BusinessMirror November 5, 2015

LANDO LEFTOVERS Rice grains soaked by mud during the onslaught of Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu) are being dried under the sun in Jaen, Nueva Ecija. Lando left 46 people dead and P8.24 billion in estimated agriculture damage in Northern Luzon. NONIE REYES

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DANIEL RADCLIFFE

A broader look at today’s business Thursday 18, 2014 Vol.6,102015 No. 40 Vol. 11 No. 29 Friday, November

No escaping brownouts as demand beats supply T

B L L

HE Philippines, according to a latest study conducted by the BMI Research of the Fitch Group, is not spared from brownouts in the years to come because there is not enough powergeneration capacity to keep up with the rising demand for electricity.

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“The Philippines remains severely exposed to power-supply shortages, given the lack of installed generating capacity, which is needed to meet surging power demand,” said the BMI in its November 4 research.

BMI is anticipating a 4.9-percent annual average growth in electricity consumption between 2015 and 2024, driven by improving electrification rates and robust GDP growth.

XI IN VIETNAM TO WOO COMRADES, REMINISCE BATTLES VERSUS U.S.

S “B,” A

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AT HOME IN THE SKY Food

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Affordable eats at night market

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ALL food trays have to be at a stable temperature, not going beyond 12ºC, when these are loaded in the airplane’s galley.

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SAMPLES of the Filipino dishes being served on the flights to the US, Canada and London.

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AFTER dishes are cooked in large batches, they are arranged in batches on meal packs that will be covered in foil and “cold soaked,” chilled at 5ºC, to preserve the food’s quality and taste. These are, thereafter, reheated in convection ovens in a plane’s galley.

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APPETIZERS organized and ready for ROY storing. PHOTOS BY GIL RO DOMINGO

Making every passenger feel at home in the sky

WHO doesn’t like street food? At almost every corner of the city, you will find a pushcart or makeshift stall selling your favorite chow. Whether its pork barbecue, grilled seafood, snack quick and affordable are lined up to whet the appetitie. You can find it all at Tutuban Center’s Foodstreet.

Open from late afternoon till late at night, Foodstreet has numerous stalls selling all the chow and snacks your family and friends can possibly want. Choose from an assortment of grilled favorites and fried food that are cooked fresh and are guaranteed to be delicious eats.

The stalls at Foodstreet offer value-for-money food in a casual setting. You can chomp on your chosen pulutan with the gang on almost any gimik night.

If dinner is on the menu, the choices are endless, too.

Some stalls serve rice meals, such as tapsilog, while others dish out mami, siopao and siomai siomai, shawarma and all kinds of sandwiches. If you want barbecue, you can choose from grilled chicken, liempo, dried squid and even bangus.

At Tutuban Center Night Market, you are spoiled for choices. From affordable shopping to your favorite street food at Foodstreet, you’ll find everything that you could possibly want.

B S A Twitter: @Pulitika2010

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HEN we fly on any airline these days, one of our typical first questions is: ““May pagkain ba (Will there be any free food)?”

Alas, in this age of thinning operating margins, many airlines have been forced to cut back their budgets for in-flight meals, and as in the case of budget carriers, these free meals are ditched totally, and in their place are sold in-flight tasteless snacks, salt-laden junk food, carb-loaded instant noodles and the like to hapless passengers. We even have to pay for the water.

Fortunately, for loyal customers of Philippine Airlines (PAL), the country’s pioneering flag carrier still offers complimentary tasty treats on its domestic and international routes.

And depending on the international destination, these can be full plates of savory Filipino, Chinese, Korean and even Japanese dishes.

I recently had the privilege to visit PAL’s Catering Operations in a nondescript gray building in Pasay City, within the complex of the Ninoy Aquino International Airort (Naia). Unknown to many, the seemingly unremarkable edifice hides an astonishingly streamlined, hygienic and precise food operation that prepares close to 5.5 million in-flight meals a year!

I was there, among 20 other people, to taste-test PAL’s Filipino in-flight meal for its business-class route to the US, Canada and London. The Filipino menu is designed by renowned chef and restaurateur Fernando Aracama.

PAL’s partnership with celebrated Filipino chefs started in 2000, at the prodding of the Department of Trade and Industry, so that the airline could showcase the country’s cuisine to the world. Via Mare’s Glenda Barretto was the first of such chef consultants.

Aside from Aracama, other chef consultants today include Chefs Wataru Hikawa and Lam Ling Kui from the Makati Shangri-La for the business-class meals for the Japan and China routes, respectively; as well as Yun Sun Yoo, chef patron of Ara Restaurant, who designs the meals for the Korean route.

In September PAL also hired a new corporate chef, Noel Ramos, who will be helping design the new inflight menus for 2017.

Ma. Criselda A. Rayos, manager, food and planning standards for PAL’s Catering Operations, says that their chef consultants are asked to prepare an entire menu for one year for the international flights, with set menus good for four cycles, so the dishes don’t become repetitive. “Our menu year starts in April because the airline industry starts its summer schedule toward April,” she explains. This menu will be used for two years. Aracama whips up the dishes for Rayos and her team during the pre-implementation process, after which he may be asked to tweak certain ingredients

CHEF Consultant Fernando Aracama (left) and Philippine Airlines’s (PAL) new Corporate Chef Noel Ramos discuss some of the meals to be rolled out for the carrier’s business-class passengers.

or the taste based on food-safety issues, aesthetics, or simply the way it smells.

Rayos points out that in addition to taste-tests prior to the new menu implementation, monthly taste-tests are conducted to monitor actual production from the line. “As much as possible, 50 percent of our invited guests are from outside PAL, such as travelers and industry players, while the rest of the taste-testers are from the marketing group, airline crew, or the so-called frontliners.”

Each passenger meal is actually prepared 48 hours before a flight to cope with the substantial food requirements of the airline.

So most ingredients used in the dishes have to be “durable,” explains Rayos, and will be able to withstand the cooking, “cold soaking” (chilling to 5ºC to preserve the food), loading to the airplane’s galleys (where the food temperature cannot rise beyond 12ºC), then reheating in the plane’s ovens before mealtime.

Thus, leafy vegetables will likely not make it on the menu, as well as white-based sauces because they have eggs or cream (“delicado”), and “if you’re looking for crispy lechon, just dream about it,” Rayos laughs. “It will have to be paksiw instead.” (Since the meal plate is sealed in foil, reheating creates moisture, rendering the lechon skin soft and gummy instead.)

The dishes, of course, are prepared in big batches in the Catering Operations’ main kitchen, which I got to tour, as well. Extreme food-safety measures are implemented in the area such that our photographer and I had to don white lab coats, face masks, and tucked our hair under caps so that only our eyes and ears stuck out. We also had to wash our hands with soap prior to entering, and upon leaving the premises.

There was a foot bath, as well, so that our shoes

MA. CRISELDA A RAYOS, head of PAL Catering Operations, says food safety and quality are of paramount importance when preparing the in-flight meals for the carrier's extensive local and international routes.

wouldn’t bring in any traces of bacteria and the like that could affect food quality.

The kitchen had rows and rows of stoves and ovens, where the cooking gets done in huge heavy pots. On the other side of the wall separating the main kitchen were the long production tables, where the food would be laid out for packaging into the meal trays before being sent off to the chillers.

According to Mariza de Luzuriaga, general manager of SkyKitchen Philippines Inc., the company which caters PAL’s in-flight meals, the kitchen uses up about 16,753 kilograms (kg) of beef per month; 5,311 kg of pork; and 20,176 kg of chicken.

She adds that the kitchen consumes about 75 gallons of soy sauce and some 345 kg of tomato sauce each month. All these and other ingredients are used to produce an average of 457,000 meals a month for all of PAL’s domestic and international flights. The food trays are then quickly loaded to their designated aircraft’s galley to keep the food temperature stable.

The carrier also tries to showcase an array of truly artisanal and inspired Filipino food products, and on certain routes serves Malagos cheese from Davao, Carmen’s Best Ice Cream or Arce Ice Cream and the Mango Chocolate from Cebu.

Rayos says about 7,400 cups of Carmen’s Best Ice Cream are loaded for business-class passengers each month. The ice cream was even enjoyed by Pope Francis on his flight back to Rome after visiting the Philippines early this year. ((See “PAL, the Pope, and Dinuguan,” in the BM, January 31, 2015.)

BM It’s significant investment in in-flight meals while tapping the expertise of local and foreign chefs, shows PAL’s commitment to keep upgrading its service and making every passenger feel at home in the sky. n

‘Flavors of Thailand’ by way of Marco Polo GOURMET Thai cravings need not to be curbed anymore as Cucina of Marco Polo Ortigas Manila brings diners the authentic “Flavors of Thailand” from November 9 to 15.

Cucina, the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant, has been known to be a diverse showcase of live action stations, featuring a symphony of flavors from different culinary capitals. And for November, Thailand is given the spotlight to feature its distinct flavors along with Cucina’s vast spread of international gourmet fares.

