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Monday, March 14, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 158

MPIC seen getting govt nod for Cebu toll bridge

B L S. M

ONGLOMERATE Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) should soon get the go signal for the construction of an 8.25-kilometer toll bridge that will connect the municipality of Cordova to the city of Cebu, a government official said. Department of Public Works and Highways Region 7 Regional Director Ador G. Canlas said government and Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. officials will meet on Thursday to finalize the P27.9-billion deal. “We will meet with them on March 17 for the presentation of the final

INSIDE

WAITING GAME

alignment of the bridge,” he said. “The issuance of the certificate of no objection will depend on what roads will be affected.” The project was bagged by Metro Pacific, through a joint venture with the local governments of Cebu and Cordova. By nature, the project will

have to undergo a competitive challenge, as it is an unsolicited proposal. Not a single company challenged Metro Pacific’s proposal. With the award, the toll-road operator will take on the financing, design, construction, and operation and maintenance of the Cebu-Cordova Bridge under an unincorporated joint venture with the local government units. The project aims to decongest traffic in the two existing bridges—Marcelo Fernan Bridge and Mandaue Bridge—between Mactan and Cebu, due to the worsening traffic condition in the area. It includes the construction of the connections to Cebu City and Cordova, the main bridge structure, viaduct, causeway, roadway and toll facilities. It is located some 7.5 km south of the Mandaue Bridge and

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PPP: A CREDIT CARD, MARRIAGE CONTRACT AND‘BAYANIHAN’ PPP Lead Alberto C. Agra

Conclusion

IMPLIFYING a complex arrangement like a publicprivate partnership (PPP) is not a daunting task as it may seem. Using metaphors and comparing PPPs with common or day-to-day activities will definitely help in informing the public about this development strategy. Popularizing PPP demonopolizes knowledge and facilitates the creation of a broad PPP learning ecology.

C  A

C  A

PPP METAPHORS

C4 MPIC PHOTO

SPORTS 5 YEARS AFTER THE SPARK, SYRIA WAR AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE

1.23M OFWs in Middle East could lose jobs due to cheaper oil–DOLE

PERSPECTIVE

OME 1.23 million semiskilled or low-skilled overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) could lose their jobs should the price of oil in the world market continues to fall, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) officials told the House of Representatives. The House Committee on Overseas Welfare Affairs, headed by Trade Union Congress of the Philippines Rep. Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza, quoting Labor Undersecretary Nicon F. Fameronag, said 1.23 million OFWs might be displaced should conditions at the oil industry in the Middle East worsen.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 46.7440

However, the committee, in a statement, said no massive displacement of OFWs is happening in the Middle East for now. Of the 196 returning OFWs from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East early this year, only eight have been displaced due to falling oil prices in the world market. Lawyer Francisco Noel R. Fernandez III of the Department of Foreign Affairs Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFAOUMWA) also told the committee OFW conditions in the Middle East are not critical at this point. Mendoza gave assurance the com-

mittee is looking into government plans and programs to help the returning OFWs remain productive upon their return to the Philippines. Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac assured the committee the government is closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East and that government programs are in place to look after the welfare of OFWs in those countries. “Returning OFWs may avail themselves of the DOLE’s AssistWELL Program, a component of the

PRIVATE SECTOR

PUBLIC SECTOR

Credit Card

PPP Bayanihan

Marriage Contract

Boat Ride AUTHOR: ALBERTO C. AGRA

BM GRAPHICS: JOB RUZGAL

C  A

n JAPAN 0.4130 n UK 66.7738 n HK 6.0222 n CHINA 7.1831 n SINGAPORE 33.8798 n AUSTRALIA 34.8290 n EU 52.2504 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.4670

Source: BSP (11 March 2016 )

A2 Monday, March 14, 2016

News

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and financing costs. The project’s price tag inflated by as much as P10.9 billion from an earlier projected cost of just P17 billion. Funding will be sourced from a combination of loans from local banks and equity contribution. The construction of the project is targeted to start sometime in 2017 and should be completed by 2020. The Cebu-Cordova Bridge is the infrastructure conglomerate’s first bridge

project and the first toll-related deal outside Metro Manila. The tollroad company is the parent firm of Manila North Tollways Corp., the operator of the North Luzon, Subic-Clark-Tarlac, Manila-Cavite Toll and the future CaviteLaguna expressways. It also has significant interests in thoroughfares outside the Philippines, namely, Thailand and Vietnam.

BusinessMirror

MPIC seen getting govt nod for Cebu toll bridge C  A

will take off from the Cebu South Coastal Road crossing the Mactan channel to Mactan Island. The project is estimated to cost not more than P27.9 billion, which includes the construction cost plus inflation over a four-year stretch, the toll facilities and operating system, the right-of-way cost

1.23M OFWs in Middle East could lose jobs due to cheaper oil–DOLE C  A

National Reintegration Program for OFWs, which provides welfare, employment, livelihood and legal assistance to the repatriates,” Cacdac said. The DOLE’s Assist-WELL Program is a package of reintegration assistance/ services to address the welfare, employment, legal and livelihood needs of repatriated workers. Earlier, Dignidad, a newly established coalition of grassroots organizations and civil-society groups, said the possible displacement of million of workers in the Middle East highlights the need for the government to embark on a national employment program. Wilson Fortaleza of Partido Manggagawa and a working group member of Dignidad said a national employment program is needed to absorb the returning OFWs and provide opportunities for the big number of unemployed people to find gainful and decent work in the country. “Investment-led employment and selfhelp livelihood programs facilitated by the

EASTERLIES AFFECTING EASTERN SECTION OF THE COUNTRY (MARCH 13, 5:00 AM)

government during the past decades have fallen short in addressing the country’s chronic unemployment problem. Hence, a must-do option to ensure employment for all is for the government to institutionalize a national public-employment program,” Fortaleza said. Fortaleza, also a coconvener of Kampanya para sa Makataong Pamumuhay, said the government’s employment program centers not on the creation but on job facilitation done under the Public Employment Services Office and seasonal job fairs initiated by the DOLE and the private sector. Also, economist Calixto Chikiamco warned that oil prices and political turmoil have affected the economies of countries hosting OFWs. “One of the growth drivers is remittances, but there are political uncertainties in the Middle East and, of course, oil prices have gone down. So the economies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, are severely challenged. They might [start)] sending OFWs home,” he said. Saudi Arabia, for one, has reported cuts in its bud-

get because of the collapse in crude prices, as 75 percent of its revenue comes from oil. Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian of Valenzuela called on President Aquino to immediately sign the proposed Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Act amid the expected mass retrenchment of OFWs in the Middle East. “There is no excuse for delay. The immediate signing of the proposed law will ensure that the OWWA Fund will be used solely for the welfare of OFWs and their families with the looming mass retrenchment of workers in the Middle East,” said Gatchalian, a majority member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Gatchalian added that the reintegration is exactly the kind of service that jobless OFWs will need from the government in this time of crisis. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has said her agency has sufficient funds for repatriation and other kinds of aid for OFWs who will lose their jobs and have no recourse but to return to the country. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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BMReports BusinessMirror

Monday, March 14, 2016 A3

78.8% of ₧3.002-trillion national budget for this year released in February–DBM

B D C

HE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has already disbursed as of February 78.8 percent, or P2.365 billion, of the P3.002trillion national budget this year. In a status report on the nation’s budget posted on the DBM web site, it was indicated that the bulk of the disbursements was for automatic appropriations, such as interest payments and internal-revenue allotment (IRA).

For automatic appropriations, a total of P859.71 billion, or 92.4 percent of the total allocation, had already been disbursed. For the actual annual budget, or the actual allocations for 2016, aside from those items for which budgets are automatically appropriated, the disbursement rate of the DBM is at 72.5 percent. Under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2016, a total of P2.071 trillion was allocated for the various government departments. This was the actual annual budget approved by Congress, because Congress does not have discretion over the amount allocated for automatic appropriations, since the budgets for those items are already provided for in previous laws. Of the P2.071-trillion allocation in the GAA for 2016, the DBM has already released 72.5 percent, or P1.502 trillion. The bulk of the releases, or 88.5 percent, was released

₧859.71B Disbursements for automatic appropriations

as budget of the various departments of the government, while only 15.3 percent was released from the Special Purpose Funds, or those funds reserved in the Treasury for specific purposes, as mandated by law. Of the Special Purpose Funds amounting to P408.29 billion in the 2016 annual budget, only the Local Government Support Fund has been substantially released as of February, with 95.5 percent of the fund, or P18.21 billion, already disbursed. The budgets released to the departments

for the period amounted to P1.43 trillion, or 88.5 percent of the total spending program for 2016. The DBM earlier explained that, while the budget for the various departments and projects of the government had already been released, as early as the first working day of the year, the actual spending would still have to follow the schedule of payments. Thus, the departments may not make payments for obligations that have yet to fall due, and projects that have not yet met a certain threshold of completion cannot be paid more than what has already been completed. The budgets are only deemed released, because, under the current DBM regulations, there is no need to secure the special allotment release order to release the money to the depository banks of a particular government instrumentality since the GAA itself already serves as the release document.

Godspeed, Amba Outpouring of love from people who know Amba overflows at wake

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AseanMonday BusinessMirror

Monday, March 14, 2016 A5

Thai PM urges public Malaysia issues foreign to help save energy workers recruitment ban

ANGKOK—Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha has urged the public to help the country by saving electricity for one hour daily, between 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., from March 20 to May 20, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

Energy Minister Gen. Anantaporn Kanjanarat said the prime minister stressed on this during a National Energy Policy Committee meeting held on Friday. He said that the prime minister wanted all sectors to cooperate to help save energy as the peak of elec-

tricity consumption was expected to be at 29,018 megawatts (MW) on assumption that this year’s national economy would grow at around 2.7 percent to 2.8 percent. Prayut also urged the relevant agencies to help encourage the use of electric vehicle (EV) in Thailand,

Gen. Anantaporn said. It is projected that there would be 1.2 million of EVs in Thailand by 2036, while there would be around 700 to 1,000 EV charging stations. Prayut had also asked government offices to proceed with the solar rooftop power-plant projects, which could help cut their electricity expenses. The solar-rooftop project is for use only and not for sale. Total production is at 100 MW of which state-r un organizations—the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Provincial electricity Authority—will each manage half of. Details of the project will be announced either in May or June, Anantaporn said. PNA

UALA LUMPUR—Malaysia on Saturday banned the recruitment of new foreign workers after widespread criticism of its decision to bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshis to work in the country, a move that may also affect Indian laborers. “There will not be one, let alone 1.5 million new foreign workers coming into our country,” Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said. Ahmad Zahid, also the country’s home minister, said employers who want to hire foreign workers should recruit from among foreign employees already in Malaysia. The move comes after widespread criticism of its decision to bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshis to work in Malaysia, which relies

heavily on foreign workers from India, Indonesia and Bangladesh to help out in manufacturing and construction sectors. Most Malaysians are reluctant to work in these sectors. “Employers who need workers will have to apply to legalize existing foreigners in the country without work permits or whose permits have expired,” the minister told reporters. Ahmad Zahid said employers had until June 30 to legalize such foreign workers. “The government is bringing forward the deadline from December 31, because employers continuously ignore the chances given to them,” he was quoted as saying in the local media. “Instead, the government is

criticized and pressured. If they can’t hire anyone, they should just get the Malaysian Employers Federation, Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and Malaysian Trade Union Congress to help them find locals to do the job,” he said sarcastically. Ahmad Zahid said employers and recruitment agents would be dealt with more severely. “We will be pushing for those found guilty of trafficking and harboring illegal workers to be caned. “Right now, they are not afraid because they think they can get away by paying a fine but that will not be the case anymore,” he said. However, the decision, which was made at a Cabinet meeting on Saturday, would not involve the domestic help or the maid sector. PNA

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • Monday, March 14, 2016

The World BusinessMirror

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Trump’s new normal: Chaotic campaign rallies

LEVELAND—Hundreds of police officers, Secret Service agents and private security guards in cars, on foot and on horseback blanketed the area around Donald Trump’s campaign rally on Saturday afternoon. Dozens of protesters would soon be ejected from the event.

And that was the calmest rally in the past several days thrown by the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Welcome to Trump’s new normal. After months spent goading protesters and appearing to encourage violence, Trump has seen his raucous rallies devolve over the past two weeks into events at which chaos is expected. The real-estate mogul is routinely unable to deliver a speech without interruption, and a heavy security presence is commonplace amid increasingly violent clashes between protesters and supporters. On Friday groupings of well-organized students succeeded in keeping Trump from even taking the stage at a rally in Chicago. The next morning, a protester rushed the stage at a Trump rally outside of Dayton, forcing Secret Service agents to leap on stage and form a protective circle around him. “Frankly, I’m a little shocked that we got to this point, I’m shocked at it,” said Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is vying with Trump to win his home state’s winner-take-all primary on Tuesday. “We cannot create in this country a toxic environment where images of people slugging it out at a campaign rally, think about it, are transmitted all over the globe,” he said. Trump’s events have always been intense. For months, he incorporated interruptions by protesters into his speeches, growling “Get ‘em out!”— sparking explosive cheers from the audiences as he did so. While Trump sometimes appears angered by the disruptions, he has also embraced them, using the interruptions as opportunities to lead his

Protesters in Cleveland told to leave the rally

supporters in chants of “USA, USA.” He’s also joked about how the protesters force TV cameras to pan out over the crowd and show how large they are. But the confrontations began to escalate this month, most notably at a Trump event in New Orleans. A steady stream of demonstrators interrupted Trump’s speech, including a huddle of Black Lives Matter activists, who locked arms and challenged security officials to remove them. There were skirmishes throughout the speech, mostly pushing and shoving, although one man was captured on video biting someone. This week an older white Trump supporter was caught on video punching a younger African-American protester as police led the protester out of a rally in North Carolina. The supporter, later charged with assault, told an interviewer the next time he confronted a protester, “We might have to kill him.” Two days later, police arrested nearly three-dozen people at a rally in Saint Louis that was interrupted so many times by protesters that Trump joked about how long it was taking him to complete his remarks. Hours before Trump was scheduled to appear on Friday night at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the atmosphere inside a campus arena was

SECURITY personnel surround Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after a man tried to rush the stage during a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, outside of Dayton, on Saturday. The man was stopped and Trump continued with his speech. LISA POWELL/THE DAYTON DAILY NEWS VIA AP

crackling as protesters and supporters shouted back and forth, arms raised and yelling in each other’s faces. Some of the protesters, many of whom said they supported Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, said they planned to rush the stage when Trump came out to speak. They didn’t get the chance, as Trump called off the rally before even getting to the venue. “It feels amazing, everybody came together,” said Kamran Siddiqui, 20, and a student at the school. “That’s what people can do. Now people got to go out and vote because we have the opportunity to stop Trump.” The next morning, Trump was midspeech when a man, later identified by authorities as Thomas Dim-

assimo of Fairborn, Ohio, jumped a barricade and rushed at Trump. He was able to touch the stage before he was tackled by security officials. Trump initially laughed it off, but later in the day, said Dimassimo had ties to the Islamic State. Experts who watched a video Trump tweeted as evidence called the allegation “utterly farcical.” “Trump’s accusations about it being linked to ISIS [Islamic State in Syria and the Levant] serve only to underline the totality of his ignorance on this issue,” said Charles Lister, a fellow at the Middle East Institute. At the Cleveland rally, more than a dozen officers on horseback patrolled the outside as police helicopters buzzed overhead. Hundreds of

officers massed inside to block some exits and sweep the audience out after the event ended. More than 50 protesters, including a pair of doctors who removed sweat shirts to reveal white T-shirts printed with “Muslim Doctors Save Lives in Cleveland,” were told to leave. Things weren’t much different at Trump’s evening rally in Kansas City, Missouri, where protesters interrupted the candidate throughout his speech. While he asked his supporters not to hurt them, a visibly annoyed Trump also said he was “going to start pressing charges against all these people.” Back in Cleveland, Brandon Krapes said he was punched repeatedly after he held up his sign, which

said, “Trump: Making America Racist Again.” His 17-year-old son Logan had a freshly bruised cheek from what he said was a punch in the face he received while trying to help his father. “The sheer amount of hatred in there is so blatant, and Trump does nothing to stop it,” said Sean Khurana, a 23-year-old Cuyahoga Community College student, who is Indian-American. He said someone called him “ISIS” as he stood in line. “He provokes it.” Trump, meanwhile, celebrated a successful campaign day on Twitter. “Just finished my second speech,” he wrote. “20K in Dayton & 25K in Cleveland—perfectly behaved crowd. Thanks-I love you, Ohio!” AP

NEWLY DISCOVERED BACTERIA Merkel faces triple challenge as states vote amid refugee crisis CAN EAT PLASTIC BOTTLES V

