Businessmirror april 13, 2015

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FASHION ON CALL

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The ministerial priesthood

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Alunan and Malou Araneta-Romero.

“I would like the FDcP to be actively involved in fashion education by recognizing the works of the senior group of designers to the millennials. We are also continuing the development of indigenous products by working with factories and ngos,” nocom stressed. “We must all be united as one in bringing back the business of fashion. As the founder of the FDcP, Josie natori, once remarked, ‘For you designers to make it big, whether in fashion, furniture and accessories, start here in the country and, then, eventually, your business will go global.”’

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“Next is Now” with the all-new Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge

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why self-image matters in businessto-business sales BusinessMirror

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Why Self-Image matterS In BuSIneSS-to-BuSIneSS SaleS B

By Brent Adamson, Karl Schmidt & Anna Bird

usiness-to-consumer marketers have long known that the key to customers’ hearts and minds is to make the connection between the brand and their sense of self.

Powerful brands (think Apple and nike) reinforce customers’ positive self-image.

Business-to-business marketers, on the other hand, have approached selling as a rational, numbers-driven process where the best value proposition wins.

Consequently, they’ve paid little attention to the psychological needs of individual stakeholders in a purchasing organization. our research shows that understanding the personal motivations of key people in a buyer organization is every bit as important to a sale as convincing them of the superiority of your solution.

Today between five and six decision-makers typically have to agree on a purchase before it can happen.

If a seller doesn’t have an advocate in the organization to help drive the consensus, a so-called mobilizer who is motivated to champion the deal, the sale can stall. To find out what might motivate someone to take on this mobilizer role, corporate executive board surveyed over 4,000 individual customer stakeholders involved in a B2B purchase. we found that customers perceive three distinct types of value provided by suppliers: n Company value captures ways in which your offering is perceived to help customers win at the company level - things like allowing the firm to achieve operational goals. n Professional value is about the ways an offering might improve the individual productivity

Brent Adamson is CEB’s managing director of advisory services. Karl Schmidt is the practice manager of CEB Marketing. Anna Bird is a director of strategic research for CEB Marketing.

By David Lancefield & Carlo Gagliardi

oARds are starting to use more digital tools to gather information, connect people in remote locations and present ideas more visually. But there are plenty of other tools they could be using to do their jobs better.

Through virtual-reality technology, for instance, boards could gain a deeper understanding of their companies and the value that they create. By using the technology to play the role of customer, investor, product developer and so on, board members could see the business from various stakeholders’ vantage points. It’s an antidote to the insularity that so many boards are criticized for.

And why not incorporate artificial intelligence into boards’ decisionmaking? AI has the capacity to collate and interpret far greater amounts of information than people can; it’s able to spot patterns and trends that are not immediately obvious to us. with AI’s assistance, boards can analyze with greater rigor all the market, customer and competitor data at their disposal.

AI tools also free up valuable meeting time, allowing people to focus on what they do best - asking the right questions, using their judgment, inspiring others.

Also consider enterprise social-network tools and workflow management programs, like Yammer and Trello,

The skills doctors and nurses need to be effective executives

By Sachin H. Jain

ReImagInIng the BoaRdRoom foR an age of VIRtual RealIty

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which can facilitate more dynamic communication among board members and help them analyze their activities, interactions, voting patterns and so on. with a central repository for communications, it’s easier to share presentations, budgets, quality reports, compliance reviews and supporting analyses.

The pressure for boards to become more digital is coming from a number of sources. Increasingly, investors are expecting boards to match or surpass their own ability to collect and analyze information. Progressive chairs will appoint more board members with digital backgrounds. of course, executives may worry that more information in board members’ hands could lead to poorer decisions if it’s not being examined with the right set of lenses. so there will certainly be tension around boards’ becoming more digital. Roles will need to be redefined. The chair’s job will inevitably change.

But boards that embrace this technology will also gain a clearer perspective on what’s going on with their companies and the environment in which they’re competing. They’ll become more productive and more transparent to stakeholders. The growing pains are more than worthwhile.

David Lancefield is a strategy and economics partner at PwC. Carlo Gagliardi is a strategy partner at PwC.

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E are witnessing an unprecedented transformation of the health-care industry. There has been a rapid growth in jobs and an explosion in the number of startups, including new types of insurance and health information technology companies.

Now, physicians and nurses are being called upon to lead these new healthcare enterprises.

Maximizing the effectiveness of physicians and nurses in these new positions will require different skills than the ones they developed during their clinical training. Having managed clinical leaders in care-delivery organizations, the pharmaceutical

industry and government, I have observed three skills that are critical to the success of doctors and nurses as they transition to management:

1. operations management and execution. operations man-

agement requires the same kind of detail and complexity that is required to effectively manage a large clinical load. still, many clinicians fail to appropriately distinguish between urgent tasks and important, nonurgent tasks.

Just as a first-year resident physician must learn to manage his workflows, so too must a new clinician executive learn to act with urgency and ownership to build an organization’s workflows and address its problems.

That means making sure that tasks are appropriately triaged by priority level.

2. People leadership. Many clinicians have never hired or fired anyone in their lives. The instincts crucial to deciding whom to hire and managing others’ performance are often underdeveloped. To accelerate the development of their peoplemanagement skills, clinicians should partner closely with fellow business leaders and HR professionals. These colleagues can help them identify tactics to build and manage highperformance teams.

3. Setting and defining strategy.

Many clinician leaders are drawn to roles in which they can actively work to define organizational structure

and strategy. But they often forget about the trade-offs—the decision to pursue one set of activities is often a decision not to pursue another. Clinicians must work to develop organizational strategies with this simple and important maxim constantly in mind. As they transition to careers in the business of health care, clinicians must hold onto the heart and practice of medicine as they develop the core executive skills required to effectively lead and shape their organizations. Health care will be markedly better for it.

Dr. Sachin H. Jain is chief medical officer of the CareMore Health System, a division of Anthem Inc., and a lecturer in health-care policy at Harvard Medical School.

Young people need to know that entrepreneurship is hard

By Shawn Osborne

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ow’s this for an entrepreneurship-education outcome: The proportion of high school students saying they’d like to start a business declined over the course of a summer program, according to research from New York University. But that’s not a failure.

Prior to the BizCamp program, funded by the Citi Foundation, 91 percent of the participants indicated they would like to own a business. But then they learned how much time it takes to run one, and about the risk.

After completing the program, the proportion of students saying they’d like to start a business was

down to 85 percent. Any decline in entrepreneurial ambitions might be seen as cause for alarm, considering the acute need for new-business starts (for the first time in 30 years, business closings are outpacing business openings in the Us).

But investors, educational institutions and taxpayers want to see healthy new businesses. Changing what young people know about and expect from starting a business can avert early miscalculations and more efficiently allocate limited resources. The two-week camp did fire up some students. “By the end of the program, significantly more students indicated that they were likely to start a business in the next

year,” the researchers found. “Approximately two-fifths of students reported it was likely that they would start a business in the next year, compared to one-quarter of students at the beginning of BizCamp.”

There are real market, economic and social benefits to putting slightly fewer but better prepared and more motivated entrepreneurs into the business pipeline.

Research reinforces that learning about entrepreneurship ignites an entrepreneurial mindset in young people—they begin to think and act like entrepreneurs. They communicate better. They persist through failure. They take smart risks. They turn into problem solvers and op-

By David Cagahastian

portunity finders. Entrepreneurial thinkers, in other words, can also become great employees even if they don’t start businesses. They can become intrapreneurs (those who innovate inside organizations) or social entrepreneurs, who improve social and government institutions.

If it’s possible to spark the entrepreneurship mindset through one brief summer program, imagine what a school-based commitment to entrepreneurship education would do. It’s time to make teaching entrepreneurship a part of our national education and economic strategy.

Shawn Osborne is the CEO of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

MONDAY MORNING

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Under control Sports BusinessMirror

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| Monday, april 13, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

UNDER CONTROL A

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

UGUSTA, Georgia—Jordan Spieth seized control of the Masters with a performance not seen since another 21-year-old, Tiger Woods, first blazed his way around Augusta National.

He made four birdies in five holes on the back nine to stretch his lead to seven shots. Standing on the 17th tee, he already was on the same score—18-under par—that only Woods had ever reached in the Masters.

And then it all changed on Saturday in two holes.

Out of nowhere, Spieth made a double bogey.

Ahead of him, former US Open champion Justin Rose poured in a 20-foot birdie.

In the worst spot he had been all week, Spieth ended 30 minutes of chaos with a bold shot that saved his par, set another Masters scoring record and gave the 21-year-old Texan a four-shot lead over Rose going into the final round.

On a day of charges and cheers for the biggest names in golf—Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson—Spieth now gets to return and do this all over again.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Spieth said after his two-under 70.

It might have felt even longer without one last display of his exquisite short game. Spieth put his approach on the 18th into the gallery, right of the green, behind a bunker with the green below and running away from him. He took the highrisk option that offered his best chance to save par—a flop shot off a tight lie—and pulled it off to perfection.

Spieth saved par from 10 feet to stay at 16-under 200, breaking by one the 54-hole record held by Woods (1997) and Raymond Floyd (1976).

“That just took some guts,” Spieth said. “And having been in this scenario, or having been in contention enough, having been on tour for a few years, I felt comfortable enough playing that full flop. If you caught me a year-and-a-half ago, I probably never would have played that shot in that scenario.

“Seeing any putts go in on 18 is nice,” he said.

“I would like to have maybe a couple of them” on Sunday.

Considering the shrinking size of his lead and the caliber of players behind him, Spieth might need them.

Rose closed with five birdies on his last six holes for a 67, and that birdie on the 18th put him in the final group for the first time in a major.

“Jordan was so far ahead that it was almost... you were just playing your own game,” Rose said.

“It was nice to stay patient and get rewarded with a hot finish. It’s amazing, and it put me in with a great opportunity tomorrow.”

Mickelson wore a pink shirt in honor of Arnold Palmer because he knew he needed a big charge, and the threetime Masters champion delivered a 40-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole on his way to a 67, despite two bogeys on the back nine. Mickelson was five shots behind.

Woods and McIlroy will play together in the final round of a major for the first time, though both are 10 shots behind.

Spieth knew what he was facing even

before he started.

Woods, who for three rounds has made everyone forget about that guy who shot 82 in the Phoenix Open earlier this year, ran off three straight birdies early in the round, and he threw a victorious fist pump after a most improbable birdie on the 13th hole. McIlroy made eagle on his second hole, went out in 32 and inched closer to Spieth on the back nine.

Both of them stalled at the end. McIlroy made bogey on two of the last three holes for a 68. Woods made a bogey from the bunker on the 18th for his 68.

For a short time late in the afternoon, Spieth made the green jacket ceremony seem like a formality.

Four shots ahead of Charley Hoffman, Spieth buried a 10-foot putt on the 12th hole and another birdie from about the same distance at the 13th. He followed a three-putt bogey on the 14th hole by making two more birdies, and his lead was up to seven shots as the trees began casting long shadows.

He looked in total control at what is the most peaceful time of the day at Augusta National.

And then it was shattered. Spieth chipped weakly to the 17th green and three-putted for a double bogey.

It was a reminder how quickly comfort can vanish. A year ago Spieth was on the wrong end of a four-shot swing over two holes in the final round at Augusta. He went from a two-shot lead to a two-shot deficit and never caught up to Bubba Watson.

“Last year definitely left a bad taste in my mouth,” Spieth said. “I’ve been looking to get back, looking at trying to get some revenge.”

The story line should sound familiar—a 21-year-old with a four-shot lead going after his first major at Augusta National. Four years ago that was McIlroy, who shot 80 in the final round.

Now it’s Spieth’s turn, and he at least knows what to expect.

“I think the good thing for him is he’s already experienced it once,” McIlroy said. “He’s played in the final group at the Masters before. It didn’t quite happen for him last year, but I think he’ll have learned from that experience. I think all that put together, he’ll definitely handle it a lot better than I did.”

McIlroy all but ruled out his chances of adding the Masters to his collection of majors. Only one player in major championship history has rallied from 10 shots behind on the final day. That was Paul Lawrie at Carnoustie in the 1999 British Open, and Jean Van de Velde is nowhere to be found.

Woods wasn’t willing to concede.

