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Drone startup Neros raises funding from Sequoia, eyes supplies to Ukraine, US military

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NEROS, an autonomous drone startup founded about a year ago, has raised $10.9 million in a seed round from Sequoia Capital to build a new factory and manufacture more drones to sell to Ukraine, the company told Reuters.

Neros joined a series of American drone companies trying to capitalize on the huge demand for drones in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, where thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles have been deployed at unprecedented scale to track enemy forces, guide artillery and bomb targets.

Founded by former professional drone racers Soren Monroe-Anderson and Olaf Hichwa, Neros said it had designed, manufactured and shipped drones to the battlefield in Ukraine within months of the company’s launch.

It is currently producing hundreds of drones a month and plans to use the funding for hiring and scaling up production.

Neros competes with Chinese drone makers that currently dominate the Ukraine market at cheaper prices. With its systems priced in the low four figures, Neros said it aims to be cost effective while using non-Chinese supply chains.

The company said it is also in conversation with the US Department of Defense (DoD) about using its vehicles across the Army, Air Force and special forces.

“What we really want is a cost-effective, performing product that serves Ukraine and the DoD combined, and no one’s accomplished that yet,” Neros CEO Monroe-Anderson said in an interview.

This deal also marks Sequoia Capital’s continued bet on defense tech, a sector it first joined other Silicon Valley venture capital firms in investing in last year.

“I think Neros is already best designed in the world for their class,” said Shaun Maguire, the Sequoia partner who led the deal.

“The next step is having more skilled supply chain purchase, having as much as possible be from US suppliers and all of it from Western suppliers.” — Reuters

Petron targets sales volume increase following Q1 performance

LISTED oil company Petron Corp. said it will focus on increasing sales volume following its perfomancee in the first quarter (Q1) and the previous year.

“We are now focused on increasing our sales volume and improve our financial performance,” Petron General-Manager Lubin B. Nepomuceno said during the company’s annual stockholder’s meeting on Tuesday.

“We’re taking advantage of the ongoing economic recovery that is why you will notice the huge improvement in our sales volume last year,” he added.

For the first quarter, Petron posted a 16% increase in its net income to P3.93 billion driven by the growth in its local and Malaysian operations.

Consolidated revenues went up by 21% to P227.64 billion brought by the strong volume growth.

Petron Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Ang cited excise tax, value-added tax (VAT), and the absence of subsidies as reasons for high gasoline and electricity prices in the country compared to neighboring nations.

“For example, the price of gasoline is P60 per liter in the Philippines. In Malaysia, it’s only P20 per liter… because the government of Malaysia do not impose excise tax and VAT of 12%,” he said in mixed English and Filipino. 

Republic Act. No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law raised excise tax on fuel in three trances from 2018 to 2020.

The tax rates are currently at P10 per liter for gasoline, P6 per liter for diesel, P5 per liter for kerosene, and P3 per liter for LPG.

“The electricity rate in the Philippines is usually three times compared to our regional countries because our neighboring countries also put in subsidy,” Mr. Ang said.

He said that the Philippines is “market forced” unlike other neighboring countries which are “heavily subsidized.”

“But I think our neighboring countries will not be able to sustain that in the long term,” he said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

Mona Lisa’s mysterious background decrypted by art-loving geologist

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LECCO, Italy — Over 500 years after Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, an academic believes she has unraveled the mystery about the backdrop to one of the world’s most famous works of art.

Art historians have long debated its landscape, speculating on the locations that could have inspired Leonardo but the geologist and Italian Renaissance specialist Ann Pizzorusso thinks she has pinpointed it to Lecco in northern Italy.

“When I came to Lecco, I realized he had painted the Mona Lisa here,” Ms. Pizzorusso said, speaking of the small town on the shores of Lake Como, hitherto best known as the setting of Alessandro Manzoni’s masterpiece novel The Betrothed.

According to the scholar, the arched bridge depicted in the painting would correspond to the 14th-century Ponte Azzone Visconti, even though previous theories had related it to similar structures in other Italian cities, such as Arezzo and Bobbio.

