Manila Standard - 2022 December 22 - Thursday

PBBM vetoes 3 budget items

Move affects Deped, DOLE, DOT; Sen. Pimentel sees ’valid points’

By Vito Barcelo, Vince Lopez and Macon Ramos-Araneta

PRESIDENT

DFA concerned about reports of Sino infra activities in WPS

By Rey E. Requejo

THE Department of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday expressed serious concern over reports of China's new construction and reclamation activities in the disputed South China Sea, saying these violate international law and existing agreements with claimants.

“The department takes note of the Bloomberg article on reported reclamation activities by China in unoccupied features of the Spratlys. We are seriously concerned as such activities contravene the Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea’s undertaking on selfrestraint and the 2016 Arbitral Award," the DFA said in a statement.

By Vito Barcelo, Vince Lopez, and Maricel V. Cruz

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday reaffirmed his promise to provide one million houses

“In keeping with my constitutional duty to ensure faithful execution of the laws, I am constrained to directly veto the provisions introduced in this budget which do not relate to any particular appropriations and would effectively amend substantive laws. These are considered inappropriate provisions that warrant the exercise of presidential veto," the President said.

One of the affected items was Department of Education (DepEd)Office of the Secretary (OSEC), Special Provision No. 4, Revolving Fund of DepEd TV, which is the department’s television-based instruction aired on national and regional partner stations.

The President also vetoed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-National Labor Relations

Commission (NLRC), Special Provision No. 1, “Use of Income,” Volume 1-A, Page 1157.

Marcos noted that the NLRC is not granted authority to use its income under existing laws.

Moreover, the subject income already forms part of the revenue and financing sources of the 2023 National Expenditure Program, which he earlier submitted to Congress, he pointed out.

The President also vetoed the proviso “in no case shall the appropriations be utilized to change the tourism campaign slogan” under Department of Tourism (DOT)-OSEC, Special Provision No. 4, “Branding Campaign Program,” Volume I-B, page 313, inasmuch as it intends to limit the exercise of the

for poor families every year under his administration's public housing program.

Mr. Marcos was in Nueva Ecija on Wednesday to lead the groundbreaking ceremony of the Palayan City To wnship, a project under the Pambansang

Palace to DA: Rush sugar importation

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed the Department of Agriculture (DA), which he also heads as secretary, to speed up the importation of 64,050 metric tons of sugar to stabilize the price of the commodity.

The President said the DA needed to take action as he was concerned with the “very high inflation rate”

Based

Bantag to face plunder rap for unfinished cells

BUREAU

he will file a plunder complaint against suspended BuCor chief Gerald Bantag, saying only 60 percent of the prison cells being built by the agency were finished.

“Yes, I will file plunder (charges),” Catapang told Super Radyo dzBB. “Imagine, the budget of the government for the establish ment of prison cells is around P1 bil lion. This is how BuCor should

Push for pay hike still up in air, wage boards weighing impact

By Julito G. Rada

HOUSING FOR ALL. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. leads the groundbreaking of an 11-hectare housing project under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino in Brgy. Atate in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija Wednesday. Also in photo are (from left) Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, Speaker Martin Romualdez, Palayan City Mayor Viandrei Nicole Cuevas, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Sec. Jose Rizalino Acuzar, and Government Service and Insurance System President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo Veloso. Alfred Frias

for sugar.

on the November inflation

report, the annual inflation for sugars, confectionery and deserts reached 38 percent.

Memorandum Order 77, signed by DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, called for the immediate convening of the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) Advisory Council to expedite the importation of 64,050 metric tons of sugar.

PARADE OF STARS. Movie stars wave to their fans from one of eight floats that participated in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2022 parade in Quezon City on Wednesday, Dec. 21 2022. Joey Razon

Ferdinand Marcos. Jr. vetoed three items under the P5.268-trillion government budget for 2023 because they would effectively amend existing laws.

ALWAYS

Representatives

2 ex-DA execs convicted for liquid fertilizer mess

THE Sandiganbayan has convicted two former officials of the Department of Agriculture for graft in connection with the overpriced purchase of liquid fertilizer in 2004.

The anti-graft court meted out a six to eight year jail term to then-Regional Executive Director Oscar Parawan and Chief Accountant Ma. Perlice Julian of DA Region 9. Parawan and Julian were convicted for authorizing the transfer of P5 million to a non-government entity, the Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation, Inc. (MAMFI), without public bidding, resulting in overpriced purchase of liquid fertilizers.

The P5 million, the court said, was sourced from the discretionary or the Priority Development Assistance Fund of then-Zamboanga del Sur Representative Isidoro Real.

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The department issued the statement following a report published by Bloomberg stating that China has engaged in fresh construction activities in at least four unoccupied features in the Spratlys, including Lankiam Cay or Panata Reef, which the Philippines claims as its own.

Bloomberg quoted unnamed officials who said that reclamation activities have been taking place in Eldad Reef in the northern Spratlys, Lankiam Cay, Whitsun Reef and Sandy Cay, where "some sand bars and other formations in the area expanded more than 10 times in size in recent years."

China on Wednesday dismissed as false the online report.

"This is fake news," the Chinese Embassy in Manila said.

The embassy pointed journalists to Beijing-based think-tank South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI), which tweeted that Sandy Cay is occupied by Vietnam, and the sandbars in the other features mentioned in the Bloomberg report naturally change every year

The DFA said it has asked relevant Philippine agencies to verify and validate the contents of the report, which came

Push...

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“We do not want to pre-empt the process of the Boards for the simple reason that any decision they will make, if there is discontent and there will be an appeal. That would go to the National Wages and Productivity Commission, where your humble servant stands as chairman. So, at this point, we don't want our statement to be premature,” he said in a press briefing.

Laguesma said the NCR wage board has already conducted an initial hearing last week and "will continue to roll out the process."

"We know that many are getting impatient of the process. But we cannot just rush this," Laguesma said.

Labor groups have repeatedly pushed for a new round of wage hikes due to inflation.

ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said in a report: “With the widespread prevalence of second-order effects and little in the pipeline in terms of relief to the food basket, we believe inflation will only glide lower next year, still settling above target to average closer to 5.2 percent.”

Mapa said inflation, unlike previous surge episodes such as in 2018, will not likely slow down quickly, only “a steady grind lower.”

“The saying inflation will be sticky downward should hold sway next year given how pervasive price pressures have become. Some would tie this to vibrant domestic demand, but the true reason for the proliferation of second-order effects would be the protracted supply side shocks emanating from the ongoing war in Ukraine,” Mapa said.

In the past, he said, only a few items were responsible for above-target inflation, but the current episode looked completely different, as more than 160 items faced price gains of more than 4 percent.

“With prices so high for so long, every firm has been granted a clear-cut reason to hike prices themselves, leading to the

The amount was part of what would eventually be known as the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

"Accused Parawan performed overt acts by entering into a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) with MAMFI based upon the request of accused Real Jr., without public bidding, and without complying with COA Circular 96-003, and subsequently signing the checks issued to MAMFI," the Sandiganbayan said.

Julian, on the other hand, signed the disbursement vouchers, the court added.

"Parawan's signature in the MOA, disbursement vouchers and checks and Julian's signature in disbursement

out a few weeks before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. undertakes a state visit to China in early January.

The Bloomberg report said that Chinese fishing fleets operating as de facto maritime militias have carried out construction activities in the area — a move which could trigger tensions anew in the region.

Large holes, debris piles and excavator tracks were seen in the areas as well as amphibious hydraulic excavators used in land reclamation projects, the report said.

Images seen by Bloomberg also showed "physical changes at both Whitsun Reef and Sandy Cay, where previously submerged features now sit permanently above the high-tide line."

While China previously reclaimed areas it claimed in the South China Sea, officials quoted by Bloomberg expressed alarm on its "unprecedented" new building activities on unoccupied features. These officials warned that this is a move to change the status quo and bolster its claim and control over the waters.

The South China Sea is a vital sea lane where oil and natural gas have been discovered in several areas.

China, which claims a huge swathe of the sea as part of its territory, beefed up its reclamation activities in other disputed areas in the past and transformed

price spiral. Still-bogged-down supply chains have not helped, as we’ve witnessed shortages for items such as sugar all the way to onions,” Mapa said.

He said although some could live without commodities such as vegetables “and that extra teaspoon of sugar,” the issues remained glaring, and little appeared to be in the pipeline to truly address the shortfalls.

On Tuesday, BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said the inflation rate was expected to peak in December 2022. Medalla said there were uncertain events that could impact the annual increases in consumer prices for the month, such as what would happen outside of the country.

Laguesma, meanwhile, said he is not in favor of calls to abolish the wage boards.

"In my opinion, the existing mechanism, the regional wage boards, remains as the better choice. This is because it involves the direct participation of the different sectors. There are worker and employer representatives, along with the government. There is balance," he added.

However, the Labor chief said it is up to lawmakers to decide on the matter.

In September, the Makabayan bloc filed House Bill 4898, seeking to establish a national wage for private sector workers, thus abolishing the existing regional wage boards.

Inflation in November 2022 has accelerated to a 14-year high of 8 percent from 7.7 percent a month ago, due to faster increases in the prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages.

This was significantly faster than the 3.7 percent in the same month a year ago. This brings the average inflation from January to November 2022 to 5.6 percent, well over the government’s target range of 2 to 4 percent.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee on Dec. 5, 2022, in consultation with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, has decided to retain the current inflation target of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 percentage point (or 2 to 4 percent) for

vouchers are acts which required their discretion. The court finds the claim of the accused that their acts were done upon the direction of their superior untenable."

In his testimony before the court, Parawan said he accepted the liquid fertilizer price of MAMFI because it was within the range that he knew of, which was between P100 to P1,000 per 300 ml bottle.

The Sandiganbayan, however, rejected his argument.

"On cross-examination by the prosecutor, accused Parawan admitted that it was the first time he came across MAMFI. He confirmed that the department did not conduct their own canvass of the price of the liquid foliar fertilizer but claimed that the range of the price per bottle of the fertilizer would depend on several factors such as its brand, content, and origin," the Sandiganbayan said.

previously submerged features into artificial islands with multi-level buildings and runways. It has also installed surfaceto-air missiles in these areas, triggering concerns from countries, such as the US, Japan and Australia.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed in 2002 a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea or DOC, which calls on claimants to exercise restraint and stop new occupation in the South China Sea.

However, its non-binding nature and lack of provision to sanction misbehaving claimants, renders the accord useless against aggression.

In 2013, the Philippines challenged China’s legal basis for its expansive claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, and won the case in a landmark award in 2016 after the tribunal invalidated Beijing’s assertions.

China has rejected the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, insisting that its “indisputable” and “historical” claim over nearly the entire South China Sea, including part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippines has repeatedly accused Chinese coast guard and maritime militia of harassing and attacking fishing boats and other vessels. With AFP (See full story online at manilastandard.net)

2023 – 2024 and set the same inflation target for 2025 – 2026.

The announcement of the mediumterm inflation target is in line with the BSP’s commitment to transparency and accountability as well as the forwardlooking approach in the conduct of monetary policy.

“I’m very sure that the peak [of inflation] will be in December,” Medalla said, although he refused to give a specific number. But he said inflation might slightly pick up from the 8 percent in November 2022.

“ … We thought inflation was going to peak in October 2022 but [then] typhoons came,” Medalla said.

Medalla also did not rule out the possibility of more rate hikes early next year.

“ A rate hike is a likely event but things might change…,” Medalla said.

The Monetary Board raised the benchmark interest rate in the middle of this month by 50 basis points to a more than 14-year high of 5.5 percent to prevent the second-round effects of inflation that may accelerate further this month.

Accordingly, the interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were set to 5.0 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively.

“The BSP’s latest baseline forecasts show that average inflation is still projected to breach the upper end of the 2-4 percent target range for 2022 and 2023 at 5.8 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively,” Medalla said.

However, the forecast for 2024 fell to 2.8 percent owing mainly to the further easing in oil prices, peso appreciation, and the slightly lower domestic growth outlook resulting in part from the BSP’s cumulative policy rate adjustments.

“The Monetary Board arrived at its decision after noting the further uptick in the headline (inflation) and the sharp rise in core inflation in November amid pent-up demand. Moreover, upside risks continue to dominate the inflation outlook up to 2023 while remaining broadly balanced in 2024,” Medalla said.

PBBM...

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functions of the Executive Branch in implementing RA No. 9593 (The Tourism Act of 2009).

Mr. Marcos also said that under the government's auditing code "unless otherwise specifically provided by law, income accruing to the agencies by virtue of the provisions of the law, orders and regulations shall be deposited in the National Treasury or in any duly authorized government depository and shall accrue to the unappropriated surplus of the General Fund of the government.”

He said a provision in the code states that receipts shall be recorded as income of special, fiduciary or trust funds or funds other than the General Fund only when authorized by law.

The President said the NLRC is not granted the authority to use its income under existing laws.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said the President raised valid points in his veto message.

"I hope that the prioritization of the education sector as mandated by the Constitution is really reflected in the

Palace...

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The move will be done through the DA’s MAV mechanism, which sets the volume of a specific agricultural commodity that may be imported with a lower tariff.

The MAV is a commitment of the Philippines to the World Trade Organization to facilitate trade between countries.

The President’s move was met with opposition from the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines, which asked him to stop importation while sugar milling is at its peak.

“We are at the peak of harvest [season], and we have abundant stocks of raw and refined sugar; as such, we see

Bantag...

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have been decongested.”

“Around 95% (of the funds) have been claimed already, but only 60% is finished. There’s no roof. How will the PDLs live there? Our reform agenda was also delayed,” he added.

Lawyer Rocky Balisong, Bantag’s legal counsel, said they will answer the charges in the proper forum.

“They can always file. We will wait for it, and we will answer it in the proper forum,” he told GMA News Online.

Bantag was suspended following the death of Jun Villamor, the inmate who allegedly acted as the middleman in the plot to kill broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa.

Since then, Bantag was linked to several controversies, including being identified as one of the masterminds behind the killing of both Lapid and Villamor. He has since denied the allegation.

He was also said to be digging for the legendary Yamashita treasure at an excavation site at the New Bilibid Prison, something he said was for a diving pool.

Bantag is also facing new charges over allegations of torture and physical injuries.

Catapang said the complaints will be filed this week following allegations made by gang leaders inside the NBP in Muntinlupa City that they were tortured by Bantag early this year.

Catapang said BuCor will help Batang Cebu gang leader Jonathan Canete and Ronald Usman of Batang Mindanao in filing the cases before the Muntinlupa Prosecutor’s Office either today or Friday.

Canete and Usman claimed that Bantag stabbed their hands and legs while the official was drunk during a confrontation inside his office last February.

According to Catapang, they took the affidavits of Usman and Cañeta on Tuesday.

He said the complaint may be for physical harm or physical injury.

Meanwhile, Catapang said they received information that former BuCor deputy security officer Ricardo Zulueta alleged ordered an inmate that he argued with to be stabbed.

Authorities have pointed to Zulueta as the other alleged mastermind in the Percy Lapid case.

budget law after the veto," he said. Also, he noted that they would still have to monitor how the budget is actually implemented.

Senator Joel Villanueva said it is the President’s prerogative to veto some of the provisions of the General Appropriations Act.

"We trust in his wisdom. The work of the legislature now is to continue its oversight powers and ensure that appropriated funds are spent economically, efficiently and effectively," he added.

Senator Nancy Binay said she respects the President's power and prerogative to veto, but noted that rebranding and marketing can be very costly.

Given the country's financial challenges, changing to a new slogan at this time may not be a compelling argument.

"As much as possible, we don't want potential tourists to be confused with constantly changing messages every time they watch our new ads on television and social media," she added.

She said she remains hopeful that the DOT considers deferring its plan to rebrand and replace the 'It's More Fun in the Philippines!' campaign.

no need to import sugar at this time,” said the group’s president Manuel Lamata.

He said resorting to importation now would be “disastrous” to local sugar farmers.

On the other hand, the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. said that importation is necessary to bring down the price of sugar.

Earlier in Marcos’ term, several officials of the Sugar Regulatory Administration were dismissed following the sugar fiasco that involved the supposed importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar that the President deemed illegal.

Prevailing prices of sugar in Metro Manila as of Wednesday were at around P90 per kilo of brown and washed sugar and P95 per kilo of refined sugar.

this was ordered by Zulueta because they were in disagreement,” he said.

Catapang said the inmate was initially at the NBP but was transferred to Leyte following the disagreement. He said the PDL was stabbed in the chest there.

“Once he was in Leyte, he was attacked by another PDL there. When I visited Leyte, he was still in the hospital. I told them to bring him here so we can secure him,” he added.

Lawyer Lauro Gacayan, the legal counsel of Zulueta, said they cannot comment on the allegation until they receive the affidavit.

Lapid was shot dead in Las Piñas City on October 3 while Villamor died at the New Bilibid Prison.

An autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun showed Villamor's remains to have a “history of asphyxia by plastic bag suffocation.”

Meanwhile, the lawyer of Lapid said that while the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order issued against Bantag and Zulueta by the Department of Justice is not a guarantee they cannot leave the country, it is still “an added layer of monitoring.”

Lawyer Danilo Pelagio said this when asked if they felt secure that Bantag and Zulueta will not leave the country.

“Well, it’s not a guarantee that they cannot leave the country. But that would also be an added layer of monitoring the whereabouts of Bantag and Zulueta,” Pelagio told ANC.

The DOJ said the ILBO was for “monitoring purposes only.”

Sought for comment on the lookout order, Gacayan said this is because the Justice Secretary has no power to stop any citizen from traveling abroad.

“Under Art. III, Section 6 of our Constitution, `the right to travel may not be impaired except: Upon Lawful Order of a court— which means there must be a pending criminal case against a person before the Regional Trial Court or Sandiganbayan,” he told GMA News Online.

“If my client wants to travel abroad, there is no constitutional prohibition against it. There is no pending criminal case against him yet, which is pending in court,” he added.

In an ambush interview, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the issuance of a lookout bulletin order is normal in the filing of complaints.

“We really do that for all cases, not just for them,” he said. Rey E. Requejo Mr....

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Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program.

“I’m glad that we are continuing. This is not the first groundbreaking that I have attended. I hope… I know it will not be the last, and that we will continue to break ground in different parts around the country so that our dreams for one million homes a year,” the President said.

“One million homes a year, if we reach

that, at least it will be of great help to at least solve our problem in housing,” the Chief Executive added.

According to the President, the administration’s concept is to provide families with shelter not only for poor residents but also for employed people who struggle to have decent housing.

Housing agencies and developers must consider providing their housing projects with facilities and necessities like water, power, schools, markets as well as transport hubs, Mr. Marcos said.

"All of these things have to come together. It is not a question. We already have an experience," Marcos said.

"I hope that we’ll continue at this rate, and we have to do this. This is one of the many (projects) actually, that we are going to break ground, and I hope soon," he added.

The President expressed his gratitude to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and to the Palayan City local government for their efforts in spearheading the housing project, stressing that collaboration is nec-

“Yes, we are investigating the PDL who stabbed him and we got news that

essary for ventures like shelter projects.

The 11-hectare Palayan City Township Housing Project is part of the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program aimed at addressing the country’s housing needs by building one million houses each year in the next six years.

Once completed, the community township in Palayan City will give rise to 44 towers that can accommodate 11,000 housing units.

Under the three-phase project, 5,100 housing units will be built first, with sup-

port infrastructure such as an elementary school, livelihood center, administrative offices, a central park, basketball court, a mini market and hawker area, aquaponics area, sewage treatment plant, and materials recovery facility.

Construction will commence in April next year with the project’s phase 1, with 2,500 housing units seen to be finished in 2024.

The national housing project is expected to generate 1.7 million jobs every year from 2023 to 2028. (See full story online at manilastandard.net)

PNP sees 3 to 5 rebel leaders vying as Joma Sison’s potential successor

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday said three to five communist rebel leaders are vying for the position left vacant with the recent death of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison.

ties. If I am not mistaken, we are looking at three to five personalities. But as of now I am not at liberty to divulge those names because we are still studying them, Maranan said during the regular Laging Handa briefing.

Sison, 83, who founded the CPP in 1968, died last Dec. 16 in The Netherlands where he has been on self-exile for years.

By Joel E. Zurbano

THE Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) is on heightened alert status to ensure safe travels of motorists during the holidays.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) announced it is gearing up for the expected increase in volume of air passengers in 42 commercial airports nationwide, five days before Christmas.

“This Christmas Rush, I-ACT and various government agencies will work together to ensure the order and safety of our road-users and public transportation infrastructure,” the panel stated.

“I-ACT has been on heightened alert status with the implementation of Oplan Byaheng Ayos Pasko 2022.

About 200 Task Force personnel are currently deployed in various parts of Metro Manila where the number of road users increase,” it added.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board issued special permits to more than 700 bus units to cope with the usual surge of passengers during the holiday season.

The Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) alone serves more than 68,000 passengers per day, and may hit 140,000 in the following days.

On Monday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the Department of Transportation, as well as the various transportation and law enforcement agencies conducted inspections at various transportation hubs.

Random vehicle and drug testing were also conducted at various terminals in Manila to ensure that the public utility vehicles are road-worthy and the drivers do their duties without the influence of illegal drugs.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said his department and its attached agencies have deployed full complement of personnel for ease of travel of the riding public.

“As you head to your reunions and parties, we hope we have sufficiently addressed your travel needs from buses to modern jeeps, from airplanes to trains, from sea vessels to private cars,” he said.

At the same time, the PNP said it has not detected security threats in connection with the 54th anniversary of the CPP on Dec. 26.

PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Redrico Maranan declined however, to reveal the names of Sison’s potential successor.

“We are looking at some personali-

CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena, who announced Sison’s death, earlier said they will continue to push their armed and political struggle “guided by the memory and teachings” of Sison.

The CPP has been waging a communist insurgency against the government through its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), and political arm, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), for more than 50 years now.

“We do not see or receive any serious

threats but we are not letting our guards down. We will intensify our security posture because we know that the communist insurgents continue to stage attacks at this time,” Maranan said.

He gave assurance however, that the PNP has been on alert for any untoward incident.

“The PNP is always ready in such situation, before the anniversary we are already on the highest alert, a full alert, and we are ready to thwart them and protect our citizens,” he said.

Maranan reiterated that they will not issue any recommendations for a ceasefire or suspension of police operations (SOPO) against communist insurgents this holiday season, despite Sison’s death.

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the military supports the police force in securing the holiday season against communist insurgents and other lawless elements.

WITH no proof of death, police continue to consider the 34 lost sabungeros as missing.

“They are still considered missing unless we see evidence like bodies. So far, we have yet to find any proof of life. I don’t want to give false hopes. We will still pray for a miracle,” said Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

In a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City, Lee said kidnappers for ransom usually do not keep their victims alive for a long time. He cited his own experience in anti-kidnapping operations as basis for his theory.

“Common criminals engaged in kidnapping especially here in Luzon, they don’t hold on to their victims for a long time because they just want money or they have other intentions.

In Mindanao or in kidnapping cases perpetrated by the NPA (New People’s Army), they can keep them even for years. Kidnappers have different styles,” he explained.

Lee disclosed that more complaints will be filed soon against suspects Julie Patidongan or “Dondon” and seven security guards in connection with the so-called Manila Arena case.

He added that the investigators are looking at the involvement of certain policemen in some of the cases.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. earlier signed the summary dismissal order for five police officers who were implicated in the alleged abduction of online cockfighting agent Ricardo Lasco last year in San Pedro City, Laguna

“There are also feelers that we are not disclosing. That’s why we are working on it and hopefully we will have more solid evidence,” Lee said.

“We are still looking for other personalities there and hopefully we can still find relevant evidence so that we can also file additional cases...

By Darwin G. Amojelar

Ramon S. Ang, president of San Miguel Corp. said the suspension of all toll fee collection at the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR), South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), the Skyway System, NAIA Expressway, and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) during the Christmas and New Year holidays has been a company tradition every year.

The “toll holiday” begins at 10:00 pm of December 24 to 6:00 am of Decem -

ber 25 for the Christmas holiday, and 10:00 pm of December 31 to 6:00 am of January 1 for the New Year holiday, Ang said.

SMC Infra is also advising motorists to plan their trips ahead to avoid lengthy delays and get to their destination safely.

Given this, the company has deployed additional traffic management personnel at all its tollways--STAR, SLEX, Skyway, NAIA Expressway, and TPLEX — to provide roadside assistance to motorists, and help manage the flow of vehicles at exit points.

This is in coordination with local police and the traffic bureaus of local government units.

“Traffic buildup and congestion at our expressways, ports, and airports is something we all expect at this time of the year, especially as restrictions have fully eased. We appeal to our motorists for their patience and understanding as we anticipate heavy traffic,” Ang said.

“What would be a big help is if we all plan our trips well ahead, and leave earlier to allot more time for travel, especially if you are catching a flight or scheduled bus trips. For motorists, we also suggest to please make sure your vehicles are in good condition, and that your electronic toll collection accounts are topped up, to prevent any delays to you and others,” Ang added.

There are some in the service, most of them are in the service and there are also civilians who are with us, that’s all, based on because the DOJ in the statement of a witness that they could not be included,” he added.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has said the chances that the missing “sabungeros” would turn up alive are growing slimmer.

He said the presumption of death will contribute to how the prosecutors will go after the suspects and how the courts will appreciate the cases.

By Maricel V. Cruz

By Vito Barcelo

IMMIGRATION agents held a professional basketball player for attempting to enter the country with a fake Philippine passport.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the passenger as Avery Roberto Scharer, who was apprehended upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 1.

Scharer arrived aboard a Philippine Airlines flight from Canada and presented to the immigration officer at the arrival area his American and Philippine passports.

The BI officer, however, noticed major discrepancies and irregularities in Scharer’s Philippine passport, prompting the officer to refer the document to his duty supervisor who then endorsed the same to the bureau’s forensic documents laboratory for examination.

The forensic laboratory later issued a certification confirming its findings that the Philippine passport presented by Scharer was fraudulent.

Scharer allegedly posted on social media that he was wrongfully detained by immigration authorities upon his arrival at the NAIA.

“Our forensic equipment confirmed the suspicion of our officers,” Tansingco said.

“The Philippine passport he presented contained tampered pages, including the biographical data page. His attempt to conceal these alternations cannot escape the scrutiny of our inspectors. Posting false information on social media to gain sympathy despite the violation further manifests undesirability. There are no sacred cows, as any foreign national who have violated immigration laws and presented fake documentation will be arrested,” he added.

By Rio N. Araja

THE National Housing Authority has tapped an alternative online payment option for the monthly amortizations and other fees from housing beneficiaries in select areas in a bid to improve its collection efficiency.

NHA general manager Joeben Tai signed a memorandum of agreement with Maya Philippines Inc. for the digital payments of monthly amortizations in special housing projects in Region II and in the Cordillera Administrative Region II.

Beneficiaries from the selected housing projects would be able to pay their monthly amortization payments and other fees through the Maya bills payment service or the Maya app.

The service would also issue billing notices and remittances of collected payments through email or SMS noti-

fications to the beneficiaries.

The long-awaited proposal for an alternative option to remotely, efficiently and securely pay monthly amortizations was realized during the COVID-19 pandemic when NHA’s manual methods in billing issuances and payment collection did work efficiently and effectively.

Its adoption may also serve livelihood opportunities to beneficiaries who intend to become merchants in the community for Maya e-wallet cash-ins.

Republic Act No. 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 mandates all government agencies to accept payments through electronic means, and RA 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 mandates all offices and agencies to improve their transactions and procedures.

A PARTY-LIST legislator has appealed to the Insurance Commission (IC) to answer issues surrounding the agency’s abrupt and unreasonable increase on the minimum insurance premium rates.

Rep. Wilbert Lee of AGRI partylist likened the untimely adjustment of the minimum catastrophe insurance rates to “catastrophes such as earthquakes, typhoons and floods.” He added he was dismayed over Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa’s response which did not answer the real issues at hand.

“Marami po tayong tanong na gustong liwanagin sa kanila. Una na rito, ang hindi pagkonsulta sa pribadong sektor at sa mga consumer bago nila inilabas ang polisiyang ito. Bakit sila-sila lang ang nag-usap-usap kung ang tatamaan nito ay ang nagbabayad ng insurance, na makakaapekto rin sa presyo ng basic commodities? Gulatan ang nangyari. Patago kaya parang sabwatan ang nangyari,” Lee said.

“Bakit minimum ang kanilang tinataasan? Hindi ba dapat ang nireregulate ay ang maximum rate na pwedeng i-charge ng bawat insurance company sa mga consumer para hindi sila makapang-abuso?” he added.

The lawmaker from Sorsogon shared that on December.12, when AGRI Party-list exposed the issue to the public, he wrote a letter to Commissioner Funa to inquire on the said matter to which the latter has still not responded to.

However, through an e-mail interview published on a daily broadsheet last Dec. 19, Commissioner Funa reportedly said that the premiums for catastrophe risk were last adjusted in 2006 and need adjustment because the old premium structure was “unsustainable”.

SMC

SMC Infrastructure says it is waiving all toll fees at its expressways for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

FRUITS FOR CHRISTMAS, ANYONE? With Christmas Day already so near you can smell it, a fruit vendor at the San Andres Market in Malate, Manila expects brisk business. Norman Cruz

EDUCATIONAL SUBSIDY. San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora supervises the distribution of P4,000-educational assistance to hundreds of hundreds of students— kindergarten to college--with disability. Manny Palmero

SEAMLESS ENTRY. Air passengers breeze through the gates of Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after the X-ray machines at the entrances of the facility were remove to speed up the passage of arrivals which swelled amid the holiday season. Danny Pata

Comelec to public: Register early and avoid long lines

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is urging the public to register during the holiday season to avoid long queues as a result of last-minute voter registration.

Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco, quoted by a GMA News report, said the number of newly-registered voters is still low, not only in the regular registration but also in the Register Anywhere Project, which is currently under pilot testing in five malls in the National Capital Region and select provinces.

“The number of registrants is not that high at the moment. Maybe because our countrymen are still busy with preparations and gathering for the Christmas season and we understand this,” the poll official said.

Laudiangco added that the Comelec wants “to reiterate our call for our countrymen to take the opportunity to register, especially now that many individuals, specifically, the students are taking their holiday vacation; many individuals are going to the malls to shop; and to avoid inconvenience as many individuals will flock to the registration

sites in January.”

Laudiangco said that voter registration will only be suspended on the eve of Christmas Day and New Year.

From December 12 to 17, Comelec’s initial data showed that there are 19,336 new registrants for the Sangguniang Kabataan elections and 46,109 newlyregistered regular voters ageing 18 years old and above across the country, GMA News reported.

This excludes the registrations made through RAP, Laudiangco said. Voter registration for the barangay and SK elections started last December 12. It will run until January 31, 2023.

The Comelec said its Register Anywhere Project (RAP) will run until January 25, 2023 in SM Mall of Asia, SM Fairview, SM South Mall, Robinsons Galleria, and Robinsons Place Manila in NCR.

