BusinessMirror 01, 2019

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

www.businessmirror.com.ph

n Monday, April 1, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 173

DOLE releases report on alien labor in Pogo

By Samuel P. Medenilla

T

@sam_medenilla

HE government could soon start its stricter tax regime for workers in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) sector after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) finally released its initial master list of foreign nationals (FN).

Last Friday, the DOLE reported it had consolidated and released the data submitted by the Philippine A musement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) on the FNs employed in Pogo.

The BusinessMirror obtained a copy of the report, which showed a total of 76,936 individuals are currently working in 165 Service Providers of Pogo.

“Out of this figure, 63,855 or

82.9 percent are FNs, while 13,081 or 17.1 percent are Filipinos,” the DOLE said.

At least 87.9 percent or 56,180 of the FNs in Pogo were Chinese, followed by Vietnamese as a far

₧22B

What the DOF said it anticipated collecting annually from FNs (foreign nationals) in the Pogo (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) sector once it gets the master list from the DOLE second with 1,862 (2.9 percent) and Indonesians with 1,586 (2.5 percent).

The rest of the FNs employed b y Pogo i nc lude Ta iw a nese, Malaysian, and Thai workers, among others.

See “Pogo,” A2

F

B.S.P. CONFIDENT INFLATION BACK TO BELOW 4% IN MARCH

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

T

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is certain that inflation continued to have fallen back to below 4 percent in March this year, as lower food prices will continue to mitigate the upside pressures of other key commodities during the period.

In its month-ahead forecast, the BSP Department of Economic Research announced that it projects March inflation to settle within the 3.1 to 3.9 percent range.

“Higher domestic oil prices and upward adjustment in electricity rates provide upside price pressures to inflation for the month.

These may be partly offset by lower prices of rice and other agricultural commodities due to the arrival of imports,” the BSP said.

“Going forward, the BSP will continue to closely monitor evolving inflation dynamics and ensure that the monetary-policy stance remains appropriate to support BSP’s price

T

happened in June last year. However, the agency had to conduct another round of focus group discussions with the stakeholders. The draft policy enables the unbundling of the base prices of petroleum products, namely, gasoline, automotive and industrial diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, bunker fuel oil and household and automotive liquefied petroleum gas.

See “Fuel price,” A2

See “Rabies,” A2

TURTLE HAVEN One of 115 pawikan hatchlings from three sea turtle nests discovered in, of all places a coal-fired power plant, is seen on its way back to the sea. The release of the hatchlings (inset photo) was made by AboitizPower subsidiary Therma South Inc. The TSI has worked, since discovering the nests in December 2018, with various groups—including the team from the group’s pawikan conservatory in Aboitiz Cleanergy Park in Punta Dumalag—to ensure that the nests inside TSI are well-protected and well-cared for. The sea turtle hatchlings released on March 29 emerged from an undiscovered third nest along the shore of the coal-fired power plant. PHOTO COURTESY OF ABOITIZ EQUITY VENTURES INC.

Deadline unmet for fuel price unbundling rule

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

T

HE Department of Energy (DOE) was not able to release the muchawaited policy on unbundling of fuel prices last month, citing “normal course or paperwork” as reason, an official of the agency said.

“It’s with legal now,” said DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella

in a text message when asked for an update. He said the signed department circular would “probably” be issued “next month” The DOE was hoping to issue the circular within the first quarter, by endMarch in particular. “ The commitment set to issue the circular is first quarter,” DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) Director Rino Abad had said.

The release of the circular should have

@jearcalas

HE Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) has sounded the alarm over a possible spike in the country’s rabies cases this year or the next as the government suffers from a shortage in animal and human rabies vaccines.

Department of Agriculture-BAI Rabies Focal Person Joy O. Lagayan said the cut in the agency’s budget for the year resulted in the minimal supply of rabies vaccines.

At present, the government has only about 1 million anti-rabies vaccines—sufficient to cover just 11 percent of the total estimated 9 million dog population nationwide, Lagayan explained.

Furthermore, Lagayan noted that the Department of Health (DOH) is also experiencing lack of supply in terms of rabies vaccine for humans due to a global supply shortage.

News reports indicated that the DOH’s rabies vaccine supply this year declined by half from last year.

Lagayan said BAI was given P15 million last year for the procurement of vaccines, enough to purchase roughly 1 million vaccines.

Interventions

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.7820

See “Inflation,” A3

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

as it accounted for 31 percent of the total damage reported.

See “El Niñ0,” A2

stability objectives,” it added.

Meanwhile, Security Bank chief economist Robert Dan Roces said they see inflation falling further to 3.5 percent in March.

“Rice and corn data for March shows a significant drop in rice prices compared with January,” Roces said, but added that the prices are just approximately even when compared to the February level.

“For fuel prices, comparing with end-February numbers shows that diesel prices slightly increased, kerosene dropped by around 2 pesos, while gas was higher by around 3 pesos,” he added.

“Thus, we’re seeing continued tapering of inflation as the combined effects of last year’s monetary-policy initiatives and better supply-side conditions are felt. However, exogenous drivers such as rising global oil prices must be monitored,” he added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will be announcing the country’s inflation numbers in the

Shortage in vaccines may swell rabies cases

“I think by definition, this is a weaker El Niño phenomenon.

The spending for the event will be lower than during 2015 and 2016. [As for] the impact on GDP, we will have to do some more pencil pushing to come up with better guesstimates...Agriculture only accounts for 8 to 9 percent of gross value added of GDP.”—Pernia

THE report also indicated P95.875 million worth of financial assistance has been allotted by the Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC) under its Survival and Recovery Assistance Program. About 3,835 El Niño-affected farmers are expected to benefit from the said amount.

“The processing of documents for areas declared under State of Calamity due to El Niño [Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Cotabato, Maguindanao, Negros Occidental] are ongoing,” the report read.

Furthermore, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) has already paid P43.083 million in indemnities to 3,534 affected farmers in Regions 1, 3, 4A, 6 and 10.

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 30 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

Farmers, fisherfolk bear ₧4.35-B loss from El Niño

ILIPINO farmers and fisherfolk have now incurred losses of P4.35 billion—from the initial P150 million—with an estimated production volume loss of 233,066 metric tons (MT) due to the El Niño climate phenomenon, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The latest report released by the DA-Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Operations Center (DRRM-OpCen) showed the hotter weather from what has been described as a “weak El Niño” has damaged 149,494 hectares of farms and affected 138,859 farmers and fishermen.

The rice sector accounted for 61.84 percent of the total reported damage as it incurred losses amounting to P2.69 billion, the DA reported.

About 108,845 farmers planting rice on 11,851 hectares in 37 provinces, with an estimated total output of 125,590 MT, were affected by the El Niño.

Damage to the corn sector has climbed to P1.66 billion with reported volume production losses of 107,417 MT in 37,643 hectares of farms. About 30,014 corn farmers were affected by the unfavorable weather condition.

The report indicated that the weak El Niño has already affected 14 regions, with the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) suffering the highest production losses,

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

n JAPAN 0.4771 n UK 68.8541 n HK 6.7241 n CHINA 7.8314 n SINGAPORE 38.9190 n AUSTRALIA 37.3433 n EU 59.2425 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.0756

Source: BSP (29 March 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, April 1, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Jan. 2019 borrowings up 441% to ₧248.8B

By Rea Cu

G

@ReaCuBM

ROSS borrowings made by the government for January this year amounted to P248.798 billion, with gross domestic borrowings for the month outpacing foreign borrowings, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

Based on BTr data, the government’s gross borrowings for Janu-

ary represented an expansion of 441.34 percent compared to the

Pogo. . .

Continued from A1

The DOLE said the numbers could still grow in the coming days since a total 27 licensed Pogo firms have yet to submit their list of FN employees.

“Hence, their noncompliance will result in demerits imposed by Pagcor,” the DOLE said.

The Department of Finance (DOF) earlier said it estimates there are over 100,000 FNs in the Pogo industry, who are not paying appropriate taxes.

Rabies. . .

The DOF said it anticipated collecting at least P22 billion a year from the FNs in the said industry once it gets the master list from the DOLE. Also part of the master list is the total number of FNs issued permits and visas by the appropriate government agencies.

The DOLE said over 138,000 individuals were issued government permits as of 2018.

The DOLE said 83,760 have Special Work Permits (SWP) and 54,241 have Alien Employment Permits (AEP).

An SWP is issued by the Bureau of

Continued from A1

For this year, that budget was cut by almost half, or P8 million, which, Lagayan said, is equivalent to about 400,000 vaccines.

“What we are concerned about is that the rabies cases for both animals and humans could increase this year or by next year,” she told the BusinessMirror.

Lagayan said they are banking on President Duterte’s pronouncement that the DA would be given a budget over 10 times of its present funding to receive an increased allocation for BAI’s rabies program. For next year, BAI proposed about P160 million for its rabies program, which, Lagayan noted, would be more than enough to purchase the vaccine demand to cover the country’s estimated total dog population.

“The reality is we have to control virus at the source, which are the animals. That’s why dog vaccination is so important and is our main concern this year,” Lagayan said.

Lagayan said they are appealing to Filipinos to be responsible pet owners by ensuring their dogs and cats are properly vaccinated.

She pointed out how costly it could be if someone would be bitten by an unvaccinated dog, as government-run bite centers may just refer them to private clinics or hospitals for vaccination. A rabies vaccine costs around P4,000 to P5,000, according to Lagayan.

“If you have a pet dog or cat, be responsible enough to have them vaccinated every year. If the dogs are vaccinated then they are complacent that they are safe,” she said.

“If you have a pet dog, it is your responsibility to take care of its health and welfare.”

The Philippines is among the top countries with rabies problems in the world with reported deaths of about 200 to 300 Filipinos annually, according to the World Health Organization.

₧77.614B What the government allotted in January for the payment of some of its borrowings, contracting by 7.38 percent from last year’s P83.806 billion

P45.959 billion recorded in the same month for 2018.

The increase in the gross borrowing for January this year came on the back of higher domestic borrowings at P133.177 billion, while external borrowings only represented Immigration (BI) to foreigners, who will be working in the country for less than six months, while an AEP may be obtained by foreigners at the DOLE if they will be locally employed over six months.

For visas, the DOLE said the Department of Justice (DOJ) and four economic zones were able to issue 84,010 visas to foreigners.

The DOLE is still waiting for the submission of issued visas for other economic zones such as the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport and the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan.

El Niño. . .

Continued from A1

“An amount of P18.3 million was released for cloud-seeding operations to RFOs [regional field offices] and Philippines Air Force,” the report added.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) expects this year’s mild El Niño to have no significant impact on GDP as well as inflation, and thus cost the government less on interventions.

In a briefing last Friday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia told reporters the impact on GDP will be minimal, considering that the agriculture sector only accounts for about 8 to 9 percent of GDP growth. The farm sector is expected to bear the brunt of El Niño’s impact this year. Initially, Neda Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning Carlos Bernardo O. Abad Santos said the estimate is that the weather phenomenon will cut about 0.2 percentage points off of GDP growth. But this estimate has been factored in on the latest growth target adjustments made by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

“I think by definition, this is a weaker El Niño phenomenon. The spending for the event will be lower than during 2015 and 2016. [As for] the impact on GDP, we will have to do some more pencil pushing to come up with better guesstimates...Agriculture only accounts for 8 to 9 percent of gross value added of GDP,” Pernia said.

The Roadmap for Addressing the Impacts of El Niño (RAIN) will cost less than the P19 billion spent on interventions when the last El Niño hit the country in 2015 and 2016, according to Neda Undersecretary for Regional Development Adoracion M. Navarro.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

P115.621 billion of the total.

Domestic borrowings showed a 381.11-percent growth compared to the January 2018 level of P27.681 billion, while external borrowings grew by 532.56 percent from last year’s P18.278 billion.

On the domestic front, the government’s borrowings consisted of fixed rate Treasury bonds amounting to P71.504 billion, and Treasury bills totaling P61.673 billion.

For the offshore side, borrowings comprised global bonds amounting to P78.038 billion, program loans at P36.842 billion, and project loans amounting to P741 million.

Meanwhile, the government

allotted P77.614 billion in January for the payment of some of its borrowings, as interest payments outpaced that of amortization.

Data from the BTr further showed the government’s debt service activities amounted to P77.614 billion in the first month of this year, contracting by 7.38 percent from last year’s P83.806 billion.

Broken down, interest payments accounted for P45.916 billion, while amortization took P31.698 billion of the total.

The government’s interest payments for the month is 5.51 percent higher than the P43.516 billion recorded in the same month for 2018,

while amortization posted a decline of 21.32 percent from the previous P40.290 billion reported.

For this year, the national government has programmed its gross borrowings for both domestic and foreign IOUs at P1.19 trillion, which is higher by 20.7 percent from the 2018 level of P986 billion.

Broken down, external borrowings will account for P297.2 billion and domestic borrowings at P891.7 billion of the total. The government was said to be eyeing a borrowing mix of 75:25 for this year with domestic borrowings accounting for 75 percent and foreign borrowings at 25 percent.

FVR, who began privatizing water, lauds Duterte, MWSS chief Velasco’s crisis mgt

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

F

ORMER President Fidel V. Ramos has lauded the Duterte administration and officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for acting with dispatch on the water shortage problem in Metro Manila, and for seriously putting on track several major projects that would ensure an adequate supply of water for Filipinos in the long term.

Ramos made the statement at his RPDEV office following a courtesy call

by MWSS Administrator Reynaldo V. Velasco.

Velasco was Ramos’s first Special Action Force (SAF) commander.

A veteran Edsa 1 and 2 hero, Velasco also helped quell coup attempts against President Cory Aquino. During his recent courtesy call, he briefed the former president on the various executive actions undertaken by MWSS to solve the water shortage that affected consumers in the east zone concession area by Manila Water.

While Ramos stressed that Metro Manila’s water-supply system was in a much worse state in the 1990s compared to what it is today, he counseled Velasco to be forward-looking and always be on the lookout for strategic solutions to every problem before they happen.

“Always be two steps ahead and strategic in running the water agency. I am confident that you can do the job better like a professional soldier who has won many battles in the field,” Ramos was quoted as saying in a statement.

For his part, Velasco admitted that the MWSS is on catchup mode due to

Fuel price. . .

Continued from A1

This is the first time that the government, through the DOE, will require oil companies to make public the breakdown of the costs that go into the pricing of fuel.

However, oil firms are opposed to this. In particular, they do not want to reveal the so-called industry take.

“Among the eight major items in the cost component. Seven have been agreed to in the first consultation and the remaining item is the industry take,” said Abad. In a nutshell, industry take includes an oil firm’s profit margin.

The Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (Ippca) and the Philippine Institute of Petroleum (PIP) said the oil industry is a deregulated industry. Most of the key components of oil price are already public knowledge such as price of crude oil which is published

by MOPS (Mean of Platts Singapore), carriage price or vessel, insurance and dollar exchange rate which are also easily determinable.

MOPS refers to the price of finished products such as gasoline and diesel that are sold in pumping stations nationwide.

failures of past leadership to develop new water sources. Velasco discussed with Ramos the short-, medium- and long-term water sources projects as well as the progress on the 600 MLD, P12.2-billion Kaliwa Dam under China’s officials development assistance, the 500-MLD new Wawa Dam proposed by business tycoon Enrique Razon and Oscar Violago in partnership with Manila Water, the 1850-MLD “ABC Projects,”as well as 350-MLD Laguna Bay projects

by Maynilad and Manila Water. Angat Dam which supplies 96 percent of Metro Manila’s water supply with 4,000 MLD was constructed in 1967.

Water privatization in Metro Manila began when then-President Ramos,instructed the government in 1994 to solve the water crisis in Manila by engaging with the private sector.

Until August 1997, water services in the metropolitan Manila were run

by MWSS, which was saddled with myriad problems. Among these: a $880-million debt, huge problem on nonrevenue water—around 69 percent before privatization; old infra-

“But there are some things which are proprietary to each oil company which they cannot divulge, the same being trade secrets. Divulging such would mean losing their advantage,” said Ippca President Jesus Manuel C. Suntay.

Ippca has at least 16 members composed of the country’s leading independent oil players, such as Eastern Petroleum Corp., Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc., Seaoil Philippines, Flying V, City Oil, Pryce Gases, and LPGMA, among others.

PIP Executive Director Teddy Reyes said almost 90 percent of pump price cost components are published and therefore transparent. “As such, information sought by the draft circular may be derived by the DOE without necessarily requiring players’ disclosure of commercially sensitive information. Too much transparency will discourage investing in the country,” said Reyes, adding that local and foreign investors would want a level playing field under a deregulated setup where market-driven competition prevails.

The DOE policy would also require the oil companies/bulk suppliers and retail outlets to submit baseline data every end of the year for the unbundling of their base price and to comply as well with the mandatory price display board.

The new policy is pursuant to

structure such as pipes and distribution systems; and inability to provide water to one-third of the households or just a 53-percent coverage. Meanwhile, those connected to the service had an intermittent supply of 17 hours a day on the average.

Under the concession agreement, metropolitan Manila was divided into two areas: the east zone ran by Ayala-led Manila Water Co. Inc. with 1,600-MLD allocation; and the west zone, ran by Maynilad Water Services Inc.—formed initially by Benpress (Philippines) and Ondeo Water, a Suez subsidiary (France), until it was taken over by Manny Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments in 2007 with 2,400MLD allocation.

According to Velasco, 22 years after the Water Public Private Partnership (PPP) was started, water coverage is now 98 percent in Metro Manila and serviced areas like Rizal and Cavite.

Crucially, NRW was reduced dramatically from a high of 63 percent to 11 percent by Manila Water and less 30 percent by Maynilad, which inherited the old piping system.

On the fiscal side, Velasco, who along with his fellow Board of Trustees only assumed office in February 2017, reported that MWSS is in the black as dividend remittance to the national government from 2017 to 2018 was unprecedented—P232.63 million remitted in 2017 and P611.07 million in 2018, the highest remittance made by MWSS to the national government in its history.

Likewise, the MWSS settled a longstanding dispute with the Department of Finance regarding “Equity vs.

Loans Payable to the JBIC Loan” issue by paying the total subject amount of P2.089 billion to the national coffers in 2018.

DOE’s mandate under Republic Act 8479, or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, to monitor both international and domestic price movements of petroleum products.

Consumer advocacy group Laban Konsyumer Inc. has also been pushing for transparency in retail prices of petroleum products as part of end-users’ right to information and to provide them access to fair and reasonable pricing of petroleum products.

Red Cross. . .

Continued from A12

City Medical Center (70,000 L) and the National Center for Mental Health (30,000 L).

The Red Cross also provided 12,000 liters to the PhilHealth offices, as well as to the following communities: Mandaluyong (Barangay Highway Hills, Barangay Addition Hills)—96,000 L; Quezon City (BarangayOldBalara,HuraHomes, Forest Tree Extension,Barangay Culiat, Barangay Damayang Lagi)—89,975 L; and Marikina (Barangay Tumana, Barangay Nangka, Barangay Concepcio)‚ 70,500 L.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Blue Ribbon won’t reopen probe to accommodate ex-cop Acierto

T

HE Senate inquiry into reports linking an ally of President Duterte to illegal drugs has been terminated and will not be reopened, Sen. Richard J. Gordon, probe chairman, affirmed over the weekend, citing “insufficient evidence.”

Confirming that Senate probers have concluded the inquiry, Gordon said they have no plans to conduct further hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the case after ex-National Police Senior Supt. Eduardo Acierto failed to provide solid evidence to pin down the alleged illegal-drugs connection of Michael Yang, Duterte’s former economic adviser.

“Acierto already admitted he had insufficient evidence [against Yang],” Gordon said in a radio interview on Sunday.

He added: “Acierto claims he wants to help [ferret out the truth], but he can’t present evidence; just a photo that came out in a newspaper of Michael Yang,” referring to the alleged presidential ally. “All of these findings were recorded in our executive session.”

Gordon continued: “After that, he [Acierto] never came back, that is why we ordered his arrest. It was a request to law enforcers to get him after being cited for contempt, even as the committee had already closed the hearing. There was a standing order for his arrest, but it was no longer important to me.”

The Senate chief prober lamented that expectations were not met in tapping the witness. “Parang pinapaypayan natin ang maliit na bagay na wala namang apoy.

Dumaan sa kumite, nagbigay sya report, sabi nya si Michael Yang and Johnson Chua ay involved in supply of drugs in Davao and that Michael Yang, allegedly a close friend of Duterte, facilitated the shipment of equipment for the Davao lab. However, aside from pictures, news articles, wala nang ibang ebidensya na ibinigay [no other evidence was given],” Gordon added, referring to purported evidence supplied to Senate probers by Acierto, the ex-deputy director for administration of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Drug Enforcement Group. Butch Fernandez

The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, April 1, 2019 A3

DENR’s Cimatu leads simultaneous river, estero cleanup for Manila Bay rehabilitation E NVIRONMENT Secretary Roy A. Cimatu on Sunday led simultaneous river and estero cleanups in 42 barangays in Metro Manila as part of the effort to rehabilitate Manila Bay. Cimatu believes that to rehabilitate Manila Bay, it is imperative to stop pollution at source.

Some of the most polluted rivers and esteros that drain out to Manila Bay have been identified and targeted for the simultaneous river cleanup by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which is taking the lead in the “Battle for Manila Bay,” a P4.7-billion, seven-year program to save Manila Bay from environmental degradation.

The chairmen of these 42 barangay in the cities of Quezon, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon and Navotas are also set to sign an agreement with the DENR. Dubbed Kasunduan (Filipino term for agreement), the memorandum of agreement underscoresthebarangays’commitmenttohelp improve water quality, proper management of solid wastes, including the promotion of waste reduction, reuse and recycling, partnership in community mobilization, and in information and education campaigns for water quality and

ELEMENTS of the Bureau of Fire Protection-NCR and the local community conduct a cleanup at Estero de San Lazaro along C.M. Recto Avenue in Manila on Sunday, March 31. DENR PHOTO

solid-waste management, habitat restoration, climate and disaster resiliency.

Simultaneous cleanups of rivers, creeks, esteros and other waterways were conducted by all the barangay covering the Tullahan-Tinajeros river system, including private-sector part-

Inflation. . . continued from a1 first week of April.

In the first two months of the year, inflation fell to an average of 4.1 percent, with the latest print in February falling to 3.8 percent.

This is a development from the peak inflation of 6.7 percent in September and October last year after the government made monetary

and nonmonetary policies to pull inflation back to target. The target range is 2 to 4 percent as set by the BSP for this year up until 2021.

Earlier in March, the BSP revised the inflation forecast to 3 percent for 2019, from the 3.1 percent for 2019 in the previous monetary-policy meeting. For 2020 the BSP

ners and other national government agencies supporting the rehabilitation of these creeks.

The rehabilitation of the Tullahan-Tinajeros river system will positively affect efforts to clean up Manila Bay, Cimatu said.

The Tullahan-Tinajeros River System spans

retained its forecast at 3 percent.

The lower inflation was the basis behind the recent decision to keep all monetary-policy levers unchanged in the March meeting.

Confidence boosted

ALSO, the latest business and consumer

27 kilometers, from La Mesa Water Reservoir in Fairview, Quezon City, all the way to the mouth ofManilaBayatCentennialParkinNavotasCity.

It is one of the most polluted waterways in Metro Manila and a major tributary of Manila Bay. San Miguel Corp. recently pledged assistance for the dredging and cleanup of the river. Other private-sector partners such as the North Luzon Expressway, Vanson and Boysen Philippines have also pledged continuing support to the rehabilitation of the creeks and tributaries of the Tullahan River.

The simultaneous cleanup of the creeks and tributaries in the Tullahan-Tinajeros River System is a joint partnership of the DENR with other national government agencies such as the Department of the Interior and Local Government and with selected cities and barangays, Department of Public Works and Highways, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, the private sector, the schools and civil-society organizations.

Cleanup activities were also held at the Estero de Tripa de Gallina, Estero de Magdalena, Marikina River/Manggahan Floodway, Pasig River, Malabon-Navotas River, Las Piñas-Zapote River, San Juan River, Parañaque River and Taguig-Pateros River. Jonathan L. Mayuga

expectations survey of the Central Bank showed that Filipinos are already feeling the effects of the lower inflation rate in recent months, as both firms and consumers showed an increase in confidence in the country’s economic conditions for the first quarter of the year.

A4 Monday, April 1, 2019 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

BOI investment approvals hit P243B in Q1

I

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

NVESTMENTS approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) in the first quarter accelerated 60 percent to P243 billion on the back of a surge in offshore commitments.

Investment pledges registered with the BOI from January to March grew 59.76 percent to P243 billion, from P152.1 billion during the same period last year.

Domestic investments accounted for the lion’s share at P212.2 billion—up 40.25 percent—from P151.3 billion, while foreign commitments jumped to P31 billion, from P793 million.

The Netherlands was the country’s largest source of foreign investments with P9.1 billion, followed by Thailand with P8.4 billion, Japan with P5.3 billion and

the United States with P2.2 billion.

Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon M. Lopez said the agency was able to sustain its momentum from last year—when investment pledges hit an all-time high P915 billion—due to positive investor sentiment here and abroad. With this, he is bullish the BOI can hit its ambitious target of P1 trillion this year.

“We expect the growth to continue for the rest of the year, as we aim to approve at least P1 trillion in total investments,” the trade chief said over the weekend.

The first-quarter commitments

were channeled to energy projects (P148 billion), manufacturing (P43 billion), and information and communications technology (P33.2 billion).

Among the projects approved by the BOI in the first quarter were the P96-billion new operator of the 2x350-megawatt coal-fired thermal power plant in Batangas by St. Raphael Power Generation Corp.; and the P47-billion renewable-energy developer of wind energy resources in Rizal and Quezon by Rizal Wind Energy Corp.

The BOI also authorized Metroworks ICT Construction Inc. to carry out its P33-billion new operator of telecommunications infrastructure.

Further, the BOI approved the P12.6-billion new producer of cement in Bulacan by Holcim Philippines Inc.; the P12.4-billion new producer of cement in Rizal by Solid Cement Corp.; and the P8.4-billion new producer of corrugated fiberboard in Bulacan. It also permitted Robinsons Land Corp. to continue with its P2.3-billion new operator of tourist accommodation

facility in Cebu.

Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said projects undergo stringent evaluation.

For one, he said proponents of power projects are required to submit positive official endorsement from the Departments of Energy and of Environment and Natural Resources.

Further, they are mandated to commit to emission standards more stringent than local and international requirements.

“Failure to meet these commitments would mean forfeiture of incentives,” Rodolfo added.

By region, Southern Tagalog received the largest share of investments with P162 billion, trailed by Central Luzon with P25.9 billion. On the other hand, Metro Manila came in third with P6.1 billion.

The BOI is targeting to secure more than P1 trillion in investment commitments this year, after breaking the record books the past two years.

Neda bats for EO to fast-track creation of water agency

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

FILE PHOTO

T

HE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) will push for the signing of an executive order (EO) that aims to strengthen the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).

The EO aims to transform the NWRB into the National Water Management Council (NWMC) to pave the way for the creation of an apex body for water to be called the Department of Water (DOW).

The NWMC will act as the interim body to pave the way for the Department of Water or Department of Water Resources, which is well within the powers of the President. The President has the authority to restructure the entire Executive branch.

“We hope to get the approval soon.

In the next Cabinet meeting, that recommendation will be raised,” Neda Undersecretary for Regional Development Adoracion M. Navarro said.

The Neda consultant tasked to draft the EO and the DOW, Elisea Gozon, earlier said these developments could not have been more needed as the country’s water resources are already under stress.

Based on the results from the 2017 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey and Water Quality Testing Module, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said 94 percent of the country’s 24 million households have improved source of drinking water.

However, only a third has access to E. coli-free water supply. E. coli, the PSA said, is a fecal indicator bacteria and is likely to be present when feces or raw sewage has entered the water supply.

PSA said that while most strains of E. coli are harmless, others can make a person sick. Further, some kinds of E. coli can cause diarrhea, while others cause urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia, and other illnesses.

“The presence of E. coli in drinking water does not necessarily mean that the person drinking it will become sick, but it indicates that, over time, the household is at a higher risk for waterborne diseases,” the PSA said.

Data showed that only 1 in every

3 families, or 34 percent, have their drinking water at the point of use free from fecal contamination. In this module, free from fecal contamination refers to drinking water that has zero E.coli.

The PSA said households located in urban areas are more likely to have drinking water that is free from contamination of E.coli compared with those in rural areas.

“The percentage of families with drinking water with no contamination of E. coli is higher in the point source [50 percent] than from point use [34 percent]. This may indicate that handling and storage may affect the quality of water,” the PSA added.

Overall, the PSA data showed, around 94 percent of the 24 million Filipino families have improved

source of drinking water.

In urban areas, 97 percent of households have access to improved sources of drinking water, while it is a bit lower at 91 percent in rural areas.

Residents in rural areas are more likely to have an unimproved source of drinking water than those in urban areas. Almost 4 in every 5 families, or 77 percent, do not practice any method or treatment in ensuring that their drinking water is safe to drink.

On the sufficiency and accessibility of drinking water, the majority or 88 percent of the families reported that drinking water is sufficient while 4 percent of families are unable to obtain sufficient water because it is not available from source.

Three in every 4 families, or 75 percent, obtain their drinking water within the premises or within their yard/plot. It is more likely that families in urban areas have their water sources within their premises compared with families in rural areas.

The World Health Organization and Unicef Joint Monitoring Report (2017) defined improved drinking water sources as having the potential to deliver safe water by nature of their design and construction such as piped water tubewells or boreholes; protected dug wells, protected springs; and rainwater.

Families that use bottled water or refilling stations for drinking are classified as using an improved source only if the water they use for cooking and handwashing comes from an improved source.

Arroyo: China shows there is no single path to economic development

C

HINA’S economic growth model is worth a second look given its development success in the past 40 years, according to House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Using its own model, Arroyo said China has been able to lift 400 million from poverty and is already on its way to becoming the world’s largest economy. Its economic growth, she said, has also been “unmatched” in the past four decades.

She cited China’s leadership in promoting what many refer to as “Globalization V.2” or the Belt and Road Initiative in a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) convention in Hainan, China.

“China has given us the lesson that there is just not one path for development because prior to China’s experience, it was thought that the only way to development is the Western style model of Jeffersonian democracy and coupled with a free market,” Arroyo said in a statement.

“But China has shown the world that you can have your own model

of development using your own historical experience, especially China in the last 40 years,” she added.

The Speaker also expressed admiration for the current Chinese leadership’s implementation of Deng Xiaoping’s socialism with Chinese characteristics.

She described the discussion as “valuable” as it mainly covered the direction China is taking on its 40th year of reforms and its relationship with the rest of the world.

The meeting was one of the highlights of the BFA Annual Conference 2019. Arroyo is on her second year as member of the Board of the BFA, which gathers together leaders in government, business and academic institutions throughout Asia to share their thoughts on the most pressing issues in the region and the world.

The forum brought together leaders in government, business and academia to discuss the Asia’s future.

Participants agreed that globalization and free trade are irreversible, conforming to the common interests of Asia and the whole world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech was the keynote of the an-

nual conference, inspiring people around the world to work together to a community with a shared future for humanity and make Asia and the whole world peaceful and prosperous.

More than 2,000 participants and 260 speakers exchanged views on the Globalization and the Belt and Road Initiative, Opening-up, Innovation, as well as Structural Reform in 65 panel discussions and put forward valuable proposals during the year’s conference.

‘Complex ODA’

THE Department of Finance (DOF) again stressed that the Philippines will not fall into a “debt trap” of any other country as the government expands its infrastructure investments through concessional loan financing from its development partners.

In his speech during the Rotary International District 3800 District Conference on Friday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has reiterated that in conformity with the Philippine Constitution, the pipeline projects funded with official development assistance (ODA)

from Japan or China do not allow for the appropriation or takeover of domestic assets in the event of a failure to pay.

“We have been warned about the so-called debt trap owing to the massive infrastructure spending and loans from China under this administration. Let me assure you that the Philippines will not fall into a debt trap to any country as we expand our infrastructure spending with ODAs,” Dominguez said.

The finance chief explained that no infrastructure project is funded through ODA without first going through a rigorous system of reviews and approvals by the Cabinet and the President.

“We ask the few who understand complex ODA terms to help us battle malicious efforts to confuse and misinform the public,” he added.

Dominguez said the government’s debt is “carefully structured” to ensure that it does not borrow without raising its own capital for infrastructure projects, while at the same time sourcing a significant portion of financing from the local debt market to minimize exposure to adverse external factors. Cai U. Ordinario and Rea Cu

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Home prices grew at slower pace in Q4 of 2018—BSP

THIS file photo shows Bamboo Lane, the latest mixed-use and residential project of Pueblo de Oro, in Cagayan de Oro.

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

R

ESIDENTIAL real-estate prices continued to rise—albeit at a slower pace—in the last quarter of 2018, driven largely by higher property prices in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recently reported updates on the quarterly release of the residential real estate price index (RREPI)—a Central Bank initiative officially launched earlier in 2016.

The Central Bank’s fourth quarter of 2018 report showed residential real-estate prices grew slower in the October-to-December period—at 0.5 percent from 5.7 percent recorded a year ago.

The index, meanwhile, rose to 118 from 117.4 from the same quarter a year ago.

The RREPI measures the average changes in prices of different types of housing units over a period of time, where the growth rate of the index measures house inflation.

The construction of the RREPI is based on banks’ approved housing loan applications.

The residential real-estate price growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 is the slowest price expansion for the sector since the second quarter of 2017 when it hit

0.1 percent.

In early 2018, some international analysts flagged the banks’ exposure to real estate as one of the pockets of risks to be monitored in the banking sector.

Moody’s Investor Service in particular, said while banks’ asset quality generally improved in recent assessment, they are still exposed to potential risks, particularly in the real-estate sector.

BMI Research­— a Fitch Group subsidiary—also said downside risks to the banking sector still roam in the horizon, as seen in their “heavy lending” to the realestate sector.

The growth in the country’s RREPI was driven by the increase in the average residential prices in the nation’s capital.

In particular, the average residential property prices in NCR increased by 1.6 percent year-on-year, while those in areas outside NCR declined by 0.8 percent.

In NCR, the rise in prices of single detached houses and townhouses more than offset the decline in prices of duplexes and steady prices of condominium units.

Outside NCR, the decline in prices of single detached houses outweighed the increase in prices of duplexes, townhouses and condominium units.

PSA urged to include 3 new types of child labor in surveys

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

E

MERGING types of child labor should be included in the Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as these may pose additional challenges for the government’s effort to reduce their numbers.

The Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC) is now pushing for additional research on the three new types of child labor identified during the 20th International Conference on Labour Statistics (ICLS) last year.

The three new types are ownuse production work, unpaid trainee work and volunteer work.

BWSC, an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), defined “own-use production workers” as those engaged in the production of goods and services for their own final use.

“Unpaid trainee workers” are those performing free work for the purpose of acquiring workplace experience or skills, while “non-compulsory work” is performed for others without pay to benefit a community where a child belongs to.

Ma. Karina Perida-Trayvilla, director of the BWSC, said the government currently

knows very little about these child laborers since they are not monitored in government statistics. This will make it difficult for the government to improve their welfare.

To address this, she said the BWSC has proposed the inclusion of these new types of child laborers in the regular LFS of PSA “These could be taken up in the next Inter-Agency Committee on Labor and Productivity Statistics (IACLPS) with the Philippine Statistics Authority and the DOLE,” Trayvilla said.

“For policy-makers, this is vital in providing appropriate program responses,” she added.

This is consistent with the recommendation of the International Labor Organizations (ILO) to paint a more accurate figure of the remaining child labor in the Philippines.

“These emerging work arrangements must be measured to determine the occurrence of child labor,” Frederico Blanco, ILO Project Coordinator of the Global Research on Child Labor Measurement and Policy Development said.

The DOLE is currently targeting to reduce by 30 percent, or 630,000, of the estimated 2.1 million child laborers nationwide by 2020.

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Federal judge blocks Trump’s Arctic, Atlantic oil drilling edict

P

RESIDENT Donald J. Trump’s bid to restore oil and gas leasing in US waters was blocked by a federal judge in Alaska, delivering a win to environmentalists who argued that offshore drilling isn’t worth the risk.

US District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled late on Friday that Trump didn’t have authority to resume selling drilling rights in more than 125 million acres (50.6 million hectares) of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans that former President Barack Obama had sought to protect.

The ruling is a defeat for the president as well as for oil companies eager to keep new territory open for exploration. It complicates the Trump administration’s plan to auction drilling rights in Arctic waters that are believed to hold more than 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent. It also reimposes three executive orders from Obama that had removed vast stretches of the Arctic and Atlantic from future oil and gas leasing.

Trump’s order revoking those previous Obama declarations “is unlawful, as it exceeded the president’s authority” under a federal law governing offshore oil and gas development, Gleason wrote.

Central argument

THE judge sided with environmentalists’ central argument that Trump lacks the authority to strip protections for most US Arctic waters as well as some 4 million acres of the Atlantic Ocean, after Obama permanently withdrew the territory from oil and gas development.

Congress offers presidents the power to withdraw lands from exploration, but Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act doesn’t offer them the authority to reverse such withdrawals, they argued.

The Trump administration had contended that Congress gave presidents wider power to determine which US coastal waters are available for oil, natural gas and mineral development, and the Justice Department asserted that courts can’t override the president’s authority under the Outer Continental Shelf law to modify prior policy actions.

Environmentalists hailed the move, saying it could thwart plans to sell new drilling rights as soon as 2020 in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska.

“This decision shows that no one, not even Trump, is above the law,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, the lead plaintiff in the case.

API response

THE American Petroleum Institute, which had intervened to help defend Trump’s move, said the ruling shouldn’t stop administration efforts to sell new offshore tracts for oil development.

