BusinessMirror March 5, 2016

BusinessMirror

OUT NOW To order, e-mail us at bmturningpoints@businessmirror.com.ph or call 893-1662, 814-0134 to 36

Available at all National Book Store and Fully Booked branches

MEDIA PARTNER OF THE YEAR

BusinessMirror

UNITED NATIONS

2015 ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA AWARD LEADERSHIP AWARD 2008

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A broader look at today’s business n

B R L. M

HE Airline Operators Council (AOC) is asking President Aquino to intervene in the disagreement over landing fees between the foreign airlines and the airport management.

REDISCOVERING BLUE MONSTER

“We are asking no less than the Office of the President to intervene and solve the impasse,” the AOC said in a statement.

“President Aquino was given a copy of our letter, and we expect

SPORTS

him to intervene to solve a brewing problem with international repercussions,” the AOC added.

If the AOC member-airlines are prevented from operating at the Ninoy Aquino International

Airport, they said they are going to file a case of “coercion and abuse of authority” against airport officials before the Ombudsman.

The 40-member AOC added that, in order not to disrupt the airport operations, Airport General Manager Jose Angel A. Honrado could have left the problem of settling the individual accounts of the airlines to the next administration, since the Aquino administration has only a few months left.

“These airlines are run by responsible managements and they don’t shirk away from paying taxes that are due them, [which] is part of their overhead expenses,” the AOC said, adding that its current fight with the airport C  A

A8

ROMNEY CALLS TRUMP ‘PHONY’ The World US, UK college hackers compete on cybersecurity

Romney calls Trump ‘phony,’ urges Republicans to shun him

B

OSTON—Students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT ) and Britain’s University of Cambridge will spend the weekend hacking one another’s computers, with the blessing of their national leaders.

The two schools are competing in a hacking contest that US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced last year among other joint cybersecurity projects between the two nations. The White House billed it as a showdown between the two prestigious schools, both known as heavyweights in the world of computer science.

But the colleges opted to make it a friendlier match. Instead of facing off against each other, the schools assigned their top hackers to six teams made up of students from both institutions.

Teams will gather at MIT on Friday and then, for a frenzied 24 hours, try to hack into their opponents’ computers and steal a trove of files. “This isn’t us versus them,” said Howard Shrobe, a principal researcher at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, which is hosting the event. “It’s the best of both schools working together.”

Along with bragging rights, winners will receive cash prizes of more than $20,000. It’s intended to be the first in a series of global c ybersec urit y competitions.

After a summit in Washington last year, Obama and Cameron jointly called for wider collaboration on cybersecurity. It was only weeks after the US government accused North Korea of hacking computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. The leaders also agreed to form a joint “cyber cell” among their national security agencies, among other measures.

Major breaches like the Sony hack have underscored what experts say is a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. An industry group reported last year that 86 percent of its members believe there is a shortage of skilled workers.

The contest at MIT aims to spark interest in the field and to promote cooperation among academics. “It is essential for us to work together and compare notes,” said Frank Stajano, leader of the Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research at the University of Cambridge, which is sending 10 students to the competition. “If you’re not at least as good as the bad guys, then you have no chance against them.”

Hacking competitions have been gaining popularity in recent years, both as sport and to train students for jobs in cybersecurity. By carrying out attacks, students learn to uncover weak spots in security systems and, in turn, build better defenses. On Friday students will use computers that have hidden vulnerabilities already built-in.

“You have to identify them and patch them before other competitors notice them,” said Rahul Sridhar, a sophomore competitor from MIT. The event is styled after other so-called capture the flag hacking competitions, including an annual contest at the DefCon Hacking Conference that draws top professionals. AP

W

ASHINGTON—Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio barked fresh rounds of insults at each other in a Republican presidential debate on Thursday night, capping a day that saw the party’s establishment scrambling to keep the brash billionaire from winning the nomination.

The raucous debate capped a day that saw the Republican’s most recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, lambasting Trump, the current front-runner, calling him unfit for office and a danger for the nation, in an extraordinary show of intraparty chaos.

The growing feud marked a near-unprecedented scenario pitting the Republican Party’s most prominent leaders, past and present, against each other, as Democrats begin to unite around Hillary Clinton. Underlying the clash is a bleak reality for panicking Republican officials: Beyond harsh words, there is little they see to stop Trump’s march toward the presidential nomination.

The chaos was reflected in the back-and-forth at the Republicans’ first post-Super Tuesday debate, where Trump repeatedly clashed with the remaining candidates.

Rubio justified his attacks on Trump by saying the billionaire businessman had “basically mocked everybody” over the past year. Trump then noted that Rubio had mocked his hands as small, widely viewed as an insult about Trump’s sexual prowess and, holding his hands up to the audience, he declared, “I guarantee you, there’s no problem” in that area.

It was a jaw-dropping moment in a campaign that’s been full of surprises from the beginning.

For all of the criticism and ill will, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich all said they would support Trump if he is the Republican nominee. He, too, said he would support whoever wins.

There were moments of policy debate, too, as Rubio and Cruz pressed Trump aggressively on his conservative credentials, his business practices and shifting policy

329 Delegates of Trump, but it needs 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president

positions. Trump, in short order, demonstrated his willingness to deal and be flexible when it suits his needs.

He said it was fine that Rubio had negotiated with other lawmakers on immigration policy.

He acknowledged changing his own mind to support admitting more highly skilled workers from overseas, saying matter-of-factly, “I’m changing. I’m changing.

We need highly skilled people in this country.”

And he also was matter of fact about providing campaign contributions to leading Democrats, including 10 checks to Hillary Clinton, reviled by many conservatives.

Trump said it was simply business. “I’ve supported Democrats and I’ve supported Republicans, and as a businessman I owed that to my company, to my family, to my workers, to everybody to get along,” he said.

When Rubio faulted Trump’s businesses for manufacturing clothing in China and Mexico, rather than the US, Trump retorted, “This little guy has lied so much about my record.”

Asked when he would start making more clothes in the US, Trump said that would happen when currency valuations weren’t biased

FORMER Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney weighs in on the Republican presidential race during a speech at the University of Utah on Thursday in Salt Lake City. The 2012 GOP presidential nominee has been critical of front-runner Donald Trump on Twitter in recent weeks and has yet to endorse any of the candidates. AP/RICK BOWMER

against manufacturing garments in A merica. W hen moderator Megyn Kelly told Trump his shifts caused some people to question his core, Trump insisted: “I have a very strong core. I have a very strong core. But I’ve never seen a successful person who wasn’t flexible, who didn’t have a certain degree of flexibility.”

John Kasich sought to turn Trump’s statement on the value of “flexibility” into a character question. When the Ohio governor meets with voters, he said, “you know what they really want to know? If somebody tells them something, can they believe it?”

Cruz, too, took the fight to Trump, saying that while it’s easy to print campaign slogans on baseball caps, as Trump does, the question is whether Trump understands what made America great in the first place. He labeled Trump part of the problem, not the solution, accusing him of being “someone who has used government power for private gain.”

“For 40 years, Donald has been

part of the corruption in Washington” that people are angry about, Cruz said, citing Trump’s campaign contributions to leading Democrats, including thenSenator Clinton.

Trump piled more insults, too, on the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, Romney, who earlier on Thursday made a rare public appearance to denounce Trump as “a phony” who is “playing the American public for suckers.” Trump dismissed Romney as “a failed candidate” and an “embarrassment.”

“Obviously, he wants to be relevant,” Trump said dismissively.

“He wants to be back in the game.”

With Ben Carson’s exit from the race this week, the field of Republican candidates has now been narrowed to four, including Texas Senator Cruz and Ohio Governor Kasich. But any number of predictions that Republican voters would unite behind one anti-Trump candidate have come and gone without a change in the overall dynamic.

Trump, with 10 state victories, continues to dominate the con-

versation and the delegate count.

Thursday’s debate, sponsored by Fox News, was the first time Trump faced his rivals since scooping up seven victories on Super Tuesday.

It was also the first time he faced questioning from Kelly since the two clashed in the first primary debate. That’s when Kelly’s tough questioning about Trump’s treatment of women blew up into a running argument between Fox and the candidate. Trump, who dismissed Kelly as a “lightweight” and a “bimbo,” ended up boycotting a subsequent Fox debate, claiming the network was unfair.

Trump signaled he was ready for a truce. When Kelly posed her first question to him, Trump told her “you’re looking well. You’re looking well.”

Trump has continued to pile up delegates during the long, and so far unsuccessful, effort to topple him. He leads the field with 329 delegates. Cruz has 231, Rubio 110 and Kasich 25. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president. AP

B

Zhengsheng delivered a “work report” to more than 2,000 delegates.

The NPC will begin on Saturday.

Above all, the meetings are a wellchoreographed display of political theater, in which all major decisions are preordained.

That’s why ordinary Chinese observers tend to focus less on the meetings’ political machinery, than on occasional slip-ups that put a crack in the façade, exposing the human—and thus, fallible—nature of China’s most powerful figures. Internet users have coined the term leiren yulu, or “outrageous speech,” to describe delegates’ most controversial comments. Here are some of the best (and worst), dating to 2011:

2016

ON the first day of the CPPCC, Li Xiusong, a delegate from Anhui province, said China should refrain from building Disneyland theme parks, as they embody “Western culture” and may inhibit Chinese children from embracing their own heritage.

(Shanghai Disneyland, the first on the mainland, is set to open in June.)

“If children will pursue Western culture when they are young, they will like Western culture when they grow up,” he said, according to several Chinese news web sites.

“Hence, they will become uninterested in Chinese culture.”

Li made no mention of the countless Hollywood movies, McDonald’s restaurants, and Apple products that now define daily life in most Chinese cities.

2015

LIU JIAN, a major general in the People’s Liberation Army and delegate to the CPPCC, suggested that China should host a military parade every year, bucking the traditional schedule of once-a-decade.

Anyone who experienced President Xi Jinping’s massive military parade in September 2015 might think twice at the prospect—in preparation, authorities locked down parts of Beijing, ratcheted up media and Internet censorship and temporarily shuttered 12,000 factories and power plants across northern China, resulting in untold economic losses.

2014

O F F I C I A L S at two sessions news conferences generally ignore foreign journalists in favor of state -media reporters, whom they trust to ask easy, even flattering questions. So perhaps the biggest scandal at that year’s NPC came when finance officials called on eight Chinese journalists—and then Australian Louise Kenney, who introduced herself as a reporter from “Australia’s Global CAMG” before asking a question about China’s agricultural insurance market.

The organization, it turns out, is actually affiliated with China Radio International, a state-run broadcaster. (“Foreign shill,” one Chinese journalist muttered at the presser, according to the Wall Street Journal.)

2013

Daily,” she said, referring to the Communist Party mouthpiece. “The Internet cannot be administered by just anyone... We should follow our own principles and avoid turning something good to something bad; we should not allow people to say whatever they want. This is a socialist state led by the Chinese Communist Party.”

to acquire The New York Times. At the 2013 meetings, his words alone were enough to make headlines. “People who have not received nine years of compulsory education should not have kids; those who have received high-school education should be allowed to have one kid; and all those above should not face any restrictions,” he reportedly said.

Chen also proposed creating a National Food Saving Day, on which people all over the country would “starve for one day” to “recall the bitter past and think of the sweet present.”

2011

WANG PING, a CPPCC committee member, proposed that the government discourage children in China’s rural areas from attending college. “That is because once children from rural areas attend college, they will be unable to return to their hometowns,” he said.

“Furthermore, there are severe employment pressures in the cities. There is no possible way that rural kids who are cramped into these cities can be happy.”

China’s urban-rural divide is one of the world’s most striking—on average, rural people earn about a third as much as their urban counterparts (about $1,603 per year compared to $4,490), the state-run China Daily reported in 2015. Los Angeles Times/TNS

WORLD

CHEN GUANGBIAO, a wealthy businessman and CPPCC delegate, has built a reputation in China for orchestrating “philanthropic” and environmentalist stunts, such as distributing canned air in Beijing, indiscriminately handing out bundles of cash and in 2014 attempting

2012

SHEN JILAN—now 86, making her the oldest representative at the NPC— unintentionally illustrated the delegates’ lopsided relationship with their superiors in 2009 by proudly proclaiming that she had never voted “no” in a meeting since she first became a delegate in 1954.

In 2012 she once again raised hackles for championing stricter government control of the Internet. “I think someone should administer the Internet just like the People’s

B22

U.S. LIKELY TO REPORT SOLID HIRING FOR FEB The World BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph | Saturday, March 5, 2016

B D C

W

ASHINGTON—US workers have been largely insulated from a global slowdown. Job growth remains steady and wages are finally picking up—trends that will be put to the test in Friday’s employment report for February.

