Envisioning a smarter logistics industry, Multisys Technologies Corporation introduces its newest platform, DeliveryBox, which supports end-to-end pick-up, delivery, and scheduled delivery services.
Through DeliveryBox.ph, the leading software solutions company aims to enable companies to connect with various logistics providers and delivery channels from motorcycles and vans to cargo trucks and freight forwarders—all in one digital platform.
With automated logistics, companies can give quality customer experience with flexible shipping options through multiple courier partners that are currently dominating in the local logistics industry.
Managing business operations and client transactions has also been made easier with a seamless digital shipping experience to customers and partners. The built-in monitoring analytics, which are downloadable, help manage reports in transactions and collections easily in one dashboard.
The admin dashboard presents live data trends, reports, and comparative analysis of the company user, categorized by transaction and by collection. Companies can also monitor their monthly or yearly transactions and collections, as well as make comparative reports in customizable timelines to keep track of their performance—anytime and anywhere.
Companies can also manage its partners’ profiles and accounts, and classify them based on various categories such as active or inactive, parcel type, and delivery type, among others.
MultiSys CEO and founder David Almirol shares, “Since a lot of businesses have been affected by the pandemic, we foresee that eCommerce and logistics will continue to flourish. We are taking a step forward in the industry to create a seamless digital transaction experience for the couriers, delivery services, companies, and the public through DeliveryBox.”
System integrators can easily integrate DeliveryBox by visiting www.deliverybox.ph. MultiSys has openly shared the sample integration source codes for PHP, Node, Python, Ruby, Go, jQuery, and cURL on the website so that IT companies and developers can easily integrate DeliveryBox’s API to their own systems and applications.
DeliveryBox, alongside PayBox and StoreBox, makes up MultiSys’ Multistore—an end-to-end online shopping, e-grocery, and cloud kitchen system with door-to-door delivery services and e-payment features.
THE PHILIPPINES raised $3 billion(P146 billion) from the sale of US dollar-denominated global bonds in a dual-tranche offering, which will be used to fund the national budget, a Treasury official said.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the 25-year tranche raised $2.25 billion, while the 10.5-year tranche generated $750 million.
The 10.5-year bonds were priced at 60 basis points (bps) over the benchmark US Treasury yield, carrying a 1.95% coupon, while the 25-year debt papers fetched a coupon of 3.2%, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.
Ms. De Leon said the “heavy bias towards the 25-year offering” shows that the Philippines’ credit remains attractive for investors despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Investors see our economic revival is imminent, strong, and long lasting,” she added.
The government will use the fresh funds to support the national budget amid the pandemic.
“This (global bonds) highlights the continuing confidence of the international investor community in the Philippines,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said in a statement.
The Philippines will issue the bonds on July 6.
“Despite relatively volatile markets after the June FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting, the Republic was able to take advantage of the improving dynamics in both Treasury and credit markets and announce the transaction on Monday,” the BTr said.
The US Federal Reserve hinted earlier this month that it may need to start increasing its policy rates twice in 2023 as the US economy’s recovery picks up pace.
S&P Global Ratings assigned a “BBB+” long-term foreign currency rating to the issuance while Fitch Ratings gave a “BBB” rating with a stable outlook, similar to the sovereign rating the Philippines currently has.
Bank of China, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, MUFG Securities, Standard Chartered Bank, and UBS served as the joint bookrunners for the transaction.
The issuance marked the third time the country tapped the international debt markets this year, following the $2.5 billion worth of euro-denominated notes it sold in April and the $500-million yen-denominated Samurai bonds issued in March.
The government is planning to raise a total of $7 billion (P340.5 billion) from the international debt market this year.
The BTr wants to borrow P3 trillion from local and foreign sources this year to fund its budget deficit seen to widen to 9.3% of gross domestic product.
Economic managers set an 85:15 borrowing mix for the year in favor of domestic sources to minimize risks from foreign exchange volatility and other external developments. — Beatrice M. Laforga
THE ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) tempered its economic growth forecast for the Philippines this year due to a resurgence in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections coupled with a sluggish vaccine rollout, highlighting the need for the government to boost fiscal support to minimize economic scarring.
The regional macroeconomic surveillance organization slashed its 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the Philippines to 6.4% from the 6.9% estimate it gave in March, based on its latest Annual Consultation Report published on Tuesday.
