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Is the country moving in the right direction?

Is the country moving in the right direction? Consider:

• President Duterte abrogated the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States due to his pique over the United States’ cancellation of the US visa of Senator Bato dela Rosa. He has made a strategic shift away from the United States with deep consequences to our economy and our national security over a trivial matter. However, the cancellation of the visa of his friend and political supporter, Senator Bato dela Rosa, may have been just a pretext on his real intention to isolate the Philippines from its traditional allies in favor of China.

However, where is the strategic calculation? The Philippines would be without a potent ally in its conflict with China over the South China Sea. The Philippines would be without any leverage, even a psychological one, in its relationship with China.

Moreover, the capability of the Philippine military will be degraded without the training and intelligence that the US is providing under the Visiting Forces Agreement. The US provided crucial intelligence in the siege in Marawi and continues to provide intelligence in the fight against terrorism and the Abu Sayyaf bandits.

The negative consequences will spill over into the economy. Western investors will weigh the security considerations of the Philippines moving away from its US alliance.

At a time when China is reeling from a succession of shocks — the trade war with the US, protests in Hong Kong, the re-election of pro-independence President Tsai Ing-Wen in Taiwan, and the still spreading COVID-19 virus epidemic whose epicenter is in Hubei, China – President Duterte has chosen to cast the fate of the Philippines to China.

In fact, China hasn’t delivered much in the form of investments in the Philippines, except for the POGOs (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators), which are considered illegal by the Chinese government.

• President Duterte has cursed the water concessionaires, refused to pay the arbitral award in arbitration proceedings the government submitted itself to, threatened to unilaterally cancel the water concessionaire’s contracts over allegedly “onerous provisions,” and to top it off, swore at the Ayalas and Manny Pangilinan and told them that he will send them to jail.

President Duterte may yet get what he wants, but the government’s commitments in PPP (Public-Private Partnerships) contracts have become suspect and will result in “adverse selection” — only the politically connected who can mitigate regulatory and political risk will dare invest. This will also result in a chilling effect on investors, particularly Japanese ones since Marubeni is a 25% stockholder in Maynilad.

The government’s BBB (Build-Build-Build) program, based on a shift toward Chinese and Japanese ODA (Official Development Assistance) has been a dismal failure (only two out of 75 projects will be finished during Duterte’s term), but will a shift back toward PPP even seem possible? Perhaps only cronies need apply.

Furthermore, the administration is obscuring a bigger problem (perhaps that’s the intention all along) — government has failed to develop new sources of bulk water. For sure, water consumers, the interests of which the President is allegedly fighting for, will experience water shortages this summer and the next summer, and the summer after that and not because of the water concessionaires as their mandate is only distribution.

It is the administration’s fault that the country is facing a water crisis. In its eagerness to pivot away from PPP toward Chinese ODA, the administration cancelled the PPP bidding for the Kaliwa bulk water source project when it assumed office in 2017 and awarded it to a Chinese contractor. (Former Associate Justice Antonio Carpio calls it the “mother of all onerous contracts.”) That project has yet to start.

Indeed, the most expensive water is no water at all. In a bit of irony, the Department of Health keeps telling us to wash our hands to prevent the spread of COVID-19 but where’s the water? No water, thanks to the government.

• Under President Duterte, POGOs have mushroomed. True, they have brought in foreign exchange, lifted property prices, and increased patronage of high-end Chinese restaurants.

However, they have also brought with them crime, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, and, possibly but hopefully not, COVID-19. Not even the Chinese government wants POGOs, as they are seen as controlled by criminal gangs and triads.

These POGOs don’t pay their share of taxes. The Bureau of Internal Revenue estimates that these POGOs haven’t paid P50 billion which they owe to the government. The administration seems to have the energy to go after conglomerates but not after POGO operators.

What’s scary is that Lai Yu Cian, a Taiwanese victim of human trafficking by a POGO operator, testified before Congress that her employers boasted that they enjoy powerful protectors in government.

Also, Senator Risa Hontiveros exposed that about P10 billion in bribes in a so-called “pastillas scheme” have gone to the Bureau of Immigration to facilitate the visa entry of about a million POGO workers.

