Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 7934

Asia’s world-beating stock rally has bulls betting on more gains

Asian stocks’ outperformance versus the rest of the world driven by the region’s better containment of the coronavirus. Image via Reuters.

In a global market where hardly anything made sense this year, one trend seems to be supported by economic reality: Asian stocks’ outperformance versus the rest of the world driven by the region’s better containment of the coronavirus.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index is set to beat the S&P 500 and the MSCI Europe Index for a second straight month in July as Asia scores high on curbing the virus as well as reopening economies. That, along with attractive valuations and Asian shares’ relative insulation from risks related to the US presidential election, is prompting money managers to call for more gains.

“We have a heavy bias toward Asian equities,” said Sebastien Galy, senior macro strategist at Nordea Investment Funds SA, which oversees the equivalent of $255 billion in assets. “We expect this theme to prove resilient to what should eventually be a much more difficult time in equity markets in September and October.”

Mr. Galy’s comments echo views from funds like Fidelity International Ltd. and Capital Group Cos., who see Asian stocks winning more allocation from investors. Virus cases in the region—the focal point when the pandemic originated in China—have been below 20% of the global count since world equity markets hit 2020 lows in March, data compiled by Bloomberg and Johns Hopkins University show.

On the other hand, infections in the US now make up for more than a fourth of the global count, while the Europe, Middle East and Africa region accounts for about a third of the total.

While most of the Asian economies have reopened between 70–95%, that run rate for most of the US stands at 45–60% as of last month, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s global economic reopening tracker, which takes into account factors such as essential services, borders, schools, retail and manufacturing.

“Asia and in particular countries like China, South Korea, Taiwan have controlled the virus quite well and we are seeing economic activities picking up quite fast,” according to Tuan Huynh, chief investment officer for Europe and Asia at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management.

Investors also cite a recovery in China’s economy as reason to be bullish on Asian equities. China’s gross domestic product expanded 3.2% in the second quarter from a year ago, data showed Thursday, reversing a decline in the first quarter and beating forecast.

The economic rebound will spread all around Asia Pacific with a lag of a few months, said Mr. Galy of Nordea Investment.

RISKS REMAIN
Nevertheless, there are some risks that can botch the bullish Asia narrative.

For one, a resurgence in virus infections from Hong Kong and Tokyo is forcing policy makers to delay or reverse business re-openings. India’s cases have exceeded 1 million, becoming the third country in the world to cross that tally. Such moves could thwart an economic recovery and dampen appetite for regional stocks.

At the same time, investor enthusiasm may wane if earnings upgrades continue to lag positive revisions seen in the US and Europe.

“I would not agree that Asia will perform the best,” said David Wong, an investment strategist at AllianceBernstein in Hong Kong. “If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, it is that the equity market is not equal to the economy and that returns have no correlation with GDP growth.”

APPEALING VALUATIONS
That said, advocates of investing in Asian shares also cite better valuations.

“Asian equity valuations are attractive in the context of the long-term growth opportunities and a potential rebound in earnings next year,” said Sumit Mangal, a fund manager for Asia ex-Japan equities at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “We could see a strong recovery in demand.”

Bloomberg-compiled data on the estimated return on equity show that Asian company valuations are way cheaper than their US and European peers even as the efficiency of Asian companies to generate profits using their assets remains in double digits.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has rebounded 35% from its March low. Still, the gauge can rise about 10% over the next one year, according to price forecasts by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That’s set to outpace the roughly 5% advance predicted for US and European stocks.

US ELECTION
While the pandemic remains a challenge, investors globally are also starting to factor in risks related to the US presidential election as recent polls show President Donald Trump trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts have flagged the potential for earnings-depressing tax hikes should Democrats do well in November.

Expectations that Democrats will win the US election will keep a lid on stocks in the US and Europe, while Asian equities remain insulated from that risk, according to John Vail, chief global strategist at Nikko Asset Management Co. in Tokyo.

“Europe also has some correlation with the US stock market,” he said. “We are strongly preferring Asia ex-Japan to the rest of the world.”

Equities in Asia excluding Japan have outperformed the US heading into elections in three of the four previous cycles, with an average outperformance of about 6% in four months until the polls, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. — Bloomberg

Disabled workers, already in a tough spot, now have it worse

The global pandemic is worsening a labor market that already presents obstacles for workers with disabilities.

