CEBUBUSINESSWEEK

“Radiating positivity, creating connectivity”

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HOUSE BODY HITFOR E-SABONG BILLAdvocacy group should be finding ways to maximize pandemic response

FORMER Congressman Angelo Palmones of AGHAM has called out the House Com-mittees on Legislative, Fran-chises, and Ways and Means for prioritizing the passage of a bill facilitating electronic sabong (cockfighting) or e-sabong. They should be finding ways to maximize the government’s pandemic response, he said. AGHAM is Alyansa ng mga Grupong Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Mama-mayan, an advocacy movement pushing for reforms in science policies and good governance to promote the interest of the Filipino people. Members of AGHAM are from the academe, research and development groups, scientists, and medical and health frontliners. Palmones, a broadcaster of DZRH radio of the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC), was referring to House Bill (HB) No. 10199 or the proposed “Act Granting Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc. a franchise to operate offsite bet-ting activities on duly-licensed cockfighting, derbies, and other similar activities through online or other modern means any-where in the Philippines. ”E-sabong has destroyed a lot of Filipino homes and fam-ilies and will continue to do so. Such is a nature of gambling. And that’s not even the biggest

September 20 - 26, 2021 Volume 3, Series 105 www.cebubusinessweek.com 16 PAGES P15.00

from the lucky House, only Lucky 8’s request was approved at the committee level,” said the former AGHAM lawmaker. According to Palmones, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAG-COR) has previously issued e-sabong licenses to five firms, Lucky 8 being one of them. “The big question is, why

does the Lower House still need to grant a franchise to a compa-ny owned by Atong Ang? This is very disturbing. But I think we already know the answer to that question,” he said. It can be recalled that Ang was convicted by the Sandigan-bayan anti-graft court of “cor-ruption of a public official” for his involvement in the plunder case of former President Joseph Estrada. Ang had admitted that he was the one who delivered P130

By: ELIAS O. BAQUERO with the mandate of the Clean Air Act. “When you look at it care-fully, there is an environmental issue at its core. We can’t con-tinue the old normal with Pri-vate Emission Testing Centers (PETCs), the blatant shortcom-ing of which has led to continued air pollution from smoke-belch-ing vehicles even during the co-rona virus disease pandemic,” AGHAM President Angelo Pal-mones said. Republic Act 8749 or the Clean Air Act places utmost im-portance on maintaining healthy and safe air to breathe for Filipi-nos. This can be achieved if mo-torists patronize the more mod-ern and scientifically-inclined PMVICs,” Palmones said. The AGHAM president’s stand on PMVIC was supported by Laban Konsyumer Inc. which is led by Atty. Vic Dimagiba. “Laban Konsyumer Inc. supports the advocacy of AGHAM for the transport agen-cies to implement now the PM-VIC, which has been a much-de-layed project for the past three to four administrations,” Dimagiba said. “Millions of foreign aid as well as local appropriations have been spent and this is a project that complies with the specific mandate of the Clean Air Act,” Dimagibas added.

million in Tobacco Excise Tax payoffs to Estrada’s residence. He was jailed for two years be-cause of this. “Does Ang plan to go back to his old ways, with no less than the honorable House members act-ing as his enablers? The solons passed the bill in less than one month as if it’s an urgent mea-sure. What’s this, the Bayanihan bill, e-sabong version” Palmones asked sarcastically.

He also noted the “deafening silence” of the militant con-gressmen on the e-sabong measure, especially given the personality behind it. Indeed, with the election season al-ready in full gear, voters should learn

to judge politicians not by their words, but by their actions. We are still in the thick of the fight against Covid-19 and our legisla-tors should act like it,” Palmones said. Earlier, AGHAM has reit-erated its appeal to Department of Transportation (DOTr) Sec-retary Arthur Tugadeto to main-tain the operations of private motor vehicle inspection centers (PMVICs), a move that would “correct the mistakes of previous administrations” and comply

sin in connection with this link,” Palmones said in a press release. “The fact that our sitting congressmen prioritized this measure amid a pandemic that has killed thousands of our brother Filipinos is sickening. Ang kailangan ng Filipino ngay-on ay tunay na tulong laban sa Covid-19, hindi ang dagdag pag-kakataon na magsugal. E-sab-ong shouldn’t be a priority mea-sure,” Palmones said. Some Cebu congressmen are reportedly support-ing this e-sabong to the detriment of the Filipinos. Two House panels recently gave separate approv-als to the measure, which served as a substitute bill for HB Nos. 7096 and 9834. But beyond the surface of the e-sabong measure’s non-timely passage are more eyebrow-raising details, Pal-mones said. He noted that Lucky 8 is a company owned by ex-convict Charlie “Atong” Ang. “Ang, the man behind Pit-masters Live games, is also the one who runs Lucky 8 Star Quest. This bill could very well be called Atong’s franchise. Out of the companies that have sought a franchise to operate

Cebu Business Week2 September 20 - 26, 2021

NEWS

Cebu Pacific all set fordomestic travel recovery in Q4

CEBU Pacific will in-crease its flights in October to tourism havens Siargao, Bo-racay, and Bohol as the coun-try’s leading airline pushes for domestic travel recovery, following the easing of quar-antine restrictions. In October, the airline will expand its flights to Siargao from five times to six times weekly; raise its frequencies to Boracay from four to five times daily; and bump up flights to Bohol from nine to 10 times weekly. “We believe reopening domestic travel and the pro-motion of responsible travel is critical to rebuilding the trust and travel confidence in the industry,” said Candice Iyog, Vice President for Mar-keting and Customer Experi-ence at Cebu Pacific. “We also know that the situation continues to be

will restart its flights to Kuala Lumpur on October 4. To encourage everyJuan to travel safely and afford-ably, CEB has an ongoing PHP 99 seat sale until Sep-tember 26, to and from key cities like Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Dipolog, Iloilo, and a lot more. Travel period began on September 17, and may be used to book flights up to June 30, 2022. CEB continues to offer the most flexible options with unlimited rebooking available for everyJuan, following the permanent removal of change fees in March 2021. Passen-gers are encouraged to travel responsibly and ensure their requirements are complete prior to proceeding to the air-port. Guests may refer to the list of travel requirements per destination via https://bit.ly/CEBTravel-Docs. PR

DTI identifies bamboo industry as among priorities THE Philippine bamboo industry is one of the priori-ty industries identified by the Department of Trade and In-dustry (DTI) to contribute to the economic improvement of the farmers. In an interview with Elias O. Baquero of Yagyagan pro-gram over DYRC Aksyon Radyo Cebu, Jose Somido said that because of its great market potential, the indus-try has attracted businesses that utilize and promote local bamboo. In developing the bam-boo industry, Somido said

DTI aims to bring the poten-tial of bamboo to a more el-evated exposure – to protect natural resources and the en-vironment, to ensure sustain-able utilization, to promote new cultivation of bamboo for new industries in the region, as well as promote tradition-al uses locally for community economic development. He said there is a prospect of Bamboo Plantation and In-vestment Opportunities. Somido presented the bamboo development agen-da. There is an executive order No. 879 creating the

Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council, signed by then President Gloria Ma-capagal Arroyo on May 14, 2010. The composition of the national council is: DTI as chairman, a private sector representative as vice chair, and the members are Depart-ment of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Educa-tion (DepEd), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE),

