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Wanted: A great leader

The coronavirus disease 2019/COVID-19 pandemic is just one more crisis, among the many, that the world has experienced in the 20th century and in the present millennium. Each crisis has been a test of leadership, underscoring the need for a great leader, someone who can rally the citizenry, inspire them and keep up their spirits in the face of discouraging odds. Someone on whose wisdom they can depend on, whose words they can believe, and in whom they can entrust their lives.

Winston Churchill, as newly appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1940, went against the policy of appeasement of his predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, in dealing with Hitler, whose forces had conquered much of Europe. Churchill defiantly declared:

“We shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”

These words kept up the spirits of the British people throughout the Nazi blitzkrieg that devastated London and resulted in 32,000 civilian fatalities and 82,000 seriously injured, In the end, they prevailed.

How does President Rodrigo Duterte compare to Churchill in the face of China’s incursions into territory claimed by the Philippines in the South China Sea?

Beijing has claimed nearly all of the resource-rich South China Sea. while Duterte has disregarded a 2016 decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that China’s claims have no legal basis. In 2016, on a visit to Beijing, Duterte told President Xi Jinping, “We are staking our claim in our economic zone and we will dig for oil in our territory.” At this, Xi patronizingly advised Duterte that it was “better to hold talks first because if you insist on your position, there might be trouble”

That could have been Hitler talking to Chamberlain. And, like Chamberlain, Duterte chose to appease the Chinese.

In a speech before the Philippine Navy, Duterte said: “I cannot afford at this time to go to war. I cannot go into a battle which I cannot win and would only result in destruction for our armed forces.”

While Vietnam and Indonesia, which also have claims over sections of the South China Sea, have warned Beijing to back off, Duterte lamely explained, “I had no choice. If I send my navy and my soldiers there tomorrow and start to travel toward them, in a matter of seconds they’ll all explode… they will be slaughtered and the missiles that are parked there will arrive in Manila in about four minutes. Do you want a war?”

Duterte did make snarling sounds when some 200 Chinese ships moved into a disputed area in the vicinity of Pag-Asa island, occupied by Filipinos. Duterte said that he would be forced to send a suicide mission to confront the Chinese. But he was like a mouse warning a dragon to stay away.

On the other hand, the Royal Air Force (RAF) also went on a virtual suicide mission, bravely engaging the superior Nazi Lutwaffe in the skies over England. On Sept. 15, 1940, the RAF trounced Hitler’s air force, shooting down 56 planes. The Lutwaffe turned tail and the Battle of Britain was won.

Describing the victory, Churchill said, “Never in the history of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few.”

Unfortunately, Duterte is no Churchill, although his supporters insist that Duterte demonstrated true leadership by avoiding a slaughter of the Filipino people. Perhaps. But if Churchill had taken Duterte’s attitude, the United Kingdom would have fallen.

In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the US presidency at the height of the Great Depression following the 1929 stock market crash. In his inaugural speech, he endeavored to revive the spirits of the American people, not by offering false hopes, but by admitting the harsh facts and laying out his plans for recovery:

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today.”

Roosevelt then said these immortal lines: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!”

Appealing for the “understanding and support” of the citizenry and of Congress, Roosevelt bluntly added: “But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis — broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.”

During his first 100 days of his presidency, Roosevelt worked to hasten recovery by stabilizing industrial and agricultural production, and mounting massive public works projects that employed thousands. He also reformed the financial system and established a safety net for Americans. He created the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and signed the Social Security Act that provided unemployment and disability benefits and old age pensions for American retirees.

The economy was well on the way to recovery when a recession hit the country in 1937 and again in 1938, prolonging the depression up to the end of the decade. And then on Dec. 7, 1941, Roosevelt faced another test of leadership when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt dubbed it “a day of infamy.” But he proved equal to the new crisis.

Compared to him, how has Trump fared in the face of the coronavirus crisis? Here is how one US publication characterized it:

“President Donald Trump’s failure to respond to the coronavirus pandemic didn’t begin with the administration’s failure to provide testing kits needed to tackle the crisis. It didn’t start with Trump’s bungled messaging and inability to send out the millions of test kits even as the crisis worsened.

“It began in April 2018 — more than a year and a half before the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it caused, COVID-19, sickened people in China — that authorities realized they were dealing with a new disease.