“Our nation still has a significant opportunity before us in the development of the next offshore leasing plan to truly embrace our nation’s energy potential and ensure American consumers and businesses continue to benefit from US energy leadership,” API said in an e-mailed statement.

The case was the first major test of how much power presidents have to dictate when and where offshore drilling should take place under the 66-year-old Outer Continental Shelf law, which says presidents may withdraw unleased territory from leasing “from time to time.”

The LCV, the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club and other conservation groups said that a victory for Trump would have undercut a vital tool for protecting oceans and coasts. The obscure Section 12(a) provision at issue had been used to preserve coral reefs and walrus grounds even before Obama used its power to block a new generation of oil drilling in fragile,

remote Arctic waters.

Obligation to develop

BUT oil industry advocates said that presidents have an obligation to allow energy production in US waters, given that Congress specifically directed the Outer Continental Shelf be available “for expeditious and orderly development.”

“Withdrawals are not a one-way, permanent street, but have often been either issued on a temporary or time-limited basis, or subsequently revised,” API said in a filing.

Although Congress hasn’t challenged Trump’s reversal, that appeared to carry little weight with Gleason, who noted that lawmakers haven’t fought prior revocations either.

Congress’s inaction

“CONGRESS’S decisions not to challenge the small number of prior revocations falls far short of the high bar required to constitute acquiescence,” she wrote. “Too little information about Congress’s limited inaction exists to override the court’s interpretation of Section 12[a] based on that section’s language and legislative history prior to its enactment.”

Representatives of the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The administration could appeal the ruling. Congress also could take action to codify Trump’s reversal or to limit president’s authority to withdraw territory from potential oil leasing. Those efforts are unlikely to advance in the House, where Democrats in the majority are already pushing measures to restrict new drilling, not expand it.

In the short term, the ruling complicates the Trump administration’s bid to sell new drilling rights in the Arctic and other US waters. Trump in 2017 ordered his Interior Department to consider scheduling new sales of drilling rights along the US coastline, with an eye on annual auctions of territory in the western and central Gulf of Mexico, the Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska, and the mid- and south-Atlantic.

Interior’s plan

IN January 2018, the Interior Department issued a draft plan opening the door to selling drilling rights in more than 90 percent of US coastal waters, including territory Obama had sought to protect. The agency now is preparing to unveil the next iteration of that five-year plan—a formal proposed schedule for selling offshore oil leases through at least 2024 that is likely to be smaller in scope.

Environmentalists said Friday’s ruling puts the administration on notice.

“Up to now, the Interior Department has been acting as if these withdrawals didn’t exist, and this order says enough of that,” said Niel Lawrence, Alaska director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Were the administration to ignore this and press ahead with its plans to open up these areas to leasing, that would be an open invitation to an injunction.”

Even with litigation ongoing, oil industry leaders have urged the agency to continue pursuing lease sales in the waters that Obama ruled off-limits. Although Obama blocked the sale of drilling rights in most US Arctic waters, his Atlantic withdrawals targeted 31 undersea canyons without touching territory oil companies have eyed along the mid- and south-Atlantic US coast.

Existing oil leases in the Beaufort Sea aren’t affected by Friday’s ruling or by Obama’s earlier withdrawals, which targeted the sale of new drilling rights.

Bloomberg News

China’s factory rebound heralds improvement in global outlook

C

HINA’S first official economic gauge for March signaled stabilization in the world’s second-largest economy, easing one of the biggest worries for the global outlook.

The manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.5 from 49.2 last month, the biggest increase since 2012 and exceeding all estimates by economists. Both new orders and new export orders—leading sub-gauges that signal future activities—rose to the highest levels in six months.

That’s good news for global investors, as China’s weakening demand had weighed on sectors such as auto producers and commodity exporters worldwide.

However, with tariffs and uncertainty about whether a deal with the US will be signed weighing on trade and no sign of a rebound in domestic consumption yet, there is still a way to go.

“China’s economy has improved, supporting a stabilization in the global economy,” said Hua Changchun, global chief economist at Guotai Junan Securities Co. That stabilization will also

Venezuelans take to the streets after another round of blackouts

T

HE man seeking to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on residents of poorer areas south of the capital to protest his rule, as three blackouts in less than a month have virtually shut down the country. Many schools and businesses have been closed for five days.

“We will continue to hit the streets,” Juan Guaido, head of the National Assembly recognized as interim president by some 50 nations, told protesters on Saturday in San Antonio de Los Altos. “All we have left to do is to conquer our freedom.”

Unlike other protests since January, Guaido did not call for huge rallies in the capital of Caracas but rather urged Venezuelans to protest at key locations or in their own neighborhoods. He traveled to several towns about an hour south of Caracas to urge them on.

“My food is rotting and my appliances are going haywire,” said Yolanda Bellorin, a retired lawyer protesting among her neighbors in Caracas’s Colinas de la California neighborhood. “All of my children live abroad and I can’t communicate with them. This has to end.”

Power rationing

MADURO, opposed by the US but supported

by Russia and China, also called for protests near downtown Caracas, drawing a couple hundred each.

Residents of the capital are now bracing for power rationing, a measure announced

by Maduro’s regime as authorities try to fix the crisis-torn nation’s shaky grid. The government has tried to shield Caracas at all costs by diverting energy and resources, but few believe the capital can continue to be safeguarded from years of mismanagement and decay.

In fact, a third national outage darkened large parts of the country later on Friday afternoon until the late evening. Bloomberg News

Trump’s sale of fighter jets designed in 1970s spooks China

T

HE US may finally sell Taiwan the warplanes it has sought for more than a decade to defend against China. Their arrival would deal more of a political shock than a military blow to Beijing.

Trump administration officials have given tacit approval to Taipei’s request to buy more than 60 Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16s, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for the first such deal since 1992. While a few dozen fighter jets would hardly tip the military balance against the increasing powerful Chinese military, it would signal a new American willingness to back the democratically run island.

“For Beijing, it would be a huge shock,” said

Wu Shang-su, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “But it would be more of a political shock than a military shock. It would be, ‘Oh, the US doesn’t care how we feel.’ It would be more of a symbolic or emotional issue.”

The potential sale is among several gestures of US support for Taiwan in recent months, even as President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping near a deal to end the costly trade war. The US also sailed a warship through the Taiwan Strait and accommodated President Tsai Ingwen’s stopover in Hawaii last week, drawing protests from China, which denounced the moves as “extremely dangerous.”

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Monday, April 1, 2019 A5

Renewed US interest in Taiwan follows growing calls in Washington for a “whole-ofgovernment” effort to prevent China from surpassing American military and industrial dominance. Perhaps nowhere has the power shift been felt more than on Taiwan, an island of 23.6 million people that China aims to eventually control despite 70 years of divided rule.

China has directed its industrial strength toward huge investments in military hardware over the past two decades, building a world-class navy and filling its coastline with missiles capable of hitting Taiwanese targets. The country spent 23 times more than Taiwan on defense in 2017, up from double in 1997. Bloomberg News

lift the European and US economies, and may lead to a global asset price increase, he said.

‘Better than expected’

SUNDAY’S release backs up signs of recovery seen in the earliest data on the economy, which showed business confidence and stock markets improving amid policy support and progress in the China-US trade talks. The government is also showing signs of optimism, with Premier Li Keqiang last week telling business people that the economy is doing better in the first quarter than expected.

Still, there’s evidence for caution. New export orders are still contracting even after the pickup from the lowest level in a decade in February. In addition, the rise in the March data may overstate the actual increase in activity, as the Lunar New Year holiday in February weighed

down the data then, according to Zhou Hao, an economist with Commerzbank AG in Singapore.

If Monday’s data on South Korean March exports confirm a pickup, the market will be further convinced that China’s economy is turning around, Zhou said.

That will “marginally” lift concerns about a downturn in China, and lower expectations in the short term for a reduction in the amount of money banks must keep in reserve, he said.

Growth of the world’s second-largest economy will slow further this quarter to 6.2 percent from a year earlier and stabilize at that level throughout 2019, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The government has repeatedly vowed not to resort to “flood-like” stimulus and may pare back support measures if things do start looking better.

“Once the rebound is confirmed, the government will not use up their fiscal firepower,” according to Ding Shuang, chief China and North Asia economist at Standard Chartered Bank Ltd. in Hong Kong. According to Ding, the government is still concerned about local government debt risks, and if the trade talks reach a deal there will likely be a reduction in policy stimulus around midyear. Bloomberg News

A6 Monday, April 1, 2019

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Britain faces calls for unity government

L

ONDON—The UK may be forced to create a national unity government to end the impasse over Britain leaving the European Union (EU), as Prime Minister Theresa May clings to the Brexit divorce agreement that Parliament has rejected three times, a senior Conservative suggested on Saturday.

Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan’s comments came a day after the House of Commons rebuffed the prime minister’s call for lawmakers to “put aside self and party,” sending her Brexit deal to its latest defeat. The rejection leaves the UK facing the stark prospect of a chaotic departure from the EU in just two weeks—unless squabbling politicians can put aside their differences and engineer a long delay in the process of leaving the bloc.

The British Parliament will vote on Monday on a variety of Brexit alternatives in an attempt to find an idea that can command a majority. But May’s government is considering a fourth vote on her deal, bolstered by their success in narrowing her margin of defeat to 58 votes on Friday from 230 votes in January.

“If the government refused and Theresa May felt she could not implement what Parliament had identified as a way of leaving the EU, then I think we would have to think very hard about whether a cross-party coalition...could do that in order to make sure that the UK does leave the EU in an orderly fashion,” Morgan told the BBC. Britain has, in the past, had national unity governments in times of national crisis, such as World War II. But critics point out that such coalitions were forged when there was a single goal— such as defeating Nazi Germany. It is unclear now how Britain’s political parties would agree to cooperate on an issue like Brexit, which has split the country and its two major political parties, May’s ruling Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party.

As a result of Friday’s vote, the UK is now scheduled to leave the EU on April 12, regardless of whether the two sides have reached an agreement to cushion the impact. That has led to concerns about crippling tariffs, border gridlock, and shortages of food and medicines.

EU officials have suggested, however, they may agree to a lengthy delay to Britain’s departure from the bloc if UK politicians agree on a plan.

The House of Commons on Wednesday began the process of debating alternatives to the prime minister’s deal but rejected all eight proposals they considered. Two ideas, a customs union with the EU and a second referendum on any deal, achieved significant support. Lawmakers are expected to hold a second round of votes on Monday on Brexit proposals.

Hilary Benn, a Labour Party lawmaker who chairs Parliament’s Brexit committee, dismissed criticism that the parliamentary process was a failure because it didn’t deliver a majority in the first round of voting. Benn said he hopes the latest defeat for May’s deal will “concentrate minds” and help build a clear majority for one of the Brexit options.

“Since it took 2 3/4 years for the government to get what it had negotiated defeated three times, it’s a little bit harsh on Parliament, when it started the process last Wednesday, for not having immediately solved the problem in 24 hours,” Benn said.

“So I think a little bit more time is a perfectly reasonable thing to provide as we try and find a way forward.”

While Benn and Morgan are pushing for compromise, others are demanding that the Conservative-led government not cave in.

Some hardline Conservative Party lawmakers have written to May insisting that she not agree to a Brexit extension beyond May 22, which would force the UK to take part in the May 23 to 26 European Parliament elections, The Sun newspaper reported.

The letter, signed by 170 members of the prime minister’s party, called on May to bring her deal back to Parliament for a fourth vote, with the threat of a general election if it is rejected again, the newspaper said.

Brandon Lewis, a Cabinet member and chairman of the Conservative Party, said he was aware of the letter, though he had not seen the final text or the signatures.

“We should be doing everything we can to leave the European Union in good order as quickly as we can, as we said in our manifesto and as we’ve said to Parliament,” Lewis said. “I think the deal is the right way to do that.” AP

France’s yellow vest protesters march despite bans, injuries

P

ARIS—Yellow vest activists protested across France on Saturday to support an activist injured last week in a confrontation with police and to show that they remain mobilized against the government’s economic policies.

The demonstrators were undeterred by police protest bans or repeated injuries in 20 weeks of demonstrations. So they were out marching again in Paris, Bordeaux and other cities to keep pressing President Emmanuel Macron to do more to help France’s struggling working classes or to step down altogether.

They’re also showing solidarity with Genevieve Legay, a 73-yearold anti-globalization activist who suffered a head injury in the southern city of Nice last weekend. The Nice prosecutor said a police officer pushed her down.

“We are all Genevieve!” read an online appeal for Saturday’s protests.

Thousands of yellow vests marched peacefully in the streets of Paris, from north of the city center through the Left Bank to the Trocadero plaza near the Eiffel Tower. Some waved a rainbow flag that read “Peace,” same as the one that Legay was carrying in last week’s protest.

The French capital was placed under high security and protests were banned around the grand Champs-Elysees avenue, the scene of past yellow vest riots. Paris police said 32 people were detained and 21 fined for taking part in an unauthorized protest. In the southern French town of Avignon, brief scuffles broke out as police forced protesters out of the narrow streets of the medieval city center.

In Bordeaux, in the southwest, French police used tear gas after some protesters set fire to debris from a construction site and tried to force their way past security barriers. Protests were banned from the city center, where violence has often erupted in previous weeks.

Audrey Bayart, who came from northern France for the Paris protest, said Legay’s case shows the government’s contempt toward protesters, especially after Macron told a newspaper that the elderly woman should have had the “wisdom” not to join the Nice protest.

“After a while, you have to respect people and not tell them ‘You are fragile and you stay at home,’” she said. “Everybody has things to say, why are we trying to shut them up? That is not democracy.” AP

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Monday, April 1, 2019 A7

Indonesia: Next Asian country to spurn China in election?

A

CROSS vast tea plantations that sit atop the rolling hills separating two of Indonesia’s largest cities, excavators dig out a series of giant tunnels for the country’s first high-speed rail line.

The $6-billion project linking the capital Jakarta with Bandung some 150 kilometers (93 miles) away is expected to cut the travel time between them to about 40 minutes. The journey now takes about four hours on a road clogged with trucks packed to the brim, and it can easily double when the wet season brings daily downpours.

In theory, the project should be a point of pride for President Joko Widodo, the man popularly known as Jokowi who holds a commanding lead heading into an April 17 election. But it’s been hampered by delays, and even members of his own administration have raised concerns over the transparency of its financial backer: China.

“The Jakarta-Bandung highspeed train represents everything that’s wrong with Belt and Road,” Tom Lembong, Indonesia’s invest-

ment chief, said in an interview earlier this month, adding that he still remains a supporter of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious plan to finance global infrastructure.

‘Deeply troubled’

“IT’S opaque and nontransparent—even us Cabinet members are having trouble getting data and information,” Lembong said. While he doesn’t doubt that the populous area can sustain a network of high-speed rail lines over the next few decades, he called the project “deeply troubled” and lamented the lack of financial modeling or due diligence.

Those sentiments are shared by Prabowo Subianto, who is challenging Jokowi for the presidency. To make up ground in the polls, the former general known by his first name is in part tapping into anti-

China sentiment that has a long and occasionally ugly history in Indonesia—and has recently swept across Asia.

Last year Mahathir Mohamad stormed to power in neighboring Malaysia after promising to review Chinese investments, including a high-speed rail line. Myanmar has reassessed the price tag of a Chinabacked port, while Thailand’s opposition plans to review Chinese investments if it takes power after a disputed election this month.

Tiny Maldives also booted a proChina administration in a shift toward India.

Prabowo has said he welcomes Chinese investment, but it must also benefit Indonesia. He has vowed to review the high-speed rail project, and also to get a fairer deal in trade with Beijing. Indonesia’s trade deficit with China surged to $18.4 billion last year, up from about 40 percent since Jokowi came to power in 2014.

China has presented a dilemma for Jokowi from early in his presidency. On the one hand, stronger ties with Beijing and billions of dollars in cheap financing help him bring jobs and overcome a shortfall of government revenue. At the same time, it risks fueling impressions that Indonesia is becoming too in-

debted to China, leaving him open to political attacks.

“Jokowi has been very careful not to criticize China in most circumstances,” said Aaron Connelly, a Singapore-based research fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic Studies. “He is caught between a rock and hard place.”

Some Chinese investment in Indonesia is driven by economics, such as nickel mining in Sulawesi, Connelly said. But the high-speed rail project turned into a bidding war between China and Japan.

“China offered lending rates and promises in terms of completion and delivery—which it hasn’t fulfilled—that were pretty extraordinary,” he said.

Earlier this month, Jokowi’s administration said it would offer projects worth $91 billion to China with a focus on developing four separate economic corridors.

In late April he’s scheduled to head to Beijing for a Belt and Road summit hosted by Xi. China is also backing several other big-ticket projects besides the high-speed rail. A $1.6-billion hydro-electric dam supported by the Bank of China has been proposed for North Sumatra. On the island of Borneo, a Chinese stateowned company is set to build

hydropower plants worth almost $18 billion.

Jokowi’s campaign has sought to downplay his dealings with China, noting that former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also partnered with the country on projects. It pointed to the Jakarta metro, which opened earlier this month after three decades of planning, as an example of a partnership with Japan.

“It is not true if people think President Jokowi has special preference for China-funded projects,” Ace Hasan Syadzily, a spokesperson for his campaign, said by phone on Friday. He also said the decision to build the high-speed rail “was taken with sound, prudent judgment,” even as he acknowledged the campaign wouldn’t be featuring the project in its bid to woo voters.

Sandiaga Uno, a tycoon who is running on a ticket with Prabowo, said his campaign would push for Chinese investment that creates “good jobs” and “a fair deal” that benefits both countries. With nationalist sentiment running high and economic growth well short of the 7-percent growth promised by Jokowi when he took office, it’s a message that may resonate with an electorate already fearful of

US struggling with growing number of asylum seekers

W

ASHINGTON—Border officials are aiming to more than quadruple the number of asylum seekers sent back over the southern border each day, a major expansion of a top government effort to address the swelling number of Central Americans arriving in the country, a Trump administration official said on Saturday.

It was the latest attempt to ease a straining immigration system that officials say is at the breaking point. Hundreds of officers who usually screen cargo and vehicles at ports of entry were reassigned to help manage migrants. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen asked for volunteers from nonimmigration agencies within her department, sent a letter to Congress late this past week requesting resources and broader authority to deport families faster, and she met with Central American and Mexican officials.

The efforts are being made while President Donald Trump is doubling down on threats to shutter the US-Mexico border entirely, a move that would have serious economic repercussions for both the US and Mexico but wouldn’t stop migrants from crossing between ports. His administration also announced it was cutting aid to the Central American countries home to most of the migrants.

Right now, about 60 asylum seekers a day are returned to Mexico at the San Ysidro, Calexico and El Paso ports to wait out their cases, the official said. They are allowed to return to the US for court

CENTRAL American migrants wait for food in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, March 27, 2019, in a pen erected by US Customs and Border Protection to process a surge of migrant families and unaccompanied minors. Earlier, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan announced the Trump administration will temporarily reassign several hundred border inspectors, during a news conference at the border in El Paso. AP PHOTO/CEDAR ATTANASIO

dates. The plan was announced on January 29, partially to deter false claimants from coming across the border. With a backlog of more than 700,000 immigration cases, asylum seekers can wait years for their cases to progress, and officials say some people game the system in order to live in the US. Officials hope to have as many as 300 people returned per day by the end of the week, focusing particularly on those who come in between

ports of entry, said the official, who had knowledge of the plans but was unauthorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

But the process so far has been slow going, and such a sizeable increase may be difficult to achieve.

The plan has already been marred by confusion, scheduling glitches and an inability by some attorneys to reach their clients. In San Ysidro alone, Mexico had been prepared

to accept up to 120 asylum seekers per week, but for the first six weeks only 40 people per week were returned.

Plus, US officials must check if asylum seekers have any felony convictions and notify Mexico at least 12 hours before they are returned. Those who cross illegally must have come as single adults, though the administration is in talks with the Mexican government to include families. Children

are not returned.

Homeland Security officials have been grappling with an evergrowing number of Central American children and families coming over the border. Arrests soared in February to a 12-year-high and more than half of those stopped arrived as families, many of them asylum seekers who generally turn themselves in instead of trying to elude capture. Guatemala and Honduras have replaced Mexico as the top countries, a remarkable shift from only a few years ago.

Migrants from Central America cannot be easily deported, unlike people crossing from Mexico.

Mexico has been treading lightly on the subject. After Trump lashed out, saying Mexico and the Central American nations were “doing nothing” about illegal immigration, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his country would do everything it could to help to maintain a “very respectful relationship” with the US government and Trump.

Meanwhile, Nielsen sent a letter to the heads of other agencies within her sprawling, 240,000-person department, asking for volunteers to help with border duties.

And she wrote to Congress asking for more temporary facilities to process people, more detention space, and the ability to detain families indefinitely and to deport unaccompanied minors from Central America. While children from Mexico can be returned over the border, laws prohibit deportation to other countries. AP

Facebook’s Zuckerberg calls for global Internet regulations

F

ACEBOOK Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg called for new global regulations governing the Internet on Saturday, recommending overarching rules on hateful and violent content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.

In a statement that was also published as an op-ed in the Washington Post, Zuckerberg said the company is seeking regulations that would set baselines for prohibited content and require companies to build systems for keeping harmful content to a minimum.

“We have a responsibility to keep people safe on our services,” he said.

“That means deciding what counts

as terrorist propaganda, hate speech and more. We continually review our policies with experts, but at our scale we’ll always make mistakes and decisions that people disagree with.”

Zuckerberg’s comments mark his most visible effort so far to shape the discourse around the way the company collects information, uses and disperses it around the world.

Government probes

FACEBOOK has been the target of probes by various governments after news broke about a year ago that it allowed the personal data of tens of millions of users to be

ZUCKERBERG

shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Earlier this month, it came under fire for taking too long to take down a live video of a shooting in New

Zealand and allowing it to be circulated across the Internet. Millions of users also had personal information accessed via a recent breach.

Over the past year, lawmakers have focused greater scrutiny on the company and its immense influence, asking its executives— including Zuckerberg—to testify in front of Congress to explain the proliferation of misinformation, hate speech and election manipulation on the platform.

In his post, Zuckerberg proposes that “regulation could set baselines for what’s prohibited and require companies to build systems for keeping harmful content to a bare

minimum.” The tech industry has long said that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is vital to its ability to operate open platforms. The provision exempts companies from being liable for user-generated content.

Content scanning

FACEBOOK built a content-scanning system that over the years has added rules based on reactions to changes in user behavior or public uproar after an incident such as the New Zealand mass shooting.

Last week, the company moved to ban content that references white nationalism or white separatism from the platform. Bloomberg News

China’s growing economic clout.

“We will get a better deal,” Uno said in an interview. Chinese investment “has to benefit the Indonesian people, and it has to be rational,” he said.

‘White elephant’

IN 2013, during a trip to Indonesia, Xi proposed a broader vision that would become known as the Belt and Road Initiative a month after he first mentioned the concept of an economic belt based on the ancient Silk Road on a visit to Kazakhstan. Indonesia was among a host of developing countries that jumped at the chance to fast-track infrastructure plans.

Lembong, the chairman of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board, said he expected China to reboot the Belt and Road at the April summit to make it more green, more transparent and more professional. That desire to make the initiative a success will ultimately help projects like the high-speed rail, which will need to be expanded over time, he added. “ W hen t he st a kes get big enough it’s both lender and borrower’s problem, so we’re aligned actually,” Lembong said. “Neither side wants a 150-kilometer white elephant.” Bloomberg News

North Korea cites ‘rumors’ of FBI link to attack on Spain embassy

N

ORTH KOREA says it’s monitoring “rumors” the FBI was involved in a recent raid on its embassy in Spain.

In Pyongyang’s first public statement on the incident, an unidentified foreign ministry spokesperson said North Korea is tracking rumors that the FBI and an anti-North Korea group were involved in the “grave terrorist attack” on its embassy in Madrid on February 22.

An armed group illegally entered the mission, then bound and beat the North Korean staff, the spokesperson was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday.

Spanish authorities were urged to bring to justice “the terrorists and their wire-pullers” responsible for the raid.

“We are following the rumors of all hues now in the air that FBI of the United States and the small fry of anti-DPRK ‘body’ were involved in the terror incident,” KCNA quoted the spokesperson as saying, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which is the North’s official name.

Earlier this week, a secretive group called Free Joseon, which is seeking to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s regime, claimed responsibility for the incident, alleging that North Korea’s overseas missions are conduits for illicit funds.

The group, previously known as Cheollima Civil Defense, said on Wednesday its actions were in response “to an urgent situation in the Madrid embassy.”

A Spanish court statement said some 10 people took part in the raid, seizing computers and thumb drives from the embassy.

The leader of the group, a Mexican citizen who lives in the US, had contacted the FBI in New York days after the incident to offer information, according to the Spanish court statement.

The United States has denied it had anything to do with the raid.

State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said at a briefing on Tuesday that Spanish authorities were handling the investigation. “The United States government had nothing to do with this,” he said. Bloomberg News

A8

Agriculture/Commodities

Monday, April 1, 2019 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DA: Rice output goal for 2019 still attainable

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

T

@jearcalas

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) remains optimistic that Philippine unmilled rice output would reach a record high of 20 million metric tons (MMT) despite the onslaught of El Niño.

Ag r icu lture Secretar y Em manuel F. Piñol said the DA is banking on the increase in wet season har vest to of fset palay d amaged by t he weat her phenomenon.

“On rice production, we are still targeting to produce over 20 million metric tons despite El Niño,” Piñol said in an interview with reporters last week.

“Our reported loss is around 120,000 metric tons, which has not yet been validated. We could recover that in the wet season,” Piñol added.

Piñol sa id t he DA rev ised its initial 2019 palay target of 20.085 MMT to 20 MMT due to the damage caused by El Niño.

The country’s palay output in 2018 declined by 1.09 percent to 19.066 MMT, from 19.276 MMT recorded in 2017. The reduction in output was attributed to a series of weather disturbances, including a super typhoon, last year.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), palay production in 2018 declined slightly due to a contraction in harvest area and yield.

In its March forecast, the PSA also revised downward its projected palay output in the first quarter to 4.62 MMT from its initial estimate of 4.65 MMT. The latest estimate of the PSA indicated that palay production in the January-to-March period would remain flat.

“Harvest area may contract by 3.3 percent from 1.194 [million] hectares in 2018,” the PSA said.

“However, yield per hectare may increase to 4 metric tons from the previous year’s level of 3.87 MT,” it added.

Rice imports during El Niño years usually exceed 2 MMT as the weather phenomenon dries up farms and destroys standing crops.

For 2019, the United States D e p a r t m e nt o f A g r i c u lt u r e

FILE PHOTO

(USDA) said Philippine rice imports could reach a record of 2.6 MMT, but this will be driven largely by strong appetite from traders following the effectivity of the rice trade liberalization law.

In its monthly grains report, the USDA projected that rice exports to the Philippines would expand by 4 percent to 2.6 MMT, from 2.5 MMT in 2018. “[The 2.6-MMT import volume] is a record not seen since the international price spike in 2008

Hog inventory at 12.709M heads in January–PSA T HE country’s swine population as of January 1 rose by 1.42 percent to 12.709 million heads, from last year’s 12.604 million, due to the increase in the number of sows and growers, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its annual report, the PSA said hog population in backyard farms, which accounted for 64.28 percent of the total inventory, slightly grew to 8.17 million heads from 8.09 million recorded on January 1, 2018.

Also, the swine population of commercial farms went up to 4.54 million heads from the 2018 level of 4.51 million, the PSA added.

“The growth in swine inventory was brought by the increases in the number of sow, grower and other ages,” the PSA said in the report published recently.

“These three age classifications had a combined share of 66.85 percent to the total swine inventory.”

The number of sows during the period expanded by 1.29 percent to 1.761 million heads from 1.739 million recorded on January 1, 2018, PSA data showed.

Figures from the agency also indicated that the population of growers and other hogs (piglets, weanlings, boars) grew by 1.10 percent and 3.62 percent, respectively.

Grower population reached 3.735 million heads, up from 3.695 million, while the number of other pigs rose to 2.998 million heads, from 2.893 million.

“Among the regions, Central Luzon recorded the highest in terms of inventory. This was followed by Calabarzon and Western Visayas,” the PSA said.

However, the hog population in Central Luzon declined by 2.74 percent to 2.054 million heads from the previous year’s 2.112 million.

Manila rolled out biosecurity measures to protect the P200billion domestic hog industry

from the dreaded African swine fever (ASF) which crippled China’s hog sector. The hog disease is also threatening hog farms in European countries.

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health or the OIE, ASF is a severe viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs and can be spread by live or dead pigs and pork products.

The OIE said transmission can also occur via contaminated feed and fomites (nonliving objects) such as shoes, clothes, vehicles, knives and equipment due to the high environmental resistance of the ASF virus.

Because of this, Manila has disallowed Vietnam, Mongolia, Belgium, China, Germany, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova, South Africa, Zambia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary and Japan from exporting pork products to the Philippines.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

and would make the Philippines the second-largest global importer in 2019,” the report read.

Government data submitted to the World Trade Organization indicated that this could be the biggest volume of rice to be imported by the Philippines in history, overshadowing the volume it purchased in 2008.

In 2008, Philippine rice imports reached 2.39 MMT, of which 2.297 MMT were bought by the National Food Authority (NFA). In 2010, the country’s rice purchases from

abroad reached 2.369 MMT.

‘Thinning supply’

PIÑOL said, however, that the country cannot simply depend on imports as thinning rice supply will not be enough to meet the requirements of the world’s expanding population.

A local agronomist also said in February that the implementation of the rice trade liberalization law will not necessarily make imports cheaper, as the projected hike in the demand for the staple

could make it more expensive and lead to another price crisis.

Additional pressure on thinning rice supply, University of the Philippines Los Baños Agriculture Economist Teodoro Mendoza said, could jack up international and domestic prices as the Philippines is one of the biggest rice importers.

Higher demand for rice in countries like Africa, India and China could further exert pressure on international prices and lead to volatility, Mendoza said.

“It has already happened in 2008 when we imported 2.5 MMT. We were the world’s largest [rice] importer at that time. We also triggered the increase in rice prices which reached $1,000 per metric ton,” he said.

“At that time, our exchange rate was at 47 to the dollar, but now, if rice prices will increase to $1,000 per MT, rice prices, including transportation costs, could reach about P65 per kilogram [kg],” Mendoza added.

Mendoza said the law will eventually discourage farmers from planting rice as prices will go down. He noted that when the President signed the law, the prices of rice already have fallen to around P15 to P17 per kg, from P20 per kg.

He also said the law will displace some 10 million Filipinos working as farmers and farm hands, and other workers in allied industries. This, Mendoza said, could cut rice self-sufficiency level to 70 percent from the current 93 percent.

‘Swiss retail giant keen on sourcing organic food products from PHL’

M

IGROS, Switzerland’s largest retailer, indicated that it was “very much open” to sourcing organic food products from the Philippines, according to a trade industry development specialist at the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB).

Golda Kristy Grospe of the M a r k e t i n g I n n o v at i o n D i v ision of the DTI-EMB said Migros is also interested in sourcing canned tuna from the Philippines.

“Migros is also into healthy and sustainable measures that is why it is very particular on how the product was processed a nd m a nu fac t u red ,” Grospe sa id i n a st atement i ssued by the Philippine Ex porters Confederation Inc. “Coco water beverages, dried fruits, fruits and vegetables— these are some of the products that Migros is open to sourcing from the Philippines,” she added.

Grospe said Filipino exporters should take advantage of the increasing popularity of organic food and beverages in Switzerland where greener living is becoming the consumers’ way of life.

She noted the results of a 2018 survey which showed that Switzerland has the highest consumption of organic products compared with other key countries in Europe.

“Basica l ly, this just show that organic is going mainst rea m i n Sw it z erl a nd a nd t h e E f t a [E u r o p e a n F r e e Trade Association] countries,” Grospe said.

Efta is a free-trade agreement the Philippines has entered into with the Efta States which include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

“For the Philippine-Efta FTA, all industrial goods and fishery lines are already zero in tariff.

So zero tariff when we export to Switzerland, Norway, Iceland

and Liechtenstein,” Grospe said.

“For agricultural products, the Philippines able to gain significant concession especially to products of our interest,” she added.

What could also work to the advantage of Filipino exporters’, she said, is the rise of “agnostic” shoppers in Switzerland.

“These are shoppers or consumers that do not really care for the brand or for the label but they care for the value, they care for the price for as long as the products work for them,” Grospe said.

The Philippine government promotes organic farming practices as mandated by the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010, or Republic Act 10068.

As of December 2016, the National Organic Agriculture Program indicated that 349,041 hectares have gone organic and that a total of 525,863 metric tons of organic farm products have been produced.

E-mails show FDA worry after food poisoning outbreaks due to romaine lettuce

N

EW YORK­—After repeated food poisoning outbreaks tied to romaine lettuce, a United States food safety official shared his concerns in an internal e-mail, saying the produce industry’s water testing “failed in an epic and tragic way.”

How the industry tests water to grow leafy greens is “unacceptable” and needs to change, James Gorny, a senior adviser for produce safety at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), wrote to agency leaders.

The message last November, obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request, came days before the agency warned people to avoid romaine ahead of T hanksg iv ing. Just months earlier in April, another E. coli outbreak linked to romaine had sickened more than 200 and killed five. That was later linked

to an irrigation canal near a massive cattle lot in Arizona; the fall outbreak was linked to a water reservoir in California. In both cases, regulators never confirmed how the water became contaminated.

Though the FDA has publicly called on the leafy greens industry to step up safety, the e-mails offer a stark view of the agency’s longstanding frustrations with continued outbreaks. They also show how the agency leveraged the crisis to pressure for voluntary changes, even as it tries to figure out its own water testing rules.

In a statement, the FDA said it has been working with growers and state agencies to improve safety since the outbreaks, including testing of romaine. The agency said new regulations that include farm inspections and sanitary rules for workers also

should help stem outbreaks.

Industry groups said they’re expanding existing safety practices for their members. Joining the industry agreements is voluntary, however, and a farm linked to the fall outbreak was not a member.

Food poisoning outbreaks tied to leafy greens have been an ongoing concern for health officials. The failure of industry measures to stop outbreaks shows the lack of a clear solution, and even regulators aren’t sure how to fix the problem, said Timothy Lytton, a food safety expert at Georgia State University.

This month, the FDA delayed a regulation requiring produce growers to test water for E. coli—which is how the leafy greens industry has been monitoring its water. The presence of E. coli doesn’t necessarily make people sick, but can

signal potentially harmful strains.

The agency said it needs more time to consider whether it’s the most practical option.

“That’s essentially just stepping back and asking industry to take responsibility for public safety,” said Sarah Sorscher of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Gorny’s e-mails came during the fall outbreak tied to California growing regions. In a message in late November, he noted additional, recent illnesses with a strain similar to the earlier spring outbreak.

The FDA said it never tied those additional illnesses to a food. But at the time, Gorny called it a “near miss” that shows the problem wasn’t fixed.

Sorscher said the lack of a solution is concerning, but lettuce is still a healthy food and the “odds are very good that you won’t get sick.” AP

IN this January 31, 2012, file photo, a farmworker carries heads of romaine lettuce in a field near Holtville, California. AP PHOTO/GREGORY BULL

Regions BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Monday, April 1, 2019

A9

Bohol hotels play catch-up to airport opening

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

M

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

ORE hotel rooms are being built in Bohol as they play catch-up to an anticipated influx of foreign visitors with the opening of the Panglao International Airport.

According to Regional Director for Department of Tourism (DOT)-Central Visayas Shalimar Tamano, three new hotels are currently in construction in the province, namely JPark Island Resort and Waterpark in Panglao (1,100 rooms); Parklane Bohol Resort and Spa in Anda (60 rooms); and, Modala Beach Resort in Panglao (126 rooms and villas).

JPark, he added, is building a total of 4,000 rooms. It is a branch of the popular Cebu waterpark resort Parklane and Morals, he said, are scheduled to open before the end of 2019. As per JPark, the resort is slated for completion by 2024.

The Bohol-Panglao International Airport was finally opened last November after years of delay, having been approved by the Philippine government in 2003.

Funded with a loan of some $124 million from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the new airport’s passenger terminal can accommodate up to 2 million passengers a year, compared to the 800,000 passenger annual capacity of the old Tagbilaran airport.

According to the DOT, there are

568 accommodations establishments in Bohol, with 7,270 rooms to date. Of the total, 4,485 rooms are on Panglao Island.

While data for 2018 was still unavailable, tourist arrivals in Bohol reached 1.3 million in 2017.

The numbers are expected to have been exceeded in 2018 with the sixmonth closure of Boracay Island.

Aside from the new hotels, existing hotels are also building additional rooms, such as Hena nn Resor t A lona Beac h (+210 rooms), South Palms Resort Panglao (+100 rooms), and The Bellevue Resort (+50 rooms), tourism sources said.

Allan Santos, general manager of the Bohol Beach Club, expressed optimism over the good fortune that the new airport will bring to the hotels and resorts in Panglao.

“It’s good that we have the airport, definitely, no doubt about it. Before, people would complain how bad the [Tagbilaran] Airport was, but this new airport—it’s air-conditioned, world-class, environmentally friendly, the use [of] solar power, and then the sewerage system is top notch. The old airport before accommodated about

Police defends slay of 14 who local execs accused of supporting NPAs

T

HE Philippine National Police (PNP) has defended the operations that were carried out by its men in Negros Oriental that resulted in the killing of 14 people and the arrest of 12 others whom rights group Karapatan said were ordinary farmers.

“The law enforcement operations were legitimate and covered by search warrants issued by the court,” PNP Spokesman Police Col. Bernard Banac said on Sunday.

“It is the duty of the PNP to enforce the law and maintain peace and order to ensure public safety and security against criminals and other lawless elements. Implementing search warrants issued by the courts is a regular function of the police,” Banac added.

