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Agricultural output contracts in 1st quarter

By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

THE country’s agricultural output contracted in the first quarter, as production of crops and fisheries dropped, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.

The PSA said that the value of production of the farm sector — which contributes about a 10th to GDP and a fourth of jobs in the country — fell 1.2% annually compared to the 0.4% growth a year ago and -0.1% in the last three months of 2019.

The first-quarter figure was lower than the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) full-year target of around 2% growth.

“This was attributed to the contraction in crops and fisheries production. On the other hand, livestock and poultry posted production increases during the period. At current prices, the value of agricultural production amounted to P441.2 billion. This was higher by 3.4% from the previous year’s level,” it said.

Rolando T. Dy, executive director of Center for Food and Agri-Business of University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) said he expected the negative agricultural output due to supply and demand disruptions.

“The COVID-19 pandemic affected some agricultural industries such as the hampered logistics of commodities. Another affected part is food demand because urban folks have limited access to markets due to the lockdown,” Mr. Dy said in a mobile phone message.

Pampanga State Agricultural University professor Roy S. Kempis said the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on the agriculture sector.

“The outcome for agriculture production is possible to change if the COVID-19 pandemic did not happen,” Mr. Kempis said in a mobile phone message.

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said the contraction in agricultural output was “expected” after disruptions caused by the Taal Volcano eruption in January and implementation of the closed fishing season in major fishing grounds around Panay Island, Sulu and Palawan.

“We are hopeful of a rebound for the second quarter, despite the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, as strategic interventions under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund are expected to bear fruit and closed fishing season is lifted on these rich fishing grounds,” Mr. Dar said in a statement.

Among sub-sectors, fisheries production, which accounted for 12.8% of the total, saw the sharpest decline at 5.2%. The PSA said that lower output was noted in species such as tilapia, yellowfin tuna, seaweed, frigate tuna, and mackerel, among others.

“Fish ports and public markets possibly faced constraints in physical distancing that many of these open and close from time-to-time for disinfection or lockdowns to impose discipline,” Mr. Kempis said.

RICE HARVEST
Crops output, which accounted for 54.9% of the sector’s total production, slid 2.1% in the first quarter. This was led by paddy rice harvest and corn which contracted by 3.6% and 3.4%, respectively.

“The first quarter is normally a low peak. I expected palay production to go up. Perhaps the delayed harvest will be gained in the second quarter,” Mr. Dy said.

UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said in a mobile phone message that the Taal Volcano eruption and lower rainfall may have contributed to the decline in output.

Last April, the PSA adjusted its production estimates for palay to 4.25 million metric tons (MT), 0.8% lower than the initial projection and a 3.8% decline year on year from the first quarter of 2019 which stood at 4.42 million MT.

The PSA also estimated that corn production will be 0.9% lower year on year to 2.40 million MT.

OTHER SECTORS
The PSA also reported livestock production, which accounted for 17.9% of total production, rose by 0.5% in the first quarter.

“Livestock growth could be just a base effect. The African Swine Fever (ASF) virus outbreak has already took a toll in 2019,” Mr. Dy said.

Hog production rose by 0.7% while goat and dairy production went up by 1.1% and 9.3%, respectively.

In contrast, carabao and cattle production showed 1.9% and 0.5% declines respectively.

Meanwhile, poultry production, which contributed 14.3% of total agricultural output, jumped 3.9%. Chicken production rose by 3.3% while duck production edged up 0.8%.

“The increase in livestock production could be due to the presence of own adequate means and assets by raisers to bring goods from farms to slaughter houses to dressing plants to public and supermarkets and the adequate ability to organize adjustments in making their own means or assets to bring goods from farms to the markets despite many areas closed because of the quarantine,” Mr. Kempis said.

Forced closure of ABS-CBN may hurt investor confidence

By Arjay L. Balinbin
Reporter

THE forced shutdown of media giant ABS-CBN Corp.’s broadcast operations may hurt investor confidence in the Philippines at a time when investments are anticipated to drop amid the coronavirus crisis.

The Makati Business Club (MBC), Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference for Human Development, Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), and Shareholders’ Association of the Philippines, Inc. issued a joint statement expressing concern over the forced shutdown of ABS-CBN’s television and radio stations, saying it is “a blow to press freedom, which is a pillar of democratic societies such as ours.”

“It is also a setback at a time when the country needs to be united against the pandemic. Now more than ever, everyone should be working together on the singular goal of helping each other through this crisis,” the business groups said.

The MAP said it was a “sad day for media freedom and the thousands of people and their families who will be adversely affected.”

“We…had fervently hoped that this day would never come as we, together with other business organizations, strongly urged Congress to consider in a timely and judicious manner the renewal of ABS-CBN’s broadcasting franchise,” MAP said.

