Manila Standard - 2020 April 16 - Thursday

COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE

(AS OF 4 PM APRIL 15

5,453

FULL STOP. Traffic enforcers from the police Highway Patrol Group and the Metro Manila Development Authority check motorists along EDSA for possible violation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine on Wednesday. An increase in traffic has been observed since Monday amid the ECQ, prompting authorities to strengthen checkpoints around Metro Manila.

MMDA, ABS-CBN photos

NUMBER OF CASES

349 (14 new) DEATHS

353 (58 new) RECOVERIES

230

NEW CASES VOL. XXXIV • NO. 58 • 2 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

House, WB to boost PH war chest vs. coronavirus

By Maricel V. Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo THE House of Representatives’ technical working group of its Defeat COVID-19 Committee is preparing a bill that adds P370 billion to the government’s war chest to mitigate the effects of the novel coronavirus.

The P370 billion will be allotted for the economic stimulus package to be used to revive the economy that has been at a standstill because of the Luzon-wide Enhanced Community Quarantine.

The panel’s technical working group on Tuesday night moved to consolidate several proposals that will provide the economy a kickstart following discussions on the Economic Stimulus-Response Package prepared by several legislators led by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chairman of the chamber’s committee on ways and means.

This developed as Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Wednesday the country has secured a $500-million loan from the World Bank to boost its antiCOVID-19 war chest. (See full story on A8–Editors) The loan, signed April 10, is payable in 29 years inclusive of a 10.5-year grace period, he said.

“This $500-million facility, which is just one of several financial assistance programs made available to the Philippines by the World Bank during this global health crisis, bolsters the Duterte administration’s overall efforts to provide instant relief to the poor and other hardest-hit sectors, and strengthen our health care system,” Dominguez said.

Salceda said Tuesday night a 5 percent to 6 percent addition in the proposed 2021 national budget may be proposed, lower than the 10 percent to 11 percent sought by the Development Budget Coordina Coordination C o m m i t t e e Next page

Cops to arrest motorists violating lockdown rules

By Vito Barcelo and Joel E. Zurbano

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte ordered the police and traffic enforcers to arrest motorists violating the Enhanced Community Quarantine following a noticeable increase in the number of private vehicles on EDSA and other major thoroughfares, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Wednesday.

OH BEHAVE. Residents of Quezon City, detained for roaming the streets without relevant passes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, squat at a distance from one another as they are processed outside a police station on Monday. The city government and police lectured violators on the importance of heeding the call to stay home amidst the pandemic AFP

Local cases hit 5,453, top list in incidence in SEA

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo THE Philippines is the Southeast Asian country with the most number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, data from the Johns Hopkins University showed.

As of April 15, the Philippines

counted 5,453 cases, compared to 5,136 in Indonesia and 5,072 in Malaysia.

This was followed by Singapore, 3,25; Thailand, 2,643; Vietnam, 267; Brunei, 136; Cambodia, 122; Myanmar, 74; and Laos, 19.

In terms of fatalities, Indonesia had the largest number of deaths at 469, followed by the Philippines with 349.

Malaysia registered 83 deaths and Thailand had 43.

Despite having the most number of COVID-19 cases, the Philippines has only recorded 353 recovered patients, much lower than Malaysia (2,647), Thailand (1,497), and Singapore (611) and Indonesia (446).

Still, for the first time, the number of Next page

Trump holds funding for WHO as Europe posts 1M+ infections

ADB-ARMY AID. A soldier of the Philippine Army delivers one of several Family Food Packs to 5,000 families of Barangay 187 in Caloocan City, supplied through the P250-million food donation of the Asian Development Bank and in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and other local governments. Philippine Army

WASHINGTON―Donald Trump ordered a freeze on funding for the World Health Organization for “mismanaging” the coronavirus crisis, as world leaders weighed easing lockdowns that threaten to tip the global economy into a second Great Depression.

This developed as more than one million cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Europe, just over half the global total, according to a tally compiled

by AFP from official sources at 0830 GMT Wednesday.

With at least 1,003,284 cases, including 84,465 deaths, Europe is the worst hit continent. Globally, 1,991,019 COVID-19 infections and 125,955 deaths have been registered.

Trump’s attack came as the US counted a fresh record of 2,228 victims over the past 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Nevertheless, Trump vowed to reboot large sections of the world’s top economy

“very soon,” saying the US would reopen “in beautiful little pieces”, with the hardest-hit areas like New York taking slightly longer.

Germany slammed Wednesday the US decision on WHO, as Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned against “blaming others” for the coronavirus crisis.

“Blaming others won’t help. The virus knows no borders,” Maas wrote on Twitter.

“One of the best investments is to strengthen the UN, above all the underfinanced WHO... in the development and distribution of tests and vaccines,” he added.

The death toll from the pandemic has topped 125,000, with nearly two million people infected by the disease that has upended society and changed lives for billions around the globe confined to their homes.

Across the planet, leaders are agonizing

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Nograles, spokesman for the InterAgency Task Force on Emerging and Infectious Diseases, said the order came after Duterte received reports from the Philippine National Police that more than 108,000 motorists have violated the lockdown guidelines a month after the ECQ was imposed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Members of the PNP Highway Patrol Group and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority stopped a number of motorists on major thoroughfares for violating the lockdown and confiscated licenses and issued citation tickets Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

“The MMDA and the PNP-HPG went full force on Wednesday after a large volume of vehicles continued to travel along EDSA amid the enhanced community quarantine,” Nograles said.

He said the measure is meant to stop all public transportation and strictly enforced home quarantine protocols as work for the majority of the region’s residents was Next page suspended.

Frontline docs playing ’God’ to save lives DOCTORS at Manila’s San Lazaro Hospital, a specialist center for infectious diseases, have seen and fought humanity’s nastiest contagions – but never in the mold of COVID-19.

Suspected coronavirus cases have died at triage, terrified patients grow outraged when they could not get tested immediately and the doctors have to manage the anxiety they could be carriers, too.

“It’s a living nightmare,” said Dr. Ferdinand de Guzman, who at 60 years old is himself in a high-risk group.

De Guzman talked of the nightmarish experience as yet another doctor in the frontlines had fallen four days earlier from COVID-19, which had its epicenter in Wuhan, China in December last year.

Roberto Anastacio, a cardiologist from the University of Santo Tomas and the

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‘Lift lockdowns in 2-week stages’ G

ENEVA—Countries that ease restrictions imposed to fight the spread of the coronavirus should wait at least two weeks to evaluate the impact of such changes before easing again, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The Geneva-based global health organization issued its advice at a time when it has come under criticism from the United States for its initial response to the pandemic.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Washington, the WHO's biggest donor, would suspend funding.

(See story on A1 – Editors) In its latest Strategy Update, the United Nations agency said the world stands at a "pivotal juncture" in the pandemic and that "speed, scale, and equity must be our guiding principles" when deciding what measures are necessary.

LT Group leads conglomerate's efforts to combat coronavirus AT LEAST two groups of ethnic Chinese have joined in public and private initiatives in response to concerted efforts across the country to address the pandemic coronavirus.

The LT Group Inc., the holding firm of taipan Lucio C. Tan, said it was spearheading the conglomerates’ collective efforts which cover different facets of the COVID-19 battle.

These include providing supplies to medical health workers, beefing up hospitals, providing food and water for military personnel who man the different borders.

At the same time, the Filipino Chinese Community, through its Calamity Fund, has raised P265 million in donations as of April 14, to boost ongoing charities and civic projects to help alleviate the difficulties of marginalized peoples whose livelihoods have been disrupted, support the frontliners in the medical field, the police, soldiers and others.

The LT Group has donated 472, 064 liters of ethyl alcohol under a disaster-relief program called “Help Flows.”

This includes 20,000 liters it delivered to the Department of Health for distribution to various government medical facilities.

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over when to lift lockdown measures to jump-start devastated economies but still avoid a second wave of infections.

And with the world battling to get on top of the pandemic, Trump fired his broadside at the WHO and halted payments that amounted to $400 million last year.

Funding would be frozen pending a review into the WHO’s role in “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,” said Trump, who accused the Geneva-based body of putting “political correctness above lifesaving measures.”

The outbreak could have been contained “with very little death” if the WHO had accurately assessed the situation in China, where the disease broke out late last year, charged the US president.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization, probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries are testing only the most serious cases.

Spain, with 172,541 cases and 18,056 deaths, Italy (162,488 and 21,067), France (143,303 and 15,729) and Germany (127,584 and 3,254) are the only European countries with more than 100,000 infections.

Britain, with 93,873 cases and 12,107

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Makati Medical Center, died on April 10 in the line of duty after 30 years in the profession.

“We honor health warrior Roberto ‘Bobby’ V. Anastacio, MD, whose oath, commitment, and dedication led him to fight at the COVID-19 frontline,” the MMC said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, party-list lawmaker on Wednesday warned the Philippines might face a severe shortage of nurses in the years ahead, unless the government set a considerably higher starting pay for them.

“We foresee wealthy nations around the world rushing to expand the capacities of their public health systems and stepping up their recruitment of Philippineeducated nurses once the COVID-19 pandemic is suppressed,” Rep. Michael Defensor of Anakalusugan said.

Defensor, House health committee vice chairman, made the statement as the Philippine Overseas Employment

deaths, is the country that currently has highest daily number of new cases.

The International Monetary Fund laid bare the scale of the economic catastrophe, saying the “Great Lockdown” could wipe $9 trillion from the global economy in its worst downturn since the 1930s Great Depression.

The virus-hit Chinese economy, second only to the US in size, likely contracted for the first time in around three decades in the first quarter, according to an AFP poll of economists on Wednesday.

‘Open in a desert?’

With tentative hope the pandemic could be past its peak in some European hotspots, many countries are gradually lifting restrictions—to mixed reception.

Italy, one of the world’s hardest-hit nations, allowed bookshops, launderettes, stationery shops and children’s clothing retailers to re-open but many business owners chose to stay shut.

“Open in a desert? Why? A bookstore is a place where people interact—opening a business where no one walks by is dangerous from every point of view,” said Cristina Di Caio, a bookshop owner in Milan.

Spain has allowed work to restart in some factories and construction sites while Europe’s top economy Germany is expected to ease some lockdown measures later Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, the European Union is poised to suggest a coordinated “road map” for member states to exit the lockdown measures. AFP Administration earlier moved to temporarily stop the deployment of nurses and 12 other categories of allied medical professionals and technicians as the country wrestles with the spread of the new Chinese virus.

He said Congress might have to double to P60,000 the entry-level monthly pay of nurses in both public and private hospitals to encourage new practitioners and discourage at least some of them from leaving the country.

“The initial figure we are looking at is P60,000 monthly, which is more or less the same starting pay being offered by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Filipino nurses, without counting fringe benefits,” Defensor said.

Defensor said: “If just half of the 10,526 new licensees leave the country every year, we won’t even have enough new nurses to replace those who are retiring in the years ahead.”

“We don’t like to play God,” De Guzman said. “Clinicians just have to make decisions.”

Maricel V. Cruz, with AFP

Every country should implement comprehensive public health measures to maintain a sustainable steady state of low-level or no transmission and prepare its surge capacity to react rapidly to control any spread, the WHO said.

Some of the countries hardest-hit by the virus are now considering lifting lockdowns and beginning the transition toward a resumption of normal life.

The WHO update said any such steps should be taken gradually, with time to evaluate their impact before new steps are taken.

"To reduce the risk of new outbreaks, measures should be lifted in a phased,

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“The goal is to prevent the movement of the public to safeguard the health of those in Metro Manila and neighboring areas,” he said.

The President also tapped the Armed Forces of the Philippines to “ensure effective and orderly implementation” of the ECQ. Nograles said the PNP’s Highway Patrol Group will now inspect private vehicles to determine whether drivers and passengers belong to the list of Authorized Persons Outside of Residence (APOR) or not.

If the driver or any of the passengers is unauthorized, HPG will issue LTO-TOP or MMDA-OVR tickets against drivers of private vehicles.

Vehicles exempted from the lockdown are all businesses, services, and activities related to the transportation of food, medicine, and services for health workers and mass media.

During the arrests Tuesday and Wednesday, drivers of private vehicles and motorcycles were asked to move to the side of EDSA for questioning.

Some motorists presented their barangay quarantine ID passes during the inspection.

HPG director Brig. Gen. Eliseo Cruz said the monitoring will focus on areas where there is a build-up of vehicles.

He added that checkpoints will change locations depending on the traffic situation.

Cruz reminded motorists that those caught violating quarantine measures will be penalized with a fine.

MMDA chief traffic enforcer Edison Nebrija Jr. earlier called on Metro Manila mayors and their respective traffic management offices to act against erring motorists and address the noticeable increase in the volume of vehicles plying EDSA. He said the unusual traffic gridlock was observed in the areas of Balintawak and Nepa Q markets over the weekend.

The MMDA recently said vehicles carrying medical supplies and food items are exempted from the truck ban implemented along EDSA and other roads in Metro Manila.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government , meanwhile, directed local government units and the PNP to strictly enforce the closure of nonessential business establishments while the ECQ is in force.

“Make sure that business establishments that are not allowed to operate under IATF guidelines remain closed. The ECQ is still in full force

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recoveries surpassed the number of deaths in the Philippines, the Department of Health said.

The DOH registered the highest daily record of recoveries from the respiratory disease at 58, overtaking Tuesday’s record of 53.

However, confirmed cases for the new virus nationwide jumped to 5,453 with 230 new infections. There were also 14 new deaths for a total of 349.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said President Rodrigo Duterte and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed a Japanese-developed flu drug Avigan which may be used to treat patients with COVID-19.

He said the talks took place at the special virtual summit of the Association of Southeast Nations and its dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea on COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Nograles said that during the meeting, Duterte reiterated that the Philippines is ready to participate in clinical trials of drugs such as Avigan.

In a virtual press confernce, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said that as of April 14, the country’s COVID-19 testing centers have so far conducted 39,947 tests, of which 5,782 were positive and 34,116 were negative.

So far, the DOH said the youngest COVID-19 fatality in the Philippines is an infant, who was less than a month old, from Batangas province.

Vergeire said the male infant was brought to the hospital because he had trouble breathing. It was then that he was diagnosed with pneumonia. She said the cause of death was late onset sepsis due to

step-wise manner based on an assessment of the epidemiological risks and socioeconomic benefits of lifting restrictions on different workplaces, educational institutions, and social activities...," the WHO said.

"Ideally there would be a minimum of 2 weeks [corresponding to the incubation period of COVID-19] between each phase of the transition, to allow sufficient time to understand the risk of new outbreaks and to respond appropriately," it added.

It warned that the "risk of reintroduction and resurgence of the disease will continue." and effect. There is no partial lifting whatsoever. Our country will heal as one if and only the government, the private sector, and the people stick to the strict enforcement of ECQ,” DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año said in a news release.

Several reports have reached the DILG regarding the opening of some nonessential commercial establishments in some areas, he said.

“If there is resistance or disobedience to authorities, the PNP has the authority to make arrests,” he said, adding that they could face a jail term of up to six months and a fine of up to P100,000.

After reprimanding erring barangay officials, the DILG on Wednesday said that it has issued show-cause orders against three provincial governors and two mayors for violating the ECQ guidelines issued by the national government.

Año said violation of quarantine directives issued by the IATF and the DILG will not go unnoticed.

“As directed by the President himself, we will not go easy on local government officials who will violate the prescribed directives during the ECQ, that’s the mandate of the DILG—local government supervision. Therefore, we have no choice but to issue show cause orders and file the necessary charges against them, when necessary,” Año said.

These local chief executives were given 48 hours from receipt to submit a written explanation stating clearly why no administrative cases should be filed against them for negligence, dereliction of duty, and violation of the Bayanihan To Heal as One Act. Failure to do so will result in an automatic administrative case to be filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The said officials may also face criminal charges from the National Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice.

In an interview with radio dzMM, an advisor to the President said malls should only partially resume operations after the Luzon-wide lockdown is lifted.

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said restaurants in malls should only offer take-out and delivery services when the lockdown ends because diners cannot observe physical distancing in cramped spaces.

Concepcion said he also urged the President to resume government infrastructure projects and all manufacturing, even for non-essential products.

The government should also allow MRT and LRT operations and public transport in provinces to resume, he said. severe respiratory infection.

Sepsis, which is an extreme response to infection, was often cited as a cause of death in the previous fatality cases reported by the DOH. Even though the DOH stopped issuing information on individual patients, she said the DOH’s new COVID-19 tracker website includes one male fatality who is 0 to 4 years old.