In the light of these, perhaps the Philippines hasn’t become a narco-state, but has it become a POGO-state?

• Solicitor General Jose Calida filed a quo warranto petition in the Supreme Court seeking to nullify the legislative franchises of ABS-CBN and its subsidiary, ABS-CBN Convergence Inc. It’s no secret that President Duterte has no love lost for ABS-CBN and called on Congress not to renew its franchise.

The evil purpose of the quo warranto petition is not only to prevent ABS-CBN from broadcasting but also to cripple its entire media platform, from the iWantTV! streaming app to the TVplus digital channels.

However, no less than Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia admitted that such a move will shake investor confidence in the Philippines.

While South Korea is basking in its soft power, the Oscar win of the South Korean film Parasite, our own government is intent on kneecapping a Filipino media firm which is one of the few trying to export Filipino films and telenovelas.

• The Department of Health was late in recommending banning of Chinese visitors to the country to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which started in Hubei, China. Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque rationalized then that a ban would ruffle relations with China. Therefore, a planeload of tourists from Hubei, China was even allowed to land in Boracay.

However, after the World Health Organization declared an emergency, again to appease China, the Philippine government banned visitors not only from Hong Kong and Macao, but after awhile and without due notice, Taiwan as well. Politics, not science, was behind the ban. Taiwan has fewer cases than Singapore, yet the government banned Taiwan. The Department of Health reasoned that it is merely following the government’s One-China policy, where China claims that Taiwan is a renegade province.

The government reversed its position only after pressure from 160,000 OFWs in Taiwan and threats of retaliation by the Taiwanese government. It seems that the government has a “China first, Filipinos, second” policy.

In sum, the Philippine government has pushed away the United States, pissed off Taiwan, and even alienated Western Europe with its bloody drug war. It has poisoned the PPP investment climate with its actions to unilaterally rip out contracts but without delivering on its promised Build-Build-Build program. Its threats to shut down ABS-CBN are alarming not only foreign investors, but Western democracies and defenders of press freedom.

Furthermore, the administration hasn’t done anything to solve the looming water shortages this summer except to threaten and curse the water concessionaires. It looks the other way at corruption in the Department of Information and Technology even as the latter has failed to provide better mobile and broadband service to Filipino consumers. It has cast its lot with China, which faces many growing internal and external problems. It has made friends with POGO operators, who bring crime, prostitution, tax evasion, human trafficking, and money laundering into the country.

The country may be enjoying better credit ratings, but is it moving in the right direction?

 

Calixto V. Chikiamco is a board director of the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis.

idea.introspectiv@gmail.com

www.idea.org.ph

The faded glory of a revolution

Tomorrow is the 34th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution that threw out Ferdinand Marcos and ended his 14-year dictatorship. Do you feel the thrill and tingle of remembering how over two million Filipino civilians led by Jaime Cardinal Sin staged a peaceful protest to oust Marcos, from February 22–25, 1986, on the Epifanio de los Santos highway? When the military from nearby General Headquarters, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo, led by then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Chief of Staff General Fidel Ramos joined the throngs, it happened so fast — Marcos and his family and cronies were flown off to Hawaii by US military helicopters.

But the glory of the EDSA Revolution seems to be fading fast. Fewer and fewer Filipinos remember the shining moment of victory over the voracious “conjugal dictatorship” that exacted lives and rights as tithes to the self-appointed royalty aside from money and property they liberally plundered as theirs by absolute and unquestioned ascendancy.

Is it just a matter of demographics that recollections and the attendant esteem of the EDSA feat are waning? Interpolating from the census charts, and assuming continued proportional birth and death rates to today, roughly about 70% of 109.5 million Filipinos (aged 0–44 years old) now were not yet born in 1986 or were too young then. How can these young people remember? They cannot. But why aren’t the 30% adults who experienced martial law excited about this glorious victory of democracy won by their generation?

The only ones who seem to remember are the artists and the writers — memories of a passion will always live in their hearts. In the years after EDSA, a movie, play or documentary has been written (40+ counted) for almost every year of the anniversary, perchance to remind all of the heroism of the Filipinos on EDSA, and the vow forever in the psyche of this proud people that there will be no succeeding dictator after Marcos. Never again!