Ms. Pizzorusso is not the first person to have claimed to have solved the mystery but she cites her knowledge of geology to back her claims.

“The bridge to me was not the important aspect of painting,” Ms. Pizzorusso said. “In the other hypotheses the geology was just incorrect.”

The geologist found that rock formations in Lecco were limestone, which matched what is depicted behind the noblewoman.

“When you look at the Mona Lisa, you see this part of the Adda River, and you see another lake behind it, which are perfectly shown underneath these sawtooth mountains,” she said from the spot where the scene could have been painted.

Ms. Pizzorusso’s research on Leonardo “shows perfectly the extent to which the artist and the scientist came together,” said Michael Daley, executive director of ArtWatch UK, a nonprofit organization monitoring the conservation of artworks.

“No art historian is qualified to take Ann on in terms of her scientific understanding. The other studies are dead ducks now,” he said. — Reuters

Philippines: Balance of Payments (BoP) Position

THE COUNTRY’S balance of payments (BoP) deficit widened in April as the government paid back foreign debt and the trade balance remained in a deficit, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said. Read the full story.

Philippines: Balance of Payments (BoP) Position

Biden shouldn’t diss the ICC to back Netanyahu

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IT CAME AS A SHOCK, if not a surprise. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is seeking arrest warrants, on accusations of war crimes, for not only three commanders of Hamas but also two leaders of Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Outrageous,” said US President Joe Biden, speaking for almost everybody in Israel and many in Washington. But if the US now scorns the court it helped create in the 1990s, it will undermine the international regime of law and order that it claims to defend.

The request by Karim Khan, the prosecutor, next goes to a panel of independent judges. Even if they issue the warrants, there’s little risk of anybody on the list ever being arrested. For a start, neither the US nor Israel is a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, and neither feels bound by it. And in the theoretical event that any of the five were ever tried, they’d be presumed innocent and have their day in court.

All of this may get lost in what is indubitably the most emotionally fraught and controversial conflict the ICC has ever taken on. By contrast, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine seems morally clear-cut, with hardly anybody in the West objecting to the arrest warrant the court issued last year against Vladimir Putin. But as Khan this week emphasized on behalf of the ICC, and by extension the world, “if we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, if it is seen as being applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions for its collapse.”

No reasonable person will object to the charges against the three Hamas terrorists on Khan’s list. Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh were without doubt among the masterminds behind the gruesome attacks of Oct. 7. The ICC now wants them for the crimes, as defined in Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute, of extermination, murder, rape, and torture, as well as taking and abusing hostages and more. If anybody in Israel disagrees, it would be only about how to mete out a just punishment.

The controversy is instead about the charges against Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant. They stand accused of deliberately causing starvation, suffering, persecution, collective punishment, and other inhumane acts — also as defined in Articles 7 and 8 — against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, as distinct from Hamas. The details include restricting the delivery of food and medicine, shutting off water and electricity, killing civilians and even aid workers.

The body of international humanitarian law, both customary and codified, has plenty to say about such tactics. Collective punishment is taboo, and even collateral damage of civilian targets must be kept “proportionate” not in relation to the overall war aim (eliminating Hamas, in this case) but to the immediate objective of a given missile strike, say.

Aware of the acrimony bound to come his way, Prosecutor Khan showcased the meticulous evidence that his trial lawyers have collected, and the august legal minds that gave advice in the process. That may not keep the US, in a show of support for its ally Israel, from impugning the legitimacy of the entire court.

The Biden administration has made clear that it denies the ICC’s jurisdiction in the matter and won’t respect its findings. Some legislators are ready to go further; a dozen Republican senators had already sent a letter to the ICC: “Target Israel and we will target you,” they wrote to Khan, threatening “to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States.”

It wouldn’t be the first American harassment of this court. One of the chief architects of the Rome Statute, the US subsequently turned against its own creation, lest the ICC should ever prosecute American soldiers or commanders. In 2002, Washington passed the “Hague Invasion Act,” a law that would in theory let a president dispatch troops to free Americans from detention. The administration of Donald Trump later slapped sanctions on an ICC judge and a lawyer who were investigating allegations against American soldiers in Afghanistan.

