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IBP scores arrest of journalists in Tarlac City land dispute

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A LAWYERS’ group on Thursday denounced the arrest of journalists who were covering a land protest in Tarlac City.

“Journalists should not have to run the risk of arrest and criminal charges when they are discharging their constitutionally protected duties of covering and reporting on matters of public consequence, such as land disputes,” the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) said in a statement.

“Any intrusion into this liberty of speech and of the press risks depriving the public of crucial knowledge of government affairs.”

Authorities arrested more than 90 people, including journalists, farmers and activists in the village of Tinang in Tarlac City for illegal assembly. Some of them were released shortly after, while 83 were charged.

“Journalists and other members of the press enjoy a wide latitude of discretion in investigating and reporting news relating to public affairs,” IBP said. Police should also respect citizens’ right to due process, it added.

Acting National Police chief Vicente D. Danao earlier questioned the presence of journalists in the protest, accusing them of meddling.

“What are you doing here and why are you meddling inside?” he told a press briefing last week, addressing the journalists. “Maybe you are the ones agitating these groups.“

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) earlier said the protesters should not be punished for exercising their constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

Last week, the Commission on Human Rights said it would investigate the arrest after farmers filed a complaint at its Central Luzon regional office.

Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo also denounced the mass arrest, saying the protesters only wanted to provide for their families.

“A heavy-handed approach to the charge of illegal assembly guts the freedom to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances,” IBP said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez

Bongbong as Agri chief: ill-advised or a bold move, says think tank

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PHILIPPINE President-elect Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s decision to head the Agriculture department might have been ill-advised, a foreign think tank said on Thursday, noting that the sector could end up “having to endure unhelpful flip-flopping.”

While the move might be bold, “some look at this as a looming first fumble,” GlobalSource Partners, Inc. said in a note sent to BusinessWorld, citing views from insiders.

“By not providing for a buffer, i.e., a person he can fire if things fall apart, the president-elect may end up regretting this boldness, especially since the risks are manifold, from procurement to unexpected outcomes,” it said.

Victor D. Rodriguez, Mr. Marcos’ incoming executive secretary, did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.

On the other hand, GlobalSource said some see the move as a timely way of using his political capital “for what will likely be many unpopular decisions.”

The think tank said Mr. Marcos’ popularity could allow him to act as a referee between those who lobby for liberal trade policies and those who have a protectionist stance.

“We note that his sister, a senator, is one of the louder critics of the current administration’s resort to importation to address food shortages,” it said.

Popularity concerns “have a way of being shifted to the fiscal area,” the group said, citing Mr. Marcos’ campaign promise of lowering the price of rice to P20 a kilo, which the outgoing Agriculture chief said would cost the government about P123 billion yearly.

“People who know the sector well believe that his reform success depends on who his point person will be, i.e., his senior undersecretary,” GlobalSource said.

“But at the end of the day, we cannot also dismiss what this decision may be about, i.e., the president-elect’s failure to find a suitable candidate prepared to take on a difficult job at a difficult time,” it said. “In which case, we hope for the sake of the macro economy that he finds the right man soonest.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

No decision on BNPP; gov’t evaluating modular reactors

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THE Climate Change Commission (CCC) said studies are still ongoing to determine the fate of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), in compliance with the executive order (EO) that gave the go-signal for tapping nuclear power.

“We are aware that based on the EO, studies still have to be undertaken. That’s why we are also engaging our experts here, along with other national agencies” to ensure the appropriate policy that accords with scientific opinion, CCC Policy Research and Development Division Chief Jerome E. Ilagan said during the Second Virtual Philippine Life Insurance Summit on Thursday.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed EO No. 164 in February, authorizing the exploration of nuclear power as a possible addition to the energy mix.

In 2020, the Philippines’ power mix consisted of 57% coal-fired, 21% renewable energy (RE), 19% natural gas, and 2% oil.

Michael O. Sinocruz, the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Energy Policy and Planning Bureau officer-in-charge and director, said EO No. 164 has also triggered studies on the development of small modular reactors with capacity of about 50 megawatts.

Mr. Sinocruz said that compared to other sources of energy, nuclear energy is among the cheapest options, but will require significant spending to ensure safety.

“If you are going to compare nuclear with other energy sources, nuclear is the cheapest, but because of the additional safety measures (to be undertaken) due to Fukushima, the capital cost increased slightly, so now they are at roughly the same level with coal in terms of cost,” he said.

He added that when all costs are considered for nuclear, coal remains cheaper and its disadvantages can be mitigated by more efficient low-emission technology, which promise lower carbon dioxide emissions.

