Clark airport’s new terminal operational by July

March 10, 2021 | 12:05 am

CLARK, PAMPANGA — Luzon International Premier Airport Development (LIPAD) Corp., the company that manages the operations and maintenance of Clark International Airport, is set to open the airport’s new passenger terminal building to commercial domestic flights in July with “contactless passenger solutions,” its top official said.

“It will open by July for domestic operations,” LIPAD Chief Executive Officer Bi Yong S. Chungunco told reporters on Tuesday.

The construction of the building’s interiors is in full swing, she noted.

LIPAD plans to implement a “silent airport policy,” as it wants the airport to become the “quietest” in the Philippines.

This means that there will no longer be calls for boarding and departures, except in the event of an emergency.

“Travelers will rely on posted updates for quick reference,” the company said in a statement.

“Passengers will be more at ease with the options that have no face-to-face interaction. Among these are the common-use self-service kiosks (CUSS) and the self-service bag drops. Travelers can check in at these kiosks, shared by other airlines and that are without the need for ground staff,” it added.

As for the interiors of the new passenger terminal building, Ms. Chungunco said the design will be “deeply intuitive,” as the company aims to give passengers a sense of familiarity.

“For travelers to be fully relaxed and at ease, the processes must not be confusing. Travelers of all kinds have varying backgrounds and such a design allows for each traveler to have that feeling of being guided through the process through the interplay of finer details, even with the protocols for safe distancing and all necessary measures to ensure passenger safety in a pandemic,” LIPAD said.

The new terminal building — built by Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. — can accommodate 8 million passengers annually. The Clark airport currently operates at an annual passenger capacity of 4.2 million.

Ms. Chungunco noted the old passenger terminal building might be converted into a vaccination hub.

Clark International Airport has long been singled out as an alternative gateway to decongest Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which accommodated more than 39.5 million passengers in 2016, way above its 30.5 million capacity.

LIPAD is composed of Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings, Inc., Philippine Airport Ground Support Services, Inc., and Changi Airports Philippines (I) Pte. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Changi Airports International. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Monograph on artist Betsy Westendorp released

March 10, 2021 | 12:04 am

FOLLOWING Spanish painter Betsy Westendorp’s ongoing retrospective exhibit PASSAGES: Celebrating the Artistic Journeys of Betsy Westendorp at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila is the release of a commemorative monograph of the same title.

Similar to the ongoing retrospective, the catalogue goes through over 100 artworks of Ms. Westendorp’s various subjects, from portraits to Philippine flora (specifically orchids), and sunsets and cloudscapes called atmosferografias (atmospherics), a term coined by Spanish art historian and critic Elena Flores.

The monograph is not the first look at the artist and her oeuvre — in 2017, the DLSU Publishing House published a two-volume coffee table book titled Betsy Westendorp which was released together with an exhibition.

Born and raised in Spain, the artist was 21 when she first arrived in Manila in 1951 after marrying Filipino businessman Antonio Brias. One of the significant doorways to Ms. Westendorp’s career as a painter was in 1971 when the then-Philippine ambassador to Spain, Luis “Chito” González, invited her to an exhibition at the Instituto de Cultura Hispanica in Madrid. The ambassador’s wife, Vicky Quirino-Gonzalez then introduced her to Spanish royals who then posed for portraits. Throughout her accomplished life dedicated to painting, Ms. Westendorp is best known for painting portraits of society’s elite, her floral still lifes, and landscape paintings.

During the catalogue launch — which was held via Zoom and streamed through the museum’s Facebook page on Feb. 27 — art critic Cid Reyes who was the author of the retrospective catalogue, noted the difference between the new monograph and coffee table book of which he was also the author.

Mr. Reyes said that for the coffee table book, it was a directive from the artist’s family to focus on the art. “In the first book project, the Westendop family requested that only the art be written about [with] nothing at all about the personal life.”

