BusinessMirror November 28, 2015

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Thursday 18, 2014 Vol.28, 10 No. 40 Vol. 11 No. 51 Saturday, November 2015

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MOODY’S CITES STEADY GROWTH IN PERCAPITA GDP AND BSP’S TIGHT WATCH ON REALESTATE LENDING

PHL far from another property bubble

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NALYSTS at Moody’s Investors Service have ruled out the unwarranted ramping up of realestate prices no matter the fear of such an event having built up in recent years and threatening the country’s growth.

Its analysts said the Philippines is not even close to having a property bubble, as the rise in housing prices remain in lockstep with the country’s anticipated growth path and the central bank continues to keep a keen eye on lending to the real-estate sector.

In a research note on the Philippine financial system, Moody’s said residential- and commercialproperty prices have risen in tandem with the country’s local output, measured as its gross domestic product (GDP), over the past few years, alleviating worries that the rise in prices in the property sector is pushing prices higher.

Moody’s also said the constitutional provision limiting foreign participation in the property market to only 40 percent of total per property

INSIDE

SHOPPERS GET A HEAD START ON THANKSGIVING The World BusinessMirror

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Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • Saturday, November 28, 2015 B2-1

CUSTOMERS shop at the Northcrest Kohls store in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Thursday. The store opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving night with about 200 people in line. SAMUEL HOFFMAN/THE JOURNAL GAZETTE VIA AP

Shoppers get a head start on Thanksgiving

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EW YORK—Black Friday used to kick off the holiday-shopping season, but now Thanksgiving Day is the new tradition for some shoppers.

Macy’s officials said about 15,000 people were at the 6 p.m. opening at its flagship store in Manhattan. An hour-and-a-half before the Toys R Us in New York’s Times Square opened at 5 p.m., about 40 people stood in line.

And at the 24-hour Wal-Mart store in Naperville, Illinois, the aisles were clogged with people and carts by 6 p.m., when employees began

pulling shrink wrap off palettes of merchandise to mark the official start of Black Friday deals.

Outside, the scene was much the same. With the parking lot filled to capacity, drivers circled slowly looking for spaces, causing a backup of traffic trying to pull into the lot.

Some gave up and parked in the near-empty lot of a fitness center and a Starbucks across the street.

“It’s the worst wonderful time of the year!” an employee laughed, as he collected shopping carts.

Shopper Julie Desireau snagged a $10 crockpot and the last $10 deep fryer and promptly hid them under a rack of women’s flannel pajamas.

Then the 29-year-old from Chicago called her husband, who was in the toy department with their cart, and told him to come pick her up.

“There’s no way I’m going back there,” she said.

After opening earlier and earlier on the holiday, this year, most of the more than dozen major retailers like Macy’s, Target and Kohl’s opened around the same time they did last year—about 5 p.m. or 6 p.m.

Onebigexception: J.C. Penney, which is opening two hours earlier at 3 p.m. on the holiday. Staples has reversed course and will close on the holiday.

Sporting goods chain REI, which was always closed on Thanksgiving, is bowing out of Black Friday altogether and is asking employees and customers to spend time outdoors and not go shopping.

Still, stores aren’t waiting around to push discounts on holiday goods until the official weekend. Increasingly, they’ve been discounting holiday merchandise earlier in the month.

In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, nearly 60 percent of holiday shoppers have already started holiday shopping as of November 10.

That should take a bite out of the sales this weekend, though Black Friday should still rank as either No.1 or 2 in sales for the year.

Overall, the National Retail Federation estimates that about 135.8

million consumers will be shopping this weekend, compared with 133.7 million last year. The trade group expects about 30 million will be shopping on Thanksgiving, compared with 99.7 million on Black Friday.

The group also expects a 3.7-percent increase in sales this year to $630.5 billion for the season. But grabbing those dollars will be tough.

While the economy has been improving, shoppers remain tightfisted. Unemployment has settled into a healthy 5-percent rate, but shoppers still grapple with stagnant wages that are not keeping pace with rising daily costs like rent. Stores also are contending with an increasing shift to researching and buying online.

In response, Wal-Mart and Target made all deals available later in the stores online Thanksgiving morning.

New this year at Target: shoppers who spend $75 or more on Friday will receive a 20-percent discount to use toward a future purchase on any day between December 4 and 13.

Target CEO Brian Cornell told reporters on a conference call on Thursday night that early results show that the discount chain is seeing higher traffic at its stores than last year and shoppers are buying items across the store, from clothing to electronics to toys.

He also said that he has been pleased with strong results in online sales. Among some of the most popular doorbuster deals is a Westinghouse TV, marked down to $249.99, a savings of $350, he said. Target also offered 40 percent off of all fashion and accessories.

“This is the start of a really good shopping season,” he said. AP

RUSSIA, FRANCE AGREE IN FIGHT VS I.S.

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OSCOW—The presidents of France and Russia agreed on Thursday to tighten cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, although they remained at odds over their approach toward Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

IS has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks against both of the countries’ citizens in recent weeks: November 13 shootings and suicide bombings in Paris, which killed 130 people, and the October 31 bombing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that claimed 224 lives.

French President François Hollande has been on a diplomatic drive since the Paris attacks to increase cooperation in tackling IS, which holds swathes of territory in both Syria and Iraq.

He has met this week with President Barak Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi before flying to Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hollande and Putin agreed on increasing intelligence sharing, intensifying their

air strikes against IS in Syria and cooperating on selecting targets—two days after Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the Syrian border.

“We agreed on a very important issue: To strike the terrorists only, Daesh and the jihadi groups only, and not to strike the forces and the groups that are fighting against the terrorists,” Hollande said after the meeting, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym.

“And we are going to exchange some information about that: what can be struck, and what must not be struck.”

But the two countries remain at odds in their approach toward Assad, with Hollande saying the Syrian head of state “does not have his place in Syria’s future,” and Putin stressing that “the Syrian president’s fate should be entirely in the hands of the Syrian people.”

Putin described Assad’s army as a “natural ally” in the fight against IS—an essential force capable of battling the extremist group on the ground. He added that Russia was ready to cooperate with other groups ready to fight IS. Russia has been Assad’s staunchest

ally, and has come under criticism for targeting some rebel groups who are fighting against both IS and Assad in Syria’s multifaceted and complex civil war.

Obama, after meeting with Hollande, had said Russian cooperation in the fight against IS would be “enormously helpful.”

The US has also insisted that a political transition in Syria must lead to Assad’s departure.

“We view the US-led coalition with respect and stand ready to cooperate with it,” Putin said. “We believe that we would better create a single, united coalition as it would be easier, simpler and more efficient to coordinate our work that way.”

However, he said, “if our partners aren’t ready for that, OK, we are ready to work in a different format that is acceptable to our partners. We are ready to cooperate with the US-led coalition.”

Last week Hollande called for the US and Russia to set aside their policy divisions over Syria and “fight this terrorist army in a broad, single coalition.” But his office acknowledges that “coordination” sounds like a far more realistic goal.

2 Koreas agree to hold high-level talks next month

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EOUL, South Korea—North and South Korea have agreed to hold high-level talks next month to discuss ways to improve ties, Seoul officials said on Friday, a sign that the rivals are following through with promised reconciliation efforts after a military standoff in August.

The two countries threatened war against each other last summer over landmine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers. The standoff eased in August when the Koreas met for marathon talks and agreed on a set of tension-reduction efforts that include resuming talks between senior officials.

Working-level officials from the two sides met at a border village on Thursday and agreed to hold high-level talks on December 11 at the Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea, the last remaining major inter-Korean rapprochement project, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said in a statement.

Vice-ministerial officials will represent each side to discuss issues regarding improved ties, the statement said. AP

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RUSSIA’S President Vladimir Putin (right) and France’s President François Hollande shake hands after their news conference following the talks in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday. AP/ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO

sometimes with minimal coordination.

Turkey said it shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber after it flew into its airspace for 17 seconds despite repeated warnings. Putin dismissed the Turkish claim of intrusion and held the US responsible for failing to rein in its ally, saying that Russia had informed the US about its military flights in the area in advance. AP

While pledging closer cooperation, Putin also harshly criticized Washington for failing to prevent the downing of a Russian warplane engaged in air strikes in Syria by Nato member Turkey on Tuesday—an action which underscored the complex military landscape in Syria, where a sprawling cast of countries and rebel groups are engaged on the battlefield and in the skies overhead,

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CAMERON: U.K. MUST ATTACK I.S. IN SYRIA B2-4 Saturday, November 28, 2015

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Cameron: UK must attack IS in Syria

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BRITAIN’S Prime Minister David Cameron addresses lawmakers in the House of Commons, London, making his case for air strikes as part of a “comprehensive overall strategy” to destroy Islamic State and end the Syrian war, on Thursday. PARLIAMENTARY RECORDING UNIT, VIA AP VIDEO

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ONDON—British Prime Minister David Cameron urged skeptical lawmakers to back air strikes on the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, saying on Thursday that the Paris attacks have given the fight new urgency and Britain owes it to key allies to act.

Cameron told the House of Commons that President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande had urged Britain to join the military campaign in Syria.

“These are our closest allies and they want our help,” he said.

“We have to hit these terrorists in their heartlands. We have not and we must not shirk our responsibility

for security or hand it to others.”

Some previously skeptical lawmakers said they were convinced, but Cameron has not yet announced a date for a House of Commons vote on air strikes.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is part of a US-led coalition attacking IS militants in Iraq, but not in Syria. Cameron has been reluctant

Canada to give UN $75M for Syrian refugee relief

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ORONTO—Canada’s Liberal government announced on Thursday a $75-million (CA$100million) contribution to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help fleeing Syrians, fulfilling a campaign promise from its recent federal election.

The contribution includes $7.5 million (CA$10 million) for the UN refugee agency as part of the program to resettle thousands of Syrian refugees in Canada over the next few months.

International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the government will move quickly to disburse the funds.

“We know that Syrian refugees

that his government will resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year and another 15,000 by the end of February.

Trudeau had wanted to resettle 25,000 refugees in Canada by December 31, but faced some pushback following the deadly attacks in Paris.

Immigration and Refugee Minister John McCallum said they wanted to get it done right, so they are taking a little bit more time to process and resettle the refugees.

UN staff in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey are currently working overtime and on weekends to help select the Syrians who will be brought to Canada.

to seek backing for strikes in Syria since lawmakers voted down his 2013 plan to launch RAF strikes against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Many Britons are wary of getting drawn in to another Middle Eastern conflict after messy, bloody wars in Iraq and Libya.

Earlier this month, Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee said British air strikes would be “incoherent” and ineffective without a plan to end Syria’s four-year civil war.

Cameron replied on Thursday with a 36-page letter, arguing that Britain should act to deny IS a “safe haven” from which to plot masscasualty attacks like the November 13 rampage that left 130 dead and hundreds wounded in Paris.

He said air strikes should be part of a “comprehensive overall strategy” to destroy IS, end the Syrian war and help rebuild the country.

Attempting to allay legislators’ concerns, Cameron answered questions

briefs

CHINESE ACTIVIST GETS 6 YEARS IN JAIL

BEIJING—A lawyer says a leading Chinese rights activist, who organized rallies for media freedom, has been sentenced to six years in prison, in what the lawyer described as a hurried and unfair trial at a court in southern China.

Li Jinxing said a district court in the city of Guangzhou on Friday found Yang Maodong—better known by his penname Guo Feixiong—guilty of disturbing public order. It also convicted him of provoking troubles—a charge Li says was announced minutes before the trial.

Li says the additional charge was illegal and added to the heavy prison sentence.

Yang helped organize demonstrations and spoke in support of the editorial staff at the newspaper Southern Weekly in Guangzhou in January 2013, after its journalists complained of censorship. AP

for more than two hours in the House of Commons.