TEAM of Japanese scientists has found a species of bacteria that eats the type of plastic found in most disposable water bottles. The discovery, published on Thursday in the journal Science, could lead to new methods to manage the more than 50 million tons of this particular type of plastic produced globally each year. The plastic found in water bottles is known as polyethylene terephalate (PET). It is also found in polyester clothing, frozen-dinner trays and blister packaging. “If you walk down the aisle in WalMart you’re seeing a lot of PET,” said Tracy Mincer, who studies plastics in the ocean at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Part of the appeal of PET is that it is lightweight, colorless and strong. However, it has also been notoriously resistant to being broken down by microbes—what experts call “biodegradation.” Previous studies had found a few species of fungi can grow on PET, but until now, no one had found any microbes that can eat it. To find the plastic-eating bacterium described in the study, the Japanese research team from Kyoto Institute of Technology and Keio University collected 250 PET-contaminated samples including sediment, soil and wastewater from a plastic bottle-recycling site. Next they screened the microbes living on the samples to see whether any of them were eating the PET and using it to grow. They originally found a consortium of bugs that appeared to break down a PET film, but they even-

tually discovered that just one of bacteria species was responsible for the PET degradation. They named it Ideonella sakainesis. Further tests in the lab revealed that it used two enzymes to break down the PET. After adhering to the PET surface, the bacteria secretes one enzyme onto the PET to generate an intermediate chemical. That chemical is then taken up by the cell, where another enzyme breaks it down even further, providing the bacteria with carbon and energy to grow. The researchers report that a community of Ideonella sakaiensis working this way could break down a thin film of PET over the course of six weeks if the temperature were held at a steady 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Mincer said the study was impressive and did a good job showing that these organisms were eating the plastic pretty well. However, he said it was not immediately clear whether or not it would help keep plastics out of the ocean, for example. “When I think it through, I don’t really know where it gets us,” he said. “I don’t see how microbes degrading plastics is any better than putting plastic bottles in a recycling bin so they can be melted down to make new ones.” He added that the research could make it easier to identify other microbes that might have similar PETdegrading capabilities. “This process could be quite common,” he said. “Now that we know what we are looking for, we may see these microbes in many areas around the world.” Los Angeles Times/TNS

OTERS in three German states go to the polls on Sunday in the first major electoral test of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-border refugee policy. More than a fifth of the German population lives in the regions at stake, making the contest the biggest of Merkel’s third term and the most significant vote before the next federal ballot in 18 months. Voting stations open at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m., when exit polls will be released. While voters will be casting their ballots for regional assemblies, surveys show the biggest public concern to be Europe’s refugee crisis and its impact on Germany. The arrival of about 1 million asylumseekers in Germany last year alone has hurt support for Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party nationally and threatens to upend the election outcome in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg,

Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. “Merkel faces the most serious challenge of her chancellorship in the migrant crisis” and a major setback for her party on Sunday would “trigger some unsettling headlines and possibly even speculation that her position may be at risk,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank. “That could cause concerns well beyond Germany.” The refugee issue is reverberating around the European Union (EU), replacing the euroarea’s debt woes as the most significant in a series of crises chipping away at the EU’s political and economic cohesion. Bitter disagreements between capitals are stoking fears that border-free travel and commerce—one of the EU’s signature achievements along with the single currency—will be suspended. An associated rise in populism is eroding support for es-

tablished parties across the bloc, making coalition-building increasingly difficult from Spain to Ireland. Sunday’s state elections are likely to show that Germany is no longer immune to the allure of right-wing populism, with polls suggesting a surge in support for the anti-immigration AfD party in all three regions. Merkel’s problem is that as recently as last fall polls suggested the CDU had a lock on all of them. Since then, the onslaught of the refugee crisis has thrown the results into doubt. The biggest prize on offer is BadenWuerttemberg, a state of 10.7 million on the Swiss border with an economy bigger than Poland’s. It’s been led by Germany’s first Green state premier since 2011, and the CDU is vying to recapture what was prior to that a heartland for

more than half a century. Rhineland-Palatinate, known for its wine terraces along the Rhine river, as well as BASF SE’s chemicals, may see Merkel’s party hold on to take the state from the Social Democrats, who have governed it for 25 years. In Saxony-Anhalt, in the ex-communist east, CDU premier Reiner Haseloff is within reach of another five years atop a state coalition with the Social Democrats, although support for the AfD of as much as 18 percent may derail that alliance. “Major losses on Sunday would add to the unease within her own party,” said Berenberg’s Schmieding. “If Merkel’s approach to reduce the inflow of migrants, namely to strike a deal with Turkey, were to falter at the EU summit on March 17 and 18, she could be under serious pressure from within her own party.” Bloomberg News

Demanding pay, Chinese miners protest

EIJING—Thousands of Chinese miners who say they have not been paid for months staged a rare protest in a northeastern city, days after the provincial governor made the apparently false claim that no miner working for the province’s largest publicly-owned mining company was owed any back wages. Angry miners from the Longmay Mining Holding Group Co. Ltd. and their family members marched through the city of Shuangyashan on Saturday and gathered in front of the company’s local offices. In response, the government of Heilongjiang province issued a statement on Saturday night acknowledging that many Longmay employees are owed wages and benefits, backtracking from Gov. Lu Hao’s assertions earlier this month.

The protest and the change in the government’s stance underline the sensitivity of the employment issue, as Chinese miners and others in state industries are losing their jobs or seeing their pay drastically cut. China’s massive state-owned mining companies are struggling to boost efficiency and reduce their payrolls amid a severe a slump in coal demand brought on by sharply slowing economic growth. The pain is particularly acute in China’s northeastern rustbelt, where Heilongjiang is located. Its biggest state-owned mining company, Longmay, is tasked with reducing its workforce by 22,500 people in the immediate future, according to state media reports. Longmay reportedly owed 800 million yuan ($123 million) in back pay for 2014.

A lengthy investigative report by China’s leading financial news group Caijing reported in January that pay for Longmay workers has been continually cut, and even those reduced wages had not been paid for three to four months. Then on March 6 Lu, considered a rising political star, said at the national legislature’s annual session that Longmay’s 80,000 miners hadn’t received a single cut in wages and all were paid on time. The remarks seemed aimed at showing that Longmay and the province were meeting the leadership’s expectations for competently handling economic challenges. Calls to local police, government offices and Longmay rang unanswered on Sunday, but witnesses told The Associated Press that thousands of workers took part

in the demonstration. A local resident who gave just his last name, Li, said the protesters were holding banners demanding back pay. Li said he knew of Longmay workers who had not been paid for six months. Another eyewitness, who gave her last name as Wang said she has family members working for the mines. She said their wages were cut to less than 1,000 yuan ($154) per month, and the workers either did not receive their full wages or were not paid at all for months. She said the protesters displayed a banner reading: “We need to eat. We need to live.” Both Li and Wang said the protest was peaceful and that a large number of riot police had been dispatched to the scene. They said the demonstrations ended around 4 p.m. AP

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Monday, March 14, 2016

Fake story reflects rural, urban divide in China

EIJING—A woman from a big Chinese city visits her boyfriend’s rural hometown and is so appalled by the squalor she sees that she dumps him. The story was fake, but it swept through Chinese media, because it highlighted a deep societal gap that the ruling Communist Party has vowed to close. Rural Chinese not only make less than city-dwellers, but also receive significantly fewer social-welfare benefits, worsening a divide that was brought into focus by the fictional breakup, initially posted online as a real-life account. The Chinese leadership, currently presiding over the country’s largely ceremonial legislature through March 16, has pledged to introduce policies to bring prosperity to the countryside. In a key policy address over the weekend,

Premier Li Keqiang pledged to improve countryside infrastructure and access in rural areas to social benefits. “The core of our job is to bring a society of common prosperity,” said Zhu Liangyu, a delegate to the National People’s Congress from Beijing, “and we can only accomplish the task when the rural peasants are economically prospering.” Urban dwellers have only recently begun to outnumber rural ones in China, becoming more than half of

the population in 2011. But the split between them has been entrenched by the decades-long practice of differentiating them and their rights, based on residence registration. The Herculean task of addressing that split was highlighted by the uproar nationwide over the breakup story, which emerged earlier this year. “The fake love dispute and the ensuing heated discussions are only symptoms of a torn-up society,” observed Tang Yinghong, a psychologist and a popular national columnist. The female protagonist was from Shanghai, which represents “metropolitan China” and is comparable to any city in a developed country. Her lover hailed from a poor village in the hinterland province of Jiangxi, which could “be worse than Third World countries,” Tang said. They matched two popular stereotypes—the sheltered, well-heeled “peacock” girl of the city, and the selfmade “phoenix” man from the hinterland, who makes good in the big city. “The two Chinas have vastly different lifestyles, cultures and ideological thoughts, and the split between the two has reached an astonishing level,” Tang said.

The story as posted on a Web forum was from the point of view of the woman, explaining why she immediately fled from her boyfriend’s hometown and from the relationship. Accompanying it was a dimly lit photo of a squalid dinner table with dubiouslooking dishes. The story hit the screens of millions of smartphones across China during the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday. Hardly anyone bothered to check its authenticity, but much of the country jumped to vent their thoughts. Prominent columnists opined, and even the cardinal party-run newspaper People’s Daily and official Xinhua News Agency chimed in. Some observers bemoaned the woman’s lack of etiquette, while others argued that rural realities would be a shock to any city woman. Many real-life testimonials of such relationships soon followed, with some rural men wondering aloud whether they should even try for city women—a touchy subject in a country where men outnumber women because of the traditional preference for male children, especially in rural areas.

Relationship gurus snatched the chance to sell their theories on what makes a good match, while state media called for more tolerance and respect. “The fates of the protagonists are the foam created by the currents of our times,” the People’s Daily wrote. “The media should not feast on their pains, but reflect on deeper issues reflected by the foam.” Public discussions were so vehement that some Chinese journalists sought to find the protagonists and raised red flags when they could not. Eventually, China’s online regulators stepped in, investigated and declared the story was fabricated and the photo pirated. Authorities did not reveal who was the creator. Wu Qiang, a political scientist at Tsinghua University, said the furor over the breakup has showed the failure of Beijing to deliver the benefits of the past three decades of industrialization to ordinary people, especially those in China’s vast countryside. “A single photo of a rural dinner table has condensed so many social meanings of our time,” Wu wrote. “What kind of social relationships and social realities have made everyone un-

comfortable? Is it the widening gap between the cities and the countryside? Is it the class discrimination against the rural man? Or is it simply the differences in living habits between the rural and the cities?” Wu argued that China’s rural-urban differences must be addressed. “Only when everyone has equal rights can we make up the feudal gap between the cities and the countryside,” he said. In 2014 the average yearly income for a Shanghai resident was 47,710 yuan ($7,300), more than four times the 10,117 yuan ($1,547) a year for an average rural resident in the province of Jiangxi, though costs of living are significantly higher in cities. Zheng Fengtian, a professor of agriculture and rural development at Beijing-based Renmin University, said the income disparity is not as alarming as inequality in social benefits. For decades, China’s national policies have favored city residents, who are granted better social benefits, such as health, education, employment and pensions, while rural dwellers are left with reduced benefits on the grounds that they have access to land. AP

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Monday, March 14, 2016

How the Syrian conflict has changed the world

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin (center) shakes hand with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (left) as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (right) looks on in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on October 20, 2015. ALEXEI DRUZHININ, RIA-NOVOSTI, KREMLIN POOL PHOTO VIA AP

EIRUT—The Syrian conflict has had outsized impact on global politics. Below are five ways the world has changed:

Rise of Islamic State SYRIAN Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem sits beneath a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he speaks during a news conference in Damascus, Syria, on Saturday. SANA VIA AP

Geneva talks: Syrian govt to send delegation

AMASCUS, Syria—The Syrian government will send a delegation to Geneva to take part in UN-sponsored indirect peace talks with the opposition but has rejected the UN envoy’s call for presidential elections to be held in the next 18 months.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told reporters that the government team would head to Geneva on Sunday, but will not stay more than 24 hours if the opposition does not show up. The talks are scheduled to begin on Monday. The last round of indirect talks collapsed on February 3 over a Russian-backed government offensive in Aleppo. The new round of negotiations comes amid a twoweek partial cease-fire that has mostly held. Al-Moallem’s comments came as militants shot down a Syrian warplane over the northern village of Kfar Nabboudeh, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syria-based activist Muayad Zurayk. The Observatory said the pilot ejected and landed in a government-held area in the central province of Hama. There was no immediate word from the government about the shooting down of the plane, which the Observatory said was hit with a missile. The High Negotiations

24 hrs Duration of stay of Syria government delegation if opposition will not attend the talks

Committee, a Saudi-backed umbrella opposition group, said it would attend the talks and press for a transitional governing body with full executive powers in which President Bashar al-Assad and his associates would have no role. It also wants the restructuring of Syrian security forces. The dispute over the fate of Assad has been the main obstacle in previous rounds of talks. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has called for presidential elections in the next 18 months, but al-Moallem dismissed the idea. “Neither he nor anyone else has the right to talk about presidential

elections. This is an exclusive right of the Syrian people,” the foreign minister said. When asked about the opposition’s demands for a transitional body with full executive powers, al-Moallem said, “If this is what they think, I advise them not to come to the negotiations, so that they don’t make us tired and we don’t make them tired.” Al-Moallem then turned to the head of the delegation, Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, and said: “Bashar. This is a red line.” He said those in the opposition who have “illusions about seizing power in Geneva after they failed on the battlefield will fail.” He reasserted that the Syrian people are “optimistic” about peace talks in Geneva, adding: “We are going to Geneva to make the dialogue a success, but this doesn’t depend on us but also on the other parties.” A s s ad , whose f a m i ly h a s ruled Syria for more than four decades, was elected to a new sevenyear term in 2014 in an election boycotted by the armed opposition, which controls large parts of the country. Syria is set to hold parliamentary elections next month. Syria’s conflict began five years ago with mostly peaceful protests calling for political reform. A brutal government crackdown led to the rise of an insurgency and a fullblown civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced half the country’s population. “We are optimistic that we have begun to come out of the crisis,” alMoallem said, referring to recent

battlefield advances by government forces with the support of Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group. He also cited local amnesty deals reached with some rebels. Al-Moallem blasted the 22-member Arab League that, on Friday, formally branded Hezbollah group a terrorist organization saying, “It is shameful to undermine the resistance for Israel’s sake. It is shameful for those who claim they are Arabs. They should stop that.” He praised the main Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, that has been the most effective force in fighting the Islamic State (IS) group saying “Kurds are Syrians and stand alongside with us in the same trench against IS.” US Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile, said the UNsponsored peace talks should go ahead on Monday as planned, but that Russian and US monitors are meeting first to discuss alleged cease-fire violations. Kerry, speaking in Saudi Arabia, said he hoped for a telephone conversation on Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about accusations that Assad’s government is violating the cease-fire. He said Russian and US officials are also meeting on Saturday in Geneva and Amman. Asked whether the peace conference could go ahead on Monday, Kerry said, “Yes it can.” Kerry was due in Paris for talks on Sunday with European diplomats about Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine. AP

Iraqi officials: IS chemical attacks kill child, wound 600

AGHDAD—The Islamic State (IS) group has launched two chemical attacks near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing a 3-year-old girl, wounding some 600 people and causing hundreds more to flee, Iraqi officials said on Saturday. “What the Daesh terrorist gangs did in the city of Taza will not go unpunished,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said using an alternative acronym for the IS group during a meeting with village elders in Taza on Saturday. “The perpetrators will pay dearly.” Security and hospital officials say the latest attack took place early on Saturday in the small town of Taza, which was also struck by a barrage of rockets carrying chemicals three

days earlier. Sameer Wais, whose daughter Fatima was killed in the attack, is a member of a Shiite militia fighting IS in Kirkuk province. He said he was on duty at the frontline when the attack occurred early in the morning, quickly ran home and said he could still smell the chemicals in the rocket. “We took her to the clinic and they said that she needed to go to a hospital in Kirkuk. And that’s what we did, we brought her here to the hospital in Kirkuk,” he said. Wais said his daughter appeared to be doing better the next day so they took her home. “But by midnight she started to get worse. Her face puffed up and her eyes bulged. Then she turned black and pieces of her skin

started to come off,” he said. By the next morning, Fatima had died, Wais said. The hundreds of wounded are suffering from infected burns, suffocation and dehydration, said Helmi Hamdi, a nurse at the Taza hospital. He said eight people were transferred to Baghdad for treatment. “There is fear and panic among the women and children,” said Adel Hussein, a local official in Taza. “They’re calling for the central government to save them.” Hussein said a German and an American forensics team arrived in the area to test for the presence of chemical agents. US and Iraqi officials said US special forces captured the head of the IS unit trying

to develop chemical weapons in a raid last month in northern Iraq. The US-led coalition said the chemicals IS has so far used include chlorine and a low-grade sulfur mustard which is not very potent. “It’s a legitimate threat. It’s not a high threat. We’re not, frankly, losing too much sleep over it,” US Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters on Friday. Experts also say the extremist group appears incapable of launching a large-scale chemical weapons’ attack, which requires not only expertise, but also the proper equipment, materials and a supply-chain to produce enough of the chemical agent to pose a significant threat. AP

IT was in the vacuum of the deteriorating Syria conflict that a little-known and terrifically violent branch of al-Qaeda grew into the foremost terror group on the planet. In 2014 the Islamic State (IS) group completed its takeover of the eastern Syria city of Raqqa and went on to conquer Iraq’s Mosul. It eventually took over an area straddling the countries’ border the size of Britain—absorbing weapons, wealth and personnel along the way. The expansion went largely unchecked by the Syrian government, busy fighting opponents in its more populated regions closer to the Mediterranean coast. IS has sparked deep anxieties in the region and around the world by slaughtering minorities, institutionalizing sex slavery, vanquishing state armies and executing opponents in gruesome spectacles of violence. It destroyed heritage sites, such as temples in the ancient city of Palmyra, and fueled the global antiquities trade. The group has waged terror attacks from France to Yemen and has established a beachhead in northern Libya that could outlast its socalled caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Perhaps most confounding, thousands of young men and women from Europe—not all of Muslim origin—have flocked to join it.

