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China says Philippine ships entered its territorial waters around disputed shoal in South China Sea

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

BEIJING – China’s Coast Guard said on Tuesday that four Philippine ships had attempted to enter China’s territorial waters around a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

Liu Dejun, a coast guard spokesperson, said in a statement the Philippine ships had “dangerously approached” China Coast Guard “normal law enforcement patrol vessels” around the Scarborough Shoal. Liu added that China had “exercised control” over the Philippine ships. — Reuters

Earthquake of magnitude 5.6 strikes northern Philippines, GFZ says

ROAD AHEAD-UNSPLASH

MANILA – A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck the northern Philippines on Wednesday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said, as authorities warned of damage and aftershocks from the tremor.

The quake was at a depth of 37 km (23 miles), GFZ said.

Philippine seismology agency PHIVOLCS said the quake struck the northern town of Bangui in Ilocos province and warned of aftershocks and damage from the quake.

There were no immediate reports of damage from the tremor.

Bangui town disaster officer Fidel Cimatu said authorities are checking communities for damage.

“It wasn’t that strong. But the shaking lasted a bit long,” Cimatu said by telephone.

Earthquakes are common in the Philippines, which lies on the so-called “Ring of Fire”, a belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that is prone to seismic activity. — Reuters

South Korea’s President Yoon reverses martial law after lawmakers defy him

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. — REUTERS

SEOUL – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday he would lift a surprise martial law declaration he had imposed just hours before, backing down in a standoff with parliament which roundly rejected his attempt to ban political activity and censor the media.

In South Korea’s biggest political crisis in decades, Yoon shocked the nation and declared martial law on Tuesday night to thwart “anti-state forces” among his domestic political opponents. But outraged lawmakers unanimously rejected the decree. Yonhap news agency said the cabinet had agreed early on Wednesday to scrap the martial law.

Protesters outside the National Assembly parliament shouted and clapped. “We won!” they chanted, and one demonstrator banged on a drum.

The main opposition Democratic Party called for Yoon, who has been in office since 2022, to resign or face impeachment.

“Even if martial law is lifted, he cannot avoid treason charges. It was clearly revealed to the entire nation that President Yoon could no longer run the country normally. He should step down,” senior DP member of parliament Park Chan-dae said in a statement.

“South Korea as a nation dodged a bullet, but President Yoon may have shot himself in the foot,” said Danny Russel, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute think tank in the United States.

The South Korean won currency came off a more than two-year low against the dollar after Yoon’s reversal, while exchange traded funds linked to South Korean stocks similarly cut losses.

Yoon’s surprise declaration of martial law, which he cast as aimed at his political foes, was voted down by 190 lawmakers in parliament. His own party urged him to lift the decree. Under South Korean law, the president must immediately lift martial law if parliament demands it by a majority vote.

The crisis in a country that has been a democracy since the 1980s, and is a U.S. ally and major Asian economy, caused international alarm.

US RELIEVED

After Yoon’s announcement of martial law in a TV address, South Korea’s military had said activities by parliament and political parties would be banned, and that media and publishers would be under the control of the martial law command.

Helmeted troops briefly tried to enter the parliament building. Parliamentary aides were seen trying to push the soldiers back by spraying fire extinguishers.

The White House said it was pleased Yoon had backed down.

“We are relieved President Yoon has reversed course on his concerning declaration of martial law and respected the… National Assembly’s vote to end it,” a White House spokesperson said.

Earlier, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the United States was watching events in South Korea with “grave concern.” Some 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to guard against the nuclear-armed North.

Yoon did not cite any specific threat from the North, instead focusing on his domestic political opponents. It was the first time since 1980 that martial law has been declared in South Korea.

Russel, who was the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia under former President Barack Obama, said South Korea was now looking at the prospect of snap elections.

“Political uncertainty and domestic strife in South Korea is not our friend. Political uncertainty and domestic strife in South Korea is North Korea’s friend, however. You can be sure that North Korea is licking its chops,” he said.

Yoon, a career prosecutor, squeezed out a victory in the tightest presidential election in South Korean history in 2022. He rode a wave of discontent over economic policy, scandals and gender wars, aiming to reshape the political future of Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

But he has been unpopular, with his support ratings hovering at around 20% for months.

His People Power Party suffered a landslide defeat at a parliamentary election in April this year, ceding control of the unicameral assembly to opposition parties that captured nearly two-thirds of the seats.

There have been more than a dozen instances of martial law being declared since South Korea was established as a republic in 1948.

In 1980, a group of military officers led by Chun Doo-hwan forced then-President Choi Kyu-hah to proclaim martial law to crush calls by the opposition, labour and students for the restoration of democratic government. — Reuters

NG debt reaches record P16 trillion

BW FILE PHOTO

THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT’S (NG) outstanding debt inched up to a fresh high of P16.02 trillion as of end-October amid the peso’s depreciation against the US dollar, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.

Data from the BTr on Tuesday showed that outstanding debt went up by 0.8% or by P126.95 billion to P16.02 trillion as of end-October from P15.89 trillion as of end-September.

“The increase was primarily driven by the valuation impact of peso depreciation against the US dollar from P56.017 at end-September 2024 to P58.198 at end-October 2024,” the BTr said in a statement.

