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Lakers’ James

Despite having just played 36 minutes, the bounce was still evident in LeBron James’ voice in the aftermath of the Lakers’ emphatic win against the Celtics the other day. No doubt, the fact that they had four days of rest prior to hosting their longtime rivals helped; he scored 16 points in the first quarter alone, and he stayed active and efficient the rest of the way en route to putting up 30 (on 19 shots), four, and five. As he told scribes in his post-mortem, “I’m as young as I’ve ever been.”

Hmm. Perhaps not. There can be no denying the mileage James has accumulated through 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association; beyond turning 37 by the end of the month, his odometer — close to 62,000 minutes — makes him old for his age. Moreover, the numbers don’t lie; advanced statistics have his player efficiency rating declining for the fourth consecutive year. Heck, he’s not even at the top of the Lakers’ list in the category; the distinction now belongs to fellow All-Star Anthony Davis.

And then there are the injuries James has sustained with increasing frequency of late. It’s no coincidence that, after playing all 82 regular-season matches for the Cavaliers in the 2017-18 season, he wound up missing a whopping 58 in the next three years. For the current campaign, he has been compelled to sit out 12 of the Lakers’ 25 set-tos. To argue that his iron-man reputation has taken a hit in recent memory would be to understate the obvious.

Still, James is James, which is why he continues to be the Lakers’ most vital cog. Precisely because he doesn’t seem to have a lot of time anymore, he aims to make the most of his chances. So far, the outlook hasn’t been great; the purple and gold are wallowing in mediocrity and evidently still searching for identity, their victory over their fellow pioneers notwithstanding. If his immediate past pronouncements are to be a gauge, however, better things are in store. He’s not the best problem solver in the league for nothing, and, if nothing else, he’ll be sure to take the opportunity to prove that things are, indeed, looking up.

 

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.

No one can do it alone

Last Tuesday, Dec. 7, we held a hybrid launch in Singapore of the over 800 pages of texts, tables, and charts on the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) and on to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), organized into a book called Trauma to Triumph: Rising from the Ashes of the Asian Financial Crisis. Under the auspices of the ASEAN+3 Monitoring and Research Office (AMRO), we edited this book with AMRO Chief Economist Hoe Ee Khor and University of Tokyo Professor Emeritus Masahiro Kawai.

It was hybrid event as the turnover of the book was live streamed throughout the world. In-person attendees included the diplomatic corps in Singapore, and officials from both the Singapore Ministry of Finance and Monetary Authority of Singapore, and other various agencies and thought leaders.

The launch coincided with AMRO’s 10th anniversary, with Singapore’s Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah as keynote speaker and guest of honor. She was also presented a hard copy of the book by AMRO’s senior management, led by Toshinori Doi, AMRO’s director.

This book is the first of its kind, a compendium of the most interesting recollections of several major players during the AFC and the GFC, particularly the drama behind those IMF adjustment programs that proved more destabilizing in Thailand, Indonesia, and Korea. Country-level narratives, very nuanced, trace the roots of the crisis and the policy measures to manage it. With the shock of both regional and global proportion, it was made clear that working together is the best approach to contend with future crises.

What is unique about the AFC is that it did not spare even those markets which appeared to have sound macroeconomic fundamentals. Ascribed to volatile capital flows due to financial globalization; expanding but shaky balance sheets and governance of the corporate sector; and inadequately regulated financial sectors across the region, the AFC also devastated the more open capital accounts in various countries in the region. Excessive in-flows of foreign capital triggered financial imbalances, namely credit boom, asset bubble and maturity mismatches.

The GFC, on the other hand, was a shock considered external to the region, and less excruciating to the ASEAN+3 economies. Part of the reason is that the region learned well from the AFC’s key lessons 10 years earlier. Painstaking implementation of policy and structural reforms strengthened the region’s economic fundamentals, improved the health of their financial sector, and broadened their linkages. Another rude wake up call, the GFC actually motivated policymakers to further enhance international and regional cooperation, particularly through the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) that helped birth the AMRO.

This book is also distinguished by the stories of key players during the crises. No less than unique to this book, the stories provide the human interest in the otherwise serious economic fallout from the two crises. For instance, the Fund’s Hubert Neiss recalled that Thailand was the only country where he and his colleagues saw difficulties emerging at an early stage. He said he used to report on Thailand in many Executive Board meetings of the Fund. But Anoop Singh, also of the Fund, admitted that “it took us time to understand that this was not a normal crisis. It was a financial crisis which we were late in recognizing.” Thailand was unfortunate to have experienced this crisis because the Fund itself “underestimated the magnitude of the financial crisis that was coming.”

The most pathetic result of the Thai crisis was high public disaffection with the Bank of Thailand (BoT). Former Governor Chatumongol recalled that “taxis wouldn’t take passengers to the central bank. People who wanted to go to the central bank by taxi had to get off some distance and walk to the BoT because the taxi drivers were so mad at the central bank.”