“The Trump administration, with John Bolton newly at the helm of the White House National Security Council, began dismantling the team in charge of pandemic response, firing its leadership and disbanding the team in spring 2018.

“The cuts, coupled with the administration’s repeated calls to cut the budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health agencies, made it clear that the Trump administration wasn’t prioritizing the federal government’s ability to respond to disease outbreaks… The federal government is only now playing catch-up, as thousands of coronavirus infections are confirmed and the death toll steadily increases every day.”.

At a time when credible leadership is so urgently required and a leader’s word must be his bond, Trump has also wallowed in lies. And at a time when taking responsibility is proof of leadership, Trump has been notorious for passing the buck.

Asked if he felt accountable for the botched testing process, he replied, “I don’t take any responsibility at all.” And when asked if he had anything to do with dismantling of the White House National Security Council’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, Trump said he did not know about it.

He lied. Sadly, Trump is no Roosevelt.

 

Greg B. Macabenta is an advertising and communications man shuttling between San Francisco and Manila and providing unique insights on issues from both perspectives.

gregmacabenta@hotmail.com

Until further notice

By Tony Samson

IN THE OSCAR’s best movie of 2019, Parasite, the poorer family, driven back to their now flooded home and herded into a relief center, is wondering what to do next. Their scheme to latch on to the household of their wealthy employers is unraveling. The son asks his father what they are to do next. The father replies, “the best plan is not to have a plan.” This reaction to catastrophe after all the scheming and planning the family did to displace the entrenched household help of the wealthy seems to be the only way to handle uncertainty. Well, the ending of this movie argues against the patriarch’s approach. (Okay, this is not a movie review. But for the record, it’s a must-see movie on the social classes of South Korea.)

The announcements of cancellation of events, tightened quarantines, discovered new cases in hot spots, closing down of previous destinations like resorts, malls, and offices can be bewildering.

What are your plans for the day? Oh, just staying home. Even this certainty might be upended too. But it’s still there until further notice.

Donald Rumsfeld, the former secretary of defense of the US, in a briefing on the Iraq invasion and the uncertainty of finding weapons of mass destruction in that country as the premise of the invasion, classified data into three categories — the known knowns, the known unknowns, and finally the unknown unknowns. The third category involves facts or scenarios that have not been even factored into any analysis. And it seems such an unknown unknown has hit the world at the same time.

Is it even possible to plan our next moves in such a disruptive situation?

The metaphor for planning and teamwork in business management has often been the symphony orchestra. Each musician has an instrument that he can play well (value added). He follows a score given for each instrument as the performance is led by the conductor (CEO). What if the scores are blown away by the wind and the conductor is quarantined or tested positive?

In the disruptive climate we find ourselves in, maybe the metaphor should shift to Jazz. Many jazz musicians have been hijacked by management gurus to spread the virtue of a jazzy style of doing business. This is characterized by improvisation during the performance, collaboration, trust in the other performers, and roughly (very roughly sometimes) sticking to the material like “Take Five,” famously performed by Dave Brubeck’s quartet. No performance of a jazz piece is quite the same as another, even by the same group. It depends on mood, musical ability, crowd reaction ( socially distanced) and chemistry among the performers.

Maybe, we should emulate the jazzy approach in managing through difficult times. I’m not sure how working from different homes can come up with the right music. But it might work after a few improvisations, like taking turns in a meeting. Or getting the chat group to disagree with the drums and cymbals to come up with a rousing performance.

In adjusting to the alienation of natural social networks like officemates, lunch groups, gym buddies, classmates in once-a-month coffee gatherings, we are thrown to the old village culture of the home and the neighborhood. Solitary pursuits like meditation and reading need to be rediscovered, and embraced. Let’s include here the dynamics of house debates… not the lower one. Who will wash the dishes?

Perhaps such management rules as budgeting, planning, and scheduled meetings need to be set aside. Even scenario-building can be an exercise of scaring yourself to catatonia. Can we even imagine the worst case scenario? Are the funeral parlors also closed?

Maybe, our culture provides the answer to unknown unknowns that have now visited us. The common man’s reaction to disruptions including the prospect of starvation or catching the virus eschews over-preparation and intense worrying — “Bahala na.” This phrase invokes the deity and roughly translates not to “so what” but “leave it to God” (or bathala).

