COVID-19 concerns

June 28, 2020 | 7:06 pm

I am pleased to share with readers recent posts to GlobalSource Partners subscribers (globalsourcepartners.com) written by Christine Tang and me on the recent BSP cut in policy rates and on our concerns on public transportation and the T3 ( test, trace, and treat ) program.

SURPRISE RATE CUT
The Monetary Board (MB) unexpectedly cut policy rates by 50bp, bringing the key overnight borrowing rate to 2.25%. It is evident from its statement that the MB is worried about economic growth. Banks are not lending as hoped, with monies parked in the BSP’s deposit facilities rising from a little over P800 billion in end-April to over P1.2 trillion in the first week of June. Notwithstanding multilateral agencies’ updated GDP forecasts this month that are only slightly below government’s low-end -3.4% target, we think our more pessimistic -7% growth forecast in our May 26 report remains appropriate especially given the difficulties we’ve observed of restarting the economy under distancing protocols.

RESTARTING ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
Most areas in the country, including Metro Manila, were eased out of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) into a more relaxed general community quarantine (GQC) at the start of June. Since then, activity has steadily picked up under carefully calibrated policies to maintain distancing protocols at the industry level while keeping the elderly at home (see Chart 1). However, two particularly problematic areas where solutions require a level of organization and management largely absent in the concerned public institutions have highlighted key constraints to jumpstart domestic demand.

First on the supply side, the government has set a general one-meter physical distancing protocol that applies to, say, factories, workplaces, and retail outlets, which has the effect of capping output of these businesses below potential. Nowhere is this more evident than in public transport, particularly on Metro Manila’s roads where high congestion and jam packed commuter rails and public utility vehicles already have daily headaches pre-COVID-19. Public transport services, mostly operated by private firms, have been allowed to resume under GCQ but are strictly regulated, e.g., less than half the carrying capacities for mass transit (rails and buses), traditional jeepneys banned, and motorcycle backriding (riding pillion) prohibited. The limits to vehicles’ load factors coupled with unadjusted fares have made operating the vehicles uneconomical which, according to experts, have effectively reduced available public transport to only about 20% of capacity. Even with the current low demand, supply gaps are evident in people resorting to walking or bicycling or missing work altogether.

Experts worry that without a more balanced approach to handling health risks and organizing public transport, including government entering into roughly P30 billion worth of service contracts with private sector providers, the supply gap will only increase as transport demand rises over time, especially if Metro Manila is able to transition into the less restrictive “modified” GCQ (mGCQ). This supply gap has broader adverse repercussions on transportation in general (private cars clog up available road space, safety of bicycling on motor vehicle lanes), labor supply (longer waiting/commuting time, less productivity, not being able to get to work), incomes and consumption demand, and overall economic activity, including school opening.

The other worry, which is of greater concern, is the sheer difficulty of interpreting data on COVID-19 infections and thus, the inability to raise confidence in the government’s ability to contain infections. Health experts have traced the problem to one of governance in the public health system, an issue of leadership as well as the result of decades of underinvestment in the health sector. Contemplated solutions have now moved to involving the private sector which is expected to have the better organizational and management skills to handle T3. Without much improved capacity for T3, every new COVID-19 breakout will only instill more fear among people and leave them with little choice but to protect themselves by minimizing activities outside their homes and postponing discretionary spending, which will not hasten economic recovery.

As it is, a lot of uncertainty still surrounds the coronavirus and its different strains as well as the timeline for vaccine development, with recurrence of infections in some people raising concerns about the durability of immunization. With the much-awaited vaccine possibly still year(s) away and time ticking on finding solutions to address the problems locally in health and transportation, our -7% GDP forecast for 2020 may yet turn out optimistic.

Romeo L. Bernardo was finance undersecretary during the Cory Aquino and Fidel Ramos administrations.

romeo.lopez.bernardo@gmail.com

Why revert NIA from OP to DA

June 28, 2020 | 7:04 pm

Reverting the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) from the Office of the President (OP) to the Department of Agriculture (DA) is an important matter that may have, inadvertently, slipped out of the agenda for fine-tuning the country’s food security program. Should not the department charged with the production of a water-dependent crop have authority over the agency that ensures that such farms have enough water?

The NIA had been under the DA for many years in 2014, it was placed under the Office of the President together with the National Food Authority, the Philippine Coconut Authority, and the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority. The four agencies were supervised by a Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agricultural Modernization. Three of the agencies were returned to the DA in 2018; the NIA was left behind without any explanation.

Simple facts support reversion:

• The DA is responsible for agriculture. Rice is the main staple consumed by about 80% of the population. Palay (unmilled rice) is the top agricultural commodity with the value of palay production in 2019 making up one-third of the total value of crop production. (PSA: “Performance of Agriculture Fourth Quarter 2019,” January 2020, p. 9)

• About 65% of the physical area devoted to rice is irrigated while the rest is rain-fed. About 70% of palay comes from irrigated ecosystems while 30% is from rain-fed areas (DA: The Philippines Grows Rice: A Commodity Digest, June 2016, p. 11).

• The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) highlighted access to irrigation water as the major driver of farm productivity along with adoption of quality seeds, modern technologies, and farm mechanization (DA-AFID, “DA, NIA to Partner to Attain 2020 Rice Production Target,” April 20, 2020).

Organizationally, The Agriculture Department’s frontline managers, the Regional Executive Directors, need to:

• Oversee water supply schedules and sufficiency for timely distribution of inputs, land preparation, and planting activities;

• Coordinate with the National Irrigation Administration and irrigators’ associations (IAs) to ensure the maintenance of irrigation systems; and,

• Set targets for cropping intensity, yield, and cost of production per system.

While the logic is simple, the organization involved is complex, considering the NIA’s involvement with the same farmers in the same areas that the DA, its agencies and LGU partners serve.

The NIA, as of Dec. 31, 2018, operated and maintained 242 national irrigation systems (NISes) and 8,812 communal irrigation systems (CISes). The service area was reported to be 1,920,563 hectares (ha): 876,537 ha under NISes, 688,258 ha under CISes, 182,504 ha under privately established irrigation systems, and 173,264 ha assisted by other government agencies. The NIA was dealing with 9,230 IAs that included 1,123,246 farmer-beneficiaries cultivating 1,388,558 ha (NIA: Annual Report for 2018).

The Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), a DA agency, is responsible for small-scale irrigation projects (SSIPs) like small water impounding projects, small diversion dams, shallow tube wells, and small farm reservoirs. The 540 SSIPs provide supplemental irrigation for about 8,100 hectares of rain-fed areas appropriate for palay farming. BSWM and NIA coordination may be mutually beneficial.

Operating as a member of the DA family has obvious advantages:

• Irrigation systems and each system’s respective IAs provide a physical base for planning the development of distinct production units. System-by-system operational coordination will be needed to establish progressive rice production areas:

a. Developing local seed growers, in coordination with PhilRice, in order to boost production and facilitate replanting in case a typhoon damages the crop;

b. Continuing farmer field school training, in coordination with the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA);

c. Promoting the use of farm machinery, organizing farm workers into farm service associations where practical, providing training on use and maintenance of machines, setting up machine pool stations, and utilizing common facilities, in coordination with the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech);

d. Facilitating production credit and crop insurance, in coordination with LANDBANK and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp.; and

e. Updating the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture, in coordination with local government units and the DA.

• The 2019 Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) created a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund and allocated P10 billion for DA agencies annually for six years on top of their GAA (General Appropriations Act) budget:

a. P5 billion for assistance regarding farm machinery through PhilMech;

b. P3 billion for certified seeds through PhilRice;

c. P1 billion for rice extension through ATI, TESDA, PhilRice and PhilMech; and,

d. P1 billion for production credit through LANDBANK and the DBP.

These amounts were programmed to benefit the top 57 palay-producing provinces which include 2,441,495 ha of irrigated land and 141,487 ha of rain-fed areas. With 94.52% of the targeted area irrigated, coordination with NIA is crucial and more easily accomplished if NIA were to be part of the DA family rather than kept under OP (Data from DA Assistant Secretary Andrew B. Villacorta, COVID-19 Action Network Forum on DA and PhilMech, June 9, 2020).

It is impossible to quantify potential gains of NIA’s reversion. What is clear is that irrigated farms produce higher yields than rain-fed farms — 4.43 metric tons (MT)/hectare (ha) as against 3.13 MT/ha — and most farms in irrigated areas grow two crops a year.

At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting world rice production and trade, the country must do what it can to boost production. Incentivizing this requires not only helping farmers to raise yields but also making sure that increased production is profitable for them, lowering their production costs, earning additional income from other crops or activities, and improving the quality of life in the countryside.

One example of cost reduction was the scrapping of irrigation fees in 2018. This was appreciated by farmers because it resulted in additional income, but farmers continued to complain about extremely low farmgate prices for palay in 2019 due to over-importation of rice in 2017-2019 and the ill-timed Rice Tariffication Law.

To avert the deterioration of an irrigation system due to lost revenues for NIA from the irrigation fees it used for its upkeep, the responsibility was shifted to the IAs which were offered monetary rewards for maintaining the system and preserving the service area.

Food security issues and problems require timely review as implementation progresses. Policy coherence may be achieved through a document like IATF Resolution No. 24 but operational coordination should be facilitated by organizational realignment. Reverting the NIA from OP to DA may well be on the list of items for urgent decision.

Now retired, Sally and Gerry Bulatao were associated with the Federation of Free Farmers in the 1970s and earned Master in Public Administration degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School in the 1990s. Sally Bulatao has worked with IBON Databank, the National Dairy Authority, and the Department of Agriculture. Gerry Bulatao has had stints in the Department of Agrarian Reform and LANDBANK.

What now for Philippine tourism?

June 28, 2020 | 7:03 pm

The tourism industry is among the strong drivers of the economy. Before the onset of the Wuhan virus, tourism accounted for 12.7% of gross national product (GDP) or roughly $46.5 million worth of goods and services. Its hefty contribution to the economy was achieved on the back of 8.2 million foreign visitors and more than 120 million domestic travelers.

Unfortunately, tourism is one of the industries most severely affected by the pandemic. Statistics from the Department of Finance show that revenues of tourism-related establishments plunged by a whopping 81.9% during the peak summer season. Recovery will be low and slow until a vaccine is made available.

In the first few weeks of the pandemic, the Department of Tourism (DoT), under the baton of Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, responded quickly to mitigate the effects on tourism-related establishments. Lifeline measures were extended to those affected including the deferment of corporate income tax payments, deferment of contributions to the SSS, PhilHealth, and PagIbig, a payment moratorium for DoT accreditation fees, and waivers on participation fees for international trade shows. The DoT also assisted its stakeholders in obtaining wage subsidies from the Department of Labor and Employment.

Now that we transition to the new normal, the DoT faces a whole new set of challenges. For starters, it must minimize cases of insolvencies among tourism stakeholders. Secondly, it must formulate new business plans to lead the industry towards recovery. Third and most importantly, it must re-establish confidence among local and foreign tourists to travel in and around the Philippines. The DoT has put together its Tourism Response and Recovery Plan (TRRP) to meet these challenges.

The lion’s share of funding for the TRRP will come from appropriations embedded in the ARISE PH Law (otherwise known as the Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy of the Philippine Law). The law was approved by Congress on third reading on June 4 for which P58 billion was made accessible to the DoT to support tourism enterprises.

The P58-billion fund will enable the DoT to grant, through the Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank, five-year interest-free loans and/or loan guarantees to tourism stakeholders. The loans can be used for a variety of purposes. Among them is to upgrade rooms and back-of-the-house facilities to be compliant with new safety standards, for marketing and promotions purposes, for staff re-training, for digitization of operations, for improvement of emergency response and other programs meant to mitigate the effect of the pandemic.

In addition, the Board of Investments is offering a three-year income tax holiday and duty-free importation of capital goods for hotels, resorts, and banquet halls (that cater to meetings, conferences, and expositions) that need to renovate their facilities. This turns a capital expense into an investment, or a pre-paid tax.

As mentioned earlier, the recovery of the industry will be low and slow. It will come in waves, says Ms. Romulo-Puyat. The first wave will be characterized by short road-trips by locals to nearby tourist destinations. Tourism will be intra-municipality or intra-province in this phase. This is where we are at the moment.

The second wave will come once the hysteria over the pandemic has subsided and commercial flights become available (and affordable) again. In this phase, local tourists will venture further to the hotspots they love and miss like Boracay, Palawan, and Siargao.

The third wave will be the return of foreign tourists. Travel corridors will play an important part in jumpstarting international travel. A travel corridor is established when two governments forge mutual agreements on safety protocols and vouch for the safety of particular cities. For example, Seoul and Cebu can establish a travel corridor (some refer to it as a travel bubble) in which residents from both cities can travel to the other without restrictions and with relative ease.

The Philippines enjoys two distinct advantages. The fact that we are an archipelago makes it less problematic to enforce stricter safety protocols per island. It is also easier to contain the spread of the virus in case of an outbreak. The second advantage is that the Philippines now has 12 operational international airports. Tourists can land within one or two transfers from their final destination and get tested only once.

This, among other reasons, is why Forbes magazine named the Philippines among the seven countries with the potential to become a major tourist destination in the post-COVID-19 world. If we play our cards right, the industry can emerge stronger than it was before.

As we move forward, we can expect drastic changes in tourist behavior and preferences. The sooner our industry adapts to these preferences, the quicker the recovery will be. Health and safety considerations will be the primary consideration for selecting a destination and the hotels and restaurants therein. Hence, local government units that depend on tourism revenues better step up their safety protocols and make it known that indeed, their localities are safe. The same is true for the tourism-related establishments. A certification from the DoT would do wonders for this.

Tourists will depend on digital platforms to secure information on the safety of a place as well as bookings and general transactions. This is why it is vital for tourism establishments to digitize their operations.

In terms of preferences, tourists will prefer destinations with low densities but with high value and high experiential impact.

It’s going to be rough sailing ahead for the tourism industry. The good thing is that all the countries that we are in competition with are going through the same thing.

The name of the game, at this point, is to use this downtime as an opportunity to reboot and strengthen all that is weak with our tourism offerings. Now is the time to make our industry more competitive — to offer products that are better and safer than the rest. The TRRP is a step in the right direction. But a lot more has to be done to emerge as the preferred tourist destination in Asia.

Andrew J. Masigan is an economist

How to go cold turkey on $77 billion of Facebook ads

June 28, 2020 | 7:02 pm

By Alex Webb

IT’S GOOD that big brands like Verizon Communications, Inc. and Unilever NV are pulling ads from Facebook, Inc.

As my colleague Sarah Halzack has written, the way to make the adtech giant change its approach to tackling hate speech and misinformation is to target how it makes money. (A similar effort worked at Google’s YouTube unit.) But Mark Zuckerberg and company will still make $77 billion this year from advertisers. If brands really believe in this crusade, they should get off Facebook entirely.

On Thursday, Verizon became one of the biggest brands to announce it will pull ads from Facebook in July, joining the likes of Patagonia, Inc. and Recreational Equipment, Inc. in a month-long campaign called Stop Hate For Profit. The movement is being led by groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change, and is channeling momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement to realize real change. On Friday, Ben & Jerry’s, Hellman’s and Dove parent Unilever announced it would halt ads on Facebook and Twitter, Inc. in the US for the rest of 2020.

It’s a commendable effort to force Facebook to remodel its practices, but there’s a business incentive too: An ad appearing alongside a conspiracy theory is not a good look, particularly if a slice of the revenue goes to the maker of the video. A group of brands with a combined advertising budget of $97 billion is already pushing for better controls. More of them should follow Verizon’s lead, not least the handful of other telecoms operators in the US.

Arguably, the main reason Verizon even needs to advertise on Facebook is because its rivals AT&T, Inc. and T-Mobile US, Inc. are both doing so too. Since competitive intensity has been significantly reduced by pandemic lockdowns, now seems a particularly good time for mobile operators to cut marketing spend.

If firms are serious about upping the pressure on Zuckerberg, however, they should abandon their presence on the social network completely by deleting their Facebook pages. That might seem like a brand cutting off its nose to spite its face, but as long as it has a Facebook page, then the advertising boycott looks like an empty threat.

That’s because the ad spend will ultimately return after the boycott. There’s little point in maintaining a corporate Facebook presence without paying to promote content, due to the limitations of what’s known as organic reach, or how many users see a post without a company or individual paying to get it in front of them. Without paid promotion, just 1% of a page’s followers are likely to see a given post, according to digital agency Jellyfish.

It wasn’t always this way. In the early days, Facebook lured brands by showing how many customers they could reach by setting up a page. Then the Menlo Park, California-based firm changed its algorithm so that very few people would see a company’s posts if it didn’t pay for promotion. It was the classic Silicon Valley bait-and-switch.

UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank, bit the bullet and ditched its Facebook presence a year ago. It had already stopped paying for Facebook ads, which meant that very few of the 546,000 followers of its UniCredit Italia page actually saw its content — perhaps just 5,500. Its resolve is so far holding: It hasn’t returned to the social network yet.

Being on Facebook can also present more of a risk than an opportunity, especially for an incumbent brand like a bank or telecoms giant. UniCredit’s followers probably represented a significant cross-section of its consumer banking customers, which therefore served as a handy list of people for challenger banks like N26 or Revolut to target with ads and try to steal away.

Plus, if a company has a Facebook page, it still has to regularly post new content and interact with customers — both of which cost money. If it doesn’t, the page will likely fill up with customer complaints, which would show up at the top of online search results. The business reasons for big-spending incumbents to leave Facebook might be almost as good as the ethical ones.

Zuckerberg needs financial incentives to be more proactive about managing content effectively, partially because his lodestar has long been user engagement. And more polarizing content drives more user engagement. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that a report commissioned by Facebook in 2018 found the platform often did aggravate polarization and tribal behavior, yet the firm decided not to tackle the issue.

Regulating content directly often means impinging on thorny free speech issues. It’s a troublesome affair. Far better to find market-based, commercial incentives that mean the issue must be taken seriously. Will enough brands use these to make a meaningful difference? Probably not, but they have the opportunity to give Facebook the firmer poke it needs.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Thirdy Ravena ready for the challenge that awaits in Japan

June 28, 2020 | 4:59 pm

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

RECENTLY inked a one-season deal to play in the B. League in Japan, collegiate standout and national team player Thirdy Ravena said he is looking forward to the new journey he is about to take along with the challenges that await him there.

Set to play for the San-en NeoPhoenix team in the B. League, former Ateneo Blue Eagles stalwart Ravena shared he is ready to get out of his comfort zone and immerse in the hoops league in the “Land of the Rising Sun” as well as in the country itself.

Mr. Ravena was formally introduced by the team in an online press conference on Friday.

“To be honest, I really like Japan because it has a beautiful history and culture,” said Mr. Ravena, 23, in his guesting on Tiebreaker Vods’ The Prospects Pod later on.

He went on to say that Japan being not so far from the Philippines also played a role in him choosing to play there as his family can easily join him, especially when homesickness kicks in.

Apart from Japan, Mr. Ravena, who helped Ateneo to three straight University Athletic Association of the Philippines titles in his final three years where he was also named finals most valuable player each time, reportedly also had offers to play in leagues in Australia and New Zealand.

In playing in the B. League, Mr. Ravena, son of former Philippine Basketball Association player Bong, and brother to current PBA star Kiefer, is set to make history as the first player to be signed in the league under the “Asian Player Quotas” system to be implemented by the B. League in the 2020–21 season.

The Asian Player Quotas system is designed to “enhance competitive abilities by matching with various Asian players” as well as stretching the reach of the B. League to other countries.

With San-En NeoPhoenix, he is to join a team that struggled last season, finishing with a 5-36 record, something that Mr. Ravena said he does not really mind since he is coming into a situation he feels he can flourish in.

“We chose San-En because it’s a great organization and the people are kind and warm, including its president. We knew their standing last season was not really the best but it can work to our advantage since there would not be a lot of expectations but many things to gain for the team,” Mr. Ravena said.

“I feel I fit there and I can have more playing time to improve myself as a player,” he added.

Another thing that has Mr. Ravena excited to play in Japan is the chance to attract a considerable number of Filipino fans based there to San-En and the B. League.

“It feels great to bring a ready fan base to our team and we know how Filipino basketball fans are. I can’t wait to play for them,” he said.

But despite his commitment to the B. League, Mr. Ravena assured that he still intends to play for the Philippine team when called up.

“Definitely I’ll still play. What is important is the scheduling and for both parties to agree. If there is no conflict I’ll go and play for the national team.”

The B. League plans to open the new season in October but is still dependent on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic situation by that time.

After releasing schedule, NBA admits risk exists

June 28, 2020 | 4:58 pm

EVEN as the National Basketball Association was unveiling its schedule for the conclusion of the regular season, commissioner Adam Silver admitted Friday that the league’s “bubble” in central Florida can’t be made totally safe from the coronavirus pandemic.

The league is bringing 22 of its 30 teams to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Florida, for the resumption of play. Each team will compete in eight “seeding games” to complete the regular season, and the playoffs will follow, all at the Disney site.

Action will commence July 30 with the Utah Jazz opposing the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Los Angeles Clippers facing the Los Angeles Lakers in a doubleheader that will air on TNT.

The Jazz get to be one of the first teams returning after they were the team that prompted the NBA’s shutdown when All-Star center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus on March 11.

The season has been in hiatus since, but teams are set to arrive at the Disney campus for training by July 11.

Earlier Friday, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association finalized the protocols for the Disney “bubble.” The agreement comes at a time when COVID-19 cases are spiking in Florida.

Silver said on a conference call Friday, “We know that COVID-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future, and we are left with no choice but to learn to live with this virus. No options are risk-free right now. …

“My ultimate conclusion is that we can’t outrun the virus, and that this is what we’re gonna be living with for the foreseeable future — which is why we designed the campus the way we did. And so it’s a closed network; and while it’s not impermeable, we are in essence protected from cases around us. At least, that’s the model.

“So for those reasons, we’re still very comfortable being in Orlando.”

The NBA and NBPA announced in a joint statement Friday that 16 of the 302 NBA players who were examined Tuesday tested positive for the coronavirus.

Silver added that Florida setting a record with around 9,000 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday is worrying.

“The level of concern has increased, not just because of the increased levels in Florida, but throughout the country,” he said.

“But since we designed our initial protocol, we are continuing to work with Disney on the testing of at least a subset of their employees that could potentially be in the same room as our players, and anyone else who’s tested daily on our campus. So we are satisfied that, once we work through those additional measures with Disney, we will continue to have a safe setting for us to resume our season.”

The commissioner wasn’t ready to reveal the NBA’s intentions should a COVID-19 outbreak occur among players.

The league also will address the recent calls for social justice in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

The regular-season games at the Disney complex will be held at three different courts. At least four games will be played every day after the July 30 doubleheader.

Once the regular season is complete, if the ninth-place team in either conference is within four games of the eighth-place team, a play-in competition would be held. The eighth-place team would need to beat the ninth-place team just once to advance, while the ninth-place team would need to defeat the eighth-place team twice to qualify.

Once the 16-team field is set, the playoffs will proceed is normal, with all matchups best-of-seven. — Reuters

Brendon Todd charges into lead with 61 at Travelers

June 28, 2020 | 4:58 pm

LOS ANGELES — Brendon Todd drilled nine birdies and carded a career low nine-under 61 to take a two-stroke lead in the third round of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, on Saturday.

Todd’s error-free round positioned him atop the leaderboard at 18-under for the tournament as the 34-year-old American continues his quest for his third win this season and fourth overall.

Todd has found his game at TPC River Highlands after missing the cut in his previous two starts on the PGA Tour, which resumed earlier this month following a three-month layoff due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

“Whenever I get a two or three-week stretch in a row, I tend to be playing better by the end of it,” he told reporters.

“I’m peaking in the third week and hopefully I can get it done tomorrow.”

Lurking two strokes behind is former world number one Dustin Johnson, whose deft iron play helped produce a career low nine-under 61 on Saturday, good for sole possession of second place.

“I felt like I gave myself really good birdie opportunities on every hole,” Johnson said.

Todd said he was looking forward to being paired with Johnson for the final round of the tournament, where no fans are in attendance.

“He’s easy to play with, nice guy, doesn’t show too much emotion out there,” Todd said.

“So I think we’re going to have a really good time and probably a really good battle.

“It seems like he’s starting to play really well and make some putts and we’re both kind of peaking this week at the same time, so hopefully we can both go low.”

American Kevin Streelman is three off the lead at 15-under after carding a 63 on Saturday and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes is four back after firing a third-round 68 to sit 14-under after 54 holes.

Earlier in the day, former world number one Jason Day of Australia requested a COVID-19 test as a precaution and was cleared to play the third round solo after returning a negative result.

Several big names including world number four Brooks Koepka, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and last week’s winner Webb Simpson withdrew prior to the tournament out of concern that they might have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Nick Watney, Denny McCarthy and Cameron Champ have all tested positive for COVID-19 since the tour resumed play. — Reuters

Poirier outlasts Hooker in tight fight in Las Vegas

June 28, 2020 | 4:57 pm

AMERICAN Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier outlasted Dan “The Hangman” Hooker of New Zealand in a tight lightweight fight that went the full route of five rounds at the “UFC Fight Night” event held at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s APEX facility in Las Vegas on Sunday (Manila time).

Had his hands full in the opening two rounds, Mr. Poirier dug deep and jacked up his assault on Mr. Hooker the rest of the way to come out with a unanimous decision victory, 48-47, 48-47 and 48-46.

It was slugfest at the onset of the headlining fight, played anew sans spectators as part of health and safety protocols amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The first two rounds had Mr. Hooker having some headway until Mr. Poirier gained further traction beginning in the third.

Sensing that his opponent was slowing down, the American moved to outwork the New Zealand fighter, successfully holding his own against the submission attempts of Mr. Hooker while also dishing out telling hits.

In the final round, Mr. Poirier made sure that the tide remained in his favor, throwing solid jabs and crosses en route to the hard-earned victory.

The triumph marked a successful return to winning by Mr. Poirier (26-6) after being submitted by reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in September last year.

“I’m happy with the win. It was a tough one against Dan. I put in the work and trusted my team and was able to pulled out one,” said Mr. Poirier after the win.

For Mr. Hooker (20-9), the defeat ended for him a three-fight winning streak.

Other winners at UFC Fight Night were welterweight Mike Perry over Mickey Gall by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28 and 29-28) and heavyweight Maurice Greene against Gian Villante by third-round submission (arm-triangle choke).

Next for the UFC is “UFC 251” on July 12 on the “UFC Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.

It will be headlined by the welterweight title clash between reigning champ Kamaru Usman and challenger Gilbert Burns. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Mineski tapped to handle SEA qualifiers of WUCL 2020

June 28, 2020 | 4:57 pm

MINESKI GLOBAL was tapped to handle the Southeast Asian (SEA) qualifying stage of the World University Cyber League (WUCL) 2020, which kicked off at the weekend.

Recognizing its expertise in delivering quality staging of world-class esports tournaments, China tech firm Tencent Sports, organizer of WUCL 2020, said it was very excited to partner with Mineski and was looking forward to a successful edition of the WUCL.

In the WUCL 2020, schools from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have the opportunity to send their teams to vie for honor and glory in one of the biggest esports tournaments for schools and students.

The competition, which began on Sunday, features Clash Royale, League of Legends, and PUBG Mobile and runs until July 9.

The finals of the WUCL will be held from July 10–15.

The SEA qualifying competition is headed by Mineski Global’s Philippine division in collaboration with its grassroots development program, the Youth Esports Program (YEP).

The Youth Esports Program is an initiative in the Philippines to develop future esports talent in the country through student initiatives.

“We’re excited to be spearheading this opportunity to provide aspiring student esports athletes a competition on an international stage. For many students, this will be a dream come true and, we hope, a life milestone for talented gamers,” said YEP director Marlon “Lon” Marcelo.

The SEA leg of the WUCL is giving away a total prize of $5,000 split across the three titles.

For more updates and information on the WUCL 2020, visit their web site (https://sports.qq.com/uclesports/). — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Coping

June 28, 2020 | 4:56 pm

As expected, the National Basketball Association is pushing ahead with its plan to restart the 2019–20 campaign despite all the uncertainty caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. With its future literally at stake, the league felt it had no choice but to exhaust any and all measures possible in reclaiming a significant part of the season it was compelled to indefinitely suspend last March 11. And, notably, safety remains at the forefront of its efforts; the measures it has instituted have been lauded by no less than Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an influential member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

To be sure, the NBA has been careful to involve all stakeholders in preparations for the resumption of play. And, certainly, the active participation of the players association in crafting protocols governing movement within the bubble environment at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World Florida has helped it move forward with controlled opposition. Even with all the painstaking care with which it made sure to act in aiming for a consensus, it still had to deal with pockets of resistance. Imagine if it simply went full speed ahead and assumed that it knew best, period. In the face of eminently valid health and social justice concerns, it would have been exposed as callous as best and greedy at worst.

Admittedly, the NBA is bent on salvaging the final and most important segment of the campaign for financial reasons. Had it gone for a full cancelation, it would have had to write off 10-figure losses and likewise put a huge question mark on the immediate term. Amid the crunch felt by even the better-paid players, franchise owners would no doubt have insisted on a renegotiation of collective bargaining terms and held hostage the next season until the forging of a new accord. Meanwhile, the well-earned reputation of the league as one of and for fans — unlike, say, Major League Baseball — would have taken a considerable hit.

There can be no overestimating the risks involved, the NBA’s preparedness notwithstanding. The threat is real, and not just because there remains plenty to be known about the virus. With a vaccine still a ways away and infection despite the closed-doors setup inevitable, relative success will be measured not in terms of eliminating setbacks, but, rather, in how the setbacks were anticipated and responded to with resolve. As commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged in a conference call with league officials over the weekend, “we know that COVID-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future. And we are left with no choice but to learn to live with this virus.”

Indeed, the NBA is keen on coping with the pandemic by establishing a new normal under its terms. First, it needs to show that it can adapt; restarting the season on July 30 is the first in a series of steps designed to crown a champion when the battlesmoke clears. If it is able to tread the dangerous landscape and prune down 30 to 22 to 16 to eight to four to two to one with few incidents of note, then it will have been able to prep for the work that comes next. Having already survived, it would want to prove that it can thrive.

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.

Amateur traders pile into Asian stocks, making the pros nervous

June 28, 2020 | 4:15 pm

When the coronavirus pandemic sent shares plunging, you didn’t have to be a professional investor to spot a buying opportunity. In fact, it might be better if you weren’t.

The can’t-miss rise of equity markets around Asia is fueling the explosion of interest among retail investors in the region, mirroring their exuberance worldwide. Millions of investors who had never so much as opened a trading account before have been piling into the market.

Just as the pandemic led bored Americans to make the Robinhood investing app a household name, it’s the amateurs who have helped to lift equities from India to Thailand despite some of the worst macroeconomic fundamentals in memory. But it’s also giving professionals pause — what happens when these investors are no longer around?

“If everyone is going into the same name and something happens, those names are likely to be sold off quite aggressively,” said Catherine Yeung, Fidelity International’s investment director. “I think we just need to be wary that market seems a bit complacent at the moment.”

In Japan, the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Index, which hosts many tech start-up listings, has soared throughout the pandemic: buying the dip on almost any small-cap stock would make money. All but seven of the 320 companies on the board have gained since April’s start, from vaccine hopeful Agnes Inc., up 235%, to Precision System Science Co., which is developing a virus test and has added more than 480%.

“If there’s a report on TV about a coronavirus-related stock that’s going up, they can just buy it the next day and make profit,” said Naoki Murakami, a long-time Japanese day-trader. He points to “simple” bets by amateur investors on stocks such as AnGes or Avigan maker Fujifilm Holdings Corp.

In the US, Robinhood and the Reddit forum called r/wallstreetbets have become a dominant force in the market, boosting everything from the stocks of bankrupt companies such as Hertz Global Holdings Inc. to revenue-less start-ups like truck maker Nikola Corp. That pattern has been repeated in Europe with brokerages in Germany, the UK, and France all reporting a jump in participation by individual investors, fueled by a fear of missing out.

And while the names may be less familiar, the same picture appears across countries in Asia that imposed lockdowns.

DIGITAL HABITS
Retail investors supported Singapore’s exit from bear market territory. Dividends in the city-state are a draw, “and they are sitting at home, they have nothing to do,” said Aik Hong Ng, deputy head of Phillip Investor Centre, a unit of Phillip Securities Pte. Some are loading up on debt and leverage to buy more shares.

“Almost-global shelter-in-place measures are entrenching digital habits across all aspects of daily life. This includes digitizing our investment behavior,” said Clarie Kwa, chief market officer for wealth management advisory firm 360F in Singapore. “Without the normal distractions of life, people actually stop procrastinating and open their first retail accounts, motivated further by their fear of missing a chance to buy low.”

In the Philippines, AAA Southeast Equities Inc. saw two to three times more new online brokerage accounts opened each month from March when the lockdown was imposed, said President William Matthew Cabango. Meanwhile, India has seen 1.8 million new accounts opened since March, while South Koreans are borrowing to fuel their purchases.

THE AMATEUR
As the first major economy to adopt the zero-interest rate policies and central bank asset purchases that are boosting equity valuations across the world, Japan’s experience may be the most informative.

Burned when the bubble collapsed, for years Japan’s retail investors have avoided stocks. Two decades of underperformance instilled habits that propelled investors to try to sell at the top. Yet that attitude could at last be shifting.

Japanese individuals opened more than 820,000 online brokerage accounts between February and April, more than double the number in the same period in 2019.

A 35-year-old Japanese housewife, who had long watched her husband and parents buy stocks and get gifts typical for shareholders, never before found the right time to start buying herself.

“I’m THE amateur,” she said, declining to give her name citing privacy concerns. “But I saw a chance when shares plunged and I started buying.” She’s been documenting her experience on Twitter under the handle @kabukonosekai, buying the dips on large companies and planning to hold them long term.

In a regular survey this month of retail investors by Monex Group Inc., just 17% said the plunge led them to sell risk assets and move into cash, with 37% saying they took the opportunity to increase their share holdings.

LONG-TERM RETURN
Well, who wouldn’t be happy with their performance in the market that goes up regardless of bad news? The question turns to whether these investors will cut and run during the next dip, or learn new ways to succeed.

In China, interest has waned somewhat. A surge of account openings in March and April coincided with lockdowns throughout the country, but May figures were more muted. China has already had a considerable retail investor presence, with the lockdown stock boom paling in comparison to some recent share rallies.

In Japan, where retail investors are less of a force, individuals’ share of trading volume jumped during the state of emergency, and more surprisingly has stayed consistent even as workers have returned to the office.

“Oddly enough, many if not most of the retail investors take a long view,” said veteran investor Mark Mobius, co-founder of Mobius Capital Partners, “and they will probably keep their money in the market and think of a long term return.” — Bloomberg

Facebook will label newsworthy posts that break rules, as ad boycott widens

June 28, 2020 | 3:04 pm

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook would ban ads that claim people from groups based on race, religion, sexual orientation or immigration status are a threat to physical safety or health. Facebook has drawn heat from employees and lawmakers in recent weeks over its decisions not to act on inflammatory posts by US President Donald Trump. — Reuters

Facebook Inc. said on Friday it will start labeling newsworthy content that violates the social media company’s policies, and label all posts and ads about voting with links to authoritative information, including those from politicians.

A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed its new policy would have meant attaching a link on voting information to US President Donald Trump’s post last month about mail-in ballots. Rival Twitter had affixed a fact-checking label to that post.

Facebook has drawn heat from employees and lawmakers in recent weeks over its decisions not to act on inflammatory posts by the president.

“There are no exceptions for politicians in any of the policies I’m announcing here today,” Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.

Mr. Zuckerberg also said Facebook would ban ads that claim people from groups based on race, religion, sexual orientation or immigration status are a threat to physical safety or health.

The policy changes come during a growing ad boycott campaign, called “Stop Hate for Profit,” that was started by several US civil rights groups after the death of George Floyd, to pressure the company to act on hate speech and misinformation.

Mr. Zuckerberg’s address fell short, said Rashad Robinson, president of civil rights group Color Of Change, which is one of the groups behind the boycott campaign.

“What we’ve seen in today’s address from Mark Zuckerberg is a failure to wrestle with the harms FB has caused on our democracy & civil rights,” Mr. Robinson tweeted. “If this is the response he’s giving to major advertisers withdrawing millions of dollars from the company, we can’t trust his leadership.”

Shares of Facebook closed down more than 8% and Twitter ended 7% lower on Friday after Unilever PLC said it would stop its US ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the rest of the year, citing “divisiveness and hate speech during this polarized election period in the US.”

More than 90 advertisers including Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co. Ltd’s US subsidiary, Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s, Verizon Communications Inc., and The North Face, a unit of VF Corp., have joined the campaign, according to a list by ad activism group Sleeping Giants.

Hours after Facebook’s announcement, Coca-Cola Co. said starting from July 1, it would pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days.

One of Facebook’s top spenders, consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G), on Wednesday pledged to conduct a review of ad platforms and stop spending where it found hateful content. P&G declined to say if it had reached a decision on Facebook.

The campaign specifically asks businesses not to advertise on Facebook’s platforms in July, though Twitter has also long been urged to clean up alleged abuses and misinformation on its platform.

“We have developed policies and platform capabilities designed to protect and serve the public conversation, and as always, are committed to amplifying voices from under-represented communities and marginalized groups,” said Sarah Personette, vice-president for Twitter’s Global Client Solutions.

“We are respectful of our partners’ decisions and will continue to work and communicate closely with them during this time.”

In a statement, a Facebook spokeswoman pointed to its civil rights audit and investments in Artificial Intelligence that allow it to find and take action on hate speech.

“We know we have more work to do,” she said, noting that Facebook will continue working with civil rights groups, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, and other experts to develop more tools, technology and policies to “continue this fight.” — Reuters

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