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SMC unit maintains no billing statement received from by PSALM

SAN MIGUEL CORP. (SMC) said on Monday it was standing by its statement that its unit South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) had not received monthly billing statements from state-led Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) that indicate an alleged deficiency claim amounting to P23.94 billion.

The conglomerate was responding to PSALM’s earlier statement that SPPC could not feign ignorance of its payables because it received monthly billings.

In the statement, SPPC said it is updated in its payments to the government agency based on monthly billing statements that it sends, using SPPC’s legal position on, and computation of, generation payments.

It said the same monthly billing statements neither include nor substantiate the deficiency claim amounting to P23.94 billion as of December 2019.

SPPC said it learned of the alleged deficiency from news articles quoting PSALM.

SPPC also maintained that it is not “delinquent”as claimed by PSALM. To date, the company said it had made P314.6 billion in payments, consisting of P73.9 billion in regular, fixed monthly payments and P240.7 billion in generation charges.

SPPC and PSALM have a pending court dispute concerning differences in computing generation payments

While PSALM is basing generation payments on the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) prices, SPPC believes that selling its capacity there would have put the company in violation of provisions of their contract approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and designed specifically to protect consumers from volatile and higher electricity prices in the WESM.

SMC also said that the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals (CA) have already ruled that a regional trial court has jurisdiction over the pending dispute between the conglomerate’s unit and a state agency.

SMC was responding to Leyte Rep. Vicente S.E. Veloso III, who earlier questioned the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court’s (RTC) jurisdiction over the case, saying power-related issues should be handled by the ERC not the lower court.

The dispute between SPPC and PSALM centers on the computation of generation charges under the Ilijan power contract.

SMC cited the Mandaluyong-RTC’s order of Sept. 24, 2018, where it ruled that the lower court has jurisdiction over the case, which was questioned by PSALM through a petition for certiorari that was filed with the CA.

On Aug. 23, 2019, the CA dismissed PSALM’s petition, it said. PSALM has filed a motion for reconsideration of the dismissal of its petition.

SMC said on Sept. 28, 2015, the Mandaluyong RTC issued a writ of preliminary injunction prohibiting PSALM from terminating the independent power producer administrator agreement while the case is pending.

The listed diversified company further narrated that PSALM questioned the injunction with the CA through a petition for certiorari only to be denied by the CA. The agency then appealed the CA decision before the Supreme Court.

It said through a resolution issued on March 4, 2019, the High Court denied the appeal “because PSALM failed to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals committed any reversible error in its decision.”

On Aug. 5, 2019, the Supreme Court’s resolution became final and executory.

In the same release, SPPC said Section 43(u) of Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) on the original and exclusive quasi-judicial jurisdiction of the ERC is clarified by Rule 3, Section 4(n) of the EPIRA implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

The IRR provides that the ERC has original and exclusive quasi-judicial jurisdiction over disputes between or among energy sector participants, only if such disputes relate to the ERC’s powers, functions and responsibilities provided for in the EPIRA and the EPIRA-IRR.

It said as indicated in the EPIRA and the EPIRA-IRR, the issue between SPPC and PSALM is outside of the powers, functions and responsibilities of the ERC.

A promising start

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan
Xbox One

THERE’S A huge lack of scary titles currently out on the market. Aside from the release of a few choice offerings such as the remake of Resident Evil 2 last year, the gaming landscape seems to have largely eschewed the genre; not many developers appear willing to try their hand at creating the next horror classic. Thankfully, Supermassive Games is not among them. From its humble beginnings making downloadable add-ons for the Sony PlayStation 3 platformer Little Big Planet in 2009, the independent company based in Surrey, England has come a long way; now, it’s recognized as an award-winning creator of content that pushes the envelope.

