Japan dissolves parliament, setting stage for general election

October 14, 2021 | 3:28 pm

By Antoni Slodkowski

TOKYO, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Japan dissolved its parliament on Thursday, setting the stage for an election at the end of the month that will pit new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida against unpopular opposition in a battle over who can better fix the pandemic-battered economy.

Kishida enjoys reasonable public support 11 days into the job, polls show, boding well for his goal of maintaining a lower house majority for his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its Komeito party coalition partner.

“I want to use the election to tell the people what we’re trying to do and what we’re aiming for,” Kishida told reporters gathered at his office.

Reflecting on the last 11 days, Kishida said: “I’ve had a very busy schedule but strangely, I’m not feeling tired — I’m feeling fulfilled.”

Voters will want to see a government with plans for decisive action to end the pandemic and rebuild the economy. A recent Sankei newspaper poll showed that about 48% say they want the Kishida administration to work on coronavirus most, followed by economic recovery and employment.

Kishida’s party is promoting his push for coronavirus measures including supplying oral antiviral medication this year, as well as his vision of realising a “new capitalism” that focuses on economic growth and redistribution of wealth.

The ruling party has also called for a sharp increase https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/with-an-eye-china-japans-ruling-party-makes-unprecedented-defence-spending-2021-10-13 in defence spending to acquire the capability to destroy ballistic missiles, amid China’s increasingly assertive posture over Taiwan.

The largest opposition party https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/main-parties-contesting-japans-lower-house-poll-2021-10-07, the Constitutional Democrats (CDPJ), led by Yukio Edano, has highlighted issues https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-politics/japans-largest-opposition-party-focuses-on-human-rights-in-party-platform-idUSKBN2H30MO?edition-redirect=in such as its support for same-sex marriage and different surnames for couples.

The LDP remains socially conservative https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-shadow-shogun-abe-assured-clout-over-next-pm-kishida-2021-09-30 and, while progress has been made on LGBTQ rights in society, Kishida has said he was not in favour of same-sex marriage.

The biggest challenge for Constitutional Democrats is their low support ratings. A recent poll by the Asahi Shimbun daily found only 13% were planning to vote for them, far behind the LDP’s 47%; most other polls record support in the single digits.

Also, Kishida’s focus on redistribution and economic growth has blurred policy differences between the LDP and CDPJ.

Edano said his party, if it were to take power, would go straight to wealth distribution to kickstart growth.

“‘Wage hikes and distribution once growth is achieved.’ This is what (former prime minister Shinzo) Abe was saying. But there was no growth over the past eight, nine years and no wage hikes,” Edano told reporters. “If we don’t distribute wealth first, no growth is achieved. This is a rather clear difference (between the two parties).”

Canvassing in many districts is already underway but formally the campaign will kick off on Oct. 19, followed by the vote on Oct. 31. Kishida is expected to hold a news conference Thursday night. – Reuters

U.S. to ship 2.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan

October 14, 2021 | 3:22 pm

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government will ship 2.4 million doses of COVID–19 vaccine to Pakistan on Thursday, bringing the total number of doses sent to the South Asian country to about 18.3 million, more than any other country, a White House official said.

The latest shipments of the vaccine lots made by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, are due to arrive on Saturday via the COVAX distribution program, said the official, who asked to remain unidentified.

Pakistan has administered at least 93.6 million doses so far, according to data compiled by Reuters. Assuming every person needs two doses, that would suffice to have vaccinated about 21.6% of the country’s population.

Previous U.S. shipments of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have gone to Pakistan every month since June.

The shipment is part of an ongoing U.S. vaccine diplomacy effort that has sent vaccines to dozens of countries. – Reuters

Taiwan won’t start a war with China, defence minister says

October 14, 2021 | 3:18 pm

By Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI – Taiwan will not start a war with China but will defend itself “full on”, Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said on Thursday, amid a spike in tensions across the Taiwan Strait that has raised concern internationally. Taiwan, a major semiconductor producer, has repeatedly said it will defend itself if attacked, but that it will not “advance rashly” and wants to maintain the status quo with China.

“What is clearest is that the Republic of China absolutely will not start or set off a war, but if there are movements we will meet the enemy full on,” Chiu told a parliament committee meeting, using Taiwan‘s official name.

Military tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, are at their worst in more than 40 years, Chiu said last week, adding that China will be capable of mounting a “full-scale” invasion by 2025.

