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Nationwide round-up

WHO asks for more private sector help in providing PPE to health workers

THE WORLD Health Organization’s (WHO) Philippine representative has called on the private sector to help in the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers, citing a global shortage problem as the new coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, continues to spread around the world. “Again our call is for everybody in the private sector to help support the government efforts in procuring and supplying personal protective equipment so that the health care workers can feel protected and secured so that they can do their job and care for COVID infected patients,” WHO Country Representative Rabindra R. Abeyasinghe said in a briefing Tuesday. Some health care workers around the country have been using improvised PPE sets, adding to their risk of exposure to the virus. Mr. Abeyasinghe said WHO does not encourage the use of “do it yourself” PPEs as they are not 100% protective, but added that given the circumstances, “any protection is better than no protection.” Early this month, WHO asked industry and governments to increase production of PPEs by 40% due to global demand. In the Philippines, several conglomerates have donated PPEs and other medical kits, including the Aboitiz Group, SM Group, and Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, among others. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

DFA clarifies donated COVID-19 test kits will still undergo assessment

DFA logo seal
AS DONATIONS of COVID-19 test kits pour in from foreign governments and organizations, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified on Tuesday that these will still undergo local assessment before put to use. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido Dulay, in a media briefing, said test kit donations from other countries must be approved by their respective food and drug board, and the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration will also assess the kits based on Department of Health (DoH) guidelines. The DoH earlier said it could not roll out mass testing due to lack of available kits. Several patients under investigation of the new coronavirus disease around the country have died without confirmation if they were afflicted by the virus. — Gillian M. Cortez

LPG group flags prohibition of delivery to households

THE PHILIPPINE Liquified Petroleum Gas Association (PLPGA) called on authorities to address the reported barring of LPG deliveries, which is supposedly exempt from the community quarantine measures in effect around the country due to COVID-19. “Ngayon po nanawagan po kami sa DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government), sa mga LGU at lalong-lalo na po sa PNP (Philippine National Police) na sana po makipag-cooperate po sila o sumunod po tayo sa memorandum na nilabas ng national government. Ang LPG po ay kasama sa exemption, necessity po ito so sana po i-allow po natin sa mga checkpoints po (We are appealing to the DILG, local government units, and most especially to the police to please cooperate and follow the national government’s memorandum),” PLPGA member Daniel Brian Joven said in a radio interview on Tuesday. Mr. Joven noted that some barangays have been issuing their own local ordinances which prohibits the entry of LPG deliveries. Mr. Joven said they are currently distributing accredited identification cards from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to their employees to facilitate the unhampered delivery of LPGs. Memorandum Circular No. 20-08 of the Department of Trade and Industry mandates the unhampered movement of all types of cargo, both food and non-food within, to and from Luzon amid the enhanced community quarantine to mitigate the spread of the new coronavirus disease. Meanwhile, the IATF has reaffirmed that food, agricultural commodities, and personnel are allowed unhampered passage to, from, and through the localities of LGUs. In its Resolution No. 14 passed March 20, the IATF reiterated that all types of cargo, such as food and non-food cargo, should be granted uninterrupted passage. The resolution also covers employees of business establishments that are allowed to operate. The latest resolution was issued after Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar appealed to LGUs to guarantee unhampered movement of goods such as agriculture and fishery inputs, food products, and agribusiness personnel across the country. “We would like to always emphasize that the threat of hunger is as real as the threat of COVID-19. I believe my colleagues in the Task Force agree with me on the matter, hence our unified call to conquer this threat by allowing free movement in the food value chain,” Mr. Dar said. — Genshen L. Espedido and Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Alien employment permits processing suspended