This was still well within the government’s 6-7% growth target for the year and a turnaround from the record 9.6% GDP contraction in 2020.
AMRO economist Zhiwen Jiao said the further reopening of the economy, recovery in business and consumer confidence, and a faster vaccination program will support the baseline forecast for this year.
“This new wave of infections (in March) has significantly raised downside risk to both our output and baseline forecasts. For the recovery to catch up, mass vaccination becomes more urgent. So far, the vaccination rollout in the Philippines has remained relatively slow,” Mr. Jiao said at a briefing on Tuesday.
On a worst-case scenario, AMRO Chief Economist Hoe Ee Khor said another wave of COVID-19 infections and the reimposition of stricter lockdowns could hamper recovery, and bring Philippine GDP growth to 5.5% or even 4.5% this year.
The Health department reported 4,479 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, bringing active cases to 50,037. However, experts have warned of a potential surge in infections because of the more contagious Delta variant from India.
As of June 27, the government has given out more than 10 million doses, 7.5 million of which were first doses.
The Philippines aims to inoculate at least 500,000 people daily in Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao to achieve herd immunity by Nov. 27.
‘PERMANENT SCAR’ For 2022, AMRO also lowered its growth forecast to 6.8%, from an earlier projection of 7.8%. This falls below the 7-9% GDP growth target of the government.
Output gap, or the difference between the actual GDP and its potential output, will likely remain negative at least until the end of 2022, AMRO said, citing expectations that a weak recovery and prolonged sluggish activity might leave a “permanent scar” on the economy.
Private consumption will likely pick up by 5.3% this year from last year’s 7.9% contraction, before rebounding again by 5.8% in 2022.
Government spending, however, is seen slowing down to 8.7% from the 10.5% spike last year, before rising by 12.5% next year.
AMRO warned that muted state spending amid the crisis could only further derail the economy’s recovery.
“While expansionary fiscal policy in 2021 will continue to support economic recovery, the recovery is still nascent, and further fiscal support would be critical if the growth momentum proves weaker-than-expected and the economy falters,” AMRO said.
Faced with the risk of economic scarring lowering potential growth, AMRO Senior Economist Byunghoon Nam said the Philippine government still has ample fiscal space to expand its support to the economy.
Mr. Nam said higher fiscal spending will raise the country’s debt level relative to GDP in the next two to three years, but the ratio will start to ease over the longer term when faster economic growth boosts government revenues and the capacity to pay off its debts.
“In the short term, more growth-friendly and supportive fiscal programs will promote stronger economic recovery. A more expansionary fiscal policy can recover the potential growth path, faster than the current fiscal policy,” he said.
“We recommend that the Philippine government should leverage on a sufficient fiscal policy space to achieve robust recovery and a more sustainable growth,” he added.
AMRO expects the budget deficit to widen to 9.5% of GDP by year’s end, slightly higher than the limit set by the government’s economic managers at 9.3% but wider than the 7.6% ratio seen last year.
Monetary policy will remain accommodative until next year amid the relatively benign inflation outlook. AMRO said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) deployed its monetary and regulatory policy responses swiftly and effectively to ensure ample liquidity in the market, but it has been “less successful in stimulating credit growth.”
“To better support the recovery, more efforts should be placed on enhancing the effectiveness of monetary transmission and supporting credit expansion,” it said.
New investment pledges are expected to be lower this year amid the pandemic. — REUTERS/ERIK DE CASTRO
By Jenina P. Ibañez, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINE Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) set a 7% investment growth target for this year as it anticipates more interest from foreign firms after the passage of the law cutting corporate income tax and reforming the tax incentives system.
PEZA Deputy Director General for Policy and Planning Tereso O. Panga at a press briefing on Tuesday said that the agency is targeting a 7% increase over last year.
The investment promotion agency last year registered P95.03 billion in pledges, down 19.15% from 2019 after lockdown restrictions declared to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic dented investor confidence.
“We’re looking at an increment of about P6 billion, and we have a strong basis for this projection because of the increasing FDI (foreign direct investment),” he said.
“We’re confident that we can attract more investments, especially with the passage of CREATE.”
Implementing rules and regulations of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act released last week listed priority projects for government incentives, including projects that improve the country’s competitiveness as an investment destination and its ability to produce high-end products.
PEZA earlier this year said that it is aiming to approve over P100 billion in investment pledges for 2021.