MBC and MAP both called on Congress to act on the pending bills seeking to renew the network’s franchise, which expired on May 4.

On Tuesday evening, ABS-CBN stopped operations of Channel 2, DZMM, MOR and other regional television and radio stations, in compliance with a National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) order.

A source from a foreign business group, who did not want to be identified, said on Wednesday the government-ordered ABS-CBN shutdown is “unhealthy for press freedom and will affect the confidence of investors.”

Comparing the plight of ABS-CBN with online media company Rappler.com, which is now facing various tax evasion cases filed by the government, the source said: “If we look at what they were trying to do with Rappler, what investors were interested in was press freedom, and any step that the government takes against press freedom is seen as a threat to the business environment.”

Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (Philexport) President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. does not see the ABS-CBN issue as having an impact on investor confidence.

“There are hundreds and thousands of companies that are closed, there are millions of workers who are not working. How can that affect investors’ confidence now? So it doesn’t really matter unless the media will blow it up. It’s a political and legal issue,” he said in a phone interview.

“It depends on how it is treated by the media, because it’s an issue of franchise.”

Research and advocacy group Action for Economic Reforms (AER) said it is a “supreme and most tragic irony” that ABS-CBN, which has been doing public service amid the pandemic is being singled out for closure, while Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) are being allowed to reopen.

“This action of closing down ABS-CBN sends a signal that the administration does not care about national unity and is more concerned about political vendetta. This sets back our long fight against COVID-19,” AER said.

For University of the Philippines (UP) political science professor Maria Ela L. Atienza, the ABS-CBN case is “not just a freedom of expression and press freedom issue,” but how the government deals with big companies and oligarchs.

“President Rodrigo Duterte takes a very personal approach with big business and tends to favor some oligarchs more than others. He has previously attacked the Ayalas and (Manuel) Pangilinan but recently apologized as he needs their help currently in this pandemic environment and may get into some compromises with them in view of future political plans. He and his allies may want to extract concessions from the Lopezes. We have yet to see how these will unfold,” she said in an e-mailed reply to questions sent by BusinessWorld.

While most foreign investors look primarily at a market’s profitability, Ms. Atienza said some firms still consider political stability before making investment decisions.

“Some companies do look at the political stability and human rights issues of a certain market if they adhere to certain corporate social responsibilities and operations are affected/governed by certain principles of governments of their mother companies, common markets and regional blocs like the EU,” she said.

DUTERTE TO OVERTURN ORDER?
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said President Rodrigo R. Duterte can overturn the order of the NTC, since he has control over any office under the Executive branch.

“He may modify, amend, recall, revoke any order or any decision that might have been rendered by his subordinates in the Executive department, he has total control of the Executive department as chief executive,” Mr. Guevarra said in an interview with CNN Philippines’ The Source.

Senator Ralph G. Recto urged the NTC to revoke its order and the House of Representatives to act on the bill seeking the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.

“The way forward is for NTC to allow ABS-CBN to resume operations, for the House to immediately pass the bill, and for the Senate to ratify the bill once it receives it from the House,” Mr. Recto said in a separate statement.

Senator Franklin M. Drilon asserted that the NTC’s cease-and-desist order against ABS-CBN violates the equal protection clause under the 1987 Constitution.

“The cease-and-desist order against ABS-CBN is not only a grave abuse of discretion on the part of the NTC, it also infringes on the constitutional guarantee of equal protection,” he said in a separate statement.

Mr. Drilon cited the cases of Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Smart Communications Inc., Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, and TV5 Network, Inc., as among those allowed to operate pending franchise approval.

Meanwhile, Solicitor General Jose C. Calida said critics are “barking up the wrong tree” when they blame the NTC for directing the shutdown of ABS-CBN.

“Why blame NTC when they are only following the law. Without a valid and subsisting franchise from Congress, the NTC cannot allow any broadcasting entity from operating in the country,” Mr. Calida said in a statement.

“The bill renewing ABS-CBN’s franchise has been pending in Congress since 2016. The question we should be asking is, why hasn’t Congress acted on it? Who is at fault here?” he added.

NEW FRANCHISE BILL
Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez filed a House Joint Resolution 30 that seeks to grant a provisional franchise to ABS-CBN to be able to operate until June 30, 2022.

“I am hoping we can expedite the hearings on this measure amid the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic even if we have to hear all stakeholders through the new normal video conferencing platform,” he said in a statement.

Since ABS-CBN’s previous franchise expired on May 4, Mr. Rodriguez also filed House Bill No. 6694 to grant the media giant a new franchise for 25 years.