In Indonesia, people refused to believe the Thai problems would spill over. Its economy experienced an average of 8% growth in the eight years prior to the crisis. Its public finance was robust. Public debt was low relative to total output. The economy was managed by “among the best set of economists I’ve worked with anywhere in the world,” according to the World Bank’s Dennis de Tray.

The other interviewees admitted that financial data were not exactly reliable. Jim Walker of Credit Lyonnais Securities (Asia) Ltd. admitted he never saw the crisis coming because the debt obligations “never really got re-ported in the official statistics for whatever reason.”

The frank assessment of the other member countries based on the personal interviews with their own respective policymakers and thought leaders makes this book different. It concludes with an overall assessment of the crisis and the dynamics of regional financial cooperation in Asia.

Which brings us to the first panel held immediately after the book launch.

Moderated by AMRO’s Dr. Khor, we joined Indonesia’s Former Governor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono, BoT’s Former Deputy Governor Bandid Nijathaworn, and Dr Kawai. Historian and Former MAS Economics Director Freddy Orchard provided an excellent overview of his interviews with key players during the two crises.

After asking each one of us about our respective experiences with crisis management, Dr. Khor asked our opinion on whether the AFC was a blessing in disguise. Dr. Bandid and myself shared a common feeling that indeed it was. We stressed that the AFC made us realize that we had not done enough, and that many more challenges awaited us in making the economy more resilient. For the Philippines, it was relatively easier securing ownership of various policy reforms because no one wanted another crisis. As a result, over the years, we have seen our growth potential expanding, leading to higher employment, public spending for public services and infrastructure, and poverty reduction. We could only admit that we had very limited control of all factors driving the crisis.

Asserting that we could have preempted the crisis would make one guilty of the illusion of control. At the time of AFC, many economies did not even have a semblance of a systematic ledger of external debts by their own governments and much less, their private corporates. With capital flow dynamics driving the AFC on account of weakening market confidence and herding behavior, specific country moves were rather of limited efficacy be-cause like today’s virus, the AFC had several manifestations. In some countries, their overvalued exchange rates gave way to significant adjustments. Those with shaky banking system were undermined by a credit crunch. Overexposed to the debt markets, both domestic and external, some economies experienced further stress from high interest rates and large devaluation.

Radical uncertainty was most pronounced during the AFC. Holding hands together in overcoming future crises should be the way to go.

The ASEAN+3 book therefore echoes what many thought were the logical offshoots of the AFC including former general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the late Andrew Crockett, who highlighted the importance of policy coordination. He did not refer to a formalized coordination of national economic policies which did not work in the past. Rather, it is getting the individual countries in the region to pursue “responsible, open and transparent policies, and to allow their exchange rates to move in a way that promotes the international adjustment process.” This approach is expected to gain more traction if mutual consistency of policy actions can be supported by regular exchange of information in international bodies like the IMF and the BIS, and in regional bodies like the AMRO and the ADB.

The book could not be more recent and relevant. In its concluding section, the book called for mitigating the health pandemic by stepping up regional financial cooperation and making the regional economies more re-silient to the viral challenge. AMRO will have to stretch its flexibility in terms of extending longer maturity liquidity support, strengthening the operational readiness of the CMIM through enhanced surveillance, and de-velop more complementarities with the Fund.

Post-pandemic recovery is the next challenge for the region. A multilateral approach remains relevant. No one can do it alone. n

 

DIWA C. GUINIGUNDO is the former deputy governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). He served the BSP for 41 years. In 2001-2003, he was alternate executive director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. He is the senior pastor of the Fullness of Christ International Ministries in Mandaluyong.

The ties that bind

A MOTORCADE in support of presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos and vice-presidential candidate Sara Duterte in Quezon City on Dec. 8.

Duterte aide and Senator Christopher “Bong” Go’s withdrawal as the candidate for president of a group no one had previously heard of will be to the advantage of the Marcos Jr.-Sara Duterte team. And should that pair win in 2022, it will also mean the continuing dominance in government, and worse, of the axis of power behind it.

With Go presumably out of the running (he was yet to withdraw officially as of Dec. 8), President Rodrigo Duterte urged voters to support his daughter and her running mate whom he had previously refused to endorse. Sara Duterte then declared that Go’s withdrawal would unite the Duterte camp and its allies. Within hours they indeed declared their support for the Marcos Jr.-Sara Duterte combine.

If all this smells like another bad comedy of horrors and deception, it probably is. But there is also some basis to believe that initially at least, Mr. Duterte was really looking for someone else other than Marcos to support.