League of Municipalities in the Philippines (LMP) and the private sector. Somido said there is House Resolution No. 197 proclaiming the month of September every year as Phil-ippine Bamboo Month. There are several bamboo planting activities initiated by LGUs with the support of national government agencies. He said that DTI has initi-ated the Bamboo Investment and Opportunities Forum and invited Base Bahay, a non-government organiza-tion (NGO) which promotes

the use of bamboo as con-struction material, adopting a technology for a stronger bamboo. He added that before, bamboo was called a “poor man’s timber” as houses of poor people were made of bamboo and nipa because they can’t afford the concrete materials. But at present, Somido said there is a new technolo-gy in the treatment of bam-boo, to integrate bamboo to cement and low-cost housing in building new structures. ELIAS O. BAQUERO

Naga City Council passes rent relief ordinance THE Local Government Unit (LGU) of the City of Naga, Cebu has passed and approved Ordinance No. 2021-69 granting rent relief until December 31, 2021, to lessees of city-owned com-mercial spaces because of the corona virus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The city-owned rented properties are specified here-under with corresponding dis-counts as follows: • 30% discount to Jol-

libee Foods Corporation, Fresh N’ Famous Foods, Inc., (Chowking), Metro Naga Hy-permarket and M. Lhuillier; • 50% discount to Naga People’s Market Including Bagsakan 1 And 2, Inayagan Satellite Market and Langtad Satellite Market; • 50% discount to all other city-owned rentable spaces; • And waiver of rental fees for lessees whose busi-ness remains prohibited/

restricted due to COVID-19 safety and health protocols. On the other hand, the City of Naga passed and ap-proved Ordinance No. 2021-61 granting rent relief to lessees of city-owned com-mercial spaces (beside Metro Retail Store) and stallholders at Tuyan Satellite Market for second and third quarters of CY 2021, respectively. The City of Naga also passed and approved Ordi-nance No. 2021-62 officially

naming the streets in Baran-gay Mainit as follows: from footbridge towards Purok Center 1 as Dominador Patal-inghug Street; adjacent to the Barangay Hall towards Main-it Elementary and Nation-al High School as Modesto Sayson Street; from Barangay Hall towards Sitio Grayrocks of Barangay Pangdan as Gon-zalo Canomon Street; from Sitio Grayrocks towards Sitio Ug-Ug Chapel as Constancio Panilag Street; And Barangay

Road of Sitio Tal-ot As Anto-nio Canque Street. The City of Naga also passed and approved Ordi-nance No. 2021-63 localizing the applicability of Republic Act 11313, Otherwise Known As “An Act Defining Gen-der-Based Sexual Harassment in streets, public spaces, on-line, workplaces, and educa-tional or training institutions, providing protective measures and prescribing penalties therefor. ELIAS O. BAQUERO

fluid, that is why we make it a priority to always make travel convenient for every Juan, on top of providing the much-needed flexibility

during this time,” added Iyog. For international destina-tions, Cebu Pacific will also re-sume its daily flights to Dubai on September 30. For Japan,

Cebu Pacific will fly twice weekly to Nagoya starting October 2, and Osaka on Oc-tober 4; and resume Fukuoka on November 5. Cebu Pacific

Cebu Business Week September 20 - 26, 2021 3

NEWS

Pharmally exec worked with Michael Yang? SENATOR Risa Honti-veros on Tuesday revealed that Pharmally Pharmaceu-tical Corporation executive Mohit Dargani has worked as a Special Assistant to former Presidential Economic Advis-er Michael Yang. During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing, Hontiveros showed a LinkedIn profile of Dargani, in which he labels himself as “Special As-sistant at the Office of the Pres-idential Economic Adviser.” “Bakit lahat ng mga may-ari ng Pharmally may koneksyon kay Michael Yang?

Si Linconn Ong nakatrabaho na niya bilang translator di umano sa meeting ng Phar-mally kasama si President Duterte noong 2017. At ngay-on, napag-alaman natin pati si Dargani nakatrabaho rin niya. The Pharmally-Michael Yang relationship seems to run deep,” Hontiveros said. In the last hearing, the Senate bared the luxury cars owned by Pharmally execu-tives. In line with this, Honti-veros said she supports Sen-ator Leila de Lima’s call for the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze and investi-

Covid-19 spread slowing down THE Department of Health (DOH) observed a “slower”rate of increase in Covid-19 cases in the Nation-al Capital Region (NCR) and at the national level. “This slow down in new cases was reflected in the positive but lower two-week growth rates over the past month and a similar decline in the Rt (reproduction num-ber). Our Rt remains less than

1, signaling continuous infec-tion of at least 1 additional person per case. “We need to reduce and sustain this to less than 1,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online media forum. Rt is being used to mea-sure how quickly the virus is spreading.Vergeire said that the large decline in reported cases

“may be largely affected by the rapid and large decline in RT-PCR laboratory output.” “Thus, the need to inter-pret our case metrics carefully and the ongoing assessment by DOH to determine what factors led to this much lower test output,” she added. This, as the DOH said that the revisions being done to the current policy on the use of face shields will also need

the concurrence of seven oth-er agencies who signed the joint memorandum circular. Meanwhile, the DOH logged 18,659 additional Covid-19 cases on Friday, bringing the otal number of infections in the country to 2,453,328. There were also 9,088 recoveries and no deaths reported. “No deaths were reported today (Sept.24) due to techni-

cal issues in COVIDKaya. The Department of Information and Communications Tech-nology is currently address-ing issues encountered by the system,” the DOH said. Of the total number of infections, 7.1 percent (175,324) are active, 91.3 percent (2,240,599) have recovered, and 1.52 percent (37,405) has died. BUSINESS MIRROR

gate the assets of Pharmally executives. “Nakakasuklam na lan-taran ang mga Lamborghini

at Porsche nila habang nalu-lugmok sa kahirapan ang ating mga kababayan,” Hontiveros said. Pharmally executives Huang Tzu Yen and Linconn Ong had said in an earlier hearing that Michael Yang helped finance or guarantee the purchase of supplies and equipment from their sup-pliers in China. However, the senator added, Yang claimed before the House of Represen-tatives that it was the money of his friends that financed Pharmally. “This must have been a big risk on Yang’s part and on the part of his mysterious ‘friends’,

reputational, financial, or oth-erwise. Why was he so sure that the Pharmally crew would be able to pay their suppliers in China? Bakit ang lakas ng loob?” Hontiveros asked. “Ang nakakabahala sa la-hat ng ito ay parang ipinau-baya ng PS-DBM ang ating COVID-19 response sa friends of friends of friends ng mga dayuhang tulad ni Michael Yang. Bakit malapit na kai-bigan ang turing ng PS-DBM sa kanila habang parang mor-tal na kaaway ang turing nila sa aming mga Senador? We should be on team Philippines, not team Michael Yang,” Hon-tiveros concluded.

MICHAEL YANGFORMER DUTERTE ADVISER

Cebu Business Week4 September 20 - 26, 2021

OPINION

Cebu Business Week September 20 - 26, 2021 5

Emmanuel “Anol” MongayaEditor

CEBUBUSINESSWEEK

“Radiating positivity, creating connectivity” Cebu Business Week is published every week by Cebu Newsmakers Forum, Inc. All contents of this newspaper are placed online through Cebu Business Week Facebook page.

