UBX revolutionizes insurance with Assured

July 2, 2021 | 9:00 am

The pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of prioritizing the health and financial security of our families. Insurance aims to protect society, businesses, and individuals from loss and to help them recover when such loss or damage occurs. Yet, insurance penetration rates in the Philippines are among the lowest in Asia. Insurance Commission (IC) data shows insurance penetration, defined as insurance premiums as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), at only 1.69% percent as of September 2020. The majority of Filipinos perceive insurance – an intangible product – as complex and confusing. In addition, current products and means of distribution are often expensive compared to need or ability to pay. UBX aims to simplify insurance with Assured, UBX’s new embeddable insurance platform.

UBX, named the Fastest Growing Fintech Company in South East Asia in 2021 by Global Banking and Finance Review, is launching Assured together with insurtech partner Coherent. UBX has partnered with global insurance giant Chubb to underwrite the pioneer product which is embedded as a feature of one of their prominent financial service offerings.

Assured is an insurance platform that virtualizes insurance packaging and experience by delivering multiple protection products from multiple insurance carriers through multiple channels. The first channel leveraging this new platform is i2i, the nation’s fastest growing payments and open finance network which digitally enables financial institutions and other community-based financial service providers. Customers of the hundreds of financial institutions and service providers using i2i can now enjoy UBX Bills Payment Group Personal Accident Insurance underwritten by Chubb as a value-added protection feature when paying their bills via the platform. This insurance provides 30 days of coverage for accidental death and permanent total disablement. Customers are entitled to a lump sum benefit of up to 3 years or 36 times of the enrolled monthly bill amount.

Partners can embed Assured into their platforms through APIs and embeddable user experiences. Through an innovative platform like Assured, relevant and current insurance products in the pipeline will now be accessible to consumers who have been previously underserved. UBX – along with partners Coherent and Chubb, look forward to rapidly expanding the market by providing insurance across UBX channels and other leading digital platforms:

“At UBX, we believe that financial services are best embedded directly into the activities and experiences that matter to individuals and businesses. We have to make it easier for consumers to discover the value of insurance. Traditional intermediaries have only so much reach. Leveraging digital is the key to scalable distribution. At the same time, customers demand well designed, simple solutions ideally baked into the things that matter to them at a given time. With Assured, we are enabling digital platforms to do exactly this: embed easy to understand coverage into the activities and experiences their platforms are facilitating,” explains John Januszczak, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, UBX Philippines

Coherent is an Asia-headquartered insurtech company that empowers insurers to evolve the future of insurance by providing game-changing digital platforms and data intelligence engines. Coherent’s technology helps insurers transform key stages in their business lifecycle including product development, sales and customer engagement.

“Coherent is very excited to launch Assured in partnership with UBX and Chubb. In developing this platform, we are helping enable the under-insured population in the Philippines have greater accessibility and real-time access to relevant insurance products. This proposition aligns strongly with our mission to help insurance become more engaging and simple for customers and the insurance industry. We are very much looking forward to collaborating on the next phases of Assured in the coming year,” says John Brisco, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Coherent Global.

Chubb is the world’s largest publicly traded property and casualty insurer providing commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance.

“Our collaboration with UBX exemplifies Chubb’s digital strategy to forge distribution partnerships with innovative brands. We are proud to partner with UBX on its journey to support communities by embedding insurance for individuals who were previously underserved by financial services. UBX Bills Payment Group Personal Accident Insurance is a value-added feature provided to its bills paying customers who now benefit from better access to insurance,” shares Peter van Ratingen, Country President, Insurance Company of North America (A Chubb Company)

The UBX Bills Payment service with bill protect insurance is UBX’s first embedded execution providing built-in protection for i2i’s bills payment customers who are served by rural banks, cooperatives, and other financial institutions across the country. Claire, a bills payment customer via the i2i platform, shares her anticipation of the new feature:

“The insurance as a value-added feature when I pay my bills will be very helpful since it’s an automatic way to get a month-long insurance plan without the hassle of filling up too many application forms. This will be beneficial especially if an accident happens to me during the coverage period. I also like that the whole process will simply be part of my bills payment transaction.”

In a country where insurance penetration is significantly below the average for developed markets, offering sachet sized insurance products embedded into the products and experiences of different platforms and channels is expected to be the key to closing the gap. Insurance coverage is expected to cross over to the majority of Filipinos in 2023 and onwards. Assured is poised to play a major role in closing the insurance gap while providing personalized protection.

About UBX PH – UBX PH is the financial technology venture studio and fund of Union Bank of the Philippines. UBX is predicated on a future where financial services are invisible: seamlessly embedded into the experiences and activities that truly matter to businesses and people.

