Manila Standard - 2020 September 5 - Saturday

Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circulation@manilastandard.net

Recall order on Pemberton sought DOJ wants SolGen to join petition vs. court ruling on good conduct

By Rey E. Requejo

T

HE Department of Justice on Friday vowed to file its own motion next week asking an Olongapo City court to recall its order for the early release of US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was convicted in 2015 of homicide for killing a 26-year-old transgender woman.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said he hoped the Office of the Solicitor General would join the DOJ in its motion.

The Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74 earlier ordered the release of Pemberton, just over five years

into his service of a prison term of six to10 years.

The court said Pemberton had accumulated good conduct time allowances (GCTA) on top of his actual time served.

Next page

VOL. XXXIV • NO. 183 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PATANAW. A large crowd gathers at the Plaza Miranda to celebrate the first Friday mass outside the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila.

The church has set up a tent for devotees to see the holy image of the Black Nazarene (“Patanaw”) since “Pahalik” is still prohibited amid the COVID-19 pandemic but anti-virus protocols like ‘social distancing’ appears to have been cast aside in the process.

Norman Cruz

COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE

Filipino dies in oil tanker fire; only 2 survive cattle ship sinking A PANAMANIAN-REGISTERED oil tanker burned out of control for a second day off Sri Lanka on Friday as authorities confirmed a Filipino crew member was killed in an explosion and fears grew of a major new oil spill in the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lankan navy and Indian coast guard vessels fired water cannons at the blaze on the New Diamond, which issued a distress call Thursday after its engine room exploded.

A Sri Lankan helicopter was dropping water from the air on the blaze at the rear of the vessel.

The fire had not spread to the 270,000 tons of crude and 1,700 tons of diesel the tanker is carrying, Sri Lanka’s navy said.

“Preliminary information from the

(AS OF 4 PM SEPTEMBER 4)

232,072 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

3,714 67,786 NEW

ACTIVE

3,737

49

DEATHS

NEW

160,549 1,088 RECOVERIES

NEW

FIRE IN THE HULL! This handout photo taken on September 4, 2020 shows an Indian coast guard ship (R) battling to extinguish the fire from the Panamanian-registered oil tanker New Diamond, some 60 km off Sri Lanka’s eastern coast. A Filipino crew died in the fire and fears grew of major oil spill in the area. AFP

DOJ: PhilHealth probe winds up Slain mayor’s brod found

By Rey E. Requejo, Willie Casas and Macon Ramos-Araneta

JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday said the Task Force PhilHealth mandated to investigate graft and corruption at the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. will wrap up its investigation into the agency’s multi-billion-peso fund mess.

“We’ll wind up our hearings next week, thereafter analyze and consolidate all the information and evidence that we have gathered and proceed to prepare our report with recommendations to the President,” Guevarra said, in a text message to reporters.

He said the Department of Justice Next page

Next page

dead in Ozamiz police cell

FORMER Ozamiz City councilor Ricardo “Ardot” Parojinog—brother of slain city mayor Reynaldo Sr. who was among the politicians linked to the illegal drug trade by President Rodrigo Duterte—was found dead inside his cell Friday morning.

Ardot is the uncle of former vice mayor Nova Parojinog Echavez, who is facing charges for illegal possession of firearms and dangerous drugs, and Reynaldo Jr., who was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment for drug possession.

Philippine National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said

Ricardo Parojinog

• DOH: Sample collection from homes okayed

By Willie Casas, Maricel V. Cruz

amid the coronavirus pandemic, lies in a mock coffin while members of the public and the media take pictures as part of punishment by local authorities and enforced by local police on September 3, 2020. AFP

HEALTH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Friday the Department of Health (DOH) had allowed the “remote collection” of specimens from the homes of individuals sus-

Next page

‘Regulate-Netflix’ plan draws heavy flak vision Review and Classification Board ry are compliant with the MTRCB law. wants streaming sites like Netflix and In the House of Representatives, Speaker iFlix, among others, regulated to ensure Alan Peter Cayetano slammed the MTRCB AN OFFICIAL of the Movie and Tele- that movies and other contents they carNext page

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

a Coast Guard officer were seriously injured when a speeding bus rammed through several motorcycle riders at the intersection of Osmena Highway and Arnaiz Avenue in Pio del Pilar, Makati, according to Police chief Oscar Jacildo.

Initial investigation showed the bus driver sideswiped another vehicle, police said.

Anjo Bagaoisan (Story on A3)

Next page

LOCAL ROUNDUP

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. A Jakarta man, caught not wearing a face mask in public

RECKLESS. At least 10 people including

No new strain in Manila—DOH

By Willie Casas THE Department of Health reported 232,072 COVID-19 cases with 3,714 confirmed cases based on the total tests done by 93 out of 113 current operational labs.

The report emerged as Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire belied reports a new and more fatal

SARS-CoV-2 strain, the virus causing coronavirus disease (COVID-19), had been spreading in the country.

“There is no new strain of the virus here in the Philippines. It is very dangerous and irresponsible to say that we now have a different strain here in the country,” she said in a media briefing.

Vergeire was referring to a social Next page

‘Batman’ virus-positive; filming halted FILMING in Britain for the latest Batman movie has been halted after its star Robert Pattinson reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus, just days after shooting had resumed.

“A member of ‘The Batman’ production has tested positive for COVID-19, and is isolating in Next page

A2

News

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Russians say Sputnik vaccine ‘safe’ P

ATIENTS involved in early tests of a Russian coronavirus vaccine developed antibodies with “no serious adverse events,” according to research published in The Lancet Friday, but experts said the trials were too small to prove safety and effectiveness.

Health officials said the man was part of a second-wave cluster of infections that emerged in Auckland last month, ending a spell of 102 days free of community transmission in the South Pacific nation.

The death at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital on Friday afternoon takes New Zealand’s death toll from the virus to 23, with the most recent previous fatality on May 24.

“I acknowledge the anxiety New Zealanders may be feeling about today’s news, both in the wider community and also for the family and whanau (relatives) grieving over this death,” health chief Ashley Bloomfield said in a statement.

in the United States for the emergency use of a diagnostic test differentiating between coronavirus and influenza.

Amid fears the flu season will place additional burdens on the health system, authorities are keen to see tests that can distinguish coronavirus from other seasonal illnesses, notably flu.

Roche said its cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B test had won Emergency Use Authorization approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

The firm added the test would also be available for use in countries where the European CE certification mark applies.

Camp Aguinaldo.

“These officers also attested to the good conduct of Pemberton, based on their own personal knowledge,” Flores said.

Pemberton’s lawyer made the statement after the Laude’s family filed a motion for reconsideration before the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court seeking to overturn its earlier decision to release the American soldier due to accumulated GCTA points.

The victim’s family argued that there was no proof of Pemberton’s good behavior, conduct and participation in any rehabilitation activities that would earn him GCTAs. Flores said the Laude family merely speculated and failed to show any act of Pemberton that violated prison rules.

Pemberton’s lawyer said the certification of good conduct issued by BuCor carries with it the “presumption of regularity” as the Laude family failed to disprove it.

Flores also asserted that Pemberton is entitled to GCTAs because he was not convicted of a heinous crime.

She said her client should not be treated differently than the thousands

of inmates who have benefited from the GCTA law, claiming that there is “no substantial distinction between them.”

However, Lawyer Rommel Bagares, who represents the Laude family, insisted that Pemberton cannot invoke the equal protection clause because there is a difference between foreign military armed forces in the country and other people accused of crimes.

Citing the 2015 case of Laude v. Jabalde, Bagares noted that the Supreme Court said “there is a substantial basis for a different treatment of a member of a foreign military armed forces allowed to enter our territory and all other accused.”

Besides, Bagares said there is no agreement between the Philippines and the United States stating that Pemberton is covered by the GCTA law, making him unqualified for it.

He said Pemberton’s trial was governed by the US-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement, which has a provision on jurisdiction over US personnel who committed crimes in the Philippines.

The US soldier appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court but subsequently withdrew his petition recently.

for its plan to regulate video content in streaming platforms like Netflix.

“This is the kind of bureaucratic thinking that gives government workers a bad name,” Cayetano said in a statement posted on his Facebook account.

“The people are facing so many problems and yet this is what the MTRCB wants to prioritize,” said Cayetano.

He said he was puzzled why the issue suddenly cropped up but added that since the hearings for the 2021 National Budget were already under way, “Congress will give them (MTRCB) a chance to explain how they came up with “this ridiculous idea.”

Speaking during the Senate trade committee hearing on the proposed Internet Transactions Act, MTRCB’s legal affairs division chief Jonathan Presquito cited the need to regulate streaming service platforms, adding these movies are unrated.

“There is a necessity for us to proceed with the regulation, especially during the lockdown,” Presquito said, stressing that most people subscribe to movie streaming services like Netflix, iFlix to keep their sanity intact.

But Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, author of the bill, said the measure did not cover the regulation of video content being offered to online consumers.

“What our proposal intends to do is limited to the buying and selling of video on demand insofar as the content is concerned, whether that is Rated R or Rated 18+, that’s another law (the measure for content review will involve another law),” Gatchalian said.

He said that was not “part of this proposed law because that’s a whole new different dimension altogether,” he added.

Gatchalian proposed that it better be addressed in a separate measure since it was delving on the content side.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said “we have to think about the stand of MTRCB on the issue.”

“It’s either we update our laws to catch up with technology or we enforce our archaic laws and hold back technological progress,” he said.

“Definitely they (Netflix, etc) are doing business, subscribers coming from and based in the Philippines and watching from the Philippines,” he added.

But Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon opposed the MTRCB’s plan, saying it should “instead allow Netflix and other media to self-regulate content.”

In a statement, Drilon said: “It’s

very impractical. There are thousands of shows on Netflix alone – how will MTRCB review each one?

“Can the MTRCB review every single content that can be accessed through the internet? What will they do about virtual private networks that allow users to access content from other countries?

“If they insist on it, then taxpayers will be paying MTRCB only to stream movies and shows 24/7, 365 days.”

He noted that Netflix had self-regulation mechanisms that were not present in, and were perhaps, more effective than the regulation or classification in television.

Netflix classifies shows based on whether these are for General Patronage, Parental Guidance, 7 and above, 16 and up, R-18 and so on.

Drilon added the Constitution prohibited censorship on content as it was tantamount to prior restraint and infringed on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression.

However, Presquito maintained that when the entity was registered with MTRCB, three things could happen: Movies that would be streamed are ageappropriate, prohibited content can’t be seen, and the movies shown online are authorized by the distributors.

doing the same things— same with the laboratories,” said Vergeire.

She said those getting the specimens should wear PPEs (personal protective equipment) and they should notify the Department of Health when they are going to offer this kind of service so we could monitor them.

She said laboratories must duly inform the DOH that they were going to offer such services for monitoring purposes The DOH official added the health department has previously monitored other laboratories that provide the same service to persons suspected to have

COVID-19. said she could not disclose any details yet.

“Actually, we have monitored laboAsked if Manila’s talks with the Rusratories that offer this service and we sian and Chinese vaccine makers would advised them of protocols.” affect its negotiations with the American company, Vergeire said multiple Procurement of vaccines sources for an effective vaccine were in The DOH said it was meeting separate- fact beneficial for the country. ly with representatives of American drug “I don’t think this will affect our negiant Pfizer and the Russian Embassy in gotiations with other institutions and Manila to discuss the possible procure- other countries and I think it’s not only ment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COV- the Philippines conducting negotiations ID-19) vaccines, Vergeire confirmed. with different manufacturers, all counThe agency will be joined by officials tries do that... It’s complimentary,” she from the Office of the President and the De- said in a media briefing. partment of Foreign Affairs, but Vergeire

Russia announced last month that its vaccine, named “Sputnik V” after the Soviet-era satellite that was the first launched into space in 1957, had already received approval.

This raised concerns among Western scientists over a lack of safety data, with some warning that moving too quickly on a vaccine could be dangerous.

Russia denounced criticism as an attempt to undermine Moscow’s research.

In the Lancet study, Russian researchers reported on two small trials, each involving 38 healthy adults aged between 18 and 60, who were given a two-part immunization.

Each participant was given a dose of the first part of the vaccine and then

given a booster with the second part 21 days later.

They were monitored over 42 days and all developed antibodies within the first three weeks.

The report said the data showed that the vaccine was “safe, well tolerated, and does not cause serious adverse events in healthy adult volunteers.”

Filipino...

From A1

Recall...

From A1

ship’s crew confirmed that a Filipino seaman on board had died in a boiler explosion,” the navy said in a statement.

All but one of the 23-member crew—18 Filipinos and five Greek nationals—were rescued on Thursday.

The ship’s third officer, also a Filipino, had suffered burn injuries and was taken to the Kalmunai hospital, 360 kilometers east of the capital Colombo. His condition was stable, the navy spokesman said.

Meanwhile, in Japan, authorities racing to find dozens of missing sailors from a cargo ship that sank in a typhoon found a second survivor on Friday, as another, much more powerful storm drew near.

The Gulf Livestock 1, which was carrying 6,000 cows, issued a distress call early Wednesday as Typhoon Maysak passed through the area, setting off a desperate search for the 43 crew on board.

A first survivor was found on Wednesday evening, with the body of a second crew member recovered at sea early Friday, as hopes began to fade for the operation and powerful Typhoon Haishen barreled towards the area.

But the coast guard said they found a second survivor on Friday afternoon, a 30-year-old Filipino who was spotted in a life raft several kilometers from Kodakarajima, a remote island in southwestern Japan.

The man, identified as a deckhand, was reached by a patrol boat and was alone in the raft. He was able to walk unassisted, the coastguard said.

The first survivor from the ship, a 45-year-old Filipino chief officer, told rescuers he had put on a life jacket and jumped into the sea after a warning announcement on board.

He said one of the boat’s engines had stalled and the vessel was overturned by a powerful wave before eventually sinking.

Precisely when and where it sank remained unclear.

Dramatic footage of Wednesday’s rescue showed the man bobbing in the open ocean in an orange lift jacket and rescuers battling violent waves to pull him on to their boat with a rope.

After he was moved to a larger boat and wrapped with blankets, he asked for water and thanked his rescuers. AFP

By its calculation, the court said, Pemberton had served a total of 2,142 days and earned 1,548 days of GCTA. Taken together, this amounts to 3,690 days, or 10 years, one month, and 10 days -- more than the 10-year maximum penalty imposed on him, the court said.

The family of the victim, Jennifer Laude, has filed a motion for reconsideration, prompting the Bureau of Corrections to suspend Pemberton’s release.

Laude, a 26-year-old transgender woman, was found dead in the bathroom of a motel room in Olongapo City on October 11, 2014.

Pemberton was convicted in 2015, a verdict that was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

Pemberton’s lawyer, Rowena Garcia-Flores, said officers from the Bureau of Corrections have attested to the good conduct time allowances earned by the US marine.

Garcia-Flores said Pemberton has been “guarded everyday 24/7” by BuCor officers, while being detained at the Philippine military headquarters in

Local...

From A1 pected to have COVID-19.

However, she stressed the collection of specimens from homes might only be done by licensed laboratories for COVID-19 testing.

“This will be like an extension of their services. They can provide home service, but with conditions or requirements,” said Vergeire in an interview at GMA’s UNang Hirit heard nationwide.

“The process is of quality. We will be

‘Batman’...

From A1 accordance with established protocols,” Warner Bros. said in a statement to AFP. “Filming is temporarily paused.”

The studio did not name the person infected or indicate when filming would resume.

However, a number of Hollywood trade publications, including Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, said they had confirmed that 34-year-old Pattinson was the sick cast member.

WORLD ROUNDUP

First death in 3 months

New Zealand recorded its first COVID-19 death in more than three months on Friday when a man in his 50s succumbed to the virus.

‘Regulate-Netflix’...

