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Rai may make landfall by Thursday

RAI was expected to enter the Philippines later on Tuesday as a severe tropical storm and would start moving westward over the Philippine Sea on Wednesday afternoon, according to the local weather bureau. 

The tropical cyclone, which would be named Odette locally, would probably make landfall near the Caraga or Eastern Visayas region by Thursday, it said in an 11 a.m. bulletin posted on its website on Tuesday. 

The tropical cyclone was forecast to reach typhoon category on Wednesday and a pre-landfall peak intensity of about 155 kilometers per hour might be reached by Thursday morning or afternoon, it added. 

“There is a high likelihood that tropical cyclone wind signals will be hoisted for the Visayas, large portions of Mindanao and several provinces in Southern Luzon due to the threat of strong to typhoon-force winds associated with the passage of Rai,” the agency said. 

Tropical cyclone warning signal No. 3 might be hoisted over parts of the Philippines, the weather agency said. 

The trough of Rai would bring light to moderate with at times heavy rains over Caraga and Davao Oriental, it said. It might also bring heavy to torrential rainfall over the Visayas, Mindanao and several provinces in Southern Luzon that could cause flooding and rain-induced landslides. 

“Coastal inundation due to high waves near the coast and storm surge are also possible for low-lying localities near and along the path of the typhoon,” the agency said. 

Residents in the northern and eastern portions of Northern Luzon and the eastern portion of Central Luzon should check updates on possible heavy rainfall. 

The Social Welfare department has readied stockpile and standby funds worth P951 million for communities expected to be hit by the storm, the presidential palace said. — Norman P. Aquino and KATA

Senate passes OFW department bill 

A FULLY vaccinated OFW gets his international certificate of vaccination or yellow card. The Senate on Tuesday approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to create a Department of Migrant Workers. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

THE SENATE on Tuesday approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to create a department for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). 

Twenty senators voted yes to Senate Bill 2234 creating the Department of Migrant Workers which President Rodrigo R. Duterte had certified as urgent. 

“This moment is for every Filipino abroad who has sacrificed so much for their family and our beloved country,” Senator Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva, who sponsored the measure, said during the plenary session. 

This is a chance “to change for the better the way our OFWs, our modern-day heroes, are recruited, repatriated and reintegrated.” 

“We did conduct a very extensive research on this because we wanted to make sure that the purpose of the law of providing better service to our overseas Filipino workers would indeed be achieved by this piece of legislation,” Senator Franklin M. Drilon said during the session. 

Under the measure, the agency will absorb the functions of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and will be tasked to protect the rights of migrant workers. 

The department will create and enforce policies while regulating overseas employment and the reintegration of Filipino workers. 

Mr. Drilon noted his amendment to rename the agency to the Department of Migrant Workers rather than the Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos to limit its jurisdiction to overseas employment and labor migration. 

This will also allow a separation of authority between the department and the Foreign Affairs department, he added. 

Senator Ana Theresia “Risa” N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said the measure recognizes the rights of overseas Filipino workers regardless of status. 

Under the bill, aid that migrant workers get from the government including retirement, death and disability benefits would not be cut, she said in a statement. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan 

Australia pledges 3.6M vaccine doses 

REUTERS

AUSTRALIA has pledged to 3.6 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for the Philippines, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Tuesday. 

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” L. Locsin, Jr. met with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne on Saturday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations G7 meetings in Liverpool, where both agreed to work closely on vaccines and COVID-19 response, it said in a statement. 

Both also reaffirmed their commitment to enhance defense cooperation including partnerships that will boost the Philippines’ defense modernization program. 

“As our 75th anniversary year draws to a close, I take satisfaction in the breadth and scope of our engagement this year from our political, trade, defense, and counterterrorism mechanisms to our successful joint ministerial meeting,” Mr. Locsin said in the statement. 

The officials also discussed regional security issues including the Australia-United Kingdom-US Enhanced Trilateral Security Partnership and recent developments in the South China Sea, DFA said. 

Mr. Locsin thanked Australia for supporting the 2016 arbitral award by a United Nations-backed tribunal favoring the Philippines in its sea dispute with China. 

