ATHLETES looking to compete in the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games later this year may have to wait some more if plans of organizers to postpone the event to next year over prevailing conditions with the coronavirus pandemic pushes through.
In an emergency meeting on Wednesday, the organizing committee in Vietnam, this year’s SEA Games host, proposed to postpone the biennial Games because of the new virus outbreak there.
The SEA Games is to take place from Nov. 21 to Dec. 2 in Hanoi and 11 other locations, which according to reports coming out of Vietnam have been at the center of the fresh outbreak of the virus.
The development has hampered considerably the ability of Vietnam to prepare for the hosting the best way it can, forcing it to propose at least for the postponement of the Games until March next year.
During the SEA Games Council meeting on Wednesday, majority of the competing countries, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham Tolentino said, voted against the postponement.
These are the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Timor Liste.
They, however, recognize that the final decision is still with the Vietnam government.
A final decision on whether to proceed or postpone is expected next week, Mr. Tolentino said.
In the event the SEA Games is postponed, it will be the second time in its history, the first in 1963 when political unrest in Cambodia prevented the event from being staged.
For the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games, the POC said it intends to send 626 athletes who will be competing in 39 sports.
Vaccination of national athletes is currently ongoing so as to adhere to the “no vaccine, no participation” policy that will be in effect in the Games.
“Bubble” training for a number of national teams has begun with more squads set to follow suit.
The Philippines is the defending SEA Games champion. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
THE FIGHT for the top prize on The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition is now down to Filipino Louie Sangalang and Venezuelan Jessica Ramella. — ONE CHAMPIONSHIP
JUDGMENT day has come for The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition as the winner is to be revealed on Thursday.
After 12 episodes that saw the original 16 finalists’ business acumen and physical abilities tested with different challenges, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong is now to choose on who between former mixed martial arts champion Louie Sangalang from the Philippines and Singapore-based sales director Jessica Ramella from Venezuela will be the last person standing and awarded the position of ONE’s new chief of staff.
Mr. Sangalang and Ms. Ramella bested Monica Millington of the United States and Irina Chadsey of Russia in the Final Four to book their respective spots in the finale.
The two remaining finalists have been consistent top performers throughout the contest, making strong cases to be The Apprentice.
Baguio-born Sangalang has built a reputation in the show as being a “silent assassin,” a strong strategic threat, and a capable executive, banking on his experience in overcoming many challenges in his life.
A cancer survivor, Mr. Sangalang, 43, has moved forward from a troubled past and is continuing to cultivate himself as an individual.
In the show, he won twice as a project manager and was sent to the boardroom only once.
“I didn’t really have a game plan coming into the competition because I didn’t know what to expect. So my preparation was quite simple: I told myself that I’m just going to be my best professional self and practice mental toughness, then I will adapt to the situation along the way,” Mr. Sangalang shared to Filipino mediamen of the mind-set he had heading into the show.
He also looks at working at ONE as a great situation to be in.
“I think that working for ONE Championship will give me a lot of resource estimate and further develop me as a good team player. I have a lot to offer and that’s the reason I want to be part of ONE Championship [which] embodies the values that I also look up to and the practices that I like,” he said.
Ms. Ramella, meanwhile, has been carving her path since she was 18 years old, traveling from country to country, chasing her professional dreams in a competitive corporate world.
Throughout the show’s inaugural season, she has showcased her resourcefulness and superior problem-solving skills.
She only won as project manager once, but she never ended up in the boardroom for elimination.
For the final episode of the The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition, Mr. Sityodtong and special guest Anthony Tan, CEO of Grab, will put Mr. Sangalang and Ms. Ramella through an intense interview to discover who they really are.
The two CEOs will attempt to break down their walls and get to the core of their personalities in order to make the final decision and crown the winner, who will earn a $250,000 job offer to work in ONE as chief of staff in the organization’s global headquarters in Singapore.
