Businessmirror april 19, 2015

three-time rotary club of manila journalism awardee 2006, 2010, 2012

U.N. Media Award 2008

BusinessMirror

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A broader look at today’s business

n Sunday, April 19, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 192

BSP to tap millennials to boost financial stability

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week ahead

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW Peso

n Previous week: The local currency moved generally sideways in the week ending April 17 this year from the week prior. In particular, the peso opened the week at 44.67 to a dollar, from the 44.55 to a dollar in the previous week’s close. The peso then followed a continuous appreciating trend during the week to hit 44.66 to a dollar on Tuesday and 44.54 on Wednesday. The peso then further appreciated to hit 44.43 to a dollar on Thursday, and ended the week with more than a month’s high of 44.275 to a dollar.

The total traded volume is at $2.877 billion during the week, slightly higher than the $2.67 billion in the previous week. The average trading close in this week is at 44.515 to a dollar. n Next week: Market players are seen to set their focus to get fresher leads from data in the US, particularly on inflation rate. This, according to the Bank of the Philippine Islands, will dictate market movement this week.

BOP (March) Monday, 20 April

n February’s BOP: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported last month that the Philippines’s balance of payments (BOP) yielded a net surplus of about $985 million in February this year.

This is the largest monthly surplus seen for the country in 19 months, or since July 2013, when the BOP of the country hit $1.099 billion.

February’s figure is an acceleration from the $136-million surplus seen in the previous month and the $345 million seen in the same month last year. It also brought the twomonth total BOP position for 2015 at $1.121 billion, reversing the $4.135-billion deficit seen in the comparable period last year. Thus, due to the See “Outlook,” A2

By Bianca Cuaresma

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is set to capitalize on the young demographics of the country to push for the country’s financial stability.

In the recent Financial Literacy Summit 2014 in Chicago, where BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. was one of the panel speakers, he said that the country’s young working population, or the so-called millennials, will likely push the country to greater financial and economic stability through their increased capability and fresher mind-set.

Millennials are loosely defined as those people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s.

In the discussions, Tetangco said that he remains optimistic of the financial capability of the younger population in the country, if given proper attention.

“I believe that there are certain characteristics of millennials that provide opportunity to build financial capabilities, as long

as these are properly harnessed.

Several studies and surveys, for instance, have surfaced the millennials greater awareness and desire for change,” Tetangco said.

Earlier this year, Citi Bank published a report that the Philippines is one of the top 5 countries in the world to experience accelerated growth owing to young selfmade professionals.

The central bank chief also said that, while there is great potential for this population group in the Philippines—which is expected to hit a demographic sweet spot, or the high percentage of people in the work force in 2020—there are still gaps that must be bridged to realize this potential.

“Preliminary results of our financial capability survey, which See “Millennials,” A2

Banks allowed to pay dividends to UITF participants A

UNIT-PAYING feature that will provide a stream of income to market players is now allowed under the unit investment trust fund (UITF) program, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

Early this month, the Monetary Board approved amendments to UITF regulations, allowing for the distribution of income to the participants.

This, the central bank said, will allow the investing public to be able to take advantage of investment opportunities this year.

UITF is an investment vehicle that pools funds together from different investors with similar rules and fund objectives for yield. This is usually operated and administered by a trust entity of a bank.

PESO exchange rates n US 44.4120

Prior to this amendment, UITF regulations do not allow for the distribution of income to the participants, as income earned is automatically reverted back to the fund, and the yield may only be realized by inventors upon the redemption of their participation in the UITF program.

This means that the new feature, the unit-paying UITF, will enable the investor to enjoy the fruits of his investment without actually redeeming the entire actual principal investment.

“The income distribution shall come from cash dividends or coupon-interest earned and received from these investment outlets,” the BSP said.

However, income distributions are not guaranteed and will See “UITF,” A2

P25.00 nationwide | 7 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week

Report says China building airstrip on reclaimed island

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EIJING—China is building an airstrip on an artificially created island in a disputed section of the South China Sea, according to independent analysts, a move the US has warned could raise tensions in the area.

Defense group IHS Jane’s said satellite images of the Fiery Cross Reef taken on March 23 show a runway more than 500 meters long, as well as paved sections of apron. The US says China is carrying out eight such land-reclamation projects in the area.

Jane’s said the island is already big enough for a runway 3,000 meters long that would be able to accommodate air-force planes. China already operates a runway on Woody Island to the west of the Fiery Cross

This combination photo of satellite images taken on February 6 (top) and March 23 (above) by Airbus Defence and Space, and distributed

by IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, shows what IHS Jane’s describes as an airstrip on the Fiery Cross Reef in a disputed section of the South China Sea. The US has warned that China’s development on the artificially created island could raise tensions in the area. CNES, Airbus Defence and Space/IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly via AP

Continued on A2

Al-Qaeda in Yemen using chaos of war to carve out terrorism haven Coalition needs troops

The Saudi-led campaign has entered its 12th day, targeting Shiite rebels in Yemen. The coalition has asked Pakistan to contribute soldiers, raising the possibility of a ground offensive in the country. A look at the countries that are suppling weapons.

SAUDI ARABIA

PAKISTAN

• 100,000 fighter jets, 150,000 soldiers and navy units

• Parliament debates whether to contribute militarily

KUWAIT

EGYPT

• 15 fighter jets

• Aircraft and naval vessels offered

BAHRAIN • 12 fighter jets

QATAR

• 10 fighter jets

YEMEN

SUDAN

• 4 fighter jets

250 km 250 miles

Source: AP Graphic: Tribune News Service

UAE

• 30 fighter jets

A

brazen territorial grab by al-Qaeda militants in Yemen— together with a $1-million bank heist, a prison break and capture of a military base—has given the terrorist group fundraising and recruitment tools that suggest it is following the brutal path blazed by Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

GlobalEye»C3

n japan 0.3729 n UK 66.3071 n HK 5.7296 n CHINA 7.1670 n singapore 32.9002 n australia 34.6157 n EU 47.7962 n SAUDI arabia 11.8429 Source: BSP (17 April 2015)

News

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A2 Sunday, April 19, 2015

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Report says China Banking industry building airstrip on owes robust growth to reclaimed island strong economy–BDO continued from A1

Reef, which is also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan, and another island it is creating could also be big enough LAOS to accommodate a runway.

THAILAND

The airfield construction also was mentioned by the commander of US forces in the CAMBODIA Pacific at a congressional hearHo Chi ing on Wednesday. Adm. SamMinh City uel Locklear said the reclamation work would allow China CHINA to exert more influence in the contested region and possibly deploy military assets such as DETAIL long-range radar and advanced AREA missile systems.

China claims virtually all of the South China Sea and its island chains.

Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam also claim waters and islands in the area.

At a Friday briefing, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei defended the island reclamation work, which, China says, is largely to improve living conditions for

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DO Unibank Inc. (BDO) said the banking industry is seen to continue its robust performance this year with continued demand for loans, owing to the strength of the country’s economy.

BDO said the Philippines, with a higher and sustainable growth trajectory, is well-placed to assert its position as one of Asia’s standout performers this year.

“The country is seen to post sustained growth driven by a vibrant consumer base supported by increasing per-capita incomes and favorable demographic trends,” BDO said in a report.

“A subdued inflation environment helped by lower oil prices, as well as renewed public expenditure and infrastructure spending, is also seen to contribute substantially to the country’s performance,” it added.

Luis S. Reyes Jr., BDO senior vice

Millennials...

president and head of its investor relations and corporate planning group, earlier said the industry will still register good growth in 2015, as the country’s economic fundamentals remain intact.

“For BDO, we hope to continue growing our businesses, reach out to new markets, offer new products and continue strengthening our franchise in the face of increasing competition,” he said.

Over the past several years, BDO experienced significant growth as a result of organic growth arising from increased market coverage and a wider array of products and services, as well as through mergers and acquisitions.

continued from A1

was done together with the World Bank, showed that our younger adults struggle more than their older counterpart groups, meaning those above 35 years old, when it comes to budgeting and not overspending,” Tetangco said.

“These are areas that we need to focus on in our financial education efforts and I believe that knowing exactly where the gaps are will enable us to find targeted solutions,” he added.

As such, the BSP chief said that the data gathered in their surveys on millennials will enable them to make an effective program and education design for them, for the future of the economy.

“It is most important to gather and analyze data, given on a regular basis; policies must be data-dependent,” Tetangco said.

Sustaining earlier gains, the bank is currently the largest bank in the Philippines in terms of assets, loans, deposits and trust assets as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2014.

BDO’s market shares of the commercial banking sector are as follows: assets, 17 percent; assets under management (trust), 32 percent; customer loans, 21 percent; and deposits,18 percent.

This year, the banks’ core operations are expected to drive profitability through intermediation, as well as fee-based activities. Amid this environment, the bank aims to improve its financial performance by providing better and more accessible banking services to the public.

BDO reported a net income of P22.8 billion for the year 2014. Total resources rose 11 percent year-on-year to P1.9 trillion owing to an expansion in customer receivables.

BDO has one of the largest branch networks, with 875 operating domestic branches, one branch in Hong Kong and 2,591 automated teller machines and 61 cash accept machines as of end-December 2014. Genivi Factao

UITF...

continued from A1

be determined by the trust entity in accordance with the plan rules.

In addition, such income distribution will decrease the net asset value of the fund, and consequently, a decline in the net asset value per unit similar to the effect of dividend declaration on stock prices,” the BSP added.

The central bank said that this amendment is set to offer several advantages that will ultimately benefit the investing public and the UITF market.

It is also seen to expand the investment choices of the investor and allow the market for more opportunities for the diversification of their investment vehicles.

CHINA

Hong Kong

Artificial islands

China is building artificial islands in the contested Spratly Islands area.

PHILIPPINES

Manila

VIETNAM

Mischief Reef

Spratly Islands 250 km 250 miles Source: Asia Maritime Transperancy Initiative Graphic: Tribune News Service

people in the area and help with weather forecasting and search and rescue work.

Such work is “lawful, justifiable and reasonable. It does not target or impact on any other country and we hope that relevant parties can have a correct understanding on that,” Hong said. AP

Protesters display placards during a rally at the Chinese Consulate at the financial district of Makati City on April 17 to protest moves by China in “fortifying” its claims at the disputed Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea. The protesters, led by Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna, urged China to “stop its reclamation activities in the Mischief Reef,” which they claim to be still within the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone. AP/Bullit Marquez

Outlook...

continued from A1

19-month-high surplus in February, the country’s BOP position exceeded the government’s assumption of $1-billion surplus for the entire year. n March’s BOP: In his previous assessments of the country’s economy, ING Bank economist Joey Cuyegkeng said the country’s BOP is expected to continuously rise due to the low value of oil imports this year. “This year’s oil-import bill could be 30 percent lower than last year’s $13 billion—which could mean a narrower trade deficit at worst of at $2-billion surplus this year. This on the assumption of a

$60 per barrel of Dubai oil and a 6-percent increase in oil demand,” Cuyegkeng said. “Such a development could bring the current account back up to around $8 billion to $9 billion this year,” he added.

The country’s current account is one of the components of the BOP in the country. BSP Deputy Governor for Monetary Stability Sector Diwa C. Guinigundo, meanwhile, said that while the BOP is performing well, they are still yet not so keen on revising the BOP assumption upward due to the volatility in international markets. Bianca Cuaresma

EconomySunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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Sunday, April 19, 2015 A3

Bank deposits post double-digit growth in 2014 to P8.5 trillion

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eposits in the Philippine banking system grew to P8.5 trillion in 2014, up 12 percent from P7.6 trillion in 2013.

Data from the Philippine Deposit Insurance Cor p. (PDIC) showed that, of the P8.5 trillion in total deposits, deposits in commercial banks accounted for 90.1 percent (P7.7 trillion); thrift banks, 8.2 percent (P699.9 billion); and rural banks, 1.7 percent

(P144.5 billion).

Deposits in commercial banks grew by 12.3 percent, while deposits in thrift and rural banks recorded growth rates of 9.9 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively.

By account type, savings deposits constituted 39.4 percent

(P3.4 trillion) of total deposits, followed by time deposits at 23.9 percent (P2 trillion). Demand/ NOW and foreign currency deposit unit or FCDU deposits comprised 20.1 percent (P1.7 trillion) and 16.7 percent (P1.4 trillion), respectively.

All account types posted doubledigit growth rates.

FCDU deposits outpaced all other deposits, increasing by 23.6 percent, compared to savings and Demand/NOW deposits, which grew by 11.1 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively and time de-

posits at 8 percent.

The increase in deposits may be attributed to the expansion of branch network across all bank types.

As of end-2014, total banking offices (head offices and branches) stood at 10,041, an increase of 9.3 percent from 9,184 banking offices in 2013. Rural banks had the fastest expansion rate of 18.2 percent from 2,132 in 2013, to 2,519 in 2014, followed by thrift banks at 7.5 percent, from 1,791 to 1,925.

Commercial banks, on the other hand, grew by 6.4 percent year-onyear, from 5,261 to 5,597.

Tota l deposit accounts increased by 4.5 percent to 47.4 million from the 45.4 million accounts registered in 2013, with

rural banks leading the increase in number of accounts at 6.8 percent, followed by thrift banks and commercial banks at 5.3 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively.