So far, investment pledges approved by the agency increased by almost 54% to P25.382 billion in the first quarter after coming off a low base last year, when approved investments slumped after the board failed to meet during initial lockdown that began in mid-March 2020.
The bulk of approved investments for the first quarter this year will be in Luzon, and several of the projects are for export manufacturing and information technology.
Meanwhile, Mr. Panga added that PEZA will need to make clarifications with the Finance department and the Fiscal Incentives Review Board on allowing registrations from the information technology (IT ) sector in Metro Manila.
“While they are open to allowing IT locators in Metro Manila and as well as the continued arrangements on work from home and temporary IT centers, IT sites or pop-up sites, it seems that they’re no longer inclined in allowing more IT centers in Metro Manila,” he said.
“This will run counter to the clamor of some LGUs which currently are not hosting any IT centers at the moment, as well as the clamor of the IT developers who would want to put up more IT centers to be able to catch the increasing investments of the IT sector, and most of these are still centralized in Metro Manila.”
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo last week said that there are discussions on removing some location restrictions for outsourcing firms planning to register for incentives in the National Capital Region.
Although there cannot be new proclamations for information technology ecozones in the capital region, the government is considering allowing firms to register in areas vacated by Philippine offshore gaming operators, he said.
THE COUNTRY’S gross savings fell by more than a quarter last year despite a drop in household spending, as Filipinos had less disposable income, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
Gross national savings, or the difference between gross national disposable income and the combined household and government final consumption, totaled P4.43 trillion at current prices in 2020, declining by 27.9% from P6.15 trillion in 2019.
This figure is equivalent to 23% of gross national income (GNI) in 2020, lower than 29% of GNI the year before.
The country’s economic output slumped last year, with gross domestic product (GDP) and GNI posting declines of 9.6% and 11.4% in real terms, respectively. The latter refers to the sum of the nation’s GDP and net primary income from the rest of the world.
At current prices, GDP and GNI respectively slid by 8.1% and 10% last year. During the period, household spending fell by 5.7% to P13.48 trillion in 2020, while government spending grew 12.6% to P2.74 trillion.
The gross national disposable income sat at P20.65 trillion in 2020, a 9.7% drop from the P22.88 trillion in 2019. This was obtained by subtracting the GNI from the net difference between “current transfers” to and from the rest of the world.
Accounting for population, net disposable income per capita was estimated at P189,884 in 2020, down from P204,058 in 2018 and P213,216 in 2019.
By institution, nonfinancial corporations accounted for the highest gross saving with P3.80 trillion, followed by that from financial corporations with P1.43 trillion and “households including nonprofit institutions serving households” with P210 billion. On the other hand, the general government posted negative savings with P1.01 trillion during the same period.
“This huge decline in the country’s total savings shows that consumers, businesses and other institutions used up precious savings to cope with the impact of the pandemic. It’s a hefty decline and the impact on disposable income levels were huge as well,” UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said in an e-mail.
ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said the strict lockdowns forced work stoppages across the country.
“As a result, incomes were lost or whittled down with overall compensation to employees falling by 6.9% for the year while household spending fell by 5.7%. Investment outlays or gross capital formation was also hard hit by the recession, plunging by almost 40% in 2020 as households and firms alike held back on making expansion plans as they conserved cash and tightened their belts,” Mr. Mapa said in a separate e-mail.
“Subdued economic activity has definitely forced Filipinos to tighten their belts while also dipping deeper into their savings just to make ends meet,” he added.
In another e-mail interview, University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) School of Economics Senior Economist Cid L. Terosa noted the negative contribution of government in savings, which he said, can be traced to the “extraordinary pandemic-related spending that it had to incur.”
The government’s share to gross savings was -22.7% last year, a sharp reversal from its 8.7% share in 2019.
“To prevent further contraction in the share of government in savings, the government needs to ramp up revenue-generating activities that are ultimately linked to the further opening of the economy,” Mr. Terosa said, adding that gross savings this year will “continue to be held down by sluggish business and economic activities.”
For UnionBank’s Mr. Asuncion: “[F]urther contraction can be prevented with more appropriate and targeted fiscal stimulus, which is also being carried out by our neighbors as they further grapple with the impact of the pandemic,” he said.
Mr. Asuncion said the recovery in gross savings “may take some time.”
“Like our forecast of GDP level returning to pre-pandemic figures by end of 2022, gross savings may subsequently return at the same period. Downside risk to this view is the potential spread of new variants that brings more uncertainty on the table,” he said.
