GOLDEN SMILE Vanessa Sarno’s smile as she let’s go of the barbell says it all—she’s the Southeast Asian Games weightlifting champion anew in the women’s 71 kgs class in Phnom Penh. ROY DOMINGO
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
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
MALAMPAYA CONTRACT EXTENDED FOR 15 YEARS w
n
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 211
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 38 pages |
SPEAKER Martin G. Romualdez (left) and Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla applaud as President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signs the renewal agreement for the Malampaya Service Contract No. 38 (SC 38) at the Malacañang Presidents Hall on Monday (May 15, 2023).The 25-year production contract, which expires on February 22, 2024, has been renewed for a final 15 years or until February 22, 2039, to allow for the continued production of the Malampaya gas field. In photo at right, the President accepts a scale model of the Malampaya offshore facility from industrialist Enrique Razon Jr., chairman of Prime Infra, the mother unit of Prime Energy, a consortium member. PNA PHOTOS BY REY BANIQUET
P
By Samuel P. Medenilla & Lenie Lectura
@sam_medenilla @llectura
RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has approved the 15-year extension of the Malampaya Service Contract No. 38 (SC 38), in a move to ensure stability in energy supply when the contract expires on February 22, 2024. “Today we mark a very significant milestone as we pursue another huge endeavor that will promise monumental rewards for our country and our people,” Marcos said during the ceremonial signing event for the contract’s renewal in Malacañang on Monday morning. “It holds the key to our drive towards energy security and is calculated to greatly advance the nation’s energy interest,” he added. The Department of Energ y (DOE) said the extension “will allow the continued production of the Malampaya gas field, ensuring that the remaining gas reserves are further explored and utilized.” Malampaya is a deepwater gascondensate reservoir, located offshore, 65 kilometers northwest of the island of Palawan. I n F e b r u a r y, D O E a n -
nounced that Razon-led Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. (Prime Infra), the contractor, which was awarded with SC 38,was seeking to prolong the validity of its production contract. Prime Infra is targeting to find a new gas well by 2026. The designated SC 38 Consortium will be required to conduct geological and geophysical studies and drill at least 2 deep water wells from 2024 to 2029 at the Malampaya production zone and its nearby area. Its failure to do so will lead to it forfeiting a portion of its exploration areas. The consortium will be required to submit a Decommissioning Plan and Budget within 30 days from the effectivity of the renewal agreement. See “Malampaya,” A2
AFTER GCASH, BSP EYES QUICK WAY TO SETTLE FINANCIAL ROWS
M
ACTAN, Cebu—The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is crafting a system that could settle disputes between feuding parties in the financial system, which may involve fraud. BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said the recent incident involving GCash account holders have prompted the regulator, the central bank, to coordinate with bank and non-bank institutions to resolve issues immediately. “An important e-money company reported its depositors are complaining that they’re seeing in their own eyes, their balance is falling, although they’re not doing anything. Now, luckily, they were able to respond quickly,” Medalla said in a press briefing at the sidelines of the Financial Stability Conference. “But by the way, they are not due to hacking, they’re due to phishing,” he said, as there were some people hastily turning over their one-time password to the scammer.“So, meaning it’s not hacking, it was fooling.” He said as people make the system more difficult to penetrate, the scammers find new ways of getting to potential victims.
“Therefore this is a challenge that will be there forever. Regulators should also get better at it,” he said. GCash earlier assured its subscribers and the public that its application remains safe to use since its management maintains a cybersecurity program and policy that could deal with any arising internet challenges and anomalies. Gilda Maquilan, GCash vice president for public affairs and corporate communications, had earlier reported that after receiving reports of irregular funds’ movement from the subscribers’ accounts, the mobile wallet management immediately conducted a probe and detected phishing as the cause of the problem. Medalla said things like the GCash incident will happen as bank deposits are now closer to money than ever before. “So clearly, private money will be more and more closer substitutes for sovereign money. So in that sense, it’s bad because then the edge of the centralized central bank will be reduced, especially at the time when we think that reserve requirements are too high and should be reduced,” he said. See “Gcash,” A2
With inflation falling rapidly, a pause is logical–Medalla By VG Cabuag @villyg
M
ACTAN, Cebu—Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe M. Medalla said on Monday the country’s inflation rate is “falling rapidly” such that it can be below 4 percent by September, October or November. “The low inflation in the last three months, the price index is a bit lower now than in January. If you’re sure this is a permanent trend, clearly we must pause. Because there will be no need for another one. But then you know, we’ve been surprised so many times before,” Medalla said at the sidelines of the Financial Sustainability Conference. “Its hard to cut because if we’re cutting and the US [Federal Reserve] is not, at that time that the interest rate differential is a major factor by the forex players,” the Philippines could be in a tricky spot, he explained, adding, “if the US is not cutting, it’s hard for us to be cutting lower.” According to a Bloomberg report, Medalla said a pause is the “most likely result” at the BSP’s May 18 meeting, as Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, who sits on the seven-member monetary policy board, said that he will vote for a pause in the benchmark interest
rate in this week’s decision. “That’s not a bad guess, but I cannot speak for the board,” Medalla said, referring to Diokno’s comment. National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan had warned that raising interest rates further may dampen economic growth ahead as he foresees pent-up demand easing. BSP is forecast to hold its benchmark rate at 6.25 percent on Thursday, according to almost all economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Inflation target
MEDALLA said expectations will be well within the bank’s inflation target by next year. The BSP’s inflation target this year is between 2.5 percent and 4.5 percent; and next year, at 2 percent and 4 percent. Medalla said monetary authorities believe that inflation is falling rapidly mainly as the government relaxed importation of goods. “But I think that that will not last very long. So, the I think the inflation stance of the government now will be weighted in favor of controlling inflation versus the tremendous pressure to do something with the farmers. But right now, I think the government has made the right choice,” he said. See “Inflation,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.8760 n JAPAN 0.4118 n UK 69.5880 n HK 7.1253 n CHINA 8.0299 n SINGAPORE 41.7671 n AUSTRALIA 37.1408 n EU 60.6534 n KOREA 0.0416 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.8999 Source: BSP (May 15, 2023)