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Anti-smuggling enforcement focus should be prevention, not penalties, farmers say

PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

THE government’s approach to containing agricultural smuggling must focus on prevention rather than harsher penalties, industry officials said.

Raul Q. Montemayor, national manager of Federation of Free Farmers, added in a messenger chat that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. did not mention his plan to reinstate pre-shipment inspections of farm imports during his second State of the Nation Address last week.

Mr. Montemayor said such inspections involve an independent entity checking cargoes for weight, contents, value, and quarantine clearance before they are shipped to the Philippines.

“Without such preventive measures, cargoes can be easily spirited out of our ports, misdeclared and undervalued, and then government will have to exert a lot of time and money running after the smuggled goods,” he said.

Mr. Marcos, who is also Secretary of Agriculture, warned the smugglers and hoarders as he said they are the reason behind rising prices of agricultural commodities.

“One of the reasons for rising prices is the presence of smugglers, hoarders, and those who manipulate the prices of agricultural products. We will look for them and file complaints against them,” he said. 

“What they are doing is not right, they are committing fraud. Not only farmers are affected, but consumers as well. That’s why we won’t allow such practices. The days of smugglers and hoarders are numbered,” he added.

He also urged Congress to amend Republic Act No. 10845 or the Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.

The law defines the crime of large-scale agricultural smuggling as the illegal import of at least P1 million worth of sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables — either raw, processed, or preserved. The threshold for rice is P10 million.

Sonny A. Africa, executive director of think tank Ibon Foundation, said that Mr. Marcos “could have done so much” in his first year against smugglers and hoarders. “It’s not as if they only just showed up after he came to power.”

“Choosing to focus on smugglers and hoarders… fails to grasp that the biggest factor in expensive food is the chronic lack of trade protection and domestic support for Filipino farmers and fisherfolk,” he said.

Mr. Africa said the liberalization of trade in agricultural goods is one of the factors limiting the government’s capacity to curb smuggling and hoarding.

“Controlling smugglers and hoarders is also a function of government capacity and unfortunately this capacity is exactly what has been eroded by decades of agricultural liberalization and deregulation,” he said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

Adidas and Puma bet on ‘terrace’ sneaker trend in tough market

LONDON — The trend for low-rise rubber-soled “terrace” sneakers could give Adidas and Puma an advantage over Nike this summer, but may not offset weakening US and Chinese demand.

German sportswear giants Adidas and Puma have trawled their archives to re-release old styles in new colors, driving renewed interest in the shoes from the 1970s and 1980s named after the standing section at soccer stadiums.

The number of searches for “Adidas Samba,” one of the brand’s main terrace styles, has surged worldwide over the past year and hit a peak in mid-June, Google Trends data shows.

Puma is likely to benefit less from the trend than Adidas because its terrace range doesn’t have as much name recognition, said Adam Cochrane, analyst at Deutsche Bank. But it’s certainly an area where the brand can compete.

“If there’s a loser from this it’s Nike, which doesn’t have the track record from the ’80s so you don’t have the historic shoes to fall back on and the back catalogue to revisit,” he said. Nike is more known for chunky basketball shoes, like the hugely successful Jordan range.

Still, while terrace shoe sales are growing, they’re a small fraction of the overall business. Investors will be pushing Puma and Adidas on broader strategies to navigate weak consumer demand at second-quarter results on July 26 and Aug. 3 respectively.

“We believe the US market is now (following on from China) at the heart of the worries for investors in Adidas and Puma,” said Robert Schramm-Fuchs, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson, which holds shares in Adidas. 

Nike last month reported its slowest sales growth in four quarters in North America, its biggest market, highlighting a weaker than expected US consumer. Weak gross domestic product (GDP) figures from China last week also raised alarm about the world’s second-biggest economy.

Adidas, however, has got a big boost from selling some of its stock of discontinued Yeezy shoes. Last Monday it slashed its expected 2023 operating loss to 450 million euros from 700 million euros, citing unexpectedly strong Yeezy sales.

Adidas, led by ex-Puma CEO Bjorn Gulden since the start of the year, said in May it would donate proceeds from Yeezy stock sales to non-governmental organizations including the Anti-Defamation League but has not yet said what share of the proceeds will go to NGOs.

Puma, whose shares have lagged Nike and Adidas over the past year, should update investors on strategy as the brand aims to up its game in performance sportswear after what some saw as an over-emphasis on lifestyle.