Indeed, Supermassive Games has continually sought to challenge itself. In 2015, it came up with the surprise hit Until Dawn. The gaming equivalent of a slasher film gained critical praise for a unique capacity to combine engrossing storytelling with immersive gameplay. The product likewise spurred the developer to take the concept further, partnering with Bandai Namco in its intent to explore the boundaries of interactive horror. The result of the collaboration: a collection of eight standalone installments slated for release six months from the last.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is the first of the eight titles to hit store shelves. Released on the PS4, the Microsoft Xbox One, and the personal computer via Steam last August, it’s a grim tale focusing on the legend of the missing Indonesian ghost ship Ourang Medan, and of the five adventurous divers forced to survive within after having been taken captive by pirates in search of treasure. Throughout the interactive narrative, gamers are compelled to take control of the characters and make choices based on logic or emotion, or both, with the consequences of the choices accordingly changing the flow of the story.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan relies on a simple premise to push forward, but structures the plot as to produce multiple endings based on the gamers’ decisions. The characters themselves evolve based on the aforesaid decisions, with developments then affecting interpersonal ties. Once in a while, it employs formulaic elements and comes up with stilted dialogue. For the most part, however, it succeeds in building up tension and creating an atmosphere of uncertainty critical to immersive survival horror. For all its cliched beats, it invariably feels in touch with what its audience wants, and manages to hammer home the point that all actions have reactions with aplomb.

As with Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, there is causality to every single choice. From the outset, the story takes shape in accordance with the decisions of gamers, down to what words they opt to have their characters say in a given conversation. Some decisions can prove beneficial as a whole, while others may be fatal. An untimely (and sometimes unfair) demise isn’t uncommon, and the story doesn’t stop with the death. Rather, the loss is acknowledged, and the narrative continues to be shaped — until, that is, all characters are dead, or the mystery of Ourang Medan is solved.

Standard quick-time events and exploration segments pad the gameplay, and while they feel a bit intrusive at times, they admittedly help frame the story. In this regard, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan benefits from its excellent rendering on the Xbox One. It runs crisply and smoothly, with little to no stuttering — a technical feat considering that the environments look unnervingly lifelike. The music and voice tracks are likewise spot on, helping provide an appropriately suffocating atmosphere, especially as it ramps up to its climax.

To be sure, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan isn’t without its flaws. Along with good points, it has also borrowed some of Until Dawn’s bad ones. For instance, it forces gamers to empathize with largely unlikable characters; the investment of time and effort can be undervalued given the borderline-abhorrent personalities involved. Moreover, occasionally stiff and awkward motion-capture movements — while amounting to nitpicks in the grand scheme of things — draw gamers out of the otherwise-immersive experience.

Given the narrative structure, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan works best with cooperative play, which has gamers spending much of it separately in the leadup to the denouement. In this regard, the destination becomes less important compared to the journey. Of the various endings, the worst ones reveal nothing of value about the overarching story, while the best one comes off more like a sucker-punch twist than a truly satisfying payoff to five hours or so of gameplay. Admittedly, its replay elements — repeating it to make different choices and see different outcomes — form part of the main attraction. Because it fails to give a satisfying conclusion even at its finest, though, it winds up being betrayed by the extremely high expectations it had set for itself.

On the whole, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan gives the series a promising start. It offers a superior multiple-player run-through, its flawed story notwithstanding. It could have been much, much better, however, were its endings, and its characters, a little more fun, a little more interesting, and a little less random. Which, in a nutshell, makes it more of a promise than a fulfillment of one. Knowing Supermassive Games, better titles lie ahead.

THE GOOD:

• Good premise with great buildup and great atmosphere

• Choose Your Own Adventure type of survival horror, with the story integrating gamer actions well

• Outstanding cooperative gameplay

THE BAD:

• Unsatisfying endings

• Unlikable characters.

• Occasionally stiff movements

• Quick-Time Events feel like padding sometimes

RATING: 7.5/10

POSTSCRIPT: Italian videogame artist Chris Darril wore many hats in bringing Remothered: Tormented Fathers to fruition, and his labor of love paid dividends by way of critical and commercial success following its release on the personal computer (via Steam) in early January 2018. In creating, writing, and directing Stormind Games’ entry to the survival horror genre, he set out to pay homage to Clock Tower, industry veteran Hifumi Kono’s highly acclaimed classic adventure series. And, for the most part, he managed to do so with aplomb. Positive reviews, even from his peers, became the norm, leading to the eventual release of ports on the Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4.

Not coincidentally, Stormind Games likewise ventured to put out a Nintendo Switch version of Remothered: Tormented Fathers. Collaborating with Tokyo-based publisher DICO, it managed to find its creation on the Japanese eShop in the middle of last year, well before its scheduled release for the hybrid console’s North American, European, and Australian markets. The availability was sudden and met with little fanfare, but those who looked forward to it wasted no time purchasing it at its affordable ¥2,400 price point.