Before the 29-day-old infant, the youngest fatality in the Philippines was a 7-year-old girl from Pangasinan who died due to hypovolemic shock caused by acute gastroenteritis and severe dehydration.

Meanwhile, an official of the DOH National Center for Mental Health (NCHM), who has been vocal about the COVID-19 situation at the facility, has been removed from her post.

Clarita Avila, NCMH chief administrative officer, was ordered transferred to the Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DATRC) in Las Piñas City.

The transfer came just days after the NCMH barred Avila from speaking about the situation at the Mandaluyong facility, where she had alleged that several patients in the psych ward had died and that personnel were in quarantine for COVID-19 exposure.

Avila branded as a form of harassment and persecution her transfer to a Las Pinas drug facility.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Huang Xilian, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, on Tuesday turned over to Philippine government authorities medical supplies that were airlifted by a special “goodwill flight” from China.

“We are glad to see some of the medical supplies have been airlifted to Manila by this special flight. This ‘goodwill flight’ demonstrates the new era of partnership,” he said.

SMC flies in 40k protective gear via China SAN Miguel Corp. says its first 40,000 sets of protective gear arrived Wednesday on board a Boeing-777 plane from China.

The company says the supply is part of a P500-million fund it has earmarked to help increase supplies and to better equip Filipino medical frontliners in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said the company chartered the aircraft from Philippine Airlines and filled it “to the brim” with personal protective equipment (PPEs) from suppliers in China. The equipment would be donated to various hospitals in Luzon where most of the COVID-19 cases had been reported.

The shipment consists of 40,000 hazmat suits and goggles to help boost the local supply of medical-grade PPEs. Local manufacturers are also working to ramp up production capacity.

“We are very fortunate to have been able to buy this much PPEs,” Ang said.

Globally, demand is very high and many of the big countries want to buy them all. That is why when the opportunity to buy this much came, we grabbed it and chartered a large aircraft to bring the supplies home.”

SMC earlier announced it was buying the first 10,000 PPEs to be made by local garments manufacturers under the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP). The group was tapped by the Trade and Health departments to reconfigure their operations and ramp up production of PPEs. SMC plans to continue buying locally produced PPEs to donate to medical practitioners.

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because of an expected drop in government revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This developed as Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said the House will work with Malacañang in crafting the proposed 2021 national budget that would contain the government’s response to a post COVID-19 situation.

Cayetano maintained the House and the Department of Budget and Management were considering a smoother process for the preparation and approval of the annual national budget.

“That is what we want to do and that is what Budget Secretary (Wendel) Avisado wants to do—even before the President submits the budget to Congress, there is a consultation with the proper committees of both the House and the Senate, instead of them preparing it and the House revising it and the Senate doing its own revision,” Cayetano said.

Salceda said the Department of Finance has forecast lower revenue collections this year as a result of the closure of businesses in compliance with the 45-day Enhanced Community Quarantine of lockdown in Luzon.

However, Deputy Speaker for Finance Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the chamber could still go along with the DBCC proposal of a P4.6-trillion national government budget for 2021 by covering the shortfall with more borrowings.

“We are in a good fiscal position. We can borrow money. We are bankable. I think we can stick to that budget based on a reprioritization,” Villafuerte said.

He said a “reprioritization” is needed to focus spending on responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For Congress, definitely the investments would continue to be on infrastructure and health. We will have to prioritize health because of the situation,” he added.

AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Sharon Garin, chairman of the committee on economic affairs, and Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo collaborated on the draft document that seeks additional funding for anti-COVID-19 efforts.

The TWG will consolidate the Economy Moving Forward as One bill filed by Quimbo and the Philippine National Stimulus Strategy prepared

by Salceda after hearing from several resource persons from different agencies of government, including the Department of Finance.

Garin said the economic stimulus proposals would be “light at the end of the pandemic tunnel” for some 30 million Filipino workers and 1 million business establishments who were hurt by the six-week Luzon-wide lockdown.

“Let’s save livelihoods. Let’s save jobs. Let’s save the economy. Let’s flatten the recession curve,” Garin said.

In related developments: • The Department of Social Welfare and Development has asked local government units to fund emergency subsidies for poor families who were not included in its list. The DSWD made the appeal two days after it said that families in need who were not on the government list can appeal with local social welfare offices through their LGUs.

News STORIES ONLINE

(at manilastandard.net) Immigration execs to wear full PPEs Navotas imposes ECQ liquor ban Subic shuts shop where PUI shopped Valenzuela shelters street dwellers DepEd yet to fix enrollment dates

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Makati condo dwellers to get P50m worth of grocery vouchers

By Joel E. Zurbano MAKATI City Mayor Abigail on Wednesday ordered the distribution of P50 million worth of grocery vouchers to city residents, including those residing in condominiums.

The city chief executive reassured her constituents that “no one will be left behind” amid the ongoing crisis brought by the coronavirus disease 2019.

Binay said that the Puregold grocery vouchers worth P500 each will be

distributed initially as part of the city’s continuing efforts to alleviate the plight of its constituents during the Enhanced Community Quarantine period against the pandemic.

“We are already finalizing the mechanics and guidelines on the distribution of the grocery vouchers. This is but one of several forms of assistance that we have decided to pursue to optimize available resources for the benefit of all Makatizens,” Mayor Binay said.

She added “We are aware that every-

one, even those belonging to the lower and upper middle class, is affected by the crisis. This is why condominiumdwellers, whether they are students or employees, will be among our priority recipients for the grocery vouchers.”

The city government has partnered with Puregold to allow beneficiaries the freedom to obtain essential items that they need for their daily sustenance, Binay explained.

In the early weeks of the enhanced community quarantine, the city govern-

By Rey E. Requejo

N A historic move, Supreme Court justices is set to hold a virtual special en banc session on Friday to discuss petitions seeking the release of prisoners as well as President Rodrigo Duterte’s medical records.

“Atty. Ed Aricheta, the Clerk of Court En Banc, confirms the meeting of the Supreme Court En Banc on April 17, 2020,” SC spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka said in a message Wednesday.

Hosaka confirmed that this is the very first time that the SC magistrates will hold an en banc session via online.

“We still don’t know what platform will be used. Our MISO [Management Information System Office] is handling the technical aspect taking into consideration security concerns,” he added.

Since the start of the Luzon lockdown, the SC has been operating with a skeleton staff.

Hosaka, however, did not disclose what the SC magistrates will discuss as he is “not privy as to the agenda for the said meeting.”

On April 13, lawyer Dino de Leon on April 13 asked the Supreme Court to compel President Duterte to disclose within seven days his latest medical and psychological and psychiatric exam results, health bulletins, and other health records since he assumed office.

“The ponentes are requested to prepare their respective recommendations and submit and circulate the same to the justices not later than Thursday, April 16, in time for deliberation on Friday,” the Chief Justice said in the note to his colleagues.

Other sources said that the Supreme Court may also deliberate on the petition seeking for the temporary release of vulnerable prisoners as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus disease pandemic with the extension of the effectivity of the Enhanced Community Quarantine to April 30.

The special session earlier scheduled for Wednesday was canceled. Sources revealed that the SC will tackle on the petition for the temporary release of elderly and sickly prisoners during tomorrow’s video conference meeting.

IN BRIEF Ex-Finance chief Virata out of hospital MANILA—Former Finance Secretary and Prime Minister Cesar Virata has been discharged after he was treated for COVID-19 and related complications.

“Dad is home. Thank you for the prayers and well wishes that helped bring him back, “ Virata’s daughter Gillian Virata said in a Facebook post. She also thanked the doctors, nurses and other frontliners who helped in the elder Virata’s recovery.

Gillian said they rushed their father to the hospital after a mild stroke more than two weeks ago. “Thereafter he tested positive for COVID-19,” she said.

“April 5, he was taken off the ventilator and was able to talk with my mom. God is good,” she added.

“I thank all those who helped and prayed. Follow instructions for safety,» she said.

PAL okays special flight from Australia

QC sets strict social distancing measure THIRD ALARM. Firefighters douse water at a residential area in Brgy. 286 Delpan Binondo, Manila on Wednesday, April 15. The fire reached the third alarm around 9:36 a.m. Norman Cruz

Manila okays release of P1k cash for each family

By Willie Casas THE Manila City government has approved the release additional funding worth P19 million for the distribution of the P1,000 cash assistance for families in the nation’s capital.

About P19,941,000 million will be allocated for the cash assistance for 19,941 families residing in 100 barangays in the city’s six districts.

Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso said the additional funding will be given to families who have not yet received any cash aid from the local government.

Domagoso said that upon reconsideration, the city government approved the requests of barangays to allocate more funds for the distribution of the cash assistance.

The P1,000 cash aid is sourced from

the City Amelioration Crisis Assistance Fund or CACAF which was created to financially assist Manila City residents amid the COVID-19 crisis.

“As of today, ang barangay official na nanghingi ng reconsideration ay umabot po sa 100. Itong 19, 941 families, amounting to P19, 941, 000 ang assistance, ay inaprubahan na po para sa inyo,” the Mayor said on Facebook Live on Tuesday night.

PDEA seizes P70-m shabu in Cavite THE Philippine Police Drug Enforcement Group seized suspected shabu worth P70.4 million and arrested four suspects during an anti-illegal drugs operation in Dasmariñas, Cavite on Tuesday.

Police identified the suspects as Mohammad Akil Esmail, Saimen Esmail, and African nationals Clement Jnr Nwachukwand Starboi Nwachukwu.

The seized illegal drugs weighed more or less 11 kilograms, the PNP said.

PNP chief Police General Archie Francisco Gamboa said they would continue the fight against illegal drugs while also helping in the efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“Normal police functions such as service of warrants of arrest, and other law enforcement operations will continue

ment provided cash assistance and food packs to the informal sector, including around 7,800 jeepney and tricycle drivers.

Food packs were also delivered to some 80,000 public school students from preschool to senior high school to address their nutritional needs.

Other sectors that have been given both financial aid and relief goods from the city include some 2,000 solo parents, 13,000 persons with disabilities, and around 78,000 senior citizens.

SC holds virtual en banc session I

Parishioners ask God for mercy amid virus

LEGACY carrier Philippine Airlines has announced it will operate a special flight from Melbourne, Australia to Manila on Sunday (April 19,) using Airbus A330 aircraft.

Flight PR—210 will leave Melbourne at 8:00 a.m. (local time) and scheduled to arrive in Manila at 2:40 p.m. (local time).

“This one-off Australia-Manila flight will be allowed to carry only Filipino nationals, Philippine passport holders, their foreign spouse and children, and accredited officials of foreign governments and international organizations, to comply with current Philippine travel entry restrictions,” PAL stated in its advisory.

Last Tuesday, PAL also mounted three flights to Canada to carry more than 900 stranded Canadian nationals and holders of permanent Canadian resident visas.

“The lockdown period, due to intensified community quarantine measures, led to flight suspensions thus stranding hundreds of travellers in various domestic points all over the country,” said PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna in a statement. Joel E. Zurbano

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without let-up,” Gamboa said.

The drug suspects are now detained at the PNP-DEG for filing of appropriate charges.

Meanwhile, around 40 families were affected by the fire that hit a residential area in Delpan, Tondo, Manila on Wednesday morning.

Damage was estimated at P100,000, said the Manila Public Information Office.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire that occurred near Delpan Bridge.

Meanwhile, the local government of the City of Manila vowed to extend assistance to the families affected by the fire.

The families will be brought to Baseco Evacuation Center.

The Bureau of Fire Protection declared fire out at 11:30 a.m. Willie Casas

NEW SCHEDULE. A new marketing schedule has been put up at the Blumentritt market in Manila in a bid to maintain social distancing and control the volume of people going to the market for their daily needs. Manila PIO Photo

By Rio N. Araja QUEZON City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Wednesday ordered the strict implementation of social distancing and other precautionary measures, such as sanitation procedures in all city-run and private markets.

She told private market owners and their stall owners to be responsible in managing the volume of market-goers inside their establishments at any given time to ensure that proper social distancing is observed.

“We understand that our residents still need to go out and buy their essentials, such as food. That’s why we make sure to keep them safe by enforcing the protocols of social distancing and the wearing of face masks,” she said.

All city markets will be open for business from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

Assistant City administrator for operations Alberto Kimpo said all eight public markets and 73 private markets as well as flea markets have been instructed to compute their vacant space or walkway-to-per-individual ratio of at least one square meter per person to be observed.

“If their walkway has a size of 20 square meters, therefore only 20 people must be allowed inside. We have instructed market owners to be responsible enough to implement order when people enter their place,” he said.

(Ret.) Col. Procopio Lipana, the city Market Development and Administration Department head for operations, ordered the implementation of a single entry and single exit point in every market to prevent mass entry, and that sinks, clean water and alcohol for handwashing must be made available and placed near the entrances and exits.

A4

Opinion

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Fact or fake news?

SANTA BANANA, there is this disturbing report from the Department of Health that says that in many hospitals, health workers can no longer cope with the great number of people dying, so much so that there are now more dead bodies that their freezers can accommodate.

While the DOH did not say what caused the death of those patients, we can only surmise!

First, the hospitals themselves are not reporting the real casualty numbers. When patients go to the hospital and are admitted, sometimes they do not tell their doctors the true nature of their ailments and other information.

This is dangerous!

I say it’s disturbing and worrisome, because the daily numbers reported by the DOH could be even higher.

The country is far from flattening the curve.

This leads me to what I heard sometime last month. The caretakers of the burial plot of my parents, parents-inlaw and brother-in-law told me that Loyola Memorial Park in Quezon City, bordering with Marikina, was closed because the workers could no longer cope with so many of the dead awaiting burial.

Why is this so, my gulay?

I have no means to go out and validate my information, but I can always ask: Why is this happening? Is there something we don’t know?

A United States intelligence report said some 2.1 million Chinese had actually died as a result of the coronavirus—the Chinese government was just not transparent about it.

The report was based on the number of people having cellphones used as a way to identify a person and his family, where he lives and works. A staggering number of cellphone num-

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

bers was reportedly canceled. Why? Where are those people now?

If the Duterte administration wants to find out what the true picture is with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, patients and hospitals have to be transparent. If the patient does not tell the truth, he or she must be penalized.

There should be transparency so that the government can adopt measures, no matter how draconian, to deal with this crisis. ***

Are we missing anything here?

I wrote about discrimination and corruption in the distribution of relief goods and cash assistance by barangays in Metro Manila.

I have always said that so long as human discretion is involved, there will always be corruption. The government should find a way to distribute these in an equitable manner so that social disparity is avoided. If this is not done, there will be an erosion of trust in the system.

And now I hear about chauffeur-driven cars being seen in groceries, with entire families shopping to their heart’s content. Why is this being allowed? *** It looks like not even President Rodrigo Duterte can stop the surge of our nurses wanting to work in the United States. It the constitutional right of Filipinos to go and work anywhere they deem more beneficial for them.

The US Embassy in Manila has told nurses that they can have their visas immediately!

The problem is that even before the pandemic, we already had a shortage in nurses. Now, Filipinos are even risking their health and safety for higher pay. Will the Duterte administration not do anything?

A tarnished reputation “S TRONG” and “powerful” are US President Trump’s favorite words, but the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been anything but.

The grim statistics speak for themselves.

As of April 15, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases topped 1.97 million worldwide, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. The number of people who have died as a result of COVID-19 has reached a staggering 126,539.

Of these totals, the United States accounted for 608,377 cases, representing about 30 percent of all confirmed infections, far greater than China (83,321) where the new coronavirus was first detected, and Spain (174,060), Italy (162,488), Germany (132,210), France (131,361) and the United Kingdom (94,845), where the virus has spread rapidly.

A total of 21,662 Americans have lost their lives to the disease, accounting for 17 percent of the global total.

This was more than Italy (21,067), Spain (18,056), France (15,729) or the United Kingdom (12,107).

In a piece written for Foreign Policy, Stephen M. Walt, a professor of international relations at Harvard, observed that the Trump administration’s “self-centered, haphazard, and tone-deaf response [to COVID-19] will end up costing Americans trillions of dollars and thousands of otherwise preventable deaths…. But that’s not the only damage the United States will suffer. Far from making ‘America great again,’ this epic policy failure will further tarnish the United States’ reputation as a country that knows how to do things effectively.”

For more than a century, Walt notes, the United States’ outside influence rested on three pillars: The combination of economic and military strength; support from an array of allies; and broad confidence in US competence.

