September 12, 2015

APEC FINANCE MINISTERS LAUNCH CEBU ACTION PLAN M

ACTAN, Cebu—Finance ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) on Friday formally launched the Cebu Action Plan (CAP), a 10year road map that aims to secure a “sustainable financial future” for the region.

The CAP, which will be submitted to Apec leaders, has four pillars: Promoting financial integration; advancing fiscal reforms and transparency; enhancing financial resilience; and accelerating infrastructure development and financing.

“The Cebu Action Plan that we launch today [Friday] is the work of a region facing forward in steadfast cooperation amid complex challenges and opportunities,”

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said.

“We hope the CAP emerges as the lasting legacy of the Philippines’s hosting. With 21 economies, multilateral institutions and private-sector support behind it, we are optimistic the CAP can be taken in the next meetings as a living body of continuing work— in our bid for a more prosperous, financially integrated, transparent, resilient and connected Asia Pacific,” Purisima added.

The deliverables of the CAP include the reduction of average transaction costs for remittances to around 5 percent in the next 10 years. Dr. Alan Bollard, executive director of the Apec Secretariat, told the BUSINESSMIRROR that, in some parts of the region, average

transaction cost for remittances is around 16 percent.

Lower transaction costs for remittances are expected to benefit migrant workers in Asia Pacific, including overseas Filipino workers.

Pushing to cut transaction costs for remittances is one of the targets identified under Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or reducing inequality within and among countries.

The target on remittances state that, by 2030, countries must reduce to less than 3 percent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 percent.

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THREETIME ROTARY CLUBB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDEE 2006, 2010, 2012

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A broader look at today’s business

SaturdaySeptember 18, 2014 Vol.12, 10 No. 40 Vol. 10 No. 338 Saturday, 2015

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I.M.F. CITES GOVERNMENT’S PERFORMANCE, SOUND MACROECONOMIC POLICY

‘PHL economy to withstand shocks’

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B C U. O

ACTAN, Cebu—The International Monetary Fund (IMF) considers the Philippines as among the strongest in the region, no matter the threat of a downward spiral presented by the slowing Chinese economy.

IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa on Friday told reporters that the country’s macroeconomic underpinnings remain strong enough to withstand shocks—such as a significantly slowed China, for instance, when it has to make exchange-rate adjustments on the yuan.

“We think that with the spillover effects, the Philippines will be less affected by the slowdown of the Chinese economy. We congratulate the performance and the [sound] macroeconomic policy of the government,” Furusawa said.

IMF Regional Director for Asia and that the Pacific Odd Per Brekk added the $285-billion economy of the Southeast Asian nation has

INSIDE

COPING WITH LIFE USING APPS Life

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Saturday, September 12, 2015

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Coping with life using apps SOMETHING LIKE LIFE MA. STELLA F. ARNALDO

http://stella-arnaldo.blogspot.com @Pulitika2010

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HE last time I watched a movie with a friend was probably that Tagalog movie with Aga Muhlach where he played an environmentalist of some sort. That was quite a number of years ago, 2008 I think, so the details are a bit hazy, and the movie, I remember as atrocious and pretentious, though it was good for a few laughs.

I watched it with Ms. Philippines, who lives in Makati City, and though I live in Quezon City, I still managed to haul my carcass to The Power Plant Mall to catch it. It was a weekend, which meant there was less traffic, but as was my usual way, I took the MRT for that 15- or 20-minute trip to Makati. There wasn’t the usual crush of people in the trains because it was a weekend, but even then, weekdays were no problem and there were no long queues like we have them today.

It was a time when all it took was a quick text or a phone call, and a movie date, lunch or dinner with friends was easily arranged even at the last minute. Even an out-of-town trip wasn’t too difficult to organize (unless gas prices were at skyhigh levels) and everybody would just pile into our friends’ vehicles and leave Manila for a short holiday.

These days, road trips, much less, meals with friends or family, take a lot of planning.

As a media colleague recently posted on Facebook, “traffic has killed our spontaneity and sense of adventure.”

I, for one, now prefer lunch appointments to dinners. The trip along Edsa is less tiresome at that time of the day, with more taxis or Uber service cars ready to ferry me to the meal destination. But even then, I’m more partial to a lunch date in Quezon City or the Pasig area. If in Makati City, it will really have to be a favorite host or close friend who I’m meeting for me to make that monstrous two-hour trip.

Did I mention that I now take Uber? Since that unfortunate incident where the MRT train shot through the rails and ended up on the concrete road along Edsa and Taft Avenue,

I’ve not taken the train. Besides, the queues now are just too long and strenuous. The line starts at 6 am and goes on for what feels like forever, so there is no such thing as off-peak MRT hours anymore. Also, with my bad left knee, it’s such a tough three-level climb to the ticketing area and the train platform since the elevators or the escalators at the station are usually busted.

So these days, I take Uber everywhere. It’s a transport service powered by an app that allows you to rent a car—not a cab—to take you anywhere in Metro Manila. And, yes, I mean anywhere. Unlike regular cabbies who can be choosy about picking up and ferrying passengers, Uber drivers are committed to taking their passengers from say, Quezon City to Alabang and, yes, even at the height of traffic.

Of course, it can get expensive especially if you’re stuck in traffic—my Uber rides cost about P1,500 to P2,000 a month charged to my credit card, compared to, say, just P100 to P200 via MRT plus P500 or so for short cab trips to and from the station. But the Uber trip is saner and safer. I can take cat naps in transit, without worrying the driver may have taken a roundabout way to my desired destination. (Still, I’d like to send my monthly Uber receipts one time to Malacañang and demand a reimbursement since I wouldn’t have resorted to this more expensive mode of transport, if only we had an efficient mass transport system in the Metro. Grrr.)

So even for work, unless it’s really huge event with top-level officials from the government and private sector, I usually will have to turn down invitations for press coverage if

the venue is too far. Makati City is my usual cut-off and any venue beyond that (e.g. SMX Convention Center or Resorts World in Pasay City, etc.) and I will have to beg off.

Most hosts understand the situation, and will e-mail me the press materials I need to make a piece. Then I supplement these materials by doing interviews via e-mail, or just call or text the officials or my sources for comments. (Mercifully, my favorite cabinet secretary has become more accessible via SMS, and usually answers with the two paragraphs I need to complete a story before deadline, unless he’s stuck in a meeting.)

And, so, we become increasingly dependent on technology to bring us to our destinations, or make those important meetings with clients, and even just to touch base with family and friends without going through horrendous traffic for actual meet-ups.

Apart from Uber, Waze has now become an important app for those who drive themselves to work. For those who still haven’t used it, Waze is an app that you can load on your smartphone or tablet, and it tells you the shortest, traffic-free route to your destination. Unless my Uber driver used to drive a taxi cab (and, thus, knows the ins-and-outs of Metro Manila and will take the shortcuts necessary for a quicker trip), I usually ask the driver to switch on Waze.

It’s been a lifesaver for me and usually gets me to where I’m going faster. Just recently, I made it to a press event in Makati City in an hour from the house, and about 20 minutes ahead of schedule by using Waze. It took me and Uber driver through little-known shortcuts through Mandaluyong—small inside roads good enough for only one car to pass—and out to Ayala Avenue.

If not quicker, at least Waze takes me away from the traffic chokepoints, so I get to my destination with my brain still fresh and functioning well, even if the trip may be longer. Drivers and their passengers prefer their cars to be constantly moving instead of being stuck in a jam. The app is efficient because of its ability to share vital information, like car accidents, traffic standstills, police locations, etc., to all its users, as reported by other users.

Of course, I still had to modify my lifestyle in the sense that I get up earlier to go to meetings or media coverages. There was a time when I could wake up at 10 am, and still get to a press lunch in Makati City by noon via the MRT. But since I’ve gone back to traveling by road, a noon media coverage means I have to be awake by 8:30 am, so I can be out the door and on the road by 10 am. (Yes, yes, it takes me at least two hours to get ready for the outside world. I’m a girl, ano ba?)

Viber has also been such a great help

especially if the official or the source I’m interviewing is abroad. It’s also an app for smartphones and tablets (Viber has a desktop version—Ed.), which enables you to place free calls and text messages to anyone here or abroad. It also has a group-messaging feature, which allows you to talk to a greater number of people in one go. So my family, for one, uses it to chat with my niece who works in Abu Dhabi, or just generally update each other with news about our lives. Recently, for instance, that niece and her husband went on a short holiday to Dubai, and she posted photos of themselves enjoying their resort.

In a way, Viber affords a more intimate way of communication between my relatives and me, and we can converse unobtrusively without the entire world looking in (as it usually is on Facebook or Twitter, for instance).

Of course, there’s still nothing better than a face-to-face meal with friends and family, with matching wine and song to unwind, without a care in the world. And despite the limitations to spontaneity brought on by the traffic, we do make the ultimate sacrifice of traversing choked roads and flyovers just to have a meal and entertaining conversations with the people we love. It doesn’t make being stuck in traffic less of a torment, but any fun time spent with our loved ones can be a salve for all that ugliness on the road.

BENEFIT CONCERT FOR GAWAD KALINGA ENCHANTED FFARM ALL SET

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.”

—George Bernard Shaw, playwright

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OME October 2, let your imagination take you to a different course, one that will not only change lives but also perspectives. Let the music of the original Spirit of ’67 become an instrument of an awakening that will greatly impact communities and the economy.

Happening at the Pavillion AB of Wack Wack Golf and Country Club is a benefit concert for Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm. Aptly titled “Imagine”, the show aims to generate awareness of the farm’s ongoing development programs and to introduce the School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development, otherwise known as SEED Philippines.

Touted as the first farm village university in the world, SEED Philippines is the first school for social entrepreneurship in the country to provide an innovative, educationbased solution to rural development through education and hands-on learning.

The event also aims to encourage individuals and/or companies to donate a classroom, a dormitory, or sponsor a scholarship to deserving students.

“The show is about building a Filipino dream,” says Tony Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga Community Development Founda-

tion Inc. (GK), a Philippine-based movement that aims to end poverty for 5 million families by first restoring the dignity of the poor.

He adds, “Can you imagine the Philippines as the hub for social entrepreneurs in Asia?

Can you imagine the country rising from poverty by creating inclusive wealth? Can you imagine the country with no social divide because the best educated Filipinos are using their genius to bring out the genius of the poor? Can you imagine a Philippines without

poverty simply because its citizens would no longer allow it? That’s what this whole concert is all about. Not just imagining — it’s actually doing, making it happen.”

A first of its kind, GK Enchanted Farm is part of the organization’s new phase in innovation that integrates sustainability in the rural communities through agriculture and the emerging field of social businesses.

Its first prototype is found in Angat, Bulacan.

“Our ambition is simple: in 10 years time,

many children of the poor will become successful business owners, not laborers. The basic problem of education is we are educated not to become producers but as consumers. We are educated to be job-seekers, not job-givers.

GK Enchanted Farm addresses the root of the problem, which is the lack of development in the rural countryside, in partnership with the Philippine government and the private sector, and with strong linkages with universities in the country and abroad. The organization intends to raise 500,000 social entrepreneurs by the year 2024 to create inclusive businesses with a big social relevance and a focus on agri-business,” Moleto adds.

While GK Enchanted Farm has established an inclusive platform for creating social businesses, the organization also believes that there is a need to invest in the education of children from poor families, mostly coming from the farmers, to create even more opportunities in the rural countryside.

SEED Philippines provides full student scholarships to high potential and talented public school students who, otherwise, will not be able to afford to pursue higher learning. It prepares students to create social enterprises that will develop rural areas through job and wealth creation. Introduced last year, SEED Philippines provides a twoyear certificate, while seeking accreditation to expand into a four-year Bachelors degree program. It is delivered in partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. GK is also currently in talks

with the Commission on Higher Education for accreditation, with plans to expand its reach to 24 GK Enchanted Farm sites, 122 universities and colleges, and other partner organizations to provide quality education to thousands of students in rural communities across the country.

