Businessmirror september 18, 2015

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B.I.R. SCRAPS MANILA-TOKYO DEAL ON OECF-FUNDED PROJECTS BY IMPOSING 5% VAT ON JAPANESE CONTRACTORS

Japanese ODAs face delays anew T

By David Cagahastian

he implementation of projects funded by Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) is again at risk of being delayed, after the Bureau of Internal Revenue declared that Japanese contractors cannot pass on the full 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) to the Philippine government.

INSIDE

josh groban in ‘stages’ A habit of prayer

D

EAR Lord, help us, parents, prioritize the most important things for our children. To know You, to serve You and to love You. And the simplest and most direct to reach You is a habit of prayer to be instilled in their minds as they grow in all levels. As parents, we try our best to love our children with utmost care. We guide them at early age. We bring them to Church and serve the community. We ask the Holy Spirit to inspire them in everything they do, think and say. We encourage them to persevere in whatever task they do for the love of You. Amen.

LIVING WATER, JC RYLE AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

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Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares made this pronouncement in Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 45-2015, which clarified the sharing of the tax burden between the Philippines and the Japanese contractors of the projects

GAB FAB: AS GLORIA GAYNOR ONCE SANG, EJAY WILL SURVIVE »D4

Friday, September 18, 2015

D1

JOSH GROBAN IN ‘STAGES’ B S M Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

L

OOK on any Internet blog or fan site for Josh Groban and the feeling among fans is pretty unanimous—Stages is the musical release they have been waiting for.

It was also the album the artist dreamed of ever since he was signed to a major label at the age of 17 by David Foster. “It’s been in the back of my head since I was a kid.”

Groban left Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) as a freshman to work with Foster. One fateful day, Foster called

on him to stand in for Andrea Bocelli at rehearsals for the 1999 Grammy Awards to sing “The Prayer” with Celine Dion, launching him into the limelight. By the time he released the platinum-selling Josh Groban, he was already a star, and his version of “The Prayer” (recorded with Charlotte Church) rocketed him to superstardom. Fans would have to wait almost a decade to get a taste of his musicaltheater chops as he costarred in PBS’s Great Performances: Chess in Concert with Idina Menzel (Wicked) and Adam Pascal (Rent) back in 2008—and brought down the house with his performance of “Anthem” in the role of The Russian, Anatoly Sergievsky.

That song closes his collection of 13 iconic songs that for the most part have transcended the genre and stand on their own as classics. One beloved tune didn’t make the cut: “Being Alive” from Company.

“The arrangement wasn’t working, I recorded it and tried, it just wasn’t happening,” he says. He has plans to release it on something else in the future, as it is one of his favorites.

Musical preparation for this project pushed the singer to very different places than all of his other projects.

“I would say this is the most

C  D

life

D1

‘bond. james bond.’

Motoring BusinessMirror

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

Editor: Tet Andolong

Friday, September 18, 2015 E1

Story & photos by Ronald Rey M. de los Reyes

U

TTERING the phrase “Bond.

James Bond” could become a lot easier these days for suave, local 007 Agent enthusiasts, especially if they have the dough.

Since the time Sean Connery first appeared behind the wheel of a Silver Birch DB5 in the 1964 film Goldfinger, Filipino fans of not just the fabled English spy, but also this legendary luxury sports car from Britain, are very much agog about its advent here in our country.

This is why praising DBPhils Motorsports President and Chairman Marc Tagle and Director Marc Soong is most fitting for bringing to the Philippines the marque’s first-ever dealership, on the ground floor of the W Fifth Avenue Building in the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Yes, Aston Martin has finally arrived in the country and its founders, Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin, couldn’t be more proud.

In his speech, Aston Martin Asia

Pacific Regional Director Patrik Nilsson said: “The economic growth in Asia Pacific represents a huge potential for the brand. I am very pleased that we have found the perfect partners in Manila, who share our passion for Aston Martin. This expansion will surely strengthen our network.”

Tagle said during an interview, “The Aston Martin is one that is powerful, exhilarating and precise yet, timelessly elegant and sophisticated. It has exceptional engineering and unrivalled craftsmanship. Each car is the essence of power, beauty and soul, that’s why we decided to bring it over here in the Philippines.”

During his speech, Tagle announced the introduction of the full range of Aston Martin sports cars.

From the track-inspired Vantage, the

THe Aston Martin Vanquish sports a V12 engine with a 6-liter capacity

DBPHils Motorsports inc. President and Chairman Marc Tagle (left) together with Aston Martin Asia Pacific Regional Director Patrik Nilsson stand beside the Aston Martin Vanquish.

timeless DB9 and elegant four-door Rapide S to the ultimate in sporting luxury: the Vanquish.

He also confirmed that orders have been taken on models even before the official opening of the dealership, which includes the 100unit limited production Vantage GT12. “Worldwide, there are only about 4,000 to 5,000 Aston Martin units,’’ Tagle said.

Aston Martin Manila will also

offer door-to-door pickup and delivery services for maintenance and repairs of customers’ vehicles.

Owners can rest assured that their cars will only be maintained by Aston Martin-certified technicians using the brand’s latest diagnostic equipment and tools.

Tagle said that they will welcome all Aston Martin owners at their new state-of-the-art aftersales facility, including those who

imported their cars before their official presence.

“This will be a new start for existing Aston Martin customers,” he said.

The DBMotorsports Inc. head honcho sees the luxury car segment steadily growing in the Philippines and is elated that Aston Martin enthusiasts will now be able to enjoy ownership of these exclusive luxury sports cars.

Currently displayed at its stateof-the-art showroom is the Aston Martin Vanquish. Among its fine stable of luxury sports car, it immediately catches your attention and perfectly exudes a bold blueprint for the next generation of this sports car icon. It is said to be a car without compromise, unmatched athleticism and agility. The latest evolutionary step raises the bar once again. The signature 6-liter V12 endows the Vanquish with supercar performance, which is capable of 323 kilometers per hour and

zero to 97 kph in 3.6 seconds.

The Coupe version, which is currently available for everyone’s eyes to feast upon, sports an Adaptive Damping System with three modes—Normal, Sport and Track—matched with the Touchtronic III gearbox that offers a broad range of operation, from seamless automatic mode to 130ms paddle operated shifts.

Aston Martin was founded in 1913 and is now entering its second century in business. The renowned British company’s headquarters is in Gaydon, Warwickshire, which was built on the passion, skill and creativity of the people, who have dedicated their working lives to one of the most renowned brands in the world.

Currently, its CEO Andy Palmer is looking forward to an exciting future as clear as “diamonds are forever”. And with this, for any Aston Martin aficionado, the world truly, thus far, is not enough.

motoring

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funded under Japan’s Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF).

The OECF is a regular source of foreign funds for the Philippines, and from which, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Continued on A5

VILLAR BAGS 2015 CEO EXCEL AWARD

M

anuel Paolo A. Villar, president and CEO of Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., recently received the 2015 CEO Excel (Communication Excellence in Organizations) Award from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Philippines.

During the awarding ceremonies at the Grand Ballroom of Hotel InterContinental in Makati City, the IABC cited Villar’s innovative use of strategic communication in his organization’s programs, such as the Vista Center for Professional Development and 02-Camella telephony services.

