DRIVERS of ride-hailing services have urged the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to immediately act on their petition to increase base fares by P15 as pump prices continue to soar.
The LTFRB has yet to act on the petition filed by the transportation network vehicle service community for a P15 increase in their base fares in November, community spokesperson and co-founder Saturnino F. Mopas told BusinessWorld in a phone interview.
The community is a coalition of drivers for ride-hailing apps and services with 25,000 members nationwide, Mr. Mopas said.
Rates vary depending on the vehicle type. The flag down rate is as much as P40 for car sedans and as much as P50 for premium Asian and sport utility vehicles. For hatchback or sub-compact cars, the flag down rate is as much as P30.
Mr. Mopas said there is a need for a fare hike to allow drivers to cope with the “spiraling increases” in the prices of fuel and basic goods.
“Even spare parts and the cost of car services are really increasing, so we decided to ask for a fare increase,” he said.
He said the LTFRB heard their petition last week, but negotiations continue. Grab Philippines, a transport network company, is directly negotiating with the LTFRB.
A transport network company “provides pre-arranged transportation services for compensation using an internet-based technology application or digital platform technology to connect passengers with drivers using their personal vehicles.”
Transportation network vehicle service companies are accredited vehicle owners who offer door-to-door services.
Mr. Mopas said the LTFRB should decide expeditiously on the petition because fuel prices continue to rise, affecting their profitability.
Pump prices went up for an 11th straight week on Tuesday. Fuel retailers raised gasoline and diesel prices by P7.10 and P13.15 per liter, respectively.
Mr. Mopassaid the P15 increase in the base fares should be enough to cover the higher fuel costs as long as drivers can take more rides.
The 25,000 active transportation network vehicle service drivers currently are only “around 40%” of the total before the pandemic, according to Mr. Mopas. Many drivers were affected by the strict lockdowns implemented during the pandemic.
Grab Philippines announced last week that it has allotted P25 million for its “Partner Assistance Fund” this year.
The LTFRB has yet to respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Several transport groups have also filed petitions to raise the minimum jeepney fare to P14-P15, from the current P9 in the National Capital Region.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua earlier said raising jeepney fares by P1.25 will already add 0.4 percentage point to inflation.
The seal for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is on display in Washington, DC, U.S. on June 14, 2017. — REUTERS
THE US Federal Reserve kicked off a campaign of interest rate hikes that’s set to be the most aggressive since the mid-2000s, as Fed Chairman Jerome H. Powell assured Americans that the fight against inflation would not tip the US economy into recession.
After raising rates by a quarter point for the first time since 2018 and signaling six more increases this year, Mr. Powell told reporters that inflation is too high, the labor market is over-heated and price stability is a “pre-condition” for the central bank as it tackles the hottest price pressures in 40 years.
“As I looked around the table at today’s meeting, I saw a committee that’s acutely aware of the need to return the economy to price stability and determined to use our tools to do exactly that,” Mr. Powell told reporters on Wednesday after a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. “The American economy is very strong and well positioned to handle tighter monetary policy.”
Policy makers voted 8-1 to lift their key rate to 0.25% to 0.5% after two years of holding borrowing costs near zero to insulate the economy from the pandemic.
They forecast a sequence of rate hikes, finishing this year at 1.9% and then to about 2.8% by the end of 2023, which would be considered restrictive to growth. From June 2004 to June 2006, the Fed moved its benchmark up from 1% to 5.25%, tightening at 17 straight meetings.
Seven policy makers want even faster increases this year, which raise the prospect of a half-point move in future. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard dissented at this meeting in favor of such a step.
“The Fed has now waged a war on inflation,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton. “They want to bring inflation down with the most aggressive surge in rates in decades.”
The Fed said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine posed “highly uncertain” implications for the economy that create a near-term upward pressure on inflation while weighing on economic activity.
Still, Mr. Powell played down the risk of recession and repeatedly stressed that the economy is “very strong” while emphasizing the need for price stability.