He mentioned Greg Norman’s collapse in 1996 after the second round, and McIlroy’s collapse after he finished up his third round.

“I’m going to have to put together a really special round of golf tomorrow,” Woods said. “You never know around this golf course.”

Green jacket within reach

By Tim Dahlberg The Associated Press

UGUSTA, Georgia—Go ahead and measure the kid for a green jacket. Soon they may be crowning him as the best player in golf.

The Masters isn’t supposed to begin until the back nine on Sunday. Jordan Spieth all but wrapped it up before the mowers came out on Saturday night.

Forget the unfortunate mess he made on the 17th hole to trim his lead to four shots. Ignore the iron shot he pushed way right on No. 18 that nearly cost him another shot.

Look instead at the brilliant flop shot he hit to recover from a place no player ever wants to be. Watch again the 10-footer he rolled confidently in the cup for a clue how he’ll react if things suddenly start to get tough.

“That just took some guts,” Spieth said.

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The kid isn’t just calm, he’s unflappable. Kind of like another 21-year-old who set some records of his own here with a breakthrough win in 1997.

The comparisons to Tiger Woods are inevitable, at least when it comes to scoring low on Augusta National.

And there’s reason to believe that he, like Woods, has figured out how to play with a lead when the greatest prize in golf is on the line.

Behind him is an all-star collection of talent bent on taking him down, including three-time champion Phil Mickelson. Ahead of him is a chance to make history by breaking the scoring record set by Woods in 1997.

And all around him on Sunday will be the roars that echo across Augusta National like no other golf course.

“Especially in the group in front of us,” Spieth said.

“Everyone loves Phil. Why wouldn’t you love Phil? And he’s going to make some noise and he’s going to make a run.”

Still, it doesn’t seem there are enough mistakes left in

Spieth to make things interesting in the final round. Even on a course ripe for the taking, you don’t get the sense that he will be taken, too.

Remember that Spieth was right there in his first Masters last year, when he had the lead by two shots on Sunday only to lose to Bubba Watson. He’s not going to be intimidated by the names behind him, just like he wasn’t on Saturday when he made seven birdies on his way to a two-under 70.

And if he does get into a spot of trouble, Spieth showed on the 18th hole that he’s got some serious short game under pressure. From a hill to the right of the green he played a risky full flop shot that landed gently and stayed within makeable distance.

It could have been as disastrous as the double bogey he made the hole before. Spieth not only pulled it off, but did it at a time when anything but perfection might have been disastrous.

the Masters isn’t supposed to begin until the back nine on Sunday. jordan Spieth all but wrapped it up before the mowers came out on Saturday night.

jOrDan SPieth sets another Masters record and holds a four-shot lead entering the final round. AP

“I don’t recommend ever hitting it there,” Spieth said. “That wasn’t easy. It was kind of maybe one in five [chance], if you make a putt.”

Spieth came to the Masters in the midst of a remarkable run of golf—including one win and two second-place finishes in his last three events. Not a terribly long hitter by today’s standards, he’s precise with his irons and is arguably the best putter on earth.

That’s a good combination on Augusta National, especially this year when rain has kept the course soft and almost every flagstick is accessible.

“What I learned about myself is that I saw a lot of putts go in today,” Spieth said. “That’s something in the weekend under pressure that’s kind of hurt me a little bit and recently I’ve been making a lot of putts. The downside of it was that I had to make a lot of putts today with five dropped shots, and I’m not going to be able to have that [on Sunday]. I can’t rely

on the putter that much to save me with two major champions right behind.”

That would be Mickelson and Justin Rose, who can both claim experience winning majors that Spieth lacks.

Mickelson in particular would seem his biggest threat, though he will be starting from five shots back.

Mickelson said he would be wearing black because it helps remind him to stay aggressive. Spieth plans to be aggressive, too, but he’ll be relying on some other motivation.

“Last year definitely left a bad taste in my mouth,” Spieth said. “I’ve been looking to get back, looking at trying to get some revenge on the year. I’ve got a long way to go still.”

Not that long, actually. Eighteen more holes, to be exact, in what has already been a record-setting week.

No better way for the kid to cap it off than with his first green jacket.

sports

As provided under Section 34 of the Elecric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), the PSALM is authorized to impose such a charge from all end users to compensate for any remaining deficit.

The UC is a separate line item in the consumers’ electric bills. It has different subcomponents, depending on the utilization of the funds as specified in the UC collection.

PSALM President Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. refused to detail such adjustments, saying that the state firm has yet to finalize its numbers.

He stressed, though, that this was allowed under the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) guidelines.

“PSALM shall file the annual true-up adjustments for both universal charge for stranded See “Psalm,” A2

B.I.R. DEFERS ELECTRONIC FILING OF SOME RETURNS

of employees, by increasing employees’ workflow, for example. n Identity value describes the ways an offering might impact how employees perceive themselves by, for example, boosting their pride, helping them win respect or strengthening their sense of community. It is less about “how the firm does” or “what I do” than “who I am.” we found that the most effective way to create internal advocates for your offering is to make sure that, in addition to explaining the company and professional value it provides, you reinforce the ways it will deliver identity value n making them feel proud and respected, and strengthening their sense of community within the organization. If you fail to inspire individual customer stakeholders with the promise of identity value, they may not advocate for you.

And, without them, it will be an uphill battle getting the consensus you need for a purchase.

By Lenie Lectura

HE Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) dropped broad hints on Sunday about collecting a higher universal charge (UC) from consumers to address a funding gap.

Fashion on Call echnology continues to court the favors of the fashion cluster to become, well, more fashionable and be more attractive to the indulgent, discerning set. one such “visionary collaboration” is between mobile-phone giant Samsung and some of the country’s most celebrated creative talents: acclaimed sculptor Ramon orlina, jeweler Marilou co and the elitist Fashion and Design council of the Philippines (FDcP).

Always ahead of the tech-savvy pack, Samsung is set to unleash its gorgeous galaxy S6 and S6 edge at the invitational event, S Carpet: Art & Fashion, on Friday, April 17, 6 pm, at the Mega Fashion hall at SM Megamall with the newest brand ambassador, Solenn heussaff, in attendance.

“The collaboration of Samsung and FDcP is a ‘renewal of vows.’ It was a decade ago when Thelma San Juan, then-editor of Metro magazine, and FDcP gave birth to Metrowear, her idea to combine fashion and technology, and when Samsung was emerging into the market through its slide-style cell phones. Samsung was targeting the lifestyle set, and the shows were a resounding success,” said Anthony nocom, the new FDcP president.

For the upcoming fashion spectacle, the designers “worked on the color variants of the S6 phones as the inspiration for our creations—Black Sapphire, White Pearl, Blue Topaz, green emerald and gold Platinum,” nocom said.

The council has 35 members, 28 for clothing and seven for accessories. nocom said the council is also reasserting its preeminence in the fashion scene through the members’ signature looks. one highlight of the show is the segment featuring the new accessories designers/members that include gerry Sunga, Joyce Makitalo, Amina Aranaz

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psalm may turn to electricity consumers to address funding gap

INSIDE

ood Lord, such is the wonderful gift of the ministerial priesthood which You donated to the Church at the Last Supper—something radically different from all other priesthoods. Nor was this gift just a “beautiful theory” or an “ideal figure,” which never existed in reality. Throughout her 20 wcenturies of history, the Church has known thousands and thousands of priests, who have risen to the challenge and have measured up to the ideal they were expected to actualize. Let us pray for more priests. Amen!

TfridayNovember 18,2015 2014Vol. Vol.1010No. No.186 40 Monday, April 13,

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he Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has clarified that because of the mandate to file one’s income-tax return (ITR) in electronic format by April 15, only the electronic filing of some specific returns has been deferred.

The deferment of the electronic filing affects only the following returns due by April 15: Form 1600; Form 1601-C; Form 1601-E; Form 1601-F; Form 1602; Form 1603; and Form 1606.

The other returns, enumerated under Revenue Regulations 6-2014, which were mandated to be filed electronically by the enumerated taxpayers in the cited regulations, will have to be filed in e-format by April 15.

This clarification was made in Revenue Memorandum Circular 15-2015, dated April 1, 2015.

The returns, if due on or before April 15, may be filed manu-

PESO exchange rates n US 44.5590

ally—through the use of the regular printed form or the offline eBIRForms—and the tax payments can be made to the concerned authorized agent banks.

However, the same returns, if filed manually, would have to be refiled electronically even after April 15, but not beyond April 30.

Moreover, the said circular provides that “no payment” returns may be filed in the concerned revenue district offices, provided that receipt of the returns shall be acknowledged through the Mobile Revenue Collection Officers System, and such manual filing shall also be refiled automatically even after April 15, but no later than April 30.

The circular said that the penalties to be imposed on the manual filing of the said returns shall be waived, provided that the said returns have been refiled electronically in the BIR’s systems on or before April 30.

sideline A man rides his bicycle along the shores of Mogpog, Marinduque, just before sunset. ALYSA SALEN

Domestic air traffic posted flat growth in 2014–CAB

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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OMESTIC air traffic remained flat in 2014, after Philippine Airlines (PAL) experienced a sharp drop in customer volume during the period, a development helping moderate the increases that its competitors booked.

Data obtained from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) show domestic air travelers numbering 20.35 million as of end-December 2014, a hairline difference from 20.33 million passengers the year prior.

This was traced to plummeting flag-carrier figures, which dropped 70 percent to 793,512 passengers

last year, from 2.58 million in 2013. PAL has struggled to keep pace with domestic competition for several years now. This was, by far, the most dismal performance the legacy carrier has shown. Its numbers started falling in 2010, after a successful year in 2009, when it flew 6.05 million passengers.

Sister firm PAL Express, meanwhile, reported a sharp rise with 5.13 million domestic passengers served in 2014, an 18-percent increase from the year prior.

PAL started realigning a large portion of its domestic operations to its low-cost brand two years ago, “for the alignment of service standards.”

Its main competitor, low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific, meanwhile, burnished its image as the preferred airline for domestic air travel by getting the lion’s share of 11.08 million passengers in 2014, which was better than the 10.24 million passengers the year before.

Another Gokongwei-led airline, Tigerair Philippines, grew its localpassenger traffic by more than a third to 1.3 million passengers. Cebu Pacific acquired Tigerair Philippines in the first quarter last year, allowing the once-financially challenged carrier to rise from the dust and keep pace with the growing market.

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n japan 0.3696 n UK 65.5775 n HK 5.7499 n CHINA 7.1800 n singapore 32.7881 n australia 34.3157 n EU 47.5133 n SAUDI arabia 11.8799 Source: BSP (10 April 2015)

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Monday, April 13, 2015

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contract costs and universal charge for stranded debt. But we have yet to determine the figures upon approval of PSALM 2014 financial statements,” Ledesma said.

Under the Epira, UC collection from stranded contract costs may be used to plug the cost difference that the PSALM is unable to recoup from end-users relating to its supply contracts with the independent power producers (IPP).

PSALM pays for the debts incurred by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) aggregating P698.9 billion at end-2014.

Proceeds from the privatization of power assets reduced by 42 percent the financial obligations the PSALM assumed from the Napocor to P698.9 billion as of end-2014, from P1.2 trillion as of endDecember 2000, inclusive of interest.

Broken down, the figure consisted of principal amount of P830.7 billion as of 2000, and interest amounting to P373 billion. PSALM has reduced the principal by 30 percent (P248.5 billion) to P582.2 billion and likewise decreased the interest payable by 69 percent (P256.3 billion). The remaining interest until the debt maturity still amounts to about P116.7 billion.

At end-2014, PSALM’s privatization activities generated P916.2 billion of which P420.1 billion had been paid to PSALM, while P471.5 billion remains to be collected. The balance of P24.6 billion accounts for the reduction arising from foreignexchange fluctuations and contractual adjustments. “Decreasing the Napocor loan and IPP obligations is expected with PSALM’s privatization of Napocor’s generating assets and IPP contracts. Proceeds from the sale were used to repay said obligations,” NapocorPresident Ma. Gladys Cruz-Sta. Rita said.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

New economic order in 2030 has India catapulting to world’s No. 3

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et ready for a new economic order. In the world 15 years from now, the US will be far less dominant, several emerging markets will catapult into prominence, and some of the largest European economies will be slipping behind.

