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Broadcaster Mon Tulfo arrested in Manila for cyber-libel

PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

BROADCASTER and print columnist Ramon “Mon” T. Tulfo, Jr. was arrested on Wednesday over a cyber libel complaint, according to the Manila Police District.

A warrant for his arrest was issued by Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Maria Victoria A. Soriano-Villadolid for charges in violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

The police report noted that Lean Cruz, lawyer of the unnamed complainant, sought Mr. Tulfos arrest.

Mr. Tulfo is the brother of Senator-elect Rafael “Raffy” T. Tulfo and television personalities Erwin T. Tulfo and Bienvenido “Ben” T. Tulfo.

“The accused was duly informed of his Constitutional Rights under R.A. 7438 in a language known to and understood by his and the nature of the charged being imputed against him but opted to remain silent,” the Manila Police District said in its report.

“Likewise, accused is currently detained to this office, prior to the return of warrant to court of origin.” John Victor D. Ordoñez

Duterte condoles with UAE over President Khalifa’s death

PCOO

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Wednesday extended condolences to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the death of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who ruled the middle eastern country for almost two decades.

Mr. Duterte conveys the Filipino nations solidarity with the UAE in this period of great loss and bereavement,” his office said in a statement.

The Philippine leader recalled that Mr. Khalifa, 73, was a bold visionary whose leadership was crucial in the UAEs sustained economic transformation and deeper engagement with the international community, including the Philippines.

More than 679,000 Filipinos live in the UAE, according to Philippine government data.

Filipinos working in the UAE, a federation of seven emirates, sent home a record $31.4 billion cash remittances last year. The UAE was among the top ten countries that accounted for 78.9% of total remittances to the Philippines last year.

ETHIOPIA ALERT
In another development overseas, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has lowered the alert level in parts of Ethiopia, which means mandatory evacuation for Filipinos there will no longer be implemented

Regions that are now under Alert Level 2 from 4 are: Oromia, including the cities of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa; Somali; Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region; Gambella; Harari; and South West regions.

The DFA earlier raised the alert level in the African nation to level 4 due to intensifying internal conflict.

Alert Level 2 is issued when there are threats to the life, security, and property of Filipinos arising from an internal disturbance or external threat to the host country. Filipinos in such areas must restrict their movements, avoid public places, and prepare for evacuation if necessary.

Filipino workers allowed by the Department of Labor and Employment to fly to these regions are limited to those who are returning under existing contracts.

Alert Level 4 remained in effect in the Tigray, Afar, Amhara and Benishangul-Gumuz regions in northern Ethiopia. Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza and Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

2 senators deny June 3 release of detained Pharmally officials

SENATE.GOV.PH

TWO SENATORS on Wednesday said the release of two detained officials of a controversial company that allegedly sold overpriced medical supplies to the government will only be allowed by June 30.

This contradicts an earlier statement by the Senate leader who said the company executives will be released when Congress adjourns by June 4 as the last round of sessions are set May 23 to June 3.

The power to detain them for contempt expires when 18th Congress (permanently) adjourns on June 30, 2022,Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon told reporters in a Viber message on Wednesday.

Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III earlier confirmed that the release of the detainees is set on June 3.

No, that is not true,said Senator Richard J. Gordon, Sr., who chairs the blue ribbon committee, which issued the detention order against the two officials for failing to locate and submit documents regarding Pharmallys dealings with the budget departments procurement service.

They will be released at the end of the Congress,he said, referring to June 30.

In response, Mr. Sotto told reporters in a Viber message on Wednesday that based on his understanding, the Senate ends upon “‘adjournment sine dieas the title connotes.

The way it looks, the Senate committee no longer functions after June 3,he added, but if they want June 30, it’s up to them. Better ask the SC (Supreme Court) interpretation.

Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. Director Linconn Ong and Corporate Secretary Mohit Dargani have repeatedly pleaded for their release from the Pasay City jail since their imprisonment in November, even appealing for house arrest. Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

Pag-IBIG Fund finances 5,411 homes for low-wage earners in January-April 2022

Pag-IBIG Fund has financed 5,411 socialized homes for minimum-wage and low-income members in the first four months of 2022, its top executives said today.

Socialized home loans make up 18% of the 29,310 units financed by the agency from January to April 2022. In terms of amount, socialized home loans represent 7%, or P2.35 billion out of the record-high P31.97-billion home loans released by the agency for the period.