Visit https://www.ubx.ph/ for more information or please contact hello@ubx.p

If you would like to have more information about the company and this article, please contact agnescasal@ubx.ph

Ending a pandemic: Collaboration for the greater good

July 2, 2021 | 8:00 am

IMG-902e5568ab3dcebc0f5d8385603f099b-V — At the commitment ceremony of private sector for the "Ingat Angat Bakuna Lahat" at SM Mall of Asia last June 7

With millions directly and indirectly affected by the pandemic, COVID-19 has become one of the single biggest challenges in modern history. Over a year has passed since its outbreak and the world is still reeling from its impact. Yet, an end may be near.

With the government’s vaccination rollout in full force, the question now is how to properly and effectively vaccinate the majority of 70 million people in the Philippines. With the National Capital Region alone having more than 10 million residents, the challenge is daunting in both scale and complexity.

Luckily, the public sector does not have to do it alone.

The country’s top brands, private healthcare providers, and malls have pledged their support, launching the “Ingat Angat Bakuna Lahat” campaign to promote the vaccination of more Filipinos against COVID-19.

“With Ingat Angat Bakuna Lahat, we want to encourage vaccine willingness and support mass vaccinations, which are crucial for a safe economic recovery and return to normalcy,” Margot Torres, managing director for McDonald’s Philippines and Ingat Angat Bakuna Lahat communications advocacy co-lead, said during the online launch of the campaign.

“This Ingat Angat Bakuna Lahat campaign is the result of the collaboration of many private sector companies who generously contributed funds and their expertise, talent, and time to support our country’s national vaccination program,” she added.

Companies who are supporting the campaign include Banco de Oro, Cebu Pacific, Food Panda, Globe Telecom, Goldilocks, ICTSI, Jollibee Foods Corp., McDonald’s Philippines, Megaworld, Philippine Seven (7-11) Corp., Smart Communications, SM Supermalls, Unilab, Zuellig Pharma, and the Restaurant Owners of the Philippines (RestoPH).

Decades-worth of experience and expertise

As part of the contribution of the private sector, companies like Jollibee and McDonald’s bring in their experience and expertise in areas such as the administration, communications and supply chain of the vaccines. Other companies like ICTSI and Go Negosyo helped with procurement through tripartite agreements and Zuellig and Unilab lent their expertise for distribution.

Companies like SM Supermalls and Megaworld Lifestyle Malls can provide facilities for vaccination clinics, and medical experts from the Philippine Medical Association and the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases also helped ensure that the campaign’s content is factual and science based. Meanwhile, private healthcare providers Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (AC Health), Metro Pacific Hospitals Holdings, Inc. (MPPHI), Mount Grace Hospitals, Inc., St. Luke’s Medical Center, and The Medical City will also help administer the vaccines and open their hospital’s available capacity to the national government and local government units in the National Capital Region Plus area — which includes Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal — and in Batangas and Pampanga.

Private healthcare providers will also shoulder the cost of administration, venues, and manpower, while the government will provide the vaccines, medical supplies, and personal protective equipment.

Ms. Torres, who brings years’ worth of experience working for McDonald’s, even pointed out how similar the vaccination rollout was to how fast-food chains operate.

“It might seem overwhelming, but we do it every day. We know it can be done, and we have been able to prove that through our simulation models,” she said in an interview.

Pepot Miñana, Jollibee Foods Corp. Chief Sustainability & Public Affairs officer, added in an interview that companies like Jollibee and McDonald’s have accomplished similar goals as the vaccination program, from generating demand from an audience, managing supply chains, to distributing consumables safely across a wide network.

What it takes to end a crisis

As part of the Ingat Angat Bakuna Lahat campaign, Ms. Torres said that one of their tasks is to dispel the stigma and clear up misinformation surrounding vaccines among the Filipino public. Part of that task is creating ‘vaccine envy’, or drumming up willingness among the public to get fully vaccinated.

“It’s the same principles in marketing. You have to go back to the consumer, and that you have to understand the human psyche,” she said.

She recounted the story of how Mandaluyong officials visited senior citizens in their homes to encourage them to get vaccinated. When the seniors found out that they could get their vaccines at SM Megamall, their faces lit up.

“They were like children who haven’t been outside in forever. Sometimes it’s these small insights that matter. Local government workers know this. They tell me about it, and that’s how we come up with plans,” Ms. Torres said.

“Because we’re Filipino, we have this deep-seated belief in God and in each other. There’s always that hope. And there’s always that longing. ‘I want to go back to what I used to love doing with my family. I want to go back to eating out and going to church, get the children back in school’.”

Mr. Miñana believes that the close collaboration between companies in the private sector and the government is what will allow the country to reach the critical goal of vaccinating 70 million Filipinos this year in order to achieve herd immunity, or the point when a large portion of Filipinos are already immune to COVID-19.

