Businessmirror april 05, 2016

BMReports

Bimp-Eaga: Eagle eyes toward 2025

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief @awimailbox

Conclusion

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AVAO CITY—Being the backwater regions of four countries, the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BimpEaga) literally has a big yoke to carry, as their respective government leaders also seized the global trend of forming regional cooperation to fortify trading positions.

While the world’s richest economies formed their own blocs, such as the European Union, and have individually surrounded themselves with several bilateral trade agreements, the Southeast Asian region, already more than half-a-century old as a political bloc, has surfaced as the most attractive market. Multinational companies have been attracted to the region, pouring investments or forming subsidiaries.

Continued on A2

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Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 175

Pampi backs DTI plan to scrap SRP scheme A

By Catherine N. Pillas @c_pillas29 & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

group of food manufacturers has thrown its support behind the plan of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to lift the suggested retailprice (SRP) scheme for basic necessities, saying this would cut red tape.

Felix O. Tiukinhoy, president of the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi), said his group agrees with Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, who wanted to

“deregulate” the SRP scheme.

“The ongoing practice now is that SRPs of basic necessities and prime commodities are currently set by manufacturers, but are subject to

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The number of food processors belonging to Pampi

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evaluation and approval by the DTI,” Tiukinhoy said.

Last week Lopez said he wanted to “deregulate” the SRP scheme, and allow market forces to determine prices.

EACE talks with the communists ended with both sides accusing the other of cease-fire violations.

In the first place, it was a cease-fire wrongly defined.

On RAM’s advice, Cory declared “a cease-fire in place”, so you knew which side violated it by crossing to the other side of the territorial divide. Never mind, the RAM said, if this wording bolstered the communist claim to possess liberated zones.

See “Pampi,” A2

Continued on A10

INFLATION ACCELERATED Duterte urged to address BI concerns TO 3.6% IN MARCH–D.O.F. I will write a letter to President Duterte, and ask him to immeBy Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

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he rate of increase in consumer prices is estimated to quicken further in March, owing to a weaker peso that pushed up food, power and fuel prices, with the country’s inflation rate to settle at 3.6 percent for the month, which is within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) inflation target, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

According to the latest DOF Economic Bulletin, the country’s inflation may have settled at 3.6 percent in March this year, faster than the 3.3 percent in February 2017, and the 1.1 percent in the same period last year.

The DOF’s inflation forecast is within the BSP estimate of 3 percent to 3.8 percent for March this year. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is set to release the official March inflation report today, April 5.

According to Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran, the acceleration of inflation stemmed from base effects, pointing out that global petroleum prices have started normalizing from low levels set last year.

“The BSP has lowered its inflation forecast for the whole-year 2017 [to

3.4 percent, from 3.5 percent in February] due to lower actual inflation than earlier forecast,” Beltran said in his report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III. In March this year the general price increase for food and nonalcoholic drinks likely rose to 4.5 percent, from 4.1 percent in February, and coming from 1.6 percent in March 2016.

Alcoholic drinks and tobacco also expanded to 6.5 percent, from 6 percent in February, and 5 percent in the same month the previous year.

Prices for housing, utilities and fuels are also expected to increase by 4.1 percent, from 2.9 percent in the previous month. Clothing and footwear inflation is seen to reach 2.9 percent, up from 2.8 percent in February; and health settling at 2.8 percent, from 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, prices for transport likely dropped to 1.9 percent, from 2.8 percent in February; and restaurants and miscellaneous services to 1.8 percent, from 2.1 percent.

The inflation rates of furnishings and household equipment, at 2.3 percent; recreation and culture, at 1.8 percent; education, at 1.8 percent; and communication, at 0.2 percent, are expected to remain steady, according to the DOF.

PESO exchange rates n US 50.1440

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

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HE Department of Tourism (DOT) said it will seek President Duterte’s assistance to speed up the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) action on the long queues at their counters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), especially since Holy Week, a peak season for travel, is forthcoming.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo told the BusinessMirror she will be “writing a letter to President Duterte”, asking the administration to immediately address the lack of immigration officers at the Naia, which has delayed the entry and exit of foreign tourists and Filipino travelers.

Teo said the current situation might especially discourage the arrival of foreign travelers, considering the DOT is targeting 6.5 million of them to visit the Philippines this year. She added Filipinos also travel abroad during Holy Week to enjoy the long holiday break with their families.

Advertising-industry stalwart Cirio Cinco said it took him an hour before he was able to get to the immigration window when he arrived

diately address the lack of immigration officers at the Naia.”—Teo

TEO at the Naia Terminal 2 on March 25 at around 11 a.m. from Osaka.

“This is the first time I’ve experienced it this bad. I travel in and out of the country almost every year,” he said. “I think, there were three flights that arrived at the same time we did. My companions and I realized that there were a lot of people when we got to the escalator leading down to the immigration counters. The queue had reached to the top of

the stairs! They had to shut down the escalators.”

Cinco said there were about five or six immigration booths open when he arrived in Manila. But he noted that, “usually, at the immigration area, there are separate lanes for overseas Filipino workers, Philippine passport holders and foreigners. So, normally, it’s quite quick to go through immigration if you’re from here.

But when I arrived, there was no order anymore, and all counters that were open processed arriving passengers, no matter what passports they held.”

According to published repor ts, about 3,000 immig ration officers have been on leave since February 17, after Duterte stopped overnight pay to immigration officers assigned at the country’s international airports.

But with Manila being the main gateway to the country, the bulk of those affected by the stoppage

of overtime pay is at the Naia.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II told reporters on Monday that 32 immigration personnel have already resigned, while 50 others already filed a leave of absence for six months to look for new employment. (See “DOJ chief warns BI: Continued staff resignation due to loss of OT ‘security risk,’” in the BusinessMirror, April 4, 2017.)

In a separate interview, Tourism Undersecretary Rolando Cañizal said the issue was discussed during the Cabinet meeting on Monday, and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it will “look for the funds” to hire more immigration officers immediately, as well as increase their salaries.

He said, however, the DBM did not say if it could hire the additional personnel in time for the Holy Week exodus. But, “we fully support the move of the DBM to hire more immigration officers and increase their salaries. The BI just has to report to the DBM how many officers they actually need”.

Cañizal attended Monday’s Cabinet meeting on behalf of Teo who was on leave.

The DOT on Tuesday held a press briefing to introduce the agency’s See “Duterte,” A2

n japan 0.4523 n UK 62.6198 n HK 6.4524 n CHINA 7.2793 n singapore 35.9018 n australia 38.1145 n EU 53.5187 n SAUDI arabia 13.3721

Source: BSP (4 April 2017 )

A2 Wednesday, April 5, 2017

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Bimp-Eaga: Eagle eyes toward 2025 Continued from A1

At least three neighboring countries have found it advantageous to attach themselves to the 10-member of Asean. Thus, China, Japan and South Korea have initiated several bilateral trade deals: the Asean-China Free Trade Area (or ACFTA, in effect as of January 1, 2010); the Asean-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (or AJCEP, in effect as of December 1, 2008); and, the Asean-Korea Free Trade Area (AKFTA, in effect as of January 1, 2010).

Within the Asean also are subgroupings according to the common features of their countries, including the Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand subeconomic cooperation and the BIMP-Eaga.

To the latter, Australia’s Northern Territory has also mimicked the “plus one” concept and has remained a special feature of the BIMP-Eaga.

While there had been significant improvements in the talking points for the Eaga cooperation, crucial issues on customs, immigration, quarantine and security have inched slowly forward. The snail pace in forging deals is largely due to these issues being matters of national application and has sensitive diplomatic implications, which must be tackled at the high levels of government.

Border security have been bolstered through three decades of cooperation, as the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia crafted periodic joint maritime patrol and exchange of knowhow. Brunei, as a country with the minimal coastline and with the barest issue on piracy or incursion into their waters, understandably has no maritime border concern as yet.

Pampi. . .

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Pampi echoed the DTI’s stance that setting the SRP should be a business decision among manufacturers.

“We should give the consumer the freedom to choose what is best for him,” Tiukinhoy said. “People can patronize products with good value. But, they can boycott abusive manufacturers,” he added.

Tiukinhoy said in terms of price adjustments, Pampi and its 35 member-companies are advocating for good manufacturing practices to ensure efficient production and sound supply chain that will keep products cost-competitive.

He said Pampi supports the Duterte administration’s thrust to protect the well-being of every Filipino consumer. He said one way of doing it is to keep prices at a minimum level without denying legiti-

The bigger issues would still be economic cooperation and the lack in infrastructure to develop the region’s potential.

Three decades later, what had happened to the BIMP-Eaga areas as a consequence of their inclusion in the regional cooperation?

Mindanao and Palawan

By leading the formation of the BIMP-Eaga during his term, thenPresident Fidel V. Ramos demonstrated the potentials of Mindanao when he returned from a state visit through the Davao airport.

Through the years following the founding of the BIMP-Eaga, Davao City soon witnessed a flurry of construction and economic activities.

In other parts of Mindanao, trade and business witnessed a vibrant pace that was only cut short by the Asian financial meltdown. The succeeding years became a letdown for BIMP-Eaga as nations across Asia concentrated on rebuilding their economies after 1997.

As many other Asian economies too, have found out, the surest path to rebuilding was harnessing the strength of its local business community, from restarting local commerce and later encouraging locals to patronize their own tourism destinations. Many businesses were buttressed by small and medium entrepreneurs with some big firms providing the so-called Big Brother mentoring.

Two decades after the Asian financial crisis and at least two worse episodes of El Niño, Mindanao was back on its feet and Palawan has become the most visited place, its revenues fattened by tourism.

Arturo P. Boncato Jr., the asstant secretary at the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry, said Mindanao and Palawan mate business a fair return on investment.

“Our meat products, which are considered prime commodities, are price-sensitive and highly competitive. Minor price adjustment among market players would mean loss of market share and competitiveness.

Thus, we do not see the importance of a government-regulated SRP,” Tiukinhoy said. “We fully agree with Lopez that manufacturers of basic necessities and prime commodities are hesitant to increase prices for fear of losing market share. For us, consumer loyalty is of prime importance to make our business sustainable,” he said.

Pampi noted that government regulators have earlier treated the SRP as a “ceiling price” and have imposed measures against retail stores and manufacturers found to be selling goods beyond the SRP. The SRP schedules serve as guides of the DTI’s monitoring

counterparts in Indonesia and Malaysia have also progressed a lot. Boncato said the growth was mainly because they have been pulled alongside the development of their respective countries. For instance, Indonesia’s leading growth across Asia in the last five years has also brought progressed to the Kalimantan cities of Bitung and Manado.

“These two Kalimantan cities of northern Indonesia are now the acknowledged gateways,” Boncato said. Areas near Kuala Lumpur have also made progress because of the steady industrial growth of Malaysia.

Infrastructure, though, remained wanting, and the crucial energy sector failed to arrest several years of electricity crisis and, thereby, dampening investment.

Meanwhile, production for export was still tied to coconut, banana, pineapple and mango, with many other agriculture products still exported in their raw form.

Engagement

THE lack of development infrastructure to start regional trading is not a monopoly of Mindanao and Palawan. Still, their counterparts, mostly in the Borneo Island and in the scattered islands north of Indonesia, faced similar issues back then.

Mainly due to their distance from their respective nation’s capital, trading with neighbors that could have been reached in a few hours, are not there.

Arturo Milan, formerly the chief operation officer of the Davao Light and Power Corp. and currently the Mindanao adviser of the Aboitiz Equity Ventures, said he is yet to be apprised of the fine points of the Bimp-Eaga teams to ensure supermarkets and retailers stay within the price range recommended by the manufacturers. Aside from the DTI, four other government agencies are mandated to issue SRPs: the departments of Agriculture, Health, Environment and Natural Resources and Energy.

Canned meat is classified as a prime commodity in Republic Act 7581, or the Price Act, and is one of the one of the most scrutinized consumer products by the DTI’s Consumer Protection Group (DTI- CPG) dur ing the Aquino administration.

The DTI-CPG had locked horns with manufacturers on setting prices in previous years. It also issued show-cause orders to those who went beyond the recommended SRP. Pampi is a P300-billion industry association providing direct and indirect employment to over 200,000 people.

Vision 2025. Nonetheless, he said the business sector has already been invited on several occasions touching on the issue.

“What we suggest is for [the] government to inform the business communities in Mindanao about it, for us to respond appropriately and in a timely fashion,” Milan said. “We want to help realize it [the BimpEaga Vision 2025], too, as much as we know that business would also benefit from this venture.”

Properly apprised, for instance, the owner of the Roro shipping has also changed the cargo ship to launch the project on April 30, from a 100 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) to a 500 TEU ship, according to Boncato.

Fernando Juan C. Perez, assistant secretary for maritime of the Department of Transportation and the designated chairman of the Task Force Roro, appealed to the private community “to take on the opportunity opened for us all, especially in the southern part of the country”.

He said the business chamber in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, called Kadin, has been informed of the direct cargo shipping to be started. “It now depends on the private sector,” Perez said. “The government is only [here] to facilitate all these transactions.”

In a planning session last December, Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, minister to the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Department in charge of economic planning, said the senior officials “endorse the guiding framework for Bimp-Eaga Vision 2025”.

We “call upon all Bimp-Eaga stakeholders, especially the private sector and the local governments to take advantage of this opportunity to bring their views,

House. . .

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locational clearances for projects of national significance.

The bill provides that the existing National Land Use Committee (NLUC) under the Neda Board shall be abolished and, in its place, the NLUPC shall be created.

The NLUPC shall be the highest policy-making body on land use and shall resolve land-use policy conflicts between or among agencies, branches, or levels of the government. It shall also incorporate efforts and monitor developments pertaining to land use and the evolution of policies.

The NLUPC shall be headed by the Neda director general, who shall be responsible for all concerns within the sphere of land use and management on a national level, including the issuance of locational clearances for projects of national significance.

The NLUPC shall be composed of the secretaries of the departments of Agrarian Reform, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources and the Interior and Local Government; the chairmen of the National Commission on Indigenous

Duterte. . .

Continued from A1

new travel shows that have been airing on PTV 4. Tourism Undersecretary for Public Affairs Katherine de Castro said the three shows— iTravel Pinas, Wonderful Pinas and Travel Pass—is part of the DOT’s strategy to step up its new branding campaign.

“The DOT is still the foremost authority on where to travel and what are the emerging destinations,” de Castro said.