“Socialized housing is designed especially for minimum- and low-wage workers. With Pag-IBIG Fund’s Affordable Housing Program, we make sure that all our members, particularly those from the low-income sector, are given the opportunity to own a home. This is the essence of the BALAI (Building Adequate, Livable, Affordable and Inclusive) Filipino Communities Program of the government’s housing sector towards providing decent shelter for every Filipino family,” said Secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario, Chairperson of the 11-member Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees and Secretary of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).

The Pag-IBIG Fund’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP) is for members from the low-income and minimum-wage sectors who earn up to P15,000 a month in the National Capital Region (NCR), and up to P12,000 per month outside the NCR. Under the AHP, borrowers enjoy a subsidized rate of 3% per annum for home loans of up to P580,000 for socialized subdivision projects, and up to P750,000 socialized condominium projects.

Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said that the AHP’s 3% rate remains as the lowest in the market — a rate that the agency has provided for low-income members since May 2017, and is able to offer due to its tax-exempt status as prescribed under Republic Act No. 9679 or the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) Law of 2009.

“Because of our Charter, Pag-IBIG Fund is able to provide the lowest rates for the home loans of minimum and low-wage workers. We first offered our subsidized 3% rate in May 2017 to help more members realize their dreams of owning a home. And, until now, that special rate still stands. Aside from keeping our interest rates low, we also keep the insurance premiums at a minimum, so that our borrowers would only need to pay a low monthly amortization of P2,445.30 for a socialized home loan of up to P580,000. And what’s more, qualified borrowers will never have to put out cash for equity under our Affordable Housing Program. All of these are part of our efforts to provide the best home financing program for our members who earn minimum wage,” Mr. Moti said.

 


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Sri Lanka’s default hints at trouble ahead for other developing nations

Demonstrators gather during a protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Thursday, April 28, 2022. — BLOOMBERG

SRI LANKA’s impending default on $12.6 billion of overseas bonds is flashing a warning sign to investors in other developing nations that surging inflation is set to take a painful toll.

The South Asian nation is set to blow through the grace period on $78 million of payments Wednesday, marking its first sovereign debt default since it gained independence from Britain in 1948. Its bonds already trade deep in distressed territory, with holders bracing for losses approaching 60 cents on the dollar. The government said last month it would halt payments on foreign debt.

Sri Lanka’s situation is unique in the way all debt crises are — the particulars here involve an unpopular government run by an all-powerful family, the unresolved aftermath of a 30-year civil war and violent street protests. But the island’s saga is starting to be seen as a bellwether for emerging markets where shortages exacerbated by inflation, including record-high food costs globally, have the potential to roil national economies.

“The Sri Lanka default is an ominous sign for emerging markets,” said Guido Chamorro, the co-head of emerging-market hard-currency debt at Pictet Asset Management, which holds Sri Lankan bonds. “We expect the good times to stop. Slowing growth and more difficult funding conditions will increase default risk particularly for frontier countries.”

Sri Lanka, an $81-billion economy located off India’s southern coast, has been mired in turmoil for weeks amid annual inflation running at 30%, a plummeting currency and an economic crisis that has left the country short of the hard currency it needs to import food and fuel. Anger over the situation — brought about by years of excessive borrowing to fund bloated state companies and generous social benefits — has boiled over into violent protests.

Widespread arson and clashes were reported from several parts of the country while homes and properties of several government lawmakers were set on fire. At least nine people, including one member of parliament, were killed in the violence.

Sri Lanka is currently without a finance minister, which could complicate efforts to get through the crisis as the government struggles to restore security and get a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). At the same time, it needs to negotiate a restructuring with creditors including BlackRock, Inc. and Ashmore Group.

The nation’s dollar bonds are among the worst performers in the world this year, with only Ukraine, Belarus and El Salvador’s Bitcoin-busted notes faring worse. The government on April 18 failed to transfer about $78 million in coupons to holders of debt maturing in 2023 and 2028, leading S&P Global Ratings to declare a selective default. Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service have yet to declare official defaults, despite issuing their own warnings.

After the grace period on those payments ends Wednesday, negotiations with creditors can begin in earnest, a process that will be key to winning aid from the IMF. The country has previously said it needs between $3 billion and $4 billion this year to pull itself out of crisis.

The nation’s $1 billion dollar debt due this July was indicated 0.24 cents higher at 42.73 cents on Wednesday, near the record low of 42.5 cents reached last week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

But getting such a deal done quickly won’t be easy. While President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has already called on one of his political opponents to take over as prime minister after the resignation of his brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, instability lingers. Divides remain deep after a 30-year civil war that ended in 2009, and the central bank governor has threatened to quit if political stability doesn’t return soon.

