China rejects WHO plan for study of COVID-19 origin

July 22, 2021 | 4:40 pm

W020180117375032604991 — Image via Wuhan Institute of Virology website

BEIJING — China rejected on Thursday a World Health Organization (WHO) plan for a second phase of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which includes the hypothesis it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, a top health official said.

The WHO this month proposed a second phase of studies into the origins of the coronavirus in China, including audits of laboratories and markets in the city of Wuhan, calling for transparency from authorities.

“We will not accept such an origins-tracing plan as it, in some aspects, disregards common sense and defies science,” Zeng Yixin, vice minister of the National Health Commission (NHC), told reporters.

Mr. Zeng said he was taken aback when he first read the WHO plan because it lists the hypothesis that a Chinese violation of laboratory protocols had caused the virus to leak during research.

The head of the WHO said earlier in July that investigations into the origins of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in China were being hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of spread there.

Mr. Zeng reiterated China’s position that some data could not be completely shared due to privacy concerns.

“We hope the WHO would seriously review the considerations and suggestions made by Chinese experts and truly treat the origin tracing of the COVID-19 virus as a scientific matter, and get rid of political interference,” Mr. Zeng said.

China opposed politicising the study, he said.

The origin of the virus remains contested among experts.

The first known cases emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. The virus was believed to have jumped to humans from animals being sold for food at a city market.

In May, US President Joseph R. Biden. Jr., ordered aides to find answers to questions over the origin saying that US intelligence agencies were pursuing rival theories potentially including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China.

Mr. Zeng, along with other officials and Chinese experts at the news conference, urged the WHO to expand origin-tracing efforts beyond China to other countries.

“We believe a lab leak is extremely unlikely and it is not necessary to invest more energy and efforts in this regard,” said Liang Wannian, the Chinese team leader on the WHO joint expert team. More animal studies should be conducted, in particular in countries with bat populations, he said.

However, Mr. Liang said the lab leak hypothesis could not be entirely discounted but suggested that if evidence warranted, other countries could look into the possibility it leaked from their labs.

One key part of the lab leak theory has centered on the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s (WIV) decision to take offline its gene sequence and sample databases in 2019.

When asked about this decision, Yuan Zhiming, professor at WIV and the director of its National Biosafety Laboratory, told reporters that at present the databases were only shared internally due to cyber-attack concerns. — Gabriel Crossley/Reuters

Facebook decided faith groups are good for business. Now, it wants your prayers

July 22, 2021 | 4:36 pm

Facebook has long sought your attention. In recent weeks, it has started asking for your prayers as well in a new tool now available for US Facebook Groups.

The prayer feature is part of Facebook’s recent and concerted outreach to the religious community, which it is speaking about in detail to media for the first time. Facebook sees worshippers as a vital community to drive engagement on the world’s largest social media platform. As early as 2017, CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited churches as one example in a lengthy manifesto on connecting the world and the company created a team focused on “faith partnerships.”

COVID gave new urgency to the efforts, Facebook’s head of faith partnerships Nona Jones told Reuters in an interview. The new prayers product was spun up after the company saw an increase in people asking each other for prayers during the pandemic, said Ms. Jones, who is also a pastor in Florida.

The outreach culminated in the company holding its first virtual faith summit with religious leaders last month. During the live event broadcast on Facebook Live where the company played videos with heart emojis floating across the screen as religious leaders ministered to their congregations, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg discussed a future where leaders engaged worshippers with virtual reality tools and augmented reality.

At the end of May, Facebook made its prayer tool, which it had been testing with some faith communities, accessible for all US Facebook Groups to turn on. In one private Group seen by Reuters, a woman used the tool to request prayers for an aunt sick with coronavirus. People replied by clicking a button to say “I prayed,” and their names were counted underneath. Users could choose to be notified with a reminder to pray again tomorrow. Others requested prayers for a daughter’s broken heart, a son’s driving test and problems with an insurance company.

