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BIR sets June 15 payment deadline for amended ITRs

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said it will waive penalties for income tax return (ITR) amendments provided that settlement payments are made on or before June 15, with the bureau still enforcing the April 15 filing deadline while Luzon is on lockdown.

BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay issued Revenue Memorandum Circular on March 16 reiterating that the tax filing deadline remains April 15. However, it allows taxpayers to file ITRs tentatively if they believe the return to be prone to error due to “limitations in the preparation” during the one-month lockdown.

The order allows amendments to be filed “at any time” with no penalty if any additional income tax is settled on or before June 15.

“Considering the limitations in the preparation of the AITR (annual income tax return) to be filed by concerned taxpayers due to the aforesaid lockdown, errors in the determination of their income taxes are possible. Hence, taxpayers, at any time, can amend their AITR filed, provided the concerned taxable period has not been the subject of an audit,” according to the circular, a copy of which was sent to journalists Tuesday.

“An amendment that will result in additional income tax to be paid, can still be paid without the imposition of corresponding penalties if the same shall be done not later than June 15, 2020,” it added.

The BIR also urged taxpayers to use its electronic facilities to file their tax returns to limit their exposure to COVID-9, which has infected 142 people and killed 12 in the Philippines so far.

Taxpayers can still file through over-the-counter through an authorized bank or via BIR revenue collection offices.

The bureau’s electronic channels include those offered by Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines, Union Bank of the Philippines and e-wallet services like GCash and Paymaya.

“The filing of tax returns manually can still be done by those who are not mandated to file and pay electronically, if the AITR to be filed has tax due and payable. If there is no tax to be paid, the same are required to be filed through eBIRForm facilities,” according to the circular.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday placed Luzon under “enhanced community quarantine” until April 13 to slow the spread of the disease, ordering home quarantine for most residents and limiting non-essential movement.

The order suspends classes, public transportation and work in government offices except for those under minimal staffing arrangements. It also asked the private sector to halt operations or adopt work-from-home schemes, but exempted those providing basic services necessities from home quarantine, including workers at groceries, pharmacies, clinics, hospitals, restaurants with delivery service, banks, and utilities. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Checkpoint procedures set for vehicles carrying food

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said accredited cargo vehicles delivering food into Metro Manila can pass through checkpoints and use special lanes if they present passes and display decals, while drivers and passengers must also present accreditation documents and ID.

In a memorandum circular, the DA said the food lane system applies to vehicles delivering produce into the quarantine area, while occupants of the vehicles will also be subject to temperature checks.

The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) will issue decals to vehicles carrying vegetables and root crops while the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) will issue passes for poultry and meat cargoes.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) will issue decals for vehicles carrying fish and other aquaculture products while the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) will issue passes for vehicles carrying processed meat.

The so-called “green lanes” or “food fast lanes” are a component of the DA’s Food Resiliency Action Plan to ensure the continued supply of food for Metro Manila.

To be accredited, vehicles carrying food must present the vehicle’s Official Receipt of Registration (OR) and Certificate of Registration (CR), along with a food lane reference form and a sworn statement of commitment.

Accredited vehicles will be exempted from restrictions imposed by local government units (LGUs) from the point of origin to the destination and vice versa. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Metro Manila construction materials prices rise in Feb.

WHOLESALE prices of construction materials in Metro Manila rose in February, though the rate of growth slowed compared with a month earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Retail prices also rose, accelerating from January.

The construction materials wholesale price index (CMWPI) for the National Capital region (NCR) rose 1.5% year-on-year in February, compared to 1.8% in January.

The construction materials retail price index (CMRPI) in the NCR rose 1.1% in February, after coming in at 0.7% in January.

Price indices represent the weighted cost of a basket of goods relative to a base period.

The CMWPI took in slower rates of price increases in the prices of sand and gravel (2.5% from 3.9% in January); electrical works (2% from 3.2%); plumbing fixtures and accessories/waterworks (1.9% from 4.3%); and concrete products and cement (0.6% from 0.7%).

Price declines were noted in fuels and lubricants (-0.7% from 9.1%); doors, jambs and steel casements (-0.7% from -0.9%); and plywood (-0.1% from 0%).

Prices rose 7.5% for PVC pipes, unchanged from the rate recorded in the previous month. Steady price changes were also seen in glass and glass products (7.1%), painting works (1.1%), asphalt (0%), and machinery and equipment rental (0%).

