ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS
2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
GOVT SETS RECOVERY FUNDS AFTER ‘CARINA’ www.businessmirror.com.ph
n
Friday, July 26, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 283
P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 24 pages | 7 days a week
By Samuel P. Medenilla, @sam_medenilla
Reine Juvierre Alberto, @reine_alberto
& Jonathan L. Mayuga
P
@jonlmayuga
RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday announced that the national government is ready to release funds to hasten the recovery of regions in Luzon that were battered by heavy rains, as the budget department reported that P11.1 billion remained in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) for disaster relief operations. Supertyphoon Carina, which enhanced the southwest monsoon, killed at least 21 people, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP). Related story in A3 Nation. The fatalities are mostly from the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon, and Calabarzon which is composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon. In an interview with reporters, Marcos said local government units (LGU) in the affected regions will receive relief packages. “Many have already called me this morning [for financial aid]. So, we will put that all together so that we can go to the DBM [Department of Budget and Management] and tell them to release this already so it can be use by local officials,” he said. He made the remark after going to the Malanday National High School, which serves as an evacuation center in Valenzuela City, and the damaged North Navotas Pumping Station Navigation Gate. “Now that I know what the situation is, where the areas are that need the most, we’ll be putting together already the [relief] packages for the LGUs, here in NCR, not only NCR, in Region 3, in Calabarzon,” Marcos said. During a situation briefing Presidential Security Command (PSC) Compound, the chief executive ordered the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and other concerned government agencies to submit a detailed list of areas, which should be prioritized for government aid nationwide. See “Govt,” A2
PHL spent 25% of state funds on food security–SOFI
T
MUD AND MERCY In the aftermath of Typhoon Carina, families affected by the storm take temporary shelter in modular tents at the evacuation center in Malanday Elementary School, Marikina City. Meanwhile, volunteers from the Bureau of Fire Protection and parishioners have come together to clean the San Antonio de Padua Parish in Barangay San Antonio, Quezon City, after it was submerged by over 10 feet of floodwater. Amid the recovery efforts, acts of kindness continue to shine, such as a vendor who, despite losing many of their goods, shared fruits with a disabled person. NONOY LACZA & NONIE REYES
Telcos restore services PHL URGED TO IMPROVE SOFT in storm-affected areas INFRA TO FAST-TRACK GROWTH By Lorenz S. Marasigan
T
@lorenzmarasigan
ELECOMMU NIC AT ION companies in the Philippines have initiated restoration efforts to address service disruptions caused by the onslaught of typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued a directive to public telecommunications entities (PTEs), mandating immediate actions to restore telecommunications services in affected areas. In a memorandum, the NTC
emphasized the need for a sufficient number of technical and support personnel, standby generators, tools, and spare equipment in regions impacted by Typhoon Carina. The commission also urged the fast-tracking of repair and restoration efforts to ensure the continuity of communication services. Service disruptions were reported in several areas, primarily due to power outages, with floods exacerbating the situation by making roads impassable. See “Telcos,” A2
T
HE Philippines could leverage on improving its soft infrastructure to enhance its overall infrastructure efficiency as part of a support initiative for faster economic growth, according to S&P Global. In an Economic Research, S&P Global said enhancing the so-called soft aspects of infrastructure is crucial in the overall infrastructure efficiency. “Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines have tighter bottlenecks around soft infrastructure and as a result may
gain more from this area,” S&P Global said. These soft infrastructure measures are streamlining regulations, process improvements, more efficient maintenance and enabling greater private sector participation, S&P Global said. Moreover, st rea m l i n i ng customs procedures or deregulating tariffs on utilities can smoothen logistics performance, improve returns and increase the efficiency of existing investment, it added.
By Ada Pelonia
HE Philippines allocated a quarter of its public spending on food security and nutrition to bolster the resilience of vulnerable sectors facing economic adversity, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report. “These [middle-income countries] MICs allocate a much higher share of their public spending on food security and nutrition to strengthen the economic resilience of the most vulnerable to economic adversity,” the report read. “For example, Brazil’s share is an impressive 63 percent, and that of Georgia, the Philippines and South Africa is around 25 to 30 percent,” said the report. Figures from SOFI showed that a 60 percent annual average of the total public spending on food security and nutrition in the Philippines for the 2019 to 2023 period went to addressing the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition. However, this was higher than the 40-percent annual average allocated to food consumption (food availability, access, and utilization) and health status (practices and health services and environmental health). “In some MICs more spending is allocated to address the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition [69 percent in Brazil, 60 percent in the Philippines] than to support food consumption and health status.” A mong these dr ivers were conflict, climate variability and extremes, economic slowdowns and downturns, lack of access to and unaffordability of nutritious foods and unhealthy food environments, and high and persistent inequality. Meanwhile, the 2024 SOFI report said the world remains far from achieving zero hunger, with the global prevalence of undernourishment persisting at nearly the same level for three consecutive years. It added that hunger is still on the rise in Africa, but it has remained relatively unchanged in
See “PHL,” A2 See “Sofi,” A2
PESO exchange rates n US 58.3890 n japan 0.3799 n UK 75.3802 n HK 7.4777 n CHINA 8.0381 n singapore 43.4636 n australia 38.4200 n EU 63.2995 n KOREA 0.0423 n SAUDI arabia 15.5650 Source: BSP (July 25, 2024)