He argued that military action was legal under the UN charter’s right to self-defense. And he said while ground forces would also be needed, they would not be British.

Cameron said air strikes would not increase the already high risk of an attack in Britain. He said British authorities have foiled seven attacks in the past year either planned or inspired by IS. Cameron said he would only seek a vote in Parliament if “there is a clear majority for action,” so as not to hand IS “a publicity coup.”

The main opposition Labour Party remains divided. Leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose left-wing views are at odds with some of his lawmakers, said military action could have “unintended consequences”—as it did in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. He wrote on Thursday to Labour legislators to say he wouldn’t back air strikes because Cameron had not set out “a

coherent strategy” to defeat IS. Labour’s leadership in Parliament met on Thursday, but didn’t decide whether to allow the party’s lawmakers a free vote. Another meeting is scheduled for Monday.

The Scottish National Party’s Angus Robertson said his legislators would not support air strikes without effective ground support and “a fully cost reconstruction and stability plan.”

The debate is shadowed by the legacy of Parliament’s divisive 2003 decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq. That decision was made on the basis of flawed intelligence about Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, and without an adequate plan for post-war reconstruction.

“This is about learning the lessons of Iraq,” Cameron said, adding that—unlike in Iraq—“we are not taking or proposing to take military action to achieve regime change in Syria.” AP

EL SALVADORAN PRIEST IN SEX CASE SUSPENDED

WORLD MSGR. Jesus Delgado (right) listens to Arch.

Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for Families, during a news conference, at the Vatican on February 4. AP/ ANDREW MEDICHINI

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AN SALVADOR, El Salvador—El Salvador’s Roman Catholic Church announced on Thursday it has suspended a well-known priest, saying

RUSSELS—French warplanes taking off from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier may not remake the Middle East, but are already reshaping Europe’s balance of power after years of German economic dominance.

Refugees, Syria’s civil war, Libya’s dissolution, rumblings from Russia, terrorism in Paris, and a red alert in Brussels put hard power back atop the European agenda, burying the notion of the economically bold but militarily shy Germany as Europe’s unchallenged leader.

France, never comfortable with Germany’s low-deficit strictures, has cast them off; President François Hollande first huddled with UK Prime Minister David Cameron to hammer out war plans against Islamic State (IS), not with German Chancellor Angela Merkel; and Merkel is under fire at home for letting in too many refugees, amid fears that future terrorists are among them.

“You have undisputed German power in the economic realm, but Germany is not going to be in a position, at least in the short term, to provide security for Europe, so that will have to rest with Nato [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] and especially within Europe, the UK and France,” said Daniel Fiott, a researcher at the Institute for European Studies at VUB in Brussels. “There is a bit of balance of power emerging there.”

France hasn’t met euro budget-deficit targets, Germany’s prized tool for managing the economy, since 2007, and Hollande downgraded them to a regulatory footnote in announcing extra spending on defense and internal security after IS killed 130 people in Paris on November 13.

“In these circumstances, the security pact is more important than the stability pact,” Hollande said. The rest of Europe, including Germany’s deficit-phobic brethren, had little choice but to go along.

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem called France “broadly compliant” with the fiscal rules.

“The focus, if not obsession, with the euro-zone crisis has given us the impression that Germany is the superpower in the European integration process,” said Christophe Hillion, professor of European law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. “But if we widen our view of European integration, the picture might be different.”

The dispatch of the nuclear-propelled Charles de Gaulle to the eastern Mediterranean as the launch pad for air strikes on the IS’s headquarters in Syria was full of French symbolism.

As the founder of France’s presidential system, de Gaulle had an almost paranoid belief in French independence, especially from the US and the UK, and in a Europe run by national leaders, not outsourced to surrogates in Brussels.

So when France made a precedentsetting decision to invoke European Union (EU) military aid after the Paris atrocities, it took its case to the national capitals, one by one, shunning coordination via the EU’s central bureaucracy.

One of the first responders was Britain, which has had little time for grand EU defense designs—its policy, reemphasized in this week’s £178 billion ($270 billion), 10-year military upgrade, is Nato-first—and is in the throes of a national debate over whether to quit the 28-nation bloc. Britain put an airbase in Cyprus on standby and pledged assistance with air-to-air refueling.

In making that offer at the Elysee palace, Cameron neglected to mention that it was triggered by an EU treaty obligation. As he preps a referendum by 2017 over a possible UK exit, the thought of Britain’s war machine being bound by EU rules is simply too toxic. Britain’s planned Syria mission, which Cameron has said he would put to

from all priestly functions, including his role in canonization process for Romero.

The victim, now 42, has not been identified. But Urrutia said she asked “only that

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VOTERS DECIDE ON BID Sports BusinessMirror

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| SATURDAY A , NOVEMBER 28, 2015 AY mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SPORTS PLUS

EATON, DIBABA CITED

MONACO—American decathlete Ashton Eaton and Ethiopian running sensation Genzebe Dibaba are the International Association of Athletics Federations’s (IAAF) world athletes of 2015.

Track and field’s governing body announced the awards on Thursday.

Usually, the IAAF throws a gala party to honor its world athletes of the year. But it was canceled this year, after former IAAF President Lamine Diack was placed under criminal investigation in France on corruption and money-laundering charges.

Eaton, in the decathlon, and Dibaba, in the 1,500 meters, both won gold at the world championships in Beijing and set world records in those events in 2015. AP

MELZER TO MISS RIO

VOTERS DECIDE ON BID H

AN aerial view shows thousands of people wearing colorful ponchos to form the Olympic rings to support Hamburg’s bid for the Olympics 2024 in a park in Hamburg, Germany. AP

AMBURG, Germany—Leaders of Hamburg’s bid for the 2024 Olympics hope that a soccer scandal, unsettled costs and fear of attacks won’t dissuade voters from backing the German port city’s candidacy on Sunday.

About 1.3 million people in Hamburg and the nearby port city of Kiel hold the bid fate in their hands in a public referendum. Kiel is where sailing events would be held.

The bid has already been submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and organizers hope it won’t share the same fate as Munich’s proposed candidacy for the 2022 Winter Games. That bid was rejected in a referendum.

“We’re giving the baton to the people of Hamburg and Kiel,” German Olympic Sports Confederation President Alfons Hoermann said on Thursday.

More than 40 percent of those eligible to vote have already done so through a postal ballot.

“The excellent turnout that has emerged shows the Olympic Games project has been taken on by the city,” said Hoermann, whose federation backed Hamburg’s bid rather than rival Berlin’s in a unanimous vote in September.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere said voters should not be intimidated by the attacks in Paris or a terror scare in Hannover that prompted him to call off a football friendly between Germany and the Netherlands last week. De Maziere also referred to the ongoing scandal involving the German football federation, after it was alleged that bribes helped Germany secure the hosting rights to the 2006 World Cup.

Qatar launches probe on poor construction

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UBAI, United Arab Emirates—Qatar has launched an investigation after heavy rains exposed poor construction in a country set to host the 2022 International Football Federation (Fifa) World Cup, a deluge that saw water cascade through the roof of its $15-billion main airport.

The investigation already is examining the work of five unnamed companies and others could be targeted, as well, in the probe launched by Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, who also serves as interior minister, the country’s state-run Qatar News Agency said.

“Parties responsible for dereliction or negligence, whether governmental or private, will be held accountable,” the agency said, citing a statement late Wednesday from Qatar’s Government Communication Office.

Reached for comment, officials at Doha’s Hamad International Airport issued a statement simply saying: “There was no impact to operations yesterday.” It referred other questions to the government.

The day before, at least 79.5 millimeters (3.13 inches) of rain fell at the airport, according to the Qatar Meteorology Department. Typically, the hot, desert country sees around 50 millimeters (1.97 inches) of rain in a year.

The sudden rainfall saw water pour out of the airport’s ceiling in several places, captured in online videos.

Qatar opened Hamad International Airport in April 2014, part of its effort to enter the competitive Gulf airline market. The 600,000-square-meter (6.5-million-squarefoot) passenger terminal complex was scheduled to be completed in 2009.

The airport is part of a multibillion-dollar building boom in Doha ahead of the 2022 World Cup. However, the push has seen Qatar criticized for the way it treats its large migrant-worker population. There also have been accusations of shoddy construction. AP

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Thursday that Franz Beckenbauer, who headed the World Cup bid, received government support to try to influence International Football Federation (Fifa) executive committee members from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“Especially in view of the debates regarding big sporting events, Hamburg and Germany can show that a clean, fair, sustainable application can lead to success,” de Maziere said.

A dispute over sharing of costs has yet to be settled bet ween the state and local government, but de Maziere said talks were going well.

“It concerns a lot of money, and we’ll reach an agreement in the end,” de Maziere said.

Organizers have calculated the cost of hosting the Games at €11.2 billion ($11.9 billion). The Hamburg Senate wants the government to contribute €6.2 billion ($6.6 billion), while the city contributes €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion). Revenues of €3.8 billion ($4 billion) would be expected to make up the rest.

Paris, Rome, Los Angeles and Budapest, Hungary, also are bidding for the 2024 Games. The IOC will select the host city in Lima, Peru, in September 2017.

“Any approval over 50 percent is democratic legitimation to carry on,” Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz said. “We want to be successful on Sunday. We want to be successful in 2017 in Lima.”

Germany has not staged an Olympics since the 1972 Summer Games in Munich. AP

VIENNA—Jurgen Melzer says he will be out for nine months and miss the 2016 Rio Olympics following surgery on his left shoulder.

The formerly eighth-ranked Melzer, who hasn’t played since the US Open, has been struggling for years with persistent shoulder problems.

The 34-year-old lefthander, who was planning to play doubles at the Rio Games, says on his Facebook page on Friday, “after three months of conservative treatment, I’ve decided to have my torn labrum arthroscopically repaired.”

Melzer, who was the 1999 junior singles champion at Wimbledon, has won 13 career doubles titles, including Wimbledon in 2010 and the US Open the following year with Philipp Petzschner of Germany. AP

UEFA BANNED ZAGREB

NYON, Switzerland—The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has confirmed that Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Arijan Ademi was banned after testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol.

UEFA banned the 24-year-old Ademi for four years last week but did not identify the substance in his urine sample given after a Champions League match against Arsenal.

Stanozolol is best known as the steroid Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was caught using at the 1988 Olympics.

Arsenal Coach Arsene Wenger later criticized UEFA’s antidoping program and the rule which allowed Dinamo’s 2-1 win to stand because only one player tested positive.

UEFA defended its antidoping program on its web site on Thursday, and said Ademi’s four-year ban followed World Anti-Doping Agency guidance for “a first serious doping offence.”

The Macedonia international has said he will appeal. AP

SCOTT SLIDES DOWN IN AUSSIE OPEN

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ADAM SCOTT shots 73 to move further down the leaderboard.

YDNEY—A “flat” and tired Scott shot a 2-over 73 at the Australian Open on Friday, a round likely to allow him to scrape into the weekend but do little to end his 2015 victory drought.

Scott, playing for the sixth time in eight weeks, was right on the cutline when he finished his second round just before midday on Friday, but higher afternoon scores would likely see the number go a few strokes to his advantage.

The winner of at least one tournament every year since 2001, Scott said he failed to take advantage of better scoring conditions and softer greens on The Australian Golf Club course on Friday.

Scott, who three-putted twice for bogeys, didn’t make a single birdie, admitting he couldn’t remember when he last had a round without one.

“I can’t recall off the top of my head, normally I can sneak one in,” said Scott, managing a smile.

He was nine shots off the lead when he finished his round.

“I just misjudged the pace of the greens for most of the day,” Scott said. “I just couldn’t get myself to hit the putt hard enough and when the greens slow down I tend to struggle, and I did again today.”

Scott, who started on the back nine on Friday, three-

putted from 15 feet on the par-3 11th, and did the same on the par-4 sixth. He also missed makeable birdie putts on the 12 and 14th holes to make the turn in 1-over 37.