He was speaking after China mounted four consecutive days of mass air force incursions into Taiwan‘s air defence identification zone that began on Oct. 1, part of a pattern of what Taipei views as stepped-up military harassment by Beijing.

No shots have been fired and China‘s aircraft have stayed well away from Taiwan‘s airspace, concentrating their activity in the southwestern corner of Taiwan‘s air defence zone.

The ministry, in a report to parliament ahead of Chiu’s appearance before lawmakers, warned China of strong countermeasures if its forces got too close to the island.

Chiu agreed with an assessment from a lawmaker that China‘s abilities were constrained by a limited mid-air refuelling capacity, meaning it has only H-6 bombers and Y-8 anti-submarine and reconnaissance aircraft that have flown into the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines.

Chinese fighters have kept much closer to China‘s coast, according to maps of their activity drawn up by Chiu’s ministry.

“Their aims are on the one hand to pressure Taiwan, and on the other to say to everyone else we have the ability to scare away and obstruct foreign military forces from getting involved,” he said.

China on Wednesday called its military activities a “just” move to protect peace and stability, and again blamed Taiwan‘s “collusion” with foreign forces – a veiled reference to the United States – for sowing the tension.

China‘s Washington embassy on Wednesday said it had complained to the U.S. government about a meeting between Taiwan‘s de facto ambassador to the country and senior U.S. diplomats, and of the visit of Taiwan‘s army commander, Hsu Yen-pu, to the United States.

“The U.S. should not fantasise (about) seeking China‘s support and cooperation while wantonly challenging China‘s red line on the Taiwan question,” it said.

Speaking earlier in the week, Chiu said Hsu was not in the United States on a secret trip but as part of regular annual exchanges, according to Taiwan‘s official Central News Agency. – Reuters

Better businesses through cleaner energy

October 14, 2021 | 3:00 pm

Geothermal - Unified Leyte Power Plants (Branding Article 2) OL — Geothermal - Unified Leyte Power Plants

First Gen Corporation’s solutions offer industries more sustainable power sources

As the earth continues to tackle climate change amid the ongoing battle against COVID-19, there is a greater call now for sectors and businesses to further consider the use of clean and more sustainable energy to power their workplaces and establishments.

Clean energy, mostly coming from renewable sources, can now be as competitive and as reliable as traditional energy sources with little to no carbon emitted to the environment.

For instance, generating geothermal energy does not produce greenhouse gases since geothermal plants simply use the high temperatures from beneath the earth to do the job. Hydropower does not also create pollution since the energy is just converted from flowing water into electricity. Wind has one of the lowest environmental impacts as it produces zero emissions and saves a lot of water every year. Solar energy, meanwhile, is considered the cleanest and most abundant renewable energy source available.

The clean nature of these sources makes them better suited to power an organization’s operations. Businesses, in turn, can contribute to lessening emissions and environmental impact without compromising their businesses’ efficiency and productivity.

Such opportunities to tap renewables are opening up for businesses as customers are now looking to support more socially and environmentally responsible companies.

With this, First Gen Corporation (First Gen) find that more and more businesses are now looking into getting power from clean and renewable sources.

“If businesses want to cater to this growing market, then they need to be able to say that they comply with environmental practices such as using clean and renewable energy,” Ricky Carandang, Vice President of First Gen, one of the leading providers of clean and renewable power in the Philippines, said in an e-mail.

Some businesses, however, might wonder how they can bring clean energy into their operations. “They can start with learning about where their electricity comes from and researching about potential power source options. This way, they learn more about how they can find the most suitable power source for their businesses,” Mr. Carandang advised.

“With policies having been put in place to allow consumers of electricity to choose their power supplier, businesses now have better opportunities to maximize the benefits of clean energy,” he added.

“If business owners have a small manufacturing facility or a building, and if they consume an average peak demand of 100 kW and above, perhaps it might be worth their time to explore sourcing directly from clean and renewable energy suppliers, because they might find that it can be as affordable and reliable as other traditional energy sources,” Mr. Carandang said.

A partner towards sustainability

Grounded on a purpose of creating symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationships with nature and society, First Gen is committed to power businesses sustainably.

First Gen believes that by providing businesses with efficient and stable clean energy solutions, they are leading the path towards a decarbonized future. Forming these partnerships is seen by the company as a step towards a renewed future that is beneficial for all — businesses, communities, and the environment.

For more than a decade, even before global warming became a mainstream issue, First Gen has been producing clean energy.