The clash of ambitions, personalities, and political agendas was evident in Mr. Duterte’s pushing his former police chief to file a Certificate of Candidacy for the post he’s leaving soon, and when he withdrew, his then making Go his candidate despite the latter’s unlikely chances of winning the Presidency in fair and honest elections. It was a desperate attempt to have someone at his beck and call in the country’s highest office. Apparently, he had grave reserva-tions over whether he could trust enough the son of his model Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to support his candidacy.

Mr. Duterte wants his daughter — or at least someone he is a 100% certain would look after his interests once he leaves office— to be President. Despite his admiration for Marcos Sr. and the Marcos family’s support for his candidacy in 2016 and for his regime after, he apparently bristled at Marcos Jr.’s refusal to give way to his own daughter’s ambitions, and, in addition, doesn’t think much of either his capacity to govern or of his moral scruples. Before anyone says anything about the pot calling the kettle black, however, one should note that Marcos Jr.’s being so regarded by someone of Mr. Duterte’s limitations in either area makes that critique especially credible.

In any event, Mr. Duterte seems to have finally realized that more than what divides him and the Marcos clique are the ties that bind his own camp to those of the Marcoses, the Macapagal-Arroyos, and the Estradas, and that they should first focus on winning in 2022. His having his own candidate while his daughter partners with Marcos Jr. was confusing and dividing his base, and that would have cost his camp the elections.

Without Go to muddy the political waters, the Arroyo and Estrada political parties declared their support for the Marcos Jr.-Sara Duterte team together with Marcos’ party and Sara Duterte’s own. Apparently these families have come together in recognition of their common interests and shared ideology. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo opposed the older Marcos’ dictatorial rule, and supported Joseph Estrada’s removal from office and replaced him as President in 2001. Mr. Duterte was only a few weeks ago fulminating against Marcos Jr. And yet here they all are, figuratively in bed together in affirmation of the cliche that there are no permanent friends (or enemies) in poli-tics; only permanent interests.

Those interests include, above everything else, remaining in power, if not by directly exercising it, at least indirectly by having the capacity to influence the policies that would be to their benefit of the individuals they helped elect through their money, organization, political clout, or whatever. It also includes, should their chosen candidates win, the appointment of someone from their ranks or of themselves to whatever posts would be to their personal, familial, and class interests.

Mr. Duterte’s own interests are no less as vast than the economic and political interests of his allies, and are even more compelling. In addition to retaining access to public funds and the other perks of office, he also needs to win as a senator so he can be Senate President. Ensconced in that by now less than exalted post, he can avoid, so he hopes, prosecution by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, as he in fact admitted in a moment of candor to explain why he was earlier gunning for the Vice-Presidency.

But as Senate President he would also be only two heart beats away from the Presidency — and never mind the Constitution, which in his mind is probably just another “piece of paper” like the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea Arbitral Tribunal’s decision recognizing Philippines rights in the West Philippine Sea that he once described in those terms.

Beyond those interests, however, are the ideological ties that bind the Duterte-Marcos-Arroyo-Estrada Axis. The most fundamental precept of all in that ideology is its opposition to anything that will change the dominant political, eco-nomic, and social order that has so amply benefitted the handful of families that has monopolized political power in this country for decades.

From that perspective flows the consequent demand for everyone to conform and think alike. Rather than depart from such medieval ideas as that government is sacrosanct and should be supported for the sake of that convenient buzz word “unity,” or to be informed enough to dissent, question policies that cause more harm than good, hold accountable and be critical of those officials who serve no one but themselves, unthinking approval is what the ideology of acquiescence expects of the citizenry.

It is on coercion and the use of force that this primal assumption depends. Hence the harassment, the threats, the violations of human rights, the assaults on, and even the assassination of critics, dissenters, social and polit-ical activists, independent journalists, and anyone else who dares exercise their civil, political and human rights. The political expression of this ideology is either open tyranny and one-man rule, or the rule of a few dynasties united in their common adherence to the use of State coercion as policy.

Contrary to the conventional view that Philippine political parties have no ideology, the reality is that while they are hardly conscious of it, they do — and that ideology is neither more nor less than that of gaining and keep-ing power through whatever means and whatever its cost to the Filipino people. Only briefly has it been recognized as the primary threat to progress and the well-being and future of the Filipino millions. But it has always been the core ideology of the political class, and it is today poised not only to continue driving Philippine governance, but to also perpetuate authoritarian rule a la the Marcos Sr. kleptocracy.

Even more distressing than that contingency is that while it is humanly possible to prevent it, it can happen because the individuals, groups, and forces committed to the restoration of the democratic space that has so obviously shrunk since 2016 have yet to unite despite their common interest in halting the country’s descent into the bottomless pit of another tyranny.

Divided by their differing views on how best to achieve that aim, and suspicious of each other’s motives, the centrist and left-of-center groups have yet to forge the unity needed for their candidates to prevail in next year’s elections. Their political and ideological foes have done better, united as they are this election season in the single-minded enterprise of winning power and keeping it. n

 

LUIS V. TEODORO is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro).
www.luisteodoro.com

Economics and the Constitution

The general rule is: less is more. And when dealing with a subject whose nature is inherently about the scarcity of resources, i.e., economics, then less is definitely more.