“Thai cuisine places emphasis on seemingly simple dishes with strong and aromatic flavor accents that makes it unique from all other cuisines in the world,” said Mirko de Giorgi, Marco Polo Ortigas Manila Food and Beverage director. “We are glad to be flying in two Thai guest chefs from Bangkok to share the finest flavors Thailand has to offer.”

In partnership with Thai Airways, Cucina’s Flavors of Thailand will exhibit the culinary expertise of Chefs Sunisa Nualthongkaew and Watcharavee Rujechotiphat.

Both are seasoned chefs bringing over more than a decade of experience to this rich cuisine. With signature dishes like Goong Sa Rong, Pad Thai, Som Tam and Tom Yum Goong, Cucina also invites diners to enroll in a live-cooking demonstration with the guest chefs on November 14 , at Vu’s Sky Bar and Lounge. Available at P3,000 net per person, the cooking lesson already includes a Thai home-cook beginner’s kit and a single buffet pass at Cucina.

Cucina is open daily for lunch from noon to 2:30 pm, and dinner from 6 to 10:30 pm. Buffet price starts at P1,500 net per person, and children aged 6 and below get to eat for free, while children aged 7 to 12 years old are charged half the price.

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HONDA AT 44TH TOKYO MOTOR SHOW

APEC CEO SUMMIT Doris Magsaysay-Ho, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Business Council chairman, on Thursday at the Seda Hotel dwelled on the need for both the government and the business sector to posses a clear vision of what they want to get from the upcoming Apec CEO Summit happening from November 16 to 18, when some of the world’s most influential business executives meet with some of the most dynamic public-sector policy-makers in hopes of creating more inclusive economies that take care of its own people. Guillermo Luz (third from left), alternate member of the Apec Business Advisory Council, or Abac Philippines, vowed to push for the freer movement of the country’s services, goods and people at the summit. Both executives, who also said the event was not about the world’s CEOs, stressed the need for the Philippines to pursue its own agenda at the summit. Also in photo is BUSINESSMIRROR Publisher T. Anthony Cabangon. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

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Congress leaders set meet with P-Noy as DOF rejects income-tax cuts anew B D C  J M N.  C

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INANCE Secretary Cesar V. Purisima on Thursday rejected anew the calls to revise the income-tax regime, just as Congress leaders announced that they will meet with President Aquino on Monday to get the

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 46.7430

Chief Executive’s support on the tax proposals.

“While we continue to maintain our fiscal performance, piecemeal revenue-eroding measures are fiscally unsustainable in the long run. Today Filipinos live in a country hailed as one of the world’s brightest and safest in these uncertain times. But there is still a

long road ahead of us,” Purisima said in a statement.

Purisima made the statement, as the Department of Finance (DOF) released the government’s fiscal performance for September, which showed a big surge in the budget deficit from figures registered during the previous month.

CHINESE President Xi Jinping (right) and Vietnamese Communist Party Secretary-General Nguyen Phu Trong review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Hanoi on Thursday. Xi’s visit to Vietnam comes as the two communist countries seek to mend ties strained over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

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HEN President Xi Jinping lays a wreath at the hulking Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi this week, he’ll be reminding Vietnam of the country’s shared communist lineage and Cold War partnership battling the US. Xi’s visit on Thursday—the first by a Chinese president in a decade— will emphasize growing economic bonds between the neighbors, with China accounting for one-fifth of Vietnam’s trade last year, up from 12 percent in 2005. He’ll also face a

HOANG DINH NAM/POOL PHOTO VIA AP

public wary of China’s growing influence and its assertiveness in the South China Sea that’s exacerbating a decades-long spat over territory, fishing grounds and drilling rights.

Only 19 percent of Vietnamese hold favorable views on China, a Pew Research Center poll shows.

“They bully us at sea and want to take our islands,” university student Tran Hoang Nam, 21, said on Monday, while strolling past the granite monument to Vietnam’s S “X,” A

C  A

n JAPAN 0.3846 n UK 71.8907 n HK 6.0313 n CHINA 7.3774 n SINGAPORE 33.3426 n AUSTRALIA 33.3926 n EU 50.7909 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.4721

Source: BSP (5 November 2015)

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Friday, November 6, 2015

Congress leaders set meet with P-Noy as DOF rejects income-tax cuts anew. . .

Continued from A1

Purisima said as indicated by the fiscal figures for the first nine months of this year, the government’s expenditures had been increasing to provide better services in education, health and procure better infrastructure.

Last week the Tax Management Association of the Philippines renewed its call on Congress to pass the incometax reforms--even just the watered down version that merely adjusted the tax brackets—to give some form of relief to the overburdened and overtaxed middle-class Filipinos.

But Purisima pointed out that such “piecemeal reforms” could derail the government’s development programs by not providing enough funds for ongoing projects.

The government incurred the big chunk of its year-to-date budget deficit during the month of September, registering a budget deficit of P22.1 billion for the month and bringing the total budget deficit to P25.5 billion for 2015.

Purisima said the budget deficit is due to higher spending on infrastructure, education and health, which have become trends during the Aquino administration. Infrastructure spending has gone up from 1.8 percent of GDP in 2010 to 4.3 percent in 2015, and will eventually hit 5 percent of GDP next year.

Allocations for basic education also increased by a total of 79 percent from 2010 to 2015, while the budget for health services increased by 211 percent during the same period.

For January to September, total expenditures amounted to P1.63 trillion, or a 17-percent increase from figures during the comparable period last year.

But Purisima said the government still needs to spend more on these items to be on a par with its neighbors in the Asean, where it ranks only seventh in terms of the amount of fiscal space allocated for education and health.

Vietnam leads the group with an education spending of 6.6 percent of GDP, as compared to the Philippines’s 2.7 percent of GDP; and a health spending of 3.66 percent of GDP, as compared to the Philippines’s 1.39 percent of GDP. Total revenues from January to September amounted to P1.61 trillion, or a 13-percent growth from figures during the comparable period last year.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s year-to-date collections amounted to P1.07 trillion, or an increase of 8 percent. The Bureau of Customs collected P268.2 billion, or only a 1-percent increase due to the oil prices.

Meanwhile, income from the Bureau of the Treasury amounted P91.9 billion, or a 13-percent growth from year-ago figures.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., in an interview after the monthly meeting of Congress leaders, said he and Senate President Franklin M. Drilon will convince President Aquino to certify, at least, the proposal adjusting the levels of taxable income to inflation, after the Chief Executive repeatedly rejected the measure lowering the income and corporate tax rates.

“The Senate President and I will meet the President on Monday, and among the important things we talked about this morning is income tax. The version pending with us is an indexation of the values of the amount mentioned, without changing the rates of the particular taxes,” Belmonte said.

He said this adjustment will increase the take-home pay of Filipino workers.

Under House Bill 4829, principally authored by the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, Liberal Party Rep. Romero S. Quimbo of Marikina, there will be seven new tax brackets: ■ Those earning not over P22,000 will pay a fixed tax rate of 5 percent; those earning over P22,000 but not

over P66,000 would pay a fixed tax of P1,100 with an additional 10 percent of the excess over P22,000; ■ Those earning over P66,000 but not over P153,000 would pay a fixed tax of P5,500, with an additional 15 percent of the excess over P66,000; those earning over P153,000 but not over P307,000; would pay an excess tax of P18,550; with an additional 20 percent of the excess over P153,000; ■ Those earning over P307,000 but not over P547,000 would pay a fixed tax of P49,350 with an additional 25 percent of the excess over P307,000 those earning over P547,000 but not over P1.095 million would pay a fixed tax of P109,350 with an additional 30 percent of the excess over P547,000; ■ Those earning over P1.095 million would pay a fixed tax of P273,750 with an additional 32 percent of the excess over that amount Quimbo said given the remaining session days of Congress and the position of the Palace, only the proposal adjusting the levels of taxable income to inflation is viable.

The Department of Finance has said that the adjusting the levels of taxable income to inflation may cause the government to lose revenues totaling as much as 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP, or P30 billion.

