Ravens erase 19-point deficit, top Colts in OT

October 12, 2021 | 8:06 pm

LAMAR Jackson tossed a five-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown on the first possession of overtime (OT) as the Baltimore Ravens recovered from a 19-point, third-quarter deficit to record a 31-25 victory over the visiting Indianapolis Colts on Monday night.

Jackson completed 37 of 43 passes for a career-high 442 yards and tossed four touchdown passes, including the winner to Brown with 5:24 left in the extra session.

Mark Andrews caught 11 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns while Brown had nine receptions for 125 yards and two scores for Baltimore (4-1).

Rodrigo Blankenship was wide left on a 47-yard field-goal attempt as time expired in regulation for Indianapolis (1-4).

Colts quarterback Carson Wentz completed 25 of 35 passes for a career-high 402 yards and two touchdowns.

Jonathan Taylor scored two touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving) and accounted for 169 yards (career-best 116 receiving, 53 rushing). Michael Pittman, Jr. had six receptions for 89 yards and one score for Indianapolis.

The Ravens rushed for 86 yards, ending their NFL-record-tying, 43-game streak of consecutive 100-yard rushing games. The Pittsburgh Steelers (1974-77) also share the mark.

The teams combined for 1,036 yards — 523 for Baltimore and 513 for the Colts.

The Ravens began their climb from a 22-3 hole when Jackson threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Brown with 56 seconds left in the third quarter. Jackson’s two-point conversion run was short.

Blankenship kicked a 43-yard field goal to give the Colts a 25-9 lead with 12 minutes remaining. Jackson subsequently tossed a five-yard scoring pass to Andrews, and the two also combined for a two-point conversion as the Ravens moved within eight with 9:38 left.

Blankenship’s 37-yard field-goal try was blocked by Calais Campbell with 4:29 left, and the Ravens capitalized. Jackson and Andrews teamed up on a four-yard touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion to knot the score at 25 with 39 seconds left.

The Colts led 10-3 at half time and increased the margin to 13 on Wentz’s 42-yard scoring pass to Pittman just 61 seconds into the third quarter. Blankenship’s extra-point attempt was wide to the left.

Taylor scored on a 4-yard run to make it 22-3 with 3:06 left in the third. A two-point conversion attempt failed.

Earlier, the Colts got on the board just 2:01 into the contest as Taylor caught a pass from Wentz in the left flat and exploded down the field for the career-best, 76-yard score.

After the teams traded field goals — Justin Tucker’s 23-yarder with 1:36 left in the second quarter and Blankenship’s 37-yard field goal as time expired — Indianapolis held a seven-point half time lead. — Reuters

Walk-off win sends Red Sox to ALCS

October 12, 2021 | 8:05 pm

BOSTON — Enrique Hernandez hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth inning as the Boston Red Sox eliminated the Tampa Bay Rays with a 6-5 victory in Game 4 of the American League Division Series (ALDS) on Monday, punching their ticket to the AL Championship Series.

Christian Vazquez led off bottom of the ninth with a single and advanced to second on Christian Arroyo’s sacrifice bunt. Pinch hitter Travis Shaw reached on an infield single before pinch runner Danny Santana easily scored from third on Hernandez’s sac fly to left against Rays reliever J.P. Feyereisen (0-1).

Boston will face the winner of the other AL Division Series between the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox in the AL Championship Series (ALCS). Game 4 of that series is set for Tuesday afternoon after the contest was postponed due to the weather in Chicago on Monday. Houston leads the series 2-1.

The Red Sox are headed back to the ALCS for the first time since winning their ninth World Series title in 2018.

“Not too many people gave us a chance from the get-go, but we believe,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “For how bad it looked sometimes, we’re still here. We’re still in the dance, we’re still in the tournament. We’re moving on to the ALCS.”

Rafael Devers hit a three-run homer in the Red Sox’s five-run third inning. Alex Verdugo had an RBI double and J.D. Martinez added an RBI single in the inning.

