Category: Business Mirror

‘The world is full of ghosts, and some of them are still people.’­-Peter Straub, ‘The Throat’

AUGUST 13 to September 19 this year is known as the ghost month. It is the seventh month of the lunar year.

Chinese Taoist and Buddhist cultures view it as not a promising period because it is believed to be the time when the gates of the afterlife open for the spirits to roam the earth. There are superstitious traditions or practices observed in some countries. But some view it as a period of piety, charity, and gratitude rather than a time for fear.

Still, many believe it is not a good time to make life changing decisions, that it is inauspicious timing to make huge financial commitments such as starting new ventures, clinching of new contracts because the roaming spirits may bring bad luck.

Thus, many believe it is a matter of faith and folklore rather than a fact.

Yet at times, facts tend to lead one to consider what may be folklore. Allow me to cite a few updates.

According to a domestic bank’s recent blog, historically, August has been one of the worst performing months for the PCOMP (Philippines Stock Exchange PSE Index) with an average return of -2.48 percent with 20 out of 30 years (66 percent hit rate) being negative since 1992.

On Wall Street, August is the month associated with the worst performances for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and SandP 500 index, the blog reads.

At the start of the ghost month, an international publishing company reported that Europe’s fifth heat wave of the summer is set to peak on August 13, the latest in a string of extreme weather events that have strained health systems and energy networks across the region. A series of high-pressure heat domes has put the United Kingdom on track for its hottest ever summer.

On the same day, the Philippine peso closed weaker at P61.343 against the US dollar, slipping back over the threshold of P61.00. Analysts say it is due to regional profit taking, ongoing Middle East uncertainty, and macroeconomic pressures.

One may wonder if indeed during the ghost month, one should avoid making major life changes.

In fact, it is observed during the ghost month, investors rest and avoid trading, and hence, usually, at this time, markets are dull and are in a lull and that trading volumes are lower than in other periods.

But for those who do not believe or follow Chinese superstitions, life goes on because they look at market prices as driven by basic economic fundamentals, corporate earnings, and real world news, not folklore, not superstitions. Hence, look at what’s happening in Wall Street: on August 13, 2026, (again, the start of ghost month), the SandP 500 had in fact set a new record high of 7,798! So, is this the ghost month or not?

Wise investors see financial opportunity in a reduced market activity. There is window for long term investors to take advantage of the ‘dips’ and bargain hunting. As they say, ‘buy the dip, and sell the rip’ for later when the market becomes vibrant again.

So ghost month: ‘Careful, careful?’ Or ‘go, go, go?,’ for after all, while ‘the world is full of ghosts, some of them are still people,’ per American novelist Peter Straub.

Conchita L. Manabat is an incorporator and the president of the Development Center for Finance, an incorporator and Trustee of San Carlos School of Cebu Inc. and a Trustee of the Coalition of Services for the Elderly. Dr. Manabat is also an incorporator of and Lifetime Fellow at the Institute of Corporate Directors, a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Council of the International Federation for Ethics and Audit, and chair of the Advisory Council of the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes. The views and opinions she expressed herein are hers and do not necessarily represent the BusinessMirror.

Before refrigerators reached a small town, every household bought ice from Aling Ising.

The town gave her the only delivery route. In return, she had to serve every house, including the distant ones where the road was rough and the trip unprofitable. The arrangement made sense. Two competing ice carts would duplicate horses, helpers and storage while leaving the farthest households uncertain of service.

Each morning Aling Ising bought one hundred kilos from the ice plant. By evening, her ledger showed only ninety-four kilos delivered and paid for.

Four kilos had melted despite ordinary care. The sun was hot, the roads were long, and no cart could carry ice without some loss. Two more kilos had been chipped away, mismeasured or taken before reaching a paying household.

Those losses were not alike. One came from physics. The other from conduct.

But Aling Ising had paid for all one hundred kilos. She therefore spread the cost of the missing six among the households that did pay.

A family at the end of the route objected: why should we pay for ice we never received?

The mayor agreed. At the next town meeting, he announced that households would no longer be charged for missing ice.

The applause came before the arithmetic.

The ice plant still charged Aling Ising for one hundred kilos. The decree had removed six kilos from the household receipt, but not from anyone’s cost. Aling Ising could absorb the loss, raise the price of the 94 kilos delivered, reduce service to distant homes, spend less on insulated boxes, ask the town treasury for support – or become much better at preventing theft.

