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Nationwide round-up (03/29/21)

Lawyer Cuevas named new high court en banc clerk

LAWYER Marife M. Lomibao-Cuevas was sworn in as new Clerk of Court En Banc of the Supreme Court on March 25, replacing Edgar O. Aricheta who retired on the same day. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, she was a litigation lawyer of the Cuevas Law Office from 1996 to 2000. She later served as court attorney in the office of former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno from 2000 to 2010. She was an attorney in the Clerk of Court En Banc from 2010 to 2019 and subsequently became the deputy clerk. Ms. Cuevas finished Political Science from the University of the Philippines Diliman, and obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law.

Labor group slams denial of P100 wage hike petition

A LABOR group slammed the decision of the government to reject a nationwide P100 wage hike petition aimed at helping workers affected by the pandemic. In a statement on Monday, Defend Jobs Philippines said the recent decision made by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) “is nothing but a heartless, insensitive and inconsiderate anti-workers decision as it has decided on technicalities instead of the merits, grounds and humanitarian considerations.” The labor group filed the petition earlier this month. The NWPC-Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in the National Capital Region, in its Board Resolution No. 1, said it cannot grant the across-the-board P100 increase in minimum wages as it does not have the authority to grant the petition. Minimum wages are set per region. Defend Jobs said it is studying the possible filing of an appeal on the resolution. — Gillian M. Cortez

Foreign parents of Filipinos now allowed to enter PHL

FOREIGN parents of Filipino nationals can now enter the country as they have been included in the list of exemptions under the travel ban from March 22 to April 20, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced on Monday. The foreign parents, however, must be traveling with their Filipino child and have valid visas. “If they are traveling alone, they will not be allowed entry even if they hold valid visas as the rules provide that they must be traveling with their Philippine spouse or children,” BI Commissioner Jaime H. Morente said in the press statement. He also clarified that foreign seafarers arriving via seaports are also exempted from the travel ban as long as they have the required crew list visa. “We welcome the exemption of foreign seafarers from the travel ban as the Philippines is one of the countries in Asia that has opened a ‘green lane’ for these sailors,” he said. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago

House to look into prohibition of anti-parasitic drug for animals as COVID treatment

THE House of Representatives will look into the prohibition of an anti-parasitic drug used on animals to treat and prevent the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Quezon Rep. Angelina DL Tan, chair of the health committee, said on Monday that the panel will conduct an inquiry on March 30 regarding the use of Ivermectin in treating the COVID-19 patients. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier warned against the use of the drug given to animals to prevent parasite infestation. The FDA said it is monitoring trials from other countries regarding its COVID-19 use, some of which do not show any positive results. 1-PACMAN Party-list Rep. Enrico A. Pineda, who filed the resolution for the inquiry, said the FDA should consider that some studies show the effectivity of the medicine for some COVID-19 patients. “While we understand the prudence being exercised by the FDA, this is quite an unprecedented international health emergency. There are actual studies and publications endorsing the effectivity of Ivermectin as treatment for those infected by the COVID-19 virus. Perhaps we should do more exhaustive studies before dismissing what could potentially be a life-saving drug,” Mr. Pineda said.  The FDA on Monday said it could grant a special compassion permit for Ivermectin’s use as a COVID-19 treatment but no applications have been submitted for this purpose. — Gillian M. Cortez

Senate committee OK’s honorarium for SK members, other changes

A SENATE panel has approved the amendments to the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Reform Act of 2015, including the provision of honorarium to youth members. The changes are contained in Senate Bill 2124 filed by Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara, chair of the committee on youth. “The issue of honoraria or in this case, the lack of it, has been cited as one of the main reasons why fewer people want to join the SK. We recognize the importance of getting the youth involved in local governance and how this experience contributes to their development as future leaders so we should provide them with all the support we can give,” Mr. Angara said in a statement Monday. Once signed into law, SK members, secretaries, and treasurers will be given a monthly stipend. Under the current law, only chairpersons of the youth representative group are entitled to honoraria as they are ex-officio members of the village council. The bill also proposes that the appointed treasurer shall have an educational or career background in the fields of business administration, accountancy, finance, economics or bookkeeping. SK funds will also be used for student stipends, sports and wellness projects, skills training, on-the-job assistance, cash-for-work, environment conservation, calamity preparedness, and capacity building. A maximum of 15% of the funds shall be allotted for the training of the youth council’s members. “The work of improving our SK system must continue. The SK, appropriately reformed and capacitated, remains relevant and much-needed. The youth should be given a place in the everyday business of building our nation and serving our people,” Mr. Angara said. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Regional Updates (03/29/21)

A dozen MRT tellers, cash assistant positive for COVID-19

THE management of Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 announced on Monday that 12 of its tellers and a cash assistant have tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). “Twelve tellers and a cash assistant tested positive for COVID-19. The 12 tellers who tested positive are assigned at the Santolan, Ortigas, and Cubao Stations,” MRT-3 said in a statement on March 30, the last day of its operations for the week in observance of the Lenten Season. “We will be suspending our operations for our scheduled Holy Week maintenance shutdown, which starts tomorrow (March 30),” it said. The management said close contacts of the positive personnel have been placed under quarantine while waiting for the results of their swab tests. “Since last year, MRT-3 has been implementing measures to minimize contact between station personnel, especially tellers and passengers,” it said. “All MRT-3 tellers and station personnel wear full personal protective equipment  (face mask, face shield, gloves, and gowns) to avoid contact between themselves and passengers,” the management added.

