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PHL tankers open bid with silver and bronze medals

PHNOM PENH. — A silver and a bronze raised hopes of a decent finish for the Philippines in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games swimming competition last Saturday at the Morodok Techo Sports Complex here.

The men’s team had a promising start after Jerard Jacinto copped the bronze in the 100m backstroke with a time of 55.99, breaking his own national record of 56.27 set in the 2019 World Junior Championships.

Singapore’s Quah Zheng Wen ruled the event in 55.22, while Indonesia’s Farrel Armandio Tangkas clocked 55.80 for the silver.

Mr. Jacinto’s bronze is the men’s squad’s first medal since the 2019 SEA Games after it was left holding an empty bag in Vietnam, where the Philippines finished last in swimming with one gold, three silvers, and three bronzes — all coming from the women’s crew.

“I think it’s a very good sign,” said national head coach Archie Lim. “It shows that if you really try, if you really push it, there’s always a chance. It shows that he took a chance and got a medal.”

The quartet of Teia Salvino, Miranda Renner, Xiandi Chua, and Jasmine Alkhaldi ended the day on a high by taking the silver in the women’s 4x100m freestyle, clocking 3:47.96.

Singapore finished over two seconds faster at 3:44.29 for the gold, while Thailand bagged the bronze in 3.50.01.

Mr. Lim said the four exceeded expectations in the event where the country failed to medal last year.

“They won a silver as a group, so we’re hoping that it serves as a motivation in the next few days that if we really just work together and really try hard, there’s always a chance to get a medal,” said Mr. Lim.

Medals in the men’s 50m backstroke, men’s 100m breaststroke, men’s 50m freestyle, men’s 4×200 freestyle relay, women’s 50m backstroke, women’s 200m freestyle, and women’s 200m individual medley were being disputed Sunday. — Jun Lomibao

PHL 3×3 squad bows to Cambodian naturalized players

PHNOM PENH — The 3×3 side of Gilas Pilipinas’ redemption drive in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games ended in tatters.

Twice.

Gilas men’s 3×3 fell short of its bid to reclaim the lost crown after a disappointing bronze last time, bowing to a Cambodian squad composed of three American-born naturalized players, 20-15, in their last shot at glory at Morodok Techo Stadium’s Elephant Hall 2.

Its female counterpart suffered the same fate, falling to a well-oiled Vietnamese opponent in the finale, 21-16.

The twin losses in the half-court left a pall of gloom as the Gilas Pilipinas 5-on-5 squad prepares to kickstart its own “redeem” campaign on Tuesday against Malaysia.

Almond Vosotros (six points), Joseph Sedurifa (four), Lervin Flores (four) and Joseph Eriobu (one) fought valiantly but the host team’s taller and heftier crew proved too much to overcome in the end.

Sayeed Pridgett, a 6-foot-6 product of Montana, dropped 10 while 6-foot-8 Brandon Peterson banged in six and 6-foot-2 Darrin Dorsey posted four in breaking the hearts of Gilas men’s 3×3. Tep Chhorath, the only local in the Cambodian team, hardly saw action and went scoreless.

“Everybody knows puro import sila pero we played our best, ” said Gilas 3×3 coach Lester del Rosario, whose charges rallied from an 11-6 deficit and went to within 17-15 before Mr. Pridgett pulled the plug with a dagger deuce and a layup.

Mr. Del Rosario said the team had to scramble on scouting the said naturalized players, whose participation was only announced during the technical meeting here. Unlike FIBA-sanctioned meets, the Cambodia SEAG allows teams to field as many naturalized players as long as they have passports, regardless of the date of issue.

Following this experience, he said the team may consider tapping naturalized players for SEAG 3×3 in the future.

If anything, Gilas 3×3’s experience with Cambodia’s import-laden team gave coach Chot Reyes’ Gilas 5 a clearer look of their Group A opponent on May 11. — Olmin Leyba

Anthony Davis, LA Lakers past GS Warriors by 30 points in Game 3

ANTHONY Davis scored 25 points with 13 rebounds and LeBron James added 21 points as the Los Angeles Lakers rebounded for a 127-97 blowout Saturday over the visiting Golden State (GS) Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Lakers took a 2-1 lead in the series.

