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House rejects ABS-CBN plea to extend franchise

Philippine lawmakers on Friday rejected the franchise application of ABS-CBN Corp. — a broadcast network critical of President Rodrigo R. Duterte — in what critics see as a grievous assault on press freedom.

Voting 70 to 11, the House of Representatives committee on legislative franchises denied the 25-year extension plea, saying the media giant was “undeserving” of the privilege.

“Not since the dictator Ferdinand Marcos shut down ABS-CBN and other media outlets in 1972 has a single government act caused so much damage to media freedom,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in an e-mailed statement.

“This move solidifies the tyranny of President Rodrigo Duterte who accused ABS-CBN of slights against him and politically targeted it for refusing to toe the government’s line and criticizing his so-called ‘war on drugs,’” he added.

Mr. Robertson said the House vote was “an astounding display of obsequious behavior by congressional representatives, kowtowing to Duterte by agreeing to seriously limit media freedom in the Philippines.”
“This is a black day for media freedom in a country previously regarded as a bastion of press freedom and democracy in the region,” he added.

The tough-talking Mr. Duterte had on numerous occasions unleashed a stream of profanity against dissenting journalists whom he accused of bias and unfair reporting. Journalists have also been targeted by Mr. Duterte’s Facebook supporters — known bloggers with huge followings and who have fiercely defended him and his policies.

Mr. Duterte has slammed media outlets such as the Philippine Daily Inquirer, ABS-CBN and Rappler for criticizing his government, particularly his war on drugs that has killed thousands of suspected pushers.

‘DEEPLY HURT’

ABS-CBN President and Chief Executive Officer Carlo Katigbak said they were “deeply hurt” by the House decision.”We have been rendering service that is meaningful and valuable to the Filipino public,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “We remain committed to public service, and we hope to find other ways to achieve our mission.”

The House vote puts in jeopardy the jobs of more than 11,000 workers of the media network, which claims to reach more than 80 million Filipinos here and overseas.

“I am deeply saddened by this episode in the history of our nation,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said in a statement. “It is reminiscent of the dark pages in the history of Philippine press in 1972.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the palace was neutral about the franchise issue.”Much as we want to work with the aforesaid media network, we have to abide by the resolution of the House committee,” he said in a statement.

Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano urged the public to “understand why the decision had to be so.”

A technical working group composed of Cebu Rep. Pablo John F. Garcia, Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus D. Romualdo and Marikina Stella Luz A. Quimbo endorsed the rejection of the franchise application in a report. Ms. Quimbo dissented.

Quezon City Rep. Franz E. Alvarez, who heads the committee, said ABS-CBN Corp. had 24 hours to appeal the House decision.

Critics have said the issue of ABS-CBN’s franchise has become both personal and political. Mr. Duterte had openly harbored a grudge against the broadcaster.

In 2017, he accused ABS-CBN of swindling after it refused to run political ads he had paid for during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr. Duterte had also criticized the broadcaster for airing news stories about his alleged secret bank accounts. He said he would block the renewal of the company’s franchise if he had his way.

“I will not let it pass,” he said in 2018. “Your franchise will end. You know why? Because you are thieves.”
The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility on Feb. 11 called the case against the network a “dangerous attempt to control and silence free press.”

RAPPLER

A Philippine trial court last month convicted Maria Ressa, chief executive officer of news website Rappler, Inc. and former researcher Reynaldo Santos, Jr. guilty for violating a law against cyber-libel.

Critics also viewed the verdict as a major setback for democratic rights in the country. Judge Rainelda H. Estacio-Montesa sentenced the two to six months to six years in prison.

The Justice department in February last year indicted Ms. Ressa, a former CNN investigative reporter, for cyber-libel based on a complaint by a businessman over an article published in 2012, months before the cyber-crime law was passed. The journalist has said the allegations were unfounded.

A month later, she got arrested again for allegedly violating the ban on foreign ownership in media.

Local and international media watchdogs and human rights groups have condemned her arrest. New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Mr. Duterte’s government “to cease and desist this campaign of intimidation aimed at silencing Rappler.”

Rappler, which Mr. Duterte has called a “fake news outlet,” is also appealing last year’s order by the Securities and Exchange Commission to close its operations for violating foreign-equity restrictions in mass media. Ms. Ressa is also facing tax evasion cases.

