Issuu

“This wasn’t some nefarious deal.”—President Barack Obama, denying that a $400-million cash payment to Iran was ransom to secure the release of four Americans jailed in Tehran. AP

media partner of the year

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2015 environmental Media Award leadership award 2008

“WE HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS.”—Unicef ’s Robert Kezaala, writing in capital letters in a June e-mail to colleagues at the World Health Organization and other partners, referring to a shortage of yellow fever vaccines to fight an outbreak in Central Africa. AP

“I would be so happy when ‘diversity’ is not a word.”—Kenya Barris (in photo, right), creator of ABC’s hit comedy black-ish, complaining about being asked to discuss diversity at every panel about the show. AP

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Monday, August 8, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 303

‘Govt funds useless sans plan for housing’ By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

he inability of the Aquino administration to optimize government funds for housing was due to its failure to craft a comprehensive development plan, according to Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo. Robredo, who also heads the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said the previous administration spent P50 billion alone for the relocation of informal settlers.

INSIDE

U.S. men romp past China, 119-62, in Olympic basketball opener

“I think the problem is very basic because they just built houses. In fact the government has spent so much already as much as housing is concerned. During the six-year term of President Aquino, they spent

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PPP-in-a-PPP and ‘hybrid’ approaches PPP Lead

The amount spent by the Aquino administration to relocate informal settlers

P50 billion just for the relocation of houses,” she told reporters in a news briefing in the United States. “The funds were used for the relocation of houses, but it was not maximized because they just built houses without a comprehensive development plan,” Robredo added. Robredo said an integrated and See “Govt funds,” A2

BMReports

The National Shelter Program may need to be tweaked

PHL still grappling with housing ills

Alberto C. Agra

an a public-private partnership (PPP) project accommodate another PPP arrangement? What are the types of projects that allow this PPP-in-a-PPP approach? If this was the case, must the second PPP project go through another round of competitive process? Must the two PPP projects be pursued under the same modality? Can a completed government project permit a PPP project in the future? Continued on A14

sports

PPP-in-a-PPP

B.I.R.’s Dulay: Earning his stripes at 25 Town Hall

Sports

This file photo shows children playing outside row houses in Las Piñas City built by private sector-led group Gawad Kalinga Foundation Inc. The private sector is considered by government researchers as an important player in mass-housing projects. NONIE REYES By Fil V. Elefante @elefantefil

perspective

Part One

INCE the late-1970s, several attempts have been made to meet the public’s demand for housing and land, especially within the country’s major cities.

PESO exchange rates n US 47.0140

These efforts were summarized in a World Bank report that was published on June 14. The report, which was entitled “Closing the Gap in Affordable Housing in the Philippines: Policy Paper for the National Summit on Housing and Urban Development,” included a section that focused on

evolution of the National Shelter Program (NSP). Several public companies responsible for housing production, public financing and regulating land use were created over the next several years in an attempt to implement the NSP. Continued on A2

Commercial Space

Attached Agency

Hospital

Land Reclamation Author: Alberto C. Agra

n japan 0.4645 n UK 61.6448 n HK 6.0616 n CHINA 7.0776 n singapore 35.0432 n australia 35.8576 n EU 52.3360 n SAUDI arabia 12.5371

bm Graphics: Job Ruzgal

Source: BSP (5 August 2016 )

A2 Monday, August 8, 2016

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The National Shelter Program may need to be tweaked

PHL still grappling with housing ills Continued from A1

The NSP, which has been in existence since 1978, was intended to provide affordable homes to the poor and disadvantaged. In their book, government senior researchers Gilberto M. Llanto and Aniceto C. Orbeta defined the NSP as the government’s “comprehensive strategy to address the country’s housing problems.” Llanto and Orbeta said the NSP rests on three basic principles that defined the role of the players in addressing these problems: the beneficiaries, the private sector and the government. The authors said the NSP expects the private sector as the “principal player” and the government as only a “catalyst.” To implement the NSP, Llanto and Orbeta cited its four major programs: production of housing units, mortgage and financing, development loans and community programs. The NSP, through these programs, was expected “to extend housing assistance to a total of 323,700 families for the period 1993 to May 1995,” Llanto and Orbeta said in their book, titled The State of Philippine Housing Programs: A Critical Look at How Philippine Housing Subsidies Work. The figure represents 26 percent of the targeted nearly 1.3 million households for the years 1993 to 1998. However, after nearly four decades, a housing backlog still exists. What happened?

1975 to 1985

PUBLICLY available records show that under the Marcos administration, two agencies were specifically created to implement the measures cited above. The first was the National Housing Authority (NHA), which was created on October 15, 1975. Later, on June 2, 1978, the Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS) was established. The NHA became one of the agencies under the MHS. Nine days after the MHS was created, President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential Decree (PD) 1517, otherwise known as the Urban Land Reform Act (Ulra). This decree empowered the MHS to “prepare the appropriate development and zoning plans” to implement the Ulra. Under this

law, “no urban land can be disposed of or used or constructed on, unless its disposition or use conforms with the development and zoning plans of the MHS.” Additionally, PD 1517 was meant to regulate “existing pattern of land use and ownership in urban and urbanizable areas.” Among the projects implemented under the MHS at that time were a series of projects known as the Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services, or Bliss, and the Dagat-Dagatan housing projects. The Bliss project was a series of medium-rise tenement housing units, while the Dagat-Dagatan project was designed to transform the swamp in Manila Bay, where thousands of squatter families lived, into a modern housing model. The transformation of the squatter site was part of the Marcos administration’s urban-reform showcase that was said to have been funded by loans obtained from the World Bank. However, further MHS housing projects were halted when the Marcos administration was overthrown in 1986. The MHS was disbanded, and the NHA became one of the agencies under the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

Rise of the HUDCC

THE World Bank report said since the 1980s, the Philippines’s housing policy “has been embodied in a National Shelter Program that features a total systems approach to housing finance, production and regulation” through a “network of implementing housing agencies.” Thus, the HUDCC was created. The HUDCC had several “key shelter agencies” attached to help implement the NSP. Aside from the NHA, other agencies attached to the HUDCC included the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC), Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC), Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and the Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC). Each agency has a primary responsibility.The NHA had the mandate to build homes for low-income families, specifically for those belonging to the lowest 30 percent of urban income earners, while the NHMFC was tasked to operate a “vi-

able home-mortgage market and attract private institutional funds into long-term housing mortgages.” The HGC had the responsibility of providing “risk covers and financial incentives to housing credits extended by developers, banks and other financing institutions,” while the HLURB is charged with regulating land-use planning and housing development. Later, in 2004, another agency was added. This was the SHFC, which became a subsidiary of the NHMFC. The SHFC, which was established through Executive Order 272, became the lead government agency responsible for undertaking “social-housing programs that will cater to the formal and informal sectors in the low-income bracket.” The SHFC also became responsible for the Community Mortgage Program (CMP), which was a mortgage-financing program designed to assist “ legally organized associations of underprivileged and homeless citizens to purchase and develop a tract of land under the concept of community ownership.” The CMP’s primary objective was to help “residents of blighted areas own the lots they occupy.”

Original NSP

THE original National Shelter Program (NSP) of 1978 was transformed into an ambitious six-year program in 1986. Its overall goal was to give low-income or marginalized households a chance to obtain decent, affordable and secure shelter. However, the program’s life span proved too short. This program was effectively extended with the enactment of two laws, namely, the Urban Development and Housing Act (Udha) of 1992 (Republic Act [RA] 7279) and the Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter Financing Act of 1994 (RA 7835). According to the World Bank document, the Udha was enacted to “uplift conditions of underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban areas and resettlement areas by making available to them decent housing at affordable cost.” This was essentially a socialized-housing program. The other law, RA 7835, increased the regu-

lar appropriation to the NSP and augmented the capital of the NHMFC and the HGC.

Falling short

ACCORDING to the World Bank report, the NSP had fallen short in meeting its avowed goals despite the combined efforts of the past administrations. The World Bank report said these efforts “fell short of making a significant dent in housing provision, more so in the improvement of the situation of urban-poor communities and informal settlements.” “The current housing program remains inadequate and unable to provide the scale and quality needed to match the magnitude of the housing problem,” the report said. Citing data from the 2010 Census of Population and Housing, the World Bank report noted that there was an accumulated backlog of 1.225 million housing units as of January 2011. About “787,731 units are households in ‘unacceptable housing’ and another 437,612 are households doubling up in acceptable structures,” the World Bank report said. “There is also a future need of 2.25 million for new household formation and 1.93 million for inventory losses over the period 2011 to 2016, although ‘future need’ does not constitute a housing shortfall per se,” the report added. The report also predicted that these “figures will inevitably increase, as the country’s good macroeconomic performance results in higher demand for land and housing in urban and urbanizing areas.” “Since the supply of urban land is finite and has intensifying competing demands, its allocation and use becomes a critical focus of public policy,” the report said. “The dysfunctions of land and property markets and the gravely inadequate transportation system are not strategically addressed.” “This suggests a formulation bereft of an urbanization framework that should have informed the national and local development planning and investment decisionmaking,” the report added. The World Bank report explained that one of the stumbling blocks was the HUDCC’s “limited powers to influence the urbanization process.” “The government’s development plan-

ning and budgeting are done more on a sectoral manner, with the priorities of Cabinet-level agencies taking precedence over coordinative and intersectoral initiatives and mechanisms,” the report said. The NSP faced even more challenges in the provinces. “Provincial governments are limited in their powers and capacities for planning and integration,” the World Bank report said. “Provinces are themselves crippled by their lack of effective planning integration authority over component cities/municipalities [i.e., central government funding can bypass provinces and go directly to component cities and municipalities] and, perversely, have no administrative or fiscal authority over highly urbanized cities within their geographical boundaries.” The World Bank report identified four strategic areas that prevent effective solutions to the housing problem. “These are land, financing, governance and urbanization processes,” the report said. “Urbanization is the context by which the housing problem has to be appreciated. Clearly, urban development in many cities and localities are not properly planned and managed.” “Near-city and off-city relocation and displacement of informal-settler families become doubly problematic or complicated because of the lack of connective infrastructure,” the report added. “Transportation systems are absent or badly planned. Poor investments in the improvement, expansion and management of transportation infrastructure prevent lagging localities from participating in the development of urban centers.” The World Bank report pointed out that the government still insisted in relocating urbanpoor dwellers, despite the “high attrition rate in government resettlement projects.” “There is a proliferation of informal dwellings; instead of organized densification, more spaces are utilized without following a coherent land-use plan,” the report said. “Planning coordination among local government units is lacking or weak, compromising land-use compatibility or integration across localities and resulting in inefficiency of basic services for transportation and traffic management.” To be continued

Govt funds. . . Continued from A1

comprehensive housing development plan must be crafted to eliminate the housing backlog in the Philippines. She said the HUDCC found a comprehensive housing study done by the World Bank, which the council can use to implement a housing program. Filipinos, particularly those living in cities, should no longer dream of owning single detached homes, according to Robredo. Without citing sources, the Liberal Party stalwart said the housing backlog is at 5.6 million. Of this number, Robredo said 1.4 million consist of informal settlers and about 40 percent are in Metro Manila, where there aren’t enough lands for mass housing. “I know that Filipinos want single, detached homes. That is the ideal, but we have to realize that we do not have enough space to do that, especially in Metro Manila,” Robredo said. “So we should no longer aspire for single, detached houses. We should consider living in high-rise or midrise [buildings],” she added. Last Wednesday Robredo said the government does not have an inventory of available lands for mass housing and an updated list of homeless Filipinos. She said to resolve the housing problem via a “comprehensive and integrated” way but without the data, would be difficult. Robredo said tha,t while the Land Registration Authority has conducted an inventory of these lands, the study has not yet been released, because the government has not yet paid for the study. She said this is the reason she has also asked the Department of Budget and Management to release the payment. In terms of the list of homeless Filipinos, particularly in cities, she said only Las Pinas, Quezon City and Valenzuela have updated lists. Robredo said she is now reaching out to local government units to come up with their own list of homeless, so the HUDCC can integrate their data into the government’s housing program.

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A4 Monday, August 8, 2016

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Govt banking on privatization of Naia 1 to improve image of Philippine airports

By Recto Mercene

@rectomercene

nce awarded to the winning bidder by next year, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport 1 (Naia 1) would only be the third passenger terminal in the Philippines placed in private hands. The other two are the MactanCebu International Airport and the Caticlan Airport in Panay Island, serving the world-renowned Boracay beach resorts. With the Naia under private investors hands, transport officials hope to redeem its image as a corrupt and filthy airport unworthy of any international recognition and be one among the highly prized engines of growth helping propel the country toward full modernization. The study on the Naia privatization would be decided this year and by 2017, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) believes there should already be a winning bidder, says Undersecretary for Transportation-Aviation and Airports, Robert Lim. “By next year, we have a strong belief that there would be a decision, although this year, definitely there’s already a decision. But the awarding would be next year,” Lim reveals to the BusinessMirror at a recent interview. Two years ago, the Public-Private Partnership Center said the government would open the redevelopment, operations and maintenance of the Naia to competitive bids by the mid-2015. Then-President Benigno S. Aquino III failed to pursue its privatization under his term and has passed the baton to President Duterte, especially to the DOTr. Two years ago PPP Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao identified the four potential bidders as United Kingdom-based Pinsent Massons Llp., Ernst & Young, International Technical Assistance Consultants (Itac), and Nathan Associates Inc. “We’re now evaluating their proposals with the Department of Transportation and Communications [DOTC],” Canilao said, adding that the agency has allotted $2 million or $3 million to finance the feasibility study of the Naia privatization project. Naia General Manager Ed Mon-

real told the BusinessMirror that Ernst & Young has begun studying a privatization study subject to the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). “It’s in the plan that we will have to provide the basic services because the Naia, including customs and immigration, will remain regulatory agencies, although I have yet to receive the specifics. I think the private firm would manage operations, take off and landing, or apron [tarmac] management,” Monreal said. He added that many sectors have agreed to the proposal because they think that would make the Naia 1 a very competitive airport. According to Monreal, the private management of the Naia 1 would be done for a number of years at the end of which ownership of the Naia would revert back to the government, “unless the private sector performed so well they are given an extension to continue the operations.” At the moment, the Naia has more than 6,000 employees and another 1,000 would be added once the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) has approved their hiring. Initially, the OTS accepted some 500 applicants who would manage the x-ray machines, although within the year, its personnel would be under the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) supervision. “No, the OTS will not be abolished. They will provide oversight functions in all the commercial airports where their presence are needed. But the Miaa will now manage the personnel who will operate the x-ray machines at the initial point of entry to the airport,” Monreal said. It was unclear, however, whether the commercial concessionaires would be placed under a megaconcessionaire from whom they would apply retail permits to operate. Monreal said he has yet to be provided the number of concessionaires at the airports, such as restaurants, food-and-beverage shops, coffee

THE Ninoy Aquino International Airport 1

shops, fast-food outlets, gift shops and others. It remains unclear whether the Duty Free operations at the Naia 1 would be placed in the hands of the winning bidder, Monreal admits, although he said the retailer Rustan’s is already the megaconcessionaire at Naia 3, from whom other locators would have to apply for retail permits. The Miaa generates approximately P5-billion annual income, mostly from landing and takeoff fees or those related to airline operations. Other income is derived from real-estate rentals, business concessions, transport concessions and franchises, and many more. As far as Monreal knows, the Naia 1 would be privatized, although he is unaware whether the rest of the four passenger terminals would be handed over to private hands, as well. “I don’t know the details, but maybe they would start privatization with the Naia 1,” he said.

$2M The amount allotted by the government to study the feasibility of privatizing the Naia 1

He added that the Naia privatization came about because running a complex agency like an airport needs immediate action only a private firm can make. Some experts the BusinessMirror interviewed said the Miaa ought to be run by a CEO just like a large private corporation. Foremost examples of these are the Hong Kong Airport, Singapore Airport, Malaysia International Airport, Taipei Airport and Narita Airport in Japan.