This reputation had been built up over many decades, but Trump’s inept, dishonest and self-aggrandizing han-

dling of the COVID-19 pandemic— which he infamously dismissed as a hoax in the early days when he could have taken more effective measures to stop the spread of the virus—has shaken that third pillar to the core.

There is no doubt that thousands of deaths could have been prevented, had Americans lived up to their reputation of competence.

Now, in the midst of a pandemic, the US president has seen fit to suspend funding to the World Health Organization, which he accuses of political bias in favor of China. Regardless of how valid those accusations are, Trump’s latest move to punish a UN agency in the middle of a global health crisis can only batter his country’s already tarnished reputation.

The French lawyer, diplomat and writer Joseph de Maistre observed that every nation gets the government it deserves. The disastrous consequences of the terrible choice Americans made in 2016 have come home to roost in what the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the worst crisis since World War II.

No way to treat frontliners

SOME good news and bad news.

First, the good news. Anticipating a possible shortage of medical workers as the number of COVID-19 infected persons rises, Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino, has for weeks been calling on the Department of Health to deploy the graduates of medical schools in the Philippines and authorize them for a limited practice of medicine, even if they have not yet taken their licensure examination.

Some doctors are reportedly not being paid and are just being told to “just be heroes.”

According to the lawmaker, doing so would only be in consonance with Sec. 12 of Republic Act No. 2382 or the Medical Act of 1959, as amended.

Said law provides that “certificates of registration shall not be required of... medical students who have completed the first four years of medical course, graduates of medicine and registered nurses who may be given limited and special authorization by the secretary of health to render medical services during epidemics or national emergencies xxx.”

After all, these medical school graduates have already taken half of their Physician Licensure Examination last March 8 and 9. They were not, however, able to take the exam on March 15 and 16 due to the community quarantine.

Furthermore, Tolentino says these fresh graduates have already finished one year of their medical internship and have obtained their diplomas.

Thus, they are equipped to support our health care workers in the public hospitals and that they shall be a big help to our fight against the pandemic.

His pleas have been answered.

The other day, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases allowed 1,500 new medical graduates to be given special authorization as doctors and to be deployed to the public hospitals in the battle against the COVID-19.

Now, we have some fresh reinforcement to our medical workforce.

I hope we won’t lose any more on the COVID-19 battlefront.

Now, for the bad news.

The DOH came under fire again yesterday after Maristela Abenojar, president of the group Filipino Nurses United claimed healthcare workers and nurses being called on by the agency to assist in the battle against COVID-19, were being made to sign a waiver the DOH would not be responsible should they contract the disease even while in the performance of their duties Abenojar said there is actually no shortage of nurses as there are about 200,000 unemployed nurses who can be tapped as additional manpower, as long as the government offers them just benefits and salaries and security of tenure, not as volunteers. Unfortunately, Abenojar claimed that instead of this, they are asked to sign a waiver.

“When they are offered volunteerism scheme, it deprives them of their basic right to just compensation and benefits,” Abenojar says.

“This is why we want them to be hired, hired with security of tenure.”

Of course, Health Secretary Francisco Duque, who always finds ways Turn to A5

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Disease transmission and urban congestion OF THE many things we realized and learned in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the learning of the inefficiencies in the structure and system of society and government that is one of the most significant. The COVID-19 crisis prompts us to reassess many things in our lives. It makes us note the value of even the little and mundane things we have and do every day.

Perhaps, at this time, it may also be helpful to look into the more efficient and long-term solutions to our structural and organizational issues which, in a way, are highlighted in this crisis.

In fighting against the spread of COVID-19 disease, the government has been implementing strict home quarantine and lockdown. Despite these measures, the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise as testing continues. There are narratives from news and social media that the lockdown and quarantine are not effectively executed due to the number of people who go to wet markets

Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Anita F. Grefal Baldwin R. Felipe Edgar M. Valmorida

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and supermarkets at the same time and those who refuse to follow the quarantine guidelines. While the local government units are doing their

I hope our leaders can look at this proposal with an open mind. best to limit the number of people going out, perhaps we can take a look at this issue as a structural and urban planning flaw.

Metro Manila has long been regarded as one of the most congested cities in Asia. Many perceive that

they will be able to find greener pastures in the bustling cities in the National Capital Region. While there are those who get better opportunities, this is not the same for many. Not everyone gets lucky. Some end up living in the squalid places in the Metro where houses are built one over the other. Some live in places teeming with people, where one house accommodates two to five families. This is their reality, and this increases their risk for such contagious disease.

When I was still in Congress, I proposed the decongestion of Metro Manila to address many of our structural and societal problems. This will be done by establishing a new government center in the countryside, particularly in General Nakar, Quezon, transferring both the seat of government, and eventually and hopefully followed by trade and manufacturing.

The transfer will allow the government to cut red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy that disrupt delivery of Turn to A5

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Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

Opinion Mass testing THE government is now ramping up what it calls mass testing. As of Tuesday, about 35,000 people have already been tested. But although the government is using the term mass testing, not everyone will actually end up being tested. Testing will still have to follow a protocol. This is to test first those who are suspected of being infected because of symptoms, followed by our frontliners, then the vulnerable group like the elderly with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women.

There is a need to test more of the general population not included in the protocol.

According to medical experts, however, about 20 to 45 percent of infected people do not exhibit any symptoms at all. If this is true, the government will miss a lot if testing is limited only to those enumerated in the testing protocol. We need to test a lot more.

We cannot of course test everyone but random sampling could do the trick. The IATF should consult with statisticians who do surveys so that a scientific random testing could be done not only in the Metro area which is the epicenter but also the entire country with a much smaller sample size. Maybe a sample size of 5,000 in the metro area and another 7,000 for the rest of the country will give the IATF a clearer picture of the true state of infection.

There is a need to test more of the general population not included in the protocol in order for the government to be able to make the best decision on what to do next. *** Last Sunday, this paper reported that a prominent TV personality claimed on social media that the government appeared to be prohibiting hospitals from reporting the actual number of people dying due to COVID-19.

This generated a vigorous denial from the Secretary of Health, Francisco Duque.

To be fair to the government, President Rodrigo Duterte, as early as January, issued a statement that the public will hear nothing but the truth about COVID-19. Since then, the DOH has been steadfast in following this guideline. I have not seen any

action on the part of the Inter Agency Task Force that would tend to hide anything from the public. Nothing will derail government efforts more than hiding the truth from the public.

One major enemy during this time is fake news which was called rumor mongering in the old days. This is because in addition to standard news outlets such as newspaper, radios, and television we now have social media. The degree in which people are now wired as compared to just a decade ago is phenomenal. It is harder to control or suppress because it is some kind of an open market and hard to restrict.

This is why truth is the best antidote to gain the trust and confidence of the people. That social media report has since been deleted but nonetheless, the DOH had to scramble to clarify the issue. *** Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire is back to her daily updates of the COVID-19 situation after a few days of absence. I have nothing but praise for the way she has been patiently handling the briefing, answering all those questions and clarifying and explaining the DOH’s position on certain issues.

I know that our medical frontliners are all giving their best but perhaps during her daily briefing, the good doctor can find time to give a little more profile of those passing away instead of just the number. For instance, classification as to their ages, gender or whether they had underlying medical conditions. These plus other details could be helpful.

I also do not know whether cremating the remains immediately after a person dies is the right policy backed up by science considering that other countries seem to allow burial as long as it is done as soon as possible and the remains are handled properly. Cremating people just hours after death brings to mind the way people in medieval Europe disposed of their dead during the Black Death pandemic by simply burning everything because of fear of the unknown. Yet, we tell people not to treat infected people as lepers.

I hope that in the remaining days of the lockdown, the recovery rate will continue to improve and outpace the fatalities to give the public something to cheer about instead of the daily doses of depressing news about so many people dying of the disease not only in this country but all over the world.

Lastly, let us hope that the government realizes that it is not fighting a conventional war but an asymmetric one and it needs to innovate, adjust and act faster to stay ahead of the disease. If not, COVID-19 will overwhelm us. We cannot afford to let this happen.

No way...

From A4

to sabotage efforts to combat the disease (non-disclosure or late disclosure of information on the first COVID-19 patient in the country, refusal to grant approval to Marikina City test lab, blocking LGUs and even the national government from acquiring rapid test kits although he was eventually overruled by the President himself), denies the allegations.

This however, does not prevent the IATF or any other government body from investigating him. And I hope they do the soonest possible time.

Now, for the worst.

We got information from a very reliable source that resident doctors from the Quezon City Medical Center are threatening to resign en masse.

If the nurses cited by Abenojar are given measly compensation and are made to sign a waiver absolving the DOH of any responsibility should they contract COVID-19, some of the doctors in QCMC, which is owned and managed by the Quezon City Government, are virtually being paid nothing despite the grave danger to their lives.

According to the document provided by the source to this writer, only a handful of QCMC doctors are in the hospital’s plantilla and who are thus entitled to full wages and benefits.

Level 3 Resident Doctos are paid P57,805 in basic salary, P2,000 in PERA, P1,500 in Subsistence Allowance, P150 Laundry Allowance and Hazard Pay of P7,514.65. After withholding taxes of P18,017.22, they get a net monthly salary of P50,952.43.

Not all Level 3 Resident Doctors earn this much. Some only receive P21,000 without any other benefits. The same goes for the Level 2 Resident Doctors who receive the same P21,000 basic pay with no benefits.

But for the Level 1 Resident Doctors? They should be receiving social amelioration package and relief goods as they reportedly are not being paid a single centavo by the Quezon City Government. The sad thing is, when they confronted the Human Resource Department of QCMC, according to the source, they were simply told to render work in the spirit of bayanihan.

“Just be heroes,” they were supposedly told.

This is no way to treat our heroes—our frontliners. They form the backbone of our battle against this dreaded virus. We have to give them respect and reward them for their work even as no amount of money could compensate their efforts and their lives they have been putting at risk.

And for once, Mayor Joy Belmonte, don’t go around telling us this is another fake news item. Do something and attend to their needs.

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Battling COVID-19: Demand and supply factors THE present dire situation of workers, medical personnel and small-and medium-sized businesses around the world has provided a stark demonstration of perhaps the most paradoxical element of economics’ law of supply and demand, viz., while demand can quickly respond to an order or incentive to either decrease or increase, supply can respond slowly or not at all. The damage to an economy becomes much greater when the order to decrease demand and the need to increase supply require immediate or expeditious compliance.

The current economic decline of individual countries is like nothing that has ever come before. The Great Depression, the 2008-2009 financial crisis and other major downturns were the results of specific economic occurrences such as the collapse of the US stock market (1929) and the bursting of the US home mortgage bubble (2008).

But the current downturn is what lawyers term sui generis: It has been a non-economic event. With the issuance of stay-at-home orders by their governments, people in many countries have had to stop working (unless they have Work From Home arrangements with their employers) and purchasing goods and services from business establishments. In the process demand has been—and continues to be—killed. And it all happened so quickly.

We now turn our attention to supply in particular to the capacity of supply to deal adequately with the negative movements generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic can be contained—and the lockdown can be terminated—only if governments can field enough ventilators, respirators, ICUs (in-

The current economic decline of individual countries is like nothing that has ever come before. tensive care units) and adequately garbed medical personnel. But the governments of the countries where COVID-19 has exacted the highest tolls—the US, Italy, Spain, the UK and France—have manifested their inability to provide their hospitals and frontliners with enough PPE (personal protective equipment), masks, gloves and enough ICUs equipped with ventilators and respirators. At this point, four months after the Wuhan outbreak, lack of

physical equipment and medical personnel remains the general—and poignant—plaint.

In an ideal world, governments and business communities would quickly have gotten together to get the manufacturing establishments to retool and step up their production of ventilators, respirators, PPE and other medical personnel requests.

This was done. But this is not an ideal world. Because of the attendant circumstances—the urgency of the demand and the enormous production volumes involved—the supply side of the equation is only just beginning to fulfill its part of the demand-and-supply equation.

In the meantime, millions of people have been infected with COVID-19 and hundreds of thousands have succumbed to the virus around the world. And the lockdowns are still in place.

Governments can, with the stroke of a pen, destroy demand, as they have done in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But governments can order the rapid delivery of physical goods—equipment, investments and supplies—for whose production facilities are not yet in existence. But that cannot be obeyed quickly; there is a time lag.

For demand stroke of a pen can make things happen. That is not the case with supply; the frontliners and everyone who cares about them wish that that were the case.

What workplaces will look like after the lockdowns

By Issam Ahmed AROUND the world, countries are hitting their coronavirus peaks and starting to grapple with questions about when and how to reopen their economies.

But those people fortunate enough to have not lost their jobs should be prepared for a "new normal" when they finally go back to work, say experts.

Here is a preview of what to expect.

No handshakes, fewer meetings Handshakes are out "indefinitely," said Tom Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Next, offices will need to start thinking about practical measures.

"Can we have doors that don't have to be opened by people? Should we be taking the temperatures of all people who enter?" he said in a call with reporters.

No-touch hand sanitizer dispensers will become common. Steps may be taken to reduce overcrowding in common spaces, and computers and phones may no longer be shared.

Mask use will be encouraged, and some workplaces may provide them.

Businesses like supermarkets are already keeping down the number of people who can enter, placing clear plastic barriers between employees and customers and enforcing physical distancing—this could be extended to all shops, cafes and face-to-face engagements.

Offices may also stagger employee hours and have workers come in on different days so that fewer people are present at a given time—and cut meetings.

Disease...

From A4

essential public services, kill small businesses, and discourage potential investors in the country. Moreover, this move will allow a fresh start for urban planning and development that will take into consideration many of the current issues we are facing in the metro today such as traffic, easy transmission of communicable diseases, poverty, and dismal living conditions.

Establishing a new government center in the countryside will allow some breathing room for Metro Manila. It will also encourage corporations and businesses to expand operations in this new hub. In effect, we will be able to better plan and man-

"One of the positive impacts of COVID I hope will be fewer meetings, because there are just too many meetings," added Frieden.

More sick days "Staying at home if you are sick may be encouraged vs discouraged," said Brandon Brown, a University of California Riverside epidemiologist.

The US has a famously brutal work culture driven in part by the fact there is no federally mandatory sick leave.

As a result, people tend to power through despite illness: an October 2019 nationwide survey of 2,800 workers by the accounting firm Robert Half found that 33 percent always go in when sick. That may change.

Telework may become more common for many, especially as people have learned during enforced lockdowns that it is possible.

"One thing that we found out from this pandemic and sheltering in place at home, is that in-person meetings are not always necessary. Virtual meetings should be an ongoing option from here on out," added Brown.

because you do want a workforce coming back healthy, physically and mentally."

Toilet lids and better plumbing Workplaces will continue to hammer home the message to wash hands regularly and thoroughly, said Brown.

Often touched surfaces will be cleaned more frequently, but greater attention will need to be placed on keeping bathrooms clean and improving plumbing, since there is some evidence that the coronavirus can be spread via feces.

A recent Lancet paper recommended "do not ignore unexplained foul smells in bathrooms, kitchens, or wash areas" and included tips for improving plumbing like having functioning U-bends that prevent the outflow of sewage gases.

One step toward mitigating the risk is flushing the toilet with the lid down, since a flush can release up to 80,000 contaminated droplets and leave them suspended in the air for hours if it's not covered, according to a recent Hong Kong study.

But many toilets in modern workspaces lack lids—a trend that may be reversed.

Counseling provided?

The pandemic has already extracted a devastating death toll, particularly in the hardest-hit region New York, and the onus for providing counseling may fall to great extent on employers.

"Don't forget a lot of people are gonna go back to work having lost family members," said Marc Wilkenfeld, a doctor who specializes in occupational medicine at NYU Langone Health.

"I think the bigger companies or even the smaller companies are going to need to address these issues,

Who returns first People over the age of 65 or who have underlying conditions like heart disease or diabetes are at higher risk for complications arising from COVID-19—and their return to offices will come later.

"When people start to go back to work, I think that it's going to be that not everyone goes back at the same time," Wilkenfeld said. AFP

age relocation of industries, residential areas, and government areas that will be more efficient for everyone.

This will also allow employees of those companies and the government to build settlement areas at a much convenient distance to their place of work and at a lower rate, leading to a better and much comfortable life in the countryside. This new center will serve as a new beginning and a model for the redevelopment and rehabilitation of urbanized cities.

I urge the national government to look into this proposal with an open mind. This COVID-19 pandemic opened Pandora’s box. Let us take this opportunity to evaluate the current structural problems in the government and society highlighted by this crisis, and study existing proposals that provide long-term solutions.