For America’s almost 30 million working-age disabled citizens—who deal with challenges including seeing and hearing, as well as getting around—the large majority of job opportunities lie in food service, hospitality, and retail. But when virus lockdowns brought those sectors to a standstill, workers with disabilities quickly saw their jobs vanish.

During the peak of pandemic-induced job losses, 18.9% of disabled Americans were unemployed, compared with 14.3% of the non-disabled population, according to unadjusted April data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In June, as states started to reopen their economies, the jobless rate for disabled Americans fell to 16.5%, while the rate for everyone else dropped to 11%—signaling a faster recovery for the general population than for those with disabilities.

“With the recovery, we’re seeing some businesses and industries take people back first that can work full-time and can do a broader array of tasks,” said Thomas Golden, executive director of the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability at Cornell University. “That further marginalizes the population of people with disabilities who were working part-time or doing specific tasks that they could do.”

‘VERY, VERY HARD’
Having a disability can mean different things. The US Census Bureau breaks disability into six categories: visual, hearing, ambulatory, cognitive, self-care, and independent living.

Of Americans with disabilities that were employed in 2018, the largest share had a hearing disability, at 53.6%, followed by visual disabilities at 45.4% and ambulatory disabilities at 25.6%, according to a Cornell analysis of the bureau’s American Community Survey. The numbers add up to more than 100% because many people have multiple disabilities.

Sherry Bell was working as a janitor at Valley Children’s Ice Center, an ice rink in Bakersfield, California, when she was furloughed in March. Ms. Bell, who has an intellectual disability that affects the speed at which she learns new tasks, says communication in the workplace has been a challenge in the past, with some of her bosses not properly explaining what was expected of her, and others speaking to her disrespectfully.

Ms. Bell is now receiving unemployment benefits and is working with PathPoint, a nonprofit for Californians with developmental disabilities that she has been involved with for five years. She’s trying to find a job to supplement her income in the interim. But finding work environments that accommodate her disability isn’t always easy.

“It was very, very, very hard,” Ms. Bell, 37, said of accommodating her disability at former jobs. “Some bosses were nice, some bosses were not.”

The disabled population faces barriers to entry when it comes to finding work because not all employers provide necessary accommodations, Mr. Golden said. For that reason, only one-fifth of disabled Americans over 16 are included the labor force to begin with, according to labor-force participation-rate data from the BLS.

With coronavirus prevention efforts rapidly changing business operations, even employees who do return to the workplace are met with new constraints such as different office layouts.

The federal stimulus package didn’t include funding for vocational rehabilitation or home and community-based services under Medicaid, meaning that disabled Americans aren’t getting additional workplace support, said Julie Christensen, director of policy and advocacy at the Association of People Supporting Employment First, a nonprofit that advocates for workplace inclusion.

“For many people with disabilities, their ability to be successful in the labor market is having access to services and support that can help them acclimate to the job,” Ms. Christensen said. “Business processes are changing—new equipment, plexiglass—how do you adjust to all of these things when the system there isn’t getting funded?”

While a large portion of disabled workers has been let go from jobs at retail stores and in restaurants, others have voluntarily chosen to leave because of pre-existing conditions that make them vulnerable to disease, said Philip Kahn-Pauli, policy and practices director at RespectAbility, a nonprofit that advances opportunities for people with disabilities.

Many disabled Americans rely on public transportation to commute, so they’ve stopped working to limit exposure and avoid bringing the virus home, especially since a large portion of the population lives in group homes or with roommates.

“There’s reasonable fear—a majority of deaths are people with a pre-existing condition,” Mr. Kahn-Pauli said. “So if you’re a person with a disability, are you going to accept unemployment if it means you’re not going to risk dying?”

Some disabled workers who have lost their jobs and can’t immediately find a new one will wind up applying for Social Security Disability Insurance, a program that provides income supplements to people who are physically restricted in their ability to work. The trouble is, it can take as long as three years to become entitled to benefits, said Mr. Golden, the Cornell University researcher.

Since millions of Americans aren’t working as a result of the pandemic, they’re not paying Social Security taxes, which means income for the fund isn’t growing, Mr. Golden said. That could have a longer-term impact on the fund’s solvency and threaten benefits in the future. The Social Security Administration paid out a record $145 billion in disability-related benefits last year.

The population is “very vulnerable during the application process,” Mr. Golden said. And while benefits provide an “income safety net, they foster a greater reliance on the system rather than developing innovative return-to-work programs.”

