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A broader look at today’s business Saturday, June 8, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 235
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FACTORY OUTPUT POSTS 7-MONTH-HIGH RECORD IN this August 1, 2023, file photo, employees of Mega Prime Foods Inc. sort fresh fish to be canned as Mega Sardines in their processing plant in Santo Tomas, Batangas. PSA data showed three food items posting double-digit production growth in April 2024. These were the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats at 28.4 percent; processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and mollusks, 19.2 percent; and the manufacture of dairy products, 10.7 percent. BERNARD TESTA
PetroWind: ‘No room for mistake’ in NWPP monitoring
PETROWIND Energy wind turbines overlooking Boracay Island. JOHN EIRON R. FRANCISCO
By John Eiron R. Francisco
By Cai U. Ordinario
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HE country’s manufacturing output posted its highest growth in seven months on the back of higher food production, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Based on the Production Index and Net Sales Index data for April 2024, the country’s Volume of Production Index (VoPI) grew 6.7 percent during the period, the highest since the 9.5-percent growth in September 2023. The PSA said this was largely due to the 6.8-percent growth in food manufacturing, which was the highest since the 9.9-percent growth in January 2023.
“The upward trend in the yearon-year growth rate of VoPI in April 2024 was primarily driven by the annual increase in the manufacture of food products at 6.8 percent during the month from an annual decrease of 13.2 percent in March 2024,” the PSA said. The PSA said the VoPI in April 2024 rebounded from the 5.8-percent contraction in March 2024. Continued on A2
‘Masaya’: How a doctor used cannabis to save her son By Pocholo Concepcion
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NNABELLE MANALO-MORGAN had a big problem. One of her five sons, Macario, was born with a stroke and suffered from 200 to 500 seizures every day. Doctors considered all treatment options until they decided to take out 38 percent of the left side of Macario’s brain when he turned five weeks old. It would affect his memory, comprehension, cognition, spatial organization, vision, and right-side movement. Annabelle, a doctor herself, stumbled upon cannabis while reading research material about neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to rewire and adapt to changes. She took a special interest in cannabidiol (CBD), the component of cannabis which has been scientifically proven to alleviate severe forms of epilepsy. The scientist in Annabelle led her to make a “pure formulation”
of CBD and administered it to Macario. She called her medical cannabis formula “Masaya.” Today Macario is “a happy, healthy and active six-year-old.” Annabelle tells the whole story in the book Mighty Flower: How Cannabis Saved My Son, launched on June 7 at The Glass House of the University Hotel at UP Diliman. The BusinessMirror had an online chat with Annabelle the day before her book launch. BM: Tell us about yourself, your family, and your medical practice. AMM: I was born and raised in Canada with Filipino parents and one brother. My dad is from Balisong, Taal, Batangas, and mom is from Laguna. I’m married to Grammy-winning singer Gramps Morgan, and we have five children. I received my bachelor’s degree in biology from Eastern Kentucky University, took graduate studies in neuroscience at Georgetown
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ABAS, AKLAN—PetroWind Energy Inc. (PWEI) has addressed head-on environmental concerns surrounding the Nabas Wind Power Project (NWPP), asserting that there are “no environmental issues” posed by the project, despite its contentious location within a protected area. NWPP Assistant Vice President for Environment and Community Relations Yrel Ventura told the BusinessMirror that the NWPP faces no environmental issues, listing oversight bodies that have reviewed it: including government agencies and stakeholders such as the Local Government Unit (LGU), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), and civil society. All these closely monitor the project across four levels of scrutiny, he added. Besides the multipartite monitoring approach, Ventura noted the presence of three Pollution Control Officers (PCOs), an in-house team, and the recruitment of additional local monitoring officers. “There is no room for mistake,” he said, of their rigorous monitoring processes. Ventura said the company’s commitment extends beyond mere compliance with DENR regulations. Continued on A2
University, and earned a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology from Vanderbilt University. My focus is cardio-oncology. BM: What happened to your son, and what were the options for his treatment? AMM: Macario was born with a stroke and was having 200 to 500 seizures per day. Doctors tried every treatment possible, and eventually decided to remove 38 percent of the left side of his brain when he turned five weeks old. It was the first time this surgery has ever been done. The part of the brain he is missing is responsible for memory, comprehension, cognition, spatial organization, vision, and right-side movement.
IN her book, Mighty Flower, cardiooncologist and neuroscientist Annabelle Manalo-Morgan recounts making her own formula of CBD to relieve her son Macario’s inborn brain disease.
BM: When and how did you hear about cannabis and its medicinal properties? AMM: I’ve known about cannabis for what it does spiritually Continued on A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES Q US 58.6410 Q JAPAN 0.3769 Q UK 75.0253 Q HK 7.5087 Q CHINA 8.0943 Q SINGAPORE 43.5830 Q AUSTRALIA 39.0960 Q EU 63.8718 Q KOREA 0.0430 Q SAUDI ARABIA 15.6359 Source: BSP (June 7, 2024)