Each choice put the burden somewhere different and created a different incentive.

The missing ice did not vanish when it disappeared from the bill.

As the last installment showed, a cost can arise in one place and appear on the bill somewhere else. Distribution makes that easier to see.

The parable is the distribution system in miniature. The route is the franchise. The obligation to visit every household is the duty to serve. Melting is technical loss; chipping, mismeasurement and theft are non-technical loss. The customer is captive, the distributor has paid for the full hundred, and the law must decide where the missing six belong.

Of all the companies in the electricity chain, the consumer knows one best. The generator is anonymous. The grid operator is a rumor. The name on the bill-Meralco in the capital, a local utility or electric cooperative elsewhere-is the distributor. Because it collects the total, it also collects much of the blame.

Distribution utilities and electric cooperatives are monopoly networks. They maintain local wires, transformers, meters and substations. Duplicating those networks would be wasteful, so the state permits recovery of prudent costs and, where applicable, a regulated return. The bargain runs both ways: captive consumers pay regulated rates; utilities must deliver efficient service.

A monopoly does not risk losing customers to a cheaper network next door. Regulation has to manufacture that discipline. If every prudent-looking peso is simply added to rates, the utility has little reason to ask whether the same service could have been delivered for less.

Some system loss is unavoidable. Excessive loss is different. Electricity generated but not billed to the responsible user is ultimately paid for by someone else. The regulatory task is to distinguish unavoidable loss from preventable loss and place each where the incentive to reduce it is strongest.

The logic works both ways. If every missing kilowatt-hour can automatically be recovered, the incentive to invest in better meters, feeder upgrades, theft detection or maintenance weakens. But if no unavoidable loss can ever be recovered, a utility may spend more eliminating a loss than the electricity saved is worth.

Good regulation sits between those errors.

That is the purpose of performance-based regulation. Rate-setting should not simply ask what a utility spent. It should ask what efficient performance should cost. At each reset, targets should reflect reasonable benchmarks and comparable utilities, not merely improvement from the utility’s own past. Otherwise a poor baseline becomes a permanent excuse.

The issue is immediate. Meralco’s distribution charge, unchanged since 2022, is under reset now-an application to raise it from P1.35 to P2.34 per kilowatt-hour. Whatever the outcome, the right question is the same: not merely what was spent, but what efficient service should cost.

A rate case decides which costs belong to consumers, which risks belong to the utility, and how much inefficiency the public should finance. Those choices eventually become centavos on a bill.

System loss is only one way inefficiency can migrate onto somebody else’s bill. Cooperative debt provides another. The mechanism is different; the incidence problem is the same.

Electric cooperatives brought electricity to remote barangays, islands and mountain communities that private utilities had little commercial reason to serve. Geography and poverty can make their networks genuinely more expensive. But mission cannot become immunity.

Some cooperatives are distressed because the territory is difficult. Others because collection is weak, governance is poor or debts accumulate. When debt is forgiven without fixing the cause, the cost does not disappear.

It moves.

EPIRA itself condoned roughly P18 billion of cooperative rural-electrification debt, assumed by PSALM in 2002. Two decades later, the Department of Finance reported that two Mindanao cooperatives alone owed PSALM more than P16 billion in unpaid power bills, attributing the problem to ‘financial mismanagement and low collection efficiency.’

Now Congress is again being asked to forgive cooperative obligations. House Bill 7291 would condone accumulated interests, penalties and surcharges, including unpaid universal charges, while creating a P5-billion refinancing facility whose repayment may ultimately be recovered through regulator-approved charges.

The point is not that distressed cooperatives should never receive relief. It is simpler: a debt does not disappear because Congress forgives it.

If government does not fund the relief from the budget, somebody else pays.

The universal charge is collected from electricity consumers nationwide. So, a customer of a well-run utility can end up paying part of another institution’s failure through his own monthly bill.

That is one way somebody else’s inefficiency becomes your electricity price.

Debt relief may still be justified where distress is genuine. But without structural reform it weakens the discipline that debt is supposed to impose. Relief should therefore come with conditions that bite: fit-and-proper standards that can remove unfit managers, performance targets backed by disallowance, escrow arrangements that cannot casually be waived, and step-in rights government is actually willing to use.

