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Sunday, April 10, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 183

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will it be his last? Welterweight boxer Manny Pacquiao waves to

fans after arriving at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on April 7.

Timothy Bradley Jr. and Pacquiao will meet for their third fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena today. Story on A8. Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP

ERC: Let’s pray for rain and a win for Pacquiao

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

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ENERAL SANTOS CITY—“Let’s pray and dance to the saints that it would rain.” ​ Thus said Energy Regulatory Commissioner Josefina Patricial M. Asirit, who expressed hope that, as desperate as Mindanao is for stable power, the townmates of Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao would pray there would be no brownout during his fight in the US.

El Niño-hit Mindanao is still brownoutprone, despite the entry of a 300-megawatt coal plant in the Mindanao grid in January, one of four coal plants expected to bring stable relief for the island, but not till the next two years.

Asirit’s statement merely supported the thinking of some sectors in Mindanao that tribal communities in Mount Apo have resorted to tribal animist dances, and Christian residents have also conducted community prayers to supplicate for rains, “just so there would be no brownout during the live telecast here of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight.”

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) conducted here on Thursday a Mindanao round of its basic orientation on power for journalists. The ERC also presented the long-term energy plan by the Department of Energy, and also clarified legal and regulatory process on

PHL still underrated by intl credit watchers T

By Bianca Cuaresma

HE government insists the Philippines remains underrated by certain credit watchers, citing the country’s better economic indicators as compared to similarly rated peers.

Following Fitch Ratings’s action to affirm the country’s “BBB-” rating, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said that, while the government welcomed the “positive” outlook, the country’s economy does better than economies given a higher rating.

Data from the Investor Relations Office (IRO) showed the credit-default swap (CDS) spread on the Philippines’s five-year bonds See “Underrated,” A2

4 Fed leaders face questions about their powerful jobs

Macabebe, Pampanga, wants historical marker on 19th-century Ayala distillery

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See “ERC,” A2 MACABEBE, Pampanga, Mayor Annette Flores-Balgan (left) inspects the liquor-storage facility of the defunct Destilería de Ayala in Barangay San Esteban. With her are Barangay Captain Jefferson Suing, Tourism Officer Catherine Flores, Pette Mangiliman and residents. LEO VILLACARLOS

By Joey Pavia

Correspondent

M

AC ABEBE, Pampanga— Mayor Annette Flores-Balgan will urge the National Historical Commission of the Philippines

PESO exchange rates n US 46.1250

(NHCP) to put a “significant marker” on the former distillery of the Zobel de Ayalas established in 1860 in Barangay San Esteban here.

Balgan told Macabebe Tourism Officer Catherine Flores to coordinate with local historians and the NHCP to determine “what’s the rightful historical marker” for the Destilería de Ayala, which pro-

duced alcohol and liquor in the mid19th century at the coastal village.

The Zobel de Ayalas own the country’s largest and oldest conglomerate. Their ancestor—Margarita Roxas de Ayala—was 28 years old when she took over the management of the Destilería de Ayala, a subsidiary of the Ayala y Compañia.

See “Pampanga,” A2

ASHINGTON—Janet Yellen was put on the spot about whether she made a mistake in raising interest rates last December.

Ben Bernanke was quizzed about what it felt like to be called a traitor by the governor of Texas.

Alan Greenspan was asked if he purposely sought to confuse Congress with his answers.

And Paul Volcker was queried about being hung in effigy after he pushed interest rates to levels not seen since the Civil War.

The event was an unprecedented gathering of leaders of the Federal Reserve (the Fed)—past and present—to discuss what it feels like to hold what is considered the world’s most powerful economic policy-making job.

The four Fed leaders appeared on Thursday evening at an event to launch a speaker’s program honoring Volcker at the International House in New York, a residential dormitory for foreign students.

Greenspan appeared by video link from Washington.

Together, the tenures of the four participants cover more than one-third of the Fed’s 102-year history. Their leadership included the double-digit inflation of the 1970s, the global banking and financial market crises of the 1980s and 1990s, and beginning nearly a decade ago, the worst financial crisis and recession since the Great Depression.

Fareed Zakaria of CNN, who moderated the discussion, asked how the four felt in a job with “so much concentrated power” that opened them up to criticism when the economy was not doing well.

See “Fed Leaders,” A2

n japan 0.4261 n UK 64.8333 n HK 5.9442 n CHINA 7.1260 n singapore 34.1086 n australia 34.5891 n EU 52.4672 n SAUDI arabia 12.3033

Source: BSP (8 April 2016 )

NewsSunday A2 Sunday, April 10, 2016

BusinessMirror

Pampanga…

Balgan visited the former distillery plant last week and was “surprised and delighted” to see the area where they used to store liquor before it was put on bottles.

Balgan saw what looked like “swimming pools,” believed to be the storage for liquor and alcohol.

“In Europe tourists flock at ruins of historical areas. We have so much to see here. We must preserve it,” she said.

Balgan was joined by Flores and San Esteban Barangay Captain Jefferson Suing when she inspected the location of the old distillery.

During the second half of the

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Continued from a1

19th century, Ayala y Compañia acquired 4,000 hectares of land in Pampanga planted with nipa palms.

The palms became the source of raw materials for liquor-making by Destilería de Ayala. The company also acquired lands in Barangay Consuelo, also a coastal village here.

Balgan said she would ask the owners of the property to help the municipality preserve the area and allow them to put a marker.

Virgilio Manansala is in charge of the area, which is now a fishpond owned by Hagonoy, Bulacan, Mayor Raulito Manlapaz. Manansala said he would inform the owners

Underrated… stood at 116.35 basis points (bps) on April 7, better than the 264.87 bps for Colombia, 145 bps for Thailand and 182.34 bps for Mexico.

Fitch, however, assigns a higher credit rating of “BBB” to Colombia, and an even higher rating of “BBB+” to Thailand and Mexico.

The Philippines’s debt burden is also more manageable compared with countries with higher credit ratings, according to the IRO.

By the close of 2015, the Philippines’s general government debt as a percentage of GDP settled at 36.8 percent, better than Colombia’s 44.4 percent, Panama’s 40.6 percent, Mexico’s 44.6 percent, Spain’s 99.1 percent and Italy’s 133.3 percent.

However, the IRO pointed out Panama is rated a notch higher by Fitch at “BBB.” Mexico, Spain and Italy are rated two notches higher at “BBB+”.

IRO Executive Director Editha Martin also said a credit-rating upgrade from Fitch is overdue.

Martin said the existing rating of “BBB-” has been in place since March 2013. Since then, the Philippines’s macroeconomic performance and public finances have improved, and additional governance reforms were put in place.

On Friday the international credit watcher Fitch affirmed the “BBB-” rating of the country and has given the economy a “positive” outlook, meaning the country can get an upgrade in its follow-up assessment in the next 12 to 18 months.

Fitch noted the main factors that might lead to a positive rating

Continued from a1

action include further evidence that improvement in governance standards can be sustained following a change in government after elections; further broadening the government’s revenue base that lends greater stability to government finances; and continued strong growth without the emergence of imbalances.

Fitch said the outlook will be reverted to stable if they see a deterioration in governance standards and/ or reversal in reforms implemented under the Aquino administration and instability in the financial system, possibly triggered by a sustained period of excessive credit growth.

Economic managers in the country expressed optimism that the Philippines deserves another upgrade, especially from Fitch.

Fitch’s current rating, while within the investment-grade scale, is the lowest among scores assigned to the Philippines by a host of credit-rating agencies.

The Philippines’s credit rating of “Baa2” with Moody’s Investors Service, and its “BBB” rating with Standard & Poor’s, NICE Ratings and R&I are one notch higher than the rating assigned by Fitch.

The Philippines’s credit rating of “BBB+” with Japan Credit Rating Agency is two notches higher than the rating assigned by Fitch.

Meanwhile, Bangko Sentral Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. said the Philippines is expected to continue enjoying an inflation environment and a financial system supportive of robust economic growth.

about the request and the plans of the two-term mayor.

“They will more likely agree.

But we have to wait for their official statement,” he added.

Fernando Guinto of San Esteban said there were attempts to convert the area into a school and later, a public cemetery. All the plans did not push through, he added.

The 2-hectare property was originally owned by one Don Jacobo, a Spaniard. It was later acquired

by Don Ramon Santos.

The Ayalas’ court battles with local residents forced the family to sell their plant to La Tondeña Inc. in 1929.

ERC… Continued from a1

energy generation and investment.

Romeo Montenegro, public affairs chief ​of the Mindanao Development Authority, said El Niño is expected to worsen the energy situation, especially during the summer months, expected to be the hottest season of the year.

In answer to a question about the current status of the interconnection of the grids, he said the situation might see a reversal. At present, Luzon and the Visayas grids are expected to help the ailing Mindanao grid.

“Come 2017, in all likelihood, it would be Mindanao supplying excess power to Luzon,” he said, citing the more than 2,000 megawatts to come online to the Mindanao grid from the coal plants being constructed by Filinvest, San Miguel Corp. and the Ayala group.

For now, he said, the Mindanao grid continues to be ailed by the limping ​generation performance of the aging hydroelectric power plants in the Agus River in the Lanao provinces and in the Pulangui River in Bukidnon.

The shortage is further complicated by the bombing and the difficulty to repair the bombed power pylons or towers of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, and as landowners restrict the entry of repair personnel unless financial settlements for right-of-way tussle are made.

The government already sent these unsettled problems for the court to decide before going into monetary settlements.

In the meantime, even simple trip-offs could be devastating for local economies.

For instance, when a durian tree felled by a farmer also fell on the Davao-Toril 138 kV transmission line 1 on Wednesday, it forced the Aboitiz subsidiary Therma South Inc. to shut down one 150-megawatt unit of its coal plant​ to avoid damage. The Davao Light and Electric Cooperative also had to impose a longer four-hour brownout to spread out the ill effect of the supply shortage.

Fed leaders…

Continued from a1

Greenspan, who was often accused of trying to dodge tough questions at congressional hearings with big words and incredibly long sentences, did not deny employing that tactic. But he said, “The real problem is that monetary policy is very largely economic forecasting, and our ability to forecast is significantly limited and we have to keep the context of what we say in the context of what we know.”

Bernanke said he didn’t like it in 2011, when he was called a traitor by Rick Perry, who was then governor of Texas and a Republican presidential candidate. But he said he realized that criticism came with the job, especially in times when the Fed was trying to pull the country out of the worst recession since the 1930s.

“We had tremendous responsibilities to address these terrible risks,” Bernanke said. “I didn’t take the job for adulation.”

Volcker’s policy of high interest rates contributed to pushing the country into two recessions in the early 1980s. But he said even with unhappy farmers and home-builders attacking the central bank’s policies, the Fed could not have done what it did without broad support from the public for the central bank’s attempts to deal with a prolonged bout of stagflation, a toxic combination of high inflation and weak economic growth.

“People were unhappy with malaise and inflation going up,” Volcker said. “They felt we were doing something.”

