Businessmirror 10 11 2014

Airport screening to start at five U.S. airports The White House has announced extra screening for arriving passengers from West Africa. The screening will start at New York's John F. Kennedy airport this weekend, and later be used at Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta. Here is a look at the screening process.

Exit screening at airports in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone 1

Entry screening in the United States: GUINEA SIERRA LEONE LIBERIA Outbreak zone

All travelers will have their temperature taken with a non-contact digital thermometer.

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countries will be escorted by Customs and Border Protection to an area of the airport set aside for screening.

They will be asked questions about their health and exposure history, and assessed for signs of potential illness.

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Passengers will then: • Have their temperature taken.

• Answer questions to determine potential risk.

• Be observed for other symptoms of Ebola.

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If a traveler has a fever or other symptoms or has been exposed to Ebola, the CBP will quarantine them at the airport and refer to CDC to further evaluation.

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AP

Source: CDC Graphic: Greg Good

Newark Liberty Chicago O'Hare John F. Kennedy Washington Dulles Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta

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Travelers with symptoms or possible exposures to Ebola are separated and assessed further.This assessment determines whether they are allowed to travel or will be referred to public health authorities for further evaluation.

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1 Passengers from infected

© 2014 MCT

U.S. military planes arrive at epicenter of Ebola

MONROVIA, Liberia—Six US military planes arrived in the Ebola hot zone on Thursday with more Marines, as West Africa’s leaders pleaded for the world’s help in dealing with a crisis that one called “a tragedy unforeseen in modern times.” In Spain a Spanish hospital official says the nursing assistant infected with Ebola is “stable,” hours after authorities described her condition as critical.

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Ebola contact tracing Contact tracing is being used by health organizations to stop the Ebola virus from spreading further.

Here’s a look at how it works:

Contact tracers ask the Ebola patient who they have been in direct contact with.

All contacts are monitored for 21 days.

Any that show Ebola symptoms are put into isolation and tested for the virus.

The contact tracing process repeats with each new patient who is found, until there are no new patients.

If no symptoms show after 21 days, the contact is not at risk of developing Ebola. © 2014 MCT Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Graphic: Tyler Davis

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U.N. Media Award 2008

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STRIKES ON TERROR CELL The World BusinessMirror

B3-4 Saturday, October 11, 2014

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Strikes on terror cell don’t stop plots, officials say

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ASHINGTON—The barrage of US cruise missiles aimed at a cell of al-Qaeda militants in Syria last month failed to stop ongoing terror plots to blow up airplanes over Europe and the US, American intelligence officials say.

The strikes on a facility near Aleppo killed only one or two key members of what is referred to as the Khorasan Group, officials said, because many of the militants had scattered amid news reports highlighting their activities.

Among those who survived is a French-born jihadist who fought in Afghanistan with a military prowess that is of great concern to US intelligence officials. The group is believed to be continuing its plans to attack the West, officials say “The strikes were certainly effective in setting back the Khorasan Group, but no one thinks they were a permanent solution or a death blow to the threats that come from this cell,” said Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

On September 22 the US fired 46 cruise missiles at eight locations to target the group. At the same time, American air strikes struck targets associated with the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.

One of the US missiles went awry and killed a dozen civilians in the village of Kfar Derian, according to Mohammed Abu Omar, an activist

in the northern province of Idlib. The US military says it has not confirmed any civilian casualties.

The limited effectiveness of the attack on the Khorasan Group is partly the result of a hazy intelligence picture that also has bedeviled the air campaign against IS targets in Syria and Iraq.

The US lacks the networks of bases, spies and ground-based technology it had in place during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials say, or even the network of human sources it developed in Pakistan and Yemen.

The existence of the Khorasan Group became public only weeks before the air strikes, but US officials had been tracking it for up to two years. Officials said the group has a few dozen al-Qaeda members, some of whom are long-sought militants of the fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

They are working closely with Syria’s al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, officials said. The several current and former US officials spoke on condition of anonymity about the group because they were not authorized to discuss classified information.

Director James Comey said he believed the plots had not been disrupted and that the group remains a threat to the US. Other intelligence officials embraced Comey’s view.

Unlike the Nusra Front, which is trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Khorasan Group is focused chiefly on carrying out an attack against the West, officials say.

The group is said to have been trying to recruit Europeans and Americans

whose passports allow them to board a US-bound airliner with less scrutiny.

In addition, according to classified US intelligence assessments, the Khorasan militants have been trying to make or obtain explosives that can be slipped past airport security.

Among their sources, officials said, has been al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate, which has put bombs on airplanes, though the bombs failed to explode.

The fear is that the Khorasan

militants will provide these sophisticated explosives to their Western recruits who could sneak them onto US-bound flights.

News stories last month, including a September 13 report by the Associated Press that first disclosed the group’s significance as a terrorist threat, led some members to flee before the US military had a chance to strike their known locations, US officials said. AP

US-led coalition ramps up strikes on Kobani TO STEM EXTREMISTS, IRAQ TO REDUCE BAGHDAD’S POWER

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URSITPINAR, Turkey— The US-led coalition intensified its aerial bombardment of Islamic State (IS) positions on Thursday in the Syrian border town of Kobani as the extremist group fought street battles with Kurdish forces and reportedly rushed in reinforcements.

The battle for the town near the frontier with Turkey has emerged as a major early test for the air campaign aimed at rolling back and eventually destroying the extremist group.

It has also strained ties between Washington and Ankara over the long-term US strategy in Syria. On Thursday, the US special envoy for the coalition, retired Marine Gen. John Allen, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization chief Jens Stoltenberg were in Turkey to press the country to join military operations.

Turkish officials have said that while they do not want Kobani to fall, they will not take on a greater role until the coalition outlines a broader strategy that also includes attacking Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is best positioned to benefit from any rollback of the IS group.

But attacking Assad’s regime “is not the focus of our international coalition and not the focus of our efforts by the United States,” State Department Spokesman Jen Psaki said.

Psaki said Allen and Turkish officials discussed ways to advance the effort against the IS group and said a joint military planning team will visit Ankara early next week.

“Both sides also agreed that we will continue a dynamic and deepening bilateral consultation process across the multiple lines of effort against ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant], including military support, countering foreign fighters, counter-finance, humanitarian assistance, and de-legitimizing ISIL’s messaging and rhetoric,” she said using and acronym for the IS group.

Turkey also has called for the creation of a buffer zone inside Syria to secure the border, but the White House and Pentagon said on Wednesday the US is not considering that option. Such a zone would be costly and complex to enforce.

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TURKISH soldiers on a tank and an armored vehicle hold their positions on a hilltop in the outskirts of Suruc, Turkey, at the Turkey-Syria border, overlooking smoke rising from a strike in Kobani, Syria, during fighting between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group on Thursday. Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, and its surrounding areas, has been under assault by extremists of the IS group since midSeptember and is being defended

by Kurdish fighters. AP/LEFTERIS PITARAKIS

US officials said on Thursday the US is largely talking to Turkey about other things it could do besides inserting ground forces into the fight: allowing US and coalition aircraft to fly over Turkish territory; allowing its air base in Incirlik, some 160 kilometers from the Syrian border, to be used by US or coalition planes or for logistics and training; and equipping moderate Syrian opposition forces fighting to topple Assad.

The officials were not authorized to discuss meetings under way be-

World

THIS September 23 photo shows Syrian citizens checking a damaged house that they say was targeted by the coalition air strikes, in the village of Kfar Derian, a base for the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, a rival of the Islamic State group, between the northern province of Aleppo and Idlib, Syria. AP/EDLIB NEWS NETWORK ENN

Khorasan is a historical reference to a region that included parts of Iran and Afghanistan.

In public, US officials have offered seemingly contradictory assessments of the attacks on the Khorasan Group.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the strikes disrupted the group’s plotting, but he did not know for how long.

Federal Bureau of Investigation

tween US and Turkish officials in Ankara and requested anonymity.

The fight for Kobani has brought Syria’s civil war yet again to Turkey’s doorstep, and for weeks the US and its allies have pressed Ankara to take a more robust role in the coalition. In addition, Kurds have held massive demonstrations across Turkey in which they accuse the government, which has deployed its tanks just across the frontier, of doing nothing to save the town. AP

AGHDAD—To get a home or an office built in the central Iraqi province of Salahuddin, contractors have usually had to pay hefty bribes to corrupt officials in Baghdad to clear away the red tape.

It was just one example of the heavy hand that the central government holds over even the smallest details of life in Iraq’s provinces.

That hand was often corrupt as well.

Around 70 percent of the projects that the government committed to fund in Salahuddin existed only on paper, according to Najih al-Mizan, a Sunni lawmaker from the province.

“Some of the funds allocated to the province go missing in Baghdad,” alMizan said.

The combination of interference and neglect from the Shiite-led government in Baghdad was one reason many among the predominantly Sunni population of Salahuddin saw the Islamic State (IS) group has a possible alternative when its extremist fighters swept into the province the past month, alMizan said. People there were so fed up with Baghdad, they were desperate for something new.

Now, Iraq’s new government, beleaguered by the Sunni militant onslaught over much of the country, is making a concerted effort to empower local and provincial governments. The aim is in part to draw Sunni support away from the extremists. But it is also a calculation that it is better to have a controlled decentralization of power than to see the country outright fall apart into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish fragments, as many fear.

Until recently in Iraq, getting anything done on a provincial level— even routine business like hiring a street cleaner—required approval from Baghdad. Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish populations alike have long complained that the central government monopolized power and horded resources, leaving outlying regions to fend for themselves.

Provinces that are home to the Sunni minority have long felt the brunt of discrimination from Shiite authorities in Baghdad, who the Sunnis say would often either neglect

CHINESE CAPTAIN DEAD IN FISHING CLASH IN S. KOREA

their needs or exploit them through corruption. But Shiite provinces were neglected as well, particularly those dominated by Shiite parties not in favor in the capital.

The exclusion intensified feelings of resentment toward the government of then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, even among one-time loyalists. That resentment finally led to alMaliki’s replacement last month.

The IS group, which now holds territory stretching from northern Syria across Sunni regions of northern and western Iraq down to the edges of Baghdad, has intentionally sought to benefit from the Sunni resentments of Baghdad.

Part of its core strategy has been to establish administration over the land that it controls to win over the population. The group administers courts, cleans streets, fi xes roads and even polices traffic.

Haider al-Abadi, named Iraq’s prime minister on September 8, has made decentralization a paramount theme in his platform. He plans to give greater autonomy to provincial governments and construct a national guard in which recruits and leadership are conscripted from local populations.

“We have to move away from governing from the center, which is Baghdad, and having to decide all the details for the different governorates—that’s important for us,” al-Abadi said in a September 17 interview with the Associated Press.

“We want to have a real federal state according to the constitution,” by giving provinces more power and involving them more in the central government’s decision-making for the whole of Iraq.

Decentralization has failed to take off in the past. In 2013 parliament revised a law on provincial powers to spread authorities but the changes were never carried out.

The constitution itself—written under heavy US influence after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein—has strong provisions for decentralization. It allows several provinces to vote to form a region together that would have a large degree of autonomy. AP

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EOUL, South Korea—The captain of a Chinese fishing vessel was killed on Friday following a fight with South Korean coast guard officers who stopped his ship for suspected illegal fishing activities, officials said.

