BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
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Wednesday, August 24, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 320
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 26 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
IT-BPO FIRMS’ WFH DEAL EXTENDED TILL MARCH n
By Andrea E. San Juan
Coca-cola hit by sugar crunch, some plants idled
T
HE information technology and business process outsourcing sector, a pillar of the economy, has gotten a reprieve of sorts in its long-running dispute with regulators on the application of hybrid work arrangements in economic zones without forfeiting locators’ incentives. IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) members were told by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) they can extend workfrom-home arrangements until March 2023. “Our partners in PEZA have recently advised IBPAP members that the 30 percent workfrom-home arrangement [can] be See “WFH,” A2
By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas
C
OC A- COL A Beverage Philippines Inc. has run out of premium bottler’s grade refined sugar, high-ranking officials confirmed to the BusinessMirror. However, Sugar Regulator y Administration (SRA) chief David
REMEMBERING ‘THE CRY’ Workers arrange flowers that were offered at the Cry of Pugad Lawin Shrine in Quezon City, August 23, 2022, in preparation for its 126th anniversary. The 1896 Cry of Pugad Lawin marked the beginning of the Philippine Revolution against Spain. NONOY LACZA
See “Coca-Cola,” A2
SENATORS: WAS SUGAR ORDER NO. 4 DATA-DRIVEN? By Butch Fernandez
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AS the importation order data-driven? This was a key issue raised by Senate probers at the Blue Ribbon committee on Tuesday as they grilled officials involved in the sugar importation fiasco that led to resignations at the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and complicated the Marcos administration’s efforts to ensure stable supply and pricing of the staple. Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri—an agriculturist by profession whose resolution led to the Senate inquiry—demand-
ed to know how the resigned SRA officials came up with the 300,000-metric ton requirement for sugar import, and why the inordinate rush to issue SRA’s Sugar Order No. 4, which was recalled after President Ferdinand R. Marcos said he had not authorized it, despite his being signed as “For” by former Agriculture Secretary Leocadio Sebastian. Minority Leader Koko Pimentel, during the hybrid inquiry of the Blue Ribbon Committee Tuesday, noted that “apart from the lack of authority, the Sugar Order No. O4 (SO4) became controversial because of the quantity of sugar SRA wanted to import. “So my question is, what led
you to that number of 300,000 metric tons?” In reply, former SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica told the Senate committee that the quantity was based on data since SRA is the repository of all records of production of all mills and refineries in the country. “On the weekly basis, they (data) are transmitted to the SRA by way of SMS and these are collated also on a weekly basis and from there we can do projections on what happens on every particular issue. In this case your honor, we just put the shortage on the minimal based on a 3-year average monthly demand,” said Serafica. Serafica’s claim, however,
was disputed by a leader of the sugar planters, Manuel Lamata of United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED), who spoke online to senators after Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada asked Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Francis Tolentino to give stakeholders a chance to speak. Lamata said “I wrote [Mr. Serafica] four, five times to do a national survey [to accurately assess the sugar inventory] as done in past administrations at the SRA,” but was apparently ignored. Such surveys were done periodically “before, during and after” milling, Lamata said. See “SO4,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.1070 n JAPAN 0.4081 n UK 66.0323 n HK 7.1508 n CHINA 8.1935 n SINGAPORE 40.1539 n AUSTRALIA 38.5792 n EU 55.8096 n KOREA 0.0418 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.9411 Source: BSP (23 August 2022)