Resurgent Russia

“ T HER E is one ma n on t his planet who can end the civil war in Syria by making a phone call, and that’s Mr. [Vladimir] Putin,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said recently. Russian President V ladimir Putin has established a renewed Middle East foothold after watching for years, as the United States called shots in the region. Last September after showering arms, advisers and economic assistance on President Bashar al-Assad to insufficient effect, Putin sent his air force to pound the Syrian government’s opponents. The recent ebb in violence is largely because Russia dictated it. Russia’s designs for Syria are still veiled, but whoever leads Syria next will largely owe their chair to Putin. Before Syria, there was Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, precursors to the current intervention, where Putin was unafraid to show the lengths he would go to protect perceived Russian interests. Now, Russia is positioned as a major broker in the region with significant oil and gas wealth. Expect political movements of all stripes to ask how Russia can serve their interests.

Europe destabilized

WHEN Europe fashioned its open border agreements late last century, it did not anticipate over a million migrants—mostly refugees from Syria—in one year alone, as happened in 2015. Thousands have died trying to cross by sea, posing a moral challenge for the continent. The stream, which continues unabated, has brought on

both generosity and xenophobia, ultimately shaking the open-border arrangement to the core. Europeans are now erecting barriers along the migrants’ Balkan route from Greece to Germany, after initially allowing entry to hundreds of thousands. Multitudes fester in squalid conditions in southeastern Europe. Many face legal limbo around the continent, waiting for asylum applications to be processed or residing without permits. The IS attack on Paris last November, though largely perpetrated by French and Belgian nationals, sparked security recriminations across Europe and boosted nationalist politicians. Echoes could be heard as far away as the US, where Republican front-runner Donald Trump shocked many by proposing a ban on Muslims entering the country. Europe is now exploring a deal to send all migrants arriving in Greece back to Turkey, in exchange for admitting preselected refugees from Syria. On top of its currency crisis, the mass migration has strained Europe’s unity to the limit.

Neighbors subverted

EU ROPE ’S m ig ra nt c r i si s i s dwarfed by the wave of displacement that has washed into Syria’s neighbors. Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan alone host around 4.4 million refugees from Syria; in Lebanon they make up more than onefifth of the population. Syrian refugees have brought capital and labor and produced mixed economic outcomes in their host societies, depending on what figures are consulted. The Syria conflict has also ensnared militias and state actors across the region, destabilizing fragile neighbors, like Lebanon, and reawakening ethnic tensions in Turkey, where the Syria conflict has provoked concerns of a civil war with the Kurds.

Iran ascendant

THE Syria conflict has rebalanced regional axes of power. Predominantly Shiite Iran’s sphere of influence now extends from Beirut to Tehran, with dependent governments in Baghdad and Damascus. The commander of the elite Quds Force of the vaunted Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, has visited Russia and is often seen directing deployments in Syria and Iraq. Iran has militias in both countries said to operate outside sovereign command structures. In Lebanon Iran is powerfully represented by Hezbollah, the part y-militia hybrid that expelled Israel from the south of the country in 2000. It has sent thousands of fighters to prop up Assad in Syria. Israel glumly watches its nemesis training with modern artillery alongside Russian and Iranian contingents, and fortifying its position along the Jewish state’s northern border. Hezbollah steadily marginalizes Saudi-backed opponents in Lebanon’s government. Saudi Arabia, the regional Sunni powerhouse, is struggling to maintain support for the mainly Sunni rebels it backs in Syria while also fighting Iran-supported Shiite rebels in Yemen. AP

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news@businessmirror.com.ph | Monday, March 14, 2016

China pledges new push vs ‘hostile forces,’ separatists

EIJING—China’s chief prosecutor said on Sunday that battling “infiltration, subversion and sabotage by hostile forces” is a key priority this year, with terrorists, ethnic separatists and religious extremists all in his crosshairs. In a speech to the annual session of China’s national legislature, Cao Jianmin also listed combatting cybercrime and ensuring national sovereignty in cyberspace as items topping the list of 2016 priorities. Prosecutors will also continue to follow up on cases brought to as part of an almost three-yearold nationwide anticorruption campaign spearheaded by the ruling Communist Party’s watchdog agency, Cao said. Although he identified no specific groups or individuals as threats, Beijing has in the past cited a long list of “hostile forces” it accuses of seeking to end communist rule and plunge China into chaos, division and economic ruin. Those include agents of foreign governments, civil-society groups who challenge the party’s absolute authority, religious dissenters, such as the underground church, and the banned Falun Gong meditation sect. Those campaigning for ethnic rights are also frequently cited, including exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama and advocates for the Turkic Muslim Uighur minority from the northwestern region of Xinjiang. In an accompanying address to the legislature, top judge Zhou Qiang said Chinese courts convicted 1,419 people last year of national security and terrorism crimes that carry potential death sentences. That compares with 712 people sentenced for incitement to separatism, terrorism and related charges in 2014, before last year’s passage of a sweeping new national security law. Fighting corruption also remains a priority, with prosecutors handling 4,490 cases involving more than 1 million yuan ($154,000) last year, up 22.5 percent from 2014, Cao said in his report. That was out of a total of 54,249 officials investigated, Cao said. Those prosecuted for graft last year include 22 former officials at the ministerial level or above, including Zhou Yongkang, a past member of the party’s allpowerful Politburo Standing Committee who was sentenced to life in prison for corruption. Such cases are referred to prosecutors only after suspects have been thoroughly investigated by the party’s Central Committee for Discipline Inspection. The body, whose methodologies and standards of evidence are kept secret, said this month it had dished out demotions and other punishments to nearly 300,000 officials last year. However, Cao said prosecutors have yet to indict 41 officials of ministerial rank or above under investigation for corruption, including Ling Jihua, a key aide to former President Hu Jintao. Ling has been under investigation for at least 15 months since being removed as head of the party’s United Front Work Department in December 2014. Starting from October 2014, China has also brought about the return of 124 corruption suspects who had fled abroad to 34 different countries, including some who had turned themselves in, Cao said.Details weren’t given on new measures to prevent Chinese Internet users from accessing overseas web sites, something China insists is its innate right in order to protect its “national cyberspace sovereignty.” China already blocks a wide range of foreign web sites, featuring news, research tools, such as Google; social media, including Facebook and Twitter; and filesharing sites, such as YouTube. AP

VOLUNTEERS return to a flooded house in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on Friday to assist the owners retrieve personal items, as floodwaters continued to rise following another morning of rain. TROY CATCHINGS/THE CLARKSDALE PRESS REGISTER, VIA AP) /THE PRESS REGISTER VIA AP

Unusually widespread flooding across Louisiana, Mississippi

ATTIESBURG, Mississippi— As the Leaf River rose north of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 26-year-old Rebecca Bruce and her fiancé grabbed what they could and left the shed where they live. The water was more than 2-feet deep indoors when they left, she said.

“We lost everything,” Bruce said on Saturday. “I’ve got a book bag full of dirty clothes, and I was lucky to get that.” Bruce was among about 20 people in a Red Cross shelter in the Forrest County Community Center on Saturday, as creeks and rivers continued to rise after torrential rains pounded the Deep South. It was one of nine shelters open in Mississippi and 24 in Louisiana. Downpours—part of a system affecting Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama—submerged roads and cars, washed out bridges and forced resi-

372 Homes were initially reported as damaged in Mississippi

dents to flee homes. At least three people have died in Louisiana alone. Mississippi officials were still looking for two missing fishermen, but

had no reports of injuries or deaths, said Lee Smithson, head of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (Mema). A Hancock County sheriff’s deputy was hospitalized after his patrol car skidded into a ditch on Friday night, but is now recovering at home, Chief Deputy Don Bass told the Sun Herald. Mema reported major damage to 95 homes, minor damage to 277 others, with reports still coming in from 41 of the state’s 82 counties. Smithson said Mississippi is dealing with the most widespread flooding since Hurricane Isaac dumped more than 2 feet of rain throughout the state. However, he said, “It has not been quite as rough a day as we thought it was going to be today.... It looks as if the significant rainstorms for the Mississippi Gulf Coast have not materialized.” Officials had been afraid that as many as 1,000 homes might flood in Forrest County, where the Leaf River is expected to crest on Sunday at 29.5 feet. But on Saturday, Smithson said, the number likely to be affected was looking more like 100 to 150. About 75 raised fishing camps in Pearl River County,

across from Slidell, were likely to be surrounded by water, he said. In Petal, a suburb of Hattiesburg, Azri Oatis and two friends were steadily shoveling sand into white bags in hopes they could save his slightly raised auto paint and body shop from the waist-deep water in its parking lot. It’s the first time floods have threatened the shop, he said. “Reality kind of slapped me in the face. You see it all the time, other places.” The flooding could be the area’s worst in more than 30 years, with the worst damage to low-lying areas in the southern and western parts of town, Petal Mayor Hal Marx said. “We’ve tried to tell for folks in those areas to get prepared, to get their belongings out,” Marx said on Saturday at the police station. It’s the most widespread nonhurricane flooding the Louisiana National Guard has ever dealt with, said Col. Pete Schneider, a guard spokesman. He said about 1,000 soldiers and air crews were at work in 25 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes. By Saturday morning, he said, National Guard crews in 160 highwater vehicles and 44 boats had rescued more than 2,100 people

and nearly 190 pets. Others had given out 582,000 sandbags. Floods closed highways across north Louisiana, along its western edge and across the southeast, according to a map on the state Department of Transportation and Development web site. “We have seen flood events in this state but never from one tip of the state to the next,” Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser told WDSU-TV. A power substation flooded, keeping Washington-Saint Tammany Electric Cooperative Inc. customers south of Folsom without power, Spokesman Coylean Schloegel told the station. The storm dumped so much water into the Ouachita River at Sterlington, about 25 miles north of Monroe, that it was running backward, John Stringer, president of the Tensas Basin Levee District, told The News-Star. “There are some strange things happening with this storm that I’ve never seen before,” he said. Michael Sorrels, a hydraulic engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District, said river elevations appeared to bear this out. “Now I’ve seen it all,” he said. AP

Caitlyn Jenner’s politics spark debate in transgender ranks

EW YORK—Since coming out a year ago, Caitlyn Jenner has not always been a unifying force in the transgender community. Her latest political remarks, underscoring her conservative outlook and praising Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, ignited criticism from supporters of transgender rights, who view most conservative Republicans as adversaries. Yet, a more nuanced conversat ion fol lowed, quest ioning whether transgender Americans must be monolithic in broadly supporting progressive politics, or whether they can make room for differing views.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said she is grateful there are transgender Republicans and would like to see the issue of transgender rights addressed on a nonpartisan basis. She also said it is inevitable that the ranks of transgender Americans would grow more diverse. “Trans people need to buckle up,” she said. “With all the folks who will be coming out in the next few years, you’re not going to agree with all of them.” While Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have voiced strong support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-

gender (LGBT) rights, Cruz and the other Republican contenders have expressed misgivings about same-sex marriage and supported protections for people who oppose it on religious grounds. Among those wrestling with the fallout of Jenner’s remarks is Jennifer Finney Boylan, a consultant and cast member on Jenner’s reality show, I am Cait. “In terms of equality and dignity, the difference between Republicans and Democrats is night and day,” Boylan said in an interview. “I don’t really get why you’d vote against your own civil rights.” Yet, Boylan remains engaged in the TV series and considers Jenner

a friend. Jenner sparked the furor with comments in a March 2 article in The Advocate, an LGBT-oriented magazine. “I like Ted Cruz,” Jenner declared, even while describing the Texas senator as “one of the worst ones” in regard to transgender rights. “The Democrats are better when it comes to these types of social issues. I understand that,” Jenner told The Advocate. “So why support Republicans? No. 1, if we don’t have a country, we don’t have trans issues. We need jobs. We need a vibrant economy.” Jenner suggested lighthearted ly t h at i f C r u z i s e lec ted president, she could become his “trans ambassador” and seek to

sway him on transgender issues. Transgender activist Dana Beyer, executive director of Gender Rights Maryland, said it should not be surprising that the former Olympic decathlon champion retained long-held political views. “We’re probably better off if she remains a Republican,” Beyer said. “The Republicans, for the most part, won’t talk to us, and we’re not going to make progress unless we persuade some of them. We need access.” According to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which supports LGBT political candidates, there are no transgender Republicans currently serving in elective office in the US. AP

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

A10 Monday, March 14, 2016

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

TAKING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

TO ALABAT, QUEZON B C R | Photos by Dennis Murillo

FOURHOUR bus ride southeast of Metro Manila will bring you to Lucena, the capital of Quezon—the hindmost province in the Calabarzon region. In the grand bus terminal here, locals will approach, start guessing your destination—Cagbalete, Borawan, Kwebang Lampas—and offer you transportation and tour services.

ALABAT has cultivated a thriving population of giant clams.

They seldom mention Alabat, though, and are often pleasantly surprised when you tell them you’re headed to Port Atimonan—the primary entry point to the eponymous island of Alabat. Taking into account the relative accessibility of the island—one of the requirements to become a veritable tourist destination, one had to wonder why the place had remained largely under the tourist radar for so long. There are several options for commuting to Atimonan: by bus, van or jeepney. Passing through the notorious “Bituka ng Manok,” it takes approximately an hour to reach the port. Boat rides to Alabat Island, as is common, depend on the weather and sea condition, but are usually available every hour. The boat ride across Lamon Bay then takes another 45 minutes, docking at the port of Alabat. Alternatively, starting March of this year, those who prefer a quicker way to the island could take a nineseater seaplane from the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Pasay, shortening the travel time to a mere 20 minutes but upping the cost to P4,500 a seat. The fifth-class municipality of Alabat is flanked by the towns of Quezon in the northern tip and Perez in the south. According to the locals, the name “Alabat” came from the Tagalog word for balustrade or balcony. The early inhabitants of the place put wooden balustrades across their doors to prevent little children from walking out of the house or falling from stairs. When American soldiers went to the island and asked what the place was called, a local— unable to understand the English language—thought they were asking about the balustrade he was installing, and so replied “alabat.” For many years, the locals of Alabat had made a decent living as farmers and fishermen. Up to the present day, its more than 16,000 residents continue to put to good use the strategic location of their home. Situated between Lamon Bay and the Pacific Ocean, Alabat—aptly dubbed as the Gateway to the Pacific—has waters that make for excellent fishing grounds. Its wide plains and fertile soil yield enough crops to sustain the town and then some. It was only in the early 2000s that Alabat saw modern developments. The old port of Alabat—considered

THE local Bantay Dagat hauls a 30-kilo Taclobo to show guests.