Joining the featured band at the benefit concert are the GK Enchanted Farm student choir and the former street children of Tatalon, a slum area along Araneta Avenue, Quezon City, where a GK Village is also present. These kids are now college students and graduates, and have formed a chorale group that has toured Singapore twice.

Other activities lined up for the show are exhibit installations for the different advocacies of GK, with tour guides explaining details of the different sections. There will also be product booths to drive sales for the GK artisans.

Meloto concludes, “This concert is about Filipinos dreaming together. It’s about miracles of solidarity. Our generation joins today’s generation in building a society where no one is left behind to remain poor. I imagine a country where the streets will be safe for our children because there will be less slums, there will be less informal settlers, there will be less homeless people.”

For more information on tickets, call (02) 886-4950 or e-mail adcentralevents@gmail. com. For inquiries on donations to Gawad Kalinga, contact Angela Monique Angelo at ambangelo@gawadkalinga.com.

LIFE

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SEARCH FOR 22 MISSING The

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B2-1 | Saturday, September 12, 2015 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

RESIDENTS paddle a boat past a traffic light in the flooded road in Joso, Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of TTokyo, on Friday. The sun came out a day after a raging river washed away houses and forced people to rooftops, as dozens of residents were airlifted out by military helicopters on Friday morning after waiting overnight in the city. KYODO NEWS VIA AP

Search on for 22 missing in flooded Japanese city

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OSO, Japan—Rescue workers searched for more than 20 missing people in a flooded city near Tokyo on Friday, as the sun came out a day after a raging river washed away houses and forced people to rooftops.

Dozens of residents were airlifted out by military helicopters on Friday morning, after waiting overnight in Joso city, just northeast of Japan’s capital. They arrived at an athletic field in the city, carrying a few clothes and food in shopping bags, some of them without shoes.

City officials said 22 people were missing after they had lost contact with them following requests for rescue. Three were injured, including one seriously. More than 3,500 people were staying in evacuation centers.

Some 300 kilometers to the north, another river overflowed into the city of Osaki on Friday, swamping homes and fields and

stranding 60 people, according to media reports.

In Joso, Hisako Sekimoto, 62, spent a sleepless night on the second floor of her flooded house with her husband and three cats before they were airlifted by a Self Defense Force helicopter early Friday. Minutes after the floodwater gushed into the house on Thursday afternoon, all of their furniture was floating and the water was up to her neck.

“There was no time to escape—all we could do was go upstairs. It was horrifying,” she said. “I kept praying the water wouldn’t come upstairs.”

Central and eastern Japan were doused with unusually heavy rains

on Wednesday and on Thursday on the heels of Tropical Storm Etau that triggered flooding and landslides.

A body of a woman in her 60s was found after a landslide hit a few houses at the foot of a steep, wooded hill in Kanuma city, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

The water had somewhat subsided in Joso on Friday, but the city remained largely flooded, and it was not immediately known when the evacuees will be able to return home.

On Thursday the rising waters of the Kinugawa River broke through a flood berm, sending water gushing into the city of 60,000 people about 50 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.

Live video on Thursday on Japanese broadcasters showed a series of dramatic rescues by helicopter as residents waved for help from roof rooftops and second-floor balconies.

Reiko Yamaji, 75, was stranded at a supermarket with dozens of other shoppers while she and her daughter-in-law Tomoko, 41, were buying rain boots on their way to work. Part of the first floor was submerged under water.

“We spent the night in the car parked on the rooftop parking lot.

Water was cut and toilets were out of service, but I’m so glad we all

survived,” Yamaji said, turning a bit teary. She said her son, who was elsewhere in the city, was rescued by a boat.

Akira Motokawa, a city evacuation official, told public broadcaster NHK that rescuers have been unable to keep up with the volume of calls for help.

As of Thursday night, 3,580 people in the affected 37-square-kilometer area were sheltered at schools, community centers and other safer areas.

About 400 residents had evacuated to City Hall, carrying small bags of personal items.

Yuko Kawamoto, 58, said she decided to leave her home with her 80-year-old mother after watching TV images of the water pouring out of the embankment. “It almost looked like a tsunami,” she said.

She said the muddy water was ankle-deep when they left their house, carrying duffel bags and an umbrella each, and was almost up to their hips when they reached the evacuation center.

All told, 27 people have been injured by the storms in Japan, including three elderly women who were seriously hurt when strong winds knocked them over, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. AP

NEW YORK STATE OKS $15 BASIC WAGE FOR FASTFOOD WORKERS

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EW YORK —New York state will gradually raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour—the first time any state has set the minimum that high.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration approved the increase on Thursday, a move the Democratic governor announced at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden.

Cuomo said he would work to pass legislation setting a $15 minimum for all industries, a promise that comes as more and more cities around the country move toward a $15 minimum wage.

“Every working man and woman in the state of New York deserves $15 an hour,” the governor told the enthusiastic crowd of union members. “We’re not going to stop until we get it done.”

Biden predicted the $15 wage for fastfood workers would galvanize efforts across the country.

“You’re going to make every single governor in every single state in America look at themselves,” he said at the rally in New York City. “It’s going to have a profound impact.”

He said he and President Barack Obama remain committed to raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour.

The wage increase for fast-food workers in New York will be phased in over three years in New York City and over six years elsewhere in the state. It will apply to some 200,000 employees at large chain restaurants.

So far, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and the California cities of Oakland and Berkeley have approved phased-in increases that eventually will take their minimum wage to $15 an hour, or about $31,200 a year.

New York’s increase was recommended

by an unelected Wage Board created by Cuomo—a tactic that allowed the governor to circumvent the Legislature, where the Republican-led Senate has blocked big increases in recent years. The current $8.75 minimum is already set to rise to $9 at year’s end under a law passed by lawmakers in 2013.

Republicans held a hearing on Thursday into the process behind the fast-food wage increase, which some restaurant owners have said they may challenge in court.

Fast-food workers had pushed for the increase, noting their industry employs more low-wage workers than any other sector of the workforce. They say that unlike landscaping companies or child-care services, the fast-food business is dominated by multinational companies with billion-dollar profits.

Franchise owners, however, say the increase singles them out and gives an unfair advantage to mom-and-pop competitors that won’t have to raise wages.

Pat Pipino, owner of a Ben & Jerry’s icecream shop in Saratoga Springs, said some franchise owners could be forced out of business by the increase. He predicted that others may be forced to raise prices or cut positions to absorb the higher labor costs.

“By executive fiat, with the stroke of a pen, our financial model goes to pot,” he said.

Opposition by business groups and Senate Republicans will pose a significant hurdle for Cuomo’s proposed $15 minimum for all workers.

“Raising the wage floor in New York that far that fast could lead to unintended consequences such as severe job losses and negatively impact many businesses who are already struggling just to keep their heads above water,” said Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan of Long Island. AP

US plans to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees W ASHINGTON—The United States is making plans to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming budget year, a significant increase from the 1,500 people who have been cleared to resettle in the US since civil war broke out in the Middle Eastern country more than four years ago, the White House said on Thursday.

The White House has been under heavy pressure to do more than just provide money to help meet the growing humanitarian crisis in Europe. Tens of thousands of people from war-torn countries in the Middle East and Africa are risking their lives and dying en masse during desperate attempts to seek safe haven on the continent.

The refugees from Syria, however, would be people who are already in the pipeline and waiting to be let into the United States, not the thousands working their way through eastern Europe after landing in Greece.

It was not immediately clear how admitting a larger number of Syrian refugees who are in the processing pipeline would help alleviate the crisis that European countries are grappling with.

White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said about $4 billion that the administration has provided to relief agencies and others is the most effective way for the US to help shoulder the crisis, but that President Barack Obama has decided that admitting more Syrian refugees in the budget year that begins October 1 would also help boost the US response.

About 17,000 Syrians have been referred over the last few years to the US for resettlement by the UN refugee agency.

About 1,500 are in the US, with another 300 scheduled to be allowed in this month.

That leaves about 15,000 Syrians waiting for the clearance process to conclude, ac according to the State Department.

Obama would like to admit 10,000 of

those, according to Earnest’s announcement.

US State Department Spokesman John Kirby also said the 10,000 Syrians will come from the pool of 17,000 people referred to the US by the UN agency.

Earnest said earlier this week that the administration has been looking at a “range of approaches” for assisting US allies with 340,000 people freshly arrived from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Many are fleeing parts of Iraq that are under the Islamic State group’s control.

The 1,500 Syrians who are resettling in the US represent a small percentage of the 11.6 million people who have been chased out of the country or uprooted from their homes due to the civil war in Syria.

US Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers on Wednesday that the US will increase its worldwide quota for resettling refugees by 5,000, from 70,000 to 75,000 next year—and the number could still rise, according to two officials and a congres-

sional aide who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Kerry said after meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee members that the US would increase the number of refugees it is willing to accept. He did not provide a specific number.

“We are looking hard at the number that we can specifically manage with respect to the crisis in Syria and Europe,” he said Wednesday.

Germany is bracing for some 800,000 asylum seekers this year.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kerry’s predecessor at the State Department, called for an “emer “emergency global gathering” at the UN General Assembly meeting this month, where countries could pledge aid money and to accept some of the migrants.

House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the US should increase the number of refugees it

SYRIAN refugees arrive aboard a dinghy after crossing from Turkey to the island of Lesbos, Greece, on Thursday. AP/Petros Giannakouris resettles next year by more than the 5,000 figure to help European countries, saying that the figure suggested by Kerry “is far too low.” Pelosi said the US accepted far more refugees after the Vietnam War and could do so again.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said he would be surprised if Pope Francis does not raise the refugee issue when he visits separately with Obama and members of Congress in two weeks. “We should be ready to respond,” Durbin said. AP

WORLD

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HOUSEHOLD SAVINGS DOWN IN Q3 DESPITE LOW INFLATION B B C

BusinessMirror

World

satisfactorily met most of the stringent macroeconomic yardsticks the multilateral imposes on membernations, including the prevailing low-inflation regime.

Brekk said that while inflation has proven lower than the officially sanctioned 2-percent to 4-percent target of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, He and Furusawa acknowledged the Philippines is not in danger of posting negative inflation.

Inflation averaged 1.7 percent in the January-to-August period.

August inflation stood at only 0.6 percent, a record low.

“Regarding inflation, it’s not only the question on the Philippines.

[The] risk of low inflation [is] the one

ESPITE the significantly slower growth in consumer prices in recent months, fewer Filipinos were able to allot money for their savings in the July-to-September period, due largely to expenditures related to education.

In a recent survey, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) found out that the percentage of households with savings in the third quarter of the year declined to 28.9 percent, down from the 33.9 percent seen in the previous

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 46.9260

quarter of the year.

This, despite the slower inflation rate in the previous months, most recently decelerating to below 1 percent in July and August.

“The lower savings outlook could be due to respondents’ increased expenditures on education and health, as well as the anticipated higher spending for other basic goods and services for the current and next quarters,” the central bank said.

Across geographical distribution, the BSP said the decrease in savings rate was largely driven S “H,” A

PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION President Aquino graces the 23rd Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) general meeting at a hotel in Pasay City on Friday with the theme “Growth Engines for the 21st Century: Balanced, Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.” Founded in 1980, the PECC is a regional organization that has been in the forefront of understanding and examining the forces transforming the regional economy. Also in photo are (front row, from left) PECC Cochairman Jusuf Wanandi, Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo and PECC Cochairman Donald Campbell. JOSEPH VIDAL / MALACAÑANG

Lawmakers agree to relax Timta’s penalty provisions in bicam meet B C N. P

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HE two chambers of Congress have removed in their bicameral conference committee meeting a provision in the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act (Timta) that withdraws the perks granted to investors who would fail to comply with the reportorial requirement at first instance.