In 1997, the firm pioneered the development of natural gas plants which produce cleaner energy than coal-fired power plants. The company currently has four natural gas plants in Batangas, namely the 1,000-megawatt (MW) Santa Rita, 500-MW San Lorenzo, 420-MW San Gabriel, and 97-MW Avion.

Foreseeing the need to shift to renewable energy, even before the current pandemic stressed it further, First Gen Corporation invested in geothermal energy in the mid-2000s. The firm now has the largest portfolio of geothermal plants in the country, including the 130-MW Bacon-Manito plant in Sorsogon and Albay, the 603.7-MW Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plants, and the 103.2-MW Mindanao 1 and 2 plants in North Cotabato.

The company’s natural gas and geothermal power plants complement their renewable assets, such as the 150-MW Burgos Wind Power Project in Ilocos Norte, the largest wind farm in the country to date; hydropower plants like the Pantabangan-Masiway in Nueva Ecija and Agusan Run-of-River in Bukidnon; and solar rooftop projects installed in Iloilo, Leyte, Cebu, and Sorsogon.

Discover more about First Gen’s energy solutions for businesses by visiting www.firstgen.com.ph.

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Eyes forward

October 14, 2021 | 2:53 pm

Transparent-eyeglasses-lying-on-a-laptop — UNSPLASH

By Dr. Noel G. Chua

To fix a pair of eyes, the doctor must be available to the patient and the patient must actively seek help.

Deferred consultations and surgeries increase the backlog of eye services — patients who delay are prone to loss of vision and, consequently, have poor quality of life.

Eye doctors like myself practice mostly in urban centers. For us to successfully conduct missions in geographically isolated areas, we have to hurdle logistical and financial challenges.

First, we need to reach patients, the patients then need to undergo preoperative exams, and finally, we need them to come to the nearest public health facility where the operation is feasible.

There have been significant improvements in medical techniques and technologies over the last three decades but the challenges in service delivery still remain. I witnessed and experienced the evolution of the ophthalmology practice in my 37 years of active service.

Technological advancements in surgical and diagnostic equipment made surgeries and diagnoses faster and simpler. A cataract surgery, for example, used to take one-to-two hours, and the patients were confined to the hospital for about three-to-five days. At present, the surgery takes less than 30 minutes, and outpatients would only need a day to recover. Our laser refractive surgery made people spectacle-free with excellent outcomes.

A combination of effective policy and technology should have closed the gap. But after years of on-ground work, there is a very crucial thing missing: effective advocacy.

For this reason, the National Committee for Sight Preservation (NCSP) intensified the communication work with partners like Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF), Physicians for Peace, Vitreo-Retina Society of the Philippines (VRSP), Philippine Society of Public Health for Occupational Optometry (PSPHOO), EYE hEAR Foundation, other eye health stakeholders, and Novartis Philippines in pushing for quality information on how to actively care for the eyes.

We launched a campaign called Maging MATAlino in August in a bid to teach effective eye care habits, to aid parents in conducting vision screening at home, and to lead patients to facilities where they can access clinical care. All the said actions are meant to start and shorten the “patient’s journey,” from the time symptoms appear to the first contact with a healthcare provider, treatment, and recovery.

NCSP partner organizations had to pivot and make changes from the usual practice to continue vision screening even with the temporary closure of screening sites due to community quarantine restrictions.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have delayed our plans but as a practicing ophthalmologist and public health professional who has labored for the cause since the early 2000s, I say this is not the time to slow down.

The Philippines signed the United Nations Resolution on Vision (#2030InSight) on July 23, days before the NCSP celebrated Sight Saving Month.

For us who have been working in eye health for the last two decades, this was a watershed moment that can positively impact 1.1 billion people globally and about four million Filipinos who have undiagnosed eye problems.

The resolution makes eye health part of and integral to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. For patients, this also means full access to eye care services through their country’s public healthcare system.

Before Bayanihan #2030InSight, NCSP, along with the Department of Health (DoH), civil society, and private sector partners, worked within the Vision 2020 framework, focusing on the people’s “right to sight.”

It outlined the same ambitious goal of eliminating avoidable blindness through cost-effective disease control, human resource development, and technology adaptation. The World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness laid the foundation for Vision 2020 in 1999.

The Vision 2020 framework paved the way for the DoH to develop an administrative order (AO) for the implementation of the National Prevention of Blindness Program (PBP). This resulted in good outcome cataract surgeries, provincial and regional hospitals getting equipped with appropriate technology for surgeries, distribution of eyeglasses, the establishment of refraction centers, and timely intervention for children with visual disabilities. One of our biggest wins was the full coverage of cataract surgeries by Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

In the policy arena, the Philippines did particularly well by establishing all the mechanisms and the funding necessary for the delivery of eye care services — but it does not always mean that things roll out smoothly on the ground.

