Manila Standard - 2020 May 1 - Friday

PNP: GUNS? NO; TASERS? YES

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Joel E. Zurbano THE police are considering using tasers to deal with violators of the Enhanced Community Quarantine guidelines who turn violent.

Philipine National Police chief Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa said at a vir-

VOL. XXXIV • NO. 71 • 2 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

COEXISTENCE. Brazilian artist Eduardo

Kobra works on a mural entitled “Coexistence” showing children wearing face masks due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), bearing symbols of different religions—(from left) Islam, Buddism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism—in Itu, Brazil. AFP

tual press briefing that tasers were considered a “non-violent” method to deal with quarantine violators.

A taser is a handheld device that incapacitates its target by transmitting a 50,000-volt electric shock. The taser fires two small darts connected to the device with thin wires, up to a distance of about Next page

‘New normal’ sets in under GCQ – Palace

head head head head head head head head head head head head head

Tale of two new borns: One survives, the other perishes

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

M

ETRO Manila, Bacolod City, Davao City and 14 provinces will remain under lockdown, which will take effect from May 1 to May 15, to curb the spread of COVID-19, as the rest of the country shifts to a “new normal” under a general community quarantine.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rio N. Araja

SOME good and bad news amid the anxious days of the sweeping pandemic coronavirus–with a 16-day-old baby among the country’s youngest survivor among

Metro Manila and other “high-risk” ar- Harry Roque said in a briefing Thursday. eas will remain under Enhanced CommuOther areas still under ECQ are Cennity Quarantine, Presidential Spokesman tral Luzon, except Aurora; CALABAR-

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High court orders 9,731 PDLs freed

HIGH RISK.

YOUNGEST SURVIVOR.

A 16-day-old baby survives the virus, nursed back into health by frontline medics at the National Children’s Hospital, who tirelessly took care of the new born for 11 days. DOH Facebook page

Linemen work on power poles to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity in Dasmariñas, Cavite on Labor Day eve, unfazed by the risks including virus infection that go with their job. Linemen are also considered frontline workers like medics in this time of the virus pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people across the globe.

Jr Josue

By Rey E. Requejo, Joel Zurbano, Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta NEARLY 10,000 persons deprived of liberty have been released through various measures implemented by the Supreme Court intended to decongest jails in the country amid coronavirus pandemic.

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta on Thursday disclosed that 9,731 PDLs

ZON; Pangasinan; Benguet including Baguio City; Iloilo province; Cebu province including Cebu City; and Davao City.

“If you remember, there are provinces that are no longer under ECQ. During the first announcement, we said it was subject to verification. The provinces have now been removed,” Roque said.

At the same time, the Palace said starting May 1, religious activities Next page

Areas under ECQ • Metro Manila • Central Luzon, except Aurora • Calabarzon • Pangasinan • Benguet • Iloilo • Cebu • Bacolod City • Davao City

Next page

Antiviral drug hastens recovery COVID-19 patients who took the antiviral remdesivir recovered about 30 percent faster than those on a placebo, the results of a major clinical trial showed Wednesday, as the top US epidemiologist hailed the drug’s “clearcut” benefit.

The finding represents the first time any medication has been shown to improve outcomes against the COVID-19 illness, which has claimed more than 220,000 lives globally and ground the world economy to a halt.

The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which oversaw the trial, said that patients on the drug made by Gilead Sciences had a 31 percent faster time to recovery than those on a placebo.

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COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE

(AS OF 4 PM MARCH 26)

8,488

NUMBER OF CASES

568 DEATHS

1,043 RECOVERIES

276

NEW CASES

Keep jobsites safe, ILO says AS THE pressure mounts on countries to ease their lockdown restrictions, the International Labor Organization has urged governments to control COVID-19 in the workplace with an active involvement and dialogue with employers’ and workers’ organizations.

All employers must carry out risk assessments and ensure their workplaces meet strict occupational safety Next page

TESTING THE WATERS. US Navy photo dated April 29, 2020, shows the guided missile destroyer USS Barry undertaking the so-called ‘freedom of navigation operation’ a week after China upped its claims to the region by designating an official administrative district for the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. AFP

US warship tests ‘freedom’ at sea A US Navy guided-missile destroyer The USS Barry undertook the sosailed through waters near the Paracel called “freedom of navigation operaislands in the South China Sea, chal- tion” on Tuesday, a week after Beilenging China’s claim to the area, the jing upped its claims to the region by Navy has said.

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News

MONDAY, MAY 1, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

New lawyers told: Be tech savvy

By Rey E. Requejo and Maricel V. Cruz

J

USTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday urged the 2,103 new lawyers to be adept at applying the laws governing computer-generated crimes to effectively handle cybercrimes.

The cybercrime offenses punishable in the Philippines include online libel, online scams and online sex trafficking including child pornography.

“In this day and age, human interactions are carried on to a large extent with the use of high technology,” Guevarra said in a text message.

“All new lawyers should be equipped to tread on this new landscape, where the environment for many human activ-

ities has become a virtual reality.”

Guevarra made his statement after the Supreme Court on Wednesday released the results of the 2019 Bar Exams, and then announced it had lowered the passing mark to 74 percent from 75 to accommodate more young lawyers because of the need for more tech-savvy lawyers.

Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, head of the Commit-

PNP:...

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‘New normal’...

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11 meters. The darts can penetrate clothing and, once they make contact with the target, deliver the electric shock, which disrupts the target’s nervous system, resulting in temporary incapacitation.

The PNP chief’s remarks come on the heels of a widely publicized incident in which Makati City police dragged a resident in Dasmariñas Village to the ground after he verbally abused the cops.

In another incident, armed policemen shouted at residents in a private condominium in Taguig City for violating social distancing rules.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations has expressed alarm over the government’s “highly militarized response” to violators of the ECQ. UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet noted that her office has received reports from different regions about government forces using excessive and lethal force to punish quarantine violators.

Gamboa, however, said the PNP is always open to an investigation when it comes to accusations of human rights violations.

Senator Francis Pangilinan, meanwhile, said enforcers of quarantine restrictions who indiscriminately, needlessly, and wantonly use violence must be punished.

His statement came after enforcers from the Quezon City government beat up a fish vendor and hauled him into a van for not wearing a face mask.

Pangilinan said people who do not wear a mask should be given one.

The senator also called for the release of prisoners who are in jail for minor offenses but who cannot post bail beause they are poor.

Recent news reports said that 185 prisoners in Cebu City Jail, nine in Quezon City Jail, at one in Mandaue City Jail tested positive for COVID. Two detainees died of COVID in the Women’s Correctional, where 18 other detainees and one correctional staff tested positive of the virus.

“This is the last day of April and we have been under quarantine for more than 40 days. We need a holistic or big picture on how to curb the coronavirus disease,” said Pangilinan.

Senator Leila de Lima said that to minimize violent altercations between the police and alleged violators of quarantine protocols in areas under lockdown, the government should consider adjusting the rules of engagement of law enforcers.

and essential work gatherings will be allowed, and senior citizens who are actively working or are managing businesses will also be allowed to go out in areas under the GCQ. Roque said these activities will be allowed “as long as strict social distancing and the mandatory wearing of face mask, face shield, or other facial protective equipment is maintained during the entirety of the event.

“Areas under GCQ may reopen nonleisure shops in malls and resume priority and essential construction projects,” Roque added.

Under the GCQ, workers may go out and work in phases. Young people, senior citizens, and high health risks should stay at home.

The industries allowed to resume full operation are agriculture, fishery, forestry, food manufacturing and its entire supply chain, food retail, health care, logistics, public utilities, telecommunications, and the media.

A 50-percent onsite work and 50-percent work-from-home scheme may also be imposed under GCQ in the following industries: financial services, BPO, non-leisure wholesale and retail trade, and other non-leisure services.

Non-leisure shop in malls in areas under GCQ may partially open. These include supermarkets, drugstores, banks, laundry service, restaurants (for take-out and delivery only), and hardwares. Employees, however, should be provided with masks and gloves.

Public transport modes would also be allowed to operate at reduced capacity

Antiviral...

From A1 For Anthony Fauci, who leads the NIAID and has been one of the government’s point people during the crisis, said “the data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.”

Coronavac in China A researcher in a lab coat in Beijing holds up the hopes of humanity in his

High court...

From A1 had been released since the SC implemented several initiatives aimed at decongesting jails during prevailing public health emergency.

Of the PDLs released from March 17, 2020 to April 29, 2020, 2,082 of them were in the National Capital Region; 4,657 in Luzon or outside of NCR; 1,072 in the Visayas; and 1,920 in Mindanao.

PDLs refer to detainees in various jails in the country whose cases are still undergoing trial and awaiting decisions.

This came as the SC issued an administrative circular allowing reduced bail and

Tale of two...

From A1 25 infants infected with COVID-19.

The downside is that a nine-day-old is the youngest fatality from the new coronavirus as of Thursday, said Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.

Vergeire said the number of COVID-19 survivors leaped to 1,043 with 20 new recoveries, adding the confirmed cases reached 8,488 after 276 tested positive from the new coronavirus.

The death toll was logged at 568 with 10 new deaths.

The 16-day-old baby, admitted at the National Children’s Hospital in Quezon City, recovered from the COVID-19 after 11 days.

DOH lauded the healthcare team who nursed the infant who they called fingers: “Coronavac,” an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus that has upended the world.

Sinovac Biotech, which is conducting one of the four clinical trials that have been authorized in China, has claimed great progress in its research and promising results among monkeys.

While human trials have just started, the company says it is ready to make 100 million doses per year to combat the virus.

Sinovac has published results showing that its vaccine has “largely pro-

tee on the 2019 Bar Examinations, said the high court decided to lower the passing rate to have more new lawyers who were knowledgeable about cybercrimes.

Out of the 7,685 candidates who completed the Bar Examinations last year, 2,103 passed and are now a step closer to becoming lawyers.

Lawmakers on Thursday called on the new lawyers to help fight the discrimination against COVID-19 frontliners.

Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles, a lawyer, reminded the Bar passers to uphold the people’s rights once they entered the legal profession.

“We need lawyers to go to bat for our heroes who are risking life and limb to protect us from the threat of the pandemic,” Nograles said.

“These groups are undermanned and would benefit from the energy and fresh ideas of younger lawyers.”

Representatives Ron Salo of the Kabayan Party-list and Lawrence Fortun of Agusan del Norte, both lawyers, echoed Nograles.

“We must seek the truth and serve justice,” Salo said.

“I ask our new lawyers to be advocates of truth and justice because these will guide us through the darkness and cast a piercing light on anyone who abuse power,” Fortun said.

and local government units would enforce curfew at night for non-workers.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said passenger buses would be allowed to operate at 50-percent capacity, but jeepneys would still be banned because it is impossible to practice social distancing in them.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the wearing of face masks outdoors, regardless of what type of community quarantine protocols are in place, will always be part of the new normal in the Philippines.

“We are going into this new normal already whatever state of quarantine your area is in. Masks will always be there.

It’s part of the new normal. Masks will always be part of our protocol,” she said.

She said regular hand washing, cough etiquette, and physical distancing must also be imbibed among the public.

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said people should stop shaking hands to avert the spread of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19, which has infected almost three million people and killed almost 200,000 worldwide.

While he acknowledged that handshaking is a social custom all over the world as a sign of respect and courtesy, Angara said it is important to skip such a customary greeting to prevent the further spread of the disease.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, clarified that the task force is not putting the elderly under “house arrest” as the ban was just an “overall policy” due to the vulnerability of the aged segment to the coronavirus disease.

“The operating guidelines are to be issued. Of course, the seniors who are actively working or running businesses

will be allowed. We will use an ID system,” Lopez said.

Senior and other household members with quarantine passes who will seek medical checkups and other procedures will also be allowed as well as buying food and medicine and asking for government assistance, he said.

A congressman from Mindanao on Thursday said healthy senior citizens should be allowed to leave their homes even on a limited basis because “keeping them cooped up may even be more dangerous to their physical and mental health.”

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said he has been swamped by complaints from senior citizens over restrictions that keep them home.

“I can understand and even share their sentiments. Like many of us public officials who are 60-years-old and above, they are physically fit to work and move around. Some have retired from the government or the private sector, and a big number of them now run their own small businesses while some are captains of industry,” he said.

“They are asking the IATF to trust them with their own safety. They will always wash their hands, wear face masks when going out and always observe social distancing,” he added.

“They will not grow that old if they were careless with their health.”

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, for his part, underscored the vital role of governors in the battle against COVID-19 as the world scrambles for a cure or a vaccine.

“What is clear to us at this point is that this will require all of our commitments for long haul solutions,” said Duque in a briefing with the League of Provinces of the Philippines.

“Baby Survivor” back to health.

“The DOH applauds our valiant healthcare team for this feat,” the DOH said on its Facebook page.

“We at the DOH commit to provide the needed health commodities and personal protective equipment as our health facilities accept patients of various ages,” the DOH added.

In an interview over ABS-CBN, heard nationwide, the father of Baby Kobe from Muntinlupa said they had no idea how the child was infected.

Dr. Sherwin William Leonardo, a neonatologist who co-managed Baby Kobe while he was confined at the NCH, said the baby was brought there when he was just five days old.

They noticed that his stomach was enlarged and his parents reported that he had vomited and had not defecated.

While Baby Kobe was born at home, Leonardo said there seemed to be no

complications from the birth.

“He was not premature. His activities and crying were normal after the birth, according to the parents,” Leonardo said.

During a virtual briefing with media, Vergeire said six of the 25 infants who contracted the coronavirus died while the rest got well.

According to Vergeire, there is also no evidence yet of vertical transmission or for the infection to be passed from the mother to the baby immediately after birth.

She cited the need for studies to come out with evidence before saying that the transmission of the coronavirus to babies born at Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital tested positive for the disease.

She said the babies most likely got infected after they were born.

She noted that this is also unlikely for Baby Kobe since Leonardo said the mother already tested negative of COVID-19.

Support the frontliners

tected” macaques from infection in an animal trial but its findings have yet to be peer reviewed by the global scientific community.

Thousands of shots of the vaccine, which is based on an inactivated pathogen, have already been produced and packaged in a white and orange case emblazoned with the name “Coronavac.”

syndrome that one doctor described as causing patients to feel like “every blood vessel in the body is on fire.”

Britain’s National Health Service first sounded the alarm over the weekend, warning about a small rise in children infected with the coronavirus that have “overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease.”

“All of the pediatricians and critical Rare complication care medics are working together to see Children have largely been spared the whether it’s connected to COVID-19,” worst of COVID-19, but there may be France’s health minister Olivier Veran a rare complication–an inflammatory said Wednesday. AFP

tional Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Trade and Industry to pin down personalities illegally selling smuggled medicines allegedly being used to cure COVID-19 patients.

Customs Intelligence Group agents are also monitoring businessmen and medical practitioners engaged in the illegal trade of personal protective equipment and medical supplies.

“As the country battles the deadly novel coronavirus, the Bureau of Customs-Intelligence Group continues to be at the forefront in ensuring that unscrupulous businessmen would not take Smuggled medicines advantage of the situation by selling The Bureau of Customs is now con- overpriced PPE and medical supplies,” ducting a case build-up with the Na- the bureau said in a statement.

release on own recognizance as modes of release for indigent detainees during the prevailing public health emergency.

With the declaration of national health emergency and the imposition of enhanced community quarantine in several areas, courts in the affected areas were physically closed and managed only by skeleton staff.

The government’s imposition of ECQ prompted the high court to issue several circulars to address the issue of jail congestion as a means to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

US warship...

From A1 designating an official administrative district for the islands.

The US sought to assert the “rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law,” the Navy said in a statement released Thursday in Manila.

“Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose an unprecedented threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight and the right of innocent passage of all ships,” it said.

The move came amid a rise in US-

Cooking gas prices raised

by P5/kilo

By Alena Mae S. Flores PETRON and Isla LPG raised the price of cooking gas by more than P5 per kilogram effective Friday to reflect the higher contract price of liquefied petroleum gas in the world market starting May. Petron raised the price of cooking gas by P5.80 per kilogram or P63.80 per 11-kilogram tank. Isla LPG, which markets the Solane brand, raised its LPG price by P5.19 per kilogram.