“We are in a fluid situation that is very perilous for Sri Lanka,” said Matthew Vogel, London-based portfolio manager and head of sovereign research at FIM Partners.

RISK OF REPLICATION
As Sri Lanka struggles with the turmoil, its problems provide a warning for other emerging markets where heavy debt loads are converging with economic issues and social unease. The challenge is made more difficult as the Federal Reserve and other major central banks raise interest rates in a bid to quell inflation, leading to higher borrowing costs.

“They are now forced to face their debt burdens amid tightening financial conditions,” said Trang Nguyen, executive director of emerging markets strategy at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

At least 14 developing economies tracked in a Bloomberg gauge have debt yields at an excess of 1,000 basis points over US Treasuries, a threshold for bonds to be considered distressed.

The added pressures of rising food and energy prices has already started to bubble up in other countries, including Egypt, Tunisia and Peru. It risks turning into a broader debt debacle and yet another threat to the world economy’s fragile recovery from the pandemic. Pakistan, Ethiopia and Ghana are also in danger of following suit, Bloomberg Economics said last month.

“Sri Lanka could be the start of a trend across the frontier and emerging markets where governments experience debt crises — and possibly default on their obligations,” said Brendan McKenna, a strategist at Wells Fargo in New York who says Pakistan and Egypt look particularly vulnerable. “As rates move higher, a lot of the fundamentally weaker countries with dollar-denominated debt may struggle to repay bonds.” — Bloomberg

In Europe’s first, Spain aims to introduce paid menstrual leave

REUTERS
A WOMAN observes a period calendar tracker app on her mobile phone at her home in Madrid, Spain, May 16. — REUTERS

MADRID — Spain’s leftist coalition government on Tuesday approved a draft bill to reinforce abortion rights and make Spain the first country in Europe to offer state-funded paid leave for women who suffer from painful periods.

The minority Socialist-led government hopes to guarantee access to abortion across Spain and destigmatize menstrual health with the new bill.

“Today we send an international message of support to all women who are fighting for their sexual and reproductive rights,” Equality Minister Irene Montero told reporters.

“We must guarantee that it is the women who decide what happens to their own bodies.”

If passed, the new law will eliminate parental consent for women aged 16-17 who wish to terminate their pregnancy, and remove the mandatory three-day reflection period.

It also includes paid leave for pregnant women from week 39 and guarantees the distribution of free menstrual products in public institutions such as schools and health centers.

The draft law also states that surrogate pregnancy, which is illegal in Spain, is a form of violence against women.

PUBLIC HEARING
Spain’s abortion reform of 2010 allowed women to terminate unwanted pregnancies on demand within 14 weeks, or up to 22 weeks in cases of severe foetal abnormalities.

The draft bill has provoked a debate in Spain about whether the paid menstrual leave rule will help or hamper women in the workplace.

“It will only create more conflict when deciding on whether to hire a woman or not,” said 21-year-old student Pablo Beltran Martin.

But actress and singer Cristina Diaz, 28, said: “If a woman has a period that prevents her from working, I think it’s great that she can ask for a few days off like any person who has a health issue.”

The bill also addresses so-called conscientious objection, which allows doctors to refuse to carry out abortions — a subject of heated debate between rights groups and right-wing activists. State clinics must provide a willing specialist, it says.

The draft bill, which will go to a public hearing before another reading in the cabinet and a vote in the lower house of parliament, is still months away from being approved.

Marta Vigara Garcia, 37, said she was pleased the new abortion law would facilitate access.

When she decided to terminate her pregnancy in 2018 after doctors told her the baby had only a slim chance of surviving, she had difficulty getting doctors to perform an abortion.

“They told me that because the baby still had a heartbeat, they wouldn’t do the abortion,” she said. “I had to handle it myself and go to a private clinic.”

The Spanish government’s move comes as thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied across the United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court may soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide half a century ago. — Reuters

US accuses casino tycoon Wynn of acting as Chinese agent

Steve Wynn, former chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, US, May 3, 2017. — REUTERS

WASHINGTON — The US Justice Department on Tuesday sued Steve Wynn, the former CEO of Wynn Resorts, to compel him to register as an agent of China and accused him of lobbying then-President Donald Trump at Beijing’s behest in 2017.