Martial-law themed literary and visual arts works have been written, directed and acted by known Filipino artists like the late Lino Brocka (Orapronobis, 1989; Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim, 1984; and Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag, 1975); Mike de Leon (Sister Stella L, 1984; Batch ’81, 1982); Chito Roño (Eskapo, 1995, and Dekada ’70, 2002), and GMA channel’s documentaries by Kara David (“1081”, 2003), among others. These center on the poignant sublimation of helpless victims of the violence dealt by power-crazed executors and executionists of the dictator and his court.

Of course, character studies of the villains is strong broth to stew them as they deserve — for hurting and killing, cheating and lying to the Filipino people. Proper perspective and perception of martial law and its operators must be established, for the sake of truthful history.

“Perception is real, but the truth is not,” Imelda Marcos said in The Kingmaker, the 2019 documentary by American writer/photographer Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles, 2012) and shown in special screenings for limited (ticketed) audiences at the Cultural Center of the Philippines at end January and after the February 14 Valentine’s Day (interrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak). The docu seems to have insinuated itself to be the tandem piece for this year’s EDSA anniversary tomorrow, February 25.

In the clever style of cinéma vérité, Imelda Marcos’s hyperboles on ideals and principles were juxtaposed with lurid stories of torture victims of martial law as quick swings of the camera detailed her vanity and ostentation. Greenfield has mercilessly sliced to size former First Lady Imelda for her shamefaced, confused metaphors — whittling her down to perceptions more accurate to her role in her husband’s martial law.

Why did Imelda agree to be treated thus by a foreign documentarist? Some who might think she does not have enough “up there” will probably say “she’s been had,” serves her right. But Imelda has proven herself street-smart, and has the money to engage PR strategists who would have said that negative publicity, as The Kingmaker might be classified, has great advantages for keeping in the consciousness of the common people, who would admire her for her generosity in literally throwing out cash to the poor. “Give me some money to give away,” she says to her maid, who hands her a wad of bills to give to street children. “There were no beggars in my time,” she says on camera.

“Keep in view,” professors of Marketing in the MBA course would exhort. When Ferdinand Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989, he was brought back to the Philippines in 1993 to lie in state in his native province, Ilocos Norte, literally still “in view” and in the consciousness of the Filipinos. In the pomp and ceremony of his extended wake (23 years!) his revered “presence” (how can you disrespect the dead?) helped much for the re-integration of the Marcos family and cronies into the politics and society.

And Imelda, with children Imee and Bongbong played rigodon (take-over roles) for one another in top politics of Ilocos Norte and Leyte (Imelda’s province), until Imee and then Bongbong in their respective times, reached being Senator and Representative. Ferdinand Marcos was given a hero’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani by President Rodrigo Duterte in November 2016.

And history books did not tell the true story of the 1986 EDSA Revolution. In a distressing scene in The Kingmaker, high school students were asked, “What do you know about martial law (of Marcos)?” “It was good for the Philippines,” one student said. “It was peaceful,” another said. Not one student stood up to say there was no freedom for the people.

At the wrap-up open discussion at the CCP lobby after The Kingmaker, two of the torture victims featured and interviewed in the docu were on the panel: Etta Rosales, Chair of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, and Judy Taguiwalo, unconfirmed Secretary of Social Welfare and Development in 2017. From the floor, several similar questions were asked why there is no groundswell for collective action to address and stop the “escalating movement towards a repeat of the Marcos dictatorship,” in the “recent disturbing actions of the Rodrigo Duterte administration.” Both Rosales and Taguiwalo identified and expounded on the recent issues of the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA); the abrogation of the “onerous” contracts of the water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad; and the pending petition for quo warranto revocation of the ABS-CBN franchise, with the gag rule on the sub judice case up at the Supreme Court.

“Let us hear from the millennials and the Generation Z,” the CCP Moderator of the post-movie discussion repeatedly asked at every opportunity. The Gen Z students who were brought in by their millennial teachers were reticent and seemed unsure of what to say. A young lady who declared herself to be a millennial jolted many in the audience when she said something like, “it all depends on how it affects me,” referring to the political-economic issues discussed by the older ones in the group. Another millennial said that they would be concerned within the radius of family and close friends.

Were you not outraged, a man from the boomer generation asked the huddled group of young ones on the right facing the podium. A group of senior citizens on the left were appalled at the apathy and indifference of the young, who, admitted they came for the show — the “art,” they said.

“Sometimes it helps that you are not taken too seriously,” Imelda said in one part of the documentary. Aye, the glory of the EDSA People Power Revolution has indeed faded…

 

Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.

ahcylagan@yahoo.com

What next for the Maynilad and Manila Water Company?

Contrary to what many believe, the concession agreement between the government and the two water concessionaires, Maynilad and Manila Water Company (MWC), will not be amended despite threats from Malacañang to do so. It will stay the way it is until its expiration in 2022, said Emmanuel Salamat, the Administrator of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). For the water consumers of Metro Manila, this means no significant changes in water services or rates for at least two years.

What has changed is the automatic extension of the concession agreement from 2022 to 2037. Said extension has been revoked and made subject to re-negotiation. Both the government (through the Department of Justice) and the water concessionaires are set to start the process of re-negotiation this March.

With luck, a new concession agreement for the years 2022 to 2037 will be agreed upon before the end of the year. If so, the investment programs of both water concessionaires to build more sewer treatment plants and other water-related infrastructure will not be interrupted. A long-drawn-out negotiation could delay, if not terminate, these investment plans.

The contentious provision of concession agreement is what is called a “rebasing mechanism.” It is a provision that allows the adjustment of water rates every five years to enable the water concessionaires to recoup their investments and realize a reasonable rate of return. This is the provision that President Duterte referred to as “onerous.” It is foreseen to be the main point of contention when both parties face each other at the negotiation table.

We should all understand the context of this rebasing mechanism.

It was former President Fidel Ramos who purposely included the rebasing mechanism in the concession agreement to make the privatization of MWSS worthwhile for the would-be concessionaires. It will be recalled that back in the ’90s, the MWSS was so inefficient and so corrupt that it distributed water to only 69% of the metropolis despite amassing close to a billion dollars in debts. Water rationing was the rule, rather than the exception, such that taps would flow for only two hours a day. Making matters worse was that the MWSS was plagued with massive water leakage and theft.

Privatization was the only way out for the MWSS but finding an investor proved difficult. See, whoever was to take over the water distribution business of MWSS needed to invest some P374 billion to connect Metro Manila’s 12 million population to the water supply grid. It had to invest in sewerage treatment plants because the MWSS had none. It had to solve the water leakage and theft problem by replacing the aging water pipes throughout the metropolis. On top of it all, It had to absorb MWSS’ debts.

Remember, this was the era when time deposits fetched interest rates of 11% per annum. The rate of return of the would-be concessionaires needed to match this, at the very least.

FVR’s rebasing mechanism addressed the risks the concessionaires would have to face. It was deemed fair not only by the government and the concessionaires, but also by third-party observers such as the Asian Development Bank and foreign governments who observed the privatization process. In fact, the privatization of the MWSS was lauded by the World Bank as a success and used as a model by which other privatization endeavors were to be based.

Alas, in 1997, the distribution business of the MWSS was successfully privatized to Maynilad and MWC. Both concessionaires absorbed its debts and worked swiftly to provide the city with running water. The concessionaire agreement was so well crafted that both Maynilad and MWC were able to offer lower-than-expected bids for their water rates.

Today, 96% of Metro Manila is connected to the water supply grid and 47% of the city will have wastewater treatment plants by 2021. If the water concessionaires are able to agree on the terms for the 2022–2037 term, water treatment plants will be in place for 68% of the metropolis by 2026, 87% by 2032 and 100% by 2037.

As a consumer, would I like to change anything in the concession agreement?

Other than lowering water rates even further, I would not change a thing. Why should I when my home and businesses enjoy reliable water supply with rates that are among the lowest in the country? Best of all, I consume water with a clear conscience knowing that the waste is treated before it is expelled back to Manila Bay. This is a world of difference when compared to the dark days in the hands of government through the MWSS.