Similarly, ING Bank’s Mr. Mapa said the substantial hit on savings coupled with the “still tenuous” recovery in the Philippine labor market suggests economic recovery “will be a protracted and bumpy one.”
“The rip-roaring pace of household consumption will not likely return soon as households and firms rebuild their depleted savings and cut back on spending amidst the recovery,” Mr. Mapa said.
“Gross national savings will only likely revert to pre-pandemic levels at least a year after we have returned to pre-COVID levels of growth, suggesting that savings will be thin all the way through to 2022. Firms will also likely be holding on to cash in the near term even as the economic recovery takes hold as they await the full recovery of the once vaunted Filipino consumer,” he added.
The latest figures were based on the PSA’s annual Consolidated Accounts and Income and Outlay Accounts. These accounts present a summary of transactions and relationships among the various flows of the economy at current prices, which include production, consumption, income, gross accumulation, and economic transactions with the rest of the world. — Lourdes O. Pilar
SOUTH COAST CITY - SM-AYALA SRP DEVELOPMENT — The 26-hectare waterside development will be home to prime entertainment and commercial concepts and will be complemented by other mixed-uses to serve diverse market needs.
By Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
AYALA Land, Inc. is developing a 26-hectare sustainable waterside district in Cebu called South Coast City with SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and Cebu Holdings, Inc.
“[It is] a contemporary development with the latest urban innovations while at the same time capitalizing on seaside views and having Cebu’s beaches just a short drive away,” Senior Vice-President and Head of Ayala Land Estates Group Anna Ma. Margarita B. Dy said during a media briefing on Tuesday.
The project located within South Road Properties will have nearly two million square meters (sq.m.) of built-out area, 30% of which will be for residential spaces and 70% for commercial centers.
It will feature a 2.7-hectare commercial center called District Square.
The center will have 11 commercial lots for sale, ranging from 1,777 sq.m. to 2,601 sq.m. The block development construction of District Square, which is more than halfway through, is aimed to be completed by June next year.
South Coast City will feature a 1.1-hectare park, a convention center, and Cebu’s first arena, among others.
The estate is also designed to be pedestrian-friendly, with a 4,000-sq.m. park lane pedestrian system to connect areas of the commercial center.
“We believe that our vision of ‘enhancing land and enriching lives for more people’ is now relevant more than ever, as we continue to build spaces that not only raise the quality of life for many, but also generate livelihood and employment for a great number of Filipinos,” Ayala Land President and Chief Executive Officer Bernard Vincent O. Dy said.
The land development construction for South Coast City is ongoing and is slated for completion by May 2022.
Ayala Land will be spending P90 billion for its developments in the estate, which it said might open up to 100,000 job opportunities for the area.
“In terms of employment, one of the biggest drivers for Cebu is actually BPOs (business process outsourcing) at least for the commercial hubs, there’s tourism but for us, it’s really the BPOs,” Ayala Land Estates Visayas Head Iris Josef-Mediano said, adding that BPO firms have remained resilient in their existing estates.
South Coast City is accessible through major highways, such as Cebu South Coastal Road and the upcoming Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX).
SM Seaside City Cebu Mall, Cebu South Bus Terminal, Cebu City Seaport, and Mactan Cebu International Airport are said to also be within reach from the estate. It is also near Cebu Ocean Park, UP Cebu SRP Campus, and Alta Vista Golf Course.
On Tuesday, shares of Ayala Land at the stock exchange declined by 1.50% or 55 centavos to close at P36.15 each.
Public Health Image Library/US Centers Disease for Control and Prevention
By Patricia B. Mirasol
DENGUE FEVER cases have been cut by 77% in a trial that infected disease-spreading mosquitoes with a bacteria called Wolbachia, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial published this June in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study has significant implications for 40% of the world’s population at risk of dengue, according to the World Mosquito Program (WMP) initiated by Monash University, Australia.
Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacteria that exists in around 50% of all insects, but not the Aedes aegypti mosquito until it was introduced in the laboratory by WMP researchers. Wolbachia restricts the amount of dengue that disseminates from the mosquito midgut into the mosquito’s saliva.
“At the cellular level, replication of the viral genome is inhibited when the virus infects cells that are also occupied by Wolbachia,” Katie Anders, WMP’s lead researcher and director of impact assessment, told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview. “This is likely due to competition between Wolbachia and viruses for resources such as energy and nutrients.”