This is a way to address the business sector’s opposition to the bill, as it effectively gives more leeway to investors.

“We are finalizing smaller details, like periods for submission and penalties. We’ve removed the penalty of loss of incentives in the

first instance of failure to file incentives information, which was seen to be quite harsh by some and the agencies [the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Finance] they were flexible,” Ways and Means Senate Committee Chairman Juan Edgardo M. Angara said in a text message on Thursday.

The Senate and the House of Representatives held a closed-door meeting on Tuesday to reconcile their conflicting provisions in the bill.

The penalty to withdraw incentives from companies that fail to comply with the reportorial requirement was introduced by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) during deliberations on the bill.

According to the proposed bill,

all heads of the investment-promotion agencies must submit to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) investment-related data, which will include the list of registered business entities, investment projects, investment cost, actual employment and export earnings. For the tax-incentives data, the finance department will furnish the Neda a copy of the reports submitted by the BIR and the Bureau of Customs.

The data and information will be reflected by the Department of Budget Management in the annual Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing, particularly in a section to be called the Tax Incentives Information.

n JAPAN 0.3888 n UK 72.5007 n HK 6.0550 n CHINA 7.3584 n SINGAPORE 33.2055 n AUSTRALIA 33.2384 n EU 52.9044 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.5159 Source: BSP (11 September 2015)

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Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Saturday, September 12, 2015 A2

Poe beats residency problem at SET

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By Joel R. San Juan

EC exec sees FTA with PHL soon

HE Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) on Friday dropped the residency issue and decided to just focus its investigation on the citizenship issue raised in the disqualification complaint filed against Sen. Grace Poe, a potential presidential candidate in next year’s elections.

During Friday’s preliminary conference, the SET chairman, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, suggested to the other members of the tribunal that the residency issue be dropped as the case had already prescribed.

Thus, the oral argument on the disqualification case filed by defeated 2013 senatorial bet Rizalito David, which was set on September 21, will focus on the issue of her being a natural-born Filipino citizen.

Poe’s lawyer, Alexander Poblador, said all parties agreed to drop the residency issue.

Poblador, who accompanied the senator during the preliminary conference, said the case was directed not so much as to her

election to the Senate as to the possibility of her seeking higher office in 2016.

“The petition has more to do with what will happen in 2016 rather than her current seat in the Senate,” Poblador pointed out.

Poblador maintained that Poe, the topnotcher in the 2013 senatorial race, is a natural-born Filipino and had met the residency requirement when she ran for the Senate more than two years ago.

“We have sufficient evidence to prove that Senator Poe met the citizenship and residency requirements for cong ressio nal candidates when she ran and won in the 2013 midterm elections,” he said.

The preliminary conference started at around 10 a.m. and

By Catherine N. Pillas

T

SEN. GRACE POE answers questions from reporters at the Supreme Court before the start of the preliminary hearing of the Senate Electoral Tribunal on questions of her residency and citizenship on Friday.

lasted only for 30 minutes.

The SET is composed of Sens. Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Bam Aquino, Cynthia Villar, Vicente Sotto III and Nancy Binay.

Apart from the six senators, the other members of SET are SC Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion.

In an interview, Poe described as

“sentimental” her attendance in the preliminary conference considering that the citizenship of her late father, action-star Fernando Poe Jr., was also questioned before the Supreme Court when he decided to seek the presidency in 2004.

“Ito po ay replay ng nangyari sa aking tatay. Medyo sentimental nga po ang aking pagdalo ngayon,”

Poe told reporters.

The SC ruled in March 2004 that Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen under the provisions of the 1935 Constitution.

Poe said she personally attended the hearing to show the members of the SET and her accuser that she has nothing to hide and that she is a true Filipino.

BSP pushes use of e-money to improve govt fiscal reforms, transparency

Malacañang defers sanctions against erring MMDA, local governments for daily traffic mess

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T

By Cai U. Ordinario

ACTAN, Cebu—The Bangko Sentral is prioritizing the use of e-money to increase financial inclusion in the country and lessen face-to-face interactions to improve the government’s good governance efforts.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said in a briefing here on Thursday night that e-money is one of the things the central bank is pursuing through the National Retail Payment System (NRPS).

Espenil la said gover nance is important because it allows players to interact with one another and define the areas they can cooperate on. As such, it also inspires financial innovations.

“The idea is also to create the national retail and payment system that is basically largely self-governed by the players. [It is] potentially inefficient if the government or the regulator calls the shots because that can be an impediment to innovation. That’s one of the objectives here not [to be the] only one to have authority, but to accommodate innovations,” Espenilla said.

The NRPS paved the way for the

merger of the two largest automated teller machine networks in the country, Megalink and Bancnet, in January 2015.

BancNet and Megalink signed a memorandum of agreement, which was considered by the central bank as a “milestone” in the banking community and highlights the need to build a single payments system in the country in the future.

Financial inclusion is also part of the four pillars of the Cebu Action Plan (CAP) that Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) finance ministers have discussed and adopted in the Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting.

This is under the second pillar, fiscal reforms and transparency, which aims to promote sound fiscal policy and accessibility of data on state revenues and expenditures.

By allowing greater scrutiny, CAP proponents believe, governments will be forced to improve efficiency of public spending. The CAP is a 20year development road map for the Asia-Pacific region that was drafted by the Philippines with inputs from other Apec member-economies, multilateral organizations and the private sector through the Apec Business Advisory Council.

By Butch Fernandez HE Palace is deferring action to hold accountable negligent Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officials and erring local government officials for failing to take preventive steps to avert worsening traffic chokepoints in the metropolis’ major thoroughfares.

“Perhaps, that can be [the subject of] a discussion for a later time,” Palace Deputy Spokesman Abigail Valte said on Friday.

“Right now efforts are concentrated on measures to alleviate the situation,” she explained.

But even before that, Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. sought to absolve MMDA officials, led by Chairman Francis N. Tolentino, who were being blamed by millions of irate Metro Manila commuters getting stranded for hours almost daily owing traffic gridlocks.

Asked if the Malacañang was going to hold remiss MMDA and local government officials

to account for their failure to do preventive steps to mitigate traffic jams, including clearing drainage and road obstructions, Coloma opted to exculpate Tolentino’s agency.

“The MMDA has carried out its responsibilities in terms of flood control and drainage, in collaboration with the Department of Public Works and Highways [DPWH] that is the lead agency in implementing 20-year flood-control master plan,” Coloma claimed.

He added that the MMDA has also been working with local governments in clearing road obstructions.

“The severe traffic congestion that was triggered

by heavy rains and flash floods clearly showed the inadequacy of existing road and floodcontrol infrastructure that will take time to be scaled up,” Coloma asserted, adding that, “Traffic enforcers will also have to work doubly hard to improve their responsivenes such that, if last Tuesday’s situation recurs, normal traffic flow may be restored more expeditiously.”

Va lte admitted t hat t he gover nment was a lso anticipating a much worse traf f ic mess in t he metropolis dur ing t he coming Chr istmas season.

“Kasama na dito ang pagtatanggal ng DPWH ng mga balakid sa maaliwalas na gamit di lamang ng mga main road kundi ang mga alternative routes na gagamitin,” she said. “Sinisumulan natin ang pagsasaayos sa Edsa [Epifanio de los Santos Avenue] para mas gumaan ang daloy ng trapiko.”

Valte added: “Umaaasa ang lahat ng nakatutok dito na ang mga hakbang na ito, kasama ng pagde-deploy ng Highway Patrol Group sa Edsa, ay makatulong sa sitwasyon.”

HE enactment of the Philippine competition law may expedite ongoing talks for a European-Philippines Free Trade Agreement (FTA), said a European Commission (EC) official on Thursday.

Tiina Pitkanen, EC policy officer on Trade Negotiations–Competition Clusters said, the passage of the Philippine competition law in July signals the readiness of the country in tackling antitrust issues.

This is significant, as the competition section is an integral part of any FTA that the EU crafts, and the Philippine competition law reflects what the country is willing to commit to, in future bilateral talks.

“This is one of the issues that we wanted the Philippines to achieve before we started negotiations with the Philippines, so talks on this part can be finalized. The EU always has a competition pillar in its FTAs,” said Pitkanen, in a Competition Policy Forum organized by the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.

“The competition section is really one of the behind-the-border issues that we want because it will ensure that market access and rules we lay out will be effective,” Pitkanen explained.

Pitkanen clarified that, in terms of the progress on the EU-Philippines FTA, they are just in the tail end of the scoping stage, and formal negotiations have yet to be launched.

Competition is a key factor considered by trade negotiators in determining the degree of market access allowed in a trade deal.

Market access is a basic component of any FTA. While particular sections in the FTA have not yet been discussed, based on previous FTAs of the EU, the competition section is usually accompanied by provisions on subsidy control and rules on state-owned enterprises, so that may figure into future discussions, Pitkanen said.

The EU is now keeping a close watch that the implementing rules of the competition law, being crafted by the Department of Trade and Industry, will ensure strict enforcement of the law.

Penalties, in particular, should have a significant deterrent effect to ensure a level playing field, Pitkanen added.

Under the competition law, administrative fines range from a low of P50,000 to P250 million.

Cr iminal penalties include impr isonment of a per iod of two to seven years, and a fine ranging from P50 million to P250 million.

Accompanied ‘balikbayan’ box yields taxable goods Rebs burn construction equipment

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By Recto Mercene

HE Bureau of Customs on Friday collected P85,000 in duties and taxes from a Filipino traveler whose balikbayan box yielded undeclared assorted timepieces, toiletries and shoes.

Airport Customs Deputy Collector for Operations Belinda Copioso identified the passenger, who is a frequent traveler as shown by his passport, as Crisencio Arreta, 62, who arrived onboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR 103 from Los Angeles around 4 a.m.

While waiting for his three pieces of luggage, Arreta was unaware that all arriving accompanied cargo from the United States are subjected to x-ray examination since

the US is a source of guns, ammunition and taxable goods.

When Arreta’s three pieces of luggage, including the balikbayan box, came out of the carousel, the box showed chalk markings, identifying it as containing taxable items.

Copioso said that based on the x-ray examination, the balikbayan box contained items that should be examined and assessed for duties and taxes.

When asked by Customs Examiner Carol Buensuceso if he had anything to declare, Arreta reportedly replied “nothing,” whereupon she proceeded to have Arreta’s belongings subjected to examination and found 68 pieces of assorted name-brand wristwatches, 31 bottles of assorted per-

fumes and four pairs of shoes.

Arreta complained that he travels to Los Angeles at least once a month and that his luggage had never been inspected before in Manila.

He said he declares the content of h is belong i ngs on ly upon a r r iva l at the Davao International A ir port, his final destination.

Copioso said the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) is the entry point to the country and all accompanied luggage suspected of containing taxable goods are subjected to visual examination.

“All transshipped cargo from foreign countries that enter the Naia will definitely undergo x-ray scanning to determine the content of every luggage,” she said.

N

EW People’s Army guerrillas attacked on Thursday the depot of a construction company in Compostela Valley and burned heavy equipment, the police said.

Supt. Antonio Rivera, spokesman for the Southern Mindanao police command, said the incident occurred at around 11 p.m. on Thursday at Purok 7, Maparat, Compostela Valley.

Rivera said initial reports indicate that eight men aboard four motorcycles attacked the head office and depot of Verlin Construction Inc. and burned a bulldozer, a back hoe and two dump trucks.

He said the attack was brief because the rebels immediately left after setting the construction equipment on fire.

The assailants also left, using the four motorcycles. Rivera said that policemen set up checkpoints in coordination with soldiers, who were tasked to capture the rebels. He said soldiers were still conducting pursuit operations as of Friday afternoon.