A WORKER strains the newly prepared coco sugar—one of the main products of Alabat.

as one of the most important commercial and trading points in the island—underwent major reconstruction, ultimately becoming one of the longest ports in the entire Quezon province. Paved roads have also been made, as well as access to telecommunication services. Now armed with its bountiful natural resources and modern improvements, the town widened its horizons and decided to play to its strengths by engaging in agri- and ecotourism. Visits to the variety of farms in Alabat are now being offered to travelers and academics alike. A trip to the calamansi farm that supplies the Philippines’s largest fast-food chain, a foray to cacao and red chili plantations, as well as a glimpse to the production process of coco sugar are what comprise the town’s agri-tour. Outdoorsy folks have a choice between a trek to Tumiis Falls in Pacific-facing Villanorte and a venture to Bosay Falls in the folds of Mount Camagon. Those who prefer water activities shouldn’t count Alabat out just yet, for the beach of Kabila—also in Villanorte—can rival those of Quezon’s more famous ones. Its shore is dynamic, with cream sands on some parts and smooth pebbles on others. Its water, a portion of the Pacific Ocean, is as still as a glass of blue in the morning and swells to large waves in the late afternoon. But perhaps the most interesting thing to do would be to take the 15-minute boat trip to the middle of Lamon Bay, where guests are encouraged to have their lunch on a floating cottage. The people of Alabat had cultivated a thriving population of Taclobo—giant

THE port of Alabat, considered as one of the longest in the Quezon province.

VISITORS are encouraged to have their lunch on a floating cottage in the middle of Lamon Bay.

THE length of Alabat with Mount Camagon in the distance

ROLLING mountains as viewed from Villanorte

clams—in these parts, so snorkeling is also highly recommended. One obstacle Alabat could be facing in its vie for tourists is the limited option for commuting around town. Tricycle rides, the only commuting option, are priced a fixed P50 per person—an amount already considered a stretch for budget-travelers, especially when the destination is only a 20-minute walk. The solution the local government had come up with is to provide packaged tours where transportation and accommodation are included. Another probable solution would be to have a system for renting a motorcycle or a bicycle, similar to places like Batanes and Palawan. However, bringing a private car had already been made possible by the daily Roro trip from Atimonan. In the grand scheme of things, though, the scant number of motorized vehicles also adds to Alabat’s advantage and undeniable charm. The air here is noticeably cleaner. Walking around town is commonplace and therefore safe. And because there are almost no engines revving, no honks blaring, the term “laidback” truly applies. Furthermore, what Alabat lacks in modern comforts, it more than makes up for in hospitality. The community, small and close-knit, treats you like one of its own—an occurrence not entirely new in Filipino culture. Yet, the generosity in Alabat is slightly more unabashed, more sincere, less ingratiating— a result, perhaps, of not having to deal with hundreds of tourists all the time. Here, rice is freely given. Meals are ridiculously cheap. People are generally unassuming. The less-traveled roads of Alabat, often flanked by a stretch of forests on one side and an expanse of rice fields on the other, may be considered a great gamble by travelers, specifically in terms of time and money. In this age of social media, where destinations must guarantee Instagram-worthy photos and yield experiences worth sharing, travelers flock to already well-known sites to make sure their vacation leaves and hard-earned money are maximized. One thing that must not be overlooked, however, is that in traveling, as with everything else, risk and reward are directly proportional. Extraordinary risk equals extraordinary reward. And in Alabat, extraordinary is in no short supply.

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Accuracy All fares, flight schedules and routes published are accurate at the time of publication. We reserve the right to revise any fares and flight schedules from time to time without prior notice.

4.6 Applicable Fares Applicable fares are those published by us or on our behalf, whether electronically or by way of other medium. Fares may exclude administration fees, service charges and other charges unless otherwise specifically stated by us. 4.7 Administration Fee We reserve the right to charge an administration fee for ancillary services.

CONTENTS Article 1: Article 2: Article 3: Article 4: Article 5: Article 6: Article 7: Article 8: Article 9: Article 10: Article 11: Article 12: Article 13: Article 14: Article 15: Article 16:

Applicability Definition Validity Fares Booking Check-in and Boarding Refusal and Limitation Of Carriage Baggage Schedules and Cancellations Refunds Conduct During Flight Liability Limitations Time Limitation on Claims and Actions Choice of Law and Jurisdiction No Right of Third Parties Modification and Waiver

Article 1: APPLICABILITY

5.1 Booking Requirements The booking of a Seat is confirmed after full payment of the fare is made and after we issue you an eTicket number. Once confirmed, the booking cannot be cancelled and payments made are not refundable, except as provided in these Conditions of Carriage. We accept group bookings of minimum ten (10) passengers or more in a single reservation. Please contact our Group Desk or Call Center for further details –+886-2-4498677 Less than four (4) hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time, no changes are allowed. More than four (4) hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time, you are allowed to change the booked flight to another flight subject to availability, payment of the prevailing charges per Passenger per Sector and also subject to the following conditions: a. If the new flight booked is at a lower fare than that of the cancelled booked flight, the difference in fares will not be refunded to the Passenger. b. If the new flight booked is at a higher fare than that of the cancelled booked flight, the difference in fares shall be paid by the Passenger before the cancellation or change can be made.

Except as provided in these Conditions of Carriage, in the event of inconsistency between these Conditions of Carriage and any other regulations we may have dealing with particular subjects, these Conditions of Carriage shall prevail.

Less than four (4) hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time, no changes are allowed. More than four (4) hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time, you are allowed to change the booked route to another route subject to availability, via our Call Center only, payment of the prevailing charges per Passenger per Sector and the following conditions: a. If the new flight booked is at a lower fare than that of the cancelled booked flight, the difference in fares will not be refunded to the Passenger. b. If the new flight booked is at a higher fare than that of the cancelled booked flight, the difference in fares shall be paid by the Passenger before the cancellation or change can be made.

The following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them below:

“Baggage” or “baggage” means your personal property accompanying you in connection with your trip. Unless otherwise specified, it includes both your Checked and Hand Carried Baggage. “Baggage Identification Tag” means a document issued by us solely for identification of Checked Baggage. “Baggage Options” means our range of baggage services and fees as detailed on our Website. “Call Center” means the telephone contact center operated by us or a third party service provider designated by us to facilitate telephone booking and enquires. The telephone numbers are listed at www. flyvair.com. “Carrier” means V Air Corporation or V AIR as the case may be (see also definition of “we”, “our”, “ourselves” and “us”). “Checked Baggage” means Baggage of which we take custody and for which we have issued a Baggage Identification Tag. “Convention” means any of the following:  The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, signed at Warsaw on 12 October 1929 (the Warsaw Convention);  The Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague on 28 September 1955;  The Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague and by Additional Protocol No. 4 of Montreal (1975);  The Guadalajara Supplementary Convention (1961);  The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, signed at Montreal on 28 May 1999 (the Montreal Convention);  Any other applicable protocols or conventions and any enabling legislation.

c. The change is not confirmed until we issue you a new eTicket number.

“Fees and Charges” means the page titled “Fees and Charges” on our Website. “Hand Carried Baggage”, means any Baggage other than Checked Baggage including all items brought by you into the aircraft cabin. “Journey” means a flight or flights pursuant to an eTicket number or Passenger Name Record (PNR) being issued. “Passenger”, “you”, “your” or “yourself” means any person, except members of the crew, carried or to be carried in our aircraft with our consent. “Reduced Mobility Passenger” means a person whose mobility is reduced due to a physical incapacity (sensory or locomotory), an intellectual deficiency, age, illness or any other cause of disability when using transport and whose situation needs special attention. “Sector” means the flight from the airport at the point of origin to the airport at the point of destination. “Seat” means a seat in our aircraft. “Serious Injury(ies)” shall have the same meaning as defined in Paragraph 4, Article 10 of Taiwan’s Criminal Code, which reads: “The term “serious injury” means one of the following listed injuries: (a) destruction of or seriously damage to the sight of one or both eyes, (b) destruction of or serious damage to the hearing of one or both ears, (c) destruction of or serious damage to the function of speech, taste, or smell, (d) destruction of or serious damage to the function of one or more limbs, (e) destruction of or serious damage to the power of procreation, or (f) other serious injury to body or to health that is either impossible or difficult to cure”.

Name changes are permitted only via our Call Center upon payment of the applicable change fee (see Fees and Charges). Name changes may only be made more than four (4) hours before the time of scheduled departure within our Call Center operating hour . Clauses 5.3 to 5.5 may not apply to certain promotional fares. Please refer to the terms and conditions of each promotion for further details. 5.7 Payment Fares must be paid in full when a booking is made. In the event that the fare has not been paid in full when a booking is confirmed for any reason whatsoever, we reserve the right to cancel the booking at any time and/or to disallow you to board the aircraft. 5.8 Personal Data V Air will seek your consent before using your personal data. You hereby acknowledge and agree that your personal data has been given to us for the purposes of making a booking for carriage and providing you with confirmation of that booking, and for providing and developing ancillary services and facilities, direct marketing and communicating with you in relation to promotions (which we will only do at your request or with your consent), products and services offered by us and our service partners, facilitating immigration and entry procedures, accounting, billing and auditing, checking credit or other payment cards, security, administrative and legal purposes, credit card issuance, systems testing, maintenance and development, statistical analysis, and helping us in any future dealings with you. For these purposes, by entering into a contract of carriage with us you authorize us to retain and use your personal data and to transmit it to our own offices, Authorized Agents and third party business associates, government agencies, other carriers or the providers of the services mentioned above. For more details see the Privacy Statement on our Website. We will release your personal data related to your booking to our subsidiary companies, Carriers and other companies involved in providing the Passenger with transportation or related services and facilities, data processors, agents, government enforcement agencies, and credit and other payment companies and screening companies. You can gain access to the information we hold about you and ask for correction of your personal information by writing to us at: V AIR CORPORATION 11/F, No.139, Zhengzhou Road Datong Dist., Taipei 103 Taiwan, R.O.C. 5.9 Seating We will attempt to accommodate your seat reservation, however, for safety, security or operational reasons, we cannot guarantee any particular Seat despite the fact that in some instances you may have paid for it. We reserve the right to assign or reassign Seats at any time, even after boarding the aircraft. 5.10 Meal Unless otherwise specified at the time of booking, your fare does not include meals or refreshments.

6.1 Check-in Deadline Check-in deadlines vary for different airports and for particular flights. In any event, we reserve the right not to accept you for travel if you arrive at our airport check-in counter less than forty-five (45) minutes before the scheduled departure time of your flight. You must arrive at the airport sufficiently in advance of the scheduled flight departure time to permit completion of government formalities and check-in procedures. It is your responsibility to ensure that you comply with these deadlines particulars of which will be available at the time you make your booking. Without derogating from the generality of other provisions of these Conditions of Carriage governing the right of refusal of carriage, we reserve the right not to allow you to check-in without any liability to you and without having to refund to you any fare paid: a. If you attempt to check in at the airport after closure of the airport check-in counters; b. If you fail to have proper identification or fail to identify yourself to our staff; c. If you fail to have the proper documents, permits, and/or visa necessary for travel to a particular place or country; d. If you have not fully paid any fare or other fees or charges due to us or any other authority;

“We”, “our”, “ourselves”, “us” or “Carrier” means V Air Corporation, V AIR or a carrier acting on our behalf as applicable.

e. If you have used threatening, abusive or insulting words towards our ground staff or a member of V Air or otherwise behaved in a threatening manner physically or verbally;

“Website” means the Internet site www.flyvair.com which is designated by us for the purpose of Passengers making online bookings and to access information about us.

3.1 Prima Facie Evidence of Contract The issuance of an eTicket is prima facie evidence of the contract for carriage between a Passenger and us.

h. If, in our sole judgment, you are not medically fit to travel or your medical condition poses or could pose a danger or threat to the health of other passengers.

3.2 Validity

Article 4: FARES 4.1 General Fares apply only to carriage from the airport at the point of origin to the airport at the point of destination. The fare is not valid for ground transportation between airports or to/from airports. We are a point-to-point carrier and will be only responsible for the services being included the fares, and shall not be responsible for flight abnormality not resulting from V Air. Fares will be calculated in accordance with our Tariffs in effect on the date of payment for the flight or flights concerned. Any approved flight change may be subject to additional payments due, as specified herein. 4.2 Infants An infant under the age of two (2) years (on the date of travel) will fly at the prevailing ticket fee of TWD 900 per Sector provided the infant sits on an adult’s lap. Only one (1) infant is allowed for one (1) passenger. The infant must travel with a passenger of at least eighteen (18) years old and above. The exception is when the infant is in the charge of its parent who is under eighteen (18) years of age. No baby seats or perambulators are allowed in the cabin of the aircraft. A child over the age of two (2) will require their own booking and separate Seat like any other Passenger. Newborn babies less than nine (9) Days old will not be accepted for carriage. 4.3 Taxes Any tax, fee or charge imposed by a government or other authority or by the operator of an airport in respect of your use of any services or facilities will be in addition to our fares, administration fees and charges and shall be borne by you, unless otherwise specifically stated by us. Such taxes, fees and charges imposed on air travel may change from time to time and can be imposed even after the

If the government or other authorities prohibit your checking in or boarding the aircraft;

g. If, in our sole judgment, you are drunk or under the influence of alcohol or drugs or any obvious adverse medical physical or mental condition; and/or

Article 3: VALIDITY

We will provide carriage only to the Passenger(s) named in the eTicket. You will be required to produce appropriate identification at check-in. Please refer to clause 6.2 of these Conditions of Carriage for more details.

We may refuse carriage of you or your Baggage for reasons of safety or if, in the exercise of our sole discretion, we determine that: a. Such action is necessary for reasons of safety or security. b. Such action is necessary in order to comply with any applicable laws, regulations or orders of any state or country to be flown from, into or over. c. Your conduct, status, age or mental or physical condition or the physical condition of your Baggage is such as to: i) require special assistance; or ii) cause harm, discomfort or make yourself objectionable to other Passengers or our crew; or iii) involve any hazard or risk to yourself or other persons or to property. d. You have committed misconduct on a previous flight and such conduct may be repeated. e. You have not observed, or are likely to fail to observe, our instructions. f.

You have refused to submit yourself or your Baggage to a security check.

g. The applicable fare or any charges or taxes payable have not been paid; or credit arrangements agreed between us and you (or the person paying the fare) have not been adhered to. h. The payment of your fare is fraudulent. i.

You do not have or appear not to have the proper documents for travel, you fail to have or provide such proper identification as we may require or you fail to adequately identify yourself to our staff and handling agents. The booking of your Seat has been done fraudulently or unlawfully or has been purchased from a person not authorized by us.

The booking confirmation is counterfeit or fraudulently obtained.

m. The booking confirmation has been altered by anyone other than us or our Authorized Agent, or has been mutilated (in which case we reserve the right to retain such documentation). n. The person checking in or boarding cannot prove that he/she is the person named as the Passenger on the eTicket or Boarding Pass. 7.2 Unaccompanied Child and Young Passenger Children within two (2) to below twelve (12) years old will not be accepted for carriage unless they are traveling with an Accompanying Guest who will take full responsibility for the child. Young Passenger within twelve(12) to sixteen(16) years old may travel on their own by completing an indemnity form signed by its Parent or Guardian. The indemnity form is not required if the Young Passenger is traveling with an Accompanying Guest. 7.3 Special Assistance We will not allow a person to travel without an Accompanying Guest unless the person can travel safely without assistance or supervision. We do not have the systems, staff or facilities required to assume responsibility for such assistance or supervision. However, we may be able to provide specific assistance or services to accommodate guests who require a wheelchair to get to and from the aircraft. We must be notified of the condition/requirements at the time of booking or at least forty-eight (48) hours before the flight through our Call Center in order for us to coordinate an airport third party to provide service needed. Failure to notify us in advance may result in the service being unavailable on your arrival at the airport and you being refused carriage. 7.4 Reduced Mobility Passengers For safety reasons, V AIR can carry only a maximum of four (4) Passengers per flight who have reduced mobility and require special assistance at the airport or on board. Please refer to the Special Assistance Policy. We must be notified of the condition/ requirements at the time of booking or at least forty-eight (48) hours before the flight through our Call Center in order for us to coordinate an airport third party to provide service needed. Failure to notify us in advance may result in the service being unavailable on your arrival at the airport and you being refused carriage. There may be a fee charged by a third party for some services that we have to obtain. The services may not be available on all routes due to local airport limitations. 7.5 Visually Impaired Passengers Such Passengers are permitted for carriage subject to the terms of the Special Assistance Policy.