Until further notice, it is best to live by the day and see what happens. Sure, you can still plan for the grocery list without falling into panic buying. But on the whole, uncertainty need not be paralyzing. It can be liberating with a chance of getting better after it gets worse. And the Japanese may already have found a cure.

Meanwhile, let’s try jazz… and take five.

 

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.

ar.samson@yahoo.com

Working at home should finally bury e-mail

FREEPIK

By Sarah Green Carmichael

THERE’S NOTHING GOOD about the coronavirus pandemic, but maybe there can be collateral benefits. For example, it’s already forcing people to use the technology that everybody should have embraced already.

With legacy systems like e-mail now creaking under the strain of work-from-home edicts, the time has come to leap into the future. We abandoned the fax machine (mostly) and no longer print out e-mails to read them (I hope). We can all adopt modern office-collaboration technology, too, if senior managers would get on board with technologies they’ve avoided using for years.

It’s not as though digital collaboration tools are untested novelties. Slack has been around since 2014 and videoconferencing companies like Zoom (2011) and Skype (2003) have been around even longer. FaceTime has been available on iPhones for a decade. Google docs has been out of beta since 2009.

These tools, and others, are beloved by geographically distributed teams for good reason. They’re built for precisely the moment in which we face ourselves now: isolated and hobbled by subpar Wi-Fi speeds and personal laptops with limited memory and processing power.

Virtual collaboration tools are no longer the domain of early adopters, but essentials that everyday workers in thousands of companies use without thinking twice. Google Drive has over a billion users, and Zoom has 13 million monthly active users. Slack is up to 12 million daily active users.

But for every enthusiastic user, there seem to be six workplace laggards who think it will be “too much work” to “add one more system” — by which they seem to mean “learn to use something other than e-mail.”

E-mail is not up to this moment. It’s a tool that hasn’t moved at the pace of business in at least 10 years.

If, over the past week, you’ve found yourself reduced to begging employees to stop replying-all, or refrain from clogging in-boxes with messages such as “Thanks,” know that your pleas are doomed to fail. The medium shapes the message, and a chat program is a better way for now-virtual teams to communicate synchronously and transparently. Plus, it’s probably not a great time to advise employees to stop saying “thank you” — with everyone working feverishly to keep their companies afloat, tempers fraying from being cooped up with children and spouses, and fear about a deadly disease spreading, we should all be expressing more gratitude, not less. Find a medium that works for the messages people need to share, rather than demanding that people force their message to conform to the limits of the medium.

That’s not to say that old technologies can’t be useful, too. The telephone is a good way to touch base one-on-one and add a human element to solitary days. But the phone doesn’t scale. If your team is having trouble coordinating, phone calls probably aren’t going to help. Audio-only conference calls are unwieldy and hard to manage — you have to get the introverts to talk, the extroverts to stop filibustering, and everyone else to stop catching up on e-mail.

Video calls make it much easier to pick up on the nonverbal cues, even if it’s something as small as seeing that someone else is trying to get a word in. And the comfort of seeing other human faces is welcome just now. Moreover, if your face is visible, you’re unlikely to have the alarming experience of hearing a colleague start to talk about you, having forgotten that you were on the call.

We are making progress. People who’ve resisted installing Slack are asking for help downloading it; those who never bothered with Zoom are posting photos of the snazzy backgrounds they’ve chosen for their video calls. Together, we’re learning to mute ourselves when we’re not talking, reducing the steady background cacophony of heavy breathing, weird echoes and VERY LOUD TYPING.

My social media feed is full of screenshots of people attending streaming church services, virtual yoga classes, video cocktail hours. Teams are slacking each other not just documents, questions and ideas, but photos of their makeshift workspaces, pets, and children. We may be hunkered down, but these tools let us hunker down together.

Many people are facing a steep learning curve. Some have shared their screens only to reveal embarrassing open tabs (or folders called “DIVORCE”). But with a bit of practice we’ll get better. And by week three or 13 of this lockdown, we may wonder how we ever worked without them.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

US joins calls for Tokyo Games delay

TORONTO/TOKYO — US Olympic organizers joined calls for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the International Olympic Committee, according to member Dick Pound, has decided to delay the event, likely for a year.