On the eighth hole—his second-last of the day—he left a birdie attempt about a foot short, the fifth or sixth time he failed to get the pace right. Even longtime former caddie Steve Williams, back on his bag for this tournament, couldn’t offer him any assistance.

Scott was asked whether Williams had managed to give him an “ear bash” over his poor putting, and he responded with a laugh.

“Not really, I could have given him one though...getting wet on the 14th,” he said, referring to his club selection on the hole, obviously suggested by Williams. He escaped with a par on the par-5 hole, though.

Asked if he’d practice in the afternoon, he replied: “No, I’ve played plenty of golf, I’ll just go home.”

He still rates himself a chance on the weekend.

“I’ve just got to play two good rounds,” he said. “I think I can shoot a couple of mid-60s; it’s really doable if you play good, and I’ve just got to put it together.”

Scott is actually winless in 18 months—his last tournament victory at the Colonial in Texas came a week

after he became No. 1 in May 2014. He held the top ranking for 11 weeks until August of last year, and entered the Australian Open this week ranked No. 12.

The 35-year-old Scott still has a chance for a tournament win if he doesn’t do something special on the weekend in Sydney.

He’s entered to play the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, where he lives, in early December, although it is an unofficial money event on the PGA Tour because of its limited field.

JONES TAKES LEAD

MATT JONES used home-course advantage to shoot a 3-under 68 on Friday and take the early clubhouse lead during the second round of the Australian Open.

Jones, who is a member at The Australian Golf Club, had a 36-hole total of 7-under 135 on a course that was playing easier after Thursday’s brutal wind and heat when only 18 players broke par.

Scott, who like defending champion Jordan Spieth opened with a 71, failed to take advantage of the easier conditions, shooting 73 to move further down the leaderboard. Scott is likely to be just inside the cut line. AP

SPORTS

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Sovereign notes victim of growth sans rate cuts

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France usurps Germany as terror refocuses EU to hard power

project acts as a natural deterrent to massive inflows of speculative capital pouring into the real-estate sector from sources overseas.

The global credit watcher, likewise, said the rather rapid rise in commercial-property loans, despite more recent and more stringent regulations on the expansion of the business-process outsourcing sector, supports the demand.

Such measures were meant to cool the property sector and had been keenly noted by the credit watcher.

For instance, the regulators have introduced in mid-2014 so-called real-estate stress test, which aims to ensure the banks’ loss absorption buffers are robust enough to withstand severe downturn scenarios.

HILIPPINE gover nment bonds, the worst emergingmarket performers, have become a victim of the nation’s success, as the economy grows without interest-rate cuts.

Peso sovereig n notes have dropped 3.3 percent over the last three months, the most among around 30 developing nations and the only Asian sovereign securities to decline, according to Bloomberg indexes.

T he bond s fel l on Fr id ay, after official data the day before showed growth accelerated to 6 percent last quarter, the fastest among Southeast Asia’s five biggest economies.

Quickening growth makes it harder for the central bank to justify rate cuts, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees an increase next as an El Niño weather pattern pushes up food costs. The government’s acceptance of higher yields at a sale in October was a trigger for a drop in the notes, which are set for the biggest monthly decline since December 2013, according to BDO Private Bank ((BDOPB).

“The local economy is strong, and inflation might even be a worry,” said Paolo Magpale, the Manilabased treasurer at BDOPB, a unit of the country’s largest lender.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 47.0690

“Other countries cut rates, because they need to stimulate their economies. The Philippines is not in that position.”

While the increase in GDP last quarter trailed the 6.3-percent median estimate of economists, it was still the most since the final three months of 2014. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has held its policy rate at 4 percent since September 2014, and six of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg see one or more increases in borrowing costs next year.

El Niño

“GDP turnout confirms the economy doesn’t really need further monetary stimulus at the moment,” central bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said in mobile-phone message to reporters on Thursday. “But we are mindful of risks from natural disasters and global developments, including slower-than-expected growth among our trading partners.”

The El Niño, which brings drier weather to Asia, will push up Philippine inflation by more than 0.8 percentage point next year, according to a Goldman note released on November 20. The US lender sees inflation of 2.8 percent in 2016, 6.1-percent annual growth and an

BEGUILING JEWELS Katrina Camille Peña of the Presidential Commission on Good Government holds a set of jewelry from the infamous Hawaii Collection, one of three sets once owned by former First Lady Imelda Marcos, at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Friday, when these were appraised by Sotheby’s. The appraisal was made to determine its current value. NONIE REYES

MANILA, TOKYO INK P93.48B LOAN AGREEMENT FOR LUZON RAILWAY B L S. M

T

OKYO’S commitment to fully support Manila in its thrust to develop sustainable transport infrastructure that promote inclusive growth has been jump-started with the signing of a P93.48-billion loan allocated for the construction of the 36-kilometer commuter railway in Luzon.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) Chief Representative Noriaki Niwa on Friday signed the loan agreement for the first phase of the North-South Commuter Railway, securing the funding for the project whose construction will run for over five years.

“In 2010 the Asian Development Bank [ADB] estimated that the Philippines has $127 billion in infrastructure needs until 2020, equivalent to around 6.1 percent of the GDP per year,” he admitted.

“Obviously, in this respect, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do—for the longest time, in the years 1983 to 2000, average infrastructure expenditure as a percentage of GDP was kept at 2 percent.”

But thanks to the expansion of the country’s fiscal space, the

government was allowed to ramp up infrastructure spending by 245.4 percent and to finally match it with the target for 2016.

“However, we still appreciate development partners marching in lockstep with us on our priorities,” Purisima said.

Tokyo is one of Manila’s strongest development partners, with its total official development assistance (ODA) in loans and grants given to the Philippines, second only to the World Bank.

“Infrastructure projects are sometimes not financially viable but are very economically desirable—the cheapest sources of financing are, thus, given premium. Thus, we thank the government and people of Japan for the faith they have put in our economic partnership and for the investment they have put in our future,” Purisima said.

Last week Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa and Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario exchanged notes for yen loan to the tune of ¥241.991 billion, or roughly P93.48 billion.

President Aquino and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were present during the exchange, which was done on the sidelines of the

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Manila this month.

Japanese Press Secretary Yasuhisa Kawamura said Abe is eager to “start the research on the conceptualization of the metro railway project,” so that construction may be launched with ease.

Niwa added that the project will help improve the Philippines’s economic competitiveness.

“Traffic congestion is a clear and immediate challenge that can affect a country’s economic competitiveness,” he said. “It’s timely for the Philippines to start its railway projects to ease traffic and improve mobility of logistics and ordinary commuters.”

The loan, amounting to roughly $2 billion, is the largest scale assistance ever extended by Jica to any country for a single project to date.

It carries an interest rate of 0.10 percent per annum for nonconsulting services and 0.01 percent per annum for consulting services; and a maturity of 40 years inclusive of 10 years grace period.

Jica’s assistance covers 18 ongoing and two new project loans, totaling about $2.8 billion, and eight ongoing grant aid projects, with total amount of about $116 million.

S “L ,” A

S “G,” A

n JAPAN 0.3839 n UK 71.0789 n HK 6.0733 n CHINA 7.3665 n SINGAPORE 33.4344 n AUSTRALIA 34.0266 n EU 49.9402 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.5434

Source: BSP (27 November 2015)

A2

News

BusinessMirror

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Loan agreement. . .

The construction of the facility will be funded through a mix of government reserves and the Japanese loan through the official development assistance scheme.

The project involves the construction of a 36.7-kilometer narrow gauge elevated commuter railway from Malolos, Bulacan, to Tutuban in Manila. It is seen to be completed by the third quarter of 2020.

The second phase of the facility, which will extend the commuter rail up to Matnog, Sorsogon, will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2019. This will be auctioned off under the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program.

Essentially, the whole project aims to revive the Bicol Line of the Philippine National Railways, while improving its decades-old facilities that are far below the train systems of its peers.

Growth. . .

Continued from A1

The two-phase project is part of the P4.76trillion Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and its Surrounding Areas, otherwise known as the Dream Plan, that was formulated by Jica.

The Dream Plan lists the transport infrastructure requirements of the Philippines, facilities that are expected to alleviate potential losses and gain from prospective savings.

If the transport road map would not be implemented through 2030, the Philippines stands to lose roughly P6 billion daily in traffic costs. Currently, it loses P2 billion a day in transport costs. A large chunk of the list will be implemented under the PPP scheme, which has been gaining traction since its launch in 2010.

The government has awarded 11 deals so far. It aims to award at most 13 more contracts before President Aquino bows out from office in 2016.

Continued from A1

interest-rate cut in the fourth quarter. Consumer- price gains eased to just 0.4 percent in September and October.

“Although Philippine fundamentals remain very solid—we have resilient growth and we have benig n inf lation—we’re still not immune to price actions,” said Jill Singian, a portfolio manager at Bank of the Philippine Islands in Manila.

“El Niño is a persistent risk to domestic inflation.”

The yield on the 10-year sovereign bonds rose nine basis points on Friday to 4.80 percent, taking its increase this month to 110 basis points, according to midday fixings from Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. Yields will probably stay near current levels as investors wait to see whether the Federal

Reserve will raise borrowing costs next month, Singian said.

Safe haven

The Philippine peso has been the most resilient currency in Southeast Asia to the prospect of a Fed liftoff and the slowing Chinese economy. It’s lost 5.2 percent this year, compared with drops of 8.1 percent in Thailand’s baht, 9.9 percent in Indonesia’s rupiah and 17 percent in Malaysia’s ringgit.

Pioneer Investment Management Ltd., which oversees €217 billion ($230 billion), is “cautious” on Philippine bonds and its holdings are close to benchmark levels due to external risks, including the potential for higher volatility in China’s yuan, said Hakan A k soy, a L ondon-based debt fund manager. Bloomberg News

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Rise in Q4 state spending to fuel above 6% growth

E

By David Cagahastian

conomic officials believe that GDP growth in the fourth quarter would be higher than the 6-percent growth in the previous quarter due to higher government spending that will persist up to the first few months of next year, especially in infrastructure.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said public spending during the last quarter of the year will again pick up as in the previous years, as government offices scramble to finish their projects.

This will drive growth higher

than 6 percent, which was recorded in the third quarter.

Abad said 96 percent of the agency budgets have already been released.

“As in the third quarter, public spending will once again play a pivotal role in the economic expansion

in the fourth quarter [Q4]. Historically, Q4 has always been a strong quarter in terms of public spending, as agencies rush to finish their projects. Because of the reforms introduced, like the elimination of the need for Saros [special allotment release order], the significant reduction of lump sums, and the advance procurement of goods and services, the Department of Budget and Management is certain to match its yearly average of 98-percent releases,” Abad said.

Abad added that elective officials are also expected to finish their infrastructure projects to gain popularity among their constituents ahead of the coming elections.

“What will further boost spending is the pressure to finish infrastructure projects from political leaders in the run-up to the May 2016 elections. Performance is

always an election platform and political leaders demonstrate that through the delivery of social services and public-works projects,” he said.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said infrastructure spending by the government would have already reached the target of 5 percent of GDP by 2016, as the 2016 national budget had increased allocation for infrastructure spending to fuel growth.

“We believe our investments in infrastructure and our people are creating a web of growth drivers, setting the stage for higher-quality growth. With the 2016 budget, we will meet our 5 percent of GDP goal for infrastructure spending.

Meanwhile, budgets for social services went up by 471 percent, basic education by 79 percent, health by 211 percent since 2010,” he said in a statement.

PHL far from another property bubble Continued from A1

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also just recently issued a circular mandating lenders to report to the central bank the details of every residential real-estate loan taken out beginning June this year, as

the regulators try to bridge the socalled real-estate information gap in the country.