Apparently, any talk on constitutional changes inevitably zeroes in on the Charter’s economic provisions. As usual, lawyers are blamed for whatever flaws are perceived therein. But really, a rewrite by businessmen or economists can hardly be said to be a well-thought through solution.

As one of my more astute colleagues at the University of Asia and the Pacific School of Law and Governance, Vida Gruet, puts it: “I think I have 400 years of history on my side when I say that the best constitutions are written by those that understand that the way a State should deal with the economy is to not write it in the constitution at all.”

Indeed. Some things are better off constitutionally left unsaid, leaving to the elected Congress to deal with the matter in the way it deems best.

Actually, the Constitution — by its structure and orientation towards natural rights — already has provisions significantly affecting the economy. There is really just no need to keep ramming further specifics into it.

The most important of those provisions is the most famous one, one that first year law students are required to memorize: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.” (Article III.1). This is the crucial, the core, statement of individual right that the entire structure of the Constitution essentially seeks to protect.

This statement on the need to protect “property” is traceable to the Lockean idea of an inherent natural right, founded on a good in itself and also by which the individual is able to maintain his life and liberty vis-a-vis the State. To put it in Alexander Hamilton’s words: “The man who has control over another man’s subsistence also exercises control over his will.”

Article II’s standing principles are merely an elaboration of the foregoing: “just and dynamic social order,” “prosperity and independence of the nation,” promote “full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all,”; “free enterprise,” and so on.

Other “economic” constitutional provisions are those regarding the protection of contracts, the taxing power of Congress, and the ability of the president to negotiate trade agreements and foreign loans.

It needs pointing out that those provisions, while indeed having a no insignificant effect on the economy, are structural in nature. In other words, in keeping with the fact that a good constitution doesn’t pretend to give the answers but merely provides a pragmatic and coherent process by which the people can arrive at the answers themselves.

Compare those foregoing provisions with that found in Article XII.1: “The goals of the national economy are a more equitable distribution of opportunities, income, and wealth; a sustained increase in the amount of goods and ser-vices produced by the nation for the benefit of the people; and an expanding productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially the underprivileged.

“The State shall promote industrialization and full employment based on sound agricultural development and agrarian reform, through industries that make full and efficient use of human and natural resources, and which are competitive in both domestic and foreign markets. However, the State shall protect Filipino enterprises against unfair foreign competition and trade practices.”

The foregoing are not mere principles, they are specific instructions and it effectively do two things: the first is that it ties the hands of Congress to a particular economic policy, one that leaves no room for adjustment regardless of prevailing circumstances; and, finally — and more disconcertingly — it opens itself up to being interpreted as an invitation for the Supreme Court to engage in policymaking when the latter inherently has no business doing so.

Because, assuming that Congress made a law setting an economic policy of full industrialization but seemingly detached from agriculture, which the Executive Branch is constitutionally bound to execute, does this mean the Supreme Court, by authority of Article VIII.1, can overturn such legislation and instead demand economic legislation that the latter interprets to be more in keeping with the Constitution?

If so, can the Supreme Court now tell the other branches of government that its measures are too protectionist or vice-versa, too free trade or vice-versa, too fiscally prudent or vice-versa? That’s really an eccentric way of doing things, considering the Constitution demands the Supreme Court be populated by lawyers only and not economic or governance experts.

Frankly, we can vastly improve the Constitution simply by deleting Arts. XI to XV (the “impeachment provisions” could be placed under the General Provisions).

Really, if people want a Constitution more in tune with economics, the best way to do that is to forget about it. n

 

JEMY GATDULA is a senior fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence https://www.facebook.com/jigatdula/ Twitter @jemygatdula

SC rules parts of anti-terror law unconstitutional

THE PHILIPPINE Supreme Court (SC) has declared unconstitutional two portions of a controversial anti-terrorism law passed last year, invalidating a provision that would have criminalized protests deemed by authorities as harmful.

Voting 12-3 in a case hearing on Dec. 7, the court declared as unlawful a provision in the anti-terrorism law, which states that a protest could be considered terrorism if it is intended to cause death or physical harm, to endanger a person’s life, or to create a serious public safety risk.

That provision is “overbroad and violative of freedom of expression,” the court said in a media advisory on Thursday.

Voting 9-6, the high tribunal also declared unconstitutional a designation method that would have allowed the country’s anti-terrorism council to adopt proscriptions by supranational authorities after a through criteria review.

The High Court said that other challenged provisions of the law — including the warrantless arrest and 24-day detention — are not unconstitutional or are still enforceable.