One bright spot for workers with disabilities could be the widespread acceptance of at-home work, Mr. Kahn-Pauli said. While many Americans with disabilities have trouble getting to an office, they can more easily work on a computer from home, which opens up avenues that didn’t exist before. Despite that benefit, Mr. Kahn-Pauli says he’s worried about the population’s economic security as the recession continues.

“If this crisis continues in the long term, we could see a lot of depths of despair before people start going on benefits,” Mr. Kahn-Pauli said. — Bloomberg

Former Wall Street trader seeks to make sense of crypto world

Some of the world’s major central banks teamed up earlier this year to assess the potential development of their own digital currencies, an argument that’s gained steam as policy makers try to keep up with new crypto and blockchain technologies.

Hunter Merghart comes from a traditional finance background, having spent over a decade on equity trading desks in New York at investment banks including Credit Suisse Group AG and Barclays Plc. But, like many of his peers, he became interested in the crypto market and made the transition to that world in 2018.

“I really saw it—even then—as a new emerging asset class and market to develop,” says Mr. Merghart, 36. He joined Luxembourg-based Bitstamp, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, as head of US operations in April 2019, helping to open its New York office.

The coronavirus has forced his New York team to work from home—but, he says they’re keeping up with the ever-evolving trends within the cryptosphere. What follows is a condensed interview on key themes Mr. Merghart and his team have been clued into:

WHAT CLIENTS ARE ASKING
Bitstamp has more than 4 million users globally. When Mr. Merghart speaks with clients on the institutional side, he’s asked about how they can more efficiently trade on the exchange and how Bitstamp can offer regulated derivatives. For retail investors, the demand is a bit different: They want to explore the ecosystem and find ways to participate—and often ask for easier access to various crypto products.

“So for us it’s, ‘OK, let’s think about high-quality assets that we can offer to retail in a regulated manner,” he said. “You’re starting to see movement on that in the US, but retail in general wants to explore this, just like they wanted to explore the early days of the internet. It’s just how do they get trusted counter-parties to do that with.”

ON POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS OF CBDCS
Some of the world’s major central banks teamed up earlier this year to assess the potential development of their own digital currencies, an argument that’s gained steam as policy makers try to keep up with new crypto and blockchain technologies.

Proponents argue that CBDCs (central bank digital currencies), as they’re known, would allow for the creation of a digital form of fiat money that could become widely available to a large swath of users.

They might have a place in the world, especially if they help expedite the movement of money between users and across borders, says Mr. Merghart. “Maybe as a stop-gap solution, these central bank digital currencies could be a good solution.”

China has begun a pilot program for an official digital version of its currency, Bloomberg News reported. Some proponents say it could bolster the government’s power over the country’s financial system. Mr. Merghart cites privacy concerns. Putting everything on a centralized ledger could mean a lack of privacy on transactions. “So a blockchain or other distributed ledger would not be required or useful—even though they were the original inspiration for the concept,” he said.

ON THE RISE IN STABLECOIN USAGE
Stablecoins—or tokens pegged to other assets that are designed to be less volatile—have seen an increase in usage in certain corners of the market. Mr. Merghart has a simple answer as to why that might be happening: “It’s ease of use.”

He cites examples of stablecoin usage overseas, where they’re used to move money between countries in an expedited way. “You don’t have to deal with multiple banking partners, multiple bank accounts—you just have to deal with the stablecoin and maybe the issuer of that stablecoin,” he said. “The ease of use is pretty phenomenal.”

G20 finance officials eye solution to digital tax row this year

Critics say big tech companies firms profit enormously from local markets while making only limited contributions to public coffers, but Washington contends the taxes discriminate against US tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Apple Inc. — REUTERS

WASHINGTON/BERLIN — Finance officials from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies on Saturday vowed to resolve major differences over taxing big tech companies and reach a broad, consensus-based solution on international taxation this year.

The United States has been at loggerheads over the issue with Britain, France, and other key allies, who have adopted or are considering digital service taxes as a way to raise revenue from the local operations of big tech companies.

Critics say those firms profit enormously from local markets while making only limited contributions to public coffers, but Washington contends the taxes discriminate against US tech firms such as Google, Facebook, and Apple Inc.

The Trump administration this month ratcheted up pressure on France over its 3% digital services tax, saying it would impose additional duties of 25% on French imports valued $1.3 billion but would hold off on implementing the move while talks continued in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

G20 finance ministers and central bankers on Saturday acknowledged that the coronavirus pandemic had slowed work toward an international plan, but said they expected concrete proposals to emerge before their next meeting in October.