Ms. Jones confirmed prayer posts are used to personalize ads on Facebook, like other content. A spokesperson said the data could feed into how Facebook’s machine learning systems decide which ads to show users. Advertisers will not be able to directly target ads based on the content of the prayer or use of the feature, the person said. The spokesperson also said prayer tool use would not be factored into the categories that ad buyers already use to slice up Facebook audiences based on a demonstrated interest in topics, like “faith,” or “Catholic Church.”

“One of the biggest communities using Facebook products to connect are people of faith,” said outgoing Facebook app head Fidji Simo, in a fireside chat at the summit, following panels with religious leaders and a session for spiritual breathwork, a breathing and meditation exercise.

“When I looked at the data of what was taking off during the pandemic, we were seeing massive growth in the spiritual category.”

Early in the pandemic, Facebook sent “starter kits” of equipment like small tripods and phone holders to faith groups for live-streaming and shooting content as places of worship closed down. It launched a faith resources website with e-learning courses and quizzes on best practices, touting that “the people your house of worship wants to reach are on Facebook platforms already.”

This year, it has started up an Interfaith Advisory Council to hold regular meetings with faith leaders and educators. As well as consulting religious leaders — who told Reuters their wish lists for the site included church planning tools and emojis showing more diverse forms of worship — Facebook has been picking the brains of organizations already running large online faith platforms like evangelical megachurch Life.Church, pastor Kyle Kutter said.

MIXED RECEPTION
While many religious leaders who spoke to Reuters welcomed Facebook’s attention in a year when their communities were forced to stay at home, some Group users cited concerns over the privacy of prayer posts, questioning how their spiritual activities could be exploited online, or said they found it clinical.

Simcha Fisher, a member of a Catholic women’s Facebook Group, said she had only seen the prayer post used by friends who noted it felt “icky.” Her friend had compared Facebook to an overbearing parent getting involved in interactions occurring naturally on the platform: “Anytime Facebook rolls out something new, you know it’s because they’re hoping to make money off it … to eventually sell you something, somehow,” Ms. Fisher said.

Some religious leaders and Group members said they wanted to see the same level of commitment Facebook had shown in launching prayers to dealing with abuse targeted at their communities on the site. Khizer Subhani, who runs a Facebook Group for Muslims in the Bay Area which was given early access to the prayers feature, said he welcomed the company’s focus but weighed it against his frustrations over Facebook’s handling of hate speech around religious groups on the platform.

For Facebook, which faces attacks from global regulators and lawmakers, including over its track record of failing to curb harmful content like violent rhetoric and vaccine misinformation, connecting the faithful during a global pandemic is the kind of application it says it wants to double down on. Faith communities represent “the best of Facebook and we hope to keep it that way, now and in the future,” Ms. Sandberg said at the Summit. — Elizabeth Culliford/Reuters

Pag-IBIG Fund finances 10,640 homes for low-wage earners in H1 2021, up 99%

July 22, 2021 | 3:57 pm

Pag-IBIG Fund extended socialized housing loans to 10,640 members from the
minimum-wage and low-income sectors in the first half of 2021 despite the
continuing pandemic, top officials announced Wednesday (July 21).

The number of socialized home loans make up 24% of the total 43,573 home loans
released by the agency from January to June this year. The number is equivalent to
P4.66 billion or 11% of the P44.34 billion home loans released by the agency during
the first half of the year. Amid the health crisis, the number of socialized home
loans increased by 99% – nearly double the 5,357 socialized home loans granted
during the same period last year, while the amount released also grew by 111%
from P2.21 billion in 2020.

“We believe that home ownership is a right of every Filipino family. With the
Affordable Housing Program of Pag-IBIG Fund, achieving the dream of
homeownership is made possible especially for minimum-wage workers . The
program’s lowest rates and longest term allow our members from the low-income
sector to buy or build a home of their own. This is our way of adhering to President
Rodrigo Duterte’s call for government institutions to carry out programs that
address the needs of the underserved sector,” said Secretary Eduardo D. del
Rosario, Chairperson of the 11-member Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees and
Secretary of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development
(DHSUD).