This is a time which we must use wisely as much as we can. We cannot remain sitting down as we discover these issues which double as risk factors in a pandemic. We cannot turn a blind eye on these problems which have been staring at us for a long time, even before the pandemic came along.

While Manila remains to be the capital and the center of banking and finance, I hope the government will take the time to review my proposal, as it is actually reintroduced by the Honorable Rep. Aleta Suarez in Congress as House Bill No. 6452. In the midst of this crisis, we should work together in coming up with effective and efficient measures that will not only beat COVID-19, but also address underlying problems and, ultimately, promote the welfare of society.

A6

World

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

South Koreans head to polls despite global pandemic TEMPERATURE checks on voters, separate booths for those with fevers, and special polling times for the quarantined: South Koreans headed to the polls Wednesday with a big turnout expected despite the coronavirus threat.

South Korea is among the first countries with a major virus outbreak to hold a national election since the global pandemic began, and a raft of safety measures were in place around the ballot, as well as affecting the campaigns.

The parliamentary poll—widely expected to bolster the ruling Democratic party's position—kicked off at 6:00 am (2100 GMT Tuesday) with 43.9 million voters eligible to cast ballots.

Voters in obligatory masks lined up at least one metre (three feet) apart outside polling stations and had their temperatures checked before being allowed in.

All had to clean their hands with sanitiser and don plastic gloves, while those with fevers cast their ballots in separate booths that were disinfected after each use.

"It is done very well," said 80-year-old voter Kim Gwang-woo. "Because of the coronavirus, people are keeping their distance and everyone is wearing gloves."

South Korea was among the first countries to be hit by the disease outside China, where the coronavirus first emerged.

For a time, the country had the world's second-largest outbreak, before it was largely brought under control through widespread testing and a contact-tracing drive, along with widely observed social distancing.

Those self-quarantining at home will be allowed to vote immediately after the polls' 6:00 pm close, as long as they do not show virus symptoms, and must return to their residences by 7:00 pm.

Special polling stations were set up at eight central quarantine facilities at the weekend to enable the confined to vote.

But anyone who is staying at home and has developed symptoms is effectively disenfranchised.

Campaigning was also affected by the outbreak: instead of the traditional handshakes and distributing of name cards, candidates kept their distance from citizens, bowing and offering an occasional fist bump.

Many turned to online media such as YouTube and Instagram to connect with voters, while some even volunteered to disinfect parts of their constituencies. AFP

Struggle, fear and heartbreak for medical staff on virus front D

OCTORS, nurses and healthcare workers have become the unwitting heroes of the coronavirus pandemic, winning applause from balconies and streets around the world.

From Yaounde to Rome to New York, the pandemic has infected more than 1.9 million people and claimed 118,000 lives.

Hospital workers are dealing with a huge influx of patients, while also facing a lack of equipment in many cases and the fear of becoming infected themselves. Often, they face heartbreaking decisions while treating their patients.

AFP journalists spoke to healthcare workers around the world to find out what it's really like to be on the frontline in the coronavirus pandemic.

ITALY: ‘We can't get sick’ In Italy, one of the worst affected countries, dozens of doctors and nurses have died from COVID-19 and thousands of healthcare workers have become infected.

Silvana de Florio, nursing coordinator in the COVID-19 intensive care unit of the Tor Vergata Hospital in Rome, underlined the importance of being appropriately kitted out with masks, visors, gloves, scrubs and suits to avoid contagion.

"We don't set aside a specific amount of time for it, but we have estimated that for a seven-hour shift, about 40-50 minutes is spent just on getting dressed," she said.

"In terms of hand washing and hand decontamination, we are talking about 60-75 minutes per day," she said after scolding a care worker for not wearing a mask.

"Medical staff can't get sick—not so much because of their ability to work, but because it would not be fair."

ECUADOR: the morgues are full In the Pacific port city of Guayaquil in Ecuador, a sick nurse makes no attempt to hide her anger: 80 of her colleagues have been infected and five have already died.

Ecuador is one of the worst affected countries in South America, with hundreds

of dead bodies lying inside homes because the morgues are full.

"We went to war without any weapons," said the 55-year-old nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The necessary equipment was not ready when this (the pandemic) was already happening, devastating Europe," said the nurse, who is resting at home as there is no space in the hospitals.

Patients with "severe symptoms" were arriving at her emergency department, "but due to a lack of tests, they were treated as if they had the flu and sent home."

"We had no personal protective equipment (PPE) but we could not refuse to treat the patients," she said.

UNITED STATES: Lack of equipment In the United States, Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, president of the New York State Nurses Association, also complained about the lack of protective gear for medical workers.

"We don't have the arms and the armour to protect ourselves against the enemy," she said at a recent protest outside a hospital.

Benny Mathew, a 43-year-old nurse in New York, said he caught the virus after caring for at least four patients without adequate medical dress.

Not long afterwards, when his fever had subsided, the hospital asked him to come back to work.

"They told me if you don't have fever you can come on work—that was their only criteria," he said.

"I was told to wear a mask and come to work. We don't have enough staff so I think it was my duty to come back.

"But I was worried that I was going to transmit the disease to my coworkers, to the patients who don't already have it," he added.

With more than 195,000 confirmed cases

of COVID-19 and around 10,000 deaths, New York state is the epicentre of the pandemic in the US, the worst affected country so far.

CAMEROON: ‘We are afraid’ Roger Etoa, a doctor in Cameroon, one of the worst-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, admits that fear of catching the disease also affects healthcare workers.

"I live with my wife and children," the 36-year-old said. "When I arrive in the evening I rush to the shower, but it is difficult to stop the children from jumping on you."

Etoa is the director of a healthcare centre in Douala, the capital of Cameroon.

As a precaution, he's started taking chloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria.

"We don't yet know if it works preventively or even curatively, but I prefer (to take it) just in case," he said.

Early studies have shown that chloroquine, may be effective in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19, though more evidence is needed.

"We are afraid, like the rest of the population. Afraid that our masks or suits are not fitted properly when we are dealing with a patient who is showing symptoms," the doctor said.

"We're obviously afraid of catching it.

When you get up in the morning and you have a bit of a headache, you ask yourself, 'What if this is it? What if it's our turn to get the virus?'"

SPAIN: Patients left alone Antonio Alvarez, a nurse in the intensive care unit at Vall d'Hebron, the biggest hospital in Barcelona, described the heartbreaking daily task of phoning a family member to say goodbye to their loved ones—from behind the protective glass.

"It's difficult to see patients who are alone and have no family with them," the 33-year-old said.

"They're saying goodbye from the door and it's probably the last time they'll see them" since funeral ceremonies have been banned, he said.

New Zealand PM takes pay cut as virus hits economy

Obama endorses Biden for president to ‘heal’ America BARACK Obama endorsed Joe Biden's White House bid on Tuesday, saying his longtime vice president can unify and "heal" a nation struggling through some of its darkest moments.

The formal backing by perhaps the most popular politician in America is the latest boost for Biden's surging candidacy, and a further sign that Democratic leaders are rallying around the party flagbearer more than six months before November's election.

"Joe has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery," Obama said in a 12-minute video.

"I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now."

The cherished endorsement comes at a time of deep national anxiety, with the vast majority of Americans under stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 25,000 people in the United States.

With President Donald Trump's handling of the outbreak under the spotlight, Obama signalled he believed Biden—with four decades of government experience— would be a far more capable manager of the US response.

"Joe helped me manage H1N1 (influenza) and prevent the Ebola epidemic from becoming the type of pandemic we're seeing now," Obama said.

Biden, 77, promptly expressed his thanks in a tweet.

"Barack—This endorsement means the world to Jill and me," the Democratic stalwart said.

"We're going to build on the progress we made together, and there's no one I'd rather have standing by my side."

Biden is the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee to challenge Trump, after his lone remaining opponent Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race last week.

The leftist US senator from Vermont endorsed his ex-rival Monday, saying it was time for Americans to "come together" behind Biden.

Two-term president Obama also praised Sanders as a progressive champion whose energy and enthusiasm inspired young voters by the millions. AFP

"If it was a member of my family, I wouldn't be able to stand just sitting there and seeing them behind the door," Alvarez said.

"It's a very difficult situation."

TURKEY: ‘Like a war’ "Everyone is working like crazy, as though it was a war," said Nuri Aydin, director of the Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine at Istanbul University.

"The atmosphere here is not like a normal workplace, but a battlefield," he said during a visit to the hospital.

Istanbul, a metropolis with some 15 million residents and Turkey's economic capital, has around 60 percent of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.

Many healthcare workers are sleeping in hotels or converted student dormitories, afraid of infecting their families.

"What they are doing is superhuman.

There's no price for the work of healthcare workers, they're in the service of humanity," Aydin said.

GERMANY: Neighbourly solidarity Thomas Kirschning is a senior doctor and intensive care coordinator in the German city of Mannheim, near the border with France.

The city recently sent home two French patients from Colmar, aged 64 and 68, after nursing them back to health.

"It was very motivating for the team that we were able to help," he said.

"We still had capacity in Mannheim, and it went without saying... that we would take care of these patients while there was an urgent situation in France."

Kirschning feels a little nervous when returning home to his wife and two daughters.

"I'm doing everything I can to make sure nothing happens when I come home," he said.

"We might not get as close as we normally would if it wasn't for this pandemic.

We are all a little bit worried—my family are worried for me, but of course I am also worried for my family." AFP

Healthcare workers have also faced the lose of colleagues to the virus they are battling

Low-key celebrations for North Korea’s founder SEOUL—North Korea marked the anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il Sung in subdued fashion Wednesday (April 15), with mask-wearing citizens placing flowers before his statue in Pyongyang as the country imposes strict anti-coronavirus measures.

The grandfather of the current leader Kim Jong Un was born 108 years ago and April 15 is the most important date in the North's annual political calendar, where it is known as the Day of the Sun. But Pyongyang has imposed tight restrictions against the pandemic that has swept the world since emerging in neighbouring China, closing its borders and for a time quarantining thousands of its own citizens as well as hundreds of foreigners, and insists that it has not seen a single case.

Pyongyang residents arrived at Mansu

hill, where giant bronze statues of Kim and his son and successor Kim Jong Il gaze out over the capital, to lay flowers at their base.

But they came in much smaller groups than the sometimes hundreds-strong detachments of workers or soldiers seen on previous occasions.

"The great president Kim Il Sung will be with us forever," read a floral frieze in front of the effigies.

In normal times hundreds of baskets would stand in front of the statues by midmorning, with a thick layer of flowers placed at their base, but far fewer were to be seen at the same time Wednesday.

At times the festivities can be held on a grand scale, including military parades in 2012 and 2017, when the nuclear-armed North shows off its arsenal to the world.

On Tuesday, Seoul said Pyongyang had

fired several cruise missiles towards the sea, in what analysts saw as a demonstration of the breadth of its arsenal.

But unusually state media carried no reports about the launch Wednesday.

This year, the North has cancelled several elements of the annual commemorations, including the Pyongyang Marathon, normally its biggest tourist money-spinner of the year.

State media have also made no mention of the Kimilsungia festival, an exhibition of the purple orchid named after Kim, who died in 1994 but is still officially considered the country's Eternal President.

His preserved body lies in state in a redlit chamber at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the outskirts of Pyongyang, where attendants glide silently among cavernous marble halls. AFP

NEW Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Wednesday she will take a 20 percent pay cut in a symbolic act of solidarity with people struggling financially during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ardern said her personal salary, those of her fellow ministers and of top public servants would be slashed by a fifth for six months.

The move will see Ardern's annual pay fall from around NZ$470,000 (US$285,000) to NZ$376,000, costing her about NZ$47,000 over the six-month period.

"While it in itself won't shift the government's overall fiscal position, it is about leadership," she told reporters.

"This was always just going to be an acknowledgement of the hit that many New Zealanders will be taking at the moment."

The centre-left leader said the cut would not be implemented across the public service.

"Many people in our public sector are frontline essential workers—nurses, police, healthcare professionals," Ardern said.

"We are not suggesting pay cuts here, nor would New Zealanders find that appropriate."

New Zealand is in the midst of a fourweek COVID-19 lockdown that has paralysed the economy, with thousands of jobs losses already announced.

Economic modelling released by the Treasury department this week predicted unemployment—currently about 4.0 percent—could soar to almost 26 percent in a worst-case scenario.

Ardern said her wage cut was a small contribution to easing pay inequalities in society.

"If ever there was a time to close the gap between different positions, it's now," she said.

"This is where we can take action which is why we have."

Opposition leader Simon Bridges said that he would also take a 20 percent pay cut. AFP

On-off social distancing may be needed until 2022 A ONE-TIME lockdown won't halt the novel coronavirus and repeated periods of social distancing may be required into 2022 to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed, Harvard scientists who modeled the pandemic's trajectory said Tuesday.

Their study comes as the US enters the peak of its COVID-19 caseload and states eye an eventual easing of tough lockdown measures.

The Harvard team's computer simulation, which was published in a paper in the journal Science, assumed that COVID-19 will become seasonal, like closely related corona-

viruses that cause the common cold, with higher transmission rates in colder months.

But much remains unknown, including the level of immunity acquired by previous infection and how long it lasts, the authors said.

"We found that one-time social distancing measures are likely to be insufficient to maintain the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 within the limits of critical care capacity in the United States," lead author Stephen Kissler said in a call with reporters.

"What seems to be necessary in the absence of other sorts of treat-

ments are intermittent social distancing periods," he added.

Widespread viral testing would be required in order to determine when the thresholds to re-trigger distancing are crossed, said the authors.

The duration and intensity of lockdowns can be relaxed as treatments and vaccines become available. But in their absence, on and then off distancing would give hospitals time to increase critical care capacity to cater for the surge in cases that would occur when the measures are eased.

"By permitting periods of trans-

mission that reach higher prevalence than otherwise would be possible, they allow an acceler-

ated acquisition of herd immunity," said co-author Marc Lipsitch. AFP

Business

A7

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stocks jump; GT Capital surges T HE stock market rose for the third straight day Wednesday following an overnight rally on Wall Street prompted by encouraging signs that US coronavirus infection rates were in decline.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index jumped 165.17 points, or 2.9 percent, to 5,946.05 on a value turnover of P9.1 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 135 to 66, with 40 issues unchanged.

GT Capital Holdings Inc. of the Ty Group soared 14 percent to P490, while Robinsons Land Corp. of the Gokongwei Group surged 12.7 percent to P16.82.

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp., which is into beer and food production,

oil refinery, toll roads, power generation infrastructure, advanced 7.6 percent to P102.20, while Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is into toll roads, water and electricity generation, hospitals and infrastructure, climbed 7.3 percent to P2.80.

The rest of Asian equities were lower in Wednesday trade, bucking Wall Street’s rise.

American officials are beginning to tackle the question of how to safely reopen for business and ease lockdowns that have helped slow the pandemic but battered the economy.

Major indices on Wall Street gained more than two percent overnight on signs that new virus cases had fallen in some of the country’s biggest hotspots, including New York.

But analysts said it was too soon to herald a broader market turnaround after the International Monetary Fund fore-

around 30 years—ahead of official figures due for release on Friday.

Tokyo slid 0.5 percent after a sharp rise in the last session, with a stronger yen weighing on investor sentiment.

Sydney ended 0.4 percent lower and Singapore fell 0.3 percent, but Seoul shot up 1.7 percent as South Korea voted in national parliamentary elections.

Oil futures rose in Asian trade but were still well lower than last week despite the weekend deal by producer nations to cut output by nearly 10 million barrels per day from May. Prices had been battered after the coronavirus outbreak sent demand off a cliff, with a Saudi-Russian price war compounding the crisis.

Both major international benchmarks saw a brief rally at the start of the week, but have since fallen below the prices seen before the production cut was thrashed out. With AFP

cast a 5.9-percent contraction for the US economy this year, and the worst global downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

“Appearances can be deceiving as behind the headlines lies the most gnarly storm clouds building, suggesting there is still much to be worried about,” said AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes.

“But flattening infection curves and the thoughts of more stimulus lifted all boats. And regardless of whether I think we are in la-la land, it is what it is.”

Shanghai finished down 0.6 percent and Hong Kong was 0.7 percent lower despite export data on Tuesday showing Chinese trade volumes had fallen less than feared.