IN February a restaurant in Miami posts a sign indicating it is hiring. AP/ALAN DIAZ

Mining companies, including oil and gas drillers, have shed 130,600 jobs in the past 12 months. Factories have hired just 45,000 workers from a year ago, as job gains in the manufacturing sector have slowed after a strong 2014. The Fed is looking for further wage growth. The central bank is considering whether to

raise interest rates again in the face of global risks that could imperil broader economic growth.

Last December the Fed raised rates from record lows—its first increase in nearly a decade. Investors have largely dismissed the likelihood of another rate hike at the upcoming Fed meeting from March 16 to 17. AP

Want to see if Modi is changing India? Check farmers’ incomes

a seasona l ly adjusted annua l rate of 5.47 mil lion, according to the Nationa l A ssociation of R ea ltors. T h at i mprovement fol lowed a sol id 2015, when sa les ac h ie ved t hei r h ighest level in nine years.

And spending at restaurants has risen 6.1 percent over the past 12 months. Still, troubles

abroad have tempered US economic growth. China, the world’s second-largest economy, is struggling with high corporate debts and slower growth. Oil prices have tumbled amid relatively low demand. The strong dollar has crushed exports, while the stock market has dropped in an extended bout of volatility this year.

Japan to suspend work at US base in Okinawa

S

HORTLY after Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power in 2014, his first economic plan promised modern cities, manufacturing corridors and bullet trains to aspirational Indians yearning to join a “neo middle class.”

This week his latest budget struck a much different tone, listing a slew of moves to help villagers that make up about 70 percent of India’s population. Most ambitious was a goal to double the income of farmers by 2022.

The shift makes perfect political sense: Rural India is suffering after back-to-back droughts, and Modi is soon facing several key state elections. Whether he can raise farmer incomes quickly without stoking inflation, however, may determine if his economic vision is any different from the previous Congress-led governments that have ruled for most of India’s history.

Modi’s election win raised hopes that he would unshackle India’s private sector from excessive bureaucracy. His advocates—encouraged by a slogan of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”— saw him reducing the state’s role in the economy and spending less on unproductive subsidies.

Yet, almost two years in, the jury is still out. Modi’s government looms large in more than 200 companies, from banks to power producers to a condommaker. India’s ranking in global indexes for corruption and ease of doing business has only improved slightly. And Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services warned this week that India’s debt and subsidy burden still “significantly constrain” its fiscal options.

“No prime minister, no matter how powerful, can change how India operates within a span of two years,” said Milan Vaishnav, associate in the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The prime

T

195,000

Jobs added in February

Recession.

Recent reports point to continued improvement. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 2.5 percent.

Annual pay growth has perked up after having increased at a roughly 2-percent pace in the previous few years.

T he wage acceleration has prompted optimism among many economists despite the difficulties worldwide.

“The trend in wage growth is clearly a straight line upward—I believe we will hit the 3-percent threshold,” said Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor, a jobs marketplace.

T he h i r i ng a nd r i si ng i nc ome s h av e t r a n s l at e d i nt o more con su mer s pend i ng i n severa l key sectors. Auto sales rose 7 percent over last February to 1.3 million vehicles, according to Autodata Corp.

Purchases of existing homes rose 0.4 percent last month to

expand irrigation, better manage groundwater, promote organic farming, modernize wholesale markets, boost credit and revamp crop insurance.

Even so, his administration has given few specifics on how farmer incomes would double. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh declined to answer multiple questions on the target at a briefing this week.

Former PM Manmohan Singh was more scathing, telling NDTV it was an “impossible dream” because it would involve annual increases of about 15 percent.

‘Two evils’

INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi (third from right) talks with Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during a meeting of ruling National Democratic Alliance lawmakers in New Delhi, India, on March 1. AP/MANISH SWARUP

minister has claimed that it is not the business of government to be in business, but we are still waiting for that pledge to be fulfilled.”

Reforms stall

SOME of that isn’t all his fault. The opposition Congress party has repeatedly blocked a goods-and-services tax aimed at creating a single market among India’s 1.3 billion people. Modi on Thursday again appealed for it to be passed in the current parliament session.

In other areas he could do more.

He backed down from making it easier to acquire land, shelved proposals to make labor rules more flexible and kept in place a retroactive tax law that has spooked foreign investors. From the central bank’s point of view, one of Modi’s biggest successes has been limiting the growth of guaranteed crop prices to keep inflation low. Gov. Raghuram Rajan

has called macroeconomic stability India’s “single most important strength” in a time of global market turmoil.

Collision course

EVEN so, economics are often linked to politics, and outcomes can be hard to predict. The meager guaranteed prices led to slower wage growth in rural areas, and two straight bad monsoons prompted a backlash from farmers who once supported Modi.

His new goal to double farmer income has put those competing aims—pleasing farmers and reining in inflation—on a collision course.

Modi ’s predecessor, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, faced the same dilemma. He bet that higher guaranteed crop prices and agricultural wage growth that averaged 13 percent would be a win with voters. But surging inflation,

including frequent price spikes for staples like onions, ended up backfiring. Come election time, Singh’s argument that wages had increased more than inflation fell flat, and his Congress party suffered its worst defeat ever.

Modi initially took that lesson to heart. He agreed to an inflation-targeting regime with the central bank and limited crop-price increases.

Since he took charge in May 2014, annual agricultural wage-growth has averaged 2.4 percent.

‘Impossible dream’

THEN came a crushing election defeat last November in Bihar, India’s third-most populous state, prompting Modi to shift his attention to rural areas. In the budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reeled off a list of proposals to boost the rural economy. The government plans to build rural roads,

MODI has two options to double farmer income by 2022, according to D. Jayaraj, a professor with Madras Institute of Development Studies in Chennai. He can increase guaranteed crop prices or raise subsidies on inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides and seeds.

“You have to choose between the two evils,” Jayaraj said.

Some don’t think Modi will follow in the previous government’s footsteps. Kilbinder Dosanjh, Asia director at Eurasia Group, said Jaitley is more likely to improve crop output than raise guaranteed prices.

“I can’t see how it will happen,” Singh said of doubling the income of farmers. “I think it was just a campaign slogan.”

The next test will come around June, when the government sets prices for the monsoon crop. For now, Modi is still winning praise for his efforts to overhaul India’s economy, even if he’s moving at a slower pace than many initially hoped.

“The government has a vision of how to structurally improve the economy and it seems to do what it can to achieve this,” said Thomas Rookmaaker, a sovereign analyst at Fitch Ratings in Hong Kong. “It’s important to realize that you simply can’t change a country like India overnight.” Bloomberg News

J

A PA NESE Pr i me Mi n ister Shinzo Abe agreed on Friday to suspend work to expand a US base on the southern island of Okinawa, in a bid to end an ongoing fight with the island’s government and people over the issue.

Abe told reporters in Tokyo that his government will adhere to a court recommendation to settle several lawsuits over the controversial expansion off the coast in Henoko, where landfill work had been carried out to prepare for the building of new runways. The prime minister said he wanted to find a way to relieve the burden of the US bases on the island for the people of Okinawa.

At the core of the dispute is the planned move of the centrally located Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the less populated Henoko area in the north of the island.

The wrangling over the relocation has dragged on for nearly two decades, and is one of the few areas of tension between the governments in Tokyo and Washington.

Successive Japanese administrations have struggled to fulfill alliance expectations at the same time as quelling local anger.

The move comes amid a territorial dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea about 400 kilometers from the main island of Okinawa. China said on Friday it would increase its defense spending by 7 percent to 8 percent in 2016.

Okinawa is a critical part of the US military presence in Asia, playing host to about half the roughly 50,000 US military personnel in Japan, the biggest deployment of American forces outside the home front. While US forces may offer a welcome deterrent against China’s increasing muscle, many Okinawans complain of noise, crime, pollution and accidents connected with the bases. Bloomberg News

WORLD

D. ANTIONETTE C. CABANGONJACINTO (fourth from left), vice chairman and CEO of Eternal Plans Inc., presents to Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc (fifth from left) the token of appreciation for delivering the keynote address at the Eternal Plans Inc.’s 35th Anniversary and Annual Awards at the Citystate Tower Hotel in Manila. Also in the photo are (from left) D. Adrian C. Cabangon, Eternal Plans treasurer; D. Edgard C. Cabangon, Eternal Plans chairman of Executive Committee; D. Eduard C. Cabangon, executive of the ALC Group of Cos.; T. Anthony C. Cabangon, Eternal Plans chairman; and Elmer M. Lorica, Eternal Plans president and COO. NONOY LACZA

‘Preneed industry has regained Pinoys’ trust’

B2-3

US likely to report solid hiring for Feb

Economists have forecast that employers added a solid 195,000 jobs last month, up from the 151,000 added in January, according to data firm FactSet. And the unemployment rate is expected to remain at a low 4.9 percent.

Hiring by construction companies, retailers and health-care prov iders have offset layoffs at manufacturers and fossi lf uel companies—t wo sectors squeezed by the pressures of uncertainty in China, sluggishness in Europe, declining oil prices and a stronger dollar. Consumers have provided the foundation for much of the job market’s improvement in what’s become something of a self-sustaining cycle.

The 2.7 million workers hired in the past 12 months have bolstered spending on autos, housing and meals out. As unemployment has dropped, more companies have begun to raise pay to attract workers, thereby fueling more hiring as people’s ability to spend, invest and save has increased Friday’s jobs report will be closely monitored by the Federal Reserve (the Fed) and presidential candidates as a key gauge of whether the economy is extending its six-anda-half-year rebound from the Great

A

B23

TO HALT CAPITAL EXODUS

N Asian hedge fund that trounced peers by shorting China-related shares during a market rout last year is still bearish on Asia’s biggest economy, while seeing the region’s best opportunities in Vietnam and the Philippines.

Deng Jiewen, who’s part of a five-member team led by Matt Hu managing the $80-million FengHe Asia Fund, said in an interview from Singapore that Southeast Asian economies are doing a better job than China in boosting domestic consumption and attracting foreign investment. Chinese stocks face a difficult road ahead because of deteriorating earnings, Deng said. The fund surged 20 percent in the past year, as Asian stocks tumbled.

Fe ngHe, wh ic h me a n s

T

China’s leadership sessions: decisions, political theater and ‘outrageous speech’ EIJING—In the Chinese capital, Beijing, it’s that time of year again: a time of motorcade-induced traffic jams, stepped-up security and around-theclock coverage of dour-faced, dark-suited political representatives discussing—and often fawning over—the policy guidelines of their superiors.

On Thursday the city kicked off its biggest political event of the year: the “two sessions,” named after the concurrent meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC), a rubber-stamp parliament, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The sessions will last up to two weeks.

Security was tight at the CPPCC’s opening ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, a massive granite edifice abutting Tiananmen Square. Some guards examined sewer grates with long sticks, checking for suspicious objects; some wielded metal detec tors; and some held fire extinguishers to guard against possible self-immolations.

Inside, the CPPCC’s top official Yu

VIETNAM, PHL DISLODGE CHINAEMERGINGMARKET AS BEST CAPITAL ROUT DEEPENS AS CHINA FAILS DESTINATIONS IN REGION

“risk and return” in Mandarin, is among a handful of hedge funds capitalizing on investments in Asia’s smaller markets, as the outlook for China has soured. John Foo, who runs Singapore-based hedge-fund firm Kingsmead Asset Management, last year called Vietnam the “brightest star in a dark night” in Southeast Asia.

“We remain quite positive about the Vietnamese economy and corporate earnings growth,” FengHe’s Deng said.

“The Philippines has a strong demographic and economic structure. The country is becoming more friendly to foreign capital now.”

The Vietnamese government’s targeted growth of 6.7 percent in 2016 will be among C  A

Presence of Chinese military vessels at Quirino Atoll on and off–Wescom

BusinessMirror

B2-2 Saturday, March 5, 2016

AS REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS THROW INSULTS AT WILD DEBATE

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

Aquino asked to end Miaa, AOC feud over ‘unpaid’ landing fees

T

INSIDE

Saturday, March 5, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 149

HE preneed industry, which a few years ago was on the brink of collapse, has gained back the public’s trust and now a valuable partner of the government in achieving the goal of financial inclusion for the poor, Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc said on Thursday night.

