Policymakers urged to tweak recovery strategy
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EARLY six years after the Philippines was placed under lockdown at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, experts are urging policymakers and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to shun a one‑size‑fits‑all approach to relief and recovery to prevent the misallocation of scarce fiscal resources. In a discussion paper titled “Liquidity amid Lockdowns: Corporate Performance in the Philippines during the Global Pandemic,” the authors pointed out that while revenues of local firms began to recover in 2022, “lingering adverse effects” on profitabil-
ity and employment remain. “The Philippine experience also reveals implications for central banking policy. Monetary and macroprudential policies must increasingly account for the real economy’s impacts, firm-level asymmetries, and sectoral vulnerabilities,” the paper read. In the said discussion paper, authors Marianne J. Rodriguez, John Paolo R. Rivera, Ivan Cenon V. Bernardo, Ramona Maria L. Miral and Mark Gerald C. Ruiz pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in an “unprecedented” contraction in gross domestic product—the largest decline
across Southeast Asian nations. As such, beginning in March 2020, the government implemented a series of strict lockdowns to mitigate the spread of the virus. However, the authors said these measures led to “prolonged” disruptions in economic activity and, at the corporate level, declines in revenues, establishment closures, and mass layoffs. “We analyzed the impact of the pandemic on corporate performance and employment using a unique dataset for the Philippines that combines firm-level financial data, establishment‑level employment data, and business
restrictions data defined for each industry‑province‑year combination,” they said, adding they constructed a panel of around 2,500 firms and 3,900 establishments covering the period 2018 to 2022. The authors found that mandatory business closures had a “large negative impact” on corporate revenues, with a full-year closure resulting in a 65-percent reduction in annual revenues, or a 5.4-percent reduction for each month of closure. For “liquidity-constrained” firms, the decline is “larger in magnitude,” suggesting that the See “Recovery,” A2
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Monday, January 26, 2026 Vol. 21 No. 106
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 18 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the GDP data in the fourth quarter of 2025 is one of the major factors that the Monetary Board will take into account when it meets next month to determine whether it would implement another rate cut. “Even that cut…that’s still a maybe,” BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. told reporters on the sidelines of the 2026 Annual Reception for the Banking Community held in Manila last Friday. Asked if a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter economic performance would warrant a reduc-
tion in interest rates, Remolona said: “It would help us decide to cut.” The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is set to disclose on Thursday the National Income Accounts for the fourth quarter. The Monetary Board will hold its first See “GDP,” A2
END OF THE LINE? Passengers wait for public utility vehicles along a busy stretch of Pasay City as a traditional jeepney passes by, a familiar fixture of Philippine urban life for decades. The Land
Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said it is drafting rules that would halt the franchise renewal of dilapidated public utility vehicles, reinforcing the government’s long-running Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). Introduced in 2017, the program aims to replace aging jeepneys—many of which date back to postwar conversions of surplus US military vehicles—with safer, more fuel-efficient, and environmentally compliant units. The transition, however, continues to spark debate over livelihood, affordability, and the future of an icon that has shaped daily commuting and street culture across Philippine cities. NONIE REYES
CEBU PACIFIC MARKS 30 YEARS Cebu Pacific President and Chief Commercial Officer Xander Lao and Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer Candice Iyog raise a toast during the airline’s 30th anniversary celebration held at a hotel in Pasay City. Marking three decades since it began operations in 1996, the country’s largest low-cost carrier reflected on a growth approach built on testing new ideas and scaling those that proved effective. Lao said the airline’s trajectory was shaped by the entrepreneurial culture instilled by founder John Gokongwei Jr., whose emphasis on calculated risk-taking helped expand access to affordable air travel and improve connectivity across domestic and regional routes. NONIE REYES
TOURISM BRACES FOR MOVE OF TURBOPROP FLIGHTS TO CLARK By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror
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HE transfer of turboprop aircraft to Clark in Pampanga will rationalize fares to many destinations as carriers are able to add more routes and flight frequencies from Manila. Speaking on the sidelines of the Bangko Sentral Reception for the Banking Community on Friday, Cebu Pacific Chair Lance Y. Gokongwei told the BusinessMirror, “while I can’t claim that everybody benefits [from the transfer], of course some destinations will be affected, as a whole, it will add more capacity to Manila because larger aircraft could be there. If you increase capacity to that air-
port, it should make fares even more competitive.” Cebu Pacific on Thursday announced that it was completing the move of its remaining turboprop flights—on CebGo (Coron and Naga) and SwiftAir (El Nido)—to Clark International Airport by March 29, 2026. Coron and El Nido are prime destinations for many foreign tourists, with 220,149 traveling to Coron, and 366,763 to El Nido in 2024. They accounted for more than 61 percent of total tourists in these two destinations, as per data from the Department of Tourism (DOT). Following the announcement, Rajah Tours Philippines President Jose C. Clemente III warned that, See “Tourism,” A2
Scammers shifting to phishing links—CICC By Lorenz S. Marasigan
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EXT and call scams in the Philippines dropped sharply in 2025, but authorities and cybersecurity players warned that fraudsters are shifting to phishing links, fake social media pages, and even deepfake-driven deception this year. The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and trust-tech firm Gogolook reported that text scams plunged from 6.1 million in 2024 to 822,634 in 2025, while scam calls fell from 610,688 to 477,302. Officials credited the drop to stronger public reporting and the wider use of the 1326 National Anti-Scam Hotline. However, Gogolook’s Whoscall 2025 Philippines Scam Report
flagged phishing as the fastestgrowing threat, with risky URLs rising from 13,602 in the first quarter to 49,431 by the fourth quarter of 2025, or nearly four times higher within the year. “Scammers are shifting from calls and texts toward malicious links and fake social media sites because URLs are easier to spread, harder to verify, and far more scalable,” said Mel Migriño, General Manager of Gogolook Philippines. CICC Executive Director Renato Paraiso said scam reports and digital fraud data are becoming critical tools for enforcement and faster response. He said data helps authorities identify patterns and respond to emerging threats. “This can be a source for actionable intelligence. When scam data See “CICC,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 59.1670 n JAPAN 0.3735 n UK 79.8932 n HK 7.5891 n CHINA 8.4922 n SINGAPORE 46.2026 n AUSTRALIA 40.4702 n EU 69.5626 n KOREA 0.0404 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.7829 Source: BSP (January 23, 2026)