It was a reverse for the Passages catalogue where the collection of artworks featured also illustrate the artist’s personal joys, and pain and sorrows.

“[The author] was given complete access to the personal life of Betsy Westendorp,” said Mr. Reyes, referring to himself. “The result was a refreshing and historically interesting unveiling of the artist’s life. Betsy was forthright, candid and frank, even at flinching in recalling or painful memories,” Mr. Reyes said, citing the deaths of her husband, her young grandson, and her eldest daughter.

In the almost six decades of the artist’s career, Ms. Westendorp had always wanted the public “to know what she feels with what she paints,” he said.

Ms. Westendorp thinks carefully about canvas choice, oil and acrylic color choice. “She makes sure that the people who buy her work are really happy with what she does,” said gallerist Silvana Diaz, a member of the retrospective’s executive committee.

Mr. Reyes ended the discussion by noting Ms. Westendorp’s legacy as an artist on two things: her extensive paintings of Philippine flowers, and the symbolism of life seen through her cloudscapes.

Differentiating the Spanish artist’s flowers from Dutch artists such as Rembrandt, Mr. Reyes said that Ms. Westendorp’s are always illustrated springing from where they were grown and never uprooted or placed in vases.

“Nature is so ordinary to us, but to the eyes of foreigners this is a strange miraculous discovery and revelation,” Mr. Reyes said.

Through the series of “atmospherics,” Ms. Westendorp expresses the stages and emotions of life. “She is the only artist [working in the country] who universalized and transcended a figurative subject such as clouds into something metaphorical, poetic, and symbolical,” said Mr. Reyes.

In December last year, Ms. Westendorp celebrated her 93^rd birthday. She has had “a long fruitful life devoted to her vocation as an artist,” said Mr. Reyes.

“In that pandemic year where all mortal life hung in the balance — it still hangs on uncertainty to this very year — the life and art of Betsy Westendorp is a worthy cause for celebration.”

PASSAGES: Celebrating the Artistic Journeys of Betsy Westendorp runs until Mar. 15. Watch the virtual guided tour of the exhibition at http://bit.ly/PassagesVirtualTour and explore the exhibition (in 3D) at https://bit.ly/BWestendorp3DExhibitTour. To order the catalogue, e-mail info@metmuseum.ph. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Lending likely to rebound on positive outlook

March 10, 2021 | 12:04 am

BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said lending may start improving soon as consumers become more optimistic about the country’s prospects despite the continuing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

“There is a glimmer of hope, however. Consumer outlook is positive for the first quarter of 2021 and remains optimistic for the next 12 months,” Mr. Diokno said in a Tuesday forum organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, referring to the results of the fourth quarter Consumer Expectations Survey of the BSP.

Mr. Diokno also cited the Banking Sector Outlook for the second half of 2020 which showed that majority of respondent banks expect their loan portfolios to grow by 10-15% over the next two years, which, he said, is a “crucial element of the recovery process.”

“We are also careful in taking the next steps, particularly in unwinding COVID-19 regulatory relief measures, to limit the potential scarring effects of the pandemic. The unwinding shouldn’t be too early nor too late,” Mr. Diokno said.

Bank lending fell 2.4% in January, marking the second consecutive month of contraction, with the BSP citing weak demand for credit as banks remained risk averse.

Lending slumped despite the central bank’s liquidity boosting measures that injected about P2 trillion into the financial system, equivalent to about 10% of gross domestic product (GDP). This also came despite the 200 basis points in cuts to borrowing costs last year that brought the key policy rate to a record low of two percent.

Banks tightened their credit standards to guard against an expected bad loan pileup due to the economic downturn. As of end-January, the industry’s bad loan ratio stood at 3.7%, picking up from the 3.61% in December and the 2.16% a year earlier.

Prior to the pandemic, credit expansion was usually higher by seven to 10 percentage points than the GDP growth, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

“Thus, it is reasonable to expect double-digit growth in bank loans of around 10-15% once GDP growth improves to 5-6% in the coming years,” Mr. Ricafort said.