National Government outstanding debtYear on year, debt jumped by 10.6% from P14.48 trillion.

Of the total debt stock, 67.98% came from domestic sources.

As of end-October, outstanding domestic debt slid by 0.4% to P10.89 trillion from P10.94 trillion at the end of September.

Government securities accounted for nearly all of domestic debt.

Year on year, domestic debt increased by 10% from P9.9 trillion.

“The decline was primarily due to the P52.65-billion net redemption of government securities, partially offset by the P6.23-billion escalation in peso conversion of US dollar-denominated domestic debt brought about by the weakened peso,” the BTr said.

Meanwhile, external debt rose by 3.5% to P5.13 trillion at end-October from P4.96 trillion at end-September, the BTr said.

Year on year, external debt increased by 12.05% from P4.58 trillion in the same period a year ago.

“The increase was driven by net foreign loan availments totaling P20.47 billion, as well as foreign exchange movements, which added P152.9 billion to external debt,” BTr said.

The Treasury said the peso depreciation against the US dollar has increased external debt by P193 billion.

“However, this has been tempered by the P40.1-billion effect of favorable third-currency movements relative to the US dollar,” it said.

External debt comprised of P2.42 trillion in loans and P2.71 trillion in global bonds as of end-October.

Broken down, government securities consisted of P2.32 trillion in US dollar bonds, P218.49 billion in euro bonds, P58.2 billion in Islamic certificates, P57.93 billion in Japanese yen bonds, and P54.77 billion in peso global bonds.

Meanwhile, the NG guaranteed obligations at the end-October increased by 10.4% to P411.76 billion from P372.86 billion as of end-September.

“This resulted from P35.85 billion in net availments of domestic guarantees and the P6.15-billion effect of peso depreciation against the US dollar, although partially attenuated by the P3.1-billion downward revaluation in external guarantees linked to third-currencies movements,” the BTr said.

Year on year, NG guaranteed obligations jumped by 14.1% from P361 billion.

“I can only surmise that the increasing fiscal deficit in the face of limited tax revenues will really ultimately result in higher NG debt from the end-Sept. level of P15.9 trillion to over P16 trillion for October,” GlobalSource country analyst Diwa C. Guinigundo said.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee on Monday raised the deficit ceiling for 2024 to P1.52 trillion, representing -5.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) from P1.48 trillion or -5.6% of GDP previously.

“In peso terms, dollar obligations will be higher including the corresponding debt servicing. If the dollar continues to strengthen relative to the peso and other currencies and revenue intake of NG remains limited, the outlook is not exactly encouraging,” Mr. Guinigundo said.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said debt remained high as the government borrowed more to fund the budget deficit.

“Weaker peso exchange rate against the US dollar by about 15% since 2022 also effectively increased the peso equivalent of US dollar- and other foreign currency-denominated debt of the National Government,” he added.

Mr. Ricafort said rate cuts by the US Fed and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas would help reduce debt servicing costs.

At the end of September, the NG debt as a share of GDP stood at 61.3%, higher than 60.2% a year earlier and 60.1% at end-2023.

This was still above the 60% threshold deemed by multilateral lenders as manageable for developing economies.

The government aims to lower the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60.6% by the end of 2024.

The NG’s debt stock is expected to hit P16.06 trillion at the end of 2024. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante

BSP could consider granting more than four new digital banking licenses

BW FILE PHOTO

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) could consider granting more than four new digital banking licenses if enough applicants are able to comply with the stricter criteria, an official said.

BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier said on Monday that “there is a possibility” of granting more than four licenses for digital lenders, subject to the approval of the Monetary Board.

“It depends, we will see. Does it have a good value proposition? It will be up to the Monetary Board (if it will) go beyond the four,” she told reporters.

The central bank will lift the moratorium on the grant of new digital banking licenses on Jan. 1, 2025.

The BSP earlier said it will allow four more digital banks to operate in the country, which would bring the maximum number to 10. These can either be new applicants or banks that seek to convert their existing license to a digital one.

In 2021, the BSP capped the number of digital banking licenses at six as it sought to boost regulatory capacity and supervision of the sector.

Ms. Fonacier said they will be issuing a circular on the new digital bank application within the month.

“But even before the application period starts, we’re already entertaining questions, proposals. Of course, the proponents would already plan. We have already started engaging them,” she said.

The BSP is also monitoring lenders already behaving like digital banks and will push them to obtain digital bank licenses, Ms. Fonacier said.

“We’ll see once the applications start coming in and our assessment of the existing ones doing digital bank-like operations,” she added.

If there is a need to exceed the four available slots, especially among those banks already operating like digital lenders, Ms. Fonacier said they will seek the Monetary Board’s approval to increase the number of licenses.

However, she also noted that there is still a chance that the BSP will not grant all four slots if the applicants do not meet the criteria.

The central bank earlier said applicants must “bring something new to the table” and offer innovative products to better reach underserved and untapped markets.

Applicants will also undergo a rigorous licensing process that will evaluate their value proposition, business models and resource capabilities.

They must also be compliant with the standard licensing criteria, which cover capital adequacy and corporate governance and risk management, among others.

