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(Bloomberg) The Philippines expects its debt to rise to more than half of its economic output this year as the government increased borrowing to cope with the pandemic, the Bureau of the Treasury said.

Government debt will likely spike to about 53% of gross domestic product in 2020 after dropping to a “decades low” level of 39.6% last year, the Treasury said in it’s annual fiscal risk assessment for the year ahead. The country’s debt will be “within the internationally recognized sustainability threshold of 60-70%” and within the median of similarly-rated peers, it said.

Philippines Lowers 2020 Growth Forecast, Sees Improvement Ahead

“The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and response measures will elevate debt-to-GDP above its previous trajectory,” the Treasury said in the assessment posted on the website. “Over the medium-term, fiscal consolidation will resume,” it said, pledging to bring down the budget deficit poised to swell to a record in 2020… Read More

(Inquirer) MANILA, Philippines — Globe Telecom Inc. president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu has joined the board of directors of Nasdaq-listed technology company LivePerson Inc.

Globe, in a stock exchange filing, said Cu’s membership in the board of LivePerson would help “chart the company’s course in addressing the growing demand that accelerates brands’ ongoing structural shift to conversational commerce.”

Cu joined LivePerson’s board of directors effective yesterday.

Globe assured that Cu would continue to diligently and efficiently perform his duties and responsibilities in all the boards he serves.

LivePerson is a global leader in conversational AI and is listed on the Nasdaq.

Based on its website, the company has 18,000 customers, including leading brands like HSBC, Orange, GM Financial and The Home Depot.

Cu joined Globe in October 2008 as deputy CEO and was officially appointed as the Ayala-led telco’s president and CEO in April 2009.

Globe is working to deliver first world internet services in the country through its continued investment and expansion.

The telco is allocating a capex investment of P70 billion this year which will be used to build approximately 2,000 new cell sites and roll out of over one million fiber to the home lines.

Last year, Globe was able to build close to 1,300 cell sites, 18 percent higher than 2019 despite challenges brought about by the pandemic.

It was also able to upgrade over 11,500 sites with 4G/LTE, resulting in improved network experience.

In the first quarter, Globe said it has already built 318 new cell sites and installed over 287,000 high-speed lines… Read More

(ABS-CBN) MANILA— Public schools in San Juan City received Wednesday thousands of laptops, tablets and pocket WiFi devices that students can use for distance education as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora led the turnover of 12,500 tablets, 1,000 laptops and 1,000 pocket WiFi devices from the city government and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to principals and representatives of 13 public schools.

Zamora said the laptops and WiFi devices would go to students in Grades 3 to 6 at the Pinaglabanan Elementary School as part of the DICT’s Digital Education program.

Last year, public school teachers in San Juan received laptops from the city government.

The country’s education system shifted to distance learning — where students learn from their homes via modules, online classes, and education programs aired over TV and radio — after government prohibited in-person classes due to the threat of the new coronavirus.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones has said she was pushing for the country’s education system to move towards online or technology-mediated learning because Filipino students may be left behind in global competitiveness.

The Department of Education and DICT earlier allowed the construction of common towers in public schools, which are seen to expand connectivity in underserved areas and help telcos save on expenses… Read More

(GMA News) The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) proposal to require a national police clearance (NPC) for various labor-related transactions has been thumbed down by workers, employers, as well as other government agencies, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Wednesday.

“Ang trend not in favor pero di pa final (The trend is not in favor but this is not yet final),” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said at a virtual briefing.

“We are not yet ready to come up with a response [to the PNP] pero hindi pumpayag ang mga manggagawa, hindi pumapayag ang mga employer, hindi pumapayag ang NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority), of course ARTA (Anti-Red Tape Authority) is against it dahil it goes against the very essence of their work which is ease of doing business,” he said.

(Workers are not in favor, employers are not in favor, NEDA is also not in favor, and of course, ARTA is against it because it goes against the very essence of their work which is ease of doing business.)

In a letter to Bello dated March 10, 2021, PNP chief Police General Debold Sinas told the Labor chief that the PNP is hoping that the DOLE will support the National Police Clearance System (NPCS) “by making the NPC as one of your requirements in your various transactions.”

“In using the NPC, the DOLE will have much broader information as to the character on an individual because of its much larger scope, coverage and databases relied upon and at the same time will be able to further contribute to our endeavor of attaining a safer place for the Filipino people to love and do business,” the PNP letter further said

Labor groups and lawmakers have earlier expressed opposition in the proposal, saying that it is an added burden for workers.

Bello said that the DOLE is yet to send its final reply to Sinas, but said that “when we talk of this additional clearances, we have to look at the purpose of ARTA —ease in doing business with the government that’s what we are considering there.”… Read More

(InterAksyon PhilStar) Health Secretary Francisco Duque III viewed the alarming one million recorded cases in the country as a chance to reach a million recoveries.

Duque’s optimism was not welcomed by online users who perceived the million cases as a sign of government incompetence.

