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Seaweed farming brings hope to Kenyan villagers hit by climate change

KIBUYUNI SEAWEED FARMERS

KWALE COUNTY — The people of Kenya’s coastal village of Mwazaro used to earn their living mainly growing cassava and maize, until the ravages of drought forced them to try a new crop — seaweed.

They plant it on the beachfront and lay it out to dry inland, joining scores of other communities feeding a growing demand at home and abroad for associated products including soap, shampoo and seaweed powder, used in food.

Seaweed farming was first introduced in Kenya in 2008 and has expanded rapidly to cover 20 villages, David Mirera, a scientist at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), said.

Higher temperatures, rising sea levels and poor rains have all played their part in the shift.

Along the coast in the village of Kibuyuni, investments in seaweed farming have led to improvements in infrastructure and electricity, said Kassim Ramtu Bakari, who does marketing for the Seaweed Farmers’ Cooperative there, which employs more than 100 households.

Tima Jasho, a mother of seven in Kibuyuni, said she was now able to pay her children’s school fees and move her family from a mud home to a brick house.

“If you grow seaweed, you don’t have to depend on a man,” she told Reuters. “I can earn my own money.”

In 2022, the industry produced almost 100 tons of seaweed worth more than $30,000, according to KMFRI data. Farmers export dry seaweed to China, France, the United States and other countries.

The global market for seaweed has tripled in size in the last two decades, according to a 2024 United Nations Report, growing from $5 billion in 2000 to $17 billion in 2021.

It is Tanzania’s third largest export and employs over 26,000 farmers, said George Maina, a scientist at The Nature Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit which supports seaweed farmers in Kenya and Tanzania.

Kenya has a long way to go before it becomes a global industry leader like its neighbor, Mr. Maina said.

“It’s still lagging in terms of production,” he said. “But it’s a sector that is growing.” — Reuters

How PSEi member stocks performed — November 15, 2024

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Friday, November 15, 2024.

Filipinos still ‘highly proficient’ in English language

The Philippines dropped two spots to 22nd out of 116 countries in the 2024 edition of the English Proficiency Index (EPI) by international education company Education First (EF). The country got 570 points in the 800-point scale and proficiency tag of “high,” which is sufficient for making a presentation at work, understand TV shows, and read a newspaper. The Philippines bested the global and Asian average score of 477 points, but still remained second only to Singapore among its peers in the region.

Filipinos still 'highly proficient' in English language

PSEi may decline on weaker peso, Trump victory

The lobby of the Philippine Stock Exchange in Taguig City, Sept. 30, 2020. — REUTERS

By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, Reporter

PHILIPPINE STOCKS are expected to decline this week amid a weak peso and negative market sentiment about incoming US President Donald Trump’s protectionist stance.

“Concerns over trade and global growth continued to weaken emerging markets in general,” online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said in a market note last week, citing another weekly sell-off.

On Friday, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 1.82% or 119.56 points to 6,676.65. The broader all-share index also gained 2.5% or 92.18 points to 3,772.80. Week on week, the PSEi fell 4.3% or 300.53 points from 6,977.18 on Nov. 8, marking a four-week decline.

The Stock market could fall due to economic headwinds, Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financial, Inc., said in a Viber message.

“If our current headwinds are still present this week, then the risk of another decline is still high,” he said. “Headwinds include the weakness of the local currency and the rise of long-term local and US yields.”

“They also include concerns over the prospects of protectionist policies in the US and their impact on the global economy,” he added.

On Friday, the peso closed at P58.732 a dollar, 4.50 centavos stronger than its P58.777 finish on Thursday. Week on week, it dropped 47.20 centavos from P58.26 on Nov. 8.

The yield on benchmark 10-year US notes also 1.9 basis points to 4.439% on Friday after reaching 4.505%, its highest level since May 31.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday said unilateralism and protectionism should be rejected in favor of economic globalization amid the return to the White House of Mr. Trump, who pledged to impose tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60%.

“On a positive note, our sound third quarter and first nine months of corporate results may give the market support,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

“The market’s four-week fall has brought it to even more attractive levels, opening the possibility of bargain-hunting at next week’s trading,” he added.

Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., placed market support at 6,500 points and major resistance at 7,080 to 7,205.

“The PSEi corrected higher on some rotational trading from markets that benefited since Donald Trump won the US presidential election on Nov. 5,” he said in an e-mail. “US stock markets mostly corrected slightly lower from near record high.”