WORKPLACE CHECK
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said it will conduct intensified workplace inspections this week after the strictest quarantine level was imposed in Metro Manila and the four neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal. In a virtual briefing on Monday, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said he has ordered “an intensified and thorough business inspection nationwide.” Mr. Bello said 55,000 inspectors will be working overtime to check 60,000 establishments. “We will expect not later than Wednesday for the report of the inspectors,” he said. — Arjay L. Balinbin and Gillian M. Cortez

MWSS directs water concessionaires to suspend disconnections during lockdown

THE REGULATORY office of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) instructed the two Metro Manila water concessionaires to suspend all service disconnection activities while the capital region is under the strictest form of quarantine. MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Lester N. Ty said in a statement on Monday that east zone concessionaire Manila Water Co., Inc. and west zone provider Maynilad Water Services, Inc. were directed to stop disconnections from March 29 to April 4. Mr. Ty, in a mobile message to BusinessWorld, said the suspension order will be carried on if the lockdown level is extended by the national government. “The suspension of service disconnection activities is valid during the entire ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) period and extension of any,” Mr. Ty said. At the same time, Mr. Ty called on local government units (LGUs) to allow the meter readers of both water concessionaires to continuously conduct meter reading and billing operations. “This request for local government unit cooperation and assistance will enable the concessionaires to bill their customers based on actual water consumption, and help minimize billing complaints that may abound if the customers were to be billed based on average consumption,” Mr. Ty said. Nestor Jeric T. Sevilla, Jr., Manila Water Corporate Strategic Affairs Group Head, told BusinessWorld in a mobile phone message that the company will comply with MWSS’ order, adding that Manila Water customers are urged to use online channels for bill inquiries and payments during the period. “We will continue with our meter reading activities as much as allowed by the LGUs,” Mr. Sevilla said. Maynilad Head of Corporate Communications Jennifer C. Rufo also confirmed that it will follow MWSS’ directive. Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has a majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave 

Apo View Hotel temporarily stops operation

THE Apo View Hotel in Davao City, managed by Global Comfort Group Corp. that is behind the Eurotel and Icon hotel brands, is temporarily stopping operations starting March 31 due to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact. The management made the announcement through the hotel’s Facebook page, where it said, “As the risk of the pandemic is continuously rising, the management has decided to temporarily cease its operation effective March 31, 2021 until further notice as we continue to support the nation’s effort to combat the spread of COVID-19.” Hotel Manager Leah S. Adolfo, in a text message, said operations will resume when the crisis situation improves. Last year, Apo View Hotel kept its rooms open for frontline health workers. Global Comfort Group also maintained more than 400 rooms in other parts of the country to frontliners. — Maya M. Padillo

International Alert flags extremist threat to 2022 elections in Bangsamoro

AN extremist group that recently attacked communities in Maguindanao province could be positioning to disrupt the 2022 elections in the Bangsamoro region, peacebuilding organization International Alert Philippines warned. Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) — a breakaway group from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that signed a peace deal with the government and has been at the forefront of the new region — have assaulted at least four towns in Maguindanao, displacing over 9,000 families composed of about 47,000 individuals. Government forces have launched air and ground offensives against the militants led by Kagi Karialan, but International Alert said both the military and the MILF “will need to show greater resolve in neutralizing the BIFF and other extremist groups before the elections.” “This may be an effort to demonstrate the Karialan group’s superiority over other extremist groups in the area and hence gain more recruits and support, or it can be part of a ‘slow burn’ or a gradual yet deliberate escalation of violence that leads to a major political battle before or during the 2022 elections,” International Alert Philippines Senior Peace and Conflict Adviser Francisco Lara, Jr. said in a statement on Monday. The non-government organization noted that the conflict is made more complex by familial ties among MILF and BIFF members. Among the affected towns is Datu Saudi Ampatuan, where a Joint Peace and Security Team composed of government forces and former MILF combatants is being set up. “We are exhausting all available assets to neutralize the terrorists who are responsible for the conduct of atrocities in central Mindanao,” said Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Joint Task Force Central, said in a statement on Sunday.

POLITICIANS
International Alert said the BIFF “will continue to be a threat, despite the unceasing military campaign against it and reports of surrenders among its members, as it continues to receive funding from other armed groups, including ISIS. The group also receives protection money from local politicians, businessmen, and violent entrepreneurs involved in deadly shadow economies.” “Many politicians are interested in seizing control of the BTA (Bangsamoro Transition Authority) and the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) if elections are held as scheduled in 2022. Others are aware that the MILF is also planning to field candidates against them in their local bailiwicks,” Mr. Lara said. The BARMM, as provided under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, is scheduled to hold local and national elections along with the rest of the country in May 2022. There are pending bills in Congress calling for an extension of the BTA, currently composed of multi-sector appointees who serve as members of the region’s parliament. — MSJ

Masbate fishing boats heading to Visayas now required to have ASF inspection clearance

ALL LOCAL fishing boats coming from the island province of Masbate heading to Visayas are now required to have an African Swine Fever (ASF) inspection clearance as part of the government’s initiative to curb the spread of the virus. Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar signed a memorandum order on March 25 that mandates all fishing boats from Masbate to undergo checks and obtain clearance for prohibited commodities such as live swine or pork products. “The current ASF infected zones in the towns of Aroroy and Milagros in Masbate pose a significant threat to the disease free areas in the Visayas regions and provinces due to its geographical proximity as well as the frequent fishing and trading practices between to and from these areas,” Mr. Dar said in the memorandum. Mr. Dar said the ASF inspection clearance will be presented by the boats at the port of transit in Visayas. “The Bureau of Animal Industry – Veterinary Quarantine Station Region 5 in coordination with BFAR, PCG, Department of Agriculture (DA) regional field office, and local government office will facilitate the inspection and issuance of ASF inspection clearance,” he said. Further, Mr. Dar said the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Philippine Coast Guard have been instructed to issue a certificate of clearance and local transport permit only to fishing boats that have obtained the ASF inspection clearance. DA data show that as of March 19, ASF is present in 12 regions across the country and has resulted in the culling of 450,019 hogs since its detection in Aug. 2019. As a result, the DA projected earlier in the year that the country faces a pork supply deficit of 400,000 metric tons. Meanwhile, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country’s hog inventory as of Jan. 1 fell 24.1% year on year to 9.72 million heads. Prices of pork sold in Metro Manila earlier this year reached more than P400 per kilogram, prompting government to impose price caps. ASF is a severe and highly contagious hemorrhagic viral disease in pigs. However, it poses no health risks to humans. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave 