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Atty. Gerardo Carillo Chairman

Elias O. BaqueroVP-Finance

Bebie Hiñola BaqueroMarketing Manager

Keres H. AvilesWriter

Emmanuel delos Santos Rabacal President

Basta PROMDI Manny The slogan prop-agated by the home-grown political party PROMDI Sunday eve-ning (Sept. 22) head-ed by Mimo Osmeña looked apt when they accepted Sen. Manny Pacquiao as party pres-ident and candidate for the presidency. Lito Osmeña re-portedly hatched the plan early this year and first talked with leaders of the Manny Pacquiao for Pres-ident Movement (MPPM). When Covid-19 unfortunately cut short his long life, his son Mimo pursued and realized the plan. For the Pacman camp, the PROMDI option comes handy amid efforts of President Rodrigo Duterte and En-ergy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to undermine the PDP-La-ban head by Sen. Koko Pimentel. It is obvious. The candidacy of Pacquiao divides the Duterte bailiwick of Mindanao. This weakens the posi-tion of erstwhile leading presidential contender Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio as they negotiate with ally former senator Bongbong Marcos of the so-called Solid North and Region 8. Joeyboy Holganza, regional chairman of the PDP-La-ban Koko wing, noted that many of the personalities present at the PROMDI event used to be leaders of the Duterte campaign in 2016. Pacquiao as the PROMDI candidate strengthens his brand as the Mindanao and Visayas candidate undermining that of Inday Sara. In Cebu, PROMDI foils the perception of political dominance built by Gov. Gwen Garcia. The party is seek-ing political leaders who are not members of Gwen’s One Cebu like the Yaphas and the Duranos. A Danao council-or was seen with fourth district councilors waiting for the Pacman at the Radisson hotel lobby. I noted the presence of Geraldine Yapha. Veteran political officer Eric Bucoy was talking about a planned Pacquiao visit to Danao Monday. Bucoy used to be the 2016 Duterte operator who helped put into mo-tion the “Let’s DO (Duterte-Osmeña) It” movement that undermined the campaign of Mar Roxas in Cebu City. Osmeña loyalist Franklyn Ong came along with 50 ba-rangay captains. A visit to Pacquiao’s friend Tommy Os-meña will also happen, I was told.

Sara Despite her pronouncements of not running any-more, Inday Sara supporters continue laying the ground for her candidacy. However, major challenges include the Pharmally investigation at the Senate and a more domes-tic controversy of two families in Davao.(Emmanuel Mongaya, co-founder and director for Stra-tegic Communications of PRWorks Inc., is also a mem-ber of the Political Officers League of the Philippines or POLPhil. DM him at @anol_cebu)

Weekly NotesEmmanuel Nacorda Mongaya

Editorial

Carbon row disrupts As the Megawide Con-struction Corporation pro-ceeds with demolitions based on its supposed implemen-tation of the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with Cebu City Hall, the Carbon Alli-ance has disrupted the local political situation. Acting Mayor Mike Rama and the Barug ma-jority need to confront the questions raised by the “null and void” case filed by the Carbon Alliance against the JVA. While Councilor Ray-mund Garcia goes full steam ahead with the implemen-tation of the project, act-ing Mayor Rama had his proposed memorandum of agreement supposedly to

remedy and cure the defects of the JVA. To be consistent, Rama needs to push ahead with get-ting Megawide to agree with the changes he proposed. This is one of the challenges in the unity forged by Presi-dential Assistant Mike Dino between Rama and Garcia. One challenge he must solve to would be his dwin-dling majority at the Cebu City Council. With Rama functioning as acting mayor, Councilor Dondon Honti-veros will serve as acting vice mayor. The electoral victory of the late Amay Abella will grant the opposition BOPK an additional councilor while Councilor Phillip Zafra will be eliminated.

The existing BOPK coun-cilors, meanwhile, are dip-ping their hands into the contradictions of the Mar-ket Operations Department (MOD) conducting the dem-olitions to carry out the still unamended JVA. Minus the delicadeza of respecting Ra-ma’s MOA, the market ad-ministrator risks his neck on the chopping block soon. Once he assumes full powers of the mayor, Rama’s team would soon take over the lawyers identified with the sick mayor Edgar Labella and the anomalies exposed by the report of the Commis-sion on Audit (COA). Indeed, the Carbon Alli-ance has disrupted the power equation in Cebu City.

Cebu Business Week

OPINION

6 September 20 - 26, 2021

Big Tech’s little mergers draw more US antitrust scrutiny

BIZBITSManny de los Santos Rabacal

2010 to 2019 that were above US$1 million but too small to be reported to antitrust agencies, among other find-ings. Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, a Democrat, said looking at deals individually was inadequate. She thinks of serial acquisitions as a Pac-Man strategy. Each in-dividual merger viewed inde-pendently may not seem to have significant impact. But the collective impact of hun-dreds of smaller acquisitions, can lead to a monopolistic behavior, she added. Com-missioner Christine Wilson, a Republican, called for a similar study on health care mergers. (CNA)

oOo The United Arab Emir-ates is seeking to grow eco-nomic ties with Israel to more than $1 trillion over the next decade, Economy Minister Abdulla Bin Touq said Monday, strengthening a year-old relationship that’s already produced billions of dollars-worth of business. The Gulf country has signed over 60 memorandums of

understanding with Israel since normalising relations in 2020 and is expecting an “influx” of trade in the next two years, Bin Touq told a virtual conference from the US, where he is leading a high-level business delega-tion. The UAE was looking at sectors including defense, energy, and food security. Bin Touq said that they have $600m to $700m dollars of bilateral trade happen-ing, have funds of billions of dollars that have been announced jointly between the two countries, and are moving into so many areas of economic opportunities. We are looking to create over $1 trillion dollars of econom-ic activity over the next de-cade, he added. Those deals include Mubadala Invest-ment Co.’s $1bn purchase of Tel Aviv-listed Delek’s stake in an Israeli gas field, which was concluded this month. The so-called Abraham Ac-cords were an historic break-through, hailed by leaders including then-US President Donald Trump as a step to-

ward forging peace in the Middle East. The UAE was the first Arab nation after Egypt and Jordan to formally recognise Israel. The Israeli government said at the time that the deal would lead to billions of dollars of invest-ment. Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan have also recognised Israel following intense di-plomacy from the US. (Gulf Business)

oOo Southeast Asia’s online classifieds business Carousell on Wednesday said it raised $100 million in fresh funds that value the company at more than a billion dollars. South Korean private equity firm STIC Investments led the investment round. The Singapore-based Carousell said it is now valued at $1.1 billion — which makes it Southeast Asia’s latest uni-corn, a start-up worth more than a billion dollars. Quek Siu Rui, co-founder and CEO of Carousell, in a statement said that they believe that the accelerated adoption of digi-tal experiences is an opportu-

nity for them to double down on their recommerce efforts with a focus on convenience and trust, to unlock step-change growth in the com-munity. Recommerce refers to buying and re-selling pre-viously owned products. He said the start-up will invest to expand across more cat-egories of pre-owned goods as well as markets, and do strategic acquisitions to scale up the business. Citing un-named sources, Bloomberg News reported in June that Carousell was considering a potential U.S. public listing via a merger with a blank-check company. Like other online classified platforms, the idea behind Carousell is straightforward: Users snap pictures of things they want to sell and list them, with relevant details, on the mar-ketplace for buyers. As the coronavirus pandemic forced more people to stay at home, experts have said that con-sumption patterns are per-manently shifting. (CNBC)mannyrabacal1144@gmail.com