Yellen, who succeeded Bernanke in February 2014, was quizzed about whether she felt the Fed’s rate hike in December, a quarter-point move, had been a mistake. In January the global economy slowed and financial markets went into a tailspin triggered by falling oil prices and increased weakness in China.

“I certainly don’t regard it as a mistake,” Yellen said.

She said despite the global weakness, the US economy remains on a solid course. She also disputed the suggestion that the Fed’s low rates could be fueling a bubble economy.

“This is an economy on a solid course, not a bubble economy,” she said during the hourlong program.

Yellen said last December, the Fed indicated that the pace of future rate hikes would be gradual and she said that remained the Fed’s expectation. The central bank’s quarter-point move last December was the first rate hike after seven years, when the benchmark rate was kept at a record low near zero. Many private economists believe the next hike will not occur until June. AP

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

House bill does away with barangay polls

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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LAWMAKER is pushing for a measure seeking the abolition of barangay elections and to make barangay officials appointive officials.

In House Bill 3349, Liberal Party Rep. Oscar Rodriguez of Pampanga said his proposal, “An act abolishing the election of barangay officials, declaring all elective barangay positions as appointive positions,” amends Republic Act 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991.

The Constitution (Section 3, Article X) gives Congress the power to amend the provisions of the Local Government Code in order to abolish barangay elections and declare all barangay positions as appointive positions, Rodriguez said.

“My bill seeks to abolish only the barangay elections and not the barangay as a local government unit. The powers, responsibilities and resources of the barangay as provided in the code remain the same,” Rodriguez added.

“As the primary planning and implementing unit, barangays act as conduit of the cities or towns in the delivery of basic services to their constituents.

Barangay officials similarly

function as managers in a corporation, proposing plans and programs, and monitoring that such will be properly implemented,” he added.

Rodriguez said the city or town mayors should be empowered to appoint the barangay officials within their jurisdictions to ensure harmony among city or town officials and barangay officials. “ T his w i l l encourage the effective implementation of programs and projects for the delivery of basic services. More often or prevalent are situations when barangay officials are identified with the political rival of the incumbent, barangay projects and programs are not realized,” he added.

Rodriguez also cited records of the deliberations of the Local Government Code of 1991 showing that there was already a suggestion from the principal author of the said code, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, that “the barangay be recognized as a socioeconomic and not a political unit.”

Rodriguez said the holding of barangay elections has become a highly political event that has created alarming situations because it was marred by violence, massive vote-buying and divisiveness even among family members.

Sunday, April 10, 2016 A3

Zambo bandit group releases Italian captive

A

By Rene Acosta

N Italian who was kidnapped by members of a lawless group in Zamboanga del Norte in October last year has been released by his captors, police and military officials said.

Rolando del Torchio, a former priest who owns a pizza parlor in Dipolog City, was recovered by a team of policemen and soldiers at the Jolo port in Sulu after he was apparently released by his kidnappers.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padil-

la, Armed Forces spokesman, confirmed the release based on the official report of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police commander.

The report said del Torchio was recovered at around 7:30 p.m. on Friday inside the MV KC Beatrice

that was bound for Zamboanga City by authorities, including members of the Sulu police, the National Police Maritime Group and the Coast Guard.

Del Torchio, 53, ow ner of Ur Choice Pizza House that is on Quezon Avenue, Barangay M iput a k , D ip olo g C it y, w a s seized inside his restaurant on October 7, 2015, by 10 armed men who were speaking the local dialect and Tagalog.

The Italian is a former missionary priest who was assigned in Sibuco, also in Zamboanga del Norte.

Four of the kidnappers posed as customers of the pizza parlor before their colleagues arrived and took away del Torchio and forced him into one of two vans and sped away.

The two vans, colored white and green, were later abandoned as the kidnappers took a pumpboat along with their victim that sailed toward Zamboanga del Norte.

Del Torchio escaped several kidnapping attempts when he was still a priest.

Days after the kidnapping, the military tagged a lawless group headed by a certain Commander Red Eye as the one responsible behind the abduction.

Red Eye, whose real name is Saher Muloc, is the leader of the Muloc lawless group, which operates in the Zambonga Peninsula and other provinces in Western Mindanao.

The group is involved in kidnapping, extortion and other illegal moneymaking schemes. The group has ties with the Abu Sayyaf.

Albay shines in Gawad Kalasag hall of fame awards

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EGA ZPI CIT Y—Disaster preparedness at all times and zero casualty in times of emergency have already become ordinary concerns for Albay and Albayanos, as “ordinary as taking a bath daily,” they say.

Surviving thus far from frequent onslaughts of calamities with best results, and with well organized disaster-risk reduction councils down to the barangays, the province now has five Hall of Fame niches in the government

Gawad Kalasag (Kalamidad at Sakuna Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan) Awards.

Albay Gov. Joey S. Salceda recently announced Albay’s latest addition to its win list—inclusion in the 2015 Kalasag Hall of Fame, which includes wins by Legazpi City for Independent Component-Component City; Barangay Oro Site in Legazpi City for Barangay DRRM Committee (Urban); and Simon of Cyrene in Daraga town for Civil Society Organization.

Inclusion in the hall of fame,

Salceda said, give Albayanos a reason to be proud.

Gawad Kalasag is a recognition scheme of the National Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) for exemplary performance and initiatives of local governments, groups or individuals in the field of disaster-risk reduction and management and humanitarian action.

To be included in the Gawad Kalasag Hall of Fame niche, a local government should be adjudged

as best in disaster-risk reduction (DRR) nationwide for three successive years. The very first to earn a niche at the Kalasag Awards was Albay in 2011 in the province category, followed by its Santo Domingo town in 2013.

Salceda said by treating disaster preparedness as a way of life, and zero casualty target a daily goal, DRR’s importance is now widely understood and appreciated by Albayanos down to the barangay and its methods have been easily assimilated. PNA

A6 Sunday, April 10, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Speed up housing program via PPP

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OR decades, the housing problem in the country has intensified despite strenuous government efforts to solve it.

It is said that the country has today a backlog of 5.5 million housing units nationwide and a problem of 584,000 informal-settler families (ISFs) in the National Capital Region alone.

Now comes the good news that the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, under the chairmanship of Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez of Negros Occidental, has discovered 5,820 hectares of land in the Metro Manila area that can be converted into socialized-housing sites. The conversion, the chairman said, will be done through the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program to minimize costs to the government.

Of the available land for conversion, 2,185 hectares are idle public lands, which can be converted immediately. Another 1,235 hectares, currently occupied by ISFs, can be converted after negotiations. Last, 2,400 hectares are privately owned lands occupied by ISFs, which can also be converted with the concurrence of the owners and the ISFs. Benitez said they will propose the construction of medium-rise buildings of four or five floors each, for a total of 100,000 to 150,000 housing units, each to be sold at affordable prices not just to ISFs, but to all interested families.

The House Committee chairman said two major developers, Ayala Land and SM Builders, have already signified interest in the project.

This is as good a time as any to push for the establishment of an Urban Development Commission for Metro Manila that will oversee the development of the whole Metro area into one fully integrated community, ensuring that construction of housing units, the easing of traffic problems, the creation of employment opportunities, and the beautification of the urban landscape are all done in accordance with one master vision. Perhaps, commissions of the same kind can also be created for smaller towns and cities to guide and oversee these communities’ development, as well.

In this connection, it might be useful to review the experience of the Indian city of Mumbai in solving its housing and slum problems. Mumbai gave private developers the right to identify slum areas and develop these into first-class residential and commercial districts, as long as they obtained the affected poor families’ consent and provided these families with new housing units, free of charge, in the rebuilt areas. The developers did their thing.

After the construction, the rehoused poor families found in the new commercial enterprises and the richer families that had bought units in the towers employment opportunities as maintenance people, household staff, drivers, sales clerks and other workers. The Mumbai experiment later ran into problems, which we, as a latecomer, can avoid.

We have already lost a lot of time in dealing with the country’s housing problem. Let us now hurry up to use this opportunity to give our people decent housing, as well as employment opportunities, smoother traffic and a more aesthetic skyline.

Since 2005

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Manilans are not deaf and dumb not to vote for Erap

Y

ES, they are not blind either not to miss the tangible and intangible accomplishments of Mayor Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada, who, in less than two years of his first three year tenure, made the City of Manila debt-free, clean, dignified and relatively safe and secured from criminal elements.

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Sunday, April 10, 2016

When he assumed office in 2013, Estrada found City Hall on the verge of bankruptcy, saddled with huge multibillion-peso indebtedness left behind by his predecessor, former Mayor Alfredo Lim, who’s running against incumbent Mayor Estrada.

In brief, the financial liabilities the Lim administration bequeathed to him included a P613-million debt to the Manila Electric Co.; unpaid bills of P33,633,186.06; the unsettled previous year’s obligation of P24,137,756.82 to Maynilad Water Services; tax liabilities of P684,418,057.76 for 2007 with accumulated interest computed up to April 15, 2014; the city’s tax arrears of P3.5 billion; and other accountabilities.

On the day he took over City Hall, Erap promised Manilans he will wipe out the city’s pestering debt, and he did so by paying in full the city’s P4.44billion obligations in less than two years, attributing his unprecedented success largely on the honesty and diligence in real-estate tax and business permit-fees collections.

To his dismay, he found in his first days in office that the general funds left by his predecessor, who vehemently denied this, were not even enough to pay the monthly payroll of City Hall employees.

To end the hemorrhage, Estrada, using his wealth of wisdom and experience, having been a president, vice president, senator and mayor for decades, stopped the hiring of casuals, streamlined the operation of City Hall by abolishing positions with overlapping functions and responsibilities, upgraded the real-estate collection system, and expedited the issuances of business permits after ridding the revenue offices of fixers and

A

other undesirable elements.

For instance, between January 2, 2014, and April 25, 2014, the city government collected a whopping P6,236,237,807.81 in real-property tax and internal-revenue allotment, a fate that, by comparison, took the past administration to collect a little more than the same amount for the whole of 2012.

Aside from his effort to increase revenue collection, Estrada had doggedly worked to keep the city clean, tidy and attractive to attract more tourists to Manila. His trip to Hong Kong, where he apologized to the Hong Kong government in connection with the bloody hostage incident at Luneta, resulted to more tourists visiting the city and elsewhere in the country. Next, he turned his sight on the worsening peace-and-order situation by ordering the police force to clean the streets of snatchers, pickpockets, drug addicts, pushers and other criminal elements.

In the first few days of the campaign, the police captured Jonathan Bassey, the most-wanted criminal in Manila, who faced seven counts of murder charges. In addition, Manila Police District Director Chief Supt. Rolando Nana reported to the mayor the capture of 94 other mostwanted persons in Manila.

Responding to the mayor’s anticrime campaign, several prominent Filipino-Chinese businessmen and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. provided the police force 27 vehicles and financial assistance.

Another priority undertaking that went simultaneously with the anticrime drive was Erap’s “Clean Manila and its Environs” project that included the regular cleanup of Manila Bay, where security guards are posted to stop heartless people from dumping their garbage into the sea.

The “clean the city” project intensified last September, when the mayor himself, in observance of the 30th

FTER this, Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias and He revealed Himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”

They said to him, “We will go with you.”

They went out and got into the boat; but that night, they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any fish?”

They answered Him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”

So they cast it, and now, they were not able to haul it in, for the net was full of fish.

The disciple, whom Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about 100 yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the

International Coastal Cleanup Day, led 9,000 volunteers to clean Manila Bay with the help of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

Today, the Baywalk on Roxas Boulevard, off Manila Bay, has become a favorite destination of Manilans and tourists who are on the lookout for the whale shark that has been sighted in its waters. The media quoted PCG Commander Armand Balilo as saying: “This is the first time we have this kind of news finding a butanding close to the Baywalk of Roxas Boulevard.”

Balilo has coordinated with BFAR authorities after the sighting of the butanding, a giant whale shark commonly seen off the coasts of Batangas, Bohol, Sorsogon, Samar, Masbate, and as far as Zamboanga, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu, for an expert advice on how to handle the shark, keeping it from harm’s way.

With the foregoing, I humbly shared the view of many that Erap, who was once a victim of a bunch of power-hungry politicians and mutinous and ambitious generals, led by then Armed Forces Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes, who later committed suicide, has unmistakably captured the heart and minds of Manileños.

It can be recalled that Lim, then Erap’s secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, were among the Cabinet members who betrayed Erap when they joined the mutinous generals to oust him from the presidency.

The rest of the mutiny conspiracy story is in that bestselling book Power Grab, which this writer wrote in 2001 for Amazon, the world’s largest publishing house based in Seattle, United States. Time Magazine described the mutiny story in the book cover, thus: “People Power 2 was swift justice indeed—as in a lynching. It repudiated the very essence of due process enshrined in the Constitution.”

net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”

Now none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are you?”

They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.

This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

He said to him, “Yes, Lord. You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

A second time, Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him,“Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was aggrieved because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him,“Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.” (This He said to show by what death Peter was to glorify God.) And after this, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”— John 21:1-19

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Sunday, April 10, 2016

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A country is its history A

FTER years of debating whether to change the national flag, the issue was put to a vote in New Zealand: The old Union Jack on a light-blue field with four red stars or the proposed flag of a silver fern on a black field diagonally dividing the flag with four red stars against a darker hue of blue.

Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

The old flag won but barely: 43 percent to 57 percent. I think the reason is that the alternative I described was a weak compromise to the bold design originally proposed of just a silver fern against a field of black alone. The fern is native to warrior Maoris and identified with the country’s world-famous All Blacks rugby.

It is d a ngerous to c ha nge f lags, as it is sometimes proposed whenever a new government wants to erase its responsibility for a country’s persistent problems. Marcos slightly changed the f lag’s colors. It is the same with pushing a new language, like Marcos’s move to supplant English, which was the language of his best and brightest enemies—Jose W. Diokno,

Lorenzo M. Tañada, Benigno S. Aquino Jr. and Teodoro Locsin Sr. In time, no one would understand their English diatribes against the crooked dictator.

That was the use to which the well-funded language institutes were put.

Indeed, change your flag—not to mention your language—and the world forgets that once upon

a time, there was your country.

That makes it easier for a superior race to take over what would seem to have been just empty land.

It is best to stick with every aspect of our past, be it good or bad. A country is its memory. It is a bad idea to change historical street names, even those of foreign masters, whom our heroes drove from our shores. Erase the

enemy, and you erase all trace of the heroes who fought them, or make their heroism silly or trivial, because you have taken away the historical context. I hope, one day, that if someone becomes president, he will revert the name of the boulevard to Dewey and honor both Roxas and Recto with new and grander avenues of progress.

Sometimes a cross is just a cross (or is it?)

By Noah Feldman Bloomberg View

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F I tell you a California judge struck down the addition of a Christian cross to the Los Angeles County seal, that probably sounds like a good example of the separation of church and state.

If I tell you that the cross was going to be added to an image of the San Gabriel mission to reflect the real-life, cross-topped church, the same decision begins to sound like judicial overreach. When it comes to religion, framing is everything—at least under current law.

As it turns out, the story of the cross and the LA County seal is more complicated than either of these simple summaries. The judge had the unenviable task of choosing among various possible narratives to reach a conclusion that’s defensible under existing constitutional doctrine, though by no means certainly correct. And that should tell you something about the strangeness of the Supreme Court’s doctrine in the area of public religious symbols—and the desirability of reform.

The story begins with the LA County seal adopted in 1957, which you might think of as the Mad Men era in church-state relations. From 1888 to 1957, the county seal was a black-and-white depiction of a bunch of grapes. The 1957 seal was much fancier. Its central panel features an image of Pomona, the Roman goddess of abundance, holding what looks vaguely like sheaves of wheat, with mountains in the background, and the sea at her feet. On either side of her are three panels with icons representing different aspects of LA County. Going clock-

wise, they depict: three oil derricks; a stylized Hollywood bowl with two stars and the Latin cross above it; a cow, apparently a championship cow named Pearlette; a tuna; a three-masted ship representing the Spanish galleon San Salvador; and a caliper on top of a draftsman’s triangle, standing for construction.

In 2004 the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue the county over the presence of the cross floating over the Hollywood bowl.

After a debate and several contentious public meetings, the County Board of Supervisors agreed to make changes. The seal adopted in 2014 replaced Pomona with a Native American woman carrying a bowl of what might be fruit.

The Hollywood bowl has been moved up a notch, replacing the oil derricks, which are now gone, perhaps because drilling for fossil fuels is no longer something to brag about in LA. The free-floating cross above the Hollywood bowl is gone, with only the two stars, supposedly representing the movie industry, remaining.

Beneath the Hollywood bowl icon is now an image of the eastern facade

of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, which has origins in the 18th century. The mission was the anchor for the town of Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles—Our Lady the Queen of Angels—the precursor to modern Los Angeles.

In 2004 the mission was under reconstruction; there had been no cross topping it since the late 1980s.

So the icon on the seal showed the mission building, which is clearly a church, but without a cross.

In 2009, however, the church got its cross back. And in 2014 the LA Board of Supervisors, after another contentious debate and hearings, voted 3-2 to add the cross to the image of the mission on the seal.

It’s small, but you can see it’s there.

The ACLU sued.

So, did the addition of the cross amount to the establishment of religion—an action forbidden to government? California’s Central District federal court thought so. Its decision said the addition of the cross aided sectarian religion in violation of the California Constitution.

Then it turned to the establishment clause of the US Constitution: “Congress shall make no law

respecting an establishment of religion….” It applied the so-called Lemon test as enshrined in the 1971 case of Lemon v Kurtzman, which asks whether the challenged government action has a secular purpose.

The California judge concluded that a reasonable observer who knew the histor y would think that the addition of the cross had a predominantly religious purpose, thus, violating the establishment clause.

Its logic was that the same constituency that resisted removal of the free-floating cross in 2004 had taken the opportunity to get the cross back on to the seal in 2014.

That motive of seeking to restore a religious symbol was enough to taint the depiction—which, otherwise, might well have been constitutional.

Doctrinally, the California court was doing the Supreme Court’s bidding. In a 2005 decision involving framed copies of the Ten Commandments in two Kentucky courthouses, the court made a similar inquiry into the detailed history of the religious symbols, concluding that the motives of those who posted them were primarily religious.

The California court was, there-

fore, trying to do the difficult job of figuring out motives to see whether the establishment clause was violated. But the controlling doctrine is more than a little ridiculous.

The San Gabriel mission is a Christian mission that logically and historically should have a cross on it. The name “Los Angeles” is itself religious—and in a specifically sectarian Christian way, given that it derives from one of the appellations of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Angels.

Many California cities have names and histories drawn from missions, and symbols that depict missions with crosses, as the court noted.

It makes almost no sense for some depictions of historic buildings with crosses to be constitutional while another one isn’t—just because of the motives of those who proposed it. It’s also a legal fiction to argue that anyone would know the detailed history of the seal.

A constitutional jurisprudence based on symbols should just look at the symbols themselves, not the arcane history of their production or the motives of those who proposed them. Until then, we’ll have to live with strange results—like a mission with no cross on it.

2 US governors stand up to corporate elites

By Ryan T. Anderson

The Heritage Foundation/TNS Forum

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INALLY, after two years of governors caving to corporate bullies, two governors have stood strong to protect the common good. North Carolina’s Pat McCrory has signed a law, which protects privacy and safety in public-school bathrooms.

Mississippi’s Phil Bryant has protected religious freedom in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage.

Both laws are being misrepresented by those who oppose them.

Here’s what they actually do. The North Carolina law arose after the Charlotte City Council passed a bill requiring schools and businesses to grant people access to any restroom, regardless of sex. To protect privacy and safety, the North Carolina law says that access to government-run bathrooms, lockers and showers will be determined primarily by biological sex. It leaves private schools, restaurants, stores and businesses free to establish whatever bath-

room policies they think best. Even in government-run facilities, North Carolina makes accommodations.

The governor’s office explains: “Anyone who has undergone a sex change can change their sex on their birth certificate.” The law allows government buildings to make further accommodations through the use of single-occupancy bathrooms.

The law strikes a reasonable compromise. It prevents biological males who identify as females from using women’s and girls’ private facilities in public schools and government offices, but it also allows local school officials and office managers to make reasonable accommodations for such students and employees.

And it leaves private organizations free from government interference.

That’s the main point of the Mississippi law, as well: Protecting non-governmental organizations from state coercion. It says that the state govern-

ment will never penalize someone because they believe that marriage is the union of husband and wife, that sexual relations are reserved for marriage, or that our sex is based on our biology. It doesn’t say anyone has to believe these things; it just says that if someone does believe them, the government can’t discriminate against them. So the law takes nothing away from anyone; it simply protects pluralism.

The Mississippi law is based on the principle of protecting minority rights after major social change.

In other states where marriage had been redefined, the government has penalized citizens and religious organizations that believe marriage is a union of husband and wife. Bakers and florists have been fined, adoption agencies shuttered. Mississippi legislators acted to make sure none of this ever happens in their state.

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage,

they protected their civil liberties.

It’s what Americans did after Roe v Wade, too. Congress and the states passed a variety of laws that protect pro-life conscience. In Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court invented a right to an abortion. But after Roe, legislatures made clear that government cannot require a pro-life doctor or nurse to perform an abortion—that they, too, had rights. The same is true after the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage. Government has to treat two people of the same sex as married, but private schools, charities, businesses and individuals do not have to abandon their beliefs.

Both the North Carolina and Mississippi laws are good policy.

And yet both are being attacked by big business and special interests.

Those sorts of attacks have been going on for a while now. In Arizona, Indiana, South Dakota and Georgia, governors caved in to the economic

threats from big business. The corporate elites didn’t win an argument.