“Petron will implement a P5.80/kg increase in LPG prices effective 12:01 a.m. May 1,” the Philippines’ biggest oil firm said.

“AutoLPG prices will likewise increase by P3.2 per liter at the same time. These reflect the international contract price of LPG for the month of May,” Petron said.

The other oil distributors were expected to follow suit.

LPG prices are adjusted every first day of the month, while pump prices are adjusted every Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the oil firms cut the price of kerosene by P2.15 per liter, diesel by P1.80 per liter and gasoline

by P0.20 per liter.

Meanwhile, Petron has partnered with the Transport department to help with the transportation needs of medical front liners. It extended its fuel subsidy assistance to the participating bus units in the Free Ride Service for the Health Workers Program until May 15.

The move followed the extension of the enhanced community quarantine now being enforced in Luzon and other high-risk areas.

Since April 13, Petron has been giving free fuel to the bus companies participating in the Free Ride Service for the Health Workers Program. That program aims to transport front-line health workers to hospitals and medical communities daily as the Philippines continues its fight to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Keep jobsites...

From A1 and health criteria to minimize the risk to workers of exposure to COVID-19, the ILO says.

The group says without such controls, countries face the very real risk of a resurgence of the virus. Putting in place the necessary measures will minimize the risk of a second wave of contagion contracted at the workplace.

“The safety and health of our entire workforce is paramount today,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.

“In the face of an infectious disease outbreak, how we protect our workers now clearly dictates how safe our communities are, and how resilient our businesses will be as this pandemic evolves.”

Livelihoods in danger The continuing sharp decline in working hours globally due to the COVID-19 outbreak means 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy— nearly half of the global workforce-are in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed, the ILO warns.

The group says the drop in working hours in the second quarter of 2020 is expected to be significantly worse than previously estimated.

Compared to pre-crisis levels (fourth quarter of 2019), a 10.5-per cent deterioration is now expected, equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs (assuming a 48-hour working week). The previous estimate was for a 6.7-percent drop, equivalent to 195 million full-time workers. This is due to the prolongation and extension of lockdown measures.

Regionally, the situation has worsened for all major regional groups. Estimates suggest a 12.4-percent loss of working hours in Q2 for the Americas (compared to pre-crisis levels) and 11.8 percent for Europe and Central Asia. The estimates for the rest of the regional groups follow closely and are all above 9.5 percent.

China tensions over the novel coronavirus epidemic, in which Washington has accused Beijing of hiding and downplaying the initial outbreak in December and January in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The United States rejects China’s territorial claim to much of the South China Sea, including the Paracels, also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

The region is believed to have valuable oil and gas deposits.

In a statement on the People’s Liberation Army website, the Chinese military said it had mobilized sea and air assets to track and warn the US vessel away from “Chinese territorial waters.”

Rey E. Requejo with AFP

News

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

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Kin of health workers killed by virus get aid HE Government Service Insurance System is set to release ₱12.9 million in life insurance benefits to the families/ beneficiaries of the eight government health workers who succumbed to the COVID-19 virus, according to Rolando Ledesma Macasaet, president and general manager of the state pension fund.

T

“Our insurance officers are already coordinating with the bereaved families.

Once the papers are duly processed, we will release the amounts without delay,” Macasaet said. “And as promised, we

will be granting an additional ₱500,000 under our Bayanihan Fund for Frontliners (BFF) on top of their regular insurance benefits in recognition of their heroism and selfless dedication to public service,”

he added.

Last April 14, 2020, the GSIS Board of Trustees approved a resolution establishing the BFF that would provide an additional ₱500,000 cash benefit to government health workers involved in the fight against COVID-19 on top of their regular GSIS life insurance policy. As GSIS members, all government doctors and health professionals employed in the DOH, DOH-attached institutions, LGU health centers and other public health institutions are automatically covered by a life insurance policy provided by GSIS. The GSIS

life insurance policy entitles the member’s family/beneficiary to receive a lump sum payment equivalent to 150 of the annual salary of the deceased member.

“Each family will receive from GSIS a lump sum payment equivalent to 150 percent of the annual salary of the deceased, plus ₱500,000 under the BFF. This is over and above the ₱1 million which President Duterte promised to give our frontliners under the Bayanihan to Heal as One law,” Macasaet explained.

“It is devastating to lose a loved one but we do hope that this will help assuage the

RapidPass holders climb to 500,000

IN BRIEF ‘Munti’ named as WWF award finalist MUNTINLUPA City has been named as one of the country’s finalists in the World Wide Fund for Nature’s One Planet City Challenge this year.

The WWF-OPCC is a global competition that recognizes cities with effective climate change action plans. One to three cities per participating country are chosen as finalists.

Over 250 cities from 53 countries, including 13 from the Philippines, joined the 2020 WWF’s One Planet City Challenge through the Global Covenant of Mayor’s Unified Reporting System hosted by CDP and ICLEI. WWF announced that Muntinlupa City, along with Batangas City and Santa Rosa in Laguna, has been selected as national finalists from the Philippines this year.

Muntinlupa, Batangas City and Santa Rosa bested other Philippine cities in their efforts to reduce carbon emissions contributing to the global target of keeping the global average temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Mining firm joins efforts vs. COVID-19 BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya---FCF Minerals Corp. has joined the national and local government efforts in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the province.

Ian Moller, FCF Minerals Corp. manager for Sustainability, said they have tapped their unutilized funds for their Social Development and Management Programs in support of the national government’s Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. “This is in response to the advice of the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau for mining companies to use our remaining funds from our SDMP to support the affected impact and non-impact communities due to the COVID-19,” he said.

Moller said that with the MGB directive and coordination with the provincial, municipal and barangay local government units of Nueva Vizcaya, they were able to provide food packs, medicines and Personal Protective Equipment.

He added that the company initially donated 2,500 face masks and 25 gallons of alcohol to the provincial government, 20 pieces of Tyvek suits and goggles to the Municipal Health Office of Quezon town and 50 sacks of rice to the Quezon local government unit. Ben Moses Ebreo

Pampanga secures more NFA rice for ECQ CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—As Luzon braces for the extended Enhanced Community Quarantine, the provincial government of Pampanga secured some P90 million worth of rice from the National Food Authority Wednesday.

The fresh purchase would be readied for rice subsidies of 505 barangays across the province. Each 50 kilos bag of rice cost P1,250 much lower as compared to well-milled and commercial rice being sold in the market.

Gov. Dennis Pineda, who led other provincial officials during the site inspection of NFA warehouse in this city, said rice subsidies would ease down the impact of extended ECQ to the people of Pampanga.

“The rice subsidies is part of the series of food assistance to Pampanga residents since the start of ECQ on March 16,” said the governor while supervising his team who visited NFA warehouse.

The rice procurement is projected to augment the provincial government’s continuing rice aid distribution as lockdown to remain until May 15. Jess Malabanan

Naic mayor gives out rice to residents MAYOR Junio C. Dualan continues to distribute aid to his fellow citizens in Naic, Cavite in fulfillment of his promised government grant of 25 kilos of rice to the people of Naic.

Beneficiaries of assistance are the following areas: Barangay Sapa; Barangay Bucana Malaki; Barangay Bagong Kalsada; Barangay Mabulo; Barangay Bucana Sasahan; Barangay Latoria; and Barangay Ibayo Estacion.

The 23 barangays not mentioned will be shared in the next following few days. These are the following villages; Balsahan; Bancaan; Capt. C. Nazareno (Poblacion); Calubcob; Gombalza; Halang; Humbac; Ibayo Silangan; Kanluran; Labac; Makina; Malainen Bago; Malainen Luma; Molino; Munting Mapino; Palangue 1; Palangue 2 and Palangue 3; Sabang; San Roque; Santulan; Timalan Balsahan and Timalan Concepcion.

The Municipality of Naic is a 1st class municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. Municipality of Naic is politically subdivided into 30 barangays. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 111,454 people. Naic has a land area of 76.24 square kilometers. Benjamin Chavez

grief felt by the families of those left behind by these heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” Macasaet added.

Macasaet refused to name the eight government workers who succumbed to COVID-19 citing privacy reasons, but said that five of the individuals worked with national health institutions such as the Philippine Heart Center, Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), National Children’s Hospital and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu, while three worked in the local health centers of Manila, Parañaque and Pampanga.

FIRE VICTIMS. Six people died after a fire hit a residential community at Herbosa Street in Tondo, Manila on Thursday, April 30, 2020.

Norman Cruz

Killing of Bayan Muna-Iloilo coordinator hit

By Willie Casas THE militant Bayan Muna Party-list on Thursday condemned the assassination of the organization’s coordinator in a coffee shop in Iloilo City.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the traitorous murder of Jory Porquia, BM (Bayan Muna) Iloilo City coordinator, at 5:00 am today in his coffee shop at Brgy.

Sto. Niño, Arevalo District, Iloilo City by unidentified men suspected to be assassins of the State,” said a statement of the group signed by Siegfred Deduro , vice president for Visayas.

This is part of the impunity in political killings aimed at terrorizing activists critical of Duterte’s administration, said Deduro.

Prior to this killing, Porquia was hounded by elements of Iloilo City PNP for leading relief operations and education campaign on COVID-19 among hungry residents of poor communities in Iloilo City. Though the mayor welcomed Bayan Muna initiative in assisting the local government unit in educating and feeding quarantined residents, this did not sit well with the Philippine National Police, the group said.

Bayan Muna claimed that the police prevented activists in doing volunteer work in fighting the pandemic, even to the extent of spreading blatant lies that food served by activist is contaminated with the COVID-19 virus.

Apparently, the PNP gets instructions from their generals ignoring the policies

of local chief executives.

“Jory survived Marcos martial law, as a leading LFS leader resisting the fascist rule. After Marcos was ousted, he served as OIC member of the National Youth Commission under Cory Aquino. He worked as an OFW in the Middle East and later in China, where he was active in organizing and advocating Filipino migrants’ rights. Upon his return to the country, he briefly engaged in the construction business and worked as Migrante organizer in Panay. Jory was an active environmentalist. He was among the activists of the Madia-as Ecological Movement, which was instrumental in the banning of destructive commercial mining in Panay,” Deduro said.

HOLDERS of RapidPass speed up to 500,000 individuals following the consolidation of passes being given by government to frontliners and other essential services into the technological service.

RapidPass Coordinating Council Head and Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña disclosed this Tuesday as government harmonizes the passes it gave out to frontliners and other essential services.

De la Peña said that those who were issued with an Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) pass and those who applied for passes from the Department of Trade and Industry, which includes personnel who are part of the skeleton force of companies in manufacturing, retail and logistics services, will be transitioned into RapidPass, a QRbased system that hastens the movement of Authorized Persons Outside of Residence (APOR) and their vehicles through Quarantine Checkpoints (QCPs).

“As we heal as one, this harmonization will allow easier coordination and faster passage at quarantine checkpoints.

Through science, we help in winning the fight against COVID-19,” he said.

Developed by volunteer technology organization DEVCONNECT Philippines Inc., led by technopreneur Winston Damarillo, RapidPass was developed as a response to the IATF-MEID call for innovations to ease up traffic in the National Capital Region’s 48 QCPs. Both the origin and destination of the APOR is indicated in the encryption of the RapidPass QR code.

Though the RapidPass requires a cellular phone and a photo of the user to get an account, De la Peña said the cellular phone requirement will be eased for those holding IATF and DTI passes to hasten the harmonization.

“We also hope that this transition will help put our economy back on its feet through a fast, reliable, and secure system,” he said.

Portion of Jazz Mall’s parking collapses

By Joel E. Zurbano A PARKING space portion of SMDC Jazz Mall and Residences building in Makati City collapsed before noon Thursday.

Makati City chief legal officer and spokesperson Michael Arthur Camina said that based on initial reports, the incident occurred at the 5th floor of the establishment located along Nicanor Garcia Street in Barangay Bel-Air Village.

No one was reported hurt in the incident but at least three vehicles parked in the area were damaged.

In a statement, the SMDC management said “At around 11 a.m., April 30, the facade wall of the parking level at Jazz Mall sustained damages that caused its ouster slab to collapse to the driveway.

As of this posting no serious casualties were reported.”

As a safety precaution, it added, residents of the building were directed to stay near Metropolitan Avenue.

“Authorities are currently on the scene conducting a thorough on the incident.

All residents are safe and the damages are part of the mall parking side. Units are not affected,” the management said.

Mayor Abigail Binay ordered the deployment of a police bomb squad to check the situation after her office received initial information that there was an explosion when the portion of the building collapsed.

But the responding team did not find traces of explosion.

In a radio interview, Makati City police commander Rogelio Simon said the collapsed wall was found at the Tower D. “There was no explosion. Maybe it was the sound of the debris or the collapsed wall,” he said.

In a statement, the SMDC said a ‘thorough walk through’ of the mall premises and residential buildings, was conducted by the structural consultant, Sy 2 and Makati City engineers.

The SMDC management assured the public that the incident “does not affect the structural integrity of the development and that the buildings are safe for occupancy.”

COLLAPSED. Occupants evacuate their units after a portion of the parking building of SM Jazz Mall Tower D reportedly collapsed on Thursday, April 30, 2020. Norman Cruz, Makati Police Photos

Isko orders ‘hard lockdown’ of Tondo 1

By Willie Casas

NEW HIRES. A Philippine Coast Guard personnel demonstrates the proper donning of personal protective equipment to newly-hired medical technologists at the PCG headquarters in Manila on April 30, 2020. The 51 medical technologists will be immediately deployed to COVID-19 testing areas manned by the PCG. Norman Cruz

MANILA Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso on Thursday has ordered a 48hour “hard lockdown” of Tondo 1 district starting May 3 until May 5, 2020.

Domagoso signed Executive Order No. 22, shutting down the entire district from 5 a.m. of May 3 up to 5 a.m. of May 5, for the purposes of disease surveillance, verification or testing, and rapid risk assessment in relation to COVID-19.

Under the hard lockdown, all residents of District 1 of Tondo, Manila will be strictly confined to their residences and prohibited from going outside of their homes, except for health workers, officers and members of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard and government workers.

Also exempted are those working in pharmacies, drug stores and funeral home

establishments; public utility companies such as energy companies, cable, internet and other telecommunication, water, sanitation companies and critical transport facilities, including port operations.

Exemption is extended to service workers providing daily essential services including delivery of essential good cargoes, food delivery services, banking and money transfer services; barangay chairpersons, secretaries, treasurers, kagawads and executive officers.

Merchants in the Divisoria area within the vicinity of barangays number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 will be allowed to vend within the allowable time and place prescribed by the city.

All other commercial, industrial, retail, institutional and other activities not mentioned in the above exemptions in the said district shall be suspended within the specified period of shutdown, the order stated.

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Opinion

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Seniors unite and rise CROSSROADS

J.A. DE LA CRUZ “WORKERS of all lands unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains.”

This is the phrase inscribed on the tombstone of Karl Marx, the ideologue behind the socio-political theory of Marxism. It is the most famous rallying cry derived from the Communist Manifesto written in 1848 by Marx and Friedrich Engels, and inspired the October 1918 Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks that ousted Czarist rule in Russia.

It has since become the main slogan used every May 1, celebrated all over the world as Labor Day, denoting essentially the need for the working class to unite and rise up to push for better pay, workplace conditions and related enhancements for the benefit of working people. It was used by Marx and Engels in promoting Communism— the proletariat's (working class) struggle to defeat capitalism and capture political power as what happened in Russia in 1918.

I am sure today this will again be the overwhelming cry of all working classes the world over as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc, leaving most people in a state of fear and misery. In the United States alone, close to 20 million workers have filed for unemployment benefits—the most number since the Great Depression.

That fate is not exclusive to America: It affects all workers worldwide as governments and employers scramble to support their workers by providing for wage subsidies and stimulus packages to ensure that their economies stay afloat as the pandemic ravages.

The Philippines is no exception and perhaps even more so than our neighbors in ASEAN as a considerable part of our GDP is contributed by the close

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

to 10 million overseas Filipinos, many of whom will most probably be out of job for the foreseeable future. A lot of seafarers (40,000 as of latest count) and other workers, mostly in the service, travel and leisure sectors in the host countries, are now coming home.

But this exodus back home will have to be another story. ***

Life begins at 60.

For now, I am focused on another sector which has risen in the past few days as government announced the easing of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) nationwide. This is the seniors sector, those aged 60 years old and above, which, as of last count, makes up roughly 10 percent (9.4 million) of the country's population.

They have decried and rightly so the broad, highly arbitrary and medically questionable rule announced by the national government banning them from getting out of their homes once the ECQ is eased into a general quarantine. This rule has united seniors to a degree that has shocked even those who had earlier acquiesced to the guidance based on what the government's advice that they are most vulnerable to acquire the disease thus its desire to "protect" them. So they should stay at home.

That has been dismissed as arbitrary and highly questionable on both medical and economic grounds. The seniors contend correctly that instead of such a broad "house arrest" order, the government should have limited the same to those with existing health conditions and under some kind of care. After all, most seniors not only in the Philippines but almost anywhere remain physically active and capable of taking care of themselves.

They would be in the best position,

The new normal

A

S THE world prepares to resume its normal grind, people across the globe will have to adapt to the new normal way of doing things.

The new normal will likely see people keeping their face masks, their first line of defense against COVID-19, even if the Enhanced Community Quarantine order is eased or lifted in some parts of the Philippines. They will consciously practice physical distancing as much as possible and avoid crowded places.

The labor force will probably experience a new protocol in work places, with frequent washing of hands part of the new routine, and security guards or an assigned personnel checking on their temperature before entering their

building or office premises. For some of the working people and few executives, the work-from-home setup will continue, with their offices only manned by those who must interact with customers and the public.

Fast-food chains will be a different experience for most of the Filipino consumers. These establishments will likely cap the number of customers who can dine for a period of time.

Many customers may opt to buy their dinner or lunch to go. Fine dining may also be limited in the post-ECQ period.

The mode of transportation could be tricky for the hundreds of thousands of commuters, especially in Metro Manila. Limiting the number of passengers in trains, jeepneys and buses will become a challenge for commuters and enforcers alike.

Drivers of the country's mass transport system, especially buses and

jeepneys, are notoriously known for their habit of cramming their vehicles before leaving for their destination.

The restrictions under the new normal regime, however, must not stop the working class from re-joining the labor force. House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez cautioned against social upheaval as an offshoot of the lockdown, noting that the ECQ threw off millions of workers out of work and kept almost the whole population indoors, causing problems in basic survival.

The lawmaker warned of social unrest that could undermine the nation's ability to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Philippines, thus, will have to deal with a new social and economic environment and, at the same time, weigh the effects of new protocols against the interest of the working class.

Turn to A5

Sad and tragic THE nation’s first lockdown in memory, or the Enhanced Community Quarantine, should have ended yesterday, April 30, 2020. The President, however, extended it to May 15.

This is sad and tragic. The 45-day ECQ has not had significant impact.

There has been no dramatic reduction in new cases. We are back at 200+new cases a day. We hit as low as 13-15 new cases a day after lockdown, on March 18 and March 20.

There has been no flattening of the curve.

Deaths daily from COVID-19 are still in double digits—28 on April 29, 19 on April 28 from 10 on April 27. Total deaths, as of April 29, were 558, up 3,885 percent from just 14 deaths on March 17, the first day of lockdown.

Deaths should be in the single digits by now. We hit single digit deaths on April 26—7, and April 21 and 22, both 9. The mountain has not plateaued at all. There is no flattening of the curve.

On March 16 before lockdown, total cases were only 142. Today, we have more than 8,200, 5.7 times the volume we had a day before lockdown.

Before lockdown, cases were increasing by an average of 23 per day for five days. the average increase in cases per day from April 24 to April 28, five days, was 195, an eight-fold increase. That is not bending the curve. Of course we came from a

high of 538 on March 31, but that is an aberration and probably the result of delayed reporting.

The first lockdown, from March 17 to April 30, has been a failure, thanks to the colossal incompetence of the Department of Health under Francisco Duque.

Without substantial improvement, in terms of sharp reductions, both in number of new cases per day and deaths daily, the outlook is dim for early normalcy to descent on this benighted country. Filipinos face the very real possibility of repeated lockdowns. But more lockdowns after May 15 will be like beating a dead horse, utterly useless. Unless the DOH reforms itself.

Duque is managing to do singlehandedly what the rest of the cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte combined cannot do—destroy the chief executive’s image and record as the best president this country ever had, a leader with keen political instincts and awesome political will.

Duque has managed to make Duterte appear incompetent, unable to summon the best of his innate management talent and presidential gravitas, to solve and lick the gravest crisis ever to hit the archipelago in the last 100 years.

The Health secretary has also managed to make Duterte look like completely lacking in empathy and deep feeling for the unmitigated suffering of his people.

Despite Duque’s massive failure on the job, the President has kept his faith in him and thwarted moves by majority of senators, both from the administration and the opposition, to seek the Health chief’s ouster. Duque has seen better days.

As I keep saying, there are four Ts to cope with the coronavirus: Testing, Tracing contacts or those possibly infected by COVID-19 patients, Turn to A5

Keeping count of the poor who die from hunger MILLIONS of poor Filipinos were still waiting for their cash benefits under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) as of this writing, April 30, the deadline set by the Department of the Interior and Local Government for the local government units (LGUs) and the barangays to finish the distribution.

In my interview Wednesday with Senate President Tito Sotto, he said at least 97 percent of the first tranche of P100 billion social amelioration cash SAC had been downloaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to the LGUs. This is easily P97 billion.

Unfortunately, less than 50 percent of the SAC has been distributed so far at the barangay level. If I'm not mistaken, we have 81 provinces, 146 cities, 1, 488 municipalities, 42,045 barangays.

It’s a shame that one month and a half into the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), which is extended to May 15, over 50 percent of the supposed beneficiaries are literally languishing in hunger, still awaiting for cash to buy food with.

What’s more frustrating is the finger-pointing that the DSWD, the LGUs and the barangay officials have resorted to instead of putting their heads together to figure out a way to

get this task of doling out cash done.

At the grassroots level, the barangay officials blame the DSWD for taking too long in validating the list of recipients they have submitted.

We have seen widespread suffering.

DSWD officials, in turn, have called out a number of barangays for submitting questionable lists of recipients, which included names of deceased persons, double entries of the same names in different barangays, and multiple entries of names in the same households.

Why, are such lists the ones used for vote buying during the elections?

We are hoping that this bullcrap does not repeat once the second tranche of SAP authorized by Congress is released soon.

Senator Sotto said such fundamental problems would be avoided if the national identification system were in

place, a task assigned to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

It is further disheartening that while the poorest of the poor have not received the social amelioration cash, there are reports of abuse by the very people who are supposed to extend assistance to those displaced by the public health crisis.

Needless to say, the ECQ is designed to save and protect people’s lives, not to license authorities to harm them like the incident where a team of the Quezon City Task Force Disiplina beat up and dragged away a fish vendor caught not wearing a face mask.

We commend the Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte for swiftly ordering a full investigation of the incident, categorically stating that her administration does not condone unnecessary violence and abusive behavior.

This incident followed our heartbreaking story of a 76-year-old man who was thrown in jail for complaining at the barangay hall about not being included in the list of cash assistance program in Barangay Ilais, San Isidro, Surigao del Norte. I don’t think the senior citizen could have hurt anybody no matter how loud he was complaining about not getting any help to Turn to A5

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Opinion Expediting civil cases in the Philippines FOOTNOTES TRANQUIL G.S. SALVADOR III I HAVE been in the practice of law for quite some time and the usual observation I receive from parties’ litigants and judicial observers is that trials and the resolution of civil cases in the Philippines is extremely slow.

I get offended and embarrassed by such statements.

Sadly, I also hear such statements from the members of the legal profession who peddle and inflame this negative observation. They say there are too many postponements of hearings, repeated extensions of time to file pleadings and court submissions, court dockets congestion, no limit to trial periods, intentional delays caused by lawyers, and repeated motion hearings only to set periods for filing of oppositions, among others.

The Philippine Supreme Court on Jan. 14, 2019 issued Memorandum Order No. 04-2019 under the leadership of former Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin, created the Sub-Committee for the Revision of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure appointing then Associate Justice now Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta as the working Chairperson. The committee was tasked to prioritize the reform of procedural laws in order to make the disposition of every action just, speedy, and inexpensive. With the guidance of Chief Justice Peralta, the Committee identified problem areas and suggested solutions to speed up the judicial process without sacrificing the orderly dispensation of justice.

The Supreme Court En Banc, on Oct. 15, 2019, approved the amendments as embodied in A.M. No. 19-10-20SC which was to take effect on May 1, 2020.

The salient amendments cover: (a) the inclusion of evidence in allegations in pleadings; (b) the filing and service of pleadings and motions by express courier and electronic mail; (c) the expanded substituted service of summons to individual defendants; (d) the substituted service of summons to domestic juridical entities; (e) the certificate of the lawyer when he signs a pleading or motion; (f) the deletion of notice of hearing requirement in motions; (g) the classification of motions to those litigious or non-litigious; (h) the effect of the absence of lawyers during pre-trial; (i) the limited periods for presentation of evidence of the parties and for renditions of judgment; and (j) the motu proprio dismissal by the court through judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment.

Pleadings should now include and incorporate evidence upon which the party relies on for his claims or defenses (Section 1, Rule 8 of the Rules of Court). In particular, the pleadings shall state the name of the witnesses,

a summary of the witnesses' intended testimonies together with the judicial affidavits, and documentary and object evidence. (Section 6, Rule 7 of the Rules of Court). Significantly, motions for extensions of time to file pleadings are prohibited and if filed are mere scraps of paper (Section 11, Rule 11). Only the period to file an Answer may be extended but only once and for a maximum period of thirty (30) calendar days.

It is the hope of the drafters that the often repeated legal maxim “justice delayed is justice denied” will be rendered obsolete in our jurisdiction.

Service and filing of pleadings and motions by accredited courier and electronic means have been introduced. Like in registered mail filing, the date of sending of the pleading or motion by an accredited courier is considered the date of filing, while transmission by electronic mail or other electronic means is considered as the date of filing. The provisions and application of substituted service of summons to defendant individuals have been expanded to include: (a) leaving copies of summons with any officer of the homeowner’s association or condominium corporation or its chief of security; and (b) sending an email to the defendant’s email address, if allowed by the court. The amendment also included substituted service of summons to domestic private juridical entities by leaving copies of the summons with the secretaries of the respective officers named in Section 12, Rule 14 of the Rules of Court, with the person who customarily receives correspondence for the corporation, and the serving of summons electronically if there is a refusal of said persons to receive summons despite at least three (3) attempts on two (2) different dates.

Motions based on the amendments are classified as either non-litigious or litigious. Both require no notice of hearing to be appended to the Motion but litigious motions are subject to opposition by the other party within a period of five (5) days and will have to be resolved by the court within fifteen (15) days from its receipt of the opposition. The hearing on a litigious motion, if necessary, is subject to the discretion of the court (Sections 4,5 and 6, Rule 15 of the Rules of Court). Filing of Motions to Dismiss are now prohibited except on the following grounds: (a) the court has no jurisdiction over the subject matter of the claim; (b) there is another action pending between the same parties for the same cause; and (c) the cause of

Seniors...

From A4

not government, how best to work out and avoid getting infected by any disease lurking out there including COVID-19. They will not rush out of their homes just to loiter around or mindlessly enter any place or go on a joy ride after the easing sets in. Given the experience of the years, they know exactly what needs to be done.

Moreover, and this is probably the principal factor in the equation specially here in the Philippines, most seniors are the breadwinners, owners of their own businesses, captains of industry and holders of positions moving the country as it combats this pandemic.

In a word, they hold the country's fate in their hands, COVID or no COVID. So intense has been the reaction to the rule that the country has been swamped with all kinds of petitions and arguments which have so captured the country's imagination to take stock and come to its senses. It has so united the sector that loads of posts have come out telling the government to its face that if it obliges people aged 60 and above to stay at home, there will be a " vacuum of leadership from national to local governments, big to small businesses and even households" virtually depriving the country

Keeping...

From A4

appease his family’s hunger.

In another incident, a 67-year-old man literally died from hunger, collapsing while he waited in line for relief goods for hours at a barangay hall in Nabua, Camarines Sur. The poor old man who

action is barred by a prior judgment or by the statute of limitations (Section 12, Rule 15 of the Rules of Court). The rest of the grounds under the old provisions of the Motion to Dismiss are now grounds for affirmative defenses (Section 5(b), Rule 6). The reason for limiting the grounds for a motion to dismiss is to cause the defendant to file an Answer with Affirmative Defenses instead of a Motion to Dismiss to have the issues joined so that the case can proceed to pre-trial.

The signature of a counsel now constitutes a certification that he has read the pleading and is not being presented for any improper purpose such as to harass or cause delay; that the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions are warranted by existing law or jurisprudence; and that the factual contentions and denials have evidentiary support. Violations of the enumerated attestations by counsel may expose him to sanctions or disciplinary action (Section 3(b), Rule 7 of the Rules of Court).

In the pre-trial amendment, the presence of both the party and his counsel are required during the pre-trial conference. The failure of the plaintiff and counsel to appear without a valid reason when required shall cause the dismissal of the action. A similar failure on the part of the defendant and counsel shall allow the plaintiff to present his evidence ex-parte and the court to render judgment on the basis of the evidence offered (Section 5, Rule 18 of the Rules of Court). The court may now render judgment after pre-trial if there are no remaining controverted facts, genuine issues as regards to any material fact, absences of an issue, or the failure of an answer to tender an issue. Unlike the old rules, the pre-trial proper will have to be concluded before proceeding to court-annexed mediation and judicial dispute resolution (Sections 8 and 9, Rule 18 of the Rules of Court).

Another important amendment is the continuous schedule of the trial dates in civil cases. Each party shall be allowed to present its evidence within a period of three (3) months or ninety (90) calendar days which shall include the date of the judicial dispute resolution, if necessary. The trial dates may be shortened depending on the number of witnesses to be presented, provided that the presentation of evidence of all parties shall be terminated within a period of ten (10) months or three hundred (300) calendar days (Section 1, Rule 30 of the Rules of Court).

Although this article did not cover all the changes, the highlighted amendments in Civil Procedure will show the shift of our Supreme Court to a more dynamic, efficient, and public interest driven administration of justice. It is the hope of the drafters that the often repeated legal maxim “justice delayed is justice denied” will be rendered obsolete in our jurisdiction.

of the most able and active hands to navigate it wisely and responsibly during this pandemic. To bring out this point one post went viral which i would like to print in full: "A massive study in America found that the most productive age in a man's life is 60-70 years; from 70-80 is the second most productive and the third most productive is 50-60 years.

The average age of a Nobel Prize winner is 62; the average age of a CEO in a Fortune 500 company is 63; the average age of the pastors of the 100 biggest churches in America is 71; the average age of Popes is 76.

This tells us somehow that God has designed that the best years of your life are from 60-80 years: it is when you do your best work. A study published found that at 60 you reach your peak potential and continue up to 80!

Is it because "pattarivu" (knowledge gained by experience) is 1000 times more valuable than “pdipparivu" (knowledge gained by studies?). So, if you are between 6070 or 70-80 you have the best and second best years of your life with you! "Well, I should know. I am a senior and I feel it. I am a senior and I adhere to the latest medical not to say economic bulletin: Life begins at 60. It's no longer at 40, as in the war generation. But 60 as in the “baby boomers" generation. So, let us all unite, rise and fight. Go, go, go!!

did not make it the hospital had to fend for himself because his three sons could not return home from Manila.

In connection with our public service, through the ACT-CIS Party-list headed by Cong. Eric Yap and the Erwin Tulfo Center for Media and Public Assistance, we have witnessed widespread sufferings like these.

Now, while we keep count of the

number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, the number of deaths and the number of recoveries from the dreaded disease, perhaps concerned authorities should start keeping count of those who actually die from hunger while waiting for government cash assistance to buy food with.

Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo?

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

COVID-19: Scientists and economists vs. politicians

THERE is increasingly fierce debate in the coronavirus pandemic’s biggest victims—the US and the other leading Western countries— as to the wisdom of reopening those countries’ economies. In the US, the debate involves the federal government, over which Donald Trump presides, and some states of the Union. The debate has pitted the economists and the health scientists against the White House and the pro-reopening local politicians.

Here are three scenarios with regard to reopening economies.