“Additional measures to reopen the economy would lead to pick up in economic activities as well as the demand for loans,” he added. — L.W.T. Noble

PhilWeb buys eBingo machine suppliers, outlets

March 10, 2021 | 12:04 am

PHILWEB CORP. has acquired 16 electronic bingo (eBingo) outlets and two eBingo machine suppliers, which are expected to expand the portfolio of the gaming service provider.

The company told the stock exchange on Tuesday that it executed the deeds of sale for the acquisition of 100% of the total issued capital stocks of the eBingo companies for P450 million and the two accredited eBingo machine suppliers for P280 million.

“[PhilWeb’s electronic games business] now has an expanding, two-fold footprint in the whole electronic gaming sector,” the company said.

It said the companies were acquired from the Palmary Group. It also said the deeds of sale were done on March 8.

Because of the acquisition, trading of PhilWeb shares at the stock exchange has been suspended starting 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 9.

The company’s shares last traded on Monday, closing at P2.70 apiece.

Trading of PhilWeb shares will resume once the company has submitted a disclosure requirement under the Rule on Disclosure for Substantial Acquisitions and Reverse Takeovers, under Section 5, Article VII of the Consolidated Listing and Disclosure Rules of the exchange.

Entities that acquire an interest of more than 10% in an unlisted company or more than the total book value of the issuer will be suspended from trading “until the terms and conditions of the transaction, and the details pertaining to the business or project acquired are actually disclosed and, if applicable, the latest audited financial statements of the unlisted company, are submitted.”

The 16 eBingo outlets generated a combined P1.2 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2019, PhilWeb said.

Meanwhile, the two eBingo machine supplier companies made P364.9 million in the same year, it added. The two will further expand PhilWeb’s business to eBingo outlets, as both are accredited suppliers to a client network of 64 Philippines-based eBingo outlets.

PhilWeb is accredited by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and is a service provider to a total of 85 eGames outlets.

The company’s wholly owned subsidiary BigGame, Inc. directly operates 31 authorized eGames outlets.

PhilWeb’s Easy eBingo also has gaming licenses for eBingo outlets. After the acquisition, the eBingo outlets it will be handling will reach 22. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

Secrets in your stool: Detecting colorectal cancer

March 10, 2021 | 12:03 am

By Patricia B. Mirasol

COLORECTAL CANCER is the third deadliest cancer in the Philippines after breast cancer and lung cancer. It is, however, beatable, treatable, and preventable, according to Dr. Atenodoro “Jun” R. Ruiz, Jr., head of The Medical City’s (TMC) colorectal cancer screening task force, at a discussion organized by TMC’s Augusto P. Sarmiento Cancer Institute.

The most common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer (or colon cancer) are a change in bowel habits, rectal bleeding with bright red blood, and unintended weight loss.

This type of cancer usually begins as polyps, or abnormal growths in the lining of the colon and rectum. While not all polyps progress to cancer, their removal reduces the risk of these growths developing into cancer.

LESS EXPENSIVE, LESS INVASIVE
The screening tests available for colorectal cancer include colonoscopy, or the examination of the colon with a tube called a colonoscope; fecal immunochemical test (FIT), which tests for hidden blood in the stool; CT (computed tomography) colonography, which uses special X-ray equipment to examine the large intestine for cancer and polyps; fecal DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) test, which combines the FIT with a test that detects altered DNA in the stool; and capsule colonoscopy, which uses a rectally inserted capsule robot that identifies and removes precancerous lesions and tumors.

Each of these tests has advantages and disadvantages. A colonoscopy is an effective screening tool, albeit one that is expensive and time-consuming, with fewer people willing to undergo the test. FIT, which can be done in the privacy of one’s own home, is less expensive and less invasive.