The season finale of The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition will be on AXN on Thursday, June 10, at 8:50 p.m., on TV5 on Saturday, June 12, 11 p.m., and on One Sports on Monday, June 14, at 9 p.m. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
PARIS — Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat world number two Daniil Medvedev in straight sets on Tuesday to advance to the French Open semifinals for the second straight year and end the Russian’s surprise run on the Parisian clay.
The Greek got revenge for this year’s Australian Open semifinal loss to the Russian, improving his Grand Slam quarterfinal record to 4-0 with a (6-3, 7-6(3), 7-5) win that teed up a last-four clash against Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
Medvedev, who squandered two set points in the second set, had not won a single match at the French Open prior to his run to the last eight this year.
Yet having finally found his feet on the red dirt, he had few chances against the 22-year-old Tsitsipas, who has had a superb clay season so far.
Tsitsipas, a winner in Lyon and Monte Carlo on clay this year, wrongfooted the Russian to convert his first break point for 3-1 lead as he comfortably held serve in the first set.
Medvedev saved a Tsitsipas set point at 5-2, but the Greek wrapped it up a game later with a volley.
Tsitsipas then won 11 straight points to break the Russian again early in the second set and cruise to a 3-1 lead.
Yet his opponent launched a comeback, bagging his own first break en route to a three-game run.
Medvedev improved his first-serve percentage and even carved out two set points, but his opponent saved them to hold and force a tiebreak.
Tsitsipas survived his second set wobble to clinch it with a volley on his first set point.
The pair traded breaks in the third before Tsitsipas broke again, winning on his first match point following an underarm serve from Medvedev. — Reuters
DENVER Nuggets center Nikola Jokić won the 2020-21 National Basketball Association (NBA) Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, becoming the first player in franchise history and the first second-round draft pick in league history to earn the honor.
Jokić started all 72 games for the Nuggets and averaged 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists per contest — all setting or matching career highs. The Serbian shot 56.6 percent from the floor, including 38.8 percent from 3-point range, and made 86.8 percent of his free throws. An All-Star for the third straight year, Jokić added 1.3 steals and 0.7 block per contest.
Jokić earned 91 of 101 first-place votes for a total of 971 points. Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid finished second in the voting with 586 points and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was third with 453. Curry, though, received five first-place votes against just one given to Embiid.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (one first-place vote), the MVP each of the prior two seasons, and the Phoenix Suns’ Chris Paul (two first-place votes) finished fourth and fifth in voting, respectively.
Jokić is averaging 31.4 points and 10.3 rebounds through seven postseason contests. The Nuggets finished third in the Western Conference at 47-25 and eliminated the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round in six games. Denver began its conference semifinal series against the Phoenix Suns on Monday with a 122-105 loss.
Perhaps the biggest indicator of Jokić’s MVP status was how the Nuggets fared when star guard Jamal Murray went down for the season with an ACL tear on April 12.
“I’m so happy and respect so much the hard work and dedication that he’s put in to reach this point,” coach Michael Malone said in a statement. “I’ve been lucky enough to coach Nikola his entire career, and to see his growth from a second-round pick trying to learn the NBA to a perennial All-Star and now the MVP is truly extraordinary. He deserves this honor and I don’t take for granted getting to coach a player, and more importantly a person like Nikola.”
Jokić recorded 60 double-doubles and 16 triple-doubles for the year. He surpassed both Dikembe Mutombo for the most double-doubles in franchise history and Fat Lever for the most career-triple doubles. He is also just the third player in NBA history, after Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain, to finish a season ranked top-five in the league in points, rebounds and assists. — Reuters
THE TNT Tropang Giga is one of the Philippine Basketball Association teams in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. — PBA IMAGES
ILOCOS Norte is steadily building its standing as a go-to sports-tourism destination in the country.
The province has been very active in promoting the area, even during this time of the pandemic, to sports teams and enthusiasts to consider for their training, anchored on the safe and standard-grade facilities it offers.
Currently, Ilocos Norte is hosting the TNT Tropang Giga and Meralco Bolts of the Philippine Basketball Association as they gird for the league’s 46th season as well as the Philippine beach volleyball team for its international competitions this year.
