BusinessMirror March 11, 2016

AD SUMMIT PILIPINAS 2016 Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of the Philippines (4As) Chairman Norman Agatep (right) and Ad Summit Pilipinas 2016 Chairman Alex Syfu (sixth from left) formally open Ad Summit Pilipinas 2016, the country’s largest advertising festival. Themed “Come Out and Play,” the event gathers the best minds in advertising, creatives and marketing, inspiring all to tap into their creative spirit through the freedom of play. The summit runs from March 9 to 12 at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center, Subic Bay Freeport Zone. Also in attendance are Ad Summit Pilipinas committee members (from left) Jun Nicdao, Randy Aquino, Aids Tecson, Russel Molina, Vanne Tomada, Hermie de Leon, Angel Guerrero, Mio Chongson, Meldy Warren and Madonna Tarrayo.

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LIFE

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‘MODERN LUXURY’ IN ALL-NEW BMW 7 SERIES BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Friday, March 11, 2016

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‘Modern luxury’ in all-new BMW 7 Series

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HE all-new BMW 7 Series, easily a billionaire’s toy car but hardly a millionaire’s fancy for its gaudy price, was launched recently in an amazingly elegant black motif at the plush Shangri-La Hotel Grand Ballroom at The Fort in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.

This prime bimmer model that’s been very much around for four decades now has always been touted as the car not for the rich but, rather, for the extremely rich. If you have it, you are made—not to mention you could be in league with men owning pricey initials, such as HS, JG, LT, AT, ER, GT or RSA maybe. Billionaires all.

Even the evening air in this night of BMW nights was wrapped in black. Men in black. Women in black.

Everybody, almost, in black.

It was charcoal black all over, that the only thing lacking to make it an apt all-black party was “Black Is Black,” the jumpy hit of not-too-long-ago, as background music while Maricar C. Parco, the ravishingly beautiful president of Asian Carmakers Corp., what with all the stunning splendor of her lusciously flowing black gown, was delivering her much-applauded welcome remarks.

I heard someone say the all-new BMW 7 Series is way beyond his wallet’s reach, adding: “Even if I have P20 million in the bank?”

“Keep it there,” said another. “Restrain yourself, my dear.” Millionaires today are a dime a dozen. Be quiet.

You are a mere millionaire, and billionaires will simply sneer at you.

Now, it’s different, of course, if your millions have ballooned to, say, a hundred. Yes, I can grant you that: buy one BMW 7. Just one, OK? Don’t try to be cute. Greedy.

Get only the first BMW 7 variant: 740. It costs only P8.49 million. You should know where you belong. Look, for billionaires like LT, that’d be perfect for use of his Forbes Park maid to buy grocery items.

What, you also wish to buy the other variant, 750? You say, you have P12.49 million more to spare for it?

OK, go, get it then. What is P20.98 million when ranged against your P100 million? Did I not hear that lately, you’ve been making a killing in your business, whatever that is?

Global studious involved

Communicating with its driver

MOTORING

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FROM Stephan Durach, the electrical engineer who is in charge of all communications and input systems in the AllNew BMW 7 Series: “Never before has a BMW been capable of communicating with its driver in such a variety of ways and so individually. Voice control. A tough display and a BMW gesture control now complement a perfected BMW i-Drive system. The i-Drive is the best system ever as it ensure minimal distraction while driving, even as a touch screen is sometimes more practical and intuitive, such as when moving or enlarging a map, for example, or selecting a point on it. For certain gestures, we point a finger to accept a phone call or make a wiping motion to reject it.

Besides being a very direct, swift and effortless method, it’s also really fun to control functions in this way.”

NEGLIGENCE, DILIGENCE

NEGLIGENCE,

week, but she hadn’t read that Wada e-mail and didn’t know the drug had been moved to the banned list because of its potential use as a performance-enhancing substance.

Sharapova was provisionally suspended pending an investigation by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which could ban her up to four years. And it must ban her for at least a year or two in order to maintain credibility.

But that wouldn’t make amends to Bencic or others who played Sharapova while the 28-year-old Russian was cheating, even if Sharapova did it unknowingly and for the general health reasons she cited and not to artificially boost her endurance.

Bencic, as self-possessed as she is talented, took the high road when asked about that match on Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. “I don’t want to comment on that. I lost a match, and I don’t think it made any difference,” said Bencic, who is seeded seventh here.

But Bencic, like many players who attended a media roundtable event on Wednesday, said she’s diligent about checking the status of everything she

Los Angeles Times

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NDIAN WELLS, California—Belinda Bencic opened the e-mail she received in late December from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), aware that it contained the annual updates of banned substances and eager to remain current on the subject. “We all got a new e-mail,” said the Swiss teenager, who is ranked No. 7 in the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) rankings.

Maria Sharapova got the same e-mail, but didn’t click on a crucial link to a list of substances that had been classified—or reclassified—as banned starting January 1 of this year.

A few weeks later, Bencic and Sharapova met in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion and international endorsement darling, defeated Bencic, 7-5, 7-5. After a straight-sets loss to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals two days later, on January 26, Sharapova tested positive for the drug meldonium. She had used it for 10 years, she said during a news conference this

OSCOW—Sabotage is to blame for a string of recent failed doping tests for meldonium in Russia, the country’s skating federation said on Wednesday.

At least three Russian speedskaters have tested positive for meldonium, the same medicine found in Maria Sharapova’s sample at the Australian Open.

“In our specific case, there is a very high probability, and we will prove it, that the banned substance was planted on three athletes deliberately,” skating federation President Alexei Kravtsov said. “According to our information, it was done by their teammates.”

Kravtsov did not name any suspects or say how the substance might have been given to them. He said the federation had tried to persuade the police to investigate, but had been turned down on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that a crime had been committed.

Olympic short-track skating champion Semyon Yelistratov and reigning world sprint champion Pavel Kulizhnikov have failed doping tests for meldonium. Kravtsov later told Russian agency R-Sport that meldonium had also been found in a sample given by short-track skater Ekaterina Konstantinova.

Kravtsov said the federation had hired British lawyers to prove their innocence.

In separate cases, former European ice-dancing champion Ekaterina Bobrova, volleyball player Alexander Markin and cyclist Eduard Vorganov are among Russian athletes who have reportedly tested positive for meldonium since it was banned on January 1.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine reported on Wednesday that up to 490 athletes at the 2015 European Games in Baku were taking meldonium, when it was still legal.

Also, Olympic wrestling silver medalist Davit Modzmanashvili of Georgia has admitted to using meldonium and faces a possible life ban for a second doping violation.

Vakhtang Blagidze, a Georgia national wrestling team coach, said on Wednesday that Modzmanashvili tested positive for the drug last month. The federation said another five members of the team tested positive for meldonium, but their names have not been released because they deny the charge.

Modzmanashvili won the men’s 120-kilogram silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2012 Olympics. He also won world championship bronze in 2011.

The federation said none of the six were confirmed to compete at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August, but that qualification was still possible. AP

RUSSIAN SKATERS HUNT SABOTEURS

ingests. “Even when you’re a little bit sick and take drops against cough, I always check what is inside there and if it’s not permitted,” she said.

Some players said they trust a doctor or other member of their support team to keep up with what’s allowed and what’s not. It’s understandable if Sharapova didn’t do that herself—“It’s not easy for us to understand all those weird names,” said Gabine Muguruza—but someone who has Sharapova’s interests at heart should have done that for her. “Every time I’ve got to take something, because it’s very dangerous obviously and the line is very thin, I triple-check with my team to make sure I can take it,” Muguruza said.

Agnieszka Radwanska said she heard about Sharapova’s failed test while in

the locker room preparing for this tournament, in which she’s seeded third behind Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber. “A very sad day for tennis, that’s for sure,” said Radwanska, who is so wary of violating the drug policy that she’s reluctant to take anything when she’s ill. “I’m scared, because I know every pill can have something in it,” she said. “When I’m sick, I’m just taking aspirin because I’m always afraid that there’s going to be something else in it.”

All of the players at Wednesday’s session said they hadn’t heard of meldonium, which is not approved for use in the United States, and all expressed surprise Sharapova had violated the sport’s drug policy.

“It’s a terrible thing for the world of sport in general, for our sport, especially.

I think it’s terrible news because the sport must be clean and must look clean,” said 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, who is seeded fourth in this event.

“The good news about all of this is we have a good antidoping program.”

He said he doesn’t read the Wada e-mails but is confident his doctor, who’s also the doctor for the Spanish tennis

federation, will monitor those communications for him.

Nadal also said he informs his doctor about everything he ingests.

But he seemed to give the benefit of the doubt to Sharapova, who accepted responsibility for not checking on the drug’s new status.

“It’s difficult to imagine that something like this can happen, but everybody can have mistakes,” Nadal said. “I want to believe that, for sure, it’s a mistake for Maria. She didn’t want to do it. But it’s obvious that there was negligence. The rules are like this. It’s fair.

Now she must pay for it.”

Sadly, her opponents might have paid for it, too.

PLAYERS REACT ON SHARAPOVA’S FAILED DRUG TEST

MARIA SHARAPOVA’S failed drug test means only one thing—there’s negligence on the tennis’s star team. AP

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| FRIDAY, MAR ARCH CH 11, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

BusinessMirror

Sports F

ORMER World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) President Dick Pound took both the Russian track-and-field federation and embattled tennis player Maria Sharapova to task at an antidoping summit in London on Wednesday.

Pound, who headed up an 11-month independent Wada investigation into the AllRussia Athletic Federation (ARAF), told those at the event that Russia is simply “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” in the aftermath of the report that showed state-sponsored doping and led to a provisional ban of ARAF by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

“My guess is Russia may not make it back for Rio. The IAAF and Wada are not going to risk their reputations by rolling over and playing dead,” Pound said at an anti-doping conference.

As for Sharapova, Pound said she “absolutely deserves to be banned.” Sharapova announced on Monday that she tested positive for meldonium, a Latvian drug that is used to treat ischemia, a lack of blood flow to an organ, and neurodegenerative disorders. The drug, which can increase oxygen uptake and boost endurance, was put on Wada’s prohibited list on January 1.

Sharapova said a doctor had prescribed the drug to her and she had taken it for a decade to treat a magnesium deficiency. Sharapova has been banned provisionally and could see a suspension of up to four years for the violation.

“In the case of Maria Sharapova, you’re running a $30-million operation knowing that only exists if she remains eligible to compete,” Pound said. “How stupid can you be? What was she thinking of and her advisors?

“If you’re taking medicine, surely you or someone else around you checks if it’s on the list. It’s not that difficult for one of her medical team to look and go ‘this is a problem.’”

Sharapova has lost several sponsors in recent days, including Nike, TAG Heuer and Porsche. MCT

Ex-Wada prexy: Masha ‘absolutely deserves the ban’ WORLD champion Russian speedskater Pavel Kulizhnikov has failed a drug test for meldonium, the same substance found in tennis star’s Maria Sharapova’s sample at the Australian Open. AP

DILIGENCE

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B C U. O

$4.2B

The weakness in export earnings growth is evident in the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, which showed receipts declining by 3.9 percent to $4.2 billion in January Export 2016, from $4.4 billion a year ago. receipts in This is the slowest growth in export earnings since October 2015, January when exports contracted 10.8 percent.

Throughout 2015, revenues from exports posted declines, except in March, when receipts grew 2.1 percent.

“The year 2016 is expected to be a challenging one for the export sector, as the global economy faces sluggish recovery and uneven growth,” Economic Planning Secretary and Neda

ANNUAL AWARDS Trade Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. (second from left) shakes hands with D. Arnold A. Cabangon, Fortune Life president, after his keynote speech at the Fortune Life Annual Awards 2016 held at Citystate Tower Hotel in Manila. Also in the photo are Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc (third from left) and Evelyn T. Carada, Fortune Life EVP and general manager. ROY DOMINGO

$1-B plot to rob Fed accounts leads to at least 2 local casinos A

SCHEME to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladeshi bank accounts at the US Federal Reserve (the Fed), an unidentified Chinese-Filipino businessman linked to casinos in Manila and a lax antimoney-laundering regime.

These are just some of the intriguing elements in a murky story shaping up to be one of the biggest documented cases of potential money laundering in the Philippines. It risks setting back the Southeast Asian nation’s efforts to

stamp out the use of the country to clean cash, and tarnishing the legacy of President Aquino as elections loom in May. The case highlights the threat to any institution—government or pr iv ate—f rom i nc rea si ng ly sophisticated cr imina ls intent on thieving from unsuspecting and unprepared victims through cyberattacks, including stealing bank codes.

Bangladesh is the 20th mostcyber-attacked country, according to

a real-time cyberthreat map developed by Kaspersky Lab, an international software-security company.

“Even as banks continue to harden their defenses against such sabotage, hackers, too, have upped their game to breach servers by utilizing both technical skills and rogue elements within the financial institutions,” said Sameer Patil, an associate fellow at Gateway House in Mumbai who specializes in terrorism and national security.

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Ayala Corp. income jumps 20 percent in 2015

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

Global economic gloom to cut export earnings in 2016–Neda

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Genuinely luxurious

NOW, what does the 7 Series mean to you? Better that we listen to the experts, like Ian Robertson, BMW’s sales guru.

“It’s our flagship, our technology leader, our innovations platform. It is also genuinely luxurious and comfortable while remaining a real driver’s car. Put simply, it sets the new benchmark. Importantly for the company, this is the car that offers the very latest leading-edge technology with features that, overtime, will be available throughout the BMW range.”

FROM Adrian Van Hooydonk, senior vice president of BMW Group Design: “Designing a car is always a bit like going on a journey.