This is not an argument for private utilities over cooperatives. A private utility can perform badly if regulation is weak. A cooperative can perform well under difficult conditions.

The test is simpler: which structure gives consumers reliable service at efficient cost? And the consumer should be asked to pay only for that.

What the consumer is often asked to pay for, however, includes something else entirely: other people’s subsidies.

Atty. Laurence R. Rogero is an infrastructure lawyer with three decades of experience in the Philippine and international power and water sectors. He held senior positions at Mirant Philippines and Manila Water and served as President and CEO of Metro Pacific Water. He has consulted for the ADB and the World Bank. He is Lead Independent Director of Vivant Corporation, which has interests in energy and water, and lectures at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he is pursuing postgraduate studies in economics. He graduated magna cum laude from the UP School of Economics, earned his law degree from UP, and obtained an LL.M. with Distinction from Georgetown University as a Fulbright Fellow. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of any organization with which he is affiliated.

THE value of approved construction projects in the Philippines jumped by more than a fifth in June, driven by a sharp increase in non-residential building activity, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Latest PSA data showed the value of construction based on approved building permits reached P74.34 billion during the month, 22 percent higher than the P60.94 billion recorded in June 2025.

Non-residential buildings accounted for the bulk of the construction value at P43.80 billion, or 58.9 percent of the total. This was 56.4 percent higher than the P28.01 billion worth of non-residential projects approved a year earlier.

Industrial buildings accounted for the largest share at P19.40 billion, or 44.3 percent of the non-residential total.

In contrast, the value of residential construction fell by 25.8 percent to P20.24 billion from P27.29 billion in June last year. Residential projects accounted for 27.2 percent of the total construction value.

Single houses comprised the largest portion of residential construction value at P13.04 billion, equivalent to 64.4 percent of the residential total.

The value of alterations and repairs to existing structures more than doubled to P8.82 billion, posting an annual increase of 111.7 percent. Additions also rose by 18.9 percent to P728.84 million.

Other constructions, which include demolition, street furniture, landscaping and signboards, declined by 12.8 percent to P750.43 million.

The higher value of approved projects came even as the number of constructions slipped by 0.3 percent to 17,081 from 17,126 a year earlier. The decline, however, was slower than the 6.5 percent contraction recorded in May.

Residential buildings continued to account for the majority of approved constructions at 11,392, or 66.7 percent of the total, despite declining by 2.1 percent year on year.

Of the residential projects approved during the month, 9,272 or 81.4 percent were single houses.

Meanwhile, the number of non-residential constructions increased by 4.6 percent to 3,352, accounting for 19.6 percent of the total. Commercial buildings comprised the majority of these projects at 2,243.

PSA said total approved floor area also declined by 11.1 percent to 4.21 million square meters from 4.74 million square meters a year earlier.

Non-residential floor area expanded by 11.2 percent to 2.52 million square meters, while residential floor area contracted by 32.2 percent to 1.64 million square meters.

The average construction cost consequently rose by 31.1 percent to P15,365.21 per square meter from P11,723.71 per square meter in June 2025.

The PSA noted that the average construction cost excludes alteration and repair activities, as well as certain non-residential projects without reported floor areas.

According to the agency, construction statistics derived from approved building permits provide an indication of the level of building activity nationwide, including the number, type, and value of projects approved each month.

Makati Medical Center (MakatiMed) is looking beyond the digitization of pathology slides as it seeks to establish itself as a national hub for digital pathology and help build the foundation for the next generation of artificial intelligence-assisted cancer diagnosis in the Philippines.

The hospital recently inaugurated the Aperio GT180 DX digital pathology scanner, an investment that its pathology leadership sees not simply as an upgrade in laboratory equipment but as part of a broader effort to expand collaboration, preserve diagnostic information digitally and eventually create a repository of data that can support research and the development of AI tools suited to Filipino patients.

‘This acquisition represents a profound leap forward in our institutional commitment to precision medicine,’ said Dr. Agripino ‘Beng’ Javier, director of Medical Services at MakatiMed.

Strengthen diagnostic capabilities

He said the technology is expected to enhance diagnostic precision, reduce technical rework and strengthen the hospital’s diagnostic capabilities.