Rivera said the burning incident was the latest atrocity to be committed by rebels, noting Compostela Valley has been spared from rebel attacks during the past weeks. Rene Acosta

LOCATED in one of the most prime addresses in Manila, 8 Adriatico is the perfect residence for those who are enthralled by Manila’s unique vibe. Featuring a design that depicts both modern and Old World charms, the development has captured the true essence of the city.

PASSIONATELY MANILA: THIS IS YOUR LIFE AT 8 ADRIATICO

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B M. L G

HE spirit of Manila inspires in a prime address that embraces the old and the new.

It’s hard not to fall in love with life in Manila. The capital has a real and raw charisma that those who choose to live simply and smartly find irresistible. Here, the Old World and modern times converge with bright optimism in colorful scenes, activities and characters. Historical sights stand minutes away from commercial structures.

Cars share the boulevard with a kalesa or two. App-guided tourists buy fresh coconut juice from street vendors. Citizens walk cobblestoned paths toward paved roads… Manila has found the middle ground between the past and the present, and it inspires a life that is buzzing with progress and style. Business district, port area, cultural destination and leisure capital – it is all of these, an inspiring and intriguing mix of entertainment, education and enterprise This is why grounded, happy and hard-working Manileños with an eager eye on the future and an appreciation for where they came

from passionately call it their home.

Manila, vibrant and free, is a place where they know things get done and people have fun.

Offering access to this unique Manila lifestyle is 8 Adriatico, a new development from Eton Properties. The elegant 42-storey condominium at the corner of Padre Faura and Bocobo Streets in Malate is a mixed-use building, providing both residential and SOHO (small-officehome-office) spaces to tenants who need to be at the heart of it all. Estimated to appreciate in value in coming years, it makes a profitable investment for future lessors as well.

Centrally located and beautifully designed, it reflects the very best of Manila and those it calls its own.

A life to love

AT 8 Adriatico, comfort and ease amidst exciting surroundings are promised. Professionals, expats, tourists, students and families living and working here are always well within

reach of malls, hospitals, schools, famous Manila landmarks and other attractions. At present, 8 Adriatico is home to a mix of expats, locals and even long staying tourists. The area buzzes with the energy of the young and old as they do business, go to school, visit places, try new things and make the most out of life.

The options are plenty. A walk amid the storied, crumbling walls of Intramuros and Rizal Park make for an enlightening day of history. Nearby is the National Museum for those who wish to learn more about Filipino heritage. Other close-by educational attractions are the Manila Ocean Park and the Manila Zoo. Art fans can visit the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the many independent art galleries in Ermita. They may also purchase works by undiscovered talents who sell their paintings, sculptures and other works on the street.

And found everywhere—in between malls, vintage curio stores, quaint cafes and fastfood chains—are evidence of lovely Old Manila architecture.

They are found in churches like the Malate Church, San Agustin Church and the Manila Cathedral, government buildings such as the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, bridges, archways, small parks and decorative water fountains.

Across Roxas Boulevard,

joggers are silhouetted against the gorgeous Manila Bay sunset and photographers congregate to capture the stunning vista. In the evening, music lounges, restaurants and bars satisfy night life cravings with their gustatory offerings and live performances.

Spanish, Chinese and Filipino dining establishments abound, too, offering a heritage tour of their own for the taste buds. And soon, Roxas Boulevard will have its own scene once more, thanks to rehabilitation plans by the local government.

Shopping is a breeze, too, with malls and the markets of Baclaran, Quiapo and Chinatown within reach. Major thoroughfares and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations are also nearby, helping residents reach other key destinations with utmost convenience.

A space to own

APPROACHING 8 Adriatico, one appreciates the essence of Manila even more. Outside, the building’s clean lines reflect the modern Manileño taste. Inside, those who call it home or have work quarters here are welcomed by polished marble, wooden panels, mirrors with skillful woodwork and motifs reminiscent of affluent, mid-century Manila. Shared spaces like the pool area and driveway are decorated with woven rattan furniture and tropical plants.

Manila’s vibe continues to inspire, with 8 Adriatico’s display units incorporating indigenous materials

like bamboo into the streamlined interiors. Future owners can adapt the look in their own studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom or office units, or fashion their own. Each space is Move-In Ready™and can be combined for extra breathing room.

“Our mindset when we designed 8 Adriatico is to emphasize the trend of minimalism, accentuated with local ornamentation. Through this, we were able to reveal the true essence of Manila, with a taste of both modern and long standing charms,” said Nicole Resurrecion‐Ouano, managing design partner of ROD, the firm chosen by Eton Properties to design the shared areas and model units.

When owners need a break from the liveliness of Manila, the amenities on the sixth floor—adult and kid-sized pools, fitness center, function room and the landscaped garden—offer them recreation and relaxation.

As with all developments by Eton Properties, the condominium building is also outfitted with CCTV in common areas, extensive fire and smoke detection systems, and dependable emergency power for tenants’ 24-hour peace of mind.

Loving life in the city comes without stress or worry at 8 Adriatico.

Step out the door and meet the spirit of Manila. The stylish address, strategic location and security features of 8 Adriatico can be affordably enjoyed.

Manila—with its glorious mix of the old and the new, the fancy and the unfussy—can be called home.

THE ETON PROPERTIES PROMISE

With over 25 properties under its wing, Eton Properties continues to deliver unique developments that meet the residential, office, retail and mixed-use needs of the market. It also brings its expertise in developing, managing and leasing spaces in subdivisions, high-rise and mid-rise buildings, commercial centers, events venues, and even BPO hubs to provide lifestyle and enterprise centers in both prime locations and emerging growth areas.

A4 Saturday, September12, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Politics is a false friend to the economy

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e wrote in the middle of July that with the way things were going, the Aquino presidency would end with an economic whimper and not a bang. We have been worried for many months that conditions outside the control of the government would overtake all the grand plans and positive hopes for the future. We specifically cautioned that ignoring the economy for an emphasis on politics and the 2016 elections would not end well.

Unfortunately for the nation, our deep concerns are coming true.

At the beginning of 2015, the projection for economic growth was 7 percent.

The latest forecast from Standard & Poor’s has been reduced to 5.6 percent.

While this might seem like a meaningless number on a page, it represents a massive 20-percent reduction in the estimate.

The gross domestic product (GDP) in the Philippines was worth $284.58 billion in 2014. Had the economy grown by 7 percent, we would have added $57 billion to the economy. Instead, we will fall short by $11 billion. That is the equivalent of P5,000 less for every man, woman and child in the country.

That is P5,000 that will not contribute any taxes for government spending programs. That missing P5,000 will not be used to create more jobs. An additional P5,000 per person will not be available to attack poverty.

All the government press releases about what will happen in the future cannot counter the reality of what is happening today. For virtually every important statistics about the economy, the data is not good and still growing worse.

Exports are declining. Manufacturing and industrial production is not only lower than 2014, but has actually given up all the gains of 2014. Privatesector spending on expansion and new equipment has been falling all year.

The trend of foreign direct investments is down 40 percent in the first half of 2015 from 2014.

A headline from a newspaper that is very supportive of the administration reads: “Foreign direct investments reach $2.02B.” The lead sentence is, “Foreign direct investments [FDI] continued to enter the Philippines at a steady pace as stable macroeconomic fundamentals remained a major draw for multinationals.” In another paper, the headline more realistically reads: “FDI inflow plunges 40 percent to $2 B in H1.” Are we honestly expected to believe that this is just a simple interpretation of the “glass half-full, glass half-empty” idea?

The administration is not in control of external developments. But it must be prepared to react to those developments and not be concentrating on other matters, particularly the game of politics.

We lift the following dialogue in the novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway: “How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said.

“Gradually and then suddenly.” What brought it on?” “Friends,” said Mike. “I had a lot of friends. False friends.”

Politics is a false friend to economic growth. Perhaps the administration is going to suddenly realize that fact as a not-so-good economic year comes to an end.

Don’t worry, here’s why John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

O

f course, the global economic situation is worse today than a year ago. There is no question that the global financial and asset markets are in total chaos. The only surprise is, why are you surprised?

I have been writing for months that this would happen, why it would occur, and even when it would all come together.

Capital has flowed between the government and private sector for thousands of years. Believe it or not, this has been happening long before there were central banks, “quantitative easing” and Bloomberg financial television. The reversal of money flows happen on a regular cycle of major and minor waves, with predictable tops, bottoms and reversals.

During the period before the latest global economic crisis, a major private-sector cycle took place. Prior to the 2007 crescendo, all the money was flowing to the private sector in large part to finance home mortgages in the USA and Europe. While the West is obviously not “The World,” the economic impact of that side of the planet is massive.

You can see that in the privatesector investment cycle in the price of crude oil. In 1999 oil was $16.42 a barrel. The price went up to $142 a barrel in June 2008. Do you believe that

the supply-demand imbalance was so great as to justify nearly a 1,000percent price increase in 10 years?

Ignoring even yearly price volatility, oil is down nearly 70 percent since the peak. Again, is the supply-demand imbalance so great now—and a complete reversal from 2008—to justify that price decline? Of course not. It is that money has flowed out of crude oil into government sovereign—and government-guaranteed corporate— debt. Notice that global food prices are at a six-year low and still falling.

Now money is going to move back into the private sector with the cycle change at the end of September. Will crude oil go back up? Maybe. But the problem is that during this last cycle of government sector being in control, capital has been so badly misallocated, the global economy is stuck in the mud up to its eyeballs.

I’m not concerned that the Philippines can handle this cycle change, in spite of the fact that the government is totally clueless about was is happening and what is yet to come.

Note first that global interest

rates are at a 5,000-year low and this is totally insane. Forget about the Federal Reserve policy on interest rates. Rates are going higher because soon governments will no longer be able to borrow money at zero interest.

The Philippines is prepared for this as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised rates more than a year ago. Notice that the Philippine economy did not collapse as this is a cash—not debt-based—economy.

Notice also that the BSP has also significantly tightened real-estate lending requirements to avoid overheating and bad loans in the property sector. The property companies, likewise, have adjusted.

Global banks are also in the mud up to their eyeballs, while the Philippines has the strongest and most financially sound banks on earth.

That is because Philippine banks stick to borrowing your deposit money and lending for you to buy cars and houses, not to invest in the stock market or the latest pyramid scheme. More important, Philippine banks do not invest their own funds in the global pyramid scheme know as financial derivatives.

Other economies, like Brazil, are crashing. The Brazilian government thought that they could exist forever selling to China. In the same way, China thought they could sell forever to the US and Europe. The Philippines’s export economy is balanced between China, Japan and the US, and will soon move more strongly into Southeast Asia. Further, the Philippine economy is more balanced than the rest, between remittances,

service exports and domestic consumption. And do not worry about Philippine outsourcing until and unless the West decides to give up cell phones, banking, tourism and medical care. The same applies to our overseas workers.

As a side note, the studies you read that computers will replace live callcenter agents are being pushed by one major US company whose business strangely enough is developing the software to replace live agents.

Even the fact that the government has done nothing to prepare for this cycle change, focused only on preparing for the 2016 election, money flows are still positive. The stock market is down because of foreign funds moving back to the US. Foreign investment in the Philippines is virtually nonexistent.

But the key to the deal is the Philippine peso, which has only and properly reacted to general dollar strength, not dropping because of bad Philippine internals. Plus, the BSP has not done anything to support the peso’s value as proven by the negligible decrease in foreigncurrency reserves in 2015.

Both the economy and the local stock market will be much stronger in the months to come. Once again, TGYF—Thank God You’re Filipino.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com.

Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Analyzing the odds of a Fed rate increase Mohamed A. El-Erian

BLOOMBERG VIEW

A

s the debate about whether the Federal Reserve (the Fed) will begin raising interest rates next week reaches fever pitch, each side is being forced to adopt so-called corner solutions, arguing for their respective position with mounting conviction.

This is understandable, given the demand for a definitive answer.

But it also is unfortunate, because both camps fail to take account of some broader considerations that cloud any certainty.

At the simplest level of analysis, there is a 60/40 case in favor of a decision to begin the interest-rate normalization process at the Fed’s September 16 and 17 Open Market Committee meeting.

The 60 percent case reflects improving domestic economic conditions in the US, the Fed’s main focus and primary concern. Job creation is robust, wage pressures are gradually building, and the economy’s growth engines have bounced back from a disappointing start to the year.

The 40 percent case reflects

the global context in which the US economy and markets operate. This environment has been unusually fluid in recent weeks, and Fed officials are understandably hesitant to undertake any action that could add to the turmoil.

Almost every systemically important emerging economy is slowing, while Europe and Japan still struggle to develop growth potential. Financial volatility is on the rise. And at least two markets—oil and emerging-nation currencies—have been unhinged in a manner that causes

volatility elsewhere.

In addition, as the major immediate concerns about economic and financial instability have shifted from Europe and the US to the emerging world, markets have a lot less confidence in the ability of officials there to repress volatility. This has been accentuated by China’s unusually hesitant and inconsistent policy responses.

These calculations, however, fail to include the potential damage if the Fed decision turns out to be the wrong one. In other words, a rate hike could end up being the right policy at the wrong time. The odds on either side of the rate decision become a lot more balanced when they are adjusted for the possible consequences of such a policy mistake.

On the one hand, having already waited too long to begin its rate hike cycle, the Fed must weigh whether delaying further risks adding to the collateral damage and unintended consequences produced by the large and prolonged disconnect between financial asset prices and economic fundamentals.

On the other hand, given how long central bankers have maintained the extraordinary policy measures of

recent years, the incremental cost of waiting a little longer could appear small compared with the possible consequences of a mistake (for example, an interest-rate increase that inadvertently fuels the type of instability that tightens financial conditions and spills back into the global and US economy, increasing the threat of a vicious cycle).

A few months ago I argued in favor of a rate hike as part of a comprehensive policy effort to shift markets away from an obsession about the timing of the first increase and toward a focus on the end result of what will be the “loosest tightening” cycle in the modern history of the Fed. But when I made that argument, domestic and global factors were much better aligned.

Although the Fed still has solid domestic reasons to raise rates next week, it cannot—and should not— ignore the worsening international context, given the global enmeshment of the US economy and its financial system. If we adjust for the risk of a policy mistake, the odds flip to favoring Fed patience—51 to 49. It is that close for the September policy meeting.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Saturday, September 12, 2015

A5

Earthquake preparedness seminar for RCAM clergy Greed and wrong economic policies Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual (A historical perspective) SERVANT LEADER

Cecilio T. Arillo

database First of five parts

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HE country’s worsening financial crisis today is rooted in greed and wrong economic policies, particularly in the power industry, a very sensitive sector that has affected the lives of people in many ways: oil- and electricity-price increases, inflation and recession, and debt addiction that has caused suffering to every man, woman and child.

The narration and expositions of events in the power industry under the regimes of Presidents Marcos, Aquino, Ramos and Arroyo largely provided the stark reality of the country’s grave financial situation.

What comes to mind next, apropos to greed, was the belief of many that some of the classical economists who worked with the presidents aptly fit Oscar Wilde’s description of “…a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Except for President Estrada, who stopped the practice of issuing sovereign guarantees and did not approve a single power project in his time, the rest cannot deny their role, because in their time they controlled the currency, contracted debts, shaped the budget and decided the economic priorities. For instance, five days after Mrs. Arroyo stepped into the presidency, she restored the issuance of sovereign guarantees.

In the crucial arena of public administration, which was how the people felt government presence in their lives, it was the Executive branch that was on the front lines, having had the powers and the tools, in terms of budget and bureaucracy, to deliver the people from economic bondage.

Neither can Congress escape responsibility on the continuing financial debacle, for it has two paramount functions over funding and budgeting: authorization and appropriation. The Constitution is very clear on this in Section 24, Article VI, which explicitly says: “All appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of public debt, bills of local application and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.”

The bankrupt National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the 620-megawatts Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), which never produced a single watt of electricity and mothballed ever since due to intense public protest at its safety, are only two examples of greed and wrong economic policy.

Converted into Brady Bonds during the Ramos regime, BNPP finally settled with its creditors at $2.1 billion, with the government inordinately allowing the contract to swell more than four times its original bidding price of $500 million in 1976, making it one of the biggest chunks of the country’s contingent liabilities to be amortized until 2018.

The Philippines had already an oversupply of electricity in 1994, but curiously the Ramos government still entered into new contracts with independent power producers (IPPs), many of them enjoyed financial backing from export credit agencies (ECAs) and Philippine sovereign guarantees.

In fact, ECAs supported three of the five IPP contracts found onerous by the government Interagency IPP Review Committee. These were the Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project (CMIPP), the Sual Coal-Fired Power Plant and the San Roque Hydropower Project, touted as the country’s biggest hydropower.

In these deals, the government committed to pay CMIPP a whopping P80.77 billion, or $1.454 billion, or $72.7 million a year for 20 years to Cal Energy (CE-Casecnan) whether or not the US firm actually delivered the contracted water to Pantabangan Dam. Aside from tax exemptions, CE-Casecnan is also assured of P40.4 billion, or $728.00 million, or $36.4 million yearly for the same period as fees for the hydropower created in the course of delivering the contracted water. There is no assurance whatsoever that CMIPP would generate power monthly.

Sovereign guarantee of payments for IPPs’ expensive power, regardless of actual need and performance, appeared to be the major source of greed and, thus, set the stage for Napocor’s financial ruin. By 2000 the principal balance of Napocor’s financial debt obligations had reached an estimated $6.77 billion; $1.23 billion of this is owed to various ECAs (see graph below).

NPC Financial Obligations Bonds Commercial Loan Export Credit Agencies Multilateral Agencies Other T O T A L

$1.82 billion $0.80 billion $1.23 billion $2.51 billion $0.41 billion $6.77 billion

27% 12% 18% 37% 26% 100%

Actually, what sank the country deeper in financial crisis was, among others, Mrs. Aquino’s naïve decision to “honor all debts.” Instead of easing the problem by maximizing international goodwill brought about by Marcos’s ouster, she and Congress aggravated it by not repealing Presidential Decree 1177, a Marcos edict that automatically allocated more than 30 percent of scarce public revenues to pay debts, regardless of how the debts were incurred. She even perpetuated this onerous doctrine when she included it in the Administrative Code on her issuance of Executive Order (EO) 292.

Worse, she also issued Proclamations 50 and 50-A that authorized the government to pass on the multibillion-peso private accountabilities, which were then under investigation for graft and corruption and other frauds, to the tax-paying public in violation of the 1987 Constitution.

Apart from the failure to operate the BNPP, President Aquino hastily abolished the Ministry of Energy on June 20, 1986, and delayed the construction of power plants in Batangas province and Masinloc, Zambales. Subsequent lack of strategic planning for the rehabilitation of existing power plants to meet the rising energy demands of the economy worsened the problem. Mrs. Aquino actually started the power privatization by issuing EO 215 that opened the electricity-generation sector to private investors and paved the way for the entry of IPPs and ECAs, like the Overseas Private Investment Corp., Export Credit Guarantee Department and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, which ensured financial backing for the IPPs. As the country grappled with a shortfall of 1,500 megawatts in programmed additional capacity that triggered 8 to 12 hours of daily brownouts, foreign power investors, deliberately enticed by the government with sovereign guarantees and other incentives without looking at the deleterious effect, quietly came into the picture.

To be continued

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aritas Manila, through its Caritas Damayan Program, on Thursday, September 10, organized an earthquakepreparedness seminar for all the clergy of the Archdiocese of Manila, held at the Chapel of the Archbishop’s Palace, Villa San Miguel, Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City.

More than 100 priests, as well as select lay volunteers, attended the whole-day activity to discuss and plan how Metro Manila can prepare for the Big One—the possible occurrence of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake from the unpredictable movement of the West Valley Fault.

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Director Renato U. Solidum Jr. discussed the findings of the Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study (MMEIRS), while Manila Observatory Executive Director Ma. Antonia Yulo Loyzaga tackled “Church Structural Integrity Assessment.”

Urban planner and architect Paulo Alcazaren, for his part, shared how some churches and their plazas may be revitalized and serve as community centers and places of refuge during calamities.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Public Safety Consultant Ramon Santiago shared the government’s preparation to amply respond to earthquake scenarios, while Possibilities Pyschological Solutions consultant Lyra R. Versosa, MA, shared the need for mental health and psychological support for care providers, especially in the aftermath of disasters and calamities.

Archdiocese of Manila Auxiliary Bishop Most Rev. Broderick S. Pabillo, DD, facilitated the discussion on the Church’s response and needs to properly equip each parish with the capability to prepare and respond to disasters.

The activity aimed to help equip the various parishes and Church institutions in the Archdiocese of Manila, and be prepared for an earthquake that could hit anytime and

Japan’s IPO of the century William Pesek

BLOOMBERG VIEW

P

rime Minister Shinzo Abe likes to say Japan is back in business. His case got a big boost on Thursday with news that the country’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) this century—the $11.6 billion listing of behemoth Japan Post—will go ahead this November. The share sale isn’t just a sign that change is afoot in the Japanese economy: It should help propel that process.

Japan Post’s long journey to the private sector began in 2001, when Junichiro Koizumi, Abe’s mentor, was prime minister. In his drive to end the cronyism and complacency that plagued the Japanese economy, Koizumi went right to the source: the savings institution within a postal system that then employed over 400,000 people. Japan Post was the piggy bank wayward politicians used to fund pet projects, many of them white elephants, which helped feed an explosion in public debt.

The privatization couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment.

Even Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, an early Abenomics cheerleader, said this week that he’s “really, really worried” about Tokyo’s chances of ending a two-decade slump. The hope is that the listing, which will be targeted at individual Japanese, will encourage households to invest more of their savings. Perhaps, more important, it could enliven the country’s

stagnant banking sector.

Japan is among the developed world’s most overbanked nations, with more than 100 sleepy regional players (84 of which are publicly traded) servicing 126 million people.

Thanks to the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) zero-interest-rate policies, profit margins are shrinking even faster than the population.

The solution, of course, is consolidation. Stronger, bigger and more profitable regional banks would increase Japan’s risk profile and encourage lending. It also would spread the benefits of Japan’s 0.8-percent growth beyond Tokyo and Osaka. Regulators have employed a similar strategy with Japan’s three “megabanks,” encouraging them to take greater risk with their balance sheets.

Getting Japan’s proud banks— some dating back a century—to join forces has been a slow, tortuous process. All CEOs want to be the ac-

cause huge damage and destruction to property, but more alarmingly, death and injuries to thousands, if not millions, of Filipinos.

His Eminence Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, in his circular issued before the event, said, “This demands a higher social responsibility for all leaders and stakeholders to be productive in promoting awareness and preparedness for all families and communities.”

Furthermore, Cardinal Tagle said the Church, with its resources and capacity, can help communities to become disaster-oriented, prepared and resilient.

“The Church, being a symbol of refuge, a magnet for all people who are afflicted or distressed, can provide an environment that is peaceful, nurturing and healing. We take comfort from Psalms 57:1: ‘Be gracious to me. For my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings, I will take refuge until destruction passes by,’” Cardinal Tagle added.

Caritas Damayan is one of the programs of Caritas Manila, the Archdiocese of Manila’s lead social services and development ministry.

It is a disaster risk reduction and management program that allows for quick-response relief operation and effective crisis intervention.

At the heart of this program are the donors and volunteers who are pressed into action during times of

crisis and calamity. Caritas Manila utilizes the Church’s network of parishes, priests, social-action centers, schools and volunteers to bring aid and assistance directly to affected areas and families.

The recently concluded seminar is part of Caritas Damayan’s capacitybuilding efforts by enhancing the knowledge and skills of the members and leaders in the community, and was conducted in partnership with the Archdiocese of Manila, Radio Veritas and TV Maria.