TNT and Meralco are in a “bubble” training in the capital city of Laoag where they hold scrimmages at the Laoag Centennial Arena, while the men and women’s beach volleyball teams have set up training camp at Villa Del Mar in Saud beach in Pagudpud.
“This bubble is an opportunity for us to show what we can offer the sports community. We may be far, but we have safe and standard facilities they can use to make it worth their trip,” said Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Manotoc in his session at the online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday.
“Hopefully, we can welcome more. We are a safe and comfortable destination.”
Pre-pandemic, Ilocos Norte hosted other national teams as they prepared for international meets like the canoe kayak squad which trained at the Paoay Lake for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
It is a thrust Mr. Manotoc shared they are looking to build on not only in economic sense, but also to do their part in helping sports return from the pandemic.
“We want to establish Ilocos Norte as the sports tourism capital of the north. If there’s anyone interested and we have the facilities, I’m all for it. My real passion is sports,” the local executive said.
“I’ve been a firm supporter of resuming sports despite the coronavirus. For me, it’s as important as education.”
Mr. Manotoc went on to say that “so long as we can fulfil our responsibilities and requirements” they are willing to serve as training shelter for different sports like surfing, biking and marathon. So do international meets like the Asian Beach Games. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
GARY Sanchez and Miguel Andujar homered and the New York Yankees took advantage of four Minnesota errors to snap their four-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory over the Twins in the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, Sanchez and Andujar each had two hits and Andujar also scored three times for New York. Jonathan Loaisiga (5-2) picked up the win in relief.
Ryan Jeffers had two hits and two RBIs and Rob Refsnyder and Trevor Larnach also had two hits for Minnesota. Reliever Taylor Rogers (2-3) took the loss.
Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with three hits off New York starter Jordan Montgomery. Josh Donaldson singled and advanced to third one out later on a single by Miguel Sano. Jeffers then lined a 3-2 pitch down the left field line to drive in both Donaldson and Sano.
The Yankees came back to tie it in the fifth with both runs coming in to score without a hit. Andujar walked with one out and Brett Gardner and LeMahieu followed with singles to load the bases. Aaron Judge then walked to force in a run and Gardner later scored on a wild pitch to tie it.
New York took a 3-2 lead in the sixth when Sanchez lined a single, went to third on a double by Rougned Odor and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gardner.
The Twins tied it in the bottom of the sixth when Larnach singled and scored on Refsnyder’s double off the top of the fence in left-center.
New York then parlayed three singles with two Minnesota errors to push across two runs off reliever Rogers and take a 5-3 lead in the eighth. Clint Frazier led off with a pinch-hit single and went to second on a single by Andujar. Gardner then sacrificed Tyler Wade, who pinch-ran for Frazier, to third and Andujar to second. With the infield in, LeMahieu then hit a grounder to second baseman Jorge Polanco, who then threw wildly to home to allow Wade to score. Andujar then scored on a fielder’s choice by Judge.
The Yankees broke the game open with three runs in the ninth off reliever Griffin Jax, who was making his major league debut. Gio Urshela led off with a bloop single and Sanchez then lined his seventh home run of the season into the bleachers in left-center. One out later, Andujar hit his fourth homer of the season, a 449-foot blast into the second deck in left-center. — Reuters
ASUNCION — An early goal from Neymar and a late second from Lucas Paqueta gave Brazil a 2-0 win against Paraguay in a World Cup qualifier in Asuncion on Tuesday, giving them a sixth straight victory in South America’s preliminaries.
Brazil had not beaten Paraguay away from home since 1985, but that record looked in danger as early as the third minute when Neymar controlled an awkward cross from Gabriel Jesus and side-footed home from eight meters out.
The Paris St.-Germain striker came into the match with four goals and three assists in their five qualifying games so far, the best haul in the tournament, and the goal was his 66th in 105 games for Brazil.
“It was a game where we scored early in the first half and that really settled us down and allowed us to play the ball about and Paraguay had to chase the game and we killed it right at the end,” said defender Marquinhos.
