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Sun Life partners with Go Negosyo to boost MSMEs

SUN LIFE of Canada (Philippines), Inc. has partnered with Go Negosyo to create financial solutions for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), it said on Monday.

“This collaboration focuses on guiding MSMEs towards a brighter future, creating an ecosystem that nurtures entrepreneurship, fosters financial inclusion, and builds a stronger Filipino business landscape. Sun Life and Go Negosyo will work together to develop financial solutions tailored to the unique needs of MSMEs and provide them with access to capital, insurance protection, and financial planning expertise,” Sun Life Philippines said in a statement.

The life insurer will also participate in Go Negosyo’s 3M or Mentorship, Money, and Markets on Wheels initiative, which is a mobile entrepreneurship caravan that brings business support services directly to MSMEs nationwide. Its financial advisors will be present at these events for consultations with entrepreneurs.

Sun Life Philippines and Go Negosyo recently signed a memorandum of agreement to formalize the tie-up.

“Securing the future of our negosyantes (entrepreneurs) is an important focus for us at Sun Life because we believe that they are the backbone of our economy,” Sun Life Philippines Chief Client Experience and Marketing Officer Carla Gonzalez-Chong said. “This is why our partnership with Go Negosyo is a natural fit. We share a common vision of a nation where entrepreneurship thrives, and where every Filipino is given the opportunity to reach their full potential.”

“Go Negosyo is grateful to Sun Life Philippines for doing its part in helping our MSMEs,” Go Negosyo Founder Joey A. Concepcion III said. “Access to capital, as well as financial literacy, is an important pillar of successful entrepreneurship, and with this collaboration, we will be able to better address a learning gap that is especially common among aspiring entrepreneurs.”

Sun Life Philippines’ premium income stood at P55.79 billion last year, while its net income was at P8.8 billion, data from the Insurance Commission showed. It was the top-performing life insurer in the country in terms of both premium income and net profit in 2023. — AMCS

Disney unveils Avatar, Indiana Jones, Encanto, and Monsters, Inc. theme park attractions

Also unveils its slate of upcoming films

ANAHEIM, California — Walt Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro laid out an ambitious growth plan for the company’s theme parks on Saturday at the D23 fan convention, announcing plans for four new cruise ships and details about six new themed lands.

Disney, which reclaimed the top of the summer box office with Pixar animation’s Inside Out 2 and Marvel’s raunchy Deadpool & Wolverine, also showcased its coming slate of films.

Forthcoming plans include a new Disney villains land at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, a doubling of the size of the Avengers Campus at the Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California, and details about its partnership with Fortnite creator Epic Games.

“This, for us, is an unprecedented era of growth,” Mr. D’Amaro said.

The two new attractions at its Marvel-themed Avengers Campus at California Adventure will be Avengers: Infinity Defense and the Stark Flight Lab, the company said.

California Adventure will also add a new Avatar experience at the California Adventure, based on the second film in the science fiction franchise, Avatar: The Way of Water, it said.

To commemorate the 70th anniversary next year of the Disneyland park in Anaheim, a show based on the life of Walt Disney featuring an audio-animatronic figure of the company’s founder will be opened.

Disney also unveiled two attractions for the new Tropical Americas expansion coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida. One follows Indiana Jones on an exploration of a Mayan temple. Another is inspired by the Disney animated film Encanto and follows the character Antonio on the day he received his magical gift. Tropical Americas is set to open in 2027.

Actor Billy Crystal took the stage to announce an area at Disney’s Hollywood Studios dedicated to the Pixar film, Monsters, Inc. The area, known as a land in Disney theme park parlance, will feature a suspended roller coaster designed to simulate zooming through the door vault at the Laugh Factory, just like characters Mike and Sulley in the film.

Pixar’s Cars film franchise also comes to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, in a re-imagined area of Frontierland, with two new attractions planned. One will take guests on an off-road thrill ride into the wilderness beyond the film’s fictional Radiator Springs setting. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year.