The pandemic brought a myriad of challenges to all our lives. We have lost a lot in this more than a year of wag-ing a war against this invisi-ble enemy. Everyday people ask the same question, “when will this be over?” I was one of the many who would ask this question every day, but I grew tired of it. I would rath-er ask myself on what I can do to make it better. During one of the webinars on men-tal health I conducted, I was once asked on what I think we lost much in this pandem-ic. We have lost a great deal, most losses are irreplaceable. We have lost lives, time, op-portunities, businesses, jobs, etc. Aside from all of this, we lost the sense of certainty. Before the pandemic, in our personal, professional and business lives, we can come up with projections, possible interventions, strategic plan. But for now, the picture of the future is unclear. While we face this uncertainty of what the future may bring, we take comfort that as long

as there’s a breath of life, there is hope. We can only bank in our inner strength to see us through this challeng-ing time.

The challenge is to sur-vive, then to thrive. We make the best of what we have. We are waging a war against an invisible enemy. War is mostly about logis-tics. The greatest resource of a mighty nation is its peo-ple. Now is the time to get to know our own selves, then we power up. Talk to people who inspire you. Talk to your family and be each other’s strength. It’s okay to be wor-ried and afraid at times, but that should not end there. We have to do something. Get up. Continue with what you can. We all have roles to play in this war. Be the best in your role. If you’re a businessman, persevere and innovate. If you’re a health-care worker, be the best that you can be. If you are work-ing from home, please work at home. If you are a student,

stay home and study not just watch television and browse through your social media accounts. If you are home and tasked to cook, cook with all your heart and passion. If you are home and assigned to wash the dishes, wash with joy. Yes, we all have roles to play. Nothing small. Each role is important.

In this challenging time, a time of uncertainty were sometimes sleep is elusive and panic near your midst, with all the worrying, a rou-tine may help. Anticipa-tion-Reflection-Gratitude may be things that you can add to your daily routine. Anticipate on the best and worst thing than can happen to your day. If it happens, how do you think you will be feeling? If it will happen, what can you do? What is the best way to respond to that situation? Reflect on what is the meaning of your life. What matters to you the most? If you leave this world, how would you want to be

remembered by the people you love? What is the mean-ing of your life? What are you most thankful for? Just like the stoics who take their gratitude to another level, don’t just thank and appre-ciate the things you have but think how much you would want these all that you have now if these are all you don’t have. Be grateful for the life you have. You are alive, there are still things that you can do even when there are challenges.

Now, breathe. Take long breaths. Inhale… exhale…inhale.. exhale... Breath in hope, breath out worry. As this is my first article for this paper, let me share to you a mantra I tell myself every day and I hope this may be helpful to you too:

I am human, I am not perfect. I am doing the best that I can, and that is all that I can do.

Peace, hope and, love!

U.S. Federal Trade Com-mission staff presented data on Wednesday on small ac-quisitions by five big tech-nology companies, and the agency scrapped guidelines on vertical mergers which combine a company with a supplier - both steps indi-cating plans to be tougher on deals. Following a study begun during the Trump ad-ministration, the FTC staff found that Facebook, Alpha-bet’s Google, Amazon.com, Apple and Microsoft togeth-er had 616 acquisitions from

Dr. Anna KathrinaOaminal-Watin,

RPsy, RPmIndustrial/Organizationaland Clinical Psychologist

oaminal.watin@gmail.com

Challenges of the Pandemic

Pacquiao and Osmeñahe is the chairman of the PROMDI political party, while Pacquiao who is pres-ently in Cebu is the president. Osmeña said that they are now focusing on the ap-pointment of trusted leaders nationwide who will issue Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) to those who will run for con-gressmen and all other po-sitions in the Local Govern-ment Units (LGUs). Osmeña is confident that they can field candidates from the President of the Philippines which is being eyed by Pacquiao down to the last municipal councilor. He said that he is not anymore interested in run-ning for any government po-sition because he will focus on Pacquiao’s victory come May 9, 2022, national and local polls. He believes that Pac-quiao is the strongest pres-idential candidate and the filing of his CONA will be on October 7, 2021.

Suddenly, Osmeña told me that Pacquiao was be-side him in a car in going to the Cebu North Reclamation Area. I told him to give the phone to Pacquiao because I will interview him. Pacquiao reiterated that he is really running for presi-dent because he wants to lib-erate the people from hunger and poverty that happened in the past administrations up to the present because of rampant and skyrocketing graft and corruption. Pacquiao who claimed to be a religious person, said that public officials down to the grassroots will be reluc-tant to do corruption if he has God and his fear of bad karma if he will do evil while in public office. “I have huge wealth that came from my hard work. But we should remember that we cannot bring our riches to our grave. It’s better that we will uplift the living condition of the people who are now suffering financial-

ly after losing jobs and live-lihood. I want to help the homeless families that have been neglected by the gov-ernment through the years,” Pacquiao told Yagyagan over DYRC. I remember that when President Rodrigo Duter-te assumed office in Mala-cañang in 2016, the Phil-ippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has estimated 22 mil-lion Filipinos who were cat-egorized as “poorest among the poor.” In 2019, the Na-tional Anti-Poverty Commis-sion (NAPC) said that it was reduced to 14 million. But when corona virus disease (Covid-19) came, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country was mi-nus 2 percent of GDP in the first quarter of 2020, 16.5 percent in the second quar-ter; 8.5 percent in the third quarter; and 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter. I can imagine that the 14 million poorest among the poor in 2019 are now beg-

gars because they lost their livelihood, plus the millions of workers, who are also con-sidered bread winners, have lost their jobs, hence, no more income. Then, Pacquiao said that one of his advocacies is to provide houses to the home-less families who are called “informal settlers” and are squatting at the roadsides, under the bridges, and along the riverbanks. I like that advocacy be-cause even if only 10 or 20 percent of that advocacy will be realized, that is equivalent to millions of families who can own a decent abode. Pacquiao also said that the number one reason for poverty in the Philip-pines is corruption which is rampant in the present administration. “If I will become the President of the Philippines, I will make sure that corrupt officials will go to jail to give justice to the poverty-strick-en Filipinos,” Pacquiao said.

