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Thursday, April 6, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 176

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ALAVERA, Nueva Ecija—President Duterte on Wednesday said he is more partial to protecting Filipino farmers, and allow them to supply the rice requirement of the Philippines than import the staple.

“There’s free trade, and the Philippines is an open market; but, you know, you have to protect the Filipino [farmers],” Duterte said in his speech during SL Agritech Corp.’s Grand Harvest Festival held here.

“I would look foolish if the government would continue to give assistance to farmers, but they would remain helpless, because rice imports are cheaper,” he added. The President vowed to ensure

Rene E. Ofreneo

laborem exercens

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The volume of paddy rice produced by the Philippines in the first quarter

that farmers will receive enough assistance from the government to improve their productivity. “We will be able to feed millions of Filipinos if we use government funds wisely.” Duterte’s pronouncement came three months before the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice expires on June 30. The Philippine waiver

onregular, insecure, unprotected and disposable. This is how angry trade unionists describe “contractual” jobs, such as those held by the endo, or 5-5-5, workers and other short-term project hires. The truth is that the words contractual and contractualization do not even appear in the Labor Code and its implementing rules. However, the contractualization phenomenon is not unique to the Philippines. It is happening everywhere. In Japan it is called “nonstandardization”, or the opposite of making work permanent and fully protected or “standard”. In South Korea it is labeled as “irregularization”. Globally, the popular term for contractual jobs is “precarious work”. Continued on A2

Megaworld net income hit ₧11.6B on record rental revenues in 2016

the broader look

By VG Cabuag

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‘Made in PHL’ fiber, coco products show potential »A6-A7 PESO exchange rates n US 50.1580

Precarity unlimited

4.14 MMT

Continued on A2

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Duterte: Govt must protect rice farmers By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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@villygc

egaworld Corp., the property-development ar m of businessman Andrew L. Tan, said its net income grew by 12 percent to P11.63 billion last year, from P10.39 billion in 2015. The company said its figure is net of P82 million in nonrecurring gain, narrower than last year’s net of P181-million nonrecurring gain. “Megaworld achieved another milestone last year, as we breached the P10-billion mark for our rental revenues. We have achieved our targets across the board, as we have steadily grown and expanded our core businesses,” Megaworld said. “ Township development remains to be a key strength of our company, and we have focused on strengthening the various components of our townships on top of our residential businesses, such as offices, malls and commercial developments, as well as hotels,” it added. Revenues, excluding nonrecurring gains, grew 4 percent year-on-year (YOY) to P46.74 billion, compared to P44.81 billion in 2015. The company’s successful costmanagement programs only led to a modest 2-percent growth in costs and expenses at P35.1 billion in 2016, from P34.4 billion in 2015. Prudent spending for operation expenses led to a 5-percent growth, a remarkable improvement from a 7 percent YOY growth in 2015.

Davao Park District

₧10.39B

The net income of Megaworld in 2015 “Last year we became successful in introducing another concept in real-estate development, which we call the ‘integrated lifestyle community’. This year we hope to add more developments under this category, as we activate some of our remaining raw lands across the country that have good potential for leisure and tourism,” it said. In 2016 Megaworld intro duced Eastland Heights, its first integrated lifestyle community expanding 640 hectares on the

mountains of Antipolo, Rizal. Earlier in 2016, the company also launched its 21st township, called Maple Grove, in General Trias, Cavite, spanning 140 hectares. During the last 27 years, the company was successful in master planning integrated urban townships across the country that include Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City (18.5 hectares); Newport City in Pasay City (25 hectares); McKinley Hill (50 hectares), McKinley West (34.5 hectares), Uptown Bonifacio (15.4 hectares) and Forbes Town (5 hectares), all in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City; The Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu (30 hectares); Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao, Iloilo City (72 hectares); Santa Barbara Heights in Santa Barbara, Iloilo (173 hectares);

Boracay Newcoast on Boracay Island (150 hectares); MegTwin Lakes in Alfonso, Batangas, near Tagaytay (1,300 hectares); and ArcoVia City in Pasig City (12.3 hectares). Other Megaworld integrated urban townships are Southwoods City in the boundaries of Cavite and Laguna (561 hectares); Davao Park District in Lanang, Davao City (11 hectares); Alabang West in Las Piñas City (62 hectares); Suntrust Ecotown in Tanza, Cavite (350 hectares); and The Upper East (34 hectares) and Northill Gateway (50 hectares), both in Negros Occidental; Capital Town Pampanga beside the Pampanga Provincial Capitol in the city of San Fernando (35.6 hectares); and Westside City in the Entertainment City in Parañaque City (31 hectares).

n japan 0.4530 n UK 62.4066 n HK 6.4548 n CHINA 7.2867 n singapore 35.8810 n australia 37.9345 n EU 53.5437 n SAUDI arabia 13.3755

Source: BSP (5 April 2017 )

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A2 Thursday, April 6, 2017

Duterte: Govt must protect rice farmers Continued from A1

on the special treatment on rice, which was approved by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Council for Trade in Goods, has allowed Manila to implement the QR until this year. Upon the expiration of the waiver, and no later than June 30, Manila’s importation of rice shall be subject to ordinary customs duties in accordance with the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture. In his speech, the President also said he fired Office of the Cabinet Secretary (OCS) Undersecretary Halmen A. Valdez over the importation of rice done by the private sector under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme of the WTO. In a news briefing after SL Agritech’s event, Agriculture Secretary

Emmanuel F. Piñol confirmed to reporters that Valdez was fired by the President. The President placed the NFA under the supervision of the OCS. “The President ordered the dismissal of Valdez over the importation of rice. It was Valdez who actually dealt with the NFA regarding the rice imports,” Piñol said. “NFA Administrator Jason Aquino wanted the government to import rice so that the government could take hold and control it instead of giving [the imports] to the private sector,” he added. Because of the bumper rice harvest, Piñol said the President has decided to put on hold the purchase of 250,000 MT of rice from abroad. Citing Duterte, Piñol said the government would first evaluate the need to import the staple. “The President today acted on

Precarity unlimited

Precarious work is defined as “work that is insecure and uncertain and in which workers bear the most risks and receive limited social benefits and protection” (Michael Hsiao, Arne Kalleberg and Kevin Hewison, in “Precarious Work in Asia”, 2015, Academia Sinica, Taiwan). Precarious work is associated with employment practices that are “designed by employers to: 1) lower costs; 2) limit or reduce the permanent work force; 3) maximize their flexibility; 4) reduce labor’s capacity for organization, and/or 5) shift employment risks to workers”. These practices include “putting-out systems, the use of dispatched or temporary agency workers, in-house contracted labor, irregular and casual employment, competitive work teams and migrant workers”. The rise of precarious work in the Philippines, Asia and the rest of the world is associated with the rise of neoliberalism in world trade and economic relations. Pressures of global competition in liberalized markets have resulted in efforts of industry to have not only leaner and meaner oper-

the appeal of our farmers that the importation of rice be temporarily halted in the face of the bountiful harvest in the first quarter. This does not mean we are against importation; we will import when we needed,” he said. Farmers are currently harvesting the dry-season rice crop. Piñol said the President would decide on rice importation by the end of the dry season in May. The Department of Agriculture, he said, sees no immediate need to import rice to boost the buffer stock of the NFA during the lean months, which would start in July. Earlier Piñol said the country’s rice production in the January-toMarch period expanded by 5.34 percent to 4.14 million metric tons (MMT), from the 3.93 MMT recorded in the same period last year despite the decline in harvest

Continued from A1

ations but also to search for production platforms where labor is cheap, malleable and productive. Unionism, collective bargaining and job permanency are major casualties in the global spread of precarious work. Hence, the global protest of trade unions against labor precarity and the neoliberal economic-political policies that promote such precarity. Now, has Department Order 174 issued by Labor Secretary Silvestro H. Bello III given the trade unions hopes that the spread of precarity or practice of contractualization will decline and stop? The answer is a clear “no” as reflected in the weekly/daily pocket rallies organized by militant workers at the DOLE’s headquarters in Intramuros. They denounce the DO as a toothless one. Specifically, they are angry at Bello’s failure to exercise his authority under Article 106 of the Labor Code to prohibit or restrict not only laboronly contracting but all forms of job contracting. But can Bello really forbid job contracting given the existing law, both under the Civil Code and

area. The DA chief attributed the hike in output to good weather and the use of high-yielding hybridrice seeds by farmers. As early as January, the NFA had requested the NFA Council (NFAC) to allow the importation of 250,000 MT of rice to beef up the food agency’s stocks. To date, the NFAC has not acted on the request of the NFA. “Delaying further the approval for the government-to-government importation of the 250,000MT balance could make it more difficult for the NFA to maintain the minimum levels of food-security rice requirement during normal times, more so during the lean months,” Aquino said. The NFA had planned to bring in the imports this month to preposition the stocks in calamityprone areas.

Labor Code, recognizing the legitimacy of business and job contracting? This is the reason the DOLE has been telling the trade unions to press Congress instead to enact the appropriate laws restricting or regulating job contracting. As it is, there are now over 20 “Security of Tenure” (SOT) bills filed in Congress seeking to either end the endo system or strengthen the rights of workers under any contracting system. The reality, however, is that DO 174 has somehow tightened the rules governing thirdparty job or service contracting. Under the DO, manpower agencies are now asked to fork out a higher registration/renewal fee amounting to P100,000, instead of P25,000, and to show proof of P5-million capitalization, instead of P3 million. This is obviously meant to weed out fly-by-night agencies, which are incapable of demonstrating their capacity to show proof that they have the capital and equipment to carry out work in an autonomous manner independent of the supervision or management of the principal. Also and apparently taking off from the “winwin” formula of the DTI, manpower agencies are

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Trump. . .

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the Center for the National Interest in Washington. “We’ll see how that turns into operational policy, or if it does, but that certainly is the point of view that he articulates.” But the president’s view has stirred concern among foreignpolicy specialists in both parties. Rep. Randy Hultgren, Republic-Illinois, a chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said he was “concerned at the muted attention the administration has given so far on human rights”. “I know President Trump wants America to remain strong,” he added by e-mail on Tuesday. “We remain strong when our values are upheld around the world, and when leaders understand we are serious when it comes to defending human rights across any border. We must speak truth to power.” Trump’s statement on Tuesday called the Syria chemical attack “reprehensible” and “intolerable” but blamed Obama as much as Assad. “These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution,” he said. “President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a ‘red line’ against the use of chemical weapons and then did

now asked to secure jobs for the workers on a continuing basis, from one service contract to another; otherwise, these agencies are asked to pay their workers separation pay if no jobs are found within three months after the lapse of the last service contract. There is also a provision in the new DO stating that agency workers cannot be placed in jobs “currently being performed by the regular workers of the principal”. Both these provisions are likely to be contested in practice by both the principals and their partner manpower agencies. On the termination/separation issue, it should be pointed out that principals have forged stronger and stronger ties with the service-contracting industry precisely because of the industry’s ability to place workers on a short-term basis without any obligation to pay any separation. On prohibiting agency workers to do work performed by regular workers, this again is problematic because of the seasonality of some functions and the ups and downs of some products in the market. Of course, restricting the deployment of agency workers to do jobs done by regular workers is a major advance for the trade unions.

nothing.” The statement overlooked the fact that Trump himself urged Obama not to strike Syria when Assad crossed that red line. “President Obama, do not attack Syria,” Trump posted on Twitter at the time. “There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your ‘powder’ for another (and more important) day!” Still, Trump has been more consistent in making clear that he does not see it as the United States’ place to get involved in other countries’ affairs. During last year’s campaign, he posted on Twitter that “Syria is not our problem” and signaled acceptance of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. After taking office, when an interviewer suggested that President Vladimir Putin was a “killer”, Trump said the US could hardly criticize. “What, you think our country’s so innocent?” His foreign policy seems defined more by a transactional nationalism, rooted in the sense that the United States is getting ripped off—by Nato allies who are not paying enough for their own defense, by trading partners like China that are “eating our lunch” and by neighbors like Mexico that are sending drugs and criminals over the border. Rather than spreading American values, his policy aims to guard American interests. New York Times News Service

Nonetheless, the debates on the role of third-party manpower agencies that have divided the tripartite representatives since the promulgation of the Labor Code in 1974 are likely to continue. In addition to the foregoing, there is the contentious issue on the role of “manpower cooperatives”. DO 174 prohibits “in-house cooperatives” owned or managed by the principals. Does this mean that if the socalled manpower cooperatives are not owned or managed by the principals, they can engage in the business of placing “worker-cooperators” in various industries, as what seems to be happening in a big way? By definition, cooperatives, or co-ops are autonomous associations of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic and social needs through jointly owned and democratically controlled business, such as farmers marketing cooperative or employee credit cooperative and so on. In Latin America and other countries workers form cooperatives to take over factories or establishments abandoned by bankrupt employers so that they can maintain their jobs and families. Caritas Manila and CCT microfinance in Cavite have also tried organizing displaced or unemployed workers into cooperatives and negotiating with prospective employers after these workers are given some skills training. The problem is that a number of “manpower co-ops” that are organized by former HR managers and manpower agency owners themselves have gone into the “cooperative” placement and job-contracting business in a massive way without any clear rules from the DOLE. One perennial complaint: manpower co-ops claim that their workers, as “worker cooperators”, are not covered by labor laws, such as the minimum wage, and are exempted from the payment of certain taxes because of the fiscal incentives given to cooperatives. Another complaint: the workers-cooperators do not really control the co-ops based on the principle of one man-one vote because they are not the real organizers of the co-op and are treated merely “associates”, not full members with full powers. How will the DOLE then enforce labor compliance in these co-ops? Are they really exempted from tax coverage? Finally, DO 174 provides the rules on prohibited labor-only contracting and permissible job contracting. It does not address other forms of labor precarity. These include the following: ■ The “job order” employees in the government. Sen. Joel Villanueva estimate that there are 600,000 job orders in the government, 400,000 of whom are hired by the local government units. These employees are literally in the “purgatory” of the labor market—they help the government fulfill its mandate to provide public service, and yet, these employees, mostly casual or contractual, are not considered government employees. They are not regularized even if their contracts are renewed year by year. ■ Apprentices, learners and interns. Some employers take undue advantage of the laws on apprenticeship, learnership and internship by absorbing as many apprentices, learners and interns without paying the minimum wage while requiring these workers to do regular jobs, whose skills requirements can be mastered in a week or a month. Proof? Try visiting hotels, hospitals and assembly plants and look for their numerous apprentices and interns. Finally, we have the huge informal sector, which accounts for over half of the labor force. Work in the informal sector is certainly nonregular, insecure and generally unprotected. But then, helping the informal sector work force acquire quality and sustainable jobs is not the task of Bello. It is the job of the whole government.