Ms. Fonacier said there has been “a lot” of interest from new players from here and abroad, citing a European digital bank with a “good track record.”

If the applicants are able to meet the requirements, these banks should be able to secure their licenses within the next year.

After the applicant complies with the BSP’s requirements, they are then required to register with the Securities of Exchange and Commission, she added.

There are currently six online lenders in the Philippines, namely, Tonik Digital Bank, Inc.; GoTyme Bank of the Gokongwei group and Singapore-based Tyme; Maya Bank of Voyager Innovations, Inc.; Overseas Filipino Bank, a subsidiary of Land Bank of the Philippines; UNObank of DigibankASIA Pte. Ltd.; and UnionDigital Bank of Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc.

The BSP defines a digital bank as a lender that offers financial products and services that are processed end-to-end through a digital platform or electronic channels with no physical branch. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

Apple Pay, Google Pay eye expansion in PHL

APPLE PAY and Google Pay are looking at expanding operations in the Philippines, a central bank official said. — REUTERS

GLOBAL DIGITAL PAYMENT platforms operated by tech giants Apple and Google are looking at expanding in the Philippines, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official said.

“They (Apple and Google) were exploring. They’re exploring and then we had a discussion on their activities,” BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E. Tangonan told reporters late on Monday.

Mr. Tangonan said Apple and Google would need to register with the BSP as an operator of payment systems (OPS).

“Because of that, we deem them as operators of payment systems, therefore, they need to register. That is our guidance to them,” he said.

The central bank defines an OPS as “any person who provides clearing or settlement services in a payment system, or defines, prescribes, designs, controls or maintains the operational framework for the system.”

The OPS performs functions such as maintaining or operating the platform that enables payments or fund transfers and providing a system that processes payments on behalf of any person or the government, among others.

As of Nov. 29, there are a total of 296 OPS registered with the BSP.

Mr. Tangonan said that there have been no formal applications yet from either of the mobile payment services.

Becoming an OPS would just require registration, he said. “You register and then you can render the service… we don’t license them; we just require registration.”

There is also no other requirement apart from the registration process, he added.

“From our point of view, that’s the requirement, to register. They aren’t merchants, they don’t hold peoples’ funds.”

The registration process is also not difficult, he added, noting that it typically takes one month to complete the process.

“It’s clear to us that they touch the payment system. They perform something. So, therefore they are operators.”

Apple Pay and Google Pay use near-field communication  technology to enable contactless payments. Apple Pay is only compatible with Apple devices while Google Pay is used for Android phones.

In Southeast Asia, Apple Pay and Google Pay are currently available in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Google Pay is also present in Cambodia.

Users would need to link the payment system to their bank accounts, Mr. Tangonan explained.

“You need an account to debit. It’s either a deposit account or a credit card account. It depends on what the customer links. E-money could also be used, as long as it’s a stored value account.”

Under the National Payment Systems Act, the BSP has oversight authority over all payment systems in the country and has the right to exercise supervisory and regulatory powers for the purpose of ensuring the stability and effectiveness of the monetary and financial system. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

PHL improves in bribery risk ranking

PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES improved its ranking in a global index assessing business bribery in over 190 economies.

This, as the National Government cited major strides in its fight against corrupt practices including the digitalization of state transactions and vowed to draw lessons from other countries’ anti-corruption mechanisms.

Manila rose eight spots to 111th place out of 194 countries in the 2024 edition of the Bribery Risk Matrix by nonprofit businesses group TRACE.

Philippines picks up in 2024 Bribery Risk Rankings

The Philippines received a score of 52 out of 100, indicating a “moderate risk” level.

While the country’s ranking in the latest index improved, its overall score fell by two points from 54 in the 2023 edition, where the country ranked 119th.

The index assessed countries in four domains such as opportunity risk, which refers to business transactions with the government, and deterrence risk, which measures a country’s ability to deter and prosecute bribery offenses.

The two other domains are transparency risk, which measures the government’s openness in terms of public budget and potential financial conflicts, and oversight risk, which refers to the role played by nonstate actors in monitoring and controlling corruption.

Among select East and Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines was behind Mongolia (99th) Thailand (89th), Malaysia (81st), Timor-Leste (75th), Indonesia (66th), Hong Kong (37th), Singapore (25th), Taiwan (22nd), South Korea (21st), and Japan (10th).

The Philippines was just ahead of Brunei Darussalam (115th), Vietnam (123rd), China (142nd), Myanmar (163rd), Laos (165th), Cambodia (170th), and North Korea (194th).

Among the four domains, the Philippines got the highest score in deterrence risk at 75. It received a score of 50 in opportunity risk, 49 in transparency risk and 44 in oversight risk.

The latest bribery risk index was released just as the Philippines held the 5th Conference on the Review and Implementation of its participation in the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and as the country’s second-highest official is hounded by an impeachment complaint in which bribery was cited as one of the grounds.

The treaty, which was signed by Manila in 2003 and was ratified by the Senate in 2006, aims to develop and implement effective and coordinated anti-corruption policies that “promote participation of society” and reflect the principles of the rule of law, proper management of public affairs and public property, transparency, and accountability.

