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JOCKEYING FOR SAN MIGUEL’S 700-MHZ BAND HEATS UP

PLDT ponders case vs NTC’s Cabarios

INSIDE

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Jumbo-sized ipad pro lacks purpose The cosmic upheaval

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EAR God, many may consider the end of the world to be too far away an event to be personally concerned; while others will indulge in fantasizing about the cosmic upheaval that will characterize it, and how to “escape” it. Whatever we may think of those frightening events, nobody can deny that the end of our “world” will surely take place when we expire (except those sentenced to be executed) can know in advance when and how it will happen. What we know for certain is that at our death, we will meet, face to face, “the Son of Man,” You, as our Divine Judge.

And on that “meeting/judgment” will depend our eternal destiny. Amen.

WORD & LIFE, FR. SAL PUTZU, SDB AND LOUIE M, LACSON, HFL

Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life

ranking official of the telecommunications regulator is now under fire for supposedly preempting the decision of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on the pending petitions of Smart Communications Inc. for the reallocation of a frequency band now being contested due to its commercial and technical properties.

6 THINGS YOU SHOULD STOP FEELING GUILTY ABOUT »D4

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

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CHERRY MOBILE LAUNCHES TOUCH HD, THE FIRST AFFORDABLE LOLLIPOP SMARTPHONE

MAKING the right decision to stay stylishly connected without breaking the bank is now within the reach of firsttime Android users and every tech-savvy individual. The country’s leading local mobile phone brand, Cherry Mobile, recently launched its newest addition to its ever-growing lineup, the Touch HD. Continuing its heritage of providing every Filipino smartphones and tablets that are within reach without sacrificing quality and features, Cherry Mobile is once again on point with its newest addition. Banking on its sophisticated design, high-definition display and up-to-date operating system, the Touch HD is undoubtedly one of the best smartphones available today for its price point.

Recognized as one of the most affordable in the class, it is powered by Android Lollipop 5.1 out of the box, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 1 gigabyte of RAM. Storage is, likewise, a non-issue on this device as its 8 GB built-in storage capacity can be easily expanded with an additional 32 GB via a microSD card.

The Touch HD also does not disappoint as it guarantees users a crisp and sharp 1280x720 resolution for its 5-inch HD display that is helped along by a Mali 400 MP2 GPU. Snapping social media worthy images are also made easier with the device’s 8 megapixel rear and 2 MP front cameras. Always keeping users connected is the Touch HD’s 2,000 mAh battery capacity, coupled with standard 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It also allows the users to freely switch from micro and standard SIMs with the smartphone’s dual-sim provision.

Jumbo-sized iPad Pro lacks purpose B T W San Jose Mercury News

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HEN Apple released the iPad in 2010, it sought to fill a niche in the computing industry.

The company perceived—correctly as it turned out—that there was a need for a device that was larger and more powerful than a smartphone, but more portable and easier to use and manage than a laptop computer. The iPad was for casual computing, the kind you do on a couch, in bed, on a plane or maybe in a bathroom. You could use it to read, surf the Web, watch a movie, play a game. For those tasks, it was an ideal device, much better suited to them than either a phone or a personal computer.

But with iPad sales now flagging, Apple has decided that the iPad needs to be much more than it’s been. So, it has come up the iPad Pro, a new jumbo-size version.

I don’t know whether the iPad Pro will solve the problems with Apple’s tablet business, but I doubt it. The problem with the iPad Pro is that for many— perhaps most—consumers, it doesn’t have a clear role to play in their lives or solve their needs or problems.

It’s too large and unwieldy to fill the role that the original iPad plays in casual computing. But it’s also too underdeveloped and unsatisfying to replace a traditional laptop. I’m sure it will find an audience with certain users—graphic artists or architects. But I’m skeptical about whether it will find mass appeal.

That’s not to say that the iPad Pro is a crummy device. In fact, in some ways, it’s quite a marvel of engineering and design. Despite having a screen that’s nearly the size of a sheet of copy paper and a battery that lasts all day long, it’s remarkably thin and lightweight— at least when it’s used without a cover. It’s less than a millimeter thicker than the iPad Air 2 and it weighs about the same amount as the original iPad, which had a considerably smaller screen.

Speaking of screens, the one on the new iPad Pro is beautiful and sharp. And in some ways, I loved how large it is. Digital comic books look glorious on it. Reading a Web page on it was like reading a real magazine because the text and pictures were at their full size. Games look stunning.

And the thing is superfast. Apple claims that the chip inside the iPad Pro is comparable to those used in regular PCs, and benchmark tests backup that assertion.

You could soon see a range of games and other apps that take advantage of that power.

The problem is that the device is just so big that it’s unwieldy. It’s no longer really a handheld device.

It’s too big to comfortably hold in one hand and too hefty—particularly with its cover on—to hold while watching a movie.

The iPad Pro does have some promise as a kind of tabletop computer. Apple designed its touch-screen interface to work with a new kind of stylus, the company calls Pencil, that is specifically intended to be used for drawing and similar purposes. You can use it to doodle on a notepad, help make architectural sketches or mark up documents.

Pencil works really well; the lines you draw show up nearly instantaneously. The stylus senses both the pressure you apply to it and the angle with which you are holding it. If you are using it as a virtual pencil and tilt it, you can shade in a drawing. If you use it as an ink pen and press down on it, you’ll get a thicker line.

Unfortunately, at $100, Pencil is pricey, and there’s not a lot you can do with it just yet. It only works with the iPad Pro, not other iPad models. And only two apps that come with the iPad Pro—Notes and Mail—support it, and the only thing you can do with it in Mail is to annotate attachments.

What’s more, there’s no obvious place to put it when you aren’t using it. Apple didn’t design a slot in the iPad into which you could tuck Pencil, nor did it include a loop on the covers it designed for the iPad Pro in which you could stow it.

With such a large screen, the iPad Pro seems to be obviously gunning for another market—laptops.

Toward that end, Apple offers something called a Smart Keyboard, a cover for the device that turns it into a quasi-notebook computer.

The keyboard is fairly sturdy. I usually find thin keyboard covers like this unworkable when trying to type with the device propped on my lap. But the Smart Keyboard actually worked in that context. And the magnet was strong enough that I didn’t worry that the iPad might fall or become unbalanced.

But here again the accessory—and the iPad itself— fall somewhat short of the mark. For one thing, the Smart Keyboard is pricey. If you add its $170 price tag on to the $800 base price of the iPad Pro, you’re nearly into the $1,000 range you’d spend for a very nice lightweight laptop.

Only, the iPad Pro makes a poor laptop. The iOS 9 software that underlies the iPad doesn’t support pointing devices, like mice and trackpads, so to precisely place a cursor on a screen or navigate the iPad’s interface you have to constantly be touching the screen.

Ergonomically, that’s uncomfortable to do, especially if you have to do it repeatedly, as when you write a report.

With the latest version of iOS, Apple introduced split-screen technology, which allows you to divide the display between two apps. That’s useful, and the feature works well, but it’s nothing like what you can do on a laptop, where you can view multiple windows on the screen at the same time. And unfortunately even this limited version of multitasking is frequently unavailable because it’s only supported by some apps. For example, I couldn’t work in Google Docs and keep my inbox on the screen at the same time.

Apple also doesn’t support multiple user logins in iOS, so it’s hard to share a device among multiple users without giving them access to all of your files and apps.

Add all this up, and I’m not sure where the iPad Pro fits or its target market. I don’t see it displacing either my laptop or my tablet—and its not well suited enough at either function to reasonably replace both. ■

TROY’S QUICK TAKE

■ What: Apple iPad Pro ■ Likes: Large, sharp display; thin and light design; sophisticated Pencil stylus; wide range and number of tablet apps; speedy processor; long battery life.

■ Dislikes: Both device itself and accessories are pricey; large design limits portability and ill-suited for casual or handheld use; feels heavy when paired with Smart Keyboard cover; operating system lacks features, such as trackpad support, and windowing available on similarly priced laptops; few apps yet support new stylus.

■ Specs: 64-bit A9X processor; 12.9-inch, 2732x2048 pixel display; 1.2-megapixel front and 8-megapixel rear cameras.

■ Price: $800 for 32 gigabyte model, $950 for 128GB model and $1,080 for 128GB model

AS slim as three stacked credit cards, the future of TV technology comes in a perfectly curved design for an immersive viewing experience from any angle.

LG brings to PHL world’s first curved 4K OLED TV CONSUMER electronics giant LG Electronics (www.lg.com/ ph) reinvents home entertainment experience with its industry-leading Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology. Earlier this year in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, LG Electronics unveiled the latest from their OLED TV lineup featuring 4K Ultra High-Dynamic Range (HDR) technology, marking yet another industry’s first. Now, just as the year comes to a close, LG Electronics brings this remarkable technology to the Philippines and announces its availability in the local market.

LG’s Curved 4K OLED TV display technology allows deeper blacks and richer color contrast as compared to its LED and LCD cousins, and the latest hotness in home entertainment is slimmer and lighter in terms of design and build. Omitting the need for backlight panels, OLED TVs are installed with self-lighting pixels, which turn on and off individually. This feature allows LG OLED TVs to achieve perfect black contrast, thereby revealing an infinite spectrum of colors—a feat that only LG’s OLED line can achieve. Equipped with 4K HDR, users can enjoy four times full HD resolution revealing details of images on screen with impeccable clarity. This works together with the elegant Art Slim design of LG’s OLED line, ensuring unparalleled perfect viewing from any angle.

Blending art form with technology, the LG OLED TVs are as slim as three stacked credit cards, and nearly bezel-less.

“LG Electronics has played a big part in developing OLED technology, and we intend to keep the thrust of bringing superior technological innovations around the world,” says Tony An, vice president for Home Entertainment. “Our OLED TVs set the standard for unmatched picture quality delivering unparalleled cinematic experience to Filipino homes everywhere.”

LIFE

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summit opens debate on ethics of gene editing The World BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph | Wednesday, December 2, 2015

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$30 oil cliff threatens Russia

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economists saying the european Union (eU) will ease its penalties during the period, up from 34 percent the last time the question was asked in August. Twenty percent predict the US will begin relaxing its restrictions in the next calendar year, compared with 3 percent three months ago. eU countries will probably extend sanctions for another six months at the end of January despite improved cooperation in Syria, according to three european diplomats. The bloc’s 28 leaders are set to discuss the issue at a December 17 and 18 summit.

“Only without sanctions will the Russian economy return to GDP growth,” said Wolf-fabian Hungerland, an economist at Berenberg Bank in Hamburg, Germany.

Despite “a unique chance for a thaw between Russia and the West,” there’s “a substantial risk that this chance is not taken, implying prolonged sanctions.”

OR Russia, $30 is the number to watch. Crude prices at that level will push the economy to depths that would threaten the nation’s financial system, according to 15 of 27 respondents in a Bloomberg survey. lower prices for the fuel are next year’s biggest risk for Russia, which is unprepared to ride out another shock on the oil market, most economists said.

Other dangers for 2016 include geopolitics, strains in the banking industry and the ruble, according to the poll of 27 analysts.

“If oil prices fall lower and stay at that low level for longer, risks of fiscal and financial destabilization increase significantly,” Sergey Narkevich, an analyst at PAO Promsvyazbank in Moscow, said by e-mail.

Russia, which has adjusted to the worst commodities slump in a generation with spending cutbacks and a weaker ruble, may be hard-pressed for policy answers if oil slumps further after losing more than a third of its value in the past year.

While Brent, the european benchmark, is trading around $45 a barrel, a warmer-than-average winter could weaken heating-fuel demand enough to trigger a decline in the price of crude to $20, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a note on November 18.

ruble, economy

THe adjustment to the new economic reality was helped by swift changes in the exchange rate, Bank of Russia first Deputy Governor Ksenia yudaeva said in Moscow on friday. The ruble is down more than 31 percent against the dollar since the central bank shifted to a freefloating regime in November 2014.