Cmma confers special award on Ambassador Cabangon Chua Continued from A8

Rising from the Pit by Ken Leslie (Best Short Story); Mikhol, The Cedar Tree by Fr. Armand D. Robleza, SDB (Best Children’s Short Story); Wall of Hope by Lyn Rillon (Best News Photograph); The Peacemakers

by Fernando del Mundo (Best Special Feature); All in the Family by Queena Lee Chua and Business Matters by Francis J. Kong (Best Business Column); Healing Heart by Ilsa B. Reyes (Best Entertainment Column); Pope Francis Breaks the Ice Between the United States’ Obama and Cuba’s Castro by Gilbert Daroy (Best Editorial Cartoon); The People’s Pope by Orly Aquino (Best Comic Story); Will Soon Flourish by Wilson Lee Flores (Best Opinion Column); Missionaries in China: Reinventing the Mission by

Manuel Augusto (Best Investigative Report); coverage of the papal visit

by Philippine Daily Inquirer (Best News Coverage); Makinig, Sumunod by Colegio de San Juan de Letran (Best Public Service Ad); Walang App Para Dyan by Malaking Munti Foundation (Best Radio Ad Public Service); Salitang Buhay by dzMM 630 (Best Counseling Program); Dr. Love Always and Forever by dzMM 630 (Best Entertainment Program); Bida Specials by dxND (Best Business News or Feature); dzMM Lenten Drama Special by dzMM 630 and May Pangako Ang Bukas by dzRH 666 (Best Drama Program); Radyo Balintataw by dzRH 666 (Best Educational Program); Search for the Monster Scholar by Monster Radio RX 93.1 (Best Public Service Program); Super Balita sa Umaga Nationwide by dzBB

594 (Best News Program); Failon Ngayon sa dzMM by dzMM 630 (Best News Commentary); Perfectly Imperfect by Sarah Geronimo (Best Secular Album); “Ipagpatuloy Mo, Galing ng Pilipino” by Gary Valenciano (Best Secular Song); “We Are All God’s Children” by Jamie Rivera (Best Inspirational Song and Best Music Video); www.worldmissionmagazine.com by World Mission Publications (Best Web site); Hataw sa Katahimikan by Colegio de San Juan de Letran (Best Student TV Production); Lupang Sinilangan by Colegio de San Juan de Letran (Best Student Public Service TV Ad); Thank You Sa Malasakit, Pope Francis by ABS-CBN and Panguma (Farming) by ABS-CBN Cebu (Best TV Ad, Public Service); Happiest Pinoy by Cebuana Lhuillier (Best TV Ad, Branded);

Nathaniel by ABS-CBN (Best Children and Youth Program); iWitness by GMA 7 (Best Adult Educational/Cultural Program); Mission Possible by ABS-CBN (Best Public Service Program); Pepito Manaloto

by GMA 7 (Best Comedy Program); May Pag-Asa by GMA News TV (Best Station ID); Kerygma TV by IBC 13 (Best Religious Program); Reaksyon

by TV5 (Best Talk Show); Ilustrado

by GMA 7 (Best Drama Series/Program); Kaya (Gunita) by TV5 (Best TV Special); Ang People’s Pope sa Pilipinas by GMA 7 (Best Special Event Coverage); Brigada by GMA News TV (Best News Magazine); The World Tonight by ABS-CBN News Channel (Best News Program); The Pope Francis Effect by Mater Redemption College (Best Student Short Film); Kid Kulafu by Star Cinema (Student’s Choice Award For Best Film).

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Brownouts. . .

Continued from A1

However, “growth in power capacity has not kept pace, narrowing the supply/demand margin and resulting in outages when existing capacity is derated unexpectedly.”

It cited the widespread power shortages in Mindanao, when electricity output from the Pulangi and Agus hydropower plants dropped due to low water levels, mainly on account of a longer El Niño. But BMI believes that the country’s power-supply situation will improve over the coming years on account of committed and indicative power projects of the private sector in the pipeline. “The precarious powersupply situation in the Philippines will improve over the coming years as the robust power project pipeline is gradually commissioned,” it said.

BMI noted a “strengthening of the project pipeline over 2015, consisting of coal-fired, nonhydro renewables, hydropower and gas-fired power projects; in line with the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) 2012-2030, which estimates an additional 29,329 MW of installed generation capacity will be needed by 2030.”

Coal-fired power projects would continue to dominate the mix, accounting for over 55 percent of the total capacity in the pipeline. This, it added, supports BMI’s forecasts of coal-fired electricity generation to grow by an annual average of 6 percent between 2015 and 2024.

Meanwhile, gas-fired power plants would account for the remainder of the power capacity in the pipeline.

BSP. . .

Continued from A8

“Inflation at 0.4 percent for October falls within BSP forecast of 0.1 [percent] to 0.9 percent. Our current runs show inflation is possibly bottoming out, and it will gradually move to within target range in 2016 and 2017,” Tetangco told reporters on Thursday.

Regional banking giant DBS Bank economist Gundy Cahyadi also said inflation will miss the target for the year, but the BSP is also likely to take cue from the third-quarter growth print set for release at the end of the month.

The central bank will convene for its monetary-policy setting meeting on Thursday.

This is the seventh meeting for 2015 and the second to the last meeting for the year.

El Niño effect

economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the El Niño could affect food and power supply. This, in turn, could increase these commodities’ prices.

“Upside risks could come from the stronger and prolonged El Niño’s impact on food prices and also possible increase in utility rates given the pending petitions for power rate adjustments,” Balisacan said. The Neda chief said there is a need to monitor drought in agricultural areas, as this could threaten food production in the next few months.

Balisacan also stressed that drier weather conditions on account of the El Niño could adversely affect hydro-powered generation plants and raise the cost of electricity,

Xi. . .

“Gas currently plays an important role in the Philippines’s electricity mix, accounting for over 30 percent; however, at present, gas consumption in the Philippines is constrained by declining output from its only producing Malampaya gas field and a lack of any gas import infrastructure. We believe this is set to change with the looming start-up of LNG (liquefied natural gas) imports in 2016, and there are a number of gas-fired power projects in the pipeline which are expected to use the LNG as feedstock,” it said.

BMI also anticipates a steady growth in nonhydro renewables capacity within its 10-year forecast period, with installed renewables capacity totaling nearly 4 gigawatt-hours by 2024.

“We have previously noted in our analysis that the regulatory environment for renewable energy in the Philippines is relatively strong, and the sector stands out as one of the brightspots in the Asean region,” it noted.

However, the BMI said future renewable-energy facilities could be restricted with the cap in capacity allocation set by the Department of Energy.“Our forecasts are capped, however, due to the various capacity allocation limits placed on the different technologies covered under the FiT [Feed-in-Tariff] program. Unless these allocations are increased, the project pipeline for new renewable-energy facilities will be restricted, as investors will not be encouraged to develop new projects without subsidy support,”it said.

particularly in Mindanao.

“It is also important that the ongoing power projects that are expected to be delivered between November 2015 and March 2016 will not be delayed. This will ensure that inflationary pressure coming from power shortages is tempered. The government also needs to sustain improvements in the policy environment to enhance private-sector commitment to undertake power projects,” Balisacan said.

The PSA said the flat growth in inflation was due to the declines in the index for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels. Data showed that the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index, which continued to posted a contraction of 2.1 percent. The Neda said prices of gasoline, kerosene, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas, likewise, remained relatively lower due to the persistent downward movement of international crude oil prices.

The annual inflation in the country’s food alone index remained at its previous month’s rate of 0.7 percent. In October 2014 it was observed at 7.2 percent. Inflation for the food subgroup remained stable in October 2015 due to large price declines in bread and cereal, rice and corn.

“These offset the slight price increase in some food items such as meat and vegetables on account of the damage caused by Typhoon Lando [international code name Koppu ºwhich affected supply,” Balisacan said.

Continued from A1

patriarch. “They sell us fake products and toxic food. So, we have to be very cautious when dealing with this so-called good friend.”

The two-day state visit comes at a time of change in both Vietnam’s government and its relations abroad, and Xi will be looking to shore up China’s position on both fronts. A planned leadership transition in the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam next year could see China critics gain more power. Meanwhile, Hanoi has drifted increasingly toward its former foes in Washington, signing defense-cooperation pacts and joining the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong made an unprecedented visit to the White House in July, prompting President Barack Obama to pledge a return trip “soon.” Although no plans have been announced, Obama will be in the region this month for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.

“Xi wants to show Vietnam that its relationship with China is more important than that of any other country, especially the US,” said Nguyen Manh Hung, professor emeritus at George Mason University in Virginia. “He

wants to show Vietnam, ‘you need me and you don’t want to make me angry.’

The Vietnamese can’t totally ignore Chinese pressure.”

Ideological ties

X i arrived in Hanoi just before noon on Thursday and will address Vietnam’s National Assembly on Friday. He’s expected to talk about economic and ideological links and avoid public discussion of disagreements, said Le Hong Hiep, a lecturer at Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Bank of China is prepared to finance Vietnamese infrastructure projects to help forge closer relations between Vietnam and China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on November 3.

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, which the Vietnamese call the East Sea, may be discussed during Xi’s high-level meetings, according to Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, the VnEconomy news web site reported on Wednesday.

Xi will be visiting in his capacity as head of the world’s largest Communist party, as well as president and China’s commander in chief. Bloomberg News

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Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Friday, November 6, 2015 A3

Putschist to lead planned sail of protest against China

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By Rene Acosta

T least 10,000 youth volunteers around the country plan to sail to the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) to stage a monthlong protest against China’s expansive claims over the area. The “peaceful” protest would be led by Oakwood mutiny leader and retired Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon.