The battle lines have been clearly drawn. President Trump and a growing number of state governors are arguing that sufficient progress has been made in terms of curve-flattening and death reduction to justify a graduated, guidelines-observing reopening of the state economies. The economists and the health scientists are counter-arguing that the infection and death rates have not gone down sufficiently, that not nearly enough nationwide testing has been done and that premature reopening will very likely lead to a return of the pandemic—a second wave of infections—sooner or later, possibly as soon as the end of 2020.

In Western Europe an increasing number of countries, led by hard-hot Spain and Italy, have taken steps in the direction of lockdown-easing. Selected industries and occupations have been granted permission to resume their activities. In these countries the arguments—and the warnings—are the same as in the US. It looks like there is no stopping the movement toward this. With only six months left to the general election in the world’s largest economy, US politicians are under increasingly strong pressure to go for economic reopening. Under the circumstances, all that economists can do is review the whole

Sad...

From A4

Treatment, and Trust.

The Department of Health cannot get a passing grade for all four Ts. To do an honest-to-goodness testing, the Philippines must scale up testing to the level of 10,000 tests a day.

Wuhan, the epicenter of the original COVID-19 outbreak, has a population of 11 million, one-fifth of the population of Luzon. Yet, they conducted 10,000 tests daily.

The Philippines, after 45 days of lockdown, conducted 80,000 tests— the equivalent of eight days. Compare that with more than four million tests done by the United States, a country only three times the population of the Philippines. So by US standards, Duque should have done 1.3 million tests by now, or more than 100,000 tests per day.

Wuhan also deployed 1,800 contact tracing teams; each team had five members. These teams traced tens of thousands of people every day. They did nothing but trace the people who might have been in contact with the patient infected with COVID-19. These people included relatives, friends, colleagues, anyone who might have been within six feet of the infected.

The Chinese record is 99 to 100 percent of contacts were traced.

Most of those contacted had to be tested. And one to five percent of the tested contacts were found positive

situation and try to determine the outcome of what they and their health-science colleagues regard as premature economic reopening.

The reopening of an economy at this stage of the pandemic will end up in one of the following ways.

First, it can be a more or less total with all or most of the reopened national or state economy restored to near-normalcy without the return of COVID-19. This outcome will depend on the degree of favorability of the nation’s or state’s economic conditions, the quality of the preparations that were made and the degree of public compliance with the anti-COVID-19 guidelines, especially social distancing. This outcome is much to be hoped for, given the pain and dislocation that the lockdowns have caused.

The second possible outcome would be a partial success for the reopening. The selected industries and establishments have remained in business and there has been no second wave, but there has been no return to the pre-lockdown operating sales and revenues. This outcome will have been attributable to the lingering fear of COVID-19 and uncertainty about future economic conditions. This has been the experience of most economy-reopening US states thus far.

The third outcome is the one that everyone prays will not come to pass. Here the warnings of the “Don’t do it just yet” health scientists and the economists come to reality and, after a few weeks and months, the coronavirus comes roaring back. No decent anti-early-reopening person wants to be able to crow that he or she was proven right. A second wave of COVID-19 infections anywhere is the last thing in the world that a right-thinking person wants.

Outcome No. 1 and Outcome No. 2 are within the realm of possibility, with the latter more probable, given the absence of an anti-coronavirus vaccine. But the health scientists know far more about viruses than economists, politicians and businessmen, insist that a second wave of COVID-19 is very likely in the near future in the absence of widespread testing.

Though one prays that a second wave will not come to pass, the authoritativeness of the health scientists makes Outcome No. 3 the more likely outcome of the early economic reopening.

for COVID-19.

Treatment refers to Manila having at least 100,000 new hospital beds. This is to treat the COVID-19 patients and to quarantine suspects whose COVID-19 is not yet confirmed. So far, there are claimed to be 12,000 new hospital beds.

We also need easily 300,000 additional medical personnel – doctors, nurses, assistants, and cleaning crews. We don’t have them.

And then Trust—do you trust the DOH under Secretary Duque to bring us to the plateau, with curve bended or flattened so we can return to normalcy?

Sadly, DOH has come back at critics who are seniors, by seeking their permanent lockdown after ECQ. Seniors have become a convenient scapegoat for failure of ECQ. The same ECQ collapsed the economy, rendered jobless 25 million people, and triggered unprecedented hunger, poverty, misery, debt levels, and police abuses unseen even during the worst of Marcos' martial law—shanties, condos and private residences being raided their residents and occupants maltreated like slaves and animals; helpless pedestrians subjected to verbal abuse, mauling, and plain murder at checkpoints; people and motorists unable to walk or drive a few hundred meters without being accosted, challenged or checked by pompous bastards.

What is happening to our country? biznewsasia@gmail.com

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World

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF Harrison Ford facing probe for aviation mishap

PRAYERS FOR HEALING. Worshippers wearing face masks attend a prayer ceremony entitled “overcoming and healing the COVID-19 coronavirus” while marking Buddha's birthday at the Jogye Buddhist Temple in Seoul on April 30, 2020. AFP

Jobless China workers await relief T

HE Communist Party has long staked its legitimacy on delivering jobs and prosperity in return for public acquiescence to its political monopoly.

Zhao Chang sits in an employment agency in Shanghai waiting for a lift to his new factory job.

Chinese brokerage Zhongtai Securities last week estimated joblessness at 20.5 percent.

The pandemic has paralysed overseas export demand and hit China’s factories hard.

Workers wait in line to collect salaries in Shanghai.

Life is never easy for China’s nearly 300 million migrant workers, but with the coronavirus zapping jobs at a historic clip, unemployed factory labourer Wei Guikun is at his wits’ end.

Since March, Wei has wandered in search of work from his home in eastern Shandong province—where virus lockdowns stranded him for weeks—to factories in China’s southern coastal regions, and now back north to Shanghai.

But the pandemic has paralysed overseas export demand and the 29-year-old has faced only rejection or low-ball pay on his roughly 3,500-kilometre (2,200mile) odyssey.

The global pandemic will force millions worldwide to spend Friday’s International Workers Day in unemployment and uncertainty.

But perhaps nowhere is the pressure felt as keenly as in the world’s second-largest economy, where the Communist Party has long staked its legitimacy on delivering jobs and prosperity in return for public ac-

quiescence to its political monopoly.

“My fellow workers will definitely be angry (if their livelihoods suffer),” Wei said, pulling a wheeled suitcase down a seemingly endless avenue in a sprawling Shanghai factory district after another rejection.

“I’ve met fellow workers from Shandong, Henan, and Heilongjiang. They’re all like that.”

The situation raises the spectre of millions of angry citizens potentially protesting over their misfortune.

At this point, no one expects mass worker unrest in tightly controlled China, but joblessness is soaring after the economy shrank for the first time in decades in the first three months of the year.

‘Grave concern’ UBS Securities said this week that perhaps 80 million jobs have been lost in services, in- Workers wait in line to collect salaries in Shanghai dustry and construction and more than 10 million other jobs could evaporate in export sectors as orders Even if still employed, an estimated 250 million cease and businesses avoid large worker gatherings be- workers will lose 10-50 percent of earnings this year, cause of lingering virus fears. the Economist Intelligence Unit said.

“China’s labour market pressure may be the most chalBut despite an array of stimulus measures such as busilenging since the late 1990s and early 2000s,” UBS said. ness-tax breaks and liquidity injections for markets, UBS Chinese brokerage Zhongtai Securities last week said help for idled workers has been “very limited even estimated joblessness at 20.5 percent, or around 70 mil- though the labour market hit has been substantial.” lion workers—far exceeding that of the 2008-09 global Geoffrey Crothall of China Labor Bulletin (CLB), which financial crisis and three times official estimates. tracks Chinese labour strikes and workplace abuses, said But in an indication of the sensitivity of jobs data in “clearly there is grave concern in the central government.”

China, Zhongtai later retracted the report, apparently under “However, so far the relief measures have done very official pressure. little to actually benefit workers,” he added. AFP

New York’s homeless flock to subway trains NEW York leaders pledged Wednesday to take action against a surge of homeless people sleeping on empty subway trains during the city’s coronavirus crisis.

Photos and video showing the homeless seeking shelter in the Big Apple’s underground transit system have circulated widely on social media this week, sparking outrage.

“The cars were filthy, they were disgusting, homeless people were there with all their belongings,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo, lamenting a “deterioration” in the conditions of the network.

He ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the independent body which runs the subway, to come up with a plan to scrub every train every day.

“Any essential worker who shows up and gets on a train should know that that train was disinfected the night before.

“The trains have to be clean,” Cuomo told reporters, adding that the homeless should also be able to get the services that they need.

New York’s lockdown, implemented in mid-March, has resulted in a 90 percent drop in riders, freeing up space on trains and in stations for people who

sleep on the streets.

The New York Post tabloid on Tuesday published a video shot by a conductor which showed multiple people sleeping on benches in various cars of a single train.

Piles of boxes, bags and luggage lay beside them.

“I gotta go to work in this. It’s not making any sense,” the conductor, 25-yearold Torry Chalmers, can be heard saying.

It followed photos published by rival tabloid the Daily News which showed similar scenes.

The MTA has been the subject of a tussle between the mayor and the governor for years with both passing the buck for who is responsible for investing in the much-maligned metro.

In a column published in the New York Post Monday, the MTA’s acting president called on Mayor Bill de Blasio not to let the underground become a shelter for the homeless.

De Blasio announced a proposal this week to close ten end-of-line stations between midnight and 5:00 am to allow carriages to be cleaned and police to empty stations of any homeless people. AFP

Thunberg donates $100,000 to support kids during pandemic SWEDISH climate activist Greta Thunberg has donated a $100,000 prize she won from a Danish foundation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for use against the COVID-19 pandemic, the world body said Thursday.

“Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child rights crisis,” Thunberg, 17, was quoted as saying in the UNICEF statement.

“It will affect all children, now and in the long term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most,” she added.

“I’m asking everyone to step up and join me in support of UNICEF’s vital work to save children’s lives, to protect health and continue education.”

The Danish anti-poverty non-governmental organization, Human Act, will match the $100,000 donation, the statement added.

UNICEF said the funds would give it a boost as it struggles to support children impacted by anti-virus lockdowns and school closures, particularly in the fields of “food shortages, strained health care systems, violence and lost education.”

Thunberg said at the end of March that she had “likely” contracted the coronavirus, after experiencing several symptoms after a trip to central Europe. AFP

After virus scare, British PM is father again BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday became a father again when his partner Carrie Symonds gave birth to a baby boy, just weeks after he himself was hospitalised with coronavirus.

The news came as a surprise, as Symonds, 32, was not thought to be due for several weeks, but both she and the baby were said to be doing “very well”.

The couple were recently confronted with the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic up close, after both contracted the potentially deadly virus.

Johnson, 55, only returned to work on Monday after being hospitalised, including three nights in intensive care, which he later said “could have gone either way”.

Symonds, a former head of commu-

nications for the Conservative party, also reported having symptoms, although she recovered at home.

“The prime minister and Ms Symonds are thrilled to announce the birth of a healthy baby boy at a London hospital earlier this morning,” a spokesman for the couple said.

“Both mother and baby are doing very well.”

Johnson was present for the birth at an unnamed state-run National Health Service (NHS) hospital in London, according to his political spokesman.

He told reporters the Conservative leader had returned to work in Downing Street

by Wednesday lunchtime, but that he would be taking some paternity leave.

“Later in the year, he’ll take a short period of paternity leave,” the spokesman said. AFP

US ACTOR Harrison Ford piloted a plane across a runway as another aircraft was taking off, aviation officials said Wednesday, confirming they have opened an investigation.

It is the latest aviation mishap for the 77-year-old “Indiana Jones” star and flying enthusiast, who misheard an air traffic instruction in the incident which did not result in any damage last Friday.

“The FAA is Harrison Ford investigating an incident in which the pilot of an Aviat Husky taxied across the runway... while another aircraft was performing a touch-and-go landing,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement to AFP. The planes were 3,600 feet apart during the incident at a Los Angeles county airport.

Ford had been told to stop as the other plane practiced landing and immediately taking off, but instead he continued across the runway.

“Excuse me sir, I thought exactly the opposite. I’m terribly sorry,” Ford can be heard saying in an audio recording. AFP

US trade commission probing Nintendo SHARES in Nintendo fell Thursday after the US international trade commission said it was investigating alleged patent infringement involving the Japanese firm’s hugely popular Switch game console.

Nintendo shares were down nearly two percent in early Tokyo trade, even as the broader market was up.

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) said in a statement it had voted to begin an investigation of “certain portable gaming console systems with attachable handheld controllers and components” covering Nintendo in Japan and the United States.

It said the investigation was based on a complaint filed on March 27 by California-based Gamevice, which alleges Nintendo products infringe its patent.

A Nintendo spokesman, contacted

by AFP, said the firm had “no particular comment” on the investigation, but confirmed that it referred to the firm’s Switch devices. The USITC statement did not specifically name the consoles. AFP

Bolsonaro backs down on police chief pick BRAZILIAN President Jair Bolsonaro withdrew his controversial nomination of a family friend for federal police chief Wednesday after a Supreme Court judge stayed the appointment over allegations the far-right leader wanted to block sensitive investigations.

However, an irate Bolsonaro vowed to appeal the judge’s ruling, overriding an earlier decision by his own attorney general’s office.

The row blew up last week when Bolsonaro fired the previous head of the federal police, Mauricio Valeixo, a decision that led popular justice minister Sergio Moro to resign in protest.

In a scathing last press conference, Moro, an ex-judge who famously presided over Brazil’s biggest-ever corruption probe, accused Bolsonaro of “political interference” in the police’s work.

The controversy only grew when Bolsonaro picked a long-time family friend, Alexandre Ramagem, as the new police chief.

Missing NATO chopper’s debris found in sea DEBRIS from a Canadian military helicopter operating as part of a NATO surveillance force has been found in the sea between Greece and Italy, a Greek military source said Thursday.

The helicopter was attached to the Canadian frigate Fredericton, from which it had taken off for a patrol.

“Debris has been found in Italy’s zone of control and intervention” in the Ionian Sea, the military source told AFP, specifying the wreckage belonged to the Canadian helicopter.

“Greece has sent a marine helicopter to participate in the rescue operation,” the source said.

Six crew were aboard the helicopter when it disappeared Wednesday, he said.

Greek public television reported that a body had been found amid the wreckage in international waters off the Greek island of Kefalonia.

But the military source did not immediately confirm the report. AFP

In Russia virus lockdown, fears of a return to the bottle ACROYOGA. Chris Borchetta and Amy Diaz perform acroyoga in South Pointe Park

on April 29, 2020 in Miami Beach, Florida. The city of Miami Beach partially reopened parks and facilities including golf courses, tennis courts and marinas as it begins easing restrictions made due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AFP

A PATIENT receives a detox solution infusion at a private addiction clinic in Moscow this month. Alcoholism has been on the wane in Russia for years but many fear it could return with the stress of the coronavirus pandemic Stuck in cramped flats and struggling with fears of the coronavirus and its economic impact, many Russians are worried about the return of an old demon.

“When I found myself alone at home, the first thought I had was ‘ah, it’s a good time to get drunk,’” says Tatyana, a recovering alco-

holic on lockdown in Moscow.

“Not everyone manages to resist during confinement,” says the 50-year-old, who has been sober nearly seven years and is attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings online.

Despite Russia’s reputation for hard drinking, alcoholism has been on the wane in the country for years, in part due to anti-drink campaigns and aggressive moves by authorities to control sales.

Alcohol consumption in Russia fell by

more than 40 percent between 2003 and 2016, according to the World Health Organization, and Russian adults began drinking less on average than the French or Germans.

But experts and campaigners are pointing to worrying signs that under-stress Russians may be reviving old habits.

Alcohol purchases jumped after authorities imposed lockdown orders in late March, with sales in the first week of isolation rising by 65 percent, according to market research group GfK. AFP

Business

A7

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stocks rally for 3 straight day T rd

HE stock market rose for the third straight day Thursday as investors began to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against coronavirus, following news of a possible breakthrough in the search for a treatment.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index advanced 56.74 points, or 1 percent, to 5,700.71 on a value turnover of P6.6 billion. Gainers best losers, 120 to 71, with 46 issues unchanged.

International Container terminal Services Inc., the biggest port operator and owned by tycoon Enrique Razon Jr., climbed 3.9 percent to P89.60, while

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-largest lender in terms of assets, also advanced 3.9 percent to P39.05.

Universal Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, rose 3.2 percent to P125.90, while major property developer Ayala land Inc. added 3.1 percent to P31.95.

The rest of Asian markets rallied again and oil prices built on the previous day’s surge.

Top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci’s comments that Gilead Science’s remdesivir “has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery” fanned hopes that lockdowns—already being loosened in some nations—could be lifted more quickly, allowing people back to work to kickstart the battered economy.

The announcement allowed investors to look past data showing the US economy had contracted 4.8 percent in

the first quarter, its worst performance in a decade, and the Federal Reserve’s warning that it would likely tank even further in April-June.

The central bank did provide some support, though, by pledging to keep interest rates at zero until the economy has weathered the crisis and is ready to resume growth. On Thursday France said its economy had fared even worse and contracted 5.8 percent.

“While a treatment is not a vaccine, a successful treatment would be a gamechanger for the virus and would help facilitate a greater rollback of containment measures,” said National Australia Bank’s Tapas Strickland.

“It could also give consumers greater confidence to resume pre-pandemic activity.”

Wall Street and Europe’s main indexes all rose at least two percent, and Asian equities—already enjoying a bright week on signs of an easing in the

virus—took up the baton Thursday.

Tokyo returned from a one-day holiday to end 2.1 percent higher, while Sydney, Singapore, Taipei and Jakarta also piled on more than two percent.

Mumbai jumped three percent, with Shanghai and Bangkok breaking the one percent mark, though Wellington dropped more than one percent.

Hong Kong and Seoul were closed for public holidays.

“One of the main reasons for the strong recovery in risk sentiment... is the homogeneity of the recession’s driver,” said AxiCorp’s Stephen Innes.

“Compared to previous downturns that were more multifaceted and professedly more difficult to unwind, the eradication of the single recessionary input—the virus—via a vaccine can cobblestone the way for an expeditious recovery in global economic output.” With AFP

Manila Standard BuSineSS daily StockS review thurSday, april 30, 2020

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

48.7 59 100.1 19.82 15.42 7.63 2.74 0.95 639 0.345 38.15 0.64 8.5 16.7 23.5 165 98 42.5 17 105.9 54.6

48.7 59.15 101 19.82 15.5 7.85 2.74 0.95 639 0.36 39.1 0.64 8.5 16.7 24 168.9 116.4 43.9 17.1 105.9 54.7

48.7 58.5 98.6 19.72 15.42 7.63 2.73 0.95 639 0.33 37.65 0.64 8.5 16.7 23.5 165 98 42.5 16.5 103.1 53.6

FINANCIALS 48.7 2,000 58.5 2,638,530 101 2,716,910 19.74 87,500 15.5 3,300 7.85 130,300 2.73 32,000 0.95 4,000 639 10 0.34 2,030,000 39.05 7,605,700 0.64 20,000 8.5 10,700 16.7 200 23.8 152,900 168.9 1,230 105.1 630 43.9 14,400 16.6 45,200 103.4 306,480 53.9 1,900

97,400 155,180,668.50 271,723,034.50 1,730,350 51,070 1,012,808 87,480 3,800 6,390 705,100 291,702,180 12,800 90,950 3,340 3,641,100 207,225 68,596 621,890 758,198 31,830,289 102,510.50

97,400 -77,297,244.50 -66,787,594 -245,344 -166,215 -17,403,940 -1,875,255 48,215 -126,120 -15,145,613 -74,404.50

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

27.4 2.32 8.24 0.55 0.93 3.02 0.18 87 1.13 14.5 180 8.9 11 26.5 60 62.95 1.75 3.74 5.56 8.16 5.44 7.9 2.86 18.54 57.15 1.47 32.4 1.34 11.2 5.85 1.2 148 3.6 6.15 10.9 6.75 6.64 264.2 4.3 1.91 2.44 3.2 8.5 11.16 18.4 4.4 1.64 1.42 1.26 6.96 59.05 7.88 0.118 0.86 122.2 0.86 0.74

27.85 2.33 8.6 0.56 0.93 3.06 0.18 87 1.14 14.56 180 9.15 13.48 26.5 60 68.65 1.75 3.74 5.56 8.22 5.44 7.94 2.9 19 58 1.49 32.4 1.34 11.5 5.92 1.2 149 3.6 6.65 11.04 6.9 6.71 266 4.3 1.91 2.47 3.22 8.88 11.8 18.68 4.49 1.69 1.42 1.29 6.99 61 7.98 0.118 0.88 126 0.86 0.74

27.2 2.26 8.21 0.54 0.92 2.93 0.171 87 1.11 14.3 180 8.5 11 24 55 62.95 1.74 3.61 5.29 8.05 5.3 7.86 2.75 18.44 57.15 1.43 31.05 1.28 11.2 5.78 1.17 143 3.6 6.15 10.64 6.4 6.5 254.4 3.81 1.9 2.38 3.15 8.5 11.14 18.32 4.35 1.61 1.42 1.2 6.71 58.95 7.88 0.109 0.85 122.2 0.83 0.71

INDUSTRIAL 27.4 1,605,400 2.3 3,975,000 8.43 399,300 0.56 239,000 0.92 7,000 2.96 1,706,000 0.179 50,000 87 40 1.11 7,190,000 14.3 303,300 180 270 9 3,424,900 13 3,300 24 15,100 60 310 68.65 190 1.74 97,000 3.74 11,000 5.29 2,187,200 8.17 425,800 5.37 1,097,900 7.9 1,029,700 2.79 1,312,000 19 740,300 57.35 2,610 1.44 11,703,000 32.35 3,400 1.3 2,872,000 11.5 578,300 5.91 164,700 1.19 8,153,000 143.1 1,930,300 3.6 13,000 6.5 9,400 10.64 5,678,500 6.61 1,791,800 6.55 2,090,800 254.4 344,280 4.3 8,000 1.91 128,000 2.45 27,000 3.19 1,492,000 8.88 6,300 11.58 273,700 18.5 781,500 4.49 14,000 1.68 1,377,000 1.42 17,000 1.22 1,954,000 6.78 1,059,900 59 190,540 7.98 36,600 0.118 790,000 0.85 241,000 125.9 1,907,400 0.86 8,018,000 0.73 653,000

44,168,515 9,115,840 3,359,895 131,610 6,450 5,070,540 8,720 3,480 8,071,170 4,348,414 48,600 30,548,473 41,894 364,005 18,450 12,017.50 169,690 40,670 11,754,598 3,469,706 5,899,528 8,134,725 3,675,740 13,945,306 149,994.50 16,939,190 107,835 3,742,750 6,572,410 964,713 9,699,600 278,959,709 46,800 60,910 60,886,890 11,983,088 13,793,373 89,554,478 32,930 244,220 64,730 4,753,920 54,774 3,132,340 14,464,076 61,490 2,294,750 24,140 2,410,240 7,287,932 11,261,932.50 290,241 91,180 205,230 238,123,566 6,850,010 473,030

-2,326,865 123,450 188,720 -206,700 -448,740 3,435,692 167,593.00 -358,955 3,777 -3,610 -9,611,041.00 -1,435,219 -361,265 -7,900,000 161,950 -1,245,090.00 -54,428.50 -86,400 9,600 92,540 -2,141,880 -54,518,287 -8,610 -49,651,592 -442,180 -2,793,479 -44,672,460 17,170 1,959,210 -4,781,032.00 57,000 -12,260 2,561,828 1,284,300 -51,167,917 91,790 -

0.58 41.5 6.28 0.54 5.97 7.63 0.53 0.55 580.5 1.81 4.98 4.12 8.26 447 50.8 6.24 0.48 2.62 7.72 0.475 2.56 0.8 97 834.5 0.63 1 160 142 0.188 0.14

HOLDING FIRMS 0.58 3,232,000 1,125,100 41.5 6.46 5,550,300 0.54 1,000 6.1 2,100 7.7 26,200 0.57 9,738,000 0.56 116,000 582 342,060 1.96 3,448,000 4.98 1,742,000 4.12 10,548,000 8.6 10,800 453 173,940 50.9 3,001,690 6.24 1,000 0.48 40,000 2.62 4,070,000 7.75 1,309,600 0.54 220,000 2.57 46,462,000 0.82 110,000 97 305,520 845 242,720 0.65 26,000 1.01 15,000 170 510 142 800 0.188 60,000 0.162 9,990,000

10.68 0.56 1.04 0.55 31.3 1.35 3.98 5.9 0.355 0.74 0.73 0.12 0.29 6.9 16.04 0.94 0.8 2.58 0.164 0.3 0.84 1.49 15.02 1.5 2.7

PROPERTY 10.9 7,700 0.58 1,622,000 1.05 268,000 0.57 953,000 31.95 18,012,900 1.37 194,000 4.06 3,216,000 5.9 2,000 0.365 2,240,000 0.74 2,000 0.77 3,000 0.133 470,000 0.29 1,460,000 6.9 127,700 16.16 260,100 0.95 7,155,000 0.82 62,000 2.58 20,779,000 0.168 5,910,000 0.31 230,000 0.87 462,000 1.51 9,000 15.04 4,544,900 1.52 109,000 169,000 2.71

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ANSCOR ASIABEST GROUP ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP AYALA LAND LOG COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG 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 8990 HLDG A BROWN ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEB LANDMASTERS CEBU HLDG CENTURY PROP CITY AND LAND CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY DM WENCESLAO DOUBLEDRAGON FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL INFRADEV PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP

0.59 41.5 6.36 0.54 6.09 7.8 0.54 0.55 582.5 1.81 5 4.18 8.6 464 51 6.24 0.49 2.67 7.81 0.475 2.56 0.8 97.9 843 0.63 1.01 160.1 142 0.189 0.145 10.7 0.58 1.04 0.56 31.8 1.35 3.98 5.9 0.355 0.74 0.73 0.133 0.295 6.96 16.18 0.96 0.8 2.63 0.166 0.325 0.84 1.51 15.5 1.5 2.73

0.6 43 6.5 0.54 6.1 7.98 0.59 0.61 586.5 1.96 5.15 4.2 8.6 469 51.8 6.24 0.495 2.68 7.89 0.54 2.61 0.83 97.9 846 0.65 1.03 170 142 0.189 0.163 10.9 0.59 1.05 0.57 32.2 1.44 4.06 5.9 0.365 0.74 0.77 0.133 0.295 6.99 16.2 0.97 0.85 2.66 0.169 0.325 0.87 1.51 15.82 1.54 2.74

VOLUME

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NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

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NAME

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VOLUME

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SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND VISTAMALLS

31 1.9 1.27 4.13 3.95

31.05 1.97 1.3 4.41 4.1

30.05 1.85 1.26 4.08 3.95

31 1.94 1.28 4.31 4.04

13,148,900 152,000 3,756,000 4,178,000 124,000

404,748,825 292,600 4,810,080 17,951,150 501,350

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL ALLHOME APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CENTRO ESCOLAR CHELSEA DISCOVERY WORLD DITO CME HLDG EASYCALL GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA HARBOR STAR INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES MACROASIA 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

10.7 17.1 1.13 5.8 0.31 0.043 2.41 5.6 0.029 50 6.25 3.35 1.55 2.24 8.13 2,250 4.8 339.8 0.89 88 7.8 4.5 0.083 13.7 1.44 5.3 1.95 2.75 2.75 10.22 1.9 1.74 7.3 2.94 125 2.38 1,269 0.31 0.255 46.85 65.55 5.14 1.36 0.345 0.192 0.4 14

12.2 18.2 1.13 6.35 0.34 0.044 2.42 5.65 0.029 50.05 6.26 3.35 1.55 2.27 8.64 2,256 4.89 339.8 0.91 92.8 8.39 5 0.083 13.7 1.55 5.38 1.95 2.87 2.75 10.22 1.98 1.75 7.3 2.94 125 2.44 1,305 0.32 0.26 46.85 69.5 5.14 1.39 0.35 0.2 0.415 14.7

10.5 17.1 1.13 5.8 0.31 0.041 2.32 5.36 0.028 47.35 6.25 3.3 1.54 2.18 7.8 2,196 4.78 312.4 0.88 87.55 7.8 4.5 0.083 13.6 1.44 5.01 1.88 2.6 2.75 10.22 1.88 1.7 7.25 2.81 123 2.35 1,263 0.31 0.25 45.8 65.55 5.14 1.33 0.34 0.185 0.4 14

SERVICES 10.6 18 1.13 6.18 0.32 0.043 2.32 5.6 0.029 48.35 6.26 3.34 1.54 2.2 7.91 2,196 4.87 312.4 0.89 89.6 8.39 5 0.083 13.6 1.54 5.05 1.89 2.76 2.75 10.22 1.92 1.73 7.25 2.91 123.5 2.36 1,299 0.315 0.255 46.3 67 5.14 1.35 0.345 0.199 0.415 14.7

1,850,500 1,087,400 1,000 6,339,700 2,890,000 31,200,000 365,000 5,239,800 12,500,000 406,500 2,000 549,000 17,000 44,179,000 302,900 64,440 240,000 320 364,000 3,754,000 62,300 2,200 70,000 4,900 434,000 17,353,800 2,612,000 7,268,000 38,000 2,000 7,696,000 60,000 6,100 7,000 53,640 1,937,000 362,915 4,460,000 7,490,000 4,469,100 709,490 100 15,019,000 5,710,000 4,030,000 340,000 2,334,700

20,993,480 19,273,438 1,130 39,515,995 937,250 1,308,500 851,910 28,717,231 354,700 19,754,825 12,510 1,830,530 26,260 98,054,670 2,472,348 142,429,590 1,153,260 106,992 325,160 336,732,318.50 486,117 10,750 5,810 66,780 651,010 90,050,593 4,961,790 19,862,860 104,500 20,440 14,850,670 103,890 44,367 20,130 6,626,576 4,604,210 467,545,715 1,396,950 1,920,550 206,763,050 47,573,889 514 20,371,120 1,975,500 788,010 137,550 33,643,662

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

0.0011 6.95 0.95 1.9 10.9 1.02 2.73 0.193 6.72 0.9 0.2 0.082 0.085 0.58 1.72 0.96 0.4 0.495 0.0085 0.0084 2.31 4.32 12.18 0.0042

0.0011 6.99 0.96 1.9 10.9 1.02 2.74 0.204 7 0.91 0.207 0.083 0.09 0.59 1.74 0.96 0.4 0.5 0.0085 0.0084 2.31 4.48 12.18 0.0042

0.001 6.79 0.94 1.9 10.3 1.02 2.73 0.193 6.72 0.87 0.2 0.081 0.083 0.56 1.67 0.91 0.4 0.495 0.0085 0.0084 2.29 4.32 12.08 0.0041

MINING & OIL 0.001 21,000,000 6.94 25,500 0.95 726,000 1.9 2,000 10.88 1,500 1.02 40,000 2.73 200,000 0.204 160,000 6.87 1,700 0.9 3,210,000 0.203 440,000 0.081 9,620,000 0.084 6,280,000 0.59 62,000 1.7 8,291,000 0.91 154,000 0.4 20,000 0.5 20,000 0.0085 8,000,000 0.0084 1,000,000 2.29 454,000 4.35 884,000 12.1 1,365,700 0.0041 4,000,000

22,100 175,381 689,950 3,800 16,040 40,800 546,900 31,100 11,620 2,865,480 89,990 781,230 529,130 35,910 14,165,400 144,460 8,000 9,950 68,000 8,400 1,044,310 3,885,800 16,570,168 16,500

47,150 9,400 -3,193,420 -207,030 -498,280 4,534,228 -

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

15.58 500 504 100 99.5 99 495 4.83 981 100 1,012 1,020 99.5 101 999 74.9 75 75.5 75.3 75.1 75

16.5 500 504 100 99.5 99.95 495 4.83 981 100.1 1,012 1,020 99.5 103.4 1,000 74.9 75.1 75.5 75.35 75.15 75

15.58 500 504 99 99.5 99 495 4.83 970.5 99.8 1,012 1,020 99.4 100.1 998 74.9 75 75.5 75.25 75.1 75