That’s the third-worst performance among its emerging-market peers after Brazil’s real and Colombia’s peso, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A renewed bout of ruble weakness last summer forced policy makers to pause monetary easing in September and October after five consecutive interest-rate cuts brought their benchmark to 11 percent. even as high borrowing costs choke investment, Governor elvira Nabiullina in November left open the possibility of keeping rates on hold until March.

‘new reality’

“THe situation we are in is no longer a crisis,” Deputy finance Minister Maxim Oreshkin said at a roundtable at the upper house of parliament in Moscow on Monday. “It’s a new reality, reflecting new prices for oil, a new situation with the balance of payments.”

Oil has dropped as US inventories climbed to near a record and the Organization of Petroleum exporting Countries (Opec) produced above its quota.

Opec, which meets to discuss policy on December 4 in Vienna, is set to stick with its strategy of defending market share by maintaining output and driving down higher-cost production elsewhere, according to all 30 analysts and traders in a separate Bloomberg survey. low or lower oil prices remain “the key risk for the Russian economy, despite adaptation to the shock during 2015,” said Andreas Schwabe, an economist at Raiffeisen Bank International AG in Vienna. “from that risk, an even weaker ruble and new waves of high inflation and budget problems derive.” further complicating the outlook are geopolitical tensions that followed the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey in Syria last week and pushed investors to sell Russian assets. In addition to events in the Middle east, Russia also has to contend with international sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.

$30 oil?

RUSSIA has learned to live with oil near $40 and only a decline to $30 a barrel can provoke another deterioration, which isn’t the most likely scenario, the finance Ministry’s Oreshkin said on November 25. The central bank estimates that in a stress-case scenario, with crude below $40 from 2016 to 2018, the economy will contract 5 percent or more next year and price growth may be at 7 percent to 9 percent. That would also raise risks to inflation and financial stability, according to the Bank of Russia.

Gross domestic product will contract 3.9 percent to 4.4 percent this year and may shrink as much as 1 percent next year if oil stays at $50 a barrel, the central bank forecasts.

“Russia is better prepared than it was last year to manage another oil price shock; the exchange rate is flexible, the budget has been tightened, the banking sector is consolidating, and reserves are still ample,” said Per Hammarlund, chief emerging-markets strategist at SeB AB in Stockholm.

Still, “even without another oil price shock, the government is caught between a rock and a hard place,” with crude at the current level leaving it the choice of weakening the ruble or cutting expenditures. Bloomberg News

whither sanctions

A DIPlOMATIC thaw between Russia and its Cold War-era foes in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris and egypt has stoked optimism that the improved relations will help remove the punitive measures.

Russia may get that boost in the next 12 months, with 56 percent of

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

Ray C. Espinosa, who heads Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.’s (PLDT) regulatory affairs and policies office, said his group is studying the possibility of seeking administrative and judicial sanctions against NTC Director

Edgardo V. Cabarios, who said reallocating the 700-megahertz (MHz) band would require a quasi-judicial procedure, a painfully long process that could go on for years.

“Strangely, while stating that the issue now surrounding the 700-

MHz radio frequency band is a quasi-judicial matter—referring obviously to the quasi-judicial function of the commission en banc—Director Cabarios, whose department’s function is purely administrative in nature, expressed unofficial and personal biased statements in favor of the current holders of the 700-MHz radio frequency in clear and wanton disregard of applicable laws and regulations covering the repurposing of the use of radio frequencies,” Espinosa said in a media briefing on Tuesday.

He accused the director of ta k ing sides on the issue, despite the pending petitions submitted by Smart in 2008 for the reallocation of the band, all frequencies of which already allotted to San Miguel Corp.’s telecommunications units.

Summit opens debate on ethics of gene editing How far should these experiments try to go—fix only the sick, or make changes that future generations could inherit?

Hundreds of scientists and ethicists from around the world gather in Washington this week to debate the boundaries of human-genome editing, sort of a biological cut-andpaste tool that allows researchers to spot a gene defect inside living cells and swap it out.

It’s all experimental so far, but the promise for new treatments is huge. The ethical quandary: Should it also be attempted in human embryos, altering a gene in not just one person but his or her descendants?

Already, China has reported the first laboratory experiment with embryos to start learning how.

“This is really a decision that will affect us all,” said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society advocacy group, who opposes heritable gene editing. She called it potentially a “society-altering technology.” But pioneer Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, warns that a ban on even basic gene-editing research in embryos could block important discoveries. Writing in the journal Nature, she urged scientists to find “an

appropriate middle ground.”

Here’s a look at the science and the controversy, on the eve of the international summit hosted by the US National Academies of Science and Medicine.

what is gene editing

WHIle scientists have long been able to find defective genes, fixing them has been so cumbersome that it’s slowed development of genetic therapies. With gene editing, scientists home in on a piece of DNA and use molecular tools that act as scissors to snip that spot—deleting a defective gene, repairing it or replacing it. There are some older methods, but a new tool called CRISPR-Cas9 has been adopted by laboratories worldwide because it’s faster, cheaper, simple enough to use with minimal training, and allows altering of multiple genes simultaneously.

what it might treat

THe big gest use so far is to rapidly engineer animals with human-like disorders for basic research, but promising gene-editing experiments make regular headlines. Much like a bone marrow transplant, researchers hope to use CRISPR for diseases like

sickle cell, correcting the faulty gene in someone’s own bloodproducing cells rather than implanting donated ones.

Similarly, doctors in Britain recently treated a 1-year-old with leukemia using donated immune cells that had been experimentally altered with an older editing method to target her cancer. A California company is testing a non-CRISPR way to make HIV patients’ immune cells better resist the virus.

The University of Massachusetts just reported using a CRISPR technique to switch off, rather than cut and repair, a gene in muscle cells that causes one form of muscular dystrophy. And Harvard researchers recently edited 62 spots in pig DNA, part of work to use the animals to grow organs for human transplant.

the biggest hurdle

SAfeTy is a key question because gene editing isn’t always precise enough; there’s the possibility of accidentally cutting DNA that’s similar to the real target. Outof-body treatments, like altering blood cells, get around the fear of fixing one problem only to spark another, and efforts to improve precision are under way.

the ethics controversy

AlTeRING genes in sperm, eggs or embr yos can spread those changes to future generations, so-called germline engineering, that might one day stop parents from passing inherited diseases to their children. Chinese scientists reported the first-known attempt to edit human embryos last spring, working with leftovers from fertility clinics that never could have developed into fetuses. They aimed to correct a dead ly inher ited gene, but

uncovered problems that will require more research. Germline engineering “has been viewed almost universally as a line that should not be crossed,” National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director francis Collins said at the time.

After all, future generations couldn’t consent, and any long-term negative effects might not become apparent for years. There’s also concern about babies designed for better intellect, athleticism or appearance, rather than to prevent disease.

There’s wide agreement that the technique isn’t safe enough yet to attempt a pregnancy with an altered embryo. But there are other kinds of germline research. In Britain, for example, researchers have requested permission to gene-edit human embryos in the lab, studying early development in ways that might shed light on miscarriage.

ONG KONG — Chinese manufacturing was at its weakest in more than three years in November despite stimulus measures to bolster the world’s No. 2 economy while service industries improved, according to an official survey released on Tuesday.

T he m a nu f ac t u r i ng i nde x based on a survey of factory purchasing managers slipped for the

fourth straight month, falling to 49.6 in November from 49.8 the previous month.

T he i nd e x i s b a s e d on a 100-point scale, with the 50-point mark separating expansion from contraction. A sub-index covering new orders, seen as an indicator of overall demand, fell to 49.8 from 50.3. Separately, the private Caixin/ Markit purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing released the

same day also remained at a level indicating contraction, although it improved to 48.6 from 48.3.

The official index, compiled by the Chinese federation for logistics and Purchasing, includes more of the countr y’s larger, state-owned enterprises, while the Caixin survey is weighted to smaller, private enterprises in China’s manufacturing industry, which employs tens of millions.

The latest data highlight the two-speed nature of China’s economy as officials try to shift the economy’s focus from manufacturing to services in a transition that’s proving to be rocky.

Services, which have helped offset the weakness in manufacturing, showed some improvement.

The official measure covering China’s service industries rose to 53.6 from 53.1. AP

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beyond medicine

HUMAN-GeNe editing aside, there are environmental concerns, too. experiments are under way to force genetic changes to spread rapidly through populations of animals and plants—changes that could wipe out invasive species or disease-carrying insects. A California team reported a first step last week, hatching malaria-resistant mosquitoes that could easily spread their new protective gene to their offspring. AP

World

Women walk by a bank electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index at Hong Kong Stock exchange. World stock markets struggled for direction as weak oil prices, mixed Chinese economic data and the rising prospect of a federal reserve rate hike dulled investor interest. aP/vinCent yU

hile President Aquino was marshaling global support in Paris for countries most at risk from environmental threats and climate change, the Philippine government—in closing arguments at The Hague—highlighted the damage being caused

by China’s sea constructions to one of the most diverse marine environments in the world, asking the United Nations tribunal to restrain it from creating a virtual “Berlin Wall of the Sea,” according to a report sent to Palace reporters

by Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte from the Netherlands.

Summing up the Philippines’s position as the Permanent Court of Arbitration closed weeklong hearings on the merits of Manila’s case against Beijing over China’s “excessive” nine-

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big gift, big hope Sports biG GiFt, biG hoPe BusinessMirror

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| Wednesday, deCember 2, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Kobe Bryant’s $25-million salary is coming off the books, allowing Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak to go shopping for some free agents with money in his pocket, raising hopes that the team can return to its former glory.

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By Mike Bresnahan Los Angeles Times

HILADELPHIA—Kobe Bryant’s decision to retire brings to a close one of professional basketball’s most storied careers.

But it also gives the Los Angeles Lakers, mired in one of their worst seasons ever, a big gift and hope for a new era: Bryant’s $25-million salary is coming off the books, allowing Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak to go shopping for some free agents with money in his pocket, raising hopes that the team can return to its former glory.

In fact, the Lakers have only seven players under contract next season for a total of $26.3 million. National Basketball Association (NBA) team payrolls will spike to about $90 million thanks to a lucrative new national TV deal, so it’s hard not to envision Lakers executives smiling a bit despite the team’s worst start since 1957.

The Lakers are a pitiful 2-14 and almost certainly will miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season—a first for the proud franchise. They are about to start an eight-game trip, but the chances are improving that they’ll keep their topthree-protected lottery pick next year because of their poor record. And there will be a potential shopping spree next July.

The team must build around its younger starters, point guard D’Angelo Russell, 19; forward Julius Randle, 21; and shooting guard Jordan Clarkson, 23.

KOBE BRYANT announces his retirement at the end of the season in a news conference in Los Angeles on Sunday. AP

The rebuilding plan also includes landing some key free agents.

Whether any free agents take the Lakers’ money is another story.

They struck out on the last six bigname free agents they pursued: Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Carmelo Anthony, LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Monroe and DeAndre Jordan.

It’s not clear what kept those stars away. Maybe they didn’t want to play with an aging Bryant, or maybe they didn’t want to join a team coming off so few victories. For whatever reason, even the Lakers’ vastly successful tradition didn’t bring them in.

But the Lakers will have fewer excuses next year. They will be tens of

millions of dollars under the NBA’s salary cap, an impressively large blank check without Bryant.

Next summer they will doggedly pursue free-agent superstar Kevin Durant, as will countless other teams.

They can also look at adding unrestricted free agents such as Atlanta center Al Horford, Memphis guard Mike Conley, Miami center Hassan Whiteside and Sacramento guard Rajon Rondo.

The Lakers will also consider harderto-sign restricted free agents that include Detroit center Andre Drummond, Golden State forward Harrison Barnes and Utah center Rudy Gobert. Talented small forwards DeMar DeRozan of Toronto and Gordon Hayward of Utah will become

Warriors stretch unbeaten streak S

ALT LAKE CITY—Stephen Curry scored 26 points, as the Golden State Warriors held on for their National Basketball Association (NBA)-record 19th consecutive win to start the season, 106-103, over the Utah Jazz on Monday night.

With the game tied at 101 with 51 seconds left, Curry hit a threepointer from the left wing to give the Warriors the lead. Rodney Hood scored 14 seconds later to bring the Jazz within one.