The fan favorite announcement, based on the audience reaction, was Mr. D’Amaro’s statement Disney will create a new area devoted to Disney’s villains at the Magic Kingdom, with two attractions, dining, and shopping.

These announcements reveal how the company will begin $60 billion in capital investments, nearly doubling spending over the next decade to improve attractions at its 12 parks and increase cruise line capacity.

“Everything that we’re going to share with you tonight is in active development,” Mr. D’Amaro said. “This means that plans are drawn. This means that dirt is moving. I just want to be clear with all the fans out there. This isn’t blue sky.”

CRUISE FLEET EXPANDS
Disney also said it will add four cruise ships to its growing fleet, capitalizing on an industry that has been enjoying a rebound from the global shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company currently has five cruise ships in operation, and previously announced four others, including one Tokyo-based vessel and another that will set sail from Singapore in 2025. These new vessels will start operating between 2027 and 2031.

Mr. D’Amaro was joined onstage by the company’s creative leads to discuss Disney’s collaboration with video-game maker Epic Games. The company invested $1.5 billion in Epic earlier this year, giving Disney an equity stake in the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine.

Disney announced new characters and stories are coming to the online game, including Disney villains as well as characters from the Pixar superhero film, The Incredibles, and the Disney+ series The Mandalorian about a lone bounty hunter from the Star Wars universe.

Disney’s parks have become a reliable profit engine, helping cushion the impact of declines in traditional television and losses in its video streaming business, which last quarter turned a profit.

The experiences unit, which includes parks, cruise ships and consumer products, contributed 60% of the company’s operating profit in the most recent quarter — up from 30% just a decade ago.

MOANA 2, INCREDIBLES 3, AND MUFASA: THE LION KING
Disney showcased its coming slate of films in a three-hour spectacle featuring musical performances and celebrity appearances.

The stars of the forthcoming animated film Moana 2 opened its D23 fan convention on Friday night. Stars Dwayne Johnson and Auli’i Cravahlo took the stage, along with Hawaiian dancers. He told the 12,000 attendees that in reprising his role as Maui, he would once again be singing, “in keys that don’t exist.”

The film reaches theaters on Nov. 27.

“Who else but Disney could pull off a weekend like D23?” said Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, kicking off the Disney Entertainment Showcase. “Our deep bond with fans, forged over a century of storytelling, is stronger today than ever before.”

Director James Cameron appeared along with Avatar stars Zoe Saldana, and Sam Worthington to show off art from the next sequel, and announce its title, Avatar: Fire and Ash.

Pixar’s chief creative officer, Pete Docter, announced a new Inside Out series based on main character Riley’s dreams, Dream Productions, that takes place between the first two movies and will premiere in 2025.

Docter also unveiled a new installment of one of Pixar’s biggest titles The Incredibles, which is centered on a quirky superhero family and is getting a third film that will be directed by Brad Bird.

A rendition of popular musical numbers from such Disney Broadway hits as Frozen and Aladdin accompanied the announcement that a slate of recorded live stage performances would be arriving on Disney+.

“We’re really happy to announce that the hit musical (Frozen), which was filmed on stage, will premiere on Disney+ in 2025,” said Jennifer Lee, Disney Animation’s chief creative officer.

Ms. Lee said the company is also developing a Broadway musical based on the film The Greatest Showman.

D23 shared an early look at the upcoming Disney+ series Skeleton Crew, which is a coming-of-age science fiction Star Wars series created by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford.

Director Jon Favreau offered a glimpse of The Mandalorian and Grogu, a big-screen adaptation of the Disney+ series due out in 2026.

Marvel reprised some of its greatest hits from last month’s San Diego Comic-Con convention. It showcased the Captain America Brave New World and Fantastic Four films, and the forthcoming Disney+ series, Daredevil Born Again and IronHeart.

It also dropped a trailer for its upcoming horror series Agatha All Along, based on the series WandaVision along with a haunting musical performance from the cast of witches in the series. The series includes original songs from the talent behind Frozen and Coco.