Of the total deposits, P1.9 trillion, or 22.2 percent, are insured by PDIC, given the Maximum Deposit Insurance Coverage (MDIC) of P500,000. Around 96.6 percent of all deposit accounts are estimated to be fully insured, while 3.4 percent have balances in excess of the MDIC and are partially insured up to P500,000 only. PNA

SundayV

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editorial

Is the US pushing PHL into war?

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HE expansion of China in building an airstrip suitable for military use in contested territory in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands is of grave concern to all nations in the region. The US military commander for Asia, Adm. Samuel Locklear, said China could eventually deploy radar and missile systems on outposts it is building that could be used to enforce an exclusion zone should it move to declare one.

The sea lanes that could come under nearly complete Chinese control are a vital shipping route through which $5 trillion of trade passes every year. The Philippine government has the responsibility to protect our sovereign territory, as well as to cooperate with the international community to try to halt Chinese ambitions.

However, we are disturbed by reports that the government is encouraging the deployment of advanced air and naval equipment to the Philippines, which would require a US military personnel presence.

There is no question that the Philippines will never have the ability to counter Chinese aggression on the battlefield. But, in spite of comments by US President Obama, who accused China of using its “sheer size and muscle” to push around smaller nations, the deployment of US troops and equipment on Philippine soil is folly at this time.

The US would never attack the Chinese military unless American territory was under attack.

So what exactly is the purpose of the US plan to deploy to the Philippines? The Chinese are not going to stop their “reclamation” projects even if the entire US Pacific Fleet was anchored in Subic Bay. What is the purpose of the US military deployment?

Similar US offers of equipment and troops on the same scale to the Philippines have not been made to Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, or any other country in the region.

The Philippines forced the closure of the US military bases in 1991. Permanent US presence in Asia is now limited to Japan and South Korea, but none in the Southeast Asian region.

There is absolutely no military advantage to the Philippines of increased US presence in the country unless we are prepared to go to war against China.

However, there is a geopolitical advantage to the US if it can have even a semi-permanent presence in the Philippines and in the Asean region.

In the 21st century, the US has become a toothless tiger in Asia. China is the top military power in the region so much so that even Japan is moving toward establishing its own defense structure as to not rely on Washington. North Korea has long-range missiles and nuclear weapons. While trying to preserve its autonomy, Taiwan is growing ever economically closer to China. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will cut US economic influence even more.

Instead of being a US proxy, President Aquino should be on a plane to Beijing to sit face to face with his counterpart to try and resolve the issues. Only then should any decision on more US presence in the country be considered.

Age is more than a number and that’s a good thing

By Christine M. Flowers Philadelphia Daily News/TNS

I

T’S popular to say that age is just a number. I never understood that statement. Aside from being selfevident, the implication that age is irrelevant makes absolutely no sense.

Age being a number means a lot of things, including how much you’ve accomplished, experienced and, perhaps most important, the mistakes you’ve avoided making during a lifetime. But, when we say “age is just a number,” it’s as if we’re trying to minimize the negative perception of being “older.”

I put that word in quotation marks, because its connotation has evolved over recent decades. Where a 50-yearold woman was once considered mature, we now have to make sure that we talk about her in terms of sexuality and vitality in order to soothe and service bruised egos. Men are quickly catching up to women in their preoccupation with age (GQ Magazine is now indistinguishable from Vogue with the abundance of skin cream ads in its pages), but there are still vestiges of a double standard when it comes to physical attractiveness.

Despite the slight advantage men retain when it comes to the aesthetics of getting older, grayer and thicker, both genders are equally impacted by the politics of aging. We can talk about race, we can talk about sex, we can talk about orientation and we can talk about ethnicity, but the elephant in the room (or, in places like Philadelphia where elephants go to die, the donkey in the room) is the number on your ID card.

If you are too old, and no one is willing to define what that magic number is because we all hope to reach it one day, you begin to fade away. The lines of your personality and character, once so clearly defined, start to blur because people stop seeing you as an individual and

Gospel

Sunday, April 19, 2015

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start seeing you as a function of your aging organs. And that becomes particularly deadly in politics.

As we saw with our current president, a master of the conjured and perfected image, what counts with voters is not what you say, but how you say it; not what you do, but what you look like while doing it, not what you give, but how it’s packaged. And while age and experience are not yet completely devalued in this postmillennial climate, they are swiftly losing their rightful significance.

Take, for example, Philadelphia mayoral candidate Lynne Abraham. I will say at the outset that I am a great admirer of the woman that I still refer to as Judge Lynne, and much of that admiration comes from five decades of watching her up close and personally. She was a good friend of my father, and she has been a role model for me, as both a woman and a lawyer.

But even if I didn’t have a personal affinity for the woman, I would have been put off by the reaction to her recent fainting spell at a mayoral debate. When Abraham fell at the podium and was unconscious for a few moments, some pundits wrote her political eulogy before she had the chance to say “the tough cookie has not yet crumbled.” The swiftness with which this became received wisdom, as in “she’s cooked” was an example of how cynical the pundits have become about what truly matters in the makeup of a candidate.

It is entirely legitimate to inquire about the health of someone, who wants to assume an executive position, or any position of authority.

Abraham should release her medical records to quell the speculation that she’s incapable of serving for four years. For that matter, so should all of the candidates who were standing beside her at the podium last week.

But this obsession we seem to have with age is so distasteful and so counterproductive that it highlights an

hen they told what had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread. As they were saying this, Jesus Himself stood among them. But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts?

“See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and

ugly aspect of the American psyche: We really are evolving into a “Logan’s Run” society, where those who have crossed over a certain chronological line are simply tolerated (which is much kinder than the cinematic alternative of extermination.)

As someone who takes public transportation on a daily basis, I’ve had occasion to watch how the elderly are treated when they are riding. At best, they’re ignored. At worst, they’re the object of frustration when the bus has to slow down to accommodate their hobbled gait as they climb the steps or move down the aisle.

In other parts of the world, and I’m thinking of Europe and Asia, age is generally looked upon as an advantage. The politics reflect that sort of thinking.

Israel elected Golda Meir as its Prime Minister in 1969 when she was a spry 71. Indira Ghandi was twice elected as India’s Prime Minister, the second term beginning at the age of 63. Margaret Thatcher was 54 when she was elected as Great Britain’s Prime Minister, but she served uninterruptedly until the age of 65.

Corazon Aquino was elected president of the Philippines at the age of 53, toppling the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and serving until just before her 60th birthday.

Somehow, age didn’t seem to be an issue when they were running for office. Neither, apparently, was gender.

