Manila Standard - 2020 October 03 - Saturday

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TRUMP, FIRST LADY TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19; RALLY CANCELED PRESIDENT Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19, upending the already tense US election, but was described by his doctor on Friday as feeling “well” and able to perform his duties while quarantining.

Trump, 74, first announced on Twit-

ter that he and First Lady Melania Trump, 50, had tested positive.

“We will get through this TOGETHER!” he wrote.

The news detonated a political bombshell a month before election day.

The first immediate consequence was

cancelation of a Trump campaign rally meant to take place in Florida later Friday.

Badly behind in the polls against Democratic challenger Joe Biden ahead of November 3, Trump has been using large rallies – where most people go Next page

INFECTED.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump step off Air Force One upon arrival at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland, Ohio in this file photo taken on Sept.

29, 2020. Trump said on October 2, 2020 that he and Melania had tested positive for the coronavirus. AFP

House purge gets underway VOL. XXXIV • NO. 211 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Cayetano pals oust Romero, ally of Speaker-in-waiting; others told to quit

By Maricel V. Cruz and Vito Barcelo

COVID-19 PH

R

ETRIBUTION has begun against supporters of speakerin-waiting Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco with the removal of one of his key allies from the position of deputy speaker.

AT A GLANCE

(AS OF 4 PM OCTOBER 2)

316,678

In Friday’s plenary session, Camiguin Rep. Jesus Xavier Romualdo filed a motion to remove party-list Rep. Michael Romero from the roster of deputy speakers.

Romero was replaced by Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro.

Romualdo’s motion, which was raised in the middle of deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget, was carried since there was no objection to the motion.

Romero, president of the Partylist Coalition Foundation, Inc., was among the legislators who went with Velasco to a meeting with the President and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano in Malacañang Tuesday night.

Cayetano’s allies have been lobbying hard that he remain speaker, in defiance of a term-sharing agreement with Velasco that the President brokered.

Party-list Reps. Sharon Garin and Jericho Nograles denounced Romero’s

TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

2,611 56,445 NEW

ACTIVE

5,616

56

254,617

416

DEATHS

RECOVERIES

NEW

NEW

PH lands in top 20 nations with most infections

Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero of I-Pacman

removal as deputy speaker.

“Removing Mikee as deputy speaker, who is our president, no less, is an affront to our coalition and an insult to everything we have worked for as a bloc,” Garin said.

“This is not the statement of PCFI (Partylist Coalition Foundation, Inc.) but mine alone, as one of the many who originally fought hard and long to give party list representation in Congress integrity and strength,” said Garin, who is also a deputy speaker and a Velasco supporter.

Nograles shared a similar view.

“The removal of Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero is an affront against the Partylist Coalition. I shall withhold any further statements regarding this matter in deference to the coalition,” he said.

The PLCI composed of 52 legislators, Nograles said.

Castro, who replaced Romero, called on his fellow lawmakers to quit their Next page

By Willie Casas and Vito Barcelo

LOCAL ROUNDUP

THE Philippines has landed in the top 20 countries with the most number of COVID-19 infections worldwide, data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center showed.

The country on Friday logged 2,611 new cases, bringing the total to 316,678, the Department of Health said.

The John Hopkins count was based on the Philippine tally Thursday which put the total number of infections at 314,079.

The Philippines overtook Pakistan, which fell to the 21st spot with 312,806 cases. At the 19th spot is Italy with 314,861 cases.

The United States remained at the top with 7,273,244 cases, followed by India with 6,312,584 and Brazil with 4,810,935.

Malacañang, however, said the ranking is not a cause for alarm given the country’s low critical mortality rate at 1.75.

“Still, look at the critical mortality rate. We’re still at 1.75 which means that although the numbers are up we

GOOD news for children under two years old and women lacking proper nutrition.

Malacanang said the task force leading the country’s pandemic response had approved the release of cash and food packs under the “dietary supplementation program” which will cover children aged 6 to 23 months and “nutritionally at-risk” pregnant women.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told the Laging Handa press briefing “This will be distributed in the form of cash or food packs...This forms part of improving the health care of the citizens

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• Cash and food packs for kids • Shops opening

READY FOR SCHOOL. Three days before the formal opening of classes in public schools, Taguig City launches its Blended Learning:

Tele-aral Program, a carefully crafted curriculum and new learning system designed in response to the postponement of face-to-face classes in schools until a vaccine against COVID-19 is available. Norman Cruz

UP-Manila grad La Niña sets in—PAGASA tops physicians’ licensure exam

By Rio N. Araja

PUMP-PRIMING. Workers adjust scaffoldings at a private construction site in General

Mariano Alvarez town of Cavite on Friday October 2, 2020. Weighed down by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine economy will get a much-needed boost from the construction sector along with pump-priming projects notably the Build-build-Build infrastructure program, according to the government’s economic managers. PonD News Asia.

A GRADUATE of the University of the Philippines-Manila, Maria Carla Buenaflor, topped the 2020 Physician Licensure Examinations held in March and September, the Professional Regulation Commission announced on Friday.

The PRC said Buenalor got 89.17 percent rating to lead the 800 passers Next page

PhilHealth’s new chief urges senior execs to quit

By Vito Barcelo

PHILIPPINE Health Insurance Corp.

(PhilHealth) president Dante Gierran has asked senior executives of the state health insurer to file their courtesy resignations to ensure a fast reorganization process, Presidential spokesman

Harry Roque said Friday.

“Attorney Gierran knows that he does not have much time. And that’s why I think it was important for him to request all the senior executives to file their courtesy resignations now because that’s the fastest way that he can reorganize,” Roque said in an interview.

Earlier, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who headed Task Force PhilHealth that investigated anomalies in the state insurer, recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte the reorganization of Philhealth.

Roque said the Palace supported the

Next page

LA NIÑA, a weather pattern that occurs in the Pacific Ocean, is round the country’s shoreline and will prevail until early 2021, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration announced Friday.

Pagasa administrator Dr. Vicente Malano said: “Recent oceanic and atmospheric indicators signify La Niña is present in the tropical Pacific. Since

June, the sea surface temperature in the central and equatorial Pacific started to cool and further strengthened in September reaching La Niña threshold.”

“Based on the latest forecast, weak to moderate La Niña is likely to persist until the first quarter of 2021.”

Most parts of the country must brace for near to above normal rainfall conditions from October to March next year, he said.

There would be five to eight tropiNext page

Nasal swab punctures woman’s brain lining A COVID-19 nasal swab test punctured a US woman’s brain lining, causing fluid to leak from her nose and putting her at risk of life-threatening infection, doctors reported in a medical journal Thursday.

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Solon belies PPE overpricing yarn D

EPUTY Speaker and SAGIP Party List Rep. Rodante Marcoleta dismissed Senator Risa Hontiveros’ evidence of alleged overpricing in government’s purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) as a mere publicity stunt to taint the administration.

shown that other companies, Filipinos or otherwise, supplied PPE sets to the government with the same specifications, quality and stock availability at lower prices. Without a clear price comparison, allegations of overpricing are simply figments of her imagination,” Marcoleta said.

Instead of showing mere purchase contracts, he said Hontiveros could have presented a comparative matrix backed by receipts or other documents showing her claimed price disparity.

Marcoleta said the opposition senator’s claim that the Philippine General Hospital purchased PPEs at much lower prices could only pertain to old, existing stocks from retail outlets as no Philippine company could meet the govern-

ment’s massive emergency requirements. “It’s a fact that test kits and PPE prices jumped astronomically around April and May as countries tried to outbid each other for much needed supplies for their frontliners. Prices only stabilized as production started to cope with demand by July-August,” he said.

In the case of PPEs bought during the Aquino administration at P3,500 per set, there was very clear evidence of overpricing when compared to the average P1,700 per PPE set bought by the current DBM, he said.

While Congress has oversight powers, Marcoleta said it should not be abused by Hontiveros for “self-serving fishing expeditions.”

Harry Roque said it was not good if the House keeps changing its leaders at this crucial time.

It was unclear if this was an endorsement of Cayetano, who said he would abide by the term-sharing agreement after meeting the President and Velasco at the Palace. The next day, however, Cayetano delivered a privilege speech in which he offered to resign, while denouncing Velasco. A majority of the lawmakers present rejected his resignation.

At the meeting in the Palace, Cayetano said hoped that he would still be speaker on his birthday on Oct. 28. Velasco, on the other hand, said he wanted to celebrate his birthday on Nov. 9 as speaker. Both of them agreed on the Oct. 14 date.

In an interview over CNN Philippines, Roque said the agreement between Cayetano and Velasco was brokered by the President.

“The President I think has done his responsibility to remind both candidates for the position to honor their

word,” Roque said. But he also said if Velasco didn’t have the numbers in the House, there was nothing the President could do about it.

“The President cannot coerce, intimidate, [or] force the House members into voting one way or the other. He can only remind the two leaders of what was agreed upon but in the end, he recognizes it’s not the President’s call who to elect as speaker,” Roque said.

Roque said it is an important issue to resolve whether or not the President believes that the agreement that he has brokered has been implemented.

Cayetano on Friday committed to passing the P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021 on time, even as his ally, Castro, attacked Velasco again in a speech.

“Who is more honorable - the man who stood with us and led us during one of the most troubled and difficult times in our nation’s history, or someone who was nowhere to be seen when we were all working to help the country recover?

Where is the honor in that?” he said, referring to Velasco.

ter,” he added.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, for her part, said assessment should go beyond just the total case count and should include factors such as the number of active cases, the recovery and fatality rates, and the condition of the healthcare system.

“We might be in the top 20 among all of the countries in the world with the number of cases, but when we look at our healthcare system capacity, it has improved tremendously,” Vergeire said.

Vergeire said hospitals’ units for COVID-19 patients have been expanded, contact tracing efforts have become

more “efficient,” and the daily number of new cases has decreased compared to figures from earlier this year.

“It is not really just the numbers, we have to look at the other variables. We have to focus on the active cases and not the cumulative number of cases,” she said.

“Whatever would be this ranking across the globe, this is because of the totality of the number of cases, but when we look at the number of active cases, our recovery rate, our case fatality rate, and looking at our health system capacity we can see that we have improved and sa tingin natin nakakaagapay tayo dito sa ating response for COVID-19,” she added.

without masks – to try to change the subject from his much criticized response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Just Thursday he said in a speech to a New York charity event: “The end of the pandemic is in sight and next year will be one of the greatest years in the history of our country.”

But now the leader who has repeatedly cast doubt on the seriousness of the virus – despite more than 200,000 Americans already dying – has become the world’s highest profile patient, proving that all the resources of the White House could not prevent the risk.

Biden, who has made criticism of the Republican’s coronavirus response his key issue, made no immediate statement about the president’s health after the news broke.

Technically obese and in his 70s, Trump is in a higher-risk category for

coronavirus patients.

Trump’s official physician, Sean Conley, said in a statement that the president and his wife “are both well at this time.”

“They plan to remain home at the White House during their convalescence,” he said. However, “I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering.”

Trump’s positive test was more than a PR disaster for a president who has staked everything on trying to persuade Americans that fears of the virus are overblown.

There were concrete, instant impacts to his campaign strategy, particularly throwing into doubt the future of his signature rallies.

The events, which Trump says prove his true political strength better than the dismal opinion polls, bring together thousands of people, often without masks and sometimes in contravention of local rules.

All that is now on hold, at least for the

immediate future, and with the clock ticking rapidly down on the election.

In addition to canceling the Florida trip, it looked certain that Trump would have to abandon a trip scheduled for this weekend in Wisconsin, another battleground. He had also been expected to travel frequently next week, including longer distances to western states.

A second televised debate with Biden is scheduled for October 15.

The news came right after one of Trump’s closest advisors, Hope Hicks, was reported Thursday to have come down with the virus.

Hicks, 31, traveled with Trump to Cleveland for his first debate with Biden on Tuesday. She was with him again for a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.

With Hicks sharing Trump’s Air Force One plane and the even more cramped confines of the Marine One helicopter, speculation immediately erupted that Trump and possibly many others in his close entourage were exposed. AFP

ences, and one from St. Luke’s Medical School in Metro Manila.

Far Eastern University – Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation was the sole top-performing school.

The national passing rate slipped to 56.74 percent, or 800 out of 1,410 examinees from last year’s 76.71 percent in March and 84.96 percent in September.

The test results of 14 examinees have been withheld pending completion of the

remaining subjects in the PLE, it added.

Other examinees who landed in the top five were John Marlon Lintan of the University of Santo Tomas (88 percent), Dhona Cambronero of Davao Medical School Foundation (87.92 percent), James Daniel Umalin of De La Salle Medical and Health Science Institute (87.75 percent), and Gremory Dennis Idago of St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine (87.58 percent).

The rest of the top 10 were Charles Vanhill Raksham of De La Salle Medical and Health Science Institute (87.17 percent), Erika Anne Pangan of the University of Santo Tomas (87.08 percent), April Jean Gapo of Southwestern University (87 percent), Jessah April Naingue of Southwestern University (86.83 percent), and Carren Emirose Solidor of Southwestern University (86.67 percent).

The patient, who is in her 40s, had an undiagnosed rare condition and the test she received may have been carried out improperly, a sequence of improbable events that means the risk from nasal tests remains very low.

But her case showed health care professionals should take care to follow testing protocols closely, Jarrett Walsh, senior author of the paper that appeared in JAMA Otolaryngology– Head & Neck Surgery, told AFP. People who’ve had extensive sinus or skull base surgery should consider requesting oral testing if available, he added.

“It underscores the necessity of adequate training of those performing the test and the need for vigilance after the test has been performed,” added ear, nose and throat specialist Dennis Kraus of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, who wasn’t involved in the paper.

Walsh, who practices at the University of Iowa Hospital, said the woman had gone for a nasal test ahead of an elective hernia surgery, and afterward noticed clear fluid coming out of one side of her nose.

She subsequently developed headache, vomiting, neck stiffness, and aversion to light, and was transferred to Walsh’s care.

“She had been swabbed previously for another procedure, same side, no problems at all. She feels like maybe the second swab was not using the best technique, and that the entry was a little bit high,” he said.

In fact, the woman had been treated years earlier for intracranial hypertension – meaning that the pressure from cerebrospinal fluid that protects and nourishes the brain was too high.

Doctors at the time used a shunt to drain some of the fluid and the condition resolved.

But it caused her to develop what’s called an encephalocele, or a defect at the base of the skull which made the brain’s lining protrude into the nose where it was susceptible to rupture.

This went unnoticed until old scans were reviewed by her new doctors, who carried out surgery to repair the defect in July.

She has since fully recovered. AFP

vulnerable areas and sectors of the country, Malano said.

The weather bureau said there could be a 75 percent chance for La Niña to become full blown characterized by above-normal rainfall conditions and increased tropical cyclone activity from October to March next year.

With La Nina, strong winds blow warm water at the ocean’s surface from South America to Indonesia. As the warm water moves west, cold water from the deep rises to the surface near the coast of South America.

La Nina refers to the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific.

Typically, La Nina events occur every 3 to 5 years or so, but on occasion can occur over successive years. La Nina represents the cool phase of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.

Like El Niño, La Niña impacts include drought conditions, or worsening of, below or above average temperature and precipitation fluctuations across the United States which can all be very harmful to crop growth and/ or human health even after the La Niña event is no longer occurring in the Pacific Ocean.