DRAMATIC REDUCTION In Yogyakarta City, Indonesia, and surrounding areas where the infected mosquitoes were released, the number of cases of dengue decreased significantly compared with parts of the city where they were not, according to the three-year Applying Wolbachia to Eliminate Dengue trial, conducted by WMP in collaboration with Indonesia’s Tahija Foundation and Gadjah Mada University.
Once Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes are released, they breed with wild mosquitoes. Over time, the percentage of mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia grows until it remains high without the need for further releases.
“It takes between three to six months of mosquito releases undertaken every one to two weeks for Wolbachia to become established in the local mosquito population,” said Ms. Anders. “We then see reduced dengue in the years that follow.”
This self-sustaining method is said to offer a safe, effective, and long-term solution to reducing the burden of the disease.
WMP director Scott O’Neill said in a press statement: “This is the result we’ve been waiting for — evidence that our Wolbachia method is safe, sustainable, and dramatically reduces incidence of dengue. It gives us great confidence in the positive impact this method will have worldwide when provided to communities at risk of these mosquito-transmitted diseases.”
Climate change amplified the distribution of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species that transmit the dengue virus, according to WHO. Other factors including rapid unplanned urbanization, increased humidity, devolved vector control services, and movement of people and goods have also facilitated the spread of the disease.
Dengue is common in more than 100 countries around the world, including the Philippines. And a person can be infected with a dengue virus as many as four times in his or her lifetime.
In August 2020, the Philippines’ Department of Health (DoH) reported that its W.I.L.D. (or water-borne infectious diseases, influenza, and leptospirosis, including dengue) initiative resulted in a drop of dengue cases (59,675 in 2020 from 430,282 in 2019) and mortalities (231 in 2020 from 1,612 in 2019). Among the activities implemented by the DoH is the Wolbachia Project within Bicol’s Center for Health Development as part of a non-invasive way to control the local dengue-carrying mosquito population.
Because the Wolbachia project in Bicol is ongoing, WMP declined to comment until after the results of the study are available.
WOLBACHIA WORLDWIDE WMP aims partner with national and local governments, corporate citizenship programs, charitable organizations, and non-governmental organizations to expand Wolbachia protection worldwide. To date, the WMP has supported releases in 11 countries in Asia, Australia, Latin America, and the Pacific, with an estimated 6.8 million people benefiting from Wolbachia coverage.
The cost of deployment is currently less than $10 per person, said Ms. Anders, with the organization working towards reducing it to $1 per person. “In high-density urban areas, Wolbachia is expected to be cost-saving over 10 years, returning 2–3 dollars in economic benefits for every dollar invested through averted healthcare costs and lost wages,” she said.
RENEWABLE energy company Citicore Power, Inc. said it plans to reinvest the proceeds from its energy-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) offering in 15 projects in Luzon.
“The proceeds will be used to build new solar plants. We have 1,500 megawatts (MW) of solar pipeline projects,” Citicore Power President Oliver Y. Tan told BusinessWorld in an online interview on Tuesday.
The company is hoping to raise P8 billion to P10 billion in proceeds. It targets to have the offering in September or October this year.
“We are talking about 15 locations spread across Luzon, assuming there is an average of 100 MW per location,” Mr. Tan said. The company aims to reach the 1,500 MW by 2025.
Mr. Tan also said the construction of the first 72-MW Arayat-Mexico solar farm project in Pampanga is “ongoing.”
“There’s Phase 2 to it, so Phase 1 and Phase 2 would total to 100 MW,” he noted.
The company will also work on a 60- to 70-MW project in Region 3 and another 150 MW in Region 4.
Citicore Power currently owns and operates eight solar farms with a total capacity of 163 MW.
It has facilities in Bulacan, Clark, Cebu, Bataan, South Cotabato, Tarlac, and Negros Occidental.
“All eight will be included as initial assets of the energy REIT,” Mr. Tan said.
“We are looking at a potential [asset] value of between P15 billion and P20 billion. We target to sell 49% of that REIT company to the public,” he added.
With the completion of its Arayat-Mexico project, Citicore Power expects to become the Philippines’ largest solar power provider by the fourth quarter of the year.
“We believe that the shift to renewable energy will last for the next decade, and we are positioned to take advantage of that cycle,” Mr. Tan said.
Citicore Power has allocated P4 billion in capital expenditures for solar and hydro projects this year.
TAGUMPAY MENDOZA DE LEON
Rondalla Musician — PHOTO BY STEVE WALAG
US-based rondalla teacher Tagumpay de Leon named a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow
TAGUMPAY MENDOZA DE LEON Rondalla Musician — PHOTO BY STEVE WALAG
TAGUMPAY de Leon (fondly called “Pi” by his family, friends, and colleagues) teaches a rondalla ensemble at University of California, Riverside (UCR) by first acquainting them with playing open strings.
A rondalla is a plucked string ensemble composed of five main instruments: the bandurria, octavina, laud, guitarra (guitar), and bajo (bass). On occasion, a piccolo also joins the ensemble.
Mr. De Leon uses numbers to teach his students — a method his older brother Bayani devised for teaching rondalla.
During an interview via Zoom with BusinessWorld, Mr. De Leon took his octavina and demonstrated as he explained.
“We start with open strings. No melody yet,” he said. As an example, the numbers 10 or 20 on an instruction would mean “first string, open. Second string, open.” This means that the strings are plucked but no pressure is applied.
The number one refers to the first string, and number two refers to the second string, he explained further. “So, when you see the number 12, you know you have to play the first string in the second fret,” he said. “Rondalla notes are single notes.”
Once the student is familiar with the placement of strings, they proceed with teaching notes.
Tracing its origin to Medieval Spain, the music carries a distinct tinkling sound. In the Philippines, the rondalla commonly performs in festivals and other public gatherings.
MUSICAL FAMILY Tagumpay Mendoza De Leon was born in 1945 in Nueva Ecija. He grew up with six siblings in a family of musicians. His mother, Illuminada Mendoza, was an accomplished pianist. His father, National Artist for Music Felipe Padilla De Leon, was a composer.
As a young boy, Mr. De Leon first studied the piano, the accordion, and the violin. Later, the siblings went on to play as a rondalla ensemble.
“I remember performing with my siblings, around 1964 to 1965, before I graduated from college,” Mr. De Leon recalled. “That’s when we formed the De Leon Rondalla.”
Their father had the siblings choose which instrument to play. Mr. De Leon chose the bass which is the biggest instrument. He recalled that he chose the instrument thinking, “It might be easier to learn because there [are] only four strings,” he said, compared to the rest which had 14 strings. “So, I took the bass. Little did I know, that I would regret it at that time. Because whenever we perform, I’d carry the big bass. My siblings all have this instrument, that they can carry, but me, I have to carry the big one.”
In the 1960s, the De Leon children performed at family and community functions in Manila.
AS A MUSICIAN AND EDUCATOR IN THE US Mr. De Leon moved to the United States in 1971 and settled in Burbank, California. From his focus on the bass, Mr. De Leon also began learning the other rondalla instruments.
He first played bandurria (a 14-stringed tenor rondalla mandolin) and guitar with the Pamanlahi Dance Troupe. Then, he also worked with the Fil-Am Cultural Family Group under Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company musical director Nitoy Gonzales.
When universities in southern California started the trend of hosting cultural nights in 1991, Mr. De Leon formed The Rondalla Club of Los Angeles. Among the universities the ensemble played at was in University of California, Riverside (UCR) where Mr. De Leon would eventually teach rondalla instruments.
“I was fortunate because UCR decided to emphasize world music,” he said, “In any university they always want to have a symphony orchestra; they play western music orchestra. So, they decided to shy away from the tradition of orchestra.
“I was playing for the Kayamanan ng Lahi Dance Troupe. They performed atURC and then the assistant music chairman saw us and got impressed with the music,” he said. Mr. De Leon then took the opportunity to teach Philippine music instruments.
The elective course on Philippine music instruments was established in 2001 after the university procured rondalla instruments from the Philippines.
“You know how many students I started with?” he asked. “Twenty-eight.”
“And we only have 12 instruments. Since that [was] the first batch of instruments, we thought, ‘12 will be good enough’,” he added.
In his two decades of teaching rondalla, Mr. De Leon has had a variety of experiences with students (mostly Filipino-Americans), and some of them have participated in his classes for their entire university life.
“I love teaching these kids, because they’re always enthusiastic to learn — some of them out of curiosity. Once they started learning, some of them became so involved with it, they even bought [their own] instruments,” he said.
It was his colleagues at UCR, and one of his students (now a doctor in ethnic musicology) from his early rondalla courses who nominated him to the National Endowment for the Arts.
THE 2021 NEA NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIP The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the independent federal agency established by the American Congress in 1965 which funds and supports Americans in their creative pursuits, announced the 2021 NEA National Heritage Fellows on June 15. Mr. De Leon is one of them.
According to the agency’s official website, the NEA National Heritage Fellowships “recognize the recipients’ artistic excellence and support their continuing contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage.”
Mr. De Leon was given the recognition as a rondalla musician. He joins eight other musician fellows who will be awarded in a virtual ceremony on Nov. 17. Each awardee will also receive $25,000 as part of the Endowment Honor.
“I don’t really consider myself a master performer, I just happen to love playing. But I guess, since I’m also teaching, that qualifies for the award,” he said.“That’s your lifetime goal — to disseminate your culture.”
As a musician and mentor, Mr. De Leon is not after his students’ mastery of the instrument.
“Our purpose is to get acquainted with instrument, and to be exposed to this kind of culture that we have [as Filipinos],” he said. “If you become good at it, then I guess, I taught you well. But the main purpose is to see how cultural heritage [is] preserved through this instrument, and [that] they know the value of this type of music as far as identifying us as Filipinos.” —Michelle Anne P. Soliman
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved the merger of United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), with the latter as the surviving identity.
Executive Order (EO) No. 142 signed by the President on June 25 said all assets and liabilities of UCPB will be transferred to LANDBANK, with the two banks expected to determine the mode of merger in consultation with the Governance Commission for Government-owned or Controlled Corporations and to secure the required regulatory approvals.
The order said the move “will significantly strengthen the capability to deliver financial services to the coconut industry and the entire agricultural sector, contribute to economic sufficiency, foster countryside development and financial inclusion, and promote stability in the country’s banking system.”
LANDBANK and UCPB on Tuesday said the merger will let the smaller bank benefit from the larger lender’s “reach and scale” and give farmers improved access to financial services.
The order will take effect immediately after it is published in the state magazine or in a newspaper of general circulation. The provisions in the EO are expected to be fully implemented within six months from its effectivity.
The merger was considered because of the two banks’ shared objectives and interrelated mandates, the EO said. LANDBANK mainly lends to the agriculture sector, while UCPB was originally acquired by the government for the benefit of coconut farmers.
UCPB has been under rehabilitation following the signing of a memorandum of agreement among the bank, the Republic of the Philippines, the Presidential Commission on Good Government, and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC). This involves financial assistance from the PDIC worth P12 billion in the form of capital notes, which were converted into special preferred shares at the same value.
PDIC’s board of directors on Feb. 8 approved the sale of these special preferred shares to LANDBANK, which are equivalent to 88.91% of voting shares in UCPB, The Monetary Board, in a resolution dated May 20, approved the transaction.
The EO directs the LANDBANK to acquire the outstanding special preferred shares held by PDIC in UCPB, “taking into account the recovery of PDIC’s financial assistance to the UCPB” as well as the valuation of the shares and LANDBANK’s return on equity.
LANDBANK and UCPB were also told to prepare and implement an integration plan “towards the full implementation of the merger, in accordance with existing laws and regulations.”
LANDBANK may likewise adopt a reorganization plan. LANDBANK and UCPB employees who may be separated from service due to the reorganization and merger may be entitled to incentives and benefits.
LANDBANK’s net income grew by 1.67% to P5.48 billion in the first quarter. Its assets stood at P2.405 trillion as of March.
It will remain as the country’s second-biggest bank in terms of assets and deposits once the merger is concluded, it said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, latest central bank data showed UCPB’s assets were at P327.39 billion as of December 2020. — KATA
THE HEALTHCARE industry should embrace the cloud to use data archiving, sharing, and analysis to solve issues such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, said stakeholders at a recent webinar on healthcare innovations organized by the business arm of Globe Telecom, Inc.
“Ninety-nine percent (of healthcare companies) in the Philippines still uses paper data,” said Marnie Tolosa, the senior partner development manager of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Philippines.
Instead of reading over a thousand different papers — with each piece of paper data containing different data demographics — a service like Amazon’s can extract what is necessary for the healthcare professional to use.
Data that is late, according to Mr. Tolosa, makes an impact on how healthcare providers operate, especially during a crisis. “It takes the whole ecosystem to actually serve this universe of customers,” he said.