In his speech, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said “by learning from and working with other nations, we strengthen our anti-corruption mechanisms while reaffirming our place as a proactive member of the global community.”

“These interconnected efforts form a united approach to fostering a government that is efficient and accountable,” he added. “We continue to collaborate on the international front, emphasizing the importance of global partnerships in combating corruption.”

Mr. Marcos cited major accomplishments in his government’s fight against bribery and other corrupt practices, including the passage of the Government Procurement Act earlier this year.

The law establishes standardized electronic bidding and payment systems through an electronic procurement system.

The law minimizes the risk of corruption and creates “a more detailed audit trail,” he said. “This will in turn provide transparency and proactive government monitoring, thereby ensuring judicious government spending.”

Mr. Marcos said the Philippine government also has an electronic freedom of information platform, where citizens can “exercise their right to vital government information.”

He noted the 2024 procurement law also has provisions that encourage participation from “observers and civil society organizations in procurement” and “make all procurement-related conferences available for public viewing.”

The Philippines continues to struggle with corrupt practices in the public sector even after the end of dictatorship in the 1980s, with the Asian Development Bank estimating that corruption costs the country 1-2% of its gross domestic product annually.

“The current Congressional and Senate hearings on the Office of the Vice-President’s (OVP) budget is a clear manifestation that bribery, as well as other forms of corruption, is indeed notches higher in the administration,” said Leonardo A. Lanzona, who teaches economics at the Ateneo de Manila University.

“Certain people in the government think that they are entitled enough to do anything without accountability.”

He was referring to Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is now facing a legal storm after the 316-member House of Representatives launched a probe into her questionable confidential funds at the OVP and the Department of Education.

Ms. Duterte-Carpio, who ran in tandem with Mr. Marcos in the 2022 elections, is now facing an impeachment complaint, which cited 24 grounds including betrayal of public trust, bribery, and high crimes.

“Crony capitalism is back as institutions developed after the EDSA Revolution have grown weaker,” Mr. Lanzona said. “People who were being litigated before are now scot-free because of the patronage and power gained in this administration.”

In his speech at the UNCAC read by Manila Rep. Joel R. Chua, who has been at the forefront of inquiries into Ms. Duterte-Carpio’s questionable use of funds, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said the “ongoing hearings in the House demonstrate our unwavering resolve to uphold accountability and transparency.”

“The fight against corruption is not the responsibility of any one branch of government; it is a collective effort,” he added.

He said the House will work with the Judiciary, Executive agencies, the civil society, and international partners to boost its capacity to “investigate and prosecute, and enforce anti-corruption measures.”

In his speech, Senate President Francis G. Escudero said that in the fight against corrupt practices, “equally important is the proper use of our oversight power not to harass or attack for political gain but to expose and rectify corruption for national progress.”

“One famous formula summarized the cause of corruption as follows. Corruption equals monopoly plus discretion, minus transparency,” Mr. Escudero said. “But for me, I simply define it as corruption equals discretion and vice versa.”

“Minimize discretion, you minimize corruption,” he added. “Eliminate discretion, you eliminate corruption.”

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort urged the government to push for policies that will encourage the private sector to comply with the environmental, social, and governance standards, which he said are key to minimizing bribery risks in both sectors.

Consunji group completes Cemex PHL stake acquisition

CEMEX HOLDINGS Philippines, Inc. is the fourth-largest cement producer in the country. — CEMEXHOLDINGSPHILIPPINES.COM

THE CONSUNJI group has officially entered the cement manufacturing business after completing the acquisition of a majority stake in listed cement producer Cemex Holdings Philippines, Inc. (CHP), with the deal priced at $272 million (P15.96 billion).

Consunji-led companies DMCI Holdings, Inc., Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC), and Dacon Corp. finalized on Dec. 2 the purchase of Cemex Asian South East Corp. (CASEC), which owned 89.86% of CHP.

DMCI clinched a 51% effective stake in CHP, while Dacon Corp. and SMPC accounted for 29% and 10%, respectively, at the financial close of the transaction.

CHP is the fourth-largest cement producer in the country.

The deal signals the Consunji group’s entry into the cement manufacturing sector.

DMCI and SMPC Chairman Isidro A. Consunji was named CHP chairman with the completion of the transaction, replacing Sergio Mauricio Menendez Medina.

“We are excited to welcome CHP into the DMCI group. This acquisition aligns with our core expertise in engineering and construction and dedication to contributing to the infrastructure development of the Philippines,” Mr. Consunji said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.

DMCI Chief Finance Officer Herbert M. Consunji has been named CHP’s president and chief executive officer, succeeding Luis Guillermo Franco Carrillo.

He will spearhead the cement manufacturer’s turnaround efforts to further streamline operations and unlock synergies.

“Our priorities are to enhance the logistics network, optimize the product mix, manage production and operating costs, and leverage potential operating synergies within the DMCI ecosystem,” Mr. Consunji said.

The Consunji group expects to grow its annual cement production capacity to 7.2 million tons by early 2025 once the expansion plan of CHP-owned Solid Cement Corp. is completed.

Aside from Solid Cement, CHP also owns APO Cement Corp. The two companies have a total annual capacity of 5.7 million tons.