Wearing their change blue strips, Brazil were on top throughout and should have added to their total before the fourth minute of injury time when Paqueta scored with a splendid left-foot shot into the bottom corner.
Paraguay were unbeaten in five games in the South American qualifiers but rarely threatened the visitors, and even when they did they found Ederson, a surprise choice to replace Alisson Becker in goal, equal to their efforts, with one flying save from Omar Alderete right out the top drawer.
The clean sheet was Brazil’s fifth in their six games and they are off to their best start to a World Cup qualifying campaign since 1969, when they also won their first six games.
The result leaves them top of the South American qualifying group for Qatar 2022 with a maximum 18 points. The top four teams qualify automatically for Qatar and the fifth-place side go into an intercontinental playoff.
“We knew how hard it is to come here,” Marquinhos said. “We’re delighted to open up a gap with the second placed team in the table.”
In the last of the day’s five games, Chile drew 1-1 with Bolivia in Santiago.
The home side went 1-0 up thanks to a 69th minute goal from Erick Pulgar but Marcelo Martins scored from the penalty spot, his third goal in two games, to equalise with eight minutes remaining.
The result leaves Chile seventh in the table, one spot above Bolivia. Venezuela and Peru are joint bottom. — Reuters
JOEL Embiid scored a playoff-career-high 40 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Tuesday as the host Philadelphia 76ers evened their Eastern Conference semifinal series with a 118-102 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 2.
Once again, Embiid was questionable to play shortly before tip-off due to a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee.
Tobias Harris added 22 points and Seth Curry had 21, including five 3-pointers, for the Sixers. Shake Milton scored 14 points in 14 minutes off the bench.
Philadelphia’s reserves were held scoreless in the first half but came through with 26 points in the second.
Trae Young put up 21 points and 11 assists for the Hawks. Danilo Gallinari had 21 points and nine rebounds, and Kevin Huerter added a playoff-career-high 20. Bogdan Bogdanović scored 14 points while Clint Capela had 10.
Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter missed his second straight game because of right knee soreness.
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series will be played on Friday in Atlanta.
The Sixers came out strong and moved ahead 23-6. The Hawks stayed patient, chipped away and closed within 37-35 midway through the second quarter.
Embiid soon capped a 9-0 run with a short jumper in the lane and the Sixers led by 11 with 4:52 remaining in the half.
Gallinari dropped in a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left and the Hawks trailed only 57-55 at half time.
Harris scored 18 points before the break, and Embiid added 16 points but had three fouls by halftime. Huerter and Gallinari each had 15 first-half points for Atlanta.
When Embiid hit a trey from the wing with 7:12 to go in the third quarter, the Sixers led 73-63.
The Hawks mounted a rally and cut the deficit to 79-78 with 3:46 left in the third after a difficult 3-pointer by Bogdanović. With just over two minutes left, the Hawks took their first lead at 80-79 after a pair of Young free throws.
Milton led a charge late in the third quarter, and sank a deep trey in the last second period as the Sixers took a 91-84 advantage.
Milton and Dwight Howard keyed a quick 11-0 spurt to open the fourth and the lead quickly was extended to 18. Milton capped the run with a 3-pointer that put the Sixers up 102-84 with 9:45 to go.
Atlanta’s John Collins grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with 8:25 left to get the Hawks within 104-88. Collins finished with a team-high 10 rebounds.
The Hawks committed 18 turnovers that resulted in 28 Philadelphia points. Atlanta managed just seven points off nine Sixers giveaways, one game after Philadelphia turned it over 19 times. — Reuters
DONOVAN Mitchell scored 32 of his 45 points in the second half as the Utah Jazz rallied to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers (112-109) Tuesday night in Salt Lake City to take a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
After the Jazz made a big comeback in the second half to take a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter — after trailing by as many as 14 — the Clippers rallied late to put themselves in a position to force overtime.
Utah’s defense, however, denied them that opportunity. Rudy Gobert, the favorite to win a third Defensive Player of the Year award, blocked Marcus Morris’ last-second 3-point attempt after the Jazz defense denied Kawhi Leonard and Paul George from getting a good look in the final 15 seconds.