Prices rose for hardware (5.3% from 4.9%), lumber (3.8% from 3.4%), G.I. sheets (4% from 3.9%), reinforcing and structural steel (0.2% from 0%), and tileworks (17.5% from 16.1%).

The CMRPI incorporated faster price growth in painting materials and related compounds (1.7% from 1% in January); carpentry materials (1% from 0.6%); miscellaneous construction materials (0.8% from -0.1%); electrical materials (0.6% from 0.5%); and masonry materials (0.5% from 0.2%).

The rate of retail price growth in tinsmithry and plumbing materials was unchanged at 1.3%, and 0.9%, respectively.

“It could be that demand for wholesale construction materials eased as the initial impact of COVID-19 spread. Bulk selling and its easing may be an early indication of a dampening of overall demand,” UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said in an e-mail.

In a phone interview, Federation of Philippine Industries Chairman Jesus L. Arranza said the costs of these construction materials are “expected to be higher” as there will be less production of such goods due to the disruptions to most construction projects with the implementation of an enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

UnionBank’s Mr. Asuncion added: “Demand, overall, may soften as movement of people and goods in Luzon are hampered by the enhanced community quarantine. Both wholesale and retail may experience a slowdown.” — Carmina Angelica V. Olano

John Legend holds online concert

AMERICAN crooner John Legend decided that the COVID-19 pandemic was not going to stop him from performing as he decided to hold an online concert via Instagram Live on March 18 at 4 a.m.

“My friend Chris Martin did a lovely little concert from home today. I’ll be doing one tomorrow at 1 p.m. Pacific time. See you soon. We’ll try to get through this together,” the singer wrote on Twitter on March 17.

He said that his wife, model/celebrity Chrissy Teigen will also be joining the concert so expect “awesomeness” and “hilarity.”

Chris Martin, frontman for American rock band Coldplay, staged an online concert via the Coldplay Instagram on March 16.

The two singers are among several musicians who decided to stage online performances for people who are stuck at home because of the virus.

Russian-German pianist Igor Levit took to Twitter last Thursday to perform Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata Op. 53.

“It’s a sad time, it’s a weird time, but acting is better than doing nothing. Let’s bring the house concert into the 21st century!” Mr. Levit told viewers of his stream.

The success of his stream, which has been retweeted more than 1,500 times garnered more than 6,000 likes, spurred the musician to conduct another concert the next day.

Also in Berlin, Simon Rattle, the conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, led a performance of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia and Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra on the same night. — ZBC

You’ve come a long way, Filipina

A foreigner was once quoted as publicly saying that the best man in the Philippines is the Filipino woman. It is not surprising therefore that an international accrediting organization has ranked the Philippines as number one in the world in percentage of women in senior executive positions, many of them actually being CEOs. Although we have had two women presidents, a distinction the richest nation in the world has not achieved, the fact is the women presidents have gotten there through derived credentials: Cory Aquino’s husband who was martyred was presidential timbre, and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s father was president.

Before I was born, women in this country could not vote. My paternal grandma, who was president of the Tacloban Woman’s Club, made public speeches advocating suffrage for women. In the 1970s, when my mother wanted to buy land on credit, married women could not borrow from a bank unless their husbands allowed it in writing. She therefore asked me to officially be the borrower since my dad was loan averse and she was buying the land without telling him.

My mother’s story is remarkable. She never went to high school, and came from the family of an immigrant from China who had lost his trading business and his home when he became a gambler. Mama’s mother, who was a tiny but emotionally strong woman, died early of a heart attack probably because of her struggles, before she reached the age of 50. My mom, being the eldest, became virtual mother to her siblings. She had to stop schooling. But she was awesome. She educated herself by reading my textbooks as I went all the way to college. Her favorite subjects were history and literature. She also read my leisure books including those by Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh; but her favorite was Anne Morrows Lindbergh’s Gifts from the Sea. She also subscribed to Reader’s Digest, and read my dad’s magazines (Time, Newsweek, Life, and Saturday Evening Post). All her readings enabled her to catch up with my very articulate and well-informed Dad, and his college-educated sisters. She also managed the household budget very tightly, prioritizing her children’s education. Consequently, all of her seven daughters finished college; three of them becoming medical doctors. The two boys did not have the patience to finish college but ended up supporting their families comfortably enough.

Filipinas have certainly had to struggle. Nevertheless, we’ve certainly come a long way. In the advertising industry where I once worked for several years, young women today are CEOs. I only got as far as VP-GM but at the time, that was quite a feat. Even when I became the first female account director of J. Walter Thompson in the Asia Pacific region, I learned later that my male contemporaries were paid better than I was. In my naiveté. I used to wonder why they had nicer cars and lived in fancier apartments than I did. Hehe.