Garrett Whitlock (1-0) earned the win after two scoreless innings of relief. Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez tossed five-plus innings and allowed two runs on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Whitlock said, “Just after we won, I took a second just to kind of step back, look at the crowd. It was a lot of fun to soak everything up and just enjoy the moment.”

Wander Franco had a two-run shot for his second homer in as many games for Tampa Bay, which overcame a 5-0 deficit. Austin Meadows, Kevin Kiermaier and Randy Arozarena each drove in a run for the Rays.

“Even when we got down 5-0, I just tried to keep telling everyone just have that calm energy. We’re going to be OK,” Kiermaier said. “(We) put another great comeback together — something we’ve done several times throughout the year. But they rallied there in the ninth and did what they had to do to win the game.”

Tampa Bay’s only victory in the series was a 5-0 win at home in Game 1 on Thursday. The Rays won a franchise-record 100 games during the regular season to claim their second straight AL East title and fourth overall.

“There’s no doubt there’s disappointment,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Very proud of what was accomplished in the regular season, but we had high aspirations to get deep in this thing. We ran into a Red Sox team that just beat us.”

Rays opener Collin McHugh tossed two scoreless innings before Game 1 winner Shane McClanahan allowed all five runs in the third while recording just two outs.

Meadows’ groundout in the fifth plated the Rays’ first run before Franco’s homer in the sixth made it 5-3. Kiermaier’s RBI double and Arozarena’s ensuing RBI single tied it in the eighth. — Reuters

Talking anew

October 12, 2021 | 8:02 pm

If there’s a situation that underscores why the word “never” should never be used in sports, it’s that which has engulfed the Sixers and erstwhile starting point guard Ben Simmons throughout the preseason. News that they’re on the negotiating table once more after months of estrangement drew mixed reactions; depending on perspective, the prospect of the 2016 first overall pick returning to the fold is either a welcome one or a masochist’s dream. Bridges seemed to have been burned, with either side digging in and pledging to defend their respective positions regardless of the cost. Meanwhile, cooler heads sought to restart discussions in hopes of finding middle ground.

The logic behind talking anew — and, make no mistake, talking is all that has happened so far — is unassailable. There are no winners to the impasse, with the Sixers losing precious time to jell amid all the uncertainty and Simmons all, but giving away cold cash due to penalties from his strike. Not that they truly want to get back together. There’s a reason he has been shopped around since his poor showing in the 2021 Playoffs, and there’s a reason he can’t wait to hightail it out of the City of Brotherly Love. That said, they appear to now understand that the divorce they both want to happen will go over much better if they walk with, and not against, each other towards their goal.

No small measure of damage has been done, of course. Simmons didn’t boost his stock any when he made public his desire to pack his bags once he felt he was no longer wanted. At the same time, the Sixers figured on playing the long game and absorbing any handicaps the stance brought — sound on paper, but debilitating in practice. There is no benefit to keeping someone who no longer desires to be around; at that point, addition by subtraction is key. Moreover, they devalued their position by offering the three-time All-Star AFTER they dissed him; it’s the equivalent of a quarter highlighting an item’s luster when all others know it to be damaged based on that quarter’s initial disclosure.

Nonetheless, the fact that the Sixers and Simmons are actively exchanging views should be deemed a step in the right direction. Their interests are aligned, after all, and they would do well to consider the merits of an alliance even as they angle for a permanent split — not unlike taking a step back to move two steps forward. Bottom line, they have no choice. Regardless of their posturing, the alternative is simply untenable.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Hong Kong risks global status as Singapore opens up to world

October 12, 2021 | 7:46 pm

THE DIVIDE between Asia’s two main financial hubs in handling the pandemic is growing ever wider, with one opening up to global travel and the other maintaining one of the world’s harshest quarantine policies.

In Singapore, officials are taking steps to reconnect with the global economy even as the government faces pressure to favor locals over foreigners for well-paying jobs. Speaking in a televised address over the weekend, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Singapore can’t stay “locked down and closed off indefinitely” and residents should prepare to see “many COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) cases for some time to come.”