Economists polled by AFP have forecast an 8.2 percent first-quarter GDP drop for the world’s second-largest economy—China’s first contraction in

Manila Standard BuSineSS daily StockS review wedneSday, arpil 15, 2020

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NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

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

49 62.85 103.5 19.9 15.3 7.9 0.97 649.5 0.285 38 0.62 23 162.2 42.5 17.66 105 1,610 55

49 64.15 109 20.2 15.58 8.12 0.97 649.5 0.285 41.1 0.64 24.2 169.9 44 18 108 1,610 56

49 62.5 103.3 19.86 15.26 7.9 0.97 617 0.285 38 0.61 23 162.1 42.1 17.6 103 1,610 53.7

FINANCIALS 49 3,300 63.1 3,658,540 108.5 5,792,380 20.1 289,000 15.28 81,200 7.98 743,400 0.97 5,000 620 40 0.285 40,000 41.1 18,598,200 0.64 163,000 24 2,100,300 169.2 840 44 1,800 17.6 202,600 105 1,570,110 1,610 10 53.9 28,250

161,700 232,212,762.50 622,094,094 5,769,906 1,242,218 5,929,071 4,850 25,065 11,400 737,829,450 100,330 49,785,940 140,786 78,150 3,613,746 166,230,536 16,100 1,527,335.50

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

27.75 2.12 6.85 0.53 1 2.51 0.179 80 1.14 14.78 6.46 13.2 28.5 1.81 4.5 3.8 5.94 7.8 5.72 7.96 2.3 18.7 53.9 1.43 32 0.95 12.18 4.73 0.96 150 35.05 3.2 6.15 11.7 6.7 7.9 277.8 0.14 1.8 2.58 3.2 8.95 10.4 18.42 4.77 4.51 1.39 1.37 0.95 5.85 59 8.1 0.109 0.74 132.7 2.35 0.82 15.08 0.67

28 2.13 7.11 0.54 1 2.58 0.179 80 1.15 14.8 6.86 14 28.85 1.9 4.5 3.98 6.15 8.55 5.77 7.97 2.35 18.86 56 1.49 32.6 0.96 12.18 4.9 1.04 152.1 35.05 3.2 6.15 11.7 7.45 8.18 278 0.14 1.8 2.64 3.2 8.95 10.98 19.32 4.77 4.51 1.43 1.38 0.98 6.5 61.45 8.1 0.109 0.74 134.8 2.5 0.86 15.08 0.72

27.7 2.04 6.85 0.52 0.99 2.49 0.179 80 1.08 14.4 6.35 13.2 28.5 1.81 4.5 3.8 5.69 7.65 5.42 7.9 2.17 18 53.5 1.41 32 0.88 11.64 4.7 0.96 143.5 35.05 3.2 5.51 11.52 6.51 7.52 268.4 0.14 1.79 2.03 3 8.95 10.16 18.42 4.6 4.41 1.38 1.35 0.9 5.85 58.1 8.03 0.107 0.66 128.8 2.31 0.81 15.08 0.67

INDUSTRIAL 28 2,042,800 2.08 6,450,000 7.11 977,400 0.54 838,000 0.99 53,000 2.5 1,854,000 0.179 10,000 80 290 1.09 10,523,000 14.44 624,300 6.86 4,221,400 14 3,400 28.85 400 1.9 6,000 4.5 1,000 3.9 98,000 5.69 4,230,900 7.7 644,200 5.5 5,314,900 7.97 5,053,500 2.28 3,563,000 18.66 2,404,000 55 59,500 1.41 22,749,000 32.5 50,700 0.91 2,633,000 12 544,200 4.8 624,000 1.01 541,000 148.6 3,944,620 35.05 100 3.2 5,000 5.51 19,400 11.52 4,064,700 6.58 8,376,400 7.8 3,793,700 278 260,860 0.14 60,000 1.8 783,000 2.45 150,000 3.02 5,843,000 8.95 500 10.98 114,100 18.82 1,014,000 4.6 27,000 4.51 22,000 1.4 2,727,000 1.35 125,000 0.97 1,095,000 6.08 12,049,400 58.4 528,020 8.05 195,500 0.107 410,000 0.72 323,000 131.2 2,222,760 2.31 37,000 0.84 20,141,000 15.08 100 0.7 1,408,000

57,010,575 13,497,310 6,855,518 444,640 52,620 4,690,260 1,790 23,200 11,653,430 9,068,770 27,803,666 45,340 11,470 11,310 4,500 379,840 25,259,215 5,023,559 29,574,777 40,275,429 7,942,220 44,855,034 3,253,458.50 32,907,360 1,647,550 2,433,300 6,424,210 2,989,910 540,750 586,506,672 3,505 16,000 113,707 47,234,836 57,672,716 29,690,203 71,373,074 8,400 1,409,200 352,820 17,845,490 4,475 1,245,356 18,991,026 127,140 99,120 3,792,930 169,150 1,040,900 73,652,626 31,097,831 1,576,575 43,890 221,030 292,412,699 86,540 16,852,980 1,508 982,870

-30,532,440 -2,716,870 -1,495,420 -818,730 -3,062,310.00 -338,830 165,159 1,944,897 -1,158,148 -1,860,344 -39,808,635 -24,290 -1,984,300 -999,212.50 424,390 19,440 -47,200 -1,757,284 -764,940 -43,333,138 -20,637,242 1,469,886 -5,468,375 11,818,574 899,800 2,400 383,490 -5,851,924 -32,200 -40,490 17,170,467 7,730,770.50 810 39,330 -129,792,249.00 430,350 6,700

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ASIABEST GROUP ATN HLDG A AYALA CORP AYALA LAND LOG COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PRIME MEDIA SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.61 44.95 7.11 0.54 7 0.455 562 1.58 5.06 4.3 9 3.89 0.195 441 3.82 55 0.47 2.86 7.69 0.455 2.68 0.79 98.8 868 0.71 0.94 170 153 0.2 0.134

0.63 49 7.57 0.58 9 0.48 588 1.7 5.06 4.56 9 3.89 0.195 490 3.88 57.5 0.47 2.92 8 0.46 2.8 0.8 105.5 868 0.71 0.95 180 153 0.2 0.15

0.57 44.4 7.11 0.53 6.82 0.455 557.5 1.56 5 4.3 8.45 3.89 0.195 441 3.82 55 0.45 2.86 7.64 0.455 2.65 0.75 97.95 855 0.71 0.94 170 147 0.199 0.134

HOLDING FIRMS 0.57 7,502,000 48.45 1,535,900 7.4 17,311,000 0.57 1,176,000 7.15 45,900 0.47 2,930,000 588 876,810 1.58 8,308,000 5 4,743,200 4.47 22,440,000 8.45 8,400 3.89 1,000 0.195 140,000 490 355,590 3.88 202,000 57 3,838,650 0.455 500,000 2.89 449,000 8 1,530,200 0.46 80,000 2.8 87,965,000 0.79 232,000 102.2 1,628,900 862 661,890 0.71 20,000 0.95 13,000 179 1,550 150.3 4,330 0.2 390,000 0.141 8,980,000

4,465,410 73,203,910 127,188,751 660,180 348,731 1,374,900 509,134,850 13,235,180 23,869,110 100,309,000 71,390 3,890 27,300 168,041,578 779,360 218,153,342 227,950 1,297,640 12,027,186 36,600 241,193,540 178,320 168,362,436 571,641,340 14,200 12,310 272,989 643,600 77,720 1,331,900

-209,140 -21,884,755 1,359,033 19,155 8,677,915 16,350 -3,461,634 9,767,850 900 11,635,424 -771,600 -89,211,994 -894,540 -3,614,242 18,709,310 -8,156,741 -371,148,425 940 -146,901 -

8990 HLDG A BROWN ANCHOR LAND ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY DM WENCESLAO DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL INFRADEV PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME

11.58 0.61 8.01 1.15 0.57 34 1.41 3.79 0.38 0.74 0.13 0.27 7.02 16.16 0.3 0.97 0.84 2.89 0.145 0.8 0.25 1.6 15.32 1.54 2.65 30.9 1.96 1.17

11.66 0.61 9 1.15 0.6 34.15 1.44 3.95 0.385 0.74 0.13 0.27 7.28 16.8 0.305 1 0.87 3 0.146 0.87 0.26 1.77 16.82 1.54 2.7 31.95 1.96 1.22

11.58 0.55 8.01 1.02 0.56 33.2 1.41 3.69 0.375 0.72 0.129 0.27 7.02 16.08 0.3 0.97 0.84 2.88 0.142 0.79 0.25 1.6 15.32 1.52 2.65 30.5 1.88 1.17

PROPERTY 11.66 148,500 0.58 982,000 9 300 1.02 258,000 0.58 2,358,000 34 11,691,800 1.44 173,000 3.95 5,613,000 0.375 3,670,000 0.73 148,000 0.129 30,000 0.27 10,000 7.24 47,100 16.68 393,600 0.3 1,010,000 0.98 12,914,000 0.86 223,000 3 40,948,000 0.145 8,680,000 0.81 1,725,000 0.26 420,000 1.74 49,000 16.82 8,226,600 1.52 435,000 2.67 100,000 31.9 15,335,800 1.93 205,000 1.18 1,485,000

1,723,446 570,680 2,600 271,310 1,357,280 393,904,705 248,230 20,883,760 1,391,450 108,130 3,880 2,700 340,186 6,470,818 303,050 12,723,930 188,550 121,393,640 1,253,820 1,431,080 107,850 81,490 135,307,712 666,950 266,700 486,384,235 394,930 1,764,970

66,108 30,210.00 -37,100 -69,853,080 -519,530 -11,550 31,430 1,300 -10,864 425,648 -237,000 1,112,440 -44,397,670 128,440 17,987,896 53,400 -141,923,185 -

147,000 1,041,659 37,501,315 -1,522,479 -994,634 -3,766,507 -255,481,790 -25,640 -41,200,245 -2,979,916 -49,708,380 -893,866.50

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VISTA LAND VISTAMALLS

4.14 3.56

4.35 3.59

4.06 3.55

4.06 3.59

2,780,000 60,000

11,748,480 214,240

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ALLHOME APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CENTRO ESCOLAR CHELSEA DFNN INC DISCOVERY WORLD DITO CME HLDG EASYCALL GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE ISLAND INFO LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES MACROASIA MANILA BULLETIN MANILA JOCKEY METRO RETAIL METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B MLA BRDCASTING NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PH RESORTS GRP PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRANSPACIFIC BR WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

6.12 17.5 6.1 0.32 0.04 16.88 2.4 6 0.029 51.2 6.69 2.88 3.1 1.84 2.04 5.5 2,206 5 336 0.76 1.47 82 8.4 0.087 11.04 1.42 5.55 0.365 2.05 1.53 1.48 1.46 11 1.76 1.72 7.1 3.45 129.8 2.52 1,167 0.315 0.21 47 64.1 5.85 1.45 0.375 0.18 0.41 13.48

6.12 18.38 6.25 0.34 0.04 16.98 2.4 6.1 0.03 54.5 6.69 2.99 3.26 1.85 2.06 5.5 2,242 5.1 341 0.8 1.47 86 8.4 0.087 12.16 1.55 5.74 0.38 2.05 1.61 1.9 1.85 11.1 1.76 1.72 7.2 3.62 135 2.57 1,170 0.33 0.22 48 65.7 5.85 1.48 0.375 0.183 0.43 14

6.08 17.12 5.8 0.315 0.04 16.88 2.19 5.91 0.028 51.2 6.69 2.86 3.03 1.84 1.91 5.03 2,170 4.95 330 0.76 1.47 82 8.4 0.087 11.04 1.42 5.18 0.365 2 1.52 1.46 1.46 10.3 1.7 1.6 7.1 3.39 125 2.41 1,154 0.315 0.21 44.5 63.9 5.85 1.36 0.365 0.177 0.385 13.04

SERVICES 6.1 17.74 6 0.32 0.04 16.98 2.35 5.92 0.029 53.8 6.69 2.98 3.05 1.85 1.94 5.4 2,206 4.97 341 0.78 1.47 84.5 8.4 0.087 12.06 1.43 5.18 0.365 2 1.57 1.9 1.85 11.1 1.73 1.71 7.1 3.62 130 2.44 1,170 0.33 0.219 45.8 64.95 5.85 1.36 0.375 0.177 0.43 14

89,500 447,000 5,445,000 1,170,000 4,700,000 1,300 33,000 12,352,800 6,700,000 462,900 100 914,000 325,000 19,000 53,157,000 12,900 145,220 384,900 2,070 775,000 10,000 2,395,730 700 80,000 2,400 600,000 12,976,000 250,000 40,000 3,362,000 4,552,000 128,000 4,500 2,066,000 134,000 13,400 116,000 121,190 2,440,000 135,735 13,590,000 8,830,000 6,260,300 829,420 500 5,093,000 19,840,000 5,710,000 3,230,000 3,123,200

546,348 8,013,240 32,733,872 376,450 188,000 21,964 75,680 73,769,686 194,400 24,964,449 669 2,673,070 1,014,210 35,120 105,375,020 68,754 321,825,600 1,917,082 689,946 604,360 14,700 201,581,641.50 5,880 6,960 28,420 879,980 70,476,517 93,600 80,250 5,292,870 7,763,330 213,260 48,210 3,578,720 224,410 95,500 399,810 15,673,624 6,001,210 158,219,065 4,445,850 1,933,130 287,167,655 53,932,751.50 2,925 7,136,610 7,403,600 1,034,220 1,290,150 42,424,340

ABRA MINING ACE ENEXOR APEX MINING ATLAS MINING ATOK BENGUET A CENTURY PEAK COAL ASIA HLDG DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B MARCVENTURES NICKEL ASIA NIHAO ORNTL PENINSULA ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B PHILODRILL PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING UNITED PARAGON

0.001 5.5 0.96 1.98 10.86 1.16 2.63 0.21 6.89 0.76 0.192 0.08 0.087 0.0065 0.0061 0.57 1.75 0.98 0.465 0.0087 0.009 0.0086 2.3 4.54 12.8 0.004

0.0011 6.3 0.96 1.98 10.94 1.16 2.7 0.214 6.89 0.8 0.195 0.082 0.087 0.0066 0.0061 0.6 1.84 1 0.485 0.0087 0.01 0.0086 2.3 4.61 13.4 0.0042

0.001 5.5 0.91 1.98 10.86 1.14 2.63 0.21 6.49 0.73 0.192 0.079 0.081 0.0065 0.0061 0.56 1.73 0.95 0.46 0.0083 0.0083 0.0082 2.18 4.12 12.76 0.004

MINING & OIL 0.0011 57,000,000 5.94 573,700 0.93 598,000 1.98 1,000 10.94 3,000 1.14 66,000 2.7 463,000 0.211 860,000 6.89 6,200 0.78 8,755,000 0.195 110,000 0.079 3,340,000 0.081 110,000 0.0065 51,000,000 0.0061 1,000,000 0.6 105,000 1.81 16,414,000 0.95 57,000 0.485 730,000 0.0087 55,000,000 0.0095 16,800,000 0.0082 6,000,000 2.2 298,000 4.3 3,570,000 13.12 2,266,200 0.0042 4,000,000

57,600 3,369,877 557,720 1,980 32,660 75,260 1,248,700 181,610 42,235 6,707,820 21,420 268,240 9,280 333,500 6,100 61,480 29,586,650 56,060 344,950 460,200 159,000 50,800 656,700 15,647,230 29,646,798 16,400

1,830 -1,122,780 -3,188,520 -13,730 8,500 -980,130 -1,138,408 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2R ALCO PREF B CPG PREF A DD PREF FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

16.2 500 490 101 100 97.5 107.9 500 4.9 990 99.85 1,010 1,007 998 76.5 74.5 75 75.05 74.1 74.5

16.2 500 495 101 100 97.5 107.9 500 4.9 997 99.9 1,010 1,007 998 76.5 74.5 75.5 75.05 74.8 75

16.02 497 490 101 100 97.1 107.9 500 4.89 990 99 1,010 1,007 995 75.55 74.5 75 74.5 74 74.5

PREFERRED 16.12 100,800 497 9,010 490 4,480 101 10 100 290 97.5 47,870 107.9 210 500 400 4.89 22,000 997 2,550 99 1,010 1,010 195 1,007 350 995 4,330 75.6 21,320 74.5 1,000 75 37,500 75.05 23,630 74.8 10,200 75 168,120

1,629,382 4,478,000 2,195,700 1,010 29,000 4,666,525 22,659 200,000 107,700 2,531,890 100,865 196,950 352,450 4,311,070 1,615,897.50 74,500 2,813,000 1,769,796.50 755,511 12,572,250