“We remain committed to… overcome remaining differences and reaffirm our commitment to reach a global and consensus-based solution this year,” they said after a virtual meeting.

After the meeting, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said, “Fair taxation of international companies and large digital groups is more urgent than ever.”

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said reaching an agreement by year-end was “indispensible.”

“The (pandemic) crisis proved that these digital giants were the big beneficiaries of the crisis. They must pay their fair portion of tax,” he said. — Reuters

Twitter says attackers downloaded data from up to eight non-verified accounts

Twitter app
Twitter said the unidentified attackers targeted 130 accounts, and were able to reset passwords to take control of 45 of them and tweet from those accounts. — REUTERS

Twitter Inc. said on Saturday that hackers were able to download account information from up to eight accounts involved in the hack of its systems this week, but said none of them were verified accounts.

The company said the unidentified attackers targeted 130 accounts, and were able to reset passwords to take control of 45 of them and tweet from those accounts.

Hackers accessed Twitter’s internal systems to hijack some of the platform’s top voices including US presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, former US President Barack Obama, and billionaire Elon Musk and used them to solicit digital currency.

Publicly available blockchain records show the apparent scammers received more than $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency.

In the attack that occurred on Wednesday, Twitter said hackers were able to view personal information including e-mail addresses and phone numbers of the 130 targeted accounts, but unable to view previous account passwords.

“In cases where an account was taken over by the attacker, they may have been able to view additional information”, Twitter said in the statement without specifying the type of information accessed.

Hackers may have also attempted to sell the user names of some of the accounts, it said.

The high-profile accounts that were hacked also included rapper Kanye West, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, investor Warren Buffett, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and the corporate accounts for Uber and Apple.

In its latest statement, Twitter said attackers “manipulated a small number of employees” to gain access to the internal support tools used in the hack.

The company said it was holding back some of the details of the attack as it continues its investigation and reiterated that it was working with impacted account owners.

The FBI’s San Francisco division is leading an inquiry into the hacking, with many Washington lawmakers also calling for an account of how it happened. — Reuters

BARMM flags rising virus cases, limited testing, supply chains disruptions amid pandemic

THE BANGSAMORO Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government has flagged several challenges they are facing because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic such as the recent spike in coronavirus cases in the region, limited testing capacity, and supply chains disruption for their agricutural products.

In an online press briefing on Friday, BARMM Minister for Interior and Local Government Naguib G. Sinarimbo said that they saw a spike in the number of individuals testing positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in their region as more residents have come home from hotspot cities such as Metro Manila and Cebu City as well as those who had been in North Borneo or Sabah.

On top of this, he said the region is not equipped with enough testing and quarantine facilities so the officials need to quickly adjust to the situation.

“There are two parallel movements of people that enter the region. As a consequence of that, in the first week of June, we had less than 20 cases of COVID-19. Today, we already have 395 to be exact and these are mainly brought about by stranded individuals coming into the region from the NCR and from Cebu,” he said.

On the economic side, he said that due to travel restrictions across the country, the BARMM continues to face challenges in sourcing agricultural inputs for its crops and transporting fresh produce to urban centers.

“We are essentially agricultural and into fisheries and these are not really affected by COVID-19. The only challenge that we need to address is… we cannot market our products from the region going to the centers (and bringing) the essential agricultural inputs from the centers… to the region. If we manage this well, then we resolve the issue of food security for the centers and at the same time we continue to produce in the region,” he said.

Mr. Sinarimbo is part of the Bangsamoro Intergovernmental Agency addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that they continue to meet with their national government counterparts to discuss and help the newly established BARMM government address these challenges.

Metro Manila remains under general community quarantine while Cebu City is still under the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine.

BARMM is under the looser modified general community quarantine. — Beatrice M. Laforga

1,800 new COVID-19 cases: DoH

The Department of Health (DoH) announced that 1,841 more cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were reported on July 17, bringing the total case tally to 63,001.
In a briefing on Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said, “Mula sa laboratory submissions kahapon na navalidate as of 4 p.m. today, July 17, ang ating active cases natin ay 39,593 at ang total confirmed cases ay 63,001 kung saan ang nadagdagan sa araw na ito ay 1,841.”

(From our laboratory submissions yesterday which were validated as of 4 p.m. today, July 17, our active cases are 39,593 and the total confirmed cases are 63,001 with 1,841 added today.)

The 1,841 cases were reported from 76 out of the country’s 84 COVID-19 testing labs.