Instead, they threatened to boycott and transfer jobs out of the state if the governors didn’t do as they insisted.

This economic coercion is a form of cronyism—cultural cronyism.

Big businesses use their outsized market share to pressure government to do their bidding at the expense of the will of the people and the common good. Many of us think that what these corporate giants are doing is bad for representative democracy and self-government. But they have a right to do it. And yet, they want to deny the rights of bakers, florists, photographers, adoption agencies and marriage counselors. Big business is using its market freedom to deny small businesses and charities their religious freedom. The hypocrisy is astounding.

Bravo to Govs. McCrory and Bryant for standing up to it.

Sports BusinessMirror

Pacquiao

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AN Paul Morales of Navy-Standard Insurance made sure he won the Luzon Leg title by topping the fifth and final stage of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 that started and ended at the Burnham Park in Baguio City on Saturday.

Aware that he just needed to finish fourth to formally clinch the title, Morales went for more and ruled the stage in one hour, seven minutes and 16.59 seconds to claim the Luzon leg crown, his second of the three-leg edition this year after he also topped the Mindanao leg in February.

After five stages, Morales garnered 67 general classification points, outclassing a field headed by LBC-MVP Sports Foundation’s Rustom Lim and George Oconer, who finished second and third with 49 and 41 points, respectively. “The plan was just to stick with Lim and Oconer, but I saw a chance and I took it,” Morales said in Filipino.

So dominating was Morales that he also won Stage One at Paseo de Sta. Rosa Manila; Stage Two in Talisay and Tagaytay; and the Stage Three in Antipolo City, before icing it with a Stage Five win.

Apart from it, he also topped ASG Sprint, Petron Local Hero.

Morales was emotionless when he reached the finish line and was welcomed by cheers from the adoring fans including Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Dumogan.

Mayweather last May. Everyone loves a winner, though Pacquiao is already beloved by most people in the Philippines as the biggest sports hero the country has ever had.

Indeed, Bradley said he would be in Pacquiao’s corner if he had a vote.

“He’s shown over and over that he is for the people and by the people and that he’s a man of his word,” Bradley said. “He’s always shown that character and that integrity, and I think he’s the right man for the job.”

Pacquiao has waffled about whether this is his last fight, saying he still loves boxing but his family wants him to retire. Trainer Freddie Roach said he believes Pacquiao has benefited from a year’s rest after the Mayweather fight and can go on at the age of 37, even though he hasn’t scored a knockout since 2009.

“He hasn’t slowed down at all,” Roach said. “He still has a couple fights left in him.”

Pacquiao weighed on Friday afternoon at 145 1/2 pounds to 146 1/2 for Bradley. The welterweight limit is 147 pounds.

Pacquiao is guaranteed $7 million—a far cry from the $100 million or so he got to fight Mayweather—to meet Bradley again

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in a pay-per-view fight that is struggling to get noticed. With good reason, because there’s still a hangover from the Mayweather fight, and he and Bradley have already fought 24 mostly nondescript rounds.

“He will be remembered as one of the best fighters who ever put on the gloves,” Bradley said. “But I’m a different fighter than I was in the first two fights.”

Bradley won the first of those fights on a highly controversial decision, then faded in the later rounds to lose the second bout. He says he is rejuvenated under new trainer Teddy Atlas, the longtime ESPN broadcaster who he convinced to return to boxing to train him.

“Having Teddy is like having a cheat sheet. He analyzes fights,” Bradley said.

“This fight will be fought differently. I’m going to be a lot smarter than I was the first two fights.”

Pacquiao is a 2-1 favorite in his return to the ring, which comes after shoulder surgery and a long rest in the Philippines. The winner of titles in eight weight classes—the first one coming 17 years ago at 112 pounds—he hasn’t had a knockout since 2009, though he was on the receiving end of one when he lost

UGUSTA, Georgia—The final pairing for a weekend at the Masters is what everyone wanted—Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, winners at four of the last six majors.

Just nobody expected this kind of an Augusta National.

In the toughest scoring conditions at the Masters in nearly a decade, Spieth had a five-shot lead that nearly disappeared before he saved par from a bunker with a 15-foot putt on the final hole for a 2-over 74 and a one-shot lead over McIlroy. “It was very tough to stay cool,” Spieth said. “You could say, ‘Looked like

you got emotional out there.’ I mean, you guys try it. That was a hard golf course.”

McIlroy, who trailed by as much as eight shots at one point, put the career Grand Slam in clear view by making birdie on both par-5s on the back nine and picking up a bonus birdie with a 40-foot putt on the par-3 16th for a 71.

That matched the lowest round of the day, the first time since 2007 that no one broke 70 at the Masters.

“You just have to look at the scores and you can see how tough it is today,” McIlroy said.

Spieth set a Masters record with his sixth

RIVALS CLASH ANEW IN VOLLEY

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EFENDING champion Ateneo de Manila seeks vengeance versus arch rival De La Salle as they clash anew in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 78 women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The much-awaited rematch is set at 4:30 p.m., while University of the Philippines (UP) eyes to boost its Final Four bid in a pivotal match against University of Santo Tomas (UST) at 12:30 p.m.

The Lady Spikers pulled off a shocking 25-22, 25-14, 25-18 win over the Lady Eagles in their first meeting on February 27 and that served as a motivation for the league-leading Ateneo and two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) Alyssa Valdez.

