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Tacloban City enforces street, sidewalk clearing

TACLOBAN CITY, the regional center of the Eastern Visayas Region, started clearing sidewalks and streets from obstructions last week, ahead of the President’s order to local government officials, also made last week, to strictly implement the country’s road laws. A statement from the City Information Office said the clearing operations was initiated in line with the local government’s earlier announcement that starting Aug. 1, there will be a crackdown on sidewalk and ambulant vendors without business permits. Members of the Traffic Operation Management Enforcement and Control Office (TOMECO) and the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) have been going around the city to inspect structures. They have also been ordering owners to remove obstructions on public spaces, including canopies and illegal fences. Among the areas covered starting last July 22 were Barangay 36 Sabang and 37 Sea wall Reclamation Area, Salazar and Sta. Cruz Streets, and Sagkahan District. The Business Permits and Licenses Division, meanwhile, held a meeting last Friday with ambulant vendors. The TOMECO and CEO teams have also been issuing citation tickets to illegally-parked vehicles. Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez, in a statement on his Facebook page, appealed to the public to cooperate with the clearing operations “for the continued improvement and development of Tacloban.” He said in Filipino, “Let us help each other, let us follow the laws.”

Kingad, Banario tout being part of Team Lakay

HAVING SPAWN world mixed martial arts champions in various global organizations, Baguio-based Team Lakay has rendered itself, consciously or otherwise, as the de facto face of the local MMA scene.

While it is quick to say that such is not the case, still the significance of its standing in Philippine MMA is not lost to its members, who have expressed how proud they are to be part of the group.

Among those basking in being a Team Lakay athlete are flyweight Danny “The King” Kingad and lightweight Honorio “The Rock” Banario, who both acknowledge the role their team has played in molding them not only as martial artists but as individuals as well.

Incidentally, both Messrs. Kingad and Banario are to see action on Aug. 2 at ONE Championship’s “Dawn of Heroes” event here in Manila along with stable mates Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio and Edward “The Ferocious” Kelly.

Mr. Kingad, who is set to face Australian Reece “Lightning” McLaren in a ONE world flyweight grand prix semifinal match, shared how it has been “night and day” for him since joining Team Lakay.

“Being a member of Team Lakay has played a huge factor in my improvement, not only as an athlete but as a human being as well,” said Mr. Kingad, who holds a record of 10 wins and one loss.

“Prior to joining the team, I knew very little about martial arts apart from the basic kicks and punches. Under the guidance of my coach, I learned proper execution as well as other skills such as grappling, submission wrestling, fluid striking, and others,” he added.

He went on to say that he could not imagine where he would have ended up had he not joined the team.

“When I was young, I was in a very bad crowd and it had a negative impact on my life. Team Lakay helped me out of that dark place and taught me values like respect and honor, and I generally became a better person,” said Mr. Kingad, who is riding a five-fight winning streak after absorbing his first career defeat.

For Mr. Banario (14-8), Team Lakay has done wonders in his MMA career, crediting his coaches and teammates for where he is right now in the game.

“Coach Mark always plans our daily training menu with our efficiency and safety in mind,” Mr. Banario said, referring to Team Lakay coach Mark Sangiao, who has been looking after their growth and welfare since the start.

And the kind of training regimen they are having is significant, said Mr. Banario, more so since the ONE Grand Prix has been hit with high-profile injuries and pullouts.

Mr. Banario was supposed to face Russian Timofey Nastyukhin in the semifinals but was eventually left off it after the latter pulled out because of injury.

Instead, Mr. Banario will face Korean Dae Sung Park in a lightweight clash in the preliminary fights.

Nonetheless, Mr. Banario, the former ONE featherweight champion, said his mindset is still the same and is out to book a win.

“This is the perfect opportunity for me to win. It is unfortunate that great athletes are getting injured and even though I’m out of the tournament, I will be doing my best to win on behalf of them as well as all the fans who are supporting us in my upcoming match,” he said.

