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Rural banks increase health and agriculture lending

LOAN DISBURSEMENTS by rural banks to essential sectors such as health and agriculture rose during the pandemic, the industry association said.

“We have seen an uptick in credit applications and disbursements from the agricultural and health sectors,” Rural Bankers Association Association of the Philippines President Elizabeth C. Timbol said in an e-mail.

Ms. Timbol noted that agriculture loan applicants were mainly involved in hog raising, poultry, and other aspects of food production.

Applications from the health sector came from entrepreneurs selling products deemed essential to comply with health measures protocol and hospital equipment are also among those that applied for credit during the crisis, she added.

Ms. Timbol said the Philippine Guarantee Corp. (Philguarantee) as well as the Department of Industry and the Small Business Corp. “should expedite” their applications to enable rural lenders to lend to more micro-, small, and medium-sized (MSMEs) and help them recover from the crisis.

“Other government relief measures were not extended to rural banks and others have stricter requirements and slow processing in terms of applications,” she said.

“The government should prioritize the rural banks by making them conduits for all the relief measures to affected sectors in the society,” Ms. Timbol added, noting the Department of Agriculture (DA) — Agricultural Credit Policy Council has so far been supportive to extend help to the agricultural sector through rural banks.

In June, Philguarantee approved credit guarantees worth P120 billion to encourage lenders to extend credit to small businesses seeking working capital.

The DA approved funding of P1 billion in April to go to loans aiding the sector to ensure food security. The funds fall under the Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance Program for Rice Farmers.

In terms of measures implemented by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Ms. Timbol said the central bank’s decision to count MSME loans as part of banks’ reserve requirement compliance has been helpful to rural lenders.

She added that the staggered booking of provisions for probable losses over five years and the exclusion from the past-due ratio of loans to affected borrowers for one year have also been helpful.

Earlier this month, BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said P44.2 billion in MSME loans were used as alternative compliance by 88 banks, most of which were rural lenders.

The rural and cooperative banking industry’s net profit totaled P1.402 billion in the first quarter, down 5.07% year on year. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

Asia-Pacific must set loftier electrification goals — ADB expert

THE Asia and Pacific region should set more aggressive targets for universal electricity access over the next decade, an energy sector expert from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

Around 200 million people in developing countries within the region had no access to electricity in 2018, down from 351 million in 2017, based on a progress report on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Despite the improvement, significant challenges continue to prevent full electrification, according to the Energy Sector Group of ADB’s Sustainable Development and Climate Change department.

These include unreliable supply, limited capacity of microgrids and solar home systems, and the need for more electricity services beyond household consumption.

“While Asia and the Pacific (are) well on track to achieve 100% electricity access, the region must aim higher and seek to achieve 24/7 electricity supply with good quality and sufficient quantity to maximize economic and human development benefits,” Yongping Zhai, the head of ADB’s Energy Sector Group, said in a recent blog post.

The key, he said, is to pursue an integrated approach to electrification, which includes credit support from banks and the use of smart systems that allow households to inject their surplus electricity into the grid.

“From a technological point of view, individual solar home systems can be connected to each other to share extra solar generation and battery capacities to form a microgrid; while a microgrid can be connected to the national grid,” he added.

“With smart energy management systems using digital technologies, microgrids can be operated as a standalone system to maximize solar and other renewable energy generation at minimum cost, or be switched to the national grid when there is a deficit of supply within the microgrid,” he added.

He backed the formation of specialized rural energy service companies via public-private partnership “to coordinate, operate, and maintain the integrated electricity supply system.”

“Asia and the Pacific should take the lead to show the world how innovation will take us to the next level of electrification,” Mr. Zhai said. — Adam J. Ang

COVID-19 and its accounting implications

(Second of two parts)

In last week’s article, we discussed the challenges of assessing an entity’s status as a going concern, accounting for financial instruments, impairment of non-financial assets and revenue recognition. This week’s article will provide brief discussions on inventory costing and valuation, addressing onerous contracts and assessing whether events surrounding the pandemic and the resulting developments are adjusting or non-adjusting events.