Mr. Wynn’s lawyers denied the allegations, saying he had never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and “had no obligation to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act” (FARA).

From at least June through August 2017, Mr. Wynn contacted Mr. Trump and members of his administration to convey a Chinese request that Mr. Trump cancel the visa of a Chinese businessperson who had sought asylum in the United States, the department said.

The department’s civil suit alleges it had advised Mr. Wynn in 2018, 2021 and April 2022 to register as an agent of China under FARA but he declined to do so. Mr. Wynn stepped down as Wynn Resorts CEO in early 2018.

“Where a foreign government uses an American as its agent to influence policy decisions in the United States, FARA gives the American people a right to know,” said Matthew G. Olsen, assistant attorney general for the department’s national security division.

The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. It seeks a declaratory judgment that Mr. Wynn has an obligation to register under FARA.

Mr. Wynn’s lawyers, Reid Weingarten and Brian Heberlig, said they disagreed with the department’s legal interpretation of FARA and looked forward to proving their case in court.

In a statement, the Justice Department alleged that Mr. Wynn acted at Beijing’s request “out of a desire to protect his business interests in Macau,” where Wynn Resorts operates a luxury hotel and casino.

Mr. Wynn conveyed the requests to cancel the businessperson’s visa to the Trump administration on behalf of Sun Lijun, a former vice minister in China’s Ministry of Public Security, the statement said.

It did not name the Chinese businessperson in question, but said the individual left China in 2014 and was later charged with corruption by Beijing.

Mr. Wynn conveyed Beijing’s request to Trump over dinner and by phone, and had multiple discussions with senior White House and National Security Council officials about organizing a meeting with Sun and other Chinese officials, the department said. — Reuters

COVID-wracked N.Korea may greet Biden with a missile test

PHOTO FROM JOE BIDEN FACEBOOK PAGE

WASHINGTON/SEOUL — Despite battling a wave of suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, North Korea appears to be preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ahead of US President Joseph R. Biden’s first official trip to South Korea, a US official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the latest intelligence showed North Korea could carry out an ICBM test as soon as Thursday or Friday.

Mr. Biden is expected to arrive in South Korea on Friday and hold talks with his South Korean counterparts over several days before visiting Japan. The White House said last week Mr. Biden was considering a trip to the Demilitarized Zone on the border with North Korea.

A weapons test could overshadow Mr. Biden’s broader focus on China, trade, and other regional issues, and underscore the lack of progress in denuclearization talks despite his administration’s vow to break the stalemate with practical approaches.

It could also complicate international efforts to offer Pyongyang aid as it battles its first confirmed COVID outbreak.

The trip is Mr. Biden’s first to the region as president, and will be the first summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office on May 10.

Mr. Yoon has vowed to take a harder line against North Korean “provocations,” and is expected to seek greater assurances from Mr. Biden that the United States will strengthen its “extended deterrence” against the North.

When asked about the US assessment on a missile launch, a spokesperson for Seoul’s ministry of defense said that South Korean and US intelligence authorities are monitoring such activities and closely coordinating, and that its military is maintaining a firm readiness posture.

US officials have warned that the North could also test a nuclear weapon around the visit, and the State Department said on Tuesday there is no expectation that the COVID outbreak would delay a resumption of nuclear testing, paused since 2017.

“Even as (North Korea) continues to refuse the donation of … apparently much-needed COVID vaccines, they continue to invest untold sums in ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs that do nothing to alleviate the humanitarian plight of the North Korean people,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told a briefing.

A new report by the US-based Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS) said commercial satellite imagery shows work continuing at the nuclear site, whose underground testing tunnels were shuttered in 2018 after leader Kim Jong Un declared a moratorium on nuclear and ICBM tests.

He has since said that the country is no longer bound by that moratorium because of a lack of progress in talks with the United States. The North resumed testing ICBMs in March.

“Refurbishment work and preparations at Tunnel No. 3 has been proceeding over the past three months, and presumably will be nearing completion for the oft-speculated seventh nuclear test,” the CSIS report on the nuclear site said. “The timing of this test rests solely within the hands of Kim Jong Un.”

North Korea has also resumed construction at a long-dormant nuclear reactor that would increase its production of plutonium for nuclear weapons by a factor of 10, researchers at the US-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) reported last week, citing satellite imagery.

Analysts say that even if North Korea tests a weapon, South Korea and the United States should offer unconditional COVID aid.