To start with, we got all our global studious in Munich, Shanghai and Los Angeles involved. We also sent our designers to places we considered important sources of inspiration for the BMW 7 Series—such as Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Seattle. Our aim was to develop and even better our understanding of what constitutes modern luxury. Some customers place more importance on elegance, others on sportiness, depending on taste and cultural background. That’s why we wanted our designers to experience and understand these differences and to view the car in context.”

Friday, March 11, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 155

HE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said on Thursday it expects the country’s export earnings to remain low this year, on the back of weak regional and global demand.

TO POST OR NOT TO POST

Motoring

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INSIDE

Henry Ford Awards Best Motoring Section 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 2011 Hall of Fame

A broader look at today’s business

YALA Corp. said on Thursday that its net income expanded 20 percent to P22.3 billion in 2015, from the previous year’s P18.61 billion, beating its target a year earlier than planned.

The company, however, said it will spend less this year at the group level, or including its units, to P174 billion, from last year’s P187 billion

in capital expenditures. The spending will be mainly for property development and telecom upgrade. At the parent level, meanwhile, it promised to spend P22.4 billion in capital expenditures, mainly on its pipeline of power-generation projects.

The company said its income was higher last year as a result of the solid performance of its re-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 46.9400

al-estate and telecommunications businesses, lifted by contributions from its power-generation unit.

Excluding capital gains, primarily from the partial sale of AC Energy’s stake in North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. in 2015 and from the divestment of Stream Global Services in the previous year, Ayala’s net earnings actually grew 24 per-

cent year-on-year. Equity-earnings contribution from Ayala’s units reached P28 billion, a 13-percent increase from the previous year.

At the group level, Ayala’s total consolidated revenues, which include the combined revenues of its subsidiaries and its share in earnings from associates, surpassed the

VISITOR ARRIVALS BREACHED HALFAMILLION MARK IN JAN B M. S F. A

Special to the BM

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HE country’s tourism sector is off to a rousing start in 2016, with visitor arrivals reaching an “unprecedented 542,258 visitors” in January—the first time said month’s arrivals hit the 500,000 mark.

Data from the Department of Tour ism (DOT) show January 2016 visitors grew by some 13.2 percent, from the 479,149 arrivals recorded in the same month in 2015. However, visitor receipts dipped by some 2.5 percent to P21.94 billion in January 2016, versus P22.5 billion in January 2015.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Tourism Assistant Secretary for Tourism Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation Arturo Boncato Jr. said: “We are experiencing a great start in tourism arrivals and receipts

in 2016 that set a new record for January. This month’s growth continues the doubledigit growth trend for the past several years, with all market arrivals showing an increase.”

He added: “Our strong performance is buoyed by the ongoing aggressive push in key feeder and emerging markets, as well as targeted activations in niche markets since 2010. The month ’s highlights include the hosting of the 35th Asean Tourism Forum and the historic visit of the much-revered royals of Japan. These, following the successful staging of the Apec Summit in 2015 and other high-level visits of world leaders, such as His Holiness Pope Francis—all build on the image of the Philippines as a must-visit destination in Asia.”

South Korea continued to be the top source market for visitors, providing 147,165 in C  A

S “A,” A

n JAPAN 0.4142 n UK 66.7487 n HK 6.0445 n CHINA 7.2071 n SINGAPORE 33.9677 n AUSTRALIA 35.1346 n EU 51.6387 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.5210

Source: BSP (10 March 2016 )

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Global economic gloom to cut export earnings in 2016–Neda C  A

Director General Emmanuel F. Esguerra said.

“We see global trade growth remaining at a low level as the world copes with soft demand and lower commodity prices,” he added. Esguerra said East and Southeast Asian trade-oriented economies also registered negative growth in January 2016, with Vietnam registering the least decline, and Singapore, the steepest decline.

As a result, the growth of the country’s earnings from manufactured goods went down by 2.2 percent to $3.7 billion in January 2016. This, despite the 5-percent hike in the country’s earnings from the export of electronic products in January 2016. Data showed that revenues from electronic products, which accounted for 51.1 percent of total exports, reached $2.14 billion, higher than the $2.04 billion registered in January 2015.

Ayala. . .

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P200-billion mark, climbing 11 percent from P184.27 billion during the previous year.

“We achieved a number of milestones as a group in the past year, with most of our major businesses continuing to perform well,” com-

The increase was largely due to the expansion in revenues from the outward shipments of semiconductors, which grew 5.1 percent to $1.47 billion in January 2016 from $1.4 billion in January 2015.

“The fall in exports of manufactured products mirrors the general weakness of the global manufacturing sector. However, worth noting is the 5-percent increase in the exports of electronic products that registered its eighth consecutive month of positive growth in January,” Esguerra said. Outbound sales of mineral products also dropped by 27.8 percent to $145.3 million, while exports value of petroleum products declined by 17.8 percent to $10 million due to the persistent low oil-price environment.

Exports of agro-based products, meanwhile, declined by 7.6 percent to $289.1 million, dragged by lower revenues from coconut products and fish products.

“We attribute this to the continued tightness in supply due to persistent dry weather. Also, lower export revenues for fish products can be partly traced to the lower supply of fish in Region 12,” he added.

Esguerra said that, despite recent improvements, market and product concentration remain as challenges in increasing Philippine trade, and that trading with other Asean economies is still limited despite recently growing regional integration. Exports to Asean member-countries comprised 15 percent of the total exports in January 2016, and was valued at $630.02 million. This, however, registered a decrease of 9.5 percent, from $696.28 million posted in the same month a year ago.

“The government and private sector should take advantage of the opportunities offered by economic groupings, trade agreements and the structural trans-

formation of other economies.

We should engage more actively in information gathering and dissemination, market intelligence and capacity building of our exporters,” Esguerra said.

The country’s total export receipts from the country’s top 10 market destinations for the month of January 2016 was valued at $3.547 billion, accounting for 84.7 percent share of total export receipts. The Philippines’s top 3 export markets are Japan, the United States, and Hong Kong, which accounted for 22.7 percent, 16.7 percent and 10.5 percent share, respectively.

Shipments to Japan amounted to $950.52 million in January 2016.

This is 7.7 percent higher than the $882.61 million recorded in the same month a year ago.

Exports to the United States were valued at $698.85 million in January 2016. It recorded an increase of only 0.7 percent, from $693.87 million last year.

pany President and COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.

“In 2015 we strengthened our growing portfolio of power and infrastructure investments with various projects coming to fruition. In addition, we increased our investments in social infrastructure, as we entered the health-care space and deepened our presence in education,” Zobel said.

In power, the company has about 60 0 megawat t s of attributable capacity across conventional and renewable platforms as its assets came online a nd re a c he d more e f f i c ie nt operating levels.

In transport infrastructure, it opened the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, launched the Beep ticketing system, and took over

the operations and management of Light Rail Transit 1, Zobel said.

Ayala Land’s net income in 2015 reached P17.6 billion, 19 percent higher year-on-year.

Globe Telecom Inc., the country’s second-largest mobile-phone operator, said its net income surged 23 percent to P16.5 billion, rebounding from its dismal performance during the previous year.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

VISITOR ARRIVALS BREACHED HALF-A-MILLION MARK IN JAN C  A

January, and accounting for over one-fourth of total foreign arrivals.

The United States was the second-largest source of visitors for the Philippines with 84,506 arrivals (15.58 percent of total); followed

by China with 48,708 visitors (8.98 percent); Japan with 41,691 visitors (7.7 percent); and Australia with 25,274 visitors (4.66 percent).

The rest of the visitors came from Canada with 21,108; Taiwan 15,523; the United Kingdom 15,072; Singapore 13,404; Malaysia 11,068; India 8,954; and Germany 8,337. DOT officials tried to downplay the decrease in visitor receipts, saying, “it should not be a cause of concern.”

Assistant Secretary for Tourism Development Planning Rolando Canizal said: “There are other variables to consider, such as length of stay and daily expenditure. Note that these variables can never be constant and there are slight chances due to travel pattern and habits that are constantly changing, as well as when the surveys are conducted.”

For his part, Boncato explained: “Our tourism receipts data are gathered from at least 800 respondents at the international airport in Manila. The respondents are randomly selected and not an apple-to-apple comparison to last year’s receipts. The minimal difference confirms a range of expenditure from our markets.”

Foreign visitors spent an average of P4,904.10 per day, or P50,561.23 per month in the country in January 2016. Tourists also stayed an average 10.31 nights.

South Koreans were the biggest spenders in the Philippines at P6.21 billion; followed by Americans at P4.26 billion; Japan at P1.64 billion; Canadians at P1.18 billion; and Australians at P1.13 billion.

On a volume basis, visitors from South Korea basically remained unchanged year-on-year, while Malaysian visitors dropped by 9.7 percent.

However, substantial increases in arrivals were recorded from China (+130.15 percent), Taiwan (+31.51 percent), the UK (+25.95 percent), and Canada (+17.8 percent).

Double-digit increases were registered as well from emerging new markets like Spain (+35.75 percent), New Zealand (+27.12 percent), France (+21.23 percent), Indonesia (+16.23 percent), Sweden (+20.17 percent) and Switzerland (+14.59 percent).

As a regional group, Asian countries supplied 57.13 percent of the visitors to the Philippines in January 2016, or 309,790.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport was the primary port of entry by foreign visitors to the country.

It welcomed 374,199 visitors, representing some 69 percent of total arrivals. Cebu was the second busiest airport, with 84,200 visitors (15.53 percent share), and Kalibo received 50,901 visitors (9.39 percent). The rest of the country’s airports recorded 23,707 arrivals (4.4 percent). Arrivals by sea amounted to 9,251 with the Port of Manila recording 3,778 visitors; followed by Palawan with 2,410 visitors; Davao with 1,327 visitors; and Batangas with 1,020 visitors. The rest of the seaports welcomed 716 foreign visitors.

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Friday, March 11, 2016 A3

LGUs to get revenue share from tobacco taxes

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HE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Thursday that P10.69 billion will be released to local government units (LGUs), which are entitled to their share of the 2013 collection of excise taxes on locally manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes, and burley and native tobacco.

Of the P10.69 billion, the city of Candon in Ilocos Sur will get the biggest share at P356.9 million.

Candon is a fourth-class city with an average annual income ranging from P160 million to P240 million.

Under Republic Act (RA) 7171, or the Act to promote the development of Virginia tobacco-producing provinces, LGUs producing locally manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes are entitled to 15 percent of national tax collections from these products.

The share of LGUs are divided as follows: 30 percent to the beneficiary provinces; 40 percent to the component cities and municipalities and; another 30 percent to the component cities and municipalities on a pro-rata method, based on the volume of tobacco production.

The DBM enumerated the top 10 LGUs based on their share in the excise tax collections on Virginia tobacco, namely, Candon City,

₧10.69B To be released to local government units, which are entitled to their share of the 2013 collection of excise taxes

Cabugao City, Balaoan, Narvacan, Santa Cruz, San Juan, Santiago, Sinait, Magsingal and Batac City.

All of the top 10 LGUs are from Ilocos Sur, except for Balaoan, which is in La Union, and Batac City, which is in Ilocos Norte.

Meanwhile, under R A 8240, which amends certain sections of the National Internal Revenue

Code, LGUs which produce burley and native tobacco will also receive 15 percent from excise-tax collections on these products.

The share of LGUs are divided as follows: 10 percent to the beneficiary provinces and 90 percent to the component cities and municipalities based on the volume of tobacco production.

The top 10 recipients of the share of LGUs in excise taxes from burley and native tobacco are Roxas, Isabela; San Jose, Occidental Mindoro; Quirino, Isabela; Aurora, Isabela; Narvacan, Ilocos Sur; Ilagan City, Isabela; Tumauini, Isabela; San Fabian, Pangasinan; Mallig, Isabela; and Amulong, Cagayan.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the release of the LGU’s share

in tobacco products will help local governments further increase their revenues from tobacco planting.

“These funds will certainly aid LGUs, especially those with lower annual incomes, to implement projects that will enable tobacco farmers to increase their productivity and income. Also, through their fair share of tobacco excise taxes, LGUs will be able to boost their capacity to deliver basic services to communities, which is important for the national government’s goals on redistribution and meaningful devolution,” he said in a statement.

A complete breakdown of the excise-tax shares per province and municipality can be found in Local Budget Memoranda 72 and 73.

Military notes ‘drastic’ Top martial-law critic Salonga passes away, 95 decline in BIFF strength B B F

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AMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao—After its strength was drastically degraded, following a monthlong military offensive, the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) offensive operations have been reduced to harassment against small military installations.

On Wednesday night BIFF gunmen tried, but failed, to overrun an Army detachment in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, the Sixth Infantry “Kampilan” Division Spokesman Capt. Joann Petinglay said.

The 10 p.m. attack left two soldiers slightly injured, raising the number of injured infantrymen to 32 since Febuary 5.

“The BIFF cannot sustain battle against the powerful military so they resorted to hit-and-run attacks,” Petinglay said in Filipino.

A r my units in the adjoining towns of Datu Salibo, Datu Piang, Datu Saudi and Shariff Aguak have been alerted since last month as the armed group carried out diversionary attacks, including roadside bombings that endanger the lives of commuters in Maguindanao.

On Wednesday night about four or five armed men crawled near the detachment of Second Mechanized Infantry Battalion on the highway from Datu Saudi to Datu Piang and fired at the soldiers, who retaliated with automatic fire.

The attackers, who fired rifle grenades, fled under the cover of darkness as reinforcements arrived.

Civilians near the military installation reported seeing two armed men injured and carried by fleeing bandits.

The wounded soldiers are being treated at the Camp Siongco Hospital in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

Four soldiers were killed, while 32 others were injured, mostly due to improvised bomb explosion since February 5 hostilities started in Datu Salibo.

The military has captured a BIFF stronghold in the village of Tee, Datu Salibo, where a floodcontrol dam is being built.