8.2 Valuable and Fragile Goods Passengers should not check valuable and fragile goods as Baggage. If they are checked in as Baggage, Passengers agree they send for carriage such items at their own risk. Such items include money, jewelry, precious metals, silverware, electronic devices, computers, cameras, video equipment, mobile phones, negotiable papers, securities or other valuables, passports and other identification documents, title deeds, artifacts, manuscripts and the like. 8.3 Right to Search For reasons of safety and security, we may require you to undergo a search, x-ray or other type of scan on your person or your Baggage. We reserve the right to search your Baggage in your absence if you are not available. The search is conducted under the supervision of an appropriate security personnel for the purpose of determining whether you are in possession of or whether your Baggage contains any unacceptable or prohibited items. If you refuse to comply with such searches or scans we reserve the right to refuse carriage of you and your Baggage without refund of fare to you and without any other liability to you. In the event that a search or scan causes injury to you or damage to your Baggage, we shall not be liable for such injury or damage unless the same is due to our fault or negligence. If required, you must attend the inspection of your Baggage, checked or unchecked, by customs or other government officials. We are not liable to you for any loss or damage suffered by you through your failure to comply with this requirement unless due to an act or an omission on our part done with intent to cause damage or recklessly and with knowledge that damage would probably result. 8.4 Checked Baggage Baggage may only be checked in when check-in counter is open. Upon delivery to us of Baggage to be checked, we shall take custody thereof and issue a Baggage Identification Tag for each piece of Checked Baggage. Checked Baggage must have your name or other personal identification affixed securely to it. Checked Baggage will be carried on the same aircraft as you unless we decide for safety, security or operational reasons to carry it on an alternative flight. If your Checked Baggage is carried on a subsequent flight we will deliver same to you within a reasonable time of arrival of that flight unless applicable law requires you to be present for customs clearance. 8.5 Baggage Options A Baggage fee is charged for the total weight of all Checked Baggage. Baby buggies, wheelchairs and walking frames are carried free of charge. The Baggage fee may be prepaid at the rates set out on our Website under the “Travel” page when making your reservation online. Additional Checked Baggage can be purchased either at the time of booking or at a later date either online or by calling our Call Center up to four (4) hours prior to departure. All Checked Baggage remains subject to our rules regarding maximum size and subject to the conditions and limitations contained in these Conditions of Carriage. Any individual piece of Checked Baggage exceeding thirty-two (32) kilograms will not be accepted. The Baggage fee excludes sporting equipment – see Bulky Item set out on our Website under the “Travel” page. All Baggage fees paid are non-transferable and non-refundable. 8.6 Excess Checked Baggage You will be required to pay a charge for carriage of Checked Baggage in excess of what you have purchased, at the rates set out in our Fees and Charges. Excess Checked Baggage rates may be varied from time to time and will be available in our Fees and Charges or from us upon request and available at check-in. Carriage of all excess Checked Baggage is at our sole discretion and subject to space availability, and no refusal to carry your excess Baggage will make us liable for your loss, damage or inconvenience. 8.7 Hand Carried Baggage Only one (1) piece of Carry-On Baggage not exceeding the dimensions of 56cm X 36cm X 23cm plus an additional handbag or laptop of reasonable size is allowed to be carried on board with a combined weight of not more than ten (10) kilograms. Such Baggage must fit under the seat in front of you or in an enclosed storage compartment in the cabin. Items of excessive weight or size or of an offensive nature will not be permitted on board. Objects not suitable for transport in the cargo compartment will not be accepted for transportation in the cabin compartment except as otherwise provided in these Conditions of Carriage or with our prior written consent. The transport of such objects may be charged for separately. You shall collect your Baggage as soon as it is available for collection at your destination. If you do not collect it within a reasonable time and the Baggage needs to be stored at our premises, we may charge a storage fee. If Checked Baggage is not claimed within three (3) months from the time it was made available to you, we may dispose of it without any liability to you. We will deliver the Baggage to the person who is in possession of the Baggage Identification Tag or otherwise he/she has to establish to our satisfaction their right thereto, and if required by us, such person shall furnish adequate security to indemnify us for any loss, damage or expense which may be incurred by us as a result of such delivery. Acceptance of Baggage by the bearer of the Baggage Identification Tag without complaint at the time of delivery is prima facie evidence that the Baggage has been delivered in good condition and in accordance with these Conditions of Carriage between us. Other conditions relating to the carriage of your Baggage, including but not limited to carriage of sporting equipment and musical instruments, can be found on our Website under the “Travel” page. Article 9: SCHEDULES AND CANCELLATIONS 9.1 Schedules We will use our best efforts to avoid delay in carrying you and your Baggage. We will endeavor to adhere to published schedules in effect on the date of travel. However, times shown in timetables, schedules or elsewhere are subject to change due to force majeure, safety and commercial reasons. Except where legally obliged, we shall not be liable in any way whatsoever for any loss incurred by Passengers as a result of such changes either beyond our control or as outlined in Paragraph 9.2. 9.2 Cancellation and Changes of Schedules At any time after a booking has been made we may change our schedules and/or cancel, terminate, divert, postpone, reschedule or delay any flight where we reasonably consider this to be justified by Uncontrollable Circumstances or for reasons of safety or commercial reasons. In the event of such flight cancellation or changes to the schedule so as to depart more than four (4) hours before or after the scheduled departure time, the Passenger may elect, either: a. To be carried at the earliest opportunity on another of our scheduled services on which space is available without additional charge and, where necessary, extend the validity of your booking; or

6.2. Check-in Requirements On check-in you are required to present certain information relating to your flight and identity. This must include the eTicket number for the flight and a valid passport (and visa, where applicable) with the required validity period of at least six (6) months . For infants not requiring their own seat, a valid passport is required as proof of age (under two (2) years). 6.3 Boarding You must be at the boarding gate (after checking in) at least thirty (30) minutes before the scheduled departure time. Boarding gate closes ten (10) minutes prior to departure. Passengers arriving late at the boarding gate will not be accepted for travel, their bags will be offloaded and no refund or compensation given. If you fail to board your flight, any travel on a later flight will require a new booking at the applicable fare. 6.4 No-show You must be present at check-in counter on time and be present at the boarding gate not later than the time specified by us at the time of check in. If you fail to check in on time or fail to board the aircraft by the time the boarding gate closes, the fare and fees you paid will not be refunded to you for any reason whatsoever. For bookings with more than one flight, failure to travel on the first flight will not nullify the booking for the second or subsequent flight(s). 6.5 Compliance You are solely responsible for complying with all laws, regulations, orders, demands and requirements of countries flown from, into or over and with these Conditions of Carriage, notices and instructions given by us relating thereto. We shall not be liable in any way whatsoever to you in connection with obtaining necessary documents or complying with such laws, regulations, orders, demands, notices, requirements or instructions, whether given orally or in writing or otherwise, or for the consequences to you resulting from your failure to obtain such documents or to comply with such laws, regulations, orders, demands, notices, requirements or instructions. 6.6 Travel Documents You are solely responsible for obtaining and must possess and have available for presentation as required by the relevant authorities

b. To extend your ticket validity for 6 months. You are entitled to book or transfer your ticket in the same class in the same route once, free of charge. This free of charge re-booking must be used within 6 months of the original cancelled flight date; or

Where a cancellation or significant alteration is made to our schedule before the date of your departure, we will use all reasonable efforts to inform you of any such cancellation or alteration through the contact details which you provided at the time of booking.

If you require an extra Seat for a musical instrument or other article, you must book via our Call Center or Authorized Agent. We must be notified of the condition/requirements at the time of booking or at least forty-eight (48) hours before the flight through our Call Center. The prevailing fare will be charged and advance Seat assignment, including the payment of associated fees, will be required.

We will try our best to book you at the earliest opportunity on another of our scheduled services on which space is available without additional charge and, where necessary, extend the validity of your booking. If we are unable to provide you with a flight, or if you postpone your travel, we will offer you a credit voucher for the value of your fare, provided you rebook within six (6) months from the date of issue.

Article 8: BAGGAGE 8.1 Items Unacceptable as Baggage or To Be Carried Inside Baggage

9.3 Sole Remedies

9.4 Denied Boarding

c. Items of which the carriage is prohibited by the applicable laws, regulations or orders of any state or country to be flown from, to or over;

Article 10: REFUNDS

If we are unable to provide you with previously confirmed space on any flight, we shall provide you with compensation in accordance with our denied boarding compensation policy and existing laws, rules and regulations.

10.1 General There shall be no refund whatsoever except in the circumstances as provided herein or on our Website. We will only consider a request for refund if: a. After completion of the booking, the passenger cannot board the flight due to the death, or a serious illness defined by Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Act with a proof from a certified teaching hospital, of self, spouse, a parent, or a child; or

e. Fragile or perishable items; f.

Live or dead animals;

g. Human or animal remains; h. Fresh or frozen seafood or other meats provided that such items may be carried on board as Checked Baggage only if we are satisfied that they have been properly packed. (Strictly only styrofoam and/or cooler boxes that contain dry food/non-perishables are allowed to be checked-in after inspection of contents by relevant authorities.). Should Passengers refuse inspection, we have the right to refuse the Baggage; i.

Firearms and ammunition;

Explosives, flammable or non-inflammable gas (such as aerosol paints, butane gas, lighter refills), refrigerated gas (such as filled aqualung cylinders, liquid nitrogen), flammable liquids (such as paints, thinners, solvents), flammable solids (such as matches, fire lighters), organic peroxides (such as resins), poisons, infective substances (such as viruses, bacteria), radioactive material (such as radium), corrosive materials (such as acid, alkali, mercury, thermometers), magnetic substances, oxidizing materials (such as bleaches); and/or

k. Weapons such as antique firearms, swords, knives and similar items provided that such items may be allowed as Checked Baggage at our sole discretion. These cannot be carried into the aircraft for any reason whatsoever. If any items referred to in any part of this paragraph are carried, the carriage thereof shall be subject to the charges, limitations of liability and other provisions of these Conditions of Carriage applicable to the carriage of Baggage.

All refunds will be subject to applicable laws, rules and regulations or orders of the country in which the booking or refund was made. Subject to the foregoing provision, refunds will normally be made in the currency in which the booking was paid. Article 11: CONDUCT DURING FLIGHT 11.1 Control of Passengers If, in our sole discretion, you conduct yourself on board of the aircraft so as to endanger the aircraft or any person or property on board, or obstruct or hinder the crew in the performance of their duties, or fail to comply with any instruction of the crew including but not limited to those with respect to smoking, alcohol, use of cellular telephones, or use any threatening, abusive or insulting words towards the crew or behave in a manner which causes discomfort, inconvenience, damage or injury to other Passengers or the crew, we may take such measures as we deem necessary to prevent continuation of such conduct including restraint. You may be disembarked and refused onward carriage at any point and may be prosecuted for offences committed on board the aircraft. 11.2 Diversion Costs If, as a result of your conduct, we decide to delay or divert the aircraft for the purpose of offloading you, then you shall be liable for all costs which we incur of any nature whatsoever as a result of or arising out of that delay or diversion. 11.3 Use of Electronic Devices For safety reasons, we may forbid or limit operation on board the aircraft of electronic equipment, including but not limited to, cellular telephones, laptop computers, portable recorders, portable radios, CD players, electronic games or transmitting devices, including radio-controlled toys and walkie-talkies. Operation of hearing aids and heart pacemakers is permitted. Article 12: LIABILITY LIMITATIONS 12.1 Warsaw, Montreal Convention Notice If the Passenger’s Journey involves an ultimate destination or stop in a country other than the country of departure, the Warsaw Convention or the Montreal Convention may be applicable and the Warsaw Convention or the Montreal Convention governs and in most cases limits the liability of carriers for death or personal injury and in respect of loss of or damage to baggage. 12.2 Notice of Baggage Liability Limitations Liability for Damage to Baggage is limited unless a higher value is declared in advance and additional charges are paid. 12.3 Where the Warsaw Convention or the Montreal Convention Not applicable Where your carriage is not subject to the liability rules of the Warsaw Convention or the Montreal Convention, the following rules shall apply: a. Any liability we have for Damage will be reduced by any negligence on your part which causes or contributes to the Damage in accordance with applicable law. b. We will not be liable for Damage to Checked or Hand Carried Baggage unless such Damage is caused by our negligence and such Baggage was within our control or custody. c.

Except in the case of an act or omission done with intent to cause Damage or recklessly and with knowledge that Damage would probably result, our liability in the case of Damage to Checked Baggage shall be limited to NT$1,000 per kilogram and in the case of Damage to Hand Carried Baggage shall be limited to NT$20,000 per Passenger, provided that if in accordance with applicable law different limits of liability are applicable such different limits shall apply. If the weight of the Baggage is not recorded on the Baggage Identification Tag, it is presumed that the total weight of the Checked Baggage does not exceed the applicable free Baggage allowance for the class of your Journey or the Baggage allowance you purchased (if applicable).

d. We will not be liable for any Damage arising from our compliance with applicable laws or government rules and regulations or from your failure to comply with the same. e. Except where other specific provision is made in these Conditions of Carriage, we shall be liable to you only for recoverable compensatory damages for proven losses and costs in accordance with applicable law. f.

We are not liable for any injury for Damage caused by you, your Baggage or by property contained in your Baggage. You shall be responsible for any Damage you have caused, or is caused by your Baggage to yourself, to other persons or property, including our property.

g. We shall have no liability whatsoever for Damage to articles or items not permitted to be contained in Checked and Hand Carried Baggage including but not limited to fragile or perishable items, items having a special value, such as money, jewellery, precious metals, computers, personal electronic devices, negotiable papers, securities, or other valuables, business documents, passports and other identification documents, title deeds or samples. h. For the death of one Passenger, NT$3,000,000; for Serious Injuries, NT$1,500,000; for circumstances other than death or Serious Injuries, the actual damages will be calculated, with compensation amount not to exceed NT$1,500,000. We are not responsible for any illness, or disability, including death, attributable to your physical condition or for the aggravation of such condition. i.

We are not liable for normal wear and tear of Baggage such as small scratches, scuffs, dents, cracks and cuts; or for unsuitably packed, perishable, damaged or fragile baggage, for water damage to non-water resistant baggage or any damage to external fixtures such as handles, wheels, zipper or locks, including luggage tags, luggage belts, insignia or similar.

Unless otherwise provided in these Conditions of Carriage, we, our agents and employees shall not be liable for any death, personal injury (unless such death or personal injury was caused by negligence of us or our agents and employees), nor for any loss or damage however caused.

The contract of carriage including these Conditions of Carriage and exclusions or limits of liability, applies to our Authorized Agents, servants, employees and representatives to the same extent as they apply to us. The total amount recoverable from us and from such Authorized Agents, servants, employees and representatives shall not exceed the amount of our own liability if any.

Nothing in these Conditions of Carriage shall waive any exclusion or limitation of our liability or any defense available to us under the Warsaw Convention or any other applicable Convention or applicable local laws unless otherwise expressly stated by us. We will not in any circumstances be liable for indirect or consequential damages and in no event will our obligations exceed any liability specified in these Conditions of Carriage.

Article 13: TIME LIMITATIONS ON CLAIMS AND ACTIONS 13.1 Notice of Baggage Claims

Upon the occurrence of any of the events set out in the preceding clause, the options outlined therein are the sole and exclusive remedies available to you and we shall have no further liability to you.

b. Items which are likely to endanger the aircraft or persons or property on board the aircraft, such as those specified in the Dangerous Goods Regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and in these Conditions of Carriage;

d. Items which, in our sole discretion, are unsuitable for carriage by reason of their weight, shape, size or character;

10.4 Currency

c. To receive a full refund in accordance with these Conditions of Carriage (not applicable if the cancellation or change is due to an Uncontrollable Circumstance).

7.7 Extra Seats

a. Items which are not properly packed in suitcases or other suitable containers in order to ensure safe carriage with ordinary care and handling;

Refund processing will be completed within ninety (90) days upon rece the refund request.

8.9 Other Conditions

Pregnant women must have completed their Journey in full by the end of the thirty-fourth (34th) week of pregnancy. If the Passenger is between twenty-eight (28 ) and thirty-four (34) weeks pregnant, a medical certificate is required to confirm that she is fit to travel before she is accepted on-board for the flight. Flying is not permitted from the beginning of the thirty-fifth (35th) week onwards. V Air has no legal responsibility if a pregnant passenger, who does not notify her pregnancy before boarding, encounters any incident during a flight. V Air may also seek for compensation if a flight is deviated from its original plan because of a pregnant passenger's incident, including, but not limited to any medical emergency.

We reserve the right to refuse carriage of such Baggage or such items found in Baggage as follows:

We will not accept requests for refund from any person other than the Passenger.

8.8 Collection and Delivery of Baggage

7.6 Pregnant Passengers Article 6: CHECK-IN AND BOARDING

“Uncontrollable Circumstance” includes, among others, weather conditions at point of origin or destination or en-route to other ports, industrial action caused by staff not directly employed by V Air, air traffic control requirements or restrictions, closure of runways, or acts of war.

3.3 Identity

Article 7: REFUSAL AND LIMITATION OF CARRIAGE

k. The credit card by which you paid for the fare has been reported lost or stolen.

5.6 Promotional Fares

“Tariffs” means our fares and charges published electronically or on paper and conditions applicable thereto.

The eTicket is only valid for the Passenger(s) named and the flight(s) specified therein subject to any subsequent changes in accordance with these Conditions of Carriage.

You shall submit to any security or health checks by government or airport officials or by us. If not, you may be denied carriage.

