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CPG plans P3-B retail bond issuance


CENTURY Properties Group, Inc. (CPG) plans to raise up to P3 billion from the issuance of retail bonds, it told the stock exchange on Wednesday.
The Antonio-led property developer on Wednesday said its board of directors gave the go signal for the company’s application for the public offering of unsecured fixed-rate retail bonds.
The listed firm will file the prospectus for the issuance at the Securities and Exchange Commission soon. It has yet to provide details on where the proceeds of the offering will be used.
CPG has recently partnered with Davao-based businessman Dennis A. Uy’s group to develop a 2.6-hectare property inside Clark Global City in Mabalacat, Pampanga. The two firms will be developing a mix of residential and office buildings with retail components in the following years.
The company primarily caters to middle income market through its high-rise condominium developments in Metro Manila, as well as office projects. It entered the affordable housing and leisure segment in 2017, in a bid to diversify its sources of income moving forward.
With this, CPG has been ramping up its affordable housing segment in the past two years. In May 2018, it partnered with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. for the establishment of Phirst Park Homes, Inc. (PPHI).
Under PPHI, CPG and Mitsubishi plans to spend around P10 billion over the next five years for the launch of 15 projects with about 33,000 units. Prior to Mitsubishi’s entry, CPG has already started work on two affordable housing projects carrying the Phirst Park Homes brand in Tanza, Cavite and Lipa, Batangas.
The investment on PPHI is expected to translate to P57 billion worth of sales in the next five years.
For the leisure segment, CPG is looking to generate about P13 billion in sales from the second phase of its Batulao Artscapes project in Nasugbu, Batangas.
Meanwhile, the company targets to book P1.5 billion in recurring revenues for its office, retail, and hospitality projects by 2020. CPG’s leasable spaces are expected to reach 350,000 square meters (sq.m.) by that point, from around 130,000 sq.m. in September 2018.
CPG’s net income attributable to the parent rose 13% to P608.56 million in the first nine months of 2018, following a 45% jump in gross revenues to P7.5 billion during the same period.
Shares in CPG ended flat at 48 centavos each at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia

The 2019 version of Nebbiolo Prima

ALBA, ITALY — I am back in historic Alba, Piedmont to attend the 23rd edition of the Nebbiolo Prima, an annual event that previews newly released vintages of DOCG regions of Barolo, Barbaresco, and Roero, and is organized by the Union of Alba Wine Producers or Albeisa for short. Albeisa is a non-profit organization founded in 1973 by Renato Ratti with the noble purpose of promoting the great Alba wines. Albeisa also manages the use of the unique-shaped Alba bottles with the embossed Albeisa brand that are already identified as the trademark container of the best wines of Langhe.
This year, the organizers opted to move this annual event three months earlier, to late January. Despite the extremely cold and snowy weather with temperature reaching as low as -12°C, I had no problem being in Alba. Alba is the home of the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage Site in Langhe, overseeing beautiful vineyard landscapes, castles, towers, and breathtaking panoramas, which is now, in this season, even more charming with the added element of snow. Being a self-confessed Nebbioloholic, the very cold weather also allows me to imbibe more alcohol, here being mostly Barolos (… not to be emulated please).
NOTICEABLE CHANGES
There are changes in the Nebbiolo Prima from my last attendance in 2016. First, the organizers dropped the previous agency, Gheusis, a local Italian communications agency based in Veneto, and went with internationally renowned wine promoter Sopexa, headquartered in Paris, France.
The second more obvious change, as mentioned earlier, is that the event is now in January, winter time, and not in April or May, the more inviting spring period.
But, as the organizers mentioned in their invitation feelers, the goal of the earlier staging of the event is to provide a true and official premiere, and of giving the real preview (first to taste) of the upcoming vintages. Also as a consequence of this earlier date, the Nebbiolo Prima became the first major Italian wine event of the year — held a few weeks ahead of regional competitor Tuscany’s own Anteprime di Toscana, scheduled in February, and of the country’s largest wine event, VinItaly, which will be on April.
This year saw a change of venue as well. In the past, the venue of the tasting was the much bigger Palazzo Mostre e Congressi di Alba or Palace of Exhibitions and Congresses of Alba. This year it has moved to the more modest, but certainly more comfortable, I Castelli restaurant, which is conveniently located on the 4th floor (top floor) of the same hotel where all the journalists are billeted. Given how cold the weather is, this was a smart conscious effort by the organizers.
The I Castelli restaurant has a nice panoramic view of central Alba, and offers a more conducive tasting site than the stiffer closed quarters of the Palazzo Mostre e Congressi.
Finally, this year the Nebbiolo Prima was also timed to exactly precede the Grandi Langhe — a major bi-annual event dedicated to wine professionals, organized by the Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe and Dogliani. This allows foreign journalists such as myself to partake in the Grandi Langhe event while already in town. For Nebbiolo Prima 2019, I am part of a smaller group of around 50 wine journalists from 25 countries, representing Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. I am the lone thirsty wolf from Southeast Asia.
LESS BLIND TASTING, MORE EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS
In my two previous experiences at Nebbiolo Prima in 2015 and 2016, I completed blind tastings of over 1,000 wines. I basically averaged a staggering 100 wines in less than half day (four hours after breakfast in fact) for five straight days each on those years. This year, the number of tasting days were not only reduced from five to four days, but the number of wines blind tasted per day was also cut by 25-30%. There was also a change in schedule as blind tastings were now done after an hour of morning seminars — tastings therefore started 10 a.m., not as early as 8 a.m. as previously practiced.
The seminars were also very enlightening. Some were admittedly a bit more technical and more “viticulturist-friendly” than for press people to share with regular readers. Learning about Nebbiolo’s genetic variability from cross pollination to somatic mutations seemed too profound to really write about, especially for young wine drinking cultures like the Philippines. But generally the information imparted was very cool for a hardcore wine guy like myself.
This year, the previewed vintages were Barolo 2015, Borolo Riserva 2013, Barbaresco 2016, Barbaresco Riserva 2014, Roero 2016, and Roero Riserva 2015, with a total of 285 wines produced by 201 wineries from every denomination and sub-zone of these three DOCG wine regions.
NO MORE WINERY TOURS
Another change is that there are no more winery tours, something that I actually miss since in the past, journalists were taken in small groups of three to eight (depending on the size of the winery), by wine producers to visit their wineries in the afternoons after each blind tasting session. The wineries that volunteered to host the journalists were presumably members of Albeisa and/or the Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe and Dogliani. I remembered many of my visits which included amazing experiences tasting different vintages of wines from hosting producers such as Fontanafredda, Palladino, Cordero di Montezemolo, Mario Giribaldi, Dante Rivetti among others. This year, these small group winery visits were totally removed.
Instead, every journalist got to experience the same afternoon programs. In one afternoon, we had an on-field wine pruning lesson right in the snowy vineyards with Professor Enrico Orlando showing us how pruning is done correctly. Pruning vines needs to be done to allow adequate vegetative growth for grape growing the following season. Another afternoon, we had a tour, complete with a very articulate guide, of the 14th century castle and military fortress Castello di Serralunga.
But the afternoon event that I thought every wine journalist most likely appreciated (and I sure did) was when 38 old vintages of Barolo, Barbaresco, and Roero, ranging from 2003 to 2006, aged between 13- to 16-years-old, were open-tasted (as against blind tasting) for all of us. This was a great exercise to showcase the age-ability of the Nebbiolo grapes. While some of these over-a-decade-old wines actually failed the test, the majority were still showing very well, and a dozen of them were even quite outstanding.
More on my blind tasting results, my personal humble assessment of the previewed Nebbiolo DOCG wines, the general vintage outlook, and my top picks from this year’s Nebbiolo Prima in my upcoming columns. Ciao!
The author has been a member of the Federation Internationale des Journalists et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux or FIJEV since 2010. For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.