El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of a natural climate pattern across the tropical Pacific Ocean that swings back and forth every 3-7 years on average.

“Senator Hontiveros bristles at criticisms for not presenting hard evidence to back her claims. However, what she presented to the media on Monday only confirms what we’ve known all along: she has no evidence and she can’t prove a baseless claim of overpricing because there’s none,” Marcoleta said.

He said the opposition senator brandished 11 documents purportedly from the Department of Budget and Manage-

ment’s Procurement Service. He said these only show two things: that DBM purchased PPEs between April and May; and that purchase contracts were awarded to four Filipino and seven Chinese firms including the quantity, price and delivery dates of the protective gear.

“None of these documents show, much less prove, that the PPEs purchased by DBM were overpriced. Something can only be deemed ‘overpriced’ if it can be

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and a means to eliminating hunger which has been aggravated by the pandemic.”

According to the September survey of the Social Weather Stations, a record-high 30.7 percent of Filipino families or an estimated 7.6 million households experienced involuntary hunger due to lack of food at least once in the past three months.

posts and “step aside” if they are not willing to cooperate with the majority of members who have expressed their intent to keep Cayetano as speaker.

In a privilege speech, Castro said he joins the Speaker in the call to unite and work together in finishing the budget and passing other urgently needed legislation “for the survival and good of the nation.”

But he said for those who cannot or will not join the majority, he had “one simple thing” to say: “Resign your leadership positions and let those who are willing to help and cooperate take over.”

“If you are willing to be part of the team, I am sure you are welcome. If you are not, then you step aside,” he added.

Castro said there was “no shame in admitting defeat at the hands of a better foe.”

In the Palace, presidential spokesman

Business establishments

The Department of Trade and Industry on Friday said several businesses under general community quarantine (GCQ) were now allowed to operate at 100 percent capacity while barbershops and salons could operate at up to 75 percent.

“The business establishments or activities in Section 1 in areas placed under GCQ shall be allowed to operate at 100 percent capacity (while still allowing work-fromhome arrangements, where practicable), except for barbershops and salons which shall be allowed to operate at a maximum of 75 percent operational capacity, subject to strict physical distancing,” the DTI said.

Restaurants and food establishments under GCQ are also allowed to operate beyond 50 percent capacity subject to physical distancing, the DTI memo circular said. Menu offering and maximum serving of alcoholic beverages are subject to local government guidelines, it added.

The DTI said restaurants and fast food establishments’ dine-in, takeout, and delivery services were allowed to operate 24/7.

Clinical trials

The Department of Health on Friday defended the P89-million government funding for the conduct of clinical trials for possible COVID-19 vaccines, saying this would be used to shoulder operational costs.

During a virtual briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the funding allocated for the World Health Organization’s clinical trials was just a small fraction to help in the search for an effective vaccine.

The amount is under the Department of Science and Technology’s proposed 2021 budget.

The budget underwent scrutiny at the House of Representatives earlier this week.

“It is our obligation to contribute and to become part of the solution to this extraordinary global crisis,” Vergeire said in Filipino.

Nurses for abroad

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration on Friday reported it was processing the applications of some 500 nurses for deployment abroad.

“Since the approval of the expanded exemption in the Inter-Agency Task Force resolution on temporary suspension, we are currently processing for deployment of not more than 500 nurses,” POEA administrator Bernard Olalia said during a Laging Handa briefing. Willie Casas

UP-Manila...

From A1 out of the 1,424 PLE examinees.

Joining Buenaflor were two from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, three from Southwestern University in the Visayas, one from the Davao Medical School in Mindanao, two from the De La Salle Medical and Health Sci-

PhilHealth’s...

From A1 initiative of Gierran, saying “we’re confident that he will have very good information that will guide him on whose resignation to accept and whose resignations to reject.”

“I hope too, that he will be guided by the Senate findings, as well as the findings of Task Force PhilHealth,” the Palace spokesman said.

Gierran, a lawyer and accountant who formerly headed the National Bureau of Investigation, has been tasked

by Duterte to fix the alleged irregulari-

UP savants warn against dolomite use

PH...

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“That, I think, is what matters most because in a pandemic the fear is that many of us will die. Some are dying, not as many as other countries and, of course, it’s because we have improved our critical care facilities. We have learned from the past and we know how to take care of COVID-19 patients bet-

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ties in the agency within the year.

Roque, one of the authors of the Universal Health Care Law, said he did not agree with privatization of the state insurer, saying privatization went against the very principle of Universal Health Care.

Roque said: “Universal Health Care is distinguished from private health insurance because it is, number one, a discharge of state obligation to promote the right to health; and it is a commitment that although members will have to pay their dues, in reality, the dues will not be enough and the balance will, of course, be paid for by the government.

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From A1 cal cyclones to enter the Philippine area of responsibility, most of which would make landfall, he added.

He warned that these tropical cyclones might further enhance the northeast monsoon and could trigger floods, flash floods and rain-induced landslides over susceptible areas, particularly on the eastern sections of the country.

Susceptible areas mean that these would normally receive greater amounts of rainfall.

Adverse impacts are likely over the

By Rio N. Araja MARINE scientists from the University of the Philippines have warned that dumping dolomite sand at Manila Bay would not solve the environmental woes in the area.

“There are no short-cuts to a cleaner environment. The use of crushed Dolomite sand will not help solve the environmental problems in Manila Bay,” the UP Marine Science Institute said in statement, adding that dolomite sand grains may pose possible health risks and could be easily eroded when there are storms.

“At most, it is a beautification effort that is costly and temporary. The task of cleaning and restoring Manila Bay may be daunting but it needs to be done for future generations of Filipinos to benefit from its many uses,” it added.

MSI added that erosion threat and poor water quality are the two major problems Manila Bay is currently facing.

“Beach nourishment projects are not one-shot deals, especially for continuously eroding shorelines... Hence, continuously replacing the sand will be expensive and will not contribute to improving water quality in the Bay,” the institute added.

The institute warned the finer particles of dolomite could be “problematic” due to prolonged dust inhalation that could cause chronic health effects such as discomfort in the chest, shortness of breath and coughing.

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

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Senate urged to probe Facebook S

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

ENATOR Ronald Dela Rosa wants an inquiry into the recent censorship of Facebook after the social media giant took down profiles and advocacy pages supporting the Philippine government and its efforts against terrorism.

WELCOME. House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep Martin Romualdez welcomes Philippine National Police Chief Camilo Coscolan to his office at the House of Representatives for a short talk. Romualdez vows to support the proposed 2021 budget of the Philippine National Police. Photo by Ver Noveno

Drilon: IRA share hike, tax perks could lead to deficit

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATE Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Friday warned an increase in the internal revenue allotment of LGUs by 2022 would take a toll on the national coffers on top of other losses arising from the proposed Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act or CREATE. The government should seriously look at the agencies and services that should be devolved to the LGUs. “We should take the bull by its horn

and we should be serious about which agencies or services should be devolved because we are facing a serious financial problem next year,” Drilon said.

“I hope our national leadership listens because we will be scrambling next year for a very difficult financial crisis given the contraction of the economy and the expected low revenues due to the foregone revenues from the CREATE bill.

“If we don’t do anything about it, the national government may face an unmanageable deficit.”

Due to the Mandanas ruling, the IRA of the LGUs will dramatically increase to P1.083 trillion by 2022. For 2021, the proposed IRA of LGUs is P695 billion, Drilon said.

The Supreme Court had ruled that the IRA of the LGUs must come from 40 percent of the collections of “all” national taxes—including collections from import duties and other levies by the Bureau of Customs—and not just from national internal revenue taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

“Next year, at this time, we’ll be confronted by a P1.083-trillion allocation for the IRA for 2022, and I do not know what will happen with that kind of a burden on the national budget,” Drilon said.

“In 2022, we will be downloading a huge sum of money to the LGUs. Where will they spend that P1.1 trillion? This higher IRA should be met with more responsibilities through the devolution of some basic services to the LGUs,” said Drilon, adding that the agencies had no choice but to devolve their functions to the LGUs.

He filed Senate Resolution 531 directing the appropriate Senate committee to conduct an inquiry on the censorship to ensure the protection and non-curtailment of the freedom of speech and expression in the country.

On Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration claimed that Facebook was imposing censorship in the Philippines after it took down several propaganda networks in support of Duterte and his allies.

Facebook last week removed pages, accounts, groups and Instagram profiles that were allegedly targeting the Philippines for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” or manipulation campaigns on the platform.

Calling the removed accounts as part of the government’s “advocacies,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the removal of the pages could be considered censorship because Facebook did not classify those as “fake news.”

Dela Rosa’s resolution was primarily referred to the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Dela Rosa said in his resolution that “57 accounts, 31 pages and 20 Instagram profiles were taken down, which included content supportive of President Rodrigo Duterte; criticism of Rappler online news website; issues relevant to the overseas Filipino Workers; military activities against terrorism; anti-terrorism law; criticism of communism, youth activist and the opposition.”

Facebook also removed posts against the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing, the New People’s Army, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

“It was alleged by those who criticize the censorship made by the social network platform that some Facebook pages and profiles allegedly supporting and promoting the violent activities and ideologies of the communist-terrorist CPPNPA were not included in the action taken by Facebook,” Dela Rosa said in his resolution.

He noted the removal of “Hands Off Our Children,” an advocacy page being run by a group of parents who are allegedly fighting to protect their children against violent extremism.

Sale of war reparations turned down

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATE President Vicente Sotto III said Friday it’s impractical to sell the Philippines’s four war- reparation properties in Japan to raise money for the fight against COVID-19.

He said those properties were symbols of the Philippines’ diplomatic ties with Japan, and that there were many other government properties in the Philippines that it could sell instead.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said the properties in Japan, being war repa-

rations, belonged to the Filipino people.

“Do not sell. Anyway, there is no clamor or even sentiment from the people to sell these,” he said.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. also objected to the sale, saying “corrupt and incompetent health officials” should be sold instead “To raise funds to fight COVID, don’t sell Japan properties,” Locsin posted on his Twitter account.

Sell corrupt and incompetent health officials in the slave markets of North Africa. Although nearly worthless, if we sell them all we’ll raise a bit.”

MARIJUANA PLANTS DESTROYED. Cebu police destroy P8.48 million worth of marijuana plants during the operation in which 21,200 fully grown marijuana plants from two plantation sites were uprooted..

Solon seeks incentives for coffee growers

By Maricel V. Cruz

FREE HELMETS. Department of Public Order and Safety head Elmo San Diego, left, leads the distribution of helmets for bicycle riders along Quezon Avenue in front of the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center gate on Friday. The Quezon City government has approved an ordinance requiring the use of helmets for bicycle riders in the city. Joey O. Razon

Immigration bans two Australians

By Vito Barcelo THE Bureau of Immigration has banned two Australians for working in the Philippines without a visa and a work permit.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente ordered the inclusion of Nashat Satar and Joseph Benjamine Goodacre in the Immigration blacklist on the recommendation of the bureau’s legal division.

The Australians were blacklisted while they were abroad, and were told they could no longer re-enter the country.

“This should again serve as a warning to other foreigners who are illegally working here,” Morente said.

According to lawyer Arvin Santos, the agency’s legal division chief, Satar and Goodacre were employed as senior management executives of two Cebu City-based companies engaged in the real estate and construction business.

He said the activities of the two Australians were reported to Immigration by the Filipino workers who opposed their employment.

The complainants claimed that Satar and Goodacre continued to ignore the repeated advice of the company’s Filipino executives to apply for work permits and visas as required by the country’s labor and immigration laws.

A PARTY-LIST legislator on Friday renewed her call to pass a bill that will provide incentives to the coffee growers affected by the lockdowns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In celebration of International Coffee Day on Oct. 1, Rep. Sharon Garin, head of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Economic Affairs, again called for the passage of House Bill 3598, otherwise known as the Coffee Industry Development Act, which would institutional support to the coffee industry.

The bill would set up a national program to revitalize the coffee industry and introduce stronger measures to safeguard the welfare of coffee farmers.

The bill would also provide technical assistance in the planting systems and rehabilitation of farms, as well as the development of effective production systems.

Garin underscored the need for the bill’s immediate passage considering the losses suffered by the sector since the beginning of the year, which resulted from the eruption of Taal Volcano and the strict implementation of various community quarantines.

Optical Media Board has new head

By Vito Barcelo and Orlan Mauricio PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed former Malolos, Bulacan Mayor Christian Dionisio Natividad as chairman of the Optical Media Board, Malacañang announced Friday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Natividad will represent the academe, and will head the board for three years.

“We hope the appointment of Mr. Na-

tividad would lead the OMB to greater heights, particularly in fighting optical media piracy and protecting intellectual property rights in digital form. We wish Mr. Natividad good luck in his new assignment,” Roque said.

Natividad took his oath before Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on Thursday.

He ran for Bulacan governor in the 2019 midterm elections under Duterte’s political party PDP-Laban, but he lost to then vice governor Daniel Fernando.

Man’s head found in a box

By Willie Casas THE head of a Navotas traffic enforcer, a Navy reservist, was found inside a styrofoam box in the middle of a street in Sta. Cruz, Manila, on Thursday night, police said Friday.

Manila Police said tricycle drivers Jerwin Mirabueno and Jun San Diego found the box around 11:50 p.m. on Florentino Torres and Soler.

Mirabueno and San Diego were on board a tricycle when they saw the box and decided to inspect it. They were shocked to find the head, and they immediately re-

ported their discovery to the police.

The victim was identified as Oliver Ignacio, a resident of Barangay San Roque in Navotas City who was a traffic enforcer and Navy reservist.

The victim’s cousin Mary Anne Esguerra identified him. She said Ignacio was abducted in an impounding area along C4 Road in Navotas around 4:45 p.m. on Thursday Navotas police said three unidentified suspects aboard a black Montero abducted the victim.

Manila police said they were still looking for a motive.

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LGUs

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020 lgu@manilastandard.net editor.lgustandard@gmail.com

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor

Makati bags int’l award for digital COVID response

By Joel E. Zurbano

Scattered yellow corn kernels are dried in the sun and occupy the whole stretch of the highway in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao Province. PonD News Asia

THE City of Makati is the lone city in the Philippines that landed in the top three of this year’s World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) awards for promoting the use of technology in its various initiatives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mayor Abigail Binay said her city competed under the Efficient Government category and won the bronze award after Goyang City, South Korea (gold) and Moscow, Russia (silver).

“Makati has always been proud of its vision to become a smart and digital city. It was an honor to represent our country and showcase our achievements in digital innovation and social services in an international event,” Binay said.

The other categories were emerging technology, mobility, open and inclusive city, safe city, and sustainable city.

Binay said Makati was supposed to host the WeGO General Assembly this year, but it was canceled due to the emergence of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Established in 2011, the triennial competition recognizes and promotes smart initiatives that improve the quality of life of citizens.

Makati will be awarded during the WeGO Virtual Executive Committee Meeting on Nov. 17.

Last year, the city was also the country’s sole finalist at the World Smart Cities Awards.

Nat’l ID pre-registration in 32 provinces Sta. Ana Hospital posts 100% recovery rate for frontliners

By Willie Casas GOOD news for Manilans: Based on the final record of the Sta. Ana Hospital, all affected healthcare workers have recovered from COVID-19, the Manila Public Information Office posted on its Facebook page.