Villar joins the elite roster of winners in the IABC Philippines’s

PESO exchange rates n US 46.7000

honor program for top-level executives and organization leaders.

The IABC Philippines is the first chapter outside North America of the global International Association of Business Communicators, a global network of the best marketing, public relations and corporate communication practitioners across different industries, and in both private and public sectors.

The organization embodies the importance of international linkages and the sharing of best communication practices, ideas and experience among business professionals around the world. Its banner programs are the CEO Excel Awards, and the Philippine Quill and Student Quill awards.

women and economy President Aquino delivers his speech during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Women and the Economy 2015 Fora on Public-Private Dialogue on Women and the Economy at the Reception Hall of the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on Thursday, with the theme “Women as Prime Movers of Inclusive Growth.” Malacañang Photo

1997-type crisis: Already averted or something worse in the offing

I

f the 1997 Asian financial crisis was a heart attack for emerging markets, the current situation is akin to chronic cardiovascular disease, according to Macquarie analysts, led by Viktor Shvets and Chetan Seth.

In 1997 speculative attacks against the Thai baht forced the country to float and devalue its currency in a move that was swiftly followed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Then came a massive decline in Hong Kong’s stock market that led to losses in

markets around the globe.

While parallels exist between 1997 and the current emergingmarket sell-off—notably in the form of a stronger dollar, which makes it more expensive for emergingmarket countries to finance their debts, plus lower commodity prices and slowing trade—the Macquarie analysts reckon the current situation might actually be worse.

EM, DM economies

Instead of sharp heart attack (à la 1997), it is far more likely that

emerging market (EM) economies and markets would face an extended period that can be best described as a “chronic disease,” with limited (if any) cures or exits, punctuated by occasional significant flare-ups (short of an outright heart attack).

In many ways, it is likely to be a far more painful and insidious process.

In the meantime, any sign of significant strain (either at a country or corporate level) could easily freeze up the emergingmarket universe.

See “1997-type crisis,” A2

n japan 0.3875 n UK 72.3430 n HK 6.0256 n CHINA 7.3302 n singapore 33.4288 n australia 33.5633 n EU 52.6963 n SAUDI arabia 12.4560 Source: BSP (17 September 2015)

A2

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Asean open skies will go on sans Manila OK Continued from A8

For its part, pioneering flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) supports the Aquino administration’s protection of Naia in Manila, the main gateway of tourists to the Philippines, due to its congested runways and terminals.

But it added that it supports ASAM, as it opens up secondary airports as other tourism gateways to the Philippines.

In an e-mail, airline President and COO Jaime J. Bautista said: “PAL has supported Asean open skies as a way of stimulating the opening of direct airline routes to the Philippines’s tourist gateways. With PAL’s support, the Philippines ratified Asean open skies several years ago for services to all Philippine airports, except Naia;

and, thus, any Asean airline can operate nonstop from any airport in the Asean region to Cebu, Clark, Davao, Laoag, Laguindingan, Bohol, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa and any other secondary airports in the country.”

He added: “The remaining obstacle is Manila, because the runways, terminals and facilities at Naia are currently overstressed in handling existing flights, much less any significant expansion of flights under any kind of open-skies arrangement. The government has rightfully held back from including Naia in the ratified Asean openskies agreements, and, indeed, there is much work to be done to expand Naia or develop a new Manila airport before the Philippines could consider meaningful open skies. In the meantime, Asean airlines can serve the capital by fly-

ing to Clark.” Aileen Clemente, president of the Asean Tourism Association (Aseanta), earlier said the issue of having no more slots in Manila for foreign carriers and the principle of open skies should be separate from each other. She pointed out that “Indonesia already signed [the protocols], even if the Jakarta airport currently doesn’t have slots to provide [foreign carriers],” making the Philippines the last holdout to the region-wide agreement.

Aseanta is composed of public and private tourism-sector organizations from the Asean, which help implement the Asean strategic tourism plan—a road map to ensure that the region remains a successful tourism destination.

Zapanta, for his part, believes the rest of Asean will not press the Philippines to fully

open its main gateway to foreign carriers, even if it will be the remaining country, which will continue to do so. “The other members of Asean will respect the limitation we imposed in the non-ratification of Protocols 5 and 6. They have the option to reciprocate the restriction, i.e., not giving the Philippines unlimited third, fourth and fifth [flying rights] in their capital cities, and keep within bilaterally agreed level of such traffic rights.”

Third and fourth freedom rights allow carriers to fly from their home country to another foreign country, sans government approval.

Fifth freedom rights allows any carrier to fly between two foreign countries during flights originating or ending in said airline’s home country.

Meanwhile, PAL said it was willing to compete

1997-type crisis: Already averted or something worse in the offing. . .

The crux of their argument is that, despite the difficulties of 1997, its effects were mitigated by rising global leverage, liquidity and trade shortly thereafter. This time around, those factors might not be there.

(A) combination of excessively loose monetary policies (particularly post-2000 bursting of dot-com bubble) and China’s integration into global trade systems has enabled both EMs and developed markets (DMs) to recover quickly. This does not describe the environment facing EMs and DMs over the next five to 10 years.

The combination of long-term structural shifts (primarily driven by the grinding deflationary progress of the Third Industrial Revolution, which first became apparent in early 1990s but matured into a global phenomenon over the last decade) is aggravated by the more recent impact of overleveraging and associated overcapacity.

Such countries as Turkey, South Africa and

Malaysia appear the most at risk on this basis, while China, the Philippines and South Korea seem better positioned. Although Brazil and Russia score well on the chart, Macquarie argues that their low exposure to external debt could still be undermined by slumping commodities and slowing trade.

Differing opinion Indonesia’s rupiah and Malaysia’s ringgit have fallen to levels hit during the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998, leading a decline in the region’s currencies.

But the drop won’t spark the same economic meltdown this time around, according to analysts who watched the disaster unfold almost two decades ago. In fact, it could be a healthy realignment that helps boost exports.

The slide in currencies, exacerbated by China’s surprise devaluation of the yuan by the most in two decades last month and a strengthening US dollar, is occurring amid lower external debt burdens, more flexible exchange rates and higher foreign-currency

reserves than before. Most Southeast Asian economies now run current-account surpluses, instead of the deficits they had before the late 1990s crisis.

“Things are fundamentally different now compared with 1997,” said Tomo Kinoshita, chief economist at Nomura Securities Co., who studied Asian economies over the past 18 years. “Authorities have introduced quite rigid prudential measures to avoid a currency crisis. The depreciation in the currency is a positive factor for the exports and general competitiveness of those Asian nations.”

Better shape Malaysia and South Korea have run currentaccount surpluses every year since 1998. And the region has accumulated foreign-exchange reserves.

Indonesia’s stockpile is five times as large as it was 18 years ago, and Thailand’s six times. The four countries’external debt—excluding reserves—has fallen from 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 1997 to 11 percent of GDP, according to DBS Group Holdings Ltd.

under the ASAM but urged other Asean membernations to privatize their flag carriers to make competition more equitable in the region.