But, in America, it’s all about the “face,” so to speak. Men are not immune from the obsession with youth either, as anyone who remembers the cruel jokes lobbed at Ronald Reagan and John McCain will confirm.

When Lynne Abraham fainted, pundits predicted the end of her campaign. And whether you support her opponents or root for a former tough cookie, anyone who thinks dignity and value aren’t measured in numbers better hope they’re wrong.

He took it and ate before them. Then He said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.”

Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

—Luke 24:35-48

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, April 19, 2015 A5

Islam is reformed H

Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

IRSI Ali, a woman, has put out a book called Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now. She says the West should not buy the line that Islam is a religion of peace and its violence is only at the fringe.

Islam is all fringe, a bunch of atheists have said on TV, including the famous evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins who has written a book purporting to prove the negative; i.e., that God does not exist.

Violence is the core of the Islamic religion, Ali says. She pointed to five teachings of Islam—that I will not repeat—which she says cry for reformation and removal.

Why bother, she’s wrong on everything anyway. Her insight is not original, though she doesn’t know it because the last guys who read her were Henry Kissinger and myself.

In his two-volume masterpiece, The Decline of the West, the proto-Nazi philosopher Oswald Spengler already

described Islam as the Protestant reformation of Judaism, which is to say its simplification to plain and unquestioning submission to one God on all questions of belief and conduct, because who else would know better than the Almighty?

Reformations are earnest and therefore not good things because earnestness tends to get out of hand.

Witness reformed Islam. And witness the Protestant reformation of Catholicism, which brought about the wars of religion in modern Europe—total wars without any limits, what, except the practical means to inflict pain and casualties.

The medieval Church had always moderated violence rather than encouraged it. The Protestant reformers killed more dissidents. The Inquisition put far fewer heretics on trial and even less to death by the state.

Indeed, the Church never took a life.

It is presumptuous to judge, and

barbarous to suppress a profession of faith, as Ali does in her book. What a man or a woman believes is beyond the reach of anything but their conscience. What they practice is something else.

Cannibalism is a legitimate belief so long as it stays speculative and never descends to practice in a stew pot. Judaism was as violent as Islam on parchment. No, let me correct that, it is more violent than Islam on paper because it goes into excruciating detail about how to go about killing. Perhaps the violence of the world where Torah and Koran appeared explains it. Only Christianity in its every word is a religion of peace.

It is a miracle Christianity survived in a world dead set on its extinction.

That doesn’t make Christianity morally superior, only lucky, until it became a state religion under Constantine and then it had problems keeping emperors and kings from

using religion for political ends and even dabbling in theology.

Indeed, the only way to survive and thrive is to return violence with violence.

The Crusades were launched to stop Muslim aggression into Europe. Remember Charles Martel who stopped it on the border with Spain?

Remember Lepanto, which we celebrate in Baclaran. The violence of the Crusades moderated, and, the Saudi royals would say, weakened Islam; hence its reformed and militant version, which led to 9/11. American air strikes and Iranian ground forces— under a general as brilliant as Caesar and Petraeus—have and will have the same pacifying effect on radically reformed Islam. The rise of Islamic State coincides with the cessation of American carpet-bombing in Iraq.

Time softens sharp edges. Time wounds all heels and heals all wounds. The violence of Catholics

was moderated by the worse violence of Protestants. The violence of Protestants was exhausted fighting Catholics. In the end, both submitted to the greater violence of the liberal state. The Holocaust did not happen under medieval or reformed Christianity, but when atheistic liberals took power all over the world and ordered the Christian churches to bless their crimes or get out of their way.

In Argentina, Pope Francis, when he was cardinal, was compelled [as all cardinals of Buenos Aires before him were compelled] to celebrate a Te Deum Mass on the election of every new crook as Argentine president; so Cardinal Bergoglio used the occasion to insult the winner from the pulpit.

The legal obligation to say a Te Deum was repealed.

That’s just the way of the world.

Only a stick can teach a dog. Only the back of the hand can teach a child to behave.

Positive evidence for parent time with teens

By Anne Michaud Newsday/TNS

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HICH do you think would make the most difference in a child’s life: spending time with parents as a kid or as a teenager?

The answer may surprise you.

Our culture places a strong emphasis on parenting children when they’re young. We obsess to the extent that even working mothers today spend as much time with their children as athome mothers did in the early 1970s, about 14 hours a week. Fathers’ time has nearly tripled, from 2.6 hours a week in 1965 to 7.2 hours in 2010.

But parents who want to make the most of this time investment would be wise to apply it during the teen years, according to a study published

this month in the Journal of Marriage and Family. It’s the first large-scale study of its kind, conducted with more than 1,500 families over several years by researchers from the University of Toronto, Bowling Green State University and the University of Maryland.

The sheer amount of time mothers spend with kids ages 3 through 11, the study says, has virtually no relationship to behavioral health, emotional well-being or academic performance. Instead, it’s the quality of time that counts—reading together, doing homework, playing sports, going on family excursions.

But with adolescents ages 12 to 18, more time with Mom correlated strongly with reduced delinquent behavior—bullying others, cheating, lying or arguing too much.

What’s more, additional “family time”—mothers and fathers together in activities with children—resulted in better behavioral health and less risk-taking through substance abuse and sex. And the kids got better math scores.

I wouldn’t have guessed that about the math, but the rest confirms something I’ve felt intuitively: Teenagers need their parents. It’s a stressful time of life. As I’ve written before, the teen years are parents’ last, best chance to matter.

Melissa Milkie, one of the study’s authors and a sociologist at the University of Toronto, explained in an e-mail, “It may be that time is more scarce, freely chosen and meaningful for teens, and when they do spend time with Mom or both parents, it helps an adolescent feel like they are

important to the parents.”

The study also erodes the sacred ideology about intensive mothering—at least for kids 3 to 11—that has inflamed our culture’s “mommy wars” over the past two decades.

Amy Hsin of Queens College, another sociologist researching parent time, said she hopes to debunk the idea that mothers’ employment has a negative effect on children because it reduces the amount of maternal time kids need. A study she published in October in the journal Demography came to the same conclusion as Milkie’s: It’s the quality of time together, not sheer quantity, that counts.

If parent time matters more in the teen years, how does one design a work-family life that’s balanced?

In a famous piece for The Atlantic

Monthly, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” Anne-Marie Slaughter explained why she left her highpowered foreign-policy job at the State Department when her oldest son was struggling in middle school. Her hours as a Princeton University professor are less punishing. I admire her choice—but most women don’t have such a wealth of options.

I asked Milkie about this. “A better way than restructuring careers over the life course might be to demand more from workplaces—more sane hours, etc.,” she wrote.

Could that happen? It’s a great idea, but I’m skeptical that it’s a priority for my generation. Perhaps the teens we’re spending time with now will find a way to bring those family values to work.