The agency’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP) is designed for members who earn
up to P15,000 a month within the National Capital Region (NCR) and members who
earn up to P12,000 per month outside the NCR. Under the AHP, Pag-IBIG Fund
offers a subsidized rate of 3% per annum for socialized home loans up to P580,000.
Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said that the 3% rate
offered by Pag-IBIG Fund is the lowest in the market, and has been made available
to eligible members since May 2017.

“During this difficult time, Pag-IBIG Fund’s Affordable Housing Program has
become the means to support our low-income members in helping them acquire
their own homes. Because we are exempt from tax under our Charter, Pag-IBIG
Fund can afford to offer the lowest rates for the home loans of minimum and low-wage workers.
Aside from keeping our interest rates low, we also reduced its
insurance premiums, which keeps the monthly amortization at an affordable
P2,445.30 for a socialized home loan of up to P580,000. And what’s more, qualified
borrowers will never have to put out cash for equity under the program. All of these
are part of our efforts to provide the best home financing program for our members
who earn minimum wage,” Moti said.

Nano-influencer platform to use $5 mln funding to strengthen operations in SEA, including PHL

July 22, 2021 | 3:28 pm

Partipost, a nano-influencer marketing and commerce platform, received extended funding on their series A round, with investments totaling $5 million. The funds will be used to accelerate product and market expansion in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, where its app launched this month.

The Singapore-based startup’s oversubscribed round was led by venture capital firm Quest Ventures, with participation from existing investor SPH Ventures, and new investors iGlobe Partners and XA Network.

Jeffrey Seah, a partner from Quest Ventures, will join Partipost’s board as director. He was previously a board observer from Quest Ventures’ earlier investment in the platform.

“They [Partipost’s founders] have balanced the need to recruit brand-safe nano influencers that resonate with commercial partners, and simultaneously pitch to and onboard business partners looking for authentic direct-to-customer relationships… increasing contribution to sales,” Mr. Seah said in a press statement.

WORD-OF-MOUTH
Partipost matches brands to influencers with the highest brand affinity to drive word-of-mouth advertising. Data insights are collected through its in-app polls and user behavior.

Partiposters, as the platform’s users are called, view and participate in campaigns via the platform’s mobile app. Influencers are rewarded for both their media reach and message impact in their curated social media content, as determined by their followers’ responses.

According to Hillary Tam, Partipost’s head of marketing, the platform’s main difference is that it believes everyone can be an influencer.

“Even if you have 200 followers, you can be one,” she told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview. “We want to create a new market [where] everybody can post on social media, write a review, or give some feedback and be paid for it. We want to empower everyone to monetize their own data and influence and not just allow the big tech companies to do so.”

Partipost saw a threefold increase year-on-year in the total number of influencers during the pandemic, as the crisis highlighted the need for businesses to build a strong presence online. In the Philippines, where its app was launched at the beginning of July, the platform has garnered more than 4,000 Partiposters.

“In terms of notable Filipino influencers, our niche is in nano influencers, the everyday people, so I wouldn’t say there’s a specific notable influencer,” Ms. Tam added.

Two new initiatives — the Nano Ambassador and Mass Campaign programs — have also been rolled out to help brands with brand awareness, sales, and scale. Some of Partipost’s client brands include Pepsi, Dettol, The Body Shop, Jinro, and Hong Kong Maxim.

Influencer Marketing Hub, in its The State of Influencer Marketing 2021 report, said that the influencer marketing industry is set to grow to approximately $13.8 billion this year. Seventy-five percent of brands also indicated in the report their intent to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2021. — Patricia B. Mirasol

From China to Germany, floods expose climate vulnerability

July 22, 2021 | 3:16 pm

Residents wade through floodwaters amid heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China July 20. — CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS

Deadly floods that have upended life in both China and Germany have sent a stark reminder that climate change is making weather more extreme across the globe.