Thus, for each residential real-estate loan that a bank has granted, respondent financial institutions are required to provide the following data

in their mandated quarterly reports: month of loan granted/ booked; location of property; type of property; type of housing unit; appraised value of housing unit per square meter; floor area of the housing unit; number of floors; and number

of bedrooms.

The effective age of the housing unit, appraised value of lot per square meter, total area of lot, total appraised value of property, housing segment, acquisition cost and name of developer should also be provided.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

News

BusinessMirror

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Saturday, November 28, 2015

A3

It’s official: Duterte will run for president in 2016 polls

D

Mockery

By Joel R. San Juan

AVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte finally decided to join the presidential race next year after he withdrew his certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor in the province and filed his COC for president under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

Duterte replaced Martin Diño, who withdrew his candidacy for president after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) law department initiated a motu proprio petition for his disqualification being a nuisance candidate.

Possible running mate

Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., meanwhile, welcomed the statement of Sen Aquilino Pimentel

that their political party, the PDP-L aba n is consider ing Marcos to be Duterte’s running mate for the upcoming 2016 general elections.

“A a m i n i n k o n a m e r o n g mga members of the par t y na si ya [M a rcos] ang g u sto,” Pimentel said.

“If somebody supports me, why w i l l I t u r n t h at dow n?

Of course, not. I w ill always

DUTERTE

w e l come a ny one ’s s up p or t ,” Marcos said.

“Anything is possible in Philippine politics and that this election has turned out to be unique, including many nontraditional arrangements.”

Using the words of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Marcos said that what they are forming with each other is a loose coalition. “We will have to find out and make our own way with Sen. Miriam to define exactly what our coalition will be,” Marcos said.

Palace clings on BBL passage

By Butch Fernandez

M

alacaÑang remains hopeful Congress will now find time to finally pass the controversial Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) creating a new entity in place of the soon to be abolished Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), while the final version of P3-trillion 2016 budget is still being crafted in the bicameral committee.

“The BBL is an important piece of legislation,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. He added that the Palace remains hopeful that the lawmakers will now devote time to deliberate and take a final floor vote on the BBL with the 2016 budget debates now out of the way.

“We hope both Houses will pass the BBL,” Lacierda said.

The Palace official aired the appeal when asked if President Aquino will give an extra push to ensure passage of the BBL, given that Congress has only 10 more

session days left before adjourning for the Christmas recess.

When Congress reconvenes after their Christmas vacation, lawmakers would have nine more session days from January 9 to February 5, 2016, then go on another 16-week recess until May 23.

But the Palace is not giving up and is likely to intensify lobbying efforts to convince lawmakers to approve the administration’s priority bill before the current Congress adjourns for the 2016 election campaign.

In an open letter to Congress, the Aquino administration’s chief negotiators and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (GPH–MILF) peace panels also pleaded with the senators and congressmen to “stop wasting time and work” on the immediate passage of the BBL. “Time is short, but there is still time,” GPH Peace Panel Chairman Prof. Miriam Coronel–Ferrer and MILF Peace Panel Chairman Mohagher Iqbal said in a joint letter addressed to the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“We ask our legislators to work for the immediate passage of the draft law on the Bangsamoro. Time is of the essence, and opportunity knocks only once,” The two negotiators added: “We are at the cusp of closing a major armed conflict that has divided our people for decades. But we cannot reach our destination without the goodwill and show of statesmanship from our leaders in the august halls of Congress, in whose hands the legislative power lies.”

T he y poi nted out t h at the Bangsamoro law aims to “establish a more representative and responsive autonomous government correcting the structural flaws” found in the current ARMM. “[The BBL] will sustain the development initiatives that have f lourished under the current cease-fire and the normalization programs provided for in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” the two peace panel chairmen said.

China reclamation ‘close to catastrophic,’ experts say

T

he Philippines on Thursday criticized China for its reclamation activities in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), which has posed a significant threat to the marine environment.

Deputy Presidential Spokeman Abigail Valte said Prof. Kent Carpenter assessed the damage of China’s island-building activities to the coral reef ecosystem as “close to catastrophic.”

“Carpenter drew the conclusion that China’s actions have caused grave harm to the environment in the South China Sea due to its artificial island-building activities, and that the damage to the complex coral reef ecosystem is close to catastrophic,” Valte said in a bulletin issued from The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday.

Carpenter was one of two expert witnesses presented by the Philippines to the arbitral tribunal on the third day of the hearings on the Philippines’s case against China.

Carpenter is a professor at the

Department of Biological Sciences at the Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

The other expert witness was Clive Schofield, current director of Research and Security at the University of Wollongong in Australia.

The Philippines’s principal counsel, Paul Reichler, described Carpenter and Schofield as independent experts who were presented to give their own analyses based on their areas of specialization.

Valte said Schofield presented his findings on 47 features requested by the tribunal to be studied to determine whether they are insular, low-tide, or high-tide elevations. The Australian expert also presented Landsat images of the Scarborough Shoal at high tide and low tide.

During the same hearing, Valte said Prof. Alan Boyle presented to the tribunal the damage China has done to the marine ecosystem, more specifically, to the complex ecosystem of coral reefs, biological diversity and living resources in the South China Sea.

“Boyle stated that, if unchecked, China’s activities will continue to pose a significant threat to the marine environment of the South China Sea and of all the states which border the sea,” the Palace official said.

She added that Boyle argued that China has violated its obligation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to protect and preserve the marine environment.

He cited instances of harmful fishing practices, such as blast fishing, cyanide fishing, harvesting of giant clams, catching of turtles and other endangered species.

Valte said Boyle also stressed that China, as a flag state, is responsible for its failure to prevent its fishermen and vessels from engaging in illegal fishing activities.

She said Boyle detailed to the tribunal the series of near-collisions that occurred in April and May 2012, at the Scarborough Shoal involving Chinese Marine Service vessels and Philippine vessels. PNA

In its petition, the Comelec law department accused Diño of putting the election process in mockery as he clearly has no intention of running for president.

A certain lawyer Salvador Medialdea filed Duterte’s COC on his behalf at the Comelec law department shortly before noon on Friday.

Duterte attached his certificate of nomination and acceptance from the PDP-Laban.

Po l i t i c a l p a r t i e s a r e a l lowed until December 10 to name substitute candidates.

Duterte’s decision to run came after the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) junked the quo warranto case filed by presidential aspirant Rizalito David seeking the disqualification case of Senator and 2016 presidential wannabe Sen. Grace Poe on the ground that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen being a foundling.

The Davao mayor insisted Poe has failed to prove that she is a natural-born Filipino citizen, thus, should not be allowed to sit in the Senate or run in the coming

presidential elections.

He had c ha l lenged Poe to produce her birth mother to prove that she is Filipino.

Legal obstacles

Earlier, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Duterte’s bid for presidency could face legal obstacles.

Macalintal raised two issues that might nullify Duterte’s presidential ambition—the apparent error in Diño’s COC, which indicates that he is running for mayor of Pasay City and the Comelec law department’s motu propio petition to declare him a nuisance candidate.

“If the basis of the substitution of Duterte is the COC of Diño, from what I know, there may be some legal impediments. One is because he filed to run for Pasay City mayor, not for president,” Macalintal said.

“As you know, once he is declared as a nuisance candidate, it is tantamount to no COC being

submitted. That will also pose as a problem,” he added.

For his part, Former Comelec Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. said he believes that Duterte is qualified to be PDP-Laban’s new standard bearer as it is allowed by existing rules. “ T he of f icia l cand id ate of PDP-Laban has withdrawn his COC. The grounds in fielding a substitute are death, disqualification and withdrawal. Diño withdrew, so he can be replaced,” Brillantes said.

Section 19 of Comelec Resolution 9984 provides that an official candidate of a duly registered political party or coalition who dies, withdraws, or is disqualified for any cause after the last day for the filing of COCs may be substituted by a candidate belonging to, and nominated by, t he sa me pol it ic a l pa r t y or coalition.

However, no substitution due to withdrawal shall be allowed by the Comelec after December 10.

A4 Saturday, November 28, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Pregnant attitudes

I

T is ironic that two of the oldest civilizations and most historically influential countries are both facing a potentially bleak future because of their efforts at “social engineering.”

Social engineering is loosely defined as manipulation of the people into actions that would normally not be taken.

China’s social engineering was officially part of the government’s onechild policy to reduce population growth. The government passed laws that prohibited some 35 percent of the population from having more than one child. While there were many exceptions to this rule, the people were manipulated over several decades into firmly believing that severely limiting family size was in the best interest of the nation.

Historical studies have shown that as a nation progresses from an agricultural-based economy that requires large families and increases personal wealth, population growth falls naturally. But now, China is facing a demographic problem of an aging population. Further, there are 35 million more men than women in Chinese society who will probably never raise a family.

Japan’s problem of an aging population due to its low birth rate is now reaching critical mass that threatens to dramatically change its future, both socially and economically. But it was not Japan’s government that socially engineered its society, but the people themselves—through their collective attitude.

While in the rest of the world—except in most of the Middle Eastern countries—working married women are accepted, and even encouraged. In Japanese society, when a woman chooses work, instead of staying at home to look after her husband, she is called a “devil wife”.

As a result, woman had to choose between work and family, and prejudice against pregnant women in the work force is standard practice.

Women are subject to constant harassment, demotion and dismissal when the employer discovers that she is pregnant. Pregnant women are discouraged from taking legally guaranteed maternity leave, or simply being pressured to quit.

The birth rate has fallen to such a low point over decades that the government realistically fears Japan’s population will fall from the current 127 million to less than 100 million. This is a shocking forecast that puts Japan’s economic future in jeopardy.

As part of the government’s economic program, legislation is being pushed to provide laws against “maternity harassment,” day-care centers; and the bills will also make it easier for nonregular workers to take time off during pregnancy and will expand subsidies for infertility treatment.

However, this is not the first time that the Japanese government has tried to tackle this problem, making a serious effort as far back as 2007.

The difference this time may be that the Japanese people are finally realizing the seriousness of demographic problem and workplace discrimination against working women. Last year the Japanese Supreme Court handed a partial victory to a woman who sued her former employer for being demoted during pregnancy.

BUSINESSMIRROR 11282015

Time is more important than price John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I

N looking at the stock market, think of time as...time, and price as movement through space.

We incorrectly tend to think of these as separate and distinct from each other. All those time-travel movies we have seen show some guy getting into his time machine and moving through “time” without moving through “space”. The Earth travels 1.6 million miles per day as it goes in its orbit around the Sun. Therefore, if you were sitting in your chair and went back in time to yesterday, your chair would actually be 1.6 million miles down the road, unless you could control space in addition to time.

The truth is that only a fool thinks that forecasting is simply price. Time is far more important than price.

On August 24 and 25, the Philippine Stock Exchange Composite Index (PSEi)—the price—fell 9.27 percent from the close on August 20th to the daily low on August 25th. Then from the weekly low of 6,603, the PSEi went up to close the week at 7,098 for a weekly high-toclose gain of 7.5 percent.

Neither the initial drop nor the following recovery in price made any sense in terms of time. The PSEi had already been in a downtrend since the high in April. The investors that went into panic mode selling out on the two “crashes” were wrong,

and so were those that bought into the 7.5-percent “recovery”. In fact, that single weekly price move was a distortion of time. Since then, the PSEi has gone sideways, even if in a fairly large trading range between about 6,800 and 7,200.

Had that 9.27 percent move down and subsequent 7.5-percent recovery taken place in a month or two, we would have looked at the time frame, and concluded that the market was going sideways after coming from a basic downtrend.

During the period from the week of August 24th, we have seen weekly changes of up 3.2 percent, down 3 percent, up 4.2 percent and down 3 percent. Currently, the PSEi is down about 3 percent from the August

24 weekly close. That is about the same margin of error for your favorite presidential candidate in the opinion polls.