“The main ponencia and the various opinions contain interpretations of some of the provisions declared in these cases as not unconstitutional,” the court said in the advisory.

Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which repealed a 2007 human security act, is considered as the most contentious law to date.

It was signed into law on July 3, 2020, and took effect on July 18. A total of 37 legal petitions were filed by Filipino lawyers from across the political spectrum. Reiterative motions were also filed after Philippine authorities arrested or tagged as communists some of the law’s petitioners.

Petitioners hailed the court’s decision as an initial victory, but said there are still provisions that could be abused by the government.

The ruling “corrects the erroneous and dangerous view of the law’s proponents that equate activism with terrorism,” said former lawmaker Neri J. Colmenares, one of the petitioners.

He said the decision has “essentially” excluded advocacy, protest, dissent, stoppage of work, industrial or mass action, and other similar exercises of civil and political rights from the scope of the law.

“We welcome the effort by the High Court to protect our civil and political rights from the overreach of such a draconian and dangerous law.”

However, Mr. Colmenares said petitioners plan to challenge the court’s declaration that the other provisions of the law are not unconstitutional.

Edcel C. Lagman, another petitioner and a veteran lawmaker, said upholding the legality of the anti-terrorism council’s authority to detain a terror suspect for a maximum of 24 days without a judicial warrant of arrest is “a blatant violation of the Constitution, which mandates that only the courts can order the detention of a suspect through the issuance of a warrant of arrest.”

“Under the Constitution, during extraordinarily precarious times when the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended, a person apprehended must be released, if there are no charges filed against him in court, upon the expiration of three day’s detention,” he said.

The definition of terrorism should have been junked for being vague and putting the lives of critics at risk, Mr. Lagman said.

“(T)he entire law should have been voided,” he said.

Lawyer Howard M. Calleja, one of the first petitioners, welcomed the court decision, but said the legal battle is not over.

“We are pleased with our partial victory and will continue to pursue available remedies for the reconsideration of the other questionable provisions,” he said.

There are more than 700 political prisoners in the Philippines, 489 of them were arrested under the Duterte government, data from rights group Kaparatan showed. More than 400 politically-motivated killings happened under the current administration, it said.

On the other hand, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, one of the principal authors of the law, said the court’s ruling fundamentally upholds the Anti-Terror Act as constitutional.

“The decision of the Supreme Court, in just one short sentence is ‘peace wins over terror’,” Mr. Lacson said.

The country’s Anti-Money Laundering Council has said that the law is crucial to efforts in countering “dirty money” and terrorism financing. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza with a report from Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

Still no Omicron in latest genome sequencing — DoH

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

THE PHILIPPINE Health department on Thursday said the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was not detected in the latest genome sequencing run involving more than 40 samples.

The specimens belonged to 12 returning overseas Filipinos and 36 people from local areas with high infection rates, the Department of Health (DoH) said in a statement.

Of the 48 samples sequenced on Wednesday, 38 or about 79% were cases of the highly contagious Delta variant, while “the rest had non-VOC (variant of concern) lineages or had no lineages detected.”

This brings the country’s total cases of the variant first detected in India to 7,886, the agency said.

Of the additional 38 Delta cases, 31 were local and seven were returning Filipinos, the DoH said.

Two of the returning Filipinos had a history of travel to Turkey, it said. Others have been to Jordan, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, and Peru, it added.

Six of the 31 local Delta cases had “indicated addresses” in Cagayan Valley, while five were from the Cordillera Administrative Region, the Health department said. Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Soccsksargen, and Metro Manila had three cases each, while Central Luzon and Calabarzon had two cases each, it added. One case was from Davao Region.

One local Delta patient was ill, while 27 local cases and the seven returning Filipinos have recovered. The health status of three other local cases were still being verified.

A health official earlier said Delta was still the dominant coronavirus strain in the Philippines.

There were 562 new coronavirus infections reported on Thursday, bringing the country’s total to 2.84 million.

The death toll hit 49,936 after 176 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 882 to 2.77 million, the Health agency said in a bulletin.

There were 12,169 active cases, 851 of which did not show symptoms, 4,838 were mild, 3,857 were moderate, 2,177 were severe, and 446 were critical.

The agency said 7% of the 176 reported deaths occurred in November.

The Philippines tries to test more inbound travelers to prevent an outbreak of the Omicron variant, which experts said has a large number of mutations and could pose a greater threat than the Delta strain.

The world has already recorded 268.2 million coronavirus cases, according to the Worldometer website, citing various sources including data from the World Health Organization.

The virus has killed 5.3 million people globally, while about 241.4 million patients have recovered, it said.

The United States had the most infections at 50.42 million with 813,904 deaths, followed by India with 34.67 million infections and 474,111 deaths.

Brazil is third with 22.17 million infections and 616,298 deaths. The Philippines was ranked 19th.