Karapatan said the victims were killed by policemen during three separate but simultaneous operations in Canlaon City, Manjuyod and Santa Catalina in Negros Oriental.

Soldiers of the Philippine Army provided back-up to the PNP. The rights group said all of the victims and those arrested in what was initially reported by policemen as anti-illegal drugs operations were plain farmers, but local officials admitted they were allegedly supporters of the New People’s Army.

The Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group which carried out the operations said those killed have resisted arrest and opened fire at the policemen serving warrants of arrest for various charges.

One of those killed was Edgardo Avelino, chairman of the farmer’s group Hugpong Kusog sa Mag-uuma sa Canlaon City.

Banac said the operations were carried out against the

victims, not because they are farmers or even suspected rebel followers, but because they are suspected and wanted criminals who are wanted by authorities.

“They were hiding contrabands, guns and bullets; that is why our courts issued warrants and they were only implemented by our policemen,” he added.

“The implementation of the warrants resulted in firefights, casualties and recovery of firearms.”

Banac said the policemen performed their functions while following the “standard rules of engagement, utmost respect for human rights and with presumption of regularity.” Meanwhile, Senatorial hopeful Lorenzo R. Tañada has called for justice to the slain farmers.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Tañada also said the “killings have to stop.”

“This government should start giving value to life and justice especially to our farmers and their families,” the former congressman said. “When the government is remiss of its duty to relieve them of prevalent hunger and poverty, killing them in the guise of criminality appears to be the next recourse for this administration.”

Tañada also said he condemns the killing of the farmers in Negros Oriental “in the guise of an anti-criminality campaign.”

“The government is already pushing the farmers more in to poverty with the Rice Tariffication Law. They don’t get the necessary support to improve their income. They are left to fend for themselves when their crops are severely damaged by typhoons, flooding and now drought. Now they are killing them,” according to the former Deputy Speaker. “When will the government give farmers the respect for life and justice they deserve?” Rene Acosta

eight flights a day, although if something goes wrong, all flights are cancelled. It has served its purpose.”

With the additional rooms being built by the existing resorts, the island will finally be able to cope with the increased demand for accommodations from tourists. He said, one of the reasons some of the larger tour operators don’t want to sell Panglao Island as a main destination is because “we don’t have enough rooms.”

Even large group tours, or incentive travels by local companies, he noted, cannot be accommodated in just one hotel.

“We had a major corporate booking recently, it was a regional convention; almost all hotels were occupied by the guests, but they were split up and distributed in several properties. The hotels were fully booked, and yet the guests still lacked rooms.”

This “lack of foresight” can’t be blamed on the private sector, however, Santos said. “It took four presidents for this new airport to be built. But that’s one of the reasons, foreign travel agents like the Chinese for example, they usually come in with planeloads of people, but they didn’t want to get to that point that they might have a plane full of people landing in Bohol, but they can’t confirm rooms.”

Santos said chartered flights from Taiwan will begin in April; “for sure China will follow. [With the new airport, China can fly in] three a day, easy.” Scheduled international flights, according to the airport’s Japanese builders, may start by June. Air Asia recently announced it was considering flying international routes from Taipei or Macau to Panglao.

El Niño damage in Quezon hits ₧205.7 million —PAO report

L

UCENA CITY—The El Niño phenomenon has wrought an estimated damage worth of P205.7 million affecting over 6,000 hectares of rice, corn, coconut and other high-value crops in several municipalities of Quezon province.

According to the report from the provincial agriculture office (PAO) headed

by Roberto Gajo, the estimated damage due to the dry spell brought by El Niño phenomenon as of March 18 showed that 4,807 hectares of rice were totally and partially damaged: 723 hectares of corn, 270 hectares of high value crops, 183 hectares of coconut and 76 hectares of herbal plants.

The report said that El Niño affected rice crops of 23 municipalities which included Lopez, Gumaca, Catanauan, Padre Burgos, Guinayangan, Buenavista, San Narciso, Calauag, Pagbilao, Sariaya, San Antonio, Tiaong, Lucena city, Infanta, Polillo, Burdeos, Patnanungan, Unisan, Jomalig, Panukulan and Quezon.

Municipalities with damages on coconut include Infanta, Tiaong, Dolores, San Antonio, Sariaya, Lucena city, Mauban, Sampaloc, Pagbilao, Tayabas city, Gumaca, Calauag, Catanauan and Mulanay.

Most specifically, areas hit by the dry spell include the following barangays: Hingiwen in Padre Burgos, Santa Rosa in Lopez, Tubigan in Unisan and Cawayanin in Catanauan, Concepcion in Plaridel, Lubi in Atimonan and Hagonghong in Buenavista.

The report said that the estimated opportunity losses to rice and corn crops amounted to P400,750,000 based on the physical area data of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA).

The OPA said that among the actions taken included the creation of Task Force El Niño, identification of vulnerable and affected areas, validated data on standing crops, and inventory of functional irrigation facilities and machineries. John Bello

RAKING IN A Surf Rake, manufactured by H. Barber & Sons and one of the most popular tractor-towed beach cleaner in the world,

passes by two women on a beach in Boracay, Aklan. The Surf Raker was donated by Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines and Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines to the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force as the private sector’s commitment to help and keep Boracay as one of the best tourist destination in the world. BERNARD TESTA

BARMM officially starts reign, elects first Parliament officers

By Manuel T. Cayon |

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAOCITY—TheBangsamoro Autonomous Region i n Mu s l i m M i nd a n ao (BARMM) has officially started as the new autonomous governing body among Filipino Muslims in Mindanao as it also elected the main officers of its Parliament last week.

President Duterte on Friday, banged the “agong,” an indigenous brass metal drum, to officially mark the inauguration of the newly established Bangsamoro government.

“We were able to realize at least the part, maybe not all, but the part of what the entire country could have wished for the Moro people of Mindanao,” Duterte said.

T he i n au g u r at ion of t he Bangsamoro government, he added, “denotes that we are a step closer to the realization of a peaceful autonomous region that serves all Muslims, Christians, Lumads and indigenous people whose home is Mindanao.”

The President also promised his administration’s full support to the autonomous region.

The Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) also elected the officers of the parliament during its inaugural session on Friday.

Elected were lawyer Pangalian Balindong as speaker of the parliament, Hatimil Hassan as deputy speaker, lawyer Lanang Ali Jr. as majority floor leader and lawyer Laisa Masuhud Alamia as minority floor leader.

Balindong was the former deputy speaker of the Regional Legislative Assembly, the lawmaking body of the now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Alamia was also the former ARMM executive secretary. Ali served as former spokesman and, later, negotiator for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Raby Angkal and Dan Dimakenal will serve as secretary-general and sergeant-at-arms, respectively, of the Parliament.

D u r i ng t he i n aug u rat ion, BARMM Chief Minister Al Hajj Murad Ebrahim led the Bay’a Qur’an

or the Oath of Moral Governance, among government officials.

The members of the Parliament took their oath of moral governance before the Qur’an. “This is to ensure to the public that the Bangsamoro government is sincere in upholding good governance in the Bangsamoro region,” the BARMM Bureau of Public Information said.

Ebrahim said that “running this Bangsamoro government would be guided by the tenets of Islam through moral governance,” “As we start the Bangsamoro government, we bound to make moral governance as the foundation of this leadership,” he said.

He said Friday’s inauguration “marks history where it signifies their start of a new kind of Jihad, a jihad against poverty, wants and neglect.”

As he thanked the President, Ebrahim also disclosed that the MILF has a l ready submitted the complete list of its combat a nts a nd weapons to t he Inter nationa l Decommissioning Body for the first phase of decommissioning process.

IBON dares Armed Forces: Act on accusations vs NGOs

T

HINK tank IBON Foundation challenged Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to prove their allegations before a court and shut them down already if they have any evidence to back up their claims that they have links with communist rebels.

This, after European Union (EU) and Belgium agreed to look into AFP’s request to stop donations to nongovernment organizations (NGOs) allegedly connected to the Communist Party of the PhilippinesNew People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

Sought for comment, IBON Foundation Executive Director Jose Enrique A. Africa said EU and Belgium are just acting to protect its diplomatic relations with the country.

Nonetheless, Africa vowed they will cooperate with the investigation as they have “nothing to hide.”

“If the AFP has any evidence about their allegations then they should charge all of us in court, prove it and shut us down already. But they don’t and can’t because all they have are their stories,” he said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.

“This is most of all about how the Duterte administration is scared of meaningful criticism and of those unafraid to voice this.”

IBON earlier said the Duterte administration is just aiming to stifle economic analysis which is inconsistent with its preferred narrative of growth and development.

It has also already clarified that it is not now receiving funding from either the EU or Belgian government and that the group’s funds is not being used for terrorism.

Aside from IBON, human-rights group Karapatan was also tagged by the government with links to the communist rebels.

Karapatan has also expressed confidence that these accusations will easily be debunked and urged the Duterte administration to not block efforts of United Nations and International Criminal Court to investigate the alleged human-rights violations in the country.

“Amid the false and malicious accusations hurled against organizations like Karapatan, we have been openly addressing these issues as we ask for dialogues with the European Union and other governments to directly talk to us. We are confident that these red-tagging schemes, taken to the international arena by a government who wishes to discredit us, will be sufficiently refuted by years of our human-rights advoca-

cy for marginalized communities,” Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay said.

“We echo the same challenge to the Duterte government and its rabid gang of militarists: If indeed human-rights organizations are merely spouting lies to defame the government, then do not block efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and United Nations Independent Experts to investigate these human-rights violations that we have reported and exposed,” Palabay said.

AFP Spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo has also stood firm that they would be able to prove their case before the countries supporting the organizations which they linked to the communist rebels.

Arevalo also said the EU said it was pleased that the EU ambassador and Belgium ambassadors accepted the request by the National Task Force (NTF) to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. The task force was created by President Duterte.

Arevalo added the EU did not just commit to look into “voluminous documents” that the NTF submitted but also committed to enlist a third party firm to audit the funds they donated to NGOs that they have reported to have links with CPP-NPA. Bernadette D. Nicolas

A10 Monday, April 1, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Colonies and colonizers: It’s complicated

T

HIS past week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico wrote to Spanish King Felipe VI and Pope Francis urging them to apologize for the abuses of colonialism and conquest.

“I have sent a letter to the king of Spain and another to the pope calling for a full account of the abuses and urging them to apologize to the indigenous peoples [of Mexico] for the violations of what we now call their human rights.”

This is the response of the Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell: “Spain is not going to offer such an extemporaneous apology, just like we are not going to ask the French Republic to apologize for what Napoleon’s soldiers did when they invaded Spain. Or like the French are not going to ask the Italians to beg forgiveness for Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul.”

Both the letter and response were in Spanish.

The relationship between colonizing nations and former colonies is “complicated.” Most former colonies have much of their culture and heritage rooted in their colonial period. Family names in the Philippines came from Spanish “ancestors” while Filipinos speak English by way of the Americans.

However, there is always that deep dark question of what the Philippines might be today if a typhoon sunk Magellan’s ships before he reached Mactan Island.

Conceptualized in 2017, the BusinessMirror’s “Mission: PHL” is a corporate social responsibility project. It serves “to generate public understanding and appreciation for nation and development aid partners that have helped the Philippine government in improving the lives and future of the Filipino people.”

To that end, on Thursday, we will give recognition—in partnership with government agencies—to embassies, consulates, economic and cultural offices, and aid agencies.

Mission: PHL will give awards for individual categories as selected by various government agencies. These are Environment and Biodiversity Award (DENR), Science, Technology and Innovation Award (DOST), Agriculture and Fisheries Award (DA), Trade and Investments Award (DTI), Visit the Philippines Award (DOT), Infrastructure Support Award (DPWH), Education Award (DepEd) and Transportation Infrastructure Support Award (DOTr).

The “Embassy of the Year,” “Aid Agency of the Year,” and “Project of the Year” were selected by a panel that deliberated for over one year on nominations submitted by the foreign embassies. The members include Cristina Marie G. Aquino of the youth sector, Assistant Secretary Eduardo J. Malaya of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Officer in Charge Director Hazel Baliatan of the National Economic and Development Authority, coordinator Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III of the Action for Economic Reform Executive, Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce Henry Schumacher, representing the private sector, Dean Jikyeong Kang of the Asian Institute of Management, representing academe, and columnist John Mangun for the BusinessMirror.

“Mission: PHL, Envoys & Expats Recognition Awards” would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of Special Projects Director Psyche Roxas-Mendoza, managing editor of our sister publication, Philippines Graphic.

The awards are not a beauty contest with winners and losers. It is the recognition of a productive partnership between countries that understand the importance of a genuine community of nations.

Will cryptocurrencies ever recover?

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

T

HERE are still people who believe that cryptocurrencies will bounce back soon. A couple of years ago it soared, but the bubble burst and its effects have been harsh. Investors were left with “one of the world’s worst-performing assets.” People lost their jobs and banks shelved their products. Regulators have started to train their eye on cryptocurrencies, scaring many possible players. However, there are still those who remain enthusiastic about it.

The Economist recently came out with a feature citing three reasons why a recovery is highly unlikely.

First, the article stated, “the extent of genuine activity is hugely exaggerated.” It is not often used to pay for

‘The world needs a leader like Jacinda’ Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

LEGALLY SPEAKING

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business ✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief Associate Editor News Editor Senior Editors

Lourdes M. Fernandez Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Efleda P. Campos Dennis D. Estopace Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Angel R. Calso

Creative Director Chief Photographer

Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025.

(Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807.

(Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news@businessmirror.com.ph.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Printed by BROWN MADONNA Press, Inc.–San Valley Drive KM-15, South Superhighway, Parañaque, Metro Manila MEMBER OF

A

UCKLAND, New Zealand—I was fortunate to be in Auckland with my law firm on our annual foreign travel to join New Zealanders and sympathizers who marched to Auckland’s Victoria Park on Sunday, March 24, 2019, to stand up against violent extremism, fascism and white supremacy.

T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Online Editor Social Media Editor

Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

legitimate goods and services, and a significant portion of the transactions through cryptocurrencies is related to gambling and the purchase of stolen credit card details, recreational drugs, cheap medicines,

etc. “Wash trading” (or when traders buy and sell to each other or to themselves) also goes on, to create the illusion of volume. In an analysis of 81 cryptocurrency exchanges undertaken by Bitwise Asset Management, an American financial regulator, it was discovered that 95 percent of the trading volume could be artificial.

The second problem that was discussed in the article is the issue with technology, specifically the flaws in the design of the system.

Bitcoin’s network, for example, can process only about seven transactions per second. When cryptocurrencies soared in 2017, its system got clogged and users had to pay miners so that their transactions could be processed. More on Bitcoin’s system: it was designed to create only up to 21 million Bitcoins, that’s it.

Finally, experts see fraud as the third problem. The system could be

New Zealand, in particular Auckland, Queenstown and Christchurch have been popular tourist destinations of Filipino’s recently—with our national carrier Philippine Airlines offering direct flights. The recent massacre is a wake up call that “no city is really safe.”

On the afternoon of March 15, 2019, more than 500 worshippers sat side by side at two Christchurch mosques for their Friday prayers.

This deeply meaningful weekly ritual is a time for quiet reflection; a time for the Muslim community to come together in peace to pray and give thanks.

But at 1:40 p.m. that day, the peace was cruelly shattered when a gunman launched a shocking 21-minute wave of terror that claimed 50 lives.

Heavily armed with semiautomatic weapons, the Dunedin-based Australian man entered the mosques, and began shooting, ultimately killing or wounding nearly 100 innocent people, many of whom were fleeing for their lives. Men, women and children were among the 50 whose lives were lost, with many more still fighting for survival in hospital.

And as the peace at those two

places of worship was shattered, so too was the long-held notion that New Zealand is a place safe from hate-driven violence. The massacre is the worst mass killing and by far the most devastating terrorist attack ever on NZ or Australian soil.

It is the eighth worst mass shooting in global history.

“A loss of innocence,” commentators noted in the aftermath of the atrocity.

While the outpouring of grief and solidarity for those affected has brought some solace, important questions are now being asked about white supremacy in Aotearoa and our attitude to race and racism.

“This is your home and you should have been safe here,” read the caption on a powerful artwork by Wellington artist Ruby Jones just hours after the attack. The message appeared to resonate and was quickly shared around the globe, with many of us asking, “How could this have happened here?”

And as scores of graves were prepared at Memorial Park in Linwood late last week and the first of the burials undertaken, shock, disbelief, anger and sorrow continued to reverberate. In her first address to

Prime Minister Ardern has since vowed never to mention the attacker’s name, instead focusing on the innocent victims, saying, “He is a terrorist. He is a criminal.

He is an extremist. But he will when I speak, be nameless.”

Parliament after the attack, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern—whose empathetic leadership in the wake of the tragedy has been globally praised —said March 15 would be forever etched in our collective memories.

“On a quiet Friday afternoon a man stormed into a place of peaceful worship and took away the lives of 50 people,” she said. “That quiet Friday afternoon has become our darkest of days.”

PM Ardern has since vowed never to mention the attacker’s name, instead focusing on the innocent victims, saying, “He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will when I speak, be nameless.”

Addressing the families who lost loved ones, she continued, “We cannot know your grief, but we can walk with you at every stage. We can. And we will, surround you with aroha, manaakitanga and all that makes us, us.

Our hearts are heavy, but our spirit is strong.”

Ardern’s response was fast and decisive. Declaring gun laws would be tightened, she took the proposal to cabinet on March 18 resulting in an “in principle agreement” to reexamine weapons. Reforms were expected to be announced within 10 days of the massacre, she said.

As New Zealanders grapple with the enormity of the attack against people worshipping in what should have been the safety of their mosque,

a rich playground for con artists, hackers and swindlers of all stripes.

While there are those who still hope for a revival, there are financial experts who believe it was all a “cultural moment,” rather than a legitimate investment instrument. Traditional investors want money that is “simple and boring,” and cryptocurrencies are anything but.

Of course, there are quarters that are doing something about these problems. Lightning Network, for instance, is supposed to speed things up by moving transactions away from the blockchain. In 2018, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey had said that Bitcoin will be the world’s “single currency” within a decade. Even Facebook is apparently working on a cryptocurrency project.

I would remain on the safe side, and say that it is better to stay away.

Just by looking at the boom and bust, the instability would be enough to scare plenty of investors away.

their leader remains steadfast in both her compassion and commitment to provide for religious and cultural diversity and freedom— and her condemnation for the man responsible for the atrocity. Says Ardern: “You may have chosen us, but we utterly reject and condemn you.” Ardern, who has not spoken Tarrant’s name in any of her press conferences, told media on March 19 that the alleged killer—whose decision to represent himself in court has sparked fears he plans to use the trial to promote his extremist views— would be denied a chance at fame.“We need to…do what we can to prevent the notoriety that this individual seeks,” she said. “One thing I can assure you: you won’t hear me speak his name.” (By Marianne Bilkey, “WHO”, April 1, 2019) Jacinda Ardern’s remarkable response to her nation’s toughest days has drawn praise worldwide and silenced critics who claimed she was too young for the role and lacked backbone. But the 38-year-old, who joined the Labour Party as 17-yearold and worked for ex PM Helen Clark, as well as Britain’s former PM Tony Blair, has more than proven her mettle over the past days. Since taking the top job, the lapsed Mormon—she left the church because its views conflicted with her support of gay rights—has welcomed her first child, with partner Clarke Gayford (she was the first NZ PM to be pregnant while in office). Said Ardern: “I want to be a good leader, not a good lady leader. I don’t want to be known simply as the woman who gave birth.”

We need a leader like Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. A leader who can unite a nation in grief and lead with love!

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Trump is bullying Opec again

O

The good sower

By Julian Lee | Bloomberg Opinion

IL just had its best quarter in more than a decade. Naturally, President Donald J. Trump is complaining.

The real target of this tweet is unmistakably Saudi Arabia, the one Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member with enough idle capacity to make a difference to the producer group’s output. It’s also the one over which the US has the most leverage.

Straightforward economic considerations would see Saudi Arabia dismiss the request out of hand, but political calculations make its choice more difficult.

Opec production fell by around 1.5 million barrels a day between December and February, and probably dropped further in March. Saudi Arabia made by far the biggest voluntary reduction. It contributed almost two thirds of the group’s total output cut as measured against individual baselines in February, and made deeper cuts than it had promised it would implement each month this year.

How things have changed. In 2014, the kingdom briefly adopted a pump-at-will policy, which helped drive prices as low as $26 a barrel in February 2016 and caused US output to shrink.

But the cost to the Saudi economy—and even more so to those of many other Opec members—was simply too great. Even with record production levels, the kingdom needed higher prices to shield its citizens from economic hardship while it weans itself off a dependence on oil production.

It abandoned the policy when the Opec+ group—which includes Russia and a few other producers—agreed in late 2016 to manage supply. The policy of restraint is still in effect.

The economic case for continued cuts is compelling, particularly if forecasters start to trim demandgrowth outlooks. And Saudi Arabia won’t ever admit to following Trump’s orders. However, there are reasons it might quietly acquiesce to his request.

One consideration is the threat of anti-trust legislation in the US aimed specifically at Opec, the socalled Nopec Act. Versions of the bill are moving through both houses of Congress. Previous attempts at enacting a similar law faced presidential opposition, but supporters believe they have a better chance with Trump than they had with his predecessors.

Opec has taken its case to the US oil industry and its financial backers on Wall Street, warning that the bill could cause the group to stop working and provoke a return to pumpat-will policies—and the first victims of this will be the US shale producers and their investors.

Trump may be more likely to support the passage of the bill if he sees the group refusing to bend to his will on oil production. Of course, there is

no guarantee that doing his bidding will offer the Saudis presidential protection from Nopec, but ignoring him certainly won’t help.

Then there’s his support for Mohammed Bin Salman, who has few friends in high places in the West after the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October by agents of the Saudi government.

The price to be paid for that continued support may be a more compliant approach to his tweets.

Finally, there is Iran, Saudi Arabia’s rival for dominance of the Persian Gulf and champion of a rival branch of the Islamic faith. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman would be more than happy to see the US squeeze the nation’s oil exports further by refusing to renew the sanctions waivers that expire in early May. These allowed eight nations, including China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey, to keep buying Iranian crude without contravening American restrictions. Tightening the screws on Iran would be easier for Trump if the Saudis replaced the lost output with more of its own oil, thereby helping to contain prices.

Unfortunately for the US president, this is exactly what the Saudis did last year in response to one of his tweets complaining about oil prices, only to be blindsided by these sanctions waivers. The slump in prices between October and December was caused, in part, by Saudi Arabia’s preemptive supply boost in anticipation of blanket US sanctions on Iranian exports that didn’t materialize.

The Saudis could be forgiven for not trusting the US to follow through with much tougher sanctions this time around and preferring to wait and see what actually happens before raising output. Trump’s second tweet in as many months about Opec policy calls to mind the old adage: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” But Saudi Arabia may think it wiser to play along anyway.

Whatever happens, Saudi Arabia’s crude production will probably start to edge up again next month, as domestic needs increase with rising temperatures, even as the kingdom continues to push a policy of restraint. Having done more than they needed to in the first three months of the year, the Saudis have some flexibility to boost output now, if they feel the weight of political pressure from Washington is too heavy to ignore.

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

I

T takes a lot of patience to grow plants and vegetables. I tried quite a few times with little success. Some say having a green thumb is a gift. But, in the case of Ruel Ramirez, it was about knowledge, desire and perseverance.

Born in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur and educated in St. Columban College, Ruel grew up wanting to become an accountant.

As fate would have it, Ruel ended up in Manila as our family driver, and, subsequently, as the administrator of my small farm in Cavite.

Realizing his inadequacy in vegetable farming, Ruel attended a short seminar in Costales Farm a few years ago where he learned some techniques in organic farming, compost making and just about everything he needed to acquire a “green thumb.”

Armed with that knowledge, plus his desire to turn our small farm into something more productive, Ruel started planting calamansi (calamondin), pineapple, ginger and, more recently, ube (purple yam).

Such ventures, except the yam that is yet to be harvested, have not been as financially successful based on Ruel’s projected revenue. But he remains unperturbed. He continues to persevere by asking questions

from farmers in adjacent lots, reading some reference materials online and experimenting on all kinds of seeds, soil and fertilizers.

I will not be surprised if he tries, in the very near future, hydroponics, a technique of growing plants with little or no soil.

In PAL Express, there is also a sower by the name of Dennis Ortiz.

With a small farmland in Cavite, Dennis cultivates various plants— jackfruit, banana, ginger and chili pepper, to name a few. While I have yet to see how he works his magic in his farm, based on his Facebook posts, Dennis seems to be as gifted as Ruel. However, Dennis is also involved in a different kind of sowing.

With his team of trainers, Dennis has been sowing the seeds of servant leadership in PAL Express.

Of all the leadership traits I see in Dennis, his resourcefulness stands out. He finds a way to look at things differently. Thinking outside the box, he initiated a seminar called

BLOOMBERG VIEW

I

N a hamlet nestled deep in Sumatra’s palm country, headman Slamet—who, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name— was eagerly showing off a 267-meter stretch of concrete to the nation’s minister for villages one recent March afternoon.

If Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo can beat a path to a second term on April 17, he should give credit to the 2-meter-wide road—and to the popular village-fund program that financed its construction, overseen by minister Eko Putro Sandjojo.

That 70-trillion-rupiah ($5 billion) program, named Dana Desa (literally “the wealth of villages”) has on average built a little more than 600 meters of roads a year in each

rural agglomeration. Modest? Think again: the archipelago has 75,000 villages. That’s 191,000 kilometers of roads over the first four years of the program, more than a third of the network that existed in 2010.

Jokowi, as the president is known, came to power in 2014. Alongside inheriting a massive shortage of public infrastructure, he also got the benefit of a newly passed law that aimed, for the first time in the nation’s history,

SHAPE—Servant Leadership, Human Factors, Airline Pilots’ Core Competencies, Professionalism, and Empowerment. Since Dennis and his team probably felt that PAL Express needed good leadership at every department, they launched this training especially created for pilots and operations personnel in the Flight Operations Department.

A few days ago, I attended a portion of this SHAPE seminar where I was happily impressed to see Captain Richard Gonzaga, a STAR Awards Finalist for the Pilot of the Year Award, share his thoughts on Servant Leadership. I was particularly delighted seeing how the seminar participants interacted well with one another, openly voicing out their inputs in the discussions, and, most importantly, asked the right questions.

However, similar to the biblical Parable of the Sower, the number of seeds does not necessarily indicate a good harvest. In the parable, the sower scatters seeds, which fall on four different types of ground—the hard ground, the stony ground, the thorny ground and the good ground. Those that fell on the first three grounds will never give a good harvest.

Dennis and his team can only hope that the seeds they have planted would fall on the fourth ground, the good ground in the company wherein the seminar participant receives the seed (leadership training) and produces much fruit (more and better leaders) in the process.

In the Bible, Luke 8:15 tells us,

“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it and, by persevering, produce a crop.” Jesus, as the sower in the parable, scattered seeds (His Word) to different kinds of soils (hearts of the people).

Everyone heard and accepted the same Word, but the impact in their lives is dictated by how their heart received it.

I think the main point of the Parable of the Sower is that our reception of God’s Word is determined by the condition of our hearts. I think it will just be a matter of time when everyone in PAL Express will become true servant leaders, regardless of their respective positions or functional responsibilities.

Trust the process. Nobody gets a green thumb instantly. In the case of Ruel, his failed crops did not prevent him from pursuing a more bountiful harvest, through trial and error. In the same way, to become a servant leader, one must have a genuine desire to look after the welfare of subordinates, which does not happen overnight. All leaders are capable of having this leadership mindset, with a bit of time and much effort from good sowers like Dennis Ortiz. His SHAPE seminar will be one of many seeds to be scattered in the company with the ardent hope that those who will receive it will be ready to become servant leaders.

For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

Talk is cheap, unless you’re a UBS banker

By David Fickling & Nisha Gopalan Bloomberg Opinion

C

ARELESS talk costs dollars.

That’s the lesson from a case heard last week by one of France’s financial regulators. Lazard Ltd. dealmaker Vincent Le Stradic spent two and a half hours aboard a Eurostar train from London to Paris in 2014 working on a $15-billion takeover bid by Iliad SA for T-Mobile US Inc. He was oblivious to the fact that the casually dressed man sitting next to him was Alexandre Zaluski, a UBS Group AG banker, who passed the information to a colleague, ultimately resulting in the bank pitching to Iliad to help finance the deal.

That feels like a rookie mistake for Le Stradic. Client information, particularly related to multibilliondollar offers for listed companies, should be sacrosanct to any investment banker. The train should be a place to catch up on admin, or get some sleep, or read a book. It shouldn’t be a place to do confidential work, especially not if you’ve got nosy neighbors.

In truth, the situation is a good deal less clear-cut. With those notorious 100-hour workweeks, investment bankers are under constant pressure to be at their clients’ beck and call, especially (as in the Iliad case) two weeks out from a major deal announcement. A financial

adviser who habitually goes silent for hours at a time outside the office may find his or her clients prefer to work with someone more responsive.

Like spies, circumspect bankers ought to be highly aware of who’s around if they choose to do business in public—but slip-ups still seem inevitable. Journalists would be in trouble if bankers’ and government officials’ operations security was as rigorous as they’d like to think.

This columnist once got a tip from finding bound and printed pre-IPO documentation lying abandoned on his street. A New York Times journalist got a major scoop on the Mueller inquiry in 2017 when he found himself at a table adjacent to members

Rural roads hold key to Indonesia’s election Andy Mukherjee

Monday, April 1, 2019 A11

to guarantee a part of the state budget to villages. The idea was to let the nearly half of Indonesia’s 265 million people who live in rural areas decide for themselves whether they needed a maternity center or a communal toilet. Villagers’ associations had demanded a billion rupiah for each settlement. But instead of allocating 75 trillion rupiah, Jokowi gave only 21 trillion rupiah in the first year.

Even then, only 82 percent of the money was used. So the president plucked the engineer-MBA Eko from the private sector to run Dana Desa, and doubled the allocation.

With 40,000 university-trained facilitators educating villagers in the complex accounting they need to get their projects approved and audited, fund use is now running at 99 percent. The budget has bulked up to a minimum 700 million rupiah per village. Depending on area, population and underdevelopment, the amount can go up to 4 billion rupiah.

The success of the fund could

play a role in Jokowi’s reelection bid. When it comes to articulating grand ideas, rival Prabowo Subianto, a pedigreed ex-general, wins hands down over former furniture maker Jokowi. The urban middle class, who had backed Jokowi as an underdog in 2014, is now disillusioned. Some businessmen believe they’re losing opportunities to state-owned enterprises, even as the tax authorities try to extract more revenue from them.

Signature projects like the Chinesebuilt Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail haven’t progressed. Five surveys give Jokowi a lead of 12 percent to 23 percent over Prabowo—but with 10 percent to 13 percent of voters undecided, it could be a close race.

To the extent Jokowi does have an advantage, it comes from the grassroots where the main issues are livelihood and identity. Villages minister Eko comes from a political party that represents Islam Nusantara, a tolerant Indonesian tradition at peace with indigenous customs.

Like spies, circumspect bankers ought to be highly aware of who’s around if they choose to do business in public—but slip-ups still seem inevitable. Journalists would be in trouble if bankers’ and government officials’ operations security was as rigorous as they’d like to think. This columnist once got a tip from finding bound and printed pre-IPO documentation lying abandoned on his street.

of President Donald J. Trump’s legal team at a Washington steakhouse.

An officer for British spy agency MI6 once left a laptop carrying classified information in a taxi after a night out drinking in a London tapas bar, one of a string of similar incidents in the country.

It’s an open secret in the media industry that some of the best scoops can be picked up by eavesdropping in lawyers and banker hangouts, from London’s Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and Michael’s in Midtown Manhattan to Hong Kong’s Captain’s Bar and Mumbai’s Willingdon Sports Club.

Travel is always going to be risky.

Airport lounges, particularly the

more exclusive ones, tend to be thick with knowledgeable figures who often behave like they’re in a private place. In the US, the Acela train between Washington and Boston is a notoriously good place to pick up gossip. The newly opened high-speed rail linking Hong Kong to the mainland is already reputed to be useful for overhearing China-focused bankers.

Even before the rise of the BlackBerry, there were plenty of ways for information to leak. Bankers traveling overseas would often have sensitive information from the head office faxed to their hotels’ front desks and slipped under their doors, and carry their clients’ contact details in folders full of Post-It notes ready to be scattered to the four winds.

It’s tempting to blame investment banks’ demanding workload for all this, but in many ways the opposite may be the case. If bankers are doing more work outside the office than they did in the past, it’s probably at least partly because of protected weekends and other measures to restore a modicum of work-life balance.

For their own sake, bankers should take more care what they say and do in public spaces. For the sake of us journalists, though—not too much.

It’s in a battle for hearts and minds with a more puritanical Wahhabi influence rushing in from the Middle East, feasting on social-media falsehoods and hatred. As a result, economic development is crucial.

Jokowi—or for that matter, Indonesia—can’t afford a lumpen army of 79 million millennial voters with nothing to do because the China-fueled commodity boom has gone bust.

As a former businessman, Eko believes in scale. Pandeglang district in southwestern Java wanted to plant corn. Eko’s team identified 50,000 hectares of abandoned land; organized free seeds, fertilizer and tractors; brokered a sales contract to a poultry feed mill; and then used that to get loans for the villagers.

Suddenly, a 2-trillion-rupiah corn economy has sprung up in a region where 65 percent of villages were considered underdeveloped in 2014.

By the end of this year, all settlements in Pandeglang will have shed that tag, Eko says.

Poverty in villages has fallen by 1 percentage point since March 2016, helping pull the nationwide rate to below 10 percent. Dana Desa is also fighting stunting in children, thereby lifting future economic capacity. There are lessons here for India ahead of its own elections starting next month, with the two main parties trying to outdo each other on direct cash transfers to people amid agrarian distress and insufficient urban wages. As Rathin Roy of the New Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy puts it, India is transitioning from a development state to a compensatory state.

Resource-rich Indonesia, with a far smaller problem of mass poverty, is sticking to development—and there’s plenty of work still to do.

As we head back toward the airport in Bengkulu, Eko points to thickets of palm or rubber where trucks can’t go. How will people move that produce to markets, he asks. It’s no empty musing.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, April 1, 2019

Cavite LGU eyes ₧200-B bonds for Sangley proposal

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

HE local government of Cavite plans to issue P200 billion worth of bonds to bankroll its unsolicited proposal for the development of the Sangley International Airport.

For this fund-raising exercise, Cavite Gov. Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said his group is looking at forming a local consortium with the Cavite government as the lead proponent.

“We’re looking at a bond float to start everything out, with the province as one of the initiators.

Initially, we are looking at P200 billion, which should be enough for the 700 hectares of development,” he told reporters.

The funding source for its unsolicited proposal has repeatedly hindered the offer from moving forward. Currently, the proposal is with the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) for evaluation.

“We are looking at getting an international consultant to make sure that the financial framework is viable,” Remulla said. “There’s a lot of bureaucratic work involved as well.”

₧552.02B The cost of the Cavite government proposal to develop Sangley Airport, which it envisions to have a total capacity of 130 million passengers per year and four runways through 2028.

The unsolicited offer includes a provision to build mass transit systems and new roads

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade earlier said he will no longer be lenient in processing the proposal of the local government unit, as it can delay the government in its target of developing more aviation hubs in the Philippines through 2022.

Tugade has given the local government of Cavite until the end of June to formally complete its unsolicited proposal.

“A deadline is a deadline. We are

definitely looking at what would be best for the moment or the future,” Remulla said. “We are doing everything right now to comply.”

The proposal of the Cavite government involves the development of Sangley Airport to have a total capacity of 130 million passengers per year and four runways through 2028. The P552.02-billion unsolicited offer likewise has a provision for the construction of mass transit systems and new roads.

Should the local government fail to meet the deadline, the transport agency will have to move forward with the proposal of All-Asia Resources and Reclamation, which offered to spend $12 billion to build the Philippine Sangley International Airport.

Remulla, who will bow out of office soon, noted that his group is open to this, as long as the infrastructure will be put in place. To him, “It doesn’t matter who builds the airport,” as he just wants to see the airport built in Sangley.

Drilon backs upcoming review of China loan deals

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

T

HE Senate is poised to open an inquiry to scrutinize terms of multibillion-peso loan deals the Philippine government signed with China to bankroll various big-ticket projects of the Duterte administration.

This as Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon backed over the weekend the upcoming Senate hearings by the Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian to “review

the various loan agreements” with China.

“It is not unusual for loan agreements to be reviewed,” said Drilon, adding that “this is part of the check and balance.”

In backing the review, including the funding arrangements for Chico River Dam and Kaliwa Dam projects to boost Luzon’s water supply system, the senator recalled this was done before following the Aquino administration’s review of the aborted $421-million NorthRail Project that Drilon opposed

EASTERLIES AFFECTING LUZON, VISAYAS AND MINDANAO as of 4:00 am - March 31, 2019

“for being grossly disadvantageous to the Philippine government.”

The senator also cited the controversial $329-million National Broadband Network-ZTE telco project with China that was likewise aborted during the Arroyo administration.

Drilon stressed the need for the Senate, in the exercise of oversight powers, to verify “if there are indeed stipulations which are too favorable to China, because many were saying the terms are very disadvantageous to the country.”

“Let us review and expose the terms,” says Drilon, adding: “We owe it to the public, because it is the public, through their taxes, who will pay the loan.”

Moreover, the Minority Leader asserted a Senate review is important “in order to ensure that it will not fall into the so-called debt trap with China,” citing the experiences of other countries, such as Sri Lanka and Ecuador, that he noted to be “having difficulties paying their loan obligations with China.”

“What is important is to take a closer look at what they call a debt trap, because there may come a time there will be [debt-payment] difficulties,” added Drilon, recalling warnings by Malaysia, the US and other countries “about the possibility of the Philippines falling into a debt trap with China.”