North Korea sent aircraft to China to pick up medical supplies days after it confirmed its first COVID-19 outbreak, media reported on Tuesday, but Pyongyang has yet to respond to offers of aid from South Korea. Washington says that it supports providing assistance to North Korea, but that there were no current plans to provide vaccines. — Reuters

Making the case against bad profits via shrinkflation and the case for customer love

FREEPIK

IN MANY PARTS of the world, inflation is climbing quickly, including in the US, where I live and where inflation is now north of 8%. But even that official number seems to understate the issue. Everywhere is evidence of “shrinkflation,” the practice of getting less for the same price. Sit down at a restaurant and order using the QR code so the harried waiter can cover twice the number of tables. Buying a new car? Chip shortages and supply chain bottlenecks mean you had better be flexible on color. Even Amazon, a company with an avowed desire to always put the customer first and a pretty strong track record of doing so, decided that Prime subscriptions would no longer include free Whole Foods delivery. Prime members still pay $139 a year, but now they also have to pay $9.95 any time they want something from Whole Foods at their doorstep.

As the New York Times’s “The Upshot” explained in a column titled “There Is Shadow Inflation Taking Place All Around Us,” this type of inflation is simply not captured in typical government data.

In much of Asia, inflation seems to be under control, largely due to steadier food prices, according to a recent article in the Economist. But even here, shrinkflation is a real thing. In Singapore and Japan, standard sizes of common products like chocolate, soda, and chips are growing steadily smaller.

Businesses face large challenges right now, from labor shortages to supply chain disruptions, but giving customers less for their money is the opposite of customer love. Leaders can make the best of a tough situation by doubling down on innovation and transparency.

One of the chapters in the book I recently wrote with Fred Reichheld and Maureen Burns, Winning on Purpose, is called “Be Remarkable: Not Merely Satisfactory.” Examples include former Discover CEO David Nelms’s customer-centric decision to risk $200 million of the credit card issuers late-fee revenues by sending customers an e-mail alert the day before the fee would be levied. Or consider the opportunities that mobility, delivery, and financial app Grab’s created for drivers during the pandemic by granting them access to customers. Many small- and medium-size enterprises report that their sales would have declined at the height of the pandemic if not for food delivery platforms, which also ensure they get real-time customer feedback after each order.

Companies with a strong Net Promoter Score regularly achieve the remarkable, but it takes effort. They work in systematic and ever-changing ways. Virtual medical insurance company Bowtie, launched in 2019, has scored strong reviews from customers by focusing on simple, easily understood products and offering helpful, empathetic guidance. The company has a dedicated concierge team focused on the buying experience, not on sales, and, as a new entrant, has built trust by having a physical presence. On the second floor above its café, Bow Coffee, is an in-person customer service center.

We need some surprise to wow us and inspire us to talk about an experience with friends and colleagues. Innovators are finding new ways to create that kind of enthusiasm by engaging customers and giving them a sense of fun. Apps like Strava and Duolingo employ gamification to make exercise and language study competitive, challenging, and more enjoyable. Bowtie’s decision to use pink in its logo, and name itself after something you don for a special moment in your life, show a sense of fun but also that they offer something different from traditional competitors. We wanted to create a brand that could really touch people, while being playful and innovative,” says cofounder and co-CEO Fred Ngan.

Innovations like these are important, but so is transparency. If you have to raise prices, be clear about why. Take the time to walk customers through the math. If labor costs have doubled, let them know that. You may find customers appreciate that you are taking care of your employees. And for those who just can’t afford the higher price, tiered pricing can help. For a service provider like a gym or a cleaning service, that might mean adding a lower-priced plan for people who use the service less frequently.

No one wants to pay more, but inflation doesn’t have to make your company any less remarkable.

 

Darci Darnell is the global head of Bain & Company’s Customer practice and is the co-author, along with Fred Reichheld and Maureen Burns, of Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers.

Elon Musk is acting like Henry Ford. Uh-Oh.

DANIEL OBERHAUS-FLICKER

AS ELON MUSK tries to add the social media giant Twitter to his expanding empire, he’s seeming a bit busy. When he’s not starting and buying complex companies, he’s sounding off about free speech, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and, well, just about everything.

The electric-car magnate is developing an eerie resemblance to another automotive visionary: Henry Ford. That’s not meant as a compliment. If Musk keeps courting celebrity and pursuing side ventures, the risk is that Tesla, the company that made him a household name, will fall from its premier position just as Ford Motor Company did in the 1920s.