PENDING applications for alien employment permits (AEP) will be suspended, the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DoLE) Metro Manila regional office announced Tuesday. In Advisory No. 20-04, the DoLE National Capital Region (NCR) Office said, “Due to the ongoing threat posed by the Corona Virus (COVID-19) and pursuant to the Memorandum from the Executive Secretary entitled Community Quarantine over the Entire Luzon and Further Guidelines for the Management of Corona Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation, all AEP clients are hereby informed that the processing of the said permit shall be suspended until further notice.” The enhanced community quarantine will be in effect until April 15. DoLE-NCR also said that AEPs that will expire within the period of the enhanced community quarantine will not be slapped with a fine if not reapplied within two weeks. “New AEP applications of foreign nationals whose employment contracts are effective during the suspension period or the fifteen (15) days grace period already lapsed will not be imposed with penalty,” DoLE-NCR said. — Gillian M. Cortez

Hong Kong bars entry of non-residents, transit passengers from March 24

NON-RESIDENTS will not be allowed to travel to and from Hong Kong for two weeks beginning March 24, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported Tuesday. The new travel restriction also applies to passengers transiting in Hong Kong. “All travelers are advised to check if their inbound or outbound flights from Philippine airports will be affected by this new restriction, and adjust travel plans accordingly,” the DFA said in a statement. The DFA also reminded Filipinos to keep updated on travel restrictions being imposed by countries in efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In the Philippines, the Bureau of Immigration said in a March 22 advisory that only Filipinos, their foreign spouse and children, accredited officials of foreign government and international organization, and foreign airline crew members will be allowed to enter the country. Foreign nationals, overseas Filipino workers, and holders of permanent visa and student visa are allowed to exit the Philippines.

SINGAPORE DONATION
In a separate development, Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. on Tuesday received test kits and a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine from the Singapore government. It was turned over by Singaporean Ambassador to the Philippines Gerard Ho. Also present were Health Undersecretary Mario C. Villaverde and Deputy Chief of Mission Zhou Suli. The Deed of Donation was signed on Monday by Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Joseph del Mar Yap, on behalf of Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III. Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Director General Constance See signed the Deed on behalf of Singapore. She was represented by MFA Country Officer Olivia Chong at the signing. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

Communist leader accedes to ceasefire offer

EXILED Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria C. Sison has recommended a unilateral ceasefire with the government after initially shrugging off President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s call for a truce as the country deals with the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Sison said his recommendation is in line with the United Nation’s (UN) call for a global armistice amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), he said, “I am advising the negotiating panel of the NDFP to recommend to its principal, the NDFP National Council, the issuance of a unilateral ceasefire declaration by the Communist Party of the Philippines to the New People’s Army (NPA) in order to respond to the call of UN secretary general Antonio Guterres for a global ceasefire between warring parties for the common purpose of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.” The NPA is the CPP’s armed group. Last week, Mr. Duterte called for a unilateral ceasefire with the Reds, which Mr. Sison said had no basis and that the move was “insincere.” — Gillian M. Cortez

Senate committee asks DepEd, CHEd to release student subsidies

THE SENATE Committee on Basic Education, Arts, and Culture asked the Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to release the last tranche of student subsidies. Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who heads the panel, is referring to the subsidy for the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS VP) and Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) for school year 2018-2019. He said this could serve as additional financial relief to affected families and may also allow private schools to advance payment of salaries and 13th month pay. “This would help families who are bearing the socio-economic impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “Kung may tamang panahon para putulin ng DepEd at CHED ang red tape, ito na ang pagkakataong gawin nila ito (If there is a right time for DepEd and CHED to cut red tape, this is the opportunity for them to do so),” he said. Mr. Gatchalian said DepEd’s 2020 budget allocates P23.93 billion for the SHS VP program while the TES has a P16 billion allocation for 2018-2019. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

Now is the time to help

Besieged by the COVID-19 pandemic and pushed into adversity, the current circumstance has stimulated a surge in patriotic and emphatic response from the private sector and civil society groups.

The health crisis has plunged Luzon into a 24-hour lockdown which tremendously impacts upon the livelihood of the most vulnerable sectors of society. Juxtaposed by a populist government, the full spectrum of society with all its conflicting dynamics are now trapped in an agnostic health-cum-economic predicament.