Percy Jackson, the series based on Greek mythology that follows its namesake protagonist demi-god, is returning for a second season called Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, adapted from author Rick Riordan’s book.

Walt Disney Studios showed off a teaser trailer for the live-action version of its animated classic, Snow White, accompanied by its stars Rachel Zeigler, who plays Disney’s original princess, and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.

Actor Jeff Bridges appeared at D23 with co-stars Jared Leto and Greta Lee to promote Tron: Ares, the third installment of the futuristic film.

Perhaps the most enthusiastic crowd response was reserved for Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsey Lohan, who are reprising their mother-daughter roles in a sequel to the 2003 film Freaky Friday.

A chorus performed “The Circle of Life” from Lion King, to promote the next installment in the Pride Lands saga, Mufasa: The Lion King. The coming film tells the story of Mufasa’s early life, in a lifelike computer-generated movie directed by Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins and with music from Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The company touted the strength of its movies during an investor call last week, marking a return to form after losing its place as the highest-grossing Hollywood studio in 2023.

“It’s never too late to have that big Hollywood comeback,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “And they’ve certainly had that.”

Inside Out 2 is the highest grossing animated film of all time, with a global box office tally of $1.6 billion, surpassing the record set by Disney’s Frozen II. A month later, Deadpool & Wolverine had the best domestic opening for an R-rated film and has brought in more than $850 million in global ticket sales.

“There is of course variability in the film business,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft in a note to investors. “But if Disney has found its box office magic once again, additional growth may be ahead, as a strong theatrical slate continues.” — Reuters

Delaware Philippines inks partnership with LIPAD for system automation, upgrades

GLOBAL information and communication technologies (ICT) provider Delaware Philippines has partnered with Luzon International Premiere Airport Development (LIPAD) Corp. to automate and upgrade the business processes of Clark International Airport (CRK).

“Delaware Philippines has been a critical partner in our journey, helping us automate our processes and optimize our operations. This move is instrumental in our efforts to enhance the operational capabilities of CRK, cementing our goal of being the Philippines’ premier gateway,” Gina Umlas-Gopez, chief finance officer of LIPAD, said in a media release on Monday.

With this partnership, Delaware Philippines said it will enhance the operational efficiency of LIPAD, the company that manages and operates Clark International Airport.

“With this transformative solution in place, LIPAD Corporation is well-equipped to handle future growth and continue delivering high-quality services at CRK. This partnership exemplifies how innovative ICT solutions can transform and elevate industry standards, setting a benchmark for others to follow,” Delaware said.

The ICT company said it will provide LIPAD with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which is software that processes and automates functions like finance, manufacturing, services, and procurement.

It said its partnership aims to shift LIPAD’s manual transaction recording to an automated system, positioning it for future advancements.

“The collaboration between LIPAD and Delaware Philippines is a testament to their commitment to excellence and innovation in airport operations. By transitioning to a digital platform, LIPAD is not only improving its current operations but also laying the groundwork for future advancements,” Delaware Philippines said. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Building organizational capability into your sustainability metrics

CAMPAIGN CREATORS-UNSPLASH

In business, sustainability is more than just environmentalism or “being green.”

Harvard Business School lists two ways to measure sustainability: “the effect a business has on the environment, and the effect a business has on society, with the goal of sustainable practice being to have a positive impact on at least one of those areas.”

When the Kyoto Protocol (the international agreement that aimed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) was conceived in 1997, governments were held accountable for sustainability. In more recent years, the private sector — mainly big corporations — has also launched sustainability programs following global and national regulations on their own initiative. Beyond mere compliance, more and more business leaders now speak of sustainability as a competitive advantage. Corporate sustainability is thus related to business strategy and requires specific capabilities to execute it effectively.