Monreal said a private firm could procure needed items quickly and in as short a time as possible. But under the government, one has to go through a process dictated by the procurement law, so that in the end, government is slow to react. “These are the nitty-gritty that the private firms are good at.” At the same time, Monreal said the government is assured of yearly income that would be guaranteed by the winning private entity. “If I am not mistaken, the winning private bidder in Cebu had to make [an] up-front deposit running into the millions of pesos.” Airport veteran concessionaires, who have been at the Naia for decades, told the BusinessMirror the upside of privatization is the guarantee of yearly income and without the headache of managing hundreds of employees. “The downside is that the private investors might decide to increase the rentals and this cost would be

passed on to the passengers,” the concessionaire said, requesting not to be named. They heard this is already happening at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, although they have yet to officially confirm if the report is true. Onie Nakpil, chairman of the Asean-Airline Operators Council, said the privatization of an airport tends to increase access to sources of private capital for airport development. Under a private entity, airports tend to become more efficient, competitive and financially viable, he added. “Participation in the program has been very limited, in part because major stakeholders have different if not contradictory objectives and interests,” he said. On the other hand, Nakpil added that there is increasing interest in airport privatization because the government is making it easy for private companies to comply with the requirements.

‘Senate panels may reopen $81-M cyber-heist probe’ By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

enate leaders left it up to new members of the blue-ribbon and banks committees to decide whether to heed calls to reopen its joint inquiry into the money-laundering scandal involving $81 million of stolen Bangladeshi funds at the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York. “We are thinking of adopting the proceedings [of the previous Senate] into the new banks committee,” Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III told the BusinessMirror over the weekend. “Then we take it from there.” But Sotto also suggested the new composition of the Committee on Banks and Financial Institution, now chaired by Sen. Francis G. Escudero, is not prevented from conducting new hearings on the case. Sotto raised the possibility that the newly named members of the

panel can “come up with a new report,” after reviewing the findings of the previous Senate inquiry into the cyberheist scandal. Escudero, in a text message to the BusinessMirror, expressed readiness to reopen the $81-million cyberheist hearings, if mandated by the Senate to do so. However, Escudero said he needs to confirm if the Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions already received it’s marching order from the Senate leadership to conduct new hearings on the case. “I have yet to see the resolutions and bills filed before the panel given that the banks committee secretary has not been assigned yet,” the senator said. Escudero assured the BusinessMirror that “we will hear and act on all bills and resolutions filed before my committee as I have done in the past, following a ‘zero backlog’ policy.” However, Sen. Richard J. Gordon,

The number of marathon hearings conducted by the previous chief of the Senate Blue-Ribbon Committee on the case

new chairman of the Blue-Ribbon Committee, had indicated he is not inclined to endorse participation in another marathon inquiry. Suggestions to reopen the joint Senate inquiry into the case arose

in the wake of a recent meeting between Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III with Bangladeshi envoy John Gomes, who earlier expressed disappointment that the Philippine government was taking time to return the recovered loot turned over by casino junket operator Kim Wong. Gordon, in thumbing down a new probe into the case, said the Senate is not a “collection agency,” recalling that former Sen. Teofisto Guingona III conducted seven marathon public hearings on the case. This developed as Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto, in a separate statement over the weekend, commiserated with the Bangladesh government’s impatience over the slow pace of recovery efforts. Officials earlier said the over P400 million returned by Kim Wong to monetary agencies could not simply be turned over to Dhaka because it is part of evidence used in money-

laundering charges still pending at the Department of Justice against several suspects. Recto noted that the central bank’s Monetary Board have already fined Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) P1 billion after its Jupiter branch manager was implicated in the diversion of the stolen $81 million to bogus accounts at her branch. “But their work is not done yet. They should find the unaccounted billions and return it to Bangladesh,” he said. Recto recalled reports that a high-level delegation from Bangladesh “will arrive next month to press for the return of what is theirs. They should not leave our country without it.” “In fact, they should not be made to beg for their money. It would even be wise if we could return the money before they arrive here. In this case, apologies must come with cash,” he added.

In order to prevent a repeat of what Recto called a regretful incident, “our banking authorities should recommend remedial legislation, and for Congress to immediately act on it.” Recto said regulators should also inform Congress and the public of the administrative measures they have instituted to prevent banks from becoming washing machines of dirty money. “I commend RCBC for not challenging the sanctions imposed, and for paying the fine, which, in this litigious society, it could have easily done, but in a display of good corporate citizenship it decided to comply with,” he said. “Let me also put it on record that the imposition of this unprecedented penalty would not have been possible without the relentless investigation conducted by Sen. Sergio Osmeña III and Teofisto Guingona III,” Recto added.

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AseanMonday BusinessMirror

Monday, August 8, 2016 A5

Thailand needs more democracy T he military junta now ruling Thailand is intent on ratifying a new constitution that would entrench the influence of unelected officials over future governments. But Thais preparing to vote on the document should be wary. What their country needs isn’t less democracy, but more.

Though long and complicated, the proposed constitution has a simple goal: to hem in popularly elected politicians with new rules, voting procedures and institutions dominated by unelected Thai elites. A revamped electoral system would confer an advantage on smaller parties, thus encouraging weak coalition governments. The upper house of parliament would be appointed, rather than elected, and could decide the next prime minister, who also wouldn’t have to be elected. Various unaccountable bodies—from the Constitutional Court to an anticorruption agency—would have broad powers to disqualify candidates, monitor budgets and, otherwise, constrain government policies. If it passes, the new constitution is less likely to foster calm than renewed political protests. It represents yet one more attempt by Bangkok power brokers to defenes-

trate parties loyal to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose power base lies in the poor and populous north and northeast of the country. Those voters have grown accustomed to the power of the ballot box. They can’t simply be expected to accept a long-term diminution of their rights. Concentrating power also has to raise doubts in the minds of foreign investors. There’s no reason to think it’ll result in more sober economic policymaking. The junta itself has already resorted to Thaksin-style populist policies in order to mollify Thai farmers; any new government will be tempted to do the same. W hile the constitution demands that those future governments adhere to the junta’s 20-year “national strategy,” that alone is unlikely to reassure companies contemplating long-term investments in Thailand. The strategy

Former Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra poses, as she casts her vote in a national referendum on a new constitution at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday. Thais voted on Sunday in a referendum on a new constitution that critics say is tailor-made for the military government to stay in control for several years and entrench a new, quasi-democratic system that gives vast powers to appointed officials. (Related story on A6) AP Photo/Vicky Ge Huang

is a broad statement of goals. What businesses desire most is predictability—a confidence that Thailand has settled on a political system broadly acceptable to all parts of the country and all rungs

of society. This constitution can hardly make that claim. Finally, counting on a few “wise men” to clean up the system is a poor bet. Far better would be a system that increases transpar-

ency and accountability. More power needs to be devolved to provinces so that politics becomes less of a winner-takes-all scramble in Bangkok. To provide a check in parliament, Thailand needs to

develop an opposition party with truly national appeal. Civil society and the media need to be strengthened rather than intimidated and suppressed, as they’ve been under junta rule. Bloomberg View

The World

Monday, August 8, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

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Thais vote on new constitution that could dilute democracy

ANGKOK—Thais voted on Sunday in a referendum on a new constitution that critics say is tailor-made for the military government to stay in control for several years and entrench a new, quasi-democratic system that gives vast powers to appointed officials.

The junta, which came to power in a May 2014 coup and ordered the constitution rewritten, says the new version will usher in a new era of clean politics and stable democracy in a country chronically short of both in recent years. Over the years, Thailand has, sometimes, slid into violent internal political conflict. The government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a retired army general, used its sweeping powers to ban political rallies and independent campaigns against the draft constitution, and allowed virtually no debates on it. Opponents say this was done to ensure that people would have little knowledge about the constitution’s provisions, even though officials say 1 million copies have been distributed in a nation of 64 million people. More than 100 people who tried to campaign against the referendum on social media have been thrown in jail, and open criticism has been made punishable by up to 10 years in prison. “If people cannot speak their minds freely or take part in political activities without fear, how can they meaningfully engage in this referendum,” said Josef Benedict, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. At a polling booth in Bangkok where Prayuth voted, officials displayed an empty ballot box to reporters and sealed it before letting the first voter—a young woman— enter the booth. She first registered at a desk and signed a paper before casting her ballot. “Come out [to vote] because today is important for the future of the country. This is your duty and this is part of democracy, of an internationally recognized process,” Prayuth told reporters after voting.

People are being asked to check “yes” or “no” for the constitution and related provisions on the ballot paper. Final results are expected late on Sunday. The main criticism of the draft constitution includes at least fiveyear transition to civilian rule and a 250-member appointed Senate that includes the commanders of the army and other security services. A deadlock in the 500-member elected lower house could trigger a selection of a prime minister who is not an elected member of parliament. Under the abolished 2007 constitution, half the Senate was elected, and the prime minister had to come from the lower house. Also, emergency decrees enacted by the junta without any parliamentary consent remain valid. So-called independent bodies, stacked with conservative appointees, would hold “disproportionately broad and unchecked powers” over elected politicians, the international human-rights consortium FIDH and the Union for Civil Liberty in Thailand said. “If you say ‘yes’ to the constitution, it means you agree with the content of the constitution...what makes matters worse is you also give legitimacy to the coup, to the coup makers,” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of Kyoto University in Japan. Pavin, a Thai and a vocal critic of the junta, told The Associated Press (AP) that a victory in the referendum would give the junta the reason to tell the world “don’t you dare criticize us anymore because we have the legitimacy.” Even if Thais vote “no,” the military will remain in control for the foreseeable future. Prayuth has

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha (center) talks to reporters after casting his vote in a referendum on a new constitution at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday. AP/Sakchai Lalit

promised to hold elections next year, without elaborating on how that would happen if voters reject the draft constitution. Thailand has endured 13 successful military coups and 11 attempted takeovers since it replaced an absolute monarchy with a constitutional one in 1932. If passed, this would be Thailand’s 20th constitution. Leaders of the latest coup say, sometimes, violent political conflict made the country ungovernable and that military rule was necessary to bring stability. Junta set up handpicked committees to draft a charter that would enshrine its declared goal of reforming politics by eliminating corruption. But others believe the draft constitution has a different aim: to weaken allies of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the central figure who has roiled Thai politics. Thaksin’s political machine has

If you say ‘yes’ to the constitution, it means you agree with the content of the constitution...what makes matters worse is you also give legitimacy to the coup, tothecoupmakers.”—Chachavalpongpun easily won every national election since 2001, relying on the support of working-class and rural voters who benefited from his populist policies. Leading the other side is Thailand’s traditional ruling class and royalists unnerved by Thaksin’s political support, especially as it contemplates its future. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose righteous rule has anchored the kingdom since 1946, is 88 and ailing. The army ousted Thaksin in a 2006 coup, after his “yellow shirt” critics took to the streets and ac-

cused him of abuse of power, corruption and disrespecting the king. He has lived abroad since 2008 to avoid prison for a corruption conviction that he says was politically motivated. The 2014 coup ousted his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, who was elected prime minister in 2011, but buffeted by protests sparked by legislation that would have pardoned Thaksin. “Today is a very important day for Thailand because this is the way of democracy, so make sure people understand the content and then

share your opinion,” Yingluck told reporters after casting her vote, which she had previously said would be against the draft. Those who brought Thaksin down now seek to weaken major political parties, which would ensure that real power stays in the hands of what is dubbed the permanent bureaucracy: the military, the courts and other unelected guardians of the conservative bloc. Analysts say the new constitution would make it easy to disband parties, keep politicians in line, impeach politicians; and enforce a coalition government of weaker, smaller parties. Chaturon Chaisang, who served in the Cabinets of both Thaksin and Yingluck, told the AP that his biggest objection is that “the draft charter will not allow Thai people to determine the future of this country.” AP

After shock, Japan warms up to emperor’s possible abdication

OKYO—Japanese will tune in to Emperor Akihito’s rare video message on Monday, following reports that he would abdicate in the next few years, which initially came as shock but was welcomed by many as a deserved rest for the 82-year-old beloved monarch. In the prerecorded message, Akihito will talk about his duties as a “symbol emperor” as stipulated by the constitution, palace officials said. He will most likely avoid the explicit expression of abdication, which would involve political and legal procedures that he is not allowed to discuss. Akihito still works, though his aides have shifted some of his duties to Crown Prince Naruhito—the elder of his two sons and most likely successor. Yet, Akihito has referred to his old age in recent years, admitting to making small mistakes at ceremonies. During the August 15, 2015, anniversary of the end of World War II, Akihito started reading

a statement when he was supposed to observe a moment of silence. After the initial surprise, the public warmly welcomed the reported abdication plan, saying the hardworking emperor deserves to enjoy his long-overdue retirement. Lifting the abdication ban, a practice inherited from the prewar constitution, would also bring the imperial life closer to the public. “Changing that will reflect the reality of Japanese society first of all, the way that almost all people here feel about working, and life and career building,” said Robert Campbell, a University of Tokyo professor and expert on Japanese history and culture. According to a nationwide telephone survey by Kyodo News agency this month, nearly 90 percent of the respondents said Akihito is given too much work, while more than 85 percent said an abdication should be legalized as an option to Akihito and his successors.

In this December 23, 2014, file photo, Japanese Emperor Akihito (third from left) accompanied by his wife Empress Michiko (fourth from left) and their family members, waves to well-wishers, as they appear on the balcony of the Imperial Palace to mark the emperor’s 81st birthday in Tokyo. From left to right are Crown Princess Masako, Crown Prince Naruhito, Prince Akishino, Princess Kiko and Princess Mako. Japan tunes in to Emperor Akihito’s rare video message on Monday, August 8, 2016, following reports that he would abdicate in the next few years, which initially came as shock but which many people appeared to have welcomed as a deserved rest for the 82-year-old beloved monarch. AP/Eugene Hoshiko

Akihito has reportedly told palace officials and his families that he doesn’t wish to cling to his title with drastically reduced responsibility or by arranging a substitute, and his two sons have accepted the idea. The quiet discussion reportedly started about five years ago, around the time he had health problems—he was hospitalized for bronchitis in 2011, and had heart bypass surgery in 2012. Palace officials quickly denied the

report, because the emperor is not supposed to say anything that would cause a change to the existing system, including his constitutional status. Experts and media have speculated that Akihito will seek to abdicate while he is still in good health so he can monitor Naruhito, who is seen not quite ready for succession. “If he does decide to abdicate, I believe that one of the reasons may be that he wants to oversee the change

in reign...in peaceful and successful way,” Campbell said. Akihito ascended to the throne in 1989 after the death of his father, Hirohito, who was considered a deity until Japan’s defeat in the World War II, fought in the name of the emperor. Akihito brought the cloistered imperial family closer to the public and broke with other traditions, including his marriage to a commoner. He has repeatedly said he respects

Japan’s postwar pacifist constitution and is committed to his status as the symbol and the unity of the people, not the sovereign. Some speculate that Akihito’s abdication may be an attempt to put a break on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to rewrite the constitution. Abe and his ultraconservative supporters want to scrap a part of the warrenouncing article and upgrade the emperor to the sovereign again. AP

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shudders If Iran opens its oil sector, Florida as Zika spread forces will Saudi Arabia be next? CMiami shops to close

BLOOMBERG

ran has taken a big step toward bringing foreign investors back into its oil and gas sector. The experience of neighboring Iraq shows it still has a long road to walk, though—if successful—there may well be a lesson here for Saudi Arabia on opening up to outside help.

Iran has restored most of the production it lost because of sanctions imposed in 2012, confounding analysts with its speed of recovery. Crude exports are back at 2 million barrels a day and the country is slowly reestablishing itself in European markets. But the next step—taking output back to levels last seen before the 1979 revolution—needs the assistance of foreign oil companies. And that’s much more complicated.

Last week Iran’s Cabinet approved the general terms of a contract model that will govern foreign oil and gas investments. In doing so, it overcame months of hostility from hardliners in Tehran, who oppose the concessions made to get sanctions lifted. The resolution now has to be endorsed by parliament, where it also faces opposition. Assuming it makes it through, the model looks promising enough. It reaffirms that oil and gas reserves

Trump to deliver one of biggest tax cuts since Reagan–aide

onald Trump will propose one of the biggest tax cuts since the days of Ronald Reagan in a new economic blueprint to be unveiled next week, according to an adviser to the Republican presidential candidate. Trump will reiterate his plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, Heritage Foundation chief economist Stephen Moore said on Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. At the same time, Trump has managed to whittle down the cost in terms of lost tax revenue by about two-thirds, to $3 trillion, he said, without specifying a timeline. “If you’re a working-class American, there’s no question that an agenda that cuts taxes, that gets rids of regulations, redoes some of these trade deals in ways that are pro-America, is going to help,” said Moore, who was named on Friday to Trump’s team of economic advisers. Other members include financiers John Paulson and Andy Beal and economists David Malpass and Peter Navarro. Trump has promised to unveil a new policy agenda for “revitalizing the American economy” in a speech on Monday at the Detroit Economic Club. The plan will include major changes to US energy policy that will make the country

the biggest producer in the world of oil and gas, as well as coal, Moore said.