“PAL is always able and willing to compete with airlines in Asean and all over the world,” said Bautista. “In Asean we’ve advocated a policy for each member-state to take the bold leap to privatize their flag carriers, so that their airlines can progress from state ownership and dependence to become normal business enterprises. That would make it more fair or equitable, as the Philippines is the only Asean member-state to have made those bold moves more than two decades ago.”

The 10 members of the Asean are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Continued from A1

“The region still has many buffers, so we are not in a repeat of the Asian crisis context,” said Anoop Singh, former director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who led missions to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia during the Asian crisis. “The US is clearly recovering strongly, and this is good news for the region and the global economy.”

Buffers for the region include banking regulations that were tightened in the wake of the Asian financial crisis itself, and the 2007 to 2009 global credit crisis.

Crisis helped “In hindsight, without the Asian financial crisis, even just the banking system wouldn’t be as strong as now,”Fauzi Ichsan, head of Indonesia’s bank-deposit insurance agency, said in an interview this week.

Indonesia’s bailout package -- signed with the IMF chief standing over the country’s president in an infamous photograph—proved useful in pushing reforms, according to Ichsan.

Exports boost That’s starting to show: Indonesia’s shipments to the US, the country’s largest destination, rose 14 percent in August from July.

A US recovery also has Southeast Asian policy-makers bracing for an increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, which meets on September 16 and 17, a move that may draw capital out of the region. However, outflows from Asia shouldn’t be significant, David Carbon, chief economist at DBS in Singapore, wrote in a September 10 note.

“The amount of capital that does or doesn’t flow out of Asia in the weeks ahead will depend on three things: the strength of the US, the weakness of China and how much Asia today resembles the Asia of 1997,” said Carbon, who began covering Asian markets and economies in 1994, when the Fed began a monetary-tightening cycle. “Fear not. The US is not as strong as many believe. China is not as weak. And Asia today looks nothing like 1997.” Bloomberg News

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Military officials caution Comelec in raising ‘China bogey’

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Friday, September 18, 2015 A3

Troops trained on neutralizing weapons of mass destruction

State moves to verify intel reports T on ‘China threat’ to sabotage polls

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By Rene Acosta, Butch Fernandez & Joel R. San Juan

HILE Malacañang said it is still verifying supposed intelligence report accusing China of threatening next year’s elections, military officials deny they were the source of the data.

“We need to verify [that],” Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said on Thursday.

Coloma’s response referred to a report the Commission on Elections (Comelec) used as basis to compel the supplier of Optical Mark Reader (OMR) machines to transfer its manufacturing site for OMR machines from mainland China to Taiwan.

On Wednesday Commissioner Christian Robert Lim told congressmen that the Comelec ordered Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. to transfer sites because of intelligence reports that China would sabotage next year’s presidential elections.

Lim pointed to the military as

the source of the intelligence report.

“This is the first time that the Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] received information on the matter and after checking with our concerned staff offices, we found out there is no report in our files to substantiate this.

Hence, we could not comment on an issue we know nothing about,” AFP Spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla said.

Another official, who requested not to be named citing chain of command protocol, denied the military ever has a report on China’s plans.

“We are not the source of the report,” the official knowledgeable on regional security said.

However, the Palace remained mum on whether President Aquino had been briefed about the so-called intelligence report.

Asked if it was inclined to order a deeper probe on the matter, Coloma pointed to poll officials.

“It is best that the Comelec explain this matter, as we have no infor mation on the point me nt ione d b y L i m du r i ng a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday.”

Meanwhile, Venezuelan firm Smartmatic-TIM said it agreed to the Comelec’s request.

Smartmatic President for Asia Pacific Cesar Flores said in a statement that they would transfer the manufacturing site to Taiwan, despite an estimated P400 million cost to his company.

“We have agreed to the said request, despite the fact that such a transfer will force us to shoulder an additional cost amounting to 5 percent of the total contract price,” Flores said.

The Comelec earlier awarded the contracts for the lease of 70,977 and 23,000 OMR machines, after Smartmatic-TIM submitted winning bids of P6.3 billion

and P1.7 billion, respectively.

But Flores clarified its decision does not mean the company shares the apprehension of the Comelec officials.

It noted that China and Taiwan “operate under the strictest international standards, and are both capable of manufacturing the machines to specifications.”

The delivery of the OMR machines to be used in the May 2016 polls is expected to be completed by the end of January.

Speaking on request of anonymity, a military official said the election results could be sabotaged by anybody by sending a computer malware into the system.

It can be presumed that the threat exists, according to the official, adding that malicious software “can be activated anytime.”

The poll machines are technically computers, the official said.

“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist” to determine the machines’ vulnerability, the official added.

Still, the AFP statement issued on Thursday cautioned the Comelec from raising the “China bogey” in next year’s elections.

HE military is building up its capability in dealing with nonconventional threats by training some of its men in addressing attacks using chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) weapons, so-called weapons of mass destruction.

While the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) do not have in its stocks these types of weapons, it was nevertheless training some of its troops in handling them and ensure they are prepared to deal with them if these weapons are used.

The ongoing specialized training for soldiers was disclosed on Thursday by AFP Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Edgar Fallorina after he led other officials in accepting P1 million worth of CBRNE equipment from the US government.

This is the first time we have had these equipment, Fallorina told reporters. “But this capability development has been going on for quite some time.”

Fallorina explained the AFP “started out with a small number [of trainees].” “Now we have a platoon size with the corresponding equipment,” he added thanking the Americans for the anti-CBRNE gear.

The military viewed the training in handling CBRNE as complementing the ongoing AFP modernization program and defending the West Philippine Sea. The latter is being

claimed by the country’s neighbors.

One of the claimants, China, is a nuclear weapons-ready state, Fallorina said. He said training and equipping troops should be replicated in other units of the military until it has a sizeable number that can deal with these kinds of threat.

“This will be replicated in other major services until such time that we have a substantial number of personnel really qualified for CBRNE activities.”

He, however, could not say if the military would ever deal with threats posed by nonconventional weapons, expect for disasters.

“We really can’t tell about the future. But if we look back in history, we have a lot of major disasters. Suffice to say it’s always better to be prepared rather than be sorry when the time comes,” he said.

“With the competing priorities in terms of capability development of the Armed Forces, we really, shall we say, late in developing this capability. But thanks to our counterparts, we are given some support and we’re able to start the capability development for this specific, basically a capability gap because we don’t have that yet,” he added.

Fallorina said soldiers, or those trained in dealing with CBRNE, would be the first responders should threats arise from these types of weapons. Rene Acosta

Economy

A4 Friday, September 18, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

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PIDS: Govt needs to tweak mortgage program for poor

P

By Cai U. Ordinario

oor targeting and other implementation problems could lead to leakages in the government’s Community Mortgage Program (CMP), according to a study released by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (Pids).

In a study titled “An Assessment of the Community Mortgage Programs of the Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC),” authors, led by PIDS research fellow Marife Ballesteros, said reforming the CMP is necessary to improve the program.

“The potential leakage from

the above CMP processes requires SHFC to be proactive in targeting communities and households, and to implement a subsidy mechanism that will protect the poor and nearpoor from being dislodged from the program,” the authors stated.

