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AboitizPower targets to develop 1,000 MW of solar plants in next two years

ABOITIZ Power Corp. (AboitizPower) plans to build around 1,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy (RE) capacity in the next two years, its president said on Monday.

“Our intention is to build more RE. Expect more, we are ready to issue a notice to proceed with about 1,000 MW of solar projects that will come in late 2025 and early 2026,” Emmanuel V. Rubio, president and chief executive officer of AboitizPower, said during a virtual press briefing.

The additional capacity is part of the company’s target to reach 4,600 MW of renewable energy by the end of the decade, he said.

The listed energy company of the Aboitiz group has set a goal of 50:50 renewable energy and thermal capacities by 2030. It has set a target of building an additional 3,700 MW of renewables that will grow its capacities to 4,600 MW by 2030.

“Because of El Niño, because of some aging facilities that are actually still providing power to the grid. We really need to make sure we are addressing the demand and making sure we have enough reserves in the grid,” he said.

Just last week, the Luzon and Visayas power grids were placed in red and yellow alerts for three consecutive days after the combined 50 plants, mostly hydropower, were on forced outage or unable to operate at a full capacity.

Apart from growing its renewable energy capacities, the company is also making significant investments and expansion projects in coal-fired power plants.

He said the company is looking to expand the capacity of its 340 MW coal-fired power plant located in Toledo City, Cebu, to address the growing energy demand in the area.

To recall, the company said last year that it is looking at increasing the capacity of its Cebu plant through liquefied natural gas (LNG) or by expanding its coal assets.

The company’s plan to expand its coal assets in Cebu is mainly because adding more solar capacity is not suitable for the area and expanding its coal assets would provide a reliable energy source, Mr. Rubio said. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Gov’t offices lead transactions in Q1 — Leechiu Property

JOSE LOSADA-UNSPLASH

The office market vacancy rate is expected to remain high but is projected to decrease to single digits starting in 2028, Leechiu Property Consultants said.

The firm expects vacancies to decrease to 17% in 2025 from 19% in 2024, then to 14% in 2026, 11% in 2027, and finally to 6% in 2028.

The closest year with a single-digit vacancy rate was 2019, at 6%.

“This year, we will start to see pipeline supply drop, but unfortunately, there are still 800,000 sq.m. (square meters) of buildings that will be injected today,” Leechiu Property Director for Commercial Leasing Mikko Barranda said  during a media briefing on Apr. 15.

The firm reported an 18% vacancy rate in the first quarter (Q1), a slight improvement from 19% in the same period last year. It is similar to the 18% yearly vacancy rate in 2023.

This is equivalent to 3.2 million sq.m. led by Ortigas, Mandaluyong, and San Juan at an 18% vacancy rate and 529,000 sq.m. vacant spaces.

Meanwhile, total demand surged by 25% to 331,000 sq.m. from 264,000 sq.m. in the same period last year, marking the highest uptake since the pandemic. This increase was driven by traditional offices, particularly government agencies, which accounted for 151,000 sq.m. and held a market share of 46%.

“Many of the departments that are in 30-year-old buildings are looking to renovate, modernize, upgrade, and a few of those large transactions did take place in the first quarter of 2024,” Mr. Barranda said.

The demand for government offices, with transactions 1,000 sq.m. and up, logged 36,000 sq.m. with nine recorded transactions.

Mr. Barranda added that these traditional offices have taken five to ten years and now see an opportunity to move into bigger or high-end buildings.

He was referring to the flight-to-quality phenomenon, where tenants seek higher quality spaces. Approximately 74% of tenants moved into Grade B spaces, while 26% opted for Prime and Grade A spaces.

Meanwhile, the demand for Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) reached 125,000 sq.m. in the first quarter.

IT-BPM led the provincial demand with 83% to 154,000 sq.m.

“Business process outsourcing companies, despite whether they are hybrid, whether they are 70-30, 50-50, they are leasing space in the market,” Mr. Barranda said.