That’s according to the US Department of Agriculture’s latest macroeconomic projections that go out to 2030 The US will just barely remain the global leader, with $24.8 trillion in annual out-

put. It is projected to post local output measured as gross domestic product (GDP) of some $16.8 trillion this year.

Going forward, the US economy is seen to add more or less $8 trillion in local

Divining the stock market. . . this year. Hopefully, his luck will rub off on his listed firms Universal Robina Corp. and Cebu Pacific Air, where he is president and CEO. The Year of the Sheep, unfortunately, may not bode so well for business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan (1946) and others born in the Year of the Dog. Pangilinan chairs listed firms such as telco giant Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co., Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Philex Mining Corp. and Manila Electric Co. While the stock market continues to close above 8,000 points, Allen still advised would-

be investors to be vigilant “and only play the market when you feel you are more knowledgeable about its pros and cons to ensure that your investments are not wasted.” Overall, there is an increase in “prosperity luck, so activate the Wood element energy to welcome wealth opportunities during the year.” The Year of the Wood Sheep “symbolizes optimism and flexibility for compromise and progress.”

The first and only Filipino awarded the title “Master in Feng Shui” by the International Feng Shui Association, the Londonbased Allen, said, with the Wood element

APRIL 13, 2015 | MONDAY EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE EASTERN SECTION OF LUZON AND VISAYAS (AS OF APRIL 12, 5:00 AM)

Easterlies are winds coming from the East passing over the Pacific Ocean. These are warm and moist in nature; causing hot weather and generating thunderstorms.

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tive year; these include chemicals, insurance, property and construction.” She also advised companies in the earth industries to “intensify their marketing over competitors and make a difference.”

The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed at 8,127.48 points on Friday, almost 1 percent up from Thursday’s close. Gainers were firms in the financials (up 1.7 percent), holding firms (1.9 percent), services (1.01 percent) and property (0.93 percent). Value turnover on Friday was P12.87 billion, with 98 stocks advancing, 88 declining and 51 unchanged.

APR 14 APR 15 APR 16 TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

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BAGUIO

15 – 24°C

16 – 24°C

16 – 25°C

SBMA/ CLARK

25 – 34°C

25 – 34°C

25 – 35°C

ZAMBOANGA

TAGAYTAY

22 – 31°C

22 – 31°C

PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

LEGAZPI

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 25 – 33°C

METRO CEBU 25 – 31°C

TACLOBAN CITY 24 – 31°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 23 – 33°C

ZAMBOANGA CITY 23 – 33°C

25 – 32°C

25 – 32°C

APR 14 APR 15 APR 16 TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

METRO CEBU

SUNRISE

SUNSET

MOONSET

MOONRISE

5:44 AM

6:09 PM

12:47 PM

12:53 AM

22 – 30°C

LEGAZPI CITY 25 – 31°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD 24 – 32°C

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

METRO DAVAO

TUGUEGARAO CITY 23 – 33°C

BAGUIO CITY 16 – 24°C

dominant this year, industries which have to do with Wood will be profitable, such as agriculture, fashion, textiles, wood plantation, paper mills, among others.

Metal element industries will also do well such as car manufacturing, technology, engineering and machinery.

“It will be an active but competitive year for fire element industries relating to the stock market, restaurant, lighting, finance, energy, power generation, gas and oil industries. For industries dominated by the Earth element, it will also be an active and competi-

METRO MANILA

LAOAG

LAOAG CITY 23 – 32°C

Other nations won’t be so lucky, particularly among developed economies. Japan will see very little growth, pushing it down a spot in the rankings. France will slide three spots, while Italy drops two.

In the overall ranking, Jamaica will surrender the most ground, bumping down 13 places to 136. Countries with the biggest advances—like Uganda, which will climb 18 spots to rank 9—are concentrated in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The USDA is not the only—and hardly the most widely followed—ranking of global economic growth, though it does offer the advantage of particularly long-term outlooks.

The IMF’s economic outlook only projects out two years. Bloomberg News

Continued from A12

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

TODAY’S WEATHER

output 15 years from now.

The country, worth 25 percent of the world economy in 2006 and 23 percent in 2015, will see its share decline to 20 percent. China’s GDP will grow to more than twice its size today, helping the Asian powerhouse to almost entirely close its gap with the US. India, ranked eighth for 2015, will climb past Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan to take third place.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calls India “the bright spot in the global landscape.” The country will have the largest work force in the world within the next 15 years, the IMF notes, and among the youngest.

24 – 32°C

HALF MOON NEW MOON

SOUTH HARBOR

APR 12

PUERTO PRINCESA

25 – 33°C

24 – 33°C

24 – 33°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD

25 – 32 °C

25 – 33°C

24 – 33°C

11:44 AM

APR 19

2:57 AM

Partly cloudy skies

Weekday hourly updates: 6:00 AM on Balitaan, 7:00 AM & 8:00 AM on Good Morning Boss!, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM on News@1, 3:00 PM, 4:30 PM, and 6:00 PM on News@6

www.panahon.tv

SABAH CELEBES SEA

11:54 PM

-0.05 METER

Partly cloudy to at times cloudy with rainshowers and/or thunderstorms

Watch PANAHON.TV everyday at 5:00 AM on PTV (Channel 4).

METRO DAVAO 25 – 34°C

LOW TIDEMANILA HIGH TIDE

@PanahonTV

4:00 PM

0.91 METER

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The Nation BusinessMirror

Palace acts to clean up P437-M unliquidated cash advances

By Butch Fernandez

M

ALACAÑANG is moving to trim down the huge P437-million unliquidated cash advances that Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago wants lawmakers to look into.

Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. gave the assurance even as he pointed out that the Aquino administration is accountable for only P11.3 million of the P437 million in unliquidated fund releases. He said the bulk of the unaccounted balance was incurred by previous Presidents.

“Tinanong po natin ito sa ating Office of the President, at ayon po sa Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Finance and Administration, buong taon pong tinutukoy at tinututukan ito ng ating pamahalaan para maipababa ’yung halaga na nabanggit—’yung P437 million,” Coloma said on Sunday.

The Palace official said demand letters have already been sent to Aquino administration officials with outstanding obligations to liquidate as soon as possible.

“Nagpadala po ng mga letters of demand sa mga kinauukulang public

officials na mayroong mga unliquidated cash advances. Marami na rin po ang tumugon dito at nag-comply na doon sa requirements of liquidation,” the secretary reported.

Coloma said portions of the unliquidated balance have already been written off because the official concerned has died.

“Mayroon din pong portion nitong pinag-uusapan natin na na-write off na dahil po sa matagal nang yumao ’yung mga tinutukoy.”

Still, the secretary said the government is also preparing legal action against officials who fail to liquidate cash advances released to their offices. “Mayroon ding mga inihahandang collection cases ang ating pamahalaan para panagutin ’yung mga hindi tumutugon sa mga letters of demand,” he said.

Coloma said only P11.3 million, or 2.5 percent, of the P437-million unliquidated cash advances reported by the Commission on Audit refers to the Aquino administration.

“Gayunpaman, sinisikap pa ring makolekta ang pinakamalaking bahagi nito, at maresolba ang lahat ng mga unliquidated cash advances para tumalima po tayo sa batas hinggil dito,” the secretary said.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, April 13, 2015 A3

DFA asks world to apply rule of law on China’s aggressive land reclamation

T

By Recto Mercene

HE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday called on the international community and claimant countries to “contribute to efforts to establish a regional architecture based on the rule of law,” in the face of seemingly unstoppable island-building activities by China.

“Developments in the South China Sea [West Philippine Sea] concern not only the claimant states and the region, but also the international community,” the DFA said in a statement, after President Barack Obama said the US has issued recent statements on China’s massive-reclamation activities.

“Where we get concerned with China is where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms and

rules, and is using its sheer size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions,” Obama told a townhall event in Jamaica last week ahead of a Caribbean summit in Panama.

“We think this can be solved diplomatically, but just because the Philippines or Vietnam are not as large as China doesn’t mean that they can just be elbowed aside,” he said.

The DFA said Obama’s statements, and those of other nations,

reflect growing international concern over these reclamations that are contrary to international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and undermine our collective efforts to build regional security and stability.

“The Philippines will continue to work with Asean and other responsible members of the international community to address unilateral aggressive actions that directly challenge the rule of law, create tensions and pose risks to the peace and stability of the region. A key element in this is the full and effective implementation of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the early adoption of a binding Code of Conduct.”

The DFA said the Philippines’s arbitration case based on Unclos seeks to clarify maritime entitlements, as a step to peacefully resolve the disputes in accordance with international law.

China’s massive island-building activities in South China have gained “international approbrium,” because

of its military implications, even as they try to justify the facilities there as maritime assistance during emergencies, such as following a typhoon, said an expert on the South China Sea. Ian Story, a South China Sea expert at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, said the justification is but a ruse because, behind all the reclamation activities, China is actually fortifying its military presence in the area to boost oil exploration and fishing in the region.

“They are trying to put a civilian sheen on this, but I think people will see through this, and see [the reclamations] for what they really are,” Story added. “This will be of concern to all the littoral states in the SCS, whether they are claimants,” said Story, calling it the biggest change to the region’s status quo in decades.

China claims most of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in shipborne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei Darussalam also have overlapping claims.

Economy

A4 Monday, April 13, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

PHL seen losing $500M in export sales for noncompliance with social practices

F

oreign buyers’ representatives are urging local exporters and manufacturers to brace themselves for a social compliance audit, saying the Philippines can lose as much as $500 million in potential export revenues yearly due to their noncompliance.

COIN PURSES Various coin purses made of leather and abaca are offered at P100 apiece at a store in Recto, Manila. ROY DOMINGO

DTI assures no hike in prices of school supplies

By Catherine N. Pillas

T

he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said over the weekend that the prices of school supplies sold by major bookstores will not go up during the incoming school year.

The DTI’s Consumer Protection Group said some select brands will even slash prices.

After a meeting with suppliers, traders, and manufacturers of school materials, the Consumer Protection Group said National Book Store, Bridges Bookstore (formerly Goodwill), and Morayta Bookstore (formerly Merriam and Webster Bookstore) will not increase their prices as supply remains steady.

Gerry Lim, president of Philippine School Pads & Notebooks Manufacturers Association Inc., said the prices of most brands of notebooks and notepads will be kept at current levels.

Brands that are will not raise prices for crayons, notebooks, notepads and pencils are Sterling, Orion, Avanti, Best Buy, School Basics, Merit, Colleen, Chirp, AMSPEC, T Pencil, Crayola and Li'l Hands, Advance and BIC. The BIC brand, distributed by Filstar Distributors Corp. will even lower the prevailing price of its three-per-pack pencil set by as much as P4.50.

Advance Paper Corp.’s Easywrite brand of pad paper, however, may go up by P 2 to P3.

Meanwhile, the DTI said consumers can also look forward to lower prices of Nescafé Classic Coffee as the suggested retail price (SRP) has been rolled back by P1 to P2.

The SRP for the 25-gram Nescafé Classic Refill went down to P19.70 from P20.75 posted last September.

For the stand-up pouch of P50 grams, the SRP is now at P38.95. “ T his can be attr ibuted to cheaper Robusta coffee and competition with other brands. We expect other brands to follow [Nescafé’s] lead,” Trade Undersecretary Victorio Dimagiba said in a text message.

Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap) President Robert Young raised the urgency for local factories and subcontractors of garments, apparel, shoes, bags, furniture, housewares and gift items to comply with social practices required by most major importing countries.

Young noted that social compliance is imperative especially as the Philippines gains the interest of foreign buyers for export products with the granting of European Union Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)+ scheme to the country, the impending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Asean integration and some free-trade agreements.

“As requirement of most major importing buyers, the goods should not be only of global quality standards, but must also be produced in a responsible and socially compliant factory and meeting the basic standards for human rights,” he said.

Young said the buyers will not place orders if Philippine factories are not socially compliant to the regulation of importing countries.

“Most major American and European chain stores and importing companies require corporate social responsibility audits. It’s a ‘shape up or ship out’ thing for Philippine exporters,” he said.

Young said in a statement issued by the Philippine Exporters’ Confederation Inc. that factories must comply with social practices if they intend to stay or increase their exports.