ENABLING EMPLOYEES
Deloitte’s 2023 CXO Sustainability Report says 73% of chief experience officers (CXOs) from the consumer industry increased investments in sustainability over the past year. When it comes to the retail industry, CXOs find materials and technology pathways to sustainability easier to implement than training: 65% of retail companies are using more sustainable materials, and 53% are using climate-friendly technologies and equipment, but only 48% are training employees on climate-change mitigation. That’s less than half of retail CXOs saying that their employees get training on climate change and the specific actions they can take to minimize the company’s impact on the natural and social environment.

In the Philippines, many organizations have yet to fully enable their employees to meet sustainability goals together.

“I am of the firm conviction that organizational capabilities are a very critical component of sustainability,” says Pauline Fermin, President and CEO of Acumen Strategy Consultants. “Ultimately, people are the most critical, renewable resource, that can truly support real sustainability effort. Unfortunately, investments on organizational capabilities here in the Philippines is not consistent.”

To illustrate the challenge, we can look at the individual capabilities required for Sustainability Metrics and Reporting, as well as the organizational structure necessary for Climate Governance.

SUSTAINABILITY METRICS
Annual reports are typically prepared by the Communications department using data on sustainability metrics and indicators submitted by Sustainability teams. It’s people on the ground that provide this data: in a manufacturing company, for example, this includes plant managers and facility operational staff, as well as purchasing and supply chain personnel.

Training the key individuals in each department to understand the significance of the data they collect, its impact on overall sustainability goals, and its role in compliance and reporting, is essential. Not only are the resulting reports more accurate, but the people on the ground also develop an appreciation of and commitment to the company’s sustainability goals.

CLIMATE GOVERNANCE
Future-ready organizations have developed robust sustainability risk management frameworks that identify, assess, and mitigate sustainability and climate-related risks. Not that it’s easy: building this resilience involves preparing for disruptions, diversifying supply chains, and ensuring business continuity, thus embedding sustainability into day-to-day operations and decision-making processes.

A key aspect of this operational integration is the establishment of clear climate governance charts where roles, responsibilities, and reporting lines for sustainability and climate-related risk management across all levels of the organization are outlined.

Let’s take airlines as an example. Climate hazards are inherent: airlines must identify climate-related physical risks in each facility along with the operational and financial impact. Each team must then develop business continuity plans with detailed adaptive measures integrated into their business processes. Do they have clear emergency response measures? Are they able to build effective relationships with local governments and airport authorities for synergy on resilience plans? Are they able to provide accurate information – numbers, not just descriptions – for the assessment and prevention of flooding in each facility?

It takes time, but with the right organizational capabilities, companies of all sizes can effectively manage sustainability risks and continuously build resilience. Unless the company includes organizational capability building in its sustainability metrics, sustainability goals will not be achieved effectively and in a timely  manner.

UNDERSTANDING THE GAPS
Achieving corporate sustainability goals requires the right processes and, more importantly, the right people. It begins with a clear vision from the leadership team level, supported by understanding and long-term commitment from senior managers, and delivered through specific yet diverse skills in teams on the ground.

Often, the call is not to “do things better” but to “do things differently.”

What are the capabilities you have in place, and what are the gaps to be filled?

Understanding the strategic organizational capabilities particular to your company — and how they can be developed or improved — is fundamental to making sustainability not just a buzzword but a reality.

 

Vanessa Bicomong is a lecturer at Ateneo de Manila University’s John Gokongwei School of Management, and program director for Customer Centricity at Acumen Strategy Consultants.

www.acumen.com.ph

How PSEi member stocks performed — August 12, 2024

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Monday, August 12, 2024.

How minimum wages compared across regions in July

(After accounting for inflation)

In July, inflation-adjusted wages were 18% to 25.1% lower than the current daily minimum wages across the regions in the country. Meanwhile, in peso terms, real wages were lower by around P74.24 to P120.29 from the current daily minimum wages set by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board.

How minimum wages compared across regions in July

Philippines urges China to heed calls to ease tensions, to protest air tussle

A LANDSAT 7 image of Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. — WIKIPEDIA

By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES on Monday urged China to heed calls to de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea after what it described as “very dangerous” actions by two Chinese aircraft that dropped flares in the path of a Philippine Air Force plane conducting a routine patrol over the Scarborough Shoal on Aug. 8.