From A1

Pattinson’s representative could not be immediately reached for comment.

Production for the new film-a dark, detective-style mystery take on the “Caped Crusader”—also had to shut down midway through production in March due to the pandemic.

Director Matt Reeves has said his version—due out next June—is inspired by classic film noir such as “Chinatown” and “Taxi Driver,” and will meet a “very human and very flawed” Bruce Wayne in his second year as Batman, trying to solve a series of crimes.

Brazil surpasses 4-million cases

Brazil surpassed four million coronavirus cases on Thursday, as an international panel looking into Roche gets green light the global response to the pandemic Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche vowed to uncover how it was able to said Friday it had received the green light spread worldwide. AFP

DOJ...

From A1 and other participating agencies, such as the National Bureau of Investigation, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Commission on Audit, the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP) and the National Prosecution Service (NPS) “will try to conclude some of their ongoing investigations or special audits.”

“While the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission will exert efforts to resolve PhilHealth cases already pending with their offices,” Guevarra said.

While the Inter-agency Task Force will submit its report and recommendation to President Duterte on September 14, Guevarra said the composite teams will continue with their investigation of the more complicated PhilHealth cases of graft or fraud and file the appropriate legal action even beyond that termination date.

Guevarra earlier expressed hope that

TS ‘Kristine’ won’t hit land —PAGASA

By Rio N. Araja A TYPHOON entered the Philippine area of responsibility at 9 a.m. on Friday and was named “Kristine.”

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said “Kristine” will remain far from the Philippine landmass and may leave between Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

The storm is forecast to head for southern Japan and the Korean peninsula after leaving the area just outside the Philippines. It was 1,285 kilometers east-northeast of extreme Northern Luzon as of 3 p.m. on Friday.

“This typhoon is undergoing rapid intensification. It is forecast to reach peak intensity of around 205 to 215 kilometers per hour on Sunday,” the weather bureau said.

Slain...

From A1 Parojinog was found dead at 6 a.m. on Friday inside the detention cell of the Ozamis Police Station, with no signs of violence noted.

Banac said Parojinog was supposed to attend a hearing at the Ozamis City Regional Trial Court on Friday, and his travel was covered by a court order.

He said PNP chief Gen. Camilo Cascolan on Friday ordered an investigation into the sudden death of Parojinog.

Cascolan also directed Police Regional Office Director Rolando Anduyan to place the Ozamis Police chief and all night-shift duty personnel under restrictive custody to be available for investigation.

Cascolan also ordered the PNP Custodial Center security team under Lt. Col. Jigger Noceda to be placed under investigation to determine their liabilities.

The Parojinogs have been tagged

by President Duterte as among the so-called narco-politicians managing illegal drug operations in Mindanao.

Ardot was not home when police raided their clan’s houses in July 2017.

The operation resulted in the death of 15 people.

A year later, Ardot was deported to the Philippines by the Taiwanese government.

No new strain...

From A1 media post which reportedly read that “due to rapid and uncontrolled transmission in the past months, the virus has clearly had enough opportunity to mutate into a more dangerous strain”.

The health official said the DOH previously detected the G614 variant of SARS-CoV-2 and while this specific strain is said to have an increased viral load, “this does not automatically mean that it is more infectious nor it is more fatal.”

She clarified that no age group was invisible nor immune from the coronavirus.

“With the increase in the cumulative cases, we shall see more cases among all ages,” she said.

Citing data from the DOH, Vergeire said the group with the highest number of cases were aged 20 to 49 years old, not due to an alleged new strain targeting them but “because they are usually the ones going out of their houses to go to work and to do errands.”

“Despite this increase in cumulative cases, we still see that mortalities are prevalent among the older age groups and those with co-morbidities,” she said.

Meanwhile, she advised the public not to “fully” rely on anecdotal information about COVID-19.

“While they may be true, they are only experiences and observations of a handful of people and not a representative of the Philippines. We remind the public to always use evidence-based and science-based information,” she said.

certain legal actions would be filed with the Ombudsman.

“But the deeper and more thorough investigative work and structural reforms affecting the central and regional offices will continue for a long time thereafter. We hope that the new leaders who will be installed at PhilHealth will carry on this internal cleansing and restoration on their own, ” Guevarra said.

Guevarra said various participating agencies composing the task force have agreed to speed up the investigation and special audit on PhilHealth.

News Intensify police visibility in transpo hubs, cops urged IN COORDINATION with the Philippine National Police led by Police General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield instructed all police commanders to intensify police visibility in transportation hubs and other areas where commuters usually converge to avail of public transport.

Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, Commander of the JTF COVID Shield, said random checks in public utility vehicles like jeepneys and buses must also be done in order to ensure that all passengers are complying with the minimum health safety standard protocols such as wearing face masks and face shields and observing proper physical distancing based on the guidelines issued by the National Task Force on COVID-19 chaired by Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana.

“As the national government lifted some of the restrictions in public transportation as part of the measures to reopen our economy, we will make sure that the guidelines issued by the National Task Force on COVID-19 is strictly observed. The operators, drivers and even the passengers have the obligation to ensure that they are protected against those who would defy the rules,” Eleazar said.

“On the part of the JTF COVID Shield, we will make sure that those who do not observe the rules would be accosted and punished to send a strong message that we are serious in our mandate of protecting the Filipinos from the coronavirus infection,” he added.

Eleazar said the strict enforcement of rules on public transportation is in support of the order of PNP Chief, General Cascolan to strengthen the marshalling in public transport.

“Our policemen should be conducting regular patrol to ensure that the wearing of face masks and face shields and the observance of proper physical distancing in public transport like buses, jeepneys and even on tricycles are followed,” said PNP Chief, General Cascolan.

Eleazar also tasked the PNP Highway Patrol Group led by Police Brigadier General Eliseo Cruz to conduct random checking on public utility vehicles to ensure compliance on the minimum health safety standard protocols.

Eleazar earlier urged transport groups to help the JTF COVID Shield in policing their own ranks by making sure that the operators and drivers are observing the quarantine rules on public transport.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

A3

Muslim lawmakers seek probe into Kabacan massacre

By Maricel V. Cruz LAWMAKERS from Mindanao on Friday sought an independent investigation on the death of nine local Muslim farmers in Kabacan, North Cotabato last August 29, 2020.

In House Resolution 1183, Deputy Speaker and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hata-

man, Amihilda Sangcopan of Anak Mindanao, Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao, Munir Arbison of Sulu Rep. Rashidin Matba of Tawi-Tawi, Yasser Alonto Balindong and Ansaruddin Abdul Malik Adiong of Lanao del Sur also asked the House Committee on Public Order and Safety and the Committee on Muslim Affairs to conduct a joint inquiry, in aid of

legislation, on the alleged involvement of policemen in the massacre of the nine Moros – including two minors.

Hataman said “just as violence has no place in our communities, a culture of impunity should also be cast aside and eliminated, especially in our law enforcement agencies that are supposed to uphold the law.”

Mangudadatu also denounced the death of nine local Muslim farmers. “We are truly heartbroken and outraged with the death of the farmers who were reportedly ordered to alight from their motorcycles while traversing the road along Aringay Road proximate to the University of Southern Mindanao campus,” Mangudadatu.

‘Dengue deaths down by 78%’

By Willie Casas

T

HE number of dengue deaths went down by as much as 78% from January 1 to August 15 this year, according to Department of Health which attributed the decline to its initiative against dengue.

POWER HUDDLE. House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep Martin Romualdez (left) and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (2nd from right) are seen in a huddle with Department of Budget and Management Sec. Wendel Avisado (right) during the Budget briefing for the 2021 proposed budget of the DBM at the plenary of the House of Representatives. Ver Noveno

DOLE to help families of Abu Dhabi gas explosion victims

By Vito Barcelo THE Department of Labor and Employment will provide P120,000 bereavement assistance to the families of two overseas Filipino workers who were killed in a gas explosion in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the families of victims Clark Bacud Gasis and Merriner Goc-ong Bertoces will each receive P120,000 bereavement assistance from the government.

“They will also get insurance benefits

if they are qualified members of the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration,” Bello added.

Bello said OWWA would be ready to provide more aid allowed by law to the families of the victims. “We will extend to them all the support the government can provide,” he added.

A report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Abu Dhabi said a total of 10 Filipinos, including two children, figured in the deadly accident reportedly caused by a gas leak inside a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant along Airport

Road on August 31.

The explosion instantly killed Gasis, 39, an electrical draughtsman from Surigao del Sur, and Bertoces, 26, a KFC— Abu Dhabi employee from Negros Oriental.

The blast also caused injuries to eight other Filipinos. Six of them were immediately taken to the Sheik Khalifa Medical Center for treatment. Five of the injured have already been discharged while the other one identified as Rodel Paclibar remained at the hospital for further observation.

“After the dengue epidemic of 2019, we have been working vigorously to decrease dengue cases via a systemic approach that involves every level of the community,” Dr. Norielyn Evangelista, Program Manager of the National Aedesborne Viral Diseases Prevention and Control Program, said on Friday.

A year after the national dengue epidemic was announced in August 2019, the reported dengue cases dropped from 430,282 to 59,675 in 2020.

Dengue mortalities have also significantly dropped from 2019 with 1,612 deaths to a low 231 in 2020.

The NAVDPCP’s current activities in 2020 include updating the Dengue Manual of Operations and Administrative Order No. 2012-006: Revised Dengue Clinical Practices Guidelines through Technical Working Group Meeting; partnering with UP-Philippine General Hospital, UP-National Institutes of Health, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and World Mosquito Program and releasing administrative issuances.

Aside from these initiatives, the DOH will likewise roll out the Nucleic Acid Amplification Test-Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay which offers cheaper and simpler dengue diagnosis.

It will also implement the Wolbachia Project within Bicol-Center for Health Development as part of a non-invasive way to control the local dengue-carrying mosquito population.

More OFWs from Beirut flown home

By Joel E. Zurbano

LEGACY carrier Philippines Airlines has flown home another batch of Filipino overseas workers who were repatriated from Lebanon following the recent explosion in Beirut last month.

PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the flight with 361 OFWs on board arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 8:11 p.m Thursday.

The group was the latest batch in the series of ongoing repatriations initiative of the departments of Labor, and Foreign Affairs in close coordination with the PAL management following the explosion at the Beirut port where at least 200 people died.

Villaluna said PAL sent its 370-seater Boeing 777-300 (RP-C7778) to accom-

plish the repatriation mission.

PAL flight PR-8680 with its crew -Captains Leo Bernabe and Mark Anthony Fernandez, and Second Officers Jose Miguel Cajucom and Andrew John Santos -- departed from Manila on Sept. 2 and arrived in Lebanon’s capital city after a 12-hour 9-minute journey.

The return flight PR-8681 to Manila was manned by First Officers Rowena Rogelio and Capt. Archimedes Masigla, and Second Officers Jason Emmanuel Salvacion and Victor Benjamin Baños.

Villaluna said upon arrival in Manila, the passengers were briefed by personnel of the Bureau of Quarantine, Philippine Coast Guard and PAL representatives on the required testing and quarantine protocols.

BACK HOME. The second batch of Overseas Filipino Wokers from Beirut, Lebanon, arrived safely in the country on Thursday, Sept. 3.

Most of the 361 OFWs were witnesses to the bombing of the Beirut Port last August 4. The Philippine Coast Guard extended its assistance to ensure the fast processing of the OFWs’ papers before they were escorted to their respective quarantine hotels. The One-Stop Shop at the NAIA are jointly supervised by officials from the Department of Transportation, Department of Tourism, Department of Social Welfare and Development, PCG, Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), Office for Transportation Security, Manila International Airport Authority, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Quarantine.

Smuggled cigarettes seized in Cebu

By Vito Barcelo

DRUG-DEALING SWISS. Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives seized some 200 pieces of ecstasy tablets, dried marijuana, suspected cocaine, drug paraphernalia and guns at the residence of Swiss national Thomas Fritz Stucki during a follow-up drug raid in Parañaque City on Friday. Stucki was arrested last August 27 in a separate buy-bust operation where he was caught selling illegal drugs. Norman Cruz

THE Bureau of Customs intercepted two containers of smuggled cigarettes with an estimated street value of P88.1million at the port of Cebu.

Acting Cebu District Collector Atty.

Charlito Martin R. Mendoza said the smuggled cigarettes from China arrived at the Port of Cebu in separate shipments declared to contain umbrella and various home furniture.

The shipments were consigned to

GRR Trading—the same importer whose recent shipments of misdeclared articles were previously seized by the Port after being found to contain master cases of cigarettes, he said.

Following an information received by the bureau, customs examiners conducted physical examination of the shipments together with representatives from CIIS, ESS, XIP, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Philippine Coast Guard, and Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc.

10 seriously hurt in Makati after collision involving bus, car and motorcycles

By Joel E. Zurbano AT LEAST 10 people were seriously

hurt after an Ayala-bound passenger bus rammed 11 motorcycles, a car and another bus Friday morning in Makati City.

Police said the incident happened along the northbound lane of Osmena Highway

near Arnaiz Avenue in Barangay Pio del Pilar around 9 a.m.

The authorities arrested Marlon Nacaytona, 29, the driver of the erring passenger bus with registration plate TYF 328, after the incident. He is now detained at the Makati City police traffic division.

Based on the initial investigation, the bus

was on its way to Ayala Avenue when it lost its brake resulting in the multiple collision.

The injured victims, including a Philippine Coast Guard officer, were rushed to Ospital ng Makati, Makati Medical Center, and St. Luke’s Global.

The incident caused monstrous traffic in the areas of Arnaiz Avenue and Osmena

Highway.

Faulty brake is one of the common causes of road crash in the metropolis, according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

The MMDA earlier urged motorists to observe discipline and courtesy while driving to prevent road accidents.

‘Gierran best choice as Philhealth chief’

FORMER Presidential Anti-Graft Commissioner Atty. Nicasio Conti lauded President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to appoint Dante Geirran as the new chief of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., saying there is no other competent man better at “disinfecting” the agency plagued with accusations of corruption.

Atty. Conti, who led the lifestyle check among government employees and likewise served as OIC Administrator at the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), said the former NBI director can cleanse the tainted image of Philhealth, which has been the subject of investigations over allegations of massive and systematic corruption.

“President Rodrigo Duterte has chosen the right man for the job. With the proven track record of now Philhealth President Dante Geirran, he can surely ‘disinfect’ the agency especially in this critical period of the pandemic brought about by COVID-19 and purge Philhealth of its corrupt officials and syndicates” Conti said.

LGUs

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor lgu@manilastandard.net editor.lgustandard@gmail.com

A4

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

COVID mom back with newborn AMID the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed more than 3,000 lives in the country, a heart-warming story was unfolding quietly in the south about a mother’s unconditional love.

In late July, Amor Tomaquin, 26, an overseas Filipino worker returning from Abu Dhabi who was eight and a half months pregnant, tested positive for the coronavirus.

When she was due to give birth, she was transferred from the quarantine facility in her hometown in Malungon, Sarangani province to the St. Elizabeth Hospital in Gen. Santos City, where she was isolated in the COVID ward.

The ISO-accredited tertiary medical facility has allocated 30% of its 273 beds for COVID-19 patients based on Department of Health guidelines. It is the city’s only accredited RT-PCR (reverse transcription -polymerase chain reaction) testing laboratory that provides confirmatory testing services to

Albay dads urge CREATE passage to boost industry LEGAZPI CITY—The Albay Provincial Board or Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) has expressed full support for the passage by Congress of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, saying the bill will directly benefit Albay and various local industries nationwide.

In its Albay SP Resolution No. 549 passed on August 18, the board said enacting CREATE will help the province with “longer income tax holidays to enterprises locating in the countryside, and to enterprises relocating from the National Capital Region to places like our province, with Albay likely being among the areas with the longest tax holidays once CREATE is enacted.”

Authored by Senior SP Member Jesus Salceda and co-authored by all Provincial Board Members, the resolution was forwarded to Senate President Vicente Sotto III, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.

The CREATE bill is among the priority measures cited and prioritized by President Rodrigo Duterte in his latest State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The resolution pointed out that “CREATE’s incentives for the use of locally-sourced raw materials (with an additional 50 percent enhanced deduction for domestic input expense) will benefit Albay’s agricultural development initiatives, as well as its exporting small businesses, which use local materials such as abaca for export goods.”

Albay has a burgeoning handicraft industry that utilizes abaca and other locally sourced raw materials, transforming them into export-quality items including textile and furniture.

Its capital, Legazpi City, was tagged as a “next wave” city by the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Both are priority sectors under CREATE. “CREATE will yield across-theboard benefits to all businesses by cutting CIT (tax) immediately by 5 percent this year and by another 5%, in increments of one percent every year from 2023 to 2027,” the resolution noted.

CREATE was first approved as the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (CITIRA). It is principally sponsored by Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, who chairs the House Committee on Ways and Means Committee.

nearby Sarangani.

Considered the top in Region 12, St. Elizabeth is part of Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc. the Philippines’s largest private hospital operator, which has a nationwide portfolio of 16 medical centers.

According to the hospital’s chief of clinics Dr. Helena Veneracion Garcia, Tomaquin was informed that as a standard procedure, her baby would have to be separated from her after she is born.

Angela Faith, a healthy baby girl, was delivered on Aug. 6 and was found to be negative of the virus within 24 hours when tested.

However, the patient had to remain isolated until she was declared no longer infectious. The hospital staff helped ease her worries by taking photographs of the baby, which she in turn sent to her Abu Dhabi-based partner, the father of the child.

HAPPY FAREWELL.

St. Elizabeth Hospital medical staff line up to send off Amor Tomaquin and baby Angela (inset), after the mother recovered from COVID-19 but was separated from her newborn for two weeks at the General Santos City hospital while she recovered.

MORE nets 300km of jumper cables

By Alena Mae S. Flores

M

ORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) has collected an estimated 300 kilometers of wirings or “jumper cables” in almost a month of continuous and diligent operations against illegal electric connections in Iloilo City.

The company said Friday that its engineers also estimated that if placed on a weighing scale, the wires would weigh at least 10 tons.

“MORE Power is mandated by the law to measure and label this illegal jumper cables for use as evidence in the investigation so prosecutors can file the proper court cases against the pilferers,” it said.

The new distribution utility said technical studies conducted by engineering firm MIESCOR Engineering Corp. showed there could be as many as 30,000 illegal power connections in the city.

This illegal connection proliferated during the operations of the former Iloilo City utility Panay Electric Co. (PECO), MORE said.

MORE Power said the high number

GLOBE AIDS SARANGANI. As part of its corporate social responsibility, Globe Telecom recently turned over 80 mobile phones, SIM cards, and at least P640,000 worth of prepaid cards to help the student- athletes, teachers and coaches of the Sarangani National Sports Academy (SaNSA) cope with the challenges of the blended mode of learning. The P1.4 million worth of support is part of the partnership of the telecoms firm, the Sarangani provincial government, and the Department of Education Sarangani Division. In photo at the ceremonial turnover of the gadgets are (from left) Globe security manager for Mindanao Eric Bergavera, Sarangani Governor Steve Chiongbian Solon, Alabel Mayor Vic Paul Salarda, and DepEd Sarangani Curriculum Implementation Division chief and SaNSA school head Donna Panes.

Valenzuela requires face shields in all workplaces

By Jun David VALENZUELA City now requires all employees of public and private offices or establishments to wear face shields during work hours and within their place of work.

Ordinance No. 770, Series of 2020 or the "Wear Your Face Shield Ordinance

of Valenzuela City" was approved last August 17 during the City Council's 50th Regular Session.

Mayor Rex Gatchalian noted the urgency to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace, which may lead to a citywide spread of contagion.

However, employees of offices or establishments where acrylic barriers are

BDO Foundation lauds best financial literacy videos IN KEEPING with a shared advocacy to promote financial inclusion, BDO Foundation, the Department of Education (DepEd) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) continue to collaborate on projects that help develop a financially literate citizenry.

The corporate social responsibility arm of BDO Unibank, in partnership with DepEd and BSP, sponsored the awarding of outstanding financial literacy videos produced by public school students as part of Sineliksik, the videomaking competition of DepEd’s annual National Festival of Talents.

The winning entries were honored in the Sineliksik 2020 Online Awards Cer-

of illegal power connections contributes to the high systems loss that the utility passes on to consumers and its own operating costs, resulting in high electricity rates.

To date, MORE Power has conducted its Oplan Valeria anti-jumper raids in 156 out of 180 barangays.

The campaign against illegal power connections has so far netted some 5,000 illegal jumpers, which led to the 300 kilometers of jumper cables in MORE Power’s warehouse.

MORE Power also increased security in areas where power pilferage was observed to be prevalent to discourage the perpetrators from reconnecting.

emony, a virtual event organized by the partners.

Viewed by more than 100,000 students and teachers across the country, the ceremony recognized 16 regional and five national winners.

The event featured messages of congratulations and support from BSP governor Benjamin Diokno, DepEd secretary Leonor Magtolis-Briones, DepEd undersecretary for curriculum and instruction Diosdado San Antonio, BDO Unibank president and CEO Nestor V. Tan, and BDO Foundation president Mario Deriquito.

Tan, who also serves as BDO Foundation trustee, lauded the creativity

of the contestants, saying: “I was really impressed. You have done a good job, and I cannot say enough. Communication of financial literacy is important. The Sineliksik initiative will go a long way in getting that message across.”

“Through our support for Sineliksik 2020, we hope to create interest among young people to learn more about financial literacy,” Deriquito remarked.

‘SINELIKSIK’ SCENE. A scene plays out from the first-place entry to Sineliksik 2020, a video-making contest supported by BDO Foundation that drew more than 60 learner-generated financial literacy videos.

installed between workstations are exempted from wearing face shields.

The Department of Industry (DTI) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) had issued Joint Memorandum Circular No. 20-04-A, Series of 2020 last August 15, mandating the use of face shields in workplaces.

Angeles to push gastro-tourism to sustain biz

By Jess Malabanan ANGELES CITY—Food enthusiasts all over the world are invited to a “taste of Angeles” once the tourism industry here will be opened.

Known for its mouth-watering pork sisig, Angeles City is planning to reinforce the tourism industry by offering visitors an array of native foods and delicacies that originated in this city and nearby areas of Pampanga.

“We want to enliven tourism in our city and one effective way we can attract more tourists is to offer native Angeleño food,” said Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. He added that gastronomic or culinary tourism will serve as a shot in the arm to the dying food industry caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Lazatin said the city government is preparing for when the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases allows the full operation of the tourism industry, or when things finally settle down after the pandemic.

Executive Assistant IV Reina Manuel said they have coordinated with Angeles City Tourism Office to manage and iron out safety protocols of the different food establishments here Gastro tourism is the exploration of food as the purpose of tourism. Today’s tourists consider food, alongside climate, scenery, and accommodation, as a vital element in choosing their next destination.

Dubbed as the Culinary Capital of the Philippines, Angeles City has always been a favored destination for foodies.

People go to the city to taste authentic Kapampangan food in various homegrown restaurants found in the city, including Angeles Fried Chicken, Kamalig, Susie’s Cuisine, Mila’s, Bale Dutung, Kambingan, and Toll House, to name a few.

Chief Adviser and Tactician IC Calaguas reminisced how the late Mayor Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin Sr. pioneered the celebration of the city’s annual Sisig Festival.

Opinion

By Glenn Chapman FACEBOOK said Thursday it will ban new political advertising the week before the US election, one of its most sweeping moves yet against disinformation as CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned of a "risk of civil unrest" after the vote.

The social media giant vowed to fact check premature claims of victory, stating that if a candidate tries to declare himself the winner before final votes are tallied, "we'll add a label to their posts directing people to the official results."

It also promised to "add an informational label" to content seeking to delegitimize the results or claim that "lawful voting methods" will lead to fraud.

"Anyone who is saying the election is going to be fraudulent, I think that's problematic," Zuckerberg said in a CBS interview on Thursday.

Facebook also started limiting its Messenger service to allow users to forward missives to no more than five people or groups at a time "to help curb the efforts of those looking to cause chaos, sow uncertainty or inadvertently undermine accurate information."

The moves follow sharp criticism of Facebook's handling of the 2016 presidential election, when it failed to restrict disinformation from Russian operatives that spread conspiracy theories and discouraged voting in some cases.

The US is gearing up for what is expected to be a bruising campaign season against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and mass protests for racial justice that have led to violent conflict in some cities between civil rights groups and armed right-wing vigilantes.

"Facebook's announcements about policing voting misinformation, including politicians, and defending a fair election are significant improvements and come after much pressure from the civil rights community," said Vanita Gupta, chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

"But everything—any impact—rests on enforcement. We'll remain vigilant."

But Tom Fitton, president of conservative activist group Judicial Watch, condemned the move.

"Facebook further caves to the Left and will suppress 'new' ads in the week before the election," Fitton said on Twitter. "This is a breathtaking effort to

Trump video pulled Zuckerberg has long favored a handsoff approach to candidate statements, but he said a new policy was needed for last-minute ads because "In the final days of an election there may not be enough time to contest new claims."

"It is possible that this action could throw a wrench into plans for last-minute misinformation blitzes via campaign ads," said University of Colorado Boulder information science department assistant professor Casey Fiesler.

"Though it seems as if strong fact-checking on any political ads before they run would also accomplish that."

Democrats have warned that President Donald Trump and his supporters may try to sow chaos with false claims as votes are tallied.

Voters are expected to shift to mailin voting in unprecedented numbers to reduce risk of exposure to the coronavirus.

As a result the final tally may not be revealed until well after voting day— raising the risk of paranoia and rumor-mongering.

Trump—a prolific user of social media who is trailing Democratic challenger Joe Biden in the polls—recently hurtled down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories filled with wild claims he is the victim of a coup and plans to rig the polls.

On Wednesday, Trump encouraged voters in North Carolina to vote twice, which is illegal. It also is a crime to solicit someone to vote twice, according to the state's Board of Elections.

Twitter subsequently placed notices on a Trump tweets "to prevent people from sharing advice about voting twice, which may be illegal."

Facebook confirmed that it removed video of Trump's comments in North Carolina advising that people vote twice, and added information labels to Trump posts related to voting.

"This video violates our policies prohibiting voter fraud and we will remove it unless it is shared to correct the record," Facebook said in reply to an AFP inquiry.

Opponents say Trump's increasingly extreme resistance to expanded mail-in voting is an attempt to suppress turnout while setting up an excuse to challenge the result if h loses. AFP

MORE OPINION ONLINE (www.manilastandard.net) EAGLE EYES

Not on our watch, too

TONY LA VIÑA

Time to move on NAKED THOUGHT CHARLIE V. MANALO PANAY Electric Company appears to be losing its battle on all fronts.

Early this week, the Energy Regulatory Commission clarified that More Electric and Power Corporation, or simply More Power, is among the distribution utilities that comply with the mandated system loss cap. This amid the accusation hurled by Koalisyon Bantay Kuryente, reportedly a PECO ally, against More Power of high systems loss that it charges to its customers.

According to ERC chairman Agnes Devanadera, the commission strictly monitors the compliance of the distribution utilities to the system loss cap.

Under the ERC rules, DUs are required to submit their system loss reports monthly.

These should include a sworn statement and annual report which shows their respective

systems loss, which is used by the agency to monitor their compliance.

In 2018, ERC implemented a system loss cap of 6.5 percent to all DUs with the aim of lowering the electricity costs of consumers as mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act and improving the services of power distributors.

According to Devanadera, the lowering of the system loss caps is a move to bring down the power rates and help electricity consumers mitigate the impact of rising costs of commodities and services. This, Devanadera says, will encourage distribution utilities (DUs) to improve their distribution system and facilities so that they adhere to the newly-prescribed system loss cap.

Recall that More Power chided PECO for using its ally KBK to show that its system loss reached 7.1 percent, higher than the 6.5-percent cap set by ERC. More Power said the system loss it passes on to consumers is only at 6 percent, clearly below the 6.5 percent cap.

More Power committed to its 65,000 Iloilo power customers that it will continue to

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

B1

EDITORIAL

Facebook to ban new political ads ahead of US election control what FB users see at a crucial time and raises First Amendment concerns."

Adelle Chua, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

T

No place in our world There is, however, something inherently problematic about the MTRCB’s renewed sense of mission even if it says it knows it is no longer the censorship tool that it used to be before.

First, it would have to spell out what “contemporary Filipino values” are.

This is an impossible task because individuals and families are inherently different. Each is shaped by education, background, prejudices, experiences and aspirations. One family, for

HE statement of a Movie and Television Review and Classification Board official that his agency would regulate the content of video-ondemand platforms drew so much adverse reaction that the MTRCB head had to issue a clarification on the matter.

In a radio interview, chairperson Rachel Arenas denied that they would prohibit any content, insisting that the MTRCB was not a censoring board any longer.

“It’s not like before. We go by the times,” Arenas said.

She did say that managers of VOD platforms should align their motion picture ratings and classifications to the contemporary values of Filipino viewers. What they would do, she added, is a vague term called “post-monitoring.”

If the classification given by the platform is not aligned with such contemporary Filipino values, “that's the time we're going to call on them," she said.

Define “aligned with contemporary Filipino values.” instance, may value openness, critical thinking and free discussions. Another family may place a premium on obedience and deference to elders.

Second, the proposal presents a huge problem in practicability. We do not believe that the staff of the MTRCB would be able to review every single

movie or episode that is aired in every single platform, evaluate them for their values, and then compare their ratings with what the MTRCB believes they are supposed to have.

And, supposing there is a conflict, how does the agency propose to enforce what it thinks is right? Ultimately, does it not still resort to censorship, albeit carried out in a roundabout and less obvious fashion?

Technology has eliminated borders and any other barriers between countries from where such content originates and where they are consumed. Evaluating something for its alignment with values is an infringement into families’ judgment as to what they would permit themselves and their family members to watch. Policing the flow of content, in today’s environment, is simply absurd.

Perhaps MTRCB is desperate to show it remains relevant in this day and age. Alas, it no longer is. If there is any work to be done at all, it is that irrelevance and a bloated bureaucracy must be addressed, pronto. That is some denouement worth waiting for.

Deteriorating US-China relations THE deteriorating situation in the South China Sea (SCS) is in reaction to the increased US activities in the area. Specifically, there are two aspects that could serve as flashpoints in US-China relations. First, the seeming appropriation by the US of the whole of SCS to implement its hegemonistic policy of “Monroe Doctrine” to make the region America’s extended lake in Asia.

The doctrine is given loose application of freedom of navigation to include the right to conduct naval military exercise in the whole stretch of SCS as if to complete the “containment” of China.

Second, the increased US threat to instigate an independence movement in Taiwan to provoke war with China. Support for this could be treated as renouncing the Joint Communiqué signed in 1972. The document is the foundation of the “One-China” policy, it being a precondition to the opening of diplomatic relations.

These two issues continue to separate China and the US, and being exploited today by the Trump administration to drum up anti-Chinese sentiments.

Although the SCS and Taiwan are problems dealing on US-China relations, this is exacerbated by the trade war with the US using every conceivable strategy to exact a bargain. Encouraging Taiwanese independence and increasing arm sales beyond the defense requirement of the runaway province could develop to possible hot war.

One must bear in mind that no outsider can accuse China of threatening the security of the region unless it commits overt acts of aggression. The burden is always to an outsider, it being the presumed aggressor. Nonetheless, US presence in the SCS is premised that it is acting as big brother.

This has become the loophole for the US because countries adjacent to the SCS gave no consent to their being classified as de facto ally against China. This role played by the US has also become its license to remain present in the SCS. This has also allowed the US to unilaterally sponsor countries outside the region bring down its systems loss within the next three years as it implements its P1.8-billion modernization program.

There are two types of system loss. First is technical losses during the transmission of electricity from the generation company to the DUs. If the distribution system is efficient, there is a lower change of technical losses.

Maybe PECO should just accept its fate.

The second is a non-technical system loss of losses due to pilferage through "jumpers" or illegal connections, which are charged to customers under the system loss charge.

In 2017, Iloilo City registered the highest system loss among all private utilities around the country, reaching 9.93 percent.

At that time, PECO's generation charge was also highest at that time at P2.50 per kilowatt hour, higher than other urban centers like Manila, Cebu and Davao. Electricity charges in Iloilo City under PECO was highest compared to 70 countries around the world, which is the result of old and deteriorating distribution lines, transformers at substations

BACKBENCHER

ROD P. KAPUNAN to define the goals and objectives of an erstwhile “internal” regional organization.

Maybe as a superpower, the US can dictate who should be their enemy or ally, or much more invite foreign powers from other regions to bolster its strength in the SCS. It is even attempting to expand the de facto grouping to justify the creation of Indo-Pacific bloc participated in by India.

Today, we see an increased military

There is great danger of accidental commencement of hostilities. presence of the US in the SCS, particularly in the Paracel and Spratly group of Islands.

The US has no claim over these islands.

The only justification is its “alliance” with the Philippines which gave it access to establish five military bases. Vietnam, a country which has a dispute with China, has no alliance with the US. Moreover, we should stop implementing that ridiculous suggestion lifted from a rabid anti-Chinese US State Department secretary, Mike Pompeo, to blacklist Chinese companies involved in the construction of islands in the SCS. We have more to lose than gain in that silly proposal in the name of blind subservience whose only reward is to proclaim to the whole world how stupid we can be.

The odd thing in our policy is that the Duterte administration is trying to improve the country’s relations with China while the built during the 1970s and the proliferation of around 30,000 illegal power connections.

With nary a victory to show off despite the number of legal actions it had taken to regain Iloilo’s power distribution, maybe it’s about time PECO accepted its fate and simply moved on. *** Despite the pandemic, the Philippines continus to earn accolades in the field of tourism.

This time, the country received the award as the Best Overseas Diving Area in the Marine Diving Awards 2020 held recently in Tokyo.

Garnering 814 out of the 3,572 total votes cast by subscribers of the Marine Diving Magazine, the Philippines was number one for the first time in the Overseas Diving Category. The magazine cited the Philippines as “a first pick for many diving lovers.”

The award was given in ceremonies at the recent Marine Diving Fair 2020 in the district of Ikebukuro in Tokyo.

“This award is a testimony that diving is more fun in the Philippines, with each underwater paradise offering a unique adventure and experience to behold, and return to. Our underwater landscape is a colorful kaleidoscope of nature's living jewels, one that divers cannot find anywhere else," Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo- Puyat said.

US is accelerating its anti-Chinese propaganda using the local opposition to drum up anti-Chinese sentiment. Often, the statement of the President and his officials do not seem to jibe.

Recently, the US conducted a military exercise in the SCS. It was the biggest exercise consisting of two-carrier task force.

The presence of two aircraft carriers with each group composed roughly of 7,500 personnel, with at least one cruiser, a flotilla of six to 10 destroyers and/or frigates, aircrafts from 65 to 70, and undisclosed number of Ohio-class submarines each carrying 24 submarine-launched Trident ballistic missiles with each carrying eight nuclear warheads equivalent to 30 times the strength of the bomb exploded in Hiroshima.

China responded by carrying out military drills within the SCS. To quote PLA senior colonel Wu Quian, “The build up of China’s naval force in the South China Sea is proportionate to the external force deployed to serve both as deterrent and countermeasure to let the US navy know that China possesses what it calls “carrier killer” missiles classified as DF 21D and DF 26B missiles.

There is great danger of accidental commencement of hostilities. When US surveillance aircraft RC-135S entered the southeastern waters in the province of Hainan and a high flying U-2 aircraft flew over an area where PLA was holding live fire drill, and was shot down, that could start a war. “US intention is malicious when it sends warships to the South China Sea. They should have thought about how the PLA will launch DF-21D and DF-26B missiles in the worst-case scenario.” The two classes of missiles are prepared to target to US aircraft carriers should they attack the PLA in the South China Sea. This is a calibrated response to a perceived threat to its security.

Full version at www.manilastandard.net.

Marine Diving Magazine cited the diving sites in Cebu, Bohol, Moalboal, and Busuanga which are teeming with whale sharks, snappers, dugong, other big fishes, large schools of sardines and long mackerels, and other rare and endemic species. These diving sites, the magazine said, have “captured the hearts of many divers and make them want to revisit the Philippines again and again. And with its easy access from Japan and reasonable tour prices, the Philippines is no doubt a first pick for many diving lovers.”

Among the other popular diving sites in the country are Malapascua off the northern tip of Cebu Island, Anilao in Batangas, Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, Donsol in Sorsogon, and Dauin in Negros Oriental. It also includes the Apo Reef Natural Park on the western waters of Occidental Mindoro, the world's second largest contiguous coral reef system, and the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park which is a UNESCO-declared World Heritage Site.

The Philippines has bagged similar awards such as both Asia and the World’s Leading Diving Destination Awards in the Prestigious World Travel Awards in 2019.

Congratulations Philippines! And of course, to the Department of Tourism for a successful promotion of the country’s dive sites.

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher ManilaStandard

Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www. manilastandard.net

ONLINE

can be accessed at: manilastandard.net

MEMBER

PPI

Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers

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

Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Treasury Manager Head—Ad Solutions Circulation Manager

Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Joyce Pangco Pañares Adelle Chua

Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor Opinion Editor

Emil P. Jurado

Honor Blanco Cabie Night Editor Jimbo Owen Gulle City Editor Lino M. Santos Chief Photographer

Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

B2

World

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Trump tells Americans to try to vote twice on Nov. 3 US PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Thursday renewed his call for supporters to try to vote twice on November 3, a potentially illegal act that he claimed is the only way to be sure that a ballot is counted.

Trump said Americans should first try to vote by mail, if that option is offered in their state, then also go to the polling station on election day to check that their ballot has

been counted – and, if not, vote again.

“YOU ARE NOW ASSURED THAT YOUR PRECIOUS VOTE HAS BEEN COUNTED,” he said in a Twitter thread.

Intentionally voting twice is illegal.

Facebook and Twitter, which are under growing pressure not to allow misinformation ahead of the election, put warning labels on the president’s posts about the matter.

“We placed a public interest notice on two Tweets in this thread for violating our Civic Integrity Policy, specifically for encouraging people to potentially vote twice,” Twitter said.

However, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Trump had been taken out of context and just wanted voters to verify that their first vote had been

registered.

He “does not condone unlawful voting,” she said.

Whatever Trump meant, the tweets were his latest assault on the credibility of mail-in voting, which is being rapidly expanded across the country in response to fears of COVID-19 contagion in crowded polling stations. AFP

NO MORE FUNNY BUSINESS. An activist dressed as a clown takes part in a protest by the Extinction

Rebellion climate change group in the road by the Houses of Parliament in central London on September 3, 2020 on the third day of their new series of ‘mass rebellions.’ Climate change protesters converged on the British parliament on September 1, kicking off 10 days of demonstrations to be held across the country. AFP

New China law a ‘serious risk’ to HK freedoms CHINA’S national security law for Hong Kong poses a serious risk to the city’s freedoms and breaches international legal obligations, UN special rapporteurs on human rights have warned.

Beijing has faced a barrage of criticism over the law, which was imposed in late June after pro-democracy protests rocked the semi-autonomous city last year.

The law, which criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces, carries a maximum life sentence and has intimidated many protesters into silence.

In a letter made public Friday, the UN advisers warned parts of the legislation “appear to criminalize freedom of expression or any form of criticism” of China.

“The National Security Law... poses a serious risk that those fundamental freedoms and due process protections may be infringed upon,” the rapporteurs said.

The letter warned the legislation may “impinge impermissibly on the rights to freedom of opinion, expression and of peaceful assembly.”

KL drops 1MDB charges against Goldman Sachs

NATO meet on Navalny case T

HE poisoning of Alexei Navalny will be discussed at an urgent NATO meeting on Friday after European leaders threatened fresh sanctions against Moscow, which has furiously denied targeting the Russian opposition leader.

The 44-year-old lawyer, one of President Vladimir Putin’s chief critics, fell ill on a flight last month and was evacuated to Germany for treatment.

Western leaders have demanded answers from the Kremlin after Berlin said there was “unequivocal evidence” that he had been afflicted by the infamous Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.

The same substance was used against Russian ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury two years ago, and Germany’s claim prompted widespread condemnation.

Germany will brief a special meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at 12:30 p.m. Brussels time (1030 GMT), with the alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

to hold a press conference after it concludes.

The Skripal case – the first offensive use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II – prompted NATO to expel seven Russian diplomats in retaliation.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell earlier called on Moscow to cooperate with an international probe into the poisoning and said the 27-nation bloc would not rule out sanctions.

Brussels condemned “in the strongest possible terms the assassination attempt,” the Borrell statement said.

The EU said the use of chemical weapons “is completely unacceptable under any circumstances (and) constitutes a serious breach of international law and international human rights standards.” AFP

MALAYSIA has dropped criminal charges against Goldman Sachs over its role in the 1MDB scandal, a lawyer for the bank said Friday.

Billions of dollars were looted from sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad in a fraud that involved former prime minister Najib Razak and his cronies that spanned the globe.

The money was used to buy everything from expensive artwork to real estate and a massive luxury superyacht.

Goldman’s role came under scrutiny over bond issues totalling $6.5 billion it helped arrange for the investment vehicle, with Malaysia claiming large amounts were misappropriated during the process.

Authorities previously pursued all those involved in the scandal and filed charges against the Wall Street titan but state news agency Bernama reported that prosecutors told a Kuala Lumpur court they no longer intended to pursue them.

Hisyam Teh, a lawyer for the bank, confirmed to AFP that acquittal orders were granted.

Goldman last month paid Malaysia $2.5 billion as part of a settlement over its role in the scandal, with a guarantee that at least $1.4 billion in assets acquired with misappropriated funds would be recovered. AFP

Palau wants US military bases

Factfile on how nerve agents, including Novichok work to disrupt messaging between neurons and muscles. AFP

Highest Nile waters swamp Sudan ON SUDAN’S Tuti Island, where the Blue and White Nile meet, the highest river waters since records began have left people struggling to hold back the rising floods.

Wedged between the twin cities of Khartoum and Omdurman, people on Tuti fill bags with sand and small stones in an often futile bid to stop the lapping water from swamping their homes.

The world’s longest river is life-giving, but the Nile also brings misfortune and misery to many.

“Three days ago the water invaded my house around midnight,” said Swakin Ahmad, dressed in a red headscarf.

“We were knee-deep in it. My husband and I, with our five children, fled... carrying a few things in our hands.”

Every year during the rainy season the river floods, and the people of the island expect the waters to rise.

But nothing in the past compares to the floods of today, residents say.

“In previous years, we would leave our house for two months to live with friends,” Ahmad said.

“But this year that was impossible, because water had entered their homes too.”

Civil defense officials say that seasonal floods have killed 94 people, injured 46 and destroyed or damaged over 60,000 homes across Sudan during the current season.

The level of the Blue Nile has risen to 17.57 meters, the ministry of water and irrigation said this week, breaking all records since measurements began more than a century ago.

But many fear the worst is yet to come.

Heavy rains are forecast to continue through September, both in Sudan and upstream in neighbouring Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile. AFP

THE tiny Pacific nation of Palau has urged the United States military to build bases on its territory—which lies in a region where Washington is pushing back against growing Chinese influence.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited the island nation last week and accused Beijing of “ongoing destabilising activities” in the Pacific.

Palau President Tommy Remengesau later revealed he told Esper the US military was welcome to build facilities in his country, an archipelago about 1,500 kilometers east of the Philippines.

“Palau’s request to the US military remains simple – build joint-use facilities, then come and use them regularly,” he said in a letter to the US defense chief that his office released this week.

The note, addressed to Esper and marked “by hand delivery, Koror. Palau,” said the nation of 22,000 was open to hosting land bases, port facilities and airfields for the US military.

Remengesau also suggested a US Coast Guard presence in Palau to help patrol its vast marine reserve, which covers an area of ocean the size of Spain and is difficult for the tiny nation to monitor.

While Palau is an independent nation, it has no military and the US is responsible for its defense under an agreement with Washington called the Compact of Free Association.

Under the deal, the US military has access to the islands, although it currently has no troops permanently stationed there.

“We should use the mechanisms of the Compact to establish a regular US military presence in Palau,” Remengesau said. AFP

MASK UP. A large stuffed giraffe wearing a protective mask stands in the doorway of

FAO Schwarz at Rockefeller Center as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus in New York City. The fourth phase allows outdoor arts and entertainment, sporting events without fans and media production. AFP

Business PSEi September 4, 2020

B3

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

ALPS RAIL LINK. Swiss

TOP GAINERS

President Simonetta Sommaruga attends a press conference on September 3, 2020, in Camorino, southern Switzerland, on the eve of the inauguration of the Ceneri Base railway tunnel, a two singletrack, 15.4-km long tunnel, the final part of the New Railway Link through the Alps construction project by Swiss authorities for faster rail links across the Alps. The rail service is expected to start in December 2020.

AFP

TOP LOSERS

Market rises slightly; BDO, Ayala Land lead advances

MOST ACTIVE

S

TOCKS rose slightly Friday on a government report that the unemployment rate rated eased to 10 percent in July from a record high of 17.7 percent in April, suggesting the economy may have stopped its descent in the third quarter.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 12.23 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,785.09 on a value turnover of P5.4 billion. Losers, however, beat gainers, 104 to 77, with 51 issues unchanged.

The Philippine Statistics Authority said Thursday there were 4.6 million unemployed Filipinos in July, up by 2.1 million from the same period last year but down by 2.7 million from three months ago.

“The decrease in the unemployment rate means that some 2.7 million jobs re-

turned as the quarantine level eased. In addition, some 4.9 million workers rejoined the labor force. All in all, some 7.5 million jobs were restored,” acting NEDA Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said.

Major property developer Ayala Land Inc. climbed 4.8 percent to P28.20, while BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets, advanced 1.9 percent to P87.80.

Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-largest bank, however, fell 3.8 percent to P65, while Puregold Price Club Inc. of retail tycoon Lucio Co dropped 2.4 percent to P49.80 The rest of Asian markets fell deep into negative territory Friday following painfully deep losses on Wall Street, where the tech sector finally succumbed to profit-taking after months of mindboggling gains.

All three main indexes in New York suffered hefty selling but the tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way with global titans such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook among the worst hit.

And the red ink flooded into Asia Friday,

with tech firms again the whipping boys.

Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Mumbai, Jakarta and Wellington all sank more than one percent, while Sydney dropped more than three percent. Shanghai and Taipei were both off 0.9 percent off.

The drop had been expected after the Nasdaq climbed around 80 percent from its March trough, with analysts warning that valuations were growing increasingly out of sync with economic realities—Tesla has risen nearly 500 percent in the time and Apple more than 120 percent.

The rally had been propelled by expectations for strong earnings growth next year following fiscal and monetary stimulus measures and as the world economy recovers from the virus crisis.

“Given the market’s seemingly relentless climb higher on the back of the mega-cap tech names, it should be no surprise that a pullback was in the offing as the market became increasingly extended and overbought,” Quincy Krosby, at Prudential Financial Inc, said.

With AFP

New jobless claims in US drop on data adjustments WASHINGTON—New claims for unemployment benefits have dropped below one million in the United States for the second time since the coronavirus pandemic struck, although quirks in the data may account for the decline.

The Labor Department reported 881,000 new filings for aid in the week ended August 29, but the report is the first to use a new seasonal adjustment formula, which analysts say may account for much of the week-on-week drop.

Nonetheless, the result was better than expected. The data showed the insured unemployment rate fell 0.8 point to 9.1 percent with 13.3 million people receiving benefits in the week ended August 22, the latest for which data was available.

However, using non-seasonallyadjusted data, initial claims actually increased to 1.6 million from 1.4 million the week prior, including 759,482 people who filed last week under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program (PUA) aimed at those not normally eligible for such aid.

No matter how it is interpreted, the result was worse than any single week of the 2008-2010 global financial crisis, reflecting the ongoing damage from business shutdowns that began in the US in March in an effort to stem the pandemic.

“The fact that we still have all these people in the system looking for benefits just shows we have a large number of people not attaching to the labor force,” William Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO trade union federation told AFP. “We’re looking at long-term unemployment as a huge issue.”

Tens of millions of people have lost their jobs since the pandemic hit the world’s largest economy, but states’ efforts to reopen and the $2.2-trillion CARES Act stimulus package has been credited with spurring some rehiring.

A report from outplacement and coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday outlined the scope of job cuts in the US, showing a 231-percent surge compared to the same period of 2019, already surpassing the previous full-year record set in 2001. AFP

In derelict workers’ haven, Russians live in squalor G20 foreign ministers begin talks to ease current travel restrictions

By Marina Lapenkova TVER, Russia―An elegant complex of red-brick buildings, the “Proletarka” in the Russian city of Tver was designed as model housing for workers.

But a century later, its impoverished residents are living in squalor.

Built at the tail-end of the tsarist era, between 1858 and 1913, it was a city within a city, housing some 15,000 workers from a mill making cotton in Tver, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Moscow.

At the time, Russia had a thriving cotton industry, run by wealthy entrepreneurs, making colorful printed fabrics with a newly urbanized workforce.

After the Soviets seized power in 1917, the factory was renamed Tver Big Proletarian Manufactory, shortened in Russian to Proletarka, and the complex enjoyed its heyday as a selfcontained community with shops, a library, hospital, two swimming pools, a theater and even an observatory.

But, like with much of the communal housing that the Soviets set up across Russia, the Proletarka has become much less of a workers’ paradise since the 1991 collapse of the USSR. “Hundreds of people live here, often five to a room, with moldy walls and rusty, leaking pipes,” says Vladimir Mogilnikov, a 62-year-old pensioner, who has lived for four decades in the complex.

Residents share communal toilets, separated by flimsy shower curtains, and the ceilings are black with mold.

Children play together in the long corridors, escaping the cramped bedsits where their families live.

Housing crisis While the Proletarka stands out for its crumbling grandeur, the living conditions are nothing unusual in Russia, where many still live in communal flats, tumbledown wooden houses and long-unrenovated buildings due for demolition.

Official statistics are patchy, but according to housing ministry figures reported by newspaper Vedomosti, a third of Russia’s housing will need major repairs by 2045.

President Vladimir Putin has made the housing crisis one of the focuses

An aerial view of the Proletarka, a complex of red-brick buildings, in the city of Tver, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Moscow, on August 8, 2020. AFP

of his much-trumpeted “national projects,” with state financing helping to boost new housing construction to 120 million square meters by 2024, up from 86 million in 2018.

Those living in Proletarka say none of this money has so far made its way to their home.

“It’s in a scary state,” says Dmitry Gruzdkov, who gives tours of the district, pointing out local history and heritage―the complex is listed as a site of cultural significance in Russia.

An ambitious plan to regenerate the area over 10 years was put forward, he says, but never implemented because it would have cost twice as much as Tver’s entire annual budget.

There have been some private renovations, including the conversion of 200 flats and the former fire station into offices in 2016.

But this is a drop in the ocean for the vast estate.

The unrenovated parts of the complex are state-owned, meaning residents― who include many migrants from exSoviet states and people in insecure jobs―just have their bills to pay.

In the Soviet era, the Proletarka’s residential blocks were in high demand, as chronic housing shortages saw many living in communal accommodation.

Zinaida Ibragimova, a 69-year-old resident, remembers arriving at the complex 50 years ago as a collective farm worker from the Urals region.

Getting off the bus, she was amazed by the splendor of its red-brick facades.

‘Time stopped’ Sitting on a sofa in the cramped cubicle that is her home, Ibragimova says she was happy, even sharing a 12-square-meter (129-square-foot) room with three other factory workers and waiting her turn to use the toilet or cook in the kitchen.

“On holidays, we would set up a long table down the corridor. Back then, there were carpets and mirrors on the wall,” she says, smiling.

In the evening, the young women would go to the two swimming pools, the theater or the library.

After the fall of the USSR, working conditions worsened and Ibragimova had her wages paid in rolls of cloth, which she sold to a neighboring shop.

By the end of the 1990s, the factory had closed down―unable to compete against Chinese imports―and the Proletarka fell into disrepair.

Now its picturesque, unmodernized facades have become a draw for architecture enthusiasts and filmmakers.

“It’s become a ready-made location for filming,” says Mogilnikov, who is battling with local authorities to get the “forgotten people of Proletarka” rehoused.

Television director Igor Zaitsev used the buildings to film a series on Soviet gangsters, set in the late 1940s.

He even recruited some of the residents as extras, including Ibragimova.

“Those shabby facades and entrances, the broken windows: you’d think time had stopped,” Zaitsev says. AFP

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—G20 foreign ministers on Thursday sought international cooperation over easing travel restrictions and reopening borders, as months of coronavirus shutdowns exert a drag on the global economy.

National shutdowns of varying intensity and duration have taken a toll on livelihoods around the globe as businesses are shuttered, revenues plunge and millions are forced out of work.

“During the meeting, foreign ministers acknowledged the importance of opening borders, uniting families, and promoting measures to allow the economy to thrive,” the G20 group said in a joint statement.

The ministers also discussed the “importance of coordinating precautionary measures” across borders to protect lives and livelihoods, added the statement following a virtual meeting hosted

by Saudi Arabia.

The oil-rich kingdom, which has suspended international travel for months in a bid to limit the spread of the virus,

holds the G20 presidency this year.

“Reopening borders, in accordance with all the protective measures... will help our economies to thrive, people to prosper, and will of course bring hope for humanity,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan was quoted as saying in the statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said concerns were growing that the current travel restrictions “could outlast the immediate crisis.”

He urged the G20 ministers to agree on “common criteria” to lift the restrictions based on a scientific approach.

In his remarks at the meeting, he also implored the ministers to boost investment to support “safe travel,” including measures to enhance testing and tracing.

The meeting comes after a raft of recent economic data, from India to Europe, laid bare the toll from lockdowns as nations try to keep a lid on an illness that has killed more than 850,000 people and infected over 25 million. AFP

Oil industry placing risky bet on plastics LONDON, United Kingdom—Big oil producers are pinning their future growth on the world’s insatiable appetite for plastic, researchers said Friday, in a “bet” on society’s failure to tackle disposable consumption that risks stranding billions of dollars in petrochemical investments.

The industry has faced increasingly urgent questions in recent months about whether “peak” oil demand has been reached, with the coronavirus pandemic leading to a dramatic drop in transport fuel consumption, while cleaner energy makes ever greater headway.

But oil producers now see plastics as the biggest driver of future demand, according to a new report by financial think tank Carbon Tracker and sustainability and development group Systemiq.

Plastic production has increased around four percent every year since 2000, the report said, adding that most firms in the industry appear to expect that rate of growth to continue, driven mainly by emerging economies.

Plastics currently make up less than nine percent of oil demand, but the re-

port said they are the largest component of oil demand growth.

It said the industry now plans to invest at least $400 billion (337.8 billion euros) in the next five years to expand supply for so-called virgin plastics by a quarter, but warned that this risked huge losses for investors.

“The plastics industry, in its assumption of a doubling of demand for plastics in the next 10, 20 years or so, is making a bet that society will fail to find any solutions to reduce, substitute or recycle plastic,” said report author Kingsmill Bond, energy strategist at Carbon Tracker.

He told AFP N O T I C E that it was an Notice is hereby given “unreasonable that the estate of assumption to the late Erlinda Laro consisting of imagine that Espiritu, bank deposits under you could carry BDO account number on doing for the 0084-5015-8724. Has next 50 years been extra-judicially among her what you’ve settled only heir Cen Jamir done for the last E. Baltao, before the 70 years, which Notary Public atty is polluted with Leonardo S. Godinez” impunity.” AFP (MS-AUG. 29, SEPT. 5 & 12, 2020)

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

B4

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

Business

PSE INDEX

Thursday, September 4, 2020

12.23 PTS. 5,785.09

TOTAL VOLUME TOTAL TRADES

554,567,111 85,343

TOTAL VALUE ADVANCES

5,454,177,939.60 77

DECLINES UNCHANGED

104 51

F oreign e xchange r ate Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

48.5320

Japan

Yen

0.009422

0.4573

UK

Pound

1.328300

64.4651

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.129034

6.2623

Switzerland

Franc

1.099263

53.3494

Canada

Dollar

0.761847

36.9740

Singapore

Dollar

0.732654

35.5572

Australia

Dollar

0.727100

35.2876

Bahrain

Dinar

2.657878

128.992

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266645

12.9408

Brunei

Dollar

0.729980

35.4274

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000068

0.0033

Thailand

Baht

0.031827

1.5446

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

13.2139

Euro

Euro

1.185200

57.5201

Korea

Won

0.000839

0.0407

China

Yuan

0.146049

7.0881

India

Rupee

0.013626

0.6613

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.241255

11.7086

New Zealand

Dollar

0.670700

32.5504

Taiwan

Dollar

0.034154

1.6576 Source: BSP

Jollibee bullish, launches new stores in Boston and New York

By Jenniffer B. Austria RESTAURANT operator Jollibee Foods Corp. said Friday it continues to expand its store network in the United State with the reopening of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand in New York through franchisee Hudson River Coffee and Tea. Jollibee said in a statement its Smashburger brand also launched its newest store concept Boston.

“We are thrilled to bring back The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to New York and debut our latest store design for Smashburger in Boston.

We are happy to see that these two openings were met with very strong reception from local patrons despite the pandemic. This is a good indication that consumers will continue supporting brands that serve quality, great-tasting food and beverages,” said Jollibee chief executive Ernesto Tanmantiong.

Jollibee Group president for North America Rowel Vijandre said the company had been outperforming the US quick service restaurant industry.

“Smashburger has been doubledigit positive for the past three months across company owned stores with its online sales growing by 390 percent, while The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand has steadily grown since April despite the impact of the pandemic.

The Philippine brands—Jollibee, Chowking and Red Ribbon—have also performed well with Jollibee even seeing long queues with its recent openings. We thank our customers for patronizing our brands and we hope they’ll continue to support our future openings,” Vijandre said.

The reopening of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at 5 Green Avenue in Brooklyn on August 28 is the first of many planned openings through its New York-based franchisee.

“New York City is a competitive and highly desirable market for any coffee retailer and our opening in New York underscores our commitment to bringing our beloved beverages to more guests, and demonstrates our strength as a leading roaster and retailer of coffee and tea,” said The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf director of franchise operations Peter Vavra.

Jollibee earlier reported plans to open 338 stores worldwide on a very selective basis and in strategic locations across its brands to strengthen the business for the long-term.

The company expects The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand’s performance to improve by the 4th quarter of 2020 and become profitable by 2021.

2 1600

BSP-OJK COOPERATION. Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (Financial Services Authority of Indonesia) and the BangkoSentral ng

Pilipinas sign a memorandum of understanding on consultation, cooperation and exchange of information to discuss initiatives and promote the development of sound financial regulatory mechanisms in both jurisdictions. BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno (left) and OJK Chairman Wimboh Santoso present the signed agreement during a virtual bilateral meeting.

August inflation rate eased to 2.4% on lower food prices

By Julito G. Rada

I

NFLATION rate in August slowed to a three-month low of 2.4 percent from 2.7 percent in July on lower prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.

Data from the PSA, however, showed the August inflation was faster than 1.7 percent posted in the same month last year.

Inflation in the first eight months averaged 2.5 percent, within the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for 2020.

Dennis Mapa, national statistician and civil registrar general, said in a vir-

tual press briefing the slowdown in the heavily-weighted food index contributed largely to the slower inflation in August. He said the food index alone comprised around 35.5 percent, or a third of the CPI basket.

“There was a stable supply of food that is why inflation eased in August,” he said. Mapa said rice, meat, fish and vegetables all showed stable prices for the month.

Mapa also said there was no indication of a weakening spending power of Filipinos during the lockdowns in August. “Our reading is there is an abundant supply of food products,” he said.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said the August inflation was consistent with their expectation that it would remain benign over the policy horizon.

“The balance of risks tilts towards the downside owing largely to potential disruptions to domestic and global economic activity of the ongoing pan-

PMFTC opens first four IQOS outlets in Metro Manila PMFTC Inc., an affiliate of Philip Morris International, opened its first four IQOS stores in Metro Manila Friday to provide adult Filipino smokers who would otherwise continue to use cigarettes with smoke-free alternatives.

PMFTC President Denis Gorkun said while IQOS was initially made available in the country through several retail outlets as early as April this year, the opening of the four IQOS stores this month marked a significant step toward achieving the company’s vision of a smoke-free future.

“PMFTC’s vision is to help adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke to move away from cigarettes as quickly as possible and switch to a better alternative,” Gorkun said.

The company said the IQOS tobacco heating system will provide Filipino adult smokers 21 years old and above better alternatives to combustible cigarettes.

The innovative product includes an electronic device called IQOS that is used to heat tobacco sticks under the HEETS brand. The tobacco-filled sticks wrapped in paper are subjected to a patented heat-control technology that precisely heats without the burning process.

The IQOS HeatControl technology heats tobacco instead of burning it to deliver the taste of real tobacco.

PMFTC said the first four IQOS stores opened at Eastwood Mall in Libis, Quezon City; SM Mall of Asia in

THE Department of Trade and Industry proposed a P25-billion to P39billion industry support package for small, medium and large companies for the next three years.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the SMaRT program, or “Securing Manufacturing Revitalization and Transformation,” is performancebased, targeted, transparent and timebound.

“We’ve proposed this program to various stimulus packages. Unfortunately, because of the fiscal strain, the government’s limited budget cannot accommodate this program at this point in time,” he said during the second-day of the Metro Manila Business Conference.

The program will render technical

support to companies to level up to global competition.

Global value chain upgrading and adoption of industry 4.0 technologies to catalyze manufacturing growth and the economy will be supported by the program.

Other activities qualified for fiscal and non-fiscal support from SMaRT include commercialization of innovation and research and development; development of emerging industries, clusters and activities that would address gaps in supply value chains; and industrial development in rural areas.

The DTI said support would come in the form of soft loans, incentives which can be vouchers and/or tariff support, grants, subsidies and assistance standards.

Lopez said the DTI already approved P1.37-billion loans from

Globe obtains permits to build more cell sites

GLOBE Telecom Inc. said Friday it secured permits from local government units in several parts of Northern and Southern Luzon, the Visayas and in Mindanao to build more cell sites.

Globe said it obtained permits to build cell sites in Sto. Domingo, Agoo and Vigan in Ilocos Sur while permits were also secured in Sto. Tomas and Batangas City in Batangas province.

Globa said that in the Visayas, it got the green light to install cell towers in Toledo City, Cebu. In Mindanao, the network rollout will commence in Butuan City in Agusan Del Norte; Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur and Cagayan De Oro City in Misamis Oriental.

“We are very grateful for the support being given by these local government units.

As we have pointed out many times in the past, Globe is an ally of LGUs, especially during this time of the pandemic, as they look for ways to better serve their constituents in the new normal,” Joel Agustin, Globe senior vice president for program development of network technical group.

Darwin G. Amojelar

Isuzu PH registers 300,000 unit sales ISUZU Philippines Corp. said it hit milestone sales of 300,000 units since it started selling in the Philippines 24 years ago.

Isuzu president Hajime Koso said the company achieved the mark of 300,133 units in August, amid the industry-wide drop in sales because of the COVID-19 crisis.

“The company is honored to have achieved this milestone, and as we move towards the next, we vow to continue to provide business solutions and at the same time uphold local manufacturing contributing to the Philippine economy,” he said.

Isuzu attributed the milestone sales to the company’s wide range of commercial vehicles that serve as a reliable business solution to customers nationwide.

The company sold 241,389 light commercial vehicles and 58,744 commercial vehicles, since it started its operation in 1996.

Majority of the sold units were locally manufactured in their assembly plant in Laguna.

Othel V. Campos

GCash Save Money posts 900% growth

PMFTC opens four IQOS stores in the Philippines, including one at Estancia Mall in Pasig City that carries Philip Morris International’s line of smoke-free products, devices, heat sticks and a full range of accessories. The other IQOS stores are in Eastwood Mall in Libis, Quezon City; SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City; and SM Southmall in Las Piñas City.

Only persons 21 years old and above are allowed access to the stores.

Pasay City; SM Southmall in Las Piñas City; and Estancia Mall in Pasig City.

The stores carry PMI’s line of smokefree products, devices, heat sticks and a full range of accessories.

PMI, the Switzerland-based parent company of PMFTC, has invested more than $7 billion on research, development and production capabilities to create smoke-free products such as IQOS which are now available in several

DTI proposes P39-billion support to revitalize manufacturing

By Othel V. Campos

demic,” Diokno said.

Diokno said the BSP remained ready to deploy all available measures in its toolkit in fulfillment of its mandate as it continues to assess the impact of the pandemic to the economy.

ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa said that despite the downside surprise in the August inflation, the BSP would likely keep the policy rates “untouched” until 2021.

The PSA data showed that the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages declined at an annual rate of 1.8 percent during the period, from 2.4 percent in the previous month.

Other indices that posted lower inflation during the month were alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 17.7 percent; clothing and footwear, 1.9 percent; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, 3.9 percent; education, 0.1 percent; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 2.3 percent.

IN BRIEF

17,170 applications of small businesses nationwide that were seriously impacted by the COVID crisis.

Around 24,203 active applications were filed under the COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises or CARES program with a combined value of P3.76 billion.

Lopez said the government would continue to fund ways to accommodate request for loans especially from MSMEs. MMBC National Capital Region pooled together business people from the country’s prime metropolis to share and address the challenges faced by members in these unprecedented times.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized the MMBC in coordination with partner groups.

countries.

The United States Food and Drugs Administration on July 7, 2020 authorized the marketing of IQOS and heat sticks in the US with a reduced exposure claim adding that such issuance is appropriate for the promotion of public health.

IQOS is the first heated tobacco product to receive an exposure modification order in the US.

FILIPINOS have become more concerned about securing their personal finances during the pandemic, latest data from GCash, the leader and preferred mobile wallet in the Philippines, showed.

GCash Save Money, the mobile-first savings product of GCash, saw total transactions skyrocketing by 900 percent year-onyear in July, reflecting that Filipinos are now more mindful of saving money during these trying times.

Boosted by an exponential increase in deposits and withdrawals, GCash Save Money has helped millions of Filipinos own a personal savings account right through their mobile phones.

“We’re happy to see that GCash Save Money is growing at an exponential rate even during these challenging times. As Filipinos are now becoming more conscious of handling and managing their finances, GCash Save Money empowers its users to have democratized access to a savings fund that could potentially safeguard them from emergencies,” said GCash president Martha Sazon.

GCash Save Money functions as a normal savings bank account but unlike traditional banking, opening a savings account with GCash Save Money removes the hassle of providing a long list of documents and going to a physical bank branch.

6 tunnel boring machines arriving in Q1 to start works on subway rail

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE Department of Transportation said it expects the delivery of six tunnel boring machines from Japan in the first quarter of 2021 that will start the construction of the Metro Manila Subway Project.

It said the six TBMs manufactured

by JIM Technology Corp. in its factory in Tsurumi Prefecture would be used to build the country’s first underground mass transport system.

These will be delivered to the Philippines beginning January next year to start the construction of the partial operability section from Valenzuela City to North Ave. in Quezon City.

The department said the TBMs would be used to dig underground and lay the tunnels. They can excavate through a

variety of ground conditions, from hard rock to sand. The government will need 25 TBMs for the entire section of the project.

Secretary Arthur Tugade said in a virtual briefing that the project would generate 9,000 direct employment and 40,000 to 50,000 indirect jobs.

“The partial operability from Valenzuela to North Ave. in Quezon City will be December 2021, earlier than the target of February 2022,” he said.

Tugade said the entire line of the Metro Manila Subway would be completed by 2024 or 2025.

The DOTr began in December last year the clearing works and fencing activities in parts of Valenzuela City and Quezon City representing the partial operability section of the P355-billion project.

Sports

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

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

Anunoby’s buzzer-beater lifts Raptors past Celtics

The Toronto Raptors celebrate after OG Anunoby #3 of the Toronto Raptors shoots the game winning shot during the game against the Toronto Raptors during Game Three of the EasternHEAD Conference Semifiksd. nals CAPTION sdf dsjkfdjsf on 3, 2020 in Orlando, jfdsfSeptember sdkjf ksdfjsdf dsjfdsklf dskjfdsflds Florida at The Field House. AFP

Gymnastics in search of new venues THE facilities used to train gymnasts at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex have not been available for the last six months.

Since the lockdowns were put up to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, some of the venues inside the Vito Cruz venue are being utilized as isolation facilities those who have been afflicted

by COVID-19.

Because of this, the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines have decided to look for venues in Makati City so that athletes and members of the national team can resume their workouts.

GAP president Cynthia Carrion said they are getting help and support from Makati City Mayor Abby Binay on their plans.

“It’s been closed and there’s no training. So we have to put the athletes some place else. So, we’re finding a new gym in Makati,” said Carrion.

Binay was recently welcomed into the board of directors as head of the education and training committee, Carrion said the new set of officers are now involved their plans for a new facility, which is among the priorities they have in the development of its grassroots programs, and in winning the country’s first gold medal in the Olympics Carrion, who was reelected as president of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, said getting a fresh mandate is helping the new board get its act together.

“We have a lot of kids who want join and be gymnasts. But it’s difficult to get to Rizal Memorial at this time,” added Carrion.

Carrion said they are closely watching how Tokyo Olympicsbound gymnast Carlos Yulo continuously prepare in Japan in his bid to claim the country’s first Olympic gold And they are providing him the support he needs to from time to time. Peter Atencio

Probers to hand findings to Department of Justice

By Peter Atencio

T

HE tripartite body investigating the beleaguered men’s basketball team of the University of Santo Tomas for its health and safety protocol violations is elevating its findings to the Department of Justice.

The government panel known as the Joint Administrative Order group, composed of officials of the Philippine Sports Commission, the Games and Amusement Board and the Department of Health, made this decision following a meeting with the Commission on Higher Education.

The CHED, through chairman Prospero de Vera, felt that violations may have been committed when the Growling Tigers men’s basketball team held practices in Sorsogon, while lockdown protocols were still in place.

“It’s up to the DOJ to find merit on the actions to be taken by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases. This is for further investigation by the DOJ,” said national training director Marc Velasco of the PSC. De Vera discussed his findings after

C1

reading the report submitted by UST’s legal team during an online meeting last Tuesday.

“Medyo mabigat ang findings ng CHED. Mabigat,” added Velasco.

The group agreed to submit a report to the IATF on possible sanctions based on the report and inquiries done on the issue, according to Velasco.

Attending the online meeting of the JAO Group were PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez, CHED Chairman Popoy de Vera and GAB Chairman Baham Mitra, along with Rodley Carza of DOH. This comes a day after the Board of Managing Directors of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines decided to bring the matter to the UAAP Board of Trustees, composed of presidents of the member schools.

The BMD made a similar recommendation of conducting further inquiry and possible sanctions on the Growling Tigers and coach Aldin Ayo. “The discussion covered compliance with government-issued guidelines and protocols on the conduct of school and athletic activities during the community quarantine,” said the league in a statement.

The decision to hold Ayo responsible for holding a training camp without clearance from government authorities was unanimous, according to sources.

“Following a lengthy discussion, the UAAP BMD drafted its recommendations, which will be submitted to the UAAP Board of Trustees for review and approval,” said the BMD in a statement.

It will now be up to the Board of Trustees to discuss and decide what penalties to be slapped on the Tigers and Ayo. “The UAAP understands the gravity of the matter as it concerns the safety and well-being of student-athletes of a member-school,” said the board.

Sources said Ayo could face a minimum of six months of suspension or a possible lifetime ban.

MIAMI—OG Anunoby drained a buzzer-beating three-pointer as the Toronto Raptors resuscitated their NBA title defense Thursday with a 104-103 victory over the Boston Celtics.

Kyle Lowry, tasked with inbounding the ball with half a second on the clock and the Raptors down 103-101, lofted a perfect arcing pass over Boston’s towering Tacko Fall to Anunoby on the opposite sideline.

Anunoby set his feet and fired, and the Raptors narrowed the deficit in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series to 2-1.

“I expected to make it. I don’t shoot trying to miss ... I wasn’t surprised,” said Anunoby, who was mobbed by his teammates.

The Raptors avoided an 0-3 hole— from which no NBA team has come back to win a post-season series.

“The pass was nothing. OG made the shot,” said Lowry, who led the Raptors with 31 points, six rebounds and eight assists. “All the credit goes to the shot, man. That’s a tough shot. Give OG that credit.”

Fred VanVleet scored 17 of his 25 points in the second half and Pascal Siakam scored 14 of his 16 after the interval and Anunoby contributed 12 points for the Raptors, who battled back from a 57-47 halftime deficit.

“We scrapped and clawed and fought,” said Lowry. “We never quit.

In a fourth quarter that saw seven lead changes—neither team leading by more than four points—Boston looked set to take a stranglehold on the series when center Daniel Theis, fed by Kemba Walker’s savvy pass through traffic, slammed home a dunk for a 103-101 lead with 0.5 seconds on the clock.

During the ensuing timeout, Boston brought in Fall, who tops out at 2.26m, to defend the inbounds play, but he couldn’t hold back the 2019 champions.

“Much credit to those guys. That was a hell of a shot,” said Boston’s Walker, who led the Celtics with 29 points.

Jaylen Brown added 19 with 12 rebounds and Jayson Tatum chipped in 15, but Boston have a series on their hands now.

Game four is Saturday.

“One game at a time,” Lowry said of the Raptors’ mindset as they look to level the series in the NBA’s COVID-19 quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida.

“Great emotional moment right there (but) that’s over. Now we have to focus on the next game.” AFP

Guiao: Clark can host PBA ‘bubble’

By Jess Malabanan CLARK FREEPORT—With the National Basketball Association thriving in a playing atmosphere now known as the “bubble,” the Philippine Basketball Basketball have taken notice and would consider doing the same concept for its 45th season to push through.

One of the venues being considered is the Clark Freeport Zone.

“Three things. First, we have the rooms—the accommodation by hotels in Clark that can entail 12 teams. So that’s about 400 to 500 people,” NLEX Road Warriors’ coach Yeng Guiao said during a phone interview recently.

Clark is a premier business hub and a preferred tourist destination that is home to top-grade hotels that can potentially accommodate all 12 teams of the PBA. They include Marriott Hotel, Widus Hotel and Casino, Royce Hotel, Midori Hotel and a host of others. It is also host to the best golf courses in the country where players can enjoy the fairways in between games and practices.

“Second, Clark is gated. It is self-contained so safety and health protocols can be easily implemented there,” Guiao added.

According to Guiao, the accessibility of Clark is also a huge factor.

“Third is proximity. It’s close to Manila and other places as well. In case one of the players has a family emergency, they can easily get out of the bubble so it’s a factor,” Guiao continued.

When asked about the chances of Clark being chosen as a venue, Guiao said that it would depend on the decision of the PBA board of governors and the office of the commissioner.

PBA out-of-town games in Pampanga are usually held at Angeles University Foundation Sports and Cultural Center.

In the past, coach Guiao also pushed for Clark as a venue of the 30th Southeast Asian Games and the Olympics.

“We already saw it last year. Some games happened in Clark. Again, for the same reason, because it is conveniently located, there are plenty of open spaces, we have the facilities—first-class hotels, we have the expertise—people who are

NLEX Road Warriors (from left) Cyrus Baguio, Asi Taulava and Mike Miranda are shown training separately.

highly educated and know how to handle such sporting events and we also have a lot of sports fans there,” Guiao said.

The concept of the PBA bubble is patterned after the NBA model, wherein all players from every team including staff, officials and other people involved will stay in a “bubble”.

This means that everybody inside the bubble will have no physical contact with other people outside of it, including their families. The players will be housed in one hotel and will be transported to practice venues until the games are over.

Guiao said the PBA Board of Governors and Commissioner Willie Marcial are “thinking seriously” in carefully considering all probable venues.

The Apprentice: ONE Championship set for local airing

Brandon Vera

FILIPINO fans can now follow ‘The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition’ on Free-to-Air TV when the episodes kick off early next year.

ONE Championship announced on Thursday, 3 September, that ‘The Apprentice’ will air locally on TV5. In other parts of the region, it will air on AXN. The show further solidifies the broadcast partnership between the two entities. TV5 and their sports subsidiaries One Sports and One Sports+ became The Home Of Martial Arts’ official partner in the Philippines in July, when ONE Championship returned to action with ONE: NO SURRENDER. On ‘The Apprentice,’ 16 contestants from different parts of the world will compete in a high-stakes game of business and

physical challenges. The winner gets a $250,000 job offer and the rare opportunity to be the protege of ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

Several athletes and guest CEOs are also slated to appear on the show, giving a fresh twist to the world-famous TV franchise.

Filipino-American star and ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera banners the list alongside ONE Flyweight Grand Prix World Champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee, Indian wrestling World Champion Ritu “The Indian Tigress” Phogat, Karate World Champion “Super” Sage Northcutt, and ONE Women’s Straw-

weight World Champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan. Over on the business end, the confirmed guest CEOs so far are Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose, Catcha Group and iFlix CEO Patrick Grove, Grab CEO Anthony Tan, and Everise CEO Sudhir Agarwal.

‘The Apprentice’ is one of the world’s most popular non-scripted reality TV programs in history in which contestants compete for a job offer with a high-profile CEO. It has aired in over 120 countries. The first season of ‘The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition’ will consist of 13 episodes.

In the meantime, catch the previously recorded ONE: A NEW BREED II on September 11 by downloading the ONE Super App.

C2

Tech & Gadgets

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

AI-based BantAI COVID helps in fight vs coronavirus scourge

A

MONTH since its launch as a pilot project in Quezon City, the AI-powered free SMS platform BantAI Covid system is now proving to be an effective tool in combating the coronavirus pandemic, thereby complementing the citywide effort to flatten the curve.

Developed by a group of medical practitioners, headed by Dr. Loysa Orense, President of VIREO LOADWORKS, INC., the AI-powered system utilizes the SMS platform in contact tracing triaging, monitoring and providing telemedicine and referrals to hospitals and quarantine to suspected and probable cases of COVID-19.

This was the solidarity response of the Quezon City Local Government, Philippine Medical Association, Quezon City Medical Society, and Vireo Loadworks under the BantAI Covid project.

Under the BantAI Covid, the COVID-positive close contacts are enrolled by the City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit after the RT-PCR testing, then the system will be contact tracing and monitoring daily the symptoms via SMS for all in-home quarantine suspected and probable cases, and send daily reminders on health protocols. In addition, health coaches and doctor volunteers from the Philippine Medical Association will triage both the symptomatic and identified COVID depending on the symptom and co-morbidities and consequently, make referrals to hospitals or quarantine facilities managed by the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERTS) whenever necessary.

Capable of operating and responding remotely, the system is accessible to individuals with cellphones, with or without Internet, across all network service providers. This also enables the system to do away with face-to-face contact between health workers and the enrollees of the program.

“The services provided can help patients, their families and close contacts manage mild COVID-19 cases at home. This way, they could receive timely medical advice and help contain the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, hospitals and healthcare facilities will not be burdened for cases that could be managed at home while those in need of hospitalization can be given proper attention,” said PMA President Dr. Benito Atienza.

With analytics in place, the system is able to provide data real time per barangay, per district and citywide that is made available and accessible 24/7. As a result, “the local government can monitor if there’s a sudden surge in cases in a certain area, in any given time. And this makes for sound decisions where resources will be allocated and utilized,” added Dr. Loysa Orense.

The data that is generated by the BantAI Covid

CONSTRUCTION activities in the country were halted when enhanced community quarantine protocols were put into place earlier this year, affecting large scale operations and businesses. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine government announced a robust pipeline of infrastructure projects for 2020 under the Build, Build, Build program. The program included building various infrastructures to aid economic growth: airports, roads, bridges, highways, ports, and others. Even these had to be put on hold.

But with the easing of restrictions, and with public and private construction projects being allowed under general community quarantine to reopen the economy, many infrastructure works have resumed. The reactivation of these projects plays an important role in the economic recovery of the Philippines.

Safety First

Shown here are (from left) Dr. Benito Atienza, President, Philippine Medical Association; Dr. Loysa Orense, President Vireo Loadworks, Inc. and Dr. Hector Santos, Secretary General, Philippine Medical Association.

system is very important to guide our medical experts and policymakers in crafting strategies in dealing with the containment of the spread of Covid-19.

“The analytics that the BantAI COVID has is a first in the world. It is very extensive” said Atty. Bu Castro, Ethic Committee, Philippine Medical Association “This is a helpful technological tool that has contributed in our contact tracing efforts. Moreover, we need to make decisions based on data from this platform. I also embrace this technology to ease the burden of our front liners, and the patients as well. When there’s isolation during the quarantine and there’s a health professional looking out for you, someone who cares and coaches you, for me, that’s very important, and this technology helped us fill that gap. One of the most important tools that we have embraced, one of

the greatest decisions I’ve made as the local chief executive of Quezon City is to say yes to BantAI COVID ” said

by Mayor Joy Belmonte. “I would also like to stress the importance of public-private partnerships at this time. The government cannot do this alone, we need the expertise, the skill set and the commitment of the private sector in our effort to overcome the Covid pandemic,” the Mayor added.

“We are proud to introduce this to the public as one of the best practices in this global pandemic, providing an end to end solution to the city, something we would like to bring to other areas infected with COVID. We thank Mayor Joy Belmonte and Quezon City Medical Society who believed in us and allowed us to contribute what we can in this pandemic, together we fight, together we beat COVID-19, ” said Dr. Loysa Orense in response.

Globe bags multiple awards at Frost & Sullivan 2020 GLOBE Telecom—through its enterprise arm, Globe Business bagged another set of outstanding awards from global business and consulting firm, Frost & Sullivan.

Adding to its expanding list of accomplishments, the telco giant was declared the recipient of 2020 Philippines Data Center Service Provider of the Year and 2020 Philippines IoT Service Provider of the Year.

Frost & Sullivan Vice President, Richard Wong, penned in his letter to Globe, “With its strong overall performance, Globe Telecom has earned the 2020 Philippines Data Center Service Provider of the Year and 2020 Philippines IoT Service Provider of the Year. [The award] is the result of many individuals (employees, customers, and investors) making daily choices to believe in the organization and contribute in a meaningful way to its future.

Globe continues to effectively build its credibility as a solutions provider and trusted business advisor with its thriving list of digital services and internationally-renowned partners. To date, Globe has six commercial data centers spread across the country to serve businesses' data-hosting needs, providing secure colocation, office amenities, and high-speed internet connections for mission-critical operations. The telecom company

also offers a diverse range of digital solutions such as mobile, voice, internet, Cloud, cybersecurity, and business applications that strengthen its IoT’s presence in the country and empower enterprises in their digital transformation.

Araneta City beefs up virus response A SAFETY initiative implemented three years ago has allowed Araneta City to come prepared in responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

In 2017, Araneta City started installing energy-conserving Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) modules for air sanitation at the Gateway Mall and Gateway Tower.

UVGI, installed in an establishment's air handling unit, uses UV light to kill or inactivate microorganisms that may be harmful to human health. A total of 48 UVGI modules were installed in Gateway Mall and 92 UVGI modules in Gateway Tower for improved indoor air quality to match most commercial establishments.

Araneta City partnered with MSL Global Corporation, a local company that specializes in innovative ventilation solutions focusing on UVGI as its core technology. The company has been promoting ASPIRO UVGI in the Philippines since 2011.

By March 2020, COVID-19 began spreading in the country, compromising health security and daily life operations. While it was initially believed that the virus is spread through close contact, a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) in July confirmed that airborne viral transmission is also

CEMEX Holdings PH takes pride in safe, digital culture

possible in indoor settings.

The WHO finding supported the position document of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) in April, which recommended ventilation-related strategies—which include UVGI —to mitigate the spread of virus indoors.

Araneta City's foresight has played a contributing role in its preparation for scenarios such as the COVID-19 pandemic. As validated by AHRAE's position document, Gateway Mall and Gateway Tower came ready in terms of robust indoor air management. The UVGI initiative program started years ago now complements the City of Firsts' safety guidelines and protocols to keep the Gateway properties safe for shoppers and tenants.

"With the UVGI modules, we now embrace a 'multi-barrier approach' for viral transmission control. Apart from our efforts to educate people with proper hygiene and to put in place government-mandated safety measures, we have also utilized energy-efficient technology as an additional intervention for preventing the spread of virus at Araneta City. Indeed, safety comes first at the City of Firsts," according to Mr. Antonio Mardo, Senior Vice President for Operations.

“This award comes at the right time for Globe,” shared Peter Maquera, Senior Vice President for Globe Business. “With the sudden shift in business environments, not to mention the challenges the telecom industry faces, these awards remind our teams that passion for genuine service pays off tremendously. We hope that these achievements will inspire our customers to keep partnering with us to build a digitally transformed nation.”

Apart from the awards mentioned, Globe also received recognition from Frost & Sullivan as 2020 Philippines Mobile Data Service Provider of the Year and 2020 Philippines Telecom Service Provider of the Year. The telco continues to pursue enhanced services by pushing for accelerated network roll-out to lay the groundwork for first-world internet in the Philippines.

Experience, expertise, and world-class solutions— these are only a few of the things that make us a trusted partner for businesses. Get in touch with us to find out how we can support your journey towards a digital future. Contact your dedicated Globe Business Account Manager or visit our website for more information about our products and services.

Cement manufacturer CEMEX Holdings Philippines carefully studied the new and complex requirements that the pandemic has presented, and the company armed itself well enough.

As a global organization, CEMEX puts health and safety as top priority.

The company proactively adapts strict health and safety protocols even prior to the pandemic. As operations transitions into the ‘new normal’, more than 50 safety protocols in line with the World Health Organization standards, were added to further strengthen these initiatives.

“Our number one priority is the health and safety of our employees, clients, suppliers and communities. It has been for many years,” said CEMEX Philippines President & CEO Ignacio Mijares. With the current pandemic, health and safety have not just been priorities, but have become the driving force for continuity. “We know that before anything else, we must care for our employees, our clients and our communities. Our employees understand that our clients’ wins are their wins, too, so with their help, we can continue being able to contribute to the success of the clients we serve. It is then a must that we keep them safe and healthy at all times,” he added.

CEMEX, in addition to government guidelines, added vital measures to its already existing stringent protocols to help mitigate the spread of the virus. In these past months, the company made proactive steps in reinforcing workplace safety, minimizing human-to-human contact, supplementing personal equipment for employees, creating thorough sanitary stations, and executing more frequent disinfection of its sites, facilities and vehicles.

The company also implemented its Behaviors that Save Lives campaign which includes regular temperature readings, frequent washing of hands, wearing of face masks and PPEs, two-meter physical distancing, proper respiratory hygiene, among others.

CEMEX actively enjoins the entire workforce to adhere to these for the protection and well-being of the company and the people it serves.

Rep. Villar donates tablets to Las Piñas teachers PUBLIC schools in Las Piñas City are gearing up as they get ready for distance learning.

Las Piñas Lone District Rep. Camille Villar donated mobile tablets to the Las Piñas City National Senior High School-Talon Dos Campus which teachers can use for holding virtual classes and for making their video lesson learning modules.

"This will give teachers access to technology needed during this period," Villar said.

She also gave face masks and face shields to the school.

Just last month, Villar donated three RISO machines to DepEd-Las Piñas which would be used for the printing of modular learning program materials of various schools.

The congresswoman said this was just an initial batch of donations to the Education sector as she vowed to help them during this crisis.

"We are aware of the various challenges that teachers, children and their parents are facing that is why we are doing this to help facilitate learning as schools go online, we are

Turnover donation of tablets

dedicated to helping in any way we can," Villar pointed out.

Face-to-face classes are not yet allowed and the Education department would be adopting modular distance learning to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Public schools are due to reopen on October 5.

Present at the turnover were Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Joel Torrecampo, Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Juan Obierna, Las Piñas City National Senior High School principal Jennifer Erispe, and Education Program Specialist II-Schools Mobilization and Networking head Raygeinald Villacorta.

Tech & Gadgets

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

Firms must commit to employees’ wellbeing to boost cybersecurity R

EGARDLESS of a company’s product or service, nothing comes close to employees as the organization’s most valuable asset in bringing in revenue. In the same breath, it’s also the employees that are the perennial apple of the eyes of cybercriminals to help them bring home the bacon. Exploiting human weaknesses like inattention, ignorance or negligence has proved to be easier and cheaper than trying to fool sophisticated protection software.

a crisis strikes, make sure they get information first from you than from external sources.

2. Provide employees with an emergency preparedness plan early on.

This will empower the people and will help lessen their possible panic and stress over the incident. A recent Kaspersky report revealed that almost

tivirus software installed on their personal computers, there is now more responsibility on employers to offer the right protection solutions.

Additionally, just half (53%) of workers say they are using a VPN to access their employer’s network when working from home. This could potentially be leaving corporate information and files

Company size and industry doesn’t even matter—cyber attacks are usually productive leaving business owners hurting with losses.

To manage the damaging effects of a single data breach, a small to medium business (SMB) spends an average of $101,000 (5.050 million pesos) while an enterprise company shells out a whopping $1.057 million (52.850 million pesos), according to the most up to date Kaspersky data.

“Historically, the human factor has been the organization’s weakest link in any cybersecurity incident. And regardless of how advanced your security technology is—just one careless or clueless move by an employee will put the whole organization at risk. But today’s working environment as impacted by COVID-19 may potentially up the ante as far as cybersecurity risks are concerned,” said Mary Grace Sotayco, Kaspersky territory manager for the Philippines.

According to the cybersecurity company, working remotely means companies have less control over IT security such as in situations when employees are not issued corporate devices. In the Philippines, the bring-your-own device (BYOD) approach is pervasive within the small and medium sector due to cost issues.

With the pandemic, Kaspersky said it’s business as usual for cybercriminals who are also working from home.

These nefarious groups have been active since the second quarter of this year as brute-force attacks on database servers were monitored to have increased by 23%, malicious files planted on websites were up by 8%, and network attacks and phishing rose.

But a bigger threat to any businesses during this period is not the lack or insufficient technical cybersecurity knowhow of its employees but their wellbeing.

A recent survey on the mental health of remotely working Filipino employees during quarantine revealed that adjusting to the new normal and isolation are leaving employees stressed, anxious, and depressed.

The cybersecurity company said despite being considered the weakest link, businesses can start looking at their employees as their first line of de-

half of employees don’t know how to respond to ransomware attacks. Another study from the cybersecurity company revealed nearly three-quarters (73%) of workers say they have not had any additional IT security awareness training after they switched to working from home full-time.

3. Equip WFH employees with protection solutions for their devices.

In the Philippines, Kaspersky has an ongoing limited offer for enterprises which will allow their employees to have internet protection software at discounted pricing. Most SMBs would benefit from this since the BYOD practice has been worrisome for 48% of businesses because they acknowledge that devices are shared for personal and work use. This is a particular concern for 57% of small businesses.

In a study conducted by Kaspersky in April 2020, it showed that only a third (32%) of businesses have provided their employees with antivirus software to use on personal devices for work purposes since the transition began. While 86% of respondents say they have an-

vulnerable to cyberattacks, or accessible to people outside of the business.

4. Put in place a good workload management.

Against the backdrop of this global crisis, most employees these days identify burnout as their biggest stressor, according to professional feedback platform blind. The study cited the following reasons as reasons for burnout: no separation between work (27%), unmanageable workload (20.5%) and job security concerns (19%).

5. Provide psychological and social support.

When your staff feel they’re being supported enough by the company, this validates their contributions and their performance is enhanced. In an article by the World Health Organization, Switzerland-based neurologist Dr. Konstantinos Petsanis says that stress behavior in general brings a lot of problems. He affirms that if mental health needs are addressed as soon as possible, there will be fewer work-related errors and issues and there will be less stress and panic among the staff.

fense instead to bolster their defenses.

Kaspersky says it’s possible for business owners to achieve this by prioritizing their employees’s wellbeing immediately.

“We have always advocated for businesses to provide technical support to their entire organization. But we’re currently in a different situation and the logical step forward is to ensure that workfrom-home teams are not only supported in their technical knowledge on security but are also assisted in terms of their wellbeing. When employees remain calm and collected, work-related human error is significantly minimized. We strongly recommend organizations to pay extra attention to their staff’s mental health to boost their team’s resilience at this time,” added Sotayco.

While breaches are unavoidable, its impacts can be kept to a minimum.

Kaspersky offers the following tips for businesses during these times: 1. Keep communication lines open, communicate more and sincerely.

Your people will need and appreciate your transparency. In case

"As the next step in our work with public health authorities on Exposure Notifications, we are making it easier and faster for them to use the Exposure Notifications System without the need for them to build and maintain an app," Apple and Google said.

Apple and Google have emphasized that the program protects user privacy and requires participants to opt-in in jurisdictions where the system is employed.

"Exposure Notifications Express provides another option for public health authorities to supplement their existing contact tracing operations with technology without compromising on the project's core tenets of user privacy and security," Apple and Google said.

"We are committed to supporting public health authorities that have deployed or are building custom apps."

Schneider Electric equips hospitals to effectively serve patients SCHNEIDER Electric, the global leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has been helping hospitals in the Philippines address challenges brought about by COVID-19 pandemic, as well as effectively capacitating them in the longer-term.

“Schneider Electric has been at the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic by providing technical expertise, guidelines, automation, and monitoring options for isolation rooms and prefabricated modular intensive care units. We do this by collaborating with designers, consultants, and partners to ensure that solutions more than meet requirements while being compliant to standards,” explains Tony Kang, Business Vice-President for Secure Power at Schneider Electric Philippines.

As hospitals are critical facilities with 24/7 operations, its owners and operators must consider facility uptime, energy use, and energy efficiency. Through its digital energy management systems, Schneider Electric helps maintain efficient heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, as well as electrical distribution, information technology, and security systems in hospitals. The company also provides back-up power in the event of power outages and other disruptions.

“Through Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Healthcare platform, we are able to provide end-to-end solutions for the digitization and transformation of hospitals. We connect different equipment and hospital systems, monitor realtime operations from a single dashboard, collect and analyze data, and take action on potential critical challenge, leveraging on the power of the Internet of Things,” shares Kang.

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Healthcare platform has three levels.

First, Connected Products have embedded connectivity and intelligence, designed to retrieve and send data to the edge computing layer. Second, Edge Control contains an integrated suite of software applications for building, power, and IT management, all of which enable hospitals to maximize efficiency and business performance. Third, Apps, Analytics & Services, would take all the data gathered and turn it to actionable information across the entire hospital infrastructure. By collecting data from the sensors in connected devices, Schneider Electric’s predictive analytics and experts can identify potential issues in a hospital, as well as provide recommendations for enhanced efficiency.

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab S7, Tab S7+ now available in PH

Google, Apple to install contact tracing directly on smartphones NEW YORK—Apple and Google plan to directly integrate contact-tracing software into smartphones as they aim to broaden a jointly developed initiative to combat the coronavirus.

The technology, first launched in April on Apple's iOS software and Google's Android system, is meant to alert people through their smartphones when they come into contact with a person infected by the coronavirus.

However adoption has been slow in the United States, with only a handful of states building smartphone apps that work with the system.

Under the change, public health authorities will be able to use the company's program without building their own apps, and people who sign up for the service will not need to download a separate stand-alone app to use the system.

C3

BEGINNING today, the new and powerful SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+ are available through Samsung’s Online Store, Samsung Authorized Stores, and partner merchants.

Power to work and play

Those looking for a device that can seamlessly manage the mix of work and play will be sure to enjoy the array of cutting edge features such as a new and improved S Pen with ultra-low latency. This is best paired with the device’s 120Hz display refresh rate for the

drawing. ultimate experience, be it in writing or drawing The device also has the improved Samsung Notes app that allows users to easily create, edit, and share their ideas across their tablet, phone, or Windows 10 PC. Samsung Notes also features Audio Bookmark, which allows one to record lectures or meetings while writing, and then sync the two together. Just like the Galaxy Note20, the device is also capable of turning messy handwriting into legible penmanship.

Further expanding what one can do for productivity and entertainment, the device’s Samsung DeX feature provides a wireless means to produce a second screen through a monitor or TV. Whether it’s note-taking, drawing, watching videos, or playing the most intense games, the Tab S7 series provides an immersive and enjoyable experience through its large display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and quad speakers tuned by AKG and sound by Dolby Atmos. The Galaxy Tab S7 comes with an 11-inch LTPS Display, while the Galaxy Tab S7+ comes with a 12.4-inch Super AMOLED display.

For capturing high-quality photos and videos, both the Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+ come

with a 13MP Main and 5MP Ultra Wide camera with flash as well as an 8MP front camera. With the Book Cover Keyboard, now improved with a larger touchpad and intuitive function keys, users are in for a PC-like experience with a single tap.

The Galaxy Tab S7 is priced at P47,990 (available in Mystic Black or Mystic Silver) while the Galaxy Tab S7+ retails at P63,990 (available in Mystic Black and Mystic Bronze). Both LTE-capable models will come with an S Pen, a FREE Book Cover Keyboard and FREE 4 months ad-free Youtube Premium.

Customers can also avail of the Galaxy Tab S7+ via 0% installment plans of up to 36 months when they use their Citibank credit card and the Galaxy Tab S7 up to 24months for BDO, BPI, Citibank, PNB, Metrobank, and Security Bank credit cards. They may also opt to trade-in their old device to the new Galaxy Tab S7 or S7+ and get up to a P6,000 additional discount through Samsung’s Trade In, Save Up program.

To know more about the Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+, visit samsung.com/ph .

realme C12: A pleasant surprise

By Jessica Luna MANY users list battery power as one of their top requirements when choosing a smartphone. They are the ones who frown at the use of power banks and want their phones capable of “serving” them straight for days.

Good news to them—realme Philippines has released the latest of its battery-powerhouse C-series, the realme C12, which packs a 6,000mAh Mega Battery that can support intensive use.

Our test unit lasted two days for playing some games, watching some videos, calling, surfing on the net, sending emails and more. That is impressive.

But battery power isn't just its strongest suit.

The realme C12 also brought out an all-around experience with its ability to handle multiple tasks, such as “casual gaming and entertainment,” what with its Helio G35 Process powering its “engine.”

The realme C12 is also equipped with a 13MP AI triple-camera setup for quality snaps, a 5MP selfie camera for a crystal-clear selfie, and an immersive 6.5-inch extralarge screen for an excellent game, audio and visual experience.

Taking photos with vivid colors and sharp tones and lines, the realme C12 didn’t disappoint and is a pleasant surprise to customers

looking for something different.

My cat photos prove this.

Our verdict? realme C12 is a pleasant surprise in the intensely competitive budget phone market. And its very affordable price of P5,990 certainly makes it more enticing. realme C12 specifications: 6.5inch IPS LCD display | Realme UI based on Android 10 | MediaTek Helio G35 processor | Triple rear cameras (13MP + 2MP B/W + 2MP) | 5MP front camera | 6000mAh battery | 10W charging support | rear mounted fingerprint sensor | Gorilla Glass support on the front | Polycarbonate back | MicroUSB support For exclusive updates and announcements, visit the realme

Philippines' official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts with the handle @ realmePhilippines.

Motoring

RAMON L. TOMELDAN Editor

C4

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

Rolls-Royce R launches new Ghost amid virus worries

By Véronique Dupont

OLLS-ROYCE launched its eagerly-awaited new “Ghost” model on Tuesday, even as the luxury carmaker’s chief warned that coronavirus would impact the automotive market for several years.

The new model, complete with a 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 engine, minimalist design, and even a branded umbrella, will cost some £222,000 (250,000 euros, $298,000).

Nevertheless, the lure of a new status symbol car for the super-rich would not be enough to soften the blow of the pandemic in the short-term, the group warned.

“We expect COVID-19 to remain (a difficulty) for some time, until a vaccine is available,” said Rolls-Royce Managing Director Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes in a telephone interview with AFP. “In the medium term, I would say within three years, we should be back to normal, and even better than normal.”

Like the rest of the car market, luxury brands have suffered during the pandemic, and Rolls-Royce is no exception.

“Of course we have been affected,” said Mueller-Oetvoes.

“On the one hand, LAPPED IN LUXURY. A handout studio photograph released by Rolls-Royce on September many of our partners 1, 2020 shows their new “Ghost” car. Rolls-Royce, one of the most emblematic brands in the automotive around the world, world, is counting on its new Ghost model, to help it overcome the Covid-19 slump. AFP

our dealers, have been forced to close”, while at the same time “we have seen a large number of potential customers reconsider their purchasing decision”, he said.

Rating agency Moody’s has forecast a fall of 14 percent in the global automotive market this year.

A rebound was “likely” in 2021, but Moody’s cautions that that depends on how quickly the pandemic reaches its peak.

- ‘Cautiously optimistic’ In the first half of this year, RollsRoyce’s sales fell by 30 percent compared with the same period in 2019, said Mueller-Oetvoes, but pointed out that last year was a “record” year.

However, he noted that Rolls-Royce had not implemented any lay-offs during the pandemic and remained “cautiously optimistic” for next year.

The launch comes at an interesting time for Rolls-Royce, which has sought in recent years to reposition itself in the market.

“We have massively rejuvenated the brand over the past 10 years and the average age of our customers is 43,” said Mueller-Oetvoes.

Founded at the beginning of the 20th century, the emblematic British brand was bought by German car giant BMW in 1998.

And as well as the coronavirus, Rolls-Royce faces another immediate challenge -- Brexit. AFP

Ferrari trapped in a ‘storm’ as Monza home race looms ERRARI boss Mattia Binotto has admitted that Formula One’s most successful team were trapped in a “storm” as they head towards their home Italian Grand Prix next weekend – but he rejected talk of a crisis.

After another disappointing outing in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix where Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc finished 13th and 14th, Binotto said Ferrari needed “reaction and determination” and had to remain united.

“I think it is wrong to use the word crisis for the moment we are going through,” he explained.

“Certainly, this is a very bad result within a difficult season that we are experiencing, but we knew it was coming.

“We saw it in winter testing and then came ‘the freeze’ and the impossibility to develop the car.”

Ferrari’s 2020 slump reached a new low on Saturday when after Vettel wound up last in third and final practice, the team faced the prospect of failing to progress from Q3 in qualifying.

That would have been an ignominious failing as a ‘works team’ from the sport’s oldest and most celebrated competitor, particularly if their customer teams – Alfa Romeo and Haas – had out-performed them.

Instead, the ‘scarlet scuderia’ pulled

themselves together and scrambled through to Q2 and were beaten in the race only by one customer car driver – their own old boy 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, of Alfa Romeo, who was 12th.

Binotto blamed the unique characteristics of the long and majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit for Ferrari’s problems last weekend and said the team had to use their feelings of bitterness and frustration to overcome them.

‘Bitterness and frustration’ “We all take responsibility for this situation,” he told Sky Italia.

“I take that, as team principal, as well as all those who work at Maranello. We’re all in the same boat.

“But although the team is in the middle of the storm, we are very united. There is no crisis. No tension… There is bitterness and frustration in each of us, but I believe that this frustration must be transformed into reaction and determination.”

He added that he felt for the ‘tifosi’, who will not be in attendance at Monza as F1 continues the 2020 season behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We understand the fans. We are very sorry. We are the first to admit it and we are sorry for them too. What is happening, in fact, is that we have a car that has lost power just as all the engine manufacturers have lost it. AFP

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel at Spa-Francorchamps at the weekend

FASTLANE

Hino dealers in Balintawak, Pasig get upgrades

PH team named best in aftersales

by Hyundai commercial vehicles FOR the third straight year, Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (Commercial Vehicles ) was recognized by Hyundai Motor Company as the Best in Aftersales Operations 2020, besting over 50 distributors of Hyundai Trucks and Buses worldwide.

The recognition was based on several criteria, covering service operations, warranty, quality information rating, network coverage, quality of technicians, and parts.

Setting the global standard in customer service, HARI CV also took home the Hyundai Customer Index Top Score 2020 with a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 91 out of 100 or 44% higher than the worldwide network average. NPS measures customer experience and future business growth. A high NPS indicates that customers have been converted into loyalists who will keep on buying Hyundai CV products and recommend these to others.

“We are truly honored to receive these awards, especially during these trying times, since they highlight HARI’s promise to meet and exceed customer expectations. More importantly, it confirms that Filipino customer service, ingenuity and malasakit are a cut above the rest. This is a win we should all be proud of,” HARI

STAYING committed to providing highly reliable products and services, Hino Balintawak and Hino Pasig dealers stay abreast of the needs of their customers by upgrading their facilities. This initiative is supported by Hino Motors Philippines (HMP), the exclusive distributor of Hino trucks and buses in the country, as it cements the brand’s Total Support promise.

With different parts of the nation adopting varying state-mandated community health protocols, transportation has become a common concern among commuters and enterprises. Taking into account the rising need for modes of transportation, local market assessments and route considerations, HMP, has extended full support to both the Balintawak and Pasig dealerships in enhancing its overall service to be able to provide its consumers a more seamless experience

President and CEO Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said.

This is another milestone for HARI since it was granted the sole distributorship of Hyundai Trucks and Buses in 2016. In 2017 and 2018, HARI bagged the Regional Distributor of the Year awards.

Other citations include the 2017 Regional Excellence Award for Asia & Pacific for “rapid growth and unparalleled brand loyalty.” HARI CV service technicians also brought home the gold in the 1st Hyundai Truck and Bus World Skill Olympics held late 2018 in South Korea.

In recent months, HARI CV has launched programs aimed at restoring customer confidence. These include the Hyundai Guidelines for Protection and Safety (GPS) which ensures the health and well-being of its personnel, business partners, and customers across its facilities and dealerships. Under GPS is the Hyundai ARMOR (Active Response, Management, Operations, and Resumption) program which applies globallyprescribed health and sanitation measures at dealership service bays and mobilizes the company’s enhanced online resources to maximize contactless transactions.

GR Supra GT Cup Champs rule 2nd round A MIX of old and new names filled the winners’ list of the second round of Toyota Motor Philippines’ national emotorsports program, the GR Supra GT Cup Asia Philippines.

Hundreds of players participated from their own homes, virtually racing Toyota’s flagship sports car, the GR Supra, on the tracks of the Autopolis International Racing Course. After the qualifying rounds and the finals heat, TMP has declared the official winners for this round.

Leading the Sporting Class is Luis Moreno who also won during the first round. With him on the podium are second placer Miguel San Mateo and third placer Terence Lallave, both first-time Top 3 finishers.

In the promotional class, new Top 3 qualifier JB Cruz won first place, zooming past second placer Lance Guballa and third placer Lance Padilla. Guballa and Padilla won third and second places respectively during the first round.

Round 2 points have a 1.5 multiplier.

The third and final round with doubled points will be held this month, to be broadcast on September 26. Registration for the third round is now open at www.toyota.com.ph/gtcup.

Accumulated points after the third round will determine the two overall champions, one from each class, who will then represent the Philippines at the Asian Regional Championship of the GR Supra GT Cup in October. A third champion also headed to the regional championship will be coming from the Celebrity vs. Media class, also happening this September.

“I feel ecstatic for the win, considering the nature of the track. I am very happy to pull another victory on a track I consider the toughest in the calendar,” said Sporting Class champion Moreno.

“Unlike Suzuka, this track’s nature does not have as much breathing room as it goes one corner after another. I also had to deal with how to overtake in this track considering I started in P9 and clean passes in this track are so difficult,” Moreno explained.

Promotional Class champion Cruz meanwhile expressed his appreciation of emotorsports program as it allows more racing fans to pursue their passions.

“A child playing toy cars in a fashion that he’s mindful about body roll, suspension, traction. etc. A kid waiting for cars to pass by and memorizing the brands and models, that was me. We couldn’t afford to buy a car before, but videogames allowed me to dream of getting beautiful cars and to be a race car driver. This is the first time for me to enter a legit esports racing competition, and especially coming from Toyota and winning? A fulfilling experience that’s what it is,” said Cruz.

The GR Supra GT Cup Asia Philippines expands TMP’s motorsport activities led by the Vios Racing Festival (VRF). This year’s VRF season has been postponed due to the pandemic, but this hasn’t stopped TMP from promoting the waku-doki or heart-pumping excitement of racing.

“The GR Supra GT Cup Asia Philippines E-race is really our way to continuously give a thrilling driving experience even with our limited physical movement,” said Elijah Marcial, TMP’s vice president for marketing services.

“Many people are now confined to their homes, they probably miss bringing out their cars for a road trip or track day with friends. Let us not allow this pandemic to take away the fun and excitement of driving. It’s a totally different experience, but with a virtual supra running at top speeds, a digital sound of engine revving, and a friend cheering for you in the comment box, it’s the joy of driving at a different level!”

in these trying times.

The renovated Balintawak showroom is strategically located along #5 EDSA, Brgy. 95 East Grace Park, Caloocan City 1403, easily accessible to motorists and commuters traversing the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx). The area is also convenient for those planning to go to Baguio and other nearby northern provinces through the newly completed Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) as soon as travel is allowed and safe. Furthermore, the Balintawak showroom has Hino’s Full Line 3S complete with sales, spare parts and after-sales services, guaranteeing a smooth and easy access for consumers. The showroom also houses Hino’s light, medium and heavy-duty truck lineup from the 300, 500 and 700 series.

Hino Balintawak dealership façade