The country surpassed the one-millionth mark on Monday, April 26 after 8,929 new infections were recorded, which brought the total to 1,006,428.

As of April 27, the new tally is at 1,013,618 COVID-19 cases. Of these, 925,027 are recoveries; 71,675 are active cases and 16,916 are deaths.

Despite the staggering figures, in an interview with CNN Philippines on the same day, Duque said the public can look at it with a more “optimistic lens.”

“The one million cases can be viewed also from a different angle that this will sooner or later bring in a million recoveries. We need to look at it from a more optimistic lens of getting a high recovery rate of more than 90%,” Duque said.

Duque then admitted that there are lapses in the government’s pandemic response. However, he remained hopeful that the situation will improve.

“We need to focus as a nation how we can further improve our pandemic response, there are always ways to do things better. I’m not saying we are successful. There are opportunities which we grab each time to do things better,” the health secretary said.

“What’s important now is we continue to see that in the active cases of 74,000, 96% are mild or asymptomatic and severe to critical is at 1%,” he added… Read More

(Business World) THE COUNTRY’S largest labor union is pressing for the declaration of coronavirus as a compensable disease, citing the risk faced by workers amid the continued rise in cases.

In a statement Tuesday, the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said it sent a letter to the Employers Compensation Commission (ECC) stressing the importance of adding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to the list of 32 occupational and work-related compensable diseases.

“More than a year into the declaration of the national state of emergency amid the onslaught of COVID-19, thousands of ECC members in private and public sectors have succumbed to the fury of COVID-19 following their exposure to the virus at the workplace and while performing their work,” the group’s National Executive Vice President Gerard Seno said.

The letter was sent jointly with the Building and Woodworkers International.

ALU-TUCP said survivors of the virus have experienced added financial burden due to medical costs and loss of income.

WAGE SUBSIDY

Another labor group, meanwhile, called on the government to grant a P100 daily wage subsidy to workers in Metro Manila affected by the ongoing stricter quarantine rules.
In a statement in Filipino on Tuesday, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Secretary General Jerome Adonis said the value of wages has eroded due to the increasing prices of basic goods.

The National Capital Region last had a wage increase in 2018, the KMU noted. The current daily minimum wage is P537 for private sector workers.

Lawmakers belonging to the Makabayan bloc has filed House Bill 9262, which will provide an emergency daily wage subsidy of P100 to 23 million workers.

Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand R. Gaite said the current minimum wage rate is below its actual value, citing a study of IBON Foundation… Read More

(Business World) HAWAII-BASED Kalei Mau will not be in the national volleyball team tryouts in Subic this week.

The standout outside hitter made the announcement on social media on Tuesday, citing travel restrictions and safety risks as reasons, but made it known that she is still committed to playing for the Philippines when conditions permit to do so.

Ms. Mau, who is part of the F2 Logistics team set to see action in the now-pro Premier Volleyball League (PVL), was one of the 40 women players invited by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) for the national tryouts happening on Wednesday until Friday in a bubble in Subic.

Through the tryouts, the PNVF hopes to assemble formidable squads for the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam later this year.

Ms. Mau was seen as a strong candidate for one of the spots in the national team with her combination of power and height.

She last saw action for the Cargo Movers last year in the Philippine Superliga until the pandemic abruptly cut its season. Ms. Mau then went back to Hawaii.

For the time being, she said she will first play elsewhere overseas before flying to the Philippines to see action in the PVL for F2 Logistics.

“I want you to hear it from me first that I will be playing abroad for a 2.5 month season. I plan to return to PH after this quick stint to compete in the PVL with my team @F2CargoMovers,” Ms. Mau wrote on her Twitter post… Read More

(Business World) THE DEPARTMENT of Energy (DoE) said Tuesday that the government is considering greater involvement in generating power to build up reserves, and has its eye on plants that are in the process of being privatized.

“There is a question which I have been raising before. Should the government start being involved in generation for the reserve? Will the government build the plant, operate it as a reserve and privatize it as we go along?” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said during the Joint Congressional Energy Commission Hearing Tuesday. He added that the country “needed the capacity.”

He was telling Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy, that this was one of the policy proposals under consideration.

“There are power plants that are being privatized like Casecnan (hydroelectric power plant or HEPP) that are being privatized… Maybe what we should do is for the government to take over that one and… operate it as a reserve,” Mr. Cusi said.

In January, the state-led Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said it is working with the Asian Development Bank to study privatization options for Casecnan, in Nueva Ecija.

BusinessWorld asked PSALM to comment on the status of the privatization but had not replied at deadline time.

Mr. Cusi also underscored the country’s need for reliable power supply during the pandemic.

“We need to provide this electricity. We cannot have an intermittent supply — whether this is (for) the poor or the rich or for business. We need to have that, that’s why… I think that the government should go back to the generation so that we can have that continuity,” he said.

During the hearing, Mr. Gatchalian said the committee needs more information on the DoE’s plans in light of the apparent “divergence” from the intent of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA), which encouraged greater private participation in the industry… Read More