“We’re professionals. We’ve been in our companies for more than a decade. We know our business pretty well. And we know that the only way for our businesses to recover, for the industry to recover, is for the country to recover. And the only way for the country to get up is to put aside all differences and put it all together in service of the greater good,” he said.

“In the next few months, we’re going to see the curve for vaccinations going up. On the same token, I don’t want to sound negative, but we do have to be really careful and not be overconfident. We can’t let our guards down. Many of the leaders in the public sector are fantastic. It’s a great feeling working with them. We just have to keep focus,” he added.

59 business leaders and enterprises award recipients navigating the great reset at the 15^th APEA 2021 Regional Edition

July 2, 2021 | 8:00 am

Enterprise Asia, the organizer of the prestigious 15^th Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards (APEA) 2021 Regional Edition is pleased to recognize 59 exceptional award recipients who have exemplified excellence and perseverance in this unprecedented period. The APEA awardees have proven resiliency and accelerated tremendously to overcome the unprecedented economic conditions wrought by the global pandemic.

The APEA, an initiative by Enterprise Asia, the region’s leading NGO, is the largest regional recognition and acknowledgement program for trailblazers in the business community. APEA prides itself as a testament to the commitment, aspiration, and true entrepreneurship. With over 800 nominations received each year, and about 7% were commended to the most deserving for recognition. This year, an impressive number of 130 finalists from 15 countries were up for consideration in the final round of judging and only 59 were crowned as award recipients.

Richard Tsang, president of Enterprise Asia, stated in his welcome speech, “We knew fifteen years ago, that the way forward for entrepreneurs and enterprises, and our interactions with the rest of the world rests in our ability to inspire and promote equity and equality in a world rife with differences and inequality.”

Since 2007, APEA has recognized leading lights within a variety of business industries, whilst rewarding remarkable success in four categories — Master Entrepreneur, Fast Enterprise, Inspirational Brand, and Corporate Excellence category. Over 40% of high achieving winning recipients from the Corporate Excellence category have further shown that enterprises have accomplished strong results of entrepreneurial excellence and resilience despite this challenging period.

B.Grimm Power Public Co., Ltd’s Chairman and President Dr. Harald Link was accorded the Entrepreneur of the Year of the APEA 2021 Regional Edition. Among the notable Master Entrepreneur Category winners include Dr. Ming-Hsi Chuang, president of the Gwo Xi Stem Cell Applied Technology Co., Ltd. from Taiwan, and Sara Lamsam, CEO & president of Muang Thai Life Assurance Public Company Limited from Thailand.

Further esteemed winning enterprises from the Inspirational Brand Category are E.SUN Financial Holding Company Ltd. from Taiwan and Nu Skin Southeast Asia (NSE Asia Products Pte Ltd) from Singapore. Fredley Group of Companies from the Philippines and MatchMove Pay Pte Ltd from Singapore were a part of the winning recipients for the Fast Enterprise Category. Bahwan CyberTek from India, CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited from Hong Kong, KWG Group Holdings from China, PT Mora Telematika Indonesia from Indonesia, and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation from the Philippines were awarded under the Corporate Excellence Category.

Prior to the APEA, the Asia Entrepreneurship Forum (AEF) 2021 was held in the day and was made possible by the virtual environment. The forum was convened with more than 300 C-suite level executives and business leaders from China, Bahrain, Brunei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and other parts of the region.

Centered around the theme “The Great Reset: Towards a Sustainable Recovery,” the forum provides a regional platform for leading thought leaders across sectors to stimulate pressing topics, balancing major reset transitions and focusing on the road to recovery.

Philippine manufacturing activity expands in June

July 2, 2021 | 12:34 am

Factory activity expanded in June, as quarantine restrictions eased in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. — REUTERS

By Beatrice M. Laforga, Reporter

MANUFACTURING ACTIVITY in the Philippines expanded in June, snapping a two-month losing streak, as demand and production picked up after quarantine restrictions were loosened, IHS Markit said on Thursday.

The Philippine Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 50.8 last month from 49.9 in May, the first time since March that the index breached the 50 neutral mark that separates contraction from expansion.

“Filipino manufacturers signaled a rebound in operating conditions at the end of the second quarter, led by softer declines in output, new orders, and employment, as well as a renewed expansion in pre-production inventories,” IHS Markit said in a statement.

The manufacturing sector’s performance was second best in Southeast Asia during the month, after Indonesia’s 53.5 reading. The Philippines and Indonesia were the only two Southeast Asian economies that saw expansion in June.

The Philippine PMI also exceeded the region’s average of 49, which fell from 51.8 in May.

IHS Markit said the PMI recovery was only “marginal” due to varying levels of quarantine restrictions in some parts of the country, including the capital region.

Metro Manila and nearby provinces remain under a general community quarantine, although some restrictions have been gradually eased as the number of coronavirus infections declined from the peak in April.

PRODUCTION LEVEL
IHS Markit said production levels fell for the third straight month in June, albeit at a slower pace, as muted demand persisted amid the prolonged pandemic.

Weak domestic demand also pulled down new orders, although it was a slight decline and the softest in three months.

On the other hand, IHS Markit noted manufactured goods increased for a second month in a row, thanks to higher-than-average demand from international clients.

IHS Markit said local manufacturers continued to be wary about expanding their workforce since output and demand are still weak. Employment has been on a downtrend since the lockdown started in March 2020, although the recent drop was the softest in three months.

Companies said the job cuts were due to efforts to bring down operational costs and voluntary resignations.

Amid the improving environment, factories started to expand their stocks in June, with input buying activities rising from the contraction seen in the past two months.

Respondents also decided to increase their inventory of pre-production materials to prevent delays when demand starts to pick up over the coming months. Meanwhile, stocks of finished products only went up slightly.

“Manufacturers were once again faced with a more severe lengthening of delivery times from suppliers, however, which was widely linked to stock shortages and port congestions by panelists,” IHS Markit said.

Firms reported higher input costs last month because of costlier transportation and raw materials, forcing some manufacturers to raise the selling prices of their products.

IHS Markit noted output price inflation accelerated to a two-and-a-half-year high last month.

Meanwhile, manufacturers were still optimistic that production will improve in the year ahead on expectations of a rebound in demand.

The level of optimism, however, fell below the series’ average because firms are still wary of the long-term impact of the pandemic.

“With the vaccination program still in the early stages, controlling the spread of the pandemic remains principal to preventing another series of tightening restrictions. Firms in the meantime will hope issues surrounding the supply of materials are resolved,” Shreeya Patel, economist at IHS Markit, said in a statement.

Moving forward, the health of the manufacturing sector will mainly depend on the stringency of lockdown imposed in the coming months, said ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa.

“Easing curbs will likely translate to faster expansion for the manufacturing sector but we must also note that trends can easily reverse once lockdowns are reinstated with the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) in April reminding us how quickly the sector can revert to contraction even after 3 months of gains,” Mr. Mapa said.

For Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort, factory activity in the country could continue to expand over the coming months on expectations that the economy will reopen further with its vaccine rollout in place and new coronavirus cases easing.

The Health department reported 5,795 new cases on Thursday, bringing the number of active cases to 51,567.

“[Further economic reopening] would allow more businesses to operate at a higher capacity, including some manufacturing activities and other related and allied industries,” Mr. Ricafort said in a note.

“However, risk factors include the new coronavirus variants that are more contagious… [which] could slow down economic recovery prospects amid risks of lockdowns and travel restrictions locally and worldwide, thereby could also result to slower recovery in manufacturing and imports,” he added.

May unemployment rate falls as lockdown curbs ease

July 2, 2021 | 12:33 am

More Filipinos were able to find jobs in May after lockdown restrictions were eased in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

THE COUNTRY’S jobs situation improved in May as the ranks of unemployed and underemployed Filipinos fell after lockdown curbs were eased, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

Preliminary results of the May 2021 round of the Labor Force Survey released on Thursday put the country’s unemployment rate at 7.7%, down from the 8.7% recorded in April.

This was the second-lowest unemployment rate recorded since the start of the year, following the 7.1% posted in March.

This was equivalent to 3.730 million jobless Filipinos in May, down from 4.138 million in April.

Likewise, the underemployment rate — the proportion of those already working, but still looking for more work or longer working hours — improved to 12.3% in May from 17.2% in April. This was the lowest underemployment rate since the PSA started tracking jobs figures on a monthly basis this year.

In absolute terms, this equated to 5.492 million underemployed Filipinos in May, lower than the 7.453 million the previous month.

The size of the labor force was approximately 48.446 million in May, up from 47.407 million in April. This brought the labor force participation rate to 64.6% of the country’s working-age population in May from 63.2% the previous month.

In a joint statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado said the recent jobs data continue to reflect the “strong link between quarantine restrictions and labor market outcomes.”

“More stringent quarantines to arrest the spread of the virus had temporarily affected our economic and employment gains in the first four months of 2021. Nevertheless, the lowering of the quarantine level in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus to general community quarantine on May 15, along with the faster rollout of the vaccination program, led to gains in labor and employment figures in May 2021,” the economic managers said.

The government had placed NCR and nearby provinces under strict lockdowns from March to mid-May to address the surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections.

The economic managers also pointed to the increase in labor force participation and the decline in unemployment, which led to the creation of 1.5 million jobs between April and May this year.

“Following the trend of recovery from the previous months, total employment remains above pre-COVID-19 levels with a net job creation of 2.2 million since January 2020,” they said.