Major sporting nations Australia and Canada withdrew on Monday as organizers came under mounting pressure to postpone the event for the first time in its 124-year modern history.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said it had listened to feedback from athletes and was encouraged by a clearer path towards postponement.

“Our most important conclusion from this broad athlete response is that even if the current significant health concerns could be alleviated by late summer, the enormous disruptions to the training environment, doping controls and qualification process can’t be overcome in a satisfactory manner,” the USOPC said in a statement on Monday.

Pound told Reuters a one-year postponement looked like the best solution. This would mean the Games, scheduled for July 24–Aug. 9, are likely to be held in the summer of 2021.

“That’s my conclusion (there will be a postponement),” Mr. Pound said in a telephone interview, after Sunday’s IOC statement saying it was stepping up its “scenario planning” for the Tokyo 2020 Games — including a possible postponement.

“From reading IOC-speak in the communique, if you are going to cancel you simply cancel because there are no future plans,” added Mr. Pound.

“But if you are going to carry on with the original objective (to stage the Games) there is no reason to issue a statement because you have already done that over the past several weeks.”

Japan and the IOC have said calling off the Games entirely is not an option. But finding a new date could be complicated as the summer 2021 calendar is already crowded, while 2022 will see the soccer World Cup and the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Japan’s government is negotiating with the IOC to postpone the Games by a year at most, the Sankei newspaper reported on Tuesday, adding that a poll showed about 70% of the Japanese think it is appropriate to delay the Olympics.

Mr. Pound said a large number of stakeholders from the organizing committee, to athletes to broadcasters and sporting federations would all need to be consulted before a plan could be finalized but there were early signs of a willingness to accommodate a 2021 Summer Games.

World Athletics said on Monday they would be willing to move their 2021 world championships scheduled for Aug. 6–15 in Eugene, Oregon, to clear a path for a 2021 Olympics.

BALANCE TIPPING
An Olympics postponement would be a blow for host country Japan, which has pumped in more than $12 billion of investment, and huge sums are also at stake for sponsors and broadcasters.

But a groundswell of concern from athletes — already struggling to train as gyms, stadiums and swimming pools close around the world — appeared to be tipping the balance, along with the cancellation of other major sports events.

More than 350,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus worldwide and over 15,000 have died in a pandemic that the World Health Organization said was accelerating.

The Olympics have never before been delayed, though they were cancelled altogether in 1916, 1940 and 1944 during the two world wars, and major Cold War boycotts disrupted the Moscow and Los Angeles Games in 1980 and 1984, respectively.

“The moment the IOC indicates that it is thinking about other solutions, it has already decided to delay the Games,” said French Olympic Committee President Denis Masseglia.

Canada and Australia both bluntly said they would not participate if the Games were not put back to 2021 and Britain may have followed suit.

“We are in the midst of a global health crisis that is far more significant than sport,” Canada’s Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee said in a statement.

A raft of other nations and sports bodies piled pressure on the IOC to make a quick decision.

THE TIDE TURNS
Japanese authorities seemed to be bowing to the inevitable, despite the losses and logistics headaches it would entail.

“We may have no option but to consider postponing,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was hoping for a boom in tourism and consumer spending, told parliament.

The organizing committee is already scaling back the torch relay to avoid crowds, national broadcaster NHK said.

Japanese sponsors, from Toyota Motor Corp. to Panasonic Corp., were watching nervously. But Tokyo stocks sensitive to the success of the Olympics surged on Monday, after sharp falls in prior weeks, thanks to expectations of a delay rather than a cancellation.

Mr. Pound told Reuters the IOC had tried to hold fire in order to be able to present the hosts, sports federations and sponsors with a clear alternative plan.

“Probably what turned the tide in the last couple of days is the curve on the COVID-19 virus. It is getting very, very steep now and this is clearly not something that is going to be under control by June or July and probably not by the end of the year.” — Reuters

UAAP stakeholders do share in lending support amid COVID-19

RECOGNIZING that in trying times like the ongoing threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) every support counts, stakeholders of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines have moved to do their part and lend a hand to those in need.

The Adamson University softball team and De La Salle University tapped on to their resources and helped in their own way as the country weaves its way through the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) called by the government in light of the ongoing concerns over COVID-19.

The many-time UAAP champions Lady Falcons banded together at the weekend to help in packing goods that were distributed in various parts of Manila.

