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Charter change: good to have, or must have?

There is one ad that is currently going the rounds of television networks and it is a push for charter change. The Inquirer described it as one employing “a play of words on the Filipino slang “echapwera,” which means “left out” or “ostracized” in English, and inserting the word “EDSA.” It is a derogatory reference to a democratic uprising in 1986.

EDSA is the old Highway 54 where the 1986 People Power Revolution transpired that led to the drafting and ratification of a new Philippine Constitution in 1987. The ad claims that our “asenso” stopped in 1986 because quality education was ruled out, plentiful farmers’ harvests did not happen, and land ownership by foreign investors was not allowed. They were “EDSA-pwera.”

The call: Gawing Saligang Patas ang Saligang Batas. Let there be a level playing field.

Of course, as Albay Rep. Joey Salceda pointed out, it is within the law for democracies to amend their constitutions “to suit the evolving needs of the times” and to implement appropriate realignments with fast changing economic and political conditions. No issue about this, but it is important to avoid using this initiative to insert additional agendas for revision like a possible extension of term limits.

Or to change the form of government as if this nation’s future depends on it — both parliamentary and presidential forms of government have their share of successes and failures in political and economic management. That is hardly the issue of how to move this country forward.

Well, at least two senators have been reported to have denounced some parties for their attempts to get the Philippine Constitution amended by “allegedly bribing districts, local government units, and potential signatories openly and shamelessly to agree to a people’s initiative.” They called for an investigation and prosecution of those involved in what they called “unlawful activity.” Whether this proposal is serious and will prosper remains an open question. It takes more than a committee hearing in Congress to advance the process. Enough votes are needed to reach the plenary or submit the committee report for appropriate action.

But make no mistake about it, there could be some scope for amending several restrictive constitutional provisions on the economy, but uploading that particular propaganda over the media is not exactly the best way to rally a people’s initiative to attain genuine political change. The ad’s subtext was that we need a political change other than what the EDSA People Power was all about.

We don’t think we need to revise the Constitution only to achieve that purpose.

Transforming our politics involves a change in the people’s mindset on who to vote for. For the choice of candidates, we need to implement Article II, Section 26 of the Constitution that mandates that “the state shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.” That provision is yet to be fleshed out in a law.

While we have more than our share of constitutional and legal empowerment, we have very little resolve to enforce the Constitution and the laws of the land. In many instances, appropriate public policy is all that is required to address many national ills. For the Constitution does not guarantee good governance, transparency, and accountability in doing public service. The electorate have not exactly exercised their right to vote by selecting candidates based on competence, character, and experience in public service. They have been enamored with those who can dispense something on the eve of the election, those who can execute a song and dance medley, those who are popular in entertainment and media.

Most important, generating the momentum for charter change through people’s initiative may not exactly reflect the sentiment of the Filipino people. As indicated by the position paper of the faculty members of the UP Department of Political Science submitted to Congress, a June 2018 Pulse Asia survey showed that around 67% of the respondents were against charter change, with 37% against it “now and in the future” while 30% were opposed “now but may be open to it sometime in the future.” Only 18% were in favor of revising the Constitution and a close 24% were undecided.

What is more troubling is that from the same survey, 74% of Filipinos had little, or almost no, knowledge of the Philippine charter. Then as now, the most urgent national concerns continue to be controlling inflation, improving workers’ pay, creating more jobs, and fighting criminality as well as graft and corruption. These gut issues do not lend themselves directly to constitutional amendments. Not one among the most urgent national concerns — and they are 16 in all — in the latest December 2023 survey by Pulse Asia remotely resembled a plea for some charter amendment. These 16 national concerns are all about good governance, transparency and accountability of those in Government. They are all about character and integrity, and concern for the poor and the disadvantaged among us.

As a fellow, we support the Foundation for Economic Freedom’s (FEF) position paper on charter change because “the removal of restrictive economic provisions sends a clear and compelling message to foreign investors, signaling a warm welcome to investment and business operations in the Philippines.” Such restrictions are real constraints to developing those areas where the country enjoys great potential like mass media and renewable energy.

