Businessmirror april 17, 2018

Top 5 Things you should know about the DPA By Henry J. Schumacher

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till not sure how the Data Privacy Act (DPA) applies to your business? This list contains the essentials about the Philippine data-privacy regulations that you have to comply with, whether you like it or not. Nikolay aNtoNoV | Dreamstime.com

Companies have been preparing for it for a while but, if you’re still in the dark, it’s not too late to get up to speed before the National Privacy Commission (NPC) catches you. Here are five things to know about the Data Privacy Act: 1. It’s about data privacy It attempts to give Philippine citizens more control over what data companies collect, store, and use. 2. It definitely applies to your business Continued on A12

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Tuesday, April 17, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 185

Stronger FDA could emerge from dengue-vaccine probe

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By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

ven as the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman’s report recommending the prosecution of former President Benigno S. Aquino III and other officials in the previous administration over the Dengvaxia scandal awaits plenary verdict, senators are already eyeing remedial legislation arising from the inquiry.

DUTERTE SEEN APPEASING LABOR WITH E.O. ON MAY 1 By Bernadette D. Nicolas

ROQUE: “The President wants it as soon as possible. We all know that Labor Day is May 1. So, I would think that it will come out on or before May 1.”

@BNicolasBM

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resident Duterte is expected to sign an executive order (EO) on contractualization on or before May 1, Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. said on Monday. “The President wants it as soon as possible. We all know that Labor Day is May 1. So, I would think that it will come out on or before May 1,” Roque said. Asked why the scheduled meeting between the President and the labor groups was “cancelled” on Monday, Roque said he can only surmise that the final version of the EO has yet to be approved by concerned parties. “It’s a tripartite document, which has to be agreed upon. So, possibly, they don’t have a final version yet,” he said, noting that the President is “restive” about this EO. “He has mentioned to me

personally that this is a campaign promise that he wants to deliver to the people very soon,” he added. Roque said the Palace is crafting an EO that will side with labor forces, since this is what Duterte promised to the labor groups. Regarding the new date for Duterte’s meeting with the labor groups, Roque said he needs to check the President’s schedule. Labor Undersecretary Joel B. Maglunsod said in an earlier interview that they were informed by the Office of the President through the Bureau of Labor Relations that Continued on A12

PESO exchange rates n US 51.9890

SB 1631

Economic czar Manny B. Villar

THE ENTREPRENEUR

The Senate bill seeking to make the Food and Drug Administration an independent agency

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High on the list of recommendations ensuing from the joint inquiry by the Blue Ribbon panel chaired by Sen. Richard J. Gordon and the Senate Committee on Health chaired by Sen. Joseph Victor G. Ejercito

In fact, even his appointment to the Cabinet was not accompanied by complicated meetings or negotiations. In June 2016 he received a text message from Christopher Lawrence T. Go, President Duterte’s executive assistant, asking: “Are you interested in joining the Cabinet sa Neda [National Economic and Development Authority]?”

See “Dengue-vaccine,” A2

Continued on A10

nassuming. That’s the word that usually comes to mind when people meet or read about Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia. Despite his position, Pernia does not exude any hint of arrogance or superiority, but of a modest and decent person.

Fishing moratorium: Is PHL doing it right?

World Bank warns PHL economy may be overheating

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

By Cai U. Ordinario

@jonlmayuga

@cuo_bm

Part Two

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s t hey a re high ly migratory, sardines have a very important ecosystem function— food for the larger fish species like sharks, dolphins and commercially viable tuna, and, ultimately, humans. Sardines are processed as dried fish or smoked fish, and are more popularly processed into bottled or—more commonly—canned sardines sold between P15 and P17 each regular can.

Sardine run vs sardine beaching

Oceana Philippines, an ocean-conservation advocacy non-governmental organization, said sardine run happens when a great quantity Continued on A2

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The seasonal abundance of tamban is shown in this photo taken in San Enrique, Negros Occidental. NONIE REYES

he Philippines may already be showing signs of economic

overheating on account of the country’s average capacity-utilization rate rising to a two-decade high, according to the World Bank, although local economists said this is not the case yet. Birgit Hansl, World Bank lead economist and program leader for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions for Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, noted that 11 of the country’s 20 major manufacturing sectors are already operating at full capacity. With this, the capacity of the manufacturing sector is peaking to 84.1 percent, an indication that the economy’s ability to produce and grow more is reaching its limit. See “World Bank,” A2

n japan 0.4837 n UK 74.0791 n HK 6.6232 n CHINA 8.2821 n singapore 39.6288 n australia 40.3851 n EU 64.1180 n SAUDI arabia 13.8630

Source: BSP (16 April 2018 )

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A2 Tuesday, April 17, 2018

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Fishing moratorium: Is PHL doing it right? Continued from A1

of living sardines are seen near the shore. It naturally happens because of several reasons, such as spawning, feeding or simply when the sardines are just passing by. On the other hand, sardine beaching happens when live, nearly dead or dead sardines are washed ashore. Unlike sardine run, sardine beaching is alarming, as it is caused by various factors, like manmade causes, such as pollution, poisoning and environmental conditions like warming temperatures or lack of oxygen in the water.

Environmental stressor

Jimely Flores, a marine scientist at Oceana Philippines, meanwhile, cautioned the govern-

ment against mistaking sardine beaching as sardine run. “Beaching of the sardine [indicates that] there is a stressor at sea,” she said, adding that “it is a bad omen more than an indicator of abundance.” Flores said beaching may be caused by several reasons, like the sardines were chased to shore by predators or fishing activity, poisoned, or due to changes in water properties. “High rising temperature decreases the capacity of the water to absorb dissolved oxygen and the small-size fishes are the first to react. The sardines are not that resilient to such changes,” she said. According to Flores, whether there is plenty of fish or not, fish

Dengue-vaccine. . .

is a proposal to promptly pass an enabling law separating the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from the Department of Health (DOH). “The [Blue Ribbon-Health] hearings also revealed the need to provide for an FDA independent of, and autonomous from, the DOH. This is the purpose of Senate Bill [SB] 1631 that I filed,” Ejercito told the BusinessMirror. The bill is titled “An Act instituting Food and Drug Administration as an independent agency and separate from the Department of Health, amending certain sections of Republic Act [RA] 3720, as amended by RA 9711, and for other purposes.” It has been read on first reading and referred to the Committees on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation; and Health and Demography. The setup between the DOH and the FDA came to the fore in the course of the inquiry after it was learned that at a crucial point in the processing of the Dengvaxia vaccine program, then-Health Secretary Janette L. Garin assumed the helm at the FDA, thus, effectively short-circuiting the envisioned independence of the FDA as a regulatory body with a big say in clearing pharmaceutical products for public use. When Garin was meeting with Sanofi oficials, the FDA had not yet cleared Dengvaxia for use in the Philippines. Garin’s assumption of the FDA post raised the Senate probers’ eyebrows during the hearings, as the timeline of Dengvaxia-related events had indicated her active role in pushing the vaccine program—visiting the Sanofi vaccine facility in France, meeting with Sanofi officials, briefing Aquino on the details of the impending program, working closely with

Continued from A1

then-Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad and giving instructions to the head of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC), which was used as the spending conduit for the P3.5-billion Dengvaxia procurement. Also during the hearings, Garin’s successor, Dr. Paulyn Jean B. Ubial, had admitted she had come under pressure from politicians so she would sign the expanded phase of the Dengvaxia vaccination when she took office under the Duterte administration. She named Gar in’s cong ressmanhusband among those prodding her on Dengvaxia, but Garin has strongly denied her husband or family exerted such pressure for political or financial gain. In the chairman’s report, Gordon listed Abad and Garin for a possible graft prosecution, together with Aquino. The former President is liable, according to the chairman’s report, for having provided the political push and the approvals for using savings—an unprecedentedly huge P3.5 billion—to fund the vaccination of 800,000 schoolchildren. The Dengvaxia controversy began in late-November 2017, when Sanofi issued a bulletin acknowledging that further assessments showed injection with the vaccine in seronegative persons (those who never had dengue before) could put them at risk of severe dengue when they contract the dreaded mosquitoborne disease, even though it has so far been deemed effective for preventing further or repeat infections among those who previously contracted dengue (the seropositives). Unfortunately, as the Senate hearings showed, no effort was done, neither by the DOH nor Sanofi, to first distinguish the

are forced to go to shores because of environmental stressors, hence, it is wrong to say that the closed fishing season automatically results in fish abundance.

Scientific study

Oceana Philippines is pushing for the crafting of a “National Management Framework for Sardines,” which requires a comprehensive study of the species. “I am calling for a national management framework because this is the platform where all possible issues, solutions and goals will be tackled,” Flores said. It is wrong, she added, to depend on a single management intervention or regulation that is weak in the first place. “It is also wrong to seropositives from seronegatives before rushing to vaccinate.

Charter prohibits double posts for Cabinet

With respect to the remedial legislation proposed in Ejercito’s SB 1631, the Blue Ribbon chairman’s report explicitly tagged Garin’s assumption of the FDA post concurrently with her wearing the DOH hat as a blatant violation of the Constitution. Aquino is equally liable for allowing Garin to violate this Charter prohibition, per Gordon: “Aquino allowed Garin to designate herself as FDA head, in violation of Section 13, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, which prohibits ‘The president, vice president, the members of the Cabinet, and their deputies or assistants’ from holding any other office or employment during their tenure unless otherwise provided in the Constitution.” According to Gordon’s report, Garin “completely disregarded the eight conditionalities recommended by the Formulary Executive Council [FEC] before an exemption from the Philippine National Drug Formulary [PNDF] is granted to Dengvaxia,” and one of these is the requirement that there must have been “[iii] an FDAapproved risk-management plan from Sanofi-Pasteur.” In the eyes of Senate probers, circumventing such requirement became possible because Garin herself assumed the FDA top post. Worse, at the time of Aquino’s meeting with Sanofi executives in Paris in late-2015, the FDA had not licensed Dengvaxia for use in the country. Gordon’s report made this clear when it noted the supposed “additional 34-percent discount” that Garin claimed, in a TV interview, as having been wangled when the former president visited Paris and met Sanofi executives. “That could only be reached through a negotiation, through a tawaran. The

put regulatory policy with weak scientific foundation,” she said. A management framework or policy should have strong scientific support or basis and is subject to a transparent and credible review, Flores said. Beaching, as what happened in Zamboanga and other areas, could also be seen as “alarming.” “It means with that environmental stressor plus overfishing, we are in the nick of time for a probable collapse, if nothing could be done sooner. As I’ve said, the existing closed fishing season is not enough to turn the tides of collapse,” she said. Flores noted that sardine beaching also occurred in Mandaon, Masbate. “If I’m not mistaken, [also]

president cannot negotiate a commercial transaction. Additionally, how can he negotiate for the supply of a drug that was not even a part of the National Drug Formulary, much less licensed by the FDA for use in the Philippines?” the chairman’s report asked. The Constitution, stressed the Blue Ribbon Chairman’s Report, expressly prohibits members of the Cabinet from holding “any other office or employment during their tenure” (Section 13, Article VII, 1987 Constitution). It cited further the case of Civil Liberties Union v. Executive Secretary (G.R. 83896, 22 February 1991), where the Supreme Court (SC) clarified that, “[...] while all other appointive officials in the civil service are allowed to hold other office or employment in the government during their tenure when such is allowed by law or by the primary functions of their positions, members of the Cabinet, their deputies and assistants, may do so only when expressly authorized by the Constitution itself.” This meant, Gordon added—a veteran litigation lawyer before turning to politics—the SC mandated a “literal interpretation” of the exemption “to refer only to those particular instances cited in the Constitution itself, to wit: the vice president being appointed as a member of the Cabinet under Section 3, paragraph [2], Article VII; or acting as president in those instances provided under Section 7, paragraphs [2] and [3], Article VII; and, the secretary of Justice being ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council by virtue of Section 8 [1], Article VIII.” To be sure, Gordon said, “no provision in the Constitution provides and allows the secretary of health to concurrently be director general of the FDA. Garin appointing herself as FDA director general is clearly in blatant violation of the constitutional prohibition provided for in Section 13 of Article VII.” Garin, per the report, following the timeline established in the Senate hearings, “would later relinquish her position as FDA head only when she was sure that her successor, Ma. Lourdes Santiago, would thereafter grant a license to Sanofi-Pasteur for Dengvaxia, through Melody Zamudio.” Ejercito hopes that with his SB 1631, the recurrence of a similar anomaly will be clearly rendered impossible, for the sake of public health.

Fund for Dengvaxia victims

Meanwhile, another legislation senators are pushing pertains to ensuring there are sustainable funds to take care of seronegatives who may subsequently fall ill as a result of being stricken with severe dengue after being injected with Dengvaxia. “We need to do more to provide assistance to the victims. That is why I filed the Dengvaxia assistance program bill so we can monitor and address the needs of those victimized by this scandal,” Ejercito said in a statement last week. “I am calling on our government to

somewhere in Zamboanga, in India and in Malaysia. But it was only the Philippines that claimed that there is increasing fish stock. The rest of the countries reported that it is because of environmental or other kind of stressor as the reason,” she said, adding that there is lack of scientific basis on the Department of Agriculture’s claims that the beaching was, in fact, a result of increasing fish stock.

Management framework

According to Flores, Oceana’s proposed management framework for sardines has three major elements. The first is strong, credible and transparent science. “Based on that, policies are crafted in consideration of the goals from the help our people to initiate a class suit against Sanofi. Legal action should also be taken by the Philippine government against Sanofi toward the establishment of an indemnity fund for children who were vaccinated to provide them with financial assistance for medical care throughout their lifetimes.” Ejercito agreed with Gordon’s report in prosecuting Abad and Garin, but disagreed that Aquino should be prosecuted for graft. “PNoy [Aquino] should have exercised more prudence and oversight instead of allowing Garin and Abad to proceed with the purchase of the controversial vaccine. That is a failure of leadership that should hound his conscience and legacy.
“ Nonetheless, Ejercito stressed that the Senate hearings clearly showed Garin and Abad “are the principal conspirators in the a noma lous proc u rement a nd questionable implementation of the vaccine.

Secretary Garin was the one who recommended the purchase of the P3.5-billion untested vaccine. The purchase was pushed, despite the fact that the clinical trials were not yet finished and ignored the warnings by some experts as to its dangers.” Abad, on the other hand, “facilitated, recommended and approved the release of the money without congressional approval in amazing record time, and during a holiday period at that,” Ejercito noted.