Sportswear has the potential to grow further with a “casualization” of fashion and consumers’ increased focus on health and fitness, said Edouard Aubin, analyst at Morgan Stanley.

“However, the cost to compete for sportswear brands is very high, and barriers to entry are low, making retailers quite vulnerable to ‘boom and bust’ cycles as trends change,” said Mr. Aubin. — Reuters

BFGoodrich rolls out ultra-high-performance tire

The BFGoodrich g-Force Phenom T/A is said to ‘take vehicle performance to the next level.’ — PHOTO FROM BFGOODRICH

BFGOODRICH recently unveiled its BFGoodrich g-Force Phenom T/A tire — an “on-road, ultra-high-performance tire that takes vehicle performance to the next level, in both wet and dry conditions.” The newly launched tire, said the company in a release, promises “exhilarating driving with uncompromised handling capabilities for launching off the line, tight cornering, and hard braking.”

Added BFGoodrich Country Lead Daesy Natalya, “The BFGoodrich g-Force Phenom T/A is designed to maximize vehicle potential with confidence and comfort, at a reasonable price. Bringing unparalleled performance at a phenomenal value, this newly launched tire is sure to attract new consumers to the brand, and lure them into performance driving.”

The tire is said to offer uncompromised handling performance for off-the-line launching, tight cornering, and hard braking; plus impressive traction in both wet and dry conditions, due its Performance Racing Core construction that maintains “optimal footprint shape” during cornering at high speeds. It also gives “exceptional wet performance” with better road contact in dry zones and less road contact to evacuate more water in wet zones. Its Ulti-Grip technology delivers maximum handling and shorter braking distance, while a wide rain grooves help to evacuate water quickly. Larger solid shoulder blocks maintain consistent performance throughout the tire’s life, and a lateral groove damper helps reduce road noise.

The BFGoodrich g-Force Phenom T/A comes in 26 tire sizes in the 16- to 22-inch range. For more information, visit bfgoodrichtires.com or news.bfgoodrichtires.com.

My eyeball met with Sam Altman’s crypto AI scanner

SAM ALTMAN’s imprimatur has given a new lease of life to cryptocurrency Worldcoin, whose orb-shaped iris scanners — key to verifying individuals who can then claim free tokens — are now being pitched as humanity’s future ID system in a world dominated by artificial intelligence (AI). The hype has certainly been very human: After launching last week, the digital money more than doubled in value before falling as much as 90%.

So far, so crypto. Clearly, there’ll always be some kind of market for speculative tokens lacking intrinsic value. But Worldcoin does have something worth taking a closer look at: Those orbs, and the apparent willingness of 2 million people and counting to scan their irises in return for… well, what exactly? In a world where our data is regularly hoovered up by web browsers, social-media networks, and smartphone apps, why would people willingly hand sensitive biometrics to Worldcoin and its opaque foundation, based in the regulation-lite Cayman Islands, especially after reports of hacks and fraud?

I decided to take a look for myself and booked an appointment with a newly arrived Worldcoin orb in Paris’ Latin Quarter, where 1960s students once rebelled against the established order. Today, they’re more likely to relish the chance to work on an AI project like this one. When I step into the hipster-ish cafe where the tell-tale chrome orb is busy scanning one of its first customers on Thursday, I’m greeted by a Worldcoin operator called Paul, a graduate audio engineer, who’s doing this as a summer job after finishing his studies.

As Paul runs through the familiar pitch of Worldcoin’s end goal of proving “personhood” by scanning 8 billion people’s eyes, in turn generating unique identifiers and using that database to verify access to anything from financial services to universal basic income, I note the company logo on his T-shirt — a picture of the world combined with the Greek letter “epsilon” and a circle. It all feels like a bad episode of Star Trek: A utopian vision intended to escape a future of AI machines, but with its own gloomy unintended consequences. Why should we trust this company to manage such a global digital turnstile? How easy will it be for others to “enrich” this ID with more of my personal data? And aren’t Worldcoin’s early backers — including the likes of Sam Bankman-Fried and Three Arrows Capital — best placed to cash out first whatever happens?