The Jazz took the early series lead despite the absence of All-Star point guard Mike Conley, who was sidelined due to a strained right hamstring. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Thursday in Salt Lake City.
Along with Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanović and Jordan Clarkson helped pick up the offensive slack for Utah with 18 points apiece. Joe Ingles added eight points with seven assists, while Mitchell also dished out five dimes.
Gobert finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, including the game-saver.
Leonard led the Clippers with 23 points and George added 20 points and 10 boards, but neither player shot well. Leonard made only 9 of 19 shots while George went 4-for-17. Luke Kennard played a big role in helping LA stay in the game despite its stars not shining as brightly as normal, coming off the bench to score 18 points.
The Jazz had five days of rest since defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 4-1 in the first round, and they looked rusty for much of the first half. Meanwhile, the Clippers were only two days removed from an emotional Game 7 win over the Dallas Mavericks, and they came out strong in the first two quarters.
With Jazz minority owner Dwyane Wade giving him pointers from the front row, Mitchell exploded in the third quarter to help Utah turn things around after the Clippers took a 60-47 half time lead. Mitchell scored 16 points in the period, including the first 10 points for the Jazz, and helped Utah retake the lead at 72-71 on a fastbreak with a pass to Royce O’Neale.
The Jazz used back-to-back 3-pointers by Mitchell and Clarkson to take a six-point lead in the fourth quarter, eventually building it to 10.
The beginning of this series began as bizarrely as the Clippers’ last series in which home teams lost the first six games. Utah jumped out to a 10-2 run and seemed to be fine without Conley. That didn’t last long, though. The Jazz suffered an extended drought as the Clippers went on a 22-2 run to go up 24-12.
Utah ended up trailing 25-18 at the end of the first quarter after hitting just 5 of 28 shots.
The Clippers continued the pressure in the second quarter, taking a 13-point halftime lead thanks to some sizzling shooting from beyond the arc (11-for-23). L.A. held that big advantage despite a combined 3-of-13 shooting half by George and Leonard.
Kennard led the Clippers in first-half scoring with 11 points. — Reuters
“Poor people are poor because they don’t know how to save.” — a grave misconception. What if I told you that research has shown that the poor constantly save? This is the focus of my column today.
As a quick wrap up on the past three weeks discussing some findings of a research project on the financial habits of Filipino migrants in Paris, most of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds which pushed them to migrate in the first place, I pointed out three things that the literature tells us about the financial strategies of the poor. First was that group lending and borrowing replicates sophisticated economically driven tools of financial institutions for monitoring and default risk mitigation. Second is that women are great money managers, both in microfinance and remittance studies, because being financially included empowers their decision-making, and, finally, the poor have a diversity of financial needs and because of this, they are pushed to create complex portfolios and relationships to manage these. Most surprisingly: the poor hate indebtedness and constantly save.
As Microfinance evolved, customers began using the microloans less exclusively for setting up businesses and more towards their needs like paying for school fees or health services and consumption in general. This led to a proliferation of products like micro-insurance and micro-savings. Further, the initial goal of making every poor household entrepreneurial largely shifted into addressing the vulnerability of the poor, creating a change in purpose of the loans and of the microfinance mission in general going away from microcredit. Studies have shown that combining microcredit with micro-insurance has a significant effect on empowering the poor and creates a more sustainable path out of poverty. This is because the main concern of the poor is cashflow management rather than investments in assets.
Collins et al. (2009) in a landmark study of 250 poor households in Bangladesh echoed this point. The authors found that the poor engage in frequent, small-scale transactions that do not follow their income pattern. So, imagine this: in the span of days or a week — at one point, a poor person must buy food, at another point, they must repay debt, at another, they collect debt someone owes to them, with interest income. They may also pay school fees, which is a form of investment, pay rent or amortization for a house, vehicle, or appliance, work overtime to pay off leaves they owe to their employers, or even put money in a paluwagan or a group savings scheme with their friends, which is quite like a bank account with zero interest really. These are all complex financial transactions which require skill and efficiency and planning, and, most interestingly: the act of saving. The only problem is, the savings disappear in a few days or even hours.