And yet, the US also cooperates with the ICC — in its investigations into Russian atrocities in Ukraine, for example. This cherry-picking is a terrible look for a power that still aspires, more or less, to be the leader of the free world. Across much of the planet, and especially in the so-called Global South, the US appears hypocritical, invoking its “rules-based order” against adversaries, from Russia to China, but ignoring it on behalf of friends, currently Israel.

The best argument against the ICC’s application for arrest warrants is that it implies, as a leading Republican senator put it, “a false moral equivalency” between the crimes of Hamas and the allegations against Israel. That, however, ought to be for the judges to decide. To cast aspersions preemptively on their professionalism and objectivity would be a disastrous signal for Washington to send.

The ICC and its neighbor in The Hague, the International Court of Justice, represent the concrete legacy of a centuries-old human aspiration, and passionate American leadership after the barbarism of World War II, to build a more humane world that rests on some modicum of law and order. The people who serve in The Hague tend to be idealists, and recognized authorities in their field.

The US cannot claim, at home or abroad, to stand for the rule of law only when it happens to like the particular rules or laws. Washington must end its on-again, off-again embrace of the treaties, conventions, and institutions that it helped to build, or risk bequeathing to future generations a regression to the arbitrary barbarity of bygone centuries. Instead of condemning the ICC, the US should instead argue its best case before the tribunal that Israel’s leaders are not guilty as charged, and then accept the verdict.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Peso drops to 1.5-year low

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) warned it will intervene in the foreign exchange market as the Philippine peso on Tuesday closed at the 58-per-dollar level for the first time in over 18 months. Read the full story.

Peso drops to 1.5-year low

PSEi member stocks performed — May 21, 2024

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Tuesday, May 21, 2024.


DoE signs two more deals with US to enable nuclear transition

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THE Department of Energy (DoE) signed two memoranda of understanding with the US State Department on Tuesday enabling the Philippines to safely transition to nuclear power, with the two sides moving forward from the initial 123 Agreement, which had opened the door to US nuclear technology exports.

On the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum, Assistant Secretary Daniel J. Kritenbrink of the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the memoranda are vital in supporting the Philippines as it builds a safe and secure civil nuclear industry.

“Signing the 123 Agreement is just the first step; building a safe and secure civil nuclear sector also requires skilled engineers and technicians, robust regulations, and strong commercial partnerships to bring the nuclear sector to life and to maintain it safely throughout its life cycle,” Mr. Kritenbrink said.

The two sides signed the 123 Agreement last year.

The agreement that the DoE signed with the Philippine-American Educational Foundation (PAEF) aims to establish a framework of cooperation for creating scholarship opportunities and academic exchanges centered around civil nuclear and renewable energy.

“This will help the Philippines develop the skilled workforce needed to build clean energy infrastructure, including the ability to operate state-of-the-art nuclear power plants,” Mr. Kritenbrink said.

“The collaboration with the PAEF will give the country an opportunity to have advanced training for the clean energy sector in developing the human resources that are needed, including the opportunities for civil nuclear cooperation,” Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said.

Meanwhile, the agreement between the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the DoE aims to promote the US-Philippines Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement and develop a smart and green grid plan.

Under the agreement, USAID will commission a study on nuclear power viability that will assist the Philippine government in enhancing public acceptance of nuclear power in the country.

In November, the Philippine and US governments will organize the first Nuclear Suppliers Forum in the Philippines.

“This forum will bring together US experts, private sector leaders, and Philippine energy stakeholders to further solidify our civil nuclear cooperation,” Mr. Kritenbrink said.

In the Philippine Energy Plan for 2023–2050, the DoE is targeting a 35% share for renewable energy in the power generation mix by 2030, rising to 50% by 2040. — Justine Irish D. Tabile

Luzon Economic Corridor to receive US support for feasibility studies

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THE US Trade and Development Agency will assist with feasibility studies for projects to develop the Luzon Economic Corridor, a White House adviser said.