As things turned out, there was ample reason for the delay in the release of Remothered: Tormented Fathers beyond the Land of the Rising Sun. For all the enthusiasm that greeted its arrival on digital retail, it proved far from ready. Suffering from optimization problems, it was quickly pulled from the Japanese eShop and subjected to technical fine-tuning in order to, per Stormind Games itself, “meet the developer’s award-winning pedigree… We are committed to providing an immersive and gripping experience for the player. The extra time for the project will help us reach that goal.”

Significantly, Remothered: Tormented Fathers would have another false start, so to speak. Stormind Games moved the official release date yet anew to early September, although only after it issued a patch close to two months after did it feel like the product was truly ready for public consumption. And, in retrospect, it was right to think the way it did. Not for nothing are there essentially two sets of reviews of and for it: one before the patch was available for download, and one after the application of said patch addressed programming missteps.

The storied past notwithstanding, Remothered: Tormented Fathers — or, to be more precise, its latest iteration — cannot but be deemed worthy of gamers’ time. It certainly sets up its much-improved gameplay well with a story designed to get gray cells working overtime. Even the title prompts introspection; the official website discloses it to be an amalgamation of “REM” (for rapid eye movement), “moth,” “mother,” “other,” and “red” in obvious reference to its survival horror predilections. And the narrative, which starts with 35-year-old Rosemary Reed visiting the home of Dr. Richard Felton under false pretenses in order to investigate the disappearance of Celeste, the latter’s daughter, is chockful of twists and turns reminiscent of Silent Hill offerings.

Darril has envivioned Remothered to be a trilogy, so it’s no shock to find Tormented Fathers replete with unanswered questions. That said, the manner in which the story develops, and the puzzles gamers have to solve en route to unfolding it, figures to keep them engrossed from the get-go. Unfortunately, it remains technically challenged on the Switch, unable to keep steady frame rates and susceptible to stuttering. It’s passable at best whether played with the console docked or in handheld mode, suffering from soft tones and occasional artifacting, as well as from input lags.

The good news is that Remothered: Tormented Fathers rewards patient gamers with a satisfying denouement, the inevitable sequel notwithstanding. Make no mistake; it’s a challenge to negotiate on the Switch — and the excellent rendition of cutscenes serve only to underscore the wanting visuals. Parenthetically, the audio mix is lacking at best; spatial feedback and aural fidelity and balance are poor to nonexistent. No doubt, hardware limitations contribute to the hurdles Stormind Games had to go through in porting it. That said, it winds up riding too much on its haunting atmosphere to deliver a gripping narrative worthy of the time of even jaded gamers.

All things considered, Remothered: Tormented Fathers can fairly be adjudged a good release that had the potential to be much, much better. For fans of the genre, the hope is that Stormind Games learns from its missteps and delivers on a superior sequel. Meanwhile, those not able to play on any platform but the Switch are left to look at the bright side and consider it positively in its entirety. The rest may want to look elsewhere. (7/10)

THE LAST WORD: The one-and-a-half-hour preview of Baldur’s Gate 3 that developer Larian Studios gave at PAX East in Seattle, Washington over the weekend has gamers pursing their lips in anticipation. The two decades of silence from the intellectual property certainly adds to the hype, but the demo has proven nothing short of spectacular. Even as the role-playing game will keep familiar Dungeons & Dragons elements, it figures to likewise benefit from the Ghent, Belgium-based company’s previous works, among them the Divinity series.

China gives relief to shield trillions of yuan in bad debt

CHINA’S financial regulators will allow the nation’s lenders to delay recognizing bad loans from smaller businesses reeling from the deadly coronavirus outbreak, giving temporary reprieve to trillions of yuan of debt.

Qualified small- and medium-sized businesses nationwide with principal or interest due between Jan. 25 and June 30 can apply for a delay to the end of the second quarter, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory said in a joint statement with the central bank on Sunday. In Hubei province, the center of the outbreak, the waiver applies to all companies, including large firms, according to the statement.

Chinese banks are taking extraordinary steps to avoid recognizing bad loans, seeking to protect themselves and cash-strapped borrowers from the economic fallout of the epidemic, as Bloomberg News reported last week. Regulators told lenders not to downgrade loans with missed payments or report delinquencies to the country’s centralized credit-scoring system before the end of June, according to the statement.