The Legal FrontAtty. Gerry Carillo

Cebu City’s Economic Stimulus At lot of people are suf-fering from the effects of this pandemic. Employees are losing their jobs as supermar-kets, restaurants, resto bars, stores, and other place of business have been shutting down. Taxi, jeepney, bus, and trisikad drivers lost their live-lihood as the vehicle they were driving could no longer ply the routes they were assigned. Vendors with the limited cus-tomers going to the public markets and scheduling of the market days could no longer sell as much as before forcing them to close shop. Farmers who would depend on their crops left their harvest to rot because of the difficulty to market them. Nearly all sec-tors in the walk of life were affected by this pandemic. As a lawyer, I could no longer go to the courts as open as I can as the courts are either closed or limits their visitors. This pandemic hit rich and poor alike. But it affects the poorest as they do not have a way to survive. With the difficulty of the

times, its heartwarming to hear that the City Govern-ment is offering a stimulus package to lift the economy of the community especially the various sectors of our society. The City Council and the Mayor Edgar Labella approved the release of an economic stimulus package amounting100M this year to be given as a grant for those who can qualify to this program. With the recent flatten-ing of the curve, people are slowly opening their trade. Economy have started to re-gain its feet. Hence, the City Government is rolling out the economic stimulus pack-age to assist the basic sectors of the community rise above the ruins. Besides, acting May-or Michael Rama when he passed an executive order Oplan Puyo, said that the economic stimulus package is directed towards making the barangay and the com-munity self-sufficient so that they will no longer crowd at

the City’s Market bringing the goods nearer to them. And how does one avail? The stimulus package which is five thousand pesos grant, shall be given to the iden-tified and qualified benefi-ciaries. The sectoral groups identified were women, transport which covers the habal-habal drivers, taxi and jeepney drivers, vendors both the formal and informal vendors and farmers and sa-risari store merchants. The habal-habal, taxi, and jeepney drivers shall be qualified by the Cebu City Transport Office (CCTO), the informal vendors shall be qualified by the PROBE Of-fice while the formal vendors from the Market Operation’s Division, the urban poor sector shall be qualified by the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), sarisari store vendors shall be qualified by the Barangay Captains or the Office of the Mayor and finally from the women sector, the beneficia-ries shall be qualified by the

Women and Family Affairs Commission. The beneficiaries shall be validated by the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitiga-tion Office (DRMMO), DSWS and the office of the mayor. The beneficiaries must be resident of the barangay and a registered voter. If this will be implement-ed, it will create economic activity in the community which will spur the econo-my of the barangay and will trickle to the sitio of the ba-rangays. Acting Mayor Mike Rama liken this program as something that will trigger the economy of the commu-nities now that most of us is suffering from crises brought about this pandemic at least government is able to raise their livelihood and ease the impact of COVID 19. Indeed this program is laudable and if and when im-plemented this will became a good model for developing the countryside. Write us at carillogerry@yahoo.com.ph

My interview with Sen-ator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao on board Yagyagan program over DYRC Aksyon Radyo Cebu today (Septem-ber 27, 2021) was accidental. I told my technical part-ner Jesrael Paican to contact Businessman Mimo Osmeña because I will interview him on what transpired during their meeting at Radisson Blu attended by several per-sonalities and the media. Osmeña confirmed that

OPINION

Cebu Business Week September 20 - 26, 2021 7

SmorgasbordElias O. Baquero

BUSINESS

Cebu Business Week8 September 20 - 26, 2021

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Cebu Business Week10 September 20 - 26, 2021

BUSINESS

Cebu Business Week September 20 - 26, 2021 11

Full opening ofpublic services urged

FILIPINO business lead-ers have joined the clamor of foreign firms for the full lift-ing of foreign equity restric-tion in public services sec-tor, particularly transpor-tation, telecommunication, and power generation. The Philippine Cham-ber of Commerce and In-dustry, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Employers Confederation of the Phil-ippines, Supply Chain Man-agement Association of the Philippines, and Export De-velopment Council issued a joint statement strongly supporting the full invest-ment liberalization of public services outside of natural monopolies. The groups issued the call as the Senate deliberates the amendment to the Public Services Act (PSA). “We strongly oppose moves to return transpor-tation and telecommunica-tion, as well as power gener-ation back to the definition of Public Utilities, wherein these sectors will continue or revert to the 60-40 Fili-

SEC studies legal status of online investment entities

Takeover of crop insurance agency by the DoF unfair to farmers, says Bongbong

THE Securities and Ex-change Commission (SEC) is studying the legal status of online investment entities such as crypto and play-to-earn gaming platforms un-der Philippine laws. In a televised briefing on Friday, SEC Commissioner Kelvin K. Lee said Axie In-finity, one of the more pop-ular play-to-earn games, is not registered as a business

at the SEC. He clarified, however, that the lack of registration does not automatically mean the game is illegal as the SEC is still studying these kinds of platforms. “Whether or not they are legal or illegal or need to register later on, that is something we still have to determine at the SEC,” he said.

Lee said the SEC is look-ing to issue rules on the of-fering and exchange of dig-ital assets to “stabilize the industry hopefully within the year.” He also warned the pub-lic that such transactions en-tail risks if the entity one is transacting with is only for-eign-registered and not reg-istered in the Philippines. “If the entity is regis-

tered in the Philippines, you have that protection of the Philippine laws,” he added. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier said that it was closely monitor-ing the growth of Axie Infin-ity in the Philippines. In a statement on Sept. 5, BSP Technology Risk and Innovation Supervision De-partment Director Melchor T. Plabasan said the central

bank would only step in and require Axie Infinity to reg-ister with it and the SEC if more merchants will accept as payment the smooth love potion or the money earned from playing the game. If registered, the secu-rities and monetary regu-lators will be able to offer more protection to Filipi-nos playing and investing in Axie Infinity. PR

TAKING the cudgels for farmers, former Sen. Fer-dinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos questioned the takeover of the Philippine Crop Insur-ance Corp. (PCIC) by the De-partment of Finance (DOF) from the Department of Ag-riculture (DA) “Bakit kailangang itrans-fer sa DoF… eh, ang DA ang mas nakakaalam sa mga kaganapan sa agricultural

sector? Nasa DA ang lahat ng pertinent data tungkol sa naturang sector. ‘Di ba ang PCIC was formed to pro-vide insurance protection to farmers against losses aris-ing from natural disasters, plant diseases, and pest in-festation?” he pointed out. The former lawmaker noted that farmers, through the Federation of Free Farm-ers, have expressed appre-

hension that under the DoF, the PCIC’s priority will shift to fiscal and monetary con-cerns which may not neces-sarily be supportive of the needs of farmers and the DA. “Dapat ikonsidera rin ang agam-agam ng ating mga magsasaka dahil sila ang sek-tor na apektado dito sa pagli-pat na ito. Dapat ay kinunsul-ta sila,” Marcos said, adding that the lack of consultation

was one of the sentiments that farmers raised. Marcos said there is a need to review Executive Or-der No. 148 which transferred the PCIC to the DoF for “poli-cy and program coordination, and general supervision,” allegedly in a bid to ensure that government assets and resources are used effectively. For its part, the DoF on Sunday announced that it is

no longer keen on privatiz-ing the crop insurance firm but is mulling over involv-ing the private sector for reinsurance. It added that involving the private sector in rein-surance would bode well for farmers because re-insur-ance will most likely allow the expansion of coverage to more farmers and more crops and livestock.

pino-foreign ownership re-quirements under the 1987 Constitution,” the groups said. On transport and tele-com, they stressed that the full liberalization of these sectors has been affirmed by the results from many con-sultations among exporters, manufacturers, SMEs and other business stakeholders who all had strongly clam-

ored for this reform. On power generation, the business leaders said they widely welcomed the Electric Power Industry Re-form Act’s (EPIRA) provi-sion to open the sector to lo-cal and 100 percent foreign private investors, helping to meet the critical power need of our growing econo-my and support our growing economy, especially the fu-

el-intensive manufacturing industries. The groups further cited that high inter-island ship-ping rates, expensive and unreliable internet connec-tion, unreliable power sup-ply, and inadequacy of in-frastructure are factors pre-venting the Philippines from developing the much-need-ed supply chains and from maximizing the potentials of

domestic industries. The groups noted the need for urgent and massive upgrade to speed up and im-prove telecommunications system. “We get daily experienc-es on service interruptions, technical glitches, and lack of internet that in this pe-riod and age can make or break a business, disrupt the online delivery of gov-ernment services (E-BOSS, digital payments), and e-learning. Every second the Philippines is offline be-cause of the inability of our current providers to keep us connected is a second that the Philippines is closed for business,” the statement added. “We urge the Senate to be bold in this particular policy decision. We have seen how timely and appro-priate policy decisions else-where have led to significant positive results and these are inspirations that we can learn from and adopt,” the statement concluded. MA-NILA BULLETIN

CEBU CITY PAGE

Cebu Business Week12 September 20 - 26, 2021

Barug lineup complete,says Rama

CEBU City Acting Mayor Michael “Mike” Rama said his line-up for mayor, vice may-or, congressmen and council-ors are already complete, in-cluding the convertibles who will be immediately replaced once they leave the group. However, Rama did not divulge all the names under his complete slate during an interview with Elias O. Baquero, host of Yagyagan program over DYRC Aksyon Radyo Cebu. Rama is the chairman of Partido Barug, a politi-cal party registered with the Commission on Election (Comelec) that covers the en-tire Visayas, Regions 6,7 & 8. Rama confirmed that Partido Barug is coalesced with Partido Panaghiusa of Atty. Joey Daluz III and Parti-do Kusog of Cebu City Coun-cilor Raymond Alvin Garcia. With the coalition, Rama

up completion of Cebu City Medical Center (CMC) so the city can have a world-class medical institution. “We want to build a world-class city hospital es-pecially that we are under a health pandemic which we don’t know when it will end,” Rama said. He said he will also work out for the construction of buildings for Cebu City Col-lege-South and Cebu City College North so the youth of Cebu City can be given a chance to avail the free col-lege education law and be professionals. Both the CCMC and the city colleges were included in the 10-point agenda of the administration of Mayor Ed-gar Labella. But the colleges were not realized because of the corona virus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. ELIAS O. BAQUERO

Distribution of fund aid to senior citizens begins THE distribution of fi-nancial assistance to around 89,000 senior citizens in Cebu City has started last September 25, 2021, plus 10 working days thereafter. Jeffrey Ocampo, chief of the Office of the Senior Cit-izens Affairs (OSCA) said that every senior citizen will get P3,000 each at P1,000 a month for the months of July, August and September. Ocampo said the distri-

bution is done by Cebu City Hall employees and the focal persons in all barangays will guide them in the house-to-house activity. He said that Mayor Ed-gardo C. Labella and Acting Mayor Michael “Mike” Rama have ordered concerned city hall officials to reach out to all senior citizens who are beneficiaries. He added that there are about 110,000 senior cit-

izens but only more than 89,000 can avail because they have complied with all the requirements set by the ordinance. He said the Local Gov-ernment Unit (LGU) here is really taking care of its senior citizens. Hence, senior citi-zens from other places have transferred voting precincts to Cebu City believing that they will also get the same fi-nancial assistance.

“All senior citizens have to be qualified for them to re-ceive financial assistance. A beneficiary must have voted at least three times in Cebu City to qualify for the finan-cial assistance,” Ocampo said. He said that in some cases, senior citizens who are natives of Cebu City have bought properties in the province where they are presently residing but re-mained as Cebu City voters.

They can still avail of the fi-nancial assistance. Ocampo said that of the 89,000 qualified senior cit-izens, about 20 percent of them are still members of the working force both in the pri-vate and public sectors like those 60 to 65 years old. A person may file an optional retirement at the age of 60, and mandatory retirement at the age of 65. ELIAS O. BAQUERO

THE Cebu City govern-ment is set to launch “Perya Bakuna Papremyo” program starting October 1, as its way of enticing more Cebuanos to have themselves inoculated against COVID-19. This program is in collab-oration with Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI). Booths will be set up at the city’s vaccination cen-ters to give the vaccinated a chance to win cash and non-cash prizes. “There are a lot of people

who are willing to help. I have talked to many philanthro-pists, and they commit to pro-vide the prizes,” acting Mayor Michael Rama said. Plans are afoot to orga-nize raffle draws for all those who were already inoculated in Cebu City. These will be done during important cele-brations like the coming Hal-loween, Christmas and Valen-tine’s Day. Prizes will include cash, pangkabuhayan showcase, and possibly a house and lot.

The city will also be giving out special awards to the ba-rangays with the most num-ber of vaccinated residents; the most number of inocu-lated senior citizens; and the one that was able to execute the most creative vaccination campaign. Prizes at stake for the winning barangays will in-clude cash aid and funding for s project implementation. Meanwhile, RAFI plans to further extend the offer of incentives to barangays with

the most number of vaccinat-ed residents that are located in other areas in Metro Cebu. At least P3 million is al-located for RAFI‘s Metro Cebu-wide campaign to rec-ognize the Top 5 barangays per Local Government Unit (LGU). A cash prize of P20,000 each will be given to a) baran-gays with the most number of vaccinated individuals, b) the most number of inocu-lated senior citizens, c) those reaching 100 percent or up

to 70 percent herd immunity and; d) the one with the best vaccination roll-out practices. RAFI will likewise orga-nize a raffle draw on Decem-ber 20 for all vaccinated indi-viduals in the Metro to join. Lastly, under its “Sectoral Bakuna Ayuda” program, RAFI will provide aid to oth-er sectors like the women’s groups, LGBTQ organization, and fraternity or sorority chapters to encourage their members to get vaccinated. CDN

Cebu City govt to launch “Perya Bakuna Papremyo”

said they have a formidable and a strong political group against any interested oppo-nent to challenge them. Rama who had served

Cebu City for almost 27 years as three-term councilor, three-term vice mayor, two-term mayor and now incum-bent vice mayor (acting may-

or) is considered the strongest politician in Cebu City with a huge political machinery. Rama said that if elected again as mayor, he will speed

CEBU CITY PAGE

Cebu Business Week September 20 - 26, 2021 13

Rama signs documentseverywhere to hasten services

CEBU City Acting May-or Michael “Mike” Rama said that he signed docu-ments everywhere, whether it is within the stairs of city hall or inside his car, be-cause government services should not be distracted. Rama said he instruct-ed all city hall employees and officials to fast tract the processing of financial assistance from the nation-al government, burial assis-tance or hospital assistance to indigent families, sala-ries and honorarium, and payment to projects that have been implemented in accordance with the law. “I wake up early in the morning just to sign im-portant documents to avoid delay,” Rama said. On the inquiry on when to reopen Pangan-iban Street, in front of Cebu City Medical Center

Rama names offices in fight vs. illegal structures

Vote for a president oriented to uplift economy: Rama CEBU City Acting May-or Michael “Mike” Rama has urged the people to vote for a candidate for the next president who is develop-ment oriented to uplift the economy which has been gravely affected by the coro-na virus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The national and local election is set by the 1987 Constitution on May 9, 2022. The Commission on Election (Comelec) has set the period of the filing of certificate of

candidacy on October 1-8, 2021 for the early printing of ballots for the digital polls. “There must be a con-tinuing “Build, Build, Build” program under the next ad-ministration,” Rama said. The term of incumbent President Rodrigo R. Duter-te will end on June 30, 2022 and the new chief executive of the country will official-ly assume office on July 1, 2022. In solid waste dispos-al related to build, build,

build program, Rama said we have to follow the Sol-id Waste Management Act with three Rs which is reuse, recycle, and refuse. There is also a material recovery fa-cility, a disposal area that cannot endanger the health of the people, or adopt a “waste-to-energy.” Rama said the former landfill in Barangay Inay-awan will be closed forever, and there is a tendency to convert the area into a busi-ness district.

