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Rody backs off from debate Roque offers to stand in for him; Carpio says it's pointless

By Vito Barcelo, Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte backed down from his own challenge to debate retired Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio on the West Philippine Sea, after the former magistrate called his bluff and said he was ready to face the Chief Executive anytime of the day.

The President’s spokesman, Harry Roque, offered to face Carpio instead, after Cabinet members, including Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, said it would not benefit the country for the President to participate in such a debate. Carpio immediately rejected a debate with Roque, calling it “pointless.” Roque said Duterte was ready to debate Carpio, but decided to heed the advice of members of his Cabinet, who said

it would be “unfair” to the President to debate Carpio, an “ordinary lawyer.” Roque said some members of the Cabinet also raised the concern that Duterte might inadvertently reveal some classified information during such a debate. Both the Cabinet and some members of the Senate, including Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, said nothing good would result from a debate between the President and the

former Supreme Court associate justice. On Thursday, the Philippine Bar Association offered to host a debate between Duterte and Carpio. Carpio on Friday turned down a debate with Roque, saying it was pointless to debate on issues that are not being disputed. Earlier, Roque has proposed a number of topics focusing on which administration lost Scarborough Shoal and Mischief Next page Reef to China.

‘Rody’s remarks at UN meet official policy on WPS row’ By Rey E. Requejo and Maricel V. Cruz VOL. XXXV • NO. 82 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award stands “as the supreme expression of foreign policy on the West Philippine issue.” The DFA issued the statement in the THE Department of Foreign Affairs on Fri- wake of statements made by the President day said President Rodrigo Duterte’s state- that dismissed the tribunal’s ruling as a mere ment at the 75th UN General Assembly on Next page

COVID-19 PH

2 in virus ship rushed to hospital; 10 in isolation

AT A GLANCE

TWO crew members of the container ship MV Two members of the Bureau of QuarAthens Bridge, which sailed out of India on April antine went to check on the crewmen 22, were rushed to the hospital after showing signs and recommended that two of them be of severe COVID-19, the Maritime Industry Au- brought to the hospital for treatment. Next page thority (MARINA) said Friday.

(AS OF 4 PM MAY 7)

1,087,885 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

7,733 66,626 NEW

ACTIVE

18,099

108

1,003,160

4,227 NEW

DEATHS

RECOVERIES

NEW

Police get tough on violators, set 12-hour detention

VIRUS SHIP. Medical fronline workers bring out a stretcher to take a COVID-19 victim to the hospital from the virus-hit MV Athens Bridge that has docked in Manila, with its allFilipino crew—ten of whom are placed under quarantine after showing symptoms of the disease.

INTERIOR Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday said individuals who will refuse to comply with the directive to wear a face mask will be detained for a maximum of 12 hours. “If the individual will defy or refuses to comply, arrests may be made by the police in order to protect public health and safety. In the absence of a local Next page

Gov’t procures 1.5m more Sinovac doses By Joel E. Zurbano and Willie Casas A TOTAL of 1.5 million doses of government-procured Sinovac vaccines from China arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 via a Cebu Pacific flight on Friday, augmenting the country’s

supply of COVID-19 vaccines. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the delivery will mean 750,000 more individuals will be protected against COVID-19. “We are talking here o) 750,000 lives that we can protect against severe COVID-19 infection thereby preventing Next page

• Indemnity package out soon • Travel protocols revised • Horse racing, P2P tours okayed (PhilHealth) said on Friday. “Maybe we will be able to release it withTHE indemnificain a month or (eartion package for lier),” PhilHealth persons who will vice president Shirhave adverse efley Domingo said fects from COVduring the Laging ID-19 vaccination Handa briefing. will be released soon, an official of stateDomingo said the indemnification run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. Next page

By Willie Casas

LOCAL ROUNDUP

MORE SUPPLIES. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez (middle), Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and other officials and executives of

Cebu Pacific pose beside a crate containing doses of Sinovac vaccines to augment supply amid a severe shortage. Cebu Pacific airlifted the vaccine shipment from Beijing to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

New PNP chief: You'll hate me; promises purge

MMDA renews 'heat-stroke break' policy By Joel E. Zurbano THE Metro Manila Development Authority has started implementing the daily 30-minute “heat stroke break” policy to protect the health of its traffic enforcers and other personnel working outdoors during the summer season.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

CHANGE OF COMMAND. Newly installed Police General Guillermo Eleazar

(right) and outgoing PNP chief Debold Sinas do the 'fist bump' in the presence of DILG Secretary Eduardo Ano during the change of command ceremony held at Camp Crame on May 7, 2021. Photo pool

"YOU will hate me." Terse but to the point, law enforcement analysts said of the message newlyinstalled Philippine National Police chief Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, the 26th to be at the helm of the 220-strong organization, had for erring police officers as he vowed to focus on the internal cleansing Next page of the group.

BIG PHARMA BUCKS PATENT WAIVER NEWS / A4

News

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Masks, shields seized in Binondo A

Alvin Enciso, chief of Customs Intel- MICP), led the seizure of the smuggled ligence and Investigation Service-Ma- items at a storage facility in Binondo. nila International Container Port (CIIS“In our initial inspection, we found

boxes of cosmetic and beauty products, unregistered Aidelai face masks, Heng De face shields, clothing, toys, cell phone cases, and many others,” Enciso said. The bureau will investigate the total amount of the goods for the possible filing of charges under Section 1400 of the Customs Modernization Act (CMTA). Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, who signed the letter of authority for the operation, underscored the importance of ensuring only authentic

PPE items are being sold and distributed in the market. This is not the first time the bureau apprehended a storage facility or warehouse with fake PPEs and COVID-19 medicines. “This is alarming because people will think they’re protected from the virus by wearing face masks and face shields that turned out to be counterfeit items. These can put many lives in jeopardy since people trust these items to do as advertised,” said Enciso.

“There is no factual dispute that China seized Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines during the Aquino administration. There is also no factual dispute that China seized Mischief Reef from the Philippines during the Ramos administration. Further, there is no factual or legal dispute that China seized Scarborough Shoal and Mischief Reef in violation of international law,” he said. “Hence, it is pointless to debate about Scarborough Shoal and Mischief Reef. I will not engage in a useless exercise that will only detract the public’s interest on the vital outstanding issues on the West Philippines Sea, like the President’s continuing false claim that ‘China is in possession of the West Philippine Sea,'” Carpio added. In making this claim, Carpio said, the President went even further than the Chinese, who never claimed to be in full possession of the West Philippine Sea. A president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Domingo Egon Cayosam

said a dialogue away from the cameras would be more helpful than a debate at this time. He told ABS-CBN Teleradyo that China would be thrilled if the country’s leaders and various sectors were fighting because they were not united. “The winner here is China because our leaders and various sectors are fighting while China is unified in their intention to grab what is legally ours,” he said in Filipino. Senator Panfilo Lacson questioned the benefits to the public if Duterte debated Carpio. “What do we gain from the debate assuming that it pushes through? One other dire outcome is further divisiveness that only China will benefit from," Lacson said. Meanwhile, Senator Risa Hontiveros said the Philippine Coast Guard should ward off Chinese fishermen who may continue to illegally harvest giant clams, locally known as taklobo, in the West Philippine Sea, amid reports that Chinese

militia vessels are still loitering in Philippine waters. “China’s crimes are piling up. The PCG recently spotted Chinese poachers around Pag-asa Islands stealing our taklobo" Hontiveros said. These giant clams, she said, should be protected, as clearly stipulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to which China is a party. The senator said the Philippines had previously lodged diplomatic protests over China’s giant clam harvesting in the WPS. In 2015, the protest was filed based on a report by the PCG that two dozen Chinese utility boats were seen collecting taklobo around Scarborough Shoal. Another protest was filed in 2019, she said. “The PCG should also employ the help of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea in looking out for these illegal activities," she added.

given to Metro Manila. Within this month, Galvez added that 7 million doses of different brands will be delivered, including the next batch of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines by the third week, and another 10 million in June. The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday announced the official resumption of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine for all eligible population, following the recommendation of the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the DOH All Experts Group on Vaccines. Previously, DOH adopted the recommendation of the FDA to temporarily suspend the use of AstraZeneca for individuals aged below 60 years old, after reports of very rare cases of blood clots. But the DOH All Experts Group and the Philippine College of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine (PCHTM) concluded that there are currently no known risk factors for the blood clots and that the benefits of receiving the vaccine against COVID-19 still outweighs the risk. However, specific guidelines and measures

will still be enforced so that the risks can be mitigated. The DOH said that the resumption and issuance of the guideline is timely as 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine are expected to arrive in the country this month. Based on the guidelines, all vaccination sites should have a strengthened post-vaccination surveillance to spot possible AEFI. Furthermore, all health care workers in vaccination sites will be trained to detect and manage possible symptoms of blood clotting and refer them accordingly to the appropriate health facility for definitive work-up and management. Also on Friday, the DOH said there is still insufficient data to prove that “mixing and matching brands” would be safe in the long run, and said it would maintain its current policy of using a single brand of COVID-19 vaccine for the first and second dose of vaccines. Only the United Kingdom is "doing a trial on this mixing of vaccines," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in

an online press conference. “We are looking at the experience of other countries... so we can include it in our studies,” Vergeire said. The possibility of mixing and matching COVID-19 vaccines on one person resurfaced earlier this week after a vaccine expert said that President Rodrigo Duterte may have to be inoculated with a different jab should Sinopharm fail to get an approval from drug regulators. Duterte was inoculated with Sinopharm, a brand which has yet to receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Duterte later apologized for using an unauthorized COVID-19 jab, but noted that it was his doctor who recommended the use of Sinopharm. On Thursday, Malacañang said he would get the second Sinopharm dose. Sinopharm is currently available in the country through compassionate special permits, which is granted to a hospital or a doctor who requests for it, Vergeire said.

By Joel E. Zurbano

UTHORITIES seized P150 million worth of smuggled face masks and face shields, personal protective equipment, and assorted luxury items during a raid at a warehouse in Manila.

Rody... From A1

“I accepted the President’s challenge without any conditions. Now the President has backed out of his personal challenge to me without giving a definite reason. Instead, he has designated his spokesperson Harry Roque to debate with me on the issue of what administration lost Scarborough Shoal and Mischief Reef to China,” Carpio said. The President has been on the attack against Carpio, a staunch critic of his policy of appeasement with China. On Wednesday, he falsely accused Carpio of having a hand in the withdrawal of the Philippine Navy from Scarborough Shoal, allowing China to seize control of it, even though Carpio was still in the Supreme Court at that time. Carpio said he had accepted Duterte's challenge on the premise of his arguments, such as his claim that China has full possession of the West Philippine Sea.

Gov’t... From A1

hospitalization and deaths,” Duque said in an interview. National Task Force Against Covid-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said more vaccines are arriving in the coming days, including a guaranteed 500,000 more doses of Sinovac. “This large shipment of COVID-19 vaccines with Cebu Pacific brings us closer to our goal of protecting every Filipino as fast as possible,” Galvez said. “Next month, we will receive 4.5 million more [doses] of Sinovac so this means that the volume is increasing and we are happy,” he added. On Saturday, 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines will be delivered from the COVAX facility while on May 11, Galvez assured the first delivery of US-made Pfizer vaccines, totaling 193,000 doses. He said AstraZeneca will go to the priority areas and about 800,000 doses will be

‘Rody’s... From A1

“sheet of paper” that could be thrown in the trash bin. The DFA said it will "continue to implement the President's foreign policy statement in accordance with Philippine national interest." Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said while the 2016 award shot down Beijing’s “historical pretensions of claims,” it did not order China to leave the West Philippine Sea nor the features it seized. “Like all international bodies, it has no enforcement capability or authority unlike the Security Council by unanimous vote. The only body that can kick another country out of its territory is the one whose territory was taken; and the time to do that was when our Navy ship faced off with Chinese ship(s),” Locsin said, referring to the previous administration. On Thursday, Locsin expressed his support for the suggestion of President Duterte that former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert Del Rosario and former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio be investigated and be held liable for the questionable pullout of a Philippine navy vessel during the Scarborough Shoal standoff in 2012. Carpio, however, said he had nothing to do with the withdrawal, since he was still in the Supreme Court at the time. Del Rosario, on the other hand, said the pullout was part of a US-brokered deal to ease tensions in the area, but China did not honor its side of the agreement and seized Scarborough Shoal afterward. Despite not being part of the Executive branch, Carpio said he recommended that the Philippines respond to the seizure by bringing China to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea tribunal “to assail the validity of China’s nine-dash line which is China’s basis in claiming the West Philippine Sea.” “The Aquino administration agreed and filed the South China Sea Arbitration case in January 2013. The Philippines won a landmark victory when the arbitral tribunal issued its Award on July 12, 2016 invalidating China’s nine-dash line as without legal or factual basis. The tribunal ruled that China has no overlapping interest or claim to the Philippine exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea,” the retired SC magistrate said. Unfortunately, Carpio said, President Duterte, who had assumed office by then, announced that he was “setting aside” the Arbitral Award in favor of seeking loans and investments from China amounting to $22 billion. “Today, less than 5 percent of those loans and investments have materialized even as President Duterte is already leaving office next year. And yet President Duterte even allowed China to fish in our exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea despite admitting that there is not enough fish stock there for both Filipino and Chinese fishermen,” Carpio said.

MMDA... From A1

Police... From A1

ordinance, violators will be detained for a maximum of 12 hours and will be released if no charges have been filed,” he said in a statement. Año also directed all police stations nationwide to “prepare detention areas that do not violate minimum health standards.” “They shall coordinate with the barangay and the LGUs so that additional facilities outside of police stations may be utilized for this purpose to prevent crowding and mass gatherings,” he said. Senator Christopher Go, a close aide to President Rodrigo Duterte, said those arrested would be given masks “out of compassion.” He said the President ordered their arrest because he wanted to discipline them. Go said he also talked to PNP Chief General Guillermo Eleazar to give those arrested for not wearing a face mask a face mask and a lecture “before sending them home.” Malacañang on Thursday said it was valid for cops to carry out warrantless arrests against people who are improperly wearing a face mask even as the Interior department said it will be recalibrating its response to avoid congesting jails amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have an ordinance that paves the

New... From A1

Eleazar said he would not think twice about removing police officers who tainted the image of the PNP, noting that cops were often branded as "pulis patola" or "kotong cops" because of the "few bad eggs" who compromised the integrity of the organization. "For as long as I'm the chief PNP, every single centavo of your hard-earned money allocated to us will be in good hands," Eleazar said in his assumption speech. He added: “To those remaining hoodlums in police uniforms, I promise you, you will hate me. I won't have second thoughts

way for the outright apprehension, warrantless arrest (because) a crime was committed in the presence and with the full personal knowledge of the police officer,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said. The Department of the Interior and Local Government, for its part, said it will meet with the Philippine National Police and local government units on the implementation of Duterte's order. Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, interviewed over ANC’s Headstart, said, “we may need to do some recalibration and make the necessary preparations because if we do make arrests, we also need to prepare our detention cells because there may be a larger number of people detained than before." Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra defended Duterte’s order to arrest and detain persons who would be caught not wearing face masks properly in public places, which health authorities said have contributed to the surge in the number of COVID-19 infections in the country. “The President’s strategy is to strictly implement health protocols, such as wearing face masks, so that the spread of the disease is put under control and the full opening of the economy is accelerated,” he said. The Commission on Human Rights, on the other hand, said the directive could lead to “excessive discretion and abuse” of authorities. Macon Ramos-Araneta about firing corrupt police officers, especially given the significant salaries and benefits the government has given us. “There are a lot of good cops out there ready to take your place.” Eleazar said he expected every unit commander and team leader to exercise effective supervision of their men. Eleazar also stressed that the "padrino" system had no place in the police organization, saying “It has become common practice that in joining the PNP you have to know someone, otherwise, you might end up being cut or ignored. As early as that point, there's corruption.” Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año disclosed that General Debold Sinas, Eleazar's predecessor, would be appointed to another government post.