T he CMP, t he aut hors e x-

plained, is a financing scheme that enables organized residents of slums to borrow for land purchase and housing development.

The authors said the CMP, as a program, allows nonresidents of communities it serves to avail themselves of the loans.

Under the CMP, for on-site projects, around 15 percent of com mu n it y a ssoc i at ion (C A) members can be nonresidents of the community.

For off-site projects, the CMP allows that 70 percent of CA members can be composed of households that lived elsewhere.

“Since the decision to include/ exclude households is made primarily by CA officers, there is a high probability of inclusion of households, specifically in off-site projects that are not the target ben-

eficiaries of CMP,” the study stated.

The study added that the SHFC also gives CAs the responsibility to substitute beneficiaries based on nonpayment of amortizations.

The PIDS researchers said that, while substitution helps prevent foreclosure through litigation process, it may cause poor households, who need the CMP, to be booted out of the program.

“The poor may actually be the ones defaulting in payments and getting substituted in the program.

Moreover, substitution requires the ‘new’ member to update the loan and pay the arrearages; it is unlikely that poor household can provide these funds,” the authors said.

Further, the PIDS study said the prohibitive cost of land in urban areas has increased and is now higher than the maximum loana-

ble amount per household.

This now requires borrowers to extend equity from their own pockets just to purchase the property. The study warned that poor households may not be able to raise the required equity.

There are also problems with loan repayments, since only about 25 percent of the member-beneficiary accounts are current.

The study added that over 50 percent of the aging individual accounts are past due and the rest, or remaining 25 percent, are either under litigation, remedial action or restructured.

“Considering that CMP is the main loan product of the SHFC and that the agency’s operations are sustained primarily by interest income from loans, the sustainability of the program is at risk,” the study stated.

The CMP was created to address the pervasiveness of slum dwelling in the Philippines. Based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the government estimated that the number of informal-settler families in the country grew 7.2 percent annually between 1991 and 2012.

The growth rate was highest in the National Capital Region, or Metro Manila, Zamboanga Peninsula, Calabarzon and Central Visayas, which are also the highly urbanized areas or regions exhibiting fast pace of urbanization.

The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) exhibited growth of 40 percent annually in the same period. While the proportion of informal-settler families in the CAR represents only 0.1 percent of the total, this growth is alarming, the study noted.

Philippine tourism seen to benefit from Street View inclusion

F

ilipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and tourism officials said on Wednesday that images of the Philippine capital and the country’s main tourist spots on Google’s Street View could help attract more visitors to the country.

Google Countr y Marketing Manager Ryan Morales said the Philippines became the 69th country included in Google’s Street View with its Wednesday launching in Manila.

The images captured over six months last year include panoramic views of street scenes in 37 cities and 35 historic and heritage sites, including Pacquiao’s southern hometown, where he began his career as one of the world’s most popular boxers.

Rocked by insurgencies and poor infrastructure, the Philippi nes st r ug g les to bol ster tourism, lag ging neighboring Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

Pacquiao said the images include his old neighborhood in Sarangani province, which he represents as a congressman; General Santos City, the country’s tuna capital; and the City Hall, where he used to sell bread

to earn money when he was a young boy from a dirt-poor family.

He said the Google project will support “our goal of making the Philippines a top tourist destination in Asia.”

In jest, he said that he may “need a rematch with [Floyd] Mayweather” to raise money to bring more visitors to Sarangani, but that the images will do that for him. Pacquiao lost to Mayweather in May in boxing’s richest fight.

“I do not need to give away plane tickets and spend a lot of money to showcase the beauty of our province,” he said with a broad smile. Pacquiao is known to spend large amounts to bring along a huge entourage to watch his fights.

Domingo Ramon Enerio III, the COO of the Tourism Promotions Board, said tourism is a “feel-good industry” which contributed $6 billion to the Philippine economy last year.

T he gover nment statistics agency has reported that tourism contributed 7.8 percent to the economy last year.

Enerio said the government is confident the Philippines will surpass 5 million visitors for the first time this year. AP

MANNY PACQUIAO joins the launch of the Google Street View by showing his province, Sarangani, to the media. The Philippines is the 69th country to have the Google product, which was launched on Wednesday in Pasay City. Street View is a feature of Google Maps, where a 360-degree view of a certain place can be viewed. This is expected to boost the Philippines, most especially in the tourism sector. Stephanie Tumampos

DTI cuts exports growth forecast to single digit

Procter & Gamble (P&G) Asia Finance and Accounting Vice President Nicholas Defeuw speaks during the P&G SME Leadership College 2015 workshop, a one-day event that aims to enhance the leadership capabilities of almost 200 participants from different sectors. ALYSASALEN

By Catherine N. Pillas

T

he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has also abandoned the government goal of growing merchandise exports by twin digits this year, as demand from China and other top export markets continues to diminish.

“We just have to live with it for the time being because our main market is really China. The US is good, but China’s really bad,” Export Marketing Bureau Director Senen M. Perlada told reporters on the sidelines of Procter & Gamble’s SME Leadership College workshop.

The DTI now sees merchandise exports growth at 3 percent to 5 percent this year.

The National Economic and Development Authority had also declared that the government target of 10-percent growth in export receipts this year will no longer be achieved.

China’s has a 16.3-percent share in the Philippines’s exports, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. Japan is the country’s top export market with a 19.3-percent share.

Merchandise exports in July amounted to $5.327 billion, a 1.8-percent drop from the same month in 2014.

Exports have dropped by 4.1 percent in the first seven months of the year, or from $35.6 billion in 2014 to $34.214 billion this year.

On top of this, even if electronics exports—the country’s major manufactured export segment—have grown by 34.6 percent in July, this is being offset by the slowdown in agricultural products.

“Banana, pineapple, mango and other

processed foods that use these as raw materials are down because of the drought; and it can get even worse,” Perlada noted.

Agro-based products take up 6 percent of the country’s export receipts in July, amounting to $322.23 million. This figure is a drop of 24.5 percent from the $ 426.66 million in July 2014.

The rise in exports to the US and the European Union has not been enough to offset China’s diminishing demand, while the impact of the peso depreciation is negligble, the DTI director said.

The surge in services, however, is expected to prop up total exports, Perlada noted.

“The BPO [business-process outsourcing] sector is bound to grow by 15 percent this year. For the non-BPO service sectors, probably single digit,” he added.

Even with this tempered forecast, the DTI official declined to declare an official revision of export targets.

The Philippines has been experiencing a contraction in exports this year, driven mostly by the problematic economic conditions in China.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is set to make a push for the agenda of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) at the World Trade Organization (WTO) through the ministerial meeting in December.

Outgoing Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said this is the main agenda of the country when it serves as a vice chairman of the WTO Ministerial Meeting.

Domingo said he hopes his campaign for MSMEs will be the legacy of his term at the DTI, which will end on December 31.

Domingo will be going to Geneva next week to present the Philippines’s

MSME agenda to a WTO committee, in preparation for the December meeting.

“At the end of this month, I will be going to the WTO to make a major presentation of the MSME agenda. In the WTO Ministerial Meeting in December, the Philippines has also been made one of the three vice chairmen because of this push,” Domingo said on the sidelines of the Procter & Gamble SME Leadership forum held on Thursday.