In a statement, the Senate Minority Leader recalled that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad himself had also warned the Philippine government about falling into a “debt trap” during the Malaysian leader’s recent visit to the Philippines, adding that Mahathir himself had “cancelled two major infrastructure projects by Chinese companies in Malaysia.”

Magallanes Interchange portion closed April 1–MMDA

S

TARTING today (April 1), a portion of the Magallanes Interchange (upper level) will be closed to vehicular traffic, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reminded the public on Sunday.

MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim said the move is part of the agency’s trafficmanagement plan to address traffic woes in the area.

The left-turning ramp from Manila to Cubao of the Magallanes Interchange will be shut off to vehicles starting at 6 a.m. Based on the MMDA Traffic Engineering Center’s vehicular volume count, around 7,722 vehicles are traversing from Manila to Edsa Northbound.

Meanwhile, 19,304 vehicles traversing from Edsa to Nichols (South Superhighway) crisscross the said portion, causing traffic gridlock.

Affected vehicles are advised to take the Magallanes Loop/Magallanes Village, said MMDA.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

www.businessmirror.com.ph

FA-50s, AMERICAN F-35 SEEING ACTION IN 2019 BALIKATAN EXERCISES

By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

T

HE biggest war games involving Filipino and American troops will begin today (April 1) following an opening ceremony and will see the involvement for the first time of an American F-35B Lighting II aircraft in the original bilateral military exercise.

The Balikatan 2019 will commence with 4,000 Filipino and 3,500 American soldiers and their land, sea and air assets taking part in the amphibious operations, livefire training, urban operations, air operations and counterterrorism training.

At least 50 Australian soldiers will also join the war games, particularly in the special operations training of the Balikatan, which has already turned into a multilateral exercise as Japan also participated last year, with a host of other countries joining as observers.

“It will strengthen the operability of both forces, and it will further improve their interoperability,” said Lt. Commander Liezel Vidallon, Balikatan public affairs officer for the Philippine side.

The exercise will last up to April 12 and will be held in Luzon, particularly Palawan, Batangas, Cavite, Bataan, Laguna, Mindoro, Tarlac

and Pampanga.

Vidallon said this year’s exercise is bigger, especially since state-ofthe-art assets like the Air Force FA50s and the American F-35 will take part in the training, the first in the Balikatan’s 35­-year history.

On Saturday, the American amphibious assault ship USS Wasp docked at Subic Bay for the exercise, bearing members of the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force led by the 4th Marine Regiment who will also take part in the training.

The assault ship brought with it the United States Marines Corps’s F-35B Lightning II aircraft.

“We are excited to visit the Philippines for the first time since Wasp was forward-deployed to 7th Fleet,” said Capt. Colby Howard, Wasp’s commanding officer, in a statement.

“Balikatan is a great opportunity for the Navy, Marine Corps team and our allies from the Republic of the Philippines to learn from one another, and further improve our ability to operate together,” he added.

Aside from the military training, Vidallon said US and Filipino forces have already been doing civilmilitary operations works in areas across the country, part of the 30 community engagement activities and development projects mapped out under this year’s Balikatan.

With El Niño, many sites still badly need water, says Red Cross

T

HE water crisis in Metro Manila has abated, but the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) continues to receive requests to augment water supply, especially in communities affected by the El Niño phenomenon.

Because of this, PRC Chairman Richard Gordon expressed concern over the health and economic issues that may rise from lack of access to clean and safe water in provinces experiencing the dry spell, including Catanduanes, Cebu, Lanao del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Sarangani and Pangasinan.

“It is no joke not to have water.

We saw it in the water crisis in Manila, where people become vulnerable to diseases. The worst may happen in provinces as livelihood opportunities are interrupted by the phenomenon,” Gordon said.

In a letter addressed to Gordon dated March 21, Virac, Catanduanes, Mayor Samuel Laynes sought PRC’s support in providing water tankers, water bladders, filtration systems and technical personnel to address the water shortage in the area.

“Local water utilities are unable to cope with water demand for

household use, sanitation and safe drinking water,” the mayor said.

Lanao del Sur Vice Gov. Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr. also requested the use of PRC’s water tankers stationed at the Lanao del Sur-Marawi Chapter.

Data from weather bureau Pagasa show that Lanao del Sur and Catanduanes are among the 72 provinces that will likely experience dry condition, dry spell and drought at the end of March.

In Metro Manila, PRC said it continues to provide safe and clean water to communities affected by the water crisis in Metro Manila.

Since March 12, PRC has distributed 1,217,475 liters (L) of water in hospitals and communities. The number of water tankers deployed has also doubled from six to 12.

Of special focus to PRC are government hospitals, where water shortage could seriously imperil efforts to treat the sick. Thus far, PRC has provided water to: Rizal Medical Center (560,000L), Quirino Memorial Medical Center (126,000 L), National Kidney Center (90,000 L), East Avenue Medical Center (76,000 L), Mandaluyong See “Red Cross,” A2

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, April 1, 2019

B1

Market share of Big 3 oil firms continues to decline

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

T

HE market share of the country’s so-called Big Three oil firms declined anew in 2018 as against the smaller players which recorded a 28-percent increase year-on-year.

Based on the 2018 market share of total petroleum products released by the Department of Energy (DOE) in its latest Oil Supply/Demand Report, the combined market share of Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Philippines totaled 52.82 percent compared to last year’s 54.6 percent.

“The major oil companies got a 52.8-percent market share of the total demand,” the report stated.

The smaller players captured 39.11 percent of the total demand compared to 34.2 percent recorded in 2017. The smaller players include PTT Philippine Corp. (PTTPC), Total Philippines, Seaoil Philippines Inc., TWA Inc., Phoenix, Liquigaz, Prycegas, Micro

Dragon, Unioil, Isla Gas, Jetti, Eastern Petroleum, Petrotrade, South Pacific, Marubeni, SL Harbour, Rockoil, RK3 International, Insular, ERA 1, High Glory, Warbucks, Perdido and Filoil Logistics Corp.

The balance of 8.07 percent is from end-users who directly imported most of their requirement, the DOE data showed.

In the same data, the DOE reported that local refiners Petron and Pilipinas Shell captured 44.9 percent of the total market demand while 55.1 percent was credited to direct importers/end-users.

Petron, the country’s leading oil refiner and largest oil company, led the market with a share of 26.36 percent, followed by Shell with 18.53 percent

and Chevron with 7.93 percent.

Fourth in the list is Phoenix Petroleum Corp. with a market share of 6.91 percent. Seaoil Philippines landed on the fifth spot with 4.69 percent. Unioil, meanwhile, recorded a market share of 3.45 percent.

The DOE noted that competition among oil players remains healthy as, in most cases, the smaller oil firms continue to offer price discounts and other promotional packages while the “Big Three” focus on expanding their businesses.

In 2016 versus 2017, the trend was the same. The Big Three accounted for 57.8 percent of the market in 2016 against 54.6 percent in 2017.

Even in the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) market, Petron remains No. 1.

Based on the report, Petron’s share last year was 28.9 percent of the total LPG demand while among the other LPG players, Liquigaz got the biggest market share with 22.9 percent. This was followed by South Pacific Inc. (SPI) with a share of 13.4 percent. Next were Isla Gas and Prycegases with

shares of 12.04 and 11.0 percent, respectively. Phoenix cornered 4.84 percent of the LPG market.

In all, the other players’ market share was 70.9 percent while the remaining 29.1 percent was credited to the oil refiners—Petron and Shell (0.21 percent).

Earlier, the DOE reported the country’s net oil import reached $12.12 billion last year, 30.9 percent higher in 2017. The net import bill is the difference between oil imports and exports.

The country’s total oil import bill reached $13.48 billion, a 31.8-percent jump from the previous year. Of the total imports, 54.5 percent consisted of finished products and 45.5 percent crude oil. The country imported 85,753 million barrels of crude oil last year.

A bulk of the imported crude oil, or 86.9 percent, was sourced from the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the country’s petroleum exports earnings grew 40 percent to $1.36 million. The country exported 17.04 million barrels of petroleum products, which rose 16.7 percent.

Toyota recalls certain Lexus models for special servicing

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

T

OYOTA Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) has initiated a special service campaign on certain Lexus models installed with run flat tires found to be hazardous for driving.

In a letter to the Department of Trade and Industry, TMP Government and Industry Affairs First Vice President Rommel R. Gutierrez said the firm opened a special service campaign for the run flat tire on certain Lexus LS500h and LS500 models.

The program covers 20 units of Lexus LS500h manufactured between October 11, 2017, and June 5, 2018, and 31 units of Lexus LS500 produced between December 19, 2017, and June 28, 2018.

The subject vehicles are equipped with run flat tires with a sidewall reinforcement layer inside the tire, Gutierrez said. “Due to an improper tire-to-wheel installation during the assembly process, there is a possibility that a crack could develop on the sidewall reinforcement layer. This crack could expand over time, leading to abnormal noise and abnormal vibration,” Gutierrez said.

He warned there is a possibility that portions of the tire tread layer could separate, and this could reduce vehicle stability and increase the risk of a crash.

“As a preventive measure, we will inspect the tires, and if necessary, replace the tires with a new one at no cost to our customers,” Gutierrez said.

The TMP is preparing the replacement parts, and

FRIENDLY SHOPPING Located along Panganiban Street opposite the city public market in Santiago City, Isabela, Puregold Santiago is where local folks conveniently shop for grocery items at friendly affordable prices. It is one of the two Puregold outlets in the city with the other one located along the Maharlika Highway. CEASAR M. PERANTE vowed to inform the concerned customers through official notification letters and invite them to bring their vehicles to Lexus dealers for the special service.

AirAsia opens Osaka route

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

T

@lorenzmarasigan

HE first Japanese destination of budget carrier AirAsia Philippines will help the Philippine government achieve its tourism targets for 2019, a ranking company official said.

Dexter Comendador, the president of AirAsia Philippines, said his group is confident its new Manila-Osaka route will spur tourist arrivals to Manila from Osaka, helping the government achieve its 8.2-million visitor arrivals target this year.

“We are excited to welcome guests from Osaka and its neighboring regions to the Philippines. This international route will contribute to the government’s target of 8.2 million visitors this year,” he said.

The carrier’s daily services between Manila and Osaka will start on July 1.

Osaka becomes the airline’s eighth country destination.

“The launch of direct flights between the Philippines and Japan is a milestone occasion, and we’re excited to connect our capital Manila with Osaka,” Comendador said.

He added, “Being able to travel directly and affordably to Osaka is fantastic news for Filipinos and we’re confident this new route will serve as a gateway for guests to connect to other popular destinations in Japan such as Kyoto and Nara.” AirAsia is offering promotional fares starting at P1,990 per way to celebrate the new route.

AirAsia Philippines flies to 13 international destinations from Manila including Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Bali, Seoul, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau and Ho Chi Minh City.

Resorts World Manila 2018 net income rises fivefold to P1.44B

By VG Cabuag

T

@villygc

R AVELLERS International Hotel Group Inc., the gambling and hotel operations arm of businessman Andrew Tan, said its income grew fivefolds last year as its operations recovered, while gaming revenues grew.

The operator of Resorts World Manila said its income for 2018 reached P1.44 billion against its P279.8 million profit in 2017.

Net revenues, on the other hand, rose 10 percent to P20.56 billion from P18.59 billion in the previous year.

For the fourth quarter alone, revenues increased 28 percent to P6.45 billion from the previous year’s P5.04 billion, driven by the improvement in revenues in both the gaming and non-gaming segments in the second half of the year.

Revenue from gaming activities contributed 81 percent of the gross revenues for 2018, while 19 percent was contributed by nongaming activities, it said.

“The improved performance was helped by the opening of the ground-floor gaming at the Grand Wing as well as the launch of Hilton Manila and the Sheraton Manila Hotel,” said Kingson Sian, the company’s president and CEO. “Both hotels added a total of 747 rooms to the company’s hotel portfolio,” he said.

The Grand Wing will have three luxury hotels. In addition to Hilton Manila which opened in October 2018, the Sheraton Manila Hotel is already on its soft opening, while the Hotel Okura Manila will open this year, bringing the Grand Wing hotelroom count to approximately 940. It will include new gaming, entertainment and retail spaces,

as well as six basement-parking decks, the company said.

“When the Grand Wing is fully operational, RWM will be the largest and most versatile integrated resort in the country offering our customers thrilling experiences,” Sian said.

Once construction works on all hotels are completed, Resorts World Manila will have the highest number of hotel rooms for a single property in the Philippines, the company said.

Gross gaming revenues increased by 17 percent last year to P20 billion, from P17.11 billion the previous year.

Gross gaming revenues for the fourth quarter of 2018 increased by almost half to P6.26 billion, from P4.31 billion in 2017.

Casino drops for the year ended December 31 improved by 36.8 percent compared with the previous year, driven by the 59-percent increase in the VIP segment, and the 3.7-percent hike from the non-VIP segment.

Gaming capacity increased to 299 tables and 1,822 slot machines as of end 2018 from 244 tables and 1,381 slot machines in 2017, primarily due to the opening of the ground-floor gaming area of the Grand Wing.

Average daily property visitation increased by 10 percent to 28,482 in 2018, from 25,747 in 2017.

Revenue from hotel, food, beverage and others increased by 22 percent to P3.48 billion last year, from the previous P2.85 billion.

For the fourth quarter alone, hotel revenues rose 40 percent to P1.14 billion, from P810.2 million in the previous year. The increase was primarily due to the P257 million in room revenue driven by higher average daily rates, higher occupancy rates and 357 additional rooms from Hilton Manila Hotel.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, April 1, 2019

CA issues TRO in favor of MORE Power

M

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

ORE Electric and Power Corp.

(MORE Power) successfully sought a 60-day temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals (CA), effectively barring a local court’s order that earlier issued a 20-day TRO against MORE’s takeover of Panay Electric Co. Inc.’s (Peco) assets.

“Considering that the issues raised are of transcendental importance, and to avoid any grave and irreparable injury, which would be suffered by petitioner pending disposition of the instant petition, and likewise so as not to render outcome of the petition moot and academic, let a TRO issue, effective for 60 days from service to the respondents, enjoining the public respondent Regional Trial Court,

Branch 209, Mandaluyong City, from implementing the assailed order dated March 12 and the TRO dated March 14,” the March 28 resolution of the Special Seventh Division of the CA stated.

The local court had enjoined MORE Power from expropriating and taking over the distribution assets of Peco.

The same court also prohibited the Department of Energy (DOE) and the

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) from issuing Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), provisional authority or any other permits in favor of MORE. If any had already been issued, the court ordered the agencies to suspend the implementation pending the resolution of the case.

Peco’s franchise to operate a distribution system in Iloilo had already expired while MORE was granted the franchise to operate in the area.

The CA said the issuance of the assailed order dated March 12 has the effect of extending the franchise of Peco, which authority is vested with Congress and not with the respondent court.

“By granting the TRO, the respondent judge effectively revived the expired franchise of Peco and, by the same judicial stroke, paralyzed the franchise of MORE. This abusive exercise of power not only offends judicial sensibilities, it impermissively encroaches upon legislative prerogatives,” the CA said.

Republic Act 11212 granted MORE the franchise to distribute power in Iloilo City. Peco applied for the issuance of a TRO because its existing assets were in danger of being expropriated by MORE. Under Sections 10 and 17 of RA 11212, MORE is authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain over all the distribution assets and properties of Peco in the franchise area.

“Every day of delay means continuing the operation of Peco even without franchise and preventing MORE from taking over despite its new franchise. The unexpected consequence is anathema to the intent and purpose of the RA 11212 and prevents MORE from providing better and cheaper service to the people of Iloilo City,” said the CA. Thus, the CA ruled there is grave urgency for it to issue a TRO to stop the local court from further disrupting the order of things under the law to ensue continuous and uninterrupted supply of electricity in Iloilo City.

Financial pressure mounts to fix Boeing’s troubled jetliner

B

OEING is facing mounting pressure to roll out a software update on its best-selling plane in time for airlines to use the jets during the peak summer travel season.

Company engineers and test pilots are working to fix anti-stall technology on the Boeing 737 Max that is suspected to have played a role in two deadly crashes in the last six months.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that investigators have determined that the flight-control system on an Ethiopian Airlines jet automatically activated before the aircraft plunged into the ground on March 10.

The preliminary conclusion was based on

information from the aircraft’s data and voice recorders and indicates a link between that accident and an earlier Lion Air crash in Indonesia, the newspaper said. Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment on the report.

Also on Friday, The New York Times reported that the Ethiopian jet’s data recorder yielded evidence that a sensor incorrectly triggered the anti-stall system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS. Once activated, the MCAS forced the plane into a dive and ultimately a crash that killed everyone on board, the newspaper said. The Max remains grounded worldwide, and airlines are losing

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

SHARE prices fell last week with the main index returning to the 7,000-point level after a selloff at the beginning of the week. Prices failed to recover with small gains.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index fell 92.49 points to close at 7.920.93 points. The index was down 2 percent at the start of the week and half a percent by the middle of the week, while its little gains in between days failed to lift the market.

“This could have been a late reaction to the inverted yield curve in US treasury bonds that happened the week before. It is a very good sign that the main index was able to end the week above the 7,900-support level despite the big drop we had this week,” said Christopher Mangun, research head at Eagle Equities Inc. Trading volume was thin all throughout the week, reaching an average of P5.05 billion, the lowest for the year, but foreign investors were net buyers at P3.64 billion.

All other subindices ended lower with the exception of the Property index that gained a measly 4.07 points to 4,115.57 points. The broader All Shares index was down 49.14 to 4,864.17; the Financials index shed 26.76 to 1,762.71; the Industrial index was down 17.03 to 11,720.35; the Holding Firms index fell 207.68 to 7,736.37; the Services index lost 0.37 to 1,608.34; and the Mining and Oil index plunged 408.83 to 7,930.78.

Losers edged gainers 141 to 83, and 27 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers for the week were SOC Resources Inc., Keppel Philippines Properties Inc., Benguet Corp. B, Grand Plaza Hotel Corp., PTFC Redevelopment Corp. and Concrete Aggregates Corp. B. Top losers were Xurpas Inc., Premiere Hotel Alliance Corp., PXP Energy Corp., Philippine Infradev Holdings Inc., Easycall Communications Philippines Inc. and GT Capital Holdings Inc.

This week

SHARE prices may go sideways this week as investors will watch key economic figures such as the inflation rate for March, with many companies preparing for the tax-remittance season.

“Specific interest would still be kindled for large caps slated to go on with the cash dividend that include PLDT Inc., San Miguel Corp., Pilipinas Shell, Phoenix Petroleum and GT Capital Holdings Inc.,” online broker 2TradeAsia said.

“Spot for good entry levels during lulls by checking on stocks with commendable upside potential,” it said, adding that immediate support for the main index is seen at 7,800 and resistance at 8,000 points.

Mangun, meanwhile, said the main index may again try to break the 8,000-point level this week. “Once it breaks above 8,000, the next target will be 8,140 and if that is breached, we may see it rally to 9,000. Investor sentiment will improve dramatically once it breaks above these key levels,” he said.

Stock picks

BROKER Regina Capital and Development advised investors to trade the range on the stock of BDO Unibank Inc. as its price is still positioned below its 50-day moving average at P133.26 per share. “Its indicators are showing mixed signals, but because of the range forming, its momentum has flattened,” it said, giving a P134 target price.

BDO shares closed Friday at P133.80.

Meanwhile, the broker gave a “sell during rally” recommendation on the stock of Alliance Global Group Inc. after its share price was at the top end of the range even after it broke out its resistance level of P16.30 per share.

“The three-day streak of gains has strengthened the previously tapering buying momentum,” it said on the holding firm of businessman Andrew Tan, giving a weekly target on the stock at P16 per share.

AGI shares closed last week at P16.16 apiece. VG Cabuag

money by canceling flights.

Southwest, the largest operator of the Max with 34 of them and another 249 on order, said this week that the grounding caused it to cancel 2,800 flights so far, or 30 percent

mutual funds

of all cancellations in the first quarter. It said canceled flights, including those not related to the Max, will cost it $150 million in revenue for the quarter and cut its planned capacity growth for the entire year. AP

March 28, 2019

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 263.27 -4.16% 0.83% 2.42% 4.38% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.5964 0.48% 10.45% 4.86% 10.8% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 4.0899 -5.48% 1.17% 1.25% 4.79% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.934 -2.26% n.a. n.a.

4.88% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.8628 n.a. n.a. n.a.

5.13% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 5.468 -2.09% 1.41% 1.95% 3.74% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 127.89 11.37% n.a. n.a.

9.81% One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc. -a 0.8717 -5.13% -3.88% n.a.

4.72% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 51.7409 -2.14% 1.54% n.a.

5.15% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 541.43 -2.01% 0.68% 1.92% 5.19% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.3056 -1.18% 2.39% 5.17% 4.11% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 38.5474 -1.3% 3.11% 4.36% 5.23% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.032 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 5.237 -1.99% 2.39% 4.36% 5.61% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 874.12 -1.87% 2.08% 4.34% 5.51% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.9158 n.a.

0.99% n.a.

6.34% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 4.2981 -0.52% 2.55% 3.26% 5.89% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 1.0052 -2.36% 2.09% n.a.

5.33% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.6865 0.55% 4.24% 4.3% 5.3% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c,2 116.9292 -1.49% 3.15% 5.41% 5.58% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.0067 -10.12% 6.3% 1.58% 8.35% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.257 -0.98% n.a. n.a. 13.75% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.7153 -3.12% -0.7% -0.61% 3.88% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.3067 -2.38% 1.02% 1.45% 4.41% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.6366 -0.83% -0.5% -0.63% 3.65% Grepalife Balanced Fund Corporation -a 1.3486 -3.37% n.a. n.a.

3.4% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.9098 -0.22% 1.1% 1.94% 3.62% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.6539 -2.44% -0.19% 1.02% 3.53% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.5311 -1.13% 0.06% 1.09% 3.92% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.136 -1.03% 1.26% 2.74% 3.07% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.8407 0.33% 1.29% 2.15% 5.18% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,4 0.9984 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,4 0.9949 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,4 0.9925 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.9792 0.55% 1.24% n.a.

6.24% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03608 2.21% 0.49% 1.64% 2.35% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $0.9828 -7.51% 3.26% -0.13% 4.98% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.6483 - 0.33% 6.07% 2.65% 10.27% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a $1.0804 - 0.96% n.a. n.a.

6.97% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 346.94 2.75% 2.13% 2.11% 1.04% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a,1 1.8746 0.39% -0.31% -0.31% 0.83% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.0036 5.32% 5.27% 5.26% 1.1% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.1564 2.37% 1.51% 1.85% 1.22% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.261 2.12% 0.56% 0.92% 2.34% Grepalife Fixed Income Fund Corp. -a P 1.6009 0.34% -0.29% 0.31% 2.33% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.0137 0.64% -0.07% 0.72% 2.4% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.5991 3.43% 1.47% 1.16% 2.33% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 0.9188 1.01% -0.32% n.a.

2.94% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 2.8784 4.13% 1.81% 1.77% 4.07% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.5992 3.85% 1.19% 1.34% 3.85% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $453.54 2.53% 2.03% 2.93% 1.17% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є215.96 1.63% 1.48% 1.62% 1.56% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1632 4.05% 1.6% 2.23% 3.32% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0252 1.61% 0.81% n.a.

1.61% Grepalife Dollar Bond Fund Corp. -a $1.7138 -0.8% -1.07% 0.91% 1.4% MAA Privilege Dollar Fixed Income Fund, Inc. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. MAA Privilege Euro Fixed Income Fund, Inc. ЄN.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a $1.0651 1.92% -0.49% -2.16% 2.65% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$2.2592 3.45% 0.84% 2.9% 4.05% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0580611 2.15% 1.22% 1.77% 1.9% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $2.9733 1.25% 0.21% 2.16% 3.52% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 122.16 3.41% 2.14% 1.75% 1.09% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,5 1.0059 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.1929 2.61% 1.01% 0.71% 0.93% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2309 3.12% 2.45% 1.8% 0.98% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0219 2.05% n.a. n.a.

0.59%

* - NAVPS as of the previous banking day ** - NAVPS as of two banking days ago *** - Listed in the PSE.

**** - Re-classified into a Balanced Fund starting January 1, 2017 (formerly Grepalife Bond Fund Corp.).

***** - Launch date is November 6, 2017 ****** - Launch date is January 08, 2018 ******** - Renaming of the fund was approved by the SEC last April 13, 2018. ********* - Became a member since April 20, 2018. ******* - Adjusted due to cash dividend issuance last January 29, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

March 29, 2019

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS ASIA UNITED 58.5 58.65 58 58.65 58 58.65 24,230 1,416,129 BDO UNIBANK 133.5 133.8 132.3 133.9 132.3 133.8 2,164,180 289,071,398 BANK PH ISLANDS 84.15 84.2 84.25 84.8 84.2 84.2 1,643,080 138,805,414(23 CHINABANK 26.85 26.9 27 27 26.8 26.85 77,700 2,088,290 EAST WEST BANK 12.16 12.28 12.24 12.28 12.16 12.16 387,200 4,726,506 METROBANK 79.85 79.9 80 80.2 79.2 79.9 2,443,740 195,257,924.5 PB BANK 13.72 13.8 13.7 13.86 13.7 13.8 20,300 280,032 PHIL NATL BANK 56.8 57 57 58.5 56.75 57 705,720 40,326,411 ( PSBANK 57.85 58.3 58.45 58.45 57.8 57.8 700 40,683.5 PHILTRUST 110.1 121 113.1 116 110.1 110.1 90 10,216 RCBC 26.55 26.7 26.5 26.7 26.5 26.7 7,800 207,735 SECURITY BANK 170 173 170.3 173 169.6 173 358,660 61,690,684 UNION BANK 60.4 60.85 62 62 60.4 60.85 3,130 189,731 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.31 1.38 1.34 1.38 1.31 1.31 386,000 515,890 BDO LEASING 2.22 2.27 2.29 2.29 2.22 2.28 52,000 115,570 COL FINANCIAL 19 19.1 19.18 19.18 19 19 7,800 149,224 FIRST ABACUS 0.59 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 5,000 3,450 FERRONOUX HLDG 4.16 4.27 4.2 4.27 4.2 4.27 3,000 12,670 FILIPINO FUND 7.84 8.95 8.95 8.95 7.84 7.84 600 4,815 IREMIT 1.39 1.44 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 6,000 8,400 MANULIFE 785 800 785 785 785 785 50 39,250 NTL REINSURANCE 0.92 0.93 0.98 0.98 0.93 0.93 347,000 328,370 PHIL STOCK EXCH 197.7 198.5 197.5 199.8 197.5 198 1,240 245,889 INDUSTRIAL

ALSONS CONS ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO MANILA WATER PETRON PETROENERGY PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER VIVANT AGRINURTURE BOGO MEDELLIN CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT GINEBRA JOLLIBEE MACAY HLDG MAXS GROUP MG HLDG PEPSI COLA SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH CONCRETE A CEMEX HLDG DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP HOLCIM MEGAWIDE PHINMA TKC METALS VULCAN INDL CHEMPHIL CROWN ASIA EUROMED LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL PRYCE CORP CONCEPCION GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR IONICS SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG

1.43 35 0.238 21.2 78.75 375.4 23.05 6.49 4.03 1.43 12.02 49.35 6.82 11.02 14.82 89.1 15.64 6.1 11.24 7.25 103.5 0.94 29 316.2 10.6 13.76 0.195 1.4 12 1.72 4.76 2.49 0.128 151.9 1.7 68.4 2.61 5.51 15.9 9.21 10.22 21.5 8.81 1.01 1.15 108.2 1.9 1.64 4.05 3.42 5.75 43.2 2.41 12.5 1.71 1.28 28.85

ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG MJC INVESTMENTS METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME ORION PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.61 20.05 939 58.2 16.08 6.5 0.81 1.42 7.65 11.96 15.06 4.3 0.23 931 6.93 63.45 5.36 0.52 5.25 16.1 0.55 2.8 4.81 0.04 2.97 1.14 1.33 420 934 173 1.02 261 0.24 0.365

1.46 35.4 0.244 21.8 79.25 380 23.2 6.5 4.17 1.44 12.22 49.4 6.85 16.98 14.88 97 15.98 6.24 11.38 7.38 108 0.95 29.05 317 11 13.8 0.202 1.41 12.16 1.74 4.85 2.5 0.135 152 1.71 75 2.62 5.64 16 9.26 10.26 21.55 9.09 1.02 1.16 118.9 1.91 1.78 4.25 3.5 6.09 43.95 2.42 12.66 1.75 1.34 29.35

1.45 35.15 0.244 21.2 79.15 375.2 22.75 6.5 4.15 1.47 12.18 49.75 6.9 16.98 14.88 89.65 15.6 6.25 11.36 7.38 104.2 1 29 316.2 11.5 13.18 0.19 1.42 12.18 1.72 4.81 2.55 0.129 151.8 1.66 75 2.64 5.51 16 9.45 10.2 21 9.07 1 1.15 118.9 1.91 1.65 4.06 3.5 5.8 43 2.33 12.6 1.72 1.31 29.45

1.48 35.4 0.244 21.8 79.25 383.4 23.4 6.5 4.15 1.47 12.24 49.8 6.9 16.98 14.92 97.75 15.7 6.25 11.38 7.38 108 1.01 29.05 319 11.56 13.96 0.208 1.43 12.18 1.72 4.85 2.55 0.129 152.6 1.72 75 2.67 5.51 16 9.45 10.34 21.5 9.07 1.03 1.19 118.9 1.91 1.65 4.06 3.5 5.8 43.2 2.45 12.68 1.76 1.33 29.45

1.43 34.85 0.239 21 78.5 375 22.75 6.38 4 1.42 11.94 49 6.81 16.98 14.82 89 15.6 6.24 11.24 7.25 103.2 0.94 29 316 10.6 13.18 0.19 1.4 12 1.72 4.77 2.55 0.128 150.1 1.66 75 2.61 5.51 15.84 9.21 10.18 21 9.07 1 1.12 118.9 1.9 1.64 4.05 3.5 5.75 43 2.32 12.48 1.71 1.29 28.9

1.47 35.4 0.244 21.8 79.25 380 23.05 6.49 4.15 1.44 12.22 49.4 6.85 16.98 14.88 97.75 15.64 6.24 11.24 7.38 108 0.95 29.05 317 10.6 13.8 0.202 1.41 12 1.72 4.78 2.55 0.128 152 1.7 75 2.62 5.51 16 9.21 10.22 21.5 9.07 1.01 1.16 118.9 1.9 1.64 4.05 3.5 5.75 43.2 2.42 12.5 1.74 1.33 29.35

313,000 683,400 120,000 495,800 86,900 321,580 1,862,100 5,648,900 99,000 7,970,000 32,600 1,089,100 143,700 100 262,900 350 1,066,100 4,000 373,900 32,900 88,340 8,345,000 43,700 628,390 33,300 6,819,300 3,570,000 3,761,000 4,000 21,000 3,510,000 2,000 1,200,000 1,955,030 6,745,000 20 4,072,000 19,900 914,300 228,700 5,234,400 1,999,100 900 431,000 1,438,000 80 218,000 39,000 50,000 1,000 145,900 14,000 10,565,000 2,810,600 831,000 74,000 110,100

454,950 24,038,245 28,780 10,693,930 6,857,456.5 122,097,372 42,776,140 36,527,164 409,590 11,508,170 395,270 53,828,220 986,732 1,698 3,911,214 31,391 16,673,356 24,961 4,226,596 239,263 9,390,952 8,041,290 1,267,355 199,375,010 362,490 93,007,744 708,970 5,319,530 48,270 36,120 16,823,860(1, 5,100 153,920 297,166,283 11,398,760 1,500 10,740,270 109,649 14,625,998 2,120,196 53,702,832(26 42,690,855 8,163 432,190 1,675,940 9,512 414,350 64,050 202,530 3,500 841,035 603,050 25,451,770 35,144,202 1,440,320 95,640 3,226,995

HOLDING & FRIMS 0.62 20.25 940 58.95 16.16 6.55 0.82 1.43 7.66 12 15.08 4.4 0.244 931.5 7 63.5 5.84 0.54 5.26 16.2 0.58 3.38 4.85 0.041 2.99 1.19 1.36 425 940 174 1.05 269 0.243 0.37

0.64 20.45 932 59 16.24 6.5 0.85 1.43 7.65 12 15.64 4.4 0.228 979 7 62.75 5.38 0.56 5.2 16.4 0.55 2.8 4.79 0.043 2.98 1.14 1.35 446 949 173.7 1.08 269 0.241 0.38

0.64 20.8 940 59.1 16.3 6.5 0.88 1.45 7.69 12.14 15.7 4.4 0.244 981 7.05 64.5 5.38 0.56 5.3 16.4 0.55 2.8 4.86 0.047 3 1.14 1.38 446 954.5 175 1.1 269 0.243 0.385

0.61 20 930 58.1 15.98 6.5 0.81 1.4 7.6 11.96 15 4.4 0.228 931.5 6.91 62.05 5.36 0.53 5.2 15.9 0.55 2.8 4.77 0.04 2.92 1.14 1.33 420 934 172.1 1 261 0.24 0.365

0.61 20.25 940 58.95 16.16 6.5 0.81 1.43 7.65 12 15.08 4.4 0.244 931.5 7 63.5 5.36 0.55 5.25 16.1 0.55 2.8 4.85 0.04 2.99 1.14 1.36 424 934 174 1.05 261 0.24 0.37

5,065,000 36,500 295,960 651,590 7,062,200 219,500 3,565,000 2,394,000 1,078,900 7,075,500 969,400 4,000 260,000 217,830 113,900 3,851,850 5,700 610,000 1,378,800 3,006,700 24,000 2,000 30,553,000 468,200,000 526,000 1,000 18,000 2,860 158,440 325,140 10,068,000 130 2,610,000 11,810,000

3,166,710 734,160 277,565,880 38,359,849.5 113,989,262 1,426,750 2,969,220 3,402,970 8,254,881 84,982,658 14,818,840 17,600 60,310 204,593,915 795,856 242,405,539 30,620 327,240 7,236,908 48,457,154(14 13,200 5,600 147,140,870 20,547,700 1,562,120 1,140 24,180 1,217,800 148,823,910 56,237,631 10,416,440 34,198 626,860 4,418,250

1,174,269 92,266,560 ,529,306.4999) (710,450) (2,298,038) (7,341,876) 13,869,049.5) (106,550) 12,648,831 (125,585) 14,851,175 9,053,830 (421,307) (4,197,686) (15,087,125) 16,911,383 395,850 (18,270) (1,035,170) 367,026 5,507,080 155,452 (46,365) 5,574,073 (117,550) 872,900 8,932,036 27,723,644 (40,400) (1,774,400) 420,800.0004) 127,867,811 115,240 (4,369,180) (80,000) (1,878) ,004,215.9996) 7,942,450 5,699.9999 19,100 (587,525) 94,785.0001 206,300 29,475,028 (725,480) (162,470) 42,321,580 12,781,466 91,720,480 971,750 (1,370,691) (14,067,650) (1,223,990) (116,507,100) (138,400) 114,234,175 16,200 (4,701,519) ,574,437.9996) 13,200 12,446,870 3,200 26,550 6,700 (1,169,830) (41,468,035) 8,787,308 51,000 (10,628) 48,200 (197,500)

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.82 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.82 0.82 243,000 200,810 ANCHOR LAND 10.22 10.9 10.22 10.22 10.22 10.22 200 2,044 AYALA LAND 44.45 44.9 44.4 44.9 44 44.9 14,318,300 636,225,305 179,697,450 ARANETA PROP 1.93 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.93 1.93 43,000 83,340 (19,300) BELLE CORP 2.32 2.34 2.38 2.38 2.32 2.34 621,000 1,447,880 (92,970) A BROWN 0.77 0.78 0.78 0.79 0.77 0.77 1,338,000 1,043,180 CITYLAND DEVT 0.92 0.94 0.92 0.94 0.92 0.94 17,000 15,680 12,880 CROWN EQUITIES 0.242 0.243 0.24 0.245 0.24 0.242 1,390,000 335,540 CEBU HLDG 6.36 6.5 6.59 6.59 6.59 6.59 1,000 6,590 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.2 4.28 4.23 4.29 4.19 4.2 1,863,000 7,865,750 (302,440) CENTURY PROP 0.52 0.53 0.53 0.55 0.52 0.53 17,670,000 9,460,950 (81,620) CYBER BAY 0.39 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 200,000 80,000 DOUBLEDRAGON 22.75 22.8 22.75 23.05 22.55 22.8 526,300 12,022,480 (2,483,585) DM WENCESLAO 11.6 11.7 11.38 11.7 11.38 11.6 2,092,000 24,295,820 11,107,070 EMPIRE EAST 0.495 0.5 0.5 0.51 0.495 0.5 1,169,000 584,455 (341,000) FILINVEST LAND 1.51 1.52 1.52 1.53 1.5 1.52 12,888,000 19,487,990 (783,410) GLOBAL ESTATE 1.31 1.32 1.3 1.35 1.28 1.31 4,651,000 6,108,970 (2,660) 8990 HLDG 12.82 12.84 12.9 13.12 12.82 12.84 991,200 12,772,690 (2,347,092) PHIL INFRADEV 1.68 1.69 1.69 1.72 1.66 1.69 3,781,000 6,402,720 (2,710,840) CITY AND LAND 0.84 0.87 0.87 0.87 0.84 0.87 24,000 20,580 MEGAWORLD 5.76 5.8 5.7 5.8 5.67 5.8 30,322,700 174,431,729 74,006,111 MRC ALLIED 0.38 0.39 0.38 0.39 0.375 0.39 6,550,000 2,497,700 65,750 PHIL ESTATES 0.48 0.485 0.465 0.49 0.465 0.485 11,100,000 5,361,950 264,000 PRIMEX CORP 2.67 2.7 2.75 2.75 2.68 2.68 72,000 194,180 ROBINSONS LAND 24.35 24.5 24.3 24.8 24.25 24.5 1,595,600 39,127,295 10,644,895 PHIL REALTY 0.425 0.44 0.455 0.455 0.43 0.44 300,000 129,350 ROCKWELL 2.02 2.05 2.04 2.05 2.04 2.05 93,000 190,140 10,200 SHANG PROP 2.99 3.04 3.09 3.09 3 3 448,000 1,345,130 66,000 STA LUCIA LAND 1.53 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.51 1.55 94,000 144,120 SM PRIME HLDG 39.6 39.9 39.6 39.95 39.5 39.9 10,241,600 407,006,590 342,664,300 STARMALLS 6.62 6.74 6.84 6.84 6.6 6.74 62,700 416,259 SUNTRUST HOME 0.74 0.75 0.77 0.77 0.73 0.75 569,000 421,680 VISTA LAND 7.23 7.24 7.25 7.28 7.21 7.23 4,330,500 31,336,378 2,638,801