Three points strengthen the FEF’s position on charter change. First, it recognizes the various policy reforms like the amendments to the Public Service Act and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act as also essential to economic transformation. Second, it recognizes that while the proposed amendments to remove the restrictive economic provisions are necessary, by no means are they sufficient. Rule of law, good infrastructure, and ease of doing business, among others, are vital to attracting foreign investment. And, three, it strongly emphasizes that the constitutional amendments should be limited exclusively to economic provisions.

If we allow a free for all, free riders if one wills, whether by people’s initiative, congressional amendment through constituent assembly, or a constitutional convention, we risk a political crisis that could even prevent us from benefitting from this charter initiative and achieve additional cylinders for greater economic velocity.

Just like our major commentary on the Maharlika Investment Fund, it will be doing an injustice to civil society to argue that without charter change, we can kiss goodbye our aspiration to transform the Philippine economy, revitalize it to break through the low middle income trap, and promote progress and prosperity for all Filipinos.

We have the current Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 that, in the words of the President, “provides us a comprehensive roadmap containing actionable policies and programs, as well as legislative priorities, that will enable us to reach our desired development outcomes.”

Such outcomes involve fundamental transformations in all business sectors to push for greater job creation, accelerate poverty reduction and achieve prosperity, inclusion, and resiliency of our society. It embraces the values of digitalization, servicification, enhanced connectivity, greater collaboration between local and National Government, and partnership with the private sector.

The Plan commits to maintain high levels of economic growth ranging from 6% to 7% in 2023 to 6.5% to 8% (later downgraded to 7.5%) from 2023-2028.

All these whole-of-society approach and ambitious growth targets were framed for civil society’s ownership without linking their likelihood of success to any constitutional change. It’s time for the people to be involved in deciding whether such constitutional change is “good to have,” or “must have.”

 

Diwa C. Guinigundo is the former deputy governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). He served the BSP for 41 years. In 2001-2003, he was alternate executive director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. He is the senior pastor of the Fullness of Christ International Ministries in Mandaluyong.

Hollywood actors union signs first big deal for AI in voice-over work

COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG

THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (SAG), which represents 160,000 film and TV actors, signed a deal requiring consents and guaranteed minimum payments when members’ voices are replicated digitally in video games and other entertainment.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director, announced the agreement Tuesday with Replica Studios, which describes itself as an ethical artificial intelligence (AI) voice company. He spoke at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The use of AI became a focal point of strikes by writers and actors strikes that paralyzed production of films and TV shows for several months last year. Unions representing both groups reached assurances from studios on job protections from AI use, as well as pay increases.

Shreyas Nivas, co-founder and chief executive officer of Replica, said the agreement will be a “big benefit to talent and a big benefit to studios” by providing a framework for use of AI in the production of video games.

Nivas said production of one of his favorite games, Red Dead Redemption 2, would have materially sped up if some of the 5,000 lines of dialogue had been generated by AI based on actors’ earlier voice recordings. — Bloomberg

Megaworld says second Palawan hotel to open in 2029 

TAN-LED property developer Megaworld Corp. on Thursday said the second hotel development of its Paragua Coastown township in San Vicente town, Palawan, is set to open in 2029.

Megaworld is currently constructing the Paragua Sands Hotel and will join the company’s first hotel development in the township, called Savoy Hotel Palawan, which is set to open in 2028, it said in a regulatory filing.

Paragua Sands Hotel is a ten-story building that features 313 guest rooms and suites in various types, including twin suite (up to 32 square meters), queen suite (up to 32.5 square meters), junior suite (up to 61 square meters), executive suite (up to 60.5 square meters), and presidential suite (140 square meters).

The hotel will also provide specially abled suites (up to 34 square meters) for guests needing special room arrangements.

The property is located beside Oceanfront Premier Residences, which is the first residential condominium development within the township.

“We are very excited to introduce our 20th hotel property in our portfolio, and what better destination to host it than in San Vicente, Palawan, which is home to the longest beachline in the country and the second longest in the entire Southeast Asia,” Megaworld Hotels and Resorts Managing Director Cleofe C. Albiso said.  