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has taken the opposite approach, stressing in a Bloomberg Television interview Monday that even a single death would be a “major concern” as she follows China’s COVID Zero approach that tolerates no local infections. While expressing concern about the city’s reputation, Ms. Lam said she was “duty bound to protect my people” and businesses in any case saw Hong Kong as a gateway to the mainland.

The divergence is raising questions about Hong Kong’s future as a regional hub, particularly among an expat business community that for years has bounced back-and-forth between the former British colonies known for low tax rates, friendly labor laws and easy immigration policies. Even fully vaccinated residents in Hong Kong face a mandatory 21-day hotel stay if they visit locations like the US and UK, while Singapore is starting to allow quarantine-free travel to those places and more.

A Facebook post on Saturday captured the ennui many are feeling in Hong Kong. In a group with 55,000 members to support those stuck in quarantine, one member wrote that the city’s restaurants, bars, beaches and hiking trails were getting monotonous, and many residents who see life returning to normal in Europe or the US often don’t want to come back.

“I was born here and have lived in this beautiful city for 36 years, but I can’t go on anymore. I can’t take it,” the person wrote in the post, which had more than 1,000 likes and nearly 500 comments as of Monday afternoon. “The thing is if there was any semblance of hope — on X date we will open up — then the atmosphere here would be buzzing. But the feeling is there is no hope or end in sight.”

Hong Kong’s strict travel policies show just how much its leaders are keen to impress Beijing, which has moved to eliminate dissent following sometimes-violent pro-democracy protests in 2019. But quarantines are required even for travel to the mainland and there’s no clear criteria for easing restrictions, leaving the business community with nowhere to go that doesn’t involve a lengthy time locked in a hotel room.

Danny Lau, who runs a factory in Guangdong province across the China border that manufactures construction materials mostly for US clients, said “Hong Kong could easily be taken over by Singapore” as Asia’s international financial hub if it continues with its COVID Zero policy.

“We of course welcome the Singapore model because it’s very difficult to eradicate COVID,” said Lau, who serves as honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association. “There may still be cases after five years. Are you going to close the border for five years?”

Ms. Lam and other Hong Kong officials say the policies are popular with the public and have worked in suppressing the virus: The city has seen less than 12,300 cases and only 213 deaths throughout the entire pandemic. Disputing accusations that Hong Kong can’t autonomously set policy, Ms. Lam said Monday the city was doing “very well” as a financial center. Last week she said the mainland was “more important” than international business.

But the travel policies are adding to concerns for businesses in Hong Kong, which were already facing a China-backed clampdown on free speech, questions about the independence of the judiciary and an education system now focused on patriotism.

Hong Kong saw a record outflow of 89,200 residents in the year that ended in June, while the latest annual government survey showed the number of US-based firms in the city fell for a third straight year to 1,267 — down 6.2% from 2018. And while the overall number of companies with foreign parents has risen to a record of 9,049 this year — a statistic Ms. Lam cited on Monday as a sign of the city’s competitiveness — data show the increases have come mostly from China.

In one survey, the American Chamber of Commerce said more than 40% of its members were considering leaving the city. Amcham’s president, Tara Joseph, told Bloomberg News last week that lobbying the Hong Kong government to reopen was like “talking to a wall.”

SHRINKING FOOTPRINT

“We’re looking toward the second Christmas in a row when not many families will be traveling home, and that doesn’t help the overall confidence of decision makers in Hong Kong,” said Frederik Gollob, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. He said many companies were discussing measures short of moving their businesses, including relocating people to the mainland or moving certain jobs to other places like Singapore.

That may not be so easy. Singapore has toughened up its immigration policies, increasing scrutiny of banks, fund managers, management consultancies and other firms suspected of “discriminatory hiring practices” that pass over locals for foreigners. In August, Prime Minister Lee pledged to tighten restrictions on foreign workers and raise wages for low-income laborers as the city-state recovers from a pandemic-induced recession.