At the Indo-Pacific Business Forum on Tuesday, Amos Hochstein, a deputy assistant to the US President and Senior Adviser for Energy and Investment, said that the US government will help identify the projects that need to be in place to attract companies to invest in Luzon.

Mr. Hochstein said the initial works are likely to be infrastructure projects like port modernization and rail lines.

“What we want to do is look at what kinds of projects can be invested in and what kinds of projects can be supported first. So we’ve worked with the government of the Philippines on identifying the exact infrastructure projects,” he said.

“That includes port development in Batangas and in Subic Bay, building the freight rail from the ports to Clark, and connecting Subic to Clark to Manila to Batangas. If you can have that kind of integrated investment in infrastructure, that will support the companies coming in,” he added.

Once the feasibility studies are done and the Philippine government starts to put out the tenders for the project, the US government will then come in again through its agencies to provide financing via debt, equity, political risk insurance, and other financial instruments.

“Again, the US government is not here to make investments in the sector, whether it’s in the semiconductor sector or anything else, but rather to look at what kinds of things are the necessary infrastructure that make the private sector come in and make the investments,” he added.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. called the Luzon Economic Corridor one of the most important collaborations among the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) partner countries.

“Given Luzon’s critical status as the host of most of the Philippines’ export manufacturing and high-technology industries, upgrading infrastructure in this area is essential,” Mr. Marcos said in his remarks.

“These enhancements are crucial for empowering the workforce and facilitating the smooth flow of goods and services,” he added.

Aside from key projects in the Luzon Economic Corridor, Mr. Marcos also pitched the Philippines’ 491,821-megawatt renewable energy potential, semiconductor, electronics, and critical minerals industries, digital transformation initiatives, and information technology and business process management industry, among others.

Meanwhile, he said that foreign direct investment (FDI) has expanded for four consecutive months, providing support for further growth.

“Notably, IPEF partner countries play a significant role in our robust economic growth, contributing substantially to our FDI and other approved investments,” he added.

To support further growth, he said his government will continue to implement reforms to ensure a conducive business environment, develop a competitive workforce, and drive industrial transformation.

“Through these steadfast efforts, we are attracting foreign investments that are not only fueling our growth, but also broadening our economic base,” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile

Challenges to Bohol, Iloilo airport upgrade proposals expected this year, DoTr says

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CHALLENGES to the original proponents are expected this year for the New Bohol-Panglao International Airport and the Iloilo International Airport this year, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said.

“When we publicize the instructions to bidders, it will also be the publication of the concession agreement,” Roberto C.O. Lim, Transportation undersecretary for aviation and airports, told reporters at a forum last week.

Mr. Lim was responding to a query on the government’s timetable for inviting parties to challenge the unsolicited proposal of Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc. for the P4.53-billion contract to upgrade New Bohol-Panglao International Airport.

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center estimates that the Bohol airport is targeted for award by year’s end.

The Aboitiz group secured in 2018 the original proponent status (OPS) for the New Bohol-Panglao International Airport’s operations and maintenance which will feature a 25-year concession period.

The government is hoping to finalize its negotiations with the Aboitiz group, and issue its instruction to challengers within one month.

Mr. Lim said once the negotiations are finalized, the government will publish the instruction to bidders and the proposal opened to challenge.

“We hope we can do that in one month, we hope. Because we are talking with the same party as Laguindingan. Now, we will talk to Aboitiz again about this airport. We’ll do it using the same process, but it should be shorter,” Mr. Lim said.

The DoTr invited challengers for the unsolicited proposal of Aboitiz InfraCapital for the P12.75-billion operation, maintenance, and upgrade contract for Laguindingan International Airport, which serves northern Mindanao.

Aboitiz InfraCapital also holds OPS for the Laguindingan contract, which has attracted two challengers, Mr. Lim said.

The PPP Code, or Republic Act No. 11966, amended the Build-Operate-Transfer Law to create a unified legal framework for all PPPs at both national and local levels.