“We are following strict hospital infection protocols, strict social distancing rules and proper hospital cohorting. Terminal cleaning and disinfection of Manila infectious Disease Control Center is also completed to all areas making the Hospital a safe workplace,” said Sta. Ana Hospital Director Dr. Grace Padilla.

They also continue doing swab testing for hospital medical frontliners.

“We are scheduled for the third round of mandatory swab testing among our healthcare workers,” said Padilla.

She thanked Mayor Francisco Domagoso and Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna-

Pangan for giving support to medical and healthcare frontliners in the six district hospitals of Manila.

“We thank Mayor Isko and Vice Mayor Honey for their efforts in improving the facilities of Sta. Ana Hospital and the rest of our district hospitals in the city. Aside from this, they were also able to provide our medical and healthcare frontliners with new equipment that will ensure their safety as they proceed with their work,” said the hospital director.

Padilla also rallied the leadership of the hospital to continue the strict health monitoring of their hospital workers even as they are currently COVID-free.

“We had zero COVID-19 cases among our healthcare workers for the past two weeks already. However, this small victory shouldn’t make us stop from intensifying our efforts in fighting COVID-19 inside and outside the premises of Sta. Ana Hospital,” said Padilla.

T

HE pre-registration for the implementation of the country’s national ID system would be rolled out in 32 provinces on October 7, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government said on Friday.

The 32 provinces are Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, Albay, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Compostela Valley, Davao Del Norte, Davao Del Sur, Davao Occidental, and Tawi-Tawi.

“These 32 provinces have a low num-

ber of COVID-19 cases. We don’t have Metro Manila, we don’t have other high-risk areas. The other areas are set for next year once we have controlled the COVID-19 situation. We don’t want to rush, we just came up with a system where we can start the process,” Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said.

He said these provinces have already coordinated with the Philippine Statis-

tics Authority as well as with the DILG regional offices regarding the matter.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, meanwhile, said that appropriate measures have been established to prevent possible COVID-19 transmission during the activity, noting that most of these provinces are under Modified General Community Quarantine already.

“We will deploy additional PNP and barangay officials and volunteers to enforce the safeguards and minimum health standards,” Año said.

Malaya said the PSA has requested the DILG for assistance in securing a memorandum of agreement with various local government agencies.

National Irrigation Administration chief Ricado Visaya leads the inauguration of the P70 million Cordillera Administrative Region dimension dams of the Hapid Irrigation System (Hapid IS) located in the Municipality of Lamut, Ifugao.

P70-m dam structures completed THE National Irrigation Administration—Cordillera Administrative Region on Thursday inaugurated P70-million worth of newly completed diversion dam structures of the Hapid Irrigation System (Hapid IS) located in the Municipality of Lamut, Ifugao.

The inauguration ceremony was led

by Ifugao Rep. Solomon Chungalao, Governor Jerry Dalipog, NIA-CAR Regional Manager Benito Espique Jr., and NIA Ifugao Satellite Office Head Patrick Resurreccion.

Hapid IS used to have a gravity intaketype diversion dam which draws irrigation water from the Ibulao River.

With the completion of the diversion dam in May, residents are assured that irrigation service delivery will be more reliable and efficient.

The project covers 11 barangays of Lamut, Ifugao, benefitting 1,500 farmers and their families.

To date, the irrigated area of the system is pegged at 1,040 hectares which is the targeted area for this wet cropping season.

Las Piñas lass wins Miss Millennial PH Niña Ruth Vega

NIÑA Ruth Vega, daughter of the former police beat reporter of Manila Bulletin Vic Vega and sports reporter Virgie Rodriguez Vega, has bagged the Miss Millennial Philippines 2020 crown.

She will be the country’s candidate in the Miss Millennial International competition in Thailand in January.

The 17-year-old senior high school student of University of Perpetual Help stood out among the 44 beautiful young ladies from different regions who competed for the crown.

During the final question and answer portion of the pageant, she was asked how

she can use the “millennial spirit” for the betterment of other people.

She answered: “If I will be the one who will win the crown tonight, it would be an honor, worthy of appreciation. This can become my key to spread love, happiness, and moral lessons to the youth by the use of my voice and social media. I can use this platform to encourage more people to be positive during these tough times we need each other and also become a role model for the upcoming generation, because I do believe united as one would be an impact for the greater good of the society.”

Taguigs rolls out blended learning

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Taguig City government on Friday presented its own version of blended learning program for school year 2020-2021 with the launching of a system designed in response to the postponement of conducting physical classes.

Dubbed as “Tele-Aral Program,” the project is a carefully crafted curriculum and new learning system in line with the city’s blended learning initiative until a vaccine against COVID-19 becomes available.

“Through easy access to a broad body of knowledge, teachers, teaching personnel, and technology, Taguig City launches the Taguig Tele-aral Program to highlight both quality education and importance of safety for teachers and students amidst the pandemic,” said Mayor Lino Edgardo Cayetano during the launching held at the Telearal Center in Senator Renato “Compañero” Cayetano (SRCC) Memorial Science and Technology High School.

Opinion Women’s care work 101

EVER wondered how it happens that whenever you want patis with your ulam, it miraculously appears? Or when you come home late you still have dinner waiting for you? How is it possible that your favorite shirt is always clean and smells fresh? In this time of pandemic when everyone’s home, how come the house remains tidy and orderly?

These are miracles that many take for granted and regard as normal. We expect things to be there, or to happen when we want them to. Well, it is not easy to make these things work.

It is high time to recognize and value this kind of work.

The truth is, your patis does not just appear in your pantry. It takes money to buy, planning to make sure you never run out of it, and effort to actually get it so you are not irked when you want it. Your dinner does not voluntarily wait for you. It takes someone to actually prepare and make sure you will still enjoy the food even if you come home very late. Your shirt does not wash and iron itself. It takes hours of work to accomplish these and to make sure it is ready when you decide to use it. During this time of quarantine, everyone is home. It is harder to keep the house clean. It needs a system, foresight, long hours of meticulous work to keep things in place, and boundless energy to maintain your home.

Now that schools will not physically open, your children will be learning from home. However, this means that parents must be involved in more ways than before. There is the need to ensure that what the children need is ready, and that they are actually “attending” class and learning.

This will require many hours of supervision and mentoring in addition to the usual work waiting to be done.

Who does all these and more? Mostly, it is your mother, wife, and if they are lucky, the other women and girls in your household. Does this kind of work have a name?

Yes, it is called “care work.” Sounds nice, right? The term “care work” implies doing things with utmost consideration for others. It implies work done for love.

Is it not romantic? Indeed, it is. The term actually romanticizes backbreaking, emotionally draining, unending, unrecognized, undervalued, and unpaid women’s work.

In Filipino society, many consider this as “natural” women’s work despite the fact that millions of Filipinas have already broken through the corporate world, have careers, or are involved in livelihood pursuits.

The mindset remains—home and family are women’s domains.

Because care work is a “natural” women’s responsibility, it is unpaid. Yet, if you get someone else to do the work, you must pay them. The amount of pay is another story though.

Care work is unrecognized and undervalued. Work for most is equated with getting paid and what women do for their families and homes is not. What do you think is the reason behind housewives’ low self-esteem despite the unending hours they put in to fulfill their responsibilities? I will never forget how community women, when asked if they work, will answer with bowed heads, “Wala po, sa bahay lang.” Even many housewives do not believe that they do important work.

However, when they go through the exercise of detailing how they spend their days compared with how their men spend theirs, women realize that their work hours are much longer than men’s. Some even say that they are actually on call 24/7 for whatever their family needs!

This is also true for employed and career women. Despite their economic activities, they remain to be in-charge of home and family. “Modern” women do this via remote control. They manage and supervise their households from “work.” But when they go home, they take on the responsibility. The men rest.

Some women would quip, “But my husband HELPS!” In fact, many men do. But this does not erase the fact that they ONLY HELP, often, when they want and “have time.” House and family care work are NOT responsibilities of men and women are made to feel grateful for the few times they wash the dishes, clean house, take care of kids, or do the laundry. This is not fair or just.

For families who are lucky enough to have kasambahay, it should be noted that they are mostly women too. Thus, the responsibility is transferred to other women. We must also note that the payment for kasambahay is generally not much. This betrays further how society undervalues care work.

But what do studies about women’s unpaid care work say? According to the International Labor Organization, women do four (4) times more unpaid care work than men.

The UN Women says that women’s unpaid contributions to healthcare equate to 2.35 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or the equivalent of US$ 1.5 trillion. However, when women’s contribution to all types of care is considered, the figure rises to US$ 11 trillion.

These figures prove that women’s unpaid, undervalued, and unrecognized care work is IMPORTANT. In fact, I do not know what will happen to the world if all women go on a care work holiday for just a week. Surely, there will be mess all over, families will go hungry and dirty, and men will not have an easy time “balancing” work and family.

Care work is WORK. It is high time to recognize and value this kind of work.

Should women get paid for it? I say yes, why not? @bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook

Universal social protection floors, our joint responsibility

By Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Organization GOVERNMENTS have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social and economic disruption it has wrought with a range of ad-hoc schemes, including paid furloughs, cash transfers and family support. While commendable, these responses share two major limitations.

First, many are temporary, short-term fixes, covering lockdowns or a notional period until economic recovery kicks in.

They do nothing to change the underlying circumstances that left many millions of people vulnerable, or to put them in better standing to face future crises.

Secondly, the measures simply do not address the existential threats that face many of the world’s worst-hit communities. Although worldwide government spending on the COVID-19 response is more than USD 11 trillion, by far the largest responses have come from rich countries. For example, the European Union recently adopted a Euro 750 billion recovery plan (equivalent to 6 per cent

of its GDP) while Japan’s economic recovery plan equates to 22 per cent of its GDP (or USD 1.1 trillion). But among low-income developing countries the fiscal response has averaged 1.2 percent of GDP. Developing countries, particularly low-income countries, have limited domestic resources, made worse by falls in some export commodity prices. They are simply unable to put in place the comprehensive crisis response measures their people need, let alone the longer-term social protection systems that would create more fundamental resilience.

Even before COVID-19, 69 per cent of the global population was either not covered, or only partially covered, by social security. Almost two-thirds of the world’s children had no social protection coverage, only 22 per cent of unemployed persons received unemployment cash benefits, and just 28 per cent of persons with severe disabilities received disability cash benefits.

Global crises like this pandemic observe no geographical or political borders. Against them we are only as strong as the weakest among us. If we are to build greater resilience and a more effective ability to recover, we need to support all countries in creating robust social protection floors. The current piecemeal approach is like starting to recruit firefighters after a blaze has broken out, and then directing them to save only a few rooms in the burning building.

Clearly, this doesn’t work. In these circumstances, international solidarity is essential, and in everyone’s interest.

Adelle Chua, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

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EDITORIAL

M

Good morning, teacher

ORE than 24 million enrollees—22.31 million students from public schools—are officially going back to school or going there for the first time on Monday, on the first gear to distance learning to comply with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to delay face-to-face classes.

Can the government now deliver safe, accessible, and quality education for all students?

At a recent congressional hearing on DepEd’s P568-billion budget for 2021, Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said the 22.31 million students from public schools represented 98.85 percent of all expected enrollees from public schools.

This is not the first time that school opening has been moved this year. As COVID-19 cases continued to rise, the usual June opening of classes was first moved to August 24.

But the almost two-month extension appeared to be inadequate for DepEd to transition to the overhauled education system, prompting a second postponement to October 5.

With distance learning now appearing to be the new normal in public schools, DepEd decided to shift to distance learning and postpone face-to-face classes until a coronavirus vaccine has been made available, gone through trials and approved by health authorities.

Before the weekend, coronavirus

Some questions arise as public school teachers, who will be at the forefront of this system where no one pupil should be left out, prepare for the school opening.

Instance, can the government, through the Department of Education, now deliver safe, accessible, and quality education for all students?

In the weeks after the postponed opening of schools on August 24, issues the government was supposed to address included the printing of modules, with experts pointing out that modular learning was the “backbone” of DepEd’s distance learning program, given that access to technology has remained a drawback for most students.

Other modes of learning like online as well as radio and television broadcasts would supplement the modules.

infections and deaths reached almost 315,000 and near 5,600 respectively, with 254,200 plus recoveries, only three days to the official opening of classes in public schools on Monday.

Then the printing of modules was purportedly the reason why the school opening was postponed yet once more in August, with reports many teachers did not have copies of the modules or had the wrong modules in the run up to the original date of the school opening.

But on Monday, DepEd Secretary Briones, on the National School Opening Day Program, to be kicked off by a 7:30 am flag raising ceremony, will give an inspirational message and formally declare the opening of the new academic year despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Some local government units have come forward to help students within their jurisdictions—with some donating tablets and other equipment needed by students for the blended learning system.

Which again points to the obvious disparity in situations throughout the country: Among students, teachers, schools and local government units.

And there are also the health protocols still to be fully addressed and followed as Day One for 2020-2021 rolls in through the academic corridors.

It’s not the best of circumstances, but we hope for good results anyway.

A misrepresentation of our past ed at a cost of P500 million. The irony is that a 1.4 hectare property will be allotted by the University to honor those who fought against the government.

THIS writer cannot, in conscience, condone what those select groups of politicized agitators would like the rest of the Filipinos to honor in that museum dubbed as “martial law victims and human rights violation during the Marcos regime.”

Our objection is not what transpired but on how they are attempting to distort and misrepresent our history.

First, this museum to be erected in the grounds of the country’s premier university fondly called the “bastion of intellectualism” does not depict a war between the Filipino people against those that occupied and oppressed us. Rather, it is one of rebellion waged by those who sought to overthrow the duly constituted authority.

Second, while the promoters of this jaundiced museum are silent on who should be honored as heroes, it is clear that the museum openly depicts the President of the Republic as villain.

Third, the museum seeks to equally glorify the role of the oligarchy, the Church, the international monopoly class led by the US imperialist with the communist as their newly found and uncanny ally. Instead of the workers and the farmers, they substituted them with those radicalized student activists who commandeered the university campus to glorify their so-called “Diliman Commune” in 1971.

Fourth, the museum is a continuing attempt to collect from the government compensation fees in the guise that the fund is taken from the so-called ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.

Fifth, the proposed museum will be erect-

We are only as strong as the weakest among us.

Social protection floors for all are affordable. The financing gap for all developing countries—the difference between what these countries already invest in social protection and what a full social protection floor (including health) would cost—is about USD 1,191 billion in the current year, including the impact of COVID-19. But the gap for the low-income countries is only some US$78 billion, a negligible amount compared to the GDP of the industrialized countries. Yet the total official development assistance for social protection amounts to only 0.0047 per cent of the gross national income of donor countries.

International human rights law recognizes that wealthy States have a duty to help fulfill social rights in countries with more limited resources, and a number of steps have already been taken to convert this commitment into concrete assistance. In 2011 an expert advi-

The proposed martial law museum is intended to remind us how stupid we are.

The museum is a reflection of our inner consciousness that remains entombed to what is being depicted to us by the US as a “dark chapter” in our history. How we react to that tumultuous chapter is practically the same way many of our people continue to express their gratitude to those who oppressed and exploited them but in a different milieu.

There is nothing to validate in that museum except to say that UP has descended to that level of intellectual irrationality. Our people cannot figure out why we condemn martial law but never asked why it was declared. Surely, the players of that tumultuous event did not expect riot, arson and vandalism to happen. Nonetheless, it happened because the actors from the other side of the fence were consciously determined to test the limitation of democracy and freedom refusing to concede that they were in fact engaged in rebellion.