But for Dr. Redante D. Mendoza, chairman of MakatiMed’s Department of Pathology and Laboratories, the significance of the new system extends well beyond its ability to scan a larger number of slides.

MakatiMed has a tradition of being among the first to adopt digital pathology technologies. Mendoza recalled that the hospital acquired an Aperio digital scanner in 2019, which he described as the first digital scanner in the Philippines. The new GT180 DX represents the next step in the hospital’s digital pathology journey.

Unlike its predecessor, which could handle one slide at a time, the new system can process up to 180 slides in one run, allowing MakatiMed to move toward a workload-integrated digital pathology system.

Yet Dr. Mendoza stressed that faster turnaround time is not the primary reason for the investment.

MakatiMed is already achieving a 96-percent compliance rate within its three-to-five-working-day pathology turnaround time, with many cases completed in two days. The greater value of digitalization, he said, lies in areas such as urgent specialist referrals, remote consultations, second opinions and long-term archiving.

Digital slides can be retrieved and shared in real time, allowing pathologists to consult specialists in other institutions or overseas without having to physically transport glass slides.

Preserve access to cases

The technology can also help preserve access to cases that might otherwise become difficult to retrieve as physical slides age, are damaged or become lost.

For Dr. Regina T. Edusma-Dy, medical oncologist at MakatiMed’s Cancer Institute, the potential impact is particularly significant for cancer patients, who often wait anxiously for pathology and biomarker results before treatment decisions can be made.

She said digital pathology can support multidisciplinary discussions involving complex and rare cases, including sarcoma and lymphoma, while enabling specialists who cannot be physically present to participate in consultations.

For patients in the provinces, the technology could also reduce the need to physically transport pathology slides or travel to another medical center simply to obtain a specialist opinion.

Building a national network

These capabilities form the basis of a larger ambition for MakatiMed.

Dr. Mendoza said the hospital intends to establish a Digital Pathology Academy where other institutions adopting digital pathology can train with MakatiMed’s team, not only in reading digital slides, but also in understanding the workflow involved in implementing the technology, including the challenges, mistakes and lessons learned along the way.

The longer-term vision is a digital pathology network that could connect hospitals across the country with specialists who can review difficult cases, whether elsewhere in the Philippines or overseas.

Such a network could help address one of the challenges facing pathology: access to highly specialized expertise.

Leica Biosystems Vice President and General Manager for Asia-Pacific Bob Blalock said the shortage of skilled pathologists, increasing cancer cases and the growing complexity of diagnosis are among the pressures facing pathology departments globally.

‘Digital pathology is the foundation, the essential first step,’ Blalock said, noting that computational pathology and AI can eventually build on that foundation to provide more consistent and precise insights to pathologists.

Benedict Poh, PI Solutions Architect for APAC at Leica Biosystems, similarly emphasized that digital pathology is not simply about scanning slides more quickly.

It enables remote case review, internal consultations, multidisciplinary team discussions, education and case sharing, allowing pathology information to become more readily accessible across locations.

The Aperio GT180 DX can scan a 15-by-15-millimeter area at 40x magnification in about 32 seconds, with a stated sustained throughput of up to 81 slides per hour. It can accommodate up to 180 slides and produces high-resolution whole-slide images.

Preparing for AI-with Filipino data

Perhaps the most consequential part of MakatiMed’s digital pathology strategy, however, lies not in what the technology can do today but in what it could enable in the future.

Dr. Mendoza said the digitalization of pathology slides will create the repository of virtual slides necessary for future AI-assisted image analysis, quantitative biomarker assessment and research.

But he cautioned against simply importing AI systems developed using data from other populations.

‘When we acquire AI-assisted pathology systems from overseas, we need to train them for Filipino cancers,’ Dr. Mendoza said, pointing to genetic variation among populations.

For him, the hospital must first build the digital data necessary to train and validate such systems before AI-assisted pathology can be responsibly integrated into clinical practice.

Dr. Mendoza said MakatiMed sees AI-assisted pathology becoming a possibility around 2027 or 2028, depending on the maturity of the technology, validation and available resources.

AI to support, not replace, pathologists

Importantly, he does not envision AI replacing pathologists.

‘AI will only be assistants to pathologists,’ he said, emphasizing that the technology should augment rather than replace professional expertise.