Local... From A1

guidelines had the approval of the PhilHealth Board. However, the funding requirement is still being finalized. The COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act established a trust fund worth P500 million to compensate an inoculated individual in case of death, permanent disability, or hospital confinement due to severe adverse events. More than 1.7 million Filipinos have already received the vaccine since the country launched its mass immunization campaign in March, according to government data. Revised travel protocols The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has approved a recommendation to test inbound travelers a week after their arrival in the country, the Department of Health said on Friday. The Philippines initially tested Filipinos and foreigners who enter the country 5 or 6 days after their arrival, said spokesperson and Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire. "This is a process to ensure that even though travelers, especially Filipinos, arrive in our country, we can still isolate them properly to break the chain of transmission,” Vergeire said in an online press conference. Vergeire said testing policy was adjusted after experts found that the viral load is still high until the 7th or 8th day.

2... From A1

Ten other sailors were stricken with COVID-19, but they were left behind on the ship, docked at Sangley Point in Cavite City. Ten oxygen tanks were brought on board the ship to help its ill crew members. In a Facebook post on Friday, the Department of Transportation said the maritime sector had aided the vessel's crew of 21 Filipinos, 12 of whom tested positive

Horse-racing, P2P travel ok'd Meanwhile, horse-racing activities in areas under a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) will be allowed but under a no-audience setup, Malacañang said. “In addition, only online and TeleBet activities in NCR Plus [areas] may operate. Off-tracking betting stations, on the other hand, may resume operations during general community quarantine or modified GCQ,” added Roque. He also said that the IATF approved the guidelines on point-to-point air travel for leisure purposes from NCR Plus areas (Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite). “You can now visit the tourist spots but it will be point-to-point,” he said. Zamboanga City under MECQ Zamboanga City has been placed under the more restrictive modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), while Tacloban City has been put under the least restrictive modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), Malacañang said. This, after the IATF-EID approved the appeals of the local governments of Zamboanga and Tacloban cities to modify the quarantine classification within their respective localities. The new quarantine status in the two cities is effective “immediately,” Roque said in a press statement. Recoveries breach 1m The Philippines logged on Friday 7,733 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 1,087,885, as recoveries breached the one-million mark, the Department of Health reported.

On Friday, Metro Manila was partly cloudy but its temperature registered 31°C. "Our personnel's safety is our paramount concern. This special heat stroke break is available for traffic enforcers and street sweepers who work under the dry season's searing heat and protect them from heat exhaustion, heat stroke and heat cramps," said MMDA chairman Benjamin Abalos Jr. Abalos said under the policy, on-duty traffic enforcers and street sweepers would be allowed to leave their posts in shifts and take a 30-minute break to rest. The heat stroke break shall be done alternately by those who are assigned in a particular area to maintain visibility of traffic enforcers and street sweepers and to ensure field operations are not hampered, he added. "In order to avoid heat exhaustion or heart stroke, and heat cramps, due to severe waves, a 15-minute break shall be added in case the heat index in Metro Manila reaches 40 degrees Celsius and above," said Abalos. The policy will be enforced until May 31, 2021. Experts said symptoms of the heat stroke or thermal distress include dizziness, uncommon thirst, breathing difficulties, headaches, feverishness and even hypertension. In 2013, six South African traffic enforcers died in KwaZulu-Natal Traffic Department, South Africa due to dehydration and consequent heat stroke. In South Africa, summer temperatures are above 30 degrees Celsius, similar to the temperature in Metro Manila.

for COVID-19. The vessel, which flies the flag of Panama, secured clearance from the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of Health on Thursday and was directed to its quarantine anchorage area by the port. "Early evening of the same day, BOQ doctors boarded the vessel to assess the condition of the crew and recommended the immediate medical evacuation of two crew members in critical condition,” the DOTr said. The Philippine Coast Guard has also provided security to ensure that no un-

authorized vessels or bancas would approach the MV Athens Bridge. “The national government, through the maritime sector of the DOTr, assures that the situation and the condition of the crew members will be consistently monitored. Health and safety protocols will also be prioritized throughout the entire process,” the DOTr said. MV Athens Bridge was reported to have departed from India on April 22 and arrived in Haiphong, Vietnam on May 1 where the crew was administered reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.

News

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

Minors, seniors cleared to go out and enrol for ID By Vito Barcelo THE Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has allowed minors aged 15and seniors aged 65 and above to go outside their homes to register for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), according to Palace spokesman Harry Roque. While Filipinos can register online for the first step of the national ID system, the second step requires them to go to a registration center to have their biometric information and photographs taken, he said. Roque also explained that minors who are 15 and persons above 65 years old were allowed to leave their homes for getting essential goods and services or to go to their workplaces aside from registering for the PhilSys. “As we pursue this long-overdue project, I ask every Filipino to give PhilySys a chance so that we may maximize the advantages of a universal and secure database that will make transactions more efficient and our lives more convenient,” Roque said. “Let me assure everyone as well as apart from its primary purpose of providing a resilient digital identification system for all Filipinos, PhilSys will also uphold the privacy of all personal information,” he added. President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018 signed into law the PhilSys Act that mandated the government to create a single official identification card for all citizens and foreign residents that would serve as a de facto national identification number.

Pork tariff hike proposal lauded SENATOR Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan welcomes the government’s revisions on the prevailing tariff and minimum access volume for pork imports, stressing it was a victory of vigilance. Pangilinan has raised the effects of African swine fever and massive pork importation in a Senate Resolution urging the declaration of a state of calamity to free up funds needed to respond to the ASF. Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order 128 that reduced the tariff rates on pork importation to bring down the price of pork. An EO on increasing the MAV, the volume of a specific agricultural product that is allowed to be imported with a lower tariff as committed by the Philippines to the World Trade Organization, is also pending the President’s signature. However local hog raisers insisted that over-reliance on pork importation would kill the local industry that suffered losses of P68 billion pdue to ASF. Under the economic team’s revised proposal, instead of the 5 percent tariff under EO 128 for in-quota importation of pork, the rate would increase to 10 percent during the first three months, and 15 percent for the fourth to 12th month. For pork imports outside of quota, tariff was to be increased to 20 percent from EO 128’s 15 percent for the first three months, and 25 percent for the fourth to 12th month. Additionally, instead of increasing the current MAV of pork by 350,000 metric tons (MT) for a total of 404,000 MT, the DOF instead proposed to lower the addition to 200,000 MT for a total of 254,000 MT. According to the economic team, this will bring down pork prices by 23.1 percent.

FREE CONNECTION.

San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora launches the Free Fiber Optic Internet Connection and Learning Management System For All San Juan City Public School Students Living Within The City and studying in San Juan Public Schools during a ceremonial switch-on at Brgy. Sta. Lucia Gymnasium at San Juan City, May 7 2021. With him are Converge ICT Solutions CEO and Co-Founder Dennis Anthony Uy and DepEd Usec Revsee A Escobedo. Manny Palmero

MOTHER’S DAY TRIBUTE. Women-street sweepers and mothers partake of hot soup at a community pantry in Barangay San francisco, General Trias in Cavite on May 7, 2021 as organizers pay tribute ahead of Mother’s Day. JR Josue

‘Pinoys find it hard to travel to work’

ORTY-TWO percent of non-home based Filipino workers found it hard to travel to work amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with 44 percent of the respondents opting to walk from their homes to their workplaces, a latest Social Weather Survey (SWS) report released Friday said.

The non-commissioned survey showed that 82 percent of the 1,500 working respondents are reporting to their workplaces and only 18 percent were home-based. Of the non-home based workers, 42 percent said it was “very much harder” to travel to work compared to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic times; 19 percent found it “somewhat much harder,” and 11 percent said it was “slightly harder” now. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents said traveling to work was just the

same as before. It was also found that 44 percent of the non-home-based workers walked to their workplaces after the respondents were asked about their means of transportation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Other means of transportation used by the workers were motorcycles (24 percent), tricycles (14 percent), jeepneys or multi-cabs (8 percent), bicycles (5 percent), buses (3 percent), private cars (3 percent), and motorboats or banca (1 percent).

The survey was conducted from 21 to 24 of November 2020 where the lockdown classification was relaxed either to general community quarantine (GCQ) or modified (MGCQ). The respondents were composed of 600 workers in Balance Luzon and 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. The SWS survey release followed official reports that the unemployment rate declined to 7.1 percent in March, the lowest since the height of the enhanced community quarantine in April 2020 which the government enforced to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Thursday. Data from the PSA showed that unemployment rate eased from 8.8 percent in

DANGEROUS JOB. Construction workers paint the façade of a building along Scout Albano, Quezon Avenue in Quezon City on Friday (May 7, 2021). The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has reported that the country’s unemployment rate went down from 8.8 percent last February to 7.1 percent in March, the lowest since the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine in mid-March last year. Rico H. Borja

February and 8.7 percent in January. It did not provide data on year-onyear comparison. It said the number of unemployed Filipinos 15 years and over in March was estimated at 3.44 million, a reduction of about 747,000 unemployed persons from February 2021. Employment rate rose to 92.9 percent in March from 91.2 percent in February. This translated into a month-onmonth increase of about 2.18 million Filipinos who had job or business to 45.33 million in March from 43.15 million in February. Underemployment rate also fell to 16.2 percent in March from 18.2 percent in February. In terms of magnitude, about 7.34 million of the employed persons expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work in March 2021. Economic managers led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua and Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said the labor market continued to see gains in March following the further reopening of the economy, while adhering to the minimum health standards. “Rising labor force participation and falling unemployment have enabled millions of Filipinos to regain their jobs and incomes in March 2021,” they said in a joint statement. Following the second spike in COVID-19 infections in the latter half of March, the government again prioritized saving lives using the ECQ and modified ECQ period to further improve the health system capacity.

Anti-Red team can’t dip hands into P16-b fund—Lacson

THE P16.4-billion allocation for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for 2021 can’t be abused, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson said Thursday. Lacson gave this assurance to fellow lawmakers who wanted NTFELCAC defunded, even as he stressed the amount would eventually be re-

leased to the local government units that would carry out the projects. Being the sponsor of the NTF-ELCAC’s 2021 budget, Lacson said it was his obligation and responsibility to defend the Department of Budget and Management’s release of funds which would be implemented not by the NTF-ELCAC but by the local gov-

ernment units concerned. Lacson, chairperson of the Senate Committee on National Defense, sponsored the budget of the Department of National Defense (DND) and its attached agencies for 2021. He said programs, activities and projects (PAPs) worth P1 million or less will be implemented by the ba-

rangays - those worth more than P1 million but not more than P10 million by the city or municipality and those worth more than P10 million by the province. PAPs for the cleared barangays include the construction of water systems, local roads, school buildings, and day-care centers.

Probe rights abuses vs. farmers By Rio N. Araja

MEMBERS of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, along with a women’s group AMIHAN, on Friday flocked to the Commission on Human Rights and submitted its latest documentation of human rights violation against farmers. “We are requesting CHR to conduct an urgent independent investigation on the escalating cases of peasant human rights violations. We also urge the CHR to probe the accountability and role played by outgoing Philippine National Police chief Major General Debold Sinas, the PNP-CIDG and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in these filing cases of violations,” chairperson

Danilo Ramos said in a statement. “We also appeal to the CHR to assist farmer victims of human rights violations in the filing of charges against perpetrators. We encourage the CHR to look into the non-stop killing of farmers who defend their land rights and assert for genuine agrarian reform,” he added. The peasants’ group said it has documented at least 326 cases of farmers’ killings since July 2016 under the Duterte administration. Violations included extrajudicial killings, illegal arrest and detention, trumped-up charges, threats, harassment and intimidation incidents, the militarization of peasant communities, red-tagging, bombings, and militarization of peasant communities in the provinces, Ramos said.

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SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

Senators, FDA agree on plan to cut red tape

RIGHT MOVE. House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez on Friday lauds the Biden administration’s support to international efforts suspending intellectual property protection rules for COVID-19 vaccines, calling it a moral move that will ensure humankind’s survival. Ver Noveno

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Willie Casas SENATORS and the country’s three pandemic czars have agreed on a plan for immediate legislative action against red tape in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which hampers government efforts against COVID-19. Sen. Panfilo Lacson specifically mentioned permits issued by the FDA, as he noted at least 20 requirements are needed to apply for Emergency Use Authority (EUA). “It takes forever for them to act, in obvious violation of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), while in India, according to Ambassador Ramon Bagatsing, it only takes three days to approve,” Lacson further emphasized. “We agreed with a plan to resolve quickly enough,” said Lacson who with Senate President Vicente Sotto III attended a meeting with vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez, testing czar Sec. Vince Dizon and contact tracing czar, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong. Meanwhile, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is open to conducting clinical trials in its isolation facilities, provided that the government will facilitate the procedures, Senator Richard Gordon said on Friday. “We are open to this as long as the patient will give their consent and as long as the government will conduct it,” Gordon said during the Laging Handa briefing. Gordon reacted to Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) executive director Dr. Jaime C. Montoya’s statement that the government is eyeing the use of PRC facilities as sites for the clinical trial and their patients can participate voluntarily in the study. The DOST scientists and the FDA officials should supervise the clinical trials in their facilities, the senators said. In the same meeting, the Senate and FDA also agreed that P90 billion will be needed for next year’s vaccine procurement budget, to be included in the regular budget of the Department of Health (DOH). Lacson said the amount will be itemized for vaccines instead of putting it under the Unprogrammed Fund to ensure its availability.