Justice dep’t looks into Laguna labor leader’s killing as possible EJK

THE Department of Justice (DoJ) will conduct an initial assessment on whether the killing of union leader and labor rights activist Dandy Miguel on Sunday night in Laguna is a potential case of extra-judicial killing (EJK). “Like what we did in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) deaths, we’ll do a preliminary assessment first. If there’s any indication that Miguel’s death had something to do with his being a labor leader, the AO 35 (Administrative Order 35) committee will include his case for investigation,” Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra told reporters on Monday. DoJ’s AO 35 committee is designated to investigate potential cases of extra-judicial killings. Mr. Guevarra said the preliminary probe will push through this week despite the strict quarantine rules imposed in Metro Manila and four nearby provinces, including Laguna. Several labor groups have expressed disappointment with the conduct of a preliminary assessment and said they do not have the “luxury of time” given the rampant killings of activists. According to the Calamba City Police, Mr. Miguel was found dead on the spot in Barangay Canlubang, Laguna around 8:45 p.m. on Sunday after being gunned down by a still unidentified man on board a motorcycle. The victim was the vice chairperson of Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan, president of Lakas ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng Fuji Electric-OLALIA-KMU, and a national council member of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU). His death came three weeks after the Calabarzon raids that left nine activists dead. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago

Corporate Governance Blueprint 2015

Under the aegis of “Building a Stronger Corporate Governance Framework,” the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under Chairperson Teresita Herbosa, formally promulgated the Philippine Corporate Governance Blueprint 2015 that embodied the SEC’s corporate governance (CG) roadmap for the next five years that would see the adoption of a new Code of CG, and pursue amendments to the Corporation Code of the Philippines that “shall raise CG standards to a level at par with global standards and ultimately, contribute to the development of the Philippine capital market. Moreover, the CG Blueprint clearly shows SEC’s objective to have all corporations recognize and accept the globally recognized best practices, which, presently, is formally adopted mainly for PLCs.”

The 2015 CG Blueprint took into consideration the then recently released “G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance,” which provides “an articulation of the global CG principles as the framework for further strengthening the CG regime in the Philippines.” Further, it put forward “specific and concrete guidelines for all Philippine corporation to adopt, taking into account the Philippine context and the recommended global and ASEAN best practices found in the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) … [which] provides for a methodology to assess the CG performance of publicly listed companies (PLCs) in the six participating ASEAN countries namely: The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.”

The 2015 CG Blueprint identified the strategic priorities and recommended courses of action within a five-year implementation plan to further strengthen the CG framework for all Philippine corporations in order to achieve, among other objectives, the following: a.) To nurture sustainable transformative corporate performance, which not only optimizes shareholder value but, more importantly, stakeholder value; b.) To deepen the relationship of trust and collaboration among Philippine corporations, stakeholders, and regulators working towards inclusive national economic progress and social equity transcending favorable business outcomes; and, c.) To improve the functioning of the Philippine financial market and facilitate inclusive national development.

‘COMPLY OR EXPLAIN’ OPERATIVE PRINCIPLE IN CG REFORMS
The 2015 CG Blueprint provides that broad CG guidelines and recommended best-practices are expected to be observed under the “comply or explain” operative principle, whereby Philippine publicly held companies are to comply with the CG practices to be set out in the 2016 Code of CG: “If they do not comply with the same, an explanation for the non-compliance shall be given, which shall be disclosed to the SEC in a report that shall be available to the public, including the company’s shareholders and other stakeholders.” It cites Sir Christopher Hogg in giving the “Rationale for the Comply or Explain Approach,” thus:

It leaves decisions about the appropriateness of a company’s governance arrangements in the hands of its management and shareholders. In most cases, the primary purpose of good governance is to protect the long-term interests of the company and its owners, so it is right that, collectively, they should decide how to achieve that objective. In certain companies or sectors there may also be public interest considerations, in which case the arguments for a more traditional approach to regulation may be stronger.

While it encourages companies to follow accepted best practices, it recognizes that in certain circumstances it may be appropriate for them to achieve good governance by other means. To be effective, good governance needs to be implemented in a way that fits the culture and organization of the individual company; these can vary enormously between companies depending on factors, such as size, ownership structure, and the complexity of the business model. In general, one size does not fit all.

By allowing a degree of flexibility, it enables codes to set more demanding standards. It can be more aspirational than legislation. Regulation tends to be written in terms of the minimum necessary requirements in order not to impose unjustified or disproportionate burdens on those being regulated. In contrast, a “comply or explain” code can set out market-leading practices and encourage the rest to aspire to the standards of the best.

The code can also be more easily adapted than regulation to take account of developments in best practices and encourage good practices relating to “softer” issues for which it would be inappropriate to prescribe minimum requirements into law, such as training and support of directors.

THE CODE OF CG FOR PLCs
In November 2016, the SEC promulgated the Code of CG for Publicly-Listed Companies, which replaced the 2014 Revised CG Code, as well as other supporting memoranda, as they applied to publicly listed companies (PLCs), with the avowed purpose “to raise the CG standards of Philippine corporations to a level at par with its regional and global counterparts,” and affirming that the OECD Principles of CG and the ASEAN CG Scorecards were used as key reference materials in drafting the Code.