This approach also reflects the broader role MakatiMed sees for digital pathology-as an enabling technology rather than an end in itself.

Arnold C. Ocampo, MakatiMed chief financial officer and interim co-president and CEO, said the move from glass slides to digital platforms represents a shift toward more precise diagnostics, seamless collaboration and more responsive patient care.

But he emphasized that the true measure of the investment will not be the installation of the technology itself.

‘The true value of innovation is realized not when the technology is installed, but when it starts to produce meaningful results for the patients that we serve,’ Ocampo said.

For MakatiMed, those results could eventually extend beyond the patients who walk through its doors.

By creating a digital repository, developing local expertise, training other institutions and establishing pathways for remote collaboration, the hospital hopes to contribute to a broader digital pathology ecosystem in the country.

And as that database grows, it could provide something equally important for the future of cancer care: a body of Philippine pathology data that can help researchers and clinicians develop, train and validate AI tools with greater relevance to Filipino patients.

‘Being the first has its responsibilities,’ Dr. Mendoza said.

For MakatiMed, that responsibility now appears to extend from being an early adopter of digital pathology to helping bring the country’s pathology community-and eventually its AI capabilities-into the digital age.

THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released an additional P1.855 billion to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) to cover its Zero Balance Billing (ZBB) program, medical services and specialized treatments.

In a statement on Wednesday, the DBM said P1.04 billion of the additional funding will support a broad range of medical services at the state-run hospital.

PGH is a national university hospital operated by the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila and one of the country’s foremost referral centers.

About P800 million will also be allotted to finance the hospital’s ZBB program, a government policy that seeks to reduce or eliminate out-of-pocket hospital expenses for patients admitted to basic accommodation or a ward in facilities accredited by the Department of Health (DOH).

The remaining P15 million will likewise fund the treatment of patients with Dystonia-Parkinsonism, or Lubag Syndrome, including specialized treatment and related medical requirements.

‘This P1.855 billion is not simply additional funding on paper – it means more resources for treatment, less financial pressure on families, and continued support for patients who depend on PGH for critical and specialized care,’ Budget Secretary Kim Robert C. de Leon was quoted as saying.

The DBM noted that the release was made in accordance with budget execution rules and requirements to ensure that the additional funds are used for their intended purposes.

For 2027, budget allocation for UP System’s Health Services Program, which covers PGH’s operations, is proposed at P7.290 billion, almost 10 percent lower than this year’s P8.096 billion.

The consolidated health sector budget is proposed at P1.06 trillion for next year to improve access to hospitals, medicines, health facilities, financial assistance, and other essential health services, according to the DBM.

‘Our fiscal space may be limited, but when lives and essential health services are at stake, government must find the resources and make them count,’ de Leon said.

Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries Ltd. is exploring New Clark City in Tarlac as a potential site for an industrial park, bringing to the Philippines its experience in developing industrial estates across Asia.

The company recently visited New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac to assess the potential for its proposed investment, as it considers replicating its industrial park model in the Philippines.

Sembcorp’s industrial park business is particularly well established in Vietnam, where it developed the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) with local partner Becamex IDC Corp. The company also has industrial park operations in China and Indonesia.

As of May, the VSIP portfolio had reached 26 industrial parks covering more than 14,300 hectares, according to Sembcorp.

The proposed Philippine project would position the company within New Clark City, which forms part of the Luzon Economic Corridor connecting Subic, Clark, Manila and Batangas.

New Clark City is being developed as a site for manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure and other investments, with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) promoting the area to potential investors.

For Sembcorp, the Philippines could provide another market for its industrial park business as the country seeks to expand its manufacturing base and attract more investments into economic zones.

Sembcorp Industries is involved in energy and urban development, including industrial park development and utilities.

Its industrial parks typically combine manufacturing and commercial facilities with supporting infrastructure and utilities, allowing companies to establish operations within integrated industrial estates.

A project in the Philippines would also add to the country’s efforts to attract established industrial park developers as competition for manufacturing and supply-chain investments grows across Southeast Asia.

For now, Sembcorp has yet to announce a specific investment amount, development timetable or final site for the proposed Philippine industrial park.

FOREIGN holdings of Philippine government securities jumped in 2025, as investors were drawn to relatively higher yields and improving macroeconomic conditions.