Despite regulatory changes and issues hounding the industry, the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators sector’s total demand reached 55,000 sq.m. in the first quarter of this year. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante

Philippines improves in the illegal fishing index

A century of bad choices will haunt the Earth for 100,000 years

ONE of the many things to appreciate about our home planet is that buried in its layers of rock is a kind of time machine. These strata tell us so much about our tumultuous history of glaciers, volcanoes, and asteroid impacts, as well as the plants and animals that lived, evolved, and died over eons. There’s no doubt that future geologists or archaeologists will find a lot to interest them in the layer being laid down right now — weird materials from plastic to plutonium and dramatic changes in the nature of fossilized plants and animals. And yet recently, a group of scientists rejected a proposal to give our current epoch a new name: the Anthropocene, derived from the Greek word for human.

That’s too bad. It’s a fitting name and scientifically sound idea — and seems to have been thrown out over technicalities. The approach of dividing deep time into segments began before scientists recognized how old our planet was. Geologists in the late 1700s and early 1800s saw layers of rock with different materials and sometimes very dif-ferent embedded fossils. They noticed that these sometimes changed at abrupt boundaries. They were starting to consider that the Earth might be millions of years old, rather than thousands, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that researchers established that our planet had been around for 4.5 billion years.

Scientists of the early 1800s started ordering these geologic ages in a nested system — the biggest units were eons, within which were eras, then periods, then epochs. Thanks to our love of dinosaurs and dinosaur movies, some people are familiar with the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, each spanning tens of millions of years, the latter ending with a catastrophic asteroid impact.

Our current period is called the Quaternary, and within that are two epochs — the Pleistocene, which started 2.5 million years ago, and is known for periodic ice ages, and the Holocene, which started just 11,700 years ago and is known as a relatively stable, mild period that allowed humanity to spread around the globe. Many of the previous periods are named after geographic locations where rock formations or fossils were identified. The name Anthropocene was proposed in 2000 by chemist Paul Crutzen, who won a Nobel Prize for his part in the discovery that human activities were threatening Earth’s protective ozone layer. In 2009, a team of scientists known as the Anthropocene Working Group set out to pick a date when the Holocene ended and the Anthropocene began. Should it start with the lead pollution of the Roman Empire, still captured in ice sheets? The colonization of the Americas and Australia, which completely changed those continents’ biota? They eventually settled on 1952, when humanity added plutonium and other detectable byproducts of atomic bomb testing to our planet’s surface.

The recency of that date seemed to be a sticking point for the scientists who rejected the Anthropocene concept. Some also argued that what we’re calling the Anthropocene is not so much an epoch as an event — a rapid environmental change that might or might not kick off a new epoch. Some also thought it sounded too negative — in a New York Times opinion piece, Stephen Lezak, a professor at Cambridge and Oxford, wrote that sends a pessimistic message that we’re defining the era by “human-caused environmental disaster” and that “we won’t be getting out of this mess any time soon.”

But our influence doesn’t have to be seen as pure destruction. It’s downright optimistic to consider that someone might be doing science tens or hundreds of thousands of years in the future and want to study what we left behind. This future scientist could be someone similar to Richard Alley, a professor at Penn State University and author of a book called The Two Mile Time Machine about drilling into Earth’s ice caps to understand the planet’s past.

Alley says that since the Anthropocene just got started and represents only a sliver on the top of Earth’s crust, geologists don’t need it for mapping purposes. But if you appreciate that the lines the early geologists drew through dif-ferent eras represented upheavals, then what’s going on now easily qualifies. “The Anthropocene very clearly is another one,” he said.

Barring some spectacular technological intervention, the carbon dioxide that’s come from burning fossil fuels could take 100,000 to 500,000 years to be reabsorbed by Earth, said Alley. In the meantime, the resulting glacier loss and sea level rise will affect people for thousands of years. So however long our species lasts, the influence of recent decades will reverberate through time. Historically, people had trouble believing we could change something as powerful and vast as Earth’s climate. And human beings couldn’t have known, at first, that they were changing the planet’s atmosphere.

Of course, we now know that humanity is leaving a big mark in the strata. What we don’t know is how future scientists will judge us. Naming this era the Anthropocene could be seen as a positive statement about our spe-cies — that we had the foresight and self-awareness to recognize our growing impact on our vast but limited Earth.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Alec Baldwin’s criminal case hinges on a Wild West revolver

ACTOR Alec Baldwin in a scene from Rust. — IMDB

TAOS, New Mexico — A Colt .45 “Peacemaker” revolver, a symbol of the American Wild West, is at the center of actor Alec Baldwin’s fight to avoid criminal prosecution for the 2021 fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a New Mexico movie set.