’Vaccine patent waiver sets dangerous practice’ N

EW YORK—Waiving patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines is ﬁercely opposed by Big Pharma because they say it would set a precedent that could threaten future innovations and insist the move would not speed up production. Here are some of the consequences waiving the patent protection on novel coronavirus vaccines could have. No immediate impact The vaccine makers say patents are not the key factor impeding faster production. “Handing needy countries a recipe book without the ingredients, safeguards, and sizable workforce needed will not help people waiting for the vaccine,” said Michelle McMurry-Heath, head of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), an industry lobbying group. Mastering the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which is the basis of the Pﬁzer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, buying equipment, conducting clinical

trials, and setting up large-scale manufacturing—all of this takes time. “This is not happening in six, 12 or 18 months,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said Thursday. Vaccine production also is hampered by customs barriers and shortages of certain ingredients. Moderna in October promised not to defend Covid-19 vaccine patents it holds, while Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have pledged to sell the vaccine at cost. Waiving the patents “doesn’t mean that countries like India could just speed up manufacturing hundreds of millions of doses,” so it is “not going to hurt them materially in the months ahead,” says Ian

By Maricel V. Cruz HOUSE Majority Leader Martin Romualdez on Friday lauded the administration of US President Joe Biden’s support to international efforts suspending intellectual property protection rules for COVID-19 vaccines. Romualdez, representative of Leyte, called it a moral move “as this will ensure humankind’s survival.” “The news that the United States is supporting international efforts to suspend patent rules for COVID-19 vaccines is a welcome development. Waiving intellectual property protections for vaccines during a pandemic is not only morally right. Any move that will fast-track the development, production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in every part of the globe will ensure our survival as aspecies,” Romualdez said. “In the age of pandemic, world leaders now agree that nobody is safe until everyone is safe,” he added. The chair of the House Committee on Rules also called on Philippine health officials to closely watch and actively participate in global discussions on the campaign for waiving patent rules for COVID-19 vaccines. “Let us be proactive and engage vaccine manufacturers in negotiations on how to avail of these patents for the Philippines. Procrastination in the time of crisis is unacceptable,” the president of the Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) said. Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa), also cited the need to support not just the waiving of patent protection for vaccines but also sufficient funding for researchers, medical experts, and health workers. “Our country is not bereft of brilliant researchers and practitioners in the medical field. Filipino health experts are at par with the best of the world. What they need is support and funding from the government and from private donors,” the lawmaker said. “It is time that we act in unison towards the same direction. Get the patent for COVID-19 vaccine. Mobilize funding support for the production of vaccines here in the Philippines. Make these vaccines free to Filipinos,” Romualdez added.

Duque pressed on hazard pay delay

Locsin, Kerry discuss climate change plans By Rey E. Requejo and Rio N. Araja FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. on Friday discussed with United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John F. Kerry various major initiatives intended to address the climate crisis. The Department of Foreign Affairs said Locsin and Kerry talked over the phone and both acknowledged that climate change is one of the key areas where the Philippines and the United States can cooperate more closely to strengthen the two countries’ bilateral relations and their alliance. During conversation, Locsin applauded the US for successfully hosting the virtual Leaders’ Summit on Climate held on April 22, 2021. Meanwhile, environmentalists on Friday lauded the Asian Development Bank for its draft energy policy to abandon the use of coal to produce power. Gerry Arances, the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development executive director, said the ADB’s move is a welcome development. Scientists have repeatedly warned of the coal’s looming dangers, citing coal-ﬁred power plants are linked with asthma, cancer, heart and lung ailments, neurological problems, acid rain, global warming, and other severe environmental and public health impacts. Locsin and Kerry agreed to promote collaboration on the climate crisis the whole world is facing through various regional and multilateral fora, especially through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. On the part of the Philippines, the DFA chief stressed that climate change is one of the core priorities of the government, which is committed to advancing climate justice. Last month, the Philippines submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change its Nationally Determined Contributions with a target of 75 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction and avoidance by 2030. In its submission to the UN climate body, the Philippines noted that the country’s loss and damage from extreme weather events are increasing at an unacceptable rate, reaching 4percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2013 due to Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

Gendler of the Value Line research firm. The move may not even serve as a public relations boon for the companies that often face criticism for high drug prices. “They’re not doing it voluntarily,” said Farasat Bokhari, a health economist specializing in competition at Britain’s University of East Anglia. “If the governments force them to do it, they would just be seen as having been dragged” along. ‘Slippery slope’ Ron Cohen, head of New York-based biotech firm Acorda Therapeutics, warned that President Joe Biden is taking “the first step down a dangerous, slippery slope” by backing the patent waiver. “How will new vaccines come,” he asked on Twitter. Alzheimer’s is a global crisis, as is cancer. “Which will be next to have patents broken when this precedent is set?” he asked. AFP

Romualdez backs move to lift patent protection

POWER RATE HIKE. Electric meters situated at the top of a power line in Barangay Bagong Silang, Caloocan City on Friday. Power distributor Meralco announced that it will implement a rate hike of PHP0.1853 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in power rates for the month of May. Ben Briones

ON HEALTHCARE Workers’ Day, Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday pressed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to explain the delay in hazard pay for healthcare workers and the continuously deteriorating work environment in hospitals more than a year into the pandemic. Hontiveros backed health workers union groups, saying that more than ‘words of gratitude’, the government should improve the work conditions of health workers. She said this should come in the form of periodic COVID-19 testing, immune boosters, free PPEs, and continuous hiring of health workers. Hontiveros said P13.5 billion was already extended under Bayanihan 2 to address the needs of health workers, but until now the Health Secretary cannot explain why there no good roll-out in hospitals. “All year long, health workers have made desperate calls for better pay and genuine support. The Health Secretary should stop giving them the cold shoulder and should explain

why he fails to do his job when health workers wholeheartedly do theirs with their lives on the line,” she added. Hontiveros said the overwhelmed hospitals are “hell on earth” for health workers who continue to remain burnt out by the lack of action of the Department of Health (DOH) to provide substantial aid to them. “Health workers deserve safe and decent working conditions. Instead of Sec. Duque insisting that all the needs are being met, perhaps he should listen to what the health workers in the hospitals have to say. In the middle of a health crisis, an out of touch Health Secretary is the last thing we need,” she remarked. Hontiveros, who also discovered the P1 billion government overspent on foreign-made PPEs in 2020, lamented the wasted funds that she says the country ‘badly’ needs now. Macon Ramos-Araneta

HRET junks protest against Kabataan by youth party-list group THE House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) has dismissed the protest ﬁled against Kabataan party-list group by an antigraft group for alleged fraud and irregularities in the 2019 elections. The party-list group You Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP), through its ﬁrst nominee Carol Jayne Lopez, claimed there were “massive electoral fraud, anomalies, and irregularities” in all the 341 protested clustered precincts in General Santos City, Cotabato, “which include misreading of ballots, miscounting of votes, and the unexplained and improper

rejection of ballots for YACAP.” These, Lopez said, led to a significant decrease in the number of votes for YACAP. Kabataan, on the other hand, branded the protest “insufﬁcient in substance” since it failed to allege the speciﬁc acts or omissions constituting election anomalies. Kabataan added that the Tribunal had no jurisdiction over the case as YACAP had “failed to implead all the indispensable parties to the case.” Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago welcomed the dismissal of the said poll protest.

“This is really good news to us. We thank our members, fellow advocates, and counsels who stood with the Kabataan Partylist in defending its own representation in the face of attempts to remove it from Congress,” Elago said. She also thanked those who supported the group in the course of the protest. In deciding the case, the HRET said that Kabataan party-list ranked 51st among the 181 party-list candidates that ran and voted for in the May 2019 elections. On the other hand, YACAP ranked 58th. Rule 17 of HRET rules provides that

election protest can only be filed by the candidates who obtained the second or third highest number of votes. In this case, HRET said party-list groups AKMA-PTM (52nd) and SBP (53rd) have legal standing to file the poll protest as they obtained the second and third highest number of votes following Kabataan. “Thus, the YACAP party-list does not have legal standing to file the instant election protest and cannot claim to be entitled to any of the reliefs sought in the protest,” the ruling, promulgated on March 18, stated. Maricel V. Cruz

PhilHealth debt to PRC for tests down to P399m

THE debt of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to Philippine Red Cross for the cost of COVID-19 tests has gone down to around P399 million after a recent payment, PRC chairman and Senator Richard Gordon said on Friday. “They have paid a huge amount last time. From P800 million, their debt is now at P399 million. They paid us P400 million,” Gordon said during Laging Handa brieﬁng. PRC has since resumed testing after PhilHealth settled about half of the balance of the debts. Gordon also reiterated the appeal to PhilHealth to regularly pay its debt so that they can sustain their operations. “We are still testing every day. Just yester-

day, we tested 10,000 people. Of course, their payments will increase again. So let us not wait for the debt to balloon again so that our operations will continue,” he said. Gordon earlier expressed concerns on PhilHealth for not being prompt in its payment to the PRC. The senator also warned of stopping the operations of PRC testing centers if the state insurance ﬁrm will not pay up its debt. Back in October last year, PRC halted conducting COVID-19 tests chargeable to PhilHealth after the latter failed to settle its outstanding balance amounting to nearly P1 billion. Willie Casas

PROTEST. A man holds up a banner during a protest in front of the Chinese

Consulate on Friday in Makati City. Members of various progressive groups are criticizing the President’s friendly stance towards China as it continues incursions in the West Philippine Sea. Norman Cruz

Opinion Time lost, lives on hold I RECENTLY attended my grandchildren’s end-of-school year activities. Our boy graduated from pre-school and will be moving to a big school to start his primary school education. His sister is now an incoming grade five pupil. Of course, to be fully safe, everything was done online. For our boy’s graduation, there were the usual songs and readings by the kids. There were lots of activity pictures from the time of face-to-face classes until they shifted to online schooling. Their certificates were delivered to the children’s homes earlier so they would be able to pose with it during the event. One has to credit the hard work put in by the teachers as they navigated this new terrain to ensure the kids’ continuous learning. I take my hats off to them.

Until when will we wait? We do not know. This is a small private Montessori preschool and there were only about 30 kids in all levels this school year (which is much less than their usual enrollment). I could not help but wonder how graduation would be done in public schools with hundreds of students considering that public gatherings are presently not allowed. How will schools capture both the solemnity and celebratory moods of graduations? How will students feel a sense of achievement? Unlike his sister who has at least finished a few grade levels physically interacting with her friends, classmates, and teachers, our boy’s first grade will also be done online. For now, his entering the big school is more figurative than anything. He may not find this to be as significant as it should be. There will be no “first day of class excitement” as he is brought to his brand-new school and classroom or as he meets his brand-new classmates for the first time. Instead, all he needs is to sit down in front of a computer. Often, I think about the possible effects of this lingering pandemic on the development of our children. As it should be, our primary concern now is to keep our family safe from COVID-19. But drastically changing our children’s lives and keeping them cooped up inside our homes for more than a year now may also have implications on their mental health and overall development. I hope that I am simply being overly concerned and that my worry is unfounded. The time lost cannot be recovered. It is forever lost. This is true for all of us. Staying put was certainly not my plan for

last year and this year. I promised myself that I would go back to places that I have been to and liked, physically visit friends that I have not seen in years because of distance, and rediscover historical sites that have caught my interest from historians I have read. I was starting to get excited and already made tentative arrangements with friends who wanted in on the adventure. I have lined up the places and the people I have missed. I wanted to do these while I still can, physically. I know that I no longer have the amount of time I had years back and when I wanted to do as much as I could. But the pandemic struck and derailed my plans. Now I am playing a waiting game and at the same time mentally recalibrating my plans. I recognize that I am privileged because I am alive and have the luxury of thinking about these things. Many others of my generation, and even younger ones, are now gone, many, too soon. Their time in this life was cut short with finality. Their loved ones have lost them permanently. In many cases, those bereaved even lost the time to properly mourn and grieve. This is a cruel way to lose someone. The truth is, young and old, we have all lost someone or something one way or another. All of us lost time that will never come back. Our kids are significantly losing precious years of their childhood. It is their time to be carefree and enjoy life, to play with other children, and discover things around them. Sadly, they are now being limited and their adventures, curtailed. Our adolescents are supposed to be discovering themselves and the world. Normally, the growing-up years are spent physically going to school, spending time with friends, and finding interests on their own. Now, many are confined and have to be content with online games and social media. Young adults are supposed to be charting their lives, pursuing careers, and starting to make a life for themselves. Instead, many have lost jobs, or if they are still employed, many are working from home, without their usual social life. The mobility of those who are advanced in age is severely limited. For those living in the provinces, being together with their family in Metro Manila has become a rare luxury. Seeing a small circle of friends needs to be orchestrated and with all necessary precautions taken, if at all allowed. So please, be extra patient with your parents or grandparents if at times, they throw tantrums. It is not easy to be under “house arrest.” All our lives are on hold. Until when will we wait? We do not know. That this government is incompetent in addressing the pandemic does not help. For now, let us all do everything to keep safe, get that vaccine the first opportunity we have, and use our time for other pursuits that we enjoy and can be done indoors. Do not forget to plan so we can put the plan in action the moment that we are freed from this pandemic. We may have lost time but we can still be productive, have some sense of fun, and look forward to being out there again. @bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook

Confusion and misunderstanding in the South China Sea BACKBENCHER ROD P. KAPUNAN Part I OUR problem in the South China Sea is borne out of our ignorance heightened by foreign instigation in presenting the issue as defense of interest. We never took into account the problem because we never seriously examined our history. If only we look back and reexamine our not-so-distant past, maybe we would be able to have a clearer view of what originally constituted the Philippine archipelago or to be precise, the boundaries of the Republic of the Philippines. Officially, the boundaries remain recognized to this day by most nations. The Philippine boundary is, in fact, the oldest geographical map even older than the present-day China and India. That began when the country, then a colony of Spain, was sold to the US for $20 million, formalized in the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. The Philippine Islands, lie within the following line: “A line running from west to east along or near the 20th parallel of north latitude, and through the middle of the navigable channel of Bachi (Now known as Bashi channel), from the 118th to the 127th degrees meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, thence along the 127th degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the parallel of 4°45′ north latitude, thence along the parallel of 4°45′ north latitude to its intersection with the meridian of longitude 119°35′ east of Greenwich, thence along the meridian of

longitude 119°35′ east of Greenwich to the parallel of latitude 7°40′ north, thence along the parallel of latitude 7°40′ north to its intersection with the 116th degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, thence by a direct line to the intersection of the 10th degree parallel of north latitude with the 118th degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, and thence along the 118th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the point of beginning.” On November 7, 1900 a minor amendment was made in the Treaty of Paris. Article III of the cession treaty made adjustments to demarcate Sibuto as our boundary to the nearby island of Borneo, a narrow passageway for vessels passing to and from the Pacific Ocean to the South China Sea. So, the Philippine archipelago is separated in the north by Taiwan through the Bashi channel and in the South by Borneo with the Sibuto Strait as boundary.