Unlike Worldcoin’s first “field tests” in countries such as Indonesia, which prompted accounts of exploitation and invasion of privacy, I have a hard time believing many French people would willingly peer into a chrome-shaped orb for a few tokens, at least not without asking some tough questions about reports of a black market for those ID codes in territories such as China. After all, this is Western Europe, the land of the GDPR, where people take privacy seriously and where tech regulation comes before tech innovation.

I’m wrong, it turns out, as a steady line of willing eyeballs mostly belonging to trendy-looking men forms. There’s little chit-chat — the aim is to claim one’s free Worldcoin, and data privacy seems less urgent. One bewildered-looking middle-aged man who finishes his scan asks: “Do I have to pay?” Seeing his relief at the answer, I point out: “But you already did pay. You gave your iris scan.” I am quickly corrected by Paul, who tells me that the orb deletes the scan — instead, what’s transmitted is a unique ID code that proves its owner is a human, but nothing more.

That may be true, but it shows to what extent consent becomes a fuzzy concept when handing over sensitive data, even if it can’t be traced back to its original owner. Do I really know how my unique ID, based on my biometrics, will be used in the future, or potentially cross-pollinated with other data? Hence why the UK’s data regulator is taking a closer look — it told Bloomberg News that users need to be able to withdraw their consent “without detriment” — and why other European regulators will, too.

It’s finally my turn to volunteer my eyeball to Worldcoin — something I probably wouldn’t do without writing this column in mind. The process takes seconds rather than minutes: The app generates a QR code, the orb scans it, and then I look into its eye for a few seconds. I can’t hear it speak above the hubbub of the cafe, but I’m assured that a soothing female voice is guiding me through the whole thing. The Worldcoin vision for the future is of orbs manufactured everywhere, bringing in ID revenue — again, the kind of dystopian sci-fi concept that Parisian students might once have equated with social order and discipline. Today, tech’s panopticon is greeted as data-driven, utilitarian — and of course potentially profitable. One can imagine what the reaction would be if the government tried to roll out its own all-seeing orbs, though.

As I leave, I ask another happy customer, a 37-year-old developer called Jonathan, holding a futuristic-looking monocycle, why he got his iris scanned. He tells me he’s interested in the project, the aim of verifying human-ness, and in Altman’s vision. But when I ask him whether he would have done this without free crypto*, he admits he’s been looking at the price since launch. “It’s starting to look expensive,” he says, “and usually it’s not a good idea to buy when there’s buzz.” Getting something for nothing, though, was evidently worth a closer look — as long as you turn a blind eye to the cost of giving up more of your personal data.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

* I won’t be applying for my free token.

Vegetables in India to cost more on erratic monsoon

REUTERS

KOLAR, India — Vegetable prices in India are set to stay higher for longer, as erratic monsoon rains delayed planting and damaged ripening crops, farmers and traders said.

Vegetable prices, which have a 6% weighting in the overall consumer price index (CPI), hit a seven-month high in June, rising 12% month on month, official data shows.

Prices usually ease from August, when the harvest makes its way to the market, but this year, traders expect costs to remain high until October as supplies stay tight.

“The monsoon is disrupting the vegetable supply chain. This year, we are going to witness higher vegetable prices for a prolonged period,” said Anil Patil, a Mumbai-based trader.

Costlier staples such as onions, beans, carrots, ginger, chillies and tomatoes not only feed voter discontent ahead of state elections in the next few months: The higher prices are likely to stoke retail inflation, which is expected to hit a seven-month high in July, diminishing the potential for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to lower rates this year.

“Supply-side measures would be best suited to temper the rise in food prices. The RBI is expected to remain on pause till at least December 2023,” said Gaura Sen Gupta, India economist at IDFC FIRST Bank.

Tomato prices are particularly hot, surging more than 1,400% at the wholesale market to a record 140 rupees ($1.71) per kg in the past three months, prompting many households and restaurants to cut purchases.

Farmers in the third-biggest tomato-producing region in the southern state of Karnataka say poor rainfall, higher temperatures and a virus outbreak have hit the crop, which was planted on less land than a year ago because of a crash in prices.

“Supplies are just 30% of normal as yields,” said farmer Srinath Gowda, who manages 200 acres of farmland.

The monsoon has also affected other crops. Key vegetable-producing northern and western states received as much as 90% above-average rainfall, and some eastern and southern states got up to 47% less rain, according to the weather department.

Some states received no rain for weeks, and then were flooded with a month’s worth of rain in a week, an official with the meteorological department said.

The supply disruptions, and the resulting higher food prices, are expected to send retail inflation higher to 6.5% in July, its highest level this year and above the Reserve Bank of India’s 2% to 6% target range, HSBC economists said in a recent note.

Economists now expect the RBI to keep interest rates high into mid-2024.

Supplies should start picking up in the next few weeks from crops planted in June, but that will not be sufficient to cool prices, said Rajendra Suryawanshi, a vegetable trader in the western city of Pune.

“Meaningful correction in prices would begin from September, and in October, we could see prices falling to a normal level,” Suryawanshi said. — Reuters

Intel up on surprise profit

INTEL Corp. jumped after the beleaguered chip-making pioneer declared an end to the personal computer slump and said the second half of 2023 will show that its long-awaited comeback is underway.

The outlook suggests Intel has turned a corner after sluggish demand for PC chips battered its business. Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger said inventory of those components is now back to normal levels, prompting customers to resume orders. He expects a sustained recovery in year’s final six months for that side of the business.

The latest numbers — and the market’s reaction — are “indicative of that turning point for the company,” Mr. Gelsinger said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “It’s nice bouncing off the bottom. We still have a long way to go.”

Mr. Gelsinger spoke a day after Intel surprised Wall Street with a second-quarter profit and a bullish sales forecast for the current period that topped analysts’ estimates. Intel surged 5.9% to $36.57 at 1:18 p.m. in New York, pushing the stock toward its biggest rally since March 29. It was at or near the top of major US equity indexes.

Mr. Gelsinger said the server part of Intel’s operations isn’t recovering as quickly as hoped, however. Sluggishness in China and weaker-than-expected demand at some cloud and corporate customers are weighing on the division, he said. While that slump will linger into the third quarter, he expects a recovery in the last three months of the year.

Management had previously promised that the second half of the year would show improvement, and now investors are seeing fresh evidence of that. Minus certain items, Intel expects to post earnings of 20 cents a share in the current quarter, compared with a 13-cent profit projection.

Sales in the third quarter will be as much as $13.9 billion, compared with an average analyst estimate of $13.3 billion. Intel’s shares rose more than 8% in late trading after the report was released, marking the second straight post-earnings rally for the chipmaker.

But the company remains in the early stages of a turnaround, which hinges on reestablishing Intel’s once-bulletproof lead in chip technology. Mr. Gelsinger said Intel is on course or slightly ahead of plans to adopt new manufacturing advances — an effort to regain its technological leadership by 2025.

Though Intel stock has gained 31% this year through Thursday’s close, that underperformed a rally by chip-related shares. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index is up 49% in 2023.

Intel predicted that its gross margin — the portion of sales remaining after deducting the cost of production — would be 43% in the third quarter. That compares with an estimate of just under 41%. The company, one of the few in the industry that doesn’t outsource production, has been running its plants at less than full capacity. That’s helped reduce the amount of supply in a market where customers already had too much inventory.

Charges associated with that “underloading” of factories are now easing, though they will linger for multiple quarters, said Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner.

In the second quarter, Intel reported a surprise profit of 13 cents a share, excluding some items. That compared with a loss of 4 cents predicted by analysts. Revenue fell 15% to $12.9 billion, but that beat the projection of about $12 billion.

Client computing, Intel’s PC chip business, generated $6.78 billion in revenue last quarter. That compared with an estimate of $6.1 billion. Data-center sales were $4 billion, versus an average projection of $3.82 billion.

Still, Intel remains far from its heyday. The company had quarterly sales of more than $20 billion as recently as 2021.

The company’s factory network, once the envy of the chip business, is crucial to whether Intel can regain its dominance. In addition to whipping them into shape, Mr. Gelsinger has promised he will open those facilities up for rivals to use on a contract basis. In the meantime, the costly push to catch up with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is weighing on profit.

Intel’s leader said in the Bloomberg TV interview that he expects to be able to go public with the names of big customers for his foundry effort later this year.

Intel’s margins remain nowhere near the 60% level that it maintained for years, when it had dominant market share and productive factories. Chip-making technology advances allow companies to improve their economics and let chips handle ever-increasing amounts of information.

Investors have yet to fully buy into Mr. Gelsinger’s turnaround plan. Rivals such as Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. have seen their stocks surge more dramatically, helped by the rush to use their chips in new artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Intel is seen as a relative laggard in that segment.

Mr. Gelsinger acknowledged those challenges on Thursday. Intel’s data center unit has missed a rush of spending by the large cloud providers on training systems that are built on Nvidia chips.

“Big cloud customers have put a lot of energy into building out the AI training environments,” he said. “We do think this is a near-term surge that will balance out over time.”

Customers are actively looking for alternatives to Nvidia’s chips, he said, and they’re considering Intel’s accelerator offerings — a range of chips called Gaudi. Not all AI-related work is the kind of thing that Nvidia’s graphics chips excel at, he added.

Even PCs will benefit from the interest in AI-based software going forward, Mr. Gelsinger said. Running apps on personal computers will be more effective than waiting for responses from remote data centers over the internet, he said.

“Our strategy is to democratize AI,” Mr. Gelsinger said, “scaling it and making it ubiquitous.” — Bloomberg

Sinead O’Connor was found unresponsive at London address — UK police

UPLOAD.WIKIMEDIA.ORG-PYMOUSS

LONDON — Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, who died on Wednesday aged 56, was found unresponsive at an address in London and pronounced dead at the scene, London’s Metropolitan Police said.

Artists around the world have reacted to the news, with REM frontman Michael Stipe, US musician Tori Amos, and Irish singer Shane MacGowan among those who paid tribute to Ms. O’Connor’s fierce honesty, intense presence and uncompromising spirit.

“Police were called at 11:18hrs on Wednesday, 26 July to reports of an unresponsive woman at a residential address … Officers attended. A 56-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene,” the Met Police said in a statement.

“The death is not being treated as suspicious.”

London Inner South Coroner’s Court said it had been notified of Ms. O’Connor’s death.

“No medical cause of death was given. The coroner therefore directed an autopsy to be conducted. The results of this may not available for several weeks,” the court said in a statement.

A decision on whether an inquest will be needed will be made when these results are known and submissions have been heard from the family, the court added. — Reuters

Bosch Auto releases Blue Line brake pads, ‘next-gen’ auto parts

Bosch Blue Line brake pads promise ‘excellent friction stability’ and more. — PHOTO FROM BOSCH AUTOMOTIVE AFTERMARKET

BOSCH AUTOMOTIVE AFTERMARKET (AA) has made available in the local market its Bosch Blue Line Brake Pads. “We at Bosch Automotive Aftermarket always advocate for safer cars and safer roads. Braking components such as brake pads play a crucial role in car safety,” said Bosch Philippines General Manager Paulo Duarte in a release. “We are always committed to progress by making essential contribution toward advancing technical progress in brake technology. Bosch brake innovations have been supporting road safety for more than 90 years.”

The company said that Bosch Blue Line brake pads are “engineered to be the best alternative to OE (original equipment) — with excellent friction stability and shearing characteristics, low noise and vibration suppression, brake disc-friendly, good wear rate and (an) asbestos-free formula.”

Bosch AA also introduced the ENV6 brake fluid, compatible with a wide range of vehicle applications, particularly the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS). Bosch ENV6 is characterized by low viscosity, a high boiling point, and good lubrication. “Next-generation” auto parts are said to be made of “enhanced elements designed to give… more power and comfort while on the road every day.” These next-gen parts will also be available in the market soon.

The Bosch AGM Battery is a high-performance battery designed to deliver reliable and long-lasting power to vehicles equipped with a start-stop system. It is made using advanced Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) technology, making it maintenance-free and giving it a longer service life than traditional lead-acid batteries. Bosch AA said that the battery is engineered to withstand extreme temperatures and harsh driving conditions — making it ideal for use in a wide range of vehicles, including luxury cars, high-performance sports cars, and heavy-duty trucks. Meanwhile, the Bosch EFB Battery is for vehicles requiring an enhanced flooded battery. This battery is designed with advanced technology to “provide superior performance and longer service life compared to traditional flooded batteries.”

Other products include the Bosch Aeristo premium cabin filter with a dedicated anti-allergy layer which renders allergens permanently harmless, while eliminating bacteria; activated carbon that absorbs harmful gases and unpleasant smells; an ultra-fine microfiber layer which filters fine dust particles (up to 0.3 microns), soot and pollen; and carrier fleece that stabilizes the filter layers, enabling optimum performance. The Bosch LED Gigalight is an advanced, energy-saving vehicle lamp for the front headlights. While giving off white light, it is compatible with most common halogen sockets. More are available for viewing via Bosch AA’s e-catalogue on https://ap-ecat.boschaftermarket.com.

Enhancing the cancer patient journey

ANGIOLA HARRY-UNSPLASH

In 2020, 2.3 million people were diagnosed with breast cancer and there were about 685,000 deaths from the disease globally, said the World Health Organization (WHO). It is also the most prevalent cancer to date.

Females have the strongest breast cancer risk, but approximately 0.5% to 1% breast cancers can occur in men, added the WHO. It is a disease in which abnormal breast cancer cells grow out of control and form tumors. These tumors can spread throughout the body and can become fatal.

On the other hand, improvements in survival rates have been observed, with early detection closely tied in with comprehensive treatment programs, medical therapies included.

Patient experience is also crucial in improving the cancer patient’s journey. Patient experience is defined as “the sum of all interactions, shaped by an organization’s culture, that influence patient perceptions across the continuum of care.”

In a research study called the “Patient Experience in the Philippines: Journey towards Optimal Health,” it said that among the challenges that patients experience are: long wait lines, services needed are not available, privacy and confidentiality are taken lightly, lack of amenities, overcrowding, and lack of information about services.

The study added that there are seven key generic themes that are important for a high-quality patient experience. These themes are patient as active participant, responsiveness of services, individualized approach, lived experience, continuity of care and relationships, information and support, and communication.

Speaking during the 2nd “Inspiring Conversations on Breast Cancer in the Philippines” roundtable, Asian Hospital Medical Center CEO Dr. Beaver Tamesis underscored the importance of good communication skills among healthcare professionals in addressing the concerns of cancer patients and their families. He said that there should be enough information about the treatment options, possible side effects, nutrition, lifestyle, and psychosocial support.

The said roundtable series is organized by the Swiss Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines on behalf of the Philippine Cancer Society and ICanServe Foundation, with the support of Novartis Healthcare Philippines. Members of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) are participating in the roundtable discussion to help their breast cancer reporting fellowship this year.

The PPI reporting fellowship, also done in partnership with the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), seeks to raise awareness about breast cancer to help save lives through information and communication.

A panelist during the roundtable, Joel Chong, president of Novartis, expressed his beliefs that effective communication is key to improving the patient journey, which in turn helps enhance health outcomes.

“The top doctors around the world are not only those who are the leading experts in their field. They are also the ones who have mastered the art of communication,” he said.

These healthcare professionals balance facts with feelings when talking to their patients. Instead of expository communication or that which is merely intended to explain and educate, they employ narrative or storytelling communication, which is more engaging, persuasive, and empathetic. They choose the right words for the right patient, tailoring their communication to match the patient’s background and level of comprehension, avoiding jargon and instead using clear, simple language.

“When talking to patients about their health, the power of every word can be magnified. Feelings hang on every sentence. Heart rates can soar with every bit of news. This is especially true for breast cancer patients,” Mr. Chong explained.

He recognized that time is possibly the biggest barrier to effective communication. Many healthcare professionals try their best to answer the questions of patients and their caregivers in limited time in order to be fair to other patients waiting for their turn. To address the time barrier, he recommended leveraging digital technology and automation. These include the use of virtual communication platforms, patient education materials, and digital tools to help patients manage their finances, seek funding assistance, or even navigate the healthcare system.

According to Mr. Chong, the patients of doctors who are good communicators feel connected and trust their physician wholeheartedly, are laser-focused on listening, clearly understand what is being told, and are highly motivated to act according to their doctors’ advice.

Apart from communication, Dr. Tamesis said that patient experience can be enhanced through a holistic and integrative approach. He emphasized the need to have an environment that is warm and caring irrespective of the socioeconomic status of the patient.

 

Teodoro B. Padilla is the executive director of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). PHAP represents the biopharmaceutical medicines and vaccines industry in the country. Its members are in the forefront of research and development efforts for COVID-19 and other diseases that affect Filipinos.

Analysts’ July inflation rate estimates

INFLATION likely further eased to below the 5% level in July, as base effects and lower power rates may have tempered higher food costs and pump prices, a BusinessWorld poll showed. Read the full story.

How PSEi member stocks performed — July 28, 2023

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Friday, July 28, 2023.

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