BusinessMirror April 29, 2016

“IF you collude in business, or if you collude in the stock market, they put you in jail. But in politics, because it’s a rigged system, because it’s a corrupt enterprise, in politics you’re allowed to collude.”—Donald Trump, after Ted Cruz and John Kasich (in photo) agreed to coordinate primary strategies in three of the 15 remaining primary states.

MEDIA PARTNER OF THE YEAR

“[THE cell-phone destruction raised the stakes] from air in a football to compromising the integrity of a proceeding that the commissioner had convened.”—Barrington D. Parker, judge for the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, after the court overturned a lower judge and sided with the National Football League, restoring a four-game “Deflategate” suspension against New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (in photo), who destroyed a phone that contained thousands of messages the day before he was to meet with league investigators.

“THE resolution is nothing to celebrate because a 12-year-old child needlessly lost his life.”—Subodh Chandra, attorney for the family of Tamir Rice, who received a $6-million wrongful death settlement from the city of Cleveland, alleging police acted recklessly when they confronted the boy who was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center on November 22, 2014. AP

BusinessMirror

UNITED NATIONS

2015 ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA AWARD LEADERSHIP AWARD 2008

A broader look at today’s business

www.businessmirror.com.ph

n

Friday, April 29, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 202

ICCCABCOM SAYS SHIFTING TO STANDARDGAUGE TRACKS NOT NECESSARY

DOTC-proposed ₧100-B hike in NSRP cost nixed

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B C O

@caiordinario

HE Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has proposed to increase the cost of the North-South Railway Project (NSRP) by nearly P100 billion to change the design of the rail tracks.

INSIDE

2016 ISUZU TRUCK FEST: WHEN BIG BOYS ROAR

MOTORING

₧170.69B

The cost of the NorthSouth Railway Project

However, the interagency Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-Cabcom) has rejected it, saying the change in track design S “DOTC,” A

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HONDA HR-V ALSO MEANS HIGH RESALE VALUE

P.  |     | 7 DAYS A WEEK

Caesar or nothing Teddy Locsin Jr.

FREE FIRE

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OW bad is the peace and order problem? It is bad; worse than bad, it is anarchy.

In Silang, Cavite, the police are protecting the killers of an American retiree, killed by Caviteños who broke into the house of an American, roughed up his wife, stole everything that wasn’t screwed to the floor and, for good measure, shot his guest, an old American retired person from the US military.

On any street in Manila, you will be accosted by men with knives and robbed of everything on your person.

Waitresses at a coffee house were amazed I had the courage to use a cell phone. They no longer carry theirs.

In every nook and cranny in the country, young people will beg and borrow, steal and kill for a fix.

Walk on the corner of Ayala Avenue and Herrera, and you will feel crunchiness under your shoes: thin plastic straws for shabu.

Overseas Filipino workers complain that sending money back home is no longer for tuition, but to pay for their children’s habit.

Retired cops playing jai alai at Casino Español say that new recruits no sooner don their uniforms than deal drugs.

And, as you know, the British “weaponized” Indian opium to create and to hold, until death did them part from the habit, tens of millions of Chinese that they had systematically addicted to opium. And any attempt by the Chinese government to stop the trade was punished by naval bombardment from British gunships.

C  A

PHLEFTA FTA TO SPUR EXPORTS, INVESTMENTS MOTORING

E2 FILIPINOS, hoping for an end to their daily commuting woes, would have to suffer even more, as the Department of Transportation and Communications plans to increase the cost of the proposed North-South Railway Project by nearly P100 billion. ED DAVAD

RAFA’S SECOND CHANCE C1

RAFA’S SECOND CHANCE B T A

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The Associated Press

ADRID—Rafael Nadal is getting a second chance to be Spain’s Olympic flag-bearer.

Four years ago, Nadal was selected to carry the Spanish flag at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, but had to pull out of the Games with an injury. The honor went to National Basketball Association (NBA) star Pau Gasol, instead.

On Wednesday Nadal was unanimously chosen as Spain’s flag-bearer for the Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The announcement was made at an event in Madrid, marking the 100-day countdown to the August 5 opening ceremony at Rio’s Maracana Stadium.

Nadal posted a video on his official Twitter account, thanking the Spanish Olympic Committee.

“This is a great honor,” said Nadal, winner of 14 Grand Slam titles. “I’m very excited. I hope the Games will be great, and that the entire Spanish team can do well.”

Nadal won the singles gold medal in 2008 at the Beijing Games, and also played in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

“Spanish sport was in debt to Nadal,” Spanish Olympic Committee President Alejandro Blanco said. “He gave us a lot more than results.”

Nadal will lead a Spanish delegation of about 300 athletes in Rio. The tennis player has been a longtime enthusiast of the Olympics and stayed with the other athletes in the Olympic Village at previous Games.

“Without a doubt, Nadal represents a great athlete,” Spanish national team soccer coach Vicente del Bosque said.

The announcement came as Nadal defends himself against unproven doping allegations. This week he filed a lawsuit against a former French minister who accused him of doping and asked the International Tennis Federation to reveal all of his drug-test results to show that he is clean.

Blanco said recently that Nadal deserved to be the flag-bearer in Rio, in part, because of what he had to go through following the doping allegations made against him in France.

Roselyne Bachelot, former minister for health and sport, said on French television that Nadal’s sevenmonth injury hiatus in 2012 was “probably due to a

C

OLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado—Olympic athletes from the United States will look ready to sail back home when they attend the closing ceremony at this year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The US Olympic Committee (USOC) debuted the parade uniforms made by Polo Ralph Lauren during NBC’s Today show on Wednesday. American athletes in the Olympics and Paralympics will wear red, white and blue button-down shirts worn over a striped T-shirt, white chino shorts and boat shoes.

And don’t forget the red, white and blue striped belt that completes the nautical-themed look described as “crisp, sporty and classic” in a USOC news release.

Also on Wednesday South Korea’s Olympic committee announced Zika-proof long-sleeved shirts and pants to help protect athletes from

BusinessMirror

B L S. M

RAFAEL NADAL will be Spain’s flag-bearer at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. AP

positive doping test.”

Her remarks outraged Spaniards and prompted Nadal to take legal action to defend his “image as an athlete,” and to keep “any public figure from making insulting or false allegations against an athlete without any evidence or foundation.”

Nadal also wrote a letter to International Tennis Federation President David Haggerty, asking for all of his drugtest results and blood-profile records to be made public. The former No. 1 also encouraged the federation to “start filing lawsuits” if there are wrongful accusations made against players.

Nadal struggled on the court last season and won only three tournaments, but got off to a much better start in 2016, winning the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open. He will play at the Madrid Masters next week.

Nadal last won a Grand Slam in 2014 at the French Open.

NAUTICAL LOOK FOR U.S. OLYMPIANS IN this image released by NBC, US Olympic athletes (from left) Ryan Lochte, Haley Anderson and Jordan Burroughs model Polo Ralph Lauren closing ceremony uniforms on the Today show. (Right) Models present the South Korean Olympic team uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. AP

Sports

| FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

NADAL TO BE SPAIN’S FLAG-BEARER AT RIO GAMES

Aquino admin to exit with an ‘F’ grade for mishandling of MRT 3

the mosquito-borne virus. The USOC doesn’t seem quite so worried with the shorts-androlled-up-sleeves look.

Four years ago, the USOC and Ralph Lauren heard criticism from members of Congress when it was revealed Team USA apparel, such as berets, blazers and pants, were made in China, instead of in the US for the London Games.

The company said apparel for US Olympic athletes would be made in America for the 2014 Sochi Games. Apparel for the opening and closing ceremonies at the Rio Games will also be made in the US Swimmers Ryan Lochte and Haley Anderson, and wrestler Jordan Burroughs modeled the men’s and women’s uniforms for Wednesday’s reveal. AP

Former refugee wants to earn medal as Belgian

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The Associated Press

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RUSSELS—For a refugee, competing in the Olympics is an improbable dream. Now, former Iranian taekwondo fighter Raheleh Asemani seeks to go one better—earn a medal for her newly adopted nation, Belgium.

Asemani, who was among the candidates being considered by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for a team of refugee athletes to compete in Rio de Janeiro, gained Belgian citizenship on April 13.

For her to switch from possibly representing the refugees to competing for Belgium, she needs the IOC’s blessing and IOC President Thomas Bach said in an interview with the Le Soir paper published on Wednesday that she, indeed, would get such approval.

Asemani left Iran more than three years ago and came to Belgium, where, under difficult conditions and with financial help from local federations, she was able to compete.

“It was a tough time. I could not use my nationality during [Olympic] qualifying,” Asemani told The Associated Press.

She was able to qualify only with a refugee exemption by competing under the World Taekwondo Federation flag. Now the time has come to show her gratitude for her new homeland.

“I have everything from Belgium,’” she said. “I trained really hard in Belgium.

Everything was all right for me in Belgium. So what can be more beautiful than to have a country at the Olympic Games? For the overwhelming majority of competitors, nationhood is a given. But for refugees, lack of it can mean an early end to an international career.”

Asemani stood out in Iran’s maledominated society by winning a silver medal at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. Two years later, after missing out on the London Olympics, her career seemed to be on the wane at 23.

When she visited an aunt in Belgium soon after, though, she picked up training again, and may have fallen further out of grace with Iranian authorities when she fought an Israeli as part of a Belgian squad.

Asemani was reluctant to discuss the politics surrounding her asylum status before she gained Belgian citizenship. But without a nation, she could not compete in major qualifying events, and her Olympic hopes were all but buried.

“Mentally, it broke me down,” she said. “But my papa kept saying, ‘You will go to qualifying, I am sure about it.’”

Then, last year, the IOC took up the cause of refugee athletes. Asemani was one of 43 athletes singled out for consideration for the team, which is expected to have between five and 10 members and will be announced by the IOC in early June.

“It was important, first and foremost, to get to the Games. Now, it is better for me to be in the Belgian team, because I am Belgian now,” she said in more than passable Dutch she has learned since moving.

“Now Belgium feels like my country,” she said.

“What can be more beautiful for me? I can do something for my country.”

SPORTS

C1

@lorenzmarasigan

RESIDENTIAL aspirants may differ in their platforms, but they all agree on one thing: The key to solving Metro Manila’s vehicular-traffic problem is to build and improve mass-transit systems, such as railway facilities.

One towering problem along Edsa, however, is an almost obsolete train system— the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3).

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 46.7870

Commuters, on a daily basis, have to brave long queues, the sweltering heat inside jampacked train cars and numerous delays.

Just this month, passengers were forced to walk on the tracks of the railway line due to a breakdown. This scenario is almost not unusual, and commuters have no choice but to take other modes of transportation along the heavily congested main road.

The government is doing what it deems C  A

I would rate the current government in managing the system with an F, or failed.”

—S

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B C N. P

@c_pillas29

$300M

HE Philippines and the European Free Trade Area (Efta) bloc signed the first bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) under The value of Philippine goods the Aquino administra- exported to Efta countries tion in Bern, Switzerland, on Thursday.

Trade Undersecretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy Ceferino S. Rodolfo Jr. said Trade Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. signed the pact on behalf of the Philippine government. The Efta bloc is composed of the four wealthy nations of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The FTA is expected to give Philippine exporters the assurance that many of the products they will export to Efta countries will always enjoy preferential tariff rates.

In a hearing on the Philippines-Efta FTA last year, Tariff Commission Chairman Edgardo B. Abon said most of the Philippine exports shipped to the four-nation Efta bloc are subject to zero tariff.