It was in line with the Vincentian priests’ Charity Over Virus Indifference and Despair (COVID) and Facemasks Cover Your Face Not Your Hearts program.

Stranded in their respective dormitories after the declaration last week of the ECQ, which was designed to help stop the spread of COVID-19, the Lady Falcons are using their time to make a difference.

“While this is just a small thing we are doing, still we believe this will go a long way in helping many families here in Metro Manila especially in times like this,” said Adamson head coach Ana Santiago, whose wards were gunning for a 10 straight softball crown this year until the league decided to suspend indefinitely the season.

“We are very happy to be part of this program. We will continue doing this to be of help and we pray that the country get through this tough time,” the Adamson coach added.

HELPING THE HOMELESS
Meanwhile, De La Salle University has opened its Razon Sports Complex to the homeless.

When the Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center (AJ Kalinga) needed a shelter for the homeless, DLSU, and the College of Saint Benilde, opened their doors and provided a haven for them in the midst of the enhanced community quarantine.

“The AJ Kalinga Center is serving the homeless regularly. Their main ministry is providing food and free showers for the homeless. But now that we are on quarantine, they are looking for shelters for them. They worked with several schools to give them a safe space during the community quarantine,” said La Salle’s Vice President for Lasallian Mission Fritzie De Vera.

The Razon Sports Complex, where the Green Archers train and a facility which has hosted several UAAP events, has steadily accepted people since early this week, providing them with their daily needs.

The school is asking for donations either in kind or in cash to sustain their push.

“We are requesting for donations in kind or in cash. For donations in kind, we would appreciate cooked meals for them. The center is also providing meals which they get from the cash donations. We provide three meals a day,” Mr. De Vera said.

They said many have come on board to help, including a couple of donors who provided mattresses and protective gear, Chooks-to-Go which provided 50 packs of chicken for them, and La Salle’s student government which provided vitamins which will last for 14 days, but more is still needed.

Among those needed are pillows, two industrial rice cookers, two percolators for coffee, packs of garbage bags, medicines for first aid, small bath towels, clothes for men, women, and children, toiletries, and alcohol.

Cash donations can be coursed through AJ Kalinga Foundation Inc. (Asia United Bank/Peso Savings Account No. 082-11-000496-2; PayPal info@ajkalingafoundation.org; and BPI (Congressional Road Branch/Savings Account No. 1959-3450-46).

As of this writing, the country has recorded 501 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 33 deaths and 19 recoveries. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

adidas connects runners with live virtual sessions

AMID the uncertain times the world is currently plunged in because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), adidas is moving on, finding creative ways to see its vision of changing lives by way of sports through.

The most recent of these thrusts are the live virtual sessions by the adidas Runners community in lieu of running sessions which are currently suspended to ensure the safety of its runners and the general public.

adidas Runners, which started as a running group in one city and is now an international community present in 53 cities all over the globe, including Manila, has put up a platform via Instagram to have their common fitness goal going.

To keep runners active, present, and connected during this time of COVID-19, adidas Runners captains and coaches from around the globe are leading daily live virtual sessions on the adidas Runners Instagram page.

The live virtual sessions are aligned with the group’s performance-focused pillars of movement, nutrition, mindset, and recovery.

In the virtual sessions, captains and coaches are holding strength training, HIIT, yoga, mobility, mindfulness, and nutrition sessions that encourage movement that powers the body and sparks the mind.

The sessions began on Monday, with adidas Runners Manila captain Jules Aquino leading the strength session. Other adidas Runners coaches were scheduled to lead sessions yesterday.

For more updates on the virtual live sessions, follow adidas Runners and adidas Philippines on Instagram. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Big decisions to make

Will the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan push through on its original scheduled date or not? That is the question the global sporting community is waiting to be answered amid the ongoing and serious concern over the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Set to happen from July 24 to Aug. 9 in Tokyo, the staging of the Games is in danger of being deferred to a later date as clamor for its postponement continues to grow with cases of the contagious disease rising in number by the day in different parts of the world.

Different sports organizations have asked the International Olympic Committee to have the quadrennial event pushed back by a year, or two, to allow the entire world to concentrate on the battle against COVID-19 and heal from the damage it has caused after.

The Olympic committees of Canada and Australia have made it known that they will not be sending athletes to the Games because of COVID-19 concerns and urged the IOC to postpone the event while sports groups from the United States, France, Slovenia, Norway and United Kingdom, among others, as well as individual athletes, past and present, are backing deferment.