Hosted by DOT officials, iTravel Pinas airs every Sunday at 7 p.m., and is a travel magazine, “which takes the viewer beyond the usual sun-and-beach fun stuff,” de Castro added. The show “will highlight the people’s genuine hospitality,

inputs and projects that will generate economic growth and development in the subregion,” Abdul Wahid said. “We reiterate the need for greater synergies between the transport and tourism sectors to enhance the development of tourism destinations.”

With the Philippines at the chairmanship of both the Asean and the BIMP-Eaga, the nation’s emblem of the Philippine Eagle would figure prominently at how the country steers the two 2025 visions.

To avoid the pitfalls that dragged down previous attempts, Boncato

said both public and private investments should be increased, especially in connectivity, both in the construction of ports and in the communication area.

We should also “engage aggressively the private sector, scale up Eaga products and services to global value chains,” he said. “More important, make BIMP-Eaga closer to the people.” Boncato hopes there would be no new episode of the Asian financial crisis like what occurred in 1997.

The government, however, has warned about the security issue arising from the global rise in extremism and which is showing its nasty face at the country’s southern backdoor as the Abu Sayyaf begins to engage in sea piracy. President Duterte has sought tri-nation cooperation with Indonesia and Malaysia to stop this.

Boncato said the BIMP-Eaga members should also discourage the previous “greater government and lesser private-sector involvement in the Eaga which have taken their toll on synergy, making Eaga largely disconnected with national capitals and the bigger Asean picture.”

“Institutional arrangements today [have] BIMP-Eaga, together with other subregional cooperation and growth triangles, recognized as building blocks to the Asean Economic Cooperation integration.”

According to Boncato, the strength of today’s pursuit of the new vision is having the heads of state “heavily involved”.

“We are working on greater private-sector engagement and will bring into the fold young business leaders,” he said. “In the Philippines we are engaging industry champions to be part of our journey toward 2025.”

Peoples (NCIP) and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC); the administrator of National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria); and the presidents of the League of Cities of the Philippines and the League of Municipalities of the Philippines.

The other members are two representatives each from four basic sectors directly involved in land use, namely, urban poor, peasants, fisherfolk and indigenous peoples, who shall be appointed by the respective National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) sectoral councils.

Of the eight sectoral representatives, the bill mandates that at least four shall be women and that one of them shall be from the Moro sector.

Also, to be members of the NLUPC are four representatives from the developers’ associations, the accredited associations of professionals dealing with land use, and the business or private sector.

The head of the NLUPC secretariat shall also be a member of the council.

The existing unit of the Neda in charge of Land Use and Physical Planning Division shall serve as the NLUPC secretariat, the bill provides.

The powers and functions of the NLUPC include: To guide the determina-

tion and identification of the country’s strategic land-use development and physical planning objectives, priorities and direction; formulate the necessary national policy guidelines in the preparation of the country’s physical framework plans; ensure that policies, guidelines and standards on land use, physical planning shall be followed; and issue locational clearances for projects of national significance.

Other salient objectives of the bill are: To determine the scope and nature of responsibilities of national government agencies; mandate the completion and updating of existing cadastral surveys; institutionalize land use and physical planning as a mechanism for identifying, determining and evaluating appropriate land use and allocation patterns that promote and ensure, among others, the maintenance and preservation of environmental integrity and stability; sustainable and just management and utilization of natural resources; disaster risk reduction and climate risk-based planning; protection of prime agricultural lands for food security in basic food commodities; sustainable development and management of water resources toward water security; and improved access to affordable housing.

which is a unique and memorable experience every foreign visitor brings with them,” she stressed, adding that its two pilot episodes aired on March 19 and 26, “drew favorable feedback”.

The first episode showed the “gems of Ilocos Norte” and the second featured “the grandeur of Bukidnon’s Kaamulan 2017”. Both episodes, de Castro said, have already been uploaded on YouTube, and “we were surprised to receive so many queries on how to go to these destinations from foreigners”.

She explained the main thrust of the shows is “to promote the mustvisit places within featured provinces, including the potential, unexplored for tourism destinations, as well as improvements made, and ongoing developments. So when we receive complaints about, say, dirty

restrooms at a tourism destination, we take action on it and show what’s been done.” Wonderful Pinas airs every Monday and is hosted

by Teo, while Travel Pass airs every Wednesday at 7 p.m. and showcases the best of local festivals and tourism events.

“Our successful hosting of the Miss Universe pageant was just not enough time to showcase our wondrous sites and, more important, wonderful people all over the Philippines,” the DOT chief said.

Featured in the maiden episode of Wonderful Pinas is the recent arrival of the luxury cruise ship Superstar Virgo, which is the first to home port in Manila’s South Harbor. For its first episode, Travel Pass featured the enduring Rizal Park, which is administered by the National Parks Development Council.

Leaders’ consciousness

THE bigger issue still rests on the consciousness among the nation’s senior government leaders “who are still tied to the tradition of everything is with the nation’s capital,” Boncato said.

“There are still many government officials and lawmakers who still make stringent rules and regulations, without consideration that there is such a thing as BIMP-Eaga,” Boncato explained, adding “that movement of goods and people can happen, but only with their consent, to allow some relaxation of regulations to favor regional trading outside of the capital.”

He said connectivity issues still need regulations that are tied to how much the nation’s leaders would grant concession or not and which would affect the pace of development within the BIMP-Eaga.

However, the BIMP-Eaga and the Asean officers have persistently engaged senior government leaders, including lawmakers. “And we believe that more and more of our leaders are more conscious now of these regional cooperation.”

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BuCor prepares for relocation of country’s oldest penal farm

By Darwin Wally T. Wee Philippines News Agency

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HE oldest penal colony in the country, the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City, is being eyed for relocation to give way to the establishment of an industrial park.

This, as officials from the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority and Freeport (Zamboecozone), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) are expected to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOU) for the relocation of the century-old prison farm outside of Zamboecozone’s 664-hectare second industrial park.

Christopher S. Arnuco, Zamboecozone chairman and administrator, said on Monday they are preparing all the necessary documents, following their meeting last week with BuCor chief Benjamin C. de los Santos, to finalize the agreement.

“The MOU signing will be held within the month,” Arnuco told the Philippines News Agency.

“We have to move fast to ensure the Department of Budget and Management [DBM] will incorporate the fund allocation in the 2018 national budget,” he added.

Arnuco said they have been conducting several meetings with Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II and BuCor officials to pursue the relocation of the inmates to a new facility.

“The transfer will only take effect if there is funding support,” he said.

The transfer, which has been proposed more than 10 years ago under the administration of then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is necessary, as the Zamboecozone is about to develop the area for the San Ramon Seaport Project.

“It [San Ramon Seaport Project] is already in the pipeline, we have to prepare for it’s implementation. In the event there’s a successful bidder, the area should be ready for them to work on,” Arnuco said.

Previous administrations have identified 1,200 hectares of land in barangays Bungiao and Curuan in the east coast of this city as the prison’s new location.

“At present, they are occupying 600 hectares in the ecozone area. They will be transferred to an area twice the size they

are currently occupying,” Arnuco said.

“It will be a joint engagement. However, for the initial steps, since we were the ones who asked for the transfer, we will have to prepare for it. We will have to prepare an MOU that will be reviewed by the BuCor, DOJ and DBM to ensure that funding will go to the BuCor for the construction [of the new facility],” he said.

Currently, there are about 1,400 inmates at the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm.

Arnuco said they will also tap the help of the National Historical Commission to preserve the main building of the centuryold prison facility.

“We have to seek the assistance of the National Historical Commission to determine which part of the edifice would be considered as national heritage, and that will be preserved—for history and for use as a tourist attraction in the future,” he said.

Based on the BuCor’s online data, the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm was established on August 21,1870, through a royal decree promulgated in 1869 during the tenure of Gov. Gen. Ramon Blanco.

It said the facility was originally established for persons convicted of political crimes.

Considered as the oldest penal facility in the country, prisoners at the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm were required to do agricultural work, it said.

Although it was destroyed during the Spanish-American War in 1898, the American administration reestablished the prison farm in 1907.

“In 1912 Gen. John J. Pershing, chief executive of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, classified the institution as a prison and penal colony and therein confined people sentenced by the courts under his jurisdiction,” the BuCor’s web site said.

Under Pershing’s supervision, several buildings with a capacity for 600 prisoners were built.

Arnuco said they have already prepared the design of the new prison facility.

“What we are doing right now is to update the design,” he said.

The land area for the proposed prison facility was previously owned by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and was transferred to the BuCor.

Roman Catholic bishops slam revival of bill allowing divorce

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OMAN Catholic prelates have reiterated their opposition against divorce, which is being pushed anew by a women’s party-list organization.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said the enactment of the controversial bill “is not only against God’s teachings but will also destroy families”.

“It is an extremely bad move to introduce divorce in our Catholic country. Right now, the Philippines has the honor and glory of being the only country in the world of following the command of our Lord Jesus: keeping the indissolubility of marriage—a dogma

of the Church,” Bastes explained.

“Divorce is one of the greatest evils in modern society that destroys the heart and essence of the family, the fundamental unit of human society willed by God and nature,” he added.

For his part, Bataan Bishop Ruperto Santos believes that divorce will not solve the problem of extramarital relationships.

“Divorce is not solution to extramarital affair. Nor extramarital affair is an excuse for divorce. Extramarital affair is cheating. It is infidelity, breaking one’s trust and marital vow. A grievous sin, plain and simple. And even criminal offense,” he said. PNA

More accurate diagnosis The Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center now boasts

of state-of-the-art x-ray and ultrasound machines that it recently acquired. Photo shows Sen. Richard J. Gordon, who was the guest of honor during the launching of the new machines, with the chairman emeritus and president of the Philippine Chinese Charitable Assocition (PCCA), James Dy, and the chairman of the board of PCCA, Benito Goyokpin. They were joined by officers of Samsung Corp., the manufacturer of the machines. ROY DOMINGO

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Wednesday, April 5, 2017 A3

Duterte no Aquino, fires Sueno

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RESIDENT Duterte on Monday night fired Interior Secretary Ismael D. Sueno following an exchange of words between Sueno and other Cabinet members during a meeting in Malacañang.

Sueno has been feuding with three of his five undersecretaries.

Reports said the President started the meeting with the discussion of allegations against Sueno.

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto C. Abella announced the dismissal of Sueno midmorning on Tuesday.

Abella said, “President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has dismissed Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Mr. Ismael Sueno, citing loss of trust and confidence.”

He said Sueno’s dismissal was announced at the end of the Cabinet meeting on Monday night.

Abella said Sueno’s dismissal “served as a warning that the President would not countenance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the Cabinet”.

Duterte hinted in a speech last Sunday in Cagayan de Oro City that he will fire another government official.

“In due time, I’m going to dismiss another

official,” he said.

In a statement last month, Sueno expressed readiness to be replaced as interior and local government secretary.

“We serve at the pleasure of the President.

It is within his power, wisdom and discretion to appoint members of his Cabinet,” he said.

Sueno is a former governor of South Cotabato and was appointed to the interior department by Duterte. He was among those who convinced Duterte to run for president.

“The President is very serious in restoring [public] trust in the government,” Abella said in a news briefing.

For political analyst Ramon C. Casiple, this makes Duterte’s crusade against corruption more stringent and efficient than that of former President Benigno S. Aquino III. Casiple said Duterte is willing to impose his iron fist on anyone, including his political allies.

“Aquino will defend his Cabinet officials to death, to the extent of claiming fault for some of their offenses and shortcomings.

On the other hand, Duterte wants his appointees to move in accordance to his administrative framework.”

This only shows that the President is more committed to his word of honor than to his political allies, Casiple said. “We have to give credit to [Duterte] for staying true to the promises he made during the campaign period.”

The political analyst added this is just the beginning of the administration’s anticorruption drive, saying more government officials will eventually fall because of corruption.

“Knowing Duterte, this is not the end of it.”

Sueno was recently engaged in an internal rift with three of his undersecretaries—Jesus V. Hinlo Jr. for public safety, John R. Castriciones for operations, and Emily O. Padilla for legislative liaison and special concerns.

The undersecretaries hurled allegations of corruption against Sueno, who responded by asking Duterte to remove the three owing to “irreconcilable differences”.

Meanwhile, the President has not yet decided who to install in the post vacated

by Sueno.

Abella said there was no word yet from Duterte with regard to the appointment of a new interior secretary.

He also debunked claims that the firing of Sueno will pave the way for former Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to assume a Cabinet position. Elijah Felice E. Rosales

Economy

A4 Wednesday, April 5, 2017 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

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ERC okay on grant of PA for Aspa sought

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), Energy Development Corp. (EDC) and Green Core Geothermal Inc. (GCGI) are asking the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to grant them a provisional authority (PA) to implement their ancillary services procurement program (Aspa).

In separate applications, NGCP agreed to procure and EDC agreed to supply regulating reserve (RR) services to the grid operator for a period of five years. The same application was filed by NGCP and GCGI. Ancillary services (AS) are necessary to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads while maintaining reliable operation of the transmission system and, consequently, the reliability of the electricity supply in the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids.

In their respective applications, the parties stressed the importance of procuring the contracted AS capacity from EDC and GCGI “to ensure and maintain the reliability, security, stability and integrity of the Visayas grid”.

“The immediate approval of the Aspa by this honorable commission is a necessity to maintain the present reliability and security of the grid,” the parties said in their

respective applications.

GCGI said the current levels of available contracted AS in the Visayas grid have not yet reached the desired levels necessary for system reliability.

“As the demand for power in the Visayas increases, the requirements of the system to ensure stability, reliability and security, likewise, increase. Ensuring the integrity of the system is essential to protect the interest of the public. The absence of system reliability and stability will certainly discourage investments and growth,” GCGI said.

EDC, for its part, said the benefits RR would provide to NGCP “cannot be overemphasized”. As such, the parties agreed that EDC shall already commence providing RR, in whole and in part, pending approval, provisional or final, of the application.

GCGI also stated the same in its application with NGCP. Aside from asking the ERC to is-

sue a provisional authority to implement their respective Aspas, NGCP also asked the ERC to allow the full and retroactive recovery of AS cost for the provision of RR by EDC and GCGI pursuant to the subject Aspas.

EDC is the owner and operator of the Nasulo geothermal power plant, which was certified by NGCP as capable of providing AS in the form of RR. GCGI, meanwhile, owns and operates the Palinpinon geothermal plant II, which was also certified and accredited by NGCP as capable of providing AS in the form of RR.