Following the defeat of the BIFF, construction resumed early this week. PNA

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ENATORS mourned the passing on Thursday of former Senate President Jovito R. Salonga, 95, owing to various ailments.

A key leader of the opposition to the martial-law regime imposed by late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1972, Salonga was elected Senate president when the bicameral Congress was revived following the 1986 People Power revolt.

Before his election to the Senate, Salonga served as the first chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

As Senate president, Salonga presided over the historic Senate vote that ended the lease on US bases in the country.

In a statement, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon said he was joining “the entire nation in mourning the passing of former Senate President Jovito R. Salonga.”

Conveying his condolences to the Salonga family, Drilon paid tribute to the late former Senate President Salonga as “a veritable democrat, patriot and statesman” who dedicated the best years of his life to fight for the restoration of Philippine democracy.

“He [Salonga] led the post-Edsa

SALONGA

[People Power revolt] Senate with his brand of principled leadership and undying love for the motherland,” Drilon said, adding that Salonga’s “brilliance and sterling achievements as lawyer and lawmaker held generations of Filipinos in awe. He set the standard for public service by leading a life of honor and integrity.”

Drilon recalled that it was Salonga who “recruited and inducted me into the Liberal Party 15 years ago.”

“Politicians come and go. But only few leave deep footprints on the sands of time, like Sen. Jovito R. Salonga,” he added.

Before his election to the Senate, Salonga first served as representative of the Second District of Rizal.

As senator, he was credited for having coauthored major legislations, including the State Scholarship law, the Disclosure of Interest Act, the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and the Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Plunder.

Fears over Malaysia Mecca fund test Najib’s support base F OR Malaysia’s 18 million Muslims, the ultimate in holy duty is to travel to Mecca—a pilgrimage that can require decades of saving. Now the fund that holds much of their money is under a cloud, a fresh challenge for a scandal-hit government.

Concerns over unpopular and unprofitable investments at the government-linked fund may erode loyalty to Prime Minister Najib Razak among his main supporters—ruralbased ethnic Malays—and potentially do more damage than a clutch of political funding probes that have been running for months.

The premier has so far weathered the fallout from a $681-million donation investigation and alleged financial impropriety at state investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd. (1MDB).

But controversy over the Hajj fund known as Lembaga Tabung Haji—a statutory agency under the Prime Minister’s Department—cuts to the heart of religion in the secular Muslim nation, and the fund has almost 9 million depositors.

Najib is already grappling with a slowing economy, and ordinary Malaysians face rising living costs.

With an election due by 2018 he needs the votes of the Malay majority, who returned him and the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) to power in 2013 as Chinese and Indian Malaysians shifted to the opposition. The coalition led by UMNO, which has

ruled since independence in 1957, won the last election with its slimmest margin yet.

“The Hajj is fundamental to Islam and Islam is now a core component to political discourse within the country,” said Terence Gomez, a professor at the University of Malaya. “Because they are dealing with the savings of so many people, and many of them are core to Najib’s constituency, he has to be very careful,” he said. “Najib cannot afford to lose the Malay ground.”

Concerns over nest eggs emerged last year after the Hajj fund bought land from 1MDB, which is being investigated at home and overseas for alleged financial irregularities and money laundering.

In a letter late last year the central bank warned Tabung Haji its liabilities exceeded assets and pointed to negative reserve levels, while opposition politicians have highlighted loss-making investments they say amount to over 1 billion ringgit, or $242 million.

Tabung Haji referred Bloomberg queries to an earlier statement that rebutted concerns over its liabilities and said it’s reviewing its reserves policy based on the central bank’s advice.

Government guaranteed

WHILE the deposits are government-guaranteed, that hasn’t stopped Malaysians from worrying their savings are at risk or that divi-

dends of 5.5 percent to 8.25 percent in recent years will evaporate. After the central bank’s letter was made public in late January, depositors flooded Tabung Haji’s Facebook page, asking about dividend payments and expressing concern their funds may have been mismanaged.

In the five decades Tabung Haji’s operated, Malaysian Muslims have moved from hoarding Hajj savings at home—given Islam’s ban on interest-bearing instruments—to helping create one of the largest funds in the country, investing in Shariah-compliant assets from land to shares.

Performing Hajj

DEPOSITORS have surged from 5.6 million in 2010. As the fifth and final pillar of Islam, every able-bodied adult Muslim must undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, at least once in their lives, if they can afford it. More than 20,000 Malaysians perform the Hajj each year, based on quotas allotted by Saudi Arabia.

Najib in May ordered the fund to sell land it bought from 1MDB just days after the purchase was disclosed, following a public outcry on social media and protests outside Tabung Haji. Last month he blasted unnamed elements who he said were creating unnecessary fear and causing some to withdraw their savings.

“There are some who have kept

their savings with Tabung Haji for so long, who are nearly in their twilight years, but because they fell for twisted statements, they lost their turn to perform the pilgrimage,” Najib said on his website. His office did not respond to requests for comment.

Trust falls

TABUNG Haji said in its latest annual report that net assets at the group level rose to 57 billion ringgit in 2014 from about 31 billion ringgit in 2010. In a January statement it said the central bank’s evaluation of its assets and liabilities did not include its investment portfolio, and that its holdings exceeded what it owed for all of 2014 and 2015 when its investments were taken into account.

Malaysians’ trust in the government dropped seven points to 39 percent over the past year as credibility took a “ big hit” amid alleged graft, real and perceived lack of transparency and widespread allegations of mismanagement at state-linked companies, according to the latest annual Edelman Tr ust Barometer. It polled 1,150 people.

“Because of the lack of trust in the government, more and more Malays are looking at UMNO more critically than before,” said Rafizi Ramli, vice president of the opposition People’s Justice Party and a critic of Tabung Haji. “It’s too early to say that those Malays who are

disillusioned will switch to the opposition but we definitely have made a breakthrough.”

1MDB probes

THE Edelman report follows months of controversy over 1MDB’s finances. The country’s attorney general meanwhile said Najib received the $681 million in his accounts from a member of the Saudi royal family before the 2013 election, with $620 million later repaid and the fate of the rest of the funds not specified.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing.

1MDB has repeatedly denied paying any money to his accounts.

Tajudin Wahab, who opened an account with Tabung Haji in 1978 with a monthly contribution of 50 ringgit, said he was disturbed by recent news reports on the fund.

“I’ve lost confidence in the government,” said the 62-year- old consultant for the oil and gas industry, who has been to Mecca twice but is now reviewing the amount of money he keeps in the fund. “I felt Tabung Haji was being taken to the cleaners, that it was being used by the political masters.”

UMNO council

THE pilgrims fund said in a statement last month an investment in Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd.—a plantations company whose share price has fallen 67 percent since its share sale in 2012—is a long-term strategic investment in a core sector. The

investment was estimated by Bloomberg around 1 billion ringgit. Tabung Haji said it typically issues its annual report around the middle of the year after it has been presented to parliament.

The returns of many sovereign wealth funds have been less affected by market turbulence as they have large holdings in illiquid assets, said Enrico Soddu, head of data and research at the London-based Sovereign Wealth Center. Volatility in listed securities had a bigger impact on other government-related funds, he said, including Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund and Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global.

Tabung Haji Chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim is a supreme council member of UMNO. CEO Ismee Ismail, who has led the fund since 2006, is a director at 1MDB. Some depositors have turned to social media to ask Najib to replace Azeez with central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, whose term ends in April. The central bank did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment.

People in rural heartlands are “the pockets of voters who are crucial in the next elections,” said Oh Ei Sun, an analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and Najib’s political secretary from 2009 to 2011. “If anything happens to Tabung Haji, a lot of people will feel insecure and angry.” Bloomberg News

AseanFriday BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Thai ex-premier says ruling junta seeks ‘backward democracy’

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EW YORK—Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup in 2006, has accused the ruling junta of trying to push through a new constitution designed to limit democracy.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday after an event at the World Policy Institute, Thaksin also wished a long life to Thailand’s ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

After dismissing Thaksin and seizing power, the military held elections in 2007, which Thaksin’s party won easily. But after a series of political upheavels, during which Thaksin fled the country, new elections were held in 2011 that also were won by Thaksin’s party led by his sister, who became the prime minister.

But her government was removed in a 2014 coup by the military, which is now drafting a constitution that allows for an unelected prime minister and proposes giving wide powers to the Constitutional Court and appointing an unelected Senate. Coup leader Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has promised to hold elections by the end of 2017.

Thaksin said any elections held under the new constitution will deny the will of the majority of the people. “That is backward democracy,” he said. “Under democracy, you have to give the power to the people.”

He said Thais are very patient people, and were willing to believe the military when it said it is taking over power to “reconcile the differences of the people in the country.” “But so far, one-and-ahalf years [later], they have nothing [to show for] on reconciliation,” he said, adding that in fact the opposite is true. The military rulers are “only trying to use the law to benefit their own politics.”

Thaksin was convicted of corruption in absentia in 2008 and sentenced to two years in jail. His passport was revoked, and he now travels on passports from Montenegro and Nicaragua. His sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, has also been charged with alleged mismanagement of a rice subsidy program for which she faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Thaksin, 66, said he speaks to Yingluck “quite often, but everyone knows this is the only case in the world” where a prime minister has been prosecuted over a policy, which has effectively banned her from politics for five years.

“This is really ridiculous and we worry about the justice that she will receive,” he said.

Thaksin said he misses home but is not really in a rush to return.

“I wish I can go [home]. I’m quite settled outside Thailand and if I go back to Thailand it should benefit the country and the people. Otherwise, I’m not really serious about going back,” said Thaksin, who lives in the United Arab Emirates.

It was an attempt by Yingluck’s government to push a plan for an amnesty bill that would have allowed her brother to return to Thailand that triggered the 2014 coup. AP

THAILAND’S former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra responds to questions during a news interview on March 9 in New York. AP

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Friday, March 11, 2016 A5

Aung San Suu Kyi admits she will not be Myanmar’s next president

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AYPYITAW, Myanmar—The party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi officially confirmed on Thursday that she will not become the country’s next president.

Unofficially, she has vowed to be the de-facto leader by calling the shots from behind the scenes, and party members said on Thursday that’s how things will work in Myanmar’s first democratically elected government in more than a half century.

The party nominated two Suu Kyi loyalists for the post, including the front-runner Htin Kyaw, a 70-yearold Oxford graduate. The nomination will be followed by a vote among legislators later this month before the new president is installed on April 1. For the past several weeks Suu Kyi is believed to have held closed-door talks with the powerful military generals to suspend a constitutional clause that bars her from presidency.

The outcome of the negotiations was not known until Thursday, when the names of the loyalists were announced, signaling the end, at least for now, of Suu Kyi’s longtime ambition to be Myanmar’s leader.

Suu Kyi did not attend Thursday’s high-profile nomination session but posted a message on Facebook to her legions of supporters. She called it a “first step toward realizing the expectations and desires of the people who overwhelmingly supported the National League for Democracy Party [NLDP] in the elections.”

“It is our will to fulfill the people’s desire,” Suu Kyi said in the letter posted on her Facebook page. “We

will try as hard as we can to do that.”

The longtime former political prisoner led her NLDP to a landslide victory on November 8 general elections, paving the way for the country’s first democratically elected government since the military took power in 1962.

Despite her massive popular support, the 70-year-old Suu Kyi is blocked from the presidency, because the constitution bars anyone with a foreign spouse or children from holding the executive office. Suu Kyi’s two sons are British, as was her late husband. The clause is widely seen as having been written by the military with her in mind.

During Thursday’s parliament session, the NLDP nominated, from the lower house, Htin Kyaw, a longtime confidante and associate of Suu Kyi. He is widely respected and seen as a front-runner. His father was a national poet and a National League for Democracy lawmaker from an aborted 1990 election, while his wife is a prominent legislator for the party in the current house. His father-in-law, a former army colonel, was a cofounder of the NLDP. From the upper house, the NLDP nominated Henry Van Hti Yu, an ethnic Chin minority and upper house NLDP lawmaker.

The outgoing ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, also nominated two candidates—Sai Mauk Kham, currently

IN this February 1 file photo, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (center) walks along with other lawmakers of her National League for Democracy Party (NLDP) as they leave after a regular session of the lower house of parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Nobel laureate Suu Kyi’s decadeslong battle to bring democracy to Myanmar is likely to come to fruition on Thursday with a whimper, not a bang. Despite leading her NLDP to a smashing election victory, Suu Kyi seems certain not to become her country’s leader. Suu Kyi, 70, cannot be president because the constitution bars anyone with a foreign spouse or children from holding the executive office. Suu Kyi’s two sons are British, as was her late husband. AP

a vice president, and former upper house speaker Khin Aung Myint.

The military bloc, which holds a constitutionally mandated 25 percent of seats, is also allowed to nominate one candidate from each house of parliament. The candidates have not yet been announced, one of whom will likely become the country’s other vice president.

A vote will be held later this month to elect the president and two vice presidents.

The NLDP candidates are assured of a victory given its control of both chambers. One of them will become the president and the other will be-

come a vice president.

Suu Kyi fought for decades to end dictatorship in Myanmar, and remains her party’s unquestioned leader. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel prize while under house arrest, where she spent 15 years locked away by a junta that feared her political popularity.

Suu Kyi has made clear that even if she is not president, she will be in charge. Kyaw Thiha, an upper house NLDP lawmaker, said on Thursday that the new president, will take orders from Suu Kyi. “She cannot become the president, but it doesn’t really matter

because she will be controlling everything. She will be the one to control us,” Kyaw Thiha said. “It doesn’t really matter that she is not becoming the president.”

Politica l ana lyst Toe Kyaw Hlaing predicted that the people won’t have a problem with that arrangement.

“The public voted for change, so now the public wants a pure civilian president,” he told The Associated Press. “So when the civilian president comes to power, I think the public will support him, and the public may not care whether he is a proxy president or not.” AP

Islamic State in Thailand: A phantom threat to Southeast Asia?