The presidential palace said Mr. Duterte did not have a hand in the court ruling. — Patricia S. Gajitos

Philippine May external trade plummets

The country’s exports and imports continued to plunge in May amid a global coronavirus pandemic, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.

Merchandise exports shrank by 35.6% from a year earlier to $3.99 billion last month after a 49.9% yearly decline in April, preliminary trade data showed.

Merchandise imports also plummeted by 40.6% to $5.85 billion last month after a 65.3% drop in April.

“The slower decline in trade performance is a welcome indication that economic activity has started to pick up with the relaxation of quarantine measures in certain areas, the gradual reopening of business, and the restarting of production in both the country and its trading partners,” Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said in a statement.

The May figures marked the 13th and third straight month of decline for imports and exports, respectively.

This brought five-month exports to $22.56 billion, a fifth lower than a year earlier and worse than the 4% contraction expected by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) this year.

Imports from January to May also dropped by 29.9% to $32.4 billion, against the DBCC’s target of a 5.5% contraction for the year.

The trade deficit was $1.87 billion, narrower than the $3.65-billion shortfall a year ago. The year-to-date trade deficit was $9.84 billion, smaller than the $17.79-billion gap a year earlier.

The slower decline in May showed the “shock effects of the lockdown were less,” George N. Manzano, an economist at University of Asia and the Pacific and a former tariff commissioner, said in an e-mail.

“It could also mean that the inventory of needed materials has been depleted, necessitating the need to import,” he added.

Among the major types of goods, import of raw materials and intermediate goods shrank by 31.3% year on year to $2.54 billion in May.

Imports of capital and consumer goods also shrank by 37.7% ($2.01 billion) and 37.6% ($1.02 billion), respectively. Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials also posted an 80% decline to $242.45 million.

Meanwhile, manufactured goods declined by 37.2% to $3.18 billion in May. Electronic products, which made up more than half of overseas sales, fell by a third to $2.29 billion. Semiconductors, which accounted for four-fifths of electronic products, declined by 27.2% to $1.83 billion.

“I think as the global economy gradually opens from the lockdown in the past few months, we would see trade — both exports and imports — improving,” Mr Manzano said. “The global supply chains that have been in disrepair are being restructured. So, barring another lockdown from a second wave, the prospects for trade are certainly better in the second half.”

“Electronic exports might still be weak, as shown by anemic imports of electronics (used as inputs for exported products), but better than the period under lockdown,” he added.

Export of manufactured goods, which account for almost 80% of the total, is expected to recover as the latest results of the purchasing managers’ index rose from 40.1 in May to 49.7 in June, Mr. Chua said.

“The Semiconductors and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. also indicated a gradual pick-up in semiconductor exports in the coming months and projected a flat growth in 2020, notwithstanding the ongoing lockdown in Cebu where some of the electronics firms are located,” he added. — Marissa Mae M. Ramos

Electricity rates to fall further in July

Power rates in Metro Manila will drop further to the lowest since 2017 this month, with typical households likely to see a P6-cut in their bills, according to Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

The utility on Friday announced a P0.0286 a kilowatt-hour (kWh) decrease in electricity charges to P8.6966/kWh from P8.7252/kWh in June.

The rate cut comes from relaxed supply contracts that brought down generation charges this month, the company said.

Households consuming 300 kWh, 400 kWh, and 500 kWh could expect a decrease in their power bills by P8.58, P11.44, and P14.3, respectively.

The generation component, which accounts for a chunk of the utility’s monthly charge, has fallen for four straight months by P0.0069/kWh to P4.3344/kWh, as Meralco invoked another force majeure provision in its power supply agreements with generators.

The power distributor avoided P265 million worth of generation charges this month after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) cut fixed costs from baseload supply contracts and suspended Meralco’s mid-merit supply contracts
Low electricity demand — peak demand was just 7,051 megawatts in June — allowed the listed utility to invoke the provision.

Total savings from relaxed contracts since April have reached P1.85 billion.

Charges from the wholesale electricity spot market, which provides 15.9% of Meralco’s supply needs, fell by P1.7803/kWh due to a cut in the line rental cost on the its contracts.