The presentation to the WTO will largely be based on the Boracay Action Agenda (BAA) drafted by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation member-economies’ trade ministers during the Apec Ministerial Trade Meeting in May. The BA A focused on easing trade rules for MSMEs. It includes initiatives, such as the setting up of green lanes at the Bureau of Customs and easing of de minimis rules on the traded goods of MSMEs. “The BAA is our bible for pushing MSMEs to be able to export in the international trade. We want to try to have a statement [from WTO members] to commit to our agenda at the end of the Kenya meeting,” Domingo said.

The trade chief said the agenda for MSMEs has long been an advocacy of the DTI, and this will continue even after his departure.

The DTI has implemented facilitylending scheme for SME through the Shared Service Facility (SSF) Program, and aided entrepreneurs in far-flung communities to set up their business through the SME Roving Academy.

About 99 percent of enterprises registered in the Philippines are considered MSMEs. The sector is also said to contribute one-third of the national output.

Economy

BusinessMirror Friday, September 18, 2015 A5

DOE awarded 682 RE contracts as of end-April

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By Lenie Lectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded 682 renewable-energy (RE) contracts, seven years after the Renewable Act of 2008 was enacted into law.

As of end-April this year, the agency said that these contracts have a potential generation capacity of 13,574.68 megawatts (MW) as against a total installed capacity of 2,912.01 MW. Of the 682 RE projects awarded by the government, 411 are hydropower; 92 for solar; 50 for wind; 40 for biomass, 43 for geothermal; and eight for ocean energy. These 644 contracts were awarded for grid use.

On top of these, there were 38 RE contracts awarded for selfgeneration of electricity for their own use. These include one each for hydro and wind; 12 for solar; and 24 for biomass.

The latest DOE data also showed that of the pending RE projects, 167 are hydro; 51 for solar; two for ocean; nine for biomass; nine for wind; and two are geothermal.

The potential generation capacity of these pending RE projects could reach 3,786.70 MW as against an installed capacity of 196.70 MW. Under the National Renewable Energy Plan, the DOE aims to increase the countrys RE generation to 15,304 MW by 2030.

The DOE has already streamlined the process of RE applications, from two years down to just 45 days, to ensure that RE developers and investors will have an easier time in

applying for RE service contracts.

Moreover, the DOE has partnered with the Department with the United States Agency for International Development to develop the Energy Vehicle One Shared System (EVOSS), a Web-based monitoring of RE applications.

Originally patterned from the One-Stop Facilitation and Monitoring Center Web Portal for Mindanao RE projects, the EVOSS aims to facilitate and streamline the process of RE applications.

The EVOSS can track the number of days an application is pending with a certain government agency. It tells the status of an application and states how long before an approval is secured, among others.

To promote the use of RE on a larger scale and to attract new investments for RE facilities, the government is banking on the feedin-tariff (FiT) system.

FiT is a premium rate paid for electricity fed into the electricity grid from a designated renewable electricity generation source, like solar-energy system or wind-power plant.

‘High labor cost deters foreign investments’

By Catherine N. Pillas

T

he steep cost of labor in the country discourages the entry of more foreign investors in the Philippines, a group of human- resource management (HRM) executives said on Thursday.

The People Management Assoc i at ion of t he Ph i l ippines (PMAP) said the cost of labor is a major factor behind the decision of foreign investors to put up their business in any country.

“The No. 1 issue is the high cost of labor. Minimum wage in the Philippines is P481 today. In Vietnam, it is a dollar. If I produce an item here, I would have to spend P481 as against P47,” Rene Gener, PMAP executive director, said in a news briefing.

Data from the National Wages and Productivity Commission showed that labor cost in the Philippines is the highest among seven Southeast Asian nations. Monthly salary in the Philippines is at $294.60; Thailand, $265.68; Malaysia, $211.50; Vietnam, ranges from $98 to $141.94; Cambodia, $121.90; Indonesia, $82.28; and Laos, $41.68.

Gener said red tape, high corporate taxes, high power costs and the lack of infrastructure also deter foreign investments in the Philippines.

PMAP said the lack of infra-

STORE ON WHEELS

A street vendor peddles traditional Filipino household items on a push cart along Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City. NORIEL DE GUZMAN

structure, in particular, has a “dampening effect” on the efficiency and productivity of workers.

The group will be holding its annual conference in October. HRM executives are expected to tackle traffic, labor regulations and other challenges to encourage the entry of more foreign investments during the conference.

PMAP will also take up government initiatives, such as the

Labor department’s proposed four-day work week and flexible working hours.

The conference will be held in Manila from October 12 to 14. PMAP is expected to draft a list of recommendations on best practices in HRM and discuss the results of a survey among PMAP members and workers on the competencies of the future leaders of the country.

Japanese ODAs face delays anew. . .

the Treasury, some P1.81 billion had been borrowed by the government from January to July this year.

Henares said that although the Exchange of Notes between the Philippines and Japan regarding OECFfunded projects provided that the Philippines will shoulder all taxes imposed on Japanese contractors on the payments made by the Philippine government to them using the OECF, these Japanese contractors cannot pass on the 12-percent VAT they incurred from other suppliers and subcontractors.

The sharing of the tax burden between the Philippine government and the Japanese contractors is indicated in RMC 42-99 issued in 1999.

The old circular provided that the Philippines will shoulder the 8.5percent creditable withholding tax on payments to the Japanese contractors, who, in turn, can pass on the VAT they incur from their other suppliers and subcontractors.

However, the RMC 45-2015 provided that the sharing of the tax burden is no longer operative with the amendments in the VAT law, which indicated that payments

made by the government shall be subject to a 5-percent final VAT withholding tax.

Under the final VAT withholding tax system implemented on payments made by the Philippine government, a final VAT of 5 percent is withheld by the government as payor, while the remaining 7-percent VAT shall already be considered the input VAT of the payee on the transaction.

“The Japanese contractors of OECF-funded projects cannot include in its billing the whole 12-percent VAT that will be assumed by the Philippine government on its instrumentalities or agencies in accordance with the Exchange of Notes,” the circular read.

Despite this, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Deputy Director General Rolando G. Tungpalan said the Japanese government has not given any indication that it intends to put on hold any Japan-funded projects.

“In the last state visit [of President Aquino], Japan and the Philippines even signed three loan agreements,” Tungpalan said in

continued from a1

a telephone interview.

In 2007 the implementation of nine Japan-funded projects was put on hold due to the government’s nonpayment of VAT reimbursement to Japanese businessmen.

Neda admitted that the nonpayment of VAT was the chief reason behind the delay in Japan’s release of funds for ODA projects.

At the time, VAT reimbursements due to Japanese businessmen amounted to P300 million. The government said, however, that it needed to process some documents before it could release the payments.

In 2004 the Neda disclosed that it did not process any Japan International Cooperation Agency grants due to the issue on VAT reimbursements to Japanese businessmen.

The nonpayment of VAT had caused the Japanese government to threaten to withhold the future release of funds for several grant-aid projects.

Up to now there are several Japanese ODA projects that are yet to be competed due to delays in implementation and procurement.