The actions by China’s air force were to be expected because they were part of a “continuous pattern” by Beijing to assert its claims and presence in the South China Sea, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Eduardo C. Teodoro, Jr. told reporters on Monday.

“It is a response we should be acclimated to,” he said, as he called on China to abide by international law and heed appeals by the Philippines and other countries to “temper” its actions.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.

The Philippines’ National Security Council also urged China to “cease all forms of provocative and hazardous acts.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) separately said Manila would file a diplomatic protest with China over last week’s incident.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ma. Teresita C. Daza told reporters in a WhatsApp message the DFA was set to file the protest “within the day.”

She said the incident would not affect Manila’s arrangement with Beijing on resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal, another contested feature in the South China Sea.

“The Philippines adopts a de-escalatory approach to tensions in the West Philippine Sea,” Ms. Daza said, referring to areas of the sea within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). “It remains committed to diplomacy and peaceful means of resolving disputes.”

Meanwhile, a task force handling the sea dispute with China said the Philippines would intensify air patrols within its airspace.

“Air and maritime security patrol missions will continue within our sovereign territory, airspace and exclusive economic zone,” it said in a separate statement. “The monitoring of our country’s airspace will be intensified.”

The Southeast Asian nation would continue maritime patrols in the South China Sea despite the “dangerous and provocative” actions of China’s Air Force last week, Philippine military chief Romeo S. Brawner, Jr. told reporters.

“China’s maneuvers… were very dangerous but the armed forces would not be deterred and would continue patrolling waters within the country’s exclusive economic zone,” he said.  “That is our right.”

Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Sunday condemned the Chinese Air Force’s “unjustified, illegal and reckless” actions.

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) aircraft was undertaking a routine maritime security operation in “Philippine sovereign airspace,” the Philippine presidential palace said in a statement.

“The actions of the People’s Liberation Army-Air Force aircraft were unjustified, illegal and reckless,” the palace said. Mr. Marcos “stands by our brave men and women of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, especially the PAF.”

“We have hardly started to calm the waters, and it is already worrying that there could be instability in our airspace,” it said. “The Philippines will always remain committed to proper diplomacy and peaceful means of resolving disputes.”

At Monday’s briefing, Mr. Teodoro said China should comply with international law and on an earlier agreement to de-escalate tensions.

The Chinese side on Saturday said it “organized naval and air forces to lawfully” drive away the Philippine plane after repeated warnings, describing its operations as “professional, standard, legitimate and legal.”

“We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop its infringement, provocation, distortion and hype,” the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said in a statement, accusing the Philippine military of “disturbing” its activities in the area.

Confrontations between the two nations in the South China Sea have mostly involved their navy and coast guard vessels.

China has controlled Scarborough, which falls within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but is also claimed by several other countries, since 2012 after maintaining constant coast guard presence there, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

The shoal is 240 kilometers west of the main Philippine island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometers from Hainan, the nearest major Chinese landmass.

ANOTHER ROUND OF LAWSUITS
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

“Not only is China keeping our waters hostage; she has also started to encroach on our skies,” Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said in a statement. “These are clear and unacceptable violations of international law.”

She said the government should start working on the filing of another round of lawsuits against China before an international court. “We should not wait for China to escalate her provocations further before we raise these grave concerns to an international body.”

The Chinese Air Force’s acts happened a day after Beijing conducted a combat patrol near the shoal to test its troops’ “strike capabilities.”

Mr. Marcos has pursued closer security ties with the United States and other Indo-Pacific powers amid China’s increasing expansionism. — with Reuters

Congress ratifies bill on local defense equipment production

FILIPINO and American soldiers participate in war games at a recent Balikatan (shoulder to shoulder) military exercise. — PHILIPPINE STAR/WALTER BOLLOZOS

CONGRESS has ratified a bicameral conference committee report of a bill that seeks to boost the country’s defense program through investments in local defense equipment manufacturing amid growing tensions with China.

At the Senate’s plenary session on Monday, Senate President Pro-Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” P. Estrada, Jr. said the consolidated bill includes a clause that would ensure preferential treatment for local defense industry players for the state’s military purchases.

The House of Representatives separately approved the bicameral report through a voice vote.

“Our proposal aims to ensure that our weapons, vehicles and other equipment for our soldiers, police officers and law enforcement personnel are made in the Philippines by Filipinos,” Mr. Estrada told the floor in Filipino.

“By strengthening the local defense industry to meet the needs of our armed forces and national defense, we expect this initiative to create job opportunities for our citizens, drive innovation and development and reduce foreign exchange outflow,” he added.

The senator said the bill offers incentives to attract foreign defense industry investors.

The Senate approved the bill in December, while the House approved its version in January.

The measure allows the Defense department to develop a self-reliant defense posture program that will encourage manufacturers to produce weapons and defense systems in the country for local use and exports. It will also give the agency P1 billion in funding.

Local defense enterprises will be exempted from value-added tax, Customs duties on capital equipment imports and raw materials.

“With the bill, we want to give the local defense industry a fighting chance at growing into a robust industry,” Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, one of the authors of the bill, told the plenary.

“We want to help local producers accelerate their growth and their ability to come out with competitively priced quality material for our own use.”

China claims more than 80% of the South China Sea based on a 1940s map, which a United Nations-backed arbitration court voided in 2016.

The Philippines has been unable to enforce the ruling and has since filed hundreds of protests over what it calls encroachment and harassment by China’s coast guard and its vast fishing fleet. — John Victor D. Ordoñez and Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

Salary hike for PHL state workers starts this month

PHILIPPINE STAR/WALTER BOLLOZOS

THE APPROVED salary increase for government workers will take effect this month, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Monday.

The first part of the four-tranche wage hike for state workers will be funded by the miscellaneous personnel benefit fund and unprogrammed appropriations under the 2024 national budget, the agency said.

National and local budget circulars for the implementation of the wage hike have been signed and were set to be published on Tuesday, Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said at the presidential palace.

Guidelines had been sent to agencies so that they could enforce the salary hike, she said. “It’s up to departments and the agencies to immediately implement the adjustments,” she said in Filipino.

“This will be retroactive from January, including the midyear bonus.”

The first part of the four-tranche wage hike would cost about P36 billion. Ms. Pangandaman told lawmakers earlier in the day this will be taken from the miscellaneous personnel benefit fund and unprogrammed budgets.

At the palace, she said agencies could also use their existing personnel service budget for the wage hike.

The second package will be implemented on Jan. 1, 2025, according to Executive Order No. 64, which also entitles workers to a P7,000 medical allowance.  The last two tranches will be enforced on Jan. 1, 2026 and Jan. 1, 2027.

The DBM earlier said about P70 billion had been allocated in the P6.352-trillion budget for 2025 for the second tranche.

Under the order signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. this month, the increase was higher for professional (salary grade 11-24) and subprofessional (1-10) government employees than for those in managerial, executive and top-level positions.

The average rate for salary increases from grades 1-31 under the first tranche is 4.41%, bringing the salary of state workers to 84.33% of the market, the DBM said in a separate statement.

The increase is 4-5.2% for those at the subprofessional level. The minimum basic salary (grade 1) will increase by P530 to P13,530, it added.

Meanwhile, the rate for those at the professional level will range from 4.5-5.6%, it said.

For the managerial level (grades 25-28), the increase will be 4.15% to 4.4%; 2.65-3.9% for executive level (grades 29-31); and 2.35-2.4% for top Leaders (grades 32-33), the DBM said.

The salary hike does not cover military and uniformed personnel and some state offices and government-owned and -controlled corporations that have their own salary structure, the DBM said in a circular.