Total foreign holdings rose by 32.13 percent to P600.03 billion by the end of 2025 from P454.12 billion in end-2024, according to data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

The share of foreign holders of government securities to total holdings also grew to 5 percent from 4.2 percent in 2024, a steady upward trend from 2.10 percent in 2023.

‘Philippine government bonds offered investors relatively high returns while maintaining investment-grade credit quality, making them an attractive destination amid improving global risk sentiment and renewed interest in emerging-market debt,’ said Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at Union Bank of the Philippines, to BusinessMirror.

Investors were attracted by higher yields, the possibility that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas would reduce interest rates, lower inflation and sustained confidence in the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals, Asuncion said.

Demand for short-term securities remained strong as this was further supported by uncertainties in the global market in the first half of the year and investors sought lower-risk instruments.

Aggregate trading volume of government securities also hit P12.7 trillion as of end-2025, an 80 percent increase from P7.052 trillion in the previous year, enhancing price discovery and liquidity.

‘BTr aims to steadily increase the share of foreign holders in government securities as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance foreign investor participation,’ the Treasury said.

Last year, the national government raised P191.965 billion through its issuance of global bonds. The Republic launched a landmark multicurrency deal including a $1.25-billion 10-year tranche, a $1-billion 25-year ESG tranche and its first-ever pound 1- billion sustainability-themed security in the Euro market.

About 68.42 percent of the government’s outstanding debt is sourced from the domestic market, while 31.6 percent has been sourced externally as of end-2025.

Majority of the government’s debt is in Philippines pesos (67.78 percent), followed by US dollars (25.81 percent), Euro (3.21 percent), Japanese Yen (2.99 percent), Chinese Yuan (0.05 percent) and other currencies (0.15 percent).

The weighted average interest rate for the entire foreign debt is 4.33 percent, while domestic debt is 5.73 percent as of end-2025, Treasury data showed.

The government follows the Medium-Term Debt Strategy (MTDS), which prioritizes domestic funding to mitigate foreign exchange risks while targeting concessional loans and US dollar-denominated debt. It also aims for a mix of at least 75 percent domestic and 25 percent external financing.

All MTDS risk indicators remain within targets, with the average time to maturity for the total debt portfolio at 7.41 years against the seven- to 10-year target as of end-2025.

Approximately 90.38 percent of the total debt is fixed-rate, while the average time to re-fixing of outstanding debt is 6.10 years due to limited issuance volume of tenors at the long end of the curve as of end-2025, Treasury data showed.

THE Philippines could regain economic growth momentum next year as the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom offers a new avenue for growth through investments in semiconductors, data centers and higher-value business services, HSBC said.

In a roundtable discussion with reporters on Tuesday, HSBC Chief Asia Economist Frederic Neumann said the country’s economic growth could rebound to 4.8 percent next year as external shocks fade, energy and food prices normalize and government spending recovers.

‘The structure of the Philippine economy remains actually quite healthy,’ Neumann said, pointing to the financial sector being in ‘good shape,’ a ‘robust’ balance of payments and manageable government debt.

HSBC sees roughly $50 billion of additional annual economic activity that businesses could potentially capture in the Philippine market, Neumann said in his presentation during HSBC’s flagship event on the same day.

Beyond cyclical economic recovery, Neumann said the global AI investment boom is an opportunity for the country to expand its role in regional supply chains.

With the Philippines already having a foothold on AI hardware supply chain, Neumann said its current presence in testing, assembly and packaging must ‘expand quite aggressively’ to claim a bigger share of the investment.

‘We already have kind of the beginning of that industry. We just need to build on that and grab some of the incremental investment. And that’s mostly a foreign direct investment story attracting this big investment,’ Neumann said.

Around $40 billion of AI-related goods are associated with the Philippines, although at a smaller scale compared to Singapore, Taiwan and Korea.

HSBC Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Uppal said the country’s semiconductor exports are currently worth around $20 billion, compared with roughly $100 billion for Malaysia.

‘The need of the hour is execution, not new ideas,’ Uppal said, stressing that the country needs more semiconductor manufacturing and supply chain investments.

Multinational companies are also continuing to establish global capability centers in the Philippines, increasingly focused on areas such as analytics, innovation and marketing, Uppal added.