In his speech at the 35th anniversar y and annual awards

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 47.1150

ceremonies of Eternal Plans Inc., Dooc cited the preneed industry’s contribution toward financial inclusion, particularly in offering reliable preneed plans that serve as savings instruments for many Filipino families.

“The buzzword now is financial inclusion, and we are moving to achieve it. We have partnered with various government institutions, and insurance and preneed companies to be able to service far-flung

₧600M

Total contract price of new prepaid plans sold by Eternal Plans in 2015 communities and provide the spark needed to make this dream a reality,” Dooc said.

S “P,” A

B R A

HE military finally admitted on Friday that it has monitored the irregular presence of Chinese military and paramilitary vessels in the Quirino (Jackson) Atoll in the West Philippine Sea, after no less than China and even the United States reported the presence of Chinese ships in the area.

The admission was made by the Armed Forces Western Command (Wescom) through its spokesman, Capt. Cherry Tindog, after two days of sticking to its original line that Chinese ships have never been or were not in the atoll, part of the features in the Kalayaan Island Group owned by the country, but is being claimed by Beijing.

“To say that China has effectively taken over the Quirino Atoll is not accurate and not true. While Chinese vessels have been sighted on and off the area, Filipino fishing vessels are monitored conducting economic activities unhampered,”

Tindog said in statement.

“Quirino Atoll is about 133 nautical miles [246 kilometers] from the nearest tip in Rizal, Palawan, and is, without a doubt, part of the Philippine EEZ [exclusive economic zone],” she added.

Wescom, the military’s area command that has responsibility over the defense of the West Philippine Sea, was forced to make the admission, after China officially confirmed that it has sent ships and made its presence in the atoll to remove a Filipino fishing vessel that has remained grounded in the area, posing dangers to maritime navigation.

The US also issued a statement, saying it has been monitoring the presence of Chinese ships in the area and, at the same time, cautioned Beijing not to harass Filipino fishermen in the area, a traditional fishing ground for Filipinos.

Earlier, Vice Adm. Alexander Lopez, Wescom chief, has denied that Chinese military and paramilitary S “W,” A

n JAPAN 0.4145 n UK 66.8138 n HK 6.0657 n CHINA 7.2095 n SINGAPORE 33.9348 n AUSTRALIA 34.6248 n EU 51.6333 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.5674

Source: BSP (4 March 2016 )

A2 Saturday, March 5, 2016

Preneed. . .

C  A

According to Eternal Plans President Elmer Lorica, the preneed plan is a savings instrument that is peculiarly Filipino. It is a savings instrument that is based on trust, and without the public’s trust, no preneed company could flourish.

In 2015 Eternal Plans sold new preneed plans with total contract price of P600 million.

As a new milestone in its 35 years of operation, Eternal Plans collected a total of P110 million in initial premiums in 2015.

Eternal Plans Vice Chairman and CEO D. Antoinette C. Cabangon-Jacinto thanked the sales force of Eternal Plans for achieving this new milestone, and stressed the importance of keeping with the company’s commitment to its plan holders as a way of building and keeping the public’s trust in preneed companies.

Back in 2003 when the preneed industry almost collapsed because preneed companies were unable to honor the promised benefits under the plans they sold, only a few preneed companies raised enough capital to keep their commitments.

“My father [Amb. Antonio L. Cabangon], the founder and chairman emeritus of Eternal Plans, had always believed that the commitment that we give to our plan holders is his own commitment, which must be fulfilled.

Through the 35 years of Eternal Plans, we’ve already made our mark and have proven our stability because we honor our commitments,” she said.

Eternal Plans Chairman T. Anthony C. Cabangon said the company’s tradition of honoring its commitments had contributed in the public’s renewed trust in preneed plans as a savings instrument.

“There was a time that the preneed industry almost collapsed, but now, we can say that there’s a lot of opportunities for growth, and that preneed plans have regained the trust of the public as an instrument to secure their future,” he said.

The annual awards of Eternal Plans also honor the commitment of the sales force by recognizing the exemplary performance of its sales agents. For this year’s annual awards, the following were awarded: Edgardo Batin, Mark Alfred Ortiz, Nancy Rodriguez, Nestor de la Cruz, Clarina Macaraeg, Clyde Patrick Makabenta, Gina Ronquillo, Sarah Ilagan, Anita Acosta, Anthony Ronald Velayo, Eduardo Pequeña, Elizabeth Refugia, Erwin Ermino, Jose del Rosario Jr., Paul Bryan Ortiz, Regine de la Cruz, Rex de Torres, Ana Virginia Tagle, Dave Ronquillo, Eleno Pedro Makabenta, Marlone Vince Macaraeg and Sidro Ronquillo.

BMReports BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Aquino asked to end Miaa, AOC feud over ‘unpaid’ landing fees C  A

management has the full support of the Board of Airline Representatives.

When asked for comment, the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) repeated the same answer it gave on Thursday, saying it expects the airlines concerned “to settle their obligations in accordance with the agreements they entered into with the airport management since enough time has been given for these airlines to settle their debts.”

The Miaa said the airlines with back accounts were asked to settle their obligations since last year.

It was gathered that there are nine foreign carriers that have the standing obligations with the Miaa, and one airline alone reportedly has arrears amounting

to some P45 million.

The AOC told the BusinessMirror that the airlines concerned have written Honrado to ask for the computation of the payments involved. “We have simply asked him, ‘How did you arrive at such amount?

Please give us a detailed accounting’” In reply, Honrado allegedly told the AOC, “Prove to me that you paid,” adding that the airline companies were called bastos for having the “temerity to ask such an impertinent question.”

“The Miaa was unable to give us the detailed accounts because we gathered that they have no records of these transactions,” the AOC said, adding that the management has a duty to give each of the airlines concerned the accounting copy of their back accounts, instead of threatening them with retaliation, such

as limiting their access or preventing their flights to operate.

The AOC said the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) have gone along with the Miaa to disrupt their operations by telling them that they would not be issued parking slots at the Miaa.

“The slots are issued by the Miaa, which they relay to the CAB, and if the CAB doesn’t give us the slots, there would be no flights,” the AOC said. CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla, in a March 3 letter, told the AOC members that he will honor Honrado’s request not to issue them the slots until they have settled their problem with the Miaa.

On Marc h 1 t he AOC-hired l aw f i r m, A M A a nd Pa redes, w rote to remind Arcilla that disrupting international operations would “trig ger

dissatisfaction from tourists aside from international repercussions.”

AMA furnished copies of the same letter to the Office of the President, Department of Transportation and Communications, CAB and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, and the Ombudsman.

The AOC said that foreign airlines operate in the country according to a bilateral agreement, “and the Miaa’s move is not being made against a particular foreign airline but the country it represents.”

“With Honrado’s actions, he is going to pull down the government, so low we’re going back to the Stone Age,” the AOC said.

The AOC added that it is “asking no less than the Office of the President to intervene and solve the impasse.”

Vietnam, PHL dislodge China as best capital destinations in region…

C  

the world ’s fastest, girded by rising domestic demand and foreign investment. Overseas investors added a net $100 million to their Vietnam stock holdings in 2015, the 10th straight year of inflows, while other Asian markets suffered outflows. In the Philippines foreign direct investment jumped 16.4 percent last November to $464 million, bringing the total for the first 11 months to $5.5 billion, according to central bank data.

In the year ended January, FengHe ranked in the top 2 percent of the 188 Asia ex-Japan funds tracked by data provider Eurekahedge Pte. The fund wasn’t immune to losses earlier this year as global equities tumbled amid commodity-price declines, currency volatility and credit-rating downgrades. The fund lost 3.8 percent

in January, as the MSCI Asia Pacific Index tumbled 8 percent to a threeyear low.

The FengHe fund is run by F&H Fund Management, an asset manager cofounded by Hu and John Wu, the former chief technology officer of Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The fund favors sectors tourism, new energy vehicles, health care and consumer shares in Asian markets.

Vietnam’s VN Index trades at 1.7 times net assets, near its lowest level in three years, after falling 1.5 percent in 2016.

The gauge climbed for each of the past four years. Earnings on the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) are projected to gain 22 percent over the next 12 months, according to estimates com-

piled by Bloomberg, while the measure is little changed for the year.

Chinese equities have extended declines this year, with the Shanghai Composite Index plunging to a 14-month low on January 28 amid signs the nation’s economic slowdown is deepening.

Companies in the benchmark gauge will probably grow earnings at 3 percent on average this year, Morgan Stanley said last month, cutting its estimate from 5 percent.

The Shanghai Composite dropped 0.5 percent at the noontime break, while Vietnam’s benchmark gauge added 0.2 percent and the PSEi lost 0.4 percent.

“Most investors recognize the valuation in the market has become cheaper,” Deng said, referring to China stocks. “Having

said that, earnings growth has also deteriorated for a majority of the sectors,” and some companies might even see profits drop this year, he said.

Chinese authorities raised margin requirements on futures contracts, compelled brokerages to pare back stock lending and started police investigations against “malicious” short sellers.

Deng pared his holdings in Chinese companies prior to June, when the stock market starting tumbling amid concern the nation’s soaring levels of margin debt were unsustainable. The fund also shorted Chinese shares in Hong Kong last year.

The Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index have both tumbled more than 40 percent from their peaks last year. Bloomberg News

Wescom. . .

C  A

vessels has ever been present in the atoll, even branding a report carried out by one newspaper about the presence of Beijing in the atoll as a “lie.” While China admitted its extended presence in the atoll, Tindog said the presence was only “on and off.”

“While it is true that Wescom has monitored Chinese vessels’ on and off presence in Quirino Atoll, following the grounding of a Filipino carrier boat in the area due to bad weather and discrepancy of the vessel, the reported permanent or prolonged Chinese presence in Quirino Atoll is inaccurate,” she said.

However, the Wescom spokesman admitted that the military only irregularly carried out its Maritime patrol.

“Maritime patrol conducted on February 19, 2016 revealed that…there were no Chinese vessels sighted on that day. After five Chinese vessels [two Chinese Coast Guard, one Maritime Security Administration, one Rescue and Salvage ship and one barge were sighted on February 21, only one Filipino fishing vessel was sighted at the atoll on February 24,” Tindog said.

“No vessel was sighted in Quirino Atoll and its immediate vicinity on the patrol on March 2,” she added.

In the past, the Wescom has been hit for withholding reports about Chinese presence in the West Philippine Sea and even Beijing’s harassments of military resupply mission to troops in the Ayungin Shoal.

It not only withheld information, but even drove away Filipinos who saunters into Pagasa, like the students who took the “freedom voyage” last December, but takes no action against Chinese ships that loiters and patrol the area.

News BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

PAP urges energy dept to pursue SC appeal on Tañon oil exploration case

T

B L L

HE Petroleum Association of the Philippines has raised legal points that could help the Department of Energy (DOE) defend its case involving a petroleum service contract that was nullified by the Supreme Court (SC) in April last year.

PAP Chairman Rufino B. Bomasang and PAP President Sebastian C. Quiniones Jr. wrote a letter to Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada to “express our concern over the SC ruling and its impact on [the] service contract, as well as legal submissions that can be considered further in any future filing in relation to the Resident Marine Case.”

The SC ruled that Service Contract 46, which involves oil exploration, development and production in the protected area of Tañon Strait, awarded to Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (Japex) was unconstitutional. The protected seascape in the Visayas is also a known habitat for whales and dolphins.

PAP is hopeful that the DOE would pursue its appeal. “The PAP is gravely concerned of the potential implications of the Resident Marine Case. It signifies that all service contracts entered into by the government with foreign-owned corporations involving either technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development and utilization of petroleum, but signed only by the secretary of the DOE, not by the President, are null and void for being unconstitutional,” said the group in its February 16 letter. A copy of the letter was made public on Friday.

The SC decision cited the DOE’s failure to comply with the safeguards under Section 2, Article XII, of the 1987 Constitution which requires a service contract for oil exploration and extraction to be signed by the President and reported to Congress. Because the Japex contract was executed solely by the energy secretary, and not reported to the Philippine Congress, the Court held that it was unconstitutional.

The said contract was signed by former Energy Secretary Vicente Perez Jr. during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. “It is PAP’s position that there are established principles and rulings of the SC that will contend differently,” the PAP officials said. According to the SC, the requirement for the President to sign was a safeguard “to ensure that the guidelines set by law are meticulously observed, and, likewise, to eradicate the corruption that may easily penetrate departments and agencies by ensuring that the President has authorized or approved of these service contracts herself.”

PAP said this purpose was achieved in this case because the President, in fact, authorized or approved these service contracts herself when Arroyo issued a “special authority” where she expressly designated Perez to “sign, execute and deliver…the contracts on exploration, development and production of petroleum resources...over the Tañon Strait, Visayan Basin with Japex.”