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Pardoning mayor’s killers wrong–FSGO By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO) group on Wednesday said it would be wrong for President Duterte to pardon the 19 policemen involved in the killing of Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. of Albuera, Leyte, and a fellow inmate at the Baybay subprovincial jail in Leyte last year. In a statement, the group even urged the Cabinet, the legislature and other stakeholders to tell Duterte that it is wrong to advise the 19 police officers to plead guilty so he can just grant them absolute pardon and promotion. “Pardoning the Albuera 19 implicates President Duterte in statesponsorship of the Espinosa murder and, potentially, of the thousands of unresolved extrajudicial killings. It is not yet too late for the President’s advisers, friends and followers to tell him this,” the statement read. It reminded the President that its power to grant executive pardon was intended to provide a chance to correct judicial mistakes and to extend clemency to those deemed to have sufficiently atoned for their offenses. “It is wrong to pervert this power to give law-enforcement agents impunity to kill by ensuring that no authentic judicial process takes place,” the group stressed. “Abusing the power of presidential pardon to plan a crime, with the guaranteed promise of absolution upon its commission, corrupts lawenforcement agencies and paves the way for more corruption,” it added. Giving absolute pardon to the accused, according to FSGO, can be construed as a show of disrespect to the effort of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), considering its findings that the Espinosa killing was a rubout. It can be recalled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) have indicted the police team, led by Supt. Marvin Marcos, for the killing of Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap. The DOJ said Marcos and the other police officers charged conspired with each other to kill Espinosa and Yap inside their detention cells. The Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Baybay, Leyte, has ordered the arrest of the policemen. The arrest warrants were issued following the DOJ finding of probable cause to indict members of the of National Police-Crime Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas, headed by Marcos, for murder and other criminal offenses. In the 24-page resolution issued by the panel of prosecutors tasked to investigate the incident, the DOJ recommended the filing of two counts of murder charges against Marcos, Senior Insp. Deogracia Pedong Diaz, Senior Police Officer 2 Benjamin Layague Dacallos, Police Officer 3 Norman Tiu Abellanosa, PO1 Jerlan Sadia Cabiyaan, Chief Insp. Calixto Cabardo Canillas, Insp. Lucresito Adana Candelosas, SPO2 Antonio Romangca Docil, SPO1 Mark Christian Castillo Cadilo, PO2 John Ruel Baldevia Doculan and PO2 Jaime Pacuan Bacsal. Four other police officers were charged for the killing of Espinosa—Supt. Santi Noel Matira, Chief Insp. Leo Daio Laraga, SPO4 Melvin Caboyit and PO3 Johnny Abuda Ibanez and four others for murder of Yap—Senior Insp. Fritz Bioco Blanco, SPO4 Juanito Duarte, PO2 Lloyd Ortiguesa and PO1 Bernard Orpilla. Abellanosa, Laraga and witness Paul Olendan were also indicted for two counts of Article 129 of Revised Penal Code for allegedly maliciously obtaining search warrants. The DOJ filed the case after the panel found that the killings of Espinosa and Yap inside the Baybay jail were attended by treachery, and the respondents used stealth to carry out the raid.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Thursday, April 6, 2017 A3

Senators split on bill lowering age of criminal responsibility

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By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

ENATORS are divided on the Malacañang-endorsed plan to bring down to 9 years old the coverage of the law against juvenile offenders by amending Republic Act (RA) 9344, which President Duterte blamed for breeding young criminals.

HEAD TURNER

2016 Truck of the Year Isuzu D-Max is the head turner in the Manila International Auto Show. MIAS holds together the toughest and the fiercest parts and rides in one of the grandest gathering of cars, car lovers and drivers. NONIE REYES

OCD-Calabarzon on red alert as more aftershocks jolt Batangas By Saul E. Pa-a

Philippines News Agency

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AMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna—The Office of Civil Defense-Calabarzon (OCDCalabarzon) went on red alert following the occurrence of more aftershocks from the 5.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Batangas on Tuesday evening. The town of Tingloy, where the epicenter of the tremor was traced, experienced 32 aftershocks as of 5 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). The move aims to ensure proper monitoring, coordination and response to the earthquake-affected areas. At least five other aftershocks were also felt in other towns of Batangas: two in San Luis, two in Mabini and one in San Nicolas. According to the OCD-Calabarzon Regional Director and Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) Chairman Olivia M. Luces, 37 aftershocks were felt mostly in the Batangas earthquake epicenter in Tingloy. Director Luces said Tingloy Church also sustained minor damages as updates trickled early Wednesday morning from the local disaster risk reduction and

management offices (LDRRMOs) and parishioners. Tingloy’s island town residents have returned to their homes early Wednesday morning after they were evacuated to higher grounds in the wake of any tsunami alert as a preemptive measurre. As of Wednesday morning, scores of Batangas City residents have remained on alert and are seen outside of tall buildings and at open areas, owing to continuous aftershocks. The city Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRMC) and the Batangas Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) have already deployed resources to ensure the safety of the residents at the evacuation areas. Emergency-response teams have been on stand by and city officials continue to monitor and assess buildings and establishments that may have sustained damages. Luces said they have been closely monitoring the Phivolcs earthquake bulletins and intensifying coordination and situation updates, including rapid damage assessments with LDRRMOs. She also appealed to social-media users, netizens and the public to engage in factual information from authorities and avert spreading of false information that may cause panics to the public.

As of Wednesday morning, the town government of San Luis, Batangas, through its DRRMC has distributed biscuits and hot drinks to the evacuated families from the five coastal barangays. Although, some families have spent the night at the evacuation center due to some aftershocks, others have started to return home following local government caution to stay alert and prepare for any eventuality. OCD-RDRRMC here also reported that the Bauan Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (MDRRMO) assisted patients of Bejasa Hospital who were temporarily evacuated to return to the hospital premises. I n C a l ac a , Bat a nga s, t he MDRRMO also deployed its personnel to the coastal areas to monitor the movement of the sea. Around 1,000 coastal residents of Mabini, Batangas, were evacuated to safe areas by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council out of fear from tsunami incidence but returned home by Wednesday dawn. Taal and Lemery towns also conducted their preemptive evacuation to some 2,000 coastal villagers as the earthquake struck on Tuesday night but the residents were back in their residences by dawn after verifying there was no tsunami alert.

NLRC upholds decision favoring TV network

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HE Seventh Division of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) in Cebu City has affirmed the decision of Labor Arbiter Perpetuo G. Nafarette III to dismiss the regularization complaint filed by six RGMA Network Inc. employees against GMA Network for lack of merit. In the decision written by Commissioner Jose G. Gutierrez on the appeal filed by the appellants, the NLRC ruled in favor of GMA stating “there was no employer-employee relationship” between GMA and the

appellants and that they “do not have any right to the benefits enjoyed by GMA’s regular employees”. The appellants, who are RGMA’s transmitter technicians, claimed that GMA failed to regularize them even if they performed “work directly related or necessary of both, and desirable to the business operations of GMA.” The NLRC, however, ruled that the appellants are not regular employees of GMA but of RGMA, which is a legitimate job contractor.

In another case, Labor Arbiter Veneranda C. Guerrero dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and merit the illegal dismissal and regularization complaint filed by Melquiades Atienza against GMA and Script2010 Inc. The labor arbiter said Atienza, is “not an employee of GMA” and was “never assigned by any independent contractor of GMA to work in any department, program, or activity” of the network. However, Atienza was found to be a regular employee of Interservices Cooperative.

Also known as the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, Duterte said the existing law emboldens juvenile delinquents to commit crimes with impunity and wants Congress to amend RA 9344, authored by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, which limits coverage to 12- to 15-year-old offenders. “ The law has already been amended in 2013 to address the concerns raised by the President,” Pangilinan said, adding: “What it needs is full funding and implementation rather than amendments.” Besides, Pangilinan pointed out that, based on National Police statistics for 2016, less than 2 percent of crimes reported were committed by minors. “Hence, with due respect, going after minors to address criminality is not the solution.” Asked if he sees the need to amend the law that Duterte blames for breeding young criminals, Sen. Francis Escudero replied: “Not necessarily, but I am open to reviewing it again.” Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said he would support Duterte’s request for Congress to amend the law, citing his experience as a local chief executive where “the youth were being used by syndicates for their criminal activities.” Ejercito, who served as San Juan City mayor, added: “Sakit sa ulo talaga iyan at wala kang magawa because of the law. The law had good intentions but it was used and abused by criminals for their illegal activities. May ilang mga nahuli namin na mga teenagers, may ready photocopy na

ng birth certificates.” Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III recalled he already filed an amending bill in the last Congress bringing up coverage of the law to 12 years old. “The only difference now is that for 12 to 15 [years old] dapat kulong muna until proven na walang discernment. Baligtad ng old law. The problem is that the enforcers do not know that yet.” But Sen. Grace Poe voiced concern lowering the age of culpability of minor offenders amid moves by the Duterte administration to revive the death penalty. “Lalo na ngayon na itinutulak nila ang death penalty, matitiis ba nating makitang patawan ng parehong parusa ang isang 9 na anyos na bata katulad ng ipapataw sa mga nakatatanda? O ’di kaya bitay o habambuhay na pagkakakulong?” Poe added: “Anong klaseng lipunan ang lilikhain natin kung walang awa nating parurusahan ang isang batang musmos na hindi pa buo ang pagkakaintindi ng sitwasyon at pinagsamantalahan lamang ng matatandang kriminal ang murang isipan? Hindi totoo na mas mature na ang mga bata ngayon dahil sa laganap na impormasyon sa social media; ako ay may anak na 12 anyos at mga pamangkin. Kahit ginagaya ng bata ang ginagawa ng nakatatanda, pinatutunayan lang nito na dapat ang tutok ay sa pag-alaga, ehemplo at gabay sa kanila.” She suggested that parents and syndicates exploiting young criminal offenders should be the ones held to account.

Govt, NDF panels draft pact on release of captured soldiers

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OVERNMENT and National Democratic Front (NDF) peace negotiators have started drafting an agreement that would pave the way for the release of military and police personnel kidnapped by the New People’s Army (NPA). This was one of the four conditions President Duterte has set before the start of the fourth round of peace talks in the Netherlands. The other conditions include the signing of a bilateral cease-fire agreement; a stop to the extortion activities of the rebels; and the nonrecognition of any territorial claim made by the communists. The government’s chief negotiator, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, said both parties are still discussing the terms that would be included in the draft agreement. Bello said both panels agreed to make their own drafts and later consolidate their versions of the agreement. “Mayroon silang draft, mayroon kaming draft so iyon ang pag-uusapan namin, pagsasamahin namin iyon,” Bello said in a radio interview. The communist insurgents earlier expressed their willingness to release the military and the police personnel they were holding from

March 27 to April 6, among them a policeman from Bukidnon and three soldiers from Surigao del Norte and Sultan Kudarat. T he release failed to push through, owing to continuous offensive operations of the military in the areas where the kidnapped policeman and soldiers were being held by communist guerrillas. Both parties are still discussing the suspension of military operation. NDF Panel Senior Adviser Luis Jalandoni, meanwhile, assured that the fourth round of talks is already moving forward. “Moving forward, agreement toward a more stable cease-fire,” Jalandoni said in a separate interview. Both panels assured that the Comprehensive Agreement on SocioEconomic Reforms (Caser) would be discussed before they end the fourth round of peace talks on Thursday. The government and communist rebels also agreed to discuss a joint interim cease-fire agreement as they further discussed other terms. “We welcome the openness of NDF to undertake a forging in this round of talks of an agreement on joint interim cease-fire that will accompany our peace negotiations throughout,” Bello pointed out. PNA

Economy

A4 Thursday, April 6, 2017 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

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US firms to invest $4.04B in PHL–Peza