In their economic projections, officials laid out a path of slowing inflation and sustained expansion.
Notwithstanding the projected rate increases the forecasts showed very little increase in joblessness, which stays at about 3.5% for the next three years.
Economists said that sort of happy outcome rarely happens in real life.
“The history of being able to guide inflation down from 40-year highs with maximum employment suggests a smooth landing is very difficult to achieve,” said Matthew Luzzetti, chief US economist at Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. “At some point they will face the trade-off between pushing unemployment higher or accepting higher inflation.”
Bond traders indicated some skepticism that the Fed could pull off a soft landing. A portion of the bond curve — the gap between five- and 10-year yields — inverted for the first time since March 2020. For some, that highlights a threat that the efforts to rein in inflation could trigger an economic downturn.
The economy roared into the first quarter with employers adding more than one million jobs in the first two months and job openings near a record high.
Strong demand sustained price increases and consumer inflation rose by 7.9% for the 12 months through February. The Fed’s 2% inflation target is based on a separate gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, which rose by 6.1% in January.
Mr. Powell and his colleagues have pivoted rapidly from the gradualism of just three quarter-point hikes they penciled in for 2022 when they met in December to seven now, including Wednesday’s increase.
“They saw the light,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC. “They have been underestimating the persistence and intensity of inflation pressures for at least a year. They have finally realized they have a serious problem on their hands and have to act. There is a whatever-it-takes kind of mentality” now.
The aggressive swerve is punctuated by the risk of losing a grip on price increases now, which would require higher costs to the economy later to get it back under control.
For more than two decades, Fed officials have locked down inflation to around 2%, cementing public expectations that price volatility was no longer an issue for economic decisions.
Achieving that required a punishing recession engineered by former Chairman Paul Volcker who pushed borrowing costs into the double digits.
This year, Fed officials forecast that pandemic supply-chain problems would subside, and they still do, but Wednesday’s statement noted that price pressures are spreading beyond the logistics knots at a time of wage increases.
Now they are betting a policy tilt toward a series of steady increases will keep inflation expectations anchored although the war makes the outlook murkier.
Mr. Powell was clear that if inflation doesn’t calm down, the policy committee will hammer it even harder.
Despite the rosy outlook for the labor market in the forecasts, Mr. Powell made clear that it is running too hot in his view.
“There is misalignment of demand and supply, particularly in the labor market, and that is leading to wages that are moving up that are not consistent with 2% inflation over time,” Mr. Powell said.He said job openings near record highs point to a labor market that is “tight to an unhealthy level.”
“That is a pretty extreme thing to say,” said Derek Tang, an economist at LH Meyer/Monetary Policy Analytics. “That is saying too many people have jobs and people are getting wages that are too frequent. He is really putting his thumb down on the scale now.” — Bloomberg
TO MAKE learning the English language more accessible — and free — language learning app Duolingo has launched an English course for Tagalog speakers.
The English for the Tagalog Speakers Course is designed with the beginner English speaking Filipino in mind. It aims to make learning basic English fun through its gamification approach of arranging the English words to fit the translation of the Tagalog sentence.
The course is also aimed at providing free and accessible education to learn the English language.
“We are aware that Filipinos English proficiency is already high. But we’re also aware that not everyone in the Philippines has equal access to learn English, so we wanted to develop this course and offer it for free,” Haina Xiang, Marketing Director of Duolingo, said in an online press launch on March 15.
According to the English Proficiency Index (EPI) published in Nov. 2021, the Philippines ranked 18th out of 112 countries whose population are non-native English speakers. The EPI score is “high proficiency” which is considered adequate for tasks such as managing work presentations, understanding TV, and reading newspapers.
