Marcos urged to veto ‘Konektadong Pinoy’ bill By Lorenz S. Marasigan
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ISRAEL’S TARGETED KILLING OF AL JAZEERA REPORTER RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT PRESS FREEDOM IN GAZA
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LDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. have called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to send the proposed Konektadong Pinoy (KP) Bill back to Congress, citing concerns over constitutionality, regulatory imbalance, and cybersecurity risks despite supporting the measure’s goal of expanding internet access. PLDT Corporate Secretary Marilyn Victorio-Aquino said the bill grants “so much benefits” to data transmission providers without extending similar advantages to other telecommunications players. She warned that the proposal
would require incumbent operators to open “all our assets” to new entrants without establishing that such access is “essential,” and without cybersecurity clearance, potentially creating “as many cybersecurity threats for us and for our subscribers.” “We were requested by the Office of the Deputy Secretary for Legal Affairs of Malacañang to comment on the bill and we sent our comment. We raised this issue of constitutionality and our position that the president should veto the bill,” she said on Tuesday. Aquino noted that if the bill is signed into law “then we may have no option to go to court and raise the issue of constitutionality.”
Globe General Counsel Froilan Castelo said the bill should be refined to ensure fair competition and long-term industry stability. “We believe this bill needs further study and reform. We hope the President understands the concerns raised by many in the industry, including respected voices and notable personalities,” he said. “Our key concerns include regulatory imbalance, uneven competition, and the lack of transparency and oversight for new players.” The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has defended the bill, saying it would strengthen—not weaken—regulatory oversight by enhancing the National Telecom-
munications Commission’s powers on cybersecurity, quality of service, and fair competition. It assured that foreign entities would be subject to multi-layered national security vetting and that core digital infrastructure would remain protected under existing laws. The measure, approved on third reading in February, seeks to ease market entry for more than 1,000 small internet providers, especially in remote and underserved areas, through streamlined permitting, improved spectrum management, and mandatory infrastructure sharing. Mr. Marcos has yet to decide whether to approve or veto the bill. He has 12 days left to do so.
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Wednesday, August 13, 2025 Vol. 20 No. 304
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By Andrea E. San Juan
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@andreasanjuan
ELOCATING call center operations to the United States will increase healthcare and mortgage servicing costs, according to a local think tank. A preliminary analysis of the Institute for Risk and Strategic Studies Inc. showed that forcing the onshoring of outsourced hospital call centers could increase US healthcare operational costs by as much as $166 billion a year. Joey Sarte Salceda, chair of Institute for Risk and Strategic Studies, shared this analysis in a letter he sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “With typical pass-through rates of 60 to 90 percent, this would raise US healthcare bills for patients and insurers by tens of billions of dollars every year,” said Salceda, former chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means. As for mortgage servicing, Salceda said onshoring would add $97.76 billion per year in costs for servicers currently outsourcing. “Spread across approximately 50 million active mortgages, this translates to an additional $1,955 annually or $163 monthly per mortgage,” his letter read. He said both instances highlight that See “Call,” A12
HOMEWARD BOUND BY THE SHORE A fisherman in Ilocos Sur is reflected in the watery sand as he walks home after selling his fresh catch at a nearby wet market. Fishing remains one of the primary sources of livelihood in the province, sustaining families and shaping the local culture. PHOTO BY NONIE REYES
DEPDEV: INEQUALITY IN PHL CIBI: Trusted data key to sustaining biz growth FALLS TO LOWEST IN 20 YRS By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
By Justine Xyrah Garcia
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HE poorest Filipino households recorded faster income growth in recent years and helped bring inequality to its lowest level in two decades, according to the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DepDev). In his keynote address at the annual economic forum of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) last Monday, DepDev Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said recent income data point to a narrow-
ing gap between the poorest and richest households—signaling progress in the government’s push for inclusive growth. “While much remains to be done, these trends affirm that our strategies are bearing fruit, and that the benefits of our economic expansion are increasingly reaching more Filipinos, not just in statistical averages, but in meaningful, lived realities,” Balisacan said. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that income growth from 2021 to 2023 See “DepDev,” A2
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ITH the digital fraud rate in the Philippines nearly triple the global average, businesses must treat “trusted data” as a strategic necessity to protect against rising risks and for sustaining growth, according to local credit bureau CIBI Information Inc. (CIBI). In a briefing on Tuesday, CIBI Vice President for Service and Industrials Ivy Ramirez said the Philippines recorded a digital fraud rate of 13.4 percent in 2024, nearly three times higher than the global rate of 5.4 percent. Citing global figures, Ramirez said identity fraud cases also soared
by 121 percent, while global losses from fraud reached $12.5 billion, marking a 25 percent year-on-year increase. “These figures are more than alarming. They signal a rapidly evolving risk landscape where trust is under constant attack,” she said. Trusted data, which is timely, verified and meaningful, is information that businesses can rely on to make confident and informed decisions, according to Ramirez. In the Philippine market, she said working with a partner that provides end-to-end data-driven solutions—from onboarding and credit evaluation to portfolio monitoring and compliance—can be the key to transforming trusted data into a real competitive advantage.
While credit evaluation can cost businesses about 5 to 8 percent of their annual revenue, using verified credit data, small and medium enterprises can reduce their default rates by 30 percent, Ramirez said. Ongoing portfolio monitoring also helped local banks see their defaults drop by up to 25 percent and improved their risk detection by 15 percent with effective tools, Ramirez added. Benchmarking also supports companies to improve their operational efficiency by 20 percent and supports revenue growth in 70 percent of enterprises. “Today, data is the backbone of smarter decision-making,” Ramirez said. In addition, bulk data acquisition
can improve the accuracy of predictive analytics by over 35 percent, enabling 60 percent of organizations in the Philippines to make faster and more informed business decisions, she added. In terms of lead generation, Ramirez said companies’ leverage of quality data experienced a 40-percent increase in qualified leads after 70 percent of marketers cite poor data quality as a key reason for losing potential customers. CIBI provides verified insights to its clients, with data coverage of over 115,000 active Philippine corporations and access to 500 million global business records, including ownership data for 447 million companies.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.9960 n JAPAN 0.3848 n UK 76.5684 n HK 7.2611 n CHINA 7.9292 n SINGAPORE 44.3066 n AUSTRALIA 37.1215 n EU 66.2237 n KOREA 0.0410 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.1876 Source: BSP (August 12, 2025)