Mr. Baldwin’s 15-month battle with New Mexico state prosecutors is heading towards a July 10 climax when the actor is scheduled to face trial for involuntary manslaughter over Hollywood’s first on-set shooting with a live-round in modern times.

The movie’s weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment last week for Ms. Hutchins’ death. Mr. Baldwin’s legal team is trying to have his indictment thrown out. His lawyers could seek a plea bargain if that fails.

But should the charge hold, Mr. Baldwin’s trial is likely to focus on whether he pulled the trigger of his reproduction 1873 Colt .45 after he said he was directed — either by director Joel Souza or Ms. Hutchins — to point it at the cinematographer, according to different statements he made to the police and then to media.

Mr. Baldwin argues that Ms. Hutchins died due to a breakdown in film industry firearms safety protocol, which as an actor he was not responsible for. He said it was not his job to inspect the gun and that he did not pull the trig-ger after Ms. Gutierrez mistakenly loaded a live round instead of an inert dummy.

Firearms and legal experts do not expect a Santa Fe, New Mexico, jury to necessarily see it that way.

In the Southwest United States, where gun ownership is routine, there is a cultural norm to check whether a weapon is loaded and never point it at someone and pull the trigger, according to Ashley Hlebinsky, executive director of the University of Wyoming Firearms Research Center.

Some local jurors may not differentiate between handling a gun on a movie set or in real life. Persuading jury members, especially gun owners, that the revolver went off on its own could be a hard sell, said the firearms histori-an.

Still, Hlebinsky sees a possible path to acquittal for Baldwin: namely, the argument his lawyers laid out in their motion to dismiss that the gun was modified to make it “easier to fire without pulling the trigger.” That motion is now being considered by a judge.

“The defense just have to put doubt into the head of the jury,” said Ms. Hlebinksy, who has acted as a firearms expert in court cases on single action Colt .45-type revolvers similar to the Rust weapon. “I think they can definitely do that.”

 

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
It was six weeks after the Oct. 21, 2021 shooting that Mr. Baldwin said in an ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos that he did not pull the trigger of the Italian-made gun.

Days later, the actor told a New Mexico workplace safety inspector that the Pietta reproduction Colt Single Action Army revolver had no mechanical defect.

Mr. Baldwin’s statement that the gun “went off” on its own, and his comment that it worked properly, are part of New Mexico state prosecutor Kari Morrissey’s assertion that the 30 Rock actor has “lied with impunity” about details of the shooting.

“They’re going to have to walk back from that statement a bit,” trial lawyer Neama Rahmani said of Mr. Baldwin’s legal team.

The former federal prosecutor expected the actor’s lawyers to frame the incident as “an accidental discharge,” a term meaning the gun fired due to mechanical failure.

He said it was an unusual though not unheard of legal position, most often employed in cases where a defendant was seeking to reduce a charge from murder to manslaughter.

According to Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers, someone filed down the full-cock notch of the long Colt .45 after it was supplied brand new to the production, to make it easier to fire.

Lucien Haag, an independent gun expert hired by the state, testified at Ms. Gutierrez’ trial that the full-cock notch was worn down and broken off by FBI testing, rather than filing.

FBI tests of the gun found it was in normal working condition when it arrived at their lab in Quantico, Virginia, after the shooting. An investigator had to hit the hammer with a mallet to make it fire without pulling the trigger, the blows damaging the hammer and trigger, according to the FBI.

Mr. Baldwin risks jeopardizing his credibility if he changes his story on the trigger, said lawyer Kate Mangels. She expected him to continue to blame others for firearm safety failures as prosecutors accuse him of negligence, both as an actor and the film’s most powerful producer.

“At this juncture it would be difficult for Baldwin’s defense team to change course,” said Mangels, a partner at entertainment law firm Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir.

Ms. Hlebinsky, the firearms expert, said movie-set armorers she knows, who have seen pictures of the hammer on Mr. Baldwin’s gun, are uncertain whether the full cock notch was worn down by mallet blows or filing. She ex-pected Mr. Baldwin’s legal team to find a firearms expert to testify it was the latter.