Meanwhile, Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente Sarte Salceda, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, called on the country’s drug regulator to expedite the approval of emergency use authorization (EUA) of antiviral medicines such as molnupiravir.

“COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) will almost certainly be a seasonal disease, if the experts are correct. The way to deal with this is to make COVID-19 an extremely curable, very normal disease with cheap at-home treatment,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

Molnupiravir, developed by Merck & Co, Inc. to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 infections, is currently available in the country through a Compassionate Special Permit granted to some hospitals. Faberco Life Sciences, Inc. and MedEthix, Inc. have already filed their EUA applications to the Philippine Food and Drug Administration last month. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza and Russell Louis C. Ku

 

All Systems Go: Addressing ‘return to office hesitancy’ first

By Jose Carmelo Porciuncula

THIS IS NOT the first time we have gone through a pandemic.

In 1918, 101 years before the first recorded infection of COVID-19, the world witnessed over 1 billion cases of Spanish Flu that caused 50 million deaths across the globe. Back then, no vaccines were successfully developed, leaving isolation and disinfection the only defenses against the disease until it “faded away” two years later.

If there is one fact that was emphasized after four pandemics in the last century, it is that people always find ways to adapt, live through it, and move on.

As the Philippine government steadily rolls out its vaccination program and implements looser quarantine restrictions, more social mobility and economic activity have been observed. The country is pegged to post the strongest rebound in Southeast Asia in 2022.

While many are anticipating and are hopeful for a “sense of normal,” one important aspect to address is the hesitancy of people to fully go back to their pre-pandemic routines. After years under strict lockdown, millions of deaths, and countless cases of lingering health conditions, many still express fear and anxiety about going outside and being surrounded by crowds despite being vaccinated against the virus. In the US, a survey conducted by NPR/PBR NewsHour/MaristPoll found that most of the respondents are still not comfortable with going back to pre-pandemic activities including spending time in bars (69%), attending concerts or sporting events (65%), and participating in religious gatherings (54%). However, the same poll found that of the 1,115 American adults surveyed, 86% said that they are at least “somewhat comfortable” heading back to the office and resuming in-person work post-COVID.

Local surveys found that 56% of Filipino employees are most likely to be back in the office by 2022 and shared that while remote work is an available option, having a physical workplace is still ideal. Companies that are pre-paring for employee re-entry in the next few months must ensure a comprehensive approach to bouncing back in the new normal. Business leaders must be able to identify effective solutions and inspire new practices that will turn into habits as employees return to the workplace. Psychologists and behavioral scientists suggest encouraging people to focus on what they will be gaining by returning to the office and giving members of the organization enough time to adjust to the changing social and public health circumstances. An office is not just a mere space for work, it is the core of a company, a symbol of community and collaboration for most employees.

COVID-19 has also presented an unprecedented challenge to all professionals involved in managing and maintaining buildings. Property and asset managers are not only implementors of IATF-mandated protocols in the workplace, they are also people that ensure all systems are clear before reopening. While the global health crisis seemed like a case of survival of the fittest in business, it also laid new groundwork for asset managers in evalu-ating structural integrity and mitigating risks as buildings and establishments prepare for a sudden surge in re-occupancy.

Similar to how people get ready to reintegrate themselves into the “new normal” society, properties need to prepare as well. Commercial and retail establishments are considered “living things” by the people who maintain their systems to function. Buildings are designed and engineered to sustain the extremes of what they can handle — from their physical loading capacity up to their utilities. When the pandemic happened and prolonged lock-downs were implemented, majority of buildings were forced to operate way below their design criteria.

Majority of property owners held off spending on repairs and asset maintenance activities to focus on COVID-19 efforts and expenses. Others have cut costs due to budget constraints during lockdowns, while some argue that building maintenance is not a priority when it is vacated. Periods of low or no occupancy can be challenging for building systems as deviation from standard operations may increase the risk of water system failures, fires, mold growth, pest infestation, and other complications that can lead to health hazards and bigger asset damage in the long run. A full systems audit should be a priority when buildings prepare for reopening. Correct procedure needs to be taken when reopening systems that cover HVAC and ventilation, electrical and power, vertical transport, and plumbing.

Public health experts are urging landlords across the globe to evaluate and carefully re-open properties to prevent other outbreaks from happening. In a report, medical experts express their concern for the possible emer-gence of Legionnaire’s Disease, a more severe and sometimes lethal form of pneumonia. This respiratory threat is caused by the lack of chlorinated water flowing through pipes, combined with irregular temperature changes, common in long-vacated spaces.

As athletes need to gradually warm up before training again after an injury, commercial buildings, retail establishments, residential developments, and other real estate properties need ample time and correct preparation before they can operate “business as usual.”

Addressing return to workplace hesitancy should not only focus on implementing COVID-19 measures but should entail comprehensive preparation by landlords by including a proper full systems audit in their business con-tinuity plan. Without proper asset management, there is always the uncertainty of system reliability, and the risks in a sudden reopening will always be present.