Comparative figures of the state-run Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) shows that Metro Manila residents who consume 10 cubic meters (cu.m.) of water per month pay only P104, which is the lowest among 12 metropolitan cities in the country. In contrast, consumers in Baguio pay the highest monthly rate of P370 for the same 10 cu.m. of water.

Consumers in San Jose Del Monte pay the second-highest rate at P280 for 10 cu.m. per month. Other urban centers with higher water rates than Metro Manila include Angeles, Bacolod, Batangas, Cabanatuan, Cagayan de Oro, Dasmariñas, Davao, Cebu and Iloilo.

For commercial and industrial consumers, or those that consume more than 20 cu.m. per month, LWUA records show that Metro Manila has the second lowest rate at P306, bested only by Davao that charges P281. Again, Baguio is the most expensive in this category at P775.

For context, Metro Manila’s water rates are but one-fifth of what is charged in Sydney and 2.5 times more expensive than in Kuala Lumpur.

We hope that the Department of Justice does not monkey around too much with a perfectly good concession agreement in the name revenge or political posturing. The last thing we want is to end up with more expensive water rates and/or a derailed water infrastructure investment program.

 

Andrew J. Masigan is an economist.

Questioning road-widening as the main solution to traffic

Metro Manila is a bustling and bursting metropolis of over 24 million people. Among the mounting challenges faced by the metropolis, chief among them is moving people efficiently amid rising road congestion. Why are the streets of Metro Manila becoming more congested in the first place? Is there truly a way to decongest a city still steadily experiencing urban growth?

In his paper Practical Strategies for Reducing Congestion and Increasing Mobility for Chicago, Samuel Staley defined congestion as an event wherein the supply of road space can no longer keep up with the increasing number of vehicles. Metro Manila’s congestion problem especially exemplifies Staley’s definition of the word: there are in fact more vehicles plying the metropolis’ streets than what the network can appropriately manage.

Given the definition of the word, it seems almost intuitive to deduce that augmenting road supply in the form of road widening would ease congestion. After all, conventional knowledge tells us that if demand for a product is increasing, then the obvious solution would be to correspondingly increase its supply. Moreover, it does no benefit that we have placed private car ownership on a pedestal since the dawn of our postcolonial obsession with the American Dream, which perhaps reveals where the problem lies. Our fixation on the private vehicle as the ideal mode of transport has seeped its way through not only our personal consumption choices, but also in the way policy makers have evaluated what is good for our cities. Instead of channeling investment towards infrastructure that enhance the movement of people, projects have received the government’s go-signal often on the basis of its ability to improve vehicular travel.

This practice has led to no less than the country’s widest highway: Commonwealth Avenue, the seventh radial road in Metro Manila’s arterial road system and the main corridor connecting the northern residential districts of Quezon City to the rest of the capital. On its widest section, the highway houses 18 mixed-traffic lanes. Despite its unparalleled road capacity, the corridor remains notorious for severe traffic and for being home to the city’s worst carmageddon ordeals, especially during weekend peak hours. The same is true for some of the world’s widest highways that hosts the worst traffic bottlenecks in their respective cities: from Houston’s 26-lane Katy Freeway to Beijing’s 50-lane G-4 Expressway. These all provide proof that a wider road does not necessarily result in less congestion.

There is a reason road supply is not able to keep up with the demand for its use: that is, in the case of transportation, infrastructure creates or induces its own demand. The underlying concept is called induced or latent demand, a phenomenon wherein demand for a certain good is generated as its supply increases. According to an article published by the LA Times, this is best understood when we visualize traffic as gas that expands and fills the space of its container, instead of the traditional engineering perspective of likening traffic to liquid, which merely follows its vessel’s shape. Although some form of decongestion may be experienced immediately after a road-widening project, it leads to generating more demand for road use. An increase in vehicular traffic will then create the need to augment road capacity all over again. In essence, building more car infrastructure will result in more car traffic.

