Globe and TM sweep top positions in 2023 PHL’s Best Customer Service Mobile Carriers category

October 19, 2023 | 1:36 pm

Mobile brands of leading digital solutions platform Globe received the thumbs up from Filipino consumers, emerging on top of the mobile carriers and telecommunications category in the inaugural Philippines’ Best Customer Service 2023 survey by the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Statista.

Among major players in the country’s online services and digital products industry, TM Tambayan secured the lead with a score of 7.09 followed closely by Globe with 7.08. The results suggest that these brands have consistently met or surpassed customer expectations by delivering efficient, responsive, and courteous support.

Globe and TM relentlessly innovate to elevate the customer journey. By merging top-tier content with cost-effective deals, enticing promotions, and a robust network, they aim to set new standards in user satisfaction. The three brands continuously roll out tailored services that address customers’ evolving demands.

“The survey underscores the importance that Filipino consumers place on exceptional customer service. We are happy to be recognized for our efforts and dedication to our customers which resonate in every interaction we have. Each touchpoint, whether a call, a message, or a face-to-face meeting, is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our commitment,” said Beck Eclipse, Globe Chief Customer Experience and Chief Transformation Officer.

“Our goal is to continuously improve our service standards, pushing the boundaries of excellence. We believe that our customers deserve nothing less than the best, and we are wholeheartedly committed to delivering on that promise every single day,” she said.

The comprehensive survey, conducted by renowned global market research firm Statista between April 12 and May 17, involved over 11,000 Filipino consumers. It resulted in more than 115,000 evaluations on brick and mortar, online retailers, and service providers across 64 retail and service categories.

Participants evaluated brands on several criteria, including their willingness to recommend them to peers. Specific areas of focus were accessibility, professional competence, and quality of communication.

Brands were rated on a scale of one to five, with one indicating “very unsatisfied” and five signifying “very satisfied”. Additionally, on a scale of zero to 10, respondents indicated their likelihood to recommend the brands.

Filipino survey participants responded to questions such as “the availability of customer service in a shop or on a helpline,” “the quality of information received” and “whether questions were answered correctly and in sufficient detail.”

In the highly competitive telco industry, Globe and TM stand out as beacons of dedication and innovation. Their commitment to enhancing the user experience, combined with a forward-thinking approach to service delivery, sets them apart in the ever-changing consumer landscape.

To learn more about Globe, visit https://www.globe.com.ph/.

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PHL sees no current, future engagements with Taiwan — military chief

October 19, 2023 | 1:19 pm

The Philippines has no military engagements with Taiwan and it does not see future engagements with the democratically-governed island, Manila’s Armed Forces Chief Romeo S. Brawner, Jr. told foreign correspondents on Thursday.

The Philippines sees risk of conflict over Taiwan as a major concern amid geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States.

The military is ready for any eventuality, though it has not monitored reports on any intended attacks on Taiwan in particular, Mr. Brawner said.

The Philippine military has put up a naval detachment in the country’s northernmost island of Mavulis, 150 km (93.2 miles) from the southern tip of Taiwan, where 150,000 Filipinos live and work.

The Philippines adheres to the “One China Policy”, and also has ties with Taipei, with its Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan serving as a de facto embassy. — Reuters

Nicaragua sends Catholic priests to Rome after talks with Vatican

October 19, 2023 | 12:32 pm

nicaragua-2259258_1280 — STOCK PHOTO |. Image by Praesentator from Pixabay

Nicaragua sent a dozen Catholic priests who had been “processed” by judicial authorities to Rome on Wednesday, the government said, the latest action, a critic said, in a government crackdown on the church.

President Daniel Ortega has at times accused Catholic church leaders of seeking to overthrow his government, while judicial authorities have arrested priests and accused some of committing treason, among other crimes.

In a two-page statement, the government said the 12 had been sent to Rome after officials held “fruitful conversations” with Catholic leadership, including both local church leaders as well as unidentified Vatican officials.

The government did not explicitly say why the 12 were being sent to Italy but said the decision would help “secure and defend peace.”

Nicaragua’s Catholic bishops conference did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An exiled Nicaraguan researcher who publishes records of what she describes as the persecution of the Catholic Church under Ortega said sending the priests to Rome was a “forced removal.”