In celebration of World Sight Day this October, we encourage everyone to start a habit of actively taking care of their eyes. After all, better eye health is a Bayanihan effort among doctors, public health workers, development partners, and, most of all, patients.

Dr. Noel G. Chua is the chair of National Committee for Sight Preservation.

Transforming dreams: The charm of suburban living at SMDC Calm Residences

October 14, 2021 | 2:34 pm

There is an age-old aphorism that everything starts with a dream – your dream of living in a house with a garden, of friendly neighbors and of weekends when you can just happily stroll or bike around the village.

What if you could turn this dream into reality – and something better?

Let SMDC unveil, for dreamers like you, a peaceful, quiet, and worry-free community in a charming setting in the suburbs.

A tranquil development amid the highly progressive city of Sta. Rosa, Laguna, SMDC Calm Residences is an ideal place to raise your growing family. This suburban garden community has made possible your aspiration of a good life for your family, where everyone can live in a community that is safe, convenient and comfortable.

SMDC has become the country’s leader in community-building. Committed to building a nation of homeowners based on the three pillars of sustainability – social, economic, and environmental – SMDC develops not just homes but communities that provide you with your immediate needs while securing the needs of the future generation of homeowners.

A Dream Community in the South

Sta. Rosa’s prime location and well-connected development make Calm Residences a very promising real estate investment. Whether you will be attending a meeting in Manila, hitting the road for a beach in Batangas or trying out a hip cafe in Tagaytay for brunch, Calm Residences will provide easy access to major road networks. These include CALAX going to Cavite or SLEX and Skyway Extension going to the airport and the north.

Imagine living in a dynamic community where work and play are a calming symphony. With top-tier educational institutions such as the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas-Santa Rosa Campus, Xavier School and Brent International School; food manufacturing giants such as Coca Cola and Asia Brewery; along with essential establishments like malls, hospitals, banks, supermarkets and public spaces, living in Calm Residences opens doors to endless opportunities.

Enjoy access to a complete set of amenities and modern facilities, including a conveniently accessible transport hub, the Sta. Rosa Laguna Integrated Bus Terminal in Balibago, perfect for those working in Metro Manila and nearby areas. There’s reliable Wi-Fi for residents working or studying from home. Meanwhile, a safe and secure neighborhood managed 24/7 by SMDC’s professional management team allows you to sleep well at night, knowing that you and your family are in good hands.

A Dream Garden

Lush, greenery-filled haven of pocket gardens and parks that soothe and relax. Landscaped spaces that allow serene nature walks and creative thinking. This is the dream garden that awaits you at SMDC Calm Residences.

Surrounded by the warm, smog-free breeze and clear summer skies, indulge in the cool waters in the resort-style swimming pool. A quick basketball game or a workout in the sports and recreational amenities fosters camaraderie with fellow-residents.

Your dream garden at Calm Residences is a place that allows you to nourish and nurture your body, mind and soul.

A Dream for the Future

You dream of financial stability not just for yourself but especially for your family – passive income for your children’s education, your retirement, rainy days, and extra income so you can fulfill your travel and bucket-list dreams.

With a minimal capital outlay, owning a home at SMDC Calm Residences gets you much closer to your dream. Its ideal location, complete and connected development, resort-style amenities and exceptional management will give rise to high value that will continue to appreciate over time. A solid investment, a legacy that will last a lifetime.

Keep Calm. You are about to live your dream.

For more information on SMDC, visit https://smdc.com.

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Ongoing ISOG virtual cybersecurity summit empowers information security professionals in the new cyber norm

October 14, 2021 | 1:00 pm

The Information Security Officers Group (ISOG) has officially opened the I am Secure 2021: The Great Shift virtual cybersecurity summit.

The full virtual event is part of the grandest and longest cybersecurity awareness campaign in the Philippines that started on Oct. 8 and will run until Nov. 8, 2021. This interactive convention gathers thousands of enablers and decision makers in the field of cybersecurity.

With the theme Securing the New Cyber Norm, the campaign aims to engage, establish, equip, and empower information security professionals with a resilient, and strategic cybersecurity mindset crucial to combat the cyber threats and attacks in the new normal.