After Curry missed a three, the Jazz had a chance to take the lead, but Hood missed a three from the wing with five seconds left. Curry hit two free throws and Gordon Hayward’s half-court heave at the buzzer fell way short.

Klay Thompson added 20 points for the Warriors, including four three-pointers. Hayward led the Jazz with 24 points.

Derrick Favors gave Utah a 99-97 lead on a three-point play before Curry hit a three-pointer.

The Warriors have won 23 straight regular-season games dating to last season.

Elsewhere on Monday, it was

Boston 105, Miami 95; Detroit 116, Houston 105; Chicago 92, San Antonio 89; Milwaukee 92, Denver 74; Atlanta 106, Oklahoma City 100; Sacramento 112, Dallas 98; and LA Clippers 102, Portland 87.

In Atlanta, Paul Millsap scored 26 points and Jeff Teague made all the big shots down the stretch, sending Atlanta to a victory that ended Oklahoma City’s four-game winning streak.

Russell Westbrook had 34 points, including a drive with 2:49 remaining that gave the Thunder their first lead since scoring the opening basket. Westbrook knocked down a jumper to push Oklahoma City to a four-point lead.

Teague took control from there.

He finished with 25 points, while Al Horford added 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Kevin Durant, selected Western Conference player of the week after coming back from a left hamstring injury, had 25 points. But the Thunder lost for the first time since he rejoined the lineup.

Westbrook also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out seven assists.

Pau Gasol had 18 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots, as the Bulls ended San Antonio’s five-game winning streak.

Jimmy Butler scored 14 points and reserve Doug McDermott had 12 for Chicago in the opener of a four-game homestand. Joakim Noah contributed eight points, seven assists and 11 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.

Gasol blocked LaMarcus Aldridge on a drive with 1:06 left, and then hit one of two foul shots on the other end for a 90-89 lead. After Manu Ginobili missed for San Antonio, Butler hit two free throws with 10.6 seconds left.

The Spurs had one last chance, but Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker each missed three-point attempts in the final seconds. Parker’s try was partially blocked by Derrick Rose, who finished with 11 points and six assists. AP

free agents if they decline contract options with their teams.

The Lakers must also re-sign guard Clarkson, who had only a two-year contract because he was a secondround draft pick in 2014. He will be a restricted free agent and is going to cost the Lakers perhaps $10 million annually for four years.

Even though the Lakers face almost completely unbound financial freedom next summer, their fans face four-and-ahalf-long months with Bryant and their current roster.

Bryant’s shooting accuracy is a meager 30.5 percent, worst in the league this season, and his defense is no longer passable. He knows it, which is why he

STEPHEN CURRY scores 26 points, as the Golden State Warriors hold on for their record 19th consecutive win to start the season. AP

announced he would retire at the end of the season, after the Lakers’ final regularseason game on April 13 against Utah at Staples Center.

The 37-year-old Bryant was introspective and humorous in his sitdown with reporters on Sunday after making only four of 20 shots in the Lakers’ 107-103 loss to Indiana at Staples Center.

“So...what’s new?” was how he opened the 20-minute news conference.

He was brutally honest in assessing his now-sagging game but conveyed anything but sadness.

“I see the beauty in not being able to blow past defenders anymore,” he said.

“I see the beauty in getting up in the morning and being in pain, because I know all of the hard work that it took to get to this point.”

He joked about the age discrepancy between him and the younger Lakers starters Russell, Randle and Clarkson.

“I feel like their grandfather. I’m like a triple OG,” he said, using slang for original gangster.

The Lakers play the winless Philadelphia 76ers (0-18) on Tuesday, a game notable not only for early jockeying among bad teams seeking a top spot in the draft lottery, but because it’s Bryant’s last National Basketball Association (NBA) stop in his hometown.

Philadelphia fans never really accepted Bryant, booing him mercilessly whenever he played there. Regardless, he softened when asked about Tuesday’s game.

“It’s going to be beautiful,” he said.

“So much of my game was developed in Philadelphia.” Bryant promised there would be no crying on the court at any time during the next several months and he even revealed his most memorable NBA moment. Surprisingly, it didn’t involve the night he scored 81 points against Toronto or any of his five championship runs.

“Nothing beats getting drafted. That’s the beginning of it all,” he said, referring to that 1996 night when he was selected by the Charlotte Hornets, who traded his rights to the Lakers.

The Lakers are hoping that the 2016 draft will be as meaningful to their franchise as it was for Bryant 19 years ago.

ROCKETS REFLECT ON KOBE LEGACY

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UBURN HILLS, Michigan—Though the news could not have been considered a surprise, the Rockets were stunned after Sunday’s game to hear the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant had announced he would retire after the season and took turns praising him.

“Kobe, one of the greatest to ever play the game,” said Dwight Howard, who had one unsuccessful season with Bryant in Los Angeles. “He had an amazing career.

It all comes to an end for all of us. He paved the way for so many players coming out of high school.

His work ethic, everything he stands for on the court has been great.”

Growing up in Los Angeles, James Harden long considered Bryant, 37, to be his favorite player.

“He is a warrior,” Harden said. “He is a competitor. There will not be another guy like him.”

To Jason Terry, who faced Bryant in Bryant’s early seasons, in his prime and at the end of his career, the Lakers guard was the best of his time.

“He is the Michael Jordan of my era,” Terry said.

“Not only did he win championships, his work ethic, his championship drives, his willingness to push his teammates to limits they didn’t know they had, he’s just the ultimate competitor.”

Thornton tries to adjust to role Marcus Thornton’s season began with consecutive games never leaving the bench followed by a move into the starting lineup.

Compared to that, his playing time and role have become consistent. But in the two games prior to Monday against the Pistons he went from playing nine minutes against the 76ers to 21 against New York, helping key the Rockets’ comeback win with 18 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

In the four games prior to Monday’s, he had made 53.6 percent of his shots, but said the inconsistent role has been difficult. Houston Chronicle

sports

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he establishment of the Free Trade Area in the Asia Pacific (FTAAP)—either via the USled Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the China-initiated Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)—became a hot topic at the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Leaders’ Week in Manila.

But while other countries have started to take sides on which path is more viable, the Philippines continues to shuffle its feet and has yet to make any bold step, except to repeatedly say that it is interested in joining the TPP. In 2014 Beijing leveraged its position as a country-host to launch a collective strategic study on realizing the FTAAP— a move interpreted by the US as an aggressive effort to create a more liberalized trade environment in the region, but via the

By Butch Fernandez

is it legal

WHeRe you live determines if, or what kind of, research can be performed on embryos. Some countries, especially in europe, ban germline research. Others, such as China, have guidelines described as unenforceable. Britain allows basic lab research only. In the US, the NIH won’t fund research involving germline editing, but private funding is allowed.

China factory index records 3-year low, services improve

H

Conclusion

RCEP. The RCEP is a proposed freetrade bloc among Asean memberstates plus those that the Asean has existing FTAs with—Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

During the Apec M anila meet, member-economies have pledged to make progress on the FTAAP collective strategic study draft. The final version of the study and recommendations are due at the end of 2016, when Apec economic leaders and ministers will meet in Peru.

The US, throughout 2015, responded in kind—accelerating negotiations on the TPP and winning the confidence of the Pacific Rim countries by hurdling the fasttrack authority in its own Congress.

Despite the Philippines’s participation in Apec efforts for the Chinainitiated FTAAP study, it has been more vocal on the TPP‚ a rational choice as it is led by its longtime ally.

Continued on A2

PHL to UN: End China’s ‘Berlin Wall of the Sea’

Hundreds of scientists and etHicists from around tHe world gatHer to discuss tHe boundaries of Human-genome editing

ASHINGTON—Designer babies or an end to intractable illnesses: A revolutionary technology is letting scientists learn to rewrite the genetic code, aiming to alter DNA in ways that, among other things, could erase disease-causing genes.

By Catherine N. Pillas

See “PLDT,” A8

Jennifer DouDna (right) and her lab manager, Kai Hong, work in her laboratory in the university of California, Berkeley, in June 2014. Cailey Cotner/UC Berkeley via aP

W

TORN BETWEEN U.S.-LED TPP AND CHINA-INITIATED RCEP

c1 President Aquino delivers his statement at the COP21, United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Le Bourget, outside Paris, on Monday.

dash-line claim in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario said “China’s island building not only undermines regional stability, but also the rule of law. It is moreover inflicting massive environmental damage on the most diverse marine environment in the world.”

China, del Rosario pointed out, “has intentionally created one of the biggest emerging environmental disasters in the world.” Beyond this, he added, “the stakes are still greater” than just the Philippines’s interest, or those of other claimants in the West Philippine Sea, 90 percent of which is being claimed by China under the dubious nine-dash line.

“The Convention’s ‘Constitution for the Oceans’ is itself at risk,” said del Rosario, referring to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or Unclos.

See “Berlin wall of the Sea,” A2

AP

World leaders gather to try to save Earth from overheating W ith dramatic vows to save future generations from an overheated planet, the largest gathering ever of world leaders began two weeks of talks on Monday, aimed at producing the most farreaching pact yet, to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and avert environmental havoc.

“We should ask what will we say to our

grandchildren if we fail,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said, as the UN climate summit opened under heavy security on the outskirts of Paris, two weeks after the extremist attacks that left 130 people dead.

“Instead of making excuses tomorrow, let’s take action today.”

Even before the gathering, more than

PESO exchange rates n US 47.1680

180 countries pledged to cut or curb their emissions, but scientific analyses show that much bigger reductions would be needed to limit man-made warming of the Earth to 2 degrees Celsius (3.8 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times, the internationally agreed-upon goal.

The biggest issue facing the 151 heads of

state and government at the summit is who should bear most of the burden of closing that gap: wealthy Western nations that have polluted the most historically, or developing countries like China and India that are now the biggest and third-biggest emitters of greenhouse gases?

“Addressing climate change should not

deny the legitimate needs of developing countries to reduce poverty and improve living standards,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping told the conference.

The last major climate agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, required only rich countries to cut emissions, and the US never signed See “World leaders,” A2

n japan 0.3832 n UK 71.0114 n HK 6.0838 n CHINA 7.3722 n singapore 33.4240 n australia 34.1550 n EU 49.8471 n SAUDI arabia 12.5715

Source: BSP (1 December 2015)

A2

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

News

BusinessMirror

Torn between US-led Tpp and China-initiated Rcep Continued from A1

This is amid the escalating tension between the Philippines and China on the long-standing territorial dispute.

But, even if the Philippines has been enthusiastic in expressing its intention to join the TPP, observers noted a significant hurdle—certain economic provisions in the Constitution have to be amended in order to meet the standards of the TPP. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in a report prepared before the visit of US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker last year, said that “the Philippines need not amend its Constitution immediately, as flexibilities are allowed in the TPP. However, at a certain point, the Philippines may have to amend selected economic provisions of the Constitution.”

This is because the DTI expects that the highly ambitious TPP will require a broad and demanding set of commitments from the Philippines, such as liberalizing restrictions on foreign-equity ownership and government procurement, and adopting zero tariffs for all products with sensitivities to agriculture and industrial products.

The country continues to give mixed signals on the trade deal, which represents 40 percent of global GDP and one-third of world trade.

President Aquino stated the country’s

World leaders. . . on. Since then, global temperatures and sea levels have continued to rise, and the Earth has seen an extraordinary run of extreme weather, including severe droughts and storms.

This new round of talks seeks to produce an agreement that would require all countries, rich and poor, to take action.

While the specifics have yet to be worked out, the pact is meant to chart a path toward reduced reliance on coal, oil and gas, and expanded use of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

The negotiations will focus on whether emissions targets should be binding or voluntary and how to verify that countries are hitting their targets. Another big issue will be how to provide the finance and technology that developing countries will need to reduce their emissions and cope with the effects of rising seas, intensifying heat waves and floods.

“The future of the people of the world, the future of our planet, is in your hands,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told negotiators in his

desire to join the TPP, saying the deal “makes sense” as several of the Philippines’s major trading partners, including the US and Japan, are already part of it.