He said Fobap sourcing office members have been orienting and implementing the audit system based on international social compliant framework to the manufacturers and exporters all over the country for the past few years.

The audit system covers mainly areas of basic human rights, no-child labor policy, labor and management agreement practice, correct labor wages, observance of local laws, environmental friendly, among others.

“However, the sustainability of the practice is far from the ideal. Philippine factories have a record of not sustaining the compliance rules.

They stop the practice once auditors are gone so buyers are transferring to more serious and honest countries like Malaysia, South Korea, etc,” Young added.

He said Fobap members have authorized auditors, some coming from American and European head offices; but some factories appoint local auditors like SGS and Intertek.

PSA to seek PPPs for SDG data

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

he Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is mulling over possible public-private partnerships (PPPs) to help the government monitor and produce data for over 300 indicators that may be included in the post-2015 agenda or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

National statistician Lisa Grace S. Bersales said that while world leaders are set on the 17 SDGs, the details of how these goals will be measured, initially pegged at 300 indicators, have not been finalized.

Bersales said that admittedly, statistical systems worldwide cannot produce data for these indicators on their own. She said this can be done through partnerships with private institutions, including academe.

“Ang message namin is hindi namin kaya ng official statisticians ilabas lahat say 300-plus indicators. But, as far as I know, committed na tayo and other countries na magkaroon ng 17 SDGs, talagang sure na ’yun. But as to the details, ilang indicators per goal, ’yan pa ay malalaman next year,” Bersales said.

Bersales said, however, that these PPPs with private institutions and other stakeholders must still adhere to the standards set by statistical agencies. She said this is the goal of the workshop on data revolution that will be conducted in September. This workshop will find ways to make big data acceptable as official statistics.

Big data, Bersales earlier said, does not only mean those on social-media sites like what is now being used in Africa, but also administrative data from public and private institutions.

“These are the issues that will be discussed in these data revolution workshops because not all of the big data there can be used. But there could be [useful big data] so that’s where we have to make discussions,” Bersales said.

Before big data can be used, she the PSA must set the standards on data sampling which is crucial in computing for index weights needed in statistical computations.

If the sampling design fails, Bersales said data obtained from private and public institutions, as well as social media, could be biased. For example, she said, social-media sites like Twitter or Facebook may not be accessed by the poor. If there is limited access to certain data sources such as the Internet for some sectors of society, the data generated will not reflect a complete picture of the situation of the country with respect to certain indicators such as poverty or education.

“The achievement of these goals is undoubtedly an enormous task that requires good quality statistics and the commitment of all sectors, particularly the national government agencies and the local government units who are the frontline institutions in combating poverty,” Bersales said.

Earlier, Bersales said the PSA can create frameworks that can used by other agencies in opening their data to stakeholders.

She added that there are numerous kinds of data that can be tapped in the government. These include business registration records from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

News BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, April 13, 2015 A5

Domestic air traffic posts flat growth in 2014–CAB. . .

AirAsia Zest, meanwhile, passed through some turbulence in 2014 as traffic slowed by 15 percent to 1.69 million passengers last year, from 1.99 million in 2013. Its parent company, AirAsia Philippines, on the other hand, improved its volume to 283,896 passengers from 157,329 passengers.

Seair International also entered the market last year, while Magnum Air and Island Transvoyager saw mixed results.

The market first contracted in 2013 after natural calamities pounded the Philippines, claiming thousands of lives and properties while canceling a sizable number of flights.

Domestic and international air travel is expected to get a boost this year, after the regulator decided to scrap off the fuel surcharge from airline fares due to the declining prices of jet fuel in the international market.

A fuel surcharge is a temporary relief granted to airlines to help them recover losses incurred from higher jet fuel prices. It ranges from P500 to as high as P15,000, depending on the destination.

Fuel prices have been dropping as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to maintain current pro-

duction levels despite a glut in the market with an estimated oversupply of 1.5 million to 2 million barrels daily.

Following a period of relative stability of above $100 per barrel, oil prices have plunged since mid-2014, falling by more than $40 per barrel to five-year lows.

Fuel accounts for as much as 60 percent of an airline’s operating cost per passenger, and is the second-highest expense next to labor.

Data from the International Air Transport Association showed jet fuel cost was at $70.3 per barrel as of March 27, down by 8.1 percent from the preceding month, and 42 percent less than the year-ago price.

Hence, airlines are more than happy to announce that their forecast for the year is rosier than ever. AirAsia Philippines as a group, for one, is expecting to increase its passenger volume by almost 28 percent this year, due to the relief in operation costs.

AirAsia Zest President Joy D. Cañeba’s forecast is that the airline should be able to carry some 4.5 million passengers this year from 3.12 million last year.

PAL President Jaime J. Bautista, for his part, sees, at the most, a 7-percent rise in

passenger traffic for the flag carrier.

But, despite a rosy outlook for the year, CAB Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla is adamant about continued growth due to the insufficient capacity of key gateways around the country.

He said the country’s airports will find it hard to meet the increase in demand for air travel given the current state of the infrastructure.

“The market is very vibrant. There is no doubting that we have a deficiency in infrastructure, which limits potential growth,” he noted.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s four terminals and runways are already operating beyond its rated capacity, causing numerous cancellations or delays in flight operations—whether domestic or international.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) even predicted that this year would mark the start of the main gateway’s dark days.

The airport is expected to handle some 37.78 million passengers by year-end, way beyond its 30 million annual passenger capacity and a few notches up from its maximum capacity of 35 million passengers per year.

Thankfully, the government has rolled out quite a sizable amount of projects to at least keep

pace with the growth, if not totally match it.

The Department of Transportation and Communications is currently auctioning off the P108.2-billion two-package contract that aims to privatize five key airports around the country.

The first package consists of the BacolodSilay Airport (P20.26 billion); and Iloilo Airport (P30.40 billion); while the second bundle is composed of the New Bohol or Panglao Airport (P2.34 billion); Laguindingan Airport (P14.62 billion); and Davao Airport (P40.57 billion).

The Bacolod Airport also known as BacolodSilay Airport commenced operations in 2008 and is one of the recently completed airports in the Philippines with modern facilities. The airport is in Silay City, Negros Occidental and generally caters to traffic for Negros Island—including Bacolod City—which is one of the most populous cities in the Western Visayas Region.

Tourism is one of the main industries in Negros Occidental and is fast growing, with domestic tourists reaching 1.33 million in 2013.

The Iloilo Airport, on the other hand, is in Cabatuan, Province of Iloilo and is among the top 5 airports in Philippines in terms of traffic data. It started commercial operations in 2007, providing for both domestic and international connectivity

with seven domestic destinations and two international destinations. The airport served roughly 1.87 million passengers in 2013.

Seen to start its commercial operations by 2017, the P3.36-billion New Bohol Airport in Panglao is designed to accommodate 1 million passengers annually. The contract to construct new aviation hub in Bohol was awarded to Japanese joint venture of Chiyoda Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp. last month.

Found on the northern tip of Misamis Oriental, the Laguindingan Airport has a design capacity of 1.6 million passengers annually.

It started operations in 2013. It replaced the Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro, which was among the five busiest airports in the Philippines in terms of passenger traffic.

Also known as Francisco Bangoy International Airport, Davao airport is the third busiest airport in the Philippines after the Naia and the MactanCebu International Airport. Located in Catitipan, Davao City, the airport has been operational for more than 15 years, currently serving both domestic and international operations.

Davao region is one of the faster growing tourism destinations in the country, with passenger traffic settling at 2.79 million in 2013.

continued from a1

All in all, these deals have an indicative cost of P108.19 billion, and are set to undergo a dual-stage public auction. The prequalification conference is scheduled on April 7, while the deadline for the submission of prequalification documents is on May 18.

Also, the department is planning to build a new Naia terminal somewhere in C-5 Road, while aiming to start the construction of a low-cost carrier terminal in Clark International Airport within the term of President Aquino.

“What we need to do on top of the recent modernization projects being implemented for our gateways is to build a new airport—that’s the ultimate solution,” Arcilla said.

The transport agency is now awaiting the completion of the feasibility study being conducted by the Jica for the construction of an $11-billion airport in Sangley Point, Cavite.

The consultancy firm has vowed to present in June the final study for the aviation hub, which will have to be approved by the various committees of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), such as the Investment Coordination Committee, the Cabinet Committee, and the Neda Board, which is chaired by President Aquino.

Tourism Malaysia with the launc A6 Monday, April 13, 2015 • Editor: Gerard Ramos

the busy street filled with cars and pedestrians in front of Malaysia’s Fahrenheit88 mall. With the opening of the 1Malaysia Grand Prix Sale 2015, foreign and local tourists can enjoy shopping rewards and discounts from a wide range of international and homegrown brands.

Story & photos by Marianne Sarmiento | Special to the BusinessMirror

T

he year 2015 is the best time to visit Malaysia as it celebrates Malaysia Year of Festivals (MyFest), with the theme “Endless Celebrations.” Continuing the success of last year’s campaign, Visit Malaysia Year 2014, MyFest showcases a yearlong schedule of more than 200 activities/events featuring the country’s multiracial culture and traditions.

To further boost the tourism sector, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia launched on March 13 the first of its three international sales campaigns promoting Malaysia as the next top shopping destination, the 1Malaysia Grand Prix Sale, which concluded on April 5.

Also launched was the Sixth Malaysia International Shoe Festival (MISF), which also concluded last

month. The launch was graced by Malaysia’s two top international fashion icons, Jimmy Choo and Zang Toi. The three-day festival organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in collaboration with the Malaysian Footwear Manufacturers Association showcased over 100 local and international shoe brands. Dr. Ong Hong Peng, secretary-general of Ministry of Tourism and Culture

Malaysia, handed the MISF Highest Award of Distinction to Choo, while the MISF Tourism Special Recognition Award was awarded to Zoi, who is also the brand ambassador for MISF 2015, for both of their worldclass contributions to the fashion industry, and for bringing Malaysian talent known to the world.

Both events were in conjunction with the Formula One Petronas Grand Prix 2015, an annual major sporting event which attracts thousands of tourists all over the world eager to watch Formula One drivers weave around the tracks of the Sepang International Circuit. The race took place from March 27 to 29, and in between races tourists were encouraged to indulge in a Malaysian shopping experience that offered great bargains from participating top international and local brands.

The shopping sector is a major contributor in Malaysia’s tourist receipts, amounting to RM21.6 billion, or 30 percent of the total receipts of RM72 billion in 2014. With over 350 shopping malls spread around the country, Malaysia is considered a shopping haven by not a few. Among the top 10 largest malls in the world, three of them can be found in Malay-

Nationwide foodtrip ongo R

ound up all the foodies as the tastiest gastronomic event is here.

Mounted by the Department of Tourism (DOT), “Flavors of the Philippines’’ is ongoing until April 30, happening simultaneously in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, serving as a prelude to the Madrid Fusion Manila 2015.

The nationwide food festival features various activities ranging from food markets to featured food and menus in hundreds of venues, aiming to position the country as the heart of culinary interest worldwide, and to showcase the rich and delicious culinary encounter between Spanish and Filipino chefs.

Also included are tapas festivals, food tours and tastings, agricultural fairs, bazaars, food festivals in restaurant and hotels, gourmet meals and special dinners by celebrity chefs in select restaurants and hotel outlets, mall based-activities and events, food trucks, concert and music festivals and, finally, food features in museums, galleries, theaters and malls.

bruce ricketts

GAITA FORES

With 2015 dubbed as the “Visit the Philippines Year”, the country hosts Madrid Fusion-Manila, Spain’s famed culinary event and leading international gastronomic gathering. The Madrid Fusion Manila 2015 brings elite chefs and culinary experts in one venue to discuss important culinary issues such as evolution of tastes, trends in food, and new food habits.

“Madrid Fusion-Manila is the Philippine version of this culinary gather-

ing to which the DOT has earned the right to jointly organize with no less than President Aquino as witness,” says Ramon R. Jimenez, tourism secretary. “To make the Filipino public share in this honor and celebrate the 300 years of shared history between Spain and the Philippines, Flavors of the Philippines gathers major food and hospitality establishments to put up their own events in line with Madrid Fusion-Manila.’’

m&Entertainment to boost tourism ch of national sales campaigns BusinessMirror

tourism@businessmirror.com.ph • Monday, April 13, 2015 A7

Amyra Mohamas Hatta, founder and designer of Tulyss shoe brand, poses with her creations at the Sixth MISF.