 

“I don’t think anyone can say 100% what happened,” she said of the gun. — Reuters

Entertainment News (04/23/24)

Challengers to screen in Ayala Malls Cinemas

THE film Challengers will be in Philippine cinemas this month. The film is helmed by filmmaker Luca Guadagdnino, known for his works Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All, and features a powerhouse cast in Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor. It follows Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy turned coach who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to Art (Faist), a champion on a losing streak, Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (O’Connor), who happens to be Art’s former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend. Challengers opens on April 24 exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas. 

Chinese pop star Xin Liu releases 1st English song

CHINESE singer, dancer, and producer Xin Liu has recently made her first English-language song, “Reality,” out via 88rising. She debuted the song live onstage at Coachella during the 88rising Futures set, with Chinese street dancers wearing the traditional clothing of her hometown of Guiyang, China. The single comes with a music video, filmed in a vintage store in Los Angeles, directed by Daniel “Cloud” Campos, and featuring choreography by award-winning dancer Jillian Meyers. “Reality” is out now on all streaming platforms. 

Viu’s Fil-Indo series Secret Ingredient set to launch

STREAMING platform Viu, in partnership with Unilever Nutrition SEA and Indonesia, is hosting an event to launch its upcoming show, Secret Ingredient. A blend of Korean, Filipino, and Indonesian flavors will be served on April 28, from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Market! Market! Activity Center in Taguig, while the romance drama premieres on Viu. The center will be filled with Unilever Nutrition booths and lit up by activities open to the public. 

Musical icons perform in Cayabyab tribute

STARS will be gathering for National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab’s 70th birthday in May this year for a musical tribute titled Gen C. Mr. Cayabyab will be performing with Aicelle Santos, Arman Ferrer, the Ateneo Chamber Singers, Basil Valdez, Belle Mariano, Bituin Escalante, Dilaw, Jed Madela, John Arcilla, Kakai Bautista, Karylle Tatlonghari, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, Mikkie Bradshaw-Volante, Nonie Buencamino, Nyoy Volante, Phi Palmos, Regine Velasquez, Sheila Valderrama-Martinez, Stell of SB19, The CompanY, The Ryan Cayabyab Singers, Ben & Ben, Bini, Janella Salvador, Juan Karlos, Julie Anne San Jose, and Vice Ganda, all accompanied by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. The two-day event will be held at 7:30 p.m. on May 11 and 12 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit, Makati. Tickets are available via TIcketWorld.

Lay Zhang unveils new single

IN THE wake of the global success of “Run Back to You” with Lauv, Asian star Lay Zhang has once again released a single, “Psychic,” via Warner Music China. It will be the second lead single from his English album which is set to debut this year. The track has English, Chinese, and Korean versions. It is produced with Rykeyz, Sean Douglas, JHart, and Kyle Reynolds, infused with garage and bass rhythms and R&B chords. The music video, filmed in Dubai, features a cast and crew from more than 20 countries, directed by Los Angeles-based Andrew Donoho. “Psychic” is out now on all streaming platforms. 

Muhlach family to star in TV5 sitcom Da Pers Family

THE MUHLACH family will soon star together for the first time in TV5’s newest family sitcom Da Pers Family. Aga Muhlach and his wife, Charlene Gonzales-Muhlach, first met on the set of the 1990s sitcom Oki Doki Doc and married in 2001. Their children are twins Andres and Atasha, who are both in show business. “We had a very normal childhood. They made sure to make us experience a normal life, going to school, playing sports. Even my friends and the people around me, they never treated me as such,” said Atasha. Da Pers Family will premiere on TV5 in May. 

2024 World Music Fest opens call for artists

FOR its 8th edition, the World Music Festival @ Taiwan (WMFT) has officially opened its Showcase applications, accepting submissions until May 25. Scheduled to unfold from Oct. 11 to 13 across three stages in Taipei, this year’s event hopes to attract emerging artists to perform and show the Taiwanese audiences their very best. Artists from last year’s festival were invited to perform at showcase festivals worldwide this year, including Colours of Ostrava in the Czech Republic, Tallinn Music Week in Estonia, and Seoul Music Week in South Korea. This year’s theme is “Groove to Your Addiction.” For more information on applications, visit the festival’s website and social media pages. 

Vedo releases second single

THE MULTI-PLATINUM R&B talent VEDO has released his second single, “Your Love is All I Need,” from his forthcoming album Next Chapter. The track, an ode to unconditional love and authenticity, is produced by Amadeus and Buda. It follows up his recent viral Valentine’s Day wedding to his best friend Shanice, showing how his love-filled life inspires his latest music. “Your Love is All I Need” is now available on all major streaming platforms. 