INVENTORY COSTING AND VALUATION
Inventories are required to be accounted for at the lower of their cost or net realizable value (NRV). The pandemic and resulting government measures have caused certain entities to reduce their usual production volume, with some completely stopping production during the second quarter. These entities may need to revisit the cost of their inventories. This is particularly true for those manufacturers that allocate fixed production overheads based on normal production capacity. If the production volume of these entities are lower than what was determined to be “normal capacity,” the fixed production overhead should not be allocated to the units produced as this will unduly inflate their costs. Rather, any unallocated fixed production overhead will need to be expensed as incurred.

Determining the NRV (or the selling price less cost to sell and/or cost to complete) is another matter as this entails estimation on the part of management. The pandemic may have resulted in reduced demand for the entities’ goods, which in turn will cause the entities to decrease their prices. In such a case, entities will have to determine whether they need to write down the cost of their inventories to NRV. In other cases, entities with goods that are perishable may even find themselves disposing of their products that they are unable to sell, thus resulting in the write off of these inventories.

In all of the above, entities will need to also consider making additional disclosures to further describe the impact of the pandemic in their inventory costing and valuation.

ONEROUS CONTRACTS
Onerous contracts are defined under PAS 37, Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets, as contracts where the “unavoidable costs of meeting the obligations… exceed the economic benefits expected to be received.” If a contract is found to be onerous, PFRSs require the entity to recognize a provision for such a contract and even possibly recognize an impairment on the related asset or assets.

With the disruption in supply chains brought about by the pandemic, entities will need to consider whether their contracts are onerous and if there is any need to quantify and recognize any compensation or penalties from these contracts. For example, a manufacturing entity has to shut down its facilities as required under ECQ. The entity, however, has contracts to sell goods at a fixed price, which may force the entity to procure the goods from another party at a significantly higher cost. The entity will need to review its contracts to determine if there are any compensation or penalties if the entity is unable to fulfill its obligations. The entity will also need to check if there are any special terms that may relieve the entity from its obligations (e.g., force majeure). If the entity can cancel the contract without paying any compensation or penalty to the other entity, the contract is not onerous. Thus, the entity will not need to recognize any provision or impairment losses under the contract.

EVENTS AFTER REPORTING DATE
Events after the reporting period (or balance sheet date) are favorable or unfavorable events that “occur between the end of the reporting period and the date when the financial statements are authorized for issue.” Such events may be adjusting events (i.e., they have an impact on the financial statements) or non-adjusting events (i.e., they have no impact on the financial statements but may have an impact in terms of the disclosures). Events after the reporting date are adjusting events if they “provide evidence of conditions that existed at the end of the reporting period.”

Management needs to exercise critical judgment in order to assess if the events surrounding COVID-19 are adjusting or non-adjusting events. If the events are adjusting events, the entity will need to make the necessary changes (e.g., recognize provisions for court cases existing at the end of the reporting period but were subsequently settled, recognize impairment loss on receivables for customers that declared bankruptcy after the balance sheet date, etc.) in the amounts recognized in the financial statements. If the events are non-adjusting events, the entities will then need to assess if the impact is material. If such is the case, they must make the necessary disclosures in their financial statements.

DISCLOSURES (FOR INTERIM REPORTING PURPOSES)
The abovementioned implications carry with them the corresponding disclosures required by the relevant standards. However, entities that are required to prepare interim financial statements will also need to consider the required disclosures under PAS 34, Interim Financial Reporting. Under this standard, an entity should disclose events or transactions that have significant impact on its balances since the end of the last annual reporting period. Some examples of these events and transactions are those that impact the valuation of financial assets, such as equity or debt instruments, any loan default or breach of a loan agreement.

Since the disclosures under PAS 34 are basically updates of the disclosures or information presented in the most recent annual reporting period (i.e., Dec. 31, 2019), entities should also consider the extent of information they presented in the annual financial statements. However, since the local impact of the pandemic was felt only in the latter part of the first quarter of 2020, it is possible that this information may not have been included in the 2019 annual financial statements. Entities will then need to include more comprehensive disclosures in their interim financial statements.