D’Angelo Russell also scored 21 points as the Lakers returned home and found their energy again after a lackluster 127-100 defeat in Game 2. The victory came even as Mr. James did not take a shot from the field in the first quarter and did not score his first basket until 5:22 remained in the first half.

Stephen Curry scored 23 points and Andrew Wiggins added 16 points with nine rebounds for the defending champion Warriors, who also trailed 2-1 in their first-round series against the Sacramento Kings before advancing in seven games.

Klay Thompson scored 15 points for the Warriors, who shot 39.6 percent from the field and had 19 turnovers. Golden State was 29.5 percent from 3-point range after going 50.0 percent from distance in Game 2. The Warriors had the best of the early going as they opened a 30-23 lead after one quarter. The Lakers stormed back in the second quarter, using a 22-2 run to take a 51-42 lead with 2:23 remaining in the first half. Los Angeles led 59-48 at the break.

The Lakers continued their charge into the third quarter, taking their first 20-point lead at 86-66 following a close-range fade-away jumper from Mr. James with 1:01 left in the period. Los Angeles took an 86-68 lead into the fourth quarter and coasted home to the victory.

The Warriors removed Mr. Curry, Mr. Thompson and Draymond Green from the floor with 9:11 remaining and the Lakers up 98-72.

Mr. Davis went 7 of 10 from the field and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line after he was just 5 of 11 from the field and scored 11 points in Game 2. The star forward appeared to play through rib discomfort on his left side after he fell on top of Green in the first half. — Reuters

Heat too strong for NY in Game 3

JIMMY Butler, returning from an injury absence, scored 28 points to lead the host Miami Heat to a 105-86 win over the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Miami leads the series 2-1. The Heat will host Game 4 on Monday night.

Knicks sixth man Immanuel Quickley left the game with 6:15 left in the fourth quarter due to his injured left knee.

The game got ugly with 14.7 seconds left in the third quarter as the teams scuffled underneath the Knicks’ basket. Three technical fouls were assessed: on Miami’s Cody Zeller for pushing Julius Randle; on New York’s Isaiah Hartenstein for pushing Mr. Zeller; and on Miami’s Caleb Martin for pushing Mr. Hartenstein.

Earlier in the game, the Knicks were so frustrated that two of their players — RJ Barrett and Josh Hart — were called for technical fouls.

Butler, who missed Game 2 won by New York, came back from his injured right ankle after five full days of rest. He made 9 of 21 shots from the floor and went 10-for-11 from the free-throw line.

He got help from Bam Adebayo (17 points, 12 rebounds), Max Strus (19 points) and Kyle Lowry (14 points).

New York was led by Jalen Brunson, who had 20 points and a game-high eight assists. Mr. Hart (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Mr. Randle (10 points, 14 rebounds) had double-doubles for the Knicks, although Mr. Randle shot just 4-for-15 overall.

Miami never trailed in the first quarter, led by as many as 13 and settled for a 29-21 advantage by the end of the period.

New York, which missed its first 15 shots from outside the paint, trailed by as many as 19 points in the second quarter. By halftime, Miami led 58-44. The Heat turned the ball over just three times in the first half compared to nine by the Knicks. — Reuters

Defense

For a while there, it looked as if the Lakers remained mired in mud. After being blown out in Game Two of their semifinal round series, they began yesterday’s homestand as if they were still struggling to keep pace against the energetic Warriors. And so tentative did they begin off the blocks that even LeBron James, the all-time leader in playoff appearances at 275, failed to attempt a single shot. They might well have dug themselves into a hole had D’Angelo Russell not managed to hit the ground running and scoring 13 of their first 17 points. Absent his smooth touch, they would have wound up with a deficit larger than seven points heading into the second quarter.