“The significance of the FTA is that we’re binding them at that level. If we are allowed to enjoy zero tariff and they S “PHL-E,” A

n JAPAN 0.4198 n UK 68.0657 n HK 6.0329 n CHINA 7.2036 n SINGAPORE 34.6930 n AUSTRALIA 35.4786 n EU 52.9816 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.4799

Source: BSP (28 April 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, April 29, 2016

Aquino admin to exit with an ‘F’ grade for mishandling of MRT 3 C  A

best to solve these problems. It has prepared a multiyear program to rehabilitate, overhaul and augment the capacity of the 16-year-old train system.

But with two months before the change in administration, several stakeholders now believe that the passing of the brunt of fixing the dilapidated train line will be inevitable.

“The current administration cannot solve the problems with only two months left.

These problems will be passed on to the next government,” Rene S. Santiago, a train expert, told the BusinessMirror via phone.

Robert John L. Sobrepeña, who chairs MRT Holdings Inc., said issues with rails, train cars and the signaling system should be addressed in haste, as these pose danger to commuters if not improved.

“I would rate the current administration in managing the system with an ‘F’, or failed, based on the usual rating of fail, poor, pass, good and very good,” he told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview.

He based this rating on several points.

“I rated them F for not honoring our agreement, for awarding the maintenance to unqualified providers, for awarding the train procurement to a neophyte manufacturer, for bringing the train prototype to the country not assembled and tested, and for not holding the manufacturer to the test,” Sobrepeña said.

The executive was referring to the government’s awarding of the maintenance contract for the train line to several Filipino-run companies, such as APT Global and PH Trams, as well as the Busan Transportation Corp.-led consortium.

He was also pertaining to the awarding of the contract to supply 48 new light-rail vehicles to first-time train manufacturer Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. of China.

The Chinese company has just delivered the sixth of the 48 new trains that the Department of Transportation and Communications ordered in 2013.

No test has been done for the train cars, even as the manufacturer was required to run the trains for 5,000 kilometers before being delivered.

Right now, the train line is operating

with half of its capacity despite the influx of passengers, leading to long queues and rides like packed sardines. This is also partly due to the fact that the maintenance of the line, according to experts, has been poor since Sumitomo Corp. was replaced in 2012. So what needs to be done, Sobrepeña said, is a total makeover.

“First, we need to repair the entire system then repair the trains, because right now we are only operating with half of the train sets available,” he said.

Train cars are being cannibalized, so to speak, due to the lack of available parts.

“We should overhaul the trains and put them back to good use. After that we need to upgrade and add more trains,” Sobrepeña said. The train executive has reservations with the new trains, but noted that he is open to using the trains if they will pass their own standards.

Santiago said this capacity-augmentation program is just a publicity stunt on the part of the government.

“They are just publicizing that they are doing something, but in reality it won’t have any effect on the shorter term,” he said. “The contract is there, but I doubt that the trains will run soon.”

Santiago added: “There are a lot to prioritize and the next administration has a lot to do.”

Badly needed

FOREIGN groups are one in their call for the next government to give priority to infrastructure development, and one of the crucial facilities that the 2016 administration should focus on is the repair of the MRT. “Mass transportation is badly needed and the MRT issue has been there for years without solution. It is amazing that the badly treated tax-paying train riders have not rebelled, yet,” European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines External Vice President Henry J. Schumacher said in a mobile-phone reply. “The next administration is going to inherit quite a number of pressing issues.”

American Chamber of Commerce Senior Advisor John D. Forbes noted his personal experience with railway systems in neigh-

boring Asian countries.

“I have ridden on light-rail trains in most Asian capital cities. Many experts would rate the Edsa MRT at the bottom.

Better advance planning, maintenance and modernization can make it a better experience for the public,” he said. Their employees, they noted, have a hard time commuting via the train system. This could have a negative effect on efficiency and productivity.

“Employers, especially in the fastgrowing business-processing management sector, need the mobility of their employees,” Schumacher said.

Forbes called on top government officials to regularly ride the train system every day to realize how pressing the need is. “The top transport officials should be required to ride these trains every day with a group of media to inform the riding public of ongoing improvements,” he said.

‘Let us back in’

SINCE it is going to inherit the problems of the MRT, the owner of the rail system has proposed that the next administration be more open to dialog and suggestions.

“First, the next administration should deal with the owner who built the infrastructure and work out a solution with us,” Sobrepeña said. “They have to let us get back into the system to analyze everything that went wrong.”

Currently, the private company has no say as to how to improve the day-to-day operations of the MRT, which is being managed by the government under a 25year build-lease-transfer agreement.

“They also have to follow the agreement, which states that upgrades and repairs should be done by the owners,” Sobrepeña added.

Along with foreign firms Sumitomo Corp. of Japan and Globalvia Infrastructuras of Spain, Metro Global Holdings Inc., which is led by Sobrepeña, is proposing to “fix” the ailing system through a $150-million investment that involves the procurement of a total of 96 new train cars, and the rehabilitation of the existing 73 coaches, increasing its capacity by fourfold to 1.2 million daily passengers.

Under the proposal, a single point of responsibility will be implemented: meaning the rehabilitation and the maintenance of the line will be handled by a single company.

There are two other proposals pending before the transportation department— one from Metro Pacific Investments Corp., and another from German firms Schunk Bahn-und Industrietechnik GmbH and HEAG Mobilo GmbH. Under its proposal, Metro Pacific will shoulder the upgrade costs of the train system and release the government from the bondage of paying billions of pesos in equity rental payments.

The group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, which earlier entered into a partnership agreement with the corporate owner of the MRT, intends to spend $524 million to overhaul the line.

The venture would effectively expand the capacity of the railway system by adding more coaches to each train, allowing it to carry more cars at faster intervals. The multimillion-dollar expansion plan would double the capacity of the line to 700,000 passengers a day from the current 350,000 passengers daily.

It was submitted in 2011, but the transportation agency’s chief back then rejected the proposal. The group revived its proposal before Congress in 2014.

On the other hand, Schunk is seeking to place whole train system under a massive transformation program to augment its capacity and provide a safe and comfortable travel to commuters from the northern and southern corridors of Metro Manila.

The P4.64-billion proposal, submitted in February last year with Filipino partner Comm Builders and Technology Phils. Corp., calls for the complete overhaul of the 73 lightrail vehicles of the MRT, the replacement of the rails, the upgrading of the line’s ancillary system, the upgrade of the track circuit and signaling systems, the modernization of the conveyance system, and a three-year maintenance contract.

Under the amended build-operatetransfer law, the government has to inform the proponent whether it accepts or rejects an unsolicited proposal within 120 days.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

DOTC. . .

C  A

to standard gauge from narrow gauge is “not necessary.”

A member of the ICC-Cabcom told the BusinessMirror that, while the shift to standard gauge tracks will be “imminent” in the next decade, it will be expensive at this time.

The P170.69-billion NSRP approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board in February 2015 proposed the use of narrow gauge rail tracks.

Following the Neda Board approval, the government purchased materials such as slippers and even refurbished narrow gauge trains donated to the Philippines.

The ICC-Cabcom said shifting to standard gauge tracks at this time will only be “a waste of time and government resources.”

Documents obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that the DOTC proposed to increase the cost of the NSRP by P96.802 billion to P267.501 billion.

Aside from changing the rail-track design, the DOTC said the additional amount will also be used for increasing the required right-of-way from 15 meters to 30 meters and resettlement.

Under the NSRP approved by the Neda Board last year, a total of 38,468 households will be affected by the long-haul stretch of the project. The revised proposal of the DOTC will increase the number of affected households to 100,000.

T he l a rgest nu mber of hou se hold s affected at 65,585 is found along the ManilaLegazpi alignment.

The housing costs per affected family will also go up to P480,000, based on post-Supertyphoon Yolanda estimates of the National Housing Authority (NHA), from only P290,000 in the original proposal.

The DOTC also wanted to “unbundle” the NSRP South Line into two separate railways— the commuter line and the south line for longhaul travel. Both will be packaged as publicprivate partnership (PPP) projects.

The commuter line will be 73 kilometers long and will run from Tutuban, Manila, to Los Baños, Laguna.

Meanwhile, the south line of the NSRP will be 415-km long and will also begin in Tutuban, Manila, but will stretch all the way to Legazpi, Albay.

The BusinessMirror earlier reported that infrastructure spending under the proposed Three-year Rolling Infrastructure Plan (Trip) could reach as much as P1.07 trillion by 2019.

The details of the Trip were recently discussed and recommended for approval by the inter-agency Infrastructure Committee Technical Board.

PHL-Efta. . .

C  A

committed that in the FTA, this cannot be changed anymore, regardless of industrial or national policies,” Abon said. The Department of Trade and Industry said the Philippine farm sector is expected to benefit from the trade pact.

“Efta countries are willing to eliminate all duties on their industrial products and they are willing to cut tariffs at a level that is lower than what they have given to their other trade partners,” Rodolfo said in an earlier interview.

The FTA is also seen to spur investments in the services sector and nonservices sector.

Among the products that are in-demand in Efta countries include electronic integrated circuits, frozen fish fillet, artificial teeth and preserved pineapples.

Crude palm oil and motorcycles are potential Philippine exports to the Efta bloc.

The Efta bloc’s top exports to the Philippines are aeroplane and helicopter parts, wrist-watches, antiHIV medicine and medicaments.

Philippine imports from Efta countries in 2013 reached $400 million, while exports amounted to $300 million. These figures accounted for less than 1 percent of Philippine import payments and export revenues for 2013.

The FTA with Efta is the second bilateral free-trade pact forged by the Philippines in 10 years. The Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement was signed in September 2006 and came into force in 2008.

The Philippines-Efta FTA will have to be ratified by the Senate.

Rodolfo said the Senate could approve the pact in a year or two.

BMReports BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Friday, April 29, 2016 A3

Amid Aquino’s active campaign for Roxas, troops find it hard to follow ‘apolitical’ line

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B R A

@reneacostaBM

N Friday last week Lt. Gen. Glorioso Miranda assumed his post as Acting Armed Forces chief of staff, replacing a fellow Army senior officer and classmate from the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1983, Gen. Hernando Iriberri, who retired from the service.

Miranda’s vow and even his first order, issued in the presence of President Aquino, who presided over the change-of-command ceremony, was for the military to be apolitical in the forthcoming presidential elections, other than securing the peaceful and orderly conduct of the polls.

“The AFP [Armed Forces of the Philipines] is committed to achieving an orderly and peaceful conduct of this coming election. As often said, the AFP will remain apolitical, and will stretch its means to contribute to that end,” the chief of staff said.

“As I have emphasized earlier, let us secure the conditions that would lead to the conduct of free, orderly, peaceful and credible 2016 national and local elections,” he

added toward the middle of his assumption speech.

Behind Miranda was the seated Mr. Aquino, also the commander in chief of the AFP, who took his time off from partisan political activities, where he had been endorsing—and actively campaigning—for administration presidential candidate Manuel A. Roxas II, whose past sorties in key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao were even graced by Mr. Aquino.

With the President engagement in political activities by campaigning for Roxas, the question on whether the military, and even the Philippine National Police, can really remain apolitical follows. Will the soldiers follow or would they choose to defy their commander in chief?

Some soldiers said it is just but “normal” for Mr. Aquino to endorse his chosen one, just as what other presidents before him had done, but he should also remember that every time he joins his preferred candidate, and raise his anointed one’s hands during campaign sorties, the whole Armed Forces was also behind him.

“Every time the President appears in political rallies, he is not only there endorsing a candidate as a voter, but his positions as a president and our commander in chief also go with him,” one junior officer remarked.

This is not different from the other engagements and events that Mr. Aquino attends or regularly presides: He is there as the country’s highest official or the president.