SERVICES ABS CBN 20.6 20.65 20.9 21.15 20.2 20.65 386,100 7,920,475 GMA NETWORK 5.79 5.82 5.72 5.84 5.71 5.79 1,837,300 10,617,653 MANILA BULLETIN 0.59 0.6 0.57 0.6 0.57 0.59 1,100,000 647,830 GLOBE TELECOM 1,935 1,938 1950 1,979 1,930 1,938 34,500 67,181,225 29,897,250 PLDT 1,150 1,152 1150 1,150 1,137 1,150 174,315 199,648,965 (33,436,270) APOLLO GLOBAL 0.043 0.044 0.043 0.044 0.043 0.044 19,200,000 834,700 DFNN INC 6.74 6.9 6.8 6.94 6.72 6.74 239,300 1,624,146 ISLAND INFO 0.131 0.135 0.135 0.142 0.13 0.131 21,080,000 2,868,920 (102,710) ISM COMM 5.26 5.29 5.3 5.35 5.26 5.26 1,227,600 6,482,604 878,628 JACKSTONES 3.04 3.1 3.07 3.07 3.05 3.05 23,000 70,270 NOW CORP 2.54 2.57 2.54 2.58 2.54 2.55 269,000 684,650 45,720 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.41 0.415 0.415 0.415 0.41 0.41 3,410,000 1,404,800 PHILWEB 2.68 2.71 2.83 2.89 2.63 2.71 2,152,000 5,865,030 7,980 2GO GROUP 12.2 12.3 12.2 12.38 12.2 12.2 3,800 46,702 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.76 16.3 15.76 15.76 15.76 15.76 53,000 835,280 (47,280) CHELSEA 5.66 5.68 5.8 5.84 5.68 5.68 551,300 3,173,248 ( 524,084.0002) CEBU AIR 82.9 82.95 81.9 83.1 81.15 82.95 512,970 42,119,714 (9,187,961) INTL CONTAINER 130.6 130.7 127.5 132 127.4 130.7 5,065,450 661,845,542 380,963,774 LBC EXPRESS 15.4 15.6 15.6 15.6 15.4 15.4 3,900 60,760 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.93 0.94 0.99 0.99 0.93 0.93 2,662,000 2,521,460 142,500 MACROASIA 22.4 22.45 21.4 22.5 21.35 22.4 5,207,800 114,933,320 17,517,955 METROALLIANCE A 1.7 1.74 1.68 1.73 1.68 1.73 38,000 64,940 METROALLIANCE B 1.72 2 1.75 1.75 1.75 1.75 2,000 3,500 PAL HLDG 10.2 10.6 10.98 10.98 10.2 10.6 11,100 119,110 HARBOR STAR 2.99 3 3.1 3.11 2.96 2.99 2,557,000 7,719,090 (15,350) BOULEVARD HLDG 0.067 0.068 0.07 0.07 0.066 0.067 189,720,000 12,906,960 68,310 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.11 2.19 2.12 2.12 2.11 2.11 6,000 12,680 WATERFRONT 0.67 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.67 0.67 125,000 83,810 FAR EASTERN U 890.5 903 903 903 903 903 10 9,030 STI HLDG 0.7 0.71 0.71 0.71 0.7 0.71 1,537,000 1,084,670 122,910 BERJAYA 2.76 2.77 2.77 2.79 2.77 2.77 135,000 374,320 105,250 BLOOMBERRY 11.98 12 11.74 12.12 11.7 12 4,128,800 49,375,618 22,732,506 PACIFIC ONLINE 4.54 4.84 4.85 4.91 4.5 4.85 90,000 413,770 LEISURE AND RES 3.74 3.77 3.63 3.79 3.63 3.73 1,159,000 4,307,590 1,693,860 MANILA JOCKEY 4.64 4.83 4.69 4.83 4.64 4.83 52,000 242,020 PH RESORTS GRP 4.61 4.75 4.65 4.75 4.65 4.75 14,000 65,450 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.85 0.83 0.85 1,204,000 1,020,140 79,900 TRAVELLERS 5.62 5.64 5.68 5.68 5.63 5.64 56,700 321,102 (17,040) METRO RETAIL 3.32 3.33 3.25 3.36 3.25 3.32 4,403,000 14,622,470 10,730 PUREGOLD 48.1 48.3 47.45 48.3 47.4 48.1 982,300 47,150,650 11,962,755 ROBINSONS RTL 78.8 79 79.15 79.4 78.8 79 846,770 66,964,274 (25,252,523) PHIL SEVEN CORP 125 125.4 125.2 125.2 124 125 25,690 3,211,770 86,040 SSI GROUP 2.37 2.38 2.36 2.38 2.36 2.37 927,000 2,197,790 886,620 WILCON DEPOT 15.46 15.48 15.2 15.54 15.14 15.48 4,832,400 74,176,852 13,424,008 APC GROUP 0.435 0.44 0.46 0.465 0.44 0.44 3,350,000 1,511,650 EASYCALL 12.02 12.18 12.3 12.6 11.92 12.18 66,400 809,716 24,000 GOLDEN BRIA 364.4 370.6 372.8 374.4 361.4 370.6 5,060 1,866,414 624,914 IPM HLDG 7.08 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 18,000 127,800 PAXYS 3.07 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.15 3.2 21,000 67,100 PRMIERE HORIZON 1.01 1.02 1.05 1.06 1 1.01 22,734,000 23,185,460 1,213,760 SBS PHIL CORP 8.8 8.95 8.9 8.97 8.9 8.95 9,700 86,729 (32,040)

MINING & OIL ATOK 12.56 13 12.58 13.1 12.56 12.56 11,900 149,662 APEX MINING 1.42 1.43 1.42 1.43 1.4 1.43 1,441,000 2,042,910 ( 125,100.0001) ABRA MINING 0.002 0.0021 0 0.0021 0.0021 0.002 0.0021 289,000,000 581,200 ATLAS MINING 3.06 3.17 3.07 3.28 3.07 3.17 1,649,000 5,117,370 3,036,920 BENGUET A 1.27 1.38 1.39 1.39 1.27 1.27 5,000 6,590 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.295 0.305 0.295 0.295 0.295 0.295 20,000 5,900 CENTURY PEAK 2.58 2.61 2.56 2.62 2.56 2.61 1,362,000 3,545,840 FERRONICKEL 1.54 1.55 1.53 1.56 1.53 1.55 6,805,000 10,525,250 GEOGRACE 0.27 0.28 0.3 0.315 0.265 0.28 22,150,000 6,467,400 51,950 LEPANTO A 0.119 0.12 0.122 0.122 0.12 0.12 1,860,000 223,820 LEPANTO B 0.117 0.125 0.118 0.118 0.117 0.117 1,000,000 117,070 MANILA MINING A 0.0086 0.009 0 0.0083 0.009 0.0083 0.0086 11,000,000 97,300 MANILA MINING B 0.0082 0.009 0.009 0.009 0.009 0.009 6,000,000 54,000 (9,000) NIHAO 1.03 1.05 1.11 1.11 1.03 1.05 107,000 110,720 NICKEL ASIA 2.48 2.49 2.48 2.49 2.48 2.49 511,000 1,269,060 (498,850) ORNTL PENINSULA 0.91 0.94 0.93 0.95 0.91 0.91 399,000 368,920 32,760 PX MINING 3.42 3.43 3.45 3.45 3.4 3.43 644,000 2,205,270 (16,890) SEMIRARA MINING 21.85 21.95 21.85 21.95 21.5 21.95 1,507,300 32,728,885 6,644,735 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 1,700,000 20,600 ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 10,000,000 120,000 PHILODRILL 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 100,000,000 1,200,000 PXP ENERGY 12.26 12.28 12.44 12.52 12.2 12.28 1,158,900 14,243,494 (902,808)

PREFFERED

HOUSE PREF A 93 94.45 93.15 93.15 93 93 34,010 3,163,060 AC PREF B1 479.4 479.6 465.8 479.6 465.6 479.6 760 357,076 DD PREF 98 99.85 97.5 97.5 97.5 97.5 1,010 98,475 SMC FB PREF 2 969 976 980 980 980 980 1,590 1,558,200 FPH PREF C 450.6 475.8 450.6 450.6 450.6 450.6 500 225,300 GLO PREF P 478.6 494.8 494.8 494.8 494.8 494.8 10 4,948 GTCAP PREF A 900 942.5 942.5 942.5 900 900 1,560 1,404,430 GTCAP PREF B 861 924 900 925 900 925 7,160 6,444,250 LR PREF 0.97 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 465,000 455,700 PCOR PREF 2A 986 999 985 985 985 985 80 78,800 SMC PREF 2B 74.5 75 75 75 75 75 110 8,250 SMC PREF 2C 75.8 75.9 76 76 75.9 75.9 13,700 1,041,180 SMC PREF 2F 73.6 74.6 73.5 73.8 73 73.6 203,960 15,001,163.5 SMC PREF 2H 72 73.75 72 72 72 72 400 28,800 SMC PREF 2I 72.75 74.45 74.5 74.5 74.5 74.5 4,810 358,345 PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

19.2 5.6

19.68 5.73

20.05 5.64

20.05 5.75

19 5.64

19.2 5.74

318,000 236,200

6,196,485 1,353,890

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

1.85

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

ITALPINAS 4.86 XURPAS 1.12

1.9

1.96

1.96

1.85

1.85

458,000

859,330

-

4.97 1.13

4.9 1.2

5 1.2

4.86 1.13

4.86 1.13

140,000 9,554,000

687,700 10,962,050

30,750

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

117.8

(5,231,085) (660,165)

118

117.5

118

116.8

118

3,810

447,942

-

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Monday, April 1, 2019

B3

Demand for greenback-denominated credit continued to rise until end-2018

T

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE demand for dollardenominated credit continued to rise toward the end of 2018, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported.

Latest data from the Central bank showed that the outstanding loans granted by the banks’ foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs) stood at $16.6 billion in end-December 2018.

This is 3.1 percent or $501 million higher compared to the previous quarter’s value of $16.1 billion.

Compared to last year’s level, the FCDU loans were up by $1.2 billion, from the $15.4 billion level seen in

end-December 2017.

The BSP attributed the increase to customers’ higher working capital requirements and investment in plant or equipment, as well as banks’ more attractive financing terms.

The BSP the bulk of outstanding loans went to the following resident industries: towing, tanker, trucking and forwarding with 24.6 percent; merchandise and service exporters with 18.1

The US bond market shuddered: Now we find out if that’s justified

T

REASURY yields have sunk as if a US recession is nearly here. The bundle of important economic reports coming this week could show those fears got overblown.

The yield on benchmark 10-year notes dropped to a 15-month low of 2.34 percent on Thursday amid speculation growth is faltering enough to trigger a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut this year. But there’s been little tangible US data to justify that.

Even the Fed, which got yields tumbling on March 20 by shocking investors with its more cautious stance toward the economy, didn’t actually predict gloom and doom.

Bond investors get some real information this week, though. The biggest event is Friday, with the March jobs report. There will also be insights into how much Americans are spending at retail stores as well as several readings on how much factories are being asked to produce. A handful of Fed officials are scheduled to speak, albeit nobody from the group that gets to vote on central bank policy this year.

“The data is going to give us a view on where we really are on the economy, and if we should be as concerned about growth as we have been in the market,” said John Briggs, head of rates strategy for the Americas at NatWest Markets. Even a jobs figure that simply meets estimates “will be viewed as favorable,” he added. Yields will rise, Briggs predicted, if the reports are “pretty good.” He believes the 10-year note will end the year at about 2.5 percent.

The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 2.41 percent on Friday when trading closed for both the week and the first quarter. While that was above the nadir set on Thursday, it was still far below the 2.61-percent level from the day before the March 20 announcement that sent yields tumbling. The slide in the 10-year has also taken it below the rate on three-month Treasury bills—a phenomenon known as an inverted yield curve that’s commonly viewed as a harbinger of recession.

Global issues will be on the bond market’s agenda this week, too. In addition to continued uncertainty over Britain’s exit from the European Union and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He’s planned trade talks in Washington, traders will also be eyeing factory indicators from Germany and China.

Prices for Fed funds futures contracts show traders are betting the US central bank will cut its main interest rate by about a quarter point this year—suggesting worries the economy will worsen.

That contrasts with what Fed officials anticipate. On March 20, the median projection of Federal Open Market Committee members was for the rate to remain steady throughout 2019.

This week’s US economic reports “are likely to indicate a soft patch in the first quarter, but no recession,” Bernd Weiden-

steiner, an economist at Commerzbank AG, wrote in a March 29 note.

Several Fed officials who spoke last week downplayed worries about the economy.

“The Treasury market is reflecting a slower-growth and lower-inflation environment,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors, which manages $2.8 trillion in assets. “The data will be key in terms of where we go from here. But the idea that the Fed is likely to cut rates by the end of the year seems a bit aggressive.”

Arone favors investing in shorter-maturity, investment-grade debt securities, given their yields are in line with those of longer-term bonds. He owns Treasuries with maturities ranging from 10 years to about 20 years, a hedge against his firm’s equity investments. Bloomberg News

Trump’s Fed chief pick worries economists, rallies conservatives

W

ASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s latest pick to help lead the Federal Reserve has received a rocky reception—with top economists raising several red flags about whether Stephen Moore is qualified to be a governor of the world’s most influential central bank.

Moore is a former Trump campaign adviser who helped design the 2017 tax cuts and coauthored “Trumponomics.” The economists say Moore poses the distinct risk of injecting politics into an institution that strives to remain free of political influence when setting short-term interest rates that can determine the path of employment, inflation and overall growth.

“He’s merely a propagandist, as far as I can tell,” said Menzie Chinn, an economist at the University of Wisconsin. “He makes just egregious mistakes in fact and theory.”

Even a prominent Republican economist criticized the choice of Moore after Trump’s announcement last week.

“Steve is a perfectly amiable guy, but he does not have the intellectual gravitas for this important job,” Harvard University economist Greg Mankiw said in a blog post.

Mankiw, a former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers for President George W. Bush, added: “It is time for Senators (sic) to do their job. Mr. Moore

should not be confirmed.”

Still, other prominent conservative voices are rallying to Moore. The Wall Street Journal, for which Moore was once an editorial writer, has endorsed him in a new editorial, asserting that “he might be a useful counter to the group-think” among Fed officials. The endorsement asserted that the “remarkable cascade of derision and condescension” from academic economists on Moore’s nomination is itself evidence that he should be a Fed governor.

Moore, who has been affiliated with multiple conservative groups including the Heritage Foundation, has taken a series of controversial stances about the Fed, despite acknowledging that he still needs to learn about how the regulator works.

He previously said that the Fed should be scrapped in favor of the gold standard.

He called on the Fed to hike rates during the Great Recession, a move that could have further crippled the United States. And he recently said that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell should be fired for rate hikes last year that, in his opinion, undermined the gains from Trump’s tax cuts.

The controversy took on a new dimension on Wednesday when it was reported that he had a lien of more than $75,000 filed against him in January 2018 for unpaid taxes.

Moore did not respond to an interview request for this report but in an interview on Friday with Fox News, Moore said he was in the middle of a dispute with the IRS in which he believed the IRS owed him money but that it was taking a long time to get a resolution of the matter with the agency.

“They owe us money. We don’t owe them,” Moore said.

Moore argued that he would not be unduly influenced by Trump if the Senate confirms him for the Fed board. He said he was looking forward to discussing economic issues with Powell, someone he has not met.

“I will just tell him, if we get the monetary-policy right on top of the tax cuts and the deregulation, this economy is going to soar,” Moore said. “I am going to say, Chairman Powell, you are going to be a hero if you get this right.”

A US official familiar with the matter said Moore’s background check, a requirement of the nomination process, was still under way. His nomination has not been sent to the Senate. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.

But the president is likely to stick with Moore after having been disappointed by his decision to make Powell chairman, said Dan Clifton, a partner at the advisory firm Strategas. AP

fidence to lend longer-term funds.

Meanwhile, FCDU deposit liabilities decreased by $698 million from the previous year’s $39.2 billion level—a development that the BSP attributed to the rising interest rates during 2018.

The BSP earlier said higher FCDU deposits represent additional buffers against external shocks, secondary to the country’s gross international reserves.

Bank of Israel Chief Yaron urges deficit fixes before growth slows I

THE Fed puts inflation expectations at heart of major policy review. BLOOMBERG

percent; public-utility firms with 9.6 percent; and producers/manufacturers, including oil companies with 4 percent.

Also, most FCDU loans were given in medium to long-term maturities, as 75 percent of the FCDU funds were given in these types of terms.

These loans are those payable over a term of more than one year.

The BSP earlier said this type of portfolio shows the banks’ con-

SRAEL’S widening budget deficit should be dealt with before economic growth slows, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron warned, echoing concerns that helped to put his predecessor out of a job.

A mix of rising expenditures and falling tax rates has led “the structural deficit to a level that is undesirable for it to remain at for an extended period,” Yaron said in a letter to the government appended to the central bank’s annual report, released on Sunday.

In February, Israel’s 12-month trailing budget deficit reached 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, above the 2.9 percent target.

That growing gap has raised some economists’ concerns about the country’s fiscal credibility.

Delaying fiscal fixes “could necessitate more significant adjustments precisely when fiscal expansion is needed in order to support activity,” Yaron added in the letter.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday in Jerusalem, he said 2018 had been a good year for the Israeli economy, with balanced growth.

However, “gray clouds on the horizon” can’t be ignored, he said, and if downgraded forecasts for 2019 global expansion come true, Israel could be damaged.

Yaron’s predecessor, Karnit Flug, clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon over fiscal policy and issued a similar warning last year. Kahlon’s office retorted that the Bank of Israel “continues to pursue an economic policy that largely serves vested interests,” and Flug was replaced after one term.

Slower growth

KAHLON took a more benign view of Yaron’s criticism on Sunday, saying he was confident the Finance Ministry would continue to cooperate with the central bank under his leadership.

“Any recommendation to strengthen Israel’s economy and its social fabric will be adopted,” the finance minister said in a statement.

Israel’s economic growth slowed last year due to worsening trade terms, a decline in residential construction investment and full employment, Yaron also noted, calling for a broad policy to increase productivity. Recommendations included improving education at all levels from infancy, and investing in public transportation.

“The economy is in a good situation because our policy is good,” Netanyahu said on Sunday after receiving the annual report. “We reached a unique achievement in which unemployment is at an all-time low and wages are rising rapidly.” Bloomberg News

Green Monday BusinessMirror

B4 Monday, April 1, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

ARCANE POLLUTION RULE MAY COST SAUDIS AND NEIGHBORS BILLIONS

T

A MAN runs as solar-powered Supertrees stand at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. NICKY LOH/BLOOMBERG

Singapore wants more green living, going underground to free space

T

HE garden city of Singapore wants to be even more green. It also wants more homes in its central business district, and plans to move facilities underground to free up living space.

As part of the plan to rejuvenate Singapore’s central area, a variety of homes and amenities in areas, such as downtown, Marina South and Rochor, will be planned so more people can live near workplaces, the city-state’s

Urban Redevelopment Authority unveiled in a draft master plan last week.

There will also be about 1,000 hectares more parks and park connectors, and it’s hoped that in the future, more than 90 percent of

households will be within walking distance of a park.

“Faced with an increasingly complex environment, we need to build a resilient city by continually reviewing and enhancing plans to stay relevant to our people’s needs, and be ready to adapt to changing trends,” the plan said. “Increased global competition, changing trends and lifestyle aspirations mean that our city center needs to maintain its competitive edge and dynamism.”

The plan foresees that more ut i l it ies, t r a n s p or t , stor a ge

and industrial facilities will be moved underground to better free up surface land for peoplecentric uses, and the government plans to tap 3D technology to help in the upfront planning of such space.

There are also new housing concepts that include creating more “one-stop hubs” to make it easier for residents to shop, dine and engage in family bonding activities under one roof.

Improved transport connectivity at major hubs in Singapore’s north, west and east is an additional feature. Bloomberg News

EU lawmakers back wide ban on disposable plastic items

S

TRASBOURG, France—The European Union parliament overwhelmingly voted lasat week to impose a wide-ranging ban on single-use plastics to counter pollution from discarded items that end up in waterways and fields.

T he Eu ropea n Pa rl i a ment backed the ban in a 560-35 final vote. EU member states have given their support but need to vote on the measure for it to go into effect.

The ban would affect a range of plastic products for which reasonable alternatives exist, from straws to earbuds, starting in 2021.

Disposable utensi ls wou ld not be completely off-limits, but the measure calls for them to be made of sustainable materials when possible.

The approved legislation also sets a goal of having plastic bottles 90 percent recycled by 2025 and to cut litter from the 10 items that turn up in oceans most often in half.

The EU estimated the changes would cost the bloc’s economy €259 million to €695 million a year ($291 million to $781 million.) The proposals “will help us move on from single-use plastics and toward less consumption, the multiple use of better designed products, more innovation and a cleaner environment.

The next step is to move away from our waste-based culture,” said Margrete Auken, an EU lawmaker for the Greens/EFA group.

The European Parliament has said that plastics production is 20 times higher now than during the 1960s. China’s decision to no longer import some of the EU’s waste helped spur the plastics ban. AP

HE world’s biggest oil-exporting region may lose billions of dollars in annual revenue when an obscure United Nations requirement for ships to burn cleaner fuel takes effect next year.

Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other Middle Eastern suppliers of heavy, high-sulfur crude could take a hit as refiners favor lighter, low-sulfur grades that they can process more easily into less-polluting fuels. The UN maritime agency’s new rule kicks in on January 1, and estimates of the possible price impact vary widely.

Revenues could drop by $5 a barrel starting in the second half as refiners and shippers prepare for the change, Citigroup Inc. says.

Some traders expect a less dramatic slide, but even Saudi Energy Minister Khalid AlFalih, whose country ships more oil than any other, sees a $1 reduction for some grades.

A shift in demand away from more viscous and sulfurous—or “sour”—crudes would add to financial pressure on the region’s producers.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies are voluntarily curbing production for the third year to try to prop up prices in the face of burgeoning US shale output, which is also lighter and easier to refine. While heavysour crude currently sells near its smallest discount to lighter grades in a decade, that gap is set to widen on the new rule.

“From the perspective of the heavy-sour crude producers, they have not only lost volumes and market share, but they are also going to get a hit to their price,” said Citigroup commodities analyst Eric Lee. The ship-fuel requirement adds a layer of complexity to an oil market already jarred by the global production cuts—since most of the missing barrels are heavy and sour—as well as lost supplies from Venezuela, Iran and even Canada.

The new rule may widen the spread between sour crudes and those that are “sweet,” or low in sulfur. Refiners that process heavy, sour oil tend to produce a lot of bunker fuel, the mainstay of the shipping industry, along with diesel and jet fuel. Those that process lighter, sweeter barrels produce more gasoline.

However, forecasting the price impact is difficult because of the many variables at play, from the amount of oil supplied under long-term contracts to the possibilities for refiners to blend different types of crude.

Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodities strategy at BNP Paribas SA, said lighter US oil could be blended with Middle Eastern crude and therefore boost demand for

heavy-sour barrels. Heavier grades also yield more marine diesel, which may see higher demand from shippers under the low-sulfur regulation.

“There will not be a delay in this rule,” Edmund Hughes of the UN’s International Maritime Organization said on Tuesday at a conference in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The IMO will issue guidance by mid-year on its new fuel specifications, said Hughes, who oversees air pollution and energy efficiency for the agency’s marine environment division.

The value of crude exported from the Middle East could slide by $3 to $5, Citigroup’s Lee said in an interview. Analysts at consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. and The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies give similar estimates.

These figures suggest that Middle Eastern producers selling about 20 million barrels a day could lose anywhere from $7 billion to $37 in annual revenue, based on Bloomberg calculations. That equates to as much as 8 percent of regional sales, based on an average price of $63 this year.

The price impact on Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman should lessen over the next several years as refiners upgrade their facilities to produce more of the low-sulfur fuel.

Middle Eastern blends have sold historically at a discount to lighter grades.

That spread has narrowed as the Opec cut heavy-sour output and production of lighter US shale oil swelled. Yet analysts, including WoodMac and Citigroup’s Lee, expect grades similar to Brent to gain in value and regional blends like Dubai crude to get cheaper, with spreads widening to $5 to $10 a barrel.

“For two or three years, there may be a $1 discount of some crudes,” Al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, said on March 7, playing down the impact of the IMO’s new rule. “That will quickly be erased by adjustments to the refining sector.”

The IMO will begin limiting sulfur content in shipping fuel to 0.5 percent worldwide, down from 3.5 percent in most places. As a result, vessels will need to buy low-sulfur fuel or install scrubbers to remove the pollutant from their emissions.

Bloomberg Strategist Julian Lee explains how all crude is not created equal.

A drop in prices may spur less sophisticated refiners to overhaul their plants so they can process the cheaper crudes, said Bob McNally, president of consultant Rapidan Energy Advisors Llc. For now, “producers of heavier, sour grades, especially without complex refining, are not going to be loving this.” Bloomberg News

CHANGING WEATHER TO AFFECT LIVING STANDARDS OF HALF OF INDIA’S POPULATION

N

EW DELHI—The India Meteorological D epar tment (IMD) in Januar y declared that 2018 was the sixthwarmest year in the last 117 years or since 1901, when recording started.

Pointing toward changing weather and climate parameters, it also noted that the last monsoon rainfall was the sixth-lowest since 1901.

“The 2018 annual mean land surface air temperature for the country was plus 0.41°C above the 1981-2010 average, thus making 2018 the sixth-warmest year on record since 1901,” said a release from IMD. That India is witnessing consistent warmer seasons is clear from the IMD’s analysis that pointed out that 11 out of 15 warmest years were in the last 15 years (2002-2018). The last year was also the consecutive third-warmest year after 2016 and 2017.

“The past two decades [2001-2010/20092018] were also the warmest on record, with anomalies of 0.23°C/0.37°C. “The annual mean temperature during 1901-2018 showed an increasing trend of 0.6°C/100 years, with a significant increasing trend in maximum temperature [1.0°C/100 years], and relatively lower increasing trend [0.2°C/100 years] in minimum temperature,” said IMD. Climate-change impacts are likely to lower the living standards of nearly half of India’s population, says a new World Bank report.

According to the report titled “South Asia’s Hotspots: Impacts of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards,” rising temperatures and erratic rainfall pattern could cost India 2.8 percent of its GDP. It says that almost half of South Asia, including India, lives in vulnerable areas and

will suffer from declining living standards.

Approximately 60 crore Indians live in areas where changes in average temperature and precipitation will negatively impact living standards. These areas, called hot spots, were identified using spatial granular climate and household data analysis.

The analysis was done for two scenarios— one indicating a pathway where climate change mitigating actions were taken and the other where current trends of carbon emissions continued.

“We have attempted to identify how climate change will affect household consumption, and that is the basis of the estimation and hot-spot mapping.

The granular data is from the household level, which is aggregated to give larger level analyses at block, district, state and country levels,” Muthukumara Mani, lead economist, World Bank South Asia region told Down To Earth.

A warming trend is now witnessed in all seasons including winter (JanuaryFebruary).

“The country averaged season mean temperatures during all the four seasons, with the winter season [January-February, 0.59°C] being the fifth warmest since 1901 and the pre-monsoon season [March-May, with an anomaly of 0.55°C above average] being the seventh warmest ever since 1901,” said IMD. Similarly, there is a declining trend for the monsoon as well. “The 2018 Northeast monsoon season [October-December] rainfall over the country as a whole was substantially below normal [56 percent of low pressure area, 1951-2000 average]. This was sixth lowest since 1901,” reported the IMD release. IPS

Biodiversity Monday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Monday, April 1, 2019

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph

B5

Chimps’ varied ‘culture’ matters for conservation, study says

W

ASHINGTON—Some chimpanzee groups are stone-throwers. Some use rocks to crack open tree nuts to eat.

Others use sticks to fish for algae.

Asean Centre for Biodiversity taxonomists on the Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail inside Doi Inthanon National Park in Thailand ACB

ACB: Forests and people intertwined for development

‘F

orests and people are intertwined.

Humans rely on forests for their basic needs: clean air, food, water and raw materials for medicine, shelter and clothing.”

Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim, executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), gave this message for the International Day of Forests on March 21. The annual celebration emphasizes the importance of all types of forests and trees in the world.

Lim said beyond the basic needs, f o re s t s p l ay a n i m p o r t a nt ro l e i n development. Forests are key ecosystems that significantly contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are geared toward economic growth, social equity and environmental protection.

Citing the Asean region as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the Asean biodiversity expert said the region’s 200 million hectares of forest cover is one of its main development assets.

“Our forests abound with species that provide ecosystem services to support the region’s growing population. They are home to millions of plant and animal species that serve as raw materials for businesses and industries,” she said.

“Forests also provide income as millions of Asean citizens rely on forest products for their livelihood. The Asean Biodiversity Outlook 2 reports that, on the average, export from forest products has been valued between $3.1 billion for fuel and timber products to $44.44 billion for plantation crops per year,” Lim added.

She emphasised that economic development is threatened by climate change.

“Asean’s forest cover defends us from the detrimental effects of climate change, as trees remove carbon dioxide from the air, store carbon and release oxygen into the atmosphere. Tourism contributes to e co n o m i c d e ve l o p m e nt. A s e a n’s forests provide aesthetic natural beauty through the rich biodiversity, serving as favorite spots for tourism, inspiration and relaxation.”

L i m c i t e d A s e a n’s r e s p o n s e t o conservation of biodiversity and forest ecosystems—the ACB’s flagship program called the Asean Heritage Parks (AHP)— which are protec ted areas of high conservation importance, preserving in

total a complete spectrum of representative ecosystems of the Asean region.

The AHP Program, Lim said, aims to generate greater awareness, pride, appreciation, enjoyment and conservation of Asean’s rich natural heritage, through a regional network of representative protected areas.

The program also aims to generate greater collaboration among the Asean member-states in conserving their shared natural heritage.

Of the 44 Asean Heritage Parks, the majority are forests. Among the favorite AHPs for ecotourism are the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand, Mount Makiling Forest Reserve in the Philippines, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore and Kinabalu National Park in Malaysia.

The Tasek Merimbun AHP in Brunei Darussalam is a wildlife sanctuary, serving as home to a variety of flora and fauna.

It also serves as recreational center and venue for research and education.

The Virachey National Park in Cambodia is famous for sustainably managing natural and cultural resources in partnership with local communities. The Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia is particularly significant, as it is the last place where orangutans, tigers, elephants, rhinoceros and leopards live together.

The Nam Ha National Protected Area in Lao PDR supports agricultural production and electricity generation along the Luang Namtha plain.

At the Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park in Myanmar, the Buddhist monks have joined forces with authorities to educate over 100,000 pilgrims annually about wildlife.

At the Kon Ka Kinh National Park in Vietnam, local people depend on the park’s resources for their firewood, honey and rattans. They also use at least 110 plant species with traditionally known medicinal values.

These are just some examples of how major forests in the Asean contribute to the overall development of the region.

Lim encouraged governments, the business sec tor, organizations and individuals to take action in promoting the conservation of forests, and making sure that they veer away from irresponsible practices and activities that threaten Asean’s forest biodiversity and ecosystems.

As researchers learn more about Homo sapiens’ closest living genetic relatives, they are also discovering more about the diversity of behaviors within chimpanzee groups— activities learned, at least in part socially, and passed from generation to generation.

These patterns are referred to as “traditions”—or even animal “culture.”

In a new study, scientists argue that this diversity of behaviors should be protected as species themselves are safeguarded, and that they are now under threat from human disturbance.

“What we mean by ‘culture’ is something you learn socially from your group members that you may not learn if you were born into a different chimpanzee group,” said Ammie Kalan, a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

“As chimpanzee populations decline and their habitats become fragmented, we can see a stark decline in chimpanzee behavioral diversity,” said Kalan, coauthor of the sweeping new study published recently in the journal Science.

The 10-year study, led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute and the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, examines data on 144 chimpanzee communities in Africa and the occurrence of 31 specific behaviors, such as tool usage or rock throwing.

The regions with the least human impact showed the greatest variety in chimp behaviors. But areas greatly altered by logging, road-building, climate change and other human activities showed markedly less behavioral diversity—an 88 percent lower probability of exhibiting all behaviors.

Multiple factors drive the loss, the authors say.

“With the increase of human disturbance, chimps may not be able to live in such large groups anymore—and it has been shown that group size is connected with social learning,” said Hjalmar Kühl, also a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute and a coauthor.

For example, researchers studying chimpanzee groups in parts of West Africa encountered mysterious piles of stones alongside battered tree trunks.

The rocks had been thrown against the trees by chimpanzees for reasons still unclear to the scientists who first documented the behavior in 2016. Perhaps the purpose was to mark territory, or proclaim dominance within a group, or start a game, or something else, the biologists surmised.

But not all chimpanzees are stone-throwers.

Some groups use stones to crack open tree nuts. Researchers recently discovered an archaeological site in West Africa that showed chimpanzees had used stones there for nut-cracking for more than 4,000 years.

Elsewhere in West Africa, sticks

Chimpanzees grooming one another Wikimedia Commons

were the tools of choice, with young chimps in Guinea learning from their elders to use them to “fish” in lakes for long strands of algae to eat. Or, in Nigeria, to poke termite mounds to gather the insects for food.

Sixty years ago, scientists had limited knowledge of chimpanzees in the wild, until researcher Jane Goodall first recorded behaviors like tool usage, which previously were associated only with humans.

In 1999, Goodall and other scientists popularized the phrase “chimpanzee cultures” in an article in the journal Science. The use of the term has ignited debate ever since—including resistance from some anthropologists—but also launched further research.

Most likely genetics and socially learned behavior interact to form animal “culture” in chimpanzees and other species, said Carl Safina, an ecologist and author of several books on animal behavior who was not involved in the study.

T h i s h a s i mpl ic at ion s for conser vation.

“We have come to understand that behavioral diversity matters for protecting species,” said Andrew Whiten, an evolutionary

psychologist and zoologist at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland, who was not involved in the study.

“The greater the diversity of behavior, the more likely a species will be able to deal with future changes and challenges in their environment,” he said. “It’s not good news when their options are limited.”

Last month, Whiten coauthored a “Policy Forum” article in Science, titled “Animal cultures matter for conservation,” arguing that policy-makers should include behavioral diversity alongside other measures of biodiversity.

“Culture is not the tip of the iceberg for these great apes—some kind of nice luxury—but an intrinsic and essential part of their local adaptation,” Carel van Schaik, an anthropologist at the University of Zurich who was not involved in the new study, wrote in an e-mail.

Lydia Luncz, a primatologist at the University of Oxford, agrees.

“We are far from understanding yet what is the cultural repertoire of chimps,” said Luncz, who also was not involved in the study. “It would be a tragedy to lose more of the cultural heritage of our closest living relatives.” AP

Asean, EU empower youth leaders in conserving biodiversity

‘W

e h ave to e m p owe r t h e young ones and inculcate love for biodiversity among them. They will be the stewards of the environment in the future,” said Dr. Theresa Mundita Lim, Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) executive director.

Twenty young and passionate advocates of biodiversity conservation from the Asean member-states were chosen to be part of the inaugural 2019 Cohort of Asean Youth Biodiversity Leaders (YBL). From March 25 to 30, the young leaders convened in Bangkok, Thailand, where they were trained on conservation policy frameworks and project management and communications skills, as well as build partnerships to strengthen their conservation efforts.

The ACB, through the Biodiversity Co n s e r v a t i o n a n d M a n a g e m e n t o f Protected Areas in Asean Project supported by the European Union and Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, is spearheading the Asean Youth Biodiversity Programme (AYBP) in collaboration with the Global Youth Biodiversity Network Southeast Asia, the official youth constituency to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

“Under the AYBP, the YBL program provides in- depth capacity building and mentorship to youth leaders in biodiversity in the region to strengthen youth-led implementation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, and to mainstream youth considerations

to national biodiversity agendas,” Lim said.

The kick-off workshop in Bang Pu Nature Education Centre, including a field trip to Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, set the foundation for the 2019 Cohort, and provided the young leaders with the skills and network to bring their conservation impact to the next level.

The workshop culminated with a Public Youth Forum and closing ceremony on March 30 at Berkeley Hotel Pratunam, Bangkok, Thailand.

The YBL program will be continued for the next two years rotating in Asean member-countries.

The 2019 YBLs are: Lin J i Liaw (Brunei Darussalam); Porchhay Taing and Channimol Ky (Cambodia); Riansyah Sigit

Kurniawan and Nadia Putri Rachma Persada (Indonesia); Daophainh Inh Chanthavong and Fuevue Cherthai (Lao PDR); Kuhan Pillai Anbalakan, Mark Jun Liao, and Cheng Cheng Tan (Malaysia); Aung Than Oo and Shwe Yi Phoo (Myanmar); Mark Edison Reopta Raquino, Aubrey Jayne Padilla and Cirilo Aguadera Lagnason Jr. (Philippines); Karl Jun Qiang Png, Nathaniel Ling Wei Soon and Kittikun Saksung (Thailand); and Thong Van Pham and Yen Thi Hai Le (Vietnam).