Philippines, US start war games amid China tension

UNITED States Embassy Charge d’Affaires Robert Ewing (middle) is flanked by (from left) Philippine Balikatan exercise director Major General Marvin Licudine, military chief General Romeo S. Brawner, Jr., military deputy chief Major General Noel D. Beleran and US Balikatan exercise director Lieutenant General William Jurney at the opening of the annual joint Philippine-US military exercises at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Monday.

NEARLY 17,000 Filipino and American troops kicked off their three-week war games in the Philippines on Monday, including maritime drills in the South China Sea where Manila and Beijing have sparred over their sea dispute.

“Exercises in those locations operate based on international order and international law and well within your sovereign rights and responsibilities,” US Lieutenant General William Jurney, Balikatan exercise director, told a news briefing. “We’re conducting exercises that are normal.”

The military exercises called Balikatan or shoulder to shoulder in Filipino will be mostly concentrated in northern Philippines and its west coast, near the potential flash points of the South China Sea and Taiwan, which China con-siders a renegade province.

France and Australia, which have boosted defense ties with the Philippines in the face of China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, will join the maritime exercises to be conducted for the first time outside Philippine territorial waters.

The annual drills, which will run until May 10, come amid an escalating diplomatic row and maritime encounters between the Philippines and China, which continues to block resupply missions at Second Thomas Shoal, where Manila grounded a World War II-era ship in 1999 to assert its sovereignty.

The exercises are in line with the treaty allies’ “unwavering commitment to democracy and respect for international law in our pursuit of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific Region,” said Philippine military chief Romeo S. Brawner, Jr., who opened the drills at a ceremony.

He cited the need for both countries to boost maritime cooperation amid complex challenges that he said threaten regional peace and security. “We are fully committed to upholding a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”

“Balikatan represents more than just a showcase of military readiness,” US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Y. Robert Ewing said at the opening ceremony. “It embodies the deep-rooted spirit of collaboration and partnership that has defined the enduring alliance between the United States and the Philippines for decades.”

He said the military drills and the many other smaller military engagements are central to achieving both nations’ commitment to greater interoperability between their armed forces. “To everyone who will participate in Bali-katan, service member and civilian, know that your efforts here are advancing our shared goal of ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Beijing’s increasing pressure in the South China Sea has alarmed Manila, rival claimants to disputed maritime territory, and other states operating there, including the United States which has reaffirmed its commitment to de-fend the Philippines against armed aggression in the waterway.

China claims most of the South China Sea, which is a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce. Beijing has criticized the joint drills, saying they aggravate tensions and undermine regional stability.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s expansive claims to the sea had no basis under international law. China rejects the ruling and has built military facilities on disputed atolls to back up its claims.

‘POTENTIAL TARGET’

During joint exercises, US troops and their Philippine counterparts will simulate retaking enemy-occupied islands in the northernmost islands of the country close to Taiwan, and in western Palawan province facing the South China Sea.

The drills, which the Philippines said were not targeted against any country, will involve 16,700 troops from both sides, slightly less than last year’s 17,600, which were the largest Balikatan exercises since these started in 1991.

“While we remain vigilant in the face of regional challenges, the exercise is not explicitly tied to any particular country’s actions,” Philippine military spokesman Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said on Sunday.

Hosting combat training exercises and maritime drills in the South China Sea could escalate tensions, Party-list Rep. Arlene D. Brosas said.

“The pre-positioning of missiles near contested waters and other strategic maneuvers demonstrate a calculated effort to assert dominance and provoke conflict in the region,” she said in a statement. —

She said the US was using the Philippines as a “pawn” in waging a war against China.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said the Balikatan exercises reek of the “subservient foreign policy” of the Marcos administration.

“Balikatan has nothing to show in modernizing our defense forces and enhancing local capabilities to secure our territories,” Bayan Secretary-General Raymond Palatino said in a statement. “It also didn’t prevent China’s aggres-sion in the West Philippine Sea.”

Human rights group Karapatan urged the Marcos government to stop the annual war games, saying it could worsen tensions with China. “The heavy presence of American military troops and armaments in the country already makes the Philippines a potential target of military attacks by China,” it said in a statement.