Dengvaxia report a cover-up: LP legislators

Liberal Party (LP) stalwarts, while posing no objections to the proposed legislation for ensuring the FDA’s independence and providing some fund to take care of victims, have described Gordon’s chairman’s report as one meant to divert public attention from crucial issues hounding the Duterte administration. “This is simply a smoke screen of the administration to hide the issues hounding its officials,” said former Rep. Erin R.Tañada III, now LP vice president for external affairs. “Why was the committee report released to the public before it has been filed or sponsored? Are not the signatures of majority of the committee members required before the report can be filed?” Tañada wondered aloud. “What happens to the report if the majority disagrees? There are no signatures yet,” he added. Over the weekend, Gordon said he was sure of getting at least 10 signatures, more than the majority required of 17 Blue Ribbon members. Tañada said the release coincided with the impending closure of Boracay Island, the President’s order to the House to hasten the impeachment process against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno, and the rising prices of goods and services. Rep. Teddy B. Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao doubted the fairness of Gordon’s report, saying it focused mainly on the past administration, but did not dwell on the current government, even though the vaccination was continued under the Duterte administration, during Ubial’s tenure.

stakeholders. The policy crafted should be given appropriate and realistic implementation schemes. It is a living cycle and science is continuous to also include the review process.” Under the framework, all measures and the agencies to be responsible will be identified. Also, through such management framework, the public will know who or which agency is accountable. “Other countries are so advance already,” she said. Under Republic Act 10654, or the amended Fisheries Code of the Philippines, Flores added, there are reference points and harvest-control rules that should be defined or complemented by the proposed management framework. To be concluded

World Bank. . . Continued from A1

“Increasing inflation together with high credit growth... the recent output rising to capacity level... labor market indicates really that the economy is operating at capacity and there is, perhaps, the risk of overheating in the economy,” Hansl explained in a news briefing on Monday. Hansl said inflation has been on the rise to average 3.3 percent for the year. The Washingtonbased lender expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to tighten monetary policy. She also noted that the increase in real wages has been almost flat in the past 10 years. The report stated that while employment increased, mean wages remained stagnant between 2006 and 2015. “Mean wages remained stagnant with only a 4-percent increase in real terms over the same period. High-quality jobs and faster growth of real wages are the missing links to higher shared prosperity,” the World Bank said in its report. But Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development Director Alvin P. Ang noted that it would be too early to say if there are already warning signs of overheating. He said this must be examined not only on the manufacturing sector’s performance, but also whether foreign direct investment is increasing or not. However, Ang added the government must continue to expand its manufacturing base by opening other industries, such as aerospace furniture, metal products and car manufactures. “If capacities are being breached, demand should be increasing but consumer growth is slow. Let’s take this as a warning that the economy requires sustained growth in capacities, as well,” Ang told the BusinessMirror. In a paper, University of Asia and the Philippines Associate Professor Victor Abola said he also does not see any early warning signs of overheating. Abola said the country’s debt-to-gross international reserves (GIR) ratio has not breached its threshold, as well as other indicators, such as the foreign exchange, current account and the so-called ratio of money supply 2 (M2) to GIR. The debt-to-GIR ratio has not breached the 0.40 ratio, which got breached in December 2005, while the M2/GIR ratio of 2.57 has not been breached “in the new millennium.” “Only one measure, i.e., M2/GIR is relatively close to crossing its threshold because it is some 0.23 standard deviations away from the new benchmark, compared with the levels reached two years before the Asian financial crisis, when it easily exceeded 3 between November 1994 and March 1996,” Abola said. In terms of the foreign exchange, Abola said the actual real effective exchange rate has fallen below the trend and will unlikely move up the trend. Further, in terms of the current account balance/gross domestic investments (CAB/GDI) ratio, it has remained positive since the first quarter of 2000 to the second quarter of 2017. The only time it became negative was in the second quarter of 2008 to fourth quarter of 2008, during the global financial crisis. “We do not see any early-warning signals that the Philippine economy is overheating and facing a currency crisis. Nevertheless, at least one indicator is strongly telling our policy-makers that unless we renew the buildup of our GIR at a pace as fast as [or better yet, faster than] M2 growth, we will end up in a crisis after a few years,” Abola said. In the study, titled “Why Has the Philippines’ Growth Performance Improved? From Disappointment to Promising Success,” Asian Development Bank Advisor and Senior Economics Officer at the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department Jesus Felipe and Gemma Estrada said the potential growth of the country last year of 6.3 percent was exceeded by actual growth at 6.7 percent. Potential growth, the authors added, is the growth rate that keeps the unemployment rate constant. It is largely based on labor productivity. The authors found that the country’s potential growth rate has been increasing due to the rise in labor productivity. This is mainly due to manufacturing productivity growth. However, with actual GDP growth exceeding potential growth in 2017, the authors urged the government to focus on increasing potential growth further. This will also allow the country to post higher actual GDP growth in the coming years.

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Seized rice should be resold at lower prices–lawmaker By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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party-list lawmaker on Monday asked President Duterte to order the donation of seized smuggled rice to the National Food Authority (NFA) and allow the agency to resell it at lower prices. Party-list Rep. Orestes T. Salon of Agri made a statement after operatives of Naval Task Force 61 of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao seized last Saturday off Zamboanga Sibugay a foreign cargo vessel loaded with 27,180 sacks or 1,359 metric tons (MT) of Vietnam rice with an estimated market value of P67.9 million The lawmaker also suggested a monitoring system to ensure that traders do not mix the resold smuggled rice with commercial rice. Salon, quoting Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr., said Malacañang is mulling over the possibility of the NFA reselling the seized rice at a lower price to increase the agency’s stockpile. “Given that the NFA’s supply of cheap rice is at a dangerously low level, maybe the President can issue an executive order mandating that the NFA resell seized smuggled rice at lower prices,” Salon said. Salon also added that while such a measure was merely a stop-gap, the poor who rely on subsidized rice would benefit from it. “The government should prioritize improving agricultural production and providing support to local farmers to address the smuggling of rice and other agricultural products over the long term,” he added. Salon also said that Republic Act 10845 or the anti-agricultural smuggling law should be fully implemented. Meanwhile, Party-list Rep. Ariel B Casilao of Anakpawis urged the Duterte administration to investigate the reported attempt to smuggle 1, 359 MT of rice. Casilao said that the rampant smuggling not only of rice, but also of other agricultural products, is the result of the continuing commitment of the government to import under the Word Trade Organization’s Agreement on Agriculture. “Agricultural smuggling is only a reflection of the country’s continuing madness to import. Not only has it abetted corruption, but it is also an insult to our farmers,” he added. Casilao, citing a report of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, in the years from 2013 to 2015, said a total of P64-billion revenue losses were incurred by the government due to widespread smuggling of agricultural products.

European political party official deported for ‘partisan’ activity

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@rectomercene

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nother form of abuse against Filipino domestic workers surfaced anew when the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported that a Filipino household-service worker (HSW) is now in serious condition in a Saudi hospital after she was forced by her employer to drink household bleach. The DFA, in a news statement issued on Monday, said they are closely coordinating with Saudi authorities in the Saudi capital of Jeddah to help Agnes Mancilla, “who is reported to be in serious but stable condition.” “The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah is closely monitoring the condition of Agnes Mancilla, a household-service worker, who remains in serious but stable condition at the King Fahad Central Hospital in Jizan in southwestern Saudi Arabia.” “We would like to assure our kababayan that we are working

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has confirmed that Italian national Giacomo Filibeck, an official of the Party European Socialists (PES), has been blacklisted in the Philippines for violating the conditions of his stay as a tourist when he was here in the country last year.

Extra rice

A warehouse man singlehandedly carries a sack of rice transported from Nueva Ecija to a National Food Authority (NFA) warehouse in Quezon City. Reports say some 10,000 bags of regular-milled rice will be sold in Metro Manila at P39 per kilo, after 17 truckloads of the grain were delivered on Monday. The 17 cargo trucks, each with 400 to 800 bags of rice from the Central Luzon province, assure a steady supply of the staple to Metro Manila consumers. NONIE REYES

DOH prescribes proper nourishment for DVIs By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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ewly appointed Department of Health (DOH)Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo is encouraging parents of Dengvaxia vaccine individuals (DVIs) to strengthen the immune system of their children through proper nutrition and suitable food supplements. “We still have no final conclusion as to the status of the Dengvaxia investigation currently being conducted which is being linked to the deaths of children who were given the controversial dengue vaccine. While waiting for results, as parents, we have to do something to boost our children’s immune system by giving them immunity-boosting phytonutrients, such as vitamin C, fruits and vegetables, including adequate sleep,” Janairo stated before a crowd of parents of DVIs at

a Dengvaxia forum held in Imus, Cavite, on April 8. “Although the dengue kits distributed included vitamin supplements, such as vitamin C and multivitamins, you still need to complement it with well-balanced meals and sufficient fluid intakes like water, soup and juices,” he said. Calabarzon is the second region with the most number of DVIs followed by Region 3 with the National Capital Region in the top spot. The DOH estimated that about a total of 830,000 students were vaccinated with Dengvaxia. According to the Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (Resu), a total of 2,674 schools participated in the Dengvaxia vaccination in Calabarzon. There were 158,520 children who received the first dose; 129,176 received the second dose; and 112,659 completed the third dose. A total of 4,261 children received Dengvaxia during community-based vaccinations. Two children

were vaccinated by a private clinic. Janairo disclosed that a total of P1,602,770.44 Dengvaxia assistance were given to 2,746 DVIs via the Medical Assistance for Indigent Program in public hospitals. A total of P2,019,407.92 were given to 192 DVIs who were confined in private health facilities. Resu also reported a total of 5,310 dengue cases in Calabarzon from January 1 to March 31, 2018, with the province of Cavite having the most number of cases with 1,937. There were 34 recorded deaths. “We have five years to monitor DVIs for any adverse effects of the Dengvaxia vaccine and it is very important to keep them fit and healthy in order for them not to contract any illness. Also, we will be conducting monitoring activities to ensure that all health facilities in all provinces have Dengvaxia fast lanes to accommodate vaccine recipients,” Janairo assured.

Pinoy HSW forced to drink bleach by Saudi employer By Recto Mercene

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, April 17, 2018 A3

closely with authorities in Jizan to make sure that justice will be given to Agnes Mancilla,” Consul General Edgar Badajos said. The DFA said Mancilla was rushed unconscious by concerned members of the Filipino community to the Jizan King Fahd Central Hospital on April 2, after her lady employer allegedly forced her to ingest household bleach. Mancilla underwent laparotomy immediately after she was taken to the hospital to flush out the bleach from her stomach. Doctors also found burn marks on her back. Badajos said consulate officials also visited Mancilla and made representations with authorities in Jizan to make sure the charges were filed against her employer who was later arrested by Saudi police. “The consulate will regularly send representatives to Jizan to follow up her case with the police and to look into her condition,” Badajos added. He said the consulate general has also requested the

assistance of the Filipino community in Jizan to help monitor the condition of Mancilla. According to Badajos, Mancilla has been working in Saudi Arabia since 2016, but was repeatedly physically abused by her lady employer aside from not being paid her salary. A Saudi local newspaper reported that 70 percent of Filipino domestic workers suffer physical and psychological violence in Saudi Arabia, where some 2 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are deployed. A research paper by the Committee on Overseas Workers Welfare (COWW) reported that young Filipino OFWs reported being raped, and to avoid an increase in wages, the government of Riyadh bans unskilled workers from the Philippines and Indonesia. Riyadh AsiaNews has reported that underpaid, exploited and oftenabused Filipino domestic helpers are one of the groups most at risk in Middle Eastern countries, especially Saudi Arabia.

“Despite repeated ca l ls by human-rights organizations and associations in defense of immigrants, the Philippine government can only defend the rights of skilled workers, engineers, doctors and nurses,” COWW said. “They are the most requested by the Saudi labor market and also the ones who possessed registered contracts as employees in national hospitals, research centers or large companies,” it added. COWW said that unskilled workers who arrive in the Arabian country have no guarantee of employment, wages or protection. With more than 10 million workers worldwide, the Philippines is the third country in the world with the most number of emigrants after China and India. The last available record said over 600,000 Filipinos have chosen the Middle East as source of employment in spite of continued exploitation, including Christians who suffer from persecution.

In a news statement issued on Monday, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente defended the decision of the Philippine government to bar Filibeck from entering the country, noting that tourists are forbidden from engaging in partisan political activity under the country’s immigration law. Filibeck was prevented from entering the country at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport on Sunday. “He [Filibeck] was not supposed to do that because being a tourist he does not enjoy the rights and privileges of a Philippine citizen, particularly the exercise of political rights which are exclusively reserved to Filipinos,” Morente said. The Italian national was initially held at the immigration counter after learning that he was on the BI’s blacklist and was deported the same day. Morente cited BI Operations Order SBM-2015-025 dated July 3, 2015, which prohibits foreign tourists from engaging in political activities in the country. “We cannot allow the entry of foreigners who have shown disrespect to our duly constituted authorities by meddling and interfering in our internal affairs as a sovereign nation,” the BI chief said. On the other hand, BI Spokesman Antonette Mangrobang stated that it was not the first time that an alien was expelled for engaging in political activities. She cited of 20-year-old Dutch activist Thomas Van Beersum who was

sent back to his country of origin five years ago in August 2013 after joining a rally against former President Benigno S.Aquino III State of the Nation Address and berating a local police officer. Beersum was photographed yelling at a weeping riot police officer during the protest outside of Congress building in Quezon City. “He [Beersum] not only took part in a protest rally but he also berated and used foul words against the police officer,” Mangrobang said. “He was later deported for violating the conditions of his tourist visa and was put on our blacklist,” Mangrobang added. Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra also defended the move of immigration authorities to deny Filibeck entry into the country for being critical of President Duterte’s anti-illegal drugs war. “It is unlawful for aliens staying in our country to engage in partisan political activities, and the government has the right to refuse entry to those who have committed these illegal acts in the past,” Guevarra said. Filibeck was in the country last October together with an international human rights fact-finding team which condemned the reported killings in the anti-drug campaign of the Duterte administration. He was due to attend the two-day Akbayan Party Congress with about 20 other foreign delegates when he was stopped by immigration authorities. Akbayan is a sister party of PES.

Dela Rosa breaks in new police chopper, highlights gains in war vs illegal drugs

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ational Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa commissioned into service a brand-new helicopter on Monday and heaped praises on the results of the campaign against illegal drugs, two days before his retirement. The commissioning of the Bell 429 helicopter and dela Rosa’s review of the police’s antidrugs drive followed what might be considered as his last news conference as PNP chief. Dela Rosa will relinquish his post to the next PNP chief, National Capital Region Police Office chief Director D. Oscar Albayalde, on Wednesday, take his short vacation and assume the baton of the Bureau of Corrections. “The PNP’s acquisition of the Bell 429 twin-engine rotary wing aircraft will greatly enhance the operational flexibility by providing air support to ground troops. This multirole police helicopter is designed to perform a variety of air-support missions,” the outgoing PNP chief said. “This helicopter was acquired by the PNP through a public bidding. The supply contract was awarded on June 28, 2017, to Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, at a contract price of P435,797,548 funded from the General Appropriations Act of 2017,” he added. The aircraft was delivered to and inspected by the PNP on April 12,

three months ahead of its delivery schedule of July 5, 2018. “We are grateful to the national leadership for its genuine concern for the police force by providing for our operational requirements. With better equipment, sufficient funds and upgraded wages for personnel, there is no reason to fail in our mission to serve and protect our people,” dela Rosa said. The PNP chief added the police’s campaign against illegal drugs will not end with his retirement, but rather, the organization should expect “more effective results-oriented operations against illegal drugs under a new leadership that will infuse new blood into the campaign.” He said the antidrugs drive was the closest issue to him because of its relevance “to our lives and national well-being.” Dela Rosa noted that since the Project Double Barrel was relaunched by the PNP on December 4, 2017, a total of 19,086 drug offenders have been arrested in 12,032 anti-illegal drugs operations around the country up to April 13. “But these 12,032 anti-illegal drugs operations, were not at all a walk in the park, because there were isolated lifethreatening confrontations with armed drug suspects that necessitated the use of reasonable force by our operatives, thus resulting in 207 deaths from these police operations,” he said. Rene Acosta

Economy

A4 Tuesday, April 17, 2018 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

Grab warned vs ‘predatory pricing’

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By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

enators on Monday aired concerns against potential “predatory pricing” by Grab, which enjoys virtual monopoly status after buying out sole rival Uber in the transportation network vehicle services (TNVS).

This, as Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee, said that he is expecting the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and the Land Transportation Franchising

and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to step up and “closely monitor anticompetitive practices” in the TNVS. “Both the PCC and the LTFRB, as government regulators, should go deeper into the cost structure of

the TNVS or ride-hailing services,” Gatchalian said. The lawmaker suggested the two agencies “should also establish benchmarks that are internationally accepted to detect potential abuses of a monopoly.” Gatchalian prodded the LTFRB to review all fees and charges being added to Grab commuters’ fare. “They [LTFRB and PCC] should not allow charges higher than those imposed in other countries,” he added. At the same time, Gatchalian said the LTFRB should mandate that Grab give a breakdown in their receipts and be “more transparent” on how they charge commuters’ fare. For her part, Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate’s Public Services

Committee that issues franchises, categorically warned that “there should be no room for predatory pricing by a firm allowed to engage in public service.” Poe said that “being the surviving entity does not authorize Grab to grab more profits.” She added that reg u lator y agencies should see to it that the riding public is protected, while ensuring that Grab’s drivers earn a fair income for hard work. “I am hopeful that through dialogue and open channels of communications, all the stakeholders can strike a balance that will not hurt the pockets of Grab’s riders but will not leave Grab’s drivers emptyhanded either.”