The researcher, Martha Patricia Molina, accused Ortega of seeking to “strangle and disappear” the church with such action.

All 12 of the priests sent to Italy were previously held as prisoners, she said, adding that the announcement of the expulsion should not be interpreted as a thaw in relations between the government and the Vatican.

“The removal doesn’t mean the end of hostilities, the attacks will continue and possibly more imprisonments as well,” she said.

Bishop Rolando Alvarez, perhaps Ortega’s most prominent Catholic critic, was this year sentenced to a 26-year jail term on treason charges, but was not among the 12 priests the government sent to Rome.

Nicaraguan clergy have reported government surveillance of services and assaults as part of what they say is an intensifying crackdown on priests and church-affiliated institutions though arrests, property confiscations and other legal measures.

The government has cited security reasons for some of its actions against the church.

In February, more than 200 political prisoners were expelled to the United States, nearly all of them government critics. – Reuters

Artists join with climate activists, scientists to paint a greener future

October 19, 2023 | 11:31 am

BUSH-LEAVES-heart-1192662_1280 — STOCK PHOTO | Image by 2023852 from Pixabay

DHAKA – Investors in US energy technology firm GE Vernova had some unlikely visitors in September when Ata Mojlish, a Bangladeshi new media artist based in Texas, joined activists to deliver climate-themed works to four financial companies in New York.

GE Vernova – a recently re-branded subsidiary of General Electric – is planning to supply turbines for large liquefied natural gas (LNG) power projects in climate-vulnerable Bangladesh, motivating Bangladeshi artists to join international campaigners in calls for GE to back non fossil-fuel energy instead.

With scientists and policy experts stressing the urgency of climate action ahead of this year’s COP28 UN climate summit, artists are using their talents to highlight mounting evidence on the impacts of the climate crisis and to push for a response.

Earlier in Boston, a few blocks away from GE’s headquarters, Mojlish and other artists had put on an exhibition called “Electric Bangladesh: Fossil Free Futures”, in collaboration with Market Forces, an Australia-based climate advocacy think-tank which contributed information about fossil fuel projects and their impact on local people in coastal Bangladesh.

For the show, Mojlish created a set of collage pieces called “Daily Diet 1-2” depicting power plant machinery as sea vessels viewed from above, overlaid with cables and equipment, taking the people and animals of southern Bangladesh to another world.

His aim, he said, was to shed light on actions that harm the climate, such as investing in fossil fuels like natural gas.

“Art has a transformative energy and I have seen a visual work communicate what a thousand words could not,” he said.

Fellow multimedia artist Debashish Chakrabarty created bold retro-style posters in red, yellow and black, sporting blunt captions including “LNG is not green” and “LNG is not clean”.

Chakrabarty – who regularly posts his art on his social media accounts – said the exhibition, probably the first uniting Bangladeshi artists aiming to hold companies from the Global North accountable for pollution, also intended to inform Western citizens about what is happening in other parts of the world.

“We wanted to tell these corporations that we people and civil society know what you are doing, and you should do better,” he added.

A spokesperson for GE Vernova said its technology helps generate 30% of electricity globally and it makes the world’s most efficient gas turbines, adding that natural gas is a “critical alternative to coal and other higher emission fuels” as countries make the transition to renewable energy.

Munira Chowdhury from Market Forces said GE’s planned LNG plants in Bangladesh would add about 430 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) to the atmosphere over their lifetime, almost double Bangladesh’s annual emissions.

GE has extensive wind energy capacity and could play a major role in building more renewable power in Bangladesh, she added.

The firm’s spokesperson said by email that GE is “committed to strong, concerted action to decarbonize the energy sector while increasing access to more sustainable, reliable and affordable energy in countries such as Bangladesh”.

OPENING DOORS TO SCIENCE

Climate experts and communicators say it can be hard to make climate discussions – often couched in technical terms – understandable to ordinary people, especially those who speak languages other than English.

Artists can help untangle those concepts, said Deborah Hart, co-chair of CLIMARTE, an organization that has harnessed art for climate action since 2010.