Time, not price, is dominant. Certainly, a rapid change in the price of a stock can signal a trend change.

However, only time will tell if that price move did signal a price-trend change, and that is the point.

As I have said before, there were several of us predicting that the PSEi would go to 8,000, when the index was between 4,000 and 5,000. That was in late 2010, and I predicted 8,000 would be reached within 10 years. Others, more perceptive at this forecasting thing than I am, predicted an eventual move to 10,000, and I believe that they are correct.

The problem is, in my judgment, the 8,000 level was reached too soon.

The price got out of synch with time, just as happened in August. The time and price “continuum” or gradual transition, if you will, has been distorted. If you look at a long-term monthly chart of the PSEi, you will see that from November 2012 to April 2013, the PSEi—the price— went up too fast, which caused a pullback decline to get price and time back to moving together.

Look at that same PSEi chart, and you see the same rapid movement happened between January 1, 2015, and April 2015, when the PSEi hit 8,000 high. Since then, we have experienced the same type of

Japan’s debt trap won’t fix itself

W

By Noah Smith | Bloomberg View

hen even Paul Krugman is worried about the national debt, you know you have a problem. The country in question isn’t Greece or the US, but Japan.

With low unemployment and high labor-force participation, Japan has essentially no idle resources. The scope for boosting the economy with fiscal stimulus or easy money is almost nil.

But Japan continues to run an enormous budget deficit every year. In 2014 the government had a deficit of 7.7 percent of gross domestic product, with a primary deficit—which excludes interest payments—of just under 6 percent.

Things are looking somewhat better for 2015. A hike in the consumption tax in 2014 has swelled revenues. Government coffers have also been boosted by increased profits at Japanese companies—which is then subject to the country’s high corporate tax rate. As a result, the primary deficit is projected to be only about 3.3 percent in 2015.

But 3.3 percent is still way too high.

In the long run, any deficit that stays higher than the rate of nominal GDP growth is unsustainable. Japan’s nominal GDP growth is now about zero. Its long-term potential real GDP growth is no more than 1 percent (due to shrinking

population), and the Bank of Japan has not managed to increase core inflation to the 2-percent target, despite Herculean efforts. Even if interest rates stay at zero forever—allowing the country to eventually refinance all its debt in order to bring interest payments down to zero —borrowing 3.3 percent of GDP every year is just too much. And if interest rates rise, deficits would explode.

The government, of course, knows this, and has pledged to cut the primary deficit to 1 percent by 2018 and to zero by 2020. But its projections rely on unrealistically fast growth assumptions; it would require Japan to expand well above its long-term potential rate. As in the US, Japanese administrations are in the habit of overoptimism. The Ministry of Finance, full of sober-minded bureaucrats, projects that under more realistic growth assumptions, the primary deficit will shrink only to 2.2 percent. Even that improvement would require tax hikes, spending cuts or some combination of the two.

A primary deficit of 2.2 percent

would be at the very edge of long-term sustainability. If we assume a 1-percent real potential growth rate and 1.5-percent inflation, then a 2.2-percent deficit will be just barely under the maximum sustainable level of 2.5 percent.

So Japan does have a chance to avoid disaster. But the risk is still high. A growth slowdown, a rise in interest rates or a fall in corporate profitability could easily nudge the government back to excessive debt growth. A secure future will require more serious deficit reduction.

That will mean either spending cuts or tax increases. Tax hikes hurt the economy, in the short term by damping demand and in the long term via economic distortion. Spending cuts are a better bet, but there’s a big political impediment.

Japan’s society aging and shrinking, and an ever-greater share of spending goes to pensions and other transfer payments to the old. The elderly are numerous and they vote in great numbers, so there is little scope for cutting their payouts.

Unless there is an attitude change—an increased willingness by the baby-boom generation to make sacrifices for the good of the country—the government will probably continue to support the boomers at the expense of Japan’s beleaguered millennials.

It looks as if tax hikes are the only way to bring the deficit down to sustainable

retracement as seen in 2013. And this is most interesting: The pullback in 2013 started at 7,000, which is basically the level to which we have fallen since reaching 8,000.

The average monthly PSEi change since the April 2009 breakout until the index started going up too quickly in November 2012 was 2 percent. Had the market continued that average 2-percent monthly increase from November 2012, we would now be at PSEi 10,800.

Instead, we have seen monthly movements, like up 8 percent down 9 percent, up 7 percent and down 6 percent. In September 2010 the PSEi rose 15 percent, which was too far too fast, and was followed by nearly a year of volatile but basically sideways action. That is what we experienced within even more volatile price movements in 2013, and what we have seen on a weekly basis these past few months.

Stock prices, similar to objects in space, can go up, down or sideways.

Time has only one dimension— straight ahead. If prices move too far ahead of time, we have corrections in a trend until the trend changes.

The PSE trend is still up.

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.

levels. At some point—no one knows quite when—a primary deficit at current levels will lead either to a default or to direct monetary financing, with the central bank printing money to buy new government debt issues. Direct monetary financing will lead eventually to hyperinflation, which acts much like a total default on all public and private debts.

Either a default or a hyperinflation would cause every Japanese financial institution, and most Japanese businesses, to fail. Maybe Japan would be OK, since it wouldn’t owe very much to foreigners—most of Japan’s debt is domestically financed. Businesses would eventually reorganize, new financial institutions would emerge to lend them money and workers would find something to do. But the disruption to economic life would be so huge that it might put the country in danger of an extremist takeover—probably by right-wing elements, since Japan lacks a powerful left wing. An extremist regime would probably wreck the economy with bad policy, pushing Japan out of the ranks of rich developed countries.

If all goes perfectly, Japan can avoid this kind of nightmare scenario. But it’s far from a sure thing. More measures are needed. Spending cuts, especially on transfers to the elderly, would be ideal, but tax hikes may be the only way.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Why the country remains Opening of the Year of Mercy an economic laggard Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual Cecilio T. Arillo

database Part One

“The world has been passing the Philippines by, literally. Back in 1960, the country had the second-highest per-capita income in Asia, lagging behind only Japan. But by the following decade, South Korea and Taiwan had surpassed it, and by the 1980s, Malaysia and Thailand had, too. China overtook it in the late 1990s. And now—an event that many Philippine elite thought they would never live to see—Indonesia has sailed past the Philippines.”—Ruchir Sharma, Newsweek, January 22, 2010

F

AST-forward to the present, Filipinos and foreigners alike ask the million-dollar question: What happened? Why did the Philippine economy continuously retrogressed since 1953, the last year of President Elpidio Quirino’s term?

It is, indeed, an enigma why the Philippines today remains among the weakest in Asean. A new bestselling book, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Harvard political scientist James A. Robinson and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) economist Daron Acemoglu, explains not only for economists and policy-makers, but also for laymen interested to know, why the Philippines should not fail at all.

Why Nations Fail, published by Random House, according to the Amazon’s book review, answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography?

Perhaps, ignorance of what the right policies are?

Acemoglu and Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). To take just one of their fascinating examples, Korea is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on Earth, while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest.

“The South forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success, thus, spurred was sustained, because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass,” they said.

In this series of articles, you will understand why the Philippines, despite its strategic location and vast natural and human resources, remains at the bottom among the five original founders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The roots of our economic crisis: Neocolonialism

“The sovereign nationhood was pure fiction, because the colonial power which supposedly returned to us the independence which it had wrested from Bonifacio’s revolution never really left and never really allowed us to exist and act as a free and sovereign people,” the late Harvardtrained economist-lawyer Alejandro Lichauco said.

In a conversation with this writer before his death in 2015, Lichauco said: “Any attempt to understand the essence and roots of the nation’s crisis must begin with recognition of the nature of the Philippine state. The Philippines isn’t, and one must stress that, a sovereign, independent state that it is assumed to be and which its Constitution claims it is.”

Lichauco said the Philippines is a neocolonial state, which, by definition, means a state, that is sovereign and independent in theory, but which, in fact, is the colony of another, or of others. As a people, we are the classic victim of what Webster’s New World Dictionary calls neocolonialism, and which it defines as “the exploitation of a supposedly

“Any attempt to understand the essence and roots of the nation’s crisis must begin with recognition of the nature of the Philippine state. The Philippines isn’t, and one must stress that, a sovereign, independent state that it is assumed to be and which its constitution claims it is.” independent nation as by imposing a puppet government.”

Lichauco continued: “Neocolonialist intervention, of course, hasn’t been confined to the political process. You see and feel the hand of that intervention in just about every aspect of Philippine society and the political economy. You see and feel it not only in government and politics, but in the business community, in our schools, civil society, media and even the churches.”

The intervention, recalled Lichauco, has been most crucial and fatal at the level of our presidential politics.

As the late and former President Diosdado Macapagal admitted in an article he wrote for the Bulletin a few years before he passed away, the US government has been a decisive factor in every presidential election since 1935, and no presidential aspirant objectionable to Washington has ever been elected president. By the same token, any sitting president who manages to displease Washington invariably winds up unseated by Washington. That has been generally the fate of all incumbent presidents. They were mounted to office by Washington, and eventually unseated by Washington.

“If we have a total economic crisis in our hands,” Lichauco said, “a crisis that has the most visible and terrifying manifestation is the mass hunger, and not only the mass poverty that now grips the land and which government itself has acknowledged. It is because in this post-industrial age, we remain a nation of 100 million mired in the preindustrial stage of history.”

The question is: Why have we remained stuck in the preindustrial age, when neighbors, once more impoverished and backward than we are, have either graduated, or are dramatically in the process of graduating, into the age of science and industry?

And the answer is that it has been planned that way. From the beginning, it was planned in Washington that the Philippines shall remain essentially a raw-material economy in order to service the raw-material requirements of an industrial Japan.

In 1946 the Truman administration adopted the recommendation of the report which proposed that Japan be developed as the primary, if not sole, industrial powerhouse in the Asia-Pacific region, and that countries like the Philippines should be preserved as raw-material economies, obviously to service the requirements of Japan’s factories.

To be continued To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio. arillo@gmail.com

SERVANT LEADER

O

n December 8, 2015, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, will open the Jubilee Year of Mercy through the opening of the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

The Archdiocese of Manila will formally open the Year of Mercy through the solemn opening of the Holy Door of the Manila Cathedral and the Eucharistic Celebration on Wednesday, December 9, 3 in the afternoon. The ceremony will begin outside the Manila Cathedral (Plaza Roma).

All the priests in the archdiocese will concelebrate with our archbishop, His Eminence Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle. The various religious communities, schools, parishes, organizations and movements in the archdiocese are also requested to send a delegation to this event.

The faithful are also encouraged to participate in the opening of the Holy Doors of the other Jubilee Churches in the archdiocese.

The schedule is as follows: n National Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Makati City. n December 11, Friday, 3 in the afternoon. n Santuario de Santo Cristo, San Juan City. n December 12, Saturday, 5:30 in the afternoon. n Archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Mandaluyong City. n December 13, 3 in the afternoon. n Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Pasay City. n December 13, Sunday, 5:30 in the afternoon Below are some excerpts from Misericordiae Vultus—the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy by His Holiness, Pope Francis.

Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. Mercy has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its culmination in Him. The Father, “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4), after having revealed His name to Moses as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6), has never ceased to show, in various ways throughout history, His divine nature. In the “fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4), when everything had been arranged according to His plan of salvation, He sent His only Son into

the world, born of the Virgin Mary, to reveal His love for us in a definitive way. Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father (cf. John 14:9). Jesus of Nazareth, by His words, His actions, and His entire person[1] reveals the mercy of God. We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity and peace.

Our salvation depends on it. Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.

At times we are called to gaze even more attentively on mercy so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father’s action in our lives. For this reason I have proclaimed an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy as a special time for the Church, a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective.

The Holy Year will open on December 8, 2015, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. This liturgical feast day recalls God’s action from the very beginning of the history of mankind. After the sin of Adam and Eve, God did not wish to leave humanity alone in the throes of evil. And so He turned His gaze to Mary, holy and immaculate in love (cf.

Ephesians 1:4), choosing her to be the Mother of man’s Redeemer. When faced with the gravity of sin, God responds with the fullness of mercy.

Mercy will always be greater than any sin, and no one can place limits on the love of God who is ever ready to forgive. I will have the joy of opening the Holy Door on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. On that day, the Holy Door will become a Door of Mercy through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God who consoles, pardons and instills hope.

On the following Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Rome—

that is, the Basilica of Saint John Lateran—will be opened. In the following weeks, the Holy Doors of the other Papal Basilicas will be opened.

On the same Sunday, I will announce that in every local church, at the cathedral—the mother church of the faithful in any particular area—or, alternatively, at the co-cathedral or another church of special significance, a Door of Mercy will be opened for the duration of the Holy Year. At the discretion of the local ordinary, a similar door may be opened at any shrine frequented by large groups of pilgrims, since visits to these holy sites are so often grace-filled moments, as people discover a path to conversion. Every Particular Church, therefore, will be directly involved in living out this Holy Year as an extraordinary moment of grace and spiritual renewal.

Thus the Jubilee will be celebrated both in Rome and in the Particular Churches as a visible sign of the Church’s universal communion.

I have chosen the date of December 8 because of its rich meaning in the recent history of the Church. In fact, I will open the Holy Door on the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. The Church feels a great need to keep this event alive. With the Council, the Church entered a new phase of her history. The Council Fathers strongly perceived, as a true breath of the Holy Spirit, a need to talk about God to men and women of their time in a more accessible way. The walls, which for too long had made the Church a kind of fortress, were torn down and the time had come to proclaim the Gospel in a new way. It was a new phase of the same evangelization that had existed from the beginning. It was a fresh undertaking for all Christians to bear witness to their faith with greater enthusiasm and conviction.

The Church sensed a responsibility to be a living sign of the Father’s love in the world.

We recall the poignant words of Saint John XXIII when, opening the Council, he indicated the path to follow: “Now the Bride of Christ wishes to use the medicine of mercy rather than taking up arms of severity…

The Catholic Church, as she holds high the torch of Catholic truth at this Ecumenical Council, wants to show herself a loving mother to all; patient, kind, moved by compassion and goodness toward her separated children.” [2] Blessed Paul VI spoke in a similar vein at the closing of the Council: “We prefer to point out how charity has been the principal religious feature of this Council… the old story of the Good Samaritan has

been the model of the spirituality of the Council… a wave of affection and admiration flowed from the Council over the modern world of humanity.

Errors were condemned, indeed, because charity demanded this no less than did truth, but for individuals themselves there was only admonition, respect and love. Instead of depressing diagnoses, encouraging remedies; instead of direful predictions, messages of trust issued from the Council to the present-day world.

The modern world’s values were not only respected but honored, its efforts approved, its aspirations purified and blessed…. Another point we must stress is this: all this rich teaching is channeled in one direction, the service of mankind, of every condition, in every weakness and need”.

With these sentiments of gratitude for everything the Church has received, and with a sense of responsibility for the task that lies ahead, we shall cross the threshold of the Holy Door fully confident that the strength of the Risen Lord, who constantly supports us on our pilgrim way, will sustain us. May the Holy Spirit, who guides the steps of believers in cooperating with the work of salvation wrought by Christ, lead the way and support the People of God so that they may contemplate the face of mercy.

The Jubilee year will close with the liturgical Solemnity of Christ the King on November 20, 2016. On that day, as we seal the Holy Door, we shall be filled, above all, with a sense of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Most Holy Trinity for having granted us an extraordinary time of grace. We will entrust the life of the Church, all humanity, and the entire cosmos to the Lordship of Christ, asking him to pour out His mercy upon us like the morning dew, so that everyone may work together to build a brighter future. How much I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God! May the balm of mercy reach everyone, both believers and those far away, as a sign that the Kingdom of God is already present in our midst!

We will continue with Laudato Si next week.

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www.caritasmanila.org.ph.

For your donations, please 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.

Memo to Putin: Syria is Turkey’s Ukraine

By Marc Champion Bloomberg View

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ussian leaders have evidently been shocked by Turkey’s deliberate decision to shoot down one of their planes, which they say was motivated by Turkey’s alleged support for Islamic State (IS) and greed for the proceeds of smuggled terrorist oil. A simpler explanation is that Russia would have done the same.

Here is the hypothetical: What would President Vladimir Putin do if civil war broke out in a neighboring country, which had been part of the Russian empire for centuries before breaking away under circumstances, and with borders, that Russians still found difficult to accept? What would he do if, in that war, some of the rebels were ethnic Russians at risk of being brutally crushed by the armed forces of the neighboring state?

Actually, that’s not so hypothetical; it pretty much describes eastern Ukraine.

And we know what Russia did—it became heavily involved in a poorly concealed invasion.

Syria was under Ottoman control from 1516 until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Russian Empire took over the Donbass region in the mid1700s. The “Turkmen” rebels that Russia’s Su-24 aircraft was bombing at the time it was shot down are ethnic Turks.

They ended up on the wrong side of the border when it was imposed by a 1921 treaty (shortly before the Donbass region

was incorporated into Soviet Ukraine).

Even the strange psychology of how former empires feel they still have a special right, even responsibility, to intervene in long-since amputated parts is similar. When pro-democracy protests began in Syria in 2011, Erdogan said Turkey had to view the turmoil in Syria as a domestic issue. He was affronted when President Bashar al-Assad refused to do as he was told.

Since the shoot-down earlier this week, Turkey’s president has all but admitted that his country deliberately targeted the Sukhoi because of what Russia was doing to the Turkmen rebels. “We have no intention to escalate this incident. We are just defending our security and the rights of our brothers,” Erdogan said. As aggressive as the Turkish decision to down a Russian jet over a technical, 17-second airspace infringement was, Erdogan has not gone as far as Putin to assert his right to intervene militarily to protect ethnic kin, anytime, anywhere.

Now consider how Putin would react if the US or North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) decided to get involved militarily in eastern Ukraine, placing an air base and Patriot missile batteries 50 miles from the Russian border. Picture Nato aircraft providing airpower for an all-out Ukrainian ground assault against the Russian-backed rebels, aided by troops from Poland and Chechnya (in Syria’s case, that’s Iran and Hezbollah). Imagine Turkish and American jets

flying into Russian airspace as they try to optimize their bombing runs.

Just a wild guess here, but it would not take Putin three months before he shot down one of the Nato aircraft. Nor would he take seriously any comment from the president of the United States that it was obvious the Nato pilots and bombers had “in no way threatened” the Russian Federation, the words Putin used as he raged that: “We received a stab in the back from accomplices of terrorism.”

Nor would Putin have been impressed

by Nato claims that the Russian-backed rebels it was bombing in the Donbass were terrorists. Putin says he is bombing Islamic State in the Turkmen mountains, yet there are no recorded IS forces in that area or for some distance beyond. These are rebels fighting Assad.

Of course, there are as many differences as similarities between the situations in Northern Syria and Ukraine, past and current—it is the attitudes of Russia and Turkey that are similar, not the conflicts. And both Russia’s leadership and Turkey’s are using the cover of popular concern for the fate of fellow Russians and Turks to pursue more strategic, less noble goals.

Among those goals for Erdogan is one that will be all too familiar to the Kremlin: A determination to show not just Russia, but also the US, France and others looking to agree a common strategy with Putin that no solution for Syria can be reached unless Turkish

A5

interests are fully taken into account.

These do not allow for an alliance with Assad to crush fellow Sunnis, whether Turkmen or Arab.

The smart thing for Russia to do now would be to recognize that it misjudged Turkish sensitivities, and adjust accordingly. Surely Putin has enough hostile neighbors and former friends already. But it will be tempting to go further, because Erdogan has also miscalculated: He has a far weaker hand in Syria than Putin has in Ukraine.

To state the obvious, Turkey is not a nuclear power. In addition, despite huge errors of judgment in supporting Islamist extremists once they arrived in Syria one to two years after the conflict began, Turkey did not manufacture Syria’s civil war, as Russia manufactured the one in Ukraine. Nor have the Turks put large numbers of “volunteer” troops and heavy equipment into the Syrian battlefield. So Turkey’s ability to influence or respond to events in Syria is extremely limited. In the Donbass region, Putin has been able to turn the conflict on and off, more or less at will.

For the moment, Russian retaliation is shaping up as economic sanctions, deploying additional anti-aircraft missile systems in Northern Syria and, according to some reports, redoubling its bombing campaign in the Turkmen mountains. Erdogan will be powerless to respond effectively, unless he takes even more reckless risks in a fight he cannot win.

News BusinessMirror

A6 Saturday, November 28, 2015

news@businessmirror.com.ph

USTR review notes gains in PHL compliance with intl labor rights A

CCC rejects all 13 proposals for climate-change funding

T

he Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has noted gains on the Philippines’s adherence to international labor standards, paving the way for the country to fully enjoy the benefits under the preferential trade scheme.

A USTR news statement release on Friday said that the conclusion of its review is “...based on progress by the Philippine government in addressing worker rights issues in that country, including through reforms of labor laws and regulations.”

“The US acknowledges our initiatives toward creating decent jobs and upholding workers’ rights. The closing of the GSP [Generalized System of Preferences] country review on the Philippines is, indeed, a major milestone for Philippine trade and labor,” according to Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. in a separate news statement.

This follows a recent statement by the American trade bureau of the current US administration putting a premium on workers’ rights under its

trade preference programs.

The country had undergone three country reviews for labor practices since 2008 under the US GSP for its alleged failure to uphold internationally recognized workers’ rights, a key consideration for the US government to continue granting the privilege to a trading partner.

In 2014 the USTR noted that the Philippines labor-related country review is anticipated “for closure without change to the Philippines’s GSP benefits, pending GSP reauthorization.”

The country’s re-admittance to the scheme was announced earlier this year.

The US GSP aims to promote economic growth and development in

CRISTOBAL

developing countries through preferential and duty-free entry to the US market of products from 122 designated beneficiary countries (DBCs) and territories, including the Philippines.

But, the trade benefits of the USGSP scheme is preconditioned on compliance to intellectual property rights protection, upholding of workers’ rights, and protection against child labor.

The list of GSP eligible countries and articles may be modified in response to a petition and based on the findings of the annual review.

The GSP country review on Philippine labor standards and practices focused on monitoring the country’s

progress on labor-related issues and labor reform legislations.

In 2013 Philippine exports under the US GSP reached $1.256 billion, making it the fifth-largest user of the program.

Major Philippine exports under the US GSP include measuring and checking instruments, appliances and machines ($78.2 million); other cane sugar ($74.8 million); telescopic sights for rifles not designed for use with infrared light ($61.9 million); other acyclic monoamines and their derivatives ($60.4 million); and insulated electric conductors ($60 million).

The US GSP program covers a total of 5,000 products or tariff lines or roughly 47 percent of the 10,600 total US tariff lines: 3,500 of which are open for all DBCs, while an additional 1,500 products are given to the least-developed beneficiary countries.

The GSP program includes most dutiable manufactures and semimanufactures, and select agricultural, fishery, and primary industrial products.

The US GSP program was instituted in 1976 and has been renewed periodically since then by the US Congress. The current program is effective until December 2017.

Catherine N. Pillas

ll 13 project proposals seeking to draw funding under the P1-billion People’s Survival Fund (PSF) were found to be insufficient in form and substance and have been “returned to sender” by the Climate Change Commission (CCC).

The CCC, which acts as the secretariat of the PSF Board, decided to return the project proposals two weeks after the call for project proposals was launched on October 28, for local government units (LGUs) seeking funding for their climatechange adaptation projects to submit the complete set of documentary requirements and use the template issued by the PSF Board. The climate change body is tasked to screen the proposals sought for PSF funding.