Most disgustingly, the proposed museum unwittingly condemns the former President in his bid to contain the escalating violence.

Surely, it is the same political scum that exacted compensation for their vandalism that will attend the opening ceremony as if to reminisce the insurgency and terrorism they committed. It will be a grand reunion done by their continuing extortion from the government they equally continue to defile sory group recommended donors provide predictable, multi-year financing to strengthen social protection in developing countries.

In 2012, two independent UN human rights experts proposed a Global Fund for Social Protection to help low-income countries create social protection floors for their people.

The same year the ILO’s membership—governments, workers and employers from 185 countries—backed the idea of comprehensive social protection with a unanimously-adopted pledge to “establish and maintain...social protection floors as a fundamental element of their national social security systems”.

We regularly hear pledges that we must, and will, “build back better” from the current crisis. We can only do this if everybody has a minimum level of social protection, including the poorest and most marginalized.

Countries must deploy the maximum resources available to make social protection a reality for all. This may require more effective approaches to taxation and tackling corruption. Longer term, this redistribution of assets will help to curb inequality and discrimination and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s promise to “leave no one behind.”

This crisis offers us many lessons. One is that building back better requires international sol-

and express contempt for.

Frankly, the proposed museum is intended to remind us how stupid we are. The name of Marcos will again reverberate as villain and absolute evil that caused their alleged sufferings and personal failures in life. This scum of society pretending to be highly ideological are the same animals that dynamited the Marcos monument going to Bagiuo for us to completely erase his legacy to our people.

Let us not debate on the constitutionality of martial law but concentrate on the two prominent personalities that today are being assiduously elevated as saint by the traitorous Liberal Party and revered as demigods by those communists led by Jose Ma. Sison.

If these people truly believe that the doctrine they are preaching is just, they should ask why those whom they indoctrinated ended up as mendicant paupers of the state they hate so much.

Will it be too much of an insult if they will voluntarily place a small picture, a bust, or monument of Jose Ma. Sison and for Ninoy Aquino to be put up in that museum? It is to show their bravery and real color. It is most inconceivable even to those rebels who died in the field to think that one day, a museum will be put up honoring them as martyrs. In fact, even a summa cum laude graduate of UP will die of envy for not being given one.

No matter how they distort and misinterpret that event, the implication is clear that these scum of the earth goaded the government to put up a museum right in the heart of UP. It is their final insult to our people they always pretend to liberate.

There is intellectual dishonesty in them for while they coyly omitted Sison, people who have their true sentiment of country, can dialectically interpret the fallacy of their doctrine. Many refuse to acknowledge the righteousness of their reincarnated Pol Pot who eliminated many of his comrades during that period of “ideological cleansing.” idarity and better social protection for all, not just those who can already afford it. If we ignore this message, we risk condemning future generations to endure once more the immense suffering we see today. That, surely, is an intolerable prospect.

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In BrIef Trump says he condemns ‘all white supremacists’ US PreSident donald trump said thursday evening that he condemned “all white supremacists” following uproar over his ambiguous comments during the first election debate against his democratic opponent Joe Biden. “i’ve said it many times, and let me be clear again, i condemn the KKK, i condemn all white supremacists, i condemn the Proud Boys,” trump told Fox news. “i don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but i condemn that,” he said. during tuesday’s acrimonious showdown with Biden, debate moderator Chris Wallace called on trump to explicitly condemn white supremacists. instead trump gave a shout-out to the male-only Proud Boys militia group by saying they should “stand back and stand by,” and that the real problem is “far-left” extremists. the Proud Boys themselves celebrated trump’s comments.

“Standing down and standing by sir,” the group said in a social media posting.

AFP

Egypt ‘routinely abuse, torture LGBTS’ — report HUman rights Watch lambasted egypt in a report thursday for routinely arresting, abusing and torturing LGBt people, including subjecting them to forced anal examinations. “egyptian authorities seem to be competing for the worst record on rights violations against LGBt people in the region, while the international silence is appalling,” said rasha Younes, HrW’s LGBt rights researcher for the middle east and north africa.

HrW said it interviewed 15 people, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people prosecuted since 2017 under “vague and discriminatory ‘debauchery’ and ‘prostitution’ laws”. “all of those interviewed said police verbally harassed and subjected them to physical abuse ranging from slapping to being water-hosed and tied up for days, and nine said police officers incited other detainees to abuse them,” the new Yorkbased rights watchdog said. eight were victims of sexual violence, it added, while five were forced to undergo anal examinations.

One 28-year-old activist said she bled for three days after police officers subjected her to forced vaginal and anal examinations as part of so-called “virginity” tests, according to the report. “’Virginity’ and anal tests constitute cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment that can rise to the level of torture and sexual assault under international human rights law,” HrW said. AFP

This general view shows preparations ahead of leaders attending a roundtable meeting on the second day of a European Union (EU) summit at The European Council Building in Brussels on October 2, 2020. AFP

EU Summit to discuss Europe’s ties with China e U leaders will hold a special summit next month to discuss europe’s complicated relations with China, an official document showed on thursday.

the leaders will meet in Berlin on november 16 without China, according to the updated program of the european Council, which organizes summits. the meeting comes as the eU struggles to unite behind a more assertive stance towards Beijing, with increasing worries over human rights

and unfair trade. the meeting was added a few hours after eU leaders discussed ties with China at a foreign policy summit in Brussels. the 27 leaders underlined “serious concerns” about rights abuses in Hong Kong and against minorities, conclusions from the talks said. they also urged China to meet its pledges on curbing subsidies to its companies, as well as stressed the need for to “rebalance the economic relationship”.

Germany, which holds the eU’s rotating presidency, is especially eager to clinch a long-trailed eUChina investment deal by the end

of the year and the Berlin summit could help unite the european position.

China says a deal can be agreed this year, but EU officials insist they will not swallow unfavorable terms simply to conclude the talks.

Brussels wants to reinforce respect for intellectual property, to end obligations to transfer technology and to reduce subsidies for Chinese public enterprises. the summit will take place a few weeks after German Chancellor angela merkel, along with eU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles michel, held a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. AFP

Armenia ready to reach ceasefire with Azerbaijan

Polish cops arrest suspected German far-right terrorist a German man suspected of belonging to a far-right terror group has been arrested in Poland with 1.2 kilograms of explosives in his possession, Poland’s PaP news agency reported on thursday. the man, referred to only as “Jurgen K”, was arrested last week in northern Poland and had published his extremist views on social media, PaP quoted the security services as saying.

Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesman for the ministry responsible for the security services, said the German man is accused of belonging to “an organized criminal group of a terrorist nature”.

PaP quoted prosecutors as saying that a search of Jurgen K’s place of work found two tnt cubes weighing 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds) and ammunition. the man has been charged with possession of arms and explosives without a permit and has been placed in preventive detention for three months. the man faces up to eight years in prison. AFP

SaUdi arabia will reopen the muslim holy places for the year-round umrah pilgrimage on Sunday, scaled back and with extensive health precautions, seven months after coronavirus prompted its suspension. the umrah, the pilgrimage that can be undertaken at any time, usually attracts millions of muslims from across the globe each year. it will be revived in three stages, with the initial phase seeing just 6,000 citizens and residents already within the kingdom allowed to take part each day.

“In the first stage, the umrah will be performed meticulously and within a specified period of time,” Hajj Minister mohammad Benten told state television last week.

He said pilgrims will be divided into groups to ensure social distancing within the Grand mosque in mecca.

Worshippers will on Sunday be able to perform the ritual of circling the sacred Kaaba -- a cubic structure inside the Grand mosque towards which muslims around the world pray -- along socially distanced paths.

On October 18, the number of pilgrims will be increased to 15,000 per day, with a maximum of 40,000 people allowed to perform prayers at the mosque.

Visitors from abroad will be permitted from november 1, when capacity will be raised to 20,000 pilgrims, with 60,000 people allowed into the mosque. the decision to resume the pilgrimage was in response to the “aspirations of muslims home and abroad” to perform the ritual and visit the holy sites, the interior ministry said last month. it added that the umrah would be allowed to return to full capacity once the threat of the pandemic has abated.

Until then, the health ministry will vet countries from which pilgrims are allowed to enter based on the health risks. those wishing to perform the umrah must apply through two mobile applications: one to register they are free from the virus, and another from which they can obtain a permit. AFP

Protesters hold flags of Azerbaijan during a demonstration in support of Azerbaijan in their conflict with Armenia in Istanbul on October 1, 2020. Heavy shelling between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces persisted on October 1, 2020, despite fresh calls from world leaders for an end to days of fighting over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.The rival Caucasus nations have been locked in a bitter stalemate over the Karabakh region since the collapse of the Soviet Union when the ethnic Armenian province broke away from Azerbaijan. AFP

US-FIRES. The

remains of the guest houses at Calistoga Ranch smoulder after the Glass Fire passed through in, Calistoga, Napa Valley, California on September 30, 2020. Two California wildfires that ravaged Napa’s famous wine region and killed three people exploded in size Tuesday as firefighters faced a weeks-long battle to contain the blazes. AFP

Kuwait’s new emir needs to balance relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran KUWait’S new emir has big shoes to fill and formidable issues to deal with -balancing relations with regional powers Saudi arabia and iran, steering the economy through crisis, and selecting a new crown prince. the hot topic of whether to establish ties with israel, and how to respond to low oil prices amid the coronavirus slump, will also preoccupy the 83-yearold Sheikh nawaf al-ahmad al-Sabah.

He was sworn in Wednesday after the death of his half-brother, Sheikh Sabah al-ahmad al-Sabah, one of the giants of Gulf diplomacy who for decades dominated life in the emirate, located in an unstable region and with its own turbulent politics. in his inauguration speech Wednesday, Sheikh nawaf warned of “serious” challenges and called for national unity to face them. “the general image is that he is a calm person who, when it calls for it, can take firm decisions,” said Mohammed al-Faily, an expert in constitutional law and professor at Kuwait University.

But experts note that Sheikh nawaf

does not have the stature of the late emir, a political veteran who guided the nation through its worst crises and made Kuwait a respected regional mediator.

“Sheikh nawaf is also old... and not in perfect health,” said Cinzia Bianco, a research fellow at the european Council on Foreign relations who said he would be viewed more as a caretaker than a “watershed new leader”.

Who’s next?

One of the new emir’s delicate tasks will be to select an heir apparent -- a process for which he has a one-year deadline, with the decision to be ratified by parliament.

Kuwait’s constitution stipulates only that the ruler should be a descendant of the nation’s founder, mubarak alSabah. But by tradition, the throne has alternated between two branches of the family -- the descendants of his sons Salem and Jaber -- for four decades.

However, when Sheikh Sabah, who is from the Jaber branch, ascended to the throne in 2006, he named his halfbrother as his heir, sidelining the Salem branch. AFP

armenia on Friday expressed its readiness to work with international mediators to reach a ceasefire with Azerbaijan over the breakaway nagorny Karabakh region, where fierce fighting entered a sixth day. the Caucasus neighbors have been locked in a simmering conflict for decades over the region and new fighting that erupted on Sunday has been the heaviest in decades. in a joint appeal on thursday, russian President Vladimir Putin, US President donald trump and French President emmanuel macron urged the two sides to return to negotiations aimed at resolving the longstanding dispute. armenia “stands ready to engage” with France, russia, and the United states -- which cochair the OSCe group of mediators to the conflict -- “to re-establish a ceasefire regime,” the foreign ministry in Yerevan said.

Both armenia and azerbaijan have previously rejected the possibility of new talks. nearly 200 people have been confirmed killed since Sunday, including more than 30 civilians, and there are fears of the fighting expanding into an all-out, multifront war that could suck in regional powers turkey and russia. armenia and Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilisation Sunday, while azerbaijan imposed military rule and a curfew in large cities.

Talks to resolve the conflict have largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire agreement. AFP

Business PSEi October 2, 2020

TOP GAINERS

Stock market up again; Dito, NOW lead gainers S HARE prices rose again Friday on prospects of a further reopening of the economy after COVID-19 cases in the country appear to be plateauing.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index climbed 54.53 points, or 0.9 percent, to 5,999.40 on a value turnover of P4.9 billion. Gainers edged losers, 93 to 92, with 57 issues unchanged.

Dito CME Holdings Corp. of businessman Dennis Uy, the third major telecommunications firm, advanced 8.7 percent to P5.76, while sister unit Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. increased 7.5 percent to P5.33.

Now Corp. of the Velarde family, which has obtained a license to operate

TOP LOSERS

B3

SATURdAy, OCTOBER 3, 2020 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

as the fourth major mobile phone operator, jumped 7.8 percent to P3.72, while, conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is into toll roads, water and electricity distribution, hospitals and infrastructure, rose 4.2 percent to P3.70.

Meanwhile, US futures sank with most Asian and European equities Friday after Donald Trump announced he and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus, throwing fresh uncertainty into the presidential election.

The news compounded the downbeat mood on trading floors, where investors were already feeling pessimistic over US lawmakers’ failure to pass a new stimulus bill.

“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Trump tweeted in the early

hours.

The president had taken a test after his close White House aide Hope Hicks had tested positive earlier in the day, meaning he will now have to go into quarantine just weeks before one of the most crucial elections the country has ever had.

His doctor Scott Conley said the couple intended to stay at the White House “during their convalescence.”

“Rest assured I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments,” he added.

The White House cancelled a planned campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Florida on Friday, and 32 days before the November 3 vote against Democrat Joe Biden, it also looked certain Trump would have to cancel a slew of other trips scheduled for this weekend and next. With AFP

MOST ACTIVE

ChinA hOlidAy. People wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus queue outside a Shake Shack restaurant at a shopping mall complex during the country’s national “Golden Week” holiday in Beijing on October 2, 2020. AFP

Major US firms roll out parade of layoffs over pandemic woes NEW YORK—Hit hard by the coronavirus crisis and with new government stimulus funding in limbo, Disney, American Airlines and United Airlines announced 60,000 layoffs in just 24 hours—leading a barrage of job losses a month before US elections.

Insurance firm Allstate warned Wednesday that it would have to cut 3,800 jobs, and Marathon Petroleum is slashing more than 2,000 jobs—12 percent of its workforce.

No sector is expected to be spared in the wave of layoffs and furloughs.

Financial giant Goldman Sachs is cutting what it called a “modest” total of about 400 people, ending a moratorium on job reductions that it imposed as the pandemic took hold.

New jobless claims data from the Labor Department did not brighten the picture, with 837,000 new filings last week—down 36,000 from the week prior but still well above the single worst week of the 2008-2010 global financial crisis.

“The levels remain extraordinarily high,” said Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics.

“It is especially concerning that the pace of layoffs has not slowed more materially even though the economy has reopened more fully, and more and more businesses have come back online.”

When the Covid-19 crisis struck the United States earlier this year, the tourism and hospitality industry—hotels, restaurants, and leisure activities— were the first forced to make huge job cuts to stay afloat.

Some major companies, like the airlines, got government aid to save tens of thousands of jobs.

But much of that aid expired on Wednesday, and partisan bickering has stalled a new package on Capitol Hill.