Ignorance heightened by foreign instigation The Philippines archipelago comprises more or less of 7,100 islands. The number varies from 7,107 to 7,641, depending on the seasonal tide. If it is high tide, some of the small islands are submerged only to resurface during low tide. We continue to rely on the Treaty of Paris in measuring our national boundary. Under international law, states with access to the sea are given up to 12 nautical miles measured from their baseline of the outermost island as its territorial waters. Being an archipelago comprising several islands separated from each other by great bodies

Adelle Chua, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

EDITORIAL

Celebrating mothers

HE Philippines celebrates Mother’s Day Sunday to recognize the fathomless contribution of mothers in building the lives of their children.

They deserve nothing less. ment work zone—for their tasks as mothers are never finished when they have left for their respective work sites the following day. Mother’s Day dates back to ancient Greeks and Romans who celebrated in honor of mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, although modern reference to the day can be found in Mothering Sunday, which was the fourth Sunday in Lent celebrated in Britain and some parts of Europe. The festival was religious in nature as on Mothering Sunday when people used to visit their main church, also

Tomorrow, Filipinos will execute a snappy salute to mothers, mothersin-law, grandmothers to show appreciation for the many good things they do to keep their families safe and nurtured and cohesive. Never mind if some of them are working in air-conditioned offices in some posh financial districts, in factories or in any gainful employ-

known as the mother church. People celebrate Mother’s Day by giving presents to their mothers or by doing something special for them. Festivals honoring mothers and mother goddesses date to ancient times. In the anxiety-filled pandemic times as in the Philippines, there are several things people can do for their mothers if they are living together under one roof. Or, if living apart, they can use technology to make each other feel they are just in the other room. Given the various levels of COVID-19 lockdown from north to south, families will have to pause, perhaps in grateful silence, and raise gratitude for the mothers, mothers-in-law, grandmothers who have provided emotional strength to their families in the different seasons. They deserve nothing less.

Quo vadis, Leonen? 2011 in an apparent preparation for his application to the SC where he was appointed in 2012. From there, no copies of his SALN can be found again. So, what can we deduce from that? According to Gadon, it confirms Leonen failed to submit complete SALNs when he was teaching in UP. “In the following documents obtained through the FOI, it appears that AJ Marivic Leonen failed to submit several years of SALNs. His case is even worse than Atty.

THE past continues to haunt Noynoy Aquino and his minions. As the people now begin to realize the real culprit in the Lost Islands issue in the South China Sea, with all fingers now pointing to Aquino, former foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and former Senator Antonio Trillanes as the ones who allegedly forfeited our claim to the contested islands, lawyer Larry Gadon the other day came up with another bombshell against another Noynoy boy, SC Associate Justice Marivic Leonen. Given the runaround for months by the Office of the Ombudsman and the SC itself on acquiring copies of Leonen’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth, Gadon finally got copies of Leonen’s SALN from the Presidential Communications Operations Office. And the copies and the certification issued by PCOO seem to confirm our suspicions as to why Leonen has been silent on the issue—he appears to be a perennial violator of the SALN Law. For the 32 years he has been in service, a professor at the University of the Philippines from 1989 before becoming dean of the University’s College of Law, and eventually being appointed associate justice to the SC—by who else but Noynoy Aquino— Leonen appears to have filed his SALN only for six years. Quite interestingly, it seems Leonen had this habit of filing his SALN in preparation for a higher post he is angling. He filed his SALN in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 when he was aspiring to become UP College of Law’s dean, which he got in 2008. And then it appears he failed to file his SALN again. He then again filed his SALN in 2010 and

It’s only a matter of choosing the less painful route. Lourdes Sereno’s,” says Gadon. With such discovery, Gadon is calling on the House Committee on Justice to immediately set the hearing of the impeachment complaint against Leonen as soon as it is referred to the panel. Gadon is the counsel for Edwin Cordevilla who filed the impeachment complaint against Leonen in December last year. It was however referred only to the Committee on Rules chaired by Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco late March. Romualdez has three session days starting May 16 to refer it to the Committee on Justice chaired by Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso. Aside from the SALN issue, the impeachment complaint charged Leonen of violating the 1987 Constitution for allegedly sitting on at least 82 cases assigned to him for over two years. According to Gadon. the complainant noted that Leonen has failed to dispose of 37 cases in the Supreme Court which is a “contravention of the Constitutional man-

date that cases should be decided within 24 months from the time it is submitted for resolution.” “Clearly, respondent committed culpable violation of the constitution for arbitrarily, willfully, intentionally, deliberately and malevolently failing to resolve the cases within the required reglementary period,” the complaint read. Apart from the SC cases, Leone allegedly sat on 34 election protest cases filed before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal that the magistrate heads. Among the HRET cases cited was a quo warranto petition filed by former Rep. Eugene De Vera against Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, whom the former insists should be disqualified from running for a seat in Congress because she filed her candidacy a few months after she resigned as commissioner of the Philippine Competitions Commission as PCC officials are barred under the law to participate in the next succeeding election following their resignation or retirement from the agency. But aside from the impeachment case, Gadon is exploring another route to have Leonen removed and that is through a quo warranto proceeding, the same process that invalidated Sereno’s appointment to the SC. “A quo warranto case may be filed against AJ Marivic Leonen for failure to submit SALNs for several years when he was teaching in UP,” Gadon stressed. “If Atty Lourdes Sereno was removed from the Supreme Court on the ground of lack of integrity for failure to comply with the SALN law , then the same rule must apply to AJ Marivic Leonen,” he explains. Ouch! It seems there is no way but out for Leonen. It’s only a matter of choosing the less painful route. In my opinion, they both hurt. So, where to, Leonen?

The spirit of Bayanihan in the midst of the pandemic EVERYMAN By Catherin P. Bon TODAY, the quality of education has been considered as downgraded. A whole year has already passed since the education sector was forced into a drastic change. To cope with the adversity brought by this pandemic, different modes of distance learning were introduced to deliver education to the learners. Indeed, this pandemic brought technical issues involving funds and the lack of resources made it difficult for both teachers and learners to grasp what this new normal education can offer. Learners and teachers are not the only ones facing hard times. Parents are compelled to become more flexible as they of water, all the waters from the outermost limit (12 miles) and drawing a straight line in between and around the islands shall form part of the country’s internal waters. Article I of the 1973 Constitution incorporated what we have long insisted as the “Philippine Archipelagic Doctrine”. This was proposed by the country’s eminent lawyer on international law, Senator Arturo Tolentino. To quote Section 1. “The Philippine territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and

take on a greater role in their children’s education. They have the essential task in connecting the child with the school by submitting accomplished self-learning modules (SLM) and claiming the new ones to be passed the following week, while still carrying the burden of providing for their families amid the pandemic. This, accompanied by other worries, makes it very difficult for some parents to fully accomplish their responsibilities in their child’s learning. Bayanihan describes Filipinos’ eagerness to help their kababayan in times of need. It can be traced way back to our ancestors and has always been a symbol of compassion for us. In these trying times, there are those who go out of their way to help. More specifically, when Friday comes and modules need to be returned, there are few who step up and offer to help accomplish the child’s educational needs. This can come in the form of ates all the other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic rights or legal title, including the territorial sea, the air space, the subsoil, the sea-bed, the insular shelves, and the other submarine areas over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction. The waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of breath and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.” Full version on www.manilastandard.net

and kuyas who deliver the modules for their siblings, other parents who offer to deliver the modules along with their child’s, or even barangay officials who set up specific spots where learning materials can be dropped off. I see these kind-hearted people who value the education of the younger generation as everyday heroes who make up this modern form of bayanihan. They are a testament and proof that kindness always finds its way to prosper even in times of crisis. The author is Teacher III at Pili Elementary School.

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US calls on HK to release activists U

S SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken called for the release Friday of four Hong Kong democracy activists who were jailed for taking part in a vigil for victims of Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

“The United States stands with the people of Hong Kong and rejects the sentencing of activists for attending a Tiananmen commemoration,” Blinken wrote on Twitter. “All those imprisoned for nonviolent exercise of guaranteed freedoms should be freed immediately,” he added. Joshua Wong, Lester Shum, Tiffany Yuen and Janelle Leung – four prominent youth activists in their twenties – were jailed after pleading guilty to taking part in an “unauthorized assembly” last year on the 4 June Tiananmen anniversary. For the past three decades, Hong Kong has marked the anniversary of Beijing’s deadly 1989 repression of protests in Tiananmen Square with massive candlelight vigils. But last year’s event was banned for the first time, with police citing the coronavirus pandemic and security fears following huge democracy protests that roiled Hong Kong the year before. Tens of thousands defied the ban and

massed peacefully at the vigil’s traditional site in Victoria Park. Since then, prosecutors have brought charges against more than two dozen prominent democracy activists who showed up at the vigil, the latest in a string of criminal cases that have ensnared the city’s beleaguered democracy movement. Joshua Wong – one of the city’s most recognisable democracy activists, is currently serving 17.5 months in jail for two convictions linked to the 2019 demonstrations. He was handed a consecutive 10 months of jail for the new conviction, which will start once current sentences are finished. Shum, 27, was given six months while Yuen, 27, and Leung, 26, were both handed four months. Wong, Shum and Yuen have also been charged under a new national security law Beijing imposed on the city last year to stamp out dissent. They face up to life in jail if convicted. AFP

TOUGH MEASURE. Policemen arrest a man for not wearing a face mask in

Colombo on May 7, 2021 as Sri Lanka is cracking down on people violating health regulations as part of an attempt to control a surge in COVID-19 coronavirus infections. AFP

NOTICE Notice is hereby given that AXEIA DEVELOPMENT CORP. (FORMERLY: ASIATIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION), with office address at 5th & 6th Floor, Westar Building, 611 Shaw Blvd., Brgy. Kapitolyo, Pasig City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as an Expanding Developer of Economic and Low-Cost Housing Project (The Peak at Santorini Estates) with 168 residential units under R.A. 11534 (CREATE ACT) and the Preferred List-Mass Housing of the 2020 IPP with project site located at Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Any person with valid objections on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication. (SGD.) ANGELITA F. ARCELLANA Director Infrastucture and Services Industries Service (MS-MAY 8, 2021)

NOTICE Notice is hereby given that AXEIA DEVELOPMENT CORP. (FORMERLY: ASIATIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION), with office address at 5th & 6th Floor, Westar Building, 611 Shaw Blvd., Brgy. Kapitolyo, Pasig City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOl) as an Expanding Developer of Economic and Low-Cost Housing Project (The Manor at Santorini Estates Building A, B, C & D) with 24 residential units under R.A. 11534 (CREATE ACT) and the Preferred List Mass Housing of the 2020 IPP with project site located at Brgy. Calumpang, Binangonan, Rizal. Any person with valid objections on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication. (SGD.) ANGELITA F. ARCELLANA Director Infrastucture and Services Industries Service

(MS-MAY 8, 2021)

NOTICE Notice is hereby given that AXEIA DEVELOPMENT CORP. (FORMERLY: ASIATIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION), with office address at 5th & 6th Floor, Westar Building, 611 Shaw Blvd., Brgy. Kapitolyo, Pasig City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOl) as an Expanding Developer of Economic and Low-Cost Housing Project (Le Moubreza 3 -Phase A & Phase B) with 633 house and lot units under R.A. 11534 (CREATE ACT) and the Preferred List - Mass Housing of the 2020 IPP with project site located at Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Any person with valid objections on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication. (SGD.) ANGELITA F. ARCELLANA Director Infrastucture and Services Industries Service

(MS-MAY 8, 2021)

SHOW OF FORCE. Russian servicemen line up on Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021, during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade. Russia will celebrate the 76th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany during World War II on May 9. AFP

Ban on Aussie citizens returning from India to end AUSTRALIA will not extend a controversial ban on citizens returning from COVID-hit India, the prime minister said Friday following widespread public outrage. Scott Morrison this week barred all travel from India, fearing a large number of Covid-positive arrivals would overwhelm Australia’s already strained quarantine facilities. The move stranded an estimated 9,000 Australian citizens and threatened them with large fines and jail time if they tried to dodge the ban and return on non-direct flights. The conservative prime minister on Friday said that the measures would remain in place until May 15 as planned, but then repatriation flights could resume. “The determination was designed to be a temporary measure and the medical advice... is that it will be safe to allow it to expire as planned on 15 May,”

he said. Three flights are being planned to return the most vulnerable Australians still in India, bringing them to a remote Outback quarantine facility. No decision has been taken yet on whether commercial flights will also resume. Morrison’s ban caused widespread outrage, with even allies describing it as racist and an abandonment of vulnerable Australians overseas. He had already walked back the threats to prosecute returning Australians, saying it was “highly unlikely” the punishment would ever be meted out. The legality of the ban is being challenged in federal court, with a hearing set to take place on Monday. Australia has no widespread community transmission of COVID-19, but has seen several outbreaks emerge from hotel quarantine facilities, causing disruptive city lockdowns. AFP

Damage risk from rocket debris ‘low’—China CHINA said Friday the risk of damage from a rocket falling back to Earth was “extremely low” after the United States warned it could crash down onto an inhabited area. Military experts in the US expect the body of the Long March 5B rocket, which separated from Beijing’s space station, to come down sometime around Saturday or Sunday,

but warned it was difficult to predict where it will land and when. But Beijing downplayed the risk of danger. “The probability of causing harm to aviation activities or (on people and activities) on the ground is extremely low,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. Most of the rocket components

would be destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, he added, saying authorities “will inform the public of the situation in a timely manner.” China has poured billions of dollars into space exploration in efforts to reflect its rising global stature and growing technological might, following in the extra-terrestrial footsteps of the United States, Russia and Europe. AFP

Twitter allows Tip Jar for some tweeters TWITTER on Thursday began letting some users add virtual tip jars to accounts so people can support their tweets by tossing in money. A limited number of users around the world who tweet in English can add a “Tip Jar” feature to their profiles, according to Twitter senior product manager Esther Crawford. The group included creators, journalists, experts, and non-profit organizations. “You drive the conversation on Twitter and we want to make it easier for you to support each other beyond Follows, Retweets, and Likes,” Crawford wrote in a blog post. This is a first step in our work to create new ways for people to receive and show support on Twitter – with money.” A Tip Jar icon on a profile page indicates an option to be taken to services such as Patreon, PayPal or Venmo to send money to a creator, according to Crawford. Twitter does not take any cut of tips, she said. “Soon, more people will be able to add Tip Jar to their profile and we’ll expand to more languages,” Crawford said. The one-to-many global messaging platform is keen to broaden its ranks of users and get people spending more time at the service. Twitter last week reported weaker-thanexpected earnings and disappointing user growth. AFP CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

IN BRIEF Ex-Maldives president survives kill attempt

Mohamed Nasheed

FORMER Maldives president and current parliamentary speaker Mohamed Nasheed underwent more surgery Friday following an assassination attempt but his condition was described as stable. The Indian Ocean archipelago’s first democratically elected leader was seriously injured when a device attached to a motorcycle was detonated as he got into a car in the capital late Thursday, an official said. “Nasheed escaped an assassination attempt,” a Maldivian government official told AFP. “He is injured, but his condition is stable.” The private ADK hospital said the 53-year-old required further surgery following a thorough assessment of his condition. The hospital did not give further details, but a family member said shrapnel was removed from a lung and his liver. AFP

Ex-PM Najib fined for COVID violation

Najib Razak

FORMER Malaysian leader Najib Razak, who has been convicted over the mammoth 1MDB scandal, is in trouble with the law again – this time for breaking coronavirus rules in a restaurant. He was fined 3,000 ringgit ($730) for failing to register at the eatery or have his temperature taken, police said. It came after footage circulated on social media showing the ex-prime minister flouting the rules in March at a Kuala Lumpur restaurant that sells a traditional chicken and rice dish. While Najib still denies any involvement in the 1MDB fraud, over which he has been sentenced to 12 years in jail, he was quick to admit his misdemeanor at the eatery. The 67-year-old, who remains free on bail while he appeals the 1MDB conviction, used the incident to highlight other cases in which politicians allegedly broke the rules. These include an incident when ministers allegedly travelled illegally to another part of the country to attend a wedding. AFP

Business

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market extends slump; ICTSI bucks trend T HE stock market declined for the sixth straight day Friday as the extended lockdown is taking its toll on consumer spending and small businesses.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index slipped 24.07 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,258.71 on a value turnover of P4.7 billion. Losers edged gainers, 106 to 104, with 35 issues unchanged.