The South China Sea, a key shipping route, is subject to overlapping territorial disputes involving China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan 

House OK’s bill on senior discounts 

PHILIPPINE STAR/MIGUEL DE GUZMAN

THE HOUSE of Representatives has approved on second reading a bill that seeks to exempt senior citizens from the value-added tax and increase their discounts on monthly electricity and water bills. 

House Bill 10568 or the proposed Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act of 2010 limits the utility discount to a monthly consumption that does not exceed 150 kilowatt-hours and 30 cubic meters of water. 

It will be applied per household regardless of the number of senior residents. A Senate counterpart bill is pending at the committee level. 

Meanwhile, the House also approved on a second reading a bill that seeks to protect human rights defenders from harassment and intimidation. 

House Bill 10576 or the proposed Human Rights Defenders Protection Act will mandate the state to respect their right to form groups and will bar it from freezing or seizing their bank accounts. 

The government must also avoid using derogatory labels or tagging human rights defenders as “red,” “communists,” “terrorists” or “enemies of the state.” 

The bill seeks to form a Human Rights Defenders Committee whose chairman and members will be chosen by the Commission on Human Rights along with representatives from the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, Karapatan, Free Legal Assistance Group and the National Union of People’s Lawyers. 

A counterpart bill is pending at the committee level in the Senate. 

In a related development, Party-list Rep. Eric G. Yap has filed a bill that mandates free professional exams for poor Filipinos to level the playing field. 

“Since the sole purpose of licensure examination is to identify those eligible with enough knowledge and experience necessary to perform the tasks on the job safely and competently, financial capacity or lack thereof must not serve as a barrier for graduates to take the exam,” he said in the bill’s explanatory note. 

Under the measure, qualified indigent Filipinos must be certified by the Social Welfare department to be eligible to free exam fees. Beneficiaries may only avail themselves of the benefit once a year. — Russell Louis C. Ku 

Party-lists join raffle for ballot order 

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

THE COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said it would need at least two more weeks to finalize the order of party-list groups on ballots. 

“The list of official candidates will not be released tomorrow as there are still a number of unresolved nuisance cases,” Comelec spokesman James B. Jimenez told reporters in a Viber group message on Tuesday. 

More than 160 party-list groups vying for 63 congressional seats next year joined a virtual raffle on Tuesday to set the order of their names on ballots. 

Party-list groups want their names first on the ballot so they easily get picked by voters. 

The party-list system was created under the 1987 Constitution so marginalized sectors including labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous, cultural, women and youth can be represented at the House of Representatives. — Jaspearl Emerald G. Tan 

Human-centered approach to work

PCH.VECTOR-FREEPIK

(Part 5)

In a sequel to his article on “The Great Resignation,” Hays CEO Alistair Cox wrote that it is no surprise that the pandemic has made so many people question what is important to them. They have started to more deeply examine their values and what they want out of life. The pandemic has altered all our lives and thinking deeply about what we want from life is a natural reaction to this. For those who see in human work a means of being God’s co-creator, this soul searching can be a healthy discipline.

One person who thought very deeply about the ultimate purpose of human work was St. John Paul II who summarized his reflections on this very important topic in his encyclical Laborem Exercens (On Human Work). It would be useful here to summarize the content of this epoch-making encyclical. He started with the basic premise taken out of the Old Testament: “Man is the image of God partly through the mandate received from the Creator to subdue, to dominate, the earth. In carrying out this mandate, man, every human being, reflects the very action of the Creator of the universe.”

St. John Paul II then makes a distinction between work in the objective sense (technology) and work in the subjective sense, i.e., man as the subject of work. In the objective sense, technology is the ally of work that human thought and creativity have produced. Technology undoubtedly facilitates work, perfects, accelerates, and augments it. It leads to an increase in the quantity of things produced by work, and in many cases improves their quality. It is also a fact, however, that in some instances, technology can cease to be man’s ally and become almost its enemy. This happens when the mechanization of work supplants him, taking away his personal satisfaction and the incentive to creativity and responsibility, when it deprives many workers of their jobs, or when, through exalting the machine, it reduces man to the status of a slave.

More important, however, to the human being who is asking himself why he is working is work in the subjective sense. Man has to subdue the earth and dominate it because as the “image of God,” he is a person, a subjective being capable of acting in a planned and rational way, capable of deciding about himself, and with a tendency to self-realization. As a person, man is therefore the subject of work. Understood as a process whereby man and the human race subdue the earth, work corresponds to the basic biblical concept when throughout the process of working, man manifests himself and confirms himself as the one who “dominates” and not the one dominated.