The DoE will implement the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) 2020-2040 within the year. NREP sets a target of 35% renewable energy in the generation mix by 2030, driving this further to 50% by 2040.

About $153 billion in investment is needed, with $94.3 billion going to the construction of RE power plants and $510 million needed for renewable energy pre-development activities.

Mr. Sinocruz said that there were also currently talks with the Star Scientific Ltd., of Australia and Tokyo-based Hydrogen Technology, Inc. to introduce hydrogen as an alternative energy source.

Mr. Ilagan said the Philippine pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as part of the Paris Agreement on Climate change should not serve as a deterrent to seeking out other energy sources, adding that the country needs to get “creative.”

“Based on what we call the carbon budget, we still have space to emit (greenhouse gases),” he added. “But in the solidarity with the world, and since we also suffer when greenhouse gases go up, we commit to lowering future emissions; but we ask: give us support in terms of technology, capacity, and finance.” — Tobias Jared Tomas

PEZA calls for agro-industrial, aquamarine ecozones on gov’t land

THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said 12 million hectares of government land needs to be tapped for agro-industrial and aquamarine economic zones (ecozones), to address the looming food crisis.

PEZA Director-General Charito B. Plaza said in a statement on Thursday that “For years, we have been hearing of plans for production and food sufficiency, yet we continue to be an import and consumption-dependent economy, despite the millions of hectares of idle land.”

“Our focus (must be) to utilize responsibly our very fertile land and rich natural resources towards self-reliance (and a) self-sustaining and resource-generating economy,” Ms. Plaza added.

Ms. Plaza said President-elect Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s decision to take control of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has opened up an opportunity for PEZA to explore the expansion of production via the ecozone route, with corresponding incentives to locators.

“PEZA will contribute in our own way… by transforming public land into viable agro-industrial and aquamarine (production centers to achieve) food security,” she added.

On May 31, the PEZA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to create more ecozones in the countryside. The ecozone development program will be piloted in the Caraga region.

“Under the MoU, PEZA and DENR have agreed to pursue the establishment of special ecozones in potential areas within the jurisdiction of the DENR that are suitable for development as agro-industrial, agro-forestry, mineral processing, and eco-tourism (zones). We hope to truly implement these partnerships in the coming years under the administration of President-elect Marcos,” Ms. Plaza said.

“We aim to restore the once major industry of wood and bring order to the utilization of the raw minerals processed into many other products in Caraga, which has (major) timberland and mining land,” she added.

PEZA and DENR identified seven sites in the region viable for ecozone development. Four of the proposed economic zones will be in Agusan del Norte, while one site each has been nominated for Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur.

“Once proclaimed, these will be in addition to the 23 operating agro-industrial ecozones in PEZA, four of which are located in Luzon, five in Visayas, and 13 in Mindanao,” PEZA said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

BSP studying 3 key market infra technologies

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is exploring three new technologies that will be crucial to the development of new financial market infrastructure (FMI), making the Philippines one of the more open jurisdictions in the region to new financial tools, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

The ADB said the BSP is currently developing proofs of concept for artificial intelligence, open API (application programming interface), and cloud computing, three of the six technologies it identified as instrumental to the FMI of the future.

The  other three tools for the development of new FMI are distributed ledger technology (DLT), big data analytics, and cybersecurity.

The ADB said that according to a survey it conducted, five central banks in the ASEAN + 3 region have explored a single new technology; three have explored two; six have explored three; and two have explored four.

“Twenty of the 25 Cross-Border Settlement Infrastructure Forum (CSIF) member institutions responded to the survey in 2021. Sixteen of the 20 institutions stated that they have explored at least one of the six new technologies” ADB Financial Sector Specialist Byung Wook Ahn said in a webinar on Thursday.

“All central banks and central securities depositories (CSDs) in this region… really need to consider those emerging technologies. Regardless, if they only focus on one path or many, this is really the fact. The more important thing (is that) I realized, many of our CSIF members are already developing a proof of concept or already in the production level,” ADB advisor Satoru Yamadera said in the webinar.  

The Philippine CSD — the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) — is deemed to be in the production stage in terms of cybersecurity and is developing a pilot case for DLT, also known as blockchain.

“The BSP has been exploring engagements with potential providers of blockchain analyzer solutions that could facilitate, among others, surveillance of supervised financial institutions utilizing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in their businesses (i.e., virtual asset service providers)” the ADB said in its report detailing the outcome of the survey.

Recently, the BSP announced a pilot project that will test the use of a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) for large-value financial transactions involving selected financial institutions.