In a section commenting on the TPP, the report noted that of the total 2,212 tariff lines of Philippine exports to the US in 2012, about 677 lines, or 30.6 percent, were given duty-free access, while 1,535 lines, or 69.4 percent, still had positive tariffs, citing data from the Tariff Commission.

In a recent news conference with foreign and local media, Assistant Secretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy Ceferino S. Rodolfo underscored the importance of the TPP for the garments sector as the main avenue to secure preferential trade terms with the US. “The United States accounts for 15 percent of exports. But if you look at the specific details, over 70 percent of Philippine exports to the US already enter that market duty-free, either through the US-Generalized System of Preferences, or through zero-percent duty under the most favored nation treatment. So there is just the focus 30 percent that has positive duties when we enter the US market. Half of the 30 percent is in terms of garments,”said Rodolfo during a recent news conference.

Rodolfo pointed out that the Philippine garments industry stands to be the most disadvantaged sector if the country fails

to gain entry into the megatrade deal.

“When the TPP comes into force, we would know which sectors would have some disadvantage in entering the US market, which is in garments. The Philippines has already undertaken six technical consultations with respect to the TPP. We are carefully studying the TPP text as it was released two weeks ago and we are also looking at the accession provision of the TPP,” Rodolfo added.

A silver lining in this situation is that the Philippine garments and textile sector has long been left behind, as the country has increasingly become reliant on imports of raw material, combined with China’s rise as a manufacturing giant in the region.

Rajiv Biswas, chief economist at IHS Global, a marketing and consultancy firm based in the US, acknowledged this disadvantage, highlighting a trade-diversion effect from the Philippines to Vietnam.

“The impact of the TPP deal is likely to have some trade-diversion effect on the Philippines electronics sector and textiles and apparel sector, as the improvement in Vietnam’s competitiveness may result in some switching of new investment plans away from the Philippines toward Vietnam,” Biswas earlier noted.

Newly installed European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines President Guenter Taus, in an e-mail interview with

the BusinessMirror, also acknowledged the hurdle that the constitutional limitations pose on the country’s TPP eligibility.

“As a business organization we welcome free-trade agreements in general, as this also means that the somewhat restrictive economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution have to be amended, to further open the country to more participation in the global market. At the end of the day this serves the Filipino people as prices of quality products and services are kept to a minimum,” Taus said.

On the coexistence of the TPP and RCEP, Taus sees a more positive outcome, saying: “Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Vietnam have shown that being part of TPP doesn’t exclude a membership in RCEP, hence this model can also work for other countries,” Taus said via e-mail.

The DTI is dispelling the notions that the limitations in the Constitution will become significant barriers, implying that the TPP allows some flexibilities.

While not expounding on the matter, the DTI maintains its high interest in the deal and is said to be still “studying” the eligibility of the country to the pact.

“We are carefully studying the TPP text as it was released two weeks ago and we are also looking at the accession provision of the TPP,” Rodolfo said.

Continued from A1

opening remarks. “We cannot afford indecision, half measures or merely gradual approaches. Our goal must be a transformation.”

China and India say they want the agreement to clearly reflect that industrialized nations bear the biggest responsibility for the problem.

President Barack Obama offered assurances that the US isn’t trying to shirk its duty.

“I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it,” Obama told the conference.

Statistics since 1959 from the US Department of Energy show the United States has been by far the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the top man-made greenhouse gas.

It has released about 258 trillion tons of carbon dioxide over the past halfcentury, compared with China’s 158 trillion tons, the figures show.

China is catching up, though, and

is now the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas polluter, accounting for 28 percent of the world’s current emissions—twice as much as the United States. Beijing has pledged to put a ceiling on its emissions around 2030 as part of the latest negotiations.

Developing countries say they need financial support and technology to make the transition to cleaner energy. On the bustling first day of the conference, a number of such initiatives were announced, including one backed by 19 governments and 28 leading global investors, including Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

Their initiative would provide billions of dollars in investments to research and develop clean-energy technology, with the ultimate goal of making it cheaper and more reliable.

Separately, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President François Hollande unveiled an initiative to get rich and poor countries to cooperate on expanding solar power.

“It’s making the dream of

universal access to clean energy become more real,” Modi said.

Many of the leaders said the world must keep the average temperature within 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F) of current levels—and, if possible, to half that, to spare island nations threatened by rising seas. The world has already warmed nearly 1 degree Celsius since the beginning of the industrial age.

Beijing on Monday reported one of the worst spells of air pollution in years, saying levels of soot were 25 times what the World Health Organization considers safe. That’s a different pollution from carbon dioxide, but both come from burning fossil fuel, especially coal.

Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, which had binding emissions targets for wealthy nations, the new deal will be based on a bottom-up approach where countries set their own targets. One of the things being negotiated is a ratchet-up mechanism that would encourage countries to review and improve their targets every five years. AP

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Comelec disqualifies Poe

By Joel R. San Juan

T

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division on Tuesday ordered the cancellation of the certificate of candidacy (COC) presidential derby frontrunner Sen. Grace Poe on the ground that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen and her failure to meet the residency requirement to be eligible for the post.

In a 35-page resolution, signed by Comelec Commissioners Al Pareno, Arthur Lim and Sheriff Abas, the poll body’s Second Division held that Poe “falsely” declared that she is a natural-born Filipino citizen in her COC. “Respondent’s representation in her COC that she is a natural-born Filipino citizen is false; respondent being a foundling, is not a naturalborn Filipino citizen,” the Comelec said. “We would have wanted to declare respondent eligible to seek the highest position in the land within the gift of our people. After all, she is not only popular, she is potentially a good leader. However, it is our bounden duty to resolve this case by applying the Constitution, law juris-

prudence, and none other,” the resolution stressed.

The Comelec’s ruling stemmed from the petition filed by lawyer Estrella Elamparo, who argued that Poe’s COC should be denied since she failed to meet the citizenship and residency requirements for candidates for president.

The Comelec Second Division pointed out that as a sitting senator, Poe is expected to know that the 1935, 1973 and 1987 Constitutions have adhered to the “citizenship by bloodline” principle wherein natural-born Filipino citizenship is solely and exclusively determined by a bloodline to a Filipino father (193 Constitution) and by bloodline to a Filipino father (1973 and 1987 Constitution).

“Respondent knew or ought to have known that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen. The representation in her subject COC for President that she is a natural-born Filipino citizen is obviously false,” the resolution read.

Likewise, the Comelec ruled that Poe lacks the required residency to qualify as a candidate for president next year.

Berlin Wall of the Sea. . .

“No state, no matter how powerful, should be allowed to claim an entire sea as its own and to use force or the threat of force in asserting that claim. No state should be permitted to write and re-write the rules in order to justify its expansionist agenda. If that is allowed, the convention itself would be deemed useless.

Power will have prevailed over reason, and the rule of law would have been rendered meaningless,” del Rosario said.

The Philippine government’s legal team has made it “equally clear that there is no issue of overlapping entitlements beyond 12-mile [limit] in the South China Sea,” del Rosario said.

He recalled how, in the November 26 hearing, “Prof. Bernard Oxman made clear what the practical consequences of deciding that even a single feature in the Spratly Islands generates entitlement beyond 12 M would be. China regards its entitlements in the South China Sea as excluding those of the Philippines and of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, as well.”

“It has no regard for the entitlements of other states. China is also more than willing to use force and the threat of force to enforce its perceived entitlements, even where it has none.”

At the closing session of the hearings of the merits, del Rosario’s presentation was preceded by the final arguments made by Manila’s counsel, led by Paul Reichler, working closely with Philippine Solicitor General Florin Hilbay.

Del Rosario also alluded to, in his summation, the key arguments made by Oxman and Andrew Loewenstein, two experts called in by Manila. Loewenstein earlier presented eight ancient maps, one dating back to the Ming Dynasty, which showed the territory it now insists on claiming was not in its own map. They sought to demolish China’s claim of historic title and rights.

“In our view,” said del Rosario in his summation remarks before the PCA, “the Tribunal’s jurisdiction could not be clearer with respect to declaring that China’s claim to ‘historic rights’ in the areas encompassed by the nine-dash line is inconsistent with Unclos.” He then recalled how Reichler, on the first day of the hearings on Merits on November 24, had shown “that the historic rights that China claims are very different from a claim to ‘historic title’ that might be precluded from jurisdiction under Article 298.”

Ox man and Loewenstein “showed that the regimes of the

Continued from A1

continental shelf and exclusive economic zone under Unclos, and even general international law, plainly exclude” China’s claim of “historic rights” within the ninedash line, del Rosario added.

Though he is not a lawyer, del Rosario noted, “in my mind, when the convention says that the Philippines’s rights in its continental shelf exist ipso facto and ab initio, and do not depend on occupation, that means there is no room for China’s claim. And when the convention speaks of an ‘exclusive’ economic zone, I take exclusive to mean exclusive. That means it is ours, and what is ours is ours, not China’s.”

The November 25 presentation

by Prof. Philippe Sands showed why the guidance of the UN court is crucial, the Department of Foreign Affairs chief said. “With an assertiveness that is growing with every passing day, China is preventing us from carrying out even the most basic exploration and exploitation activities in areas where only the Philippines can possibly have rights.”

He said China, by its actions, violates two key commitments by signatories in the preamble to the UN Charter, which are “to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained,” and “to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.”

China and the Philippines are both among the 51 original signatories to the UN Charter.

Del Rosario explained his accusation that China fails on both counts: it fails, he said, to “respect the obligations arising from treaties, specifically Unclos,” and is also “interfering with the Philippines’s sovereign duty to promote the social progress of our people, and our efforts to achieve a better standard of life for all Filipinos.”

Besides the Filipinos, China’s unilateral actions, “and the atmosphere of intimidation they have created, are also trampling upon the rights and interests of the peoples of Southeast Asia and beyond,” del Rosario pointed out.

Its massive island-building campaign shows its utter disregard for the rights of other states, and for international law, he argued, and noted that China started the island building “a year after the Philippines initiated the arbitration,” underscoring the impunity. “It is intent on changing unilaterally the status quo in the region, imposing China’s illegal nine-dash line claim by fiat and presenting this Tribunal with a fait accompli.”

The Nation BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Wednesday, December 2, 2015 A3

Duterte at receiving SC stops Comelec’s ‘No end...for a change Bio, No Boto’ policy C

ATHOLIC Bishops’ Conference of the Ph i l ippi nes President A rc hbi shop Socrates Villegas on Tuesday slammed duterte Davao Cit y Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte for cursing at Pope Francis after he allegedly got stuck in hours of traffic owing to road closures during the pope’s visit in January.

“Is this the leadership by example that Mayor Duterte excites in us? Is this the leadership by example that makes a public official deserving of the title ‘honorable’?”

Villegas said in a statement as he blasted Duterte—the presidential standard bearer of PDP-Laban.

“Vulgarity is corruption,” he said.

“When we find vulgarity funny, we have really become beastly and barbaric as a people. When a revered and loved and admired man like Pope Francis is cursed by a political candidate and the audience laughs, I can only bow my head in grief and great shame.

My countrymen has gone to the dregs,” he lamented.

At the House of Representatives, lawmakers on Tuesday scored Duterte for cursing Pope Francis and admitting that he has two wives and two girlfriends.

In a statement, Party-list Rep. Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela said that

“womanizing and flaunting it is an affront to women.” “ Womanizing and treating women as objects are an affront to women and it should not be flaunted. This reeks of machismo, reinforces the society’s low regard of women and consequently increases women’s vulnerability to violence and abuse,” she said.

For his part, Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay said his party has voted unanimously to condemn the statements of Duterte against Pope Francis, calling it a direct assault on the Catholic faith.

“We Catholics consider the pope as the representative and continuing presence of Christ on Earth. And to speak of him in that manner is a grievous affront to all Catholics,” Atienza said.

Duterte blamed the pope for the traffic jams in Manila during the papal visit in January, saying “Gusto kong tawagan, pope p---- i-ka, umuwi ka na. ’Wag ka nang magbisita dito.”