Creditably, however, the Lakers stayed true to their game plan of taking as much time as they could to get the best possible shot out of every possession. At the same time, they focused their efforts on defense, particularly at the three-point line, fueled by unshakable belief that Anthony Davis would be able to take care of anything they funnel closer to the basket. And he didn’t do just that. As in Game One, he was a force the entire length of the court; when the battlesmoke cleared, he wound up with a stat line of 25 (on 10 field goal attempts), 12, three, three, and four.

Why Davis seems to have ebbs and flows so far in the 2023 postseason is subject to speculation. That said, what cannot be denied is the profound impact he has on the game when he performs close to potential. Simply put, there is nobody on the court that can match his singular skill set, and his level of play has dictated the outcome. Yesterday, his resiliency enabled the Lakers to claim the middle quarters decisively, not unlike the way the Warriors did in Game Two. And so resounding was the beatdown that he and James — and the rest of the regular rotation that apparently now includes previously mothballed Lonnie Walker IV — got much-needed rest in the final period.

For the Lakers, the blueprint is clear. Because they’re nowhere near as good as the Warriors from the outside, they need to stay committed to their bully-ball predilections and not fall prey to the temptation of settling for contested jumpers. They’re bigger and stronger, and mere acknowledgment of the damage they can deal as a result will do wonders. Yesterday, their resolve produced 37 free throw attempts and, subsequently, 16 more points. It likewise doesn’t hurt when they create easy baskets off turnovers they force.

And so the Lakers retain homecourt advantage and aim to consolidate it tomorrow. The Crypto.com Arena crowd will be rocking even as the Warriors figure to be significantly better. There are no secrets between the protagonists at this point, with the winners ultimately determined by confidence and poise.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Sustainability fears raised over extended use of KADIWA stores

DA.GOV.PH

By Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter

A MEMBER of the Monetary Board (MB) has warned that an extensive network of subsidized KADIWA stores to distribute cut-price farm produce could be unsustainable.

MB member Bruce J. Tolentino told reporters that the KADIWA network should operate at “targeted” locations for limited periods.

Commenting on proposals to expand the reach of Kadiwa rolling stores to supermarkets, Mr. Tolentino said: “You can only keep it up briefly… for a few weeks (or) months as it will cost the government money. I think that if we view KADIWA as a targeted, short-term assistance, it will be useful, but over the long term, it is wasteful.”

Mr. Tolentino was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar hosted by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and San Miguel Corp. on Saturday.

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) had proposed to expand the rollout of the KADIWA stores to sell sugar seized from smugglers, as well as other commodities, at supermarkets.

The SRA groceries and supermarket chains are offering space for KADIWA outlets.

Mr. Tolentino declared his support for KADIWA locations near depressed communities, as well as during emergencies and disasters, and within a limited period only.

“It’s quick-acting but it is usually not sustainable. It will only last until ‘ayuda’ (government aid) is available. KADIWA offers cheap food — bought by the DA (Department of Agriculture) at a high market price and sold at a subsidized price, but how long can they keep those subsidies?” Mr. Tolentino said.

United Broiler Raisers Association President Elias Jose M. Inciong cited potential problems with the logistics of selling seized goods.

“For smuggled products, it is better to give it away for free to vulnerable consumers based on a (trusted) database,” he said in a Viber message.

The DA’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service estimates a KADIWA network of 308 stores, pop-ups and KADIWA-on-wheels outlets nationwide.

Philippines sounds out potential suppliers of nuclear reactors from US

PNRI.DOST.GOV.PH

THE PHILIPPINES is lining up potential US suppliers and is also studying some domestic manufacturing to support its proposed nuclear power industry, Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said.

Mr. Pascual said at a briefing last week that the Philippine delegation to the US, led by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., met with two US nuclear power manufacturers to work out possible supply arrangements for the emerging industry.

“There are two things that could happen. One is we can order from them the reactor — either the small modular reactor or the micro modular reactor. They already have clients but they don’t have an actual plant that’s operating. But they have contracts,” Mr. Pascual told reporters.

“Another possibility that we are also pursuing is to have them build their manufacturing facility in the Philippines. There are two potential business models that we’re targeting,” he added.

The two companies are NuScale Power Corp. and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. to discuss potential investment during the official visit to the US between April 30 and May 4.