An additional 311 recoveries were also reported, bringing the total recovery count to 21,748. The number of deaths as of today is 1,660, which includes the 17 reported on July 17.

Regarding hospital bed capacity, the DoH said that 976 ICU beds are available from the total 1,661. For isolation beds, 5,374 are unused from the total of 10,410 beds. Of the 3,477 ward beds, 1,492 beds are available.

In terms of COVID-19 testing done so far, the DoH reported that 1,009,511 individual tests have been performed. – Gillian M. Cortez

IATF allows reclassification of businesses allowed to operate in MGCQ and GCQ

The government’s task force against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has ordered the reclassification of industries allowed to operate under different quarantine levels, in order to boost business, especially in the two regions that contribute the most to the country’s economy.

According to Palace Spokesperson Harry L. Roque in a statement on Friday, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has allowed the “Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in consultation with the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Department of Tourism (DOT), to recategorize certain industries for the resumption of their operations or gradual increase of operating capacity of industries that are now open.”

Mr. Roque added that the move was meant to boost the economies of Metro Manila and Region IV-A (also known as Calabarzon, consisting of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon).

“These recent actions of the IATF are in compliance with the directive to ensure the increase of the capacities of the business sector vis-à-vis available transportation to revitalize the economy in Metro Manila and Region IV-A,” he said.

Metro Manila and Calabarzon were mentioned by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez last month as regions that make up 60% to 67% of the country’s economy. Both regions need to go under a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the loosest form of quarantine, “as quickly as possible,” he said then.

Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, and Rizal will remain under a general community quarantine (GCQ) until July 31 while Batangas, Quezon, and Lucena City in Quezon have graduated to MGCQ status.

Based on the IATF-EID’s Resolution No. 56 issued on Friday, the DTI will consult with the DoF, DILG, and DoT on recategorizing industries from Category 4 to Category 3 if needed. A negative list will also be submitted by the DTI which will show which industries will still be prohibited from resuming business.

Category 4 industries are not allowed to operate in areas under a GCQ and the stricter enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).These include amusement, fitness, entertainment, education, and children industries. Some Category 3 industries are allowed to resume operations at 50% to 100% capacity during GCQ and ECQ. — Gilliam M. Cortez

Foreign nationals allowed into the country starting Aug.

Subject to a number of conditions, some foreign nationals will be allowed to enter the Philippines starting Aug. 1, Malacanang announced.

This as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to run its course globally, and as the health department points to international travel as a source of the disease locally.

In a statement made on Friday, Palace Spokesperson Harry L. Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has approved the entry of foreign nationals beginning next month.

“The IATF, however, set conditions prior to the entry of these foreign nationals. They must first have valid and existing visas at the time of the entry. This means no new entry visa shall be accepted,” he said.

In an interview with reporters on Friday, Mr. Roque said that the foreign nationals are those “na kinokonsidera nila na ang kanilang tahanan ay nandito sa Pilipinas dahil sila ay mga permanent residents (who consider their home as being here in the Philippines because they are permanent residents).”

The foreign visitors who will be allowed in are those with existing or long-term visas at the time of entry. They include permanent residents, the spouse or unmarried children (under 21 years of age) of a Philippine citizen, a child of foreign parents born during a temporary visit abroad of a mother who has permanent residency, and a natural-born citizen of the Philippines who has been naturalized in a foreign country.

Mr. Roque added that since returning Filipinos will be given priority, the number of foreigners entering will be limited by the maximum capacity for arriving passengers in the port and date of entry.

The arriving foreigners should pre-book in a quarantine facility and a COVID-19 testing provider

The announcement that foreign nationals would be allowed to enter the country came as the number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines topped 60,000.

In a Friday briefing held prior to the release of the Palace statement, the Department of Health said that based on its study, international travel was one of the factors for the local outbreak as the first case of COVID-19 in the Philippines back in January was a Chinese tourist. The influx of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) during the early months of the lockdown also contributed to the spread.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said, “Alam natin at the outset, international travel ang nagcause ng pagpasok ng mga inpeksyon. And then slowly lumiliit ang international travel, pumapasok na ang OFWs na umuuwi sa ating bansa noong March and April, nakakuha na siya ng certain portion dito sa ating pag-aaral na contributing factors.”

(We knew at the outset, international travel caused the entry of the infection. And then, when international travel became limited, more OFWs entered the country during March and April, and our studies showed that a certain portion of these were contributing factors)

Those who enter the Philippines from other countries are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine. — Gillian M. Cortez

The DoJ to start drafting IRR for Anti-Terrorism law

The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday said that once the the Anti-Terrorism Act takes effect on July 18, it will release the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for within 90 days.