The IOC, for its part, insists that as this point in time announcing a postponement four months away is still “premature” and that the scheduled staging of the Games is still a go.

It, however, made a partial U-turn on its stand early this week, saying that postponement is one of the scenarios it is now looking at.

The IOC said detailed discussions on how it would go about things moving forward would be done in the next four weeks with a firm decision on the fate of the Tokyo Games expected to be announced then.

As things stand with the pace of progress being made in the battle against COVID-19, I think it is highly likely that the IOC will eventually move for the postponement of the Tokyo Games.

And it is a decision that is going to be the right one to take, not only for the safety of athletes, officials, fans and other stakeholders but also to preserve the integrity of the Olympics.

Pullout by countries from the event has started and more should be expected to come in the next days.

Qualifying events for the Games are currently put on hold, opening the possibility of having many athletes qualify in different disciplines “by default.” And during the Olympics proper, even if there are enough athletes competing they may not be able to compete at a high level that they want to with training and preparation in the lead-up greatly hampered by the quarantine measures in effect globally because COVID-19.

I know these are extraordinary times which call over extraordinary measures but at the end of the day if we will not have a “complete” Olympics, as Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself said, and competition far from what we know the Games are known for, might as well postpone especially when such is possible.

However, let me say as well that I understand the current position of the IOC and Japan organizing committee as they hold off decision on a deferment at this point.

Planning and preparing for the Olympics take years to do and entail a lot of factors to consider like the venues, broadcast, accommodation, security and availability of personnel, among others, and cancelling late in the game is not an easy decision to make.

Moving to postpone the Games is one thing and what comes next it is another thing.

The IOC has to have a Plan B, or even C and D, on how it intends to move on in an event of a deferment — when is the best possible date to have it, how to honor its various commitments in light of it, adjusted qualifying platforms for the athletes, maintenance of venues (Who pays for that?) and so on.

With that said, the next four weeks will be crucial for the organizers of the Tokyo Games. Some big and tough decisions have to be made and hopefully they will be guided properly and come up with the appropriate resolution to the situation.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

 

Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld Senior reporter covering the Sports beat.

msmurillo@bworldonline.com

To delay or not?

Considering the magnitude — and the resources required for the staging — of the 2020 Summer Games, it’s a wonder the International Olympic Committee continues to refrain from postponing the quadrennial spectacle due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The closest it has come to doing so is the announcement it made over the weekend, with president Thomas Bach acknowledging the possibility and noting that discussions will be held on the matter. The actual decision, he said, will be made anytime in the next four weeks. Meanwhile, all other sporting events of smaller scope have already been moved or scuttled altogether in compliance with community quarantine measures.

That said, the pressure from the IOC to act, and sooner rather than later, is strong. Member countries and participants to the Games are already unilaterally pulling out in the interest of its athletes. Preparations for the competitions take not inconsiderable time that is simply not available given current efforts worldwide to combat the spread of the virus. And while the pressure for the show to go on may be immense, it does not take precedence over the need to uphold public safety. Billions of dollars are at risk should the Olympics be held in abeyance. Conversely, billions of lives are at risk if they are not.

Perhaps the IOC’s recalcitrance is to be expected. After all, it’s a monolith that has rules in place barring it from moving without consultation from its stakeholders. Against an invisible enemy that spreads insidiously, however, it needs to act faster — much, much faster. It cannot tarry, especially in the face of the obvious. As longest-serving IOC official Dick Pound underscored yesterday, there is no choice but to postpone the Games. And yet what does it do in response? It has argued, via spokesman Mark Adams, that “it is the right of every IOC member to interpret the decision of the IOC executive board which was announced.”

Understandably, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee wants the Olympics to go on. Outside of seeing its work come to fruition, it’s also influenced by the seemingly business-as-usual manner the whole of Japan has acted despite being among the first countries hit by the virus. That said, no less than Prime Minister has hinted at the Games’ postponement. “In case this becomes difficult, in order to make the athletes our top priority, we may have no choice but to decide to postpone the Games,” he said before Parliament. His words may be laced with contingencies, but they nonetheless represent a marked departure from his previous position.