B S W. C | TNS

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S threat perceptions rise of another Islamic State (IS) strike in Southeast Asia, similar to the IS-inspired fatal gun and bombing assaults staged in Indonesia in mid-January, Thailand is under scrutiny as a possible next site of attack. While there are clear risks in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, both from local radical groups that have declared allegiance to IS and individual fighters returning home from IS wars in Iraq and Syria, the danger to Thailand is less plain.

Local news reports, some more credible than others, have sparked speculation that IS may have Thailand’s many soft Western targets in its sites. In early December news reports citing a leaked Russian federal security service report claimed that 10 Syrians with alleged links to IS had entered Thailand with the intent of staging attacks on Russian targets. Those claims, based on apparently intentionally flawed intelligence provided by the US to Russia, proved unfounded after a clutch of the identified suspects were located and interrogated by the police, according to Bangkok-based diplomats familiar with the episode.

In February local papers reported that police had upped security at shopping malls, public transport systems, and tourist areas in response to a supposed US embassy warning sent to Thai police claiming IS may be planning an attack in Bangkok.

A Thai security adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US warning referred broadly to the entire region, not Thailand, in particular, and was part of a routine monthly briefing the US provides to its security counterparts. Western envoys, including those with access to US-led “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing, also said they sensed no

INDONESIA’S antiterror squad Special Detachment 88 police officers escort suspected militants as they are transferred to Jakarta following their arrest at the local police headquarters in Malang, East Java, Indonesia, on March 2. Indonesia’s antiterror squad arrested four more militants suspected to have link with the January deadly attacks in the capital Jakarta. AP

signs of an imminent IS attack.

Days later, former army commander and prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh claimed that a hitherto unheard of IS-affiliated group he referred to as “Black Swan” had established a cell in southern Thailand, where a local Muslim insurgency has long fought for autonomy against the Thai state. The retired general’s assessments of the Deep South traditionally carry weight among security analysts due to his long-standing ties to political groups with insurgent links in the region.

Chavalit’s politicized comment was made in the wider context of criticizing the ruling junta’s controversial draft charter and election road map.

Western diplomats and a Thai security adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity doubted the group’s existence, based partly on skepticism that an IS-linked group would adopt such a nonthreatening, English-language moniker. They speculated instead that the 83-yearold ex-premier may have meant that

Thailand was at risk of a terrorismrelated “black swan” occurrence—an academic term for an unpredictable event that has extreme consequences—because local intelligence agencies had failed to grasp the region’s supposedly shifting conflict dynamics. Chavalit could not be reached to clarify for this story.

Thailand arguably had a black swan moment last August with the Erawan shrine bombing that killed 20 and injured over 100 people in the capital. Thai officials, keen to maintain confidence in the crucial tourism industry, played down the significance of what was Thailand’s largest-ever terror attack against foreigners. Initially thought to have IS hallmarks, the pipe-bomb blast has since been blamed on ethnic Uyghurs supposedly aggrieved by Bangkok’s earlier deportation of their compatriots to China. Thai officials say they have since increased their vigilance against all terror threats. “We have no reason to believe we are a [IS] target,” said

Panitan Wattanayagorn, security adviser to the defense minister.

Analysts and envoys agree that IS would be hard-pressed to penetrate Thailand’s Malay Muslim southern insurgency, a shadowy antistate movement led by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinate group.

Through strict avoidance of Western targets, BRN-C and other ethnic Malay insurgent groups have maintained a modicum of international sympathy as an oppressed minority fighting for cultural and religious rights. Thai insurgent leaders have also over the years kept the al-Qaedalinked, Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, once angling to establish a regional caliphate, at arm’s length to avoid any conflation of their local grievances with antiWestern jihadist ideology.

IS also includes Thailand’s southernmost provinces in maps of its envisioned Southeast Asian caliphate.

To date, though, the group has made uneven regional inroads. Indonesia has identified nearly 400 of its nationals as bent on joining IS; 215 of them have been deported before reaching Syria, according to a diplomatic source tracking regional terror trends. Around 60 Malaysian nationals are known to have joined IS, ten of whom have died in combat, six in suicide bombing attacks, the same source says. There is no evidence, however, that any Thais have joined IS in Iraq or Syria, according to Thai officials and foreign diplomats.

The security adviser says intelligence officials are monitoring the activities of Thai students in Egypt, Libya, and Pakistan, but have so far found no signs of IS recruitment or sympathies. Surveillance of local Thais, on the other hand, has identified a handful of “keyboard warriors,” who regularly access IS propaganda materials online, some of which have been translated into

the Thai language, the same source says. Interrogations of the young men have not uncovered any terror plots or operations, apart from the printing and sales of a smattering of pro-IS T-shirts in the region.

“They want to elevate their status, or increase their fame, or make some money, not commit terrorism,” the adviser said.

While homegrown risks for now seem remote, Thai security agencies are cognizant of and preparing for possible IS spillover effects from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, the security adviser says.

That’s entailed updating data bases, forging stronger coordination among historically competitive intelligence and security agencies, and the first fundamental upgrade of national counterterrorism policy since the fateful 2002 Bali bombing attack in Indonesia. The same adviser said relaxed immigration procedures to promote the new Asean Economic Community has already given rise to new security challenges.

IS fighters returning from the Middle East have recently passed through Bangkok in transit to their home countries in the region, diplomats and officials say. The Western diplomat who tracks regional terror trends says that, unlike al-Qaeda, IS is not known to use Bangkok as a safe haven or planning point because it already controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. He said there is no precedent for an IS attack in transit and that there was to date no intelligence to indicate that IS aims to operate in Thailand, either in the capital or Deep South, with other regional countries more receptive to their presence.

“Thailand may have an official policy of denial,” the envoy said. “But Thailand has no program to deal with returning IS fighters exactly because it has no returning fighters.”

A BusinessMirr

A6 Friday, March 11, 2016 | www.businessmirror.com.ph

CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY OF THE PHILIPPINES AIM

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B L R. G

HE Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) is the national aviation authority of the Philippines and is responsible for implementing policies on civil aviation to assure safe, economic and efficient air travel.

The agency also investigates aviation accidents via its Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board.

Formerly Air Transportation Office (ATO), it is a government-owned and controlled corporation attached to the Department of Transportation and Communications for the purpose

of policy coordination.

From 1932 to 1936, there were no standard procedures as to the licensing of airmen, registration of aircraft and recording of various aeronautical activities connected with commercial aviation. There were attempts made to register planes and

their owners without ascertaining their airworthiness and to record names of pilots, airplane mechanics and other details.

It was only on November 20, 1931, that Legislative Act (LA) 3909 was passed by the Congress of the Philippines and created an office under the Department of Commerce and Communications to handle aviation matters, particularly the enforcement of rules and regulations governing commercial aviation, as well as private flying. It was amended by LA 3996 to include licensing of airmen and aircraft, inspection of aircraft concerning air-traffic rules, schedules and rates and enforcement of aviation laws.

After years of renaming the agency, the Civil Aviation Authority Act of 2008 was signed into law on March 4, 2008, which replaced the ATO with the Civil Aviation Authority, an independent regulatory body with quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative powers with corporate attributes

Controversies have hounded the agency even before it got its new name as Caap. On January 17, 2008, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded the Philippines’s rating to Category 2 from Category 1, since its ATO did not fully satisfy international safety standards. Consequently, Philippine Airlines’s (PAL) then-President Jaime Bautista stated that its 2008 growth targets would be lowered. After emerging from eight years of receivership the previous year, PAL was prevented by the FAA decision from increasing US flights from 33 per week.

Over the years, dedication and persistence are the hallmarks of achievement that enabled Caap to regain its stature as a credible Civil aviation authority (CAA) in the international civil-aviation community. Amid the challenges that tested its resiliency and capacity as the regulator of civil aviation of the country and the administrator of its Flight

Messages DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

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y warmest greetings to the men and women of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) as you celebrate your 8th Anniversary.

Through CAAP’s untiring effort and conduct of wideranging reforms, the country has regained its US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) Category 1 status and has restored the confidence of European states in our flag carriers.

Eight (8) years into service, the CAAP continues to live up to its mandate to ensure the safety, reliability, efficiency, and viability of air transport services that foster positive economic conditions.

The theme “Pre-Eminent CAAP@8th: Global Excellence in ensuring safe, secure and green Philippine skies,” manifest your commitment to develop a world class organization and an internationally competitive civil aviation industry.

Thus, as you, the men and women of the CAAP, mark this milestone, may you continue to strive for quality and proactively respond to the challenges of public service in this vital sector.

I wish you a meaningful and joyous anniversary celebration.

Mabuhay!

JOSEPH EMILIO AGUINALDO ABAYA Secretary

CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

I

convey my felicitations to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on the occasion of its 8th Year Anniversary celebration. We share a deep sense of gratification on the successful outcomes of our collective efforts that resulted in the removal all the sanctions that had impeded the growth of Philippine civil aviation. These achievements bear indisputable testimony to the arduous tasks we have undertaken with tenacity and diligence to realize our vision of being an eminent Civil Aviation Authority in the world and a global brand of excellence in civil aviation. We affirm our adherence to the values of Fairness, Integrity, Accountability and Transparency (FIAT) to our stakeholders and the public we seek to serve.

The inimitable dynamism of civil aviation challenges us to sustain the momentum we have gained in nurturing the enabling environment we have created for our sector. Our key thrust to evolve the New Generation Aviation Professional with a keen focus on excellence in education and training in civil aviation typify our intent. Our ardent interest to cooperate in the mitigation of the effects of climate change underscores our concern for the environment. As an active proponent of the ASEAN Single Aviation Market, we share in the desire for inclusive growth through regional integration.

Our anniversary theme “Pre-eminent CAAP @8th: Global Excellence in ensuring Safe, Secure and Green Philippine Skies” defines the value and relevance of our mission as the purveyor of the growth and development of Philippine civil aviation through the viability and prosperity of its stakeholders. CAAP is an enabler, not only of technical competence in aviation, but of a level playing field where the business interests of our stakeholders are safeguarded.

I exhort the entire CAAP organization to personify the “Filipino Can” spirit and always deliver a performance worthy of recognition and emulation. Let the synergy of our optimism and enthusiasm propel us to our dream that “The Future is in the Sky.

LT GEN WILLIAM K HOTCHKISS III, AFP (RET) Director General

DELIVERING his message to the officers and staff of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) during the kick-off ceremony of its weeklong eighth anniversary, retired Lt. Gen. William K. Hotchkiss III of the Armed Forces of the Philippines gave his exhortation for a heightened commitment to sustainability through teamwork in realizing the goals of “Flight Plan 2020,” the medium-term strategic plan of Caap. RODERICK R. BARCELLANO

Information Region (FIR), it demonstrated its tenacity by removing the constrictive sanctions that hobbled the growth and development of Philippine civil aviation. The perceptible vibrancy experienced by the civil-aviation sector, as a result, is palpable in the robust increase of its key indicators that herald positive outcomes.

Fairness, integrity, accountability and transparency are the corporate values that define its interaction with both domestic and global stakeholders in discharging its mandate as the regulator of Philippine civil aviation “to provide safe and efficient air transport and regulatory services in the Philippines” (Chapter 1, Section 2. Declaration of Policy), as stipulated in its enabling law Republic Act 9497, for the welfare and benefit of air travelers. These values are instilled across the organization through institutional strengthening exemplified by the reforms undertaken to ensure the responsiveness of Caap to the needs of its publics.

Its compliance to international aviation-safety standards embod-

ies its fidelity to its vision of being a preeminent CAA in the world and a global brand of excellence in civil aviation, and its commitment to its mission of ensuring a safe, secure and green Philippine skies. It is also one of the vital foundation of Caap’s twin pillars of regulatory framework, the other being good governance.

Upholding the standing of the Philippines as a sovereign state in the community of nations is affirmed as a fundamental tenet by Caap, by adhering to its principles of “sovereignty indivisible with national security” and “reciprocity indivisible with parity.” It is also the confirmation of its role as administrator and protector of the patrimony of the airspace of the country or the Philippine FIR. Espousing its unwavering belief in the innate talents of the Filipino, Caap is broadening its reach to attract young and fresh recruits to join the aviation sector. Its emphasis on evolving the next generation of aviation professionals who are products of globally accredited training courses with skills and competence

ror Special Feature

www.businessmirror.com.ph |Friday, March 11, 2016

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MS FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND GLOBAL EXCELLENCE l’Aviation Civile, with the support of the Directeur Generale l’Aviation Civile France, in September 2016 at the Civil Aviation Training Center (CATC) facility of Caap in Manila; Caap has embarked on the renewal of its facilities with the renovation of its CATC, the Manila Transmitter and the premises of its Central Office through Project Renaissance; n Caap has convened the firstever Philippine Aviation Summit in September 2015, sharing its consensual and inclusive management philosophy with both civil and military aviation; n Caap hosted the 52nd Directors General Civil Aviation Conference Asia Pacific from October 26 to 30, 2015, under the auspices of the Icao Regional Office Asia Pacific, convening representatives from 38 countries and international and regional civil-aviation organizations, as well, and n Caap has participated in the

IN recognition of Caap-managed airports that had taken the lead in implementing green technology, awards were given to Iloilo, Dumaguete, Busuanga and Plaridel airports for the distinction of being champions in their respective categories. RODERICK R. BARCELLANO

that are internationally recognized underlie its aspiration that “yes, the Filipino can.” With the tremendous linkages that can be created by these opportunities for the country and the Filipino people, Caap’s dream that “the future is in the sky” shall have been given full meaning.

To ensure that it remains on track in attaining its goals, Caap has formulated a strategic road map to marshal the collective efforts of the organization through the accomplishment of the Programs for Sustainability of its operating units. Invigorated by the reforms designed to create synergy, Caap is poised to sustain its momentum toward greater heights of excellence and achievement.