“These significant improvements point to an economy on the mend. As the economy was further reopened in the second half of May, more Filipinos were able to re-join the labor force and earn sufficient income, as indicated by the lower underemployment rate,” they added.

ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said the drop in underemployment was a “welcome development” despite the average number of hours at work remaining below 40 per week.

“This development… could indicate that job seekers are slowly accepting lower job hours and willing to work under these conditions given the downbeat economic conditions. Hopefully, should the economy continue to reopen, we will see more work hours available to employees which will in turn help drive a faster rebuild of drawn down savings and an eventual return to robust consumption,” Mr. Mapa said in a statement to reporters.

The employment rate stood at 92.3% in May from 91.3% in April. This was equivalent to 44.716 million people in May from 43.269 million previously.

The service sector made up 57.8% of total employment in May, inching up from the 57.4% in April. The industry sector likewise saw its employment rate slightly improve to 18.4% during the period from 18.2%.

Meanwhile, the employment rate in agriculture stood at 23.8%, down from 24.4%.

Between April and May, services saw the most jobs generated on a net basis at about 1.042 million, followed by industry’s 338,362 and agriculture’s 66,103.

OUTLOOK
Despite these gains, ING’s Mr. Mapa said that prospects for economic recovery remain uncertain.

“Given the potential spread of new variants and the possible reversal of [community quarantines] to tighter measures, it will be difficult to say for certain whether [the May result] is a sustainable trend… [D]espite the improvement in labor market metrics, we note that the current unemployment rate remains still quite distant from the 5.4% average pre-COVID-19 and we will need to work harder to get back to that level and pace of job creation,” Mr. Mapa said.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Lead Economist Emilio S. Neri, Jr. said the “uninterrupted reopening” of the economy will be crucial to sustain the gains in the labor market throughout the year.

“Getting the jobless rate to the 6% handle is possible if we can sustain a calibrated stimulus, avoid a major surge in infections and capitalize on the opportunities offered by the rapid recovery of developed economies,” Mr. Neri said in a Viber message.

There are 51,567 active COVID-19 cases in the country as of July 1, Health department data showed.

Moreover, there are 17 cases of a “Delta” COVID-19 variant detected among returning Filipino travelers. First detected in India, the variant is said to be a more transmissible form of COVID-19 and is reportedly behind the renewed surge in cases in other countries.

Meanwhile, the economic managers cited the need to accelerate the rollout of the vaccination program and to implement the recovery package that includes the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) in order to sustain the gains in the labor market and achieve an annual 6-7% economic growth this year.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Executive Order No. 140, which creates a NERS task force in charge of implementing the government’s plan to restore employment until 2022. The recovery plan, which is anchored on the Updated Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, seeks to create a policy environment that encourages the generation of and improved access to employment, as well as livelihood and training opportunities.

Meanwhile, Health department data as of June 27 showed a total of 10.065 million administered COVID-19 vaccine doses in the country. Of these, 2.527 million Filipinos have received the second dose and are thus considered to be fully vaccinated. — Ana Olivia A. Tirona

ADB urges PHL to boost disaster resilience as impact of typhoons mounts

July 2, 2021 | 12:32 am

Flood-boat — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

THE PHILIPPINES is losing an average of 1.7% of its overall economic output each year due to typhoons, according to estimates by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which noted the country’s need to strengthen its resilience against natural disasters.

In a “Disaster Resilience in Asia” report published on Thursday, the ADB said the impact of storms on the Philippine economy could hit up to 23% of gross domestic product (GDP) each year in extreme cases.

Typhoons alone may have cost the economy at least $20 billion from 1990 to 2020 in GDP losses, ADB said.

While many residents usually return to the typhoon-hit areas after being evacuated, the ADB said the impact of severe disasters tend to linger.

“This relatively rapid restoration of economic livelihoods and activity should not, however, be viewed as a sign of disaster resilience, especially for vulnerable places where disasters occur frequently. If nothing further is done except the restoration of activity, returning to these affected areas simply means placing the same populations and assets back in the path of disasters,” the multilateral bank said.

The ADB warned that Asian countries, including the Philippines, should prepare for worsening impact of natural disasters due to climate change.

“Some disaster effects are more pervasive, spreading across geographic areas via supply chain linkages and the migration of people (including employees)… Further, the effects from disasters permeate to another sector of the economy — households and individuals — and they do so in many interlinking ways,” it added.

The Philippines is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world, experiencing typhoons, flash floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Meanwhile, the ADB said a third of all natural disasters and technological hazards that occurred since 1960s happened in developing Asia, with the region’s share of these disasters compared with the rest of the world ranged from 34% to 40% each decade. More than one-fourth of the $135 billion in average annual global damage recorded each year is in the region.

Given the huge impact of natural disasters, the ADB said developing economies in the region like the Philippines should strengthen their disaster resilience.