To those who believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, it is very meaningful that Christ, while being God, became like us in all things, devoting most of the years of his life on Earth (all of 30 years) to manual work at the carpenter’s bench. This historical fact constitutes in itself the most eloquent “Gospel of Work,” showing that the basis for determining the value of human work is not primarily the kind of work being done but the fact that the one who is doing it is a person. The sources of the dignity of work are to be sought primarily in the subjective dimension, not in the objective one. In the final analysis, it is always man who is the purpose of the work, whatever work it is that is done by man — even if the common scale of values rates it as the merest “service,” as the most monotonous, even the most alienating work.

The Great Resignation movement can lead to a “Great Awakening” by many workers that their respective employers, under the banner of a market economy associated with capitalism, have reversed the order laid down from the beginning by the words of the Book of Genesis: man is treated as an instrument of production, whereas he — he alone independently of the type of work he does — ought to be treated as the effective subject of work and its true maker and creator. Many workers may still be victims of the error of early capitalism which treated man on the same level as the whole complex of the material means of production, as an instrument and not in accordance with the true dignity of his work — that is to say, where he is not treated as subject and maker, and for this very reason as the true purpose of the whole of production. This realization on the part of workers will understandably lead to a mass resignation of workers who may find in the gig economy of free lancers a more humane environment in which the human person is indeed the ultimate subject of work and not just another factor of production, no matter how well remunerated.

An example of a possible reform that present employers may consider to retain their valued employees is proposed by Cox in his article, “The Great Resignation: Opportunity or Threat?” The workers will not feel that he is being treated just as another cog in the wheel, a mere factor of production, if the employer focuses his stance from employee experience to “employee life experience.” The employee will surely feel that he is at center stage if he is being supported by his employer inside and outside of work. Employers have to recognize the indubitable truth that their employees are human beings with families and communities to support, challenges to deal with and that, for them, their work helps them fulfil their obligations in all areas of their lives. Mr. Cox gives examples like opening learning and development opportunities to family members, providing more tailored benefits to parents and care givers, as well as marriage counselling, additional days of wellbeing support, offering midlife check-ups for employee health, wealth, and career, and long-term financial planning support. In all these examples, the employer is seeing the employee not just as a 9-to-5 worker, but as someone he cares for in all aspects of life, presumably with the view that someone who gets more from their employer than just a pay slip will put more back in, and stick around longer too.

Another way of showing to the employee that his employer looks at him as a complete human being with different aspirations in life is to help the employees fulfill themselves as potential entrepreneurs. According to the National Bureau of Economic Statistics, the pace of new business applications since mid-2020s has been the highest on record. Ernst and Young found that 65% of Generation Z (the centennials) see themselves owning their businesses in the next 10 years. These findings, together with the fact the pandemic saw a rise in all types of home-based sidelines (called side hustles in the US) help make the case that employers should be aware of the rise of freelancers. Even while still working for their present employers, these employees can already start as “ïntrapreneurs.” Some of them can become independent contractors rather than permanent employees. It might be beneficial to their employers that their vision and ambition are actually brought into their businesses first, even if only on a part-time basis. If these “intrapreneurs” learn new skills by doing their own thing on the side and become more talented individuals as a result, it might be a good idea that their present employers get a piece of their newly acquired skills, even if just for a while. These indeed are very creative ways of taking advantage of a possible “Great Resignation” that could take place when the pandemic is put under reasonable control.

Also very useful, according to Mr. Cox, are one-on-one conversations with employees about their well-being and about how their jobs can be re-crafted to support their pursuit of happiness and purpose, and, why not, their efforts to sanctify themselves in their work. During these sessions, managers and employees must have an authentic dialogue so that they can build common ground that will allow employees to flourish, thereby helping the firm rebound strongly in the post-pandemic economy. It would also be advisable to conduct regular “stay interviews” with the employees to help understand why your people stay with you, and why they might consider leaving.

Finally, it is also important to gather, listen to, and implement exit interview feedback which may open the employer’s eyes to needed reforms of practices that prompted the employees to leave.