-1,209,660 487,500 -58,800 1,789,390 10,070 -57,150 -9,717,500

LR WARRANT

0.93

0.94

0.8

WARRANTS 0.8 1,671,000

1,377,280

-

ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH XURPAS

1.64 6.2 0.55

1.75 6.48 0.57

1.6 6.14 0.54

1.73 6.4 0.55

17,944,700 511,131 836,900

-37,340 40,300 -28,000

FIRST METRO ETF

89

91

89

MS USD DMPL A1 USD DMPL A2 USD TECH B2

9.85 9.6 0.89

Trading Summary

9.85 9.6 0.89

SHARES

FINANCIAL

37,479,188

INDUSTRIAL

146,217,252

HOLDING FIRMS

174,547,201

PROPERTY

123,702,103

SERVICES

184,975,382

MINING & OIL

232,329,792

GRAND TOTAL

911,537,466

9.85 9.6 0.89

SME

10,640,000 81,400 1,500,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 89.9 61,890 9.85 9.6 0.89

DDS

30 630 300

5,550,739.50 295.5 6,048 267

-2,578,290 -203,742 8,372,658 -40,000 -10,474,911 -2,800,804 0 479,090 -129,695,980 78,000 1,470 -41,828,342 840 22,880 -27,076,214 -70,000 -314,350 43,430 720 -296,848 191,290 -8,480,715 -38,350 32,373,215 -41,920,027.00 -1,226,560 -7,012,900 244,680 156,000 -3,105,748

1,992,024 -

VALUE 1,260.00 (UP) 53.96 2,206,901,003.58 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 7,728.99 (UP) 73.39 1,644,533,501.455 HOLDING FIRMS 5,852.57 (UP) 187.98 2,369,591,795.658 PROPERTY 3,069.28 (UP) 76.46 1,319.49 (UP) 13.45 1,312,346,086.11 SERVICES MINING & OIL 4,850.15 (UP) 189.36 1,455,962,633.12 PSEI 5,946.05 (UP) 165.17 89,637,216.871 All Shares Index 3,551.73 (UP) 82.78 9,103,820,611.14 Gainers: 135; Losers: 66; Unchanged: 40; Total: 241

7-Eleven closes 30% of stores due to lockdown

By Jenniffer B. Austria PHILIPPINE Seven Corp., the local franchise holder of convenience store chain 7-Eleven, said it temporarily closed down 30 percent of its store network following the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine due to new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

PSC said Wednesday in a disclosure to the stock exchange that only 60 percent of 2,900 stores operate during daytime, with just 10 percent open for 24 hours.

About 30 percent were temporarily closed at the end of the first quarter.

PSC president and chief executive Jose Victor Paterno said the company experienced disruptions in the supply chain as movement of goods and manpower were hampered by the checkpoint systems in different local government units following the implementation of the ECQ. The absence of public transportation also affected the ability of employees to gain access to the outlets.

“Even as we were in the midst of preparing the Company to adapt to the Covid-19 environment, a quarantine of such suddenness and severity was unexpected. Overnight, we faced challenges keeping stores staffed due to lack of public transport. We encountered supply chain bottlenecks for goods both entering and leaving our distribution centres due to checkpoints, and difficulties in cash management with a fraction of bank branches operational,” Paterno said.

He said the company also experienced a significant decline in customer count as quarantine passes limited shopping trips to one person per household.

“We have spent the time since working around such challenges, and adapting our operation to what we believe will be a fundamentally different landscape even after ECQ is eased. We expect impact on financial results for the second quarter to be very significant, depending on what post-ECQ environment is like and how quickly we are able to adapt,” Paterno said.

PSC reported that net income declined 5.7 percent to P1.44 billion in 2019 due to implementation of new accounting standards under the Philippine Financial Reporting Standard.

Cirtek notes rise in global demand for medical chips CIRTEK Holdings Philippines Corp. has experienced a global surge in product orders for chips supplied to medical equipment and customers due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

Cirtek vice chairman Jorge Aguilar said wholly-owned semiconductor unit Cirtek Electronics Corp. is being tapped by several customers for chips used in medical equipment that are desperately needed to save lives and prevent the further spread of the virus.

Cirtek’s medical chips are used in applications, such as ventilators, CT scanners, defibrillators, ultrasounds, blood glucose, thermal scanners and oxygen level monitors.

The company said it would produce 1 million chips a week for these devices that are in urgent demand. Medical practitioners rely cannot function without key parts manufactured by Cirtek in its Laguna Technopark facility.

To keep up with the increase in demand, the company said its manufacturing facility remains operational with a work schedule of 24 hours a day and six days a week.

Cirtek, meanwhile, is stepping up beyond its call of duty to exert more effort in curbing down the global pandemic.

The company said it donated hundreds of thousands of pesos worth of personal protective equipment to several local hospitals.

“We have the responsibility to prioritize products used in the front lines and do our part in this fight to save lives,” Aguilar said.

Cirtek said telecom-base station antenna equipment maker Quintel USA Inc. was also experiencing a surge in demand as the global lockdown and work from home policies shifted growth to massive data demand.

Cirtek and its subsidiaries worldwide remain COVID-19 free while adhering to local government policies and measures in ensuring business continuity. Jenniffer B. Austria

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

A8

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

JG Summit hiked 2019 profit by 63% to P31.3b

By Jenniffer B. Austria CONGLOMERATE JG Summit Holdings Inc. said Wednesday consolidated net income attributed to equity holders of the parent company jumped 63.1 percent in 2019 to P31.3 billion from a year ago, led by the income growth in the airline business and foreign exchange and mark-tomarket gains.

It said excluding non-operating and non-recurring items, core net income climbed 12.9 percent to P25.3 billion from P22.4 billion in 2018.

JG Summit said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Wednesday consolidated revenues rose 3 percent to P301.8 billion in 2019, driven by higher revenues from the airline business, wider net interest margins and trading gains in its banking unit.

The group also booked P3 billion representing its share in the gain of United Industrial Corporation Ltd. arising from its acquisition of additional stocks in Marina Centre Holdings and Marina Mandarin Hotel.

These factors tempered the slower revenue growth in international branded consumer foods and agroindustrial and commodities divisions and lower sales volume and average selling prices in its petrochemicals business.

“Our plan is to sustain this growth in the coming years as we have clearly laid out our strategic priorities leveraging on the strength of our group ecosystem while at the same time drive focus in strengthening our organizational and people capabilities—accelerating digital transformation, embedding a customer-centric culture and adopting global best practices in enterprise sustainability,” JG Summit president and chief executive Lance Gokongwei said.

“We also hope to navigate the current difficult environment brought about by the global pandemic and expect to be resilient given the diversity of our portfolio and the strength of our balance sheet. With the help of our employees and our different stakeholders, we are confident that we will only emerge stronger, united, and more prepared to forge ahead,” Gokongwei said.

The group’s food manufacturing arm Universal Robina Corp. reported a net income of P9.8 billion last year, up 6.2 percent year-on-year as revenues increased 5 percent to P134.2 billion.

The growth in revenues was driven by the 7.9-percent growth in branded consumer foods domestic sales, 34.6-percent increase in feeds business and 25.5-percent growth in flour sales.

Cebu Air Inc. also posted a 14.4-percent increase in revenues to P84.8 billion on the back of a 10.8-percent growth in passenger volume and 2.6-percent increase in average fares.

Property arm Robinsons Land Corp. said total revenues went up by 2.5 percent to P30.2 billion because of the growth in rental income and increase in hotel revenues.

JG Petrochemicals Group revenues declined 31.4 percent to P29.1 billion in 2019 as a result of lower average selling prices and volumes.

Business

Gov’t, World Bank sign $500-m loan agreement T

By Julito G. Rada

HE government signed a $500-million (P25-billion) loan agreement with the World Bank to augment urgent financing requirements arising from the crisis created by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Achim Fock, the World Bank acting country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, signed the agreement on the Third Risk Management Development Policy Loan that aims to strengthen the country’s capacity to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters, including health emergencies like the Covid-19 crisis.

The loan accord, which was signed on April 10, followed two earlier Risk Management Development Policy Loans extended in 2012 and 2015 to the Philippines by the World Bank. The loan is payable in 29 years, inclusive of a 10-and-ahalf-year grace period.

Dominguez said the third budget-sup-

port loan was programmed for accelerated disbursement by April 30, 2020 to help support the immediate financing requirements of the government resulting from the impact of the COVID-induced crisis.

“We thank the World Bank for its swift action on this facility in support of disaster risk management, coming at this critical time when the Philippines, like most other countries worldwide, is struggling to cope with the devastating health, social and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic,” Dominguez said.

“This $500-million facility, which is just one of several financial assistance programs made available to the Philippines by the World Bank during this global health crisis, bolsters the Duterte

administration’s overall efforts to provide instant relief to the poor and other hardesthit sectors, and strengthen our healthcare system,” he said.

Fock said in an earlier statement following the bank’s approval of the loan on April 9 that the bank is committed to supporting efforts to strengthen the Philippines’ capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters as well as health and economic shocks.

The loan will support policy reforms undertaken by the Philippine government in the area of disaster risk management, including the implementation of an emergency cash transfer program during times of crises.

The loan also aims to support the adoption and implementation of a unified disaster rehabilitation and recovery planning framework by the national government and local government units; the development of multi-year investment plans for seismic risk reduction and retrofitting of important government buildings; and the promotion of integrated hazard and risk analysis in physical planning, and in support of policy development.

IN BRIEF

500-bed WTC health facility ready—Ayala THE Ayala Group of Companies has completed the conversion of portions of the World Trade Center in Pasay City into a 500-bed temporary healthcare facility that will attend to patients affected by COVID-19.

Ayala Group said in a statement the facility was turned over on April 14 to the Armed Forces of the Philippines Health Service Command, which will serve as medical operator.

The group completed the project through the collective efforts of several Ayala Corp. units—Ayala Land Inc., Globe Telecom Inc., Manila Water Co. Inc., Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. and AC Energy Inc.—along with the ICCP Group and Manila Exhibition Center Inc. and with support from the Bases Conversion Development Authority and the national government.

The Ayala Group said it was able to pool P46.4 million for theproject.

Ayala Land unit Makati Development Corp. headed the fit-out construction of 9,700 square meters of space at the WTC in seven days. The facility features 500 beds enclosed in safe, clean, and controlled isolation cubicles, as well as examination rooms, nurses’ stations, doctors’ work areas and medical staff quarters.

Jenniffer B. Austria

BOP posted surplus of $839m in February THE country’s balance of payments in February posted a surplus of $839 million, higher than the $467-million surplus a year ago, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Wednesday.

The February surplus trimmed the BOP deficit in the first two months to $516 million from a $1.355-billion deficit in January, which was driven mainly by the government’s settlement of foreign debts.

The year-to-date deficit, however, was a reversal of the $3.17-billion surplus in the first two months last year.

“The BOP surplus in February 2020 reflected mainly the inflows arising from the national government’s foreign currency deposits with the BSP, and BSP’s foreign exchange operations as well as income from its investments abroad,” BSP said in a statement.

“These inflows were partially offset, however, by the payments made by the national government for servicing its foreign currency debt obligations during the month in review,” it said. Julito G. Rada

DICT puts free Wi-Fi in quarantine centers

SOCIAL DISTANCING. Social distancing, strict hygiene measures and wearing of protective personal equipment are just some of the practices strictly implemented by Century Pacific Food Inc., makers of tuna and sardines brands Century Tuna and 555, at its plants to ensure the safety of its employees who continue to work amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

PPA’s income declined 76% in March amid lockdown

By Darwin G. Amojelar STATE-RUN Philippine Ports Authority on Wednesday reported a sharp decline in net income last month amid the Luzon-wide lockdown imposed by the government to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

PPA said net income fell 79 percent to P300.93 million in March from P1.40 billion a year ago, following the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon starting March 15.

PPA this brought net income in the first three months to P2.53 billion, down by 25 percent from P3.33 billion in the same period last year.

The agency said that in terms of regulatory income, only Manila North Harbour Port Inc. registered a positive deviation of 3.75 percent while the fees

coming from International Container Terminal Services Inc. and Asian Terminals Inc. went down by 8 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

PPA general manager Jay Santiago said the low net income in March and subsequently the first quarter was due to the effects of the pandemic dating back when China imposed a lockdown on Jan. 23, 2020 and eventually the government’s imposition of the Luzonquarantine from March 15 up to the present.

“As early as January, there has been a slowdown in the movement of cargo as China, being the location of several transshipment hubs and a number of large manufacturing firms, has imposed necessary restrictions to control the spread of the dreaded disease,” Santiago said.

“Other countries, including the Philippines followed suit, thus, justifying the negative effect of the same in almost all areas of our revenue sources,” Santiago said.

“Hopefully, with the relaxation of some restrictions on trade, we will be able to arrest the downward trend in the next couple of months particularly when the country is already able to lift its restrictions on some trade and commercial processes,” Santiago said.

Revenues in the three-month period decreased 17 percent to P3.753 billion from P4.509 billion a year ago. Revenues fell 59 percent in March to P726.64 million from P1.773 billion.

PPA said the hardest hit sources of income in March were lay-up fees, storage fees and share from the Terminal Appointment Booking System.

Chamber wants construction to resume under ‘productive work-site quarantine’

By Othel V. Campos

ISOLATION FACILITIES. San Miguel Corp. is building 10 emergency quarantine facilities near military hospitals to house personnel, who have tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 but have mild or no symptoms, and help ease pressure on health facilities flooded by patients needing intensive medical treatment.

THE largest association of real estate, housing and infrastructure developers asked the government to allow the resumption of construction activities nationwide under a “productive work-site quarantine” mode to keep the economy going.

It made the appeal following the extension of the partial lockdown of the country until April 30 to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019.

The Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations Inc. said the effects of the current global economic slowdown, particularly to overseas foreign workers and the foreign market, is so enormous it would take years until housing and real estate could fully recover.

It said thousands of skilled construction workers were either stranded on project sites away from their families or

completely jobless, including repatriated OFWs. CREBA national chairman Charlie Gorayeb said under the “productive work-site quarantine,” re-activated project sites would strictly observe all lockdown protocols on mobility and social distancing.

Workers will stay at safe and clean on-site barracks with all necessary health measures duly monitored by competent health workers.

CREBA national president Noel Toti Cariño said the reinstatement of the workers to gainful employment would help alleviate direct government support in the biggest labor sector.

The Philippine Statistics Authority estimated the construction workforce at bout 4 million, with millions more required to man new constructions under the “Build, Build, Build” program.

THE Department of Information and Communications Technology on Wednesday said it installed free Wi-Fi hotspots in new COVID-19 quarantine centers in Metro Manila.

These are in Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila, Philippine International Convention Center and World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City.

The quarantine centers provide venues to isolate suspected cases that hospitals are unable to accommodate. The department said free Internet connectivity would help health workers in their submission of situation reports online. It will also alleviate fear and distress among frontliners and patients by allowing them to keep in-touch with their families and loved ones.

Through the DICT’s Free Wi-Fi for All Program, Filipinos can stay connected even in isolation. In addition, the DICT, through its regional clusters, also provided free Wi-Fi to quarantine centers in different regions in the country.

Quarantine centers with free Wi-Fi in Luzon include Dagupan City Astrodome in Pangasinan, New Clark City–Athletes Village in Capas, Tarlac, and City Rest Drive Inn in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. Darwin G. Amojelar

PLDT, Smart OK bill payments in six installments PLDT Inc. announced Wednesday a six-month installment payment program on outstanding monthly bills of postpaid subscribers amid the Luzonwide lockdown “We hope that through this payment program, we will help keep you connected whether you are at home, the office or elsewhere after the enhanced community quarantine period. As one community, we will get through these challenging times together,” PLDT chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan said. The installment program will start on May 1.

Under the payment program, PLDT Home, Smart and Sun consumer postpaid subscribers can settle their unpaid balances as of April 30 in six equal monthly payments with zero percent interest and no penalties.

PLDT earlier donated more than 30 of its service vehicles to the Armed Forces of the Philippines for its use in anti-COVID-19 operations.

The vehicles include 14 Toyota Innova multi-purpose vehicles, 10 Toyota Avanza units, four Isuzu mini trucks and two Isuzu Crosswind crossover utility vehicles. Sixteen of the vehicles were delivered last week and the balance was scheduled for delivery this week.

It said that of the 30 vehicles, 17 were assigned to the AFP health services— specifically the Health Service Command, the Office of the Surgeon General and the Military Treatment Facilities of the Army, Navy and Air Force. These units are providing healthcare support for troops that are deployed in checkpoints in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.