The poor use a portfolio approach wherein well-thought-out partial solutions are sought rather than one major solution. At any one time, the average poor household has a collection of financial relationships on-the-go. They use financial intermediation — they decide to either save (to store past income that can be spent at a later date) or to borrow (to take advantage, now, against future income) via transactions with family, neighbors, moneylenders, and saving clubs, constituting a set of formal, semiformal, and informal financial providers — that can fairly be described as a portfolio. Every household in the 250-strong sample, even the very poorest, held both savings and debt of some sort. No household used fewer than four types of instruments during the year and they used this several hundred times in a year.
Instead of long-term goals of asset accumulation, which tends to be the objective of higher income households, the main objective of the poor is cashflow management. Being able to manage immediate needs is a precondition for considering long-term ambitions. Even if the poor person’s behavior was characterized by frequent, small-scale transactions that do not follow their income pattern, such behavior was rational and thought-out.
Further, we know from the lessons of microfinance over the years, that indebtedness is all the more difficult when one is poor. Some studies have shown that indebtedness has cognitive effects. In a couple of high-profile cases in India, the pressure of repayments and extremely high interest rates led to suicides. The poor who have a much more unreliable stream of income had less psychological capacity to live with debt and this became their “jail.” They would sacrifice the money they would use for eating to meet debt repayments.
In talking with my interviewees in Paris, I found that the migrants tended to either clearly write down their debts or recall them in their heads every day because they are not only expected to repay the debt but also in a form of reciprocity, they are expected to be able to provide help in the future to the person who had helped them. This thus creates not only reputational pressure but also social pressure to repay in the future. Some persons preferred to take a debt that cost more in the form of interest so as not to have this pressure and to avoid the ruining of relationships. However, being indebted is not a choice but a necessity in their lives, a necessity they hate.
The bottom line of the financial behaviors of the poor: they are some of the most sophisticated money managers you will ever meet — adept in saving, believers in insurance, and conscient of their debts. They have the innate capacity for proper wealth management, if only they had the resources and the tools available to play with.n
References:
Collins, D., Morduch, J., Rutherford, S., & Ruthven, O. 2009. Portfolios of the poor: how the world’s poor live on $2 a day: Princeton University Press.
Other references are available upon request.
Daniela “Danie” Luz Laurel is a business journalist and anchor-producer of BusinessWorld Live on One News, formerly Bloomberg TV Philippines. Prior to this, she was a permanent professor of Finance at IÉSEG School of Management in Paris and maintains teaching affiliations at IÉSEG and the Ateneo School of Government. She has also worked as an investment banker in The Netherlands. Ms. Laurel holds a Ph.D. in Management Engineering with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from the Politecnico di Milano in Italy and an MBA from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
As things are nowadays, one cannot help but get the impression that the middle class will soon be a thing of the past. And not because the segment has levelled up. It is more like the reverse, with the pandemic dragging down the economy, and the middle class along with it. The same goes for private schools catering particularly to the middle class, given new tax rules.
It is obvious that any increase in income tax on schools will eventually result in higher tuition. And this can make education less accessible to people. In the same way that more government funding for the poor now, including free education, can result in more debt, which can eventually become more taxes in the future. A budget deficit today is a debt tomorrow, and a new or higher tax the day after. No free lunches.
To me, rightly or wrongly, whether for-profit or otherwise, schools’ income should be taxed at a rate lower than other industries for the simple reason that we need more quality schools that can devote sufficient resources to deliver quality service. There are not enough quality public schools in the country to accommodate all those of school age. And, the government has barely enough resources to level up the entire public school system. We need good private schools to help out.
But schools cannot always be non-profit. They need to be sufficiently prosperous to continue pursuing their mandate. Unlike the government, they cannot survive on budget deficits. Having just enough to cover annual expenses does not leave much for investing in improving faculty and facilities. It takes money to provide quality service.