“It has to be a new grant and no longer a renewal, since the radio-TV station’s franchise already expired midnight of May 4. Now the remedy is for the House to speed up its hearings on my proposals for a temporary franchise and for the grant of a new 25-year broadcasting service privilege,” he said.

There are 12 pending House bills on ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, but none have hurdled the committee level.

Trading of ABS-CBN and ABS-CBN Holdings Corp shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange were suspended on Wednesday, but will resume today (May 7). — with inputs from Vann Marlo Villegas, Genshen L. Espedido and Charmaine A. Tadalan

MPIC income down for first time in history

By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter

METRO Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) posted a lower core net income in the first quarter, the first time it happened in its history, as its profits were halved as an effect of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in mid-March to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The conglomerate reported a 47% drop in attributable net income to P1.9 billion during the January-to-March period. Core net income slipped 6% to P3.4 billion.

System-wide revenues including Manila Electric Co. slid 6% to P87.8 billion, traced to the reduced traffic in toll roads, suspension of rail operations and lower commercial and industrial demand for water and power.

By business segment, MPIC’s power business contributed P2.87 billion (+7% year-on-year), toll roads added P918 million (-18% y-o-y) and water pitched in P859 million (-5% y-o-y). The hospitals, logistics and other business segments accounted for a net loss of P19 million.

In a virtual press briefing on Wednesday, MPIC Chief Finance Officer David J. Nicol said the company was projecting a 50% decline in capital expenditures this year to P80 billion. MPIC intends to scale down spending for discretionary projects such as those in hospitality, logistics and some water projects to conserve cash.

“On a group-wide basis, at this stage, I think it looks like we may be closer to sort of P80 billion funding as opposed to P160 billion,” he said.

Mr. Nicol noted the company intends to cut spending on overhead items and all things discretionary, as MPIC’s focus is “to keep everybody on the payroll” and “cut down in every other way that (it) can” in trying to survive the pandemic.

MPIC also said it is temporarily setting aside plans for regional expansion to focus on keeping its existing businesses afloat.

“I think at least for this second quarter, it is best to be financially prudent… There’s no energy looking at new projects or investing in new projects, especially abroad,” MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in the briefing.

“We have to keep the businesses running and producing the relevant cash flows required by the business to move on beyond the quarantine and continue to be strong,” he added.

For the second quarter, Mr. Nicol said MPIC is “inevitably going to be very hard hit,” as the period would account for at least six weeks of ECQ as opposed to two weeks in the first quarter. “Hopefully we are going to be profitable, but it’s going to be much, much reduced from the first quarter,” he said.

Despite the expected surge in demand for health care services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MPIC’s healthcare unit Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc. (MPHHI) said its profitability has been a challenge in current times.

“I think during the first two weeks of lockdown, revenues dropped as much as 50%. So it’s quite a big impact to the hospital business,” MPHHI President and Chief Executive Officer Augusto P. Palisoc, Jr. said.

He noted because of fear of the virus, most patients are opting to delay visits to the hospital, resulting in a decline in both the in-patient and out-patient business of MPHHI.

Mr. Palisoc said what the company intends to do is reconfigure its business and prepare for different scenarios by adopting new technologies and continuing to develop its laboratory capacity.

He also noted MPHHI is ready for any possible “second surge” of COVID-19 cases once the ECQ is lifted. He said the utilization of COVID-19 designated beds in MPHHI’s 16-hospital network is at about 36% at present. “In a way it is good because that mean…we would have a lot of capacity to be able to help,” Mr. Palisoc said.

MAYNILAD
Meanwhile, Mr. Pangilinan said he was amenable to an out-of-court settlement with the government over MPIC’s water concession, after President Rodrigo R. Duterte apologized to him earlier this week for their previous rift.

“We welcome that. I think it’s better to have a negotiated, bilateral kind of dialogue between (Maynilad Water Services, Inc.) and the government,” he said. However, he noted as of yesterday there is no course of action yet on the talks.

For Maynilad Chief Executive Officer Ramoncito S. Fernandez, what would be favorable for Maynilad is a “revised agreement that will be bankable at the end of the day.”

MPIC is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

Shares in MPIC at the stock exchange slid seven centavos or 2.46% to P2.78 each on Wednesday.

Five more illegal groups in SEC’s new warning to investors

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continued to flag groups that are soliciting investments from the public without authorization from the government.

The corporate regulator issued new advisories on Wednesday to warn the public against Captcha Philippines, Inc.; Xtreme House of Beauty Trading Corp.; Crypto Invest With Us (CIW.U); Won Project/Won Network/Won Foundation; and Fil-Invest.

Anyone representing these groups, it said, are operating illegally as they have not obtained licenses from the SEC to offer investment opportunities to the public.