The junior officer explained that in the case of Roxas, he was not only the candidate of their commander in chief but even his party mate and close friend.

“Our Commander in Chief could not strip his title that he is our chief, our superior that we should follow every time he appears in Roxas’s political rallies,” he said.

The officer observed that President Aquino’s actuations make it hard for them to reconcile with the standing orders of the military leadership, of which he is the head, that

Our Commander in Chief could not strip his title that he is our chief, our superior that we should follow every time he appears in Roxas’s political rallies.”—J   the troops should remain apolitical, an ageless mantra that was repeated

by Miranda upon his assumption.

Over at Camp Crame, three senior police commanders are already being investigated for acts allegedly suggesting they were supporting or favoring Mr. Aquino’s chosen one.

While former Presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Fidel V. Ramos also endorsed their favored bets during their time, none of them campaigned as hard as Mr. Aquino for his candidate, as shown by his speeches and his attendance during Liberal Party rallies.

The military is still recovering from a sullied image due to the involvement of some of its senior commanders in partisan politics during the past elections, and under its present commander in chief, this image may remain yet, if not worsen, amid reports that the Aquino administration is “hell bent” on swaying the Armed Forces for Roxas.

The report said part of the scheme was the installation of Miranda as top military chief, who, until Thursday, was prodding soldiers in Eastern Mindanao to remain nonpartisan. But the question remains: For whom?

“He reminded troops to ensure the AFP remains nonpartisan and of their obligation to vote and act accordingly as a deputized agency of the Commission on Elections,” military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said on Miranda’s order to the soldiers during his visit to the Eastern Mindanao Command.

Before he was designated as acting chief of staff, Miranda was elevated to the post of vice chief of staff, swapping his position as commander of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command with Lt. Gen. Romeo Tanalgo.

Though it was a demotion in position for Tanalgo, who was the No. 2 man of the military at that time, he was forced to accept it, since it

was a direct order signed by Mr. Aquino himself.

Tanalgo was a Marine officer, and another presidential candidate, Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, is a Marine reservist with the rank of colonel.

Miranda was reportedly elevated to the No. 2 post, so that he could be appointed as the acting chief of staff once Iriberri retires, and this happened on Friday.Miranda, however, is sticking to his line of apolitical doctrine, well, at least in his pronouncements.

“Let us be guided by the Letter of Instruction 01-2016 and Joint Letter Directive 01-2016, embodying the operational guidelines and tasks we need to undertake toward such end in the democratic interest of our people,” he said. Another development was the “coincidental” presence of Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao, the military’s inspector general, in the building where the three police generals supposedly met with a key Roxas campaign official.

And later this week, an alleged effort by some military commanders to influence the election in favor of their commander in chief’s presidential candidate in Sulu cropped up after Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado relinquished his command in exasperation over the alleged meddling of higher ups in his turf.

A CALL TO REASON FOR THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS Anyone publicly displaying his contempt of law and his despotic tendencies, just like Rodrigo Duterte, is not the man to be made president of the Philippines.

It is still two weeks before the elections and his supporters are already threatening to mount a people power revolt should he lose in the elections.

In the heat of the election race, this and his previous acts that show his perverted character sends chills enough to wake people up from stupor.

He encourages vigilantism and extrajudicial killings as a solution to the worsening state of crimes in the country.

In his speech before the NPA last April 25, 2016 in the enemy's territory over the sham release of 5 policemen allegedly kidnapped, he assured the NPA that they will be free as he would immediately change the constitution which he said is not effective, and if congress will not agree, he will lead a revolution against the government.

We understand our people’s frustration over the government’s ineptness in dealing with drugs, corruption and other crimes, but the cure that he is seeking is far worse than the disease itself.

It’s time to lift the veil that surrounds Duterte. He is a serious threat to our democracy.

His warning of a “bloody” presidency and promise to snuff out the lives of 10,000 criminals and throw their dead bodies in the sea to fatten to the fishes reminds one of ruthless dictators in history like Idi Amin of Uganda or North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Un. Yet, this authoritarian is expressly disallowed by Singapore to drag the name of their revered Lee Kuan Yu in his propaganda.

He threatened to ban labor unions and kill labor leaders if they do not toe the line of his administration. He also will not hesitate to abolish Congress if it poses an obstacle to his efforts to “reform” the country. He is out to make a sham of the democracy we hold dear.

Duterte went for a dialogue with the Makati Business Club Wednesday and among the many atrocious statements he made are : 1) On giving pardon to the military and police who may be charged: “President can grant pardon to anyone with the concurrence of Congress. I don’t mind giving 1,000 pardons a day.”(@ABSCBNNews) 2) If there will be charges filed against him: “Before I leave office after 6 years, I will pardon myself for multiple murder. I will sign that pardon myself. (@ANCALERTS) 3) On having to shoot or kill: “I will not hesitate to shoot. I have to establish order.” (@ABSCBNNews) 4) On land reform: “I will not continue land reform. It has not done anything for the Filipino landlord and the tenant.”(@ABSCBNNews) 5) On mass transit: “To improve mass transport in six years is difficult. Six years is too short. But I promise to do something.”(‫@ ‏‬gmanewsbreaking) 6) About his platform: “I’m willing to copy Poe’s and Roxas ideas if they are good. They did not spend their money for those ideas.” (@ANCALERTS) Sadly, he has cast a spell but there is time for this to be broken.

We had an early proof of his nature, when he publicly cursed the Pope. mouth-kissed women supporters against their will in political rallies.

Duterte showed foul disregard for women, their rights and struggles, in a recount about an Australian female missionary who was taken as a hostage, raped and killed by inmates while visiting a Davao prison. And this drew strong condemnation from the global community. He even threatened to severe diplomatic ties with the U.S. and Australia.

Once again a dark cloud is hovering in the horizon, threatening to engulf our country in the next six years, and even beyond.

This man threatens to create havoc and disorder in our democratic society.

We, the undersigned, present this call for our countrymen to vote with reason and sobriety. Take heed.

ATTY. DANILO V. ROLEDA

Over-all UNA Deputy Secretary-General

ATTY. EMMANUEL JABLA Anib Secretary General

ATTY. DONN RICO G. KAPUNAN Member of AniB National Council

ATTY. VICENTE JOYAS Chairman of Abogado ni Binay

ATTY. GREGORIO ANDOLANA Member of AniB national council

ATTY. NASSER MAROHOMSALIC Anib Regional Coordiantor of Western Mindanao

ATTY. EDWIN BETGUEN Anib Regional Coordinator of Northern Luzon

POLITICAL AD PAID FOR BY LUISA PIGAO 808 RAFFLES CORPORATE CENTER EMARALD AVE. PASIG CITY

ATTY. JV BAUTISTA UNA Secretary General

ATTY. JEFFREY JOHN ZARATE Member of AniB National Council

ATTY. ROMAN ESGUERRA Anib Regional Coordinator NCR

ATTY. VON LOVEL BEDONA Anib Regional Coordinator of Western Visayas

ATTY. RAMON S. ESGUERRA Member of Anib National Council And Anib Regional Coordiantor of Southern Luzon ATTY. JOSE VICENTE OPINION Anib Regional Coordinator of Eastern Visayas

ATTY. RICO QUICHO

Member of Anib National Council

AseanFriday news@businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Friday, April 29, 2016 A5

Thailand-based trading firm targets Asean domination

S

ET-LISTED Berli Jucker Plc. (BJC), the trading company owned by billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, has set its sights on becoming a leading operator in Asean in terms of production, sales, logistics and retail distribution.

Chief executive Aswin Techajareonvikul said BJC will focus on building stronger market infrastructure and new business models to grow sustainably. Its distribution channels will be used to understand consumer insights.

“2016 is the year of investment to build infrastructure, including distribution centers and retail, trading and online channels,” he said.

BJC aims to drive the market by setting Thailand as its main base, supported by a second base in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.

It aims for a 50-50 sales split between domestic and international markets over the next five years.

Its international sales in 2015 were worth 4.45 billion baht, contributing 22 percent of overall sales.

BJC’s expansion in the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will cover upstream, midstream and downstream businesses. With a focus on consumer supplies and products, it aims to mobilize investments through alliances, joint ventures or consolidations.

The company will focus its expansion on Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Malaysia.

After the launch of the AEC at the end of 2015, there have been no big movements in the market because of leadership changes in Myanmar,

5B baht Amount allocated

by Berli Jucker Plc. for its expansion in Southeast Asia Laos and Cambodia.

“The AEC will have more linkage after the new leaders have clear policies for their countries. We expect a better impact from the AEC next year,” Aswin said.

BJC will continue to expand its retail business in Vietnam, where it changed the name of Metro Group to MM Mega Market Vietnam on January 6.

Expansion plans for both MM Mega Market stores in Vietnam and Big C in Thailand are under consideration.

Aswin said BJC will allocate 4 billion to 5 billion baht to expand its business this year, mainly in the domestic market.

Consolidated revenue of BJC last year was 42.8 billion baht, up 2.9 percent, thanks mainly to the growth of glass and can businesses in the packaging supply chain.

BJC has opened MM Mega Market stores in Thailand under the operation of TCC Logistics and Warehouse. One is in Nong Khai province to boost trade between Thailand and Laos, and the second branch is in Sa Kaeo province for trade between Thailand and Cambodia.

BJC plans to open at least 15 new branches by 2019, especially in border towns and big cities, including Bangkok.

The company expects to increase its 2016 revenue at a double-digit rate after seeing a gradual improvement in consumer spending in the first quarter.

Separately, Zalora, the fashion-focused e-commerce site backed by Rocket Internet, is selling its businesses in Thailand and Vietnam to Thai retailer Central Group.

“Acquiring Zalora will support our move into online commerce. Online shopping has vast opportunities in this region,” a source said.

The group had been tipped to enter online commerce for some time, and sources say it struck a deal to buy the businesses from Zalora for about $10 million each.

Online commerce is estimated to account for around 3 percent of all commerce in Southeast Asia.

While that figure has grown in recent years and stands to increase as the internet becomes more widely accessible, it remains a nascent segment with high growth potential.

Central Group’s assets, which include multiple shopping malls and national department store chains, are worth close to $10 billion and it employs about 70,000 people. TNS

Vietnam Air shares to start trading after deal with ANA concludes

Malaysia’s incoming central bank governor pledges monetary stability

M

ALAYSIA’S incoming central bank Governor Muhammad Ibrahim pledged to maintain the policy stability that his predecessor, Zeti Akhtar Aziz, championed in the 16 years she led the institution.

In his first comments since being appointed by Prime Minister Najib Razak, Muhammad said in a statement on Wednesday that it’s “important for the central bank to maintain monetary and financial stability, remain focused on its strategic agenda and work toward contributing to a better future for all Malaysians.” A deputy governor since 2010, he takes over from Zeti, 68, for a five-year term starting May 1.

The currency rallied as investor concerns eased that Najib would turn to a candidate who is more politically aligned to the government, compromising the independence of the central bank. Najib has been facing a series of setbacks, including a political scandal and alleged financial irregularities at state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd. “With Zeti being replaced by someone from within BNM—Muhammad Ibrahim—this ensures a smooth transition,” said Trinh Nguyen, an economist at Natixis Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. “This is much-needed good news for Malaysia.”

The ringgit rose as much as 0.5 percent to 3.8930 per dollar on Thursday.

[It’s] important for the central bank to maintain monetary and financial stability, remain focused on its strategic agenda and work toward contributing to a better future for all Malaysians.”—M The governor-elect will have to contend with a slowing economy and volatile capital flows, as well as rebuilding reserves that are about 30 percent below a high seen in 2013. Growth is forecast to reach 4 percent to 4.5 percent this year, down from 5 percent in 2015, while inflation is projected to accelerate from a year ago.