According to Atienza, “traffic jams during the pope’s public appearances in Manila were caused by the people who wanted to see him, and not by the pope himself.”

“I would like to believe that Mayor Duterte was merely trying to attract attention and be his usual controversial self when he made that statement. While we respect his right to run for president, he should also respect every Filipino’s right to express their faith,” he said.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz and Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

T

By Joel R. San Juan

HE Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday stopped the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from implementing its policy requiring all voters to register their biometrics before they would be allowed to vote in next year’s national and local elections.

SC Spokesman Theodore Te said the justices issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Comelec’s “No Bio, No Boto” policy during the Court’s regular en banc session.

“In the matter of GR 221318 [Kabataan Party-list Rep. James Mark Terry Ridon, et. al., v. Comelec], the Court resolved to...issue a temporary restraining order effective immediately and continuing until further orders from the Court directing the respondent Comelec to desist from deactivating registered voters without biometric information,” Te said.

The SC also directed the Comelec to submit its comment on the petition within a nonextendible period of 10 days from notice.

It also ordered the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to submit

its separate comment on the petition within the same period.

The Kabataan party-list group was joined by leaders of National Union of Students of the Philippines, Anakbayan, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, League of Filipino Students, and two voters who stand to be disenfranchised because of the new policy, in the petition.

The groups are challenging the legality of Comelec Resolutions 9721, 9863 and 10013 and RA 10367, or “An Act Providing for Mandatory Biometrics Voter Registration.”

The No Bio, No Boto policy provides for disfranchisement of voters without digital photograph, signature and fingerprints in their registration records.

The petitioners argued that the new policy violates the Constitution

as it adds a substantive requirement for Filipinos to be able to exercise their right to suffrage.

“Republic Act 10367 and its implementing regulations are unconstitutional as these impose an unconstitutional, additional substantive requirement imposed on the exercise of suffrage, thus violating Section 1, Article V of the 1987 Constitution,” read the petition.

Petitioners stressed that the Constitution clearly states that “no literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.”

They also alleged that the new policy “violates due process as it is an unreasonable deprivation of the constitutional right to vote for millions of Filipinos who have failed to register their biometric information despite existing and active registration—in effect a voter’s re-registration—for various reasons whether personal or institutional.”

Petitioners further argued that over 3 million voters stand to lose their right to vote because of the new biometrics requirement.

Comelec records showed that a total of 3,059,601 registered voters remained without biometrics data as of September 30—or 5.86 percent of the 52,239,488 total registered voters for the 2016 elections.

Last month the same groups also filed a petition before the SC seeking extension of the October 31 deadline for voters’ registration set by the Comelec.

Rice pilferage: Marcos: Aquino should apologize if he feels he has done wrong Charges filed vs PPA officials

A

TRANSPARENCY group has filed graft charges against officials of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) before the Ombudsman for their alleged failure to investigate and act on the reported rice pilferage activities at a Manila port terminal.

In a four-page complaint affidavit, Benjamin Peralta, secretarygeneral of Filipino Alliance for Transparency and Empowerment (FATE), named as respondents in the complaint PPA General Manager Juan Santa Ana and Assistant General Manager for Operations Raul Santos.

Peralta claimed that the two officials violated Section 3 of Republic Act 3019, or the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act, and Section 5(a) of RA 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The graft complaint stemmed from reports aired and published by the media about the rice pilferage activities allegedly happening at Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI), which is under the supervision of the PPA. PPA is also the agency which issues permits for the operation of the terminal.

Peralta alleged that a rice supplier from Vietnam, Vinafoods Inc., shipped to the Philippines around 506,000 bags of rice transported by MV Exelixis and unloaded it at HCPTI, it being one of the transshipment hubs of the government.

Later, it was discovered that only 503,859 bags of rice arrived at the warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA), while around 3,000 bags of rice were missing.

Peralta alleged the information was repeatedly reported by the media, while other concerned citizen groups have also called on the government, specifically the PPA, to investigate the alleged rice pilferage. Joel R. San Juan

S

EN. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has turned the tables on President Aquino, who has been asking him to apologize to the people.

Marcos said Mr. Aquino himself should apologize if he thinks he has done something wrong as President of the Philippines.

“Maybe if he feels na talagang tapat siya na mayroon siyang pagkukulang o pagkakamali bilang Pangulo, then he should apologize for those things,” he replied, when asked if the President should apologize for something during a radio interview.

Marcos said the people are more interested on issues that directly affect their lives on a daily basis and their future. “People are looking for answers why the drug problem in the country is getting so bad. Why are

the prices of commodities so high?

Why can’t I get a job?”

Marcos added, “The people want solution to the lingering poverty in the country and the lack of jobs and other woes.”

“These are the questions the people ask. ‘Ano ang mangyayari sa amin?’”

Marcos also said.

Climate change

AT the same time, Marcos said the country should step up preparations for the increasing severity of natural disasters brought about by changing weather patterns.

“No matter what agreement will be reached in the Paris summit, we can no longer ignore the reality that we will be facing stronger typhoons, massive flooding, landslides and

Miriam is netizens’ top choice for president

S

EN. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Sunday said that social media has led to an extraordinary change in voting attitude among Filipinos, as she emerged as netizens’ top choice for president in a Facebook-based poll.

Latest results of the survey on Facebook page “Pinoy History” showed that 48.36 percent of respondents want Santiago as president in 2016, despite the fact that she is the only presidential aspirant who has yet to release campaign advertisements.

Bets bombarding the media with ads tailed Santiago: Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, 42.35 percent; former Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II, 3.86 percent; Sen. Grace Poe, 2.15 percent; and Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, 1.28 percent. The group behind the survey claimed the results show “the real score of candidates in the upcoming presidential elections” according to the 40 million social-media users in the Philippines.

“Social media is the key to winning the 2016 elections. Traditional politicians can always pay for advertisements, or even preelection surveys, but no amount of money can silence Filipinos on social media,” Santiago said.

Since announcing her presidential bid in October, Santiago has not tapped traditional media—television, radio and print—for ads, in deference to election laws that intended to limit the campaign period to be from February 9 to May 7.

other natural disasters as a result of climate change. The prudent thing to do now is step up our preparedness,” Marcos said.

“We have to take a proactive approach. We are saying, ito na ngayon ang mangyayari, unahan na natin,” he added. The 21st United Nations Conference of Parties, or COP21, which began in Paris on Monday, aims to unite some 150 nations for a single agreement tackling climate change by capping the rate of global warming at 2 degrees Celsius— compared to the current 2.5 to 3.76 degrees Celsius.

Among others, Marcos urged local governments to adopt a preemptive evacuation system in disaster-prone areas at the onset of the typhoons and heavy rains, while the national

government should build and or clearly identify disaster-resilient evacuation centers.

Marcos said the government should also speed up the implementation of the law on the modernization of Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and continue to tap the capability of the military in rescue and relief operations due to its expertise in logistics in the distribution of relief goods and materials to disaster-stricken areas.

“We have a lot to do in terms of being able to provide the relief goods.

I think the single most important lesson that we have to continue to remind ourselves is, politics has no place in the calamity area. Buhay na ng tao ito. Ibang usapan ito,” Marcos also said.

PHL still free from Isis, military chief says

By Rene Acosta

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EN. Hernando Iriberri, Armed Forces chief of staff, said on Tuesday that the Islamic State in Syria (Isis) has not established its foothold in the country, although there are local groups that have pledged allegiance to the international terror group in order to bolster their standing.

At the same time, the top military chief denied the reported existence of four Isis camps in Mindanao, as he bewailed reports that tend to create fear of a terrorist attack among the Filipinos, especially Mindanao residents.

“We have not received any credible report about the threat of terrorism and the presence of Isis in Mindanao. There is no direct threat about Isis. You should continue with your normal lives.

Go and watch movies,” Iriberri said in a media briefing.

“Our operations are continuing and we have not found any or even the alleged four camps of the Isis.

These camps are nonexistent,” the chief of staff added.

One report claimed that at least four Syrians, Malaysians and Indonesians, who are members of the Isis have slipped into the country to sow terrorism in partnership with the supposedly Isis-affiliated Ansar al Khilafa, some of whose members were killed by Marines in Sultan Kudarat last week.

The Syrians were reportedly last seen in Central Mindanao along with Indonesian Amin Bako, a notorious bomber and a member of the regional terror group Jema’ah Islamiyah.

Bako escaped when Special Action Force commandos raided the hideout of another notorious bomber, Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, in Maguindanao in January.

Forty-four police commandos were killed when the raiders were ambushed by combined Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and other lawless gunmen as they withdrew from Marwan’s hideout.

During a recent firefight between soldiers and Khilafa gunmen, an Indonesian jihadist, identified as Abdul Fatah or Abu Fatah, one of those tagged in the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, was killed.

Economy

A4 Wednesday, December 2, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

Direct Manila-Paris air link seen to boost PHL tourism

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ARIS, France—Establishing an air link between Manila and Paris will boost the arrival of French tourists to the Philippines, Philippine Ambassador to France Ma. Theresa Lazaro has said.

Since the visit of President Aquino in Paris last year, several agreements have been signed by the Philippines and France to strengthen their relations, Lazaro told Radio TV Malacañang in a recent interview.

These agreements include those on trade cooperation, higher educa-

tion and research, as well as peopleto-people exchanges.

Lazaro noted that in October, Trade Secretary Gregory T. Domingo participated in business and trade discussions under a joint economic cooperation between the two countries.

“At may malaking delegasyon na

pupunta sa Pilipinas to continue to strengthen the relations pagdating sa edukasyon. Education is very, very important among the other aspects,” she said.

“Meron din tayong pinirmahan na agreement on cultural matters and people-to-people exchanges.

Dumadami na.”

In the tourism sector, Lazaro said they are waiting for the establishment of direct air services of the Philippine Airlines between Paris and Manila.

“With the direct flights, mapapaige pa ang tourism number natin, pero even at this point, the French people are looking at the Philippines in terms of diving spots and, of course, our beaches are excellent beaches,” she said.

Bicam postpones hearing of ₧3.002-T 2016 budget bill

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he bicameral conference committee on Monday convened to tackle the proposed P3.002-trillion national budget, but ultimately postponed after 10 minutes upon request of the House of Representatives contingent.

House Minority Leader Rolando Zamora moved to suspend the bicam meeting to allow the House contingent to review the Senate-approved version of the 2016 budget.

Zamora also said the postponement would allow the respective staffs of the House and the Senate to meet and work out matrix “so that we can compare our version with [that of] the Senate version.”

“Subsequently Mr. Chairman, perhaps you can meet at some other time, perhaps later this week, or if it’s necessary to give a little more time, perhaps early next week so that we can sit down and work out the details. I so move Mr. Chair,” Zamora moved during first meeting of the bicam at 10 a.m.

Last week the Senate approved its 2016 national budget version, which contains amendments, including the P10-billion augmentation to the national defense’s budget.

It was Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile who suggested to increase the Phi lippine A ir Force’s (PAF) budget from Houseapproved P15.4 billion to P25.4 billion to increase the country’s air assets and capabilities.

The Senate also restored the Commission on Election’s P500million budget for the Electronic Results Transmission Solution, Management and Services to expedite the transmission of the election results in the May 2016 polls.

The total net change that the Senate has approved as compared to the House version was P18.5 billion.

The Department of Education once again received the largest portion in the budget pie, with an allocation of P411.89 billion, an increase of 28.

Lawmaker seeks more perks for renewable-energy developers to lure investors, curb carbon emission

MMDA orders Yuletide freeze on Metro Manila road diggings

By Christopher Lloyd T. Caliwan

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Philippines News Agency

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he Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will implement a three-week moratorium on road diggings and excavations in major streets of the Metropolis starting December 14, in anticipation of the traffic buildup during the Yuletide season.

During Tuesday’s Metro Manila Council (MMC) meeting, MMDA Traffic Engineering Center Director Noemi Recio announced that the temporary stoppage of road works will begin on the midnight of December 14 up to the midnight of January 3 next year.