“The public is advised not to invest or stop investing in any investment scheme being offered by any individual or group of persons allegedly for and in behalf of (the identified companies),” it said.

Captcha Philippines invites members to buy an account for P2,500 in exchange of a 20% daily return of 600% monthly return on investment. Members may earn more if they get to recruit members and solve Captcha tests.

Xtreme offers different packages for marketing plans that are designed to get more members through referrals. The packages are sold for as low as P1,888 for students, senior citizens and special cases, and as high as P28,888, with the promise of a maximum income of P300,000, depending on a member’s availed package.

CIW.U was found by the SEC as the same group that operated Mag Invest Ka Online (MIKO), which has been flagged by the SEC in early April. Similar to MIKO, CIW.U runs its business by promising a 1% return after six days and possibly 5%, 8%, 10%, or up to 20% weekly return depending on trading.

Won Project, which the SEC said is the developer of Woncoin, claims to be a Singapore-based company that engages in cryptocurrency. It said its main projects are its mobile application and multi-level marketing that “tokenize” remittances of overseas Filipino workers, online payments, digital-loading, air ticketing and travel and tours. But the SEC found it sells the Woncoins to offer investment packages in exchange for a daily profit of 1.5% on weekdays.

The SEC noted that Fil-Invest is not affiliated with Filinvest Development Corp. or any of its subsidiaries. It solicits investments from the public to be used in gambling activities, particularly in playing Baccarat, in exchange of a 5% to 20% monthly return.

“CIW.U, Won Project, Captcha Philippines, Fil-Invest and Xtreme have neither registered securities such as investment contracts nor secured secondary licenses to solicit and take investments from the public, as required under Republic Act No. 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code,” the SEC said in a statement.

It also noted that it had issued warnings against at least 43 individuals and groups for operating unauthorized investment activities since the country was put in a state of public health emergency in March.

People behind these operations may be fined up to P5 million, imprisoned for up to 21 years, or both, for violation of the Securities Regulation Code. — Denise A. Valdez

First Gen watches ‘very low’ LNG prices as PHL prepares to import

THE current low prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world market are favorable for the Philippines as a future buyer of the imported fuel, an official of Lopez-led First Gen Corp. said.

“International LNG and oil prices are now at very low levels which bodes well for the Philippines as a potential new importer of LNG which can initially complement, and eventually replace, natural gas from the Malampaya field,” First Gen Executive Vice President Jonathan C. Russell told BusinessWorld.

Economic shutdowns caused by the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have lowered demand for oil and gas, causing an oversupply, along with a steep decline in prices.

In its recent outlook report, Moody’s Investor Service said that the current supply glut of North American natural gas will continue to strain prices from June to August.

However, it is seeing that prices in Henry Hub, a crucial benchmark for natural gas prices, will recover between $2.00-$3.00 per million British thermal units in December to early 2021, citing production cuts.

The Philippines has identified LNG imports as a substitute for its depleting indigenous source of natural gas. The country’s lone natural gas producer, Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project, is expected to be nearly depleted by 2027, according to the Department of Energy (DoE).

Various firms have submitted their proposals for LNG regasification facilities. Among these is FGen LNG Corp., a unit of First Gen.

On March 4, it filed to the Department of Energy an application for a regulatory permit for the construction of its offshore terminal for LNG within its energy complex in Batangas City.

The project, once completed, will bring in an interim floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), which will hasten the introduction of imported fuel to the Philippines.

The country has yet to enter any LNG supply contracts from producers abroad.

The listed firm had said that upon the issuance of its regulatory permit, it might start the project as early as this month so it could receive imported LNG by the third quarter of 2022.

Yet, due to the prevailing public health crisis spurred by the global pandemic, the company is seeing that the permit may come in later.

“We understand that the PCERM (permit to construct, expand, rehabilitate and modify) application is currently in the process of being reviewed by the DoE, but given the circumstances that prevail, it is quite right that the DoE should focus its efforts on much more important and pressing issues brought about by the COVID-19 situation and to ensure the continued and uninterrupted supply of electricity to consumers,” Mr. Russell said.

The First Gen subsidiary is now preparing plans for the upcoming construction of its LNG terminal soon after the crisis subsides and when conditions would allow construction activities to be done safely.

The DoE earlier declared First Gen’s LNG terminal as an “Energy Project of National Significance” under Executive Order No. 30, allowing it to enjoy faster permitting from government agencies.

Other LNG-related projects which have been given notices to proceed by the government are the gas-to-power projects by the Lucio Tan Group and another by the Australian firm Energy World Corp.