A loan package announced Tuesday for seven US airlines—totaling up to $25 billion—will provide funds for the carriers to ride out a longer downturn, but won’t stave off furloughs. AFP

Google commits to invest $1b in deals with news partners Lifestyle magazine Playboy ready PARIS, France—Google plans to invest $1 billion in partnerships with news publishers worldwide to develop a “Showcase” app to highlight their reporting packages, chief executive Sundar Pichai said Thursday.

“This financial commitment—our biggest to date—will pay publishers to create and curate high-quality content for a different kind of online news experience,” Pichai said in a statement.

Google has locked horns with publishers repeatedly in recent years over its reluctance to pay for displaying articles, videos and other content in its search results, which has become a vital path for reaching viewers as print subscriptions fade.

It is currently in a standoff with sev-

eral European media groups, including Agence France-Presse, over its refusal to comply with a new EU law governing digital copyrights.

The US giant says it should not have to pay to display pictures, videos or text snippets alongside search results, arguing it drives hundreds of millions of visits to publishers’ websites each month.

It also points to millions of euros invested to support media groups in other ways, including emergency funding during the Covid-19 crisis.

Pichai said Google had already signed up almost 200 publications in several countries, including Der Spiegel in Germany and Brazil’s Folha de S. Paulo, though the list lacked any

from the United States or France.

But Sebastien Missoffe, head of Google France, said the new service was being discussed with French media firms as part of negotiations over the EU’s new “neighboring rights” law.

“We remain more committed than ever to news publishers, so that we can help them with their digital transformations and support quality journalism,” he said in a statement to AFP. Google News Showcase will highlight “the editorial curation of awardwinning newsrooms to give readers more insight on the stories that matter, and in the process, helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences,” Pichai said. AFP

Airline FurlOughs.

Travelers are seen at the American Airlines check-in counter at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California in October 1, 2020. American Airlines has announced it will start furloughing 19,000 employees today due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the Payroll Support Program under the CARES Act expires today. AFP

ard

to emerge again as listed company NEW YORK—Playboy will become a public company again under a deal announced Thursday with the group famous for the iconic nudes in its long-running lifestyle magazine.

The deal will make Playboy Enterprises a publicly traded firm nine years after going private and a long period of turmoil for the group which from its founding in the 1950s broke taboos on sexual content.

The plan calls for investors in a special purpose acquisition corporation to buy Playboy, which will be listed on the Nasdaq as PLBY, in a deal valued at $381 million—including $142 million in debt.

The deal led by the specially-formed Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. allows the new firm to hit public markets without a more complex share offering.

Mountain Crest, already listed on the Nasdaq, will change its name to Playboy under the plan.

“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally,” said Ben Kohn, who will maintain his position as chief executive of Playboy.

“Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3 billion of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries.”

The new Playboy will be seeking growth opportunities in branding of sexual wellness and lingerie products, apparel and accessories, gaming and lifestyle and cosmetics for men and women.

Suying Liu, who heads Mountain Crest, described Playboy as “a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands.”

Earlier this year Playboy ended its US print edition after 66 years with the coronavirus forcing the publisher to accelerate its move to digital.

The magazine known for promoting the 1960s sexual revolution saw its popularity peak in the 1970s, but struggled in the face of competition and a new digital landscape.

Playboy consistently drew criticism for objectifying women with its erotic photography, but its supporters claimed the breaking of taboos also had a liberating effect. Its founder Hugh Hefner died in 2017. AFP

British expats count Brexit impact as banks start to close down their accounts

By Jean-Baptiste Oubrier LONDON, United Kingdom—For Roger Morton and his wife living in France—and many other UK expats across the European Union—Brexit is causing the closure of their British banking services.

Morton, a 78-year-old retired photographer, laments a letter from Barclaycard, informing him that their credit account will no longer be accessible, as Britain prepares for the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.

“It was a surprise and something draconian,” he told AFP of the letter, which he says comes on top of “an already stressful time” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Their current account with Barclays, where they

have banked for about 40 years, is not affected.

One of the first direct consequences of Brexit, the move by UK lenders to shut expat services is said to affect tens of thousands of people across Europe.

From January 1 following the end of the transition period, UK banks will be deprived of their “passporting” rights that have allowed them to offer services across the European Union.

To continue exercising these rights, they must have a legal entity in the countries of operation.

“This will obviously incur additional costs so banks will need to make decisions about which markets are likely to be cost-effective and profitable for them,” noted Sarah Hall, professor of economic geography at the University of Nottingham,

central England.

“This would mean that they choose to operate in some EU countries but not others,” she told AFP. For major UK bank Lloyds, the choice has been made. It is closing 13,000 accounts belonging to British expats spread across six EU countries— Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovakia.

Alternative solutions Banks are advising customers on their next steps.

Coutts, the bank of British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, has set up a dedicated team after warning its expat clients in July.

Expat newspapers, such as The Connexion in France, informs readers of their options such as changing banks so for example they can continue

to receive UK state pensions.

HSBC and Santander have decided against closing accounts.

“HSBC has a legal entity in France and is planning on using that to service UK expats in France,” added professor Hall.

Concerned that other banks are not taking the same measures, British parliament’s Treasury Committee made up of cross-party lawmakers has written to the UK’s financial regulator for clarification.

“Many British expats in the EU are being told that their UK bank accounts will be terminated at the end of the year,” said Mel Stride, an MP in the ruling Conservative party headed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. AFP

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

B4

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

Business

70,000 franchisees in PH close shop Oscar, Eugenio Lopez quit board of holding firm

By Jenniffer B. Austria CONGLOMERATE Lopez Holdings Corp. said Friday chairman emeritus Oscar Lopez and vice chairman Eugenio Lopez III resigned from the board for personal reasons. It did not provide additional details.

“The board of directors thanked them for their tremendous contribution to Lopez Holdings for 27 years,” the conglomerate in a statement to the stock exchange.

Both officials served as directors of the company since it was established as Benpress Holdings Corp. in 1993.

Lopez Holdings is the Lopez family’s holding company for investments in ABS-CBN Corp. and First Philippine Holdings Corp.

Lopez Holdings said the remaining directors led by First Philippine Holdings Corp. chairman Federico Lopez and ABS-CBN chairman Martin Lopez filled the vacated seats during an organizational meeting after the annual stockholders’ event.

Ambassador Manuel Lopez, chairman of the company since 2010, was elected chairman emeritus. Federico Lopez, treasurer of Lopez Holdings since 2010, was elected chairman while Martin Lopez was named vice chairman.

Miguel Lopez, executive vice president of Lopez Holdings, was elected treasurer. He is also a member of the board of directors and treasurer of Rockwell Land Corp.

Eugenio Lopez III also resigned in September from his post in ABSCBN Corp. and other Lopez-owned firms including Sky Vision Corp., Sky Cable Corp., First Philippine Holdings Corp., First Gen Corp. and Rockwell Land Corp.

By Othel V. Campos

T

HE franchising sector saw a sharp decline of about 35 percent in the number of franchisees to 130,000 in 2020 from 200,000 in 2019 as the health crisis forced many enterprises to close shop.

The Philippine Franchise Association said the decline would be carried over to 2021 amid the lingering effects of the pandemic on the economy and that another 20,000 franchisees would eventually halt operations.

“As the dust of the pandemic settles sometime in 2021, I believe we will only have about 110,000 franchisees left standing. That means 90,000 of franchisees would have closed their businesses,” PFA chairman emeritus Samie Lim said in a virtual briefing Friday.

He said despite the adverse impact of the pandemic, the franchisers were expecting the industry to recover from 2022 to 2025, the “golden years of franchis-

ing.”

The group predicted that by 2022, the industry would grow 20 percent annually until 2025 when the country would have about 250,000 franchisees.

“And as we rebuild the industry, we will reach the peak of 250,000 franchisees that will be stronger and more professionally run in in 2025. We will achieve this, hopefully and this will be the golden age of franchising. Meanwhile, in the year 2020, we have to assess objectively and accept the chaotic reality we are in. And we have to act as soon as possible,” Lim said.

He said it took the industry 25 years to grow into a 200,000-strong industry start-

ing with only 500 franchisees in 1995, with foreign franchises dominating the industry at 70 percent share.

The industry generated P700 million in sales in 2018, but the crisis is estimated to erode at least 30 percent of this to P490 million.

The PFA earlier expressed optimism it could export 100 local brands to the rest of the world by 2020.

PFA chairman Richard Sanz said Philippine brands with branches overseas comprised most of the franchises that survived the pandemic.

Brands trending in 2020 are mostly health-related and beauty brands. Mobile delivery apps also gained popularity when the pandemic broke in early 2020.

“Right now, we only have 30 brands that went global. But we are expecting that companies must have smarted from the crisis and would like to disperse investments both local and abroad instead of having 100 percent of the business here in the Philippines,” Sanz said.

CAMEROON TERMINAL.

2 1600

Kribi Multipurpose Terminal, a Cameroonian subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc., starts commercial operations at the MultiPurpose Terminal of the Port of Kribi in Cameroon, Central Africa. KMT is purposely built to handle multipurpose shipping line services, including roro, project and heavy lift cargo, forestry products, dry bulk and other general cargoes, and offer support services to the oil and gas industry. Under the concession contract, KMT will develop, operate and maintain the multipurpose facility at Kribi, a newly built deepwater port 170 kilometers South of Douala.

Former OFW turns to LANDBANK for a ‘refreshing’ start

BPS approves new advance of P540b to gov’t

By Julito G. Rada

Annie Suela, a watermelon farmer from Sibalom, Antique, availed of LANDBANK’s Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) loan program in 2019 to finance her watermelon production. With the existing quarantine protocols due to COVID-19, Suela once again relied on LANDBANK’s assistance to cushion the effect of the pandemic on her livelihood.

SIBALOM, Antique—The strict quarantine imposed by the government due to the Covid-19 pandemic played a key role in a former overseas worker’s “refreshed” source of income.

Just like everybody who became unsure of how things will turn out as a result of the lockdowns, watermelon farmer Annie Suela found herself in a predicament as to how she and her two children will survive.

But thanks to Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), her twohectare watermelon farm managed to survive despite the COVID-19 lockdowns.

A former Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW)in Hong Kong, Suelaheard over the radio about LANDBANK’s offer of low interest rates and simpler requirements for small farmers.

“In December 2019, Ms. Suela was granted a credit line under the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) loan program to finance the needs of her watermelon production.

This also led to job generation for farm workers in their area who help prepare and till their farm,” said LANDBANK Iloilo Lending Center Head InocentesY. Ypanto, Jr. The ACEF fund facility, administered

by LANDBANK, allows micro and small enterprises, farmers’ and fishers’ cooperatives and associations, as well as individual farmers to borrow up to 95 percent of total project cost. The funds can be used to purchase farm input and equipment or acquire/establish agri-based production and processing machineries, equipment and facilities.

Suela recounted that she had a hard

time keeping her watermelon farm afloat.

With the limited transportation in the province resulting from the lockdown, Suela’s programmed deliveries to Manila and Boracay were disrupted.

“Grabe yung experience namin dahil sa lockdown. Kahit ang dami naming pananim na watermelon, wala kamingkinikita dahil wala talagang bumibili at walang bumi-byahe sa mga terminal.(We experienced difficulties because of the lockdown. Nobody wants to buy our watermelon and any means of transporting our produce to the markets practically stopped),” Suela said.

But these challenges did not break her spirit. Even with the lower profit and logistics issues, she continued to look for ways to sell her watermelons. On top of that, she also ensured that her outstanding balance with LANDBANKwere paid in full to be eligible for a re-loan that she has been eyeing even before the pandemic.

“Kahit na pandemic, sinikap ko talaga na makapagbayad kasi gusto ko mapanatili yung credit line ko sa LANDBANK para sa farm namin.

Nag-focus kami sapag bebenta ng mga vegetable para mabayaran yung balance namin. (Despite the pandemic, I tried my best to pay our loan obligation so I can maintain our credit line with LANDBANK. We focused on selling vegetables instead),” Suela explained.

For Suela, ACEF was a welcome development for their financial needs compared to the usual unfair terms of illegal moneylenders. She is also is thankful for taking the leap with LANDBANK as it served as her safety net, especially during the strict lockdown period.

“Malaki ang pasasalamat ko sa LANDBANK kasi ang bilis din maapprove ng re-loan ko kahit may pandemic.Within four days, na-credit na agad sa account ko yung loan kaya may pang-capital na ulit kami. Kung wala ang LANDBANK, hindi ko na alam kung saan kami kukuha ng pangsimula ulit. Madali silang kausap at laging handang tumulong sa katulad kong small farmer. (I am thankful to LANDBANK because despite the pandemic, our re-loan was approved immediately. The loan amount that will be used for capital was credited to our account in just four days. I wouldn’t know where to get the funds to restart operations without LANDBANK. They are always willing to help small farmers like me),” Suela said.

Suela and her family are slowly getting back on their feet as quarantine protocols nationwide are relaxed. Aside from the loan she availed from LANDBANK, she is also grateful for the financial literacy workshops and the technical trainings she received from the Bank and the Department of Agricultureto help her better manage the farm.

She is also aiming for higher goals.

Suela said she is interested inanother loan program that will help her mechanizeher farmand increase productivityof both the watermelon and vegetable farms.

Interested borrowers of the LANDBANK ACEF loan program may contact the nearest open LANDBANK Lending Center or Branch nationwide, or call LANDBANK’s customer service hotline at (02) 8-405-7000 or at PLDT Domestic Toll Free 1-800-10-405-7000.

THE Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, said Friday it approved the request of the government for a fresh provisional advance of P540 billion to be used for deficit financing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Monetary Board approved today the national government’s request for a new tranche of provisional advances in the amount of P540 billion [$11.1 billion], pursuant to Section 89 of Republic Act 7653, as amended,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a message to reporters.

Diokno said the approval came following the Bureau of the Treasury’s full settlement on Sept.

29, 2020 of the previous repurchase agreement with the BSP wherein the Treasury borrowed P300 billion from the BSP at zero interest rate.

The BSP governor earlier said the purpose of the fresh provisional advance would be for “budget support,” especially “deficit financing as a result of the pandemic.”

He said the provisional advance of P540 billion would be settled on or before Dec. 29, 2020 also at zero interest.

An economist earlier warned that the BSP might be putting at risk its hard-earned credibility and its independence would be questioned under a debt monetization scheme, especially if it allowed the rollovers of upsized repurchase agreements to help in debt financing of the government.

PSE INDEX

Friday, October 2, 2020

54.53 PTS. 5,999.40

TOTAL VOLUME TOTAL TRADES TOTAL VALUE ADVANCES DECLINES UNCHANGED

1,474,482,113 92,842 4,907,879,541.45 93 92 57

F oreign e xchange r ate Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2020

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

48.4580

Japan

Yen

0.009476

0.4592

UK

Pound

1.289000

62.4624

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.129037

6.2529

Switzerland

Franc

1.089087

52.7750

Canada

Dollar

0.752785

36.4785

Singapore

Dollar

0.733730

35.5551

Australia

Dollar

0.718400

34.8122

Bahrain

Dinar

2.651676

128.4949

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266617

12.9197

Brunei

Dollar

0.731048

35.4251

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000067

0.0032

Thailand

Baht

0.031656

1.5340

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

13.1938

Euro

Euro

1.174700

56.9236

Korea

Won

0.000860

0.0417

China

Yuan

0.146737

7.1106

India

Rupee

0.013662

0.6620

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.241080

11.6823

New Zealand

Dollar

0.665000

32.2246

Taiwan

Dollar

0.034646

1.6789 Source: BSP

IN BRIEF PSE clears offerings of SMC, PH Resorts THE Philippine Stock Exchange said Thursday it approved two more fundraising activities, including the P20billion preferred shares offering of San Miguel Corp. and the P1.25-billion follow-on offering of PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. which are expected to perk up the market.