Paragua Sands Hotel will feature amenities and facilities located at the central amenity area on the second and third floors. These include a swimming pool, kiddie pool, a pool deck with seating area, an outdoor deck and balconies, a kid’s club, spa with treatment rooms, fitness center with yoga area, and changing rooms with wet and dry sauna.

The hotel will also have a ballroom that could accommodate up to 220 individuals, function rooms that could cater up to 80 individuals, and meetings rooms that could have up to 66 people. It will have a business center with four workstations.

It will have four food and beverage outlets, an all-day dining restaurant with both alfresco and private dining areas, Zabana bar and lounge, pool bar and grill with outdoor dining, a specialty restaurant, a gift shop, and several retail spaces, Megaworld added.

Paragua Sands Hotel will be the 20th hotel property launched by Megaworld Hotels and Resorts. Out of the 20 hotel properties launched, some 12 are operational with around 5,000 rooms.

The operational hotel properties include Richmonde Hotel Ortigas, Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Richmonde Hotel Iloilo, Savoy Hotel Newport, Savoy Hotel Boracay, Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown, Belmont Hotel Manila, Belmont Hotel Boracay, Belmont Hotel Mactan, Kingsford Hotel Manila, Twin Lakes Hotel in Laurel, Batangas near Tagaytay, and Hotel Lucky Chinatown in Binondo, Manila.

Shares of Megaworld closed unchanged at P2 apiece on Thursday.— Revin Mikhael D. Ochave 

Developing countries and external debt: What is wrong?

AREK SOCHA-PIXABAY

LAST DECEMBER, the World Bank published its annual report on international debt (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/debt-statistics/idr/products). The report indicates that, in 2022, the developing countries spent $443 billion on debt-service repayment (principal plus interest) of their external public and publicly guaranteed debt, 5% more than in 2021. These payments are expected to rise in 2023 and 2024 due to the increase in interest rates. The report indicates that debt levels and high interest rates have set many countries on a path to crisis.

The report provides data on total external debt, defined as debt owed to nonresidents repayable in currency, goods, or services. By debtor, total external debt is divided into three categories: (i) use of IMF credit and SDR allocations; (ii) long term external debt — this refers to original or extended maturity of more than one year, and it is divided in two types: (a) public and publicly guaranteed, and (b) private nonguaranteed long-term debt, and these two are owed to official (multilateral and bilateral) and private creditors —; and (iii) short-term debt. Short-term debt includes all debt (public and private) having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Data are shown in current US dollars.

For the Philippines (https://datatopics.worldbank.org/debt/ids/countryanalytical/PHL), the data indicates that, in 2022, total external debt had increased to $111 billion (about P6.1 trillion). Slightly over 80% was long-term external debt and the rest was short term (IMF credit represented a negligible percentage). Of the $91 billion in long-term debt, 69% was public debt (56% owed to public creditors and 44% to private creditors). This means that the share of private nonguaranteed debt represented 31%. In 2022, the Philippines debt-service repayment amounted to almost $9 billion, of which 63% corresponded to principal repayments (37% was interest); and the external debt to exports ratio (total external debt stocks to exports of goods, services and primary income) was 99.3%, while debt service represented 8% of total exports.

The World Bank’s data are not identical to that provided by the Philippine Treasury on national debt (https://www.treasury.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/NG-Debt-Press-Release-December-2022-ed.pdf). In 2022, Philippine national debt, amounted to about P13.4 trillion. This includes both peso-denominated debt (domestic debt, essentially government securities) and foreign-denominated debt (external debt). The latter accounted for about 31% of the total, that is, Philippine foreign debt amounted to about P4.2 trillion, or about $76 billion. Forty-five percent of the external debt are loans and the other 55% government securities in different currencies — mostly US dollars.

This figure is significantly lower than that provided by the World Bank. The reason is that the multilateral institution considers debt servicing (repayment of principal and interest), while the Philippine government does not — it only considers the stock of debt. The World Bank also includes as debt that of the private sector but not the Philippine government (only government debt).