Joshua Bernard B. Espeña, vice-president at the Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation, dismissed fears of escalation because of Balikatan, noting that the drills would let Filipino soldiers practice with modern combat systems.

The Philippines is not a pawn, he said in a Facebook Messenger chat, adding that the country could pursue strategic interests to boost its defense capabilities. “These alliances are meant to secure the country’s core interests — enhance defense capabilities to close gaps in the archipelago for optimizing conditions for exploiting maritime resources for sustainable development goals.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio and John Victor D. Ordoñez with Reuters

‘Sinophobia’ slammed as Chinese influx probe urged

By Chloe Mari A. Hufana

WORRIES about the influx of Chinese students into the northern Philippine province of Cagayan could be a sign of anti-Chinese sentiment amid growing tensions between the two nations in the South China Sea, according to a security expert.

“The influx is raising concerns in the Philippines because of growing Sinophobia in the Philippines caused by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s excessive pro-Americanism in dealing with China in the West Philippine Sea,” Rommel C. Banlaoi, former president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies, said in a Viber message.

Senate Majority Leader Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva has sought a probe of the Chinese influx amid worries that some of the students might be spies.

“This issue does not only diminish the integrity of our education system but might also have implications for our national security,” he said in a statement.

“We need to ensure that this is not a smokescreen for more questionable Chinese citizens to enter the country, such as workers in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations,” he added.

Some lawmakers have sought to ban offshore gaming operators, which are mostly Chinese companies that hire their own nationals, given their alleged links to crimes.

Mr. Banlaoi said the Chinese population in the Philippines is small compared with other Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia.

He added that Thailand, an American ally like the Philippines, had at least 20,000 Chinese students in 2022.

Mr. Banlaoi attributed the growing Sinophobia in the Philippines to Western influence.

The United States and the Philippines are holding military drills in the northern province of Ilocos Norte until May 10. About 16,700 troops from both sides will be participating.

Tensions between Manila and Beijing have worsened in the past year as China’s coast guard continues to block resupply missions at Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines grounded a World War II-era ship in 1999 to as-sert its sovereignty.

Immigration Commissioner Norman G. Tansingco on Friday said 1,516 Chinese nationals in Cagayan had been given student visas.

More than 400 Chinese nationals are physically attending schools in the province, while others are enrolled in distance learning.

Mr. Tansingco said the rise in students might be due to “post-pandemic rebound” and “aggressive marketing of schools and government agencies to boost the country’s educational tourism.”

St. Paul University Philippines, Medical Colleges of Northern Philippines, University of Cagayan Valley (UCV) and University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao, all in Cagayan, dismissed the worries as signs of Sinophobia.

“The insinuation that the presence of Chinese students in the city’s universities poses a threat to national security is not only baseless but also deeply offensive,” they said in a joint statement.

“It is a blatant display of racism and Sinophobia that has no place in our society, especially within the realm of education.”

“It is positive to promote people-to-people contacts, academic exchanges and cultural interactions as long as they remain involved in lawful activities,” Mr. Banlaoi told BusinessWorld.

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission last month raided a property in Bamban, Tarlac that housed almost 900 hundred allegedly trafficked workers at an illegal offshore gaming operator.

They included 371 Filipinos, 427 Chinese, 57 Vietnamese, eight Malaysians, three Taiwanese, two Indonesians and two Rwandans.

Philippines, Qatar sign deals on commerce and tourism

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. welcomes Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani at the presidential palace for a two-day official visit.

THE Philippines and Qatar on Monday signed almost a dozen agreements involving commerce, climate action and tourism, including a deal on mutual recognition of seafarers’ certificates.

The deals were signed during Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s two-day official visit to Manila on Monday.

The countries also agreed on technical cooperation and capacity-building on climate change.

“There is much potential that we can take advantage of,” Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. told his Qatari counterpart in a meeting at the presidential palace in Manila, according to the palace.

Mr. Al-Thani’s visit to the Philippines was the first for a Qatar emir in more than a decade.

A deal between the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry was also signed.

The two countries also agreed to waive visa requirements for holders of diplomatic and special or official passports, promote tourism and business events, boost anti-human trafficking efforts, promote youth welfare and strengthen sports ties.

An agreement between the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry was also signed.

Qatar remained a preferred choice among overseas Filipino workers, with about 250,000 Filipinos employed in the Gulf country, the Qatar Visa Center (QVC) said last year. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

Senator calls for stricter immigration measures vs POGO-linked criminals

AIDAN HOWE-UNSPLASH

By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter

A SENATOR has urged the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to ramp up efforts to keep foreigners linked to illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) out of the country and deter them from setting up more illegal outfits.

“They just move around,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said in a statement on Monday, referring to foreigners involved in POGOs. “They’ve already slipped past our immigration and now they freely hop from one POGO company to another.”

“As gatekeepers, the BI should effectively repel criminal elements that are only bent on making our country an area of operation for illegal activities,” he said.

More than 4,000 people have fallen prey to POGO-related crimes such as human trafficking in the first half of last year, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said last October.

Mr. Gatchalian earlier filed a resolution seeking to permanently ban these operations in the country, saying many of these are still licensed under the Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) despite their links to crime.

Pagcor said in August last year that it would start privatizing its 45 casinos by the third quarter of 2025, expecting to generate about P60 to P80 billion in revenue.

The senator had said the move would make up for state losses from the closure of POGO companies after Pagcor failed to collect from them about P2.2 billion in unpaid dues.

“Every time a POGO (hub) is raided, there are always fugitives (apprehended) who are wanted by their respective countries,” Mr. Gatchalian said in Filipino.

Malacañang earlier this month ordered the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze the assets of a POGO hub in Tarlac province in northern Philippines.

A total of 868 POGO workers were rescued during a March 13 raid after the company was linked to human trafficking and torture crimes.

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission seized about P6 million in cash and passports in 11 vaults found in the POGO hub. Authorities also seized at least 60

Transport safety board pushed

PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

A PHILIPPINE senator has pushed for the creation of an independent transport safety board that would craft standards for the implementation of motorcycle lanes and other proposals to decongest traffic in Metro Manila.

On Sunday, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said it is considering setting up a motorcycle lane along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) to ease traffic congestion.

“The intention to decongest EDSA is understandable but it is curious how they will carve out a dedicated lane considering the limited road space as it is,” Senator Mary Grace N. Poe-Llamanzares said in a statement.

“It also highlights the need for an independent fact-based agency like the National Transportation Safety Board which should be able to cull data and institute standards for the designation of motorcycle lanes.”

Earlier, she filed Senate Bill No. 1121, which seeks to establish the Philippine Transportation Safety Board, an independent agency that would look into traffic accidents aligning with global standards.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) advised motorists to seek alternate routes as the southbound EDSA-Kamuning Flyover undergoes retrofitting, which would cause significant traffic conges-tion in this area of Quezon City.

Repairs on the flyover will start on April 25 and run until Oct. 25. Beginning May 1, the flyover would be closed to all private vehicles and cater only to buses along the EDSA Carousel, MMDA Traffic Engineering Center Director Neomie T. Recio said on Monday.

At a press briefing, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Project Engineer Brian B. Briones recommended diversions via Panay Avenue, Mother Ignacia St., Sgt. Esguerra St., and Timog Avenue.

Acting MMDA Chairman Romando S. Artes stressed the need to implement the repairs to ensure structural safety in the event of seismic events. He noted that the flyover’s closure would affect 385,000 vehicles on a daily basis. — John Victor D. Ordoñez with a report from Chloe Mari A. Hufana

PPA inviting bids for Leyte port

THE PHILIPPINE Ports Authority (PPA) is now inviting bids for the development of the P937.21-million Port of Babatngon, Leyte.

Interested parties may participate and bid for the development of the new port on May 17, PPA said in its bid notice.

“The PPA intends to apply the sum of P937,205,859.88 being the Approved Budget for the Contract to payments under the contract for the new port development, port of Babatngon, Leyte,” PPA said.

According to the invitation to bid for the new port development posted on PPA’s website, it said that any bids in excess of the approved amount of the contract shall be rejected at the bid opening and only those interested parties with experience of working on a similar project will be considered an eligible bidder.

“Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non- discretionary ‘pass/fail’ criterion,” the PPA said.

The PPA said that the project must be completed within 720 days or almost a two-year period.

The contract includes the development of the port operational area and causeway and construction of RC pier, it said. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

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