Malaysian Footwear Manufacturers Association Vice President Rachael Foo (from left), Malaysia’s tourism ambassador and world-renowned shoe couturier Jimmy Choo, Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia SecretaryGeneral Dr. Ong Hong Peng, fashion icon Zang Toi, and Tourism Malaysia Director General Mirza Mohammad Tayyab Beg at the launching of the Sixth Malaysia International Shoe Festival (MISF) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

sia: 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Mid Valley Megamall and Sunway Pyramid, all at Klang Valley, considered as the place to experience the best shopping in Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur was No. 4 in CNN’s World’s Best Shopping Cities in 2012 and 2013, next to New York, Tokyo and London. It is also ranked as the Second Best Shopping Destination in Asia Pacific by Globe Shopper Index, making it the best shopping destination in Southeast Asia and among the tops in Asia.

Ong said, “Malaysian shopping malls have become mini-tourist destinations, enticing locals and foreign tourists alike to seek shopping, entertainment and recreational fun, discover culinary delights, as well as enjoy health and sporting pursuits, and a gamut of other attractions.”

He added that, for this year’s sales campaigns, the theme “Experiential Shopping” is being used to highlight the varied shopping experiences in the country.

The two other upcoming sales campaign are the 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival, from June 27 to August 31, and the Malaysia Year-End Sale from November 14 to January 3, 2016.

A shoe collection at the Sixth MISF

Choo (left) and Toi listen to a question during a news conference at the launching of the Sixth MISF

Toi with a model during the opening fashion show at the Sixth MISF.

oing until April 30 with ‘Flavors of the Philippines’

MYRNA SEGISMUNDO

Offering special Spanish menu are restaurants like Cibo, Casa Marcos, X046 Philippines, Tapeo, Lusso, Aracama Filipino Cuisine, Cirkulo, Cyma, Grace Park, Alta Restaurant, Spiral, Marco Polo Cebu, Alba, Bistro Eleven, La Casa Agua in Hotel H20.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP) will feature Spanish origin or Spanish-influenced menus. Participating HRAP members are The LJC Restau-

ROB PENGSON

rant Group, The Manila Hotel, Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, The Heritage Hotel, Acacia Hotel Manila, Bayview Park Hotel Manila, Diamond Hotel, Garden Orchid Hotel, Ilustrado Restaurant, Hotel Jen Manila (Latitude).

On April 11 “Tapas Night” was held at Green Sun Hotel in Makati featuring the seven best Spanish chefs based in the Philippines—Chef José Luis “Chele” Gonzalez and Chef Ivan

FERNANDO ARACAMA

Saiz (VASK Gallery and ArroZeria), Chef Juan Carlos de Terry (Terry´s), Chef Pepe López (Ramblas), Chef Carlos Garcia (The Black Pig), Chef Nicolas Diaz (Barcino) and Chef Pablo López (Donosti), who prepared a selection of innovative and traditional tapas representing the best of the different culinary regions of Spain. The tapas was served with a wide selection of wines, cava and other liquors from Spain.

PEPE LOPEZ

“Cocinas Viajeras’’, a stylized food truck festival featuring Manila’s top chefs and premier restaurants, is being mounted in Ayala Malls.

Last April 11, it was staged at 9th Avenue in Bonifacio Global City, featuring Chefs JP Anglo, Rob Pengson and Noel de la Rama; and at Level 4, Trinoma, with Chef Myrna Segismundo taking centerstage. On April 18 it goes to Glorietta 3 Park, featuring Chefs Chele Gonzales and Gaita

CHELE GONZALES

Fores; while, on April 24, it is at Ayala Centrio Mall in Cagayan de Oro, featuring Chef Sau del Rosario.

On April 18 at Greenbelt 5, the Festival de la Paella Gigante III will showcase a nine-foot diameter Paella Valenciana that will be cooked the traditional way over charcoal and firewood by chefs Mikel Arrie of Punta Fuego, J Gamboa of Cirkulo, Fernando Aracama of Aracama Filipino, Carlo Miguel of 71 Gramercy,

JUAN CARLOS DE TERRY

Jerome Valencia of Tambai, Gilbert Pangilinan of Cerveseria, and Sito Senn of The Country Club. It will be for the benefit of the Sociedad Española de Beneficencia.

Select SM Supermalls (premiere malls and regional malls) and Ayala Malls will also feature Spanish-inspired featured menus in their food courts and in participating restaurants.

For the full calendar of events, visit www.madridfusionmanila.com.

TheElderly

A8

Monday, April 13, 2015 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Nuns take care of abandoned elderly in Laguna home

A

By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

BANDONED elderly from different parts of the country found a warm home in the company of nuns who personally provide them with care in a community for the deserted in Laguna.

All female, the 18 residents of Mary Mother of Mercy Home for the Abandoned and Elderly in San Pedro hailed from as far as Camarines Sur, Bacolod City, Dumaguete City and Zamboanga.

Most of them are octogenarians, said Sister Emerita, a Myanmar national, who is superior of the only community of the Sisters of Saint Francis Xavier (SFX) in the country.

The seniors occupy the two-story house for the neglected, originally founded by Dr. Mercedes Oliver, a philanthropist, prior to her trip to Myanmar to invite the SFX to come over and take charge.

It stands in communion with a formation house, a chapel, a nipa hut, a Way of the Cross, and the house that showcases Oliver’s memorabilia in a piece of land measuring over 1,500 square meters.

With two floors, the house can quarter 25 people, Emerita said.

Male elderly were its pioneer residents who were cared for by a group of “brothers.”

The Servites also had their share of running it for two-and-a-half years, said Sr. Venus Marie S. Pegar, SFX formation director.

Her congregation took over in July 2002.

Only four nuns—three of them Myanmar nationals and one Filipina—are the caregivers to the 18

resident elderly. They prepare their coffee; the elderly prefer coffee and bread over fried rice for breakfast.

After breakfast, the nuns bathe them, wash their used cloths, and mop the floors.

Eight of the 18 residents can still bathe themselves and do their own laundry. Since they can still walk, they let their weaker companions occupy the first floor and climb the steps to the second to retire every night.

Students who undergo 100 hours of on-the-job training, which usually runs for about two weeks, provide the nuns with a breathing spell from their hard daily routine, Pegar said.

On Monday mornings, the residents bond for about an hour on Gospel-sharing together with the congregation’s aspirants, who are currently two young Filipinas.

The elderly recount the lives of the saints on Tuesdays. Everyone is reminded to try to be like one and talk to her saint at night.

Wednesdays are working days.

The seniors, particularly the still able, weave strips of old fabrics into rugs for their own use. In recent years, when they were not as old as they are today, they produced more.

On Thursdays they listen to meditation music. Fridays are for singing and dancing. But they watch wholesome and happy television shows

THE elderly residents of Mary Mother of Mercy Home for the Abandoned and Elderly in Barangay San Antonio, San Pedro, Laguna. With them are (standing from left) Sr. Venus Marie S. Pegar, Sisters of Saint Francis Xavier (SFX) formation director; and Sister Emerita, the SFX community superior, who is a Myanmar national. OLIVER SAMSON

every day after lunch.

The nuns do not eat until the residents are done with their meal.

The home is sustained through the financial assistance siphoned from the foundation that was purposely set up to provide neglected seniors with free shelter—the Mary Mother of Mercy Home for the Abandoned and Elderly Foundation.

The gate swings both wings wide open to deserted seniors, regardless of religious affiliation, and folds them back close not to isolate them from the rest of the world, but to

embrace them through the remaining years of their life.

Once the social welfare nods in approval, the nuns formally admit them into the community without questioning.

In the past, they took care of neglected elderly from other denominations, like Iglesia ni Cristo, bornagain Christians and Seventh Day Adventists, Emerita said.

The residents are still fortunate, she added. They have a home, do not scavenge their food and are not filthy. A volunteer doctor

comes to check them.

One resident drinks half her cup of coffee on mornings and spares some of her bread for a visitor she expects to come and eat part of her breakfast.

This mother did lose her maternal instinct for her brood despite years of desertion by her own children.

Another spends hours each day staring at the gate earnestly, like expecting someone to come and take her home.

But no one is coming, Pegar said.

The nuns don’t tell the residents they

CL elderly group asks Pampanga gov to remain in public office

have been abandoned.

Petty quarrels happen when one takes another’s spoon or sits on her chair, Emerita said. But any row among the residents, most of whom enjoying a second childhood, does not last long. In a matter of minutes, they are friends again.

They sleep like children even with the loud clap of thunder during typhoons, Pegar said.

The residents seem to have stopped worrying about earthly concerns, like dying. They have regressed to being children again.

By Joel P. Mapiles

Cebu City Council wants P700-M new hospital fund placed in trust

LARK FREEPORT—Knowing she will continue to pursue causes that concer them, the Regional Federation of Senior Citizens Associations of the Philippines in Central Luzon wants Pampanga Gov. Lilia “Nanay” Pineda either to join the senatorial race or run for another higher position in the 2016 local and national elections.

Retired Judge Ricardo Agapito, president of the regional federation, told the officers of senior-citizen groups in Central Luzon during the first-ever Regional Senior Citizens’ Congress held at Oxford Hotel in this freeport zone to unite and give their full support behind the lady governor when she runs for another elective position in 2016.

They believe Pineda will continue to wholly support older citizens in Central Luzon in whatever position they take.

The retired judge is confident enough that Pineda and Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane are the ideal leaders who could highly represent Central Luzon in the national elections.

Agapito said Pineda has a big heart not just for the less fortunate, but also for the elderlies not only in Pampanga, in Central Luzon but in the entire country.

“Governor Pineda is a model governor who loves the marginalized and the elderlies and one good example is that she gives importance to senior citizens’ remaining years and days of their lives through giving health benefits and services for more than what they expect,” he said.

During the Regional Congress for Senior Citizens, Pineda’s best prac-

EBU CITY—The Cebu City Council has passed an ordinance mandating that the funds earmarked for the construction of the new Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) be deposited in a trust account.

T he measure was passed despite opposition from Cebu City Councilor Noel Wenceslao, who said having appropriated funds for the construction of the CCMC does not mean there is already an actual fund.

“Appropriation does not mean actual cash on hand. May we be forced to deposit cash even if it still to be collected?” Wenceslao said.

The initiative came after the executive department utilized P300-million funds earmarked for CCMC in 2014 to pay for the financial aid to senior citizens and other basic services of the city last year.

The new measure is still subject to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s approval.

Cebu City Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr., author of the ordinance, said it is a “safety net” to secure and monitor the budget to avoid “co-mingling of public funds.”

“Establishing a trust fund for CCMC is the safest way to keep all the monies untouched for all other purposes except for the hospital construction,” he said.

Almost P700 million, including the P600-million total appropriation in 2014 and 2015, P12.6-million donation from the Association of Barangay Councils, P37 million from the “Piso Mo Hospital Ko” fundraising drive and other pledges, were purportedly set aside to commence the rebuilding. PNA

Correspondent

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PAMPANGA Gov. Lilia Pineda addresses the officers and members of the Regional Federation of Senior Citizens Association in Central Luzon during their Regional Senior Citizens Congress held at Oxford Hotel, Clark Freeport Zone. JUN JASO

tices and programs for senior citizens reaped a big applause not just from the elderly delegates who came from Pampanga but also from Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Zambales and from the 14 cities of Central Luzon.

The elderlies in the region highly appreciated the approval

of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and implementation of Ordinance 647, or the “Enactment of the Senior Citizens Code of the Province of Pampanga,” which gave Pineda the power and authority to give what is best for the elderlies.

Under said ordinance, senior citizens of Pampanga, specifically

those aged 100 years and above, are to receive a cash incentive worth P100,000 in recognition of their invaluable contribution to the province’s success today.

Aside from this, the capitol has alloted a P1,000 monthly pension for indigent senior citizens that are bedridden, for the purchase of

their medicines and other needs.

The senior citizens are also given free access or senior citizens ward in the 10 district and provincial hospitals of Pampanga free of charge.

Also, the provincial government grants burial assistance of not less than P5,000 for disadvantaged senior citizens.