Despite persistent political undercurrents, the people are finding a long dormant spirit of caring and kindness that has been buried by the daily stresses of working for our individual goals to better our lives. This national emergency has thrown us into a unprecedented situation that has sparked an urgency for synergy and charity.

For starters, some of the country’s biggest business groups are donating generously to ease the unanticipated sufferings of the urban poor in Metro Manila. Responding to the urgency, an initial fund of over P1.5 billion was swiftly raised for door to door distribution of P1,000 grocery vouchers to more than 1 million households in the poorest communities of Mega-Manila. The first responders supporting the project as of this writing are: the Aboitiz Group, the ABS-CBN/Lopez Group, Alliance Global/Megaworld, AY Foundation and RCBC, Ayala Corp., Bench/Suyen Corp., Century Pacific, Concepcion Industrial Corp, DMCI, the Gokongwei Group of Companies/Robinsons Retail Holdings, ICTSI, Jollibee, the Leonio Group, Mercury Drug, Metrobank/GT Capital, Nutri-Asia, Oishi/Liwayway Marketing Corp., PLDT/Metro Pacific

Investments Corp., Puregold, San Miguel Corp., SM/BDO, Sunlife of Canada, and Unilab.

Project Ugnayan is essentially a fund-raising initiative that will initially collaborate with Caritas Manila’s Project Damayan and the Pantawid ng Pag-ibig program of ABS CBN. These will provide the needed ground network to efficiently distribute the gift certificates that recipients can use to purchase the goods they need in supermarkets or groceries accessible to them. Caritas has started distribution in four pilot areas and will gear up to expand to all 677 parishes in greater Manila (regardless of religion). The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation supports as the secretariat of the project.

Mindful of social distancing precautions, parish volunteers will distribute to each household, with the cooperation of the Philippine National Police and local barangay officials.

Jump starting this wave of benevolence was the Ayala Group’s P2.4 billion amelioration package which consists of “P1.4 billion in rent condonation for its Ayala mall merchants, P600 million for continuing salaries of construction site workers shut down in various projects of the Ayala Malls group and Makati Development Corp., P270 million for Globe Telecoms vendor partners and retail store support staff, and P10 million in financial support for personnel of other Ayala companies.”

As announced by the brothers Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, (Chairman, CEO of Ayala Corp.) and Fernando Zobel de Ayala (Ayala President), “Its employees will continue to receive salaries and financial support such as early release of mid-year bonuses. Employee loan payments have been postponed together with the release of special financial assistance programs with subsidized rates.”

Manuel V. Pangilinan (Chairman of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., MPIC) concurrently assured continued “pay and benefits, full payment of 13th month pay, no charging of work from home days to vacation or sick leave for all their employees in PLDT, Smart Communications and MPIC. Government hospitals will also get much needed support with an initial supply of 4,000 liters of alcohol and 500,000 vitamin tablets for frontline personnel.”

This new virus from China has sent the world scrambling to arrest what is now emerging as the multi-dimensional fallout that threatens to kill multitudes and impoverish millions. Crisis always has a way of bringing out the best, and the worse, in people. What we need now is for all of us to be at our best behavior and try to block off the anxieties and negativity that can cloud our better judgement. Let us support our countrymen who are now at the frontlines, our local governments, our health workers, our peacekeepers, social workers, and volunteers who must cope with the inadequacies and mortal risks of this crisis. For those who have the capacity to help, now is the time.

 

Victor Andres C. Manhit is the President of Stratbase ADR Institute.

Coping with COVID-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic and people around the globe are understandably very worried, if not in a state of panic. In the Philippines, in an effort to quell the upward surge in infections similar to what is happening in other countries, President Rodrigo R. Duterte initially ordered a “community quarantine” of the National Capital Region (NCR) effective March 15 until April 1. However, on March 16, the President put the entire island of Luzon on “enhanced community quarantine” (ECQ-Luzon), strictly imposing a home quarantine, among others, starting on March 17 until April 12.

