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Last-minute profit taking pulls PHL stocks down

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PHILIPPINE shares declined on Tuesday due to last-minute profit taking despite trading in green territory for most of the day after the government eased coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions in the capital.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 47.78 points or 0.68% to close at 6,920.36 on Tuesday, while the broader all shares index went down by 9.86 points or 0.22% to 4,295.

“The market finished lower during the last minute of trading, after hovering in positive territory during most of the trading day,” Timson Securities, Inc. Trader Darren Blaine T. Pangan said in a Viber message.

“The market gained during the intraday, trying to breach the 7,000 psychological resistance, as the government placed Metro Manila on laxer restrictions compared to modified enhanced community quarantine starting Sept. 16. However, bears won at the last minute,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Associate Claire T. Alviar said in a separate Viber message.

Metro Manila will be placed under Alert Level 4 beginning Sept. 16. Under the government’s new system of targeted lockdowns, open-air dine-in services of restaurants and outdoor personal care services will be allowed at 30% capacity. Meanwhile, indoor dine-in and personal care services will be only allowed at 10% capacity and will be limited to the fully vaccinated.

Despite the drop, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said the PSEi’s Tuesday close was among the highest in over two months.

“Net foreign buying at the local stock market today… as [RL Commercial REIT, Inc.’s initial public offering] listed and started trading in the market today,” Mr. Ricafort said on Tuesday.

RL Commercial REIT is the fourth real estate investment trust (REIT) to be listed at the stock exchange, raising over P23.5 billion from its public offer.

Foreigners turned buyers with P3.60 billion in net purchases logged on Tuesday, a reversal of the P164.38 million in net outflows seen on Monday.

All sectoral indices closed in the red on Tuesday except for services, which inched up by 4.92 points or 0.26% to finish at 1,853.13.

Meanwhile, mining and oil dropped 135.36 points or 1.38% to 9,621.03; holding firms lost 94.56 points or 1.34% to 6,919.46; financials declined by 7.73 points or 0.53% to close at 1,434.75; property went down by 8.96 points or 0.29% to 3,076.54; industrials decreased by 21.92 points or 0.21% to end at 10,186.45.

Value turnover surged to P31.17 billion with 4.71 billion issues switching hands on Tuesday, climbing by over six times from the P5 billion with 1.75 shares traded the previous day.

Decliners beat advancers, 121 against 70, while 54 names closed unchanged.

“In the coming days, we’ll have to observe if the bourse tries to retest the 7,000 resistance area. Otherwise, 6,780 may be considered the nearest support level,” Timson Securities’ Mr. Pangan said. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

Aspiring for high-income status

PCH.VECTOR-FREEPIK

(Part 4)

Despite the continuing weaknesses of our still fragile democracy, the Philippines is no longer known in international circles as the “sick man of Asia.” Since the beginning of the Third Millennium, as we saw in previous articles in this series, the Philippines has been constantly in the list of the most promising emerging markets, “breakout” nations, and the next generation of NICs (newly industrializing countries). These positive assessments of the Philippine economic future continued to pour in during the last four years, even when the Philippine political climate had darkened due to the perception by some outside observers that the present political leadership leaves a lot to be desired because of lack of respect for human rights, ineptitude in the handling of relations with China, and, more recently, tolerance of corruption among presidential cronies.

For example, just before the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, the Oxford Economics group came out with a list in November 2019 identifying 10 countries as the leading emerging markets that will dominate the global economy in the next decade. Among the 10 are six countries in the Indo-Pacific region which will surely lead the global economy in economic growth for many decades to come after the pandemic is put under reasonable control. The ranking is as follows: 1.) India; 2.) the Philippines; 3.) Indonesia; 4.) China; 5.) Malaysia; 6.) Turkey; 7.) Thailand; 8.) Chile; 9.) Poland, and, 10.) South Africa. The rankings took into account factors beyond just GDP figures and also considered funding availability and workforce growth, in which the Philippines ranked very high because of our young, growing and English-speaking population.

The short commentary in the summary of the report issued by Oxford Economics gives the following reasons for the second highest ranking given to the Philippines: “Currently led by the brash strongman Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines are, much like Indonesia, a large island group, with huge economic potential. The Philippines is set to have the highest increase in its labor force of any of the top 10, alongside its GDP growth of 5.3%. This means that it will be one of the world’s fastest growing economies sooner rather than later.”

India got the top ranking because of “its massive GDP growth of 6.5%, and it’s likely to be the world’s largest economy one day not just within emerging markets. The country has a huge population and when fully utilized will be an unshakeable force across global markets.” In fact, within the next five years, it is very possible that India’s population will top China’s since the latter is suffering from “demographic suicide,” thanks to the one-child policy its government imposed for many years. Despite the recent effort of the Chinese government to encourage couples to have more children, the result has been discouraging. This is not a surprise since the lesson from Singapore is that once the contraceptive mentality has been ingrained in the minds of the women, no incentives work to encourage them to have more children. This rapid aging that China is already experiencing, which will intensify in the coming years, is one of the major reasons why China ranks only fourth in the ranking of Oxford Economics.