Under the PPP Code, unsolicited proposals must undergo a comparative challenge following a right-to-match mechanism within a given time period.

The grant of OPS gives the original bidder the option to match offers made by challengers.

The government’s negotiations with Prime Asset Ventures, Inc. which secured the OPS for the right to operate, maintain, and upgrade Iloilo International Airport, are expected to be completed by September, Mr. Lim said, adding that the awarding of the contract will take place by the first quarter of 2025.

“The negotiations will be finished in September… right now we are looking at the first quarter for the issuance of the award,” Mr. Lim said.

Nigel Paul C. Villarete, senior adviser on PPP at the technical advisory group Libra Konsult, Inc., said the government’s approach to privatizing regional airports has proven to be faster and has led to better outcomes, following the success of Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

In 2022, Aboitiz InfraCapital finalized a deal with Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Airports International, B.V., allowing it to acquire shares in GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., the company behind Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

“This is a big boost to the aviation sector which will benefit from improved and more efficient operations by the private sector,” Mr. Villarete said in a Viber message on Tuesday.

He said the government’s PPP approach has proven beneficial as it structures airport deals that generate positive financial returns. 

“Many of the other smaller airports are still government-subsidized and may not qualify for PPP. These can still be offered but with a government subsidy factored in. But that’s for the government to decide,” he said.

“Good for the country, and the aviation sector, if the three regional airports go the way of Mactan Cebu. But I don’t expect the government to privatize more regional airports soon — for the simple reason that there are few, if any, in the pipeline,” Rene S. Santiago, former president of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines, said in a Viber message.

Mr. Lim said the government is also looking at the possibility of bundling smaller airports to offer as PPPs.

“Part of the strategy we are looking at is how to bundle, how many and which ones to make it attractive to be offered for PPP,” he said.

For now, Mr. Lim said other regional airports have attracted unsolicited offers.

“Other airports remain candidates, of course — General Santos, Busuanga, even Bacolod, Bicol. There are bigger airports — Laoag, Tacloban… that can be the central airport to bundle with,” he added. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Puerto Princesa Port expansion bidders invited

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THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has issued an invitation to bidders for the first phase expansion of the Puerto Princesa Port, valued at nearly P600 million.

“The Philippine Ports Authority now invites bids for the Procurement Project. Completion of the Works is required in Six Hundred Sixty (660) calendar days from the receipt by the successful bidder of the Notice to Proceed,” the PPA said.

In PPA’s invitation to bid notice on Tuesday, it said it is investing P599.15 million for the phase 1 expansion of the Port of Puerto Princesa.

“Bids received in excess of the approved budget for the contract (ABC) shall be automatically rejected at the bid opening,” PPA said.

Bidders should have completed a similar project beforehand, the PPA said. It said the format will be open competitive bidding with pass or fail criterion.

Bidding documents for interested parties may be acquired for P75,000, with a pre-bid conference set for May 30 and bid opening scheduled for June 14.

Phase 1 of the Puerto Princesa Port Expansion project includes removal and excavation works, and enclosure and upgrading of the port operational area. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Customs collections top P330B as of mid-May

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THE Bureau of Customs (BoC) has collected P330.27 billion as of May 13, exceeding its target for the period.

Citing preliminary data, the BoC said collections were 3.9% ahead of target and up 7% from collections generated over the same period a year earlier.

The BoC also reported that it conducted 132 apprehensions in the first quarter with seizures valued at about P28.02 billion.

 “These seizures encompassed a range of items, including general merchandise, counterfeit goods, cigarettes/tobacco, and illicit drugs discovered at various ports,” it added.

The BoC marked 7.01 billion liters of fuel worth P908.52 billion for since the start of the fuel marking program in 2019 to May 9, 2024.

“The BoC remains committed to contributing to the Department of Finance’s goal of fostering national socio-economic growth by collecting additional revenue and safeguarding the country’s borders,” Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio said.

The BoC said it is also working with the World Bank on the next steps of the Customs Modernization Project as well as reforms to the value-added tax refund process.

This year, Customs is expected to generate close to P1 trillion in revenue. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson