Zaragosa pads lead to 2, but Bisera lurks

ILOILO—Rupert Zaragosa recovered his touch, kept his poise then produced clutch shots that checked an impending frontside skid, leading to a 68 and a two-stroke lead over an equally gutsy Elee Bisera midway through the ICTSI Iloilo Golf Challenge presented by MORE Power here on Thursday.

A late birdie and a brave run of pars spiked Zaragosa’s closing 36, more than preserving his superb backside 32 marred by a bogey on No. 10 but marked by a three-birdie binge from No. 12 as the diminutive but talented former national champion moved 36 holes away from scoring a career breakthrough on the Philippine Golf Tour.

“I’m not going to pressure myself. I will just follow the game plan, my routine and hopefully, I’ll be able to produce good results (in the last two days),” said Zaragosa, who took charge by one over Ferdie Aunzo with a first round 65 and padded his lead to two on a 36hole aggregate of seven-under 133 at the Iloilo

Golf and Country Club.

Breathing down his neck are two unlikely contenders who both missed the cut at Marapara last week but are now in hot pursuit of a maiden victory with back-to-back under-par rounds in the P2.25 million event put up by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

Bisera, a rookie pro, followed up his opening 67 with a 68 to grab second place at 135 while Paul Echavez, looking for a first win in 14 years, holed out with back-to-back birdies to fire a 67 and tied fancied Guido van der Valk, who shot a 65, at third at 136.

Zanieboy Gialon pulled within one off Zaragosa with a scorching four-birdie run in the first seven holes at the front but drove outof-bounds on the eighth and made a double-bogey then missed an eight-footer for par on the last to tumble to fifth at 137 after a 67.

After making the backside turn at 32, Zaragosa stepped up his assault on the chal- lenging par-70 layout with a birdie on No. 1. But he lost his putting touch and bogeyed the next two on three putt miscues and scrambled with a birdie-bogey-birdie card in the next three before holding sway with three straight pars.

“After making those three-putt bogeys, I told myself that I needed to focus on the allowance and speed (of the greens). So I was able to birdie two of the next three,” said Zaragosa, who also led in the middle rounds in the PGT bubble tournament at Riviera-Couples in 2021 but lost to Lascuna by four. This time, he believes he would need a sixunder card in last two days to join the elite circle of Tour winners. But Bisera also continued to show flashes of brilliance and resiliency as he rebounded with birdies on Nos. 6 and 14 after blowing a twobirdie feat in the first three holes with back-toback bogeys from No. 4.

WHILE focus will be on the returning foreign pros, the locals look the steal the spotlight in pursuit of top honors in various age group divisions when the Alveo IRONMAN 70.3 Davao is unwrapped Sunday (March 26) at Azuela Cove in Lanang. For one, the men’s 25-29 category promises to be a slam-bang battle with a deep roster of talents all geared up for the 1.9 km-swim, 90km-bike and 21k-run course race tipped to be fast, challenging and searing.

Jonathan Pagaura of Filipino HomesGo for Less, Tri SNB Barracuda teammates Satar Salem and Jailani Lamama banner the stellar cast that also features homegrown bets Jan Capon of Tri Association of Davao, Eduardo Catoc of Tri Mati and Biboy Ballenas of Tri DavSur along with the likes of Rey Estrosos of Tribo, Tri Iloilo’s Nikko Eulatic, Rey Chan of Tri Amigos Phi, and U Can Tri’s CJ Custodio.

On top of the 30 berths offered in various age-group categories, the event is also staking 25 extra slots for women to the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship on Aug. 26-27 in Lahti, Finland, ensuring a spirited chase among the more than thousand bidders in the premier endurance race powered by Petron, the only pro-laced race this year under The IRONMAN Group/Sunrise Events, Inc. banner.

Meanwhile, 18 pros have stepped up their preparations for the grueling race with Filipe Azevedo of Portugal and fellow IRONMAN 70.3 winner Tuan Chun Chang of Taiwan raring to dispute the men’s crown and the top $30,000 purse.

Slugging it out for the women’s title in the first triathlon race in the season in Asia are veteran campaigner Dimity-Lee Duke and fellow Aussie Sarah Crowley, United Arab Emirates’ Lottie Lucas, Ai Ueda of Japan, and Americans Amy Vantassel and Lauren Brandon.

PLDT’s income

By Julito G. Rada

THE Monetary Board, the policy-making body of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, delivered another 25-basis-point increase in key interest rates on Thursday to stem one of the stickiest inflation rates in the region.

It raised the overnight borrowing rate to 6.25 percent and adjusted the overnight deposit and lending facilities to 5.75 percent and 6.75 percent, respectively.

BSP Governor and MB chairman Felipe Medalla said the rate hike would take effect March 24.

“The Monetary Board’s decision

ABS-CBN cut loss to P2.6b last year

ABS-CBN Corp. said Thursday net loss dropped 54 percent last year on higher advertising and consumer sales.

The country’s largest media and entertainment network said net loss amounted to P2.6 billion in 2022, down from P3 billion in 2021. Consolidated revenues reached P19.19 billion last year, up 8 percent from P17.82 billion in 2021.

Advertising revenues amounted to P6.39 billion, while consumer sales reached P12.80 billion. Costs and expenses rose 4 percent to P23.45 billion from P22.53 billion.

ABS-CBN said despite the non-renewal of its franchise, it continued to focus on creating compelling content and stories for domestic and overseas markets and platforms through partnerships and collaborations.

“With an emphasis on generating maximum value for its content and products, the company continues to monitor shifts in technology, audience behavior, and industry demand as it expands its digital and international businesses while continuing to invest in content and story generation capabilities,” ABS-CBN said.

Darwin G. Amojelar

DBP opens loan window for coconut farmers

STATE-OWNED Development Bank of the Philippines launched a special credit facility focusing on coconut farmers in support of the government’s efforts to strengthen the development of the coconut industry, one of the major segments of the local agriculture sector, a top executive said Thursday.

DBP president and chief executive Michael de Jesus said the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Credit program aims to provide financing to support projects related to the coconut value chain focusing on capacity expansion, farm integration and enterprise diversification to increase farm production and income of coconut farmers.

“We believe that a robust agribusiness sector is one of the keys to achieving a foodsecure Philippines,” de Jesus said. “Through this new loan program, DBP aims to pave the way for coconut farmers and agri-preneurs to thrive in a highly competitive market.”

DBP is the eighth largest bank in the country in terms of assets and provides credit support to four strategic sectors of the economy – infrastructure and logistics; micro, small and medium enterprises; environment; social services and community development.

The CFID complements the Department of Agriculture’s efforts to boost food production by addressing various challenges in the coconut industry ranging from low production to natural calamities and pest infestations.

Accountancy profession celebrates 100 years in PH

THE Board of Accountancy in collaboration with the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants and other sectoral organizations celebrated the centenary of the accountancy profession in the country on March 17.

It is the culmination of the year-long celebration which was launched on March 17, 2022. Organizers adopted “Celebrating the Past, Transforming the Present, Shaping the Future” as theme of the centennial celebration. Accountancy was recognized as a profession on March 17, 1923 when the Philippine Legislature enacted Act No. 3105, also known as the Accountancy Act of 1923. With the passage of the law, Filipinos were empowered to practice accountancy in the country, a profession that was once limited to foreign accountants. In 1967, the Accountancy Act of 1967 was passed. Under this legislation, only Filipinos and citizens of countries offering the same privileges to Filipinos can become Certified Public Accountants in the Philippines.

The current Board of Accountancy is chaired by Dr. Noe Quiñanola. Other mem- of the board are Samuel Padilla, Gloria Baysa, Thelma Ciudadano, Rosalinda Evangelista, Gervacio Piator and Maria Teresita Zuñiga-Dimaculangan. was based on the sum of new information and its assessment of the effects of past policy actions, which warranted a continuation of monetary tightening to anchor inflation expectations,” Medalla said in a briefing.

“With core inflation rising in February despite a modest decline in headline inflation, further monetary policy global growth outlook. action was deemed necessary to address broadening price impulses emanating from robust domestic demand and lingering supply-side constraints,” he said.

The board slightly lowered the inflation forecast for 2023 to 6 percent from 6.1 percent made in the February meeting. The forecast for 2024 was also revised downward to 2.9 percent from 3.5 percent.

BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila said the lower inflation forecasts for 2023 and 2024 took into account the easing of inflation in February to 8.6 percent from the 14-year high of 8.7 percent in January. Another factor considered was the more challenging