At least 25 people in the central Chinese province of Henan died on Tuesday, including a dozen trapped in a city subway as waters tore through the regional capital of Zhengzhou after days of torrential rain.

Coming after floods killed at least 160 people in Germany and another 31 in Belgium last week, the disaster has reinforced the message that significant changes will have to be made to prepare for similar events in future.

“Governments should first realize that the infrastructure they have built in the past or even recent ones are vulnerable to these extreme weather events,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor and co-director, Institute of Water Policy, at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

In Europe, climate change is likely to increase the number of large, slow-moving storms that can linger longer in one area and deliver deluges of the kind seen in Germany and Belgium, according to a study published June 30 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

As the atmosphere warms with climate change, it also holds more moisture, which means that when rainclouds break, more rain is released. By the end of the century, such storms could be 14 times more frequent, the researchers found in the study using computer simulations.

While the inundation that devastated wide swathes of western and southern Germany occurred thousands of kilometres from the events in Henan, both cases highlighted the vulnerability of heavily populated areas to catastrophic flooding and other natural disasters.

“You need technical measures, bolstering dikes and flood barriers. But we also need to remodel cities,” said Fred Hattermann at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He said there was increasing focus on so-called “green-adaptation” measures, like polders and plains that can be flooded, to stop water running off too fast.

“But when there’s really heavy rain, all that may not help, so we have to learn to live with it,” he said.

Reinforcing dikes and climate-proofing housing, roads and urban infrastructure will cost billions. But the dramatic mobile phone footage of people struggling through subways submerged in chest-deep water in Zhengzhou or crying in fear as mud and debris swept through medieval German towns made clear the cost of doing nothing.

“It is shocking and I have to say it is scary,” said John Butschkowski, a Red Cross driver who was involved in rescue work in western Germany this week. “It is ghostly, no people anywhere, just rubbish. And it is inconceivable that this is happening in Germany.”

ONE YEAR’S RAINFALL IN THREE DAYS
Koh Tieh-Yong, a weather and climate scientist at Singapore University of Social Sciences, said an overall assessment of rivers and water systems would be needed in areas vulnerable to climate change, including cities and farmlands.

“Floods usually occur due to two factors combined: one, heavier-than-normal rainfall and two, insufficient capacity of rivers to discharge the additional rainwater collected,” he said.

In both China and northwestern Europe, the disasters followed a period of unusually heavy rain, equivalent in the Chinese case to a year’s rainfall being dumped in just three days, that completely overwhelmed flood defences.

After several severe floods over recent decades, buffers had been strengthened along major German rivers like the Rhine or the Elbe but last week’s extreme rainfall also turned minor tributaries like the Ahr or the Swist into fearsome torrents.

In China, built-up urban areas with inadequate water evacuation and large dams that modified the natural discharge of the Yellow River basin may also have contributed to the disaster, scientists said.

But measures such as improving the resilience of buildings and raising riverbanks and improving drainage are unlikely to be enough on their own to avert the effects of severe flooding. As a last resort, warning systems, which were heavily criticized in Germany for leaving people insufficient time to react, will have to be improved.

“It really needs to be embedded in practical knowledge that people have so they know what to do,” said Christian Kuhlicke, head of a working group on environmental risks and extreme events at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

“If you can’t keep the water back, if you can’t save your buildings then at least make sure that all vulnerable people are moved out of these places.” — Aradhana Aravindan and James Mackenzie/Reuters

Delta variant taking hold of Indonesia’s Papua as hospitals near capacity

July 22, 2021 | 2:52 pm

JAKARTA — Hospitals in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua are nearing full capacity amid a surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, with health officials bracing for the full impact of the virulent Delta variant on one of the country’s least-developed areas.