The road for women’s “liberation” has not been smooth; and today the struggle continues. But the Filipina has demonstrated true grit; and I guess our backbones were strengthened at home, where our mothers gave us responsibilities at an early age. I also wonder sometimes if the Filipino mother’s tendency to spoil her sons has caused so many of them to mature late, if at all.

My grandson who now has his own family has turned out to be an egalitarian when it comes to gender issues. He and his wife both work; and they share family expenses equitably. He also helps care for their baby. Because they went through a “discovery retreat” before they got engaged, they seem to have avoided the traumas of adjustment to early married life. I am very impressed and pleased with how my granddaughter-in-law is managing her situation. Again, she is not aggressive; but is assertive enough so that their relationship is healthy. She keeps her maiden name and my grandson doesn’t make an issue of it. Unlike my Dad, my grandson helped change diapers, and helped carry and bathe their baby. I am told that my grandson’s colleagues tend to have the same egalitarian attitudes.

It looks like the gender revolution has been progressing, even if only in the urban areas. I am optimistic that women’s role in running our country will increase over time. I think our concern now should be the high school drop-out rate among the boys. Perhaps there should now be a “Men’s Liberation” movement to ensure that men mature early enough. Right now, there is so much blatant immaturity and egocentricity among men in power. Filipina mothers need to be more conscious of the need to raise boys who will become responsible, mature adults. It is the girls who are given responsibilities early on. This is probably why they turn out very often, in my professional experience, as generally more dependable when it comes to work.

Meanwhile, the struggle for women’s rights continues. Under the current national leadership, it is constantly threatened by insecure machismo. Strong women like Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, Senator Leila de Lima and Vice-President Leni Robredo still suffer constant denigration.

Perhaps the women too, need to be reoriented on how to raise their sons. Perhaps parenting needs to be incorporated into the school curriculum. Parenting, after all, is at the core of human development. The more egalitarian our society becomes, the better-off we should become.

 

Teresa S. Abesamis is a former professor at the Asian Institute of Management and Fellow of the Development Academy of the Philippines.

tsabesamis0114@yahoo.com

(Undisrupted) learning in the time of COVID-19

The World Health Organization defines COVID-19 as the “infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus.” The virus has swept through the globe, affecting 144 countries and resulting in 5,735 deaths as of March 15.

The first case of COVID-19 in the Philippines was reported on Jan. 30. As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines continues to escalate, with a dramatic increase from 10 cases to 33 in a span of two days between March 8 to March 10, and with Department of Health confirming 12 deaths out of 140 confirmed cases as of this writing, several sectors in the private and public settings are forced to respond to the situation by adopting measures that challenge and to certain extent, disrupt, their normal operations. Business sectors, particularly the mall industry, had leading companies Ayala and SM companies announce a temporary shutdown of their operations from March 16 until further notice. This is in compliance with a recommendatory directive from the Metro Manila LGUs on General Community Quarantine that calls for the temporary closure of malls and similar establishments. Government work at the executive branch is likewise suspended with provision for a skeletal workforce, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of Code Red Sub-Level 2 which provides the protocol for community quarantine.

In the education sector, classes have been suspended for a month from March 12 in an attempt to flatten the curve, or prevent the virus from spreading further. UNESCO cites educational disruption as an immediate effect of this. This disruption in learning comes with an extra challenge: How to continuously provide and facilitate knowledge given the precarious situation everyone is in, where the virus spreads faster than the government and frontline workers contain it.

ONLINE LEARNING AS A RESPONSE TO THE OUTBREAK
The government’s initial suspension of classes in Metro Manila for a few days, followed by a prolonged month-long suspension in all levels until April 12, came at a time when the current school year for most schools is just about to be completed. Schools that follow the June-March academic calendar adjusted their requirements by canceling some requirements, like the quarterly exams for the basic education unit, in order to wrap up the year.