The remaining 13 vehicles will be deployed to various senior offices such as the AFP Command Center, the Joint Task Force NCR, the Special Operations Command, AFP, the AFP Communications, Electronics and Information Systems Service and the AFP Civil Relations Service.Darwin G. Amojelar

Sports

Organizers mulling PGA Championship without fans LOS ANGELES—PGA of America chief executive Seth Waugh said Tuesday that organizers are considering multiple scenarios for the US PGA Championship now scheduled for August 6-9 in San Francisco.

Waugh, in an interview on SiriusXM radio, said the first option would be to play the tournament as currently scheduled at Harding Park.

A second option would be to hold the first major championship of the year there but without spectators and a potential third option would be to move it to another location should play in California prove impossible.

The tournament has already been postponed from May as the coronavirus pandemic up-ended the golfing calendar along with the rest of the sports world.

Under the revamped plans agreed by golf’s governing bodies, the US PGA Championship in August would be followed by the US Open in September and the Masters at Augusta National in November. The British Open has been cancelled.

“The plan is to do it as normally as possible, with fans, obviously, and have a fairly normal PGA Championship at Harding Park,” Waugh said.

“If the safest way, and/or the only way to do it is without fans, we’re fully prepared to do that. We believe that having it as a television event is worth doing regardless of whether there’s fans there or not.

“Obviously, that’ll change the experience, but we think the world is starved for some entertainment, and particularly in sports.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom said this month that he does not anticipate having crowds at sporting events in the state this year.

Waugh said that if California or San Francisco City authorities decide the tournament can’t be held at Harding Park, the PGA could try to find an alternate venue.

“It makes it simpler if there aren’t any fans to think about things like that,” he said. “We don’t certainly have a plan C right now, but we’d be prepared to think about that if that became a possibility.

“We’re going to do everything we can to play the PGA Championship this year.”

Meanwhile, the PGA of America donated $5 million to launch the Golf Emergency Relief fund on Monday, aiming to provide support for the golf industry during the coronavirus pandemic.

The body, whose flagship event the US PGA Championship has been postponed from May amid the shelter-in-place policies designed to slow spread of the virus, pledged to match up to an additional $2.5 million given by other groups.

A statement said the PGA of America contribution included all members of its executive team voluntarily reducing their compensation. The board of directors pledged personal donations.

“There’s pain everywhere,” PGA chief executive Seth Waugh said. “It’s how to get to the other side. The government is doing extraordinary things.

The Fed actions last week were stunning. The loan programs are very clever to keep people employed. The bad news is it may not be enough depending on how long this lasts.

“What we’re saying is, ‘How can we create an additional safety net?’”

The fund will be administered by E4E Relief, an independent public charity.

The PGA, which represents club professionals, has nearly 29,000 members. But PGA president Suzy Whaley said it’s hoped the fund will help members of other golf organizations, club caddies and players on developmental tours.

“We have to ensure that the heart and soul of our game—our people— are able to get back on their feet and continue to serve others down the road,” Whaley said. “Eventually, golf will return, but we first need to reach out and help people in our industry during this national emergency.” AFP

Riera U. Mallari, Editor; Reuel Vidal, Assistant Editor

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

B1

Hidilyn Diaz continues to train in Malaysia, hoping to be back in the Philippines when the Luzon-wide Extended Community Quarantine is over.

Stranded Diaz remains productive in KL by training, raising funds

By Peter Atencio

T

HREE-TIME Olympian Hidilyn Diaz remained productive, while stranded in Kuala Lumpur.

After raising funds for 39 families in her hometown, she is expected to return to Manila once the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine and Malaysia’s lockdown measures are over.

Diaz will meet with fellow lifters seeking qualification for the Tokyo Olympics, which has been reset for next year.

She is currently in Kuala Lumpur with her support team, unable to go home since the country imposed its own lockdown last March 18, in line with both the Malaysian and Philippine governments’ effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Philippine government imposed its lockdown measures starting on March 15, three days after of Malaysia, which is currently on the third phase of its quarantine.

The Philippines’ quarantine period ends on April 30, while Malaysia’s will be

over on April 28.

Diaz has since confined herself indoors in KL, but continued her training.

“As we are experiencing Phase 3 of the MCO (movement control order) or extended lockdown/quarantine, let’s continue to abide by the law, continue to practice social distancing, wear masks, and (practice) hand washing. This doesn’t just apply to me and my coaches here in Malaysia, but to my fellow Filipinos back home. The frontliners are risking their lives for us and we should do our part as well. They cannot make it without our cooperation,” wrote Diaz on her Facebook message.

Despite her distance from her family in the Philippines, she was still able conduct an online weightlifting seminar last April 12, with an initial 36 participants.

The funds raised from the seminar helped fund relief packs for 39 families undergoing community quarantine in her hometown in Mampang, Zamboanga City.

“The second batch of relief [ackages was delivered to 39 families in Pioquinto Drive, Mampang Zamboanga City.

Thank you to all who donated and participated in my Weightlifting Seminar For A

Cause and thank you Ma’am Jeaneth Aro for donating and the advice to give more ‘gulay’ and eggs for the affected families. Thank you to Rowel Garcia and to my families for distributing the goods,” continued Diaz.

After the International Olympic Committee pushed the date for Tokyo Olympics for next year, the International Weightlifting Federation said it is now working on resolving its Olympic qualification system.

“Thanks to this decision, an important part of the uncertainty being faced by athletes with Olympic ambitions has now been removed. We will now work with the IOC to expedite the resolution of the Olympic Qualifying System for weightlifting, in order to provide weightlifters with further certainty,” said IWF Acting President Ursula Papandrea.

While in Malaysia, the 29-year-old Diaz and her support group called off their trip to Cali, Colombia, where she was set to see action in the 2020 IberoAmerica Open and Open Senior Weightlifting Championships. This was after Colombia closed its borders in response to the coronavirus threat.

Torres’ 1st love was basketball, not MMA NEVER in Jomary “The Zamboanginian Fighter” Torres’ wildest dreams did she expect to become a well-known martial artist who competes in ONE Championship.

In fact, her first sport could not be any farther from her current passion.

“When I was younger, I really wanted to become a basketball player because there are a lot of great players from Zamboanga, and that piqued my interest,” Zamboanga said.

“Playing basketball is natural for Filipinos, regardless of your gender. Everywhere you go, you see people playing, adults and kids alike.”

Torres became a staple in small basketball leagues in Zamboanga del Norte and in high school.

However, circumstances denied the Filipina the chance to pursue a professional basketball career.

At that time, their family had no stable source of income. Her grandmother made ends meet by picking up extra work at a school cafeteria. Out of desperation, Torres took a job in Taguig, Metro Manila as a nanny.

Later, she met the Catalan brothers,

Jomary Torres

Ruel and Rene, and that kickstarted her career in professional mixed martial arts.

“I played every day and modesty aside, a lot of people were saying I had the potential in basketball,” Torres said. “And I thought to myself, I can actually be a professional basketball player.”

“But you know, it just wasn’t meant to be. We were really struggling at that time and I had to stop my studies so I could help my grandmother and provide for my family. That’s when I flew to Manila to try my luck here.”

Now competing as one of the few Filipina warriors in the Home Of Martial Arts, Torres still plays basketball in her free time – not to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a professional, but to supplement her martial arts training.

“I still play because that’s always a part of me, even though I wasn’t able to pursue my plans before,” Torres said.

“As a professional MMA athlete, I have to stay at the top of my game physically, and playing basketball helps me out in reaching that.”

Catch all the ONE Championship action live and for free by downloading the ONE Super App. Read More From ONE Championship: Jomary Torres Came From Nothing To Become A Breakout Star The Crucial Role Rene Catalan Has Played In Jomary Torres’ Life ONE: Full Fights | Jomary Torres’ Top Bouts

Aussie rower in lockdown unwittingly sets world record SYDNEY—An Australian rower who set out to rack up some kilometres while on COVID-19 lockdown inadvertently broke a world record for the indoor rowing half-marathon, officials said Wednesday.

Like the rest of the Australian team, Georgie Rowe was training at home in Sydney by herself last weekend as she deals with the disappointment of not travelling to Japan this year for the Tokyo Olympics.

Rowe, 27, was on a Concept2 rowing machine and such was her intensity that she clocked a time of 1hr 19min 28.4sec over a distance of 21,097 meters.

It smashed the record for the heavyweight women’s half-marathon set five years ago by US rower Esther Lofgren by more than 40 seconds.

Rowing Australia spokeswoman Lucy Benjamin said it was an extraordinary effort in the circumstances, particularly as Rowe normally works as part of a team in the women’s eight.

“It’s a mental challenge because you’re on your own and you don’t have your crew with you,” she told AFP. “And it’s a tough machine, it’s a full-body workout.”

Rowe told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that her approach was to plug the distance into the machine then “put some music on and just go for it”.

“Whether it is a world record or not, I just wanted to get the metres up for my state,” she said.

When Rowe realised a record was in the offing she admitted to some confusion about exactly how far she needed to row, 21,097 metres or 21,097.5.

To be certain, she completed 21,098, leading to a minor delay in Concept2 recognising her achievement.

Tour de France organizers scramble to save cycling’s crown jewel

In this file photo, the Tour de France pack rides at Paris’ landmark Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees avenue during the 133.5 km twenty-first and last stage of the 100th edition of the bikefest last year. AFP

PARIS—Tour de France organizers are working to find a new start date for cycling’s biggest race after large public gatherings were banned until mid-July in the latest extension of the French coronavirus lockdown.

Originally slated to start from Nice on June 27 and finish in Paris on July 19, there is no chance the event can go ahead as planned and organisers face a mammoth logistical task of rescheduling.

A report in the Dauphine newspaper on Tuesday said that the Tour will instead begin on August 27, with the race to finish in the capital on September 20.

Organizers ASO were unavail-

able for comment to confirm the new dates, but several mayors of the French towns along the planned route say they have been consulted regarding the new dates.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address Monday that a strict lockdown in France would continue until at least May 11, as public gatherings were banned until mid-July.

Tour general director Christian Prudhomme has said riders will need two months after the lockdown ends to prepare for the race.

France’s Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner said on Tuesday that ASO had to reschedule or cancel the Tour.

“It is up to the organiser to analyse their ability to organise it and reschedule it,” Castaner told French radio.

The race’s route is over 3,000km long, with roughly 500,000 fans lining the roads each day.

“Social distancing on the roadside wouldn’t be a problem, but in the start towns, at the finish line and in the VIP tents it certainly would,” Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst told Flemish TV channel Sporza on Saturday.

Suggestions the Tour could be held without supporters have been ruled out.

“The Tour de France is 3000km of smiles,” Prudhomme said re-

garding roadside gatherings. “We won’t run a Tour de France without the fans.”

Between a rock and a hard placeMacron’s announcement may have caught the organisers short.

A late July start for the Tour could have been considered too close to the ban on large public gatherings, while the riders would also need to be in peak condition.

ASO also organises the Criterium du Dauphine eight-day race, and had been hoping to run that ride through the Alps in late June or early July, but the traditional Tour warm-up has been postponed. AFP

Entertainment

Nickie Wang, Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com

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THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

Globe Studios raises funds for film workers via collaborative effort IN LIGHT of the extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon, the Philippine film industry along with many other local businesses continue to be impacted as normal operations and services are put on halt.

Globe recognizes this pressing need and continues its efforts to help frontliners and daily wage earners who have been affected by these developments through a new unique collaborative effort with film artists.

Globe Studios via .giff festival of new cinema has teamed up with Lockdown Cinema Club, a coalition of independent Filipino filmmakers who wish to reach and help their colleagues amid the COVID-19 pandemic, to raise funds for daily wage film industry workers in

the country. Workers affected by the crisis include crew members, electricians, caretakers, cameramen, artists, post-production assistants, and everyone who is vital in creating a film.

Majority of them are freelancers and are compensated on a per-project basis.

To raise funds, directors, writers, producers, cinematographers, production designers, production managers, film editors, and film students will showcase their best works online and for free via https://giff.ph/watch/. Film enthusiasts and audiences from all walks of life can visit the page to stream, enjoy their favorite films, and take part in raising funds through donations via GCash - all while staying connected, inspired and #SafeAtHome.

As of April 7, the initiative has extended aid to over 1000 film workers. Through the combined efforts of .giff, Lockdown Cinema Club and local film aficionados, the goal is to raise P3,000,000 in the succeeding weeks of the extended ECQ. Everyone is invited to watch all they want through the .giff site https://giff.ph/watch/ and give what they can via the GCash QR code found within the same page. For updates, you may visit the official Globe Studios FB page at https://www.facebook.com/globestudiosph/.

Actress Eugene Domingo is a scene from Globe Studio’s ‘Beshie’ directed by Joyce Bernal.

Digital projects tackle ‘Stay At Home’ stories

2020 Vision

Black Eyed Peas drops ‘Mamacita’

YUGEL LOSORATA

T

HE coming of a new decade is highly anticipated as it is ushering in a fresh start for everyone. The latter decades of 20th century had been largely identifiable by way of fashion and music style. Why a certain trend is almost always contained in a ten-year cycle may be modern world’s little fun trick.

New wave music went off with the ‘80s as grunge and alternative rock arrived. The Beatles was over when John Lennon expressed his decision to leave the group in late 1969. Thus, the ‘60s the band so dominated came to an abrupt end—but somewhat on cue for the next era.

The 1959 plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper was likewise a death knell to the ‘50s; the tragedy lamented in Don McLean’s “American Pie” right through the line “the day the music died.”

The Roaring ‘20s or Jazz Age was a time of lavish parties perfectly pictured by Scott Fitzgerald in his novel The Great Gatsby. It was the time of Prohibition and bootlegged liquor meant that people who knew where to acquire some forbidden drink and wanted to party all night may end up drunken or dead.

The St. Valentine’s Day massacre allegedly masterminded by the infamous Al Capone somewhat signaled the end of that period, and then as if for emphasis, the Crash of 1929 made sure that the next decade would be marred by Great Depression and atrocities by German Nazis and Imperial Japan. A depressed songwriter in the 1930s wrote “Gloomy Sunday,” dubbed the Hungarian Suicide Song.

ABS-CBN has launched two relevant break in the episode “Kornbip-19,” while digital projects, Stay At Home Stories: Hasna played a single mother who wrote Mga Kwento ng Taong Bahay, which a touching letter to her children explainfeatures the plight of Filipinos amid ing the tough situation they are in in the COVID-19 outbreak, and Team “Yakap.”

FitFil, which aims to help Pinoys to be Meanwhile, Filipinos’ health and fit and in shape while staying indoors. well-being are highlighted in Team Stay At Home Stories: Mga Kwen- FitFil, which proves that we only need to ng Taong four minutes Bahay is a to stay healthy collection of and fit. It can short stories that be streamed on gives viewers ABS-CBN S+A a glimpse of YouTube chanmany Filipinos’ nel (youtube. daily struggles com/ABSCBNSamid the ports) and airs ongoing public daily on ABShealth crisis.

CBN S+A at It is streamed 7:30 a.m., with twice a week replays at 3:30 on ABS-CBN p.m..

Entertainment’s F i t n e s s Facebook page coaches Jim ( f b . c o m /A B and Toni Saret SCBNnetdemonstrate work), Youfou r- m i nu t e Tube channel, home workout Robi Domingo is featured in ‘Team FitFil,’ a and website digital show that proves that we only need four routines that (e n t . a b s - c b n . people can try, minutes to stay healthy and fit. com). while dance For its precoach Mickey miere, former PBB housemates Aljon Perz keeps fitness buffs grooving Mendoza and Hasna Cabral with and sweating in four minutes with his actor Jojit Lorenzo starred in the online dance exercises. show’s first two episodes. Aljon porIts pilot episode featured Robi Dotrayed a frontliner who was forcefully mingo and PBB’s Kiwi sisters Franki separated from his father due to the out- Russell and Diana Mackey.

AFTER launching a historic comeback with one of its biggest international anthems last year, “RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)”, Black Eyed Peas maintains the momentum with a new single entitled “Mamacita.” Featuring Ozuna and J.Rey Soul, the single was released April 10.

Once again, Black Eyed Peas seamlessly fuses hip-hop, pop, club, and Latin with a lyrical crossfire, “chantable” choruses, and Ozuna’s fiery performance.

Plus, “Mamacita” marks the group’s second single with its new label and the reveal of J.Rey Soul as a featured artist.