Singapore has also seen its population drop for a second consecutive year, primarily due to an exodus of foreign workers, students and residents amid tight COVID controls.

Still, the Hong Kong business community is worried. Felix Chung, a pro-establishment lawmaker who represents the textile industry in the Legislative Council, said Hong Kong “cannot disconnect with the rest of the world” if it’s going to be an international financial center.

“Singapore, as a rival to Hong Kong, will definitely take the chance to grab as many of our businesses as possible,” he said. “It’s a threat to Hong Kong.” — Bloomberg

Climate action at COP26 could save millions of lives

October 12, 2021 | 7:45 pm

GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) and about three-quarters of global health care workers on Monday called on governments to step up climate action at the COP26 global climate conference, saying it could save millions of lives a year.

The UN health agency’s report on climate change and health calls for transformational action in every sector including energy, transport and finance, saying the public health benefits of ambitious climate actions far outweigh the costs.

“The burning of fossil fuels is killing us. Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity,” the WHO said on Monday.

The WHO has previously said some 13.7 million deaths a year, or around 24.3% of the global total, were due to environmental risks such as air pollution and chemical exposure.

It is not clear exactly how many of those are directly linked to climate change, although the WHO’s Maria Neira said about 80% of the deaths from air pollution could be prevented through compliance with its guidelines.

Climate change is also stoking some infectious diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, causing deaths in some of the world’s poorest regions, said Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, head of a WHO climate change unit.

“Our health is not negotiable: we are going into climate negotiations, we are negotiating many things but the life of a single child whether it is lost to air pollution or climate change is not something that should be on the table,” he said.

The report’s release coincides with a letter backed by more than 400 health bodies representing more than 45 million nurses, doctors and medical professionals also calling for action.

“Pediatricians are speaking up because we do prevention, we give immunizations to prevent communicable diseases and we are speaking up now because we know that the health of the people and the health of the climate are one,” said Ruth Etzel with the International Pediatric Association.

Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council recognized access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental right, adding its weight to the fight against climate change. — Reuters

World Bank taking steps to boost research integrity after data rigging scandal

October 12, 2021 | 2:14 pm

By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON – The World Bank is taking steps to rebuild the credibility of its research after a data–rigging scandal forced it to cancel its flagship “Doing Business” report on country business climates, bank President David Malpass said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings this week, Mr. Malpass said strong research products remain a high priority for the bank and it would work on new ways to help countries improve their business climates.

Asked how the bank would rebuild its credibility after the scandal, Malpass the bank had taken “several steps” to improve research integrity, including elevating chief economist Carmen Reinhart to a role in senior management.

Mr. Malpass declined to answer questions on the IMF executive board’s review of a World Bank external investigation report alleging that IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva pressured World Bank staff to alter data to favor China in the Doing Business report in 2017, when she was the bank‘s CEO.

The IMF board was to deliberate again on Monday over whether she should continue as the IMF’s leader.

The same investigation report by law firm WilmerHale found that World Bank staff altered data to boost Saudi Arabia’s “Doing Business” ranking in October 2019 – six months after Mr. Malpass took over the bank‘s top job – but it did not find evidence of involvement by the bank‘s Office of the President or board members.

Mr. Malpass did not detail other steps that the bank was taking to shore up its research function, but said that Reinhart would be a senior president and among the top 10 executives of the World Bank Group that guide policy and decision-making at the Multilateral Development lender.

“I want really to reinforce the importance of top-quality research and the bank‘s ability to produce that research in high volumes,” Mr. Malpass said.

“Doing Business,” which ranked country business climates on measurements such as ease of navigating regulations, financing availability and legal frameworks, was the bank‘s most popular publication, current and former bank officials say.

Launched in 2003, “Doing Business” was widely used by private fund managers to assess country risks and guide investment decisions, but countries routinely sought to persuade researchers why they deserved a higher ranking.