“The starting point for building disaster resilience is by reducing risk. Disaster risk reduction in turn entails diminishing vulnerability and exposure to natural hazards that are at the highest risk of becoming disasters, whether as local events or major catastrophes,” it said.

In an ADB webinar on Thursday, Ilan Noy, a professor of economics and the inaugural chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, said governments should spend more on disaster resilience initiatives to minimize economic losses.

“Most of the amount we spend on disasters is in the emergency phase rather than in prevention resilience building and resilience reduction. [The latter is] where we should be spending our money on because we know that prevention is a much more worthy investment,” Mr. Noy said.

He said one example of good public investment on disaster mitigation is those programs that will improve governance and transparency in information, and help local governments avoid areas that are prone to disasters like floods and earthquakes.

Republic Act No. 10121 mandates local government units to allocate 5% of the revenues they generate to the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund to finance programs and activities related to disaster prevention and response. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Customs exceeds June collection target by 11%

July 2, 2021 | 12:31 am

THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) collected P52.447 billion from duties and taxes last month, beating its target by 11.2% despite sustained impact of the pandemic on global trade.

Preliminary data released on Thursday showed the bureau’s June collection surpassed its P47.175- billion target for the month and also 23.1% bigger than the P42.59 billion in the same period last year.

June marked the sixth straight month that Customs beat its monthly target this year.

The BoC said last month’s total included the additional revenues generated from its post-audit activities worth P148.73 million, and the P157.06 million collected via the Tax Expenditure Fund, where the import duties and taxes of state-run firms are pooled.

In the first half, Customs collected P302.74 billion, or 3.7% higher than its P291.833-billion goal for the six-month period.

Year on year, this was also 19.6% higher than P253.09 billion seen in the same period in 2020.

The January-June revenues accounted for 48.83% of the BoC’s P620-billion collection target for the entire year. — Beatrice M. Laforga

PSE raises ‘robust’ P122.5-billion in first half

July 2, 2021 | 12:11 am

THE Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) on Thursday reported that around P122.46 billion were raised from the sale of primary and secondary shares in the first half of 2021.

This already exceeds the total amount raised at the local bourse in 2020 at P103.76 billion. The PSE earlier said that it is hoping to raise at least P200 billion at the local bourse this year.

“Capital raising activities at PSE continue to be robust and we remain optimistic that we will be able to hit our targets by yearend,” Ramon S. Monzon, president and chief executive officer of the PSE, said in a statement on Thursday.

There were two initial public offerings (IPO) during the period, two follow-on offerings, two stock rights offerings, and three private placements.

Meanwhile, there was also a boost in trading activity. Daily average turnover amounted to P8.96 billion for the first half of the year, posting a 21.9% growth year to date and 35.9% up year on year.

On the other hand, foreign funds logged a net selling worth P77.8 billion for the six-month period.

The benchmark PSE index (PSEi) closed at 6,901.91 on the last trading day of June, lower by 3.3% year to date. Meanwhile, the broader all shares index declined by 0.7%. Majority of sectoral indices posted gains, except for holding firms and property.

“On May 14, the PSEi slid to its lowest intraday level for the year at 6,080.94 but we have seen the main index recover since, testing the 7,000-mark intraday on June 16,” Mr. Monzon said.

“For the month of June, the benchmark index gained 4.1 percent month-on-month owing to increased investor confidence as more Filipinos get vaccinated,” he added.

Latest data from the government’s pandemic task force show that the country has so far administered 10,065,414 doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines — 7,538,128 have received their first doses, while 2,527,286 have been fully vaccinated.

“If government can meet its target of vaccinating up to 70 million people by the end of the year or even get close to said target, the stock market could return to pre-pandemic levels in the near term,” said Mr. Monzon.

In the next month, the PSE will be conducting IPO marketing events for small and medium enterprises to encourage them to take advantage of relaxed listing rules and the stock market’s pandemic relief rule. It will also continue hosting its market education webinars twice a month for retail investors.

“PSE still has a lot of activities lined up in the next six months, including the launch of new thematic indices, data analytics platform, and revamped market education website,” Mr. Monzon said. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

DITO targets to finish 4,500 cell towers by December

July 2, 2021 | 12:10 am

DITO Telecommunity Corp. targets to complete 4,500 cell towers by December as part of its nationwide expansion, a company official said on Thursday.

“As of today, DITO has built over 3,000 towers, and we are now preparing for our second technical audit by July 8,” DITO Chief Technology Officer Rodolfo D. Santiago said at an online forum organized by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

“By yearend, we hope to complete 4,500 towers,” Mr. Santiago added.

He said the number of cell towers that DITO aims to construct this year does not include the support it has extended to the common tower initiative of the DICT.

The company also announced on Thursday that its mobile services are now available in 140 areas nationwide.