Comelec’s RAP is also available at Robinson’s Mall Tacloban, Barangay Baras Baras, Tacloban City; SM City Legazpi, Imelda Roces Avenue, Zone 9, Barangay 37 Bitano, Legazpi City, Albay; and Robinson’s Mall Naga, Naga City, Camarines Sur.

CHR raises concern over Cimatu case

By Rio N. Araja

THE Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Wednesday raised concern on how cyber libel has been recently used to suppress press freedom and threaten the right to free expression.

The conviction of Baguio City-based journalist Frank Cimatu for his social media post five years ago against exagriculture secretary Emmanuel Piñol is the most recent case of a pattern of legal actions targeting critics of the government, it said.

The case stemmed from a post by Cimatu on Facebook back in 2017. The journalist argued that the post was made private since it was only published to be seen by his social media friends. However, the court said this was immaterial as the post was made using the “public” setting.

“Once more, the CHR reminds the Philippine government that as a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), it has the obligation to protect people’s rights to freedom of opinion and expression. When these rights are compromised, especially for journalists and critics, the government also cripples one of its informal feedback mechanisms that serve to inform and improve

government policies and decisions,” its statement read.

The CHR is also urging lawmakers to process Senate Bill 1593 or the Decriminalization of Libel Act filed by Senator Risa Hontiveros, saying that “libel laws have been used and abused by private parties to advance their various interests, and by public personalities to shield themselves from public scrutiny, even on matters of public concern.”

“As such, the CHR also urges our legislators to process Senate Bill No. 1593, introduced by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, which seeks to decriminalize libel. The Commission agrees with its observation that recently, “libel laws have been used and abused by private parties to advance their various interests, and by public personalities to shield themselves from public scrutiny, even on matters of public concern.” SB 1593 also echoes the ICCPR when it states that imprisonment is too harsh a penalty for libel,” it noted.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian is seeking the establishment of a national traffic enforcement and management center for efficient traffic enforcement and road safety policy.

He cited the need for effective traffic management in the country to ensure the safety of motorists and passengers, especially during the Christmas season when there are many mall sales.

Gatchalian’s Senate Bill No. 1059 or An Act Establishing the National Traffic Enforcement and Management Center (Traffic Center)aims to build the capacity of traffic enforcers by providing them training in all areas of traffic enforcement and management including traffic engineering, road safety,

accident investigation, driver training, post-accident management, and understanding violations.

The proposed traffic center, which shall be attached to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), shall be the primary training center for all traffic enforcement personnel in the country.

This means that a certification from the center shall be necessary for the deputization of traffic enforcement personnel of local government units.

“A properly trained traffic enforcer coupled with the best practices in the enforcement of traffic laws will ensure a safer road for the public, particularly to motorists and pedestrians, and a better traffic management system,” Gatchalian said.

He emphasized that traffic enforcers

play a vital role in maintaining public order and road safety.

The proposed measure also aims to undertake road safety audits on highways and road transportation projects and traffic management schemes to identify road risks and hazards.

The bill also seeks to train the public in the basics of road traffic laws, drive education and behavior, the current status of road environment and enforcement, and causes and hazards that lead to road accidents.

The proposed measure also seeks to enable the “Traffic Center” to scientifically research the causes and consequences of road collisions and accidents as well as prepare effective systems for their analyses in order to provide remedial measures.

House conducts security and anti-terror drill

By Maricel V. Cruz

THE House of Representatives on Monday conducted an anti-terrorism exercise to ensure the readiness of its own security contingent, in cooperation with other law enforcement and related agencies to address any possibility of such a threat.

Retired PMGEN Napoleon C. Taas, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House, spearheaded the security exercise of the composite security forces.

The Sergeant-at-Arms is responsible for the maintenance of order in the House of Representatives, enforcement of House Rules, and protection of the lives of the officers and Members of the House, its personnel and guests as well as properties within the Batasan building complex.

CAMARINES Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on Wednesday welcomed the commitment of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to implement a three-pronged strategy to speed up nationwide connectivity despite the initial budgetary constraints that now prevent him from accelerating this digital switch.

DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy informed legislators during a recent committee hearing by the Commission on Appointments (CA) on his designation as DICT secretary that with his department having what he called a “small” outlay of P2.5 billion for digitalization in next year’s proposed national budget.

He said his office is eyeing three strategies to hasten the country’s digital connectivity starting in 2023, in tandem with the private sector and local government units (LGUs), especially those in urban areas.

Villafuerte, CA majority leader and who asked Uy about the national digitalization program during the public hearing, stressed the urgency for the country’s digital transformation to happen.

This, Villafuerte said, in light of the desire by both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the 19th Congress to install an e-government system to make it far easier and cheaper for Filipinos to secure official documents and transact other business with state agencies and financial institutions.

Maricel V. Cruz

CITING the benefits of planting for the environment, Senator Cynthia A. Villar urged the public to participate in planting activities.

Aside from making the environment beautiful, Villar said that environmentalists all over the world preach that planting trees and shrubs improve soil and water conservation.

“It helps prevent land erosion, intercept the runoff and reduce the severity of floods, increase wildlife habitat, store carbon dioxide that help in reducing global warming, moderate local climate by providing shade, regulate temperature extremes and improve

the land’s capacity to adapt to climate change,” Villar said.

Planting of agricultural products also generates employment for farmers, Villar added.

“It also strengthened food security in communities in our country,” Villar, the chairperson of the committees on agriculture and food and environment and natural resources, said.

She expressed confidence that the public will preserve the health and survival of trees and other plants.

“Let us exert efforts to take care of the plantation, let us not forget to take care of them to ensure they

Senate urged to OK brgy magna carta

DAVAO City Rep. Paolo Duterte has urged the Senate to prioritize the passage of the proposed Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers (BHW) as this measure will help fill the gap in the delivery of community-based primary health care services in the country.

Duterte issued the call following the third-reading approval of the House of Representatives of its version of the proposed magna carta for BHWs last week. House Bill (HB) 6557, a consolidation of more than 40 similar measures, was transmitted to the Senate on Dec. 14, 2022.

“There are at least a dozen bills in the Senate proposing a magna carta for barangay health workers that still need to be reconciled and

consolidated into a substitute bill. We hope the Senate would be able to prioritize the passage of its counterpart measure of the magna carta when Congress resumes session next month,” Duterte said.

Duterte pointed out that while the Philippines has been adopting the community-based healthcare strategy for almost four decades now, “the key component of this program—the BHWs—have yet to be properly recognized and granted the pay and benefits they deserve.”

Once the magna carta is enacted into law, Duterte said he expects more people to volunteer their services and train as BHWs given the additional compensation and benefits that they will receive under the measure. Maricel V. Cruz

will bring us benefits,” she further stated.

Bill seeks traffic management, policy center Villar: Plant trees to take care of the environment Solon welcomes DICT project on e-governance

Being a staunch advocate of the environment and agriculture, the senator said she is happy participating in planting activities.

She proudly related their family and the Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance) had launched planting in their home city of Las Piñas.

In 2005, they started planting bamboos at the riverside of Zapote River sa part of their “Sagip Ilog River Rehabilitation Program.”

Macon Ramos-Araneta

“We conducted the anti-terrorism security exercise upon the instruction of Speaker Martin G. Romualdez,” Taas said.

“The Speaker wants to ensure that our internal security forces can work seamlessly with law enforcement authorities to effectively address any threats directed against the House of the People,” Taas added.

In addition, Taas said the security exercise tested the capability, inter-operability, and adequacy not only of the skills of the participating personnel but also their weapons and communications systems necessary to address possible security threats.

BOUNTIFUL HARVEST. A farmer neatly arranges a row of freshly harvested radishes. Wholesale prices of highland vegetables have become favorable to farmers recently. Dave Leprozo

VISIBILITY. Members of the Manila Police District-Special Weapons and Tactics (MPD-SWAT) conduct a police visibility patrol inside the Florida provincial bus terminal in Earnshaw Manila this Wednesday. An influx of passengers is expected at the various terminals a few days before Christmas day. Norman Cruz.

DOT AND DICT PARTNERSHIP. Department of Tourism (DOT) Christina Garcia Frasco and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy hold the memorandum of agreement between the DOT and DICT to improve internet connectivity in 94 identified tourist destinations across the country. Danny Pata

Bright economic prospects

As always.

As far back as I can remember, we all view the new year with hope. We are generally an optimistic people. There were times in the not too recent past when we were judged as being among the “happiest” people on earth, despite the penury of many.

“Virtually all Filipino adults (92 percent) will face the year ahead with hope, a sentiment echoed by 89 percent to 99 percent across geographic areas and by 86 percent to 94 percent in the various socio-economic classes,” Pulse Asia said.

And only 8 percent were ambivalent about next year’s prospects, with 1 percent feeling hopeless.

And yes, the holiday celebrations will be merrier this year. Droves of balikbayans have been coming home for Christmas, after two years of COVID lockdowns which prevented the usual family reunions.

For us, it seems, every break from the drudgery of life is occasion to celebrate, be it Holy Week when many go to the beaches, or Undas when we drink and dine before the tombs of our our dearly departed, or the grandest celebration of all— Christmas till New Year.

Not to forget the town fiestas, and birthdays.

I do not want to throw a wet blanket on our optimistic nature, but next year will not be better than 2022.

It could be worse; at best, the same economic problems will hound us in 2023, despite the promised future bonanza coming from the “maharlika” crowd in Congress.

Last Sunday, we had a small reunion of balikbayan friends in what used to be my house in Tagaytay, since bought by a couple who work successfully in China. It was his family’s first visit since 2019, and so were our balikbayan friends from Los Angeles.

hope for the best. Which is why depression is not as severe among us Filipinos than it is with other countries.

***

Another metric recently released by Martin Penaflor of Tangere tells us that one in two respondents were aware of the Maharlika Investment (formerly “Wealth”) Fund.

Thank the critics for that high level of awareness. If everyone kept as silent as the 98 percent of the “representatives of the people” who rushed to sign as co-authors of the controversial proposal after President Marcos Jr. himself certified it, that level of public awareness would be quite low.

Thank God for the awakened opposition. At least, our senators will be keenly watched.

Tangere tells us that 54.08 percent strongly support, and 32.24 percent somewhat support what most of our economic managers, Ben Diokno excepted, belatedly tell us is the key to prosperity.

21.34 percent have a neither here nor there opinion, while 24.58 percent oppose Maharlika.

But then again, what Marcos Jr. wants, Marcos Jr. gets. For now at least.

Okay, so let us all be hopeful, even if all the signs, internal and external, give us little reason to hope.

***

Let us wait for the report from the cash registers of our malls and supermarkets. From what I’ve been hearing, they are not as merrily jingling as businessmen expected them to be, despite revenge buying.

THE good news is that the Philippines can hope to achieve uppermiddle-income country status by 2025, or two years from now.

The news was relayed to media last week by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and concurrent Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority Arsenio Balisacan.

The original target was 2024, as announced by President Marcos Jr. in his first State of the Nation Address last July. He even told the United Nations General Assembly in September that the country was on track in reaching a higher income status by 2023.

However, Balisacan said the country suffered setbacks, such as the sharp contraction of the economy in 2020 and the sharp depreciation of the peso this year, sinking to a record low of 59:$1 in October.

The Philippines is currently classified as a lower-middle-income economy by the World Bank. Our latest gross national income per capita rose from $3,430 in 2020 to $3,640 in 2021.

GNI refers to the total income generated by a country’s residents within and outside its borders.

The Philippine Development Plan aims to increase gross domestic product growth and reduce inflation, the unemployment rate, and the country’s poverty incidence, among others

The latest GNI of the country still fell short of the World Bank’s new GNI per capita threshold.

The new thresholds for GNI per capita for 2022-2023 are: $1,085 or less for lowincome countries; $1,086 to $4,255 for lower-middle-income countries; $4,256 to $13,205 for upper-middle-income countries; and $13,205 and higher for high-income countries.

Hence, by 2025, our GNI per capita will

be at a minimum of $4,256 or P242,592 per annum (at the current P57:$1) and as high as $13,205, which is equivalent to P752,685.

The NEDA chief also told media that he fully supports the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund as this would help sustain economic growth.

He described the MIF as “a complementary vehicle to help us attain the objective of rapid but inclusive and sustainable economic development.”

The MIF can bankroll infrastructure projects, particularly logistics and transportation networks critical to supply chains, especially for the agriculture and manufacturing sectors: “Investments in key infrastructure projects will be supported by innovative finance… With sufficient governance safeguards to ensure the fund’s sustainability and responsible management, the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund will help support our country’s infrastructure development.”

Infrastructure development is actually part and parcel of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 already approved by the Marcos administration.

The PDP aims to increase gross domestic product growth and reduce inflation, the unemployment rate, and the country’s poverty incidence, among others.

These are positive developments in the economic front that indicate better times ahead in 2023 and beyond.

The CPP-NPA transitions

Japan is filled with the Filipino rich who can afford stratospheric airfare.

Hong Kong is slowly reviving with Chinoys eating the seasonal hairy crab and all the culinary delights only the former Crown Colony can offer to the max.

Bangkok and Singapore are booming with European and Korean tourists, and the Philippines, thankfully, gets a few foreign visitors after a three-year tourism desert.

Domestic travel is up, all part of the revenge travel syndrome after the sad lockdowns of almost three long years. And there are many balikbayans in town.

But what happens the morning after January 1? ***

Between good wine and the best all-meat barbecues grilled by our host, the conversation drifted to the state of the economy and prospects for 2023.

The executive who works in China with his Filipina wife said the prospects for China are not too good, with so many big companies, mostly in real estate going belly up.

The trade war with the US will continue to heat up, affecting Chinese exports. The supply chain and logistic problems will continue to be an upward push on manufacturing costs, he said. Our balikbayan friends are not too optimistic about the US economy either. Housing costs are up; food prices likewise.

The retail sector looks likely to be in the doldrums after the holiday binge. Inflation has tapered a bit after successive Fed interest hikes, but that could trigger a recession.

But Filipinos, like that once-upon-a-time seasonal song “Whispering Hope” continue to

With inflation a supply side cost-push, there will be little respite, even if the Bangko Sentral pulls up the interest rates PH, China:

Tighten up on the spending.

With inflation a supply side cost-push, there will be little respite, even if the Bangko Sentral pulls up the interest rates.

Assuming without conceding that the DA will perform well under the president mismo, and use its budget bonanza judiciously on the right priorities, there should be some improvement on food production.

The president’s recent extension of tariff reduction on food items like rice, pork, chicken, etc., while criticized by our farmers, is an act of quantum caution advised by our economic managers who seem unconvinced the DA will produce miracles.

The energy crisis, and by that I do not just mean higher electricity bills, but possible brownouts shall begin to hound the economy next year.

As we said in a previous column, we cannot, and we should not, govern like it is business as usual. The headwinds are still howling.

When he coalesced his CPP with the Bernabe Buscayno’s NPA in Capas, Tarlac to form the CPP/NPA in March of 1969, who would have thought that it will still be going on to this day.

He was captured by the government in La Union in 1977 and spent nine years in prison until released by the government of President Cory Aquino in 1986.

He went into voluntary exile in 1987 to the Netherlands and lived there until his passing. Although the CPP/NPA has stated so many times that he was not involved in the day-today operations of the organization, he was unquestionably the guiding spirit and the rank and file of the organization had always looked up to him.

His passing, therefore, has a huge impact on the CPP/NPA.

The question now is what happens next? Will Sison’s death open up a window wherein a meaningful dialogue with the government can now be realistically pursued?

It is a tantalizing opportunity for both sides.

If it will happen and a peace deal can be signed, the Armed Forces can now devote its resources to modernizing and improving its external defense capabilities.

That would be a huge dividend.

But the government will have to wait to see what will happen to the CPP/NPA whether the struggle for leadership as a result of Sison’s passing will be violent or peaceful and straight

forward with the new leaders already in place.

History tells us that leadership strugglers within the CPP/NPA are sometimes violent. Who will take over from Joma Sison is anybody’s guess.

Whether it is true that the Tiamzon couple Benito and Wilma really died last August as the Philippine Army claimed, the remains had been unverified.

So we have to assume that both will be in contention unless newer faces will appear to take over.

It is time to have peace in the country; 53 years of fighting is a long time

Then we have to ask whether the new leader will be a hardliner or a moderate more willing to participate in a dialogue.

It will probably take a couple of months for this to happen or even longer but it is worth the wait.

Hopefully, the government will take this as an opportunity to initiate a dialogue. Secretary Carlito Galvez, the peace adviser to the President already said that it is just waiting for the right opportunity to open talks with the CPP/NPA.

Let’s hope that when the new CPP/NPA leadership is in place, the government will look at it as an opportunity.

It is time to have peace in the country; 53 years of fighting is a long time.

When I first put on the Constabulary uniform 53 years ago, one of my first deployments was actually as the Operations Officer of the then 51st Constabulary Battalion operating in Capas, Concepcion, Bamban, Tarlac and Mabalacat, Pampanga.

In fact, we used to conduct operations in the exact place where the CPP/NPA was founded which, if I remember correctly, was in Barangay Murcia, but I cannot be too sure. I have been retired from the service for 19 years and the government is still fighting the CPP/NPA.

It is now one of the longest insurgencies left in the world.

Surely, if the Colombian rebels and IRA were able to sign peace deals with the Colombian and British governments respectively, the CPP/ NPA and government should be able to find common ground for an agreement for the sake of the country. I have always thought that the best opportunity to have signed a peace deal was during the Duterte administration.

If there was one Philippine leader who understood the culture within the CPP/NPA, it was former President Duterte.

In fact, he recruited some individuals with leftist orientations into his official family. Joma Sison should have grabbed that opportunity. Had he done this, he probably would have accomplished at least a small portion of his revolutionary objectives but perhaps Joma was someone who operated on an all or nothing proposition.

Still, he should have been satisfied with a small beginning.

After all, a journey of a thousand miles as they say starts with the first step.

President Duterte was only asking the CPP/ NPA to freeze their military operations while the talks were going on.

Unfortunately, the CPP/NPA leadership found it hard to oblige and the dialogue was cut abruptly never to resume while Duterte was president. It was a missed opportunity.

But by all indications, the new president is willing to resume the dialogue which presents another opportunity Will the CPP/NPA grab it?

Let us hope that when the new CPP/NPA leader is in place that he or she agrees or gives serious consideration to a peace dialogue.

May Jose Maria Sison finally rest in peace.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

By Rommel C. Banlaoi, PhD

ON JANUARY 3-6, 2023, Philippine

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is scheduled to hold his first state visit to the People’s Republic of China to fulfill his earlier declaration to shift Philippines-China relations to a higher gear.

President Marcos’ state visit to Beijing aims to level up the China-friendly policy of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte who initiated the paradigm shift to China after the Philippine government suffered the lowest moment of Philippines-China relations under former President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

The visit is also an opportune time for the Philippines to elevate bilateral ties with China to a higher plane by establishing a strategic partnership from its current status of comprehensive strategic cooperation.

The Philippines and China pursued comprehensive strategic cooperation during the state visit of President Xi Jinping to the Philippines in 2018.

This type of bilateral relationship aims to strengthen cooperation in various fields: social, cultural, economic, political and even in the area of traditional and non-traditional security.

But among countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines is the only country that has not yet established strategic partnership with China.

Even ASEAN as a regional organization

has a two-decade strategic partnership with China established as early as 2003. China and ASEAN have adopted in 2018 their Strategic Partnership Vision 2030 to foster friendly relations, mutually beneficial cooperation, and good neighborliness among their people.

It is, therefore, very odd to see the Philippines not having a strategic partnership with China.

In business management, strategic partnership involves the pooling and sharing of resources between or among companies to accomplish their common targets and meet their collective objectives.

Strategic partnership reduces the cost of business and increases benefits of one company by working very closely with other companies.

In international relations, strategic partnership upholds the sovereign equality of all states aiming to cooperate for mutual advantage while recognizing each other’s national interests.i

Building strategic partnership with fellow sovereign states is based on the assumption that “no singled country is able to tackle today’s complex problems on its own.”ii

As early as 1992, the US already pursued strategic partnership with Turkey.

China followed suit in 1993 when it initiated strategic partnership with Brazil.

Since the end of the cold war, China has established at least 70 strategic partnership arrangements with various countries.

The concept of strategic partnership

Through their strategic partnership, the Philippines and China can pursue good ocean governance and blue economic partnership in the South China Sea

became the buzzword in the post-cold war era when then Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin established “a new stage” of American-Russian “mature strategic partnership” in 1994.

But ASEAN was actually the first one that trailblazed the idea of strategic partnership when it declared Australia as a Dialogue Partner in 1974.

To date, ASEAN has strategic partnership arrangements with Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, and United States.iii

A recent study also shows that at least 150 strategic partnerships have been established by many countries of the world before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. iv

Thus, it is high time for the Philippines and China to establish a strategic partnership to commit both countries not only to cooperate for mutual benefits but also to define their

shared future where they can enjoy peace and prosperity based on mutual trusts and respects as well as common development.

Strategic partnership between the Philippines and China can raise their bilateral ties to a privileged status where their foreign policy goals are interconnected while pursuing their respective national interests.

It can also provide the necessary tool kit for the Philippines and China to peacefully manage their territorial conflicts and maritime jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea, particularly in the area called by Filipinos as West Philippine Sea.

Through their strategic partnership, the Philippines and China can pursue good ocean governance and blue economic partnership in the SCS.

Although strategic partnership cannot automatically resolve their differences on the SCS, more so in the WPS, it, however, commits both parties to persistently avoid military conflicts through joint development

and preventive diplomacies, which are essential to promote the SCS as a sea of friendship, peace and prosperity.

(Dr. Banlaoi is the President of the Philippine Society for Intelligence and Security Studies, Chairman of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research and member of the Board of Directors of the China Southeast Asian Research Center on the South China Sea. He is also a member of the International Panel of Experts of the Maritime Awareness Project of the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.)

END NOTES

#Andriy Tyushka and Lucyna Czechowska, eds. States, International Organizations , and Strategic Partnership (United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019).

ii# Giovanni Grevi, “The rise of strategic partnerships: between interdependence and power politics” (Institute for Security Studies 2008) at http://www.jstor.com/stable/ resrep07023.13

iii# ASEAN External Relations at https:// asean.org/our-communities/asean-politicalsecurity-community/outward-lookingcommunity/external-relations/

iv# Anna Michalski, Diplomacy in Changing World Order: The Role of Strategic Partnerships (Stockholm: Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 2019).

PULSE Asia’s pre-Christmas survey tells us that an overwhelming majority of Filipinos will be facing the New Year with hope.

THE statement of former President Rodrigo Duterte describing the passing of CPP/NPA founder Jose Maria Sison in the Netherlands at the age of 83 was quite apt.

His death is indeed the end of an era, 53 years to be exact, and he died true to his beliefs. A revolutionary till the end.

Imperative of strategic partnership

Zelensky to meet Biden; US readies arms package

UKRAINE’S President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet US leader Joe Biden and address Congress in Washington on Wednesday, a visit the White House said will send Russia a strong message of Western unity.

The secretly arranged trip comes on the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to meet his top military officials to assess the dire results so far of the war on Ukraine and set goals for next year.

The visit will “underscore the United States’ steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes,” White House spokeswoman Karine JeanPierre said in a statement.

It will be Zelensky’s first trip outside Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February, when they planned for a rapid takeover of Kyiv and much of the country.

Instead, the visit to Washington comes on the 300th day of a war that has seen Russian forces halted by a stubborn Ukrainian army backed by Western arms, forced to retreat from captured territory

and struggling to avoid further setbacks.

“On my way to the US to strengthen resilience and defense capabilities of (Ukraine),” Zelensky tweeted, also confirming that he will make a speech to Congress.

Zelensky will visit the White House where Biden is to announce a new arms package worth almost $2 billion that a senior administration official said includes Patriot air defense missiles.

Patriot missiles are seen as crucial to help Kyiv fend off Russia’s punishing missile and drone attacks on its infrastructure.

Zelensky is then expected to address a joint session of Congress, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said would be “a very special focus on democracy.”

The visit was quietly planned, beginning with a phone call between Biden and Zelensky on December 11, followed by a formal invitation one week ago and confirmation of the visit on Sunday. AFP

AFTER POLL SHOWED USERS WANT HIM REPLACED

Musk to step down as Twitter CEO

ELON Musk said Tuesday he would resign as chief executive of Twitter once he finds a replacement, in apparent response to a poll helaunched that suggested users wanted him to step down.

Musk has fully owned Twitter since October 27 and has repeatedly courted controversy as CEO, sacking half of its staff, readmitting far-right figures to the platform, suspending journalists and trying to charge for previously free services.

“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” Musk tweeted, saying he will then only

run software and server teams at Twitter.

In the poll results which were posted on Monday, 57 percent of voters, or 10 million votes, favored Musk stepping down just weeks after he took ownership of the company for $44 billion.

Musk has used the Twitter polls to take other decisions on the platform, including the reinstatement of the account of former US president Donald Trump and

Malaysia landslide death toll: 25

THE death toll from a landslide at an unauthorized campsite in Malaysia rose to 25 as search and rescue teams continued to comb muddy terrain on Wednesday.

Eight people are still missing after a predawn landslide on Friday hit the site located at an organic farm near the town of Batang Kali in Selangor state, just north of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

About 680 personnel from various agencies led by the fire and rescue department and the police are involved in the rescue operations.

On Tuesday night, the remains of a young girl were recovered, officials said.

Local police chief Suffian Abdullah said the girl is believed to be between six and 10 years of age and that she was found five metres (16 feet) below ground.

“When found, the victim was dressed in pink pants and shirt, sleepwear,” he said at a news conference on Wednesday. This brings the death toll from the landslide to 25, including eight children.

Women stopped from entering Afghan universities

HUNDREDS of young women were stopped by armed guards on Wednesday from entering Afghan university campuses, a day after the nation’s Taliban rulers banned them from higher education in another assault on human rights.

Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power last year, the hardline Islamists have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives, ignoring international outrage.

A team of AFP journalists saw groups of students gathered outside universities in the capital, Kabul, barred from entering by armed guards and shuttered gates.

Many, dressed in hijabs, were also seen standing in groups on roads leading to the campuses.

“We are doomed. We have lost everything,” said one student, who asked not to be identified.

Men students also expressed shock at the latest edict.

“It really expresses their illiteracy and low knowledge of Islam and human rights,” said one, also asking not to be named.

“If the situation continues like this the future will be worse. Everyone is scared.”

Most private and government universities are closed for a few weeks over winter, although campuses generally remain open to students and staff.

The decision to bar women from universities came late Tuesday in a terse announcement from Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the Minister for Higher Education. AFP

Officials said that when the landslide struck, there had been more than 90 people, most of them asleep, at the campsite near a mountain casino resort. More than 60 campers had been found safe or rescued.

The farm did not have a licence to run a campsite and its operators will be punished if they were found to have broken the law, authorities have said.

Landslides are common in Malaysia after heavy rains, which are regular at the end of the year.

However, no heavy rains were recorded in the area on the night of the disaster.

In March, four people were killed after a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains buried their homes in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

In one of the deadliest such incidents, a huge mudslide in 1993 brought on by heavy rain caused a 12-storey residential building outside the capital to collapse, killing 48 people. AFP

other suspended users.

Earlier this week he used a laughing emoji to ridicule a report he was in search of someone to take over as boss of Twitter, and tweeted that “no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive.”

Analysts have pointed out that the stock price of his electric car company Tesla has slumped by one-third since Musk’s Twitter takeover, and some suggest Tesla’s board was putting pressure on him to quit his Twitter role.

“Finally a good step in the right direction to end this painful nightmare situation for Tesla investors,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives on Tuesday.

In discussions with users after posting his latest poll, Musk had renewed his warnings that the platform could be heading for bankruptcy.

The unpredictable entrepreneur posted his poll on his resignation shortly after trying to extricate himself from yet another controversy.

On Sunday, Twitter users were told they would no longer be able to promote content from other social media sites.

But Musk seemed to reverse course a few hours later, writing that the policy would be limited to suspending accounts only when that account’s “primary purpose is promotion of competitors.” AFP

China: No new COVID deaths after changing record criteria

CHINA said Wednesday that not a single person had died of COVID-19 the previous day, after changing the criteria for recording virus deaths to mean most are no longer counted.

Hospitals are struggling, pharmacy shelves are stripped bare and crematoriums are overwhelmed in the wake of the Chinese government’s sudden decision to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.

China had recorded a total of seven deaths—all in Beijing—since the decision to lift the zero-COVID policy, but removed one death from its official tally Wednesday.

The removal followed a government announcement that only those who had directly died of respiratory failure caused by the virus would be counted under COVID death statistics.

Previously, people who died of an illness while infected with the virus were counted as a COVID death. This way of recording COVID deaths accounts for huge numbers of fatalities in other countries.

“At present after being infected with the Omicron variant, the main cause of death remains underlying diseases,” Wang Guiqiang of Peking University First Hospital told a press conference of the National Health Commission (NHC) on Tuesday.

“Old people have other underlying conditions, only a very small number die directly of respiratory failure caused by infection with COVID,” he said.

Police arrest gang linked to deaths of 13 Rohingya

MYANMAR police have arrested 12 suspected members of a human trafficking gang linked to the deaths of 13 Rohingya, the military said.

Police raided a compound in Hlegu town near the commercial hub Yangon on December 9, seizing five vehicles and an oil tanker used in the trafficking, the junta said on Tuesday.

The gang had trafficked 255 “Bengalis” from western Rakhine state it said, using a pejorative word for the Muslim minority, who face widespread discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

It did not say what their final destination was.

Thirteen Rohingya found dead on a roadside near Hlegu on December 5 were linked to the ongoing investigation into the gang, it said.

The statement did not give details how they had died but a Rohingya source and local media said the group had been travelling inside the oil tanker.

Nineteen other Rohingya waiting for traffickers to take them on the next leg of their journey were detained in the raid on the compound in Hlegu.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017, arriving in neighbouring Bangladesh with harrowing

stories of murder, rape and arson.

Myanmar is facing genocide accusations at the United Nation’s top court following the mass exodus.

The Rohingya still in Myanmar are widely seen as interlopers from Bangladesh and are largely denied citizenship, many rights and access to healthcare and education.

Rights groups say they face arrest and prosecution for attempting to travel between townships, or outside of Rakhine state.

Each year hundreds make perilous attempts to flee the country, often travelling by boat to Malaysia or Indonesia. AFP

And one expert told AFP that because the prevalant Omicron variant does not affect the lungs as much as other strains of COVID-19, the changing definition will mean a great many more cases will now go unrecorded.

“The definition that focuses on respiratory failure (which develops when the lungs can’t get enough oxygen into the blood) will miss a large number of COVID deaths,” Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, said.

“The new definition is a reversal of the international norm adopted since mid-April during the Shanghai outbreak, which counts a covid death as anyone who died with Covid,” he added. AFP

Indonesia’s ‘all-gendered’ priests on verge of extinction

AFTER dawn in a small eastern Indonesia town, a young man holds an ornate umbrella over non-binary priest Puang Matowa Nani, as they walk barefoot to a nearby pond to perform the annual ritual of Mappalili.

The ceremony marks the start of the planting season on the island of Sulawesi, where the androgynous Bissu community to whom they belong once held divine status, but are now fighting against extinction.

Less than 40 Bissu remain in just a few areas across South Sulawesi, according to anthropologists, and they now perform cultural and shaman-like roles to prevent their traditions from dying.

Nani, a Bissu in their 60s who was born male, said they faced opposition from their family when they experienced a gender identity crisis as a child, but was now at peace with who they are.

“My family disliked it, especially my older brother,” they recalled. “He kept beating me to force me to be a real man.

“I’ve tried to change but I could not.”

In the 1950s, a rebellion led by the Islamic State of Indonesia group sought to create a caliphate in the country, leading to many Bissu being accused of violating Islamic principles and facing persecution.

They were hunted, murdered, or forced to behave as masculine men. AFP

X’MAS UNDER THE SEA. A diver dressed in a Santa Claus costume waves to young visitors at the Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World aquarium in Bangkok on December 21, 2022. AFP

RELIGIOUS CRIME. A woman is caned by a sharia policeman as a punishment for being caught in close proximity with a man in Banda Aceh on December 21, 2022. AFP

PLEA FOR HELP. An unhoused person holds a sign reading “Homeless” as he solicits for money in tra c on Glendale boulevard in Los Angeles, California. A state of emergency over spiraling levels of homelessness was declared in Los Angeles on Monday as the new mayor pledged a ‘seismic shift’ for one of the most intractable problems in America’s second biggest city. AFP

Market advances; PLDT recovers 5%

STOCKS rose for a second day, although traders remain on edge over the economic outlook as global central banks ramp up interest rates to fight inflation.

The PSE index, the 30-company benchmark of the Philippine Stock Exchange, climbed 62 points, or 1 percent, to close at 6,520.80 Wednesday, as five of the six subsectors advanced, led by mining and oil.

The broader all-share index went up

China growth seen slowing to 2.7% in 2022 on COVID-19, property weakness

BEIJING, China –The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its China growth forecast for the year as the pandemic and weaknesses in the property sector hit the world’s second-largest economy.

In a statement, the institution slashed its forecast to 2.7 percent from 4.3 percent predicted in June. It also revised its forecast for next year from 5.2 percent down to 4.3 percent.

Both figures are well below Beijing’s GDP growth target of around 5.5 percent for the year, a figure many analysts believe is now unattainable.

“Economic activity in China continues to track the ups and downs of the pandemic -- outbreaks and growth slowdowns have been followed by uneven recoveries,” the World Bank said.

“Real GDP growth is projected to reach 2.7 percent this year, before recovering to 4.3 percent in 2023, amid a reopening of the economy.”

After years of sudden lockdowns, mass testing, long quarantines, and travel restrictions, China this month abruptly abandoned its zero-Covid policy.

But the disruption to businesses has continued as cases surge, and some restrictions remain in place.

Health authorities have admitted that official figures no longer capture the full picture of domestic infections now that mass testing requirements have been dropped. AFP

35 points, or 1.05 percent, to settle at 3,419.83 on a value turnover of P6 billion. Gainers outnumbered losers, 103 to 68, while 46 shares were unchanged.

Seven of the 10 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Apollo Global Capital Inc. which surged 33 percent to P0.036 and PLDT Inc. which rebounded 5 percent to P1,250.00.

PLDT fell 31 percent in the prior eight trading days on speculation of an impending management shakeup.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also called for an investigation on PLDT trading ahead of the company’s announcement it incurred P48-billion capital expenditure overrun in the past

four years.

PLDT said it would fully cooperate with the SEC, the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Capital Markets Integrity Corp. on their inquiry into PLDT’s elevated CAPEX and the investigation into the trading activities on PLDT shares just before the disclosure was filed with the PSE.

The company said it is gathering all the information requested by CMIC but needed to understand the range of issues involved and the extent of the matter. “Until this information is complete, any announcement would have been premature to the detriment of the public shareholders,” it said.

PLDT reiterated that it had not un-

earthed fraudulent activities in relation to the CAPEX overrun and agreed to make the necessary disclosures if this changes in the future. “Furthermore, the business and the outlook for the business continue to remain healthy,” it said.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed Wednesday after plunging the day before in response to the shock Bank of Japan decision to shift away from its ultra-loose monetary policy.

The move to allow yields on certain government bonds to move in a wider band was seen as a precursor to a possible interest rate hike next year, finally bringing the central bank in line with others around the world. With AFP

TOP GAINERS

LAST % PRICE CHANGE CHANGE

1 APL 0.036 0.009 33.33%

2 RLT 0.21 0.022 11.70%

3 OPM 0.011 0.001 10.00%

4 PXP 7.29 0.51 7.52%

5 PX 2.91 0.19 6.99%

6 APO 0.66 0.04 6.45%

7 CNVRG 13.48 0.78 6.14%

8 2GO 6.99 0.39 5.91%

9 ARA 1.14 0.06 5.56%

10 TEL 1250 60 5.04%

TOP LOSERS

LAST % PRICE CHANGE CHANGE

The

1 PNX4 400 -110 -21.57%

2 FERRO 2 -0.45 -18.37%

3 APVI 12.02 -0.86 -6.68%

4 CEI 0.075 -0.004 -5.06%

5 PNX3B 69.85 -3.55 -4.84%

6 ICT 195.9 -8.1 -3.97%

7 PHES 0.385 -0.015 -3.75%

8 FOOD 0.53 -0.02 -3.64%

9 DD 6.6 -0.2 -2.94%

10 ACPB1 475 -14 -2.86%

MOST ACTIVE

VOLUME VALUE (PHP)

1 TEL 873,320 1,090,721,965

Taiwan export orders plunge on weak global economy

TAIPEI, Taiwan—November export orders from Taiwan saw their sharpest contraction since the height of the financial crisis, in a portend for the health of the global economy.

Taiwan is a global supplier of electronics, in particular state-of-the-art semiconductors, and the drop off in orders adds to evidence that demand for technology products is weakening across the globe.

Orders from overseas dropped 23 percent in November, according to data released by the Economics Ministry on

Tuesday, the biggest fall since March 2009 when the world was being battered by the financial crisis.

The plunge was much worse than the near 13 percent drop economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had forecast.

Global sentiment has been hit by inflation and central bank interest rate hikes, as well as concerns over the health of China’s economy.

The “baseline” forecast from Oxford Economics “now anticipates a global recession starting in Q4 2022 and compris-

Nearly

2 AGI 81,649,600 931,839,752

3 BDO 1,999,050 218,562,654

4 ICT 1,077,210 211,737,694

5 AC 228,940 160,831,170

6 BPI 1,420,780 141,845,724

7 JFC 601,430 138,800,646

8 APL 3,916,600,000 128,380,900

9 SMPH 3,553,600 124,003,360

10 DMC 10,808,600 119,683,174

AFP

Thousands of Vietnam factory workers laid off as Westerners reduce spending

By Tran Thi Minh Ha HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam—Phan Thi

Nhieu has spent a decade assembling shoes for worldwide brands such as Timberland and K-Swiss, but she is now among tens of thousands of Vietnamese factory workers laid off as Western consumers cut spending.

Almost half a million others have been forced to work fewer hours as orders fall in the Southeast Asian country, one of the world’s largest exporters of clothing, footwear, and furniture.

The cost-of-living crisis in Europe and the United States—major markets for Vietnameseproduced goods—has seen the buying power of Western shoppers plunge.

Women factory workers, who make up 80 percent of the labor force in Vietnam’s garment industry, have been hit the hardest by the knock-on effect.

Early last month, 31-year-old Nhieu—who lives in a nine-square-meter (100 square feet) room in Ho Chi Minh City with her two young sons and husband—was told she was no longer needed at Ty Hung Company, a Taiwanese shoemaker that supplies big Western labels.

“They told us they did not have enough orders,” she said of Ty Hung’s announcement that it would fire 1,200 of its 1,800 staff.

“I was so, so shocked and so scared, I cried, but I can do nothing, I have to accept it.”

The job earned Nhieu just $220 a month in an expensive city where the average monthly income is $370, but the money was regular and a step up from the mushroom picking she did as a teenager in the heat of the Mekong Delta.

‘Worse than Covid’

Now, with just two months’ severance pay to survive on, Nhieu must feed her family on a few dollars a day, and her kids are struggling to get

enough to eat.

“We have no one to help us. I will have to get us through this on my own.”

Since September, more than 1,200 companies —mostly foreign businesses in the garment, footwear and furniture sectors—have been forced to sack staff or cut working hours, according to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour.

Compared with last year, orders are down 3040 percent from the United States and 60 percent from Europe, where inflation and energy bills have soared because of the war in Ukraine.

More than 470,000 workers have had their hours slashed in the last four months of the year while about 40,000 people have lost their jobs —30,000 of them women aged 35 or older, the confederation said.

Taiwanese giant Pouyuen, a Nike shoe producer, has put 20,000 of its workers on paid leave in rotation, while reports said Vietnam’s largest foreign investor, Samsung Electronics, has started reducing its smartphone production at factories in the north.

The situation is bleaker than during the COVID-19 pandemic, says workers, who were helped out with food donations when strict quarantine measures forced them to stay home —and were quickly in demand again once restrictions lifted at the end of 2021.

“It’s not easy to find a new job like before (following the pandemic),” said Nguyen Thi Thom, 35, who was laid off from a South Korean garment firm that makes clothes for US retail giant Walmart. No dream

Since her factory work finished, Thom, who has three young children, spends her days on the streets of a shiny new suburban district of Ho Chi Minh City, selling dried noodles, shrimp sauce and oranges to passers-by. AFP

ing three straight quarters of negative per capita world GDP growth”, said a note from the advisory firm.

South Korea and China also reported forecast-beating falls in exports last month. Global recession concerns are also being heightened by China’s abrupt decision to cancel its strict zero-Covid policy.

three years of strict lockdowns and a strategy of stamping out any infections had taken a toll on the world’s second-largest economy and deepened global supply chain issues. AFP

This picture taken on Nov. 30, 2022 shows workers leaving their workplace at Taiwanese Ty Hung factory in Ho Chi Minh City. Almost half a million workers have been forced to work fewer hours as orders fall in the Southeast Asian country, one of the world’s largest exporters of clothing, footwear, and furniture.

SYNTHETIC FUEL PLANT.

This handout picture released by HIF Global shows an aerial view of the Haru Oni Demonstration Plant—a synthetic fuel plant that started operations in Punta Arenas, Chile on Dec. 20, 2022.

first liters of a synthetic gasoline obtained from the combination of green hydrogen with carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere were produced on Tuesday in Chile in a unique plant of its kind. AFP

IN BRIEF

Peso closes at five-month high of 55.1 per US dollar

THE peso on Wednesday climbed to a more than five-month high against the US dollar amid the seasonally high inflows of remittances and as the greenback weakened against major global currencies.

The peso gained 14 centavos to close at 55.1 from 55.24 Tuesday. It was the local currency’s strongest level since finishing at 55.08 at the close of trading day on July 4, 2022. Total volume turnover reached $833.7 million Wednesday, down from $940.55 million previously.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the month of December is among the peak season for OFW remittances.

“The conversion to pesos to finance increased holiday spending [compared to one to two years ago], especially a few more days before Christmas and New Year holidays, [was] the main reason why the peso has been relatively stronger versus the US currency recently,” he said.

Ricafort said the US dollar weakened against major global currencies to new 5.5-month lows, especially the strong appreciation of the Japanese yen against the greenback to the strongest in more than four months.

“The US dollar has significantly corrected lower vs. global currencies since Nov. 10, 2022 when U.S. CPI/inflation started to ease better than market expectations, after hefty gains earlier in 2022 amid more aggressive Fed rate hikes that increased the attractiveness of the US dollar with higher interest rate returns,” Ricafort said. Julito G. Rada

PH produces 207,165 vehicles under CARS

LOCALLY-PRODUCED vehicles under the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy program reached more than 200,000 since 2016, the Department of Trade and Industry said Wednesday.

The country also generated foreign exchange savings of more than $1 billion under the program as more processes were localized with the establishment of car parts manufacturing in the country.

Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said in a briefing the CARS program generated foreign exchange savings by building on capabilities in volume parts manufacturing. “We were able to achieve capabilities in particular volume parts for body shell manufacturing and in large plastic parts,” he said.

CARS program, which awards P27 billion in fiscal and non-fiscal incentives , requires registered participants to manufacture 200,000 vehicles each in the country.

Data showed total local production reached 207,165 units, including Toyota Motor Corp.’s 134,242 units and Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp.’s 72,923 units. The program employs 110,000 direct and indirect ancillary workers. Mitsubishi employs 35,606, while Toyota has 74,353 workers under the program. Total investments made by the two participating companies reached P9.6 billion.

Othel V. Campos

Negros Oriental taps

First Gen’s clean power

FIRST Gen Corp. said Wednesday it will supply renewable energy to Silliman University Medical Center Foundation Inc. in Negros Oriental province.

This is the first hospital on the island to be directly powered by geothermal energy from locally-sourced clean power.

First Gen will supply SUMCFI with 800-kilowatts of geothermal power starting Jan. 26, 2023 through subsidiary Energy Development Corp. EDC’s second-largest geothermal facility is located in Valencia, Negros Oriental.

“After carefully evaluating offers from various proponents, the board has decided to partner with First Gen that will be able to supply us with clean, renewable energy through geothermal power coming from our very own province here in Negros Oriental at a very competitive price,” said SUMCFI corporate secretary and board member Emmanuel Abellanosa during the ceremonial contract signing.

SUMCFI’s decision was largely influenced by Dr. Angel Alcala, a national scientist and board member of sister institution Silliman University. Alena Mae S. Flores

MPIC AWARDS.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the country’s leading investments company, receives top accolades in the recently concluded The Asset ESG Corporate Awards 2022. MPIC chief finance, risk and sustainability officer Chaye Cabal-Revilla (left) receives the Best Sustainability Officer award. The company is also awarded the Best Investor Relations Team and Best Initiative in Social Responsibility for its ‘Puhunang Pangkabuhayan’ program for alternative livelihood.

By Othel V. Campos

THE Board of Investments approved P729 billion worth of projects this year, up 11.6 percent from P655 billion in 2021, the Department of Trade and Industry said Wednesday.

“The 2022 BOI approval levels clearly indicate that despite the lingering effects of the pandemic especially in the first half of the year, coupled with global decline in investments due to the Russia-Ukraine War, investors continue to have strong confidence in

PLDT CFO asked to go on leave amid P48-b cost overrun mess

By Darwin G. Amojelar

PLDT Inc., one of the country’s largest publiclylisted companies, said Wednesday it is cooperating with the regulators that are looking into the company’s P48-billion budget overrun, as its own internal investigation had not “unearthed fraudulent activities.”

PLDT’s stock price rebounded 5 percent Wednesday to close at P1,250.00, after losing 31 percent of its market value in the previous

eight trading days on speculation of an impending management shakeup related to the cost overrun.

The company denied it suspended chief finance officer Anabelle Chua, but said she was on leave with pay to allow the company to conduct an independent investigation into the elevated CAPEX spend. “She has made herself available to the company to answer questions or provide clarifications as needed,” it said.

PLDT held a special briefing for analysts Wednesday. An analyst said PLDT mentioned several factors for the cost overrun, but did not provide more details.

PLDT said it would cooperate fully with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Capital Markets Integrity Corp. on the reported P48-billion cost overrun which represented about 12.7 percent of

the company’s total capital expenditures amounting to P379 billion from 2019 to 2022.

“As a listed company, PLDT has an obligation to make timely disclosures. Even as there were rumors circulating about PLDT in the public domain, PLDT needed to understand the range of issues involved and the extent of the matter,”’ PLDT said.

PSE president Ramon Monzon said it issued a show cause letter to PLDT asking for clarification on the disclosure they made on Dec. 16. “We expect to receive a response from PLDT within the week,” he said.

PLDT said it was also investigating contracts and expenditures involved and would meet major vendors for reconciliation of outstanding amounts and project status. It said the business and its outlook remained healthy.

1.00000055.3330 Japan Yen 0.0075930.4201 UKPound1.21850067.4233 Hong KongDollar0.1284147.1055 SwitzerlandFranc1.07991459.7549 CanadaDollar0.73480840.6591 SingaporeDollar0.74079640.9905 AustraliaDollar0.66770036.9458 BahrainDinar2.652872146.7914

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.26595714.7162 BruneiDollar0.73806240.8392 IndonesiaRupiah0.0000640.0035 Thailand Baht 0.0288431.5960 UAE Dirham0.27230115.0672

EuroEuro 1.06240058.7858 Korea Won 0.0007790.0431 ChinaYuan0.1436587.9490 IndiaRupee0.0121070.6699 MalaysiaRinggit0.22573412.4905 New Zealand Dollar 0.63470035.1199 TaiwanDollar0.0325451.8008

Higher revenues trimmed down 11-month fiscal deficit to P1.24t

By Julito G. Rada

THE government’s budget deficit in the first 11 months fell 7.2 percent to P1.236 trillion from P1.332 trillion a year ago as the double-digit expansion in revenues outpaced the single-digit growth in expenditures, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Wednesday.

Diokno said the 11-month budget deficit was 75 percent of the P1.7trillion program for the whole year.

“Year to date, revenues climbed to P3.3 trillion, P503.1 billion or 18.1 percent above last year’s number and representing 99 percent of the P3.3 trillion goal for 2022,” Diokno said.

Tax revenues in the 11-month period climbed 17.48 percent or P440.4 billion to P2.960 trillion from P2.519 trillion a year ago. Meanwhile, non-tax revenues increased 24.6 percent from P255.0 billion to P317.7 billion.

Collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue rose 12.56 percent to P2.156 trillion from P1.915 trillion while Customs revenues reached P789 billion, up 35.31 percent from P583.3 billion a year earlier.

Vitarich opens largest animal feed warehouse to support expansion

By Jenniffer B. Austria

POULTRY producer Vitarich Corp. said Wednesday it opened its largest warehouse at its feed mill complex in Panacan, Davao City.

Vitarich said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the warehouse covers 6,000 square meters for storage and 3,000 sq. m. for loading, unloading and parking.

The facility can store 6,600 metric tons of raw materials and finished goods, expanding Mindanao’s inventory capacity by 47 percent to 11,900 MT.

“This warehouse is a necessary investment which we believe will set us

up for further growth as we strengthen our presence in Mindanao and serve the growing demand,” said Vitarich president and chief executive Rocco Sarmiento.

“With increased capacity, we can ship in main commodities in bulk to manage our risks related to raw materials and ensure that we continue to scale up and support food security at all times,” he said.

Mindanao accounted for P3.4 billion or 40 percent of the company’s total revenues as of Sept. 30, 2022. The region’s share rose steadily in recent years with the feeds segment growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent from 2016 to 2021.

The company announced in November it renewed its ISO 22000:2018 food safety management system certification for its feed mills, including the plant in Davao City.

The warehouse is among the newest additions to the company’s growing list of facility expansions and upgrades over the past few years.

The company earlier modernized its dressing plant and laboratory and equipment in Marilao, Bulacan. It also enhanced the management systems for supply chain, inventory and information technology and invested in technologies and capabilities across the company to enable end-to-end processes.

Government spending from January to November went up 9.91 percent to P4.513 trillion from P4.106 trillion a year ago. This was about 91 percent of the P5.0 trillion fullyear program.

Data showed that in November, the budget deficit declined 3.71 percent to P123.9 billion from P128.7billion shortfall registered in the same month last year.

Revenues in November expanded by 16.57 percent to P331.1 billion from P284 billion, while expenditures grew 10.24 percent to P455 billion from P412.7 billion.

The BIR collected P237.1 billion in November, up 12.53 percent from P210.7 billion a year ago. The Customs collected P75.7 billion, up 30.74 percent from P57.9 billion.

By

MANILA

S. Flores

-

Energy stakeholders laid down preparations to address the expected challenges that come with the anticipated increase in demand on rising temperature during a recent webinar organized by Meralco for enterprise customers.

Electric Power Industry Management Bureau director Irma Exconde said the power industry would face challenges in 2023, which would include the historically high demand and delays in the completion of the liquefied natural gas facilities.

-

She said Meralco aimed to recruit more ILP participants and increase the available de-loading capacity under ILP as these would be very important contingency measures in the dry months.

The ILP is a voluntary and demandside management program which calls on big load customers to temporarily de-load from the grid and use their own generating units or reduce their operations instead when there is insufficient power supply.

the Philippine economy,” said Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual.

The BOI is conducting final validation on some projects, but the final figure will not be far from what was announced, according to Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo.

Employment from approved projects also grew from around 47,000 incremental workers in 2021 to 260,000 in 2022 for a 45-percent increase.

Rodolfo said BOI-registered projects are mostly strategic projects that are

capital-intensive, but not necessarily labor intensive. He said these projects would have an impact on improved competitiveness, economic activity and employment.

He said among the big drivers for 2022 investments were power, particularly renewable energy which accounted for 50 percent of approved investments; information and communication projects such as data centers and telco towers, 28 percent; mass housing; transportation and storage including logistics and cold chain facilities.

“We are already preparing for the contingencies for next year because of the challenges faced by the power sector,” Exconde said.

Meralco and DOE also started the proactive campaign to encourage more companies across different industries to join the government’s ILP, which can help prevent power interruptions when the grid is placed on red alert.

“Big companies, malls, hotels, buildings either have their own gen sets that can run or reduce their operations, so we can avoid brownouts. This is so that

“Since 2014, ILP in the Meralco franchise area has been implemented 26 times and since then, the program has successfully spared as many as 1.8 million households from power interruptions,” Meralco lead specialist for generation and transmission economics Ma. Leticia Sapina said.

Sapina said ILP participants would also get to help other consumers aside from being compensated for their participation in the ILP.

The total capacity available for deloading in Meralco’s area was about 563.89 megawatts from 267 participating accounts as of Dec. 21, 2022.

Meralco, DOE ask big power consumers to help avert blackout in next dry months

BOI-approved investment pledges rose 11.6% to P729b this year

Alena Mae

Electric Co. and the Depart

ment of Energy asked large power con

sumers to join the interruptible load program to help ensure the availability of sufficient power in the dry months next year.

small businesses and residential users can still continue with their day-to-day activities without any power interruptions,” Meralco vice president and head for enterprise and national government Ma. Cecilia Domingo said.

CEBUANA-BPI TIEUP. Cebuana Lhuillier, the Philippines’ leading and largest micro financial services provider, strengthens its partnership with Bank of the Philippine Islands to extend its money transfer capabilities. Under the partnership, Cebuana Lhuillier clients can directly send money to any BPI account in any of Cebuana Lhuillier’s more than 3,000 branches nationwide. Attending the signing ceremony are (from left) BPI assistant vice president and domestic remittance head Roderick Lucido, senior vice president Reginaldo Anthony Cariaso and executive vice president and institutional banking head Juan Carlos Syquia, P. J. Lhuillier Inc. founder and chairman Ambassadr Philippe Jones Lhuillier, president and chief executive Jean Henri Lhuillier, senior executive vice president Andre Lhuillier and first vice president and money transfer group head Erlinda Sumanga.

Gomez daughter Juliana wins fencing gold in Indonesia

By Randy Caluag

FRESH f rom a competition in Thailand, Juliana Gomez, daughter of celebrity couple Richard and Lucy, won another gold medal in the recent West Java Fencing Challenge in Bogor, Indonesia.

In a social media post, Gomez congratulated her daughter for another feat.

“Ipinagmamalaki mo ang ating bansa,” said the actor-politician, who was a national fencer himself and had won several medals in Southeast Asian Games in the late 1990s.

“You make our country proud! Congratulations to Coach Benny Garcia as well!,” Richard added.

In the comments section, Juliana Gomez replied: “Love you so much!”

Juliana’s coach Benny Garcia also posted about her victory on Instagram.

“Last competition of the year!

Now it’s time to head back home. Thank you Indonesia,” said Garcia.

“Congratulations @gomezjuliana for winning the Gold in the West Java Fencing Challenge 2022 in Bogot, Indonesia.”

Juliana, who is coming off a fresh win in the Thailand Open Fencing championship, wants to follow in the footstep of his father, who also happens to be the president of the Philippine Fencing Association.

Suns owner Sarver agrees to $4b sale to financier Ishbia

NEW YORK—American billionaire mortgage lender Mat Ishbia has agreed to purchase the Phoenix Suns and Women’s NBA team Phoenix Mercury for a record $4 billion, the two parties confirmed on Tuesday.

“Mat is the right leader to build on franchise legacies of winning and community support and shepherd the Suns and Mercury into the next era,” current owner Robert Sarver said in the joint statement.

“As a former collegiate basketball player and national champion, Mat has exactly the right spirit, commitment and resources to pursue championships,” added Sarver, who had been under pressure to sell the teams.

The deal, which will see Ishbia and his brother Justin take majority ownership, requires league approval to be fully completed.

“This is a dream come true for my entire family including my parents, my three children, and my brother Justin, who will be making a significant investment with me and bring his incredible business acumen and shared passion for basketball,” said Ishbia.

“I appreciate Robert Sarver’s time and support throughout the process. We are so honored to be, with approval by the NBA, the next stewards of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury.”

Magic Johnson had earlier given his support to the takeover by a fellow former Michigan State basketball player who was part of the school’s 2000 US championship squad.

“I had a great call with fellow Spartan Mat Ishbia congratulating him on his purchase of the Phoenix Suns,” Johnson tweeted.

“He’s going to do great things not only for the Suns organization, but for the entire league. All of the other 29 NBA teams better watch out because Mat’s a winner!”

Gin Kings flog Hotshots to advance to PBA finals

By Peter Atencio

LA TENORIO provided leadership as the Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings repulsed the Magnolia Timplados Hotshots, 99-84, on Wednesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City to earn a return trip to the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup Finals.

Tenorio finished with 18 points and his big game in the first period allowed the Gin Kings to take control of the rest of the game.

Ginebra took a 29-18 lead in the first 12 minutes and set the tone of the game the rest of the way to win its best-offive semifinal series with its sister

team, 3-1, and advance to the best-ofseven finals, where it will play the winner of the other semis showdown between San Miguel Beer and guest team Bay Area Dragons.

The Gin Kings are back in the finals after they last won the title in 2018.

Import and recently naturalized Filipino Justine Brownlee made 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Japeth Aguilar added 19 for the Kings, who will play Game 1 of the PBA finals on Christmas Day.

Scottie Thompson added 14 points for the Gin Kings.

So intense was the first quarter that the Gin Kings lost Christian Standhardinger in the final 6:18 of the period.

Standhardinger was sent off after throwing the ball at Magnolia import Nick Rakocevic, with the Gin Kings up, 12-8.

Brownlee shot eight in the second period to keep the Gin Kings ahead, 51-43, at halftime.

Coach Tim Cone commended Agui-

lar for picking up the pace following the ejection of Standhardinger.

“Japeth is incredibly hard on himself. And that’s what we battle with him all the time. To keep his spirits up, to keep him encouraged,” said Cone.

The scores Ginebra 99 -- Brownlee 24, Aguilar 19, Tenorio 18, Thomspon 14, Malonzo 10, Pringle 5, Gray 3, Pinto 3, Mariano 2, Standhardinger 1, Dillinger 0, Pessumal 0, David 0, onwuberre 0 Magnolia 84 -- Rakocevic 13, Jalalon 12, Lee 9, Reavis 8, Barroca 7, Ahanmisi 6, Sangalang 6, Dionisio 4, Wong 3, Corpuz 2, Dela Rosa 0, Zaldiva 0, Laput 0, Mendoza 0 Quarterscores: 29-18, 53-41, 82-68, 99-84.

Heavyweight champs Fury, Usyk agree to unification bout

LONDON—Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have agreed to fight each other next in a world heavyweight title unification bout, according to veteran boxing promoter Bob Arum.

Fury defeated his British rival Derek Chisora for the third time in his career to retain his WBC title earlier this month.

He then called out Ukrainian hero Usyk, the IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA belt-holder, who was ringside at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Following that fight, the 34-yearold Fury forecast a clash with Usyk, either in Saudi Arabia or Britain, sometime in February or March.

“The two fighters have agreed to fight each other next,” the 91-year-old Arum told Sky Sports on Tuesday.

“With Fury and Usyk we’re dealing with two adults, not a lot of (rub-

bish) back and forth. Usyk is a good friend of mine, he’s very intelligent and Tyson is Superman, both as an athlete and as an intellect.”

The American, involved in some of Muhammad Ali’s celebrated contests of the 1970s, added: “So they want the fight. Both of them want the fight and so there’ll be very little, if any, (messing) around.

“Now the question is what’s the date and what’s the site. But that fight is definitely going to happen and it will happen in the first four months of next year.”

Usyk, 35, has twice defeated Anthony Joshua, firstly depriving the Briton of his world titles at Tottenham in September last year before defeating him again in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this July.

This September, he said of a pos-

PLDT Group, Football for Humanity team up to promote safe spaces for children to play through sports

AS part of its advocacy to create safe spaces for children both online and offline, PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. through the ‘Better Today’ program, have partnered with Football for Humanity to empower youth through sports.

Together with MVP Sports Foundation, Smart Sports, FFH, and JCI Manila, ‘Better Today for Kids Playground’ is the culmination of PLDT and Smart’s month-long initiative on mental health in time for the recent World Mental Health Awareness month.

“We believe that sports can become an enabler for strong mental resilience and well-being, which is fundamental to our much broader digital wellness advocacy. This drives us to collaborate with like-minded individuals and organizations such as FFH, to generate collective impact and promote a culture of empathy among our communities,” said Stephanie V. Orlino, AVP and Head of Stakeholder

more awareness, more supporters, more people that promote and organize [football]. I can speak from my own experience; football was my safe space. Whenever I got to play on the green carpet, I felt safe, I felt happy,” shared Shrock.

For FFH vice president and co-founder Belle Tiongco, sports play a vital role in shaping the future of children. “Happy children make happy adults. And happy adults make a country progressive and powerful,” she said.

“Play is a child’s right. Play can transform. Sports command discipline, it commands concentration, and the best thing about sports is that you live in the moment. And Better Today for Kids Playground is totally in sync with what we do: providing safe spaces, giving the children resources, supporting them when they play. It’s a great experience that the children will not forget,” Tiongco added.

LA Tenorio of Ginebra beats Magnolia import Nick Rakocevic with his quick rst step and scores on a layup in a PBA semi nal game won by the Gin Kings, 99-84.

Riera U. Mallari, Editor;

Randy M. Caluag, Assistant Editor

Azkals’ Stephan Shrock, Football for Humanity, PLDT and Smartand partners support #BetterToday in providing safe spaces to play for the Filipino youth.

sible contest with Fury: “I would really like to see this fight happen next year.

“We do not know what is on his mind. This is Tyson Fury, everyone knows that he is a very crazy kid.” AFP

Tyson Fury

Juliana Gomez at the winners’

podium

Management at PLDT and Smart. Over 50 children aged seven and above joined a morning of games and football drills with FFH coaches and Azkals De-

velopment Team Captain Stephan Shrock at the Ateneo de Manila University football field. “It’s great, we need more of these events,

Masters: LIV golfers can join in 2023

WASHINGTON—LIV Golf League players will be able to compete in next year’s Masters after Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said Tuesday the event will keep “current criteria” for 2023 entrants.

Without mentioning the Saudibacked upstart series by name, Ridley expressed disappointment with golf’s ongoing divide caused by LIV luring away top PGA Tour talent with record prize money for 54-hole events.

“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” Ridley said.

“Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.

“Therefore, as invitations are sent this week, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters tournament.”

Of 78 players currently qualified for the 2023 Masters, 16 are LIV Golf members.

Six former Masters champions playing on the LIV circuit are set for next year’s first major golf showdown at the historic venue.

They include Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters winner and sixtime major champion who was the first top player to push LIV Golf forward.

Other past Masters winners in LIV Golf eligible to return in 2023 include fellow Americans Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson plus Spaniard Sergio Garcia and South African Charl Schwartzel.

World number three Cameron Smith of Australia, the reigning British Open champion, is also among other LIV players who have qualified under the current criteria.

Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka qualify based on major triumphs within the past five years and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann has also locked up a spot.

“I believe they made the right decision,” DeChambeau told The Golf Channel. “This Masters will be one of the most exciting Masters in many years.”

The decision will bring the PGA-LIV split into sharp focus from April 6-9 at Augusta National, where stars from the rival circuits could be paired with one another, some with hard feelings over the divide that has fractured the sport.

World number one Rory McIlroy and 15-time major champion Tiger Woods have been among the most outspoken LIV critics.

LIV players in this year’s final world golf rankings top 50 will also qualify for the Masters. That should seal Augusta tee times for South African Louis Oosthuizen, Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Americans Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Talor Gooch and Harold Varner.

Protest threatened

Other LIV Golf players can qualify by reaching the world golf rankings top 50 in the week before next year’s Masters.

The PGA Tour has banned LIV Golf players from its events. LIV players have competed in DP World Tour and Asian Tour events where they can pick up ranking points. AFP

Masbate crowned athletics’ champ; archer wins 7 golds

By Peter Atencio

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur—Leonalyn Compuesto crowned herself as Masbate’s golden girl as she scooped her fifth gold, lifting the province to the overall honors in athletics during the final day of the Philippine Sports Commission-organized Batang Pinoy national championships here.

The 15-year-old Compuesto served as anchor of Team Masbate in the 4x400 meter relay team as they logged a clocking of four minutes and 14.96 seconds, to beat Loraine Batalla’s Calamba City squad, which was far behind at 4:29.30 at the Quirino Stadium oval.

A prized find from the Placer district, Compuesto lifted Team Masbate to its best time after topping the heats in 4:17.40.

Masbate went on to collect a total of 11 golds, six silvers and seven bronze medals to claim the no. 1 position in athletics.

Compuesto, a former Palarong Pambansa elementary champion, collapsed again when she reached the finish line, after claiming a fourth gold, following a close shave with South Cotabato’s Schenley Ombid in the 100-meter sprints.

The 4’9” Compuesto and Ombid finished together, submitting equal times of

13.11, but Compuesto’s downward movement of her head during a video review gave her the gold.

“Binigay ko po iyung best ko para manalo, para makuha iyung five golds,” said the Masbate Sports Academy 10th grader, who fainted at the finish line of the century dash, but quickly recovered after medics tended to her at the infirmary.

First timers Realyn Lanuza, Jesalyn Materdan and Alessandra Capellan led Masbate in its initial efforts in the relays.

“Hinahabol naming iyung record. Nakuha na nila iyung best time nila sa heats, guso ko na makuha pa nila iyung best niya,” said athlete-turned Masbate coach Regine Batoy-Librando, a triple gold medallist in the 2018 Philippine National Games in Cebu.

Later in the day, archer Miguel Carlos of Puerto Princesa came up with a memorable showing of seven gold medals and

emerged as the most bemedaled athlete at the end of the weeklong meet.

The 12-year-old Carlos, a Palawan National High School seventh-grader, bested General Santos’ Adrie Sabdielle Gonzaga to top the boys’ Under-13 Olympic archery round for his seventh first-place feat.

Then, Carlos joined with Lizette Mayumi Bagnol to outscore General Santos’ Samantha Isabel Loreno and Romee Jonathan Rioja in snaring the mixed team mint at the San Ildefonso Central School.

Carlos’ domination came after he topped the 20 meters, 25m, 30m, 40m and 1440 events.

“Na-surprise kami sa seven golds na nakuha niya, pero he deserves it kasi masipag siya sa training,” said Carlos’ father-coach Ramil.

Two more archers, Jathniel Caleb Fernandez of Baguio and Adrianna Jessie Magbojos, grabbed the limelight in the U10 boys’ and girls’ Olympic round to finish with six golds apiece.

It came after the two claimed golds in the 10m, 15m, 20m, 30m in the final events during the previous days.

Lucena City’s Julian de Kam joined Compuesto in claiming a fifth gold medal, this time at the Quirino pool, when he and teammates Mikos Trinidad, Peter Cyrus Dean and Sahjeed Sarmientos dominated the boys’ 13-15 year old 4x50 meter freestyle relay.

Sapporo suspends bid events over scandal

TOKYO—The Japanese city of Sapporo will stop promoting its 2030 Winter Olympics bid and hold a nationwide poll to gauge support after a corruption scandal over last year’s Tokyo Games, local officials have announced.

The moves come as prosecutors continue to investigate corruption including alleged bid-rigging at the Covid-postponed summer games in Tokyo.

“In light of the case related to Tokyo, it has been determined that we must design a clean Games,” Akifumi Kudo, a local official working on the municipal bid, told AFP.

Sapporo had been seen as the frontrunner to host the Winter Games for a second time, ahead of rivals Salt Lake City and Vancouver, but the corruption scandal has soured the bid.

Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto said Tuesday the city needed time to draft strong anti-corruption measures to win public support, given the cloud over last year’s event.

“Rather than just running to the goal and closing our eyes to our surroundings, we have concluded that our priority should be to clear away any concerns or doubts the public has,” he told reporters.

“We will revisit and publish our operational plan for the Games, while confirming the public’s will,” he added, insisting Sapporo was still committed to its bid.

The city hopes to finalize a new plan for the Games in the spring, then conduct nationwide polling to gauge support, Kudo said.

Earlier this month, the governor of Hokkaido, where Sapporo is located, warned that the bid had become “difficult”.

“When you consider the series of problems related to the Tokyo Olympics, it will be difficult to build momentum with things as they are,” Naomichi Suzuki said. Prosecutors have arrested former Tokyo Games executive Haruyuki Takahashi on suspicion of taking bribes in return for helping companies become official event sponsors.

The scandal has also engulfed the company that produced toy versions of the Games mascots, as well as a suit retailer, a publishing firm and major advertising agencies.

Former prime minister Yoshiro Mori, who resigned as Tokyo 2020 president after making sexist comments, volunteered to be interviewed by prosecutors in September.

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee decided to postpone selecting a host for the 2030 Winter Games, citing concerns about the impact of climate change. AFP

ONE Championship hosted some memorable MMA fights in 2022, and the next 12 months will surely continue the trend.

But before we enter 2023, we look back on the past year and relive three mixed martial arts bouts that most impressed us.

Angela Lee Submits Stamp Fairtex

Angela Lee returned to the Circle with vengeance at ONE X in March after taking a break to focus on motherhood.

It was no simple task to defend her ONE Women’s Atomweight World Championship against topranked contender Stamp Fairtex, but “Unstoppable” made it happen.

After trading blows with Stamp in the first round, including taking a body shot that nearly

knocked her out, the 26-year-old used her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt skills to submit the Thai superstar by rear-naked choke in the second stanza.

Anatoly Malykhin Dethrones Reinier De Ridder Reinier de Ridder’s capabilities were reaching a myth-like status until he faced ONE Interim Heavyweight World Champion Anatoly Malykhin at ONE Fight Night 5 earlier this month.

“Sladkiy” needed only the first round to hand the former two-division ONE World Champion his firstever loss.

Malykhin knocked out “The Dutch Knight” with seconds left before the bell, taking the ONE Middleweight World Champion’s light heavyweight strap and undefeated record with him.

“The Warrior” had lost their first fight in a contentious decision, and he was determined not to let that happen again.

This time, he came out against Ok with guns blazing, finishing the South Korean via knees in the second round to retrieve his beloved ONE Lightweight World Championship.

Download the ONE Super App to catch all the action at ONE Fight Night 6: Superbon vs. Allazov on Saturday, January 14, at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

SMC backs junior golfers Laurea, Lia Duque

SAN Miguel Corporation head honcho, Ramon S. Ang, the successful owner of Philippine Basketball Association teams San Miguel Beer, Magnolia Hotshots and Ginebra San Miguel, is now lending his generous helping hand to golfers Laurea and Lia Duque.

Ang, or RSA to the local business and sporting community, is throwing his full support behind the sisters Laurea and Lia as the two pursue their dreams of making it big in the sport.

Laurea, 18, is a national pool member for four years and has represented the country in various junior and open amateur events.

The younger Lia, 14, is an up-and-coming talent, who has great potential to be one of the better golfers in the country before she is done.

The Duque sisters are now the main draw of Team SMC in golf and are the only golfers fully supported by the

conglomerate in the sport.

The support covers everything f rom local and overseas tournaments, equipment, apparel, uniform and gear, as well as all necessary coaching, from swing to putting and short game, to strength and conditioning.

Seeking world-class coaching that is not just available anywhere, SMC is sending Laurea to regional golfing power Thailand at least two weeks every month and a half to have her train with coach Kris Assawaniporn, credited with producing current world number three Atthaya “Jeeno” Thitikul.

Her recent trip to Bangkok last month added a special treat as she was able to train for a couple of days with the top Thai golfer.

On the other hand, Lia begins her Thailand sojourn in 2023.

SMC hopes that the sisters will benefit from the world-class training, which the

firm hopes will translate into a vast improvement in their games and further result in good performances and even wins in big international competition.

Their last US summer tour, funded by SMC and BMW Philippines, an RSA company, resulted in a number of good finishes for the sisters in Northern California, highlighted by Laurea winning the San Francisco Junior Championships, one of the oldest junior events in the U.S.

This is an auspicious start for her as the event has been won by a number of big names in the sport, including former LPGA winner and Filipino-American golfer, Dorothy Delasin.

SMC has vowed to fully back the sisters in their golf journey whether it takes them to a college golf path or an early professional career. And with the Midas touch of RSA in sports, it will not be far-fetched to expect big things from the Duque sisters.

Christian Lee KO’s Ok Rae Yoon Angela’s brother, Christian Lee, was itching for a rematch with Ok Rae Yoon after dropping his lightweight crown to the South Korean at ONE: REVOLUTION in September 2021.

Archer Miguel Carlos of Puerto Princesa is shown with PSC chairman Noli Eala. Carlos hauled seven gold medals and emerged as the most bemedaled athlete in the PSC’s Batang Pinoy.

SMC president and CEO Ramon S. Ang is shown with Laurea and Lia Duque during a courtesy call at the SMC office in Ortigas.

‘Start-Up PH’ culminates in heartwarming finale this Friday

WELL-LOVED primetime series StartUp PH wraps up with a heartwarming and surprising finale tomorrow, December 23.

The program is bannered by Alden Richards as Tristan and Bea Alonzo as Dani, with Yasmien Kurdi as Ina and Jeric Gonzales as Dave.

Directed by Dominic Zapata and Jerry Sineneng, the star-studded cast also features Gabby Eigenmann, Kim Domingo, Ayen Munji-Laurel, Jackie Lou Blanco, Boy2 Quizon, Royce Cabrera, Niño Muhlach, Lovely Rivero, Kevin Santos, Tim Yap, Kaloy Tingcungco, Brianna, Gianna Llanes, and Gina Alajar, with the special participation of Neil Ryan Sese

As the show nears its ending, Dave admits to Tristan that he still loves Dani

and even threatens to steal her back. Hence, it triggers Tristan and the two get into a scuffle. Dani finds out about their fight and gets disappointed in Tristan. Is it goodbye for Tristan and Dani or will their love remain strong against all odds?

Meanwhile, Spencer (Kaloy) apologizes to his stepsister, Ina, for everything he has done to try to ruin her career. Ina convinces him to expose the truth behind the hackers of Future PH. Will Arnold (Gabby) be held accountable for all his wrongdoings?

Start-Up PH is the first-ever TV adaptation of the ground-breaking 2020 South Korean series Start-Up, created by Hyeryeon Park and produced by Studio Dragon Corporation, coproduced by Studio Dragon and CJ ENM.

The series is made possible under the

supervision of GMA SVP for Entertainment Group Lilybeth G. Rasonable; VP for Drama Cheryl Ching-Sy; AVP for Drama Helen Rose Sese; Senior Program Manager Cathy Ochoa-Perez; and Senior Executive Producer Mona Coles-Mayuga

The creative team behind this motivational drama is composed of creative director Aloy Adlawan; content development consultant Ricky Lee; creative consultant Agnes Gagelonia Uligan; head writer Glaiza Ramirez; writers Marlon Miguel and Patrick Ilagan; brainstormers Louize Al-Shehr and Meryl Bunyi; and associate director Aya Topacio

Catch the finale of Start-Up PH tomorrow at 8:50 p.m. on GMA and at 11:00 p.m. on GTV.

FROM the creative team that brought the Metro Manila Film Festival box-office hit Miracle in Cell No. 7 comes another heartwarming tale that’s sure to bring inspiration and laughter to moviegoers of all ages.

The winning tandem of director Nuel Naval and writer Mel Mendozadel Rosario have joined forces again for another project; this time a light, intimate family drama entitled Family Matters

The movie produced by Cineko Productions features an all-star ensemble composed of Noel Trinidad, Liza Lorena, Nonie Buencamino, Agot Isidro, Mylene Dizon, James Blanco, Nikki Valdez, JC Santos, Ana Luna, Ina Feleo, Ketchup Eusebio, Roxanne Guinoo, and introducing, Ian Pangilinan Family Matters is an official entry to the 2022 Metro Manila Film Festival opening in cinemas nationwide on December 25.

The story is about senior married couple Francisco and Eleanor, and their four children: Kiko, the successful son; Fortune, the homemaker; Ellen, the unmarried daughter; and Enrico, the happy-go-lucky son. Things are shaken up when Ellen, the primary caregiver, decides to fly to the US to take a chance at finding love. Ellen’s absence makes the rest of the siblings anxious, as each one takes turns in caring for and watching Eleanor and especially the frail Francisco.

MMFF light drama ‘FAMILY MATTERS’ celebrates love for family

The film’s relatable charm and touching message won the approval of Cineko executives led by

Enrico Roque who wanted to produce a family-oriented movie. Mel and Direk Nuel pitched the story of Family Matters and Cineko quickly gave the green light.

“They were looking for a family drama dahil matagal na ngang walang napo-produce ng ganito,” Mel says of Mayor Roque and his partners. “When they read the script, nagustuhan agad. Halos walang comment. We (Nuel and I) had a free hand in the casting and the making of the film.”

The concept had been with Mel for some time and she and Direk Nuel had been searching for a producer since 2018 until finally, the script found its way to Cineko in 2022. “For me, this is the right time for Family Matters,” declares Direk Nuel.

“Because the pandemic made us realize how fleeting life is. We must make the most of our time with our family and loved ones. Bigyan natin ng halaga ang ating mga mahal sa buhay hindi bukas… kundi ngayon,” he emphasizes.

With a few days away from the December 25 playdate, Family Matters has already gained a huge following. In fact, its trailer has gotten 35 millionplus views across all platforms as of this writing.

Mel and Direk Nuel point out that whatever your age, gender, social status, or affiliation, you are bound to find yourself in the film. “Maraming light and funny moments… Totoong nangyayari sa pamilya. It’s the story of every Filipino family.”

Eraserheads fab fillers

The

six new

to watch out for including Dirty

starring Zanjoe Marudo, Janine

Francine Diaz, and Seth

; FPJ’s Batang Quiapo led by Coco Martin and Lovi Poe; Linlang which marks Diamond Star Maricel Soriano’s television comeback; DonBelle’s first teleserye Can’t Buy Me Love; Drag You And Me starring Andrea Brillantes; and the iWantTFC youth series Teen Clash headlined by Markus Paterson, Jayda Avanzado, and Aljon Mendoza

The hit reality singing contest The Voice Kids is set to return next year for its new season with coach Bamboo and new coaches, KZ Tandingan and Martin Nievera I Can See Your Voice

also marks its comeback with Luis Manzano as its main host.

ABS-CBN is also set to celebrate Vilma Santos’s 60th year in the entertainment industry through special releases and exclusive content including a one-on-one interview with Boy Abunda

The excitement continues as Miss Universe 2023, live from the USA, is set to stream real-time on multiple ABS-CBN platforms on January 15.

ABS-CBN Films also gifts moviegoers with a fresh flick titled Love on a Budget starring Carlo Aquino and Metro Manila Film Festival 2020 Best Actress Charlie Dizon, while the highly anticipated international series Cattleya Killer starring Arjo Atayde will finally thrill viewers in 2023.

Watch the highlights of the two-part ABS-CBN Christmas Special on the ABS-CBN Entertainment website and its Facebook and YouTube accounts, and iWantTFC.

IF YOU have managed to get a ticket for Eraserheads’ Huling El Bimbo reunion concert, regardless if that’s a mosh pit privilege or a gen ad consolation, then you are assured of hearing a collection of the band’s greatest hits to be performed live right where the action is. What you shouldn’t expect is to hear and see them play that deep cut from their discography.

It’s one thing to proudly post that you’re a fan of Ely, Raymund, Buddy, and Marcus, it’s another thing to know by heart even their relatively obscure songs. If you do, then you are a true blue disciple and not just some poser jumping on the bandwagon. Because of fans like you, I came up with this list of songs that are categorically album fillers, not necessarily bad cuts. These Eraserheads songs just didn’t enjoy the exposure their singles that became major hits did nor were able to get off their unheralded space in the band’s recording releases.

Having spent much of my teenage years and early 20s during the 90s, and becoming a musician and music journalist myself, I can say I grew up with their songs and to some extent have seriously dissected the musicianship in them.

Coming up with this list of 10 deep Eraserheads cuts is quite tricky because there are a number of their tracks that

even if not released as singles became popular in their own right. To narrow it down quickly, songs on the two-volume Eraserheads Anthology couldn’t qualify. Here they are, in alphabetical order.

1. “Ambi Dextrose” – On the album Sticker Happy, Ely Buendia wrote “Kaliwete,” “Kananete,” and this track which mentions “Aloha Milkyway,” later the name to a compilation with Asian edition bannered by “Julie Tearjerky.”

2. “Back2Me” – Hardly there’s a filler on the band’s best-selling album Cutterpilow that even a short piece called “Fill Her” is an acoustic gem. That the singer here is asking for his tapes of Nirvana and Yano makes this frenetic rock sound deliriously old school.

3. “Christmas Morning” – It’s a pity that this charming, final song from Fruitcake didn’t become as well known as the title track and “Christmas Party.”

4. “Easy Ka Lang” – This is the first song on the band’s debut album. Why

“Ligaya” is not the opening track is puzzling.

5. “Insomya” – This fast-moving narrative on restlessness segues into the gentle “With Smile” in desirable effect.

6. “Kahit Ano” – Bassist Buddy Zabala delivered three good compositions on the album Natin99, including this, and even confidently lead-sung on all of them.

7. “Omnesia” – This one’s a typical late-run Ely track trying to get out of his radio-friendly shell and into the obliviousness of heavy rock.

8. “Sino Sa Atin” – While Raymund Marasigan wrote this one, Ely sings it on live performances like it’s one of his own. Proper channeling.

9. “Sticker Happy” - Few may have realized that there’s a title cut to what may be labeled as the best of the band’s post-Cutterpillow album.

10. “Ultrasound” - It’s the heavy, very telling opener of the band’s last album Carbon Stereoxide

THE country’s leading content provider revealed its offerings in last Sunday’s (December 18) trending Tayo Ang Ligaya Ng Isa’t Isa: ABS-CBN Christmas Special 2022

company unveiled

series

Linen

Gutierrez,

Fedelin

Mayor

BY YUGEL LOSORATA

TOUCHBASS

A snap of the Eraserheads in the ‘90s

The cast of ‘Dirty Linen’

The cast of the 2022 Metro Manila Film Festival entry ‘Family Matters’

A scene from the light family drama ‘Family Matters’

: From left: JC Santos, Liza Lorena, Noel Trinidad, Mylene Dizon, and James Blanco in Noel Trinidad (left) and Liza Lorena

‘Start-Up PH’ leads (from left) Alden Richards, Bea Alonzo, Yasmien Kurdi, and Jeric Gonzales

Eight thoughtful gifts for your last-minute Christmas shopping

EVERYONE is on the tail-end of holiday shopping. If you are thinking of completing your gifting list at the last minute, you may want your family and friends to receive thoughtful gifts and make them feel the Yuletide cheers.

If you are still deciding which gifts to give them, below are some of the unique picks from Surplus’ novelty collection. Whether you are giving gifts for the always on-the-go, for the social media native, or even for the homebodies, these pieces will surely help them in their day-to-day.

Make them the life of the party

Surprise your fun-loving friends with a Bluetooth Karaoke with a microphone that they can use at every party.

This one-of-a-kind Bluetooth Karaoke is easy to carry with its built-in handle and to connect to other Bluetooth elec-

tronic devices for wireless audio link.

To complement this, you can also add a Vlogging Kit to help them capture their best karaoke moments with better sound and lighting, may it be indoors or outdoors. This all-in-one kit already has a universal microphone, LED light, and flexible tripod grip.

Add more grab-and-go items

Make your always-on-the-go friends live a healthier lifestyle by giving them a functional yet easy-to-use Portable Juicer. It comes with a button panel multipurpose blender to make their own delicious juices, smoothies, or even milkshakes.

love a smarter home with these tech gadgets. Help them light up their homes even more with a Motion Sensor Light that automatically turns on when it detects motion at least 3 meters in range. It is also rechargeable and convenient

Encourage

Another useful item you can give them this Christmas is a Hydrofresh Stainless Steel Tumbler. It comes in Ombre and Metallic collections which can also complete their daily fit because of its stylish looks.

Promote a smarter home Your homebody friends will surely

Be energized for the Holiday Season

THE holiday season is one of Kim Chiu’s most favorite times of the year because it’s when she starts decorating her house, including her much-awaited Christmas tree. Growing up not having a tree has made her want to go all out and personally put one up every year. Her theme previously was white Christmas and decked her 12-foot tree with white ornaments because for her, the color white symbolized hope and she missed traveling to wherever there was snow.

This Christmas will be extra special because this will be the first time since the pandemic that we can all finally get together with minimal restrictions.

“This holiday season is the time for getting together, more reason to meet up and celebrate with friends and family, get together, exchange gifts and a lot of food!” says Kim. “Plus, I get to have my holiday vacation! Feeling excited and body must be ready for all the happenings!”

The holidays are also Kim’s busiest time because of work commitments and projects she has to attend to.

“I am doing a series of projects now and that’s what makes me busy these days plus I have just started my bag business and I am very happy with the result. I can’t wait for the restock and people want more of house of little bunny bags,” she adds. “I need to spark up my energy and be prepared for the coming holiday season! Feeling good! Feeling excited!”

To carry herself through all this, she makes it a point to drink Berocca to help spark her energy.

Berocca boasts a unique combination of vitamins and essential minerals, like

calcium, magnesium, and zinc, that work in synergy to improve your mental performance and physical energy throughout the day.

“Even if I lack sleep or have an early call time, I make sure I always have some Berocca,” Kim shared enthusiastically. “I get all the vitamins and nutrients my body needs, and it tastes great too.”

Like Kim, you can spark your energy to help you stay energized and focused throughout the holiday season.

You can buy Multivitamins and Minerals Berocca in leading drugstores nationwide and on Bayer Consumer’s official Shoppee and Lazada stores.

functional alarm clock.

Put together a comfy nook Nothing beats useful items built for comfort and ease. Help your friends create a cozy corner at home with a Tatami Floor Chair that has breathable cotton fabric and a high-quality cushion perfect for lounging. It also comes in various colors to match every personality.

Throw in a Humidifier with Himalayan Salt Lamp to your gift to make a comfier lounge at home. Not only does it help make the nook brighter, but it also makes the air cleaner and easier to breathe in.

For a more convenient shopping experience, you may check out Surplus at Lazada, SM Malls Online, and ShopSM.

to place in any dark area in the house.

You may create a gift set together with a Bluetooth Speaker with Alarm Clock and LED Light for entertainment and function.

It plays for up to 10 hours and has a color-changing light complete with a

No holiday skin stress

Look your best with bright and bouncy mochi-mochi skin

EVERYTHING’S coming up merry and bright for the holidays this year with in-person gatherings and reunions with family, friends, and colleagues getting back on track. As festive as the season is, it’s also stressful and hectic.

We’re juggling more tasks and errands than we usually do, decorating our homes while finishing up end-ofthe-year reports, and (finally) catching up with friends. And all those sleepless nights and hours spent working overtime, holiday shopping and gift wrapping can show on you, especially on your skin.

All the late nights and stress can deal quite a bit of damage to your skin, and incorporating something more nourishing can help combat that. The Japanese always make sure they have a face lotion that functions as a skin conditioner, softening and hydrating it, and even performing a few extras. As the key step to mochi mochi skin or skin so baby-soft, bouncy, velvety matte they look and feel like that popular Japanese dessert, face lotions are full water-pushing humectants like hyaluronic acid to plump up dehydrated skin that’s typical of the colder months.

Cult fave J-beauty brand Hada Labo helps you say no to dull holiday skin and look your best despite the stress. The brand sells out a bottle of face lotion every five seconds and offers two of its most famous product lines here in the country. Staging a comeback on the social scene is easy

FOR the country’s micro, small and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs), the Christmas season presents opportunities as Filipinos celebrate the holidays this year with greater freedom to go out, get together, and of course, shop.

It is also that time of the year when entrepreneurs face the most challenges: from tracking and fulfilling orders to managing logistics and keeping inventory. This is why since 2017, Globe Business has been hosting its annual Christmas tradition Gift Local to advocate its support for local businesses.

Gift Local aims to help MSMEs achieve success one gift at a time by giving them the opportunity to reach a wider market and showcase curated products from small businesses.

“We host Gift Local every year to serve not just as a platform for MSMEs to reach more customers during Christmas, but also as a means to make them experience the lasting

with these skin saviors!

Gokujyun Hydrating Lotion Rich is Hada Labo’s flagship product that’s updated with an enhanced formulation. It contains five types of hyaluronic acid to deeply hydrate the skin, replenish optimum moisture, create a moisture-locking shield to prevent moisture loss, and enhance absorption of other skin-care ingredients. This formula also has the world’s first fermented hyaluronic acid significantly improves its barrier function even more. The Gokujyun line also offers the Gokujyun Hydrating Light Lotion that has the same hydrating formula as the former, just lighter for oily or combination skin.

Shirojyun Premium Whitening Lotion, on the other hand, is best for those

who have dull, tired skin. Apart from Hada Labo’s signature hyaluronic acid formula, it also contains brightening ingredients to give you that crystalbright glow. It’s infused with Alpha Arbutin, Niacinamide, and Vitamin C to brighten and even out skin tone. Alpha Arbutin can prevent skin pigmentation, dark spots, and freckles. It’s a natural antioxidant and skin brightener that reduces melanin formation in an effective and safer way. Niacinamide is known for helping protect the skin from environmental stressors like UV rays and pollution, while Vitamin C can help exfoliate the skin to reveal a brighter complexion.

Whichever face lotion best suits your skin, make sure to apply it twice a day as after cleansing the Hada Labo way – by patting the product onto the skin to get that natural holiday glow.

Planning to carry your new mochimochi skincare routine into the new year? The J-beauty skincare brand is treating shoppers to some exclusive promos and freebies. Simply purchase your Hada Labo products at The SM Store’s Beauty Section in SM North EDSA on December 29 to January 11 to enjoy these perks. Hada Labo face lotions and other products are available at Watsons and Zalora, and through the official Mentholatum store on Lazada and Shopee.

For more beauty and skincare tips, visit hadalabo.com.ph and follow @HadaLaboPH on Facebook and Instagram.

impact of digital innovations in growing their businesses,” said Angie Po, Product Marketing Head of MSME Group, Globe Business.

Now in its 3rd year, Gift Local Live Selling featured partner MSMEs and their local products on December 2 via the Globe Business Facebook page.

Among participating merchants were Kapelipino, Daniel Baker, OLLOCAL PH, Lumi Candles, Big Al’s, Bayongciaga, Artisanat Handmade, Kurimu, Magkawas Beauty and Wellness OPC, Witty Will Save The World, Michee Mich, Terralane Ph, Cubo Essentials, and Habi Lifestyle.

Participating Gift Local merchants got a chance to use ChatGenie, which helps scale up their enterprises online during this busy season.

ChatGenie is an In-App Commerce Platform that allows MSMEs that currently get orders manually via chat on Facebook, Instagram, Viber, and GLife on GCash to have an organized online store

in these top apps. This digital solution allows merchants to sell, collect payment, arrange shipping and even track delivery in one dashboard.

With this offer, MSMEs can enjoy the benefits of a Starter plan for FREE with no purchase commitment until the end of the year, including a messenger store function even after the live selling event.

“This time of the year accounts for the highest sales for businesses, and we want to make sure our MSMEs are able to make the most out of this season. And this is why we continue to rally shoppers to support local businesses through Gift Local,” Po stated.

For every gift that you buy from Gift Local, you bring countless smiles to others by helping grow a small business, giving livelihood to local communities, and by putting food on the table for countless others. One small act creates a huge impact, so share the joy this Christmas one gift at a time with Globe Business Gift Local,” Po ended.

Nickie

Kim Chiu makes it a point to drink Berocca to help spark her energy because the holidays are one of the busiest times in her schedule

Achieve glowing healthy skin with J-beauty brand Hada Labo’s face lotion

This Tatami Floor Chair has breathable cotton fabric and high-quality cushion, making it perfect for lounging

Brighten up any area, even closets, with motion sensor lights

A Humidi er with Himalayan Salt Lamp brightens up an area while purifying the air in the environment

Promote entertainment and function in the household with a Bluetooth Speaker with Alarm Clock and LED Light

Stay hydrated with these colorful Hydrofresh Stainless Steel Tumblers

The all-in-one kit already has a universal microphone, LED light, and exible tripod grip

An easy-to-carry Bluetooth Karaoke with a built-in handle

your loved ones to live a healthier lifestyle with this Portable Juicer