Apart from Caritas Damayan, Caritas Manila runs diverse projects that help the poor fulfill their human potential, such as Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program, All is Well Health Program, Restorative Justice Ministry, and socialentrepreneurship programs Caritas Margins and Segunda Mana.

We will continue with our series on Laudato Si next week.

Japan is among the developed world’s most overbanked nations, with more than 100 sleepy regional players servicing 126 million people. Thanks to the Bank of Japan’s zero-interestrate policies, profit margins are shrinking even faster than the population.

and make better use of technology.

That won’t be enough, says Moody’s analyst Shunsaku Sato. “Cost-cutting efforts have only offset around onequarter of the decline in the banks’ net interest income, and around onethird of the slowdown in net fees,” Sato says.

The shrinkage of margins has accelerated since BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda launched his quantitative-easing experiment in 2013.

That’s proven to be an unexpected headwind. Fewer profits are making bankers even more timid about extending loans, starving Japan of the multiplier effect that makes monetary policy so potent. The sudden surge in competition that accompanies Japan Post’s lending efforts should strengthen the BOJ’s transmission mechanism.

Yes, banks are comparatively healthy again. Around the time Tokyo began privatizing Japan Post, it was pouring some $100 billion into 54 shaky financial institutions and disposing of bad loans. Only this year did the last of them—Resona Holdings—repay its public funds in full.

But banks remain semiparalyzed by the “deflationary mind-set” Kuroda is trying to change.

Japan Post’s arrival poses problems, too, including how to deal with the implicit government guarantee of deposits it enjoys. Admittedly, that gives Japan Post an unfair advantage.

But if it catalyzes regional banks to become more nimble and resilient, then Abe’s odds of putting Japan back in business increase exponentially.

quirer, not the one bought. And all want their name on the door. Even wonder how executives arrived at the wildly convoluted name Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ? That’s what happens when you bundle a handful of decades-old institutions that refuse to see their brand disappear.

Odd as it sounds, this is among the key reasons today’s CEOs are reluctant to merge. They see their job as protecting a bank’s legacy, not scrubbing the name from the letterhead.

Enter Japan Post. Its IPO will unfold in phases and the $11.6-billion total includes the holding company, the bank and the insurance unit. After the listing, the government will still own almost 90 percent of the Japan Post Bank. Still, as a for-profit institution, it’ll have to start focusing more on lending rather than simply taking deposits and paying interest.

That will present stiff competition to regional banks in particular: Their CEOs will have no choice but to seek partners—or lifeboats.

Sure, the banks’ first response will be more cost-cutting, as well as attempts to improve efficiency

To know more about Caritas Damayan and other programs of Caritas Manila, visit www.caritasmanila. org.ph. For your donations, call our DonorCare lines, 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857.

Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph.

For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@ gmail.com.

Tackling corruption at the ballot box in Guatemala

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he candidates vying to be the next president of Guatemala aren’t exactly paragons of virtue. Even the “outsider” winner of the election’s first round on Sunday—a comedian named Jimmy Morales, who ran under the slogan “Not corrupt, not a thief”—has dubious ties to military hardliners.

Corruption is endemic in Guatemala, as demonstrated by the scandal that just last week cost former President Otto Perez Molina his office.

Whoever the next president is, he or she will need ample help—and stiff encouragement—to fight it.

In the biggest current scandal, more than 20 officials and businessmen have been arrested for defrauding the national tax agency and customs office of more than $100 million in revenue. Perez Molina has been accused of netting $3.7 million

in bribes, charges he has denied.

It’s not as if there’s much tax revenue to begin with. As a percentage of gross domestic product, Guatemala actually takes in less money than almost any country in the world— one reason it can’t provide security to its citizens, or help the half of its population that lives in poverty. Addressing that fiscal weakness was supposed to be part of the 1996 peace accords ending its civil war, but no real progress has been made. In fact, the last attempt at tax reform, in 2012, relied heavily on an increase in customs taxes, which officials promptly looted.

Guatemala’s people deserve credit for helping to force Perez Molina from office. Yet, outside intervention is critical to curbing such corruption, which eats up as much as 6 percent of the nation’s budget. The

International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, known as CICIG, is a potential model for other nations facing such entrenched misconduct. Sponsored by the United Nations and supported by the US, it was a driving force behind the investigation that resulted in the arrest of Perez Molina and others in his administration.

Guatemalans have less than seven weeks before the presidential election runoff on October 25. Although the choices facing voters are imperfect, the coalition that ousted Perez Molina has a chance to push the caretaker government of President Alejandro Maldonado to adopt a minimum agenda for reform. It’s not too much to ask, for instance, that Guatemala pass a law barring those convicted of corruption from holding public office.

The US has a special role to play in helping Guatemalans meet this challenge. Not only is it implicated in some of Guatemalan history’s most bitter chapters, but it also stands to gain from helping to build a country from which Guatemalans don’t want to emigrate. To its credit, US diplomacy persuaded Perez Molina to extend CICIG’s mandate.

Now a US aid package for Central America has the potential to provide critical assistance to Guatemalan institutions and communities in dealing with drug gangs, cops on the take, and crooked politicians—that is, if the US Congress will fund it.

Guatemala’s government may have a long way to go, but its citizens are pushing it in the right direction.

A firm but generous helping hand can help them get there. TNS

A6

News

BusinessMirror

Saturday, September 12, 2015

news@businessmirror.com.ph

PHL economy to withstand shocks Continued from A1

thing we share [with the region]. I don’t think there’s a strong risk of negative inflation,” Furusawa said of that curious state of affairs when instead of rising, prices begin falling instead.

Deflation, as the phenomenon is called, is an unwelcome development because businesses and households typically refrain from spending in hopes of still lower prices down the line.

The process also tends to self-perpetuate, compounding its fear factor even more.

However, the World Bank said despite its more recent impressive performance, the Philippines, along with others in the region, still faces a number of development challenges.

World Bank Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific Axel van Trotsenberg said it is not only the “quantitative” aspect of growth but also the “qualitative” part that is important.

The qualitative part of economic growth, van Trotsenberg said, pertains to sustainability and inclusivity. This can be achieved through investments in human capital and through social safety nets such as the government’s Conditional-Cash Transfer programs.

“Be it in the G-20, be it here [at Apec], the growth agenda will be center stage. While I think its good and welcome news in the Apec context, it doesn’t touch only on the quantitative aspect of growth but also on the qualitative aspect, particularly as it pertains to [financial] inclusion and sustainability,” van Trotsenberg said.

Van Trotsenberg said countries need to invest in quality education and provide social protection for the poor to achieve not only growth but also to narrow inequality.

He urged Apec members to continue and accelerate economic reforms to sustain growth considered critical to improving living standards, especially for those at the lower end of the income distribution bracket.

In particular, he singled out the need for governments in the region to boost investments in physical infrastructures that help reduce production and transport costs.

“Developing East Asia’s infrastructure investment needs are huge. In this region, 142 million households still have no access to electricity, while 600 million people lack access to adequate sanitation,” van Trotsenberg said.

“It will be very important for greater investment to be accompanied by increases in efficiency of such expenditure. And this points, in turn, to the importance of strengthening institutions, including through public financial management reforms,” he added.

The World Bank official said most poor households rely on labor as their only asset.

Making labor more productive through ways, such as quality education and skills training, is crucial for achieving inclusive growth.

He also advocated for the expansion of social protection among Apec economies, noting that the coverage of such schemes as health insurance, unemployment insurance and pension systems remain limited across much of middle-income East Asia.

Countries, he said, may consider introducing or expanding well-targeted conditional-income transfer programs, which provide direct support to those left behind.

Citing the experience of the Philippines, Mexico, Peru and Chile, he said that programs can help boost school attendance, preventive health care, and nutrition among the poor and vulnerable, significantly improving their lives.

Apec finance ministers launch Cebu action plan. . .

Apart from remittances, the CAP also included efforts to increase cooperation and transparency on information for public-private partnerships (PPPs).

PPPs are one of the main initiatives that the Apec wants to undertake to address infrastructure gaps in the region.

In May 2014 Asian Development Bank (ADB) East Asia Department Director General Ayumi Konishi said the infrastructure needs of Asia is expected to double to around $800 billion a year in the 2011 to 2020 period from around $400 billion a

year in the preceding decade.

Konishi said, multilateral institutions like the ADB, the World Bank, International Finance Corp., and other existing organizations could only provide, at the most, $50 billion a year.

This leaves around $750 billion worth of infrastructure projects that require funding until 2020.

“We will closely collaborate with the Global Infrastructure Hub to establish a PPP knowledge portal with the following possible preliminary contents: PPP

infrastructure projects undertaken by Apec economies; directory of private firms, consultants, and experts involved in PPP infrastructure projects; and financial and legal, public and private risk mitigation instruments available to infrastructure investors in the region,” the Apec finance ministers said.

Meanwhile, six of the 21 Apec economies signed the statement of understanding on the Asia Regional Funds Passport (ARFP), which seeks to forge stronger and more streamlined con-

Continued from A1

nections in the financial markets.

The signatories are Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, and the Philippines. By signing the nonbinding agreement, the countries effectively expressed their intent to pursue the ARFP. The ARFP aims to establish a regional environment where operators of collective investment schemes, such as mutual funds, based in a membereconomy will be able to offer their products to investors in other participating members of Apec. Cai U. Ordinario

Household. . .

Continued from A1

by the decline in the number of savers in the areas outside the National Capital Region.

Meanwhile, across income groups, the high-income group posted the biggest drop, compared to the previous quarter at 69.6 percent from the 76.9 percent.

This is consistent with the segment’s less optimistic outlook on family finances and income during the current quarter.

Respondents indicated that they save money for emergencies, education, health and hospitalization, retirement, business capital and investment.

More than two-thirds, or 70.1 percent, of household savers had bank deposit accounts, while 42.8 percent kept their savings at home, and 31.6 percent put their money in cooperatives, paluwagan, other credit and loan associations and in investment vehicles, such as stocks and insurance. The percentages overlap as other respondents reported multiple means of saving their money.

For the quarter ahead, fewer respondents have also said they would be able to set aside money for savings.

This is consistent with the respondents’ higher spending outlook on basic goods and services, as well as the anticipated faster inflation in the months ahead.

“This indicates that inflationary expectations could be stronger over the next 12 months, as the number of respondents with views of higher inflation increased compared to that a quarter ago,” the central bank said.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Life

BusinessMirror

Saturday, September 12, 2015

A7

Coping with life using apps something like life ma. stella f. arnaldo

http://stella-arnaldo.blogspot.com @Pulitika2010

T

HE last time I watched a movie with a friend was probably that Tagalog movie with Aga Muhlach where he played an environmentalist of some sort. That was quite a number of years ago, 2008 I think, so the details are a bit hazy, and the movie, I remember as atrocious and pretentious, though it was good for a few laughs.

I watched it with Ms. Philippines, who lives in Makati City, and though I live in Quezon City, I still managed to haul my carcass to The Power Plant Mall to catch it. It was a weekend, which meant there was less traffic, but as was my usual way, I took the MRT for that 15- or 20-minute trip to Makati. There wasn’t the usual crush of people in the trains because it was a weekend, but even then, weekdays were no problem and there were no long queues like we have them today.

It was a time when all it took was a quick text or a phone call, and a movie date, lunch or dinner with friends was easily arranged even at the last minute. Even an out-of-town trip wasn’t too difficult to organize (unless gas prices were at skyhigh levels) and everybody would just pile into our friends’ vehicles and leave Manila for a short holiday.

These days, road trips, much less, meals with friends or family, take a lot of planning.

As a media colleague recently posted on Facebook, “traffic has killed our spontaneity and sense of adventure.”