ACCOUNTING CHALLENGES FROM COVID-19
This article briefly touches on some of the challenges COVID–19 poses in preparing financial statements. These challenges may differ from entity to entity and as developments surrounding the outbreak continue to evolve, but there can be no denial that all entities will feel the pandemic’s repercussions on people’s lives and the economy. Entities will thus need to be constantly alert to the implications of the outbreak on their financial statements.

This two-part article is the first of a series covering the accounting impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Other articles that will follow will provide more in-depth discussion on certain areas such as impairment and revenue recognition.

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional advice where the facts and circumstances warrant. The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of SGV & Co.

 

Ma. Emilita L. Villanueva is a Partner from the Assurance Service Line of SGV & Co.

US approves pooled testing for COVID-19

THE US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized so-called “pool testing” for COVID-19, a move aimed at broadening checks for the coronavirus and using fewer testing resources.

Quest Diagnostics, Inc. will be able to test samples containing as many as four individual swab specimens, the agency said on Saturday in an emergency-use authorization.

The samples collected are then tested in a pool or “batch” using one COVID-19 test, rather than running each individual sample through its own test. If the pool is positive it means that one or more of the individuals tested may be infected, so each of the samples in that pool is then tested again, individually.

The authorization “is an important step forward in getting more COVID-19 tests to more Americans more quickly while preserving testing supplies,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement.

“Sample pooling becomes especially important as infection rates decline and we begin testing larger portions of the population,” Mr. Hahn said.

Chinese officials used pool testing to quickly test vast numbers of people in Beijing and Wuhan earlier this year.

White House coronavirus task force members Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx have both spoken in favor of pool testing as a way to ramp up the number of tests that can be performed.

“Pooling would give us the capacity to go from a half a million tests a day to potentially 5 million individuals tested per day,” Ms. Birx told an American Society for Microbiology virtual conference in June, according to the health news site Stat.

Quest’s test was originally authorized in March for use with individual samples and remains authorized for that purpose, the FDA said. — Bloomberg

Brazil’s Bolsonaro says coronavirus restrictions ‘suffocating’ the economy

SAO PAULO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Saturday that lockdown measures used to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus “kill” and have “suffocated” the country’s economy.

“Without salaries and jobs, people die,” he said referring to restrictions imposed by some states and municipalities. “Lockdown kills,” he added, saying that some politicians have suffocated the economy with forced curfews.

The president’s statement comes as Brazil’s economy is expected to contract 6.4% this year, hit by the pandemic.

Bolsonaro, who announced he tested positive for COVID-19 on July 7, met his supporters in the grounds of his official residence, the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia.

The president was wearing a mask and kept some meters (yards) of distance from his supporters.

Mr. Bolsonaro said he is feeling well, despite the virus, and again credited his health to the use of hydroxychloroquine to fight COVID-19, despite no scientific evidence. “I am a living proof (that the drug works),” he told supporters.

Besides hydroxychloroquine, the far-right president said he is also taking an anti-parasite drug to fight coronavirus.

Brazil registered 28,532 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 921 new deaths on Saturday, the health ministry said. Total cases in Brazil, the world’s second-most affected country after the United States, have now risen to 2,074,860 while deaths totaled 78,772. — Reuters

Record daily increase in global virus cases for 2nd day in a row

THE World Health Organization (WHO) reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases for the second day in a row, with the total rising by 259,848 in 24 hours.

The biggest increases reported on Saturday were from the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report. The previous WHO record for new cases was 237,743 on Friday. Deaths rose by 7,360, the biggest one-day increase since May 10. Deaths have been averaging 4,800 a day in July, up slightly from an average of 4,600 a day in June.

Total global coronavirus cases surpassed 14 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed nearly 600,000 people in seven months. The surge means that 1 million cases were reported in under 100 hours.

The WHO reported 71,484 new cases in the United States, 45,403 in Brazil, 34,884 in India and 13,373 in South Africa.