“Being part of our policy team at the bank will provide continuity and the much-needed certainty in this prevailing period of great uncertainty,” Zeti said in a statement.

“I have great confidence in his ability to lead the bank going forward into the future.”

The central bank has kept monetary policy steady to aid domestic demand as Najib counts on consumers to support growth amid constraints in boosting government spending.

Najib said on Tuesday that the country faces an “uphill battle” over the next five years in its plan to become a developed nation.

“I’m confident that under his leadership, Bank Negara Malaysia

will continue assisting the government with advice to further strengthen Malaysia’s economy, as well as managing monetary policy, and regulating and developing the financial services industry,” Najib said of Muhammad.

Harvard graduate

MUHAMMAD, who was born in 1960 and has a master’s degree from Harvard University, joined the central bank in 1984 and had been deputy governor since June 2010. He oversaw international reserve management, and money market and foreign-exchange operations. He has served in areas from banking supervision and regulation to insurance and offshore banking.

He was managing director at Danamodal Nasional Bhd., a bank-recapitalization agency created under the auspices of Bank Negara during the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s.

Bloomberg News

VIETNAM Airlines

V

IETNAM Airlines Corp., which sold shares in an initial public offering (IPO) 17 months ago, expects to get them listed “some time later this year,” after closing a deal with ANA Holdings Inc., CEO Pham Ngoc Minh said.

The shares of the state-owned carrier may start trading on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, Minh said in an interview in Hanoi. The company agreed to sell an 8.8-percent stake to the Japanese airline in January for $108 million as part of a plan to offload 20 percent.

“We expect to list the shares later this year after completing our strategic partnership deal with ANA and fulfilling some procedural requirements of the exchange,” he said.

Vietnam Airlines is revamping its fleet with the latest wide-body aircraft from Boeing Co. and Airbus Group SE as it adds international routes to meet demand for air travel from the country’s growing middle class. Pretax profit in the first half of 2016 is likely to jump about three to four times amid an increase in passenger traffic of as much as 13 percent, Minh said.

Jetstar investment THE company plans to open new routes from the Southeast Asian nation’s central-coast beach cities of Nha Trang and Danang to Japan and South Korea, he said. Easing of tourist visa rules last year by the government for visitors from France, Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany is boosting traffic, according to Minh.

The airline is also spending to help unit Jetstar Pacific Airlines expand its fleet to 30 planes from 12 over the next four years. It plans to jointly invest $139 million in the subsidiary, along with partner Qantas Airways Ltd., Minh said. Vietnam Airlines owns 70 percent of Jetstar, while Qantas holds the rest.

Facing stiff competition from lowcost carrier VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Co., Vietnam Airlines is positioning itself as a premium carrier, targeting the country’s new flying classes, as well as foreign tourists, he said. VietJet may surpass the national carrier this year to become Vietnam’s biggest domestic operator, according to Capa Centre for Aviation.

“The overall market share doesn’t mean so much,” Minh said. “Good

margin is more important. We want to keep our main market segment as premium. We aim for high-end services.”

Trading delays

THE carrier said its first-quarter pretax profit rose 33 percent , while passenger traffic climbed 12 percent.

Vietnam Airlines raised about $51.3 million from the November 2014 IPO, selling the entire 49 million shares offered at an average price of 22,307 dong ($1). Equivalent to a 3.5 percent stake, the company was then valued at $1.5 billion.

In Vietnam, after an IPO, it is normal for companies to wait for months before their shares start trading on a bourse. The nation’s two stock exchanges reported 139 offerings in 2015, of which only 47 were listed the same year, according to a report by the State Securities Commission.

State-owned Saigon Beer-AlcoholBeverages Corp., the country’s biggest beer maker, sold shares in 2008 and Vietnam National Textile & Garment Group, the No. 1 textile maker, in 2014. Both have yet to list them.

Bloomberg News

A BusinessMirror Special Feature

PHILIPPINES PROPERTY AWARDS 2016 A6 Friday, April 29, 2016

www.businessmirror.com.ph

COUNTRY’S TOP DEVELOPERS CITED IN THE BIGGEST REAL-ESTATE EVENT OF THE YEAR

‘I

B L R. G

WANT to be remembered simply as a man who built the most homes for Filipinos,” former Senate President Manny B. Villar Jr., chairman of Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc., said as he has been named as the Real Estate Personality of the Year by the editors of Property Report, Asia’s leading luxury real estate, architecture and design publication.

“I am deeply grateful for, and profoundly humbled by, this recognition from the Philippines Property Awards [PPA],” Villar said. “For me, the Real Estate Personality of the Year Award is a testament to how Vista Land has been an instrument in improving the lives of Filipinos by providing them homes to live comfortably in and communities where necessities are within their reach.”

Villar said that it is a fulfillment to see a tangible fruit of every Filipino’s hard work. This is a recognition of our contribution to the industry and our continuous effort to build quality houses and ‘communicities’ across the Philippines.”

The former senator prefers to call these homes and communities as communicities or integrated urban development combining lifestyle, retail, office, healthcare, education and leisure components. Over the years, Villar has built about 300,000 quality houses for all market segments in 95 cities and municipalities across 36 provinces around the Philippines. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism has, in fact, dubbed him “the dean of the [Philippine] real-estate industry.”

The Asia Property Awards (APA) is the region’s biggest and most respected real-estate awards program.

Reflecting the tremendous growth in Asian real estate over the last decade, the Awards was originally launched in 2005 in Thailand and now covers eight countries, re-

warding only the best developers and developments at a domestic and regional level.

All entries are rigorously and fairly judged by an independent panel of industry experts. All shortlisted companies can, therefore, be extremely proud of the huge achievement of setting the benchmark for their nation’s real-estate sector and, if successful, will go on to represent their country at Southeast Asia Property Awards (SAPA) grand finale in Singapore and China Property Awards in Hong Kong.

The fourth consecutive year of the PPA, held on April 7 at the Fairmont Hotel, Makati City, is widely recognized in the industry for its fairness and transparency. Free to enter, the Awards process began six months ago, with nominations coming from developers and the general public. All entries were supervised

by BDO, one of the world’s biggest auditing firms.

“This year we’ve seen approximately double the number of entries than last year, which shows the Awards is becoming recognized nationwide,” said Lindsay Orr, COO of Jones Lang LaSalle Philippines and chairman of the independent panel of judges.

He noted that there is a significant increase in the number of entries from Cebu and Davao. Some regional firms even competed against themselves, including Primary Homes Inc, with two nominations in

MEGAWORLD BAGS BEST DEVELOPER AND 16 MORE ACCOLADES

REAL-ESTATE giant Megaworld has been named the country’s “Best Developer” during the grand awards night. With this, the company will compete against other developers in the region at the 6th Southeast Asia Property Awards in Singapore this November. Aside from the much-coveted Best Developer Award, the company also received three major development and design awards, and 13 highly commended awards for various projects. Megaworld won the Best Residential Architectural Design for Uptown Ritz, an all-suites residential tower in the up and coming Uptown Bonifacio township; Best Condo Development in Cebu for 8 Newtown Boulevard, the first residential cluster in The Mactan Newtown; and Best Condo Development (Resort) for The Vineyard Residences in Twin Lakes, a 1,300-hectare integrated tourism estate near Tagaytay being developed by Megaworld’s Global-Estate Resorts Inc..

the Best Condo Development (Cebu) category, and Cebu Land Masters, with two nods for the Best Housing Development (Cebu) award.

Major Manila-based developers also broadened their property investments across the country. For instance, four-time nominees Alveo Land and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. went up against Megaworld for the Best Residential Development (Davao) gong.

The rise of the country’s emerging markets will be featured prominently at the Property Report Congress Philippines, a high-level forum that will discuss the past, present and future of the real-estate industry. It will be the first time that the Congress will take place in the country, which will welcome speakers from all over the archipelago and overseas, including current and former winners and judges from the PPA. Top winners from the Philippines this year will get the chance for international acclaim when they compete with their counterparts from eight Asean countries of the APA at the grand finals in Singapore in November at the SAPA 2016.

“Beginning this year, we’re also thrilled to be part of Property Guru, Asia’s leading online property

REAL ESTATE PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

Villar Group Chairman Manny Villar receives the prestigious Real Estate Personality of the Year award at the Philippines Property Awards 2016 held at Fairmont Hotel in Makati City, in recognition of his significant contribution in the real-estate industry.

Villar’s Vista Land has played an important role in improving the lives of Filipinos by providing homes and building “communicities, innovative master-planned developments integrating residential, lifestyle, retail, office, health care, education and leisure components, closer to a city than mere residential village. His company has built more than 300,000 quality homes for all market segments in 95 cities and municipalities and 36 across the country. Handing the award is Liam Aran Barnes, editor in chief of Property Report, Asia’s leading luxury real estate, architecture and design publication.

group. With their 14 million real estate consumers, the most exceptional developers in the Philippines

will get the proper international exposure for their world-class developments,” said Terry Blackburn,

founder of APA and managing director of awards organizer Property Guru International.

THE OFFICIAL SHORTLIST OF PPA 2016 BY CATEGORY:

DEVELOPER

Best Boutique Developer nAppleOne Properties Inc. nKing Properties

DEVELOPMENT Best Luxury Condo Development (Metro Manila) nAdmiral Grand Suites by Anchor nLand Holdings Inc. nUptown Ritz by Megaworld Corp.

Best Mid-Range Condo Development (Metro Manila) nAcqua Private Residences

by Century Properties Group Inc. nSalcedo Square by Vista Residences (A Vista Land Company) nSorrento Oasis by Filinvest Land Inc. nThe Lerato by Alveo Land nThe Residences Commonwealth

by Century Properties Group Inc. Best Affordable Condo Development (Metro Manila)

nGrace Residences by SM Development Corp. (SMDC) nHacienda Balai North Quezon City

by Phinma Properties nSuntrust Shanata

by Megaworld Corp. nTrees Residences by SMDC Best Condo Development (Cebu) n8 Newtown Boulevard

by Megaworld Corp. nAppleOne Banawa Heights

by AppleOne Properties Inc. nAvenir by King Properties nMabolo Garden Flats

by Primary Homes Inc. nThe Courtyards at Brookridge by nPrimary Homes Inc. Best Housing Development (Cebu) nCasa Mira Linao

by Cebu Land Masters nSolare by Primary Homes Inc. nVelmiro Heights

by Cebu Land Masters

Best Residential Development (Davao) nAbreeza Place by Alveo Land nNorthpoint by Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. nOne Lakeshore Drive

by Megaworld Corp.

Best Condo Development (Resort) nKasa Luntian by Alveo Land nSplendido Taal Tower 2

by Sta Lucia Land nThe Vineyard Residences

by Megaworld Corp. nBest Housing Development nCamella Palawan by Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. nRoyal Palms Dos

by Primary Homes Inc. Best Hotel Development nAdmiral Hotel by Anchor Land Holdings Inc. nANC Hotel Development

by Oceanville Hotel and Spa Corp.

nConrad Manila by SM Prime Holdings Inc. nMarriott Courtyard Hotel

by Megaworld Corp.

Best Office Development nArthaland Century Pacific Tower

by ArthaLand nFiveE-comCenter

by SM Prime Holdings Inc. nMenarco Tower by Menarco Tower nOre Central by Monte de Tesoro Corp.

Best Office Development (Cebu) nBPI Cebu Corporate Center

by Alveo Land Best Retail Development nSM Seaside City Mall

by SM Prime Holdings Inc. nUptown Mall by Megaworld Corp.