“ISOG will once again empower professionals from different industries through a month-long campaign that will help us further strengthen our defenses against evolving cyber threats and intrusions. As guardians of cyberspace, we play a crucial role during this time when industries and individuals are most vulnerable to security risks,” said ISOG President Archie Tolentino.

ISOG, which consists of chief information security officers from different financial institutions, has been organizing cybersecurity summits since 2015.

Cybersecurity talks with augmented staging and presentations

The highlight of this virtual event is a two-day summit on Oct. 13-14, 2021. Hosted by broadcast journalist Pinky Webb, the virtual conference features keynote addresses by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier, and National Privacy Commissioner and Chairman Raymund Liboro. Guest speakers are Bankers Association of the Philippines President Jose Arnulfo Veloso and Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Gregorio Honasan II.

The summit’s plenary and breakout sessions features presentations by global thought leaders from international tech companies. Some of the topics to be discussed are advanced cloud security, zero trust security, artificial intelligence for cybersecurity, mapping security frameworks, and advanced threat analytics.

To make the sessions even more engaging, it comes with an augmented staging production. Participants will also join fun summit activities including a booth exhibition, games, and raffle.

Three-dimensional (3D) digital venue

Aiming for an exciting summit while keeping everyone’s safety in mind, ISOG holds a fully virtual summit through an interactive digital venue. Taking the usual webinar to the next level, this online summit runs through a state-of-the-art and globally awarded virtual venue platform. Participants can enjoy a simulated event summit experience by entering three-dimensional virtual interactive lobby, plenary hall, breakout rooms, exhibition halls, and networking lounge.

“We encourage IT professionals to join this free cybersecurity event. It is an opportunity to learn best cybersecurity practices and strategies for our respective organizations. Let us continue to equip ourselves with new information to fortify cyber resilience,” said ISOG Vice-President and 2021 Summit Chairman Chito Jacinto.

Sponsors of the event are Globe Business, Trends, Cilynx, Huawei, Qualys, BlueVoyant with Microsoft, Trendmicro with Netsec Technologies and VST ECS Phils Inc., CrowdStrike with Exclusive Networks and Imperva, Westcon with Palo Alto Networks, CyCognito, Tanium, MDI-Novare with FireEye, DarkTrace, Guardicore, Fortinet, Netpoleon with Netscout, F5, Nexus with Extrahop, Akamai, Group IB, Blancco, Tenable, Gigamon, Arcon, M-Security with RSA Netwitness, Aptsecure Technologies with Seclore, Everest IMS, Recorded Future, CTI Philippines with Entrust, ITSDI with Stellar Cyber, TIM with V-Key, IPV Network, Solarwinds, Inspira, Infoblox, and Cohesity.

Media partners of I am Secure 2021 are BusinessWorld, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Manila Times, Back End News, blog-ph.com, digi-ph.com, The Code Warrior, and nonoynet.com.

Registration to this virtual event is free of charge. Participants also get a chance to win raffle prizes. Register at www.isog-summit.com.

To know more about I Am Secure 2021: The Great Shift virtual summit, you may send an email to isog2021@gmail.com. For more information on ISOG and cybersecurity in the Philippines, follow ISOG’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ISOGPH, ISOG LinkedIn: (3) ISOG Summit | LinkedIn, ISOG SUMMIT Youtube Channel: (1) ISOG SUMMIT – YouTube.

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BW Insights: Ensuring Resiliency of our Food Systems

October 14, 2021 | 10:43 am

An existing and even worsening issue the world faces during this pandemic is food insecurity. In the country, the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Research Nutrition Institute found out in its rapid nutrition assessment survey last year that more than half of all Filipino families had experienced moderate to severe food insecurity during the crisis. This just stresses the need to ramp up our food systems to make food more accessible across communities and families, and it makes more sense to complement sustainable practices in food to address this important issue.

Join the first part of BusinessWorld Insights’ “Cultivating Sustainability from Farm to Plate” series as experts discuss the topic “Ensuring Resiliency of our Food Systems.”

This session of #BUSINESSWORLDINSIGHTS is made possible by SM Foundation and supported by British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Management Association of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and The Philippine STAR.

Ensuring application availability and performance

October 14, 2021 | 8:30 am

Delivering applications to end-users is the reason why most IT services and infrastructure exists. When people use business IT systems, they will most likely be using an application for some job-related task. In the modern IT landscape, these applications frequently get delivered over the Internet, either as pure web applications or as applications wrapped in a web-based client.