Founded in 2012, Duolingo offers over 100 language courses across 41 distinct languages, from Spanish, French, German, and Japanese to Navajo and Yiddish. It also offers courses for endangered languages such as Zulu, Xhosa, Maori, and Haitian Creole; and fictional languages such as Valyrian (the ancient language spoken by the characters in Game of Thrones). In 2013, the app was awarded the “iPhone App of the Year.” Duolingo has been downloaded over 500 million times and counting.
According to data released by the app, the monthly active user (MAU) growth of Duolingo in the Philippines is 32% year-on-year. The peak studying time for Filipino learners is 9-10 p.m., with an average studying time of 15 minutes a day. Currently, 20% of Filipinos on Duolingo are learning Japanese, 19% are learning Korean, and 16% are learning Spanish.
Ms. Xiang added that the English for the Tagalog Speakers Course focuses more on conversational topics relating to family, food, and hobbies.
“All of our course developers are native Tagalog speakers, so they are very familiar with local insights,” she said.
The Duolingo courses are developed based on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR), the international standard for language learning. The course is divided into different levels — A1, A2, B1, and B2. A is for beginners, and B is for intermediate learners.
“Based on those different levels, we divided the complexity and difficulties of the language learning,” Ms. Xiang said.
“When you come into Duolingo, we have placement test to access your level. Based on that result, they match you to the right level of where you are right now, and you can start from there,” she said. “This framework helps us make sure of what the users need in the content.”
Plans to create courses for Philippine native languages have yet to be considered.
“We are starting with the English course first and we will see the impact of that. We have other course development plans, once we confirm, we will announce it,” Ms. Xiang said. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman
LISTED fiber internet provider Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. on Thursday said it expects to spend around P26-28 billion for capital expenditure (capex) projects this year, higher than last year’s P25 billion, mainly to continue its expansion.
“Last year, we spent P25 billion. For this year, we plan to spend P26-28 billion. Capex will be for the backbone expansion,” said Matthias Vukovich, Converge chief financial office advisor, during a virtual press briefing.
The company’s capex initiatives for the year will also include selected investments into international subsea cables and enhancement of its information technology systems.
In a statement, Converge said its net income more than doubled to P7.16 billion in 2021 from P3.39 billion in 2020.
The company’s revenues increased by 69% to P26.48 billion in 2021 from P15.65 billion previously. Broken down, its residential revenue surged by 83% to P23.13 billion from P12.63 billion in 2020, while enterprise revenue grew by 11% to P3.35 billion from P3.02 billion a year earlier.
The increase in residential revenue was driven by significant net subscriber growth, especially in the fourth quarter of 2021, with gross additions of 163,000 and nearly 115,000 net subscriber additions, bringing the total number of residential subscribers to 1.7 million.
Converge saw its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margins expand to 55.9% last year from 52.5% in 2020.
“Converge is on track to reach its adjusted goal of approximately 55% nationwide household coverage by 2023, two years earlier than promised during the initial public offering,” the company said.
“We expect that strong demand for reliable high-speed broadband will result in continuous growth of our residential subscriber base to approximately 2.4 million by the end of 2022,” it added.
At the same time, the company expects that demand from enterprise customers, including small-medium enterprises, will accelerate this year, with the lowering of mobility restrictions to Alert Level 1.
“Revenue from enterprise business is expected to grow by 20% year on year, resulting in a consolidated revenue growth of 50% for 2022.”
The company hopes to maintain its EBITDA margins of 55%.
Converge ICT shares closed 9.49% higher at P25.95 apiece on Thursday. — Arjay L. Balinbin
MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) on Thursday said it is seeking bidders to participate in its competitive selection process (CSP) for the supply of 180-megawatt (MW) baseload power needed for the dry months.
Interested companies may express their intent until March 31, a week before the planned pre-bid conference. The bid submission is on May 4.
The company said it opened the bidding after the Energy department had approved the terms of reference for the procurement.
The contract period will be effective once the notice of award is issued and once approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission. It will run until July 25, 2022.