Both Messrs. Kingad and Banario said they are excited to take the fight stage with their other Team Lakay mates and see it working to their advantage.

ONE: Dawn of Heroes is to be headlined by the world featherweight championship fight between Vietnamese-Australian champion Martin Nguyen and Japanese challenger Koyomi Matsushima.

Co-headlining it is the flyweight muay thai world championship fight of champion Jonathan Haggerty of England against Rodtang Jitmuangnon of Thailand. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Royal Mandaya Hotel allots P50M for refurbishment

THE ROYAL Mandaya Hotel, one of the oldest and biggest in Davao City, is continuing with its refurbishments, allocating another P50 million to improve facilities. One of the planned renovations is setting up a new space for its spa. Benjamin J. Banzon Jr., hotel manager, told BusinessWorld the hotel management is embarking on improvements “as part of its contribution to the growth of the (city’s tourism) industry.” The 181-room hotel has renovated its function halls, ballrooms, and the rooms. Meanwhile, the hotel’s owners, the Escandor family, are still exploring possibilities on the development of its other property, the Royal House, which was purchased two years ago from the family of the late speaker Prospero C. Nograles. “They have not decided yet,” Mr. Banzon said. Among the options, he added, is expanding the existing building or setting up a condominium. Davao City Tourism Operations Officer Regina Rosa D. Tecson welcomed the new investment for Royal Mandaya. “Our hotels also need to provide better experience to our visitors for them to visit again,” she said. The city recorded 1.2 million visitors in the first half of the year. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

Nerza and Hallasgo top the Milo Marathon Manila Elims

MARATHON newcomer Anthony Nerza and back-to-back Manila champion Christine Hallasgo stamped their athletic mettle at the Milo Nutri-Up 42K centerpiece event after beating almost 2,000 elite runners at the Metro Manila Eliminations of the 2019 National Milo Marathon this Sunday.

Christine Hallasgo outraced its top competitor April Rose Diaz throughout the race to win the women’s division with a time of 3:06:28, while newcomer Anthony Nerza nabbed his debut marathon win in the men’s top honor with a clocking of 2:32:50.

Around 30,000 runners from the 3K, 5K, 10K, 21K and 42K races gathered to join the country’s longest and biggest footrace series which started and ended at the SM Mall of Asia Grounds in Pasay City. Participants were in high spirits over the overcast weather, making this year’s Manila race a perfect day for a morning run.

Winners Nerza and Hallasgo will each take home the top purse of P50,000.00 in cash and a trophy, and booked their slots to the National Finals in Tarlac City on January 2020 to try and claim the Milo Marathon King and Queen titles.

In the coming months, the 26-year-old mother of one will set her sights for the SEA Games after qualifying for the 10K event in the National Games that took place in March. But with her newfound victory, she may also consider to vie for the marathon event if given the chance. “Pag-uusapan pa po namin ni Coach Buenavista kung ano po ang okay sa akin,” she said.

Completing the women’s division podium finishes, second runner up Ms. Rose Diaz clocked in with the time of 3:15:05, placing Maricar Camacho to a far third with the time of 3:26:03.

On the men’s side, it’s a different story for 29-year-old Nerza when the race broke out at the gun start. The Davao native had a different approach in relegating his opponents, most especially Jeson Agravante who came in third place.

Succeeding Nerza in the second place is Richel Laguido who finished with the time of 2:36:43, followed by Jeson Agravante with the time of 2:38:48.

Joining the Manila leg festivities was Milo Nutri-Up Ambassador Solenn Heussaff who handed out trophies to the winners at the awarding ceremonies.

Intensifying its advocacy in getting more children into sports, MILO along with Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA), have introduced a new innovation at the event with the Run, Jump, Throw program. The activity is designed to help prepare the physical readiness of children for them to engage in other sports.

The action continues in Subic Bay Freeport Zone (Aug. 4), Lingayen (Aug. 18), Lucena (Sept. 15), Batangas (Sept. 22), Cebu (Sept. 29), Iloilo (Oct. 6), General Santos (Oct. 13), Davao (Oct. 20), Cagayan De Oro (Nov. 17), and in Tarlac for the National Finals on Jan. 19, 2020.

‘Coco’ makes Washington main draw, will face Diyas in first round

WASHINGTON — Cori “Coco” Gauff on Sunday made it through to the main draw of the Citi Open in Washington, needing barely an hour to win her final qualifier.

She will play 84th-ranked Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in the first round in what will be Gauff’s third tournament appearance in the main draw.

Gauff, 15, last month became the youngest woman in the professional era to make the Wimbledon main draw.

She beat Venus Williams before losing in the fourth round to eventual champion Simona Halep.

Gauff had to get through two rounds of qualifying this weekend and she was barely troubled in either, beating American Maegan Manasse and then Japan’s Hiroko Kuwata in straight sets.

“These two matches I feel like will prep me for my first round, especially because I’ve never been to this tournament before,” Gauff said.

“I was glad that I was able to get a feel of how it is, the site, playing those two qualifying matches.

“The weather is similar to home (in Florida), so I felt like I’ve been practising at home. I’ll be happy playing on any court.” — Reuters

Mamedyarov wins in Riga

Riga FIDE Grand Prix 2019
Riga, Latvia
July 12-25, 2019

(all participants are GMs)

Round 1

Anish Giri vs. Sergey Karjakin 4.0-5.0

Pentala Harikrishna vs. Wesley So 1.5-2.5

Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs. Peter Svidler 2.5-1.5

Daniil Dubov vs. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 0.5-1.5

Alexander Grischuk vs. Nikita Vitiugov 3.0-1.0

Yu Yangyi vs. Levon Aronian 4.5-4.5*

Veselin Topalov vs. Hikaru Nakamura 2.5-1.5

David Navara vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 0.5-1.5

*match reached the final Armageddon which was drawn, so Yu Yangyi who was Black advanced to the next round (see explanation of tie-break rules below)

Round 2

Sergey Karjakin vs. Wesley So 3.5-4.5

Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1.5-2.5

Alexander Grischuk vs. Yu Yangyi 2.5-1.5

Veselin Topalov vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 0.5-1.5

Round 3

Wesley So vs. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 0.5-1.5

Alexander Grischuk vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 0.5-1.5

Round 4

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 5.0-4.0

2019 FIDE Grand Prix series consists of four knockout tournaments, each with 16 players who are paired into 8 mini-matches. The mini-matches consist of two games of classical chess, with a time control of 90 minutes for the 1st 40 moves then 30 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second increment from move 1. If the match is tied two 25+10 rapid games are played. If still tied, there are two slow rapid (10+10) games, then two 5-minute blitz games with 3 seconds increment. Finally, if the two players are still tied, a single Armageddon game is played, where White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4 (with a 2-second increment from move 61) but Black wins the match with a draw.

The first leg of the 2019 Grand Prix was held in Moscow last May and won by Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Riga was the second leg and the final match to determine its winner went all the way to the Armageddon finals.

GM (Grandmaster)Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA 2775) has made no secret of his intention to qualify for the FIDE Candidates’ tournament which will take place in the first half of 2020. Finishing in the top 2 of the FIDE Grand Prix will achieve that, so he made a determined effort to win this leg. He beat David Navara in the 1st round 1.5-0.5, former world champion Veselin Topalov in the Quarterfinals 1.5-0.5, and Alexander Grischuk in the Semifinals 1.5-0.5, all without the need of tie-breaks, earning 3 extra grand prix points (this will be explained later).

Mamedyarov has been having a below-par year and is currently down to world no. 8 with an ELO rating of 2765. To us ordinary folks this may seem very high, but consider that last February 2018 his rating was 2820, no. 2 in the world and incidentally making him the 6th highest rated player of all time. He also wanted very badly to win in Riga. In the 1st round he eliminated Daniil Dubov 1.5-0.5 (also no tie-breaks), then in the Quarterfinals he was severely tested by Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda but managed to win 2.5-1.5. In the Semifinals a deadly opening novelty did Wesley So in and Shakh drew the other game, winning without need of tie-breaks and lining himself up for the Finals match.

The Finals match Mamedyarov vs. Vachier-Lagrave to determine the winner of the Riga Grand Prix went all the way. They exchanged wins in the classical games, drew both games in the first rapid (25+10), drew another two in the slow rapid (10+10) and then exchanged wins again in the blitz (5+3) games. In both the classical and blitz portions Mamedyarov took first game but Vachier-Lagrave won on demand in the second to bring the match to the next stage. In the final match, the Armageddon game, Mamedyarov played Black and only needed a draw to take the title, but he anyway won to remove all doubt that he was the worthy champion.

Mamedyarov had a deadly novelty for Wesley So in the Semifinals and also against MVL he had something prepared.

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2765) — Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2775) [D85]
Riga Grand Prix (4.1)
July 22, 2019

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6

MVL has a rather narrow opening repertoire. With Black, against 1.e4 he plays the Sicilian Najdorf and versus 1.d4 it will usually be a Gruenfeld. That makes it easier to prepare against him. When asked about this in the post-game conference MVL replied that “Well, it’s the case for most people. You can be a target in the Berlin, in the Marshall, but of course maybe in the Gruenfeld it’s more concrete and of course there’s a lot of stuff to remember. Today I didn’t remember how to play, but I should have done better anyway.”

3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5

In the Croatian leg of the Grand Chess Tour played just a few weeks before world champion Magnus Carlsen had won quickly against MVL’s Gruenfeld with 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.Rb1 cxd4 11.cxd4 0–0 12.Qxa5 Nxa5 13.Bd3 (White wants to castle quickly, here is an example of what might happen to him if he does not do so: 13.d5 e6 14.Bd2 b6 15.Bxa5 bxa5 16.Bc4 exd5 17.Bxd5 Ba6!? 18.Bxa8 Rxa8 19.e5 Bf8 20.Rc1 Rd8 21.Rc2 Bb4+ 22.Nd2 a4 23.Kd1 Bd3 24.Nf3 Be4+ 0–1. Bellahcene, B. (2475)-Vachier Lagrave, M. (2811) Bastia FRA 2016) 13…Bg4 14.0–0 Bxf3 15.gxf3 e6 16.Rfd1 Rfd8 17.Bf1 b6 18.Ba6 Rd6 19.Rbc1 Rad8 20.Bg5 f6 (Forced. 20…R8d7? 21.Rc8+ Bf8 22.Bb5 and Black has to give up the exchange) 21.Be3 h6 22.Bb5 f5 23.d5! White had a big advantage. Take note that 23…exd5? 24.Bf4 Rf6 25.Bc7 wins material for him. Carlsen, M. (2875)-Vachier-Lagrave, M. (2779) Zagreb CRO 2019 1–0 37.

4…Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Qa4+ Qd7 8.Qa3 b6 9.Nf3 Bb7 10.Bd3 0–0 11.0–0 c5 <D>

POSITION AFTER 11…C5

12.Bf4!?

Mamedyarov’s idea. The main move here is 12.Bg5 and the bishop often continues later with Bg5–h4–g3, where it is very strong on the g2–b8 diagonal and makes it difficult for Black to follow through with e7(or e6)-e5. So Mamedyarov’s line of thought is, why can’t he bring his bishop to the g2–b8 diagonal immediately?

Objectively though 12.Bg5 also attacks e7, and since 12.Bf4 does not target anything right away White has to calculate what would happen if Black takes the d4 pawn.

12…cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6?!

Both players criticized this move because it allows the knight to be forced to the edge of the board where it remains inactive for the rest of the game. Shakh suggested 13…e6 as better.

During the game both players calculated 13…Bxd4 14.Nxd4 Qxd4 15.Qxe7 Qxd3 16.Qxb7 Na6 17.Rad1 and assessed the position as better for White.

14.d5 Na5?

MVL did not like the position after 14…Nd4 15.Nxd4 Bxd4 16.Rac1 Rfc8 17.Qb4 Mamedyarov: “White is better as Bd3–b5 is coming.” But I am not so sure, because 17…Rxc1 18.Rxc1 Bc5 19.Qb2 Rc8 20.Bb5 Qg4 Black seems to be ok.

15.Rac1 Rfc8 16.h3!

Mamedyarov: “A very good move.” This prevents …Qg4 without which Black seems to have a shortage of ideas on how to continue.

16…e6 17.d6 f6 18.e5! Bxf3

The move that MVL was counting on.

19.exf6!

What MVL missed. After the game he said that at this point he realized that Black was lost.

19…Bxf6

The zwischenzug 19…Bxg2 does not work because of 20.Kxg2 Bxf6 21.Ba6! and now after 21…Rxc1 22.Rxc1 the move Rc7 cannot be prevented.

20.gxf3 e5 21.Bd2 Rxc1

[21…Nc6 22.Ba6; Attacking the d6 pawn with 21…Rd8 does not work: 22.Rfd1 Qxd6 23.Qxd6 Rxd6 24.Bxa5 bxa5 25.Bc4+]

22.Rxc1 Rc8 23.Rxc8+ Qxc8 24.Kg2 Bd8 25.Be4 Qe6 26.Qd3 Kg7 27.Bc3 Qf6 28.Kf1 1–0

After 28.Kf1 White’s Qd5 would be devastating, and if Black tries to prevent it with 28…Qe6 29.f4 Bf6 30.fxe5 Bxe5 31.d7! queens the pawn.

Grand Prix scoring gives 8 points to the winner of any leg, 5 points to the runner-up, 3 points to the semifinalists and 1 point each for the quarterfinalists. There is an additional point given for winning a match without need of tie-breaks. Taking these rules into consideration the front-runners for the two qualifying slots to the candidates are:

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov — 10 points

Alexander Grischuk — 10 points

Ian Nepomniachtchi — 9 points

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave — 8 points

Radoslaw Wojtaszek — 5 points

Wesley So — 4 points

Mamedyarov and Grischuk have already participated in two Grand Prix events while Nepomniachtchi and Vachier-Lagrave have only participated in 1 (remember each participant plays in three of Grand Prix events), so I’d say Ian and Maxime have very good chances to qualify despite currently being in 3rd and 4th spots only.

Next Grand Prix tournament will be held in Hamburg from November 4-18, 2019 and the last one will be on December 10-24 this year in Tel Aviv, Israel. Let’s see what happens!

In case you are wondering, Wesley So will not be participating in the Germany event (each participant only plays in three of the four events) but will suit up for Israel.

 

Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.

bobby@cpamd.net

Nation at a Glance — (07/30/19)

News stories from across the nation. Visit www.bworldonline.com (section: The Nation) to read more national and regional news from the Philippines.

Nation at a Glance — (07/30/19)

Power of faith

Jeremy Lin sounded somber for the better part of his testimonial recorded by Taiwan-based Good TV. He made the appearance as part of what has now become an annual pilgrimage to Greater China, where he remains the third most popular player from the National Basketball Association after LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. For all his willingness to give of himself by way of hoops clinics and instructionals, he proved to be at his most revealing in front of a packed auditorium of fellow Christians; the league that gave him his biggest break and enabled him to be an ambassador for Asians, he said, has “kind of given up on me.”

It’s a grave assessment from Lin, who just won a championship with the Raptors, but whose extremely limited exposure en route made it something “I don’t feel like I really earned.” He played just eight minutes through the entire playoff run — and exactly 51.7 seconds in the Finals, when head coach Nick Nurse put him in at the end of a lopsided win in Game Three. “In English, there’s a saying [that] once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up,” he noted. “But rock bottom just seems to keep getting more and more rock bottom for me. Free agency has been tough.”

Indeed. Throughout the busiest offseason in league history, Lin has remained unsigned, never mind the record value of contracts inked and his position as the best backup point guard still available in the market. Frankly speaking, demand for a 31-year-old substitute with an iffy jumper and a glaring susceptibility to injury has waned, forcing Roger Montgomery, his agent, to look overseas for prospects. CSKA Moscow has reportedly come calling even as he’s looking into the possibility of suiting up with the Fubon Braves alongside brother Joseph in the Taiwanese Super Basketball League.

For the record, though, Lin wasn’t talking about the downs as much as highlighting the importance of hope. As had been his wont in previous speeches on Good TV, he underscored his belief that circumstances would pick up in God’s time. “I’m here to just tell you, ‘Don’t give up,’” he said, offering his experience as an example of unwavering conviction. And he’s right; the likelihood is that he will be picked up soon. He has, at the very least, the experience to be a positive locker-room presence.

In any case, Lin has promised to continue speaking for and on behalf of minorities. He once viewed the role as an obligation, but has learned to embraced it as a privilege, not to mention a continuing opportunity to bear witness to the power of faith — yes, even while he waits.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

The untapped talent pool Filipino founders need to leverage

When founders think of building their organization, they typically focus first on their co-founders. After filling out their C-Suite ranks, they start to think about early employees, filling out their talent pipeline with people from their network and referrals from trusted colleagues and friends.

In this scramble for the best talent, founders tend to overlook an untapped labor pool: Interns.

While internship programs are usually associated with much larger enterprises, they can be effective for startups as well. A well-crafted internship program can create impact exponentially greater than the resources needed to develop it.

If you think of the opportunities surrounding interns and startups as circles in a Venn diagram, the overlap is significant. Startups, on one hand, need talent who can take on a range of functions across the organization as it grows faster than they can hire. Interns, meanwhile, are eager to learn as many skills as they can in order to better position themselves for the job market they’re planning to break into.

These interns, in other words, want to experience a trial by fire. And what better cauldron is there than the early stage startup?

But amplifying your efforts with interns isn’t as simple as opening your doors to a bunch of undergrads-turned-coffee couriers. Creating an effective internship program begins with an attitude change. If you view interns as low level labor, you will get low level labor. The interns will not be able to think above the photocopying or coffee-fetching you assign them to do.

But if you recognize interns as potentially significant contributors – who just happen to be college students or recent graduates – you stand to gain an incredible talent base, one whose very advantage is their inexperience.

Because interns are not yet indoctrinated into working culture, they have a dramatically different perspective than their more experienced counterparts. Once you empower them to speak up, they can bring great ideas to the table. Comparing interns to McKinsey-style consultants would not be a stretch: They can both cut into key problems facing the organization from their unbiased, outside-looking-in view.

In my experience at Ambidextr, for example, our interns have initiated significant improvements to processes, devised original marketing campaigns for both our company and our clients, and even surfaced insights from our data that others did not see. Our interns, in short, were valuable contributors – they made a far greater impact at Ambidextr than their humble titles would suggest. I think all founders can likewise leverage interns in an impactful way for their respective startups.

Startup 101 for interns

Although early stage startups may benefit interns, they do not always see this fact. Since they are preparing for the competitive job market once they graduate, interns often prioritize organizations with the bigger name over those that offer greater responsibility.

They believe that Corporation X will look objectively better to hiring managers on their resume than Startup Y, all things being equal.

In the same way that startups often conduct market education for their end users, so, too, should their recruitment marketing educate students about the advantages of interning at startups in general. As most startups are still building their brand, they should not compete with corporates on name recognition. They should instead emphasize one thing and one thing alone: Growth.

All marketing collaterals that recruit interns should emphasize how they will grow at your startup, and do so significantly faster than they would at other organizations. What skills, capabilities and expertise will they gain? Which roles, functions, and departments will they be immersed in? Who will they learn from?

This growth – your recruitment marketing should explain – is more powerful than name alone.

Hiring managers, after all, will not just like about where you worked, but what you did while you were there. While I cannot speak for all hiring managers, I would hazard to guess that most would prefer the candidate who picked up a suite of relevant skills at Startup Y than one who picked up coffee at Corporation X.

To successfully recruit interns, the onus is now on founders and their teams to portray their startups not as shiny entries on a CV, but vehicles for actual growth.

Inflation impact on poor eases in June

By Mark T. Amoguis
Senior Researcher

JUNE inflation, as experienced by low-income families, softened to its slowest pace in 18 months, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The inflation rate for the country’s bottom 30% income households was at four percent, slower than the year-on-year increase of 4.6% in May and 6.7% in June 2018. This was the slowest in 18 months or since the 3.7% recorded in December 2017.

For the first half, the inflation rate for this income segment averaged 4.7%, slower than the 5.9% average in the first half of 2018.

That coincided with results of the Second Quarter 2019 Social Weather Survey by the Social Weather Stations that saw the proportion of self-rated poor families decline to 45% in June 2019 from 48% in June 2018 albeit higher than the 38% reading in March 2019. On the flip side, the proportion of self-rated “food-poor” families was 35% versus the record-low 27% in March and 34% in June 2018.

The bottom 30% inflation likewise compared to the 2.7% headline inflation experienced by the average household in June, slower than the 3.2% figure in May, even as the consumer price index (CPI) used in measuring headline inflation uses 2012 prices compared to the CPI for the bottom 30% income households, which uses 2000 prices.

Aside from differing base years, the CPI for the bottom 30% income segment of the population reconfigures the model basket of goods, assigning heavier weight on food, beverage and tobacco (FBT), as well as other necessities as these are thought to more accurately capture the spending patterns of the poor.

Inflation in the FBT index was at 4.3% in June, slower than the 4.8% reading in May. Likewise, the food-alone index cooled to 3.9% from 4.3% previously.

Among select food items, slowdowns were observed in cereals (to 0.5% from 1.2%), rice (0.9% from 1.9%), dairy products (3.2% from 3.3%), fish (7.6% from 7.8%), fruits and vegetables (9.3% from 9.9%), meat (1.9% from 2.4%), and miscellaneous food items (4.6% from five percent).

On the other hand, inflation upticks were seen in eggs at 2.5% from 2.3% while that of corn edged up somewhat with a 1.5% decline from the 1.8% markdown. The rate of cereal preparations was steady at 3.9%.

Aside from food, a smaller annual increase was observed noted in fuel, light and water to 2% from the previous 3.9%.

Meanwhile, inflation rates for clothing as well as for housing and repairs inched up to 3.3% from 3.2% and 4.2% from 4.1%, respectively. The annual rate of services and “miscellaneous” commodity groups steadied at 3.7% and 2.5%.

Inflation experienced by poor households in the National Capital Region was recorded at 1.6%, slower than the 2.6% recorded in May. Similarly, those living outside of Metro Manila saw a slower inflation rate at 4.1% from 4.6%.

All the regions posted slower annual inflation, except for the MIMAROPA (Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) Region and Central Visayas. The inflation rate in MIMAROPA, south of Metro Manila, steadied at 10.3% from the previous month while that of Central Visayas accelerated to 3.7% from 3.6%.

LTFRB sets formula for fare adjustments

THE public land transport regulator has set a formula for changes in jeepney, bus, taxi and UV Express fares that takes into account fuel pump price movements, in order to remove the need for operators to seek regulatory approval for each adjustment.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) published Memorandum Circular No. 2019-035 in a newspaper on Sunday which outlined the formula for base fare adjustments using inputs such as fuel pump price data from the Energy department and the share of fuel expenses in a transport operator’s costs, as verified by the LTFRB.

For example, a regular jeepney ride now costs P9 for the first 4 kilometers plus P1.40 per succeeding kilometer. The LTFRB estimates that fuel accounts for 35% of a jeepney operator’s total cost. If the pump price of fuel were to rise to P55 per liter from P50 per liter, the adjusted fare would be P9.315 plus P1.449 per succeeding kilometer under the formula, according to the memorandum circular.

“This is the fare matrix formula the (LTFRB) Board will adopt whenever there are fuel price adjustments, principally,” LTFRB Chairman Martin B. Delgra said in a mobile phone message when asked for an explanation on Sunday.

“The principle behind [the circular] being that when the fuel adjustment — downward or upward — reaches a threshold, a change in fare will take place.”

Asked if the formula will do away with the need for public utility vehicle operators to apply for fare adjustments, Mr. Delgra replied: “That is the essence.”

The memorandum circular states that the LTFRB will establish a fare matrix that public transport operators will use as guide for automatic fare adjustments.

This removes the need for public hearings that frequently result in delayed implementation of fare adjustments when price conditions have already changed.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade had said last year that he wanted a predetermined matrix for public utility vehicle fares to enable automatic adjustments that promptly address fuel price changes. — Denise A. Valdez

Finance dep’t checks effect of lotto stoppage on funding of universal health care

THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT (DoF) is now assessing the impact on implementation of Republic Act (RA) No. 11223, or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, of the closure order which President Rodrigo R. Duterte issued Friday night on all Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)-sanctioned lottery operations, senior officials of the department said last weekend.

Mr. Duterte’s order came a day after he signed into law Republic Act (RA) No. 11346, which further increased the excise tax rate for tobacco products to P60 per pack by 2023 from P35 currently. RA 11346 will help bankroll the UHC program, which would require P257 billion in its first year of implementation, the department said in a July 27 press release. RA 11346 is projected to raise annually P74 billion, P77.8 billion, P81.2 billion, P84 billion and P85.6 billion from next year to 2024.

The UHC law, enacted last February, aims to expand Philippine Health Insurance Corp. coverage for primary care to 120 drugs. Under this law, among others, there will be no limit to primary care treatment conditions.

RA 11223, or the UHC Act, provides that 40% of PCSO’s Charity Fund will help fund implementation of this law, besides half of the national government’s share in Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp. income and total incremental collections of higher tobacco and alcohol excise tax collections under RA 10351.

Malacañang announced near midnight on Friday that Mr. Duterte “ordered the closure, the stoppage of all gaming schemes… that got the franchises… from the PCSO,” explaining that “[t]he ground is massive corruption.”

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told reporters in a mobile phone message the following day: “We are evaluating the immediate effects of the ban,” while DoF Undersecretary Bayani H. Agabin said in a separate text message on Sunday: “We are still assessing the potential impact,” when asked on the effect of the sudden stoppage of PCSO-sanctioned lottery activities on UHC law implementation.

The Philippine National Police announced in a press release on Sunday that it had already closed 5,187 lotto, 13,320 small town lottery, 2,194 Peryahan ng Bayan and 472 Keno Lotto Express outlets, and called on “all other similar establishments that have not been visited yet by police to… voluntarily close down their business.”

Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra told reporters in a text message on Sunday that “[t]he president has the authority to order the suspension, even the termination, of PCSO-licensed gaming operations upon prima facie proof that licensees are not faithfully complying with their legal obligation to remit the correct amount of the government’s share in revenues, or that their operations are tainted by fraud, deceit, or corruption.”

“It should be emphasized that a gaming license is not a contractual right but a mere privilege that may be revoked at any time by the state,” Mr. Guevarra said, adding that he has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the non-remittance of lottery proceeds to the government. — BML, VMMV and GMC

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