Henry Ford famously parlayed visionary ideas about assembly-line manufacturing into unimaginable wealth and global fame. His headline-grabbing initiatives — paying his workers the princely sum of $5 a day, for example — made him an American folk hero, someone whose quest for market share and profit nonetheless held out the promise of a better life for all.

This adulation drove a transformation in Ford’s personality. Like Musk, Ford was originally a shy, awkward man. But as his business ventures made him a celebrity in the years after 1910, he underwent a metamorphosis that foreshadowed Musk’s own transformation from tongue-tied savant to global guru.

Samuel Marquis, a friend of Ford’s, once recounted how the automaker “suddenly faced about, hired a publicity agent [and] jumped into the front page of every newspaper in the country.” Ford’s new philosophy, Marquis noted, boiled down to a belief that “it is a good thing to keep people talking about him, no matter what they say.”

There was plenty to say. In the 1920s, Ford’s ambitions attracted jaw-dropping awe. In a typical side project launched in 1921, Ford proposed to lease the government-owned Wilson Dam on the Tennessee River. A longstanding proponent of hydroelectric power, Ford hoped to turn a large swath of dirt-poor Alabama known as Muscle Shoals into a hydro-powered industrial metropolis the size of Detroit.

He proposed to underwrite the business with a new kind of techno-currency: the “energy dollar,” which would be backed by electricity generated by the river. By the time the plan fell apart, Ford was contemplating another modest project: a run for the US presidency.

His wife nixed that idea. But the “Sage of Dearborn,” as Ford became known, started plenty of other ventures. He moved into the manufacture of airplanes and launched the nation’s first commercial airline in 1925. He started educational initiatives, including the Henry Ford Trade School.

He also started a sprawling historical museum in his hometown of Dearborn, Michigan. By the time it finally opened in the Great Depression, Ford had sunk today’s equivalent of a billion dollars into what was little more than a warehouse bulging with things that reminded Ford of his childhood.

Other ventures weren’t so wholesome. He purchased a failing newspaper known as the Dearborn Independent, pumping money into it and turning it into a large-circulation national paper distributed through his dealerships. It featured columns that ghostwriters churned out under Ford’s name.

It also published a horrific series of anti-Semitic screeds later published as The International Jew. The addled conspiracy theories that appeared there attracted the admiration of Adolf Hitler.

Lost in all the celebrity and controversy was Ford’s iconic company. As he became increasingly distracted — and ever more convinced of his own infallibility — Ford drove away many of his most capable lieutenants and engineers, replacing them with sycophants. He even sidelined his own son, Edsel, who correctly anticipated many of the challenges facing the company.

Ford had become someone who “would rather be a maker of public opinion than the manufacturer of a million vehicles a year,” Marquis observed.

Ford’s dethroning began with the arrival of Alfred P. Sloan, an engineer trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who by 1923 had gradually assumed control of a motley assortment of car companies known as General Motors.

Sloan was ruthless and calculating, using financial statistics to cut costs and foster efficiency. The language he used to describe everything, one management theorist later observed, was as “cold as the steel he caused to be bent to form cars: economizing, utility, facts, objectivity, systems, rationality, maximizing — that is the stuff of his vocabulary.” He looked the part, too.

Sloan had no interest in being a public figure. He simply wished to usurp Ford. He began by bringing order to his own corporate empire, segmenting the market into different brands. Instead of Ford’s singular Model T, General Motors had a “car for every purse and purpose,” as one advertisement put it. Sloan gave the executives in charge of different divisions — Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and so forth — enough latitude to run their own ships, but otherwise centralized management.

The differences multiplied from there. In the 1920s, Ford pursued a strategy of vertical integration, buying mines and forests to give him a steady supply of raw materials. (Musk has embarked on similar ventures.) Sloan, by contrast, opted for a more flexible reliance on suppliers that freed up capital to pursue the investments behind the strategy of market segmentation and planned obsolescence.

While Ford spent a fortune building Fordlandia, a bizarre utopian city in the Brazilian rainforest designed to oversee rubber production in an area bigger than Connecticut, Sloan focused on building affordable and stylish cars. And while Ford kept expecting buyers to pay cash, Sloan pioneered consumer financing.

In 1929, General Motors became the world’s biggest car manufacturer. Though Henry Ford tried to stage a comeback with the Model A, it was too late: General Motors widened its lead during the Great Depression. Only when Ford’s grandson took over at the end of World War II and hired top managers did the company’s fortunes turn around.