According to Mr. Pascual, NuScale has a preliminary list of possible Philippine locations for its small modular reactor.

 “With regard to the small modular reactor, this is sensitive to volcanic or geological movements. They already have a map of the areas in the Philippines that could be considered safe locations. But they don’t have an actual decision yet on which province or which area they will build it if they proceed to build it,” Mr. Pascual said.

Ultra Safe, which hopes to supply a micro modular reactor, is still in discussions for possible locations, depending on the reactor’s final specifications, he said.

“There are still ongoing discussions on the micro modular reactor. Based on the claim of the supplier, it is not sensitive to geological movement like earthquakes. It could be installed in areas that have volcanic activity,” Mr. Pascual said.

Mr. Pascual said investment by NuScale and Ultra Safe will depend on whether they can sign local partners, an eventuality which he described as beyond the government’s control.

He did not give an estimate on either reactor’s projected cost.

“Our government is no longer in the business of running businesses. What government officials are doing is pointing them in a certain direction and providing them incentives so they will decide one way and not the other,” Mr. Pascual said.

After his five-day trip to the US, Mr. Marcos announced on May 5 that the Philippines obtained $1.3 billion worth of investment pledges, which are expected to generate 6,700 jobs. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

US GSP could disrupt PHL export diversification

REUTERS

THE Philippines’ potential readmission into a US preferential trading scheme could interfere with efforts to diversify its export base, an economist said.

The US Generalized System of Preference (GSP) program “creates a dependency on the US markets, making us more vulnerable to changes and uncertainties of the US economy,” Leonardo A. Lanzona of the Ateneo de Manila University’s economics department, said via chat.

“If we depend on GSP-eligible products, we fail to engage in export diversification as production can be limited to these US duty-free goods,” he explained.

“It also creates a disincentive to diversify exports as GSP-eligible goods with duty-free privileges are given priority,” he added.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. called for the Philippines’ readmission into the US GSP Program during his five-day visit to Washington last week.

“We would like to request reauthorization…to boost trade and to make US products that are made in the Philippines more competitive in the global market,” he said at a forum organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council and US Chamber of Commerce at Blair House in Washington, DC.

Manila’s eligibility for the nonreciprocal trade program expired on Dec. 31, 2020.

The Department of Trade and Industry has been pushing for the diversification of Philippine exports, saying it is key to long-term competitiveness. Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual called for diversification last month following a significant drop in Philippine merchandise exports in February.

Mr. Lanzona said many countries are given GSP privileges, which means that the Philippines will “still need to compete with other GSP eligible countries if we want to increase our export revenues.”

The Philippines’ active trade deals include the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as well as a number of trade privileges enjoyed as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

“Instead of asking for the Philippines’ participation in the trade program, the Philippines should just focus on making RCEP work for its industries,” Mr. Lanzona said.

In 2020, the Philippines was deemed to have benefited from the US GSP program at a scale behind only Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, and Cambodia.

Participation in the trade program requires the approval of the US Congress.

Lucio B. Pitlo III, a research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, said Mr. Marcos did not make full use of the potential leverage afforded by the expansion of the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

“If he wants to expand economic ties or leverage the alliance to pursue economic goals, he could have asked for the GSP before or as one of concessions for granting additional EDCA sites,” he said via chat. “He could also seek a firm US commitment to invest in processing critical minerals like cobalt and nickel crucial for next generation technologies like electric vehicles and green energy.”

In February, Mr. Marcos announced the expansion of EDCA, giving Washington access to four more military bases on top of the existing sites, a move seen as improving the US military’s position in any China-Taiwan conflict.

Some analysts have described the GSP readmission process as subject to horse-trading the Democratic Party, which controls the Senate, and the Republican Party, which controls the House.

“The chances of the Philippines making it again to GSP program will depend on how parties would like to shape the US-Philippine alliance as a way to counter China’s rise as a global power,” Arjan P. Aguirre of the Ateneo de Manila Political Science department said via chat.

“We can expect here the intense partisan politics and clear party divides to determine this outcome.”