This project will experiment with CBDC to move large-value transactions round the clock to advance the understanding of risks and opportunities involved in wholesale CBDCs.

The BSP and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) are the only institutions that have application cases in cloud computing, the ADB noted.

“These findings appear to mirror the challenges inherent in cloud adoption such as security and compliance concerns, efficient cloud spending, and cloud adoption and data transfer,” the report added.

The ADB found the BSP to be venturing into a “unified regulatory and supervisory technology end-to-end solution to streamline and automate regulatory supervision, reporting, and compliance assessment of cybersecurity risk management of BSP-supervised financial institutions.”

The BSP’s open finance framework was classified as having reached proof of concept stage and is working towards open API standardization.

The ADB said cybersecurity threats remain despite the pursuit of new infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. We simply need to create more awareness and understanding. There may be some areas where we can analyze (human) behavior (to facilitate the blocking of) these intrusions. But again, this is not easy. Central banks and CSDs particularly, since we need more investment in the deep critical market infrastructure,” Mr. Yamadera said. — Ana Olivia A. Tirona

Bayern Munich signs Mane from Liverpool until 2025

MUNICH, Germany — Bayern Munich on Wednesday completed the much-anticipated signing of Senegal forward Sadio Mane from Liverpool on a three-year contact, the German champions said.

Bayern, who won a record-extending 10th straight league title last season, have reportedly agreed on a transfer worth about €40 million ($42.10 million), including add-ons, for the 30-year-old, who had a year left on his Liverpool contract.

“Sadio Mane is a global star,” Bayern president Herbert Hainer said. “He underscores the attractiveness of Bayern and the entire Bundesliga.”

The 30-year-old leaves Anfield after 269 appearances, having scored 120 goals in all competitions, a stellar return that helped the club to the Champions League title in 2018-19 and the Premier League crown a season later.

The forward became Bayern’s third signing of the close season, following the arrivals of Ajax Amsterdam duo Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazrouai.

“I am very happy to finally be at Bayern Munich,” Sane said. “We had a lot of talks and I felt the interest of this big club from the start.

“This is why I had no doubt. This is the right time for this challenge. I want to achieve a lot of things with this club, also internationally.”

Bayern is desperate for his versatile attacking spark, with wingers Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane having lacked consistency in the past season.

The Bavarians still won the German league for a 10th straight time but failed to get past the quarterfinal stage in the Champions League. They had also failed to progress in the competition in 2021, a year after lifting the trophy.

The Bundesliga is also keen on fresh big names, especially since the departure of Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland to join Manchester City and top striker Robert Lewandowski’s doubtful future at Bayern.

Mane was among Liverpool’s stand-out performers last season, netting 23 times as Jürgen Klopp’s side secured the domestic cup double and narrowly missed out on the league title to Manchester City.

Mane won six trophies in all following his switch from Southampton in June 2016, forming a potent attacking trio with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Klopp last month hailed Mane, his first major singing after taking over, as “world-class” and likened him to a “machine” but the player, eager for a new challenge, declined a new contract. — Reuters

World Bank approves $178-million loan to support PHL efforts to curb malnutrition

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THE World Bank has approved a $178.1-million loan to the Philippines to support efforts to curb malnutrition, which has worsened due to the rising costs of food.

The program, the Philippines Multisectoral Nutrition Project, will provide nutrition support and health services to help reduce growth stunting in infants and young children, in 235 municipalities with high incidences of poverty and malnutrition.

“The persistence of high levels of childhood undernutrition in the Philippines, exacerbated by the pandemic, could lead to a significant increase in inequality of opportunities in the country,” Ndiamé Diop, World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, said. “Where healthy children can do well in school and look forward to a prosperous future, stunted children tend to be sickly, learn less, more likely to drop out of school and their economic productivity as adults can be clipped by more than 10% in their lifetime.”

“Hence, improving the nutritional status of children is key to the country’s goals of boosting human capital while strengthening the country’s economic recovery and prospects for long-term growth.”

Households in the selected local government units with pregnant women and children under two years of age will be eligible for regular feeding for the young, growth monitoring, nutrient supplements for children aged between 6 to 23 months, iron-folic acid supplements for pregnant women, diet support, and treatment for malnutrition.

The project will also help change habits in households deemed crucial in improving health and nutrition in women and children, including hand washing with soap, better sanitation and access to drinking water, early child care and development and activities, and promoting access to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a conditional cash transfer targeted at the poor.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s 4Ps program grants eligible families cash aid if they keep children in school and submit to health checks.

These health and nutrition interventions are focused on the first 1,000 days of children’s lives, a critical period in their development.