In the case of Tesla, history is breathing down Musk’s neck. The automaker best positioned to overtake Tesla as the premier manufacturer of electric vehicles could be the Ford Motor Company, which is gearing up to beat Musk at his own game.

Today’s Ford executives don’t have tens of millions of Twitter followers. They’re not household names. They don’t have grand plans to transform the world or launch new ventures.

In other words, they’re not at all like Henry Ford. And that spells trouble for Ford’s modern-day incarnation, Elon Musk.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Promises to keep

FERDINAND “BONGBONG” MARCOS, JR. — PHILIPPINE STAR/KRIZ JOHN ROSALES
FERDINAND “BONGBONG” MARCOS, JR. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ KRIZ JOHN ROSALES

Almost two weeks after the May 9 general elections, people, as expected, continue to do some so-called Monday-night quarterbacking. The more informed and those who believe they have a higher stake in the outcome of the elections, are, of course, trying to get a better understanding of the results of the last electoral exercise. Some therefore have a more complicated narrative of the whys and wherefores of the result and have even more intricate views of the web-like political and economic environment. Others who are more concerned with the more urgent matter of bringing food to the table for their families view the elections as just another struggle among different factions of the so-called ruling elite.

This is the same group, said to be lower C, D, and E, and parenthetically, the “angry group” as some commentators call it, that does not, generally look at ideological issues. Rather, this strata of society is heavily influenced by its unmet needs over the years, its static position, lack of real prospects for upward social and economic mobility, and dissatisfaction, in general. It is the group that quietly watches, listens, absorbs, and eventually believes the media, especially in this day and age of technology, social media. They listen to the promises of a better life and eventually believe, and later expect, the promise maker to deliver.

A case in point, probably a representative of the struggling common Filipino, is our electrician. This electrician could not afford a formal education in electrical courses. He did not go to college to take up electrical engineering and was therefore not exposed to other courses that make up what could have been a liberal education.

Whatever knowledge and talent this electrician has came as a result of exposure to actual electrical works and the ability to put “two and two together” by himself.

Our electrician quietly soldiers on and experiences the daily drudgery of waking up at four in the morning (after sleeping at 10 the night before because he could not catch a ride back home early enough) while his wife prepares breakfast for him and his children try to make do with whatever gadgets they have for online learning. Our electrician and his family watch YouTube and other platforms to catch up on news and commentaries and for entertainment.

Our electrician says he watched a YouTube feature which essentially states that in his last will and testament, Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. promised to give P1 million to each Filipino. Our electrician says that Marcos Jr. will make good the promise of his late father. He looks forward to that day after July 1, 2022, when Marcos Jr. takes his oath of office as the 17th president of the Philippines. Our electrician who, as you can see, comes from the school of hard knocks, believes, after his own analysis, that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant is safe and should be activated. He says he listened to all the arguments on YouTube and found all the arguments in favor of the plant, technically sound. It was one of the great projects of Marcos Sr., he insists, and he has his electrical experience to back up his position.

Our hard-working electrician believes, like millions of Marcos Jr. supporters, that the big projects of Marcos Sr. will be replicated by Marcos Jr. He had watched over several years most of the YouTube, TikTok and other online presentations of the Marcos camp.

No doubt, such well-produced presentations which had crept online but were ignored and unchallenged by the opposition helped produce the Marcos Jr. votes. An added factor was the alleged inability of anti-Marcos Jr. groups to listen carefully to what some Marcos people and independent analysts insist the angry poor are saying against being left out of the mainstream of life. Ironically, this was the same sector — the people at the fringes or at the laylayan — that Vice-President Leni Robredo had been addressing long before she got into public service as a development lawyer defending farmers, battered women, and others who had no access to professional legal services. Perhaps, this fact was not communicated well enough, long enough, and was simply overwhelmed by the volume of Marcos material.

One also has to add the fact of the influence of the Duterte administration’s high approval ratings that rubbed off on Marcos Jr. simply because he had Mayor Sara Duterte as his running mate and even if there were online posts that had President Duterte very critical of Marcos Jr. These remarks, although critical of Marcos Jr., did not create traction and were probably dismissed by the voters as another instance of Duterte deliberately creating confusion and keeping people guessing. In short, they did not take him seriously, which is probably what he had really wanted.