DESIGN Best Residential Architectural Design nSalcedo Square by Vista Land

& Lifescapes Inc.

by Monte de Tesoro Corp.

nUptown Parksuites

nUptown Tower 3

by Megaworld Corp. nUptown Ritz by Megaworld Corp.

Best Residential Interior Design n8 Newtown Boulevard

by Megaworld Corp. nAdmiral Grand Suites

by Anchor Land Holdings Inc nSalcedo Skysuites

by Megaworld Corp.

Best Retail Architectural Design nSM Seaside City Mall

by SM Prime Holdings Inc. nThe Venice Grand Canal Mall

by Megaworld Corp. nUptown Mall by Megaworld Corp.

Best Office Architectural Design nArthaLand Century Pacific Tower

by ArthaLand nFiveE-comCenter

by SM Prime Holdings Inc. nOre Central

by Megaworld Corp.

Best Hotel Architectural Design nAdmiral Hotel

by Anchor Land Holdings Inc. nANC Hotel Development by Oceanville Hotel and Spa Corp. nConrad Manila

by SM Prime Holdings Inc. Best Hotel Interior Design nConrad Manila

by SM Prime Holdings Inc. nMarriott Courtyard Hotel

by Megaworld Corp.

Best Landscape Architectural Design n8 Newtown Boulevard

by Megaworld Corp. nOre Central

by Monte de Tesoro Corp. nSM Seaside City Mall

by SM Prime Holdings Inc.

The World BusinessMirror

A8 Friday, April 29, 2016

briefs RUSSIA TO U.N.: BLACKLIST 2 POWERFUL SYRIAN REBEL GROUPS UNITED NATIONS—Russia said on Wednesday it has asked the UN Security Council to blacklist two powerful Syrian rebel groups that it considers “terrorist organizations,” one which is playing a key role in political negotiations aimed at ending the five-year conflict.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters the two hardline Islamic groups—Jaish al-Islam, or the Army of Islam, and Ahrar al-Sham—aren’t observing the cessation of hostilities in Syria “and are engaged in terrorist activities” and, therefore, should be subject to sanctions.

Mohammed Alloush, a leading figure in Jaish al-Islam, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, heads the High Negotiating Committee (HNC), the main opposition umbrella group, at the Geneva peace talks which are largely stalled. The HNC postponed its participation in the talks, which wrapped up their latest round on Wednesday, citing an escalation in fighting and insufficient aid deliveries to besieged areas.

The Syrian government, which Russia backs, also considers the two groups “terrorist” organizations and opposed their representation in the Geneva talks. AP

SYRIA AIR STRIKES IN ALEPPO KILL 20 BEIRUT—A Syrian monitoring group and rescue workers in opposition-held areas in Syria say a series of airstrikes has hit a hospital and nearby buildings, killing at least 20 people in the northern city of Aleppo.

The victims include three of the hospital’s medical staff.

The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the air strikes took place shortly before midnight on Wednesday and that at least one child was among the 20 killed.

The Syrian Civil Defense, volunteer first-responders in rebel-held areas, gave a higher toll, saying the strikes on the Quds hospital killed 22. The dead included one of the few remaining pediatricians in opposition-held areas of the contested city.

The Syrian Civil Defense said there were four consecutive airstrikes against the hospital and adjacent buildings. AP

12 DETAINED IN CONNECTION TO SUICIDE BOMBING IN TURKEY ANKARA, Turkey—Turkey’s staterun news agency says authorities have detained 12 people in connection with a suicide bomb attack in the northwestern city of Bursa, which wounded 13 people.

The female attacker blew herself up near an Ottoman-era mosque in Bursa’s historic district on Wednesday. There was no claim of responsibility but Turkish media reports said on Thursday that authorities suspect the Islamic State group may be behind the attack.

Anadolu Agency said police detained 12 people in Bursa, Istanbul and two other cities on Thursday.

Turkey, which is facing growing blowback from the conflict in Syria and renewed conflict with Kurdish militants, has recently witnessed an increase of such attacks. AP

UN envoy to US, Russia: Help Syria peace talks

IN this April 24 photo made from video posted online by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, a man helps an injured man (right) as others stand in rubble after air strikes and shelling hit Aleppo, Syria. A military buildup in northern Syria, coupled with heavy fighting and mounting civilian casualties, spells the end of a cease-fire that for two months brought much-needed relief to war-stricken Syrians, ushering in what could be an even more ruinous chapter in the country’s 5-year-old conflict. SYRIAN CIVIL DEFENSE WHITE HELMETS VIA AP VIDEO

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ENEVA—The United Nations (UN) envoy for Syria appealed to the US and Russia to intervene to help revive Syrian peace talks that sputtered to a pause on Wednesday, saying a recent spike in fighting has overshadowed the talks and put an increasingly feeble truce in “great danger.”

Staffan de Mistura spoke to reporters early on Thursday, after briefing the UN Security Council via videoconference about the largely stalled indirect talks between the Western- and Saudibacked opposition and envoys from President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which has the backing of Moscow.

After 60 days, he said, the cessation of hostilities agreed to by both sides “hangs by a thread.”

“I really fear that the erosion of the cessation is unraveling the fragile consensus around a political solution, carefully built over the last year,” de Mistura said in his council briefing obtained by The Associated Press. “Now I see parties reverting to the language of a

1

Number of Syrian killed every 25 minutes

military solution or military option.

We must ensure that they do not see that as a solution or an option.”

The current effort to end the five-year Syria conflict was largely spearheaded by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, backed by major global and regional powers who formed the International Syria Support Group. It includes 17 countries, as well as the UN, Arab League, European Union and Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

De Mistura appealed not only for US-Russia intervention but for international support, calling in the Security Council briefing for another ministerial meeting of the International Syria Support Group “lest we lose the window of opportunity to reverse the negative downward spiral.”

He stressed that the talks may not survive unless the fighting subsides, and that won’t happen “without some sort of political solution on the horizon.”

De Mistura said he hoped that the talks would resume in May, and he predicted the overall process would continue as previously planned through July. But he stopped short of setting a specific date, pointing to the recent upsurge in fighting, notably in and around Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war.

Lamenting the worsening violence, he said that “in the last 48 hours, we have had an average of one Syrian killed every 25 minutes, one Syrian wounded every 13 minutes.... How can you have substantial talks when you have only news about bombing and shelling?”

Speaking at the end of a third session of Syria peace talks this year, de Mistura said the truce brokered by the US and Russia had pulled off a “miracle” by sharply reducing violence in March, but acknowledged that the renewed fighting has put the cessation of hostilities “in great danger.”

He called for a “US-Russian initiative at the highest level” to help reinforce it.

“There is no reason that both of them—who have been putting so much political capital in that success story and have a common interest in not seeing Syria ending up in another cycle of war— should not be able to revitalize what they created, and which is still alive, but barely,” he said of the two countries.

US State Department Spokesman John Kirby said he shared de Mistura’s concerns about the increased violence jeopardizing the process and urged Russia to press the Assad regime “to fulfill its commitments.”

The talks foundered last week after the Western- and Saudibacked opposition called the High Negotiating Committee suspended formal participation in the indirect talks with Assad’s envoys to protest alleged government cease-fire violations, a drop in humanitarian aid deliveries and no progress in winning the release of detainees in Syria.

De Mistura suggested backchannel work between Moscow and Washington was already under way to help the truce, and that a revival of it would help bring the two sides back to the table.

“I know that both the Russian Federation and the US are talking among themselves on how to salvage on what has been actually a remarkable success—but needs to be sustained,” he said, referring to the cease-fire. If it is revived, he predicted: “It will not be difficult for everyone to come back around the table.” AP

news@businessmirror.com.ph

S. KOREA: SUSPECTED MIDRANGE N. KOREAN MISSILE CRASHES

S

EOUL, South Korea—A suspected powerful midrange North Korean missile crashed seconds after liftoff on Thursday, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said, in what would be the second such embarrassing failure in recent weeks.

South Korea’s report of the North’s launch failure is particularly humiliating as it comes ahead of a major ruling party meeting next week in Pyongyang, which leader Kim Jong Un is believed to be looking to as a way to put his stamp more forcefully on a government he inherited after his dictator father’s death in late 2011.

A Defense Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of office rules, said the launch was likely the second attempt for the inaugural test of a Musudan, a new, powerful midrange missile that could one day be capable of reaching faroff US military bases in Asia and the Pacific.

The projectile on Thursday crashed a few seconds after liftoff.

The failed launch comes amid Pyongyang’s anger over annual South KoreanUS military drills that North Korea calls a rehearsal for an invasion. The North has in recent months fired many missiles and artillery shells into the sea in apparent protests against the drills.

Earlier this week, South Korean media reported that North Korea placed a Musudan missile on standby for an impending launch. Media reports said the missile on standby was one of the two Musudan missiles North Korea had earlier deployed in the northeast.

One of them reportedly failed after being launched two weeks ago; the other on Thursday.

South Korean and US officials said there was a North Korean missile launch on April 15, the birthday of the North’s late founder, but they have not officially confirmed it was a Musudan firing. US officials said the earlier launch ended in failure. AP

UN to hold meeting on the protection of Palestinian civilians

U

NITED NATIONS—The UN Security Council will hold an informal meeting on May 6 on the protection of Palestinian civilians, an issue the Palestinians have pressed for decades and say is more needed now than ever.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said four council members—Egypt, Senegal, Venezuela and Malaysia—are organizing the meeting which will hear briefings from a legal scholar, an Amnesty International representative and others. Last October the UN sent the council a study on precedents in addressing the protection of civilians in conflicts around the world.

Mansour told reporters Wednesday that the meeting is a first step toward action that the Security Council must take.

“Our desire is to find any form of protection to protect our people from the brutality of this occupation,” he said.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded to the announcement of the council meeting saying: “The Palestinians are continuing to lie to the world and turn to the international community with ridiculous claims instead of focusing their efforts on fighting terror and incitement.” AP

EX-U.S. SPEAKER HASTERT GETS 15 MOS. IN PRISON FOR SEX ABUSE C

HICAGO—In his 2004 memoir, former US House Speaker Dennis Hastert claimed he was never a good liar.

“Maybe I wasn’t smart enough,” Hastert wrote. “I could never get away with it, so I made up my mind as a kid to tell the truth and pay the consequences.”

It took nearly 40 years, but in a packed Chicago courtroom on Wednesday, Hastert finally, reluctantly, admitted to his dark past.

In a raspy voice, Hastert, once the third most powerful elected leader in the country, acknowledged he sexually abused several boys he coached on the Yorkville High School wrestling team in the 1960s and 1970s.

Moments later, Hastert, 74, learned the consequences for his decades of dishonesty when a federal judge sentenced him to 15 months in prison.

In handing down the sentence, US District Judge Thomas M. Durkin repeatedly slammed Hastert as a “serial child molester” who not only violated the trust of the boys he’d coached but also tried to

mislead federal authorities years later by claiming he was being blackmailed by one of his victims.

“Nothing is more stunning than having the words ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the House’ in the same sentence,” Durkin said.

Hastert, dressed in a dark gray suit and appearing much thinner than his last court appearance in October, showed no outward reaction to the sentence, which was more than twice the high end of what prosecutors had sought. As spectators filed from the courtroom, Hastert remained motionless, not speaking to anyone. He was seated in a wheelchair and outfitted with a leg brace due to recent health issues.

The two-hour sentencing hearing capped a stunning downfall for Hastert, who rose from humble beginnings as a schoolteacher and coach to become the longest-serving Republican House speaker in US history, a powerhouse in Illinois politics who was revered in the small town of Kendall County he called home.

Dozens of reporters and spectators

FORMER House Speaker Dennis Hastert departs the federal courthouse on Wednesday in Chicago, after his sentencing on federal banking charges, which he pled guilty to last year. Hastert was sentenced to more than a year in prison in the hush-money case that included accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high-school wrestling.