The reference of Oxford Economics to the highest increase in the labor force will remind us that the two strongest engines of growth before and after the pandemic are the remittances from some 10 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and the huge dollar earnings of the BPO-IT sector. These two account for some 12% to 15% of the Philippine GDP. They would not be possible without our young, growing, and English-speaking population. During the pandemic, these were the two sectors that hardly suffered from the global meltdown. Despite the return of an estimated 800,000 OFWs who were laid off from their work abroad (especially in the Middle East), remittances from OFWs in 2020 dropped only by -0.3% while the whole economy was suffering from a GDP decline of -9.1%. For the first six months of 2021, OFW remittances grew at an average of 6%. As the whole world recovers, the demand for Filipino workers in the developed countries, especially for health workers and caregivers as well as service workers in the hospitality business will surely grow even more. Furthermore, the young and growing population (already at the 110 million level in 2020 and growing) will be a strong basis for high growth, considering that domestic consumption accounts for more than 70% of GDP. The Philippines, like China and Indonesia, will increasingly depend on the domestic market for its high growth in GDP, not on exports.

In addition to the very positive assessment of Oxford Economics about the long-term economic prospects of the Philippines, another think tank from the United Kingdom, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), also presented the Philippines in a very good light as late as December 2020 (when COVID-19 was also raging all over the world). In a world economic forecast for 193 countries all the way to the year 2035, the CEBR foresaw the Philippines improving by 10 positions in the ranking in the World Economic League Table. Ranked 32 in 2020, the Philippines was forecast to rank 22 in 2035, one of the most improved among the 193 countries included in the study. CEBR forecasts that over the next five years, the annual rate of GDP growth is set to rise to an average of 6.7%. Between 2026 and 2035, CEBR forecasts that the average rate of GDP growth will dip slightly to 6.5% annually. Over the next 15 years, the think tank forecasts that the Philippines will move swiftly up the World Economic League Table rankings, from 32nd position in 2020 to 22nd in 2035. Here again, we have a completely independent institution issuing an optimistic long-term forecast about the Philippine economy.

The longest-term forecast made in recent times was that of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC), issued on January 11, 2012, almost at the same time when Ruchir Sharma included the Philippines among the breakout nations. In a forecast all the way to 2050, the Philippines was singled out as the third among the countries that will deliver the fastest growth in GDP after China and India. In a review of the Report that appeared in this paper dated Nov. 25, 2014, the Philippine economy was projected to be the 16th biggest by 2050, surpassing such powerful economies as Australia, Indonesia, Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand, the Netherlands, Poland, Iran, Switzerland and Pakistan. Among the top 30 countries included in the forecast, the Philippines would register the largest improvement from 2012 to 2050, an impressive +27 jump in ranking.

The country’s exports are projected by HSBC to grow fivefold by 2050, on the assumption of a growth trajectory that remains among the highest in Asia, and enhanced by regional integration. Like the rest of the countries in the Asia Pacific region, the Philippines will benefit from such agreements as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that guarantees that the 15 economies in the RCEP will continue to be open to one another in trade and investment, avoiding the anti-globalization trends that have been observed in some advanced countries such as the America First focus of the US and Brexit of the UK. An opportunity for the Philippines, as well as the other nine members of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is what HSBC sees in the share of intra-Asian exports expanding to 27% of the global total from 17% in 2012, based on “nimble networks of multinationals that create their own specialized value chains” that will also raise levels of prosperity in the countries in which they operate. The expansion in trade to 2050 will represent a “third wave” of globalization, following similar growth surges in the decades before 1913 and the post-World War II period. This makes it imperative for the Philippines to improve the ease of doing business so that it can compete with other ASEAN economies like Vietnam and Indonesia in attracting the factories leaving China to locate in the Philippines.

The HSBC report said that in the Philippines, “investment in infrastructure, such as ports, airports and better road networks will push down prices. There have also been changes in policies such as the rent amendments to the Cabotage law. Definitely there will be big improvements in the movement of products and people as the infrastructure and trade environment improves.” The report also added that one of the mainstays of the Philippine economy, the business process outsourcing industry, will continue to surf the demographic wave “as Filipinos are one of the youngest (median age is 24) in this part of the globe —coupled with improving literacy.”

In many ways, as we have observed in the first articles in this series, what the HSBC prognosticated about the Philippines, actually were accomplished during the past five years of the Duterte Administration, especially those pertaining to the significant improvement in infrastructures through the Build, Build, Build program. What still needs to be done is to reduce restrictions against foreign direct investments that may still be delivered before the end of the present Administration through the three pending bills in Congress, i.e., the Public Utility Act, Retail Trade Liberalization, and the Foreign Investment Act. As a member of the Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Philippine Constitution, I am still hopeful that in the next Administration, the Philippine Congress can still amend the restrictive provisions in our Constitution against FDIs, especially in telecommunications, media, advertising, and higher education. n

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

Bayanihan in business: Why corporations should collaborate with startups

IT IS NO SECRET that the COVID-19 pandemic has made business unusual. Whether in large companies or startups, there is a struggle to remain fully operational amidst the decreased market demand for products and services. During the pandemic, enterprises were surviving and not thriving. With COVID-19 cases rising once again as new variants spread, pushing the government to tighten restrictions even further, how long can business owners endure this seemingly endless cycle?