Similar to bandmate Apl.de.ap, J.Rey Soul, was also born and raised in the Philippines. The band’s fans know J.Rey Soul and her contributions to 2018’s Masters of the Sun Vol.1 and featured guest vocalist appearances during the Black Eyed Peas 2019 European, Latin America, and Pacific tour legs.

“Mamacita” arrives on the heels of Black Eyed Peas’ worldwide smash “RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)” [feat. J The Beatles (top) and Nirvana ushered in the decades they helped define through music and outlook. The full effect of COVID-19 on the sound of this era has yet to be felt or heard.

Here comes the 2020s and it’s time to come up with, pun intended, a clear vision and make it happen within the next ten years.

The first two of the third millennium brought the Internet and social media. The mass marketing of smartphones affected the way we interact and see the world, with gadgets becoming windows to the rest of the planet. Ironically, it somehow alienated ourselves from the ones within our reach. How many times have we seen people glued down on their phones when they are supposed to be talking to each other? Many of us crave attention from people who are at the moment somewhere as we almost ignore those practically seated beside us.

Nevertheless, I welcome the new year and new decade with so much hope, perhaps with a lot more hope than the previous ones. I wish to get through this in high spirit and rightly empowered.

At the back of my head, I feel like it’s going to be hard. But yes, it’s a kind of new beginning. And I look forward to making the most out of it.

I wish to survive it all.

(Note: The author wrote this personal piece on Dec. 31, 2019—the day the World Health Organization (WHO) was alerted of what would be called COVID-19. Like most people around the world anticipating the new year revelry that same day, he had yet to hear about the news.)

Fil-Am J.Rey Soul is one of the featured artists in Black Eyed Peas latest single.

Balvin]. Crossing one billion total streams in less than six months, the track eclipsed 432.7 million Spotify streams to date, making it the group’s “most-listened to song on a platform” and even besting the counts of perennial hits “I Gotta Feeling” and “Where Is The Love?”

Meanwhile, the “RITMO” music video has racked up more than 600 million YouTube views and counting.

It blew up around the world as well.

Among multiple certifications, it went quadruple-platinum in Mexico, tripleplatinum in Spain, platinum in Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica, and gold in Canada, France twice, Sweden, Turkey, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Rolling Stone described “RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)” as “flashy, colorful,” and Billboard praised its “major ‘90s vibes with its neon lights and colorful Miami scenery and features action-packed scenes of Bad Boys for Life starring Will Smith.”

Life

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

HOUSEHOLD

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

B3

The frontliners

who keep people connected

H

‘‘

EROES come in many forms, they say. And in times of crisis, they advance to the frontlines to serve and keep everyone safe.

The ongoing pandemic has certainly showed us the real heroes who selflessly fight and get the job done. One of those frontliners ensures that people can stay at home and stay connected with their loved ones; they make sure the thread remains unbroken. They are the electronic load retailers.

“Kami ang mga bayaning hindi niyo kilala pero handang mag-load at rumuta (We are the unsung heroes who continue to roam our delivery routes to provide load for everyone),” said an e-load retailer for Smart, Sun, and TNT subscribers.

Willie Capacite shared that it is not about hitting business targets anymore.

“During a meeting with our Cavite team, our battle cry was to keep on providing service not just to earn, but more importantly, to help our kababayans in their communication needs in these trying times,” he related Team huddles are crucial, according to Anthony Estagle, because “the team is tired but everyone remains inspired to push forward.”

Knowing that we help make virtual high fives possible is what gets us going.

For distributor operations manager Mark Carrera, the mindset is to choose hope every single day. “‘Laban lang hanggang dulo (Fight till the end!) We will always guarantee that our subscribers and retailers can rely on us to deliver load supply because communication is our top priority. We are also doing this so we can remind our partners and subscribers to stay safe,” enthused Carrera.

Recognizing that connectivity provides access to friends, family, and the outside world, an e-load retailer from Marinduque

CONNECTING LOVED ONES. Electronic load distributors and retailers keep everyone connected even in times of crisis. said, “Kasi sa panahon ngayon, walang ibang aasahan kundi ang bawa’t isa. Balikatan ika nga. Bilang ahente, ito ang kaya kong itulong to keep everyone connected. (These days, we only have each other to rely on. As a load reseller, this is my contribution.)”

He added, “We know that we provide the means to make virtual hugs and kisses possible. Knowing that we help make virtual high fives possible is what gets us going.”

Despite of the drive to serve, dis-

tributor Lester Castillo is aware of the risks. “Kahit walang kasiguraduhan ang magiging kalagayan ng kalusugan ko, ginagawa ko pa rin para sa mga retailers at subscribers. Alam natin na isa sa mga pangunahing pangangailangan nila ang load. (I am doing my job for our retailers and subscribers who need load and connectivity, which are part of today’s basic needs.)”

The government included telecommunications employees among those allowed to travel and pass through borders.

“For most of us, all we have is virtual thread to be together,” said Johnrey Villarosa of Negros Occidental.

Joemari Ortega of Negros Occidental summed up their sentiments: “Communication plays a vital role today more than ever. As telecommunications employees, we continue to serve all our subscribers, particularly those who are not able to stay with their loved ones these trying times. As long as we serve, communicate, and remain smart, we can and we will survive this.”

Inflatable swimming pool, Wi-Fi adapter and other items Filipinos search online

By Liezel Gonzales THE Philippine government’s order to stay home to stem the spread of coronavirus has driven demand for essential items such as food and household cleaners, as well as other consumer products like outdoor swimming pools, bicycles, and Wi-Fi adapters, among others.

Meta-search website iPrice Group revealed the products that gained popularity on e-commerce platforms of more than 100 merchants in the Philippines at the beginning of the enhanced community quarantine in March, comparing them with data from November 2019—a month before a COVID-19 case was first reported in China.

Inflatable swimming pools

Asahi stand fans donated to Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital.

SM Appliance donates electric fans, washing machines to hospitals TO BRING comfort and convenience In order to help hospitals with their to hospitals, SM Appliance Center heavy wash load, SM Appliance Centand its brand er partnered partners dowith Whirlnated electric pool to donate fans, washing inverter front machines, and load washing mosquito zapmachines. The pers.

M e g aTr a n s Electric fans port Logistics from ImaC o r p o r a t io n rflex, Asahi, delivered these and 3D aim to appliances to ease the sumRizal Medical mer heat at Dr. Center, Las Jose N. RodriPiñas General guez MemoHospital, Jose rial Hospital’s Representatives of Rizal Medical Center receive the R o d r i g u e z (Tala HospiMemorial washing machines donated by Whirlpool. tal), Philippine Hospital, San General HosJuan De Dios pital, National Kidney and Transplant Hospital, Ospital ng Maynila, San LaInstitute, Philippine Children’s Medi- zaro Hospital, Mary Chiles Hospital, cal Center, and Mary Chiles Hospital. and Jose Reyes Medical Center.

The appliance center also provided Tysons Global Exchange Inc. also environment-friendly mosquito zappers joined SM Appliance Center’s initiafrom Daimaru to keep medical frontlin- tives with donations of Speed Queen ers and patients safe from harmful in- heavy duty washers for the Lung Centsects and flies. Insect killers from Ima- er of the Philippines and Amang Rodrflex and 3D were also donated. riguez Memorial Medical Center.

Because many summer plans have been cancelled, impressions on kids’ outdoor pools increased, according to the e-commerce aggregator. Online searches rose by about 518 percent. “Thousands of Filipinos may be interested to look for alternative ways to keep their kids active and under the sun during the quarantine,” said the company.

Face masks for skin care Demand for face masks has skyrocketed in the Philippines since the Taal Volcano eruption (which are also included in the list), but aside from this personal protective equipment, the other face mask—the one used for skin care—also gained popularity by 236 percent. Many home-based Filipinos, iPrice opined, are perhaps taking advantage of the time to pamper themselves.

Bicycles and dumbbells The absence of public transportation has increased the interest in bicycles, with impression growth of about 97 percent. Moreover, Filipinos are looking for ways to keep active and fit at home, based on the 80 percent increase on interest in gym dumbbells.

Wi-Fi adapters and LAN cables Work from home option has also driven the demand for fast and stable Internet connection. According to data, impressions on Wi-Fi adapters grew about 597 percent while LAN cables went 150 percent up.

Groceries As Filipinos look for alternative ways to purchase essentials online, impressions on food items with a long shelf-

Meta-search website iPrice Group reveals the consumer products Filipinos search online during the enhanced community quarantine. (Infographics by iPrice)

life such as canned goods and biscuits also increased by 412 percent and 310 percent, respectively. The most search canned food brands included Delimondo, Purefoods, 555, and Century Tuna.

Further, demand for disinfecting multi-purpose cleaners also rose. Impressions on Domex immensely grew by 1,097 percent. While for disinfectant spray such as Lysol, interest expanded by 721 percent. Products with bleach, such as Clorox, Ariel, and Tide, increased by 172 percent.

Impressions on Corona beer immensely grew by 2,084 percent. However, iPrice Group concludes this has something to do with searches on the coronavirus instead of the beer brand itself.

COVID-19 essentials Protective equipment such as medical face mask increased by 100 percent in March.

Moreover, iPrice Group data show that as the demand for it increases, so does its price.

Comparing prices between January and March, iPrice found that the average price of medical face masks (both 3-ply surgical and N95 masks) rose by nearly 86 percent.

Thermometers and vitamins each had notable growth in impressions in March.

Impressions on thermometers grew by 1,295 percent, while vitamins’ impressions went up by about 123 percent. Demand for hand sanitizers and hand soaps also skyrocketed. Impressions on hand sanitizers increased by 2,207 percent, and on hand soaps by 989 percent.

B4

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor jdlacsamana@gmail.com

Work from home tips

while hemmed in by the quarantine blues W ELCOME to your new office: your home.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced most of us to quickly relocate our work space into our homes. Working from home can be a nice break from going into the office, but having an ongoing work-from-home situation can become a little stressful when you’re not used to it.

If you’re new to working from home, you’re probably going to find yourself spending a lot of time on Zoom (or any other video conferencing service) to connect with your team.

Here are a few ways to liven up your space and create a conducive work environment just inches away from your bed, or couch.

Stick to a routine Working under your own roof blurs the lines between work and home – it means logging on earlier and logging off later than usual.

The problem is you’re starting earlier, you grab your phone and you look at something and you think you need to answer it right away and you just start working. The next thing you know, it’s noon and you’re still in your pajamas, you haven’t showered, you’re in a funk and your day is thrown off.

Stick to a routine when you’re home.

Try setting your alarm an hour or two before the actual time you have to start working so you can prepare breakfast,

eat, and set your priority list for the day.

Adopt a time-blocking scheme so you can dedicate your time to a specific task, gauge which parts of the day will be heavy, and see when you can take my breaks.

The struggle with working from home is finding a balance between accountability and autonomy. Most managers will be tempted to micromanage, and most employees will have to bear the brunt of this.

Check-in via chat at the start of the day and outline your projects.

Online meetings can be followed by debriefs to align and make sure everyone is on the same page, and meeting notes are shared to make sure everybody keeps track of how a project

‘BAYANIHAN’ SPIRIT KEEPS COVID-19 AT BAY IN QUEZON COMMUNITY. A

township in Atimonan, Quezon is using the insidious threat of Corona Virus 2019 (Covid-19) as an opportunity to work together to build a stronger community where their children can live their best lives. Through the Kaisa sa Kasanayan at Kabuhayan program initiated by Atimonan One Energy, Inc. (A1E), successful livelihood projects —mostly revolving around fishing and farming--have shored up family incomes for some 63,000 residents in this province of 42 barangays, despite a nationwide lockdown. These include the Gulayan sa Bakuran sa Carinay (Shown in photo), managed by the Atimonan Coastal Food Production Association (ACFPA), and Villa Ibaba Handicrafts Association (VIHA). “Thanks to A1E for helping us fight this pandemic by way of cooperative livelihood projects,” said ACFPA president Maritess Atienza. “Hopefully these projects will help our community recover faster when the crisis ends.”

ABOITIZLAND INTRODUCES CONTACTLESS HOMEBUYING REAL estate developer AboitizLand Inc. recently offered digital-based home buying options to their clients who want to accelerate the property buying process from the safety of their homes. The service is a welcome development at a time when the housing sector plays a key role in softening the effects of COVID-19. From property viewing to unit reservation, everything can now be accomplished through AboitizLand’s digital platform reducing the need for face-to-face interaction. Interested buyers may view the company’s numerous projects through its 360 degree virtual tours, which are available on their website, www.aboitizland.com.

Home buyers may consult with property specialists using popular and free video chat apps. A dedicated staff will then get in touch within 24 hours to arrange for the online presentation.

or task is moving.

Greenery and lighting can work wonders Set up your station near a source of daylight. Given that you’ll spend most of your time indoors take in as much sun as possible. If not possible, be as close to a light source or even set up a study lamp.

A well-lit workspace will not only light up your area, it will also help you fight sleepiness while you work.

Make sure to pay attention to ventilation. Studies show that proper airflow allows for better cognitive function. Use a humidifier to help improve your room’s air quality and put you in the mood to work.

Adding plants near your station will

help improve air quality, plus greenery helps with avoiding eye strain caused by staring for hours at your computer screen – they give you a visual breather.

Keep everything you need within an arm’s reach so you won’t have to move around and lose your focus Beat the lockdown blues When you’re ready to call it a day, make sure to keep your desk cleared: your stationery packed, your computers closed or turned off, and your files hidden, to tell your brain that it’s time to stop working.

The struggle with working from home is not knowing when to stop. It will be a rough month, and boredom and social isolation will likely be a challenge.

With most establishments being restricted or closed, we will find ourselves with nothing else to do after a long day at work.

When Netflix and social media are no longer enough, read a book or listen to a podcast.

Video call your friends and family members or chat your, or even your bosses (they’re probably going through the same adjustment as you, or are they).

Chat your significant other if you’re taken, or be more active on dating apps if you’re still searching (but social

distancing please, keep things in the chatroom). These times call for us to be more patient, thoughtful, and creative, both in love and in life.

Use filters Fixing up your workspace may be the last thing on your mind during a pandemic, and if you feel like it’s easier to just roll out of bed and hop onto your computer, by all means, please do so.

Filters are an easy fix to make your space presentable during video calls, and there’s plenty to choose from, depending on your mood.

With Zoom, you can choose your background, you can upload any photo.

People know everyone’s working from home, so there are a lot of human aspects. We have families, we have things, and it might just be a time to share a little bit of who you are with people you work with. It’s better for people to actually accept the humanity, and that we’re all going through a shared experience together.

One pro tip: When you’re doing a video conference, put your laptop on some sort of elevated surface so the camera is at your eyesight. It’s just a better angle for everyone and it’s often more flattering.

Megawide supports gov’t ‘Build, Build, Build’ program amid COVID-19 threat; rushes Clark airport completion, other projects

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga—Engineering and infrastructure developer Megawide Construction Corporation is supporting the government’s ₱27.1-billion spending plan for everyone affected by the coronavirus pandemic as the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon is extended.

Following a recent pronouncement by the Duterte administration that the government’s infrastructure program will meet its target completions for the year despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Megawide said it will continue to some PHP20 billion worth of contracts in the next two years, including the completion of the new passenger terminal in Clark, Pampanga that will help decongest Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

“We’re supporting the government’s plan to provide targeted and direct pro-

grams to guarantee that benefits will go to Filipino workers and other affected sectors,” said Megawide Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edgar Saavedra. “ We’re also fully behind the government’s continuation of the flagship “Build, Build, Build” program that might have stopped at the moment, but will be the lynchpin of the economy’s recovery when the corona virus crisis ends.”

Aside from the Clark airport project, Megawide said it is eyeing a combination of office buildings, infrastructures throughout the country, including railways and road projects.

The company, together with its partner GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India, is ahead of schedule in constructing the Clark International Airport’s new passenger terminal building prior to the imposition of the community quarantine in Luzon, Saavedra said.

“That we were ahead of schedule in the construction of the new Clark passenger terminal building is a testament to all the hard work and dedication of the people on the ground such as our engineering and construction teams,” he averred.

Saavedra said construction of the new terminal, access roads, bus station, and car parks is 96 percent complete with only minor works remaining.

“The ECQ has minimal impact on our construction timelines for Clark International Airport primarily because engineering and construction are Megawide’s core strengths and the fact that we leveraged on what we learned from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) expansion,” he explained.

The new terminal is designed to increase the capacity of the airport from 4 million passengers to 12 million passengers a year.