“Artists bring incredible skills to the table – they are complex systems thinkers who can take risks and be ambitious, and they care deeply about the issue,” she said.

Since climate art took off as a recognizable trend in the early 2000s, its practice has grown rapidly.

Artists have picked up the theme in creative ways such as installations with the sound of dying glaciers, pencils crafted from a dead oak tree and luxury soaps made of raw sewage seeping out of flooded city drains.

More artists are working with climate scientists, meanwhile, to turn their findings into poignant experiences that can be experienced by a wider community of people.

Blane De St. Croix, an American sculptor and installation artist, left the confines of his studio and began researching landscapes, taking up academic fellowships and speaking with scientists over the last seven to eight years to inform his art.

His latest show is at the NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery in the United Arab Emirates – which will host COP28 in Dubai in December – with the exhibition’s sculptures delving into the fragile local ecology and connecting local problems, such as salinization and ocean pollution, to global warming.

They include “High Peaks: Himachal”, a work featuring giant white pedestals topped by Himalayan peaks from which ice melts down like dripping wax, a reminder writ large of scientists’ warnings that the South Asian mountain range may lose 80% of its glaciers by the end of the century.

“I want people to enter into the climate conversation through my art opening doors for them,” De St. Croix told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The artist’s video interviews with scientists are shown alongside his works, boosting interest in their climate research.

One paper on climate change highlighted by De St. Croix got 160,000 hits on the internet, he said.

“As I open the door to the public and create a platform, it can create unexpected impacts,” he explained.

REACHING HEARTS WITH NATURE

While some artists are focused on scientific facts or activism, others explore the profound connections between people and nature – and imagine a better world.

A 2023 study found that artistic visualisations touched Americans’ feelings more positively than data graphs and helped overcome political divisions on the relevance of climate change.

“We have to be brutally honest about why we are here, with a clear sense of what genuine climate justice looks like – and artists can impress the urgency of making the turn towards a greener future upon people,” said Hart from CLIMARTE.

One veteran artist seeking to elevate hope over despair is Anoma Wijewardene, a painter born in Sri Lanka who calls herself a “citizen of the world”.

Wijewardene has held several exhibitions touching on climate and ecology, with her first climate paintings dating back to 2005. They explore how humans relate to the natural world, conceived as both material and “numinous”, or spiritual.

Her last climate-themed exhibition in London in 2019 featured nine paintings, each with patterns resembling landscapes touched with fiery orange and crimson where a small, lonely red figure lingers, symbolizing the young climate activist Greta Thunberg on a boiling planet.

“I was so inspired by Greta that she crept in (to the paintings),” said Wijewardene.

The artist plans to continue focusing on climate change because of her personal concern about the issue. The key, she added, is to touch deeper human emotions.

“You need to show the beauty of nature to reach people’s hearts – combining science and technology but also love – and that’s how you change people,” she said. – Reuters

Israel’s endgame? No sign of post-war plan for Gaza

October 19, 2023 | 11:26 am

DUBAI/WASHINGTON – Israel is vowing to wipe out Hamas in a relentless onslaught on the Gaza Strip but has no obvious endgame in sight, with no clear plan for how to govern the ravaged Palestinian enclave even if it triumphs on the battlefield.

Codenamed “Operation Swords of Iron”, the military campaign will be unmatched in its ferocity and unlike anything Israel has carried out in Gaza in the past, according to eight regional and Western officials with knowledge of the conflict who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Israel has called up a record 360,000 reservists and has been bombarding the tiny enclave non-stop following Hamas’s assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, which killed about 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

The immediate Israeli strategy, said three regional officials familiar with discussions between the US and Middle Eastern leaders, is to destroy Gaza’s infrastructure, even at the cost of high civilian casualties, push the enclave’s people towards the Egyptian border and go after Hamas by blowing up the labyrinth of underground tunnels the group has built to conduct its operations.

Israeli officials have said that they don’t have a clear idea for what a post-war future might look like, though.

Some of US President Joe Biden’s aides are concerned that while Israel may craft an effective plan to inflict lasting damage to Hamas, it has yet to formulate an exit strategy, a source in Washington familiar with the matter said.

Trips to Israel by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this past week had stressed the need to focus on the post-war plan for Gaza, the source added.