The push by banks and regulators to ease the wave of debt going bad is part of a broader effort by President Xi Jinping’s government to shore up the Chinese economy, which some forecasters predict may suffer a rare quarter-on-quarter contraction to start 2020. Gross domestic product (GDP) may shrink by 2.5% in the first quarter, Nomura Holdings Inc. economists led by Lu Ting said in a report on Saturday, after the country’s manufacturing sector reported record-low activity in February.

In addition to pumping billions of yuan into the banking system to make it easier for lenders to extend credit, authorities have cut interest rates, reduced taxes and pledged to adopt more “proactive” fiscal policies.

S&P Global estimated last month that a prolonged health emergency could cause China’s non-performing loan ratio to more than triple to about 6.3%, amounting to an increase of 5.6 trillion yuan ($800 billion) in bad debt. With the loosening bad loan recognition standards, the ratings agency expected “questionable” loans to may peak at 11.5% of the GDP in the aftermath of the epidemic.

Banks sit on record amount of nonperforming loans as economy slows

Shares of Chinese banks rallied. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp. both gained as much as 1.9% as of 10:36 a.m. in Hong Kong.

Still, the banking regulator said lenders need to categorize loans as nonperforming should the borrower fail to repay after resuming operations for a certain period of time, according to the statement. It also urged banks to cut the average financing costs to small businesses in Hubei province by more than 1 percentage point this year. — Bloomberg

Stylish living spaces at Amalfi

FILINVEST LAND, Inc. (FLI) unveiled a new model unit for its premiere residential mid-rise condominium Amalfi in Cebu City.

The model unit gives visitors a taste of what to expect when living at the Amalfi. The unit features a “modern glam” and European-minimalist aesthetic, with a combination wood, metal and glass elements.

The Amalfi is located within the master planned township City di Mare at South Road Properties (SRP), a joint venture project of FLI and the Cebu City government.

Under the Prestige by Filinvest brand, Amalfi offers two-bedroom and three-bedroom units.

“We are proud to launch the new three-bedroom unit that redefines luxurious condo living here at Amalfi. With an extensive 112 square meters (sq.m.) floor area, it offers more space for families to flourish,” Tristan Las Marias, Filinvest executive vice-president — chief strategy officer and cluster head for Visayas and Mindanao, said in a statement.

Amalfi now has three buildings, with the first two at the foot of the central amenity with direct views of the Olympic-size swimming pool and clubhouse. The third building faces the Amalfi Courtyard.

Nestlé Philippines says coffee project boosts farmers’ yield and income

FOOD and beverage maker Nestlé Philippines, Inc. said on Monday that its project aimed at increasing the yield and income of coffee farmers turned in positive results last year.

Dubbed Project Coffee+, the initiative resulted in an increase in the average farmer yield to 477 kilograms (kg.) per hectare (ha.) in 2019, or more than double the 235 kg./ha. recorded in 2018, the local unit of the multinational group said in a briefing.

The average net coffee income for every farm was at P39,129 for 2019, or more than twice the P18,363 the earlier year, translating in an increase in the average net farm income of farmers to P90,211 last year.

Farmers based in Bukidnon and Sultan Kudarat participate in training, particularly in agronomic practices, to increase income and yield.

Angel A. Bautista, Nestlé Philippines’ corporate affairs executive, said that the company continues to teach farmers on how to increase their yield, among others.

“Ang goal pataasin ang yield, pataasin ang income, maging entrepreneurial ang farmers, (The goal is to increase the yield, raise the income, and make the farmers become entrepreneurial),” she said.

The project is a component of “Nescafe Plan,” Nestlé Philippines’ long-term program that intends to promote sustainable farming and to help farmers increase their production and gain higher income from coffee farming.

It centers on improving the economic viability of smallholder coffee farmers through intensive education and agricultural training.

During the briefing, Nestlé Philippines also presented that coffee production declined by 3.5% annually in recent years, while consumption rose by 8.8%.

Because of the widening gap between production and consumption, coffee manufacturers are forced to import coffee beans from Vietnam and Indonesia.

Amid the decreasing coffee production, Nestlé Philippines believes that the local coffee industry can reach self-sufficiency in the near future.

The three highest coffee producing regions in the country are all in Mindanao, which accounted for 68% of produced coffee in the Philippines.