The proposals were submitted by proponent-LGUs before October 28, and as expected, failed to follow the format or guideline set by the PSF Board.

The CCC has not received new project proposals since the call for proposal was launched.

“Most of the proposals submitted to us are incomplete. Some did not meet the criteria set by the PSF Board,” a technical staff at the CCC that screened the proposals told the BusinessMirror.

The proposed projects are “the usual” adaptation projects to reduce risks of disasters, including flood prevention, such as construction of river dikes, dam, and relocation

centers for those in low-lying areas.

The proposals, however, failed to convince the CCC because they are not accompanied by disaster risk reduction (DRR) plans, risk assessment or study, geohazard maps and other documents that will support the necessity and urgency of such projects in their respective areas.

The CCC is also requiring that projects should at least be aligned with the city or municipality’s DRR plans or development plans duly approved by the respective Sangguians.

“Sa totoo lang, maluwang pa nga ang requirements under PSF compared to other project-funding requirements,” the source said.

CCC Assistant Secretary Joyceline Goco confirmed that the projects were returned with accompanying notes to the proponents listing down the documents they need to submit along with the project proposal. Jonathan L. Mayuga

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | sports@businessmirror.com.ph

Sports BusinessMirror

V-LEAGUE FINALS ON W

OMEN’S volleyball goes a notch higher, as powerhouse teams PLDT Home Ultera and Army collide in what is tipped to be an explosive opener of their best-of-three series for the Shakey’s V-League Season 12 Reinforced Conference crown on Saturday at The Arena in San Juan City.

Though the Ultra Fast Hitters appear to enjoy a slight edge in manpower with the return of ace hitter Alyssa Valdez and the presence of imports Victoria Hurtt and Sareaa Freeman, the Lady Troopers hope to lean on their vast championship experience, guaranteeing a slam-bang action right in the first serve up to the last hit.

Game time is at 12:45 p.m. to be shown live on GMA News TV Channel 11.

The battle for third place between Navy and University of the Philippines (UP) will also be aired live starting at 3 p.m., according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Army and Home Ultera are coming into the finals, oozing with confidence following lopsided victories over their respective rivals in the Final Four of the season-ending conference sponsored by Shakey’s. The top-seeded Lady Troopers swamped the Navy Lady Sailors, 25-16, 25-10, 25-22, while the Ultra Fast Hitters waylaid the UP Lady Maroons, 25-11, 25-17, 25-17.

While Hurtt and Freeman are expected to provide the power and net defense for Home Ultera, focus will also be on Valdez, who will be playing in her first game, after sitting out the elims and the semis of the tournament presented by PLDT Home Ultera and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

“With Alyssa around, it would mean more attacking options for us,” Home Ultera Coach Roger Gorayeb said.

But he stressed the series is too close to call with Army also boasting of a solid crew headed by former Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jovelyn Gonzaga, Abi Marano, Honey Royse Tubino, Mary Remy Joy Palma and top-setter Tina Salak.

Emphasis will also be on reception and blocking with both teams also hoping to minimize each other’s errors, while both coaches will try to outwit each other with on-court adjustments.

Army wore down Home Ultera, 25-23, 23-25, 25-11, 1925, 15-13, in their elims match on October 25. But the Ultra Fast Hitters played without Hurtt and Freeman and Valdez still out of commission due to a minor back injury.

But with the troika in the roster, odds could swing to the Home Ultera side, particularly if the two imports and the Open and Collegiate Conference MVP will play true to form.

Gorayeb is also pinning his hopes on former league MVP Aiza Pontillas and Janine Marciano, who joined the team only this conference from Cagayan Valley, last year’s champion of the conference of the league where it all started.

OTICO DOWNS INDON RIVAL, ENTERS SEMIS

J

OHN Bryan Otico moved closer to a dream crack at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)-Phinma International Juniors Tennis Championships crown when he toppled Muhammad Althaf Dhaifullah, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the Final Four of the Week 2 tilt at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center on Friday.

Otico, who earlier dominated Yusuke Miyai of Japan and thwarted David Marshall Nguyen of the US, flashed top form from start to finish to dominate his Indonesian rival and arrange a tough semis duel with Week 1 winner Naoki Tajima of Japan.

Tajima, bidding to complete a sweep of the twoleg Grade 4 ITF tournament, sponsored by Phinma Group of Companies and the PSC, foiled compatriot Kazuki Shimizu, 6-4, 6-3.

But the top-seeded Tajima expects a tougher challenge from Otico, one of the mainstays of the Philippine Tennis Academy (PTA), headed by Rommie Chan, Oscar Hilado and Jean Henri Lhuillier with Jun Toledo as coach, who hopes to draw inspiration from the crowd as he tries to keep his title bid going.

Japan’s James Trotter pulled off a thrilling 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-5 escape win over Thai Kittirat Kerdlaphee to seal the other semis duel with No. 2 Yeongseok Jeong, who routed Taiwan’s Ho Jun Lee, 6-1, 6-3.

But while Otico stayed in the hunt, fellow PTA member and Week 1 champion Khim Iglupas fell in ambush, dropping a 6-2, 6-4 setback to Japan’s Ayumi Hirata in their quarterfinal clash in the girls’ side of the event backed by Mariposa Foundation, Dunlop Fort All Court Balls and Orchids Garden Suites.

The rigors of playing top level tennis for two straight weeks took their toll on the Filipina ace, who struggled against the fresher Hirata, who didn’t see action in last week’s leg of the tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association headed by President and Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez with Wannait Srirasa of Thailand as ITF supervisor and Loida Mallare as tournament director.

Actually, all the semifinalists last week fell by the wayside with top seed Ayumi Miyamoto bowing to compatriot Himari Sato, 6-2, 6-1; Chinese Ying Yi Yang losing to Naho Sato, also of Japan, 7-6(7), 6-3; and Xin Yu Wang, also of China, succumbing to Japan’s Satoko Sueno, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Saturday, November 28, 2015 A7

Tornadoes getting closer to their Cinderella finish in PSL Grand Prix

Foton players celebrate their Game One victory over defending champion Petron.

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HE Grand Prix conference is not yet over but Foton Tornadoes have already proved that they are the Cinderella team of Philippine Superliga (PSL).

Playing without established stars, Foton continued to impress mainly because of the camaraderie and team work being shown by the players of Head Coach Villet Ponce-de Leon.

Bannered by two American imports Lindsay Stalzer—a returning reinforcement from Cignal in last year’s Grand Prix and first-timer Katie Messing— plus 6-foot-5 rookie Jaja Santiago, the Tornadoes are just one win away from their first-ever title in the interclub league.

“We’re really a Cinderella team. Fairy tales do come true. We are here already and we’re one game away,” de Leon said after beating defending champion Petron in four sets, 14-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22, in Game One on Thursday at

TAMS GO FOR CLINCHER IN GAME 2

NASH’S V-DAY? F

By Joel Orellana

AR Eastern University (FEU) Head Coach Nash Racela hopes his Tamaraws have learned their lessons from last year’s finals meltdown against National University (NU).

FEU goes for the clincher against University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Game Two of Season 78 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Game time is set at 3:30 p.m. with the Tamaraws gunning for their 20th UAAP crown, while the Growling Tigers are trying to extend the best-of-three series to a do-or-die Game Three on Wednesday, also at the Big Dome.

“I think we learned our lesson from last year’s finals,” said Racela, whose wards drew the first blood in the series after taking Game One, 75-64.

“We are up by one game over NU, but we lost the series. We’re hoping it’s going to be a good reminder for us to be humble, continue to work and correct things so that we’ll get another win,” he added.

In Season 77 finals, FEU also took a 1-0 lead but the Bulldogs won the next two to win the title and end the school’s 54-year title drought.

Racela expects UST to come back strong in Game Two and hopes they can bring the same effort to score a sweep against the Españabased team.

Growling Tigers Head Coach Bong de la Cruz admitted he was disappointed with the way they finished the game as the Tamaraws outscored them, 14-2, in the final six minutes.

But de la Cruz is not losing hope, and he is confident that his players can bounce back from the Game One loss and tie the series on Saturday.

“We need to stay positive. We were sad because we lost the first game but we still have one more game to tie the series,” de la Cruz said.

He also expects Ed Daquioag to have a better performance, as

the 24-year-old combo guard had a disastrous series opener, finishing with four points, four turnovers and shot one-of-seven from the field.

While FEU’s Big Three (Mac Belo, Roger Pogoy and Mike Tolomia) performed accordingly for Racela, it was the contribution of the second unit that gave them a big lift in Game One, particularly Prince Orizu and Russel Escoto.

“Every member of this team is really contributing,” said Racela, who is eyeing his first UAAP title.

“We have a deep understanding with each other. The players don’t really care who gets the credit.”

Aside from Daquioag, de la Cruz is banking on Kevin Ferrer and Karim Abdul in the must-win Game Two, and is hoping that Louie Vigil, Mario Bonleon and Marvin Lee can give him quality minutes.

his first University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball crown. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

points before NLEX mounted the rally behind the efforts of Sean Anthony and Enrico Villanueva.

“We talked about we needed a defensive mind-set in this game,” said Aces Head Coach Alex Compton, who also drew 10 points and 10 rebounds from Calvin Abueva.

“I was not happy about our decisions in the fourth quarter but, in general, I thought we were pretty solid.

We’re really helping each other out,” Compton added.

The win denied the Road Warriors of a third straight win as they dropped to 4-3 in the standings.

Alaska was in full command of the game and was holding an 82-69 advantage on Thoss’s basket with under five minutes left in the game.

NLEX’S Kevin Alas (left) and Ping Exciminiano battle for the loose ball. NONOY LACZA

La Salle, Ateneo dispute finals slot

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ECOND seed De La Salle and No. 4 Ateneo dispute the right to face titleholder National University (NU) in the finals in their no-tomorrow clash at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Season 78 University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Lady Eagles escaped with a 55-53 squeaker over the Lady Archers in the second step-ladder on Wednesday, sending the semifinals to a decider.

The winner will face the Lady Bulldogs, who jumped straight to the finals with a thrice-to-beat advantage after completing a 14-game elimination round sweep.

Before pulling through against La Salle, Ateneo staved off elimination by beating Adamson University in the final day of the second round, University of Santo Tomas in the playoff for the last semis berth and University of Santo Tomas in the first step-ladder tussle.

“We wanted to keep on going, play for the right reason,” Lady Eagles Coach Erika Dy said on her troops’ resiliency in the playoffs.

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Racela is »oneNash win away from

ACES SURVIVE ROAD WARRIORS’ RALLY A LASKA weathered the NLEX rally late in the game and hacked out an 89-81 victory to seize the solo lead of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Jayvee Casio and Cyrus Baguio struggled with their game but hit clutch baskets when the Road Warriors threatened to come closer and preserved the win for the Aces, who now extended their winning streak to three games for a league-best 6-1 win-loss mark.

Sonny Thoss led Alaska with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Rome de la Rosa and Vic Manuel chipped in 11 apiece for the Aces, who led by as much as 20

Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

“Last Grand Prix, we were fifth but now we’re already here and that’s one example of a Cinderella story,” she added.

Foton joined the PSL in last year’s Grand Prix and finished fifth in their league debut. In this year’s All-Filipino conference, the Tornadoes slightly improved to No. 4.

Foton rose from a sluggish 1-3 start before winning five in a row to secure the last semifinals spot. They placed fourth and set a knockout match against the league-leader Philips Gold.

The league’s underdogs pulled off the biggest surprise in the semis by taking down the top-seeded Lady Slammers to enter the PSL finals for the first time in their franchise history and set up a best-of-three title series with Petron.

“We’re fourth seed so we really had to double our efforts and it’s paying off,” de Leon said.