“No reblocking. Aside from this, a moratorium on road works and repairs will be implemented effective December 14 to January 3,” she said, adding that the moratorium covers road diggings of power and water utilities, as well. Recio cited the numerous road projects by the Department of Public Works and Highways totaling 146 all around Metro Manila.

“If we can stop these projects, we are hopeful that traffic in the Metro Manila would not be that heavy, and would somehow ease the burden of shoppers during the holidays rush,” she told the MMC, the policymaking body of the MMDA composed of the 17 local government units.

Recio, however, pointed out that there would be exemptions to the moratorium including the flagship projects of the national government, such as the the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway project and the Skyway Project 3 road works, that do not obstruct or block vehicular traffic.

Based on Department of Tourism figures from January to September, France is one of the country’s highgrowth markets.

For the month of September alone, France belonged to the market with substantial growth in inbound tourists, with 34,173 arrivals (+16.75 percent).

Other markets that posted substantial growth were India, 54,565 arrivals; Saudi Arabia, 40,453; Argentina, 1,357; Brazil, 2,602; Spain, 17,523; Israel, 8,890; and Turkey 4,365.

On a regional basis, Eastern Mediterranean Europe had the highest increase of 44.8 percent; followed by South America with 33.5 percent; and South Asia with 20.56 percent. PNA

news@businessmirror.com.ph

GONDOLA RIDE

Armed with a squeegee and soap, worker boards a small gondola to complete the maintenance work on the façade of a skyscraper at the Fort in Taguig City. Nonie Reyes

en. Francis G. Escudero on Monday called for more government incentives to encourage renewable-energy (RE) developers to invest in areas that remain without power and, at the same time, help the country fulfill its pledge to address climate change.

Escudero made the proposal as the Philippines commits to a global effort to reduce the world’s carbon emissions at the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris.

The Philippines chairs the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 20 nations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

“If we are serious about reducing carbon emissions and making good on our international commitments, then we should push for the development of renewable-energy sources,” Escudero said.

The Department of Energ y (DOE) estimates that the Philippines will need an additional 11,400 megawatts of generating capacity to meet the demand for electricity from 2016 to 2030, an

opportunity for power producers to consider RE development, the senator said.

Escudero, who heads the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, said that RE sources are not only sustainable but cheaper than fossil fuel because the sources, such as wind and sunshine, are virtually for free.

Unfortunately, as of 2014, only 37 percent of generated power was supplied by renewable sources, while 63 percent came from nonrenewable energy, mainly coal, according to DOE data. Of the renewable sources, less than 1 percent was from wind and solar energy.

“It’s pitiful. We have the resources that we need right here that can solve our problem of insufficient, unreliable and expensive power supply.

But we’re not developing them, so we have to ask ourselves: why isn’t there enough interest in this business?” Escudero said.

Escudero, who is running as Sen. Grace Poe’s vice president, sa id t he gover n ment shou ld study the possibility of giving tax incentives to companies that would go into RE development,

especially in areas with power problems like Mindanao.

He also proposed conducting a nationwide survey to identify which provinces could be tapped for various RE projects.

“Having access to electricity is a basic right of all Filipinos, and our goal is to provide this access to low-income families without costing them half their take-home pay,” Escudero said. “We cannot move forward with genuine economic development unless the problem of insufficient power supply is addressed.”

He said the government should exhaust all means to bring affordable electricity to some 15 million Filipinos who still have no electricity in their homes.

“It is time to harness the resources that we have to produce the energy that we need. Otherwise, we will forever be at the mercy of the big power firms who control the supply of power, and hence, the amount that we pay for electricity,” the senator said.

Philippine households pay the fifth highest power rate in the world, according to the International Energy Agency. PNA

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Wholesale prices shrunk 4.3 percent in September–PSA

By Cai U. Ordinario

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holesale prices continued to decline in September on the back of cheap fuel prices, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA data showed that the General Wholesale Price Index (GWPI) contracted 4.3 percent in September.

In August the GWPI contracted 4.1 percent, while in September 2014, it had a positive growth of 1.7 percent.

“The decrease was mainly due to the negative rate in the mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials index at -27.3 percent,” the PSA said.

While wholesale prices for commodities like food items posted price increases, these were slower compared to previous months.

PSA data showed that slower increases were posted by the food index at 2.9 percent; beverages and tobacco index, 5.9 percent; and crude materials, inedible except fuels index, 0.6 percent.

Other commodities that posted slower increases were chemicals including animal and vegetable oils and fats index, 2.8 percent; manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials index, 2.1 percent; and machinery and transport equipment index, 0.7 percent.

In Luzon the GWPI further declined by 4.9 percent, as the mineral fuels, lubricants and related material index had a negative annual movement of 27.9 percent in September.

The GWPI in the Visayas dipped by 2.2 percent in September. Decreases were observed in crude materials, inedible except fuels index at -6.7 percent, and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials index, -27.5 percent.

In Mindanao the GWPI fell by 1.6 percent.

This was attributed to the negative rates in the indices of food and chemicals including animal and vegetable oils and fats at -0.4 percent; and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, -16.3 percent.

The GWPI is an indicator designed to measure the changes in the price levels of commodities that flow into the wholesale trade intermediaries.

The weights by Commodity Group for GWPI refers to the price of commodity transacted in bulk for further resale or processing.

It is the actual “spot” transaction price received usually by the wholesalers, distributors or marketing agents for large lots but net of discounts, allowances and rebates.

It is the sum of the producer price, wholesale trade margin, tax mark-ups and distribution cost of the wholesaler.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015 A5

PSALM says bidding for Mindanao Coal bulk energy may have to wait

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By Lenie Lectura

HE Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has suspended the auction for the selection and appointment of the Independent Power Producer Administrator (IPPA) for the bulk energy of the 200-megawatt (MW) Mindanao Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant (Mindanao Coal).

PSALM President Lourdes Alzona said a new bid schedule would be set next year, adding that the decision was made after the Department of Energy (DOE) appealed to defer the bidding, amid the tight power supply being experienced in Mindanao.

“Mindanao Coal has been deferred, taking into consideration the power-supply outlook because of the El Niño phenomenon and the target schedule for commissioning

Ex-MRT 3 GM, five others face graft raps over contract award

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of new capacities in 2016,” said Alzona in a text message, when asked for updates on the new bidding schedule.

Alzona said PSALM fully supports the position of the DOE to reschedule the bidding on a later date, when power-supply outlook is already at a comfortable level.

The power plant supplies about a fifth of Mindanao’s power requirements. An early auction, at a time when supply is tight, could cause

he Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday filed graft charges before the Sandiganbayan against former Metro Railway Transit 3 General Manager Al Vitangcol III and five officials of the Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corp.

(PHL Trams) over the award of an MRT 3 interim maintenance contract without public bidding in 2012. The Ombudsman accused Vitangcol and PHL Trams officials Arturo Soriano, Wilson de Vera, Marlo dela Cruz, Manolo Maralit and Federico Remo of violating Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. “Vitangcol, a high-ranking public officer being then the general manager of MRT 3, head of the negotiating team, and member of the Bids and Awards Committee, committing offense in the discharge of his official functions, conspiring and confederating with directors and incorporators of the PHL Trams, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and criminally intervene and/or take part in the award of the interim maintenance contract for MRT 3 to PHL Trams and Comm Builders and Technology Philippines Corp. (CB&T), in his official capacity as head of the negotiating team and as member of the BAC which recommended said award to PHL Trams and CB&T, and as signatory to the contract in his official capacity MRT 3 general manager, while having a direct or indirect financial or pecuniary interest in PHL Trams, being the nephew-in-law of accused Soriano; with all of the accused fully knowing, yet concealing, such as financial or pecuniary interest of Vitangcol in PHL Trams,” the Ombudsman said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

price shocks. DOE officials explained that the IPPA’s winning bidder might dictate electricity rates, which, in turn, could translate to higher electricity prices for consumers.

Located in Misamis Oriental, the Mindanao Coal plant was constructed in 2006 for a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme that ends in 2031 with Steag SPI. The power plant is 51-percent owned by Steag; 34 percent, AboitizPower; and 15 percent, La Filipina.

PSALM earlier met with the 12 prospective bidders for the Mindanao Coal, namely, Conal Holdings Corp.; FDC Davao del Norte Power Corp.; FirstGen Northern Power Corp.; GDF Suez Energy Philippines Inc.; Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd.; Meralco Powergen Corp.; Nexif Pte. Ltd.; SMC Global Power Holdings Corp.; SPC Power Corp.; Team (Philippines) Energy Corp.; Therma Southern Mindanao Inc. (TSMI); and Vivant Energy Corp.

The agency was supposed to bid the IPPA contract on November 25 and award it to the winning bidder in February next year.

10 firms show up in pre-bid conference for STPP auction

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en firms participated in the prebid conference for the sale of the decommissioned 850-megawatt (MW) Sucat Thermal Power Plant (STPP), the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. said on Tuesday.

The pre-bid conference was held on November 27. The state firm did not reveal the identities of the interested firms.

“PSALM is pleased with the interest shown by investors in this privatization activity, which is among the highly participated disposal initiatives of the corporation. It has attracted 12 prospective bidders, two of which are foreign companies. We are appreciative of the continued enthusiasm of the private sector for the government’s privatization program,” said lawyer Cecilio B. Gellada Jr., PSALM acting vice president and general counsel, in a news statement.

There were 12 firms that earlier submitted letters of interest but only 10 showed up during the pre-bid conference.

PSALM is bidding out that the

structures, plant equipment, auxiliaries and accessories of the decommissioned plant on an “as is, where is” basis. The bidding is set on February 17, 2016.

Gellada assured the participants that the bidding processes would be efficient, fair and transparent.

Located in Sucat, Muntinlupa City, the STPP is an oil-fired power plant that was previously owned by the Manila Electric Co., and was later acquired by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) in November 1978. It consists of Unit 1, which has a rated capacity of 150 MW; Units 2 and 3, each with 200 MW; and Unit 4, which is rated at 300 MW. Formerly known as the Gardner Snyder Thermal Plant, the Sucat facility officially commenced commercial operations on August 1, 1968, after the completion of Unit 1. Units 2 to 4 started operating in 1970, 1971 and 1972, respectively.

In January 2000 Units 1 and 4 were decommissioned and placed under preservation. Units 2 and 3 were shut down in January 2002. Lenie Lectura

briefs slocpi SET TO INVEST IN POWER PROJECT

Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. (SLOCPI) is set to invest in a power project hopefully within the year in line with the government's call for insurance companies to invest in infrastructure projects.

SLOCPI President and CEO Riza Mantaring said they have received approval from their corporate office to have equity investments in a power project but declined to elaborate until all the regulatory requirements have been okayed.

She said this will be their first investment in an infrastructure project in the country, and noted that it is a “great match” given that it is a long-term assets and liabilities.

“It just have to go through the approval processes, but were very happy that we’re finally able to invest power generations,” she said.

Mantaring said their investment, which was approved by their Canada office some three weeks ago, will not be in a renewable-energy project, although she earlier hoped that it would be either wind or solar.

She explained that their investments people are always on the lookout for potential investments especially in recent years due to lower interest rates. PNA

UNISDR APPOINTS LEGARDA AS GLOBAL CHAMPION FOR RESILIENCE

Sen. Loren Legarda has been appointed by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNISDR) as global champion for resilience.

Margareta Wahlstrom, special representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, announced Legarda’s appointment on Monday at the Climate Vulnerable Forum High Level Meeting at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, or COP 21.

The UNISDR recognized Legarda’s unrelenting and vigorous support in advancing disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation nationally and internationally through legislation, policy leadership and advocacy at all levels.

Legarda was a UNISDR Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific since 2008, before the Global Champion for Resilience award was conferred on her. PNA

A6 Wednesday, December 2, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Welcoming the controversial Duterte

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fter placing the nation in a state of suspended animation over a long period of time, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte filed his certificate of candidacy for the presidency before the Commission on Elections a few days ago.

As expected, Duterte’s move elicited two opposing reactions: one, a great relief that our democracy is, after all, capable of producing a worthy candidate for the highest position in the land. Another is an apprehension that we are liable to fall under the leadership of an acknowledged executioner.