As the demand for power in the Visayas increases, the requirements of the system to ensure stability, reliability and security, likewise, increase. Ensuring the integrity of the system is essential to protect the interest of the public.”—GCGI

Manila Bay cleanup drive

Sen. Cynthia A. Villar (center), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, and Miss Earth candidates lead the cleanup drive along the shorelines of Manila Bay after the groundbreaking ceremony for the ecotourism facilities of the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park over the weekend. PNA/Avito C. Dalan

PSA: Domestic trade up 25.8% in Q4 ’16

By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

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achinery and transport equipment were the top traded commodities nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on the latest Commodity Flow or Domestic Trade Statistics recently released by the PSA, the total quantity of domestic trade in the fourth-quarter 2016 registered 6.21 million tons, up by 25.8 percent from 4.94 million tons of the same quarter of the previous year.

The value of domestic trade in 2016 posted P181.639 billion, an increase by 45.6 percent from P124.728 billion posted in 2015.

“Commodity flow or domestic trade statistics is a compilation of data on commodities carried through the air-, rail- and watertransport systems in the country,” the PSA said.

The growth in domestic trade was largely due to the domestic shipment

of machinery and transport equipment, which posted an 84.6-percent growth in terms of value and 141.2percent increase in volume.

In the last quarter of 2016, shipments of these commodities increased to 635,321 tons worth P58.836 billion, from 236,397 tons at P31.866 billion in 2015.

This was followed by food and live animals with P44.403 billion, which accounted for 24.4 percent of total domestic trade during the quarter.

Domestic shipment of food and live animals increased 51.2 percent in quantity and 37.9 percent in value.

In the last quarter of the year, shipments of food and live animals increased to 1.45 million tons, with a value of P44.404 billion.

Other top commodities shipped within the country were manufactured goods classified chiefly by material, with 688,580 tons of goods worth P19.783 billion.

Meanwhile, the National Capital Region reported the highest share on domestic trade value, at P41.547

6.21 million tons The total quantity of domestic trade in the fourth quarter of 2016, from 4.94 million tons in the same quarter of the previous year billion, an increase of 154.3 percent, from P16.336 billion posted in the same quarter of 2015.

This was followed by Central Visayas, P37.163 billion; and Western Visayas, P31.550 billion, during fourth-quarter 2016.

Commodity flow or domestic trade statistics is a compilation of data on commodities carried through the air-, rail- and water-transport systems in the country. However, data through rail transport are excluded in the statistics.

Data on the inflow and outflow of commodities in the different regions of the country are used to construct interregional and interindustry relation tables.

Asean finance chiefs ready for Afmis meeting in Lapu-Lapu City on Thursday

By Charles R. Pepito Correspondent

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APU-L APU CIT Y—Asean finance ministers are set to exchange views on further harnessing investment opportunities within the 10-member regional bloc amid the current slowdown in global growth when they meet on Thursday for the 12th session of the Asean Finance Ministers Investors Seminar (Afmis) in this city.

They will also discuss at the April 6 meeting the progress of the Asean Economic Community (AEC), which is designed to create a single market and production base within Southeast Asian region through the free flow of goods, skilled labor, services and investments among its 10 member-economies.

The ministers will, likewise, tackle issues on regional connectivity, as well as current events and other issues relevant to Asean members, including topics ranging from infrastructure investment and ecommerce to trade facilitation and the region’s rising consumer market.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III of the Philippines, this year’s Asean host, and Deputy Secretary-General Lim Hong Hin will open the meeting, which will

take place at the Shangri-La Mactan Hotel, by delivering their respective welcome remarks.

Finance ministers Pehin Dato Abdul Rahman Ibrahim of Brunei Darussalam, Sri Mulyani Indrawati of Indonesia, Johari Abdul Ghani of Malaysia and Apisak Tantivorawong of Thailand, and Secretary of State Sokha Nguon of Cambodia are expected to attend the Afmis and the series of high-level meetings at the Shangri-La Mactan Hotel.

A plenary session of the Asean finance ministers will be held in the morning, followed by a networking lunch with global financial institutions and multilateral companies that have a strong presence in the region.

Founded 50 years ago, Asean groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam into one regional bloc.

This regional group established the AEC, which officially commenced on December 31, 2015, comprising a market of 600 million people, or about 8 percent of the world’s population.

Asean is the seventh-largest economy in the world with a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion as of 2015. It

also has the third-largest labor pool and is the world’s fourth-largest exporting region.

This year marks a milestone for the Asean, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary with the Philippines as host. The 2017 Asean theme is “Partnering for Change, Engaging the World”.

The Asean finance ministers and central-bank governors are set to discuss ways to flesh out Asean’s commitments to financial integration and cooperation against the backdrop of a new wave of protectionism and other uncertainties in the global economy when they meet on April 6 and 7.

The conferences will also include separate meetings of the Asean finance ministers and the centralbank governors and the third Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Joint Meeting.

Agreements on the Asean Banking Integration Framework are expected to be signed on the sidelines of the Asean Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meetings.

A joint news conference by the finance ministers of the immediate past (Lao Republic), present (the Philippines) and future (Singapore) Asean chairmen will be held after the joint meeting.

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Trump admin cuts off UN agency’s funds over population-control issue

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A S H I N G T O N —T h e Trump administration said on Monday it was cutting off US funding to the United Nations agency for reproductive health, accusing the agency of supporting population-control programs in China that include coercive abortion.

By halting assistance to the UN Population Fund, the Trump administration is following through on promises to let socially conservative policies that President Donald J. Trump embraced in his campaign determine the way the US government operates and conducts itself in the world. Though focused on forced abortion—a concept opposed by liberals and conservatives alike—the move to invoke the “Kemp-Kasten amendment” was sure to be perceived as a gesture to antiabortion advocates and other conservative interests.

The UN fund will lose $32.5 million in funding from the 2017 budget, the State Department said, with funds shifted to similar programs at the US Agency for International Development. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the UN fund would also lose out on tens of millions of additional dollars it has typically received from the US in “noncore” funds.

Under a three-decade-old law, the US is barred from funding organizations that aid or participate in forced abortion of involuntary sterilization. It’s up to each administration to determine which organizations meet that condition. The UN Population Fund has typically been cut off during Republican administrations and had its funding resumed when Democrats control the White House.

Gag rule

THE Senate Foreign Relations Committee was notified of the move by the State Department in a letter received on Monday.

The letter followed a formal designation by Tom Shannon, the State Department’s undersecretar y of political affairs, that said the fund “supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntar y sterilization”.

In a lengthy memorandum obtained by The Associated Press, the State Department said the UN fund partners with China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, responsible for overseeing China’s “two-child

policy”—a loosened version of the notorious “one-child policy” in place from 1979 to 2015. It said the UN collaborates with the Chinese agency on family planning. Still, the memo acknowledged there was no evidence of UN support for forced abortions or sterilization in China.

T he U N Popu l at ion Fu nd, known as UNFPA, said it regretted the US move and argued it was “erroneous” to suggest it was complicit in China’s policies.

“UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination,” the agency said in a statement.

The designation was the latest move by the Trump administration to prioritize traditionally conservative issues in the federal budget. The Trump administration has vowed to cut all dollars for climate change programming, and also restored the so-called global gag rule, which prohibits funding to non-governmental groups that support even voluntary abortions.

New focus

THE Trump administration has also signaled that it no longer sees a need for the US to so generously fund UN and other international organizations. The White House has proposed cutting roughly onethird from the State Department’s budget, with much of it expected to come from foreign aid and global organization dollars, although Congress is expected to restore at least some of that funding The UN agency’s mission involves promoting universal access to family planning and reproductive health, with a goal of reducing maternal deaths and practices like female genital mutilation. The cut-off funds will be “reprogrammed” to Usaid’s Global Health Programs account to focus on similar issues, said a State Department official, who wasn’t authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity.

The Kemp-Kasten amendment, enacted in 1985, led to some of the UN agency’s funding being initially cut off, then restored by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993, USAID said in a report.

Republican George W. Bush’s administration reversed the decision in 2002, but President Barack Obama—a Democrat—gave the funding back after taking office. AP

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

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One dead, 14 sickened in New Zealand typhoid-fever outbreak

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ELLINGTON, New Zealand—An outbreak of typhoid fever among a church community in New Zealand has caused one death and left at least 14 other people hospitalized, health authorities said on Tuesday.

A person who traveled to the Pacific Islands recently apparent ly contracted t he d isease there then spread it to others in New Zealand, Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said.

Most of t he cases began emerging last week, and Coleman said authorities don’t believe the disease has been spread through water contamination. “ S o it ’s p e r s o n - t o - p e r s on

contact,” Coleman said. “It’s a congregation shar ing food together, being in close contact.”

Health authorities said all those infected are members of the Samoan Assembly of God, a Pacific church in Auckland. The congregants live in several different suburbs across central and south Auckland.

The woman who died last week had other serious health issues and that typhoid fever was a complicating factor, Dr. Julia Peters, the clinical director of the Auckland Regional Public Health Service, said in a statement. “ We are work ing w ith the church to trace other people who may be infected, and we are doing

this while they are mourning the loss of one of their own,” Peters said. Coleman said authorities have screened 140 people for the disease and have another 60 to screen. He said he didn’t believe the outbreak posed a wider risk to the public beyond those who had been in direct contact with the church congregation.

The disease can be contracted by eating food or drinking water handled by somebody who has the disease, or when contaminated sewage comes into contact with drinking water. Symptoms include a high fever, headaches and muscle aches, and constipation or diarrhea. The disease can usually be treated with antibiotics. AP

2nd teen suspect in Facebook assault case turns himself in

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HICAGO—A second teenager suspected in the sexual assault of a Chicago teenager that was streamed live on Facebook turned himself in to the police on Monday afternoon.

Police Spokesman A nthony Guglielmi said the mother of a 15-year-old boy who was being sought on an arrest warrant issued last Sunday brought him to a police station. Guglielmi said the boy would be later brought to a juvenile detention center where a 14 -year-old boy who was arrested in the case over the weekend is being held.

Each teen faces felony counts of criminal sexual assault, manufacturing of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography, Guglielmi said.

The police have not provided details about what exactly happened on March 19 when they said five or six males participated in sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl after she was lured inside a residence by one of the suspects.

But they have said that besides the cell-phone camera that recorded the incident and streamed it live on Facebook, others at the scene also recorded the sexual assault.

The police say they expect other juveniles and an adult to be charged. The police haven’t released the names of any suspects.

Chicago Police Department Supt. Eddie Johnson stands with 10th District officers, as he talks with reporters about charging the first of several juvenile offenders from the March 19 criminal sexual-assault incident broadcast on Facebook, during a news conference on April 2 at the City of Chicago Public Safety headquarters. AP

The police have said the assault was watched live by about 40 viewers, none of whom called authorities to report what was happening. The girl ’s mother later told The Associated Press (AP) that the girl and the family were being taunted online and ridiculed and harassed by children in their neighborhood.

The police say they are investigating the online comments and have executed a number of “socialmedia search warrants”.

The police have moved the girl, whom they describe as “traumatized,” to a home outside the neighborhood. In a brief interview, the girl’s mother said on Monday that her daughter remains at what the

police called the “safe place” and has not returned to school. The AP generally does not identify potential victims of sexual assault and is not identifying the mother so as not to identify the girl. Also on Monday, a juvenile court hearing for the teenager who was arrested over the weekend was postponed until April 28. AP

Immigrant college tuition break gaining support in Tennessee Agency defending work to repair

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ASHVILLE, Tennessee— A push to offer in-state college tuition rates to students whose parents brought them into the country illegally is picking up unlikely momentum from some Republicans in Tennessee, a deeply conservative state that voted overwhelmingly for President Donald J. Trump and his tough stance on immigration.

If the lawmakers succeed, Tennessee would follow the lead of Washington, D.C., the only other local government to pass such an ordinance since Trump took office in January. Twenty other states already allow the in-state tuition.

To sell the idea, the bill’s supporters have had to maneuver carefully, steering the debate away from illegal immigration policy whenever possible.

Instead, they are promoting the measure as an economic driver and an educational opportunity for students who didn’t have a choice about crossing into the United States at a young age. They say the students are innocent victims of decades of political deadlock on immigration at the national level.

“I’m all for building the wall and US sovereignty, closing our borders,” said Rep. Mark White, a Memphis Republican and a bill sponsor. “But we didn’t, and now we’re damaging innocent people.”

At the state Capitol, dozens of students whose parents crossed into the US illegally and brought them along have gone lawmaker to lawmaker to share their personal stories. Republican Gov. Bill Haslam took time to meet and snap photos with them last month, and he has thrown his support behind the bill.

A House and Senate panel each have passed the proposal so far, and another House committee was scheduled to vote on it on Tuesday.

Protecting Tennessee

TWO years ago, when President Barack Obama was still in office, the proposal passed in the Senate and came one vote shy of passing in the House. The Senate may wait for the House to act first this year, Republican Speaker Randy McNally said.

Trump has spoken of mass deportations and building a USMexico border wall. Nonetheless, White is optimistic the Tennessee bill has a chance.

“I’m just tr y ing to protect Tennessee in the long run, because they’re here,” W hite said.

“A nd if anybody thinks that we’re going to send children who grew up here back out of this country, they’re not living in the real world. We need to do

what’s the next best thing, and that’s help them assimilate into our society.”

Accord ing to the Nationa l Conference of State Legislatures, about 20 states offer in-state tuition to students who are either in the United States illegally or here under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects them from deportation for two years and lets them work. A half-dozen or so of those states tilt Republican.

T he Ten nessee leg i sl at ion would apply to students who h av e at t e nd e d a s t at e h i g h school or home-school program for two years.

their counter parts who are US citizens. Yet, they are required to pay three times what other in-state students pay to attend college, he said.

The bill’s opponents are framing their arguments around illegal immigration. The same legislature continues to advance a bill that would cut funding to immigrantprotecting sanctuary cities.

“I don’t think anybody in this room blames [the students],” Rep. Dawn White, a Republican from Murfreesboro, said in a committee meeting. “But, as a representative, I owe the state taxpayers the right to say, ‘Why are we subsidizing illegal students?’”

Not eligible

Real opportunity

EVEN if the bill passes, the students would not qualify for federal financial aid. Nor would they be eligible for state programs that offer students free tuition at community and technical colleges, said Ginger Hausser, director of external affairs for the Tennessee Board of Regents.

S e n . To d d G a r d e n h i r e , a Chattanooga Republican and the bill ’s sponsor in the Senate, notes that the state has already invested in the students by pay ing for t heir K to 12 education, and that some have lived in Tennessee as long as

L I S A Sherman-N ikolaus, Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition policy director, said she is optimistic about the bill’s chances amid support from the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Tennessee Farm Bureau, the governor, and the state Board of Regents, which governs colleges, among others.