PAP also cited a SC ruling in which the President may delegate such authority to enter into loan contracts to the secretary of Finance.

Further, PAP pointed out that the contractors, who relied on good faith on the representation of the government that the signature of the DOE secretary, is sufficient and validly binds the Philippine government should not be prejudiced.

“It is an operative fact that after execution of SCs [service contracts] that are only designated by the DOE secretaries, services were actually rendered and continue to be rendered. Thus, not only have the contractors already spent millions for their respective projects, the government has conversely benefited from such transactions,” PAP said.

The group strongly pointed out that such service contracts, which were executed in good faith with foreign corporations and are already being implemented, “should not be simply nullified without being given the chance to be rectified.”

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Saturday, March 5, 2016 A3

SSS execs’ bonus proposal draws f lak from lawmakers

L

AWMAKERS on Friday questioned the proposed P1 million performance-based bonus for Social Security System (SSS) officials.

Party-list Rep. Neri J. Colmenares of Bayan Muna, House Independent Bloc Leader Rep. Martin Romualdez and Party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis said that the proposed bonuses for SSS officials is “unjust,” following the controversial presidential veto on a measure proposing a P2,000 pension hike.

“The supposed bonuses for the SSS board are really immoral and unjust, considering that they opposed the P2,000 pension hike for its pensioners. They have money for their perks and bonuses but not for the pension increase much needed by pensioners,” Senior Deputy Minority Leader Colmenares said.

“The SSS board has terribly failed its pensioners and they do not deserve any bonus. While they enjoy millions in salaries, perks and bonuses, they are giving pensioners a sub-human

pension,” Colmenares said.

In January President Aquino vetoed the bill providing P2,000 across-the-board increase in the monthly pension of SSS pensioners and adjustment of the minimum monthly pension from P1,200 to P3,200 for members who have contributed the equivalent of 10 credited years of service (CYS), and from P2,400 to P4,000, for those with at least 20 CYS. Mr. Aquino said that he was worried that the stability of the SSS would be compromised if he would allow the pension hike of 2.1 million pensioners.

For his part, Romualdez asked the Palace through the Governance Commission for GovernmentOwned and -Controlled Corp. to deny the “insensitive” request of SSS officials.

“The timing is very questionable.

The request is very selfish and leaves [a] bad taste [in the mouth]. No SSS officials deserve a bonus. They are there to serve and protect the pensioners and not to reward themselves with heavy perks,” he said.

“The request for a performance bonus is immoral and very insensitive to the plight of the pensioners who are in the twilight zone of their lives,” Romualdez added.

“Their admission of an increased income that triggered their request for performance bonuses is the best reason to push the proposal to hike SSS pensioners,” he added.

Hicap, meanwhile, said that the SSS should be primarily serving the interest of its members that is pinnacled by its pension delivery to retirees.

“The improvement in collection claimed by the doubly compensated SSS President and CEO Emilio de Quiros Jr. is actually self-serving and does not reflect better service to its members,” the lawmaker said.

“If it is toward their own pockets, government favor is lightning fast, but if it is for the public interest it is vetoed or blocked, the SSS is plagued with bonus-addict, fund-parasite

‘LGU share in Fire Code fees intact but not ready for release yet’

B

Ecozone seen to rise beside 132.5-MW solar-generation facility in Cadiz City

B

ACOLOD CIT Y—An economic zone (ecozone) will soon rise next to the newly inaug urated 132. 5 -megawatt (MW) solar-power plant in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.

Mayor Patrick Escalante said that the city government is working for the establishment of an ecozone, projected to be built within a 200-hectare area, through the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

The mayor said they have already discussed the project with partner company Gregorio Araneta Inc. (GAI).

The ecozone, which will serve as manufacturing center of solarpower panels, is projected to start operation this year, he said.

“This will again bring in billions worth of investments, even more than the solar-power farm,” Escalante added.

On Thursday officials led the unveiling of Southeast Asia’s largest solar plant worth P10 billion in a 176-hectare area at Hacienda Paz in Barangay Tinampaan.

The solar-generation facility of Helios Solar Energy Corp., which was developed through a partnership between GAI and Soleq Holdings Inc., also becomes the seventh biggest in the world.

It started connecting to the grid on February 13, and is initially dispatching an average of 30 MW through the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

Gregorio Araneta III, chairman of Helios and owner of GAI, who was among those who led the

unveiling rites, said that the project demonstrates the country’s ability to develop world-class renewableenergy (RE) projects and establishes the Philippines’s foothold as front-runner in RE. The solar farm is projected to produce 188,500 MW of solar power per year, or enough to energize an estimated 167,526 households, save 177.7 million liters of water, and lower carbon emission by 94,627 tons per year, which is equivalent to 2.4 million planted trees.

French Ambassador to the Philippines Thierry Mathou, who was among the honored guests, said that the project, which also involves various French companies, is the start of more investments for the province.

“This country is of great potential to be the new success story of the century not only in Asia, but also in the world, thus, more investments are needed,” he added.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said that since the province already has enough, even surplus power supply, it can now attract more investors.

Former Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who also attended the inauguration rites, said that the operation of the 132.5-MW solar farm “puts the Philippines on the renewable energy map of the world.”

Zubiri, author of the Renewable Energy Act, said the project of Helios Solar Energy Corp., will “encourage environmentalists to visit the site as an example of the transformation to renewable energy from fossil fuel.” PNA

executives,” Hicap added.

The lawmakers said that they will still push the passage of the resolution overriding the veto of President Aquino on the measure increasing by P2,000 the pension of SSS members as 81 lawmakers have already signed the resolution.

Under Article VI, Section 27 of the 1987 Constitution, Congress could pass a bill into law despite the President’s veto if two-thirds of the members of each chamber vote for its approval.

At least 194 of the 291 remaining House members would have to vote to approve a vetoed measure to overturn the President’s opposition to it.

Colmenares, main author of the bill, said he is still gathering signature to reach the 194 needed votes.

“We are very optimistic that we can have the needed votes when session resumes by May 23. Win or lose, we will still push for the override resolution at the plenary,” Colmenares said.

He added that they are eyeing to get the signature of 211 lawmakers who have voted to pass the P2,000 pension hike on final reading at the lower chamber. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

CONSTRUCTION BOOM A building construction worker works by his merry lonesome at a construction site in Manila on Thursday.

The onset of the summer season is expected to usher the summer construction boom all over the country. NONNIE REYES

Govt told: Dangle tax perks to lure more renewable-energy investors B B F

T

HE government can ensure stable supply of electricity by offering tax incentives to lure more investors in renewable energy (RE), Sen. Francis G. Escudero suggested on Friday .

Escudero, who is eyeing the vice presidency in the May 9 elections, said that the next administration should offer more incentives to prospective RE developers, such as tax incentives.

“Providing tax incentives to companies that would venture into renewable-energy development will help keep a steady supply of power in the long-run in areas with energy woes,” the senator said.

Escudero cited, for instance, Bantayan Island in Cebu which

is known as the “egg basket” of the Visayas. “It’s a pity that many parts of our country still experience power problem when we already have the resources for various renewable-energy projects,” he said.

The senator suggested that the government should “come up with incentives for investors to consider renewable-energy development, which is not only sustainable but a cheaper power source, as well,” he added.

According to Escudero, Department of Energy (DOE) data showed that as of 2014, only 37 percent of generated power was supplied by renewable sources, while 63 percent came from nonrenewable energy, mainly coal.

He noted that of the renewable sources, “less than 1 percent was

from wind and solar energy.”

Escudero asserted that the next administration must quickly address a looming power-supply shortage, pointing out that tourism and business outsourcing, which are thriving in the region, remain dependent on power.

“Power problems and the lack of infrastructures are preventing the Philippines from becoming a top tourist draw even though the country has more beautiful sights to offer than its neighbors in Southeast Asia, such as Bantayan Island’s powdery soft whitesand beaches” he said, recalling that last year some 5.36 million international tourists visited the Philippines, but this was just over half of the tourism department’s five-year target for 2016 of 10 million arrivals.

UDGET Secretary Florencio B. Abad said that the share of local government units (LGUs) in the collection of fire code fees cannot be released yet, because of pending documentary requirements from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

“The Department of Budget and Management wishes to clarify that the shares of LGUs from Fire Code fees from 2010 to 2013 are available for release, once the BFP submits documentary requirements on total collections.

Fees from 2014 onward, meanwhile, have yet to be certified by the Bureau of the Treasury [BTr],” Abad said in a news statement.

He issued the statement on Friday in response to an appeal from Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto to release some P1 billion to LGUs as their share in the collection of Fire Code fees.

However, Abad clarified that the amount to be released to the LGUs as their share in the collection of fire code fees is only P651.7 million, which is 20 percent of the P3.26 billion in collection for the said years as certified by the BTr. According to Republic Act 9154, or the Comprehensive Fire Code of the Philippines, LGUs are entitled to 20 percent of collections from Fire Code fees, while the remaining 80 percent is set aside for the modernization of the BFP. Abad said the amount will be released upon the submission by the BFP of certain documentary requirements. “For this amount to be released to LGUs, however, the BFP must first submit to the DBM a breakdown of shares per LGU, certifications of collection and deposit from the BTr, and the certificate of remittance from city or municipal treasurers,” Abad said.

“Additionally, the BFP must provide the DBM with a special budget request indicating the intended usage of the funds, which can include the operation and maintenance of local fire stations, or the repair or procurement of fire trucks and equipment. As of today, the DBM has yet to receive these requirements from the BFP for the collections from 2010 to 2013,” he added. David Cagahastian

A4 Saturday, March 5, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Asean integration: Criminal enterprise?

T

HE revelation that local casinos may have been used for money-laundering purposes is not a joke. Although there have been some overthe-top comments on how this may affect the Philippines in the global banking system, this problem cannot be ignored.

If the Philippines is going to compete against the gaming industries of Macau, Singapore and South Korea, it must be assured that our country is not going to be used for this illicit purpose.

However, an alarm is being raised about the potential of increased criminal activity in the region with the further moves toward integration of the economies of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

A recent estimate by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says that as much as 2 percent of the total nominal GDP is attributable to criminal activities. In 2014 the British government tried to quantify how much of the economy came from drug sales and prostitution. Government figures showed that prostitution added about £4.3 billion to the economy, while illegal drugs provided a roughly £6.7-billion boost.

In the overall picture, it is not a large percentage of either the United Kingdom or global economies. However, the nominal numbers of crime revenues are significant. The UN says that global drug trafficking and currency counterfeiting is worth nearly $1 trillion. That amount is worth nearly five times the entire Philippine economy.

Of greater concern to the Philippines and our regional neighbors is the potential for increased cross-border crimes that may come with Asean integration.

Again, according to the UN, between 30 percent and 40 percent of all woodbased products exported from the region are illegal because of poor regulations and monitoring of the legitimate wood trade. Our neighbor Myanmar is the world’s second-largest producer of heroin. Human trafficking is still a major problem in many parts of Asean.

With smuggling (inbound—rice and consumer goods, and outbound— gold and other minerals) a perennial problem, how much more potential for this criminal activity to grow with further Asean integration? The UN’s report notes that some 500 million shipping containers are moved in and out of the region every year, with less than 2 percent subject to inspection.

While the leaders of Asean are certainly aware of the risks of increased criminal activity, it is up to the Philippines to protect its own borders and economy. This is not an issue that can be delayed until a serious situation occurs.

The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the AntiMoney Laundering Council, had previously pushed for casinos to be included under coverage of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Of course, the government did nothing to address the concerns.

We hope the Philippine government, under a new administration, will not wait until heroin from Myanmar is flooding the streets of our cities before acting.

Philippines: A calm oasis John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I

N a more perfect world, we would see stability and unity both in purpose and direction. But 2016 is far from perfect.

The presidential campaign in the US is the most divisive and hostile in decades, with a degree of partisanship that may be difficult to heal no matter who wins. National economies and even regions are going in opposite directions. The Europeans are facing deflation, while in South America inflation is a major problem again, with Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and now Uruguay showing inflation rates over 10 percent.

China and India are accumulating gold bullion as if they were storing water and food for a major natural disaster. Canada just sold the last of its gold reserves and is probably the only country on Earth that is not holding a single ounce of gold as part of its reserves.

The global crude oil market and

the trading prices is based on lies and deception. Nigeria is in such bad economic shape that it literally ran out of dollars and had to secure an emergency loan from the World Bank.