She expects Petron to come back on Game Two but de Leon wants her squad to go for the kill in Game Two on Monday also at the Cuneta Astrodome.

“We need to fire up. We don’t need to relax now. We’re already here, we’re one game away so the energy and intensity we have in this game, if we need to double it in Game Two we will do it,” she said. Lance Agcaoili

But NLEX unleashed a 9-0 run capped by Villanueva’s drive to move within four, 78-82, 1:53 remaining.

Casio delivered the dagger in the next play as he hit a booming three-pointer, his lone field goal in the second half, to put their lead back to 85-78 with 1:41 left.

Jonas Villanueva responded quickly for NLEX with a drive, 80-85, but Baguio converted a short jumper to put the game away, 87-80, 1:10 remaining.

Anthony led the Road Warriors with 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists, while Enrico Villanueva had his best game in a long, while with 12 markers, nine boards and five blocks.

Asi Taulava, who had a bad fall in the second quarter, had 10 points, while Kevin Alas and Jonas Villanueva netted nine apiece. Joel Orellana

Pacman chess tourney kicks off in GenSan

HE second Manny Pacquiao Jr. random chess tournament will be held from December 14 to 16 in General Santos City, Mindanao.

The event, which stakes a total prize fund of P1.5 million, is divided into two categories: team and individual.

The team tournament will be held on December 14 and15, consisting of nine rounds. Each team is composed of four regular and one alternate player. Two titled players can be fielded per team, but only one grandmaster or international master. The average ELO rating per team is 2100 based on the ratings of its top 4 players.

Players without ratings will be given a provisional Fischerandom ELO of 1800.

The individual tournament, also a Swiss System affair, will be played on December 16.

Registration ends on December 7. For more details, contact organizer Grandmaster Eugene Torre (eugenetorre@rocketmail.com) or National Master Roel Abelgas (abelgasroelalcana@gmail.com).

Kiefer, Coach Yeng to grace hoops camp

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NIVERSITY Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Most Valuable Player Kiefer Ravena and Rain or Shine Head Coach Yeng Guiao will be on hand in the Growee Basketball camp to teach and provide inspiration for kids who want to become great basketball players someday.

Organized by Trizach Events and Ry3byrs Sports headed by Coach Randy Alcantara, Growee Basketball Camp gathered over 200 aspiring participants in the first two legs, where they rubbed elbows with Gilas Pilipinas players Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra and Larry Fonacier of Talk ’N Text.

“Besides developing more players, one of our main goals is to encourage young people to engage in sports activities and improve their physical and mental ability rather than spend much time tinkering with their gadgets,’’ said Alcantara, the camp director who also calls the shots for the Mapúa Red Robins in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Alcantara said winners of the Growee 3x3 tournament in the first two legs held at Sta. Lucia Mall on October 30 and this coming November 28 will compete in December according to their age bracket at Sta. Lucia Mall.

Sports BusinessMirror

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aturday, November 28, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SPORTS PLUS

EATON, DIBABA CITED

MONACO—American decathlete Ashton Eaton and Ethiopian running sensation Genzebe Dibaba are the International Association of Athletics Federations’s (IAAF) world athletes of 2015.

Track and field’s governing body announced the awards on Thursday.

Usually, the IAAF throws a gala party to honor its world athletes of the year. But it was canceled this year, after former IAAF President Lamine Diack was placed under criminal investigation in France on corruption and money-laundering charges.

Eaton, in the decathlon, and Dibaba, in the 1,500 meters, both won gold at the world championships in Beijing and set world records in those events in 2015. AP

MELZER TO MISS RIO

VOTERS DECIDE ON BID H

An aerial view shows thousands of people wearing colorful ponchos to form the Olympic rings to support Hamburg’s bid for the Olympics 2024 in a park in Hamburg, Germany. AP

AMBURG, Germany—Leaders of Hamburg’s bid for the 2024 Olympics hope that a soccer scandal, unsettled costs and fear of attacks won’t dissuade voters from backing the German port city’s candidacy on Sunday.

About 1.3 million people in Hamburg and the nearby port city of Kiel hold the bid fate in their hands in a public referendum. Kiel is where sailing events would be held.

The bid has already been submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and organizers hope it won’t share the same fate as Munich’s proposed candidacy for the 2022 Winter Games. That bid was rejected in a referendum.

“We’re giving the baton to the people of Hamburg and Kiel,” German Olympic Sports Confederation President Alfons Hoermann said on Thursday.

More than 40 percent of those eligible to vote have already done so through a postal ballot.

“The excellent turnout that has emerged shows the Olympic Games project has been taken on by the city,” said Hoermann, whose federation backed Hamburg’s bid rather than rival Berlin’s in a unanimous vote in September.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere said voters should not be intimidated by the attacks in Paris or a terror scare in Hannover that prompted him to call off a football friendly between Germany and the Netherlands last week. De Maziere also referred to the ongoing scandal involving the German football federation, after it was alleged that bribes helped Germany secure the hosting rights to the 2006 World Cup.

Qatar launches probe on poor construction

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UBAI, United Arab Emirates—Qatar has launched an investigation after heavy rains exposed poor construction in a country set to host the 2022 International Football Federation (Fifa) World Cup, a deluge that saw water cascade through the roof of its $15-billion main airport.

The investigation already is examining the work of five unnamed companies and others could be targeted, as well, in the probe launched by Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, who also serves as interior minister, the country’s state-run Qatar News Agency said.

“Parties responsible for dereliction or negligence, whether governmental or private, will be held accountable,” the agency said, citing a statement late Wednesday from Qatar’s Government Communication Office.

Reached for comment, officials at Doha’s Hamad International Airport issued a statement simply saying: “There was no impact to operations yesterday.” It referred other questions to the government.

The day before, at least 79.5 millimeters (3.13 inches) of rain fell at the airport, according to the Qatar Meteorology Department. Typically, the hot, desert country sees around 50 millimeters (1.97 inches) of rain in a year.

The sudden rainfall saw water pour out of the airport’s ceiling in several places, captured in online videos.

Qatar opened Hamad International Airport in April 2014, part of its effort to enter the competitive Gulf airline market. The 600,000-square-meter (6.5-million-squarefoot) passenger terminal complex was scheduled to be completed in 2009.

The airport is part of a multibillion-dollar building boom in Doha ahead of the 2022 World Cup. However, the push has seen Qatar criticized for the way it treats its large migrant-worker population. There also have been accusations of shoddy construction. AP

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Thursday that Franz Beckenbauer, who headed the World Cup bid, received government support to try to influence International Football Federation (Fifa) executive committee members from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“Especially in view of the debates regarding big sporting events, Hamburg and Germany can show that a clean, fair, sustainable application can lead to success,” de Maziere said.

A dispute over sharing of costs has yet to be settled bet ween the state and local government, but de Maziere said talks were going well.

“It concerns a lot of money, and we’ll reach an agreement in the end,” de Maziere said.

Organizers have calculated the cost of hosting the Games at €11.2 billion ($11.9 billion). The Hamburg Senate wants the government to contribute €6.2 billion ($6.6 billion), while the city contributes €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion). Revenues of €3.8 billion ($4 billion) would be expected to make up the rest.

Paris, Rome, Los Angeles and Budapest, Hungary, also are bidding for the 2024 Games. The IOC will select the host city in Lima, Peru, in September 2017.

“Any approval over 50 percent is democratic legitimation to carry on,” Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz said. “We want to be successful on Sunday. We want to be successful in 2017 in Lima.”

Germany has not staged an Olympics since the 1972 Summer Games in Munich. AP

VIENNA—Jurgen Melzer says he will be out for nine months and miss the 2016 Rio Olympics following surgery on his left shoulder.

The formerly eighth-ranked Melzer, who hasn’t played since the US Open, has been struggling for years with persistent shoulder problems.

The 34-year-old lefthander, who was planning to play doubles at the Rio Games, says on his Facebook page on Friday, “after three months of conservative treatment, I’ve decided to have my torn labrum arthroscopically repaired.”

Melzer, who was the 1999 junior singles champion at Wimbledon, has won 13 career doubles titles, including Wimbledon in 2010 and the US Open the following year with Philipp Petzschner of Germany. AP

UEFA BANNED ZAGREB

NYON, Switzerland—The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has confirmed that Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Arijan Ademi was banned after testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol.

UEFA banned the 24-year-old Ademi for four years last week but did not identify the substance in his urine sample given after a Champions League match against Arsenal.

Stanozolol is best known as the steroid Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was caught using at the 1988 Olympics.

Arsenal Coach Arsene Wenger later criticized UEFA’s antidoping program and the rule which allowed Dinamo’s 2-1 win to stand because only one player tested positive.

UEFA defended its antidoping program on its web site on Thursday, and said Ademi’s four-year ban followed World Anti-Doping Agency guidance for “a first serious doping offence.”

The Macedonia international has said he will appeal. AP

SCOTT SLIDES DOWN IN AUSSIE OPEN

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Adam Scott shots 73 to move further down the leaderboard.

YDNEY—A “flat” and tired Scott shot a 2-over 73 at the Australian Open on Friday, a round likely to allow him to scrape into the weekend but do little to end his 2015 victory drought.

Scott, playing for the sixth time in eight weeks, was right on the cutline when he finished his second round just before midday on Friday, but higher afternoon scores would likely see the number go a few strokes to his advantage.

The winner of at least one tournament every year since 2001, Scott said he failed to take advantage of better scoring conditions and softer greens on The Australian Golf Club course on Friday.

Scott, who three-putted twice for bogeys, didn’t make a single birdie, admitting he couldn’t remember when he last had a round without one.

“I can’t recall off the top of my head, normally I can sneak one in,” said Scott, managing a smile.

He was nine shots off the lead when he finished his round.

“I just misjudged the pace of the greens for most of the day,” Scott said. “I just couldn’t get myself to hit the putt hard enough and when the greens slow down I tend to struggle, and I did again today.”

Scott, who started on the back nine on Friday, three-

putted from 15 feet on the par-3 11th, and did the same on the par-4 sixth. He also missed makeable birdie putts on the 12 and 14th holes to make the turn in 1-over 37.

On the eighth hole—his second-last of the day—he left a birdie attempt about a foot short, the fifth or sixth time he failed to get the pace right. Even longtime former caddie Steve Williams, back on his bag for this tournament, couldn’t offer him any assistance.

Scott was asked whether Williams had managed to give him an “ear bash” over his poor putting, and he responded with a laugh.

“Not really, I could have given him one though...getting wet on the 14th,” he said, referring to his club selection on the hole, obviously suggested by Williams. He escaped with a par on the par-5 hole, though.

Asked if he’d practice in the afternoon, he replied: “No, I’ve played plenty of golf, I’ll just go home.”

He still rates himself a chance on the weekend.

“I’ve just got to play two good rounds,” he said. “I think I can shoot a couple of mid-60s; it’s really doable if you play good, and I’ve just got to put it together.”

Scott is actually winless in 18 months—his last tournament victory at the Colonial in Texas came a week

after he became No. 1 in May 2014. He held the top ranking for 11 weeks until August of last year, and entered the Australian Open this week ranked No. 12.

The 35-year-old Scott still has a chance for a tournament win if he doesn’t do something special on the weekend in Sydney.

He’s entered to play the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, where he lives, in early December, although it is an unofficial money event on the PGA Tour because of its limited field.

JONES TAKES LEAD

Matt Jones used home-course advantage to shoot a 3-under 68 on Friday and take the early clubhouse lead during the second round of the Australian Open.

Jones, who is a member at The Australian Golf Club, had a 36-hole total of 7-under 135 on a course that was playing easier after Thursday’s brutal wind and heat when only 18 players broke par.

Scott, who like defending champion Jordan Spieth opened with a 71, failed to take advantage of the easier conditions, shooting 73 to move further down the leaderboard. Scott is likely to be just inside the cut line. AP