When the rich try to eat like they’re poor

By Julie Kelly Chicago Tribune/TNS

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HAT happens when you cross a celebrity chef with a celebrity actress/lifestyle coach? You get the “Food Stamp Challenge.”

Last week American chef and restaurateur Mario Batali challenged Gwyneth Paltrow, the Academy Awardwinning actress and avid foodie, to eat on $29 a week, purportedly the amount a single food-stamp user receives in benefits.

The stunt is part of an awareness campaign by the Food Bank for New York City to highlight congressional budget cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—SNAP (for-

merly food stamps)—and asks people to participate so they can “understand what our friends and neighbors are going through.”

So what did Gwynnie buy? Aside from smart choices like eggs, rice and black beans, the actress purchased pricier items like an avocado and romaine lettuce. She also purchased several limes, which perhaps she needs for some kind of citrus cleanse. No meat, no dairy, no fruit. (I’m not sure where she shops because the items on her grocery list can be purchased at WalMart for roughly $15.)

But Ms. Paltrow—indeed the entire exercise—misses the point. It shouldn’t ask famous people to buy kale and quinoa with only a few bucks; the challenge should show SNAP recipients how to eat on a limited budget. That approach

would not only aid food-stamp users, but also help millions of working families that struggle to buy groceries each week.

It’s not enough that Middle America is squeezed with higher taxes and food costs; the culinary elite wants to serve up a side dish of guilt for even the most marginal government spending cuts.

SNAP is a prime example of America’s generosity and compassion. No one wants people—particularly children, the elderly and disabled—to go hungry. But over the last decade, SNAP has exploded in both cost and number of participants. According to the Congressional Budget Office, in 2008, SNAP cost $29 billion and served about 28 million people. Next year SNAP will cost approximately $84 billion and serve more than 45 million people.

In addition to SNAP, the Special

Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children receives nearly $7 billion. (According to the US Department of Agriculture, the program serves more than half the babies in the US). The Child Nutrition Program—which pays for billions of school lunches, breakfasts and snacks—costs an additional $22 billion.

So why the food-stamp challenge?

With a nationwide network of nonprofits—in addition to costly government programs—it’s hard to argue that America’s commitment to feeding the poor and hungry is inadequate. The challenge is directed at Republican lawmakers and policies that the liberal culinary elite don’t like. Placing any limits on an exploding government program earns the ire of the elite foodies who then seethe that cost-cutting

Republicans are “pro-hunger.”

At the same time, working families that don’t qualify for food support are ignored by the food-movement leaders (but please buy their $30-plus cookbooks and watch their TV shows). The struggle to buy affordable and healthy food remains a daily reality for millions of families.

So here’s a real challenge for chef Batali and his celebrity pals: Get up to make breakfast and pack a nutritious, satisfying lunch for your kids every day.

Then shop, cook and serve a healthy dinner for a family of four after work.

And do it on $36,000 a year, which is just over the income requirements to qualify for SNAP. Then maybe the culinary elite will really “understand what our friends and neighbors are going through.”

Let’s diversify US environmental movement

By Randy Jurado Ertll Tribune News Service

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OR Earth Day, let’s pledge to diversify the US environmental movement.

It is not ethnically diverse and, to make matters worse, funding sources inadequately support minority-led environmental efforts.

Environmental justice work is too often seen as merely hiring one or two people of color to do community organizing. Many times, this work is expected to be done for free.

Poor, minority communities are

the most impacted by environmental contamination. Ironically, they are the least empowered to push back, since they typically have no minority-led environmental organizations to take on their specific battles. Mainstream environmental organizations have been around for decades and they sometimes have massive budgets. For example, the Nature Conservancy has assets of more than $6 billion. Imagine if such outfits would choose to fund small minorityled grassroots environmental groups.

This is not just about breaking the green ceiling, even though opportunities inside the environmental movement are scarce for people of color. What is needed

even more is a revolution where black, Asian and Latino community members organize to create their own environmental nonprofits. It is not easy, but it is possible.

The California Latino Environmental Advocacy Network (Clean), the organization I have helped establish, has taken the initiative to create the first statewide, Latino-led and founded environmental nonprofit in California. It’s a big step, since the system makes it difficult for such groups to obtain nonprofit status.

Now the question is: Will funders help such an organization get off the ground? Or will Clean meet the fate of Concerned Citizens of South Central

and Madres del Este de Los Angeles, Santa Isabel, which disappeared due to lack of support and funding.

A recent report, “The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations: Mainstream NGOs, Foundations & Government Agencies,” published by the Green 2.0 organization, has some useful recommendations on this issue.

Foundations, nonprofits and government agencies should integrate diversity goals into performance evaluations and grant-making criteria, it says, and environmental associations should showcase leaders and laggards. The report recommends that increased resources be allocated for diversity initiatives and

that sustainable funding be provided for networking and support.

Adding to this, a scorecard should be developed to see which environmental groups are making progress in relation to diversity. Similar criteria should be applied to foundations and green corporations—to assess if they are making solid progress in helping to identify and fund minority-led environmental efforts.

These steps and other such efforts need to be implemented as soon as possible.

By next Earth Day, we should make significant progress on diversity within the environmental movement. Now that would be something to celebrate and applaud.

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A6 Sunday, April 19, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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DENR crafting 5-year environment protection action plan

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

reau, Land Transportation Office, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, National Bureau of Investigation, National Museum, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Philippine Air Force, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Ports Authority, Philippine National Police Maritime Group, Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, Environmental Management Bureau, the DENR Regional Directors, and DENR-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao took part in the two-day event.

Specifically, the summit aimed to come up with a multiyear action plan and to identify activities to be incorporated in the road map or action plan, and its implementation for the next five years.

The event held on April 15 and 16 is supported by the United States through USAID’s Office of

HE government is developing a five-year action plan to strengthen the country’s environmental protection regime.

The Department of Environment and Natura l Resources (DENR) Region 4A (Calabarzon) office played host to the recently concluded Third National Summit on Environmental Law Enforcement at the Hotel Dominque in Tagaytay City to gather inputs from various stakeholders.

DENR Assistant Secretary Marcial C. Amaro, concurrently the chairman of the National Law Enforcement Coordinating Commit-

tee-Subcomittee on Environmental and Natural Resources, said the summit aimed to formulate a road map or action plan to improve the Philippine environmental law enforcement in the next five years.

Around 120 officials and representatives from the Bureau of Customs, Department of AgricultureBureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Justice, Forest Management Bu-

Environment, Energy and Climate Change led by Joseph Foltz, its deputy director.

During the summit, Foltz said that the top 3 illegal businesses in the world are the illegal trade of drugs and weapons, and illegal wildlife trafficking.