The regions of Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, plus General Santos City), Davao Region, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao contributed 37%, 16%, and 15% of green coffee beans produced respectively.

Nestlé Philippines’ Project Coffee+ also aims to increase the yield of coffee farmers to one metric ton per hectare from 2018 to 2020. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

How PSEi member stocks performed — March 2, 2020

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Monday, March 2, 2020.

Anti-red tape trials set for telecoms, pharma, food

AN initiative to harmonize red tape elimination efforts will undergo initial trials on industries like telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and food, the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) said in a statement.

It said the specific segments for trial implementation of the National Effort for Harmonization of Efficiency Measures of Inter-related Agencies (NEHEMIA) project are the “common towers and interconnectivity sector, housing sector, food and pharma sector, logistics sector, and energy sector.”

NEHEMIA seeks to coordinate the streamlining of all regulatory requirements across the various agencies with an interest in overseeing a given industry.

The program has been set a target of reducing time, cost, requirements procedures by more than half within a year.

In December, ARTA Director-General Jeremiah B. Belgica said that the sectors initially identified for the NEHEMIA project are deemed critical to achieving the administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda.

ARTA is currently in the process of implementing Administrative Order (AO) 23 issued by President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Feb. 21. The order directs all agencies with front-facing dealings with the public to remove processes which are “burdensome” and to cite the legal basis for requiring submissions from applicants along every step of the transaction process.

Government entities subject to the rules of Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 need to submit compliance reports to ARTA within the next 60 days. ARTA will determine whether the agencies have complied with the law and orders to eliminate overregulation.

ARTA warned agencies to comply with the AO and raised the threat of sanctions, putting teeth into the red-tape reduction effort. — Gillian M. Cortez

Cayetano: Leave budget out of speakership power struggle

SPEAKER Alan Peter S. Cayetano raised the prospect of the 2021 budget possibly being held hostage by an alleged power struggle in the House, threatening a repeat of the delayed 2019 budget which dampened spending and economic growth last year.

“Ano bang mangyayari sa October? ‘Yung national budget, that’s why ‘yung sinabi ko nga sa kanila, magpalitan tayo, pero ‘wag niyo i-involve ‘yung budget dahil taboo ‘yan e (What will happen in October? We will be preparing the national budget. That is why I told them I am open to a change of leadership, as long as the budget is not affected, because that would be taboo),” he told reporters Monday, in an exchange that was live-streamed on Facebook.

“May usapan na tayo na ‘yung national budget will be prepared by the Executive, will be fully backed up by the documentation and prioritization, and Congress will just make corrections ‘pag nakikita natin may gap. Pero hindi dapat gamitin ang budget as a spoils system or ibalik na nakatago ang pork barrel system na pinapangako ng kabila sa ibang mga kongresista (There is an agreement that the national budget will be prepared by the Execuribe, fully backed up by documentation and prioritization, and Congress will make corrections as necessary. But the budget should not be used as a spoils system or to revert to the old pork barrel system that the other side is promising legislators),” he added.

Mr. Cayetano said that he has “no problem” should Congress decide it wants a “new leader this early.”

“Now, if the majority of Congress agrees with them and wants a new leader this early, wala rin problema kasi ganyan ang nature ng ating democracy (I have no problem because that’s the nature of democracy). But sa aking personal analysis, ‘yung mga reforms na ginagawa natin ay suportado ng great majority ng mga kongresista (My analysis is that the government’s reforms are supported by the great majority of Congressmen),” he said.

Deputy Speaker and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny T. Pimentel, who is also the spokesperson for PDP-Laban, said that the party has scheduled a meeting with Mr. Cayetano on the alleged plot to remove him.

He added that the political party has “no knowledge” of the plot and said that the group will not participate in any plan to remove Mr. Cayetano.

“As far as PDP-Laban is concerned, we have no knowledge of any plan to oust Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. And if ever there is a plan, PDP-Laban will not be involved or participate in any plan to oust Speaker Cayetano. PDP-Laban remains committed to support the leadership of Speaker Cayetano,” he told reporters on Monday.

PDP-Laban is President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s party.

Representative Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda of Albay said that the House leadership struggle is “an unnecessary distraction.”

“Unnecessary distraction that we can do without. Because we are right in the middle of almost all bills having their own momentum and suddenly we will be disrupted,” he told reporters Monday.