“Following our June 12 announcement of DITO being commercially available in 123 cities as a means to commemorate the 123^rd Independence Day celebration, we are pleased to inform everyone that we have added 17 new areas as of June 30,” DITO Chief Administrative Officer Adel A. Tamano said in a statement.

The added areas are in Nueva Ecija, Cavite, Batangas, Negros Occidental, and Misamis Oriental.

DITO Telecommunity is currently capable of serving 37.48% of the country’s population based on the technical audit report by R.G. Manabat & Co.

It has a commitment to cover 84% of the population by the end of its fifth year of commercial operations.

“DITO targets to cover 51% of the population and reach an average speed of 55 megabits per second (Mbps) next year.

The company has committed to invest over P250 billion to improve the telco industry in the country.

DITO spent P150 billion last year, and it targets to spend P26 billion more this year.

It aims to increase the “speeds to 10 times of what is currently experienced,” Mr. Santiago said. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Shakey’s inks deal on Gokongweis’ JE Holdings entry

July 2, 2021 | 12:09 am

SHAKEY’s said the entry of JE Holdings is seen to strengthen post-pandemic expansion plans. — FACEBOOK.COM/SHAKEYSPH

SHAKEY’s Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc. and JE Holdings, Inc. have signed a subscription agreement covering 152,439,025 common shares of Shakey’s.

In a disclosure to the exchange on Thursday, Shakey’s said the deal gives Gokongwei-led JE Holdings a nine percent slice of the company for P1.26 billion.

“As disclosed on May 12, 2021, the board of directors approved the entry of JE Holdings to further strengthen post COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) expansion plans,” Shakey’s said.

The shares will be issued from the Shakey’s unissued authorized capital stock.

JE Holdings subscribed to Shakey’s shares at a price of P8.20 apiece, which is said to be a 10% premium from the company’s latest stock price and around 14.6% higher than its latest 45-day volume weighed average.

It now joins Century Pacific Group and the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore as the top shareholders of Shakey’s.

On Thursday, Shakey’s stocks at the local bourse declined by 1.18% or 10 centavos to close at P8.40. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

Bill Cosby home from prison after court reverses sexual assault conviction

July 2, 2021 | 12:08 am

BILL COSBY was freed from prison and returned home on Wednesday, less than two hours after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction, saying he never should have faced charges after striking a non-prosecution deal with a previous district attorney more than 15 years ago.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its split decision after Cosby had served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence following his 2018 conviction, prompting outrage from sexual assault victims and their advocates.

The 83-year-old actor and comedian was released from a state prison in Pennsylvania just before 2:30 p.m., a corrections department spokesperson said.

Around an hour later, he arrived at his stately stone mansion in Elkins Park, a Philadelphia suburb, before making a brief appearance alongside his lawyers in front of a gaggle of cameras late in the afternoon.

A frail looking Cosby smiled and nodded when asked if he was happy to be home but did not speak as reporters shouted questions. Later, Cosby posted a statement to his Twitter account, thanking his supporters and saying, “I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence.”

Mr. Cosby is best known for his role as the lovable husband and father in the 1980s television comedy series The Cosby Show, earning him the nickname “America’s Dad.”

But his family-friendly reputation was shattered after more than 50 women accused him of multiple sexual assaults over nearly five decades. His conviction was seen as a watershed moment in the #MeToo movement that brought forth an array of allegations against powerful men in Hollywood and beyond.

Mr. Cosby was found guilty of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, an employee at his alma mater Temple University, in his home in 2004. Ms. Constand’s allegations were the only ones against Cosby that were not too old to allow for criminal charges.

The court’s decision expressly barred prosecutors from retrying Cosby.

In a statement, Constand and her attorneys said they were not only disappointed in the ruling but concerned it could dissuade other victims from seeking justice.

“Once again, we remain grateful to those women who came forward to tell their stories,” they said.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, who charged Mr. Cosby in 2015, noted a jury found Mr. Cosby guilty and that Wednesday’s decision was not based on the facts of the case.

“My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims,” he said in a statement. “We still believe that no one is above the law — including those who are rich, famous and powerful.”

Reaction was swift, with many women involved in the #MeToo movement expressing horror at the decision.

“THIS is why women do not come forward,” writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s, wrote on Twitter. Mr. Trump has denied her claim.

But Phylicia Rashad, Cosby’s co-star on The Cosby Show, celebrated the ruling for correcting “a miscarriage of justice.”

‘ONLY ONE REMEDY’
The court’s majority found that a state prosecutor, Bruce Castor, made a deal with Cosby’s attorneys in 2005 not to bring criminal charges after concluding he could not win a conviction.

As a result, Mr. Cosby was unable to avoid testifying as part of a civil lawsuit that Ms. Constand brought against him, since defendants can only refuse to testify when faced with criminal prosecution.