The bed occupancy rate at some hospitals in Papua province had reached 100%, with emergency units and tents being used to treat COVID-19 patients, Dr. Aaron Rumainum, head of the Papua health agency’s disease control and prevention unit, said.

“We have the same problem as Java. Isolation rooms are full and there is a lack of oxygen,” he told Reuters, adding the Delta variant, first identified in India, had now been detected in the province.

Indonesia is in the throes of a raging coronavirus epidemic, with shortages of hospital beds and oxygen reported across the capital Jakarta, and other parts of densely populated Java island — a situation now fanning out to less developed regions.

Across Papua province the bed occupancy rate was about 57% but in the provincial capital of Jayapura it was more than 96%, said Silwanus Sumule, COVID-19 taskforce spokesperson and deputy director of the Jayapura General Hospital (RSUD).

There were currently 47 people waiting in the corridors, unable to get a room, he said.

“Maybe 47 isn’t a lot in places like Java, but it’s really big here,” he said. “We’ve never experienced this before, placing patients in corridors like that.”

Indonesia’s Papuan region, divided into the two provinces of West Papua and Papua, has poorly equipped health facilities and low vaccination rates, leaving it dangerously exposed to the virus.

“Before COVID, there was already endemic disease in Papua that was not well handled, such as malaria and tuberculosis, let alone this emergency situation,” said Adriana Elisabeth, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) who researches Papua.

“If the government does not restrict mobility, the healthcare system will certainly collapse.”

BLOCKADING PAPUA
Earlier this week, Papua Governor Lukas Enembe said he was considering blocking access in and out of the province to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to media reports.

A spokesperson for the governor was not immediately available for comment.

Based on data from Indonesia’s ministry of health, Papua has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with less than 6% of people fully vaccinated, while positivity rates have surpassed 31%.

Activists say vaccination levels have remained stubbornly low in part because some indigenous Papuans distrust the central government, while nurses in the region say disinformation about the pandemic is rampant.

Adding to the complexity of a health response, a low-level insurgency for Papuan independence has simmered for decades and many may be wary of cooperating with authorities particularly if security forces are involved.

Indonesia has reported more than 2.9 million coronavirus cases and 77,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, with an accelerating caseload and high death rate making the country the current epicentre of Asia’s outbreak. Public health experts say the true number of infections is likely several times higher.

Indonesia’s death rate from COVID-19 was more than three times the global rate as of July 20, based on Our World in Data figures.

This week, President Joko Widodo announced that existing social restrictions would be extended until July 25, but could be eased if infections dropped. — Agustinus Beo Da Costa/Reuters

Social audio app Clubhouse is no longer invite-only

July 22, 2021 | 2:16 pm

Live audio app Clubhouse has removed its invite system so that anyone can join the platform, it said on Wednesday.

The social app, which saw explosive early growth during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, previously required people to be invited by an existing user or request to join a waitlist. It said in a blog post that it had always planned to open up the app but that invites had been a way of tempering user numbers.

Clubhouse faces new competition from social media companies, including Facebook, Twitter, as well as streaming company Spotify, which have launched similar audio chat services.

“We know there will be many more ups and downs as we scale, and competition from the large networks will be fierce,” the company wrote in its post.

Clubhouse said it had added 10 million people since launching on Android in May.

Estimates from analytics firm Sensor Tower found the app had reached about 7.8 million global installs in June, up from 3.7 million the previous month.

The company, which said its team had expanded since January from 8 to 58 people, launched a direct messaging feature last week. — Elizabeth Culliford/Reuters

Work-from-home future fades in Asia as offices seek more space

July 22, 2021 | 1:49 pm

As the pandemic rages in Asia, offices are making a comeback.
More companies based in the region expect they will need to increase office space in the near future, according to a survey conducted by CBRE Group Inc.

The study found that 66% of Asia-based firms expect to add space in the next three years, up from only 28% in October. By contrast, only 35% of multinational companies see their office portfolios growing over the period.