At the tertiary level, particularly for higher education institutions (HEIs) that have already shifted to the August-May calendar, the suspension came at a time when classes have just begun seven or eight weeks into the current semester. And that’s where the challenge lies. With on-site classes halted due to the outbreak, HEIs are confronted with the task of providing remote but effective ways of learning to its students while giving them a semblance of the normalcy of a regular on-site classroom experience. Scoping the announcements of major public and private universities in Metro Manila indicate a general call to utilize various platforms, provided for by the school or otherwise, that would allow for classes or activities to continue online. These platforms include Moodle, Zoom, Schoology, Google Hangout, to name a few. How HEIs would effectively cope with this in a month is something that needs to be explored, in the short run. In the longer run, it warrants taking a closer look at institutional capacities that support online education for an extended period of time, or as an institutionalized practice in academic institutions. Online education or other modes of remote learning, while practiced selectively by some academics, is not yet wholly institutionalized in the country’s education system. Even in selected HEIs where a system for online learning is put in place, only a fraction of the academic community uses it.

INSTITUTIONALIZING ONLINE LEARNING AS THE NEW NORMAL IN EDUCATION
With more than 3.2 million students enrolled last year at the tertiary level from 2,393 public and private HEIs in the country (Commission on Higher Education, 2019), it is important to ensure that disrupted learning is mitigated. Now is an excellent time for academic institutions to take stock of their readiness to function even in times of a crisis, especially if the crisis takes place in the middle of the school year. Institutionalizing online learning as part of the new normal where education is concerned, most especially after the crisis is over, should draw attention to several factors such as institutional capacity, curriculum design, skills of both faculty and students, and, more importantly, access to technology and the internet.

Moving forward, reinventing education by way of institutionalizing online learning or various permutation of remote education should not be at the expense of the marginalized. If the goal is to reinvent education and provide undisrupted robust education for everyone even in a crisis or disaster, provision of such must not be affected by social class or one’s ability to cope.

 

Pilar Pajayon-Berse, PhD. is an Assistant Professor at the Political Science department of Ateneo de Manila University.

The coronavirus: Why not news about those who get well?

Chris Cuomo, host of the CNN news-commentary program, Cuomo Prime Time, had good news about someone who had been found positive for the strain of coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19.

The good news was that the patient was recovering.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the COVID-19 mortality rate at 3.4%. That’s the bad news. On that basis, shouldn’t it be good news that 96.6% of those infected survive? Even in Wuhan, China, where the disease first began to spread, the mortality rate was 4.9% early on.

In other words, being found positive for COVID-19 is not necessarily a death sentence. In fact, a full recovery is likely.

In this millennium, the world has experienced two other coronavirus epidemics — and we survived. In the fall of 2002, the world reeled from the spread of SARS-CoV or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a type of coronavirus (named after its crown-like spikes). The SARS epidemic, which was reported mainly in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Toronto, was brought under control by the middle of 2003 — or in less than a year — “by means of syndromic surveillance, prompt isolation of patients, strict enforcement of quarantine of all contacts and, in some areas, community-level quarantine. By interrupting all human-to-human transmission, SARS was effectively eradicated.” (Source: online report). Vaccines have since been developed but research continues.

In 2014, another type of coronavirus called MERS-CoV or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, was traced to Saudi Arabia. Only two confirmed cases of MERS infection were identified in the US, while more than 1,300 tested negative. However, in the Middle East, three or four out of 10 infected died of the ailment, making the mortality rate, as a percentage of those infected, alarmingly high

In an online report, the mortality rate of MERS, was estimated at 34%, while that of SARS was 9.6%. Both are considerably higher than the 3.4% death rate of COVID-19. However, because SARS was contained within a year and the incidence of MERS was mainly in the Arabian Peninsula, they did not cause the panic we are now witnessing.

In contrast, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic has been worldwide, thousands have been infected, and hundreds have died. And because of lack of information, it has made everyone fearful, like being afraid of the dark

SARS and COVID-19 are said to be similar in many respects. The difference, according to experts, is in the latter’s transmissibility (it is transmitted more rapidly and, therefore, is more contagious). Worse yet, the mild outward symptoms can be deceptive, making those positive for the virus less aware of the danger of infecting others — until it is too late.

This makes pre-emptive testing imperative. We should not wait to get sick before being tested! The problem in the US, however, is finding a testing facility — although the federal government has vowed to solve that. Meanwhile, because of the inadequate number of testing kits, health authorities have advised that only those showing symptoms should be tested. This is one cause of anxiety and panic. In contrast, one can have a flu vaccination even without flu symptoms. Remember the adage, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”?

The median incubation period of COVID-19 is estimated to be 5.1 days. According to studies, “under conservative assumptions,” 101 out of every 10,000 cases will develop symptoms, within 11.5 to 15.6 days of active monitoring or quarantine.” This explains the 14-day quarantine period that health authorities require.