No one is in the same boat. Large companies have the capital and the market access to get by. However, it may still be a challenge for these large, often traditional corporations, to innovate their products and services. On the other hand, startups, while inherently innovative, lack the resources to reach markets and access investments to scale. This presents an opportunity for corporations and startups to work together.

I have experienced this firsthand. We founded a tech startup in 2014 to provide big data recommendation services to e-commerce websites. We provide cost-effective, turn-key solutions that enable our clients to engage their target market and maximize business. Since then, we have had the opportunity to partner with large companies and learn from them.

The corporation-startup partnership phenomenon is not exactly a new idea. It’s one of the best practices for businesses in the United States and Europe. Take the Pfizer vaccine for example, not everyone may be aware of the partnership between big pharma Pfizer and German startup BioNTech. It began in 2018 when the two teamed up to develop mRNA-based vaccines for the flu. The startup brought their technical expertise to the table, while the seasoned pharma brought their years of experience developing and delivering vaccines. Their partnership proved to be successful as we see their COVID-19 vaccine rolling out across the world.

Coca-Cola is another large company that partnered with two startup entrepreneurs in the US to co-create an on-demand stocking platform. They partnered with Wonolo to streamline their restocking processes, enabling the consumer packaged goods company to reduce their losses by billions of dollars. Wonolo, on the other hand, raised $5.7 million in their Series A round.

In the Philippines, we have yet to see more of these stories, although the idea is not alien. Unionbank of the Philippines, for one, has worked with Singapore-based startup GoBear and Indonesia-based Brankas.

In my experience, collaborating with large companies allows us to look at a problem through a different lens. At one point, we realized that our services were not scalable nor defensible. Our market size was quite limited, and revenue growth was non-existent since our clients were only interested in paying a fixed monthly fee. Our services were not defensible since our technology is based on open-source software that other tech-savvy companies can replicate. Luckily, one client came to us one day and asked if we could provide a rewards feature in their future product release. It was a lightbulb moment that led us to pitch the idea to banks and potential investors quickly. In a few weeks, we got commitments, and suddenly our startup had a clear direction to scale. This experience made me realize as an entrepreneur the value of collaborating with large companies. Our startup found a better problem to solve and grew at a faster rate.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) also observed these benefits in corporation-startup partnerships in Europe. WEF published a white paper in 2018 highlighting how these partnerships enabled corporations to access external innovations. Companies became more open to an entrepreneurial and agile culture that allowed them to stay on top of market developments and discover new revenue streams. On the other hand, startups gained market knowledge and mentoring, access to proprietary assets, and, most importantly, investment opportunities.

Most startups will not have the collaboration opportunity I described; I believe we need a bridge to make it happen. PhilDev Foundation, our non-profit which supports Filipino startups, recently announced the JumpStart Program, and we are looking for companies who are interested in pioneering this collaboration opportunity in the country. Honestly, if my startup had access to a program like this, we could have saved a lot of time.

My experience is just one story. I am excited to see more Filipino startups growing and thriving. During these uncertain times, bayanihan is crucial. Beyond competition is a call for collaboration. Large Filipino companies should work with Filipino startups; Filipinos should help Filipinos.

JumpStart is PhilDev’s platform for collaboration between companies and tech startups to create market-ready innovative science and technology products and services for Philippine economic growth. Learn more about the program through www.phildev.org.

 

Dr. Eric Tomacruz is the Founder and CEO of FindShare, a white-labeled cashback and rewards program platform provider in the Philippines that leverages big data analytics. Dr. Tomacruz also sits as the Executive Vice-Chairman of PhilDev Foundation.

We need transparency and accountability

PIKISUPERSTAR-FREEPIK

The pandemic continues to devastate our population and economy. Government response leaves much to be desired. This is where we are at during this budget season, when, more than ever, accountability and performance should be at the top of our minds.

As Congress deliberates on the next national budget, we must bear in mind the findings and recommendations of the Commission on Audit (CoA) in its annual audit reports on various government agencies, in pursuance of its constitutional mandate.

The budget process in itself should represent the fiscal responsibility of the whole government in the distribution and allocation of the national budget. But the gargantuan amount allocated for Bayanihan I and II and post-Bayanihan II, as well as the mounting national debt, highlight the urgent need to investigate corruption allegations in the COVID-19 response.

Now, more than ever, we demand transparent and accountable governance.

The ongoing budget deliberations should capitalize on the CoA findings to compel all national agencies and offices to be transparent and accountable in the disbursement of the country’s resources. It is a big disservice for the Filipinos to see that the resources allocated for the pandemic response measures are unspent, going to waste, or unaccounted for.

The CoA findings of poor fund utilization should prompt a comprehensive investigation by Congress through the built-in oversight mechanisms. By and large, institutional oversight is far more reliable and extensive than the personal oversight being broadcast by the leaders of this administration.