A South Korean guardsman shot the man in the stomach with a handgun after he violently resisted inspections in the waters off South Korea’s western coast, said coast guard official Kim Hye-gyeong.

The 45-year-old Chinese national was airlifted to a hospital and pronounced dead about 30 minutes later, according to officials at the Mokpo Hankook Hospital. The hospital did not immediately announce the exact cause of death.

The deadly fight occurred as a dozen South Korean coast guard officers boarded the Chinese ship for searches in South Korea’s exclusive economic zone, which extends 370 kilometers from shore.

When other Chinese fishing ships pulled nearby and sent their crew members aboard the ship being inspected, the Chinese captain began resisting more violently, which led to his shooting death, according to South Korean coast guard officer Cho Nam-yong.

It wasn’t immediately known whether there were other injuries.

Chinese fishing boats have been going farther afield to feed growing domestic demand for seafood as catches have decreased in waters close to China’s shores. South Korea’s coast seized about 220 Chinese ships last year for illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea. In 2011 one South Korean coast guard officer was killed in a clash with Chinese fishermen in South Korean waters. AP

Traffic checkpoint nets Mexico’s alleged Juarez Cartel capo

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EXICO CITY—Federal police used a seemingly routine traffic checkpoint to nab Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the alleged drug-cartel boss accused by Mexico’s government of turning the border city of Juarez into one of the deadliest places on the planet.

Over the course of an 11-month investigation, agents identified two homes in the northern city of Torreon that Carrillo Fuentes was believed to have visited discreetly, as well as a vehicle he used to get around town.

They used that information to narrow down his movements, and on Thursday set up the checkpoint. AP

world

b3-4

lighting up the powder keg

Life

give it a try

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ear Lord, because of our pride, we always say “It’s impossible.” Because of our experience, it’s easy to say, “It’s risky!” When we are supposed to use our reason, we comment, “It’s pointless!” and when we give it a try, we feel the heart is overpowering us. Oh, Lord, we know You always tell us, “give it a try.” amen!

YETTA CRUZ And LoUiE M. LACson Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Bringing Back the trust

BusinessMirror

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

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Saturday, October 11, 2014

By Samito Jalbuena | the.beast@zoho.com

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RT comes in many forms, opening our eyes to different styles that explore a multitude of artistic visions. Often, we will squirm at the alien and the different. Some genres will be bashed, and some still will be deemed as having no merit. Typically, people will have a preference for one school against the other.

Take, for example, the classor ideology-based prejudice against social realist art, and why, despite its antagonists, they are still a few brave collectors who would dare go against the tide and seek social realism’s manifestations in the art market.

For those who do not yet know, social realism is a style of objective art that represents the ills and inequalities of society as it depicts everyday conditions of the working class and the poor, and is critical of the social structures and cultural patterns

that maintain these conditions.

A social realist’s choice of subject matter always utilizes a form of descriptive or critical realism despite varying his technique from other social realists.

In the Philippines, social realism has achieved a tinge of the progressive or the leftleaning. It is because of the social realist’s unwavering stance that he is often ostracized by other artists and left in the blue by some art collectors. Despite this, the social realist thrives.

This is no more apparent than

in the career of Leonilo “neil” Doloricon, a Thirteen Artists awardee of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1990 and a social realist who recently opened his latest art exhibit, titled Huling Balita, at nova Gallery in makati City.

Huling Balita is a power keg where art and politics meet. Take, for example, the oil on canvas called Kongreso that depicts in visual terms the latest set of shenanigans known as the porkbarrel scam that recently erupted in the Philippine Congress. In the exhibit, Doloricon gives you “the news in all its gore and glory”, says a preface to the show.

The pork-barrel scam alleges certain individuals, including five senators and 23 congressmen, of having engineered over the past decade the malversation of public funds for ghost projects.

In Kongreso, Doloricon expresses the public’s condemnation of the scandal as part of an intricate web of corruption. The scam has provoked public outrage, with calls being made in popular protests for justice. What is involved here is the people’s money; it should be used for their benefit, and not for the largesse of a few greedy individuals.

For Doloricon’s portrayal of these signs of the times and the writings on the wall, he is met with

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contempt by other artists who are adversarial to social realism.

They say that social realism is not art but propaganda. They declare that social realism is already dead.

They want to legislate the artistic lives of other artists, including Doloricon’s, to tell him to stop what he’s been painting. What is going on here?

Clearly, there is a divide that seeks to disrupt the production of images of protest. But in a world where artistic freedom has enjoyed no boundaries and where studio practice now freely allows what was once forbidden, there are a few who would still bind the work of the social realist to darkness.

But Doloricon’s art is a lens of looking at prevailing social realities which constitute a significant part of what we can call the truth.

For artists, studio discipline is very personal. Some artists and collectors will hate social realism because it celebrates the critical, while others will prefer it because of the fact. only ignorance will tell us to stop Doloricon from portraying the truth.

Huling Balita runs till october 31. nova Gallery is located at Warehouse 12A, La Fuerza Plaza, 2241 Chino roces Avenue, makati City. For inquiries about Doloricon’s artworks, e-mail gallerynova@gmail.com, or visit www.novagallerymanila.com or www.facebook.com/novagallery.

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Fine treasures forged with passion

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❶ Kongreso, oil on canvas

36"x42", rubbercut, 2013

❹ oFW, Woodcut, 2'x3', 2013

2013

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❶ Buen CaluBayan ❷ Film ColleCtive tito & tita (from left) Jippy Pascua, timmy Harn, Jacyn esquillon, Gym lumbera and Shireen Seno.

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rom october 11 to october 24, Qube Gallery Cebu in cooperation with Hiraya Gallery (www.hiraya.com) presents Cruces, an exhibition

by Hans Brumann featuring signature crosses and wallbound art sculptures.

Being an expert goldsmith, stone-setter and gemologist, Brumann uses his skills as the handmaiden of his creative mind to produce minimalist yet classic pieces. Singular in his use of locally sourced materials, Brumann has always used Philippine hardwood, like narra, molave and kamagong, as well as mother of pearl in crafting his signature crosses.

The Swiss designer was born into a baker’s family, but his imagination and passion for uniqueness led him to jewelry-making. Defying family tradition, Brumann started his jewelry design career as an apprentice in Zurich in 1957, followed by formal schooling in Germany.

Swiss by birth, Brumann declared himself Filipino by choice in 1975. Paying homage to other art forms, Brumann has initiated collaborative exhibitions with other celebrated sculptors and painters in the country.

Qube Gallery is at Henry Hotel, one Paseo, maria Luisa road, Banilad, Cebu City.

Artists’ Talk with Buen Calubayan and Tito & Tita

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uen CALuBAyAn and film collective Tito & Tita speak in an Artists’ Talk on october 11, from 2 to 4 pm, at the Lopez museum. As guest artists in the museum’s current exhibition, Articles of Disagreements, they will discuss their featured works, as well as their art practice.

Calubayan, a Cultural Center of the Philippines 13 Artists Awardee in 2009, devises his art projects to understand and organize his life in the context of a larger community. He uses painting, installation, performance, research and documentation as he navigates through mainstream, museum-based and nontraditional modes of art validation.

For this exhibition, Calubayan made a

continuing performance, entitled Employee 55 that archived his daily experience as a researcher in the national museum, collecting e-mail exchanges, daily commute logs, office placemats, etc.

Tito & Tita is a collective of young artists working mainly with film and photography based in manila. As individual filmmakers, their works have been featured in various film festivals and art fairs, including the International Film Festival rotterdam (2013), the museum of the moving Image, new york (2012) and Documenta in Kassel, Germany (2012). The group is redefining independent cinema and photography in manila through an enthralling transformation of images and disarming practicality amid

symbolism, surrealism and experimental techniques. Their featured work, Mga Talahib at Rosas,” finds translation from working behind the camera while creating frames and sites for curious encounters. In the exhibition, they turned a space into a dark room where the image of asantan curiously emerges, engaging the unsuspecting public.

To hear more from the artists and see their works in the exhibition, register with Thea Garing at 631-2417 or e-mail lmmpasig@gmail.com.

The Lopez museum and Library is at the ground floor, Benpres Building, exchange road corner meralco Avenue, Pasig City. museum days and hours are every monday to Saturday, except holidays, 8 am to 5 pm.

life

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bigger than james Sports BusinessMirror

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| Saturday, OCtOber 11, 2014 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

ANDERSON VAREJAO (center) poses for photos with kids before the start of their training session in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. Varejao, LeBron James and the Cavaliers will play the Miami Heat in a preseason game in Rio on Saturday. AP

As they practiced together for Cleveland on Thursday for a preseason game in Rio de Janeiro against the Miami Heat, it was easy to believe the Cavaliers are Anderson Varejao’s team. The Brazilian has a boyish face, stands 6-foot-11 with a head of wild curly hair, and he nearly blushed when he was told several times he was more popular than King James.

BIGGER THAN JAMES

By Stephen Wade

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The Associated Press

IO DE JANEIRO—They don’t get any bigger than LeBron James—except when you’re in Brazil, where the attention paid to Anderson Varejao shades his National Basketball Association (NBA) superstar teammate.

As they practiced together for Cleveland on Thursday for an NBA preseason game in Rio de Janeiro against the Miami Heat, it was easy to believe the Cavaliers were Varejao’s team.

The hugely popular Varejao has returned to play NBA basketball in the homeland he left at 19.

The Brazilian has a boyish face, stands 6-foot-11 with a head of wild curly hair, and he nearly blushed when he was told several times he was more popular than King James.

“I don’t really think so,” Varejao said, swarmed over by at least 100 reporters—almost all Brazilians—and

BACK TO WORK HUNTER MAHAN (left) is seen here with US teammate Zach Johnson in a practice round during the Ryder Cup. AP

tailed after by young Brazilians invited to attend a clinic and watch practice.

“We are talking about LeBron James, one of the greatest,” Varejao countered.

Varejao wasn’t the reason James returned to Cleveland.

But it was a bonus. And it didn’t hurt.

“He was a huge part of the success we had in my years before,” James said of Varejao. “I was happy when I made my decision that he was still part of the team.”

Varejao said he was with his parents in July when he heard James was going back to his hometown team.

“I was as happy as a little kid who was waiting for this gift for a long time,” he said. “I was just in shock, and happy.

“Now, when everybody goes to play against Cleveland, they’re going to talk about the Cleveland that has LeBron James. It’s a different animal, a different team when you have a guy like LeBron.”

Varejao’s presence, James’s return to Cleveland, and James’s former team the Heats—winners of two of the last

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

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APA, California—The new Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour season felt like an old one to a trio of Ryder Cup players on Thursday at the Frys.com Open.

Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar and Jimmy Walker met on the 10th tee at Silverado. With a morning chill in the air and beautiful scenery of Napa Valley, it was vaguely similar to the rolling hills of Gleneagles just two weeks ago at the Ryder Cup. Except that no one was singing. There was hardly anyone in the grandstand, or on the golf course.

“It’s a little strange off the tee when no one is really here at 7:45,” Mahan said after opening with a twounder 70, leaving him four shots off the early lead. “And out there at 7, everyone is singing along and the party is already started.”