As part of the AYBP, the search is on for the youth of Asean to be part of the first Youth Internship in Asean Heritage Parks.

AHPs are the best protected areas in the Asean region with outstanding wilderness and biodiversity values.

California crab fisheries to close early to protect whales

S

AN FRANCISCO—California crab fisheries will close for the season in April when whales are feeding off the state’s coast as part of an effort to keep Dungeness crab fishery gear from killing protected whales, officials announced on Tuesday.

The April 15 closure, three months before the crab-fishing season normally ends, is part of a settlement reached by the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The center sued the state agency in 2017, saying it was liable for a surge in entanglement of endangered whales and sea turtles because it oversees operation of the fishery on state and federal waters off California’s coast. “ Th i s i s a g re at v i c to r y f o r t h e whales and sea tur tles that come to feed off the coast of California in ver y

l a rg e n u m b e r s e ve r y s i n g l e s p r i n g season,” said Kristen Monsell, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney.

Dungeness crab season will close on April 1 in 2020 and 2021 in the Monterey Bay area and along the Sonoma and Mendocino counties line, both spots where whales amass to feed in the spring as they make their journey north, according to the settlement.

The agreement also establishes criteria that could prompt an even earlier closure, including one confirmed whale entanglement in Dungeness crab-fishing gear or two confirmed entanglements in other fishing gear or the presence of 20 or more whales in a spot.

The number of humpbacks, blue and other endangered or threatened species of whale entangled by the ropes, buoys and anchors of fishing gear on the West Coast has broken records in recent years

as climate change pushes the mammals closer to shore—and fishing gear—in their search for food.

A preliminary count for 2018 shows 45 whale entanglements on the West Coast compared with 31 confirmed entanglements in 2017. Between 2000 and 2014, the West Coast saw an average of 10 entanglements per year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The accidental entanglements can gouge whales’ flesh and mouth, weaken the animals, drown them or kill them painfully, over months.

Dungeness crab pots are the single largest identifiable source of fishing gear entangling whales on the West Coast. Crab pots and the lines can get carried away by waves or by vessels that accidentally snag them. Sometimes fishermen abandon their pots or lose them.

As part of the settlement, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will issue rules by November on the retrieval of crab gear that is left in the water or is brokendown and abandoned and on marking all fishing gear with unique identifiers for each fishery.

“This agreement represents hours of intense negotiation to help ensure [whale entanglements] don’t happen while supporting the resiliency of the crab fishery in the long run,” Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham said.

Early crab fishing closures won’t apply for those crabbers who have rope-less gear.

Bonham said during a call last week that his department will continue to support the development of that technology.

“The crab caught off our coast is going to be caught with greater care for endangered wildlife,” he said. AP

B6 Monday, April 1, 2019

EXPANDED MATERNITY LEAVE PASSED INTO LAW

SAVE THE CHILDREN PHILIPPINES RAISES CONCERNS OF DISPLACED CHILDREN IN MINDANAO

S

AVE the Children Philippines is seeking protection and access to humanitarian support for displaced children in five provinces in Mindanao, reaching 76,383 due to heightened hostilities in the last two months.

The call is in line with its global campaign on “Stop the War on Children” that highlights the alarming situation of some 420 million children, nearly one-fifth of children worldwide living in conflict zone, up by 30 million children from 2016.

One in five children around the world live in conflict areas and suffer from a huge scale of armed conflict, said on the report Stop the War on Children launched by Save the Children globally in February.

Lawyer Albert Muyot, chief executive officer of Save the Children Philippines, said children’s experience of conflict ranges from killing and maiming to witnessing the destruction of their homes, schools, communities and the death of their loved ones.

The number of displaced people from five conflict affected Mindanao provinces has reached 127,306, with 76,383 of them are children, according to reports received

by Save the Children Philippines between February and March.

InLanaoDelSurthenumberofdisplaced people reached 8,911; Maguindanao with 35,235; and Sulu with 5,160. Two years after the siege, there are still 66,000 people living in tents in Marawi, while there are 12,000 displaced lumads or indigenous people (7,200 of them are children) in Surigao del Sur due to heavy fighting for over a year now.

He called on parties to adhere to international humanitarian laws that protect children in times of war and armed conflict, and guarantee access to food, health services and learning facilities.

Muyot raised the concern on the report of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Maguindanao, where some 4,960 learners cannot resume classes.

“Schools and health centers should be declared as zones of peace to allow children to continue their studies, and get access to health care and nutrition,” Muyot added.

Reggie Aquino, humanitarian manager of Save the Children Philippines, said the lives and safety of thousands of children in Mindanao are under constant threat due to

recurring and protracted armed conflicts.

She also called on parties to stop recruiting boys and girls to become child soldiers.

“We call on parties to allow children and their families to have access to humanitarian support and protection, such as food, shelter and learning facilities,” Aquino said.

She said hundreds of children are experiencing hunger and suffering from diseases due to inaccessible health care, water and sanitation.

Save the Children Philippines continues to provide psychosocial support, learning materials and facilities to displaced children in affected provinces of Marawi, Surigao del Sur, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur. These include establishing child-friendly spaces where children can play and learn; and temporary learning spaces where learners and teachers can resume classes.

Save the Children Philippines also provides school and hygiene kits to displaced children.

The group holds psycho-social sessions to address trauma among children who witnessed acts of violence, or who suffered loss and experienced fear.

P

RESIDENT Duterte signed Republic Act 11210, or the Expanded Maternity Leave Law, on February 20. One of the principal authors and advocator of this law is former chairman of the committee on women and gender equality DIWA Party-list representative and now Justice Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar. The previous 60-day paid maternity leave is now extended to 105 days. There is also a provision to the law that the employee can request for additional 30-day leave but without pay and an additional 15-day maternity leave for solo parents, thus, making the

Philippines compliant to the International Labor Organization (ILO) minimum standard of 98 days.

“Promoting the mother’s health, as well as the newly born child’s welfare, is one of the primary objectives of the expanded maternity leave” Villar said. The law now provides the employee ample time on her and her baby’s health during and after pregnancy.

It is a big step in promoting Filipina workers’ welfare as it advocates women empowerment by providing just compensation and benefits, as she takes part playing her maternal role.

‘EVERYDAY IS PLAY DAY’ AT SM SUPERMALLS

S

M Supermalls has partnered with Unicef and, together, they are set to promote and instill every child’s right to play, relax and indulge through a holistic approach on both their artistic and recreational activities. Through this team up, they promote their shared advocacy to bring more smiles to children’s faces across the country. Both partners believe that every child needs at least an hour of outdoor activity both to relax and develop his intellect and well-being.

This summer, the SM City North kicked off the summer fun with its biggest collaboration of best-loved global toy and children’s brands for the well-loved and highly anticipated “Everyday is Play Day”. Now on its third biggest year, SM supermalls nationwide showcase series of exciting activities for both kids and kids at heart in many of your favorite SM Supermalls from March to October.

“SM brings back Everyday is Play Day with kiddie character, meet and greet, and interactive play that aims

to help develop their confidence and social skills,” said Jonjon San Agustin, SM Supermalls senior vice president for marketing.

Through a showcase of a new-found wonderlands filled with real-play and digital experiences while also featuring toy collections, play machines and giant interactive displays, SM Supermalls also pride in delighting everyone with over 30 global brands, including the Toy Kingdom’s Barbie, Hatchimals, Paw Patrol, Shimmer and Shine, Pokemon, Shopkins, Beyblade, My Little Pony and much more.

A reach beyond every kid’s imagination also powers up the launch with some memory games and scientific experiments from Nutty Scientist, a colorful ball pit plunge from the Ball Pit City; and special performances and appearances from previous winners of The SM Little Stars, celebrity supermoms and mascots from participating toy brands.

Leony R. Garcia

KOREA DONATES WHEELCHAIRS TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

T

HE United Korean Community Association in the Philippines (Ukca) and Sorok Uni Foundation hosted a wheelchair-donation ceremony sponsored by the Community Chest of Korea at the Philippine-Korea Friendship Center in Taguig City.

A hundred and eighty wheelchairs were donated to persons with disabilities and the government hospitals as Korea’s gratitude and appreciation to the Philippines for helping them in the past Korean War more than 60 years ago.

These new stainless wheelchairs were brought and donated by Korea’s famous comedian Hwang Ki-soon, who

has been riding a bicycle yearly all throughout the Nation of Korea to raise fund for buying these wheelchairs, with the help of Park Sang-min, a famous singer in Korea.

This event happens yearly for seven years in different countries in Asia, including Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines, and this will be the third time for the Philippines to receive such donation.

Since these wheelchairs are for adults only, they are planning and preparing on the following year to donate strollers for the disabled children on poor areas in various nations in Asia.

CELEBRITY FITNESS OPENS FIRST CLUB IN MANILA

W

HO said fitness should be serious when you can get the results you want while having fun? If you are akin to a one-of-a-kind fitness concept that will make every workout feel like a party, StarMakers is the perfect place for you!

Celebrity Fitness, a comprehensive lifestyle-based fitness chain from Indonesia, finally makes its way to Manila, on the second-floor level of One Bonifacio High Street Mall, Fifth Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, right at the heart of the city’s evolving fitness hub.

“We’re very excited to officially open the first Celebrity Fitness club in Manila. The city is bustling with so many fitness and wellness advocates, so it was the perfect time for us to bring in a refreshing option for fun-loving, dynamic fitness buffs....,” country manager Mark Ellis said. “Celebrity Fitness brings a unique take on fitness with its brand purpose of making fitness fun, and helping members to look and feel sensational. We believe that fitness builds inner confidence that makes you feel fierce. And what better way to get started on building your confidence through fitness than with our team of fabulous StarMakers!”

“From its humble origins in Indonesia in 2003, Celebrity Fitness has, over the years, established a name for itself as a comprehensive, lifestyle-based fitness chain that appeals to the young and young at heart; winning many awards along the way. The Philippines is the brand’s first foray outside Indonesia and Malaysia, where the brand continues to perform very strongly. With the addition of this One Bonifacio High Street club, we now have a total of 60 Celebrity Fitness clubs in Indonesia, Malaysia and [the] Philippines.

We’re very pleased at how the brand’s refreshing approach to fitness has resonated with Filipinos, so far, and we look forward to growing the Celebrity Fitness network of clubs in the Philippines,” said Simon Flint, chief executive officer, Evolution Wellness.

Celebrity Fitness offers a full range of unique signature programs to get members move and party with energy and positivity:

Playground. A 35-minute class on the gym floor incorporates innovative functional equipment and adventurous game-based workouts; Dance N’ Attitude (DNA). A 60-minute dance class that is perfect for those bodies grooving in beat; Floating Yoga. A 60-minute class combining yoga, pilates and functional movements in a suspended hammock; and Saltar. A 60-minute uber fun trampoline workout.

Saltar, which means “jump” in Portuguese, is the first workout of its kind in the Philippines.

To help members fast-track their fitness goals and get their body fit like a superstar, Celebrity Fitness also offers an array of personal training programs with our team of StarMakers. Members who sign up for personal training sees a goal-specific program designed to their fitness level by the StarMaker they’ve been assigned to, in addition to groupfitness recommendations, assessments and feedback.

What further sets Celebrity Fitness apart is its fleet of amenities. These include a cardio area, free weights, playground areas, a swanking fitness studio, members’ lounge, male and female changing rooms with Gantner smart-lock system, male and female shower rooms, hair dryers and free Wi-fi.

“We’re also excited to share our Celebrity Fitness anthem, titled “Unleash the Star”. The music style and lyrics reflect the Celebrity Fitness brand values, which we hope will inspire more people to make positive changes in their lives, and have fun doing so. We think it’s cool, and as far as we know, has never been done before by any other gym brand!” Ellis added.

Celebrity Fitness One Bonifacio High Street currently offers different membership package options to suit various lifestyles: 12 months at P2,595 per month, 6 months at P2,750 per month and a monthly recurring package of P2,900.

Celebrity Fitness One Bonifacio High Street opens from Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information and for a free trial, visit www.celebrityfitness.com.ph.

Sports BusinessMirror

C1

| Monday, April 1, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

WOODS MEETS MATCH LUCAS BJERREGAARD (right) watches his drive on the eighth hole as Tiger Woods (center) looks on as Rory McIlroy reacts to missing a putt and losing his match to Woods on the 17th hole. AP

A

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

USTIN, Texas—The conditions were severe.

The high stakes put a premium on every shot down the stretch. Tiger Woods was in his element.

Only this time, he was a spectator.

Woods finally met his match on Saturday in the Dell Technologies Match Play, and it wasn’t Rory McIlroy.

Lucas Bjerregaard delivered the clutch shots so often seen from Woods in their quarterfinal match. He holed a 30-foot eagle putt to tie the match on the par-5 16th. He holed a 12-foot birdie putt that snapped hard to the right at the end on No. 17, knowing Woods was in tight for a certain birdie.

And on the final hole, Woods blinked first.

His lob wedge from a fluffy lie in the rough came out soft, short and in a bunker. Given a chance to send the match to overtime, Woods missed a 4-foot putt.

“It’s a shame it had to end the way it did,” Bjerregaard said. “Our match didn’t deserve that. But I’m happy to be

on the winning side.”

Bjerregaard considers Woods his golfing hero, and he used to take his book to the range in Denmark with hopes of copying his swing. He never could get it just right, though the 27-year-old Dane showed plenty of Woods’s mettle.

Equally surprising was how Woods won earlier on Saturday against McIlroy, a big match between the two biggest stars left at Austin Country Club. McIlroy was on the verge of squaring the match on the 16th hole when he had a short iron for his second shot into the par-5 16th. He made seven and Woods closed him out on the next hole.

McIlroy was so angry he walked briskly away into a cart, and wouldn’t make eye contact on his way to the car.

Woods knows the feeling.

“This is going to sting for a few days,” Woods said in his last event before the Masters.

Bjerregaard, who won his first European Tour title last fall at St. Andrews in the Dunhill Links, next faces Matt Kuchar on Sunday morning in the semifinals.

Kuchar had to cope with a contentious moment in his

2-up victory over Sergio Garcia, two players in the news this year for all the wrong reasons.

Garcia had an 8-foot par putt on No. 7 to win the hole to square the match. He left it just short, and then casually stabbed at it from the other side as it rimmed around the cup. Such putts typically are conceded. Kuchar said that was his intention. But under the rules, a putt can’t be conceded after a player hits it.

Kuchar says he didn’t want to win the hole that way.

That’s when Garcia suggested if he felt that way, he could concede the next hole.

“I thought about it and said, ‘I don’t like that idea, either,’” he said.

Garcia needed to birdie the 18th hole to send the match into extra holes, missed the green and wound up conceding.

“At the end of the day, I’m the one that made the mistake,” Garcia said.

Overlooked it all this drama was British Open champion Francesco Molinari, who has steamrolled his way into the semifinals. Molinari, at No. 7 the only player from the top 20 remaining, has played only 73 holes in five matches. He is the

only player to have not lost a match, and the only one left who has not played the 18th hole.

“I can play 27 holes per match, that’s not really the point,” Molinari said after his 6-and-5 victory over Kevin Na. “It’s nice obviously to close it out early, but I’m ready to go as long as it takes.”

Kevin Kisner became only the third player to lose a match in group play and advance to the semifinals. He lost to Ian Poulter on Wednesday and has been rock-solid ever since, winning three straight holes late to flip his match in a 2-and-1 victory over Louis Oosthuizen.

This is the second straight year Kisner has reached the semifinals. He lost in the championship match last year to Bubba Watson.

Woods, who had not been at Match Play since 2013, advanced to the weekend for the first time since 2008, his third title in this World Golf Championship. All the attention was on his match against McIlroy, and Woods had a 1-up lead when one bad shot changed everything.

McIlroy pounded a 395-yard drive with the wind at his back. Woods drove into a half-buried lie in the bunker, could only advance it 60 yards and had 204 yards for his

third shot before McIlroy hit a short iron for his second.

Woods never had to putt.

McIlroy hit a shot so bad that it was short and right.

Worse yet, it hopped out of its pitch mark on the edge of a bunker, but not back enough to fall into the sand.

Facing a difficult shot to the pin over another bunker, he went long and the ball rolled through the gallery against wooden posts. His only option was to go back to the original spot and play his fifth shot.

Woods, who looked certain to lose the hole and go all square, suddenly was two up with two to play. He closed out McIlroy with a 12-foot par putt.

“It was a difficult day for both of us,” Woods said.

Bjerregaard looked at the bracket the night before and knew there was a chance he would get Woods. First, he had to beat Henrik Stenson, and the Dane took care of Scandinavia’s best player in 16 holes.

He said he often dreamed about a chance to play Woods in a match when he was growing up in Demark.

“I didn’t think it was ever going to come true,” he said.

Playing him or beating him?

“Both,” he said with a smile. “And definitely the latter.”

‘BATTLE OF APOLOGIES’ A

USTIN, Texas—Sergio Garcia had an 8-foot putt to win the hole and left it 4 inches short, a frustrating miss.

Worse yet was what followed. Such a tap-in typically is conceded in the Dell Technologies Match Play, and the Spaniard walked up and casually rapped it lefthanded. The ball spun around the cup, and he picked it up and walked off the green, assuming he remained one down through seven holes.

One problem: Matt Kuchar never formally conceded the putt.

“I saw him off the green. I said, ‘Sergio, I didn’t say anything. I’m not sure how this works out.’ I didn’t want that to be an issue,” Kuchar said.

So he summoned an official, who told them that the Rules of Golf don’t allow a putt to be conceded after it has been struck.

That goes in the book as a 4-inch miss by Garcia, and Kuchar going two up in the quarterfinal match he eventually won on Saturday.

Kuchar says he told Garcia that’s not how he wanted a hole to be won or lost.

“I apologized,” Kuchar said. “I said, ‘I don’t like the way this was played out.’ He said, ‘You can concede a hole.’ I thought about it and said, ‘I don’t like that idea, either.’” What didn’t I like about it? It’s hard to say other than I kind of just stuck to what the rules official said the rule was.”

It led to some tense moments for the next hour.

Garcia missed a par putt on the next hole, walked over and swung his club over the ball in frustration.

Their quarterfinal match already was seen as the “Battle of Apologies” for incidents that have marred the start of the year for both of them. Garcia was disqualified from the Saudi

International in January for damaging five putting greens during the third round.

Kuchar had to deal with jeers that same month when it was revealed that he paid his Mexican caddie $5,000 after winning the Mayakoba Classic late last year, earning $1,296,000 for the victory. Kuchar eventually apologized for some of his comments on the situation and paid the caddie $50,000.

This was a sticky moment for both of them.

Garcia was quick to say that it started with him.

“It’s quite simple—I screwed up,” he said.

“Obviously, I missed my putt and I kind of tapped it with the back of my putter before he said anything. Yeah, it’s a loss of hole. I understand that.”

He said his issue was Kuchar telling him he didn’t say the putt was good that he didn’t want to win the hole that way.

“So I was like, ‘OK, it’s fine. What do you want to do? Because there are many options that you can do if you don’t want to take the hole, even though I’ve already lost that hole,’” Garcia said. “But obviously, he didn’t like any of the options that were there.”

Garcia spoke from some experience, though the situation was different.

In the third round of the Match Play in 2014 against Rickie Fowler, Garcia had to take a drop in a ruling that took a long time.

Feeling as though he made Fowler wait too long, he conceded Fowler his 18-foot par putt. Fowler wound up winning the match on the 18th hole.

Garcia fell three down against Kuchar, rallied late to pull within one hole but needed a birdie on the 18th to send the match into extra holes. He missed the green, chipped 25 feet long and conceded the match.

“It’s fine,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, I’m the one that made the mistake.” AP

SERGIO GARCIA (second from left) and Matt Kuchar (right) discuss on the eighth hole what had happened on the seventh green during the Dell Technologies Match Play Championship on Saturday in Austin, Texas. AP

Park ahead in Kia Classic

C

ARLSBAD, California—Inbee Park curled in an 18foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th for her second straight five-under 67 and the third-round lead on Saturday in the Kia Classic, the final event before the major ANA Inspiration.

Winless in 12 months, the seven-time major champion from South Korea had a one-stroke advantage over Nasa Hataoka after a low-scoring day in perfect conditions at Aviara Golf Club.

“I think just a combination of consistency and the putting,” Park said. “I holed some good putts, especially on the back nine.”

Seeking her 20th Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour victory, Park had a 14-under 202 total.

“Just the feel on the greens is really good this week and I really want to keep that going tomorrow,” Park said. “Hopefully, I can hit a lot of fairways and greens.”

Hataoka, the 20-year-old Japanese player who won two LPGA Tour titles last season, shot a 64.

“I started out playing really well, attacking the pins, and had a lot of par saves, as well, good par saves,” Hataoka said through a translator. “Definitely wanted to go low today. The conditions were fairly good today, so glad I was able to shoot a good round.”

Thidapa Suwannapura was two strokes back after a 70.

Mi Jung Hur had a course-record 62 to join topranked Sung-hyun Park at 11 under. Hur had seven straight birdies on the back nine. AP

Spo

Business

C2 Monday, April 1, 2019

LEBRON’S SEASON OVER

BARTY TRIUMPHS IN MIAMI M

IAMI GARDENS, Florida—Amid the unpredictable swirl of this year’s tennis results, with 33 different champions in 33 tournaments, Ashleigh Barty provides a change of pace.

The crafty 5-foot-5 Australian mixes backhand slices and drop shots with a deceptively strong serve and a knack for attacking, which is how she won the Miami Open.

Barty had a career-high 15 aces and became the newest 2019 titlist on the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) circuits by beating Karolina Pliskova, 7-6 (1), 6-3, on Saturday.

That means there still has not been a repeat champion this year among the men or women.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Barty said. “On the women’s side, I think the level has evened out a lot, and the depth has grown over the last few years. Everyone in the draw has a legitimate chance of winning the tournament, and you try to make the most of it.”

In Miami, Barty did. The former professional cricket player won her fourth tennis title and the biggest of her career to improve to 18-3 this year.

At age 22, she’ll rise next week to a career-high ranking of No. 9.

Barty became the fifth different Miami Open women’s champion in the past five years, and she’s the 14th different WTA titlist in 2019.

Roger Federer could become tennis’ first repeat champion this year when he plays John Isner in the men’s final on Sunday. Federer won Dubai early this month.

Barty’s large repertoire of shots is both entertaining and effective, and she kept a weary Pliskova off balance while finding the open court for 41 winners.

“I’ve always tried to bring as much variety to the court as possible,” Barty said. “It’s about trying to neutralize what your opponent is doing.

There was a phase in women’s tennis of big

power and first strikers, but physicality in tennis has grown, which has allowed more players to neutralize the big first ball and work their way into the point.”

Barty can strike quickly, too. Her surprising serve was superior in the final even though Pliskova is 8 inches taller at 6-foot-1.

The Aussie won a 14-stroke rally with a nifty backhand drop shot to go up 2-1 in the tiebreaker, and she was ahead the rest of the way. She outlasted Pliskova in a 20-point game to break at the start of the second set, smacked three consecutive aces for a 3-1 lead, and won eight of the final nine points.

Pliskova, seeded fifth, blamed her fade on fatigue. Because of rain delays, her semifinal win over No. 2-seeded Simona Halep lasted until early Friday morning, and she looked flat-footed in the final.

“Run, run,” Pliskova’s coach, Conchita Martinez, implored during a changeover.

“I was tired, super tired,” Pliskova said. “If I felt a little bit more fresh, it could maybe be different.”

Barty made sure Pliskova never got her second wind, striking from all over the court.

Among the Aussie’s most acrobatic shots was a leaping overhead winner struck while backpedaling in pursuit of a lob. The crowd loved it, and so did she.

“It’s pretty cool to have played such a good match today in a big situation,” she said.

Barty won the Wimbledon girls’ title in 2011 at age 15, but gave up tennis to play professional cricket in Brisbane before returning to the tour in 2016.

This year she lost in the final at Sydney, a moment she listed as the most painful in her career. Less than three weeks later she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open. AP

THE former professional cricket player Ashleigh Barty wins her fourth tennis title and the biggest of her career to improve to 18-3 this year. AP

L

OS ANGELES— LeBron James’s first season with the Los Angeles Lakers is over.

James will sit out the final six games of the Lakers’ sixth consecutive losing season, the team

Federer-Isner in final at Dolphins’ stadium M IAMI GARDENS, Florida—For a National Football League stadium, it will be a different kind of Sunday showdown: Roger Federer against John Isner.

Both won on Friday and advanced to the final of the Miami Open, which moved this year to the Dolphins’ complex from its longtime Key Biscayne home.

Federer dominated a semifinal battle of the ages, beating 19-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov, 6-2, 6-4. Defending champion Isner also bested a Canadian teenager, 18-year-old qualifier Felix Auger-Aliassime, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4).

Both finalists give the new tournament site a thumbs-up, partly because they’ve done so well the past week.

“The venue is absolutely fantastic,” said Isner, a big football fan. “To play in the stadium—the Super Bowl will be here next year—it’s pretty amazing.”

The atmosphere was lively for both matches, and each time experience triumphed. The age gap with Shapovalov was the largest of the 37-yearold Federer’s career, and he used a wide array of shotmaking to take control with two early breaks.

“It was a tactical match by me,” Federer said.

“I’m happy I was able to play with variations.”

Seeded No. 4, Federer improved to 17-2 this year. He lost in this month’s Indian Wells final to Dominic Thiem and now seeks his fourth Miami Open title.

Federer is 5-2 against Isner, but they haven’t played each other since 2015.

Isner, now 33, won his only Association of Tennis Professionals Masters title a year ago on Key Biscayne.

“It’s amazing—I said before the tournament the chances were I would not defend my title,”

Isner said. “I’m very, very happy.”

The 6-foot-10 American hit 21 aces in the semifinal and has 98 in five tournament matches.

Federer laughingly said he’ll brace for a barrage.

“I know what to expect,” Federer said. “On Sunday I’ll be the goalie and try my very best.”

The largest stadium crowd of the tournament watched Federer deploy his full repertoire against Shapovalov. That included a lunging stab volley for a winner, a half-volley drop shot for another winner, and a nifty chipped return while Federer held the racket like a flag, strings in front of his face.

“He’s got every shot mastered,” said Shapovalov, who considers Federer his idol.

“When he needs a shot, he’s going to go for it, and he’s going to make it. I don’t think he has any weaknesses.”

Shapovalov will climb to a career-best No. 20 in the rankings despite his defeat.

“Denis is a great player,” Federer said, “and he will be even better in the future.”

Like Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime came up short in a bid for his first ATP Masters 1000 final.

He served for both sets, but Isner broke each time by taking advantage of double-faults, and then used his big serve to control the tiebreakers.

Nine of his 10 sets in the tournament have gone to a tiebreaker, and he has won each one.

But Auger-Aliassime figured neither set should have gotten to that point.

“It’s a chance you can’t miss, serving two times for the set,” he said. “Just terrible.”

Auger-Aliassime, 5-0 previously against top 20 opponents, was the youngest male semifinalist in the tournament’s 35-year history.

He’ll jump to a career-best No. 33 in next week’s rankings. AP

YEAR OF 3-POINTER

last season—and threes are getting made a staggering 57 percent more often than what was the case just five years ago.

The league record for total three-pointers attempted was broken earlier this month, with 72,354 getting hoisted entering Saturday.

The first season where the NBA combined to make 15,000 three-pointers was 2009-10.

The 20,000 plateau was broken just three seasons ago, and this season’s total is on pace to end up just shy of 28,000. AP

M

IAMI—It’s official: In the National Basketball Association (NBA), this was the year of the three-pointer.

Again.

The NBA has set a record for three-pointers made for the seventh consecutive year, after the 25,808th of the season was made on Saturday night. The league is on pace for about an 8-percent rise in three-pointers over

VIRGINIA, TEXAS TECH IN FINAL 4

V

IRGINIA is heading to the Final Four for the first time since 1984.

Kyle Guy had 25 points and 10 rebounds as the top-seeded Cavaliers withstood a brilliant performance from Purdue’s Carsen Edwards and beat the third-seeded Boilermakers, 80-75, in overtime.

Virginia forced the overtime on a buzzer beater from Mamadi Diakite.

With Purdue trailing by one in overtime,

Edwards missed a three-pointer with nine seconds remaining, and Virginia got the rebound. Virginia’s Kyle Guy made two free throws with five seconds remaining to put the Cavaliers up by three. The Boilermakers turned the ball over when they tried to bring the ball upcourt, and the Cavaliers made two more free throws to advance.

Virginia (33-3) will play the winner of Sunday’s Kentucky-Auburn game in the Final

IT’S another day at the office for James Harden. AP

Harden’s 50-point triple-double propels Rockets NBA RESULTS LA Clippers 132, Cleveland 108 Brooklyn 110, Boston 96 Houston 119, Sacramento 108 Detroit 99, Portland 90 Orlando 121, Indiana 116 Miami 100, New York 92 Philadelphia 118, Minnesota 109 Toronto 124, Chicago 101 Memphis 120, Phoenix 115

Four on Saturday in Minneapolis.

Texas Tech, on the other hand, has reached the Final Four for the first time in school history.

The third seeded Red Raiders defeated No. 1 seed Gonzaga, 75-69, on Saturday in the West Regional final.

Jarrett Culver, the Big 12 Player of the Year, led the Red Raiders with 19 points. Matt Mooney scored 17 and Davide Moretti added 12 for Texas Tech (30-6). The Red Raiders will play the Duke-Michigan State winner next Saturday in Minneapolis. AP

announced on Saturday. In a statement, President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson and General Manager Rob Pelinka claimed the decision will provide James with a head start on offseason healing for a threemonth-old groin strain, the first significant injury of his career.

“After consulting with our team doctors and medical staff, we have decided to hold LeBron out of games for the remainder of the season,” the statement said. “This decision will allow his groin to fully heal, and is best for the future success of both LeBron and the Lakers.”

James is the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) fifth-leading scorer at 27.4 points per game, and he averaged 8.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists in his first season on the West Coast. He will accompany the Lakers on their upcoming trip to New Orleans and Oklahoma City, but the 16-year NBA veteran won’t play again in his first non-playoff season since 2005, his second year in the league.

James appeared in the past eight NBA Finals with Miami and Cleveland, but he will finish this year playing in a careerlow 55 games and a career-low 35.2 minutes per game for the Lakers. Despite James’s ballyhooed arrival along with Rajon Rondo and JaVale McGee to lead the Lakers’ talented young core, Los Angeles failed to overcome several major injuries and a midseason crisis of team confidence

H

OUSTON—James Harden and the Houston Rockets knew they’d have to be aggressive on Saturday night to counteract the young and fast-paced Sacramento Kings.

It was that mindset that led to another huge game for the Beard and a victory for the Rockets.

Harden had 50 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, scoring 10 straight Houston points down the stretch to help the Rockets beat the Kings, 119-108.

“They made a run, which we knew they were going to have in them,” Harden said. “But I just tried to be aggressive, whether it was making an assist or getting to the basket or shooting my shot. That was it.”

Harden had his 42nd career triple-double and third 50-point game in the last six. He made seven three-pointers to become the ninth player in National Basketball Association history to reach 2,000 career threes. It was his NBA-record fifth 50-point triple-double, which is two more than second-place Russell Westbrook, and the second this season.

Coach Mike D’Antoni, who is in his third season with the Rockets, continues to be impressed by Harden’s performances.

“It’s remarkable what he does, and he does it every night,” D’Antoni said. “I keep thinking: ‘gosh, can he do this every game.’ And then he does it for three years.”

Houston had a three-point lead when Harden reentered with less than seven minutes left. Willie Cauley-Stein made an alley-oop dunk to cut it to one before Harden scored all of Houston’s points in a 10-2 run that made it 111-102 with three minutes to go. Harden grabbed the rebound after a miss

by Marvin Bagley and found Clint Capela for a

when the Lakers attempted to land superstar Anthony Davis in a multi-player trade.

“It’s challenging, but I kind of knew what I was getting myself into,” James said earlier this month.

Los Angeles is 34-42 after beating Charlotte, 129-115, on Friday night, with James scoring 27 points in what turned out to be his final appearance.

The Lakers have won three of four since being eliminated from playoff contention last week with a loss to Brooklyn, their 10th in 11 games and their 28th in 42 games since Christmas.

Los Angeles entered Saturday’s games with the NBA’s 10th-worst record. While a strong finish to the season could be a boost for the future, it could also damage the Lakers’ hopes of landing an elite talent in the draft.

“We picked a hell of a time to have a great rhythm,” James said after the Lakers beat the Hornets. “We’re having fun. We’re playing the way we wanted to play all year, but obviously because of injuries, multiple lineup changes and things of that nature, that would affect it.

But we’ve kind of known who’s going to be in the lineup over these last few games, and it’s allowed us to have our rotations down, and guys have been playing well.”

Although James’s first season with Los Angeles was a failure, it showed promise before injuries changed everything.

The Lakers were 20-14 and in fourth place in the Western Conference when James strained his groin during a stunning 26-point road victory over Golden State on Christmas.

He sat out their next 17 games in the longest injury absence of his career.

James returned to the lineup for good in early February, but the injuryplagued Lakers were unable to recover and make the playoffs.

Along with James, the Lakers are finishing the season without three key players in their young core.

Brandon Ingram has been out since March 2 due to a blood

dunk that pushed the lead to 113-104.

Capela added 24 points and 15 rebounds, and Chis Paul had 22 points. Houston has won four of five.

Bogdan Bogdanovic had 24 points for the Kings. They have lost two straight and fell to 0-3 against Houston this season.

“I liked the way our guys fought,” Sacramento Coach Dave Joerger said. “Came down to the fourth quarter and we didn’t get enough shots to go down...they made a lot of big shots and that’s what they do.”

Sacramento led by two to start the fourth before the Rockets used a 7-2 run, capped by a three from Paul, to take a 98-95 lead with about nine minutes left. The Kings made three free throws to tie it, but PJ Tucker made a three-pointer to put Houston up 101-98 with about seven minutes remaining.

The Rockets had a three-point lead at halftime and opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run, with threes from Eric Gordon and Paul, to make it 71-62.

An 11-2 spurt by the Kings tied it at 83-83 with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the quarter.

De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes had threepointers in that stretch and Buddy Hield added a three-point play.

Houston missed three-point attempts in a row to allow the Kings to close the gap.

Harden, who made 17 of 18 free throws, finally ended the drought when he hit one from the corner right after that to put the Rockets back on top, and he made a lay-up a few seconds later to make it 88-83.

But the Kings scored the next 10 points, with eight from Bagley, to take a 93-88 lead.

Paul made a three-pointer for Houston’s first points in 2 1/2 to cap the third quarter and cut the lead to 93-91 entering the fourth quarter. AP

clotting issue, while Lonzo Ball hasn’t played since January 19 because of an ankle injury, and Josh Hart was ruled out for the season this week with a knee injury.

“I haven’t been a part of a season with this ton of injuries to all our key guys, to big, big key guys,” James said earlier this month. “It’s just the way the season has been. We’ve had guys step up...but for us, we prided ourselves on our depth to start the season, and obviously our depth has dwindled.”

Earlier this season, the 34-year-old James expressed ambivalence about the possibility of shutting himself down early, saying such a decision would clash with his natural competitiveness. He also said he felt fresh after the least-busy season of his adult life.

But Johnson and Pelinka apparently persuaded James of the wisdom of an early wrap to a lost year, followed by a fresh start in the fall.

Overall, the Lakers went 28-27 with James in their lineup. AP

LEBRON JAMES to sit out the Lakers’ last six games of the season. AP

Porzingis accused of rape

N

EW YORK—An attorney for Kristaps Porzingis acknowledged on Saturday that a woman has accused the National Basketball Association (NBA) star of rape, but says the Dallas Mavericks forward “unequivocally” denies the allegation.

Lawyer Roland Riopelle said the claim against the player was part of an extortion attempt that is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Citing unidentified law enforcement officials, the New York Post and other news organizations reported earlier that a woman went to police on Thursday and said Porzingis raped her in his Manhattan apartment last year while he was playing for the Knicks.

NYPD officials declined to comment.

While playing for the Knicks last year, Porzingis suffered a major knee injury during a game at Madison Square Garden against the Milwaukee Bucks that the Knicks lost. He then went home and invited the woman to his luxury Manhattan apartment where she alleges she was sexually assaulted, the Post said the woman told police.

“We made a formal referral to federal law enforcement on December 20th, 2018, based on the accuser’s extortionate demands,” Riopelle said in a statement.

The attorney says the NBA was also notified.

Porzingis, a 23-year-old native of Latvia, was traded to the Mavericks in January. But he’s not expected to play with the team till next season while he recovers from the injury. AP

orts

sMirror

Monday, April 1, 2019 C3

Tabuena out with back injury

JUVIC PAGUNSAN poses with his wife Maria Elena and children LJ and PJ after completing his runaway triumph at the Riviera Challenge.

NEXT UP FOR JUVIC: PHL OPEN

J

UVIC PAGUNSAN will have all the motivation, not to mention momentum, when he sets out for the elusive Solaire Philippine Open crown against a stellar international field starting on Wednesday at The Country Club (TCC) in Laguna.

By dominating the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Riviera Challenge in his very first Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) Asia foray last Saturday, Pagunsan will be bringing in some cloak of invincibility to the $500,000 event whose composition remains as talent-laden as ever despite the withdrawal of last year’s champion Miguel Tabuena.

“This [win] is a big boost heading to the Phl Open,” said the soft-spoken Pagunsan after beating fellow Japan Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour campaigner and former Philippine Open champ Angelo

Que by seven at Riviera.