On Thursday, Mr. Cayetano said he received verified information about an attempt to remove him.

He added that about 20 legislators have been offered committee chairmanships in exchange for their vote to remove the Speaker. — Genshen L. Espedido

Second quarter start for construction of road linking CavitEx, Sangley Airport

THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said it will start constructing the “coastal” spur road to Cavite province’s Sangley Airport by the second quarter of the year.

“The project will start by the second quarter. Actually nakabudget ito sa 2020 (it is part of the 2020 national budget),” Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar told reporters recently.

He said the spur road project, which will cost about P200 to P250 million, will be built “along the coast leading to connect to Sangley.”

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) announced in November that it submitted its own technical proposal to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to build a five-kilometer spur road from Cavite Expressway (CavitEx) to Sangley, Cavite.

In August, Roberto V. Bontia, president of Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. (CIC), said a joint proposal on the construction of the Sangley spur road with the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) was in the works for submission to the TRB.

The government inaugurated its P486-million Sangley Airport development project last month.

The airport will be expanded by Lucio C. Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. and its Chinese partner China Communications Construction Co. Ltd.

The consortium will have to buy Sangley Airport from the Transportation department before it can start working on the first phase of the project.

The first phase of the project, which costs $4 billion, includes the construction of the Sangley connector road and bridge to connect the Kawit segment of the Manila-Cavite CAVITEx to the international airport.

Phase 1 also involves the construction of the airport’s first runway, bringing capacity to 25 million passengers yearly, helping to decongest Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City.

The Cavite provincial government has set a target for full operations by 2023, with partial operations a year earlier. A fourth runway will be opened after six years.

The same consortium will work on the other two phases of the project, with the possibility of contract renegotiations.

The second phase, which will cost about $6 billion, involves the construction of two more runways bringing annual capacity to 75 million passengers.

The last phase is the expansion to four runways, which will boost capacity to 130 million passengers.

The Cavite government said the completion of the Sangley Point International Airport will pave the way for the phasing out of NAIA, which can be redeveloped. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Bill granting special powers for flagship projects hurdles committee

THE HOUSE special committee on flagship programs and projects approved Monday a bill granting special powers to President Rodrigo R. Duterte to speed up the implementation of his “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.

“Tulad po ng nag-declare tayo ng special powers para po harapin ang Taal, isang disaster, bakit hindi natin gamitin ang powers para sa isang opportunity? (We granted special powers to deal with the Taal eruption; why shouldn’t we grant powers to take advantage of an opportunity?)” Representative Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda of Albay, the bill’s author, said on the sidelines of a House hearing.

House Bill 5456 or the proposed Flagship Emergency Act was approved subject to style revisions and amendments.

The amendments approved by the committee are as follows: changing “emergency powers” to “special powers” and allowing the next President to have the same power to fast-track infrastructure projects, among others.

The bill also authorizes “special modes of procurement” and boosts the government’s eminent domain powers to address right-of-way bottlenecks in infrastructure projects.

According to Mr. Salceda, the Philippines needs to fast-track its infrastructure projects to “fill the gap” in external demand with the Covid-19 outbreak threatening to stifle economic activity.

“Lalong-lalo sa panahon na may (Covid-19) kung saan ang buong mundo po ay dumadaan po sa isang posibleng problema sa pagbagal ng ekonomiya, eh mas kinakailangan po na bilisan natin ang mga proyekto dito sa loob ng ating bansa para po mas matapatan o mapunuan po natin yung kakulangan po sa external demand (We need to compensate for weaker external demand by facilitating these projects at a time when the epidemic threatens to slow down economies all over the world),” he said.

He said the economy has the potential to grow by 10-12% if the infrastructure bottlenecks are addressed, Mr. Salceda said.

“Kung ang ating imprastraktura na sa ngayon ay nasa 5.2% of GDP, ang ganung klase pong infrastructure ay pwede po magpabilis ng ekonomiya between 10 to 12% (With infrastructure spending accounting for 5.2% of GDP, removing the constraints on infrastructure could bring growth to 10-12%),” he said. — Genshen L. Espedido

PHL at or near top of gender balance metrics in GDBA study

A STUDY of workplace gender diversity in Asia puts the Philippines at or near first place on measures like, the narrowness of the gender pay gap, female representation in senior leadership, and overall gender balance.