Hansley A. Juliano, a political economy researcher studying at Nagoya University, said Philippine lobbying for GSP status faces roadblocks from Republican legislators critical of Mr. Biden’s foreign policy and Democrat legislators skeptical of the human rights situation in the Philippines.

“Understandably, US lawmakers tend to be more generous to Ukraine due to the more tense security situation, and the push here in Asia might be relying on an assumption that… they can just give (the Philippines) the bare minimum,” Mr. Juliano said.

“Approving the Philippines’ readmission into the GSP program would hardly cost their economy, but it would gain them a most loyal ally in the person of our President and our government,” policy analyst Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco said via chat.

“This is the calculation I would expect them to make.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

Aquaculture output seen normalizing with import ban lifted on fish feed raw material

BW FILE PHOTO

By Sheldeen Joy Talavera, Reporter

THE admission of a pork-based raw material used in the manufacture of fish feed is expected to lead to a normalization of aquaculture production, after the raw material was subject to a temporary import ban following an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the source country, a former fisheries official said.

“The non-availability of this ingredient resulted in much decline in our production,” according to Asis G. Perez, former director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and convenor of advocacy group Tugon Kabuhayan, speaking to BusinessWorld by phone.

The raw material is known as processed animal protein (PAP), an animal byproduct used in fish feed. The Department of Agriculture (DA) had banned PAP with the issue of Memorandum Order No. 5, Series of 2022 dated Jan. 31, after a confirmed outbreak of ASF in Italy, a major PAP producer.

“We’re happy that the government finally allowed it to come in; the only problem here is the delay,” he added.

The DA lifted the ban on imports of processed porcine or pork-based meal for use in animal feed on Dec. 28.

Mr. Perez noted that Italy accounts for 60%-70% of the Philippines’ annual PAP imports of 150,000 metric tons (MT).

He said aquaculture is starting to recover with the arrival of PAP shipments in March.

“We are expecting there will be a correction from the previous decline. We are hoping that with the ingredients coming in, the productivity of aquaculture will increase again,” he said.

Last year, aquaculture output rose 4.6% year on year to 2.35 million MT, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

However, some parts of the aquaculture industry registered declines.

The production of milkfish (bangus) decreased 12.6% year on year to 390,000 MT. Tilapia output fell 10.7% to 303,950, while that of round scad (galunggong) fell 3.8% to 174,710 MT.

Mr. Perez said that the industry is estimated to have incurred demurrage fees of about P10 million due to the delayed release of PAP.

Demurrage fees kick in when cargoes are not unloaded from ships within the agreed time.

The process for admitting PAP involves obtaining Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearances and an International Veterinary Certificate. The BAI also inspects warehouses and conducts random testing for ASF.

“The government should take into account the fact that unnecessary delay is costing the industry real money,” he said.

He recommended that the shipments containing PAP be sent to dedicated storage areas while awaiting test results.

The BAI was asked to comment but had not replied at the deadline.

“We’re hoping that the aquaculture industry and the government can collectively work together so that at the end of the day, we will be able to increase our production and ensure that in spite of the impending El Niño, then we will be able to address (any possible shortages) by producing more,” he said.

He said that the aquaculture industry has learned from previous El Niños and improved its husbandry practices.

“In anticipation of this, the aquaculture sector should really focus on seawater. That’s where we really should put much investment as the cage culture in seawater is most likely unaffected,” he said.

According to DA price monitoring on Friday, the prevailing price of milkfish in Metro Manila was between P150 and P240 per kilogram. Tilapia was sold for between P100 and P160 per kilo, while domestic round scad fetches between P180 and P280 per kilo.

PPA targets 90% budget utilization in 2023 after 83% rate in 2022

REUTERS

THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said it has set a target of 90% budget utilization in 2023 after it posted an 83% performance last year.

The regulator said in a statement that utilization has been growing since 2016. In 2015, the PPA posted a 52% budget utilization rate.

Since 2016, “the agency reported a more or less 12% increase every year,” with the 2022 performance its highest yet.

Its 2021 performance was 71%, while its 2020 utilization was 62%.