With Cai U. Ordinario

A6 Friday, September 18, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Why is the quality of PHL universities dropping?

I

T was not so long ago that employers subtly or directly did not want graduates from any but the country’s “top 5 schools.” That hiring strategy partly came about because of the large difference in the quality of education between the top 5 and all the others. The other, and maybe more important factor for employers, was that graduates from these schools probably had better contacts in the business world.

The local and global situations have changed in the last 20 years. A person’s network is still significant, but with the connections made through the Internet, personal relationships like classmates can be overshadowed in the short term. However, perhaps the more significant change has come from the changing landscape of education itself.

Businesses are looking just as much at the ability of a prospective employee to be able to navigate through the technological and media world as through a history or philosophy class. This is the age of specialization not only in business but in the academic world. For example, one learning institution, Enderun Colleges, offers a Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship degree that has a specific focus on teaching the second and third generation how to manage a family-owned company. Further, all major companies are looking at the global picture, as well as domestic opportunities, for their businesses.

In the 2015 ranking of global universities by Quacquarelli Symonds—a British company which evaluates universities on a range of performance indicators—the “top 4” did not do well.

From CNN Philippines: “The University of the Philippines [UP] slid from 367th last year to 401st to 410th. It was followed by the Ateneo de Manila University, which slid down to 501st to 550th place from last year’s 461st to 470th. The De La Salle University [DLSU] is placed at 701+ compared to 651st to 700th in 2014. The University of Santo Tomas remained at 701+, similar to its 2014 and 2013 ranking.”

A school is ultimately only as good as its faculty, and a closer look at the internals of the rankings show deficiencies in this area. Forty percent of the overall score is “Academic reputation” based on what other professors “believe the best work is currently taking place within their own field of expertise.” The UP rates a dismal 47 out of 100. Ateneo de Manila University comes in worst at 32.8. DLSU is at 51 and the University of Santo Tomas is rated 40.

However, both DLSU and UP received improved rankings in the “employer reputation” indicator, so maybe local employers are still more concerned about “who you know” rather than “what you know.”

Tests James Jimenez

O

spox

N August 28, 2015, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) signed a contract with SLI Global Solutions—an international certification entity—to conduct a series of 24 primary tests on the automated elections system we will be using for the 2016 national, local and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao elections.

These primary tests are (get ready for a long enumeration): Hardware Testing; Electrical, Environmental, Print Legibility and 14-hour Battery Backup Power Test; Source Code Audit and Review; System Documentation Review; Configuration Audit; Readiness Testing; Reading Consistency Testing; Ballot Security Testing; Ballot Image Testing; Vote Secrecy Testing; Mark Sensitivity Test; Ballot Testing; Accuracy and Reliability Testing; System Integration Test (End to End Test); Security Testing; Data Encryption Decryption Testing; Digital Signature Testing; Access Levels Testing; Data Retention and Storage Testing; Data Backup Testing; Volume Testing; Stress Test; Error Handling and Error Recovery Testing; and a System Audibility Test.

There won’t be space enough in this article to describe all these tests in detail, and many of them are self-explanatory anyway, so let me just shine the light on a select few.

Let’s start with the environmental tests.

First up, there’s the humidity storage test, which replicates stresses faced during the storage of voting machines and ballot counters. While in simulated storage, the unit is subjected to 10 24-hour cycles of varying temperature and humidity. Then, the test unit will be subjected to very high temperatures.

Like the humidity storage test, this tests the machines’ ability to withstand the rigors of storage.

However, since the machines are not going to be in storage forever, they will also face a bench handling test (to simulate stresses faced during maintenance and repair of voting machines and ballot counters), a vibration test (to check the machines’ ability to withstand the rattling and shaking that happens during transportation between storage locations and polling places), and a dust test that will

investigate the effects of, well, dust.

Those of you who have had your desktop computers seize up because of the accumulation of dust should know that this is a critical test.

Optical Mark Reader (OMRs) machines will also be placed under a water dispenser with drip rate greater than 280l/m2/hr. The units being tested will be at least 1 meter from the drip dispenser and will be exposed to uniform dripping for 15 minutes. I would have called this the water torture test, but for some unfathomable reason, SLI chose to call this the rain-drip test instead.

Apart from these environmental tests, electronic transmission testing will be conducted, as well.

SLI has developed a proprietary set of tools that simulate various transmission rates of encrypted voting data for performance, load, volume and stress testing. The simulated network allows SLI not only to perform all the necessary functional, security and performance testing; but also to perform network monitoring (scanning, sniffing, etc.), encrypted strength analysis and simulating various network attacks.

SLI will use a load generation tool specifically tailored for the Philippines, to combine actual test traffic on the system along with simulated vote data.

This will yield the combined traffic modeled load and expected transmission behavior that the system will be tested against, determining whether the system will be able to handle the projected transmittal rated and the results on election day.

SLI will also validate that all systems

information is stored in nonvolatile media, such that even if the system is turned off for a period of time, all data can still be retrieved. In data retention and storage testing, the voting system will be tested to verify that all election data can be simultaneously stored on redundant storage device, and that the data stored on the redundant storage device can be utilized to continue system operations in situations of malfunction or data error on the primary implementation.

In error handling and error recovery testing, voting systems can be subject to various conditions and when the system exceeds limitations errors. In other words, in testing, errors like incorrect settings, incorrect data inputs, incorrect data outputs, corrupted data, errors in creation of media components, device startup errors, transmission errors and system integration errors will be forced in order to see how they are dealt with by the system. And since the misdiagnosis of a problem can be just as big an issue as the problem itself, this testing suite will also determine whether the appropriate error messages are being generated in response to a specific error.

All of that is just scratching the surface, but I think it gives a pretty good idea of the thoroughness with which the vote counting machines are tested.

Ultimately, the OMR machines we will use in 2016 will have probably survived more abuse than they are likely to see on election day itself. All to the good, I say.

James Arthur B. Jimenez is director of the Commission on Elections’s education and information department.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Road or coordination congestion?

Alvin Ang

EAGLE WATCH

T

he traffic challenge that is hounding Metro Manila is nothing new. It has been hounding us for decades now.

Some of us will remember the “Jingle Bags” and the Chocolate Boys in the 1990s, when the flyovers on Edsa were being built. Furthermore, road congestion (a better description of traffic) is a normal occurrence in many expanding cities around the world.

Price of roadspace

If roadspace is free, demand will exceed supply

P Free market Price

Free Copyright www.economicsonline.co.uk

The Bangkok traffic was a legend of the 1990s. Recently, Jakarta has also been experiencing similar types of jams. So, if road congestion is a normal occurrence in our expanding metropolis, do we take it as a given? Do we simply give in to the request of the government for understanding? I believe that we need to go back and look at how we analyze road congestion. For, if the problem is not clearly identified, all the proposed solutions will most likely exacerbate, instead of alleviate, the problem.

For all intent and purposes, road congestion exists because the supply of road is fixed in the short term (a perfectly inelastic condition in Economics). Meanwhile, the demand for road is characterized by various users—students (all levels), workers (government and private), business, leisure and movers. Each of the users has different valuations of his or her road use, but the majority are forced by schedules to be in their schools and workplaces on set times.

Moreover, roads are generally not charged a fee so, in effect, they are “free” to use. This creates a condition where the demand for road exceeds significantly the supply. This is a classic example of a common resource good. Common resource goods have this property: road use is rival, meaning, when one car is on the road, other cars cannot be on the same road space.

But it is nonexclusive, meaning, other road users cannot be prevented from using the same road space.

Although there are people willing to pay a price for road use, it does not happen because the demand for free or lower-price use has overwhelmed supply tremendously (See graph from www.economicsonline.co.uk).

Under this condition, it is clear that, in the short term, road supply will be fixed. Therefore, the first best solution of expanding the road network is not in the short term.

The second-best solution is to tinker with demand. This, too, is not simple, because there are different valuations for road use. Those who have fixed schedules have limited options, because changing schedules will affect the way of doing things.

Staggered business hours can only work to selected sectors, like private services. Other tinkerings, such as the number coding, traffic lights, traffic enforcers or traffic management, are not effective, because the different schemes that are in place

Quantity of roadspace

have loopholes in implementation.

Moreover, they are implemented like broken lines, with each local government in Metro Manila having its own rules and having different levels of capacities to implement rules, adding to further congestion. Combining all these conditions has made the traffic challenge no longer as an urgent issue, no longer as an emergency issue, but a disaster-level situation.

The amount estimated to being lost in traffic daily should alarm the government to do more. With about 40 percent of gross domestic product being produced in Metro Manila, the national government cannot allow the current short-term conditions to go on and just plead for understanding.

The first thing that comes to mind is to put the full government resource to traffic management to full use. The budgets of the agencies under the Department of Transportation and Communications, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the local government units on traffic must be consolidated to respond to the daily costs being lost. These resources must be implemented under a single coordinating mechanism that has authority over traffic management under the national government.

The current setup of the Highway Patrol Group taking over Edsa already shows that the national government can come in to solve traffic.

But without a single command line, efforts and impacts will be limited.

With the full resource, the national government should have a standard set of rules for traffic management all over the Metro.

The agency that will be tasked to do this should be manned by professionals, particularly those assigned in streets. Their pay should be upgraded, commensurate to the cost that they are trying to abate.

The agency should be able to implement clearing of all roads, regardless if they are national or local. Part of its responsibility is also to plan phaseout of vehicles; no-parking, no-car policy for those buying cars; create pricing schemes; and road discipline and education, among others, and institutionalize them. This situation is called for, since the traffic problem is going to get worse before it will get better with the delays in the major infrastructure projects in the city. We are in a disaster condition, it does not merit soft and business-as-usual solutions, but hard and politically difficult ones.

Friday, September 18, 2015 A7

‘Gloomy Sunday’ on my playlist Tito Genova Valiente

annotations

W

hat’s on your playlist?

The question was innocent. The person did not know how days ago I struggled, with the help of a friend who was getting impatient with my requests, to include this song and that song even before he had loaded a previous title.

I come from a generation of taping and burning. This act of snapping songs from somewhere and making it part of a collection amazes me. Perhaps, in another period, this was stealing but the new media has altered all notions of property and location.

Indeed, what is on my playlist?

Revealed on top of the list was “Gloomy Sunday.” The voice, my friend confessed, irritated him. It was Billie Holiday’s. I smiled. I told him that voice will haunt him. I wanted to say, “hunt”. But his comments also haunted me.

My friend left soon, and I wondered what he was thinking of this dear friend of his?

Interesting how mobile-phone playlists have supplanted divinations? Songs or your choice of songs and voices can take the place of palmistry. These songs compiled are your dossier.

Realizing how playlists are almost like boxers or briefs, I proceeded to review my choices, the paths that I took with regard to songs that I anticipated would lull me to sleep during long rides or help me feel good at least when I was not doing any chore.

“Gloomy Sunday” was there all right. I learned about the song from my grandmother, who spoke of a song that drove people to suicide.

When I first got to travel abroad, I looked for this song and found it in one of those huge boxes containing several LPs or long-playing vinyl records. On the cover was a woman with gardenia on her hair. She was black and beautiful, I already knew her—Billie Holiday—through the biopic of Diana Ross. But it was the first time for me to hear her. Immediately, I understood the critics who panned the film Lady Sings the Blues.

Ross mimicked Holiday and did not portray her.

The idea of “Gloomy Sunday” as a suicide song eluded me. What caught me was this singer with an uncanny voice, and who could slow down the song to almost a standstill.

The popularity of YouTube would soon show me the history of this song —fiction or fact. “Gloomy Sunday” was originally a Hungarian song but more than that generic label, it was called “The Hungarian Suicide Song.”

You have to be doubly careful when you say those words, because Hungarian sausages are quite popular this side of the moon.

The song is attributed to pianist Rezso Seress in 1936, with Lazslo Javor writing the lyrics. The song

is described as having caused more suicides than any song in history.

In the posting at YouTube, a warning precedes the playing of the song, allowing the person about to listen to consider and reconsider his plan to partake of the song. The warning says: “The song will play in 10 seconds. Please exit now if you choose not to hear it.” In other words, the song has gained the notoriety of not providing a musical backdrop to a depression but of inducing a person to contemplate and commit suicide.

Who takes song lyrics seriously that they become guide to action? I don’t think even those vision-andmission guys really take songs and anthems to heart.

I open my playlist, and the voice of Holiday creeps and crawls. It moans and menaces. It pleads and cries: Sunday is gloomy/My hours are slumberless/Dearest, the shadows I lived with are numberless/Little white flowers will never awaken you/Not where the black coach of sorrow has taken you/Angels have no thought of ever returning you/ Would they be angry If I thought of joining you/Gloomy Sunday.

Surely, there is an invitation to death in those lines.

It is said that the song was banned for years in some countries. This was

The corporate roller-coaster ride Ailene Co

Women Stepping UP

M

uch befuddling than the average daily heavy traffic you have to deal with just to get to work is the fact that no one is exempted from corporate politics. If you have death and taxes in life, politics form part of the office culture whether we like it or not. What only sets corporate politics uniquely apart in each office is how it occurs in varying degrees. It can be very subtle, but it can also be highly intense. The only thing to do is cope with it and deal with it.

How do you know when you’re in the throes of corporate politics? Observe the work environment you’re in and the behavior of your workmates. It usually begins when one gossips about or tarnishes a colleague’s reputation to gain advantage. Crab mentality is unmistakably present when one tries to outdo one another by pulling the other party down. Ego-tripping is also a clear indication that corporate politics is at play.

When someone is secure about her role and position, he doesn’t need to abuse his authority just to point out his power.

According to www.managementstudyguide.com, there are top reasons workplace politics continue to prevail.

These are when employees aspire to be in the limelight easily without much hard work and depend on politics, when employees aspire to achieve something beyond their authority and control in a short span of time, lack of supervision and control at the workplace, too much of gossip at work, arrogant superiors

and jealous colleagues.

Power struggles often, if not always, happen in the corporate world. While everyone is either at the center of it, one, at the very least, is a collateral damage.

However, there are ways to combat the effects of corporate politics. This calls for basic things.