(To be continued.)

 

Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

bernardo.villegas@uap.asia

A grand strategy for the next president: A case for limited balancing toward China

PEXELS-KULBIR

The Ayungin Shoal incident last month, and the breakdown in the Philippine-China rapprochement marked by President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s open criticism of the China Coast Guard’s (CCG) harassment of the Philippine Navy’s (PN) supply boats near the BRP Sierra Madre during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China summit in late November in general, is instructive of the need to formulate a Philippine grand strategy. A grand strategy consists of a set of ideas for using a nation’s resources to achieve its interests over the long run. The term “grand” signifies the large-scale nature of the strategic undertaking in terms of time (long-term, ideally measured in decades), stakes (the interests concerned are the large, important, and most enduring and vital ones), and comprehensiveness (a strategy that provides a blueprint or guiding logic for nation’s policies across many areas). It is often defined in terms of national security, power, and wealth, but the ends point to valued public goods such as national honor, stability, territorial integrity, and freedom from fear and coercion.

A president chooses or designs a grand strategy on deep-seated beliefs on how the country should deal with the international challenges or opportunities it faces at a given point in history. National leaders should view grand strategy as a means to maintain and or strengthen their hold on executive power. The National Security Strategy, or NSS, contains a country’s grand strategy. It represents a state’s plan for the coordinated use of all the instruments of national power — from diplomacy to the military capability — to pursue the objectives that defend and advance the national interests.

ADDRESSING THE CHINESE MARITIME EXPANSION
The major security conundrum that has confronted the Philippines since the second decade of the 21st century is China’s expansion into the West Philippine Sea, which jurisdictionally comprises the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. In March 2010, China declared the South China Sea as one of its “core interests,” indicating its determination to assert its rights over the disputed waters. Top-level Chinese officials have abandoned their moderate public posture on the maritime dispute, and have become increasingly forceful and nationalistic. They have constantly harped on China’s emergent status, the decline of the US, and their unwavering claim of sovereignty over the East China and South China Seas. They picture their country as a reactive and defensive victim of increasing maritime encroachments by two smaller Southeast Asian powers— Vietnam and the Philippines — and the unwarranted meddling of the US. By 2011, China’s militant nationalism, growing naval prowess, and unilateral actions were overtly directed against a militarily-weak Southeast Asian country — the Philippines.

Since 2011, the Philippines has adopted three types of strategy— balancing, appeasement, and limited hard balancing — against China’s maritime expansion in the West Philippine Sea. The late President Benigno Aquino III challenged China’s expansive maritime claim in the South China Sea. He applied a balancing strategy towards China by shifting the Philippine Armed Forces’ (AFP) focus from domestic security to territorial defense, bolstering closer Philippine-US security relations; acquiring American military equipment; seeking from Washington an explicit security guarantee under the 1951 MDT; and promoting a strategic partnership with Japan.

Mr. Duterte, however, unraveled the late President Aquino’s agenda of balancing China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea. He distanced his country from its long-standing treaty ally and gravitated toward China which is determined to reconfigure the global commons in the East Asia. He thought that an appeasement policy on China was worth pursuing because it would make the country a beneficiary of the latter’s emergence as a global economic power.

FROM APPEASEMENT TO LIMITED HARD BALANCING
The Duterte Administration, however, was confronted by China’s failure to deliver the promised loans and direct investments to finance the Philippine government’s Build, Build, Build program. While the AFP observed increasing Chinese naval presence and assertiveness near the artificial islands, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) persistently constructed more structures in the South China Sea. This forced this administration to reluctantly embrace a policy of limited hard balancing. This policy requires accepting that China is a major economic and military power in the region and that the Philippines must maintain healthy economic and diplomatic relations with this emergent power; but the Philippines must also seek to mitigate any adverse externalities of this geopolitical reality, i.e., assertiveness, coercive behavior, and territorial expansion, by developing credible military capabilities and harnessing countervailing coalitions of other major powers designed to thwart or impede specific Chinese policies.

This policy was a result of the defense, military, and foreign affairs establishments questioning Mr. Duterte’s appeasement policy. It was also a result of this administration’s belated realization that it needs an impromptu strategy aimed at constraining China’s revisionist agenda in the South China Sea. This, in turn, is generating an impasse within the Duterte Administration as it is caught in a bind on whether it will continue its appeasement policy or adopt a policy of limited balancing against China’s maritime expansionist claim of the West Philippine Sea in the last few months of its six-year term.