“We think that this is a real opportunity to remind people, remind legislators, that even in such a divisive climate we can all come together and agree that educating Tennesseans is important,” Sherman-Nikolaus said. AP

troubled veteran suicide hot line

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ASHINGTON—The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is telling skeptical members of Congress that it has fixed problems with its suicide hot line that were highlighted in a critical recent internal watchdog report.

A March 20 audit by the VA inspector general had found that nearly a third of calls to the Veterans Crisis Line as recently as November were bounced to back-up centers run by an outside contractor. The rollover calls happen when phone lines are busy, leading to possible waits of 30 minutes or more.

I t wa s u nwe l co m e n e w s fo r VA Secretary David Shulkin, who has made suicide prevention a signature issue in the troubled agency, riven with scandal since reports of delays in treatment at veterans hospitals last year.

Approximately veterans take their lives each day. On Tuesday the VA plans to tell the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the most serious issues with the veterans’ crisis hotline have been resolved.

Calls to the Veterans Crisis Line that rolled over to backup centers steadily declined from 31 percent in early November, to just 0.1 percent as of March 25, according to internal VA data submitted to Congress and obtained by The Associated Press.

That came despite growing workloads in which weekly calls to the hot line jumped from 10,558 last November to 13,966 last month, the VA said.

Critical step

AS recently as mid-December, when the IG was finalizing its audit, the share of rollover calls had declined close to the VA’s goal of 10 percent. That figure dropped to less than 1 percent by early January, according to the agency.

The crisis hot line “is the strongest it has been since its inception in 2007,” Steve Young, VA deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management, said in testimony prepared for Tuesday’s hearing.

He described the hotline in recent months as “offering superior access for veterans during their time of need.”

Shulkin, who previously served as VA’s top health official, has also described the issue as resolved. “Fixing the Veterans Crisis Line was a critical step in keeping our commitment to veterans,” he said in a March 21 statement.

VA Inspector General Michael Missal said he cannot confirm the data, but emphasized in prepared testimony that the Veterans Health Administration had not implemented any of the IG’s proposed improvements, dating back to February 2016. The department had previously “concurred” with the report’s March 20 findings. “Until VHA implements fully these recommendations, they will continue to have challenges,” he said. Missal also identified fresh problems, such as inadequate procedures to measure the hot line’s success in thwarting suicide attempts. AP

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Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph

US and Russia clash over US attempt to debate rights at UN S

Blast on Russian subway kills 11; second bomb is defused

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NITED NATIONS—The United States and Russia clashed on Monday over a US attempt to have the Security Council debate human-rights violations as a major cause of conflict for the first time during this month’s American presidency of the UN’s most powerful body.

The council approved April’s agenda without including that debate. But it can still be added if at least nine of the 15 council members vote for it, and US Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters later that the US “fully expects” to hold the debate on April 18.

“If you look at the conflicts we have in the world, they always go back to the human-rights issues on the ground within those countries,” Haley said.

She cited student protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that sparked the more

than six-year war and the selfimmolation of a Tunisian fruit vendor who was harassed by the police and not able to work that sparked nationwide demonstrations as examples.

The Security Council’s mandate is to ensure international peace and security, Haley said, so “it is incumbent” on members to look at how human rights are related to conflict.

Haley stressed that the debate “is not intended to, in any way, call out certain countries or blast them or use this as a ‘gotcha’ game.”

The aim, she said, is to look at human-rights issues that lead to conflict and extremism to try to prevent another Syria or Tunisia.

Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Petr Iliichev took issue with the premise of the proposed debate saying “a general statement that international peace and security are threatened by humanrights violations is not true”.

He also argued that other UN bodies, including the General Assembly and the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, already deal with human rights.

“W hy are we taking everything to the Security Council?,” he asked. “ Then those bodies should be dismantled.”

But Iliichev said Russia will consult with the US on trying to find “a suitable formulation” for a debate “if possible”.

Human-rights monitoring and promotion are part of some UN peacekeeping and political missions, he said, which could be a way of reaching a compromise on the focus of a debate.

China’s UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi, who also reportedly opposed

the broad US proposal, told reporters: “I think we can find a way out.”

The US push for a debate on human rights at the UN comes after the Trump administration sig na led it wou ldn’t publicly criticize Egypt’s human-rights record during President AbdelFattah el-Sissi ’s Monday visit to the White House. It also has played down the public condemnations of Bahrain and other US allies that marked the Obama administration’s tenure.

“I don’t think the administration is backing away from humanrights because they fully support me speaking about human rights in the Security Council,” Haley said.

She said the US prides itself on valuing human rights and “that’s not going to change”. But Haley said that doesn’t mean the administration isn’t going to talk to Egypt, Saudi Arabia or others about its top priority of defeating the Islamic State and other extremist groups. And she said the US will have conversations about human rights, as well, because “that’s what you do with friends”. AP

AINT PETERSBURG, Russ i a — A b omb bl a st tore through a subway train deep under Russia’s second-largest city on Monday, killing 11 people and wounding more than 40 in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform.

Hours later, anguish and fear rose again when the police found and defused a shrapnel-packed explosive device at another Saint Petersburg station.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, wh ic h c a me wh i le P resident Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown. In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of terrorism, usually blamed on Islamic militants.

News repor ts initia l ly said the police were searching for two suspects, and Russian state telev ision showed a photo of one suspect wear ing what appeared to be a sku l lcap character istic of Russia’s Muslim regions. However, the Inter fa x news agency later cited unspecified sources as say ing the police now suspect the blast was the work of a suicide bomber linked to radica l Islamists.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said it was looking for the “perpetrators and organizers of the terror attack ”.

Sa i nt Petersbu rg , a m ajor tourist destination famed for its imperial palaces and lavish art museums, had been spared previous attacks.

“From now on, I will be scared to take the subway,” said Marina Ilyina, 30, who brought flowers to the station where the train stopped after the bombing. “We in Saint Petersburg thought we wouldn’t be touched by that.”

Bleeding, weeping

In this March 22 photo, people ride bicycles of bike-sharing companies Ofo (left) and Mobike past a corner tower of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. As many as 2.2 million of these two-wheelers have been deployed, which are available for rent for as little as $0.7 for half an hour, in the latest symbol of heavy spending in China’s Internet sector, where start-ups are in a race to attract more users to their services. AP

Bicycle-sharing rivalry crowds Beijing sidewalks

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EIJING—The shiny bicycles in bright orange, yellow or blue are everywhere in China’s most prosperous cities, even in places they probably shouldn’t be.

The two-wheelers are unlocked and tracked using smartphone apps and can be rented for as little as $0.7 for half an hour. They are the latest symbol of heavy spending by venture capital firms in China’s Internet sector, where start-ups are racing to attract more users, seemingly regardless of the cost.

Around 2.2 million bicycles have been deployed in China by companies that include Ofo, Mobike and Bluegogo, and are most

2.2M

The number of bicycles deployed in China by companies that include Ofo, Mobike and Bluegogo

frequently used in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, according to Internet analyst Xue Yu at IDC China. In their rivalr y to be market leader in bike-sharing, the companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars and

are offering discounts and free rides to attract more users. It’s unclear if the business model is sustainable or how it might change if a winner emerges.

China was long known as the “bicycle kingdom”, but that moniker has become outdated as more and more Chinese buy cars amid the country’s economic boom.

China overtook the United States in 2009 as the world’s biggest auto market, but authorities have encouraged bicycle use to reduce pollution and congestion.

Shared bicycles are now ubiquitous in Beijing, where Xue estimates more than 200,000 have been deployed.

They’re pedaled on the roads

by commuters getting from subway stops to their workplaces, homes or other destinations. On weekends, tourists use them to wander along traditional alleyways in the city’s historic center, near the Forbidden City.

But as more and more bikes hit the streets, they add to the urban chaos, as riders leave them basically anywhere.

Rush-hour users park them in public-bus lanes, leaving them for street attendants to pick up and move aside. Rows of bikes, some of them toppled, crowd the sidewalks, leaving pedestrians little space to walk.

Vandalism has become common, and repairs can be costly. AP

T H E e x p l o s io n o c c u r r e d i n midafternoon as the train traveled between stations on one of the city’s north-south lines.

The driver chose to continue on to the next stop, Technological Institute, a decision praised by the Investigative Committee as aiding evacuation efforts and reducing the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the death toll was 11, with another 45 people being treated for wounds in hospitals.

Amateur video broadcast by Russian TV showed people lying on the platform of the Technological Institute station, and others bleeding and weeping just after the damaged train pulled in.

“Everything was covered in smoke. There were a lot of firef ighters,” Mar ia Smir nova, a student on a train behind the stricken one, told independent TV station Dozhd.

W it h i n t w o hou r s of t he bl ast, aut hor it ies had fou nd and deactivated another bomb at another busy station, Vosstaniya Square, the antiterror agency said. That station is a major transfer point for passengers on two lines and ser ves the railway station to Moscow.

Suicide bomber

RUSSI A N l aw- enforcement agencies confir med the dev ice was loaded w ith shrapnel, and the Inter fa x news agenc y said it contained up to 1 k ilogram of ex plosives.

Interfax cited an unidentified law-enforcement official saying that investigators think the suspected suicide bomber left the bomb at the Vosstaniya Square station before blowing himself up on the train.

The agency said authorities believe the suspect, a 23-yearold who came from ex-Soviet Central Asia and was linked to radical Islamist groups, carried

the explosive device onto the train in a rucksack.

Asked about the report, Putin Spokesman Dmitr y Peskov wouldn’t comment, saying it’s up to law-enforcement agencies to comment on details of the probe.

T he ent ire Sa int Petersbu rg subway system was shut dow n and evacuated, but par t ia l ser v ice resu med a f ter about si x hou rs.

Sec u r it y w a s i m med i ate ly tightened at all of the country’s key transportation sites, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said. Moscow officials said that included the subway in the Russian capital.

Dismay, determination

PUTIN, who was in a meeting with the president of Belarus at the Constantine Palace on the city’s outskirts, offered condolences on national television.

“Law-enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened,” a somber-looking Putin said.

He later laid flowers outside the Technological Institute station, where the damaged train arrived after the explosion.

Some residents of Saint Petersburg, a city of 5 million, responded with both dismay and determination.

“They won’t succeed in breaking up our country. We are all citizens of one country despite various political views and religious beliefs”, said 24-year-old Alexander Malikov, who brought flowers and candles to an improvised memorial outside one of the stations.

The bombing drew widespread condemnation.

President Donald J. Trump said it was “absolutely a terrible thing”. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the US was prepared to offer assistance to Russia.

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, which is backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces along with Russia, says the incident was the type of “terrorism” Russia was fighting in Syria.

Insurgency links

MOST of the terrorist attacks in Russia have been connected to the insurgency in Chechnya and other Caucasus republics in the southern part of the country.

T he last conf ir med attack was in October 2015 when IS m i l it a nt s dow ned a Ru ssi a n airliner heading from an Eg y ptian resort to Saint Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.

The December 25, 2016, crash of a Russian plane near the southern city of Sochi that killed 92 people, including members of the Red Army Choir, is widely believed to have been due to a bomb, but no official cause has been given.

Two female suicide bombers killed 40 people and wounded more than 100 in the Moscow subw ay on M a rc h 29, 2010.

Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for the attack, warning Russian leaders that “the war is coming to their cities”.

A Moscow-to-Saint Petersburg train was bombed on November 27, 2009, in an attack that left 26 dead and 100 injured. Umarov’s group also said he ordered this attack.

Russian air ports also have b e e n t a r g e t e d . O n Ja nu a r y 24 , 2011, a s u ic id e b omb e r blew himself up at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people and wounding 180. The same air port in August 2004 saw Islamic su icide bombers board two air planes and bring them down, killing a total of 90 people. AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

The World BusinessMirror

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

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Opposition lawmaker Juan Requesens (center) is taken away by his colleagues after being hit in the forehead by supposed government supporters as they protest outside of the Ombudsman’s offices in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 3. AP

Regional group rebukes Venezuelan government

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ARACAS, Venezuela—The Organization of American States on Monday took its strongest measure yet rebuking Venezuela’s slide toward authoritarianism.

Member countries of the regional body said last week’s Supreme Court ruling nullifying the opposition- controlled Co n g r e s s w a s “ i n c o m p a t i b l e w i t h democratic practice”.

That Venezuelan court ruling was overturned after three days following strong international and domestic criticism.

The Organization of American States pledged in a statement to continue making diplomatic efforts to address the situation in the economically embattled South American country.

“There is no denying that there has been an alteration of the constitutional order,” said OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro.

The resolution was adopted after a chaotic session that saw Venezuela’s ambassador, Samuel Moncada, leave in protest. President Nicolas Maduro sharply

criticized the Washington-based OAS, saying it “intends to become an inquisition that persecutes Venezuela”.

Earlier in the day men wielding sticks and rocks attacked a group of Venezuelan opposition lawmakers as they staged a demonstration to demand the removal of the Supreme Court judges who issued the ruling against congress.

The lawmakers were attacked in Caracas by what appeared to be a progovernment group after they released chickens to symbolize cowardice outside the country’s Ombudsman’s office.

Lawmaker Juan Requesens received a sharp blow to the face. Photos showed Requesens bleeding from a wound above his eye.

Last week’s Supreme Court ruling threw the South American country into a political crisis. The decision was reversed on Saturday, but opposition leaders say the judges have to be removed to restore constitutional order in the country. AP

Univ. of California foreign applications drop sharply

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AN FRANCISCO—A new study shows international students applied to the University of California (UC) last year in far fewer numbers than they did over the 12 previous years, and the decline coincides with the election of President Donald J. Trump.

30%

The drop in the number of international student applications from Mexico to the University of California

The dip came after more than a decade in which the number of international applications climbed by an average of 21 percent a year, according to the study by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions.

“The perception is that this administration wants to keep these students out,” said Melanie Gottlieb, the association’s deputy director. Admissions officers repor ted that would-be applicants expressed concerns about “negative rhetoric around the Muslim f a i t h , a n d i m m i g r at i o n c h a n g e s — even before the [aborted] travel ban” involving Muslim-majority countries, Gottlieb told the San Francisco Chronicle.

UC’s application deadline for fall 2017 admissions was on November 30, and Trump was elected last November 8.

Ricardo Vazquez, a spokesman for the University of California Office of the President, said applications for students

as a whole usually flood in during the last three weeks before the deadline. He said there were fewer international applicants last November.

Applications from Mexico plunged by 30 percent. People from countries with large populations of Muslims sent in 10 percent fewer applications, the newspaper said.