Ookla cites PHL improvement in mobile, fixed broadband download speeds in Feb

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global leader in Internetperformance testing said in a recent report that the country’s average download speed for mobile and fixed broadband continued to improve in February 2018, posting an increase of 70.30 percent to 12.67 megabits per second (Mbps) and 103.41 percent to 16.09 Mbps, respectively. According to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index Report of February 2018, the download speeds improved from 7.44 Mbps (mobile broadband) and from 7.91 Mbps (fi xed broadband) that were recorded in July 2016. For mobile broadband, the country’s monthly averages grew steadily from 7.44 Mbps (July 2016), 7.7

Mbps (August 2016), 8.18 Mbps (September 2016), 8.56 Mbps (October 2016), 8.59 Mbps (November 2016), 9.53 Mbps (December 2016), 9.34 Mbps (January 2017), 10.07 Mbps (February 2017), 9.73 Mbps (March 2017), 9.71 Mbps (April 2017), 9.93 Mbps (May 2017), 10.32 Mbps (June 2017), 10.29 Mbps (July 2017), 10.47 Mbps (August 2017), 11.95 Mbps (September 2017), 12.31 Mbps (October 2017), 12.35 Mbps (November 2017), 13.45 Mbps (December 2017), 12.55 Mbps (January 2018) and 12.67 Mbps (February 2018). The country’s monthly averages for fixed broadband also c o nt i nu e d t o t r e n d u p w a r d from 7.91 Mbps (July 2016),

8.54 Mbps (August 2016), 8.76 Mbps (September 2016), 8.60 M b p s (O c t o b e r 2 016), 9. 3 5 Mbps (November 2016), 9.71 Mbps (December 2016), 10.16 M bps (Ja nu a r y 2017), 10.68 Mbps (Februar y 2017), 10.81 Mbps (March 2017), 10.84 Mbps (April 2017), 10.96 Mbps (May 2017), 11.66 Mbps (June 2017), 12.43 Mbps (July 2017), 13.29 Mbps (August 2017), 13.41 Mbps (September 2017), 13.13 Mbps (Oc tober 2017), 14.42 M bps (November 2017), 15.19 Mbps (December 2017), 15.67 Mbps (January 2018) and 16.09 Mbps (February 2018). Speedtest by Ookla is the global leader in Internet-performance

testing and consumer-initiated network diagnostics with over 10.2 billion speedtests clocked worldwide. Speedtest Intelligence is a trusted and vital research and analysis tool used by businesses, industry associations and government agencies. The improvement in the Philippines’s Internet speed may be attributed to President Duterte’s repeated calls for telecommunication companies to improve their services. Internet speed and availability are also expected to improve even further with the implementation of the DICT’s National Broadband Plan and the government’s call for a third major telco player.

Group to DOE: Compel oil firms to unbundle price of petro products

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ONSUMER-advocacy group Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) has called on the energy department to compel oil firms to unbundle retail prices of petroleum products and publish the regular maintenance schedule of power plants. This is meant to enable consumers to truly enjoy their right to information, and thereby provide them access to fair and reasonable pricing of petroleum products and electricity, LKI President and former Trade Undersecretary lawyer Vic A. Dimagiba. In a letter dated April 16 to Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, LKI said that even under full deregulation, the energy secretary is authorized to ensure fair pricing of the petroleum products for the benefit and information of the consumers. Dimagiba, likewise, cited the Department of Energy (DOE) “police powers” by citing sections 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19 and Republic Act 8479. LKI firmly believes that requiring the unbundling will ensure a transparent pricing which benefits the consumers. “The DOE will note that oil companies and the new players have practically uniform prices for diesel. This situation does not appear tenable since oil companies and new players procure their products differently,” Dimagiba said. He added: “We believe that the DOE secretary is authorized to issue the circular mandating the unbundling of retail prices of petroleum products preferably within the first quarter of the year.” On power rates, LKI wants the DOE to publish the regular maintenance of the power plants and energy suppliers over the 12 months and inform the consumers of the reasons for any unexpected shutdown, particularly during peak hours. Dimagiba observed that “the April 12 shutdown and yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. spiked the wholesale market from P15.00 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to P30.00/kWh during the trading period.” Lenie Lectura

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P2.5B allotted for open public space projects in key cities By Nelson S. Badilla

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Correspondent

he Duterte administration is not only determined to pursue its “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) infrastructure buildup program to further spur economic growth and development, but also wanted 145 cities across the country to be “livable and sustainable.” According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the BBB program and the development and improvement of open public spaces are closely linked and interconnected in accelerating economic growth and development. With this as a premise, the DBM said it is set to release P2.5 billion for the development and improvement of open public spaces in different cities of the country. However, the funds will only be released after the cities, through their respective local government units (LGUs) propose, “conceptual designs” on the development and improvement of chosen open public spaces are approved by Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno. Before the projects are implemented, mayors belonging to the League of the Cities of the Philippines (LCP) and other concerned officials of the different city governments should first strictly observe and abide with the laws on bidding scuttle the possibility of graft and corruption. However, the DBM was silent on which agency will monitor the projects to ensure smooth implementation. In his meeting with the LCP on March 1, Diokno promised the mayors that the DBM will set up a unit to “help the cities access” their share in the P2.5-billion funds, lawyer Shereen Gail C. Yu-Pamintuan, LCP executive director, told the city mayors on her advisory letter to them on March 2. Pamintuan also said the “LCP welcomed the [DBM’s] creation of the help desk.” The DBM launched the project to develop open public spaces in February. The DBM said that “[t]he program will support city governments in creating a ‘breathing space’ by enriching open spaces through the establishment of parks and gardens, upgrading streets and waterfronts, and revitalizing plazas,” when it launched the open spaces project. “It will also improve the connectivity and accessibility of spaces by constructing eco-friendly bike lanes and walkways,” the DBM added. What is good with the P2.5billion project is that it “is a parallel endeavor to the government’s massive national infrastructure development program, Build, Build, Build,” the budget department said. However, this one will be done “in close collaboration with local government units,” the DBM added. The department said “[t]he rising urban density in the country is creating more challenges for the Philippines’s LGUs and citizens. Problems previously not experienced such as overcrowding and traffic congestion, as well as the lack of open spaces where people can socialize and practice an active lifestyle, are now a daily obstacle to urban dwellers. These conditions significantly make cities less livable and less sustainable. They also make communities more vulnerable against natural and man-made disasters.” The Philippines has around 50 million people living in urban areas for the past 50 years, according to the World Bank’s Philippine Urbanization Revue. This is expected to reach 102 million in 2050, that is equivalent to about 65 percent of the total population in the said year. “With these intensifying [population problem], there is a pressing need for local government units and citizens to find ways to manage urban evolution, to steer their cities toward sustainable development,” the DBM said, adding

145

The total number of cities targeted by the DBM for open space projects that may be implemented alongside the BBB infra buildup program that the department is convinced that the “[c]ities are not made up of just buildings and streets. The most successful and livable ones have open spaces which take up half of their land area.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the successful cities in the world have a minimum of 9 square meters of green space for every citizen. The allotment of open space, the WHO added, will even result in the improvement of the quality of life of inhabitants. But, what may have actually struck Diokno about the viability and beauty of transforming the open public places into a useful place were the Iloilo City Riverside Esplanade, Vigan in Ilocos Sur, particularly the Calle Crisologo and the People’s Park in Davao City. “These public open spaces, cherished by their people, provide a sanctuary from the busy and crowded urban areas, while promoting a healthy lifestyle and creating opportunities for socialization and communitybuilding. The establishment and revitalization of the public open spaces has also increased the value of nearby real estate, thus, attracting more investors and entrepreneurs into the area and creating more jobs for the residents,” the DBM said. The allotment of open city space is actually embodied under the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, specifically under target 7 that focuses on public spaces. The UN has pegged that the countries, which are signatories to UN Development Goals must, “[b] y 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.” This UN commitment was, in fact, expanded after the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development held in Quito, Ecuador, in 2016 came up with “New Urban Agenda.” The countries, which include the Philippines as signatories to the New Urban Agenda, vowed and asserted that “[w]e commit ourselves to promoting safe, inclusive, accessible, green and quality public spaces as drivers of social and economic development.” In 2015 the LCP and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) issued a joint Declaration on Philippine Cities Network on Public Space as expression of strong support to the New Urban Agenda. Butthe previousadministrationdid not pursue projects on open spaces. It is only under the present administration where it was linked to the BBB program, and that urban development issues are part of economic growth and development. However, the LCP expressed disappointment in reducing the open- space allotment from P5 billion to P2.5 billion. LCP argued that the P2.5 billion is not enough to finance the projects since they are talking of about 145 cities. In their March 1 meeting, Diokno explained to the mayors that it was reduced to P2.5 billion because half of it was tapped to contribute for the P50 billion free college at the state-owned universities and colleges in the country.

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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

GSIS, DepEd formalize teacher loan pact with private lenders

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resident Duterte on Monday witnessed the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Department of Education (DepEd) facilitating the payment of teacher loans and other DepEd personnel with private lenders. “We don’t want DepEd employees to sink deep into debt, so we have proposed a better way for them to manage their finances. The borrowers will pay back the loan to GSIS at easy and affordable terms,” GSIS President and General Manager Jesus Clint Aranas said. He added that having several loans weaken the employees’ capability to settle their obligations, which include payment of their monthly GSIS premiums and contributions. “Payment of their GSIS premiums and loans usually take a back seat. If the practice continues, their future GSIS benefits are bound to suffer,” Aranas added. The project reinforces the issuance of DepEd Order (DO) 38 on July 31, 2017, reiterating the instruction to prioritize premium and loan payments for GSIS for other loans. The program will be piloted for six months in 12 areas across the country, including Batangas, Bulacan, Dagupan, Naga, Cavite, Manila, Quezon City, Bohol,

Ormoc, Koronadal, Butuan and Tagum. Active GSIS regular members may apply for the loan if they are permanent; with paid premiums for the last three years; are not on leave of absence without pay; have an outstanding loan with DepEd-accredited private lending institutions (PLIs); have no due and demandable GSIS loan; and have no pending administrative or criminal case. If a private lender has filed a case against members for nonpayment of obligations after GSIS loan payments have been prioritized by virtue of DO 38, such members are still eligible to apply for GFAL. Qualified members may borrow up to P500,000, provided their take-home pay will not go lower than P5,000 after their monthly obligations have been deducted. The loan is payable in monthly installments for six years at 6-percent interest rate per annum computed in advance. Payments will be automatically deducted from the borrower’s salary. To apply, members may submit through their agency authorized officers (AAOs) a duly accomplished form, attached to which is an AAO-certified true copy of their pay slips for the last three months; certified documents specifying loan details with PLIs, such as borrower loan agreements and loan vouchers; and GSIS pro-forma statement of account duly accomplished by PLIs.

Case clippings

By Justice S J Ranada Jr. DEMURRER TO EVIDENCE–defendant’s right to present evidence Defendants who present a demurrer to the plaintiff’s evidence retain the right to present their own evidence, if the trial court disagrees with them; if it agrees with them, but on appeal, the appellate court disagrees and reverses the dismissal order, the defendants lose the right to present their own evidence. The appellate court shall then resolve the case and render judgment on the merits, because a demurrer aims to discourage prolonged litigations. Dugue v. Spouses Yu 19 Feb 2018

GR 226130 Velasco, J

Still more evidence of slower remittance growth in February

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ash sent by migrant Filipino workers in February continued to grow, albeit at a slower rate compared to remittances the previous month.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday reported a 4.5-percent increase in the remittances in February, totaling $2.27 billion during the month. The growth, while slower than the 9.7-percent expansion in January, pushed lower the overall remittance growth in the first two months this year to 7.1 percent. Compared to the same month in 2017, however, more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent their money back home this year as February last yea r ’s rem it t a nce g row t h averaged

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Zigfred Diaz

personal finance leveraging your portfolio. But let not this blind you to the potentials of making money in stocks. The stock market is the greatest money-making machine invented by man, and if done properly will most certainly let you achieve great returns. Be yourself. You may learn all you can from books, seminars and from mentors and gurus, but in the end, it is you who will do the actual buying and selling. Take kindly the counsel of the years for as you learn more about stock market investing, especially if you read and learn about investing from a business perspective you become a much-wiser investor. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you during volatile market downturns, especially during a bear market. For as long as you are investing from a business perspective you can be assured that you are making the right decisions. Do not distress yourself with what the market participants are doing. Many who get burned in the market are those who follow blindly what others are doing. While knowledge of stock market investing is crucial to investing success of equal or even utmost importance is the emotional stability amid market noise. You are an intelligent value investor and if you have done your homework well, your buy and sell decisions are correct, no less than the decisions made by the famous value and intelligent investors of

only 3.4 percent. Volume totaled some $100 million less in February 2017 than in the same month this year. February’s remittance inflow mainly came from Filipinos working in the United States, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Germany and Malaysia. I n pa r t ic u l a r, re m it t a nces f rom the US and UAE each contributed 1.2 percentage points to the 4.5-percent overall growth. Meanwhile, cash remittances from

Germany and Malaysia each shared 1 percentage point to the total growth in cash remittances. This brings the two-month cash remittances to $4.65 billion in 2018, higher than the $4.34 billion in 2017. Also, the BSP reported that cash remittances from both land-based and sea-based workers increased. T hose land-based OFW remittances grew by 6.4 percent to hit $3.7 billion, while seabased OFW remittances grew 9.8 percent to contribute $1 billion in the first two months of the year. Personal remittances, meanwhile, also grew slower in February to expand by 5.4 percent and hit $2.53 billion during the month. Personal remittances are sent home by Filipino migrant workers in cash and in kind. In 2017 the level of OFW personal remittances equaled 10 percent of local output or the GDP and 8.3 percent of the gross national income. Bianca Cuaresma

91-day T-bills rise higher to 3.493% T he Bureau of the Treasury reported mixed results in its latest Treasury bills (T-bills) sale on Monday, with the auction committee awarding in full the 91-day security, but only partially awarded the 182- and 364-day tenors. Deputy Treasurer Erwin D. Sta. Ana said the various government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs) continued to lean toward the short-dated 91-day IOU, with bids twice oversubscribed compared to the offer of only P5 billion. “Well, the offers came in at the shortest tenor. Basically our GSEDs favor the shortest tenors on issue,” Sta. Ana told financial reporters. He further said the market may have already priced in the looming rate hikes earlier indicated by the US Federal Reserve System (the Fed), as well as the anticipated of domestic inflation, among other factors. “We think that it’s about the hawkish

The intelligent value investor’s Desiderata o placidly amid the market noise, rumors and the haste, and remember what peace and riches are there may be in less market activity and silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all market participants. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and do not spread false rumors about stock prices nor immediately buy and sell based on rumor. As Warren Buffett, one of the wisest stock market investor used to say, “With enough inside information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year.” Always remember a fundamental law in stock market investing, “Returns decrease as motion [actively managed trading] increases” Listen most especially to the value investors and fundamental analyst. However, learn lessons from the pure technical analyst, even the seemingly dull and the ignorant, for they, too, have their story and you can certainly avoid their mistakes. Avoid loud and aggressive traders, especially those who use only pure technical analysis and who disregard the fundamentals, for they are vexations to your portfolio. If you constantly compare your portfolio with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be those who have greater gains in their portfolio than yourself. Enjoy the gains that you have and stick to your game plan. Keep close monitor of the stocks of the companies with durable competitive advantage that you are holding, for they produce real wealth in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your investing, for the world of stock market investing is full of trickery. Avoid getting over-

Editor: Jun B. Vallecera • Tuesday, April 17, 2018 A5

the past and present. And whether it is clear to you, there is no doubt that you have made the right decision. Therefore, be at peace with how your portfolio is doing no matter how seemingly small your gains are in the present because in the long run, as Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing says, “the stock market behaves like a voting machine, but in the long term it acts like a weighing machine.” True value will in the long run be reflected in its stock price. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of the stock market, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful place to grow your money. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy and contented with your portfolio. Above all, strive to always be an intelligent value investor and take comfort in the mantra, “Investing is most intelligent when it is most business like.” (Adapted from Max Ehrmann’s “Desiderata” written in 1927 and revised for the intelligent value investor in the stock market investing by Zigfred Diaz.) Atty. Zigfred Diaz is a Cebu-based reg istered f inanc ial planner of R FP Philippines and PSE Certified Securities Specialist. He is regular lecturer on the subject of “Easy investing methods: Intelligent investing that makes business sense” for Ticker and Trends, a stock market education group based in Cebu. To learn more about personal-financial planning, attend the 68th RFP program this May 2018. To inquire, e-mail info@r f p.ph or text <name><e-mail> <RFP> at 09179689774.

stance of the Fed. There are still, I think, reportedly three rate-hike cycles still on the table. Of course there’s a new development [from the] geopolitical perspective in Syria [that the] market is also factoring. Also the inflation picture domestically. That’s why there’s a little bit of preference on the 91-day,” Sta. Ana quickly added. The auction committee sold only the full P5 billion worth of 91-day T-bills, although bids aggregated P11.527 billion. This helped move the rate for the IOUs 14.7 basis points higher to 3.493 percent, from 3.346 percent. For the182-day T-bills, the auction committee partially awarded P2.080 billion worth of the aggregate P4 billion on offer. Investor interest on the six-month paper failed to lift off as the security received bids worth only P3.300 billion. Also as a consequence, the tenor averaged 47.8 basis points higher to 3.684 percent, from 3.206 percent

at the previous auction. The 364-day IOUs were similarly only partially awarded as the committee sold no more than P1.735 billion to the GSEDs instead of the full P6 billion. This translated to undersubscription aggregating only P3.435 billion. The rate for the security proved 39.6 basis points higher than the previous auction rate of 3.434 percent, from 3.830 percent. Sta. Ana said the Treasury’s cash position is well cushioned at the moment, giving it some leeway in terms of partially awarding or rejecting bids from the market. “Well, we still sit comfortably with our cash position, so I think we have some leeway with respect to the bids submitted by our GSEDs. But, at the end of the day, we are consulting with them, we are talking to them quite regularly so that we would know what the feedback is from the market side,” he said. Rea Cu

Hong Kong plows $1.7 billion into defending currency to little effect

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he Hong Kong dollar remains stuck at the weak end of its currency band, even after the monetary authority plowed $1.7 billion into defending the peg. The city’s dollar on Monday traded at HK$7.8499 per greenback at 5:31 p.m. local time, near the level that can spur buying by the de facto central bank. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has spent HK$13.3 billion ($1.7 billion) mopping up local dollars since the weak end of the band was reached on Thursday for the first time since 2005. The speed of intervention shows outflows are bigger than people had thought, according to China Everbright Bank Co. “The pace of HKMA’s buying is a bit faster than we expected,” said Ngan Kim Man, deputy head of treasury at China Everbright Bank’s Hong Kong branch. Outflows are likely to accelerate as the US further tightens monetary policy, which will finally boost short-end rates in Hong Kong, Ngan said. Hong Kong interbank rates have lagged behind their United States counterparts, thanks to an abundance of liquidity—something HKMA tightening may change. The aggregate balance of the city’s interbank cash supply will fall to HK$167 billion on Wednesday from the preintervention level of about HK$180 billion, according to the de facto central bank. One-month Hibor, as the local rate is known, stands at 0.85 percent, about 1 percentage point less than similar maturity Libor.