It also does not cover contract of service and job order employees, Ms. Pangandaman said. — K.A.T. Atienza and B.M.D. Cruz

DICT seeks ethical hackers’ help vs attacks

RAWPIXEL.COM-FREEPIK

THE DEPARTMENT of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is seeking the help of white-hat hackers and cybersecurity experts to test e-government platforms’ vulnerabilities after a series of attacks.

“We also asked more white-hat hackers and cybersecurity experts to help us and conduct vulnerability assessment and penetration testing on our e-government platforms,” DICT Undersecretary David L. Almirol, Jr. said in a LinkedIn post on Aug. 11.

“We are not perfect, but we are doing our best and with efforts of more patriotic information technology (IT) experts, we can solidify our e-government systems.”

This came after a hacker’s group claimed that the “simple promotional static website” e.gov.ph had been hacked and defaced.

Mr. Almirol said the attackers only managed to upload files to e.gov.ph subdomain, which is used for hosting public assets such as local government unit (LGU) logos.

He said there was “no impact” because the attackers could not do anything beyond uploading a file and were not able to execute any uploaded PHP shells since the subdomain is an S3 bucket used exclusively for file storage.

“No e-LGUs or e-government systems were affected by this issue,” he said. “We have preserved and renamed the files and submitted them, along with the Docker Nginx logs to NCERT for further investigation.”.

Ronald B. Gustilo, national campaigner for Digital Pinoys, told BusinessWorld the DICT’s approach would help identify weak points of the government’s cybersecurity infrastructure so it could correct these.

But groups and people engaged by the government should be bound by law and ethical standards, he added.

Mr. Gustilo said people should be held accountable in case of any incidental or deliberate attempts to leak information that they come across.

“The government should allocate funds to create more government positions intended for cybersecurity practitioners,” he said.

“Our community of practice is supporting the call of the DICT through Undersecretary Almirol for the private sector to assist in securing the government’s e-government platforms through independent vulnerability assessment and penetration testing,” Sam V. Jacoba, founding president of the National Association of Data Protection Officers, told BusinessWorld.

He said the country could learn from other governments that have survived cybercrises such as Indonesia, and push a cyberresilience and business continuity plan for e-government systems. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante

Gov’t action vs leptospirosis urged

MOTORISTS and commuters wade through the flooded Taft Avenue in this photo taken on July 27, 2023. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ EDD GUMBAN

THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DoH) should distribute medicines to address rising cases of leptospirosis, a congressman said on Monday.

It should also inform Filipinos about proper precautions to curb the spread of the disease, Iloilo Rep. Janette L. Garin said.

Leptospirosis is spread from animals to humans, caused by infection with the bacteria Leptospira. The most common sources of infection are contact with infected animal urine, contaminated soil or water including floods.

“The problem is there is funding for free doxycycline, but the availability on the ground is difficult,” she said in a statement in Filipino, referring to the antibiotic used to treat the infection.

“What should be done is to… send the medication immediately to the areas where it is needed; it shouldn’t be made more difficult,” she added.

The DoH recorded 67 cases of leptospirosis from July 14 to July 27, bringing the total to 1,444 this year. About 160 Filipinos have died from the disease. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

Watershed structures to be probed

CONGRESSMEN on Monday filed a resolution seeking to investigate the construction of what they deem illegal structures and quarrying operations in the Upper Marikina Watershed.

These could have contributed to severe flooding from Super Typhoon Carina last month, they said.

Party-list Reps. Arlene D. Brosas, France L. Castro and Raoul Danniel A. Manuel filed House Resolution No. 1908 after a House of Representatives hearing last week found that about 500 illegal structures had been built in the protected areas of the watershed.

“The rampant deforestation and illegal activities in the Upper Marikina Watershed have reached an alarming state, leading to worse flooding, putting lives at risk,” Ms. Brosas said in a statement in Filipino.

About 31,000 Filipinos were evacuated in Marikina City alone, surpassing the number of evacuees during Typhoon Ondoy in 2009 by 2,000, according to the resolution. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

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