The divergence suggests that once the pandemic fades, more Asian companies are likely to maintain traditional working arrangements than their European and U.S.-based peers, many of which are prepared to make work from home a permanent aspect of employment to cut real estate costs.

“Western companies are aligned with their global headquarters,” which are still adopting home office arrangements, said Ada Choi, CBRE’s Asia-Pacific head of occupier research. Asian companies “are relatively traditional and conservative,” she said.

The firm surveyed 109 companies across the region from industries including real estate, technology and finance between May and June.

The study also found that almost half of the Asian companies prefer dedicated seats for their staff, rather than sharing in what’s known as “hot-desking,” since most of them don’t intend to adopt hybrid work. While more than 60% of the respondents said the staff-to-desk sharing ratio will increase over the coming couple of years, most of them were Western companies. That means an office desk will serve more employees in the future.

Some office markets in the region are already seeing signs of improvement as economies begin to recover from the pandemic.

Leasing volume in Hong Kong’s Central district recorded a 69% increase in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. Office rents in the area may gradually rebound in the second half from a six-year low as vacancy rates peak, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Patrick Wong wrote in a note this week.

Singapore’s grade A office rents in the central business district rose 1.2% in the second quarter from the previous three months, JLL data show. — Bloomberg

BDO Network Bank, Inc. sets schedule of special stockholders’ meeting

July 22, 2021 | 10:00 am

Moody’s slashes Philippine GDP forecast for 2021

July 22, 2021 | 12:34 am

skyway-vehicles — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE slashed its 2021 growth forecast for the Philippines to 5.8%, saying the pandemic remains an “acute challenge” for the economy.

Economic managers, on the other hand, expressed optimism the Philippines will hit the full-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of 6-7%, after seeing indications of a “pretty good” second quarter.

“We think (second-quarter GDP figures) are going to look pretty good. But I’m not going to say exactly what they are now. From what we’ve seen in May, where our unemployment numbers have dropped, our underemployment has dropped, and the fact that we have created about 2.5 million new jobs over the last year, seems to be good signs for us,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.

In May, the country’s unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, down from the 8.7% recorded in April, as quarantine restrictions gradually eased.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua in a separate Viber message said that data on trade, manufacturing and mobility “all point to a much better second-quarter growth.”

The economy contracted by 4.2% in the first quarter, after a record 9.6% slump in 2020.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will report second- quarter GDP data on Aug. 10.

For Moody’s, the reimposition of strict lockdown measures to curb a spike in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections from late March to April hurt the Philippines’ recovery prospects.

“Recent containment measures imposed since March 2021, although more lenient than the severe lockdowns imposed in 2020, will threaten our expectation of a sharp rebound in real GDP growth in 2021,” it said in a note on Wednesday.

Moody’s latest estimate is much lower than the 7% it gave in January and is also below the government’s 6-7% target growth.

It also projected the country’s GDP to grow by 6.5% in 2022, “supported by an improvement in consumer spending and investment amid fiscal support.” This is also lower than the 7-9% GDP growth target set by the government.

“However, the degree and pace of recovery are subject to uncertainties related to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the progress on vaccination,” Moody’s said.

The government has administered 15.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of July 20, according to Malacañang. Around five million have received the second dose.

Amid a pickup in the pace of the vaccine rollout, the number of COVID-19 infections remains elevated, with 6,560 new cases reported on Wednesday. This brought the number of active cases to 47,996.

The announcement of the first locally transmitted cases of the fast-spreading Delta variant has raised fears this may trigger another surge in infections, and possibly a return to a strict lockdown.

Moody’s in July last year affirmed its “Baa2” with a “stable” outlook for the Philippines in July last year.

BANKING SECTOR RISKS
Meanwhile, Moody’s noted the Philippines’ banking macro profile is “moderate+,” matching that of Thailand, Indonesia, and China.

The macro profile gauges systemwide factors that are predictive of the probability of banks to fail, including the strength of an economy, institutions and governance strength, susceptibility to event risk, funding conditions, and industry structure.