Puregold Price Club Inc. of retail tycoon Lucio Co fell 2.7 percent to P34.05, while JG Summit Holdings Inc. of the Gokongwei Group dropped 2.6 percent to P51.10. However, International Container Terminal Services Inc., the biggest port operator and owned by tycoon Enriquez Razon Jr., advanced 5.4 percent to P135.40, while technology and gaming firm DFFN Inc. jumped 20.9 percent to P4.98. Copper and iron ore prices, meanwhile, hit record highs Friday as demand for the key commodities surges on the back of a powerful recovery in the global economy,

though Asian equity markets struggled to maintain an early rally ahead of a keenly awaited US jobs report. With major economies led by the United States and China reopening after last year’s shutdowns, industries are ramping up production, pushing the cost of materials ever higher as traders also worry about a lack of supply caused by the pandemic. Asia floundered to maintain its early promise with markets paring morning gains or falling into the red. Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Mumbai and Bangkok all rose but Hong Kong, Shanghai, Wellington and Jakarta fell.

Copper, a major indicator of the state of the global economy owing to its use in a multitude of products, finally broke to an all-time high above $10,200 per ton Friday, and with the global recovery expected to continue for some time, analysts say the price can continue north. “It’s hard to foresee copper prices turning around amid the current bullish atmosphere,” Ji Xianfei, at Guotai Junan Futures Co, said. And Commerzbank AG analyst Daniel Briesemann added: “The long-term prospects for metals prices are ‘too good’ and point to higher prices in the next few years.

“The decarbonization trends in many countries—which include switching to electric vehicles and expanding wind and solar power—are likely to generate additional demand for metals.” Iron ore also broke to new levels, hitting $205 a ton as commodities prices across the board advance, with lumber, tin, bacon and sugar all sharply higher. However, that has fanned fears about a spike in inflation around the world that many warn could force central banks to wind back their ultra-loose monetary policies that have helped fire a global markets rally for more than a year. With AFP

PSEi May 7, 2021

ATHENS UNREST.

TOP GAINERS

Demonstrators wearing protective face masks against COVID-19 and members of the Greek Labor Union (PAME) protest during a strike against the new labor law, in central Athens on May 6, 2021. Thousands of Greeks on May 6, 2021, demonstrated against a controversial new labor law, police said, as strikes crippled transport and public services. Some 6,000 people marched in separate protests in Athens, a police source said. Demonstrations are also held in other major cities. AFP

% CHANGE

PSB

20.5

36.28%

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DFNN NI ARA APB2R LRW LOTO APO MAB ICT

4.98 1.61 1.27 538 1.77 2.19 0.82 0.018 135.4

0.86 0.17 0.09 37 0.12 0.14 0.05 0.001 6.9

20.87% 11.81% 7.63% 7.39% 7.27% 6.83% 6.49% 5.88% 5.37%

LAST

PRICE CHANGE CHANGE CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Manila

TODAY

NOTICE OF POSTPONEMENT OF ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING To All Stockholders: Please be informed that the annual meeting of stockholders of MARCVENTURES HOLDINGS, INC. (the “Corporation”) for the year 2021 which is scheduled every last Friday of May of each year has been postponed and reset to a later date to be determined by the Board of Directors, during a meeting to be called for such purpose. The purpose of the postponement is to give the Company more time to prepare for additional matters that will be presented to the stockholders at the meeting. A Notice of Meeting will be issued in relation to the new meeting date. Manila

Standard

TODAY Makati City, 07 May 2021. MAILA G. DE CASTRO Co-Asst. Corporate Secretary

NOTICE OF POSTPONEMENT OF ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING To All Stockholders: Please be informed that the annual meeting of stockholders of PRIME MEDIA HOLDINGS, INC. (the “Corporation”) for the year 2021 which is scheduled every third Tuesday of May of each year has been postponed and reset to a later date to be determined by the Board of Directors, during a meeting to be called for such purpose. The purpose of the postponement is to give the Company more time to prepare for additional matters that will be presented to the stockholders at the meeting. A Notice of Meeting will be issued in relation to the new meeting date. Makati City, 07 May, 2021. MAILA G. DE CASTRO Corporate Secretary (MS-MAY 7 & 8, 2021)

NOTICE (Re Submission of Nominations for the Y2021 Annual Stockholders’ Meeting) Dear Stockholders: Please be informed that the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting of Allied Care Experts (ACE) Malolos Doctors Inc. (“ACE-Malolos”) will be held on August 16, 2021 (Monday) at 8:00 o’clock in the morning via Zoom Webinar in view of the continuing COVID-19 health crisis. Kindly submit your nominations in connection with the election of the members of the Board of the Directors on or before May 24, 2021 thru the Admin. Office, ACE Malolos Doctors, Capitol View Park, Brgy Bulihan, City of Malolos, Bulacan, or via electronic mail thru ace.malolos.doctors@gmail.com. The nomination form is available at ACE Malolos Doctors website at www.acemalolosdoctors.org. Furthermore, please update your contact information with the Corporation, particularly, your email addresses and mobile numbers to facilitate the sending of notices. For inquiries, you may contact the office via email at ace.malolos.doctors@ gmail.com or at telephone number 044-8167698. Very truly yours, ARLENE N. LIM-VITUG, M.D. Corporate Secretary (MS-MAY 8 & 15, 2021)

CHANGE

TOP LOSERS

Standard

(MS-MAY 7 & 8, 2021)

LAST PRICE

Japan Airlines posts annual loss of $2.6b over virus, declines to issue 2021 forecast TOKYO—Japan Airlines posted an annual net loss of $2.6 billion Friday but did not release a forecast for the current financial year, citing uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier, Japan’s second-largest by market share, suffered a net loss of 286.7 billion yen for the year through March—its first full-year result in the red since it relisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2012. “There has been no indication of passenger demand recovery yet” due to restrictions on international travel and tougher immigration measures, JAL said. “Our situation has been severe throughout this fiscal year.” The company last week revised its projection for 2020-21 net loss to 287 billion yen from a 300-billion yen forecast in February. JAL said it had decided not to release an outlook for the year ending March 2022, warning “it is difficult to foresee

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

CEU LFM PBB OV OPMB CEI DELM V MJC MAH

6.51 28.5 9.54 0.012 0.013 0.125 13.4 0.96 2 2.15

-0.81 -2.5 -0.82 -0.001 -0.001 -0.008 -0.62 -0.04 -0.08 -0.08

-11.07% -8.06% -7.92% -7.69% -7.14% -6.02% -4.42% -4.00% -3.85% -3.59%

the recovery of demand while the global spread of COVID-19 shows no sign of slowdown.” Sales plunged 65.3 percent compared to the previous year to 481.2 billion yen. Last month, Japan’s top airline ANA reported its worst ever annual loss of 404.6 billion yen, which was smaller than the firm’s earlier projection. But ANA Holdings said it expects to VOLUME VALUE (PHP) see a rebound to 3.5 billion yen net profit 1 ICT 3308240 BLACK 445721414 CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW in 2021-22, as the coronavirus disruption ALI 12491300 402461955 that has battered the aviation industry 2 3 BPI 2812010 230848459.5 worldwide begins to ease. Japan’s airlines had expected a bumper 4 SM 242960 224276270 year in 2020, when the Tokyo Olympics 5 AC 226550 164463930 were originally due to be held and tourist 6 CNVRG 8194800 154880112 numbers were expected to break records. DFNN 29845000 148046870 The postponed Games are now set to 7 open in July, but overseas spectators have 8 PGOLD 3760400 129773430 already been barred from the event, with 9 GTCAP 251810 127991195 a decision on domestic fans delayed until 10 MBT 2791600 122525215 June. AFP

MOST ACTIVE

Veggie satay: High-tech Singapore lab cooks up Asian favorites, minus the meat By Martin Abbugao SINGAPORE—From faux-chicken satay to imitation beef rendang, a high-tech Singapore laboratory is replicating popular Asian dishes with plant-based meat alternatives to feed the region’s growing appetite for sustainable food. Flavor specialists and food scientists in white coats work with plant extracts at the newly-opened facility to create vegetarian versions of traditionally meaty dishes that taste like the real thing. Demand for sustainable foods in Asia, while small compared to the West, is rising in tandem with greater awareness about healthy eating and concerns about the environmental impact of meat consumption. Plant-based burgers and chicken nuggets have already found their way to the region, but US food processing giant ADM is focusing its efforts on dishes with more local appeal. “We work with local chefs, work with local customers to really develop and tailor the taste to what’s needed here in Asia,” said Dirk Oyen, the company’s Southeast Asia vice president and general manager for human nutrition. “That’s really the key—so we can create the local taste.” The ADM lab has cooked veggie versions of satay (grilled meat skewers served with a peanut sauce) and rendang (a beef curry slow-cooked in coconut milk and spices). It hopes to perfect the base ingredients for such delicacies and market them to consumer firms and supermarkets. The scientists use cutting-edge technology to fuse nutrition, texture, aroma and flavor to create protein-rich, vegetarian meat alternatives, mainly using soy and pea beans. Their products mimic beef, pork, chicken and seafood and can be used in a wide variety of fin-

This photograph on April 21, 2021 shows a guest having a plant-based meal during the launch of ADM’s Plant-based Innovation Lab in Singapore. From faux-chicken satay to imitation beef rendang, a high-tech Singapore laboratory is replicating popular Asian dishes with plant-based meat alternatives to feed the region’s growing appetite for sustainable food. AFP

ished dishes. They also recreate processed meat products, such as faux ham and sausages. Asia is already home to some plant-based staples, such as tofu and tempeh, but ADM hopes to offer consumers a broader, and more sophisticated choice. Worries about the environmental impact of eating meat center on the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, produced by cattle, as well as the logging of forests to

make way for pastures. While demand for meat alternatives is growing in Asia, companies like ADM still face challenges, ranging from persuading consumers to change age-old eating habits to stiff competition. Singapore is already home to a host of local start-ups creating sustainable foods ranging from “labgrown” seafood to dumplings made with tropical fruit instead of pork. AFP

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

PSE INDEX CLOSING Friday, May 7, 2021

-24.07 PTS. 6,258.71

TOTAL VOLUME TOTAL TRADES TOTAL VALUE ADVANCES DECLINES UNCHANGED

2,101,008,809 69,769 4,662,818,825.40 104 106 35

F oreign e xchange r ate Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas • FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2021

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

47.9790

Japan

Yen

0.009168

0.4399

Pound

1.389200

66.6524

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128735

6.1766

Switzerland

Franc

1.102050

52.8753

Canada

Dollar

0.822707

39.4727

Singapore

Dollar

0.750244

35.9960

Australia

Dollar

0.778000

37.3277

Bahrain

Dinar

2.655478

127.4072

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266674

12.7948

Brunei

Dollar

0.747440

35.8614

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000070

0.0034

Thailand

Baht

0.032020

1.5363

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

13.0633

Euro

1.206400

57.8819

Korea

Won

0.000892

0.0428

China

Yuan

0.154725

7.4236

India

Rupee

0.013587

0.6519

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.242718

11.6454

New Zealand

Dollar

0.722900

34.6840

Taiwan

Dollar

0.035880

1.7215 Source: BSP

Globe Telecom’s net income rose by 11% to P7.3b in Q1 GLOBE Telecom Inc. said Friday net income rose 11 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, partly due to the implementation of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act. The telecom unit of Ayala Corp. said net income amounted to P7.3 billon in the first three months, up from P6.5 billion in the same period last year. Excluding the impact of CREATE adjustment, normalized net income would have been P5 billion, or 27 percent lower year-on-year. Globe said the impact of the CREATE Law to its income amounted to P300 million. Core net income, which excludes the impact of non-recurring charges, and foreign exchange and mark-tomarket charges, increased 13 percent to P7.4 billion from a year ago. “Despite the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country and the lingering uncertainties from the pandemic, we are encouraged by the improvements in Globe’s first quarter results,” Globe Telecom president and chief executive Ernest Cu said. “Looking ahead, we believe that Globe is well positioned to provide more digital solutions and innovative offers to make our services more relevant to our valued customers, especially during this time of crisis,” he said. Consolidated service revenues reached P37.8 billion, up 3 percent from P36.9 billion last year, on robust data revenue contribution mostly from the broadband segment. Mobile data revenues posted P19.2 billion, while home broadband and corporate data revenues amounted to P7.4 billion and P3.31 billion, respectively. Globe said that as of end-March 2021, it built a total of 318 new cell towers, 152 percent higher than in the same period last year. Total builds for wireless expansion which includes both 4G LTE and 5G reached 4,210 sites in the first quarter, up by 106 percent from a year ago. Globe also installed over 287,000 high-speed lines reflecting a 212-percent increase from the first quarter of 2020. Darwin G. Amojelar

Business GMR-Megawide venture restructures P24-b debt

By Jenniffer B. Austria

EGAWIDE Construction Corp. said Friday the joint venture that operates Mactan Cebu International Airport restructured P23.9billion worth of debt as the pandemic wreaked havoc on the travel industry.