At this point. It has become crystal clear, barring any miraculous development, Marcos Jr. is well on the way to assuming the presidency of the Philippines 36 years after the family was ousted from Malacañang. He has fulfilled the Marcos family’s, especially Imelda’s, obsession to go back to Malacañang. Because the family wanted, with dogged determination, to regain power, it is assumed that Marcos Jr. will soon unveil the long-delayed details of his Unity program. It is assumed he will have the political and moral will to confront the various conflicts-of-interest cases before him, such as the tax evasion case and other similar legal issues.

Internationally, Marcos Jr. has to figure out how to deal with the US where some legal challenges face him. President Joe Biden and the State Department, for their part have, in the meantime, figured out the most pragmatic route to take. Since the unofficial returns show a huge unassailable lead in favor of Marcos Jr., the White House congratulated him and expressed hopes to work with him. One could perhaps speculate that the US wanted to get ahead of China in expressing its readiness to work with the incoming Philippine administration. Word is in fact going around that if Chinese President Xi Jinping accepts the invitation of Marcos Jr. to attend the latter’s inaugural, Biden could accept a similar invite to the inaugural which was reportedly extended to the American President.

 

Philip Ella Juico’s areas of interest include the protection and promotion of democracy, free markets, sustainable development, social responsibility and sports as a tool for social development. He obtained his doctorate in business at De La Salle University. Dr. Juico served as secretary of Agrarian Reform during the Corazon C. Aquino administration.

Advice is not always solicited

MINDANDI-FREEPIK

A NEW MANAGEMENT is always presumed to need help to navigate unknown waters. There is the corporate culture to worry about (Sir, you must talk to the staff), unwritten protocols on seating arrangements, and even the appropriate type of reception for foreign investors.

Leaders, especially newly installed ones, are wary of being offered unsolicited advice from newly met strangers or self-proclaimed experts, even those that are referred by trusted aides. Pronouncements on being receptive to suggestions from all quarters need to be taken with a grain of salt. (My door is open to everyone.) Those taking this “open door” policy too literally are stopped by the secretary — Do you have an appointment?

A new leader tries to project an image of control.

The CEO does not want to look like a puppet whose strings are being pulled by self-proclaimed advisers, especially those who brag about the connection of their hand movements to the leader’s jiggling of shoulders and mouth. Always at a leader’s side, a pesky adviser can project his clout by often leaning to whisper — Sir, your fly is open.

Things that turn out well are claimed to have benefited from the adviser’s counsel. Disasters are explained as advice not heeded, being out of town when the decision was taken.

Leaders put bragging advisers off-balance by simply replacing them. (We have a new communications consultant on board.) Certain “whisperers” can be publicly ignored, just to make the point that they are not really part of the package. Too often, these false prophets claim to be behind any significant move by the leader, even if they only find out about this in the online news afterwards. (I told her to wear white for a change.)

It is important for an adviser to know his place. Here are some tips for the tippers.

When asked for an opinion, there is no need to give a quick reply. This can be viewed as not well thought out. Repeat the question, nod, and say something enigmatic — yes, migration patterns of swallows can be changed. If there is a group around the leader, the eager beaver is likely to jump in with a silly remark. With the debate raging, someone else is bound to give an idea worth stealing… or synthesizing.

In a one-on-one situation, idea poaching is not possible. Here, it is best to give anecdotes and try to see what idea strikes the leader as interesting and pick it up from there. There is seldom a need to give an immediate answer to a question posed, unless it is to ask for one’s e-mail address.

Do not limit yourself to one course of action like sacking somebody, even if it is a person at the top of your hate list. (Yes, ma’am, he is indeed a moron.) It is always good to present an analysis of the situation and the implications of certain options — Is he still part of our team?

What about a controversial suggestion your leader is going to be upset about, like casting suspicions on someone closely related to another adviser? It is best to test the waters by presenting the accusation as probably fake news, somebody else’s suggestion, or something that is ridiculously out of the question. Checking reactions to the offensive idea at least leads one to the right path, which is sometimes to change the topic.

Should one give unsolicited advice at all? No, but he can create the situation for it — I don’t really want to comment on those skipped interviews. This surfacing of a topic which is not on the radar can elicit a question — what are you talking about? This is the cue to bring in the touchy subject.

Never put advice on the record. E-mails and text messages are too easy to forward to the object of scorn — what do you say to this, Cassius? Also, e-mails can’t really be deleted. They reside in the cloud and can be fished out by cyber-detectives to nail you later.

Unsolicited advice can easily be confused as nagging and being a pain in the neck or somewhere farther south of the body. Of course, a cautious adviser may not even be heard… until it’s time for damage control.

 

Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com