“Undernutrition and exposure to risk and adversity during the first 1,000 days of the child’s life can disrupt cognitive, emotional, and physical development and hold children back from reaching their full potential, thus affecting the formation of the country’s human capital,” World Bank Senior Nutrition Specialist for East Asia and the Pacific Region Nkosinathi Mbuya said.

“Therefore, interventions to improve nutritional outcomes must focus on this age group and women of child-bearing age.”

Such risks include poverty, malnutrition, lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities, exposure to child abuse, violence, and neglect, and a lack of quality health, education, and nutrition. 

The Russia-Ukraine war will make such problems worse, especially the food and nutrition situation inside Filipino households. The rising costs of food globally means that unless immediate action is taken, millions of children will face an increased risk of undernutrition, which translates to poor school performance and low productivity as adults.

Food inflation in the Philippines was 5.2% in May, up from the 3.7% a year earlier, and from 4.9% in April. — Tobias Jared Tomas

1.2 million tickets sold for Qatar’s World Cup

DOHA — More than 1.2 million tickets have been sold for Qatar’s 2022 soccer World Cup, organizers said on Wednesday.

The most recent phase of ticket sales, a random selection draw, closed at the end of April with 23.5 million ticket requests coming in largest numbers from Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, according to the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), world soccer’s governing body.

“I think about 1.2 million tickets have already been purchased. So people are actually buying and people are excited to come,” said Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.

A total of two million ticket will be available during the 28-day tournament in November and December, he said.

The next opportunity to purchase World Cup tickets will be on a first-come, first-served basis, but the date has not been announced yet.

World Cup qualification matches have now concluded and all 32 available slots for the tournament have been secured.

Qatar hopes to attract 1.2 million visitors during the World Cup, nearly half of its population.

Organizers are working to avoid price-gouging fans, and, although the local business community should benefit, the tournament should be affordable and accessible for fans, Al Thawadi said on Wednesday at the Qatar Economic Forum organized by Bloomberg.

A central concern has been the cost and availability of accommodation in the Gulf Arab state, which has fewer than 30,000 hotel rooms, according to the most recent estimates by Qatar Tourism. Eighty percent of those rooms are currently allocated to FIFA’s guests, organizers said.

“In terms of availability, we’ve tried to ensure that we provide different offerings on different categories. So from the affordable, which range from $80 to $100 a night all the way to the pricier ones in terms of five-star hotels,” Al Thawadi said.

Qatar has boosted non-hotel accommodation, making 65,000 rooms in villas and apartments available for fans to book and around 4,000 rooms in two cruise ships moored in Doha port.

The business community in Qatar, which has come under criticism for its treatment of migrant workers, has committed to repay $28 million to workers who paid recruitment fees to secure employment in the Gulf Arab state.

Charging recruitment fees is illegal in Qatar and elsewhere, though the practice is widespread in many of the countries where Qatar’s workers come from. — Reuters

Most HR professionals see automation as key to making hybrid office policy work, study shows

STOCK PHOTO | Image by Yasmina H from Unsplash

HYBRID workplace policies have become a key tool for retaining talent, and will require a corresponding investment in systems and services that enable such an environment, according to a survey of human resources (HR) practitioners conducted by Sprout Solutions.

The HR services company said in a statement on Thursday that the top items on HR professionals’ wish lists are automated HR systems, mental and physical health resources, and company-wide allowances for transportation, electricity, and internet. 

“Innovation and technology are no longer just novelty advantages to improve the employee experience,” Sprout Chief Executive Officer Patrick Gentry said in a Thursday statement. “2022 is shaping up to be the year hybrid work becomes the rule rather than the exception, and tech has a huge role to play.”

The annual report also found that the hybrid work era has made employees less reluctant to resign because they can choose companies that offer better salary, benefits and career opportunities.

To adapt to the hybrid set-up, companies will have to make a digital shift, Sprout said, providing HR software that will help businesses remain efficient.

Many HR functions have migrated to automated systems, the solutions company said. In 2022, only 22% of the over 200 respondents processed payroll manually, while 60% processed payroll through a human resources information system. Digital recruitment tools have also become the norm, streamlining talent acquisition.

“HR tech should not only be seen as a tool to reduce the administrative burden. Instead, HR leaders and professionals should leverage HR tech to create cohesive and connected hybrid working communities and build a culture that inspires productivity and collaboration,” Mr. Gentry said. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

PGA Tour hits back at LIV with increased prize money, new events

PROFESSIONAL Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour commissioner Jay Monahan accused the Saudi-back LIV Invitational Series of attempting to buy the game of golf on Wednesday then went on the offensive, unveiling larger purses, new events and a different calendar.