Illegal wildlife trafficking, he said, is estimated to be worth of $25 billion or more than P1 trillion with the price of endangered wildlife products, such as elephant ivory, now at $2,100 per kilogram, thrice the price in 2010, shark fin is sold at $650 per kilogram. Clearly, to some people, the reward outweighs the risks, he said.

Foltz said the US government will continue to support the Philippines in collaboration with various stakeholders to help stop illegal wildlife trafficking.

Why Swiss challenges could delay award of Connector Road project

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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he competitive challenge for the P14-billion expressway that aims to link the two thoroughfares to the northern and southern corridors of Manila is expected to be completed before President Aquino bows out from office in 2016.

The process, tagged as the Swiss challenge, will start after an 80day negotiation with the original proponent, the Manila North Tollways Corp.

This means that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will initiate the Swiss challenge for the Connector Road in June, a painfully long process that can run for as short as three months to as long as a year.

A Swiss challenge essentially gives other parties the chance to submit a better offer than the proposal of the original proponent. The original proponent, meanwhile, has the right to

match the offer. In this case, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the proponent of the 8-km road network which will run from C-3 Road in Caloocan to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila, offered to do the project under a P14-billion multiyear investment plan.

The initial proposal, submitted in 2010 as an unsolicited offer, carried a P22.95-billion ticket cost, which will be used to construct a 13.4-km, four-lane elevated expressway that will extend all the way to Buendia in Makati City. It, however, reached an agreement with San Miguel Corp., which is currently building its own P26.5billion Connector Road or the Skyway Stage 3, for the latter to construct the 5-km common alignment, cutting Metro Pacific’s proposal to P18 billion.

The technical components of the road were changed for another round, Manila North Tollways President Rodrigo E. Franco explained,

hence its project cost was further reduced to P11 billion.

However, in order to accommodate the construction of the P287billion North-South Rail Project, the terms of the connector road were once again subject to revision. It now has a total cost of P14 billion, higher on a per-kilometer basis, than the original proposal.

It took the government half a decade to finally decide on the fate of the project. Supposed to be completed before Mr. Aquino bows out of office in 2016, the infrastructure’s completion was pushed by more than a year, partly due to the conflicting ideas of government officials as to how to fast-track the project’s implementation.

Cabinet officials were at odds as to how to implement the multibillion-peso transportation infrastructure project. One sought the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority Board to implement the project under a

joint-venture agreement with staterun Philippine National Construction Corp., hence the need to amend the existing supplemental toll operations agreement of the North Luzon Expressway.

Another high-ranking government official, who was compelled by a complaint submitted by a lawyer, said the project should undergo a Swiss challenge, thereby stalling the implementation once more. And yet another Cabinet official, whose agency is the main implementing body for the project, said it can work both ways.

Finally, the government decided to roll out a Swiss challenge, but a definitive date for the process has yet to be released.

The expressway is expected to facilitate the seamless exchange of goods and services between the two ends of the country’s capital. This would aid truck operators and freight services firms to pickup shipped goods from the ports in Manila and deliver them markets.

Two House leaders press passage of 3 ‘legacy’ bills

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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wo leaders of the House of Representatives said the 16th Congress should end with the passage of three “legacy” bills.

Centrist Democratic Party Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro and Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro said the passage of the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 1, or economic Charter change, the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and the proposed Philippine Fair Competition Act, will prove that lawmakers are still looking after the people’s welfare amid several political controversies.

These three measures, still pending at the plenary, should be passed before the 16th Congress ends in June next year, the lawmakers said.

“We believe that we have no more time [if we do not pass these bills immediately]. We will resume on May 4 and work until June 11.

Then, we will meet for SONA [State of the Nation Address] then the next day, Malacañang will submit its budget. We will become busy scrutinizing the budget. The committees will not meet to focus on the President’s budget.

By October 15, there is filing of certificate of candidacy, politics sets in,” Rodriguez said.

The lawmaker said the lower chamber should prioritize the passage of RBH 1, authored

by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., which seeks to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

The resolution is eyeing to amend economic provisions on the 60-40 rule that limits foreign ownership of certain activities in the Philippines.

The resolution will include the phrase “unless provided by law” in the foreign-ownership provision of the Constitution, particularly land ownership, public utilities, natural resources, the media and advertising industries.

Under Article XII of the Constitution, foreign investors are prohibited to own more than 40 percent of real properties and businesses, while they are totally restricted to exploit natural resources and own any company in the media industry.

The amendments to the Charter will be ap-

Filipinos urged to reflect on spirit of Earth Day

PHL to host global procurement conference A

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he Department of Budget and Management and the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB), in partnership with the World Bank, will host a global procurement conference

on April 20 and 21 at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.

This conference will bring together international procurement experts to discuss a global platform for knowledge-sharing and stan-

dards-setting, with countries in the driver seat and international organizations supporting implementation. The event will be attended by local and foreign participants from government, civil-society organizations, academic institutions, privatesector organizations and development partners.

Budget Secretar y Florencio “Butch” Abad said the “event is a venue through which procurement experts the world over can share insights and best practices, as well as review public procurement as a major function of good governance.

The event is also a recognition of the achievements and challenges in the implementation of the Government Procurement Reform Act.” In the conference, a crucial topic that would be of great interest to the effort to reform Philippine procurement process is the following: “In the aftermath of

procurement reforms, how can we make progress stick?” A panel of procurement reform experts from countries like Peru, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Chile will share knowledge on their strategies and actual experiences in making their countries’ reforms sustainable and irreversible.

Dennis Santiago, executive director, GPPB-Technical Support Office, said, “the passage of Republic Act 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act, in January 2003 transformed government procurement regime into a competitive, transparent, efficient, accountable and functional public-acquisition system. It established standardized procurement procedures, modernization via technology, sustainable organizational structures, a system for monitoring and evaluation, and capacity development for its procurement practitioners.”

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afp ready to resume peace talks with npas

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Saturday announced that it is open to the proposal of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) to resume peace talks with the government, but stressed the group must stop its terroristic activities to demonstrate its commitment to the proposed negotiations. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, AFP chief of staff, said the proposal is a manifestation that the rebels continue to trust President Aquino as a true advocate of peace.

He also said that the AFP fully supports the government in its drive to end all internal armed conflicts and push peace and development in conflict-affected areas.

Catapang also reiterated his call to the rebels to seriously talk peace with the government by showing sincerity in its actions. He added that the NPA must stop the abductions, killings, extortion activities, improvised explosive device attacks, and other criminal acts to show their sincerity to their proposed peace negotiations. PNA

proved through separate votings by the both Chambers with a three-fourths vote required from them.

“Our $6-billion FDI [foreign direct investment] for 2014 compared to our neighbors is very very small because Vietnam has $20 billion FDI for 2014, Indonesia has about $30 billion, Malaysia has another $30, Thailand has $30 billion, Singapore has $50 billion a year, so why is that so, is it because of our Constitution limits the investments in natural resources development, on communications and telecommunications to only 40 percent foreign, now who would be a foreigner who would give 40 percent of his money and has no control and so this is what we should discuss,” he said.

Rodriguez also calls for the passage of the proposed Philippine Fair Competition Act. The bill heavily penalizes monopoly, anti-competitive mergers and other unfair trade practices.

The bill also proposes to create the Philippine Competition Commission that will prosecute those engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices and other such practices with the purpose of preventing, restricting, or distorting competition.

“We have to show to our investors that there is level playing field, that we have fair competition regime. There is no monopoly and oligopoly and at the same time, we protect our consumers,” Rodriguez said.

He added that the passage of the FOI bill is essential in pushing for access to public or government documents.

For his part, Umali asked his colleagues not be distracted too much by the Mamasapano incident that killed a total of 66 Filipinos, including 44 members of the Special Action Force, 17 Moro rebels and five civilians on January 25.

“I think the passage of these bills will help improve Congress’s trust ratings. I fully support these bills. I even co-authored these bills. It helps in bringing about transparency in the government. If we want to raise our trust ratings and increase trading, we have to be transparent,” he said.

S the Philippines join the annual Earth Day celebration this month, Environment Secretary Ramon JP Paje urged Filipinos to think of ways how to help protect the environment.

In a news statement, Paje said Earth Day is about celebrating the environment and raising awareness of environmental challenges and what the people do to address them.

“We should never get tired of reminding the public that taking care of the environment is not the sole responsibility of the government,” he said.

The DENR, which will lead the annual celebration, has prepared an array of activities from April 21 to 23. Earth Day is celebrated every 22nd of April.

On April 21 Paje is expected to make a report on the state of the Philippine environment, formaly opening the three-day Earth Day camping to be participated in by students from public high schools in Metro Manila, Bulacan and Cavite at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City.

As part of the celebration, at least 2,000 people are expected to attend the event which will be highlighted by a

cultural show dubbed Sandiwang: Isang Diwa sa Pagdiriwang ng Kalikasan, signing of agreement between the DENR and Dazzling Lite Enterprises for the implementation of “1 Tube, 1 Tree” project, and a concert featuring local artists.

From April 21 to 23, over a hundred students from national high schools in Metro Manila, Bulacan and Cavite will hold a three-day Earth Day camping at the NAPWC. This will coincide with an exhibition showcasing practical ways to preserve the environment, recycling demonstrations, and a bazaar featuring eco-friendly consumer items and educational materials.

Earth Day is an annual worldwide event to demonstrate support environmental protection. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 in the US. It became a global event in 1990, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries. Since then, it has become the largest civic event in the world, celebrated simultaneously worldwide by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities.

Earth Day 1990 paved the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Jonathan L. Mayuga

espina will continue duty as pnp-o.i.c.

Despite his earlier resignation as officer in charge (OIC) of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina will continue to serve his duty as OIC of the 150,000-strong PNP. Espina respects the decision of President Aquino to choose a permanent leader of the PNP. “The PNP leadership is grateful to President Aquino for his responsiveness to the pressing desire of the police Officer Corps to have a full-time leader who will assume command of the PNP,” Espina said in his statement. ”I didn’t want to get in the way of the President Aquino’s free hand in appointing a new chief PNP, thus, I earlier signified my intention to be relieved as officer in charge of the PNP. I am, therefore, humbled at the continued expression of trust and confidence by President Aquino in reaffirming my designation as PNP officer in charge,” he said, Espina is still grateful to the National Police Commission chaired by Interior Secretary Mar Roxas for granting him expanded authority to exercise the position of OIC, PNP. PNA

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

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Sunday, April 19, 2015 A7

Govt ready in case MILF rejects ‘constitutional’ BBL–Rodriguez

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

HE government is ready to face challenges after the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL), the chairman of the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on BBL said.

Centrist Democratic Party Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, chairman of the House Ad Hoc Committee on BBL, said that a BBL that adheres to the Constitution will be passed by Congress on June 11, or before the last State of the Nation Address of President Aquino. “[The Moro Islamic Liberation Front [MILF] leaders may do] whatever they want to do after this bill [has been passed]. We have tried

our best to give it [BBL] to them… if they refuse to accept it and they want to go back to square one, and they want to again fight, well we’re ready for that,” he said.

Earlier, Rodriguez said that the MILF has no option but to accept the House of Representatives’s version of the proposed BBL, which removed eight unconstitutional provisions of the original Malacañang-proposed BBL.

Dry spell damages P141-M crops, fishery products

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AMBOANGA CITY—The Office of the City Agriculturist has reported that the damage to agricultural and fishery products owing to the prolonged dry spell had further soared to P140.8 million as of April 8.

As of March 31, the damaged to agriculture and fishery products was pegged at P132.54 million.

City Agriculturist Diosdado Palacat disclosed that, so far, 10,270 hectares of agricultural lands and fishponds have been damaged.

Palacat said the crops affected include rice, banana, assorted vegetables, rubber, cassava, corn, and even mango and coconut

trees, and fishponds.

He said that the damage was not only caused by the dry spell but also by the increasing number of grass fires in rural areas.

He said the damage is widespread, covering the different agricultural districts of Tumaga, Ayala, Culianan, Manicahan, Curuan and Vitali.

He said they are continuously monitoring the water levels of the different irrigation systems in the city.

Earlier, he said that nine of the total 25 irrigation dams have dried up, six are in critical condition, while 10 are below the normal water level. PNA

briefs pastor drowns in pangasinan SANTA MARIA, Pangasinan—A pastor drowned while trying to cross the swollen Agno River in Barangay Santa Rosa here before noon of April 17, the police reported.

The victim was Leovigilio Alvaro Dalope, 55, of the Christ of New Creation Fellowship church in Barangay Macalong, Asingan, whose body was retrieved by the joint police and Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) personnel in this town.

Investigation showed that Dalope and his son, whose name was not revealed, tried to cross the Agno River at about 11:55 a.m. to reach the other side to visit the town’s Eco-Park.

He was, however, swept away by the strong current, although his son managed to reach the other side of the river.

Immediately, his son called for help from residents who, in turn, informed the police and the town’s MDRRMC. PNA

npa team leader yields

BUTUAN CITY—The perplexities of living in uncertainties and strife in the hinterlands and the desire to live normally with his family prodded a New People’s Army team leader to yield himself back to the folds of the law on Friday afternoon.