PREFERRED 15.7 1,060,800 500 30 504 100 99 7,520 99.5 1,250 99.95 510 495 500 4.83 13,000 970.5 26,900 99.8 2,940 1,012 110 1,020 100 99.4 4,890 103.4 5,000 998 1,040 74.9 600,000 75.1 2,570 75.5 77,380 75.25 17,400 75.15 5,000 75 4,900

16,832,122 15,000 50,400 750,530 124,375 50,965 247,500 62,790 26,383,650 293,996 111,320 102,000 486,225 501,434 1,038,900 44,940,000 192,907 5,842,190 1,310,001 375,625 367,500

-13,580,600 75,000 15,000

LR WARRANT

0.78

0.82

0.78

WARRANTS 0.8 99,000

79,900

ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH XURPAS

2.29 7.7 0.64

2.32 7.87 0.64

2.11 7.51 0.61

2.15 7.79 0.63

FIRST METRO ETF

86.25

88

86.25

MS 1,892,060 47,124,850 35,416,203 540 12,730 205,503 5,486,380 65,530 199,386,850 6,542,330 8,770,050 43,669,580 92,512 78,917,472 153,329,129.50 6,240 19,500 10,735,930 10,149,537 110,250 119,755,470 88,970 29,715,196.50 204,843,605 16,560 15,050 84,460 113,600 11,290 1,607,180 82,884 916,650 280,820 529,940 574,228,090 263,940 12,929,760 11,800 804,550 1,480 2,270 58,590 423,450 886,179 4,202,432 6,836,350 50,720 54,234,960 979,400 69,800 395,290 13,510 68,665,726 165,080 457,000

-434,660.00 -8,822,800 -3,018,251 54,600 -44,059,190 -61,050 -923,240 -17,823,780 10,318 -41,991,488 -91,371,996.50 -5,728,370 2,160,445 -10,200 -20,393,080 -19,198,838 35,196,045 -5,100 1,072 63,000 139,522,700 -172,820 -2,957,530 -7,200 -147,597 -1,304,868 717,760 -1,915,350 -16,600 -10,440 -26,714,356 -129,510

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

OPEN

USD DMPL A2 USD TECH B2

9.7 0.84

Trading Summary

9.7 0.84

SHARES

FINANCIAL

17,216,182

INDUSTRIAL

80,162,302

HOLDING FIRMS

102,659,414

PROPERTY

118,461,038

SERVICES

195,203,483

MINING & OIL

66,063,284

GRAND TOTAL

590,395,005

9.7 0.84

SME

9,703,000 231,200 674,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 86.6 17,630 9.7 0.84

DDS

910 5,600

-7,529,790 1,851,460 -8,430 -1,950,186 93,557 -8,261,965 6,250 -167,000 853,410 -27,729,910 -18,744 900 24,333,427.50 -10,500 -16,568,410 -356,010 -243,220 -5,340 -552,317 193,250 26,574,705 -130,943,975 220,840 -374,780 -99,000.00 -750 6,904,960

-

21,132,500 1,787,747 418,550

657,280 76,750 -

1,534,671.50

18,220

8,827 4,704

-

VALUE 1,188.67 (up) 18.80 812,725,876.99 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 7,474.93 (up) 9.54 941,499,364.18 HOLDING FIRMS 5,544.29 (up) 34.92 1,037,768,677.68 PROPERTY 2,921.92 (up) 34.19 1,373.82 (up) 24.82 2,063,897,166.285 SERVICES MINING & OIL 4,708.57 (up) 15.63 1,656,544,430.303 PSEI 5,700.71 (up) 56.74 41,768,043.94 All Shares Index 3,445.83 (up) 20.55 6,579,082,794.52 Gainers: 120; Losers: 71; Unchanged: 46; Total: 237

SEC clears 3-level circuit breaker to cap fluctuations

By Jenniffer B. Austria THE Philippine Stock Exchange obtained the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission to implement a three-level circuit breaker to protect investors and maintain order in the stock market during volatile trading conditions.

The PSE said in a statement the new circuit breaker rule is ready for implementation starting May 4 after successfully testing and completing the reconfigured trading platform.

The Level 1 circuit breaker will still be based on the original circuit breaker policy introduced in 2008, where a 15-minute market-wide halt is implemented when the Philippine Stock Exchange Index drops by 10 percent from the previous trading session’s level.

The Level 2 circuit breaker is tripped when the PSEi falls 15 percent from the previous trading day’s closing level, calling for a 30-minute trading halt.

The Level 3 circuit breaker will be triggered and trading will be halted for one hour if the PSEi plunges by 20 percent from the previous trading session’s closing level.

“The adjustments are emergency measures necessary to protect investors and maintain order in the market,” said SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino.

“These will enable the PSE to better manage extraordinary volatility arising from fears over the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

The PSE said the circuit breaker levels could only be triggered once per trading day. In case the higher level is breached first, the lower level circuit breaker will no longer be triggered on that trading day.

The circuit breaker will not be triggered if the trading halt comes less than five minutes prior to the pre-close, which is presently at 12:45 p.m. For instance, the trading will not be halted if the PSEi declines 10 percent less than 20 minutes before the pre-close.

“We have seen unprecedented market volatility in reaction to uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Our first step to address this volatility was to reduce the lower static threshold of securities from 50 percent to 30 percent. We followed this up with the addition of two circuit breaker levels to give the entire market a breather when these are triggered,” PSE president and chief executive Ramon Monzon said.

Aboitiz Equity registered P2-b net profit in Q1

By Alena Mae S. Flores ABOITIZ Equity Ventures Inc. registered a net income of P2 billion in the first quarter of 2020, down 42 percent from P3.5 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The company recognized non-recurring losses of P262 million during the period, compared with P334 million in non-recurring losses a year ago..

AEV attributed the losses to unrealized foreign exchange losses from the revaluation of dollar-denominated assets.

Without the one-off losses, the company’s core net income in the first quarter stood at P2.3 billion, down 41 percent year-on-year.

AEV recorded consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of P11.8 billion, down 5 percent.

“The strong showing of our banking and financial services and food units have helped shore up our operational performance, underscoring the resilience provided by a diversified portfolio. This same resilience will also help us face headwinds from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),” said Sabin Aboitiz, president and CEO of Aboitiz Equity.

The power business accounted for 55 percent of the total income contributions from AEV’s strategic business units, followed by banking and financial Services (46 percent), food (2 percent), infrastructure (1 percent) and real estate (-4 percent), respectively.

“We will continue to look for opportunities to keep the country’s economy moving as we carefully evaluate our business strategy,” Aboitiz said.

The income contribution of Aboitiz Power Corp. to AEV in the first quarter of 2020 decreased 43 percent year-onyear to P1.6 billion from P2.8 billion.

Net income for the quarter was P2.1 billion, 43 percent lower on year.

AboitizPower’s generation and retail supply business recorded an EBITDA of P7.4 billion in the first quarter of 2020, 13 percent lower than P8.6 billion in the corresponding period last year. The variance was primarily due to the EBITDA in the first quarter of 2019 that included other income. Excluding that, the company’s EBITDA would have been lower by only 3 percent.

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

A8

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020

Business

IN BRIEF

ADB extends another $200-m assistance

THE Philippines and the Asian Development Bank signed an agreement on a $200-million (P10-billion) loan as additional financing for the government’s efforts to provide unconditional emergency cash assistance to poor and vulnerable households that were adversely affected by the quarantine measures imposed to contain the pandemic.

It is the second additional financing provided by the ADB under the Social Protection Support Project which supports the government’s conditional cash transfer or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III signed the US$200-million loan agreement on behalf of the Philippine government, while ADB country director for the Philippines Kelly Bird signed it on behalf of the bank. Julito G. Rada

Holcim’s net income declined 28.7% in Q1

CEMENT producer Holcim Philippines Inc. said first-quarter net income declined 28.7 percent to P501.5 million from P703.6 million in the same period last year as the overall business performance was affected by the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon and Davao.

Holcim Philippines said in a disclosure to the stock exchange first-quarter sales dropped 10 percent to P7.3 billion from P8.1 billion in 2019 amid softer prices and lower volumes particularly towards the end of the quarter.

The government on March 16 imposed the Luzon-wide ECQ to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019. This halted building activities in Luzon and slowed down construction work in the rest of the country while localized quarantine measures also hampered the movement of goods and people. Jenniffer B. Austria

PH remains out of USTR black list

THE Philippines has managed to steer clear of the US Trade Representative’s watch list for seven straight years now.

The Special 301 Report identifies trading partners that do not adequately or effectively protect and enforce intellectual property rights and otherwise deny market access to US innovators and creators that rely on protection of their IP rights.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines celebrated the report as a continuing milestone for the Philippines.

“This really complements IPOPHL and NCIPR [National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights] continuing and heightening efforts vs piracy and counterfeiting. The European UNION observation release early this year had placed RP out of their watch list, another testament to the efforts of government and the private sector to respect IPRs.Kudos to us,” said IPOPHL deputy director-general Teodoro Pascua. Othel V. Campos

Security Bank bares two new directors

SECURITY Bank Corp. announced the election of two new directors representing strategic partner MUFG Bank Ltd. during its recent annual stockholders’ meeting.

SBC also bared the designation of a new vice chairman during the organizational meeting of the board of directors.

The stockholders of SBC elected MUFG nominees Hiroshi Masaki and Takeshi Takeuchi as directors to occupy the two seats held by the largest bank in Japan. The two newly elected directors will replace Takahiro Onishi and Masaaki Suzuki.

“We express our sincerest gratitude to Mr. Onishi for his four years of service as EVP and director. We also thank Mr. Suzuki for his valuable contributions as Director during the past year,” said Security Bank chairman Alberto Villarosa.

Megaworld’s net profit rose 18% to P17.9b last year

By Jenniffer B. Austria PROPERTY developer Megaworld Corp. said Thursday net income increased 18 percent in 2019 to P17.9 billion from P15.2 billion in 2018 on double-digit growth in leasing and residential revenues.

Megaworld said in a disclosure to the stock exchange consolidated revenues grew 17 percent last year to P67.3 billion from P57.4-billion in 2018. Rental business posted another record growth of 18 percent to P16.8 billion from P14.3 billion in 2018.

It said office leasing business primarily contributed to the record growth in rentals, as it increased 20.5 percent to P10.5 billion from P8.7 billion the previous year.

Megaworld completed around 192,300 square meters of new leasable office spaces in 2019, bringing the total office inventory to 1.3 million sq. m.

“Undoubtedly, our strongest rental business still comes from our leases of prime office spaces across the Philippines. This excludes the office spaces that we have already sold and are currently selling. The good news is that we still continue to see growth in the business process outsourcing and information technology sectors, which comprise majority of our office rentals to date,” said Megaworld chief strategy officer Kevin Tan. “Also, I would like to point out the growth in the demand for office spaces outside of Metro Manila, in which we are in the best position to provide to space seekers because of our adequate office inventory in the provinces including those that are still in our pipeline,” Tan said.

The property firm is continuously building more office towers, primarily to cater to the growing BPO sector in Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, Cebu, Cavite, Laguna and Pampanga.

TESTING MACHINES. San Miguel Corp. president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang (center), Health Undersecretary Dr. Myrna Cabotaje (right) and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine director Dr. Celia Carlos attend the simple turnover of SMC’s donation of COVID-19 testing machines at the SMC head office complex. SMC donated five sets of Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction COVID-19 testing machines and High-Throughput Automated RNA Extraction systems that can do 11,000 additional tests per day to boost the Department of Healths expanded testing initiative.

PH airlines ask Congress to enact financial support

By Darwin G. Amojelar

L

OCAL airlines asked Congress for financial support as the industry is running out of cash amid the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.

“The leaders of Congress and the chair of economic affairs and transportation committee initiated a stimuli bill for the economy. We have written in the past few weeks both the executive and legislative branch to request for financial support to the transport sector like the airline industry,” Air Carriers Association of the Philippines vice president and executive director Robert Lim said in a text message.

“We are just one sector that is pre-

senting its needs to a congressional initiative,” Lim said.

The House of Representatives earlier proposed a P370-billion economic stimulus package to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

Lim said the average monthly fixed cost of ACAP carriers reached P7 billion, and “without revenue means, that is the monthly losses.”

“On top of that, the running total of claims for ticket refund is around P5 billion. This is a major problem because airlines have no cash,” he said.

ACAP members include Philippines Airlines Inc., Air Philippines Corp., Cegbo Inc., Cebu Air Inc. and Philippines AirAsia Inc. ACAP earlier requested the government to provide a credit guarantee scheme, not cash that guarantees the banking sector’s loans and credit

lines, most of which are secured with collaterals, to remove its aversion to the poor credit risk of the airline industry under the current operating environment.

The group asked a long-term facility at attractive rates or a guaranty facility to enable airlines to restructure debt to a more manageable level and give them leverage to negotiate better terms from aircraft lessors, lenders and creditors to ensure a successful recovery plan.

The International Air Transport Association estimated that the COVID-19 pandemic could cost 548,300 jobs in the country and reduce airlines’ revenues by $4.48 billion this year.

It could also affect travel demand by as many as 28.85 million passengers from an earlier projection of 21.87 million passengers, according to IATA.

International reserves hit record high of $89b in March

By Julito G. Rada THE country’s gross international reserves increased by $810 million in March to hit an all-time high of $89 billion from $88.19 billion in February, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Thursday.

It said the month-on-month increase in the reserves level reflected inflows arising from foreign exchange operations, income from its investments abroad and the national government’s foreign currency deposits with the BSP. “These inflows were partly offset, however, by payments made by the national government for servicing its foreign currency debt obligations,” the BSP said.

“At this level, the GIR can cover 7.9 months’ worth of imports of goods and services and payments of primary income,” the BSP said.

“It is also equivalent to 5.3 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity.”

The GIR hit the record level despite the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 which was expected to reduce remittances flows from Filipinos working overseas. The World Bank predicted that global remittances could decline by more than 20 percent in 2020.

Data showed that on a year-onyear basis, the GIR climbed 6.4 percent from $83.613 billion recorded in March 2019.

The country’s foreign reserves have been rising over the past two years over narrowing trade deficit, as exports grew faster than imports.

Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between the GIR and total shortterm liabilities, also increased to $88.99 billion as of end-March 2020 from $88.18 billion in February.

Reserves ended 2019 at $87.84 billion and surpassed the $85 billion projected by the BSP for the year. The end-2019 reserves also surpassed the end-2018 reserves of $79.2 billion.

The BSP expects the GIR to settle at $86 billion by end-2020.

Oil price decline likely pulled down April inflation to as low as 1.9% INFLATION likely eased to as low as 1.9 percent in April from 2.5 percent in March following the decline in global crude prices, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said Thursday.

The BSP Department of Economic Research said inflation in April would likely settle within a range of 1.9 percent to 2.7 percent. The Philippine Statistics Authority will release the official figure next week.

“The progressive fall in inflation will continue. The collapse in oil prices is expected to moderate inflationary pressure

coming from higher prices of rice and other food items along with upward adjustments in electricity rates in Meralcoserviced areas,” Diokno said.

Diokno said the BSP would remain watchful of economic and financial developments here and abroad to ensure that monetary policy settings remain consistent with price stability conducive to a balanced and sustainable economic growth.

The government revised downward the 2020 inflation forecast to a range of 1.75 percent to 3.75 percent from the previous estimate of 2 percent to

4 percent, taking into account the latest global developments including the declining oil prices.

The new forecast was approved by the Monetary Board on March 26 and the interagency Development Budget Coordinating Committee on March 27 through an ad referendum.

“That was the revised forecast by the government, down from the original forecast of 2 to 4 percent. Inflation target range is subject to quarterly review by the DBCC. The inputs come from the BSP but the final decision is made by the members of the DBCC,”

Diokno said.

The BSP forecasts monthly inflation based on a host of international variables such as oil prices, commodity prices, and foreign exchange.

Domestic variables, on the other hand, include the price of rice, transport fees, utility rates and minimum wages.

Inflation in the first quarter averaged 2.7 percent, below the midpoint of the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.

Inflation averaged 2.5 percent in 2019, slower than 5.2 percent in 2018.