This week the Nigerian oil minister announced that “the Opec [Organization of the Petroleum

Exporting Countries] and non-Opec to meet on March 20 in Russia” and that “Nigeria oil minister sees dramatic price move after the meeting.”

Within hours, Reuters news service reported: “No decision on the date or venue of a possible meeting between Opec and non-Opec producers has been made, yet, a Gulf Opec delegate said.” The press and media reported a couple of weeks ago that Russia had agreed “to freeze oil production at current levels,” while failing to mention that Russia’s current oil production is running at 100 percent of output capacity. It is all smoke and mirrors.

In the midst of this, the Philippines oddly enough appears rock solid. No matter what happens in the May election, as usual, Filipinos will move on.

While the Philippine economy is a little hesitant, in comparison to regional neighbors and global counterparts, this is paradise on Earth.

The Philippine stock market offered a great deal of excitement this past week, with large upward

price movements and high volume.

This rally seems premature to me, but then again, my predictions are usually wrong and we never fight the market. But if the market can maintain the current level through the end of the month—which may be a lot to ask—last year’s historic high above 8,000 might seem like a low base level by the end of 2016.

High trading volume will be critical to the stock market, but the key to the deal will be the Philippine peso.

I had expected—incorrectly once again—that we would break and hold the P48 to the dollar level by now.

While P47 is a strong support area, a break below this would target the mid-P45s and that would put the stock market close to 8,000.

The world is a dangerous place, but the Philippines is a safe oasis.

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

Bank competition and financial inclusion Ser Percival K. Peña-Reyes

EAGLE WATCH

O

N March 2 we attended a workshop on competition and competition reforms in key sectors of the Philippine economy. It was coorganized by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Consumer Unity and Trust International, and Action for Economic Reforms under a project called CREW, or “Competition Reforms in Key Markets for Enhancing Social and Economic Welfare in Developing Countries”, which seeks to promote healthy competition in various sectors of the economy.

Among the sectors considered was the banking industry. Our colleague, Dr. Alvin Ang, provided general observations on how competition exists in the industry. In general, he presented various measures of competition as applied to the financial industry. The results were inconclusive, as they seemed to be countering each other. Observable data show that competition among banks is not reflected in interest rates but in terms of services.

It is important to note that banking is not similar to other products and services primarily because of the need to balance between national financial stability and efficiency of financial services.

In line with this, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), as the supervisor and regulator of the industry, aims to: 1) ensure that banks are solvent and stable, and are able to provide a fair return to their investors and 2) ensure the stability, solvency and safety of the whole

financial system toward economic development.

Thus, financial stability and economic development (with the latter presumably happening via financial inclusion) are not meant to be conflicting goals. The World Bank Global Financial Development Report 2013 made a similar assertion: “Competition in the banking sector promotes efficiency and financial inclusion, without necessarily undermining financial stability.”

Moreover, external factors, such as the regional financial integration under Asean 2015, have compelled central banks in the region to work toward building a well-integrated and smooth-functioning regional financial system under a liberalized capital account regime and interlinked capital markets. This development implies that Philippine banks are being shaped up to compete in the Asean region, and such an intention is made evident by bank consolidation (i.e., merger

and acquisition) statistics provided by the BSP showed.

Indeed, there is a need to consolidate the resources of domestic banks so that they will be able to hold their own against foreign banks, which have been allowed full entry by Republic Act 10641 (“An Act Allowing the Full Entry of Foreign Banks in the Philippines”).

Ang notes that Philippine banks are among the smallest in Asean in terms of assets. In fact, the Development Bank of Singapore is bigger than the entire Philippine banking system in terms of assets, although only three foreign banks, namely, Maybank, Bangkok Bank and United Overseas Bank, are internationally active.

Within the country, there still are a number of local government units (LGUs) without banks. Out of 1,634 LGUs, 595, or 36 percent of the total, still do not have bank offices as of end-June 2015. In terms of the value of savings and time deposits, there is an observable large amount available in banks, but loans granted have largely been in the real estate and trading sectors (about 40 percent), while microenterprises/small and medium enterprises and agriculture only got 7.2 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively. This reveals that there is still a lot of work to be done to be financially inclusive and, at the same time, to use savings for productive economic growth.

Finally, in terms of comparable measures of financial inclusion, the Philippines lags behind its Asean neighbors. Notably, for population aged 15 years and above, 13.49

percent of Filipinos borrow from private informal lenders, as compared to the 1.05 percent, 0.81 percent, 9.15 percent and 2.94 percent for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, respectively.

As Ang points out, the financial system is highly liquid, but such liquidity is not necessarily being translated to loans that can grow the economy in a more broad-based manner. Also, working to make domestic banks “bigger and stronger” does not necessarily mean decreasing competition for the sake of financial soundness or stability. The World Bank notes that the state can actually shape bank competition through its actions as a regulator and an enabler of a market-friendly and information-rich environment.

Recently, regulations have allowed banks to compete more in terms of service (as facilitated by technological advancements) rather than traditional sources of income (interest and fees).

Surely, banks are aware of these trends, and they know that they are free to act accordingly. Thus, working toward greater financial inclusion and providing more competitive rates should increasingly come from their own volition rather than from central bank mandate.

We want strong banks that can channel and distribute economic growth. They need not be mutually exclusive outcomes.

This article was written by Ser Percival K. PeñaReyes, who teaches Economics of Money and Banking at the Department of Economics of the School of Social Sciences of Ateneo de Manila University. Comments are welcome at spena-reyes@ateneo.edu.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Culture of ‘safety and wellness and good people practices’

‘Misericordiae Vultus’ Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER Final part

Jemain Diaz De Rivera

FORWARD MOVING

S

ECRETARY Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) was the guest of honor during the general membership meeting of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap), where she recognized the significant role played by the IT and business-process management (IT-BPM) industry in ushering inclusive growth and decent work in the country.

A summary report presented that evening highlighted the partnership between the DOLE and Ibpap to promote voluntary compliance of General Labor Standards and Occupational Safety Health Standards. The partnership helps promote safety and wellness in the IT-BPM industry.

A total of 88.1 percent of Ibpap members have been assessed, and, of those assessed, 75.3 percent have no violations. The remaining 11.8 percent are in the process of being assessed.

In 2008 the DOLE implemented the Policy Guidelines Governing the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) of Workers in the Call Center Industry, which provides direction to IT-BPM firms in formulating OSH programs, complying with OSH standards and other related OSH issuances that protect workers from hazards in the workplace.

“IT-BPM companies have introduced better workplace designs as part of their good ergonomics program, implemented enhanced safety services, such as transport for night-shift workers, and organized physical-fitness activities to address work stress, including awareness-raising programs on eating healthy meals and avoiding too much coffee or cigarettes at work,” Baldoz said.

“I am convinced that the DOLE’s continued partnership with Ibpap will foster an environment where businesses in the IT-BPM industry can grow and expand, and where workers will become active participants in promoting decent work in our quest for sustained economic growth,” Baldoz added.

Talent development

TO further grow and provide more employment for Filipinos, the ITBPM industry expanded industry-academe partnerships, and provided IT-BPM skills training known as the Service Management Program (SMP) to students taking senior high school and tertiary education. Subjects included in SMP are Business Communication,

Service Culture, Fundamentals of Business-Process Outsourcing 101 and 102, Principles of System Thinking and Internship Program.

For an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), training can be obtained online through the eSMP learning portal http://www.upoumodel. com/esmp-2/.

SMP was made possible through a partnership between the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Ibpap. The eSMP was developed through the collaborative efforts of the industry with the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) and the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Philippine Department of Finance.

IT-BPM industry is planning for 2022

THE Ibpap announced early this week that the IT-BPM industry will develop a 2022 road map for strategic actions required to sustain the industry growth. It will have the perspective of the overall industry including subsectors, such as animation, contact center, game development, global in-house centers, health-care management, and software development.

Today the Philippines is a top destination and a highly respected leader in the global IT-BPM industry. The country has grown at a pace of 25-percent compound annual growth rate and generated over a million direct jobs. By the end of this year, it hopes to employ a total of 1.3 million and earn around $25 billion.

The industry has rapidly grown due to its service orientation. As a global leader in voice, the country is a very good location on the global sourcing landscape.

The Philippines is now one of two established “at scale” locations having 40 to 50 large centers, leading in voice services driven by a large English speaking talent pool.

To have a bigger and more robust IT-BPM industry by 2022 will need planning and require stronger partnerships with stakeholders.

Note: Today we reprint the last part of Misericordiae Vultus—the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy by His Holiness, Pope Francis.

A

JUBILEE also entails the granting of indulgences. This practice will acquire an even more important meaning in the Holy Year of Mercy. God’s forgiveness knows no bounds.

In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God makes even more evident His love and its power to destroy all human sin.

Reconciliation with God is made possible through the paschal mystery and the mediation of the Church.

Thus, God is always ready to forgive, and He never tires of forgiving in ways that are continually new and surprising. Nevertheless, all of us know well the experience of sin. We know that we are called to perfection (cf. Matthew 5:48), yet, we feel the heavy burden of sin. Though we feel the transforming power of grace, we also feel the effects of sin typical of our fallen state. Despite being forgiven, the conflicting consequences of our sins remain. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God forgives our sins, which He truly blots out; and, yet, sin leaves a negative effect on the way we think and act. But the mercy of God is stronger even than this. It becomes indulgence on the part of the Father, who, through the Bride of Christ, His Church, reaches the pardoned sinner and frees him from every residue left by the consequences of sin, enabling him to act with charity, to grow in love rather than to fall back into sin.

The Church lives within the communion of the saints. In the Eucharist, this communion, which is a gift from God, becomes a spiritual union binding us to the saints and blessed ones whose number is beyond counting (cf. Revelation 7:4). Their holiness comes to the aid of our weakness in a way that enables the Church, with her maternal prayers and her way of life, to fortify the weakness of some with the strength of others. Hence, to live the indulgence of the Holy

Year means to approach the Father’s mercy with the certainty that His forgiveness extends to the entire life of the believer. To gain an indulgence is to experience the holiness of the Church, who bestows upon all the fruits of Christ’s redemption, so that God’s love and forgiveness may extend everywhere. Let us live this Jubilee intensely, begging the Father to forgive our sins and to bathe us in His merciful indulgence.

There is an aspect of mercy that goes beyond the confines of the Church. It relates us to Judaism and Islam, both of which consider mercy to be one of God’s most important attributes. Israel was the first to receive this revelation which continues in history as the source of an inexhaustible richness meant to be shared with all mankind. As we have seen, the pages of the Old Testament are steeped in mercy, because they narrate the works that the Lord performed in favor of His people at the most trying moments of their history. Among the privileged names that Islam attributes to the Creator are “Merciful and Kind.” This invocation is often on the lips of faithful Muslims who feel themselves accompanied and sustained by mercy in their daily weakness. They too believe that no one can place a limit on divine mercy because its doors are always open.

I trust that this Jubilee year celebrating the mercy of God will foster an encounter with these religions and with other noble religious traditions; may it open us to even more

Saturday, March 5, 2016 A5

fervent dialogue, so that we might know and understand one another better; may it eliminate every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect, and drive out every form of violence and discrimination.

My thoughts now turn to the Mother of Mercy. May the sweetness of her countenance watch over us in this Holy Year, so that all of us may rediscover the joy of God’s tenderness. No one has penetrated the profound mystery of the incarnation like Mary. Her entire life was patterned after the presence of mercy made flesh. The Mother of the Crucified and Risen One has entered the sanctuary of divine mercy because she participated intimately in the mystery of His love.

Chosen to be the Mother of the Son of God, Mary, from the outset, was prepared by the love of God to be the Ark of the Covenant between God and man. She treasured divine mercy in her heart in perfect harmony with her Son Jesus. Her hymn of praise, sung at the threshold of the home of Elizabeth, was dedicated to the mercy of God which extends from “generation to generation” (Luke1:50). We too were included in those prophetic words of the Virgin Mary. This will be a source of comfort and strength to us as we cross the threshold of the Holy Year to experience the fruits of divine mercy.

At the foot of the Cross, Mary, together with John, the disciple of love, witnessed the words of forgiveness spoken by Jesus. This supreme expression of mercy towards those who crucified Him shows us the point to which the mercy of God can reach. Mary attests that the mercy of the Son of God knows no bounds and extends to everyone, without exception. Let us address her in the words of the Salve Regina, a prayer ever ancient and ever new, so that she may never tire of turning her merciful eyes upon us, and make us worthy to contemplate the face of mercy, her Son Jesus.