This paints a powerful image because it shows us that our mobility has in effect been shaped by the infrastructure we have built — and that if we have built our way into the crisis we now experience daily, we can also build our way out of it.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that induced demand works the same way for all other transit modes. When a bike network is installed, more people start to bike; when a sidewalk is widened, more people tend to walk; when a bus service is augmented or improved, more people start taking public transport. Shifting people from depending on private vehicles to using more sustainable transit modes such as walking, cycling, and public transport is key to solving congestion because it optimizes the use of the limited road space available by moving the most number of people in the least amount of space.

Truth is, congestion is but a symptom of inefficient mobility. Going back to our previous example, according to counts by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in 2018 for Commonwealth Avenue, private transit modes (i.e. cars, motorcycles, and taxis) accounted for 84.7% of the corridor’s annual average daily traffic (AADT) while only carrying 39.7% of people that traverse it. On the other hand, public transit modes (i.e. buses, jeepneys, and UVs) carried 58.4% of the corridor’s commuters while only contributing 12.7% to traffic. The solution is clear: if we want to sustainably reduce congestion along roads like Commonwealth Avenue, we must focus on moving people more efficiently by building infrastructure for sustainable transit modes.

Unfortunately, although we hear the slogan Move People, Not Cars bannered as the government’s new policy direction for transportation, traditional car-centric policies and projects continue. The practice of road-widening remains to be the arsenal of choice amidst the mobility crisis — often in the name of an additional car lane, but at the expense of decent sidewalks. Talks of building elevated expressways and flyovers to solve the city’s most congested roads are the ones gaining traction, yet low hanging public transport improving initiatives are shelved. Conversely, to give way to private vehicles, public utility vehicles are kicked out of primary thoroughfares and forced to take longer routes to their destinations. Instead of providing dedicated space for two-wheelers to ensure the safety of their riders, personal mobility devices (i.e. bikes, e-bikes, and electric scooters) are simply banned from car-dominated roads without being given viable alternatives.

Mobility is not a slider that lives on the extremes; so the alternative is not for the exclusion of private vehicles but for the reduction of dependency on it — equitable distribution of road space that opens more options for people. The focus should be on optimizing road use by building infrastructure for more efficient transit modes, instead of building additional road space. That is where the opportunity to build our way out of the current crisis comes in.

 

Regina Mora, Ira Cruz, and Patrick Jalasco are members of AltMobility PH, a group of urban transport experts and ordinary citizens advocating sensible and humane transport policies. For more information regarding their advocacy for #CommutersNaman, visit:

https://www.facebook.com/AltMobilityPH.

Second Filipino tests positive for COVID-19 in UAE

By Charmaine A. Tadalan and Gillian M. Cortez
Reporters

ANOTHER Filipino has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the second infected Filipino and the 11th in the whole Arab country.

The 34-year-old Filipino is in “stable condition,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement at the weekend, citing the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention.

The outbreak has killed about 2,400 people and sickened about 77,000 more, mostly in China.

The first Filipino to be infected in the UAE had been transferred to another medical facility and was being closely monitored, the agency said. The condition of the 43-year-old Filipino was “not improving.”

Meanwhile, the Kyodo News Agency reported that 23 passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship had not been tested for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after the 14-day mandatory quarantine period.

“This may be why Japan offered to host the Filipino crew before their repatriation for testing (completed but not all the results are in),” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. said in a social media post on Sunday.

“Those found positive have been hospitalized,” he said, adding that some Filipinos from the ship who had chosen to come home would start arriving on Feb. 25.

DFA said more than 400 crew members and passengers who will arrive this week will be taken to the Athlete’s Village in New Clark City upon arrival.

They will be “under the full medical attention of health professionals from the Department of Health,” it said in a separate statement at the weekend.

DFA, through the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, was coordinating with the Japanese government to finalize the details of their return.

The agency was working with the Japan Self Defense Forces for the land transfer from the Yokohama Port to Haneda, where the Filipinos will board the plane.

In its last report, DFA said there were 49 confirmed cases of Filipinos with the deadly virus, two of whom had been discharged from the hospital.

Five more were expected to be released in the coming week.

SAFETY MANUAL
Also yesterday, the Department of Health said 131 people had been admitted to hospitals and were under investigation for the virus.