A major challenge for the 17th Philippine president is to transform the current administration’s unplanned and makeshift strategy of limited hard balancing into a well-thought, and comprehensive grand strategy, through a formal NSS, that will guide the Philippines in addressing China’s expansion into the country’s maritime domain in the next six years.

 

Dr. Renato De Castro is a trustee and convenor of the National Security and East Asian Affairs Program, Stratbase ADR Institute.

A prudent buyer’s guide to acquiring real property

FREEPIK

The pandemic has greatly taught the practicality of investing in properties that appreciate in value over time, i.e., real properties. To forestall, or at the very least mitigate, possible disputes which may ensue, below are some of the tips which a prospective buyer may have to consider before and after acquiring a real property.

CHECK THE PROPERTY’S CERTIFICATE OF TITLE.
It is prudent for a buyer to check the authenticity and existence of the certificate of title (CoT) with the Registry of Deeds (RoD) where the property is situated. In which case, the buyer will be informed if the property is subject to any encumbrances as can be gleaned from the annotations in the CoT, e.g., real estate mortgage or notice of lis pendens.

A buyer should be cautious if the property is subject to a registered real estate mortgage. This is because a mortgage is a real right, which follows the property, even after subsequent transfers by the mortgagor. The mortgage having been registered, the purchaser or transferee is necessarily bound to acknowledge and respect the encumbrance. Consequently, the mortgage on the property may still be foreclosed despite the transfer. (Garcia v. Villar, G.R. No. 158891, 27 June 2012)

A buyer may also encounter a notice of lis pendens annotation in the CoT. Lis pendens is a Latin term which literally means a pending suit. Notice of lis pendens is filed for the purpose of warning all persons that the title to certain property is in litigation and that if they purchase the same, they are in danger of being bound by an adverse judgment. The notice is intended to be a warning to the whole world that one who buys the property does so at his own risk. This is necessary in order to save innocent third persons from any involvement in any future litigation concerning the property. (Lim v. Vera Cruz, G.R. No. 143646, 4 April 2001)

DETERMINE THE SELLER’S AUTHORITY TO DISPOSE.
Evaluating the CoT will enable the buyer to confirm if the seller is the registered owner of the property. If the seller is a person other than the registered owner, he or she must be able to show that he or she is duly authorized to convey the said property. This is because “a person can sell only what he owns or is authorized to sell; the buyer can as a consequence acquire no more than what the seller can legally transfer” pursuant to the principle that no one can give what he does not have. (Nool v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 116635, 24 July 1997)

Consequently, the buyer can demand that the seller, other than the registered owner, present his authority which may be embodied in a special power of attorney.

Further, even if the seller is the registered owner of the property, marital consent is also necessary if he/she is married. Articles 96 and 124 of the Family Code both require the consent of the other spouse or, in the absence thereof, a court authority, to validly encumber or dispose of a property belonging to the spouses’ absolute community property or conjugal partnership. Absence of marital consent renders the sale void.

CONDUCT AN OCULAR INSPECTION OF THE PROPERTY.
The conduct of an ocular inspection is essential to safeguard the buyer. Although a buyer need not go beyond the CoT of the property, it is also a hornbook principle in law that where there are circumstances which would put a party on guard and prompt him/her to investigate or inspect the subject property, such as the presence of occupants or tenants thereon, the buyer is expected to inquire first into the status or nature of possession of the occupants, i.e., whether or not the occupants possess the land in the concept of an owner. (Philippine National Bank v. Heirs of Militar, G.R. No. 164801, 30 June 2006) Consequently, the buyer is fully apprised if the property may be the subject of a possible dispute in the future.

IMMEDIATELY REGISTER THE SALE OF THE PROPERTY.
After exercising the precautionary measures above and once the parties execute a Deed of Absolute Sale conveying the property to the buyer, the buyer must immediately record it with the RoD. This is to safeguard the buyer in case the same property is sold to other persons, i.e., double sale. The principle of first in time, stronger in right gains greater significance in case of a double sale of immovable property. When the thing sold twice is an immovable, the one who acquires it and first records it in the Registry of Property, both made in good faith, shall be deemed the owner. (Rosaroso v. Soria, G.R. No. 194846, 19 June 2013) n

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. This article is for general informational and educational purposes only and not offered as and does not constitute legal advice or legal opinion.