Megaworld said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Friday GMR Megawide Cebu Airports Corp. signed an agreement with lenders to rebalance debt servicing commitments and relax debt covenants related to the financing to develop, operate and maintain the multi-awarded Mactan-Cebu International Airport. GMCAC lenders are composed of BDO Unibank Inc., Philippine National Bank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company and the Asian Development Bank. BDO Capital acted as the financial advisor to the transaction. “We are glad that the negotiations with our lenders were finalized and we express our sincerest gratitude to our financial partners, who from the very start of this pandemic have been

very supportive. The agreement is a strong sign of support and confidence in Megawide’s airport business model. The more relaxed debt servicing schedule will provide our airport operations a clearer runway to full recovery once the situation normalizes,” said Megawide chairman and chief executive Edgar Saavedra. Megawide said the final terms of agreement executed by both parties would temporarily free up around P3.6 billion in cash from 2021 to 2023 and reinforce GMCAC’s financial position, which could be utilized to support operations while the ongoing pandemic limits air travels. Principal payments will be postponed to 2027 to 2029, based on the renewed omnibus loan and security agreement when the travel industry is expected to have fully recuperated from the ill effects of COVID-19. “From the very start, our lenders were very accommodating and have been observing the true spirit of Bayanihan. They have genuinely exercised their sworn mandate to act as intermediaries between sources and users of capital, as they have collectively consented to our requests on all occasions,” said Megawide chief financial officer Ramon Diaz. “We are very grateful that our lenders actually initiated further discussions to resolve all the issues and settle for a more extensive and mutually-beneficial scheme for all parties,” Diaz said.

March exports jumped by 31% to $6.68b amid global recovery EXPORTS rebounded with a 31.6-percent growth in March, led by strong demand for electronics amid the global economic recovery arising from the COVID-19 vaccinations, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show. “At $6.68 billion, the March 2021 exports were even higher than the $6.03 billion earned in March 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Department of Trade and Industry said Friday. The figures put the country’s export growth in the first quarter in the positive territory at 7.6 percent. Electronics, which made up 61 percent of all exports, grew by 25 percent compared to March last year. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez attributed this growth to chip demand due to upgrades to IT systems, new smartphones, auto demand and automation. “Factories across the US, Europe, and Asia are ramping up production. And since the Philippines is part of global value chains, our exports recover as more countries reopen,” Lopez said. “I hope this trend continues so our exporters can hire more people,” Lopez said. All the top 10 major commodity groups in terms of value recorded annual increases, led by other mineral products (195.8 percent), chemicals (159.8 percent) and other manufactured goods (115.7 percent). Coconut oil was the 10th most exported commodity group and the top agricultural export. Sales of the product increased by 7.8 percent to $89.05 million. A 2020 study by the Department of Science and Technology found that virgin coconut oil can help combat COVID-19 symptoms and prevent mild cases from becoming severe.

IN BRIEF

Robinsons Land earned P2.9b in Q1

1.5M VACCINES. Cebu Pacific safely delivers the single largest vaccine shipment to the country yet, in coordination with the

Department of Health. About 1.5 million doses from Beijing arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport via 5J 671 at 8:13 a.m. Friday. Welcoming the shipment are (from left) CEB chief strategy officer Alexandar Lao; cargo sales director Jose Laurente Jr., special adviser to the NTF against COVID-19 Dr. Teddy Herbosa; Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the NTF against COVID-19; Health Secretary Francisco Duque III; Department of Health director for supply chain management Ariel Valencia; Undersecretary Ma. Carolina Vidal-Taiño,;Manila International Airport Administration officer-in-charge for public affairs Ma. Consuelo Bungag; and CEB director for special projects Marvin Cui.

Meralco announces P0.1853-per-kWh rise in monthly billing of residential customers By Alena Mae S. Flores CONSUMERS of Manila Electric Co. will experience slightly higher rates in May after the power retailer announced the overall charge for a typical household increased by P0.1853 per kilowatthour to P8.5920 per kWh from last month’s P8.4067per kWh. The total bill of a residential customers consuming 200 kWh will go up by around P37, the power distributor said. Meralco vice president and spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga attributed the higher rates to the completion of the refund of over-recovery in pass-through charges. Meralco completed the Energy Regulatory Commission-approved refund of over-recoveries in pass-through charges, so the corresponding deduction for the refund would no longer appear beginning in the May bill. The ERC, in an order released on Dec. 29, 2020, directed Meralco to refund over-recoveries in transmission

and other charges. Meralco implemented the order starting January and completed the refund in April. The impact to residential customers, from the months of January to April, was a refund of around P0.15 per kWh. Zaldarriaga said, however, that this month’s overall rate was still lower than last year’s rate by P0.1548 per kWh. “This is also the lowest rate for May since 2017,” he said. The increase this month was tempered as Meralco continued the implementation of the Distribution Rate True-Up refund, which began in March. The ERC provisionally approved Meralco’s proposal to refund around P13.9 billion over a period of 24 months or until the amount is fully refunded. This amount represents the difference between the actual weighted average tariff and the ERC-approved interim average rate for distribution-related charges for the period July 2015 to November 2020.

GINEBRA’S AWARD. Ginebra San Miguel Inc. receives the Excellence Award for its COVID-19 related communications campaign at the 18th Philippine Quill Awards of the International Association of Business Communicators-Philippines. Ginebra launched the Gin Responsibly internal communications campaign last year to engage the company’s employees and stakeholders nationwide to show ‘malasakit’ and ensure that timely and factual information on COVID-19 is disseminated within the organization.

Fort Pilar Energy bags Malaya plant with P3.12-b offer STATE-RUN Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. on Friday declared Fort Pilar Energy Inc. as the winning negotiating party after submitting the highest offer of P3.123 billion for the 650-megawatt Malaya Thermal Power Plant and its land in Pililla, Rizal. PSALM held the public negotiated sale on Friday for the MTPP asset. Fort Pilar’s offer surpassed the minimum offer price of P1,845,222,000 set by the PSALM board for the Malaya negotiated sale process. “After several attempts to privatize MTPP the last two years, we are very happy to have finally received financial bids substantially above our minimum offer price,” PSALM president and chief executive Irene Besido-Garcia said in a statement. The other qualified negotiating party, AC Energy Corp., submitted an offer of P2.22 billion. The sale of the MTPP is on an “asis where Is” basis. It includes the 300-MW Unit 1 and the 350-MW Unit 2 and the underlying land. “We are glad that this culminated in a successful privatization. PSALM definitely needs the proceeds of this privatization activity to pay for the remaining stranded contract costs and stranded debts. MTPP contributed to the losses of PSALM the past many years, and so we really looked forward to selling it,” Garcia said. The results of the negotiation exercise will be subject to a postqualification process to ensure that the winning negotiating party indeed met all the financial and legal requirements as indicated in the negotiation procedures. Representatives from the Commission on Audit, the Department of Finance, the Department of Justice and National Power Corp. witnessed the proceedings. Alena Mae S. Flores

ROBINSONS Land Corp., the property unit of the Gokongewei Group, said Friday net income fell 6.4 percent in the first quarter to P2.9 billion from P3.1 billion in the same period last year. RLC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange first-quarter consolidated revenues increased 35 percent to P16.67 billion from a year ago. “Business environment in the first quarter improved on the back of reduced quarantine restrictions and increased economic activity. We maintain a positive outlook for the future after the successful rollout of vaccination programs,” RLC president and chief executive Frederick Go said. Development portfolio accounted for 91 percent of total revenues, equivalent to P12.58 billion, primarily driven by sales from RLC’s Chengdu Ban Bian Jie project in China. The group’s mall business reported a 22-percent increase to P2.25 billion as operational gross leasable area, number of operational tenants and foot traffic showed signs of recovery in the first three months of the year. RLC’s hotels and resorts division delivered a quarter-on-quarter double-digit growth in revenues of 14 percent to P258 million, primarily attributable to the improved performance of Go Hotels. The group’s residential division booked a 69-percent decline in revenues to P2.03 billion. Jenniffer B. Austria

Factory production down 73% in March FACTORY output declined both in volume and value in March amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show. The volume of production index remained at a downtrend, with an annual rate of -73.4 percent in March. This downturn was deeper than the -43.3 percent decrease registered in the previous month. In March 2020, the annual rate of VoPI was recorded at -20.4 percent. “The drop in VoPI was brought about by the contractions in the indices of five industry divisions. Among these, the top contributor was manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products with an annual rate of -97.4 percent,” the PSA said. The value of production index for manufacturing also registered an annual rate of -74.2 percent in March, faster than the reported downturn in the previous month of -46.4 percent. Julito G. Rada

AirAsia PH reports improving traffic AIRASIA Philippines said Friday it posted a strong rebound in travel demand in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter amid the global pandemic. The Philippine unit of Southeast Asia’s largest airline said it carried 168,527 passengers in the first three months, a 43-percent increase from the fourth quarter last year. The higher number of passengers it carried resulted in an increase in load factor of 10 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 74 percent. A month-on-month breakdown showed that AirAsia Philippines grew its number of passengers by 57 percent, despite increasing 30 percent in operating capacity in March compared to February. This resulted in a commendable 81 percent load factor in March. AirAsia Philippines said that on a yearon-year basis, passenger traffic was still 91 percent lower compared to 1.79 million passengers in the first quarter of 2020. Darwin G. Amojelar

0 R W K H U · V ' D\

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

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Special Issue

Making MOTHER’S DAY SPECIAL without leaving the house (and other tips, too)

By P. Y. Deligero

VERY second Sunday of May, we set aside some time to celebrate the one person who loves us unconditionally: our mothers. This is why people put so much thought and effort into planning the perfect Mother’s Day celebration.

This year, things have taken a different turn with the COVID-19 pandemic still posing a threat to people everywhere. Establishments have adapted a limited seating capacity to lessen the risk of spreading the diseases to the people. So with Mother’s Day fast approaching and many of us scrambling to find the perfect gift for mom, how can we make sure that her special day goes off without a hitch? Here are a few ideas that you can try without having to leave home:

Plan a spa day In recent years, there has been a rise in the demand for skincare products as more people are interested in creating a routine that will leave them with smooth, supple skin. For Mother’s Day, make use of the time and the skincare products by giving mom a spa day right inside your home. Have her lie down on a comfortable surface and pull her hair back to keep it from going to her face and then apply a toner, moisturizer, face masks and other products. Don’t forget to use a roller or massager on her temples to give her an extra relaxing experience that will melt away her stress. By the end of the day, mom will feel refreshed and her glowing skin is just one of the ways that will reflect how much she enjoyed being pampered. Cook a delicious meal Unleash your inner chef and take over the kitchen for a day. Learn how to cook one of her favorite dishes or try to make something fancy like a steak or a similar dish to let her know that she deserves nothing but the best. But if cooking isn’t up your alley, look for restaurants that serve some of mom’s favorites or try something new that will surely make her

Home-works for Mom from SM WITH most members of the family spending more time at home, keeping it clean and bright is a challenge for Mom. This Mother’s Day, surprise her with exciting innovations from SM Home that will make her home-works a breeze and give her more time for herself. There are smart cleaners like robotic vacuums that will work on dusty floors, stained fabrics, stinky corners and kitchen clutter in half the time we spent in our usual cleaning routine. Power scrubbers will leave the floor spotless; while UV sterilizers sanitize and disinfect bed linens and dinnerware to protect your family from unwanted viruses. This May, get discounts and online coupons on select home essential items and furniture from SM Home. Shop for your mom and place your order online through the SM Store’s Call to Deliver (#143SM) and ShopSM app. For more info and updates, follow SM Home at the SM Store in Instagram or visit thesmstore.com website.

Let this Eufy RoboVac G10 Hybrid take charge of mopping and sweeping in half the time as Mom relaxes.

Clean with style with Eufy HomeVac S11 Go, a cordless and lightweight stick-vacuum cleaner that allows you to maneuver into the corners and around furniture. Save time from washing the dishes and keep your dinnerware germfree with Hanabishi Dishwasher with UV Sterilizer.

Eufy HomeVac H11 is a mini vacuum that offers practical solutions to your home’s cleaning needs.

This Crossett Air Purifier is equipped with HEPA filter that ensures cleaner air for your home. Dust off the mites from your bed with this Dowell UV Mites Cleaner.

Sanitize and disinfect your home with this Landlite UV- C Sterilizer Portable Lamp and Pocket Stick.

Kokubo Bottle Sponges for long bottles and glasses.

feel special on the day that’s meant just for her. And if mom has a sweet tooth, make sure that you have a cake or a delectable dessert at your disposal. Enjoy a movie night One common activity that many people haven’t been able to enjoy because of the pandemic is to go out and watch movies. But this can be easily remedied this Mother’s Day as you plan to take mom out to the movies—without actually taking her out! Queue her favorite movies and prepare some snacks as well as drinks that the whole family can enjoy, while you’re laughing your hearts out to a family comedy or whatever genre it is that piques mom’s interest. These are only some ideas on how to spend Mother’s Day indoors. There are other ways to make the day special for mom, but whatever it is that you might think of, mom will be sure to appreciate it especially if it’s well-thought-of, personal and filled with effort. What to expect when you’re expecting Being a mother is not an easy role. It entails a lot of responsibility, effort, and will take up a lot of time. Despite all that, it’s worth it when you see how happy and healthy your family is under your supervision. For expectant mothers, having a baby can bring

about a big change in life, especially as your due date draws near. One of the first things that you should think about is the basics: changing diapers, bathing, breastfeeding and other similar activities. Ask experts on how to properly do these so that when the baby comes, you won’t be scrambling to figure out what to do next. Each baby is unique so make sure that you find the right methods that are ideal for your baby’s preference. But most importantly, remember to take a break now and then. Newborns are highly dependent on their mothers for sustenance and affection so make sure that you’re in top shape to care for them. Don’t skip out on meals and get enough sleep when you can—you’ll feel refreshed and ready to spend valuable time with your bundle of joy. If you’re looking out for an expecting mother, be ready to support her at all times because raising a child is no easy task— even if our moms make it look like it is. Two Filipino moms who set good examples Mothers do more than just nurture and provide for their families. They also teach their children valuable lessons and provide them with the necessary knowledge with enthusiasm to help them progress through life. For instance, Janice Lao, the first Filipino to win the Edie Awards, incorporates mathematics and science in her kid’s everyday ac-

tivities. Being an expert on global sustainability, Lao uses her knowledge as an environmental scientist and development economist to teach her two kids about the ways of the world. Lao also serves as an inspiration to young girls around the world, who aspire to make a difference in the world through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Another way that supermoms continue to wow us is through their ability to balance everything in life that needs their attention, just like celebrity chef Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo. Judy Ann, or Juday, is a well-known actress for some of her groundbreaking roles in movies and television. Now, she balances her schedule as a mother of three children, a wife to celebrity Ryan Agoncillo, and a YouTube celebrity chef. Recently, Juday took on another role as the co-owner of the restaurant “Angrydobo” with her husband. Her culinary skills and charitable works have earned her praise from many netizens around the Philippines. Motherhood is not an easy task. It doesn’t come with an instruction manual that says how things should be done and other information. Yet, our mothers still get the job done and never fail to show their unconditional love as well as support in all our endeavors. So on her special day, make sure to give her a big hug and a heartfelt thank you for all that she’s done for you and your family. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there!