“FIT detects human blood. If the stool sample is positive, a colonoscopy is needed,” Dr. Ruiz said. “If negative, then FIT is done every year.” The test costs between P500–P1,600 in the Philippines while a colonoscopy is approximately P25,000.

When gastroenterologists perform a colonoscopy on FIT-positive patients, it saves downstream costs in terms of surgeries and hospital beds.

An annual FIT outreach program at Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), for example, was partially responsible for an uptick in colorectal cancer screenings, which increased from 39% to 83% from 2000 to 2015 — leading to 26% fewer colorectal cancer cases and 52% fewer deaths during that period.

According to Dr. Theodore R. Levin, a gastroenterologist with the Permanente Medical Group and clinical lead for colon cancer screening at KPNC, the program reaches 900,000 of KPNC’s 1,000,000 eligible members, who are all between the ages of 50 to 75 years.

These members are each sent a FIT kit (or a quick and easy screening home kit) every year, with instructions on how to complete the test, plus a postage-paid return envelope. An e-mail or print letter is sent a week before the kit is delivered, with an additional automated call reminding members to send back their kits four weeks after these kits have been mailed out.

“The reality is that healthy people usually don’t come into hospitals,” said Dr. Levin at the virtual event. “That’s why you have to reach out.”

Given the resource limitations of other countries, Dr. Levin recommended starting small. “When we started in the middle 2000s, we didn’t have the infrastructure to do colonoscopies for every member having screening, so we focused on a select part of the population,” he said. The program thus focused on people in their 60s and 70s, or people who were old enough to start having cancers, but young enough to have colonoscopies.

“Pick a smaller community, prove your concept, and then expand from there,” said Dr. Levin. “Develop some champions, publicize your results, and suddenly it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Study finds more Filipinos open to a cashless society as e-payments rise

March 10, 2021 | 12:03 am

MORE FILIPINOS are open to the possibility of a cashless society in the next few years, following the trend seen in the country’s regional peers, a study found.

More than half (52%) of 1,102 individuals surveyed in the country said they are in favor of a shift to a cashless society, according to a study by United Kingdom-based MoneyTransfers.com which gauged data from British market research firm YouGov.

Data from the research showed the Philippines lags behind ASEAN peers Malaysia (65%), Indonesia (63%), Vietnam (60%) and Singapore (56%) in terms of being receptive to the idea of cashless society.

Meanwhile, other neighboring economies such as Thailand (51%) and Taiwan (48%) appear to be less keen on the idea.

“The argument for a cashless society has been around for a while, but the rapid rise of the coronavirus crisis has intensified the debate again amid concerns about banknotes and coins transmitting the virus,” MoneyTransfers.com said in a statement.

India topped the survey with 79% of 1,010 respondents saying they favor a digital economy.

Meanwhile, among other surveyed countries, France (18%), Germany (20%), and the United States (24%) appear to be the most reluctant about the concept of a cashless society. In total, the study included 25,923 respondents across 17 economies in Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America.

Separately, 45% of respondents in the Philippines said they used cash less often since the pandemic.

Commenting on the results of the research, Presidential Spokesperson Herminio “Harry” L. Roque said the country “can readily make a shift to a cashless society.”

“The central bank has already done some steps. More local government units are tapping cashless transactions,” Mr. Roque said in an online briefing on Tuesday.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said in a Businessworld One-on-One interview in January that while a cashless society may not be possible within his lifetime, a coinless society could be viable by 2025 as digital payments continue to grow.

Mr. Diokno said coin demand in 2020 dropped by 57% in volume and by 60% in value from 2019. He said small transactions in the future may be settled through QR payments.

“The pandemic has rapidly reshaped, not only the financial system, but most importantly the way we interact and how we do business. As a result of the pandemic, we have seen an increased use of digital platforms,” Mr. Diokno said in an online forum held by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines on Tuesday.