Our prayer also extends to the saints and blessed ones who made divine mercy their mission in life. I think especially of the great apostle of mercy, Saint Faustina Kowalska.

May she, who was called to enter the depths of divine mercy, intercede for us and obtain for us the grace of living and walking always according to the

A war crime against culture

T

HE destruction of a mausoleum cannot compare to the rape and murder of innocents. But it is a war crime nonetheless—and the importance of prosecuting it should not be underestimated, for the present day or for posterity.

When the terrorist group Ansar Dine invaded Timbuktu, Mali, in 2012, it not only attacked the local population, but also destroyed a historic mosque and several graves. Now its leader, Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, is before the International Criminal Court (ICC), charged with the destruction of Unesco World

Heritage sites. After a hearing in The Hague this week, the court will decide whether al-Mahdi will stand trial. The idea that the intentional destruction of culturally valued property is a war crime is not new. This case would mark the first time that such an act would be the main charge in a war-crimes tribunal. The seriousness of the crime is beyond doubt. The purpose of destroying cultural heritage is to eliminate all the attachments of a people under attack—to obliterate not only one’s enemies, but also any trace of their existence. As the court’s prosecutor made clear in her opening statement, at stake is

more than simply “walls and stones.” The accused was attempting to “destroy the roots of an entire people.” This case will not serve as a deterrent to militants, such as those in Syria and Iraq, who consider the destruction of cultural heritage to be part of their war against infidels. But the pursuit of justice is valuable for its own sake, and, at the very least, a trial will help create a reliable record of the devastation Ansar Dine wrought.

However this case is decided, its value will lie mainly in the establishment of that historical record. In prosecuting the erasure of Timbuktu’s cultural heritage

Public awareness on PhilHealth and NHIP rated excellent MAIL

Please e-mail your letters to the editor at oped@businessmirror. com.ph. Letters chosen for publication in this section are edited for brevity and clarity.

T

HIS is in reaction to the BusinessMirror’s February 25 editorial, titled When the hospital bill kills the patient,” which raised several points without regard for what the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) has done over the last 21 years. Allow us to address each of these items, point by point.

On the alleged lack of health-care information

THE study results cited in the editorial is 10 years old. Definitely, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has made a lot of inroads where disseminating information on the NHIP is concerned, especially in informing the public about the benefits that are available and how these may be availed of. It has tapped the vast power of mass media, including the Philippine BusinessMirror Group and its sister-radio station DWIZ where we have a regular blocktime program for more than five years already; the online and social media; and even the nontraditional media to spread the information to its 93 million-strong membership base.

It also actively pursues onground activities such as the Social Health Insurance Education Series to reach target audiences from academe, government, non-governmental organizations,

peoples’ organizations, the media, the legislators, among others; and initiates ReachOut sessions with health-care providers to keep the lines open. It also organizes countless Alaga Ka (Alamin at Gamitin) activities to reach PhilHealth members who are in the hinterlands, island municipalities and other remote areas that were unreached before by traditional modes of information dissemination. It is precisely because of these inroads that members are now seeking more information, are asking more about their benefits, and are demanding more coverage—they have been empowered by the information on the NHIP. They are exercising their rights as members, as can be gleaned from social-media posts of personal accounts of their experiences with the NHIP and with our offices, whether positive or negative.

In addition, from 2012 to 2014, results of a nationwide survey

done by the Social Weather Station showed that public awareness on PhilHealth and the NHIP has consistently been rated Excellent, proof of PhilHealth’s extensive efforts to spread the good news to its members.

condition was improved. As an empowered PhilHealth member, Mr. Benigno was able to avail himself of the maximum amount allowable for the procedures he underwent, in the amount of P58,800.

THE plight of Mr. Roger Benigno, who was allegedly desperate after seeing his bill at a hospital in Echague, Isabela, should not be attributed to what the editorial points out as an information gap in the NHIP. When his case was first mentioned in another broadsheet, we immediately coordinated with our regional office based in Tuguegarao City, and we found out that the patient did not only undergo appendectomy, but that his case was complicated and his hospital stay took about two weeks. He underwent Exploratory Laparotomy, Emergency Enterolysis, Resection of Gangrenous Ileocecal Segment, and Double Barrel Ileostomy and his pre-discharge

FOR 2015 alone, PhilHealth has paid P97 billion for the medical needs of its members. This translates into benefit payouts of about P1.86 billion weekly, an amount that is definitely not a measly sum to pay for health insurance benefits. This amount is the highest annual payout over the last 10 years, and will certainly push the NHIP’s contribution to total health expenditures in the country, more than the 15.1-percent increase noted from 2012 to 2013, based on figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Over the years, PhilHealth continued to introduce more and more benefit packages that are designed

On Mr. Benigno’s case

On alleged low utilization of PhilHealth benefits

mercy of God and with an unwavering trust in His love.

I present, therefore, this Extraordinary Jubilee Year dedicated to living out in our daily lives the mercy which the Father constantly extends to all of us. In this Jubilee Year, let us allow God to surprise us.

He never tires of casting open the doors of His heart and of repeating that He loves us and wants to share His love with us. The Church feels the urgent need to proclaim God’s mercy. Her life is authentic and credible only when she becomes a convincing herald of mercy. She knows that her primary task, especially at a moment full of great hopes and signs of contradiction, is to introduce everyone to the great mystery of God’s mercy by contemplating the face of Christ. The Church is called above all to be a credible witness to mercy, professing it and living it as the core of the revelation of Jesus Christ. From the heart of the Trinity, from the depths of the mystery of God, the great river of mercy wells up and overflows unceasingly. It is a spring that will never run dry, no matter how many people draw from it. Every time someone is in need, he or she can approach it, because the mercy of God never ends. The profundity of the mystery surrounding it is as inexhaustible as the richness which springs up from it.

In this Jubilee Year may the Church echo the word of God that resounds strong and clear as a message and a sign of pardon, strength, aid and love. May she never tire of extending mercy, and be ever patient in offering compassion and comfort.

May the Church become the voice of every man and woman, and repeat confidently without end: “Be mindful of Your mercy, O Lord, and Your steadfast love, for they have been from of old” (Psalm 25:6).

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 11 April, the Vigil of the Second Sunday of Easter, or the Sunday of Divine Mercy, in the year of our Lord 2015, the third of my Pontificate.

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www. caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, please call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 09997943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857. Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

and community identity, the ICC would be documenting the attacks, going some way toward restoring the dignity of those whose sacred places were destroyed.

How this prosecution affects the legitimacy of the court itself, which has not lived up to the extravagant hopes once claimed for it, remains an open question. The court has been accused, not without reason, of irrelevance, incompetence and unfairness.

It’s possible that this case will show it’s not too late for the court to serve the vital purpose for which it was established nearly 14 years ago. Bloomberg View

to provide its members with financial risk protection, without necessarily increasing the premium contribution rate of its members.

But these enhancements in benefits, including adjustments in case rate amounts, may never be enough in view of the rising costs of medical-care services, brought about by advances in how illnesses or injuries are now treated and managed. What PhilHealth constantly assures its members is that it will continue to pursue initiatives that will redound to its members’ benefit, for that is what the NHIP is all about.

We do welcome criticisms to the program that we administer. It is our prayer that this rejoinder sees print in the BusinessMirror in the interest of fair reporting.

Israel Francis A. Pargas, MD OIC-Vice President Corporate Affairs Group Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

News

BusinessMirror

A6 Saturday, March 5, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Comelec to activate OSV in voting machines

T

B J R. S J

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday decided to activate the on-screen verification (OSV) function of the votecounting machines (VCMs), allowing voters to check if their ballots have been properly read.

But, at a news briefing, the Comelec maintained its decision not to enable the receipt-printing feature of the VCMs for both local and overseas voters.

In Comelec Resolution 10071, the poll body en banc unanimously decided to use the OSV feature of the VCMs, which will be flashed for 15 seconds.

“After weighing the risks and benefits in the use of the on-screen

verification functionality, the Comelec has decided to err on the side of transparency, notwithstanding these attendant risks,” the resolution read.

The OSV, according to the Comelec, carries the risks of allowing other people to take a peek on the on-screen display and the additional time it will require to allow voters to verify their votes.

On the other hand, Comelec

Chairman Andres D. Bautista said allowing the said feature will enhance the voter experience and will strengthem their trust in the automated election system.

The poll body conducted a preliminary vote on February 3, voting 4-3 to enable the on-screen feature.

But after further testing and consultation with stakeholders, the vote in favor of OSV has become unanimous.

Asked if the OSV’s activation would mean longer voting hours, the Comelec chief said: “Let’s cross the bridge when we get there. We’ll see on the day of election if it’s feasible.”

Meanwhile, Bautista said the poll body’s preparation timeline for the elections could be derailed if the Supreme Court (SC) rules in favor of the petitions seeking to compel the Comelec to issue receipts for votes cast in the coming elections.

Bautista noted that their preparation timeline is already “tight,” with only more than two months before Election Day.

But he assured the public that the commission is ready to abide with whatever the decision of the Court would be.

On Friday the Comelec released Minute Resolution 16-0057 unanimously disallowing the enabling of the voter receipt printing feature of the VCMs. In the said resolution, the poll body said it has determined that enabling the said feature would pose more problems than benefits during the conduct of elections.

“After due deliberation and consultation regarding its advantages and disadvantages, as well as risks and benefits, the Comelec resolves not to use the voting receipt of the VCMs for the May 9 national and local elections,” the resolution said.

Disadvantages, it noted, include the need to still to change the paper rolls of the VCMs during voting hours; its potential to be used as a tool for vote-buying; longer queues; and the need to add a total of two hours and 10 minutes in the total voting process.

Coast Guard inspects N. Korean cargo ship

T

HE Coast Guard inspected a North Korean cargo ship that docked in Subic, Zambales, in one of the first such checks since the UN Security Council imposed further sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear program.

The M/V Jin Teng was inspected in Subic Bay, a former US-run naval base, after it arrived on Thursday from Balembang, Indonesia, loaded with palm kernel expeller, Cmdr. Raul Belisario, chief of the Coast Guard’s Port Control Division, said on Friday.

Belisario said five Coast Guard personnel, accompanied by two bomb sniffer dogs, boarded the ship on Thursday. The inspectors did not find any suspicious materials, but spotted minor deficiencies including missing fire hoses, a corroded air vent and electrical switches without insulation.

Another inspection will be done before the ship sails for

southwestern China’s Zhanjiang port, and the ship will only be allowed to depart if the deficiencies have been rectified, he added. The ship’s departure date is unclear.

As of Friday, cargo was still being unloaded from the ship. Palm kernel expeller is a byproduct of palm oil production and has several uses, including as feed for farm animals.

The ship’s documents showed the cargo was for consignees in the Philippines and no new cargo would be loaded at Subic Bay, Belisario said.

The Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades, reflecting growing anger at Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test and rocket launch in defiance of a ban on all nuclear-related activity.

The United States and North Korea’s traditional ally China spent seven weeks negotiating the new sanctions. AP

UN to review Albay’s CCA-DRR, sustainable development strategy B J C. N | Philippines News Agency

L

EGAZPI CITY—United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson will visit the Philippines shortly and will take a brief Albay sortie on March 8, to personally review the province’s multiawarded disasterrisk reduction (DRR) and climate-change adaptation (CCA) programs.

Albay’s innovative DRR strategy toward sustainable development continuously gains

world recognition and acclaim. Eliasson’s visit forms part of the preparations for the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 23 and 24, where the Philippines will be presented as sole global model for DRR-CCA, featuring Albay’s pioneering strategy.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda will brief Eliasson and other UN officials and guests during their visit on Albay’s innovative approach in linking up DRR and CCA with

sustainable development. Expected to be with Eliasson are Haoliang Xu, assistant secretary-general, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau of Asia Pacific; Ola Almgren, UN Philippines resident coordinator; Titon Mitra, UNDP country director, Philippines; Mark Bidder, OCHA Head of Office, Philippines; Subinay Nandy, Asia-Pacific Division chief; Rebecca Page, special assis-

tant to the DSG;and Sophie Nuon, OCHA Humanitarian Affairs officer.

Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office head, said Salceda’s briefing will also touch on Albay’s successful rehabilitation strategies after Typhoon Reming hit Albay hard in 2006, which enabled the province to rise and get back on its feet in a few years.

The UN executive will also visit the Albay Climate Change Academy, the first

of its kind in Asia, serving as a training center on DRR and CCA, for local government officials and many coming from other countries, said Daep.

The UN Humanitarian Summit is a “global call to action by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,” the first of its kind, according to the WHS web site.

It is scheduled at the Istanbul Congress Center and the Lutfi Kirdar Convention and Exhibition Center in Istanbul, Turkey.

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

Sports BusinessMirror

S’WOODS TAKES LEAD M

ANILA Southwoods got another solid performance from what is seen by many as its second unit on Friday and seized a one-point lead over Canlubang going into the final round of the 69th PAL Interclub Men’s championship in Clark, Pampanga.

Jets Sajulga, a recruit from Bukidnon, fired a one-under-par 71 worth 37 points, and young Ira Alido matched par for 36 to boost the defending champions to a third day 136 for 411 to break free from a tie contest with the Sugar Barons at the start of the day at Mimosa’s Acacia and Lakeview nines.

Ryan Monsalve fired 32 and the veteran Vince Lauron settled for a 31 after dropping five strokes in his last four holes, as the Carmonabased squad threw away the 29 of Brixton Aw to stay firmly in place for a first-ever repeat in what is regarded as the country’s unofficial team golf championship.

Cangolf, like Southwoods, fielded the same fives they had in the second round and the Sugar Barons totaled 135, with many-time national champion Rupert Zaragosa contributing 38, Luigi Castro and Carlo Villaroman shooting 33s and Marco Olives chipping in with 31.

D

EFENDING champion Centennial III skippered by sail master Judes Echauz immediately recovered by winning two consecutive races in the IRC 1 during the 7th Standard Insurance Boracay Cup Regatta 2016 in Boracay.

Centennial III, a TP 52 Davidson, who only came second in the Subic Bay to Boracay Race to Hong Kong’s elite yachtsman Frank Pong’s Jelik, a Reichel/Pugh 75, grabbed the upper hand in Races 2 and 3 on Thursday morning.

Centennial won in Race 2 with 1:18:40 corrected time and coming second is Freefire, helmed by Hong Kong’s Sam Chan and Russ Parker (1:20:04); third is Karakoa, skippered by veteran Filipino sailor Ray Ordoveza, in 1:21:19.

Pong’s 75-foot Jelik did not finish the race after the running back of their boat was broken dimming their chances of becoming champion this year, according to American race officer Jerry Rollin.

Echauz and Centennial III’s 15-crew also grabbed the IRC’s Race 3, 1:19:11 beating Ordoveza’s Karakoa (1:19:37), while Great Britain’s Antipodes, skippered by Geoff Hill, is third (1:20:09) Jelik also did not participate in Race 3 of the four-day regatta organized by Philippine Sailing Association, Subic Yatch Club and backed by Cebu Pacific, Tanduay Rum, Seawind Hotel, The Lighthouse Marina Resort, PLDT SME and the Philippine Coast Guard.

The four-day regatta, a combination of point-to-point and windward/leeward courses, is part of the Asian Yachting Grand Prix season.

Capt. Marty Rijkuris is the main judge.

The Boracay Regatta Cup also offers precious points for the coveted Asian Yachting Skipper and Yacht of the Year awards.

24 high-school teams in NBTC

T

HE country’s top junior players will take center stage in the fifth SM National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) League National High School Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena from March 13 to 17.

Surviving the series of grueling elimination phases, wherein more than 700 schools participated from 48 cities, were Lyceum of the Philippines University, Sacred Heart School, Ateneo de Cebu, Bacolod Tay Tung High School, Saint Robert’s International School, Assumption Montessori School, Assumption College of Davao, Southern City Colleges, San Beda College, Chiang Kai Shek College, Bato Rural Development High School, Palawan National High School, De La Salle Lipa and Rex Dei Academy.

Completing the 24-team tournament are Castillejos National High School, Our Lady of the Pillar College Cauayan, Angeles University Foundation, Saint Louis College High School, Linao National High School, Paref Springdal School, Dr. Aurelio Mendoza Memorial College, Agusan National High School and the Season 78 champion of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines junior men’s basketball Finals showdown between National University and De La Salle-Zobel.

Foreign teams Durham Crossover Basketball from Canada and Thailand’s Train International School will also participate in the championship series.

“The larger number of high-school teams from the Philippines, plus the foreign participation, underscores the growth of this tournament,” said Alaska Head Coach Alex Compton, who is also serving as SM-NBTC Training program director.

“This will increase the competitiveness and exposure of our high-school teams,” Compton added. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

“Canlubang will always be a tough team to contend with,” said Thirdy Escaño, now the non-playing captain of Southwoods who was in two previous squads that was denied repeating as champions in the past.

“My team tomorrow is a stronger team, so we are relatively confident going into tomorrow [in the final round],” he said. “But, of course, a lot of it will have to do with the experience of Canlubang. That’s the advantage they have.”

Canlubang is also chasing a special achievement with a win, as it will mark a triumphant return to the event while also completing a sweet double after ruling Senior Division action last Sunday against bitter rival Luisita.

Luisita kept its wafer-thin chances of pulling an upset after creeping to within 17 of the pace, tallying a day-best 139 after getting a tournament-best 40 points from jungolfer Dan Cruz and 34s from Luis Guerrero and Tom Kim, and either 31s of Jingy Tuason and Basti Lorenzo for 394 overall.

“I am just happy that we were able to catch up,” Canlubang owner Luigi Yulo told reporters, referring to a huge deficit that they were able to chop down in the final holes because of Lauron’s misfortunes. “It

will be a very interesting final round.”

Southwoods will field its rock-solid openinground team, led by national pool member Justin Quiban and long-hitting Japanese Yuto Katsuragawa, while the Sugar Barons will have a five led by pro-bound Jobim Carlos, with support to come from four junior standouts and the veteran Abe Rosal.

Liam Cully and Jay Matthew Reyes fired 34s to lead Orchard’s third-round 132 and the 2014 champions are now 13 points out of the third-placed Luisitans.

The Interclub is sponsored by People Asia, Travelife,, Mareco Broadcasting Network (Crossover), Manila Broadcasting Corp., Airbus, the BUSINESSMIRROR and Philippine National Bank.

Other supporters are the Philippine Daily Inquirer,, Inquirer.net, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, Tanduay Distillers, Asia Brewery, Splash Corp., RFM Corp., Goldilocks, Eastgate Publishing Corp., Robinsons Land, TMC, MasterCard, Hytera and Rolls-Royce.

Saturday, March 5, 2016 A7

Curry returns, leads Warriors to record-tying home wins

O

SOUTHWOODS’S Jets Sajulga surveys his next shot at hole No. 5. ROY DOMINGO

‘CENTENNIAL AL III’ REIGNS IN BORACAY REGATTA CUP

AKLAND, California— Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors matched one record set by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls as they closed in on the bigger mark.

Curry scored 33 points in his return from an ankle injury and the Warriors tied Chicago’s National Basketball Association (NBA) record by winning their 44th straight regular-season home game, 121-106, over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.

“That’s an amazing accomplishment,” Curry said. “It’s a compliment to us as a team, our coaching staff and obviously our fans who bring that atmosphere every night to give us the ultimate home-court advantage.”

Five days after tying the NBA record with 12 three-pointers in an overtime win at Oklahoma City, Curry went fiveof-15 from long range in the rematch.

But he got more than enough help from his bench to help the Warriors (55-5) move 50 games above .500 in their quest to break the Bulls’ singleseason mark for victories.

The Bulls won 44 consecutive home games from March 30, 1995 until April 4, 1996. That helped them set the record with 72 wins in 1995-1996, a mark the Warriors remain on pace to surpass after beating the Thunder for the third time in as many tries this season.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points, Russell Westbrook had 22 and Serge Ibaka added 20 for the Thunder, who have lost six-of-eight since the All-Star break.

In New Orleans Kawhi Leonard capped a 30-point, 11-rebound performance with a huge threepointer in the final minute, as the San Antonio Spurs extended their winning streak to seven games with a 94-86 victory over the Pelicans on Thursday night.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and Danny Green scored 11 for the Spurs, who trailed 86-82 before closing the game on a 12-0 run during the final 3:10. Leonard was 12-of22 shooting.

The Pelicans missed their last six shots and allowed the Spurs to grab a pair of critical offensive rebounds that led to

five second-chance points during San Antonio’s strong game-ending run.

Miami never trailed on the way to a third straight win in a 108-92 home victory over Phoenix, 108-92.

Luol Deng scored 12 and Hassan Whiteside grabbed 11 rebounds for Miami, which led by as many as 21 in the first half.

Phoenix tied a club record by losing its 17th consecutive road game. The Suns have dropped 30 of 33 overall.

Rajon Rondo had 18 points and 12 assists in his first game in Dallas since an ugly split with the Mavericks last season as Sacramento ended a 22-game regular-season losing streak on his old home floor, 104-101.

Booed almost every time he touched the ball, Rondo was the steady hand the Kings needed late. He missed a January loss at Dallas when Sacramento blew a lead in double overtime to keep alive the Mavericks’ longest home winning streak against one opponent.

DeMarcus Cousins had 22 points and 13 rebounds, as the Kings snapped a four-game losing streak with just their fifth win in the past 17 games. AP

GOLDEN State Warriors’ Stephen Curry celebrates after leading his team to a record-tying 44 straight home wins. AP

MEMBERS and the coaching staff of National University celebrate after winning the University Athletic Association of the Philippines juniors basketball title. NONOY LACZA

Bullpups thwart Jr. Archers, claim title N ATIONAL University’s (NU) bench proved to be the missing link in its championship quest, as the Bullpups finished off De La Salle-Zobel, 96-75, in Game Three to claim the crown of the Season 78 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) juniors basketball on Friday at The Arena in San Juan City.

Wilderlich Coyoca exploded at the right time for NU, as he registered his career-high 20 points and added six rebounds to provide the much-needed support for the Bullpups’ solid frontline.

Six-foot-7 center Justine Baltazar added 18 point and 14 rebounds, while Karl Peñano chipped in 16, as NU brought back the title to Sampaloc after two years.

“Talagang pinakita namin ’yung identity

namin, lalo na ‘yung depensa,” said Bullpups Head Coach Jeff Napa, as his team finished the elimination round with a perfect record of 14 wins before seeing the streak ended in Game Two of the finals.

“Nakahihinayang na hindi sweep pero mas masarap ’yung championship,” Napa added.

Trailing behind, 9-20, in the first period, reigning season Most Valuable Player (MVP) Aljun Melecio scored eight straight points, including two triples, to cut the deficit to 30-25 with six minutes remaining in the second quarter.

But the Bullpups turned things around in the second half as back-to-back treys by Coyoca in the third frame sparked a 28-3 onslaught for a commanding 79-52 lead entering the final canto.

John Lloyd Clemente posted 15 markers and 15 boards, while Rhayyan Amsali came off the bench and hit 11 points.

Baltazar, a runner-up in the season’s best player race, bagged the Finals MVP as he tallied monstrous averages in the series with 16.6 points, 20.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game, despite enduring a broken right foot early in the game.

“Walang nakakaalam, pero may injury si Justine. Pero warrior talaga ‘yung bata. Ayaw niyang paupuin namin sya,” Napa said.

It was the Bullpups’ third UAAP crown in five years.

Melecio led all scorers with 22 points, while Jan Sobrevega and Marco Sario added 20 and 14, respectively, for the runner-up Junior Archers.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Lady Spikers try to bounce back

D

E LA SALLE tries to bounce back from a bitter loss when it faces Far Eastern University (FEU) at the start of the second round of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 78 women’s volleyball tournament on Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

The Lady Spikers and the Lady Tamaraws clash at 4 p.m., after the clash of Adamson University and University of the East (UE) at 2 p.m.

After its statement win over rivals Ateneo de Manila last week, La Salle fell flat to University of Santo Tomas (UST) and absorbed a shocking 21-25, 22-25, 21-25 loss on Wednesday.

Head Coach Ramil de Jesus lamented on the poor performance of his team and hopes that

his wards, particularly seniors Kim Fajardo, Ara Galang, Mika Reyes and Majoy Baron, can bounce back from the defeat.

“The confidence we got last Saturday was there but this three-set loss is heavy for us,” de Jesus said. “When the second round starts, hopefully, we could bring it back.”

FEU, on the other hand, ended its first round on a winning note, also pulling off a 25-22, 2521, 25-21 upset victory over National University to claim the third spot.

But Lady Tamaraws Head Coach Shaq de los Santos was far from impressed and wanted to see more consistency from his players, particulary on Chin Basas, Bernadeth Pons and skipper Remy Palma. Lance Agcaoili

Global XI stuns Ceres in UFL

G

LOBAL scored a stunning 2-1 win over Ceres-La Salle in their Group B clash on Thursday in United Football League (UFL) Cup 2016 at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Matthew Hartmann rose to the occasion, striking in the 77th minute for the go-ahead goal and handed Ceres its first loss in the tournament.

After creating a space which was perfectly timed outside the box, Hartmann fired a shot to the bottom corner that rolled past Ceres goalkeeper Michael Casas.

“The goal was just perfect for Matt because he played a superb game tonight,” Global Head Coach Leigh Manson said.

Ceres was close to forcing a draw when Stephan Schröck unleashed a shot from long distance but went wide before stoppage time.

“It’s a very satisfying win,” Manson added.

“The players worked hard for 90 minutes. And if you noticed our last two wins, including the one against Loyola, it’s been about heart for this team. It’s all about refusing to lose.”

The Bacolod side drew the first blood when Martin Steuble opened the scoring off a free kick in the eight minute. But Global tied it at 1 apiece

before the break, when Serbian defender Milan Nikolic converted a free kick in the 36th.

Despite finishing the Group B tied at the first spot, Global still remained second to Ceres due to an inferior goal difference.

Few days left before heading to Bangladesh for its Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup away game against Shiekh Jamal Dhanmodi on Tuesday, Ceres Coach Ali Go decided to rest Manny Ott in the second half and Adrian Gallardo.

In the second match, Robert Lopez Mendy’s hat trick propelled Kaya to a 6-0 blowout over Forza in their Group A encounter.

Mendy hit the back of the net in the 26th and 34th minute, giving Kaya a 3-0 edge at the break. He completed the hat trick in the 59th minute for their fourth goal of the match.

The reigning UFL Cup champion finished Group A locked in second spot, while Forza wrapped up the first round in the fourth spot, which means a quarterfinal collision with Ceres.

Kaya will now focus on their second AFC Cup home match against Maldives’s New Radiant on Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Lance Agcaoili

Elasto Painters end three-game skid

R

AIN OR SHINE snapped a three-game losing skid with a 121-94 demolition of NLEX on Friday in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Antoine Wright chalked up an all-around effort with 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and limited Road Warriors import Al Thornton to just 19 markers to lead the Elasto Painters and probably give him one more chance to keep his job.

Jewel Ponferrada added 15 markers, including nine straight, at the start of the fourth

period that kept NLEX out of the bay.

“We finally got our rhythm back and I hope it’s not too late. I hope we can be consistent with it,” said Rain or Shine Head Coach Yeng Guiao, who also had nine players scoring at least nine points in a display of balanced attack.

“We will meet with management and coaching staff. He’s [Wright] improving every game. We’ll make an evaluation whether we’ll keep him or get another import. But the way he played today, he will give us second thoughts,” he added.

The Elasto Painters tied their victims in the

standings with 2-3 win-loss apiece but, more important, avoided a fourth straight defeat.

Wright was instrumental in giving Rain or Shine the lead early on but the locals, led by Ponferrada, finished the job for the team.

NLEX tried to stage a rally, 72-85, at the start of the final quarter when Ponferrada unloaded seven straight points to keep the game out of reach, 92-72, with 10:46 remaining.

Sean Anthony had 17 points, while Asi Taulava added 14 markers for the Road Warriors, who absorbed their second straight loss.

Joel Orellana

Sports

« OSCAR PISTORIUS’S

BusinessMirror

A8

| SAATURDAY TURDAY, MA ARCH RCH 5, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

South Africa’s court denies Oscar’s appeal

Phelps has no worries about fiancée, son traveling to Rio B P N

O

The Associated Press

RLANDO, Florida—Despite an outbreak of the Zika virus, Michael Phelps says his fiancée and newborn son will accompany him to the Rio Olympics.

Nicole Johnson is due to give birth to the couple’s first child in May. She is with Phelps this week at the Arena Pro Series meet in Orlando, Florida, one of the key tune-up events for the Olympics that begin on August 5.

Zika has become an epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean since last fall. The virus is mainly spread through mosquito bites and has been potentially linked to birth defects.

“We’re not worried about it,” Phelps told The Associated Press. “I think if you go into any Olympics, there’s always something that comes up.”

Of course, it would be a different story if Johnson was scheduled to deliver after the Games.

“If she was pregnant, she definitely wouldn’t go,” Phelps said. “But she’s fine about it. She’s not missing it. And I wouldn’t want the little guy to miss it either. He won’t be able to remember it.

But he’ll have a story to tell.”

Two of the top US female swimmers, Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin, have no concerns about competing in Rio. The 18-year-old Ledecky, expected to be one of the biggest American stars, said the US Olympic Committee (USOC) has done a good job keeping the athletes informed about the potential risks and steps it is taking to ensure their safety.

“I’m confident,” she said, “that we’ll be able to go to Rio and be prepared for all the situations.”

Franklin, who won four gold medals at the 2012 London Games, expressed a similar sentiment.

“Whenever we go to new countries, USA Swimming and the USOC prepare us for whatever we’re going into,” the 20-year-old Franklin said. “I know this will be no different.”

In fact, she’s hoping to stay in Rio a few extra days after the Olympics.

“I’m so excited. I’ve heard so many great things about the culture there,” said Franklin, who has never been to South America. “That’s my favorite part of traveling, experiencing the culture and the people.”

J

OHANNESBURG— South Africa’s highest court has dismissed Oscar Pistorius’s appeal of his murder conviction, a lawyer said on Thursday, signaling that the former track star’s long legal battle since he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp may be drawing to a close.

The ruling by the Constitutional Court clears the way for a judge to sentence the double-amputee runner for murder at a hearing scheduled for April 18.

“We’ll proceed to the sentencing,” defense lawyer Andrew Fawcett said.

Pistorius, who killed Steenkamp in 2013, had appealed to the Constitutional Court, saying another court erred when it overturned a manslaughter conviction and declared the Olympic athlete guilty of murder.

Pistorius spent one year of a five-year sentence in jail for the lesser offense. He is currently under house arrest, staying at his uncle’s mansion in Pretoria. The minimum sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years, though a judge can reduce that sentence for what the law describes as exceptional circumstances.

Pistorius shot Steenkamp through the door of a toilet cubicle in his home early on Valentine’s Day 2013. Prosecutors said he killed her after an argument; Pistorius said he killed her by mistake, thinking there was an intruder in the house.

Pistorius, a multiple Paralympic champion, became the first amputee to run at the Olympics and the able-bodied world championships. He was known as “Blade Runner” for his carbonfiber running blades. AP

appeal of his murder conviction is dismissed by South Africa’s highest court. AP

PIERCY, FRASER LEAD MICKELSON ON THEIR HEELS AT DORAL

REDISCOVERING BLUE MONSTER D

B T R The Associated Press

ORAL, Florida—Phil Mickelson’s scores from Doral over the past two years clearly suggested that the redesigned Blue Monster wasn’t completely to his liking.

He had to relearn a course that he played for more than 20 years, and indicated on Thursday that he finally has the new Doral figured out.

Mickelson shot a 5-under 67 on Thursday in the opening round of the Cadillac Championship, the first World Golf Championships (WGC) event of the year. Seeking his first win since the British Open in 2013, Mickelson made seven birdies and finished the day one shot back of leaders Scott Piercy and Marcus Fraser.

“There is a bit of a learning curve on some of the contours and where you have to go and where you want to go and the best place to be,” Mickelson said. “It’s not like I came in here weeks before and mapped it out like a major. You’re here only the week of. But this is our third year here now, and it continues to get better each year.”

Fraser had seven birdies before his lone bogey of the day, and Piercy also got to 7 under at one point before settling for his 66.

Mickelson made bogey only twice, immediately erasing each with a birdie on the following hole, and the 67 was nearly six full shots better than his average round score at Doral in his previous two visits.

His best round on the Blue Monster in 2014 was a 69, and his low score at Doral last year was 71.

“It was a good day,” said Mickelson, who feigned disbelief when his chip on the par-5 8th—his 17th of the day—stopped inches from the hole, leaving him a tap-in birdie. “I hit a lot of good shots, made some good putts and just drove it well, enjoyed the day. It was a good day.”

Danny Willett, Adam Scott, Jason Dufner and Charley Hoffman were all two shots back of Piercy, each carding 68s. World No. 1 Jordan Spieth was in a group another shot back, three off the pace at 3 under, and said that even on a relatively calm day by Doral weather standards, it felt like a grind.

“It always is here,” Spieth said. “And this would be a day that should play about as easy as it possibly can with just a 5- to 10-mile-an-hour breeze. The standard wind here I think. Still, the scores aren’t extremely low.”

Spieth was in a featured group, with world No. 2 Jason Day and No. 3 Rory McIlroy with him. McIlroy shot 1 under, Day finished at even par.

“Human error, unfortunately,” Day said. “I wish I could hit it in the center of the golf club all the time but sometimes I’m like an amateur and I hit it in the parts where we’re not supposed to. But that’s how it is.”

Piercy spent eight hours on the range on Monday working on a change to his backswing and saw immediate results, making seven birdies in his first 11 holes. Being atop a World Golf Championships leaderboard on Sunday is far different than on a Thursday, but it’s a most positive sign for Piercy—a three-time winner on tour who shot better than 66 only once in his first 24 stroke-play rounds in WGC events.

“We all know we’re trying to beat those guys week in, week out,” Piercy said. “They have proved it. I haven’t proven it week-in, week-out, but when my game’s there I’m pretty decent. We all know they are there. They are looking at my name today. So maybe they will do it tomorrow.”

Past winners at Doral struggled a bit. Defending champion Dustin Johnson shot an even-par 72, putting him in a tie for 28th.

And 2014 winner Patrick Reed could get nothing going, his 5-over 77 beating only three other players.

Mickelson won on the previous version of the Blue Monster, a course he knew, as well as anyone. And Thursday showed he’s got a chance to do just fine on the redesign as well.

“I’m not going to complain,” Mickelson said.

DIVOTS: Scott, last week’s winner at The Honda Classic, started eagle-bogey-bogey before settling down and shooting 68.... J.B. Holmes, last year’s first-round leader with a 62, put his first swing of this year’s tournament in the water. It was a harbinger of what was to come; Holmes shot 77, and has played his last 36 holes at Doral (starting with last year’s final round when he lost a lead) in 8-over 152.... The par-3, 227-yard fourth hole was the toughest of the day, yielding only three birdies, 30 pars and 33 scores of bogey or worse.

PHIL MICKELSON follows his shot from the 10th fairway during the first round of the Cadillac Championship golf tournament. AP

MURRAY

Murray: We’ll win Davis Cup

B

IRMINGHAM, England—Andy Murray sees no reason Britain can’t retain the Davis Cup. After leading the team to its first title in 79 years last November, Murray has recommitted to all of Britain’s ties this year.

“One of the reasons I’m here is because I really want to try and do it again, after experiencing it last year,” Murray said at the draw on Thursday for the first-round tie with Japan.

“I never thought I would be able to do it, but then when we did, it was like, ‘Why not, why can’t we do it again?’”

Murray will begin the tie on Friday an indoor hard-court in

L

Birmingham against Taro Daniel, whom he has never met. Daniel has only one win in six singles on tour this year.

The second singles features Kei Nishikori against Daniel Evans, who replaced Kyle Edmund, who injured his back in practice on Wednesday.

Evans, ecstatic to be playing in his hometown, beat Nishikori in their only previous match at the 2013 US Open, the year before Japan’s leading man reached the final.

The doubles on Saturday features Dominic Inglot and Jamie Murray against Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama. The reverse singles are on Sunday in the first tie between the teams since 1931. AP

2016 Olympics head says bid is clean

ONDON—Rio de Janeiro’s Olympics bid was clean, the organizing committee head said on Thursday, after French prosecutors widened their investigation into athletics corruption to include bidding for the 2016 and 2020 Games.

“They did not mention Rio. Never,” Carlos Nuzman told The Associated Press of the French authorities. “Rio [is] without any problems. [It was] very correct, very open, and it’s important. Another thing, we presented our accounts with everything what we paid.”

Rio beat Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo for the 2016 Olympics in a

2009 vote. Tokyo is the 2020 host.

Separately, Nuzman said he hopes disgraced former International Football Federation (Fifa) President Joao Havelange, who celebrates his 100th birthday in May, will come to the Olympics.

Fifa’s marketing agency partner ISL was found to have routinely bribed sports officials, including Havelange, before collapsing into criminal bankruptcy in 2001.

“It’s not a concern for us...he was he was very important to our country,” Nuzman said. “He will be invited to come to the Games.” AP