“Forming part of the 350-MW power requirement that Meralco needs to augment available supply during the summer months, this 180-MW supply is meant to cover for the output of plants that are affected by Malampaya facility’s continued inability to supply adequate natural gas fuel,” the company said.
In February, Meralco entered into a power supply agreement with San Miguel Corp.’s South Premiere Power Corp. for the initial 170-MW of peaking power supply, which is now pending approval from the energy regulator.
Earlier, the power distribution firm advised power users to conserve energy especially in dry months, which officially started on Wednesday as per the state weather bureau, wherein demand is higher by 40% historically.
According to grid operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, the 2022 forecast peak demand of 12,387 MW for Luzon will take place in the last week of May, higher by 747 MW than the actual 2021 peak of 11,640 MW, which occurred on May 28, 2021.
Meanwhile, demand in the Visayas grid is expected to peak at 2,528 MW, up from the 2,252-MW peak recorded on Dec. 13, 2021, while demand in the Mindanao grid is expected to peak at 2,223 MW, against the 2,144-MW peak on Aug. 4, 2021.
Meralco Vice-President and Head of Utility Economics Lawrence S. Fernandez warned that the impact of soaring pump prices caused by the Russia-Ukraine war will be felt by consumers in May.
“The past weeks, world crude oil prices are increasing [and] this will eventually be reflected on the cost of Malampaya natural gas and thereafter, on the generation cost,” he said.
For now, he said consumers would not feel the impact as the Malampaya price is being updated quarterly and will next be updated in April, but will be reflected in the May generation charge.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
At the stock exchange, Meralco shares slipped P2 or 0.53% to close at P378 each. — Marielle C. Lucenio
BECAUSE a heavy mask and costume protects their identity, the only way to identify the contestants in TV5’s Masked Singer Pilipinas is through their voice. The second season of the show will premiere on March 19.
Part of The Masked Singer franchise which originated in South Korea, the reality singing show’s first season in the Philippines premiered on Oct. 24, 2020. It features celebrities singing covers of famous songs while wearing mascot-style costumes to conceal their identities. Hip hop artist and songwriter Daryl Ong won the grand prize on the show’s first season as the character “2-2-B” while singer Katrina Velarde and actress Carlyn Ocampo were first and second runners-up as “Diwata” and “Pusa-way,” respectively.
This season will see 16 new celebrity singers concealed behind the characters of Sunflower, Banana, Panda, Bubuyog, Babe-wit, Jeepie, Candylabra, and Popcorn.
For the second season, the “Face-off” round was replaced with the “Battle of Four.” In the new first round, the 16 contestants are divided into four groups. One group performs each week. In each group, contestants perform separately. After the entire group has performed, the audience members and panelists vote for their favorite contestant. The singer with the lowest combined votes is eliminated and unmasked. Meanwhile, the three remaining contestants proceed the following week’s round until three masked singers remain and have a sing-off to be named grand champion.
“All singers are very talented, so if you compare it with other seasons in other countries, [our singers] can be at par with them,” Billy Crawford, who returns as Mask Singer Pilipinas’ host, said during an online press launch on March 14.
Judge “detective” Kim Molina said that a new segment for the singers was added to the show. “…masaya kasi may madadagdagang kaganapan ngayong Season 2 (It’s fun since a new element will be added on Season 2),” she said, without hinting further about the new segment.
Returning to the show as judge “detectives” are actors Matteo Guidicelli, Aga Muhlach, and Cristine Reyes, and singer-actress Kim Molina. Comedian Bayani Agbayani also joins the roster of judges.
The Masked Singer Pilipinas Season 2 premieres on March 19, 6 p.m. on TV5. The show is a collaboration between TV5, Viva, and Cignal TV. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman
A BROWN Co., Inc. reported record real estate reservation sales of P1.9 billion in 2021, or up 27% from the previous year, mainly from property projects in Mindanao.
“The key contributors to the record reservation sales were projects based in Northern Mindanao. These consist of Coral Resort Estates, the first residential resort estate in Initao, Misamis Oriental, which highlights units of Balinese architectural style overlooking the sea and Ignatius Enclave Phase 2, a premiere gated subdivision in Upper Balulang, Cagayan de Oro, which features a clubhouse and park,” the company said in a disclosure on Thursday.
The real estate developer said it is looking forward to “further growth” in 2022 with projects that focus on low-density communities, which are environment-friendly and highlight health and wellness.
In Mindanao, properties in the pipeline include Coral Bay Suites, the first condo by the bay in Initao, Misamis Oriental; the Teakwood Crest in Brgy. Agusan, Cagayan de Oro City; and the Mountain Pines AgroTourism and Retirement Estates, an eco-farm concept located at the foot of Kitanglad Range in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon.
The property firm said it is planning projects in Tanay, Rizal. Adelaida Mountain Residences and Adelaida Homes project will “feature lots and housing units together with a commercial frontage, all of which is surrounded by the natural habitat of century-old trees and a view of Laguna Lake and Sierra Madre.”
In November, the company raised P1.33 billion from the issuance of Series A preferred shares in a follow-on public offering at the Philippine Stock Exchange.
This fund raising was the first time the company tapped the capital markets since its stock market debut in 1994.
A Brown also said it would allocate P600 million to fund the development of real estate projects in Mindanao and Luzon, and would earmark P400 million for further strategic land banking.
“The fund-raising activity allows us to maximize opportunities in our real estate business alongside expansion in new growth industries. In recent years, A Brown has focused on strengthening our balance sheet. We are on track for further growth,” A Brown President and Chief Executive Officer Robertino E. Pizarro said.
The company said its growth “can only continue as the residential property market expects a rebound from the Philippine economy opening up once more.”
“The turnaround in business and consumer confidence will help propel the take-up in real estate as returning professionals adapt to the new normal,” it added.
In the third quarter of 2021, A Brown’s attributable net income was up 68.1% to P142.2 million from P84.6 million in the previous year.
From January to September last year, attributable net income increased by 23.4% to P368.1 million from P298.2 million in 2020. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson
NEW YORK — The rise and fall of office-sharing company WeWork has been turned into a television series with Oscar winners Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto at the helm.
WeCrashed, an eight-part limited series about founders Rebekah and Adam Neumann, will begin streaming on Apple TV + on Friday. The show details the couple’s love story, successes and mistakes.
In 2019, when WeWork first tried to launch an initial public offering with Adam Neumann as chief executive, the proposed share sale imploded spectacularly after investors balked at the company’s hefty losses, Mr. Neumann’s management style and WeWork’s corporate governance lapses.
Mr. Leto stepped into the role of Adam Neumann, an Israeli businessman, after filming House of Gucci, about the famous fashion family, and said the transition was challenging.
“Big characters, very, very different characters,” Mr. Leto said. “Just starting with the accents alone. There was a lot to learn.”
Part of that learning process was a secret meeting with Adam Neumann that was set up without the knowledge of the filmmakers, where Mr. Leto offered the businessman advice.
“I said to him, ‘don’t ever watch it.’ And which I stand by, you know, I mean, there’s no really no — he… first of all, he lived it, why, why, why live through it again? But it’s so subjective and a piece like this.”
Ms. Hathaway portrays Rebekah Neumann and said she was careful not to “drag” or “judge” her.
“These are human beings that we’re talking about, and to put ourselves in a position of superiority to me is missing the point,” she said. “This is an opportunity to understand people.”
Both Leto and Hathaway said they wanted the story to be fair.
“It was important for me not to just be part of a takedown piece, but to really examine the humanity, the complexity of these people,” Mr. Leto said. — Reuters
INSTEAD of waiting for the effectivity of its authorized capital stock increase, Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC) eyes using proceeds from its planned stock rights offering (SRO) for the 4 gigawatts (GW) of its 10-GW projects, the company said on Thursday.