San Miguel, according to the memorandum circular posted on the PSE website, will offer up to 133.33 million in preferred shares with an over-allotment option for another to 133.33 million shares at P75 apiece.

The conglomerate assigned BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., Philippine Commercial Capital Inc., PNB Capital and Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. as the joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters and bookrunners for the offering.

The PSE also approved the P1.25-billion share sale PH Resorts, the leisure and gaming unit of businessman Dennis Uy. PH Resorts will offer up to 450 million common shares at P2.50 apiece. Uy said the company was pushing through with the fund-raising activity as the construction of the integrated resort and casino in Cebu called Emerald Bay remained on track. Jenniffer B. Austria

SMIC lists P10-b bonds with PDEx SM INVESTMENTS Corp. said Friday it listed P10 billion worth of fixed-rate retail bonds with Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

SMIC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the bonds, which would mature on April 2, 2024, were priced to yield 3.3613 percent per annum.

The company said it would use the net proceeds from the fund-raising activity to refinance debt.

BDO Capital and Investments Corp.

China Bank Capital, BPI Capital Corp.

First Metro Investment Corp. and Security Bank Capital were named as joint lead underwriters for the transaction.

The P10-billion bonds are the first issuance out of the conglomerate’s P30 billion debt program under a shelf registration of three years approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The conglomerate reported a consolidated net income of P7.1 billion in the first half, down 69 percent from P23 billion in the same period the previous year.

Jenniffer B. Austria

NFA buys 2m bags of palay from farmers THE National Food Authority said Friday it bought 2 million bags of palay, or paddy rice, from farmers in September, representing 40.5 percent of the total local purchases since January this year.

NFA Administrator Judy Carol Dansal assured rice farmers the agency would continue to buy their harvest at P19 per kilogram.

The agency issued special instructions to field officials to be more aggressive in their palay buying activities and come up with innovative ways to serve as many farmers as possible.

NFA’s palay procurement averaged 90,012 bags daily in September.

The NFA noted that Region II or Cagayan Valley recorded the highest palay sold with 505,440 bags. It was followed

by Western Visayas with 318,383 bags; Central Mindanao with 298,665 bags; Southern Tagalog with 121,910 bags and Bicol Region with 100,714 bags.

Othel V. Campos

PPP key to addressing pandemic, threats SCIENCE, transparency and the collaboration of governments, regulators, the health community and the private sector are crucial in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other global threats.

This was the key message of André Calantzopoulos, chief executive of Philip Morris International, in the “Conversations on Leadership” virtual panel discussion on Sept. 29, 2020.

Calantzopoulos joined Julia Coronado, president and founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives, as copanelist in the online event organized by The Wall Street Journal in line with the first virtual session of the United Nations General Assembly. This year’s UNGA theme was “Reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism, confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action”.

The panelists shared lessons learned from the pandemic and how the scientific community can better work with the public and private sectors to mitigate threats to global health in the future.

Calantzopoulos noted the complex interdependency that

Philip Morris International CEO André Calantzopoulos

underpins the planetary ecosystem and global economy, particularly the fragility of global supply chains. “As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, the slightest problem can derail [the global economy].” Global supply chains should have redundancies such as inventories, as well as flexibility, which can facilitate business continuity, he said. “This applies to both governments and companies.”

Sports

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

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

Novak storms to 70th win at Roland Garros

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns the ball to Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis during their men’s singles second round tennis match on Day 5 of The Roland Garros 2020 French Open tennis tournament in Paris. AFP

Tennis phenom Eala joins French Open jrs

By Peter Atencio

S

INCE April, world no. 4 junior player Alexandra Eala and other athletes-scholars of the Rafa Nadal Academy stayed in shape, while in home quarantine in Mallorca, Spain.

After six months in isolation, the 15-year-old Eala will finally see action in the 2020 French Open’s Roland Garros Junior Tennis Championships this Sunday.

And with Eala wield the no. 2 seeding in the main draw, her family and supporters are hoping that she will be able to get far.

“Yes, she’s in Paris now for the French Open Roland Garros Junior Champion-

Dragic, Bam doubtful for Finals’ Game 2 ORLANDO—Injured Miami Heat stars Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo were both listed as doubtful Thursday for game two of the NBA Finals, dealing a hammer blow to the franchise’s hopes of leveling the series.

A day after the Heat were pounded 116-98 by the Los Angeles Lakers in game one, Miami’s task became more daunting after confirmation of injuries to both Dragic and Adebayo.

Dragic has suffered a torn plantar fascia in his left foot while a scan revealed Adebayo is nursing a neck strain in his left side.

Both are doubtful to play on Friday, the Heat said in a statement.

Injuries to Dragic and Adebayo deprive Miami of two of the team’s most important players in their run to the finals.

Miami talisman Jimmy Butler, who rolled an ankle in Wednesday’s mauling but is fit to play on Friday, said Thursday he believed the team could bounce back.

“Knowing we may be a couple men down, other guys are going to have to step up in a big way,” Butler said. “I’m really, really excited to see how we bounce back, but I think we’re capable of it.”

Butler, meanwhile, said he had spoken to a downcast Dragic since the injury, revealing that the giant Slovenian believed he had let down his teammates.

“It’s just tough to see him in this position because he cares about the game, cares about his teammates, and he really wants to win,” Butler said.

“You can hear that pain in his voice, of him feeling like that he may have let us down, but he did not, and I want him to know that.

“He has carried us to this point, and it’s only our duty to pay that back to him right now.”

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said he was confident the team possessed enough depth to remain competitive, noting that the roster had forged tight bonds inside the Orlando bubble. AFP

ships. She’s excited to be competing for the first time in the tournament,” said Alex’s father Michael Francis.

The young Eala has never been seeded in the main draw and hopes are high that she will be able to keep up with the likes of world junior no. 1 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra.

The presence of world no. 6 Elsa Jacquemot of France, world no. 8 Polina Kudermetova, along with world no. 9

and 10th netters Weronika Baszak of Poland and Kamilla Bartone is also expected to make competition tough for Eala.

“She’s excited to be competing for the first time in the tournament. Although she played the Qualifying Rounds last 2018, this is the first time she gets to play in the main site of Roland Garros,” added the elder Michael.

Eala was supposed to enter a series of tournaments early this year.

But last March, Eala skipped her second professional tournament due to the coronavirus threat in Tunisia.

Her coaches from the RNA asked Eala to return to Mallorca, together with other scholars so they can isolate themselves from the ongoing pandemic.

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Alexandra Eala

Spain is one the two European countries with the most reported coronavirus infections, but has recently logged the lowest daily death toll since March 23.

Alex’s father said the qualifying rounds have historically been played in another club venue which is about 45 minutes away from the main site.

And this will be the first for Alex when she gets to compete at the Roland Garros’ main court.

PARIS—World number one Novak Djokovic took another confident stride closer to an 18th Grand Slam title with his 70th win at Roland Garros on Thursday as Jelena Ostapenko stunned second seed Karolina Pliskova, throwing the women’s draw wide open.

Djokovic, the 2016 champion, needed just 83 minutes to complete a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis.

The top seed went level with Roger Federer for victories at the tournament, although still 25 behind Rafael Nadal’s all-time best.

He will now face Colombian lucky loser Daniel Elahi Galan, ranked 153, for a place in the last 16.

“It was difficult for Ricardas in the third set as he had an injury and couldn’t move very well,” said Djokovic whose afternoon stroll was eased by his opponent needing treatment on a back problem after the second set.

“But I felt good just as I did in the first round and I want to continue like that.”

Djokovic, bidding to become the first man in half a century to win all four majors twice, also dropped only five games in his first round match against Mikael Ymer who likened facing the Serb to a “snake killing its prey”.

Victory stretched his 2020 record to 33-1, his only defeat coming via disqualification from the US Open.

Former champion Ostapenko swept second seed Pliskova out of the tournament, triumphing 6-4, 6-2 on the back of 27 winners.

In a women’s draw reeling from the injury-enforced withdrawal of Serena Williams, and the absence of world number one and defending champion Ashleigh Barty, as well as US Open winner Naomi Osaka, world number 43 Ostapenko pressed her case for a second Paris title after her shock 2017 breakthrough.

She will now face Spain’s Paula Badosa who put out Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open winner and 2018 runner-up in Paris, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Shapovalov loses in five hours Pliskova, 28, made the semifinals in 2017 but has now failed to get beyond the third round in her eight other appearances.

“I tried to be aggressive but not miss too much as she’s such a great player,” said 23-year-old Ostapenko who had lost in the first round in her last two visits. AFP

Folayang: Denice has what it takes to be world champ FORMER ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang sees a bright future for unbeaten Filipina strawweight Denice “The Menace” Zamboanga, who has taken ONE Championship by storm since her debut in 2019.

Zamboanga has defeated all three of her opponents with relative ease. Her latest win was an 88-second submission of Watsapinya “Dream Girl” Kaewkhong in August.

Folayang has no doubts that the 23-year-old will continue to climb the division.

“I think she has what it takes to become a World Champion,” Folayang said.

“You really can’t put a limit on the potential of someone. Of course, I want her to keep moving forward and one day become a champion.

“I think she has the heart to get it. I think she has the grit, and in the right time I hope she gets the World Title that she has been dreaming of.”

But winning the ONE Atomweight World Title will certainly be easier said than done, especially since “Unstoppable” Angela Lee has been so dominant.

Since making her promotional debut at 18 years old back in 2015, Lee has yet to lose in the division.

This makes Zamboanga the undeniable underdog of their much-awaited battle.

Folayang likened Zamboanga’s situation to his World Title run in 2016, when he shocked martial arts fans by finishing Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki in the third round to win the ONE Lightweight World Title.

“The critics will always be there. On my part, if you asked 10 people who would win between me and Aoki, probably all 10 would say Aoki,” Folayang said. “But you need to defy that, you need to eliminate that from your mind.”

Folayang thinks that if Zamboanga can continue to show the hunger that has gotten her this far, then the unbeaten Filipina is already one step closer to her dreams.

“My advice is to just keep on preparing, keep on improving, if you really want something, you will do everything to get that,” Folayang said.

“For me, I made a lot of sacrifices. She has to do it as well, particularly when it comes to her time. Her will to win must be bigger than the naysayers.”

Catch ONE: REIGN OF DYNASTIES next Friday, 9 October. Watch the event on One Sports, One Sports+, or on the ONE Super App at 8:30 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (PHT).

Also, TV5 will air the event on a next-day delay at 11 p.m. PHT on Saturday, October 10.

Denice Zamboanga

Philracom Triple Crown series kicks off Sunday ITS SCHEDULE pushed back to the latter part of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 racing season kicks into overdrive on Sunday (Oct. 4), with the first leg of the Philippine Racing Commission’s Triple Crown series, considered as the most prestigious racing extravaganza for three-year-old horses at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

Battling for the first-leg crown and bragging rights are Cartierruo (owner Melanie Habla, jockey KB Abobo), Four Strong Wind (Alfredo Santos, OP Cortez), Heneral Kalentong (Benjamin Abalos Sr., JB Guce), Runway (Joseph Dyhengco, MM Gonzales) and Tifosi (SC Stockfarm, JA Guce).

A total of P3 million in prizes will be up for grabs in the race over a distance of 1,600 meters, with P1.8 million going to the champion horse and P675,000 allocated for the runner-up. Third and fourth placers get P375,000 and P150,000, respectively.

To help stop spread of COVID-19, fans won’t be allowed to personally watch the races, with only the racing clubs’ employees, Philracom personnel, horse-owners, jockeys, trainers and special guests allowed at the venues, ensuring that only 25 percent of the usual crowd will be present.

Jockeys will be ordered to wear special face masks and eye gear, while trainers and other horse-racing personnel at the stables will be told to wear hazmat suits and other protective equipment.

Real Gold won last year’s first and third legs of the series, with Boss Emong sneaking in a win in the 2nd leg.

Patterned after the United States’ Triple Crown, with its three legs comprised of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, also with progressively longer distances, the Philippine edition of the Triple Crown series was launched in 1978, with Native Gift winning the first two legs and Majority Rule

denying him the sweep.

Since then, there have been only 11 Triple Crown champions, namely Fair and Square in 1981, Skywalker (1983), Time Master (1987), Magic Showtime (1988), Sun Dancer (1989), Strong Material (1996), Real Top (1998), Silver Story (2001), Hagdang Bato (2012), Kid Molave (2014) and Sepfourteen (2017).

Also on tap on Sunday is the Philracom Hopeful Stakes Race offering P1 million in total prizes and the Philracom 3YO Locally Bred Stakes Race, with P500,000 at stake. Both races have a distance of 1,600 meters.

Battling for the P600,000 top prize in the P1-million Hopeful Stakes are After Party (SC Stockfarm, Jockey MM Gonzales), Batang Dragon (Alfredo Santos, JB Guce), Bourne Leader (Melanie Habla, JA Guce), Exponential (Raymund Puyat, JB Hernandez), La Republika (Mariano Tirona, AR Villegas), Maximum Risk (Peter Allan

Limjoco, RG Fernandez), Prettiest Star (Ma. Theresa Floirendo, PJ A Guce), Primetime Magic (Ken Logistics Forwarders, RM Garcia), Sacred Syndicate (Running Rich Racing, KB Abobo), Spandau Ballet (Francisco Crisosotomo, FM Raquel), Sweet Spot (Paul Aguila, CP Henson) and Zenaida (Cool Summer Farm, OP Cortez).

Listed in the Locally Bred Stakes Race are Abetski (owner Abraham Alvina, jockey RD Raquel Jr.), Calbayog (Benjamin Abalos Jr., AR Villegas), Drummer Girl (Running Rich Racing, JA Guce), I Love Ninetyseven (Richard Aquino, KB Abobo), Noon Bell (Bell Racing Stable, JB Hernandez), Our Secret (SC Stockfarm, MM Gonzales), Radio Gaga (Francisco Crisostomo, RG Fernandez), Redhead Dancer (Raymund Puyat, PM Cabalejo), Sky Shot (Henedino Gianan Jr., JP A Guce), Stardust (Leonardo Javier Jr., RA Base) and Under Pressure (Ma. Teresa Lara, PJ A Guce).

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Tech & Gadgets

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

Taiwan proves plastic, rubber expertise via online conference

I

N A highly industrialized and technologically advanced world such as ours, plastic products have become a way of life. Regardless of how they are deemed harmful to the environment, there is no denying that plastics are here to stay. Their benefits still far outnumber its supposed harmful effects, especially when used properly.

At present, global plastics production is experiencing rising demand among sectors such as automobiles and consumer electronics, medical treatment, packaging, and construction. The increase thus pushes the need for more plastic and rubber machinery in production facilities.

This is a scenario that the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) is taking advantage of. Taiwan’s plastics and rubber machinery is currently among the global leaders in related industries in the world, where it is ranked sixth globally. For the past over 50 years, the industry has been establishing a complete industrial cluster. Aside from this, the Taiwan plastics and rubber machinery is world-renowned for topquality technology and impeccable after-sales service.