It said 474 people had been discharged from hospitals. More than 600 people have been investigated for the deadly virus, it added.

Only three have tested positive for the virus, all Chinese nationals from Wuhan City, where the virus was first detected.

Two patients had been discharged, while another died of severe pneumonia.

Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) cited the need for a manual on safety and health protocol for seafarers.

“Our seafarers on board passenger and cargo vessels are extensively trained to manage and respond to piracy, fire onboard, sea storms and man overboard,” TUCP President and TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza said in a statement.

“There’s an immediate need for our seamen and seawomen to be trained and equipped with a standard protocol and procedures in dealing with and responding to threats from corona virus and other infectious diseases,” he added.

7 contractors may bid for NLEx-SLEx road

AS MANY as seven companies have expressed interest in the bidding for a P14-billion contract to build the second section of the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway (NLEx-SLEx) connector road.

NLEX Corp. targets to bid out the contract in two months and identify the contractor by May so a notice to proceed could be issued, Luigi L. Bautista, president and general manager of NLEX Corp., told reporters on Friday.

The eight-kilometer toll road linking the tail of NLEx Harbor Link Segment 10 at C3 Road, Caloocan City to Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Manila aims to provide an alternate route for trucks coming from the port area.

NLEX targets to open the expressway by December next ear. Once operational, it is expected to cut travel time from NLEx to SLEx to 20 minutes from the usual two hours. It will have a daily capacity of 35,000 motorists.

From Sta. Mesa, vehicles passing through the expressway may connect to the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 through an elevated road.

Mr. Bautista said the first section covers about four kilometers — from Caloocan to España Avenue in Manila — of the entire eight-kilometer project.

Section 2 is from España all the way to PUP Sta. Mesa, he added. The project will cost P13 billion to P14 billion, he said.

NLEX awarded the contract for the construction of the first section to D.M. Consunji, Inc. last year.

“The notice to proceed was awarded last month and as we speak today, we are already mobilizing,” Mr. Bautista said.

“Full-blast construction will start next month and they will bring heavy and big equipment to the side,” he said, adding that the project was expected to be completed next year.

NLEX is part of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the tollway unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).

MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Old but fit jeepneys may operate for a year

JEEPNEY drivers and operators unable to fully modernize by June will get one-year probationary permits, according to the Transportation department.

“Those who will not be able to comply with the public utility vehicle modernization program by June 2020 will still be granted probationary authority to operate for one year,” Transportation Assistant Secretary Mark Steven C. Pastor said in an emailed statement on Friday.

The jeepneys, however, must be certified by the Land Transportation Office to be roadworthy, and their transport groups must file for consolidation of franchise, he added.

The Transportation department said it had accredited 1,131 transport cooperatives with 110,909 drivers and operators for the modernization program.

“We are urging all transport groups to follow these cooperatives who are ready to adhere to the requirements of modernizing their franchise,” Mr. Pastor said.

“The number of transport cooperatives is increasing, which shows that many drivers and operators support the government’s call for a safer and better transportation system for our commuters,” he added.

The agency said it would be easier to fully implement the program once cooperatives have been consolidated.

Instead of drivers and operators purchasing new units themselves, cooperatives may obtain loans from banks that offer financial assistance to comply with the program, it said.

The government launched the modernization program in June 2017, requiring operators to decommission units of a certain age, for replacement with new units.

Jeepneys that are at least 15 years old must be phased out within three years from the launch of the modernization program, or by June 2020.

“Drivers will benefit from putting up cooperatives as they will now become operators as well,” Mr. Pastor said.

Apart from monthly salaries, pension and health benefits, they will also earn from the profit of the cooperative, he pointed out.