In a media release posted by the exchange, the Leviste-led company said it was granted by its parent, Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings, Inc., the option to accelerate the development of the project sites and make it construction-ready by end of 2023 so it can increase its capacity.
“We note the feedback of our public shareholders who want us to accelerate our business plan, ahead of the consummation of the increase in authorized capital stock and share swap. As such, we are preparing SPNEC to accelerate the development of our largest projects, from the proceeds of an earlier filed SRO, given the importance of speed in developing projects to meet the growing demand for solar in the Philippines,” said Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste.
Earlier, SPNEC said it targets to complete its asset-for-share deal with its parent company by the middle of this year.
Once executed, SPNEC will have 32,497,400,005 shares, from which, it will issue at least 5,124,832,502 shares to the public through a stock rights offering, private placement, or follow-on offering.
The solar firm earlier said it was planning to raise P10 billion from its SRO in the second quarter of this year.
The company said the move is among the steps it was looking at to reach its goal of creating P15 million per megawatt of value from its 10 GW of solar projects by 2025.
SPNEC shares at the local bourse surged 21 centavos or 13.55% to close P1.76 apiece on Thursday. — Marielle C. Lucenio
FORMER CNN anchor Chris Cuomo claims the network owes him more than $125 million for wrongfully firing him last year.
In a demand for arbitration filed on Wednesday, Mr. Cuomo says he never lied to the network about advising his brother, ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, about his sexual harassment scandal and kept executives informed of his actions.
CNN’s decision to terminate him was “nothing more than an apparent rush to judgment and caving to uninformed public and internal pressure that was based on speculation and assumption rather than facts and evidence,” Mr. Cuomo said.
CNN declined to comment on the arbitration request.
Mr. Cuomo also pointed the finger at former CNN President Jeff Zucker and former executive Allison Gollust, saying they encouraged him to interact with his brother because their segments together became “wildly popular” during the pandemic.
Mr. Zucker and Ms. Gollust “made a concerted effort to cement and strengthen the network’s ties to Gov. Cuomo and his administration and control his media presence for CNN’s exclusive benefit,” Mr. Cuomo said.
Andrew Cuomo was widely praised for his early leadership during the pandemic, but his reputation took a steep dive after several women accused him of sexual harassment. He resigned last year after New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a report detailing a pattern of harassment towards female state workers. Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN after Ms. James’s office released documents showing he had advised his brother on how to handle the allegations.
Mr. Zucker and Ms. Gollust both resigned earlier this year after acknowledging they had failed to disclose that they had been involved in a romantic relationship. An internal report by CNN found Mr. Zucker, Ms. Gollust, and Mr. Cuomo all violated company policies. —Bloomberg
PROTECTING the quarterfinal order is the theme for No. 1 Magnolia and No. 4 Meralco as they set out to get their passes to the Philippine Basketball Associaiton (PBA) Governors’ Cup semifinals on first take on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Coming on the heels of the other two higher seeds getting dragged to a sudden death, the twice-to-beat Hotshots and Bolts go for a quick disposal of No. 8 Phoenix and No. 5 San Miguel Beer (SMB), respectively, in their own end of the Last-8.
Game time for Magnolia-Phoenix tussle is at 6 p.m. following the Meralco-San Miguel Beer grudge match at 3 p.m.
It has been a generally stellar run for the Hotshots, who posted a leading 9-2 card on the way to the playoffs. But one of their red marks was a 101-100 setback at the end of the elims to Blackwater, a team that previously lost a record 29 consecutive games since October 2020.
This shocking defeat, coach Chito Victolero stressed, should fire up the Hotshots even more in the bigger battles ahead.
“I know my players, they will be ready for the playoffs,” he said. “That game was a learning experience for us. We should stay hungry, stay focused and have that attitude coming to war.”