Such institutional oversight is being undertaken by the Blue Ribbon Committee or the Senate Committee on Accountability of Officers and Investigations. Its ongoing investigation of the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. and its executives demonstrates three things. First, the democratic spirit of “checks and balances” is being upheld. Second, the growing impunity of public officials and government friends and allies is now being exposed. And, third, the interest of Filipino workers, consumers, and tax-paying public is being upheld against dubious and politically connected foreign suppliers.

Thus, unlike the Executive branch, the Senate is doing a great service to the Filipino people.

There are more mind-boggling facts revealed by an evaluation of the 2020 Audited Financial Statements of Pharmally, conducted by certified public accountants Jahleel-AN A. Burao and John Michael T. Lava in partnership with the Citizens’ Budget Tracker and Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition.

Their publication, entitled Pharmally: Financial Statements Analysis, lists five “high-risk” observations and one “medium-risk” observation relative to the contracts awarded to the company by the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) that are worth looking into.

The risky or unsafe financial status of Pharmally, which can render all COVID-19 contracts that it has been awarded void ab initio, is indicated in the following observations: “Potential under-declaration of input VAT related to purchases amounting to P402.2-M; insufficient contracting capacity; insufficient disclosures and details for donations that were declared as fully deductible expenses; missing and incomplete material disclosures in the 2020 Financial Statements; sources of interest expense and foreign exchange gains/losses are not presented and disclosed; and reported amounts cannot be matched in the disclosures.”

This independent analysis urged Pharmally to release a copy of its monthly and/or quarterly VAT returns, disclose the sources of funding to shore up the needed capital for contract requirements, provide sufficient and competent documentation regarding donations, provide sufficient disclosures in its financial statements, and present the reconciliation between the subsidiary and general ledgers.

With these observations, we are led to ask: Should this brazen act of negligence and non-compliance be overlooked by virtue of the overbearing pandemic “emergency powers”?

Another crucial factor is the rising debt of the National Government, which, by the end of 2022, is expected to reach P13.42 trillion. The government must be held accountable for the loans it has amassed under the justification of the pandemic crisis because it is the Filipino people who must pay up for these loans in the form of both progressive (direct) and regressive (indirect) taxes. This will be a burden to an already-battered citizenry and will extend beyond many political cycles.

The call for transparent and accountable governance is further emphasized by the growing clamor for this administration to aptly address national issues and concerns. The latest national surveys of Pulse Asia reveal the deteriorating performance rating of this administration in addressing select national issues.

The latest Social Weather Stations surveys, on the other hand, reflect the continuing hardships of the population in terms of hunger, adult joblessness, quality of life, and poverty. These should serve as the impetus for government to shape up and ensure the efficient and judicious use of the resources entrusted to them by the people.

Congress will soon deliberate on a record-breaking national budget that is supposed to allocate enough resources that will address the health and economic crisis. We must demand complete visibility and reckoning of performance. Disruptions brought by the pandemic is a tired excuse that we should no longer tolerate. We need responsive performance and good governance.

Filipinos do not need political rhetoric. We will not be swayed by words anymore.

 

Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit is the President of the Stratbase ADR Institute.

COVID is on its way to becoming just another virus

FREEPIK

IN THE DAYS before COVID, I’d often get frustrated by the response that doctors would give when I turned up at their clinics with some infection or other: “It’s just a virus,” they’d say.

As someone who’s long been fascinated by the detective work that goes into tracing the origins and history of infections*, the answer always seemed too perfunctory. Which virus was it? Where and when did this strain emerge? How many other people were getting infected with this same variant this year?

Those questions aren’t of much relevance to most general practitioners, because the majority of viruses simply burn themselves out as part of the teeming backdrop of endemic infections that roll around the globe each year. At some point, with rising immunity from vaccinations, infections, and booster shots, COVID-19 will join that club.

Early last year, the world urgently needed to raise its sense of alarm around the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and see it as the imminent threat it was rather than a more routine infection on a par with influenza. Right now, though, the vaccinated parts of the planet need to mentally send themselves in the opposite direction. It’s time to remind ourselves that, for those who’ve been inoculated, COVID-19 is no longer a horseman of the apocalypse but instead is gradually becoming “just a virus.”

That’s broadly the place that some of the countries that have advanced furthest in their vaccination programs are reaching. In Singapore, where 81% are fully immunized, the Ministry of Health has started prioritizing data on hospitalizations rather than infections, since the vast majority of cases are now relatively benign. Israel is riding out a surge in new cases without returning to lockdowns for the vaccinated, since the vast majority of infections no longer result in serious illness.

The calls from some quarters to stop publishing daily case totals may be premature for a disease that’s still killing thousands of people a day. At some point, though, when COVID has passed from its current pandemic status to the endemic situation where it fades into the background, we’re likely to be as vague on daily or even annual case numbers as we are in the case of influenza.

It’s hard to believe that an infection that’s killed more than 4.5 million people could be thought of in such a routine way, but viruses through history have flipped between endemic and pandemic status with remarkable frequency.