The race is now on to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. But authorities calculate that it will take at least 18 months to develop one and get it cleared for use on humans. However, authorities believe that the ailment can be mitigated with the SARS vaccine. Here’s what one online report states:

“Researchers in the US have mapped a SARS-CoV-2 protein, which could help use drugs developed to treat SARS coronavirus as effective treatments for the new COVID-19 disease… the Nsp15 protein from SARS-CoV-2 is 89% similar to the SARS-CoV protein. Previous SARS studies published in 2010 show that Nsp15 inhibition can slow viral replication, offering hope for the use of Nsp-15-targeting drugs to treat COVID-19. Mapping of a 3D protein structure allows better insights into the virus’ replication in human cells.”

But what is even more reassuring is an authoritative article in UCHealth Today, a publication of the University of Colorado Hospital (ranked America’s best in Pulmonology), that stated that “most people who fall ill recover within two weeks. People with more severe cases generally recover in three to six weeks.”

Health authorities stress, however, that the disease is “very contagious.” This is one reason why people are panicking in the US. But the bigger reason is lack of sufficient knowledge about the epidemic, the inadequate testing capability, and the incompetence of President Donald Trump. Unfortunately, the hysteria has been made worse by media reports on the number of those infected and the number of fatalities, with little or nothing said about those who have recovered.

Of course, raising false hopes is not helpful either. But the facts should be stated clearly, objectively and credibly. It, therefore, doesn’t help to have a president who habitually lies.

Health professionals have cautioned older people about their greater vulnerability to COVID-19. The death rate for seniors is much, much higher. The elderly, especially those with heart, lung, and immunological conditions, are more susceptible to infection. In one senior facility, all those who had succumbed to COVID-19 already had a respiratory or other ailment.

In other words, the younger and healthier a person is, the greater the chances of recovery. But doctors advise against taking the ailment for granted. Even NBA players have been found positive after exposure to infected parties. And the flu, with a mortality rate of less than 1%, can still cause death (UCHealth Today points out that the flu is a strain of coronavirus).

It is best to avoid crowds; and best to wash hands with soap and warm water; use a disinfectant on hands, on door handles and on high traffic surfaces; avoid touching your face; and cough and sneeze into a tissue, and properly discard it. Most of all, it is best to be tested.

At any rate, the prospect of recovery from COVID-19 does not justify the idiotic comments of Trump when the coronavirus red flag was first raised in the US.

Calling the epidemic a hoax being spread by the Democrats, Trump said: “So if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work… some of them go to work, but they get better. They’ll get better very rapidly, they don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor.”

Trump has since done an about-face. In his message to America on Wednesday, March 11, he advised people to “stay home” if they were sick or had symptoms. From calling the alarming reports a hoax, Trump also declared a national emergency on March 13 and mustered both government and private sector resources to contain the virus.

Perhaps, much of the hysteria caused by COVID-19 would have been avoided if China had been more transparent concerning its surge in Wuhan; if Trump had avoided making idiotic remarks, and had displayed effective leadership in confronting the crisis; if more intelligent information about the epidemic had been promptly disseminated; and if adequate testing capabilities had been immediately marshalled.

To a large extent, the panic could have been minimized if media had provided more balanced reports, telling the good news along with the bad.

Unfortunately, the tendency to sensationalize may be ingrained in every media person. In Journalism school, this is what’s drilled into the heads of aspiring reporters:

“What is news? Dog bites man is not news. Man bites dog is news.”

 

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

Suspect and treacherous

In as much as the country is in limbo about the circumstances and consequences brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government needs to consider two equally important national concerns.

The first concern refers to the condition or the protection and welfare of the health workers who are in the frontline of dealing with the current plague. As our health workers are continuously put in the firing line, government and the people must provide them with the much-needed protection equipment and gadgets, and most of all, recognition due for their heroic work.

But alongside COVID-19 — something which started even before this disease came into existence — is the social epidemic brought about by the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) which also warrants national attention.

Unlike the virus, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) early on rated the casino sector as a high-level risk in terms of money laundering. In 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act (RA) No. 10927, known in local parlance as the “casino law.” The law designates casinos, including Internet- and ship-based ones, as covered persons under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, as amended. On account of suspicious transaction reports from 2013 to 2019, the sectoral risk assessment revealed that the estimated value of proceeds, involving Internet-based casinos and service providers (SPs), amounts to P14.01 billion (http://www.amlc.gov.ph/).

To date, the distress brought about by POGOs manifests across the social, political, and economic lives of Filipinos and the government. The following societal concerns are noteworthy.

Online gaming is illegal in China and despite repeated warnings, the Philippine government continues to tolerate the existence of these foreign operators. Worse, these are linked to illicit activities such as gambling, tax evasion, kidnapping, drug trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering. Several hotels and condominium buildings were raided in Makati recently for being used as fronts of prostitution by alleged Chinese syndicates. Aside from being well-funded, they are claimed to be bribing immigration personnel to sneak in illegal workers and young women from different Asian countries.

The AMLC, in a recent Senate hearing, said it flagged P14 billion in “suspicious transactions” within a two-year period in connection with POGO operations. Senator Richard Gordon, after discovering that some $633 million in suspected illicit funds or dirty money was brought into the Philippines from September 2019 to February 2020, described the situation as “bureaucracy at its worst.”

In particular, three risk assessments related to POGOs have been undertaken by the AMLC. “the National Risk Assessment in 2017, and the next two were about the financial impact through the financial flow analysis and the second is the anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) risk brought about by POGOs. Based on these assessments, the AMLC recommended as follows: increasing the level of AML/CTF effectiveness of compliance and supervision through training and workshops; revisiting supervision of Internet-based casinos and SPs; conducting a regulatory assessment, and enforcing actions; and reevaluating licenses of Internet-based casino operators and certificates of authority/operation issued to SPs. Part of the recommendations is to include SPs as covered persons within the company service provider sector definition under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, as amended” (http://www.amlc.gov.ph/).

But instead of strictly regulating POGOs to severely curb their damaging impact on Philippine society, if not banning them altogether, government has other things in mind.

The government is currently persecuting the country’s largest local conglomerates that employ Filipinos, while abetting the so-called POGOs who do not contribute to local employment.

The situation brings into the fore this disturbing question: Why is government punishing job-generating and tax-paying local conglomerates such as Manila Water Co., Maynilad Water Services Inc., and ABS-CBN Corp.?

At the ground, these local conglomerates have a legacy of achievements. They employ hundreds of thousands of well-paid workers across the country and contribute billions of pesos in taxes each year, boost consumer spending, and help strengthen government finances, and support economic growth. Yet, government officials and lawyers linked to the Duterte administration are trying to put them out of business or existence.

While the House of Representatives asked the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) to provide ABS-CBN a provisional authority to operate while a new legislative franchise is being heard, pro-Duterte lawyer Larry Gadon asked the Supreme Court to prevent House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba from implementing the notice of extension on the permit of ABS-CBN.

It is obvious that the government and its allies are intent on putting a legitimate company out of business, to the detriment of a multitude of workers and their families.

To punish our legitimate local tax paying and employment-generating companies that directly make lives better for thousands of Filipinos on the one hand, and to facilitate foreign gaming companies that fudge taxes and encourage criminal activities on the other hand, is suspect and treacherous.

 

Jaime Jimenez, Ph.D is the Deputy Executive Director for Research, Stratbase ADR Institute.

Philippine capital suspends international flights

By Arjay L. Balinbin and
Gillian M. Cortez, Reporters

AIRPORTS on the main Philippine island of Luzon will close their doors to inbound and outbound international flights starting March 20 as part of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s lockdown order to contain a novel coronavirus outbreak, the Transportation department said on Tuesday.

Travelers including overseas Filipino workers planning to leave or enter the Philippines through Luzon must do so within the next 72 hours from midnight of March 17, Transportation Undersecretary Raul del Rosario told a news briefing.

“After 72 hours they will have to stay here,” he said in Filipino. “They won’t have options any more because all domestic and international flights will have been canceled.”

Affected airports are the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Clark International Airport in Pampanga and the Puerto Princesa Airport in Palawan province.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has killed at least 12 people and sickened 175 others in the Philippines, according to the Health department. Worldwide, the virus has killed more than 7,000 people and infected about 183,000 more, mostly in China.

Aside from suspending transportation and regulating food and health services, home quarantine will also be enforced in all households under a stricter “enhanced community quarantine,” according to a copy of a memo signed by Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea on March 16.

Mr. del Rosario said outbound international flights now are limited to those that will ferry foreigners who might get stuck in the Philippines.

The agency later issued a statement saying Filipinos may also choose to leave during the 72-hour grace period.

Under the enhanced community quarantine, international passengers on their way to Luzon now would be allowed to enter, subject to quarantine procedures.

In a separate advisory, the agency said only one person per household may go outside to buy basic goods. They may use their cars to do so.