“For 2023, we are aiming to surpass our 83% to 90%. We want to show the public that we are serious in getting the job done and that we don’t waste PPA’s budget,” PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said.

For locally funded projects, PPA posted a 97% utilization rate across 62 projects, which include the construction of port operations areas and passenger terminal buildings, renovation of port buildings, and dredging of entrance channels.

In 2023, the PPA is expecting to roll out 13 infrastructure projects, which include the construction of port operations buildings, transit sheds and port operations areas, and pier extensions. — Justine Irish D. Tabile

ChatGPT: A versatile AI model

(First of two parts)

In November, ChatGPT 3.5 was released — and took the world by storm. ChatGPT touted its ability to create essays, write computer code, pass board exams, create business plans, and many other tasks such as, but not limited to, analyzing professional contracts and complex spreadsheets.

The ChatGPT 3.5 architecture follows ChatGPT 3, which was launched in 2020 and is now being used by many large organizations such as Microsoft Corp., Google LLC, and Amazon.com, Inc. for chatbots, virtual assistants and other AI-powered applications.

ChatGPT, or the Chat-Generative Pre-Trained Transformer algorithm, was developed by OpenAI. OpenAI is an artificial intelligence (AI) research laboratory based in the US established in late 2015. It aims to promote and develop friendly AI, running on the fifth most powerful supercomputer in the world.

Close to six months after the launch of ChatGPT 3.5, OpenAI also launched ChatGPT 4. It promises to be even more powerful and versatile than its predecessor, improving on the weaknesses and limitations of ChatGPT 3 (which uses a relatively small database to train on). ChatGPT 4 uses a much larger 50 terabytes of high-quality training data through a combination of automatic and manual curation methods. This allows ChatGPT 4 to deliver better conversational AI applications, understand context, and generate more natural-sounding text. It is powerful enough to detect and respond to changes in tone and sentiment, and unlike ChatGPT 3, can also make images.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND GPT
Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) is a type of large language model (LLM) neural network that can perform various and complex natural language processing tasks. It is a type of a deep learning algorithm that uses a transformer network (a sequence to sequence translator architecture used for language models and computer vision), specifically developed to train from large quantities of unlabeled text using unsupervised learning, analyzing patterns in the data set to generate human-like text in response to input.

LLMs need access to large datasets of text called training data. Such data come from a variety of sources including books, articles, websites, academic papers, social media posts, blogs, news articles, and other online and offline text sources — without any explicit supervision or guidance on what to learn, except to automatically discover patterns and relationships in the data and use them. ChatGPT uses this data to generate more natural-sounding text.

THE HUMAN ASPECT
While there are many positive opportunities presented by ChatGPT, ongoing debates in the tech community center on the threats posed by the larger AI. ChatGPT is indeed revolutionary, but it also gave us a taste of the real risks and dangers.

Some of these hot topics relating to the human aspect include social manipulation, job losses, social surveillance, gender and race biases, socio-economic inequality, weakening ethics and goodwill, financial crises, and a dangerous arms race of AI-powered weaponry.

RESPONSE BIASES
ChatGPT responses can be categorized into those that are mathematically or scientifically accurate, i.e., the answer to 1 + 1, or that water is liquid at room temperature. The other category consists of subjective responses, i.e., whether red is a better color than maroon, or whether certain politicians are performing better than their predecessors.

It is worth noting that there have been concerns about the potential biases in the training data sets used for language models like ChatGPT. Biases in the data can lead to biased outputs, which could have negative consequences in real-world applications. ChatGPT, just like humans, can still provide subjective, inaccurate, or wrong answers that are biased. When these biases cross ethical boundaries because of the quality and manual curation of the training data, this means that such biases can sometimes cause more societal harm than good.

BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
Rest assured, ChatGPT (and AI) will be here to stay, continuing to evolve and advance at lightspeed. It will continue to highlight that the world we live in will be significantly different as early as next year. Many businesses are scrambling to understand both the implications and opportunities provided by ChatGPT to their organizations.