On Wednesday, shares in First Gen inched up 0.97% to close at P18.80 each. — Adam J. Ang

Digital is ‘new normal’ as businesses restart

By Jenina Ibañez, Reporter

THE “new normal” for businesses after the lockdown is lifted will likely include a major shift to digital services, including digital payments and telemedicine.

Anthony Oundjian, managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, said the move to the post-quarantine norm will have two stages. The next few quarters, he said, will be the implementation of constraints to protect public health, while long-term changes will be structural.

“In the longer term it’s a bit more unpredictable, but I do believe a set of changes will be amplified…digitalization of life in shopping, to the way we buy, to the way we interact,” he said in a BusinessWorld online forum on Wednesday.

Shailesh Baidwan, president of Voyager Innovations, Inc. and PayMaya Philippines, Inc., said digital financial services will be the new norm.

He said that downloads for digital financial services have increased, describing a consumer shift.

Large businesses, he said, are compressing their timeline to be able to deliver goods and services through digital tools in the next two months, instead of the next two years. For small businesses, digital is either a means for survival or further opportunity.

“Using access to Facebook, Viber groups [they] are actually able to use and service their communities with their products at a time like this. And they in turn are demanding digital financial services and payments,” he said.

He said PayMaya is working with the government as it tries to disperse funds to vulnerable communities as well as collect funds like taxes and fees through digital means.

“We need to accelerate financial inclusion in the country to help cushion the negative impacts in the coming months,” he said.

Philippine Genome Center Deputy Executive Director Raul V. Destura said the importance of the healthcare system has been emphasized during the pandemic.

“For the healthcare sector, the new normal will probably be the resurgence of telemedicine. Because of problems of social distancing, the need for digital technology as a tool for healthcare delivery is something that needs to be worked on,” he said.

University of Canberra Associate Professor Nicole Curato said that the pandemic exacerbates existing inequalities among Filipinos.

“The new normal will be extractive of our time, our health, our productivity, and our relationships…the poor will bear the brunt,” she said.

She said she would like to see businesses who have the ability to do so to shift from philanthropy to offering living wages to their employees.

“We’ve been celebrating a lot of businesses because of their good charitable work because of the pandemic. Fantastic. But I think the even bigger issue here is why are we even having to get to the point of talking about charity if we can give our employees excellent healthcare, excellent insurance and excellent support that is built in their working contracts?” she said.

“I know not all companies can afford this. But for the companies that can, I hope this pandemic will be an opportunity to reassess what kinds of rights they give to their workers so if something like a pandemic happens again, we don’t have to rely on charity. There is justice and dignity in good labor,” she added.

Dealing with this summer of grief

THIS seems to be a summer of loss: jobs, money, stability, loved ones, and lives have been given over to the void. It’s not easy to wake up everyday not knowing what the world outside your windows would look like. The pandemic has changed the way we live, and in the moments that we’re trying to do more than just live and work, emotions usually bubble up to the surface.

A talk by Flourish Circle — a mental health space that offers 12-session programs called Flourish 101: Understanding Grief During the Quarantine — last week aimed to understand how a global pandemic can insinuate itself as grief, and how we can deal with it. The talk was hosted by mental health advocate and the reigning Miss LoveYourself International, Clea Torres.

Noel Cabigting, spiritual director, psychotherapist in pastoral practice, and co-founder and program developer of Flourish Circle, tried to trace where grief comes from. “I think it has to do with a loss of connection. It’s one way to capture it. You’re connected to something, and then something happens — and then you’re disconnected from that.”

“Another way to look at it is, there’s a story that you’re living out, and suddenly, that gets derailed. Something comes in, and that changes and derails the story. That could be two images of what grief could be,’ said Mr. Cabigting.

Meanwhile, Sheila Tan (who is a Flourish Circle co-founder, licensed Meta-Coach, Group and Team Coach, NLP Master Practitioner, and Neuro-semantics trainer) said, “We can feel grief for losing something that’s tangible. Sometimes we feel that for things that are intangible. Sometimes that’s even harder, because you can’t define and we can’t express what the loss has been. It could be an ideal, or a dream that we once had, that has become impossible. That’s also a loss that we have to grieve.”

To summarize these points about the causes and sources of grief, Ms. Torres said, “It’s an abrupt stop in something that you were doing, and living out. Grief is the emotion that comes with dealing with that end.” She adds, ““Grief is the emotion that comes from having to handle, or deal with loss — whatever kind.”

Responding to what people are grieving for these days, Mr. Cabigting said, “The emotion of powerlessness and anger, and the sense of things changing. Not just for myself, but collectively, in the world that we’re living in.” He also said that for the people at home, the grief may even be vicarious: just hearing about frontliners in hospitals and stores, or knowing other people who are experiencing either loss or uncertainty.

With grief comes the feeling that things will never change, and one will be powerless to stop it. “Sometimes, feeling powerless and helpless could be something that will be good to acknowledge. Sitting with powerlessness and helplessness could be a form of self-compassion. [These feelings] have the potential to tell you what you’re valuing,” Mr. Cabigting said.

Ms. Tan says that when these feelings come, it’s best to ask the question: “What is it that I feel powerless about?”

“In our minds, there are a lot of things, and they all seem to make sense. It’s like a jumble of a lot of things. [Being overwhelmed] is what could be making us feel powerless and helpless,” she said.

Ms. Tan makes a point that naming what bothers us instead of having it exist in a nebulous state in our minds could be the first step to dealing with it in a healthy manner. “Decluttering our thoughts and giving categories to them — [in something as] simple as that, we realize that [a thought] impacts me the most. We could have a choice in how to deal with it.

“Being at peace with emotions, and not being scared of them, is key.”

Mr. Cabigting calls emotions messengers, bearing in mind that they exist for us to make sense of the world (think of them as an extension of your senses). “Once we know the message, we could make an informed, or mindful decision on how to respond to them,” he said.

“There are things that we cannot change, and we need to just sit with that, and walk through that. There are things that we could hold, and think, or act on,” he noted.

A strange and all-too-sad consequence of a global pandemic, with an invisible virus that floats just outside your walls is that you, or someone you know, can be at risk. The speakers shared how best to deal not just with the grief, but the fear that the pandemic sows.

“This pandemic forces us to ask questions about our limitations. Questions about death can also be helpful, in that we can make decisions about how we want to live,” Mr. Cabigting said.

“Acknowledging death does not mean liking it. It means simply giving it permission to be the reality that you find yourself in.” — Joseph L. Garcia

ERC further extends period to pay power bills

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on late Tuesday ordered power utilities to further extend the grace period for customers in paying their electricity bills that were due within the period of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

In an advisory, it said that electricity consumers in areas under ECQ will have to pay their deferred bills starting May 30, which may be done in four installments in the next four billing months as earlier directed.

The grace period in bills payment provided to households in areas now under general community quarantine is still retained, the ERC said.

Currently, the areas under ECQ include the National Capital Region, Central Luzon (except Aurora), Calabarzon, Pangasinan, Benguet, Iloilo province, Cebu, Bacolod City, Davao City, Albay, and Zamboanga.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country is now under the more-relaxed GCQ from May 1 to 15.

The deadline will also be extended for the payments of dues and obligations by distribution utilities and retail electricity suppliers to power generators and suppliers, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., National Power Corp., National Transmission Corp., National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, independent power producers (IPP), IPP administrators and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market operator.

The regulatory agency reiterated its recent order that utilities using estimated billings must indicate in their customers’ bills that they are being charged for their average electricity consumption from January to March, or the past three months before the ECQ period.

Government entities that are contestable electricity customers will start their regular payments of bills from May 16.

Further, ERC said that the suspension of the collection of feed-in-tariff allowance, which is also paid for by power consumers, is only applicable for the March and April billing periods. — Adam J. Ang

WFH during the ECQ: Lenovo’s Michael Ngan

THE pandemic may have brought several industries to their knees because of quarantine measures which limit people’s movements outside their homes — but not Lenovo as the computer manufacturing company is expecting to see a rise in demand for its laptops and other productivity accessories. That optimism also led the company to hold the Philippine launch of the new additions to its Legion gaming line via a digital press conference, the first time it has ever done so.

Michael Ngan, president and general manager of Lenovo Philippines, said the world of work will change with the pandemic — there will be a greater focus on flexibility and agility — which means more people working from home and using laptops and other mobile devices for productivity.

A month after the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) started, Mr. Ngan noted that while he still prefers to start his days early, he is appreciating having more time with his children even if they do tend to barge in on virtual meetings every so often.

(The responses were lightly edited.)

WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED MEETING METHOD AND WHY?
We’ve been using Microsoft Teams and so far, we’ve had a seamless experience with it for conference calls which helps us keep the business running as usual amid the enforced remote work arrangements. Recently, we hosted a launch event in the same platform for Lenovo Legion with over 70 participants from the Philippines and other countries, and to be able to pull that off with the technology we have now is truly incredible.

WHERE IS YOUR HOME OFFICE LOCATED?
I’m currently using a guest room in our home which is now a fully functioning work area, set up with Lenovo’s productivity tools — my laptop, a portable extra monitor, and noise-cancelling headsets. Our company has always advocated “work from anywhere” and while the circumstances are extraordinary, we find ourselves living that lifestyle now and thriving because of our own products. It makes me genuinely proud of seeing how our technology helped several others quickly transition into their new reality.

WHAT TIME DO YOU START YOUR WORKDAY NOW COMPARED TO WHEN YOU ACTUALLY WENT TO THE OFFICE?
Before ECQ, I’d start my day at around 5 a.m. because I’d have to drop off my kids at school. These days, I still prefer to start as early as possible, say, around 6 a.m. Now that I don’t spend as much time on the road, I have more time to go through e-mails and attend to them after a good cup of coffee. While my schedule is largely flexible, I only pick the most important things I have to accomplish for the day and set attainable goals. Because when that’s all clear to you, you face the day with purpose.

DO YOU TAKE BREAKS?
I mostly spend my breaks enjoying time with my children, especially my youngest daughter. Sometimes she just comes into the room, all curious about what I’m up to. I find that bonding and catching up with my children is a meaningful way to spend my free time and it’s something I relish as much as I can.

DO YOU STILL DRESS FOR WORK OR ARE YOU MORE CASUAL IN THE WORK-FROM-HOME SETUP?
While our work-from-home (WFH) setup today doesn’t call for a full business attire like in the office, dressing well helps me be in the right headspace and transition to work mode. You’ll often catch me in a casual shirt or our Lenovo gear. In addition, we at Lenovo make it a point to always be on video during conference calls which is a good enough reason to pay attention to what you’re wearing.

ANY INTERESTING STORIES FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE OF WORKING FROM HOME?
When you have children in the house, it’s inevitable that they occasionally barge in the room and demand your immediate attention. Despite things like that, however, I encourage my team to still communicate with the camera turned on.

The WFH scheme also prompted us as a company to think of more creative ways to engage our people while we are all cooped up at home. We have started doing non-business-related conference calls weekly, just drinking coffee together or doing morning fitness exercises. Sometimes, these are even personally led by business leaders across the Asia-Pacific region. Aside from the fun part, we look forward to these social activities to keep our mental health in check.

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON YOU LEARNED FROM WORKING FROM HOME? WHAT WILL THE WORLD OF WORK BE LIKE AFTER THE PANDEMIC?
The past month and so of social distancing disrupted almost everything, pushed us way out of our comfort zones, and defined a new normal for our society. The world of work post-pandemic will demand greater flexibility and agility among workers and as a technology company, we recognize our social responsibility to equip them with good productivity tools. The academe, which is also severely disrupted by the pandemic, will also find itself in the middle of digital transformation as the government is now starting to build an online education platform that we are planning to support using our LanSchool proprietary classroom management software.

As different aspects of life are driven by the current pandemic to subsist online, we will start to develop a BYOD or Bring Your Own Device culture across industries. Regardless if it’s a phone, tablet, or laptop, being able to conduct business from anywhere will empower more businesses and workers. When we fulfill our mission of bringing Smarter Technology for All, we help them easily adapt to any situation and introduce new ways of doing things that challenge the status quo. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Apo Agua plans recovery for delayed P12-B water project

DAVAO CITY — Aboitiz-led Apo Agua Infrastructura Inc. is finalizing a recovery plan to get back on track the completion of its P12-billion bulk water supply project in Davao City that has been affected by quarantine restrictions.

Apo Agua General Manager Cirilo C. Almario III, in an email interview Monday, said while they are assessing the delay on the project’s timeline, they are also working on new protocols when construction activities resume.

“We are ascertaining when we can resume full construction activities, while putting in place the appropriate health and safety protocols,” he said.

Davao City is the only locality in Mindanao that was declared by the national government as still at high risk of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and will remain under the strict enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) guidelines until May 15.

Under the local ECQ rules, all construction activities not related to the public health emergency have been halted.

Mr. Almario said Apo Agua, a joint venture of Aboitiz Equity Ventures and JV Angeles Construction Corp. (JVACC), is also “evaluating the full impact of the pandemic on its critical value chains from labor to subcontractors and suppliers.”

“The company is also proactively working with JVACC and its project partner, the Davao City Water District (DCWD), to mitigate the adverse effect of COVID-19 to the project and to recover as quickly as possible,” he said.

The project, which will source water from the Tamugan River and supply at least 300 million liters per day to DCWD, was scheduled to be completed by June 2021.

DCWD Spokesperson Bernardo D. Delima Jr. earlier said the bulk water supply will meet demand projections, which takes into consideration the completion of 68 high-rise buildings and 63 residential subdivisions in the city. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

Facebook clamps down on fake news

By Zsarlene B. Chua
Reporter

SOCIAL networking giant Facebook has clamped down on misinformation about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) across its apps as more and more people turn to social media not only to connect with loved ones but also to look for information about the pandemic.