A key feature of the CG Code for PLCs is the adoption of the “comply or explain approach” which combines the voluntary compliance with mandatory disclosure: “Companies do not have to comply with the Code, but they must state in their annual CG reports whether they comply with the Code provisions, identify any areas of non-compliance, and explain the reasons for non-compliance.”

The CG Code for PLCs does not therefore contain any penalty clause, and through its “comply or explain approach” relies upon the “pressure of the market” to goad PLCs to adopt its governance principles and recommended best practices. One of the outstanding features therefore of the CG Code for PLCs is its underlying belief in the “disciplining power of the market,” thus:

• The Boards of Directors and the Management of publicly listed companies (PLCs), not the SEC, are in a better position to evolve, develop and implement within their particular industry and company culture and structures the CG principles embodied in the Code;

•  That “market forces,” i.e., the negative reaction of the public investors who may dump the company’s shares when they see a grievous violation of CG principles and recommendations under the Code, has a more coercive effect on the Boards and Management of PLCs on the manner of implementation of the CG principles embodied in the Code.

The principles-based and market-disciplining features of the CG Code for PLCs provides for the following advantageous features:

a.) Principles-based governance reforms, as contrasted from “rules-based” reforms, are able to capture within its coverage all possible scenarios or situations that would confront the Boards of Directors and Management of PLCs with very little danger of loopholes that can be exploited.

b.) A principles-based system of CG has a greater tendency to change the hearts and minds of Boards and Management since in determining whether to act one way or the other in a corporate transaction, they really need to understand the meaning and coverage of the principle to determine whether the corporate act would be consistent with or contravene the covering principle.

c.) Market-disciplining features of the CG reform would likely have a more personal effect on the exercise of business judgment of directors and senior officers since they may in fact lose their jobs against an investing public that does not approve of their non-compliance with what are recommended to be CG best-practices.

On the other hand, the principles-based and market-disciplining features of the CG Code for PLCs has a few, yet important, downsides.

Firstly, such features operate effectively only in a securities market where the ownership of PLCs are widely dispersed, and there is not a group of shareholders who control the equity and thereby be able to control the majority of the Board of Directors. In widely held public companies, the members of the Board are elected basically on the merits of their agenda presented to the voting investors at large; and are able to retain their positions in the Board over the years by being responsive to the best interests of the investing public.

This is not the case among Philippine PLCs, where most of the listed companies are really family-owned and controlled companies, and where the public float is rather minimal. In effect, the market-disciplining force of the investing public would not be as effective a disciplining force versus the majority and controlling shareholders, who, as the biggest block of equity holders, are expected to run the company to maximize their returns, through the majority members of the Boards whom they are able to elect into office.

Secondly, the market-disciplining feature would be more effective where the Boards and Management of most of the PLCs are professional managers and accountable to a large investing public. The Board composition in our PLC sector, even with system of independent directors introduced by the Securities Regulation Code, are still majority-constituted directors who are elected by the controlling family or group, and often the Chair as head of the Board and/or CEO, as the head of Management, come from the family or group that holds the controlling equity in the company. In effect, the market-disciplining force of the investing public (who constitute the minority shareholders) would not have a robust “coercive influence” against the Board, the majority of whom effectively represent the interest of the controlling family or group.

Thirdly, even in situations where the market-disciplining features have a strong coercive effect on the Board and Management, the legal effect is that only the shareholders of a PLC would have a real voice in goading their Boards and Management to listen to them, and thereby effectively place all other stakeholders in a nominal position to influence actions and actuations of the Boards and Management.

It was under such a CG milieu that in February 2019, the Revised Corporate Code was promulgated that changed the landscape of CG reform movement in the Philippines. It is the varying enforcement rules between the CG Code for PLCs and the Revised Corporation Code that shall cover discussions.

Parenthetically, it should be noted that under the aegis of the Revised Corporation Code, the SEC, under Chairman Emilio B. Aquino, issued in November 2019 the CG Code for Public Companies and Public Issuers, which essentially retained the same framework as the CG Code for PLCs.

This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or the MAP.

 

Attorney Cesar L. Villanueva is Chair of the MAP Corporate Governance Committee, Trustee of the Institute of Corporate Directors, was the first Chair of Governance Commission for GOCCs August 2011 to June 2016), was Dean of the Ateneo Law School (April 2004 to September 2011), is the author of the National Book Board Award winning The Law and Practice in Philippine Corporate Governance, and a Founding Partner of Villanueva Gabionza & Dy Law Offices.

map@map.org.ph

cvillanueva@vgslaw.com

http://map.org.ph

If it’s broke, fix it!

There is a saying that goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It is American slang that suggests to not try to fix things that are not broken as the attempted improvement might backfire.

Some senators are calling for the overhaul of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, better known as the IATF, saying that it has shown itself as incapable of handling the pandemic.

Citing a “system-wide failure,” Senator Risa Hontiveros said that the IATF should be led by public health experts “who actually know how to handle a public health emergency,” and not by military officers.

Senator Ralph Recto likens the IATF to a race car, of which the senator knows Health Secretary Francisco Duque to be an enthusiast. If a race car fails to win a race after several tries, it’s time to change engine or driver, maybe both, the senator says.

Senator Nancy Binay agrees some changes are necessary, like a change of policy makers. She points out that we have never flattened the curve when other countries are already on their third wave. She sees the Philippines overtaking Indonesia in COVID-19 statistics. She finds Secretary Duque going around town personally distributing face shields a ridiculous way of addressing the pandemic problem.

It will be recalled that in April last year, 14 senators signed a resolution seeking Health Secretary’ Francisco Duque’s resignation for his “failure of leadership, negligence, lack of foresight, and inefficiency” in the measures and actions carried out by the department he heads. The signatories were Senators Binay, Tito Sotto, Migs Zubiri, Panfilo Lacson, Sonny Angara, Grace Poe, Manny Pacquiao, Sherwin Gatchalian, Francis Tolentino, Joel Villanueva, Ronald dela Rosa, Imee Marcos, Lito Lapid, and Bong Revilla.