The US had just led a multinational invasion of Iraq the previous time foreign undergraduates shied away from UC and other American universities.

The new survey of 261 colleges and universities shows that nearly 40 percent of those schools repor ted a drop in international applications of at least 2 percent, with the greatest decrease from countries in the Middle East.

The US Education Department did not immediately respond to email and phone messages left Monday seeking comment.

While some campuses saw drops in international applications, there were increases at seven UC campuses.

The jump at UC Davis, for example, was 3 percent for next fall, compared with 21 percent for last fall. A similar pattern repeated at the other campuses.

“The UC brand remains very strong among international students,” said Stephen Handel, the university’s associate v i c e p re s i d e n t f o r u n d e rg r a d u a t e admissions, who said he wasn’t sure why international applications dipped this year.

“Of course, the national dialogue [about immigration] is out there,” he said. “Students around the world read the newspaper. But there are other things in play.”

He said price might be a factor. UC recently increased the surcharge paid by out-of-state residents by 5 percent, raising annual tuition for them to $41,964, beginning this summer. AP

US warns companies passing off qualified Americans face probe

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ASHINGTON—The Trump administration issued a stern warning to US companies as they began applying for coveted skilled-worker visas on Monday, cautioning that it would investigate and prosecute employers that overlook qualified American workers for jobs.

The message came on the opening day of applications for American employers seeking visas known as H-1B, which are used mostly by technology companies to bring in programmers and other specialized workers from other countries.

“US workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims,” Tom Wheeler, acting head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

The Obama administration sued companies for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act’s antidiscrimination provisions, including businesses that favored foreigners over US workers. But Monday’s warning in a news release at the start

of the visa process appeared to be a first-of-its kind signal to employers not to put American workers at a disadvantage.

US C it i z e n sh ip a nd I m migration Ser v ices a lso announced that it wou ld step up its rev iews of employers that use H-1B v isas, say ing “too many A mer ican workers who are qualified, willing and deser v ing to work in these fields have been ig nored or unfairly disadvantaged ”.

The statements were the latest indication that even legal immigration will be scrutinized under the Trump administration.

Nothing new

WHILE enforcement of visa abuses is not new, the aggressive position on the H-1B program is a different approach.

White House spokesman Sean

Spicer also addressed the issue at the beginning of his daily press briefing, saying the administration will crack down on businesses that discriminate against US workers by using the visa program to hire foreigners.

Yet, the crackdown comes as no surprise. President Donald J. Trump promised to “end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program”. A draft proposal circulated in Januar y promised to review e x i s t i n g re g u l at io n s , f i nd ways to allocate visas more efficiently and ensure that beneficiaries are “the best and the brightest”.

Trump has yet to issue that order; the enforcement effort announced on Monday could be an interim measure while a broader overhaul is worked out.

The H-1B program is open to a broad range of occupations, including architects, professors and even fashion models.

Companies must affirm that the job requires a specialty skill that cannot be filled by a US worker, but critics say sa feg u a rd s a re wea k. T hey argue the program routinely lets in foreign workers with minimal skills, even though these visas are supposed to be reserved for highly specialized jobs that are difficult to fill with US workers.

Vital program

THE tech industry insists the

H1-B program is vital. Proponents say the program encourages students to stay in the US after getting their degrees in high-tech specialties. He said many of them go on to start companies and hire US workers.

Critics called the announcement and increased enforcement a step toward reform. “ W hile the laws/regs are chock full of major loopholes, the US government hasn’t vigorously enforced them,” longtime critic Ron Hira, a Howard University professor, said in an e-mail. “I suspect that many H-1B dependent firms are not complying with good faith recruiting promises. DHS investigations would help shed light on this.”

The crackdown didn’t surprise the Computing Technolog y Industr y Association, a trade group that represents Apple, Google, Microsoft and other major companies. Critics say that many of the available H-1B spots go to lower-paid foreign workers employed by consulting firms that let US companies contract out their tech departments.

“If it helps preserve the program and frees up more spots for truly exceptional people to cont i nue i n nov at ion i n this country, then it’s a good thing,” said Todd Thibodeaux, the association’s CEO. “And if it squeezes out people out at the bottom, then so be it.” AP

Flood-stricken Colombia city mourns as death toll climbs

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OCOA, Colombia—Lines of people quietly walked the streets, followed by hearses carrying coffins to a cemetery where open graves waited for the next somber burials.

The survivors of the deadly flood that washed through this city in southern Colombia were getting ready on Monday to bury their loved ones after authorities began to release the remains recovered from a disaster that has shaken the country.

Colombian authorities said at least 273 people were killed when rivers surrounding Mocoa overflowed and sent a wall of water and debris surging through the city over the weekend. The death toll was expected to rise since many more were missing and bodies are still being found. Danilo Garzon Garcia, a 22-year-old resident of

the city, had spent the previous day searching with other family members for his younger sister.

They finally found her body at the local hospital, able to recognize her battered remains because of her underwear.

“It is better this way, better to know,” Garzon said, as he walked alongside the car, carrying her body to the cemetery. “At least we know where she is.”

T he Colombi a n R ed C ross says it has received 374 requests for help from families unable to locate loved ones, people whose whereabouts were still unknown three days after the disaster. President Manuel Santos, making his third visit to the remote city in as many days, said 90 percent of the dead had now been identified, and that they would not consider anyone “disappeared” until they

have established the death toll to the extent possible.

Young victims

MUCH of Mocoa was still strewn with rocks, tree limbs and brown muck. Search and rescue teams continued to probe debris piles when someone heard a possible sound of movement. Many in this city of around 40,000 people still seemed in shock from the flood, which poured through the town after a punishing rainfall as people slept late Friday night and early Saturday.

“We do not like to create false expectations but where there is a possibility of life we will do everything possible,” said Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of Colombia’s National Unit of Disaster and Risk Management. Many victims were young like Garzon’s 14-year-old

sister. “She had gone to sleep at a friend’s house. When we got to where the house was, we didn’t find anyone,” he said.

As he walked calmly in the funeral procession, his mother sobbed and screamed in grief: “Leidy! What did you leave me?

Leidy, my girl.” Her son then put his arm around her as they made their way to the cemetery.

Santos and other of f icia ls pledged both emergency relief, and that Mocoa would be rebuilt, including a new water system to replace the one damaged in the flood and new homes for those in the 17 neighborhoods hit hardest by the surging water. He said he had spoken by phone with US President Donald J. Trump, who promised assistance, as have other nations, including China and Venezuela. AP

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Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The World BusinessMirror

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Investigators: Mexico sewages spew size remains a mystery

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AN DIEGO—A binational commission said on Monday that it couldn’t determine how much sewage spilled into the southwestern corner of the United States from Mexico from aging infrastructure in the border city of Tijuana.

28M The total gallons spilled from February 1 to 4 during a repair to Tijuana’s sewage system, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission

T he I nter n at ion a l B ou ndary and Water Commission said Mexican authorities reported 28 million gallons spilled from February 1 to 4 during a repair to Tijuana’s sewage system, far less than 143 million gallons initially reported. But the report found that an unknown additional amount of sewage spilled from other sources, such as blocked or collapsed pipes in Tijuana and sewage overf low during heavy rains.

“It is difficult to determine the exact flow since it was not directly measured,” according to

the commission, which addresses border disputes over water and other issues.

The report said investigators couldn’t pinpoint the source of foul orders that infuriated residents of the city of Imperial Beach and other San Diego suburbs throughout most of February and caused beaches to close.

The commission said the episode highlighted the need for better communications between local officials on both sides of the border, better data collection and for improvements to Tijuana’s sewage system.

Under an 1848 treaty, the Tijuana River crosses the US for a few miles through a valley before flowing into the ocean. During high tides and when sewage is heavy, residents say foul-smelling water fills an estuary.

Cross-border sewage has long been a sore topic in Imperial Beach, a city of about 30,000 that draws surfers and families looking for relatively affordable homes near the beach. Spills of more than 10 million gallons (38 million liters) a day were common.

A US plant that was completed in the 1990s—combined with improvements to Tijuana’s system—a llev iated the problem, but the latest spill was a reminder that infrastructure is woefully inadequate. Spills of 1 million gallons or more are still considered routine. AP

In this June 13, 2013, file photo, hands from Daniel Zambrano of Tijuana, Mexico, hold on to the bars that make up the border wall separating the US and Mexico as the border meets the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. One potential bidder on President Donald J. Trump’s border wall with Mexico wanted to know if the government would help if its workers came under “hostile attack”. AP

Mexico border wall contractors prepare for hostile environment

S

AN DIEGO—One potential bidder on President Donald J. Trump’s border wall with Mexico wanted to know if authorities would rush to help if workers came under “hostile attack”. Another asked if employees can carry firearms in states with strict gun-control laws and if the government would indemnify them for using deadly force.

With bids due on Tuesday on the first design contracts, interested companies are preparing for the worst if they get the potentially lucrative job.

A US official with knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details haven’t been made public said four to 10 bidders are expected to be chosen to build prototypes.

They will be constructed on a roughly quarter-mile strip of federally owned land in San Diego within 120 feet of the border, though a final decision has not been made on the precise spot, the official said. The government anticipates spending $200,000 to $500,000 on each prototype.

The Border Patrol and local police would establish a buffer zone around the construction site if necessary, the US official said.

The San Diego police and sheriff ’s departments said on Monday they will respect constitutional rights to free speech and assembly for any peaceful, law-abiding protesters.

Enrique Morones, executive director of Border Angels, said his group plans to protest.

“There will be a lot of different activity—protests, prayer vigils—on both sides of the wall,” said Morones, whose immigrant advocacy group is based in San Diego. “We pray and hope that they’re peaceful.”

Outspoken critics

MICHAEL Evangelista-Ysasaga, chief executive of The Penna Group Llc., a general contractor in Fort Worth, Texas, said he has received about a dozen death threats since publicly expressing interest in bidding, including one from a woman who told him she hired a private investigator to trail him.

Evangelista-Ysasaga said he bid in part because he wants broad immigration reform. Securing the border, he said, is a prerequisite for granting a path to citizenship to millions in the US illegally.

“We didn’t enter this lightly,” he said. “We looked at it and said we have to be a productive part of the solution.”

Building a wall on the Mexican border was a cornerstone of Trump’s presidential campaign and a flashpoint for his detractors. T he mu lt ibi l l ion- dol l a r project along the 2,000-mile border has many outspoken critics, including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico, which said last week that Mexican companies expressing interest were betraying their country.

US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that it would pick multiple contractors to build prototypes by around June 1 and will name only the winning bidders. The agency said last month the prototypes should be about 30 feet long and 18 feet to 30 feet high.

The winning bidders must submit a security plan with details

including “‘fall back positions, evacuation routines and methods, muster area, medical staff members/availability, number of security personnel, qualifications, years of experience, etc. in the event of a hostile attack,” according to the solicitation. A chain-link fence with barbed wire around the construction site is required. The agency said it won’t provide security.

Bidders are also asked to demonstrate experience “executing high-profile, high-visibility and politically contentious” projects.

Fairly accustomed

THE agency, responding to questions from companies on a website for government contractors, said the Border Patrol would respond as needed if there is a hostile attack, but companies were responsible for security. The government won’t allow waivers from state gun laws or indemnify companies whose workers use deadly force.

The web site for contractors lists more than 200 companies that signed up for email notifications on the design contract but it’s unclear how many of those will apply. Bidders must have done border security or similar projects worth $25 million in the past five years to qualify.

Ronald Colburn, Border Patrol deputy chief when hundreds of miles of fences were built under President George W. Bush’s administration, said companies should plan on training workers to know when to seek cover and stay put and when to retreat.

“Most of those organizations are probably fairly accustomed to that,” said Colburn, who retired in 2009. “Some of them may be learning for the first time, that kind of risk at the borders.” AP

Tumbling sales dragged down US auto market in March

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E T R O I T— Pa s s e n g e r - c a r s a l e s plummeted again in March, dragging US auto sales to their third straight monthly decline, a strong indication that years of sales growth have come to an end.

Sales for the month fell 1.6 percent to just over 1.55 million vehicles, surprising analysts who expected a small increase.

For now, anyway, the auto industry isn’t worried. It’s making solid money selling reams of SUVs and trucks to co n s u m e r s w h o a re l o a d i n g u p o n expensive features. But some analysts see large inventories of cars as a looming problem. Car sales were down almost 11 percent, while truck and sport-utility vehicle (SUV) sales rose 5.2 percent, according to Autodata Corp.

“Trucks and SUVs, although they did well, it’s still hard to make up the lack of car sales,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of industr y analysis for the Edmunds.com car-buying web site. “You can’t have the other side of the industry completely not performing well.”

Record incentives

HYUNDAI suffered the biggest decline at 8 percent, followed by Ford at 7.5 percent, as popular car models such as the Sonata and Fusion suffered big decreases. Fiat

Chrysler sales tumbled 5 percent, Toyota fell 2 percent and Honda just under 1 percent. But Nissan sales rose over 3 percent, Volkswagen’s gained just under 3 percent and GM posted an increase of just under 2 percent, all helped by SUV sales.

Drawing in buyers required a lot of cash, low-interest loans and other incentives, however. Dealer stocks are growing because cars and trucks aren’t moving off the lots as fast as they did in the past.

The LMC Automotive consulting firm said incentives hit a March record, averaging $3,768 per vehicle and the highest amount since March of 2009. In addition, cars and trucks are sitting on dealer lots for an average of 70 days, the highest level for any month since July of 2009 during the sharp economic downturn.

Revenue up

CALDWELL predicts this year’s sales will drop to 17.2 million, still strong but down from last year’s record of 17.55 million. Through March, overall sales were down 1.5 percent.

If automakers can’t reduce inventories, they’ll have to offer even more incentives, which will reduce industry profits. Even some truck and SUV inventories are starting to climb, she said.

Since vehicle values could fall if demand falters, that could mean an end to sweet lease deals for consumers, she said. That could mean lower sales, production cuts and a drag on the economy in a worst-case scenario, she said.

Yet, even at Ford, which saw a 24-percent decline in car sales, executives were happy, largely because of a 10- percent increase in sales of the F-Series pickup.

Vice President of Sales Mark LaNeve said buyers are loading out the trucks with premium options, boosting average sale prices by $2,500 over a year ago. “[Sport] utilities and trucks are trucks are very positive in terms of our economics,” he said. “If you think about it, it means revenue is up.”

Ford’s numbers were reflected in industry figures. LMC says average prices rose to $31,074, beating the previous March high of $31,049 set last year.

Dealers concede inventories are on the rise, but Mark Scarpelli, owner of Chevrolet, Kia and Fiat Chrysler dealers north of Chicago, said he considers it a normal part of the business cycle.

In the Midwest, Scarpelli said, dealers build inventor y during cold-weather months in preparation for spring and summer selling seasons. AP

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Wednesday, April 5, 2017

World’s largest halal event to showcase PHL products

By Kathleen Joyce D. Bondoc

Office of the Undersecretary for Industry Promotion Group Department of Trade and Industry

T

HE Philippines, through the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC)Kuala Lumpur, is set to take part in the Malaysia International Halal Showcase (Mihas) 2017 from April 5 to 8 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

After years of absence at Mihas, the Philippines is back with 30 Philippine companies that will showcase halal-certified products at the Philippine Pavilion. Joining the business delegation are 27 food manufacturers and three

from the nonfood sector.

Products to be showcased include food and beverage, processed meats and snacks and cosmetics and personal care. With its Philippine export industry development program, the Philippines’s

participation at this trade show is the biggest to date.

“The Philippines takes this opportunity to introduce itself as a major supplier of halal-compliant products to the world. We are here to take part in the global halal initiative and to bring about innovative products that will complement the global halal ecosystem.

The Philippines brings together the strong collaboration of halal stakeholders in the Philippines with the deliberate approach under the recently passed Philippine Halal Export Promotion and Development Law [Republic Act 10817],” said Senen M. Perlada, DTI-EMB director.

The PTIC–Kuala Lumpur also expressed confidence in the success of the Philippines’s participation, especially with the keen interest shown by businessmen in Malaysia to visit the Philippine Pavilion and meet the company representatives.

“We have gained recognition in the industry with businesses and business organizations, culinary schools, hotels, food manufacturers and wholesalers alike, ex pressing excitement to see what the Philippines can offer in terms of halal,” PTIC Kuala Lumpur Commercial Attaché Katrina Banzon said.

Mihas is considered the world’s largest halal event. It offers networking and business proposition for halal exhibitors and buyers.

Mihas records showed it welcomed over 22,000 trade visitors from more than 70 countries and generated record sales beyond RM1 billion for 600 exhibitors.

Mihas is hosted by Malaysian Ministry International Trade and Industry, organized by Malaysia External Trade Development Corp. in association with Halal Industry Development Corp. and the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia.

DTI-EMB pushes promotion of PHL construction services

By Gliceria N. Cademia

Trade and Industry Development Specialist Services Division, DTI-EMB

Part One

T

HE Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) conducted on March 24, an information session and consultative meeting with the construction services sector.

The information session and consultative meeting was held at the DTI-International Building, Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue, Makati City.

The EMB is under the Trade and Investments Promotion Group (TIPG), which handles the development and promotion of exports.

The meeting and info session was participated in by the DCCD Engineering Corp., Whessoe Philippines Construction Inc., the Performance Builders and Developers Corp., the Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corp., Thermaprime Drilling Corp., the Hedron Construction and Development Corp., the Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co. of Manila Inc., the Philippine Construction Accreditation Board (PCAB), the Philippine Overseas Construction Board (POCB) and Services Division staff of EMB. The participants were apprised on topics such as trade in services (TIS) in the light of the Asean integration, EMB services, the Regional Interactive Platform for Philippine Exporters, Tradeline Philippines and on an outbound business-matching mission to Dubai.

Trade in services in light of the Asean

MARIA Teresa Loring, chief of the

PARTICIPANTS to the information session and consultative meeting conducted by the Export Marketing Bureau of the Department of Trade and Industry on March 24 are (first row, from left) Juliet Ternate, Philippine Overseas Construction Board (POCB); Maria Teresa Loring, Services Division (SD)Export Marketing Bureau (EMB); Rosemarie del Rosario, Senior Trade and Industry Development Specialist (STIDS)-POCB; Carolina Saunar, Supervising STIDS-Philippine Construction Accreditation Board (PCAB); Rosalie Igay, POCB; (second row, from left) Joel Mendez, Thermaprime Drilling Corp.; Maribel Pabia, Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Co. of Manila Inc. (AG&P); Erlene Cruz, Whessoe Philippine Construction Inc.; Lulu Mabborang, RD Interior Junior Construction; Corazon Cabalza, DCCD Engineering Corp.; Louieji Anne Lim, Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corp. (Miescor); Kathleen Joy Falceso, Miescor; Gliceria Cademia, SD-EMB; Maria Luz Medialdia, SD-EMB; (third row, from left) Vicente Bautista, Whessoe Philippine Construction Inc.; Alan Astorga, Thermaprime Drilling Corp.; Daniel Jaen, AG&P; Gilbert Rondilla, Hedron Construction and Development Corp.; Alex Pulido, Hedron Construction and Development Corp.; Trevor Caezar Hallarces, Miescor; and Rhys Jason Manapat, SD-EMB.

EMB Services Division, differentiated services from TIS and trade in goods as an export commodity. Service is the performance of any duty or work for a business stakeholder or industry counterpart, while TIS refers to the sale and delivery of an intangible product, called a service, by a producer to a consumer.

TIS that takes place between a producer and consumer based in different countries or economies is called international TIS. Before, the international community focused only on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

(GATT) in goods, but with globalization, there is now the so-called General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

Service exporting is different from product exporting, where a product is shipped out of the country. In construction, the design or drawing sent through e-mail abroad qualifies as a service export. Loring discussed four modes of supply in services: cross-border supply, which includes any goods or services being transmitted online; consumption abroad, which includes foreign students studying in the

Philippines and tourist and foreigners awaiting services in the country; commercial presence, which involves investment in another country and establishing a satellite office or marketing office anywhere in the world; and movement of natural persons, which includes people doing a certain activity for a specific period in a company based in another country.

At present, the Philippines is the world’s leading information-technology-business-process management (IT-BMP) provider, specifically voice-centric activities. To be continued

A9

PHL participation at Mihas 2017: Coming-out party of local halal industry

By Rosa Katrina Banzon Philippine Trade and Investment Center - Kuala Lumpur

MARKET DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

A

FTER years of absence at the Malaysia International Halal Showcase (Mihas), the Philippines is back and bigger than ever. From April 5 to 8, 30 companies from the Philippines will be showcasing their halalcertified products at the Philippine Pavilion.

The business delegation include 27 companies from the food sector and three from the nonfood group.

Both the product selection and the companies represented are varied: They come from food and beverage, cosmetics and personal care and processed meats and snacks to United States Department of Agriculture Organic-certified coconut-based products, and from San Miguel Corp. to small and medium enterprises. To date, this will be the Philippines’s biggest participation in Mihas.

Senen M. Perlada, director of the Export Marketing Bureau, has been quoted as saying, “This will be the coming out party of the Philippine halal industry.”

Recent developments are supportive of the whole halal ecosystem, most especially the passing into law of Republic Act 10817, the “Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Act of 2016”.

Another significant development is the groundbreaking of the 100 hectares Zamboanga Ecozone Halal Hub (Asian Halal Centre) in October last year, which is envisioned as “an integrated development initiative to make the site a showcase piece for the latest halal-classified products and processes as facilitated by a community of halal-oriented business enterprises, and where these enterprises are provided with the needed infrastructure and service support” (ZFA, 2016). These, plus more developments and opportunities in the Philippine halal industry will be presented at 4 p.m. on April 5, during Mihas 2017 at the Industry Zone by Undersecretary Ranibai Dilangalen of

the Department of Agriculture.

The undersecretary, likewise, sits as a member of the Philippine Halal Board.

The Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Kuala Lumpur has expressed confidence in the success of the Philippines’s participation, especially with the keen interest shown by businessmen in Malaysia to visit the Philippine Pavilion and meet the companies.

Businesses and business organizations, culinary schools, hotels, food manufacturers and wholesalers alike are all excited to see what the Philippines can offer in terms of halal. Unique products with perfect value proposition for the halal market are what we are looking for. We believe we have found it in Fisherfarms Inc. Fisherfarms is the pioneering and leading aquaculture food processor and largest supplier of farm-raised seafood in the Philippines. Its standout products include fish sausages and nuggets—perfect for the halal and health-conscious market.

Currently, it can be found in supermarkets and groceries, fastfood chains, restaurants and hotels in the US, Canada, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe.

Very soon, Malaysian consumers will be able to enjoy Fisherfarms products.

Mihas is the “world’s largest halal event. Set against the backdrop of the world’s No. 1 halal economy, it offers an unbeatable networking and business proposition” for halal exhibitors and buyers alike.

Statistics showed that in 2016, “Mihas welcomed over 22,000 trade visitors from more than 70 countries and generated record sales beyond RM1 billion for 600 exhibitors.” Mihas is hosted by MITI, organized by MATRADE, and in association with HDC and JAKIM. On behalf of the Philippine official and business delegation to Mihas, we invite everyone to visit the Philippine Pavilion at Mihas 2017.

upcoming events Compiled by Louise Kaye G. Mendoza DTI-EMB Knowledge Processing Division

APRIL 5

Time: 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Event: Ideaspace’s How to Manage your Tech team Venue: QBO Innovation Hub, G/F, DTI International Building,

375 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City

april 5-6

Event: First Philippine Impact Sourcing Conference To be attended by DC Victorino Soriano and DC Ma. Teresa Loring Venue: Royal Mandaya Hotel, Davao City

FILIPINO WOMEN IN GLOBAL BUSINESS

Myrna Bituin of JB Woodcraft Inc.

By Abigael Mei Yaokana Office of the Director, DTI-EMB

W

ITH just a capital of P10,000, Myrna Bituin and her husband Jose founded JB Woodcraft Inc. in 1972. Their first products were monkey-pod items, which they sold at souvenir shops in Subic, Zambales; Angeles City; Mabini, Manila; Paete, Laguna; and Baguio City.

“My husband grew up in Betis, where almost everyone was either a carpenter, carver, sculptor, or varnisher. His father is also a craftsman,” she said.

The couple ventured into furniture making with Subic- and Clark-based US servicemen as their first clients.

The company grew over the years, both

in the export and domestic markets, and now counts the Malaysian royal family as among their clients.

Being in the high-end market, satisfying their clients’ requirements even to the smallest detail is very important.

“Furniture is not only about technology; it is also about the details and the passion of the workers that are part of the furniture being produced,” she said.

Bituin also credits the importance of teaming up with her husband.

“He has the mastery of wood crafting while I take care of the details and keeping the workers together as one family,” she said.

“The challenge of being in the furniture industry is the pricing, especially when China, Vietnam and Indonesia

became our active competitors,” Bituin said. “We have to make sure the quality of our products stand out so our prices can still be competitive.”

“JB products are always mistaken as a product of Italy,” she said.

The Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau has assisted JB Woodcraft since 1986, when the company joined an exhibition in High Point, North Carolina, where their products were officially introduced to the foreign market.

“It was a very good project because it started from product development to assistance in manufacturing to marketing the products in the US,” she said.

The clients gained from this project are still their clients and are also buying from

their sister company, Betis Crafts Inc. To date, they have four companies with the basic objective of complementation and specialization of their products. Bituin also takes pride in the respect shown by their workers, whom they consider their family.

Managing a multiawarded and worldclass furniture company, Bituin considers their greatest achievements “are not the trophies we receive, but the graduation diploma of my workers’ children and the simple housing projects for our retirees”.

Bituin counts passion as the main ingredient for the success of their brand. She also notes that women in the marketing industry are “more persuasive and can push more for orders” and they are very “keen about the smallest details”.

A10 Wednesday, April 5, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Nontariff barriers hurt PHL exports

T

he Philippines is increasingly relying on the export market to prop up its GDP and hike per-capita income. For the longest time, the country has relied on electronic products as our top exports, accounting for nearly 30 percent of shipments at any given time. Apart from electronics, the Philippines also exports fresh farm products and processed food, such as pineapples, bananas and canned fruits. As demand for electronics in traditional markets, such as Europe and the United States, started to weaken due to the slowdown in their respective economies, the Philippine government has declared that it is keen on expanding shipments of agricultural products to increase the income of farmers.

Tariffs paid by Filipino exporters would depend on the trade arrangement with importing countries. In the case of the European Union’s Generalized System of Preference Plus scheme, many Philippine-made products enjoy zero duty. Under the Asean Free Trade Area, more than 99 percent of products for export from six Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, have preferential zero-percent to 5-percent tariff rates.

But, apart from the tariffs, exporting countries would have to comply with various nontariff barriers (NTBs) imposed by importers. On its web site, the South African Development Community (SADC) defined NTBs as restrictions that result from prohibitions, conditions, or specific market requirements that make importation or export of products difficult and/ or costly. SADC said NTBs also include unjustified and/or improper application of nontariff measures (NTMs), such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and other technical barriers to trade.

According to SADC, “NTBs arise from different measures taken by governments and authorities in the form of government laws, regulations, policies, conditions, restrictions or specific requirements, and private-sector business practices, or prohibitions that protect the domestic industries from foreign competition.”

The Philippines knows these NTBs well, as it had to deal with rules that prevented exporters from expanding their shipments many times in the past. For one, the Australian market remains closed to Philippine banana exporters for more than a decade now because of the stringent SPS requirements imposed

by Canberra.

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) said in 2011 it has difficulty complying with two requirements: Bananas for export should have eight leaves prior to harvest and that nonperforated plastic bags should be used to pack the products. PBGEA had explained to Canberra that farmers do not use nonperforated plastic bags due to the effects of the tropical weather on the ripening and quality of the fruit. The stringent pesticide levels imposed by Japan also caused shipments of Philippine okra to decline in 2002 and 2008.

Unfortunately, the applications of these NTBs are not as predictable as the payment of duties. For instance, banana exporters were taken aback when Chinese authorities destroyed their shipments in March 2016 purportedly because the fruits contained pests. Filipino producers were asked by Beijing to put in place measures to ensure the quality of bananas for export. The destruction of their shipments and the need to comply with Beijing’s requirement have certainly increased the operating cost of Filipino exporters. While there are remedies available at the World Trade Organization, such as the dispute-settlement mechanism, these are time-consuming and costly for the Philippine government.

Unless the Duterte administration is serious in its pursuit to put up a dedicated office that would oversee matters related to trade and set aside money for it, Filipino exporters would always have to say a silent prayer that their shipments would not be withheld in foreign ports.

Since 2005

The winner all the time Teddy Locsin Jr.

Free fire Continued from A1

T

he government today explains the failure of the peace talks by saying the people it was talking to had no command and control of the militants on the ground. Indeed, decades in prison had cut off any influence they exercised. But that is the essence of the communist cell structure. Once arrested, you are cut off. If Lenin was in prison, the Bolshevik revolution would not have happened if he talked peace with the czar and made the undertaking to bring along his comrades still at large. He would be able to talk only for himself.

In one of the enlightening talks held weekly by an exclusive club of Museum Volunteers, the lecturer explained that the communist leadership stayed inclined, even after the

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the mass killing of communist militants—the only effective resistance to the Japanese. Still, the communist leadership insisted on keeping up the front.

It was the militants on the ground that finally went to war with the US and its Philippine puppet government. But while the bottom defied, the top the surrender—some say defection of the communist leadership—nonetheless, ended the first communist insurgency under President Ramon Magsaysay. By the way,

the Central Intelligence Agency role there is overrated.

When a movement loses its public face it becomes faceless. Government can dismiss and destroy it as a nuisance, no longer a political force and just a criminal element.

The big mistake in the recent talks was the failure to free all political prisoners unconditionally at the start. Otherwise, you are holding peace talks with hostages, and that is shabby from the start. Government knew it would be talking to people whose long detention had lost them command and control on the ground.

Cory’s first act was to release all political prisoners. Ramos’s first act: to legalize the Communist Party. No conditions. After that, whatever the results of the talks, the government already achieved moral ascendancy over the other side.

The aim of peace talks is peace. But over and above that, it is to establish which side is in the right. And that is the side that walked the extra mile.

How China can become a true climate leader

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business Publisher

defeat of Japan, to keep up the United Front with the United States and the Commonwealth government. The US Army’s first order of business after the liberation of our country was

The government today explains the failure of the peace talks by saying the people it was talking to had no command and control of the militants on the ground.

Indeed, decades in prison had cut off any influence they exercised.

But that is the essence of the communist cell structure. Once arrested, you are cut off.

O

ne of the world’s largest reserves of low-grade, dirty coal is roughly 250 miles west of Karachi, Pakistan, in the Thar Desert. Discovered in the 1990s, it remained largely untapped until last year, when Chinese financing underwrote a $3.5billion project to exploit it. The investment is part of a larger Chinese energy plan for Pakistan that includes seven new coal plants. By 2020, if everything goes as planned, Pakistan will derive 24 percent of its power from coal, up from 0.1 percent today.

And Pakistan is hardly alone. In fact, China is the world’s single-largest exporter of coal-related financing and equipment, especially to developing countries. Between 2001 and 2016, Chinese financial institutions backed more than 50 coal-fired power plants abroad; as of last September, Chinese companies were involved in at least 79 additional coal-fired generation projects. Collectively, those projects will generate more power than all the coal plants that the US plans to take offline by 2020.

The subject is unlikely to come up when Chinese President Xi Jinping meets President Donald J. Trump in Florida later this week. Yet, as the US retreats from its climate commitments, the world is looking to China to lead the fight against global warming. The country deserves cautious praise for cleaning up and slowing the production and use of coal at

home. It should strive to be equally responsible abroad.

China has good reason to export coal technologies and equipment.

Developing countries in which China has varied interests, ranging from raw materials to manufacturing, are in search of cheap power, and coal usually fits the bill. Meanwhile, a slowing economy and antipollution measures have reduced demand for new coal projects at home. So China’s energy giants have to look abroad for growth.

China’s state-run lending institutions—in particular, China Development Bank Corp. and the ExportImport Bank of China—are happy to help. According to one recent study, two out of three overseas power projects supported by Chinese development banks between 2007 and 2014 were coal-related. By contrast, 96 percent of the World Bank’s power-

China has good reason to export coal technologies and equipment. Developing countries in which China has varied interests, ranging from raw materials to manufacturing, are in search of cheap power, and coal usually fits the bill. Meanwhile, a slowing economy and antipollution measures have reduced demand for new coal projects at home.

So China’s energy giants have to look abroad for growth.

sector financing over the same period supported renewable-energy projects, not including hydropower.

The impact is significant. Chinesebuilt coal plants constructed overseas between 2001 and 2015 were responsible for the equivalent of around 11 percent of total US emissions in 2015—a sizable amount, considering the US’s status as the world’s secondlargest CO2 emitter after China.

This puts an added burden of responsibility on China to minimize the environmental impact of its projects. Unfortunately, of the plants it built between 2001 and 2016, nearly 60 percent used “sub-critical” technologies that are inefficient and highly polluting. While the rest were modern “super-critical” plants that operate more efficiently, even those only manage to emit 10 percent to 20 percent fewer greenhouse gases than their older counterparts. Newer technologies can reduce emissions by as much as 30 percent.

Of course, China isn’t solely to blame for the promotion of coal. Between 2007 and 2015, G20 nations financed $76 billion worth of overseas coal projects—two-thirds sponsored by other countries. And the fact remains that developing nations need power. Given cost pressures, coal will have to fill a good chunk of that demand for the foreseeable future.

But in 2015, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations at least agreed to restrict overseas coal financing to the cleanest technologies, except in the most impoverished nations. Chinese leaders made a vague pledge to support low-carbon technologies internationally as part of a landmark 2015 climate-change agreement with the US. Yet, they may be wondering what obligation they have to keep that promise now—especially since the OECD has largely abandoned the international coalfinancing market to them.

If China wants to be taken seriously as a leader in the battle against climate change, it’ll resist the urge to renege. Indeed, it should follow the OECD’s lead and commit to supporting only the most advanced and environmentally responsible coal projects abroad, as well as at home.

At the same time, it should devote more resources to financing renewable-energy facilities in the developing world. In Pakistan, for example, it’s supporting modest solar- and wind-farm projects alongside its coal investments. Chinese money and expertise is much needed in these countries. It should be spent wisely.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

‘Chilling signals’ from PDIC

The Principles for Sustainable Insurance Atty. Dennis B. Funa

INSURANCE FORUM

Michael Makabenta Alunan

on the contrary

H

ere is a case with far-reaching repercussions involving the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), which allegedly took over the Unitrust Development Bank (UDB) without sufficient legal basis. Here’s the worst part: PDIC officials allegedly started dipping their hands into the bank’s coffers after the takeover, thus sending chilling signals to other banks.

On December 28, 2001, UDB suffered liquidity, or cash-flow problems, which is common in varying degrees among banks. By January 24, 2002, PDIC senior officials Bernadette Sanchez, lawyer Ma. Antonnette Brilliantes Bolivar and lawyer Gilroy Billones declared UDB “insolvent”, meaning assets were much less than liabilities, former UDB Chairman Francisco Yuseco Jr. says.

Ironically, PDIC itself issued a few days later, on January 31, 2002, a “Statement of Condition of UDB” showing its robust and healthy net capital at P153.35 million, meaning it was still solvent.

Republic Acts 265 and 7653 require a report made in 90 days to establish insolvency; but after 15 years, no official report has been made on UDB’s case. If solvent, PDIC and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas are mandated to bring UDB back on its feet through emergency loans; but if insolvent, its remaining assets can be sold to pay off depositors.

Even before the insolvency issue was resolved supposedly within 90 days, PDIC issued in April 2002 a resolution awarding UDB to Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom), but needed over 67.5-percent consent of UDB’s shareholders.

Yuseco said he refused the buyout, claiming “PBCom itself was suffering from massive capital deficiency and illiquidity”.

“Luckily, concerned PDIC staff discreetly furnished us with UDB’s financial records, with its net capital of P153.39 million, proving its state of solvency,” he added.

While PDIC clamped down unfairly on UDB, it extended an unprecedented and unsecured loan of P7.6-billion loan in 2002 to the capital deficient and illiquid PBCom, which could not have paid it and meant losses for the government if Lucio Co of Puregold had not come in as an angel investor in 2014.

PDIC rip-off continues? Crippling UDB down on its knees was not enough as PDIC milked it of P41 million as of 2014, of which 83.33 percent went to salaries and bonuses.

Officials allegedly also tried to pay themselves surplus dividends amounting to P116 million.

These continued rip-offs proved that UDB still had assets and was not insolvent. By 2002, all major depositors were paid P110 million. Another P88 million was earmarked for uninsured deposits, mostly in small

change, were ready for settlement, but only 33 percent have claimed after 15 years. And yet, PDIC kept the bank closed, and neither issued receipts and details on the illegal deductions. PDIC is supposed to preserve the bank’s assets, and not ransack it.

Theft happens when somebody steals without your knowledge.

Qualified theft, when an entrusted person steals from you; and robbery, when something is forcibly taken from you. This case is tantamount to a qualified theft and a robbery.

Court flip-flops. UDB easily won the case in the lower court, but the Court of Appeals reversed this decision by allowing PDIC to change its “legal theory”, claiming “UDB was liquidated not for insolvency, but for mere illiquidity”.

Under the “Rules of Court”, a court cannot use another legal theory to render a contrary decision.

The case filed was for insolvency, but because PDIC could not prove insolvency, it changed its justification for the takeover by using “lack of liquidity”.

By law, the courts could not rule on liquidity if the case was on solvency. And even if UDB was illiquid, there is no law allowing liquidation on mere illiquidity.

Elevated to the Supreme Court, the case flip-flopped from a dismissal of UBD’s “Petition for a Review” on a mere technicality, to a reversal in positions, requiring the resolution on five issues, including the perjury of PDIC officials for lying on the solvency issue.

‘Heads will roll’ with reforms.

To know the entire truth, the best solution is for PDIC to show all UDB records in compliance with President Duterte’s freedom of information order.

PDIC has refused to open up those records because those accused are the same people tasked to investigate the case. That is the crux of the matter, when the perceived crooks are tasked to clean up their mess, expect them to figuratively just sweep the dirt under the rug.

But with cases now filed with the Ombudsman, and Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III replacing PDIC President Cristina Orbeta with Roberto Tan, formerly national treasurer, radical reforms are imminent and heads are expected to roll.

E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com

T

he Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) was developed by the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). It was launched at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Summit) in June 2012, or two decades after the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. The launch event was cohosted by the International Insurance Society and the Brazilian Insurance Confederation. Also known as the PSI Initiative, it is the largest collaborative initiative between the UN and the insurance industry. As of July 2015, 83 organizations have adopted the principles, including insurers representing approximately 20 percent of world premium volume.

The principles are a framework for the global insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities. It is a movement to build a green economy. It provides “a global road map to develop and expand the innovative risk management and insurance solutions that we need to promote renewable energy, clean water, food security, sustainable cities and disaster-resilient communities”. It is a recognition that the world is facing increasing ESG challenges.

MAIL

Below are the responses of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to issues raised in the open letter to President Duterte, entitled “Is Bases Conversion Development Authority a legitimate land developer or systematic land-grabber?” published in the

The UNEP FI conducted research studies from 2006 to 2009 to develop the principles. The insurance industry was extensively consulted.

Sustainable insurance has been defined as “a strategic approach where all activities in the insurance value chain, including interactions with stakeholders, are done in a responsible and forward-looking way by identifying, assessing, managing and monitoring risks and opportunities associated with environmental, social and governance issues. Sustainable insurance aims to reduce

risk, develop innovative solutions, improve business performance and contribute to environmental, social and economic sustainability.”

Under the PSI, insurers joining this global initiative will integrate ESG issues into a company’s management and operations. This will raise awareness of ESG issues.

The four principles are: First: “We will embed in our decision-making environmental, social and governance issues relevant to our insurance business.”

Second: “We will work together with our clients and business partners to raise awareness of environmental, social and governance issues, manage risk and develop solutions.”

Third: “We will work together with governments, regulators and other key stakeholders to promote widespread action across society on environmental, social and governance issues.”

Fourth: “We will demonstrate accountability and transparency in regularly disclosing publicly our progress in implementing the principles.”

To illustrate the implementation of the PSI, under the first principle, the company strategy should “establish a company strategy at the board and executive management levels to identify, assess, manage and monitor ESG issues in

business operations”; “dialogue with company owners on the relevance of ESG issues to company strategy”; and “integrate ESG issues into recruitment, training and employee-engagement programs.”

The principles are not legally binding and, therefore, not legally enforceable. They are, instead, voluntary and aspirational. The principles are supported and implemented by signatory organizations. To be a signatory, an organization must agree to participate in the annual public disclosure process and the payment of annual fees. Currently (2017), there is only one signatory from the Philippines. It is the National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines, represented by its CEO, Augusto P. Hidalgo.

The PSI Initiative is governed by a Board comprised of representatives from the insurance industry and the UNEP, which occupies a permanent Board seat. Currently, the secretariat program leader of the UNEP FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative is a Filipino in the person of Mr. Butch Bacani, and based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Atty. Dennis B. Funa is the current insurance commissioner. Atty. Funa was appointed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte as the new insurance commissioner in December 2016. E-mail: dennisfuna@ yahoo.com.

The Pences’ prophylactic approach to infidelity

was worried about impropriety (or the appearance thereof), but because he was an alcoholic who wanted to be sure he never faced temptation without her stalwart support. I suspect they wouldn’t be complaining about his antediluvian views on Demon Rum. Eventually, Pence’s critics seemed to settle on two reasonable-sounding arguments: that his rule against oneon-one dining with females other than his wife would structurally disadvantage women in his office political network and that his rules for himself were actually sexist demands on his wife, requiring Karen Pence to give up her own career and act as a chaperone.

On that second point, I can say only that I remember when it was the height of bad taste to have any opinion at all about what went on in someone else’s marriage—for example, whether Hillary Clinton or Huma Abedin should have divorced their husbands for their sexual indiscretions. Back then, women of Karen Pence’s age were presumed to be adults, fully competent to decide what they were willing to endure in the course of their marriage. They were even entitled to do so without the unsolicited advice of several million unli-

censed freelance marriage counselors.

Has that edict now been rescinded? Or did it only ever apply to the spouses of Democratic politicians?

The other objection is more serious.

Having once worked at a place where a lot of client bonding went on at strip clubs—outings at which I would have felt unwelcome, to say the least—I am fully cognizant of how these sorts of structural barriers can hamper a career. “If Pence won’t eat with a woman alone, how could a woman be chief of staff, or lawyer, campaign manager… asked Mother Jones Editor Clara Jeffery on Twitter. “Would Pence dine with Ivanka? Or KellyAnne? Or are they too relegated to second-class citizens…I don’t know/care if Pences have weird hangups. I do care if women are being denied jobs and opportunities, and that some normalize this. Has Pence in his career had a woman high up in any campaign, administration, private practice, radio show or think tank?”

These are reasonable questions. The thing is, they have answers. And those answers seem to include a fair number of female staffers doing things other than fetching coffee. Who do not necessarily think that Pence’s rules are holding them back.