Latest data showed online payments made up 10% of the total volume of transactions in the Philippines in 2018 from just 1% in 2013, according to the Better Than Cash Alliance. E-payments also increased to comprise 20% of the total transaction value from 8% in 2013.

The central bank wants 50% of the country’s payments, both in volume and value, done digitally by 2023. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

The art of giving back: New York painter buys unknown artists’ works

March 10, 2021 | 12:03 am

*New York artist Guy Stanley Philoche — PHILOCHESTUDIOS.COM/*

NEW YORK — After two decades of hard work, New York artist Guy Stanley Philoche planned to celebrate the success of his two-day sold-out show at Cavalier Gallery a year ago by buying a $15,000 watch.

But an inner voice spoke as the pandemic hit — telling him that he should step up and help other emerging artists.

“I made a promise to myself that every time I sell a painting, I’ll buy a painting,” said Haitian-born Philoche, 44, who grew up in Connecticut and was drawing and painting before he could walk.

Philoche posted a video of himself on Instagram offering to buy as much artwork as possible to help fellow artists hurt by the shutdowns.

“I hit ‘send’ and that’s when I opened Pandora’s Box,” he said.

Within a year Philoche has spent $70,000 on more than 200 pieces of art from over 150 artists around the world.

“I’m still going through it, buying it and I love it,” he said. “I also realize that now that I have a seat at the table I have to open doors for people, so I’m making it my mission now, you know, to give people a shot.”

Philoche’s collection, which includes pieces by his former professors and his tattoo artist, has caught the attention of museums around the world which want to host it. But first, he wants a New York exhibition for the works, which are displayed throughout his small studio apartment and kept in a storage unit.

“It’s going to be really cool and really fun and amazing to call some of these artists that I purchased their work, whose work has never been sold before,” he said.

“I was the first person to buy something from them and be like, hey, by the way, you know the painting I just bought, it’s actually going to be hanging in the MoMa.” — Reuters

Ayala energy arm reports profit surge to P3.9 billion

March 10, 2021 | 12:03 am

AYALA-LED AC Energy Corp. (ACEN) booked a net income of P3.87 billion last year, around 29 times higher than what it earned a year earlier on the back of higher electricity sales.

In a filing to the local bourse on Tuesday, ACEN said revenues from electricity sales rose 26.01% to P20.28 billion in 2020. It noted that the cost of selling electricity decreased 12.3% to P13.42 billion during the year.

The firm also recorded a net income attributable to parent firm equity holders of P3.75 billion last year, 65 times higher than the P57.65 million posted in 2019.

Total assets improved by 30.98% to P63.58 billion, while total liabilities rose by 31.31% to P42.22 billion.

On Monday, ACEN’s parent firm Ayala Corp. said that its unit AC Energy and Infrastructure Corp. would be transferring its indirect ownership interest in Mindanao’s biggest coal-fired power plant project to its partner and affiliates.

Ayala Corp. said that AC Energy had signed a divestment agreement with Power Partners Ltd. Co. and certain affiliate companies for the coal project in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.

The transaction is in line with AC Energy’s effort to rebalance its portfolio as it targets to achieve at least five gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2025, according to the parent firm.

Shares of Ayala Corp. in the stock exchange improved 2.37% or P18 apiece on Tuesday. Meanwhile, shares of ACEN in the local bourse inched down 3.11% or 0.21 centavos to close at P6.55 apiece on the same day. — Angelica Y. Yang

Officer of closed rural bank convicted anew

March 10, 2021 | 12:02 am

A BANK OFFICER of the closed People’s Rural Bank of Binmaley, Inc. (PRBBI) in Pangasinan was again found guilty for facilitating fictitious loans through falsification of commercial documents, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Trial Court of Las Piñas City convicted Juanita G. Altarez, former area head and manager of PRBBI, for four counts of falsification of commercial documents in its decision on Feb. 5, the BSP said in a statement.