Senator Imee Marcos goes beyond calling for an overhaul of the IATF. She wants it abolished altogether. The proposed abolition of the IATF was backed by Senator Sotto, citing what he said is the “gross incompetence” of the Department of Health in handling the pandemic.

But Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque has dismissed calls to abolish the IATF amid the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country. Quoting officials of the Department of Health, he said the rise of COVID-19 cases can be attributed to the presence of new coronavirus variants in the country. “Whether we accept it or not, the virus has mutated and it may not be for us to blame the IATF for the virus to have done so and become more infectious,” the spokesman said in Filipino.

Nobody has blamed the IATF for the mutation of the virus and its becoming more infectious. That is the course of nature. It mutates as it transfers from one person to another. To prevent its transmission to another person, people should be immunized to the virus. This is what people fault the IATF for. The IATF has failed miserably in the timely procurement of vaccines.

The government’s objective is to vaccinate 70% of the 100 million population by the end of 2022 to achieve herd immunity. Based on the way Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez has handled the procurement of the needed amount of vaccine, it is very unlikely that the target of 70 million Filipinos vaccinated by December of 2022 will be achieved.

First, he has signed deals for only about one-third of the doses needed. Second, distributing the vaccines all over the archipelago is a much more arduous task than procuring the vaccines. Second, many places in island provinces do not have the refrigerated storage facility required by some of the vaccines ordered.

Of the 9,808 new cases last Saturday, more than 5,000 of them are in Metro Manila. Instead of shipping vaccines to sparsely populated island provinces like Catanduanes, Romblon, and Marinduque, they should have been administered in densely populated but tightly locked down Metro Manila, thus achieving herd immunity in one large area.

Health expert Dr. Ted Herbosa, special adviser to the IATF, dismissed proposals to abolish it. According to him, the IATF “specifies a systematic approach using science, good operations, good implementation, and social interventions. Abolishing the IATF now means replacing it with another interagency body because the approach to a pandemic must be a whole of government (sic). A change in the system in the middle of a response like this will be detrimental to everyone. We are here already, so we move to a better and stronger approach. We now know what works and what does not work unlike a year ago,” he added.

I understand why the good doctor is opposed to the abolition of the IATF. First, it would mean the loss of a prestigious designation — adviser to a group of czars. Second, it would be a reflection of the ineffectiveness of his advice to the czars.

The whole country has been under general community quarantine for one whole year but the situation has worsened. That only indicates the current IATF system has not worked.

And the IATF is not moving to a better and stronger approach as Dr. Herbosa says. In fact, the IATF has placed Metro Manila in the same situation it was in a year ago — in enhanced community quarantine, although called differently this time as NCR Plus. ECQ was a failure.

Yet the Dr. Herbosa-advised IATF has adopted the failed approach.

The IATF is broke, it should be fixed. As Senators Binay, Recto, and Hontiveros have said, a change in policy makers is long overdue. A change in its leadership has become extremely necessary. It has been done many times before to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

In 1862, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln replaced George McClellan as general-in-chief of the Union Army for his failure to pursue Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army after the Union victory in Antietam, Maryland.

In 1943, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, replaced his subordinate Maj. Gen. Lloyd Fredendall with the brash, aggressive Maj. Gen. George Patton who repulsed the offensive launched by German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, in Tunisia.

In 1995, President Fidel V. Ramos ordered the relief of Southern Command chief Brig. Gen. Regino Lacson just two days after Abu Sayyaf elements raided the town of Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur, killing 53 people and razing to the ground four blocks of the commercial center. That Gen. Lacson had just been assigned to the Southern Command six weeks before did not excuse him from blame.

Dr. Duque, Gen. Delfin Lorenzana, Gen. Eduardo Año, Gen. Carlito Galvez, and Gen. Roy Cimatu have been given much more time than Gen. Regino Lacson to prove themselves worthy of their assignments. They have not accomplished their mission. It’s time for them to fade away.

 

Oscar P. Lagman, Jr. is a retired corporate executive, business consultant, and management professor. He has been a politicized citizen since his college days in the late 1950s.

After COVID, let’s keep our masks on

IT HAS BEEN A YEAR since the pandemic hit India and, for me, the oddest thing is how healthy I’ve been. Like most but not all of the people I see on the streets, I have been masked up these past 12 months. I’ve washed my hands religiously and avoided crowds. As a result, for the first time in my life, I haven’t caught a cold all year.

This is remarkable. Living in Delhi, with its crowds and its sudden changes of season, usually means one picks up pretty much every bug that’s going around.

I am not fond of masks. And, in the steam-bath summers of north India, wearing something on your face can be stifling. And yet I find myself hoping that once this pandemic ends, the habit of mask-wearing will remain.

Not all the time, of course. That might be asking too much. But wouldn’t it be great if city-dwellers across the world began to behave a little more like those in East Asia? If, during flu season, people wore masks whenever they planned to take a flight or join a crowd? That if they caught themselves sniffling, they grabbed a mask on their way out the door?

I recognize that this dream might be a little difficult to achieve in some parts of the world. This century has set a ridiculously high bar for partisanship and polarization but, even by those standards, the transformation of mask-wearing into a political statement in the United States and elsewhere has been appalling.

Surely, of all the things one could do to prevent the spread of disease, mask-wearing is the easiest to understand. Instead, it’s as if one whole section of humanity decided it was perfectly polite to cough in people’s faces.

Nor have the health authorities always been as sensible about this as one would like: Last March, remember, people like Dr. Anthony Fauci were telling Americans that “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.” While they changed their minds later, inconsistent messaging is still damaging.