Faeldon announced the plan on Thursday as a US fast-attack submarine docked in Subic Bay, the site of the former American naval base.

The submarine arrived days after a US warship sailed close into the reefs reclaimed by China.

Faeldon said the volunteers would come from colleges and universities around the country. We will sail to the Spratlys that China disputes and stage the protest, also in support of the territorial arbitration against Beijing, according to Faeldon.

He called the protest the “freedom

voyage.” Faeldon said the protest will also take the youths to the seven islets and reefs claimed or owned by the Philippines.

The group’s trip will begin on November 30 and ends on December 30.

“They committed to this fight when a group of young volunteers conducted an information drive in their respective provinces from May 15 to October 30,” Faeldon said.

“The volunteers believe that until all citizens of this country have shown to the whole world our ability to unite and render free service to

our nation, we do not have the right to ask for help from other countries,” he added.

The People’s Republic of China has built artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea and has enclosed them by prohibiting overflight and navigation above and around them, which drew condemnation from the international community.

On Wednesday the Los Angelesclass fast-attack submarine USS Key West, with 150 sailors, docked in Subic Bay. Key West is designed to fit a variety of roles, including antisubmarine and antisurface ship operations, as well as intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance.

The 360-foot, 6,900-ton vessel remains one of the stealthiest, most formidable submarines in the world.

The docking of the submarine followed the sailing of the missileguided destroyer USS Lassen near two of the reefs reclaimed by China in the West Philippine Sea last week, directly challenging China.

The government of the Philippines, which has nearly 30 million poor people, is spending for a legal case against China at the United Nations arbitral tribunal. China has refused to participate in the proceedings from the very start.

Accused housing-scam brain files case vs Pampanga judge

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ELFIN Lee, accused of trying to scam taxpayers money in a public housing fund, has formally lodged an administrative and criminal complaint before the Supreme Court (SC) against the executive judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in San Fernando, Pampanga.

In a five-page verified complaint filed on Thursday with the SC Office of the Court Administrator, Lee accused RTC Executive Judge Divina Luz Simbulan of direct extortion.

Lee also accused Simbulan, who is pushing for his transfer from the provincial jail to a city jail, of gross ignorance of the law.

Lee said Simbulan is “interfering with the jurisdiction of RTC, Branch 42 of San Fernando, Pampanga, presided by Judge Maria Amifaith Fider-Reyes.”

Lee also sought the disbarment of Simbulan for supposed

violation of Code of Professional Conduct of Lawyers.

He is seeking the dismissal of Judge Simbulan from the service for “meddling” in the P6.6-billion syndicated estafa case against him pending before the sala of Fider-Reyes.

He also asked the SC to refer the case to the Ombudsman for criminal investigation and prosecution against the judge for violation of Section 3 (b) & (e) of Republic Act 3019 for “directly soliciting a brandnew Nissan Patrol from me in exchange for her favorable opinion for me to be interviewed by the media and for causing undue injury to me.”

“Sometime in April Judge Simbulan, through an emissary of her husband Regional State Prosecutor [RSP] Jesus Simbulan, offered to help me to be interviewed by GMA Network Inc. in exhange for one brand-new Nissan Patrol, because, according to them, I will not

be allowed by Judge Fider-Reyes to be interviewed by the media. But since Judge Simbulan is the executive judge, she can issue a written opinion so persuasive that Judge Fider-Reyes will have no choice but to accede,” the complaint read.

The complaint said he turned down the demand of Simbulan, saying that he is “financially distressed” due to the cases filed against him, which affected all his businesses.

“In view of my refusal to give Judge Simbulan and RSP Simbulan the brand-new Nissan Patrol that they are demanding or soliciting from me, Judge Simbulan caused the closure of the bakery, which was being used by the provincial jail in training the inmates to learn some sort of livelihood, because Judge Simbulan heard from other inmates that I donated some money in putting up the said bakery,” Lee claimed. Joel R. San Juan

Economy

A4 Friday, November 6, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Lando, El Niño impact may hike rice imports by 1.3 MMT in 2016

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By Cai U. Ordinario

he interagency El Niño Task Force estimates that an additional importation of 1.3 million metric tons (MMT) of rice is needed in the first semester of 2016.

If the recommendation of the task force is adopted by the National Food Authority (NFA) Council and approved by the President, the country will be importing a total of 1.8 MMT of rice next year.

This year the NFA Council already approved an importation of

500,000 MT, which the government said will be arriving in the first quarter of 2016.

“Our recent assessment is that would probably have to be 1.3 MMT; but that’s not final. We asked the Department of Agriculture [DA] that they also reasses the

numbers so we have to compare notes when they have done their homework. But, obviously, we will need more for the second quarter,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters on Thursday.

This new estimate, Balisacan said, is an increase from the initial estimate of 1 MMT, which was made by the El Niño Task Force before Typhoon Lando devastated Central Luzon, the country’s “rice bowl.”

The DA reported that as of October 26, the extent of the damage caused by Typhoon Lando has reached P8.45 billion worth of production losses covering crops, livestock and fisheries, as well as infrastructure.

The total production losses reached P8.42 billion. The largest production loss was in rice worth P7.21 billion, followed by high-value crops, P780.27 million.

“Typhoon Lando has caused us to lose 300,000 MT of rice equivalent. But we are revalidating that because, on the other hand, the drought was reduced. There are provinces where the months of dry spell were cut. On the other hand, new provinces were affected by the [typhoon],” Balisacan said.

Apart from the additional importation of rice, the El Niño Task Force also estimated that the amount needed to address the impact of the dry spell may be higher than expected.

to ensure that the implementing agencies can actually implement their program because we don’t want to have a situation where we park the money to an agency and it’s not utilized.”

Balisacan said the government has already identified seven provinces that are being affected by El Niño. These are Quirino, Aurora, Quezon, Bohol, Siquijor, Camiguin and Misamis Oriental.

He said by the end of the month toward November 2015, the number of provinces affected by the drought will more than double to 16 provinces. By the end of the first semester next year, some 66 provinces nationwide are expected to have been affected by El Niño.

SCTEx traffic seen rising 8% in 2016

ADB combines conservation, profit in Palawan coral project

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

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AYTAY, Palawan—This town in Northern Palawan can earn up to P180 million annually, including income for resort owners, once the Coral and Taklobo Gardening project takes off the ground, according to a University of the Philipines (UP) expert.

Dr. Lope Calanog, who used to head the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the project has the support of the local government unit, the fishermen as well as resort owners fascinated by the new concept developed in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Calanog, in a recent presentation before development specialists at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture in Los Baños, Laguna, expressed hope that the project—part of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security—will redound to the best interest of the people of Palawan.

He said the project, implemented under “ADB-RETA 7813: Coastal Marine Resources Management in the Coral TriangleSoutheast Asia,” is being pursued by the Pacific Rim Innovation and Management Exponents Inc.

Balisacan earlier said interventions to mitigate the impact of El Niño on 66 provinces will require P19.2 billion. This will finance cashfor-work programs worth P2.9 billion this year and P7.3 billion in the first semester of next year.

He added that a budget of P1.3 billion was initially earmarked for the remaining months of 2015 and P1.9 billion for the first semester of 2016 by the Department of Social Welfare and Development for food stamps.

“It’s a little bit more than that,” Balisacan said. “I don’t think we should focus now on the total amount because what we are precisely being asked to do is to reconfirm the numbers, especially

PARAÑAQUE CREDIT SURETY FUND LAUNCHED

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Parañaque City government have sealed a social covenant that will bring the city’s micro, small and medium enterprises to economic progress. BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. (center) and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez (right) lead the signing of the memorandum of agreement creating the Parañaque City Credit Surety Fund (Parañaque City CSF). The Parañaque CSF would be the 44th in the Philippines and third in Metro Manila. Industrial Guarantee and Loan Fund CEO Benel Lagua (from left), BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo and Development Bank of the Philippines Chairman Jose Nuñez Jr. have also expressed strong support through their respective contributions to augment the fund.

ABALACAT, Pampanga— After more than half a decade of numerous negotiations and delays, the toll-road arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has now taken over the operations of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), the longest thoroughfare in the Philippines so far. See related story on B6.

Top brass executives of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) handed over the P3.2-billion upfront payment for the right to operate the expressway for 28 years to Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President Arnel Paciano D. Casanova on Thursday.

“It has been a six-year journey, and it is a very rich one. We have undergone a lot of negotiations and renegotiations.

We were jilted lots of times, we had to sign numerous marriage contracts. It has been a really challenging experience characterized by ups and downs, but getting the yes of this coveted asset that we have been longing for is totally worth it,” MPTC President Ramoncito S. Fernandez said.

He was referring to the hurdles that his group had to endure before finally bagging the contract in February. President Aquino, however, signed the the supplemental toll operations agreement on October 16, granting the concession to manage, operate and maintain the expressway to Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC).

