GILAS IN ROUSING WIN VS BAHRAIN Heavy baggage or none, the men’s national basketball team sends a strong message in its 19th Asian Games debut as Gilas Pilipinas routs Bahrain, 89-61, at the HOC Gymnasium on Tuesday. Story on B8. NONIE REYES
Strong labor markets key to reducing ranks of poor By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario
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OCIAL protection schemes may not even be needed if countries only had “wellfunctioning” labor markets, according to an expert from the United States-based Brookings Institute. Santiago Levy, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development Program, made the point in his Keynote Speech at the Asia-Pacific Social Protection (APSP) Week Opening Session and High-Level Forum on Tuesday. Social protection programs are
meant to address gaps in society, particularly those who are considered vulnerable to shocks such as low-income citizens, the unemployed, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and women and children, among others. “The bottom line from all that is that there is no substitute for a well-functioning labor market. So my suggestion is to take advantage of this conversation and always improve [programs],” Levy said via Zoom at the opening panel session at the Asian Development Bank headquarters where the hybrid forum is taking place. “We also use the data from [these programs] to understand
the drivers within each country.” Levy, currently based in Washington, D.C., said social protection programs, even in Latin America, have not been perfect. The “Bismarckian” model adopted by many of the countries in this region has not been that successful in covering all the vulnerable people who need social protection. In some countries like Bolivia, Levy said, the coverage only extends to 20 percent of its labor force while middle-income countries like Mexico cover only 45 percent of those who need these transfers. Part of the reason for this is informality. Social protection in
many countries is often linked to formal employment preventing those engaged in informal work from accessing these social services. However, Levy noted that informality is not synonymous with poverty. It is important to take this into consideration when designing programs as well as the fact that some countries may be similar to Latin American countries in the sense that people constantly move from formal to informal, depending on various factors. Levy said given this, it is still important to remember that labor See “Labor,” A2
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
MARCOS REJECTS RICE TARIFF CUT PROPOSAL www.businessmirror.com.ph
n Wednesday, September 27, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 345
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PHILHEALTH operations, transactions and claims processing are still available over-the-counter at the PhilHealth Mother Ignacia branch in Quezon City on September 26, 2023. This arrangement is in response to the Medusa ransomware attack that compromised the systems of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) four days ago. Cybercriminals have demanded $300,000 or approximately P16 million, as reported by the Department of Information and Communications Technology. Members and their dependents are advised to provide a copy of their PhilHealth identification card, member data record, or relevant supporting documents to access their health benefits during the temporary suspension of the online system. NONOY LACZA
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By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas
RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. rejected the proposal of his economic managers to temporarily reduce rice tariffs due to the projected downward trend in the international prices of the staple. The chief executive made the decision following a meeting with the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). “Tariffs are generally lowered when the price is going up,” said Marcos, who is also the concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA). “It was not the right time to lower the tariff rates because the projection of world rice prices is that it will go down,” he added. Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan had proposed the reduction of the 35-percent rice tariff following the surge in domestic rice prices.
Farmer groups had opposed the proposal as the entry of more rice imports could depress farmgate prices at a time when planters are already harvesting their crop. During the sectoral meeting, Balisacan and other agriculture officials agreed with the President’s decision to not lower tariff rates at this time. In a separate interview, Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban said he “personally opposes” the reduction of rice tariffs, as only the traders would benefit from it. The DA earlier noted the spike in rice prices despite the sufficient supply of the staple. The chief executive attributed to smugglers and hoarders who manipulated prices.
RICE PRICE CAP, PRICIER GLOBAL GRAIN SEEN TO CUT IMPORTS
AI will replace jobs, but firms must retool workers By Malou Talosig-Bartolome
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RTIFICIAL intelligence will inevitably replace “certain” human jobs but companies should be responsible for retooling their employees who will be affected
by it, former chief operating officer of Nestlé Group Peter BrabeckLetmathe said. Brabeck-Letmathe is in Manila for the two-day conference See “AI,” A2
SENATOR Imee Marcos joins demonstrators outside the Department of Finance (DOF) building on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, opposing the proposed reduction or removal of tariffs on imported rice. The protesters have been calling for the resignation of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Neda Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. PHOTO COURTESY OF SINAG
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HE state’s rice price ceiling and elevated world g rain pr ices will curb the Philippines’s rice imports next year to 3.5 million metric tons (MMT),
according to an international report. The United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign See “Rice,” A2
See “Rice tariff,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.7810 n JAPAN 0.3815 n UK 69.3466 n HK 7.2646 n CHINA 7.7660 n SINGAPORE 41.5735 n AUSTRALIA 36.4704 n EU 60.1538 n KOREA 0.0425 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.1380 Source:
BSP (26 September 2023)