Julito G. Rada

Metrobank recorded P6.1-b income on 13% rise in first-quarter revenue METROPOLITAN Bank & Trust Company, the country’s second-largest lender, said Thursday it posted P6.1 billion in net income in the first quarter on the back of a 13-percent gross revenue growth.

The bank said first-quarter revenue was driven by 6-percent increase in loans, 8-percent growth in deposits and P6.2-billion in non-interest income.

It said recognizing the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it proactively doubled provisions to P5 billion, which tempered the first-quarter quarter’s net income to P6.12, compared to P6.75 billion in the same period last year.

“Our underlying business is strong. We started the year with healthy growth in loans, deposits and other revenue streams,” said Metrobank president Fabian Dee. “However, current conditions point to an expected slowdown in the business environment and challenges ahead.

Mindful of the potential impact of this pandemic, we decided to take the prudent approach of increasing provisions to cover anticipated risks,” Dee said.

“We have weathered periods of crisis in the past and we are confident that we are well prepared, as the bank has one

of the strongest capital positions in the industry. We will continue to adjust our processes to ensure the sustained delivery of meaningful banking services; and implement the necessary measures to keep both our customers and our people safe,” he said.

Metrobank said that for the quarter ending March, the bank recorded an 8-percent increase in total deposits to P1.7 trillion. This was achieved with the 18-percent growth in CASA deposits, resulting in an improved CASA ratio of 66 percent from 61 percent last year.

Metrobank continued to support customers’ business requirements across all segments from corporates, middle market, SMEs and retail. This was reflected in the 6-percent growth in net loans and receivables to P1.4 trillion.

Meanwhile, non-interest income reached P6.2 billion, driven by the 7-percent growth in service fees and commissions to P3.3 billion and net trading and FX gains of P1.4 billion.

Gross operating revenues for the period rose 13 percent to P27.6 billion, while operating cost grew 8 percent to P14.5 billion. As a result, cost-to-income ratio improved to 53 percent from 56 percent in the same period last year.

SM’S DONATION. SM Supermalls president Steven Tan (left) turns over locally developed and produced test kits to Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto to help strengthen the city’s mitigation efforts against coronavirus disease 2019. SM through SM Foundation donated almost P3 million worth of Manila HealthTek GenAmplify test kits good for 2,000 tests to the local government of Pasig City.

Sports

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

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020

B1

Cowboy didn’t show up for McGregor fight

By Reuel Vidal

Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone (right) covers up against Conor McGregor during their UFC 246 fight held January 18, 2020 won by McGregor through a knockout in the first round. Cerrone fights Anthony Pettis at UFC 249 on May 9. AFP

Season 96 of NCAA may start November

Fauci says US sports leagues need to protect players, fans NEW YORK, United States—Top US health and infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci has raised the prospect of US professional sports leagues cancelling their seasons if the safety of players and fans cannot be guaranteed.

In an interview with the New York Times, Fauci said the key to ending the coronavirus sports lockdown would be widespread testing across North America that delivers speedy results.

Sport in North America ground to Anthony Fauci a standstill in March as the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the continent, with every major professional league either suspending or delaying their respective seasons.

Severals leagues are now studying ways that could allow for a return to competition, with basketball and baseball mulling plans which include sequestering teams in locked down locations and playing games in empty arenas.

Fauci however believes that leagues may need to confront the option of cancelling a season if safety cannot be guaranteed.

“Safety, for the players and for the fans, trumps everything,” Fauci told the Times.

“If you can’t guarantee safety, then unfortunately you’re going to have to bite the bullet and say, ‘We may have to go without this sport for this season.’”

While President Donald Trump has spoken enthusiastically of sports returning “sooner rather than later”, state officials have been more circumspect.

On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom said live sports with fans in attendance would only take place once stay-at-home orders had been lifted.

Fear of resurgence In his interview with the Times, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there was a risk of a Covid-19 resurgence if restrictions were lifted too soon.

“If we let our desire to prematurely get back to normal, we can only get ourselves right back in the same hole we were in a few weeks ago,” Fauci said. AFP

By Peter Atencio

T

HE opening games of the 96th season of the National Collegiate Athletic Association will most likely be pushed back to November.

Incoming host Colegio de San de Letran is considering this following advisories given by the Philippine government in the ongoing effort to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Outgoing season 95 management committee chairman Peter Cayco of Arellano University said a decision will be reached as early as next week.

“We have to consider a lot,” said Cayco.

The Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases gave an advisory on prohibited activities

even beyond the Enhanced Community Quarantine.

The body has recommended that all sports activities be cancelled until December of this year.

The quarantine period in Metro Manila has been extended up to May 15 in Metro Manila.

The first semester of every season of the NCAA usually begins in July, and goes on until November.

The second semester follows in January.

This school year, Letran will be the

host of Season 96, and it will be in line with the school’s celebration its 400th year anniversary in 2021.

“Sana within the week, maayos na yan,” said Letran athletic director Fr. Vic Calvo, OP. Season 95 ended with no overall champion being declared. This is the first time that this happened in the league since the ‘80s.

Fourteen of 26 disciplines had to be cancelled after the quarantine measures went in effect last March.

The cancelled events included men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s lawn tennis, men’s and women’s soft tennis, men’s and women’s beach volley, men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s football, and women’s badminton.

Abuyador gives relief goods to frontliners WITH the sports world at a standstill due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Southwestern University PHINMA (SWU) Baby Cobras head coach Jerry Abuyabor decided to do his part to help the medical and military frontliners and vulnerable communities in the southern part of Cebu.

“Medyo nakakapanibago ang time na ito kasi dapat nasa ensayo ako with the team, then suddenly may pandemic,” said Abuyabor, who has steered the Baby Co-

bras to the 2020 Chooks-to-Go NBTC National Finals.

“We never imagined na ganito kalaki effect sa ating bansa at sa basketball world. Usually this time, we are traveling to Visayas or Mindanao for games, basketball clinics and team practice.”

With the juniors basketball nationals postponed indefinitely and the team barred from practicing due to the enhanced community quarantine in Cebu, Abuyabor,

Jerry Abuyabor gives away relief goods to help COVID-19 frontliners. The funds come from his Chooks-to-Go business.

the SBP’s Regional Director in Region 8, chose to remain active, becoming a reseller for Chooks-to-Go. The revenue he earns though does not go to his own pocket. Abuyabor is funneling the earnings to purchase goods for his relief operations for the frontliners.

“We saw the demand ng manok dito sa amin. Rather than nasa bahay lang walang ensayo, I decided to try a new venture. Limited ang lakad ng tao so naisip ko na bakit hindi ko na lang dalhin sa mga barangay market yung Chooksto-Go at magbenta dun,” said Abuyabor, who availed of the Chooks-on-the-Go rolling store service.

“I’m using the income I earn here to provide meals and some relief goods which include disinfectants, soaps, and alcohols to the police, barangay personnel, and medical staff here.”

Besides this, he and his staff have been going around Naga City and Toledo City to distribute relief packs that have canned goods, diapers, and infant milk inside to families, especially those who are widows and single mothers.

Abuyabor and his staff will continue to do this until everything gets back to normal.

“I’m doing this because I think it’s the least that I can do to help our country during this pandemic,” the youthful tactician expressed.

“COVID-19 has taught us to sacrifice and help beyond measure.”

DONALD “Cowboy” Cerrone confessed that he just wasn’t in the right frame of mind when he fought Conor McGregor at UFC 246 last January.

“Donald showed up. Cowboy wasn’t there. Wrong guy showed up. Couldn’t get going. Couldn’t get excited.

Couldn’t get fired up. Didn’t want to be there. Biggest fight. All the attention. My time to shine. It was crazy man. And I don’t why,” said Cerrone in a recent ESPN interview.

A lethargic Cerrone was knocked out by McGregor in just 40 seconds of the first round.

Cerrone clinched McGregor early but his nose was bloodied by McGregor’s shoulder strikes. The two separated allowing McGregor to unleash strikes which ended the match.

“You know, I haven’t really talked to anybody about that fight. Going in I hit his hip bone and that started the whole… And then I grabbed a hold of him just to get my bearings back. Then he did the jumping shoulder slam. It compounded the fog in my brain. And then he let go the head kick,” said Cerrone recalling the sequence of events which led to the knockout.

No one expected such a quick and dramatic end to the fight prompting ugly talks that Cerrone threw the fight which he denied.

“A lot of people said I threw the fight. I thought, man you got the wrong guy. There isn’t enough money in the world for me to throw the fight.

Are you kidding me? Please,” said Cerrone.

“That’s just so funny. Guys are so stupid. For one, the infrastructure in the UFC would have to be so corrupt for them to pay me. You know. It’s asinine to even think that. But there are people who truly believe that the world is flat. There’s just dumb people out there. I don’t know. I tell you man.

People are crazy.”

Sports without physical contact will be allowed after ECQ

By Randy Caluag SPORTS that require no physical contacts may be allowed to be played after the lifting of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Covid-19 is studying which sports activities will be given exemptions when the government social distancing measure enters a less strict phase, which is the General Community Quarantine (GCQ).

“May mga sports naman na naoobserve ang social distancing, pinagaaralan naman yan ng IATF,” said Año in an interview over radio station DZMM yesterday, April 30.

Among the sports mentioned were racquet sports like tennis and badminton and golf.

“May mga members din ng IATF na naglalaro ng golf, so alam din nila yan,” added Año.

Practitioners of other non-contact sports like cycling and running are also hoping to get exemptions. “Keep praying, we’re one step closer,” said triathlon coach Ringo Borlain in his social media post.

Some essential industries will be given permission to open areas that are now under GCQ but mass-gathering like sports and fitness activities like training, games and tournaments will remain banned until further notice.

Cuban wants fan-less NBA to resume activities NEW YORK, United States— Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wants to see the NBA season resume even without spectators, but only with precautions against the coronavirus are in place to safeguard “players and important personnel”.

Cuban, who spoke on CNN, says there is no timetable for the league to return after going on hiatus March 12 when Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus.

NBA clubs reportedly will open team facilities for individual workouts starting Friday in states and cities where government leaders

have eased stay-at-home rules to allow for such moves. By the start of May, that could be an option for up to 10 NBA franchises, based on announced plans.

Some players from franchises in states where the lockdown remains in force had asked team officials about the possibility of going to Georgia, one of the first states to announce a relaxation, and working out in gyms there, a move team general managers did not favor.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver says it will be May before the league moves forward with any plan regarding a possible restart to the

campaign, which ended with about a month remaining in the regular season ahead of the scheduled twomonth playoff run.

“The minute it’s safe, we want to try to get back and get the guys practicing and getting ready for games—but we’re not there yet,” Cuban said.

“There will be protocols we can have confidence in. We’re not going to do anything until it’s absolutely, positively safe.”

Among the ideas for finishing the season has been the notion of gathering teams in one city and playing games in an empty

arena while sequestering players, perhaps for months, away from families to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

“If we can play with no fans, I’m certainly going to push for it and I think the league will do it. I think we have a moral obligation to do it,” Cuban said.

“We’re dying for content. We’re dying for teams to root for. We’re dying to get excited about games, just ready to go and cheer as a community.

“If we’re able to pull it off without fans we’re certainly going to do it.” AFP

The practice facility of the Boston Celtics is seen during the COVID-19 pandemic on April 28, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. The NBA recently announced the possible reopening of team practice facilities as early as May 1. AFP

Nickie Wang, Issue Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com

B2

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020

Entertainment EXTRA INTERNATIONAL

Michelle Obama book tour documentary hits Netflix MICHELLE Obama will star in a new documentary out next week which follows the former first lady’s global book tour for her smash-hit memoir, Netflix said Monday.

Becoming, out May 6, is the Obamas’ latest collaboration with the streaming giant after last year’s American Factory, which won the best documentary Oscar in February.

The movie “shares the stories of the amazing people I met after the release of my memoir,” tweeted Obama following the surprise announcement Monday.

The book of the same name by Obama— America’s first African American first lady and wife of the first black US president— became a publishing sensation upon its

release in 2018, selling more than two million copies in North America in two weeks.

Obama toured 34 cities over several months to promote the book accompanied by cinematographer Nadia Hallgren, who makes her feature directorial debut with the “rare and up-close” documentary.

AFP

MOVIES that skip the big screen will be allowed to contend for Oscars this year, the Academy said Tuesday in a significant rule change forced by the coronavirus pandemic.

Traditionally the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requires at least

a seven-day run in Los Angeles theaters for movies to be eligible for Hollywood’s biggest prize.

But picture houses in America’s second city have been closed since mid-March, with no date set for them to reopen.

“Until further notice, and for the 93rd Awards year only, films that had a previously planned theatrical release but are initially made available on a commercial

streaming... platform may qualify,” the Academy said in a statement.

Debate has raged in recent years over Oscar contenders produced by streaming giants such as Netflix, including last year’s The Irishman and 2018’s Roma.

Until now, the films have been shown at theaters for brief windows before moving online, in order to remain eligible. AFP

I

Oscars suspend movie theater rule due to COVID-19

Former US first lady Michelle Obama's memoirs became a publishing sensation, selling more than two million copies in North America in two weeks.

Traditionally the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requires at least a seven-day run in Los Angeles theaters for movies to be eligible for Hollywood’s biggest prize, the Oscars.

Newest online destination for comedy and laughter UP FOR a good laugh? Or simply browsing for a fun time? Beginning today, GMA Entertainment Group spreads the cheer online with YoüLOL, a comedy channel on YouTube featuring premium offerings and rib-tickling highlights from all the best Kapuso shows.

Subscribe to watch the most hilarious Filipino comedians, hip, and trendy original videos, together with specially curated funny content from individuals on the web.

For its launch, netizens can look forward to a fun weekend of live chats with the cast of Bubble Gang today and Pepito Manaloto tomorrow.

Subscribers will have the chance to interact, greet, and have their favorite Kapuso artists give them a special shout out online.

One of YoüLOL’s segments is “Brgy.

Bubble,” where channel subscribers can comment their challenge requests for the Bubble Gang cast to take on.

YoüLOL will also feature multi-awarded comedian and content creator Michael V.’s hit parody music videos, along with funny gags, comical sketches, and various games that netizens can participate in, and more videos that will make viewers laugh out loud.

Get the latest updates via YoüLOL’s official social media accounts: www. facebook.com/YouLOLGMA, www.

'YoüLOL' features multi-awarded cometwitter.com/YouLOLGMA, and www. dian and content creator Michael V.’s hit parody music videos. instagram.com/YouLOLGMA.

The cast of the hit Netflix series ‘Itaewon Class’ led by Park Seo Joon and Kim Da Mi.

I

N THIS time of lockdown and social distancing—with billions of people now confined in their homes (we don’t know for how long), everyone with access to the internet turns to their mobile devices to be entertained and perhaps to kill time—Netflix’s massive catalogue is entertaining the world.

VERY WANG NICKIE WANG

The streaming giant Netflix subscrib- Hi Bye, Mama! on Netflix.

K-Dramas that you can watch on ers since the coronavirus ground every Netlflix—Goblin and Descendants of Kingdom major city to a halt.

Horror fans are going to love this the Sun—this K-drama promises to stir While there’s no number available for series. Joseon-era Korea is the backdrop your heart and bring you to an all-new the Philippines, it’s noticeable that there for a story involving political intrigue and level of a romantic fantasy world. has been a sharp increase of K-Dramas a whole lot of zombies, as a prince must Crash Landing On You being streamed on the platform.

Everyone’s talking about it. You’ve fight back against a mysterious disease We rummage through the popular that turns people undead. The worst part seen all the memes. If you haven’t streaming site and listed down some is that the zombie outbreak may be an checked out this hit show yet, now is the Korean shows, which we can share with enemy’s doing. The unmissable nature of time to do just that. As the title implies, Erik Matti who described them as “faux Kingdom Season 2 will get you hooked a rich South Korean CEO accidentally cinderella stories with Belo-fied actors.” for great thrilling action. ends up across the border in North Korea, Itaewon Class and she must rely on a North Korean The King: Eternal Monarch This ongoing inspiring K-drama is This drama tells the fantasy romance soldier’s help to try and get back home. about a young man who overcomes his situated in two parallel universes Of course, it isn’t that easy—and for sure, personal obstacles to succeed after getting between an emperor from a constitutional a relationship blossoms along the way. expelled from school and suffering some monarchy who seek to “seal the gateway This kilig-inducing show also gives serious tragedy. He opens his own bar between dimensions,” and a present-day us a fascinating view of Switzerland from and restaurant to be more like his father, Korean police detective who wants to start until end. Now that it’s all over, striving to make it big despite having protect people’s lives. From the same you can binge-watch the entire story on enemies in the city. It’s a heart-tugging scriptwriter who penned the famous Netflix and see why everyone’s fallen in and relatable K-drama that tackles love with it. real-life lessons on hard work, Enjoy seamless and lag-free friendship, family, and pursuing streaming with the Philippines’ one’s dreams. fastest fixed internet service, PLDT Hi Bye, Mama!