Media vehicles and journalists may also travel around Luzon as long as they have a special pass issued by the Presidential Communications Operations Office.

Under the Luzon-wide lockdown that took effect on March 17 until midnight of April 13, only establishments providing and producing basic goods and services will remain open.

These include public markets, supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies and drugstores, food preparation and delivery services and water-refilling stations.

Also allowed to operate are manufacturing and processing plants for basic food products and medicines, banks, money transfer services, power, energy, water and telecommunication supplies and facilities.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles told a separate briefing workers exempted from the ban must have their IDs and certificates with them in case they are checked by police.

Also yesterday, the presidential palace said Army trucks were sent out yesterday to ferry stranded passengers, mostly health workers and other employees exempted from the ban, on their way to work.

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) had also spoken with bus companies, who sent out their buses marked with the MMDA logo to take passengers exempted from the home quarantine to work, presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said in an e-mailed statement.

Another bus company had offered to transport to and from the airport outbound passengers leaving the country and inbound passengers before the 72-hour grace period expires, he said.

“We commend these bus companies for their bayanihan spirit,” Mr. Panelo said. “Everyone is called upon to rise to the challenges of this dangerous and extremely difficult phase of our history as a nation.”

“The palace will continue to asses the evolving health crisis to give the appropriate response to any problematic situation during this period,” Mr. Panelo said.

Apple’s $1.2-billion conspiracy fine is fair enough

By Alex Webb

THE TEMPTATION with antitrust cases — especially involving a company as high-profile as Apple Inc. — is to identify an ulterior motive. Why have the authorities attacked this particular target? Why is the fine so big? Surely there’s a hidden agenda at work, with broader implications.

Sometimes, though, it’s as simple as a firm breaking the rules and getting caught. France’s antitrust regulator fined Apple €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) on Monday for conspiring with two distributors to stifle competition and impose unfair conditions on third-party vendors, or “resellers,” of products such as the Mac and iPad. The figure is a French record.

France is building a reputation as the European nation most willing to tackle big tech. It fined Alphabet Inc. unit Google €150 million in December for its advertising practices. It’s also investigating Facebook Inc. on a separate issue.

Apple is to appeal. But it’s hard to argue that the company didn’t get what it deserved. Monday’s decision found that, between 2005 and 2013, the tech group divvied up the supply of its 2,000 French resellers between two distributors: Ingram Micro (subsequently acquired by China’s HNA Group) and Tech Data Corp. It then rationed what they could deliver to each reseller, imposing strict limitations on when the stores could offer discounts and promotions.

To retain a “premium reseller” distinction, the shops had to ensure that Apple products represented 70% of their sales. Yet they often found they didn’t receive new products as promptly as Apple’s own retail stores or other big retailers. If they broke any of Apple’s conditions, they risked being cut off.

So the resellers found themselves on an unlevel playing field. They were told they must mostly sell Apple products. Yet they couldn’t depend on getting plentiful supply. These resellers are small companies with a handful of outlets. They could hardly stand up to the might of Apple, even if it hadn’t then become the world’s largest company.

It’s not hard to see why Apple might have ended up on this path. The retail experience has been one element of the firm’s revival. Under Steve Jobs’s then leadership, and with current Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook as chief operating officer, Apple tightened control over its retail operations and the way its products were presented. It spent much of the first 15 years of its renaissance building out its own stores and pulling its products from a stack of big-name retailers.

This worked. Apple built one of the world’s most envious retail operations. Meanwhile, premium resellers became a good way of picking up the slack when demand outstripped Apple’s ability to meet it from its own locations. But in France, at least, those resellers seemed to be doing little more than picking up the scraps.

Apple, like any luxury brand, has an understandable interest in demanding certain standards of its partners. But it should do so fairly. Here, it broke the rules. With $90 billion of net cash, a fine of anything less than a billion euros would risk being too easily absorbed. Does the sum look like political showboating? Sure, but that oughtn’t make it any less valid.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

DoH says 45 more got infected; one more patient has recovered

THE Department of Health on Tuesday reported 45 new infections from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total to 187.

The agency also said another patient, a 31-year-old Filipino male from Negros Oriental had recovered, raising the number who those who have gotten well to four.

Patient No. 25 was one of the passengers of the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship M/V Diamond Princess docked in Yokohama.

Meanwhile, Senators Maria Lourdes Nancy S. Binay and Sherwin T. Gatchalian tested negative for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said in a mobile-phone message.