Casanova said the partnership between the government and the private sector “is a road changer in the region,” which is seen to be the gateway to Southeast Asia once a new

green city is built in Clark.

“This road will generate hundreds of billions of revenues for the government, and will not burden the tax payers and the government,” he said.

U n d e r t h e a g r e e m e nt , t h e MNTC and the BCDA will have a 50-50 share in the gross income of the expressway.

“We do expect that the operations of SCTEx will be viable from the start.

Actually the traffic has been building up because of the long delay. Today the traffic has increased to over 30,000 vehicles per day from the initial figure of 8,000. So with the higher traffic, the difficult years when the operations were not yet profitable has already been passed,” MPIC President Jose Ma. K. Lim said.

The said figure is expected to rise by 8 percent by 2016. The 94-kilometer toll road is currently being linked to the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) through a P700-million investment.

The toll-linkage project involves the conversion of separate Nlex and SCTEx toll-collection systems into a single system that should allow for more efficient toll collection and faster movement of traffic for motorists.

It also involves the installation and removal of temporary plazas and the construction of interchange plazas that will also require the widening of existing entry or exit ramps.

The integration of the two expressways would speed up the queues on the exit plazas of the Nlex and SCTEx, increasing the amount of transactions per hour to 800 from the current 200.

This would pave way for seamless travel between the two expressways, lessening the stops that motorists have to do in the current setup.

Communiqués won’t resolve Asian sea dispute, official says

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oint declarations by Southeast Asian nations won’t solve territorial disputes in the South China Sea and concluding a code of conduct for the disputed waterway should be a priority, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

Hishammuddin made the comments as chairman of a meeting in Kuala Lumpur where defense ministers from the Asean and officials from partner countries, such as the US, China and Japan, failed to agree on a joint communiqué. The statement was scuttled

by China’s opposition to language on the territorial disputes in the waters that have come to dominate Asean meetings, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“The threat is not what is on a piece of paper,” Hishammuddin said. “What is signed in the joint declaration is not going to resolve the issue of duplicating claims, nor is it going to wish the vessels that are in the South China Sea away. To dwell on the joint declaration is not going to solve the real problems.”

Not bad

Asean’s failure to agree on a joint declaration is “not necessarily a bad thing” and it recognizes there are different considerations and points of view on the South China Sea, Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said. Territorial disputes need to be resolved by claimant nations, and joint patrols with China would help reduce

tensions, Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said.

Concluding the long-stalled code of conduct is needed “to build mutual trust and confidence and maintain peace, security and stability in the region,” Hishammuddin said in his chairman’s statement.

The Asia-Pacific region needs an inclusive security infrastructure that “respects rights, not might,” US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told reporters after the Wednesday meetings.

No sides

“I reminded everyone that the United States doesn’t take sides in these maritime disputes,” Carter said. “But we do take the side of peaceful resolution under international law. We urge all claimants to permanently halt land reclamation, stop the construction of these facilities and cease further militarization of disputed maritime features.”

While US naval presence in the South China Sea is not new, the scale of reclamations and militarization of the waters are, he said. The US will continue to sail in international waters, he added.

China’s claims to more than 80 percent of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes overlap with those of five Asean countries.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has stepped up efforts to assert its control over the South China Sea, including building new islands that offer possible bases for its ships and planes. Tensions spiked last

month when the US sent a warship within 12 miles of one of China’s new islands, saying the patrol was defending freedom of navigation in the area.

‘Powerless spectator’

China regretted there was no communiqué from the Kuala Lumpur meeting and blamed the failure to issue a joint declaration on a nation “out of the region,” according to a statement from the Defense Ministry.

The lack of a joint statement “gives the impression that Asean has become a powerless spectator to rising tensions, and that US-China rivalry has become one of the central drivers of the dispute,” said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

Asean ministers, who work by consensus, have increasingly struggled to agree on the language in joint statements involving China and the South China Sea. In August at a meeting of foreign ministers, a statement was delayed over “differences” on the waters.

In 2012 Asean foreign ministers didn’t issue a statement for the first time after failing to reach consensus.

Some Southeast Asian defense ministers on Tuesday welcomed the world’s powers operating in areas including the contested South China Sea while warning they needed to stick to international laws.

Claimant states

Ministers from Malaysia and the Philippines backed the US naval patrol, while Indonesia’s Ryacudu said communication is important and the US must abide by laws of the sea when carrying out patrols. Malaysia and the Philippines, along with Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei Darussalam, also lay claim to parts of the waterway.

“It is very important that all major powers who have a stake, or feel that they have a role or responsibility in the region, be here,” Hishammuddin said on Tuesday on the sidelines of the meeting.

“But the most important thing is that the presence of powers outside Asean, I hope, will not create a situation that will increase tensions, that will make the waters even more murky.”

Malaysia doesn’t see any issues with the US patrolling the area as it’s international waters, Hishammuddin said.

US Pacific Fleet commander Harry Harris visited China this week and met Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff. Fang said the US patrol had created a “disharmonious atmosphere for our meeting and this is very regretful.”

“Since ancient times the South China Sea islands have been Chinese territory and we are resolute in our determination and will to safeguard our sovereignty and maritime rights,” Fang said.

Bloomberg News

PHL Shopping Festival

Philippine Retail Association President Lorenzo C. Formoso, COO of Duty Free Philippines, announces the collaboration among the country’s 13 major mall operators for the Philippine Shopping Festival from October 23 to November 8. The two-week festival features special promos and discounts given by Duty Free Philippines, Ayala Malls, Araneta Center Inc., Shangri-La Plaza Corp., Starmall, Robinson Malls, SM Supermalls, Riverbanks Center, Festival Supermall, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, Ortigas & Co., Greenfield Development Corp. and Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall.

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Malacañang may suspend higher shipping rates for ‘balikbayan’ boxes

By Butch Fernandez

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alacañang is still studying options to suspend the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) imposition of higher shipping rates on containers carrying balikbayan boxes from P80,000 to P180,000 per 20-foot container van, an increase being passed on to overseas Filipino workers (OFW) sending the boxes.

Asked if the Palace gave its blessings to Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina’s imposition of higher duties, estimated to add up to 125 percent in increased shipping cost that will be borne by OFW-senders, President Aquino’s Chief Spokesman Secretary Edwin Lacierda, first sought for time to confirm this with the Office of the President (OP).

“We have asked the OP, and I have not received a response yet,” Lacierda later said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.

The secretary suggested he will also check with the Department of Finance (DOF), but has yet to receive word from DOF officials as of press time.

Lacierda, likewise, passed on to Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima a follow-up query on whether the Palace would consider, as a Christ-

mas gift to OFWs and their families here, the immediate suspension of the BOC imposition of higher shipping rates for balikbayan boxes until after the holiday season.

“Forwarded your question to Secretary Purisima,” Lacierda texted back but a reply has not been received as of press time.

Sen. Ralph G. Recto was the first to raise the issue several weeks ago, warning that, while the outcry on intrusive checks on balikbayan boxes was just abating, the imposition of high shipping rates would trigger more accusations that the Aquino administration was insensitive to OFWs and their families.

The other day, Party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna and Rep. Winston T. Castelo of Quezon City also questioned Lina's imposition of the 125-percent increase in duties being slapped on the balikbayan boxes, even as the House of Representatives was still deliberating on the same issue.

It was reported that Lina approved the imposition of higher duties on container vans carrying the balikbayan boxes from P80,000 to P120,000 per 20-foot container van in August, then raised the fees to P180,000 per van effective October this year.

DOE moves to upgrade WESM operations

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The TRNP has 10,000 hectares of coral reef and at least 86,000 hectares of surrounding waters. It sits at the heart of the Coral Triangle, the center of global marine biodiversity in the world.

In 1993 TRNP was declared a Unesco World Heritage site.

In a statement, Angelique Songco, Protected Area superintendent of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, said: “We hope we can serve as a role model to other marine natural parks.” She noted the need to be more vigilant in protecting the richness and beauty of Tubbataha.

Nelson Devanadera, director of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, said the declaration of the TRNP as an AHP is a welcome development, underscoring the need to highlight Tubbataha, not just as a diving site, but as “a biodiversity haven that is worth exploring for a total unique experience.”

Devanadera said the declaration also opens an opportunity to replicate the good practices of Tubbataha in other protected areas in the Philippines.

Department Circular (DC) 2015-10-0015, signed by Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada on October 23, institutes some changes in the spot market’s software features meant “to ensure the reliability of the WESM operations and to implement the recommendation specified in the WESM design study.”

The WESM is the country’s trading floor for electricity. In a nutshell, DC 2015-10-0015 serves as the guide in upgrading the systems of the WESM and direction in modifying the WESM rules. It promotes greater coordination and integration of Philippine Electricity

“Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is the Seventh AHP in the Philippines, and this is a testament of this country’s rich natural resources and biological diversity. This also underscores the need to conserve the park as it benefits the entire Southeast Asian region,” said lawyer Roberto V. Oliva, ACB executive director.