Strangely, both reactions spring from the same basis—the no-nonsense, iron-fisted approach of Duterte to criminality and related forms of antisocial activity. Certainly we all want our streets and neighborhoods to be cleaned of drug pushers, kidnappers, guns-for-hire and thieves of all sorts, and the high places in the government to be rid of crooks and plunderers.

The opposition to Duterte has its own merit, but the case for him is strong.

As media people observed, Duterte is self-effacing, even cracking jokes at his expense. Therefore, we should allow for some exaggeration when interpreting his words. Exaggeration or not, however, his record as public servant seems well-appreciated by the people, if the result of a November 11 and 12 Pulse Asia poll is an indication. This poll showed that 34 percent of Metro Manila voters preferred Duterte for president; 25 percent, Poe; 22 percent, Binay; 11 percent, Roxas; and 7 percent, Defensor-Santiago.

Eliminating graft and corruption in the government and criminality in the streets is only one of Duterte’s objectives. In a recent interview, he bared his platform of the government: Streamlining of the government bureaucracy, strengthening of the justice system, building of the country’s infrastructure, intensification and expansion of social services (including education, housing and health) with special attention to the elderly, women, children, and indigenous peoples, tax reform, the building of disaster-resilient communities, the raising of living standards for all and, lastly, the shifting of our current unitary system to the federal form of government.

Duterte also said that he will embark on a “truth only” campaign—no black propaganda, focusing only on valid problems and never on speculative or offensive issues. If he does that, Duterte will radically raise the quality of politics in this country, steering it away from dirty tricks and character assassination toward the intelligent discussion of the pressing economic and social issues that confront our nation.

Duterte also revealed that he will look for money to finance his campaign, but he does not want to be compromised into any “debt of gratitude” to anyone.

This candor is one of the elements of character that people find admirable in Duterte, separating him from the breed of prevaricating politicians who routinely deny this accommodation and lie through their teeth. We must focus on action rather than words in evaluating Duterte. As the old poem says: “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

SSS pensioners to receive 13th-month pension Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security

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ere’s happy news to our pensioners! Close to 2 million Social Security System (SSS) pensioners will receive their 13th-month pension along with their December pension within the month. This is part of the annual tradition began in 1988 as the pension fund’s way of enhancing its pensioners’ benefits.

The 13th-month pension of retirees and survivor pensioners is equal to the amount of their regular monthly pensions, while it excludes the carer’s allowance for disability pensioners.

Children receiving dependent’s pensions are also entitled to the 13th-month pension. Partial disability pensioners should have

received a full year’s pension for them to be entitled to the extra month pension.

SSS members or their beneficiaries can withdraw their December and 13th-month pensions on a schedule based on the members’ contingency dates for retirement, disability or death. Based on experience, however, most banks allow

pensioner-depositors to withdraw their benefits earlier than their contingency dates to enable them to enjoy the Christmas season.

Retirement pensioners who are, at the same time, death beneficiaries of their deceased spouses, who were members of the SSS, are entitled to separate 13th-month pensions under the two benefits.

What about those pensioners who availed themselves of the first 18 months advance pension and the three months advance pension for calamity victims, are they still entitled to the 13th-month pension?

This is a question that pensioners often ask.

The answer is yes, they are entitled to the 13th-month pension.

Thus, they can expect to have this amount deposited in their account within the month.

For those pensioners who are still receiving their pensions in

checks, they can expect to receive their checks within the month of December.

Regardless of the date of settlement of a retirement, death or total disability claim, the pensioner is entitled to a full 13th-month pension when the month of December comes along.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and hopefully this news will bring some good cheer to our pensioners!

For more information about the Social Security System (SSS) and its programs, call its 24-hour call center at (632) 920-6446 to 55, Monday to Friday, or send an e-mail to member_ relations@sss.gov.ph.

Susie G. Bugante is the vice president for public affairs and special events of the SSS. Send comments about this column to susiebugante.bmirror@ gmail.com.

Why QE isn’t the answer for China

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By Christopher Balding | Bloomberg View

he first of the month means one thing in China: more gloomy numbers. On Tuesday the official purchasing managers’ index fell to its weakest level in three years. If analysts aren’t panicking, that’s partly because the benchmark lending rate still stands at 4.35 percent. The central bank has plenty of room to juice the economy with rate cuts, as its counterparts in the US, Japan and Europe have done for years.

That assumption, however, may be flawed. The People’s Bank of China has already slashed rates six times in a year, without producing any uptick in growth. To the contrary, deflationary pressures remain intense: Factory-gate prices have declined for four years running, falling 6 percent annually. Further easing might actually make the problem worse, not better.

This flies in the face of postcrisis orthodoxy. Since 2009 as inflation rates have converged to zero and growth slowed across the world, central bankers have almost uniformly sought to stimulate their economies using various loose-money policies.

The Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and European Central Bank have all lowered interest rates and made more credit available in hopes of spurring investment and demand.

Though inflation remains subdued in the major developed economies, the underlying logic behind quantitative easing hasn’t been seriously questioned. The consensus is that without these radical interventions, the world’s biggest economies would be in even worse shape than they are.

China is in a category of its own, however. Its reaction to the financial crisis—much praised at the time—was to launch a credit-fueled investment-and-construction binge. Using borrowed capital to build roads, airports, factories and

homes at a frenzied pace has created massive overcapacity throughout the economy. To take just one example, China will install around 14 gigawatts of solar panels in 2015.

Yet, domestic panel-manufacturing capacity dwarfs this number: According to the Earth Policy Institute, in 2014 Chinese manufacturers produced 34.5 gigawatts of solar panels. The world as a whole only installed 38.7 gigawatts that year.

In other words, Chinese manufacturers alone could meet nearly 90 percent of global demand.

This yawning gap between capacity and demand is what’s driving the precipitous fall in prices. A recent Macquarie report found that the Chinese steel industry is losing around 200 yuan ($31) per ton because its mills are churning out too much steel. One might think manufacturers would scale back production to bring things into balance.

But as Macquarie notes, “mills are concerned about losing market share and having to spend fresh capital to resume operation if they stop producing now.” At the same time, Chinese “banks have been pushing mills to stay in the market so they don’t have to admit large bad loans.” So instead, companies continually slash prices in an attempt to survive and generate cash flow to fight another day.

In this environment, further

monetary easing will likely only drive down prices further. This happens in two ways. First, cheap loans encourage companies to build more capacity, in the belief that there’s an implicit government guarantee attached to investment approval and continued growth means becoming too big to fail. For instance, Chinese electricity demand is only growing about 1 percent annually and existing power plants are operating at less than 55 percent of their capacity. Yet, China’s spending another $74 billion to increase capacity at its coal-fired electrical plants by 15 percent. That doesn’t bode well for prices.

Second, lower rates keep alive zombie companies that should by rights be dead. Under pressure from the government to forestall defaults and possible layoffs, state banks continually extend new lending as a lifeline. Hua Chung Securities estimates that in 2015, half of all new loans will go toward paying interest on existing loans. This preserves surplus capacity in the market and encourages companies to continue to

produce at uneconomic costs.

Credit in China is still growing about twice as fast as nominal GDP, while fixed-asset investment is registering double-digit growth. What the country needs is precisely the opposite. Weak firms with large debts need to be liquidated in order to squeeze overcapacity out of the system. The process needs to be managed carefully, with layoffs minimized through attrition as far as possible (which should be possible in a rapidly graying society) and capital dedicated to ensure banks stay healthy. Distressed-asset managers such as Cinda can be useful sources of expertise in unwinding nonperforming loans.

This challenge cuts to the heart of the Chinese Communist Party’s claim on power. Leaders can’t allow rapidly rising unemployment or miss growth targets without citizens and investors questioning their competence. Unfortunately, the alternative—prolonged deflation and a steady rise in debt and soured loans —is worse.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

A7

An infrastructure bond Most significant event of the 21st century to bridge Europe’s divide

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Teddy Locsin Jr.

By Mark Gilbert | Bloomberg View

ddressing a conference in Athens on Monday, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos was blunt: Europe, he says, “needs to show solidarity with its members.”

Richer countries able to borrow what is effectively free longterm money must use that power, he argued, to help their less fortunate peers:

Northern countries could increase their investments. Given interest rates in the Netherlands and Germany, there are no investments with a clear net positive value currently. This would be most helpful for countries in the south.

He’s right. Even the UK, arguably the poster child for austerity, is spending billions on infrastructure, including the Crossrail railway project, Europe’s biggest construction scheme, as well as the High Speed Two railway plan to improve links between London and the north of England.

And European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s investment plan is an acknowledgment that the real economy needs some public sector help at this juncture.

As Jean-Paul Michel argued here recently, euro members have used the breathing space provided by quantitative easing (QE) to increase social spending rather than strengthen their economies, with France and Italy notable in this regard. The growing gap has left the euro project in desperate need of cement to prove that it is more than one big trade agreement wrapped around a fixed exchangerate regime.

Other projects are foundering too. Efforts to build a cross-border banking union have stalled over Germany’s opposition to a banking deposit scheme, which Berlin fears will lead to rich countries underwriting the banking mishaps of poorer neighbors. The Schengen guarantee of free movement of people is crumbling under the weight of the worsening refugee crisis, with many already writing its obituary (notwithstanding its undoubted popularity among European Union voters). What’s needed is a grand reaffirmation of solidarity and ambition.

One way to achieve this is by taking advantage of record-low borrowing costs to issue common bonds, using the cash to fund an infrastructure investment program. A bloc-wide fundraising program specifically designe d to create jobs by investing in infrastructure—with the usual caveats about how bad governments can be at managing such projects—could accomplish several goals simultaneously. It’s an opportunity to assert the bloc’s wider ambitions to be a proper union of nations; at the same time it helps weaker members in their hour of economic need.

If Germany can overcome its distaste for common bonds—in

Efforts to build a cross-border banking union have stalled over Germany’s opposition to a banking deposit scheme, which Berlin fears will lead to rich countries underwriting the banking mishaps of poorer neighbors. The Schengen guarantee of free movement of people is crumbling under the weight of the worsening refugee crisis, with many already writing its obituary. What’s needed is a grand reaffirmation of solidarity and ambition. which euro nations team up to borrow money at the cheapest interest rates the world has ever seen—the bloc can display unity and add some fiscal firepower to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary efforts to resuscitate growth and avert deflation using quantitative easing.

QE seems to have helped head off a collapse in the euro-zone economies by delivering ultra-low borrowing costs. And as the finance minister of a euro nation told me in an off-the-record briefing earlier this year: “QE has an element of mutualization; that helps to reinforce confidence in the euro system as a whole.” But QE is already running out of firepower, which is why the bulk of respondents in a Bloomberg survey expect the ECB to expand the program when it meets this week.

Moreover, the benefits of QE are not evenly distributed. Francisco Koutentakis, the general secretary for fiscal policy at the Greek ministry of finance, says the low interest rates the ECB is using to boost growth are of no use to Greece, which pays about 8 percent to borrow 10-year money compared to Germany’s funding cost of less than half a percent.

“We have to gain access to this extreme monetary easing, to these low interest rates,” he told the conference in Athens. That won’t happen while Greece is locked out of the public bond markets. But there’s a way around that.

A common bond program for infrastructure investment would redistribute more of the benefits of lower rates to the poorer members.

It would create a new class of bonds for the ECB to buy in its expanded program. It would signal a muchneeded fiscal addition to the central bank’s efforts. And, perhaps, most important, it would advertise to the world that the euro members are serious about sticking together.

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Free fire

IGHT before Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the terrorist attack on Paris that erased it from the headlines of world news, the most significant event of the 21st century happened, bar none. Aung San Suu Kyi won the elections in Burma. Her National League for Democracy won 59 percent of the popular vote and captured 81 percent of the seats in parliament.

Her proxy presidential candidate won (she was still disqualified to run for president). The only other party today is the Army with guaranteed seats in parliament. Therefore, Suu Kyi won 100 percent of the popular vote with a gun to her head.

She ran before just out of solitary confinement and while under house arrest—and won.