There’s another reason why masks have been the silver lining of this awful year, at least as far as I’m concerned. Last March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered India into one of the most restrictive lockdowns in the world. Markets were shut, deliveries stopped, nobody could buy anything — but I felt rich. Because, lying by the door of my Delhi flat, I had lots of N95 masks.

This was not because I miraculously foresaw the pandemic. (If I had, I would have shorted the market, not bought masks.) Nor had I hoarded masks the moment news of the virus emerged.

The reason I had masks on hand was simple: I had bought a large number of them a few winters earlier. Not for fear of the flu but because, in Delhi, even breathing is dangerous. This is the most polluted megacity in the world. In 2020, two-thirds of the world’s most polluted cities were in India, most of them in the northern plains around Delhi. Sensible people, faced with air quality more than 10 times worse than it should be, wear a mask to protect their lungs.

Yet, the first few times I went out in Delhi with a mask, I felt foolish. In those halcyon pre-pandemic days, nobody around me was wearing one. They stood chatting to each other in the mild winter weather, manfully breathing in the gray, toxic air.

That’s yet another reason why I’m glad that people have gotten used to wearing and seeing masks. Even when there’s no pandemic around, going maskless in Delhi can kill you.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Carbon tax is not good

Early this year, some sectors resumed their carbon tax-pushing agenda, proposing higher energy prices for many financially struggling companies and households while favoring intermittent renewable energy (RE) like solar-wind. These five reports in BusinessWorld capture this development:

1. “Carbon taxes could sap PHL competitiveness, Energy department says” (March 10).

2. “DoE to endorse 75 RE plants for feed-in tariff program” (March 13).

3. “Environment dep’t agrees PHL not ready for carbon tax” (March 15).

4. “Regulator says power distributors need to tap more renewable energy to meet 2040 target” (March 25).

5. “Diokno warns of risks associated with transition away from coal power” (March 27).

Good news in reports number 1, 3, and 5, the leadership of the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said that the Philippines is not ready for, that it is not advisable to impose, a carbon tax. And the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor warned about the “financial risks that may come with plans to move away from coal energy.” Thank you, Secretaries Alfonso Cusi and Roy Cimatu, and Governor Ben Diokno.

Reports number 2 and 4  were bad news, especially the one about adding 23 new solar projects and six new wind projects, on top of many big solar and wind projects that are already entitled to high feed-in tariff (FiT) or guaranteed prices for 20 years. Then there is the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) plan to push hard the renewable portfolio standards (RPS) by raising the RE quota from 1% to at least 2.5% per year, so that they will reach the target RE share of 37.3% of the total power mix by 2030, and 55.8% by 2040.

Solar and wind have the highest FiT rates. Until 2020, solar FiT was P10.12 to P11.28/kwh, and wind FiT was P8.59 to P9.90/kwh. Compare that with the recent winners of Meralco’s competitive selection process (CSP): three coal and gas plants at only P4-5/kwh. And if a battery is added plus standby gensets running on diesel or bunker fuel, the cost of solar and wind can jump to the ceiling.

Among the carbon tax pushers is the World Bank (WB). In its recent report “Uneven Recovery” (April 2021), among the proposals are “Going green without hurting growth or the poor… Policy options include: (i) phasing out fossil fuel and energy subsidies, (ii) adjusting carbon prices…” Lousy proposals.

If we look at how many countries have industrialized and modernized, among the important reasons is that they have used cheap, stable, reliable, fossil fuel energy.

I computed the average electricity generation from 1985 (earliest comparative data available) to 2000, then from 2001-2019 of 20 countries and compared them with their average GDP growth over the same period. Power data came from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy (BP-SRWE) 2020 and the DoE, while the GDP data came from the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) database 2020.

With few exceptions, countries that have retained a high coal share to total power generation — at least 30% — have also experienced fast growth: China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Poland, and Taiwan. And countries that significantly raised their coal share in 2001-2019 compared with their share from 1985 to 2000 also experienced fast growth: Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines.

Countries that reduced their coal share in 2001-2019 experienced slower growth — the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, the UK, Italy, and Spain. Countries in Table 1 are ranked based on their total generation in 2001-2019.

Meanwhile, power supply and demand data in the Luzon and Visayas grids show that in the first quarter (Q1) 2021 there has been a contraction or flat growth, while prices — both the customer effective spot settlement price (ESSP) and load-weighted average price (LWAP) — show continued depressed levels. Data for Table 2 comes from the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippine.

Average demand in 2021 contracted -6.7% in January, -4.8% in February, and grew 1.5% in March.

With the imposition of a curfew then a stricter quarantine in late March, this modest growth may turn out to be another contraction.

Environmental protection can continue by directing attention at old industrial plants that pollute, but their ECCs were grandfathered from the 1950s and 1970s — they do not have to meet modern emissions standards. And they should look into polluting jeepneys, buses, and many government trucks.

Economic recovery, fast and sustained growth, requires cheap, stable, and predictable energy. If the Philippines will stop building new coal plants while China, India, the US, Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, etc. keep building new and bigger ones, the dreaded emission impact is the same but we will deny ourselves the opportunity of additional affordable and stable power.

 

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Minimal Government Thinkers

minimalgovernment@gmail.com

Stranded Suez Canal ship partially re-floated

ISMAILIA, Egypt — A massive container ship blocking Egypt’s Suez Canal for nearly a week has been partially refloated, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said on Monday, raising hopes the busy waterway will soon be reopened for a huge backlog of ships.

The 400-meter (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting shipping traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

After further dredging and excavation over the weekend, efforts by rescue workers from the SCA and a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage worked to free the ship using tug boats in the early hours of Monday, two marine and shipping sources said.

The SCA said Ever Given has been straightened in the canal and further tugging operations would resume once the tide rises later on Monday. Marine traffic through the canal will resume once the ship is directed to the Great Lakes area, a wider section of the canal, it added.