The Russian Flu pandemic which circled the world in the late 1970s appears to have been an unremarkable seasonal flu strain from the 1940s and 1950s, possibly released to the world anew via a laboratory accident. People over the age of 25, who’d been exposed to the variant in their childhood, were largely immune. Yellow fever, which shaped the history of the Americas for four centuries through its devastating effects on expeditionary military forces who lacked immunity, has now largely vanished from urban areas of the western hemisphere, while remaining a devastating infection in sub-Saharan Africa.

A July study in the journal Microbial Biotechnology even presented an argument that a coronavirus strain called HCoV-OC43 might have been responsible for an 1889 outbreak also known as the Russian Flu, arguably the first true modern global pandemic. That particular strain now crops up as one of the main causes of the common cold, a classic example of an endemic infection that doctors safely dismiss.

We’re not at that stage yet. Fully vaccinated, I feel relatively sanguine about the likelihood that at some point in the years ahead I, too, will be exposed to COVID-19. Still, fully inoculated friends who recently moved from Sydney to New York and caught the virus within weeks of arrival have suffered a vicious infection that spread to their unvaccinated preteen son. That’s reason to keep treating this disease with respect, at least until everyone has had the chance to be vaccinated and we have a clearer sense of how long protection against severe infection persists.

This terrible scourge will always be with us, but in a milder, less troubling form. After the trauma of the past two years, it’s hard to believe that we’ll ever look upon that prospect with a sense of equanimity — but that’s what must ultimately happen. The moment we’ve beaten COVID won’t be when we eradicate it from the human population, but when we’ve reached a level of vaccinated and natural immunity where we no longer have reason to fear it. That moment will come — and when it does, even this dreadful infection will be just another virus.

*For those with similar interests, The Origins of AIDS by Jacques Pepin, Epidemics and Society by Frank M. Snowden, and Mosquito Empires by John Robert McNeill are well worth reading.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Workers’ rights in the gig economy

The gig economy involves work done in digital labor platforms which includes both web-based platforms, where work is outsourced through an open call to a geographically dispersed crowd (crowdwork), and through location-based apps (work on-demand via apps) which allocate work to individuals in a specific geographic area. (https://nwpc.dole.gov.ph/publications/gig-economy/) Simply put, it concerns temporary technology-based work involving independent contractors or freelancers. This includes individuals who work as computer programmers, social media managers, graphic designers, virtual assistants, and other similar jobs where individuals offer their services to foreign clients. This also includes ridesharing drivers and delivery riders who offer their services through apps.

Even prior to the pandemic, the Philippines already had a thriving gig economy. For some, this was an opportunity to work with increased flexibility, the opportunity to determine their hours of work, preferred rates, and not having any bosses constantly supervising them. When the pandemic forced employers to downsize and retrench employees, some of the displaced workers turned to the gig economy for their means of livelihood.

While flexibility may be a key characteristic of the gig economy, some gig workers would still prefer the stability and benefits usually associated with traditional employment. This is especially true for those who were constrained to turn to the gig economy and perform services that are more physical in nature such as delivery riders. Unfortunately for them, most gig workers are engaged as independent contractors and are not legally entitled to the mandatory statutory benefits to which employees are entitled. Instead, they are compensated based on the contract between the independent contractor and the principal or hiring party.

Ideally, an independent contractor and the hiring party would negotiate the compensation for the work performed. However, this is not true for all gig workers. Some hiring parties have their own fee structures which they impose on their independent contractors and can adjust at their own discretion. In fact, a disagreement in the fee structure was the cause of a rift between some food delivery riders in Davao City and a food delivery platform. This caused the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to examine the practices implemented by the food delivery platform, and eventually issue Labor Advisory No. 14 Series of 2021, entitled “Working Conditions of Delivery Riders in Food Delivery and Courier Activities” (LA 14-21).

In LA 14-21, the DoLE did not determine whether the delivery riders are employees of the hiring party or digital platform company. Instead, the DoLE declared that the Four-fold test, Economic Reality test, and Independent Contractor test must be applied to determine whether the gig worker is truly an independent contractor or an employee in the eyes of the law.

The “control test” is common to the three tests since it is the most important index of the existence of the employer-employee relationship, that is, whether the employer controls or has reserved the right to control the employee not only as to the result of the work to be done but also as to the means and methods by which the same is to be accomplished. (Pacific Consultants International Asia, Inc. v. Schonfeld, G.R. No. 166920, Feb. 19, 2007) Stated differently, there is no employer-employee relationship between the parties if the power to control the worker with respect to the means and methods of accomplishing his work is absent.

Understandably, the DoLE did not declare that all delivery riders and/or gig workers are employees since their status must be determined on a case-to-case basis. Nevertheless, some gig workers do not feel like they have control over anything. They feel like the course of their day is totally determined by the hiring party through the digital application.

Since the DoLE can only carry out and enforce laws, it cannot interfere in situations where there is no employer-employee relationship, which is the case with most gig workers who are considered independent contractors. To be treated as employees, the gig workers must seek the intervention of labor tribunals which may evaluate their circumstances and declare the existence of an employee relationship. This will give them the right to be entitled to all mandatory benefits provided by law.