With this background on the data, the question is why many developing countries face problems honoring their foreign debt payments. We will argue that the Sword of Damocles that the developing countries face is that all their international transactions are run in a currency different from their own: US dollars. It has become a headache for many of them to obtain dollars and manage them properly.

Both the public and private sectors of developing countries need foreign currency. The private sector needs to import essentials such as capital goods (for example, machinery), food, and oil. Governments also need foreign currency because part of their payments may contain an import component. These countries also probably import weapons for their defense forces (which are necessary) and luxurious consumer goods (probably not necessary) that have to be paid in dollars.

Developing countries obtain dollars through exports of goods and services, through remittances, or by securing a loan or by issuing debt (securities) in a foreign currency. It is the latter that has to be repaid — the Damocles Sword. Many developing countries run current account deficits (imports outstrip exports) quasi-permanently. This has to do with both the fact that some of their imports are dubious (for example, luxurious goods) and with the fact that their exports are mostly agricultural products and simple manufactures. It is very difficult for them to secure loans in a foreign currency (because lenders deem them risky), or for their governments to issue debt in a foreign currency (beyond a certain level, nobody wants to buy those securities). When the domestic economy cannot supply the goods and services needed, and imports must be reduced due to the lack of dollars to pay for them, the economy ends up collapsing. This has happened on many occasions, the latest victims being Argentina, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Developing countries are then forced to borrow the foreign currency (dollars) from multilateral institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, or the Asian Development Bank because, despite these institutions’ conditions, they offer funds at low interest rates. Obtaining these dollars avoids the significant currency depreciations that developing countries have to endure.

The need to avoid a permanent current account deficit imposes a macroeconomic constraint on growth on many developing countries. The reason is that they have to curtail import growth to that consistent with their export growth. This then determines the output growth rate consistent with current account equilibrium. It is known as the balance-of-payments-constrained growth rate. This growth rate is lower than the country’s potential growth.

The World Bank’s report claims that, to repay foreign debt, developing countries have to “shift scarce resources away from public health, education, the environment, and infrastructure.” What are the scarce resources the statement refers to? A significant portion of the expenditures on health (build a health center, pay doctors), education (build a school, pay teachers’ salaries), and infrastructure (materials to build a road and construction workers’ wages), “should be” in the domestic currency, pesos in the case of the Philippines. The domestic currency certainly is not a scarce resource. However, advanced complex equipment, medicines, and even steel, have to be imported and paid for in dollars. Dollars are a scarce resource for most developing countries because they have to be earned.

The issue at stake is that those developing countries that have to fund most of their expenditures to build schools, hospitals, or roads in dollars are in very bad shape. It means they do not have a domestic industry (that would use the domestic currency) that can supply the basic materials to build them. This is the real problem.

The report indicates that developing countries face the choice of servicing their public debt or investing in public health, education, and infrastructure. This choice should only occur if they finance their expenditures in dollars. This situation, the report continues, warrants quick and coordinated action by debtor governments, private and official creditors, and multilateral financial institutions — more transparency, better debt sustainability tools, and swifter restructuring arrangements.

Developing countries should not face such a choice. Surely coordination is needed. Yet, given that this is a recurring story, the solution to these countries’ problems lies in helping them change the structure of production; and not in restructuring their foreign debt with more foreign debt. We know the result: another crisis. These nations need to create a domestic industry capable of supplying all necessary goods for the nation to function. This should be the government’s priority number one, and this is what the multilateral institutions should help them do.

This is not to blame multilateral agencies: developing countries’ original sin is that they often get into trouble because of their own policy mistakes. The problem gets compounded when they borrow foreign-currency, and this snowballs because it is not repaid. The domestic industries they have to create to break this vicious cycle should be able to supply the domestic market and to export to earn dollars to pay for the necessary imports (for hospitals and to build roads). This is the essence of what development is about.

The Philippines is by no means in a precarious situation. National domestic debt (in pesos), about P9.2 trillion, is not a problem. The Philippine government will always be able to honor this debt because it is in the nation’s currency (unless for political reasons it decides to stop payments). The argument that the “government does not have money” (its own currency) to build schools, hospitals, etc. (except what must be imported) is incorrect. Foreign debt is a different story for the reasons explained above. Yet, the most recommendable strategy for the Philippines is to also upgrade the structure of its economy. This is the nation’s perennial problem.

 

Jesus Felipe is a distinguished professor of Economics at De La Salle University, Jose Antonio Perez Montiel is an associate professor of Economics, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain.

RCBC raises $400M from note offering

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

RIZAL COMMERCIAL Banking Corp. (RCBC) has raised $400 million from its offer of five-year senior unsecured sustainability notes, it said on Thursday, marking the lender’s return to the overseas debt market after over three years.

“The transaction saw strong interest from a wide range of high-quality Asian and European investors, which allowed the bank to tighten final price guidance to 165 bps (basis points) over the five-year Treasury yield,” the Yuchengco-led bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

The lender priced the notes at 5.5% per annum. The notes will mature on Jan. 18, 2024.

The bank’s offering was almost six times oversubscribed with orders reaching $2.3 billion coming from more than 164 accounts, it said.

“The order book was well diversified with 78% allocated to asset managers, 13% to banks, 6% to official institutions, insurance companies, pension funds and 3% to private banks, security firms, brokers,” RCBC added.

Still, the final issue size was below the $500-million plan of the lender.

The bonds, which were issued in denominations of $200,000 and increments of $1,000 thereafter, are rated “Baa3” by Moody’s Investors Service.

RCBC will list the notes on the Singapore Exchange like its outstanding dollar-denominated bonds from two previous issuances.

The notes were issued out of the bank’s $3-billion medium-term note program, with the net proceeds to be used to finance and refinance consumer loans, as well as its own operating activities, in eligible green and social categories in line with the RCBC’s Sustainable Finance Framework.

Sustainalytics confirmed that the lender’s intended use of proceeds from the bonds are aligned with the Green Bond Principles 2018, the Social Bond Principles 2018 and the Sustainability Bond Guidelines 2018, administered by the International Capital Markets Association and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Green Bond Standards, the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum, RCBC noted.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Citigroup Global Markets Ltd., and SMBC Nikko Securities (Hong Kong) Ltd. were the joint bookrunners for the offering.

So far, RCBC has raised $1.6 billion from the offshore debt market under its current medium-term note program, with its last offering held in August 2020, from which it raised $300 million through Tier 1 securities.

The bank saw its net income decline by 28.35% year on year to P2.81 billion in the third quarter as its interest expenses more than doubled and as non-interest income declined. — AMCS

Bridgerton’s Dynevor, Saltburn’s Elordi among BAFTA Rising Star nominees

ACTRESS Phoebe Dynevor in a scene from Bridgerton. —IMDB.COM

LONDON — Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor, The Bear Golden Globe winner Ayo Edebiri, and Saltburn actor Jacob Elordi are among the nominees for the EE Rising Star Award at this year’s British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards.

The list of five contenders, revealed on Wednesday, also includes actors Sophie Wilde and Mia McKenna-Bruce.

British actress Ms. Dynevor, 28, shot to fame in hit Netflix series Bridgerton and is also known for thriller Fair Play.

“I’ve been looking up to the BAFTAs since I was tiny and … I’m so in awe of the talent that I’m being recognized with,” Ms. Dynevor told Reuters.

Australian Mr. Elordi’s credits include teen drama series Euphoria and portraying Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s biographical drama Priscilla. The 26-year-old’s latest release was satirical thriller Saltburn.

Fellow Australian Ms. Wilde, 26, starred in horror Talk to Me and is also known for comedy-drama series Everything Now.

American comedian and actor Ms. Edebiri won a Golden Globe on Sunday for her portrayal of a chef in culinary drama The Bear. The 28-year-old’s other credits include films Bottoms and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

British-born Ms. McKenna-Bruce, 26, starred in coming-of-age drama How to Have Sex and is also known for Persuasion, based on the Jane Austen novel of the same name.

Previous winners of the award, which is voted for by the public, include Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya, Spider-Man star Tom Holland, and No Time To Die actor Lashana Lynch.

The BAFTA Film Awards will take place on Feb. 18 in London. The full list of nominees will be announced next week. — Reuters

Metrobank sees strong loan demand boosting income

METROPOLITAN Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) expects loan demand this year to be boosted by stronger economic growth and rate cuts from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which could propel its net earnings.

“We expect faster GDP (gross domestic product) growth coupled with the prospect of rate cuts [this] year with easing inflation, leading to more optimistic business and consumer sentiment, hence stimulating loan demand,” Metrobank said in an e-mail.

The bank expects to sustain its net income growth this year on the back of a strong capital base and loan growth.

“Metrobank is well positioned to take on opportunities to finance the requirements of a growing economy given our strong capital and healthy loan portfolio,” it said.

The government targets GDP growth of 6.5-7.5% this year, slightly faster than the 6-7% goal for 2023.

The Philippine economy expanded by 5.9% in the third quarter of 2023, bringing the nine-month average to 5.5%.

Meanwhile, the BSP may cut borrowing costs by as much as 100 basis points (bps) this year as inflation is seen to stay mostly within the 2-4% target band, the Finance chief said on Monday.

Finance Secretary and Monetary Board member Benjamin E. Diokno said the BSP could mirror the expected 75-100 bps in cuts from the US Federal Reserve later this year.

The BSP kept the benchmark rate steady at a 16-year high of 6.5% at its December meeting. This was after the Monetary Board tightened rates by 450 bps from May 2022 to October 2023 to tame inflation.

Inflation averaged 6% in 2023, higher than 5.8% in 2022. It marked the second straight year that average inflation breached the BSP’s 2-4% target.

In 2023, Metrobank’s loan growth was driven by a strong capital base, low nonperforming loans (NPLs), and high provisions, it said.

As of end-September 2023, Metrobank’s loan portfolio grew by 7% year on year.  

Meanwhile, the bank’s NPL ratio stood at 1.7% at end-September, improving from 1.9% in the same period in 2022.

“This is in contrast to the mild uptick in industry NPL ratio to 3.5% as of September from 3.2% end-2022. Our prudent risk management has kept our restructured loans stable at just 0.4% of loans, among the lowest in the industry,” Metrobank said.

The lender saw a “strong” performance throughout 2023, with a 36% growth in attributable net income for the first nine months to P31.8 billion amid an expanding asset base, higher margins, healthy net interest income growth and better asset quality, it said.

Metrobank saw its net income rise by 38.7% to P10.89 billion in the third quarter of 2023 as the growth in its revenues outpaced its expenses.

For the first nine months, its attributable net income stood at P31.8 billion, a 35.6% increase from P23.4 billion a year earlier.

The bank’s shares rose by 50 centavos or 0.9% to end at P56 apiece on Thursday. — A.M.C. Sy

Manila falls in 2024 list of top real estate investment destinations

Manila dropped a notch to 17th out of 22 cities in the 2024 edition of Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific report by Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Manila falls in 2024 list of top real estate investment destinations

DITO, Converge ink deal for facilities sharing

STOCK PHOTO | Image by David Arrowsmith from Unsplash

CONVERGE ICT Solutions, Inc. and DITO Telecommunity Corp. have agreed to mutually use their facilities and resources to help improve internet services in the country.

The two telcos recently signed a Materials Facilities Provisioning Agreement, which serves as a framework for collaboration on the sharing of submarine fiber optic cable assets.

“We want to leverage our respective existing facilities through this resource sharing agreement to bring us closer to our goal of empowering every Filipino home with quality broadband connectivity,” Dennis Anthony H. Uy, chief executive officer of Converge, said in a media briefing on Thursday.

“Our collaboration will allow us to reach more customers and deliver a better service with increased resiliency.”

Mr. Uy, however, did not identify the areas or assets included in the collaboration.

“Under the spirit of forging alliances and healthy competition, this agreement is a testament to both our organizations’ shared commitment to provide the best user experience that our customers deserve — whether consumer or enterprise,”  said Ernesto R. Alberto, chief executive officer of DITO Telecommunity.

In 2023, total fiber assets of Converge has reached a span of  682,000 fiber kilometers with its household coverage covering 62.3% in the Philippines.

Further, DITO Telecommunity said it has more than 7,000 sites in over 850 cities and municipalities in the country.

At the stock exchange on Thursday, shares in DITO CME closed one centavo or 0.42% higher to end at P2.40 apiece, while shares in Converge ICT gained 14 centavos or 1.55% to end at P9.20 each. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Industry buildup urged after weak jobs outlook

A worker uses a microscope at an electronics manufacturing assembly plant in Biñan, Laguna, April 20, 2016. — REUTERS

By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES must work to develop industry and agriculture in anticipation of growing global joblessness this year, labor organizations said.

“The government should look more into helping industries become more competitive and enhance the agriculture sector’s productivity to boost employment generation, and mitigate the increase in prices of basic commodities,” Renato B. Magtubo, chairman of Partidong Manggagawa, said in a Viber message.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), in its 2024 World Employment and Social Outlook report published late Wednesday, projected the global jobless rate of 5.2% this year, up from 5.1% a year earlier.

Mr. Magtubo added that the Philippines needs a wage-setting mechanism that helps workers deal with the rising cost of basic goods.

The unemployment rate dropped to an 18-year low in November of 3.6%, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Tuesday.

Job quality was stagnant that month as the underemployment rate, the share of the employed who are seeking more work or longer working hours, stayed at 11.7%.

The ILO said in its report that the global labor market is set to “deteriorate moderately” because of the increased joblessness in advanced economies.

“The erosion of real wages and living standards by high and persistent inflation rates and rising costs of housing is unlikely to be offset quickly,” it said.

The ILO said countries should also boost their domestic productivity as about 58% of workers worldwide still are engaged in informal work.

“The government has to take more serious consideration of how structural informality in the economy was made worse by the overly long and harsh pandemic lockdowns,” Jose Enrique A. Africa, executive director of the think tank Ibon foundation, said in a Viber message.

Last year, Congress passed a bill seeking to make Philippine-made products more globally competitive.

The Tatak Pinoy bill aims to develop a multi-year strategy to improve and diversify enterprises and linking them to global value chains.

In a separate statement, Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma said the Department of Labor and Employment will continue working with the private sector to keep unemployment down.

He said about 200,000 jobs are expected to be generated from investment pledges made to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. during his overseas trips.

The President’s foreign trips last year resulted in P4.019 trillion or $72.189 billion in investments and pledges for various Philippine development projects, the Presidential Communications Office said in December.

“This should be a wake-up call for the government to develop a comprehensive industrial policy that would realize our aspirations for ‘full employment,’” Josua T. Mata, secretary general of the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa, said in a Viber message.

Israel’s genocide trial isn’t what it seems

SANDER CROMBACH-UNSPLASH

ON THURSDAY, Jan. 11, Israel will defend itself against genocide allegations in the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ). But that doesn’t mean what you might think.

The ICJ is an unusual court. Its function is for governments to address their problems by suing each other under international law instead of, say, going to war. But it’s not a criminal court, it doesn’t have prosecutors, and it can’t try people for war crimes or crimes against humanity such as genocide. That makes it very different from the International Criminal Court.

The ICJ lawsuit is being brought by the government of South Africa following a 2022 rule change that allows any country to sue any other country, provided it can say it has an interest in international law being followed. South Africa is asking the court to issue a provisional order — the international analogue to a temporary restraining order — directing Israel to stop its military operations in Gaza. Even if the court were to do so, it has no direct mechanism for enforcement. Any enforcement action would have to come from the UN Security Council, where the US has a veto.

Until recently, to bring a suit in the ICJ, a state had to show that it had been directly affected by the actions of the party it was suing. But in 2022, the ICJ changed course. In a case brought by the Gambia against Myanmar, alleging genocide against Rohingya Muslims, the ICJ adopted the rule that any state that has signed a treaty may bring a suit against any other signatory for failing to follow the treaty. The legal Latin name for this rule is “erga omnes partes,” literally, “toward all parties.”

This shift dramatically expanded the range of cases the ICJ could hear. It was an invitation to governments to ask the court for, essentially, symbolic rulings. To issue a provisional order, all the ICJ has to do is to find that the allegations are “plausible.” That exceedingly low standard makes for an attractive opportunity for governments to score political points by hauling other governments into court.

The international treaty that outlaws genocide defines it as committing various violent acts with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” Israel forcefully denies its goal in Gaza is to destroy the Palestinian people but rather to rescue Israeli hostages and hold Hamas accountable for its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. In my view, it would be extremely difficult to prove the charge, which doesn’t fit the situation of the Gaza war. But plausibility may be in the eye of the beholder, and the ICJ may want to take the opportunity to condemn not only Israel but the extremist members of the Israeli cabinet who have called for pushing Gaza Palestinians into Egypt.

The ICJ decides cases by a majority rule of its 15 judges. It also has a rule that both the plaintiff and defendant get to appoint one judge of their own choosing for the purposes of the case. In principle, these ad hoc judges, as they’re called, are meant to act independently. In practice, everyone understands that they tend to reflect the views and positions of the country that picked them.

In a surprising but extremely smart move, Benjamin Netanyahu chose retired Justice Aharon Barak, the former chief of Israel’s highest court, as the Israeli judge to the tribunal.

Now 87 and intellectually as sharp as ever when I last saw him in late December, Barak is widely known and highly respected in the international legal community. He joined the Israeli high court in 1978, when he was just 42, and served as its head from 1995-2006. During his ascendancy, the court issued multiple important decisions applying international law to everything from Israel’s conduct of wars to its occupation of the West Bank. Barak also led what came to be called Israel’s constitutional revolution, a series of activist judicial decisions that built a kind of makeshift constitutional structure out of a series of so-called “basic laws” enacted by the Knesset. Because Israel has no single written document called a constitution, this body of law made Barak and his colleagues into retrospective framers.

Barak’s legacy was in play when Netanyahu’s government introduced a series of judicial reform measures seeking to limit the powers of the high court, sparking a controversy that consumed the country until the Oct. 7 attacks. Israel’s high court, without the retired Barak, recently issued a major decision striking down some of those measures. The judgments were broadly understood as a vindication of Barak’s legacy.

For Netanyahu to appoint Barak therefore represents a turn toward national unity. It signals that, when it comes to Israel’s international reputation, the internal strife leading up the Gaza war can be set aside. And Barak’s presence on the ICJ panel ensures that Israel will be represented by its most famous and revered judge.

Israel rightly sees the importance of showing the world that the Jewish state isn’t genocidal, even though Israelis’ trust in international institutions is as low as it has ever been. The case, which will garner lots of attention, is thus as much a test of the ICJ and its new openness to cases as it is of the underlying legal questions about Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Actor Stephen Fry takes aim at royal guards to ban the use of bear fur caps

LONDON — British actor Stephen Fry teamed up with animal welfare campaigners on Wednesday to demand that soldiers of the King’s Guard stop using real fur in their famous tall bearskin caps.

The scarlet-clad soldiers wear the foot-high bear pelt headwear, known as a busby, for ceremonial events and when they fill sentry posts outside Buckingham Palace as they have done for centuries.

But Mr. Fry, one of Britain’s best-known actors and TV broadcasters, called for the soldiers to replace the “fur of slaughtered wildlife” with a fake version.

“Tradition is never an excuse for cruelty,” Mr. Fry, who has narrated a graphic online video showing a disemboweled and dismembered black bear, said in a statement.

He said a failure to shift to faux bearskin “would be unconscionable — and un-British.”

The video, which was filmed in Canada and released by animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), showed hunters baiting black bears with buckets of food before shooting them with crossbows.

A spokesperson at Britain’s Ministry of Defence said bears were not hunted to order and the bear pelts used “are a product of legal and licensed hunts.”

“To date and to the department’s knowledge, an alternative has yet to meet the standards required to provide an effective replacement for the bearskin ceremonial caps,” the spokesperson said.

The King’s Guard are part of the British Army’s Household Division who perform public duties and are often involved in state ceremonies, including “Trooping the Color” which celebrates the reigning British monarch’s official birthday.

King Charles, who ascended to the throne after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth in 2022, donned a bearskin hat himself at his birthday parade through central London last year. — Reuters