“Siyempre lagi namang andoon ‘yung

gigil, naroon ‘yung excitement. But we really have to stay calm, stay focused and stay happy inside and outside of the court,” Valdez said. Aside from Valdez, the Lady Eagles are also banking on Season 77 Finals MVP Amy Ahomiro, Jhoana Maraguinot, Bea de Leon and libero Gizelle Tan. “We really have to start on the little things before thinking of the bigger picture,” Valdez added. “So we have to improve on the little things, the details inside the court para may mabigay kami sa laban ng La Salle.”

Both teams already clinched the two twice-to-beat incentive in the Final Four with Ateneo sporting an 11-2 win-loss card, while La Salle is at second with 10-2 slate.

A win by the Lady Eagles will give them the top seed in the semis. Lance Agcaoili

The Lady Troopers banked on their experience and familiarity to beat the young but dangerous Thai squad to complete the three-game sweep of the final round of the interclub tournament backed by Asics, Mikasa, Senoh, Mueller, Grand Sport with TV5 as official broadcast partner.

GETTING READY An athlete from Albay takes a breather from training inside the Bicol University Sports Complex in Legazpi City, as the 2016 Palarong Pambansa unfurls on Sunday. NONOY LACZA

“Mission accomplished,” said RC Cola-Army Head Coach KungFu Reyes, winning his fourth title with the team.

Jovelyn Gonzaga was named as Invitational Cup Most Valuable Player with 19 hits on 14 spikes, four blocks and an ace, including six excellent receptions. Honey Royse Tubino delivered 17 points on 15 attacks and two aces, while Rachel Ann Daquis added 10 markers and six digs for the home squad.

Est Cola settled for second place with 2-1 finish. Janthawisut Sasipaporn topscored the visiting squad with18 hits. Chuewulim Sutadta was named as first Best Outside Spiker with 16 points, while Boonlert Tichaya was hailed as Best Setter with 28 excellent sets, and seven points on six blocks and an ace in a losing effort.

Petron notched the third place with a 2522, 26-24, 16-25, 26-24 win over F2 Logistics in the three-day final round patterned after the Federation International Volleyball (FIVB) Grand Prix format.

After losing to RC Cola-Army and Est Cola in its first two matches, the Tri-Activ Spikers came out firing in the game but head to weather the comeback of the Cargo Movers in the fourth set to preserve the win. Lance Agcaoili

straight round in the lead, and it took a few minutes for him to appreciate that after trying to survive gusts that reached 30 mph and a golf course so crusty that even 2-foot putts made him nervous. He was at 4-under 140, the highest 36-hole to lead at Augusta since 2007.

The scoring average was 75.02, also the highest in nine years. “I’m still in the lead. I couldn’t ask for much better than leading,” Spieth said.

Spieth and McIlroy will tee off in the last group on Saturday—one going for his second green jacket, the other needing one to complete the ultimate collection of golf prizes.

BRADLEY

to Juan Manuel Marquez.

“I feel it’s good that I had a long layoff,” said Pacquiao, who began his pro career as a 16-year-old in 1995 in the Philippines. “It makes me hungry again, makes me fresher.”

Not feeling quite as good is promoter Bob Arum, who has struggled to sell the fight. There were tickets widely available in the days leading up to the bout, and pay-per-view projections have been scaled down.

Mayweather had trouble selling his last fight, too, drawing relatively meager pay-per-view numbers for what most considered a noncompetitive bout against Andre Berto. The low numbers for both fighters indicate fans are suffering from hangover from buying the MayweatherPacquiao fight.

Arum has tried to generate more interest by trumpeting a “No Trump” undercard of mostly Hispanic fighters he said will strike a blow for immigrants. “My Hispanic army is marching,” Arum said. AP

SPIETH HANGS ON TO MASTERS LEAD, BARELY A

LADY TROOPERS STUN EST COLA, BAG PSL TITLE C COLA-ARMY stunned the fancied Est Cola of Thailand, 25-23, 25-23, 14-25, 25-23, to cop the 2016 PLDT Home Ultera Philippine Superliga (PSL) Invitational Cup women’s volleyball crown on Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

unday, April 10, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

PACMAN-BRADLEY III AS VEGAS—He returns to a familiar place, with an equally familiar opponent. Manny Pacquiao is taking no chances when he meets Timothy Bradley Jr. in what could be the last fight of his remarkable career.

There’s chatter in the background about a possible rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr., though that appears very unlikely.

Their hugely hyped fight last May was a dud, and Mayweather has shown no interest—at least publicly—in changing his mind about retirement.

Pacquiao could be headed there himself, even if he beats Bradley in the rubber match of their series.

He’s running for the Senate in the Philippines, a job that takes far more time than his current position of congressman in his native country, and polls make him a favorite in next month’s election.

Pacquiao might solidify his position in the polls with a win over Bradley on Saturday night’s welterweight fight at the MGM Grand, where he met

Navy’s Morales tops Stage 5, rules Luzon leg

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Given the conditions—more of the same is expected on Saturday—this felt more like everyone against Augusta National than Spieth vs. McIlroy.

“It would add a lot of excitement and buzz and atmosphere to the tournament, obviously,” McIlroy said. “If you start to think about anyone else...I’ve only got the mental capacity to focus on me right now, especially how tough it is out there.” Spieth said it would be exciting to play with McIlroy and left it at that.

There was too much golf to play, too many players still in the mix. AP

NBA RESULTS New York 109, Philadelphia 102 Orlando 112, Miami 109 Charlotte 113, Brooklyn 99 Toronto 111, Indiana 98 Boston 124, Milwaukee 109 Detroit 112, Washington 99 New Orleans 110, L.A. Lakers 102 Dallas 103, Memphis 93 Denver 102, San Antonio 98 L.A. Clippers 102, Utah 99, OT