Another possible recourse would be to lobby Congress to pass a law which is favorable to gig workers. In this regard, the House of Representatives recently passed House Bill No. 8817 or the “Freelance Workers Protection Act.” If passed into law, a written contract between the freelancers and the hiring party will be required and the freelancers shall be entitled to a night shift differential and hazard pay. A counterpart bill is pending at the Senate for approval.

Of course, any regulation and/or legislation may have a necessary effect on the opportunities offered by hiring parties to the workers in the country. It must be considered that some of them outsource work because of the low costs involved. We would not want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

While the world continues to address the health and economic effects of COVID-19, our government continues to strive for means to address unemployment. While the gig economy may be one of the solutions, this needs to be examined and regulated for it to be a viable solution for all parties and the government.

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.

 

Martin Luigi Samson is a Senior Associate of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW), Davao Branch.

(6382) 224-0996

mgsamson@accralaw.com

Climate change may push 216M people to migrate — World Bank

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS
PEOPLE walk through a flooded cemetery in Masantol, Pampanga, Oct. 25, 2020. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

WASHINGTON — Without immediate action to combat climate change, rising sea levels, water scarcity and declining crop productivity could force 216 million people to migrate within their own countries by 2050, the World Bank said in a new report on Monday.

The report, Groundswell 2.0, modeled the impacts of climate change on six regions, concluding that climate migration “hotspots” will emerge as soon as 2030 and intensify by 2050, hitting the poorest parts of the world hardest.

Sub-Saharan Africa alone would account for 86 million of the internal migrants, with 19 million more in North Africa, the report showed, while 40 million migrants were expected in South Asia and 49 million in East Asia and the Pacific.

Such movements will put significant stress on both sending and receiving areas, straining cities and urban centers and jeopardizing development gains, the report said.

For instance, sea-level rise threatens rice production, aquaculture and fisheries, which could create an out-migration hotspot in Vietnam’s low-lying Mekong Delta. But the Red River Delta and central coast region, where those people are likely to flee, face their own threats, including severe storms.

Conflicts and health and economic crises such as those unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic could compound the situation, the bank said. And the number of climate migrants could be much higher since the report does not cover most high-income countries, countries in the Middle East and small island states, or migration to other countries.

The report’s authors say their findings should be seen as an urgent call to regional and national governments and the global community to act now to reduce greenhouse gases, close development gaps and restore ecosystems. Doing so, they said, could reduce that migration number by 80% to 44 million people.

“We’re already locked into a certain amount of warming, so climate migration is a reality,” said Kanta Kumari Rigaud, the bank’s lead environment specialist and one of the report’s co-authors. “We have to reduce or cut our greenhouse gases to meet the Paris target, because those climate impacts are going to escalate and increase the scale of climate migration.” — Reuters

COVID-19 vaccine boosters not widely needed – scientists

REUTERS

WASHINGTON — Additional COVID-19 vaccine booster shots are not needed for the general population, leading scientists including two departing senior US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials and several from the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an article published in a medical journal on Monday.

The scientists said more evidence was needed to justify boosters. That view disagrees with US government plans to begin offering another round of shots to many fully vaccinated Americans as soon as next week, contingent on approval from health regulators.

As COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant of the virus rise, President Joseph R. Biden’s administration is concerned that infections among those already vaccinated are a sign that their protection is waning and has pushed boosters as a way to rebuild immunity.

The WHO has argued that the vaccines are still needed for first doses around the globe. “Any decisions about the need for boosting or timing of boosting should be based on careful analyses of adequately controled clinical or epidemiological data, or both, indicating a persistent and meaningful reduction in severe disease,” the scientists wrote in the Lancet medical journal.

The risk-benefit evaluation should consider the number of severe COVID-19 cases that boosting would be expected to prevent, and whether it is safe and effective against the current variants, they said.

“Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high,” the scientists wrote.

Some countries have begun COVID-19 booster campaigns, including Israel, providing some of the data on which the Biden administration has made its case for additional shots.

The article’s authors included the FDA Office of Vaccines Research and Review Director Marion Gruber and Deputy Director Phil Krause, both of whom plan to leave the agency in the next several months.

They acknowledged that some individuals, such as those who are immunocompromised, could benefit from an additional dose.

Broader use of boosters may be needed in the future if there is waning immunity to the primary vaccination or if new variants evolve so that the vaccines no longer protect against the virus, they said.

Boosters could also prove risky if introduced too soon or too frequently, the scientists wrote.

A panel of experts that advises the FDA on vaccines plans to meet on Sept. 17 to discuss additional doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, the first step in a wider booster roll-out.

The article’s authors included WHO top scientists Soumya Swaminathan, Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo and Mike Ryan.

“Current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations,” the authors wrote. — Reuters

Grab cuts full-year outlook on worsening virus outbreak

GRAB HOLDINGS, INC., Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and delivery giant, cut projections for 2021 as the region is battling one of the world’s worst Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) outbreaks due to the fast-spreading Delta variant.

