Gov’t urged to refocus on prepandemic economic targets

Economists from the academe and financial markets on Tuesday urged the government to set its sights back to pre-pandemic targets now that the economic effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) contagion have waned.

Roberto Galang, dean at the Ateneo de Manila’s (ADM) John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSM), said the government needs to “refocus efforts on fundamental problems that were glossed over by the pandemic.”

“The Philippines has fully recovered from the pandemic and has returned to a comfortable growth path,” he said in an interview.

Galang said high on the administration’s “to-do list” should be the rehabilitation of the country’s congested transport infrastructure.

“Manila airport (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) is suffering from intense congestion, which three years of limited travel has allowed us to forget,” he said.

More investments are needed in power plants and bulk water supply, which were also put in the backburner during the pandemic, he added.

Galang, a noted expert on agricultural logistics, also called for a revitalization of the agricultural sector, by stimulating more investments in better farming technology and building a more efficient system for moving produce from the farm to consumers.

“The country’s economic outlook for the rest of the year is pos-

On Senate Bill No. 2116 which seeks to amend Section 8 of Republic Act No. 10699 or the “National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act” expanding benefits for athletes with disabilities to make sports development more inclusive to all:

“Para athletes overcome tremendous challenges and display remarkable determination and skill to compete at the highest level of international sports competitions. However, their exceptional accomplishments often go unrecognized or are overshadowed. I have filed a bill to increase the incentives of medalists in international para competitions to be at par with other international competitions of the same caliber.”

I have written several features about coral reefs. In fact, one of them earned me a prize in the annual Science and Technology Journalism Awards in the late 1990s. Some of the articles I wrote were also cited in some technical papers.

The reason why I am writing this is because the international community is observing June as the National Oceans Month (although the Philippines also observes May as the Month of the Ocean).

To kick off the celebration, the world observed World Reef Awareness Day last June 1. It was a special occasion that brought together individuals, organizations, and communities around the world to raise awareness about the importance of preserving our precious coral reefs.

The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) posted some facts about coral reefs in its social media account.

“Coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth,” it said. “It only covers less than one percent of the world’s oceans, but staggeringly houses over a quarter of all identified marine species.”

The Philippines is located at

the center of the Coral Triangle, the global center of marine biodiversity. It is a coral-rich region that also encompasses the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Timor Liste, and Papua New Guinea.

The Philippines “is believed to have both the third largest reef area and the most diverse coral reefs in the world, containing nearly 1,800 species of reef fish,” the NMP said.

Coral reefs are the marine equivalent of rainforests and considered one of the planet’s essential life-support systems. They are constructed by millions of minute animals called coral polyps, each of which lives inside a protective limestone skeleton.

Our country is estimated to have about 27,000 square kilometers of coral reefs within a 15- to 30-meter depth. In 1991, about 70% of these reefs were considered to be in “poor or fair condition,” and only five percent were in “excellent condition.”

Today, the situation is getting worse. This is bad news, indeed. An estimated 10-15 percent of the fish we consumed come from coral reefs.

“Coral reef fish yields range from 20 to 25 metric tons per square kilometer per year for healthy reefs,” the late Dr. Angel C. Alcala told us during the Ninth International Coral Reef Symposium held in Bali, Indonesia.

If you don’t know it yet, there are three major types of coral reefs. These are the fringing type (those found in the edges of the island and which constitutes 30% of our coral reefs); the barrier type (best exemplified by the Dajanon Reef of Central Visayas); and the atoll (of which the Tubbataha and Cagayan Reefs in the Sulu Sea are ideal examples).

The Philippines is home to over 400 local species of corals, which is more than what is found in the famous Great Barrier Reef of Australia. No wonder, our country is right in the middle of the global center of marine biodiversity that is also denoted as the Amazon of the Seas.

Aside from being a habitat for various types and species of fish and other marine organisms, coral reefs also provide excellent protection against erosion since they grow across the seabed, help stabilize the ocean floor, and prevent large swathes of land from shifting.

“Like many wonders of the marine biosphere, coral reefs play an essential role in the ecosystem,” the NMP said. “While you may not have seen corals often, it impacts your life unimaginably.”

Unfortunately, most of our coral reefs are on the verge of extinction. The decline is thought to be due primarily to destructive human activities.

Destructive fishing methods –ranging from dynamite blasts to cyanide poisons – are destroying vast areas of reef.

Also contributing to the destruction of our coral reefs are sedimentation from erosion of soil from deforestation; the quarrying of coral reefs for construction purposes; pollution from industry, mining, and municipalities; and coastal population growth.

“The degradation of coral reef ecosystems in the Philippines and other places could have dire consequences,” says State of the Reefs distributed during the International Coral Reef Initiative that was held in Cairns, Australia which I also attended.

So, how can we save our coral reefs from completely vanishing in our waters? “The only way to save coral reefs from extinction and restore their productivity is to limit access to them,” suggests Dr. Edgardo D. Gomez, a world-renowned marine scientist who has published extensively on coral reef resource management and ecology. “This is no mean task, but it seems it is the only means we can save our coral reefs from disappearing in this part of the world.”

My friend, Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, a fishery expert, urges every Filipino to save the remaining coral reefs from total annihilation.

“We are the stewards of our nation’s resources; we should take care of our national heritage so that future generations can enjoy them,” says Dr. Guerrero. “Let’s do our best to save our coral reefs. Our children’s children will thank us for the effort.”