It was back to normal for those three Americans, along with Lee Westwood of England, who played in the afternoon.

And it was another chance for Andres Gonzalez, who made it back to the PGA Tour for the third time. He has yet to keep his card, and while this was only the first round of the new wraparound season, he was happy with no bogeys on his card and a six-under 66.

The star attraction at the Frys.com Open was the Ryder Cup trio, and there were about 500 people tagging along— the largest gallery at Silverado—toward the end when the par-5 ninth hole summed up their rounds.

three NBA titles—make for a marquee preseason game to showcase at the HSCB Arena in the Olympic Park.

James talked down the importance of Saturday’s game.

So did his old Heat teammates, two-thirds of the former Big Three: Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

“I’m still cool with all those guys,” James said. “I’m not that far into it right now as far as the competitive nature goes. It’s too early. I don’t want to put all my mind into it right now, or I’ll be drained too fast. It’s really not a storyline. It’s what you guys make of it. I make a decision just like a lot of guys made decisions this summer.”

The Heat practiced first in the crackerbox black-andred painted gym at the Flamengo Club, home of Brazil’s most popular soccer team. They were gone by the time Cleveland arrived.

Bosh said he’d been with James recently.

“We talk, but I want to get people to understand that I’m a competitor,” Bosh said. “He [James] is on

Mahan lagged perfectly from 75 feet for a two-putt birdie. Kuchar showed off a sharp short game, and his pitch from short of the green struck the pin and settled about a foot away. He shot 71. Walker thought his full wedge was perfect until it took a hard hop and landed in a gnarly spot in the rough, leading to a bogey and a 75.

Most of them would have preferred at least another week off.

Walker is defending a title for the first time in his career.

Mahan and Kuchar are at the Frys.com Open as part of a deal with the PGA Tour for letting them play an exhibition in Turkey two years ago. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy also were supposed to play this year until they deferred, McIlroy because he was wiped out from a busy summer of winning back-to-back majors, Woods while he tries to regain his explosiveness from back surgery earlier in the year.

The tour is in its second year of a wraparound season that starts in October and ends with the Tour Championship in September, and it’s still hard to digest that everyone is starting over at Silverado.

“It’s already a new year and Santa hasn’t even come yet,” Stuart Appleby said after a 69. “I’ve just had a month off. I don’t know what happened to it, where it went.”

Mahan knows the feeling better than anyone. This is his 10th event in the last 13 weeks, dating to the British Open. He did not play the Wyndham Championship, and he had a week off before and after the Ryder Cup. “I haven’t taken more than five days off,” Mahan said.

“It’s always weird to say, ‘Five days off’ because people work for a living. I thought I was going to play really, really good. And then I was playing yesterday and it was

another team. He’d understand that. I understand that.

We’ll have plenty of time to talk in the summer, and that’s how it is now. I’ll see him on the court, and that will be plenty of time to catch up.”

There was some time for tourism, but not much.

Some of the Cavaliers made it to Sugarloaf Mountain on Wednesday—400 meters (1,300 feet) up and overlooking Guanabara Bay and Copacabana beach. Early Thursday, the Cavs went vertical again for Christ the Redeemer, which has a view over Rio’s green mountains and endless sand.

Wade said he was staying put.

“I won’t get to experience it [Rio] that much,” he said.

“It’s a work trip. I won’t be on the beach. I got a lot of beaches in Miami, and I don’t go to them much.”

He was also low-key about facing James.

“I’ve played against him more than I played with him,” Wade said. “I played against LeBron for seven years.

I played with him for four. It’ll be fine. We’ll get back to it.

It’ll be good to get this one out of the way.”

like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t read another putt. I’m so tired of it.’ But I feel good about coming in here and putting my energy in the right place.”

The tour put the three American Ryder Cup players together, and it felt like old times when Andy Sanders, Walker’s caddie, wore a Ryder Cup jacket to fight the chill.

“We were giving him a hard time for not letting it go,” Kuchar said.

In some ways, it was therapeutic to get back on the course, even though it was a change from playing before a gallery that stood 10-deep along the fairways to a gallery that could see across several fairways.

Kuchar compared it with going from the Masters to Hilton Head. He played his first Ryder Cup in 2010 at Wales, and he teed it up at the McGladrey Classic three days after he got home.

“I found it nice to get back out and play and be able to move on,” he said.

It was a little easier to move on considering that the Ryder Cup wasn’t terribly close. Europe built a 10-6 lead going into the final day at Gleneagles, and while there was an early surge of American red on the board, the outcome was never really in doubt.

Walker kept pace with his teammates until he missed a variety of putts—a 5-footer for birdie that he barely tapped, a 15-footer that defied gravity on the right edge of the cup and a 3-foot par putt that he missed on No. 5, perhaps distracted by the sound of the group ahead teeing off on the next hole when he struck his putt.

sports

he Philippines’s manufacturing sector posted its slowest growth in five months at only 7.5 percent in August, according to the latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (Missi) data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday.

KEY YARDSTICK SHOWS U.S. STILL TOP ECONOMY

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By Cai U. Ordinario

Data showed that the August Volume of Production Index (VoPI) recorded the slowest growth since March 2014, when the index only grew 0.4 percent.

The August 2014 VoPI was also slower, compared to the 17.5-percent growth posted in August 2013. The highest growth in the VoPI this year was only the 13-percent increContinued on A2 ment posted in May 2014.

Lighting up the powder keg of art and politics ❶

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all it another false alarm in the China-overtaking-the-United States saga. Notwithstanding the latest estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the US, the world’s largest economy, is still, well, numero uno.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) will climb to $17.6 trillion this year, while the US grows to $17.4 trillion, IMF projections showed on Thursday. One major caveat: The comparison is based on purchasing power parity (PPP), which uses exchange rates that adjust for price differences of the same goods between nations.

“The US remains the biggest by the more common, more widely accepted and, in our view, more useful measure,” said David Hensley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. director of global economic coordination in New York. As for PPP, “it’s not quite the real thing.”

The PPP, used to differentiate how far money goes in each country, hardly reflects where the two nations currently stand vis-à-vis each other. Consider this: In 2013 US GDP was at $16.8 trillion, way ahead of China’s $9.24 trillion before adjusting for inflation, which is the more commonly known measure of an economy’s size, World Bank figures show.

See “US,” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 44.6240

DEEP THOUGHT President Aquino focuses on the exchanges at the opening session of the Bali Democracy Forum VII (BDF) at the Nusantara Hall II of the Bali International Convention Center on Friday. The BDF is an annual, intergovernmental forum on the development of democracy in the Asia-Pacific region. It aims to foster dialogue-based regional and international cooperation through the sharing of experience and best practices that adhere to the principles of equality, mutual respect and understanding. Ryan Lim / Malacañang Photo Bureau

French firm RATP joins groups that will vie for LRT Line 2 deal

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

he operations and maintenance contract for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 2 has attracted two more investors, one being the operator of the French capital’s train systems.

Transportation Spokesman Michael Arthur C. Sagcal said Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) Development and DMCI Holdings Inc. have bought bid documents for the key infrastructure contract.

The French firm operates Paris Metro, which serves roughly 5 million train

riders per day through 16 train lines with 303 stations.

This brought the number of interested groups for the project to six, including San Miguel Corp., GT Capital Holdings Inc., Marubeni Corp. and the Light Rail Manila Consortium (LRMC), a joint venture between Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

LRMC earlier tapped RATP Development as its technical partner for the P65billion LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension Project.

Deadline for the submission of bids for the prequalification stage is on November 20.

Only those who passed the prequalification stage will be allowed to join the bidding, which is slated sometime in the second quarter of 2015.

The winning bidder will take over the operations and maintenance of all 11 stations of the existing line, as well as the 4.19-kilometer LRT 2 Masinag Extension, for about 10 to 15 years.

Construction of the P9.7-billion Masinag Extension will start by January next year. It will take the government roughly a year-and-a-half to fully complete the construction of the railway extension. It will be See “French firm,” A2

n japan 0.4135 n UK 71.9339 n HK 5.7535 n CHINA 7.2790 n singapore 35.1121 n australia 39.2644 n EU 56.6234 n SAUDI arabia 11.8972 Source: BSP (10 October 2014)

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News BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 11, 2014

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DA plan to restrict importation of meat may result in WTO suit

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By Catherine N. Pillas

he Philippines may find itself in the receiving end of a complaint before the World Trade Organization (WTO) if the Department of Agriculture (DA) would push through with its plan to impose the six-month cut-off time for meat importations after the period of slaughter, warned the association of meat importers on Wednesday.

Jesus C. Cham, president of the Meat Importers and Traders Association (Mita), warned this week that foreign suppliers of meat may bring a complaint against the Philippines before the WTO if the previous pronouncement of the DA to restrict entry of imported meat to a maximum of six months after their slaughter be imposed.

“It’s very likely our foreign suppliers will stop dealing with us or bring us to the WTO to cite this as a technical barrier to trade,” Cham said in a phone interview.

Cham added that the six-month requirement previously pronounced by the DA would lead to substantial wastage, as importing meat takes an average transit time of two months, and not all the current stock of

importers could be sold immediately.

“Once you start putting conditions and specifications, of course, it’ll be more difficult to bring in [meat] and will lead to scarcity. Prices will go up in this case,” Cham added.

Cham, however, refused to give estimates on the possible price adjustments that will happen if the DA plan pushes through.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala earlier in the year said in a statement there have been findings of meat importers bringing in expired meat from the United States and Canada, among other sources.

Alcala then said he will only allow the importation of meat slaughtered not more than six months. He also initiated investigation on the alleged importation of expired meat into the

French firm. . . continued from a1

fully operational by that same time frame. When constructed, the new facility will add 4.14 km to the existing line, which is the youngest of the four train systems in the country.

Two additional stations will be constructed: the Emerald Station in front of Robinsons Place Metro East in Cainta, Rizal; and the Masinag Station at the Masinag Junction in Antipolo City. The line will serve an additional 130,000 train commuters from the current number of 240,000.

The 13.8-km-long LRT Line 2 traverses the cities of Manila, San Juan, Quezon, Marikina and Pasig. The government is also currently procuring a new maintenance provider for the line. The state has earmarked P1.3 billion for the upkeep deal.

Aside from these ventures, the transportation agency is studying the possibility of extending the LRT Line 2 westward to the Port Area in Manila.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency is aiding the government in evaluating the feasibility of the plan. Included in the review is the mode of project finance: whether it would be through a foreign grant or be included in the pipeline of publicprivate partnership deals.

US. . .

continued from a1

By looking at a PPP comparison, especially for developing nations, “you really exaggerate the importance of these economies,”because it misses the command that each has over the world’s resources and its influence over global activity, Hensley said. A preoccupation with this“competition or foot-race”captures little of the reversal in fortunes under way, he said.

Reversal of fortune

“EMERGING-market economies had their day in the sun in the 2000s, and China was the epitome of those go-go days,” he said, as growth forecasts were often revised up, policies were aimed at boosting their economies and their markets offered a lot of potential.“Developed economies by comparison looked pretty stodgy,” Hensley said.

“The view we encounter now is a more sobering reassessment,” he said, adding that he prefers projections based on market-exchange rates. “The US has cleaned up its act. China still has a lot of work to do.” Adjusted for population, China falls way behind even using the PPP data, and the US is also no longer the king of the world. China ranks 86th in PPP GDP per capita, up 29 spots from a decade ago, while the US slips one notch to 10th, according to Bloomberg calculations based on IMF data. The top 3 by this metric are Qatar, Luxembourg and Singapore. Bloomberg News

country. Cham, however, countered that importers already subject shipments to clearance regulations imposed by the quarantine officers of the Bureau of Animal Industry, as well as additional scrutiny by the National Meat Inspection Service.

A green-lane facility is also being considered for importers with a good record of compliance with regulations.

Products going through the green lane will undergo minimal inspection.

Cham added there is no scientific basis for the six-month limitation on the entry of imports and is against globally accepted standards.

The Mita president is hoping the pronouncement will not be imposed by the agriculture department until results of the investigation have come in.

Pasa...

continued from A1

A TOAST TO ‘BAYANIHAN’ With the theme ‘A Toast to Bayanihan’: Celebrating Unity Amidst Adversity,” Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc (fourth from left) leads the ceremonial toast with Philippine Insurers and Reinsurance Association Inc. (Pira) trustees Armand Pesigan, Michael Rellosa, Pira Chairman Emmanuel Que, Perfecto Domingo, David Mercado Jr., Rebecca de la Cruz, Rhodora Morales and Claire Chua during the 2014 Pira Awards held in Makati City. ALYSA SALEN

Factory-output growth slows

Notable decreases in VoPI were observed in food manufacturing, which accounts for a significant share of the output of manufacturing products in the Philippines.

The VoPI for food manufacturing contracted 4.8 percent in August.

This is the steepest decline in the VoPI of food manufacturing since December 2013 when the food VoPI contracted 6.9 percent.

However, the contraction in food manufacturing VoPI was countered by the 218.6-percent growth in printing, as well as the double-digit increases in VoPI in other manufacturing sectors.

“The other eight major sectors Continued from A1

that posted two-digit increases were the following: leather products (50.5 percent), beverages (31.6 percent), machinery except electrical (30.1 percent), fabricated metal products (23.5 percent), transport equipment (11.6 percent), basic metals (11.6 percent), petroleum products (11.4 percent), and furniture and fixtures (10.5 percent),” the PSA said.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector’s average capacity-utilization rate remained at 83.5 percent for the fourth consecutive month.

The average capacity-utilization rate reached 83.5 percent in May, an increase from 83.3 percent in April. It has remained at the same rate until August.

“Capacity utilization is the ratio

of output to the maximum rated capacity. Rated capacity refers to the largest volume of output possible at which the factory can operate with an acceptable degree of efficiency taking into consideration unavoidable losses of productive time (i.e. vacation, holiday and repair to equipment) and availability of raw materials,” the PSA explained.

The data showed that over 50 percent, or 11 of the 20 major industries, operated at 80-percent-and-above capacity-utilization rates.

These sectors include basic metals with an average capacity-utilization rate of 89.1 percent; petroleum products, 88.9 percent; nonmetallic mineral products, 86 percent; machinery except electrical, 84.6 percent; and

food manufacturing, 84.4 percent.

Other sectors include electrical machinery with 84.4 percent; chemical products, 83.9 percent; paper and paper products, 82.9 percent; rubber and plastic products, 82.5 percent; printing, 81.8 percent; and wood and wood products, 81.5 percent.

The Missi is a non-probability sample survey of manufacturing establishments. Selection of sample units for this survey is done purposively so as to include only the large establishments, or the so-called industry leaders.

The survey is conducted monthly nationwide using a shuttle questionnaire that provides the respondents with a running account of the previous months’ data for one year.

Neda: Twin-digit export growth can be sustained

In terms of regional destinations, shipments to the members of the Asean account for 14.1 percent of the country’s total exports while the European Union covered 12.7 percent.

Esguerra said these measures are outlined in the Philippine Development Plan Midterm Update and reflected in the Philippine Export Continued from A8

Development Plan 2014-2016.

These policy strategies, he said, should be linked to governance reforms, supply-chain improvement, infrastructure support and product diversification and innovation in order to sustain exports growth.

“The government, on the other hand, should be prepared to craft measures to protect vulnerable sectors in the event of economic shocks in the global market,”

Esguerra said.

The Philippines’s export earnings from its top 10 markets in August 2014 amounted to $4.481 billion, or 81.9 percent of the total.

Japan including Okinawa remained the Philippines’s top export market and accounted for 19.1 percent, or $1.04 billion, of total exports for August 2014.

Rounding up the top 5 export markets were China with 15 percent,

or $820.74 million; United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, 14.6 percent, or $799.62 million; Hong Kong, 8.7 percent, or $476.24 million; and Singapore, 7.4 percent, or $405.67 million.

Other top market destinations for August 2014 were: Germany, $219.93 million; Netherlands, $193.36 million; Taiwan, $183.65 million; Republic of Korea, $172.65 million; and Thailand, $164.67 million.

Econ team dangles $12.28-B projects in Tokyo road show Continued from A8

would be a prudent move because of its favorable economic prospects.

The National Economic and Development Authority expects gross domestic product to grow by at least 6.5 percent this year, between 7 percent and 8 percent next year, and between 7.5 and 8.5 percent in 2016.

PPP Center Executive Director Cosette Canilao said the $12.28 billion worth of PPP deals consist of 13 infrastructure projects to be rolled out within the year. There would be three more PPP projects to be rolled out within the short term, but the costs of these deals have yet to be determined.

The PPP projects are the following: New Centennial Water Supply Source ($416 million); Enhanced Operation and Maintenance of Panglao Airport in Bohol ($52 million); O&M of Laguindingan Airport ($353.8 million); O&M of Puerto Princesa Airport ($116.2 million); O&M of Davao Airport ($901.6 million); O&M of Bacolod Airport ($450.2 million); O&M of Iloilo Airport ($675.6 million); Davao Sasa Port ($377.8 million); Regional Prison Facilities ($1.115 billion); Motor Vehicle Inspection System ($428.9 million); NorthSouth Railway Project-South Line ($3.927 billion); Mass Transit System Loop ($3 billion); San Fernando Airport ($464 million). Energy Undersecretary Raul Aguilos also presented investment opportunities in the Philippines’s indigenous energy resources, such as hydroelectric and natural oil and gas development.

He said the Department of Energy aims to nearly triple the country’s installed renewable-energy capacity from the current 5,438 MW to 15,304.30 MW by 2030.

On oil and natural gas, he said there are 16 sedimentary basins all over the Philippines with combined potential of 4,777 million barrels of fuel oil equivalent of oil and gas reserves. Moreover, he said, there are 13 coal basins in the country with a total resource potential of 2.4 billion metric tons.

Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. also promoted the tourism industry, saying the increasing tourist arrivals in the country will result in a room gap in hotels by about 50,000 by 2016.

On the regulation side of business, Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Nelson Aspe and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Teresita Herbosa talked about tax-related matters and securities registration in the Philippines, respectively, to assure the government’s support to make it easier for foreigners to invest in the Philippines.

BSP Assistant Governor Johnny Noe E. Ravalo presented the favorable inflation and banking-sector outlook for the Philippines for the medium term. He cited growing resources of the Philippine banking sector that will help fund the economy’s investment requirements.

The law liberalizing entry of foreign banks, which was passed earlier this year, is expected to further boost the ability of the country’s banking sector to service the growing credit requirements as economic activities rise. Purisima said more foreign banks in the country should also bode well for attracting foreign direct investments because they can serve as good channels of information about the Philippine economy.

The latest road show was organized with assistance from Japanese banks, including Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Securities Co. Ltd., Mizuho Bank Ltd., Mizuho Securities, Nomura Holdings Inc., SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

The following Japanese government agencies, likewise, helped organize the event: Ministry of Finance, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Japan International Cooperation Agency and Japan External Trade Organization.

The Nation BusinessMirror

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City, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, pitched for amendments to “restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution” proposed by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. She clarified that, so far, the only pending amendment proposal in the House involves the economic provisions.

“There is nothing pending in our committee as of yet on political proposals,” including term extension or a change in the form of government.

But she said the committee could take up political amendments if ever proposals were filed.

Belmonte’s proposal, which is now being tackled in the plenary at the House of Representatives, seeks to amend Sections 2, 10 and 11 of Article XII on National Economy and Patrimony and Section 11 of the General Provisions, which deals with ownership of mass media.

The amendment simply adds the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” to each of these sections to allow Congress to pass legislation that will lift restrictions or liberalize foreign ownership in certain industries, exploitation of natural resources and land ownership. She said the Philippines has been unable to reach its full economic potential because some economic provisions in the Charter are outdated and unresponsive to present business realities.

Albano admitted that the Constitution is rigid and any amendment will undergo “a difficult process.” In spite of this, she said someone must start it. Jonathan L. Mayuga

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By Joel R. San Juan

HE government, through the Office of the Solicitor General, on Friday insisted that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) between the Philippines and the United States is constitutional.

In his 32-page consolidated comment, Solicitor General Florin Hilbay sought the dismissal of the petitions seeking the nullification of Edca for lack of merit.

Hilbay maintained that the President entered into the agreement pursuant to his constitutional duty to protect the state as its commander in chief, chief executive and chief architect of foreign policy. He argued that under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, the President, as head of state and chief representative of government, has the “prime duty to serve and protect the people.”

Hilbay stressed that Edca is necessary to enhance the country’s internal and external security, considering the “international platform of politics,” as well as “recent events

OCTOBER 11, 2014 | SATURDAY

Typhoon is a cyclone category with winds of up to 181 kph while, Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is the result of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere tradewind convergence; widespread cloudiness, occasional thunderstorms, precipitation and moderate to strong surface winds are associated weather conditions.

HILBAY: Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement is necessary to enhance the country’s internal and external security, considering the “international platform of politics,” as well as “recent events within Philippine territory.”

within Philippine territory.”

He argued that the Edca is one of the security measures necessary “to achieve a minimum credible defense to the manifold security concerns in the West Philippine Sea.” “What the Edca does is to enhance the existing contractual security apparatus between the Philippines

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and the US, set up through the MDT [Mutual Defense Treaty] and the VFA [Visiting Forces Agreement]. It is the duty of the Honorable Court to allow this security apparatus enough breathing space to respond to perceived, anticipated and actual exigencies,” the government’s chief counsel said.

In addition, Hilbay argued that being merely an implementing device for the country’s commitments under the MDT and the VFA, the Edca does not require Senate concurrence.

He added that the government will rely on the Edca to shore up the Armed Forces’ capabilities in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Petitions were filed in the Supreme Court in May by a group led by former Senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada, and militant lawmakers led by Party-list Reps.

Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna.

Another group, led by Kilusang Mayo Uno and Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement, filed a third petition in June.

They asked the Court to issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the agreement.

Named respondents in the two anti-Edca petitions were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin, Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario, then-Armed Forces of the

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Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Ambassadors Eduardo Malaya and Lourdes Yparraguirre, Defense Assistant Secretary for Strategic Assessment Raymund Jose Quilup and Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III. The petitioners argued that Edca is not a mere Executive agreement but a treaty, which should be approved by the Senate.

Thus, they added that the agreement violates Section 25, Article XVIII of the Constitution, which requires that any foreign military bases, troops or facilities “shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate.”

They also alleged that the deal also violates Section 8, Article II of the Constitution, which prohibits nuclear weapons in the country.

The petitioners argued that Edca is “unconstitutional and invalid,” as it violates the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interest of the Constitution and various Philippine laws and principles of international law.

The petitioners said the Aquino administration committed grave abuse of discretion in signing the agreement, which is tantamount to a “derogation of the country’s dignity and unconscionable sellout of sovereignty.”

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Govt insists Edca with US constitutional in SC hearing

Former senator pushes Cha-cha, federalism

ORMER Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. has pushed anew for changes to the 1987 Constitution to pave the way for the formation of a federal government in the Philippines.

Pimentel early this week told some 500 students of the University of the East (UE) Manila campus, who attended the forum “It Takes Two to Cha-cha: Is the Philippines Ready to Groove with the Change?”, that federalism will hasten economic development and end insurgency in the country, especially in Mindanao.

It was in 1982 when the PDPLaban, the political party of the 80-year-old former mayor of Cagayan de Oro City, first pushed for federalism. Pimentel said the original proposal sought the formation of 11 states—four each in Luzon and the Visayas and three in Mindanao—and the conversion of Metro Manila into a Federal Administrative Region similar in character to New Delhi in India or Washington, D.C., in the United States.

Now, he is adding another—the Federal State of Sabah, although he admitted that this “may be way off” from being realized because of the “ticklish issue” of the Sabah territorial dispute between the Philippines and Malaysia. “Puputi na ang buhok mo,” he said. Pimentel’s proposal also retains the present presidential system and the Congress with two Houses, but the Senate will have six senators from each state to be elected in state-wide, not nationwide, elections.

In the same forum, Liberal Party Rep. Mylene Garcia-Albano of Davao

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Saturday, October 11, 2014

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Economy

A4 Saturday, October 11, 2014 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

PHL’s agri ready for Asean integration by 2015, DA says

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HE government has been working to better prepare the country’s agriculture and fishery sectors for fast-liberalizing global trade, including the muchanticipated Asean economic integration by end-2015, the Department of Agriculture said.

In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said his department has intensified the small farm-clustering initiative and its focus on postharvest technology and collective marketing as part of its Agri-Pinoy commodity programs.

“Farmers are assisted to produce economies of scale and added value

as required by bigger markets,” Alcala said during the 21st AgriLink, Foodlink and AquaLink trade show recently at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

“For the past three-and-a-half years, we carry out the Agri-Pinoy framework, a holistic and sustainable approach to development that

involves and benefits every single player in the value chain,” Alcala said.

Alcala cited the establishment of processing and marketing hubs dubbed as Agri-Pinoy Trading Centers designed to provide direct linkage between food producers and consumers, which translates to a more stable and affordable supply for consumers.

“Built strategically across the country, these trading centers are equipped with storage, transport and market facilities,” the agriculture chief said.

He added that, in several cases, these hubs are intended to serve as training centers, where farmers will be taught about the latest and appropriate technologies that will help the producers improve their commodities at lower cost.

Alcala added that the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), for one, is undertaking the sugarcane block-

farming project, in partnership with the Department of Agrarian Reform.

The sugar industry was identified by local industry leaders as one commodity which can take a brunt from the impending regional integration if no action is taken immediately to enhance the country’s capacity to produce more sugarcane, after huge tracts of the canes were divided into smaller farm areas after the land reform was enacted, SRA administrator Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin said in an earlier and separate statement.

Under block-farming, small farms owned by land-reform beneficiaries were consolidated into integrated farming blocks of 30 to 50 hectares to attain economies of scale and promote cost-efficient sugar-farming practices, the statement said, adding that, as of December last year, some 28 sugar farm blocks have been established. Alladin S. Diega

NEW DIGS From left, New San Jose Builders Inc. Co-chairman Dr. Isagani Germar; Victoria de Malate Sales Head Karen Afante; and Barangay 688, Zone 75 Chairman Catherine Gotoc bury the capsule containing the blueprint of the Victoria de Malate during the ground breaking ceremony in Manila. Victoria de Malate is the latest project of San Jose Builders Inc. ALYSA SALEN

PCCI seeks to grow trade, investment ties with Thailand

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RIVATE business organization Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has proposed areas to expand investments and trade with Thailand.

In a statement issued on Friday, the PCCI said its executives met with the Federation of Thai Industries to identify sectors where Filipino and Thai businessmen can further expand trade and investments.

According to PCCI Chairman Miguel B. Varela, the PCCI proposed

to intensify economic relation with Thai businesses in sectors of finance, business services, chemicals, electronics, machinery and equipment, food and beverage, construction, electricity, gas and water, and hotels and restaurants.

On the other hand, the ThailandPhilippines Business Council (TPBC) Chairman Visit Limprana said the TPBC would like to focus on areas of automotive equipment and components, petroleum products, electrical

circuits, plastic resins, chemicals, cosmetics, soap and product surface treatment, machinery and computer components, rubber, and iron and steel products. To further achieve the common goals of Philippine and Thai business groups, both councils agreed on exchange of visits, holding promotional activities and forums, exchange of data and information, and cost-sharing.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that, during the

first eight months of the year, Thailand is the country’s eighth-largest export destination for Philippine merchandise. Exports to Thailand from January to August this year amounted to $1.62 billion, an increase of 30.7 percent from last year’s same period of $1.24 billion.

On the other hand, imports to Thailand from January to July stood at $1.80 billion, declining by 2.49 percent from the same period in 2013 at $1.84 billion. PNA

Dockworkers’ union cites benefits of lifting truck ban

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T’S not just businesses, truckers and other motorists who are benefiting from improved traffic flow along the major thoroughfares of Manila, but also the dockworkers of the country’s major ports, a union official said.

Associated Workers Union (AWU) President Roberto Ramon Oca III hailed the indefinite lifting of the Manila truck ban.

It is a welcome development for its union members as this had been instrumental in improving produc-

tion at the Manila South Harbor, managed by Asian Terminals Inc., Oca said.

Being at the frontline of this important trade gateway, AWU’s members (seasoned equipment operators, stevedores and port personnel) saw firsthand the detrimental impact of the truck ban, he added.

At the peak of the ban, Oca said the productivity and efficiency of the port suffered “due to higher yard utilization, which resulted in greater running time for port

equipment and more burden on the workforce.”

According to him, the truck ban also curtailed livelihood opportunities for its members, who are mostly residents of Manila and nearby provinces. “The port could have handled more cargoes had it not been for the truck ban. This could have created more jobs and supported more families.”

Since the lifting of the ban, Oca said port operations have significantly improved. More third-

party trucks are now able to enter and exit the ports freely for their import and export requirements.

With smoother and organized truck flow, the AWU president said truckers are less prone to exploitation on roads outside the ports, unlike previous conditions.

“Ultimately, all of us benefit from healthy ports, which guarantee a seamless supply chain,” Oca said, adding that the group hopes the lifting of the truck ban be made long-term.

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Report hails Manila as Asia’s best real-estate investment market L S. M

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ITH the Philippines’s popularity for businessprocess outsourcing (BPO) services and relatively low property prices, it comes as no surprise that the nation’s capital has emerged as the fourth best real-estate investment market in Asia this year, outranking Sydney, Singapore and Beijing.

“Manila is a favorite for the office sector, as it was for residential.

Manila also offers the highest prime office yields in Asia, averaging about 10 percent,” a report conducted by Urban Land Institute (ULI) showed.

The business districts of Makati City, Bonifacio Global City and Ortigas prove to be wise commercial investment areas, the ULI report said.

The land values in these places continue to rise, with Makati City enjoying the most appreciation, it added.

Investors should also not overlook Quezon City, home to major government offices, renowned universities and national broadcasting networks, the report noted.

It is not just the urban centers of Metro Manila that are seeing new development, said real-estate portal Lamudi Inc., a subsidiary of German firm Rocket Internet.

Lamudi listed other top realestate locations in the Philippines, saying these sites would be “hot spots” of further growth and development.

With a huge backlog in housing, particularly for the expanding middle class, developers are focusing their attention on suburban areas near the metropolis, like Cavite, Batangas and Laguna, ULI’s report said.

Record-high OFW remittances are fueling the demand for low-end to midrange housing projects in the suburbs. More affordable than their urban counterparts, these residential properties are turning Cavite, Batangas and Laguna into housing havens.

What is more, cities in Laguna and Cavite are transforming into Information Technology-BPO hubs, while Batangas continues to be a major manufacturing and shipping center.

“Every summer brings a surge of tourists to the City of Pines, which ensures strong business for hotels and holiday homes. Home to numerous

educational institutions and the Baguio City Economic Zone—a region especially set up for commerce and foreign investment—Baguio has established itself as a thriving center of tourism, education and business in the Cordilleras,” Lamudi said.

Not just one of the country’s main shipping ports, Cebu is also in the top retirement destinations in the world.

Real-estate giants like Megaworld Corp., Rockwell Land and Ayala Land are flocking to Cebu City, where condominium units, especially studio types, quickly sell.

The city is also a viable option for the BPO industry and, thanks to its booming tourism, hotel occupancy and resort-community projects are on the rise, the Internet real-estate venture said.

With its historical churches and beautiful coastlines, Iloilo has long been a popular tourist destination.

These days, the city is teeming not just with tourists but with IT-BPO firms, as well, earning it a spot in the country’s Next Wave Cities list.

Bacolod is said to be experiencing its best real-estate market in over 20 years. Construction is flourishing and property prices have gone up by as much as 50 percent, particularly in the areas near the capitol, thanks to a competitive bidding between Ayala Land and SM Prime Holdings.

“Recognized as one of the top 100 outsourcing destinations worldwide, Bacolod City has also proven itself as a leading business hub,” Lamudi noted.

Ranked as the 87th fastest-growing city in the world by the City Mayors Foundation, as well as the 10th Asian City of the Future by the fDi Magazine, Davao City remains the top financial and trade center of Mindanao. With Mount Apo and beautiful Samal Island nearby, Davao proves to be not just a commercial center, but a tourist hot spot, as well. Real estate is thriving as major developers, like Megaworld Corp. and Ayala Land, are putting their stake with multimillion-peso projects.

“Home to the leading business, educational and residential centers in the country, these areas are the best places to be. Ideal for commerce, leisure and home, they would offer the best returns to your real-estate investment,” Lamudi stressed.

Manila hosts pioneering water infra conference

T

HE Philippines is hosting the firstever waterborne transport infrastructure workshop that will be attended by different local and foreign ship-transport stakeholders.

The Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses (PIANC), the world association for waterborne transport infrastructure, will hold its conference in Manila on Thursday.

The meeting is an avenue for professionals around the world to collaborate and provide expert advice on cost-effective, reliable and sustainable infrastructure to facilitate the growth of waterborne transport.

The event carries the theme“Improving Maritime Waterborne Infrastructure to Meet Climate Change Challenges,” documents provided by the association said. The event also aims to “create a body that will spearhead collaboration among stakeholders and determine new approaches in addressing infrastructure issues.”

“With issues [clouding] our waterborne infrastructure right now, it is but high time for us to conduct such workshop to come up with the most appropriate short-term and long-term solutions to address rising sea-level change, and the impact of climate change on port infrastructure,” Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Juan C. Sta. Ana said.

The workshop will bring together experts from various countries to identify critical challenges, advancements and new directions in technical, economic and environmental issues pertaining

to waterborne transport infrastructure, according to Sta. Ana. “We saw how [Super]typhoon Yolanda [international code name Haiyan] devastated some of our ports last year.

We expect that, in this workshop, we will be able to come up with better engineering standards to guarantee that our ports can withstand such strong force of nature in the future.”

The port chief added that he “hopes to spark new collaboration and new approaches, specifically in the country’s maritime commerce, by bringing together diverse communities in this workshop.”

He added that the workshop will also identify cost-effective, reliable and sustainable infrastructure to facilitate the growth of waterborne transport.

The workshop will be attended by government agencies, as well as several key private-sector groups, to discuss the latest innovations in port facilities; developments in breakwater design; resiliency of port infrastructure in disasters; risk-assessment matrix for port infrastructure; and typhoon impact case study in Manila.

Established in 1885, PIANC continues to be the leading partner for the government and the private sector in the design, development and maintenance of ports, waterways and coastal areas.

Currently, there are 18 areas worldwide where PIANC has forged partnerships from Argentina to the United States.

The Philippines is looking at joining this elite list after the workshop, according to Sta. Ana. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Opinion BusinessMirror

A6 Saturday, October 11, 2014

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

Searching for a safe haven

I

F you were looking for a region that reflected much of the Earth’s diversity, the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would be a good example.

Southeast Asia is a melting pot of religions, languages and ethnicities. The civilizations in the region go back 40,000 years. A large part of the region was colonized by the Europeans. Disputes and even wars between Southeast Asian nations have been common.

Southeast Asia is also home to over 600 million people—a population larger than that of the United States or the European Union (EU)—creating a dynamic economic system. The wealth disparity of the world is also found here: Singapore’s nominal per-capita gross domestic product is about $50,000; Myanmar’s, below $1,000.

The 10 economies in the region are also highly diverse, from subsistence farming in the poorest countries to Singapore being a global financial center. There is a wealth of natural resources in the region that are exported to the rest of the world. Some countries, like Thailand, export manufactured goods; others, like the Philippines, export services. Southeast Asia, as a whole, is a major tourist destination, and this is highlighted by the fact that, for the first time in 2013, Asean members received more foreign direct investments than China.

Last year total per-capita economic growth increased by 5 percent in the region, while total global growth was about 3 percent.

So what is the point of this glowing “news release” about the Asean?

Investors who have the ability to place money around the world are looking for two things: economic stability and a return on their investments.

The more advanced Asean members, including the Philippines, have proven since 2009 that their economies and economic systems are stable. While there has been some monetary stimulus in these countries, it has not been in amounts remotely close to what has occurred elsewhere.

Furthermore, the Asean banking system is strong. The 1997 Asian financial crisis took out the weak banks and the stronger ones learned a lot from that.

The push for further Asean integration is going to be a success for the region, unlike the failures of the EU and the North American Free Trade Agreement, again because the regional bloc learned from the other blocs.

More economic unity in the Asean will cause some problems in individual nations, but these will be surmounted. Integration will also make the region more self-sufficient, and that is critically important, as the global economic crisis is not going away anytime soon and may even worsen.

The 21st century was supposed to be the “African Century”, after the success of Asia in the last part of the 20 century. The ongoing Ebola epidemic is just another indication that the only success found on Africa will be for nations like China pillaging the continent’s natural resources.

The next 20 years likely could belong to the Asean.

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China is No. 1, for now John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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T is now official: China has the largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power. While the United States economy is still the largest, as measured by total gross domestic product, those are only numbers. The Chinese can buy more stuff than the Americans can. It is all about what you can hold in your hand and not the zeroes at the end of your bank-account balance.

But there are other things or areas where China is ranked first—or second—and not just in terms of air pollution in a capital city.

China’s massive population makes it something like a creature from a bad science-fiction movie that goes around and eats everything is sight. In China 50,000 cigarettes are consumed every second, nearly 50 children are born every minute and five people are executed every day.

About that air pollution: China is now the largest consumer of energy—a title the US once held for 100 years. But that is understandable, considering that 1.4 billion people live in China, representing 19 percent of the global population.

However, there is much consumption that is not directly

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related to population size. Consider that China makes up 40 percent of the total global demand for cement, iron, coal, steel, lead, zinc and aluminum. The Chinese eat nearly half the pork produced in the world and 40 percent of all chicken eggs.

We think of China as a huge factory, and in some sense that is true.

Eighty percent of the toys produced in the world, as well as the 500 million iPhones that have been sold, come from China. China builds 90 percent of all personal computers and 80 percent of all air-conditioners, and makes nearly 70 percent of all shoes. Consumer items aren’t the only things that China produces: Nearly 50 percent of all ships are now being built in Chinese shipyards.

T hese nu mbers a re t r u ly

staggering. China’s economic impact on the world far outstrips its physical size and population. Remember, all those goods it produces used to be made in other countries, and that has led to an economic imbalance that will eventually come to an end.

China’s ability to produce goods much more cheaply has also created a manufacturing imbalance, and it is coming to an end. The sweetspot demographic of its workforce will peak before 2020. But much more important than that is the fact that China’s cheap labor pool is already depleted, while 200 million Chinese still live in poverty.

Workers at electronics manufacturing company Foxconn went on strike this week. They only comprise a small part of the total workforce, and the undisclosed issues were quickly resolved. This strike would not have been a big deal if it didn’t occur at its factory in the Chinese city of Chongqing.

China has a population-density disproportion: the overwhelming majority lives on the east side of the country, with the Chongqing area as the dividing line. In the west, except along the rivers, the population density is one person per square kilometer; in the east it averages 200 per sq km.

The Foxconn factory is the last outpost of China’s cheap-labor

Will China spark a currency war?

Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Frederick M. Alegre Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

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William Pesek

BLOOMBERG VIEW

I

S China about to devalue? The question seems to pop up everywhere I go, most recently in Frankfurt, Sydney and New York. Economists here in Tokyo, too, are buzzing about the chances of a big decline in the yuan in the next few months.

A new report from Lombard Street Research explains why all these folks may have reason for concern. According to London-based Charles Dumas, China’s slowdown will soon drag down gross domestic product (GDP) growth below 5 percent (whether Beijing admits it or not). Dumas joins longtime Asia investor Marc Faber in thinking that China will find itself in the 4-percent range by year-end.

A continued downtrend, Dumas says, would represent “a major, slow-motion shock for the world economy and financial markets” that will slam everything from commodities to growth rates from Japan to Germany. Growth, significantly below Beijing’s 7.5-percent target, also complicates President Xi Jinping’s efforts to shift China to a services-based economy from an export-and-investment-led one.

The obvious solution: A weaker exchange rate that boosts exports and,

thus, buys Xi time to recalibrate growth drivers. While Chinese leaders aren’t dropping clear hints of a devaluation, it’s a logical next step. Even before the 2008 global crisis, Lombard Street says, capital spending in China had already reached an unsustainable 42 percent of GDP. Then the regime responded to the crisis with an unprecedented investment surge, beginning with a $651-billion stimulus package in 2009. By the end of that year, capital spending had jumped to 48 percent, where it remained until last year.

It’s simply not possible for an economy that carries a consumer-spending ratio of about 36 percent to thrive long-term with an investment ratio on the cusp of 50 percent.

Since the crisis, Chinese corporate debt has also reached $14.2 trillion, topping that of the United States, according to Standard & Poor’s. Recently, the People’s Bank of China set out to measure activity in the country’s $6-

trillion shadow-banking industry, implying that officials worry it’s even bigger than we know. And, while estimates of the true size of liabilities facing local governments differ widely, roughly $1.65 trillion of their debt is already held by major banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank. Borrowing more to gin up growth isn’t an option for a highly indebted developing nation. Debt must be reduced.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) left no doubt of that in its latest assessment of the global economy.

Of China, the IMF said: “Measures to contain local government debt, curb shadow banking and tackle excess capacity, high energy demand and high pollution will reduce investment and manufacturing output.”

As Xi’s reform process kicks in, a weaker yuan offers an obvious shock absorber. “China needs to keep growth up while getting excessive investment down, if only to avoid delaying for too long the moment when consumer spending comes to lead the economy, rather than—as now—slowing less than other sources of demand,” Dumas says. “The bridge to the desired result has to be greater net exports. There is nothing else. But if a decline in the yuan worsens an already alarming race to the bottom with other currencies, the world may find itself in shock.”

As I wrote the other day, the yuan’s 11-percent surge since the start of the

frontier. There are no areas heavily populated with relatively poor people to build another factory with 100,000 employees. In the last 10 years, Chinese wages have increased 12 percent yearly. Wage inflation is slowing, but even at a lower rate, Chinese company profits are being hurt.

Consumer expectations for more wealth are very high, and a declining workforce will put more pressure on wages in the years to come.

The rest of the world has fueled China’s economic boom with cheap credit and cheaper money for two decades, and that also is coming to an end. Thus, China’s place on the top is being squeezed from both sides, domestically and internationally.

By 2020 there would be an economic shift, as the golden age of Chinese economic expansion could potentially wind down.

On personal note, if you like to have a signed copy of my book Outside the Box: Mangun’s Broader Look at Today’s Business, you may order directly through my website, www. mangunonmarkets.com.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com.

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

global crisis has placated officials in Washington, who have traditionally accused China of beggar-thy-neighbor policies. It also is helping China spread its tentacles around the globe (see this week’s deal to buy New York’s iconic Waldorf-Astoria hotel for $1.95 billion). A big devaluation now would irk officials not just in Washington, but in Tokyo and Seoul, risking another currency war that destabilizes markets and sours relations. Ahead of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank this weekend, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned: “It’s wrong to get into exchange-rate competition for the purpose of promoting advantage, one over the other.”

A devaluation isn’t inevitable. “We still predict very gradual yuan appreciation as the currency, rather than economic, fundamentals are still supportive,” says Simon Grose-Hodge, head of South Asia investment strategy at LGT Group in Singapore. “China is systematically moving to a domesticdemand led economy and we don’t see them diverting from that path. While a weaker yuan may help exporters, it also stokes imported inflation, so would be a Pyrrhic victory.”

Then again, if like Xi you’re looking to turn China Inc. upside down without stoking social instability, any victory might sound attractive. As the Chinese president mulls over his stimulus options in the weeks ahead, he’s very likely to see a weaker yuan as a win-win.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Mining ‘blue gold’ in the Asia Pacific

Evangelii Gaudium Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

Cecilio T. Arillo

database

T

HE world’s giant water companies, obviously aiming for huge profits, have been gainfully taking over water resources in the region, from sourcing to distribution, in a clear pattern of mining the world’s “blue gold.”

A study, made available to the research database of this writer by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Josefina Palattao, debt and public finance coordinator of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), showed that “water companies are chasing a business with a potential annual revenue income [ranging] from $400 billion to $3 trillion, depending on how you do the math.”

The ICIJ and FDC said that, in the race to quench the world’s thirst, the market base of the six most globally active water firms has increased sixfold over a 12-year period. In 1990 about 51 million people got their water from private companies.

That figure is now more than 300 million.

According to the ICIJ and FDC, with the majority of the world’s population concentrated in the Asia Pacific, some of the highest earners in the global water industry have gained a foothold in the region, and showed intent to take advantage of increasingly scarce water resources for private-business ends.

Ondeo

IN 2001 Ondeo, the water subsidiary of French utility company Suez Environment SA, won a 30-year water-management contract to service 200,000 inhabitants of the city of Sanya in China. The total investment was projected to be €36 million.

With Benpres Holdings as its Philippine partner in Maynilad Water Services, Ondeo was awarded a 25-year concession contract in 1997 to rehabilitate and operate the greater part of Metro Manila’s 120-year-old water utility.

PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya in Jakarta, Indonesia, is 95-percent owned by Ondeo, which provides services that include raw water supply, water treatment, delivery system, metering and billing.

Veolia Environmental

PARIS-BASED Veolia Environmental, formerly known as Vivendi Environmental, is involved in water, energy and transportation management. Of these sectors, the ICIJ and FDC said, water distribution (through Vivendi Water) emerged as its highest income earner.

“Not surprisingly, to respond to the ever-increasing demands in this domain,” Veolia is present in five continents, providing “water-related services to 110 million people in more than 100 countries,” including China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Japan, South Korea and Australia, the ICIJ and FDC said. It added: “Its most recent conquest is a contract to distribute drinking water to Shanghai’s Pudong area.”

Thames Water

THAMES Water (TW) jumped in as early as 1995 to get a share of the international water market. It has since added 15 million customers to its core markets in Europe and the Americas.

Thames is the water division of German utility firm RWE. It is the world’s third-largest water company, servicing 70 million people worldwide.

China

TW has been operating in China since 1989 and in Hong Kong for decades. It is one of the country’s leading private water companies and has 6.5 million customers.

In 1995 the company won the contract for China’s first privately funded water-treatment project in Da Chang, Shanghai. Construction of the major water-treatment facility for the city began in 1996. Upon the project’s completion in 1998, TW took charge of running the new plant. The facility reportedly

supplies 400 million liters of water daily to 2 million people.

In addition, the ICIJ and FDC said, TW acquired in July 2002 the largest single shareholding in China Water Co. The purchase immediately gave TW access to China Water’s 4 million customers, making it the secondlargest foreign private water company in China, with 6.5 million customers.

India

IN India TW extended technical advice and assistance, specifically on Indian sewerage systems, as part of the Ganga Action Plan.

The company also worked on a major consultancy contract to help the local water company in Mumbai, a thickly populated city in India. The 18-month project will assess the operation and management of the water supply in Mumbai and develop a program to raise the technical and managerial capacity of the local company.

Indonesia

THE operations of PT Thames PAM Jaya, which is 95-percent owned by its parent companies in London and Paris, cover raw water supply, treatment plants, delivery system, metering and billing, and the use of PAM Jaya’s office building in Jakarta.

PAM Jaya is the Indonesian capital’s government water authority.

Malaysia

THROUGH its subsidiaries, TW has been operating in Malaysia for the past 30 years. It provides specialist management and operations support to Sabahbased water-treatment facilities Johor Water and Timatch Water.

Japan

TW also worked in partnership with Mitsui & Co. Ltd., a world-class trading company. It aimed to develop a longterm relationship with local water and wastewater authorities in Japan.

The company also works with local authorities on a range of operational and maintenance projects, including in nonrevenue water projects.

Singapore

MOST recently, TW secured a prestigious contract from the Public Utilities Board of Singapore to design and construct a new water-treatment plant using the latest “immersed membrane technology” at its Chestnut Avenue Waterworks.

Once completed, the facility will be the largest immersed membrane watertreatment plant in the world. Along with its partner Sembcorp, TW will operate and maintain the works prior to handling it over to the local clients.

Thailand

OVER the years, TW has been involved in a wide range of projects and operations.

In 1995, for instance, the company was awarded the country’s first privately financed water-supply project. Its aim was to secure a reliable, safe and affordable supply of drinking water for the rapidly expanding Pathum Thani and Rangsit industrial districts to the north of Bangkok, Thailand’s capital.

The ICIJ and FDC said that, in 2001, TW clinched a $240-million contract for a major water-treatment project, as well as the associated trunk mains, reservoirs and main distribution system, in west Bangkok. The project targets 400,000 people in the area consuming up to 320 million liters of drinking water a day, making it one of the largest water-treatment projects constructed in Asia.

E-mail: cecilio.arillo@gmail.com.

ERRATUM IN Butch del Castillo’s column on Friday, titled “A word in, edgewise, for the Binays”, the last part should have read: “Businessman Antonio Tiu has come forward and denied that he was Binay’s front or dummy, as far as the farm was concerned.” We regret the error.

33rd part

Personalizing the word

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HE preacher, first of all, ought to develop a great personal familiarity with the word of God. Knowledge of its linguistic or exegetical aspects, though certainly necessary, is not enough. He needs to approach the word with a docile and prayerful heart, so that it may deeply penetrate his thoughts and feelings and bring about a new outlook in him.

It is good for us to renew our fervor each day and every Sunday as we prepare the homily, examining ourselves to see if we have grown in love for the word that we preach.

Nor should we forget that the greater or lesser degree of the holiness of the minister has a real effect on the proclamation of the word. As Saint Paul says, “We speak not to please men, but to please God, who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4). If we have a lively desire to be the first to hear the word that we must preach, this will surely be communicated to God’s faithful people, for “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth

speaks” (Matthew 12:34). The Sunday readings will resonate in all their brilliance in the hearts of the faithful if they have first done so in the heart of their pastor.

Jesus was angered by those supposed teachers who demanded much of others, teaching God’s word, but without being enlightened by it: “They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves will not lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4). The apostle James exhorted: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged

Saturday, October 11, 2014

with greater strictness” (James 3:1).

Whoever wants to preach must be the first to let the word of God move him deeply and become incarnate in his daily life. In this way, preaching will consist in that activity, so intense and fruitful, which is communicating to others what one has contemplated.

For all these reasons, before preparing what we will actually say when preaching, we need to let ourselves be penetrated by that word that will also penetrate others, for it is a living and active word, like a sword “piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). This has great pastoral importance. Today, too, people prefer to listen to witnesses: they thirst for authenticity and call for evangelizers to speak of a God whom they themselves know and are familiar with, as if they were seeing Him. We are not asked to be flawless, but to keep growing and wanting to grow as we advance along the path of the Gospel; our arms must never grow slack. What is essential is that the preacher be certain that God loves him, that Jesus Christ has saved him and that His love always has the last word. Encountering such beauty, he will often feel that his life does not glorify God as it should, and he will sincerely desire to respond more fully

A7

to so great a love. Yet, if he does not take time to hear God’s word with an open heart, if he does not allow it to touch his life, to challenge him, to impel him, and if he does not devote time to pray with that word, then he will, indeed, be a false prophet, a fraud, a shallow impostor. But by acknowledging his poverty and desiring to grow in his commitment, he will always be able to abandon himself to Christ, saying in the words of Peter: “I have no silver and gold, but what I have I give you” (Acts 3:6).

The Lord wants to make use of us as living, free and creative beings who let His word enter their own hearts before then passing it on to others. Christ’s message must truly penetrate and possess the preacher, not just intellectually, but in his entire being. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the word, today, just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows himself to be possessed and led by Him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find by himself.

To be continued For comments, e-mail caritas_manila@yahoo.com. For donations to Caritas Manila, call (632) 563-9311.

For inquiries, call (632) 563-9308 or 563-9298, or fax 563-9306.

Less hunger in the world and the challenge for the media Mario Lubetkin

Inter press service

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OME—It is commonly believed that good news is less interesting for the general public than bad news; this is why media coverage tends to focus on catastrophic events and disasters, both natural and man-made.

Fortunately, there are some exceptions: a report released by the United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on September 16, stating that hunger has dramatically decreased by 100 million people, received widespread international attention, with more than 2,000 articles published, including many stories in major media outlets.

Some of the articles expressed surprise over this improvement in the fight against hunger, apparently assuming that poverty and hunger in the world will only continue to increase.

This extensive media coverage reinforces the importance of the news, not only because of the impressive numbers, but also because it reveals an ongoing trend toward a further reduction of hunger in the future.

In fact, recent FAO estimates show that the global reduction of hunger is continuing. For the 2012-to-2014 period, the number of chronically undernourished people is estimated at 805 million people, 100 million fewer than the figure recorded a decade earlier, and 209 million fewer than the one posted

in 1990 to 1992.

One aspect of hunger reduction that has not been analyzed extensively by the media is the fact that 63 countries have already reached the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) (reducing hunger by half between 1990 and 2015), and that many countries have only one year left to reach it.

However, in spite of this progress, there are large disparities between regions. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest hunger rates and it has shown only modest improvements in recent years, as figures reveal that one in four people are undernourished. In several North African countries, however, the situation is more promising and levels of undernutrition remain low.

Asia, the most populated region in the world, is home to the highest number of hungry people, but there are interregional distinctions: although there has been little improvement in southern Asia, improvements in East Asia and Southeast Asia are encouraging.

Latin America and the Caribbean have shown rapid progress, particularly

China, trust the people

I

N China there are strikes and protests every day. Some are labor disputes, others target unfair land deals or pollution, but nearly all are broken up or resolved quickly and quietly. They don’t spread. There’s no media scrutiny.

It’s almost as if they never happened.

The Chinese government can act with impunity to manage unrest at home because it has ironclad control.

It’s a different situation in Hong Kong, where demonstrators have been on the streets, making political demands and pushing Beijing’s buttons. While China is in charge, it can’t use force to crush the movement without risking a global crisis, because Hong Kong has special status and its own unique rules.

As a result, the conflict is also playing out in an unfamiliar way.

A week or so after anger erupted in Hong Kong, the tension is dissipating, not rising. The focus, surprisingly, is on talks. Hong Kong’s government—as Beijing’s representative—has agreed to meet later this week with student leaders

to discuss the issue that so incensed residents: the formula for electing Hong Kong’s chief executive. At least five members from each side will meet. The media is invited. Safe to say it would never play out this way in the rest of China.

It’s still China’s intimidating might against a student-led protest movement that topped out at about 100,000 people in a city obsessed with business, not politics. But how delicious is it that the government has even come this far, agreeing to an open meeting with the students?

When Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under the principle of “one country, two systems,” limited democracy took hold, including the promise that, eventually, the chief executive would be selected through “universal suffrage,” via a nominating committee.

The meaning of that agreement is now in dispute. Beijing proposed at the end of August that Hong Kong can elect its chief executive in 2017, but the candidates must be nominated by a Chinese government-controlled committee. The

in the south of the continent. One of the main reasons for this progress is the boost given by public policies promoting nutrition, many of them unique to the region, and some inspired by success stories in other countries, such as the Zero Hunger Program in Brazil.

Still, it is clear that, though we have won several battles in the fight against hunger, we still have a long way to go.

In order to claim victory, we need stronger efforts and better coordination among the players that have already lifted millions of people out of poverty: governments, international organizations, nonstate actors, the general public, and those who inform public opinion—the media.

How can we better inform the public about this progress, which is undoubtedly positive for humanity, without stopping at the data that international organizations provide on the issue?

The answer is clear: In order to understand these numbers and figures, they cannot be read as an isolated event, but as a continuous process of change influenced by multiple actors, both public and private.

Why do the media ignore these important issues, which are receiving more space on the global-development agenda?

Who doubts whether food security, food loss and waste or nutrition policies are in the interest of international public opinion?

We are aware of the great challenges in the field of communication, exacerbated by the long and deep economic crisis affecting many media outlets. There are fewer printed media; newspapers have fewer pages; there are fewer journalists

in newsrooms. Traditional journalism programs at universities have left many journalists ill-prepared for covering breaking news in our new digital age.

These are some aspects that should be taken into consideration in the current situation. All these changes will affect not only the current generation of journalists, but also future generations that will have the responsibility to inform the public on these issues with increasing urgency.

In a few weeks we will face a new communication challenge: the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), to be held in Rome between November 19 and 21, 22 years after the first edition of this conference.

The invitation to participating states is that commitment alone is not enough; it is only the first step. ICN2 will design the framework for countries to translate their commitment into action and impact.

And we could not have chosen a more opportune moment: governments are currently discussing the second stage of the MDGs—the Sustainable Development Goals—starting next year, with the aim of eradicating hunger and poverty worldwide.

It is clear that, in the media’s coverage of ICN2, the focus should be not only on informing the public about the daily activities of the conference, but also on the issues it aims to address, as well as the strategic debate surrounding the larger goal of building healthier societies—an undertaking in which governments must play a key role.

students say that’s a rigged election, not a free and fair one.

The protests in Hong Kong got off to a quiet start, but escalated after the police shocked residents 10 days ago by using tear gas and pepper spray. This was the point where Hong Kong’s shaky protest movement got its sea legs. Demonstrators shut down key parts of the city and put Beijing on the defensive. Both sides got nervous, because of the risk of violence, and what that kind of scene might do to Hong Kong’s reputation as a Western-style business center and to China’s image abroad.

Just getting to this point, where the risk of a fierce government crackdown has ebbed, feels like a small victory for the demonstrators. Hong Kong residents stood up for their rights, forcing Beijing to do something deeply uncomfortable: acknowledge dissent.

The students want free elections, and they have called for the current chief executive to step down. They threaten to return to the streets if they don’t like

what they hear during the talks. “People are ready to come out again if the government fails to demonstrate sincerity of solving the political crisis,” Lester Shum, one of the student leaders, said on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).

Hong Kong’s government has promised “a sincere dialogue on political reform,” but no more.

What happens next? China watchers expect Beijing to stick to its playbook and offer no breakthroughs, just enough discussion to assuage the students and prevent another round of demonstrations. But Hong Kong is special and, therefore, fragile, and China has not had to deal with a political crisis of this kind there in the past.

We’re probably dreaming, but what the heck, let’s dream. With the world watching, China would be wise to make a dramatic leap in Hong Kong. Let voters choose the chief executive in a free and fair election.

Yes, it’s a revolutionary idea: Trust the people. Chicago Tribune/TNS

Mario Lubetkin is the director of corporate communications at the Food and Agriculture Organization.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Saturday, October 11, 2014

7-month FDI inflows up 56.1% to $4B despite volatilities–BSP

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By Bianca Cuaresma

ong-duration foreign direct investments (FDI) continued to flow inward in July no matter the volatilities, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday.

FDI which are poured on socalled bricks-and-mortar enterprises in the country, breached the $4-billion mark to hit $4.008 billion in the first seven months of the year.

This was 56.1 percent higher than inflows in the first seven months of 2013, which aggregated only $2.568 billion for the period.

This also exceeded the government’s assumed FDI, totaling only $1 billion for the whole year.

The central bank attributed

the continued rise of FDI this year to the “continued favorable investor sentiment on the Philippine economy on the back of the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals.”

In July alone, foreign direct inflows totaled $436 million. This was both lower compared to the previous month’s inflows of only $588 million and July 2013’s $549 million. “ This developed as all FDI components recorded net inflows

during the month,” the central bank said.

In particular, net equity capital inflows during the month surged to $104 million, or more than tenfold from the $10-million level in the same month last year.

The equity capital inflows were traced to the 87.8-percent increase in equity capital placements compared to the slower 69.9-percent decline in equity capital for the period.

Bulk of equity capital investments in July was from the US, Sweden, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Switzerland.

These were channeled to financial and insurance; real estate; wholesale and retail trade; transport and storage; and agriculture, forestry and fishing activities.

Reinvestment of earnings also reached $58 million in July, growing by 11 percent from $52 million in the same month last year.

Investment in debt instruments posted a net inflow of $274 million, lower by 43.8 percent compared to the level posted in the same month last year.

Econ team dangles $12.28-B projects in Tokyo road show

By David Cagahastian

T

he government’s economic officials invited Japanese businessmen to invest in over $12.28 billion worth of public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects to be rolled out within the next 12 months.

In the economic road show hosted by the Phi lippines in Tokyo on Wednesday, the government invited Japanese fund managers and investors to tap the Philippines’s comparative advantages as an investment destination.

“The Philippines is looking north to Japan, and hopes that Japan will look south to the Philippines,” Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said in his statement

to open the road show at the Shangri-La Hotel in Tokyo.

“The Japanese and Filipino economies are heavily complementary. Japan has an abundance of investible capital and manufacturing prowess, while the Philippines has a young and talented labor force,” he said.

Aside from the Philippines’s work force, Purisima said the country’s large population provides a huge market for Japanese investments. He said the strategic geographical location of the Philippines and its role in the Asean Economic Community also make the Philippines an attractive investment destination.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said investing in the Philippines Continued from A2

Neda: Twin-digit export growth can be sustained

By Cai U. Ordinario

D

espite the downward trend in export growth in the past two months, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) remains confident that double-digit export growth will be sustained in the coming months.

Neda Deputy Director General and Officer in Charge Emmanuel Esguerra said the increasing global demand in the last quarter of the year will keep export growth at, or above 10 percent in the coming months.

In August export growth slowed to 10.5 percent, lower than the July growth of 12.4 percent and 30.1 percent in August 2013. Since the start of the third quarter in July, export growth has been slowing.

“This expectation is primarily anchored on increasing global demand alongside business expansions and new product launches for garments and information-technology sectors, as well as improved availability of raw materials and agricultural products,” Esguerra said.

“Moving forward, export-revenue growth is likely to be driven by the rebound in the export of electronic products, machinery and transport, and other electronics,” he added.

The Philippines’s export earnings grew to $5.474 billion in August 2014, from $4.956 billion recorded value in August 2013.

The Neda noted that in the first eight months of 2014, total exports increased by 9.2 percent, from $37.3 billion in the same period last year to $40.7 billion.

This placed the country as the third-highest export performer in East and Southeast Asia, following Vietnam, with 12.6 percent, and Indonesia, with 10.6 percent.

Export growth, Esguerra said, will be sustained by the steady export growth of manufactured goods, which reached $4.4 billion. This represented an 8.4-percent increase from $4.1 billion

registered in August 2013.

“Manufactures remained as the major contributor to exports growth, reflecting the positive developments in the global manufacturing sector,” Esguerra said.

Esguerra noted that the performance of manufactures was mainly due to increased outbound sales in diverse commodities.

Electronic products remain on top of the list, with total receipts amounting to $2.3 billion in August 2014, higher by 10 percent compared to the $2.1 billion in August 2013.

“The report shows that the manufacturing sector is moving toward more diversification and that there is a continued strong local demand for manufactured goods and improvement in export demand. In fact, the fast-approaching holiday season is also expected to beef up the sector’s production, as we anticipate an increase in demand from both the local and external consumers,” Esguerra explained.

Apart from manufactures, total agro-based products also managed to sustain its robust growth in August 2014.

Agri-based export receipts reached $505.2 million, a 41-percent growth from $358.4 million in the same period last year.

Esguerra said this growth was largely due to higher domestic production of coconut products. This was a recovery from the slump in the volume shipment of the commodity in June and July.

“Accounting for about 53.2 percent of total agro-based exports, outward shipments of coconut products grew by a hefty 124 percent, likewise benefiting from higher international prices during the period,” Esguerra said.

In order to sustain this growth, Esguerra called for the cooperation of the private sector, especially in continuing efforts to diversify the country’s export markets within the greater Asean region.

Continued on A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

briefs Palace says D.O.E. could live with limited emergency powers to solve energy crisis Malacañang on Friday affirmed it could live with the three-to-fourmonth limit being eyed by the House Energy Committee for the effectivity of the emergency authority sought

by President Aquino to avert the anticipated 2015 power-supply crisis.

Palace Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said Energy Secretary Jericho L. Petilla is looking to complete all the measures needed to manage the expected supply shortfall by July.

“We are looking at the end of July 2015 as the end date for the coverage of the authority,” Coloma quoted Petilla as saying in a text message on Friday.

Palace Deputy Spokesman Abigail Valte earlier in the day confirmed that Department of Energy (DOE) officials were still in talks with lawmakers on the duration of the anticipated electricity-supply crisis seen to trigger recurrent brownouts in the summer months next year.

“The [three-to-four-month] period provided by the House is subject to discussions with the Department of Energy as to how long the projected shortage in 2015 will last,” Valte said in a separate text message to the BusinessMirror.

Palace officials contacted for comment earlier said they need first to verify with DOE officials concerned, when asked if the government is able to solve the energy crisis within the limited period set by the House without seeking any extension of the emergency authority requested by Mr. Aquino from Congress.

Lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives, however, went on recess on September 27 and would not be back to work to debate and approve the joint resolution granting President Aquino special authority to contract additional capacity to cover the supply shortage until Congress sessions resume on October 20. Butch Fernandez

PSEi drops below 7,200 on global market sell-off Local share prices dropped on Friday’s trade, as the Philippine market followed a global market sell-off on renewed concerns that the euro zone could slip into a feared recession.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 34.54 points to close at 7,167.35. The main index went as low as 7,120 points before paring losses at the close.

“Market took lead from Wall Street, ,as indices dropped on renewed world growth concerns as Mario Draghi of ECB [European Central Bank] commented on the extremely low inflation in the euro area, which prompted investors to reconsider risks,” said Gab Aguila, equity analyst at DA Market Securities Inc. “What we find positive is that the index has been receiving robust support as it continues to test support levels amid substantial drag,” he said.

Other subindices also dropped. The All Shares index lost 20.93 to 4,244.29; the Financials index dropped 8.41 to 1,689.63; the Industrial fell 79.11 to 11,472.22; and the Holding Firms was down 20.10 to 6,316.28.

Total volume of trade reached 17.23 billion shares, valued at P7.24 billion.

Losers edged gainers 116 to 63, and 43 shares were unchanged.

Ayala Land Inc. was the day’s most traded and it was up P0.10 to P33.55; GT Capital Holdings Inc. was unchanged at P1,080; Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. dropped P34 to P3,010; Bloomberry Resorts Corp. rose P0.20 to P14.20; Universal Robina Corp. dropped P2.40 to P178.60; and Alliance Global Group Inc. lost P1.50 to P26.20. VG Cabuag