At this point, the safe bet, pun wholly intended, is that the Olympics will be postponed a year. By the time 2021 rolls around, the benefits of countermeasures will have been clear, the spread of the virus will have been mitigated, and a vaccine will have been developed. The Games will then be what they should: a celebration of life.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.

alcuaycong@bworldonline.com

Helping frontliners through HelpThru’s ONE for ONE project

Determined Filipinos are initiating drives to help local healthcare frontliners cope with the difficult situation that is the Covid-19 pandemic. Among them is HelpThru, a charity organization raising funds for the nation’s response efforts.

In just over a week, HelpThru announced that they’ve been able to raise upwards of P800,000 and donated to 33 NCR-based hospitals. These care packages include gallons of alcohol, hundreds of masks, lab gowns, gloves, and face shields to the following hospitals:

  • Quezon City General Hospital
  • Sta. Ana Hospital
  • Ospital ng Maynila
  • East Avenue Medical Center
  • Valenzuela Medical Center
  • National Children’s Hospital
  • Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital
  • Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center
  • Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Medical Hospital
  • Ospital ng Paranaque, Rizal Medical Center
  • Mandaluyong City Medical Center
  • Philippine General Hospital.

They are en route to taking their initiative to hard-to-reach hospitals outside the National Capital Region, starting in North Luzon.

The ONE for ONE Project

While they count Columbia International Food Products Inc. and Xavier School Class of 66 as some of their generous partners, not all donors are prominent, organized firms.

Michico Oranga, co-founder of HelpThru, shared on a social media post that a lot of regular individuals have also indicated their willingness to help, prompting them to launch their ONE for ONE Project. Under this project, HelpThru donates one face mask for every face mask bought from them (all profits going to charity.)

“What’s good about our face masks is that they are washable, water resistant, and locally made. We’re helping the livelihood of seamstresses who are stuck during the lockdown period too,” Oranga said.

“Grabe, totoo ngang may bayanihan pa rin. (It’s true, helping out one’s neighbor as a community still exists). It is possible, so don’t lose hope! Keep safe everyone, and God bless you all.”

To order, click https://m.me/helpthru . To donate, fill out the form at https://forms.gle/t6MrLj8KkqgU32hW9 .

Virtual career fair to help students find online jobs amidst pandemic

Due to rising restrictions around the current Covid-19 pandemic, career fairs around the country are being cancelled left and right, leaving students in need of a platform to find employment opportunities.

In response, the UP Career Assistance Program (based out of the University of the Philippines’ College of Business Administration) is staging an online job and internship fair for University students and fresh graduates next week.

UP Career Assistance Program (UP CAP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping students jumpstart their careers through various platforms that prep and connect students to the corporate world.

Organized in collaboration with Inkompass, Online Career Fair 2020: Live Your Success Story invites participants to: 

  • interact with select companies via the Career Fair Livestream,
  • discover the numerous job and internship opportunities they offer at the Opportunities Portal,
  • and drop their resumes to seal the deal at the online Resume Portal.

UP CAP’s OnlineCareer Fair will go live on March 30, at www.upcap.ph.

Real estate firm Signet pioneers property crowdfunding with Flint

While Andre Mercado worked as an employee at online real estate marketplaces Lamudi and Zipmatch, he noticed the gaps in the local property market – particularly in lead generation. “Brokers are not into marketing or business development. We do the marketing for them so they can focus on building relationships,” he said.

So in 2018, he established Signet Properties, a data and tech driven lead generation provider that aims to be a household name in real estate.

By utilizing latest technologies such as 360-degree aerial views of neighborhoods, 3D modeling for units, and commute map integrations with Sakay.ph, the company delivers an end-to-end solution catering to the needs of property sellers while also connecting them to property buyers.

Today, Signet is one of the fastest growing lead generation providers in real estate and has grown its employees to 35 in only a year. The platform currently has more than 500 broker subscribers and over 5,000 registered brokers. It is also quickly growing its database of real estate developments from all over the Philippines and has partnered with Megaworld and Suntrust Properties.

Flint, a “Grab for real estate”

One of the company’s flagship services is Flint, the Philippine’s first real estate crowdfunding platform. In partnership with Seedin, Southeast Asia’s leading crowdfunding platform, the investment vehicle allows Filipinos and foreign investors to invest in real estate for as low as P1,000, with guaranteed returns for investments.