The Regions BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Lee camp scores Pampanga court disallowing him to testify in Senate

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By Joel R. San Juan

HE camp of detained businessman Delfin Lee counsel is crying foul over the order issued by a Pampanga court preventing him from testifying before the Senate to shed light on a multibillion-peso scam in the government’s housing industry that he was involved in.

In a statement, Lee’s camp hinted that politics was behind the revocation of the permit earlier granted by the court in connection with his appearance before the Senate.

“It is outrageous that on a weekend when a senator of the Republic has announced that a person is

willing to stand and give details of a multibillion-peso scam in the housing industry, a judge would hastily revoke an earlier permission for that person to appear,” Lee’s camp said.

In a motion last year, Lee had already sought the Pampanga magistrate’s inhibition citing that, among

others, the judge is receiving a monthly allowance and is using a service vehicle (Toyota Innova) provided by the city government of Makati.

Lee also urged the Supreme Court (SC) to take up the circumstances of his continued detention and investigate the actions of a Makati court that “conspired” to keep him from testifying betore the Senate.

Lee was originally set to testify on April 13 before the senate to shed light and name the persons behind a multibillion-peso corruption racket in the housing industry.

A Pampanga court earlier authorized Lee to appear before the Senate and bare all in the upper chamber’s investigations into the involvement of key Malacañang officials but revoked the permission a day before Lee was scheduled to appear before the Senate.

In an order dated September 8, 2014, in Criminal Case No. 18480, San Fernando, Pampanga Regional

Trial Court Br. 42 Judge Maria Amifaith S. Fider-Reyes said that “upon the informal advice of Hon. Midas P. Marquez, Court Administrator, given on September 4, 2014, resolves to grant the request of the said [Senate] committee.”

In revoking the order, the court noted that the request had been originally made by the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations.

The judge pointed out that the senate’s request had been forwarded for “ referral to the Supreme Court through the Office of the Court Administrator.”

Lee has been invited to speak during the Senate hearing to shed light on the alleged housing scam involving the Pag-Ibig Fund and its top-ranking officials.

“I have been waiting for this opportunity since the very first day I was held in detention. I am more than willing and ready to bare all so

that truth could eventually set me free and more important, for the innocent homebuyers who were all dragged into this power-play,” Lee said in a statement.

Lee has been seeking to be given the chance to present his case both in the Senate and the SC over the past year as he insisted he never defrauded the government of P6.6 billion and that this allegation by Home Development Mutual Fund was a big hoax.

He also denied using “ fake borrowers” to get money out of Pag-IBIG, or engaging in “double sale” by selling housing units to multiple buyers.

Lee said he would use the hearing not as a venue for his defense but “to shed light on the real truth” and if necessary, reveal the reason and unmask the persons behind all these. Lee has maintained that the alleged manipulations and collusions placed legitimate home buyers at a disadvantage.

BIRD WATCHERS Local visitors fall in line while

boarding a passenger boat that ferries them around the Magat Dam reservoir in Ramon, Isabela. Bird-watching is one of the tourist attractions in the area. LEONARDO PERANTE II

Group to propose raising legal age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21

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AYING that it would help limit the youth’s access to the deadly cigarette addiction, the New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) is mulling over proposing a bill that will raise the minimum age in buying cigarettes from 18 to 21 years old.

“Increasing the age of those given access to purchase cigarettes will certainly be a good measure to further reduce the smoking prevalence especially among the youth,” NVAP President Emer Rojas said, adding that there is a need for lawmakers to consider passing a law raising the minimum legal sale age (MLSA).

Rojas noted a March 2015 report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the United States which shows that raising the age limit to buy cigarettes to 21 will have a substantial positive impact on public health and save lives. The IOM study predicts that raising the minimum age for the sale of tobacco products to 21 will eventually reduce the smoking rate by about 12 percent and smokingrelated deaths by 10 percent.

The study forecasts such a measure would translate to 249,000 fewer premature deaths, 45,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer, and 4.2 million fewer years of life lost in the US alone.

Among the countries that have raised the MLSA for cigarettes to

21 are Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Honduras, Cook Islands, as well as the states of New York, Illinois, Missouri, Massachusetts, and Hawaii in the US. In the Philippines, the MLSA is limited to the use of the word “minors” which means those below 18 years old are prohibited from buying and smoking cigarettes or using any tobacco product.

In the Social Weather Station (SWS) survey in the first quarter of 2014, 18 percent of smokers come from the 18-to-24-year-old age group. Rojas said protecting the youth is a crucial aspect in the fight versus the smoking epidemic as they are known to be the main target of tobacco manufacturers.

“These kids will be the so-called ‘replacement smokers’ for those who died or are sick from tobacco use.

Thus such a measure would protect our youth from becoming the next victims,” Rojas said. The anti-smoking advocacy group also said raising the MLSA will also be a good complement for previous tobacco control policies such as the “sin” tax law and Graphic Health Warning (GHW) Act. The sin tax law aims to make cigarette products less accessible to the youth by increasing its prices in the market. The GHW is looking to use picture warnings in a bid to alert the youth of the ill-effects of smoking.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Coal plant commissioning derailed by Mindanao blackout

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AVAO CIT Y—The commissioning of the first 150-megawatt (MW) unit of the coal plant here was disrupted by the Mindanao-wide blackout on Easter Sunday, delaying the addition of the new capacity so badly needed by the ailing Mindanao grid. The Aboitiz-owned Therma South Inc. said last week that its first unit was supposed to undergo a final reliability test, a step closer to commercial operation.

The reliability test was supposed to start shortly before April 5, but a trip on the grid turned off power in the entire Mindanao area for the next seven hours. “Because of the disruption, Therma South Inc. will reassess the commissioning schedule of one of its two 150-megawatt units and it

will appraise its customers of developments,” company President Benjamin Cariaso Jr said.

Had the reliability test been successfully launched, the company said the 150 MW from that unit would have been sent online for commercial use in the Mindanao grid. He said though that “despite the issue on one of the units, the commissioning of the second 150-MW unit remains on schedule.”

Therma South Inc. said more than 20 distribution utilities and electric cooperatives have signed up to receive their respective supply from the coal plant. It said the power-plant capacity had been sold out since 2014.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) traced the Easter Sunday blackout “to a technical

problem at the NGCP’s Agus switchyard in Iligan City.”

The NGCP said a conductor at the capacitor voltage transformer (CVT) of the 138-kilovolt tie line connecting Agus 6 to Agus 7 was detached and touched the grounded part of the CVT. The NGCP restored power transmission services beginning at 7:50 a.m. of the same day, but intermittent blackouts continued to hit many areas. The NGCP delay in detecting the source of the trip raised suspicion anew that the government was protecting certain interests in the power-generation sector.

On February 27 last year the NGCP took 15 days to explain a similar Mindanao-wide blackout that emanated from the Steag State Power Inc. in Villanueva town, Misamis Oriental. Manuel T. Cayon

Davao del Norte is favorite investment spot in Davao region

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

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AVAO CITY—Not too long ago, Davao del Norte was best known for its banana plantations. Last year it was the favorite destination for transportation, logistics and storage projects, cornering twothirds of all investments poured into the Davao region. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), however, did not list the projects that went to the province, but said that among all

projects facilitated by the Board of Investments last year, P8.494 billion went to the province.

This was 67.7 percent of the P12.544-billion total investments for the region last year.

Davao City got only P3.186 billion, while the remaining P864.12 million worth of investments was in Davao del Sur. Investments were poured into real estate, electricity, gas, coal and airconditioning supply, manufacturing, agriculture, and administrative and support-service facilities.

The DTI said it recorded P17.3 billion “investment leads,” likely indications of new businesses for the coming year, or for this year.

These investment leads are into the production of virgin coconut oil, coco water and flour, poultry, banana, real estate, coconut, oil palm, wood, information and communications technology, transportation, oil and gas, cocoa, packaging plastics, and tourism site development. Unfortunately, no investments went to Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley last year.

Monday, April 13, 2015

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Tesda to channel ₧65 million to train scholars for IT-BPM sector

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HE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) firmed up its support for the Information Technology-Business Process Management (ITBPM) sector as it plans to channel P65 million worth of scholarship vouchers for the training of its potential workers. “Prospects for continued growth are bright for the IT-businessprocess outsourcing industry, and we should be able to capitalize on this opportunity,” Secretary Joel Villanueva said as he revealed the funding of the scholarship vouchers for the pre-employment training and retooling of incoming workers in the industry, according to separate memorandum of agreements (MOAs) recently signed by him with the Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (Himoap) and Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (Acpi).

The training will be carried out through Tesda’s Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP). “We will continue to provide quality education and training to have a pool of skilled and employable youth for these firms,” he said. The separate MOAs stated that Himoap get P50 million worth of scholarship vouchers, while Acpi will get P15 million. The training will complement the excellent infrastructure and support that the government continues to provide, which makes the Philippines the top destination for IT-BPM firms, Villanueva said.

The agreement with Himoap will focus on training for Medical Transcription Finishing Course NC II, Medical Transcription NC II and Medical Coding and Billing NC II. Beneficiaries under the MOA with Acpi will be trained to get employed in the animation industry.

According to the agreements, the partners committed an employment rate of at least 75 percent within six months from the scholar’s graduation.

Himoap also pledged to formulate a fund replenishment scheme to extend the mileage of the scholarship program. Signing the separate agreements were Villanueva for Tesda, Myla Rose Reyes for Himoap and Juan Miguel del Rosario for Acpi.

Himoap is a nonstock and nonprofit organization which aims to promote the Philippines as a destination of choice for outsourced health-care information management services. Acpi is an organization recognized and supported by the Philippine government whose aim is to promote the animation industr y globally with the intention of creating an identity for the Philippines to be considered among the preferred countries that ser vice the animation industr y. The MOAs are for the continuous partnership among Tesda and the two organizations for the training of workers in the IT-BPM industry.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

A10 Monday, April 13, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial PHL: You’re still corrupt

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N 2007 this was the headline for an article in the New York Times newspaper: “Philippines most corrupt, survey says.” Now the headline is “PH perceived to be less corrupt—2014 global survey.”

Corruption, like most illegal activities, is hard to measure, unless the culprit is caught. Therefore, the perception of corruption in the country is probably as important as the reality. There is no doubt that our nation is viewed as less corrupt than it was a decade ago and that is good.

The change in the perception comes partly from the high-profile legal cases that have been filed, such as in the “pork-barrel scam.” But that change also comes from people talking seriously about the issue.

For example, India experienced global outrage after several instances of brutal rapes that led to nationwide protests. This, in turn, caused the national legislature to change laws and police procedures, showing that the country was serious in dealing with the problem. Has the problem been solved? Obviously not. But now there is the belief that India is moving in the right direction.

The same applies to the Philippines regarding corruption. Once an issue is being widely discussed, monitored, and brought into the sunlight, genuine progress can be made. As chief market strategist Jonathan Ravelas of Banco de Oro said, “Right now everyone in government and outside government is monitoring each other. Social media are there to ring the bells, so people try to be very careful in how they do things.”

However, we all know the reality of everyday corruption in the Philippines.

The three senators charged with graft and plunder from the Disbursement Acceleration Program are said to have illegally taken as much as P1.8 billion. But that is nothing compared to what we spoke of last week that the Bureau of Internal Revenue estimates the government is losing at least P400 billion a year in potential revenues because of rampant tax evasion.

We justify buying illegal copies of foreign movies and music with the excuse that it is because it is only the rich foreigners being cheated, while not admitting that local Filipino artists are losing tens of millions to piracy. The inability of the Land Transportation Office to issue driver’s licenses creates another kind of corruption where the friend of a friend can miraculously provide a proper license for a small fee. And none of the “social-media warriors” are filming any of this on their cell phones.

Forbes.com wrote on March 2: “The small stuff matters of little social-media interest, such as donating a cake or suckling pig to helpful local officials.” Perhaps, the most damning evidence of Filipino corruption was a statement in the same article by Jose Mari Lacson, head of research at Campos Lanuza & Co., a Manila stock brokerage company: “The foreign investors are happy. It’s much cheaper.”

“Corruption: It’s cheaper in the Philippines” should not be our investment slogan.

PCSO Desk–help, ASAP! Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

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HE Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), in its continuing quest to make its services more accessible to more Filipinos nationwide, will soon be instituting a help desk in some hospitals to shorten the process to request financial assistance for medical-related and healthcarerelated concerns.

I have already mentioned this in previous columns over the past several months, and, since then, much progress has been made in structuring the program for implementation in the very near future.

Under Assistant General Manager and dentist Larry R. Cedro, the Charity Sector, through its Charity Assistance Department (CAD) Manager Rubin Z. Magno, and with the collaboration of hospitals, envisioned a help desk that will “serve as a point of access” to the PCSO’s Individual Medical Assistance Program (Imap), according to a PCSO study on the program.

The PCSO Imap subsidizes the following: Hospitalization and surgeries; treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and dialysis; laboratory and diagnostic procedures; medical devices and implants; and other related needs.

The help-desk program, dubbed

PCSO “Asap,” (“At Source Ang Processing,” as suggested by PCSO Director law yer Francisco G. Joaquin III) makes it easier for applicants for PCSO assistance to file their Imap requests and documentary requirements.

The PCSO Asap Program will “address the long queues” of applicants at the PCSO’s CAD, which is at the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City. People line up there early in the morning to file their requests and documentary requirements for Imap assistance, and to be interviewed by social workers who will assess their cases and make the necessary recommendations before they are served under the Imap.

A help desk at the hospital or other health-care facility will relieve clients from having to make a personal appearance for interview at the PCSO CAD at the Lung Center.

Instead, they will be interviewed at the hospital by a social worker provided by the hospital and briefed

by PCSO about the program. The hospital’s social worker will assess the client’s case, and, if the client is qualified under the Imap, make recommendations to PCSO regarding the assistance to be given.

The assessment and recommendation made by the social worker at the PCSO Desk shall be reviewed

by PCSO if necessary.

For conf inement requests, PCSO assistance shall come after the deduction of all applicable discounts, such as Philippine Health Insurance Corp., health insurance, senior citizen discounts and the like.

These are some of the guidelines under an interim set of implementing rules and regulations governing the program that was approved by the PCSO Board of Directors last week, subject to further refinement and tweaking during the first few months of implementation of the Asap Program.

PCSO will soon be releasing a list of its partner health facilities (PHF), as well as the time frame for the signing of agreements with them, ideally to take place within the coming weeks.

The roll-out of the PCSO Desks at the PHFs will commence after the first batch of social workers for the Desk are trained.

In addition to the PCSO Asap Program is yet another service program that will make it easier for clients undergoing chemo-

therapy, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis to receive PCSO Imap assistance.

PCSO CAD is working out details for an enrollment program that will require clients undergoing the above-listed forms of regular treatments to submit documentary requirements only once, instead of every time they file a request.

Requests for chemo medicines and dialysis treatments are processed by PCSO on a short-cycle basis to take into account changes in the medicine’s dosage, treatment frequency, and the like. Relevant papers are required to be resubmitted each time.

The enrollment program is being designed to eliminate redundant steps to expedite and facilitate the processing of requests, both on client side and the PCSO side.

PCSO is looking forward to the implementation of these innovations—PCSO Asap and the PCSO enrollment program—that will enhance the delivery of its chartermandated core service, medicaland health care-related assistance.

Feedback from clients and partners contributed to the development of these programs, and we are grateful for the constructive comments that inspire us to continue improving the ways we serve the Filipino people.

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II is the vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

A key to healing US economy? Curbing currency manipulation

By Dean Baker Los Angeles Times/TNS

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FTER negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement over the last five years, the Obama administration is now pushing for the fast-track authority from Congress that would make it easier to get the final deal approved.

One serious problem is that the TPP is not likely to include rules on currency, which is leading lawmakers from both parties to consider opposing the agreement.

They are right to be concerned.

A good deal, from the American perspective, would have rules preventing countries from strategically depressing the value of their currency. Japan, Malaysia and South Korea have all been identified as engaging in such manipulation. While this point may seem obscure, the cost of the dollar relative to other currencies is hugely important in determining the size of our trade deficit, which is, in turn, a major obstacle to growth and employment.

To understand the relationships at work here, imagine that the dollar suddenly rose in value by 20 percent against the Vietnamese dong and the Japanese yen. Since we sell our goods and services in dollars, people living in Vietnam and Japan would

then need 20 percent more of their currency to buy products from the US. This means that a Ford or General Motors car produced in the US would cost 20 percent more for a person living in Vietnam or Japan.

The same would be true of Microsoft’s software or any other item that we might try to sell overseas. Naturally when our prices rise, we expect that people will buy fewer goods and services from us.

The opposite happens on the import side. Our dollar would buy 20 percent more Japanese yen or Vietnamese dong. So we might be more inclined to buy Japanese cars because they would cost us 20 percent less than they would have before the rise in the dollar.

If we sell fewer goods to other countries even as we buy more goods from them, we end up with a larger trade deficit. Currently the US trade deficit is running at more than a $500-billion annual rate, roughly 3 percent of our

“If we snapped our fingers and our trade deficit went to zero, we would have more demand for US goods and millions of additional jobs. Firms would have to compete for workers, which would put workers in a position to demand better pay and better benefits. It would be one thing if the value of the dollar were rising and falling against other currencies purely as a result of market forces. That, however, is not the case. Many countries deliberately prop up the value of the dollar against their currencies. They do this by buying up trillions of dollars via international currency markets. gross domestic product.

This has the same impact on demand in the US economy as if families or businesses just pulled $500 billion out of circulation and stuffed it under their mattresses.

So long as we have a large trade deficit, our economy suffers. In fact, as former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has ar-

gued it is difficult to see how we get back to a full employed economy as long as we import so much more than we export.

Conversely, if we snapped our fingers and our trade deficit went to zero, we would have more demand for US goods and millions of additional jobs. Firms would have to compete for workers, which would put workers in a position to demand better pay and better benefits.

It would be one thing if the value of the dollar were rising and falling against other currencies purely as a result of market forces.

That, however, is not the case. Many countries deliberately prop up the value of the dollar against their currencies. They do this by buying up trillions of dollars via international currency markets.

It would be possible to crack down on this practice by limiting large-scale purchases of foreign currency in the TPP. But the Obama administration seems totally uninterested in getting this done. President Barack Obama has been in office six years and has done nothing to curb currency manipulation.

That’s a shame. If we don’t take this opportunity to make the dollar more competitive and bring our trade deficit down, who knows when another will arise?

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Have we become a nation of emotional lightweights?

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Guilty of terrorism

By Jonathan Alpert Chicago Tribune/TNS

AN you believe how cold it was this winter? It was so bad that I had to increase my antidepressants.” “I think I’m going to have to do that too.”

I recently overheard this conversation while dining at a restaurant and sat there in partial disbelief—but then realized I was not surprised. I hear this type of talk often, and it makes me wonder: Have we become a nation of emotional lightweights— wimps even?

As a nation, we’ve turned toward meds as the solution for emotional pain. According to a 2011 study by the National Center for Health Statistics, the rate of antidepressant use by teenagers and adults jumped almost 400 percent between 1988 and 1994, and that trend continued between 2005 and 2008, with 1 in 10 Americans using an antidepressant medication.

Among women in their 40s and 50s, the number is even higher at 1 in 4.

Antidepressants are now the third most prescribed class of medications in the United States.

Do so many people really need them? An April 2013 study in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics found that nearly two-thirds of the 5,000 people studied did not meet the diagnostic criteria of depression, despite receiving this diagnosis and taking antidepressants because of it. A 400-percent jump in antidepressant use would suggest that rates of depression increased by this amount in just a decade, yet this is doubtful.

Why don’t more of us work through powerful emotions, attempt to understand them and allow them to serve as an impetus for growth and change? Because most are not taught how to sit with emotions. Instead they distance themselves, using medications to numb them. The anecdote I shared about the two people in the restaurant illustrates the growing refusal to explore real emotions that humanize us, and the rise of a quick-fix, reach-for-medication mind-set—the same mind-set that weakens most who adopt it.

I’m not against antidepressants.

For those who truly need them, they can be lifesaving. Extensive research shows they stabilize both mood and emotions. I’ve seen many patients lifted from the dark despair of depression with the help of medication and go on to have healthy and fulfilling lives. When diagnostic criteria are met, then medication is a viable treatment option, along with therapy.

What I don’t agree with is the

tendency to reach for medication for the equivalent of a psychological sniffle or for simply feeling down.

Just as we wouldn’t take morphine for a paper cut, we shouldn’t jump to antidepressants to treat everyday stress, mild depression or anxiety.

Yet, patients are quick to ask for them and doctors quick to give them—sometimes after mere minutes of talking to patients.

Simply put: Difficult emotions have a bad reputation. In many cases, feelings of sadness, envy, jealousy, anger, frustration, fear and anxiety are exactly what we need to grow stronger, find a sense of purpose and ultimately discover happiness and success.

Like a reaction to touching a hot stove, painful emotions urge us to act. Anger, for instance, can energize and mobilize us. As the movie Selma reminded us, the civil rights movement of the 1960s stemmed from outrage. People had had enough, and they wanted a change.

This anger mobilized and united the masses and provided them remarkable courage.

Sadness is one of the emotions people are most inclined to medicate. But, with the exception of chronic depression, sadness won’t interfere dramatically with your daily functioning—especially if you work through it. It’s what allows you to process difficult events. After the death of a loved one, for example, sadness is an expression of your love.

Finally, fear and anxiety, when not crippling to one’s daily functioning, keep us alive. Fear activates our fight-or-flight response in the face of danger or a threat. People who remain alert to possible dangers learn how to deal with them or avoid them altogether, whereas those who aren’t aware of them are at greater risk of running into trouble. The ubiquitous post-9/11 slogan of “If you see something, say something” taps into the benefits of our inherently fearful nature and, as a result, we remain vigilant about what could possibly go wrong. Feeling fear can be beneficial.

Embracing emotional pain can lead all of us to inspiration, growth, clarity of mind, strength, success and the ability to live. Ultimately, it builds character.

Answers aren’t always found in a pill.

Philadelphia Daily News/TNS

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AST weekend I managed to successfully brainwash my 6-year-old nephew into believing that Ultraman, that low-tech superhero of 1970s television, is the greatest champion of all time. It took only a marathon session of 39 episodes, some in English and some in Japanese with comically inaccurate subtitles, to convince him that the giant amalgam of energy, steel and human emotion was “good” and that all the cheesy, Claymation-type monsters coming after him were “evil.”

In Ultraman world, that dichotomy is simple. There are no misunderstood giant iguanas, no emotionally tortured lobster-ape hybrids, no animated rock formations with laser powers possessed of hearts of gold.

There is only white and black.

Hot and cold. Right and wrong.

It’s a wonderful vacation from the exhaustion of dealing with moral ambiguity. No heavy psychological lifting when Hayata presses that Beta Capsule.

Of course, I said to myself, Ultraman could never exist in our current world (and not only because he’d violate the height restrictions of too many strictly zoned residential communities).

We Americans are too sophisticated to believe that things

like absolute good and absolute evil exist anymore. In fact, we think it’s a sign of intelligence to create a moral ambiguity with anything and everything, to the point that killing a child in the ninth month of a pregnancy has been rationalized away as a “necessary choice.”

But this column isn’t about abortion. It isn’t about the death penalty, which I hope with every fiber of my being is imposed on the Boston Marathon bomber.

It isn’t about women who create clever and complicated lies about being raped and find opportunistic journalists who will then help them destroy a fraternity. It isn’t about victims of past persecution (as they see it) who become vicious attack dogs

in to threats of Islamic violence.

On the contrary, this government should be giving our people the iron assurance, backed by guts it has yet to demonstrate, that with or without the BBL our people will be safe; that their lives will be secured; and their properties protected come what may.

And if there is trouble, that the republic can—and that it will— suppress it completely like Marcos did. And that the government will never ever capitulate to the enemies of Filipino peace—whom we have long fought to preserve that peace against those vowed to destroy it.

If this government cannot give that assurance, then this government should throw in the towel and give way to another t hat w i l l f ight—for t he f lag and for the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with freedom from fear, real justice for all, and not just Sharia for some.

be avoided like the plague.

So, instead of say ing that there should be no abortions after the seventh month, when the fetus is physically indistinguishable from a “ baby,” we make sure to leave uterine wiggle room, because women should always have a choice.

A nd instead of supporting capital punishment for a man who set explosive devices on a public street and caused the death and mutilation of innocent people—including an 8-year-old little boy—we talk in hushed tones about God being the only one who has a right to take a life (more on God later).

And speaking of rape, instead of being willing to prosecute a woman for lying about this most heinous of crimes and making her serve the same sentence her falsely accused attacker would have served had the story not unraveled, we lower our heads and make excuses for those poor girls who need our sympathy.

And then we have those cases in which a business owner has the audacity to suggest that his religious beliefs would prevent him from catering a same-sex wedding, and instead of pulling out our copies of the Con-

stitution and saying, “Yup, Mr. Baker,” we watch as members of the LGBT community rise up to shame, boycott and threaten t h at f lou r - covered Midwesterner until his governor yells, “‘Uncle’ Sam, you win!”

I was particularly interested in what happened in Indiana last week. Of all the fascinating developments in this Land of the Free (as long as you think the right things) and Home of the Brave (as long as you have the media and public opinion on your side), that was the one that made me realize just how inoculated against common sense we’ve become.

The right to exercise our religious beliefs is the single greatest attribute of citizenship. We can get a room full of constitutional scholars who will talk about Lemon tests and government actors and what constitutes a “substantial burden” on religion, but the bottom line is that I don’t have to recognize your gay nuptials if it violates my beliefs, and you don’t have to attend my church. Not complicated.

But this isn’t Ultraman world.

We must complicate the simple, obfuscate the clear. We convince

the world that forcing someone to violate his religious scruples is a blow for someone else’s civil rights. So we vilify the recalcitrant baker, pull him up from his knees, take him away from his altar and shove him into the kitchen. And if he complains, we laugh and say, “Get a better religion.”

Nice form of tolerance. As Archbishop Charles Chaput, a man who knows a great deal about the intersection of church and state, observed, “ Tolerance is a word without meaning if it doesn’t work both ways. People with same-sex attraction want to be free from bullying and coercion...so do religious believers, including those millions of believers that can’t, in good conscience, affirm same-sex sexual relationships. T he bitter ness and ignorance in the debates over state RFR A laws are lopsided, and in general, the ugliness is not coming from persons trying to protect their religious liberties.”

That is clarity, and it shows just who were the real bullies last week.

Even a 6-year-old with a taste for giant iguanas could figure it out.

Free fire

T was my distinct privilege to have worked on the House version of the antiterrorism law sponsored by Sim Datumanong. That would have made it a Muslim antiterrorism law—a historic first. That version was all teeth and claws yet careful of basic liberties. But we settled in the face of Senate obstruction for its namby-pamby version.

Something was better than nothing. The Americans were breathing down our necks.

Nonetheless the version signed into law defines terrorism as “the premeditated or the threatened use of violence or force, or any other means that deliberately cause harm to persons; or the premeditated or threatened use of force and other destructive means against property; with the intention of creating, or of sow-

Avoiding seeing things as they really are

By Christine M. Flowers

ing a state of danger, panic, fear, or chaos in the general public or a segment thereof; or of coercing or intimidating the government or a branch thereof to do an act [such as passing the Bangsamoro basic law, or BBL] or to refrain from doing an act [such as not passing it].”

And there you have the legal

definition of terrorism. Yesterday a member of the peace panel, one of a menace a trois, said—her exact words—that “a very, very bloody war will result if the peace process fails.”

And it may fail. Because the people suspect the wisdom and the loyalty of the peace panelists. And Congress hesitates to give a sweeping approval to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front-congenial BBL. That law gives a homeland to terror and a foothold to the foreign power sponsoring it, thereby establishing a caliphate inside a democracy; contrary to the Constitution’s republican clause.

If the antiterrorism law is considered part of the Revised Penal Code, the crime of terrorism “complexed ” with treason is arguable.

This government should not be terrorizing the Filipino people; this government should not be terrorizing the Legislative branch of government: to give

Teddy Locsin Jr.

I

The right to exercise our religious beliefs is the single greatest attribute of citizenship. We can get a room full of constitutional scholars who will talk about Lemon tests and government actors and what constitutes a “substantial burden” on religion, but the bottom line is that I don’t have to recognize your gay nuptials if it violates my beliefs, and you don’t have to attend my church. Not complicated.

against people who don’t accept their view of marriage.

T h i s c olu m n i s a b out a l l of that, and more. It’s about how we’ve lost the ability to see things for what they really are, because seeing them that way will not advance our particular view of how the world should be. And that bothers us, because we’ve become so used to creating a template for an “evolved ” society that anything that frustrates that goal has to

Monday, April 13, 2015 A11

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, April 13, 2015

Port-congestion surcharge scrapped; trucking rates going down–DTI official

By Catherine N. Pillas

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he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said over the weekend that shipping lines and truckers have heeded the appeal of the government, as the port-congestion surcharge has been scrapped and trucking rates are going down.

“We are announcing that these [additional] charges had been [scrapped] or rolled back to preport-congestion level, and market competition is at work,” Trade Undersecretary for Consumer Protection Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba said in a text message to reporters.

Dimagiba said the following shipping lines have withdrawn their port-congestion surcharges: American President Lines, Maersk Line, MCC Transport, Wan Hai Lines, Yang Ming Lines, Sinotrans Container Lines, TS Lines Ltd., Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, SITC Container Lines, Cosco Container Lines and Alexandria Lines.

For trucking rates in the National Capital Region, the Confederation of Truckers Association in the Philippines said the average rate is now at P14,000, as competition among truckers heats up.

At the height of the port-congestion dilemma in 2014, shipping lines and truckers slapped hefty fines on the storage and handling of containers traders engaged in the import-export business.

From as much as P10,000 before the port-congestion problem, trucking rates for containerized cargo tripled, as truckers tried to recover revenues lost during the period.

Shipping lines also incurred the ire of companies, as congestionrelated charges, such as container imbalance, demurrage and detention fees, mounted per twenty equivalent unit of cargo.

Even as the congestion in the country’s gateways have eased following the lifting of the daytime truck ban in Manila, the additional fees from both truckers and shipping lines have remained the same, according to local and foreign business groups.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Pakistan exporters want NFA to honor 2013 rice agreement

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By Recto Mercene

he Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) urged the National Food Authority (NFA) to honor an agreement which calls for the state-run food agency to buy 50,000 metric tons (MT) of rice from them.

REAP Chairman Rafique Suleman told the BusinessMirror that a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed between his group and the NFA on July 14, 2013, but they have yet to receive a signed copy of the document.

Suleman came to the country last Wednesday as head of a 15-man trade delegation. The group met with officials of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and some NFA officials. They also visited the International Rice Research Institute (Irri) in Los Baños, Laguna, and had discussions with executives there.

He said he talked with NFA Administrator Renan B. Dalisay, who told him that the MOA would be “expedited, completed and signed” so as to push the deal.

Pending the release of the document, REAP said it could not yet export rice to the Philippines.

“Nobody said when they’re going to send us the document. We’re losing 150,000 MT of rice from the

REAP Chairman Rafique Suleman said Pakistan would “open its arms,” and welcome any visiting National Food Authority official to his country.

He added that the same welcome mat is being extended to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and to the International Rice Research Institute.

deal,” Suleman said.

He claimed that the NFA “practically begged” to be sold rice from Pakistan, and that the request was coursed through REAP, a private organization.

Suleman said that in 2008, when there was

a “food crisis in the country,” Pakistan exported 200,000 MT of rice to the Philippines to stabilize rice supply.

“REAP exported rice to the Philippines without our government’s intervention,” he said.

He claimed that during the 2008 rice shortage, regular suppliers of the staple, like Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, “refused” to export rice to the country.

To show that there are “no hard feelings,” Suleman said Pakistan would “open its arms” and welcome any visiting NFA official to his country. He added that the same welcome mat is being extended to the PCCI and Irri.

According to Suleman, they visited Irri to express their gratitude to the institute for gifting them with the IRRI-6 high-yield rice variety in 1974.

Prior to that, he said Pakistan was using the Chinese rice in-hybrid variety with low yield.

Suleman said IRRI-6 gives them a yield of 6 tons per hectare. Suleman said IRRI researcher Jauhar Ali, its top scientists and senior plant breeder, gave them their newest rice variety, the Grand Super Rice.

This variety, he said, promised to produce 11 tons per hectare.

“Irri and the Pakistan research departments are launching seeds into the market that would be readily available to rice farmers,” Suleman said.

Although it is considered one of the top producers of rice in the world, Suleman said Pakistan’s staple food is wheat.

Out of the 6.8 million metric tons (MMT) of rice it produces every year, Pakistan consumes only 2.2 MMT, while the rest are exported to 116 countries.

Divining the stock market

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

Special to the BusinessMirror

F

ENG SHUI expert Marites Allen isn’t at all surprised that the stock market has boomed, closing above the 8,000 points in the past week.

After all, she was a main guest at a recent general membership meeting of a respected fund management group, where ALLEN she presented her feng shui (geomancy) reading on the stock market for the Year of the Wood Sheep (2015), and specific shares of stocks with the corresponding Chinese horoscopes of its heads.

In a recent interview with the BusinessMirror, Allen said “optimism is high during the spring and summer—the fire element season—when financial markets will be more active.”

She added that looking at the individual charts of the heads of the companies investors want to buy shares into is also a good guide. A person’s individual chart includes his exact date and time of birth.

While Allen declined to reveal the individual charts of these company heads as some of them are her clients, she said most of the zodiac signs are lucky in this Sheep Year, but especially so for those born in the Year of the Ox (1901, 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009); Tiger (1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010); Sheep (1907, 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003); Monkey (1908, 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004); Horse (1906, 1918, 1930,

1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014); and Snake (1905, 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013).

She said, however, 2015 will prove to be “challenging” for those born in the Year of the Dog (1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006).

One of the examples of powerful Tigers this year is Teresita Sy-Coson (born 1950), eldest child of SM Group founder Henry Sy Sr. and heir apparent.

She is chairman of listed BDO Unibank, president and chairman of ShoeMart Inc., and was recently named one of Asia’s most powerful businesswomen

by Forbes magazine.

Metrobank Group founder George S.K. Ty (1932) is an example of this year’s lucky Monkey. He serves as group chairman of publicly listed GT Capital Holdings Inc., which owns and operates Metrobank, Federal Land, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp., to name a few.

Taipan Lucio Tan Sr. (born 1937) is an example of this year’s lucky Ox. As chairman and CEO of listed firm PAL Holdings Inc., he has just successfully retaken control of pioneering flag carrier Philippine Airlines. Allen says those born in the year of the Ox should “anticipate a lot of traveling this year.” Also expected to travel more this year are those born in the year of the Snake.

Property developer Rockwell Land Corp. is fortunate to have Nestor Padilla still at its helm at close to 20 years. Born in 1955, he is an example of this year’s lucky Sheep.

Lance Gokongwei was born in 1966, the year of the Horse, considered one of the more favored signs Continued on A2

PHL manufacturing sector recovered in February–Moody’s

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By Bianca Cuaresma

he country’s manufacturing sector, a key output booster, was seen to have recovered in February from its poor showing the month before.

In its latest forecast, Moody’s Analytics, a division of the sovereign credit watcher Moody’s Investors Service, said the Philippines’s industrial production likely improved to 4.5 percent in February from low growth reported the previous month.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said earlier that the country’s volume of production index or VoPI grew by only 3.3 percent

due to weak production attributed to the post-holiday tempering of consumer demand.

The so-called seven key sectors all reported decreases in production numbers that outpaced increases reported by 14 other major sectors. The production of petroleum products contributed the most to the decrease at minus 35.4 percent.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the drop in certain sectors attributed to seasonal changes dragged the positive output of the majority of the manufacturing subsectors, including printing, leather products, basic metals, beverages and

textiles, which were listed as the highest performers in January 2015.

The expected rise in the country’s manufacturing data for February was traced to more buoyant demand during the period.

“February’s Lunar New Year celebrations likely added volatility to the monthly data. Looking through the seasonality, chemical and petroleum production has been struggling with the slump in global energy prices, while food production has been a bright spot, helped by buoyant domestic demand,” the Moody’s unit said.

Manufacturing data from the PSA is set for release on today, April 13.