5.5 Name Change

“Damage” includes death, bodily injury to a Passenger, delay, loss, partial loss or other damage including to Baggage, arising out of or in connection with carriage or other services incidental thereto performed by us. “Days” or day means calendar days, including all seven days of the week, provided that, for the purpose of notification, the day upon which notice is dispatched shall not be counted.

6.9 Security Inspections

5.4 Route Change

Article 2: DEFINITIONS

“Authorized Agent” means a sales agent who has been appointed by us to represent us in the sale of air passenger transportation on our flights and/or handle airport operation such as check-in and baggage services.

You agree to cover any cost due to detention caused by your inadmissibility or personal reason.

c. The change is not confirmed until we issue you a new eTicket number.

These Conditions of Carriage was written in Chinese and may be translated into other languages. In the event of any inconsistency between the Chinese version and the translation(s) in any other language(s), the Chinese version shall prevail.

“Accompanying Guest” means a paying adult passenger of above sixteen( 16)years of age, who, in our reasonable opinion, can travel independently and is able to and will provide the appropriate assistance and supervision as required for the guest they are accompanying.]

If we on your behalf are required to pay or deposit any fine or penalty or to incur any expenditure by reason of your inadmissibility into or your failure to comply with any laws, regulations, orders, demands or other requirements of any country, state or territory on any part of your journey, you shall on demand reimburse us any amount so paid or expenditure so incurred or to be paid. We may apply towards such payment or expenditure the value of any carriage unused by you, or any funds due to you in our possession.

7.1 Right to Refuse Carriage

5.3 Flight Change

1.2 Conditions of Carriage Prevail

1.4 Language

You agree to pay the applicable fare whenever we, on order of any government or immigration authority, are required to return you to your point of origin or elsewhere, owing to your inadmissibility into a country, whether of transit or destination. In addition, in such circumstances we will not refund the fare to you.

5.2 Group Bookings

These Conditions of Carriage apply to the carriage by air of Passengers and Baggage performed by us in any of our flights and to any liability we may have in relation to that carriage.

If any of these Conditions of Carriage is or subsequently become void, illegal, unenforceable or otherwise invalid, that shall not affect the validity, legality or enforceability of the other provisions of these Conditions of Carriage.

6.7 Refusal of Entry

6.8 Detention Costs

Article 5: BOOKING

1.1 General

1.3 Severability

all entry and exit, health and other documents required by law, regulations, order, demands or requirements of the countries flown from, into or over. We reserve the right to refuse carriage of any Passenger who has not complied with, or whose documents do not appear to comply with, such applicable laws, regulations, orders, demands or requirements.

b. The Passenger has had a flight cancelled or changed due to our requirements other than Uncontrollable Circumstances in accordance with clause 9.2 of these Conditions of Carriage. 10.2 Taxes If after having made a reservation you do not fly with us, whether or not a refund of the fare is payable, you will be entitled to claim a refund of any government taxes paid by you, which as a consequence we have no obligation to pay to any government or other authority. We reserve the right to deduct an administration fee from any such refund, if applicable, where you fail to fly with us despite a flight being available. If the administration fee exceeds the amount of refund, no refund will be made. 10.3 Proper Person/Mode of Refund In the event that we make a refund, it shall be made in the same mode of payment as was originally made and to the person who paid for the booking, upon presentation of identification and satisfactory proof of such payment. A refund administration fee may be required. Passengers eligible for refund shall submit a written refund request form together with supporting documents if required hereby, within ninety (90) Days of scheduled departure date of unflown flight, to us at:

V AIR CORPORATION 11/F, No.139, Zhengzhou Road, Datong Dist., Taipei 103, Taiwan, R.O.C. Attention to: Sales & Distribution Department

Acceptance of Baggage by the bearer of the Baggage Identification Tag without complaint at the time of delivery is sufficient evidence that the Baggage has been delivered in good condition and in accordance with the contract of carriage, unless you prove otherwise. If you wish to file a claim or an action regarding Damage to Checked Baggage, you must notify us as soon as you discover the Damage, and at the latest, within seven (7) Days of receipt of the Baggage. If you wish to file a claim or an action regarding delay of Checked Baggage, you must notify us within twenty-one (21) Days from the date the Baggage has been placed at your disposal. Every such notification must be in writing and posted or delivered to us within the above periods. 13.2 Limitation of Actions Any right to Damages shall be extinguished if an action is not brought against us within two (2) years from the date of arrival at the destination, or from the date on which the aircraft ought to have arrived, or from the date on which the carriage stopped. Article 14: CHOICE OF LAW AND JURISDICTION Unless otherwise provided by the Convention or any applicable law, government regulations, orders or requirements: a. these Conditions of Carriage and any carriage which we agree to provide you with (in respect of yourself and/or your Baggage) shall be governed by the laws of Taiwan, ROC, without regard to the conflicts of laws provisions therein. b. Any dispute between you and us concerning or arising out of such carriage in any way whatsoever shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Shilin District Court of Taiwan, ROC. Article 15: NO RIGHT OF THIRD PARTIES A party that is not a party to the relevant contract of carriage shall not have any right to enforce any terms therein including these Conditions of Carriage. Article 16: MODIFICATION AND WAIVER None of our agents, employees and representatives have authority to alter, modify or waive any provisions of these Conditions of Carriage. Your purchase of a ticket in any of our flights becomes a binding contract on your part to follow these Conditions of Carriage. Depending on the fare rules applicable to your ticket, non-use of the same may result in forfeiture of the fare or may subject you to the payment of additional charges if you wish to change or cancel your booking. For more choices and /or control in your flight plans, please consider other fare types, if applicable. Contact our Call Center or visit our Website www.flyvair.com for further details.

Science Monday BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, March 14, 2016

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Making S&T appealing to the youth

B R R R

N a country where appreciation on science is low, bigger efforts are needed by the government, media, academe and other organizations to promote the achievements of young people who have excelled in science and technology (S&T) to make it more appealing to their counterparts.

Dr. Richard Abendan, research and industry partnerships manager of RTI International, admitted it is quite a challenge to entice the youth who want to study easier courses, rather than pursue a career in S&T. “Admittedly, there is always a challenge to tell science and technology is cool and sexy. Right now, many young people would rather be a basketball player or a showbiz personality because that’s where the fun is,” said Abendan, a graduate of Bachelor of Science (BS) in Chemistry at the Ateneo de Manila University who finished his doctorate degree in Chemistry in Georgetown University in the United States. “We want also to encourage students to be technopreneurs through the science and technology road map. I think we are much aware that many businesses today, such as Facebook, Google, Tesla and What’s App, are based on science and technology,” he said at the recent Kapihan for Stride Program. According to Abendan, one of the ways to address the problem is to promote S&T role models. One of them is Janella Mae Salamania, a scholar of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Science, Technology, Research, and Innovation for Development (Stride). Salamania was the only Filipino selected among 995 students from

65 countries to join in the Millennium Youth Camp in 2010. A graduate of BS Applied Physics in University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, she finished her Masters of Engineering in Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University. “[Salamania] was an exception. She was able to finish her studies in a year instead of the usual two,” Abendan said. In the same Kapihan, Dr. David Hall, Stride chief of party, said the goal of the program is to expose young and outstanding Filipinos and encourage them to share the new knowledge they have learned. Stride is a five-year, P1.3billion program that seeks to enhance applied research activity in Philippine universities and industry. The project aims to create a dynamic network of researchers in universities and private companies, who continuously innovate; ent repreneu rs a nd investors, who turn discoveries into products and companies; and a government supportive of initiatives that enable these partnerships to f lourish. USAID-Philippines Mission Director Dr. Susan Brems said the partnership for growth began with strength analysis that was a very serious research study that identified what are the major impediments to growth in the Philippines. “I said earlier that the Philippines was chosen because it has so

THE US Agency for International Development (USAID) Philippines held recently the first Kapihan for the Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (Stride) Program. Leading the Kapihan are (from left) Mir Tillah, senior education advisor, USAID Philippines; Dr. Dave Hall, chief of party Stride Program; Dr. Susan Brems, mission director, USAID Philippines; and Dr. Larry Ilag, deputy chief of party, Stride Program. ROY DOMINGO

many positive characteristics. And that’s true. But aside from those positive characteristics, what could be done to spur development even more? And aside from development at an absolute level, [there should be] inclusive development, broad-based sustainable development. I think we’re all aware that in the Philippines, there are some people who are not so well off as others,” Brems said. “Richard and Larry [Dilag] serve as motivation to young Filipinos who want to pursue a career in science and technology. They studied abroad and came back to introduce innovation,” Hall said. Dilag, the USAID-Stride deputy chief of party, RTI International, is a BS Biology graduate from UP Diliman, where he obtained a general weighted average of 1.03. He finished his doctorate degree in biochemistry from Yale University and bachelor of laws from Harvard University. “Since Filipinos are heavy users of social media, we

should have been the ones introducing innovations in the social media. Furthermore, the Filipinos should introduce innovations in marine science because of the fact our country has big bodies of water,” Abendan said. “But you have to tell them that Facebook runs on a programming language,” Dilag said. Hall added that Stride seeks to jumpstart inclusive growth in the country through S&T. He said this would also cover in improving the research climate in the country. “But the outcome has to be improved inclusive economic growth. So, we don’t fund anything that does not have or lead into inclusive economic growth. “Inclusive economic growth is a popular term at the moment. But to us, what it means is that it has the potential to impact everybody in the Philippines, not just those employed in Metro Manila, but also those in the farthest corners of the country,” Hall said. Wit h focus on S&T, Ha l l

said Stride provides grants to seaweed research, fishing and ot her a g r ic u lt u re ac t iv it ies. Moreover, he added that the program collaborates with Philippine academic institutions to strengthen their research capabilities. With strong linkages in the industry groups, Hall said Stride could make industry and academe work together to produce relevant research. On capacity development, Hall said Stride provides scholarships and grants to scientists so they can get their masters and doctorate degrees and trainings in the US. Stride also helps Philippine universities and some government agencies to manage their research and business processes. Hall said Stride has awarded 34 grants. He pointed out that the introduction of the grants was a shot in the arm because the country has been lagging behind in the global competitiveness race since 2012. Stride is the largest education project of USAID in the Philip-

pines today. As of February 2016, the program has awarded P144.8 million in research grants to 34 universities around the country to conduct science and technology innovation research. It has also awarded 31 scholarships to Filipinos to study in US universities. To strengthen inclusivity in the country, Hall said they are promoting development initiative program in the cities in Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo and Palawan. Hall said the plan is to boost the research capabilities of the cities covered by the program to spur growth in the countryside. “For instance, we will teach Palawan to focus on increasing the production of abalone shellfish for the export market,” he said. Western Philippine University, one of the Stride grantees, is engaged in research on how to increase the production of abalone. He said Stride is involved in knowledge and technology transfer to make them on a par with their counterparts in the urban areas. “We expect universities to carry on what they are currently doing after the five-year program ends,” he said. More importantly, Hall said Stride seeks to assist Filipino scientists in tackling the obstacles in research. “We know Filipino scientists alone face many battles and Stride is here to assure them they are alone in facing the challenges in introducing innovation,” Hall pointed out. Meanwhile, David Thorne, innovations ambassador of the US government, said Washington decided to send a delegation to conduct high-level discussions on S&T with their Philippine counterparts. “We also hope to replicate the program in other parts of the world because we are much aware that technology is driven by the young users,” he said in a media interview on Thursday in Makati city. “We also want to emphasize to the government the important role of science and technology to pursue inclusive growth,” Thorne said.

Measuring the sun through solar eclipse

S    S T

N 1780, in the middle of the American Revolutionary War, a war of independence for 13 American colonies that eventually overthrew the authority of Great Britain in the succeeding years and, eventually, founded the United States of America, a cease-fire was granted on October 27 in Penobscot Bay in Maine to make a safe passage for Harvard Prof. Samuel Williams’s total solar-eclipse expedition. According to Har vard College Observatory: The First Four Dictatorships by Bessie Zaban Jones and Lyle Gifford Boyd, the total solar eclipse laid between enemy lines. Since both parties in the war declared that they were interested in science above political differences, Williams performed his observations on the limits of the total solar eclipse and took note of the observations of what is called as the “Baily’s beads.” This was named after Francis Baily, an English observer, when he extensively observed and described the beads on May 15, 1836, in Roxburghshire in England, 56 years after Williams did. Today these beads, which Williams called “small drops” or “stars,” seen when the sun’s limb becomes so small and the light from the edge of the sun shines between the mountains of the moon, are of impor tance to many obser vers with the right tools for solar eclipse. These include astronomers David and Joan Dunham, both founders of the International Occultation Timing Association and have been working in the astronomy academe and aerospace industry for over 40 years and have also been obser ving eclipses for already 46 years.

Measuring the sun

“WE’RE trying to measure the diameter of the sun from the timing of the Baily’s beads disappearances and reappearances, which depends upon the diameter of the sun and the detailed profile of the moon obtained from Kaguya by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Nasa [National Aeronautics and Space Administration] Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,” David Dunham said in an interview with the B USINESS M IRROR during the solar-eclipse observation in Indonesia. According to the D unhams, the importance of the observations stems from a claim in 1979 by John Eddy, a scientist from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Aram Boornazian, a mathematician, that the sun’s radius has changed by a very large amount. “We didn’t believe the report that the sun’s diameter was decreasing so fast by an arcsecond a century. That just didn’t seem right,” Joan Dunham said. She added, “We thought on how we could check that through the data we already have or the techniques that we already had and an eclipse was coming that time.” She thought that through observing the diameter of the sun at the time of the eclipse and compare it with Eddy and Boornazian’s estimate to see if it has changed or not. David Dunham said that if there was a change in the sun’s diameter, it would have affected the temperature of the Earth. “If the sun’s diameter has changed that large, the temperature of the Earth should change to more than a degree or 2-degrees Celsius [increase] and should be noticeable.” When asked if it has contributed to climate change, David was hesitant to reply. “The industrial revolution has added tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and it’s been measured very accurately that greenhouse

gases have greatly increased.” Though it surely affects the weather, it would only for the time the total solar eclipse has lapsed. The temperature drops during an eclipse compared to what is normal during the day, because the moon is covering the heat away but for only a short time.

Growing interest in solar-eclipse expeditions

FROM their experiments, it only took a single eclipse to disprove the claim, yet, the two astronomers are still on the move to document more eclipses. “Since about late 1980s, we’ve had measurements from space and, mostly, it has been only measurements of the brightness of the sun. But there hasn’t been really good observations of the diameter of the sun from space,” David Dunham said regarding the interest on solar eclipses and its implications on current and future research. Scientists often question the data obtained by space satellites because of the curiosity generated by the thermal cycles of the day and night that satellites experienced. These includes heating of the par ts of the satellite which greatly affect the data. There are also limitations imposed, such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft that constantly measures the corona of the sun but can only see as far as three-tenths of the solar radius. “Well, the solar physicists are still very interested in solar eclipses, especially in making detailed measurements of the corona.” David Dunham also explained that any variations of the diameter of the sun is very interesting, since it would indicate the stability of the sun and its processes, such as nuclear fusion, a high-energy reaction of two lighter nuclei to form a single heavy nucleus. “The sun is still holding on for a long time,” David said. “The scientists before

DAVID DUNHAM, an astronomer and founder of the International Occultation Timing Association, discusses with the media the solar eclipse that occurred on March 9 in Gosowong Mining area, Kau, North Maluku, Indonesia.

the discovery of nuclear fusion thought the sun was being heated by gravitational collapse of the materials of the sun, but they realized that that could only keep the sun for about 100,000 years, but we know the sun is already shining for about 4.6 billion years.” As soon as scientists discovered that it was nuclear fusion that was driving the sun, it was just a matter of analyzing the hydrogen and the helium. Eventually, the hydrogen can run out, it can be burned through these processes of the sun, but that’s going to take another 4 billion years. “When hydrogen starts getting depleted, then the sun starts collapsing, because the sun is an equilibrium between the energy being generated from the hydrogen burning of the nuclear fusion and the gravitational pull of all its materials,” David said.

2016 total solar eclipse

THE total solar eclipse on March 9 had a path that covered North Maluku, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Borneo to Palembang in the Indonesian archipelago and had a duration of more than four minutes at around 00:51 UTC to 00:55 UTC. According to Avivah Yamani, an Indonesian astronomer and communicator of Indonesian astronomy news web site Langitselatan, the total solar eclipse triggered the government to act on science for Indonesia. “Celestial events can boost tourism and gives opportunity for public outreach and education, especially in the remote areas of Indonesia,” Yamani said in an interview with the B USINESSM IRROR. She said students had the chance to see the total and partial solar eclipse in Indonesia. The Philippines

witnessed a partial solar eclipse, as many observers and enthusiasts observed the eclipse through the use of solar glasses and solar filter-covered telescopes at around 7:51 in the morning for the first contact. According to Yamani, the next solar eclipse in the Asian region that would cover Philippines and Indonesia and some other countries would be on 2019. It would be an annular eclipse, where a “ring of fire” would appear, since the moon will not cover the sun’s discs completely. “Another eclipse would be on 2023, which would be a hybrid solar eclipse where there would be totality and annular in one eclipse path,” she further added. As for the Philippines, the country would wait for 2042 to experience a total solar eclipse.