Speaking at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, Monahan conceded that the PGA Tour cannot compete with the LIV Series when it comes to cash but upped the ante announcing it would increase purses at eight events during the 2022-23 season to an average of $20 million.

Backed to the tune of $250 million by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the LIV is offering purses of $25 million at seven-of-eight events and a $50-million prize fund at the series finale to be played in October at former US President Donald Trump’s property in Doral.

If those figures are not startling enough then the astronomical sums dangled in front of golf’s biggest names in an effort to lure them away from the PGA Tour are eye-popping.

Six-times major winner Phil Mickelson, according to media reports, got a $200-million appearance deal to sign on with the rebel circuit and former Masters champion Dustin Johnson $125 million.

“I am not naïve. If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can’t compete,” said Monahan.

“The PGA Tour, an American institution, can’t compete with a foreign monarchy that is spending billions of dollars in an attempt to buy the game of golf.

“We welcome good, healthy competition.

“The LIV Saudi Golf League is not that. It’s an irrational threat; one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game.”

LIV Golf CEO and former world number one Greg Norman has said the new series offers players “free agency” and fans an exciting new way of watching golf.

Along with a bump in prize money, Monahan also announced a new three-event international series in the fall for the top players to be held in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

In 2024, the PGA Tour will return to a calendar year schedule rather than the current model that sees a season split over two years.

There will also be changes to the FedEx Cup playoff with a greater focus on the best players.

Currently the top 125 in the points standing qualify for the first playoff event but in 2023 that will be cut to 70.

The top 50 will advance to the second playoff event with the top 30 qualifying for final at East Lake in Atlanta.

Monahan also continued to point to the traditions and legacy that go with playing on the PGA Tour.

He also reminded members that they do not have to make apologies when they tee it up at a PGA Tour stop, while LIV golfers must defend their decision to participate in a series that critics say amounts to blatant “sportswashing” by a nation trying to improve its reputation in light of human rights concerns.

“On the PGA Tour, our members compete for the opportunity to add their names to history books, and, yes, significant financial benefits, without having to wrestle with any sort of moral ambiguity,” said Monahan. “We don’t expect to overcome this current challenge by relying on our legacy and track record alone.

“We will ultimately come out of the current challenge stronger because of our loyalty and support of our players and fans, the best in the world, as well as our planned future growth and with our values as our North Star.” — Reuters

Bright future

Even now, not a few quarters remain convinced that the Celtics should have walked away with the 2022 National Basketball Association championship. Notwithstanding their incapacity to extend the Finals to a winner-take-all match, pundits who can’t seem — or simply refuse — to move on continue to insist that they squandered a golden opportunity. Not that the oddsmakers thought differently while the set-to was still ongoing; at no time did they play the role of underdogs in betting circles, not even when they had lost two contests in a row and headed into Game Six with their backs to the wall.

To be sure, the voices of disappointment do have some fuel to support the contention that the Celtics grossly underachieved. They had the superior roster by far, and boasted of the league’s top defense seemingly able to keep the explosive Warriors at bay. In addition, they carried confidence borne of emphatic Game Seven victories in their last two series. And when viewed from this prism, their finish as runners-up may, indeed, be seen as a regrettable outcome.

That said, a glass half-empty is likewise a glass half-full. Considering where the Celtics stood in late January, the fact that they made it all the way to the Finals should be celebrated. With first-year head coach Ime Udoka in the sidelines, they were then dismissed as little more than middling pretenders with supposed stalwarts who needed more time to mature. And then they clicked; an impressive 26-6 slate for the remainder of the regular season, tops in the league, provided them with no small measure of momentum for a deep playoff run.

By the time Game Six of the Finals rolled around, though, the Celtics looked spent. No doubt, it was because of all the effort they hitherto expended. When the 2021-22 season drew to a close, first-team all-NBA selection Jayson Tatum had 500 more minutes on his legs than the next player in the entire league. Little wonder, then, that his forays to the basket frequently ended with errant attempts, and that he wound up with an all-time record 100 turnovers through the postseason. At a time when his leadership was needed on the court and off, he had tuned out ostensibly because of fatigue.

Forget about the naysayers, though, From the Celtics’ vantage point, there is no reason for them to hang their heads in shame. For one thing, the Warriors are no slouch, with no better proof of the fact than four titles from six Finals appearances in eight years. For another, dwelling over What Ifs is both wrong and counterproductive; all things considered, there can be no better way to get over the outcome than to learn from it. The core of the green and white continue to have a bright future. How it turns out is up to them.

 

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.

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