In a sworn deposition, Mr. Cosby acknowledged giving women sedatives to facilitate sexual encounters, though he maintained they were consensual. He eventually paid Ms. Constand a multimillion-dollar settlement.

His admission, which a judge later unsealed in 2015, helped form the basis for criminal charges later that year. Mr. Steele, who had just defeated Mr. Castor in the election for district attorney in part by criticizing him for failing to prosecute Cosby, charged Cosby days before the statute of limitations was set to expire.

Mr. Steele’s prosecution, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found, essentially amounted to reneging on Mr. Castor’s earlier promise not to charge Mr. Cosby, violating his due process rights. “There is only one remedy that can completely restore Cosby to the status quo ante,” Justice David Wecht wrote for a four-judge majority. “He must be discharged, and any future prosecution on these particular charges must be barred.”

One dissenting justice said Cosby should stay in prison, while two others said prosecutors should be allowed to retry him without relying on the tainted evidence.

Castor made national headlines in February as a member of former President Donald Trump’s legal defense team during Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial in the US Senate. The former prosecutor delivered a rambling opening statement that was widely panned by senators, including Republicans.

In an interview, Mr. Castor said his deal with Mr. Cosby was the only way to ensure he would pay some sort of penalty via a civil lawsuit. “I feel I made the right decision in 2005, and I still do,” he said.

Mr. Cosby’s first trial ended with a hung jury in 2017, when jurors could not reach a unanimous decision on his culpability. But he was found guilty at a second trial, after the judge, Steven O’Neill, allowed prosecutors to call five prior accusers — four more than in the first trial.

Armed with those witnesses, prosecutors argued that Mr. Cosby’s assault of Ms. Constand was a well-rehearsed offense he had honed over decades: he befriended younger women, acting as a mentor, only to sexually assault them, often with the help of drugs. — Reuters

NCIP, Benguet town shut down Hedcor’s hydro plants

July 2, 2021 | 12:08 am

THE National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Bakun, Benguet local government halted the operations of Hedcor, Inc.’s three hydroelectric plants, which were earlier issued a cease-and-desist order (CDO) for alleged issues in obtaining consent from the tribes.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Thursday, Hedcor’s parent firm Aboitiz Power Corp. said the “forced shutdown” was upon the instruction of NCIP-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and “without any reference” to the directive of the Department of Energy (DoE) on June 25 for the plants to continue operating.

NCIP-CAR on June 22 issued the halt order, indicating that the town’s indigenous groups withdrew their consent to the plants in April due to “highly disadvantageous conditions in the deal” and “Hedcor’s alleged use of the memorandum as a tool to unduly exert pressure on the Bakun LGU officials to yield to [the company’s] demands.”

AboitizPower said according to lawyer Jerry A. Marave, who joined the group that implemented the shutdown, a court order and not a letter from the DoE can supersede the CDO.

Hedcor’s hydro plants affected by the order are the 2.4-megawatt (MW) Lower Labay, 3.6-MW Lon-oy, and 5.9-MW FLS.

Hedcor said the group insisted that the DoE letter “was not an instruction, but a simple reminder.”

In its letter, the department emphasized the importance of ensuring the integrity of the power system while advising the company to continue operating its hydro plants in compliance with the law, spot market rules and the grid code.

Leo Lungay, Hedcor’s vice-president for operations and maintenance, said that unless the Energy department “expressly states in writing and confirms that their letter sent on June 25… is simply a reminder, we will treat DoE’s letter as an order for Hedcor to keep operating our plants in Bakun.”

“However, we are forced to stop operations, with the threat posed by the situation. As much as we want to continue delivering power to the Luzon grid, we don’t want to compromise the safety of the community and our personnel,” he added.

Noreen Marie N. Vicencio, Hedcor’s vice-president for corporate services, said that the firm had constantly reached out to the community for a customary dialogue or tongtongan.

“Prior to the issuance of this CDO, we were hopeful with the confirmed tongtongan that we were supposed to have with the IP (indigenous peoples) leaders last June 15. However, with the last-minute cancelation advised by the LGU, and followed by the BITO (Bakun Indigenous Tribes Organization ), we are saddened that the situation has come to this,” she said.

According to NCIP-CAR, the CDO can only be lifted if Hedcor submits proof that it has secured the certificate precondition and the free informed prior consent of the Bakun IPs, in line with the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997.

According to the IPRA, project developers may acquire permits and licenses only after receiving the certificate from the NCIP, expressing consent from the indigenous community hosting the project.

Hedcor operates 21 hydropower plants supplying 258 MW of renewable energy.

On Thursday, shares in AboitizPower improved 2.25% or 55 centavos to finish at P25 apiece. — Angelica Y. Yang

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