India on Friday became the third country in the world to record more than 1 million cases of the new coronavirus, behind only the United States and Brazil. Epidemiologists say India is still likely months from hitting its peak.

Cases in Brazil crossed the 2 million mark on Thursday, doubling in less than a month and adding nearly 40,000 new cases a day. A patchwork of state and city responses has held up poorly in Brazil in the absence of a tightly coordinated policy from the federal government.

The United States, which leads the world with over 3.7 million cases, has also tried to curb the outbreak at the state and local levels with only limited success. — Reuters

PBA dealing seriously with violations of Blackwater

THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)is currently acting on violations of the Blackwater team when apparently the Elite returned to training prematurely.

The Ever Bilena Cosmetics, Inc. franchise put itself in hot water last week when owner Dioceldo Sy shared on TV5’s Sports Page that his team recently held a “practice session,” which was well too early of the scheduled resumption of workouts this week as the PBA is still awaiting the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) signed by pertinent government agencies.

The JAO contains the implementing guidelines governing the conduct of professional and nonprofessional sports training while the country is under community quarantine brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Getting wind of the news, the local pro league and the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) immediately reached out to the Blackwater team, asking the latter to explain its side. They, too, told the Elite management of possible fines and sanctions it is facing because of its actions.

Felt that they are unfairly being punished and ganged upon, and believing, by and large, they do not deserve to be sanctioned, varying media reports have Mr. Sy “no longer having the heart” to stay in the PBA, leading to his announcement to put the Blackwater team up for sale.

He pegged the selling price of the franchise to interested buyers at P150 million or higher.

Mr. Sy has since apologized to the PBA and GAB and sought a meeting with league Commissioner Willie Marcial and GAB Chairman Baham Mitra, respectively, to clear the air and iron things out. He, too, toned down on his push to sell the team, saying they will evaluate the situation moving forward while continuing to honor their commitments to the league.

Despite Mr. Sy and Blackwater trying to make amends, the PBA is still actively dealing with the matter, seeing how the actions of the Elite could jeopardize the push of the league to return to action, and the pronouncement of the Blackwater owner of being “bullied” and the intention to sell violated league rules and ruffled feathers within the PBA family.

The league has fined Blackwater P100,000 for the premature practice and ordered all team members to undergo swab testing and a seven-day quarantine. Mr. Sy said they would abide by the PBA sanctions.

Investigation is also under way on the pronouncements of Mr. Sy, the findings of which would be given to the league board after.

The Blackwater owner is reportedly set to meet Mr. Marcial on Tuesday.

The PBA, meanwhile, is targeting to resume individual workouts on July 22, four months since shutting down its season in March. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

World no. 2 Rahm grabs four-shot lead at Memorial

TORONTO — Jon Rahm used a sizzling finish on a steamy hot afternoon at the Memorial Tournament to power four shots clear at the top of the leaderboard at Muirfield Village on Saturday, setting himself up for a run at the number one world ranking.

Chasing a fourth career PGA Tour win, the big-hitting Spaniard got his day off to a quiet start by mixing a birdie and a bogey on his outward nine but he caught fire after the turn to card four straight birdies from the 13th for a four-under 68.

It was the third consecutive round in the 60s for the world number two, putting him at 12-under for the tournament and four shots ahead of Americans Tony Finau and Ryan Palmer, who had shared the overnight lead.

Finau had a much more adventurous back nine, mixing a pair of double-bogeys and a bogey with three birdies for a one-over 73, while Palmer also suffered a late stumble with bogeys at 16 and 18 for his 73.

Rahm and American Brendon Todd (68) were the only golfers to dip under 70 on a day of gusting winds that produced lightning-fast greens and challenging scoring conditions. If Rahm can hold on for the win on Sunday he would replace Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy at the top of the world rankings.

“It’s extremely important. It’s obviously a big deal,” said Rahm, who would join Seve Ballesteros as the only Spaniards to reach number one. “I can’t sit here and… try to diminish it and avoid it because it would just be lying to myself because it is a big deal. But it is a consequence of me winning tomorrow.