Reports from the Agusan del Sur police reaching the regional headquarters here said that Glenn J. Genete, an alleged team leader of the Baking Primera of the Pulang Bagani Command 3 (PBC-3) of the Communist Party of the PhilippinesNPA, left the movement and yielded himself to the police authorities in the town of Santa Josefa, Agusan del Sur, at 12:05 p.m. on Friday.

Genete voluntarily surrendered to a joint team of the Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) 13, the Regional Public Safety Company, Caraga police command Regional Intelligence Division and Santa Josefa police in Purok 4, Barangay Angas, Santa Josefa, bringing along with him an improvised shotgun with five shells.

The surrenderor is now in police custody. He said many of his former comrades have now come to realize the pointlessness of their cause of armed violence and believed in the objectives and the sincerity of the government in bringing peace and development in the countryside.

The police also assured him that it will facilitate his rehabilitation by linking him up with the proper government agencies, which will help him return to his family, provide him livelihood and live a normal life again. PNA

13 hurt as bus falls off cliff

BUTUAN CITY—Thirteen persons were hurt, including the driver and the conductor, when a bus bound for a southern city in the region fell off a cliff along a national highway at dawn on Friday.

Reports reaching the regional police headquarters here on Friday showed a Bachelor Express bus (LYE 606), bearing body number 3148 from Butuan City, bound for Tandag City in Surigao del Sur, fell off the cliff along the national highway upon reaching Purok 2, Barangay Salvacion in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur. The bus, driven by a certain Marlon Diano, 41, of Barangay Nurcia, Lanuza in Surigao del Sur, was negotiating the curved and downhil portion of the highway when the accident happened, police reports said.

All the injured persons were rushed to the D.O. Plaza Memorial Hospital, also in Prosperidad. Personnel from Prosperidad police immediately rushed to the scene, provided assistance and security. PNA

The ad hoc committee tasked to scrutinize the BBL will resume its discussion on the measure from April 20 to 30.

“The government cannot be in a position of weakness. We are the State, we are the government. And we are now reaching to them,” the lawmaker added.

The BBL aims to create the new Bangsamoro juridical entity replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Grandstanding

NATIONAL Unity Party Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Cavite, an administration ally, on Saturday said that political grandstanding against the passage of the BBL will only block peace in Mindanao.

Barzaga warned colleagues in Congress, saying those who are engaging in grandstanding are not giving peace a chance.

Barzaga, member for the majority of the House Committee on Jus-

tice, said BBL detractors are trying to make it appear that the MILF cannot be trusted just because its chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal is using an alias.

“Detractors are making a mountain out of a molehill just because a leader of a revolutionary organization, like the MILF, is using a nom de guerre. The question is, is this enough to throw away our best chance at achieving peace?” he said.

Barzaga said that Iqbal’s use of an alias—an act which is but expected from any member of a revolutionary group—has been the focus of public discussions, instead of the more important issues, like empowering the Moro people to choose their own leaders.

“Nowhere in the BBL does it say that power is outright granted to the MILF. The BBL is about creating conditions for our Moro countrymen to choose their leaders through democratic means; it’s about creating conditions for peace

and development,” he said.

Under the bill, MILF leaders are allowed to seek political positions by participating in the elections.

MILF trustworthy?

“FROM the very start, the MILF has exhibited trustworthiness by helping the government in development projects, counterterrorism and anticriminality efforts,” Barzaga added.

He said giving so much emphasis on a trivial thing, such as Iqbal’s real name, diverts the people’s attention from the administration’s aim of giving the Moro people “the opportunity to chart a future of true peace and stability.”

“The BBL is not just about the MILF but for all of Mindanao,” Barzaga said. “Those who are against the BBL want us to fixate on the MILF; this is myopic.”

Barzaga said the public should be made to understand that the BBL “is first and foremost, a human development law.”

Earlier, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., said that the issue on the true identity of Iqbal will not affect the passage of the BBL. Belmonte said that he does not think it invalidates the peace agreement between the government and the Moro rebels, with Iqbal not using his real name in signing the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

Belmonte said he believed Iqbal is just using a nom de guerre to protect his family from persecution.

Rodriguez said that the BBL is not authored by Iqbal but by lawmakers.

“That is why we have authors and as members of Congress, we as congressmen determine the validity of this bill without looking that it came from a CAB signed by Iqbal,” Rodriguez added.

He said that Iqbal, using an alias in signing the peace pact with the government, has no bearing as far as BBL is concerned.

Albano to Aquino: Appoint Comelec chairman, 2 commissioners now

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SENIOR legislator on Saturday urged President Aquino to immediately appoint a new Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman and fill up the poll body’s two vacant slots for associate commissioners to hasten preparations for the 2016 national elections.

Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Rodito Albano III of Isabela, a member of the Minority Bloc in the House of Representatives, said it’s about time that the President appoints a full-time chairman and replacements to seats vacated by two commissioners in the poll body to accelerate all the necessary plans to ensure the smooth and orderly conduct of elections in May next year.

Three seats in the Comelec have been vacant since early February, when chairman Sixto Brillantes and two commissioners—Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph—retired.

“It is imperative that we have a fully manned Comelec now in the light of so many critical problems hounding the preparations for the 2016 national elections, particularly the stalled automated election program caused by a TRO [temporary restraining order] issued by the Supreme Court [SC] on the Smartmatic contract,” Albano said.

Albano pointed out that the Comelec could not properly prepare and implement plans and programs for the elections under an interim or caretaker leadership and an undermanned commission.

“With the automated election program mired in legal controversies now, a fully manned and functioning poll body is better equipped and empowered to look into alternative plans to ensure the smooth and orderly conduct of national elections in 2016,” Albano said.

He stressed the need for a fully manned and functioning poll body that must hit the ground running to make up for delays in the preparations for the 2016 elections and, more important, to provide for alternative programs in the event that the controversial Smartmatic contract is voided by the Supreme Court.

“Time is of the essence, and prudence dictates that the Comelec consider alternative plans, like the proposed semiautomated, or hybrid elections system, like the Transparent and Credible Election System or TCREST, in which voting and canvassing of votes are conducted manually but the

election results are transmitted electronically by computers through the Internet and other telecommunications systems,” Albano said.

He said some countries abroad have reverted back to manual system of voting and canvassing of votes at the precinct level for reasons of open-

ness and transparency in the conduct of their polls.

In particular, Albano cited the election system in Germany, which has fully automated system before but has since reverted back to the manual system.

“Given this major development in

other countries, it makes a lot of sense now for the government, through the Comelec, to seriously consider a contingency plan, like the TCREST, if the controversy-marred Smartmaticbased automated election system has to be dropped because of legal reasons,” Albano said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz