How PSEi member stocks performed — June 5, 2020
Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Friday, June 5, 2020.
More migrant workers displaced by COVID-19 crisis return home
MORE THAN 1,300 Filipino workers from overseas came home at the weekend amid a coronavirus pandemic that has sickened seven million and killed more than 400,000 people worldwide, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The agency welcomed 1,320 overseas Filipinos from the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Barbados and Nigeria, it said.
Of the total, 428 were stranded workers in the UAE and Hong Kong, who arrived on three separate flights on Saturday. Meanwhile, 345 Filipino seafarers from Barbados also came home on Saturday at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga province, DFA said.
This brings the total number of overseas Filipinos who have come home to more 36,000 since the government started its repatriation program in February, it said.
The workers underwent medical checkup and will undergo a 14-day quarantine at health facilities approved by the Bureau of Quarantine.
Critics earlier slammed the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) after thousands of overseas Filipino workers were stranded at quarantine facilities in Metro Manila for two-months.
This prompted President Rodrigo R. Duterte to order the Labor and Health departments to send 24,000 workers to their hometowns.
Meanwhile, DFA said eight more Filipino workers abroad have been infected with the novel coronavirus, bringing the total to 5,369. The agency said 2,781 patients were being treated, 2,225 have recovered and 363 have died.
Also yesterday, the Philippine Coast Guard said more than 53,000 returning Filipinos from overseas had tested negative for the coronavirus disease 2019.
The migrant workers would be allowed to go home to their home provinces, it said in a statement on Sunday.
“Returning overseas Filipinos who are included in the master list are advised to coordinate with the PCG or OWWA personnel to process their return to their province or city,” it said.
The workers will be issued quarantine clearances at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange or at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana on Friday said the government would limit the arrival of Filipino workers from overseas to 1,200 daily after reports of congestion at facilities in Metro Manila.
He said they wanted to control the entry of returning overseas Filipinos including seafarers as 42,000 more were expected to arrive.
Mr. Lorenzana said they would increase the limit to 1,500 or 2,000 and expedite their clearance once the capacity is increased, according to a taped meeting with Mr. Duterte aired last week.
Returning OFWs will only now have to stay in Metro Manila for five days before being sent home, assuming they are coronavirus-free, the Defense chief said. He added that there were now enough coronavirus testing facilities.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III on Tuesday said more than 300,000 OFWs had been displaced by the global pandemic. — Charmaine A. Tadalan and Vann Marlo M. Villegas
Coronavirus infections near 22,000, says DoH
THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DoH) reported 555 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, bringing the total to 21,895.
The death toll rose to 1,003 after nine more patients died, while 89 more patients have gotten well, raising the total recoveries to 4,530, it said in a bulletin.
Of the new cases, 378 were results that came out in the past three days while 177 were validated late, DoH said.
The DoH said 15,905 were active cases, 4.4% or 698 of whom did not show symptoms and 95.1% or 15,131 were mild cases. It added that less than 1% of the cases showed severe and critical symptoms at 57 and 19 respectively.
The country now had 54 licensed laboratories that can test COVID-19 samples, according to the bulletin.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire on Friday said the daily testing capacity had reached 10,000, allowing the government to expand the targeted testing to include patients who do not show symptoms.
Anna Ong-Lim, president of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines, said relatives and colleagues of positive patients as well as health workers should be covered by the expanded testing.
She also said people with underlying medical conditions and the elderly should be prioritized. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
Congressman seeks to clarify votes on anti-terror measure
AN OPPOSITION congressman wants a clarification of how the House of Representatives voted last week on a bill seeking to strengthen the country’s anti-terror law after some of his colleagues changed their mind.
In a letter to the House secretary general dated June 6, Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman cited a need to verify the votes because there “appears to be some confusion on the tabulation of votes as evidenced by changes and corrections made in the result of the voting by the attending staff of the secretariat.”
Mr. Lagman said counting must be based on individual voting in plenary and through the Zoom app.
He also said the certification should include the names of those who changed their votes.
“A public disclosure of the voting record would also afford representatives to clarify how they actually voted or that they did not vote at all,” Mr. Lagman said.
Several lawmakers changed their votes after the bill was approved on third and final reading on Wednesday.
Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda withdrew his support for the measure and registered an abstention instead.
“While the bill would help law enforcement in prosecuting suspects, some definitions must be tightened to ensure the protection of the rights of the people,” he said in a letter dated June 5. “Provisions inconsistent with human rights and the 1987 Constitution must also be amended.”
Deputy Speaker and Antique Rep. Lorna Regina B. Legarda also denied having co-authored the bill that critics said would allow the state to violate human rights.
Muntinlupa Rep. Rozzano Rufino B. Biazon withdrew his principal authorship of the bill, saying “there are inputs of House members that could refine and polish it to be more acceptable.”
The measure allows an Anti-Terror Council (ATC) made up of Cabinet officials to do functions otherwise reserved for courts, such as ordering the arrest of suspected terrorists. It also allows the state to keep a suspect in jail without an arrest warrant for 14 days from three days now.
It also considers attacks that cause death or serious injury, extensive damage to property and manufacture, possession, acquisition, transport and supply of weapons or explosives as terrorist acts.
The bill, which will repeal the Human Security Act, was to be submitted to the presidential palace for President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s signature.
The Senate passed the bill as early as February. Mr. Duterte certified the bill as urgent last week. — Genshen L. Espedido
Business chamber seeks faster medical procurement
THE EUROPEAN Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) asked the government to fast-track medical procurement to help pharmaceutical and medical device companies address the coronavirus crisis.
In a statement, the chamber said the Philippine government should help healthcare companies improve access to medical products by providing guidelines on the entry, use and distribution of the goods.
“We prescribe the implementation of a set of procurement guidelines that adapts to the ongoing health crisis, allowing for the expedited channel in purchasing and acquiring diagnostics and medicines used to treat COVID-19,” it said.
ECCP said the government should expand pooled procurement and multi-year contracts to increase the volume of health care products in the country.
It also said the government should give real data and projections on product demand to pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
Incentives should also be given to encourage public-private partnerships to drive research in medical companies, ECCP said.
The chamber said it supports a temporary price freeze on certain drugs and medicines given the public health emergency. — Jenina P. Ibañez
#COVID-19 Regional Updates (06/07/20)
Number coding still suspended
THE number coding scheme for vehicles in Metro Manila remains suspended on June 8, the Metropolitan Manila Authority (MMDA) announced Sunday. The coding system, intended to reduce the volume of vehicles in the capital’s roads, was supposed to take effect again Monday after being lifted since the lockdown in mid-March. MMDA said the “number coding scheme is still suspended on Monday, June 8, until further notice due to limited operations of public transportation in Metro Manila.”
League of mayors, governors push for ‘system’ from national gov’t on returning OFWs
MAYORS and provincial governors were one in calling out the national government for the unsystematic sending of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to their hometowns. “We request for a system to organize returning OFWs based on their point of destination,” Bacolod Mayor Evelio R. Leonardia, president of the League of Cities of Philippines, said in an online meeting Friday organized by the Department of Defense and attended by several Cabinet secretaries. Mr. Leonardia noted that “lack of coordination is also becoming widespread” and stressed that “unpredictable and erratic arrivals of returnees” are difficult to manage as local teams need to be organized to process them upon arrival to ensure health safety protocols are observed. The mayor’s call was supported by Marinduque Governor Presbitero Jose Velasco Jr., president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines. Apart from returning OFWs, local governments are also currently handling the return of residents who were locked out of their hometowns when the quarantine rules were implemented starting mid-March. Several returning OFWs and locally-stranded persons, including those that have certificates of being negative for the coronavirus, have tested positive for the disease upon arrival at their locality. — MSJ
Finance chief to ask agencies to allow Bangsamoro regional gov’t to implement projects with national funding
FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III will ask state agencies to enter into agreements with Bangsamoro officials to give the regional government authority to implement projects with national funding. The projects, the Finance department said in a statement on Sunday, involve various sectors, including health, education, infrastructure, and agriculture. “I assure you that the agencies of the national government serving as counterparties in these coordination mechanisms are as fully committed to move forward with this bold initiative in autonomy,” he said during the May 29 online meeting with officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The BARMM has a block grant of P63.6 million in this national year’s budget, which is provided under the law in line with the regional government’s fiscal autonomy, but at the same time subject to rules of the Department of Budget and Management. Mr. Dominguez also said he will ask representatives from the national government to start working with their BARMM counterparts for mechanisms on agreed policies, namely: Zones of Joint Cooperation in the Sulu Sea and Moro Gulf; synchronizing infrastructure development plans; establishment of an Intergovernmental Energy Board; a Council of Leaders that will give advice to BARMM’s chief ministers; and the Philippine Congress-Bangsamoro Parliament Forum for legislative initiatives. Mr. Dominguez and BARMM Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal co-chair the Intergovernmental Relations Body created to coordinate relations between the national government and the Bangsamoro government that is in transition until 2022. — Beatrice M. Laforga
Nationwide round-up
DoH starts releasing cash benefits to health workers infected or dead from COVID-19
THE Department of Health said 25 families have received the P1 million cash benefit granted to health care workers who died due to coronavirus infection in the line of duty. In a statement, the department said all 32 cash checks for the identified beneficiaries have been prepared and 25 were already received, while five are pending some documentary requirements and two for confirmation as the heirs are abroad. Ten cash checks out of 42 health workers who were critically-ill have also been prepared. The cash benefits are provided under the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said President Rodrigo R. Duterte may tap his contingent fund for the cash benefit now that the Bayanihan law has expired. “The compensation will no longer be granted because it’s in the Bayanihan law, not in the General Appropriations Act… But, nothing can stop or anything illegal with the President — given there’s funding — using his contingent fund,” Mr. Drilon said in mixed English and Filipino in an interview over radio DzBB on Sunday. “The President has funds enough at his disposal,” Mr. Drilon said, referring to the P13-billion contingent fund and P4.5 billion confidential and intelligence fund under the 2020 national budget. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas and Charmaine A. Tadalan
Senate probe on illegal COVID-19 hospitals sought
A RESOLUTION has been filed in the Senate seeking to conduct an investigation on illegal hospitals operating to treat solely Chinese nationals who are suspected to have contracted the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy S. Binay filed Senate Resolution No. 428 in light of government crackdowns that uncovered such clandestine makeshift hospitals in Clark, Pampanga and Makati City. “The proliferation of illegal medical facilities for the treatment of contagious diseases… is a public health concern that the Senate urgently needs to look into considering that they impose serious health risk,” the resolution read in part. The facility in Pampanga was a converted unit within the Fontana Leisure Park at the Clark economic zone. Ms. Binay, who is vice chairperson of the health and demography committee, said the Makati police has determined that the clinic there had “no business permit and the Chinese doctor working there had no license to practice in the Philippines.” Senator Risa N. Hontiveros had earlier called for the immediate deportation and blacklisting of those arrested. The National Bureau of Investigation had said it will be investigating the illegal facilities. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
Fintech firms seek emerging-industry protections in tax
THE fintech industry said it wants to be recognized as an emerging industry with some protections in a bill proposing to tax digital services.
“We fully understand that taxation is the lifeblood that sustains and nourishes every government. But we are likewise aware of its power to destroy emerging digital enterprises that are still at an embryonic stage in the Philippines,” Angelito M. Villanueva, chairman of Fintech Alliance.ph, said in a statement Sunday.
Mr. Villanueva was referring to House Bill No. 6765 or the proposed Digital Economy Taxation Act, which will impose a 12% value-added tax (VAT) on digital advertising, internet-based subscriptions, and transactions made on e-commerce platforms.
The bill could generate P27 billion in fresh revenue for a government pressed for cash during the pandemic, according to House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson and Albay Representative Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda, who filed the bill.
Mr. Villanueva said the bill makes digital advertising and subscription-based services subject to VAT and requires foreign businesses to establish a local presence will “deter digital learning, innovation, and future-readiness.”
“It takes sustained capital intensive investments and a lot of time before digital goods and services become profitable,” he said.
In a position paper released Sunday, FintechAlliance.ph said the taxes proposed by the bill will serve as a “barrier” to substantial capital investment.
“Instead, the government should actually reward micro-, small, and medium enterprises in moving their products to online platforms.”
The group also wants a phased VAT implementation for domestic content or domestic online platforms. — Luz Wendy T. Noble
DBM releases 91% of budget as of end-May
THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it released 91.1% of this year’s P4.1-trillion spending plan as of the end of May.
According to DBM documents, the agency released P3.736 trillion of the total budget, leaving a balance of P363.993 billion to be released over the rest of the year.
Some 87.4% or P2.074 trillion was released to line agencies out of the reduced P2.374-trillion program for the year under the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Some 49% or P228.663 billion was released to special purpose funds out of the programmed P466.462 billion for the year. The funds include budgetary support to state-owned firms, allocations to local government units (LGUs) and the contingent fund, among others.
Under automatic appropriations, 99.4% of the program or P1.259 trillion was released, including retirement and life insurance premium, internal revenue allotment of LGUs, the block grant to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, pensions of former presidents and the special account in the general fund, among others.