The Singapore-based company, which is set to go public in the US through a deal with a blank-check company, expects full-year adjusted net sales of $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion, according to a statement Tuesday. That compares with $2.3 billion it forecast in an investor presentation in April. Grab also expects full-year gross merchandise value of $15 billion to $15.5 billion, compared with an earlier projection of $16.7 billion.

“The Delta variant has unfortunately hit the region hard,” Chief Executive Anthony Tan said during the company’s earnings call on Tuesday. “Southeast Asia now has the world’s highest COVID mortality rate per capita and lockdown measures are still in place across major cities in the region.” In Vietnam, even food delivery services are being restricted, affecting Grab’s business, he said.

With infections rising as the more contagious delta variant of COVID spreads, many parts of Southeast Asia, home to 650 million people, have reimposed curbs on movement that hamper consumer-reliant economies. Lockdowns have devastated businesses and dealt a setback to the region’s middle class. In July, the Asian Development Bank downgraded its Southeast Asian growth forecast to 4% from 4.4%.

During the second quarter, Grab’s net loss widened to $815 million from $718 million a year earlier. Revenue more than doubled to $180 million.

Grab reported its second quarterly financial results as it prepares to merge with Altimeter Growth Gorp., the special purpose acquisition company of Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital Management. Grab has postponed the $40-billion deal — one of the largest-ever mergers with a SPAC — to the fourth quarter as it works on an audit of the past three years’ accounts.

Grab reiterated on Tuesday the merger is set to close this year. “We remain on track to becoming a publicly listed company and to complete our business merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. in the fourth quarter of this year,” Chief Financial Officer Peter Oey said during the call. — Bloomberg

Raducanu can become one of world’s most marketable athletes

RADUCANU’S mixed Romanian-Chinese heritage, a stunning game, and engaging personality make her “brand gold” according to one sports marketing expert. — REUTERS

LONDON — Emma Raducanu’s astonishing US Open triumph could lead to a pot of gold worth around £20 million ($27.7 million) over the next two years and that may be just the start, according to sports marketing experts.

The 18-year-old Briton was almost unheard before reaching the fourth round at this year’s Wimbledon, having earned around $40,000 since her senior debut three years ago.

After becoming Britain’s first female Grand Slam champion for 44 years and the new golden girl of women’s tennis, Raducanu’s earning potential is set to enter the stratosphere.

The $2.5 million she picked up in prize money for beating fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez in a final that captivated the sporting world may soon seem like loose change.

Raducanu’s mixed Romanian-Chinese heritage, a stunning game, and engaging personality make her “brand gold” according to one sports marketing expert.

She is already a cover girl for British Vogue’s October edition and major global brands in everything from fashion to cars and jewellery will be queuing at the doors of IMG, her management company.

“There is no limit in what she can achieve on the court,” Tim Lopez, director at sports marketing firm CSM, told Reuters on Monday.

“She’s hugely in demand already, but to follow that up with continued success in the majors in tennis will see her rapidly become one of the most marketable athletes on the planet.”

With its global reach and equal exposure, tennis offers a road to riches for top female players with Japan’s Naomi Osaka earning $55 million, not including prize money, in the past year, according to Forbes magazine.

Of the world’s 10 highest-paid sportswomen, nine are tennis players.

Lopez says Raducanu, whose mother Renee is Chinese, shares the same marketing appeal as four-times Grand Slam champion Osaka whose mother is Japanese and father is Haitian.

“If you use that as a yardstick not just because of their career trajectory, but also their shared appeal and that they are both engaging and from mixed heritage backgrounds,” he said.

“That’s a huge benefit from a brand perspective, from an eyeballs point of view there is no bigger market to tap into.”

CLOTHING BRANDS
Raducanu’s rise from obscurity to having her face plastered on Times Square billboards will have the sports clothing brands vying for her signature. After Osaka won back-to-back Grand Slam titles in 2018 and 2019, Nike reportedly paid $10 million to take her from rivals Adidas.

Raducanu’s appeal goes beyond the court, according to Conrad Wiacek, head of sport analysis at GlobalData.

“Her victory takes her way beyond tennis and sport in terms of marketability,” he told Reuters.

“One of the most impressive things for me was her message in Mandarin for the Chinese audience because the major issue western sports stars have in breaking China is the language barrier.

“The sky is the limit as any western brand positioning itself in China would be looking at her as an ambassador.”

Wiacek expects Raducanu’s Nike sponsorship deal to be raised significantly and other endorsements will earn her about $10 million over the next two years.

“With her Chinese and eastern Europe heritage as well as Britain, that puts her in a different stratosphere to other athletes,” he said. “I’ve seen it being thrown around that she’s a potential billion dollar athlete. That’s a long way away.

“That’s based on consistency, but just on the next 12 months, I would say $5 million would be a realistic number. Ultimately, the barometer for how commercially successful she will be will depend on how successful she is on the tennis court.”

Raducanu is represented by super-agent Max Eisenbud who helped turn Russian Maria Sharapova into the highest-earning female athlete after she won Wimbledon aged 18, with off-court career earnings of around $320.

However, the pitfalls in professional tennis are numerous with Osaka, another IMG athlete, struggling to cope with the sudden fame and fortune.

Lopez says striking the right balance between on-court and off-court activities will be a key factor in Raducanu achieving her full potential.

“People need to give the girl a chance to consolidate what she’s done and not to heap too much pressure on too soon,” he said.

“Focus on the mental well-being, then the sporting well-being and the financial rewards will certainly follow.” — Reuters

All 12 competing PBA teams to play this week

AFTER being held out last week because of the PBA health and safety protocols, the Meralco Bolts and Alaska Aces return to competition this week. — PBA IMAGES

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

AFTER two consecutive weeks of not having a full complement of 12 teams playing because of the league’s health and safety protocols, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) will have all the squads seeing action when proceedings resume on Wednesday.

The Meralco Bolts and Alaska Aces return to competition after being held out last week because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) concerns in the “semi-bubble” tournament being held in Bacolor, Pampanga.

Prior to that, the Northport Batang Pier had to sit out the opening week of the Philippine Cup when the league resumed on Sept. 1, after a month-long stoppage, also in accordance with protocols.

On tap on Wednesday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University (DHVSU) Gym are the games between league-leading TnT Tropang Giga (8-1) against the streaking Northport (4-3) at 3 p.m., followed by the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters (4-5) versus defending champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings (3-5) at 6 p.m.

Meralco (5-2), currently at second place, will play two matches, first against Terrafirma Dyip (3-6) on Thursday at 2 p.m. then on Saturday versus winless Blackwater Bossing (0-9) also at 2 p.m.

The Aces, meanwhile, will have it packed, playing three straight from Friday to Sunday. Alaska takes on Barangay Ginebra (Sept. 17), TnT (Sept. 18) and Terrafirma (Sept. 19).

The San Miguel Beermen (5-3) and Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok (6-3) will have two matches, with the NLEX Road Warriors (4-5) and the Rain or Shine Elastopainters (6-4) playing a game each.

The PBA Philippine Cup is now in the final stretch of the elimination round where only the top eight advance to the playoffs.

In the quarterfinals, the top two teams will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage over the number eight and seven teams while teams #3 and #6 and #4 and #5 battling in a pair of best-of-three series.   

BOLICK PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Meanwhile, Northport’s Robert Bolick was named PBA player of the week for the period of Sept. 8 to 12.

The do-it-all guard out of San Beda University helped his team go 3-0 in said stretch while averaging 19.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists.

Northport currently sits at solo sixth place with a record of 4-3 and four games to play in the elimination round.

Mr. Bolick capped his team’s unbeaten run by matching his career-high 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field in a 96-94 victory over the Road Warriors on Sept. 12.

In winning the award, given by media who covers the PBA, he beat out Northport teammate Jamie Malonzo, TnT rookie Mikey Williams, the Phoenix duo of Jason Perkins and Matthew Wright, San Miguel’s Terrence Romeo and Marcio Lassiter, and Rain or Shine’s Javee Mocon and rookie Leonard Santillan.

National women’s football team set for Asian Cup Qualifiers

THE Philippine Football Federation has named the members of the national women’s football team seeing action in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 Qualifiers which will begin later this week. — PFF

THE Philippine national women’s football team is ready to compete in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 Qualifiers, with the composition of the squad officially announced by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) this week.

Twenty-two players were called up for national team duty in the qualifiers. The country begins its campaign on Sept 18 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Philippines, ranked 68th in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Rankings, is in Group F, along with Nepal and Hong Kong, which are ranked 101st and 78th, respectively.

Named team captain of the Malditas, as the women’s team is collectively known, is goalkeeper Inna Palacios, with defender Hali Long serving as co-captain.

Also part of the team are goalkeepers Olivia Davies McDaniel and Isabelle Mapanao; defenders Ryley Bugay, Sofia Harrison, Chelo Hodges, Tara Shelton and Patricia Tomanon; and midfielders Tahnai Annis, Sara Castañeda, Anicka Castañeda, Malea Cesar, Charisa Lemoran, Rocelle Mendano, Jessica Miclat, Camille Rodrigue, Alyssa Ube and Camille Wilson.

Completing the squad are forwards Alisha Del Campo, Arianna Lepage and Chandler McDaniel.

The head coach is Marlon Maro and assisted by Michael Agbayani, Jose Maria Aberasturi, Marlon Piñero, Anthony Albao, and Rose Ton Bariñan.

PFF Women’s Committee co-chairperson Jefferson Cheng is the team manager.

The Malditas play Nepal on Sept. 18 at the JAR Stadium in Tashkent then take on Hong Kong on Sept. 24.

In the lead-up, the PFF said the team conducted online training sessions early this year before going to camp in California from Aug. 4 to Sept. 11.

The team, which is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and MVP Sports Foundation, departed for Uzbekistan on Sunday.

Qualifying phase format has the top teams in each of the eight groupings advancing to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, joining defending champion Japan and other automatic qualifiers Australia (2018 runner-up), China (third place), and host India.

The quadrennial Asia AFC Women’s Asian Cup is set for Jan. 20-Feb. 6, 2022. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

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