Generation cost from independent power producers (IPPs) supplying 33.2% of the distributor’s power needs rose by P0.4354/kWh.

Its purchases from power supply agreements, which deliver half of Meralco’s supply needs, also went up by P0.0455/kWh, resulting from the lower force majeure claim this July.

Transmission charges, which are remitted to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), fell by P0.0426/kWh due to lower ancillary service charges.

The decrease offset the higher tax and other charges component at P0.0209/kWh, which normalized after the utility completed its ERC-granted adjustment of the system loss charge last month.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Adam J. Ang

Coronavirus infections near 53,000

The Department of Health (DoH) reported 1,233 new coronavirus infections on Friday, bringing the total to 52,914.

The death toll rose to 1,360 after 42 more patients died, while recoveries rose by 286 to 13,230, it said in a bulletin.

Of the new cases, 848 were reported in the past three days, while 385 were reported late.

DoH Director Beverly Lorraine Ho told an online news briefing 57% of the deaths were aged 60 years old and above.

She said they expect more patients to recover from the virus as local governments submit their data by Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire traced the spike of cases to increased testing and community transmissions due to lax health standards.

She said there were about 50,000 contact tracers, half of the government’s 100,000 requirement.

Meanwhile, seven more employees of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) have been infected with the novel coronavirus, the agency said in a statement on Friday.

As of July 8, 640 workers have been tested, with 629 of them testing negative for the virus, it said.

The agency said three of its workers had recovered and no one had died.

Irrigation Administrator Ricardo R. Visaya urged all employees to practice precautions to lessen the spread of the virus.

The agency was locked down on July 1 so it could disinfect facilities and install office protective coverings.

All workers excluding essential personnel were placed under a 14-day quarantine while adopting a work from home scheme.

Employees had been given face shields, face masks, hygiene kits and multivitamins, while every office was given a germicidal UV light.

Also on Friday, the palace said the government would strengthen screening and surveillance activities in ports.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque told a separate news briefing the state would employ more civilians for contact tracing and swabbing.

Subic Freeport and other ports will be designated as hubs for international crew change, provided that strict health protocols and guidelines were observed.

A one-stop-shop will be created under the Department of Transportation for the processing of arrivals at all gateways. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas, Charmaine A. Tadalan and Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

UP COVID-19 test kits approved for use

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine has validated local test kits for the novel coronavirus, which were now ready for use at selected laboratories, the Department of Health (DoH) said on Friday.

The test kits developed by scientists from the University of the Philippines were recalled after a defect was found.

DoH was coordinating with the university so the kits could be used locally, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire told an online news briefing.

“We will issue a final advisory to our laboratories advising them that the UP test kits may now be used,” she said in Filipino. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

32 dead OFWs from Saudi arrive

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) on Friday started facilitating the return of dead overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Saudi Arabia, the agency said in a statement on Friday.

The first batch included 32 Filipinos from Damman and 17 from Riyadh who arrived at 10:30 am. Twenty of them died of the coronavirus, the agency said.

“We have brought back the first 49 remains of our deceased OFWs from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in the statement.

The next repatriation will bring back the remains of Filipinos in Jeddah, he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it had been working with governments across the Americas, Asia and the Pacific and Europe through its foreign posts for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In a statement, the agency said it had endorsed information on vaccine developments and potential international partners to the Department of Science and Technology.

The Philippine Council for Health Research and Development this week said the Philippines would join solidarity trials for the vaccine led by the World Health Organization. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

Seventh lawsuit vs anti-terror law filed

Labor groups filed the seventh lawsuit against the country’s expanded law against terror.

In a 60-page petition, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights and Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center asked the Supreme Court to stop the government from enforcing the Anti-Terrorism Act. They also asked the tribunal to nullify the law.

“Safeguards for the protection of those arrested and detained for terrorism no longer existed under the bill,” according to a copy of the lawsuit.

“The bill also criminalized acts that have traditionally been considered legitimate exercises of free speech, freedom of expression, the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of association,” they added. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

NEDA pushing for ‘lowest-possible-price’ Internet service

Economic managers have set their sights on lowering the cost of Internet access in the post-pandemic economy while also seeking to minimize online fraud and cybercrime.

In a briefing Friday, Acting Socio-economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the economic team is supporting the Open Access in Data Transmission bill, which seeks to lower barriers to entry in the telecommunications industry to pave the way for better and cheaper Internet.

“What we are after here is the lowest possible price for the best possible service. By promoting the open access for data and internet, we are actually wanting the most coverage that can be felt by all the barangays that have not been able to connect well,” Mr. Chua said.

NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said a challenge for new companies wanting to join the broadband industry is that clients already subscribed to the telco incumbents would prefer to stay with one service provider.

“We see it (the measure) as a way in reducing the barriers to entry because… some of the subscribers to another telco would be discouraged from switching to another provider because they don’t want the hassle of changing their phone numbers, having to inform all their friends and… customers. So it actually presents a barrier to entry and we want that to be not a problem, but that would require this legislation,” Ms. Edillon said at the same briefing.

She said limited competition in the industry is discouraging innovation.

She said Philippine broadband in 2019 was ranked among the slowest but most expensive services in ASEAN.

Separately, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said Friday that the government is taking a closer look at the proliferation of cybercrime during the pandemic.

Mr. Dominguez said with more Filipinos making online transactions, the authorities “expect a spike in cybercrime.”

“The PNP (Philippine National Police) & DoJ (Department of Justice have been alerted & have assured me that they have upgraded their capacity to detect, investigate & prosecute cybercrime,” he told reporters via Viber.

In her presentation, NEDA’s Ms. Edillon said the Philippines had a broadband penetration rate of 17% in 2018, while 80% of Filipinos had access to 3G mobile techonolgy.

“Now, there’s promise because the market is still very very huge. There are so there’s still so many without telecommunication operators so there’s actually still huge demand and we can actually leverage this,” she said.

BCiting the National Information and Communications Technology Household survey, she said 96% and 91.5% of barangays in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) regions have no telecommunications towers.

Senators Ralph G. Recto and Grace S. Poe filed Senate Bill No. 45 or the proposed Open Acess in Data Transimission Act in July 2019. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Infrastructure program to create 1-M jobs once construction regains momentum

Acting Socio-economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the flagship “Build, Build, Build” program has the potential to create around one million jobs once construction returns to full operations following the lockdown.

“On the ‘Build, Build, Build” program, in general, what we see here is every P1 million spent on the infrastructure program, we are seeing on job that is being created. So our infrastructure program is likely, when resumed fully, to create a million jobs, both direct and indirect,” Mr. Chua said in a briefing Friday.

The economic team is banking on the multiplier effect of infrastructure to revive the economy, which had ground to a halt during the lockdown.

“From the experience of the past few years, we see a significant boost actually to domestic demand as we resume many of the infrastructure programs and as we create the jobs that are associated with it,” he said.

The Labor department in May estimated that around 10 million Filipinos could lose their jobs this year due to the pandemic.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) estimated that month that the economy stands to lose P2.2 trillion in gross value-added this year as worker incomes dwindled while others were losing their jobs.

Nearly 70,000 Overseas Filipino Workers were repatriated between February and early July after losing their jobs in countries that were also hit hard by the coronavirus crisis.

Mr. Chua said the infrastructure program is still being reviewed and revised to prioritize projects with higher economic impact and are shovel-ready and fundable.

He added that the economic team is looking to move up the priority list infrastructure projects that will improve the health system, the digital economy, water and housing.

“We also want to assure that the funding will not only be available this year but in two years to assure their bankability. We will be releasing very soon the updated list,” he said.

The Budget department reduced spending on infrastructure projects for 2020 to around P833 billlion from the initial P989-billion as the government redirected funding to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) containment effort.

The infrastructure spending target was increased to P1.131 trillion in 2021, or around 5.3% of gross domestic product, with officials counting on Build, Build, Build to turbocharge growth from the expected low base in 2020.

The economic team said the 2021 budget will support the completion of the projects until 2022, fuel economic growth to 8-9% next year and generate around 140,000-220,000 additional jobs directly and indirectly.

The economy is projected to contract 2-3.4% this year. — Beatrice M. Laforga

ERC orders another refund of excess WESM fees

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has ordered another refund of excees fees collected at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in 2016 and 2017.

The regulator’s decision had slashed the proposed market transaction fee by the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), the spot market’s governing body, in a decision issued July 9.

“The Commission determined the over-collection by getting the variance between the market transaction fee collected in 2016 and 2017, and the ERC-approved budget of PEMC for the same period. The resulting variance is the amount to be refunded which shall be apportioned among all the Luzon and Visayas participants,” ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Agnes VST Devanadera said in a statement Friday.

In its market fee proposal filed in 2015, PEMC wanted to collect P966.26 million from WESM participants in 2016 and P916.18 million in 2017.

But these fees were cut to P486.25 million for 2016 and P486.44 million for 2017.

The ERC based its decision on the “relevance and reasonableness” of PEMC’s utilization of each of its proposed cost component based on its 2016 and 2017 reports; its use of proof in verifying utilization; and pitting the expenditure of each cost item against industry standards and rules and regulations provided for government-owned and controlled corporations.

The PEMC was ordered to pay back market participants for the excess fees within 12 months of receipt of the ERC decision. It must also submit an action plan for implementing the repayment scheme and the adjustment to its transaction fee level.

The refund, according to the commission, must be reflected as a separate line item in the WESM monthly billing statement.

The ERC also set guidelines for future applications to collect market fees.

Last week, the regulator also ordered the PEMC to pay back WESM participants for excessive market fees in 2015.

It also ruled that the company’s expenditure plan was “unnecessary and unreasonable,” with no supporting documents to justify the collection. — Adam J. Ang

Nine additional merchants join Agri dep’t online platform

NINE additional merchants joined the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) online selling platform, which the department touted as a milestone in modernizing the supply chain for food.

On July 9, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Mama Sitas, Tuko Fresh Produce, Farmers Juan Ranch, Moolk Creamy Corp., Moneth Agri Store, Chef’s Corner Meat Outlet, Chicqheen Mart, Rico’s Lechon, and Lively Grain, making them partners in the department’s online retailing initiative, which is known as e-Kadiwa.

“Digital technology has become a very important tool to enhance agriculture. With all the lockdowns, we need to empower and enhance these mechanisms for the future,” Mr. Dar said.

Mr. Dar said the DA will ensure that all products sold on the platform meet food-quality standards, and added that the market is working to mitigate infection risk.

E-Kadiwa allows for direct ordering of fruit, vegetables, meat, and fish for home delivery.

Mr. Dar said the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has forced the agriculture sector to modernize and digitalize in order to adapt to the new environment. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Gov’t to raise P30-B via 5-yr retail bond issue

The government is set to raise at least P30 billion via the issue of five-year retail Treasury bonds (RTBs) beginning next week to boost its resources by tapping a broader segment of buyers.

In a notice of offering published Friday, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said the five-year RTBs will be auctioned over three weeks starting July 16 until Aug. 7.

The upcoming offer will be the second of the year and 24th overall for the Treasury. In February, the government raised a record P310.8 billion from RTBs – including P250 billion in “new money” and P60.8 billion from the exchange offer program.

The BTr said it has the option to increase the volume awarded and may close the offer period earlier if necessary.

Aside from the usual selling agents such as banks, the BTr said small investors can access the bonds via the Online Ordering facility on its website and through the new BONDS.PH mobile application offered by the Union Bank of the Philippines.

It said the bonds can also be bought via the electronic payments (e-payments) facilities of China Banking Copr., Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), First Metro Securities and Brokerage Corp. and Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK).

Selling agents can place bids of at least P500 milion. The RTBs will be issued in scripless form and will be sold in minimum denominations of P5,000.

Bonds purchased online will require a minimum P5,000 investment, capped at P500,000 per transaction.

Interest rates will be based on curent market levels of comparable securities. Interest payments will be made quarterly in arrears.

The bonds will be issued on Aug. 12 and mature on Aug. 12, 2025.

The RTBs will be listen on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx).

RTB target small investors and are positioned as low-risk instruments with relatively high yields.

The BTr said the 24th issue is eligible for exchange by holders of series RTB 10-01, FXTN 05-73, RTB 10-02 or FXTN 07-57, who can turn in these papers for the new RTB.

It also opened up the exchange offer program for the RTB issue in February to holders of RTB 3-08, issued in 2017. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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