“We incorporate a one-notch negative adjustment for credit conditions to capture the risks associated with rapid credit growth in excess of nominal GDP in recent years, particularly considering the elevated real estate exposure in the banking system,” it said.

Moody’s also noted how credit in the country fell 1% last year due to the pandemic-induced recession.

“We expect credit growth to rebound to around 5% in 2021 and 15% in 2022 as BSP maintains record-low policy rates and lower banks’ reserve requirements to encourage lending,” it said.

The credit rater noted that the accommodative stance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and plans to further reduce reserve requirements will provide support for banks’ liquidity amid uneven economic recovery.

“Prudent fiscal management has contributed to the large improvement in the Philippines’ fiscal metrics over the past decade, while the BSP has established a strong track record of maintaining broad monetary and financial stability,” it added. — Luz Wendy T. Noble and Beatrice M. Laforga

VAT on local inputs of exporters under review

July 22, 2021 | 12:33 am

Carlos-Dominguez-III-011619 — FINANCE SECRETARY CARLOS G. DOMINGUEZ III

THE FINANCE department is reviewing a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) regulation that imposes a 12% value-added tax (VAT) on previously exempt raw materials and packaging supplies sold by local manufacturers to exporters.

“We will review it and we will implement it according to the law. Now, the law, unfortunately, is not very fair… We will implement it strictly as we are sworn to do,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said at a forum by Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) on Wednesday.

Exporters and foreign chambers last week asked the government to repeal Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 9-2021, saying this would further dampen investor sentiment and force companies to import their raw materials instead.

In a separate Viber message to reporters, Mr. Dominguez said the review should be completed before the end of the month.

Mr. Dominguez said the regulation has been “technically deferred” since tax provisions under CREATE only took effect starting July, and the deadline for VAT returns is at the end of the third quarter.

Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director-General Charito B. Plaza had asked the BIR to defer the effectivity of the regulation while the review is ongoing.

“The deferment of VAT RR, and ultimately repeal its insertion in the CREATE, is a big breather to export companies and domestic MNEs (multinational enterprises) who are suppliers to exporters,” Ms. Plaza said in a Viber message on Wednesday.

“This will lead to the realization of PEZA’s goal to make the country’s production, manufacturing and export -driven economy and convert the country to become self-reliant, self-sustaining and resource-generating put a stop to our being an import and consumption-dependent economy and make the Philippines a contributor to the global supply chain,” she added.

The BIR earlier defended the regulation, saying it was in compliance with the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law which mandates the agency to impose the 12% VAT once the 90-day refund system is in place.

However, exporters argued that the issuance conflicts with certain provisions under the newly enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law which retained the zero-tax rate for exporters. — B.M.Laforga

Filipino athletes compete with coronavirus to strike gold at Tokyo Olympics

July 22, 2021 | 12:32 am

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

WEIGHTLIFTER Hidilyn F. Diaz, 30, is one of 19 Filipinos competing in this year’s Olympic games in Tokyo after it got canceled last year amid a coronavirus pandemic.

“We are set to play not only against other athletes but we also have to deal with a deadly virus,” she said by telephone. “It’s just out there and it’s scary.”

Somebody inside the Olympic Village in the Japanese capital tested positive for the coronavirus a week before the games kick off on July 23. More than 11,000 athletes and about 79,000 journalists, officials and staff are expected to attend the global sporting event that runs until Aug. 8.

At least 44 people connected with the games have tested positive since the start of July, most of them contractors, according to the Tokyo 2020 website.

This is despite health and safety protocols contained in a 70-page “playbook” being enforced by Japanese officials.

Under the rules, Olympic participants must be quarantined upon arrival and tested regularly throughout the event. Athletes’ movement inside the Village will be limited and they must leave Tokyo within 48 hours after the games.