In a message to reporters on Friday, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said they will soon start to draft the IRR of the Anti-Terrorism Act or Republic Act 11479.

“We’re just about to start drafting the IRR. We have to finish this in 90 days. The IRR will likewise have to be published when it is done,” Mr. Guevarra said.

“The DoJ and the Anti-Terrorism Council, in consultation with law enforcement agencies and military institutions, will promulgate the IRR for the implementation of the anti-terrorism law,” he said.

The law was signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte on July 3 and was published in the Official Gazette on the same day. It will take effect 15 days after publication which is on Saturday, July 18.

The law defines a terrorist as a person who engages in acts which are intended to harm any person or endanger their life; engages in activities meant to destroy or damage public or private property; engagesin acts meant to interfere with critical infrastructure; is involved with the development, possession, or transporting of weapons and explosives; or releases dangerous substances or causes fires, floods and explosions.

The law will also allow the arrest of suspects without a warrant for up to 24 days. If proven guilty of participating and/or conspiring in the planning, training, facilitation, or preparation of such terrorist acts, these persons will be charged and sentenced to life imprisonment without a chance for parole.

An Anti-Terrorism Council will also be established, as stated in the law, which is made up of Cabinet officials.

Many critics have said the measure infringes on human rights. Since the President signed the law, nine petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court questioning its constitutionality. — Gillian M. Cortez

Health department endorses complaint against Senator Pimentel for quarantine violations

The Department of Health (DoH) on Friday said that it endorsed a lawyer’s complaint against Senator Aquilino Martin D. Pimentel III for breaching quarantine protocols for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) last March.

In a morning briefing on Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said they forwarded the complaint of lawyer Rico Paolo R. Quicho to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“We have endorsed the complaint to the appropriate authorities such as the NBI and PNP,” she said.

Ms. Vergeire added, “Usually administrative sa amin (we deal with the administrative) but with regards to this, ibang process ang kailangan (a different process is needed) so we have submitted it to the proper authorities,” she said.

Mr. Quicho filed a complaint in April against the senator for violating quarantine when he brought his pregnant wife to the hospital even if he was a person under investigation (PUI) for exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19. The positive results of the senator’s test for the virus were released on March 24, the day he accompanied his wife to the Makati Medical Center.

The Department of Justice said it would not investigate the senator’s violation due to “compassion” unless a complaint was filed before the agency.

Mr. Pimentel said in a counter-affidavit he submitted this week that he was not a PUI at the time.

A person was considered PUI if they had symptoms of a respiratory illness such as a cough or a cold, a fever above 37.5 degrees Celsius, shortness of breath or fatigue; and either had a travel history to countries with local transmission of the virus in the past 14 days or a history of exposure to a COVID-19 patient.

Mr. Pimentel had earlier said that he had symptoms of the flu on March 14 and was tested for the coronavirus on March 20.

The PUI and PUM (person under monitoring) classifications were dropped in April in favor of a new system which classifies people as suspect, probably, and confirmed to have COVID-19. — Gillian M. Cortez

PCAFI launches produce ordering mobile application

CONSUMERS can now purchase farm produce directly from farmers with the launch of a mobile application by the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI).

In a webinar on Friday, PCAFI Chairman Phillip L. Ong launched the “Agrifood Hub” mobile app that allows consumers to source their food straight from the farmers.

Mr. Ong said the app, developed by PCAFI, gives consumers access to a wide selection of agricultural produce while providing real-time market information such as market prices.

“We saw the importance of integrating the farm with the market, more importantly during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic,” Mr. Ong said.

Mr. Ong also said the new mobile app will provide more sources of produce for processors and wholesalers who encountered problems with supply and volume to fill their processing lines during the lockdown.

“The new application integrates farming with other services such as storage, financing, technology, and logistics from industry leading providers,” Mr. Ong said.

The app also helps farmers to maximize their profit and productivity and to increase the income of rural communities by providing them with a steady market for their produce.

The mobile application is free and available for download at the Google Play app store.

To recall, PCAFI also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Science and Technology and Air 21 Global on June 19, for the implementation of a food value chain program that ensures the country’s food security.

The food value chain program aims to streamline local food production and create additional market opportunities for farmers. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

1...7,9337,9347,935...12,866Page 7,934 of 12,866
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube