BusinessMirror January 1, 2016

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Monday 2014 Vol.1,102016 No. 40 Friday,18,January Vol. 11 No. 85

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Over 9 million Filipinos need new jobs in 2016

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By Cai U. Ordinario

ver 9 million Filipinos are either jobless or looking for better employment opportunities at the start of 2016, based on the latest employment data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

INSIDE

marco lobregat

Based on preliminary data from the report, titled Annual Labor and Employment Status, the PSA indicated that 2.6 million Filipinos are unemployed by the end of 2015.

Apart from the unemployed, PSA data also showed that there are 7.18 million Filipinos who are considered underemployed at the start of the new year.

“The underemployed persons or those employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with Continued on A2

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PALACE VERIFYING MODE OF PAYING $196-MILLION ENTRY FEE FOR AIIB

By Butch Fernandez

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ue to the holiday break, Malacañang took time to verify with the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on the matter of financing the country’s participation in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Asked on Thursday if the government provided funding in the budget bill for 2016 President Aquino signed into law last week to cover the AIIB entry fee, Palace officials were unsure whether a separate funding or a supplemental budget was needed to cover See “AIIB,” A2

Now in the Philippines BusinessMirror

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elmo bound for bigger things

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b2-2 Philippine Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Erlinda F. Basilio signs the Articles of Agreement of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, making the Philippines the 57th founding member of the newly created lending institution. See story above right. Department of Finance Photo

The world economy’s winners and losers in 2015

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hen the final numbers are tallied, 2015 will probably count as another disappointing year for global growth.

The muted performance came even as central banks continued to pump in liquidity, oil prices plunged again and inflation was moderate.

It was also a year of divergent performers. While tumbling commodity prices took the shine off big emerging markets Russia and Brazil, other emerging economies, like India and Vietnam, surprised on the upside. In

the developed world, robust US jobs growth prompted the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy for the first time since 2006, while the gloom around neighboring Canada deepened.

With the year drawing to a close, here’s a look at some of the winners and losers:

Mixed performance

In advanced economies, smaller European nations were among the best performers. Ireland’s economy grew

PESO exchange rates n US 47.1660

by 7 percent in the third quarter— faster than China—and well ahead of the euro area’s 1.6-percent growth in the same period.

By contrast, the picture was more subdued in Finland. The northernmost euro member, which was among the most vocal critics of Greece during its crisis bailout negotiations, is suffering as key industries like paper making and consumer electronics struggle. Weak export demand from Russia is also hurting.

In the emerging-market world,

clear standouts included Vietnam, Tanzania and, wait for it, China.

Even after a $5-trillion stock-market rout and what’s tipped to be the slowest growth in 25 years, China’s overall gross domestic product growth (GDP) remains relatively robust compared to its peers. India’s economy also expanded faster than expected in the third quarter when GDP rose 7.4 percent from a year earlier, after a 7-percent expansion in the previous quarter.

Continued on A2

n japan 0.3920 n UK 70.1783 n HK 6.0857 n CHINA 7.2697 n singapore 33.5176 n australia 34.2652 n EU 51.7411 n SAUDI arabia 12.5766

Source: BSP (29 December 2015)

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News

BusinessMirror

Friday, January 1, 2016

Over 9 million Filipinos need new jobs in 2016 Continued from A1

longer working hours was estimated at 7.2 million corresponding to an underemployment rate of 18.5 percent,” the PSA said.

In terms of the unemployed, around 1.66 million, or 63.7 percent, are males, while the remaining 36.3 percent, or 944,526, are females.

Almost half, or 1.16 million, are high-school undergraduates and graduates and another 34.9 percent, or 908,098 Filipinos, are either college undergraduates or graduates.

PSA data showed that only 8 percent, or 208,160, are graduates or undergraduates of post-secondary school. Around 0.3 percent, or 7,806, who did not complete any grade are unemployed, while the remaining 12.1 percent, or 314,842

Filipinos, are either elementary graduates or undergraduates.

Meanwhile, among the underemployed, those who worked less than 40 hours a week reached 4.09 million, or 57 percent of the total.

Data also showed that those who worked for over 40 hours a week reached 2.96 million, or around 41.2 percent of the total underemployed.

Those who have a job but are not working during the time the survey was taken accounted for 1.8 percent of total underemployed, or around 129,240 Filipinos.

The majority of the underemployed are in Services and Agriculture and only 17.7 percent are in Industry sector. The underemployed in the Services sector accounted for 41.8 percent or around 3 million Filipinos, while those in agriculture

reached 40.5 percent of the total, or 2.91 million Filipinos.

“The government must ensure that the gains and efforts to focus on quality employment are further sustained. We need to sustain public investments in education and training to improve labor productivity and capacities,” Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan earlier said.

“At the same time, we need to sustain the momentum of fiscal spending, particularly in infrastructure development, to boost economic growth and employment in Agriculture and Industry sectors,” Balisacan added.

Balisacan said the Aquino administration has increased spending for social services, particularly education and health to improve

the chances of Filipinos to obtain decent employment.

The government’s total socialservices expenditures per person during the last five years rose 37 percent compared to 2000 to 2009.

This included spending for education which increased by 25 percent and for health, government spending has increased by 116 percent.

Balisacan added that the government’s Conditional Cash-Transfer Program has also helped poor Filipinos keep their children healthy and in school. This is crucial in giving them better chances of being employed in the future.

The program supports a total of 4.35 million households, covering 143 cities and 1,484 municipalities in 79 provinces as of August 26, 2015.

The world economy’s winners and losers in 2015 Continued from A1

The weakest performers included the usual suspects. Russia is on track for its longest slump in two decades mostly because of lower oil prices.

Brazil has been dogged by the commodities slump, political turmoil, a corruption scandal and a widening budget gap.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

warned that the nation is sinking into “an outright depression.”

A notable absentee from the list is Venezuela: that’s because the central bank hasn’t published GDP data for the year.

Honorary mention

Japan gets a special mention for the recession that never was. A data revision meant that GDP expanded in the

third quarter rather than contracting as previously thought, meaning the world’s third-largest economy avoided a second recession in three years. Some economists say the performance shows Japan’s economy is on an overall improving track, even if significant challenges remain.

Employment

Away from the GDP numbers,

employment data around the world paints a mixed picture.

The lowest jobless rates can be found in nations such as Japan and Switzerland, or Thailand and Singapore, but Western Europe remains stricken by high levels of joblessness. Double-digit unemployment in places like Greece and Spain underscore the challenges ahead. Bloomberg News

news@businessmirror.com.ph

AIIB. . .

Continued from A1

the cost of participation.

Both Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. and Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda acknowledged waiting for the DOF and DBM confirmation on whether the government has allocated funds in the 2016 budget as initial installment on $196-million paid-in capital for AIIB membership.

The Palace was also mum on whether President Aquino’s approval of Philippine membership in AIIB would be submitted for Senate ratification as soon as Congress resumes session in January. In a statement announcing the country’s participation in the AIIB, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima gave assurance that the Philippines stands to gain from signing on as a founding member.

“We can look forward to deepening our country’s technical expertise in infrastructure as we expand bankable projects. Further, as the AIIB has no restriction on the procurement of goods and services from any country, we may foresee market expansion for infrastructure-related industries, widening job and business growth opportunities,” Purisima said.

According to Philippine Ambassador to China Erlina Basilio, the inaugural meeting of the AIIB’s board of governors and the board of directors in Beijing is set for the third week of January 2016.

She added that AIIB members have until December 2016 to complete domestic ratification and other approval processes, as well as to pay the initial tranche of the corresponding paid-in capital.

Signing the AIIB articles of agreement will allow the Philippines to tap into the bank’s vast resources to finance the country’s various

infrastructure projects.

Philippine Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (PROC) Erlinda F. Basilio was expected to sign the Articles of Agreement of the AIIB today, December 31, the deadline set by the PROC. The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries the country’s largest business organization, expressed confidence that transparency and good governance will prove to be AIIB’s hallmarks when it finally begins to operate. “We should be proud that the Philippines has actually guided the framing of the articles of greement.

The Philippines can testify to the transparency and governance at AIIB because we took an active part in its creation,” the joint chamber’s statement further read.

The AIIB was seen as the embodiment of the PROC’s aggressive campaign to exert economic influence over Asia, essentially by dangling much-needed capital for infrastructure development which is an area the Philippines sorely lacks.

Seen as a rival to the Asian Development Bank and the US-led World Bank, China will be accounting for as much as 30 percent of the AIIB’s capital pegged at an initial $50 billion. The AIIB aims to fill the estimated infrastructure buildup requirement that Asia requires over a 10-year period totaling $8 trillion, based on ADB documents.

As member, the Philippines will have to contribute paid-in capital of $195.82 million payable in five years, or $39 million per year (roughly P1.83 billion). This will be paid starting on the submission of its instrument of ratification, the deadline for which is set in December 2016.

With Catherine N. Pillas

News BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

PHL bans poultry meat from French region of Dordogne

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Only 63.2% of Yolanda rehab projects completed

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By Mary Grace Padin

he Philippine government has imposed a temporary ban on the importation of poultry and poultry products from Dordogne, France, following the reported incidence of bird-flu outbreak in the region.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala issued Memorandum Order 49 authorizing the ban after the Ministry of Agriculture, Agribusiness and Forestry in Paris confirmed to the Office International Des Epizooties on November 24 that there was an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus in Biras, Dordogne.

The outbreak of HPAI virus serotype H5N1 affecting broiler chickens and layer hens in the backyard farms in the area was confirmed by the National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza and New Castle Disease.

“There is a need to prevent the entry of HPAI virus to protect the health of the public and the local poultry population,” Alcala said.

With the ban in place, domestic and wild birds, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen from Biras in Dordogne, France, are not allowed to enter the country.

The application and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for poultry products from the area are also suspended.

The Department of Agriculture warned that shipments of poultry products from Dordogne into the country will be stopped and confiscated by its veterinary quarantine officers. However, frozen poultry meat with slaughter or process date of 21 days prior to the HPAI outbreak is allowed to enter the country, subject to veterinary quarantine rules and regulations.

Alcala said the government slaps a temporary import ban on poultry products from bird flu-affected areas to protect the country’s avian-flu free status.

Based on the latest report from the DA, the Philippines imported a total of 144,898.14 metric tons (MT) of chicken meat from January to September this year. France accounted for 1,024.43 MT of the total shipments.

PAMPERED PETS

Even dogs are given a holiday treat at the Dog Spa shop in Pasay City. Dog owners shell out anywhere from P300 to P600, depending on the breed, to pamper their pets. NONIE REYES

By Recto Mercene

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escudero

castelo

dum Circular AV T-2014-1895, mandating vehicle owners to replace their old license plates with the new standardized plates.

According to the LTO, the standardization program aims to curb illegal practices, such as tanggal-plaka, or plate removal or switching, which is prevalent in car-theft cases and “colorum” public utility vehicles. The standardization program will also phase out the nine various designs of license plates.

But Escudero said he has received complaints that some motorists have been paying for registration stickers for the past five years, but they did not receive any sticker at all since the agency encountered supply problems in 2011. “ It is t a nt a mou nt to rob bing motor ists of t heir money

for none x i stent reg i st rat ion st ic kers,” Esc udero sa id.

Reports added that the LTO had started releasing stickers for twowheeled vehicles late this year, but has failed to do the same for fourwheeled vehicles.

This prompted Escudero to call on the Commission on Audit (COA) to look into the money collected by the LTO for undelivered registration stickers over the past five years.

Based on 2013 data from the LTO, there are close to 7.69 million registered motor vehicles in the country consisting of 868,148 cars; 1.79 million utility vehicles; 346,396 sport-utility vehicles; 358,445 trucks; 31,665 buses; 4.25 million motorcycles/tricycles; and 40,145 trailers.

On top of the delay in releasing registration stickers, the LTO is also having problems issuing new license plates. This, after the COA barred the LTO from continuing its P3.85billion motor-vehicle plate standardization program after it declared the project illegal.

The LTO in January this year started collecting P450 and P120 from motor vehicle and motorcycle owners, respectively, for the registration renewal of the “standardized” license plates.

Earlier this year the Rep. Winston Castelo of Quezon City urged the LTO to stop the issuance of the new license plates to “avoid burdening the public.” Castelo, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Metro Manila Development Committee, said a probe had round that the new standardized license-plates cost the government custom duties as these were imported from the Netherlands.

Although the P3.8-billion contract with joint venture Power Plates Development Concepts Inc. and Dutch firm J. Knierem BVGoes was inked as early as 2013, it was only January this year when the LTO and the DOTC formally released the new license plates to replace the old and existing 16 million vehicle plates.

The new license plates, valid until 2017, have a black and white design w ith tamper-resistant locks and screws and reflectorized sheeting.

8 Abu Sayyaf bandits killed after clash with military in Sulu

By Rene Acosta

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ight members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) were killed while seven others were wounded on Wednesday in a firefight with government troops in Sulu, a local military spokesman said.

Maj. Filemon Tan, spokesman of the Armed Forces Western

By Cai U. Ordinario

wo years after Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) ravaged central Philippines, data from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) showed that only 63.2 percent of rehabilitation projects in affected areas have been completed.

Lawmaker urges LTO to suspend collection of ₧50 fee for car stickers he Land Transportation Office (LTO) should stop collecting P50 from motorists for nonexistent car-registration stickers until problems surrounding its long-delayed issuance have been resolved, Sen. Francis G. Escudero said on Thursday.

A pair of license plate costs P450, of which P50 represents the cost of the car sticker.

Escudero issued the call to suspend its collection as the LTO, an attached agency of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), begins accepting applications for renewal of motor-vehicle registration for 2016.

“The LTO should refrain from charging our motorists for unavailable car stickers. 2015 is almost over, but most motorists have yet to receive their registration stickers that they have paid for,” he said.

“Motorists got nothing from paying the amount, so it is just right for the agency to refund the cost of the stickers,” Escudero added.

The Senate has conducted an inquiry on the standardized license system, calling it a “milking cow” that serves no purpose of benefiting the public.

In May 2014 the DOTC and the LTO rolled out the Plate Standardization Program for newly registered vehicles. In January 2015 the LTO issued Memoran-

Friday, January 1, 2016 A3

Mindanao Command, said a soldier was also killed while another was wounded during the firefight which raged until past 8 p.m.

Tan said the firefight, which began at around 4 p.m., happened after elements of the Army’s 1st Scout Ranger Battalion caught up with the group of Commander Hajan Sawadajaan at Sitio Sangay, Barangay Buhanginan,

Patikul, Sulu.

Sawadjaan’s group reportedly numbered at least 100.

Sawadjaan was identified as the ASG leader behind the kidnapping of three foreigners and a Filipino, Maritess Flor, in Samal Island, Davao del Norte, early this year. The kidnap victims were subsequently brought to Sulu.

Just the other day, the military

appealed to the kidnappers not to hurt any of the victims after their captors threatened to behead them, the latest of whom was Flor.

The military has been conducting operations against the terrorists in Sulu and even in the adjoining province of Basilan following the orders of President Aquino to end the reign of criminal activities by the ASG.

Economic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan said the resettlement of survivors from the danger zones continues to be the most “challenging” among the government’s recovery efforts.

To date, Neda data showed that only 13,335 housing units have been completed, with construction of 79,219 houses ongoing and scheduled for completion by December 2016.

“Among the issues slowing down the building of resettlement sites are policies on procurement and land acquisition, and the many permits and clearances needed to start certain projects,” Balisacan said in a statement.

He said the Neda is now “intensively coordinating efforts” to address these policy and implementation issues with concerned government agencies.

T he Neda said the overa ll weighted physical accomplishment of completed and ongoing Yolanda programs, projects and activities (PPAs) stands at 63.2 percent—30.3-percent completed and 33.1-percent ongoing.

Balisacan said most of the ongoing projects are scheduled for completion by next year.

As of November 15, Neda data revealed that the distribution of 339,745 learning kits to Yolandaaffected schools has been completed.

The Neda said 35 out of 37, or 94.6 percent, of damaged airports in affected areas have been rehabilitated.

The government has also rehabilitated 89.21 percent of the total target of 1,852.53 lineal meters of damaged bridges, and reconstructed 72.4 percent of damaged national roads.

The government also rolled out the Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) scheme to help affected families rebuild sturdier houses, provided they are away from the danger zones. The Neda said the ESA has benefited 788,747 households, or 76.3 percent, of the targeted 1.03 million families whose houses were damaged by the typhoon.

Families with partially damaged houses received P10,000 worth of cash or materials, while families with totally damaged houses got P30,000 worth of cash or materials. The distribution of the ESA is still ongoing.

The government also assisted fishermen whose fishing boats were damaged by Yolanda. The Neda said 48,995 out of the 54,825 targeted beneficiaries, or 89.4 percent, have had their fishing boats repaired or replaced.

In April President Aquino, through Memorandum Order 79, transferred the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of all disasterrelated PPAs from the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery to the Neda.

‘Comfort women should get ₧1-B compensation from Japan’

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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embers of the House of Representatives’ Minority Bloc on Thursday urged the government to seek an agreement with Japan to resolve the issue of Filipino comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II. Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna and Rep. Luz Ilagan of Gabriela made the pronouncement after Japan offered an apology and a compensation of ¥1 billion to the 46 surviving South Korean comfort women.

“The Philippine government should push for an agreement with Japan regarding comfort women. Unlike governments like that of South Korea, the Philippine government cowers in fear of Japan or rich countries who abuse our people,” Colmenares said. “ The Philippines should be assertive when the interest of its people is at stake. The provisions of the agreement should include an apology and compensation of at least equal to P1 billion,” he added.

For her part, Ilagan said the government should take concrete steps in bringing Tokyo to task in acknowledging its culpability in crimes against Filipino women.

The lawmaker, however,

said the agreement between Japan and South Korea was still “largely very unsatisfactory” because it did not address the women’s long-standing demands that Tokyo admit its war policy to criminally enslave 200,000 victims.

But Ilagan gave credit to the South Korean government for initiating the diplomatic efforts in making Japan give in to pressure.

“Instead of emulating Korea for its principled stance against Japan’s militarism, President Aquino chose instead to open up the country’s territory to the invasion of Japanese military through the proposed Philippine-Japan Visiting Forces Agreement,” she said.

Ilagan added that comfort women advocacy group Lila Pilipina is still calling for “a full apology and the formal admission by the Japanese government of its criminal intent and systematic culpability in the massive conscription of women in occupied countries to serve as sex slaves of Japanese soldiers during the Pacific War.” “Until now Japan has not issued any to Filipino comfort women, while the apology issued to the Korean women, even if it contained most sincere apologies and remorse” lacked the admission that they have sought all through the years of clamor,” she added.

A4 Friday, January 1, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Philippine government: Where’s the passion?

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e have now crossed over to 2016, leaving behind the triumphs and failures of the past year. An outsider, following the press and the media from the Philippines, would think that the entire nation rises and falls on what the government does or does not do. Maybe it is just because of the campaign season.

The latest “headline” story is about President Aquino’s statement in 2013 that he was ready to be run over by a train if the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 project from Baclaran to Bacoor will not be completed in two years.

That was a ridiculous statement, even if said as a joke. The response now two years later is equally ridiculous. This episode only shows that the smoke and mirrors is more important than the substance of national issues.

An exchange on social media also shows how superficial we have become.

Vice presidential candidate Alan Peter S. Cayetano echoes presidential candidate Rodrigo R. Duterte’s priority for the revival of the Mindanao Railway Project. A strong support of the administration’s candidate says that this shows Duterte will not focus on solving Metro Manila’s traffic woes. A Duterte supporter counters that the Aquino administration has failed to properly address the Metro’s traffic problem. The administration’s apologist then says that Aquino has focused and done a great job in poverty reduction. It is all smoke and mirrors while riding on a merry-go-round.

However, there is a deeper issue and problem with the government we saw in 2015. There were little of two qualities needed for leadership and accomplishment: passion and diligence.

Passion is the love for the job and the challenges. Diligence is the drive to get the task accomplished, regardless of the obstacles, and to redouble efforts in the face of setbacks.

The one government official that stands out in our mind is Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. After four years on the job, he has not lost his excitement—his passion—for the position he holds. Tourism is not exactly one of the jewels in the Philippine economic crown. But every time Jimenez speaks, you cannot help but get excited about our future tourism prospects.

And no matter what the challenges might be—typhoons, inadequate infrastructure, or global events—he never gives up.

Too many other government officials are only “doing the best we can.”

There is not any passion for the job in that statement, and clearly shows a lack of diligent action moving into the future.

Certainly, government service is often a thankless job. But no one put a gun to the head of any of our current officials for them to join government service. Either do the job properly or hit the road.

Another government official who quietly performs to high standards is the BusinessMirror’s good friend Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. who was just appointed acting chief of the Department of Trade and Industry. We congratulate Secretary Cristobal as an example of what all public servants should exemplify.

President Rizal James Jimenez

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spox

n Twitter, I was asked: “@jabjimenez if Jose Rizal were to run for President, would you vote for him? Why or why not?”

A well-known wit quickly pounced with: “He (referring to Jose Rizal) would not be natural born, being a subject of Spain at birth,” thereby totally missing the point of the question.

The follow-up tweets wandered further afield: “also Aguinaldo. Bonifacio.

And Ninoy Aquino if he stayed in exile 7 more years. No residence;” “a patriot who went abroad to campaign for a cleaner Philippines would be DQed if he stayed out too long;” and “robbing this country, running influence-peddling law firms, taking money from Janet—only for natural born turds.”

Clever. But still three bus lengths to the left of the question: If Jose Rizal were to run for President would I vote for him?

Compliance with all Constitutional and statutory requirements being taken for granted, I would have to say no.

There is no doubt that Rizal transcended the psychosocial baggage of being born a colonial subject of Spain.

Freed from the typical mind-set of a down-trodden colonial—fearful by default, submissive and eager to curry favor—Rizal saw himself as an equal of the colonizers, distinct from them only for the color of his skin and the accident of

his birthplace, and so was able to examine colonial society with the objectivity of a sociologist.

This objectivity was a good thing because, as his treatise on indolence exemplified, it allowed Rizal to point out the flaws of colonial ideology—the crucial first step in the awakening of Filipino nationhood. On the other hand, a similar sort of objectivity prevented Rizal from supporting the revolution when the opportunity presented itself. Thus, on the 21st of June 1896, Rizal—for all his individual brilliance—showed that he was probably not the best politician, let alone President.

The President of a nation—in whatever era—needs to be more than just a brilliant polymath. Or a badass warhorse. Or a legal luminary.

Apart from being a competent administrator who can inspire cooperation within the ranks, a good President must also be a visionary who can see beyond what is, all the way to what is possible,

even when the road forward appears to be littered with difficulty and loss.

And, perhaps, more important, a good President needs to be a skilled political chess player, able to recognize necessary sacrifices and willing to make those sacrifices in the name of the greatest good.

Everything I’ve read so far about Jose Rizal gives me pause, when weighed against these criteria.

Rizal’s temper, for instance, might be a good indicator of his potential success as an administrator. The government isn’t made up of mice, after all, and a President has to deal with egos that can be larger than his. And when you consider the kind of politicians a President Rizal would have to deal with today, you can probably imagine quickly he’ll end up surrounded by sycophants, instead of independent minded women and men of true merit.

As for being a visionary, what little is known about Rizal’s rejection of the revolution, just as an example, seems to show an almost pedestrian appreciation of the dynamics of an uprising.

While it is true that an armed revolution would bring suffering to Filipinos, what war of liberation hasn’t? And who can argue with the necessity of being well-prepared long before the first shot is ever fired?

Being asked to consult at such a crucial point, Rizal had the perfect opportunity to shape the policies that would have governed the emergence of the fullblown revolution. He could have used his tremendous influence, for instance, to strike a balance between caution and audacity. But apart from giving some

self-evident advice, Rizal chose to sit the revolution out.

In the same vein, Rizal could have used his charisma to rally even more people to the cause. Rizal pointed out that the masses were not ready, didn’t he? He could have addressed that problem quite handily, especially after having already whipped up the core of the Katipunan with his writings, to the point that they were, quite literally, ready to die for the motherland. And yet, at the crossroads of great undertakings, Rizal chose the path of timidity. Even Gandhi, for all his nonviolence, was savvy enough to know when the time for constructive engagement with the colonial powers was no longer possible.

Unlike Gandhi, however, Rizal opted for a longer endgame rather than go for the decisive checkmate.

I cannot write finis to the argument of whether Rizal showed visionary leadership—or the lack thereof—in refusing to participate in the revolution.

Nor can I say with any conclusiveness that he couldn’t have been a competent administrator, able to tame a runaway bureaucracy of modern-day Philippines.

These concerns, however, weigh heavy on my mind every six years. In the end, I think we—as a people—can benefit tremendously if only we made sure that we don’t confuse how much we love a person with how fit he would be for the Presidency.

Oh, and, Happy New Year.

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

New Facebook service ignites battle over Net neutrality in India

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The years as plants and animals Tito Genova Valiente

annotations

By Shashank Bengali | TNS

UMBAI, India—Amid fierce opposition in one of its most important markets, Facebook has launched an aggressive campaign in India for an app that gives users access to a small number of Internet services for free, arguing it could help lift millions out of poverty.

The Menlo Park, California-based social-media giant has blanketed Indian cities with billboards and taken out two-page newspaper advertisements to tout Free Basics, which Indian regulators suspended last week after opponents claimed it violated Internet neutrality, the principle that Internet providers allow equal access to all online content.

In an op-ed piece published on Monday in the Times of India, the country’s largest English-language newspaper, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote that critics have mischaracterized Free Basics, which he said serves as a bridge to the Internet for millions who had never been online before.

“If we accept that everyone deserves access to the internet, then we must surely support free basic Internet services,” Zuckerberg wrote. He compared the service to libraries, education and health care—basic public goods that everyone expects to be available.

Libraries “don’t contain every book, but they still provide a world of good,” Zuckerberg wrote.

The struggle over Free Basics has evolved into a surprisingly bitter contest between Zuckerberg’s goal to spread Internet access across the globe—while recruiting millions more Facebook users —and a diverse collection of Indian activists and entrepreneurs who accuse the company of creating a second-tier Internet service for people who can’t afford to pay for data.

It also shows how India has become a battleground for tech giants, including Google and Microsoft, who are grappling for advantage in a country that will soon surpass the US and claim the world’s second highest number of Internet users — with two-thirds of the population yet to be reached.

Free Basics is a preselected suite of Internet services for health care, education, weather, jobs and communication—including, of course, Facebook— that the company has rolled out in more than 30 emerging markets, including India, in partnership with local telecom companies.

Users get those services—which vary by country—for free but must pay for access to other sites and apps outside of Free Basics. That has led to allegations that it hinders consumer choice and violates the Net-neutrality principle, which requires that Internet providers don’t prioritize traffic to certain web sites.

Critics say that by controlling which services are part of Free Basics, Facebook will determine the content that the poorest Internet users get to see. Mahesh Murthy, a Mumbai venture capitalist and Net-neutrality activist, has described it as “digital apartheid.”

“Unlike the rest of us who are all digitally equal, being able to access the full and complete internet, which has more than a billion sites on it, Facebook wants to offer our poor, our young and our future a few dozen sites, that’s all,” Murthy wrote in an online commentary.

Internet experts in India have also raised questions about online privacy,

arguing that Facebook, by directing all traffic through its partner apps, could suck up data about its users.

Facebook has responded by promising strict data encryption and saying it will not bar any apps or developers from joining the Free Basics suite if they meet its technical requirements.

The company says that 15 million people use Free Basics in countries such as the Philippines, Malawi, Bangladesh, Thailand and Mongolia, including about 800,000 in India. According to its data, half the users who go online for the first time with Free Basics pay to access the full Internet within a month.

“Free Basics is a bridge to the full, internet and digital equality,” Zuckerberg wrote in the op-ed.

Many Indians have not been impressed. Several top Internet companies refused to participate in Free Basics.

More than 1 million people submitted petitions earlier this year in support of Net neutrality to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, according to Save the Internet, an online volunteer group that led the campaign.

Last week the regulatory authority ordered Reliance Communications— which has partnered with Facebook to release Free Basics in India—to stop the service pending a ruling on whether it violates Net neutrality. A decision is expected next month.

The controversy has been a blow to Zuckerberg, who has personally courted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in what has widely been seen as an effort to boost Facebook’s 1.5 billion worldwide user base on the back of the fast-growing Indian market. With an estimated 400 million Internet users—a nearly 50 percent jump over last year—India represents the last massive frontier for Facebook, which is banned in China.

Google is also trying to increase its usage in India. Google Chief Executive Sunder Pichai, who was born in the Indian city of Chennai, visited the country this month and reiterated plans to provide Wi-Fi at 500 railway stations and allow Google users to type in 11 Indian languages, including Modi’s native Gujarati, on the Android platform.

The Indian regulator has announced a Wednesday deadline for public comment on Free Basics, prompting Facebook’s marketing push. “Support Rahul,” says one ad, featuring a man whom the company says is an engineering student who used Free Basics for research.

Opponents have also swung into action. The comedy group All India Bakchod released an online video (with expletives) last week opposing the Facebook plan and poking fun at its tactics.

Noting that Facebook was running a prominent link on its site in India asking users to support “digital equality,” which the company says more than 3 million people have clicked, Rohan Joshi, one of the comedians, joked: “When it’s the top notification on Facebook, in vague wording, that makes it sound like Free Basics is basically the solution to India’s poverty problem.”

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his year has been declared by savants, geomancers, charlatans and celebrities (the last two not necessarily classified together) as the Year of the Monkey. Technically and by tradition, the monkey should be swinging from month to month by February. And it is not just any monkey but a red monkey.

Fashionably and economically oriented, we are with the Chinese and what they foist on us, we get ready with the monkey not only on our back, but in our mind by the first of January.

The opportunity with years and Zodiac signs is that the interpretations are varied. There are so many experts on the fortune and misfortune the year will bring us as there are the many combinations of animals who visited Buddha, and some other signs like the Metal and the Fire.

Interesting how we humans, and the humanism we have fostered, have always relied on signs from animals, as well as plants.

The animals that have gone running to be at Buddha’s side are measured in terms of traits and what animals preceded and followed them. It seems like each animal sort of matches up with an animal or bounce off another. Each permutation begins about a new reading and every new reading the new horizon of profit.

Fate and fear of fate push us to consider mirrors and plastic frogs and plastic coins and more plastic coins disguised as gold. Strange that we hitch our business stars to plastic things made up to look like precious metals. We know a precious thing because it could change both the wealth distribution on this earth and the orbiting of the planets; otherwise, it is all pretend. There is a lesson to all this

earth magic. The now-forgotten lore of magic teaches us by way of James George Frazer and his enchanting The Golden Bough how certain principles work. One principle explains how “like produces like”; the other principle is how contact can affect another object even from a distance.

Contagion and similarity are at the core of sorcery and richness.

What does the monkey hold for us? If the principles of magic should be followed, the monkey in the Asian cultures can be seen as both cunning and wise. The monkey is a trickster and the messenger of the gods. He is, in some stories, a god and a warrior. If the archetypal approach is applied, then the monkey by extension and similarity altogether very human, represents our family or the concern for kin.

At the close of this year, I have received already a soap shaped like a monkey and a simian made of porcelain. How will the two principles affect my life this coming year? I am expecting a fresh outlook after I used the soap and soon as I step out of the shower. But what happens when the soap loses its shape?

Perhaps, the fewer questions and

Bloomberg View

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anada’s two-month-old Liberal government is facing its first controversy, one that highlights an enduring dilemma in public policy: When is it worth going ahead with a good idea that the public doesn’t like?

Among the many campaign promises of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was a commitment to change the way Canadians elect their federal government. As in the US, the candidate with the most votes in a district (Canadians call them ridings) gets a seat in the legislature

(what Canadians call first-past-thepost). But in Canada, the winner usually gets fewer than half the votes, because of an increasingly fractured multiparty system.

The Liberals are considering several options that would better allocate parliamentary seats based on voters’ preferences. But Canadians are a conservative bunch, reluctant to change even the traditions they don’t especially like. Since 2005 two of the country’s three largest provinces have held referendums on electoral reform, and both failed. So the Liberal government, which had left the door open to a similar vote nationwide, said over the weekend that

the less doubt we have of earth magic, then the better these animals and plants will have effect on us.

The Philippines as an area of cultures has its own pantheon of animals that are not necessarily linked to Buddhism or any other so-called big religions. By the end of this year, we should be conscious once more of the Bakunawa, that huge serpent, dragon-like beast that has both benign and malignant properties. He is untamed and usually rules river and coastlines.

The sheer power of men and women has induced a myth of origin where we can control the Bakunawa. The production of sounds and noise, not necessarily firecrackers, can shake the Great Serpent into acknowledging the presence of humans in its midst.

During eclipses the noise can shock the Great Serpent to vomit out the moon or the sun, as the case may be. When it is time for the New Year to dawn upon us, then we make entreaties also to the Great Serpent. Offerings of sweet things of observance of taboos like not touching the kitchens or the hearth can be an appeal to the Bakunawa

An aging America shies away from risk

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By Justin Fox | Bloomberg View

wenty years ago Dutch journalist Sheila Sitalsing sat down with a demographer at the country’s statistics office to talk about how aging would change the Netherlands.

His prediction, she recounts in a column that’s the most-read thing on the web site of the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, was that aging would “change the atmosphere and the mentality of the country.” For example:

Things that come with being young— taking risks, seizing opportunities, daring to do things, diving into the deep end without thought and without water wings, doing drugs, making noise, calling after girls on the street corner, embracing the strange and the new—would become less common. The atmosphere would be determined by the concerns of the old: avoiding risk, being careful, preserving what you have, saying goodbye, keeping quiet, suspicion of the foreign, avoiding fuss and noise—absolutely no fuss and noise!—and seizing every possible occasion to complain at length about alleged fuss and noise.

It’s better in Dutch (the translation is mine, with a little help from Google), but it’s a really interesting premise nonetheless. Timely, too, on both sides of the Atlantic. Republican primary voters—and voters in general, actually—skew pretty old, so maybe this explains the extreme fearfulness and suspicion of foreigners

that has permeated the presidential campaign so far. More generally, could the aging of the US population be behind all sorts of other phenomena, from antigrowth activism in high-priced cities and suburbs to the decline in business dynamism and entrepreneurship that has beset the country since about 2000?

Umm, maybe. The Dutch population has aged much faster than that of the US The median age in the Netherlands was 28.6 in 1970 and is 42.7 now; in the US it was 28.1 in 1970, is 37.8 now and is projected to be 41— still below the current Dutch median—in 2060. Yet, Dutch people still ride their bikes everywhere without helmets, let their kids roam around with much less supervision than is customary in the US, travel to all the corners of the earth without fear and are more than twice as likely to be selfemployed as Americans are. Age alone doesn’t determine attitudes about risk.

The scientific evidence on aging and

Canada’s new government makes its first big mistake

By Christopher Flavelle

Friday, January 1, 2016 A5

none would take place, all but conceding that its proposals wouldn’t survive a plebiscite.

On the merits, the argument for electoral reform is quite good, and it’s not clear how else it will come about. At best, the current system produces governments that unevenly reflect the public will; at worst, it results in unstable minorities that can fall without warning. Either way, some voters fairly conclude that their preferences get ignored, which may explain why typical Canadian voter turnout is 10 points below the average for developed countries.

The Liberals haven’t said what exactly they would install in place of the

status quo. One option is to replace the first-past-the-post method with a system that distributes parliamentary seats based on a party’s share of the national vote, rather than on the results at the district level. (If this distribution had been in effect in October’s election, the Liberals would not have gotten a majority government.) Another proposed reform is a so-called ranked ballot, in which voters indicate their second or even third choice, should their preferred candidate fail to win.

Both ideas have their flaws. The national allocation system would get rid of local representation.

The ranked ballot could encourage

to give birth to a new world, and for it to eat the old. We do not spend anything at the stroke of midnight nor do we give out food. We keep the small surplus inside our household. We strive to be patient with the subsistence that we have. We believe the portals of the universe are wide open as the midnight nears and all its forces are listening to our dreams, as well as our despair. Up there in parts of the heavens that will be unseen, stars chase each other and change in forms. Constellations lose their meanings as they strive to form new desires.

Rice being central to our daily existence is a source of the great metaphor for the maintenance of ideal kinship. Thus, on the night of the New Year, we prepare several cakes and delicacies out of glutinous rice. The sticky constitution of the rice could represent the smooth and sustained harmony of kin with other kin. Now, if you have shameless relatives, then by all means, prepare a cauldron of popcorn so that you could be sure you are forever removed from them.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

risk aversion is mixed. Here’s a summingup from a 2012 article by Dan Ariely and six other authors: One study found that older individuals show more risk aversion in their life-insurance coverage than younger individuals (Halek & Eisenhauer, 2001).

Similarly, some studies found that older investors tend to own less risky stocks than younger investors (Hunter & Kemp, 2004; McInish, 1982), and have a smaller proportion of their assets in risky investments (Jianakoplos & Bernasek, 2006; Morin & Suarez, 1983; Palsson, 1996). However, other studies showed that when retirement status was controlled for, older people tended to have a higher proportion of their net worth invested in risky assets (Bellante & Saba, 1986; Wang & Hanna, 1997). Finally, one observational study examined the relationship between demographic characteristics and risk-taking among nearly a thousand contestants on the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Daghofer, 2007). The age of the contestants did not significantly predict whether they voluntarily quit the game as the stakes got higher.

There have also been studies that purport to measure risk aversion by country.

One recent attempt using Gallup polling data on happiness, by Nestor Gandelman of Universad ORT in Uruguay and Ruben Hernandez-Murillo of the Federal

Reserve Bank of St. Louis, found the Dutch to be among the least risk-averse people on the planet (only Zimbabwe and Belarus scored lower), while the US risk aversion came out on the high side (among developed countries, only France, Belgium and Taiwan scored higher, as did nine developing countries).

I’m not sure how much stock to put in that result, which uses happiness data “to estimate how fast the marginal utility of income declines as income increases using an iterated maximum likelihood procedure, assuming a constant relative risk aversion utility function.” But there do seem to be a lot of indications that the famously footloose and risk-tolerant citizens of the US are becoming less willing to take leaps into the unknown. Along with the entrepreneurship decline mentioned above, median job tenure has risen markedly since 2004 and the percentage of Americans who change residences each year has been in a long decline. As the New York Times reported last week, the “typical adult” in the US now “lives only 18 miles from his or her mother.”

Can we blame all this on population aging? Probably not. I would bet other factors weigh heavier—and whatever those are (economic insecurity, high housing costs, high education costs, you name it), we probably have a better shot at doing something about them than we do of stopping America from getting older.

parties to pursue similar policies, trying to capture other parties’ votes, and, perhaps, discourage innovative ideas. But both proposals would be more democratic than the status quo.

By itself, the public’s resistance to reform doesn’t mean the government should drop the issue. As the past few years in American politics have shown, some issues are too intractable to wait for a clear majority of public support. Two of the chief accomplishments of Barack Obama’s presidency were the 2009 stimulus and the 2010 health-care overhaul.

The former probably averted a depression, and the latter made it possible for 17 million people to

afford to see a doctor. Yet, neither gained broad popular appeal.

Those examples demonstrate the criteria to use in justifying sweeping legislation on which the public remains ambivalent or worse. One is urgency; another is the high toll of continued inaction. (Climate change, another area where Obama has acted despite broad public antagonism, checks both boxes.) Advocates of Canadian electoral reform can’t invoke either argument. There should be a high bar for disregarding the will of the public. Proceeding without a referendum could be the new government’s first meaningful error, and it looks entirely self-inflicted.

News

BusinessMirror

A6 Friday, January 1, 2016

news@businessmirror.com.ph

FAO, DA partner to restore livelihoods of typhoon-hit farmers in Central Luzon

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ICE farmers in Central Luzon, whose livelihoods were severely affected by two successive typhoons in the last quarter of 2015, have much to look forward to as the year comes to a close. Through the partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), at least 18,900 of them are receiving support to replant their damaged farms within the current cropping season.

“FAO is augmenting the farm inputs that the government is providing in affected areas to help ensure that all, if not most, of the affected farmers receive much-needed assistance at the soonest possible time,” FAO Representative in the Philippines José Luis Fernández said.

Earlier in December FAO mobilized its Typhoon Koppu Response with financial support from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the contribution of the government of Belgium to FAO’s Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities, and reprogrammed savings from FAO’s Typhoon Haiyan Emergency, Recovery and Rehabilitation Programme provided by the governments of Ireland, New Zealand and Norway.

Fernández said “the assistance is time-critical as farmers need to be able to plant rice while there is enough water, or they have to wait for the next cropping cycle in May. This means that they will go for months without sufficient income.”

FAO is now working closely

with DA field units in order to expedite the distribution of certified rice seeds and fertilizer in nine municipalities in Pampanga, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.

These are among the provinces hit hardest by Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu) in mid-October and then again affected by the flooding caused

by Typhoon Nona (international code name Melor) in December.

“If we were not given these [rice seeds and fertilizer], we would have lost hope. We only borrowed the money that we used in the last cropping season. As it is, we are already deep in debt. Imagine if we had to borrow again,” said Ruben Abella, chairman of the Burgos Upland Farmers Association in Tarlac province.

“If we plant now, we can harvest in March. Some of the earnings we will use to pay our debts, some to reinvest in our livelihood, the rest of the proceeds and part of our harvest is to support our family,” he said.

FAO estimates that its assistance, which supplements the assistance the DA is providing, will help facilitate the replanting of 18,900 hectares. This will generate 99,200 metric tons (MT) of palay (paddy rice), which is equivalent to 59,500 MT of milled rice that can feed about 522,000 people for one year.

“We are thankful for this opportunity. In my experience, planting certified [rice] seeds allows us to earn almost double what we would if we do not use certified seeds,” Lucio Campos of Barangay Dolores, Tarlac City said.

Navy may have Indon-made ship delivered by June 2016

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By Rene Acosta

HE Philippine Navy is confident it can have its first strategic sea lift vessel (SSV) from Indonesia at least before President Aquino leaves office next year as the construction of the ship is more than 70-percent complete.

A navy official said the construction of the vessel is moving at full speed as the contractor, Indonesian state-owned ship building company PT PAL, is moving to meet its May 2016 deadline for the delivery of the first ship.

“We are confident we can have our first SSV before our Commander in Chief will pass the baton to his successor. We will remember him as the President who spearheaded the capability upgrade of not only the Navy, but the whole Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP],” he said.

The Department of National Defense (DND) has ordered two SSVs from PT PAL through a contract worth P3.8 billion signed last year, after the state-owned Indonesian company bagged bidding held on November 18, 2014.

The two SSVs would be the second, if not the most, important ship acquisition by the Navy under the Aquino administration, following the purchase of two former US Coast Guard Cutters, one which is now the BRP Gre-

gorio del Pilar, currently the Navy’s flagship.

Aquino said the Navy intends to get frigates as his administration, will give a total of at least P83 billion in modernization money to the AFP which will extend up to 2017 or beyond his term.

As of this year, the administration has already given the military nearly P60 billion worth of assets and equipment, including those whose contracts have been signed, foremost of which was a squadron of South Korean-made brand new FA-50 lead in fighter jets, two of which had been delivered.

However, Aquino will no longer be around when the frigates, which are also being looked upon to be sourced out from South Korea, are delivered. No less than Navy Chief Vice Admiral Caesar Taccad attended the keel laying of the second SSV in Indonesia in June when he was still the vice commander of the Navy.

The second SSV is contracted to be delivered in May 2017.

The keel laying of the first SSV was made several weeks earlier.

The SSVs will serve as the Navy’s floating command center, while carrying out their main purpose as military sealift and transport vessels.

NEW YEAR TRADITION Round fruits are on display in the Baguio City public market. Round fruits, at this time of the year, are said to bring good luck to believers. MAU VICTA

DENR exec: ₧500-million budget for coral rehab will go a long way

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HE P500-million new budget allocation for coral-reef rehabilitation will go a long way in boosting the effort to protect and conserve the country’s marine and coastal ecosystem, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said on Thursday.

Director Theresa Mundita Lim of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) said the budget allocation is expected to jump-start a program that focuses on coral rehabilitation, which for years, have received no allocation despite the degradation of the country’s network of coral reefs over the past decades.

Lim said multistakeholder support will be a major factor in planning the rehabilitation effort of the country’s coral reef, utilizing such budget specifically for coral rehabilitation, including those found within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

T he budget a l location was pushed by Sen. Loren Legarda, chairman of the Senate Commit-

tee on Finance, during the budget deliberations in the Senate, on top of the budget set aside for the protection and conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems from the DENR’s annual budget.

This is the first time that a budget was set aside by the government specifically for coral-reef rehabilitation.

While the coral-rehabilitation project will be implemented by the DENR’s field offices, the DENR- BMB will provide technical support and coordinate with various partners to help in the rehabilitation effort.

Lim said a science-based approach is needed to effectively rehabilitate the country’s denuded corals, noting that part of the prob-

CA prevents Manila RTC from requiring DOJ to prove PHL has extradition treaty with US

By Joel R. San Juan

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HE Court of Appeals (CA) has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), enjoining the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Manila City, from compelling the Department of Justice (DOJ) to present documents that would prove that it has a valid extradition treaty with the US government.

In a four-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Manuel Barrios, the CA 12th Division said the TRO will remain in effect for a period of 60 days.

The TRO specifically enjoins Manila RTC Branch 1 Presiding Judge Tita Bughao Alisuag from implementing its “subpoena duces tecum/ad testificandum” order issued on February 2, 2015, directing Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras III to bring a certified true copy of the instruments of ratification, if they exist.

Alisuag’s order was issued in connection with the extradition case that the US government filed through the DOJ against Dr.

Eric Uy Chan, a Filipino doctor who was accused of defrauding a California healthcare program of more than $3 million.

Chan was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in 2012 after fleeing the US to evade arrest and prosecution for cases, including grand theft, before the Los Angeles Superior Court.

The US government argued that the order of Alisuag implicitly allowed Chan’s camp to launch a collateral attack on the extradition treaty, especially as the latter manifested before the court that he will present witnesses to prove that there is no valid extradition treaty between the Philippines and US governments.

It asserted that the judge’s denial of its motion to quash the subpoena may lead to a situation wherein its petition for extradition would have no leg to stand on, as the treaty on which it is grounded would have to be invalidated.

The petitioner added that such scenario is untenable, as the treaty is considered as a law, and a law cannot be collaterally attacked.

In issuing the TRO, the CA said jurisprudence on extradition “is but in its infancy,” thus, there is a need to study its merits further.

However, it also recognized the fact that extradition proceedings are summary in nature, and that most of the issues related to the case may be tackled separately from the petition before it.

“Hence, it is imperative that the implementation of the assailed subpoena duces tecum/ad testificandum, dated February 2, 2015, be temporarily held in abeyance so as not to render moot the issues attendant in the present petition for certiorari,” the CA ruled.

The CA also directed Chan to show cause by memorandum within 20 days why the US government’s application for writ of preliminary injunction, which would indefinitely enjoins the implementation of Alisuag’s order, should not be issued.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Ramon Bato Jr. and Maria Elisa Sempio Diy.

lem, aside from destructive human activities, such as illegal fishing activities and harvesting of corals, is the impact of climate change.

Lim said the country’s rich marine biodiversity includes its diverse species of corals.

“With the help of the academe and civil society, we can build and expand our data base and learn more about the problem to help us come up with policies to better protect our marine ecosystems,” she said.

There are 240 protected areas in the country, 30 of which are MPAs. Across the archipelago, there are more than 1,000 locally declared MPAs, which include fish sanctuaries and marine parks considered as “no-take zones” or with strict fishing regulation, as they are specifically set aside for conservation.

The DENR-BMB is actively involved in the information, education and communication campaign to conserve marine biodiversity through the MPAs as mandated by the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act. The DENR-BMB is pushing for an integrated approach to marine biodiversity conservation that includes sea grass and other habitatforming species, such as mangroves and beach forests, seagrass and tidal flats, called mud flats.

“Aside from corals, we also look at the importance of rehabilitating our mangroves, seagrass and tidal flats, because they form part of our network of marine and coastal ecosystems and they are all interconnected,” she said.

Lim said the Philippines is committed to protecting and conserving its marine biodiversity along with other countries in the Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific regions.

The Philippines is pursuing the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF), a multilateral partnership of six countries formed in 2007 to address the urgent threats facing the coastal and marine resources. Aside from the Philippines, countries committed to the CTI are Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.

In the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) recently held in Manila, Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje underscored the need for stronger cooperation among Apec member-economies to achieve the full potential of the so-called Blue Economy in the Asia-Pacific region, further strengthening the country’s commitment to the sustainable management of the country’s rich marine biodiversity. Jonathan L. Mayuga

PNP to resume offensive vs NPA

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HE Philippine National Police (PNP) will resume on Saturday, its offensive operations against the New People’s Army (NPA) as its 10-day cease-fire with rebels will expire at 12 midnight on Friday.

Based on the monitoring of the PNP, its unilateral cease-fire with the guerrillas managed to hold as no incidents of attacks or harassments of police personnel by rebels across the country was recorded by the national headquarters.

A police official in Albay was shot and killed early this week, reportedly by armed men, while he was manning a checkpoint. The case was still being thoroughly investigated in order to determine if it was perpetrated by the rebels.

However, the deputy chief of police of the Libon Municipal Police Station, was conducting the checkpoint in support of a law-enforcement operations to serve a warrant of arrest against one of the most wanted persons in Albay.

The military reported that the NPA greeted its own unilaterally declared cease-fire with the government by harassing soldiers

who were involved in humanitarian assistance and disaster-response operations in Surigao del Sur on December 23. PNP Chief Director General Ricardo Marquez ordered the suspension of offensive police operations (Sopo) against the NPA that began on December 23 in deference to the country’s observance of Christmas and the New Year.

“As part of the yearly tradition, the Sopo is observed and respected by all units and personnel of the PNP that refrain the troops from initiating offensive police operations against the NPA,” PNP Spokesman Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor said.

However, the Sopo does not cover normal law- enforcement operations including the service of warrants of arrest.

Despite the cease-fire, Marquez ordered all policemen to be still on guard against possible attacks by the rebels.

“Recognizing the inherent right to self-defense, all units still remain on guard and maintain a high state of operational readiness to respond to any hostile actions,” he said. Rene Acosta

Now in the Philippines BusinessMirror

Turning Points: Global Agenda 2016 is a year-end package of opinion pieces and features, photos and cartoons covering events and trends in 2015 that will influence 2016 and beyond.

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | F

riday, January 1, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Kobe, Boston say good-bye in Lakers win

Knicks player shot in leg outside club

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EW YORK—New York Knicks player Cleanthony Early was shot in the leg as he left a strip club on Wednesday by masked robbers who demanded his “gold,” lawenforcement officials said.

Early left CityScapes in Queens with his girlf riend at about 4:30 a.m. in a cab when the vehicle was surrounded by at least two other cars and as many as six men got out, the two officials said. Early handed over two gold chains before he was shot in the right kneecap, the officials said.

The men drove off. The cab driver and girlfriend were uninjured, and the driver was robbed only of his identification. Early, 24, was hospitalized in a stable condition.

The two law-enforcement officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the victim’s name.

The team said in a brief statement that it was aware of an incident involving Early and “relieved that he is not in a life-threatening situation.”

Police were searching for suspects and trying to determine if it was a carefully planned attack or a spur-of-the-moment hit.

The theft comes about 10 days after Knicks forward Derrick Williams was robbed of $617,000 in jewelry from his home. He took home two women from a Manhattan club. Police are still looking for suspects.

Williams has declined to comment on the theft, but the case raised questions about whether National Basketball Association players should have a curfew like other professional sports. In April Indiana Pacers forward Chris Copeland, his girlfriend and another woman were stabbed following a late-night argument on the street near a Manhattan nightclub.

Knicks Coach Derek Fisher was asked about the policy at a news conference after Williams was robbed.

“I don’t really have to get into our policies of what you can and can’t do,” he said last week.

“We don’t have a curfew like in the NFL [National Football League] or other sports do on certain nights. It’s an unfortunate incident.”

Early was selected by his hometown New York team in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft, and has seen action in 10 of the Knicks’ 33 games this season, averaging 0.7 points per game. He played for less than a minute during the 108-96 win over Detroit on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

Early missed two months of the 2014-2015 season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, the same one injured in Wednesday’s shooting. AP

By Mike Bresnahan Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and Boston Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas battle for a loose ball during the former’s final game at TD Garden. AP

PACQUIAO-BRADLEY III

By Lance Pugmire Los Angeles Times

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ANNY PACQUIAO will return to the ring on April 9 to fight welterweight champion Timothy Bradley Jr. for a third time, promoter Bob Arum said on Wednesday.

And although Pacquiao is seeking election to the Philippines Senate, he and Arum have agreed not to market this as his final bout.

Pacquiao has repeatedly said he is hopeful to return with an impressive performance, and then try to talk unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. out of retirement for a

rematch.

Pacquiao (57 wins-6 losses-2 draws, 38 knockouts) has been sidelined since a May 2 unanimous-decision loss to Mayweather in a record-setting bout, in

which Pacquiao aggravated a shoulder injury suffered in training.

On his Facebook page this week, Pacquiao, 37, declared the surgically repaired shoulder “100 percent” in a question and answer with fans.

Pacquiao appeared to have his way with Bradley in their June 2012 and April 2014 fights, but judges CJ Ross and Duane Ford scored the 2012 bout for Bradley.

PACQUIAO

The 32-year-old Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) successfully defended his World Boxing Organization welterweight belt with a ninthround technical knockout of Brandon Rios on November 7 in Las Vegas.

“We haven’t seen this fight already, because this is a new Bradley,” Arum said.

“I don’t know that Manny has to prove anything other than he’s better than the current Bradley and his new coach. The Bradley who beat Rios was better than the Bradley I’ve seen of the last five years. Can that Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao? I don’t know, but I think it’s a close fight and he’s still coming off an injury.”

The Rios fight marked Bradley’s first with trainer Teddy Atlas, a former Mike Tyson cornerman and current ESPN analyst.

Arum said the Pacquiao-Bradley deal has been verbally agreed upon by both fighters, and that contracts are being sent, with news conferences scheduled in Los Angeles and New York in January. Arum said Pacquiao is expected to begin training at Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood by February 1.

Pacquiao was expected to announce earlier this month whether he’d choose Bradley, juniorwelterweight champion Terence Crawford or former 140-pound champion Amir Khan, but told Arum he needed more time.

“We have the deals...Manny approved it...and now the paperwork is being prepared,” Arum said.

“I’m not going to advertise it as his last fight.

It could be his last fight. But I’m not going to put myself in position where he changes his mind and goes on to fight in November, and then everyone says I’m a huckster. If it’s his last fight, it’s his last fight and it can be relevant as such after.... I’m not certain it is.

“Mayweather is retired, so I take him at his word. I could say, ‘[No way] he’s retired,’ but how do I know that? He’s retired? OK, he’s retired.”

Arum said Crawford, whom he promotes, and Khan, handled by promoter Al Haymon, were rejected by cable and satellite distributors for not being “that well-known yet.”

“They didn’t feel Khan would do anything,” Arum said. Khan “has a spotty record, hasn’t done great ratings. Why would we feel he’d do well on pay-per-view?”

Arum said he is seeking a super-middleweight title fight between his unbeaten challenger Gilberto Ramirez and Arthur Abraham on the Pacquiao-Bradley undercard, along with a possible heavyweight bout between Ike Ibeabuchi and Andy Ruiz. He said Crawford will fight twice before July and be available for a possible Pacquiao payper-view card later in 2016.

Crawford is being pointed toward a February 27 title defense against Mauricio Herrera of Riverside, California, with Puerto Rican lightweight Felix Verdejo on the Madison Square Garden card, Arum said.

AS TIGER TURNS 40, FUTURE LOOKS UNCERTAIN

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

T

Tiger Woods had three surgeries on his lower back in just over 18 months. He turned 40 in Wednesday. AP

EN days after Tiger Woods turned 24, he picked up his 16th career US Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour victory by beating Ernie Els in an epic battle at Kapalua.

More than winning his fifth straight tour event— the longest streak since 1953—it was how he won.

They matched eagles on the 18th in regulation and birdies in the playoff, and then Woods ended it on the second extra hole with a 40-foot birdie putt that was downhill, into the grain and broke hard to the left.

Els saw the future that January day in 2000, and it was daunting.

“He’s a legend in the making,” Els said. “He’s 24. He’s probably going to be bigger than Elvis when he gets into his 40s.”

Tiger Woods entered his 40s on Wednesday.

Bigger than Elvis?

No, because golf isn’t in the same galaxy as rock and roll.

But he was right about Woods being a legend in the making, and it didn’t take long.

His 15-shot victory in the US Open that summer at Pebble Beach was the most dominant in 140 years of major championships. He had the career Grand Slam at 24, and remains the only player to win multiple majors in back-to-back seasons.

“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses,” Adam Scott said. “We’ve only seen one bloke out here who did everything better than anyone else.”

His legacy on the golf course is secure no matter what happens in the rest of his career, and Woods referred to anything else he achieves as “gravy.” That struck a tone of resignation from Woods, who always wanted to be seen as an athlete instead of a golfer, and now can do little more than walk.

Three surgeries on his lower back in just over 18 months make it hard to gauge his future.

There is a tendency to celebrate his 40th birthday by looking back, making it feel more like a retirement party. It’s an easy trap. Woods hasn’t won in more than two years, and when he won his last major in the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines, Jordan Spieth had just finished his first year of high school.

When he turned 30, he was No. 1 in the world.

At age 40, he is No. 416.

When he turned pro at 20, the No. 1 player in the world was 41-year-old Greg Norman. Woods is 40, and the No. 1 player is 22-year-old Spieth.

“Where do I see myself in the next five to 10 years?” Woods blogged on his web site. “I am still playing golf at the highest level and winning tournaments and major championships. My foundation has been implemented around the globe, and we’ve helped out not just millions, but when I’m all said and done with my life on this earth, it will hopefully be billions.”

From the pinnacle of winning majors to the depths of injury, scandal and divorce, the impact of Woods has not changed. Golf is in a good spot with the next generation of stars— Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day at the moment—though none move the needle like Woods.

The reminder came at the Wyndham Championship, which Woods played for the first time. The Greensboro, North Carolina, tournament printed an additional 39,000 tickets when he signed up, and it set attendance records each day. That doesn’t happen with Spieth and McIlroy. It doesn’t happen with Phil Mickelson.

Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem recalled

being asked at Torrey Pines this year if he was troubled to see Woods struggling with his short game. He was coming off a career-high 82 in the Phoenix Open. As a fan, Finchem hated to see it.

As a commissioner, he wasn’t concerned.

“They said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘He’s going to tee it up on Thursday morning. You know anyone that’s not going to be watching?’”

Finchem said. “Everybody wants to see what he can do. Two years from now, he comes out, and starts playing OK—or a year from now, whatever it is—he’ll have a huge impact.”

Els was runner-up to Woods for the second time in three months at Kapalua in 2000, and he would go on to finish second to Woods three more times that year. He saw it coming. Els knew it was coming in 1996 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes when Woods consulted him on whether

he should turn pro.

Is this what he would have expected 20 years later?

Woods has 79 US PGA Tour victories (second only to 82 by Sam Snead) and 14 majors (trailing the 18 won by Jack Nicklaus). The only reason to suggest those numbers should be higher is because Woods achieved so much so quickly. The standard kept going up.

Woods is hopeful his 40th year brings good health and a chance to compete again.

He remains four majors short of Nicklaus—no one has ever won more than three majors in their 40s. The odds are against him historically, physically, maybe even emotionally.

“If that’s all it entails,” Woods said in The Bahamas about his career, “then I’ve had a pretty good run. But I’m hoping that’s not it.”

DOUBLES CHAMP Jobim Carlos (second from left) and Iñigo Raymundo (second from

right) hold their trophy as they pose with MVP Sports Foundation Executive Director Patricia Hizon (left) and National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) President Caloy Coscolluela after winning the NGAP’s fifth National Doubles Amateur Golf Championship crown at Camp Aguinaldo Golf Club last Tuesday.

OSTON—Leave it to Boston Celtics fans to create a distinctive good-bye, booing Kobe Bryant whenever he touched the ball.

Leave it to Bryant to one-up them with his own farewell, hitting a late three-pointer and walking off the court to chants of his name in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 112-104 victory at TD Garden.

It was a festive final game for Bryant here, enjoyable even, for a player who made five-of-18 shots.

This is one of those rare venues for Bryant.

He studies the banners in the rafters, often scans the green-tinted crowd. He hates it but reveres it, and on Wednesday was rewarded for it.

He was cheered overwhelmingly during pregame introductions, the scattered boos not enough to own the moment.

“I wish I could do more to show my gratitude. I’ll just try to say ‘thank you’ as much as I possibly could,” said Bryant, who scored 15 points.

Celtics fans, though, weren’t done with him.

They booed when he shot a free throw. When he received a pass. When he methodically backed defenders down in the post.

They paid their respect by cheering him before tip-off and then reality returned.

“As soon as I touched the ball and they booed, I was like, ‘Ah, I’m home,’ ” Bryant said.

While Bryant struggled with his shot, three young Lakers put dents in the box score: Jordan Clarkson had 24 points, D’Angelo Russell added 16 and Julius Randle had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Bryant, though, hit a 28-foot threepointer with 1:40 to play, giving the Lakers a 107-102 lead.

Afterward, Celtics players lined up to hug him. He clasped his hands together and took a bow before walking off the court.

The Celtics, borrowing a page from how they honored Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at his final game here in 1988, privately gave Bryant a framed slab of parquet long before tip-off. It was from their court at the 2010 National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals, when the Lakers outlasted them in seven physically grinding games.

“In recognition of your many legendary performances on the Parquet floor.... From your friends and rivals, The Boston Celtics,” the inscription read.

Bryant wasn’t very successful in the 2008 NBA Finals, helplessly watching Boston players dance on the bench when they won the seriesclinching Game Six by 39 points.

He had his moments here, including a 43-point, eight-rebound, eight-assist effort in January 2007 that drove Boston to a franchise record-tying 13th consecutive loss.

The adulation Bryant received late in that game prompted longtime Lakers trainer Gary Vitti to say incredulously, “It’s the most amazing feat in basketball that won’t ever show up in the record books: Boston fans yelled ‘M-V-P’ for our guy.”

Bryant might have booed himself in the first half on Wednesday. He missed his first eight shots before making a driving lay-up with 3:57 left in the second quarter.

His shoulder continues to bother him, presenting almost a numb feeling. It’s not believed to be serious but it’s the same one that ended his 2014-2015 season in January because of a torn rotator cuff.

As if it could stop him from playing one last time here.

“It’s a weird feeling, walking across center court and looking down at that logo,” he said, and was that a hint of nostalgia from a guy who swore there would be none on his retirement tour?

“Just tried to cherish it as much as possible,” he said.

The Lakers improved to a troubling 6-27.

The Celtics (18-14) are a fringe playoff team, little more. Bryant, ever the optimist, looked forward to the franchises one day meeting again in the Finals.

“You can trust the sports gods to line these teams up again,” he said. “Whether it’s 20 years from now, 30 years from now, who knows? But it’s going to happen again. And when it does, we’ll all sit back and enjoy it.”

In other results, it was Dallas 114, Golden State 91; San Antonio 112, Phoenix 79; Chicago 102, Indiana 100; Orlando 100, Brooklyn 93; Los Angeles Clippers 122, Charlotte 117; Minnesota 94, Utah 80; Toronto 94, Washington 91; Portland 110, Denver 103.