Green Monday BusinessMirror

Monday, March 14, 2016 A13

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Three PHL cities are finalists for Earth Hour City Challenge

FEW TREES STANDING Few trees are left standing in the

mountainous part of Nueva Ecija. This was said to be caused by natural forest fire owing to the drought brought by El Niño. NONIE REYES

AS PART OF BROAD CLIMATECHANGE AGREEMENT

US and Canada pledge to cut methane emissions

RESIDENT Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday announced a wide range of environmental initiatives to combat climate change, expand renewable energy and protect a fragile and remote region important to both nations—the Arctic.

T he most notable commitment, outlined in a joint statement by the leaders, is a plan to reduce potent methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by 40 percent to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. Yet, their announcement also served as a broader reaffirmation of the cooperative spirit long shared between the countries— strained in recent years—that has moved forward significantly since Trudeau’s election last October. “The United States and Canada must and will play a leadership role internationally in the low-carbon global economy over the coming decades,” the two leaders said in a joint statement. Under Trudeau’s predecessor, Steven Harper, a conservative who took office in 2006, tension grew between the nations over the fate of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta into the US. Harper was often critical of the Obama administration for not acting quickly to approve the project. Trudeau, the moderate son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, made environmental issues a key part of his 2015 campaign and said that, although he supported Keystone XL, he would not allow the debate over it to taint relations between the two countries. In early November, less than three weeks after Trudeau won office, Obama announced that he was rejecting the pipeline. Soon after that, Trudeau traveled to the Paris climate talks to under-

score Canada’s commitment to addressing climate change. The announcement on Thursday was among the strongest evidence of that commitment. Canada and the US said they “will work together to implement the historic Paris agreement, and commit to join and sign the agreement as soon as feasible.” They agreed to a broad set of plans, including working together to expand emission limits on vehicles, looking for ways to reduce air plane emissions and exploring putting a price on industrial carbon emissions. The plan to reduce methane drew by far the most praise and criticism. Though carbon dioxide poses greater climate risks over the long term, methane is far more potent in the short term, accounting for as much as 25 percent of the planet’s current warming. The oil and gas industry is, by far, the largest emitter of methane, much of it through leaks in drilling and delivery systems. The US Environmental Protection Agency is already preparing to implement a rule that would reduce emissions on new and modified oil and gas wells. The proposed new policy would apply to existing facilities. “ This, ultimately, is such a common sense thing to focus on ,” M a rk Bro w n s te i n , v ice president for climate and energy at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in an interview on Thursday. “So much of what needs to be done here is better operat ion a nd m a i nten a nce. This is not expensive to achieve.”

HR EE Philippine cities were named among the finalists in the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC). They are San Carlos City in Negros Occidental, Santa Rosa City in Laguna and Makati City in the National Capital Region. One of these cities can become a national Earth Hour capital, which will have a chance to be hailed as the global Earth Hour capital. Past global winners include Vancouver in Canada, Cape Town in South Africa and Seoul in South Korea. Launched by the WWF global network in 2011, EHCC is a yearlong initiative to promote sustainable practices for cities to transition to a low-carbon future. Seven Philippine cities joined in August 2015—Cagayan de Oro, Makati, Naga, Parañaque, San Carlos, Santa Rosa and Quezon City. A total of 124 cities from around the world have joined the 2015 to 2016 challenge. “We laud all seven Philippine cities for promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy, recycling, green transportation, plus innovation,” Earth Hour Philippines Director Atty. Gia Ibay said. “Our theme for 2016 is ‘Bridging the Gap to 2020’ and is about inspiring solutions to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and improving the way food, water and energy are produced and consumed. We believe that properly developed cities can lead the way to a sustainable future,” Ibay said. WWF will announce the winner of EHCC during the international EHCC awards ceremony in Quito, Ecuador, by October 2016. Half of all people live in cities, which account for 70 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. Over the past century, cities have become centers for consumption, pollu-

tion and overpopulation. Global solutions-provider WWF projects a dramatic rise in urban development in the coming decades. Meanwhile, preparations for Earth Hour are in full swing. Earth Hour uses the simple action of switching off lights for 60 minutes to deliver a powerful message about the need for decisive climatechange solutions. In the past decade, the movement has grown from a symbolic switch-off event in Sydney, Australia, to the world’s largest open-sourced environmental campaign mobilizing hundreds of millions of people in over 7000 cities and 172 countries. Earth Hour will be celebrated across the globe from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 19. Earth’s most iconic landmarks are expected to join the massive event. Earth Hour Philippines’s main event shall be held at the Quezon City Memorial Circle from 7:30 to 10 p.m. “It shall feature stationary bamboo bicycles connected to energy-harvesting generators. Supporters can ride these to light up a map of the Philippines. In effect, we’re showing how human power can light up the world,” Ibay said. Renewable-energy technologies, as well as electric vehicles, shall also be on display to showcase low-carbon solutions. The Philippines has been championing Earth Hour since 2008 and has topped participation records from 2009 to 2013—earning it the title of Earth Hour Hero Country. “We are known as the Earth Hour Hero Country because more Philippine towns and cities participate in the movement than in any other nation,” Ibay said. “We hope to use EHCC as a platform to showcase urban solutions which other Philippine cities can emulate.”

Another Philippine Eagle shot, community involvement critical

W PRESIDENT Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama welcome Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau to the White House for an official visit on March 10 in Washington, D.C. OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS

But the plan was criticized by the industry, which said it was already taking steps to reduce methane emissions. “Additional regulations on methane by the administration could discourage the shale-energy revolution that has helped America lead the world in reducing emissions while significantly lowering the costs of energy to consumers,” Kyle Isakower, the vice president of regulatory and economic policy for the American Petroleum Institute, said in a written statement. “The administration is catering to environmental extremists at the expense of American consumers.” Some environmental groups said a better solution would be to reduce fossil fuels and hydraulic fracturing, a drilling method linked to methane leaks. “In order to avert health and climate catastrophe, we must keep fossil fuels in the ground and begin investing immediately in a 100-percent clean, renewable energy future,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. In the Arctic, where sea ice has been at record lows, and the region faces increasing pressure from oil development and fishing, Obama and Trudeau announced plans to create “ lowi mp a c t s h ip p i n g cor r id or s ,” prevent overfishing and expand on existing goals to protect “at

least 17 percent of land areas and 10 percent of marine areas by 2020.” “If oil and gas development and exploration proceeds, activities must align with science-based standards between the two nations that ensure appropriate preparation for operating in Arctic conditions, including robust and effective well-control and emergency-response measures,” the policy statement said. Carter Roberts, the president and chief executive of the World Wildlife Fund, said in a written statement that the “agreement unites the US and Canada behind a shared vision to balance smart economic development with protection of the Arctic’s unique and important ecosystems.” At a news conference in the W hite House Rose Garden on Thursday, Obama referred to his trip to Alaska in August and to meetings about the Arctic to be held in Washington this fall. “As the first US president to visit the Arctic,” I saw how both of our nations are threatened by rising seas, melting permafrost, disappearing glaciers and sea ice, and so we are focusing on making sure the Paris agreement is fully implemented and we’re working to double our investments in cleanenergy research and development,” he said. Los Angeles Times/TNS

ITHIN just six months of the death of “Pamana,” a Haring Ibon (Philippine Eagle) released in the forests of Mindanao, another was found shot in Barangay Tambobong, Baguio District in Davao. Unlike Pamana, meaning “inheritance,” “Matatag” or “steadfast” was found alive, but wounded, and is now being rehabilitated at the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) in Davao. J. Kahlil Bohol Panopio, a wildlife biologist at the Haribon Foundation, is currently working on field expeditions and community-awareness programs in and around Philippine Eagle habitats on Mount Mingan Important Bird and Biodiversity Area in Central Sierra Madre in Luzon. He observes there is an increased number of reported shootings in Mindanao compared to Luzon, averaging to about one per year since 2013. “In past discussions between Haribon, PEF and other Haring Ibon conservation partners, one of the possible reasons behind the increased reported shootings of Haring Ibon in Mindanao could be due to the increasing encroachment of communities in [the birds’] forest habitats,” Panopio said. Another reason is the fragmented forest habitats of Mindanao. Each pair of Philippine Eagle parents need 7,000 to 13,000 hectares of forest to call their territory. Once their chick grows to an age where it must disperse to search for its own home, it has a lower chance of finding a suitable area and even risks its life as it approaches the forest edge. “The forest fragmentation, together with communities pushing further into forest areas where the Haring Ibon live, could be contributing to the higher rate of reported shootings of the species in Mindanao.” As natural forests, where Philippine Eagles reside, are threatened by encroachment, the importance of community-awareness programs becomes more and more important. After 40 years of zero confirmed sightings in Nueva Ecija, a family of Philippine Eagle have been spotted living on Mount Mingan, thanks to botanists working in the area. Haribon conducted a field survey to validate and confirm the sightings of the eagle. Currently, Haribon works with the local government units (LGUs), indigenous peoples and community

members surrounding Mount Mingan to ensure the survival of the Philippine Eagle living there. One of them, Gab-e, was named by communities in one of the towns not too far from its habitat in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija. “It is important to have communities name the Haring Ibon living in their area because it gives them ownership of its conservation,” Panopio said. These communities have worked to establish a critical habitat (CH) for the Philippine Eagle, declaring 19,000 hectares of forest habitat to be protected and conserved, with two other towns, San Luis and Dingalan in Aurora province, following the same. With this, Mount Mingan is now on its way to becoming a CH network for the protection of the Philippine Eagle, placing the area ahead of other sites in conserving the bird in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. On a national scale, a partnership of several government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academe and private institutions form the Philippine Eagle Technical Working Group. Haribon and PEF are active partners of this group working together, sharing data, information and strategies regarding the protection of the Philippine Eagle. Unfortunately, they, alone, cannot accomplish the grander task of ensuring that the national bird is no longer shot or its forest habitats no longer encroached upon. In Filipino, matatag means steadfast. But it is the steadfast actions of communities living closest to Philippine Eagle that will ensure the survival of the species. As for those living further away in urban centers, participation in environmental policybuilding and forest-restoration efforts is just as critical. The lack of action by all might make everyone just as guilty as the hunters who shoot the bird year after year. The Philippine Eagle Project on Mount Mingan is made possible with funding and support from Birdlife International, Toyota Foundation, Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered fellowships of the Zoological Society of London, Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit Protected Area Management Enhancement, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and LGUs of Gabaldon, Dingalan and San Luis.

A14 Monday, March 14, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Creative financing of govt projects

HE Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program has been a centerpiece of the Aquino presidency since the beginning of this administration. Combing the resources of the government and the private sector to facilitate certain projects that are in the public interest has been an evolutionary process since 1986. While supporters of President Aquino would prefer to take full credit for PPP, the government’s own PPP Center notes on its web site that “during her presidency, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order 144. This was in 2002.” This order transformed “PPPs as the cornerstone of the national infrastructure-development plan.” As with many government initiatives, PPP is an unqualified success or another unfulfilled promise, depending on who is making the evaluation. As always, the truth lies somewhere in between the two extremes. However, moves by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to make PPPderived securities available may be a positive game changer for the PPP. Comments by PSE COO Roel Refran indicate that “PPP securities” will be available for investment by the general public before the end of this year. The primary purpose for a stock exchange is to provide a framework for companies to raise capital in a transparent and regulated environment. A corporation does this by selling off a portion of its equity to the investing public. Subsequently, the shares representing ownership are traded—bought and sold—on the stock market. Investors benefit through the capital appreciation of the shares as the company increases in value. Further, shareholders can participate in corporate profits through the distribution of that profit in the form of dividends. Several of the PPP projects are going to require a large amount of capital expenditure, such as the P74.5-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport Development Project; the P50.15-billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 4; the P64-billion LRT Line 6; and the P122.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike Project. While many large development companies could provide the needed capital, the profit margins on their core businesses might be more attractive than for these infrastructure projects. Therefore, a consortium is formed to spread the expenditure and the risk. A company formed to do the project would sell shares just like any other corporate initial public offering in the form of PPP securities. Utilizing this PPP securities concept and raising capital from public investors would be an ideal way to help finance these much-needed projects. In addition—because the public would have a direct financial interest—we might see the government more proactive in making sure there are no unnecessary delays. PPP securities would be good for the government, the PSE and for the investing public, as well as facilitating the delivery of infrastructure that has been long delayed. We hope that government agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, will be fully cooperative.

GOVT.

Farewell, Amba Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

T was with great sorrow that I heard of the passing last Friday of Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, founder of the BM.

I count myself blessed to have met and gotten to know “Amba” over the years. He was a most hardworking man. He rebuilt his life from the ashes of the war years and slowly, steadily, constructed a business empire that offers services from womb to tomb. His companies were in diverse industries and sectors—insurance, mass media, real estate, hospitality, automotive, banking and death care. At many points in his life, he could have retired to stop and smell the roses. Instead, he kept on creating new businesses offering a variety of goods and services, and, in doing so, generated more jobs. His actions in this regard had a positive impact not only on the economy, but on the individual lives of his employees.

He was also among the kindest and most generous people I have ever met. He was very humble, always asking others, “Ano po ang maipaglilingkod ko sa inyo [How can I help you]?” Despite all his achievements, fortune and fame, he remained grounded. Through sheer hard work, he built an empire; through pakikipagkapwa-tao, he touched the lives of his employees, friends and family, of those around him. He had many philantrophic projects, but these are unknown to most; he kept them low-key, doing what he could to help without fanfare nor publicity. Among the most memorable projects Amba engaged in was to cause the construction of the Isuzu D-Max popemobile under his Isuzu Gencars company. The

Among the most memorable projects Amba engaged in was to cause the construction of the Isuzu D-Max popemobile under his Isuzu Gencars company. The customized vehicle was donated for the use of Pope Francis during his apostolic visit to the Philippines last year. The pope liked the vehicle and called it a “beautiful car,” to Amba’s gratification. customized vehicle was donated for the use of Pope Francis during his apostolic visit to the Philippines last year. The pope liked the vehicle, and called it a “beautiful car,” to Amba’s gratification. In March 2015 Msgr. Chibuike Onueghala, counselor to the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila, wrote Amba, “It is a blessing po that the popemobile you made and donated to the Holy Father is now being used as a model in other countries.” Last October Amba joyfully donated a second popemobile for

use in the Vatican. (The first one is kept at the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila.) As time passes, more narratives of the people whose lives he touched will surface. This reminds me of Stephen Covey’s Habit No. 2, from his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People— “Begin with the end in mind.” Covey advises us to ask ourselves: What do you want people to say about you at your funeral? In Amba’s case, the outpouring of grief on traditional and social media was immediate and sincere. His is an example of a good life, one marked by grace, compassion and love for others, generosity, humility and a desire to serve. This is, indeed, a lesson to the rest of us on how we should live our own lives to the fullest and best. Amba, you are already missed; you will always be missed. May your life examples live on in those of us who know you, and in the countless people you helped as you traveled your journey on earth. Thank you, and rest well! nnn

Atty. Rojas is vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

PPP: A credit card, marriage contract and ‘bayanihan’ By Alberto Agra

PPP LEAD Continued from A1 (1) PPP is a “mega-credit card.” Because of the size of the deal, the nature of the responsibilities and terms of payments, certain quarters refer to a PPP as a “mega-credit card.” A credit card is used by a bank, where it allows the creditcard holders to borrow funds. In the case of PPPs, where the government subsidizes the project and pays in “installments” or tranches, the government “borrows” from the private-sector participant (PSP). The PSP invests and, as a consequence, it charges “interest” or is entitled to obtain a reasonable rate of return. The PSP “lends” to government, since the latter does not have enough resources. Effectively, however, we are the ones paying for what the government “borrows,” since

it is our money that is being used to pay the PSP. (2) PPP is like a “marriage contract.” A marriage contract is an agreement that establishes rights and obligations between two eligible and consenting persons. In a PPP, the parties must be qualified and must voluntarily agree to be bound by the terms of the agreement. The PPP contract outlines the contributions and responsibilities of each party. The parties work together for a common cause. To sustain the relationship, the parties to a PPP, like the spouses to a marriage, must trust each other, share information and dialogue. However, the true objective of a PPP contract is not the “spouses” but the general public the parties must serve. Further, unlike a marriage contract, which

The core of a PPP is the country, people or bayan. The house or shanty is the “load” all stakeholders, the mga bayani, must carry from one point to another, indicating common purpose and resolve for a better quality of life. Not one person or party can effect change and plug the infrastructure deficits. Transformation necessitates a bayanihan approach to development.

does not have a fixed term, a PPP contract is time-bound. (3) PPP is a “boat ride.” Imagine a boat with passengers and two crew members, where one steers and the other one rows. This is often used to illustrate a PPP arrangement. In this boat ride, the government steers, as it sets policies, oversees the implementation of the project, regulates and sets the tariff.