Along the way to the July 23 opening ceremonies, International Olympic Committee officials have met resistance, including from Japanese residents. In May, a poll by Asahi Shimbun found that 83% of Japanese voters opposed the Olympics. That resistance seems to have faded, with only 31% favoring a cancellation, according to a June poll by Fuji Television.

The Philippines has a chance of striking gold, with 19 athletes competing in 11 sports, Philippine chef de mission to the Tokyo Olympics Mariano V. Araneta, Jr. said by telephone.

Both the government and private companies have supported the Philippine team to boost their chances of winning, he said. “Support is being given to them both by the government and the private sector and they are showing much determination.”

The road to the Tokyo Olympics has been a difficult one for Filipino athletes, not only physically but mentally as well.

“We have been preparing for the Olympics for three years now,” Tokyo-bound skateboarder Margielyn A. Didal, 22, told a recent news briefing.

“We were ready to go last year and then it was canceled. We didn’t know if it was happening.”

“I really struggled early in the pandemic,” the native of Cebu said. “For three months, I was unable to skate because it was not allowed and we do not have a skate park in my hometown,” she added.

Despite the challenges, confidence is high that this year could be one of the better years for the Philippines in the Olympics — maybe even the year the country wins its first gold medal.

“We can strike something this year, especially with what everyone has gone through,” Philippine Olympian Association Treasurer Stephen V. Fernandez told a news briefing.

“Our athletes did their best to endure this pandemic and continue with their training and look to succeed,” said Mr. Fernandez, a taekwondo bronze medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

“Almost everything in this Olympics is not normal — from the training of the athletes that was greatly disrupted, to the qualification for the different sporting events, and the Olympics proper,” Jose A. Romasanta, former president of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the country’s chef de mission for the 2016 Rio Olympics, said in a Zoom Cloud Meetings interview.

Credit should be given to the athletes for pushing forward with their Olympic dreams despite the pandemic.

“Conditioning definitely is affected by all these cancellations,” he said. “The uncertainty surrounding the Olympics is something they have to bear with mentally,” the former sports official said.

The Philippine Sports Commission, whose budget was realigned to other agencies in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, has been providing the budget for training and preparation of national athletes, including those competing in the Tokyo Olympics.

The agency has released about P2 billion since 2017 for the national team. It also approved a P46.2-million budget for this year’s Olympic campaign.

It covers the airfare, hotel and accommodation and allowances of athletes and officials, as well coronavirus tests before departure, hotel quarantine expenses and insurance for medicines, COVID-19, travel and possible repatriation.

Meanwhile, companies like the MVP Sports Foundation; Smart Communications, Inc.; PLDT, Inc.; and International Container Terminal Services, Inc. continue to support the athletes.

“We, too, have athletes who are capable of winning,” Mr. Araneta said. “They are up there in the rankings in their respective fields. And when you’re at that level, anything can happen.”

Apart from Ms. Diaz and Ms. Didal, who are among the top 20 athletes in the world in their sports, also part of Team Philippines are US Women’s Open champion golfer Yuka Saso, boxer Eumir Felix D. Marcial and world boxing champ Nesthy A. Petecio, world number 6 pole vaulter Ernest John U. Obiena and world gymnastics champion Carlos H. Yulo.

All have been vaccinated against the coronavirus except for Mr. Obiena, whose father Emerson told an online forum by the Philippine Sportswriters Association his son would get vaccinated after the Olympics to avoid disrupting his preparations.

“Everyone wants to win on that stage,” Mr. Romasanta said. “So you have to do your best. The athletes know what their chances are. But strange things have happened in sports.”

He said there is much work to be done and it does not stop even if the country wins a gold. “If we want to sustain a successful Olympic program, we must continue to fine-tune and reevaluate our strategy and have it in tune with the times.”

“The ultimate goal for every athlete in the Olympics is to win the gold, but it is not going to be given that easy,” said Ms. Diaz, a silver medallist in the 2016 Rio Olympics and a competitor in 2008 and 2012 games.

“It’s a battle among the best of the best in the world.”

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