Without the injured Tabuena, observers note Pagunsan will have one less chief rival in his pursuit for a first-ever Open diadem although Que will be there to shoot for a second championship along with the other local top guns and the rest of the cast that incudes some of the leading players from Australia, the US, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Colombia, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Indonesia, India, England and Canada.

In short, Pagunsan will still be in for a tough challenge with the TCC layout also to provide a true test of golf with its length, hazards and sleek putting surface with the wind also expected to come into play in all four days.

“Winning your National Open again is

A

always special,” said Que, hinting at a strong performance for the power-hitting shotmaker following a number of mediocre finish after reigning at Wack Wack in 2008.

Reigning Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner Jobim Carlos and former OOM champion Clyde Mondilla, meanwhile, will seek redemption in the fabled event sponsored by Solaire Resort and Casino for the third straight year after missing the cut last week.

Like Pagunsan and a horde of others, the Thais are also going all out to score their first Open victory. They came tantalizingly close last year but veteran Prom Meesawat bowed to Tabuena in a thriller of a sudden death.

The 2017 title race was also decided in a playoff with England’s Steve Lewton nipping American Johannes Veerman with the same finish expected this week given the depth of the field and an exacting layout kept in championship form all year long.

Ten Australians, led by PGT Asia leg winners Damien Jordan and David Gleeson, and 11 players from the US, headed by regular local campaigners Sam Gillis, Lexus Keoninh, Brett Munson, Cory Oride and PGT leg titlist Nicholas Paez are also in the fold, all seeking to get a crack at the coveted crown in the event sanctioned by the National Golf Association of the Philippines headed by President Martin Lorenzo and backed by Pin High golf apparel.

Still, focus will be on the smooth-swinging Pagunsan, whose skills, talent and current form, plus sky-high confidence, could be tough for the field to overcome.

LADY BULLDOGS SNAP LOSING SKID

By Ramon Rafael Bonilla

N

ATIONAL University (NU) survived a gritty Adamson University with a four-set win, 28-26, 30-32, 25-21, 25-22, in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The Lady Bulldogs had to endure their foes’ late rally to avenge their first round loss that gifted the Lady Falcons their lone win so far in the tournament.

More important, NU snapped a three-game losing skid to improve to 3-7 won-lost at sixth place.

Head Coach Norman Miguel heaved a sigh of relief with the victory that brought some life to the Lady Bulldogs’ flickering Final Four chances.

“We are very happy because it has been a long time since we last won,” Miguel said, noting that they will perform well until the end regardless of their fate toward the semifinals.

“From the start, we just wanted to give our

best. We want to win but if not, at least we learned our lessons,” Miguel added.

Roselyn Doria top scored for NU with 18 points built on 12 attacks, five aces and a block. Ivy Lacsina had a solid contribution of 15 points highlighted by 12 spikes, while Princess Anne Robles added 14 points and 15 digs.

After the teams split half the first two sets that went to extended play, NU showed its might in the third set courtesy of four aces by Doria with the Lady Bulldogs benefiting from Adamson University’s string of errors.

The Lady Falcons continued to surge in the fourth set as Lacsina and Robles powered the squad midway in the set.

Bernadette Flora chalked up 16 points for Adamson University, while Chiara Permentilla and Eli Soyud chipped in 14 and 12 points, respectively.

The Lady Falcons slipped to a league worst 1-9 slate and officially bade goodbye to the Final Four race.

PBA STARS SURPRISE FANS IN PANGASINAN

T

HE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) held its first-ever “Homecourt” during the AllStar weekend on Saturday with no less than five-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo leading the way.

Residents of Barangays Longos and Ambonao got the thrill of their lives when Fajardo visited their places in the company of San Miguel Beer teammate Marcio Lassiter, Magnolia’s Jio Jalalon and TNT Katropa’s Roger Pogoy and accompanied by Commissioner Willie Marcial.

The visit was even made more special when PBA Board Chairman Ricky Vargas joined the group along with Alliances of Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap) Secretary-General Ed Picson and Cignal TV Inc. VP for Channels and Content Sienna Olaso.

PBA stickers were later posted on the basketball boards of both the Longos Elementary School and Ambonao Elementary School. The league also donated gallons of Rain or Shine paints for the beautification of the two playing courts.

Fans were later given a five-minute chance to have their photos taken with the players or sign autographs and paraphernalia.

It’s the first time the league held the Homecourt PHILIPPINE Basketball Association Commissioner Willie Marcial leads the All-Star corporate social responsibility activities in Calasiao, Pangasinan.

program during the All-Star weekend. After welcoming members of the North and South teams over lunch, the group proceeded to fulfill its corporate social responsibility later in the afternoon.

The North team was assigned to visit patients at the Region 1 Medical Center with Pozzorubio native Mark Pingris of Magnolia serving as the group’s spokesman.

The South All-Stars, meanwhile, went to the Heaven For Boys Orphanage where the group later had a feeding session in cooperation with the Alagang Kapatid Foundation.

BACK injury forced Miguel Tabuena to withdraw from the Solaire Philippine Open, leaving the country’s premier championship without one of its top draws when it holds its 101st staging on Wednesday at The Country Club (TCC) in Laguna.

Tabuena hurt his back while playing in the pro-am of the Maybank Championship in Malaysia last week. He did play in the first round of the $3-million event but withdrew after shooting a 79.

After several sessions with the European Tour physiotherapists in Kuala Lumpur, he still flew to India to compete in the Hero Indian Open this week, hoping it would heal after a weeklong rest.

But he decided to pull out in the $1.75-million tournament so as not to aggravate the injury.

“It’s sad to have to withdraw from defending the Solaire Philippine Open crown.

I hurt my back in KL right before the Maybank

T

TABUENA

Chicano, Kee display class run-bike-run race in Clark

J

OHN CHICANO and Phoebe Kee topped the inaugural TRI-Factor Asian Series Run-BikeRun 2019 National Duathlon Championship held recently in Clark.

Chicano was virtually unchallenged and clocked one hour, 58 minutes ad 24 seconds to rule the elite make category of the standard distance race (10-km run, 40-km bike and 5-km run).

Emmanuel Commendador (1:59:21) and Singapore’s Mien Mau Lim (1:59:33) finished behind Chicano in the event organized by TRI-Factor Philippines and copresented by Clark Development Corp., the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) and supported by Cignal and and Oakley.

Kee, of Singapore, coasted to a surprisingly easy victory with her time of 2:20:53. She defeated former junior champion Jelsie Sabado (2:22:14) and

national standout Mirasol Abad (2:25:06).

The other standard distance champions were Chrissa Borja and Carl Gutierrez (20-29), Jayline Balatibat and Dan Concepcion Jr. (30-39), Martes Christabel and Rene Tayag (40-49) and Jojo Macalintal (male 50-above).

Mary Joy Trupa and Kim Remolino ruled the elite class of the sprint distance class (5-km run, 20-km bike and 2.5-km run).

Led by Angelo Quitlong and Erika Nicole Burgos (16-19), Celina Constantino and Reymart Songco (20-29), Noelle Frances de Guzman and Stephen Zarate (30-39), Jonalyn Unlayao and Alexander Luterio (40-49) were the other sprint distance winners.

Moira Erediano and Matthew Hermosa (19-below), Jena Valdez (Female 20-above), Ryan Laurino (20-29), and Marc de la Cruz (30-39) dominated the super sprint distance race (2.5-km run, 10-km bike and 2.5-km run).

SOLAIRE Resort and Casino Executive Vice President for Casino Marketing Cyrus Sherafat (second from right) and National Golf Association of the Philippines Secretary-General Bones Floro (third from right) hold the Solaire Philippine Open logo during the launch of the 101st staging of Asia’s oldest National Open at The Country Club, at Solaire’s Waterside Restobar recently. With them are (from left) Solaire President and COO Thomas Arasi, local pros Jhonnel Ababa and Jobim Carlos, and organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. General Manager Colo Ventosa.

Camp & Play at National Bookstore HE Camp & Play summer basketball training will start on April 8 at the National Book Store on Quezon Avenue in Quezon City.

Began in 1998 and running yearly since, the eight-session program on basketball science for both girls and boys will be handled anew by the platform’s founder, Dayong Mendoza.

“We will introduce new analytics on the sport and game innovations in keeping with the new, scientific directions of basketball,” said Mendoza, a professional coach for 19 years now.

He has six Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) titles across his name.

Championship. From there, I flew to India hoping I could play the Hero Indian Open but was advised against it by the tour’s physios,” said Tabuena, who, however, added that would still show up in the Philippine Open but as a spectator and not a competitor.

“I hope to be back and healthy soon. Best of luck to all the players in the SPO at the TCC next week,” he said.

Tabuena nipped Thai veteran Prom Meesawat in sudden death at the TCC to clinch his second Philippine Open crown in five years.

He would’ve vied to become the first repeat winner of the fabled event in 60 years.

“While we regret his withdrawal from the Solaire Philippine Open, we are also after his health and we fully support his decision to take a rest to give his injury sufficient time to heal ,” said Colo Ventosa, general manager of the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.

The new season runs from 2 to 5 p.m. at the newly built Crimson Hawks of the NBS College inside the National Book Store, according to Mendoza, who is a major cog in the coaching staff of the multi-titled San Miguel Beer in the PBA. Training sessions are on April 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22 and 24.

The campers will undergo detailed instructions on point-guard skills, shooting forward drills, post moves and other pertinent aspects of the game.

To be given special emphasis too is the

camper’s agility, speed and jumping mechanics as well as body coordination, ball handling and playing pattern recognition.

Team concept discussions and an actual team competition will cap the program presented by Vita Coco as the official drink and Gameville as the Camp & Play’s official apparel.

As an added feature, Mendoza said the campers will get the chance to see in the flesh San Miguel Beer players, plus a famous VIP guest.

Mendoza will be assisted as usual by his seasoned coaches JV Cruz, June Bautista, Jaren Jarencio and Delayna Vera.

For enrollment and more details, call Miss Sheila or Miss Camille at 376-5090, or text/call Coach JV at 0917-817-9341. Limited slots only.

RICK OLIVARES bleachersbrew@gmail.com

BLEACHERS’ BREW

The Headstart Academy

THE Headstart Academy, sponsored by World Balance for the last seven years, has opened its camp doors once more to young kids over the weekend at the SGS Gym in Quezon City.

There are two camps—volleyball (for kids 9 years old and up and will end on May 25 and basketball for kids from ages 7 and up (that tips off on Tuesday and finishes at month’s end).

“I believe that it is important to teach the young about the fundamentals of the sport, but also the values that come with sports,” pointed out Edster Sy of this grassroots sports development camp.

Sy competed in the volleyball and track and field teams of Grace Christian College during his school days and served as coach and basketball program head for various schools such as Jose Rizal University, Chiang Kai Shek College, Singapore School of Manila, Adamson University and National University. However, it is with the company that he put up, Headstart Academy where he puts in a lot of his heart and soul.

“If this can be inculcated into their love for the game then we can help the kids not only gain an education, but probably find a future in the sport. If not, bring all these learning to the game of life.”

The basketball camp is overseen by coaches who have played in the professional or collegiate ranks and includes Boy de Vera, Elmer Latonio (former Letran Squires coach who handled players like Glenn Khobuntin and Kevin Alas), Elmer Bolabola (former Philippine Basketball Association coach), Danny Ching, Eddie Laure (former Adamson University star and longtime PBA player), Nicolo Chua, Jan Colina (former Adamson University player and D-League star), Toffie Santos and Kenny Santos.

Colina, who is currently serving in the Philippine Army, says that the Headstart Academy gave him his chance to coach and give back to the game. “Malaking bagay na makapagbigay sa sport kasi kung hindi dahil sa kanya ay baka hindi rin ako nakapag-aral. So ang coaching dito ay pagbibigay ulit sa laro at para ma-share ko ’yung natutunan ko sa mga bata.”

For those interested in joining the volleyball camp, contact Coach Romela Quilop at 09053130805. For those interested in the basketball camp, contact Coach Willy Chan at 09178920120, 0922-4849560, and 02-4751190.

BEST Center basketball, volleyball summer clinics get going

T

HE Basketball Efficiency Scientific Training (BEST) Center summer schedule begins on Monday at different venues in Metro Manila.

Basketball clinics, according to BEST Center founder Nic Jorge, will kick off the activities at the Goodwill 2 Subdivison Multi-purpose Hall in San Antonio (morning

sessions) and at the International Christian Academy (afternoon sessions), both in Parañaque.

Volleyball clinics are also set at the International Christian Academy and at the Starmall Alabang.

On Tuesday, Starmall Alabang will start its basketball clinics sponsored by Milo and backed by

Rain or Shine, Chris Sports and SKLZ. On the same day, a volleyball clinic fires off at the Guadalupe Minor Seminary in Edsa, Makati.

For details, call 411-6260, 3723065/66 or visit facebook page bestcentersposrtsinc or e-mail bestcentger.inquirymail.com

Aranar, Nualla lead qualifiers in dancesport for SEA Games

S

EAN MICHA ARANAR and Ana Leonila Nualla led qualifiers for the 30th Southeast Asian Games dancesport competitions after topping their respective disciplines in the DanceSports Council of the Philippines Inc.’s (DSCPI) first quarter ranking and selection recently at the Valle Verde

Country Club in Pasig City.

Aranar and Leonila, champions in the standard discipline event, were joined by runner-up Mark Jayson Gayon and Mary Joy Renigen on the Philippine team for the SEA Games the country is hosting from November 30 to December 1.

Michael Angelo Marquez and Stephanie Sabalo topped the latin category and will also be on the team alongside runner-up pair Wilbert Aunzo and Pearl Marie Cañeda.

The SEA Games dancesports competition will be held in Clark, Pampanga.

CHINA REQUIRES NATURALIZED PLAYERS TO LEARN PARTY HISTORY

B

EIJING—Want to play football as a naturalized Chinese citizen? Better brush up on your Communist Party history.

New guidelines issued by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) say naturalized players must learn the history and basic theories, in addition to China’s national anthem, flag, symbols, national conditions and Chinese culture.

A Chinese-language learning plan must also be submitted, and a monthly report on the players’ progress in all fields submitted to the CFA each month. The edict was issued on Friday with immediate effect.

China is recruiting foreign players of Chinese

background in a bid to raise playing standards in the domestic league and internationally, where China’s men have been perennial underperformers.

Among those taking up the offer are Norway’s Chinese-born Hou Yongyong, who now plays for Beijing Guoan and Nico Yennaris, who came up through the Arsenal youth program.

China has sought to raise standards in its professional leagues by recruiting foreign talent with offers of gaudily high salaries. Yet that has had little effect on the performance of the men’s national team, which is currently ranked 72 in the world by Fifa. Xi Jinping, China’s president and head of the

ruling Communist Party, has made turning China into a global football power a national priority, ordering a massive expansion of youth training programs starting at the kindergarten level.

The requirement to become proficient in party lore also reflects Xi’s drive to strengthen the party’s grip on all sectors of society, from multinational corporations to universities and the world of the arts and sports.

The United States, meanwhile, heads the Fifa women’s rankings two months before defending its Women’s World Cup title, and England has risen above host France.

The US and Germany are unchanged in the top two

positions, with England at No. 3 after winning the fournation SheBelieves Cup this month.

France dropped one place to No. 4, followed by Canada and Australia.

Japan, the 2015 World Cup runner-up, is at No. 7, swapping places with the European champion Netherlands at No. 8. Sweden and Brazil complete the top 10.

Fifa said a record 155 women’s teams, from 211 member federations, are ranked. The 24-nation World Cup is played from June 7 to July 7.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, on the other hand, is

assured of being reelected after his only remaining challenger withdrew.

Qatar’s soccer federation says in a statement it will support Sheikh Salman, ending the candidacy of its vice president, Saoud Al-Mohannadi.

A third candidate, Mohamed Khalfan Al Romaithi of the United Arab Emirates, dropped out of the race this month.

Sheikh Salman, who was first elected in 2013, is set to get another four-year mandate unopposed on April 6 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The AFC president is also one of Fifa’s eight vice presidents. AP

By Jerome Pugmire

Australian GP two weeks ago, Ferrari has looked ominous here with the drivers finishing 1-2 in all three practices and carrying that over into qualifying.

“We’re both much happier with the car this weekend.

The team has done very, very well,” Vettel said. “We proved today we are capable of fighting from the front.”

Vettel was summoned to the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly on an in lap during qualifying, but no action was taken

against him.

Leclerc carried the day, even surpassing his own leading time on his last lap to set a new record in Bahrain of 1 minute, 27.866 seconds on the 5.4-kilometer—beating Vettel by around 0.3 seconds.

“Not exactly my day, but that’s how it goes,” said Vettel, who locked his tires a

couple of times in qualifying. “It was not ideal for me, but congratulations to him.”

Leclerc is well poised for the first win of a career progressing as quickly and smoothly as his driving. He impressed last year with the Alfa Romeo Sauber team in his debut season, with 10 top-10 finishes and a best result of sixth in one of the grid’s least competitive cars.

Qualifying started at 6 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) and mirrored cool race conditions for Sunday evening’s

race, which finishes with floodlights illuminating the desert track.

Bottas won in Australia ahead of Hamilton, where Vettel finished fourth and Leclerc fifth.

Vettel has won the past two Bahrain GPs driving for Ferrari and a record four overall, including two during his run of four straight F1 titles with Red Bull from 2010-13.

Hamilton’s last win here was in 2015 from pole position for Mercedes.

“This is generally a weak circuit for me,” said fivetime F1 champion Hamilton, whose 73 wins puts him second behind Michael Schumacher’s 91. “The Ferraris have shown incredible pace, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be beat.”

Qualifying is split into three sections, with five drivers eliminated from Q1 and Q2 to leave 10 fighting for pole in Q3.

Hamilton set the quickest time but Leclerc beat it, and then he did even better.

ROYAL APPROVAL S

The Associated Press

AKHIR, Bahrain—Tipped to reach the very top in Formula One (F1), Charles Leclerc received praise from the highest level back home after clinching his first ever pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix (GP) on Saturday.

In only his second race with Ferrari, Leclerc showed supreme confidence and skill to out-qualify teammate and four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel.

One TV viewer, in particular, was impressed enough to phone Leclerc directly. Prince Albert of Monaco, who first met Leclerc in the royal palace when the driver was 12, gave his heart-felt congratulations, expressed pride in Leclerc, and wished him luck for the race, the Principality’s press department told The Associated Press when contacted for comment.

It’s hard to be more Monegasque than Leclerc, whose apartment is near the Monaco GP’s race start-finish line.

As a youth, he swam in the swimming pool next to the glittering harbor, the focal point of the track.

At 21 years and five months, Leclerc became the second-youngest pole-sitter behind Vettel, who was 21 years and 72 days in 2008 when he qualified first for the Italian GP when driving for Toro Rosso.

Leclerc topped all three sections of qualifying, having already been quickest in two of the three practice sessions.

“The car was amazing,” Leclerc said. “A lot of emotions, I’m trying to stay as cool as possible.”

Lewis Hamilton was third, followed by Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified fifth followed by Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

With his multiple titles and 52 race wins, Vettel is the senior driver at Ferrari, on paper at least. But he has finished second in the title race to Hamilton in the past two seasons, and Ferrari is not imposing seniority on Leclerc in its quest to win a first drivers’ title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

Therefore, Leclerc is free to race against Vettel providing there is not too much risk or carelessness, which could cost Ferrari valuable points as the proud Italian manufacturer seeks a first constructors’ championship since 2008.

“I will do everything to keep my first place,” a determined Leclerc said, before adding cautiously, “but, obviously, we’re a team as well.”

After the disappointment of the season-opening

Sports BusinessMirror

C4

| Monday, April 1, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

FERRARI’S Charles Leclerc celebrates his pole position after the qualifying session at the Formula One Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on Saturday. AP

HEADS UP!

Colorado Rapids defender Keegan Rosenberry (left) tires to head the ball with Houston Dynamo forward Mauro Manotas in the second half of their Major League Soccer match on Saturday in Commerce City, Colorado. Houston won, 4-1. AP

Mick Schumacher finishes 8th on F2 debut in Bahrain

S

MICK SCHUMACHER speaks to mechanics as he prepares for the Formula 2 qualifying session at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. AP

AKHIR, Bahrain—Mick Schumacher made an assured Formula 2 (F2) debut for the Prema Racing team, finishing eighth in Saturday’s race in Bahrain after qualifying in 10th place.

The 20-year-old son of F1 great Michael Schumacher had a confident start, jumping up one place. He drifted down the field before climbing back into ninth place, and then clawed back nearly two seconds before making a smart overtaking move inside Japanese driver Nobuharu Matsushita on the final lap.

The German driver finished about 35 seconds behind winner Nicholas Latifi of Canada.

Finishing eighth means Schumacher starts from pole position in Sunday’s F2 race—where grid positions are reversed—giving him a decent chance of a podium finish or even victory.

The spotlight increases further when he makes his F1 testing debut with Ferrari at the Bahrain desert circuit on Tuesday. Schumacher is part of Ferrari’s driver academy, as was the 21-year-old Charles Leclerc—who is now racing for Ferrari after just one season with Alfa Romeo Sauber in F1 last year.

Schumacher’s famed father won five of his record seven F1 titles with Ferrari from 2000-04. The 50-year-old Schumacher also holds the F1 record for most wins with 91.

They were skiing together in December 2013 when his father fell and hit the right side of his head on a rock,

splitting open the helmet.

Doctors worked to remove blood clots from his brain, but some were left because they were too deeply embedded. Schumacher’s condition stabilized after he was placed in a drug-induced coma, from which he later emerged. But updates on his health have been scarce since he left the hospital in September 2014 to be cared for privately at his Swiss home by Lake Geneva.

When the younger Schumacher won the F3 European Championship title last year, it fast-tracked him into F2 and prompted speculation he could be in F1 by 2020 if he shines this season.

Father and sons are not uncommon, but have rarely been successful.

Nico Rosberg’s F1 title with Mercedes in 2016 made him only the second son of an F1 champion to become one, following father Keke Rosberg’s triumph in 1982.

The others were Graham Hill (‘62 and ‘68) and Damon Hill (‘96).

The Villeneuves came close: with Gilles runner-up in ‘79 and his son Jacques crowned champion in ‘97.

The late Ayrton Senna won three F1 titles and the Brazilian is considered arguably the greatest F1 driver, along with Schumacher.

Senna’s nephew Bruno Senna’s modest F1 career lasted three seasons, with a best result of sixth when driving for Williams in 2012. AP

D

At judgment time

EAR God, of the four last things: death, judgment, hell, heaven, it is in Your power where we will all land. At the hour of death, give us a peaceful death if possible in the presence of our loved ones. At judgment time, please lead us all to Your kingdom or in heaven not in hell. We strive, oh Lord, to do the purpose why You created us. And that is to know You more in the scriptures, tradition and creation. To Love You most through our praises and honoring You. To serve You endlessly through others. Being in the state of grace, that would make us worthy to be called Your children. May You constantly send the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so we are equipped with the guidance we need in our journey to Your Kingdom. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

❶

BRITAIN’S Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, leaving King’s College after joining a panel discussion to mark International Women’s Day in London. PHOTOS: AP

Life BusinessMirror

ALL ACCESS: ARJO ATAYDE PLAYS HIS CARDS WELL D3

Monday, April 1, 2019

D1

❷

BRITAIN’S Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, with their newborn baby son, leave the Lindo wing at Saint Mary’s Hospital in London on April 23, 2018.

❶

❷

To glam or not to glam soon a�ter giving birth

N

BY LeAnne itALie The Associated Press

EW YORK—As Danielle Bayard Jackson was putting together her birthing team, she made sure to include a doula, all the details she wanted taken care of during delivery and how bright the lights should be for ambiance.

She passed on the makeup artist.

“I even looked up various prices, but something about that felt frivolous,” said Jackson, who lives in Tampa, Florida. “I decided I didn’t want to worry about that after such a monumental moment.”

Therein lies the debate centered on pregnant women in today’s social-media saturated world: to glam or not to glam soon after a whole human being exits your body, or do as Seattle-area mom Robin Rucinsky did by the time baby No. 4 rolled around: “I didn’t pack a single cosmetic. I brought a toothbrush and Chapstick.”

With the Kate Middleton postpartum hair blowout (three times!) fresh in our minds and another royal birth upcoming, the debate over perfection during labor and just hours after giving birth looms large for some women. “I’ll tell you why it’s not fun to be pregnant at the exact same time as Meghan Markle,” Amy Schumer, suffering from chronic nausea throughout her pregnancy, cracked during her new Netflix comedy

special. “She’s out there in, like, 6-inch heels, adorable outfits.”

While we won’t know whether Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will follow in the footsteps of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, when it comes to postpartum perfection, we have an inkling Meghan will at least slap on some makeup as she introduces the latest royal to the world next month.

And when she does, anti-glammers will take notice.

“I think that a mother who has just given birth is beautiful—with disheveled hair, with smeared or no makeup, with top wide open for skin to skin contact and breastfeeding,” said Kirsten Brunner, a perinatal counselor in Austin, Texas. “I love the trend in birth photography of capturing the reality of childbirth and the postpartum experience. I encourage my clients to let go of all pressure to get back to normal as soon as possible.”

But, no judgments of those who choose to spruce up. With some hospitals providing in-house spa services and plenty of women hiring specialists for hair, makeup and nails, the argument over what makes a postpartum mom feel best cuts both ways.

For Julien Farel’s wife, it meant pulling her look together to greet visitors—including her Old World British grandmother—after the arrivals of their two children.

Continued on d2

Keds celebrates International Women’s Month ICONIC sneaker brand Keds (www.keds.com.ph) is celebrating International Women’s Month with a series of treats for ladies everywhere starting off with a “Ladies for Ladies” talk on March 18, featuring empowering female duos sharing their motivational stories.

In line with International Women’s Day (IWD), the brand has released a limitededition collection of the classic Champion and Triple Decker styles, created especially for women today.

Being the first-ever sneaker made for women, the Champion silhouette ignited a style revolution when it was introduced in 1916. In celebration of International Women’s Day and Keds’s continued

passion for female empowerment, the brand fashioned this limited edition with its Ladies First mantra in 1990s-inspired patchwork.

Aside from the Champion Ladies First, there are also three other slip-on designs perfect for women’s month. Go dark with the Triple Decker Embroidery in black with a cheeky “WHATEVER” in gold contrast. This denim slip-on pair comes with a full inch boost in height. Meanwhile, nothing screams “GRL PWR” more than having it emblazoned across your shoes.

These Double Decker Embroidery Sneakers spread the good vibes with a little bit of attitude and lots of styling options. For an added bonus, all IWD shoes come with Keds’s new cushiony Dream Foam footbed, ensuring comfort and the dreamiest steps this women’s month and beyond.

Even better, every purchase of any of the IWD sneakers gets you a chance to cop a limited-edition Keds tote bag with four button pins for only P195 until April 7.

CHAMPION IWD Ladies First

D2

Style

BusinessMirror

Monday, April 1, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

z

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Asa Butterfield, 22; Hillary Scott, 33; Taran Killam, 37; Susan Boyle, 58.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: You’ll be faced with decisions that can affect how and where you live. Precision, detail and soul-searching will be required if you want to avoid making a mistake. Take your time and do things right the first time. Don’t let temptation lead to impulsive action. A steady pace and preparation will make a difference to the way this year unfolds. Your lucky numbers are 6, 17, 23, 25, 31, 38, 47.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Making a lateral move may feel safe, but it isn’t likely to be satisfying. Being realistic without giving up your dream will require compromise, but it will offer important personal benefits in the end. HHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Don’t act on an emotional impulse. Consider what’s best for everyone before you make your move.

The decision you make will determine your success, as well as your popularity. HH

WHITE denim is a beautiful switch for a fresh, clean look.

UTILITY: Elevate basics like a white crop top and paper bag pants to utility chic.

YELLOW: Say “Yellow” to a “new you” at The SM Store.

STRIPES: Ladies, “stripe” a pose in this season’s pretty pastels.

PRINTS: Prints and pattern mixing will have a major moment this season.

Retail giant spotlights new looks, ‘new you’ T ❶ ❶ SUITING: Get fashion points for laid-back suiting.

❷ TEXTURED

separates make a date night look more interesting.

❷

HE runaway favorite shopping destination, The SM Store highlights a beautiful season with eight key looks that will see you stylishly through the summer. n White denim is a refreshing switch for a spirited, clean look. You’ll never go wrong with this great denim variation whether in a very sophisticated luxe, sporty high fashion, or summer casual. n Utility looks have been hitting the runway in chic safari or modern military or anything in between. Think of utility trousers paired with a basic top and a frilly accent—a new softer way of working the utility trend with a summer spin on it. n Yellow is the next big thing spotted as seen in the spring 2019 runways of New York Fashion

Week. From Self-Portrait, Kate Spade New York, and Lela Rose to Adeam, Brandon Maxwell and Monse—these designers incorporated this cheery color into their collections. n Prints are big, and so are Stripes. Print and pattern mixing will have a major moment this season, while there’s no better statement than stripes and stripey staples in pastels which are looking hot for 2019. n Suiting in colors and patterns. Pairing it with a tee keeps the outfit perfectly balanced and creates a laid-back look. n Textured separates you can mix and match makes your outfit more interesting, while a Sporty look is a great way to stride in style.

Be a trendsetter at The SM Store. n

Farel owns the Julien Farel Restore Salon and Spa inside the Loews Regency Hotel on New York’s swanky Park Avenue. He’s been providing and arranging for in-hospital services for women giving birth since 2001, with prices now ranging from $320 for a blow out, makeup or manicure to $2,000 an hour for all three at the highest level of design and expertise.

“Mostly they’re looking for those three things, makeup, nails and blow dry,” he said. “These people care so much about their appearance. You have other people with much more money who don’t care. It’s about how you’ve been raised to look when you have people over.”

Farel has between 10 and 15 in-hospital pregnancy clients a month among his usual customers.

Donna Yip, 38, a Manhattan attorney, used one of Farel’s stylists, Jackson Simmonds, in the delivery room for the births of both her children, the first in 2013 and the second in 2015. He massaged her head,

blew out and styled her hair and did her makeup.

“He stepped out during the pushing part,” Yip laughed. “I think for everyone, they have what makes them feel good and if it makes you feel good and brings a little bit of normalcy into an exciting but also a hectic and anxious period of your life, you should go for it.”

Brenda Kosciuk, outside Scranton, Pennsylvania, took matters into her own hands for the birth of her second child, now 3.

“Everyone wants that perfect social-media photo that does NOT at all show the reality of what we just endured,” she said. “We see it everywhere. On social media and on magazine covers. With my second child, before leaving for the hospital, I applied my makeup carefully because with my first child I didn’t have that perfect ‘after’ photo and I wanted it. The reality is that after 60 minutes of pushing, I was sweaty, red-faced and my mascara had melted down my face. I looked worse than I would have if I had forgone the makeup altogether.” Still the hashtag “takebackpostpartum” is alive and well on Instagram.

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Trust and believe in your abilities, and positive reinforcement will be yours. If someone prompts you to make a change based on your talent, experience and knowledge, you should probably follow through. HHHHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Go over what you know and do well; put your energy into expanding in those areas. What you have to offer will become more apparent if you discuss possibilities with people who share your concerns, as well as your interests. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Proceed with caution. If you act without thinking matters through, you will end up in a difficult position that requires wasting valuable time that should be used to learn and gain experience. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Work hard to bring about changes that will improve your personal finances, your home environment and your attitude toward love and romance. Don’t let anyone railroad you into something that isn’t going to benefit you. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Feeling passionate about something, someone or life and the direction you are pursuing will encourage you to bring about positive change.

Home improvements, reconnecting with old friends and romance are favored. HHHHH

i

To glam or not to glam soon after giving birth Continued from D1

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Consider all your options before you do something that might jeopardize your position, your health or your relationship with someone you love. Honesty and integrity, along with being able to keep a secret, are in your best interest. HH

“Women are more confidently owning their bodies, not feeling obliged to always look good and social media-ready after giving birth,” said Marianne Ryan, a New York physical therapist who focuses on pregnant and post-baby bodies.

Jill Simonian, who—ironically—wrote a book titled The FAB Mom’s Guide: How to Get Over the Bump & Bounce Back Fast After Baby, said all the social mediafueled self-doubt among new mothers isn’t good for mom or baby.

“If you want a blowout to make yourself feel better a few days after having a baby, go for it! It’s the constant posting, showing, sharing that drives me absolutely nuts and indicates a surefire, unhealthy start to new motherhood,” she said.

Simonian supports a 30-day hiatus from all things glam after giving birth.

“These days, Instagram is split into two kinds of moms,” she said. “The ones who want to show the absolute raw, very personal, private things and the rest who want to pretend they’re models in a staged photoshoot.” n

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Don’t believe or trust in what someone is trying to sell you. An exaggerated assessment of what’s right and what’s wrong will make it difficult for you to see clearly. Stick to what you know to avoid making a grave mistake. HHHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Get back to basics. Make positive changes to the way you live, the people you associate with and the way you handle your personal health, finances and legal matters. Your attention will be needed, so don’t leave details in someone else’s hands. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Pour your energy into something that counts, but not something that will exhaust you or lead to injury. Pace your every move and make the most of whatever situation you face, and positive change will take place. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Simple, moderate and well-thought-out plans will be your ticket to success. Use your imagination to come up with a way to reach your goal without overspending or exerting too much mentally, physically or financially. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are innovative, proactive and open-minded.

You are insightful and reserved.

‘april fools’ BY DALLAS FLETCHER AND CHRISTOPHER ADAMS The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Having a downtown vibe 6 It often ends in .com 9 “Ageless” brand 13 Talking bird 15 Gardener’s bog plant 17 Insect whose decline led to a bumper pasta crop (BBC prank, 4/1/57) 19 Trattoria glass 20 Rarely rainy 21 “Guilty” or “not guilty” 22 Common conjunction 23 Air pollution 24 Per ___ (daily) 25 Republican electoral possibility (NPR, 4/1/92) 30 Atlas page 31 My ___ Dads (1980s sitcom) 32 Food coloring, e.g.

33 Image unfit for the office, informally 37 Declines to participate 40 River cleanup org.

41 Curtain support 43 Nickname between R and V

44 National monument renaming (fast food chain, 4/1/96) 51 Play up 52 Bomb, as a midterm 53 Baby or bird sound 54 Officers 55 Fender bender result 56 “The Banana Boat Song” shout 57 Vegetable that makes noise when cooked (Tesco, 4/1/02) 60 Fourth first family 61 Car door part 62 Prescribed amount 63 Very small 64 “So sad!” (Universal Crossword, 4/1/19) DOWN 1 Brown delivery vehicle 2 Broccoli rabe 3 Generic product maker 4 Golden Fleece ship 5 Japanese theater 6 Unable to relax 7 Chiefs coach Andy 8 ___ & Order

9 Eggy diner order 10 “I’ll always be true” Beatles hit 11 Largest continent 12 Handbag initials 14 Athletic camaraderie 16 Lukewarm 18 Easy run 23 Raincoat fastener 24 Technique for knitting vertical stripes 26 Texter’s “Be there soon!” (MOW anagram) 27 ___ Jima 28 Street Fighter fighter 29 Encountered 33 Fish trap 34 Pedicure place 35 Trivial pursuits?

36 Corn core 38 IM sign off 39 Quiznos sandwich 42 Team without the ball 45 “Mommy, I dropped it!”

46 Intense desires 47 Used a doorbell 48 Digital greetings

9 Chicago Jesuit university 4 50 Plundered 54 Secretary of Transportation Elaine 55 Enjoy a banquet 56 First Bond film 57 Iraq War worry,for short 58 Keep a ___ profile 59 Small batteries Solution to Friday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, April 1, 2019

Arjo Atayde plays his cards well numbers of hopeful wannabes who were part of previous reality show, talent searches and pageants, only a few survive and stay.

A few days ago, a star search grand winner from GMA got involved in road incident and was detained overnight pending his bail. You see, some can’t even handle a small amount of fame.

In the Philippine entertainment scene, new actors and players exit much faster than the time it took them to enter those doors. That’s the sad reality.

One actor that has played his cards very well is Arjo Atayde, who is getting a lot of wonderful projects one after the other. On top of the list is the digital series Bagman, produced by Dreamscape Entertainment and now streaming on the iWant subscription app. Atayde, who has been getting rave reviews for his acting, plays the title role of a barber turned collector of dirty money for a corrupt and power-hungry politician.

He is also in the main cast of the high-rating evening series The General’s Daughter, essaying the difficult role of an autistic young man from the province. We learned that Atayde was offered a lead role in the upcoming drama series Mea Culpa but he politely turned it down to stay with The General’s Daughter. We reckon it was a wise decision, and it’s good that Atayde is in no hurry to bite everything being offered to him.

We’ve seen his growth as an actor in his various drama outings, from his 2013 launching role in Dugong Buhay to his antagonistic character in Pure Love. And from 2015 to 2017, he was always on a par with more senior and accomplished actors in his difficult role in Ang Probinsyano.

On the love front, Atayde is also on cloud nine these days, falling in love with celebrity Maine Mendoza. His parents, businessman Art Atayde and actress Sylvia Sanchez, are certainly very proud of their eldest son, whom they have raised very well.

Arjo Atayde might still be classified as a relatively new actor but we are certain that he will stay longer than many of his contemporaries. He has depth as an actor, he’s got passion, and the right attitude in dealing with both disappointments and success. He will certainly go very far. n

ALL ACCESS RICKY GALLARDO

rickygallardoTFI@gmail.com

B

EING a relatively new actor, one faces a multitude of challenges. Yet, there are still thousands who dream of becoming a star.

In the local entertainment scene, there are many ways to make that first big step to becoming an actor. n CONNECTIONS. One needs not just connections but tight and trusted intermediaries who are close to the few decision-making powers in the industry. Once a door opens, raw talent is never enough to propel one to significant milestones. A new actor needs people in high places to make sure he actively stays in the game.

That’s just how things work. n BLOODLINE. Being a second- or third-generation actor gives one an edge when it comes to breaking into show business, but sustaining an upward trajectory requires so much more. One has to prove that he is deserving of the opportunities given by those who paved the way for his entry.

Over the years, we’ve known many children or grandchildren of stars who were given the break but receded from the spotlight after some time— unable to handle the pressure, embarrassed to be nowhere near the talent and the celebrity of their elders. Or they simply became impatient and hated the long waiting game. n TALENT SEARCH. There are many shows that offer instant stardom. Ongoing programs like Pinoy Big Brother, a dance competition called World of Dance Philippines, the Tawag ng Tanghalan singing search are but some of the shows that try to discover new talents.

Even beauty pageants are now being used as jump-off points to entering show business. Among the many

MAX COLLINS and Jason Abalos

SOPHIE ALBERT

LOVE AND BITTERSWEET REVENGE IN NEW GMA AFTERNOON SERIES THE exhilarating thrills and dangerous pitfalls of love come together in Bihag, GMA’s new afternoon series that premieres today, April 1.

Viewers are in for a thought-provoking tale of how one mistake can lead to another as the program features the strong performances of Max Collins as Jessie, a simple and loving wife and mother; Mark Herras as Sgt. Larry Pineda, an honest police officer and Jessie’s high-school classmate; Jason Abalos as Brylle, Jessie’s perfect husband who is a pediatric surgeon; Neil Ryan Sese as Amado, a short-tempered man who mourns the loss of his daughter; and Sophie Albert as Reign, the woman who will come between Jessie and Brylle.

Child star Raphael Landicho plays the role of Ethan, Jessie and Brylle’s cheerful and adorable son.

Jessie, Brylle and their son Ethan make the image of a happy family. Jessie is a loyal wife who chose to be

a stay-at-home mommy blogger. Brylle, on the other hand, is a pediatric surgeon and her faithful husband.

But when an unfortunate hostage incident involving their son happens, lives are lost, betrayal arises, and soon they find themselves and their perfect family falling apart.

Innocent lives will be ruined and everything Jessie has will be taken away from her. How far will she go to take back what is rightfully hers?

Directed by the esteemed Neal del Rosario, the show is an original series created by the GMA Drama group headed by Senior Vice President for Entertainment Group Lilybeth G. Rasonable and Vice President for Drama Redgie A. Magno.

Viewers from across the globe can catch this and other GMA shows via the network’s international channels GMA Pinoy TV, GMA Life TV and GMA News TV International.

D3

D4 Monday, April 1, 2019

Style

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Traveling light, beauty edition AND THEN SOME DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

I

AM the person who travels carrying full-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body lotion. That is on top of a makeup kit that includes three liquid foundations, a loose powder, a pressed powder, several lipsticks and a number of cheek products like blush and highlighter.

Then there is skin care and you have a situation wherein you have already reached your baggage allowance and you’re just on your way to your destination.

I am actually ashamed during work trips when I have a roommate and I take up all the available counter space in the bedroom and bathroom because of all my beauty products.

For skin care alone, I would have micellar water, cleanser, toner, serum, moisturizer and sunscreen.

In my last two trips, however, I changed things a bit, not for anything else but because it was quite tiring to pack all those full sizes. So here’s what I did: n I normally wouldn’t go for sachets because they aren’t very environment-friendly but someone gifted me with a box of Cetaphil cleansers in sachets and I discovered that for a three-day trip, a sachet would be enough to ash my face.

n For shampoo and conditioner, I decided to trust the process and just use the ones provided for by the hotel we would be staying in. It turned out well since we stayed at a hotel where they used paraben-free hair products. n For body lotion, I bought small sizes of The Body Shop Body Butters and brought one for my recent trip. The truth is, I would bring big sizes because I was so scared of running out but I realized that, unless you are going to the Amazon, you can always buy supplies should you run out. n As for makeup, I pared everything to one CC cream with SPF50, one powder, one concealer and three lipsticks, which I also used as blush.

I now realize that I once went on a two-day trip and brought a huge amount of makeup, most of which I never got to use. n One thing I also changed is how much skin care I brought with me. For example, instead of a toner, I used a face mist, which I also used to set my makeup. But I still brought full sizes of my serum and night cream. n To keep things light, I placed my toiletries in plastic resealable bags instead of pouches. n My favorite travel products include Cetaphil Cleanser, The Body Shop Body Butter in Olive, Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II, MAC Strobe Cream, Bite Beauty Multisticks, MAC Lipsticks and It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream with SPF 50+. n If you frequently travel for work, invest in small sizes. The IT Cosmetics CC Cream and MAC Strobe Cream also come in smaller sizes n Another thing to invest in is face mist. I love MAC Prep + Prime Fix +, which they sell in small sizes, too. n Multi-use products are the best for travel. I love Bite Beauty Multisticks. n

Knitting with a repurpose: Woman makes suit of plastic bags ROSA FERRIGNO wearing a suit that she made from 300 plastic grocery bags. AP

GREECE, New York—Rosa Ferrigno’s new suit takes recycling to an extreme—she knitted it from more than 300 plastic grocery bags.

The 75-year-old woman from Greece in western New York whiled away the winter knitting a skirt and jacket from filmy brown bags scissored into thin strips that were tied together to make yarn.

She lined it with cotton fabric. The finished garment is quite chic, with a tweedy look from green printing on the brown bags.

Her daughter, Fran Bertalli, tells the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Ferrigno has been knitting and sewing since her childhood in Sicily.

Last summer, Ferrigno saw someone’s purse made from repurposed plastic bags and started her own bag projects, making two purses before the suit.

She says she does it just for fun. AP

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, April 1, 2019 E1

Why businesses should know where their densest markets are

By Eddie Yoon & Michelle Stacy

A

MAXIMUM Density Market (MDM) is a category subsector that has an unusually high concentration of demand in a small arena on a per capita basis.

Demand density is extremely important, as it provides a shortcut to scalability with far less investment than is required to achieve it in a mass market. It makes wordof-mouth exponentially faster and more powerful, so fewer marketing dollars are needed. And because a denser market offers a chance to grow sales more quickly via deeper penetration, it can change the math as companies calculate whether they can afford to launch a minimum viable product, allowing them to get to market more quickly.

MDMs are also highly correlated with the presence of superconsumers, who are not just the most profitable and passionate consumers in the category, but are also the most prescient. The result: Speed plus scale plus lower marketing dollars plus access to the smartest consumers creates the primordial soup necessary for successful category creation. There are three versions of MDMs to consider when thinking about your own launch.

One is a local geography where demand per capita is very high.

These are not just opportunities to double down where a market is hot to drive near-term growth, they are learning opportunities to kick-start growth elsewhere.

The second version is a subsector of a category, often a businessto-business market. Keurig, for instance, got its start in the $4 billion office-coffee market; its early “minimum viable product” brewer cost $10,000. But focusing on this initial market made strategic sense. The office-coffee market was extremely concentrated from a distribution standpoint—products were sold by office-goods distributors—and coffee drinkers would gladly try a new product paid for by the office.

The third version is via a common life event or trigger. This kind of MDM is not defined by proximity but rather by affinity; with digital advertising, social media and direct-toconsumer business models, affinity is amplified and is far easier to scale.

For a new innovation, beginning life in an MDM can make a lot of strategic sense, and can provide a stepping-stone toward an eventual mass-market introduction.

Eddie Yoon is the founder of Eddie Would Grow. Michelle Stacy is a speaker, consultant and director.

You and your executive coach are a bad match. Now what?

W

By Sharon Dougherty

HILE much has been written about how to select an executive coach, there’s very little information out there about another common situation: picking the wrong coach.

Leaders mismatch with coaches for a variety of reasons. They may not be sure what to look for when

selecting a coach, or they may not even be given their choice of coaches. Whatever the cause, the

coaching relationship may not work out, and considering a new coach is important if leaders are determined to achieve the results they want. Here are three steps I have seen work for clients when they realize they have matched with the wrong coach.

Determine why it doesn’t feel like a match.

IS it a chemistry issue, or are you just not making progress? Does the coach talk too little or too much? Is she too structured or too vague in her approach? Has some of her feedback not landed well with you?

Address your specific concerns with your coach

ASK for what you want: more or less input, more or less of an agenda, more or less direct feedback. Good coaches are open to this feedback. If your conversation with your coach isn’t productive or if you remain dissatisfied after a few meetings, take the steps necessary to switch to a different coach.

Share your rationale with the person sponsoring your coaching

IF you decide the relationship isn’t a fit, schedule a conversation with the person responsible for your coaching engagement—either your

boss or a human resources expert.

Be transparent and specific about your concerns. Expect them to ask about any tough feedback you may have received and how that plays into your thinking about the coaching engagement.

Executive coaching should be a transformative experience for you as a leader and as a person. It can actually change the trajectory of your life and relationships. If you follow these steps, you can make sure you have the right coach along for the journey.

Sharon Dougherty is the CEO of Priority Coaching.

Getting the most out of a freemium business model Putting customer trust at the center of competition

I

By Xian Gu, P.K. Kannan & Liye Ma

T’S hard to resist the allure of free. When done right, the freemium business model can help drive massive traffic to companies’ web sites, offer a “try before you buy” experience that overcomes user resistance to paying and convert free users to paying customers. So how can companies better position themselves to succeed?

Past research demonstrates that adding new, high-quality products as premium offerings can cause customers to elevate their perception of the brand overall and be more willing to pay for premium alternatives.

However, freemium products often subvert this strategy. Simply put, when customers anchor on free, it can be hard to dislodge them.

In the Software as a Service space, this strategy is called versioning; different versions of the

premium product or service can be made available to the market.

Does this strategy work in moving customers to let go of the free and move to premium versions?

Our research, published in the Journal of Marketing, assessed the effectiveness of this strategy by analyzing the sales of scholarly content by the National Academies Press, which offers free online PDFs of its book titles, but charges a price for paperback versions.

We found that extending the premium product line, either with a hardback or an e-book, led to a positive impact on the sales of the existing premium option, the paperback. When customers were offered a new premium product that was of higher quality and was higher priced, such as the hardback, they chose the paperback more often.

That is, they chose the “compromise” option more often, moving away from the free PDF.

© 2019 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)

When customers were offered the lower-quality, somewhat lowerpriced product, such as the e-book, they also moved away from the free PDF and chose the paperback more often. Adding a similarly priced lower-quality e-book made the paperback more attractive, leading to higher sales. This is the “attraction effect,” and occurred only when the price of the e-book was closer to that of the paperback. When the prices of the e-book were much lower, they cannibalized the paperback sales.

Any company that uses the freemium model, including online media sites, cloud services or digital services, can use this research to drive product revenues and create a more sustainable business.

Xian Gu is a doctoral candidate at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland at College Park, where P.K. Kannan is a professor and Liye Ma is an associate professor.

I

By Andrew Burt

F you’re selling a product, you’re now selling trust. That’s thanks to two conflicting trends: our increasing reliance on software across nearly every dimension of our lives, and the inherent privacy and security vulnerabilities related to software itself.

A few years ago, the Norwegian government realized that it bought almost all of its critical technology from outside of Norway. This raised pressing national security questions: How could the government trust the technology it was increasingly reliant upon? What could Norway actually do to verify that it could depend on the software it was using?

In 2014, Olav Lysne, a Norwegian security researcher, was tasked with leading a commission to answer these questions, an effort that culminated in a seminal book

published last year. Lysne’s answer: Norway’s government simply could not verify as trustworthy the software it used. In fact, no one can. The very nature of our current software systems—the complexity underlying them, their supply chains and more—makes it impossible to detect vulnerabilities intentionally inserted into software.

This makes trust both the most important aspect of any commercial interaction and the hardest to measure. And because trustworthiness cannot be proven, it must be signaled—through branding, marketing and more.

Tim Cook of Apple is one of the few corporate leaders to understand the implications of Lysne’s conclusions. He has spent the past few years leading the charge in seeking to make trust the core of his company’s public identity. While Cook cannot fix the problems Lysne identified—indeed, no one can—he

can demonstrate that Apple will do everything in its power to minimize them.

So how can other companies put these same lessons into practice?

To start with, trust must now be considered a key feature of every product containing software.

Second, clear and demonstrable processes must be put in place to illustrate the importance of data protection, both inside and outside every organization. Once these processes are in place, companies can then signal their emphasis on protecting customer data to the outside world, just like Tim Cook. Because software systems are inherently vulnerable and the insights data might yield at scale cannot be predicted, no one should sugarcoat the dangers of digital technologies.

Andrew Burt is chief privacy officer and legal engineer at Immuta.

E2 Monday, April 1, 2019 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Education BusinessMirror

Digital tech, art education combine to produce new breed of artists

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

D

Contributor

IGITAL technology and art education can be an awesome combination in producing a new breed of artists.

“All artists and creators have to go through traditional art. It is the foundation which we can build on. At iAcademy, we take pride in teaching our students the proper foundation.

We have Freehand and Figure Drawing, Ink and Brush Painting, Landscape Painting, Basic Photography, Basic Digital Photography, Still Life, Comic Strip, and Costume Creation,

among others,” iAcademy President and CEO Vanessa Tanco said in a press statement.

Although technology provides constant changes and iAcademy at the same time equip their students with all the new technology needed in the industry, a student will still need to be a skilled artist to produce good work. At iAcademy, Tanco said

they provide students with both the traditional and digital skills necessary to thrive in the industry.

“We teach them how to walk first, then teach them how to run,” she said. “When they can do both, we let them explore and try new things to help make their art flourish. In that sense, we are assured that our students know the backbone of their field and they are confident in whatever project they will partake,” Tanco said. iAcademy freshman John Arante, an artist, said traditional art and digital art must coexist in the hearts, minds and imaginations of today’s creative artists.

“My view is that traditional art and digital art are equal. Whether someone is a traditional artist or a digital artist, both devote time and effort to learn and master their skills.

Mastering the different components of art is not an easy job,” Arante said. “For example, I have friend who’s taking fine arts. In her case, when she makes a mistake, there’s no ‘undo’ command. Or if water or coffee spills on her artwork, it’s ruined. As a digital painter, my problem is when something goes wrong with the computer, when the file gets corrupted, that’s the most painful thing that can happen,” he said.

Although iAcademy is going into digital arts, animation, or augmented and virtual reality, Tanco said the school will not abandon traditional art. In iAcademy, Tanco said the administrators and students are proving that new, high-tech, digital and computer-aided design tools are better combined with traditional art to create new art for a new world.

Math whiz-turned lawyer makes his mark in New York

D

O new-generation attorneys have the flexibility to get their work done on their own terms, given today’s flexible work policies and tech trends? Make way for one go-getting young lawyer who has navigated the legal setting quite well and gained a clear advantage from unique mentoring opportunities across generational lines.

Christian Drilon has always had a competitive streak. A math whiz, he easily gravitated to the subject dreaded and shunned by many.

Since grade school, Ian—as he is more popularly known—found an affinity to math-related subjects. He represented his school in math and chess competitions in grade school.

When he got accepted at the Ateneo High School, he became part of the honors section and continued representing his school in math competitions. Before long, he was coaching the math varsity team part-time.

Ian tucked a degree in Management Engineering at the Ateneo de Manila University and was an exchange student at the National University of Singapore.

The nephew of politician Franklin Drilon has always had the attributes of a leader, notably the vision that sparks and fuels the fire within him and continually draws him forward. He could have ventured into politics, like his uncle, but he chose to tread a different path.

He did follow the footsteps of his uncle when he decided to take up law.

The Ateneo de Manila University law school beckoned.

The young Drilon noted, “the intensity of law school atmosphere brought out the best in me.” His cross-functional knowledge of two disciplines would prove to be an ace up his sleeve. Ian’s background in math blended well with the legal

CHRISTIAN DRILON

discipline that entailed logic and reason.

A plus factor for Ian in the academic setting—which carried over to his work life—was the fact that he kept rowing upstream with determination. By combining right-brain intuition with left-brain rationality, he has been able to create value and opportunities that contributed to a robust bottom line for businesses— but that is getting ahead of the story.

Ian joined the Ateneo Law Journal in his second year, arguably the most prestigious organization in the law school that maintains a very rigorous and selective application process. He eventually became a member of the Executive Committee and lead editor for one issue.

Ian’s exemplary performance in school garnered the attention of his professors, who, in turn, became his inspiring influences. One of his written papers was cited by Cesario Azucena, a distinguished labor law scholar, in his book on labor law.

He was tapped as a research assistant for a copyright law book owing to his outstanding achievement in his copyright law course under Ferdinand Negre, a respected intellectual-property expert. He was also

chosen by the law school dean to represent the school and received a scholarship from the Japanese government as part of the delegation to Kyushu University for the inaugural exchange program.

Ian emerged class valedictorian (he ranked first out of 177 graduates) and garnered the gold medal for academic excellence. He placed second in the 2014 Bar examinations, and thereafter nurtured the earnest desire to contribute in helping shape the legal minds of future Philippine leaders.

He worked as an Associate for law firm Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles. For over two years, he represented local and international clients on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and banking and finance transactions. As a member of the Technology Media and Telecommunications Department, Securities Department, and Project Development and Finance, he gained vast exposure to a variety of corporate transactions. Apart from contributing to industry-shaking transactions, a significant milestone for him included successfully winning a securities litigation case in the Supreme Court, which effectively overturned a Supreme Court precedent.

After a year of legal practice, Ian realized his other dream—to teach law. He said that even in law school, he always imagined himself teaching, drawing much inspiration and influence from the professors he idolized.

“My professors had a heavy influence on how I thought about the law, and I wanted to pass it on,” he said.

Ian decided to pursue his LLM degree three years after graduating from law school.

“I always dreamed of studying in Harvard Law,” he said. He took classes in corporate law, but made time to pursue academic interests in technology and constitutional law.

By that time, he wanted to practice law in the US. He took and passed the New York Bar Exams after obtaining his LLM degree. Here was a millennial who has succeeded in academia, and raring to make an impact in the world’s biggest legal market.

In September 2018, Ian joined one of the leading law firms in the world, Allen & Overy Llp. in New York, as an Associate. He belongs to the International Capital Markets department, specializing in Securitization and Collateralized Loan Obligations. He has plunged headon into structuring and implementing complex financial transactions for financial powerhouses.

To date, friends wonder if he still finds time to engage in his favorite activities, including CrossFit, photography, basketball and Python programming. Since he joined the New York-headquartered law firm, Ian has kept in touch with his friends and family as well as the legal and economic developments in the Philippines through the power of social media.

As he embarks on a new journey, one can only surmise that his best professional years are still ahead of him. As a number of new lawyers are seen launching start-ups that marry tech savviness with their legal knowledge, Ian seems poised for even bigger challenges. Certainly not one who will shy away from embracing change in the highly competitive legal profession in the digital era, Ian appears all set to adapt and excel in the fast-changing business environment.

Seminar on Write Right for Positive Results

F

ILIPINOS are no stranger to the English language. In 2016, the Philippines ranked 13th on the list of the best non-native English speakers in the world.

However, based on the British Councils’ International English Language Testing System (IELTS), there is still a massive need to work on the way Filipinos express themselves on paper. Poor writing skills can take a toll in all forms of business transactions which require written communication.

To enhance one’s writing skills, the Center for Global Best Practices will host a one-day training entitled “Write Right for Positive Results: Best Practices Guide to One-Page Business Letters, Memos and Reports” to be held on Friday, April 26, 2019, at the Manila Marriott Hotel, Pasay City.

There is no second chance in making a first impression in business writing! Expand your business writing skills by learning and relearn-

ing what makes an outstanding business letter, memo, proposal or report that will lead to a positive result. Master the golden rule of business writing with the correct e-mail etiquette and learn to live by the “10 Commandments of Business Writing.” Gain knowledge on the right formula in writing to any correspondence.

Uphold the best policy of clarity and integrity.

Set the right tone and select the right words to boost not only your reliability and credibility— but the overall, corporate image, profitability and growth of your business. This course will use classic examples of different businesses that you must learn from.

This unique program will feature Prof.

Lucris Carina Agnir-Paraan, PhD, who is the course director at the Center for Global Best Practices. She finished her doctorate degree, major in English Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman where she was awarded the “Outstanding Dissertation” of the College

of Arts and Letters. She earned her MA in Language and Literature at the University of the Philippines in Baguio where she graduated with a 1.007 GPA. Her AB in Philosophy was also earned at UP Diliman, and she graduated high school at the International School of Kuala Lumpur where she was the first Asian and first woman editor in chief of the school paper. She conducts regular public and in-house English refresher workshops and seminars on business communication and verbal skills. Among her recent clients are 3M, Aboitiz, American Peace Corps, American Embassy, Anflo Management and Investment Corp., Chevrolet, Coke, Japan Tobacco Inc., Lifebank, Medicard, PJ Lhuillier, Savant Technologies, UCPB Gen and the offices under the Executive Secretary in Malacañang.

This writing master class is open to the general public. CGBP is also an accredited training provider of the Civil Service Commission. Attendees from the government can

earn points for their career advancement and are exempted from the P2,000 limit when attending training conducted by the private sector based on DBM Circular 563 dated April 22, 2016. Interested participants are encouraged to avail themselves of the early payment savings and group discounts for three or more attendees. Seats are limited and preregistration is required.

Check www.cgbp.org, for details and a complete list of best practices programs including Masterclass on Writing Minutes of Meetings, Refresher Course on Business English, Best Practices in Managing Cost and Profit, 2019 Revised Corporation Code to the Philippines, Manager Effectiveness Program and many more. You may also call landlines in Manila (+63 2) 842-7148/ 59 and (+63 2) 556-8968/ 69, in Baguio (+63 74) 423-2914, in Cebu (+63 32) 512-3106 or 07, or Legazpi City (+63 52) 736-0148. This program is CPD-accredited.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Going green: A Lasallian’s journey into microalgae research in Taiwan

By Jeremy Magdaong

Special to the BusinessMirror

F

OR the first time, I was on my own in the airport. I’ve been to other countries before, but it was always with other people I knew and it was only for a few days.

This time, I was alone on my trip to Taiwan where I would do a research internship for four months.

I couldn’t help, but feel emotional after my parents brought me to the airport. The thought of being away from my family even just for four months really made me sad. But at the same time, I also felt excited. I knew this experience would be very enriching when I immerse myself in a different culture and meet people from various backgrounds. It was a once-in-a-lifetime journey!

This experience became possible because of the Star Ambassadors Program of De La Salle University.

It was a new program created to give Star Scholars the opportunity to go abroad with support from the university. As a Star Scholar, DLSU offered me a full waiver on tuition and miscellaneous fees, mentoring from a University Fellow, monthly stipend, special programs, and a possible scholarship extension to pursue graduate studies. With the addition of the Star Ambassadors Program, the Star Scholarship is clearly among the best and most comprehensive college scholarships in the Philippines.

When I went to Taiwan as a Star Scholar, I wanted to represent DLSU in the best way possible through my actions and outputs. This was never imposed on me; rather it was one of the small ways I felt I could give back to the university that provided this scholarship and all the benefits that came with it.

I went to the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, to do part of my thesis for my master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. My research was specifically about microalgae cultivation.

Microalgae refers to microscopic algae (lumot) grown artificially because they have a lot of potential in several applications such as food, medicine and biofuel. Taiwan specifically has a large diversity of microalgae that can be cultivated for different applications. My adviser in Taiwan, Prof. Jo-Shu Chang, is one of the top microalgae researchers around the globe, having published several well-cited papers on the topic.

Currently, cultivating microalgae in general is still costly due to several factors. In my study, I focused on developing strategies that will be able to reduce the cost of microalgae cultivation in terms

THE author in front of the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan.

of aeration or “pumping” air to the cultivation system. Reducing the overall cost of cultivating microalgae will allow different industries such as food, fuel and pharmaceutical industries to utilize microalgae for their products.

Conducting all the experiments for my research was not easy. I had to learn procedures outside my field as a mechanical engineering student such as preparing nutrients, using unfamiliar equipment and other activities. There were times when I stayed in the laboratory until dawn just to finish all the preparations for the next day. Conducting the experiments was manually exhausting. In addition, there were problems including time constraint on designing my experiments. Thankfully, even with the limited amount of time I had, I was still able to finish all my experiments with the help of my advisers and lab mates.

Studying in Taiwan was very challenging, but I also did a lot of fun things. I met people, made new friends including Filipino students, local students and other international students. We ate together, went to different tourist spots, hang out together. It was really fun learning about different cultures and see the differences and similarities between our culture and theirs.

I realized four months was not a long time so I decided to make the most of my stay in Taiwan. I carefully planned my research activities so that I could do fun things like go to tourist spots with my friends, eat in the night market and enjoy campus life.

For those who aspire to study abroad there are a lot of opportunities out there. Do not be afraid to apply.

Jeremy Magdaong recently finished his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering.

Apec Schools to recognize students who excel in service, volunteerism

T

HE A f ford able P r iv ate Education Center (Apec) Schools recently opened the nominations for Sikhay 2019: Youth Community Service Awards, a prestigious award-giving body that recognizes, empowers, and rewards young Filipino students in their efforts in community service and volunteerism.

Sikhay Awards 2019 is open to all Grades 7 to 12 public and private school students who are part of ongoing projects and programs that contribute to the community.

The project and/or program may be under the categories’ education, science and technology, health and well-being, environment, risk reduction, disaster management, livelihood and entrepreneurship, culture, heritage and arts, among others.

Judges will look into the impact of these projects in people’s lives, families, and communities; innovativeness and creativeness of the project, effective use of available resources, Apec values reflected on the projects; and if the projects

promote the spirit of volunteerism and service.

Submission of nominations is ongoing until April 30, 2019. Ten students will advance to the finals and will undergo a three-day workshop that would further enhance their skills and knowledge. The workshops will tackle topics in entrepreneurship, IT and finance, sustainability and community service, health, energy, education, disaster, and environment.

The finalists will be given an online campaign period where they can promote their project videos online, as part of winner criteria.

Top 3 winners will be awarded on June 15, 2019. The grand winner will take home P50,000 cash, while the second- and third-place winners will win P10,000 each.

Apec Schools by AC Education, an Ayala company, provides students access to world-class quality education at an affordable price. It is the school’s mission to equip students with skills and knowledge that they can use for college and professional employment.

Marketing BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Monday, April 1, 2019 E3

Am I addicted to social media?

Part Two

n Automate, automate, automate. This step, Sankar said, “will help you be more efficient with time.”

She suggested you use tools such as Monday, Hootsuite, and Mailchimp to automate your e-mail or socialmedia posts. Or consider hiring a social-media coordinator to help you manage posts, direct messages, and responses, as a way to filter out the posts and e-mails that require your immediate attention. n Respond at the end of the day.

Sankar herself responds to her emails between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. unless it is urgent. She found it helpful to “use the last part of your day to respond to posts and messages.”

We hope these tips will help you better manage your relationship with technology and social media. You’ll be surprised how clear thinking can lead to more creativity, efficiency, focus, and closer relationships with friends and family.

I

By Millie F. Dizon

n Do you spend a lot of time, when you are not online, thinking about social media or planning to use social media? n Do you feel urges to use social media more and more over time? n Do you use social media to forget about personal problems? n Do you often try to reduce your use of social media, without success? n Do you become restless and troubled if you are unable to use social media? n Do you use social media so much that it has had a negative impact on your job, relationship or studies?

In this column, we go a step further by discussing possible ways of achieving digital detox with some assistance from Jeff Bercovici.

In an article “Want a Healthier Relationship with Technology in 2019?

Try These Resolutions” in Inc.com, Bercovici seemed to read our minds.

“We love our technology. But we also resent it,” he said. “It comes into our lives and makes them better, but, eventually, it changes us in ways we don’t anticipate and don’t like.”

The truth is “very few of us want all the tech gone from our lives, but most of us crave a healthier relationship with it. We want a reset.” And he went on by sharing some tips with us:

1. Take a social-media vacation

“MANY of us feel like social media has become a drain on our well-being, yet still find it hard to walk away,” Bercovici said. “That’s partly because Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are addictive by design, but it’s also because they’re free.”

One simple way around this problem “is to take a temporary hiatus.

Psychologically, it’s easier to contemplate giving up something for a few weeks than doing it forever—even if you’re likely to arrive at the end of that break feeling like quitting for good would surprisingly be painless.”

2. Turn off notifications for basically everything

“SHUTTING off alerts from all of your

BRAND & BUSINESS: SWEDISH EMBASSY IN MANILA TO REVEAL THE COUNTRY’S PREPAREDNESS FOR SWEDISH BUSINESS

MANILA—Swedish Business may soon come to the Philippines as a pioneer report from Business Sweden, deem it “open for business.”

The report, to be launched at the Embassy of Sweden in Manila on April 8, highlights Business Sweden’s points of view on the Philippine market. It also puts a special focus on the ongoing infrastructure push and how Swedish companies

can partake in the infrastructure development, as well as selected high-growth industries relative for Swedish businesses.

The timeliness of the report should be noted, as Business Sweden is of the view that the Philippines has been neglected too long

by Swedish companies. Contrary to less optimistic scenarios, the Philippine economy continues to thrive, growing at 6 percent to 7 percent per year which is among the fastest in Southeast Asia and Asia in general. The report also highlights how the Philippine market has the potential to play a crucial role in Swedish companies’ strategy in growing their respective international operations.

This also serves as a snapshot of what Swedish companies already present in the Philippines

WWW.FREEPIK.COM

PR Matters

N last week’s column, we began to answer the letter of Sheila S. who asked us whether there was such a thing as social-media addiction. More important, she was concerned that she may be addicted to social media.

We got some help from Peter Economy, whose article “Addicted to Social Media, Science Says These Are a Sure Sign You Have a Problem” in Inc.com was very enlightening.

He began by saying that digital incentives from their smartphones— text messages, photos, videos, socialmedia sites—have replaced the water cooler as the main distraction at work.

Economy said that while “these distractions create inefficiencies on the job and add costs to the bottom line, the widespread and growing use of smartphones is creating a more serious problem: the breakdown of social relationships at work.”

But how do you know you are a social-media addict? In the article, psychologists Mark Griffiths and Daria Kuss, answering “yes” to a few of these six questions probably means you are: apps is the simplest and most regretfree way to restore a large measure of your digital sanity,” Bercovici said.

“Even calling them notifications is buying into the fiction that they exist for your convenience rather than the app makers. Call them what they are: engagement prompts and growthhacking tricks.”

3. Stop wearing your wearables

BERCOVICI believed that “wearable fitness trackers are not unlike social media. When you start using one, it’s easy to grasp the benefits, from more physical activity to better sleep.”

The problem, which he wrote about, “is when they become a daily habit, when you give companies a large amount of data about your personal behaviors plus you have to charge them all the time.”

Instead, he suggested “saving the wearables for when you have a specific purpose for them, like losing weight or training for a race.”

4. Establish no-phone zones

WITHOUT question, “smartphones are the world-changing invention of the 21st century so far. The quality that makes them so indispensable is also what makes them so nefarious: They do everything—cooking, driving, watching TV, exercising.”

In fact, “it’s hard to think of an activity you can’t use a smartphone for or at least in conjunction with. But in 2018, even the smartphone makers acknowledged we should all be looking for ways to reduce our screen time.”

Bercovici suggested we establish “phone-free zones” to reboot our tech behavior.

Carol Sankar agreed and said “you may underestimate how much time you spend on your phone and the impact it has on your business.” And may we add your life.

In addition, “the nonstop lack of discipline also allows you to spend more time confirming your ears, insecurities, and doubt as other people’s filtered highlight reel and negative stories appear at your fingertips. Most are thinking in terms of the market’s future potential, as well as their impact. Presently, there are over 20 large Swedish companies present in the Philippine market, with the majority planning for long-term business expansion in the country. Swedish exports also continue to expand at an annual rate of over 30 percent in the past two years, with no indications of any major deceleration.

The “recipes for success” proposed in the report for Swedish companies, both large corporations and SMEs, suggest for newer strategies and bolder approaches to leverage on emerging trends in the Philippine market. The view is to “be in it for the long haul”: it is not easy to do business in the Philippines, but the opportunities are definitely worth pursuing.

of the notifications on your phone do not require your immediate attention, yet we have become consumed with every “ping” and “buzz” that goes off throughout the day, filled with distractions that interrupt productivity.”

In an Inc.com article “Why Your Phone May be Your Biggest Road-

block to Success,” Sankar suggested three ways to turn it around: n Set a time to check your phone.

Sankar suggested that you do not check your phone when you wake up, as it “alters your mood.” Instead, “set an alarm on your phone to hold yourself accountable so you can get back to important tasks to grow your business.”

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UKbased International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.

Perspective BusinessMirror

E4 Monday, April 1, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

JESUSSANZ | DREAMSTIME.COM

Why social movements like #MeToo seem to come out of nowhere

By Cass Sunstein | Harvard University

sexually assaulted her in 1977: “I thought that I was Mr. Moore’s only victim. I would probably have taken what Mr. Moore did to me to my grave, had it not been for the courage of four other women that were willing to speak out about their experiences with Mr. Moore. Their courage has inspired me to overcome my fear.”

M

ANY of history’s revolutions and social movements have emerged with little or no warning.

Even those leading the charge are often taken aback, even stunned, when they succeed.

THE CONVERSATION

Alexis de Tocqueville reported that no one foresaw the French Revolution in 1789.

Vladimir Lenin was amazed by the success and speed of the Russian Revolution over a century later. And few predicted that a Tunisian man’s self-immolation would spark revolutions across the Arab world in 2010.

Why do social movements and revolutions happen? Why are they so hard to anticipate? Why does social change seem to come out of nowhere?

For the last two decades, I have spent a lot of time on those questions, which I try to address in my new book, How Change Happens. My aim here is to offer some glimpses of what I have learned— and, in the process, to help explain #MeToo.

Solving the puzzle

THREE factors with admittedly awkward names seem to play a big role: preference falsification, diverse thresholds and interdependencies. When the three are taken together, the difficulty of anticipating social movements becomes less puzzling.

Preference falsification exists when people conceal, or do not reveal, what they actually think and prefer. They might say they like

the current situation when they despise it. They might silence themselves. Their friends and neighbors might have no idea what they actually think. To that extent, people live amid what is called “pluralistic ignorance,” in which they do not know about the preferences of others.

Diverse thresholds mean that different people require different levels of social support before they will rebel or say what they actually think.

Some people might require no support at all; they are rebels by nature. They might be courageous, committed, angry or foolhardy.

Call them the “zeroes.” They might well turn out to be isolated; no one may join them, in which case they might look radical, self-destructive or even crazy.

Other people might require a little support. They will not speak out or take action unless someone else does, but if someone does, they are prepared to rebel as well. Call them the “ones.”

Others might require more than a little; they are the “twos.”

The twos will do nothing unless they see the zeroes and the ones rebelling. But if they do, they will rebel as well. The twos are followed by the threes, the fours, the tens, the hundreds and the thousands,

Lighting the flame

IN this January 20, 2018, file photo, a marcher carries a sign with the Twitter hashtag #MeToo used by people speaking out against sexual harassment as she takes part in a Women’s March in Seattle, on the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. AP/TED S. WARREN

all the way up to the infinites—defined as people who will not rebel or oppose the status quo or the regime, no matter what.

Interdependencies point to the fact that the behavior of the ones, the twos, the threes and so forth will depend crucially on who, if anyone, is seen to have done what.

Suppose that the zeroes go first, then the ones, then the twos, then the threes and so on. Or perhaps vice-versa. Or maybe it is all random. Under imaginable assumptions, a rebellion will occur, but only given the right distribution of thresholds and the right kind of visibility. If the ones see the zeroes, they will rebel, and if the twos see the ones, they, too, will rebel, and if the threes see the twos, they will join them. If the conditions are just right, almost everyone will rebel.

But it is important to see that the conditions have to be just right.

Suppose that there are no zeroes, or that no one sees any zeroes. If so, no rebellion will occur. If there are few ones, no rebellion will occur and the status quo or the regime is likely to be safe. If most people are tens or hundreds or thousands, the same is true, even if there are some ones, twos, three, fours and so forth.

The case of #MeToo

CONSIDER #MeToo in this light.

All three conditions are met.

First, with respect to sexual assault and sexual harassment, preference falsification has run rampant. Victims have silenced themselves. In many cases, they have said that all is or was well when it is or was anything but.

In the case of #MeToo, however, it might be better to speak of experience falsification. That is, victims have also been silent about or falsifying their experiences to

others, including employers. Falsifying one’s experiences can be especially searing.

Second, different women had and have different thresholds for disclosing their experiences and their judgments—that is, they need varying numbers of others to speak out first before they are willing to open up as well. Some women are ones, others are twos, others are tens and others are hundreds or thousands.

For one reason or another, some may be infinites. They might be frightened, have some kind of loyalty to the perpetrator, not want their lives to be disrupted or cherish their privacy.

Some might not have clarity on what their thresholds are. They— and we—learn about it after the fact. Consider the following words from Beverly Young Nelson, who in 2017 accused Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of having

FINALLY, social interactions are, and continue to be, crucial to #MeToo. Under certain conditions, the threes and the fours would silence themselves, because the ones and the twos were silent, too. But #MeToo has benefited from the visibility of those who spoke out and the multiple interactions made possible by social media.

Shortly after the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal broke in October 2017, actor and activist Alyssa Milano sent a tweet to her followers asking them to share their stories of harassment or assault by replying “me too.” Within 24 hours, 45 percent of all US Facebook users had friends in their networks who had posted “me too.”

Once people like Milano and Lena Dunham spoke out, others—we might think of them as the threes and the fours and the fives—felt safer or emboldened.

That’s what happened, and it is happening all over the world. And when social movements take off and succeed, that’s often why.

This article is republished from The Conversation—an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts—under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/why-social-movements-like-metoo-seem-tocome-out-of-nowhere-113985.