I, for one, now prefer lunch appointments to dinners. The trip along Edsa is less tiresome at that time of the day, with more taxis or Uber service cars ready to ferry me to the meal destination. But even then, I’m more partial to a lunch date in Quezon City or the Pasig area. If in Makati City, it will really have to be a favorite host or close friend who I’m meeting for me to make that monstrous two-hour trip.

Did I mention that I now take Uber? Since that unfortunate incident where the MRT train shot through the rails and ended up on the concrete road along Edsa and Taft Avenue,

I’ve not taken the train. Besides, the queues now are just too long and strenuous. The line starts at 6 am and goes on for what feels like forever, so there is no such thing as off-peak MRT hours anymore. Also, with my bad left knee, it’s such a tough three-level climb to the ticketing area and the train platform since the elevators or the escalators at the station are usually busted.

So these days, I take Uber everywhere. It’s a transport service powered by an app that allows you to rent a car—not a cab—to take you anywhere in Metro Manila. And, yes, I mean anywhere. Unlike regular cabbies who can be choosy about picking up and ferrying passengers, Uber drivers are committed to taking their passengers from say, Quezon City to Alabang and, yes, even at the height of traffic.

Of course, it can get expensive especially if you’re stuck in traffic—my Uber rides cost about P1,500 to P2,000 a month charged to my credit card, compared to, say, just P100 to P200 via MRT plus P500 or so for short cab trips to and from the station. But the Uber trip is saner and safer. I can take cat naps in transit, without worrying the driver may have taken a roundabout way to my desired destination. (Still, I’d like to send my monthly Uber receipts one time to Malacañang and demand a reimbursement since I wouldn’t have resorted to this more expensive mode of transport, if only we had an efficient mass transport system in the Metro. Grrr.)

So even for work, unless it’s really huge event with top-level officials from the government and private sector, I usually will have to turn down invitations for press coverage if

the venue is too far. Makati City is my usual cut-off and any venue beyond that (e.g. SMX Convention Center or Resorts World in Pasay City, etc.) and I will have to beg off.

Most hosts understand the situation, and will e-mail me the press materials I need to make a piece. Then I supplement these materials by doing interviews via e-mail, or just call or text the officials or my sources for comments. (Mercifully, my favorite cabinet secretary has become more accessible via SMS, and usually answers with the two paragraphs I need to complete a story before deadline, unless he’s stuck in a meeting.)

And, so, we become increasingly dependent on technology to bring us to our destinations, or make those important meetings with clients, and even just to touch base with family and friends without going through horrendous traffic for actual meet-ups.

Apart from Uber, Waze has now become an important app for those who drive themselves to work. For those who still haven’t used it, Waze is an app that you can load on your smartphone or tablet, and it tells you the shortest, traffic-free route to your destination. Unless my Uber driver used to drive a taxi cab (and, thus, knows the ins-and-outs of Metro Manila and will take the shortcuts necessary for a quicker trip), I usually ask the driver to switch on Waze.

It’s been a lifesaver for me and usually gets me to where I’m going faster. Just recently, I made it to a press event in Makati City in an hour from the house, and about 20 minutes ahead of schedule by using Waze. It took me and Uber driver through little-known shortcuts through Mandaluyong—small inside roads good enough for only one car to pass—and out to Ayala Avenue.

If not quicker, at least Waze takes me away from the traffic chokepoints, so I get to my destination with my brain still fresh and functioning well, even if the trip may be longer. Drivers and their passengers prefer their cars to be constantly moving instead of being stuck in a jam. The app is efficient because of its ability to share vital information, like car accidents, traffic standstills, police locations, etc., to all its users, as reported by other users.

Of course, I still had to modify my lifestyle in the sense that I get up earlier to go to meetings or media coverages. There was a time when I could wake up at 10 am, and still get to a press lunch in Makati City by noon via the MRT. But since I’ve gone back to traveling by road, a noon media coverage means I have to be awake by 8:30 am, so I can be out the door and on the road by 10 am. (Yes, yes, it takes me at least two hours to get ready for the outside world. I’m a girl, ano ba?)

Viber has also been such a great help

especially if the official or the source I’m interviewing is abroad. It’s also an app for smartphones and tablets (Viber has a desktop version—Ed.), which enables you to place free calls and text messages to anyone here or abroad. It also has a group-messaging feature, which allows you to talk to a greater number of people in one go. So my family, for one, uses it to chat with my niece who works in Abu Dhabi, or just generally update each other with news about our lives. Recently, for instance, that niece and her husband went on a short holiday to Dubai, and she posted photos of themselves enjoying their resort.

In a way, Viber affords a more intimate way of communication between my relatives and me, and we can converse unobtrusively without the entire world looking in (as it usually is on Facebook or Twitter, for instance).

Of course, there’s still nothing better than a face-to-face meal with friends and family, with matching wine and song to unwind, without a care in the world. And despite the limitations to spontaneity brought on by the traffic, we do make the ultimate sacrifice of traversing choked roads and flyovers just to have a meal and entertaining conversations with the people we love. It doesn’t make being stuck in traffic less of a torment, but any fun time spent with our loved ones can be a salve for all that ugliness on the road.

Benefit concert for Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm all set

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.”

—George Bernard Shaw, playwright

C

OME October 2, let your imagination take you to a different course, one that will not only change lives but also perspectives. Let the music of the original Spirit of ’67 become an instrument of an awakening that will greatly impact communities and the economy.

Happening at the Pavillion AB of Wack Wack Golf and Country Club is a benefit concert for Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm. Aptly titled “Imagine”, the show aims to generate awareness of the farm’s ongoing development programs and to introduce the School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development, otherwise known as SEED Philippines.

Touted as the first farm village university in the world, SEED Philippines is the first school for social entrepreneurship in the country to provide an innovative, educationbased solution to rural development through education and hands-on learning.

The event also aims to encourage individuals and/or companies to donate a classroom, a dormitory, or sponsor a scholarship to deserving students.

“The show is about building a Filipino dream,” says Tony Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga Community Development Founda-

tion Inc. (GK), a Philippine-based movement that aims to end poverty for 5 million families by first restoring the dignity of the poor.

He adds, “Can you imagine the Philippines as the hub for social entrepreneurs in Asia?

Can you imagine the country rising from poverty by creating inclusive wealth? Can you imagine the country with no social divide because the best educated Filipinos are using their genius to bring out the genius of the poor? Can you imagine a Philippines without

poverty simply because its citizens would no longer allow it? That’s what this whole concert is all about. Not just imagining — it’s actually doing, making it happen.”

A first of its kind, GK Enchanted Farm is part of the organization’s new phase in innovation that integrates sustainability in the rural communities through agriculture and the emerging field of social businesses.

Its first prototype is found in Angat, Bulacan.

“Our ambition is simple: in 10 years time,

many children of the poor will become successful business owners, not laborers. The basic problem of education is we are educated not to become producers but as consumers. We are educated to be job-seekers, not job-givers.

GK Enchanted Farm addresses the root of the problem, which is the lack of development in the rural countryside, in partnership with the Philippine government and the private sector, and with strong linkages with universities in the country and abroad. The organization intends to raise 500,000 social entrepreneurs by the year 2024 to create inclusive businesses with a big social relevance and a focus on agri-business,” Moleto adds.

While GK Enchanted Farm has established an inclusive platform for creating social businesses, the organization also believes that there is a need to invest in the education of children from poor families, mostly coming from the farmers, to create even more opportunities in the rural countryside.

SEED Philippines provides full student scholarships to high potential and talented public school students who, otherwise, will not be able to afford to pursue higher learning. It prepares students to create social enterprises that will develop rural areas through job and wealth creation. Introduced last year, SEED Philippines provides a twoyear certificate, while seeking accreditation to expand into a four-year Bachelors degree program. It is delivered in partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. GK is also currently in talks

with the Commission on Higher Education for accreditation, with plans to expand its reach to 24 GK Enchanted Farm sites, 122 universities and colleges, and other partner organizations to provide quality education to thousands of students in rural communities across the country.

Joining the featured band at the benefit concert are the GK Enchanted Farm student choir and the former street children of Tatalon, a slum area along Araneta Avenue, Quezon City, where a GK Village is also present. These kids are now college students and graduates, and have formed a chorale group that has toured Singapore twice.

Other activities lined up for the show are exhibit installations for the different advocacies of GK, with tour guides explaining details of the different sections. There will also be product booths to drive sales for the GK artisans.

Meloto concludes, “This concert is about Filipinos dreaming together. It’s about miracles of solidarity. Our generation joins today’s generation in building a society where no one is left behind to remain poor. I imagine a country where the streets will be safe for our children because there will be less slums, there will be less informal settlers, there will be less homeless people.”

For more information on tickets, call (02) 886-4950 or e-mail adcentralevents@gmail. com. For inquiries on donations to Gawad Kalinga, contact Angela Monique Angelo at ambangelo@gawadkalinga.com.

Sports BusinessMirror

By Lance Pugmire

L

Los Angeles Times

AS VEGAS—Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s use of an IV treatment to deal with dehydration before his fight against Manny Pacquiao should not have been permitted by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) said on Thursday. “[The] USADA has historically been recognized as the world’s leading antidoping authority. However, my experiences to date with them have been less than acceptable and less than professional,” said Bob Bennett, the executive director of the Nevada commission.

Mayweather received the IV treatment at his home in Las Vegas on May 1 after weighing in for the Pacquiao fight.

Mayweather returns to the ring on Saturday night against Andre Berto in a Showtime pay-perview fight at MGM Grand, where he’ll attempt to match the late heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record at retirement.

An SB Nation story published on Wednesday

by HBO employee Thomas Hauser detailed that Mayweather received two infusions of saline, multivitamins and vitamin C that equated to 16 percent of the amount of blood in a normal male.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) forbids such a large amount of fluids entering the body before competition as a preventive step against the possible masking of performance-enhancing drug use.

In a statement released on Thursday morning, a USADA spokesman said, “Mr. Mayweather’s use of the IV was not prohibited under the NSAC rules at that time and would not be a violation of the NSAC rules today.”

Yet, Bennett and commission Chairman Francisco Aguilar sharply disagree, explaining the Nevada commission has not adopted the Wada

A8 | S

aturday, September 12, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

FLOYD A CHEAT?

code’s prohibited methods.

Bennett said unless the IV was administered at a hospital, it needs to be cleared by filing a therapeutic-use exemption (TUE) and supporting documents through the Nevada commission and authorized by the commission’s medical expert.

“He cannot have it done at his house and [USADA] can’t authorize it.... I have specifically articulated and memorialized to the USADA that [NSAC] is the sole authority that can authorize a therapeutic-use exemption for a fighter in the state of Nevada,” Bennett said. “The USADA never told us prior to the IV that they had their own TUE, and they never kept us informed about it being administered.

“If they think they can do what they want, where and whenever they want in the state of Nevada, they are grossly mistaken.”

Bennett said he has no concerns Mayweather was working to mask drug use, saying the boxer “has always been an advocate of drug testing and has set a fine example for all fighters.”

In a statement released on Thursday, Mayweather said, “As already confirmed by the USADA statement, I did not commit any violations of the Nevada or USADA drug-testing guidelines.

“I follow, and have always followed, the rules of Nevada and the USADA, the gold standard of drug testing.

“Let’s not forget that I was the one six years ago who insisted on elevating the

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that he wasn’t informed of Mayweather’s IV until nearly three weeks after the bout and remains “outraged” by the situation.

“After learning of this, anything I’d say would be taken as sour grapes,” Arum said. “But there are certainly things about the way the USADA operates that raise questions.”

The USADA also inflamed Arum and the commission before the fight by not informing the commission of Pacquiao’s interest in receiving an injection of anti-inflammatory Toradol on fight night.

The Pacquiao camp said it notified the USADA of its interest in using the medication, but as Pacquiao’s physician attempted to give the injection, Nevada commission members stopped him, saying they had not been notified of such a request.

Pacquiao blamed shoulder pain for his performance in the loss and he underwent shoulder surgery days after the bout.

USADA Chief Executive Travis Tygart is credited as the mastermind who unearthed the

MAYWEATHER JR. received »theFLOYD IV treatment at his home in Las Vegas on May 1 after weighing in for the Manny Pacquiao fight. AP

KIWIS ROUT TAIWANESE

LASCUñA WRESTS 3RD-ROUND LEAD

T

ony Lascuña used a solid start to unnerve Zanieboy Gialon and overcome a four-stroke deficit, then steadied at the back to wrest a twostroke lead with a three-under 69 in the third round of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. Open Championship on Friday at Wack Wack’s East course.

Lascuña, who led in the opener of the P3.5-million event with a 71 but bogeyed the final hole on No. 9 for a 72 at the completion of the weather-suspended second-round play early yesterday, birdied Nos. 2 and 3 to erase what had appeared to be a big four-shot lead set by Gialon behind a 67 on Thursday, then birdied No. 15 to finish with a 69 and a 54-hole aggregate of four-under 212.

“One has got to be lucky here, especially in this condition. I was just able to put most of my drives on the fairway and got some good looks at the greens,” said Lascuña, who birdied Nos. 2, 3 and 4 inside 6 feet but failed to return a 7-footer after missing the ninth green.

Lascuña rued missing a couple of birdie putts at the back and stressed putting will be key in his pursuit of the top P650,000 purse in the event.

Gialon, who was just as surprised as the rest of the stellar field when he surged ahead halfway through, struggled off the mound when ranged against Lascuña and Miguel Tabuena, bogeying the first two holes and dropping two more strokes on Nos. 4 and 7.

He did birdie the difficult No. 8 but made the turn at 39 and found himself trailing by one as Lascuña hit one more birdie against a bogey for a 34. Gialon never got a shot at the lead again as he mixed two birdies with the same number of bogeys and limped with a 75.

Still, the 26-year-old Gialon stayed within sight of Lascuña at 214, hopeful of putting it all back together for a crack at the coveted crown in the third-to-last event of this year’s circuit.

“I was a bit off off-the-tee at the frontnine,” rued Gialon, who missed three of the first four greens. “I must shoot threeunder or lower to win but I need to improve on my driving to be able to set up birdie chances.”

Tabuena, in a fierce three-way fight with Lascuña and Angelo Que for this year’s Order of Merit crown, struggled with his putting all day and failed to make his move with a so-so card marred by three bogeys against two birdies, the last on No. 15 that saved him a 73 and an even 216.

Cassius Casas, who blew a four-under card with a bogey on the 18th to complete his second round play, sustained his charge, joined Tabuena at third with a two-under 70 and took the last spot in the championship flight.

“I’ve been hitting it well. I’ll just try my very to win again here. Anything can happen in this course,” said Casas, who started out with a 77 but wheeled back into contention with a 69 and 70.

Que also poised himself for a big rebound from a pair of 73s with three birdies against a bogey after nine holes. But the three-time Asian Tour winner, including the Philippine Open here in 2008, hobbled with two bogeys at the back with no birdie to show. He settled for a 72 and stood way behind at 222, 10 strokes off Lascuna.

Anthony Fernando ralled with a 34 to save a 72 and tie Charles Hong and Dutch Guido Van der Valk, who carded a 74 and 77, respectively, at 222, while Orlan Sumcad turned in a 74 and joined Elmer Salvador, who groped for a 76, at 223 heading to the final round.

level of drug testing for all my fights. As a result, there is more drug testing and awareness of its importance in the sport of boxing today than ever before. I am very proud to be a clean athlete and will continue to champion the cause.”

But the lapse in communication is troubling to Nevada officials.

Aguilar said he was the first commission member notified by the USADA of Mayweather’s IV treatment, and it didn’t come until three days after Mayweather defeated Pacquiao by unanimous decision.

doping scheme of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

Bennett and Aguilar said despite the USADA’s involvement in 45 boxing cards and their supervision of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s antidoping system, the agency has botched communication on three occasions.

The most recent, Bennett said, came last week when UFC heavyweight Frank Mir had a TUE approved by the USADA for the stimulant Adderall.

“They had no business authorizing that TUE, and we said it’s unacceptable, that he had to fill out our application and go through our doctor,” Bennett said. “[Mir] was told he had to stop taking the stimulant immediately.”

Bennett said when he explained the situation to Mir at his weigh-in last week the fighter expressed confusion about how the process works.

“They’re confusing the fighters. I don’t know how many times I have to tell Travis the way we need things done,” Bennett said.

The commission voted in May to stop accepting third-party test results. If alerted of a positive drug test by the USADA, Aguilar said he will work on his own to secure test results from the USADA’s Utah-based lab.

“It’s come from multiple situations,” Aguilar said. “If we’re going to hold fighters accountable, we need to have accountability standards throughout.... If the USADA’s choosing to use its own rules over ours, it makes no sense.”

The USADA is advocating year-round outof-competition testing for boxers worldwide, which would be an expensive endeavor taken on by promoters.

By Joel Orellana

N

EW ZEALAND’S Wellington Saints walloped a decimated Chinese Taipei, 108-80, to avenge its Jones Cup loss to the same team at the start of the MVP Cup invitational basketball tournament on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Kiwis broke away from a tight contest, outscoring Taiwan, 31-18, in the third period for a 76-60 spread entering the final quarter en route to the lopsided victory.

Brook Ruscoe and

NEW ZEALAND’S Jameel Watkins is double-teamed

by Chinese Taipei’s Tsai Wen-cheng (14) and Wu Tai-hao (41). NONOY LACZA

Cardinals survive stubborn Pirates

M

APUA bucked the absence of Allwell Oraeme and Head Coach Atoy Co in the stretch to escape with a 70-66 victory over Lyceum and keep its Final Four hopes afloat in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

Oraeme fouled out after hitting Lyceum’s Jean Victor Nguidjol in a rebound scuffle and Co was ejected after he was slapped a technical foul for complaining about it with 6.10 minutes left in the game.

Good thing Justin Serrano and JP Nieles picked up the slack by scoring five points apiece in the fourth quarter, as the Cardinals improved to 8-5 won-lost to remain in striking distance of snatching a Final Four spot.

“I’m happy the team kept their composure,” Co said.

The Pirates fell to 3-11.

Earlier in the day, Jose Rizal University (JRU) overpowered a hapless Emilio Aguinaldo College, 87-64, to also breathe life to its waning Final Four hopes.

John Pontejos led all scorers with 21 points, while Bernabe

Teodor and John Grospe scattered 13 apiece, but it was Mark Cruz’s 11 first-quarter points that sparked the decisive run as the Bombers nailed their seventh win against six defeats to stay in the semis hunt.

“We have no choice but to win all our games and not look at the results of the teams ahead of us that much,” JRU Coach Vergel Meneses said.

Cruz was the spark plug in JRU’s opening-quarter breakaway, unleashing an 11-point barrage that pushed the Heavy Bombers to a 25-7 lead.

It was Pontejos’s turn to light up another blistering attack that saw the Bombers zap the last fight out of the Generals, who sank deeper down the standings with a league-worst 2-11 (win-loss) record.

» MAPUA’S JP Nieles drives against Lyceum’s Mark Malabanan. KEVIN DE LA CRUZ

Ray Turner had 25 points each for the Wellington Saints, who dropped an 86-84 decision to Chinese Taipei in last month’s Jones Cup in Taiwan.

Bryan Davis added 18 markers, while former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) import Jameel Watkins posted a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds for the New Zealand club. Watkins suited up for the now-defunct Shell in 2007.

Chinese Taipei was still in the game after two quarters, trailing by just three, 42-45, but Wellington Saints went to Davis and Turner in the shade, while Ruscoe continued his hot shooting as they erupted for 31 points against Taiwan’s 18 to pad their lead to 76-60.

The Kiwis never looked back as the 7-foot Watkins joined the scoring fray and even hit a three-pointer to end the game.

Playing-coach Kevin Braswell contributed eight points and 11 assists for Wellington Saints.

Cheng Liu led Taiwan with 13 points, while Weng-Cheng Tsai and Lei Tien had 11 each. Chinese Taipei played minus starting center Wen-Ting Tseng due to an injury. TaiHao Wu also left the game early with a broken nose and is doubtful in their match on Saturday against Talk ‘N Text.

SPORTS PLUS U.S. OPEN SEMIFINALS CANCELED BY RAINS NEW YORK—Serena Williams will have to wait before continuing her bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam: Her US Open semifinal was postponed because of rain in the forecast.

The top-seeded Williams was supposed to face 43rd-ranked Roberta Vinci of Italy on Thursday night at Flushing Meadows, but nearly four hours before that match would have started, the US Tennis Association (USTA)—citing a prediction of “rain throughout the evening”—pushed back both women’s semifinals until Friday.

When the USTA announced the rescheduling, there were doubles and juniors matches in progress. But the rain did eventually arrive, wiping out play, a little more than an hour before Williams and Vinci were supposed to take the court.

It was drizzling at 7 p.m., when that match would have started. AP

IRISHMAN IN STAGE 18 RIAZA, Spain—Nicolas Roche of Ireland won the hilly 18th stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Thursday, while Dutchman Tom Dumoulin protected his slim lead over Fabio Aru. Dumoulin responded to Aru’s repeated attacks on the final ascent to keep his threesecond advantage over the Itailan with three days to go until the finish of the Grand Tour.

“A second for every day,” Dumoulin said. “It’s very little time and a lot can happen in the coming days.”

Roche beat fellow escapee Haimar Zubeldia in a sprint to the finish line to complete the 204-kilometer (127-mile) ride from Roa to Riaza in just over five hours. AP

ATENEO VS N.U. IN UAAP

TOURNAMENT heavyweights Ateneo de Manila and National University (NU) try to bounce back from their opening-game losses when they face separate foes on Saturday in Season 78 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Blue Eagles clash with Adamson University at 2 p.m. and the defending champion Bulldogs battle a dangerous University of the East (UE) at 4 p.m.

Of the four teams seeing action on Saturday, Ateneo suffered the most lopsided defeat, yielding an 88-64 decision to Far Eastern University for its worst opening-game loss in 10 years.

Blue Eagles Head Coach Bo Perasol said their setback to the Tamaraws was a slap on their faces and they need to get their act together to stay on course.

V-LEAGUE SEMIFINALS

TOP seed Ateneo seeks to keep its unbeaten run with a solid crew as it clashes with University of Santo Tomas (UST), but No. 2 National University (NU) faces a tough challenge against Far Eastern University (FEU) with a depleted roster, as the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Collegiate Conference Final Four fires off on Saturday at The Arena in San Juan City.

Dindin Santiago-Manabat will not be around for the Lady Bulldogs in their 3 p.m. duel with the Lady Tamaraws to anchor the national team’s campaign in an Asian club tournament in Vietnam, leaving the brunt of scoring to younger sister Jaja Santiago, Myla Pablo, Aiko Urdas, Joy Doromal, skipper Jorelle Singh and veteran setter Rubie de Leon.

KOREANS TEST PETRON

PETRON buckles down to business as it battles 4.25 Sports Club of North Korea in the opening game of the 2015 Asian Club Women’s Championship on Saturday at the Ha Nam Competition Hall in Phu Ly, Vietnam.

Action starts at 5 p.m., with the Blaze Spikers eager to create a major impact in the tournament where nine of Asia’s best club teams compete for the right to represent the continent in the International Volleyball Federation World Women’s Club Championship next year.

The Blaze Spikers, who took a threehour flight from Manila to Bangkok, another two hours in the air from Bangkok to Hanoi and a two-hour bus ride from Hanoi to Phu Ly, reported for their 11 a.m. training on Friday looking fit and ready to face their taller rivals from the northern side of the Korean peninsula.