Arab officials are also alarmed that Israel hasn’t set out a clear plan for the future of the enclave, ruled by Hamas since 2006 and home to 2.3 million people.

“Israel doesn’t have an endgame for Gaza. Their strategy is to drop thousands of bombs, destroy everything and go in, but then what? They have no exit strategy for the day after,” said one regional security source.

An Israeli invasion has yet to start, but Gaza authorities say 3,500 Palestinians have already been killed by the aerial bombardment, around a third of them children – a larger death toll than in any previous conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Mr. Biden, on a visit to Israel on Wednesday, told Israelis that justice needed to be served to Hamas, though he cautioned that after the 9/11 attacks on New York, the U.S. had made mistakes.

The “vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas”, he said. “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people.”

Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Mr. Biden’s visit would have given him a chance to press Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to think through issues such as the proportional use of force and the longer-term plans for Gaza before any invasion.

‘CITY OF TUNNELS’

Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have said they will wipe out Hamas in retribution for the attack, the deadliest in Israel’s 75-year-old history.

What will follow is less defined.

“We are of course thinking and dealing with this, and this involves assessments and includes the National Security Council, the military and others about the end situation,” Israeli National Security Council director Tzachi Hanegbi told reporters on Tuesday. “We don’t know what this will be with certainty.”

“But what we do know is what there will not be,” he said, referring to Israel’s stated aim to eradicate Hamas.

This might be easier said than done.

“It’s an underground city of tunnels that make the Vietcong tunnels look like child’s play,” said the first regional source, referring to the Communist guerrilla force that defied U.S. troops in Vietnam. “They’re not going to end Hamas with tanks and firepower.”

Two regional military experts told Reuters that Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, has mobilised for an invasion, setting up anti-tank mines and booby-trapped explosive devices to ambush troops.

Israel’s coming offensive is set to be much bigger than past Gaza operations that Israeli officials had previously referred to as “mowing the grass”, degrading Hamas’s military capabilities but not eliminating it.

Israel has fought three previous conflicts with Hamas, in 2008-9, 2012 and 2014, and launched limited land invasions during two of those campaigns, but unlike today, Israel’s leaders never vowed to destroy Hamas once and for all.

In those three confrontations, just under 4,000 Palestinians and fewer than 100 Israelis died.

There is less optimism in Washington, though, that Israel will be able to completely destroy Hamas and U.S. officials see little chance that Israel will want to hold onto any Gaza territory or re-occupy it, the US source said.

A more likely scenario, the person said, would be for Israeli forces to kill or capture as many Hamas members as they can, blow up tunnels and rocket workshops, then after Israeli casualties mount, look for a way to declare victory and exit.

CLOUDS OF WAR

The fear across the region is that the war will blow up beyond the confines of Gaza, with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and its backer Iran opening major new fronts in support of Hamas.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned of a possible “preemptive” action against Israel if it carried out its invasion of Gaza. He said last weekend that Iran would not watch from the sidelines if the U.S. failed to restrain Israel.

Arab leaders have told Blinken, who has been criss-crossing the region this past week, that while they condemn Hamas’ attack on Israel, they oppose collective punishment against ordinary Palestinians, which they fear will trigger regional unrest.

Popular anger will ratchet up across the region when the body count rises, they said.

Washington has sent an aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean and is concerned that Hezbollah might join the battle from Israel’s northern border. There has been no sign, however, that the US military would then move from a deterrent posture to direct involvement.

The regional sources said Washington was proposing to re-energize the Palestinian Authority (PA), which lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007, although there is huge doubt whether the PA or any other authority would be able to govern the coastal enclave should Hamas be driven out.

Mr. Miller, a former US Middle East negotiator, expressed deep skepticism about the potential for establishing a post-Hamas government to rule Gaza.

“I could paint you a picture more appropriate to a galaxy far, far away and not on planet Earth on how you could combine the U.N., the Palestinian Authority, the Saudis, the Egyptians, led by the US marshaling the Europeans, to basically convert Gaza from an open-air prison to something much better,” he said.

In the meantime, calls for the creation of humanitarian corridors within Gaza and escape routes for Palestinian civilians has drawn a strong reaction from Arab neighbors.

They fear an Israeli invasion will spark a new permanent mass wave of displacement, a replay of the 1948 Israeli war of independence and 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Millions of Palestinians who were forced to flee then have remained stranded as refugees in the countries that hosted them.

East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 war and then annexed, and Israeli settlement expansion across occupied territory are at the core of the conflict with Palestinians. Netanyahu has openly embraced the religious and radical far-right, promising to annex more land to be settled by Jews.

Hundreds of Palestinians have died in the West Bank since the start of the year in repeated clashes with Israeli soldiers and settlers, and there is widespread concern that the violence might engulf the territory as nearby Gaza burns.

“Whatever worst-case scenario you have, it will be worse,” a second regional source said about the potential for the conflict to spread beyond Gaza. – Reuters

Biden mulls $60B for Ukraine, $10B for Israel in funding request – source

October 19, 2023 | 11:22 am

Biden-Zelensky — US President Joseph R. Biden and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visit Saint Michael’s cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine Feb. 20, 2023. — REUTERS

WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden’s administration is considering $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine and $10 billion for Israel in a supplemental spending request he will send to Congress as soon as Friday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Mr. Biden has been widely expected to ask Congress to pass a supplemental spending bill quickly, as Washington responds to the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants while looking to continue to support Ukraine as it grapples with a Russian invasion.

Multiple sources familiar with the request told Reuters on Tuesday that Biden was considering a supplemental request of about $100 billion that would include defense aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, as well as funding for efforts to beef up security on the US border with Mexico.

Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was not aware of the $100 billion figure, except from news reports.

He told a news conference he had heard that the administration was considering $10 billion for Israel.

Administration officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several sources said on Wednesday that Biden has not settled on a final figure, and the breakdown has not been communicated to Congress.

Under US law, Congress, not the executive branch, controls spending. – Reuters

Philippines committed to start operating sovereign wealth fund this year — Marcos

October 19, 2023 | 10:34 am

PBBM-Marcos — President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. speaks at an event with the Filipino community in Washington, D.C., May 1, 2023. — KRIZ JOHN ROSALES/PPA POOL

Philippine President R. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said on Thursday that the government is still committed to starting operations of a sovereign wealth fund by year-end.

The government is finding ways to make the fund “as close to perfect and ideal as possible,” Mr. Marcos said in a speech before departing to Riyadh to join the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit.

One of the most important aspects of his trip includes the sovereign wealth fund’s introduction to the world, specifically to Middle Eastern countries, Mr. Marcos said.

Mr. Marcos suspended the implementation of the fund to ensure safeguards are in place. The government touted the fund, which was signed into law in July, as a key driver for the country’s economic growth and infrastructure upgrade plans. — Reuters

ACG launches latest book on corruption, calls for transparency and good governance

October 19, 2023 | 10:00 am

The Asian Consulting Group (ACG), in partnership with the Philippine Caucus of Harvard and the Center for Strategic Reforms of the Philippines, will be launching its latest book, “Reimagining the World Without Corruption” by Mon Abrea at the Harvard Kennedy School on Monday, Oct. 23.

The book launch will be attended by the Chairperson of the KN Movement, former Senator Bam Aquino; and the Chairperson of the Angat Pinas, Inc., former Vice-President Leni Robredo. The event will also be attended by Prof. Jeeyang Rhee Baum, adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School; and Myrish Antonio, co-founder and CEO of the Philippine Living Heritage Initiative.

“To fight corruption, one must first understand it,” says our best-selling author, ACG Founding Chairman and Chief Tax Advisor Mon Abrea.

Reimagining the World Without Corruption presents an extensive discussion on the nature of corruption and how countries all over the world are fighting it.

Another commonly-identified cause of corruption is the absence of transparency.

Recently, in the Philippines, several government agencies have asked for billions in confidential funds. These appropriation requests were ultimately denied due to the more pressing need to allocate funds to address encroachments in the West Philippine Sea. Nevertheless, this denial does not write finis to the issue. Prior confidential fund allotments remain unaccounted for, and the same issue may likely come up in the next budget hearings.

“Governance is a shared responsibility,” reminds Mr. Abrea. “If people want good governance, they must remain vigilant over the actions of their leaders and public officials.”

The mere fact that public funds lack transparency measures, or have weak transparency measures, do not by itself mean that there is corruption. It simply means that the risk will always be there, and that risk must be balanced by vigilance from the public and other measures.

Understanding corruption is the first step in fighting it. People must come to understand their role in this fight so that one day everyone can live in a world without corruption.

“Ridding the world of corruption is not just about safeguarding government funds, it is about respecting human dignity, upholding integrity, and maintaining a just society for all,” says Mr. Abrea.

You may get a copy of the Reimagining the World Without Corruption book in our Shopee account through this link: https://tinyurl.com/CSRPH-NewestBook.

If you are in the US and interested in attending the book launch at the Harvard Kennedy School, you may register here: https://tinyurl.com/CSR-ReimaginingtheWorldinUS.

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Hawkish BSP seen to bring inflation to target in Q1

October 19, 2023 | 12:34 am

Jeep-gas station-peso-coins — A jeepney driver prepares his payment at a gas station. — PHILIPPINE STAR/RUSSELL PALMA

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) hawkish stance is expected to bring inflation to the target range by early next year, but further hikes could be needed if more upside risks to prices emerge, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday.

However, BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. told reporters on Wednesday that there is still a need to review the latest data before making a decision.

Asked if an off-cycle rate hike was still on the table, Mr. Remolona said: “We’re looking at the data, I think Tuesday we’ll gather and run through them all again and see what needs to be done. We’ll know next week.”

The Monetary Board has kept the benchmark interest rate at 6.25% since March after hiking borrowing costs by 425 basis points (bps) since May 2022 to tame inflation. Its next policy-setting meeting is on Nov. 16.

IMF Asia and Pacific Department Regional Studies Division Chief Shanaka Peiris said Philippine inflation is unlikely to ease to the BSP’s 2-4% target range within this year amid upside risks.

“The current restrictive monetary stance should help bring down inflation by the first quarter next year… What we said is keep the course on monetary policy tightening, and it should bring inflation down. But if upside risks materialize, (the BSP) may need to raise interest rates more,” he said in an online briefing on Wednesday.

The IMF expects Philippine inflation to accelerate to 6% this year before easing to 3.5% in 2024. The IMF’s forecast is slightly higher than the BSP’s 5.8% estimate for this year, but the same for next year.

Inflation quickened to 6.1% in September, the fastest in five months, due to rising prices of food and fuel. Year to date, inflation averaged 6.6%.

Mr. Remolona earlier this month said he is “not sure” if headline inflation will return to the 2-4% target range within the year due to the “significant spike” in September.

He has said that higher borrowing costs have not impacted the Philippine economic growth, which may indicate there is still room to resume monetary tightening.

The IMF expects Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 5.3% this year, and by 6% next year. Both forecasts are below the government’s 6-7% goal for 2023 and the 6.5-8% target for 2024.

“For next year, we are expecting a pickup because you know, service exports are doing quite well,” Mr. Peiris said, adding that an acceleration in public spending and an increase in foreign direct investments will also drive growth.

In its Regional Economic Outlook Asia Pacific report, the IMF said central banks in the region should carry through with policies to ensure inflation is “durably at appropriate targets.”

“However, with challenges from headwinds to the outlook and limited policy space, continued fiscal and financial policy normalization is essential to support disinflation, preserve financial stability, and rebuild fiscal buffers. In addition, structural reforms to mitigate the negative impact from pandemic scarring, global climate change, and geoeconomic fragmentation are urgently needed,” the multilateral lender said.

The IMF said it projects inflation in Asia to ease towards central bank targets in 2024, ahead of the rest of the world where inflation is not seen to return to target at least until 2025.

“Risks to inflation from food (particularly rice) and fuel prices remain tilted to the upside; core inflation itself is susceptible to food, fuel, and shipping cost shocks, especially in emerging markets and developing economies. There is also considerable uncertainty around lags of policy transmissions and the relative size of supply and demand shocks,” it added.

The IMF expects the Asia-Pacific region to grow by 4.6% this year from 3.9% in 2022. Asia’s growth is expected to slow to 4.2% in 2024 and to 3.9% in the medium term, which it said was the lowest in the past two decades except for 2020.

“The Asia and Pacific region thus remains a relatively bright spot compared to 3% expected global growth this year… The slowdown in China’s property sector will weigh on demand throughout the region,” the multilateral lender said. — AMCS

PHL seeks $5.7B worth of WB loans

October 19, 2023 | 12:33 am

THE PHILIPPINES is eyeing $5.677 billion worth of loans from the World Bank (WB) over the next few years, the Department of Finance (DoF) said.

In a statement, the DoF said Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno met with World Bank Group (WBG) Managing Director for Operations Anna Bjerde to discuss the programs and projects being considered for financing from fiscal year 2024 to 2025 and onwards.

Mr. Diokno met with WBG officials on the sidelines of 2023 Annual World Bank-International Monetary Fund (WB-IMF) annual meetings in Marrakesh, Morocco.

“A total of 20 pipeline loans amounting to $5.677 billion are expected to be signed between the Philippines and the WBG,” the DoF said.

The $5.677 billion worth of loans will be focused on projects involved in “digital transformation, disaster risk management, climate, transportation, and energy, among others.”

Ms. Bjerde was quoted by the DoF as saying the World Bank is “finding ways to speed up the approval processes and execution of the projects, which is key to ensuring that countries benefit sooner and development objectives are delivered quicker and better.”

She also noted the multilateral lender’s interest in “exploring partnerships and private capital mobilization opportunities with the Philippines on digitalization and renewable energy.”

The Philippines currently has 18 ongoing loans with the lender worth $5.701 billion.

Last year, the World Bank was the country’s third-largest source of official development assistance (ODA), accounting for 21.18% of the total ODA portfolio. This was equivalent to $6.86 billion in 29 programs and projects.

Meanwhile, Mr. Diokno also met with representatives from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Mizuho Securities, and Nomura Holdings on Oct. 14 to discuss investment opportunities in the Philippines.

“The banks expressed strong interest in advancing investments in the Philippines’ renewable energy, sustainable technology, infrastructure, and fixed-income instruments,” the DoF said.

The DoF said the Japanese financial institutions also discussed opportunities in public-private partnerships, infrastructure flagship projects, and sustainable finance instruments. — L.M.J.C. Jocson

Safeguards sought for Maharlika fund

October 19, 2023 | 12:32 am

PBBM Marcos-wc — Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. suspended the implementation of the country’s first sovereign wealth fund. — PPA POOL PHOTO

By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter

PHILIPPINE President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. should carefully weigh the risks posed by the country’s first sovereign wealth fund to the top two state lenders, economists said on Wednesday.

This after Mr. Marcos ordered the suspension of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law that created the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).

Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin said in a statement that Mr. Marcos had wanted to carefully study the IRR “to ensure that the purpose of the fund will be realized for the country’s development with safeguards in place for transparency and accountability.”

The Oct. 12 memorandum ordering the suspension of the law’s IRR was addressed to the Bureau of the Treasury as well as the heads of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

The LANDBANK and DBP have already remitted P50 billion and P25 billion, respectively, for the initial funding of the sovereign wealth fund as required under the law.

Concerns over the financial stability of the two state banks swirled after they sought regulatory relief from capitalization requirements after remitting their contributions.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. said there will be no special treatment for LANDBANK and DBP’s requests.

“We will evaluate the request as we do for any other requests by banks, and then we will carry out the usual regulations that we carry out so (LANDBANK and DBP) will not be treated in a special way. They will be regulated like we always regulate banks,” Mr. Remolona told reporters on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, GlobalSource Partners Country Analyst Diwa C. Guinigundo said it would be “most welcome” if the law is repealed “if it is found to be fundamentally flawed,” citing the law’s negative impact on the financial stability of the LANDBANK and DBP.

“[There are] financial stability consequences if the two government financial institutions fail to comply with BSP’s regulatory capital requirements,” he said in a Viber message.

Mr. Guinigundo said he supports the suspension of the IRR if this is part of due diligence before the sovereign wealth fund starts operations.

“[The suspension] will not correct the issues of having the MIF in the first place when we have no surplus fund, sourcing its seed fund from two GFIs which may risk noncompliance with BSP requirements, allowing nearly unlimited range of allowable financial activities including borrowing for investment, providing guarantees to loans, etc.,” the former BSP deputy governor said.

Enrico P. Villanueva, a senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, also fears that the suspension of the IRR may be aimed at allowing the President to have greater say on the choice of the Maharlika Investment Corp.’s top executives, “like choosing someone outside of the pre-screened applicants.”

“Political influence on sovereign wealth fund (SWF) affairs runs contrary to Santiago Principles governing SWFs,” he said via Messenger chat.

Mr. Villanueva also noted that the law’s IRR lacks guidance on how foreign or local private investors can participate or invest in the fund.

Malacañang may also be studying “some possible legal and operational loopholes of MIF to ensure that the possible benefits of the law will be achieved,” according to Gary Ador Dionisio, dean of the De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde School of Diplomacy and Governance.

ACT Teachers Party-List Representative and Deputy House Minority leader France L. Castro said the suspension of the IRR proves that the law is “flawed in so many levels.”

“It would be better if (Mr. Marcos) just scrapped the whole Maharlika law rather than just suspend it,” she said in a statement, noting that the fiscal health of the LANDBANK and DBP are in “jeopardy because of the administration’s obsession with MIF.”

The creation of the Philippines’ first sovereign wealth fund has been criticized by economists, who warned that using BSP’s dividends as seed capital for the MIF would further delay the central bank’s capital buildup.

The National Government is sourcing its P50-billion contribution to the MIF from 100% of the BSP dividends for the first two years.

Mr. Remolona said the BSP’s contribution to the MIF should not be affected by the suspension of the IRR.

“We already did, so it doesn’t affect that… It’s a suspension of the IRR. It’s not a cancellation of the fund,” he said.

House Ways and Means Chair and Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda, one of the law’s authors, said that despite the IRR’s suspension, “we are still on track to get the ball rolling by the end of this year.”

“Don’t overthink this. It’s the Executive Branch working things among themselves, as is proper at this stage of the law’s implementation,” he said in a statement.

He noted it would be better if the issues related to the law’s IRR would be resolved before the fund gets off the ground.

Gov’t ramps up efforts to exit FATF ‘gray list’

October 19, 2023 | 12:31 am

THE LOGO of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is seen at the OECD headquarters in Paris, France, Oct. 18, 2019. — REUTERS

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has given agencies until Nov. 30 to address deficiencies in their anti-money laundering strategies as part of Philippine efforts to get out of the Financial Action Task Force’s “gray list” by January.

In a memo, the President said state agencies must review and complete deliverables required by the FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) by the end of next month.

“As a member of the APG (Asia Pacific Group), and in compliance with the international standards on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, the Philippines must conduct a money laundering/terrorist financing national risk assessment to determine the country’s risks and vulnerabilities,” Mr. Marcos said in the Oct. 16 memo.

The Philippines is hard-pressed to exit the global financial watchdog’s gray list, which can have severe consequences on its growing economy. Being on the FATF’s list attracts close monitoring of international transactions and limits trade opportunities.

Mr. Marcos noted that out of 18 ICRG action plans, the Philippines still must address eight to be able to get out of the FATF gray list by the start of next year. The Philippines is expected to undergo another mutual evaluation in 2026.

Mr. Marcos also directed the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to submit to the office of the Executive Secretary a comprehensive report on the status of the implementation of the National Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorism Financing and Counter-Proliferation Financing Strategy (NACS) 2023-2027 on or before Dec. 8.

In particular, he wanted to see progress on Strategic Objective 1, which states that the government should demonstrate that the country has addressed strategic deficiencies identified in international assessments and that the measures contribute to “effective and sustainable outcomes.”

Under the memo, the AMLC will also serve as the lead agency of the National Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment Working Group and formulate and issue guidelines for implementation.

The Philippines has been on the FATF’s list of countries under increased monitoring for money laundering and terrorism financing risks since June 2021.

In June this year, the FATF decided to keep the Philippines on the gray list despite some progress in implementing measures against such financial crimes. — K.A.T.Atienza

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