2TradeAsia.com placed said the market’s support at 6,400 to 6,550 and resistance at 7,000.

“Look towards oversold shares for rebound plays in the short and medium terms, while the market mulls over where the equilibrium is given evolving risks for 2025,” it added.

Mr. Tantiangco pegged the market’s support at 6,400 and resistance at 6,700 to 6,800.

Peso may move sideways after guarded Federal Reserve signals

ANGIE REYES-PEXELS

THE PESO is expected to move sideways against the dollar this week after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell said there was no need to rush the US central bank’s easing cycle.

“The dollar-peso closed lower following Powell’s comments on the recent performance of the US economy, giving the Fed room to lower interest rates cautiously,” a trader said by phone.

The peso closed at P58.732 a dollar on Friday, strengthening by 4.5 centavos from its P58.777 finish on Tuesday, according to data posted by the Bankers Association of the Philippines on its website. Week on week it weakened by 47.2 centavos.

The Federal Reserve does not need to rush to lower interest rates given a strong US economy, a solid job market and inflation above its 2% target, Mr. Powell said on Thursday in remarks that could point to borrowing costs remaining higher for longer, according to Reuters.

He said he and his fellow policy makers considered inflation to be “on a sustainable path to 2%” that would allow the Fed to move monetary policy to a more neutral setting without slowing the economy.

The US central bank’s next policy meeting is scheduled for Dec. 17-18.

Faster October US producer price index (PPI) also resulted in a generally weaker dollar on Friday, Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said in a Viber message.

US producer prices picked up in October, lifted by higher costs for services such as portfolio management and airline fares, another sign that progress toward lower inflation was stalling, Reuters reported.

The PPI for final demand rose 0.2% last month after a 0.1% gain in September, the Labor department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The increase in the PPI was in line with economists’ expectations. The PPI was reported to have been unchanged in September.

In the 12 months through October, the PPI increased 2.4% after advancing 1.9% in September.

The trader expects the market this week to look for further signals on the Fed’s December policy meeting.

The foreign exchange market will also await US President-elect Donald J. Trump’s trade policies and appointment of his officials, the trader added.

The trader expects the peso to move from P58.50 to P58.95 a dollar this week, while Mr. Ricafort expects it to range from P58.40 to P58.90. — Aaron Michael C. Sy

Austin’s visit seen as last-ditch effort to reaffirm Philippine-US defense ties

US DEFENSE SECRETARY Lloyd Austin III — PCO.GOV.PH

By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter

US DEFENSE chief Lloyd Austin III visit to Manila this week is the outgoing Biden administration’s last-ditch effort to reinforce their security commitments to the Philippines as Washington is headed into another Trump presidency, security analysts said at the weekend.

“I think he will reassure his hosts that the US commitment to the Philippines remained strong throughout the first Trump administration, and he has no reason to think it will change in a Trump 2.0,”  Raymond M. Powell, a fellow at the Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, said in an X message.

He described the outgoing Defense secretary a “lame duck” as he only has two months left before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.

“That does not make him powerless, but it does limit what he can accomplish with two months left on the job,” Mr. Powell said.

The US Defense Department said last week that Mr. Austin’s visit to Manila aims to explore deeper security ties and ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

He will meet with his Philippine counterparts to “advance security objectives with Philippine leaders,” the agency said in a statement.

Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. told reporters last week that ties between both countries would not change under a Trump presidency

The US is the Philippines’ major security partner, with a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty compelling both nations to defend each other in case of an armed attack.

Under President Joseph R. Biden, Washington reiterated that the treaty covers any attacks on Philippine vessels, personnel and other assets in the South China Sea and anywhere in the Pacific.

In April, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty and Democrat Senator Tim Kaine pushed a bill that increased US military aid to the Philippines to $500 million from $40 million over five fiscal years through 2029.

“This is a last minute attempt by the Biden administration to see to it that all the security agreements signed and talked about between the US and the Philippines will continue their attempt that before a new administration takes over things will continue to be in place,” Aaron Jed Rabena, who specializes in geopolitics and foreign policy at the University of the Philippines Asian Center, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

Last year, the Philippines gave the US access to four more military bases under their 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Eduardo Gerardo “Gibo” C. Teodoro, Jr. on Tuesday said China is putting greater pressure on the Philippines to cede its sovereign rights in the South China Sea.

China and the Philippines have sparred repeatedly this year over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, one of Asia’s most contested features.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis, a ruling Beijing rejects.

In a separate development, Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro has urged Poland to support Manila’s efforts to ensure international law is upheld amid maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea after she met with international relations experts in Warsaw, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“She invited Poland to consider joining the chorus of like-minded countries that have publicly expressed support for Philippine efforts to uphold the rule of law in the South China Sea, including calling on all parties to abide by the final and legally-binding 2016 Arbitral Award,” the agency said in a statement, citing her roundtable discussion on global issues at the Polish Institute of International Affairs or the Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych (PISM)  in Warsaw, Poland on Nov. 15.

At the roundtable meeting, Ms. Lazaro also spoke with PISM international affairs analysts and researchers on global issues, particularly those in the Asia-Pacific region and the current world order.

“Undersecretary Lazaro underscored that the Philippines shares the common values of human rights, rule of law and the rules-based international order with the European Union and its Member States,” according to the DFA.

Jarosław Szczepankiewicz, chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Poland in Manila, earlier said that Poland is open to participating and observing joint military exercises with the Philippines and its allies in the South China Sea amid China’s growing assertiveness in the waterway.

Poland Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and deputy ministers in September met with their Philippine counterparts to explore deeper bilateral ties.

Super Typhoon Man-Yi makes second landfall over Aurora province

PAGASA.DOST.GOV.PH

THE state weather bureau on Sunday said that Super Typhoon Man-Yi, locally named Pepito, is expected to exit Luzon after making a second landfall over Aurora.

In a 5 p.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) reported that Man-Yi made a second landfall in the vicinity of Dipaculao, Aurora at 3:20 p.m. It is forecast to exit the landmass of Luzon tonight or early Monday morning.

“During this period, Pepito will significantly weaken due to land interaction,” PAGASA noted.

As of 5 p.m., Man-Yi was last seen over Nagtipunan, Quirino, moving northwestward at 25 kilometers per hour (kph).

Man-Yi was packing maximum sustained winds of up to 185 kph near the center, and gustiness of up to 230 kph.

PAGASA has raised Tropical Wind Signal No. 5 over the central portion of Aurora, the southern portion of Quirino (Nagtipunan), and the southern portion of Nueva Vizcaya.

The rest of Aurora, the rest of Nueva Vizcaya, the rest of Quirino, the southern portion of Ifugao, Benguet, the southern portion of Ilocos Sur, La Union, the eastern portion of Pangasinan, and the northern portion of Nueva Ecija were placed under Signal No. 4.

Under Signal No. 3 are the southern portion of Isabela, the rest of Ifugao, Mountain Province, the southern portion of Kalinga, the southe000rn portion of Abra, the rest of Ilocos Sur, the rest of Pangasinan, the northern and eastern portions of Tarlac, the rest of Nueva Ecija, the northern portion of Bulacan, and the northern portion of Quezon including the rest of Polillo Islands.

The rest of Isabela, the southwestern portion of mainland Cagayan, the rest of Kalinga, the southern portion of Apayao, the rest of Abra, Ilocos Norte, Zambales, the rest of Tarlac, the northern portion of Bataan, Pampanga, the rest of Bulacan, Metro Manila, Rizal, the northeastern portion of Laguna, and the central portion of Quezon were all under Signal No. 2.

Signal No. 1 was hoisted over the rest of mainland Cagayan, the rest of Apayao, the rest of Bataan, Cavite, the rest of Laguna, Batangas, the rest of Quezon, the northern portion of Occidental Mindoro including Lubang Islands, the northern portion of Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, and the northern portion of Camarines Sur.

The Presidential Communications Office also announced on Sunday that local chief executives may cancel classes and/or suspend government work.

Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) showed 238,982 families or 852,475 people had been affected by Super Typhoon Man-Yi, Typhoon Toraji (Nika), and Super Typhoon Usagi (Ofel). 

NDRRMC said 24,421 families or 75,581 people had stayed in 566 evacuation centers.

It said a total of 7,838 damaged houses were reported in Cagayan Region, Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, and the Cordillera Administrative region, 437 of which were totally destroyed.

No deaths had been reported but NDRRMC said at least two people have been injured.

ECONOMIC COST
The Philippine government has been counting the economic costs of recent storms that have resulted in agriculture damage worth billions of peso, its economic planning agency said, as the country braced for Super Typhoon Man-Yi.

National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the government expects the agriculture sector to be among the hardest-hit sectors in the face of storms.

“Agriculture, in the third quarter, declined by 2.8%. For the whole year, it’s likely negative for agriculture. So that’s the immediate effect,” he told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of an event on Friday.

When asked to clarify whether the impacts of previous tropical cyclones had already been taken into account in growth projections for 2024, Mr. Balisacan said: “Well, part of it showed up in the third quarter already. But I would expect the fourth quarter will show also the effects.”

Before Man-Yi, the Philippines was hit by Tropical Storm Trami (Kristine), which left over P3 billion in agricultural damage based on latest estimates from the Department of Agriculture (DA).

DA estimated the volume of production losses at 160,107 metric tons (MT) in 11 regions, covering 72,329 hectares of land.

Due largely to the impacts of weather disturbances and reduced government spending, the Philippine economy grew by 5.2% in the third quarter, lower than the revised 6.4% growth in the second quarter and the government’s 5.7% forecast.

The agriculture sector saw a 2.8% decline year-on-year, which NEDA linked to the El Niño and seven typhoons including Trami that resulted in an estimated P15.8-billion agricultural damage.

The successive storms disrupted supply chains and delayed harvests, he noted.

A Nov. 6 report by the Philippine Statistics Agency showed agricultural production experienced the steepest decline in nearly four years.

Before Man-yi’s landfall, the agriculture province of Cagayan in northern Luzon posted an initial P1.4 billion damage in agriculture largely covering crops like rice, corn, coconut, and bananas after Typhoon Krathon (Julian), Trami, Super Typhoon Kong-rey (Leon), and Typhoon Yinxing (Marce) hit northern Philippines since the last week of September.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. earlier this month said typhoons experienced by his country have been increasingly unpredictable due to the changing climate, and that his government doesn’t have a “template to follow” in terms of response.   

“It is climate change, and it is the new reality that we are having to face,” he told reporters.

The President held a disaster briefing on Friday in anticipation of Man-Yi’s impacts.

On Sunday, the presidential palace said the Philippine leader had directed authorities to implement preemptive measures amid Man-Yi’s devastation.   

Meanwhile, a political group on Sunday urged the government to use seized illegal online casino hubs as evacuation centers as Super Typhoon Man-Yi battered the country.

“We have numerous POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) facilities in areas like Bamban, Porac, Bataan, Bulacan, and Cagayan that can serve as spacious, well-equipped evacuation centers,” Neri J. Colmenares, one of Bayan Muna party-list’s nominees in the midterm elections next year, said in a statement.

Philippine authorities earlier this year began cracking down on illegal online casinos due to crimes linked to it, such as human trafficking, financial scams, and torture. POGOs also raised national security concerns because of some hubs’ proximity to military facilities.

Mr. Colmenares said the POGO sites are spacious and already equipped with medical facilities, making them suitable disaster shelters. — Adrian H. Halili, Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, and Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

Delay in release of CoA reports hampers public scrutiny — analysts

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter

THE DELAY in the public release of the Commission on Audit’s (CoA) annual reports to December could affect the public’s ability to scrutinize spending issues within government agencies, political analysts said over the weekend as deliberations for next year’s proposed national budget advances in Congress.

State auditors have moved the release of its audit reports to December in compliance with a General Appropriations Act provision, CoA Assistant Commissioner Alexander B. Juliano told congressmen in August. Audit reports were previously released in June.

Section 99 provided that concerned agencies are given 60 days upon the receipt of the audit reports to submit to CoA a status report on the actions taken regarding observations and recommendations of the Commission. It also noted that CoA’s web administrator should ensure that the audit reports are published on the website with the corresponding status report.

This led to the delay, which analysts said, could affect how the public perceives government spending and the Marcos administration’s transparency efforts.

“The General Appropriations Bill (GAB) that becomes the national budget tends to be fast-tracked by Congress. Moving the release of CoA audit reports means… we can no longer pursue them because their budgets were already approved,” Hansley A. Juliano, who teaches politics at the Ateneo de Manila University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

The Philippine Congress is expected to ratify the proposed P6.352-trillion national spending plan for 2025 before lawmakers go on break in mid-December, House of Representatives Majority Leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose M. Dalipe said in a statement earlier this month.

The House has already approved its version of the GAB in September, while senators are still discussing their budget bill in plenary.

The Commission is an independent constitutional body responsible for auditing all expenses and revenues of departments and agencies by conducting comprehensive reports of their operations, ensuring accountability and transparency in the use of public funds.

CoA’s Mr. Juliano explained that audited departments and oversight agencies are given access to the annual audit reports in June, while the publicly available report was not published until December “So, the publication on the website was delayed because we need to validate the actions taken by the agency on the audit observations,” he said in Filipino.

“This limits timely public access to critical information about how government funds are utilized. Without them, it becomes more challenging for advocates and the general public to hold public officials accountable,” Aljon Patrick C. Acupan, convener of transparency group FOI Youth Initiative, said in a Facebook chat.

He added that the delay “undermines” the Marcos administration’s commitment to a transparent government.

The delay in the release of audit reports also reflects poorly on the state auditing agency, Ateneo’s Mr. Juliano said.

“The impact on credibility isn’t just on the lawmakers and our line offices, it’s also on CoA. It either gives the impression that CoA is not staffed enough to timely pursue and review all budget spending, or that CoA is compromised.”

“Transparency in relation to public trust is not only a matter of publicizing reports. It is also a matter of making ordinary citizens value transparency and enabling them to utilize such reports in their political decision-making,” Anthony Lawrence A. Borja, a political science professor at De La Salle University, said in a Facebook chat.

Gen Zs seek meaningful work, financial security, study finds

AKSON-UNSPLASH

By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter

GEN Zs, or those born between 1995 and 2012, are reshaping workplace expectations as they value meaningful and fulfilling work, while also prioritizing financial security, a new study from the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) found.

The study, “Motivating Filipino Generation Z employees at work: enablers and outcomes,” noted that Gen Z workers are motivated by familial responsibilities, particularly the need to provide financial support.

This is an intrinsic motivator in the Filipino culture, which drives these workers to look for competitive salaries and benefits to support themselves and their loved ones, it added.

“Family is a significant motivator for their work, as they strive to provide a good life for their loved ones. Some participants (of the study) who are the eldest child also reported feeling a greater sense of responsibility to provide for their family,” a portion of the study, published by Mikee C. Talamayan, Mendiola Teng-Calleja and Jaimee Felice Caringal-Go of the ADMU Department of Psychology and the Ateneo Center for Organization Research and Development in October 2024, read.

Unlike older generations such as Generation X (born in either 1961 or 1965, up to 1979) and Baby Boomers (born after World War II, in 1946 to 1960/1964), who prioritize job security and organizational loyalty, Gen Z workers place a premium on career advancement and skill development, it said.

They also value autonomy, with many preferring hybrid or flexible work arrangements over rigid office settings.

“Compared to Millennials (or Gen Y, born between 1980 and 1994), who put more value on interesting work and collegial work environments, Gen Zs tend to focus on securing their future through savings and investments,” the study found.

Gen Z’s emphasis on meaningful work is further influenced by growing up in a digitally connected world, where social issues and value-driven missions are increasingly visible.

According to the study, employers must focus on fostering career growth, aligning organizational values with broader social impact and providing robust financial benefits for immediate and long-term security to retain the youngest cohort of employees.

Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President Jose Sonny G. Matula said firms must enhance support systems to create a supportive and adaptable work environment that meets Gen Z’s evolving needs while ensuring organizational resilience.

“Provide comprehensive benefits that include mental health support, financial assistance, and career development opportunities to address immediate and long-term concerns,” he told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.

He added that firms must offer not only minimum wages but also living wages, comprehensive benefits, flexible work options (e.g. hybrid), and financial education programs.

He said that strengthened communication can also foster a conducive work environment for Gen Zs.

“Maintain transparent and consistent communication during crises to foster trust and reduce uncertainty among employees.”

Childhood Cancer Helpline set up

ELENA KOYCHEVA-UNSPLASH

THE Childhood Cancer Helpline, set to be presented by the I Want to Share Foundation (IWTS) to Health secretary Dr. Teodoro “Ted” J. Herbosa, will help navigate families to essential medical support for pediatric cancer care, the IWTS founder said.

“With this, we hope it will address the gaps in the cancer burden. This childhood cancer helpline will support early cancer detection, reduce instances of misdiagnosis, and decrease treatment abandonment due to the economic difficulties faced by our patients,” Sheila Marie B. Romero, founder of IWTS, said during her opening statement at the IWTS and Manila Hearing Aid event.

Ms. Romero told BusinessWorld that she has heard stories of pediatric patients being misdiagnosed or sent to the wrong doctors. She also noted the struggles of patients from distant provinces who travel to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) for much-needed checkups and treatments, only to be turned away due to long queues.

With the implementation of the Childhood Cancer Helpline, IWTS hopes to ease the burden on patients and families and reduce misdiagnoses by answering parents’ questions about where to seek medical diagnosis and treatment, as well as institutions to seek financial support.

Parents can also schedule appointments in PGH, avoiding the hassle caused by cutoff times.

In the secondary phase of its implementation, Ms. Romero noted that they will collaborate with city and barangay health centers, where patients can receive initial face-to-face screenings to determine if they may have cancer. From there, they will coordinate with PGH to ensure patients are referred to the appropriate doctors for further diagnosis and treatment.

Ms. Romero emphasized that this initiative underscores the United Nations’ goal of increasing the survival rate for children with cancer in the Philippines by 2030.

“We believe that through this, I Want to Share Foundation can help improve the five-year overall survival rate of children with cancer from 25% to 50%,” Mr. Romero said.

If they receive approval from the Department of Health (DOH), IWTS will pilot the Childhood Cancer Helpline in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and Bacoor, Cavite, areas with a high number of pediatric cancer patients from PGH, Ms. Romero said.

“So, we lay the groundworks with PGH. We’ve submitted the letter to DOH. The technical working group of DOH are already aware. It’s just more of an approval from the DOH to roll out the helpline smoothly,” Mr. Romero said in mixed English and Filipino.

Meanwhile, IWTS also announced its other future endeavors for PGH, such as the construction of a Bone Marrow Cancer Wing in January 2025, aimed at providing leukemia patients with access to free or more affordable bone marrow transplants.

Also, the proceeds from the IWTS Gala happening in September 2025 will be allocated to the renovation of the PGH Halfway House, offering pediatric patients a temporary shelter if they do not reach the cutoff queue for their treatments and checkups. — Edg Adrian A. Eva

$2.8M needed for humanitarian aid

REUTERS

THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said it needs $2.87 million to provide humanitarian services to over 47,000 people, including 20,670 children.

“These figures are part of the larger appeal of the Humanitarian Country Team, which seeks to raise US$29.8 million to reach 210,000 people,” Humanitarian Situation Report No. 1 of UNICEF showed.

As of Nov. 13, 13,275 individuals from 2,950 households have been reached with life-saving Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) interventions, UNICEF said, adding it set to support learning continuity for 14,594 learners.

Meanwhile, Severe Tropical Storm Trami (Kristine) has hit the country as the third consecutive tropical cyclone to affect the country.

A combined impact of these storms left an estimate of almost 893,000 people in need of humanitarian interventions, according to the Humanitarian Country Team

“UNICEF and its partners are concentrating response efforts in the hardest hit provinces of Camarines Sur — which experienced record levels of flooding due to STS Trami — and Albay,” it said. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante

CHED pursuing more int’l partners

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION FACEBOOK PAGE

THE Commission on Higher Education (CHED) claims to be “aggressive” in partnering with international universities to open opportunities for higher education institutions (HEIs) students abroad.

“Our office is very aggressive in connecting with universities abroad so the Philippine higher education institutions will have more opportunities to have more partnerships and participate in mobility programs,” Mabel A. Gutierrez, representative of CHED International Affairs Service (IAS), told BusinessWorld on Thursday.

CHED has educational partnerships currently with Cambodia, China, Japan, the United States of America (USA), Canada, Hungary, Poland, France, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Israel.

“After the partnership, the opportunities for students are very wide,” Ms. Gutierrez said. “After their schooling, this can help with their career and their employment.” 

In one of the testimonies shared at the 2024 European Higher Education Fair Press Conference, Jerald Montaner Apac, a scholar of the 2021 Philippine-France Fellowship Program, said that his master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering at the Université Paris-Saclay, France, helped his career flourish both locally and internationally.

After studying in France, which Mr. Apac described as “life changing,” he returned to the Philippines and helped develop the instrumentation and control manual of the only nuclear facility in the Philippines, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). In addition, he works as an executive assistant in a French company.

“I had a lot of opportunities, especially in the French community here in the Philippines,” he added.

Ms. Gutierrez said the department aims to provide information and global opportunities not only for students but also for academic staff to be on par with international institutions. — Almira Louise S. Martinez

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