‘Lousy economy’

“For Trump to win this race, it’s not complicated,” he said. “He has to keep focused on this lousy economy that has so underperformed.” Earlier, a Labor Department report showed the economy created a strongerthan-expected 255,000 jobs in July, helping send US stocks toward a record high. Moore said too many people remain outside the work force and Americans don’t “feel good” about the job market, adding that monthly payroll gains should be 400,000 to 500,000. “This is a critically important speech for Donald Trump. He’s got to get back on the message of the economy, jobs,” Moore said. “He’s got to change the subject, because he’s been off message for the last week, for sure.” Trump this week got tangled in a war of words with Muslim parents of a US Army officer killed in Iraq, and provoked the ire of senior Republicans after refusing to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan. Polling after the two parties’ presidential nominating conventions suggest Democrat Hillary Clinton is widening her lead ahead of the November election. Bloomberg News

will remain under sovereign ownership, so no surprise there. But it opens the way for foreign involvement in three types of project: 1. Exploration—leading, if successful, to development and production; 2. Development of already discovered, but undeveloped, reserves; 3. Using enhanced oil-recovery techniques to raise output from mature fields. Contracts will be valid for up to 20 years from the start of development, with an extra exploration period if appropriate. Enhanced oil recovery projects may be extended for another five years beyond that. Payment to foreign investors will be in cash or as a share of output at the discretion of the National Iranian Oil Co. Investors are also being offered protection from any future Opec output reductions, remote as that possibility may seem today. The resolution states that nontechnical production cuts will fall on fields with no repayment commitments —effectively, those without external partners. Iraq’s experience shows that even with an agreed model, things may move slowly. Baghdad approved its

oil law in March 2007, four years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Yet, the first contract wasn’t awarded for another two and a half years, after an initial bidding round in which no would-be investor proposed an acceptable fee. For Iran, too, the payment requested by foreign bidders will be the big factor in determining winners. Once implemented, though, the Iraq contracts helped it boost production by 2 million barrels a day, or 80 percent, within about six years. Plus investors in Iran won’t face the same sort of security and stability problems as in Iraq, meaning they may be willing to pay more from the start. That said, uncertainty over any potential snap-back of sanctions, or reluctance by Western banks to lend to projects in Iran could bring their own delays. As I noted a couple of months ago, if Iran is successful it will leave Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as the only oil producers determined to go it alone, as former champions of oil nationalism have, one by one, embraced foreign investment. Will a partial privatization of Saudi Aramco increase pressure for the kingdom to follow suit? It ought to. Bloomberg News

afés and art galleries in Miami’s Wynwood Art District would normally be bustling this week, even during some of the hottest days of the year, but with Zika virus spreading in the area, businesses like Wynwood Yard and Gallery 212 are keeping their doors shut. There were 16 cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika reported in the mainland US as of Friday, and health officials have traced most to a square-mile area north of downtown Miami. Empty streets there reminded Gallery 212 owner Michael Perez of when he had to temporarily close a store in New York in 2001, after the September 11 attacks. “I’m just like living my life all over again, with this Zika thing,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s crazy, the streets are bare right now.” The vast majority of the 1,825 Zika cases in the US have involved travelers to more severely affected countries. With the Florida outbreak, business executives are hoping the Zika-caused slowdown in other regions won’t come to the US, as well. SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., with theme parks Tampa and Orlando, tried on Thursday to reassure investors that the Miami transmissions will be contained. “Could it impact us? Yes, but we’re doing everything we can to make sure we’re on top of it,” CEO Joel Manby said on Thursday on an earnings conference call. “The whole industry in Orlando does an incredibly good job of mosquito abatement. so we think we can keep it to a minimum.” Business and government leaders are hoping the Florida cases won’t morph into the kind of epidemic seen in South and Central America, where thousands of infections have occurred, leaving hundreds of babies with severe birth defects. While emergency Zika spending proposals have bogged down in Washington, the state needs funds to make sure the virus doesn’t create more damage across the rest of the US, Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott said Friday on a conference call. “It’s not going to just impact Florida, it’s going to impact our entire country, so we need to have more support from the federal government,” he said. The stakes for Florida are high. A record 106 million people visited the state in 2015, pumping about $89 billion into its businesses, according to Visit Florida, an organization that promotes tourism. In Miami alone, around 15.5 million visitors stayed overnight last year,

Bristol-Myers investors feel the harsh downside of cancer bet

or almost four years, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. investors have profited handsomely, thanks to the company’s sharp focus on cancer. On Friday they felt the other side of that concentrated bet. The drop in the shares on Friday— the worst in more than 16 years—had as much to do with the failure of BristolMyers’s drug Opdivo in a clinical trial for lung cancer, as it did with investors’ nowshaken confidence in the New York-based company’s ability to be the breakaway leader in the field. It’s also a stark reminder of the risks of drug development. No other large pharmaceutical company has recently focused on one disease area like Bristol-Myers has, in this case, by targeting drugs that leverage the immune system to attack tumors. The trial results, which showed that Opdivo failed to do better than chemotherapy at keeping previously untreated patients’ cancer from progressing, have left the door open for competitors, like Merck & Co., AstraZeneca Plc. and Roche Holding AG. Bristol-Myers shares were down 16 percent to $63.28 at the close in New York. Merck gained 10 percent to $63.86.

Massive market

Immunotherapy is a market potentially worth billions of dollars a year—Opdivo

is predicted by analysts to bring in $10.7 billion in 2020, and the immune-system drugs are projected to make up almost half of Bristol-Myers’s sales by that time. Lung cancer is the biggest killer in oncology, according to the American Cancer Society, and the drugs have thus far been largely approved for cancers that affect fewer patients. “Given that we expect lung cancer to be the largest immuno-oncology indication, this is a seismic event in terms of market-share implications,” Alex Arfaei, an analysts with BMO Capital Markets, said in a note to clients about the Opdivo trial results. He has a market perform rating on the shares. Even with the drop, Bristol-Myers is an expensive stock to own. The 11-member Standard & Poor’s 500 Pharmaceuticals Index, which includes Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc., Merck, along with Bristol-Myers, has a price-to-earnings ratio of 24. Before Friday’s drop, Bristol-Myers was trading at a ratio of 36. It’s been more expensive than the rest of the index since 2013. Bristol-Myers doesn’t have any plans to alter its focus just yet or diversify away from cancer.

‘Expectations are high’

“It is clear, because of our track record of

success, the expectations are high,” CEO Giovanni Caforio said in a phone interview on Friday. “It does really not change our focus and it does not change the long-term potential of Opdivo; it does not impact our commitment to making immuno-oncology the central pillar of our strategy.” That’s not necessarily the approach everyone would like to see the company take, especially with a highly valued stock that could have been used for deals. “They could’ve made acquisitions,” SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc. analyst John Boris said in a phone interview. The company has acted slowly even as a falling biotech stock market meant some targets might have been available at a discount, he said. “They should’ve been considering how to diversity that revenue stream.” He has a neutral rating on the stock.

Different R&D strategies

Friday’s results also expose the difference between the development strategies at Bristol-Myers and Merck, which has a competing drug in the same class, called Keytruda. Unlike Bristol-Myers, Merck designed its study to exclude patients with lower levels of a key biomarker thought to predict response to the drug. Bloomberg News

according to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Travel warning

While most Zika cases are mild or symptom-free, women infected during pregnancy are at increased risk of giving birth to babies with abnormally small heads, a condition called microcephaly. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a travel warning advising pregnant women to avoid the Wynwood area. Health investigators are conducting door-to-door surveys, spraying and sampling in the affected zones. Some of those efforts appear to have worked in a 10-block area in the affected zone in Miami, where officials concluded Thursday that no local transmission has been detected. The outbreak won’t halt Miami tourism, said Marc Shuster, a partner at the law firm Berger Singerman who works with hospitality clients. “Miami just continues to be too attractive to avoid,” said Shuster, who expects the virus to wane by the beginning of high tourist season in mid-November. “This is a blip on the radar.”

Threat looms

Still, the threat of a wider epidemic looms over public health and businesses. Hotel chain Marriott International Inc.’s second-quarter revenue per available room—a key measure of rates and occupancy— dropped 2.6 percent in the Caribbean and Latin America from a year earlier, according to a filing. Concerns about the virus’s spread in Brazil have also hurt results from Hyatt Hotels Corp. in Rio de Janeiro, CFO Pat Grismer said on a conference call this week. American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. have all seen yields, the average fare per mile, to and from Latin America drop to 2009 lows amid contraction and Zika fears in the region, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts George Ferguson and Ian McFarlane. JetBlue Airways Corp., which gives passengers travelling to Zika-affected regions additional flexibility to apply for refunds or flight changes, updated its guidelines to include the Miami area. As for local shops in Wynwood, they’re impatiently waiting for officials to clean up the area so they can get back to business. “I’m scared I might get bitten, and I have a lot of responsibilities to my people, my employees, my gallery,” Perez said. “I can’t lose any time being sick.” Bloomberg News

Nobel laureate Stiglitz leaves Panama finance committee

ANAMA CITY—Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz has quit a committee set up by Panama’s government to study the country’s financial system following the leak of a trove of data about offshore accounts set up by a Panamanian law firm. Panama’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that Stiglitz resigned over “internal differences” that it did not explain. Swiss law professor Mark Pieth also resigned. The committee of experts was set up in April following the international uproar over the leak of the so-called Panama Papers revealed details on offshore accounts that helped foreigners shelter their wealth. The panel is supposed to give recommendations on making it more difficult for people to use Panama’s financial services sector for illegal activities. Four experts continue to work on the committee. AP

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Landslides caused by Earl leave 6 dead in Mexico

ALAPA, Mexico—Six people died in landslides in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz as what had been Tropical Storm Earl dumped heavy rains on the region, authorities said on Saturday. Veracruz Civil Protection Secretary Yolanda Gutierrez Carlin said the dead included a child, a nd of f ic i a ls in neighbor ing Puebla state warned that rivers in the mountainous area were in danger of flooding. “The heavy rains caused two landslides leading to the deaths of six people in the townships of Coscomatepec and Tequila,” Gutierrez Carlin said. In Coscomatepec, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) south of the Veracruz state capital, Xalapa, a married couple and their 1-year-old son were buried by the mudslide. Three others died in the other slide in Tequila, a town

In this July 28 file photo, a San Diego Harbor Police officer helps to secure the scene in San Diego, near where two San Diego Police officers were shot on Thursday night. The critical moment when a gunman opened fire on two San Diego police officers, killing one, wasn’t captured on the camera one of the officers was wearing, because he didn’t turn it on until after bullets flew. It’s the latest example of the hole created by policies like San Diego’s that allow officers to determine when to start recording. John Gastaldo/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP

Fatal police shooting highlights inconsistent body-cam usage I

about 30 miles (50 km) to the south. Earl was downgraded to a tropical depression as it continued westward into the mountains of central Mexico. But even though by evening the storm’s remnants had passed on to Puebla, emergency officials told residents the danger continued because many of the state’s rivers f low from that mountainous border area. Gutierrez Carlin said 15 waterways—mostly streams and creeks—had overwhelmed their banks, adding to problems on many roads caused by mudslides and downed trees. Earl struck Belize earlier this week as a Category 1 hurricane, ripping off roofs and downing power lines. It also passed over Guatemala and southern Mexico before regaining strength over the Gulf of Mexico and making a second landfall on Veracruz’s coastline late on Friday. AP

Smuggling surges in Greece as migrant frustrations grow

OS ANGELES—The critical moment when a gunman opened fire on two San Diego police officers, killing one, may never be seen. The surviving officer only activated his camera after the wounded shooter was running away. San Diego is among departments with policies calling for officers to turn on cameras before initiating contact with a citizen in most cases. But like other departments, compliance is less than perfect. The result is inconsistent use of an increasingly common tool meant to give investigators and an oftenskeptical public a fuller picture of the police actions. “ The main motive of body cameras is to provide openness a nd tra nspa renc y, a nd bu i ld trust in the police,” said Samuel Walker, a retired criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. “If officers are not turning cameras on, well, you’re not going to build trust,” he said. “You’re going to reinforce the cynicism that already exists.” He pointed to a study that showed across-the-board low compliance rates of officers in one high-crime Phoenix neighborhood between April 2013 and May 2014, the most recent information available. Officers only recorded 6.5 percent of traffic stops even though the department’s policy required cameras to be activated “as soon as it is safe and practical,” according to the study conducted by Arizona State Universit y’s Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety. The biggest part

The number of Police officers who responded to a car-theft alert in San Francisco’s Mission District last November, where 10 of them failed to turn on their body cameras. The one who did activate his did so by accident. of the problem, Walker said, is a lack of discipline. Chicago, Dallas, Denver, New Orleans, New York, Oakland and San Diego are among the cities that don’t specify penalties when officers fail to record, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has studied the issue and said clear policies are vital, along with punishment for failure to comply. “Departments can’t look the other way when officers fail to activate body cameras in critical incidents, or they become useless for accountability,” said Peter Bibring, a senior staff attorney at

the ACLU of Southern California. San Diego police have been criticized for failing to record a number of high-profile shootings. That prompted the department to revise its policy to stipulate that officers must turn on their cameras before most ty pes of contact with citizens, but violations have continued. Last week the two San Diego gang unit officers on night time patrol pulled up next to a pedestrian on a darkened residential street, and the man almost immediately opened fire, the police said. The suspect, Jesse Gomez, shot Wade Irwin as he got out of the patrol car and then fired through the open door and fatally wounded Irwin’s partner Jonathan de Guzman, according to police. Irwin fired back and started manually recording after the shooting, but the police haven’t said what was captured. The cameras are on before an officer hits record, and have a recall function to get video from shortly before an officer starts recording. That function allows 30 seconds to be retrieved, without audio. It’s unclear if Irwin activated that feature. Both Irwin and Gomez were seriously wounded and remain hospitalized. Victor Torres, a leading civil-rights attorney in San Diego, said the department’s policy makes it clear both officers should have been recording before approaching Gomez. Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman has commended Irwin’s actions, including activating his body camera when he did, as heroic. The Alameda County Sheriff ’s Department changed its bodycamera policy following a highly publicized incident last November, where two deputies were caught on surveillance video using their batons to beat a car-theft suspect

in the middle of a street in San Francisco’s Mission District. Eleven officers in all responded and 10 failed to turn on their body cameras. The one who did activate his did so by accident. T hree officers were placed on leave, including two who are charged with assault under color of authority. No one was disciplined for failing to turn on their cameras because the department’s policy at the time encouraged, but did not require, their use, said Sgt. Ray Kelly, an agency spokesman. The agency now requires deputies to use the cameras in most circumstances and lays out the discipline for failure to comply. The department hasn’t had a problem with compliance since, Kelly said. Some departments are tapping new technology to take the human factor out of body cameras. Los Angeles will be among a handful of departments nationwide to deploy cameras made by Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taser International that begin automatically recording once signaled, such as when a patrol car’s siren is turned on or when a shotgun is taken out of its mount. “I believe by the end of three years these things will be built into a badge,” said Steve Soboroff, vice president of the civilian oversight board of the Los Angeles Police Department. “These cameras now, they’re like the old £10 cell phones.” Kelly said his department also is looking at the new technology. “ The body camera is really new to law enforcement,” he said. “There are a lot of privacy concerns, and body cameras don’t always accurately depict what an officer is seeing. But they are a great tool and they are the future. And they’re here to stay.” AP

Pistorius treated at South African hospital; back to jail

OHANNESBURG—Oscar Pistorius was treated for injuries at a private hospital and has returned to a South African jail where the Olympian is serving a six-year sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a prison official said on Sunday. Pistorius told officials that he suffered injuries after falling out of bed, said Singabakho Nxumalo, a spokesman for the correctional services department.