First, you have to be in a job that you love doing. This is a powerful shield one can have against negativity in the office setting. When your love for what you do overpowers the circumstances in the office, you’re at a stronger position. Regardless of what happens around you, you have the passion for work to keep you afloat and undistracted by all these matters.

Second, do not ever compromise your moral values. Remember that moving up the corporate ladder by being morally corrupt isn’t worth it. Be on top not because of favors but because of jobs well done. If you do this, you will survive and thrive beyond the company you’re

currently in. God can promote you everywhere else. Always ask for His wisdom and guidance when the temptation to compromise is strong.

To avoid being entangled in the web of corporate politics, you have to know where you stand from the get go. Draw your job description; fully understand what it calls for; and clarify job functions with the management. In doing this, confusions are avoided. It is also advisable to have an in-depth conversation with your immediate head to establish expectations and understanding. Set work goals as a team, so that it becomes a team effort and it unites the team to a common purpose.

One’s attitude also plays a major role in rising above corporate politics. Trust your instinct when it comes to being pushed in a compromising situation.

Whatever happens, stay professional.

Put hard work, competence, respect and reliability ahead of your emotions. It is also important to be fair, and don’t be so quick to judge. Give people the benefit of the doubt, instead of being easily persuaded by what other people say or gossip about. Always bear an open mind and have a sound judgment. Assess justly.

When you find yourself at the center of corporate power struggle, overcome fears by reminding yourself that God places you in a season of trial to develop perseverance and character worthy of His name. Acceptance is key, and don’t run away from problems. Yes, even workrelated ones. Having a support group will strengthen you. You’ll be surprised by how much friends would be willing to share your burden and help you out.

I can never stress enough how being deliberate in finding a mentor helps. We

certainly no esoteric knowledge.

What makes me wonder is how in Holiday’s name did my grandmother, Emilia, get wind of this trivia when she was in the far-flung island of Ticao. She was no blues singer; with her cousins, they sang sacred dirges during the Holy Week.

My friend describes “Gloomy Sunday” as a dirge.

I continued my research till I came upon another version of “Gloomy Sunday” in the reality competition Norway Got Talent. It is audition time and a young girl stands onstage. She is asked her age. “7”. She is asked what song she is going to sing. “Gloomy Sunday” by Billie Holiday. The girl opens her mouth and all mouths gape in the hall: her voice reeks of whisky and floats on wine and silken stories of heartbreaks. Her name is Angelina Jordan, and she sings her next song: “I’m a Fool to Want You.” She is Billie Holiday. In another posting, the judges were in awe still but one judge looked sad and troubled. Angelina was singing: “Bang, Bang, I shot you down/Bang, bang, You hit the ground/ That awful sound/Bang, Bang, My baby shot me down.

I wonder what’s on the playlist of 7-year-old Angelina Jordan?

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

cannot learn everything from school.

You will benefit from the many lessons you could learn from the veterans of life experiences. Only seek mentorship and advice from competent and trustworthy people.

Work life isn’t always going to be a bed of roses. No matter what the corporate life throws at you, whether you’re up or miserably down, consider the positive side of it. As you look for a mentor, be a mentor also and share your passion and dreams. Stay focused on what matters in life. It’s a cliché but it’s a fact that when you find a job you love doing, you’ll never have to work a day in your whole life.

The most important reminder is this: Your boss is God. Everyone else is secondary. You work for Him and not for men. The reason you have what you have right now, your job or promotion included, is because of His grace. Never lose sight of this.

Colossians 3:23-24: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Ailene Co is a member of BPW Makati.

She is a seasoned marketing professional with close to two decades of experience in PR and marketing. She is also the cofounder of online magazine www.trend-hotspot. com. Falling twice and rising three times!

This article reflects the author’s opinion and is not the official stand of the BPW Makati. Women Stepping Up is a rotating column of members of BPW Makati and comes out twice a month. For more information on BPW Makati, visit www.womensteppingup.org.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Friday, September 18, 2015

Asean open skies will go on sans Manila OK

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

I

Special to the BusinessMirror

T’S embarrassing.

This was the reaction of aviation expert Avelino Zapanta to the Philippines’s continued protection of Manila from foreign carriers, despite the rest of the member-nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) agreeing to open up their capital cities.

“Nakakahiya nga, but it won’t stop the Asam [Asean-Single Aviation Market],” he opined. ASAM takes full effect in December 2015, as Asean becomes one economic community.

Zapanta, author of 100 Years of Philippine Aviation 1909-2009, the definite reference on airline management in the Philippines, also said the Asean open-skies policy will spur local airlines to offer more intra-Asean routes.

“I think some Philippine carriers will take advantage of Asam, like Cebu Pacific. It has the resources and it is aggressive. It has ordered more ATR72s, ideal for the noncapital cities of the other Asean countries, e.g., Zamboanga to Sandakan and Puerto Princesa to Kota Kinabalu, among many others. I think, PAL Express

will do so, too. But the most aggressive will be Air Asia Zest, since Asam is right down the group’s alley.”

The Philippines continues to stall on the ratification of Protocols 5 and 6 of the 2009 Multilateral Agreement on Air Services (MAAS) that would give Asean airlines unlimited third, fourth and fifth freedom rights to operate between capital cities. (See “PHL delaying Asean open skies,” in the BusinessMirror, September 17, 2015.)

Zapanta, who is also president of the Southeast Asian Airlines International, a charter service, said the Civil Aeronautics Board “has proposed the ratification of Protocols 5 and 6, but it has not been acted upon by the President [Mr. Aquino].”

Continued on A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BATAAN PLANT TO HIKE PETRON’S MARGIN BY 20%

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ETRON Corp.’s upgraded refinery in Bataan is expected to boost gross margin next year by at least 20 percent, the oil firm’s top official said.

Ramon S. Ang is confident that Petron will “achieve the target efficiency” of its single largest investment to date “sooner than expected.” As such, the anticipated efficiency, he explained, will result in improved margin.

“Even at low crude prices, Petron is still going to be very profitable because of the modernization of the refinery. What we recover in crude now is up to 98.7 percent. Before, the oil refinery can only recover up to 76 percent. We hope, if possible, we can achieve 99 percent,” Ang said.

Petron’s RMP-2 (Refinery Master Plan -2) is expected to be fully commissioned next year.

The $2-billion RMP-2 is still in its commissioning period, with actual commercial production to start next year. Output will improve by 50 percent—from 120,000 barrels average

per day to 180,000 barrels—by the time commissioning is completed.

The upgraded refinery will drastically increase production of gasoline, diesel and petrochemicals. It will also enhance the country’s supply security, since it gives more flexibility to refine crude oil from various sources. More important, Petron will be capable of locally producing fuels that meet the more stringent Euro 4 environmental standard.

“We are expecting the refinery to reach 98-percent recovery by next year, 2016. But as of September this year, we have already achieved it; so we believe that with this commissioning, we will achieve our target capacity and target efficiency,” Ang stressed.

Having said that, the Petron official is confident that the upgraded refinery “should give you at least 20-percent gross margin,” from an earlier target of 15 percent and previous margins of 3 percent to 5 percent.

Lenie Lectura