“What’s important to me tomorrow is hit good shots, be committed and get the job done.”

With a four-shot cushion, Rahm will start Sunday in a commanding position but conditions for the final round are expected to be tougher than on Saturday which will make it even more difficult for someone to mount a charge.

Britain’s Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters champion, had a 70 to sit alone in fourth, six off the lead, with Australia’s Jason Day (72) and Sweden’s Henrik Norlander (71) another stroke adrift at five-under.

McIlroy had an even par 72 for the second consecutive day to stand at two-under, a massive 10 strokes behind the leader. — Reuters

Cojuangco-Jaworski makes history after being elected to IOC Executive Board

Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski made history on Friday when she was voted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board, becoming the first Filipino and Asian woman to be a member of the powerful sports body.

A representative of the IOC to the Philippines since 2013, Ms. Cojuangco-Jaworski, a 2002 Asian Games gold medal-winning equestrian, figured prominently in the IOC voting held online, garnering 45 majority nods from 93 IOC members in the final round.

For her five-year term, Ms. Cojuangco-Jaworski, 46, joins the IOC President, four Vice-Presidents and nine other members in the Board.

As a member of the board, she is tasked to help in overseeing the affairs of the IOC and assuring that everything adheres to the Olympic Charter.

POC MEETING
Meanwhile, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) executive committee meets today to thresh out amendments proposed before the body holds elections later this year.

Among expected to be tackled relates to that barring an individual from holding the position of president for more than one national sports federation.

Such practice has been observed in the past in the POC and deemed problematic as it is susceptible to abuse, especially during elections to favor certain candidates.

Also up for discussion is the disaffiliation of a National Sports Association (NSA) no longer recognized by its international federation and banning officials who are over 70 years old from seeking an elective NSA position. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Filipino-American cager Ella Fajardo ticks off another item on bucket list

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

Filipino-American basketball player Ella Fajardo is ticking off another item on her bucket list as she committed to play Division 1 basketball at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in New Jersey.

Seventeen-year-old Fajardo, a product of the Milo BEST Center, shared last week that she is taking her talent to FDU, owing largely to the good relationship she has developed with the school’s coaching staff. It was also arrived at in consultation with her parents, Allan and Ellen, who have been very supportive of her basketball dreams since taking the sport seriously.

“It’s been a pretty long process,” Fajardo shared, saying that she’s been recruited by various institutions in the United States ever since her freshman year in high school at Gill St. Bernard’s School.

“Fairleigh loved who I was outside of basketball and I have that personality that would fit into the team. They’re really looking for specific people for Fairleigh’s winning culture, primarily a guard who has leadership skills, and that was definitely what they saw in me while recruiting me and watching my games live,” she added of her recruitment.

The move to commit was a fulfilment of one of her goals in basketball.

“One of my goals is to get a scholarship from a D1 (Division 1) school and play for the Perlas Pilipinas national team because I have a lot of Filipino pride. Being Filipino has taught me a lot to have puso (heart). And No matter what, always laban (fight),” Fajardo shared with BusinessWorld when she visited the country last year.

She got to play for the national team in 2019 when she joined Kristine Cayabyab, Camille Clarin and Angelica Marie Surada in the FIBA 3×3 U18 Cup in Malaysia, where the team won bronze.

Fajardo hopes someday she gets to don the Philippine colors as part of the 5-on-5 team.

Throughout her journey so far, she has been grateful of the “solid fundamentals with a scientific spin” she got from the BEST Center, which in itself was an “adventure.”

Unlike most graduates of the BEST Center, Fajardo flew into the country from the States every summer break with her family to enrol at the center and further hone her skills.

From 2012 to 2015 she immersed herself in the basketball program from the beginners level all the way to the advanced ones.

It was a “sacrifice” that was well worth the effort and time, said Fajardo, especially since she reaped a lot of benefits from it, including earning scholarships and winning awards as well as becoming part of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League with the New Jersey Sparks.