That can also embolden the Fuel Masters into further believing that an upset of their powerhouse rival is very doable. Moreover, coach Topex Robinson’s charges carry some momentum from the 101-98 victory over NorthPort in the playoff for the eighth spot last Sunday.
Meralco, meanwhile, intends to take full advantage of its win-once edge to score an emotional payback and semis-clincher against SMB.
“We owe them. They beat us, we (will) beat them,” said Bolts import Tony Bishop.
The last time they met, Shabazz Muhammad torched Meralco with 57 points as the Beermen rallied from 26 points down to post a 115-110 caper. Interestingly, Mr. Muhammad was the Bolts’ first-choice import who backed out but eventually landed at SMB.
“I look at it (SMB matchup) as we have to beat them once,” said Meralco mentor Norman Black. “I can’t bring back what happened in that game but obviously, we’d like to watch that game and try to learn from it. But going into this game, you start off 0-0 so that (today’s quarterfinal) will be my focus.”
If successful, Magnolia and Meralco are on their way to a rematch of their Final Four faceoff in the last Philippine Cup, which the Hotshots won in six en route to their runner-up finish to TnT.
Otherwise, they go through a winner-take-all for the semis — just like fellow twice-to-beat squads NLEX and TnT.
The No. 2 Road Warriors fell to a seventh-ranked Alaska Aces team determined to extend its last hurrah, 93-79, while the Tropang Giga took a 104-92 loss to No. 6 defending champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel last Wednesday.
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte will announce his decision on the proposed four-day workweek on March 21, the Palace spokesman said on Thursday.
“We will know the decision on Monday,” the President’s acting spokesman Jose Ruperto Martín M. Andanar told DZBB radio, according to a transcript issued by the Office of the President.
Mr. Andanar said the President will likely follow the recommendations of his economic managers.
“The important thing is that President Duterte told (Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III) … after the Secretary gave his recommendation, that whatever decision the economic cluster will make is our policy because that is their forte,” Mr. Andanar said.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua recently proposed a four-day workweek to help businesses cut costs and insulate workers from rising fuel prices.
A similar four-day week was implemented in 2008 when fuel prices were also high, Mr. Chua told Mr. Duterte late Tuesday.
The proposal requires workers to render 40 hours of work per week over four 10-hour days, Mr. Chua said at the Tuesday meeting.
Employers may implement such shortened weeks even without a new law or department order, the Labor department said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Labor Undersecretary Benjo Santos M. Benavidez said the government “can only encourage, not obligate the private sector to adopt four-day workweeks.”
“We can appeal to the private sector to implement (it) because again, it’s management prerogative, they have to decide on this and it’s within their sole jurisdiction,” he told ABS-CBN News Channel.
He said the labor code “does not (prescribe) the minimum number of working days in a week.”
In a statement, the Trade Union Council of the Philippines (TUCP) reminded the government and private sector that the proposed compressed workweek would require the consent of workers “because it means setting aside the eight-hour workday.”
“Workers are supposed to have eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, and eight hours with their families. Only workers can waive the right to an eight-hour workday,” it said. “Workers must therefore be consulted regarding the compressed workweek. Workers will also have to voluntarily agree to the proposal. The agreement must be (put in) writing, and the agreement must be submitted to (the Department of Labor and Employment) to ensure monitoring and no management abuse.”
The TUCP said any flexible work arrangements must not result in the diminution of wages and benefits. “Workers’ salary during the four-day compressed work week is equivalent to the salary for five or six days of work. Also, work beyond eight hours a day must be compensated with overtime pay.”
The TUCP also warned that there might be an increase in healthcare concerns once the proposal is enforced.
“We remind the proponent both the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Energy (DoE), that while this is a proposal to economize by lessening consumption, it will not result in the lowering of the price of petroleum products nor will it bring down the costs of goods and services,” it said.
Fuel retailers on Tuesday raised gasoline and diesel prices by P7.10 and P13.15 per liter, respectively. Mr. Duterte has rejected calls to suspend the excise tax on fuel products.