At the end of the day, a property without the people in it, remains just a structure. Its value is maintained by investing in property management that focuses not just on maintaining its structural integrity and functions, but puts the health and safety of its occupants first. n

JOSE CARMELO PORCIUNCULA is KMC
Savills’ executive director for Investor Services. Aside from the execution of his leadership role, he is mainly responsible for the overall management and long-term business viability of the company including the assessment of investment opportunities and the sale of high-net-worth property transactions.

Meta exec says PHL laws prevent enforcers from quickly addressing cybercrimes

PHILSTAR FILE

AN OFFICIAL of Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, told the Philippine Senate on Thursday that the country’s current laws hinder law enforcement agencies from quickly tracking perpetrators of cybercrimes.

Roy Abrams, Meta’s law enforcement manager for Asia Pacific, said the challenge lies in the need for police officers to get a search warrant.

He also noted the prevalence of internet cafes in the country, which could be readily used by cybercriminals and stay anonymous.

“We are in very close consultation with the relevant subcommittees within both the House (of Representatives) and the Senate to revise this to make the police… more nimble,” Mr. Abrams told a Senate hearing on a resolution that seeks to amend the country’s cybercrime law to address the proliferation of illegal activities using digital platforms.

Mr. Abrams said Meta — which is also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, among others — is working with the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group for systems that can help them quickly address illegal activities within the bounds of the law.

He cited a direct reporting system where the Philippine government was provided a “special email address” for quick content takedown when necessary.

At the level of criminal investigation, a data disclosure program will be implemented where law enforcement agencies are entitled to information called basic subscriber information, which includes Internet Protocol (IP) address and session Information Identification.

By identifying a machine’s IP address, it will be easier to locate the device being used by the assailant.

“Philippine law enforcement does have the power to get user information data from us in criminal matters, that means certain criteria, acknowledging fully that defamation can be one of our trickier issues,” said Mr. Abrams.

Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said the problem with this existing arrangement is that access to data depends on the social media platform’s criteria instead of the government’s.

“Media platforms have the authority to decide whether or not we can enforce accountability, and that power is simply exercised by denying or maintaining the power to let these accounts remain anonymous,” he said during hearing. “They have the impunity because of the anonymity.”

The senator called to “move the responsibility of enforcing our rights from the social media platforms to our courts.”

Senator Francis “Kiko” N. Pangilinan, who chaired the hearing, noted that free speech is not absolute. “We need the identities to be made available should there be precisely such kind of speech that is harmful, defamatory, illegal or criminal in nature.”

Mr. Abrams assured that they are committed to these dialogues and will continue to work with the Philippine government to find a suitable arrangement that will protect online users’ privacy rights as well as prevent cybercrimes. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

Philippine groups to protest on Int’l Human Rights Day

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

ACTIVIST and other civil society groups said they will hold protest actions in the Philippine capital region on Friday to commemorate International Human Rights Day, just as President Rodrigo R. Duterte participated in a virtual democracy summit hosted by the United States.

In a press conference on Thursday, the groups said the protest will highlight the state of human rights in the country under the current administration, which saw the implementation of a deadly drug war and a counterinsurgency program that facilitated the arrests of activists and other critics.

The groups will come together at the country’s premier state university, located in a city near the capital Manila.

Rights group Karapatan, whose officers have been tagged as communist fronts by government officials, said in an invitation statement that Mr. Duterte’s six-year term has been marked by “systemic and blatant violations of civil and political rights, from the thousands of poor killed in the sham and bloody drug war to the extrajudicial killings and illegal arrests of human rights defenders and activists in the government’s brutal counterinsurgency campaign.”

“We must act now and fight back together to ensure that Duterte is held to account for his crimes,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina E. Palabay.

Mr. Duterte, who has been accused of crimes against humanity by both domestic and international groups for implementing a deadly drug war that has killed thousands, on Thursday participated in a democracy summit hosted by US President Joseph R. Biden.

Ms. Palabay said if the American leader is truly seeking a partnership in working to build democratic and human rights-respecting societies, as he wrote in his invitation to Mr. Duterte, the United States must suspend its billions of security aid to the Philippine police and military and pass the Philippine Human Rights bill proposed by American legislators.

In an interview with the state media, Presidential Assistant on Foreign Affairs Robert Borje said the President prepared a statement detailing the challenges to Philippine democracy.

“An important part of the speech of the President are the components of democracy which are vital to make democracy stronger,” he said. “I think this is going to be said, in the context, not just of what he’s done during this administration, but working on his mandate to deliver peace and development, safety and security to the people, and in the context of the pandemic, health.”

He said the President was set to state in his speech the importance of a peaceful transition of power in a democracy.