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By Catherine N. Pillas

@c_pillas29

he Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) said it secured $4.04 billion in investment pledges from American companies, following its recent promotion trip to the United States. Peza Director General Charito B. Plaza said the Philippines could also gain an additional $500 million in investment deals from

companies in the Middle East in the coming weeks. Plaza said American oil- and gas-exploration firm OS Petro has

pledged to invest $4 billion for 10 blocks, at $400 million per block. “It will be for an onshore and offshore oil and gas project, a petrochemical refinery,” Plaza told reporters at the sidelines of the 22nd Investors Night held at the World Trade Center on Tuesday. Executives from OS Petro will be coming in July to scout for possible sites, she added. Peza said the government has also secured $4 million from PayOdd Inc., a mobile and online payment-processing and moneytransfer service provider. The recent investment road show of Peza in the Middle East also reaped

gains: the government is set to sign memorandums of understanding worth $500 million on the occasion of a follow-up visit to take place in July, with President Duterte heading the party. “We were able to gather these investment pledges during our last visit, and these will be signed when President Duterte goes there,” she added. The $500-million investment pledges will be in agricultural or agroindustrial sectors, Plaza noted. The forthcoming trip to be headed by Duterte will include Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Govt eyeing to hike annual seaweed output by 5%

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Taxpayers’ subsidy to water supply, waste-management firms up 60% in 2014–PSA

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ubsidies extended by Filipino taxpayers to the water supply and sewerage, wastemanagement and remediation firms increased by nearly 60 percent in 2014, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Data showed that subsidies extended to firms engaged in water supply and sewerage, waste-management and remediation activities increased by 58.57 percent in 2014. In 2014 Filipinos’ tax subsidies to the sector reached P310 million, significantly higher than the P195.5 million recorded in 2013. “Subsidies are all special grants in the form of financial assistance or tax exemption or tax privilege given by the government to aid and develop an industry,” the PSA said. Among industries, the PSA said, the subsidies received by firms engaged in water collection, treatment and supply was the highest at P240 million, or nearly 80 percent of the sector’s entire subsidy. Other industries that received subsidies in 2014 were treatment and disposal of hazardous waste, with P34.2 million, or 11 percent of the total; remediation activities and other waste-management services, P21.7 million, or 7 percent; and sewerage, P14.1 million, or 4.6 percent. However, PSA data showed that in 2013, the water-collection, -treatment and -supply industry was the only recipient of the subsidies extended to the entire sector. PSA data also showed that the total value of output generated by all establishments in 2014 amounted to P65 billion. Of this amount, the water-collection, -treatment and -supply industry accounted for around 90.5

percent or P58.8 billion. The total value of output generated by other industries, such as materials recovery, reached P2.6 billion, or 4.1 percent; collection of nonhazardous waste, P2 billion, or 3 percent; and sewerage, P900 million, or 1.3 percent of the total. Industries that accounted for less than a percent of total output were treatment and disposal of nonhazardous waste at P300 million, or 0.4 percent, as well as other industries, P400 million, with 0.6 percent of the total. Based on PSA data, there were 975 establishments engaged in water supply and sewerage, waste-management and remediation activities in the formal sector of the economy. Leading the sector was watercollection, -treatment and -supply industry, which include water districts, with 845 establishments, or 86.7 percent of the total. This was followed by the materials recovery with 53 establishments, or 5.4 percent, while collection of non-hazardous waste ranked third with 27 establishments, or 2.8 percent of the total count. The data was based on the final results of the 2014 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (Aspbi). The Aspbi is one of the designated statistical activities of the PSA. Data collected from the survey provides information on the levels, structure, performance and trends of economic activities of the formal sector in the entire country. The survey was conducted nationwide in 2015, with the year 2014 as the reference period of data, except for employment data which is as of November 15, 2014.

Government expands route of premium airport bus service By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

A fisherman gathers seaweed in Sabangan, Ilocos Sur. Mau Victa/File photo By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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he Department of Agriculture (DA) is targeting to increase seaweed production by 5 percent annually until 2022 to regain the country’s status as the world’s leading seaweed producer. Agriculture Secretar y Emmanuel F. Piñol said he has directed Agriculture Undersecretary for Fisheries Eduardo B. Gongona to craft a road map, which will be called the National Seaweed Roadmap and will detail the strategies for hiking output. “As the huge demand toward local seaweed increases in other countries, the DA seeks to release road map for seaweed in the years 2017 to 2022 that will help farmers establish a sustainable and competitive seaweed industry,” Piñol said in a statement. “The road map will also include the use of idle fishponds for seaweed production,” he added.

Piñol said he ordered the crafting of the National Seaweed Roadmap 2017-2022 following a meeting between the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and an Irish firm, which has expressed interest in purchasing local seaweed. During the meeting, BFAR-National Seaweed Coordinator Irma F. Ortiz said the government is keen on regaining the country’s status as the world’s leading producer of Euchema and Kappaphycus seaweed. Citing data from the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA), Ortiz said Indonesia overtook the country’s volume produced in 2008. “It has produced 2.79 million metric tons in 2009, 60 percent higher than the Philippines’s production of only 1.73 MMT,” she said. Ortiz said some of the key problems the government must address to hike the country’s seaweed production include limited

access to credit and market; limited source of alternative income for seaweed-dependent fishermen; research and development on seaweed production. “[Also the] the promotion of available seaweed products and lack of sustainable and climateproof agri-fishery facility in the country,” she added. To beef up local seaweed production, Ortiz said the BFAR implemented three programs: trainings for farmers and production of climate-resilient species; entrepreneurship training for seaweed farmers; and the promotion of “community-based product champions”. Piñol ordered the BFAR to closely work on the road map, which will suggest a clearer vision on how the seaweed industry will perform under the Duterte administration. Meanwhile, the DA said Ireland-based seaweed company Ocean Harvest Technology Ltd. (OHT) made a proposal to Piñol

to develop and commercialize ulva, also known as sea lettuce, in the country to process it into animal feed. “We wanted to purchase dry seaweeds or the ulva [from] your local farmers,” said Dr. Simon Faulker, OHT quality and resource manager. “Ulva is considered nuisance but it is a good source of minerals and vitamins, which is good in making animal feeds,” Faulker added. The DA said OHT wanted to explore the potential of harvesting ulva in Cebu, Bohol, Pampanga and Tawi-Tawi. In the country ulva can be found in many areas of Pangasinan, La Union and Ilocos Norte, according to the DA. “If approved, the company will purchase about 3,000 metric tons of dried seaweed in the country, which will be processed in their processing facility in Vietnam. The byproducts were already marketed in some parts of US and Canada,” the DA said.

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he Department of Transportation (DOTr) and its private partner launched a new airport bus route on Wednesday, with the new service aimed at augmenting the public-transport service at international gateway in Manila. UBE Express has started operating its services from certain areas in the Makati Central Business District to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). “This route expansion of the UBE Express is a strategic addition, especially for prospective patrons who may have intended business engagements or may desire to access the business district of Makati,” Transportation Assistant Secretary Cherie Mercado-Santos said. The additional route includes stops at Glorietta 4 and 5 and surrounding hotels within Ayala Center Makati, such as Ascott, Dusit Thani, Holiday Inn and Suites, Peninsula Manila, Shangri-La, New World and Fairmont Makati. These express buses shall be picking up passengers daily from Naia Terminals

1 to 4 and shall be passing through these identified drop-off points and back. There will also be a new UBE Express hub operating soon from Park Square to accommodate passengers in easy accessing and connecting with other modes of public transportation available. “We institute ways of making mobility more inclusive and dignified by widening interconnectivity and providing more transportation alternatives available for everyone,” Santos added. Likewise, UBE Express is partnering with Ayala Center Estate Association and the Ayala Malls for this route-expansion plan. Ayala Malls also introduced “EasyRide”, an ongoing project of the mall chain giant that will provide convenient access to various modes of public transportation to their mallgoers and shoppers. “This partnership signals the willingness of the business community to help the administration form realistic solutions to address issues, such as transport accessibility and terminal congestion in our airports. We welcome these positive efforts and wish for their further collaboration with us,” Santos explained.

Lawmaker calls for rollout of stricter energy-efficiency standards By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

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he government must impose stricter energy-efficiency and conservation standards to ensure the stability of the country’s power supply and amid expected surges in energy demand during the summer, according to Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian. “Past administrations have mostly focused on adding additional generating capacity to address perennial energy shortages. That needs to change. The government must give

greater weight to energy-efficiency and conservation strategies in its long-term plan to ensure the stability of the power supply,” said Gatchalian, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy. In line with this, Gatchalian has been conducting committee hearings on Senate Bill 30, a proposal to institutionalize energy-efficiency and conservation policies. The senator stressed the need to enforce Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) on machinery equipment, appliances, vehicles and other fuel-using combustion

equipment, and electronic devices to ensure that homes and businesses consume the least amount of power. Under this system, manufacturers, importers and dealers will be required to comply with the MEPS and display an Energy Label showing the energy requirement and consumption-efficiency of the products. “ The imposition of stricter energy-efficiency standards will cut down monthly electricity costs and reduce consumption. That will be a win-win situation for both the consumers and the

power sector,” Gatchalian said. The MEPS system will be carried out by multiple agencies, led by the Department of Energy (DOE), which shall develop and implement a Mandatory Energy Efficiency Rating and Labeling System (MEERLS) for designated products. The DOE will have support from the Department of Trade and Industry (require manufacturers, importers and dealers to comply with MEPS and display the energy label); the Department of Science and Technology (conduct research and development programs

in facilitating energy efficient technologies); the Department of Transportation (compliance of vehicle owners, manufacturers and importers with MEPS for road transport vehicles), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (local government unit compliance with the mandatory implementation of energ y e f f ic ie nc y a nd con se r v at ion measures); and the Department of Public Works and Highways (implementation of Guidelines on Energ y Efficiency and Conser ving Design in Buildings).

LGUs will monitor energy consumption by business establishment and enterprises, which will become part of the requirements for business-permit renewal. “Prevention is always better than cure, so goes the popular saying. In the case of the energy sector, it is better to conserve and use power efficiently to ensure a stable supply instead of acting haphazardly when power reserves become insufficient. Let us all be responsible consumers and work together to resolve the perennial power-supply problem, once and for all,” Gatchalian said.

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

The World

Trump struggles to win all sides on health bill

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ASHINGTON— President Donald J. Trump’s push this week to revive legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (AC A) by placating the mo s t con s e r v at i v e Hou s e me mb ers r i sk s a l ie n at i ng more moderate Republicans, whose votes he needs just as much, and Republican leaders cautioned on Tuesday that no action was imminent. Vice President Mike Pence was meeting continually with House Republicans on Monday and Tuesday to rework and resuscitate the repeal bill that collapsed on the House floor on March 24. But the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, acknowledged that changes considered to gain support on one side of the House Republican Conference could lose votes on another. “It’s important that we don’t just win the votes of one caucus or one group, but that we get the votes and the consensus of 216 of our members,” Ryan said. In negotiations with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, administration officials discussed allowing states to opt out of two bedrock requirements in the ACA. One requires insurers to cover a standard minimum package of benefits, known as essential health benefits. The other generally requires insurers to charge the same price to people of the same age who live in the same geographic area, with a possible surcharge for tobacco users. Under this provision, known as community rating, insurers cannot vary premiums based on a person’s health status, insurance claims history or gender. Rep. Mark Meadows, Republican-North Carolina, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said he was pleased that the administration was willing to eliminate more of the mandates in the AC A , which Republicans have been trying to repeal ever since it was signed by President Barack Obama in 2010. “Lower premiums have to be our first and only priority,” Meadows said on Tuesday. “By repealing community rating and the essential health benefits, it allows for lower premiums across the board.” But Meadows said Freedom Caucus members wanted to see the language that would be added to the repeal bill before promising to vote for it. At the same time, more moderate Republicans were expressing concern for other reasons. Administration officials say they want to preserve one of the most popular provisions of the AC A, which bars insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions. But without a requirement for some form of community rating, insurers could effectively do that, simply by increasing the cost of policies for sick or risky customers. “I don’t think we will have something that eliminates community rating,’’ said Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, a member of the caucus of moderate Republicans known as the Tuesday Group. “That just can’t be.” Mur phy, a psycholog ist, has successfully championed legislation to improve treatment for mental illness and drug abuse, including opioid addiction. He said he wanted to be sure that any changes to the bill protected mentalhealth care and treatment for

substance abuse disorders, as well as maternity care— benefits that are guaranteed under the AC A. Ryan and the White House each tried to play down expectations of a breakthrough, saying the talks on a new healthcare bill were at a preliminary, conceptual stage. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said the vice president and the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, were “very optimistic” about the possibility of developing a health-care bill that could win a majority of votes in the House. “The president would like to see this done,” Spicer said. “If we can get a deal and it gets to those votes—which, again, I’m not going to raise expectations, but there are more and more people coming to the table with more and more ideas about how to grow that vote.” New York adopted community rating under a state law in the 1990s, and the policy caused serious problems in the individual insurance market, but state officials have come to accept it. Rep. Tom Reed, RepublicanNew York, who supported the original version of the repeal bill last month, said on Tuesday: “Community rating is one of those things that is a very significant reform in the Affordable Care Act. I appreciate the states’ rights argument but recognize that there is a reason behind community rating and the benefit that it brings to the insurance reforms.” Democrats say that relaxing federal standards for benefits and rates would, in effect, eviscerate protections for people with preexisting conditions. Some Republicans appear to share that concern. A llowing states to opt out of the federal requirements for minimum benefits and community rating “could greatly erode the safeguards Obamacare put in place for those with preexisting conditions”, s a id R e p. L e on a rd L a nce, Republican-New Jersey, who opposed the earlier Houserepeal bill and has not moved from that position. Rep. Chris Collins of New York, a Trump ally and member of the Tuesday Group, said he too was concerned about a l low i ng st ates to obt a i n waivers from the communityrating requirement. “It’s one thing if you have car crashes and you pay higher car insurance,” Collins said. “Health is a different animal. If you have high-blood pressure or high cholesterol, it might beg the question, what if you are on a medication and it’s currently under control? I don’t know what all that would mean.” The version of the repeal bill that went to the House f loor last month died after Republican leaders, in a bid for con ser v at ive suppor t , agreed to eliminate federal standards for minimum benefits. Under the proposal now under consideration, states could obtain waivers from the federal requirements. “States can often do a better job, usually do a better job, of understanding the needs of their residents and creating health care plans that help those residents, more than the federal government can,” said Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, a chairman of the Tuesday Group. “The whole current system is a one-size-fits-all, applying everywhere.” New York Times News Service

BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 6, 2017

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China market access in spotlight as first Trump-Xi meeting nears

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enry Paulson used to urge his Chinese counterparts during trade and investment talks to help him keep America’s markets open to them by increasing access to theirs. “It’s much more true today t han it was when I sa id it,” Paulson, who ser ved as treasur y secretar y under George W. Bush, said at a forum in Beijing in March. “More and more we are hearing: ‘W hy should we let Chinese come in and invest in certain industries when we can’t do it in China?’” Heightened trade and investment tensions hang over the first meeting between Donald J. Trump and Xi Jinping, presidents of the world’s two largest economies. Some of Tr ump’s compla ints a b out C h i n a — t h at it ste a l s A mer ic a n jobs a nd de v a lues it s c u r renc y—h ave been de sc r ibed b y econom i st s a s e xa g ge r ate d , out d ate d or ju s t pl a i n i n acc u rate. Yet, in many areas, China does play by its own rules at home. The US and European Union chambers of commerce in China both warned in separate reports last month that the country is becoming more—not less—closed to foreign business, and its Made in China 2025 industrial plan will make things worse. Trump’s challenge as he meets Xi at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, will be the same one Paulson faced: How to convince China to open its markets further. Wrenching significant concessions from Xi will be made more difficult by the timing of the meeting. While Chinese leaders know they have a lot to lose if their trading partners turn toward protectionism, Xi needs to be seen as staunchly defending China’s interests ahead of a reshuffle of key officials at a Communist Party congress later this year, said David Loevinger, a former China specialist at the US Treasury. “Xi’s not going to just throw

$347B

The amount of China’s trade surplus with the US in 2015, accounting for almost half of the total US trade deficit

the White House a bone,” said Loevinger, now an analyst at fund manager TCW Group Inc. in Los Angeles. Hanging over the Trump-Xi talks will be North Korea, which conduc ted a not her ba l l ist icmissile test early on Wednesday. Trump has said the US will act unilaterally if China doesn’t help with North Korea, according to an interview published last Sunday by the Financial Times. That statement likely set off alarms in Beijing. Tr ump last week reiterated that China was to blame for chronic US trade deficits and job losses, a nd he pred icted discussions w ith X i wou ld be “ver y difficu lt”. “We can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses,” Trump said via Twitter. “American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives” if the talks don’t go well. T hat underscored the r isk that a US-China trade spat could come just as the global economy appears to be perking up a bit nearly a decade after the financial crisis.

Wanting more

China’s critics point to Made in China 2025—a top-down plan to establish national independence in critical technologies and leadership in next-generation industries from robotics

to electric cars—which involves government support, including financing for overseas acquisitions. The plan is designed to meet Beijing’s goal of engineering a national economic transition and moving the countr y up the value chain. “China has been the world’s factory, and now it wants more,” the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a report last month. Then-US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker warned last November that under Made in China 2025, Beijing’s market interference could threaten the global semiconductor industry, citing previous disruptions in the aluminum, steel and green technology sectors as examples. If China merely achieves the numeric targets in Made in China 2025, its trade surplus with the US would grow, rather than shrink, Beijing-based research firm Gavekal Dragonomics said. That surplus stood at $347 billion last year, accounting for almost half of the total US trade deficit.

View from China

Chinese leaders have warned that the pain of a trade war would be widely shared, while asking for understanding of the unique trajectory of its development and remaining challenges. “Many American and Western friends think that China can’t live without the US, and they’re half right,” Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said at a briefing last month. “Similarly, the US also can’t live without China,” he said, citing US exports of Boeing Co. airplanes, soybeans and automobiles to China. Foreigners are always complaining about China not being open enough, but the country has opened according to the pace of its development, said Jiang Shan, former General Director of Americas and Oceanic Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce. “We couldn’t do it overnight— otherwise, things will be chaotic,” he said. “This is the open secret to China’s success. You can’t do things which go beyond your undertaking or capability.” Many Chinese policy-makers don’t realize how protectionist

their policies are because they see an economy today that’s far more open and globalized than it was 20 or 30 years ago, says Andrew Polk, director of China research at Medley Global Advisors Llc. in Beijing. They “also appear to genuinely believe they are gradually continuing to open, despite the recent experiences of foreign investors here,” he said. “So there is a disconnect between perception and reality in terms of China’s openness. This makes it very difficult to find a starting point for discussion.”

Words and deeds

Xi put himself in a unique position during a speech in Davos, Switzerland, in January, as a defender of globalization against the protectionist instincts of a US president. “Pursuing protectionism is like locking yourself in a dark room, which would seem to escape the wind and rain, but also block out the sunshine and air,” Xi said. Commerce Secretar y Wilbur Ross, for one, would like to see the Chinese president back up those words with action. He said last week that China is one of the world ’s most protectionist nations, even though it “uses a tremendous amount of freetrade rhetoric”. “We’d like the rhetoric and the behavior to become more congruent,” he said. Many foreign governments and investors see a China that’s advanced immeasurably since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, and that now has many world-class companies that don’t need to be cosseted from global competition behind a protectionist wall. “In what other major capital market can’t a BlackRock or a Morgan Stanley or a JPMorgan come in and do something that is wholly owned?” Paulson said. “Or why can’t General Motors sell autos without a joint-venture partner? We understood it when China didn’t have strong domestic companies. Right now China does have strong domestic companies and competition would benefit them and the overall economy.” Bloomberg News

Korea’s high-tech economy threatened by Chinese catch-up

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outh Korea is famous as a high-tech powerhouse, f rom S a m s u n g ’s s m a r t phones, the world ’s fastest Inter net connection speed and world-beating innovation. And while presidential hopefuls are laying out plans to develop new technology to drive the economy over the next five years, here is a reality check: the advantage of South Korean companies over their Chinese competitors is closing fast. In five years’ time there’ll be little difference between the tech of Chinese and South Korean companies in most sectors, including high-end smart phones, wearable devices, memory chips and smart electronics, according to a report by the state-run think tank Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade. “Of the main industries, it seems Korea has a competitive edge over China only in the semiconductor and display sectors,” said Kim Hyeon-wook, an economist at SK Research Institute in Seoul. “The government shouldn’t sit back, but needs to create a cohesive blueprint that sets the agenda and necessary reforms to move forward.” The “Made in China 2025” strategy aims to push the world’s

Korea Samsung S8 Bloomberg

second-largest economy beyond labor-intensive work into more sophisticated sectors, from robotics to aerospace. It will enable increasingly advanced industries and make its companies into Korea’s “strong rivals”, according to the industrial think tank ’s report. China’s rapid catch-up in technology comes as Korea struggles to find new growth engines to replace traditional manufacturing, such as shipbuilding, which has struggled recently. And the

rivalry is especially stark in new technologies. According to a report by the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, the average gap, with China on 24 key industries, like biotechnology and displays, was 0.9 years. This means if Korean companies make no effort, China would catch up in that amount of time. “China’s improvement of industry is changing the structure of the value chain between Korea and China,” according to Cho Chuel,

the director of Chinese industry research at Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade. R at her t h a n t he pre v iou s ver t ica l st r uct u re where Ko rea made va lue -added, h ightechnolog y products, competit ion w i l l become more equ a l, a nd Korea w i l l need to invest more to produce compet it ive products, he sa id. “I would like to see new polic ies t hat ca n f u nd a ment a l ly change Korea’s industrial structure,” said Lim Hyun-seo, the CEO of Tankerfund, a peer-topeer platform start-up in Korea. “Korea has highly sophisticated industries, but there needs to be a discussion on how the country can prosper from here.” The candidates for president are also pushing policies on supporting artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and robots, although it remains to be seen if these outlast the term of whoever wins. Previous governments laid out plans to boost industr ia l compet it iveness— such as former President Park Geun-hye’s creative economy initiative and Lee Myung-bak ’s green growth agenda—but they were short-lived due to political change. Bloomberg News

TheBroad

Business

A6 Thursday, April 6, 2017

‘Made in PHL’ fiber, coco

Pineapple plantation in the cool rolling hills of Tagaytay. Tonyoquias | Dreamstime.com

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas & Catherine Marie N. Pillas

Piñol: “Hundreds of tons of pineapple leaves, which were left in the field to rot in the past, can now be the source of income for poor farmers to be able to send their children to school.”

EGULATORS appear to be using their coconuts in grappling with the “Made in the Philippines” tag on exports.

At least for those in the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), they see the potentials of products from local fiber and the lowly coconut bearing the “Proudly Philippine-made” tag. For one, the DA is keen on capitalizing on the market opportunities for pineapple leaf fiber, which is currently used as an alternative to manufacture leather-based products. This is aside from also stepping up the local abaca production. The Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), tasked to push, promote and develop the country’s local exports globally, notes that the Philippines is actually a “champion” in both coconut production and exporting. EMB Director Senen M. Perlada said the Philippines, with 68 coconut-producing provinces, is only second to Indonesia in global production of coconuts, and the

No. 1 exporter of coconut oil.

Top honchos

IN December last year, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol met with the top honchos of Nonwoven Fabrics Philippines Inc. (NFPI) and Ananas Anam Ltd. (AAL). The former manufactures Piñatex substrate, while AAL converts Piñatex substrate into leather alternative material. Both NFPI and AAL expressed interest in hiking their local procurement of pineapple leaves from the country’s local producers. The UK-based company AAL founder Carmen Hijosa, who is a scientist by profession, developed a technology which processes pineapple leaves into leather used by shoemakers, furniture designers and car manufacturers. Hijosa called this “Piñatex”. It was first presented at the Doctor of Philosophy graduate exhibition at the Royal College of Art, London. On March 7 at simple rites in

Malacañang, the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFida) turned over some P8.5million worth of processing and postharvest facilities to five farmers’ cooperatives for the commercial production of pineapple fibers. During the turnover ceremony, Piñol admitted that despite the huge demand and recognition from other countries for pineapple leaf fiber, the commercialization of pineapple fiber by-products in the country has not been maximized. Piñol added that pineapple leaves and pulp are usually left to rot in the field before huge tractors are fielded to prepare the area again for the next planting season, instead of being processed for fiber. “With this development, hundreds of tons of pineapple leaves, which were left in the field to rot in the past, can now be the source of income for poor farmers to be able to send their children to school,” Piñol said.

Volume requirement

THE PhilFida also identified the five cooperatives that will supply pineapple fibers to the NFPI. To meet the volume requirement for the initial demand of 50 tons of pineapple fibers in 2017, the PhilFida is providing various agricultural machineries to several beneficiary groups, which include the Adventurers Multipurpose Cooperative in Polomolok and the T’boli Farm Growers Multipurpose Cooperative in T’boli in South Co-

tabato. Other beneficiaries are the Shalom Fiber Growers Association in Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon, the Maduvika Farmers Cooperative in Santa Ana, Cagayan, and the Labo Progressive Multipurpose Cooperative in Camarines Norte. After meeting with AAL in December, Piñol said Dole Philippines Inc. has thrown its support behind the DA’s pineapple-based leatherproduction project for the poor. The agriculture chief said Dole Philippines will ink a memorandum of agreement with the DA to formalize the multinational firm’s support for the livelihood project. Top officials of Dole Philippines have pledged to donate to poor families pineapple leaves from their 18,000-hectare plantations all over Mindanao, Piñol posted on his Facebook account. He added that in a meeting with officials of Dole Philippines led by Carlos H. Mandujano, senior vice president for worldwide agriculture and research, “I asked them to allow poor families to gather pineapple leaves after the fruits are harvested.”

Potential deal

PIÑOL said the DA is keen on signing the MOA with Dole Philippines to formalize the multinational firm’s support for the production of pineapple fiber. Under the MOA, Dole Philippines will provide pineapple leaves to poor families living near the plantations, while the DA will provide technical support and decorti-

cating machines, including dryers, according to Piñol. “With over 18,000 hectares of pineapple plantations, Dole Philippines’s support to the Piñatex natural leather production could lift thousands of farmers from poverty,” he said. “Hopefully, I will be able to convince the other companies involved in pineapple production, such as Sumifru and Del Monte, to follow the example of Dole Philippines,” the DA chief added. According to the DA, the Philippines is the top exporter of juice concentrates and pineapple juice. Most of the pineapple products shipped abroad come from Mindanao. Pineapple is processed into puree, dried, juice concentrates, canned products and fruit cocktail in syrup that are intended for export. The Philippines is second to Thailand in terms of processing. The DA said 85 percent of processing belongs to companies like Del Monte and Dole. There are 28 processing plants in the Philippines. The DA said native Philippine red or Spanish red, when processed, is an excellent source of piña fiber.

Ultimate fruit

COCONUT products, specifically coconut oil, remain to be a critical export commodity of the Philippines, but their potential is being dampened by a common problem in local, agro-based products: low

derLook products show potential

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Low productivity

ACCORDING to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority and gathered by the EMB, value of coconut oil shipments from the Philippines reached a high of P279 million in the 2012-to-2013 period, but has declined to the $100-million levels in the subsequent years. The production volume of coconuts followed a similar decline in

the past two to three years. The low productivity in agriculture sector is no new phenomenon: the coconut sector, like the broader sector, suffers from underinvestment. Low production levels of coconuts means that the country’s diversifying portfolio of coconut products—crude oil, hydrogenated coconut oil, coconut meat, coconut water, processed food—has to compete for the same raw material. “We could not take full advantage of being able to supply what the market needs for coconut products. We have limited material and that material has alternative uses. What if there was demand for all products—both the commodities and the nontraditional, high-value products? We have to prioritize. If we had an abundant supply, we wouldn’t have those problems,” the government official said. nonie reyes

productivity of the nut. In particular, the shifting trend toward organic products and the subsequent skyrocketing demand of virgin coconut oil (VCO) from Western markets have been a boon for the Philippines. The US imported $109 million worth of virgin coconut oil in 20122013 according to EMB data. Japan has since overtaken the US as the top market for VCO. California-based organic firm Nutiva, which sources from the Philippines, sells a 54-fluid-ounce of virgin coconut oil at $41. But the outlook hasn’t been rosy for coconut oil in the past two years: a spate of natural disasters has kept coconut production volumes low. “The difficulty we’ve had in recent years is that shipments have declined mainly because of production. We’ve been hit by Haiyan [Supertyphoon Yolanda] and El Niño; all these natural disasters have affected us, especially in coconutproducing regions,” Perlada said in a recent interview.

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, April 6, 2017

Other hurdles

ACCORDING to Ma. Melvin Joves, product officer at the DTI-EMB for the Coconut, Food and AgriMarine division, there are other hurdles in growing the coconut exports sector. “There’s underinvestment, of course, and replanting is a problem,” Joves said. “A lot of our trees are already so old. Investment is really lagging.” “Those are some of the issues in the industry: one is the number of trees, and two, the productivity per tree,” Perlada added.

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The untapped opportunity in the sector, in terms of employment, is also surprisingly significant. Perlada pointed out that every P1-million increase in the value of shipments of coconut oil has a potential to create 30 jobs (compared to mangoes whose employment multiplier is 1.017). Even with this existing problem, the DTI sees at least a positive production level this year, or some 6 to 7 percent growth. The year will be the first positive production year since 2015, as the country recovers from the destruction of Haiyan. The government and the coconut industry have set a coconut production volume growth of 20 percent annually from 2010’s baseline of 15 billion nuts, up to 2025 in its coconut industry road map. While this annual 20-percent target has not been met, the production volume has been revised downward to a more conservative 10 percent.

e could not take full advantage of being able to supply what the market needs for coconut products. We have limited material and that material has alternative uses. What if there was demand for all products—both the commodities and the nontraditional, high-value products? We have to prioritize. If we had an abundant supply, we wouldn’t have those problems.”—Perlada

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Thursday, April 6, 2017

The World BusinessMirror

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

Russian police hunt possible accomplices of suicide bomber

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This photo, provided on April 4 by the Syrian antigovernment activist group Edlib Media Center, shows a man carrying a child following a suspected chemical attack, at a makeshift hospital in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province, Syria. The suspected chemical attack killed dozens of people on Tuesday, Syrian opposition activists said, describing the attack as among the worst in the country’s six-year civil war. Edlib Media Center, via AP

Chemical attack kills dozens in Syria, US blames Assad

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EIRUT—A chemical weapons attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria killed dozens of people on Tuesday, leaving residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals.

T he Trump administration blamed the Syrian government for the attack, one of the deadliest in years, and said Syria’s patrons, Russia and Iran, bore “great moral responsibility” for the deaths. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 58 people died, including 11 children, in the early-morning attack in the town of K han Shei k hou n, wh ic h w it nesses said was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments. Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims’ bodies. Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps ref lected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country’s ruinous six-year civil war. Tuesday’s attack drew swift condemnation from world leaders, including President Donald J. Trump, who denounced it as a “heinous” act that “cannot be ignored by the civilized world”. T he U N S e c u r it y C ou nc i l scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday in response to the strike, which came on the eve of a major international donors’ conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region. In a statement, Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama for “weakness” in failing to respond aggressively after the 2013 attack. “ T hese heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are

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The number of people, including 11 children, who died in the chemical weapons attack

a consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution,” Trump said. “President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a ‘red line’ against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack.” Trump left it to his top diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to assign at least some blame to Russia and Iran, Assad’s most powerful allies. Tillerson called on both countries to use their influence over Assad to prevent future chemical weapons attacks, and noted Russia’s and Iran’s roles in helping broker a cease-fire through diplomatic talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana. “As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the cease-fire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths,” Tillerson said. In a statement, the Syrian

government “categorically rejected ” claims that it was responsible, asserting that it does not possess chemical weapons, hasn’t used them in the past and will not use them in the future. It laid the blame squarely on the rebels, accusing them of fabricating the attack and trying to frame the Syrian government. T he Russian Defense Ministry said the Khan Sheikhoun residents were exposed to toxic agents from a rebel arsenal hit by a Syrian air strike. The ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement early on Wednesday that Russian military assets registered the strike on a weapons depots and ammunition factory on the town’s eastern outskirts. Konashenkov said the factory produced chemical weapons that were used in Iraq. Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, located south of the provincial capital of Idlib, showed the limp bodies of children and adults. Some were struggling to breathe; others appeared to be foaming at the mouth. The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims, stripped down to their underwear and many appearing unresponsive, from the scene in pickup trucks. It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other air strikes that occurred in the area around the same time. It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from K han Sheikhoun. Opposition activists and a doctor in Idlib said it was the worst incident since the 2013 gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians and which a UN investigation said used sarin gas. Faced with international outrage over that attack, Assad agreed

to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons, all of which were destroyed. But member-states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have repeatedly questioned whether Assad declared everything. The widely available chemical chlorine was not covered in the 2013 declaration and activists say they have documented dozens of cases of chlorine gas attacks since then. The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons and chlorine gas, accusing the rebels of deploying it in the war instead. Dr. AbdulHai Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of victims of Tuesday’s attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack. In a Skype interview, he said doctors were struggling amid extreme shortages, including of the antidote used to save patients, Pralidoxem. Most of the fatalities died before they reached hospitals, Tennari said. “If they got to the hospital we can treat them. Two children who took a while before they were lifted out of the rubble died,” he said. Dr. Mohammed Tennari, a radiologist and AbdulHaj Tennari’s brother, said Tuesday’s attack was more severe than previous ones in the province, most of which used chlorine cylinders. “Honestly, we have not seen this before. The previous times the wounds were less severe,” he said. The doctor, who testified before the United Nations in 2015 about renewed Syrian government use of chemical attacks despite claims it has destroyed its stockpiles, said there was a chlorine smell after Tuesday’s attack, but it was mixed with another unknown “toxic gas which causes poison and death.” AP

AINT PETERSBURG, Russia—Investigators searched for possible accomplices of a 22-year-old native of the Central Asian countr y of Ky rg yzstan identified as the suicide bomber in the Saint Petersburg subway, as residents came to grips on Tuesday w ith the first major terrorist attack in Russia’s second-largest city since the Sov iet collapse. T h e b o m b e r, A k b a r z h o n Dzhalilov, had lived in Saint Petersburg for several years, working as a car repairman and later at a sushi bar. Pages on his social-media networks reflected his interest in radical Islam and boxing, but those who met Dzhalilov described him as a calm and friendly man. R u s s i a’s h e a l t h m i n i s t e r raised the death toll to 14, including the bomber. About 50 others remained hospitalized, some in grave condition. Many were students heading home on Monday after classes on one of the city’s busy north-south lines. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which came as President Vladimir Putin was visiting his hometown, raising speculation it could have been timed for his trip. The attack follows a long string of bombings of Russian planes, trains and transportation facilities. Many of the attacks were linked to radical Islamists. Before Dzhalilov traveled to Saint Petersburg where he eventually got Russian citizenship, his ethnic Uzbek family lived in Osh, the city in southern Kyrgyzstan that saw more than 400 people killed and thousands injured in clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in 2010. Saint Petersburg has a large diaspora of people from Kyrgyzstan and other mostly Muslim former Soviet republics in Central Asia. They have fled ethnic tension, poverty and unemployment for jobs in Russia. While most Central Asian migrants hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands have received Russian citizenship in recent decades. Russian media

said Dzhalilov worked with his father in a car-repair shop and then became a cook at one of the city’s many sushi bars. He stayed in Saint Petersburg when his parents moved back to Kyrgyzstan. One former colleague at the sushi chain described Dzhalilov, who turned 22 on Saturday, as “a very kind person”. “He was a nonconf lict person. We didn’t expect to hear such news today,” said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared for her personal safety. Neighbors in Osh also described him as a nice and friendly man. Dzhalilov visited his home country about a month ago, and unlike past trips when he traveled directly back to Saint Petersburg, he returned via Moscow. Investigators are looking into whether he met possible accomplices in Moscow, according to Russian media reports. Security cameras caught the bespectacled Dzhalilov as he entered the subway, appearing calm and clad in a red parka with a fur collar and blue wool hat. He wore a backpack believed to hold the bomb that was loaded with metal balls and screws for maximum damage. T he Investigative Committe e, R u s s i a’s to p i nve st i g a tive agency, said it also found Dzhalilov’s DNA on a bag with a similar bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station shortly after the blast. Sec u r it y e x per ts h ave de sc r ibed people f rom Cent ra l Asia as fertile recruits for radical Islamist preachers, who have become increasingly active on social networks. Dzhalilov followed some radical Islamist pages on Russian social network, and media reports quoted investigators alleging he was linked to the Islamic State (IS) group. Putin has said that between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Russia and other former Soviet republics were fighting alongside the IS and other militants in Syria. He has named the IS threat as one of the reasons behind Russia’s military campaign in Syria. AP

N. Korea fires ballistic missile ahead of Trump-Xi meeting

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EOUL, South Korea—North Korea fired a newly developed powerful ballistic missile into its eastern waters on Wednesday, US and South Korean officials said, amid worries the North might conduct nuclear or long-range rocket tests ahead of the first summit between President Donald J. Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week. The initial US and South Korean assessments indicated it was a KN-15 medium-range missile, whose first publicly known test in February was considered by many foreign experts as a potentially worrying development. It uses solid fuel already loaded inside the missile, which would shorten launch preparation times, boost the weapon’s mobility and make it harder for outsiders to detect the signs of its liftoff. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had said after the February launch that the missile, called “Pukguksong-2” in North Korea, provided another nuclear attack capability against the United States and South Korea. Most of North Korea’s missiles use liquid propellant, which usually must be added on the launch pad before the weapon is fired. The missile fired from land

in the area of the eastern coastal city of Sinpo on Wednesday morning flew about 60 kilometers, according to a South Korean military statement. The missile launched in February flew about 500 kilometers, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the shorter distance meant on Wednesday’s launch was a failure. North Korean state media said the Pukguksong-2 missile is a surface-to-surface missile that can carry nuclear warheads. It is likely to be an upgraded version of the submarine-launched missile named “Pukguksong” launched last summer. Many South Korean experts say Pukguksong-2 missile would be a greater security threat because it can be launched anywhere from a ground-based mobile vehicle. W hile submarines are also a stealthy way to do that, North Korea doesn’t have enough of them. Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank in Honolulu, said he was expecting North Korea would do something to coincide with the TrumpXi summit, perhaps conduct a nuclear test. The missile launch may be a precursor, with more to come as the summit starts later this week, Cossa said. AP

The Regions BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Thursday, April 6, 2017

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Napocor powers Limasawa Island

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By Lenie Lectura @llectura

HE National Power Corp. (Napocor) will soon deploy a new 300-kilowatt (kW) generating set this year, and two more 300-kW gensets next year in its Limasawa diesel power plant (DPP). The state firm said the Leyte provincial government made a request to electrify Limasawa Island. Currently Limasawa DPP operates with 16 hours of electricity for its 1,240 households. It has a dependable capacity of 520 kW, which is sufficient in meeting the demand of 213 kW. With the additional gensets this year and in 2018, Napocor expects to increase the island’s service to 24 hours in the second quarter of 2018. Napocor said it would be more aggressive in looking for more ways to make missionary electricity more reliable and cheaper as a

GARDEN GUARDIAN Not your ordinary scarecrow, a bulol (statue of an indigenous god) stands guard to scare hungry birds from the gardens of Benguet farmers. In classic humor, the farmers dress up their bulol with a colorful scarf and shades. MAU VICTA

DPWH, DOT finish ₧50-M Samar road project By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

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HE public-works and tourism agencies have completed a P50-million tourism road project in Samar. With the completion of the roadconstruction initiative in Calbayog City, visitors now have easy access

to three of the scenic waterfalls in the area: Larik Falls, Bangon Falls and Tarangban Falls. Public Works First District Engineer Alvin A. Ignacio said the project involves the paving of 1,200-linear-meter access road. “ T he road improvement in Barangay Tinaplacan, Tinambacan District, has resulted to the

growing in number of visitors of the three majestic falls. This has been confirmed by the Calbayog City Tourism and Information Office, which cited an increase of 694.6 percent, from 2,075 tourists in 2015, to 14,413 in 2016,” he said. His office has also constructed a 768.2-linear-meter reinforced

concrete-lined canal, intended to prevent clogging and water ponding in the area that may eventually cause early deterioration of the newly paved road. This year the public works department is set to implement a P100-million slope-protection project along the newly improved access road.

20 suspects nabbed in Bulacan anti-illegal-drugs operation By Catherine Joy L. Maglalang Correspondent

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AMP GENER AL ALEJO, City of Malolos, Bulacan— At least 20 drug suspects were arrested, and 44 plastic sachets of suspected shabu, five plastic sachets with suspected dried leaves of marijuana, buybust money and assorted drug paraphernalia were seized on Tuesday in different buy-bust operations conducted by the Bulacan Police in different cities and municipalities in the province of Bulacan. Senior Supt. Romeo C a ramat Jr., Bulacan Philippine National Police director, said 10 suspects were arrested in San Jose del Monte City (SJDM); three in Balagtas; two in Obando; one in Hagonoy; one in Plaridel; two in Baliwag; and one in Norzagaray town. Caramat identified the arrested suspects as Maria Arcelie Ignacio y Clemente, alias Celie, 43, single, laborer; Ulysses Garcia y Salvador, alias Uly, 39, married; and Connie Reyes y Mendoza, 38, with live-in partner, and resident of Balagtas town; Jairus Barenz Ba r tolome y En r iquez, a l i a s Aba, 23, with live-in partner, of Obando; Edwin Valenzuela y Cruz, alias Edwin, 31, with live-in partner and resident of Valenzuela City in Metro Manila; Francisco Trinidad y Eugenio, alias Paeng/Brad, 40, single, tricycle driver, resident of Hagonoy; Emerson Visconde y Alamad, alias Sonny, 47, married, junk-shop owner; Raymond Dizon y Ibanez, 27, single, construction worker; Robert Tagalog y Balingit,

36, single, tricycle driver; Reynaldo Organo y Ovano, 19, single; Alfredo Junsay y Velasco, 25, single, driver; John Kenneth de Guzman y Navarro, 18, single; and Jeric Binlayo y Lavadia, 21, single, all residents of SJDM; Rogelio Mendoza y Gunita, 35, single; and Fearless Cruz y Francisco, 36 , with live-in partner, driver, both residents of Santa Maria town; Jelyn de la Cruz y Mallari, 35, married, and resident of Plaridel town; Mary Jane Castelo y

Delejero, alias Ashley, 23, single; and Jojo Abion y Navoa, alias Dada, 42, single, both residents of Baliwag town; Rheymart Joaquin y Cruz, alias Mark/Rey/Reymark of Norzagaray town; and Jayden Kim Santos y Valdez, 27, single, resident of Caloocan City. Caramat said a total of 41 pieces of heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets of suspected shabu; two medium pieces of heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets of suspected shabu; five plastic sachets

containing suspected dried leaves of marijuana; buy-bust money and assorted drug paraphernalia were recovered during the conduct of nine buy-bust operations. The suspects and recovered pieces of evidence were brought to the Bulacan Crime Laboratory Office for appropriate examination, while appropriate criminal complaints against the arrested suspects were being prepared before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in this city.

EGGPLANTS FROM PANGASINAN Lowland vegetable dealers unload fresh eggplants and other vegetables from Pangasinan in the Baguio City public market. The prices of lowland vegetables remain stable since last week in the city’s public market. MAU VICTA

directive from its new president and CEO, Pio J. Benavidez. Benavidez, who replaced Gladys Cruz-Sta Rita, was a longtime executive at Napocor. He assumed his new role on April 1.

Quezon SP to summon DPWH engineers on destruction of Spanish bridges in Tayabas By John Bello Correspondent

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UCENA CITY, Quezon—The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) of Quezon seeks to summon the heads of the two local engineering districts of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) on the alleged destruction of Spanish-era stone-arched bridges in Tayabas City declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP). Quezon First District SP Members Claro Talaga Jr. and Aileen Buan both delivered privilege speeches at the SP regular session on Monday, deploring the road- and bridge-widening project being undertaken by District Engineering 1 and 2 of the DPWH, which they said ruined the historical and cultural value of the ancient bridges. “Ang nagsasagawa po ng proyektong pagpapalawak ng kalsada at mga tulay ay tila walang pagsangguni sa lokal na pamahalaan ng Tayabas at isinasagawa nila ng walang pagsasaalang-alang sa cultural at historical value ng mga naturang sinaunang tulay na tiyak ilang henerasyon na ng ating mga kababayan ang nakinabang,” Buan told her colleagues. She named the 12 stone-arched bridges constructed during Spanish colonial period and being threatened by the DPWH road- and bridge-widening project as Puente de Prinsesa in Barangay Ibas; Puente de Bae in Barangay Dapdap; Puente Despededas and Puente de Ese in Barangay Camaysa; Puente de Alitao in Barangay San Isidro Zone III, Puente de Malagonlong in Barangay Mateuna/Lakawan; Puente de Lakawan in Barangay Lakawan, Puente de Mate in Barangay Mate; Puente de Isabel II in Barangay Malao-A; and Puente de Urbiztondo in Barangay MalaoA, Puente de Don Francisco de Asis and Puente de Gibanga in Barangay Calumpang. All are found in Tayabas City. Historical accounts said Puente de Malogonlong is one of the oldest and longest stone-arched bridges found in the province of Quezon. It is 136 meters (446 feet) long built between the years 1840 and 1850 under the direction of the Ministro del Pueblo, Fray Antonio Mattheos, a Franciscan priest. It was the lon-

gest bridge ever made during the Spanish colonial era with approximately 100,000 adobe blocks used. In his own privilege speech, Talaga said the SP has to be a part of the opposition in the destruction of the historical bridges, noting the move by the Tayabas City government, led by Mayor Aida Reynoso, to prevent the structural damage being done by the DPWH through their road- and bridge-widening project. Talaga said he received a letter from the Quezon Province Heritage Council (QPHC) dated March 26, urging the immediate halt to the ongoing construction of the DPWH contractors to the ancient historical bridges. The same letter was also received by Buan from the QPHC signed by its Chairman Danilo de Luna and President Gil Contreras. The letter said the QPHC, guided by the provisions and mandates of Republic Act 10066, entitled National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, has the duty in the preservation of the Spanish Colonial Bridges of Tayabas City threatened by the DPWH bridge-widening projects. The letter sought the help from SP to include the issue on the agenda of the SP session and to set an inquiry in aid of legislation, stressing that the bridges are National Cultural Treasures “threatened by their ignorance on how to preserve and conserve such tangible heritage and cultural property”. Members of the Oplan Sagip Tulay (OST), a task force group of Tayabas City government headed by Keissy Palma Rayel, attended the SP session to seek support from the SP members. Rayel told the BusinessMirror that in their ocular inspection last week in Puente Gibanga, construction workers were already applying cement to the bridge flooring and quoted someone from the DPWH as saying that “it is not an option to stop their road- and bridge-widening project”. John Valdeavilla, spokesman of the group, said the DPWH has started work on the bridges last week of February and on March 4 they have seen construction workers using jackhammers. He said some of the parts of the bridges are being chipped and the abutment were removed without the permission of NMP and the National Commission for Culture and Arts.

A10 Thursday, April 6, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Kudos, Mr. President

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resident Duterte has sent a strong message against corruption when he sacked Interior Secretary Ismael D. Sueno during a Cabinet meeting on Monday. Pundits see the dismissal as a warning to members of the Cabinet that the Chief Executive will not countenance any questionable decisions they make, and he would fire high-ranking officials caught in allegations of corruption. Most everyone knows that Sueno was instrumental in convincing Duterte to run for president. But this did not stop the President from pursuing his drive for a clean and trustworthy government, even at the expense of close friends.

The accusation that allegedly annoyed the President was Sueno’s facilitation of the implementation of a contract for Austrian fire trucks that cost around P20 million each, when similar fire trucks could be procured for half the price. The interior secretary allegedly traveled to Austria with his family to personally ensure the delivery of 76 fire trucks, notwithstanding that the government contract is the subject of a case pending with the Supreme Court. According to an official present at the Cabinet meeting, the President gave Sueno a chance to explain after he listed down the allegations brought to his attention by three undersecretaries of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). But when Duterte asked Sueno if he, indeed, traveled to Austria, and if he knew about the issues hounding the government contract, the answer he got irritated him. “It’s either you’re taking me for a stupid idiot or you’re lying to your teeth,” Duterte reportedly said. Apparently, the President relied on more than just the claims of the three DILG undersecretaries as basis for his decision to fire Sueno. Rep. Rozzano Rufino B. Biazon said Duterte showed remarkable political will in firing Sueno, since the latter was a prime mover in the President’s campaign. “This shows the President’s intolerance of corruption within his administration,” he said. Earlier, the President sacked Peter T. Laviña—his campaign spokesman from Davao—as head of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) based on corruption allegations. Reports said Laviña was asked to resign after some NIA directors informed the President about Laviña’s alleged overtures to them. The NIA chief would allegedly call these directors and identify projects the regional office had and tell them, “It’s up to you to take care of me”. This infuriated Duterte and sealed Laviña’s fate. Laviña denied corruption allegations, and said he decided to resign “to spare the President from these embarrassing stories, particularly in these times of intensified attacks on him”. But Duterte’s words were clear: “When I said there will be no corruption, there will be no corruption. As a matter of fact, I fired last night one official from Davao for simply making a remark. And I told him, even a whiff of corruption, I will fire you. So I’m doing my part.” In the world of politics, political will is the motive force that generates firm action for the common good. Duterte’s drive for a clean and honest government deserves encouragement and support. Filipinos must be lucky to have a President who hates corrupt officials and who is determined to promote change. With the people’s help, Duterte’s campaign against corruption in the government may yet succeed. Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

Trust no one; assume nothing John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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nfortunately, as is always the case, meanings of words get twisted, and language is taken over to suit a particular agenda or point of view. The current examples are the words “globalists” and “populists”.

While having used those terms repeatedly, other terms that I have substituted include “political elite” and “establishment”. And of course for “populist”, I have used “the people”. But the key to the deal in the discussion of the global political scene—and economics—is the confidence the people have in their governments. All the opinions polls that ask about approval and trust in leaders and institutions never address “confidence”, which is defined as “the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something”. One reason to avoid asking that question is that the definition itself is confusing. What do we mean when we

say we can or cannot rely on some person or institution? Confidence that the person will fulfill his or her promises? Confidence that the person will do the right thing? Confidence, like beauty and pornography, is self-defined. We know it when we see it, even if we cannot adequately describe the specifics. However, what we can measure, is when confidence moves from one “thing” to another, even if the result of that change is subtle or ill-defined. Why does our purebred, royal French bloodline toy poodle listen better to me and not to other members of the family? Does she have a belief that disobeying me will lead

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HE pre-audit system, patterned after the practice of the United States General Auditing Office (GAO) since John R. McCarl’s time in 1921, had been in practice in the Philippines until 1972, when former President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law, reorganized the government and adopted the post-audit system that saw the abuse or misuse of government funds, particularly in the area of budgeting, behest loans granting and allocation of funds for government-controlled corporations. McCarl, a lawyer, was the first US auditing general, serving until 1936. His legalistic approach reflected late 19th century and early 20th century views of auditing, which focused on a careful review of fiscal records. Done centrally, the work required government agencies to send their fiscal records to GAO. McCarl stated in his annual report for 1926 that “the question whether any particular expenditure or collection is in accordance with law is the principal function of the GAO”. When President Corazon C. Aquino took over the presidency in 1986, her first appointed Commission on Audit chairman, Teofisto Guingona, attempted to restore the

pre-audit system, but was unsuccessful in doing so as Mrs. Aquino naively opted to maintain the Marcos post-audit system upon the suggestions of her financial advisers and some of the foreign creditors. Her decision was highly correlated to her subsequent action when she and her successors strangely retained Presidential Decree (PD) 1177, from President Ramos, to President Estrada, to President Arroyo, to President Aquino III and now President Duterte. PD 1177 automatically authorizes the servicing of foreign and domestic borrowings, regardless of whether the debts were tainted with fraud or not. As a result, Mrs. Aquino in 1991,

to punishment? Is it because I give her doggie biscuits? The answer is no, since my family also scolds her for bad behavior and also gives her treats. It is the same way with the public’s feeling of confidence with their governments. The reason I keep beating this dead horse is because we must understand the dynamic of what is going on to understand what the future holds. The short term peak of confidence in government came in October 2015, and now it is deteriorating rapidly like a car that struggles going up the hill to Baguio and then comes down faster. The presidential elections in the Philippines and the US were supposed to be won by those with family names—Roxas, Clinton and Bush—that represented the confidence in government that has been in place for decades. Barack Obama was as much a part of political elite establishment that his political party correctly believed would appeal to a wider audience than Hillary Clinton in 2008. Politics—government—and the economy cannot be viewed separately, as political change foreshadows economic upheaval. However, note

a year before she relinquished the presidency to Ramos, unfairly transferred the P194-billion liabilities incurred by the Marcos administration in 20 years to the National Treasury, and unjustly dumped them on the shoulders of the Filipino people, including 130 accounts granted on the behest of Marcos and his cronies, which were then under investigation by the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice and the Sandiganbayan. This writer exposed this highly irregular presidential action in his best-selling book, Greed & Betrayal, published in 2000 by Amazon, one of the world’s largest publishing houses. The retention of PD 1177, later dovetailed by Proclamations 50 and 50-A, signed respectively by President Aquino on December 15, 1986, and June 8, 1987, also legitimized her economic policy of privatization, which mandated the rehabilitation of debt-ridden government financial institutions, such as the Central Bank, Philippine National Bank and Development Bank Philippines. In effect, President Aquino rendered Congress (House and Senate) inutile to say the least, because only three people, the president, the finance secretary and the governor of Bangko Sentral, decide how much to allocate for debt servicing, a function that exclusively belongs to Congress.