Pag-IBIG Fund posts strong 2018 results

THE HOME Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) saw sustained financial performance in 2018, as collections and loan takeouts continued to book double-digit growth.
Pag-IBIG Fund reported that it booked P40.27 billion worth of collections in members’ savings, 11% higher compared with the previous year.
This included P4.47 billion collected under the Modified Pag-IBIG 2 Savings Program, a special savings mechanism offered to members and retirees.
“This increase in members’ savings collected can be attributed to better awareness and appreciation by our members of our savings program,” Pag-IBIG Fund Chairman of the Board Eduardo D. Del Rosario said in his report yesterday.
On the other hand, the mutual fund released P75.31 billion in housing loan takeouts in 2018, 16% higher than the P65.1 billion in the comparable year-ago period.
Home loan borrowers reached 90,375 in 2018, up 12% from the 80,964 borrowers recorded a year ago. Out of the housing loan borrowers last year, 21,389 or 24% were from the socialized housing sector.
Despite booking robust growth in contributions and takeouts, Pag-IBIG Fund maintained its interest rates at a yearly 3% for socialized housing and 5.375% per annum for regular housing, claiming to be the lowest in history.
“Because of our tax-exempt status and better-than-expected performance, we can afford to give subsidized interest rates to our minimum-wage and low-income members,” added Mr. Del Rosario, who is also the chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.
Overall, the mutual fund tallied a P33.17-billion net income in 2018, up 9.6% from the P30.27 billion recorded a year ago.
Based on preliminary data, projected dividends were at a revised P28.23 billion, more than 2% higher compared with the previous year.
Total assets, on the other hand, were at P533,43 billion, 9% higher than the assets booked in 2017. — K.A.N. Vidal

How PSEi member stocks performed — January 30, 2019

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Wednesday, January 30, 2019.

 
Philippine Stock Exchange’s most active stocks by value turnover — January 30, 2019.

PHL corruption perception improves in 2018

PHL corruption perception improves in 2018

E-vehicle makers eye battery tie-ups with nickel industry

ELECTRIC VEHICLE makers are partnering with nickel miners and processors to explore possible joint development of batteries to help bring down the cost of e-tricycles and e-jeeps.
“If [the battery is] locally manufactured, it might lower the cost because the supply chain is here. But there’s a probability that it would lower the cost,” Edmund A. Araga, president of the Electric Vehicles Association of the Philippines (EVAP), told reporters on Wednesday.
He made the statement after his group tied up with the Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) to support “The Nickel Initiative 2019,” a pioneering event next month that gathers, among others, the consumers and producers of nickel.
“Just to give you some details, the battery is about half the cost of each e-vehicle,” he said.
Mr. Araga said the development of battery manufacturing is crucial for the Philippines at a time of increased adoption of the e-vehicles and the government’s public utility vehicle modernization program.
He said as of last year, about 7,000 e-vehicles were registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO), although the count included e-trikes that had been distributed. He was referring to the program funded by the Asian Development Bank that was scaled down because the expensive units failed to attract buyers.
This year, Mr. Araga said he expects e-vehicle sales to reach a conservative estimate of “more than around 12,000.”
“We already have e-vehicle manufacturing, but battery manufacturing is the only thing lacking.
The infrastructure on the batteries has to level up,” he said.
In a news conference ahead of the event next month, Clarence J. Pimentel Jr., chairman of The Nickel Initiative, said most lithium-ion batteries for e-vehicles now rely on nickel.
Aside from EVAP, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) has also joined the nickel industry to support the event.
Florian Gottein, ECCP executive director, said many European car manufacturers are looking to e-vehicles and that they are “radically” changing their models in the next couple of years.
“So I think there’s a huge demand. Currently, I think the big question also with those companies in Europe is where do we source the batteries from. And I think that’s definitely a chance for this country and also for us here,” he said, adding that bringing industry players together is an important step in the right direction.
ECCP, which has close to 800 members, is a foreign chamber that promotes European interests in the Philippines. It offers a business network that promises to help its members realize business opportunities.
The Nickel Initiative conference, which takes place on March 18 to 19, will tackle issues that cut across the industries involved in the nickel supply chain, its inter-relationships and potential areas for collaboration.
“The Philippines is the world’s second-largest supplier of nickel ore and as such, it is imperative that we take the lead in discussing the future of nickel consumption and on how we can make it sustainable and collaborative so that it can drive further development not just here in the Philippines but globally,” said Dante R. Bravo, president of PNIA. — Victor V. Saulon

DoF pins hopes on tobacco tax passage before Congress break

THE Department of Finance (DoF) on Wednesday said it is still hoping to pass measures raising the excise tax on tobacco and alcohol products before Congress goes on break in early February for the May 13 midterm elections, adding that it will be “re-filing” the other remaining tax reform packages.
“Based on our own assessment, based on how things are moving, it looks like we might be able to pass package 2+,” Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito G. Lambino II said in a briefing at the Palace.
Package 2+ of the Comprehensive Tax Program (CTRP) will further increase the excise tax on both alcohol and tobacco products beginning 2020 in order to provide additional fund to the Universal Health Care (UHC) program.
“As for the rest they could move forward although we are also open to re-filing the other packages in the next Congress,” Mr. Lambino added, referring to the lowering of the corporate income tax rate from 30% to 25% for a large majority of businesses and modernizing fiscal incentives; Package 3, which will broaden the tax base used for property and property-related taxes of the national and local governments; and Package 4, which covers capital income and financial taxes.
The Senate said the Package 1B or the Tax Amnesty Bill, which it ratified in December last year, has been transmitted to the Palace and is currently awaiting President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s signature.
Asked for an update about the Tax Amnesty Bill during the briefing, Mr. Lambino said: “We were told that it’s being reviewed by the Office of the President.”
On Package 2+, he said: “We are very hopeful for Package 2+. Of course we see the comprehensive tax reform program as all of the packages together. But what we have seen is, the President has agreed to certify as urgent the substitute bill that comes out of the Senate — the committee report that comes out of the Senate of alcohol and tobacco excise tax increases to fund universal health care fully in 2019.”
“There is an allocation in the proposed budget of around P217 billion to implement Universal Health care. The financing gap there is P40 billion and to bridge that we need package 2+ of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program,” he said.
“At the hearing yesterday, many doctors spoke up in support of the program of the proposal and others are scheduled to speak in upcoming hearings. So, the legislative process is moving forward and of course we are here to support our legislators in any information and analysis they need. The champions of these measures are Senators (Emmanuel D.) Pacquiao, (Joseph Victor G.) Ejercito and (Sherwin T.) Gatchalian,” he added. — Arjay L. Balinbin

DoF launches sewage treatment plant amid Manila Bay cleanup

THE Department of Finance (DoF) said that its office along Roxas Boulevard in Manila has commissioned and launched a P2.8 million state-of-the-art sewage treatment facility, in line with the government’s efforts to rehabilitate the Manila Bay.
“The DoF Building’s sewage treatment facility discharges effluent into the Manila Bay that is classified as Class C, which is fit for fishing and the propagation and growth of fish and other aquatic resources. This is the minimum standard of the DENR for water being discharged into the bay. We are now conducting tests to check what still needs to be done so that our STP can meet the Class B requirement, which is fit for bathing and swimming,” Alvin P. Diaz, DoF Director, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Last Sunday, the DENR issued cease and desist orders to three establishments allegedly releasing pollutants into Manila Bay, and served notices of violation to six businesses that do not have proper sewage treatment plants (STPs). The DENR earlier called on government offices to comply with environmental laws and serve as models especially for the ongoing rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
Mr. Diaz said that DoF’s refurbished building has a number of environment-friendly features such as LED lighting systems and efficient air conditioning, which it held up as a model for other government establishments up for renovation.
“Even the impressive glass envelope in front of the building serves a purpose other than to be aesthetically pleasing, The glass cladding cuts the noise entering the building and also reduces the heat which makes it energy efficient,” Mr. Diaz said.
“We are currently working for the DENR’s issuance of a discharge permit that will validate DoF’s compliance with existing rules and regulations,” Mr. Diaz noted.
According to Mr. Diaz, the STP is self-maintaining, thus does not generate maintenance costs.
Mr. Diaz added: “The advantage of having an STP is that you are able to regulate and control effluent water, making sure that it is in compliance with the government requirements, and thus contributing to the preservation of our marine resources.”
“Among the government agencies with their STPs are the City Hall of Caloocan, Casimiro Henares Hospital in Rizal, Antipolo Hospital, Langhari Public Market in Malabon, and the Molino Public Market in Bacoor, Cavite, to name a few,” Mr. Diaz said. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

PHL looks to Israeli firms for agriculture technology, investment

By Christine Joyce S. Castañeda Senior Researcher
and Mark T. Amoguis Researcher
THE Philippines is looking to tap Israeli expertise and investment to develop the agriculture sector, the Department of Agriculture said.
At a meeting with an Israeli delegation in Taguig City yesterday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he hopes to enlist Israeli technology to help irrigate 500,000 hectares of farmland over the next three years to help boost rice production.
Mr. Piñol said he hopes to explore cooperation in five key areas: solar irrigation, drone technology, dairy farming, aquaculture, and greenhouse technology.
“We are now looking into using drone technology for rice seeding, and we will be very interested if our Israeli friends can work with us in this area,” Mr. Piñol said, adding that Israeli help will be welcome in raising dairy productivity.
According to Mr. Piñol, the country only produces 1.8% of its total dairy requirement and imports the remainder.
“We would be interested in establishing a government-to-government engagement in this field,” he said.
On the need for greenhouse technology, Mr. Piñol said: “This is our option to address climatic conditions in the country which affect agriculture. We really have to go full-blast in greenhouse farming.”
Crops he cited for possible Israeli participation were abaca, coconut, mango, seaweed, shrimp, processed meat and cacao.
Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz said on the sidelines of the event that he sees major potential for doing business in agriculture.
“We identified that there’s a great potential for Israeli and Filipino companies to do business together… but there are some challenges that the Filipinos are facing when it comes to developing the agriculture sector,” Mr. Harpaz told BusinessWorld.
The Israeli delegation consisted of agricultural management software company AgriTask, greenhouse company Argos (Agri-Projects) Ltd., dairy milking and herd intelligence firm Allflex, horticulture company Eisenberg Agri Co. Israel, post-harvest technology company Eshet Eilon, agricultural services company Gadot Agro, fertilizer company Israel Chemical Ltd., agro-technology firm Innovative Agro Industry, micro-irrigation and greenhouse solutions provider, landscaping and irrigation company Metzerplas Cooperative Agricultural Organization Ltd., and water technology firm Tahal Group.
“These Israeli companies have the technology that could help the areas that you need… when it comes to traditional issues of agriculture, drip irrigation, postharvest, all the areas of dairy production, agro-industry, water management, water security. Israel excels in these areas and all these were discussed during the historic visit of your President (Rodrigo R. Duterte) in September….,” Mr. Harpaz said.
Mr. Duterte visited Israel in September, signing 21 agreements worth roughly $82.9 million.
Total trade between the Philippines and Israel hit $170.57 million in 2018, according to the Department of Finance, with Israel the 42nd biggest destination for Philippine exports that year.

Natural gas output expected to decline 7% in 2019

DOMESTIC PRODUCTION and demand for natural gas are expected to decline in 2019 because of the scheduled five-day maintenance of offshore Malampaya gas-to-power platform in October, the Energy department said.
Production this year is projected to drop by 7% to 141,255 million standard cubic feet (mmscf), down from 151,949 mmscf last year, it said.
“This maintenance schedule affects the operation of all natural gas power plants including the PSPC (Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.) refinery. Maintenance activities for all natural gas-fired power plants including the refinery are expected to be implemented during 2019,” the DoE said in its latest natural gas report.
Demand is seen to decline by 7.8% to 135,771 mmscf because of the volume of nomination of natural gas because of the scheduled shutdown as well as the implementation of maintenance activities of the power plants — the main consumers of natural gas.
Power plants, the biggest users of natural gas, are expected to use 132,498 mmscf this year, down 7.9% compared with last year’s 143,794 mmscf.
“The decline in utilization of power generation is attributed to the implementation of major maintenance program of the respective natural gas power plants such as Kepco Ilijan, Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo within the year,” the DoE, which also pointed to the maintenance activities as a reason for the expected decline.
“However, the natural gas-fired power plants will still operate using alternate fuels such as diesel and condensate,” it said.
In 2018, the country’s natural gas production increased by 8.33% to 150,804 million mmscf, showing the importance of the locally sourced fuel.
“The Philippines continued to be self-sufficient in natural gas with 100% of its production coming from offshore Malampaya gas field,” the DoE said.
It said the increase in the volume of supply was the result of the gas field’s production availability of 98.5% with an average daily gas production to customers of 399 mmscf.
“Also, there was no maintenance activity conducted by the operator in the platform during the year,” the DoE said.
Natural gas accounted for 34% of Luzon’s power generation mix, the DoE said, along with energy sources such as coal, oil, hydro, geothermal and renewable energy sources like wind, solar and biomass.
In terms of demand, the country’s requirement last year reached 145,273 mmscf, up 8% from 134,511 mmscf in 2017.
“The overall increase in the volume of utilization was due to the full operation of the five natural gas power plants and the refinery located in Batangas,” the department said.
This suggests a volume disparity of 5,531 mmscf between what has been supplied from the Malampaya gas field against the actual recorded demand.
“The difference can be attributed to flaring, gas heating, venting and purging of natural gas at the platform, onshore-gas-plant (OGP) facility own use power plants, and linepack in the 504 [kilometer] natural gas pipeline,” the DoE said.
Power generation accounted for the biggest share in usage at 98%, with the industrial sector making up the remaining 2%.
Total demand for natural gas in the power generating sector was 142,723 mmscf, up 7.91% from 132,256 mmscf previously.
Last week, DoE Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said he asked the operator of the Malampaya platform about any upcoming shutdown.
Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEx), a unit of Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell plc, is the operator of Service Contract 38 off Palawan, along with Chevron Malampaya LLC and the Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. as joint venture partners.
“Another question is, what are the preparatory measures that are being undertaken that there will be feedstock, fuel, for the plants that are dependent on them,” Mr. Cusi said. — Victor V. Saulon