AP/CHARLES REX ARBOGAST

lined up to get a seat in Durkin’s 14th-floor courtroom, where two of Hastert’s accusers came forward to testify for the first time about his sexual misconduct.

Scott Cross, previously identified in court papers only as Individual D, went public with his account of how Hastert had sexually molested him in an otherwise empty locker room one afternoon in fall 1979 when he was a 17-year-old senior.

Cross’s brother, Tom, a former longtime Illinois Republican House leader, had been a Hastert protegé.

Also testifying was Jolene Burdge, who recalled in poignant detail how her brother, Stephen Reinboldt, had spent years “running from the pain and turmoil” Hastert’s abuse had caused, afraid to speak out about it because he thought no one would believe him. When she had confronted Hastert about the abuse at her brother’s funeral in 1995, he treated her like an “insignificant annoyance,” she said.

“Now I stand here 20 years later with the truth on my side,” said Burdge, turning and looking directly at Hastert, who did not meet her gaze. “I hope I have

been your worst nightmare.”

Hastert, who his lawyers said nearly died last year from a blood infection, sat in the wheelchair without expression for nearly the entire hearing, his mouth turned down and eyes only occasionally glancing across the room. When it came time for him to speak, he shook as he was helped to his feet by his attorneys and leaned heavily on a walker to approach the lectern at the front of the hushed courtroom.

Looking through eyeglasses at his written notes, the white-haired Hastert apologized for mistreating some of his athletes, but as in past apologies conveyed through his attorneys, he didn’t specify what it was he’d done.

“For 11 months, I have been struggling to come to terms with events that occurred almost four decades ago,” Hastert said. “I wanted to apologize for the boys I mistreated when I was their coach. What I did was wrong, and I regret it. They looked to me, and I took advantage of them.”

After apologizing to his family, supporters, constituents and the govern-

ment, Hastert wrapped up his remarks by thanking Durkin for listening. But the judge didn’t let him off the hook. As Hastert gathered his papers and moved to take a seat, Durkin said he had a few questions of his own.

“You said you mistreated athletes. Did you sexually abuse Mr. Cross?” Durkin asked.

“I…I don’t remember doing that, but I accept his statement,” Hastert said.

“Did you sexually abuse Victim B?” asked Durkin, referring to another former wrestler who accused Hastert of performing a sex act on him when he was 14.

“Yes,” Hastert replied quickly.

“Alright. And how about Mr. Reinboldt? Did you sexually abuse him?” the judge asked.

After Hastert replied, “That was a different situation,” Durkin said, “If you want to elaborate, now is the time to do it.”

Hastert conferred with his lawyer.

“I…I would accept Ms. Burdge’s statement,” he then said haltingly.

“So you did sexually abuse him?” Durkin asked.

“Yes,” Hastert replied. TNS

The World BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Brexit shadow hides deeper cracks in UK’s economy

A MAN works at Celsa Steel Service UK Ltd., the largest producer of reinforcement in the United Kingdom and one of the largest manufacturers of other steel products. BLOOMBERG

B

RITAIN’S vote on its future in the European Union (EU) is diverting attention from deeper economic problems.

As the country thrashes about in an identity crisis, risking a schism with its main trading partner, growth is losing momentum and continues to be lopsided. Services, the engine of the economy’s recovery, expanded at the weakest pace in almost a year in the first quarter, while industrial production extended its decline.

That underscores the fragility of the economy at a time when the Bank of England (BOE) is warning uncertainty stemming from the June 23 referendum may already be having an effect.

Added to that, some of the nation’s biggest companies are in crisis, with two retailing stalwarts appointing administrators in the past week and Tata Steel’s move to sell its UK business raising questions about the future of British industry.

“The United Kingdom economy would have probably been moderating regardless of any Brexit uncertainty,” said Simon Wells, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. in London. “If, or when, the near-term uncertainty lifts we’ll be right back to the same old puzzles.”

Turbulent opening

WHILE the first-quarter data reflect a turbulence that roiled global markets at the start of the year—and which has since abated—four years of solid consumer spending hasn’t been enough to protect even some firms that feed on domestic demand.

0.3

Percentage of growth of business and finance in the first quarter

Department-store operator BHS Group Ltd. and formalwear retailer Austin Reed succumbed to years of intense competition in the past week, while high-street fashion chain Next has warned the outlook is worsening.

Britain’s reliance on one part of the economy is likely to fuel concern that the pace of growth isn’t sustainable. The slowdown in services was driven by business and finance, which grew 0.3 percent in the first quarter—less than half of the pace of the previous three months. Industrial production shrank for a second straight quarter and construction slumped.

There may also be a risk of consumer fatigue. With the savings rate at a record-low, households may at some point start to think about their own reserves and curtail spending. The Confederation of British Industry’s retail sales fell to its lowest level in more than four years this month.

“It appears that the economy has hit a speed bump,” said Azad Zan-

gana, an economist at Schroders in London. “Growth is likely to remain sluggish until the result of the referendum is known. If the UK votes to remain in the EU then growth is likely to accelerate significantly in the second half of the year. If, however, the UK votes to leave, then growth is likely to slow further on the back of the added uncertainty.”

‘Scaremongering’

WITH less than two months to go before the referendum, officials on both sides of the debate have been using the economic outlook to support their cause. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said on Wednesday that the GDP figures showed how the threat of an exit is taking its toll, while those who support leaving blamed an international slowdown and accused the ‘remain’ camp of scaremongering.

“I’m concerned about Brexit,” Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday, adding it could be “destabilizing” for the economy. “It’s one of those unfathomables. Its a confidence thing.”

The FTSE 100 Index has risen 1.2 percent this year, posting the best performance among major western European indexes, thanks to a rebound in miners and a weaker pound. But trading of shares on the gauge has been falling, reflecting a lack of confidence in the recent rally, and options traders have stepped up hedging as the EU vote approaches.

OECD warning

THE Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday joined a chorus from the International Monetary Fund to the World Bank warning about the possible implications

of an exit. It said Britain would be hit by tighter financial conditions, weaker confidence, higher trade barriers and restrictions on labor mobility. The result would be an economy 5 percent smaller by 2030 compared with continued EU membership.

Earlier this month BOE officials said Brexit jitters may be weighing on investment and hiring—unemployment rose between December and February—and signaled they’ll take a cautious approach until the vote has passed. Governor Mark Carney has been dragged in to the highly charged debate, last week warning that London’s status as a global financial center could be diminished in the event of an exit.

No change

THE clouded outlook and the signals sent by the central bank mean economists see little prospect of any change in monetary policy, and have pushed back their predictions on the timing of a rate increase to next year. The referendum is creating a challenging backdrop for policy makers, who voted unanimously to keep their benchmark rate at a record-low 0.5 percent this month. They’ll publish new economic forecasts in May and have said that they won’t rush to over interpret data that may be skewed around the vote.

“The downward trend in GDP growth since 2014 suggests that the EU referendum cannot be blamed for all of the economy’s ills,” said Samuel Tombs, an economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

“The fiscal squeeze has tightened this year after a pre-election pause, while the boost to growth in household spending from falling savings and rapid employment growth has run its course.” Bloomberg News

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • Friday, April 29, 2016

A9

CRUZ PICKS EARLY VEEP IN FIORINA

TRUMP BECOMES SOBER IN ‘PRESIDENTIAL’ SPEECH

W

A SHI NGTON —W it h the general election in his sights, Republican Donald Trump delivered a sober foreign-policy address on Wednesday aimed at easing fears about his temperament and readiness to be commander in chief.

Rival Ted Cruz made a desperate attempt to jolt the GOP race by tapping Carly Fiorina as his running mate.

Both moves underscored Trump’s commanding position in the GOP race. Though the businessman must keep winning primaries in order to clinch the nomination before this summer’s national convention—he needs 48 percent of delegates still up for grabs—he has breathing room to start making overtures to general election voters. All Cruz can do is throw obstacles in his path.

Cruz announced Fiorina as his vice-presidential pick during a rally in Indiana, a state he must win next week in order to keep his White House hopes alive. He cast the unusual announcement as a way to give voters confidence in their choice if they vote for him.

“You deserve to know exactly where a candidate stands,” he said.

Fiorina immediately went after Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, embracing the aggressive role of a No. 2 on the White House ticket. She cast Trump and Clinton as a pair of liberals who would do little to shake up Washington.

“They’re not going to challenge the system—they are the system,” Fiorina said.

Trump mocked Cruz at a rally in Indianapolis on Wednesday night, saying, “Cruz can’t win, what’s he doing picking vice presidents?”

“He is the first presidential candidate in the history of this country who’s mathematically eliminated from becoming president who chose a vice-presidential candidate,” Trump said.

Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are trying to keep Trump from securing the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch, thereby, pushing the Republican race toward a contested convention. But Trump strengthened his standing this week with a sweep of five Northeast primaries, giving him 80 percent of the delegates he needs.

Trump headed to Indiana on Wednesday as well, following his address in Washington.

Before an audience of foreignpolicy experts in Washington, Trump outlined a doctrine that he said would put American interests first, leaving allies to fend for themselves if they don’t contribute financially to back up security agreements. He vowed to send US troops into combat only as a last resort, a break from years of hawkish Republican foreign policy.

“Our goal is peace and prosperity, not war and destruction,” he declared in the 38-minute address that was heavy on broad statements and light on specific policy details. Unlike his rambunctious, freewheeling rallies, Trump read prepared remarks in a measured tone off a teleprompter.

He also used the address to target Clinton, his expected opponent in a general election. He assailed her handling of the deadly 2012

attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya, and said that during her tenure as secretary of state, the US had a “reckless, rudderless and aimless foreign policy.”

Clinton’s campaign sees foreign policy as an area ripe for a sharp general election contrast with Trump, given her years at the State Department and his lack of experience.

In a campaign conference call on Wednesday, Clinton supporter and former Secretary of State Madeline Albright called Trump’s views “incoherent.”

“I’ve never seen such a combo of simplistic slogans and contradictions and misstatements in one speech,” Albright said.

Like Trump, Clinton emerged from this week’s Northeastern primaries with a stronger claim on her party’s nomination. With four victories on Tuesday, she now has 91 percent of the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, campaigning in Indiana, as well, on Wednesday, conceded that the delegate math was not in his favor.

He said his campaign still aims to win the nomination but will also seek to assemble as many delegates as possible to influence the party’s platform and message.

“Our job, whether we win or whether we do not win, is to transform, not only our country, but the Democratic Party, to open the doors of the Democratic Party to working people and young people and senior citizens in a way that does not exist today,” Sanders said.

Cruz hoped that adding Fiorina to his potential ticket would be a draw for Republicans desperate to keep Clinton out of the White House.

Fiorina, the former HewlettPackard chief executive, was frequently praised for her tough criticism of Clinton during her own presidential campaign and irritated Trump with her sharp retorts during GOP debates.

Since dropping out, she has become Cruz’s most active surrogate, making frequent campaign appearances alongside him and on her own.

Candidates typically wait until they’ve secured their party’s nomination before picking a running mate, in part to avoid appearing to be getting ahead of the will of the voters.

But in Cruz’s case, the announcement seemed aimed at keeping up the idea that he has a claim to the nomination and potentially attracting more voters in Indiana and other remaining states—including Fiorina’s home state of California.

Asked on Fox and Friends about Cruz naming a running mate, Trump said, “To me it looks ridiculous, he’s not going to get the nomination.”

Trump emerged with more than 50 percent of the Republican votes in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland, and scored over 60 percent in Delaware and Rhode Island.