this carefully. A retreat of confidence in government moves along with the economic cycle. Firstly, economies stall primarily due to government policies, as well as other cycles like the weather, war and disease. Secondly, politics move into chaos, and then thirdly, the economic situation catches up to match the destruction of confidence in government. That is the cycle that has repeated for several thousand years and we are now between Number Two and Number Three. If you do not know where you have come from and where you are, you cannot anticipate or prepare for the future. Be aware that there are those that are trying to protect the past confidence in government and will do almost anything. It is a losing battle. There are those that will take advantage of this loss of confidence. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. We must be prepared against both of these. Trust no one to have your interests at heart. Assume nothing is what it appears to be.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

This function is, in fact, explicitly written in Section 24, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, which says: “All appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.” Adopting a post-audit system is like the favorite refrain in the military: “Shoot first and ask questions later.” Indeed, post-audit system is a martial law creation and is very much incompatible with a pre-audit system under a presidential type of government. Congress’s image as a law-making body hit rock bottom because of the preoccupation of some of its members with popular causes, or those that served their political and economic interests. The more important business of checking deficit spending, foreign borrowing and debt restructuring, among other questionable actions, committed by the previous administrations, were conveniently obfuscated. Unless the present Congress regains the exercise of this exclusive function in authorizing and allocating public funds, neither can the government stifle corruption, nor can it spur economic growth. To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Philippines needs an independent BSP

Contractualization and security of tenure: Truths and falsities Ariel Nepomuceno

Val A. Villanueva

DECISION TIME

nder Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., the house was kept in good order. At his helm, the country weathered the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, which had an even larger and more alarming scope and scale than that of the Asian financial crisis that kept us economically edgy from 1997 to 1998. It inflicted a heavy toll not only on the advanced economies of the world, but also on both local and global emerging markets.

orkers, young and old, organized and unorganized, woke up on March 16 and found out that Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III finally issued Department Order (DO) 174, which totally bans labor-only contracting, halting “end of contract regimes” and providing mechanisms to strictly regulate various contractual arrangements. This latest issuance by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) was reached after intensive and heated discussions and consultations with both labor and management sector. The issue is very critical, given that the Philippine Statistics Authority, in a fairly recent survey, advised that more than 1/3 in companies employing 20 people are, in fact, temporary workers.

Businesswise

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Tetangco targeted inflation, making sure that it was within the preferred range. He allowed the market to determine the exchange rate, but remained ever mindful of its inflationary effect. The BSP chief has been with the office for 43 years, 12 years of which he spent as its captain, navigating the country to monetary solidity. He is the only BSP governor to be reappointed to a second term. Appointed to the post by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005, his term was extended in 2011 by President Benigno S. Aquino III. The New York-based Global Finance magazine named him as one of the world’s top central bankers. He has also been acknowledged both here and abroad as one of the world’s best central bankers for nursing the country’s fiscal monetary position to stability and growth. In him we saw how the BSP tried its best to keep its independence from internal pressures and external shocks, ensuring that the Philippine fiscal and economic health remains buoyant. Tetangco, in previous interviews, has been quoted as saying: “What allowed the Philippines to continue to be resilient, despite the surprises of 2016? Well, we did our homework and kept our house in order.” Now at 64, he’s finally stepping down on July 2 of this year, with President Duterte still mulling over his replacement. Along with many from the country’s financial circle, I, too, would rather have him stay, but respect Tetangco’s decision to decline another term. The President was inclined to appoint him to an unparalleled third term, but such would require Congress to amend the BSP’s charter. The BSP chief is batting for seamless transition, and says his replacement should come from the ranks and be tough enough to keep the independence of the central bank. “If you want a seamless transition in the BSP, the next governor should be one with central banking experience; an insider. If you look at those competencies, an underlying factor there would be familiarity with the mandate and how to deliver on it, as well as [an understanding of] the culture of the organization,” he says. Tetangco himself came from the ranks. His BSP leadership has been characterized as conventional, sensible, results-oriented and reassuring. There are some names that have been floated to take his place: BSP insiders Nestor A. Espenilla and Diwa C. Guinigundo, among them. Others are former trade and

industry chief and ex-Monetary Board Member Peter V. Favila and East West Bank President Antonio C. Moncupa Jr., who has been identified with the ruling party’s PDP-Laban Research Planning and Development Institute. Like the BSP governor, I am biased toward someone who knows every nook and cranny of the BSP. I prefer someone who can defend the independence of the institution; someone who can stand against intense political pressure. Guinigundo and Espenilla both possess the credentials; with the former being more exposed to the media. He is a resource person who is up to the task of explaining the central bank position in various economic news or the BSP’s policy messages. Espenilla, however, is the workhorse. He’s more into BSP regulatory issues related to the whole banking system. His herculean determination may not have received much mass media hype as Guinigundo’s, but he was very effective in strengthening the Philippine banking system, such that the country’s banks now are considered to be among the fittest in the Asean. Our banks today have robust capitalization position, affording them the resilience to absorb unforeseen shudders to the economy and bank customers. I had a brief liaison with Espenilla in the early 1990s when I was doing the Philippine report for Euromoney London. I found him low-key and soft-spoken. He had no air of arrogance, despite having steered the BSP toward the development and implementation of financially inclusive banking regulations. These banking regulations prioritized the needs of local consumers, and institutionalized the National Retail Payment System project. He championed a more inclusive banking system that enabled micro, small and medium enterprises and low-income individuals to gain access to a broad array of financial services in unbanked and underbanked rural areas, through a proportionate regulatory approach. Whoever is finally chosen as the new BSP chief certainly has big shoes to fill. This corner believes that it is essential, and in the country’s best interest, to sustain an effective fiscal management that is free from political influence. The Philippine central bank is one of our most integral institutions. It deserves someone who has the fiscal acumen, moral integrity and the strength of character to parry intense political pressure, most especially in these trying times. For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com.

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DO 174 superseded DO 18-A and it basically outlaws the following: 1) Labor-only contracting; 2) Farming out work to a “Cabo” (persons or groups which supplies workers to an employer, with or without any monetary or other consideration, as an employer’s agent or as an “independent contractor”); 3) Contracting out of job or work through an in-house agency or an in-house cooperative; 4) Contracting out work by reason of a strike or lockout; 5) Contracting out work being performed by union members violating the latter’s right to self organization; 6) Requiring the contractors’ employees to perform functions which are currently being performed by the regular employees of the principal; and 7) Repeated hiring of employees under an employment contract of short duration plus other practices designed to circumvent the right of workers to security of tenure, among others. The Labor Code has always recognized labor-only contracting and

MAIL

related DOLE rules as illegal because it is an arrangement that evades the duties and obligations of an employer. This is obviously contrary to public policy. In this sort of setup, a company or business outfit utilizes another entity, with no capital, investment, tools, premises or equipment, hires the people provided by the latter and makes them perform jobs which are core or directly linked to the business of such company but controls the work product of said workers. Wages, benefits and rights under existing labor standards and legislation are not the responsibility of the company but of the contractor or the group that supplies labor. On the other hand, short-term hiring for less than six months, repeated rehiring of same workers after a brief period from manpower agencies and other analogous schemes are now frowned upon by the new DO simply because they are intended to thwart the regularization process, thereby denying rights that are

Whatever criticisms this department order received and will receive, it is a clear effort to address the inequities brought about by employers who systematically do temporary hiring/illegal contracting, resort to unscrupulous agents or intermediaries to shirk from their duty to provide fair, humane and just conditions for people in the workplace. associated with regularization. This set up is obviously antisecurity of tenure and, thus, the labor sector is vigorously opposing the same. All in all, DO 174 looks, feels and appears to be a good law and is socialwelfare-driven. But both management and labor groups are not happy with it. Some employers and their organizations opine that the DO will result to loss of jobs, displacement of the laborers and will impact their right to avail themselves of contractual services, especially in areas where work is not essential or merely seasonal to its main operations. However, there is unanimity in the view that the issuance gives more clarity to what is legal contracting and strikes a balance between the need for competitive and inclusive growth vis-á-vis employees’ rights. On the other side of the fence is the labor sector, which marked March 16 as a day of sadness and mourning in that the DO only reinforces the stronghold of capital over labor and the refusal of the government to end all kinds of contractualization. Groups, such as the Associated Labor Unions, Federation of Free Workers, Kilusang Mayo

The mystery of the Passion of Jesus Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

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he Holy Week’s beginning with the Passion Sunday takes us into an extended meditation on the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Saint Matthew’s account (26:14-27:66) presents him as the Messiah, according to the testimony of Sacred Scriptures, and as the redeemer of all humankind. Meditating on the Passion of Jesus is, for Christians, vital because it inaugurates the New Covenant with God, which is, for us, life.

A doer of God’s will Jesus was not a victim of circumstances; He was freely fulfilling God’s will, the divine plan for the salvation of the world. The passion narrative starts off with the betrayal by Judas (26:14-16) hinging on the 30 pieces of silver, the worth of the services of the rejected shepherd (Zechariah 11:12) and the legal indemnity for the life of a servant (Exodus 21:32). Jesus is portrayed as the shepherd and servant rejected by His people, a tragedy that played out in the garden of Gethsemane. The distress of Jesus “sorrowful even to death” recalls heart-rending longing and suffering for God (Psalm 42:6. 12; Jonah 4:9). The reference to the cup Jesus was to drink insinuates that His passion is His lot in the world as foreknown by God (Psalm

Response to the letter to the editor Dear Mr. Arnold T. Gonzales and Atty. Venancio C. Manuel III, This is in reference to your letter dated March 30 that was published in the Opinion section of our esteemed newspaper on April 3. Contrary to your allegations that “COO Montano was not personally asked on the veracity of the issues, notwithstanding that he is the one being accused of these allegations,” please be informed that I have been in touch with Tourism Provincial Board (TPB) COO Cesar Montano’s

Thursday, April 6, 2017 A11

executive assistant, Priza Cinco, since last December in my effort to get his statements on his appointment to the TPB. She had even sent me via Viber, not only his statement on his appointment to the TPB, as well as photos during his oath-taking ceremony. Since then, we’ve exchanged text and Viber messages as I’ve been following up my request for a sit-down interview with COO Montano to ask about his programs for the TPB. Since reports had been published about the white paper alleging irregularities in COO

11:6; Lamentations 4:2; Isaiah 51:17. 22). Jesus Himself interpreted the unfolding events as simply the fulfillment of the Scripture; He was not being defeated by the inevitable, but rather obediently accepting his Father’s plan.

A giver of new life

The spitting, mockery and brutality exercised on Jesus evoke the maltreatment and injustice done to the innocent one (Isaiah 50:4-7). “Yet, it was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured. He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins” (Isaiah 53:4-5). On the cross, Jesus was truly the just and innocent one offering His life in expiation for others.

image of Jesus whose life’s blood was about to be poured out in sacrifice as establishing the New Covenant between God and humankind. In this new love relationship, all prisoners of sin and death would be liberated, and in their new freedom humankind is called to be faithful to God. In the Eucharist, we celebrate and participate in this New Covenant in the blood of Jesus as we are freed from the power of evil and darkness.