Mercado explains that real estate crowdfunding is a concept that has been around for some time now. Flint has simply stepped in to digitize it. (The government’s approval of the rules on crowdfunding last year opened the doors for them.)

“In the past, people would usually need to save up until they’re finally able to pool together enough money to buy a property to rent out or resell,” he said. “Flint makes it convenient for users to purchase a share of a real estate property regardless of whether total Flint user investment has reached the investment amount of the property selected. That’s because we’ve pre-funded all our real estate properties in our portfolio.”

Real estate crowdfunding compliments REITs (Real Estate Investment Trust), Signet’s CEO adds. REITs are a longer-term investment and would need a great exit plan for one to profit, whereas Flint is a short-term investment with low risks and low investment cost.

Innovating and creating impact

Over the next three years, Signet plans to roll-out brand new innovations to complement Flint, including an e-commerce platform for real estate currently in the works.

They also aim to increase visibility for their proptech services in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, as well as countries such as Singapore and Taiwan.

“We’re all about doing innovation and creating impact,” Mercado shares. “As a founder, I deal with collaborators and not competitors. To create more impact, we need more collaborators who have the same vision and the same heart as our company’s.”

BSP throws P300-B lifeline to gov’t

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will buy short-term securities from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) to support the government in lessening the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on the economy.

In a statement on Monday, the central bank said it was authorized by its policy-setting Monetary Board to purchase P300 billion in government securities from the Treasury through a repurchase agreement with a maximum repayment period of six months.

The BSP said funds generated from the bond-buying agreement will be used to support the government’s programs to counter COVID-19’s economic impact.

“We continue to support the government’s initiatives and objectives during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). This additional amount is intended to provide support for those most affected by the ECQ, especially in Luzon, for the next 60-90 days,” BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno was quoted as saying in the statement.

Meanwhile, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said in the statement that the arrangement “is the most cost-effective way for us to provide an extra lifeline to the national government to support the programs to fight this pandemic.”

Asked how the BTr will fund P300 billion in securities, Ms. De Leon told reporters in a Viber message: “Recall we have deferred income tax payments and we also expect other inflows e.g. when capital markets open and ODAs (official development assistance).”

Sought for comment, UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said this move by the BSP will give an assurance to the financial markets.

“This provides stability for the financial system knowing that the central bank is behind efforts to combat COVID-19 on the supply-side and not just on the demand side,” Mr. Asuncion said in a text message.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said this bond-buying program is another form of easing from the central bank as it seeks to provide liquidity.

“This may also be a form of de-facto but temporary quantitative easing (QE) by the BSP to infuse liquidity through the national government for a maximum of six months,” Mr. Ricafort said in a text message.

ING Bank N.V.-Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said in a note to reporters the bond-buying scheme will “inject a fresh round of liquidity into the market and to keep a lid on interest rates in the process.”

He said this program may also help fund the government’s fiscal rescue package, which he hopes will include “income replacement, tax forbearance and liquidity or loan support.”

Mr. Mapa added that due to the disruptions caused by the virus, the central bank will likely keep its term deposit facility (TDF) closed “until further notice.”

“The TDF window had routinely siphoned off roughly P100 billion worth of liquidity, but given tightening liquidity conditions, most banks will likely not be able to access the deposit window,” he said. “We expect BSP to remain open to further easing via further rate cuts and possible reductions to the reserve requirements to keep businesses and individuals afloat during the ongoing COVID-19 episode.”

The BSP cut rates by 50 basis points (bps) last week in a move to cushion the economy against an expected slowdown in activity due to the outbreak.

This brought the overnight reverse repurchase, overnight lending and deposit rates to 3.25%, 3.75%, and 2.75%, respectively.

The latest cut follows the 25-bp reduction in February and the 75 bps slashed in 2019, meaning the BSP has cut rates by 150 bps since last year — almost unwinding completely the 175 bps in hikes implemented in 2018.

Meanwhile, the Economic Development Cluster earlier announced a P27.1-billion relief package where P14 billion will be allotted to support the tourism industry, while P3.1 billion will fund more test kits, among others.

Luzon, which has been placed under a month-long quarantine, comprises about 70% of the country’s gross domestic product.

The Health department said COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 462 as of Monday afternoon, with 33 deaths and 18 recoveries. — L.W.T. Noble

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