Similarly, Clinton won convincingly in four of the five contests, scoring 56 percent in Pennsylvania and 63 percent in Maryland—the two biggest contests of the night. Sanders won the Rhode Island primary with 55 percent of the vote. AP

Japan’s foreign minister to visit China as PM Abe seeks talks with President Xi

J

APANESE Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will travel to China on Friday in a bid to restore momentum to ties between Asia’s two largest economies, as they argue over territory.

Kishida is set to meet his counterpart Wang Yi and other senior officials during the visit—the first by a Japanese foreign minister in four and a half years. No Chinese foreign minister has visited Japan since November 2009. While Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe overcame disagreements over

territory and history to meet in November 2014 and April of last year, the fragile rapprochement has since frayed. Neither side can afford to allow tensions to worsen, given a $344-billion trade relationship, the lingering risk of a maritime clash over disputed islands close to Taiwan and the growing threat from North Korean missiles.

“The relationship is still very difficult,” said a Japanese Foreign Ministry official, who declined to be identified in line with ministry policy. While the Japanese side is keen to improve ties, “it takes two to

tango,” he added. Japan contacted China this month about sending Shotaro Yachi, a close Abe aide, to Beijing in a bid to set up a summit this year, Kyodo News reported on Thursday. The Japanese Foreign Ministry official denied that such an approach had been made. Xi and Abe are both scheduled to attend a Group of 20 meeting in Hangzhou, China, in September.

Abe and Xi have not met bilaterally for more than a year. They missed their latest chance to sit down about a month ago at a nuclear security summit in Washington.

A ministerial meeting on the economy planned for “early” this year also hasn’t materialized, and there’s been no announcement on Japan’s scheduled hosting of a trilateral summit with South Korea and China this year.

The hiatus comes as Japan steps up its criticism of Beijing over its behavior in the South China Sea, where China has reclaimed more than 3,000 acres of land over the past two years as it builds a platform to assert its claims to more than 80 percent of the water. China, for its part, regularly

warns against Japanese interference in the dispute and chides the Abe administration for not doing more to deal with the legacy of the country’s wartime past.

“Japan’s wrong approach to history and other issues has in recent years dealt a body blow to Japan-China relations,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last month.

“Thanks to the efforts of wise people on both sides there are signs of improvement in the Sino-Japanese relationship, but there is little ground for optimism.” China was also riled by a statement issued in Hiroshima earlier

this month by foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations in which they expressed concerns about the situation in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, where Japan and China dispute the sovereignty of a group of islets. China regularly sends coast guard vessels into Japanese-administered waters around a group of disputed islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyutai in China, and Japan has backed US efforts to challenge China’s claims in the South China Sea by sending warships near its outposts there. AP

A10 Friday, April 29, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

US and China: Here we go again

M

AYBE China is a bad country ruled by evil men who really do want to, eventually, take over the world, starting with the nations of Southeast Asia. OK, we got that. How could we not since we have been hearing a variation of that theme from a long time even from the Philippines’s own president?

Maybe even as a headline in the United States newspaper—the Washington Times—suggests, “An American Wall of Missiles to deter China” might be prudent or even necessary at some point in the future.

But to read that “This should start with the deployment of hundreds of Army tactical missiles to the Philippines to allow for instant retaliation if China uses its new island military bases” is a whole lot more than a cause for concern. In fact, our initial response was, “Are you crazy?”

The article printed online on April 25 was cowritten by James Aloysius “Ace” Lyons Jr., a retired US Navy admiral who held the position of commander in chief of the US Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLT). Ace has some pretty heavy military credentials but has also stirred much controversy with regard to the US response to Islamic terrorism and his very strong stance against China.

For many years, he has been warning about China’s increasing naval capabilities and aggressiveness, and it turns out he has been accurate.

The coauthor is Richard D. Fisher Jr., an academic who specializes in Asian Military Affairs and is an authority on the Chinese military. He even was an election observer in the Philippines. Fisher may be very cautious and worried about the Chinese but he is not going to be rushing into battle waving a sword over his head like Lyons might.

The article goes on to say, “Washington needs to deploy a ‘wall of missiles’ that can utterly destroy China’s new air-naval and missile bases if it uses them against US friends and allies.”

Along with the missiles, “US Air Force bombers, like the B-52 or B-1, need to carry scores of small but smart and long-range missiles, making them ‘arsenal aircraft.’ The US Navy also requires ‘arsenal ships’ and ‘arsenal submarines’ to complete a ‘wall of missiles.’ When used in concert, the arsenal aircraft, arsenal ship and arsenal submarine could be used to overwhelm China’s new small island bases in the South China Sea, quickly mobilize multiple thousands of missiles to deter a Chinese invasion or to deter a Chinese attack.”

It is sort of exciting to know that maybe the US is thinking about genuinely protecting the Philippines from further Chinese aggression.

But we seriously doubt that all the “the arsenal aircraft, arsenal ship and arsenal submarine” that the US might need against the Chinese are going to be based in Hawaii or at the military bases it has in Japan. As COMPACFLT, Ace probably made many trips to the Philippines and might be thinking Subic and Clark would be ideal locations.

This is, of course, not a position of the US government. But when these ideas are presented in a national venue, others are listening.

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Ten things James Jimenez

SPOX

R

EPETITION, they say, is the key to learning. So, at the risk of being repetitious, here are 10 things you need to remember for the May 9 elections.

10. Before election day, take the time to write down who you want to vote for. Doing this before May 9 will give you enough time to actually think about the choices you’re making. And on election day, having a guide will make things go faster for you and for everyone else.

9. Also before election day, try to find out where you’re supposed to vote. Get help from the Commission on Elections’s hot line at (02)5259296, or (0918)5668301, or via e-mail at comelectv@gmail.com.

On social media: @comelec on Twitter, and comelec.ph on Facebook.

8. If you enjoy a bit of joy juice occasionally, consider stocking up on your libation of choice. The liquor ban will kick in on the eve of the elections and continue until the

day after the polls. Not endorsing drinking in any way; just endorsing not getting sent to jail for an election offense.

7. Don’t accept money from anyone trying to buy your vote. That’s just gross.

6. Remember: To ensure that your vote is counted properly, shade in the oval completely. Don’t get cute; just blacken that space fully. And don’t mess up your ballot. If you change your mind about the choices you’ve already made, or if your ballot gets rejected because you made it unreadable, you are not going to get a second ballot.

5. Remember: After casting your ballot, wait for your receipt to be printed. The receipt will be detached from the vote-counting machine

Remember: Do not overvote.

Overvoting means voting for more candidates than the position requires. Voting for 13 senators, therefore, means you’ve overvoted and all your votes for senator will not be counted. Unovervoted positions, however, will be counted normally. Oh, and after voting, use the hashtag #BumotoNaAko, to tell social media that you’ve just shown leadership by example in exercising your right to vote. As some guy said: bad officials are elected into office by good people who don’t vote.

(VCM) by a member of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI). You will get inked before you are given your receipt.

4. Remember: You cannot take your voting receipt out of the polling place. You either drop it into the designated box or, if you have objections to what’s printed on the receipt, leave it with the BEI. The BEI will then attach your receipt to the Minutes of Voting.

3. Remember: You cannot use your mobile phones inside the polling place. This means no selfies—either by yourself or with either the ballot or the voting receipt. Again, not antiselfie; just antielection offense.

2. Remember: You can abstain and you can undervote—meaning you can vote for fewer candidates than a position requires, such as voting for 10 senators instead of 12.

Both abstentions and undervotes will be recognized and recorded by the VCMs as valid choices.

1. Remember: Do not overvote.

Overvoting means voting for more candidates than the position requires. Voting for 13 senators, therefore, means you’ve overvoted and all your votes for senator will not be counted. Unovervoted positions, however, will be counted normally.

Oh, and after voting, use the hashtag #BumotoNaAko, to tell social media that you’ve just shown leadership by example in exercising your right to vote. As some guy said: bad officials are elected into office by good people who don’t vote.

James Arthur B. Jimenez is director of the Commission on Elections’s Education and Information Department.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

How secure are we in the Philippines?

Communicating with Noel Tito Genova Valiente

Fernando T. Aldaba

EAGLE WATCH

H

UMAN security refers to both “freedom from want” and “freedom from fear” for all persons. This is an emerging paradigm that tackles vulnerabilities that individuals face in today’s world. The current Human Development Report of 2015 has assembled various data from different sources related to human security. The results of our data mining give us some insight on how citizens from different countries are relatively secure, including the Philippines.

In terms of freedom from want, the various human-development indicators in the report will give us a glimpse on how the Philippines fared. The Philippines is included among countries with medium human development and ranked at 115th out of 188 countries, with a Human Development Index (HDI) value of .668. The HDI summarizes longterm progress in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, measured by life expectancy at birth; access to knowledge, measured by mean years of education for the adult population and expected years of schooling for children of school-age entrance; and a decent standard of living, measured by gross national income (GNI) per capita expressed in constant 2011 international dollars using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates.

Overall, the Philippine HDI value increased by 14 percent between 1990 and 2014. In 2014 life expectancy at birth of Filipinos was at 68.2 years, and expected years of schooling was 11.3 years. GNI per capita, meanwhile, during the same year was recorded at PPP $7,915.

Comparing the Philippine HDI for 2014 with other countries and regions, we observe that the Philippines’s 2014 HDI of 0.668 was higher than the average of 0.630 for countries in the medium human-development group, but lower than the average of 0.710 for countries in East Asia and the Pacific.

In the Asean region, countries which were at the same level as the Philippines in terms of 2014 HDI and rank (and, to some extent, in population size) are Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

ANNOTATIONS

‘N

OEL” is Noel Volante, with a PhD in the field of communications. He was a student of mine way back. An accomplished academic in his own right.

One afternoon, across the table in front of me, Noel gave out an audible sigh: “I am really tired of listening to these presidential candidates.”

What do you make of them, I asked Noel. That safe afternoon, across the table, on my laptop, appeared his e-mail.

Listen to what he calls his twocent worth of words as a communication specialist: “[Rodrigo R.] Duterte leads because of the underdog approach,” Noel writes me.

To Noel, “[Grace] Poe is the ‘packaging’ expert” who “appeals to emotion.” Poe does this, according to Noel, by the use of “modulation technique,” referring to how the candidate employs her voice in various tonalities. Noel says that, “in the end, if she wins, she should thank her acting and voice coaches.” Noel clarifies: “When I say packaging, it does not necessarily mean what’s inside the package is as good as the packaging.”

Noel then talks next about Manuel A. Roxas II, who is described as a victim of what we call “narcotizing dysfunction,” a communication principle that explains how we become desensitized to things that we have been hearing all around us, even as the reality about those things seems different. He says Roxas’s handlers should learn to repackage him and his statements.

Regarding Jejomar C. Binay, Noel grabs a communication construct

to make sense of this person. He describes Binay as “the master of inoculation.” He articulates this concept as part of a “communication principle that lets us see what the person just wants us to see.” Noel adds this parenthetical statement: See Makati and see my presidency.

Of course, Noel stresses, the person can be hiding those things he is not asking us to see. Noel ends the description of Binay’s technique by saying: Visualize the horses

Caesar or nothing Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2015

When the Philippines’s HDI is discounted for inequality, the value falls to 0.547. This can be interpreted as an 18.1-percent overall loss due to inequality in the distribution of the basic human-development indicators.

The overall loss due to inequality is lower in the Philippines than in other medium HDI countries (25.8 percent), and East Asia and the Pacific (19.4 percent). Thus, this clearly shows that addressing inequality can greatly improve overall human development in the country.

The most recent figures reported for the Philippines’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) show that 6.3 percent of the population are multidimensionally poor, while an additional 8.4 percent are near multidimensional poverty. With regard to the Gender Inequality Index, the Philippines ranks 89th out of 155 countries, with a value of 0.420.

Meanwhile, our Gender Development Index is at 0.977 and higher than the average of the medium HDI group, and countries in the East Asia and the Pacific.

Around 40 percent of our workers are also categorized under “vulnerable employment,” which is measured in terms of the number of unpaid family workers and own-account workers as a percentage of total employment. Youth unemployment is at a high of 15.7 percent in 2014.

In terms of indicators related to freedom from fear, 62 percent of Filipino respondents in a Gallup Poll (2014) said they feel safe walking during the night in the area where they live. This is relatively higher than the average for medium-development countries, which is 59 percent and those with low human development at 53 percent. However, 71 percent of respondents in countries with very high human development feel safer in a similar situation. Moreover, we have around 77,000 internally displaced persons from their homes and an annual average of about 98,000 homeless people due to disasters. Vulnerability of our citizens to conflicts and disasters still exists in various parts of the country and are sources of insecurity.

In terms of trusting the national government and the judicial system, 69 percent and 63 percent of the respondents answered “yes,” respectively. This is similar to the percentages of respondents among countries in the medium human-development category and much higher than those in the low human-development cluster at 48 percent and 49 percent, respectively. Finally, in terms of overall life satisfaction with 10 as the highest, Filipino respondents in the same poll had an average response of 5.3 percent, again higher than those in medium human-development countries at 4.7 percent and low human-development countries at 4.4 percent.

These data show that the Philippines has already improved in many aspects of human security. Nonetheless, there are still a lot of work required for a broader impact and sustainable growth. The next president should prioritize on how to build on these indicators, which can facilitate poverty reduction, lower risks and vulnerabilities, and make our economic growth inclusive.

Dean and professor of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University, Dr. Fernando T. Aldaba is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Human Development Network.

Friday, April 29, 2016 A11

Teddy Locsin Jr.

FREE FIRE Continued from A1 The Japanese continued the practice in the parts of China they conquered. Which is why, if we join the Japanese Navy for naval exercises with the US in the South China Sea, I dearly hope China nukes us. The Chinese have not forgiven the addiction of China to British rule. Today most drugs come from Chinese sources.

Drugs and the crimes they spawn are a problem only Duterte can solve or seriously start to do so. It is not a problem of logistics. It is beyond a problem of law enforcement. It is a question of character. And character cannot be hired. It can only be

elected to power. Do you hate the problem enough to break the law, to stamp it out by any means, even if they are legally and morally wrong?

The cure must be worse than the disease for the cure to work. Disease just makes the patient sick; this cure kills him. Do you have what it takes to be the cure that is worse than the disease and kill it? Only Duterte has said, in a powerful moment, as he turned away from the camera, “My God, how I hate drugs.” But in Sunday’s ABS-CBN debate, Duterte admitted that he might fail. He will try, however; and when he says he will try, that means thousands will die. Good. We all know it is Duterte

Noel is significantly bothered by Duterte. There is a bit of mystification here when he comes up with three items that best explain the popularity of Duterte.

Noel talks of the “instant,” the “mall” and the “digital” generation. He enumerates the many instant in our life but he goes further by bringing in another institution—the mall—where the instant products are available. with blinders.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago, for this ardent communications teacher, is still a product of the old school of rhetoric, a tradition that includes hand gestures. For Noel, watching Santiago brings back “memories of declamation and oratorical contests.”

Noel is significantly bothered

or nobody; in the words of the great Roman, Aut Caesar Aut Nihil—either Caesar or nothing.

Drugs and the crimes they spawn have escalated into a national security problem. This is how a foreign power can control us, body and soul.

Only Duterte has said without a moment’s hesitation that he will shoot his kids if he catches them with drugs. That is the best rehab program ever. Death works and it buries the problem out of sight. In Davao a billionaire planter is a known drug addict, not a dealer, just addict; he likes the stuff. Duterte must kill him as a sign of sincerity.

In the coming election, think about this. After six years of this administration, an entire country is on the verge of breakdown. Who can pull it back from the abyss? If not Duterte—for he promises to resign if he doesn’t make a deep dent in the problem within three to six months, who can do it in his place? Your choice of vice president

by Duterte. There is a bit of mystification here when he comes up with three items that best explain the popularity of Duterte. Noel talks of the instant, the “mall” and the “digital” generation. He enumerates the many “instant” in our life, but he goes further by bringing in another institution—the mall— where the instant products are available. The digital generation is seen as peopled by those who thinks everything is “clickable” and “downloadable.”

This generation, according to Noel, wants to see crime gone in an instant, or vanished in at least six months. We could not be “patient with the long and tedious process of genuine reform and social change that we want equitable distribution of wealth and resources like a downloadable digital file.”

Well said, Noel. Well taught, perhaps?

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com.

is important. Or can any of his rivals be—not do—but be—another Duterte? Because it is a question of character inherent in being Duterte.

This question was never raised in the debate. It is now raised before your political conscience.

I looked up the moral philosophy I took up at Harvard. John Rawls would argue that extrajudicial executions are not defensible philosophically, but he qualified that the demands of justice are valid only in societies that are, for the most part, just; or where the possibility of achieving just conditions is distinctly real. This is not the case in the Philippines. So, yes, extrajudicial executions are okay. Duterte, gave as a compelling example, the man who raped a baby so brutally its vagina split wide open and its stomach cavity was exposed by the strength of his thrusts and the size of his member. Duterte did not elaborate, but I assume the man swallowed a bullet.

Keep junk food off kids’ TV (and the Internet)

T

HE many campaigns that have been waged over the past decade to get American children to avoid unhealthy foods have not been fruitless. The national childhood obesity rate has stopped rising.

Yet, neither is it falling. What kids need is not just a better diet, but also a better media diet.

The United States childhood obesity rate stands firm at 17 percent. And many overweight children and adolescents in the US are growing even heavier. The number who are severely obese—with a body mass index of 35 or even 40—has reached 4.6 million. Reducing childhood obesity will require moving beyond school-based strategies to address what and how much kids eat at home.

One way to do this is with a soda

tax, such as the one proposed in Philadelphia, which is now at the center of a disagreement between the Democratic presidential candidates.

Hillary Clinton has endorsed the local effort to put a 3-cents-an-ounce tax on sugary beverages, while Bernie Sanders has denounced it because its burden would fall most heavily on the poor.

What Sanders fails to acknowledge is that the benefit of the tax would also be greatest for the poor— and their children—who consume a large share of sugary drinks. A nationwide soda tax could lower consumption of sugary drinks by 20 percent, according to one model.

To offset the measure’s regressive cost, Philadelphia and other cities and states considering soda taxes should spend the revenue on other

obesity-prevention campaigns in poor neighborhoods.

Another approach is to limit the advertisements for high-calorie, lownutrition foods that children see on television and online. Evidence accumulated over decades demonstrates that such ads cause children to eat more. Yet, public-health efforts to get food makers to cut back on the ads have faced overwhelming resistance, while the food industry’s modest voluntary strategies have been ineffective.

At the very least, companies should not get a tax break for advertising junk food to children.

(Under the current tax code, advertising and marketing costs are deductible expenses.) A bill that would eliminate this deduction, which died in the last Congress,

should be reintroduced and passed.

Finally, doctors need to come to a consensus about how best to prevent and treat childhood obesity, as specialists have for adult obesity. The average primary-care doctor has as many as 50 severely obese children in his or her practice. Too often, doctors neglect to counsel children (and their parents) to avoid high-calorie foods and long hours in front of the TV or computer, under the influence of food ads.

Obese kids suffer all sorts of ill effects, from high blood sugar to low self-esteem. More often than not, they turn into obese adults. Saving their lives—not to mention billions of dollars in medical costs and lost productivity—is going to take a more aggressive and concerted effort. Bloomberg View

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Friday, April 29, 2016

www.businessmirror.com.ph

GCG launches whistle-blowing portal

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HE Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) on Thursday launched the Whistleblowing Web Portal for government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), which will serve as a venue for concerned citizens and employees to anonymously report corruption in state corporations under the jurisdiction of the GCG. Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, reacting to the GCG announcement on the whistle-blowing portal, urged government agencies to step up their anticorruption efforts by following the lead of the GCG. Using the Web portal, whistleblowers may also follow up on their reports on corruption in the GOCCs by monitoring the status of the actions taken on their reports and by providing additional information to help the GCG investigate and build up cases based on such reports.

Along with the launch of the new Web portal, the GCG issued its revised whistle-blowing policy for the GOCC sector, which provides better protection for whistle-blowers by providing measures against possible retaliation against them and by ensuring the confidentiality of the information given by a whistle-blower, even if he waives his right to anonymity.

The new Web portal—www.whistleblowing.gcg.gov.ph—shall be the primary reporting portal for complaints of cor-

ruption and inefficiency against the GOCC sector, their officials and employees, including those of the GCG itself.

However, other reporting channels are still available for whistleblowers, such as face-to-face meetings, e-mail, mail, telephone and fax.

Since 2014, when the GCG launched its original whistle-blowing policy, some 100 reports of corruption had already been received from whistleblowers. These reports could either be dismissed for lack of merit, forwarded to the GOCC concerned for action, investigated upon, or referred to the proper government agency for investigation and prosecution.

The whistle-blowing policy is attuned to the intent of the law creating the GCG to scrutinize the GOCC sector, which had long been perceived to be marred by corruption, inefficiency and nepotism. The GCG, through its mandate to monitor the performance of GOCCs and recommend the merger or outright abolition of some GOCCs and streamline their operations,

managed to pull the GOCC sector back to profitability.

In 2014 the GOCC sector registered a net income of P258 billion, with 46 of the 102 remaining GOCCs remitting dividends to the National Treasury. This amount is net of the subsidies granted by the government to some GOCCs performing governmental functions.

Drilon, author of the landmark GOCC Governance Act of 2011, was the guest speaker at the launch of the GCG’s Whistleblowing Web Portal.

Drilon’s GOCC Governance Act of 2011, or Republic Act 10149, introduced reforms in the GOCC sector, which transformed state-run agencies from milking cows of corrupt officials into productive national assets.

Drilon said government offices must “emulate the GCG’s example,” emphasizing that setting up a webbased reporting system, where people can report corruption incidents in a secure manner, will enhance transparency and accountability in government offices. Under GCG’s whistle-blowing portal program, all GOCCs under the regulatory jurisdiction of the GCG is required to have a link in their respective web sites to the launched GCG whistleblowing portal. An accompanying regulation also enjoins the GOCCs to develop and implement their own whistleblowing systems.

“This kind of initiative can be a huge boost in our efforts to rid

the government of corrupt officials and employees. We must work on compelling each agency to put up a whistle-blowing online portal in order to encourage our people to speak up and report corruption cases,” Drilon said. “By having concerned individuals who are not afraid to expose or disclose the wrongdoing, our fight against corruption will have a better chance of succeeding.”

“Their disclosure will prompt the authorities to take action through investigation and prosecution, thus, saving resources and preventing damage to the organization,” Drilon added.

To encourage people to come forward and speak up, Drilon said it is important that the means by which people can report corruption incidents are secured and capable of protecting them.

“The main obstacle to blowing the whistle on corruption is the fear of retaliation. It is, therefore, important to ensure that our citizens are comfortable with the process and that the government has an adequate system that would protect them,” Drilon underscored.

Drilon also said that setting up Web portals for whistle-blowers is relatively easy and practicable, and are economical in the long run. “After all, these disclosures will help authorities to help take action against erring individuals, thus, saving resources and preventing damage to the organization.”