This includes telemedicine, which Dr. Bu C. Castro, medical director of Bernardino General Hospital II, said was “extremely important during the pandemic.”
Digital technologies already exist to make healthcare more efficient, said Mr. Tolosa, citing AWS’s Amazon Comprehend Medical, a machine-learning algorithm that pulls out data based on specific categories.
Integrated systems may be difficult to set up but they are beneficial in the long run, according to John Dave P. Dueñas, chief executive officer and Founder of HYBrain, a healthcare management software developer partnered with Globe Business. “Consumers increasingly expect seamless management of their information across their healthcare providers, from their doctors to their hospitals to their clinical laboratories to diagnostics and imaging, even up to their pharmacies,” he said.
Mr. Dueñas noted the healthcare industry’s shift towards value-driven organization, which focuses on the customers’ needs rather than the supply of a particular service, is feasible only if there is an integrated hospital information system that includes doctors, their secretaries, the clinical labs, medical technologists, and pharmacies, among others.
He cited The Digital Healthcare Leap,a paper by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) published in 2017, that showed the dilemma of deficit globally. “The Philippines was predicted to have a 1.1 million deficit of hospital beds and a 1.2 million deficit of medical healthcare professionals by 2035,” he said, pointing out that this prediction was pre-pandemic and hence much more urgent now, with information technology as a needed solution to bridge these large gaps.
Quoting the same paper, he said: “In the new digital health era, digitally enabled care is no longer going to be a nice-to-have, but rather a fundamental business imperative.” — Brontë H. Lacsamana
THE Energy department told Hedcor, Inc. to carry on with the operations of three hydropower plants in Bakun, Benguet province after the Aboitiz Power Corp. unit was earlier sent a halt order by the government agency on indigenous peoples for alleged issues in obtaining consent from tribes.
In a statement on Tuesday, AboitizPower said it received a letter from the Department of Energy (DoE) dated June 25 advising its unit to “continue operating the Lower Labay, Lon-oy, and FLS hydro power plants due to the shortage of available capacity from the grid and de-rating of other plants.”
In its letter, the department cited an earlier advisory telling all power generation companies to ensure the maximum dependable power capacities and provide support for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine storage facilities and healthcare sites.
AboitizPower said the DoE pointed out that halting the firm’s hydro operations in Bakun would affect the roll out of Energy Regulation 1-94 (ER 1-94) funds, which depend on the kilowatt-per-hour generated by the plants.
Under the ER 1-94 program, power generating firms are required to give one centavo for every kilowatt-hour of sales to their host communities to fund electrification, livelihood and development projects.
AboitizPower said Hedcor is prepared and willing to sit in a tongtongan or gathering with the Bakun indigenous peoples (IPs) to address the issues.
“We recognize the concerns of our Bakun IP community, and our doors remain open for dialogue. We believe that the tongtongan is crucial to the resolution of this issue, not only to protect the welfare of our IPs, but also to fulfill our contribution to ensuring the availability and reliability of power supply for the country,” Hedcor Vice-President for Corporate Services Noreen Marie N. Vicencio said.
On Tuesday, Marlon P. Bosantog, regional director of National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), said representatives from his office and the DoE met to discuss the issue.
“According to them, that letter (dated June 25) does aim to stop the CDO (cease-and-desist order),” he told BusinessWorld in a mobile message.
“We will implement the CDO. Thereafter, we hope to rekindle the negotiations with Hedcor and the IPs,” he said.
Based on the halt order issued by NCIP-CAR on June 22, its lifting will be made only if Hedcor submits proof that it has secured the certificate precondition (CP) and the free informed prior consent of the Bakun IPs, as required by the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997.
The IPRA states that project developers may acquire permits and licenses only after receiving a CP from the NCIP manifesting consent from the indigenous community hosting the project.
The CDO directed Hedcor to close its three hydro plants within five days after receiving the issuance.
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who heads the Senate energy committee, previously called on the DoE and NCIP to resolve the shutdown of Hedcor’s three hydro plants, saying these are needed to be up and running amid the threat of supply deficiency that could lead to power interruptions.
The three plants have a combined capacity of 11.9 megawatts (MW). Hedcor operates 21 hydropower plants supplying 258 MW of renewable energy.
On Tuesday, shares in Hedcor’s parent firm AboitizPower improved by 0.41% or 10 centavos to finish at P24.55 apiece in the local bourse.