IN the institution of the Eucharist (26:26-29), the Old Testament covenant sacrifice is alluded to by the reference to Jesus’ “blood of the covenant” (Exodus 24:8). By the covenant sacrifice God forged a common bond with the people, and the people, in turn, were expected to respond with a new quality of life. Also, God had promised, “Because of the blood of My covenant with you, I will set your captives free” (Zechariah 9:11). Matthew gives us an

Ushering in the day of the Lord

Montano’s management of the TPB, I again messaged Cinco several times via text and Viber about getting her boss’s side. She never once favored me with any sort of reply. So perhaps, you could ask her directly why she has not bothered to reply to me nor apparently informed COO Montano of my requests for his comments. In fact, I did use the statement of COO Montano, which was published on his Kuya Buboy in Action—SelPhilippines Facebook page. (See, “TPB employees hold

Black Friday protest against Montano,” in the BusinessMirror, March 15.) As you can now see, I exerted all means to present COO Montano’s side to the public, despite the fact that neither his office nor the TPB had seen it fit to send said statement to our paper. It gladdens me that “TPB management and employees fully supports (sic) the leadership of COO Cesar Montano in promoting and marketing Philippine tourism domestically and internationally as a

During the trial, the silence of Jesus recalls the suffering servant in Isaiah who was “silent and opened not his mouth” like a lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). The spitting, mockery and brutality exercised on Jesus evoke the maltreatment and injustice done to the innocent one (Isaiah 50:4-7). “Yet, it was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured.... He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our

Uno, Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, Partido Manggagawa and the Migrante International denounced the order as antilabor and pro-capital because it merely reiterated the old principles under past DOLE administrative orders and did not put a definite end to short-term and agency-hired contracts. They called it modern-day slavery and will lead to a sordid situation where workers remain poor, trapped in inhuman working conditions, low pay and uncertainty in their economic future Whatever criticisms this DO received and will receive, it is a clear effort to address the inequities brought about by employers who systematically do temporary hiring/illegal contracting, resort to unscrupulous agents or intermediaries to shirk from their duty to provide fair, humane and just conditions for people in the workplace. It enlarged and broadened the scope of illicit activities for which guilty individuals or corporations are going to be liable for. The DOLE also committed to strictly implement articles 106-109 of the Labor Code banning all contractualization activities that denigrate the lawful rights of our labor sector. The rising inequality between labor and capital is a painful reality in a growing, globalized and aggressive capitalist world. Even Adam Smith, who was an advocate of a free and open market, mentioned that no society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. No glory in being rich when the ones who made you rich are mired in squalor. For comments and suggestions arielnepo.businessmirror@gmail.com

sins” (Isaiah 53:4-5). On the cross, Jesus was truly the just and innocent one offering His life in expiation for others. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (27:46), so often misunderstood as a cry of discouragement and even despair, is but the opening line of Psalm 22, a song beginning with a lament but concluding in triumphant joy and confidence in God. The abuses, the derision, the division of his garments, the casting of lots for his clothing were details from the psalm to ensure that we see Jesus as the innocent one whose misery “God has not spurned or disdained” (Psalm 22:25). Alálaong bagá, the passion of Jesus out of his fidelity to God was not in vain or a defeat. The suffering servant’s trust in God is rewarded there and then by a theophany. The earthquake, the darkness and the saints rising and being seen underscore the meaning that the death of Jesus ushered in the longawaited triumphal Day of the Lord (Amos 8:9). The sanctuary curtain of the temple torn from top to bottom symbolizes that the new way of relating with God is now no longer through the rituals of the temple but through and in Jesus Christ. His passion and death brought salvation and new life to the world. Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on dwIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

major global tourism destination.” In this view, may I now kindly follow up my request for an interview with COO Montano with your good office so he could brief me about his plans and programs at the TPB? I may be reached at news.businessmirror@ gmail.com and the cell-phone number that I’ve provided Mr. Gonzales and Ms. Cinco. Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Senior Special Correspondent/Columnist

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Thursday, April 6, 2017

Neda sees PHL inflation rate rising; analysts expect prices to stabilize

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By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm & Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

nflation pushed still higher in March to 3.4 percent, its fifth in a series of increments that has left local economists divided on whether the rate of change in prices should trend lower from now on. The country’s chief economist, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Ernesto M. Pernia, sees ominous portents on the economic horizon, while colleagues in the discipline anticipate a deceleration. Pernia said electricity rates, for one, are bound to increase in the next two months because of the shutdown of the Malampaya Gas Field. The scheduled shutdowns include the power plants in Ilijan, Santa Rita and San Lorenzo. The shift to liquid fuel from natural gas also helped push household electricity rate higher to P9.67 per kilowatt-hour. “Higher electricity rates are expected to persist in the next two months, as the Energy Regulation Commission [ERC] will spread the additional cost from the use of liquid fuel, which is more expensive than natural gas, until May 2017,” Pernia said. He also said adjustments in transport fares and electricity rates in the coming months exert additional pressure on prices, and the continued depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar exerts added pressure on the cost of basic commodities and services. Pernia, however, said inflationary pressure could ease with the removal of quantitative restrictions on rice importation and the timely augmentation of supplies. “The recent upward trend in inflation needs to be closely monitored. The government needs to implement timely mitigating

measures to ensure that prices remain stable,” Pernia said. The first three months of 2017 saw the Philippines’s inflation rate trending upward, partly due to recent hikes in food and oil prices, and also owing to a generally low base in 2016. But there are those who say the increases in commodity prices this year may already be over. This, despite the 28-month-high inflation in March of 3.4 percent that sent the first-quarter price increases rising to 3.2 percent. Ateneo de Manila University EagleWatch senior fellow Alvin P. Ang said the higher inflation was due to base effects and that, starting in the second quarter, price increases should prove tempered. “It [inflation] will start going down next month,” Ang said. “[Inflation] peaked in March and, hopefully, will end the year below 2 percent.” Inf lation in Januar y 2016 stood at 1.3 percent and at 0.9 percent in February 2016. It rose faster in March and April 2016 to 1.1 percent. “Prices are not that high. This [increase in inflation] was mainly due to base effects,” Ang said. University of Asia and the Pacific economist Victor A. Abola, on the other hand, said: “There is little pressure, henceforth, from good prices, which are normalizing after the unusual Q4 2016 and Q1 2017 weather,” Abola said. “That’s why the BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] projects a slowdown to 3 percent by 2018, which should start in Q4.”

RECORD-HIGH A trader takes a break during the morning session of trading on the floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on April 5 in Makati City. Shares opened higher on Wednesday, with gains in the property, banking and financial and industrial sectors leading the market rally. The PSE index was up 1.63 percent to 7,567.96, reflecting the mood of markets across Southeast Asia. NONIE REYES According to him, inflation, ranging from 3.2 percent to 3.6 percent, is already the “new normal” for the country, and that the BSP should still be able to achieve its inflation target this year, since there is “little pressure” to cause an increase in prices. Inflation in March 2017 was the fastest since November 2014, but still within government target and the median-market expectation of 3.4 percent for the month. Inflation in the nonfood group accelerated to 2.8 percent, from 2.5 percent in February 2017 and from 0.4 percent in March 2016. This was mainly due to the faster year-on-year price adjustments of electricity, gas and other fuels, which hiked to 9.3 percent. Other subcommodity groups that pushed inflation of nonfood items upward were furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, at 2.5 percent, from 2.3 percent, and health, at 2.8 percent, from 2.6 percent. Inflation in the food group decelerated to 4.2 percent in March 2017, from 4.3 percent in the previous month. This is due to slower price adjustments in fish, fruits,

ECOZONE INVESTMENTS UP 50.5% IN JANUARY-MARCH By Catherine N. Pillas

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@c_pillas29

nvestment pledges registered at the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) jumped by 50.5 percent in the first quarter of the year due to the numerous expansions of local economic-zone developers, according to its officials. During the 22nd Investors Recognition Night on Tuesday, Peza Director General Charito B. Plaza said the investmentpromotion agency’s haul in the first three months of the year reached P51.3 billion, more than half the level registered in the same period last year. The increase can be credited to local economic-zone developers and their locators embarking on aggressive expansion plans, Public Relations Group Manager

3,940 The number of Pezaregistered enterprises

Elmer H. San Pascual said. Peza-registered enterprises now number to 3,940 as of January, with its operating economic zones at 366. Plaza is eyeing to triple investments in ecozones this year, which would mean that end-2017 investment pledges should be around P650 billion. While the likelihood of realizing this goal is still far-off, Plaza is hoping the creation of new types of ecozones can fuel the increase. Plaza told Peza investors the

government will be exploring new types of ecozones that would cater to domestic manufacturing activities of small and medium enterprises. These proposed new ecozones are agro-forestry, aquamarine, mineral processing, defense industrial complex, renewable energy eco-industrial park, halal hubs and production economic zones, logistics parks, tourism, retirement, wellness villages economic zones and islandcities economic zone. Peza, an agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry, is tasked to promote investments, extend assistance, register, grant incentives to and facilitate the business operations of investors in export-oriented manufacturing and service facilities inside selected areas throughout the country proclaimed by the President as special economic zones.

vegetables, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, and other food products. However, inflation in rice and meat accelerated to 2.3 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. Both could be due to importation constraints imposed by the government. The BSP was quick to soothe apprehension over rising prices in the country, saying current models predict a deceleration toward year-end. On Wednesday the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported inflation averaging 3.4 percent in March, resulting to first-quarter inflation averaging 3.1 percent. This marked an acceleration from only 3.3 percent rate seen in February, but nevertheless still within the 2-percent to 4-percent target range. “Inflation for March tipped at 3.4 [percent], slightly higher than the February imprint, as expected and well within our forecast range of 3 percent to 3.8 [percent] for the month,” BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. told reporters, quickly adding they expect inflation pressures to recede near the third quarter. “As we have said, our runs show

that the path of monthly inflation shows upticks until about the third quarter of this year before slowly decelerating to average within the target range,” the governor said. “While we don’t see any immediate need to tweak policy-rate settings, we are watching the international oil-supply picture, developments in the CTRP [Comprehensive Tax Reform Package] and geopolitical developments, among others. We will make adjustments if and when needed,” he added. The BSP previously revised the forecast inflation to only 3.4 percent this year, from the February forecast of 3.5 percent. The forecast for 2018 was also revised from 3.1 percent to 3 percent. The BSP said the balance of risks remains tilted toward the upside. The upside factors include the transitory impact of the proposed tax-reform program, as well as possible adjustments in transportation fares and electricity rates. The monetary Board also noted the “beneficial effects” of the removal of quantitative restrictions on rice imports. Rice accounts for 9 percent of the consumer price basket.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Trump speaks out on rights abuses

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ASHINGTON—As the world recoiled at the televised images of lifeless children in the latest atrocity in Syria’s savage civil war on Tuesday, the White House issued a statement expressing outrage just as any White House presumably would. But where other presidents might have used the moment to call for the departure of Syria’s authoritarian leader, Bashar al-Assad, President Donald J. Trump’s spokesman dismissed the notion as impractical because it would not happen. “We would look like, to some degree, rather silly not acknowledging the political realities that exist in Syria,” said the spokesman, Sean Spicer. Trump has dispensed with what he considers pointless moralizing and preachy naïveté. He has taken foreign policy to its most realpolitik moment in generations, playing down issues of human rights or democracy that animated his predecessors, including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. His “America First” approach focuses not on how other nations treat their people but on what they can do for the United States. The past week has showcased the emerging philosophy. Even before Tuesday’s brutal chemicalweapons attack in Syria, the Trump administration had said pushing out Assad, Syria’s president, was not a priority, reversing Obama’s posit ion. On Mond ay Tr ump welcomed Egypt’s authoritarian leader, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to the White House with no public mention of the thousands of political opponents imprisoned there. On Thursday Trump will host China’s communist president, Xi Jinping, in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where trade and security will overshadow domestic repression. “He seems to have a view that he’s the president of the United States and it’s the job of the president of the United States to protect the interests of the American people—and the interests of the American people come ahead of the interests of citizens of other countries,” said Paul J. Saunders, the executive director of See “Trump,” A2

Solon drafts bill to rationalize awarding of idle housing units By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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@joveemarie

he chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday said he is drafting a bill allowing the government to redistribute idle housing units intended for certain beneficiaries. PDP-Laban Rep. A lfredo B. Benitez of Negros Occidental said the bill he is preparing is the result of his recent meeting with Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman and Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr. On Tuesday President Duterte said the government will award the idle housing units in Pandi, Bulacan, to urban group Kadamay, while the administration builds new housing units for the members of the state Armed Forces, who are the original beneficiaries. “I will file a bill allowing any change to appropriate housing units intended for certain beneficiaries.

For them [government agencies] to legally authorize the redistribution [of idle housing units],” Benitez said in an interview. According to the National Housing Authority, there are about 52,341 idle housing units as of last year. Meanwhile, Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago of Kabataan urged Duterte to look further into the country’s “housing crisis”. “We laud the victory of collective action, as the occupants, led by Kadamay, militantly asserted their just right to housing through the occupation of idle housing sites,” Elago said. “We hope that this is not another of those flip-flop statements of his. We now challenge the Duterte administration to do the next step —to hold an investigation and address the housing situation in the country, not just for the state forces but for everyone,” Elago said. She said the Duterte administration should investigate why so many houses are left unoccupied, despite the huge housing backlog.

“They should look into the reported substandard quality of these housing units and the fact that some of these units are being used as a business venture, selling them to would-be buyers who are not poor,” she said. Elago also urged the President to address the long-standing housing problem in the country, accompanied by ensuring regular jobs and decent wages for everyone. According to the HUDCC, the housing backlog as of December 2016 is pegged at 2.02 million units, and this is expected to swell to almost 6.80 million by 2022. However, Benitez said the government should validate first its data before declaring a housing crisis. “While there is really a need to address the problem on housing, we cannot, however, say now if there is a housing crisis, because we still need to validate the data of the HUDCC. I will validate it first,” he said. “We should find solution how to lessen it [the country’s housing backlog], rather than just accept it,” he added.