And they’ve done so by adding “eight more fact-checking partners” from March to April to bring their fact-checking network to 60 partners debunking claims in more than 50 languages. In the Philippines, their third-party fact-checking partners are AFP, Rappler, and Vera Files.

“We’ve taken steps, a lot of steps to make sure people have access to accurate information, limit misinformation and harmful [content],” Clare Amador, head of public policy at Facebook Philippines, said in a digital conference on May 5.

In the months since the pandemic raged and more people practiced social distancing, Facebook has noted an increase in traffic across its family of apps (Instagram, Messenger, Facebook, and WhatsApp) with 3 billion people using them each month while Facebook gets 1.73 billion users a day in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 1.56 billion daily active users on the first quarter of 2019, according to statistics portal Statista.

In March, Facebook flagged about 40 million posts related to COVID-19 on Facebook “based on around 4,000 articles by our independent fact-checking partners.”

“When people saw those warning labels, 95% of the time they did not go on to view the original content,” Alice Budisatrijo, product policy manager for misinformation at Facebook Philippines, said in the same conference.

She added that they have also removed “hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm.”

“I think [the pandemic] is kind of a unique situation for us in terms of handling misinformation. So with this pandemic, even though information changes all the time and there’s a lot that even scientists don’t quite know about the disease there are authoritative health experts and authorities like the World Health Organization and the country’s health department and scientists that are working really closely on this that we can turn to and consult,” she said.

This, in turn, makes their work on fighting misinformation clearer as it makes it “quite clear who we can turn to.”

“This is quite different from political situations where there’s not a lot of agreement on what even constitutes misinformation,” Ms. Budisatrijo said.

OTHER TOOLS FOR COVID-19
Beyond battling misinformation, Facebook has also used its disease prevention maps launched in 2019 and was used to track the spread of cholera in Mozambique. Now, its disease prevention maps are used to track the spread of COVID-19 by revealing “the probability that people in one area will come in contact with people in another, helping illuminate where COVID-19 cases may appear next,” a company statement read.

The said maps also show movement trends at a regional level which can provide insights into whether preventive measures are working and a “social connectedness index” showing friendships across states and countries, which can help epidemiologists forecast the likelihood of disease spread.

Currently, the disease prevention maps are not yet available in the Philippines but that Facebook is looking for “the best way to roll this out in the Philippines with some partners,” said Michelle Fojas, Facebook Philippines’ communications manager, in the conference.

The company also announced that they will be giving a $100 million grant shared between “up to 30,000 eligible small businesses” across 30 countries where the company operates including the Philippines.

Beyond saying the grant can be used to cover operational costs, help workforce and connect businesses with more customers, no other information was given on the grant.

The end of the open plan office? Workspaces get post-pandemic makeovers

ONE-WAY corridors, buffer zones around desks, and clear plastic screens to guard against colleagues’ coughs and sneezes may become office standards after coronavirus stay-at-home orders are lifted, say occupational experts.

Government-mandated lockdown orders to contain the global pandemic have radically changed how and where people work, with millions switching from office to the dining room and meetings moving to videoconference.

As curbs are eased, offices are being redesigned to minimize transmission risk and prevent a second wave of coronavirus cases, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned could hit the United States hard next winter.

International real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, which has overseen the return of almost a million people to offices in China, has come up with a workplace design concept to help usher in the new iteration of office life.

The concept uses the “six feet rule” of social distancing to keep areas around desks empty. A prototype in the company’s Amsterdam offices shows clients how their spaces can be configured.

“It comes down to some basic concepts, things like colored carpet or, in a less sophisticated or expensive application, taping off what six-feet workstations look like,” said Bill Knightly, who works on the company’s COVID-19 task force.

“So it’s very visual. In some cases, installing Plexiglas or some other form of sneeze or cough guards to give folks additional insurance.”

For workers used to the social interactions in modern open-plan offices and hot desks shared by multiple employees, the changes could be hard to adapt to, said organizational psychologist Brad Bell, who has studied the impact of working remotely.

“We’ve found that the more isolation that employees experience or perceive, that has a negative impact on a number of important outcomes… their satisfaction with their work,” said Mr. Bell, a professor of Human Resource Studies at Cornell University. “I think it can certainly lead to stress. It can undermine wellbeing.”

Employers are seeing the benefits of remote work during the pandemic, Mr. Bell said, predicting some might move toward that model permanently.

“What my conversations with companies are revealing is employees are remaining productive. They’re getting the work done. And in many ways, you know, it’s a difficult time for everybody, but are performing much better than many companies thought they would be,” he said.

But there could also be greater demand for office space to allow for social distancing, Mr. Knightly said.

“Do we think everybody who can work from home will continue to work from home? No, not at this stage. That’s not the general consensus,” he said. — Reuters

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