Mr. Malpass said that helping countries improve their business climates is “vital to development” and a priority for the World Bank, so it will work on new ways to help countries expand their private sectors and foster good business practices. However, he did not provide any details on what those plans may include. – Reuters

Cyclone Kompasu strikes Philippines, kills 9

October 12, 2021 | 2:11 pm

MANILA – Nine people have been killed in the Philippines and 11 were missing on Tuesday due to floods and landslides caused by heavy rain from tropical cyclone Kompasu, the national disaster agency said.

Kompasu, with maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour, had absorbed remnants of an earlier cyclone before making landfall in the Philippines on Monday evening. Nearly 1,600 people were evacuated.

The disaster agency said it was verifying information from its regional units that reported four people killed in landslides in northern Benguet province and five killed in flash floods in Palawan, an island province in the country’s southwest.

Authorities were conducting search and rescue operations for 11 people missing mostly after landslides. The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands is hit by about 20 storms or typhoons annually, bringing heavy rains that trigger deadly landslides.

President Rodrigo Duterte was monitoring the government’s disaster response, his spokesperson, Harry Roque said on Tuesday.

Rescue personnel were at the scene, while power and water restoration and road clearing was ongoing, he added.

Kompasu, the 13th tropical storm to enter the Philippines, is expected to leave its territory on Tuesday, the state weather agency said. – Reuters

Poor countries’ debt rose 12% to record $860 bln in 2020- World Bank

October 12, 2021 | 1:21 pm

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) – The World Bank on Monday warned of a significant 12% rise in the debt burden of the world‘s low-income countries to a record $860 billion in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and called for urgent efforts to reduce debt levels.

World Bank President David Malpass told reporters the bank‘s International Debt Statistics 2022 report showed a dramatic increase in the debt vulnerabilities facing low- and middle-income countries; he also urged for comprehensive efforts to help countries reach more sustainable debt levels.

“We need a comprehensive approach to the debt problem, including debt reduction, swifter restructuring and improved transparency,” Mr. Malpass said in a statement accompanying the new report.

He said half of the world‘s poorest countries were in external debt distress or at high risk of it.

Mr. Malpass said sustainable debt levels were needed to help countries achieve economic recovery and reduce poverty.

The report said the external debt stocks of low- and middle-income countries combined rose 5.3% in 2020 to $8.7 trillion, affecting countries in all regions.

It said the rise in external debt outpaced gross national income (GNI) and export growth, with the external debt-to-GNI ratio, excluding China, rising five percentage points to 42% in 2020, while their debt-to-export ratio surged to 154% in 2020 from 126% in 2019.

Mr. Malpass said debt restructuring efforts were urgently needed given the expiration at the end of this year of the Group of 20 major economies’ Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which has offered temporary deferral of debt payments.

The G20 and Paris Club of official creditors launched a Common Framework for Debt Treatments last year to restructure unsustainable debt situations and protracted financing gaps in DSSI-eligible countries, but only three countries – Ethiopia, Chad and Zambia – have applied thus far.

Mr. Malpass said further debt payment freezes could be included as part of Common Framework debt restructurings, but more work was also needed to increase the participation of private sector creditors, who have thus far been reluctant to get involved.

The report showed that net inflows from multilateral creditors to low- and middle-income countries rose to $117 billion in 2020, the highest level in a decade.

Net lending to low-income countries rose 25% to $71 billion, also the highest level in a decade, with the IMF and other multilateral creditors providing $42 billion and bilateral creditors $10 billion, it said.

Carmen Reinhart, the World Bank‘s chief economist, said the challenges facing highly indebted countries could get worse as interest rates rose.

The World Bank said it expanded the 2022 report to boost transparency about global debt levels by providing more detailed and disaggregated data on external debt.

The data now include a breakdown of a borrowing country’s external debt stock to show the amount owed to each official and private creditor, the currency composition of this debt, and the terms on which loans were extended.