Furthermore, more than 400 plastic and rubber machinery manufacturers in Taiwan are known for its strong ICT capabilities, use of “The Industrial Internet of Things” (IIoT), intelligent automation, intelligent sensors, and advanced manufacturing technologies to build “smart, high-end, custom-made” production solutions, making it an indispensable part of the plastic and rubber global supply chain.

In order to help international plastic and rubber manufacturers face the future growth in plastic production demand, the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) Taiwan, R.O.C, and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) organized the “Taiwan Excellence Plastic & Rubber Machinery Online Press Conference 2020”. The event attracted over 532 viewers online from countries including Egypt Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam among others.

Shown here are (from left) Michael Lee, Manager, ChumPower Machinery Corp.; Tony Wu, Sales Support Engineer, ChumPower Machinery Corp.; Eric Wei, Vice Chairman, Diing Kuen Plastic Machinery, Co., Ltd.; Guann-Jyh Lee, Deputy Director General, BOFT ; Walter Yeh, President & CEO of TAITRA ; Charles Wei, Fong Kee International Machinery Co., Ltd.; Neilson Su, Sales Manager, Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd. (FCS) ; Benjamin Lee, Vice General Manager, Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd. (FCS).

High speed stretch blow molding machine: L-Series by ChumPower

Four leading Taiwanese plastic & rubber machinery companies were presented during the event, which includes Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd. (FCS), ChumPower Machinery Corp., Fong Kee International Machinery Co., Ltd., and Diing Kuen Plastic Machinery, Co., Ltd.. The companies featured the latest trends and technologies, from injection molding machines and blow molding machines to extrusion machinery for the benefit of buyers and media worldwide.

In his speech during the online event, Bureau of Foreign Trade MOEA Deputy Director General Guann-Jyh Lee communicated that Taiwan’s government has

continuously focused on the demands of the business industry amidst the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. It provided vital support and assistance to reduce the impact of the pandemic. Taiwan Excellence has been consistent in highlighting high quality Taiwanese products.

Mr. Neilson Su, Sales Manager, Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd. (FCS) presented on the topic of "Intelligent Robotic Endoscope Surgery." He stated that in order to meet various customer needs nowadays, FCS dedicates itself to developing customized multi-component injection molding machines, which broaden the application scope of the industry, and he received positive feedback from customers.

The largest PET blow molding machine manufacturer in Taiwan, ChumPower, presented its product “High-speed stretch blow molding machine” which can be linked with filling machines to create a blowing-filling-capping production line.

This is good for production lines with medium-to-high capacity and guarantees high cost-effectivity. The machine is suit-

Payoneer, GCash partner for seamless global to local payment transactions AS RECENT economic changes drive new market behaviors, businesses and private individuals adapt by exploring online commerce opportunities in the “new normal”.

Now more than ever, Filipinos embrace contactless payment options, in observance of physical distancing measures and other safety protocols.

To cement Payoneer’s position in the Philippines, Payoneer launched its partnership with GCash, the undisputed leading and preferred mobile wallet to 20 million Filipinos. This collaboration aims to gear up local MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) in accessing improved financial solutions by providing an avenue for smoother and more convenient online transactions.

Starting on September 30 2020, Payoneer users will already be able to access their remittances anytime, anywhere, by simply linking their accounts directly to GCash.

With over 20 million GCash users and 63,000 partner merchants, Payoneer users can now enjoy innovative ways to pay bills, shop, dine, and more, as they experience the

features that come with GCash, the country’s leading mobile wallet.

As quarantine measures leave Filipinos inclined to stay in the safety of their homes, people nowadays are looking for practical solutions to accomplish their day-to-day tasks with just a few swipes and clicks from their phones. And with MSMEs and BPO workers being key drivers in promot-

ing market resilience, having Payoneer and GCash to provide them with convenient and efficient financial solutions is one step further in streamlining digital commerce and powering their growth.

“At Payoneer, our work is to encourage businesses to defy limits by making crossborder payments more inclusive. Now that new lifestyles and habits emerge, we cater

able for various markets to produce different bottles like mineral water, tea, juice, edible oil, medicine bottles, seasoning, CSD, cosmetics and more.

Fong Kee is the largest and finest machinery manufacturer in Taiwan’s Plastic Extrusion Industry. It provides a wide range of plastic extrusion machinery like blow molding, blown film, cast film, sheet making, and extrusion lamination machines. Its “Intelligent All-Electric three-layer Blow Molding Machine” helps reduce power consumption by 40-50% while increasing production output by 20-25%. It is also equipped with a SCADA system that collects data for further analysis to help improve efficiency.

Diing Kuen specializes in extruders and known for making a broad range of plastic products. Its “Five layers co-extrusion for industrial stretch-hood” is a high efficiency extrusion machine for multilayer blown film which can be automatically calibrated online, and is equipped with a data acquisition and analysis system and automatic feeding system. It is an IIoT gateway that provides secure access to remote services.

For more information, contact your nearest Taiwan Trade Center https://officeportal.taiwantrade.com/flash/big/ unitList.jsp?lang=en_US. to our ever-evolving market by growing our services in partnership with GCash, allowing Filipinos to have more financial mobility, simply and safely from the convenience of their phones,” said Miguel Warren, Payoneer’s Regional Head of South East Asia and Pakistan, and General Manager-Hong Kong.

So, if you’re a Payoneer user, enjoy the convenience of contactless payment transactions and have access to your money anytime, anywhere. Link your Payoneer account to GCash now! GCash is available for download on the App Store and Google Play. For more information, kindly visit https://www.gcash.com/.

Payoneer—one world, one platform, endless opportunity.

Payoneer’s mission is to empower businesses to go beyond—beyond borders, limits and expectations. In today’s digital world, Payoneer’s platform streamlines global commerce for millions of businesses from 200 countries and territories, delivering a suite of services including crossborder payments, working capital, tax solutions, merchant services and risk management. www. payoneer.com

PLDT KaAsenso empowers MSMEs to thrive amid pandemic THE new normal brought about by the pandemic has presented a new set of challenges for the Filipino entrepreneur, yet resourceful pinoys have continued to find opportunities to thrive and survive, to further augment their livelihood. In fact, the prolonged work from home setup has brought about a resurgence of putting up one’s own business, and while more and more Filipinos actually have good online business ideas, they realize upon starting that they will need to learn and develop new skills to ensure their business’ continued growth and longevity.

This is the main reason why PLDT Home, the Philippines’ fastest fixed network, is now powering Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) or the ‘minigosyantes’ in the country to thrive and grow their businesses online with the new and improved PLDT KaAsenso Program.

Through PLDT KaAsenso, entrepreneurs are not only provided with strong and stable internet connection, they also get free training sessions to equip them with the necessary tools and know-how that they will need as they start their online businesses, as well as free access to a wide range of ecommerce tools which will allow them to maneuver their way through today’s digital and online transactions.

To further assist MSMEs, the telco giant has likewise partnered with companies like PayMaya, UnionBankGlobalLinker, GrabExpressMadiskartengBoss Club, and sulit.ph to ensure that digital solutions are made even more accessible, coupled with safe and secure seamless transactions.

Providing online tools and digital platforms for MSMEs Recognizing that MSMEs today need a digital platform that will guarantee their visibility and access to market stakeholders, PLDT KaAsenso has also partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the One Town, One Product (OTOP) Philippines for the DTI and OTOP Virtual Trade Expo 2020. This first ever online national livelihood caravan is scheduled to take place from September 24 to 28, 2020,and serves as the perfect venue for MSMEs to participate and promote their products and services.

Aside from hosting a virtual booth, business owners can also opt to attend some virtual seminars and workshops to learn how to start a business from scratch, while also fostering a competitive and innovative presence in the industry. At the same time, they can get the latest and most relevant information, tools, and resources, to further hone their business skills. The online caravan is open to all MSMEs nationwide.Interested participants may visit www.virtualtradeexpoph.com.

New FibrPlans for MSMEs Taking it one step closer to being every business owner’s partner, PLDT KaAsenso hopes to make digital tools even more accessible to entrepreneurs to help them reach their target market faster and easier, and at the same time, captivate an even wider audience, both locally and internationally.

The newest PLDT KaAsenso Plans aim to empower businesses during the pandemic by providing high speed PLDT Fibr connections at very affordable prices.Starting this September, business owners can opt for the KaAsenso Regular Plan 1888 at 10Mbps with a FREE permanent speedboost of up to 20Mbps, or the KaAsenso Regular Plan 2199 at 20Mbps with a FREE 40Mbps speedboost. Both plans come with unlimited calls to landline, as well as free installation and activation worth P3,000.

Google unveils new Pixel handsets with 5G wireless WASHINGTON—Google on Wednesday unveiled two new smartphones with 5G wireless capability under its Pixel brand, which showcases the Android mobile system but has limited market share.

The new Pixel 5 will start at $699 for US customers and its reduced-price Pixel 4a with 5G at $499, the California tech giant announced at a streamed event.

The phones will be available from October 15 in the US and other markets.

The new handsets are "packing more helpful Google features into phones backed by the power and speeds of 5G," said Google vice president Brian Rakowski.

The announcement puts Google, for the moment, ahead of Apple in the 5G smartphone race, with a 5G iPhone widely expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks. It also positions Google with a competitively priced 5G device as consumers begin looking for upgrades.

Google's Pixel handsets have won positive reviews for their powerful cameras and integrated artificial intelligence, but have failed to crack the top ranks of the smartphone market dominated by the likes of South Korea's Samsung, Apple and China's Huawei.

The Pixel devices nonetheless serve as a showcase for Google and Android, integrating hardware and software and the newest Google applications.

"Google has pivoted its Pixel line from competing at the highest price points to offering more value, but the competition has intensified in the mid-tier market as well," said Avi Greengart of the consultancy Techsponential.

"That leaves the Pixel 5 again trying to differentiate itself on its camera and software."

The launch comes with the global smartphone market struggling from the pandemic-induced economic crisis and with many consumers waiting for 5G devices.

Total smartphone sales were down 16 percent in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC, whose survey showed Huawei leading the market ahead of Samsung, Apple and Chinese

firms Xiaomi and Oppo.

At Wednesday's event, the company also announced a ramped up version of its Google TV platform which competes against Roku and Amazon's Fire TV. "The new Google TV experience brings together movies, shows, live TV and more from across your apps and subscriptions and organizes them just for you," said Google TV senior director Shalini Govilpai.

Also unveiled was a new Nest Audio smart speaker which is 75 percent louder and has 50 percent stronger bass than its original smart speaker with the Google Home brand, according to the company. AFP

Tech & Gadgets

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

realme has officially launched its newest number series realme 7 and 7 Pro, and its latest TWS device realme Buds Q in the Philippines.

Photo shows [from left] realme Philippines Media Buy Manager Sage Cuevas, Marketing Lead Eason de Guzman, VP for Marketing Austine Huang and Marketing Trainee Jarrell Lim.

JBL JR300BT

Five gadgets make distance learning easier AS A result of the pandemic, all educational institutions have agreed to continue operating remotely and without the face-to-face aspect of traditional classrooms, distance learning requires a range of technology to improve the educational experience.

On.Ward PH, the newest and most innovative retail store for top-of-the-line products for Education, Work from Home, Content Creation, Fitness and Health, Gaming, and Smart Products from well-known brands, has recently released 3 latest products for a creative and easiest way of learning online.

One of the latest releases is the HUE HD camera and HUE HD Pro Camera, which is not only used for online learning but can also be used in art, calligraphy, sports, and webinars. An easy-to-use document camera with mic where you can record videos and sound and capture still images for a better learning experience for your children. Additionally, the HUE HD camera is compatible with Windows and macOS and is available in Black, Blue, Red and Green for ₱3,299 and the HUE HD Pro for ₱5,299.

Woodpad 7 and Woodpad 10 are also at the top of their list. A thin, lightweight bamboo drawing pad specially built for people who want to take their creativity wherever they go. With its incredibly precise pen accuracy, it delivers a simple and familiar drawing experience just like using a pen and paper.

Both drawing pads are available at https://onward.ph and On.Ward BGC store at B3, G/F, Bonifacio High Street, BGC, Taguig City for ₱4,099.00 and ₱6,599.

They also have the JBL JR300BT, a safe, lightweight wireless earphone that protects your children's hearing. It ensures that the volume does not reach a harmful level, but still provides a good sense of bass depth to enjoy what your kids are listening to. The JBL JR300BT is available in Punky Pink, Tropic Teal, and Rocker Blue for ₱2,999.

All of these latest technologies are beneficial in enhancing every child's remote learning experience as schools today lean toward distance learning. Every parent needs to ensure that their children can learn and study from home with ease.

For further news and information about the latest and innovative distance learning products visit https://onward.ph, and follow us on Facebook (https:// facebook.com/onwardph), and Instagram (https:// www.instagram.com/onwardph).

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realme 7 Series, Buds Q now in PH, offer elevated experience

R

EALME Philippines has officially launched the new realme 7 series and its latest smart audio device realme Buds Q, raising the standards for a midrange smartphone and TWS experience. To the delight of fans, realme launched the devices with bucket loads of promos for both its online store on LazMall and its offline stores nationwide.

Following on the heels of the successful launch of its C-series, realme Philippines goes back to its beloved number line-up with a couple of powerful midrange champs—the realme 7 and 7 Pro. As it aims to enrich the realme ecosystem, realme is also bringing its chic in-ear TWS to the local market— the realme Buds Q. “We at realme Philippines aim to fuel the drive of the Filipino youth as they take on various endeavors—may those be in climbing the corporate ladder or ranking up in different mobile games. We believe that our new devices, which are both powerful and attainable, can keep our young leaders, ideators and creators inspired and empowered to continue moving forward.

And we are happy to make these new

devices available in more channels with more fun promos,” shares realme Philippines VP for Marketing Austine Huang.

The launch of the realme 7 series was led by realme’s #7for7 squad, which is composed of young trailblazers from different fields of interest. Professional Mobile Legends player and Omnic PH Team Captain ohmyv33nus, two time SEA Games Gold Medalist Japoy Lazardo, content creator and Tiktok Influencer Gyle De Castro, PBA courtside reporter Apple David, model & motorsports enthusiasts Bianca Rufinno, visual artist and realme Philippines in-house photographer RG Vizuals and realme Philippines creative lead Harold Branzuela are young leaders that embody the youth’s grit and vigor.

realme 7 Pro: Philippines’ Fastest-Charging Smartphone There is no stopping Filipino corporate gladiators, budding entrepreneurs and digital buffs in their quest for success.

This makes the realme 7 Pro a perfect tech partner.

The realme 7 Pro is equipped with a 65W SuperDart Charge, making it the Philippines’ fastest-charging smartphone —charging from zero to 100% in just 34 minutes. This charging power is favorable for intense daily hustle as it minimizes smartphone downtime. The device’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G Mobile Processor also ensures that the overall performance of the device is smooth and top-notch.

For users active in online content creation, from livestreams and vlogs to photo feeds, the realme 7 Pro’s 2nd Gen 64MP Sony IMX682 Quad Camera and 32 MP in-display can help in capturing good engagement with high-quality videos and flagship snaps. realme 7: World’s First Smartphone with MediaTek Helio G95 There is a global uptick of 35 percent in

weekly mobile game downloads in March as people around the world stay safely at home and look for avenues of entertainment. IDC and App Annie also reported that mobile is now the primary driver of growth for digital game consumption. To ascertain that the youth gets to continue to slay their mobile battles, realme designed midrange champ realme 7 specifically for mobile gaming enthusiasts. Under the phone’s hood is the world’s first MediaTek Helio G95 Gaming Processor, which makes the realme 7 one of the most powerful smartphones for gaming and entertainment in its price point.