Making sure applications are always available and usable is vital. Application downtime and slowness have real costs in lost sales, poor customer satisfaction, and diminished staff productivity.

Keeping Applications Online and Performant

All servers (whether physical, virtual, or container-based) have occasional issues and periodically need to be taken offline for scheduled maintenance. Deploying multiple servers that can run applications provides redundancy to cope with planned and unplanned outages.

But the reality of application delivery is that you often have multiple applications spread across multiple clouds made up of multiple back-end servers providing services to multiple devices across multiple geographies. The complexity and fluidity of modern SaaS is beyond any scope of manual manageability.

Load balancers, or application delivery controllers (ADC), are designed to automate application delivery in modern infrastructure deployments. They sit between the application servers and the clients, managing access requests and sessions. Load balancers use intelligent algorithms to share the incoming client requests across the available servers – by monitoring the health of each server in the application pool, they ensure that incoming access requests are sent to the server currently best placed to respond.

When a server is overloaded, has an issue, or is taken offline by system admins for maintenance, the load balancer discovers this and stops sending access requests to that server. When the server is available again, the load balancing software learns this and adds it back into the available server pool. Spikes in demand for applications can also be handled automatically by provisioning new virtual machines when loads are high, and then shutting them off when demand drops.

Kemp is a company with a reputable line of LoadMaster load balancers that provide advanced application delivery tailored to the needs of modern businesses. In keeping with the trends of decentralization and telework, they deploy global load balancing algorithms to ensure uninterrupted application delivery no matter where on the planet users may be.

Kemp load balancing works across multiple locations in the cloud and private data centers. LoadMaster Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) enables service delivery for applications from sites that are closest to users while at the same time providing global geographic resilience. If a cloud service provider or local data center is offline, GSLB will route requests to another global site that hosts the application. This ensures availability and disaster recovery provision even following significant regional issues.

Keeping a Watch on The Network

Server availability is an essential part of the application experience equation, but so is the state of the network that applications are using.

Because applications rely on the network delivery, keeping a watch on the network for any bottlenecks or anomalies that impact access and performance is vital. Many infrastructure monitoring tools are excellent for alerting IT teams when something breaks. But they are less helpful in pinpointing problems that result in end-users complaining that “the system is slow!” In such cases, the situation calls for more in-depth analytics that go beyond simple red/green status.

Kemp Flowmon network performance monitoring & diagnostics (NPMD) suite addresses this problem. It delivers deep, contextual analysis and utilization statistics about the state of the network. Via extensive visualization tools, any issues causing degradation in application performance can be quickly identified, analyzed, and fixed. All without the typical “it’s not our problem” back and forth that can occur between IT teams.

This network monitoring also spots the behaviors associated with cybercriminal activity and alerts when attackers operate on the network. Using the MITRE ATT&CK framework, Kemp’s monitoring tools alert and report on issues in easily understood ways.

Find Out More

Kemp Technologies focuses on delivering the best application experience in the industry. Our solutions ensure that applications are always available, perform optimally, and are secure. Contact us at (+632) 8706 5592, email sales@acw-group.com.ph or visit https://kemptechnologies.com to find out more.

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BSP to continue to support recovery

October 14, 2021 | 12:34 am

vegetables-market — PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS

THE CENTRAL BANK will continue to maintain support for the economy’s weak recovery, as inflation is expected to slow down in the last months of the year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said.

“The BSP will remain vigilant over the current inflation dynamics to ensure that the monetary policy stance continues to support economic recovery to the extent that the inflation outlook will allow,” Mr. Diokno said at a virtual forum of The Asset late Tuesday.

“It will carefully scan the operating environment with a forward-looking perspective to move in a preemptive fashion that will address any risk for our price stability mandate,” he added.

Inflation eased to 4.8% in September from the 32-month high 4.9% in August, amid slower rise in prices of food and transport. Inflation has mostly exceeded the 2-4% target by the central bank, except in July when it settled at 4%.

“We look at the items in the consumer price index. There are more items below the 2% rather than at 4%,” Mr. Diokno said, noting that supply issues will gradually be resolved in the next few months.

“The government is already allowing the importation of pork and it is now coming in. We’re confident that even when inflation is slightly above our target range of 2-4%, inflation will slowly go down where we want it to be maybe before the end of the year,” he said in a separate Bloomberg TV interview on Wednesday.

The Monetary Board last month kept the interest rates unchanged at a record low, even as it raised its full-year inflation forecast to 4.4%.