Hong Kong residents “shouldn’t expect that the environment of super low interest rates will persist forever,” Paul Chan, the city’s financial secretary, wrote in a blog last Sunday. Investors “have to consider the possibility of a rise in the borrowing costs, and the impacts of higher interest rates on asset prices and their investments.” The government has the capability of dealing with large capital outflows, and investors shouldn’t be too worried, Chan said. But the derivatives market is flashing signs of higher rates, with the Hong Kong dollar’s one-year interest-rate swaps spiking 12 basis points, the most since December 2016, to 1.89 percent on Monday. That’s the highest since 2008, and suggests traders are pricing in higher borrowing costs. Also, analysts are flagging risks to the city’s home prices, which are among the least affordable in the world. “If the downward pressure on the Hong Kong dollar persists, policy-makers are likely to step up its intervention over the coming months,” Chang Liu, China economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note dated Friday. “A bigger concern is that the rise in market interest rates precipitates a collapse in the property market, which causes wider problem in the economy, including a slump in consumption and a sharp rise in nonperforming loans.” Concern over intervention weighed on the city’s stock market, as the benchmark Hang Seng Index slid 1.6 percent on Monday. Bloomberg News

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Tuesday, April 17, 2018 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

The World BusinessMirror

Comey launches all-out war with Trump

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ASHINGTON—If there was any chance that President Donald J. Trump and James Comey could have avoided all-out war, it ended last Sunday night. That was when ABC News aired an interview with Comey, the president’s fired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director, as he uses a publicity blitz for his searing tell-all memoir, A Higher Loyalty, to raise the alarm about the dangers he says Trump poses to country. Related story on D2 While ABC aired one hour of its conversation with Comey, it had conducted a five-hour interview with him, a transcript of which was obtained by The New York Times.

‘Morally unfit to be president’

In it, Comey called Trump a serial liar who treated women like “meat,” and described him as a “stain” on everyone who worked for him. He said a salacious allegation that Trump had cavorted with prostitutes in Moscow had left him vulnerable to blackmail by the Russian government. And he asserted that the president was incinerating the country’s crucial norms and traditions like a wildfire. He compared the president to a mafia boss. “Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country,” Comey told ABC’s chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos, on the program 20/20. “The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that. He is morally unfit to be president.”

Public assault on a sitting president

The interview with Comey and the publicity tour for his book, which is scheduled to hit bookstores on Tuesday, amount to a remarkable public assault on a sitting president by someone who served at the highest levels in the government. The stakes for both men could hardly be higher. Comey seems likely to be the star witness in any obstruction of justice case that might be brought against the president by Robert Mueller, the special counsel in the sprawling Russia investigation. Trump’s legal fate, as well as his political fortunes in Washington, may depend on whether he succeeds in undermining the credibility of Comey and the law-enforcement institutions he views as arrayed against him.

Impeachment?

While many of Trump’s critics believe that the proper remedy for his perceived transgressions is impeachment, Comey insisted that would just “let the American people off the hook.” He said the public was “duty bound” to vote Trump out of office in the next election. “You cannot have, as president of the United States, someone who does not reflect the values that I believe Republicans treasure and Democrats treasure and independents treasure,” Comey said. “That is the core of this country. That’s our foundation. And so impeachment,

Epic battle of wills

Escalation of insults

It is unclear where this epic battle of wills will lead, other than a sustained escalation of insults between two men who have each admitted to having outsize egos. But it is certain to be a test of powerful forces in the modern media landscape: the presidential megaphone, amplified by 50 million Twitter followers, and the global reach of an adversary who is on a seemingly endless, 24-hour, cable-news-driven book tour. The president took a break from his attacks on Comey as he left the White House on a rainy Sunday afternoon to spend time at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. But it seemed likely that he and his allies would not back down in the face of Comey’s barrage of public accusations, which are expected to continue for weeks.

‘Self-admitted leaker’

On ABC’s This Week last Sunday morning, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the press secretary, unloaded on Comey, calling him a “self-admitted leaker” and a liar. At the White House last Friday, she had called him a “disgraced partisan hack” and a fired employee trying desperately to “rehabilitate his tattered reputation and enrich his own bank account.” Comey was similarly unrestrained in his ABC interview, speak-

This combination photo shows President Donald J. Trump (left) speaking during a roundtable on tax policy in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on April 5; and former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey speaking during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 8. AP/Evan Vucci and Andrew Harnik

ing with the abandon of a man who finally feels unleashed. He repeated for the cameras some of the assertions from his book that he must know will get under the president’s skin: that Trump’s hands are “average-sized,” that his skin is “orange” and that he seemed shorter than Comey had imagined he would be. “His tie was too long, as it always is,” Comey said. “He looked slightly orange up close with small white half-moons under his eyes, which I assume are from tanning goggles.” Comey described in vivid detail the interactions he had with Trump, including meetings and phone calls about which he said he meticulously wrote down notes afterward for posterity. (In another Twitter post last Sunday morning, Trump said that Comey’s “‘memos’ are self serving and FAKE!”)

Startling new details

Some of the most startling assertions by Comey revolved around his first meeting with the presidentelect at Trump Tower just days before the inauguration. That day, intelligence officials, including Comey, briefed the incoming president on Russia’s attempt to meddle with the election. Comey said Trump and his aides seemed interested only in what the former FBI director called the “PR and spin” about the issue. “The conversation, to my surprise, moved into a PR conversation about how the Trump team would position this and what they could say about this,” Comey said. “I don’t remember any questions about, ‘So what are they going to do next; how might we stop it? What’s the future look like? Because we’ll be custodians of the security of this country.’ There was none of that.” “It was all, ‘What can we say about what they did and how it affects the election that we just had?’” Comey said. It was at the end of the meeting that Comey said he asked to speak to Trump alone to brief him on the salacious “Steele dossier,” which contains unverified allegations about Trump, including a claim that the Russian government has video recordings of him watching prostitutes urinate on one another in a Moscow hotel room in 2013. Comey said Trump denied the allegations that day, saying, “Do

Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country.”—Comey

I look like a guy who needs hookers?” Weeks later, in a telephone call after the dossier was published by BuzzFeed, Trump again denied the account in graphic terms, Comey said. “There’s no way I’d let people pee on each other around me,” Trump said, according to Comey’s account. Comey said the president also raised the idea that the FBI should investigate the claim as a way of proving that it never happened. Comey said he warned Trump that doing so would add to “the narrative” that the president was under investigation. Comey said in the interview that he did not know whether the episode had taken place, or whether the Russians had material they could use to blackmail Trump. “I think it’s possible. I don’t know,” Comey told Stephanopolous. “These are more words I never thought I’d utter about a president of the United States, but it’s possible.”

Hallmarks of a ‘mob’ boss

Comey also offered additional details about the one-on-one dinner at which he says Trump demanded his loyalty. “And I said, ‘You will always get honesty from me,’” Comey recalled. “And he paused and then he said, ‘Honest loyalty,’ as if he was proposing some compromise or a deal. And I paused and said, ‘You’ll get that from me.’” That dinner felt like a mob initiation of sorts, Comey said in the interview, similar to the ones he often came across as a young prosecutor working to break up the mafia. “I’m not trying to, by the way, suggest that President Trump is out breaking legs and, you know, sha k ing dow n shopkeepers,” Comey said. Instead, it was reminiscent of “the loyalty oaths, the boss as the dominant center of everything. It’s all about how do you serve the boss, what’s in the boss’s interests. It’s the family, the family, the family, the family.”

In one of his Sunday Twitter posts, Trump insisted that “I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy.”

‘Evidence of obstruction of justice’

As he does in his book, Comey largely kept a distance in the interview from the Russia investigation. But he said Trump must have known that it was improper to ask his other top aides to leave the Oval Office so he could privately ask Comey to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn, his just-fired national security adviser. “If he didn’t know he was doing something improper, why did he kick out the attorney general and the vice president of the United States and the leaders of the intelligence community?” Comey said. “It’s certainly some evidence of obstruction of justice,” he said, though he added that a prosecutor would need to evaluate “other things that reflected on his intent.” The president has repeatedly criticized Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail case. Last Sunday he did so again in a Twitter post, claiming that Comey had admitted in his book that he went easy on her because he thought she would win the election. In fact, Comey said the opposite in his book, acknowledging that he may have unconsciously assumed she would win when he reopened the e-mail investigation just days before the election, something that many Democrats believe was devastating to her campaign. In the ABC interview, Comey said he believed at the time that it would be extremely damaging to the credibility of the FBI if the reopened investigation did not come to light until after Clinton had won the White House. “If I ever start considering whose political fortunes w ill be affected by a decision, we’re done,” he said. “We’re no longer that group in America that is apart from the partisans, and that can be trusted.” New York Times News Service

China and Japan revive economic dialogue amid US trade threats

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apan and China hold their first high-level economic dialogue in almost eight years on Monday against a backdrop of trade threats from the United States. While neither side is publicly linking the talks in Tokyo between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono to President Donald J. Trump’s protectionist policies, the meeting is a timely reminder of not

only how much they both rely on the American market, but also how interdependent the two Asian nations have become. Even before he was elected, Trump had criticized both Chinese and Japanese trade and economic policies as unfair and damaging to the US. Recently, he has threatened tariffs on Chinese exports and limits on investment, and just last week took

UK lawmakers could thwart Brexit deal in Parliament

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in a way, would short-circuit that.” Comey’s intensely personal attacks—a reflection of his self-righteousness, his detractors say—are all the more combustible because they are aimed directly at a president who has said with pride on Twitter that “when someone attacks me, I always attack back... except 100x more.” As if on cue, hours before the interview aired, Trump called Comey a “slimeball” for the second time in three days, saying in a pair of early-morning Twitter posts that he belonged in jail for what the president said were lies to Congress and leaks of classified information. In another post, Trump said Comey would go down in history as “the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!” He added that “he is not smart!” In the ABC interview, Comey had kinder things to say about Trump’s brainpower, saying he did not think the president suffered from mental incompetence or was in the early stages of dementia. He said Trump struck him as a person of “above average intelligence.” But Comey responded to the president’s Twitter posts with a more subtle dig of his own. “My book is about ethical leadership & draws on stories from my life & lessons I learned from others,” he wrote on Twitter. “3 presidents are in my book: 2 help illustrate the values at the heart of ethical leadership; 1 serves as a counterpoint.”

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a shot at Japan, saying the nation “has hit us hard on trade for years!” That trade may be on the table for discussion when Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with Trump later this week in Florida, but the rise of intra-Asian trade has weakened the power of US attempts to coerce countries. China has replaced the US as the No. 1 trading partner for most nations in Asia, even those that have

military alliances with the US, like South Korea, Japan and Australia. China is not just a trading partner, but also an important source of investment and tourists, which give it added bargaining and coercive power against other Asian nations. That being said, the US is still a more important overall economic partner for many in Asia. Japan, for example, has multiple times as much money invested in the

US as it does in China, and even with the recent tensions, many Asian companies rely on the US market. Trade tension between the US and China is not new. Even before Trump began railing against the persistent trade deficit, the US had complained to the World Trade Organization about Chinese actions more than about any other nation. And China has reciprocated. Bloomberg News

nit ed K i ngdom ( U K ) l aw m a kers cou ld send Prime Minister Theresa May back to the negotiating table, engineer a second referendum or prompt a general election when the final Brexit deal comes to Parliament for approval, according to an influential think tank. The government has said that Parliament will have a take-it-orleave-it vote on the deal it negotiates with Brussels, which it aims to complete in October—about five months before the UK is due to leave the European Union (EU). Brexit Secretary David Davis said lawmakers could either vote for the deal, or for the much-feared chaos of no deal. But the Institute for Government (IFG) argues that Parliament will almost certainly be able to amend the motion that May puts to the House of Commons to get approval. That will be lawmakers’ best chance to change the course of Brexit. “This approval process could produce some of the most elevated moments of political theater in living memory,” the institute said in a paper published on Monday. May doesn’t have a majority in Parliament and her Conservative Party is deeply divided over Brexit. She has been defeated on the issue there before, when Tory rebels voted with Labour lawmakers against the government. A group of anti-Brexit lawmakers is working to thwart Brexit, or at least bring about a second referendum, and their focus is on the tactics they will use this Fall when the deal is brought to the legislature for approval. “It is in the government’s political self-interest to talk up the disruption associated with voting down the deal. However, the government’s claim that the vote is a binary choice between deal or no deal is wrong,” the institute said. The House of Commons could amend the motion in the following ways: Seeking a renegotiation: Telling the government to keep UK in EU; telling the government to leave without a deal; and seeking a referendum on the deal. It could also vote against the motion. That might send officials back to the negotiating table, according to the IFG. Alternatively, a rejection could lead to Parliament trying to decide what happens next, such as an extension of the exit deadline. “It is possible that in the course of the parliamentary debate, it would become clear what Parliament intended by its rejection,” the IFG said. If, however, various factions vote against it for different reasons, “the situation would be extremely murky. T he gover nment cou ld attempt to chart a way forward but it is difficult to see how it could avoid a general election and in all likelihood a request to extend the Article 50 period,” the IFG argues. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act—a law from 2011 that sets pa rl i a ment a r y ter ms at f ive years—leaves May w ithout a tool her predecessors have used to force party discipline: Threatening to call an election if a vote is lost. Even so, “there are ways for the prime minister to raise the stakes,” the IFG said. She could promise to table a motion calling for a genera l elect ion if she loses, or vow to resign, it added. Bloomberg News

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Tuesday, April 17, 2018 A7

Growth maintained a 6.8-percent pace

China’s econ poised to brush off Trump threats

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orget about trade wars, debt mountains, regulatory crackdowns and even the hullabaloo surrounding Xi Jinping becoming China’s perpetual president. The economy is expected to have tuned out all the background noise and powered ahead in the first quarter. According to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey, growth maintained a 6.8-percent pace, well ahead of a target for about 6.5-percent expansion this year. The report is due for release on Tuesday at 10 a.m. in Beijing, along with retail sales and industrial production data for March. The statistics bureau also will begin monthly release of a survey-based unemployment rate, the first regularly updated gauge for the world’s biggest labor market that’s similar to indexes for other major economies like the US and Europe. Tougher times may await should Xi’s so-called critical battles against financial risk and pollution bite deeper or if trade tensions with the US intensify. But as Xi pledges wider opening and better protection for intellectualproperty rights—central issues in Donald J. Trump’s trade gripes— economists see growth ending 2018 bang on the 6.5-percent target. “China’s economy entered 2018 at full throttle, undeterred by policy bumps along the way,” said

since late-2017, the sector will remain a drag on growth in coming quarters, he said.

Trade tensions with US

Frederic Neumann, cohead of Asian economics research at HSBC Holdings Plc. in Hong Kong. “Over the course of this year, growth will likely cool, responding to policy tightening at home and trade uncertainty abroad. But the deceleration should prove marginal.” Expansion of 6.8 percent in the first quarter would match the pace of growth in the last three months of 2017 and be just a fraction off the 6.9 percent recorded for last year.

Better economic indicators

People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang last week said economic indicators performed better than expected in the first quarter, amid continued improvement in the global outlook. Retail sales are projected to have increased 9.7 percent in March, matching readings in the first two months, while industrial production rose 6.4 percent, a slowdown from January and February, according to economist estimates. Fixed-asset investment is seen slowing to 7.7 percent in the first quarter compared to 9.2 percent a year earlier. China combines some indicators for the first two months of the year due to an annual holiday. “We really shouldn’t be sur-

People walk through a footbridge inside the CDF Mall, a duty-free shopping complex operated by China International Travel Service Co. in Sanya, Hainan province, China, on March 14. Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

prised that China’s economy is doing well,” said James Laurenceson, deputy director of the AustraliaChina Relations Institute at the University of Technology in Sydney. “Consumer confidence has been bouncing off multiyear highs, while purchasing managers indexes have been consistently in expansion territory. Like the US, it’s becoming more driven by domestic demand every year.”

Stronger headwinds

H eadwinds a re l i k e l y t o

We hope both China and the US can solve the disputes with wisdom and respect.”—Songping strengthen in coming months as property and infrastructure activity weaken, though manufacturing investment, resilient consumption and strong external demand will cushion the impact, UBS Group AG economists Zhang Ning and Wang Tao said in a note.

Wall Street economists see global growth cresting not collapsing

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he International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducts its semiannual health check of the world economy this week with investors fretting global growth is starting to sag after accelerating the most since 2011 last year. Despite the soft start to the year and ongoing trade tensions, economists on Wall Street and beyond are sticking to forecasts for another solid economic expansion in 2018, while acknowledging the risks of slippage have mounted. Here’s a rundown of what economists at major banks are saying in reports and interviews about the outlook. The forecasts are for global output in 2018 and are mostly in terms of purchasing power parity, the metric favored by the IMF, which currently anticipates an expansion of 3.9 percent. n Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (4.1 percent) There have been negative surprises, but we’re not that overly concerned. The bottom line is that the global growth numbers have moderated, but we’re not rolling over as much as some of the data suggest. — Jari Stehn, economist, April 3 n Morgan Stanley (3.9 percent) Developed market growth has moderated alongside the rising risk of protectionism, renewing concerns over the length of the global expansion. The more critical debate, in my view, is how long the business cycle has to run. The end does not seem near. The most important risk to the business cycle in our view is the potential stress in US corporate balance sheets, particularly in the context of a further rise in real rates. Hence, we recommend that you keep your seat belts fastened.—Chetan Ahya, global cohead of economics, April 8 n UniCredit Group (3.9 percent) While the global economy still looks robust, a number of indicators have eased off their peak these past couple of weeks. So far, it’s nothing to worry about, but the overwhelming probabilit y is that the globa l

economic expansion is not accelerating anymore, which means—virtually by definition—that the risk of lower global growth has increased. If you now combine this quite natural change in the risk profile for global growth with the possible effects on trade, business sentiment and growth more broadly of these most recent unfortunate turns in global politics, you have to worry about the growth trajectory, including about the possibility of a significant slowdown. I suggest you fasten your seatbelts.—Erik Nielsen, group chief economist, April 8 n Citigroup Inc. (3.4 percent at current exchange rates) Recent growth and inflation data seem to have undershot expectations. Recent developments have sharpened our risk outlook. We continue to see small upside risks to our 2018 growth, inflation and monetary-policy forecasts; but downside risks have risen. This is largely the result of growing geopolitical risk, and the increasing importance of the weak dollar to global (and especially emerging market) growth.—Willem Buiter, special economic adviser, March 26 n HSBC Holdings Plc. (3.9 percent) The global synchronized recovery looks set to continue in 2018. Global growth is very robust by postcrisis standards, all regions of the world are participating in a synchronized upturn and unemployment is falling more or less everywhere.

The def lation risk has been averted but inflation is generally very contained and interest rates are still low. 2018 should be another solid year of growth in the global economy. Although we think that growth has already peaked in the euro area and Japan, we expect much of emerging markets to actually pick up marginally.—Janet Henry, global chief economist, March 22 n JPMorgan Chase and Co. (3.9 percent) While surprised by recent news we remain comfortable that 2018 will produce strong and synchronized global growth. However, for the first time in a year, activity and survey readings are challenging our forecast.—Bruce Kasman, chief economist, April 13 n BNP Paribas SA (3.9 percent) We see warning signs that things may be slowing. Risks are largely to the downside. Various indicators are delivering readings last seen before the Great Recession. Upside potential from here is relatively limited, meaning the risks are largely to the downside.—Paul Mortimer-Lee, chief market economist, March 23 n Pimco (3 percent to 3.5 percent at current exchange rates) It’s been clear that growth has peaked and is no longer accelerating. The question is how sustainable the expansion now is. In the US we still see fiscal stimulus coming in and I would expect there to be a reacceleration. We are beginning to see the end of this economic expansion, but

it’s the beginning of the end not the end.—Joachim Fels, global economic adviser, April 11 n Nomura Holdings Inc. (4.1 percent) Amid heightened concerns about the outlook for the world economy in recent weeks, we argue that downside risks to global growth are overstated. Leading indicators, including surprise indices, have softened but in many cases from multiyear highs and unsustainable levels. Global income and profit momentum is still strong, global financial conditions are still loose, the thrust of global fiscal policy is positive and underappreciated and capex dynamics are offering support.—Andrew Cates and Andy Chaytor, research analysts, April 11 n Barclays Plc. (4.2 percent) Escalation of the US-China dispute has entered a new phase, but ongoing trade-war uncertainty leads us to recommend shifting away from risk assets. Recent declines in global manufacturing confidence and a moderation in US job gains raise risks to our growth view. But sentiment is still at historically healthy levels, US earnings are strong and China growth has accelerated, keeping the global expansion intact in the second quarter.—April 6 report n Bank of America Merrill Lynch (4.0 percent) It’s still a synchronized improvement, though we may have hit the maximum pace. The US will move into the lead because of the big fiscal stimulus. Growth will be a little softer in Europe and Japan.— Ethan Harris, head of global economics research, April 9 n Deutsche Bank AG (3.9 percent) Growth is slowing from a relatively high level. We’re worrying much more about overheating than a slowdown. The big tailwind for global growth will continue to be the fiscal expansion in the US.—Torsten Slok, chief international economist, April 9 Bloomberg News

Growth will be pressured by campaigns to curb financial risk and pollution, factors that make economic policy overall less favorable to growth, says Zhou Hao, an economist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore. And as most Chinese cities have seen a property slowdown

Looming large over everything is the risk that trade tensions with the US morph into a protracted, widening conflict. Friction has escalated as Trump threatened tariffs on some $150 billion of imports from China, and Beijing announced potential retaliation on US goods, including soybeans and airliners. Hopes the dispute can be quickly settled were boosted last week when Xi reiterated pledges to open sectors from banking to auto manufacturing in a speech at the Boao Forum for Asia. He also expanded on proposals to increase imports, lower foreign-ownership limits on manufacturing and expand intellectual-property rights. “We hope both China and the US can solve the disputes with wisdom and respect,” Huang Songping, a spokesman for the customs administration, said last Friday at a briefing in Beijing. “We hope trade relations can return to the track of healthy and stable development.” A week after escalating tensions by threatening tariffs on an additional $100 billion of Chinese products, Trump said last Thursday the two countries ultimately may end up levying no new tariffs on each other. “Now we’re really negotiating and I think they’re going to treat us really fairly,” he told Republican leaders from farm states at a White House meeting. “I think they want to.” Bloomberg News

Trump to impose new sanctions on Russia over support for Syria

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ASHINGTON—The Trump administration plans to impose new sanctions against Russia on Monday to punish it for enabling the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons in its civil war, the latest in a series of actions by both sides underscoring the deterioration in relations between Moscow and the West. The sanctions, coming shortly after US-led air strikes against facilities linked to Syria’s chemical weapons, are meant to signal that the United States holds responsible not just the government of President Bashar al-Assad but also his patrons in Russia and Iran. President Donald J. Trump has vowed that Syria’s allies will pay a “big price” for facilitating the suspected use of poison gas. But it remained unclear how far Trump would go in trying to shape events in Syria, which has been racked by civil war for seven years. President Emmanuel Macron of France, who, along with Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, joined in the strike on Syrian targets, said last Sunday night that he had persuaded Trump to keep a small US ground force in Syria, despite the president’s public declaration that he wanted to get out. “We convinced him it was necessary to stay,” Macron said in a televised interview with French journalists. “I assure you, we have convinced him that it is necessary to stay for the long term.” US officials, however, disputed that, saying that Macron misinterpreted the conversation. About 2,000 US troops are in Syria to fight the Islamic State not to play a role in the civil war. In public comments before the chemical attack that prompted him to launch air strikes, Trump said he wanted to pull them out right away. Advisers urged him to hold off, and he gave them five to six months to complete a withdrawal. “The US mission has not changed— the president has been clear that he wants US forces to come home as quickly

as possible,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement last Sunday night. “We are determined to completely crush ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] and create the conditions that will prevent its return. In addition, we expect our regional allies and partners to take greater responsibility both militarily and financially for securing the region.” The new US sanctions were announced last Sunday by Nikki R. Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations and the administration’s leading public voice excoriating Russia in recent days. “They will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons use,” she said on Face the Nation on CBS. “And so I think everyone is going to feel it at this point. I think everyone knows that we sent a strong message, and our hope is that they listen to it.” Trump has tried through most of his presidency to forge a friendship with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and has largely avoided criticizing him personally even as a special counsel, Robert Mueller, investigated whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 election. But in recent weeks, his administration has taken increasing action against Russia, and the president singled out Putin over Syria’s use of chemical weapons on Twitter and again in a televised speech last Friday night. New sanctions on Monday would be the third round enacted by the Trump administration against Russia in the past four weeks. Last month the administration targeted Russian companies and individuals for intervening in the 2016 election and mounting cyberattacks against Western facilities. It followed that this month with penalties against Putin’s inner circle, singling out some of Russia’s richest men and top government officials. New York Times News Service

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Syrians wonder ‘what’s next?’ after US strikes

IN this April 14 photo, a Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center that was attacked by United States, British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar al-Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria. AP/Hassan Ammar

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EIRUT—The day after the United States and its allies launched missile strikes against the Syrian government, very little had changed for most Syrians who have spent years suffering through their country’s civil war. In Damascus hundreds demonstrated in support of President Bashar al-Assad, whose grip remained unchallenged. In Raqqa which was recently liberated from the Islamic State (IS), teams defused mines the jihadis had strewn across the destroyed city. Thousands of people from Douma, the site of the reported chemical attack that prompted the US strikes, looked for shelter after joining the millions of other Syrians who have been displaced from their homes. And on the front lines separating hostile parties throughout the country, fighting continued as it has for years. Now that the dust has settled from the US strikes, with President Donald J. Trump declaring “mission accomplished,” Russia logging complaints and Assad returning to work, how does Syria move forward? For tomorrow and the next day, at least, it will remain mired in its painful status quo: A multilayered conflict with the Syrian people stranded in battles between global and regional powers. The United Nations will keep organizing talks that do not bring peace, and the Security Council will remain too divided to stop the bloodshed. Seven years in, some now argue that the only realistic way to stop the war, prevent a jihadi resurgence and allow the country to move on is to acknowledge that Assad, with help from Iran and Russia, will remain in power and to effectively let him win. Once the guns fall quiet, they say, Syria’s other sizable issues can be addressed: the fight between Turkey and the Kurds in the north; the shadow war between Iran and Israel; and the rebuilding of destroyed communities so that refugees can return. Ceding that much to Assad has long

been anathema in Washington and other Western capitals, where policymakers believe he should be punished for his brutality during the war and have vowed not to contribute to reconstruction as long as he remains in power. Some counter that if the West refuses to invest the resources needed to determine Syria’s future, its efforts to penalize Assad will make life worse for average Syrians. “You are not punishing Assad, you are punishing the poor Syrian people,” said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “If America’s objectives are countering terrorism, stabilization and the return of refugees, all of these will fail.” Trump ordered last Saturday’s strikes, which were carried out in conjunction with Britain and France, to punish Assad for an apparent chemical attack in Douma a week before. The strikes were not intended to topple Assad, damage the Russian and Iranian allies that support his troops, or protect civilians from violence. In fact, they were meticulously planned and executed to avoid altering the overall dynamics of the conflict and keep the United States from getting dragged further in. That frustrated Assad’s foes. “The American strikes did not change anything for Syrians,” said Osama Shoghari, an antigovernment activist from Douma who is struggling to start a new life in an unfamiliar town 180 miles away from his home. “They did not change anything on the ground.” The West’s resistance to further intervention is good news for Russia and Iran, and of course for Assad, who was happy last Sunday, according to a group of Russian politicians who visited him. “President Assad has an absolute-

ly positive attitude, a good mood,” said Natalya Komarova, a member of the delegation, according to Russian news agencies. But in an acknowledgment of the war’s toll, another visitor reported that Assad said rebuilding Syria could cost $400 billion. If the primary message of the strikes was that Assad could not use chemical weapons, a secondary message was that the West was going to leave him in power, no matter what else he did. “Even if this is a chemical-weapons deterrent, that leaves a whole arsenal of conventional means with which people can be killed in Syria with few real repercussions,” said Sam Heller, a senior analyst who studies Syria at the International Crisis Group. “There is every reason to expect that that will continue.” Seven years of conflict have seen Syria sliced up by world powers, with the Turks administering towns in the north, the United States working with Kurdish-led militias in the east, and Russia and Iran helping Assad rout the remaining pockets of rebels elsewhere. At this point, no one seems to have a realistic plan to broker a lasting peace between those forces that would bring Syria together again in a stable enough way to allow millions of refugees to return home and for rebuilding to begin. Many discount the idea that Assad can play a meaningful role in that process. “It is very shortsighted and erroneous in my mind,” said Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “Facilitating a win for Assad is making sure that Syria remains the epicenter of instability in the region.” Research by the center has found that if Assad remains in power, it would discourage the return of Syrian refugees from neighboring countries and Europe. “They are not going back as long as Assad is in power because they don’t believe that there will be safety and stability while Assad is there,” Yahya said. The only solution, she said, is a settlement between Russia and the United States that other powers, like Turkey and Iran, could eventually be brought into. But reaching such an agreement would involve an intensity of diplomatic efforts that Trump’s administration is not interested in. New York Times News Service

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Funds take nothing for granted in Malaysia vote as ringgit halts