The acquisition is also expected to boost the DMCI ecosystem, with markets for coal, long-term contracted power capacity, fly ash, and cement products.

On Tuesday, DMCI shares rose by 0.19% or two centavos to P10.80 apiece; SMPC stocks climbed by 1.1% or 35 centavos to P32.30 each; and CHP shares dropped by 2.65% or five centavos to P1.84 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

What’s new at Museo Pambata

A STUDENT-MADE bahay kubo installation in the Museo Pambata’s Kalikasan hall. — BRONTË H. LACSAMANA

VIBRANTLY colored walls, new and updated exhibits, and exhibits of artworks about environmental awareness and Filipino heritage will soon be seen at the Museo Pambata. Four years after a series of temporary closures due to pandemic restrictions and structural renovations, the museum will finally reopen to the public on Dec. 6.

BusinessWorld got a preview of its offerings on Nov. 27 before it officially opened. The glow-up of the building’s facade alone speaks volumes, with the former Elk’s Club looking as good as new. The main hall upon entering has a TV playing a video welcoming guests in.

Divided into themed spaces, over 5,000-square-meters of its total space is filled with colors, sights, and sounds in time for its 30th anniversary.

“We painted, refreshed the exhibits, and put new lights to make everything brighter. Our new curatorial vision is that Museo Pambata is all about the Filipino child and childhood,” Bambi Mañosa-Tanjutco, Museo Pambata president, told BusinessWorld during the tour.

“Our goal is to nurture, protect, and empower the Filipino community because around one child is an entire village.”

THE NEW SPACE
The halls which are now open to view and play in are: Kalikasan (environment), which has an installation by Kidlat Tahimik; Karagatan (the sea) with student-made upcycled artworks about the climate crisis; and Pamayanan (community), Himig (music), and Habi (weave) that all focus on indigenous arts and crafts. Each features learning activities on Filipino culture.

Museo Pambata founder Nina Lim-Yuson explained that as the Philippines’ first children’s museum, its legacy must be carried into modern times. “Generations of children have passed through Museo Pambata’s doors since 1994, and this anniversary honors them — and those yet to come,” she said.

While the first floor will be opened this month, most of the second-floor is still a work-in-progress, to be unveiled in phases throughout 2025.

Bakuran (back yard), the outdoor area that the team envisions as a way to “bring back green spaces in Metro Manila,” is still in the works. Soon, the concrete and asphalt will be replaced by a garden with trees. For now, a beehive-shaped playground called Bahay Pukyutan (House of Bees) has been installed for kids to play in.

The museum also improved its large installation featuring a decommissioned 1960s helicopter as an interactive artwork. Named Tutubing Bakal (Metal Dragonfly), it welcomes children who want to share stories.

The outdoor area is also home to Bahay Kubo 2.0, a modern take on the traditional Filipino nipa hut. Architect Gelo Mañosa designed it as “a bahay kubo reimagined within an urban setting,” which will be available for rent as an event space. The different crops and vegetables mentioned in the “Bahay Kubo” song are displayed in a colorful tile mosaic surrounding the structure.

BALAY YATU
The largest of Museo Pambata’s new spaces is Balay Yatu, an open space for children’s events, activities, celebrations, and workshops. Its ground floor will have a gift shop while the second floor will host exhibits and performances.

Currently on view is the inaugural exhibit which has photos, tapestries, and other ethnographic evidence of children’s lives in the 17 regions of the Philippines, a product of The Philippine Youth Atlas project funded by National Geographic. It is helmed by youth leaders Natasha Tanjutco, Gab Mejia, and Issa Barte.

In keeping with Museo Pambata’s 30th anniversary theme of “Isla Pambata” (Children’s Island), Balay Yatu aims to “bring back island-ness within our spaces.” The structure, an old annex building that was used for storage, has been completely revitalized to serve as a vibrant youth center.

Balay Yatu will also be the home of the Museo Pambata cafe, which will have a rotating set of regional pop-up merchants depending on the month’s theme.

“Museums globally are changing, decolonizing, and reimagining into more complex cultural playgrounds. Museo Pambata aims to be at the forefront of this change with Balay Yatu — Asia’s first youth-curated creative space and cultural center,” Ms. Mañosa-Tanjutco said.

INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES
Sikat Sining (Great Art), a program that allows school-children to create art to be exhibited in the various halls, aims to foster creativity among kids.

“We invite different students from different schools to come to the museum and put a little bit of art into the space. Museo Pambata partners with private and public schools all over the Philippines,” said Ms. Mañosa-Tanjutco. “Essentially, they are able to ‘activate’ their chosen space,” she said.

Museo Pambata initiates this by posting a call for artworks for a specific part of the museum, open to schools and art groups that are willing to create and donate works. During the preview, BusinessWorld saw a group of children in action, painting a tapestry of flowers. The rest of the halls on the first floor are filled with student works, be it greenery made of felt cloth, huts made of paper mache, or sea creatures made of plastic waste.

Then there are the Dulaang Pambata (Children’s Plays) shows which will also allow for more interactive experiences for visitors. The museum has partnered with different student theater groups and professional troupes, who will lead tours and perform stories set in the various spaces of Museo Pambata on select dates.

Partners include Puppet Theater Manila International, the Bayanihan Folk Dance Company of the Philippines, Sandbox Theater Collective, and Repertory Philippines. Guests can check the Museo Pambata page for schedules of Dulaang Pambata performances.

UPCOMING EXHIBITS
New exhibits lined up for 2025 include Karapatan hall’s upgraded Rights of a Child display, a redesigned arts and crafts space envisioned by the late artist Robert Alejandro, and the Classroom of the Future pop-up exhibit designed by JJ Acuña in collaboration with Khan Academy and Samsung.

Artist couple Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan are also working on an exhibition titled Dwellings, to be featured in the Hiraya room. The Kwento room, exploring Filipino childhood, resilience, and community through a series of storytelling exhibits, will kick off with Ang Kwento ng Jollibee, centered on the fast-food chain’s journey.

Partnerships with the Department of Education are also ongoing, so that Museo Pambata can be an alternative learning space for kids, complementary to what they are taking up in school.

“Our plan is for teachers to tell us what they don’t have time to teach in the curriculum, the lesson plan. We will be able to work together with them and create that learning platform for the kids when they visit,” Ms. Mañosa-Tanjutco explained.

She also mentioned that they are working with tour operators, the ones selling field trip packages to schools, to have better itineraries that will allow kids more time to roam around the museum.

Museo Pambata founder Ms. Lim-Yuson told BusinessWorld that the renovated museum will have “an interesting mix of both the new and old, a middle ground between nostalgia and growth.” Some examples of this are the Pamayanan hall, which will see the image of the Binondo Church joined by a mosque, and the male national heroes joined by more female national heroes, in order to be more inclusive.

“The updated Museo Pambata is the perfect home for not only the memories of those who have visited before, but also those who are going to experience the museum for the first time,” she said.

Museo Pambata is located on Roxas Blvd. corner South Drive, Ermita, Manila. It will be open from Fridays to Sundays, 10 a.m. to noon, and 2 to 4 p.m. starting Dec. 6. School tours and private events can be booked from Tuesday to Thursday. Entrance costs P450, with discounts for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Kids who are two years old and below can access the museum for free. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

3% of cyber threats in region target PHL firms — study

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

THREATS targeting local companies continued to increase in the first half of the year, according to global cybersecurity company Kaspersky, with the Philippines accounting for about 3% of the online attacks recorded in Southeast Asia.

“As businesses and governments in the region continue to embrace digitalization to drive economic growth, their increased reliance on digital platforms broadens their attack surface,” Kaspersky General Manager for Southeast Asia Yeo Siang Tiong said in a media release on Tuesday.

In the six months to June, Kaspersky said it had logged and blocked more than 26 million web threats in the Southeast Asian region, or an average of 146,944 web attacks daily.

Kaspersky said businesses in Southeast Asia face challenges as they navigate the booming digital economy, which can be exploited by cybercriminals.

The majority of the web-based or online threats in the region were recorded in Malaysia, which faced 19.62 million threats in the January-to-June period; Indonesia recorded a total of 3.2 million; while Vietnam and Thailand recorded 1.45 million and 1.06 million web attacks, respectively.

The Philippines ranked second to last in the region with 846,837 recorded threats, accounting for 3.25% of the over 26 million web attacks recorded in the first semester. Singapore, on the other hand, logged 574,292 attacks.

In a previous report, Kaspersky said web threats targeting Philippine companies reached a total of 1.69 million in the full year 2023, up from nearly 500,000 in 2022.

“This leads to more opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities in unprotected systems, which can cause disruptions to supply chains, financial institutions, and critical infrastructure such as healthcare and energy,” Mr. Yeo said.

Ronald B. Gustilo, national campaigner for Digital Pinoys, said cybercriminals will always take advantage of any country’s digital activity regardless of the strength of its digital infrastructure.

“The Philippines remains a good target for them because we are among the countries that are still catching up with the fast-paced development of digital technology,” he said.

Kaspersky said increasing cyber threats damage productivity and make the public suspicious or mistrustful of digital technology, which in turn could lead to financial losses.

“While there has been a significant improvement compared to previous years, many Filipinos are still challenged with digital literacy, hence the high number of cybercrime victims,” Mr. Gustilo said.

The Philippine digital economy is expected to maintain its growth trajectory, driven by e-commerce and the continued development of digital infrastructure, according to the e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Co.

It also said that the country’s digital economy is projected to grow by 20% to $31 billion in terms of gross merchandise value this year, making it the fastest-growing digital economy in Southeast Asia.

Mr. Yeo said that cybercriminals in the region are getting more sophisticated by leveraging tools like artificial intelligence and other technologies.

Kaspersky said that local companies must ensure continued vigilance and investments in strengthening their cybersecurity posture and must leverage technologies to help combat threats. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

Of artistic development and critical voices

PAINTINGS and resin sculptures from Ronson Culibrina's collection titled Batangan — BRONTË H. LACSAMANA

Ateneo Art Awards looks back at winning artists, recognizes art critics

INTERACTIVE art, works depicting climate change, and various multimedia pieces made with artificial intelligence (AI) tools are on display at the exhibition of past winners of the Ateneo Art Awards for its 21st year. Slated to run until March 8, 2025, it is now on view at the Ateneo Art Gallery of the Ateneo De Manila University in Quezon City.

This year, the featured artists are Keb Cerda (2019 winner), Ronson Culibrina (2018 winner), KoloWn (2018 winner), and Christina Lopez (2021 winner). They each completed artist residencies following their wins.

“In alternate years, the return exhibition of past winners takes place; 2024 is the second time we’ve adopted this schedule,” Ateneo Art Gallery director and chief curator Boots Herrera said at the exhibit opening on Nov. 24.

She added that all four artists chosen for the show have pushed the envelope with their works, even after winning the award. “Media-based practice has offered visual artists wider options in artistic production,” she said.

Keb Cerda’s portion of the exhibit is a mini retrospective of recent games that he developed, starting with Super Nardo, the augmented reality (AR) game which earned him the Fernando Zobel Prize for Visual Arts. Following his residency at Liverpool Hope University in UK which was his Ateneo Art Award prize, he went on to make three more games: another AR game called Dahlia, the arcade machine Atomic Blob Machine, and the kinect device game Dopamine Dash: Viral Mechanica 1.0. All are playable at the exhibition.

Ronson Culibrina’s show Batangan, which refers to the slabs of wood or bamboo attached to a bangka (outrigger boat) to keep it balanced, is “a tribute to Talim Island in Laguna de Bay.” Being the artist’s hometown, it inspired the paintings and sculptures he made over the past few years. “All these works are grounded in my roots,” Mr. Culibrina told BusinessWorld at the opening.

KoloWn’s contribution to the exhibition is a work titled GhostWriter. It is a web application that creates fake stories based on current headlines from Philippine news websites and audience-submitted words via QR (Quick Response) code. Using the language model GPT-4, a sci-fi story is created from this data, which is projected on a large screen for gallery visitors to read.

“The work is a response to the proliferation of fake news and the possible impact of AI in our lives. The sources came from real time news headlines, and it is a critique on how fake narratives are created in the times of social media,” KoloWn said in a video played at the opening. The artist has not revealed their real name or face in public.

Meanwhile, Christina Lopez’s selection of works comes from some of her solo exhibitions. The most exciting one, reworked into a new form, is Sirens, a series of portraits displayed inside a cylindrical structure that one must step into, to be enveloped in total darkness save for a spotlight moving around to reveal the portraits one by one.

“Corresponding to those faces is audio that reacts to that, with the images as the trigger point,” Ms. Lopez explained. “My practice is about images, so I like to highlight that in my work.”

ART CRITICS AWARDED
This year, the Ateneo Art Awards’ Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism went to three writers: Levi Masuli, Chesca Santiago, and Ryan Cezar O. Alcarde. All three will be part of Orange Project’s month-long writer’s residency in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

Mr. Masuli’s essay, “All That Is Useful Lends Itself to Waste: Inside Jon Olarte’s Gyre Dominion,” tackled the said exhibition at MONO8 Gallery. Ms. Santiago, on the other hand, wrote “Against Community as Moral Currency,” which centered on Vien Valencia’s BAD LAND exhibit, mounted at Underground Gallery.  Mr. Alcarde’s winning essay in Filipino was “Line of sight: Ilang tanaw sa paggawa ng sining sa mga laylayan ng lunsod,” about Dennis Bato’s installation of the same name at the Baraks art space.

The winners will contribute to various publications for a year beginning in January: Mr. Masuli will write for The Philippine Star, Ms. Santiago will write for the ArtAsiaPacific magazine, and Mr. Alcarde for the Katipunan Journal.

“We perceive the world in fluctuation, where we try to find meaning and gain understanding as the ground seems to constantly shift beneath our feet. That’s how our founder, Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, saw the Philippine art scene, which she describes as a fluctuating, flexible, and wide-open field,” said Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation President Anne Marie Ozaeta at the awards.

“This year really reflects this, with the entries offering very different yet compelling approaches to this notion of fluctuation.”

The Ateneo Art Awards 2024 exhibition is on view at the third floor of the Ateneo Art Gallery in Arete, Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Ave., Quezon City, until March 8, 2025; the art criticism pieces may be read at https://pkl.ateneoartgallery.com. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

The demographic dividend of the Philippines: Avoiding growing old before becoming rich

FREEPIK

(Part 3)

Will the Philippines grow old before becoming rich? That is the sad fate that has befallen Thailand because of a very aggressive birth control program in the last century (quite similar to what is happening now to China and what happened to Singapore in the 1980s, with the difference being that Singapore was able to become rich before growing old). The answer to that question will be found in what our leaders — both in the public and private sectors — will do in the next 20 years to take full advantage of the new type of demographic dividend resulting from a drop of the fertility rate to below-replacement of 1.9 babies per fertile woman.

As Deputy Executive Director Lolito Tacardon of the Commission on Population and Development pointed out in a recent briefing, such a decrease in fertility rate has a bearing on the age structure so that the dominant sector of the population now belong to the working age group aged 15 to 64, while the dependents, those aged zero to 14 are getting fewer in number.  If the country is successful in harnessing the working-age population, there is a great possibility that economic development can be accelerated. In concrete terms, while the Philippines has managed to grow its GDP at 6% to 7% over the last 15 years, with the exception of the abnormal decline during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, this demographic transition may make it possible for our GDP to grow at 8% or more if we are able to harness the young population productively.

Whereas the emphasis of what was then known as the Commission on Population (Popcom) was to control population growth, the better named Commission on Population and Development should concentrate on the means to accelerate development and allow market forces and the individual decisions of married couples to decide on the number of children they want. The State should stay out of the bedroom.

Although the pill-pushers are unhappy, it is a good trend to see the budget for family planning remaining stagnant and scheduled to be reduced by 2024. As the former Executive Director of the Commission on Population and Development, Juan A. Perez III, complained in an article in this paper (June 5, 2023), the family planning budget has remained stagnant and started to be reduced this year. Unprepared LGUs are now obliged to buy birth control pills and condoms, instead of receiving them for free. The Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program reported that from a high of 50% free contraceptives from government in 2018, the share of free contraceptives went down to 17%. Women are now getting their pills from the local drug stores or boticas as health centers run out of pills. To me, it is a good sign that Popcom has closed its family planning clinic and converted it into an employees’ clinic.

Although responsible parenthood continues to be a valid concept, it is time to adjust to the new reality that the real population bomb is the rapid ageing of the population and that is desirable for Philippine society never to lose its pro-life and pro-children culture. Many parts of the developed and even developing world are regretting having instilled in the minds of especially their women a “contraceptive mentality” which has been proven to be irreversible.  For example, for more than 20 years now (even when the founder of modern Singapore Lee Kuan Yew was still alive), Singapore has been implementing all types of pro-children programs which have all failed. Once an anti-birth mentality has been nurtured in a society, it is almost impossible to remove it because a consumerist and materialistic approach to life considers children as an obstacle to the individual fulfilment of the parents, especially among the women. To consumerist couples, it is often a decision to have a child or to buy a Lexus car.

It is thought-provoking to read what a fellow columnist in this paper wrote about population policies over the years. Diwa Guinigundo was one of the technocrats responsible for building the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) into one of the best central banking institutions, not only in Southeast Asia, but in the world. In his column entitled “Signs and Wonders,” way back on Nov. 19, 2022, he commented on the warning issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its publication Ageing is the Real Population Bomb by David Bloom and Leo Zucker of Harvard (which we had already referred to in Part 2 of this series). Because of the continuing decline in fertility in many countries all over the world (including the Philippines), policy makers must prepare for the harsh reality of a “dwindling workforce straining to support burgeoning numbers of retirees, a concomitant explosion of age-related morbidity and associated healthcare costs, and a declining quality of life among older people for lack of human, financial and institutional resources.” The Philippines must do everything possible to avoid growing old before becoming rich. Otherwise, using Guinigundo’s own words, we could be “wired to premature destruction.”

In his column, Guinigundo — who was Deputy Governor of the BSP which he served for 41 years — expressed his disappointment that it took very long for the fertility rate of the Philippines to reach the below-replacement level of 1.9 babies per fertile woman. He attributed this phenomenon to “some institutional objections to artificial methods of contraception, other than the natural method for spacing children. Health and economics yielded to faith-based arguments.” He pointed out, however, that the continuing high birth rates did not prevent the Philippines from achieving 21 years of uninterrupted positive growth, from 1999 all the way to 2019, just before the pandemic erupted in 2020. He attributed this to a long string of policy and structural reforms that liberalized the economy (especially during the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos). New industries and business process outsourcing added more push. In fact, I have always maintained that despite a good number of very undesirable political leaders, from top to bottom, we were fortunate that the best and the brightest economic managers (like Diwa himself) were present in every Administration over the last 30 to 40 years. That is why, by 2011 the Philippines was able to discard its notorious reputation as “the sick man of Asia” by consistently growing at a high of 6% to 7%, except for the huge decline in our GDP during the pandemic (from which we quickly recovered).

Where Diwa and I disagree has to do with his view that if we had been more aggressive in bringing down the fertility rate sooner, the economy could have expanded all the more, more job opportunities could have been made available to the labor force, and poverty could have been more decisively reduced — provided appropriate public policy had been put in place. It is this last proviso (provided…) that is the source of my doubt that all the good things mentioned by Diwa would have happened had we reduced the fertility rate sooner. Having been deeply involved in trying to influence public policy over the last 40 years, I can attest to the fact that it was a very slow and painful process to arrive at the critical mass of enlightened economic policies that we now have. Reducing the fertility rate too soon, with still very imperfect policies, would have deprived us, for example, of the “emergency solution” of sending OFWs abroad to earn some 10% of our GDP. It might also have decreased the number of those young people who are among the 1.7 million workers in the IT-BPM sector whose earnings account for another 10% of GDP.

But more importantly, by failing to spread the contraceptive mentality among our population — like Thailand did — we have done a big favor to future generations who, with the fertility rate now already below replacement, will benefit from the fact that we have preserved the pro-birth and pro-family mindset that both the Catholic faith and the Malay culture have instilled in our culture. Because it took us very long to reduce our fertility rate, we have made it easier for Generation Z and their children to avoid growing old before becoming rich.

(To be continued.)

 

Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

bernardo.villegas@uap.asia

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