Arroyo seeking Saudi investment for Mindanao

SPEAKER Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she is pushing for six investment projects in Mindanao to be backed by Saudi Arabia.
“There were six project proposals that were prepared by the six congressmen in the delegation and this afternoon of Manila time, which is noontime in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), they will be presenting to the Jeddah Chamber the six proposals,” Ms. Arroyo said in a chance interview, Wednesday.
The Speaker recently led an investment mission to Saudi Arabia with six Mindanao legislators — Lanao del Sur-2nd district Rep. Mauyag B. Papandayan, Jr., AMIN Reps. Makmod D. Mending, Jr. and Amihilda J. Sangcopan, Maguindanao-1st district Rep. Bai Sandra A. Sema, Tawi-Tawi Rep. Ruby M. Sahali and Kusug-Tausug Rep. Shernee Abubakar Tan.
Among the project proposals were a Public-Private Partnership to rebuild the Montaner Hospital and expand Al Haj Memorial in Lanao del Sur and two other hospitals destroyed during the Marawi siege, development of a Halal economic zone, a cacao plantation in Cotabato City, the development of the seaweed industry in Tawi-Tawi and oil and gas exploration activities in three blocks in the Sulu Sea.
“Our commercial attache who is based in Dubai is there so hopefully she will be able to follow through,” the Speaker said.
The Speaker said the investment efforts intend to supplement implementation of the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“It is now our responsibility to try to do what we can in order to fulfill the expectations of the people of Bangsamoro that they be lifted out of poverty and the best way to fight poverty now in the Bangsamoro is to be able to create jobs,” she said in a statement, issued on Wednesday.
“The last attacks we believe were terrorist attacks and we are very grateful to Saudi Arabia because they are with us in the fight against terrorism. When I was President of the Philippines, I always said that terrorism is very much related, at least in the Philippines, to poverty. And in the Philippines as well the problem of peace in Muslim Mindanao are also very much related to the problems of poverty,” she said.
During her visit, the Speaker met with the Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA) headed by its Governor Ibrahim Al Omar and then with Dr. Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Ibrahim Al Sheik, her Saudi Arabian counterpart as President of the Majlis Al Shura of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s legislative body. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

Long-term measures needed to save tawilis: NGO

ENVIRONMENT protection group Oceana Philippines is urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to implement a temporary ban on fishing for tawilis in Taal Lake after the species was classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
“The Protected Area Management Board of Taal Volcano Protected Landscape has already endorsed seasonal closure of tawilis to give it time to reproduce. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) proposed a three-month fishing ban on tawilis since 2013. The DENR and BFAR must join forces to curb the major threats to the survival of tawilis and to ensure that there is sustainable management of this species,” Gloria E. Ramos, Vice-President of Oceana Philippines, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Tawilis (Sarinella tawilis) is a freshwater sardine considered a regional delicacy.
Ms. Ramos said that while closed seasons will help the fish populations regenerate, other measures should also be implemented to ensure the long-term sustainability of the fishery, including tight controls on fish pens, regular monitoring of water quality, and keeping out invasive species.
“Demand for tawilis has driven the fish to near extinction and this must be carefully studied by both scientists and resource economists,” Ms. Ramos said.
“There’s an urgent need to implement a science-based sardine management framework that will address issues of overfishing, regulating the catch of juveniles, and regeneration. The continuous encroachment of commercial fishers in municipal waters must also be addressed,” Ms. Ramos added.
According to the Progresibong Alyansa ng mga Mangingisda sa Pilipinas (PANGISDA- Pilipinas), commercial fishing operations should be regulated to address the overfishing of tawilis.
“The ban must focus on the commercial fishing sector. Their boats are large and their gear is very efficient, so they catch the majority of the stocks. At the same time, municipal fishers are also displaced, and left with less catch,” PANGISDA Chairperson Pablo R. Rosales said in a statement. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

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