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olls predict Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will be returned to office in next month’s general election, but a string of political shocks around the world in recent years mean investors are bracing for a range of possible outcomes. While the ringgit is still Asia’s third-best performer this year, it lost ground this month as uncertainty increases before the May 9 vote. The nation’s 10-year bond yields climbed to the highest level in a month last week. “There has been a slightly weaker bias in the ringgit recently as we approach the general elections,” said Mingze Wu, an FX trader at INTL FCStone Inc. in Singapore. “Political watchers are expecting the ruling party to win, but we’ve had so many surprises in the past couple of years that the market isn’t taking anything for granted.” Najib is hoping the strongest economic growth in three years will help his ruling coalition improve on the previous election in 2013 when it secured its lowest number of parliamentary seats. The opposition Pakatan Harapan, led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, is aiming to take advantage of voter disaffection caused by rising living costs and financial scandals surrounding the government. “Brexit, Trump and the dark horses have been winning,” Wu said. “People are upset at the ruling party. Whether this translates to opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad winning is another story, but it’ll be foolish to write him off entirely despite the long shot.” Here is what fund managers and analysts say about likely market reac-

tions to a range of possible outcomes: 1. Najib Wins A victory for the ruling coalition will be a net positive for Malaysian assets, says Jean-Charles Sambor, deputy head of emerging-market fixed income in London at BNP Paribas Asset Management, which oversees the equivalent of $702 billion. “We see Malaysian local currency bonds as still under-owned by foreigners,” he said. “The market wants to see political and policy continuities.” A win by Najib will be taken as a sign of continuity and positive for markets in the short term, said Roberto D’Ambrosio, CEO at Alpari Research and Analysis (UK) in London. The ringgit may strengthen as much as 1.5 percent if Najib is reelected, according to Malayan Banking Bhd. analysts led by Saktiandi Supaat in Singapore. Still, a lot of optimism may already have been priced in with the currency having risen around 6 percent against the dollar in the 90 days before the dissolution of parliament, the biggest gain for the period relative to previous elections since 1982, the analysts said. If the ruling coalition wins, the ringgit will post negligible gains, as it has already strengthened quite a bit, and the win would imply status quo for Malaysian economic policies, said Khoon Goh, head of Asian research at Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore. 2. Hung parliament “IT would definitely create a volatile environment,” Sambor at BNP Paribas Asset said. “We would have less visibility in such an environment, however our portfolio decisions

would be heavily predicated on the likely resolution in such a scenario, as well as prevailing market pricing.” Barings may maintain its current positions even in the case of a hung parliament, as Malaysia is on a solid economic footing, said Ricardo Adrogue, head of emerging markets debt in Boston at the fund manager, which oversees more than $300 billion. Similar to developed economies, a hung parliament or a protracted period of political negotiation will not necessarily be bad for the economy, he added. 3. Opposition wins Much will depend on the market reaction and the composition of parliament although positions are unlikely to be revised, Adrogue at Barings said. “We never see political renewal [the opposition winning elections] as a bad omen anywhere,” he said. “In Malaysia’s case, the opposition has not yet governed the country in the past, and that is the only uncertainty for investors—that is, how they will govern. But this is not necessarily negative.” Markets may react negatively to an opposition victory in the short term, although the focus will be on Malaysia’s economic fundamentals, which will remain unaffected, D’Ambrosio at Alpari said. “Given that the opposition has never won before, it will be seen as a huge surprise to the market, which may see the initial reaction being a weaker ringgit,” Goh at ANZ said. “The near-term topside resistance level in USD/MYR of 3.9004 may be the first target in such a scenario.” Malaysia’s currency has gained 4.3 percent this year to trade at 3.8798 per dollar late last Friday. Bloomberg News

Models slink down runway at first Saudi fashion week

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N the lobby of Riyadh’s RitzCarlton hotel, two Russian models with slick-high ponytails glide past a woman draped head-totoe in black. Heading for a cigarette break during Saudi Arabia’s first-ever fashion week, Naya Efimova and Ira Titova were both excited and bored. Excited to be “part of history” as the conservative Islamic kingdom opens up, said Titova, 25. Bored, because they’d been told they couldn’t leave the hotel without a male chaperone. The Riyadh edition of Arab Fashion Week, which showcased local and foreign designers, was another example of the government’s effort to ease social restrictions—and the internal tensions it creates. Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who’s trying to overhaul the oil-dependent economy, the government lifted a longstanding ban on women driving and started holding mixed-gender concerts. Contrary to what the Russian models had been told, many women go about the city on their own. Still, the kingdom is a deeply traditional society, and sometimes it seems like officials aren’t sure how far they can push. There’s been pushback by some Saudis against the concerts, and the unchaperoned women had better be dressed in loose-fitting robes in public. It was a women-only audience at fashion week, where 1,500 people paid 500 riyals ($133) per show to watch models saunter down the run-

Female shoppers wearing traditional Saudi Arabian dress walk past retail clothing stores inside the Kingdom Centre shopping mall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 2, 2016. Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

way wearing shoulder-baring dresses and flowing gowns that could never be worn in public in Saudi Arabia. (They’d be OK for private parties). A Russian ballet troupe performed, and Jean Paul Gaultier was among the international designers to strut his stuff. “We have a lot of potential and amazing Saudi designers,” said Princess Noura bint Faisal, president of the Arab Fashion Council. “It is a major industry in this market, and the event is just the beginning.” Princess Noura wants to bring a top fashion school to Saudi Arabia and has dreams for a “fashion city” someday. But for now, the fashion council is treading carefully. The information packet distributed to foreign journalists included a 14-point list on local laws

and customs, with reminders that alcohol is banned and homosexual activity and extramarital sexual relations are “illegal and can be subject to severe penalties.” Leaving the final show last Saturday, Saudi attendee Fatima Al Otaibi was excited that a Saudi designer had participated. “It’s the first time in my life I’ve attended a fashion show, so it’s really amazing,” she said. Between drags of their cigarettes, the two Russian models mused over the fact that they had been cooped up in the same hotel that had recently been used to jail Saudi royals and businessmen accused of corruption. Not the worst thing in the world to be stuck in a luxury confine like the Ritz, they said. Bloomberg News

UK lawmakers warn against tech giants dominating artificial intelligence

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N influential body of United Kingdom lawmakers said regulators should stop major tech companies from dominating the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and also warned on the potential of widespread unemployment due the technology.

British antitrust regulators should be mindful that large datasets on which AI depends on are not monopolized by a handful of large technology companies, such as Alphabet Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp., the House of Lords Select

Committee on Artificial Intelligence said in a report published on Monday. “Large companies which have control over vast quantities of data must be prevented from becoming overly powerful within this landscape,” the report, which followed a nine-month

inquiry into all aspects of AI development in the United Kingdom, said. The committee received 223 pieces of written evidence and interviewed 57 witnesses during the course of the investigation. However, it stopped short in recom-

mending the creation of an overarching new ministry to serve as a watchdog on the emerging technology. “We don’t see the need for an overarching regulator,” Timothy ClementJones, the chairman of the committee, said in an interview. But he added that

the Financial Conduct Authority, for instance, should be aware of how insurance companies are using machinelearning algorithms to help determine someone’s premiums or how banks are using such technology to determine whether to extend credit. Bloomberg News

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Editor: Angel R. Calso • Tuesday, April 17, 2018 A9

Chinese tycoon’s all-in bet on Korean island

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By Blake Schmidt & Yoojung Lee | Bloomberg

ometimes, all you need is a private jet. Soon after property tycoon Yang Zhihui bet his fortune on luring Chinese gamblers and investors to a giant casino-resort project in South Korea, his ambitions were threatened by an economic war that flared up between the two nations.

Yang not only weathered the political spat over North Korea’s nuclear program, but his massive project expanded and his company announced this month it would build another casino in the Philippines. How Yang managed to keep the dream alive has a lot to do with his days as a property agent during China’s booms years, the profit he reaped from flipping one of James Bond’s old gambling haunts, and a Bombardier Global 6000 jet bought for $53 million in 2013. It also shows why Asia’s gambling expansion continues unabated, despite China’s economic slowdown, a looming trade war and Xi Jinping’s crackdowns on corruption and cash exports. In November 2016 Yang’s company signed a deal to buy out its partner, Genting Singapore PLC, in the $2.4-billion project on South Korea’s Jeju island, a holiday haven for honeymooners about the size of Maui and an hour’s flight from Seoul. At the time, Chinese visitors were the fastest-growing part of the island’s economy, which relies heavily on the attractions of its volcanic scenery and mild climate. That all changed when South Korea decided to install the US Thaad missile defense system after being spooked by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s warlike rhetoric and weapons tests. China objected and ordered travel agents to stop selling tour packages to South Korea in March 2017, according to the Korean tourist bureau. Airlines cut the number of flights to the peninsula and Chinese visitor numbers slumped. That’s where Yang’s jet came in. Yang bought the 19-passenger Bombardier in 2013, and had his company lease it from his British Virgin Islands-registered company, Win Rich Group Ltd., to fly around management, wealthy property investors, high-rolling gamblers and himself, according to company filings. It was a brash move by a chairman who’d just succeeded in getting a Hong Kong backdoor listing, but years later it turned out to be a lifeline for his Jeju Shinhwa Resort, after

his listed company Landing International Development Ltd. bought the jet from him. The aircraft became a link between Jeju and the wealthy clients Yang cultivated during his ascent as a property developer, as well as others coming to the casino, which officially opened in February. Yang didn’t provide details about the jet’s usage other than that it’s strictly for business purposes. Travelers that don’t join tour groups have been less affected, he said. “Free travelers are generally not affected, and they have higher spending power,” Yang said in replies to questions sent by e-mail. Yang’s majority stake in Landing International gives him a net worth of more than $1.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That fortune grew after Landing almost doubled its money in less than two years on the sale of the famous London casino, Les Ambassadeurs in Mayfair, the location shown for Sean Connery’s immortal introduction as “Bond, James Bond.” Landing said it sold the property for HK$2.5 billion ($320 million). With money from the casino sale, rights issues and funding from his China-based property group, Yang went all-in on Jeju. Landing said to date it has invested $1.7 billion in the resort. A recent visit to the site shows the scale of his ambition. Rising on an area five times the size of Tokyo Disneyland are four hotel brands including a Four Seasons and a Marriott, a theme park with virtual-reality docks and life-sized, 3D-animated Korean characters, a cafe designed by K-pop star GDragon, villas, shopping malls and another 40 restaurants and food outlets. And South Korea’s biggest foreigners-only casino. The resort has been opening in stages since April 2017. The casino debuted in February, joining Somerset serviced condos, convention center, theme park and shopping. The Four Seasons, a water park and movie-themed park are under way.

Jeju Shinhwa World resort SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Such a mammoth Chinesebacked venture on an island with a turbulent record in the region’s politics has not gone unopposed by local pressure groups. Jeju recently completed a military-civilian naval base, delayed by local and international protesters who denounced environmental effects and raised concerns that it would be a base for US ships and missiles. Landing gained conditional approval from the local government in February to expand its casino floor space sevenfold, but only after threatening to withdraw its promise of hiring thousands of Koreans. Local activists delayed the approval for months, arguing that Landing’s expansion would spearhead a Macaulike casino boom that would taint the island’s reputation. “It was ridiculous that the government granted expansion approval to Landing based on the belief that Landing would help locals,” said Hong Young-cheol, at environmental group JSPSEP. Now, other casinos on the island will also want to expand, he added. Jeju is one of more than a dozen Asian destinations trying to cash in on China’s appetite for gambling, following the boom in Macau that turned a Portuguese backwater into the world’s biggest gaming strip. Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia and Cambodia have all added or expanded casino-resorts and Japan is about to join the fray.

Jeju Shinhwa’s main competitor on the South Korean island is expected to be Jeju Dream Tower, a 38-floor hotel with a casino and shopping that Chinese builders are erecting close to the airport. The projects could be game changers for the island compared to the casinos that existed before, Grant Govertsen, head of Asia equity research at Union Gaming, said in a phone interview from Macau. “They all sucked,” Govertsen said. “We haven’t been able to see what a real integrated resort could do.” The growth in Chinese tourism has piqued investor interest in casinos, which haven’t historically been a major source of revenue, according to Yang Gi-Cheol, head of the Jeju government’s tourism bureau. Half the island’s eight casinos are Chinese-owned and like every Korean casino except one in Gangwon province, all are off limits to Korean citizens. “Macau distinguished itself with casinos,” Yang said at the island’s tourism bureau. “But Jeju’s values are its nature and culture.” At Landing, Yang Zhihui says he isn’t trying to create another Macau either. He wants his project to be considered a “Jeju company” that supports residents and provides jobs, local partnerships and educations. His group’s donation to the local university earned him a bronze bust, now on display at campus. Yang cultivated a network of wealthy investors, including Yao Ji-

anhua, brother of wealthy insurer Yao Zhenhua. Yao Jianhua’s Hong Kong-listed investment company China Goldjoy recently upped its Landing stake to become a top shareholder, citing prospects of “China’s cultural tourism” market. Still, the vast majority of visitors to the island are South Koreans—the air route from Seoul is the world’s busiest, with an average of 178 trips a day. For Koreans, Jeju is Instagram heaven with its volcanic coastline, Unesco heritage lava tubes and the nation’s highest peak, Halla Mountain, draped with waterfalls. But Chinese tourists are the bigger spenders and the mainstay of the casinos. So, when visitor numbers from China slumped 76 percent last year, even businesses such as the Sex theme park and the Teddy Bear Museum, and the restaurants of Black Pork Street were hit. At New Huacheng Travel, the island’s largest agency for inbound Chinese tourists, Finance Manager Park Ho-san sat alone on a recent March day, minding the empty office. Dozens of staff have left due to the Chinese freeze. “The ban happened and everything has fallen through,” Park said. Xi Jinping’s half-decade crackdown on extravagance within the Communist party has also affected the casino business in Asia, slowing Macau’s growth rate. Jeju, an hour’s flight from Shanghai, offers the advantage of being close enough but still offshore for Chinese high

rollers, said Taewan Kim, professor of political science at Dong-eui University in Busan. On April 9 Landing announced a plan to build another 9.5-hectare integrated resort in Parañaque City, near the Philippine capital. “You don’t necessarily want the Chinese government to know how you’re spending your gambling money,” Kim said. And Jeju has been especially welcoming, offering visa-free visits, permanent residency for condo investors, with medical benefits, and a 10-percent tax on gross gaming revenue, less than one-third the rate in Macau. Landing is betting that those advantages, and Jeju’s location and natural attractions, will be a winning combination, especially for a Chinese audience keen on Korean culture and K-pop superstars such as G-Dragon, whose shoes and gold microphone are on display at the resort in a café the K-pop king helped design. But the full potential of Jeju’s casino boom still hangs on the Chinese government’s control of the flow of tourists to the island. In a lounge with a giant screen playing clips of G-Dragon, the resort’s chief executive, Jay Lee, a former Genting executive, is preparing for the possibility that China’s restrictions will eventually relax and the number of Chinese visitors will rebound. “It’s all about the opening and closing of the tap,” he said.

Robots in the dockyards: Shipbuilders automate to cut costs, hike productivity By Kyunghee Park Bloomberg

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robot invasion is under way in one of the last labor-intensive industries— shipbuilding. In search of lower costs and speed ier constr uction times, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.—the world’s two largest—are embracing automation to build critical sections of their giant container ships, some of which extend 400 meters (430 yards) in length. Boosting productivity is mission critical in an industry that needs about 200 people to build one vessel and faces severe pricing pressure. A sharp drop in oil since the second half of 2014, when a barrel of oil fetched more than $100 compared with about $64 now, has hit vessel orders hard, forcing shipmakers to cut thousands of jobs and shutter some docks. Ship prices have tumbled

close to 10 percent during the past three years. “In this current environment, it’s very important to cut costs wherever possible,” said Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea Co. in Seoul. “These automation efforts will begin to pay off once orders start to show clearer signs of recovery, probably from the second half of this year.”

Robotic arms

IN what Hyundai Heavy claims is a global first, a 670-kilogram (1,480-pound) industrial robot— designed and tested in-house—can curve and weld steel plates for the front and back of vessels through remote connectivity between the machine and design software. The Ulsan-based shipbuilder plans to start using the robot next year, a move that would cut welding time by two thirds, reduce the number of skilled workers, and save about 10 billion won ($9.4 million) annually, a company spokesman said.

AN employee works at Hyundai Heavy's shipyard in Ulsan. SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Hyundai Heavy plans to build an automated plant, also employing robotic arms, to supply these steel parts to its two affiliated shipbuilding units, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. To further automate its shipyards, Hyundai Heavy is developing more robots for other welding and paint jobs.

Caddy’s help Over at Daewoo Shipbuilding, the company has been using a 16-kilogram robotic arm to weld steel parts in its construction of ice-breaking liquefied natural gas carriers, delivering five of these vessels since 2016. Nicknamed Caddy, these arms are able to work on the hull to fuse steel structures together in a

confined space, a spokesman for the Geoje-based company said. Caddy has helped Daewoo Shipbuilding save about 4.5 billion won in construction costs for each vessel. Based on that success, the shipbuilder is developing an even smaller welding robot that will weigh 14.5 kilograms. It’s still early days for shipbuilding robots. By comparison, about 70 percent of car manufacturing is automated, boosting the pace of production. Modern container ships are massive and require about 200 skilled workers to build one that can carry 20,000 standard containers, starting from the first step of production when steel is cut, according to Daewoo Shipbuilding. A key automation challenge is that all vessels are built to different specifications depending on the customer, said Oskar Levander, vice president of concepts and innovation for the marine business at Rolls-Royce Plc. A car model shares the same chassis and

major components like doors and dashboards. “The shipbuilding industry is so fragmented and the customers are very fragmented,” Levander said. “Every shipowner has their own preference in what they want in a ship.” Still, shipbuilders are investing in technology to reap benefits when the industry rebounds. South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the world’s third-biggest shipyard, expects vessel prices to recover this year. There are signs that orders are picking up. The three shipbuilding units in Hyundai Heavy Industries Group have received contracts for 29 vessels this year, compared with 21 in the same period in 2017. Daewoo Shipbuilding has won 12 vessels, rising from four. “Technology is going to be the key to the shipyards’ future,” said Park Moo-hyun, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment Co. in Seoul. “Those who innovate will have the advantage.”

A10 Tuesday, April 17, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

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editorial

‘We are sorry’

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e commend President Duterte for apologizing to the Chinese people for the 2010 Quirino Grandstand tragedy in which 22 Hong Kong tourists were held hostage and eight were brutally killed by a dismissed Manila police officer. “From the bottom of my heart, as the President of the Republic of the Philippines, and in behalf of the Filipino people, may I apologize formally to you now,” the President said last Thursday, before thousands of Filipino workers in Hong Kong, where he capped his four-day working visit to China. “We are sorry that the incident happened and as humanly possible I would like to make this guarantee also that it will never happen again. I hope this would go a long way to really assuage the feeling of the Chinese people and government,” he added. President Duterte did the right thing, even if the apology comes rather belatedly. In any apology, what matters is not only how it is conveyed—the empathy and sincerity of it—but also the timing. If the apology is given not only sincerely but promptly and without any conditions or justifications, then it is more likely to be satisfactory and acceptable to the aggrieved party. Nevertheless, a belated apology is better than no apology at all. Former President Benigno S. Aquino III never apologized for the hostage taking. We believe that was a mistake that should have been corrected a long time ago. Yet, he kept insisting that the government didn’t do anything wrong because the hostage taking was the act of just one man. He also said apologizing would have created a legal liability and even cited Filipino fatalities in China for which Beijing had not apologized and paid compensation. But this is our point. You apologize for something you did wrong, and there are many things the Philippine government did wrong on that fateful, tragic August Monday almost eight years ago. For instance, the hostage-taker (former Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza who was shot and killed in the incident) was a dismissed member of the Philippine National Police—dismissed and yet he was still carrying his service firearms, an M16 Armalite rifle and a pistol. These firearms should have been taken from him when he was fired from the police force. If he didn’t have these state-issued guns, he couldn’t have held the bus of Hong Kong tourists hostage. We have the utmost respect for all the honest, hardworking and competent policemen in our police force. But Mendoza never belonged to their class. Mendoza had no business being in a position of authority for the state, much less having possession of a deadly weapon. He and his rogue mobile patrol group were dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2009 for robbery-extortion and drug-related cases. Before this, Mendoza was also involved in the gang rape of a woman in Rizal Park in 1996, the same place where he would later hold hostage the Hong Kong tourists. The case file says that Mendoza’s group arrested the woman for vagrancy in the vicinity of Quirino Grandstand, separated her from her boyfriend, then repeatedly raped her. The complainant failed to show up in court so the case was later dismissed. Why? What did they do to her? Scare her from further testifying? Or worse? We could only guess. Like many corrupt police officers, Mendoza was allowed to go on with his merry ways. The Ombudsman was right to dismiss Mendoza and his men, to put a stop to their shenanigans. Indeed, they should not have only been dismissed but disarmed and put behind bars. They weren’t. And so Mendoza later ended up taking a busload of tourists hostage and shooting eight of them dead. This surely was a mistake of the Philippine government. But the most monumental mistake, perhaps, is the botched rescue effort— a classic example of how not to deal with a hostage crisis. There were plenty of opportunities to take Mendoza out, incapacitate him, do whatever to stop him. There were so many things that could have been done to prevent the escalation of the hostage crisis into a bloodbath. These were things to apologize for, too. What Mendoza did in Manila, and how the government responded to the hostage taking was a national and international shame, truly something to be sorry for. To have those innocent tourists hurt and killed in a country where such a happy, peace-loving and friendly people live is something we are truly sorry for.

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Economic czar Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur Continued from A1

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simple question elicited a simple response: “Yes,” Pernia texted back. The following day, Go informed Pernia that his appointment had been announced by the President.

Behind the modest image is a highly trained economist recognized both in the domestic and international arena. Pernia graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976 with a PhD in Economic Demography. He was former lead economist at the Economics and Research Department of the Asian Development Bank. Prior to joining the Duterte Cabinet, he was professor emeritus at the University of the Philippines School of Economics, where he specialized on development economics, demographic economics and human economics. The Neda dates back to the commonwealth era: one of the first acts of the unicameral National Assembly, in response to a call from President Manuel L. Quezon, was the creation of the National Economic Council (NEC), which was tasked with advising the government on economic and financial matters, and formulating an economic program. The authority is sometimes called the “super cabinet” because its

governing board, which is headed by the President as chairman, includes all Executive departments, plus other agencies. More than eight decades since the NEC’s creation, Neda’s functions have vastly expanded beyond policy-making. For example, it is now deeply involved in the implementation of the administration’s flagship infrastructure program called “Build, Build, Build,” which will spend P8 trillion to P9 trillion to construct the roads, bridges, ports and other facilities in line with the demands of the growing economy. Spending trillions within six years is a tall order; Build, Build, Build is the biggest infrastructure program in any administration in Philippine history. It is not enough that money is available; projects must roll out in synch with funding. That is the Neda’s, or Pernia’s role in President Duterte’s economic team, and he has proven to be a good team player for the other economic managers.

PSE: Wait and watch John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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n Sunday of the recent long weekend, I was walking the aisles of the SM Department Store at the Mall of Asia. Suddenly, I found myself surrounded on all sides by a crush of humanity, all roaming while I was seriously trying to get someplace to actually buy something. On my right was an open area. Here was my chance to break through. Good fortune was not with me. “Sir, Polo Black Ralph Lauren. Only P7,000 less 10 percent.” The only bottle I would spend P7,000 for would have a label “30-year-old whiskey.” I had no other choice than to

return to the crowded aisle. The reason for the telling of my silly but true-life adventure is to explain what has been happening on the Philippine stock market. No matter how motivated buyers have been at any given time, they have been unable to break through the crowd.

inequity between Metro Manila and the countryside. Pernia also monitors the government’s performance in noneconomic areas, such as health, education and social services. The Neda is the principal monitoring agency that tracks the country’s performance in relation with its commitment under the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which seek primarily the alleviation of poverty. Every three months, the Neda reports on the performance of the economy. Weeks before the release of the report, individual economists, private think tanks and investment banks consult their crystal balls to assess how the economy fared. But everything is speculative, and everybody waits for the date when the Neda would render its report. Every ear is inclined toward the chief government economist when he announces: “This is how the economy performed.” Then everyone scampers back to their desks to review their own assessments, in order to come up with forecasts for the next quarter. Markets are quick to react to the Neda report—stock prices go down when performance is lower than expected, and investors smile when the numbers go up. That may be one reason the country’s top economist is sometimes called “economic czar,” a title that, as per our first impression of Pernia, would be readily dismissed, or at best met with the glint of a shy smile.

Neda data show that since assuming office in June 2016, the Duterte administration has approved a total of 40 projects with an aggregate cost of P1.23 trillion. Only two projects will be funded and implemented under the public-private partnership mode. Twenty-eight projects will be financed through official development assistance (ODA), seven via local financing and a combination of ODA and local financing, and one to be financed with internally generated funds. The biggest projects are the P355.59-billion Metro Manila Subway Project-Phase 1, the P299.4billion Philippine National Railways South Commuter and South Long Haul Project (formerly known as the North-South Railway Project), and the P211.43-billion Malolos-Clark Railway Project. The flagship infrastructure program does not include projects that are initiated and funded by other sources, such as local government units and the private sector. The Duterte administration has opted not to rely heavily on private sector financing, which was preferred by the previous administration. According to the Neda, 78 percent (P7.096 trillion) of the current administration’s big-ticket projects will be financed by the national government. Infrastructure is only one of Pernia’s varied tasks. Guided by President Duterte’s thrust toward countryside development, he is focusing on regional development to increase the rural areas’ contribution to economic growth and reduce

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

There is much conversation about how the stock market is a “poor” performer for 2018. What is missed is that the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) has been in a coma for a month once the index fell to the congestion area below 8,085. In particular, since March 21st, the market has traded about a 230-point trading range, measured on a daily closing basis. This is about a 2.7-percent range, which is basically nothing. The textbook definition of this type of trading is a “consolidation,” “to describe the movement within a well-defined pattern of trading levels.” However, a more practical description would be a period of congestion where prices are unable to move because too many investors are just roaming around. This price congestion area is bracketed by extremely strong

resistance above PSEi 8,085 and equally strong support at the 7,870 area. Support is the historical price level that buyers have been willing to buy at, and resistance is the area at which buyers have walked away. The support and resistance areas that we are now experiencing go all the way back to April 2015, when the PSEi first reached the 8,000 level. This same congestion area happened in July to August 2016. This support and resistance area is so significant that it became a congestion area in July to August 2017. And here we are again. Buyers are willing to buy at the support level, but they are not willing to buy to push prices through resistance. This is a classic congestion (or consolidation) trading. The reason that buyers are not willing to buy above resistance is that there is not enough trading volume at support. See “Mangun,” A11

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Dislike Comey, despise Trump

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Shorter processing of business permit, license pushed

By Charles M. Blow | New York Times News Service

E are now in the midst of an epic clash between Donald J. Trump and fired FBI Director James Comey, neither of whom I hold in high esteem, both men with raging egos and questionable motives. The depth of my contempt differs between the two, but there is contempt for both. Comey is now ma k ing the rounds promoting his new book, which will no doubt be a monster best seller. Good for him. But Comey for me is a complicated character, a man of honorable service and flashes of horrendous judgment. His inexplicable handling of the investigations into Hillary Clinton’s e-mails is unforgivable. He made reckless and harmful disclosures and proclamations about the Clinton investigation, while not whispering a word about the concurrent investigation into the Trump campaign. He says that the letter he released about a new phase of the Clinton email investigation just days before the election may have been colored by polling suggesting that Clinton was going to win, but that too is problematic. As Nate Silver tweeted last Friday: “If Comey’s decision to release the letter on October 28 was influenced by his interpretation of the polls, that really ought to cut against his image as an honorable, principled decision-maker. Instead, he was just being expedient and trying to save his own hide.” There were many factors that played into the 2016 election result. Russian interference. The work of Cambridge Analytica on behalf of the Trump campaign. The exploitation of social media. The Clinton campaign’s miscalculations. The actual content of John Podesta’s e-mails. Voter suppression. False impressions given by the polls that Clinton was sure to win. Racism, xenophobia, misogyny and ethno- and religious hostility disguised as economic anxiety. But Comey was also in that mix. While we may never be able to weigh the factors that contributed to Clinton’s defeat and Trump’s victory, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Comey’s actions were part of them. So please forgive me if I don’t rise in applause simply because Comey’s revel at ions are g iving Trump agita. Nor expect the dampening of my condemnation of Comey because Trump World seeks to defame him. Then there is Trump, who, in the same week that Comey was on television saying that he could not be sure if the president was in a Russian hotel room with prostitutes peeing on each other, announced that we and a couple of allies had initiated a military campaign in Syria over its use of chemical weapons. To be sure, the situation in Syria is a humanitarian crisis and has been for years. The last report on the Syrian death toll by the United Nations came from 2016, when an official said 400,000 people had been killed. The UN said at that

Mangun. . .

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That may be the “what,” but what is the “why” for this movement? The experts will tell you about corporate earnings, interest rates and politics but none of that will help you make money. I have a magic alarm clock. Every day, about 30 minutes after the alarm rings, the sun rises. No seriously, this has happened every single day. You are going to tell me that there is absolutely no causation between my alarm clock and the sun. But, that does not matter because there is an absolutely reliable correlation. Alarm rings;

As Nate Silver tweeted last Friday: “If Comey’s decision to release the letter on October 28 was influenced by his interpretation of the polls, that really ought to cut against his image as an honorable, principled decisionmaker. Instead, he was just being expedient and trying to save his own hide.” time it was virtually impossible to accurately verify how many people had died. In addition, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that there are 5.6 million Syrian refugees and as of July 2016 “6.5 million people, including 2.8 million children, displaced within Syria, the biggest internally displaced population in the world.” Neither the United States nor the international community has developed a sufficient policy and response to this catastrophe. People simply seem to be hoping and praying that it soon comes to an end and trying to ensure that the fighting doesn’t spill out of Syria’s borders. The Trump administration, for its part, says that it has drawn a line in the sand on the use of chemical weapons, but that seem to be, at best, randomly enforced. Last Friday Nikki Haley herself said at the UN that “the United States estimates that Assad has used chemical weapons in the Syrian war at least 50 times. Public estimates are as high as 200.” Furthermore, the UN Human Rights Commissioner counts a number of chemical weapons attacks in Syria in 2017 alone, all during Trump’s time in the White House. Human Rights Watch points out that: “The government forces used at least 13 types of internationally banned cluster munitions in over 400 attacks on oppositionheld areas between July 2012 to August 2016, killing and injuring civilians, including children. The Syrian-Russian joint military operations, which began on September 30, 2015, have also extensively used internationally banned cluster munitions.” So, why was an attack over the use of banned weapons so necessary right now, particularly since it was just earlier this month when Trump was saying he wanted to pull our troops out of Syria and since he campaigned on anti-interventionism? Again, forgive me if I’m not buying this as a purely humanitarian mission focused on protecting the Syrian people from suffering. This action and its timing stink. It feels like a legitimate crisis is being used as a tool of distraction, and that to me is unspeakably callous. So, I see no need to pick sides between Comey and Trump. I dislike the former, but I despise the latter. sun rises. No further discussion is necessary. There is an equally reliable correlation to the price movement on the PSEi and that is the exchange rate of the Philippine peso to the US dollar. The peso moved from 52 to 49.75, and the PSEi moved from 8,250 to 9,000 from October 2017 to January 2018. The peso moved back to 52 and the PSEi went down to below 8,000. No further discussion is necessary. So, if you are a local stock market investor, wait and watch.

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

Tuesday, April 17, 2018 A11

Cecilio T. Arillo

database

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UPERSTAR-turned-politician Rep. Vilma SantosRecto of the Sixth District of Batangas, deplored what she discovered that it takes 16 long procedures to navigate permit procurement, and an average of 29 days to start a business in the country. “Compared to our Asean neighbors in the “Ease in Starting a Business” rankings, the Philippines has performed poorly,” SantosRecto said. She said the Philippines placed at 165th in the ranking of 189 economies and lagged behind Singapore, ranked in first place; Malaysia, in 14th place; Thailand, in 96th place; Vietnam, in 119th place; and Laos in 153rd place. The House of Representatives has approved on second reading her proposal, House Bill 6579, to, among others, simplify permit and licensing system procedures and streamline the requirements at the national and local levels. Known as “An Act Establishing A National Policy On Ease Of Doing Business, Creating For The Purpose The Ease Of Doing Business Commission,” the measure intends to provide a business environment that is conducive for the establishment and operation of competitive enterprises in the country. Under the bill, the Commission is empowered to, among others, plan, implement and oversee a national policy on ease of doing business; receive complaints and institute investigations for violations of the Act; assist complainants in filing necessary cases without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the Civil Service Commission and the Office of

the Ombudsman, as the case may be; compel or petition any national government agencies (NGA) or local government units (LGU) to issue the permit, license or clearance of business entities deemed approved; and periodically review and assess the country’s competitiveness performance, challenges and issues. The bill directs all NGAs and LGUs issuing licenses, clearances or permits to business entities to post a comprehensive checklist of requirements for every type of license, clearance or permit to be issued. Likewise, it seeks to promote transparency in the government with regard to business registration and other manner of public transactions, to reduce red tape and expedite permitting, licensing and other similar transactions in the government. It mandates the NGAs and LGUs involved in the processing and issuance of licenses, clearances or permits to business entities to process the application of such business entities and communicate the decision regarding the approval or disapproval of the application along with the reasons for such disapproval. It further mandates that the prescribed processing time shall in no case be longer than one working day for barangay governments. For NGAs and LGUs for simple application, the prescribed processing time shall be three working

Known as “An Act Establishing A National Policy On Ease Of Doing Business, Creating For The Purpose The Ease Of Doing Business Commission,” the measure intends to provide a business environment that is conducive for the establishment and operation of competitive enterprises in the country.

days, while for national government agencies and LGUs in case of complex applications, the prescribed processing time shall be 10 working days from the time of receipt of the application. For special types of businesses that require clearances, accreditation or licenses issued by government agencies, including regulatory agencies as provided for by law, where technical evaluation or such necessary condition is required in the processing of license, clearances, or permits, the prescribed processing time shall in no case be longer than 30 working days or as determined by the government agency or instrumentality concerned whichever is shorter. Where the processing prescription is fixed by special laws, the time prescribed by such laws shall apply. Violations of the Act include refusal to accept an application within the prescribed period or any document being submitted by the applicant, this despite all required documents have been submitted and the necessary fees have been paid. Other violations are failure to refer back to the applicant an application which cannot be acted upon due to lack or incomplete requirements or nonpayment of required fees or charges within the prescribed period; failure to act on application despite the complete submission of requirements and payment of required fees or charges within the prescribed period; failure to give the applicant a

written notice on the disapproval of an application within the prescribed period or inform the applicant of any error, omission or deficiency in the application; and imposition of additional irrelevant requirements other than those provided by the concerned agency or LGU. Penalties for said violations are: for the first offense, 30 days suspension without pay; second offense, three months suspension without pay; and third offense, dismissal and perpetual disqualification to hold public office, cancellation of civil service eligibility and forfeiture of retirement benefits. Among the other authors of the bill are House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, Majority Leader Rodolfo C. Fariñas Sr., Minority Leader Danilo E. Suarez, Reps. Lianda B. Bolilia, Jose Antonio R. Sy-Alvarado, Ferjenel G. Biron, Arthur C. Yap, Gus S. Tambunting, Maximo B. Rodriguez Jr., Winston Castelo, Salvador B. Belaro Jr., Linabelle Ruth R. Villarica, Manuel F. Zubiri, Sherwin N. Tugna, Ricardo T. Belmonte, Marlyn PrimiciasAgabas, Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte, Joaquin M. Chipeco Jr., Xavier Jesus Romualdo, Lorna C. Silverio, Rosanna V. Vergara, Lucy Torres-Gomez, Jerry P. Treñas, Franz Alvarez, Rene L. Relampagos, Jose Christopher Y. Belmonte, Jocelyn Sy-Limkaichong, Maria Lourdes Acosta-Alba, Mark O. Go, Deogracias Victor B. Savellano, Carlo V. Lopez, Juliette T. Uy, Jose Enrique S. Garcia III, Francis Gerald A. Abaya, Sabiniano Canama, Ben P. Evardone, Paolo S. Javier, Federico S. Sandoval II, Mercedes Cagas, Abdullah D. Dimaporo, Rodante D. Marcoleta, Raul C. Tupas, Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza, Arlene B. Arcillas, Cecilia Leonila V. Chavez, Richard C. Eusebio, Karlo Alexei B. Nograles, Rozzano Rufino B. Biazon, Oscar S. Garin Jr., Scott Davies S. Lañete and Celso L. Lobregat. To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.