The AHP Program supports the management of a regional network of national protected areas of high conservation importance that provides a complete spectrum of respective ecosystems to generate greater awareness, pride, appreciation, enjoyment and conservation of Asean’s rich biodiversity. ACB serves as the secretariat of the AHP Program.

The other AHPs in the Philippines are Mount Makiling Forest Reserve in Laguna; Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental; Mount Iglit-Baco National Park in Mindoro; Mount Apo Natural Park in Davao; Mount Kitanglad Range Natural Park in Bukidnon; and Mount Malindang Range Natural Park in Misamis Occidental.

Jonathan L. Mayuga

Ehef 2015 features top 27 EU universities

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he European Union (EU) is bringing 27 top European universities to the country, as it stages the annual European Higher Education Fair (Ehef) tomorrow, (November 7), at the Dusit Thani in Makati City.

On its fourth year, the educational institutions are being brought into the country by 12 EU member-states, including Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom—all of which will be presenting their respective educational systems.

Open to individuals looking to pursue higher education in Europe, the one-day fair will also have the EU presenting its Erasmus+ and Marie

Curie Programme.

The UK is bringing the most number of educational institutions to Ehef with six colleges and universities, including Astrum Education, BPP University, Hult International Business School, Queen Mary University of London, University of Sunderland and University of West London.

From France comes Cordon Bleu, KEDGE Business School, Montpellier Business School and Network “n+i”.

Italy, the Netherlands and Spain will each be represented by three higher -education institutions in Accademia di Belle Arti L.A.B.A., Istituto Marangoni, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, HIS, International Institute of Social Studies, TIAS School For Business And Soci-

By Lenie Lectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) has released a new policy meant to enhance the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) design and operations.

Tubbataha Reefs now an Asean Heritage Park

he Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP) is now officially an Asean Heritage Park (AHP).

The Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) handed over the certificate to the TRNP management on Thursday during the ceremony held at the Provincial Capitol of Palawan in Puerto Princesa City.

The TRNP, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) World Heritage site, is the fifth location in the Philippines to earn the recognition as AHP. It is the 35th AHP and the country’s seventh. It is the first of its kind in the Philippines, it being a marinebased park.

The nomination of the TRNP was approved by the environment ministers of the 10 Asean member-states at the 15th Informal Asean Ministerial Meeting on the Environment held in October last year.

The TRNP boasts of a wide array of marine biodiversity. It is home to almost 80 percent of all coral species in the Philippines and to at least half of all coral species in the world.

Friday, November 6, 2015 A5

ety, IE Business School, SENAI and UCAM, respectively.

The Czech Republic is bringing two educational institutions, Masaryk University and Mendel University in Brno.

Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland and Sweden are represented by the University of Antwerp, Zealand Institute of Business and Technology, WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management, the Central European University, University College Cork and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

For its part, the EU will discuss its Erasmus+, its new educational program that will run until 2020 and promotes the region as a center of excellence in learning and making student mobility a reality for EU and non-EU citizens alike.

Market Corp. (PEMC) and National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

PEMC is the WESM operator, while NGCP is the grid operator. In the circular, their respective responsibilities were cited.

Section 2 of the circular outlines the socalled enhancements in WESM design and operations. Among these are the following: Mandatory integration of distribution

utilities’ (DUs) subtransmission network, which materially affects dispatch schedules and prices in the WESM, into the Market Network Model; Shorter trading and dispatch interval

of five minutes; Imposition of WESM offer cap and floor

for energy and reserves as determined through joint study by the DOE, Energy Regulatory Commission and PEMC; and Implementation of hourly Day Ahead

Projection with sensitivities and HourAhead Dispatch.

The DOE, when sought for comment, said “these changes, for example, on shorter trading intervals to five minutes from 60 minutes, would result in more efficiency and a reduction in the need for market intervention and wild swings in market prices.” The new circular, the DOE added, also formally laid out the need for DUs to integrate their systems to the WESM. “Like any other rules, this was subjected to public consultation and posting of draft for comments by industry participants. It was more than a year in the making,” it added.

The Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest DU, did not reply when sought for comment.

A6 Friday, November 6, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Government’s dangerous game

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colleague related a story of why he was late coming to the office one morning.

Three young boys were playing in his village and decided who could be the strongest and most accurate in throwing a small stone at a bird sitting in a tree. After three or four attempts, the inevitable happened. A nearby car—our colleague’s—had its front window broken.

When confronted with the incident, the boys’ conversation went something like this. “We didn’t do that.” “He did to.” “No, he did it. I didn’t do it.”

“They told me to do it.”

In the city of Bucharest, Romania, several days ago, a fire caused by a fireworks display around the stage at the basement club Colectiv during a concert killed nearly three dozen partygoers and put 90 in critical condition. This is not a new story and is reminiscent of our own Ozone Disco Club tragedy in 1996 that killed more than 150.

In the aftermath of these kinds of incidents, the story is usually the same.

Owners ignored safety regulations, permits to operate were granted when they probably should not have been, and one way or another, government safety inspectors did not do their jobs properly. We saw the same thing happen earlier this year at the Kentex factory in Valenzuela where 72 people died.

Whenever something like this happens, responsible government officials go into the same routine as the boys who broke the car window. However, in Romania, the prime minister and his entire Cabinet resigned in the wake of mass protests against government failure in preventing the Colectiv fire.

Romania’s prime minister has been under intense pressure for corruption charges and has been charged in court. The protests about the fire were just another nail in his political coffin as there had been other street actions against the government. The prime minister may have used this disaster as an excuse to make an exit from his other problems.

However, Cristian Popescu Piedone, the mayor of the district where the Colectiv nightclub was, also resigned. Piedone’s statement read, “I assume the moral blame. As for the legal [blame] I will leave it to justice to pronounce.”

Whenever there is a government failure to perform properly in the Philippines, the routine is the same. The problem is either a one-time or isolated event. If that is too absurd to believe, then the finger-pointing starts. After every government agency and lower-ranking government official has denied responsibility, maybe a Cabinet official or agency head will be asked about his or her accountability. Then comes the stock answer: “I will not resign unless the ‘appointing authority’ tells me to do so.”

It always seems to come down to, if the “appointing authority” does not think I am accountable, who are the people or the legal system to question it?

That is a dangerous game to play in apparent democracy supposedly under the rule of law and not of men.

Dear kids James Jimenez

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spox

ear kids, right about now, you probably already know that we’re going to have elections next year and who the main candidates are. Good for you! When I was your age (a long, long time ago!), I wasn’t even aware of the elections, let alone know who the candidates were. In fact, when I was in grade school, the only elections I cared about was the one for class president and class muse—president, because he would get to decide cleaners for the day (I had some classmates that I really, really wanted to see cleaning the blackboard erasers); and muse, because there was this girl I had a crush on, and I wanted her to win.

The stakes in a national election—like the one we’re having next year —are many, many times greater than who gets to assign cleaners.

Whoever wins in the coming election will have the authority to decide how to do lots of issues, of different levels of importance. At the highest levels, the winners for President, Vice President and members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives will be the ones with the power to decide what our laws should be. So, for instance, if the next President decides he wants all schools to provide free lunches, he will tell Congress; if Congress agrees, they can pass a law

and, next thing you know, lunches at school will be free! Your parents will probably love this idea because if they don’t have to spend money for lunch, then they will have more money to buy you other things, like that pair of rubber boots you’re going to need when the rainy season comes.

At a lower level, the next mayor of your city can decide that it would be a good idea if all the schools in the city stopped selling soft drinks (they rot your teeth!). He would propose that idea to the city council, and the councilors could pass an ordinance making it illegal for your school to sell soda pop. No more soft drinks

for you, and with regular tooth brushing, no cavities!

The same is true for a lot of other issues. The winners of the next elections can pass laws that will increase the income of your family, or make your communities safer, or keep you healthier. On the other hand, some laws might be passed that won’t be necessarily fun to live with. Taxes could be raised, for example, which would make the prices of things go up; or maybe some public transportation routes might get closed down, which would mean you would have to walk an extra block just to get a ride.

So you see, the winners of next year’s elections will have the authority to decide on these really important things, that will affect a lot of people, including you, in good ways and in ways that may make life a little more difficult. And that’s why elections are so important, and why it’s also important that everyone who can, should vote.

Right now, candidates running for next year’s elections are doing everything they can to make voters believe (like your parents and older brothers and sisters) that they are the best people to give that kind of authority to, and that their plans for the country will bring maximum good and minimum difficulty. The problem is, sometimes voters are just too busy to pay attention or maybe just don’t care.

Like that girl I had a crush on when I was a grade schooler like you. I really wanted her to win, but since me and a couple of my friends were absent on election day, she lost by two votes. Imagine that. Sayang, ’di ba?

With the elections next year, people who don’t vote don’t stand to lose just a muse. They might actually lose someone who can do good for a lot of people. Sometimes, you see, voters need to be reminded about what’s at stake in the elections. And that’s where you can help make the 2016 elections a success.

Now, there are some who will say that you’re too young to be involved in politics. In a sense, that is true.

You are too young to bring along to rallies or to be made to wave placards around. But elections go deeper than just that sort of politics. Elections is about choosing who is best suited to chart our nation’s path into the future, to bring opportunities for a better life for everyone, all the while protecting the most powerless among us. And in that respect, you’re not too young to be the reminder that the voters in your family—your father, mother, brothers and sisters—need. After all, as a great man once said, you are the future.

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Inclusive growth as the appropriate Apec theme for the Philippines Alvin Ang

EAGLE WATCH

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N less than two weeks, the Philippines will be hosting the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting. This is the culmination of a series of meetings that the country has hosted, based on the theme “Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World.”

Information on Apec accessed at http://apec2015.ph/apec-2015

This theme was arrived at after a series of consultations with membergovernments, senior officials and the private sector, and validated by academe and think tanks in the region. Within this theme of inclusive growth, individual member-countries and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) region will embark on developing local employment opportunities, responding to poverty and working together to bridge the gap between developed and developing member-countries to maximize the gains of the improvement in trade.

Related to this, a recent publication of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provides a good indication of how Asian members of Apec fared in the pursuit of inclusive growth. The book Inequality, Inclusive Growth and Fiscal Policy in Asia surveys the current capacities of Asian economies in dealing with inequality, their approaches in implementing inclusive growth and learnings from developed countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and in Latin America. Specifically, it highlights that, while Asia has had remarkable progress on poverty reduction, inequality has actually worsened.

This requires a more active role for governments in the region to increase intervention in poverty and inequality reduction. These observations are validated by the larger private expenditures (families bear a larger share) compared to public transfers for children and the elderly in the region as compared to Latin America and the OECD. It points out that implementing policies to reduce inequality and making growth inclusive is a tall order, because countries in the region must not compromise the “key strategic priorities of economic growth and fiscal sustainability.” Thus, making this the theme of the Apec, it will provide opportunities for Asian member-countries to work closely with other members that are able to work on sustaining their economic growth but able to reduce inequality while maintaining public finance discipline.

Within the theme, four priority areas are being advanced, these are (1) investing in human capital; (2) fostering small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) participation in regional and global markets; (3) building sustainable and resilient communities; and (4) enhancing the regional economic integration agenda. These priorities can be matched to the key elements of inclusive growth, which require a long-term, sustained and broad-based growth characterized by significant declines in unemployment and income inequality. Specifically, countries that succeeded in reducing inequality invested in human

capital through education and health heavily. This is more consistent to a long-term approach. The Apec priorities, however, recognize that there is also a need to address short-term challenges brought about by structural rigidities, hence the need to bring in SMEs on the inclusiveness agenda. This gives an enhanced role for the private sector at the microlevel in partnering with the government in addressing inequality.

With these perspectives, the Philippines should not just look at the broader outcomes of hosting this event. The country should work beyond the demands of the theme, especially as it continues to grapple with stubborn poverty. Beyond poverty, the long-term challenge is why, despite the economic growth, inequality is perceived to be increasing.

Using data from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) of 2012, the richest 30 percent of the population owns almost 60 percent of all income in the economy (see chart). Even without comparing to previous time periods, this already implies that inequality needs to be addressed to make growth inclusive.

The ADB book warns that “greater inequality may shorten the duration of growth.” The government, through this current administration and previous ones, is aware of this, and has embarked on a massive human-capital investment, known as Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program. It has to market the CCT, as it is a long-term human-capital investment. According to the literature, we are on the right track for the long term. Nonetheless, the CCT is not able to capture other sectors requiring transfers and support, such as the elderly, vulnerable and disadvantaged. There might be a need to expand it at least to cover the health needs of the latter. More important, the CCT is not an immediate antipoverty program. With the current positive fiscal conditions, the government can also work on short term interventions, such targeting spending on transfers with immediate income effect, such as cash for work mechanisms and using public employment on infrastructure. These may not require additional resources, it may simply be a better design, usage, implementation and allocation of the existing programs. The lessons of underspending in the recent years show that there is enough fiscal space for the government to spend on short-term interventions. Let us be the first model of the Apec theme that we are hosting.

Alvin P. Ang, PhD, is professor of Economics and senior fellow of Eagle Watch, Ateneo de Manila University’s macroeconomic forecasting unit.

Friday, November 6, 2015 A7

These dark, dirty streets of a lovely city named Manila Tito Genova Valiente

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N hour ago, today, fourth day of November 2015, I was walking along Maria Orosa Street to my hotel, where I am billeted for a meeting tomorrow, the fifth day of this month. I was coming from a huge mall. As I crossed the street, the buildings turned old. This is an old district I told myself.

The street is named after Maria Ylagan Orosa, a woman of many skills. She was a chemist and a pharmacist, and became one of the heroines of World War II. Among her many works was a paper on how to preserve certain Filipino food, like dinuguan and adobo.

The trees around me were old and the walls, not high enough to cover the buildings they protected, were ancient. Or, so they looked or made to look.

When critics write or speak of Manila, they always talk of the noise that permeates its neighborhood. This night was different; it was quiet, eerie quiet. The offices had been vacated, and only the convenience stores and cafés and famous fast- food outlets remained open. The bars were on the other side of this silent street.

The twin tourist streets of Mabini and Del Pilar were only two ballads away.

I passed by the Court of Appeals (CA), its façade imposing because, while it was narrow, it was built high, so high it towered when it should be humbling itself. Without the girth of the other old buildings, like the Legislative Building, this office was a mausoleum.

The vans and generator cars of a TV network sat close to the gate of the CA. What must they be waiting?

When I walked up the sidewalk —for the street had a functioning sidewalk rare in this city—the two guards outside visibly straightened up and gauged what was I up to.

Beyond appeal came the building of Philamlife, now quiet. This is a cemetery building, I explained to myself. Congratulating my sense of metaphors and elated with my pun, I quietly commented how giving up the building was bad. We had given up on the building, this handsome structure in the 20th-century style of modernism.

We remember this building not for the insurance it proferred, which did not assure its own perpetuity (there goes my wit again) but for the

arts it sponsored. I saw in the Philam Life Auditorium Laurice Guillen as Blanche DuBois in Orlando Nadres’s translation/adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Bearing the title Flores Para Los Muertos, the play was directed by Lino Brocka and included his then new discovery, Phillip Salvador as Stanley Kowalski, a role made famous by Marlon Brando.

Each night, there was a scene where Salvador’s Kowalski would grab the neck of Guillen’s DuBois, and her necklace would scatter all over the floor. The lights would quickly dim and when they were turned on, the floor was clean and Guillen was once more the lady from Belle Reve.

Vivien Leigh is the perfect Blanche, maybe because we never saw Jessica Tandy’s stage version.

And yet, I thought Guillen as this woman who “depended on the kindness of strangers” was sheer poetry. That was the last I saw of Guillen onstage.

There are, however, some personal last. A classmate in high school, Jesus Ces, was the last from our high school, Ateneo de Naga, to compete in the then-illustrious Voice of Democracy, or VOD. This oratorical contest, open to all third- or fourth-year high-school students of any public or private high-school, was also called the Voice of Philippine Democracy (VOPD). It was organized first by the Manila Jaycees and later by the Philippine Jaycees.

We did not know it would be the last oratorical contest, and Nonong would be the last orator voicing for democracy. The Ateneo de Naga High School prided itself upon three VOD champions: Raul Rodriguez, Manuel Enverga and Tomas Santos, the last the son of famed writer Bienvenido Santos.

The declaration of martial law in 1972 put a stop to the contest.

It could not be the VOD if there was no more democracy. This was

China needs to talk about sex Adam Minter

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BLOOMBERG VIEW

hina’s decision to allow all families to have two children rather than one has rightly been celebrated as a welcome expansion of reproductive rights. But the shift raises another question: What should the government do with the hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats who work for China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission and its local offshoots, now that they’ll have fewer fines to collect and births to prevent?

If hard times befall these often brutal enforcers, no tears should be shed. But there might be a very good use for them: providing family planning services to China’s rapidly changing society.

The need is dire. Over 70 percent of Chinese say they’ve had premarital sex. Yet, almost none receive proper sex education or access to family-planning services and counseling. HIV infections among students aged 15 and above are growing rapidly, and abortion has become the contraceptive of first resort for many Chinese couples.

Despite the fact that sex ed is required in Chinese schools, in practice it’s rarely taught. The reasons include a lack of qualified

instructors and curriculum (that’s left up to local schools, which usually choose to do nothing), parental pressure to teach subjects that will be more useful in getting students into university and, above all, the social conservatism that pervades official China. Traditional Confucian values, which Chinese leaders have embraced, preclude premarital sex for women, at least, as well as public discussions of it.

The consequences of this official silence are plain to see. In 2010 Peking University, in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund, conducted China’s only national survey of youth access to and use of reproductive health services and

education. Of 10,966 women between the ages of 15 and 25, only 4 percent displayed adequate knowledge of sexual and reproductive health, with those aged 15 to 19 the least knowledgeable. Sure enough, over half of those surveyed hadn’t used contraception in their first sexual encounter. (Rates were even higher among migrant workers.)

This week the Lancet published even more disturbing results from a large-scale national survey on the incidence of abortions among Chinese women. Of the 79,174 women surveyed in nearly 300 hospitals, 35 percent said they were having their first abortion, 37 percent their second and 29 percent “a third or subsequent abortion.” Half of the women blamed contraception failure for their pregnancies; 44 percent said they hadn’t used contraception at all. Could education or other government-sponsored interventions have prevented some of these pregnancies? It’s difficult to say, not least because single and LGBT Chinese aren’t even eligible for government family-planning services in China right now.

Fortunately, the Chinese government has many of the tools necessary to begin addressing these problems.

Beyond mandating sex ed, officials need to start drafting, funding and imposing a national curriculum as

ironical, because the dictatorship grew strong as the fear of communism increased. As documents are disclosing, the oratorical contest was made with the aim of making the youth be aware of the powers and privileges of democracy over communism.

The acoustics of the Philam Life Auditorium was tested by orators and opera singers. Records show there was no complaint.

We cannot complain either but only grieve: The office has moved to the Fort, a name that speaks of fortification. Around its compound, the stalls were selling food and drinks. Pushcarts were propped up against its gate. Some of the stores had folded up, and hidden by sheer curtain, the vendor slept.

The streets were littered by all sorts of wrappers and plastic caps and cigarette butts. The streets, shone with phlegm and saliva, and godknowswhat.

This city called Manila is lovely, except that it is dark and dirty.

Memories of its old self could be heard from its senile, grouchy buildings. Alas, not even the great chemist named Maria Y. Orosa could preserve those memories.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

soon as possible. Over the last two years, President Xi Jinping’s administration has pressured colleges and universities across China to purify their textbooks of Western influence; the same determination can and should be brought to bear on sexual health.

Next, the Family Planning Commission needs to establish a program offering counseling services to couples after abortions, with a focus on increasing the use of contraceptives and reducing future unwanted pregnancies. Pilot programs in China over the last decade have shown clear successes and should be expanded.

Finally, it’s essential that the commission and other government agencies recognize that unmarried Chinese, including the LGBT community and migrant laborers, needs their help as much as married couples. This will require a difficult change in mind-set for a socially conservative government.

But China’s family-planning issues are hardly exclusive to traditional couples, and universally available services would have broad, positive public-health consequences.

Long derided for interfering in its citizens’ reproductive lives, the regime at least has the resources and personnel available to provide such services. It’s time to try.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Friday, November 6, 2015

BSP not easing policy rates despite lingering low-inflation regime

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By Bianca Cuaresma & Cai U. Ordinario

he Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) still does not see the need to adjust its policy rates despite the lingering low-inflation regime, with the average rise in prices staying below 1 percent in October.

In his statement following the announcement of October’s inflation print by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. sent the signal that they will not ease the interest rates in their meeting next week no matter the space to do so given the low inflation trend.

“While there seems to be room to ease given the relatively lower inflation at the moment, risks to the outlook remain—El Niño and pending requests for utility rate hikes, for instance,” Tetangco told

reporters on Thursday.

The central bank governor further said domestic demand is steady and “there doesn’t appear to be need for further monetary support.” “We need to balance these versus domestic liquidity conditions, especially as market anticipates the Fed [Federal Reserve] action toward year-end,” Tetangco said. The PSA reported on Thursday that inflation hit 0.4 percent in October, unchanged from the inflation print seen in the previous month. It is, however, a significantly lower average hike in consumer prices

CMMA confers special award on Ambassador Cabangon chua

compared to the 4.3 percent posted in October last year.

Way below target

This is the first time that inflation did not decelerate since February this year. This is also the fourth consecutive month that inflation fell below 1 percent for the year.

This put the average inflation for the first 10 months of the year at 1.45 percent. The average inflation for January to October this year is below the government’s target range for 2015 at 2 percent to 4 percent.

This means that for inflation to reach the government’s target for the year, the rate should shoot up to as high as 4.75 percent in the last two months of the year.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) associate economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said with the yearto-date inflation slipping below the lower end of the central bank’s target, the monetary authorities have shifted focus to the medium-term inflation path.

See “BSP,” A2

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila, through its awards-giving body the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) Foundation, conferred on Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, CMMA chairman and president, a Special Award for Devoted Service to the Church through the Mass Media during the 37th CMMA Night on Wednesday at the Star Theater in Pasay City. Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle (second from left) handed the award to D. Edgard A. Cabangon (third from left), who represented the ambassador at the event. With them are (from left) Bishop Hubert Mylo C. Vergara, DD, of the Diocese of Pasig City; Bishop Emeritus Deogracia S. Iñiguez, DD, Caloocan City; Bishop Honesto F. Ongtioco, DD, STL, Cubao; and J. Antonio A. Cabangon Jr., CMMA trustee. Cabangon Chua has been president and chairman of the CMMA Foundation since 2000, when he was named to the post by the late Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, founder of the CMMA. rudy esperas

By David Cagahastian

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wwf award World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Philippines awarded the BusinessMirror the Media Partner of the Year in its 2015 Environmental Leadership Award during WWF-Philippines’s recent Partner’s Night in Makati City. Receiving the award are BusinessMirror Vice President for Advertising Sales Marvin Estigoy (center), Green Section Editor Lyn Resurreccion (fourth from left) and Account Executive Haydee Dimawala (second from left). Presenting the award are WWF-Philippines Chairman Vicente Pérez Jr. (left) and WWFPhilippines President and CEO Jose Angelito Palma. ALYSA SALEN

www.businessmirror.com.ph

s a tribute to the role of the family in building the nation, the 37th Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) honored on Wednesday night the media organizations that promoted love for family in their stories, music and films last year.

With the theme “Communicating the Family: A Privileged Place of Encounter with the Gift of Love,” the 37th CMMA invited hundreds of entries for the prestigious award that was established to recognize those who use the mass media as a tool to promote Christian values among Filipinos.

In his keynote speech during the event, Archbishop of Manila Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle noted that the value of the Filipino family is being degraded by the preoccupation of many Filipinos over money.

He lamented that many Filipinos are even using their family as an excuse for doing wrong, such as corruption and violent crimes.

“Pakiusap din po, maging tapat tayo sa pamilya, subalit huwag naman gamitin ang pamilya para sa pandaraya, sa corruption. Minsan ang mga maling gawa, sasabihin ginagawa ko iyan para sa pamilya.

Organized crime, organized violence, pagkatapos sasabihin na dahil ito sa loyalty sa pamilya? Ang mabuting balita ay pamilyang pinagmumulan din ng integridad, katarungan, pamumuhay nang makatotohanan at marangal,” Tagle said.

To honor its chairman and president, Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, the CMMA board of trustees conferred a special award on him for his service to the Church through the mass media.

Cabangon Chua’s advocacy to bring back the media’s role in delivering useful, meaningful and unbiased information, as embodied by the CMMA, is his biggest contribution to the media industry yet.

The Serviam Award, which was conceived in honor of the late Manila Archbishop Cardinal Sin, the founder of CMMA, was posthumously given to Msgr. Peter Nguyen Van Tai for his service to the Church through mass media.

Two media organizations were also given the Saint Pope John Paul II Award, namely the Papal Committee on Documentation and Coverage during the visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines in January, and the makers and cast of ABS-CBN series Nathaniel.

A Hall of Fame Award was also given to Fr. Bernard Nolasco, SDB, for winning the Best Entertainment Column award for five straight years from 2010 to 2014.

The other awardees in the 2015 CMMA are: Hasik by La Salle Greenhills (Best Student Organ, Grade School); Legacy by Saint Paul College, Parañaque (Best Student Organ, High School); Crossroads: Excalibur by Holy Cross of Davao Collage (Best Student Organ, College); The Greenery by La Salle Greenhills (Best Student Literary Publication); Mikmik by Colegio de San Juan de Letran (Best Student Public Service Print Ad); Salu-Salo ‘Wag Solo-Solo by Lorenzana Food Corp. (Best Print Ad, Branded); Bahay Aruga by Pasig City Government (Best Print Ad, Public Service); Mustard: Sowing Seeds of Fun and Faith by Shepherd ’s Voice Publications (Best Children’s Magazine); Word & Life (Best Youth Magazine); Family Matters by Don Bosco Press Inc. (Best Family-Oriented Magazine); The Windhover by Philippine Jesuit Aid Association, Society of Jesus (Best Local Community/Parish Newspaper); Continued on A2