For DSSI-eligible countries the data also show the debt service deferred in 2020 by each bilateral creditor and the projected month-by-month debt-service payments owed to them through 2021. – Reuters

JPMorgan CEO blasts bitcoin as ‘worthless’

October 12, 2021 | 11:55 am

NEW YORK – Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive, said on Monday at a conference that cryptocurrencies will be regulated by governments and that he personally thinks bitcoin is “worthless.”

“No matter what anyone thinks about it, government is going to regulate it. They are going to regulate it for (anti-money laundering) purposes, for (Bank Secrecy Act) purposes, for tax,” Dimon said, referring to banking regulations in a conversation held virtually by the Institute of International Finance.

Dimon, head of the largest U.S. bank, has been a vocal critic of the digital currency, once calling it a fraud and then later saying he regretted the statement.

This summer, JPMorgan gave wealth management clients access to cryptocurrency funds, meaning the bank’s financial advisers can accept buy and sell orders from clients for five cryptocurrency products.

Stating that his views are different from those of the bank and its board, Dimon said he remains skeptical.

“I personally think that bitcoin is worthless,” Dimon said. “I don’t think you should smoke cigarettes either.”

“Our clients are adults. They disagree. If they want to have access to buy or sell bitcoin – we can’t custody it – but we can give them legitimate, as clean as possible access.” — Reuters

Superman comes out as bisexual; ‘not a gimmick,’ writer says

October 12, 2021 | 10:47 am

Out, out and away! — for Superman on National Coming Out Day.

Jon Kent, the son of original Superman Clark Kent and journalist Lois Lane, turns out to be bisexual in DC Comics’ latest iteration of the superhero’s adventures.

The young man kisses reporter Jay Nakamura in issue five of the comic book Superman: Son of Kal-El, which will be released on Nov. 9.

“It’s not a gimmick,” the writer, Tom Taylor, said in an interview from Melbourne, Australia, wearing a T-shirt with a rainbow-striped Superman logo.

“When I was offered this job, I thought, ‘Well, if we’re going to have a new Superman for the DC Universe, it feels like a missed opportunity to have another straight white savior,” he said.

National Coming Out Day is observed on Oct. 11 to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

“We didn’t want this to be ‘DC Comics creates new queer Superman,’” Mr. Taylor said. “We want this to be ‘Superman finds himself, becomes Superman and then comes out,’ and I think that’s a really important distinction there.”

Reactions have been mostly positive, Mr. Taylor said.

“I’m seeing tweets of people saying they burst into tears when they read the news, that they wished that Superman was this when they were growing up, that they could see themselves,” he added.

“People are saying for the first time ever they’re seeing themselves in Superman — something they never thought was possible.”

Jon Kent cares about climate crisis and refugees.

“He is as powerful as hope, faster than fate and able to lift us all and he’s a very new hero finding his way, fighting things his father didn’t as much,” Mr. Taylor said, who wants this to be the new normal.

“I hope this isn’t a headline in a few years time. I hope this isn’t trending on Twitter. I hope this just something about a person and good rep for everybody that that represents.” — Rollo Ross/Reuters

Sustainable agriculture: key to achieving food security in urban communities

October 12, 2021 | 10:00 am

SMFI 3 resized — SMFI KSK farmers set up their urban farm space where they will practice the various sustainable agriculture techniques that they will learn from the program.

The future of food security lies greatly on sustainable agriculture. It is a given that practicing sustainable agriculture in the urban areas comes a bit harder compared in the rural zones because of the availability of land for farming.

While it is true that a healthy, spacious land plays a vital role in attaining sustainable agriculture, our urban dwellers need not to worry as various farming techniques and innovations are currently available to augment their resources in farming.

It is in this light that the SM Prime Holdings (SMPH), through SM Foundation (SMFI), recently mobilized its efforts to bring the SMFI’s Kabalikat Sa Kabuhayan (KSK) on Sustainable Agriculture program to 50 Pasay City residents.

The said beneficiaries are mostly made up of members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in Pasay City. The KSK program aims to equip farmer-participants with knowledge and skills on modern urban farming techniques that will allow them to bring food on their tables and eventually, enable them to establish their own agri-enterprises.