Are we getting enough foreign investments? Ernesto M. Hilario

ABOUT TOWN

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his year we can expect strong foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to continue, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Data from the BSP shows that FDI flows totaled $919 million in January 2018, up by nearly 57 percent from the $587 million recorded year-on-year. Net equity capital inflows accounted for the bulk of FDIs during the month, rising more than eight times to $473 million from $58 million. This was driven by a sevenfold increase in equity capital placements to $531 million. The placements were sourced mainly from Singapore, China, Taiwan, Japan and the United States. These were channeled into manufacturing; financial and insurance; real estate; electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply; and wholesale and retail trade activities. FDI inflows hit a new all-time high of $10.05 billion in 2017, up by 21 percent compared to 2016 levels and above the $8-billion BSP target. For this year the BSP has set a target of $8.2 billion in FDI inflows. The BSP expects the government’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program to attract private sector participation. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is also bullish about a surge in foreign investments this year and the next. Japanese investment pledges in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Board of Investments soared nearly 24 percent to P31.48 billion last year from P25.43 billion in 2016, while approved projects

from China grew 15 percent to P1.61 billion from P1.40 billion in 2016. On the other hand, investment pledges from US investors last year plunged nearly 70 percent to P8.357 billion from P27.51 billion in 2016. Hence, the DTI is now exerting efforts to attract foreign investments through investment roadshows in Japan, Germany, other countries in Europe, and possibly the United States. In a report, titled “2018 Best Countries to Invest In” released in March, the US News and World Report cited the Philippines as the top investment destination, citing the country’s $304.9-billion GDP, 103.3 million population, and $7,739 GDP per capita. But how do we stack up against our nearest neighbor across the South China Sea: Vietnam? In 2017 Vietnam attracted FDI worth $35.88 billion, or nearly four times our FDI of just $10 billion. Japan invested more than $9 billion in Vietnam last year, or a little less than our total FDI for the year. Vietnam has a population of 93 million, or 10 million fewer than Filipinos, and their GDP in 2017 stood at $202 billion as compared to our GDP of $305 billion. But their poverty level is only 13.5 percent, compared to our 23 percent to 24 percent. That means there are more poor people in our country than in Vietnam despite our bigger GDP. And if more foreign investors are going to Vietnam, does that mean that the

US News and World report that we are the top investment destination in the world is far from the truth?

Philippines-China ties on the upswing

What is the current status of our relations with China? Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua, in a recent article, “China and the Philippines join hands to deepen cooperation and build The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” gives us a glimpse of Beijing’s overall assessment of our bilateral ties. Zhao believes that, since the state visit of President Duterte to China in October 2016, China-Philippines relations have “achieved an overall turnaround, enjoyed sustained growth with strength and depth, and surged forward along a fast-track.” Zhao said the four meetings so far between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Duterte “deepened strategic mutual trust” and enhanced mutual cooperation, thus “setting the course for a win-win and sound growth of China-Philippines relations.” The official visit to the Philippines of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in November 2017 further enhanced the friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. This was followed by the sharing of governance experiences between the two ruling parties, the resumption of a series of bilateral dialogue and cooperation mechanisms covering foreign affairs, defense, economy and trade, the establishment of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea, and the launching of the Joint Coast Guard Committee on Maritime Cooperation on regional and international affairs. The two countries have also signed more than 40 cooperation documents since 2016. In 2017 China-Philippines trade volume exceeded $50 billion for the first time, making China the Philippines’s top

trading partner, top import origin and the fourth-largest export market. China’s investments in the Philippines reached $53.84 million in 2017, representing a year-on-year increase of 67 percent. Beijing has also agreed to support various infrastructure projects, such as the Chico River Pump Irrigation, Kaliwa Dam, two bridges over the Pasig River and industrial parks. There’s also been enhanced bilateral cooperation in combating illicit drugs and terrorism, poverty alleviation, disaster relief and prevention, as well as in military affairs. People-to-people exchanges between the two countries have, likewise, increased. Chinese visitors are now the second-largest tourist arrivals in the country. Last year the number of Chinese tourists visiting the Philippines doubled that in 2016. Each week, more than 300 flights shuttle between Chinese and Philippine cities. Apart from this, the two countries have fostered interaction, exchanges and cooperation in terms of sisterhood provinces and cities, media agencies, think tanks, universities, youth affairs, education, science and technology, and culture and the arts. “The hearts and minds of our two peoples are interlinked more closely than ever before and the centuries-old friendship between our two countries are blessed with greater dynamism,” Zhao observed. How does China’s envoy see the future of our bilateral relations? “China and the Philippines will surely become good neighbors helping each other, good friends supporting each other, and good partners benefiting each other. This not only serves both present and long-term interests of our two countries and peoples, but conforms to our common aspiration to safeguard peace, stability and prosperity in the region.”

E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Tuesday, April 17, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Grab, Uber told to explain why they violated PCC’s review terms

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

ber has officially left the Philippines, defying the Philippine Competition Commission’s (PCC) order to continue operating independently while the antitrust body completes the review of the acquisition of Uber by rival Grab. Arsenio M. Balisacan, the competition commission’s chairman, noted that while they are aware of the “many factors that led to the shutdown of the Uber app,” both parties should notify the antitrust body until April 17 as to why they failed to continue operating the Uber platform, as required under the agency’s interim-measures order.

“This development may have rendered the review conditions to be less than ideal. However, this move shall not derail the motu proprio review of the Grab-Uber transaction,” he said. As part of the interim measures preferred by the competition commission, Uber was ordered to continue its independent operations

195

The maximum number of days the Philippine Competition Commission has to finish its motu proprio review beyond April 8, the date when it is expected to completely exit the Philippine market. The competition watchdog is looking into Uber’s acquisition by Grab, as the transaction might give Grab a “virtual monopoly” in the ride-hailing market. “When a big player buys out its competitor, there will be many economic and legal factors that need to be scrutinized,” Balisacan said. Normally, a motu propio review—or an evaluation set by the agency itself—has two phases. The first phase of review can go up to

75 days. The second phase can go for as much as 120 days, hence, a total of up to 195 days. But due to the nature of the deal, Balisacan noted that his group intends to fast-track the review, which can be done if parties involved in the evaluation will be cooperative in producing documents required by the antitrust body. “We intend to expedite the completion of the review ahead of the allowed time frame, given how it is imbued with public interest,” he said. Balisacan added that the PCC is more bent on reviewing the deal, given the recent developments in the ride-hailing market, where there are four prospective transportation network companies (TNCs) awaiting clearance from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). “Grab’s buyout of Uber will mean gobbling up 93 percent of the ride-hailing market,” he said. “The accreditation of new TNCs is a welcome development to allow

passengers to have more choices. We note, however, that the incoming TNCs are left with only 7-percent share in the market.” The antitrust authority explained that established firms have the advantage of an existing user base due to “network effects.” “This means that when you buy a firm, in effect, you also get its customer base. This is an advantage that a newcomer does not have. Our review will take into consideration these factors to level the playing field in this market.” Grab and Uber entered into a buyout deal, wherein Grab will get the assets of Uber in Southeast Asia, while Uber gets a 27.5-percent stake in Grab. The Philippine units of Uber and Grab are included in the deal. “ T he above concer ns only strengthen our resolve to pursue the review using the antitrust law. In the end, the PCC stands with the passengers to protect them from the perils of monopoly,” Balisacan said.

DUTERTE SEEN APPEASING LABOR WITH E.O. ON MAY 1 Continued from A1

the meeting will not push through, without disclosing the reason. Roque said Monday’s meeting between the President and the labor groups was not in his own calendar. “I found a meeting with GSIS [Government Service Insurance System], another meeting with an ambassador and two private meetings. Unless the meeting was, you know, denominated as a private meeting, which it should not be. So, it was not even in my calendar,” he said. Labor groups have long been waiting for the President to fulfill his campaign promise to end the practice of contractualization in the country through an EO, which has been put off several times already. The draft EO submitted by the labor groups has been in Malacañang for several months now. Meanwhile, two labor groups on Monday urged President Duterte to disregard the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) proposed EO on contractualization because it will not address the contractualization problem. “The DTI [EO] draft is obviously [based on] a business-as-usual policy that allows labor contracting on almost all jobs and functions that has changed the norm of employment from direct-hiring to agencyhiring,” Rene Magtubo, chairman of Partido Manggagawa (PM), said in a statement. Magtubo said “[t]he DTI [proposed EO that solidly supports] the employers…can never be a solution to the widespread contractualiza-

tion of labor [in the Philippines].” The labor leader made this assertion as he and other labor leaders who belong to the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition were alarmed after Durterte canceled his meeting with them on Monday, following the request of Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez. Lopez reportedly asked the President to postpone his meeting with the Nagkaisa labor leaders because he was afraid that Duterte will approve the Nagkaisa-proposed EO, which will eventually oblige businessmen to increase workers’ daily wages. Magtubo, a former party-list representative, told Duterte that “[t]he employers are the main culprit for the proliferation of agency-hired employees, as such a culprit can never provide a solution to the problem he created,” thus, there is no basis to approve the DTI-proposed EO. Duterte should accept and approve the proposed EO submitted by the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, said Jose Sonny G. Matula, president of Federation of Free Workers (FFW). He added that Nagkaisa’s proposed EO “is more realistic to effectively address the existing epidemic of contractualization.” He added the main point of the labor-proposed EO was the assurance that the security of tenure of the workers who have been working on different companies must be respected by directly hiring them as stipulated in the Philippine Constitution, Labor Code of the Philippines and different Supreme Court jurisprudence on labor issues.

‘Colors of Stobosa’ Fancy public-utility jeepneys complement the colorful cluster of houses on the stretch of Halsema Highway just outside the Baguio central business district and 3 kilometers away from the strawberry fields of La Trinidad, Benguet. Stobosa, as the place is now known, combines the names of the three villages in the area—Stonehill, Botiwtiw and Sadjap.

He said Duterte knew that the security of tenure of the laborers in their employment is extremely important since the President is a lawyer himself. Thus, Matula said FFW is appealing to Duterte to protect workers by ending contractualization. The FFW leader, who also teach-

es labor laws in the College of Law of Manuel L. Quezon University, reminded Duterte that “[t]he economy is growing and expanding, but no trickle-down effect to the workers is felt because they have long been chained to contractual working arrangements.” Thus, he added Duterte should

approve the Nagkaisa-proposed EO, instead the one craf ted by the DTI. FFW and PM believed that Congress would have a clear idea on what kind of law it will craft if Duterte approved Nagkaisa’s proposal.

Singapore hiring more semiskilled foreigners

$1,850

The new qualifying salary for semiskilled foreigners in Singapore, up from $1,700 By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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ingapore is seeking to hire more skilled overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other foreigners in its select industries by raising their starting salaries under its new manpower policy. Citing the report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Singapore, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Bernard P. Olalia said Singapore decided to raise their qualifying salary for semiskilled foreigners under its S-Pass scheme from SG$ 2,200 ($1,700) to SG$2,400 ($1,850). The S-Pass is a kind of work visa being issued by Singapore to mid-level skilled foreigners, who apply in its industries with critical labor shortage like engineering, electronics, oil and chemical. “ The increment will take effect on two tranches, i.e., January 1, 2019, and January 1, 2020,” Olalia said in POEA advisory 20, series of 2018. But while it opened its doors to more skilled workers, Singapore decided to restrict the entry of expatriates in its high-paying industries by expanding the coverage of its advertisement rule to cover more establishments. Olalia said Singapore came out with an advisory on the “extension of the coverage of the rule on the 14-day advertisement of high-paying jobs on national Jobs Bank prior to hiring a foreigner to companies with at least 10 workers and for jobs with salaries lower than SG$15,000 [about $11,500] a month.” Previously, the rule only covers employers with at least 26 workers and for jobs paying under SG$12,000 (about $9,250) per month. Both rules will take effect on July 1, 2018. Olalia said the policy reform is part of the efforts of Singapore to provide better employment opportunities for foreigners under its Fair Consideration Framework. “The new rule...aims to tighten the employment of foreign workers in the city-state in order to provide Singaporeans more access to better jobs, but at the same time enhances the quality and productivity of foreign workers,” Olalia said.

With reports from Nelson S. Badilla

Top 5 Things you should know about the DPA Continued from A1

The DPA applies to every citizen of the Philippines and any business entity that transacts with them. Sell a t-shirt to a Frenchman? You need to deal with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations GDPR also. 3. It’s pretty much any kind of data Anything related to a person that can be used directly, or indirectly, to identify them is now regulated. And this is not limited to your employees; it involves your clients, your stakeholders, your mailing list, etc. 4. You have to get explicit permission

to process personal data, and your request must be in clear language You can’t use long legal documents or hide things in a privacy policy. And it has to be as easy to withdraw consent as it was to give it. 5. Penalties are big If an enterprise violates the practices of the DPA, it can be fined up to P5 million and jail terms for the executive of up to seven years. Those are the big things, but there are loads of other considerations like the right to be forgotten, data portability and more. Hopefully these help get you wrap your head around the issue.

When you’re ready for more, we at EITSC have a comprehensive guide to the topic and are running workshops to get you up to speed. With the Philippines building its future business on big data, let’s clearly understand….

Why big data is a big privacy issue

Big data analytics has the power to provide insights about people that are far and above what they know about themselves. And, with great power there must also come—great responsibility. Such is the responsibility of the oracle—thus, oracular responsibility. In fairness, this prob-

lem existed before big data, but it wasn’t a huge risk until big data analytics gave us the tools and techniques to be highly accurate with our predictions. Consider: Your social security number is probably sitting in multiple databases out there and if one of those databases is breached, you have a huge problem. When you realize that others are looking into understanding your user-behaviors, this is going to freak you out even more. It gets worse. Imagine, they are start connecting the dots from different areas of your life—your interests, shopping habits, political views, religious views, associates,

professional development. The most sophisticated practitioners of big data analytics go all the way up the pyramid to wisdom, where this knowledge (about you) is tracked over time and curated into a very personal profile. Breach or not, most people would feel very uncomfortable knowing that someone or something knows that much about them. I consider this the biggest privacy issue faced by those practicing the dark arts of big data analytics. I am looking forward to your comments— e-mail me at Schumacher@eitsc.com.