Nxumalo did not provide details of the injuries, citing medical privacy concerns. The former track star was taken back to his Pretoria prison cell on Saturday, and an investigation is under way, the official said. Last month South A fr ican prosecutors said they would appeal Pistorius’s six-year jail sentence, saying it was too lenient. T he double-amputee at h lete, who was sentenced on July 6,

could be released on parole after three years. The prescribed minimum sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years, though a judge can reduce that penalty in some circumstances. P i s t or iu s a l s o pre v iou s l y served one year in prison for manslaughter for shooting 29-yearold Steenkamp, a model and reality TV star. That manslaughter conviction was upgraded to the more serious offense of murder

after an earlier prosecution appeal, leading to a new sentencing. P i stor iu s shot Steen k a mp mu lt iple t i mes t h rou g h a toilet c ubic le door i n h i s home i n t he pred aw n hou rs of Va lent i ne’s Day, 2013. P i stor iu s test i f ied t h at he k i l led Steenk a mp b y m i s t a k e , t h i n k i n g t here w a s a n i nt r uder h id i ng i n t he bat h room. P rosec utors s a id he shot her i ntent ion a l ly a f ter a n a rg u ment. AP

DOMENI, Greece—With Turkey in crisis and Europe’s borders closed, smugglers in northern Greece are expecting a profitable summer. Greek police say traffickers are using increasingly sophisticated methods—motorcycle spotters, maps of border surveillance “blind spots,” and even police informants—to move out refugees who have been stuck in this Greek border town for months. Higher smuggling fees and steadily worsening odds of success have done little to dent the determination of migrants, like Sorah Rahimi. The 22-year-old psychology student traveled from Afghanistan with his mother who is in poor health—and is an ideal target for smuggling rings that are reemerging in the region. He agreed to pay traffickers €2,500 ($2,750) to travel from Greece’s northern border with Macedonia to Sweden, but only made it a few miles before being spotted by the police and turned back. “We need to get to Sweden. Our whole family is there. We no longer have anything in Afghanistan,” Rahimi told the Associated Press (AP) before being taken to a migrant shelter in northern Greece. Tens of thousands of migrants have been stuck on their journey north across Europe. Governments across the continent slammed their borders shut in March to avoid a repeat of the mass migration in 2015, when more than a million refugees and migrants arrived, triggering a string of political upheavals. The trip north has become increasingly risky and time-consuming. Rahimi spent three months at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, before traveling north by train. Last month’s attempted coup in Turkey, followed by a draconian government crackdown there on perceived government opponents, has added to the uncertainty. Traffickers in Greece have reappeared in greater numbers since the government cleared a massive makeshift camp at Idomeni on the Greek-Macedonian border in late May, according to officials from the country’s border guard, national police and security division interviewed by the AP. In a recent operation, the police arrested 29 alleged members of two trafficking rings in northern Greece. One gang had received infor mat ion f rom a Greek police officer on gaps in the night-vision camera network on the Greek-Turkish border. The police said the smugglers brought some 600 migrants into Greece from Turkey over several months and helped them reach

other countries, using a f leet of taxis, scout vehicles, prepaid “burner” cell phones, and a system of code words that included: “dogs” for police; “garbage trucks” for police cars; and “cement blocks,” ‘’fish,” or “kebabs” when referring to the migrants themselves. “At least six [Greek] taxi drivers were involved in the smuggling rings, charging a regular fare while knowingly participating in the illegal activity,” the Greek Police’s Brig. George Pantelakos said. “Every transfer assisted by scouts on motorcycle, in an effort to avoid detection.” Other suspects were from Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Albania and Kazakhstan. Five police officers have also been arrested in Macedonia, accused of helping smugglers north of the Greek border. In Greece alone, more than 57,000 migrants are stranded, most staying at about 60 governmentrun camps around the country. The European Union’s (EU) law-enforcement agency Europol analyzed data from antismuggling operations over the first six months of 2016. It found fees charged last year by traffickers for the entire trip from Syria and other war zones to the EU are now often set as the rate for crossing a single border. Migrants are also more likely to be held up for months and become vulnerable to exploitation. “Last year the trips were sometimes completed in one to two weeks; now a journey can last for months,” the agency said. “While in 2015, 0.2 percent of migrants declared that they had to work to pay back smugglers, this rose to 5 percent in 2016.” When the numbers peaked in late March, 14,000 people were camped out at Idomeni. Now all that remains there are aluminum posts used for emergency lighting. Sunflowers have appeared in fields that a few weeks ago were packed with tents. But the migration problem has not been resolved. Dozens of migrants are still hiding in cornfields, under bridges and in forests near Idomeni. Since the refugee camp was cleared, between 50 and 100 migrants a day are spotted trying to cross the border and being turned back, according to police estimates. Some are found hidden in vans, buses, cars or trains. Others try their luck on foot, looking for gaps in the razor-wire border fence along river banks and mountain trails. Lina Siopi, a 44-year-old from Idomeni, owns a coffee shop outside the village railway station and says migrants are routinely found hidden in freight cars and detained. AP

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Charting a road to 270, Clinton sets out most efficient path

In this August 3 photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives at a rally at Adams City High School in Commerce City, Colorado. Clinton doesn’t appear all that interested in making any scenic stops on her state-to-state quest to become president. The Democratic nominee is instead programming her GPS to take her on the quickest route to collect the 270 Electoral College votes she needs to win the White House. AP/Andrew Harnik

ES MOINES, Iowa—Hillary Clinton doesn’t appear all that interested in making scenic stops on her state-to-state quest to become president. The Democratic nominee is instead programming her GPS to take her on the quickest route to collect the 270 Electoral College votes she needs to win the White House.

With three months until Election Day, Clinton’s campaign is focused on capturing the battleground states that have decided the most recent presidentia l elections, not so much on expanding the map. Clinton’s team doesn’t rule out an effort at Arizona, a state with a booming population of Latino voters that polls find are loath to support Trump. And Georgia, a bastion of the Deep South, echoes recent population trends in other Southeastern states where Clinton is competing aggressively. But neither is among the 11 battleground states that Clint on’s t e l e v i s ion a d v e r t i s i n g plans and her travel schedule point to as her focus. T hose states are the perennial toptier targets Florida and Ohio, plus Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North C a rol ina, Pennsylva ni a, Virginia and Wisconsin. President Barack Obama carried them all

$23M The worth of new television ad time booked by the Clinton campaign for just three states: Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

in 2008, and missed out on only North Carolina during his 2012 reelection campaign. “The last two elections have given Democrats an electoral path for victory,” said Clinton Campaign Adviser John Anzalone. “And our strategy is to efficiently use our resources to lock down the support we need to reach 270 electoral votes.” After a bump in support for Clinton in national polls that followed the Democratic convention

and tracked Trump’s recent gaffes, the number of states where Clinton will invest her time and money may get smaller than 11. When the Clinton campaign booked more than $23 million in new television ad time late this past week to start on Monday, it spent most of the money in just three states: Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Feeling good about Colorado and Virginia, the campaign passed on giving those states a fresh injection of ad dollars, though they remain heavily staffed with organizers. Likewise, officials with the pro-Clinton group Priorities USA say they have put its advertising plans there on hold. Meanwhile, Trump’s travel following the Republican convention suggests he’s given up on plans to force Clinton to defend traditional Democratic bastions California and New York. Beyond that, it’s not clear how he plans to chart his course to 270. “I have states that no other Republican would do well in that I think I’m going to win,” Trump told The Washington Post this past week. “But I don’t want to name those states.” Trump’s campaign has yet to run a single television ad and has made curious decisions about where to send its candidate. This past week, for example, Trump spent a day in Portland, Maine, chasing after the single electoral vote at stake along the state’s largely Democratic southern coast. There have been no such distractions for Clinton since the end of her convention, aside from a quick stop in Nebraska, a visit

that was probably as much about spending time on stage with billionaire investor Warren Buffett than picking up the one electoral vote in the Omaha area. (Maine and Nebraska are the two states that award electoral votes by congressional district, instead of a statewide winner-take-all vote.) This coming week, Clinton will be in Florida. So will Trump. That’s no surprise, as a win there plus victories in every state (and the District of Columbia) that have voted Democratic since 1992 would give Clinton a winning total of 271 electoral votes. Florida Republican consultant Brett Doster said simply of his state: “If we don’t win here, I just don’t see how we win.” Despite the 2016 campaign’s unscripted form, Democrat and Republican pollsters alike said in the past week that Florida is competitive and is expected to stay that way into the fall. The largest share of single-state spending in Clinton’s most recent ad buy came in Florida, at more than $4.2 million, and that, plus an aggressive pursuit of Latino voters, may give her a narrow edge. In Florida’s Orange County, whic h inc ludes Orl a ndo, t he Democratic edge among registered voters has grown by 15 percent since 2008. Since late last year, roughly 1,000 Puerto Rican families a month have relocated to Florida due to the US territor y’s fiscal crisis, many of them concentrating in and around Orlando’s heavy servicesector job scene. Bilingual teams of Clinton employees are registering first-time Puerto Rican

voters at grocery stores, malls and community centers.Republican pollster W hit Ayres said Trump’s problems in Florida go deeper than his lack of advertising and overwhelmingly unpopular standing among Latinos. He said Trump’s recent criticism of the Muslim family of a fallen US soldier is not likely to sit well in a state with 22 military installations and more than 1.5 million veterans. “ The attack on the Gold Star family makes it unlikely for him to ex pand in Flor ida beyond where he is r ight now,” said Ayres, an adviser to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. While Trump may not have a path without Florida, Clinton can lose the state and still find another way through the battlegrounds to reach 270. That’s no doubt why from June 8 through Monday, Clinton and Democratic groups, supporting her will have outspent Republican groups by 15 to 1 in those states, according to data from Kantar Media’s CMAG political advertising tracker. The Clinton campaign and deep-pocketed Democratic groups, such as Priorities USA have poured a combined $66 million into television and radio advertising in those 11 states. Trump’s campaign hasn’t spent a dollar on television advertising, while Republican groups have only spent about $4.3 million. Put simply, Anzalone said, Clinton has options. “But this is a dynamic race and we will continue to look at all pathways as this race develops,” he said. AP

Monday, August 8, 2016

12,300-year-old fire pit found in northern Utah

ILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah—An ancient tribal fire pit with tools, a spear tip and tobacco seeds that archaeologists say dates back 12,300 years was recently discovered on a military testing range in northern Utah. An archaeological team this month uncovered the hearth at Hill Air Force Base’s Utah Test and Training Range, which is south of Ogden. The artifacts will be curated through the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City, The Standard Examiner reported (http://bit. ly/2ayONDx). Hill archaeologist and Cultural Resource Manager Anya Kitterman worked with Far Western Anthropological Research Group to uncover charcoal, animal bone fragments and other remnants from the cooking pit. “When you come across a find like that, it’s obviously very exciting,” Kitterman said. “You’re getting a real picture of the history of this land. It’s an unbelievable feeling. We’ve been looking for something major like this for years.” Far Western Senior Archaeologist Daron Duke said the age of the hearth and the items within it are remnants from some of the Great Basin’s earliest inhabitants. “They really are the first occupants of the Great Basin that we can demonstrate,” Duke said. The Great Basin is a huge region of watersheds that encompasses much of Nevada and parts of Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and California. The dig site was discovered about a year ago after previous surveys and calculations suggested the area had potential for significant archaeological resources, Kitterman said. Teams are actively surveying between 4 square miles and 8 square miles of the training range each year, she said. Trying to find artifacts can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, Ketterman said. Barbara Fisher, chief of Hill’s Environmental Public Affairs office, said the base consults with 21 Native American tribes about findings and archaeological work performed at the range. Patty Timbimboo-Madsen, cultural and natural resources manager for the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, said tribes care about findings and are glad work is being done to preserve such history. “It’s another piece of evidence that says we did exist, we did live here, and we had an impact,” she said. “It’s a testament to our people and the role we had. That’s important.” AP

First family arrives at Martha’s Vineyard for 2-week break

H I L M A R K , M a ss ac hu setts—President Barack Obama’s seventh and final summer vacation at Martha’s Vineyard has begun with hopes of getting in some relaxing time with the first family before the busy fall leading up to November’s presidential election. Obama will fill the next two weeks with leisurely rounds of golf, beach outings, bike rides and hikes with his wife and daughters, and dinner with Mrs. Obama and their friends at some of the island’s top restaurants. Congress is also on an extended summer break from Washington,

something the White House has chided it for, as the nation deals with the Zika virus making its way to Florida. The Obamas like to keep a low profile on the island and were successful last summer, but past trips have not always been so relaxing. T he president inter r upted the vacation several times in 2014 to address political developments in Iraq, the beheading of American journalist James Fole y by Isl a m ic St ate m i l itants, and violent protests that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, following the fatal shooting of an unarmed, 18-year-old black

man by a white police officer. National Security Adviser Susan R ice and Deputy Chief of Staff K ristie Canegallo accompanied the president to help keep him up to date on events. The Obamas are staying in the town of Chilmark, on the more remote western end of the island, but the W hite House did not disclose the specific home. On recent trips, they have rented a seven-bedroom, 8,100-squarefoot residence, featuring views of Vineyard Sound, an infinity pool and a dual tennis-basketball court. T he Obamas f lew aboard A ir Force One to the

Coast Guard station on Cape Cod, then boarded helicopters for the short hop to Martha’s Vineyard, the summer hangout for the wealthy just to the south. They were greeted by about 80 wel l-w ishers u nder bluster y, gray skies. The Obamas have summered every August on the famous resort island off Cape Cod since the president took office in 2009, except when he was campaigning for reelection in 2012. He and the first lady, both Harvard Law School graduates, vacationed on the island prior to moving into the White House. AP

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama exit Air Force One followed by daughters Sasha (left) and Malia at the Cape Cod Coast Guard Station in Bourne, Massachusetts, on Saturday, en route to Martha’s Vineyard. AP/Stew Milne

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

A10 Monday, August 8, 2016

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Come to Palawan: Find a microbrewery

Dave Javier shows a manual capping tool that the brewery uses in all their bottles.

The Puerto Princesa Underground River is named as “The Last Frontier” of biodiversity.

Story & photos by JJ Paolo

alawan is named as the Philippines’s “Last Frontier” because of its unparalleled biodiversity. But besides its natural wonders, like the Puerto Princesa Underground River, as well as the islands of Coron and El Nido, the province also takes pride in a microbrewery that is changing the local beer scene. It is called Palaweño Brewery and it is one of the very first homegrown breweries in the country to craft traditional beer infused with local flavors. “We are so used to [our] commercial beer,” shared Ayah Javier, a cofounder of Palaweño Brewery, in an interview with members of Manila media who chanced upon the cozy and quaint Palaweño Brewery in a recent familiarization trip to Puerto Princesa City. According to her, Filipinos are closely associated with the Pale Pilsen of a renowned brand and multimillion company. But contrary to the widely accepted beer name, Pilsen is actually a Czech Republic city, from which pilsner– accurate beer name—hails. The Spaniards are the ones who first brewed the pilsner in the country. And since their regime, Pinoys have patronized the pilsner alone—when there are about 750

styles of beer around the globe. “Kami [us], we are just introducing the other beers,” she added.

Ayahay!

The idea of brewing her own beer first came to Javier when she lived in San Diego, California, a couple of years back. But during her stay there, something was happening: a craft beer movement. She thought to herself, “We need this in the Philippines.” And so upon returning home, she immediately sought the help of two fellow Filipinas, Malu Lauengco and Carmel Panelo, who shared with her the love for beer and Palawan. In 2012 Palaweño Brewery began brewing Ayahay Beer in Puerto Princesa City. Ayahay is a colloquial term, which means alright or easy. It is used to describe a current state. “Ayahay is our counterpart to cheers. When we have guests, we

The Filipina founders of Palaweño Brewery (from left) Malu Lauengco, Carmel Panelo and Ayah Javier, with master brewer Dave Javier

Ayahay Beer comes in five signature brews.

toast and say, ayahay ang buhay [life is good]!” Javier enthused.

Signature brews

Four years into the business, Palaweño Brewery has already perfected five signature brews, namely, Palawan’an (Honey Kolsch), Palawan Wit (The Last Frontier’s Craft Beer), Hunter (Honey Nut Brown Ale), Ambog Ale (Brewed With Extra Ego), and Ayahay IPA (India Pale Ale), but has so far crafted over 20 traditional beers. Sweet and light to the palette, Palawan’an is a kind of German Kolsch featuring Palawan’s wild honey. Its opposite is the bitter American Amber Ale called Ambog. “We call it Ambog—from hambog [bragging]. It has a robust character,” Lauengco described. The Indiana Pale Ale, on the other hand, is the most flavorful, with 6.2-percent alcohol content. While varied in flavors, Lauengco explained that, basically, craft beer only has four ingredients: barley, wheat, hops and water, which com-

DOT to develop surfing as a major tourism product

he Department of Tourism (DOT) is implementing two farreaching programs to develop surfing as a major tourism product for the country. One program calls for the classification and accreditation of resorts, surf camps or other facilities that provide surfing lessons to clients. Accreditation of such will require these training facilities to retain certified surfing instructors to teach or supervise the teaching of their students. It will also require them to have the essential teaching equipment and gear, such as soft training surfboards and rash guards; adequate spaces for lessons, lockers, toilets and showers. More important, they must have emergency rescue and crisis-response capabilities, including first-aid kits and communications equipment for handling urgent conditions.

A national criteria for the certification and classification of surf-training facilities has been completed and subjected to public consultation. It is now undergoing final refinement. Another vital component of this product-development program is the upgrading of local coaches to bring them to the level of internationally certified professional surfing instructors and place them at par with the world’s best surfing coaches, and increasing the number to retain certified instructors to teach or supervise the teaching of their students. To be certified, an instructor must undergo an intensive Surfing Instructors Certification Course. For this project, the DOT has partnered with Australia’s Academy of Surfing Instructors (ASI) and its local chapter, the Academy of Surfing In-

structors Philippines (Asip). ASI is the world’s leading professional education, certification and accreditation standard for these. Asip’s role is to execute all ASI functions, such as conducting instructor certification courses in the Philippines under strict ASI supervision. So far, some 50 surfing instructors have received their ASI Level 1 certification, and 15 more from Mati, Davao Oriental -will soon join their ranks. At least two more runs are scheduled for this year: one in Baler, Aurora, and another in Zambales, and these are expected to produce 50 more ASI Level 1-certified instructors. This program also aims to professionalize the local surf industry and provide more job opportunities to the coastal and surfing communities.

Beer appreciation 101

esides shedding light on revolution that is happening in the local beer scene, Palaweño Brewery also revealed three simple steps to better appreciating beer. n First, pour the beer in a glass. Swirl the beer to “agitate” it. From a distance of about half feet, smell the aroma. What you get are the asters or the alcohol. (Yes, very much like how wine is drank!) n Second, swirl it again and just smell right in. Savor the flavor and notice the aroma is different. These are the hops, the fruits and the flowers. n Last, swirl and sniff one last time. Hold the aroma and then sip. You just tasted real beer.

prise 85 percent to 90 percent of the recipe. And the Pinay beer brewers are proud to say that Ayahay is made from Palawan’s spring water. As for the grains, Lauengco revealed that they have to source aboard, because the quality of local

grains is not good for beer. “Simply put, the German Kolsch requires German grains, Belgian Wit Beer the Belgian grains, American Amber Ale the American grains.” Palaweño Brewery also puts twists in their beers, like the Palawan honey, nuts and mango, among many others. Javier said, “Every summer we brew Mango de Palawan. It’s very popular and sells out in two weeks.” Asked how many of the 750 beer brews they have concocted already, she answered, “Twenty. I will be very lucky if I will be able to brew all in my lifetime.”

‘It will stay’

From using a do-it-yourself starter kit in their first-ever brew, Palaweño Brewery has now come a long way. It has officially become the only microbrewery in the country that uses a state-of-the-art and imported brewing machine. Using it, 300 bottles are brewed a month, but more can be made using the machine. Still, the brewery’s founders consider Ayahay Beer as handmade because they are the ones who actually pastes label, pour beer to and cap the bottles. To help people understand and appreciate locally crafted beer, the

brewery also arranges an educational tour for big groups of visitors, explained Panelo, the third of the Filipina beer crafters. She added that outside the microbrewery, there is a beer garden that serves as venues to events. “We can even hire an acoustic band if they so wish,” she furthered. The tasting room, on the other hand, is a favorite of foreign tourists of Palawan. Many who come there are actually regulars already. But how do they know about Ayahay Beer? “In most restaurants, bars and hotels in Puerto Princesa, Coron and El Nido, we are available,” Panelo answered. Besides Palawan, Ayahay Beer has already conquered Manila via specialty beer bars, like The Perfect Pint in the Bonifacio Global City and The Bottle Shop in Makati City. The brewery also supplies to Cebu, Iloilo and, soon, Davao City. In terms of market competition, Lauengco expressed, “We’re not in competition with commercial beers. We are a totally different breed. It’s a better option.” “We are barely touching the craft beer industry. But if you say it will not be popular, it cannot not be. If you ask ‘Is it here to stay?’ It is here to stay,” Javier concluded.

WEEKENDS AT MAKATI DIAMOND RESIDENCES

ddress the stress of the weekdays with a much-deserved breather as Makati Diamond Residences invites guests to experience an exceptional weekend staycation in the heart of the Makati Central Business District. Until September 30, spend a two-night break with the ultimate weekend staycation room package at P20,000 net for a 64 square meters one-bedroom suite with exclusive privileges to cap off your stay. The package includes buffet breakfast for two at Alfred or to-go snacks at Baked, complimentary Toby’s Estate coffee at Baked; use of TWG Tea set up in room; complimentary Wi-Fi access; access to over 5,000 newspapers and magazines using Press Reader; use of the 24-hour fit-

ness center; access to the indoor lap pool; complimentary movie experience in the private cinema; one-hour full-body massage for two and twoway transfer to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Guests may also avail themselves of the overnight package starting at P8,500 net per night for the same room category, inclusive of buffet breakfast for two at Alfred or to-go snacks at Baked; complimentary Toby’s Estate coffee at Baked and use of TWG Tea set up in room; complimentary Wi-Fi access; access to over 5,000 newspapers and magazines using Press Reader; use of the 24hour fitness center; and access to the indoor lap pool. Overnight offers are also available for 41 sq m Studios at P6,500 net per night.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

How a lady wooed Koreans to the Philippine Islands

Maricon BASCO Ebron with Korean stakeholders who have given their full support to Philippine tourism in achieving more than 1 million tourist arrivals every year from Korea from 2012 to present.

By Marane A. Plaza Conlusion

er first challenge was the negative image of the Philippines among the Koreans, as there were a lot of killings of Koreans in the Philippines. Maricon Basco Ebron made efforts in informing the doubtful tourists that the victims were actually not tourists, but rather Korean residents who have been in the Philippines for years for business, and that, usually, fellow Koreans were responsible and not necessarily Filipinos.

The department did a lot of crisis management at the time and hired a Korean public-relations agency to organize news conferences and forums to eliminate the stigma about the Philippines. Later on, Ebron focused on establishing relationships among big tour operators, as she personally consulted them about their concerns when promoting the Philippines to their clients. Then, she made sure that her department was very supportive to these tour operators in terms of promotions and marketing, as well as providing printed materials and brochures for the travel agencies. She also was one of the pioneers who took advantage of online promotions via social-media sites and their interactive web site, wherein Koreans can learn Tagalog and English. She also started inviting Kore-

an bloggers and mainstream media to join familiarization trips in the country so they could create a buzz about Philippine destinations. “I enjoyed my post because I had more freedom to create strategies that will work for my market. I was following the government tourism campaigns, of course, but I could change the tactics based on the trends and market, and I had more freedom to rethink and change strategies that worked in Korea.” Ebron marketed the Philippines as an English as Second Language (ESL) destination, which was responsible for large volumes of Korean students learning the English language and enrolled here in the Philippines since she took the post in 2007. The department also marketed the Philippines as a favorite family destination for Koreans, with large

returns from the honeymoon markets and family markets. Almost 50 percent of the Korean tourists come from the general leisure segments and family tours margins. She also made efforts to attract conference goes through her MICE, or the meeting, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, making the Philippines a destination as well. A huge segment of the tourist arrivals came from the Korean corporate incentive tours, wherein companies reward their employees with trips to local destinations. The Philippines also became famous as an adventure destination among Korean tourists, highlighting our golf and diving spots. The segment in golf tours is huge, too, covering 18 percent to 20 percent of the market. Asiana Airlines even offer two direct flights daily to Clark, Subic, Pampanga, mainly just for golf tours. Even Korea’s low-cost Korean air Jin Air offers direct flights to Clark daily. Diving has become popular among Koreans, too, as a hobby that exudes status symbol. Diving spots in Anilao, Batangas; Cebu, Dumaguete; Palawan; and Bohol are getting popular with Korean tourists, covering 8 percent of the segment. The department has been banking on our country’s edge as being the nearest tropical nation to Korea. “Korean tourists definitely love natural landscapes, since they do not have much of that in their country,” shared Ebron. Ebron also made use of star marketing, wherein the Philippines is used as movie locations. The famous movie Romantic Island, featuring Lee Sun-kyun and Lee Min-ki, featured Boracay, which started the Korean tourist craze in 2009 In 2009 the increase of Korean tourist arrivals was hugely felt. At first, only Asiana Airlines, Philippine Airlines, AirAsia and Korean Air were offering flights to Korea, then in 2009 it was followed by Cebu Pacific, Jeju Air, Air Busam and Jin Air followed on the Korean side. The Korean market hit its 1-million mark in 2012, the first-ever registered million mark by a single tourism market. This record has not been topped by any other market as of this writing.

Realization of a dream and going back to basics

In 2014 Ebron personally was honoured with Stevie Award for Man-

agement category even without applying for the award. Stevie Award is the world’s premier business award, which is often described by many as Oscar award in the global business circle. The Stevie Award judges noted her aggressive, yet innovative, marketing gimmicks, which include storytelling taking advantage of personal networking with multimedia content providers in the areas of print, Internet and broadcast, which have, eventually, paved the way for the Philippines to have attracted more than 1 million visitors from South Korea since 2012. In 2015 Ebron, tourism attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Korea and concurrently director of Korea Office of the Philippine Department of Tourism, was awarded with an honorary citizenship by the Mayor of Seoul Metropolitan City himself Park Won-soon. Ebron is the only figure from the hospitality business area selected for that year, recognized for her efforts to promote two-way tourist traffic and people-to-people programs between Korea and the Philippines. With all the achievements that Ebron received, there is one thing that she wants to do in the future: doing the basics. “Through my years of working with the Korean tourism market, I’ve learned that the Philippines is remarkable among Korean tourists as a free and easy destination,” Ebron said. “At first, these Korean tourists would think that it was difficult to travel in the Philippines so they come in groups, and yet, later on they would find out it is actually easy to travel around, and so their second time, they would come back on their own and only pay for airline and hotel fares without the tour packages. Knowing this, and knowing that the general leisure is still the biggest segment of the Korean market, I want to bank on that for the betterment of tourist performance of the Philippines in Korea.” “Sometimes, it is all about doing the basics, as basic as the improvement of public toilets that would satisfy tourists, making sure that they can use clean, functional toilets. We do not need grand gestures all the time. It is as simple as perfecting the basics,” Ebron said. Ebron plans on starting homestay programs, wherein homeowners can welcome tourists in their homes by providing them with trainings. She is also eyeing to hold balikbayan programs and investment forums that would attract them to start their business in the country. Ebron will be handling the department’s marketing communications, advertising and international market, which makes her want to study heavily on strategized targets for each market. For the domestic market ,she plans to have more history-based local tours, such as heritage Spanish tours. For MICE, Ebron aims to have more bids to be held in the Philippines and to focus on small meetings, starting with multinational companies. She also wants to expand balikbayan programs and prepare the country for an investment forum that will educate balikbayans of investment opportunities. She also aims to prioritize targeting the diplomatic corps, wherein foreign ambassadors assigned in the country could explore local destinations as paying tourists.

Monday, August 8, 2016

A11

Korea inbound tourism projected to grow by 20 percent in 2016

Aurance Incentive Tour in Korea

Convention KTO

Rotary International Convention 2016 in Korea

outh Korea is expected to shatter its annual visitor arrival this year, having already recorded around 8.1 million foreign visitors during the first half of 2016. While Korea continues overseas marketing efforts throughout the year, niche tourism sectors, such as the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry, are expected to significantly contribute to the sustained boost in visitor arrivals and offer added value to the overall industry. The recent high inbound total marks a 21-percent increase from last year’s total recorded at the end of June 2015, which was around 6.68 million tourists. In 2014 this number achieved a similar total of 6.63 million. Around 1.54 of the 8.1 million arrivals visited Korea in June 2016 alone, reflecting a particularly strong intake for this period and more than double the 750,000 arrivals who visited Korea the same time last year. Since the beginning of 2016, Korea has taken many strides to promote Korea inbound tourism to the Chinese and Japanese markets. As a result of which, Korea has seen a 27-percent increase in arrivals from China (3.8 million) and a 10-percent increase in arrivals from Japan (1.04 million) so far this year. Korea’s MICE industry, in particular, has been a key driver for its tourism industry. Last month Korea was announced as the topsecond country worldwide for the number of international conventions hosted in 2015 by the Union of International Associations (UIA). Further discussion regarding the state of the associations industry will take place next month at the UIA Roundtable Asia Pacific 2016 in Busan, Korea. This year the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has also been very active in promoting Korea’s rapidly growing MICE industry by

attending overseas industry trade shows such as AIME in Melbourne and IT&CM in Shanghai. In the first half of the year, thanks in part to several +1,000 attendee events held across the nation, Korea welcomed over 140,000 incentive travel visitors—a 35-percent increase from its first half-annual totals from last year. Notable gatherings that have contributed to 2016’s strong inbound tourism figures include this year’s Rotary International Seoul Convention, which brought 22,000 overseas participants to the country. Large-scale incentive trips from Chinese companies Aurance and Joy Main saw 6,500 and 8,000 corporate visitors, respectively, enjoy Korea’s many attractions. Korea is set to see sustained growth in the MICE sector, as it continues to secure many large MICE events for the future. In cooperation with regional convention and visitors bureaus and the private sector, in the first half of 2016, the KTO recorded 84 large-scale conferences and 2,111 incentive events secured for Korea, which totals to over 221,000 future MICE-related travelers to the country. In the second half of 2016, the KTO will continue to market Korea’s merits as a meetings destination at several industry tradeshows throughout the world. In September the organization will be in Beijing for Incentives, Business Travel and Meetings Expo China and Bangkok for Incentive Travel and Conventions, Meetings Asia. In October the KTO will be at ITB in Singapore and IMEX America in Las Vegas, which will be followed by special incentive road-show events in Hong Kong and Wuhan (October 26 to 28). Finally, the KTO will also meet with prospective buyers and attendees of IBTM world in Barcelona, from November 29 to December 1.

Green Monday BusinessMirror

BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, August 8, 2016

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

The guardian of Bud Bongao

Migrants arrive daily at New Delhi railway stations from across India fleeing floods and a debilitating drought. Neeta Lal/IPS

India’s climate migrants lead mass migration to cities

EW DELHI—Deepa Kumari, a 36-year-old farmer from Pithoragarh district in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, lives in a one-room tenement in south Delhi’s Mongolpuri slum with her three children. Fleeing devastating floods, which killed her husband last year, the widow landed up in the national capital city last week, after selling off her farm and two cows at cut-rate prices. “I was tired of putting back life’s pieces again and again after massive floods in the region each year,” a disenchanted Kumari told Inter Press Service (IPS). “Many of my relatives have shifted to Delhi and are now living and working here. Reorganizing life won’t be easy with three young kids and no husband to support me, but I’m determined not to go back.” As f lash f loods and incessant rain engulf Uttarakhand year after year, with casualties running into thousands this year, bur y ing hund reds under t he debris of collapsing houses and wrecking properties worth millions, many people like Kumari are abandoning their hilly homes to seek succor in the plains. The problem, as acknowledged by Uttaranchal Chief Minister Harish Rawat recently, is acute. “Instances of landslips caused by heavy rains are increasing day by day. It is an issue that is of great concern,” he said. Displacement for populations due to erratic and extreme weather, a fallout of climate change, has become a scary reality for millions of people across swathes of India. Flooding in Jammu and Kashmir last year, in Uttarakhand in 2013 and in Assam in 2012 displaced 1.5 million people. Cyclone Phailin, which swamped the coastal Indian state of Orissa in October 2013, triggered largescale migration of fishing communities. Researchers in the eastern Indian state of Assam and in Bangladesh have estimated that around a million people have been rendered homeless due to

erosion in the Brahmaputra river basin over the last three decades.

by the central government in April. Rural people have especially been forced to “migrate en masse,” according to a recent paper published by a group of non-governmental organizations. Evidence of mass migration is obvious in villages that are emptying out. In Uttaranchal 9 percent of its villages are virtually uninhabited. As per Census 2011, of Uttarakhand’s 16,793 villages, 1,053 have no inhabitants and another 405 have less than 10 residents. The number of such phantom villages has surged particularly after the earthquake and flash floods of 2013. The intersection of climate change, migration and governance will present new challenges for India, said Dr. Ranjana Kumari, director of the Center for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank which does rehabilitation work in many flood- and droughtaffected Indian states. “Both rural and urban areas need help dealing with climate change. Emerging urban areas, which are witnessing inward migration and where most of the urban population growth is taking place, are coming under severe strain.”

Daunting challenges

Tardy rescue and rehabilitation

1.5 million The number of people who were displaced by flooding in several parts of India in 2012, 2013 and 2015

Research done by Michael Werz at the Center for American Progress forecasts that South Asia will continue to be hard hit by climate change, leading to significant migration away from droughtimpacted regions and disruptions caused by severe weather. Higher temperatures, rising sea levels, more intense and frequent cyclonic activity in the Bay of Bengal, coupled with high population density levels will also create challenges for governments. Experts say challenges for India will be particularly daunting as it is the seventh-largest country in the world with a diversity of landscapes and regions, each with its own needs to adapt to and tackle the impacts of climate change. Several regions across India are already witnessing large-scale migration to cities. Drought-impacted Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are seeing a wave of migration as crops fail. Many people have been forced to leave their parched fields for India’s cities in search of work. Drought has affected about a quarter of India’s 1.3 billion people, according to a submission to the Supreme Court

Apparently, the Indian government is still struggling to come to terms with climate change-induced calamities. Rescue and rehabilitation has been tardy in Uttaranchal this year, too, with no long-term measures in place to minimize damage to life and property. In April a group of more than 150 leading economists, activists and academics wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling the government’s response “listless, lacking in both urgency and compassion.” T he gover n me nt h a s a l so come under fire for allocating a meager $52.8 million for climate-change adaptation over the next two financial years, a sum which environmental experts say is woefully inadequate, given the size of the country and the challenges it faces. Experts say climate migration hasn’t been high on India’s policy agenda due to more pressing challenges, like poverty alleviation, population growth and urbanization. However, Shashank Shekhar, an assistant professor from the Department of Geology at the University of Delhi, asserts

that given the current protracted agrarian and weather-related crises across the country, a cohesive reconstruction and rehabilitation policy for migrants becomes imperative. “Without it, we’re staring at a large-scale humanitarian crisis,” the academician predicted. According to Kumari, climate change-related migration is not only disorienting entire families but also altering social dynamics. “Our studies indicate that it’s mostly men who migrate from the villages to towns or cities for livelihoods, leaving women behind to grapple with not only households, but also kids, the elderly, farms and the cattle. This brings in not only livelihood challenges but also sociocultural ones.” Geetika Singh of the Centre for Science and Environment, who has traveled extensively in the droughtstricken southern states of Maharashtra, as well as Bundelhkand district in northern Uttar Pradesh, said the situation is dire. “We’ve seen tiny packets of water in polythene bags being sold for Rs 10 across Bundelkhand,” Singh said. “People are deserting their homes, livestock and fields, and fleeing toward towns and cities. This migration is also putting a severe strain on the urban population intensifying the crunch for precious resources, like water and land.” A study, titled “Drinking Water Salinity and Maternal Health in Coastal Bangladesh: Implications of Climate Change 2011, has highlighted the perils of drinking water from natural sources in coastal Bangladesh. The water, which has been contaminated by saltwater intrusion from rising sea levels, cyclone and storm surges, is creating hypertension, maternal health and pregnancy issues among the populace. Singh, who traveled extensively in Bangladesh’s Sunderbans region says health issues, like urinary tract infections, among women due to lack of sanitation are pretty common. “High salinity of water is also causing conception problems among women,” she said. Until the problem is addressed on a war footing, factoring in the needs of all stakeholders, hapless people, like Deepa, will continue to be uprooted from their beloved homes and forced to inhabit alien lands. IPS

ud Bongao is a treasure trove of biodiversity and one of the last moist forests in the Sulu archipelago. It is among the landmarks of Tawi-Tawi and renowned as a sacred mountain by locals and visitors alike. One of its local champions is 60-year-old Rudy Hamja, who everyone calls Imam Rudy. Imam Rudy has been climbing Bud Bongao almost daily over the last three years. He hikes up the mountain every day, except Friday, ascending for 30 minutes and descending in as little as 15 minutes—twice as fast as a regular pilgrim. All this climbing has made Imam Rudy physically fit—making him look much younger than his real age. Daily trekking has made him fit—but for him, the trek up is a religious calling. Imam Rudy reverently cleans the mountain’s tampat or shrines. At the peak, he prepared a shaded area made out of bamboo and a bench made out of coconut stalks. “I want pilgrims to have a nice place to rest after climbing Bud Bongao,” he shares. He also created a small prayer room for those who wish to pray. Not forgetting the famous monkeys of Bud Bongao, Imam Rudy planted fruitbearing trees to someday feed them, too. He has spent his own time and money to make this happen. “I am doing all of this for a cause. As long as I can manage to climb Bud Bongao, I will do

it with all my heart. I’m not earning from this, but I believe that the souls of our ancestors are there, watching over us,” he adds. “They continuously give me the strength and courage to do all I can to preserve Bud Bongao for tomorrow’s pilgrims. Someday, I want to look after them too, when my soul resides here.” Over the years, Bud Bongao’s forest cover is fast declining. A noticeable number of Philippine monkeys (Macaca fascicularis), for example, are seen less and less. These monkeys are considered nearly threatened, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A large populace used to inhabit the mountain—including a famous white monkey—but the decline can be attributed to destructive activities around Bud Bongao, which include the cutting of trees, the clearing of land for agriculture and the irresponsibility of some residents along the area in disposing of trash. World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines and the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation, together with the local Bud Bongao Management Council, aim to change and regulate all these anthropological activities that alter the biodiversity of the mountain. The plan is to enhance local management capacity and streamline information, education and communication for the communities. Hopefully, more people follow Imam Rudy’s lead and continued protecting the mountain.

Chinese furniture fashion ravages W. Africa’s savannas

o one paid much attention to the gnarled, yellow-blossomed rosewood trees that dotted around farmsteads in northern Ivory Coast until Chinese-backed buyers started offering money for the timber. Fast forward five years and Ivory Coast is looking back at a tumultuous time in the logging industry, with confusion over permits, illegal harvesting of trees, seizures of trucks and, finally, a blanket ban on rosewood exports in 2014. “We simply had no idea; for decades, the trees were just there,” said Jean Yves Garnault, the government’s principal adviser on rosewood. “We only realized its value when we discovered that the wood is fashionable in China.” Soaring Chinese demand for rosewood has spurred a largely illicit trade in West Africa worth at least $1.3 billion since inception, according to advocacy group Forest Trends. That’s decimating forests and heightening tension as governments find that export bans simply prompt dealers to divert truckloads of timber to ports in neighboring countries. Seven of China’s biggest suppliers of rosewood logs by volume are in Africa, with Nigeria topping the list and Ghana ranking third. Gambia, even if it’s 86 times smaller than Nigeria, is fourth, because it illegally ships rosewood from neighboring Senegal, according to activists and the Senegalese government—part of a cycle in which illicit trade moves opportunistically from country to country. Rosewood is coveted in China, the world’s largest consumer of the wood, because it’s used to make antique-looking furniture with intricate carvings fashionable among middle-class consumers. Importers initially turned to nearby forests, but when Southeast Asian stocks were almost depleted, traders in 2009 began eyeing West Africa, home to a more affordable variety. Representatives of China’s ministry of commerce didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Medicinal purposes

“What happened is a combination of the species being overlogged in Southeast Asia to the point of endangerment, and more Chinese consumers having the budget and appetite for rosewood,” Naomi Basik Treanor, a researcher for Washington-based Forest Trends, said by phone. “African rosewood has that luster but it’s cheaper, so it’s in high demand.” Pterocarpus erinaceus, the scientific name for the tree that’s 15 meters high, can survive protracted droughts and grows in semiarid savannas from Senegal to Central African Republic. Its gray bark is used for medicinal purposes, and the leaves, once dried, are popular with sheep farmers as fodder. Most West African countries have imposed export embargoes on rosewood, an umbrella term for more than 30 species of the red-hued hardwood, with some bans going back decades and many revised regularly.

Togo issued the most recent prohibition in June, as the government announced a 10-year stop to logging. During a summit in Guinea Bissau in March, 11 West African countries agreed to urge China to restrict imports. But regulation hasn’t stopped illegal logging, and shipments continue unabated. Volumes of Chinese imports of West African rosewood logs surged 30 percent between January and May, according to Chinese customs data compiled by Forest Trends. The value of the imports rose 19 percent, it said. Weak rule of law and opportunistic traders mean that exports from one country often originate in another. To circumvent bans, logs are smuggled across borders or cut into blocks and labeled as generic timber. That accounts for hugely volatile import data, such as a 100-percent collapse in exports from Guinea Bissau, a 50-percent decline in shipments from Togo and a 350-percent surge in exports from Ghana since last year, the Chinese data show.

‘Stopgap measures’

“One export ban will invariably lead to leakage to neighboring countries,” Basik Treanor said. “These measures are a stopgap, and a real solution would be for China to prohibit the import of illegal timber. There needs to be robust legislation on the consumer side.” The Gambia is a case in point. A tiny enclave that cuts a horizontal swathe through larger Senegal, it shipped 57,900 cubic meters of rosewood logs to China last year, despite an export ban in place since 2012, according to customs data. Prior to 2010, the Gambia didn’t export timber. Almost all of that rosewood is smuggled from Senegal, whose forest reserves are in the relatively remote Casamance region close to the Gambian border, according to activists and the Senegalese government. Illegal traders, most of them Senegalese, are destroying at least 40,000 square meters of forest area annually, President Macky Sall said in a speech last year, as he announced an immediate halt to all wood-cutting permits. He also pledged to recruit thousands of additional forest rangers. Senegal, in 1998, completely banned exports of the Pterocarpus erinaceus variety and took the lead in requesting the Geneva-based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or Cites, to list the tree as imperiled.

Horse carts

The government’s tough stance and soaring demand have spawned vibrant cross-border traffic, with Senegalese smugglers using horse carts to carry logs to warehouses in the Gambia, according to aerial images shown to reporters in May by conservationist and former Environment Minister Haidar el Ali, who used drones to film the evidence. “The Casamance forests will be damaged irreparably within the next two years if the illegal trafficking toward Gambia continues at its current pace,” he said. “There’s a blatant ‘Who cares?’ attitude that is just mindboggling.” Bloomberg News

Science Monday

Monday, August 8, 2016 A13

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

Fly me to the moon: One step for space business

Moon Express cleared for lunar mission

An illustration of Moon Express’s landing vehicle on the surface of Earth’s moon. On Wednesday the US government gave permission to the private Florida company to fly a spaceship beyond Earth’s orbit and land on the moon. The washing machine-sized vehicle would take hops across the lunar surface. Moon Express via AP

unar ex ploration and mining firm Moon Expres s h a s b e come t he first private company to receive government approval to land on the moon, possibly providing another boost for the commercial space industr y. Armed with the go-ahead from the Federal Aviation Administration (FA A), the Cape Canaveral, Florida, company plans to launch its unmanned MX-1 lunar lander next year. Previously, only national government agencies have launched missions beyond Earth orbit. “We look at the moon as our eighth continent,” said Naveen Jain, cofounder of Moon Express. “We have explored all of our seven continents, so why not go to the eighth continent.” On its first mission, the MX-1 lander is expected to take scientific experiments, telescopes and other items to the moon in a test of the spacecraft’s software. The lander is set to launch on one of Los Angeles-based Rocket Lab’s Electron rockets. Eventually, Moon Express plans to mine for resources on the moon, such as platinum group metals and helium-3, which some believe could be a safer nuclear fuel and is present in larger quantities on the moon than on Earth, according to the European Space Agency. Analysts said the approval process could ser ve as precedent for future private moon missions, as well as other commercial ventures beyond Earth orbit, such as SpaceX’s mission to Mars, set for 2018, or other firms’ plans to mine asteroids for resources. “It highlights the need for… a formal regulatory process for unconventional commercial missions,” said Phil Smith, senior space analyst at the Tauri Group. The final approval for the mission came after consultation among the FA A, the White House, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the State Department, Moon Express said. This level of coordination was necessary because a mission like that of Moon Express is subject to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, an international regulatory agreement initiated by the US and Russia. A mong ot her t hings, t he treaty states that missions to the moon and other celestial bodies must be peaceful and that non-governmental agencies must get approval from a particular countr y for activities in outer space. The FA A issues launch licenses to commercial space companies and

gives approval to spacecraft, like SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, that come back to Earth after blasting into space. But no regulatory agency has authority over commercial activity beyond Earth orbit. In this case, the FAA approved the MX-1 lander, confirming that its launch does not jeopardize public health, safety, US national security or foreign-policy interests, or the nation’s international obligations, the agency said. The FAA’s approval is restricted to this single mission, and any future missions would have to receive similar clearance from the agency. Moon Express will also still have to secure a launch license from the FAA, but that part will be less of a hurdle because there is a defined process for it, said Justin Karl, coordinator of the commercial space operations program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “It’s difficult to get any type of operational licensing when you’re trying to do something that no one has ever done before,” he said. “The fact that a comparatively small outfit like Moon Express has been given the OK to do some unique type of operations that other larger and theoretically more capable aerospace companies have not been able to get before is a very big step for commercial space.” Moon Express, which currently has 26 employees, is a contender for the Google Lunar X-Prize, a competition that will award $20 million to the first team that lands a privately f unded rover on the moon, travels at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition video and images back to Earth by the end of next year. The company is competing against 16 other teams, including two based in the US. Both Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology and Orlando’s Earthrise Space Foundation aim to deliver experiments to the moon for universities and companies. Beyond its mission approval, Moon Express still has many c ha l lenges to overcome be fore launch. The company said more details about the lander would be released in the next few months. Meanwhile, its ride into space—Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket—has yet to take its first f light. “The fact that they are this far certainly speaks volumes about what they’ve developed and how mature private space is getting,” Karl said. “But, really, the moon is still both literally and figuratively quite a long distance away.” Los Angeles Times/TNS, AP

Children play as they cool down in a fountain beside the Manzanares River in Madrid, Spain. AP/Andres Kudacki

in report called annual physical for the planet

Scientists: Earth’s fever rises

ASHINGTON—Earth’s fever got worse last year, breaking dozens of climate records, scientists said in a massive report nicknamed the annual physical for the planet. Soon after 2015 ended, it was proclaimed the hottest on record. The new report shows the broad extent of other records and nearrecords on the planet’s climatic health. Those include record heat energy absorbed by the oceans and lowest groundwater storage levels globally, according to Tuesday’s report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOA A). “I think the time to call the doctor was years ago,” NOA A climate monitoring chief Deke Arndt, coeditor of the report, said in an e-mail. “We are awash in multiple symptoms.” The 2015 State of the Climate report examined 50 different aspects of climate—including dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice and glaciers worldwide. A dozen different nations set

48.4°C

The hottest temperature ever recorded in South Africa in October last year hottest year records, including Russia and China. South Africa had the hottest temperature ever recorded in the month of October: 119.1 degrees Fahrenheit (48.4 degrees Celsius). Even though it was a relatively quiet hurricane year in t he At l a nt ic , t here were 36 major tropical cyclones worldwide—15 more than average, sa id NOA A c l imate scient ist Jessica Blunden, co-editor of the report published on Tuesday

in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. And at the heart of the records is that all three major heat-trapping greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide—hit record highs in 2015, Blunden said. “There is really only one word for this parade of shattered climate records: grim,” said Georgia Tech climate scientist K im Cobb, who wasn’t part of the report, but called it “exhaustive and thorough.” But it’s more than just numbers on a graph. Scientists said the turbo-charged climate affected walrus and penguin populations, and played a role in dangerous algae blooms, such as one off the Pacific Northwest coast. And there were brutal heat waves all over the world, with ones in Indian and Pakistan killing thousands of people. One-third of Earth’s land mass had some kind of drought last year. Much of the intense recordbrea k ing a nd record-f l ir t ing weather was because of a combination of a natural El Niño— the periodic warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather globally—and ever increasing man-made global warming.

“This impacts people. This is real life,” Blunden said. Oklahoma University meteorology professor Jason Furtado said in an e-mail that the report, which he wasn’t part of, illustrates the combined power of nature and humans on Earth’s climate: “It was like injecting an already ampedup climate system with a dose of [natural] steroids.” About 450 scientists from around the world helped w r ite the report and in it NOA A highlighted one of the lesser-known measurements, ocean heat content. About 93 percent of the heat energ y trapped by greenhouse gases—such as carbon diox ide from the bur ning of coa l, oil and gas—goes directly into the ocean, the repor t said. A nd ocean heat content hit record levels both near the sur face and deep. NOAA oceanographer Gregory C. Johnson, a study coauthor, said the oceans are storing more heat energy because of man-made climate change with an extra El Niño spike. Johnson summed up Earth’s climate in a haiku, published deep inside the report: “El Niño waxes, warm waters shoal, flow eastward, Earth’s fever rises.” AP

SEI chief receives education leadership award D

irector Dr. Josette Biyo of the Department of Science and Technology-S cience Educ ation Institute (DOST-SEI) received the prestigious Educational Leadership Award from the World Education Congress of CMO Asia. The award was given at last week’s seventh Asia’s Education Excellence Awards at the Pan Pacific Marina Square in Singapore. The Asia’s Education Excellence awards are given to “individuals and institutions that have surpassed several levels of excellence” and set examples of exemplary leadership, and have made a difference in the communities and the nation they serve. Biyo received a citation. The award, as well as the other individual and institutional awards handed by CMO Asia, was intensely researched on by a group of international judges who short-listed prospects based on their extraordinary work and track record of achievements. A jury, comprising of senior professionals and leaders from across the globe, reviewed the short-list.

Biyo said the honor comes at a time when SEI gets “leaps of gains” in its promotion of the science and technology scholarships to students. “The gains we have made in doing this work—of helping students in their studies in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM]; of inspiring the youth to become science professionals, and of helping build our STEM teaching-cap abilities—are what gets recognized by this award,” said Biyo, while crediting the whole SEI and the DOST management for the recognition. Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña congratulated Biyo and SEI for such prominent recognition, saying the award is “a testament to the huge impact of science and technology human-resources development in economic growth.” “We are proud that one of our leaders at the DOST is honored by an international body. This reflects our stance that science and technology is really the way to go for us Filipinos,” de la Peña said. S&T Media Service

Biyo

A14 Monday, August 8, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

The drug war hypocrisy

he global hypocrisy about the Duterte administration’s socalled war on drugs makes a Manila estero smell sweet by comparison. “Look at Columbia,” the local and foreign experts say. Even the government there—Columbia being the world’s largest producer of cocaine—admits it has failed. “Look at Mexico,” where 100,000 people have been killed and the drug trade is still rampant. Apparently, these experts would have a difficult time picking an apple out of a basket of bananas. Columbia does not produce 250 tons of cocaine —50 percent of global production—for its 50 million people. The $30 billion that the Mexican crime cartels earn each year is not from selling to Mexicans but to the United States. The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)—a US non-governmental organization—is a leading voice against the Philippines. The DPA mission “envisions a just society in which people are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed against others.” DPA members are certainly entitled to their opinion that it is just fine for someone to use the drug. And if, by chance, the user goes crazy and kills, at least the family of the dead can take comfort that the user will be tried for murder. DPA is calling for the United Nations (UN) to “take immediate action against the Philippines for the hundreds of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders.” Now the hypocrisy goes to biblical proportions. Where do you think all the shabu in the Philippines comes from? From The New York Times: “Just before dawn on December 29, 2013, the southern Chinese fishing village of Boshe awoke to over 3,000 police officers who destroyed 77 methamphetamine labs, seized 3 tons of crystal meth and more than 100 tons of meth ingredients.” The US Department of State in their 2014 annual report says, “China is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of precursor chemicals, with approximately 160,000 precursor companies and production facilities.” China is obviously not the only trafficker, but it is unlikely that Philippine shabu is coming from Argentina, South America’s largest producer of precursor chemicals. Go on the Internet and you can buy and legally import to the Philippines from Chinese chemical companies all you need to make shabu. Some are substitutes for the “real thing,” but the company will tell you how to alter the legal chemicals to use in meth production. The finished shabu will not be five-star but certainly good enough to sell to any pedicab driver with an extra P50. When will the DAP suggest China be taken to the UN for facilitating the manufacture of this illegal killer drug? The Philippine government allowed the drug problem to slowly grow and it must now be brought to an end. President Duterte said exactly what he intended to do and what the results would be. No one is happy with the killings and it is a bloodbath. But the reality is that there are actually more users of meth in the Philippines than there are in the United States (1 million). Undoubtedly, the government is more than willing to listen to all suggestions on how to protect Filipinos from this Chinese drug menace. Suddenly, the global voices are quiet.

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Joey Velasco Foundation: Legacy of a ‘heartist’ Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

ast month we attended a service in remembrance of the late Joey Velasco, the founder of the foundation that bears his name and that reaches out to street children and marginalized communities, to recall his kindness and heart for others.

Velasco passed away in 2010, at the young age of 43, from a kidney disease. An entrepreneur who had endured adversities and challenges along the way, he was, at first, disheartened over his diagnosis, locking himself in his room and sinking deeper into depression. In the depths of his despair, he had a vision of Jesus Christ extending his hand to him and giving him a paintbrush. Velasco took it as a call to take up art as a way to face up to his personal challenges. In the five years or so of his art journey, he produced the nowiconic painting Hapag ng Pag-Asa, a reimagining of the Last Supper depicting Jesus at a table surrounded by 12 street children. Most of the children in the painting were ac-

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children. Velasco’s other works are equally moving and thoughtprovoking. He seems to say, each one of us can reflect Jesus’s love on street children and others in need. Sadly, the “heartist” Velasco succumbed to his kidney illness. But the Joey Velasco Foundation carries on his legacy of compassion through various charitable activi-

PPP-in-a-PPP and ‘hybrid’ approaches By Alberto Agra

PPP Lead

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tual street children that Velasco talked to; he learned the stories of their lives, their hopes and dreams, and that informed his rendition of their images. He went on to create more religious artworks focused on Jesus, whom he credited for his relief from despondency. His art found a receptive audience. Many were touched by the images he created. A central theme in his art is children: those who are downcast and disabled are somehow transfigured by their proximity to Christ’s light and love. Velasco’s Munting Sireneo shows street children helping Jesus carry his cross; That We May Live is interesting for its point of view, with the viewer looking down from a height upon a dead Jesus being lifted by

Velasco took it as a call to take up art as a way to face up to his personal challenges. In the five years or so of his art journey, he produced the now-iconic painting Hapag ng Pag-Asa, a reimagining of the Last Supper depicting Jesus at a table surrounded by 12 street children. Most of the children in the painting were actual street children that Velasco talked to; he learned the stories of their lives, their hopes and dreams, and that informed his rendition of their images.

Continued from A1 If a PPP is viewed as a change and development strategy, which it should be, PPP-in-a-PPP and the “hybrid” approaches should be encouraged, planned and even anticipated. Such an orientation promotes innovation and project enhancement. When viewed as project-based, a PPP deals with a project with predetermined targets, deliverables and obligations. If a project only involves water supply, then water distribution is excluded. If a PPP contract only talks about the construction and maintenance of a road project, then the private sector proponent (PSP) cannot lay claim, by virtue of that contract, to land development along the road. However, the participation of PSPs is not altogether sealed insofar as those “closed” projects are concerned. What is not found in

the scope of these projects could be the subject of another PPP project. Another PPP project means that there could be a different PSP or set of end-users, another competitive selection process, distinct approval processes, winning parameters and requirements for the subsequent PPP. Depending on the modality, another governing law may apply. For instance, the last awarded project of the previous administration, the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply, pursued under a build-operate-and-transfer modality, can pave the way for other PPP projects. The Bulacan water districts, the end-users of the said project, can enter into distribution joint ventures (JVs) with other PSPs. Septage and sewerage PPPs can be pursued by Bulacan local government units (LGUs). For the reclamation or horizontal land development JV projects of

PPP schemes could even take place after a government infrastructure project is completed through administration or procurement. This is the hybrid approach being explored by the secretary of finance. For example, a government hospital constructed using public funds, can be the object of a PPP for operations and management, improved services, joint management, even divestment. Existing government’s Metro Rail Transits may later on tap private-sector resources and expertise.

Parañaque, Pasay, Manila, Davao and Cordova, these LGUs are not precluded from entering into PPPs with the same or other PSPs for vertical development, government centers, hospitals, classrooms and sports facilities over their share of the reclaimed land. PPP schemes could even take

ties, such as the Hapag Community, which provides scholarships and livelihood workshops (such as baking and rosary-making). I believe there can be no greater epitaph for a person that “she/ he was kind and generous, and helped others.” Living our lives as beacons of hope, as shelters to run to in times of trouble, contributes not only to the welfare of others but also our own; for it is in living selfless lives that we find true peace and satisfaction, as Velasco showed us. The government maintains social welfare and charity agencies that reach out to the poor among us and extend services that aim to improve their quality of life. Yet, the government cannot do this task alone; each citizen whose heart is filled with concern and caring can make his or her own effort toward helping others in the spirit of bayanihan, making this society a kinder, more loving one. And it is in lifting each other up that we also raise ourselves to become better individuals, better Filipinos. n n n Atty. Rojas is vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

place after a government infrastructure project is completed through administration or procurement. This is the hybrid approach being explored by the secretary of finance. For example, a government hospital constructed using public funds, can be the object of a PPP for operations and management, improved services, joint management, even divestment. Existing government’s Metro Rail Transits may later on tap private-sector resources and expertise. Whatever the approach is and whatever the extent of the participation of the government is, the ultimate purpose remains the same. All government projects, PPPs included, must redound to the benefit of the people, the “true north” of PPPs. Better quality of life is what we all aspire for. To know more about PPPs, the PPP-in-a-PPP and hybrid methodologies, the 50 suggested ways to “future-proof” PPP deals, the columnist invites the readers to a oneday seminar on PPPs organized by the Center for Global Best Practices at the Makati Diamond Residences this Friday, August 12. For details, kindly visit www.cgbp.org.

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House to fast-track bills seeking to prohibit labor-only contracting W By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie & David Cagahastian @davecaga

ith strong signals coming from President Duterte, the House of Representatives is seen passing within the year the bills seeking to end the practice of labor contracting, a leader of the lower chamber said. National Unity Party Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of Davao City, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the lower chamber will end endo, or end of contract, through the passage of bills against this employment system. “Several bills have been filed at the lower chamber designed to address labor contractualization. It will be prioritized and passed [at the lower house], because President Duterte has already given the directive that we should end contractualization,” Nograles told the BusinessMirror. Nograles also expressed confidence that the current House Committee on Labor chairman, Rep. Randolph S. Ting of Cagayan, “will fast-track it [the passage of bills ending endo] in his committee.” Nograles was a former chairman of the House Committee on Labor. For her part, Party-list Rep. Emmeline Aglipay-Villar of Democratic Independent Workers Association said the government should soon put an end to the practice of

5,150 The number of registered contractors the Department of Labor and Employment will assess this year to make sure they are not engaged in labor-only contracting

labor contractualization. Endo is a work arrangement where workers are hired for six months, either through fixed-term contracts with a six-month period or they are fired during their probationary period before regularization. “This practice denies workers of their right to security of tenure ,and prevents them from receiving Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Home Development Mutual Fund and other basic benefits that regular workers are entitled to,”

AKLAN PRESS CLUB VOWS TO STAND UP ON VITAL ISSUES

he Aklan Press Club Inc. (APCI) has vowed to stand up on vital issues confronting the province of Aklan and the nation. In its recent general membership meeting held at the NVC Carmen Hotel in Kalibo, Aklan, attended by key leaders of Aklan media practitioners, the 60-year-old Aklan Press Club has adopted resolutions to be vigilant vanguard of press freedom, human rights, an educative outpost, and as a proactive partner of the government in promoting public interest and welfare. Its newly elected officers, led by veteran journalist Odon S. Bandiola, have pledged to squarely dwell on contemporary issues concerning freedom of information, federalism, peace talks, human rights, drug menace, media killings, food security, environment, decision of UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration and constitutional reforms, particularly the controversial plan to build a 2-kilometer bridge connecting Boracay Island and Panay mainland. The new set of APCI officers, aside from Bandiola, who writes a syndicated column in the region, are Ernesto Solidum, executive vice president; Recto Vidal, vice president for print; Arnel Vicente, vice president for radio; Gary Vargas, vice president for cable; Richie

Oloroso; secretary; Mary Joy Reyes, treasurer; Lynn Abitang Arguilles, assistant secretary-treasurer; Megs Lunn, auditor; Jun Aguirre, Edwin Ramos, Aris Asuncion, Joel Naingue, Delano Tefora, Prof. Jay Tejada, Roben Laserna and Frank I turriaga, board members. Board of advisers, headed by Dr. Allen Salas Quimpo, representing the School of Mass Communication of the Northwestern Visayan Colleges (NVC), chairman. Its members are composed of former presidents, namely, lawyer Ronquillo C. Tolentino, Dr. Ambrosio Villorente, Edwin Pelayo, Boy Ryan Zabal, Megs Lunn and Gary Vargas. Juan P. Dayang, founding organizer of APCI, is chairman emeritus. Dayang, a veteran journalist, is a retired publisher of Philippines Graphic, former president of the Manila Overseas Press Club, Publishers Association of the Philippines (Papi) and secretary-director of the National Press Club . At present, he is secretary and trustee of the Catholic Mass Media Awards Foundation and columnist of Manila daily publications. Aklan Press Club, founded in 1956 after the separation of Aklan from Capiz, is an affiliate of the Federation of Provincial Press Clubs of the Philippines and Papi. It has a regular weekly media forum, the Kapihan sa Aklan.

Aglipay-Villar said. She added several employers get away with contractualization because of loopholes in the Labor Code of the Philippines. Earl ier, President Duter te warned businessmen against endo, saying they must “stop contractualization.” Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez also admitted the country’s labor laws need revisions. “We should increase the penalties presently in our statutes for the nonpayment of minimum wage, and the National Wages and Productivity Commission and the Dole [Department of Labor and Employment] should have an arm that will make sure violators are prosecuted,” he said. “The practice of endo should be looked into. Manpower-supply agencies should be mandated, upon pain of criminal liability, to comply with all labor standards on wages and benefits, and the employer be made liable,” Alvarez added. Nograles said he filed five bills seeking to plug the “loopholes” in the 1974 Labor Code of the Philippines, and address the problem between workers and employers on the issue of labor contractualization. “These bills seek to institutionalize the multiple approach adopted by the Dole in addressing the issue of endo, or contractualization, which amounts to circumvention of labor laws on labor standards and occupational safety and health standards, security of tenure, and right to self-organization and collective bargaining,” Nograles said. He added that the Dole has undertaken reforms to address the issue of contractualization. Nograles said Department Or-

der 18-A prescribes stricter rules and regulations on contracting and subcontracting, and provides all contractors’ employees the rights and labor standards benefits, including the right to security of tenure, right to self-organization and collective bargaining. “Another reform by the DOLE is the Department Order 131-2013, or the Labor Law Compliance System, that ensures enforcement of all labor laws and regulations and addresses issues on contractualization, security of tenure and other labor laws violations through a combined regulatory and developmental approach,” Nograles said. He added there are identified gaps in the Labor Code that need to be refined to address the challenges of globalizing production chains and to ensure workers’ protection. The lawmaker said these gaps include Articles 106-109, which allow contracting and subcontracting arrangement and prohibit laboronly contracting; Articles 279, 280 and 281 on the right to security of tenure, regular employment, probationary; Articles 282 and 283, or the grounds on termination of employment; and Articles 128 and 129 on visitorial and enforcement power of the secretary of labor and employment. The bills also seek to amend Book IV on occupational health and safety standards and penalties for noncompliance; and coverage to self-organization, particularly Article 243, to remove the notion that those without definite employer-employee relationship, the probationary and employees other than those with regular status are excluded from the union,

and only allowed to form labor organizations for mutual aid and protection, and not for purposes of collective bargaining. These bills are the proposed act Specifying the Requirements of Legitimate Contracting or Subcontracting; an Act Defining the Causes of Termination of Employment of Workers; and employment relations bill. “Completing the package of amendments is the proposed Labor Laws Compliance System, or the amendments to Articles 128 and 129 of the Labor Code; and the Occupational Safety and Health [OSH] bill, which imposes penalties for noncorrection of OSH violations, including criminalizing deaths with employer negligence due to nonobservance of OSH standards,” Nograles said. Party-list Rep. Tomasito S. Villarin of Akbayan also filed House Bill 341, or security of tenure bill. “None other than President Duterte himself threatened to shut down companies that intend to continue the practice of labor contracting. We welcome the President’s pronouncement. But if he’s really committed to help the Filipino workers, he must certify the security of tenure bill as urgent,” he said. The bill seeks to amend the Labor Code by drawing from both Executive (Department of Labor and Employment Department Order 18, Series of 2002) and Judicial recognition that all workers have the right to security of tenure, to notice and hearing. HB 341 also clarifies what constitutes casual, regular and project employment; and introduces the following innovations: employ-

ment may be fixed by the term of the project, task or work to be performed, but may not be bound to a mere reference to a time; the period of probationary employment is fixed at six months when all the employers shall have enough time to ascertain whether a worker is fit for retention or not; and deliberate misclassification of employees for the purpose of misleading them as to their rights is deemed an unfair labor practice. “It’s high time to enact a law that will effectively end endo beyond this administration and institutionalize security of tenure for all classes of employees,” Villarin said. Meanwhile, the Dole will assess some 5,150 registered contractors and subcontractors and their client corporations to make sure they are not engaged in laboronly contracting. The assessment of the 5,150 registered contractors is the initial target for the assessment process for 2016, and more registered contractors will be assessed next year as part of the DOLE’s campaign against labor-only contracting. However, a total prohibition against labor contractualization is not forthcoming, since a repeal of Department Order 18-A is still off the agenda of the DOLE. Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III explained that the Dole still recognizes legitimate contracting arrangements by the registered contractors, such as the engagement of project-based workers in the construction industry, provision of janitorial and security services, and other arrangements recognized by the Labor Code and by existing jurisprudence.

‘Duterte admin should fix LGUs first’ By Catherine N. Pillas

@c_pillas29

eforms to strengthen local governments should be implemented first to facilitate the country’s shift to a federal form of government, according to an official of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI). PCCI honorary chairman Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said that while federalism is a “novel concept,” the Duterte administration should consider prioritizing the amendment of the Local Government Code of 1991. “Many in the business community would like to see the powers devolved to the local government units [LGUs] to be defined clearly and streamlined,

as businesses are also taxed by local governments,” Ortiz-Luis told the BusinessMirror. “Rather than graduating from local government devolution to federalism, let’s first revisit the devolution of powers to local governments and fix it,” he added. Aside from double taxation, Ortiz-Luis said the redundancies in securing permits and documentary compliance must also be resolved. Ortiz-Luis, who also heads the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., said the success of a federal form of government depends on how well the LGUs have developed. This, he said, is pivotal in bridging the disparity in economic development in the regions. “As it is, there is disparity in the

Home Radio partners with Davao City LGU

implementation of the Local Government Code. If we shift to a federal form of government, laws must be clear. It will be difficult to grow businesses if we do not clearly delineate the powers of the local and central governments,” Ortiz-Luis said. He said the Philippines could avoid the pitfalls of other countries that have experimented with fed-

eralism if it does not clearly define the responsibilities of local and national agencies. “Latin American experimented with federalism and countries there had a runaway inflation, because there is no central authority, no military authority, they had various monetary policies and economic strategies,” Ortiz-Luis said.

Many in the business community would like to see the powers devolved to the local government units to be defined clearly.”—Ortiz-Luis

Aliw Broadcasting Corp. President and CEO Josephine C. Reyes (left) visits Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte (right) ahead of the shift of Home Radio Davao’s programming to a news and entertainment format. This change brings with it additional opportunities between the station and the local government to work together in their mutual efforts to serve the Davao community. Reyes reaffirmed the company’s commitment to serve its Davaoeño listeners more with this change. Photo at right shows (from left) OIC Regional Operation Niña Domingo, Reyes, Davao City Administrator Lyka Lopez and Home Radio Davao Station Manager Randy Quilos.

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Arbitration in the Philippines

Upcoming: 120 CPD requirements for CPAs Jeffrey Salazar

DEBIT CREDIT

Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

legally speaking

lobalization has helped develop international trade and draw foreign investments. Consequently, this massive growth also carries with it conflicts that are more complex in nature. In line with this, arbitration, as a mode of resolving disputes, is gaining favors from nations. Nevertheless, there arises a problem when an arbitration award is sought to be enforced in another country. It might be more encouraging if there was uniformity of laws regarding arbitration proceedings, awards and the corresponding enforcement. Further, parties to arbitration proceedings have a huge hand in what laws shall govern and how the proceedings should be held. Perhaps, it is this power that makes parties tend to go for arbitration rather than drag the dispute to the courts. However, even if parties have agreed to arbitration, the issue of enforcement may still arise. Some jurisdictions will always have reservations as to how to enforce arbitral awards handed under a different set of laws. With the enactment of the Alternative Dispute Act of 2004, it may be said the Philippines has paved the way to a more contemporary approach in encouraging parties to enter into arbitration or incorporate arbitration in their contracts and dealings with one another. After all, arbitration holds a lot of benefits that make it all the more attractive for commercial transactions, instead of going to court. However, the Philippines still has a long way to go and, currently, court litigation is still the primary choice of most parties. The most common mind-set of Filipinos is that when a dispute arises, they automatically resort to courts to obtain relief or vindicate their right. Lack of awareness is one of the contributing factors that make arbitration a mode that is seldom resorted to. In addition, the Philippines may still not yet fully equipped to be an effective venue of international commercial arbitration. Arbitration tribunals in the Philippines are, likewise, relatively young and have yet to gain their position in the field of international commercial arbitrations. Also, judicial inter-

vention in arbitration proceedings prevents parties from choosing the Philippines as their venue for arbitration. Arbitration proceedings should be governed by its own set of procedural rules. Arbitrators, at times, tend to apply the procedural rules of the place where the proceedings are held or, at times, tend to apply what law the parties to the proceedings choose. Hence, it may be taxing when the decision of arbitrators in one place would be enforced in another, because the said decision would have to be validated by the local tribunals where it is to be enforced in order for the decision to be awarded therein. Another concern in arbitration proceedings is that arbitrators are not given powers, such as the granting of interim reliefs and the power to subpoena parties to the proceedings. They also do not have the power to enforce their own awards. Take for instance, in the Philippines, as mentioned, court interventions normally occur. Sometimes, parties who are not amenable to the decision of the arbitrators can always go to court and question the said arbitral award. If judicial intervention is an option in an arbitration proceeding, then it would defeat the purpose of arbitration. Judicial intervention would make arbitration proceedings longer and would essentially cost more. To some extent, there may be those of the view that judicial intervention is supreme over arbitration, since it is the courts who still have the final say in the dispute resolution. In view of this, arbitration should be fully promoted in the Philippines. Further, arbitration rulings should be given a sense of finality to avoid prolonging the disputes and avoid the relief of still going to courts. This would not only promote arbitration but it would also declog the courts.

Why party defections matter By Jonathan Bernstein Bloomberg View

t was treated as big news earlier this week when Meg Whitman, the chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, along with a handful of other Republican figures, announced they would vote for Hil lar y Clinton. W hitman, who was a GOP candidate for governor of California in 2010, is a billionaire and will be raising money for Clinton. The other Republicans decamping are Richard Hanna, a New York congressman who is retiring, and at least three campaign operatives. Some pundits were quick to ridicule the notion that such defections will affect any actual voters. It’s true that few people will wonder why Sally Bradshaw, a former Jeb Bush adviser, is switching to the Democratic ticket, for example, let alone be swayed by her decision. Indeed, most voters would say they don’t care about endorsements from even the most high-profile members of their party. Some people will claim they dislike these leaders anyway. Yet, dismissing the importance of the endorsements is wrong. In a normal election when both parties are united behind their nominee, voters will hear one message for months: that people, like themselves, including the politicians they like, are supporting one

candidate, while people they normally dislike or disagree with are backing the other one. Whether voters consider themselves partisans, that message pushes them in t he “cor rect ” d irect ion—to the candidate of the party they normally support. Conventions are especially powerful in sending such signals because they dominate the news for a few days at least, drowning out the voices of the opposing party. Even after the convention, that message can be strong—if the party is united, that is. The muddier things are, however, the less likely voters will be pushed in the “correct” direction. This is probably a big part of what has given Clinton a solid lead in the polls right now. The Democrats are united and sound united, while Republicans clearly are not. When something goes wrong for Clinton, most highly visible Democrats will speak out in support or keep their mouths shut. By contrast, when something goes wrong for Donald Trump, Republican responses are all over the place, with many condemning whatever it is he said. And the media’s preference for ma n-bites- dog over dog-bitesman stories means that the news about a Republican operative endorsing Clinton will receive far more coverage than dozens of Republican elected officials endorsing Trump.

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hange is coming” is a theme the Duterte administration is currently pursuing. It seems the Board of Accountancy (BOA) is pursuing the same direction with the adoption of several improvements and developments in the accounting profession via its own “Expanding Horizons” initiatives. Some of the changes instituted by the BOA to date are the alignment of the Accountancy Curriculum to the K to 12 Program; the launching of the accreditation of CPAs in commerce and industry; the monitoring of universities and colleges to ensure that only accredited CPAs are allowed to teach accounting subjects; the changes in the subjects and the content of the CPA board examination; and the preparation for the Asean integration. All of these strategic moves are geared toward a more capable and competitive Filipino CPA not only in the Philippines, but also globally. A recent initiative of the BOA is the gradual increase of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) three-year unit requirements from 60 to 120 units starting in 2017. For a three-year period, it has been announced that the required CPD units will increase by 20 units annually over the three-year period until 2019. The purpose of CPD is to ensure

that the CPAs and all other professions regulated by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) are inculcated with skills, knowledge, ethical values and a lifelong learning. The increase in CPD requirements for the CPAs is necessary due to major changes in the field of finance and accounting, including compliance with regulatory bodies, financial framework and even technological progression. On top of the increase in the CPD unit requirements, additional changes and improvements include: n Change of the five thematic to three competence areas to align with international standards. The new areas are technical competence, professional skills and professional values, ethics and attitudes. n Further expansion of the technical competence to three areas, which are standards applicable to practice, laws, rules and regulations affecting professional practice and environment of

the practice. n Encouragement of self-directed learning that may include attending short-term postgraduate programs and writing of books, articles and papers related to accounting profession are convertible to CPD. n Establishment of the nonverifiable CPD, which are professional learning other than those covered by PRC Resolution 774, such as mentorship and research. n Implementat ion of t he monitor system for classroomtype CPD courses, workshops and conventions. n Mandatory requirement for a CPA to comply with CPD requirements during license renewal. These initiatives are consistent with the objectives of the recently enacted Republic Act 10912 mandating and strengthening the CPD for all regulated professionals and the PRC Resolution 2016-990. But there are challenges in these CPD initiatives. The CPAs, especially the small- and mediumsize practitioners, are concerned with the additional costs associated with the increased CPD units requirements. To address these concerns, the BOA is continuously coordinating and communicating with CPAs in the four sectors of the accounting profession—public practice, commerce and industry, education or academe, and government practice, to come up with a program that is beneficial to all the parties. The BOA is also encouraging agencies or organizations to apply for accreditation as CPD provid-

ers, so that it will be much easier for CPAs to attend seminars and trainings, especially from the rural areas with the increased number of providers. The Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Picpa), the national organization for CPAs, is a leading provider of seminars and trainings with an array of different topics for the various competence areas. Online or Web-based training can also be institutionalized, so that learning can be more accessible to CPAs through the aid of technology. CPAs can also earn CPD units by being a resource speaker in conferences, seminars and trainings. Change is inevitable. The CPAs must remain relevant, innovative and competitive. Otherwise, we will be left behind by foreign competition and the global and Asean transformation. With the guidance and assistance of the BOA and Picpa, let’s turn these threats to opportunities. Let us continuously learn a nd conver t ou r wea k nesses to strengths. Jeffrey Galang Salazar is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Master in Business Administration degree holder. He is currently connected with Tong Hsing Electronics Phils. Inc. and Pamantasan ng Cabuyao. This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com

Paying ransom for hostages isn’t always bad

By Noah Feldman | Bloomberg View

he entire cash-on-a-pallet debate about the $400-million payment the United States made to Iran in January rests on a single assumption: that paying ransom for hostages is a bad thing. But it isn’t, at least, not always. All negotiations and transactions depend on leverage. Hostages are a form of leverage, and so is money. So is military force. Frequently, paying ransom is the least expensive and most effective way to achieve the goal of recovering hostages. And on close reflection, ransom payments don’t really create new incentives for bad actors to take hostages—because those incentives already exist, and can’t be eliminated by insisting that paying ransom is something the US will never do. Why does a country, like Iran, take hostages in the first place? Simply put, it’s trying to get vastly stronger actors, like the US, to do what it wants. In this way, a hostagetaking country is not so different from a brigand in an unpoliced area who takes hostages as a moneymaking venture. The kidnapper is exploiting two vulnerabilities. First, the kidnapper can get hold of a person who is unprotected, and

can’t easily be caught without the hostage being harmed. Second, the hostage wants to live freely —and the hostage’s friends and family want the same thing for him or her. There are really only two ways to eliminate hostage-tak ing, and they correspond to the two vulnerabilities. One is not to get grabbed in the first place. That isn’t very realistic for all Americans, who travel freely around the globe and sometimes make themselves vulnerable to capture. The other is not to care about the hostage being taken at all. At the personal level, that requires both hostages and their friends and family to be prepared to accept indefinite or even permanent detention. Understandably, that’s extremely rare. At the national level, not caring would require a broadly shared political value that accepts the detention

or death of Americans as the price we all pay for our freedom to travel and our nation’s global power. Such a Spartan view isn’t realistic in our democracy, and I’m not sure it would be ethically desirable even if it were. The upshot is that American hostages will inevitably be taken, and Americans, including some in the government, will inevitably want to get them back. The question, then, is whether it’s a sensible principle for the US never to pay ransom to do so. Here, the answer is an unequivocal no. The alternative to paying ransom is to use economic sanctions or to threaten force. Those are both good tools of foreign policy, but both are blunt instruments rather than scalpels. Economic sanctions harm an entire country or industry, and are also often costly to those who impose them. Force could be directed specifically at recovering particular hostages, but as President Jimmy Carter’s failed attempt should remind us, it’s hard to execute. Other forms of force may kill innocent bystanders or, otherwise, strengthen anti-American sentiment. In contrast, paying ransom is the

When a flag crosses the line to harassment

By Noah Feldman | Bloomberg View

s it racial harassment in the workplace to display the yellow “don’t tread on me” flag? The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says it could be, depending on the context. The commission acknowledged that the Gadsden flag, which dates back to the era of the American Revolution, did not have racist origins. But it called for a careful investigation to see whether recent uses of the flag have been sufficiently “racially tinged” that it could count as harassment. A strong argument can be mounted that this EEOC decision is a threat to the First Amendment—and that’s exactly the argument made by University of California, Los Angeles law Prof. Eugene Volokh on his blog, the Volokh Conspiracy, in reporting on the commission decision. But on closer examination, I think the commission got this one right. When it

comes to the meaning of symbols, social context is everything. Even symbols that have no direct historical connection to racism can change meaning over time. And if we’re going to have laws against workplace harassment, we have to prohibit all harassing behavior—including harassment that’s overtly political. The Gadsden flag features a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow field

over the famous motto. It is said to have been designed, or at least promulgated, by Christopher Gadsden, a politician and patriot from Charleston, South Carolina. He was a member of the Marine committee of the Continental Congress; the newly formed Marines were reported to have used some version of the image and logo on their drums in 1775. And Gadsden gave a version of the flag to the commander in chief of the continental navy to use as his personal standard on his flagship. In 1776 Gadsden gave a version of the same flag to the South Carolina legislature. Gadsden made his money as a merchant in South Carolina, and both owned and sold slaves. As it happens, in common with other slaveholding members of the founding generation, he also some-

simplest and most direct way to get back hostages, presuming you want them returned. But what about the incentive it creates for more hostage-taking? My Bloomberg View colleague Eli Lake points out that “when it comes to Iran, ransom payments are standard operating procedure”—a statement that is 100-percent true. And he adds that the Iranians have learned that hostage-taking works—which is also perfectly accurate. But Iran didn’t need the US to teach it that hostage-taking is effective. The incentive to take hostages is immediately obvious to anyone trying to gain leverage over a more powerful actor. There’s a reason hostage-taking is as old as recorded history. And that’s why it’s a bit absurd to think that the US should never pay ransom—because refusing to pay ransom will make it much harder to get back hostages without eliminating the incentive to take them in the first place. It sounds tough to say that we don’t pay ransom. But we do; we have; and we will —so long as we care about our citizens, and so long as humans are willing to use other humans as leverage to accomplish their goals.

times spoke against slavery. In a 1766 speech, he referred to slavery as a “crime,” while observing that “slavery begets slavery” and predicting that South Carolina would see more of it. But there seems to be no dispute that the flag, as used by the Marines and others in the Revolutionary War, was a message to King George, and had nothing to do with slavery or racism per se. In his complaint to the EEOC, the anonymous writer objected to a coworker wearing a hat bearing the flag “because the flag was designed by Christopher Gadsden, a ‘slave trader and owner of slaves.’” On its own, that’s a pretty weak argument. The fact that a slave owner created a symbol doesn’t mean that symbol is racist. The Constitution itself, after all, was designed in large part by slave owners.