ChatGPT as applied in business could, in a lot of ways, improve the bottom line, enhance efficiency, and transform customer experience while reducing costs. Some use case examples for ChatGPT are chatbots, content creation, code development, fraud and abnormality detection, language translation, voice assistants, and hyper-personalization for recommendation engines. There are also potentially vast opportunities, along with accompanying risks, in sectors such as education, creative services, professional services, content creation, and many others.

Many more technically adept companies are already finding amazing use cases of ChatGPT and AI that end up disrupting traditional businesses.

TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE THROUGH AI
There is no doubt that ChatGPT is still in its infancy stage, which simply means that there is much more to expect. Our lives will change, and the rapid rate of this change will be like no other compared to all human history. Just like electricity and water, ChatGPT is also expected to become a mainstream utility. It will be much faster, cheaper, more accurate, and eventually, some even say it will be sentient. It will become a necessary and unavoidable part of our daily lives.

According to a report from Opus Research, 35% of consumers would like to see more enterprises incorporate AI tools like chatbots, whereas 48% of them are indifferent as to whether an AI or a human were to assist them. While not the majority, a considerable percentage of people are seeing the benefits of AI. As this technology only continues to get better, many jobs and traditional businesses will need to transform or be at risk of being displaced. Industries and processes will be disrupted, and new opportunities and applications will surface. The only question will be: are we ready for it?

In the second part of this article, we discuss the practical ways ChatGPT can be used in business and the potential risks it presents.

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional advice where the facts and circumstances warrant. The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of SGV & Co.

 

Randall C. Antonio is a technology consulting partner of SGV & Co.

Philippine Congress to tackle priority bills as sessions resume

PHILIPPINE STAR/KRIZ JOHN ROSALES

By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz

THE PHILIPPINE House of Representatives seeks to approve at least six priority measures of the Marcos government that will create more jobs and stimulate the economy as Congress resumes sessions on Monday.

“President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. approved eleven bills designed to address key issues on public health, job creation and further stimulate economic growth as part of his administration’s priority legislation,” Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said in a statement on Sunday.

“These measures will be the focus of our legislative efforts when Congress resumes session this Monday,” he added.

The House has approved five of the 11 measures on final reading. The Senate has yet pass 10 of the bills.

Up for House approval is a bill on the government’s Build, Build, Build program, Mr. Romualdez, who is a cousin of the president, said Congress will also pass bills that seek to revitalize the salt industry, set up a database of the country’s natural resources, modernize the Immigration bureau, enforce a National Employment Action Plan, and strengthen state efforts against smuggling.

The House is waiting for Senate approval of four priority measures — the Maharlika Investment Fund bill, ease of paying taxes, automatic income classification for local governments and authorizing the president to suspend premium rate hikes by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri told DzBB radio the Senate seeks to approve changes to the Build-Operate-Transfer law, create a medical reserve corps, a Center for Disease Control and a Vaccine Institute.

He said they would also approve a measure seeking to tax internet transactions and the Maharlika bill.

Mr. Zubiri said the Senate would likewise prioritize his proposal for a P150 legislated wage increase, as well as the bill revitalizing the salt industry.

Lawmakers should explain to the people how these priority measures will improve their lives, Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, a lawyer and policy analyst, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

“It’s one thing to come up with a list of priority measures but it’s another thing to build a constituency behind these measures,” he said.

Mr. Romualdez said the House would pass eight remaining priority measures mentioned by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. In his state of the nation address in July.

“It will be on a best-effort basis,” he said in the statement. “We will try to pass the remaining eight bills from the original priority list. If we could do that, we would have approved all the urgent measures identified by President Marcos in less than a year.”

Among the eight is a bill creating a Water Resources department, another creating regional specialty hospitals, an enabling law for the natural gas industry and the proposed National Land Use Act.

Also to be passed is the proposed National Defense Act, changes to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Budget Modernization Act, and a bill that seeks to reform the pension system for the military and police.

The House will also pass its own priority bills, including the extension of estate tax amnesty and reforms in government procurement, the Speaker said.

The chamber will also create a Disaster Resilience department, a Fishery department, boost livestock development and competitiveness, and pass a wage assistance program for displaced and poor Filipinos.

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