“The BSP continues to promote financial stability through good governance among its supervised institutions to ensure the soundness of the banking system and to protect the interest of the banking public,” the central bank said.

The court sentenced Ms. Altarez to imprisonment of one year and 11 days up to three years, six months and 24 days for each count. She will also need to pay a fine of P5,000 for each count, with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.

Ms. Altarez was convicted for a case involving four fictitious loans she approved.

“Said loans were discovered by the BSP during their investigation of the bank, and are part of 142 fictitious loans amounting to P7 million granted by PRBBI-Las Piñas Branch and facilitated by Altarez,” the central bank said.

In May 2019, Ms. Altarez was also convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Las Piñas Branch 255 for granting the fictitious loans. She was found guilty of four counts of violation of the General Banking Law of 2000 and was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment and a penalty of P100,000 for each count. — LWTN

NFT art: The bizarre world where burning a Banksy can make it more valuable

March 10, 2021 | 12:02 am

A BLOCKCHAIN company has bought a piece of Banksy artwork and burnt it. But instead of destroying the value of the art, they claim to have made it more valuable, because it was sold as a piece of blockchain art.

The company behind the stunt, called Injective Protocol, bought the screen print from a New York gallery. They then live-streamed its burning on the Twitter account BurntBanksy.

But why would anyone buy a piece of art just to burn it? Understanding the answer requires us to delve into the tricky world of blockchain or “NFT” art.

It blends the niche subculture of cryptocurrencies with long running philosophical questions about the nature of art. No wonder people have difficulty explaining it all.

At its simplest, a NFT (non-fungible token)artwork is made up of two things. First, a piece of art, usually digital, but sometimes physical. Second there is a digital token representing the art, also created by the artist.

In the past, artists might have provided a signature or the gallery a certificate to authenticate an artwork. This is a method of verification or proof to show this really was a painting by, say, Matisse or Klimt.

In 2008 the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, introduced a new method of verification known as the blockchain. Blockchains were historically used to record financial transactions, but they’re pretty malleable. These days, you can find everything from collectable games to new methods of finance — all living on blockchains.

The most important feature of blockchain for art is that blockchains are impossible to change. An artist can provide a proof authenticating an artwork which can never be altered. This proof can then be sold at auction passing it from artist to collector, making blockchain art highly liquid.

What collectors buy are “non-fungible” tokens (NFTs). Non-fungible means either one or a limited run is ever made. NFT tokens cannot be replicated.

In some cases the art will be stored on the blockchain, but more commonly the NFT will reference an external artwork. While many people might not consider this “owning art,” it’s clear many collectors do. The implication is NFT artworks are scarce and therefore valuable.

Newcomers to an NFT marketplace might be struck by the low quality of the artwork. With no barrier to entry, everyone is free to become a blockchain artist — and it shows. But this is a naïve reading of what is going on. Much blockchain art is sought after for reasons beyond aesthetics.

For instance, many NFTs, such as Cryptopunks, are sought after because of their age, like blockchain antiques. The most expensive Cryptopunk sold for $1,608,032 (£1,161,481) and it is, on the surface, little more than crudely drawn pixel art.

Cryptopunks are the oldest NFTs and it’s the data about them — their “metadata” — such as their longevity on the blockchain, that is desired. You have to look past the art and look at the medium to get what is going on.

Other NFTs, such as the Nyan Cat meme which sold for $600,000, are already widely distributed memes. But they’re prestigious specifically in their NFT form because the creator has “signed” the work on the blockchain.

But why would someone want to destroy the original art? Well, this is what the BurntBanksy collective had to say about it:

“If you were to have the NFT and the physical piece, the value would be primarily in the physical piece. By removing the physical piece from existence and only having the NFT, we can ensure that the NFT, due to the smart contract ability of the blockchain, will ensure that no one can alter the piece and it is the true piece that exists in the world. By doing this, the value of the physical piece will then be moved onto the NFT.”