So, to increase their income tax rate just because they are making money appears to be contrary to the philosophy of encouraging and supporting educational institutions in pursuing their social mandate. Yes, the government needs money. However, the government burden to finance public education can also be eased by allowing private schools to thrive. Free public schooling for the have-nots, while those who have a little more can opt to go elsewhere.
It is in this line that I support the petition of for-profit private schools to be allowed to also avail themselves of tax relief in the next three years. Many private schools have been struggling, not only because of the pandemic since 2020 but also because of free tuition in public schools and state colleges and universities since 2018.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), under Revenue Regulation 5-2021, reportedly bars for-profit private schools from applying the 1% income tax rate from July 2020 until July 2023, as a form of economic relief. This relief was supposedly reserved only for non-profit schools. Instead, for-profit schools should be taxed at 25%, according to the BIR, from the present 10%.
Bills have been filed both at the House of Representatives and the Senate to clarify the matter, and to allow private schools tax relief. However, it will take time before either of these bills actually get through. Congress is now in recess and will not reopen until late July. And, it remains unclear whether the bills on taxes on schools will be prioritized in the legislative calendar.
A tax on school income should go down and not up, to help make quality education even more accessible to a greater number of people. Given the stiff competition among private schools for enrollment, I am inclined to think that any tax savings can be passed on to students in the form of lower tuition. Even if only from now until July 2023, as a form of economic relief. Otherwise, to insist on raising the tax now will just make the middle-class dream of a better life even harder to achieve.
Three years ago, I took a position against completely removing tuition payments in state colleges and universities. I believed in the argument that this could do more harm than good, as it would make the entry to state colleges more competitive. And that this competitiveness would benefit more the rich and better-educated students from cities rather than poorer graduates of rural schools.
I also noted that without any tuition, states colleges and universities would have limited funding to improve faculty and facilities. Schools would also have to rely more on grants and donations to maintain service quality. But such funding has become even more difficult to come by now given the pandemic. More money is going to healthcare support now than education.
And then there would be increasing pressure on the National Government to subsidize public education through higher taxes and fees, at the expense of other public services. And the pressure would continue as the population grew. The cost of education will be borne by all taxpayers through new taxes or higher taxes, such as the higher tax on private schools themselves.
The burden of education, and financing education, will shift primarily to the government. But, is it in a position to shoulder this burden long-term? The sustainability of the “free” education program will depend on fiscal balance. And any adverse implications on state finances, such as those brought about by the ongoing pandemic, will have adverse consequences on state-sponsored education. A situation can arise where a number of state colleges will eventually have to limit enrollment if not shut down because the government lacks the money for them.
Many smaller private schools have reportedly closed in the last three years, after having lost students and teachers to the public school system. With the pandemic, and the economy in the doldrums, expect even more students to quit private schools and move to local public schools. Dwindling enrollment, a cap on tuition increase, and higher taxes can result in more private school closures.
In the future, one will have to go to either an expensive, highly taxed school that only the rich can afford, or go to a public school to get an education. Affordable private schools for the middle class will no longer exist. Only private schools for the wealthy are going to survive. While the over-extended public-school system will have to take in more than it can accommodate. Expect a tragic outcome from this.
Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippine Press Council
PLDT PRESIDENT, CEO, AND CHAIRMAN MANUEL V. PANGILINAN
By Manuel V. Pangilinan
(Longtime PLDT President, CEO, and Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan gave this speech on June 8 at the PLDT 2021 annual stockholders’ meeting.)
PLDT PRESIDENT, CEO, AND CHAIRMAN MANUEL V. PANGILINAN
I BEGIN my remarks today by saying how proud I am of thousands of our frontliners on what they accomplished last year in the teeth of the pandemic — our network build, installs and repair, sales force and storefront staff, our account managers.
2020 was an exceptionally difficult year for all of us, especially those who lost their loved ones.
But it was also an exceptional year for PLDT — in what we achieved collectively, and how we were transformed for the better by this pandemic. As you can see from our financial and operating results, PLDT not only survived, but thrived, last year.