Again, here’s what the NMP said: “Protecting our coral reefs is every Filipino’s responsibility. It is our responsibility to make sure that this underwater ecosystem will survive for decades to come. Remember, when our reefs are not protected, communities will be affected and livelihoods will be lost. We must take the utmost care of our reefs for the future generations to reap the rewards of and enjoy!”

FAST BACKWARD

Freemasonry in Spain was known to flourish centuries after the Crusades. Its arrival in the islands dates only to the time when Spanish military officers and administrators started overseeing the affairs of the islands as a colony.

In Davao region, Masons practiced the craft privately, aware of the anti-Masonic posture of the Church. Although the clergy stood by the Catholic teachings, they did not confront di-rectly the supposed evils associated with the fraternity. Some church leaders did not even find conflict with the craft if conversions were not done in public. In fact, several soldiers as-signed as military-police commandants in the district were members of Masonic lodges in Spain.

Masonic doings in Mati started in 1892 or 1893, giving rise to a cluster of three Masons forming a bloc or triangulo known as Diwata Lodge No. 65, the oldest in Davao, with Pedro Serrano Laktaw as worshipful master. This makes Mati the seat of Freemasonry in the region.

This initiative finds support in a 1920 account citing the plan to expand Masonic activities throughout the islands but failed to generate public interest given the strong Church influ-ence. Of the total number of fraternities created until 1893, thirty-five were Masonic lodges, nine in Manila. In July of that year, the craft started accepting women as members of appendant bodies.

Missionary chronicles provide sketchy details of Masonry in the region. In a letter dated November 7, 1898, from Sigaboy, Fr. Manuel Rosello, S.J., invoking God’s blessing and guid-ance for the converts, sought protection for the priests to be freed “from the claws of the common enemy, Masonry, the filibustering, as well as the Yankee hordes,” referring to the American colonizers.

Fr. Rosello cited in his letter an incident when a gang of “robbers and revolutionaries… had wanted to imitate the Tagalogs [who revolted in Luzon] and destroyed the peace all over the district [Davao] but especially in Mati where the government office used to be,” adding that “in Mati everything became a race… trenches… barricades and panic, fears that the re-bels would appear from either side.” He was referring to the September 23, 1898, uprising in Baganga led by Don Prudencio Garcia, a Mason and a captain in the guardia civil. The dissent was an offshoot of the supposed corruption committed by the governor of Davao but not a rebellion against Spain. As extensions of the Spanish government, Col. Manuel Garcia y Neilla, then chief of the Mati police, and Don Ricardo Rodriguez, commandant of Mati, coordinated to arrest the in-fantryman but had to yield to the mediation of Fr. Mateo Gisbert, S.J., then parish priest of Baganga. As an aftermath, Garcia peacefully surrendered and allowed himself to be brought to Mati.

Despite the bad reviews the missionaries had about the Masonic activities in the Davao region, Don Prudencio’s rapport with the Church and colonial officials was a bright note in his link with the priests. In fact, while in Mati, upon learning that the Gonzales family of Su-rigao had rounded up the Jesuits after the Spanish forces were beaten in the mock Battle of Manila Bay, he dispatched a team of 25 men to Surigao to seize power on March 24, 1899, and free the missioners.

A month later, on April 23, the colonel ordered the arrest of Juan Gonzales and his two sons, Simon and Wenceslao, a Mason and Katipunan member. The Gonzaleses, while escorted to Baganga on a boat, were shot and killed at Kabawan, Cortes, Surigao del Norte. As the Philippine revolution spread to Visayas and Mindanao, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, him-self a Mason, installed Garcia as commander of the 3rd and 4th districts of Mindanao with the rank of brigadier general. To Gen. Aguinaldo’s dismay, he sided with the Americans os-tensibly to save lives.

In a letter dated January 17, 1895, to the Jesuit superior general in Rome, Fr. Juan Ricart, once assigned in Davao, reported that peace and order conditions in the countryside had worsened, blaming colonial officials for the spread of “subversive activities”

The Securities and Exchange Commission (commonly known as SEC) is the government agency in-charge with the registration and supervision of corporations and securities, as well as capital market institutions and participants in the Philippines.

To us, lesser mortals, SEC is totally a different world. It’s difficult to decipher this world unless you are involved in corporations and capital market institutions.

It so happened we know of someone who is connected with SEC. In fact, he is a SEC commissioner in the person of Atty. Kelvin Lester K. Lee.

His position may be intimidating but in person, if you meet him personally, he is kind and generous with his time. He is straightforward when he talks about his opinion; he always thinks first before opening his mouth.

Atty. Lee has a sense of humor, too, but oftentimes, he talks with sense. He looks straight at your eyes when he wants to emphasize something. He smiles if he thinks the situation is somewhat intense.

He was appointed as SEC Commissioner in 2019 by no less than then President Rodrigo R. Duterte. “I was honored that the president chose me for this position,” Atty. Lee said.

As Commissioner, he is given the task to supervise the markets and securities regulation department, the information and communications technology department, the PhiliFintech (Philippine financial technology) innovation office and the international affairs and protocol division. He is also in-charge of the capital markets, sustainable finance, Fintech and information technology, and international affairs.

Those herculean tasks could make someone to experience vertigo. But not to Atty. Lee. “It is perhaps the best job I have ever had,” he admitted. “I enjoy being able to make a positive change in the sector I am handling. I enjoy pushing innovations and encouraging improvements in the finan-