To most, this probably sounds like gibberish. I suspect the collective are acting a little provocatively by inverting our usual preference for the physical over the digital. However, their argument follows perfect blockchain logic. They argue if we have a piece of art and an NFT, then most people will consider the former the “real” art.

To invert this they’ve decided to burn what many would consider a piece of art that is objectively valuable, a Banksy, and leave only the NFT. Unlike physical art that can be burnt or shredded or broken, an NFT is a digital token that lives on an immutable blockchain. It can’t be destroyed and should therefore, according to their logic, be perfectly safe from vandals — such as themselves.

With the “real” art work gone the NFT now stands in for the real work. What they are hinting at, of course, is that this is a potential transition from “real” to NFT in general and their stunt highlights this. Intriguingly, their act also suggests they have themselves become artists.

By burning the real piece they transform it into the NFT-only piece. To see the value in NFTs, we have to look past the art itself and at the blockchain.

Finally, it’s interesting that the collective decided to pick a Banksy piece of art to destroy, considering the artist shredded a piece of his own art live in 2018, immediately after it was sold at auction. Perhaps the work of these vandals is closer in spirit to the original artist than appears at first sight.

Paul J. Ennis is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Management Information Systems at the University College Dublin.

Hocheng to make thermal scanners in PHL

March 10, 2021 | 12:02 am

HOUSEHOLD equipment manufacturer Hocheng Philippines Corp. plans to assemble “anti-virus” products in the Philippines, the Board of Investments (BoI) said in a press release on Tuesday.

The company’s thermal scanner and rubbing alcohol dispenser called LENUS will also be distributed in the country, the agency added.

The dispenser product’s voice prompt alerts users approaching the device without a face mask, reminding them to do so. Hocheng Philippines plans to sell LENUS to hospitals, health-care facilities, business establishments, and direct to consumers.

Hocheng Philippines’ parent company Hocheng Corp. is a Taiwan-based bathroom equipment manufacturer that sells hygiene porcelains, water supply copper wares, bath tubs, and kitchenware.

The local firm, which builds kitchen fixtures at a Cavite facility, generates P1.7 billion in annual revenues.

The BoI said that it had been encouraging companies manufacturing products designed to address the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to invest in the Philippines. These products include medical supplies and electronic components.

“We are positioning the Philippines as a complementary host country to target companies, particularly those looking into diversifying their business locations to sustain and enhance competitiveness,” Trade Undersecretary and BoI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said.

“By enticing them to invest in these industries, the outcome is a win-win for both businesses and the country. While we make their enterprises grow, we attract the highly-desirable investments that will serve the public interest, especially in this time of the health crisis.”

Investment pledges approved by the BoI in the first two months of 2021 grew 156% to P121.9 billion. The agency targets P1.25 trillion in total approved investments this year. — Jenina P. Ibañez

Digestive health initiatives

March 10, 2021 | 12:02 am

IN LINE with Philippine Digestive Health Week (PDHW), ongoing till March 13, here are initiatives to increase digestive health screening and improve patient outcomes.

SCREENING TOOL
The Department of Health is launching the use of the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) as the primary population-based colorectal cancer screening tool.

A technical expert committee for gastrointestinal cancers and other digestive illnesses will be formed in the second quarter of 2021 to develop national practice guidelines for colorectal cancer. The committee will also determine the possible inclusion of FIT and colonoscopy in organized cancer screenings managed by national health services.

INFORMATION DRIVE
Free webinars will be livestreamed on the PDHW 2021 Facebook page throughout the week: “Tummy Talks” will be shown till March 11, 6 p.m., a lay forum on FIT will be held on March 16, 6 p.m.

WORKPLACE POLICY
The cancer control policy in the workplace, which is expected to be issued within the year by the Department of Labor and Employment and the Civil Service Commission, will allow employees with cancer to undergo their chemotherapy sessions without having to file sick leave. — P. B. Mirasol

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