ONWARD TO EMINENCE IN CIVIL AVIATION

AS Caap marks its eighth anniversary, it has achieved milestones that exemplified its remarkable strides toward the sustainability of the Philippine civil-aviation sector and the commercial viability of its stakeholders. With Flight Plan 2020, its medium-term plan for sustainability, Caap aims to raise its bar of excellence through compliance with the suggested and recommended

practices of the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) and enhanced collaboration and cooperation with the other global civilaviation bodies.

Its anniversary theme—“Preeminent Caap @ 8th: Global Excellence in Ensuring Safe, Secure and Green Philippine Skies”—captures the essence of the collective undertakings of its personnel in pursuit of this goal. With its corporate creed as its beacon and team spirit as its strength, it has prevailed over adversity opening up opportunities for its stakeholders and broadening the horizon of the civil-aviation sector, particularly in the context of the integrative environment of the Asean Economic Community, which began in December 2015.

The prospective robust growth of civil aviation as the most prolific mode of transport connectivity worldwide is a forecast shared by global aviation agencies, including Icao itself.

Caap aims to gear up the ability of its constituencies to reap the benefits of this positive development by enhancing their reach and competitiveness.

To this end, Caap has secured the following outcomes in 2015: n Caap launched its “Engaging

the Stakeholders” Program, which forged durable partnerships with its constituencies, namely, the air operators certificate (AOC) holders, general aviation, approved maintenance organizations, aviation schools and the aerospace industries to enhance their capabilities to participate in the emergent Asean Single Aviation Market (Asam), stressing adherence to its Icao-compliant Philippine Civil Aviation Regulations and its twin pillars of regulatory framework—Aviation Safety and Good Governance; n Caap instituted the Civil Aviation Officer Candidate Scholarship Program to heighten its focus on education and training in evolving the New Generation Aviation Professionals for the country, and, possibly, for Asean, as well, in line with the “No Country Left Behind” policy of the Icao; n Caap sustained its initiative to build technical cooperative assistance with the global civil-aviation entities to boost the competencies of its personnel, in particular, and the civil-aviation sector, in general, through postgraduate education, such as the Master in Aviation Safety Management, which will be delivered by the Ecole Nationale

PHL POISED FOR RAPID GROWTH IN ASIAPACIFIC AVIATION INDUSTRY

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HE Philippines is up to meet the challenge of a rapidly growing aviation industry in the Asia-Pacific [Aspac] region over the next decade,” Tourism Undersecretary Benito C. Bengzon Jr. was quoted as saying at the Strategy Summit of Routes Asia 2016 held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

According to him, the country is poised to capitalize on the growing demand of people to connect by air and drive visitor traffic to this side of the world. “The Philippines is now among the fastest-growing economies in the region, with a GDP that is expected to grow at a rate of 6.3 percent by yearend,” the undersecretary added, implying the country’s viability as a key gateway in the region.

To enjoy the full dividends of tourism, he proposed that “tourism and aviation policies be aligned.”

Infrastructure: Crux for growth and development

SENIOR executives of some of the region’s fastestgrowing airlines were emphatic in calling for policy-makers and airport authorities to respond to infrastructure needs, referring to it as crucial for the continued growth and development in Asia Pacific.

Cebu Air Vice President for Commercial Planning Alexander Lao minced no words in proposing for the development of secondary airports to help meet the growing low-cost market and, likewise, keep airfares affordable. As air travel continues to grow at a rate of 5 percent since 2011, airlines will need 38,000 new aircraft, valued at $5.6 trillion, toward 2034,” John Schubert, managing director of Boeing, explained.

“Southeast Asia will need 3,750 new airplanes, valued at $550 billion, while Aspac will need 675 new aircraft each year for the next 20 years,” Schubert declared,

concluding that Asia is expected to generate over a hundred million new passengers each year.

Now in its 14th edition, Routes Asia 2016 is organized by the London-based United Business Media, and is hosted by the Department of Tourism (DOT), in cooperation with the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Manila International Airport Authority. Over a thousand influential aviation professionals from across the world have arrived for this event, slated from March 6 to 8.

In 2015 the DOT, as a member of the Philippine Air Negotiating Panel, has participated in 10 air-consultation talks to negotiate traffic rights with other countries that led to increase flights to and from the Philippines.

In 2013 and 2014 Routes Asia, the Philippines was awarded “Excellence in Destination Marketing,” while Clark was voted “Best Airport Under 20 Million Passenger” category.

2016 Singapore Air Show, in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry and Board of Investments showing strong presence for the civil-aviation sector of the country, in general, and the Philippine aerospace sector, in particular, indicative of its intent for closer collaboration and cooperation with Asean and the world.

These milestones are its significant waypoints for its Flight Plan 2020 moving forward to sustainability.

Caap is well on its track to eminence as a CAA and a global brand of excellence in civil aviation, empowered to accomplish its mission of ensuring a safe, secure and green Philippine sky for the air travelers and for the Filipino people, as well.

Caap expresses its unity of purpose and support for the diplomatic initiatives of the Philippine government regarding the dispute on the West Philippine Sea, abiding by its principle of upholding

the sovereignty of the Philippine FIR ever vigilant in its resolve to protect and defend it against all intrusions and threats A highlight of the festivities of its anniversary celebration is the viewing of its new Communication Navigational Surveillance Air Traffic Management radar facility, a project that was started in 2010 for the purpose of providing safe and secure air travel, as well as enabling technology of integration within the Asam and a significant input to Icao’s Global Air Navigation Plan.

Caap truly has much to celebrate on its eighth year but the challenge to sustain its exemplary gains remains a primary task to accomplish for the benefit and welfare of its constituents. The key words— “sustainability” and “teamwork”— defines Caap’s response to the demand for involvement and call for dynamism in an ever-emergent local, regional and global civil aviation.

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The World BusinessMirror

Friday, March 11, 2016

briefs

BRAZIL’S EXPRESIDENT CHARGED IN MONEY LAUNDERING PROBE

SÃO PAULO—Prosecutors in São Paulo state have filed money-laundering charges against former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is accused of hiding his alleged ownership of a seafront penthouse in the city of Guaruja.

Silva has denied he owns the apartment, which belongs to constructor OAS. OAS is one of the biggest targets of a separate corruption investigation that focuses on state-run oil giant Petrobras.

The charges filed on Wednesday against Silva still need to be accepted by a judge.

In a statement, Silva said investigators “are not unbiased.” He still has not been heard by the state investigators in the case.

The decision comes days before an anti-government protest on Sunday, and five days after Silva was held for questioning and his home raided by the police. AP

news@businessmirror.com.ph

UN: 34 countries don’t have enough food for their people

IRAN TESTLAUNCHES BALLISTIC MISSILES; U.S. SAYS IT DOESN’T VIOLATE NUKE DEAL

TEHRAN, Iran—Iran test-launched a series of ballistic missiles on Wednesday in an exercise that dramatized Tehran’s determination to bolster its arsenal in the aftermath of last year’s nuclear accord.

The Obama administration labeled the missile launches provocative, but said the firings did not violate the terms of last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including the United States.

Iran regularly showcases its homegrown missile program as a proclaimed deterrent against attack by Israel, its longtime regional adversary.

The semi-official Fars News Agency reported that one of a pair of “Qadr H” missiles—named after a Koranic verse—was inscribed with the phrase “Israel should be wiped off the Earth,” a stock slogan for years among hard-liners in Iran. The missiles were fired in the nation’s Alborz mountain range at a target about 870 miles away in the Sea of Oman off Iran’s coast, the agency said. Los Angeles Times/TNS

VENEZUELA CALLS BACK TOP DIPLOMAT IN WASHINGTON CARACAS, Venezuela—President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday announced that Venezuela’s top diplomat in Washington would be called back to Caracas to protest the decision to renew a US decree imposing sanctions on several top officials from the South American country.

The two nations haven’t exchanged ambassadors since 2010 and Maximilien Sanchez Arvelaiz had been Venezuela’s acting charge d’affaires in the US capital.

“We don’t accept impositions or aggressions,” Maduro said in a televised address announcing that the Venezuelan diplomat was being recalled. “Enough of the arrogance.” AP

EXPLOSION IN EGYPTIAN CAPITAL WOUNDS THREE CAIRO—Egypt’s state-run news agency says three civilians were wounded in an explosion in a populated neighborhood in Cairo, the capital.

The Mena news agency says the explosive device, which was placed in a street in the Feisal neighborhood, was detonated late Wednesday while a police convoy was passing through.

The news agency says the authorities have arrested one suspect after in the explosion which has also damaged two police vehicles.

Egyptian authorities have been battling an Islamic Insurgency in northern Sinai which has also spilled over into mainland Egypt, with a series of high-profile assassinations and bombings taking place in Cairo. AP

TURKEY: BABY AMONG FIVE DROWNED HEADING TO GREECE

ANKARA, Turkey—Turkey’s state-run agency says five migrants, including a 3-month-old baby, have drowned when a speed boat taking them to Greece sank.

The Anadolu Agency says the boat went down early on Thursday off Turkey’s western coast, on its way to the Greek island of Lesbos. The agency said nine people were rescued from the boat that was carrying Afghan and Iranian migrants. AP

CHILDREN recovering from malnutrition play at the Children hospital in Bangui, Central African Republic, on February 11. AP/JEROME DELAY

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NITED NATIONS—Thirty-four countries—nearly 80 percent of them in Africa— don’t have enough food for their people because of conflicts, drought and flooding, according to a UN report released on Wednesday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Crop Prospects and Food Situation report said conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and the Central African Republic have taken a heavy toll on agricultural production, worsening the humanitarian crisis in those countries.

And the impact of these conflicts extends to neighboring countries that are hosting refugees, straining food resources in those countries, it said.

Congo is not only dealing with

almost 100,000 refugees from Central African Republic but conflict in the east where an estimated 1.5 million people are displaced and flooding related to El Niño, which has affected about half-a-million people, the report said.

FAO said drought associated with El Niño has “sharply reduced” 2016 crop-production prospects in southern Africa. It said dry conditions linked to El Niño may also affect the planting of crops for the main growing season in areas of

Central America and the Caribbean for the third consecutive year.

Dry conditions have also lowered expectations for harvests this year in Morocco and Algeria, the report said.

FAO also warned that drought and floods in North Korea in 2015 “sharply decreased” food-crop production in the early and main growing seasons.

“With a reduced harvest in 2015, the food-security situation is likely to deteriorate compared to the situation of previous years, when most households were already estimated to have borderline or poor food consumption rates,” the report said.

The number of countries needing outside food assistance grew from 33 in December, after the addition of Swaziland where El Niñoassociated drought conditions have sharply lowered 2016 cereal cropproduction prospects.

Other countries on the FAO list facing food shortages are Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi,

80%

Countries in Africa that don’t have enough food for their people

Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Nepal.

The report said elsewhere, the outlook for 2016 crops already in the ground, mostly winter grains in the northern hemisphere, is generally favorable and early forecasts indicate large wheat crops in most Asian countries.

FAO’s first forecast for wheat production in 2016 is 723 million tons. That’s 10 million tons below the record output in 2015. AP

Buckingham complains over UK tabloid claim that queen is anti-EU L

ONDON—Buckingham Palace complained on Wednesday to Britain’s press watchdog about a tabloid story claiming Queen Elizabeth II wants the UK to leave the European Union (EU).

Under the headline “Queen Backs Brexit”—a British EU exit— The Sun quoted anonymous sources as saying the monarch had told then-Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in 2011 that the EU was heading in the wrong direction.

The story said the queen “left no room for doubt about her passionate feelings over Europe.”

The palace said it had written to the Independent Press Standards Organization to complain that the story had breached a prohibition in the Editors’ Code of Practice against “inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.”

The queen is prohibited from taking sides in political debates and rarely makes her personal views public.

BRITAIN’S Queen Elizabeth II holds a commemorative plaque given to her by Crossrail workers after she formally unveiled the new Crossrail roundel sign for the “Elizabeth Line,” which will open for passengers in December 2018. The Queen visited the site of the new Crossrail Bond Street station in central London, which is still under construction. RICHARD POHLE/POOL VIA AP

Even the blandest statements can cause a flutter, as when the queen told well-wishers before

Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum that people should think “very carefully about the future”

before voting.

Some interpreted that as a call for Scots to stay in Britain.

British politicians are immersed in a heated debate about Britain’s place in Europe ahead of a June 23 referendum on whether to remain in the 28-nation EU. The palace earlier declined to comment on “spurious, anonymously sourced claims” and insisted “the queen remains politically neutral, as she has for 63 years.”

“The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide,” it said in a statement.

Clegg called the report “nonsense.”

“I’ve no recollection of this happening [and] it’s not the sort of thing I would forget,” he tweeted.

The Sun said it stood by the story, “which is based on two impeccable sources and presented in a robust, accessible fashion.”

“The Sun will defend this complaint vigorously,” the newspaper said in a statement. AP

‘ULTRAPROCESSED’ FOODS DOMINATE AMERICAN DIET

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ESEARCHERS who have analyzed America’s eating habits say they can sum up what’s wrong with our diet in just two words: ultra-processed foods.

These foods—a group that includes frozen pizzas, breakfast cereals and soda—make up 58 percent of all calories Americans consume in a typical day. Not only that, they delivered 90 percent of the added sugars that Americans ate and drank, according to a study published on Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ Open.

Government health experts advise Americans to get no more than 10 percent of their total calories in the form of added sugars. But most of us aren’t listening. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention have said that 71 percent of American adults exceeded that 10-percent goal, and that added sugars accounted for 15 percent of all the calories they consumed.

All of that added sugar makes people more likely to be overweight or obese. That, in turn, sets them up for serious health problems like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer (not to mention lots of cavities).

More than 75 percent of the sugar and high-fructose corn syrup eaten by Americans was used by the food industry, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture. So researchers thought it would be a good idea to figure out the extent to which the food industry was feeding America.

To find out, they turned to data collected by the CDC as part of its ongoing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which tracks the eating habits of a nationally representative group of children and adults.

The researchers focused on interviews with 9,317 people in 2009 and 2010 who recalled every single thing they had eaten in the previous 24 hours. More than 280,000 food items were named.

The survey-takers consumed 2,070 calories per day, on average.

About 28 percent of those calories came from unprocessed or minimally processed foods, such as eggs, milk, vegetables and fish, and 31 percent from cooking ingredients like table sugar and olive oil. An additional 10 percent were traced to processed foods, including cheese, canned vegetables and cured meat.

But the caloric contribution of ultra-processed foods was greater than for all other categories combined, accounting for nearly 3 calories in every 5 calories consumed.

The researchers defined ultraprocessed foods as those that used artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, stabilizers and other additives to make them taste like real food or mask their “undesirable qualities.”

Breads, cakes, cookies, pies and salty snacks were the most popular ultra-processed foods, as measured by their contribution to the day’s total calories. Overall, 14 percent of all calories could be traced to added sugars, the survey data revealed. But some types of food were sweeter than others.

By definition, unprocessed and minimally processed foods contained no added sugars. Processed foods got 2 percent of their calories from added sugars, on average. For ultra-processed foods, that figure was 21 percent.

Not surprisingly, the more ultraprocessed foods a person ate, the more likely they were to blow past the 10-percent added sugar limit.

The researchers divided the survey-takers into five equal-sized groups based on their consumption of ultra-processed foods. Among those who ate the least of these foods, added sugar accounted for 7.5 percent of total calories; among those who ate the most ultra-processed foods, added sugars made up 19.5 percent of total calories.

The significance of these results is clear, the researchers said: If Americans are ever going to get serious about added sugars, they’ll have to cut way back on ultra-processed foods. Los Angeles Times/TNS

The World BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

CLINTON, SANDERS DEBATE WHO’S BEST FOR LATINOS

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IAMI—Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders tangled repeatedly in their eighth presidential debate over who’s a true advocate for Latinos and who has a track record of letting Hispanics down.

Fighting for Florida and beyond, the two faced off on Wednesday night just six days before Florida gives its verdict on the presidential race.

Clinton faulted Sanders for repeatedly voting against a 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bill; he faulted her for opposing a 2007 effort to allow people who were in the country illegally to obtain driver’s licenses.

Had the immigration package passed back then, Clinton said, “a lot of the issues we are still discussing today would be in the rearview mirror.”

Sanders retorted that he opposed the legislation because it included a guest worker program “akin to slavery.”

Clinton has won 762 pledged delegates compared to 549 for Sanders, with 10 delegates from recent primaries still to be allocated. When superdelegates are included, Clinton leads 1,223 to 574, more than halfway to the 2,383 needed to win the Democratic nomination.

On the Republican side on Wednesday, billionaire businessman Donald Trump called for Republicans to rally behind his candidacy after he won primaries in three more states, declaring that he could not be defeated in the November general election as the standard-bearer of a united party.

Clinton mocked Trump’s plan for a wall on the Mexican border, saying he’d build “the most beautiful tall wall, better than the great wall of China” to be “magically” paid for by Mexico. That, she said, is a fantasy. Sanders largely agreed, adding his hope that in the immigration debate “we do not, as Donald Trump and others have done, resort to

racism and xenophobia and bigotry.”

Both Sanders and Clinton were bidding for momentum after Sanders startled Clinton with an upset victory in Michigan on Tuesday. Both candidates laid out rival paths to the Democratic nomination.

Clinton stressed that she has a strong lead in the delegates, declaring, “This is a marathon, and it is a marathon that can only be carried by the kind of campaign I am running.”

Sanders said he’d come a long way from the early days when his campaign was largely written off and said his showing in Michigan was evidence that his message is resonating.

Clinton kept pushing on immigration matters, accusing Sanders of supporting legislation that would have led to indefinite detention of people facing deportation, and for standing with Minutemen vigilantes. Sanders called that notion “ridiculous” and “absurd,” and accused Clinton of picking small pieces out of big legislative packages to distort his voting record.

The candidates squared off soon after a testy debate in Michigan on Sunday in which they argued about trade and economic issues of particular interest in the industrial Midwest.

With Missouri, Illinois and Ohio among the states that will be voting on Tuesday, the candidates returned to a pointed matter they’d already argued about three days earlier, scuffling over Sanders’s vote against 2009 legislation that bailed out the auto industry, among others. Sanders said it was those “others”—big banks that had fueled the recession to begin with—that inspired him to vote no. Clinton stressed she’d made a different judgment to side with the automakers.

Immigration commanded considerable attention for good reason: Florida is home to nearly 1.8 million Hispanics, including about 15 percent of the state’s Democrats. AP

Japan’s nuke-power renewal threatened by court challenges

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APAN’S courts have emerged as a threat to efforts at restarting the country’s fleet of nuclear power plants shuttered following the Fukushima disaster five years ago.

A regional court on Wednesday restricted Kansai Electric Power Co. from operating two reactors in western Japan, the first time a court has forced plants that have already restarted to shut back down.

The country’s utilities face more than two dozen lawsuits seeking to stop nuclear operations, according to the web site of an organization of lawyers involved in the litigation.

As of Thursday, only two of the Japan’s 43 operable reactors were running.

Twenty-five have applied to restart.

“This shows the judicial risk is bigger than previously thought,” Reiji Ogino, a Tokyo-based analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., said by phone. “It’s tough because it shows there’s no sense of security even after a reactor resumes operations. One plaintiff and one judge could make a difference.”

The Otsu District Court cited safety concerns in its decision this week to prevent Kansai Electric from operating the units at its Takahama plant. The ruling came less than two weeks after the utility restarted one of the reactors following more than two years of safety reviews by Japan’s nuclear regulator.

The setback comes after a separate jurisdiction lifted an eight-month injunction in December.

Abe challenge

THE decision complicates Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s post-Fukushima energy policy, which seeks to see nuclear power account for as much as 22 percent of the country’s energy mix by 2030.

The ruling also challenges efforts by

the utilities to cut costs from importing fossil fuels and assure Japan’s public that nuclear reactors can be operated safely.

Even after the creation of a new regulator and safety standards, much of the public remains unconvinced. About 60 percent of Japanese citizens oppose the resumption of nuclear power, according to a February survey conducted by the Nikkei Shimbun.

An earlier injunction against the Takahama restart by the Fukui District Court, which is based in an area that could be exposed in the event of an accident, was lifted in December.

Court delays

“GIVEN the previous case, it may take about eight months again,” Ogino said.

“It’s totally up to a judge. If he wants, he could delay a decision by years.”

Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai No. 1 and No. 2 units, which restarted last year, are currently the only reactors fully operating in Japan after the courts rejected efforts to block their resumption.

Kansai shares fell as much as 17 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and were trading at ¥1,054.5 at 12:32 p.m. local time, heading for the biggest drop since 1987. The Topix Electronic Power & Gas Index declined 2.6 percent compared with a 1-percent gain in the broader index.

“The 2030 energy mix target that the government proposed last year assumes that aside from the nuclear plants in Fukushima, all other existing and underconstruction reactors in Japan will restart,” Ali Izadi-Najafabadi, a Tokyo-based analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, wrote in an email. “With this ruling, that 2030 government target mix looks even more doubtful.” Bloomberg News

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • Friday, March 11, 2016

N. Korea fires missiles, vows to liquidate S. Korean assets

A WOMAN passes by a TV screen showing a file footage of the missile launch conducted by North Korea at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, a likely show of anger at continuing springtime war games by rivals Washington and Seoul and another ratcheting up of hostility on the already anxious Korean Peninsula. The screen reads “North Korea’s nuclear warheads.” AP/AHN YOUNG-JOON

S

EOUL, South Korea—North Korea responded to South Korean unilateral sanctions on Thursday by firing short-range ballistic missiles into the sea in a show of defiance and vowing to “liquidate” all remaining South Korean assets at former cooperative projects in the North.

The moves are the latest in an escalating standoff between the Koreas that began in January, when North Korea detonated what it said was an “H-bomb of justice,” its fourth nuclear test.

Since then, Pyongyang has launched a long-range rocket; Seoul has shut down the last remaining cooperative project between the rivals, a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, and slapped sanctions on the North over its recent nuclear test and rocket launch; the UN has imposed sanctions; and the North has threatened nuclear strikes on Seoul and the US mainland.

The missile firing on Thursday comes a day after the North released photos of leader Kim Jong Un standing beside what appears to be a nuclear warhead mock-up.

The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said on Thursday Pyongyang will “liquidate” South Korean assets at the closed Kaesong factory park and the scrapped tourism resort at Diamond Mountain, both of which are in North Korea.

In a continuation of bellicose rhetoric that has spiked in recent weeks, the statement said North Korea would also take a series of unspecified steps to impose “lethal” military, political and economic blows on the South Korean government to accelerate its “pitiable demise.”

North Korea didn’t say what exactly

10,000 km Estimated range of KN-08 ballistic missile it would do with the South Korean assets. But North Korea observers said the country could move the remaining manufacturing equipment at Kaesong to other industrial areas or convert them for military use while using South Korean-owned facilities at Diamond Mountain for its own tourism project.

At Kaesong, the South Korean assets include some buildings, manufacturing equipment and finished products. In the mountain resort, South Korean assets are a hotel, a spa, a golf course and a building used for on-and-off reunions of Korean families separated by war.

The North Korean statement called South Korea’s unilateral sanctions “laughable, unsightly” behavior, and referred to South Korea’s female president, Park Geun-hye, as an “American prostitute,” the latest in a series of crude sexist attacks on her. The insult appeared only in a Korean-language dispatch as its English version called Park a “servant of the US.” All of this ratchets up hostility on the already anxious Korean Peninsula. But, so far, analysts don’t see

the possibility of things spinning out of control. In part, some of the North’s rhetoric and actions is intended for domestic audiences to show government strength ahead of a major meeting of the ruling party in May. The South Korean Defense Ministry says the North’s missiles were fired from North Hwanghae province, flew about 500 kilometers and fell into the water off the country’s east coast. They are believed to be Scud-type missiles, said Ministry Spokesman Moon Sang Gyun.

Such missile firings by the North are not uncommon when animosity rises here.

North Korea hates the massive annual military drills staged by Seoul and Washington, calling them invasion preparations. The allies say the drills, which this year are described as the biggest ever, are defensive and routine.

Pyongyang is also angry over tough United Nations sanctions following its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

North Korea on Wednesday caused a new stir by publicizing a purported mock-up of a key part of a nuclear warhead, with leader Kim Jong Un repeating a claim that his country has developed miniaturized atomic bombs that can be placed on missiles.

The North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried photos on its front page showing Kim and nuclear scientists standing beside what outside analysts say appears to be a model warhead part—small, silverish globe with a ballistic missile or a model ballistic missile in the background.

The newspaper said Kim was briefed by his nuclear scientists and declared he was greatly pleased that warheads had been standardized and miniaturized for use on ballistic missiles.

Information from secretive, authoritarian North Korea is often impossible to confirm, and the country’s state media have a history of photo manipulations. But it was the first time the North has publicly displayed its purported nuclear designs, though it remains unclear

whether the country has functioning warheads of that size or is simply trying to develop one.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry quickly disputed the North’s claim that it possesses miniaturized warheads. It called the photos and miniaturization claim an “intolerable direct challenge” to the international community.

US State Department Spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, saying it was an intelligence matter, but told reporters the US takes Pyongyang’s rhetoric seriously.

North Korea warned on Monday of preemptive nuclear strikes after the United States and South Korea began the war games, which are to last until the end of April.

North Korea has previously said it has nuclear warheads small enough to put on long-range missiles capable of striking the US mainland, but experts have questioned those claims.

The round object shown in the photos appears to be a model of a warhead trigger device, which would contain uranium or plutonium, according to nuclear expert Whang Joo-ho of Kyung Hee University in South Korea. He said it was obviously a model because Kim and others would not stand near an actual device because of concerns about radioactivity.

Also shown in the photos is a KN-08 ballistic missile or its model, which reportedly has an estimated range of 10,000 kilometers, according to South Korean analysts.

The KN-08, which North Korea showed off in 2012, is said to be capable of being launched from a roadmobile vehicle, which would make it difficult to monitor via satellite.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said it believes the missile hasn’t been proven functional.

North Korea says it tested its first Hydrogen bomb on January 6, followed last month by the launch of a rocket that put a satellite into orbit but which violated UN resolutions because it employs dual-use technology that could also be applied to long-range ballistic missiles. AP

By the numbers: Effects of Fukushima nuclear disaster to people, industry 5 years after

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OKYO—Five years after a powerful earthquake and tsunami sent the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan into multiple meltdowns, cleaning up the mess both onsite and in surrounding towns remains a work in progress.

Here’s a look, by the numbers, at the widespread effects of radiation from the March 11, 2011, disaster:

■ 164,865: Fukushima residents who fled their homes after the disaster.

■ 97,320: Number who still have not returned.

■ 49: Municipalities that have completed decontamination work.

■ 45: Municipalities that have not completed decontamination work.

■ 30: Percent of electricity generated by nuclear power before the disaster.

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■ 1.7: Percent of electricity generated by nuclear power after the disaster.

■ 3: Reactors online, out of 43 now workable. On Wednesday, however, a court issued an order for one of those three reactors to be shut down immediately.

■ 54: Reactors with safety permits before the disaster.

■ 53: Percent of the 1,017 Japanese

in a March 5 and 6 Mainichi Shimbun newspaper survey opposed restarting nuclear power plants.