She also ran for president, but was disqualified because her two British children carry British passports.

She is the daughter of Burma’s Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Heneral Luna and presidents Aguinaldo, Quezon, Osmeña and Roxas, all rolled up into one at the time he was assassinated.

She then lived abroad, studied philosophy at Oxford (where it is a hard and highly technical discipline), and married a handsome Oxford don.

He died of cancer during her captivity. She had returned to Burma to contest its first democratic election following the death of its longtime strongman who had turned Burma into a hermit kingdom—but the

Army stole the result. (This could have happened here, if the Reform the Armed Forces movement had succeeded.)

She defied the Army in the daytime and, when she had access to a piano, she played Bach at night—kinda like Condoleeza Rice in that her mind and talents are genuinely powerful.

She wrote for my newspaper, but I “fired” her when her columns started coming in late. This publisher did not brook late submissions. Later I learned that her courier was caught trying to sneak them out to the world.

To make up for losing her column in my newspaper, she got—small consolation—the Nobel Peace Prize and the title by which she is known throughout Burma—“The Lady.”

That title is now denied all other

You’re the Fed chairman. What would you do?

By Barry Ritholtz Bloomberg View

F

or this morning’s column, I want you to engage in a little thought experiment. Based on the e-mails tha readers have sent, many of you figure the December 15 and 16 Federal Open Market Committee meeting is a no-brainer and that the central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate. Well, let’s put that thesis to the test. To do so, I am making you, dear reader, the chairman of the Federal Reserve (the Fed). The setup for our barely hypothetical scenario is as follows: Imagine (it’s not that hard to do!) that a huge financial crisis and economic collapse has occurred.

The historical response to a crisis like this has been a combination of fiscal and monetary stimulus to

replace the decline in household and private-sector demand. But this time, political gridlock and ideological foolishness made the usual fiscal response impossible. That left monetary policy—mostly asset purchases via quantitative easing (QE) and zero interest rates—as the sole post-credit-crisis stimulus.

The economy has rebounded, albeit slowly. Gains in GDP and employment have been achieved in the seven years since the crisis; GDP is rising at about 2.5 percent a year, while unemployment is down to 5 percent from a high of 10 percent.

Employment levels have finally returned to precrisis levels.

However, it remains a mediocre, lumpy recovery. Wages have been little changed for a decade; there are high levels of underemployed and discouraged workers. Millions

have left the labor force, while millions more have gone on disability.

Demographics should mean that baby boomers are retiring en masse, but instead, the fastest growing age cohort for employment is 55 and older.

If that sounds bad, the rest of the world is worse. Japan has copied the US in implementing a huge QE program, with mixed success. It keeps slipping in and out of recession, leaving observers to wonder what it would look like without the stimulus.

Europe has been dragged down by its southern nations, the unending Greek debacle and lots of crisis-related debt. The recent terror attacks don’t do much to instill public confidence that leadership institutions have a grip on things.

China, the world ’s second-

biggest economy, has its own problems. Amid rampant malinvestment in housing and infrastructure, China had a huge stock-market bubble.

All of those assets are undergoing a significant market repricing. The Shanghai index has tumbled more than 30 percent since June; the country’s annual growth rate, which once approached 15 percent back in 2007, is now running at less than 7 percent.

All of these global complications have led the International Monetary Fund to take the unprecedented step of begging the Fed to leave rates unchanged.

Let’s make the game even more interesting.

The most recent employment gain was 271,000—the most this year—and you have one more monthly jobs release before your

women in the world.

She was alternately encouraged and discouraged by friends of democracy abroad (the phrase comes from Plutarch and is a convenient shorthand).

From one side of its mouth, America egged her to defy the generals who were leaning toward China, offering rising China a warm water port in the Bay of Bengal. From the other side of its mouth, America advised her to play along with the generals because defiance wasn’t working and her submission might get US sanctions lifted against American investment in Burma. Singapore, Thailand and France (with Total) were raping Burma’s natural resources. Out of the middle of its mouth, America spoke through its human-rights activists and castigated her for not siding with the oppressed ethnic minorities that are out to split apart Burma into as many countries as they number and all of which will be in the opium trade.

She continued to defy the military and yet kept talking to it. And the Army listened. She was the daughter of the Father of the Army.

The Catholic theologian Guardini was right in explaining the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospels as the tedious but indispensable genetic background of greatness because pedigree is destiny.

The result of the election that was erased from the news by the attack on Paris was that Suu Kyi swept the Burmese elections where she projected herself as running for the presidency she could not legally hold under the Army-imposed

constitution. She explained that, anyway, she would be the real president over the elected one, calling the shots from the exalted height where the people’s esteem—and the Army’s respect—had placed her.

Suu Kyi won like none before her, against odds only Mandela had faced. She had neither useful friends nor much steady sympathy from abroad. The foreign media could not help. Foreign journalists were not banned from covering events in Burma, and local ones weren’t allowed to publish. Foreign journalists were hunted down from house to house and chased across rooftops, my American media friends from the 1986 People Power Revolution said.

“Hey, man, Burmese people power is not a party,” they told me. Meaning ours was, which is true.

From the land of people power, Suu Kyi got no support at all except from former Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo over the Department of Foreign Affairs objection and my editor Chuchay Fernandez from the strength of her convictions. If anybody else comes forward to claim credit, I will slap her. The generals accepted Suu Kyi’s victory and prepared to turn over the state to a democratically elected government.

There as here, it had to be a woman to do it—and why? Because when a woman sets her mind to do the right thing, it is the only thing on her mind.

When a man does it, he also thinks of how he can turn the greater good he purportedly seeks to his even better personal advantage.

final Fed meeting of the year. There are signs that the labor market is beginning to heat up, and even some indications that wages are on the verge of increasing. But the dollar remains at highs not seen in more than a decade, making US exports less competitive, and a rate increase might add to the currency’s strength. On top of that, commodity prices have been collapsing and inflation is nowhere to be found.

Hmm, things are beginning to seem a bit more complex than they did at first blush.

Also consider that corporate profits are beginning to sag. Oh, and 2016 is a presidential election year, and your decision might be seen through the lens of partisan politics.

So, as Fed chief, how do you even frame the issues up for debate? n Should we still be on the

emergency footing implied by zero interest rates or is it time to start normalizing rates? n Do we wait for unemployment to fall more at the risk of a rise in inflation? n Is it appropriate to maintain an accommodative rate environment in a weak global economy? n Do we even consider the global exigencies or stay strictly within the Fed’s dual mandate of stable prices and maximum employment?

Given all of the above, how significant is this Friday’s employment situation report? Does it really matter if nonfarm payrolls increase by 150,000 or 250,000? Unless the number is some shocking outlier, is it anything more than noise?

OK, time is up: What are you going to do?

Not as easy as you think it is, is it?

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Wednesday, December 2, 2015

US Marine found guilty of killing transgender

A

Philippine court on Tuesday convicted a US Marine of killing a Filipino last year after he discovered she was a transgender woman in a hotel in the Philippines while he was on a break after participating in joint military exercises in the country.

Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton was convicted of homicide by first strangling Jennifer Laude and then dunking her head into a toilet bowl in the hotel they had checked into after meeting in a disco bar in Olongapo City, northwest of Manila. He was sentenced to 6 to 12 years in jail, with time already spent in detention credited, court clerk Gerry Gruspe said.

As of press time on Tuesday, Philippine police officials have yet to take custody of Pemberton In the decision, Regional Trial Court Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde ordered Pemberton jailed at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

There were attempts to question the decision on where Pemberton should be commit-

ted using the provisions of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) signed in 1998 by the US and the Philippines.

Laude’s mother, Julita, said that while she was happy the verdict detailed everything that had transpired, she was not pleased with the jail term because she had hoped Pemberton would be found guilty of murder, a more serious crime than homicide.

“But the important thing is he will be jailed,” she said, crying. “My son’s life is not wasted.”

Outside the courthouse, a small number of left-wing activists rejoiced but warned that they would closely watch to ensure Pemberton is detained in a Philippine jail, as the judge ordered.

The October 11, 2014, killing sparked

anger in the Philippines and reignited calls by left-wing groups and nationalists for an end to America’s military presence in the country at a time when the US is reasserting its dominance in Asia and Manila has turned to Washington for support, amid an escalating territorial dispute with China.

Pemberton, an anti-tank missile operator from New Bedford, Massachusetts, was one of thousands of American and Philippine military personnel who participated in a joint exercise last year. He and a group of other Marines were on leave after the exercise and met Laude and her friends at a bar in Olongapo, a city known for its nightlife located outside Subic Bay, a former US naval base. At least two witnesses testified that Laude was a sex worker.

The case also revived a debate over which government should have custody of US military personnel who run afoul of local laws under a VFA. The agreement, which allows US forces to conduct military exercises in the Philippines, says that the Philippines can prosecute American service members, but that the US has custody over them “from the commission of the offense until completion of all judicial proceedings.”

However, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that convicted US personnel must serve their sentences in the Philippines. AP

PLDT. . .

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Continued from A1

“Worse, he made these statements despite being fully aware of the pendency of the applications of Smart Communications Inc. and Smart Broadband Inc. before the commission en banc since 2008 for an equitable allocation of the 700-MHz radio frequency band for mobile telecommunication use,” the PLDT official said. “Director Cabarios, therefore, prejudged the merits of these applications and preempted the decision of the commission en banc on these matters in clear and wanton disregard of the applicable rules and procedures of the commission.”

For his part, Cabarios clarified that his statements were made, not on a personal account, but on behalf of the telecommunications regulator.

“I was just replying to the media’s questions, and all of my answers are based on facts. I’m not speaking on personal grounds, I am speaking on behalf of the commission,” he said. “I was given the go signal to answer questions.”

Globe Telecom Inc., seems to share a different view on the matter, with a spokesman saying that the legal aspects of the reallocation of the frequency band shall only be discussed within the company’s leadership “Our position is clear: We will continue to pursue the 700-MHz band, and we will continue to urge the government to harmonize the frequency,” Globe Spokesman Yolanda C. Crisanto said in a phone interview. The case stemmed from reports on the director’s comments on the 700-MHz issue raised earlier by PLDT and Globe. In a November 10 interview with the BusinessMirror, Cabarios said the process of reallocating the frequencies held by San Miguel would be too long a procedure, and would require the filing of a case for a recall.

Espinosa, however, took this as a negative, saying that the comments of Cabarios “would deny the government the opportunity and ability to auction this valuable radio frequency band and raise muchneeded government revenues as has been done in many countries including Australia.”

The applications of Smart, he said, have become

even more urgent in light of the more recent harmonization initiatives and actions taken by the Asia Pacific Telecommunity and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to which the Philippines are active members, for the repurposing of the 700-MHz radio frequency band from broadcast use to international mobile telecommunication use.

In the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) held in Geneva last week, the ITU formally moved to allocate the 700-MHz band—specifically 694 to 790 MHz to the global mobile industry.

ITU officials specifically stated that this move was taken to help bridge the digital divide, pointing out that the long range of radio over the 700-MHz band will be especially beneficial for underserved, rural areas.

“It goes a long way in enabling bridging of the digital divide, while fully protecting the other services currently operated in the band,”ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao was quoted as saying.

Telecommunications companies in the Philippines are gunning to win the right to operate the 700-MHz frequency band, as it has better coverage and farther reach. The catch, however, is that it has no capacity.

Currently, San Miguel holds the right to operate the whole band: with Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc. holding 80 MHz; High Frequency Telecommunications with 10 MHz; and New Century Telecommunications 10 MHz. San Miguel Group also operates spectrums under the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, and 1,800 MHz bands.

The PLDT Group has the right to operate the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz bands.

Globe, on the other hand, has rights to the 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz bands.

Telstra Corp. Ltd. is expected to debut in Manila in 2016, through San Miguel’s Bell Telecommunications Philippines Inc. It plans to invest roughly $1 billion in a wireless joint venture with the diversified conglomerate. San Miguel is expected to hold 60 percent of the said company—requiring it to invest as much as $1.5 billion—while the remainder will be held by the Australian telecommunications giant.