“We strongly urge our drivers and operators to register now as a cooperative,” he said. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Sagada reopens eco-tourism sites, except caves and sunrise viewpoints

ECO-TOURISM activities in the mountain town of Sagada have been reopened, except for spelunking in all caves and sunrise viewing at any point. In an order dated Feb. 21, Mayors James B. Pooten, Jr. ordered the resumption of the tours following recommendations from stakeholders, including health and tourism authorities. The eco-tourism activities were suspended on Feb. 13 due to the threat of the COVID-19 virus. Mr. Pooten explained in the order that the caves remain closed as spelunking requires direct physical contact between tourists and guides while sunrise tours usually bring together crowds “when the temperature is very cold.” The order noted that health authorities have advised that “cold areas can propagate viruses.” All eco-tours — such as in Pongas and Bomodok Falls, Adventure Trail, Echo Valley, Mt. Ampacao, Marlboro-Blue Soil, and Langasayan — “can only start at 7 a.m.” All visitors are still required to undergo health assessment upon arrival and registration at the Tourist Information Center, before checking in at their accommodations, and before an organized tour.

Spelunking in Bani

NALSOC Cave, one of the seven cave systems in Bani, Pangasinan, is open for spelunking, with guided tours organized by the Bani Tourism Office. The cave adventure takes an hour to two. For more information and to book a tour, contact the town’s tourism center at mobile number +63-9672549050, email breathtakingbani01@gmail.com or visit their social media page facebook.com/banitourism.

Cebu City needs more polio vaccines

THE CEBU City Health Office (CHO) is stepping up its routine immunization, especially for “defaulters” or children who received the first dose but missed subsequent doses, after the Butuanon River was recently found positive for polio virus by the Department of Health (DoH). Cebu City Health Officer Daisy Villa said they are now coordinating with the DoH for the purchase of more vaccines as current inventory is limited and will just focus on the more affected areas, like near the Butuanon river, which was tested positive for polio virus. She said they are now evaluating data to trace the defaulters, noting that voluntary vaccination activities dropped in several barangay health centers after the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy. “We have available (vaccines) for routine immunization. For the extra, we will be targeting it on those defaulters,” she said. The city government has committed funding support for the additional vaccine purchase. — The Freeman

Pasig mayor warns non-compliant POGOs as city gov’t shuts down Chinese restaurant without permit

THE PASIG City government on Sunday ordered the closure of a Chinese restaurant found to be operating without a business permit. “If you want to do business in our City, YOU FOLLOW OUR LAWS,” Mayor Victor “Vico” N. Sotto said in posts on his social media pages. Mr. Sotto also hinted on a crackdown on non-compliant Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) based in the city as he warned local government workers who will “use my name in negotiating” with these establishments. “To people who may try to use my name in negotiating with POGOs, consider this as fair warning. 1-strike policy for City Hall employees,” he said. Pasig is the latest local government in Metro Manila to crack down on businesses related to Chinese nationals in the country. In May last year, Las Piñas City shut down a food park that was reported to be catering only to Chinese nationals. The Quezon City government, in August, issued notices of violation against three POGOs that lacked requirements for business operations. Mr. Sotto also offered assistance to the Bureau of Immigration in “catching and deporting” illegal Chinese workers and businessmen.

Pujada, 2 others in Mati listed among world’s most beautiful bays

THREE BAYS in Mati City, Davao Oriental are now officially included in the list of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Association (MBBWA). MBBWA President Michel Bujold, in a letter received on February 20 by the provincial and city governments, confirmed the declaration of Pujada, Mayo, and Balete Bays as part of the group. “I am pleased to inform you that the Board of Directors has voted in favor of accepting Pujada Bay, but also Mayo and Balete Bays together as a new member of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Association. Congratulations and welcome,” said Mr. Bujold. The certificates will be awarded during the MBBWA’s annual congress in Morocco in October. Last month, MBBWA officials Guy Rousset and Bruno Bodard visited Mati to validate the application for Pujada Bay, and took notice of the two other bays. Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office head Dolores D. Valdesco, in a press statement Friday, said they are now awaiting the association’s recommendations for preserving the three natural sites. Mati City Mayor Michelle N. Rabat said the listing of the three bays is not only a tourism promotion boost but also serves as a challenge for the local government to do more in protection the environment. “Being included in the list is the least difficult part, staying in the list is more challenging,” she said. Davao Oriental Governor Nelson L. Dayanghirang, for his part, said, “One of the reasons we applied Pujada Bay to the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club is to share its magnificent assets to the people of the world who would like to experience the natural and cultural richness of our place.” — Carmelito Q. Francisco and Maya M. Padillo

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