Home Fibr, as certified by Ookla This heartwarming and innocent and OpenSignal. You can also ghost story marks the comeback conveniently charge your Netflix of popular South Korean actress subscription straight to your PLDT Kim Tae-hee, beloved as one Home bill. Just register or log in of the country’s most beautiful through your PLDT myHome ID women, after five years. She plays and choose the right Netflix plan for a wife and mother who lives on you. as a ghost after dying in a tragic With your PLDT Home Fibr accident—and she is faced with connection at home, you can enjoy the opportunity to be reincarnated up to double the speed of your if she returns home in 49 days. You Korean superstar Lee Min-ho returns to K-Drama front current subscription. Visit www. can now watch the full season of opposite Kim Go-eun in ‘The King: Eternal Monarch.’ pldthome.com to find out more.

OPM icons lead benefit show HITMAKERS Gary Valenciano, Dingdong Avanzado, Gino Padilla, Kuh Ledesma, and Martin Nievera will render uplifting performances for the second leg of Metro Safe & Sound: The Unplugged Music Video Series streaming today.

The program seeks to bring joy, give hope, and save lives through exclusive musical numbers from some of the country’s most inspiring singers, arranged to help raise funds for ABS-CBN’s “Pantawid ng Pag-ibig” campaign.

Its first leg was held last Holy Week, featuring a series of special numbers from US-based Filipina singer Carol Banawa, soprano Katrina Saga, Jamie

Rivera, as well as from premier vocal groups 92AD and UST Singers.

This time, viewers will enjoy backto-back musical performances from ‘80s OPM icons who will all deliver their timeless and inspirational hits.

The Metro Safe & Sound’s proceeds will go to the “Pantawid Ng Pag-ibig” campaign and will be used to purchase foods and other basic necessities. These items will then be handed over to various LGUs for distribution to families greatly affected by the enhanced community quarantine.

Catch the latest in Metro Safe & Sound at 4:00 p.m. on Metro.Style’s YouTube Channel and on Metro Channel.

OPM icons Gary Valenciano, Dingdong Avanzado, Gino Padilla, Kuh Ledesma, and Martin Nievera.

Life

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020

B3

Bernadette Lunas, Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com

Tips on surviving quarantine

from a person who travels for a living

By Steph Llarena

regular sleeping pattern. I get to bed before 9:00 p.m. and read for about an hour before dozing off. Waking up well-rested and without an alarm each day has been wonderful.”

B

EING holed up at home for a long period of time can negatively affect a person’s physical and mental health, according to experts.

Psychology professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD revealed “There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators.”

Another psychologist, Louise Hawkley, PhD, said social isolation could lead to depression, poor sleep quality, impaired executive function, impaired immunity, and more.

Like most Filipinos right now, Emirates airline purser (chief flight attendant) Maureen Bateson is currently

Learn new things, organize old things

UAE-based Filipina purser Maureen Bateson has been working as an air crew member for years.

In addition to exercising and getting adequate rest, Bateson said self-quarantine is a great time to work on one’s personal development, which includes learning new skills. “For example, I have started with LinkedIn Learning to develop my Excel skill along with refreshing my leadership training,” she shared.

While we learn new skills, Bateson said this time given to many can also be used to arrange what we currently have, material-wise. She said one way to help keep the mind at ease during home quarantine is by decluttering and organizing.

“I have been emptying out my cupboards and drawers, and have put aside items for donation to charity and repacked my clothes in a more logical manner.”

Stay connected Distancing does not have to mean total isolation. “I have been in constant touch with family and friends regularly, letting them know how my husband and I are getting on and making sure they are doing well. I have also been asking my mum for the recipes for my favorite dishes from back home.”

Bateson added, “I have also used this time to reach out to old friends I haven’t heard from in a while. It has been great catching up and finding out what they have been up to.”

Enjoy the simple things

Staying at home for Bateson means more time to rest, read, and bond with her cats—small things for which she's grateful.

As an owner of cats, Bateson said even simple things like spending time with pets can make one’s self-isolation more bearable.

“Our cats love to sunbathe on the window ledge which is an ideal opportunity to give them a big scratch and hug. They will put up with this for a few minutes then run off and hide. I think they are looking forward to me going back to flying so they can have the house to themselves again.”

Most importantly, Bateson said that self-quarantine has allowed her to see all the things that she should be thankful for, and everyone should do the same. “Every morning I remind myself of all the things I am grateful for, a new day to share with my family, friends, and cats; my health, food on the table, and a roof over my head; a career I love, and the UAE for protecting its citizens and residents in

staying at home to help contain the spread of coronavirus.

A native of Quezon City, Bateson dreamed of joining the commercial airline industry when she was young.

She then pursued her dream and began her career as cabin crew member for Philippine Airlines, and then for Saudi Arabian Airlines, before joining Emirates in 2002, where she recently celebrated 18 years of service, and counting.

As someone who goes places for a living, Bateson has learned how to keep her well-being in check—both physically and mentally—while in quarantine at home.

outside the classroom

A TRUE model of compassion and service, these six educators, just a few of the unsung many, continue to support those in need and lend a helping hand even outside the four walls of classroom.

Normita Nugoy Liwag While in quarantine period, Liwag decided to help the people in her community in Barangay San Vicent in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija in her own little way. She served pancit and pandesal to their community frontline workers, including barangay police officers, security guards, and soldiers. She also distributed snacks to the families residing along the railroad of Ma'am Normita hands out food to neighbors.

Bagong Sikat in Gapan City.

Ma’am Normita is an Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) instructor who has been helping prisoners, physically disabled, female prostitutes, rebel returnees, prisoners, and out-of-school youths so they can rise above their circumstances.

Ronaldo Comploma Reyes Together with Science teacher volunteers, Reyes conducted COVID-19 information drive in Barangays San Antonio, Bangkilingan, and Bacolod in Tabaco City, Albay, as part of his Sci-Connect or Science in the Community program.

The program aims to help communities find practical applications of Sir Ron teaches community members science in their daily lives. about COVID-19.

Sir Ron also makes personal donations to the LGU through the Tabaco City COVID-19 Command Center for its quarantined Tabaqueños.

Darwin Tababa Tadifa Together with other ALS teachers, Tadifa led the distribution of food packs to the frontliners of Tubungan, Iloilo. It benefited 88 barangay officials, barangay tanods, Rural Health Unit personnel, Philippine National Police officers, Tubungan responders, and barangay health workers.

Teacher Darwin with other volunteers.

He has been using his creativity to serve poor communities whose members would rather work to earn a living than to study. Through his passion for teaching and community service, he was able to encourage them to go back to school.

Ma'am Elsie and her son with the relief goods they're distributing.

Elsie Caballero Padernal

Similarly, Padernal and her son have been sharing their blessings with others who have been severely affected by the lockdown. She packed and distributed relief goods composed of rice, milk, coffee, biscuits, noodles, and laundry soaps, among others.

A public school teacher, Ma’am Elsie has been devoting her life to teaching both the school-prescribed curriculum and the rich culture of her tribe, the Panay-Bukidnon Tribe of Calinog, Iloilo.

Nelfa Quinto Cepillo Cepillo is both an ALS teacher and Army Reservist. She volunteered as one of the frontliners to help stop the spread of COVID-19 in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro. Manning checkpoints, she said she was aware of the threat of the disease, not to mention the added burden of leaving her family behind.

Ms. Cepillo manning a checkpoint But serving the public is not new in Puerto Galera. to her. She has been trekking the mountains of Oriental Mindoro to reach students, toiling to make learning accessible to Mangyans.

Stay active and get adequate sleep “As my husband is working from home, we start out exercise after 3:30 p.m. My husband and I believe that a healthy body equals a healthy mind,” shared Bateson.

Once her husband has finished work for the day, the two will bond over some exercise. “We have been enjoying the Les Mills Body Jam classes online. This is not only an opportunity to work out, but also let my hair down and have fun.”

“We have also started a daily yoga practice, something we fell out of a few years ago,” she related. “We are following a 30-day online course which has been a great reintroduction into the practice. Each day builds the intensity and it means we have been able to stay constant without suffering from the day before.”

Aside from an opportunity to stay active, Bateson said, “One of the best things about this time is having a

6

teachers show compassion

Dr. Bernadeth Bernalte Gabor Under Dr. Gabor’s leadership, the Extension Services of the Bataan Peninsula State University (BPSU) has fed hundreds of frontliners in different hospitals, checkpoints, and other essential establishments like the BPSU campuses, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Services Office, and more.

Under Project Aruga, Dr. Gabor’s team has also distributed personal protective equipment to medical frontliners Dr. Gabor (left) turns over PPE to frontliners at Bataan General Hospital. in Bataan hospitals. She also makes improvised face masks for frontliners.

Dr. Gabor is a college teacher who has been giving hope to a special set of learners. She first volunteered as an instructor at the Bataan District Jail. Then, she helped establish certification courses to give these learners a new lease in life.

To keep mind and body healthy, Bateson suggests working out at home, with someone if possible. She and her husband enrolled in a 30-day online yoga course.

This inspiring set of educators were all honorees of the annual recognition program “The Many Faces of the Teacher” by Bato Balani Foundation and Diwa Learning Systems Inc.

Life

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

B4

YOUNG LIFE

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020

A tribute to heroes

UST Singers alumni pitch gratitude to frontliners

By Honor Blanco Cabie

T

HE alumni of the worldrenowned UST Singers from the Philippines, named “Choir of the World Champion of Champions” in 2019, have again left echoes of their lilting music in a video that has since gone viral worldwide.

Launched at noon on April 24, Philippine time, the special video project titled #HeartHealHope, which took off from the song “Isang Dugo, Isang Lahi, Isang Musika,” was aimed as an inspirational tribute to frontliners east and west of the International Date Line during the coronavirus pandemic.

At launch date, there had been 866,646 cases recorded worldwide, up 26,971 from the previous day, and 49,759 dead—and the numbers are still rising, no sign as yet the curve would be flattened before long.

On that day, the Philippines, on Enhanced Community Quarantine—this has since been extended in some areas to May 15—had recorded 7,192 cases; 762 recoveries; and 477 deaths.

Of the 95 alumni who participated in the virtual concert, two are based in Canada, 23 in different states of the United States, and eight in the Philippines—all frontliners—with Professor Fidel Calalang Jr., who founded the mixed choral ensemble in 1992, on the piano.

Of the 95 alumni, 32 are sopranos, 23 altos, 19 tenors, and 21 basses.

The project, the first of its kind, materialized through the collaborative efforts of the UST Singers alumni worldwide, with the support and guidance of Calalang.

Calalang, who heads the Composition, Conducting and Music Technology departments of the University of Santo Tomas, has led the Singers to at least 80 top prizes in different choral competitions at home and overseas.

Calalang said the special project took its few bars when a USTS physician alumna expressed exhaustion from being a COVID-19 frontline worker, yearning for the comfort of music in such difficult times.

The UST Singers, in the posted video which has since gone viral, said the voices were individually recorded “using

WE SING AS ONE. United by music, 95 UST Singers alumni—including medical frontliners based in the United States, Canada, and the Philippines—come together in a virtual concert titled #HeartHealHope, featuring the song 'Isang Dugo, Isang Lahi, Isang Musika,' in tribute to those manning the front lines in the fight against coronavirus.

smartphones and tablets, each track was blended together with the help of today’s modern-day sound technology.”

The USTS added in its post: “It (the project) pays tribute to the true heroes on the front lines who selflessly put their lives at risk as humanity battles the novel disease and aims to provide a message of hope to those who silently bear the weight of loneliness and lock solitude in the midst of a lockdown.”

Music and lyrics of the song were done by pro Dodjie Simon, prolific OPM songwriter and former president or of KATHA, an organization of Filipino composers. arrange The choral arrangement was done by Dr. Joel Navarro, a FilipinoAmerican conductor and UST professor Fidel Calalang, Jr. encourages FIlipinos to do their share for our nation.

music director, a choral clinician, and music minister.

Accompaniment track arrangement and sound engineering were by Paulo Zarate; video editing by Pete Avendano and Vincent Evangelista; project management and coordination by Nice Lim-Trinidad and Viola Villena; marketing and communications by Marz Encarnacion and Jasper Allan Mirasol; storyboard concept by Jasper Allan Mirasol; copy development by Viola Villena and Dr. Lynnette Kristin Mendez-Velasquez.

Translation into English for subtitling—intended for those outside the Philippines to immediately convey the message of hope and peace—from the original Filipino lyrics was done by Dr. Hermione Cabie-Santos.

Appropriate permissions were secured from the owners of the original materials and no copyright infringement is intended, with the video produced “for inspirational purposes only,” according to the USTS. In his introduction before the song, in four/four time signature, the amiable Calalang urged fellow Filipinos in this country of 108 million people “to do their share of cure and give hope and opportunity for our nation to rise again.”

“This is not the time for self-centeredness,” he said.

He thanked everyone—from the frontliners “who are of genuine love and sacrifices,” the leaders, the communities, to Filipino families, and “most of all God, for giving us the truest essence of hope, love, generosity, mercy, and kindness.”

Recalling how the project got into full scale, Calalang attributed this to “the power of music; I guess it all started there and the rest is magical. God led us anew to a true blessing.” He said the support of the alumni singers across the continents was positive and reached crescendo before long.

Not hobbled by the different time zones and work schedules, this group of artists, professionals, and healthcare frontliners collaborated and chose a song, among many Filipino compositions, which embodied a grateful, unified nation despite the challenges of a society and economy under crisis.

Calalang said, “The spirit of driven unity that stemmed from Amor y Amistad is relived. This time, the music is not only for ourselves but for a more noble cause. A panacea for wounded bodies, agonized hearts, and broken spirits.”

He was referring to the celebration of excellent years of music, fostered

WOW!

Fil-Am student accepted at all 8 Ivy League schools Fil-Am student Craig McFarland has yet to choose which among the 8 Ivy League schools he will attend.

(Photo from Facebook)

FLORIDA-based Filipino-American high school student Craig McFarland has been accepted at all eight Ivy League schools. He’s still choosing which university he’ll attend.

McFarland, who has a 4.98 grade point average and the valedictorian of his class at Stanton College Preparatory School, first heard from Yale, then from Harvard University, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Dartmouth College, and Cornell University.

In an interview with The New York Times, the 18-year-old shared, “I was just yelling in shock when I heard the Yale acceptance video.” And with each school, he told First Coast News, “I was more and more in shock.”

However, due to coronavirus, he hasn’t been able to finish campus visits yet.

“The only metric that I have is based on experiences of current students and their virtual campus tours,” McFarland plans to study medicine or law.

His Filipino immigrant mother, Donabel Santiago is expectedly proud of his son, who never got a B on his high school report card.

McFarland 'yelled in shock' when he heard the Yale acceptance video.

(From Duval County Public Schools)

by love and music in Amor y Amistad, which recently featured Calalang, twice winner of the Luciano Pavaroti Choir of the World Trophy (1995 and 2010).

At the same time, he was pointing to the unprecedented number of deaths and rising incidence of WHO-confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines and around the world.

In mid-April, one month after the start of the lockdown in Luzon, USTS alumni recorded vocal tracks individually and separately with mobile phones, to create this unique symphony of hope.

The video project was successfully launched on social media on April 24.

To date, local and international communities have celebrated the virtual message, with over 12,000 combined shares and likes and nearly 600 comments from responders on Facebook, including online acknowledgement from nonprofit organizations and agencies.

One who watched the video clip from the Philippines commented: “In their song, the members, through their blended voices, raise the message of peace and unity as the world, through the frontliners in the tough, if unrelenting, battle against the unseen enemy… rises to this medical and health challenge against humanity.”

Play the song da capo al fine.