Nickie Wang, Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com

B4

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

VERY WANG NICKIE WANG

T

NT, a cellular service of Smart Communications, welcomes Sarah Geronimo to its roster of celebrity endorsers.

The pop star being part of TNT family coincides with the company's latest campaign which goal is to provide relief and optimism in these particularly trying times — not only to her millions of Popsters, but also to every Filipino doing his or her best to make it through these challenges.

“I’m glad to join TNT Family. I’m thankful that they gave me a chance to be part of this mission to keep Filipinos connected and entertained all the time,” said Sarah.

“We welcome Sarah Geronimo to the TNT family, and with her, we hope to continue uplifting Filipinos through our services. Sarah is also the personification of TNT in the sense that she grew up entertaining the public and kept her fans connected because of her songs and movies," said Jane J. Basas, SVP and Head for Consumer Individual Wireless Business of Smart.

Geronimo also understands that Filipinos need more encouragement at this time, which is why she plans to use her new status as a TNT endorser to be an inspiring figure, doing what she can to help Filipinos cope with the current situation.

“It’s important that even though we’re currently in this situation, we still need to have a positive disposition. We still need to have a good laugh, we can still dance a n d

Entertainment MAINE MENDOZA SARAH G fulfills dream shares positivity and happiness in challenging times

sing to help us get by each day,” Sarah noted.

“Ako po at ang TNT ay may solusyon para diyan para bigyan po kayo ng saya kahit kailan kahit saan abangan po ninyo,” she says in a teaser video addressed to TNT subscribers.

Amid these uncertain times, TNT subscribers can get a dose of happiness and entertainment every day through TikTok, the latest social media app that’s got everybody — from your friends and family to all your favorite celebrities, influencers, and online personalities — sharing their dance covers, dubs, and more, just being fun online.

Watch everyone’s TikTok videos and upload your own as much as you want when you subscribe to TNT’s GIGA Stories promo for as low as P50 for 1 GB per day of TikTok, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram, valid for three days. To register, simply dial *123#.

You can experience great entertainment anytime, anywhere on your phone with TNT’s mobile internet, which i s

powered by Smart LTE, the country's fastest mobile network, as certified by global internet testing firms Ookla and Opensignal.

For more info and updates on TNT and its promos, follow TNT on Facebook at fb.com/ TNTph, at @tntph on Twitter and Instagram, or visit tntph.com.

Watch the teaser video on this link: https://www.facebook. com/117260625012630/posts/370277255 9794734/?vh=e&d=n Sarah G in a new TNT TVC with comedian Pepe Herrera

Sarah Geronimo-Guidicelli is now part of TNT's roster of celebrity endorsers

GMA Music releases The Clash Singles GMA Music proudly releases a refreshing and soulful compilation album featuring this generation’s promising singers.

The two-volume compilation album called The Clash Singles is a collection of songs performed by the graduates of the first season of GMA Network's all-original Filipino reality singing competition.

The tracklist for Vol. 1 includes “Ngayon” and “More Than Before” by Golden Canedo; “Ano Ba” by Jong Madaliday; “Silent Rumblings” by Kyryll; “Lilipad Na” by Garrett Bolden; “Larawan Mo” by Anthony Rosaldo; “Una Ka” by Mirriam Manalo; and “Pakiusap” by Bryan Chong.

The theme songs of Kapuso programs Kara Mia titled “Nakikita Ba Ang Langit?” by Golden Canedo and Wagas titled “Pwede Ba” by Psalms David are also included in this volume.

Pag-ibig’s “Ililigtas Kita”

by Mirriam Manalo; "Bihag ng Pag-ibig" from Bihag, performed by Lyra Micolob; and XOXO's “Kumapit Ka Lang” and "Umiibig Na Ba Sa 'Yo," the theme songs of Tadhana and Wagas, respectively are likewise part of this volume.

The Clash Singles Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 are now available for streaming and downloading on Apple Music, Spot i f y, Yo u Tube Music, and other digital stores worldwide.

Anthony Rosaldo

Girl group Xoxo

Golden Canedo

Meanwhile, The Clash Singles Vol. 2 contains the following: “Tayo Pa Rin”

by Golden Canedo; “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Melbelline Caluag; “Handa Na Maghintay” by Garrett Bolden;

“Todo” by Jong Madaliday; and “Maghintay Ka Lamang” by Anthony Rosaldo.

The theme song of top-rating series Prima Donnas titled “H wag Kang Susuko” by Golden Canedo; Dahil Sa

of becoming a VJ

IT WAS in 2010 when Maine Mendoza uttered her dream of becoming a MYX VJ. Ten years later, she gets her wish as the music channel welcomes her as the MYX Celebrity VJ this April.

Her month-long stint—a first for Maine in the ABS-CBN music channel after her brief Isa Pa With Feelings guesting last October—is well-timed as she just launched her music career with the song “Parang Kailan Lang,” a collaboration with OPM band Gracenote.

As a guest VJ, she will be introducing the featured music videos in Mellow MYX, Pop MYX, Pinoy MYX, and My MYX. "I’m so thrilled because this is different from what I did before for the ‘Isa Pa With Feelings’ promo. This time, there will be more episodes and it’s a lot more fun especially when I say ‘MYX VJ.’ It’s like a dream come true!,” Maine gushed about her MYX Celebrity VJ experience.

Meanwhile, fans can catch up with VJs Robi, Ai, Samm, Dani, Anton, and Edward during the enhanced community quarantine via their internet talk show MYX It Up which streams live on the MYX Philippines YouTube channel every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 3:00 p.m..

Music lovers also get a special treat on the MYX Live! stage with exclusive performances from Juris (April 9) and Erik Santos (April 16). Tawag ng Tanghalan champion Janine Berdin also gave a thrilling #MYXLIVE performance last Thursday.

Check out the MYX Live! performances on All Music MYX channel on YouTube, an online playlist hub launched less than a year ago and now has almost 150K subscribers.

ABS-CBN Music’s newly launched “All Music: Artists At Home Sessions,” featuring Kapamilya artists performing songs from their homes, can be streamed live nightly at 8 pm on MYX Philippines’ Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Catch Celeb VJ Maine on Mellow MYX starting Sunday (April 5) until April 11 (Saturday), on Pop MYX from April 12 to 18, on Pinoy MYX from April 19 to 25, and on My MYX from April 26 to 30. Watch MYX on ABSCBN TVplus channel 12, SKYcable channel 23, and SKYdirect channel 37.