The PSP, in turn, is the rower who undertakes the day-to-day responsibilities for the upkeep and operations of the boat. Both are responsible for the passengers, so that they will reach their destination safely and comfortably. (4) PPP is “bayanihan.” Bayanihan is a Tagalog term which means “cooperative undertaking” and “collective participation.” Bayanihan describes PPPs in two respects, i.e., as bayan-ihan and bayani-han. Both depict a story, a journey and a purpose, and demonstrate participatory leadership. The core of a PPP is the country, people or bayan. The house or shanty is the “load” all stakeholders, the mga bayani, must carry from one point to another, indicating common purpose and resolve for a better quality of life. Not one person or party can effect change and plug the infrastructure deficits. Transformation necessitates a bayanihan approach to development. Postscript: Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua truly exemplifies bayanihan. He is a bayani who dedicated his life for the bayan.

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Opinion

What lies beneath

Reduce the financial-statement disclosures

BusinessMirror

Filbert Tsai

PAUL DONOVAN

E have all been seduced by the fall in the oil price. Headline-inflation figures have been held at low levels in most of the world’s major economies, and investors have been inclined to forget that prices can go up. This process has been helped by a number of central banks that have chosen to take interest rates negative, giving the impression that inflation is a thing of the past and it is falling prices that should concern us.

Unfortunately, this complacency about consumer prices is ill-founded. Beneath the benign surface of headline inflation, some countries are experiencing rising inflation pressures. As the group of countries with increased inflation pressures now includes the United States, investors have to pay attention to this. Core inf lation theoretically excludes food and energy prices from its calculation. In fact, it includes both food and energy, but indirectly (air fares are around 40-percent fuel costs, and air fares are included in most core-inflation measures). Nonetheless, energy undoubtedly has a lower weight in core-inflation, and this allows core inflation to better signal inflation pressures in an economy. In over half the world’s major economies, core inflation rose over the course of 2015. Moreover, the way in which core inflation has risen is troubling. US core inflation has been rising steadily—there is nothing erratic to suggest temporary factors at work. Rather, the core-inflation increase has been smooth and inexorable; a signal that the price pressure from a progressively tighter labor market is now coming through. The rise in core inflation is a local issue. The correlation of core inflation between different economies is extremely low. That means that core inflation in one economy will be independent of core inflation in another economy. Rising core inflation in the US does not have to mean rising core inflation in Asia, for instance. This is one of the key arguments against the idea that Asian exports unleashed a globa l disinf lation force—if they had, then core inflation rates in different economies should be closely synchronized. They are not because (aside from commodity prices) inflation is a

Even if the rise in core inflation is locally determined, the consequences of this may be felt globally. The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates last year because it felt it had to raise rates in order to maintain price stability. In this, it was undoubtedly right— but the increase in US interest rates has had implications beyond the borders of the United States. local issue, not a global one. Even if the rise in core inflation is locally determined, the consequences of this may be felt globally. The US Federal Reserve (the Fed) raised interest rates last year because it felt it had to raise rates in order to maintain price stability. In this, it was undoubtedly right—but the increase in US interest rates has had implications beyond the borders of the US. This year the US Fed is facing rising pricing power and rising inflation. The best possible outcome for the US in the medium term will be for the US Fed to raise interest rates further. We must not be beguiled by the low headline-inflation rates. Inflation pressures are building in several economies. The moment oil prices stabilize, these underlying inflation pressures will reveal themselves. Central banks are readying themselves to deal with this. Investors need to be ready, too. Paul Donovan’s latest book The Truth About Inflation was published by Routledge in April 2015. Visit www.ubs.com/pauldonovan for more research. Paul’s commentaries in the UBS series of documentaries on Nobel Laureates in economics is available at www.ubs.com/nobel.

DEBIT CREDIT First of two parts

INANCIAL statements in the Philippines for companies reporting under Philippine Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS), or its little brother, PFRS for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are notorious for the horrendous disclosures attached to the financial statements.

Looking through the financial statements of most Philippine companies, it can be observed that torrential amount of details are disclosed in the financial statements just to comply with the requirements of PFRS or PFRS for SMEs. Further, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), through its various memorandums and circulars, further upped the game by introducing

additional disclosure requirements along the way. A key question, probably, to the profession and to the regulators is whether all these still make sense. Developed countries usually adopt a reduced disclosure framework (regime) for companies that qualify for the scheme. While different countries have different requirements to qualify, it is common that the qualifying criteria

Monday, March 14, 2016 A15

is that the entity be a member or subsidiary of a group that prepares publicly available consolidated financial statements or, sometimes, the criteria is based on a monetary threshold. Most of the financial statements in the Philippines are publicly available in the SEC, while for listed companies they are publicly available on their web sites. Looking at the overarching principles in preparing financial statement, the general requirement under Philippine Accounting Standards 1 on presentation of financial statement requires only material information to be presented in the financial statements (paragraph 31). While the consideration of materiality is highly controversial, since there are no bright line threshold as to materiality, the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting states that: “Information is material if omitting it or misstating it could inf luence decisions that users make on the basis of financial information about a specific reporting entity. In other words,

materiality is an entity-specific aspect of relevance based on the nature and magnitude, or both, of the items to which the information relates in the context of an individual entity’s financial report.” While the International Accounting Standards Board is currently addressing disclosure effectiveness through its disclosure initiative, changes to be made in addressing the materiality concern would most likely be in the form of additional guidance rather than a waterline. Filbert Tsai is a Filipino financial accounting advisory services executive in the UK with specialization in transaction accounting in the power and utilities sector. He had provided accounting advice to a significant number of government and financial institutions investing or providing financing structures in the renewables sector in Europe and in developing countries. This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa. secretariat.@gmail.com.

That US-Canada climate deal isn’t as good as it looks

HEN the United States and Canada get together to fight climate change, they ought to be able to make a difference. They’re not just neighbors, after all, but also among the world’s top 10 producers of greenhouse gases. So why did this week’s announcement of a joint effort to reduce methane emissions feel so underwhelming?

Because it was. The best hope, for the climate and for both countries, is that it presages a new era of action and cooperation. Methane emissions from oil and gas production—which the two countries agreed to cut by as much as 45 percent in a decade— make up less than 3 percent of total US greenhouse-gas emissions, and only about 6 percent for Canada, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. And while both countries set much bigger goals in Paris last year—the US pledged to cut carbon emissions by 26 percent in a decade; Canada promised a 30-percent reduction in 15 years—neither one has, yet, put in place a full set of policies needed to meet them. Even if they did, the reductions would fall far short of what’s needed to prevent devastating climate change. So what could the two countries do to make more of a difference? In t he US t he best pol ic y

wou ld be to i mpose a reve nue-neutralcarbon tax. Yet, the current Congress would make this all but impossible. President Ba rac k Oba m a’s work a rou nd is the Clean Power Plan, which moves the energy sector toward low-carbon fuel sources. Ideally, his successor will endorse this strategy and expand on it—for example, by investing more in nuclear power. Canada has even further to go. It has made less progress than the US in cutting emissions, and the declining fortunes of its oil and gas industry have hurt its economy, limiting public appetite for ambitious change. Yet, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau enjoys two distinct advantages: Canada’s political system allows a government with a majority of seats in Parliament to pass legislation with no support from the opposition, and Canada’s most populous provinces have already

BARRACK OBAMA and Justin Trudeau

adopted or announced plans to put a put a price on carbon. The challenge is to combine those initiatives into a national approach that generates meaningful greenhouse-gas reductions. At their meeting on Thursday, Obama and Tr udeau renewed their countries’ friendly rivalry, identifying shared goals

(winning the Stanley Cup) and core differences (the weather in February). They even talked about more important things— like action on climate change. If their announcement on methane emissions marks the start of a new competition, it’s a contest that will benefit both countries and the world. Bloomberg View

first ballot in Cleveland. But there’s nothing in the rules to guarantee Trump is the actual preference of those 17 people. This means that even a candidate who has captured 1,237 delegates by June 7 might not be truly safe. It’s unclear if Republicans would be willing to thwart the will of their voters by upending a chosen winner, but if the delegates want to, nothing can stop them. This, too, is a fight that could start during the pre-convention. Unfortunately, we have little historical precedent for how this jockeying works in practice. It’s possible that well-organized campaigns will have been able to secure their choices for delegates and that poorly organized campaigns will have had less success. By the pre-convention period, one or more candidates might have a real advantage in the share of their delegates who are truly loyal. So not only are the rules confusing and subject to interpretation. They’re also subject to change. The tentative rules for the convention bind all delegates to vote the way they were allocated on the first ballot, but the convention can change those rules. So we may be in for a convention floor fight about whether to “free” the delegates to

vote how they choose. If so, the first rounds of that fight and any other rules fight will take place in the pre-convention period, when the convention Rules Committee is chosen and begins its deliberations. Another possibility: fights in the convention credentials committee about any disputes over who the properly elected delegates might be. In the old days of brokered conventions, party bosses chose delegates who would do as they were instructed. Today’s delegates have far more leeway to do what they want. So if, for example, Marco Rubio drops out after losing Florida on Tuesday and endorses Cruz, the delegates he has won so far wouldn’t necessarily have to listen to him or anyone else. And efforts to win commitments from those delegates would hardly wait until the convention. However uncharted the period is between the end of the primaries and the beginning of the convention, if no one reaches 1,237 by June 7, then party actors will press hard to get everything resolved before everyone arrives in Cleveland. If they’re successful, the convention won’t appear to have been contested after all. If not? There’s a good chance of absolute chaos, with everyone watching.

Republicans’ new target: The ‘pre-convention’

B J B | Bloomberg View

HE Republican delegate tangle has people talking excitedly about a contested national convention this summer. Not so fast. Even if no candidate wins the necessary 1,237 delegates by the end of primaries and caucuses on June 7, the six weeks that follow provide another opportunity to settle the matter before the party gathers in Cleveland on July 18. I’ll call this period the “pre-convention.”

Republicans can’t have an undecided convention without first passing through a contested preconvention period. With all the delegates chosen but no candidate having a secure majority, the action will shift from the week-toweek slog from one state primary to the next in search of voters to a collective decision to be made by the delegates: 2,472 party actors, most of them obscure but a handful well known, most of them loyal to the candidate they are supporting but many of them with other interests and preferences. If no one has the nomination locked up in June, everyone involved—candidates, delegates and other party actors—will feel intense pressure to get this done before the convention. The purpose of national conventions today is advertising for the party and its candidate, and that op-

portunity would be forfeited if the convention was convened without a nominee. The worst case would be day after day of deadlock under the full gaze of the national media, with controversies heating up and plenty of chances for those 2,472 delegates (and the hundreds of other Republicans who will be in attendance) to make the party and whomever they eventually settle on look bad. So the campaigns will scramble to win the allegiance of delegates, both those who are not tethered to a particular candidate and those who are, since bound delegates might become available if the convention decides to let them vote however they want. Delegates who are unbound and uncommitted won’t necessarily wait until Cleveland to commit. As some of them declare for a

candidate (and are added to the tallies news organizations keep), the delegate counts will change as the convention approaches. A candidate could go over the top during those six weeks. The lead could change. What happens during the preconvention will depend partly on how close the front-runner is to 1,237 delegates, and on how big the gap is between him and the second-highest vote-getter. Party actors, including delegates, may care which candidate has won the final contests, including some in big states like California, as well as what the national polls are saying. Even if they haven’t publicly committed to a candidate, some party leaders may contact delegates to discuss a course of action, and even push some contenders to step aside in favor of someone who has a chance to wrap up the nomination early. Most Republican delegates will have been chosen as “ bound,” meaning they would be required to vote for a certain candidate on at least the first ballot in Cleveland. A small number will be chosen as “uncommitted,” meaning they could choose to support any candidate before the conven-

tion, or change allegiance from one to another. Another batch of delegates— anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred—will have been selected to be delegates for a candidate who has withdrawn. Depending on their state party rules, some will be bound to support their candidate anyway, at least on the first ballot. Others will be free to choose. Even some of those who are pledged to vote for a candidate who is still running could conceivably be in play. Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans in many states separate the selection of the individual delegates from the allocation of how they are supposed to vote on the first ballot for a given candidate. This means many delegates could be bound to vote for a candidate despite not actually supporting him. For example, Donald Trump won the Virginia primary on March 1 and was allocated 17 of Virginia’s 49 delegates. Separately, Virginia Republicans are holding a series of party conventions in April and May in each of the state’s congressional districts to select the actual delegates. Seventeen of those delegates will be assigned to Trump, and under the tentative rules they will have to vote for Trump on the

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A16 Monday, March 14, 2016

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Tata Motors eyes setup of factory in PHL

B C N. P

HE local unit of Indian automaker Tata Motors Ltd. has expressed interest in putting up a factory in the country to take advantage of the increase in demand for its vehicles.

At the sidelines of the “Philippines and India: Partners in Progress” forum, Philippine-India Business Council (PIBC) President Johnny Chotrani said the company was encouraged by the Filipinos’ interest in the Indian brand. “They’re thinking, for their second phase of development, of putting up manufacturing here, they’ve expressed as much,” Chotrani told reporters. “From what I understand from

the local distributor, they’re doing very well and are even short of supply,” he added. The idea is still at the nascent stage as Tata Motors Ltd., specializing in commercial vehicles, has only set up its distribution network in the Philippines last year and is still testing the market. Chotrani said the company is still in the process of determining what it could manufacture in the Philippines.

Currently, all Tata vehicles sold in the Philippines are imported from India. Chotrani said the possible establishment of manufacturing operations will be done through the Pilipinas Taj Autogroup Inc. (TAJ), its official distributor in the country. While no timeline has been set or confirmed by the local partner, the decision on whether the automaker will be setting up manufacturing operations will be made

in two years’ time, the PIBC head noted. Tata Motors Ltd. is India’s largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues of $34.7 billion in 2012 to 2013, according to its web site. The company is the preferred supplier of commercial and passenger vehicles in India. Tata has offerings in the compact, midsize car and utility-vehicle segments. The Tata Motors Group employs over 60,000 workers globally.

Former DFA chief seeks early ruling on sea row T

HE former chief of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) called for an early ruling on the case filed by the Philippines before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, citing China’s “unhindered” activities in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). “Recent developments on the ground have seriously heightened tensions and further highlight the urgency of an early promulgation of the decision,” former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario told businessmen and members of the diplomatic corps during a recent a testimonial event honoring him.

The Philippines brought China before the UN tribunal called Unclos in 2013 to complain about its disproportionate claim in the South China Sea. This was preceded by the seizure of Panatag Shoal, some 150 miles off Zambales, which Manila claimed as belonging to its exclusive economic zone. “The Philippines has reposed its faith in the rule of law, especially, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [Unclos] and other applicable principles of international law,” del Rosario said. “Having presented our positions and evidence in support of all our submis-

sions before the Arbitral Tribunal last November, we now await the tribunal’s decision on the merits of the case. To this decision, we shall accordingly abide,” he added. Following a series of hearings over two years, where the Philippines presented its oral arguments twice, along with some 4,000 pages of memorials, the tribunal is expected to release its decision before June this year. Earlier, the Philippines claimed victory after the tribunal ruled in October 2015, that it has jurisdictions over the case. At the onset of the case, China said it will not participate in the proceedings.

Despite China’s refusal, the tribunal judges have proceeded with arbitration, saying it will continue to provide Beijing the opportunity to present its case through informal channels. Del Rosario said the decision of the tribunal, once rendered, “will be legally binding,” despite China’s proclamation that it will not abide by the ruling since they did not participate in the hearings while rejecting the PCA’s authority to hear the case. He said the Philippines will abide by the ruling and called on other nations to help the country to convince China to respect the rule of law.

Although del Rosario is confident of the strength of the Philippines’s claim, he said Manila should also abide by the decision on the merits of the case even if it is unfavorable to the Philippines. “Notwithstanding certain difficulties and positions, we have consistently maintained that the South China Sea issue is not the sum total of our relations with China,” del Rosario said. “It is my belief, nevertheless, that for China to be truly viewed as a positive force and a responsible regional power, it is of great import for China to manifest adherence to and respect for the rule of law,” he added. Recto Mercene