At least 369 vessels were waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, SCA Chairman Osama Rabie said.

“The ship’s captain is the one responsible for the vessel at all times,” Mr. Rabie told Egyptian state television on Monday. “It is very possible that by today noon shipping activity would resume, god willing. We will not waste one second.”

The SCA has said it can accelerate convoys through the canal once the Ever Given is freed.

“We have movement, which is good news. But I wouldn’t say it’s a piece of cake now,” Peter Berdowski, the CEO of Smit Salvage’s parent company Boskalis, told Dutch public radio.

High pressure water would be injected under the bow of the ship to remove sand and clay but if that was unsuccessful, containers might have to be removed from the ship, which would cause a considerable delay, he said.

A source involved in the salvage operation told Reuters on Monday they were re-ballasting the ship and expect that with a favorable tide, cargo will not need to be removed.

“The good news is she’s moved. But she is still stuck in the mud. A second large anchor-handling tug will arrive this morning. Hopefully they will be able to pull her free.”

The ship’s technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

CHEERS ERUPT, CRUDE PRICES FALL
Video posted on social media appeared to show the ship had swung around, opening space in the canal. Other footage, which could not be immediately verified by Reuters, included cheering and ships’ horns sounding in celebration.

Crude oil prices fell after news of progress in refloating the ship, with Brent crude down by $1 per barrel to $63.67. Shares of Taiwan-listed Evergreen Marine Corp. —  the vessel’s lessor — rose 3.3%.

About 15% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is a key source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The current stoppage is costing the canal $14-$15 million a day.

Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and the blockage has disrupted global supply chains, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with COVID-19 restrictions.  

Some shippers had decided to reroute their cargoes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding about two weeks to journeys and extra fuel costs.

A note from A.P. Moeller Maersk seen by Reuters said it had so far redirected 15 vessels around the Cape after calculating that the journey would be equal to the current delay of sailing to Suez and queuing. — Reuters

Mexico says COVID-19 deaths likely 60% higher than confirmed toll

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is likely at least 60% higher than the confirmed number, putting it in excess of 300,000, according to government data.

Updated figures on excess mortality in a table published by Mexico’s Health Ministry showed that by the end of the sixth week of this year, 294,287 fatalities “associated with COVID-19” had been registered on death certificates in Mexico.

That was 61.4% higher than the confirmed death toll of 182,301 given as a comparison in the same table.

That figure did not coincide precisely with a specific day from the Health Ministry’s daily bulletins, but more than 25,000 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related deaths have been reported since mid-Feb. As of Sunday, the ministry’s confirmed toll stood at 201,623.

The government has long said Mexico’s real tally of COVID-19 deaths is likely significantly higher than the confirmed toll, which is one of the highest worldwide.

Relatively low testing rates in Mexico mean that many fatalities are not confirmed, but they may still appear in death certificates as suspected cases, experts say.

The higher death toll estimate was based on a word search of death certificates that mentioned “COVID-19” and other terms relating to the pandemic, the ministry said.

Total excess deaths in Mexico during the pandemic stood at 417,002 by the sixth week of 2021, according to the data. — Reuters

NYC, London beat Asian finance hubs in race to vaccinate

THE FINANCIAL capitals hit hardest by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are pulling ahead in the race to vaccinate their residents.

London has outpaced global peers when measured by the percentage of residents inoculated with at least one dose, while Asian hubs like Hong Kong and Tokyo that recorded fewer infections are lagging far behind, according to the latest data available from each city’s government as of March 24.

The UK’s capital had covered roughly 2.9 million people — about 30% of its population — with one dose. That’s compared to 23% of residents who had received their first doses in New York City, 13% in Singapore and 12% in Paris.

London’s higher rate has been fueled in part by a strategy of draining its entire initial vaccine supply on the first round, and waiting for more batches before giving people their second shots.

However, New York City (NYC) topped London in another key metric: It has fully inoculated more people, completing vaccination courses for 11% of its population compared to just 2.3% of London’s residents. The US city began administering Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine earlier this month.

ROAD TO IMMUNITY
The vaccine race is of particular importance in competitive global financial centers that rely on the free flow of capital and international talent, and getting a substantial portion of their populations vaccinated is the only way to get back to normal.

While many pandemic hot spots like the US and UK are working to inoculate people as quickly as possible, governments in Asia-Pacific and some parts of Europe are dealing with widespread hesitation after reports of serious side effects and deaths — no more so than in Hong Kong, where only 5.3% of the population have come forward for a shot. The former British colony has also temporarily suspended BioNTech SE’s vaccines after packaging defects were found.

China’s financial center Shanghai, which has largely contained the pandemic, has vaccinated 6.2% of its populations with at least one dose. The lower percentage must take into account Shanghai’s population of more than 24 million, which dwarfs those of London, Paris and New York. China, which has largely contained the virus, has said it aims to inoculate 40% of its population before the end of June.

Tokyo’s tally reflects the fact that Japan hasn’t yet begun widespread vaccinations, even as the city prepares to host the Covid-delayed summer Olympics. Japan is currently limiting vaccines to health-care workers and plans to inoculate the general public, starting with those 65 or older, in mid-April. So far, less than 1% of the country’s population has received a first dose. — Bloomberg

Hidilyn Diaz looking to make it a Tokyo Olympics to remember

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

THE rescheduled Olympic Games in Tokyo later this year could well be the last for top Filipino weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz and she is determined to make it the best yet for her in the event she qualifies for the quadrennial sporting spectacle.

Currently in Malaysia training, Ms. Diaz, 30, a silver medallist in the Rio Olympics in 2016, shared that she and her team, collectively named “Team HD,” are steadily working to see their goals of qualifying and winning an Olympic gold through.

Tokyo will be the fourth consecutive Olympic Games if ever for the Zamboanga City native.