Average inflation for 2022 and 2023 is expected to settle at 3.3% and 3.2%, higher than the previous 3.1% forecast for both years but already within their target.

There are worries that elevated consumer prices may hurt the Philippine economy’s recovery at a time when mobility restrictions are being loosened to spur business activity.

However, Mr. Diokno said the recent price spikes are “transitory,” noting higher transport fare and wage hikes are unlikely given the current unemployment figures.

“In fact, as a result of the normalization, I expect transport costs to decline… (And) the pressure usually on the demand side will be wages. That’s not going to happen because of the unemployment and because there’s excess capacity in the economy,” he said.

The country’s unemployment rate stood at 8.1% in August, a four-month high.

Mr. Diokno said the BSP is “already talking” about the appropriate timing of unwinding policy support.

“A decision on the timing and circumstances under which BSP will scale back its pandemic-induced support measures would depend primarily on the evolution of various domestic factors, as well as global developments and spillovers. BSP policies are data-driven and will avoid the premature withdrawal of policy stimulus while also safe hedging against emerging risk to our price and financial stability objectives,” he said.

At the same time, Mr. Diokno said he does not think the US Federal Reserve’s upcoming tapering of asset purchases “will have a significant impact” on the local economy.

“The Philippines is better prepared for this. You have hefty gross international reserves. And in the past, whenever there is a crisis, we run out of dollars to service our debts. That’s not going to happen this time. Because we have hefty gross international reserves. And we continue to have inflows from overseas Filipino remittances,” he said.

Security Bank Corp. Chief Economist Robert Dan J. Roces said the BSP may keep its monetary policy steady this year even amid the threat from higher prices.

“The BSP will likely want to support recovery first by remaining accommodative until the end of the year, probably giving businesses some leeway to recover in the fourth quarter,” Mr. Roces said in a Viber message.

Mr. Roces said the BSP’s first rate hike may likely happen in the second half of 2022, “when most of the population has been fully vaccinated and assuming no further risks of variant outbreaks.”

“Policy normalization is seen to be more apt for next year once recovery exhibits stability, and price growth starts showing demand-driven pulls to manifest a consumption-led rebound,” he added.

The central bank will have two more policy reviews this year scheduled on Nov. 18 and Dec. 16. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

GIR falls as of end-Sept. on gov’t debt payments

October 14, 2021 | 12:33 am

GROSS INTERNATIONAL reserves (GIR) — which shield the country from liquidity shocks — dipped as of end-September as the government paid its foreign debt obligations and lower valuation of the central bank’s gold reserves.

Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday showed the GIR stood at $107.156 billion as of end-September, slipping by 0.74% from its $107.964-billion level as of end-August.

The end-September level, however, was up by 6.68% from the $100.443 billion logged a year earlier.

“The month-on-month decrease in the GIR level was attributed mainly to the debt service payment of the National Government’s foreign currency debt obligations and downward adjustment in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market,” the BSP said in a statement.

At its end-September level, the GIR could cover 10.8 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It is also enough to service about 7.6 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.2 times based on residual maturity.

An ample level of foreign exchange buffers safeguards an economy from market volatility and is an assurance of the country’s capability to pay debts in the event of an economic downturn.

Broken down, buffers in the form of foreign investments slipped by 0.3% to $90.242 billion last month from $90.549 billion in August, although it increased by 7% from the $84.298 billion a year earlier.

Foreign currency deposits also dropped by 5.3% to $3.271 billion from $3.454 billion a month earlier and by 26% from the $2.597 billion in September 2020.

The BSP’s gold holdings were valued at $8.848 billion as of end-September, down by 3.35% from the $9.155 billion in the previous month and by 23% from the $11.594 billion a year earlier.

The country’s reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) likewise declined by 1.37% to $786.3 million from $797.2 million in the previous month. However, it was up by 5% from the $747.7 million in September last year.

Meanwhile, the country’s reserves in the form of special drawing rights (SDRs) — or the amount the country can tap from the IMF — stood at $4.008 billion for the second straight month. It increased more than three times from the $1.204 billion a year ago.

In August, the Philippines gained SDRs equivalent to $2.777 billion, as part of the IMF’s distribution of around $650 billion in SDRs to its members as part of its efforts to help countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said the lower GIR was seen amid the decline in foreign investments due to cautious sentiment arising from the Evergrande Group’s debt crisis and the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish tone.

In a Viber message, Mr. Ricafort said the seasonal increase in cash remittances could be key to lifting the GIR in the last months of 2021.