That said, no matter how robust our profits may be in any year, we must stay keenly focused on serving our customers, especially during crises — keeping families connected, entertained, and educated; enabling businesses to operate at home or in the office; ensuring healthcare is delivered to those who need it — and simply being a source of strength amidst extraordinary adversity and affliction.
LOOKING BACK When I first became president of PLDT 23 years ago, it was in some ways the fulfillment of my young hopes and ambition. As early as 1999, we spoke about convergence — the coming together of telecoms, media, and the internet — creating a singularly unique experience of communicating.
The world has turned over many times since then, but my hopes and goals have neither diminished nor vanished. In fact, the convergence concept we discussed then has become a verdict of history today.
You will also recall that it was a time when telecommunications was a simple business model — a single product business — which was voice. More than 90% of PLDT’s revenues then were driven by voice. One would assume that the job of PLDT president in 1999 was easy, because the business was simple, and PLDT still was a virtual monopoly.
But technology changed all that rapidly in the short span of 20 years. The changes were phenomenal, but problematic. For one, our revenues have seen consequential changes. Now, 76% of our revenues are data and broadband, and voice accounts for a mere 20%. At the same time, our company has become infinitely more complicated — the coverage and complexity of our networks immense, the range of our products and plans, and customer care and experience awesome.
ONCE MORE WITH FEELING Let me now bring you forward, to 2015.
About 66 months ago — at a time of trauma and decline for PLDT, the duties of the CEO fell upon me once again. And again, I asked for your prayers, and God’s help, that we might bring our company back to the premiere position it once held — by fixing our networks and making them the best in the country, transforming our business processes from legacy to digital, fortifying our management bench, and, most critically, uniting our people in a single purpose, and igniting that purpose with passion.My primordial goal as CEO was rejuvenation of PLDT as the foremost telco in the country.
I would be less than honest with you if I say that I knew from the start what to do, where PLDT should be going. Rather, I had my own dark nights of doubt and long days of despondency. But because we came together as one, hope was nurtured. And we healed. We are now a stronger company, establishing historic high revenues and EBITDA these past five years. And as the only integrated telco, we have re-created our dominant position across product lines.
HANDING OVER At the end of this meeting, I will have discharged my final duty as president and CEO of PLDT I’ve asked Al Panlilio to succeed me in this position. My first words would be to declare my support to him.
This decision is made less difficult by the knowledge that Al, with his long experience with PLDT and his competent qualities, would be able to take my place forthwith, without interruption or detriment to the progress of PLDT.
Indeed, there are moments in the lives of corporations, and even in our own lives, where change becomes appropriate, even inevitable.
I now lay down my charge. I will continue to be your chairman and, as such I will always follow the affairs and fortunes of our company with profound interest.If I can be of service to Al and his team at any time, I shall not fail to help.
THE FUTURE — EXPECTATIONS In the past 23 years, I’ve seen firsthand the ordeals and triumphs of this company.
The P40-billion debt re-structuring of Piltel in 1999, PLDT’s liquidity issues in 2001 exacerbated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York; our acquisition of Sun Cellular in 2011; our loss of leadership in the wireless business starting 2015 — these are just some of the many consequential milestones of PLDT’s storied tapestry.
We’ve seen them all — and prevailed.
So let me say this to conclude — it has been an unparalleled privilege to have served you and this company as your CEO.It has indeed been a remarkable walk with destiny.
Let us therefore confidently face the future as we did the past— resolute to do our duty well, resolute to uphold our values by deed and by word, resolute to attain our highest goals.
I look forward to a great future for PLDT — where our accomplishments will match our service, our passion with our purpose.
I look forward to a PLDT dauntless in facing crises of the worst kind as we did with COVID, fearless in embracing opportunities for innovation or expansion — resolute in preserving the ground we have retaken: never again shall we yield.
I look forward to a PLDT which earns the respect of its peers in business, the keen interest of investors, and the patronage of our customers and communities.
In closing, I wish all of you to be safe and well. In next year’s annual meeting, I hope we can all be together in one place in person. May God bless PLDT. May God bless our country.