 

Zyra G. Montefolca is an associate of the Davao Branch of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW).

zgmontefolca@accralaw.com

Blinken touts deeper US engagement amid concern over ‘aggressive’ China

REUTERS
The flags of the United States and China fly from a lamppost in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., Nov. 1, 2021. — REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER/FILE PHOTO

JAKARTA — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday touted a US strategy to deepen its Asian treaty alliances, offering to boost defense and intelligence work with partners in an Indo-Pacific region increasingly concerned over China’s “aggressive actions.”

During a visit to Indonesia, Mr. Blinken described the Indo-Pacific as the world’s most dynamic region and said everyone had a stake in ensuring a status quo that was without coercion and intimidation, in a barely veiled reference to China.

He said United States, its allies and some South China Sea claimants would push back against any unlawful action.

“We’ll work with our allies and partners to defend the rules-based order that we’ve built together over decades to ensure the region remains open and accessible,” he said in a speech at a university.

“Let me be clear: the goal of defending the rules-based order is not to keep any country down. Rather, it’s to protect the right of all countries to choose their own path, free from coercion and intimidation.”

China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite some overlapping claims with other coastal states and an international tribunal that ruled that China’s vast claim has no legal basis.

Beijing has rejected the US stance as interference from an outside power that could threaten Asia’s stability. China’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment on Mr. Blinken’s remarks.

Mr. Blinken is making his first visit to Southeast Asia since President Joseph R. Biden took office in January, a trip aimed at shoring up relations after a period of uncertainty about US commitment to Asia under the administration of Donald Trump.

‘A BETTER KIND OF INFRASTRUCTURE’
Despite tensions in the South China Sea, Beijing’s influence has grown in recent years as it pushes more infrastructure investment and integrated trade ties in the Asia-Pacific, in the perceived absence of a US economic strategy for the region.

Mr. Blinken said the United States would strengthen ties with treaty allies like Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines and boost defense and intelligence capabilities with Indo-Pacific partners, as well as defending an open and secure internet.

He stressed, however, that it was not a contest between a US-centric or China-centric region.

He also said Washington was committed to pressing the military junta in Myanmar to end violence, free detainees and return to an inclusive democracy.

The United States was also committed to a new comprehensive regional economic framework, which would include more US foreign direct investment and US companies identifying new opportunities in the region, he said, without providing details.

The administration has yet to spell out what exactly Mr. Biden’s envisaged economic framework will entail. The Trump administration walked away from a US-inspired multinational Pacific trade deal, in 2017.

Mr. Blinken, who will also visit Malaysia and Thailand this week, said the United States would work to strengthen supply chains and close the region’s infrastructure gaps, from ports and roads to power grids and the internet.

In another swipe at China, he said the United States was hearing increasing concerns in the Indo-Pacific about opaque, corrupt processes of foreign companies that imported their own labor, drained natural resources and polluted the environment.

“Countries in the Indo-Pacific want a better kind of infrastructure,” he said.

“But many feel it’s too expensive — or they feel pressured to take bad deals on terms set by others, rather than no deals at all.” — Reuters

Global oil production could plunge by 30% at end of decade, says Saudi Arabian official

REUTERS

SAUDI ARABIA said global oil production could drop 30% by the end of the decade due to falling investment in fossil fuels.

“We’re heading toward a phase that could be dangerous if there’s not enough spending on energy,” Oil Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said in Riyadh. The result could be an “energy crisis,” he said.

The minister said daily oil output may fall by 30 million barrels by 2030. He urged energy companies and investors to ignore “scary messages” about oil and gas.

Prince Abdulaziz’s comments came shortly after the Saudi finance minister made a similar warning.

Their views differ from what most climate activists say is necessary to slow the warming of the planet. The International Energy Agency, which advises rich countries, has called for the cessation of new investment in fossil fuels if the world is to neutralize carbon emissions by 2050.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is among the few countries still spending billions of dollars to raise production. It’s trying to increase its capacity to 13 million barrels a day from 12 million by 2027.

Global expenditure on oil and gas projects slumped 30% to $309 billion in 2020 and had only recovered slightly this year, according to Riyadh-based think tank the International Energy Forum. — Bloomberg

Operations in China hub halted amid outbreak

REUTERS

SHANGHAI — Several companies in one of China’s biggest manufacturing hubs have suspended operations as local authorities try to contain a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, halting production of goods from batteries to textile dyes and plastics.

The coronavirus outbreak has disrupted activities in parts of Zhejiang, an eastern province with a large industrial sector, where many goods are manufactured for export.

At least 20 listed companies have shut down operations in Zhejiang, as tens of thousands of citizens were placed in quarantine, some domestic flights were suspended, and several sporting events canceled.

The outbreak in three Zhejiang cities — Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou — was developing at a “relatively rapid” speed, health authorities said over the weekend.

The province reported 44 locally transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms on Dec. 13, official data showed on Tuesday, taking the total to 217 just over a week since the first case was reported on Dec. 6. Prior to the current outbreak, the province had reported just one local case this year.

Companies reporting suspended production on Tuesday included Zhejiang Mustang Battery Co Ltd., Guobang Pharma Ltd., and textile dyes maker Zhejiang Runtu Co Ltd.

Ningo-based Mustang Battery said it expected the outbreak to be brought under control very soon, and the production suspension was a temporary measure that “will not have a long-term negative impact on the company’s growth.”

Zhejiang Runtu said all its units in the Zhejiang Shangyu Economic Development Zone, which accounts for 95% of its revenue, had been halted since Dec. 9 and it expected a negative impact on its fourth quarter results.

They joined Ningbo Homelink Eco-Itech Co Ltd., Zhejiang Zhongxin Fluoride Materials Co Ltd., Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical Co Ltd., and Zhejiang Fenglong Electric Co Ltd.

The companies said they halted operations after local governments in one district in Ningbo and another in Shaoxing curtailed all production bar essential manufacturing. The orders cover all companies in the affected areas, but only listed firms are required to disclose any impact on their business.

More than 50,000 people have been quarantined at centralized facilities across the coastal province of 64.4 million, while a further nearly half a million people were being monitored. — Reuters

PSG gets Real Madrid, Man Utd vs Atletico in revised Champions League last-16 draw

PARIS Saint-Germain (PSG) will face Real Madrid in a titanic clash in the last 16 of the Champions League while Manchester United takes on Atletico Madrid after the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) declared the original draw void due to a technical error in the process on Monday.

Earlier, United was mistakenly drawn with Villarreal, even though both teams had already faced each other in the group stage while the Premier League side’s ball was not added to the bowl as a potential opponent for Atletico Madrid.

United was eventually drawn with PSG, Real drew Benfica, while Atletico drew Bayern Munich before the draw was scrapped after the Spanish side complained and UEFA admitted the error caused by a “technical problem with the software.”

“It was surprising, unfortunate and very difficult to understand what happened… Millions of people were waiting for the draw,” Real Madrid director Emilio Butragueno told the club’s television channel.

“Having said that, we go into this tie with a lot of excitement… We’re also aware of the difficulties, with the quality of players (PSG) has. We believe the team will play two great games, they’ll be fantastic for football.”

PSG’s initial draw with United was a much anticipated battle between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi — the competition’s two top goal scorers and winners of 12 of the last 13 Ballon d’Or awards, with Messi leading 7-5 after victory in 2021.

Instead, Messi will now face a familiar opponent in Real Madrid, against whom he has scored 26 times in all competitions when he was at Barcelona. Real Madrid had also attempted to prise French forward Kylian Mbappé from PSG in the close season, but ultimately failed after the Ligue 1 side rejected their bids.

United’s Ronaldo, meanwhile, will relish a tie against Spanish champion Atletico having scored 25 goals against them for Real and Juventus.

‘THEY HAD TO DO IT AGAIN’
Liverpool takes on Inter Milan with another trip to the San Siro after Jürgen Klopp’s side beat AC Milan twice in the group stage.

“I had to wait 54 years to play at the San Siro for the first time… and now it’ll be twice in three months, so that’s good news,” Klopp told the Liverpool website. — Reuters

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