The GIR reached a record level of $110.117 billion as of end-December 2020.

Last month, the central bank trimmed its GIR projection by end-2021 to $114 billion from $115 billion previously. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

Electoral risks heightened as more politicians deploy technology for campaigns

October 14, 2021 | 12:32 am

People line up to register as voters at the Commission on Elections office in Quezon City. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter

THE NATIONAL Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Wednesday admitted it is “very difficult” to stop groups or individuals from using equipment such as text blast machines for political campaigns ahead of the May national elections.

“This is alarming. This came to light after the alert message that was sent last week,” NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgardo V. Cabarios told BusinessWorld in a phone interview on Wednesday, referring to the recent emergency alert that announced the presidential candidacy of Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr.

Mr. Cabarios said they suspect the text blast machines sold on e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and Shopee and even on social media platform Facebook were “among the possible sources of the emergency alert.”

The regulator ordered Facebook, Inc., Alibaba’s Lazada Group, and Sea Ltd.’s Shopee to stop selling the equipment, as well as required them to explain why they should not be held liable for violating Act 3846, or the Radio Control Law.

Mr. Cabarios acknowledged the difficulty in going after those who have already purchased the equipment.

“It’s very difficult because they are just sending the message in a few seconds, and then they turn off the equipment, so how do you pursue them? They move from one place to another. Very, very difficult,” he said.

He said the NTC is now considering conducting an information drive to warn the public about these unsolicited text messages, and coordinating with the Customs bureau on imports of these equipment.

The NTC did not anticipate that these text blasters would be sold online, Mr. Cabarios added.

On Lazada, an SMS location blasting system was being sold for P230,000 with free delivery.

“At Lazada, customer safety is our top priority. We have removed the products highlighted in the NTC report on Oct. 7. Our team does a daily manual sweep for product listings that violate existing policies and these are removed once identified. Strong action is also taken against sellers found breaching our platform’s terms and conditions,” Lazada Philippines said in an e-mailed statement.

For its part, Facebook said it will work with the “relevant authorities to receive take down requests on any listings that are locally unlawful in the Philippines.”

“When we receive a report from the appropriate legal authority about unlawful content, we will review and take appropriate action,” it added.

The Customs bureau and Shopee have yet to respond to a request for comment as of press time.

Text blasters, according to Mr. Cabarios, use the frequencies allocated for the mobile networks. He also noted that the device can be used to spread “fake news” or fake emergency alerts during elections.

“That is why this is prohibited; in 2013, we prohibited the use of this already,” he said.

In general, election laws of the Philippines have yet to catch up with the rapid technological developments, according to the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel).

“The technologies used like the text blaster, if you look at the election laws, are not illegal but there are restrictions to commercial application by the NTC,” Namfrel Secretary-General Eric Jude O. Alvia said in a phone interview.

The use of new technologies by politicians before the campaign period is also not illegal, Ateneo de Manila University election law professor Alberto C. Agra said in a separate phone interview.

According to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the official campaign period for national positions runs from Feb. 8, 2022 to May 7, 2022. Election day is May 9, 2022.

“Can the Comelec, without a law, regulate social media? For TV, radio and print, there are maximum number of hours and size (of ads), but for social media, there’s no law,” he said.

Namfrel’s Mr. Alvia said putting restrictions on the expenditures of candidates may not be the ideal solution to curtail the misuse of technology as well.

“If you would put a cap on resources, it would not level the playing field for those candidates who may abide by restrictions but don’t have access to [the platforms],” he noted.

“Social media should be regulated by the application of fair election laws. You also have to monitor the use of that media for its content. What is being purveyed in that media? Is it the truth or not? Who will do it? Does the Comelec have the manpower or capacity or the resources to do it? This is where the citizens come in. This is where the owners of the platforms exercise their responsibilities.”

On the possibility of cyberattacks during the elections, Mr. Alvia said there are other laws that are contained in the country’s electoral laws which would protect the election system.

“The Data Privacy Act and the E-Commerce Law would protect us from the misuse of technology aimed at undermining the count or election results. [But] if you look at our election laws, these are very broad and very vague at times that I could say that [we] still lack transparency,” he said.

Internet security firm Kaspersky said in an e-mailed reply to questions that “new technologies have the potential to be hacked.”

“But voting systems can and should be fixed by using technology that can secure and ensure transparency. To increase the public’s faith and trust in election systems, it will require collaboration between public and private organizations,” it added.

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