“Tokyo 2020 plus 1 will be my fourth consecutive Olympics and could well be my last, which is why I really want to do my best for my last Olympics with the help of the people behind me,” said Ms. Diaz in her session at the recent Sport for Women’s Empowerment & Employment Program (S.W.E.E.P.) online conference organized by the Sport Management Council of the Philippines.

Ms. Diaz went on to say that officially she is not yet qualified for the Olympics, but is set to formalize her entry into it by competing at the Asian weightlifting championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in April.

Part of the requirements for Olympic qualification is to play in six international competitions, something she is set to complete.

Ms. Diaz has been in Malaysia for 13 months now and admitted that training is not without its challenges, which is why she is very thankful to be surrounded by like-minded people in Team HD, who have been with her every step of the way as she makes her Olympic push.

“Sports is not all about the wins. You have to put in the hard work and perseverance. You have to be disciplined and consistent. It is not to easy maintain a good standing in the qualifiers. One day, you are up and the next, you are trailing. So you really have to train smart. I’m lucky to be with people I trust and have the same vision as I am in Team HD. They guide me and help me prepare,” Ms. Diaz said.

Adding, “They are also part of the reason why I want to do well in the Olympics.”

Part of her team are strength and conditioning coach Julius Naranjo, nutritionist Jeaneth Aro, sports psychologist Dr. Karen Trinidad, and Chinese weightlifting coach Kaiwen Gao. She, too, is being supported by the MVP Sports Foundation.

“Making it to the Olympics is every athlete’s dream. All those who compete there are high-caliber athletes so you really have to be ready. But I cannot win on my own. I need the people in my team,” she said.

Despite a rough year in 2020 because of the pandemic, Ms. Diaz still shone, fashioning out a three-gold sweep in the women’s 55 kg. division of the Roma Weightlifting World Cup in Italy just before the pandemic. She also copped an online international title in July.

Sports governing agencies issue advisories on training suspension; Gilas breaks camp

THE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) issued separate advisories on the suspension of sports training and activities as stricter restrictions were raised over the National Capital Region and nearby provinces because of the spike in coronavirus cases.

The local sports governing bodies saw fit to issue directives as the government placed the Greater Manila Area under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) beginning Monday, March 29, until April 4 to help stem the coronavirus’ spread.

In the PSC advisory, all national sports associations (NSAs) are directed to temporarily cease both indoor and outdoor training of national athletes in areas under “National Capital Region Plus,” or areas where an ECQ setup is placed.

These areas cover Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.

The PSC is urging NSAs to have their athletes do online individual training for now and avoid group activities until allowed back.

It also urged national team members to follow health and safety protocols issued by the health department and Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

One of those affected by the directive was Gilas Pilipinas, which on Monday decided to break its training “bubble” camp at the INSPIRE Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.

The national men’s basketball team of cadets and varsity players was in the bubble since mid-March to prepare for upcoming tournaments slated for the middle of this year, namely, the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in Clark, Pampanga, and the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.

Gilas in compliance with the directive broke camp and said it would craft the direction it would take moving forward based on further moves of the government.

GAB MEMO
Meanwhile, professional sports governing agency GAB’s memo also covers the same time frame as that of the PSC.

It said health-enhancing activities like running, biking and aerobics are currently prohibited, while “professional sports training shall remain limited to solo or individual activities conducted indoors or anywhere within the individual’s private property.”

Professional sports competition and group training in areas under ECQ are not allowed. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Lakay veteran Folayang seeks to end slump in next fight

CURRENTLY riding back-to-back losses, Team Lakay veteran and former two-time lightweight world champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang seeks to reverse the skid in his next fight in ONE Championship next month.

Thirty-seven-year-old Folayang (22-10) is to take on Korean-Japanese star fighter Yoshihiro “Sexyama” Akiyama in a mixed martial arts battle at “ONE on TNT IV” on April  29 (Manila time) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. 

The event is the fourth instalment in the “ONE on TNT” event series, which is to be broadcast to American audiences on US prime time via B/R Live and TNT.

Mr. Folayang is coming off losses to Pieter Buist (January 2020) and Antonio Caruso (October) via decisions, derailing his push to climb back in the rankings in the division and possibly position for another go at the title.

Given that, the veteran fighter said he is heading into the Akiyama fight with added determination and wants nothing else but a victory.

“This is a very important battle for me. I didn’t get the results that I wanted in my previous fights, and I wasn’t able to perform the way I wanted. The key to this fight is going to be the preparation. We’re coming up with a solid game plan. He’s (Akiyama) not going to be an easy opponent. But at the same time, I’m confident in my skills. This time, I will aim for a steadfast victory,” said Mr. Folayang in a statement of his upcoming fight.

For further inspiration, Mr. Folayang is turning to the impressive wins of his teammates, namely strawweights Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang and Jenelyn Olsim, recently.  

“Our victories in the first half of the year have boosted our morale. I, myself, have been inspired by my team’s victories. With our hard work, and discipline, and by the grace of God, 2021 will be a good year for Team Lakay,” he said.

Waiting for Mr. Folayang is 45-year-old Akiyama (15-7-2), who is an Asian Games gold medalist in judo.

The Team Lakay stalwart said the Korean-Japanese fighter brings a new skills set and challenge to him and that he is doing everything he can in training to cover all the bases.

“It is always an honor to share the Circle with legends. It gives me added motivation. Yoshihiro Akiyama is a legend and a veteran of the cage. His name is known throughout the world. This fight excites me because I know I’m going up against a great fighter. I’m working hard to come into the Circle well-conditioned with my mind and body,” said Mr. Folayang.

ONE on TNT IV is headlined by the light heavyweight world championship battle between champion Aung La N Sang of Myanmar and challenger Vitaly Bigdash of Russia. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

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