SMFI KSK farmers set up their urban farm space where they will practice the various sustainable agriculture techniques that they will learn from the program.

Aside from the agri training, the trainees will also be assisted in creating markets through various SM Business Units and government agencies.

This effort was also made possible through a sustained social good collaboration with the City Government of Pasay, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Growing together with its host communities

Speaking before the farmer-participants and representatives of its partner organizations through a virtual platform, SMFI Trustee Engr. Ramon Gil Macapagal underscored the Foundation’s goal and ambition for its host communities: “Palagi naming inaasam sa SM Foundation ang ganitong panahon na aming maisusulong sa ating komunidad ang isang programang gaya nito pong KSK. Kami ay may ambisyon na tayo ay umunlad sa pamamagitan ng ating likas kaya na pamamaraan.”

Mr. Macapagal also highlighted how SM sees the significance of growing the business together with its host communities, “Ang gusto po natin ay tayo ay lumago na kung saan ang SM ay makapagdaragdag ng benepisyo sa ating lipunan. Gusto po naming lumago sa pamamaraan na ang ating bansa ay makapagpo-produce ng mga mamamayan na handa sa kanilang mga haharapin sa buhay.”

He further explained that aside from the KSK program, SM through its corporate social arm — SM Foundation — reaches its host communities by its social good programs focused on education, health and wellness, and disaster response.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) like those implemented by SM Foundation is becoming increasingly relevant as an inclusive development tool for businesses, especially in areas where they operate or “host communities.”

For companies such as SM, being a responsible corporate citizen is the bedrock of the strong relationship that they sustain with their host communities. And to achieve this, the company maintains constant community dialogues. They also work collaboratively with communities and stakeholder leaders over the life of their social good projects.

“Kami ay lubos na nagpapasalamat sa pagkakataong ibinigay sa amin para dalhin ang programang ito sa Pasay. Nawa’y makapagdulot ito, hindi lamang ng pagkain sa hapag- kainan ng bawat residente ng Pasay kundi pati karagdagang kabuhayan. Makakaasa kayo na patuloy kaming makikipagtulungan sa inyong lokal na pamahalaan upang makamit natin ang kaunlaran,” Mr. Macapagal concluded.

The KSK program complements Pasay City’s Urban Farm tourism program that intends to promote a clean and green Pasay City through various urban farming methods like vertical and plastic container gardening by showcasing successful “greening” projects at the barangay level.

SM’s Kabalikat Sa Kabuhayan (KSK) Farmers’ Training Program aims to bring modern and sustainable farming skills in both rural and urban communities to help farmers have food on their table and have potential economic opportunities. To date, the program has trained more than 28,100 farmers from more than 900 cities/municipalities nationwide.

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Exports and imports continue double-digit growth in August

October 12, 2021 | 10:00 am

THE COUNTRY’S exports and imports of goods continue to post double-digit expansion in August, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported this morning.

Preliminary PSA trade data showed the value of merchandise exports went up by 17.6% year on year to $6.47 billion. The August result marked a turnaround from the 12.7% drop posted in the same month last year and was faster than the revised 13.8% growth in July 2021.

Meanwhile, merchandise imports grew by 30.8% to $10.04 billion in August, inching up from the revised 29.5% year-on-year expansion recorded in the previous month. This was also a reversal from August 2020’s 17.5% decline.

The export and import figures in August brought the country’s trade balance to $3.58-billion deficit, wider than the $2.18-billion gap recorded in the same month last year, but narrower than the revised $3.66-billion deficit posted the previous month.

Year to date, the trade gap reached $25.25 billion, from a $15.69-billion shortfall in 2020’s comparable eight months.

For the same eight-month period, exports and imports grew by an annual 19.6% (to $48.93 billion) and 31.1% (to $74.18 billion), respectively. These continue to surpass the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s targets for exports and imports at 10% and 12% for the year, respectively. — Ana Olivia A. Tirona