■ 30: Percent who supported restarts. The remaining 17 percent were undecided.

■ 760,000: Metric tons of contaminated water currently stored at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

■ 1,000: Tanks at the plant storing

radioactive water after treatment.

■ 10.7 million: Number of 1-ton container bags containing radioactive debris and other waste collected in decontamination outside the plant.

■ 7,000: Workers decommissioning the Fukushima plant.

■ 26,000: Laborers on decontamination work offsite.

■ 200: Becquerels of radioactive ce-

sium per cubic meter (264 gallons) in seawater immediately off the plant in 2015.

■ 50 million: Becquerels of cesium per cubic meter in the same water in 2011.

■ 7,400: Maximum number of becquerels of cesium per cubic meter allowed in drinking water by the US Environmental Protection Agency. AP

A10 Friday, March 11, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

PhilHealth’s finances need a viable solution

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HE latest reports that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) system will be out of operating funds in a few months is disturbing. PhilHealth board member Ed Dorotan said the healthinsurance program earned P96 billion in 2015, but paid out P97 billion in total claims. “The PhilHealth’s double expenditures came from new insurance service offerings for Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries and senior citizens amounting to P10 billion.”

There are more than 4.4 million 4Ps beneficiaries covered by the PhilHealth.

Another 6 million people have enrolled as beneficiaries of the lifetime health insurance under PhilHealth’s program for the elderly.

The PhilHealth program is not broke in that it has some P120 billion in its reserve account. However, it needs to keep that money in the bank and operate like any other insurance program or business, for that matter, by being able to cover its expenses from its revenues.

Before the administration bashers start talking, this is more of a problem of the government’s system of doing business that should be changed.

The Commission on Audit is doing a good checking how money is spent, both in terms of waste and effectiveness. There is always room for improvement, of course. However, there is no independent body that is tasked with figuring out the financial implications of a particular program from the Executive branch or on that is passed into law.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is mandated “to promote the sound, efficient and effective management and utilization of government resources (i.e., technological, manpower, physical and financial) as instrument in the achievement of national socioeconomic and political development goals.” But the DBM is under the Office of the President.

The DBM’s job is to effectively and efficiently spend the money. It does not have the duty of making sure the proposed expenditure makes sense in the overall financial picture. The US government has an agency—the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)—that, while under the legislative branch, operates independently to provide information and analysis of proposed spending laws. Its mandate is an “Objective, nonpartisan and timely analysis to aid in economic and budgetary decisions on a wide array of programs covered by the federal budget.”

In other words, the CBO is there to answer the question: if we increase the number of enrollees in the PhilHealth program, based on current estimates of revenues and anticipated expenditures, what will be the net financial effect?

The same would have been true when Congress decided to increase the Social Security System (SSS) payments. A Philippine equivalent of the US CBO could have provided accurate numbers to the legislatures on what the results would be on the SSS finances if benefits were raised by a certain amount.

Every corporation has departments that supply financial checks and balances, as well as providing analysis about decisions made at the executive level. It is about time the Philippine government be operated in a more professional financial manner.

No desire for opacity James Jimenez

SPOX

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N the wake of the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision to call for the activation of the voting “receipt” feature of the vote-counting machines (VCMs), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) finds itself in the unenviable position of having to play catch-up.

The latest word from the Comelec chairman is that the poll body is moving toward filing a motion for the Court to reconsider its decision, arguing that the great number of things that need to be done in order to ensure that the Court’s dictat is complied with has adversely impacted the election timetables.

Nevertheless, in light of the weight of the SC’s authority—coupled with the sheer imminence of the elections—prudence dictates that I do my part in preparing the public for an automation scenario that includes the use of these paper receipts.

So here are a couple of facts to keep in mind: First, the voting receipt printed out by the VCM is not a precut piece

of paper, like you would see coming out of an automated teller machine.

This means that the voter must, as with a cash-register receipt, tear off the receipt from the paper roll, which is contained within the body of the VCM itself.

I’m emphasizing this because if the voter tears off the receipt improperly, he might end up with a longer piece of paper than he ought to, or he

Think about it. If anyone finds out who the voter actually voted for, either as a result of a voting receipt or a carelessly posted picture on social media, might that information not find its way to the candidate who wasn’t voted for? might actually cause a paper jam in the printer mechanism. Both these outcomes will only serve to delay the voting process.

If a voter tears off too long a receipt, it will decrease the number of receipts that can be printed off of a single roll of paper, which will, in turn, mean more frequent interruptions to the voting process, as the paper has to be reloaded. A paper jam, on the other hand, will result in an interruption of the process, as the Board of Election Inspectors will then have to unfoul the printing mechanism of the VCM. And second, the voting receipt must be dropped into a box before the voter leaves the polling place.

In the same vein, voters will not be allowed to take pictures of their voting receipts. This will prevent the receipt from being used to facilitate vote-buying. More important, it will protect the voter from possible reprisals.

Think about it. If anyone finds out who the voter actually voted for, either as a result of a voting receipt or a carelessly posted picture on social media, might that information not find its way to the candidate who wasn’t voted for?

Let me be clear about this: these are not merely speculative concerns, and my position on this issue is a matter of public knowledge. Like all the commissioners running the elections in 2010, 2013 and 2016, I would rather not have a paper receipt. This position—which is not as unpopular as some might be led to believe—is premised on an understanding of the unique challenges of running an election, not a desire for opacity.

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Friday, March 11, 2016 A11

If you think you know Trump’s voters, you’re mistaken Ramesh Ponnuru

BLOOMBERG

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OBERT KAGAN, a neoconservative writer, has a theory about Donald Trump: He has risen to the top of the Republican field because the party has taught its members to value obstruction and hate President Barack Obama.

The more detail Kagan puts into his case, the less plausible it appears. So, for example, he decries “the persistent calls for nullification of Supreme Court decisions” as the kind of thing that led to Trump—who has said very little about Supreme Court decisions and nothing about nullification. If “the party’s wild obstructionism” was the portent, then why is the leading primary candidate the guy who keeps promising to make deals?

If Kagan’s theory were true, we would expect Trump to be doing better with Republican voters who consider themselves “very conservative” than with those who call themselves “somewhat conservative” or “moderate.” It’s the very conservative voter who, presumably, has most internalized the party’s anti-Obama message over the last few years. The exit-poll data contradict Kagan’s theory. In 12 of the 15 states for which we have numbers, Trump did worse among very conservative voters than among voters in general.

Kagan’s method is not to amass evidence and then reach a conclusion, but rather to assume that Trump’s run must illustrate everything he dislikes about Republican conduct in recent years. But Kagan is far from alone in this fault.

Much of the commentary about Trump consists of people finding validation for things they already believed. Usually, that validation involves oversimplifying the sources of Trump’s support.

Those whose top concern is tighter control of immigration say that issue is the main reason Trump is winning. It has certainly contributed to his victories. What has gotten less attention is that Trump has also done well among voters who favor giving legal status to illegal immigrants.

Many commentators assure us that Trump’s success is all about the economic turmoil of white voters without college degrees and the failure of Republicans to respond adequately to it.

Those voters favor Trump at relatively high rates. But Trump has also been doing well among voters with college degrees, winning pluralities among them in several states.

Evangelical support for Trump has

been widely discussed—but, usually, without the recognition that “Trump has failed to earn a majority of evangelicals in any southern state thus far and a vast super-majority of evangelicals have consistently supported other candidates,” as political scientist Darren Patrick Guerra recently put it.

Another oversimplification holds that Trump voters are consumed with anger toward the Republican establishment. This description fits some of them. But overall, that sentiment doesn’t seem to be driving support for Trump. In Georgia, which Trump won, most voters in the exit poll said they felt “betrayed” by Republican politicians— but Trump actually performed slightly better among those who disagreed.

There are several streams that feed Trump’s river. Some of his voters are working-class whites who feel Republicans aren’t looking out for them; some of them want to deport all illegal immigrants; some of them want to overthrow a hated Republican establishment; some of them admire Trump as a successful businessman and think he would run the government well, too. Some of his supporters even like Mitt Romney— maybe because he, too, is a successful businessman. And, of course, some small number of them, all too amply represented on Twitter, are David Duke and his friends.

An oversimplified view of Trump’s coalition can lead us to mistaken conclusions. If we think that all of his supporters are bigots, for example, we will have an unfair and alarming view of a large share of our fellow citizens. If we think that they are all dead set against Republican politicians, we will assume that anti-Trump statements by those politicians are futile efforts, or assume that all of them will be furious if a divided convention nominates someone other than Trump.

And if those of us who are pundits assume that we already know everything worth knowing—even in the face of genuinely surprising phenomena that few of us predicted, like Trump’s rise —then we’ll be even more insufferably self-satisfied than we already are.

Turkey’s news outlet takeovers

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URKEY, a key US ally and a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), continues to travel down a disturbingly authoritarian path. Last week police in Istanbul stormed the offices of Zaman, the country’s most widely circulated newspaper, subjecting employees and supporters to tear gas and water cannons. Earlier, a court had transferred control of the publication to a panel of trustees, after a prosecutor accused the paper of spreading terrorist propaganda.

Zaman and its English-language sister publication are identified with the Cemaat movement led by the USbased Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, political rival and former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This week the Cihan news agency, also linked to Gulen, said that it, too, would be managed by court appointees.

The takeover of those outlets follows similar actions against other news organizations. Last October authorities ordered the seizure of Koza Ipek Group, which operated several television stations critical of the government. Meanwhile, prosecutors have pursued more than 1,800 cases of “insulting the president” since Erdogan, a former prime minister, was elected president in 2014.

Such stifling of political opponents is impossible to reconcile with the preamble of the treaty establishing Nato, which invokes “the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.”

The Obama administration called the action against Zaman “troubling,” joining the chorus of criticism from human-rights groups. But it is also mindful that Turkey is a Nato ally and a key player in both the fight against Islamic State and the negotiations to end the civil war in Syria.

This isn’t the first time the commitment of the US to human rights tugs it in one direction while strategic interests pull in another. After the Egyptian military overthrew democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the Obama administration suspended the delivery of some weapons. But it relented two years later, when Egypt was confronted with instability in neighboring Libya and threats from Islamic Stateaffiliated groups.

On Monday State Department Spokesman John Kirby deflected a reporter’s suggestion that the US might impose sanctions on Turkish officials similar to those Congress approved against Russians involved in humanrights abuses, saying, “I won’t get ahead of decisions that haven’t been made one way or another with respect to that.”

Kirby also suggested that disagreements over press freedom needn’t “tear asunder an entire bilateral relationship.”

Perhaps not, but even if the US feels constrained in the actions it can take, it should leave no doubt about what it thinks: that muzzling the press and political opponents is not just troubling but outrageous. TNS

Diary of a sad, bad tourist Tito Genova Valiente

ANNOTATIONS

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WAS a tourist last weekend.

More than 30 years ago, I was part of a research team from the Institute of Philippine Culture. We were all budding sociologists and anthropologists, and we were there immersed to study health-seeking behavior among the communities of Los Baños and Bae. During weekends, we would go to the towns of Liliw, Nagcarlan and Majayjay.

Liliw then was noted for its crystal stream. A top detergent company made the town of slipper-makers famous for a commercial. In that ad, a young man announced his presence in Liliw with the women of the town washing their clothes in its clean, clear water. Nagcarlan seduced us

with the promise of being in an underground cemetery. In Majayjay we were curious to find centuries-old church known for its massive façade.

We arrived at the town of Majayjay, isolated and at the foot of the mystical mountain of Banahaw. It was summer, but the town had a bit

Journey to the top Camille R. Escudero

WOMEN STEPPING UP

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ELIEVE!!!

Short, but powerful. This was the message that two highpowered women imparted during an intimate night of mentoring, staged by the Business and Professional Women (BPW) Makati, on the #WomenWednesdays activity, in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 9.

Women’s rights are human rights, impresses Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan. Every person needs to accept this truth, especially women.

What women think matters. What women say matters. What women do matters. What women want matters. What women dream or aspire for matters.

Donning a hot pink pantsuit and block heels, Kapunan further underscores that women need not lose their femininity to do their job and to do it well. Trust on your passion, your competence and your integrity.

Let your beliefs, your work and your “pink heels” speak for you; and people will remember you. Appreciate what you have in life and use these resources in pushing your careers forward.

The law profession is especially difficult for women. She reveals that her extensive legal experience has been the toughest part of her journey. With 38 years of legal practice, Kapunan founded Kapunan, Garcia & Castillo Law Offices, where she is also a senior partner. She is a distinguished Intellectual Property Law practitioner, leading the Asean Intellectual Property Council at one point.

A fierce litigator, a human-rights advocate and an environmental crusader, she has done pro bono legal work for the Philippine National Red Cross, the Stop Trafficking of Filipinos Foundation, the Organization ng Pilipinong Mangaawit, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the UN Women, the Women in Nation Building, the World Wildlife Fund and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, among others.

While she now is embarking on a new chapter, running for a seat in the Senate, she wishes she had started sooner. Women are innately fearless. However, their selflessness has limited the opportunities to get ahead. Emphasizing that poverty is the real divide, her passion for women is what brought her to politics. A mother sharing one pan de sal among five children is no longer acceptable.

With almost 50 percent of the population being women, the move to put more women in influencing positions requires a more aggressive approach.

As the first Filipina managing director of Microsoft Philippines, Karrie Capellan-Ilagan pursues her passion for bringing technology and innovation to education, businesses and communities to help transform the lives of Filipinos. A skilled multitasker, she is a prime example of how technology has become a platform for running businesses and households. She believes that every woman should take advantage of current advancements and take better control of our home life and professional life.

Karrie leverages technology to help women innovate. She urges women to disrupt the conventional and create for women. We are an underserved market and there are not enough products or services that cater specifically to us.