While COVID-19 is primarily a health issue, it cannot be denied that it has multifaceted effects — from the suspension of classes to how businesses operate, and, yes, even redefining how people socialize.

Indubitably the economy will take the hardest hit. It is a daunting challenge for the government to balance the economy and the health of the populace. While we are, of course, very concerned about people’s health, we need to keep the economy going. Some businesses must operate, albeit not “business as usual” and with very stringent restrictions.

In this regard, Malacañang, through Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea, has issued a Memorandum following the declaration by the President of the ECQ-Luzon providing, among others, that only those private establishments providing basic necessities and such activities related to food and medicine production, i.e. public markets, supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies and drug stores, food preparation and delivery services, water-refilling stations, manufacturing and processing plants of basic food products and medicines, banks, money transfer services, power, energy, water and telecommunications supplies and facilities, shall be open, subject to the adoption of a strict skeletal force and social distancing measures.

Furthermore, the Memorandum provides that Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) establishments and export-oriented industries shall remain operational subject to compliance with the following conditions: a.) strict observance of social distancing; b.) provision of appropriate temporary accommodation arrangements for employees; and c.) implementation of a skeletal workforce. Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles has made it clear that any covered company that fails to comply with any of the said conditions shall not be allowed to operate. Note that the Labor Advisories issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) prior to the declaration of the ECQ-Luzon, i.e. LAs 9 and 11, Series of 2020, may still apply. Such advisories allowed companies to adopt certain flexible work arrangements (FWA) such as work-from-home, reduction of work hours/workdays, rotation of workers, forced leave, and temporary suspension of operations under Article 301 (formerly 286) of the Labor Code. Companies falling within the exceptions under the Palace Memorandum may adopt any of such FWAs. Other companies may adopt work-from-home or temporary suspension of operations.

Furthermore, the provision in the Advisories stating that leaves of absence during the community quarantine period are to be charged against the workers’ existing leave credits, if any, may still arguably apply. Remaining unpaid leaves during said period may be covered and be subject to the conditions provided in DoLE’s COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program. In any case, the DoLE has subsequently issued Department Order No. 209, Series of 2020 or Guidelines on the Adjustment Measures Program for Affected Workers Due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (DO 209), which provides, among others, that a one-time financial assistance of P5,000 shall be provided to affected workers (of affected establishments) in lump-sum, non-conditional, regardless of employment status, to cover the remaining unpaid leaves. Large establishments, however, are highly encouraged to cover the full wages of the employees during the entire quarantine period. There shall also be employment facilitation by providing access to available job opportunities.

Affected establishments, under DO 209, refer to private establishments that have implemented FWAs as defined under Advisory No. 9, S 2020. On the other hand, affected workers are workers in private establishments whose employment face or suffer interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic such as: retained workers who do not receive regular wage (e.g. those on a reduced work hours or work days); and workers whose employment is temporarily suspended by reason of the suspension of operations of the employer’s business establishment.

With respect to Ecozone IT Enterprises, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority or PEZA issued on March 5 Memorandum Circular No. 2020-011 or the PEZA Assistance to Ecozone IT Enterprises in responding to COVID-19. Perhaps PEZA should issue another Circular in light of the declaration of the ECQ-Luzon.

Pray tell when this catastrophe will end, but it is fervently hoped, by the grace of God and coupled with the unparalleled resilience of the Filipino workers, that these measures will cushion the economic and even psychological impact of the COVID-19 on the employers and their employees. Let us keep safe, everyone!

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. This article is for general informational and educational purposes, and not offered as, and does not constitute, legal advice or legal opinion.

 

Tiffany Ann L. Dy is an Associate of the Labor and Employment Department of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala &Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW).

tldy@accralaw.com

(632) 8830-8000

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 .

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