Sports

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

Businessman Mayweather looking for crazy payday MIAMI—Floyd Mayweather has untold riches, private jets, yachts and mansions yet the desire to entertain remains. The 44-year-old, undefeated former welterweight world champion is preparing to make a return to the ring next month with an exhibition fight against Internet personality star Logan Paul at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium on June 6. Mayweather should in theory have no need to don gloves again after a boxing career which by one estimate saw him earn more than $1 billion. But he told reporters on Thursday that he is not content to sit back and let his retirement years roll on by. The prospect of a lucrative payday against Paul—a 26-year-old novice who has fought just twice, both against a fellow Youtube celebrity—proved irresistible. Details for the fight remain shrouded in mystery. As yet it is not known how many rounds the contest will feature, or what gloves the Paul and Mayweather will use. Mayweather sees the event as an opportunity to make "crazy" money, even if his claims of a potential nine-figure purse are plainly fanciful. "I'm retired from boxing," Mayweather told AFP. "My record is 50-0. But I just want to have fun and to go out and make nine figures. I think I am a smart businessman. "There's a lot of champions who have got legacy, but no currency. It's great that I'm able to go out there and make a crazy payday. That's entertainment "I think people think retirement is just being at home, with your feet kicked up, gaining weight. "No, that's not what I want to do. I want to have fun, travel the world and just enjoy life ... "People want to be entertained. All people have been talking about is Covid and vaccines. Let's get back to entertaining the people and having fun." The irony was not lost on the American fighter that as Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, the Mexican superstar whose only defeat came against the man known as 'Money' in 2013, was preparing for his fight this weekend in front of an estimated crowd of 70,000 in Arlington, Texas, all the headlines had been grabbed by chaotic scenes in Miami which saw Mayweather clash with Logan Paul and brother Jake. Mayweather, retired or not, remains box office material. "He was 23 and I was 36 when we fought," said Mayweather of Alvarez. "Look at me when I was 23. "I was a monster. No fighter in history could have beaten me. Noone could beat me at any age. AFP

Floyd Mayweather and Jake Paul scuffle after the youtube star took the boxer's hat during a media availability drumbeating their fight at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. AFP

PBA, FIBA tilt hosting get government okay

PH rowers fail to secure Tokyo seats PARTICIPANTS from the Philippines settled for decent finishes, even as rowers from the host country claimed slots to the Tokyo Olympics at the Asia and Oceania Olympic and Paralympic qualifier in Tokyo, Japan. And as organizers successfully contained a reported COVID-19 case, Ryuta Arakawa and Shiho Yonekawa claimed seats to the Olympics after topping the men’s and women’s single sculls finals, respectively, on Friday. Arakawa, who raced in the men’s double at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, took off in a final sprint and ruled the men’s 2,000-meter course in seven minutes and 1.59 seconds. Bahman Nasiri of Iran took the silver (7:08.98), while Vladislav Yakovlev of Kazakhstan bagged the bronze. On the other hand, Filipino bet Cris Nievarez made it to third in the group finals and settled for ninth place in 7:37.55. In the women’s side, Yonakawa completely broke away with 500m left to row to grab the gold in 7:43.13, with Nazanin Malaei of Iran trailing in 7:50.53 and Yi Ting Huang of Taipei in third (7:58.78). Another Japanese duo in Naoki Furuta and Mitsuo Nishimura managed to inch away early on to dominate the men’s lightweight double sculls in 6:34.70, with rowers from India and Uzbekistan taking second and third. Pinoy rowers Roque Abala and Zuriel Sumintac later settled for third, and eventually finished ninth place overall in Group B. Japan’s Chiaki Tomita and Ayami Oishi claimed the gold as they took the lead with 250 meters left to row in the lightweight women’s double sculls, with the Filipino duo of Joanie Delgaco and Jen Caballero ruling Group B, but landing seventh overall. There were a total of 16 quota slots to the Olympics that were staked during the event. According to reports, a team support member of Sri Lanka tested positive for COVID-19. Event protocols in place to limit the risk of infection were followed and the other members of the Sri Lankan team were all tested. Peter Atencio

By Peter Atencio

HE Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases on Friday gave the Philippine Basketball Association the green light to start its practice sessions and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas clearance to host the third window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualiﬁers.

Practices under a training bubble are set to begin in Batangas City by May 15 as member PBA teams get ready for the start of the 46th season. Three gymnasiums emerged as possible practice facilities for the PBA, namely the Batangas Coliseum, Batangas State University and the Lyceum Philippines University-Batangas following talks by PBA commissioner Willie Marcial with Batangas City Mayor Beverly Dimacuha and Rep. Mario Victorio Marino. “The training that will happen will now depend on the community quarantine level that the province will be placed into by May 15,” said Marcial, adding

that the three facilities got the approval of the league following inspections done on them by the league’s technical officials. Face-to-face practice activities will be possible in areas that are under a General Community Quarantine or in a Modified General Community Quarantine status. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque broke the news to the PBA on the decision a during a press briefing in Malacanang. Meanwhile, the Philippines, following a three-month delay, has finally gotten the needed IATF clearance to host the third window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers from June 16 to 20 in a bubble environment in Clark, Pampanga.

“We’re looking forward to hosting our friends from Groups A, B and C and showing them the kind of hospitality that the Philippines is known for,” said SBP president Alfredo Panlilio. The Philippines earlier withdrew from its hosting responsibility after the national government implemented travel restrictions due to the rising COVID-19 cases. Doha was supposed to be the substitute host, but it cancelled as well after authorities ordered all public events halted when the country experienced a surge in virus cases. The decision of the Qatari authorities brought the hosting rights back to the Philippines. “The SBP has been working with FIBA, government agencies, and other partners to ensure a successful and, more importantly, a safe bubble,” added the SBP in a statement. The Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia make up Group A, while Japan, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, and China are in Group B. Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Guam are in Group C.

Battle of LA: Clippers maul Lakers

Paul George of the LA Clippers keeps his dribble from from Alex Caruso of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second quarter at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. AFP

LOS ANGELES—Paul George scored a team high 24 points as the Los Angeles Clippers clobbered the Los Angeles Lakers 118-94 on Thursday to sweep the season series between the two California rivals. While the Clippers are getting healthy at just the right time, the Lakers season is slipping away with their two biggest stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis nursing ongoing injuries. "I only came here to win a championship and if we don't do that we go back to zero. We all know that in the locker room," said guard Rajon Rondo, who was one of seven Clippers in double figures with 11 points. The Lakers got more bad news Thursday when Davis left the game in the first quarter and did not return because of back spasms. James and Davis have missed large chunks of the season and once again the reigning NBA champions looked lost on the floor without their primary ball handlers. Not only are the Clippers healthy again

but they are back sharing the ball. "We have the DNA," said Rondo. "We have the blueprint in this locker room to do it. It's just a matter of coming together and believing in one another." Superstar Kawhi Leonard played in his third straight game after missing nine games in April with a sore right foot and point guard Patrick Beverley was in his second game since rejoining the team for a 105-100 win over Toronto on Tuesday. Leonard had 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the Clippers swept the Lakers during the regular season for the first time since 2016. Kyle Kuzma scored 25 points to become just one of two Lakers in double figures scoring. Both James and Davis have made their returns from long injury layoffs only to go back to the infirmary late in the season when they are needed the most. Davis played nine minutes of the first quarter and had four points. He stepped awkwardly and went down with a twisted ankle before limping off to the dressing room. The Lakers released a statement

saying that he would not return because of back spasms. Davis said later he doesn't expect to miss any games. "My ankle is ﬁne," said Davis. "It wasn't bothering me. My back locked up pretty bad. I feel better now. We will see how it is tomorrow. I should be good to go." Coach Frank Vogel said they would follow the medical team's lead. "We will see how he feels tomorrow." Elsewhere, Luka Doncic scored 24 points as the Dallas Mavericks overcame Kyrie Irving's 45-point performance with a 113-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets in a clash of two of the top teams in the NBA. Doncic also had 10 rebounds and he got plenty of help from his supporting cast, including Tim Hardaway, who ﬁnished with 23 points in front of the pandemic-limited crowd of 4,600 at the American Airlines Center in Texas. "They are a championship team. They have all the great pieces but we came out strong," said Doncic. "Kyrie had a great game but we were able to close it out."AFP

International racer Miranda gets Lhuillier backing THE name Jean Henri Lhuillier has always been a force to reckon with in the world of business. As the President and CEO of the PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies, the parent company of Cebuana Lhuillier, Jean Henri has steered the company towards becoming the Philippines’ leading and largest micro ﬁnancial services provider specializing in pawning, remittance, microinsurance, and micro savings. Having achieved tremendous success in business through assistances that uplift the lives of Filipinos, Jean Henri has also become a strong profounder of corporate social value and responsibility. One of Jean Henri’s key approaches

as a means of giving back to society has been through the promotion of sports in the Philippines. A former college varsity tennis player, Jean Henri enjoys playing sports and being involved in the world of sports. He is the President of the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines and was the man behind the exploits of the RP Blu Girls and Blu Boys in the recent years, Founder and President of the Uniﬁed Tennis Philippines, which runs numerous tournaments both age group and professional tennis tournaments every year. Lhuillier was also the team manager for the RP Davis Cup teams for several years and was the man behind bringing top

tennis players in the country through the International Premiere Tennis League as part owner and team manager of the Philippine Mavericks. He also used to support basketball thru the Cebuana Gems and even spearheaded national teams in the Southeast Asian Games. As a true patron of sports, Jean Henri also throws his support behind athletes who show exemplary skills and passion in their chosen ﬁeld. One such individual is Daniel Miranda, a multi-awarded

kart racer who has already brought home several awards, including the Philippine Karter of the Year in 2013; Vios Cup overall champion in 2017; and, the TCR Asian Drivers' Champion in 2019. More recently, Miranda has brought his A-game in Drifting, the sport of driving a car by sliding it and smoking its tires through a set course. Most Filipinos would have been introduced to the sport through Jean Henri Lhuillier

the anime series “Initial D” or through movies such as “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. In supporting Miranda, Jean Henri, said: “I'm so elated and proud of what Daniel has achieved. I've never doubted his capabilities. I and Cebuana Lhuillier will continue to support in his pursuit for further greatness.” The country is blessed to have a dedicated sports patron like Jean Henri Lhuillier. His steadfast commitment to continue doing what he describes as “my part in bringing glory to Philippine sports” has been proven invaluable by many of the athletes and organizations he supports.

Tech & Gadgets

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

vivo Y20s [G]: More than just a gaming phone Camera

By Jessica Luna

The rear panel is built with triple AI cameras that provide decent image quality, supporting features like facial beauty, portrait light effects and ﬁlters. The main 13 MP camera allows you to capture vibrant photos, with the 2 MP macro lens keeping your subject accurately in your photo and adding more depth of ﬁeld to your image through the depth sensor. The front 8 MP camera is perfect for capturing photos in daylight.

HE rise of esports or mobile gaming has paved the way for an array of gaming phones to choose from.

And if you are on the look out for one, the you might consider the vivo Y20s [G]. Speed, power and juice are not a problem with the vivo Y20s [G]. Packed with the powerful MediaTek HyperEngine that is enhanced by Helio G80 octa-core processor, the vivo Y20s [G] boasts of faster load times, more efﬁcient connectivity and enhances visual quality of mobile games, which are churned out with no delays, assuring an uninterrupted gaming experience. The proof is a speed of up to 2.0 GHz (Gigahertz), offering 98% more power than its predecessors. Its robust 5,000mAh battery and 18W fast charge give the user more time to enjoy his/her games. As they say, the weapon should match the skill of the warrior. But the vivo Y20s [G] is not just a gaming phone, which both the casual and discriminating user can appreciate as well.

Memory, Internal

The vivo Y20s [G] is a very capable phone, offering up-to-the-mark gaming, streaming and everyday experience for gamers and non-gamers alike.

Dimensions

The vivo Y20s [G] has a nice 6.51inch screen with an equally nice back cover. The elegantly designed 8.4 mm dimensions and with a weight of just 192.3g make the phone look very thin and won't create a bulk in your pocket. The side-mounted ﬁngerprint reader offers instant performance.

Screen and stream

Its 6.51-inch screen offers high-deﬁnition amount of resolution capability and

a crystal clear interface, perfect to stream those Netﬂix favorites of yours. vivo Y20s [G]'s MediaTek MiraVision enhances image quality real-time, leading to a lower action-to-display latency and sealing the richness of the visuals with better contrast, texture sharpness, and ﬁne

details, with the Halo FullView Display. Worries of your phone dying out on you prematurely is out of the question due to its huge Li-Po 5,000 mAh battery, while eye strain can also be avoided with its eye protection mode that protects your peepers from harmful blue light.

Controlling the entire system seamlessly is the Android 10 operating system, although it does not offer much latest Android 11. As stated above, the phone is fueled by the 12nm MediaTek Helio G80 chipset, which results in no delays when playing games or everyday tasks. The phone comes with variants of 4 GB RAM with 64 GB storage and 6 GB RAM with 128 GB storage. A dedicated memory expansion of up to 1 TB is also supported, allowing you to statch all your favorite music, videos, movies or photos on a single chip. In conclusion, the vivo Y20s [G] is a very capable phone, offering upto-the-mark gaming, streaming and everyday experience for gamers and non-gamers alike. The vivo Y20s [G] is now available in select stores nationwide for P9,999. For more details of this new smartphone, visit www.https://www.vivoglobal.ph/ or visit vivo Philippines on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Y20s [G] is also available for purchase at vivo’s ofﬁcial Lazada and Shopee stores.