To inspire the next generation, Microsoft celebrates women inventors and brings to light how they’ve changed the world in the #MakeWhatsNext project. In their video, they highlight all things “woman made.” The circular saw, windshield

of wind filled with a lonely scent. I climbed the steps of the church and saw the two deep niches on the lower part of the colonnade at the church façade. The decision was made in my mad mind: I will be the saint for that afternoon. I inched my way up the rough wall and ensconced myself in the recess. A friend was taking a photo of what we thought was an absurd act, when I noticed that three old women were looking at us.

Back in our boarding house that evening, I had a terrible headache.

Several analgesics later, I woke up still with my head heavy and painful. We decided to go to a healer. It was part of our study to examine, as well, the traditional healing practices in the area. We had been hearing of the word luop, but we had not witnessed the ritual. We knew what happened during the ritual: The healer put ashes in the form of the cross on the forehead and hands of the person

afflicted. The healer then made the sign of the cross on a plate shiny with coconut oil. The healer would divine the form or shape appearing on the face of the plate.

We found a manluluop or somebody who performs the rite of luop.

The old man, after running the plate three times over the flame, asked if I had been to a big house with huge trees. I told him of a visit to the Majayjay church. He spoke next of three women who looked at me and somewhat got hurt of what I was doing in that sacred space.

I was back in Majayjay last Sunday. As I walked up from behind the church, I noted how the monumental buttresses of the structure blended well with the squalor of the town market. Saint Luke and Saint John occupied the front niches and looked down on this sad, bad tourist.

wipers, laser cataract surgery, leukemia/HIV/malaria drugs, the first computer algorithm, bulletproof material, satellite propulsion. Who would’ve thought these were made by women?

Further emphasizing the need for women in tech, Karrie discloses that, while women have made headway into the top of information-technology positions, less than 20 percent of companies worldwide have female chief information officers. She cites that women still face pressure to be the primary caregiver or homemaker, thus, stepping down and ultimately getting off the career train. This is something that is consistent even in the developed countries. A member of the audience, who is a former M&A lawyer from Norway, relates how in law school 90 percent of enrollees were women. Yet, in the law firms, only 10 percent were practicing.

Women have worked hard, while men have taken the titles. And women are okay with it. Don’t be!

Take your rightful place at the table and let yourself be heard. As Karrie discloses, in the board room, she arrives first to ensure that she gets the best seat. Never settle to be in the sidelines.

The struggles are real, and stereotypes continue to exist. Engaging the men is necessary to bring down gender inequality. Men need to realize that they must take an aggressive role in supporting women’s issues and in recognizing our rights. As global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. revealed in their latest research on women executives, it is fundamental economics to remain competitive by increasing women’s participation in the workplace and putting more women in top positions.

The lack of female role models is another issue that desperately requires addressing. This is where BPW Makati hopes to bridge the gap. We recognize the rise of Filipina professionals and entrepreneurs becoming prime influencers in our society. It is our goal to create a community where these women can connect and collaborate, mentor and find mentoring, and engage in activities that support their personal and professional

goals. We are about women stepping up and contributing to efforts to level the playing field. Founding Chairman Ambassador Delia Albert often quotes Madeleine Albright, “there is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com.

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“JOURNEY to the top” is part of BPW Makati’s leadership series. BPW Makati is a nonprofit organization that is a member of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, and adheres to the United Nations Women Empowerment Principles. BPW has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and participatory status with the Council of Europe. The network seeks to “develop the professional, business and leadership potential of women on all levels through advocacy, mentoring, networking, skill-building, and economic empowerment programs and projects around the world.”

To know more about BPW Makati and future events, visit “Women Stepping Up PH” on Facebook and @WomenSteppingUp on Twitter, or e-mail bpw.makati@gmail.com.

BPW Makati joins women organizations worldwide in commemorating International Women’s Day to raise awareness around the globe and continue promoting the rights and interests of women collectively.

This event is part of international celebrations through the Women’s Interest Network (WIN), Section of International Law of the American Bar Association. WIN primarily focuses on the promotion and preservation of the rights and interests of women globally—through exciting and impactful projects, programs, teleconferences, policy initiatives, publications, communication and outreach channels—within the aims and objectives of the section.

Camille R. Escudero is president of Quality Philippine Export Lingerie and Apparel and founder of Lily of the Valley Period Panties, Active Wear and Breast Care. She supports an export manufacturing company with 400 employees, 91 percent of whom are women. She is a product developer/manufacturer of Great Women Intimates; and is also president of Business and Professional Women Makati.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Friday, March 11, 2016

Growth in manufacturing seen to continue in 2016

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B C U. O

HE strong growth posted by the manufacturing sector in January was seen to continue for the rest of the year, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Economic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Emmanuel F. Esguerra said economic expansion should prove stronger compared to last year, when global demand and adverse weather conditions dampened manufacturing output.

He also said a business optimism were to prevail in the second quarter this year, on the back of higher election-related spending activities and the rollout of infrastructure projects.

“Continued implementation of projects under the public-private partnership and stronger domestic demand during the summer season will further support the growth in manufacturing sector,” he said.

However, Esguerra said the country cannot be complacent, as the manufacturing sector faces headwinds and growth risks this year. The headwinds include the slow recovery in the advanced economies and economic slowdown among large emerging markets.

These will continue to put pressure on the growth of global trade and, ultimately, the local manufacturing sector. The Neda chief added that the government must enhance

the capacity of the manufacturing sector to generate quality employment, and efforts to boost productivity must be pursued.

“We must continuously push for innovation. The country must be able to develop new products, especially those with linkages to agriculture and aquaculture, which will create opportunities for the greater number of our population to partake in the benefits of growth,” Esguerra said.

In January 2016 manufacturing output was highest in six years at 34.3 percent.

This was the highest since January 2010, when the volume of production index (VoPI) posted growth of 36.2 percent.

The Neda said the 34.3-percent expansion was nearly seven times more than growth of only 5 percent in December 2015.

In terms of value, manufacturing production grew 26.5 percent, also the highest in six years. In January 2010 the value of production index (VaPI) grew 35.6 percent.

The Neda said the growth posted by the VaPI was a recovery from a series of declines beginning April 2015, when the index reported a contraction of 6.4 percent.

We must continuously push for innovation. The country must be able to develop new products, especially those with linkages to agriculture and aquaculture, which will create opportunities for the greater number of our population to partake in the benefits of growth.”

–E Esguerra said the growth in the VoPI and the VaPI was due to food manufactures posting double-digit growth of 20.2 in terms of volume and 19.1 percent in value of production after a year of decline. Other manufactured products like tobacco maintained strength, growing in volume and value of production by 49.4 percent and 49.6 percent, respectively. “For intermediate goods, chemical products posted triple-digit growth in both volume [312.4 percent] and value [309.6 percent] of production,” the Neda added.

Data were derived from the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (Missi), aggregated and analyzed by the Philippine Statistics Authority. The response rate for the January 2016 Missi and Producer Price Survey were 69.3 percent and 76.3 percent, respectively.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PRINTING BUSINESS IN ASIA SEEN TO GROW FURTHER ON SIGNAGE, TEXTILE INDUSTRIES B R L. A Contributor

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UALA LUMPUR––Print demand is high globally, especially in Asia, where the business is seen to reach $49 billion by 2020, with the growth coming from emerging economies like the Philippines, a ranking executive of technology giant Epson said on Thursday at the launching of the company’s new printer systems here for Southeast Asia.

“The forecast in the print demand globally and regionally will continue to be [at a] higher [level], because more brands want to be different, and more SMBs [small and medium businesses] are coming in, and they also print because they also want to differentiate from others,” Epson Professional Printing Division Regional General Manager Shaun See told the Philippine media at an interview sideline.

He said Epson is seeing the signage and the textile and garments industries as the growing segments of its printing portfolio for the fiscal year 2016, expanding at around 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively. For the signage sector, for instance, he cited that Asia currently is seen as the global production hub.

“It is estimated that by 2020, Asia itself will contribute 54 percent of this production web from its current position of 48 percent,” See said. “The signage industry, therefore, continuously become an important segment for Epson, and we intend to grow in this region––in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore.” In achieving so, See said there needs to be an infrastructure to support their partners and customers.

Epson Singapore, in behalf of the region, he noted, has invested in the center of printinnovation environment that is backed up by

Fed accounts. . .

The story begins in Bangladesh, a country of about 170 million people that’s recently found itself with record foreign reserves, thanks to a low wage-fueled export boom and inward remittances. Some of those reserves were held in an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith this week accused the Fed of “irregularities” that led to the unauthorized transfer of $100 million from the account. The Bangladesh central bank said the funds had been stolen by hackers, and that some had been traced to the Philippines.

A Bangladesh central bank official who is part of a panel investigating the disappearance of the funds said on Wednesday that a separate transfer of $870 million had been blocked by the Fed. The official requested anonymity because the investigation is private.

A Fed spokesman said there were no signs its systems had been hacked. Instructions to make the payments from the central bank’s account followed standard protocol and were authenticated by the SWIFT message system used by financial institutions, she said. A Bangladesh official said the Fed should’ve checked the payment orders with the central bank, and that it plans legal action against the Fed to retrieve the missing funds.

A Fed spokesman on Wednesday said she had no comment when asked about the attempted $870million transfer and Bangladesh’s plans to recoup the funds.

In the Philippines the gaming regulator said it is investigating reports that as much as $100 million in suspicious funds were remitted to the bank accounts of three casinos it didn’t identify. The probe highlights a potential weakness in Filipino attempts to stamp out money laundering that arose after lawmakers in 2012 succeeded in excluding casinos from the institutions required to report suspicious transactions to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

The country is at risk of re-

their core profit consultants that service both their partners and clients.

“Within this center, we also have a mediatesting facility,” See added. “These are some of the infrastructure support that the region has invested in and will continue [in the future].

With that infrastructure, we’re now moving to education of our customers and partners on best practices.”

While Epson is expecting more gains in the signage category after posting a flat growth last year, the company is bullish that the textile and garments industry will mainly drive its business this fiscal year.

In some countries, this sector is growing at a range of 60 percent to as low as 30 percent, according to See. Within the Asean region, he revealed that the three fast-growing markets are Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Malaysia, however, does not have a very strong textile and garments industry, but it is seen that dye sublimation there is being picked up, because there is a lot of customization requirements on polyester, he said.

As to the Philippines, See noted that it is doing well in this segment.

“It’s getting more and more traction. I think, we need to be out there and meet the customers more, and share with them what’s really available for them to adopt, and then be ahead of the change in the upcoming trends. That’s one thing that we are starting to do in the Philippines. And we should see the impact coming in new fiscal year,” See added.

Since Epson is seeing bigger opportunities in the sign and textile and garments industries, the multinational company has launched its latest next-generation SuperColor S-series (S40670, S60670 and S80670) and F-Series dye-sublimation (F6270, F7270 and F9270) printers for these sectors, accordingly, across the region.

C  A

joining a “gray list” of countries that aren’t doing enough to fight laundering, Teresita Herbosa, chairman of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, told reporters earlier this month.

“This is a black-eye on the entire Philippine financial sector,” said Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions. There are loopholes in the antimoneylaundering law, he said. While lawmakers will investigate the case at a hearing on March 15, they won’t be able to amend the law before the end of Mr. Aquino’s term, Osmeña told Bloomberg. Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said he had no information on reports that funds from the Bangladesh central bank reached the Philippines. The case is being handled by the AMLC, an independent body, Coloma said. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., who heads the AMLC, did not reply to mobile-phone messages seeking comment.

President Aquino can only serve a single six-year term and has backed the candidacy of Manuel Roxas II, his former interior secretary. The outgoing President touts his record of curbing corruption and erasing the “Asia’s sick man” tag that had been used to describe the Philippines for decades. His efforts have had some success. The Philippines ranked 95th out of 168 nations and territories in Transparency International’s 2015 corruption perceptions index, up from 134th in 2010.

A Philippine daily broadsheet has led reporting on the theft. It wrote last month that cash may have entered the Philippines via the Jupiter Street, Makati City, branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) The money was converted into pesos and deposited in the account of an unidentified Chinese-Filipino businessman who runs a business flying high net worth gamblers to the Philippines.

The funds were used to buy casino chips or pay for losses at venues in-

cluding Bloomberry Resorts Corp.’s Solaire Resort & Casino and Melco Crown Philippines Resort Corp.’s City of Dreams Manila, according to the paper. There was no suggestion in the report the banks or casinos named were complicit with any improper movement of funds.

Bloomberry Resorts Investor Relations Director Leo Venezuela and City of Dreams Manila Vice President Charisse Chuidian didn’t reply to calls and phone messages.

Funds were later dispatched into accounts outside the Philippines, the paper said, including to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority declined to comment.

The newspaper separately reported the head of the RCBC branch where the transactions occurred had made a statement that top bank officials were aware of the transactions “at every stage.”

RCBC’s shareholders “are fully committed to comply with all banking laws and regulations, in particular those on money laundering,” Vice Chairman Cesar E.A. Virata said in a news statement on Wednesday. In a separate statement, the bank’s CEO Lorenzo Tan condemned “any insinuations that the top management of the bank knew of and tolerated alleged moneylaundering activities in one branch.”

The exact amount stolen from Bangladesh is a moving target. While Muhith said the Fed was responsible for at least $100 million, another Bangladeshi central bank official who asked not to be identified said $20 million of a $101-million total had been recovered from an account held in Sri Lanka, leaving $81 million unaccounted for. That figure matches the amount RCBC’s Virata said the bank was investigating.

“The Philippines still struggles to establish a robust bureaucracy that can properly supervise and regulate the financial system,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, an assistant professor of political science at the De La Salle University.

There are still a “myriad of loopholes in the Philippines’s legal and lawenforcement system.” Bloomberg News