Neumann said localized data centers would provide the digital infrastructure needed by business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and other businesses to use AI while maintaining low-latency access to computing and data.

‘We need localized data centers that help the BPO industry to remain competitive. And I think that you will see, in the next few years, a lot more data center investments in the Philippines,’ he added.

While there are energy shortages, water supply issues and land disputes, Neumann said this is not unique to the Philippines. ‘We have these problems everywhere…and there’s always a way to solve that.’

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some big data center investments coming through because the industry is also looking at the Philippines, looking at the BPOs, and knows that there will be future demand for data centers,’ Neumann said.

‘As these data centers get built, workers get hired, infrastructure needs to be developed. So that drives growth,’ he added.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) opened its doors to more than 15 families from Philcoa, Quezon City, a neighboring community of the Agency, who were forced to leave their homes and seek a safe place to stay amid the heavy rains and severe flooding the past few days.

DAR Administrative Service Director Mary Joyce S. Ricamora and agency personnel worked together to accommodate the affected families and provide them with a temporary evacuation area at the DAR gymnasium while floodwaters remained high.

DAR Secretary Conrado M. Estrella III, together with other DAR officials, personally checked on the families who sought temporary shelter at the DAR compound. The also provided food for the evacuees as they waited for conditions to improve and for it to become safe for them to return home.

The simple gesture reflected the spirit of bayanihan-opening one’s doors, looking after one another, and extending help to those in need, especially during difficult times.

‘We wanted to make sure that the families have food and a safe place to stay while they wait for floodwaters to subside. In times like this, we all need to help one another,’ Ricamora said.

The families sought shelter at the DAR compound amid intense rainfall that affected Metro Manila. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), citing data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), reported 201.7 millimeters of rain recorded in just five hours.

For DAR, the response was not only about providing a temporary place to stay. It was also about showing care for a neighboring community facing a difficult situation.

The initiative reflects the spirit of bayanihan that continues to guide DAR personnel-extending compassion beyond the agency’s mandate and being ready to lend a hand when communities need it most.

Government service is ultimately about people. And in times of crisis, sometimes service means opening the door, making room, and being there for those who need it, Estrella pointed out.

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is seeking to restore funding for its modernization program, critical to its anti-smuggling drive and sustaining its revenue collections, after more than 80 percent of its proposed budget was slashed.

On the sidelines of the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s briefing at the House of Representatives last Monday, Customs Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno told reporters that the BOC had requested a budget of over P28 billion for next year.

The proposal covers personnel services, maintenance and other operating expenses, capital outlays and the agency’s ‘modernization budget,’ Nepomuceno said.

However, the amount reflected in the proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) was only P5.902 billion, an 80-percent reduction in the BOC’s original proposal.

‘What was cut was the modernization component,’ Nepomuceno said, adding that the BOC will try to appeal as budget deliberations begin. ‘How can you modernize if you don’t have the necessary systems and equipment?’

Part of the BOC’s modernization plan is to acquire more scanning machines and radiation detection equipment to strengthen controls at the country’s ports, Nepomuceno said.

An additional 124 scanning machines are needed to fully address gaps in the agency’s border control capabilities, Nepomuceno said. ‘There are issues that we cannot detect radioactive materials. To do that, we need equipment,’ he added.

Aside from scanners, the Customs chief said sea vessels and other fleet assets are also needed to enable the BOC to prevent high-seas smuggling of cigarettes, fuel and drugs.

While the agency is in partnership with the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Police – Maritime Command in securing national borders, they have their own mandates and priorities, Nepomuceno noted.

The BOC is eyeing public-private partnerships (PPP) as an alternative way to finance some of its modernization projects. However, he noted that it could be difficult as importers would have to be charged for certain customs services, such as the selectivity system.

Nepomuceno said better equipment and enforcement capabilities would directly strengthen the BOC’s anti-smuggling efforts and indirectly help increase revenue collections.

‘[The modernization program] will sustain the momentum of collecting well and collecting based on forecast or projections,’ he added.

This year, the BOC is expected to hit its P1.011 trillion revenue target, which was increased from the earlier goal of P1.003 trillion.

As of end-July, the BOC has collected P587.711 billion, or 58.13 percent of the full-year target.

The BOC is projected to collect P1.074 trillion in 2027 and P1.134 trillion in 2028, based on state budget documents.