“The Milo BEST Center was foundational in my basketball career. The difference with the BEST Center and the other camps here in the States is their approach to teaching. They taught me how to dribble, how to play offense and defense, but they really taught me how to be disciplined while pushing you to the best of your abilities. Everything I know today came from them,” said Fajardo.

Now getting ready to take on a new challenge and journey, Fajardo is just thankful to be given the chance to continue what she loves doing.

“I think it’s such a blessing especially during these times of the pandemic …” she said.

Figueiredo is new UFC flyweight champion

Brazilian Deiveson Figueiredo became the new Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight champion after topping American Joseph Benavidez by technical submission (rear-naked choke) in the opening round of their headlining fight on Sunday on the “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Fighting for the vacant flyweight title, Mr. Figueiredo was just dominant right from the opening bell that saw him dropping Mr. Benavidez three times in the early goings before putting the latter to sleep with a rear-naked choke at the 4:48 mark of the first round.

The win was the second straight for the Brazilian over Mr. Benavidez, who he defeated by technical knockout (punches) in the second round of their first meeting early this year in February.

It was the fourth straight victory for Mr. Figueiredo (19-1) while the loss sent Mr. Benavidez (28-7) to back-to-back losses.

The dominant performance also won for Mr. Figueiredo “Performance of the Night” and the $50,000 bonus that goes with it.

Also winning on Sunday was middleweight Jack Hermansson of Sweden, who made short work of Kelvin Gastelum of the United States with a first-round submission win (heel hook).

Sunday’s action was once again played without an audience as a precaution against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Next for the UFC is the showdown between middleweights Robert Whittaker and Darren Till, which is the headlining fight for July 26 also on the Abu Dhabi Fight Island. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Reckoning

The National Basketball Association is ramping up its operations inside the bubble environment at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Even as a cacophony of social media posts have shown players engaging in various pastimes at the Walt Disney World Resort, the increasing number of practice sessions leading to the start of exhibition games this week underscores the focus of franchises on the ultimate objective. It’s right to push for progression, to be sure; outside of restricted, albeit supervised, workouts at home, those slated to burn rubber when the 2019-20 season resumes at the end of the month practically went on hibernation for close to four months. Going full bore from full stop is a recipe for disaster. Even the truncated run-up presents not inconsiderable risk.

Make no mistake. The players are casting moist eyes on the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The hardware provides validation of the work they put into honing their craft, not to mention gives substance to the sacrifice they’re making; they’re literally laying their lives on the line in trekking to Orlando, Florida, a proven pandemic hotbed, and plying their trade. When their campaign was suspended mid-March, they still had a fifth of the regular season to navigate. Now, they’re looking at a severely shortened schedule heading into the playoffs, a fact highlighted all the more by the league’s announcement that their respective standings for individual awards will not be affected by the so-called seeding games.

It’s too bad, really, because a couple of the races looked to have become tighter before Rudy Gobert’s positive test for the novel coronavirus scuttled momentum for the likes of LeBron James and Zion Wiliamson. Not that they’re affected in the grand scheme of things; precisely because of the unique situation, they understand that claiming the Most Valuable Player or Rookie of the Year award is mere icing on the cake. When all is said and done, they’ll be looking back to their experience as a success or a failure based on whether or not they were able to be among the last men standing when the battlesmoke clears.

At this point, the battlesmoke actually clearing is more of a hope than a certainty. The NBA has done all it can to protect the integrity of its campus setting, even going so far as to install a tip line that encourages snitching on players violating established health and safety protocols; while it has been labeled as “petty” by not a few quarters, it proves that the viability of the experiment depends on adherence to even the smallest details. The virus is so insidious and easy to spread due to carelessness that absolute cooperation is key.

Perhaps the players will be so moved by the causes they’re espousing, on the court and off, that they’ll be able to hurdle physical and, yes, mental obstacles all the way to the finish. Buoyed by outstanding work from league commissioner Adam Silver and players association chief Michele Roberts, optimism reigns in the here and now. That said, the real tests will happen farther down the line. So, too, will the real reckoning, and fans are looking forward to celebration and not desuetude.

 

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

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