That’s not to say that rules like this couldn’t create structural sexism: They obviously can. But the threat of this particular instance was instantly inflated to dire imaginary proportions without stopping to check the reality. Meanwhile, Pence’s critics busily played down or ignored the actual threats posed when politicians have affairs with people they meet through work. These affairs seem sadly common, on both sides of the aisle.

And of course, workplace affairs are unfair to the majority of employees who do not sleep with the boss. If you’re on the alert for threats to workplace equality,

you might give the Pences’ rule a second chance.

So if we really needed to have a “national discussion” about the Pences’ marriage, then the right question to ask was not “Could this potentially cause some harm to some woman’s career?” Any number of choices made by anyone powerful, like what hobbies and interests to pursue, may impact the ability of others to connect and network with them. Should powerful people be required to enjoy only hobbies that are equally favored by men and women?

The right question is: “Are the potential harms to women employees large enough, and sufficiently resistant to amelioration, that they justify overruling the politician’s interest in avoiding impropriety, or even the appearance thereof?” And the discussion that results seems much more likely to be fruitful than “Ewwww, yuck, patriarchy!”

I think people felt that Pence’s rule was sexist because it violated a taboo that has been around since Women’s Lib: the ban on acknowledging that sex does not always stay where we would like to neatly confine it. We are supposed to tacitly assume that once we’re finally all educated to the right sexual norms, ambiguity and confusions will magically wither away, inappropriate relationships will never happen, and we’ll all live happily ever after.

In the real world, if you throw men and women together unsupervised, ambiguity and confusions and inappropriate relationships will happen. That’s OK; the benefits of having both men and women in the work force outweigh the risks. But it is not sexist to notice that in an economy once dominated by men, these risks grow along with women’s sexual and economic freedom. Nor is it sexist for a man or a woman to want to limit exposure to temptation.

the lands have been transferred to other government agencies under Executive Order (EO) 70 (2002), as amended.

Santo Niño and Wildcat Villages are under the jurisdiction of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) since 2002 as socialized housing sites. The other sites declared for socialized housing with mixed-use development are the Lupang Katuparan and the Philippine Centennial Village. Further, Section 2 of EO 70, as amended by EO 465 (2005), designates the National Housing Authority “as the lead implementing agency and shall acquire ownership of the above-stated. An executive committee, composed of the HUDCC as chairman and

the National Housing Authority, BCDA, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, the Department of National Defense/AFP, the local government of Taguig and the Congressional representative of Taguig City, was established to implement these executive orders.

On the other hand, Palar Village is not included in the declared socialized housing sites and still remains a property of BCDA. The area is currently occupied by informal settlers.

Fourth, the area occupied by the Service Support Brigade Neighborhood Association Inc. (SSBNAI) is not excluded from the jurisdiction and administration of the BCDA under RA 7227, as recently confirmed by

the Supreme Court in a case involving the property. It is titled under BCDA and is not covered by Presidential Proclamation 461 (1965). The area is, therefore, illegally occupied by SSBNAI. Fifth, BCDA is confident that President Duterte, while prioritizing the needs of our soldiers, will not tolerate the use of government properties by a few individuals and associations to the detriment of the AFP Modernization Program, one of the President’s critical missions to improve the country’s internal security and external defense.

Megan McArdle

BLOOMBERG VIEW

I

’m not sure what lesson I’m supposed to take away from the Washington Post’s revelation that Mike Pence does not dine with women alone, nor attend events where alcohol is served unless his wife is present.

Option A: That more enlightened people, with sound liberal values about sex and gender, have achieved such perfect rational control of their sex drives that they never find themselves attracted to colleagues, or falling into torrid affairs that began over a working dinner? No, wait, I’m quite sure that can’t be it.

Option B: That nice liberal people are OK with the evolution of such affairs, because, hey, infidelity’s not a big deal? Maybe that is what some of the scoffers are saying, but I’m pretty sure that many of them would not be OK if their spouse came home and said, “Oh, honey, by the way, I took my car into the shop, and I called the man about cleaning the gutters, and also, I spent a wild 12 hours in bed with Chris from accounting.”

Option C: That it’s weird to create structural guards against a temptation?

Are we supposed to treat infidelity the way free solo climbers treat falls—a risk to be sure, but one worth taking because safety precautions would be too cumbersome and dull? If so, I wonder what these same folks would say if Pence declined to attend alcohol-soaked events sans-spouse, not because he

How can BCDA be a land-grabber?

BusinessMirror on March 31.

First, no less than the law, Republic Act (RA) 7227 (1992) transferred to BCDA the lands referred to in the letter to the editor. How can BCDA be a land-grabber? These lands in Fort Bonifacio were transferred to BCDA in order to raise funds for the development and conversion to productive civilian use of the base lands in Clark and Subic and their extensions. Further, Sections 7 and 8 of RA 7227, as amended by RA 7917 (1995), states that BCDA shall be authorized by the President of the Republic to dispose of certain areas in Fort Bonifacio and Villamor Air Base to fund, among others, the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 A11

(AFP) and other national government projects.

So, who is the land-grabber here?

Second, to the issue that “up to now, not even a single aircraft or sea craft was bought to secure the West Philippine Sea”, please be informed that as of February 2017, BCDA has already generated P80.23 billion from the development of Fort Bonifacio and Villamor Air Base. BCDA has directly remitted to the Bureau of Treasury P46.7 billion to fund vital socioeconomic projects for Filipinos.

The AFP has received P31.9 billion deposited in the AFP Modernization Trust Fund Account.

Third, the open letter mentioned properties that are no longer owned and administered by the BCDA since

Leilani macasaet Head, Corporate Communications Office BCDA

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Wednesday, April 5, 2017

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Duterte awards idle Bulacan housing units to members of militant group

P

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

resident Duterte came up with a win-win solution on urban-poor group Kadamay’s action to occupy idle housing units in Pandi, Bulacan: Let Kadamay take Pandi while the administration builds new housing units for the affected members of the state armed forces.

At the 120th founding anniversary of the Philippine Army on Tuesday, Duterte asked soldiers and policemen to just give up Pandi to the militants who occupied it on March. “Ibigay na lang natin sa kanila ’yan tutal mahirap sila.”

However, the President vowed to coordinate with the National Housing Authority (NHA) to look for a better location where the government can build on a new mass-

housing project intended for those affected by the illegal Bulacan occupation. “I promise you, I will look for another land nearby, adjacent or contiguous to that area, and we will construct better housing units with water and electricity already.”

He saw no need to cry over spilled milk and told the troops Pandi lacks the utilities that make up a livable house. “Maraming dynamics diyan; walang tubig, walang

[kuryente] at kulang at hindi maganda ang pagkakagawa.”

The Commander in Chief vowed to finish the new mass-housing project by December, so that families of soldiers and policemen can already move in there before the year ends.

To Kadamay, Duterte has one warning: Do not trouble the members of the state forces already settling in Pandi, as they will be moved out in due time, too. “They will be transferred to new housing units better than the ones you [Kadamay] seized from them.”

Somewhat defending Kadamay, though, the President said the urban-poor group was not to be faulted, as its militant assertion was a by-product of poverty. The only sin Kadamay did, in Duterte’s opinion, was that its members were poor, like most of the Filipino people. “Let us not wage a fight against our own people. Tutal mahirap lang ‘yan, intindihin na lang ninyo.”

In reaction, the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap hailed the President for recognizing the legiti-

DUTERTE: “I promise you, I will look for another land nearby, adjacent or contiguous to that area, and we will construct better housing units with water and electricity already.”

macy of the occupation in Bulacan.

“This is a welcome development. The National Housing Authority and other shelter agencies should take this as a cue to overhaul the unjust housing policies that have plagued the poor for decades. Idle homes should be awarded to the homeless as soon as possible and the NHA should work toward catering to the basic rights of the poorest in the country,” said Gloria “Ka Bea” Arellano, Kadamay chairman.

“Patunay ito na makapangyarihan ang mahihirap at dapat tuluytuloy tayong manawagan para sa karapatan ng maralitang Pilipino sa disenteng pamumuhay. Makatwiran

ang panawagan sa libre at pangmasang pabahay sa lahat ng maralita at walang bahay. Malinaw na palpak ang sistema ng negosyong pabahay at dapat itong agad na baguhin,” Arellano added.

The NHA has started profiling the occupied areas in Bulacan to determine whether the occupants are qualified to own the property they merely grabbed, among other concerns.

“The term ‘ beneficiary’ has been misleading over the years, as the current setup actually disenfranchises poor ‘beneficiaries’.

Demolitions lead to people being homeless or transferred to relocation areas far from job/livelihood opportunities, scarce utilities and unjust amortizations costs. This is a cycle of exploitation has pushed the poor into deeper misery over the years. All poor Filipinos should be beneficiaries of free and mass housing as a right and not commercialized or corporate housing,” Arellano explained.

Kadamay called on the Congress and Senate to scrap the Urban

Development and Housing Act (Udha) in their upcoming sessions.

The legislation is blamed by the group as one of the many reasons behind the housing crisis. Arellano said neoliberal policies serving capitalist interests, like the Udha, must be scrapped to make way for genuinely pro-poor policies.

The Kadamay also slammed the Philippine National Police and the Quezon City government for the mass arrests and unjust charges brought against 41 of its members for the reoccupation in Tandang Sora. According to Arellano, housing rights and social justice must be afforded to all.

“Demolitions, the laws, officials and benefactors behind them only perpetuate the housing problems of ordinary Filipinos,” Arellano said.

“The issue is not just about stopping demolitions but pursuing onsite development, something the government has neglected for so long. Meaning that poor communities must be maintained while basic rights, like social services and job creation, are provided,” she said.

HOUSE SEEN PASSING NATIONAL LAND-USE BILL ON 3RD READING

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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he House of Representatives is seen passing on third and final reading a measure that seeks to institutionalize a national land-use policy when sessions resume on May 2.

Deputy Speaker and Liberal Party Rep. Romero S. Quimbo of Marikina and PDP-Laban Rep. Ruffy Biazon of Muntinlupa said House Bill 5240 seeks to put in place a national landuse policy that will end the current degradation of the country’s land resource and optimize balanced development. The lower chamber approved the bill on second reading before Congress went on a break in March. The bill mandates the standardization and classification of

land use for the purposes of planning and implementation of protection land use, production land use, settlements development and infrastructure development.

It also seeks to address the longoverdue task of determining and delineating the country’s permanent forest line.

Moreover, the measure provides for the creation of the National Land Use Policy Council (NLUPC) as the highest policy-making body on all matters pertaining to land use and management. The council shall be headed by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), which shall be responsible for all concerns within the ambit of land use and management on a national level, including the issuance of See “House,” A2

friendship tour The New Zealand frigate Te Kaha (F77) docks at Pier 15, South Harbor in Manila on Tuesday as part of a four-day goodwill visit and confidence-building engagement between the Philippines and Royal New Zealand Navy personnel. ALYSA SALEN

World’s top cocoa grower Villar: Expand urban gardens to boost food supply headed for a record harvest

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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@jearcalas

he government should establish more urban gardens and roll out more agriculture-related programs in cities to boost the country’s food supply, according to Senator Cynthia A. Villar.

Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, said urban gardening could help augment food supply in cities, particularly when farms in rural areas are hit by natural disasters.

“The Philippines is the most disastrous-prone country in the world. It’s not surprising if later on our provinces would be hit by disasters and they are not able to bring in their produce to Metro Manila,” Villar told the BusinessMirror on the sidelines of the relaunching of Cedarhills Garden Center (CGC) recently.

“It’s better that we also have our

The youth today has forgotten the importance of gardening in our lives.”—Sioco

own food production in the Metro Manila, so if that situation happens we are self-sustaining in terms of our food. It’s time to make a serious effort [to expand] urban gardening in Metro Manila” she said. While the Department of Agriculture (DA) has a number of urban-farming programs, Villar noted that these are not being implemented properly.

She also said that, under the law, residential subdivisions must allocate 7 percent of its land area for open spaces, which could then be used for gardening and

food-production purposes.

“Usually, spaces in subdivisions are left idle. Why not convert them into gardens?” Villar asked.

The lawmaker also said the government must improve and expand the existing “Gulayan sa Paaralan” program under the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which aims to promote urban gardening in schools.

Villar said urban gardening would not only provide additional produce for the communities but also serve as a source of income for urban dwellers. Gerald Sioco, CEO of CGC, said now is the right time for Filipinos, particularly for the youth, to embrace gardening.

“The youth today has forgotten the importance of gardening in our lives—the essence of growing our own produce and making sure the produce that we harvest are safe and environment-friendly,” Sioco told the BusinessMirror on the sidelines of the same event.

CGC offers an array urban gardening seminars and workshops, ranging from basic urban gardening to specialized planting, such as cactus and succulent workshop, according to Sioco.

“Once you’ve developed the love and passion for gardening, it is very, very rewarding and enriching. This is one hobby you will not regret adopting,” said Sioco, who is a tea lover and plants and grows sweet basil for his own consumption.

During the Aquino administration, the DA allocated some P10 million to launch an urban-gardening program. The budget was used for the procurement and distribution of seeds, garden tools, as well as fishing equipment to homeowners, barangays and public schools.

Former Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said urban agriculture may not be able to produce all what city dwellers need but it was a way to increase awareness on agriculture and food security.

T

he scores of giant potholes that scar the roads from commercial capital Abidjan to Daloa in the heart of Ivory Coast’s cocoa belt have become deep, muddy puddles, filled by heavy tropical showers.

While drivers making the tortuous journey from the Atlantic coast into the hot interior have reason to curse the wet weather, for farmers in the world’s largest cocoa producer the rains mean the prospect of another record crop.

“We’ve got beneficial rains this season,” said Abdoulaye Baro, head of the Coopago cocoa cooperative in the town of Goudougo.

“There’s lots of cocoa. This year it’s really good.”

The West African country’s crop will reach 2 million metric tons for the first time ever, according to a Bloomberg survey of six traders and exporters, breaking the previous record of 1.8 million tons set in 2014-2015. In addition

2 MMT The projected cocoa output of Ivory Coast

to lots of rain, the damaging dry winds that blow in from the Sahara desert were relatively weak this year. And it’s not just the right weather—growers have responded to years of high prices by planting new trees that are now starting to produce beans.

While the country’s 800,000 smallholder cocoa farmers will have more beans than ever to sell to the commodity houses that supply the global confectionery industry, the bumper harvest risks tipping an already weak market into a full-blown slump.

That’s a grave risk for the Ivorian economy, where cocoa is the biggest export earner. Bloomberg News