“At the end of it all, what the President is saying is that the Philippines is democratic, Filipinos are democracy-loving people,” he said, “We may continue to have challenges as a democracy, but we’re firmly committed to democratic values.”

The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor recently assured that it would ask the Philippine government to provide proof that it’s investigating its war on drugs that has killed thousands, after the tribunal suspended an initial probe.

JOURNALIST KILLED

Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has started its own independent probe into the killing of a community journalist on Wednesday.

CHR Spokesperson Jacqueline Ann C. De Guia said in a statement on Thursday that the commission condemns the murder of Jesus “Jess” Malabanan in Calbayog City, Samar as it “worsens the climate of impunity” against journalists.

The police said it has mobilized a “task group to coordinate all actions of regional investigative units” to immediately identify and arrest the perpetrator, who shot the victim in the head while watching television inside their retail store.

Mr. Malabanan was a correspondent for the Manila Standard, The Manila Times, Reuters and Bandera.

Journalist Manuel Mogato said Mr. Malabanan was instrumental in the Reuters reports on President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s drug war, which won the Pulitzer Award in 2018.

“I met Jess when he was a defense reporter in the late 1980s and helped me with stories in Pampanga when I was the Reuters political correspondent for 15 years from 2003. Jess helped Reuters a lot in the drug war stories that won a Pulitzer in 2018,” he said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, Presidential Task Force on Media Security executive director Joel S. Egco said in a separate statement that they are also already in coordination with the police.

“We will get to the bottom of this and will stop at nothing in bringing to justice the perpetrators of this despicable crime,” he said. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza and Russell Louis C. Ku

PHL athletes bring home 9 medals from Asian Youth Paralympic Games

PHILIPPINE athletes won nine medals in the 4th Asian Youth Paralympic Games 2021 held from Dec. 2 to 6 in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday.

The country was represented by 20 athletes who competed in basketball, badminton, table tennis, bocce, and swimming, bringing home one gold, six silver, and two bronze medals.

Ariel Joseph M. Alegarbes won gold in swimming for the 100 meter butterfly S14 and silver for the 100m breaststroke S14.

Daniel F. Enderes and Ronn Russel Mitra won a silver medal each for the Men’s Athletics 1500m T20 and 400m T20, respectively.

Three silver medals were won by Linard C. Sultan for table tennis, Men’s Single Class 8, and the Men’s Mixed Team with Singapore and Kuwait.

Angel Mae C. Otom won a bronze in swimming for the 100m butterfly S1-10 Multi-class, while Mary Eloise L. Sable won in table tennis, Women’s Mixed Team with Malaysia.

The games were held under a “bubble system” to ensure the health and safety of all the athletes and other attendees. During the closing ceremony, Asian Paralympic Committee President Majid Rashed said there were zero cases of coronavirus during the holding of the event. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

House bill seeks to integrate financial literacy in gov’t livelihood programs

A BILL has been filed at the House of Representatives to integrate financial literacy training in the government’s livelihood programs to help beneficiaries better manage their earnings.

Six lawmakers filed House Bill 10562 or the Financial Literacy in Livelihood Programs Act, which would require qualified beneficiaries to attend a series of financial literacy workshops before becoming part of a livelihood program.

“It is not enough to provide access to the poor or give them business opportunities” according to a copy of the bill.

The measure would also create a Financial Literacy Inter-agency Committee, to be led by a member of the National Economic and Development Authority, which will be in charge of the proposed law’s implementation.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) will take the lead in creating modules and materials for the financial literacy training.

An information desk will also be established where beneficiaries can make inquiries on financial matters.

Funding for the implementation of the law will be charged from the appropriation of government agencies conducting livelihood programs. — Russell Louis C. Ku

Gordon pushes for bill on quick, accurate reporting of deaths of convicts

RAID AT BILIBID PRISON MUNTILUPA

A SENATOR on Thursday pushed for the immediate passage of a bill mandating the quick and accurate reporting of deaths and illnesses of persons in detention, including minors.

“The late reporting of these deaths, suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths, and the identity of these high-profile inmates shocked the nation,” Senator Richard J. Gordon, who chairs the Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee, said in a statement.

He previously filed Senate Bill 1771 or the Death in Custody Reporting Bill, which seeks the monthly filing of reports of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and detained children in conflict with law (CICL) convicted of a heinous crime or crimes punishable by reclusion perpetua to respective departments and agencies.

Mr. Gordon called for the passage of the bill after an investigative media report showed that an average of 55 prisoners have died while serving their sentences inside the New Bilibid Prison from Oct. 2019 to April 2020.

There are many questions regarding “the truthfulness and veracity of these reports,” he said, and the circumstances in which the inmates died.

Under the proposed law, non-reporting will be punishable by up to 12 years in jail with a fine of up to P1 million, while false reporting or letting a PDL or CICL escape will be penalized with imprisonment and fines of up to P5 million. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

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