“We are looking beyond certain innovation and cre-ativity and we should not put up another landfill in the area but convert it into a business or industry area using tech-nology,” Rama said. The former Inayawan landfill is near the South Road Properties where big businesses like SM Seaside are located and the people in the area used to complain about the foul smell emitting from it when the landfill was still operating.

“If we use high tech-nology and coordinate with the National Government through funding or grant, then all possible interven-tions will be realized,” Rama said. He said that the City Gov-ernment shall also review the documentation of the prop-erties that used to house the closed Inayawan landfill be-cause there are some people who had claimed ownership of the lands, and are possess-ing titles. ELIAS O. BAQUERO

CEBU City Acting Mayor Michael “Mike” Rama said that the concerned offices against illegal structures encroaching the roads and waterways are the Office of the Building Official (OBO), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Barangay Governments. Rama said that the peo-ple living near the illegal structures also have the duty and obligation about it being good citizens.

He said barangay offi-cials who failed to report to proper authorities the illegal structures can be charged by anybody for malfeasance and misfeasance. Rama said that it is sad to note that while we are cel-ebrating world clean up day every year, informal settlers suddenly appeared beside the banks of the rivers or waterways like mushrooms. He said DPWH has the power to maintain and

manage the rivers, creeks, and so-called waterways. “The massive rip-rap-ping at present beside the rivers is being handled by DPWH,” Rama said. Rama remembered that in the first week of July 2016, there was a massive flashflood in Cebu City. DPWH Secretary Mark Vil-lar came to Cebu City upon the invitation of Presiden-tial Assistant Michael Dino. In that forum, Villar prom-

ised to allocate enough funds to rehabilitate the rivers and creeks to prevent any similar incidents in the future. However, Villar report-edly reneged in his promise and flashfloods occurred several times since 2016. “We will remind him of his promise once he will come to Cebu. Perhaps DPWH has a complete program to prevent future floods, but the implemen-

tation has been delayed,” Rama said. Rama admitted that he has seen riprap proj-ects of DPWH in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City and in Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City. Villar, son of incum-bent Senator Cynthia Villar, is purportedly running for senator in the coming May 9, 2022, election under the lineup of President Rodrigo Duterte. ELIAS O. BAQUERO

the area is still being occu-pied by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) 7 and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7. Rama said he already envisioned to build a center near CCMC during his first term as mayor to house the operations of medical arts, wellness program, and command center. “I wished that the fu-ture operations centers will connect CCMC through a basement and underpass. I want that doctors can be easily called by CCMC in times they are needed by patients,” Rama said. He urged the BFP 7 to find a new office where they can transfer to, espe-cially that it is a regional office which is not neces-sarily within the middle of a highly-urbanized city. ELIAS O. BAQUERO

(CMC) which was closed by the City Government, Rama said he will review it whether there is still a need to close it. “If we see that it should be opened to motorists

now, we will open. But if there is a need to continue closing it for safety reason, the area will remain close to traffic,” Rama said. The construction of the CCMC building is still

on-going despite the first three floors of the hospi-tal already in operation. The Cebu City Government will also construct an op-erations center building across the hospital where

CEBU CITY ACTING MAYOR MIKE RAMA AND CITY OFFICIALS DURING THE FORMAL OPENING OF THE FIRST 3 FLOORS OF THE CEBU CITY MEDICAL CENTER.

Cebu Business Week14 September 20 - 26, 2021

Cebu Business Week September 20 - 26, 2021 15

BOHOL NEWS

Bohol SP to streamline departure protocol in sea ports THE Sangguniang Pan-lalawigan (SP) of Bohol headed by Vice Governor Rene Lopez Relampagos on Tuesday, September 20, 2021, sought for a better set of departure protocol in Bo-hol’s seaports subsequent to the release of a committee report. Said committee report recommended for the simpli-fied and uniform protocol for outgoing passengers in Tag-bilaran City and other ports in the province. The SP sought to abol-ish the filling out of unnec-essary forms that earned complaints of inconvenience from the riding public in ad-dition to it being redundant and time consuming. Board Member Jade Bautista had raised some concerns of the public re-garding the departure pro-tocol at the Tagbilaran sea port. Relampagos immedi-ately referred said concern to the joint Committees on Tourism, Health and Public Sanitation, and Peace & Or-der and Public Safety. Consequently, the com-mittees conducted a joint

negative antigen test result and the S-PaSs at the PCG substation. Travelers need to walk from the other end of the port back to the ticketing of-fice to claim their boat tick-ets. Upon returning to the ticket booth, departing trav-elers need to fill out another form. Add to that, upon enter-ing the Tagbilaran Passenger Terminal Building, another form had to be filled out. Board Member Elpi-dio Bonita had questioned the filling out of the forms considering that there is no medical personnel present to validate the information pro-vided on the said forms. On the other hand, Bau-tista said, the Traze App cur-rently being used by Ocean Jet, is already sufficient as a contract tracing system. Board Member Romulo Cepedoza had also observed that there are no forms need-ed to fill out at the Tubigon port. The departure protocol will be implemented in oth-er Bohol ports such as Loon, Getafe, Jagna, and Tubigon as well. PR

Bohol gains 3 new physiciansMiss U Ph coronation nightin Panglao, Bohol BOHOL has again prides

itself of two Boholanos who passed the recently conclud-ed September 2021 Physician Licensure Examinations. As of press time, accord-ing to reports, the Bohola-no passers are Dr. Monique Torralba Bullecer, Dr. Justin Clark Sanchez Erigbuagas and Dr. Ina Leaux Magbanua. Dr. Bullecer earned her medical degree from the Cebu Institute of Medicine traces his roots to Bohol of Medicine. Dr. Erigbuagas also earned his medical degree from the Cebu Institute of Medicine, where he was the head of the Alpha Musigma Phi of said school. He traces his roots to Bohol, according to former Cooperative Devel-opment Administrator Ben-

jie Oliva He finished his Bachelor of Science degree in Agri-cultural Biotechnology from the University of the Philip-pines-Los Baños. Another successful ex-aminee is Dr. Magbanua who finished his medical degree at the Matias H. Aznar Me-morial-College of Medicine. She got her degree in Bachelor of Science in Phar-macy from the University of San Carlos in Cebu. The Professional Reg-ulation Commission (PRC) announced that 1,084 out of 1,545 examinees passed the said physician licensure examination. The licensure exams for professional doctors were conducted on September 11-12 & 18-19, 2021 at test-

ing centers located at Bagu-io, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legaspi, Luce-na, Tacloban and Zamboanga The examinations in Metro Manila were cancelled due to Typhoon Kiko, the PRC said. The tests were conduct-ed by the Board of Medicine headed by Dr. Eleanor B. Almoro, Chairman and its members, Dr. Godofreda V. Dalmacion, Dr. Zenaida L. Antonio, Dr. Rafael R. Cas-tillo, Dr. Raquel S. Sayo and Dr. Martha O. Nucum. The no. 1 spot is shared by Maria Inez Sellado Ben-edicto of West Visayas State University-La Paz and Jude Philip Pozon Cebracus of the Cebu Institute of Medicine where both garnered a rating of 87.83%.