The fourth Gender Diversity Benchmark in Asia (GDBA) study conducted by non-profit Community Business, which advocates for inclusiveness, and co-funded by Thomson Reuters, studied 4.8 million employees across 3,600 companies in the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia.

In the first study to take in data from Philippine firms, the gender pay gap in the Philippines was estimated at 10.2% of total compensation, followed by Indonesia (17.9%), Singapore (24.8%), and Japan (26.8%).

The percentage of females in senior management in the Philippines was 33%, followed by Malaysia and Hong Kong with 26.7% and 24.7%, respectively.

Although the Philippines ranked highly across the three metrics, gender imbalances were observed in some sectors.

Women were heavily represented in human resources at 71% and finance at 69%. The share of women in information technology was 28%.

Women in the Philippine work force accounted for more than half of the total in the 20 to 39 age group. The proportion, however, “steadily” declines from age 40 and above, which the report attributed to the need for family members to care for the elderly.

University of the Philippines Journalism Professor Ma. Diosa Labiste told reporters on the sidelines of the event that the history of the women’s movement in the Philippines has positioned the country ahead of others in Asia.

“The growth of the women’s movements since the 1960s to 1980s paved the way for the country to have more laws that would promote equality, and also women support for universal access to education on many levels. [This includes] years of having feminist and women’s groups raising issues and consciousness among different sectors in society. These are the gains we are seeing now,” she said.

“Having women in the workplace assert themselves through associations and labor unions helps close the gender income gap. We have to credit the part of history where women also demanded the right to have equal pay and have fair and better and representation in all aspect of society,” she added.

Marla Garin-Alvarez, Asia Pacific diversity and inclusion lead at the Thomson Reuters, said the Philippines’ gains in workplace gender balance can be sustained.

“First, by looking at the new arenas where we need to make our presence felt. For example… women need to be more adept at technology to be able to lead in that space,” she said.

“Second, by supporting each other. The previous generation paved the way for the younger generation of women professionals, so that they could get the proper training, exposure and visibility, leadership opportunities in particular. Women at the senior levels should make use of their leadership position to make things happen for the women in the younger generation,” she added.

“In the Philippines, particularly among multinational companies, that is happening now. The challenge is for local companies to follow suit…in changing the way they hire, promote and retain women,” Ms. Garin-Alvarez said. — Carmina Angelica V. Olano

National gov’t outstanding debt rises to P7.76 trillion at end-January

THE national government’s (NG) outstanding debt increased to P7.763 trillion at the end of January, with borrowing rising from both domestic and foreign sources, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said Monday.

BTr said outstanding debt rose 3.6% from a year earlier, and was up 0.4% from the 2019 year-end total.

“The level of NG debt reflects a P32.06 billion or 0.4% increment from the end-December 2019 level predominantly due to net availment of foreign financing,” BTr said.

Outstanding debt from domestic lenders accounted for nearly 66% of the total at P5.123 trillion. Domestic debt rose 4.4% higher year-on-year but was 0.1% lower compared to the end of 2019.

“For January, the (month on month) reduction in domestic debt was mainly due to the net redemption of government securities amounting to P3.86 billion, which more than offset the P0.03 billion effect of peso depreciation on onshore dollar bonds,” it said.

About 99.98% of domestic debt consisted of government securities while the remainder was in the form of loans.

Foreign sources provided the remainder, or P2.639 trillion, up 2.1% from the year prior and up 1.4% from the end of the previous year.

The treasury said the month-on-month increase in external debt was due to net availments of foreign loans worth P33.51 billion, as well as the “P2.72 billion effect of local currency depreciation on dollar-denominated debt.”

Loans accounted for 39.86% of the external borrowing total or P1.052 trillion while the remainder of 60.09% came from debt securities issues worth P1.586 trillion.

NG guaranteed debt stood at P488.294 billion, up 0.2% year-on-year and down 0.1% from the record level posted in December.

“The lower (month-on-month) level of guarantees was due to the net redemption of both local and foreign guarantees amounting to P0.46 billion and P0.39 billion, respectively,” the BTr said.

“This was tempered by local and third-currency exchange rate fluctuations that increased the value of external guarantees by P0.24 billion and P0.16 billion, respectively,” it added. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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