Quarantines have also regulated the forms of entertainment the youth usually enjoys outside of their homes, like going to the movies, partying in clubs and dining in restaurants. This led the youth to pivot even further to digital forms of connection and entertainment—be it virtual call with friends or movie streaming—as these are not bound by physical borders. The realme 7 packs a 5000mAh battery with a 30W Dart Charge, ready to power the digital adventures of its young users.

Tech savvy Lucio Tan III leads Tanduay’s continued US growth

New vivo Y20i won’t weigh your style down, it will elevate it EVEN if it’s packed with a powerful processor, innovative gaming technology, and an industry-standard camera setup, the vivo Y20i is elegantly designed with eye-popping colors on a lightweight body.

The latest addition to the best-selling Y-series boasts of two stunning color options that are sure to complement and even elevate modern lifestyles.

Dawn White is a bright and lively hue inspired by soft morning horizons. With this dazzling design that exhibits an outpouring of light, the smartphone invites users to brighten the world with their style every day.

Nebula Blue on the other hand, was inspired by the deep universe. This blue and purple gradient design inspires users to explore their imagination and unleash their creativity.

These color options not only complements the user’s style, but the sleek and lightweight body of the smartphone as well. The vivo Y20i weighs approximately 192.3g with dimensions of 164.41×76.32×8.41mm. This makes it er-

vivo Y20i

gonomically designed to fit comfortably in a user’s hand.

The Android 10-powered smartphone also contains a side mounted fingerprint scanner and Face Unlock technology for convenient phone unlocking and an unhampered view of its magnificent rear design.

The vivo Y20i is available for pre-order until its official release on October 4 through the official vivo Shoppee store, the official vivo Lazada store, or through vivo concept stores, exhibits, kiosks, and multi-brand stores nationwide. Pre-order today and get premium headphones plus an adorable “little V” USB night-light.

To learn more about the Y20i visit vivoglobal.ph.

EVEN as most businesses are reeling under the effect of the pandemic, Filipino rum maker Tanduay’s growth continues on an upwards trajectory.

Now headed by Lucio Tan III, the third-generation scion to one of the Philippines’ biggest conglomerates, Tanduay continues to successfully enter new international markets. Most recently, it inked deals with the largest US wines and spirits distributors, Johnson Brothers and General Beverage.

Tanduay can now be found in Hawaii, Nevada, Wisconsin, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California, Tennessee, and Michigan, and in the territory of Guam.

It is also available in China and Singapore, and will be available in Europe by the end of the year.

A software engineer, Tan’s direction for the 165-year-old Tanduay business is to bring it to more customers worldwide, making it available not just through traditional marketing and selling

Lucio Tan III

but tapping into online channels as well.

“Even before the pandemic, we were already working on making Tanduay available through tech-driven channels.

Last June, we launched an online selling site for our Filipino customers, shots.ph. In the US, we have partnered with Caskers and Flaviar, and we are also available through the online sites of our distributor-part-

ners,” Tan, a graduate of Stanford University, said.

Tanduay’s push toward a more visible international presence started in the 2000s. Its more recent initiatives in the US included a partnership with the Golden State Warriors, making it the first Philippine brand to sponsor an NBA team. It had naming rights to the Tanduay Club in the Oracle Arena, and Tanduay Rum can be found at retailers in the Golden State Warriors’ blue and gold “Strength in Numbers” collectible boxes in California. Tanduay currently has its own branded bar at the Chase Center, the Golden State Warriors’ brand-new arena in San Francisco’s Bay District which opened in 2019.

Tanduay also became the official rum of the Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets. It has been a Presenting Sponsor of the 40/40 CLUB and an Associate Sponsor of the arena's Brooklyn Show platform.

Connected SAMSUNG Galaxy Ecosystem to power work, play, and well-being GET THE most out of every moment with the next-generation Galaxy Ecosystem devices. The Galaxy Note20 Series, Buds Live, Watch3, and Tab S7 and S7+ aim to transform work and play while putting focus on wellbeing in today’s environment.

A Galaxy of Interconnected Devices The Galaxy Note20 and Note20 Ultra are designed to transform work and play for multihyphenates. For work, it has productivity features such as the Lifelike S Pen and the much improved Samsung Notes. The device is also equipped with Microsoft tools to help view presentations, spreadsheets, and documents. These tools also help draft emails, develop plans, or create reports whenever and wherever.

When in need of a bigger screen, take advantage of Samsung DeX to connect the Galaxy Note20 or Note20 Ultra to a Samsung Smart TV.

A perfect multi-tasking capability, Samsung DeX allows viewing of files like videos, artwork, and documents on a larger display while still using the phone for other tasks.

Meanwhile, the powerphone also provides the ultimate gaming experience with its Game Booster with an enhanced Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to let users play console-level games seamlessly during breaks.

The Galaxy Note20 and Note20 Ultra are best paired with Galaxy Buds Live whether for work or play. This accessory is built with nextgeneration features such as Active Noise Cancellation, with sound engineered by AKG for an immersive and spacious listening experience, as well as three built-in mics and a Voice Pickup Unit for the best sound quality during meetings or gameplay. It can also be paired with other Galaxy devices or a PC through the

Windows 10’s Swift Pair function.

Monitor health and well-being with the Galaxy Watch3’s innovative features. Optimize every workout session and track progress with the Real-time Analysis, Post-run Feedback, Blood Oxygen feature, and Maximal Oxygen (VO2 max) readings. It even offers access to over 120 different video workout programs through the Samsung Health App on the Galaxy Note20 series. And when paired with the Galaxy Note20 and Note20 Ultra, users can enjoy amplified mobile experiences through the Smart Receive and Smart Reply, Camera controller, Music controller, and PPT controller functions.

For a more immersive experience, the Galaxy Tab S7 Series seamlessly mix both works and play through powerful features such as a 120Hz display refresh rate. Like the Galaxy Note20 series, the LTE-capable

Galaxy Tab S7 series enables high productivity through its S Pen with ultra-low latency and Samsung Notes, which can also be synced across one’s smartphone and Windows 10 PC. With a single tap, a PClike experience awaits those using its Book Cover Keyboard, which comes free with the tablet.

Motoring

RAMON L. TOMELDAN Editor

C4

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

By Othel V. Campos DESPITE a lethargic car market, Kia Motors Philippines is optimistic it can move 300 units of the brand new model, the Kia Stonic.

The Stonic is the 11th model in the Kia line-up in the Philippines which will be made available to dealers starting October 15, 2020.

During a virtual briefing, Kia Philippines president Manny Aligada said the company still keeps the forecast of 4,000-units sales for the brand.

“If we look at the sales trajectory, May till July were very positive. it was only in August that the industry felt a bit down but given the recovery we felt, we’re keeping our initial forecast of 4,000 units this 2020,” he said.

He noted that the automotive market, while among those industries sustaining severe damage to sales and operation, continues to be aggressive in its approach to recover what was lost during the onset of the virus pandemic.

“In this new stage of quarantine level, we are expecting that people will be more

relaxed. The need for mobility, may not be paramount, but people will be moving about more freely. Thus, we expect sales to recover again starting In September towards the end of the year,” he said.

The industry, he added, expected better sales forecast than what was projected earlier. For 2020, the industry saw a 35 percent drop in sales from 420,000 units forecast pre-COVID to around 275,000 units.

Entry models were noted as the preferred choice of most clients after the harsh lockdown, but higher level or premium models were also moving at moderate level.

“So there’s polarity there. But nevertheless, we see the market getting better as the quarantine levels shift to more relaxed levels,” Aligada said.

To gain more visibility in the market, Kia is expecting to close the year with 38 dealerships. Before the pandemic, the company started 2020 with 30 dealers.

In the 3rd quarter, 4 new dealership opened in Bonifacio Global City, Fairview, Marikina and Isabela, in the far North. Another 4 will sprout in Cainta, San Pablo City, Nueva Ecija and Bohol in the 4th quarter. Othel Campos

STOIC STONIC

Ayala auto group overhauls top team

By Othel V. Campos

A

C INDUSTRIAL Technology Holdings, a unit of Ayala Group, announced the appointment of Antonio “Toti” Zara III as the new president of AC Motors effective Oct. 1, 2020 in a move that signals a slew of changes in the Ayala auto team.

AC Motors is the automotive business unit of the conglomerate, which houses the portfolio of distributorships for the Kia, Volkswagen, and Maxus brands, and dealerships for the Honda, Isuzu, Kia, Volkswagen, and Maxus brands.

“Toti brings with him 30 years of experience in the global and local automotive industry covering service, sales, and marketing functions. We welcome his experience and hope he can add fresh and innovative perspectives to help accelerate the strategies we have set forth and started in order to navigate this crisis and take advantage of the long-term trends that continue to drive the industry’s evolution,” AC Industrials chairman and CEO Arthur Tan. Concurrently, Zara will serve as president of the different dealership companies of AC Motors while Tan will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of the various companies under the AC Motors’ umbrella.

AC Motors announced executive movements to strengthen the organization and to move past the current pandemic and prime itself for future growth.

Moving forward, AC Motors will organize itself into two distinct businesses - automotive and motorcycle -

to allow the group to capitalize on the unique growth opportunities in each sector.

Manny Aligada will continue to serve as president of the Kia distributorship under the KP Motors Corporation, while Felipe Estrella will likewise continue as president of Automobile Central Enterprise, the distributor company for the Volkswagen and Maxus distributorship businesses.

Dino Santos, meanwhile, will transition to lead and focus on AC Motors’ motorcycle group which is tasked to carve its own path as a major player in the two-wheel space.

The motorcycle division currently houses the manufacturing, distribution, and retail operations of the KTM and Husqvarna brands.

AC Industrials is Ayala Corporation’s wholly-owned industrial technologies arm and direct parent of the AC Motors, group’s vehicle distribution & retail dealerships division, The company builds on the collective strengths of Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc., a pioneering manufacturer in the Philippines and the sixth-ranked (based on revenues) automotive EMS provider worldwide, and AC Motors, the country’s largest multi-brand dealership group Arthur Tan

• Kia upbeat on compact SUV prospects

Nissan turns a New LEAF

• EV concept provides mobile power supply in aftermath of natural disasters NISSAN has unveiled a 100% electric emergency response vehicle concept, designed to provide a mobile power supply following natural disasters or extreme weather.

The RE-LEAF1 working prototype is based on the Nissan LEAF passenger car, the world’s first mass-production electric car.

Alongside modifications to navigate roads covered in debris, the RE-LEAF features weatherproof plug sockets mounted directly to the exterior of the vehicle, which enable 110- to 230-volt devices to be powered from the car’s high-capacity lithium-ion battery.

The RE-LEAF can be driven into the center of a disaster zone and provide a fully mobile power supply to aid the recovery process. The integrated energy management system can run medical, communications, lighting, heating and other life-supporting equipment.

“We’re constantly exploring ways that electric vehicles can enrich our lives, beyond just zero-emission transportation,” said Helen Perry, head of electric passenger cars and infrastructure for Nissan in Europe. “Concepts like the RE-LEAF show the possible application of EVs in disaster management and demonstrate that smarter, cleaner technology can help save lives and provide greater resilience.”

Real-world applications of EVs during disasters Natural disasters are the biggest cause of power outages. A 2019 World Bank

report found natural shocks and climate change caused 37% of outages in Europe between 2000 and 2017, and 44% of outages in the U.S. over the same period.

When a disaster hits, the time for electricity supply to be restored is typically 24 to 48 hours, depending on the severity of the damage. During that period, electric vehicles can provide zero-emission mobile emergency power.

Nissan created the RE-LEAF to demonstrate the potential of electric vehicles in disaster recovery. Although it’s just a working concept, the technology is already being used in the real world. In Japan, Nissan has used the LEAF to provide emergency power and transportation following natural disasters since 2011, and the company has formed partnerships with more than 60 local governments to support disaster relief efforts.

Nissan EVs can also act as mobile storage batteries to supply homes and society with electricity during non-emergency situations through Nissan Energy Share, creating a distributable energy model that can be used to help stabilize supply and demand. The RE-LEAF uses the LEAF’s bidirectional charging ability, a standard feature of the model since its introduction in 2010. This means the LEAF can not only “pull” power to recharge the high-capacity battery, but also “push” it back to the grid through V2G (Vehicleto-Grid) technology, or directly to electric devices through V2X (Vehicle-toeverything).

Territory Trio: Why three discerning car buyers chose the all-new Ford Territory PURCHASING a new vehicle for yourself or your family can be quite a daunting task. With several factors to consider such as financing and cost of ownership coupled with the uncertainties brought about by the pandemic, there are those who may find themselves struggling to decide on what vehicle to purchase.

An SUV is considered by many Filipinos to be a versatile, cost-efficient, and ideal vehicle with its space, size, and now, technology. With features and capabilities that address the needs of customers, an SUV becomes an easy choice for one’s daily drive essential.

Designed to cater to the mobility needs of today’s Filipino driver, the all-new Ford Territory combines style, safety, technology, and practicality in one SUV package. It is the perfect vehicle of choice for young professionals and starting families looking for a new driving experience.

Three new owners Mark Almero, Eldin Reyes, and Kahlil Robles share their ex-

perience with their purchase of the Ford shared that the Ford Territory is his very Territory and what they like about their first car purchase using his hard-earned new Ford SUV. money and this involved a lengthy process before he finally came to a decision.

Marking their own territory “I read reviews, watched vlogs, comFor 29-year-old senior internal auditor pared specifications, and even joined car Mark Almero, getting the best value out clubs online to really discover my car opof any purchase is his utmost priortions. When I came across an article ity. Recalling his car about the Ford Terribuying jourtory, it really ney, he piqued

my interest because it has all the things I want in a car—luxurious interiors, safety and tech features, and the overall great design,” said Mark.

The features that appealed to him the most, as a young professional, were the smart features equipped in the Ford Territory. “I really enjoy using the 360-degree camera, touchscreen infotainment system, the moonroof, and all those little things that make my driving experience more enjoyable and convenient. I didn’t know I needed them until I used them,” he shared.

It was a different story for 43-year-old system administrator and father of two Eldin Reyes. His main deciding factor on his purchase of the Ford Territory was its space and convenience features. “When my wife gave birth to our second son, we agreed that the new car should be more spacious and safer to drive. The Ford Territory is our second car and we basically use it if we want a more comfortable trip,”

Eldin said. “We also particularly like the auto brake hold function which proves useful especially when we’re caught in traffic,” he added.

For Kahlil Robles, a 32-year old brand and advertising executive who recently got married and is looking to start a family soon, his main consideration for choosing the Ford Territory was its jampacked features and its compact yet expansive cabin space. “I’ve been driving a sedan for almost a decade now. When I got married, I found the perfect opportunity (and more reasons) to finally invest in a bigger car that will best serve both my needs and my family’s. The Ford Territory was easily my best choice because it has everything that I needed in an SUV,” Kahlil said. “Its sleek interiors and body caught my eye at first, but looking closely at its features, especially the 360-degree camera and the panoramic moonroof, I knew right then and there that I had to get it.”