In a statement Mr. Gatchalian said he would end his quarantine, while Ms. Binay said she would continue her 14-day self-quarantine.

Both attended a Senate hearing on March 5 with a resource speaker who later tested positive for the virus.

The Senate restricted access to its building while it was being disinfected.

Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri on Monday said he had tested positive even though he did not show any symptoms.

Meanwhile, another worker of the House of Representatives Printing Service had tested positive for the virus and was admitted to a hospital, Secretary-General Jose Luis G. Montales said.

The employee was diagnosed with dengue but doctors later tested him for COVID-19, he said. A worker from the same office died on March 15 after being infected.

Also yesterday, BDO Unibank, Inc. said it had received reports that an employee from one of its offices in San Juan City tested positive for COVID-19. The employee had been on self-quarantine since March 10.

Some employees have been quarantined, the lender said, adding that it was coordinating with DOH in contacting other people who may have had contact with the patient. BDO also said it was disinfecting its common areas.

“BDO will continue to closely monitor the situation to ensure that the well-being of employees, customers and suppliers is protected,” it said in a statement. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas, Charmaine A. Tadalan, Genshen L. Espedido and Luz Wendy T. Noble

Keep sanitizer out of the market’s invisible hand

By Scott Duke Kominers

DURING THE WEEKEND the New York Times reported on several professional price gougers who had rounded up Purell hand sanitizer and other disinfectants from local stores to sell at steep markups on the internet. The article was cast as something of a human-interest piece, reflecting how crackdowns on scalping had left these would-be entrepreneurs with excess supply and nowhere to sell. But the public blowback against them was swift and scathing, and at least one has already had his stash seized by a state attorney general.

As Bloomberg Businessweek noted recently, price gouging for essential services is hard to detect, much less prove — unless, of course, someone brags about it to a major newspaper. But even so, it’s worth trying to understand why we find the practice so objectionable.

One might think that steep prices for disinfectant in the middle of an epidemic are just markets at work — a way of getting scarce goods to the people who value them the most.

I’m sure that’s what price gougers tell themselves. And that story is correct for some markets.

But that’s not the right way to think about disinfectant at this particular moment. Here’s why: willingness to pay for something isn’t just a measurement of value — it also depends on your wealth. Everyone needs disinfectant right now. So if you can pay $87 for a bottle of Purell instead of the usual $2 that probably doesn’t mean you’re more concerned about the risk of infection than your neighbor; it just means that you have more disposable income.

Thus buying low-priced disinfectant and selling it at steep markups effectively transfers disinfectant supplies from lower-income people to wealthier ones. That’s especially true when — as the Times’ article reported — you’re cleaning out the shelves of stores in lower-income neighborhoods, such as Dollar General, and selling on a platform such as Amazon that is disproportionately accessible to those who are better off.

Framed that way, the practice sounds pretty unfair. Moreover, it’s suboptimal from a social perspective: Poorer people will be among those hardest-hit by the current pandemic because their healthcare and housing tend to be less reliable than that of wealthier Americans. And they may have to go outside, even when they would rather stay home — to keep their jobs, perhaps, or buy food, rather than getting it delivered to their doorstep. That means they’ll need disinfectant to protect both themselves and others. By contrast, those with more resources also tend to have jobs than can be done from home — at least temporarily — not to mention better baseline health. They’ll be much better prepared to lock down if they have to.

On top of that, lower-income workers maintain the backbone infrastructure in industries with high risk of exposure and heavy use by the public, including transit, grocery stores, banks, and healthcare. So even if you’re thinking about yourself foremost, you still want those workers to stay healthy.

But they won’t have access to disinfectant if the price rises to a level high enough to match immediate demand with supply.

My recent research with Piotr Dworczak of Northwestern University and Mohammad Akbarpour of Stanford University suggests that in situations such as this it may be best for society to force prices below market-clearing levels in order to make sure everyone has access; that’s exactly what laws prohibiting price gouging attempt to do. And we certainly shouldn’t want people taking essential goods from lower-income areas and selling them in wealthier ones.

There’s a serious consequence to keeping the price low, of course: we end up with rationing, since there’s not enough to go around. But that hits everyone — rich or poor — more or less equally, because it’s often managed directly by stores placing limits on how much each customer can buy.

We desperately need to increase supply of disinfectant, household staples, and other essential goods. But in the meantime, we have to do what we can to get them to the people who need them most, and distribute them as equitably as possible. Price gouging might be part of how markets work in practice, but that’s very far from ideal during an international public-health crisis.

 

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