Meanwhile, all P181.326 in other releases, including the P61.59 billion in the continuing appropriations under the 2019 GAA, have been released.
The DBM has also been realigning budget items to redirect funding to the coronavirus pandemic response from past priorities, as authorized by Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act.
Budget adjustments made in May included a bigger cut in the Department of National Defense budget, reducing it further to P182.028 billion from P185 billion after the first round of adjustments in April.
The Budget department also further reduced the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget to P457.948 billion from the previously adjusted P458.948 billion. The DPWH received the largest budget cut of P123 billion.
The DBM also increased the funding for the Department of Labor and Employment to P19.9 billion from P18.9 billion as adjusted in April, and against the initial P17.423-billion program.
Meanwhile, the special fund for coronavirus pandemic expenses was increased to P3.647 billion in May from P1.407 billion in April. — Beatrice M. Laforga
DTI rules out rent concessions during MGCQ
THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said rent deferrals will no longer apply during a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
The DTI once again changed its policy on rent deferral to apply the grace period consistently to businesses that closed down during the lockdown, regardless of the date businesses are permitted to operate.
The DTI will now require at least a 30-day grace period on rent payments counting from the date the quarantine is lifted.
This applies to residential rent as well as commercial rent for all micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises that were not permitted to operate during the lockdown.
The deferral applies to rent payments due during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), and general community quarantine (GCQ).
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said in a mobile message Sunday that the deferral will not be extended to the MGCQ.
“Since MGCQ allows all sectors to operate, although category IV at 50% (capacity), there is no compelling reason to extend,” he said.
Areas outside Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Central Visayas, Pangasinan, Zamboanga City, Davao City, and Cebu City are under MGCQ.
The DTI in its previous memorandum circular 20-29 signed on June 2, granted commercial lessees grace periods counting from the date their businesses were permitted by the government to operate, whether or not they had resumed operations. Rent owed by businesses that are not yet allowed to operate was deferred by 30 days after the lockdown is lifted or after the date they are allowed to resume operations, whichever comes first.
But the DTI had since amended those guidelines to apply rent deferrals consistently regardless of permission to operate, under memorandum circular 20-31 signed June 4.
The businesses will not incur interest, penalties, or fees from deferred rent. The total rent that fell due within the lockdown is to be amortized over six months after the grace period.
The DTI continued to ask lessors to consider waiving or offering discounts for commercial rent or renegotiating lease term agreements for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
“Enjoining lessors to still extend support like concessional rents or discount on months after the lifting of GCQ, since market demand may start weak,” Mr. Lopez said.
Lessors are not obligated to refund rent payments made during the lockdown.
LGUs ordered to streamline energy-project permit process
LOCAL government units (LGU) were ordered to streamline permit processing and fee structures for energy projects, in compliance with Republic Act No. 11234 or the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS).
The Departments of Energy and Interior and Local Government (DILG) released on Friday a joint circular ordering a unified and streamlined permit process, harmonizing EVOSS, Administrative Order No. 23 which eliminates overregulation; Executive Order No. 30, which creates the Energy Investment Coordinating Council; and Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business Law.
In the order, the DILG also prescribed a local government ordinance outlining the LGU Energy Code.
LGUs were ordered to create an energy sector committee under the local development council which facilitates the implementation of energy programs, policies, and projects that will also be included in the comprehensive development plans of provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays.
Among provisions in the prescribed ordinance is the establishment of a local energy efficiency and conservation office, along with the appointment of its officer who will draft its office’s development plan.
Local governments were ordered to provide incentives to private-sector proponents of energy-efficiency projects in investment priority areas. — Adam J. Ang
PAGCOR remits P5B in fresh dividends to Treasury
THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) said it remitted P5 billion in additional dividends to the Treasury Friday to increase government funding for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) containment effort.
In a statement late Friday, PAGCOR said the latest dividend contribution brings its total contributions to P17 billion so far this year.
“The agency’s latest remittance is mainly in support of the government’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” it said.
PAGCOR turned over P12 billion on March 23.
PAGCOR is the third government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) to make major dividend payments. The other two are the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.
“We might have suffered huge revenue losses but we can’t afford to lose the fight against this global health crisis,” PAGCOR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrea D. Domingo.
GOCCs are required by law to remit 50% of their profits to the Treasury.
PAGCOR’s net profit dropped 49.8% year on year to P777.44 million in the first quarter after gaming was suspended due to the lockdown.
Gaming revenue declined 5.7% to P17.22 billion. — Beatrice M. Laforga