DICT wants to invest in common towers Globe VP for Consumer Mobile Business KD Dizon

Globe underlines customer-centricity at youth festival FOR students entering the workforce, Globe reminds the youth that putting customers’ best interests and needs are of utmost importance. Globe Vice-President for Consumer Mobile Business, KD Dizon, discussed the virtues of being customer-centric as she underscored Globe’s commitment to help empower the youth so they can thrive in the new normal, in her keynote speech at the recent PANAF (Philippine Association of National Advertisers Foundation) Youth Creativity Festival 2021. “Every single part of what we bring to the market must have the customer in mind,” she said. “What we must be excited about is the customer, about solving their problems, about enhancing their lives, about empowering them to create the lives that they want. That is not just in what we communicate to them, but it’s the whole ecosystem behind what we are bringing to our customers.” Dizon noted that the mindset shift to put the customer ﬁrst was pivotal in Globe’s journey at a time when the battle of the brands was very ﬁerce. “We started to purposely build products and services to address customer pain points and look into motivations and the insights behind the customer,” she added. Thus, she encouraged the youth to always have the customer front and center, especially when it comes to building brands. “Customers are all ever-evolving, so much more now, driven by the unfortunate pandemic that we’re in. What worked in the recent past would no longer work now, but apart from being a huge challenge, it is an even bigger opportunity,” Dizon shared. The PANAF Youth Creative Festival 2021 was a gathering of industry experts and leading practitioners to help the youth, fresh graduates and those new into the workforce, with insights on how they can future proof themselves. To know more about Globe, visit www.globe.com.ph

THE Department on Information and Communications Technology plans to invest in common telecommunications towers to expand mobile services to underserved areas of the country. In a posted update of Telecom Tower Watch, DICT Undersecretary for Digital Philippines Emmanuel Rey R. Caintic said, “DICT wishes to invest in common towers for missionary sites, complete with radio access network and Internet Protocol back haul.” Caintic said: “We are working with Congress on legislation allowing DICT to utilize untapped funds from the Spectrum Users Fee reserved for FREE WIFI for Public Places for digital infrastructure which in turn will allow us to build common infrastructure in commercially unviable places hungry for cellular signals.” “To address permitting delays in ongoing builds of ﬁber optic networks, we are drafting a new Joint Memorandum Circular to streamline the permitting process. Fiber networks are critical in operationalizing broadband services,” Caintic added. He also pointed out delays in ongoing tower projects caused by travel restrictions of to avoid spread of COVID 19 infections. “We observed some delays because travel of telco specialists were disrupted which is understandable because of the necessary safety protocols,” Caintic said. In a separate statement, Globe Telecom reported 318 new cell towers in strategic locations all over the country and completed the expansion of at least 4,210 sites and

laying 274,000 high-speed lines. “While our numbers are good for the ﬁrst quarter of the year, there is still a lot more work to be done. We need to continue this momentum and rise above quarantine challenges to meet the growing demand of our customers,” said Joel Agustin, Globe Senior Vice President for Program Delivery, Network Technical Group. Telecom Tower Watch Convenor Orlando Oxales said, “We appeal to the local authorities on the ground not to delay ongoing construction of thousands of digital infrastructure projects such as telecommunications towers and fiber optic networks that the country urgently needs especially now that non-contact modes is the safest way of interaction.” “We will be releasing regular updates on ongoing issues that need action to speed-up the expansion of our digital infrastructure and appeal on all parties in the many touch points of these projects to be part of the solution because it’s their own communities that will beneﬁt,” Oxales said.

Angel Redoble

PLDT, Smart rachet up fight against online child abuse PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. have formalized their membership into the UKbased Internet Watch Foundation, broadening its global fight against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The IWF membership officially makes PLDT and Smart the first in the Philippines to join the global coalition of more than 150 organizations, including some of the world’s largest tech giants in the fight against OSAEC. With the IWF members, PLDT and Smart gain access to a wider database on which to block harmful links. The IWF, which has identified at least 9,000 domains linked to online child abuse, counts Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Telefonica, and Vodafone among its members. “We’re now part of a bigger community that shares information on child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) that are spread across the Internet. We have access to IWF’s rich database of websites that host these illegal materials. This will be integrated into our own child protection platform to prevent further exposure of our children and customers to these illicit contents,” said PLDT and Smart Chief Information Security Officer Angel Redoble. Backed by the global internet industry and the European Commission, the IWF is a non-profit organization that works closely with law enforcement agencies of national governments, internet service providers and platforms, and charitable organizations in taking down webpages, keywords, hash lists, and digital fingerprints that contain child abuse materials. “The children in the images and videos our analysts see are real children. Every time their abuse is shared online, they are made victims all over again. Working together like this will help make a real difference to victims’ lives,” said Susie Hargreaves OBE, Chief Executive of the IWF. Because the issue is a global one, Hargreaves says it’s important for the organization to “work with partners around the world to make sure children are safe, and that criminals have nowhere to go to share images and videos of the abuse and suffering of children.”

Blockchain to uplift lives of underserved Philippine sectors A FILIPINO-OWNED and controlled fintech company aims to utilize blockchain, the decentralized ledger technology that supports transactions without need of going through the traditional banking system, to promote inclusive growth and allow the more than 70 percent of the Philippines’s underserved, unserved and unbanked sectors. Smart Asset Management Digital Technologies believes blockchain can be a powerful tool if used continuously to work towards a more dynamic and digital economic system. SAM said its Members Acceleration Program offers one of the fastest growing automation in income opportunity with digital and conventional business developments in Asean and the Australasia regions. “This program will help them to have another set of opportunity aside from their primary work,” stated Nicos Figueroa, SAM’s Compliance Officer. “Everyone can do this part time. As mentioned, SAM MAP is all about group efforts and teamwork in attaining their goals. Moreover, with MAP's benefits and rewards program it can definitely take them to multi-stream of opportunities.” SAM Director Marc Ilagan added the MAP was designed to accelerate and develop collaboration amongst SAM members that allows them to reap the many benefits of the pro-

Marc Ilagan

gram. Ensuring a large SAM community is one of the key features that will provide better income opportunities for its members, he said. “The SAM MAP provides an opportunity for any member to start their own business, whether small- or mediumscale. And they can do this without a capital,” said Ilagan. SAM Digital Technologies has strategic solutions to current challenges by identifying sustainability issues; executing strategy to reinforce sustainability; leverage liquidity; and unsecured leverage in SAMDT hybrid

Nicos Figueroa

decentralized finance (defi). There are two main economic tools in the program - the SAM e-Wallet and the SAM Project Development where members can earn up to 200 percent reward points and exchange it to products and services or cash. The e-Wallet is recording system of the overall transaction inside the SAM E-Wallet that is also using its own blockchain technology with the protocol Proof of Authority (POA) with its own Ethereum Blockchain Platform. It tilizes two different blockchain technologies to maximize multi-swapping asset services,

thereby creating trust in a trustless environment. SAMPD’s main feature is a subscription-based program that provides potential opportunities for our subscribers-based network to directly engage on the information provided in the conventional businesses published. SAMPD is also a registered corporation in the Philippines thru the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commissions) where it will house majority of the SAMPD Conventional Businesses as its HUB. Membership in MAP is available for any user of the SAM App who: (a) possesses the legal authority to agree to the SAM App Terms and Conditions and these MAP T&C; (b) resides in a jurisdiction which legally permits participation in MAP; and (c) provides valid and accurate personal information when creating a user account in the SAM App and enrolling in the MAP. SAM uses the binary system LOGIC, and thru that logic SAM DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES deployed an artiﬁcial intelligence of the auto-role positioning, thereby implementing an un discriminative distribution of members in the system. Where the system will distribute opportunities irrespective of the hierarchy. It is without a doubt that teamwork is the key element factor to a successful REWARDS system.

Ramon L. Tomeldan Editor

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021

Motoring

FORMULA ONE RACING

Hamilton pursues 100th pole in Spain T

HE Formula One circus pitches up in Barcelona this weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix with Red Bull’s tantalising tilt at prising the spotlight away from showstoppers Mercedes topping the bill.

Three races in and against pre-season predictions it is Lewis Hamilton who leads Max Verstappen by eight points arriving at the fourth leg of the championship. Wins last Sunday in Portugal and in the opener in Bahrain leave the seventime champion in his customary habitat at the top of the F1 drivers’ tree. Barcelona is a track the teams know intimately as the usual venue for preseason testing, and with its reputation as a circuit where overtaking opportunities are few and far between the onus will be on Saturday’s qualifying to command a prime front row seat on Sunday’s grid. Hamilton is seeking his fifth consecutive win in Catalonia, with three of his last four victories delivered from pole. Should he top the time sheets on Saturday he will celebrate his 100th pole position, after being denied that honour by his teammate Valtteri Bottas last weekend in Portimao. Verstappen and Red Bull’s emergence as serious title contenders not only has F1 fans gripping their sofas’ arm rests or smart phones -- Mercedes chief Toto Wolff says he’s enjoying the same sensation he felt at the first signs Mercedes could muscle in on the then Red Bull roadshow seven years ago.

“When we were behind in testing and in Bahrain, it’s a buzz that I have not felt in the team since 2013 when we had that first sniff that we could be there,” said Wolff. “The whole place is excited and continues to be excited. I’d like to be happy after Abu Dhabi at the end of the season but for the time being, we’ll take it one step at a time.” While the 2021 Hamilton continues to display all the hallmarks that have turned him into a serial champion - often flawless race craft, consummate professionalism and steely focus, Verstappen this season has changed. The Dutch driver seems to have his eye on the bigger picture, as F1’s managing director Ross Brawn pointed out. “It’s clear that Max Verstappen is approaching this championship in a different way because he finally has a titlewinning car,” said Brawn. “And it had to change because when you’re a title contender, the focus has to be on consolidating when you’re not the fastest and when opportunities such as a mechanical issue for a rival or a Safety Car present themselves, you must be in a position to strike.” Verstappen’s boss at Red Bull Christian Horner is like his Mercedes counterpart Wolff lapping up the first proper

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes outmaneuvers his rival Max Verstappen of Red Bull during the hotly contested Portugal grand prix. AFP

inter-team title battle for some time. “The picture is starting to clarify. Red Bull and Mercedes are the two standout teams, and Lewis and Max are the two standout drivers. “It’s incredibly tight. The biggest winner for that is Formula 1 – and if it goes

like this for 23 races, it’s going to be nip and tuck.” One driver who has special reason to approach this weekend’s race with a spring in his step is Fernando Alonso. The two-time champion is finally finding his feet with Alpine, formerly Renault,

Hyundai Motor, UNDP Accelerator Labs Present Worldwide Sustainable Solutions from Thirty Countries ‘for Tomorrow’ SEOUL, May 6, 2021 — Celebrating six months since the launch of the ‘for Tomorrow’ project, Hyundai Motor Company and the United Nations Development Program released a video featuring three sustainable living solutions from a collection of submissions by grassroots local innovators from around the world. Six months ago, Hyundai Motor and the UNDP Accelerator Labs launched ‘for Tomorrow’, an initiative that has sought out, welcomed and enabled people across the globe to help their communities move towards a more livable future. Grassroots innovators from different countries have submitted their solutions via the ‘for Tomorrow’ platform, ranging from hands-on, in-the-field initiatives to digital, data-driven innovations that are answering concrete needs within their communities. The video — narrated by ‘for Tomorrow’ ambassador, Jessica Alba — signals the second phase of the project, themed ‘Sustainable Cities and Communities’. Innovators will get support from sustainability experts from May. “Our partnership with UNDP is very meaningful to us. Corporate citizenship is essential to ensuring a better quality of life for communities everywhere, which is why Hyundai Motor is collaborating with the UNDP to help nurture and advance sustainable social entrepreneurship initiatives and innovations,” said Thomas Schemera, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Hyundai Motor.

Nissan in the Philippines further pursues their vision to enrich Filipino lives through their support to medical frontliners.

Hyundai Motor and UNDP Accelerator Labs jointly release video featuring sustainable solutions submitted to the ‘for Tomorrow’ project, narrated by project ambassador Jessica Alba

“In the last six months of our partnership, we’ve seen a lot of solutions that inspire us. I hope these solutions will be the seeds of innovation that will make a better future. In line with our brand vision, ‘Progress for Humanity’, we will continue to contribute to becoming a sustainable society with a sense of corporate citizenship.” UNDP Accelerator Labs Special Advisor Joseph D’Cruz added, “The goal of ‘for Tomorrow’ is to tap into innovation to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Working with Hyundai Motor, we want to connect with innovators around the world and help find those local solutions that are key to the evolution of topics such as mobility, waste manage-

ment and urban living. This brings the work done by the 91 Accelerator Labs around the world to a whole new level and extend our reach like never before.” “Many people wake up every morning wanting to contribute to positive change and wondering how they can do it,” said project ambassador Alba. “This film is about some of the members of the ‘for Tomorrow’ community who are acting on that desire. It’s about the challenges they face, the solutions they come up with, and how they’re improving life in their communities and beyond.” The video highlights three inspiring stories in an effort to empower people working to create positive changes in their communities to improve their quality of life through sustainable means:

Geely PH Goes B.I.G. with Okavango IN ITS latest campaign, Sojitz G Auto Philippines (SGAP) is going big with its test drive promo starting this May. BIG as in Bold, Ingenious, and Gorgeous referring to the Geely Okavango, the latest vehicle introduced by SGAP in the market which provides the best features of an SUV and an MPV into a single 7-seater crossover. Dubbed as Go BIG with Your Test Drive promo, customers who will book an Okavango test drive in any Geely dealerships nationwide from May to end June 2021 will have a chance to win Apple Watch, CTEK MXS 5.0 bundle, and P5,000 worth of Shell fuel card. These exciting prizes await 80 winners. SGAP will draw 5 lucky winners per Geely dealership. Those who will avail of the test drive will be welcomed with the Geely Oka-

vango’s ‘Wonderfully Distinct’ features in terms of space, technology, design, power, and safety to elevate the driving experience. Driving and riding will be lot easier and comfortable with the Okavango’s vast interior where adults

can seat comfortably in all three rows. A very exciting and spirited ride await the Okavango passengers with its outstanding power and technology, a 1.5L Turbo engine that was jointly developed by Geely and Volvo that perfectly matches with a 7-speed wet-type dual clutch transmission. Plus, all Okavango units are equipped with a mild hybrid system called the 48V Electric Motor Synergy (EMS) technology that further boosts the vehicle performance and enhances fuel efficiency. Participating in this promo is easy: Go to www.geelyph.com and choose book a test drive to fill out a form. Customers can choose preferred dealer to where to take the test drive. Complete the test drive by visiting the preferred dealership to test drive the Geely Okavango.

Nissan comes to aid of PGH front liners

NISSAN in the Philippines stays true in its commitment to enrich the lives of Filipinos with a donation of 4,000 meal packs to medical frontliners fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Members of Urvan Pilipinas car club also showed their support to the healthcare workers by helping in the delivery of the meals to the hospital. Dr. Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi, Director of PGH, was present in the donation drive to represent PGH and personally receive the meal donations. The meals were distrib-

uted to the PGH staff, doctors, and nurses who are working hard to treat COVID-19 patients and facilitate vaccinations. “We continue to pay tribute to our healthcare workers who are dedicated in face this pandemic as part of our vision to enrich people’s lives. We want to give our support to our communities especially in any way we can during these challenging times, especially those who share our bold and daring spirit to overcome odds,” says Atsushi Najima, President and Managing Director of Nissan in the Philippines.

Toyota guide to adulting in pandemic 101 Toyota Motor has an extensive lineup to suit the needs of every Filipino including first-time car owners.

THE global pandemic has caught everyone off-guard. While health and safety remains top priority, staying afloat may be the biggest challenge of millennials and Gen Zs young lives thus far. With many getting pay cuts or losing jobs, learning to manage personal finances as soon as possible is a large part of adulthood. Here are a few things young adults should ponder on and start doing even while in quarantine:

Apply the 50-30-20 rule. Allocate 50% of income towards basic necessities, 30% for leisure and 20% towards financial goals. Take note of billing due dates and pay on time. Use an Excel spreadsheet, an app or even a pen and paper to keep track of expenses. Look for ways to reduce monthly expenses. Whether that’s subscribing to only one streaming service, downgrading mobile postpaid plan or switching to prepaid or unplugging devices when not in use, the savings from these can Learn Budgeting go a long way towards improving one’s Now is a good time to start a budget. overall personal financial health.