meeting on Sept. 20, 2021, attended by Senior Port Po-lice Inspector Greg T. Dela Cruz of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Ensign Ed-zel Gonzaga, Petty Officer 1 Paul Vincent Yu of the Philip-pine Coast Guard (PCG), Pa-trolman Hans Ericson Caso-cot of the Philippine National Police Maritime Group, and

Roel Maboloc of Ocean Jet. It was then agreed during that joint meeting to stream-line the protocol to avoid un-necessary inconvenience to departing travelers. It was settled that a PCG personnel will be assigned at the boarding area of the Passenger Terminal Building from 8 am to 5 pm and help

facilitate the filling out of the forms so travelers need not go from one end of the port and back. To recall, the previous departure protocol required passengers to buy tickets at one end of the seaport only to walk to the opposite end to fill out the health declara-tion forms and to submit the

THE Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Man-agement of Emerging In-fectious Diseases has given its GO signal for the staging of the Miss Universe Phil-ippines Grand Coronation Night in the tourism island of Panglao, Province of Bohol. The pageant is slated to be held from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1, 2021 and the Coronation Night on September 30 at the Hennan Resort and Conven-

tion Center in Panglao, Bohol Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said that the event is however still “subject to health and safety protocol” and “approval of the Bohol Provincial Government un-der Governor Arthur “Art” Yap. The new Miss Universe Philippines 2021 will repre-sent the country in the 70th Miss Universe pageant to be held in Israel in December this year.

16 September 20 - 26, 2021 Cebu Business Week

WORLD NEWS

Biden to fight againstransomware attacks

THE Biden adminis-tration launches a renewed campaign against ransom-ware attacks through sanc-tions to cut off criminals’ cryptocurrency pipelines. Deputy Treasury Sec-retary Wally Adeyemo said that the sanctions would be imposed on Suex, a crypto-currency transferring service that’s registered in the Czech Republic. He said Suex had “facilitated transactions in-volving illicit proceeds for at least eight ransomware variants.” He said “exchanges like Suex are critical to attack-ers’ ability to extract profits,” pointing out that this was the first such action by the Office of Foreign Assets Con-trol against a virtual currency exchange. Both Adeyemo and Dep-uty National Security Ad-viser Anne Neuberger un-derscored the importance of

In China, all crypto transactions are illegal CHINA’S central bank on Friday said all financial trans-actions involving cryptocur-rencies are illegal. The global values of cryp-tocurrencies including Bit-coin have massively fluctuat-ed over the past year partly due to Chinese regulations, which have sought to pre-vent speculation and money laundering. “Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities,” the Peo-

ple’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in an online statement Friday, adding that offenders would be “investigated for criminal liability in accor-dance with the law.” The notice bans all relat-ed financial activities involv-ing cryptocurrencies, such as trading crypto, selling tokens, transactions involving virtual currency derivatives and “ille-gal fundraising”. The central bank said that in recent years trading of Bit-

coin and other virtual curren-cies had become “widespread, disrupting economic and financial order, giving rise to money laundering, illegal fund-raising, fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal and criminal activities.” This was “seriously en-dangering the safety of peo-ple’s assets,” the PBOC said. While crypto creation and trading have been illegal in China since 2019, further crackdowns this year by Bei-

jing warned banks to halt re-lated transactions and closed much of the country’s vast network of bitcoin miners. Thursday’s statement by the central bank sent the strongest yet signal that Chi-na is closed to crypto. Analysts say China fears the proliferation of illicit in-vestments and fundraising from cryptocurrency in the world’s second biggest econo-my, which also has strict rules In June, Chinese officials

said more than 1,000 people had been arrested for using the profits from crime to buy cryptocurrencies. Several key Chinese prov-inces banned the operation of cryptocurrency mines since the start of this year, with one region accounting for eight percent of the comput-ing power needed to run the global blockchain -- a set of online ledgers to record bit-coin transactions. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Indian PM raises issue of H-1B visas with Biden INDIAN Foreign Secre-tary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first-ever in-per-son meeting with President Joe Biden raised a number of issues involving the Indi-an community in America, including access for Indian professionals in the US and speaking about the H-1B visas. Modi described as “out-standing” his first bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with US President Joe Biden who

said the Indo-US relationship is destined to be “stronger, closer and tighter.” Scott Morrison of Aus-tralia and Japan’s Yoshihide Suga also attended the meet-ing of Quad leaders hosted by Biden in the US capital on Friday. Modi spoke of the issue of getting access for Indian pro-fessionals to the United States. In that context he mentioned H-1B visa, Shringla said. The most sought-after

H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or techni-cal expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of em-ployees each year from coun-tries like India and China. The United States was proud to have issued a record 62,000 visas to Indian stu-dents so far in 2021. The nearly 200,000 Indian students in the

US contribute USD 7.7 billion annually to the US economy. Celebrating the 75th an-niversary of the Fulbright Programme worldwide, the programme has been bringing Americans and Indians closer together for 71 years since its launch. According to the White House, the upcoming launch of the US-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Em-powerment a public-private partnership between the De-

partment of State, USAID, the US-India Strategic Part-nership Forum, and George Washington University will help catalyze collaboration to advance women’s economic resilience and empowerment in India. The US-funded Nexus startup and innovation hub showcases the best of Ameri-can and Indian entrepreneur-ial innovation and technology commercialization. BUSI-NESS TODAY

ransomware victims coming forward and vulnerable busi-nesses and organizations taking steps to bolster their security. Adeyemo announced new Treasury Department guidance that makes “an express statement that the US government strongly discourages the payment of cyber ransoms or extortion demands.”

Neuberger likened com-panies armoring themselves against cybercrime to motor-ists and home owners buying insurance. “When we look at cyber-security, what we’re grap-pling with is what seems to be the lack of incentives for companies to make the in-vestment to modernize their defenses to meet this threat,” Neuberger said.

Since its inception in 2018 as a venue for trans-ferring digital currency and turning it into cash, Suex has moved hundreds of mil-lions of dollars in illicit dig-ital coins, including more than $160 million in Bitcoin alone, according to the cryp-tocurrency research firm, Chainalysis. Suex’s addition to the Treasury Specially Designat-

ed Nationals and Blocked Persons List prohibits Amer-icans from doing business with it. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts a victim’s data. Cybercrimi-nals often steal the data, too. The hackers then ask for a payment to unlock the files and promise not to leak the stolen data. In recent years, hackers have been targeting victims with cyber insurance policies and huge volumes of sensitive consumer data that make them more likely to pay a ransom, according to cybersecurity experts. The Biden administra-tion has determined that ran-somware is no longer limited to independent cartels seek-ing to simply make a profit from extortion. Instead, na-tion-states may be using the attacks as a tool to disrupt government or private oper-ations. BLOOMBERG