Businessmirror august 10, 2016

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Wednesday, August 10, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 305

Don’t wait for police, tax evaders warned

By David Cagahastian

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90%

@davecaga

resident Duterte has urged suspected tax evaders to pay their correct taxes or they will be subjected to police visit, much like “Oplan Tokhang,” a campaign launched by the Philippine National Police to stop the drug menace in the country.

INSIDE

In his speech during a visit to a military camp in Samar province, Mr. Duterte said he would ask Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay to provide him a list

the quintessence of luxury living

The estimated tax-evasion rate among the country’s 1.7 million self-employed professionals media to accompany the police, so the police can ask in front of the media why you [tax evaders] are not paying your taxes and why you are deceiving the Republic of the Philippines,” Mr. Duterte said.

of suspected tax evaders who will be visited by the police.

“I will send the police to see you and ask why you have not been paying taxes. I will ask the

See “Tax evaders,” A2

BMReports

govt needs to think outside the box to solve mass-housing woes

PHL still grappling with housing ills property

Immunity Teddy Locsin Jr.

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E1

NN reports that drugresistant bacteria or pathogens are growing in number. They are as deadly as they are impervious to cure. Superbugs, like MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), can kill you. One day you are down with something; next morning you’re down and out. This year a rare superbug coming from human waste was found in a 49-year-old patient and she wasn’t even a politician in the fake House Minority.

Continued on A11

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A worker looks at the finished cluster of a housing project in Cavite, the row houses will be awarded to the informal settlers of Las Piñas City. NONIE REYES

By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm & Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28

E3

free fire

Stranded in desert, foreign labor is casualty of Saudi slowdown

suntrust launches Solana’s information center

property

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week

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Contributor

Conclusion

HE early turnover of relocated houses has discouraged recipients from paying their dues, further complicating the country’s housing conundrum, according to Vice President

PESO exchange rates n US 46.8830

Maria Leonor G. Robredo.

In a recent briefing in the United States, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman said this is one of the problems hobbling an effective government housing program.

“Mag papatayo ang gobyerno ng pabahay, huhulug-hulugan ng

mga tao, iyong mga tao karamihan maghuhulog ng ilang beses pero [The government will build houses and the recipients will make a few staggered payments and after a while] they won’t pay anymore because ownership has been turned over to them already,” Robredo said.

See “Housing ills,” A2

irst they had no pay, and then no work. For a time, there wasn’t even food in the squalid, concrete camps where they had been abandoned to live in the searing heat of the Saudi Arabian desert. Medical supplies dried up two months ago.

Owed weeks and weeks of back pay from construction companies squeezed by the kingdom’s economic slowdown, thousands of foreign laborers from South Asia face the grim uncertainty of how long their plight will continue.

“They don’t give us any answers about our salaries,” said Mohammed Salahaldeen, a duct fabricator from Bangladesh, as he stood in a labor camp in Riyadh set up by the Saudi Oger construction company in better days. “After they pay me my salary and benefits, I will go.”

As Saudi authorities slash spending and delay payments to contractors to cope with the plunge in oil prices, the austerity is exacerbating the woes of private businesses that have, for decades, relied on government spending for growth. Casualties include the thousands of foreign la-

borers who helped to keep the economy humming with low-paying jobs in construction.

Sponsorship system

Abandoned laborers, including nearly 16,000 from India and Pakistan alone, according to their governments, haven’t seen a paycheck in about eight months. Under a system of sponsorship, known as kafala, that leaves many workers at their employers’ mercy, they’re also not being given the exit visas they need to leave the world’s largest oil exporter.

In Saudi Arabia it’s up to employers to arrange such visas, but before doing so they’d have to pay back wages and end-of-service benefits.

Calls made to the Saudi Oger Ltd. and Saudi BinLadin Group construction companies weren’t returned. At King Salman’s order, stranded workers will be given food and medical services, and can receive exit visas directly from the state, the Labor Ministry said in a statement on Monday, pledging to safeguard their rights and resolve their problems.

n japan 0.4577 n UK 61.1401 n HK 6.0443 n CHINA 7.0385 n singapore 34.8210 n australia 35.8655 n EU 52.0167 n SAUDI arabia 12.5014

Bloomberg News Source: BSP (9 August 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Housing ills. . .

Continued from A1

“Iyong fund hindi nagiging revolving. So na-stall ang problema ng gobyerno [Because of this, the fund is no longer a revolving fund. The government’s stuck with this problem],” she added.

Robredo said to solve this problem, the country can look at the experience of Singapore and Thailand, which started solving their respective housing backlog through public rentals.

She explained that in these countries, citizens who cannot afford buying a home can start with public rental units. Once they get enough income, they can now start buying their own property.

Robredo said Thailand was able to solve their housing problem in 10 years.

There are no “squatters” and “street people” there, she added, sans citing the source of her data.

“I think that model can be replicated in the Philippines. Not exactly that model, but I think we can tweak it to make it more appropriate for the condition,” she said. “We have to think outside the box already.”

Historical roots

THE problem of housing can be traced back to the end of the Second World War in 1945. According to historians, the massive number of people displaced led to the development in Manila of settlements of squatters, or “informal settlers”as they are now called.

Many war refugees settled at Tondo Foreshore land, a reclaimed area north of Manila and within the walls of Intramuros.

Official estimates showed there were 46,000 squatters in 1946. That number doubled to 98,000 by 1956 and ballooned to 283,000 in 1963.

Came the industrialization of Metro Manila in early 1970s, informal settlements in the country apparently started to grow.

Rural-to-urban migration intensified and the number of job seekers in the metropolis exponentially rose.

As a result, the country’s housing backlog began apparently in the 1980s, according to Charlito Ayco, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Philippines Inc. “One reason is the rapid urbanization through migration from the rural areas to the cities,”Ayco explained.“This is a global phenomenon and it has no precedent in human history.”

Purchasing power

AYCO said the second obvious reason to the housing needs in the country is the mismatch between what people can afford to pay for housing versus what the market can supply.

“The market works at the higher categories of housing [economic dwell-

ing up to high-end], where the ‘market’ mechanism works,” the Habitat for Humanity Philippines top executive said. “But there is market failure in the low-income sector.”

He pointed out that the factors that cause or result in higher cost of housing production includes high development cost due to regulatory inefficiencies and high cost of land, among others.

Ayco’s views is echoed by Ibon Foundation Inc., which believes that “big construction firms offer low-cost housing at rates that neither the unemployed nor the needy can afford.”

“Because low-cost housing is a component of real-estate business, it remains unaffordable to many homeless Filipinos,” an entry on Ibon’s weblog said.

According to Ibon, “social services and utilities were further commodified” under the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III. “The Aquino administration’s policies favored businesses over people’s welfare,” Ibon said. “The centerpiece [Public-Private Partnership] Program, for instance, has allowed the private sector to profit immensely from people’s money, even in public utilities and social services, such as education, health and housing.”

In the 2012 Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES), an average Filipino family can only allot 12.61 percent of income for housing (rent/ rental value, or house and lot and house maintenance and repair).

The low level of affordability of intended beneficiaries further aggravates the housing problem.

Families from the first to the fifth income deciles can only spend 2.2 percent to 6 percent of their income for housing, the FIES data showed.

Backlog factors

THE lack of housing provision in the country has been further exacerbated by the onslaught of natural calamities that hit several parts of the country over the years.

Those residing along the major water tributaries and other danger areas were the most vulnerable, who bore the brunt of the adverse impact of climate- change drivers.

Another factor is the limited budget of the government for housing, which accounts only for less than 1 percent of the total annual budget of the government since 2008, except during the years 2011 and from 2013 to the present.

Government data show that the state’s 2008 national appropriation for housing was P4.96 billion, or 0.40 percent of the total budget. That

figure grew nearly sevenfold in 2016 to P33.75 billion, or 1.12 percent of the total spending allocation.

The short supply of state-owned land for residential use and inaccessibility due to land administration and management problems also hinder the production of housing nationwide.

Based on the latest report of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), only 0.54 million hectares, or roughly 4 percent of the estimated total land area of the country of about 300,000 square kilometers are available for housing and urban uses.

Meeting demand

GIVEN the current and future needs for housing, the national endeavor of roofing every Filipino is a long way to go, according to Ayco.

“Clearly, there is a need to increase production to catch up,” he said.

Ayco cited a study by the University of Asia and the Pacific and the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) Inc. that said the market should have produced 1 million units from 2012 to 2016 to catch up with the backlog.

He said the study also saw production should ramp up to 2 million from 2017 to 2020, and 5 million units from 2021 to 2030.

Given these targets, however, Ayco raised concern on the buying capacity of the people, especially those in the mass market.

But, citing again the UA&P, that remains to be seen as more than 800,000 families cannot afford to buy a house even if a unit is priced at P365,000 ($7,783.30 at current exchange rates).

Market behavior

AYCO said the pricing prompts most of the residential development projects in the country to cater mostly to the low-end to high-end markets.

“For any businessman who would like to have a return on his money, it does not make sense to build houses and sell it to the socialized sector,” Ayco said. “He might as well sell it at the better-paying sector, which is the low income, economic or even the high end.”

Dwelling units for low-income market are priced around P600,000, while for the economic sector, a unit costs between P800,000 to P900,000 each.

The midend condominium projects are those with a price range between P1.5 million and P10 million, as highend units are offered at P10 million and above each.

“So without the targeted subsidy, the very poor cannot afford [to buy housing units],” Ayco said. “The government has to intervene and provide subsidy so that the people can afford to buy what the private sector is going to produce.”

He cited, for instance, the P50-billion five-year housing program for informal settlers in danger areas in Metro Manila. The program, approved by Aquino in 2011, aims to relocate the 104,000 families of informal settlers living in areas deemed risky or dangerous for humans and those near waterways of Metro Manila.

Poor housing

AYCO cited a World Bank study that revealed beneficiaries can only afford to pay P397 as monthly interest to the housing unit.

“If you belong to the poorest of the poor, you will not pay the actual cost of the house, but only the 10-percent [interest],” he said of an economically viable solution to the country’s housing backlog.

While this remains a suggestion, Ayco said this is already a proven model in South American countries, particularly in Ecuador. He said families in that country save 10 percent of their income, which the government matches with a 20-percent grant.

The remaining 70 percent, according to Ayco, is being provided through loans from a partner bank.

“It’s really the bank funding it. It’s not a pure dole-out,” he said. “It’s an investment.” Ayco noted that program has been started in Peru and Chile and recently in Brazil.

Since housing creates a big impact to the economy, Ayco called on the government to start investing into it, given the resulting multiple effects.

“Housing is one of the industries where local input is very high,” he said. “In other words, it’s not a losing proposition. Solving a social problem, eventually, is just a bonus.”

Private assistance

THE real-estate sector’s residential segment is the most competitive at present, since a lot of players have gained high profitability in recent years.

Given the estimated demand for housing this year and beyond, however, a right match of supply vis-à-vis demand is, indeed, of national concern these days, Ayco said.

“Every year, on average, new housing needs reach [more than] 300,000,” Ayco said. “The annual output is only like 200,000 and less. So the backlog piles up.” But he says it’s a good thing some industry players are now giving space for the socialized sector, where housing is highly needed.

Some of these players, he noted, have been venturing in low-cost housing with units sold at below P3 million each. Others target the affordable segment outside Metro Manila. One company is expected to supply a total of 12,453 units, where 46 percent would come from Luzon, 30 percent from the

www.businessmirror.com.ph Visayas and 24 percent from Mindanao.

Public support

AYCO urges the public to continue supporting the cause of groups, like Habitat for Humany, to achieve the national goal of reducing the total dwelling deficit in the country by 20 percent in the year 2020.

Approximately, around P320 billion is needed if each of the 800,000 dwelling units the organization seeks to build costs P400,000 each.

“That falls at the range of socialized house and lot costing P450,000 and below,” he said. “Practically, the socialized sector is an abandoned sector. Why is that? Because the market is not supplying it now. And that is where we want to be engaged with.”

Admitting that the housing backlog is here to stay, Ayco also called for cooperation among other similar organizations to at least mitigate, if not fully solve, this problem.

“I think what Habitat and other organizations like us can do is try to influence policy on housing provision in the country,” he said. “We have to increase the awareness of people that this housing is really a societal problem, and that it can be solved.”

2020 goal

HABITAT for Humanity, on the other hand, aims to build around 800,000 units in the next five years. This is in line with the homebuilder group’s 2020 goal to help address at least 20 percent of the housing backlog.

According to Ayco, four out of 10 Filipino families today do not own their house and don’t have security of land tenure. He said the same ratio applies to those who live in urban slum areas.

“Our vision for the Philippines is total eradication of lack of housing, and that all Filipinos must live in a decent house,” he said. “So what we do is we bring people together to build homes and communities. The home is just an entry-point.”

According to him, Habitat wants “people living in that community will really have a very active community.”

“Ultimately, as a Christian organization, we want to bring hope to the people.”

High leakage

ANOTHER priority now, Robredo’s Spokesman Georgina Hernandez said in a radio interview on Tuesday, is focusing on in-city relocation to prevent informal settlers from being far away from their place or work of basic services.

Robredo earlier said the government has done off-city relocation to lessen its expense for land. However, these efforts were unsuccessful because of high leakage.

She said those who were given houses were those already living in

Tax evaders. . .

Metro Manila. Further, Robredo said those who receive these off-city relocations sell their homes and go back to the city.

It does not help that services, such as transportation and livelihood opportunities, are scarce in offcity relocations.

“Sa mga konsultasyon ni VP Leni sa mga urban-poor groups ay hangga’t maaari kung may lokasyon tayo, dapat ito ay gawing on-site at hindi ito malayo sa kanilang ikinabubuhay [In the Vice President’s consultations with urbanpoor groups, they indicated that relocations should be on-site or near to their place of work],” Hernandez said.

“At kung kailangan naman pong irelocate, ang tinutulak po ni VP Leni ay dapat kumpleto ang mga komunidad na ibibigay sa kanila. Dapat may sapat na access sa trabaho, edukasyon, kalusugan, kuryente at patubig, kaya sang-ayon po si VP Leni sa panawagan ni Pangulong [Rodrigo] Duterte na huwag magkaroon ng demolisyon ng walang relokasyon [And if there are those who will be relocated, the Vice President wants them to be placed in complete communities. They should have access to work, education, health, electricity and water. This is the reason the Vice President supports the call of President Duterte not to have demolitions without relocation],” she added.

Lacking time

AS the new housing czar, Vice President Robredo is keen on pursuing a comprehensive and integrated approach to housing and urban development, which are at the heart of her work as chairman of the HUDCC. Robredo said the thrust is to create a comprehensive urban-development plan that will address the housing backlog and ensure that government funds are not wasted.

This is a challenge, given the data constraints and the fact that HUDCC is only a coordinating body. It works not only with various agencies of the government, but also six shelter agencies.

The country has six shelter agencies and these are the National Housing Authority, Social Housing Finance Corp., Home Development Mutual Fund or the Pag-IBIG Fund, Home Guaranty Corp., Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and National Home Mortgage Finance Corp.

“To coordinate the efforts of the six agencies under it. There is still a lot to be done in terms of policy is concerned,” she said. “There is a lot to be done as far as institutionalization of processes and mandate is concerned.”

However, Robredo admits the task is daunting because of time.

“There is so much that needs to be done. Kulang na kulang ang oras [There isn’t enough time],” she said.

Continued from A1

There’s no official estimate of government’s foregone revenues from tax evasion. However, former Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares has been quoted as saying 90 percent of Filipino professionals are tax evaders.

Currently, there are around 1.7 million self-employed professionals in the country who paid a total of P9.8 billion in taxes in 2010, or an average of only P5,764. The BIR said in 2011 professionals, based on their income levels, should each be paying P100,000 in taxes on the average, indicating a 90-percent tax-evasion rate among doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects and entertainers, among others.

President Duterte said those who would end up in Dulay’s list of suspected tax evaders will also be put in the watch list of the Bureau of Immigration to restrict their right to travel as a consequence of being a tax-evasion suspect.

“If you’re rich and you don’t pay the correct taxes, you cannot travel anymore. I will tell the immigration to stop you because you committed a violation. I will order the BIR to file cases and once it’s pending in court, the freedom of movement is restricted,” Mr. Duterte said.

He said those facing criminal charges are not allowed to travel, and suspected tax evaders should not be treated differently. However, President Duterte promised that there would no longer be any harassment from the BIR if a taxpayer is found to be tax compliant.

“Criminals should not be allowed to leave, including tax evaders, because it’s always a crime if you do not pay your taxes

correctly. But if you pay what is assessed then I will never allow anybody to disturb you,” he said.

Mr. Duterte said his administration needs the foregone revenues from tax evasion to fund the billions of pesos required to build massive rehabilitation centers for the thousands of drug dependents who have surrendered since he came into power.

President Duterte earlier said he would send drug addicts to military installations for rehabilitation, as governmentrun rehabilitation centers throughout the country no longer have room for some 170,000 drug pushers and addicts who voluntarily surrendered to the police.

The President said the use of the military camps as rehabilitation facilities for drug addicts will be temporary and will only be done until the government can build the needed rehabilitation centers.

The drug addicts and pushers surrendered or were arrested under Oplan Tokhang, a campaign launched by the Philippine National Police to stop the drug menace in the country.

“Tokhang” is a combination of two Visayan words for “knock” and “plead.” The police knock on the houses of suspected drug users and pushers and urge them to stop selling or using drugs.

In a recent speech, the President quoted figures from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency saying there are about 3 million illegal drug users all over the country.

Unless the country is rid of illegal drugs, hopefully, within six months, the Philippines could become a narcotics state, Mr. Duterte said.

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Wednesday, August 10, 2016 A3

Infracom to HUDCC: Craft relocation plan to speed up ROWAs, infra projects

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

he Infrastructure Committee (Infracom) said it has asked the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) to craft a relocation plan for residents to be affected by right-of-way acquisitions (ROWAs).

National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Deputy Director General Rolando G. Tungpalan said the plan can speed up ROWAs, which has been tagged as the usual cause of delay for infrastructure projects.

“Given the number of projects that are going to be implemented that would entail right-of-way resettlement of affected families, Infracom recognized the importance of having HUDCC come up with a framework to address families affected by projects,” Tungpalan told the BusinessMirror.

Tungpalan said ROWAs are needed particularly for rail, toll road and national road projects that the Duterte administration is lining up for implementation in the next six years.

One project that could potentially require more ROWAs and consequently more relocation is the North-South Railway Project South Line.

The project was recently endorsed by the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) Cabinet Committee (Cabcom) for approval by the Neda Board.

The ICC Cabcom required the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to resubmit the project under the proposed standard gauge rail system instead of the narrow gauge.

The project is set to be undertaken through the publicprivate partnership (PPP) scheme in two separate projects: the Commuter Line, from Tutuban to Los Baños and the Long Haul Line, from Los Baños to Sorsogon with a branch from Calamba to Batangas City.

The project has a 34-year concession period (including construction of four years) for the Commuter Line. The Long Haul Line’s concession period is based on the payment timeline prescribed under the repayment scheme.

“With the decision to adopt standard gauge from narrow gauge, that will require [more space, more] right-of-way [and more] families [will be] affected,” Tungpalan said.

The ICC Cabcom also recommended the approval of the Plaridel Bypass Toll Road Project to expand it into a four-lane toll road from an existing two-lane toll road.

The Neda said the new four-lane toll roads will improve the road capacity and save travel time of about 80 minutes per vehicle.

The project is estimated to cost P9.33 billion with a concession period of 30 years, including three years of construction.

“Those are just a few examples, rail and including some of the toll roads, national roads,” Tungpalan said.

The Infracom is composed of the director general of the Neda Secretariat, as chairman; secretary of public works and highways, as cochairman; and the executive secretary and secretaries of transportation, finance, and budget and management, as members.

The Infracom advises the president and the Neda Board on matters concerning infrastructure development.

Former Philippine President Ramos visits China to ‘rekindle’ friendship

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ONG KONG—Former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos said in Hong Kong on Tuesday that the purpose of his visit to China is not for negotiations but to “rekindle” the Sino-Philippine friendship.

Designated by President Duterte as a special envoy, Ramos arrived in Hong Kong on Monday evening to start his visit to China after the South China Sea arbitration case has frozen the two countries’ ties.

“My job is to look for some old friends who have links to high officials in Beijing. My job is not to negotiate, but to help pave the way, break the ice and rekindle the friendship that we had during my time with China,” Ramos told a news conference here.

“We are here on a mission of goodwill and are not involved in any negotiations or official transactions,” he said.

Ramos revealed that the person he want to first meet with during his trip is Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a major think tank based in China’s southern island of Hainan Province.

The former Phillipine president said he believed his old friends in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as well as Guangdong, Hainan and Fujian provinces, all have links to Chinese leadership in Beijing since some of them have been elevated to China’s top legislature after retirement.

Ramos emphasized the long history of exchanges and close relationship between China and the Philippines in culture and people-to-people communication, adding the fact that Chinese people discovered the Philippines more than 100 years before the Europeans did. PNA/Xinhua

T his includes highways, airports, seaports and shore protection; railways; power generation, transmission and distribution; telecommunications; irrigation, flood

control and drainage, water supply and sanitation; and national buildings for government offices, among others.

It also coordinates the activi-

ties of agencies, including government-owned or -controlled corporations involved in infrastructure development.

The Infracom also recommends to

the President government policies, programs and projects concerning infrastructure development consistent with national development objectives and priorities.

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A4 Wednesday, August 10, 2016

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Counterclaim case hinders DOTr’s program to improve MRT 3 service

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

efore they stepped down from office, transportation officials of the Aquino administration lodged a counterclaim against the owner of Metro Manila’s most congested railway line, claiming that the company failed to “perform its contractual obligations, including constructing and maintaining” the train system.

According to documents obtained by the BusinessMirror, former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya told an international arbitration center in Singapore that Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) failed to deliver what was stipulated under the buildlease-transfer (BLT) agreement signed almost two decades ago.

The team claimed that the company breached numerous sections of its maintenance obligations,

and were listed under the following points: poor track maintenance; poor structural maintenance; lack of ultrasonic testing; lack of records for maintenance and functional testing of work tracks; and incomplete spare parts.

Abaya’s camp, likewise, claimed that there was a “material breach of the BLT agreement arising from abnormal lateral movement of the train system,” and, thus, reflects that the company was not able to

The case is preposterous. It is like a poison pill for the new administration. It will keep the new government from doing the right thing for the train system.”—Perezde Tagle Jr. “construct and maintain the MRT [Metro Rail Transit] Line 3 system

to the standards required.”

Given these circumstances, the team contended it is necessary for what is called as the residual-value buyout. In a nutshell, a residual-value buyout is a scheme that allows the government to pay in “scrap value” the facility to the contractor.

Lodging such a case also gives the impression that the contractor was not able to finish the construction of the facility and, thus, also gives the need for the government to step in and continue building the infrastructure.

Based on Senate records, a residual-value buyout is “a scheme that is only available to the government in the event that the project is not completed.”

The counterclaim stemmed from the arbitration case lodged by MRTC against the government for its delayed payment of equity rental pay-

ments. Such an issue was already cured due to negotiations between the two parties that led to the acquisition of the government-owned banks of bonds in the private company.

Sought for comment, the owners of the rail facility said they were surprised to receive a counterclaim from the previous administration, calling it a nuisance case that only blocks the new administration from implementing much-needed reforms in the train system.

“The case is preposterous. It is like a poison pill for the new administration. It will keep the new government from doing the right thing for the train system,” MRT Development Corp. COO Rafael P. Perez de Tagle Jr. said in a phone interview.

He said his group has already replied to the counterclaim case by asking the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore to take the matter lightly because of the turnover of officials. The transportation agency is now led by Secretary Arthur P. Tugade.

“They are claiming that we were not able to finish the MRT, but we have completion reports to belie that,” Perez de Tagle added. “The MRT has been there for 16 years, and it is not yet completed? I think they are trying to cover their tracks,

a desperate effort to avoid charges.”

A copy of the completion report that the BusinessMirror was able to acquire shows that in July 2000, MRTC completed the design and construction of the train line, and appointed Sumitomo Corp. as its maintenance contractor. Aside from the facility, the company also delivered 73 light-rail vehicles to the government.

Transportation Spokesman Cherie Mercado-Santos deferred to give comment. The new transport team has only been onboard for a month now.

Perez de Tagle said his group is now coordinating with the new set of government officials to iron out what needs to be done with the said counterclaim.

“We’re looking to look closely with them to do a realistic and permanent solution to the MRT. We’re confident that the government also wants [to], because that was a promise of President Duterte during the campaign,” he said.

Today the MRT operates within the 15 to 20 trains daily. It is designed to handle 350,000 passengers per day, based on its rated capacity. It also has a crush capacity of 560,000 passengers per day.

Opec faces same obstacles to agreeing on oil-output limit

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N informal Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meeting next month is unlikely to deliver any agreement to limit production because several members, including Iran, are still pumping below capacity.

Members of the Opec are planning to hold talks next month on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in Algeria, group president Mohammed Al Sada said on Monday. But the same obstacles that prevented an agreement on proposals to freeze output in April or fix a new production target in June are still there, according to UBS Group AG. “We still haven’t reached the moment when Opec members will agree to a production agreement, as Iran has not yet recovered its presanction production levels,” Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS, said by e-mail. “Nigerian and Libyan oil output are also currently below capacity.”

Oil tumbled into a bear market last week, ending a recovery that saw prices almost double from a 12-year low in February. That increased the pressure on many Opec member-countries that are still unable to balance their budgets.

Al Sada’s comments indicate the group is concerned by the renewed slide in prices, according to Robin Mills, CEO of consultant Qamar Energy.

Iranian opposition

Efforts by some Opec members over the past two years to limit the group’s output have come to nothing. Bloomberg News

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Editor: Max V. de Leon • Wednesday, August 10, 2016 A5

SE Asia cement producers build opportunity Indian PM plans to visit Vietnam in September

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EW DELHI—Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems set to give India’s ties with Southeast Asia a boost in September, with plans to visit Vietnam against the backdrop of an international tribunal ruling against Chinese claims over the South China Sea.

Sept. 6-7 The schedule of Modi’s visit to Laos for the India-Asean Summit Though there has been no formal announcement of Modi’s visit to Vietnam, Indian officials said it could happen after his visit to Guangzhou, China, for the Group-of-Twenty meeting on September 4 and 5, and the India-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Lao PDR on September 6 and 7.

The visit is expected to be key for two reasons.

The first is that the visit comes after a crucial ruling by a Haguebased tribunal last month, rejecting China’s claims in the South China Sea in response to a case brought in by the Philippines in 2013. The Hague court found that Beijing’s claims of historic rights to most of the South China Sea had no legal basis. Besides China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam have competing claims over uninhabited islands and features in the South China Sea. The Hague ruling is seen as encouraging for these countries. India’s interest in the South China Sea stems from the fact that approximately 50 percent of its trade with Asia passes through the critical waterway.

China, however, is likely to follow the visit keenly, given that it is wary of India-Vietnam ties that have grown in substance in recent years, almost coinciding with China’s stepped-up activities in the South China Sea since 2011. Vietnam and China have overlapping claims in the area, which include the Spratly and Paracel island groups.

India has sought a resolution of the South China Sea dispute based on international law and under the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea, which mirrors the positions of Vietnam and the Philippines. China, on its part, has said the dispute should be resolved by the parties concerned. The second reason Modi’s Vietnamese visit will be crucial is because it will be the first bilateral visit to the country by an Indian prime minister in 15 years.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee visited Hanoi in 2014 and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited India within months.

During Mukherjee’s visit, India had extended a $100-million line of credit to Vietnam for defense procurement, with Vietnam looking to use it for getting patrol boats to bolster its naval presence in its territorial waters.

In June Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar visited Vietnam during which the purchase of an interceptor craft for Vietnamese coastal and maritime security was discussed.

This could be one of the deliverables during Modi’s proposed visit.

Since India joined the Missile Technology Control Regime, there has been speculation that India could export the India-Russia, jointly produced Brahmos missile to Vietnam.

Indian naval ships have increasingly been making port calls in many countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. TNS

W

ith domestic consumption sluggish or shrinking, Southeast Asia’s cement producers are expanding abroad in hopes of finding new revenue streams in countries where infrastructure needs are driving more demand.

Siam City Cement Plc. (SCCC), Thailand’s second-largest producer, is a good example. Controlled by the Ratanarak family, the founders of Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), SCCC last month signed an agreement to acquire Holcim (Lanka) Ltd. (HLL) from a unit of LafargeHolcim for $374 million.

The acquisition followed the Thai company’s purchase of all shares of Cemex Thailand and Cemex Cement (Bangladesh) earlier this year for $53 million. The Sri Lanka transaction is expected to close before September 30. SCCC will use a one-year credit facility from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, the majority shareholder of BAY, to finance the transaction.

According to SCCC’s filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, HLL is the only clinker manufacturer operating a fully integrated cement plant with a capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per year in Puttalam, with access to the only operational limestone deposit in Sri Lanka. HLL also operates a cement grinding facility in Galle with annual capacity of 1 million tonnes and manages terminals in three local ports with combined capacity of 1.6 million tonnes a year.

The transaction makes SCCC the market leader in Sri Lanka, with further synergy benefits resulting from shared services, procurement with volume pooling, and a secured clinker export channel.

“An opportunity to build a regional network [is also expected], allowing us to optimize trading across multiple regional assets and diversify to secure cashflow generation, while also capturing future growth in these markets,” SCCC said in a statement.

“Sri Lanka has a solid domestic demand projection. Furthermore, over the long term, there will also

$374M

The amount spent by Siam City Cement Plc. to acquire a unit of LafargeHolcim

be new opportunities to transfer advanced construction know-how to capitalize on lower construction maturity, for instance, the company’s ready-mix and bulk distribution model and [the wood substitute] Conwood.”

With total asset value equivalent to 4.55 billion baht as of 2015, HLL reported revenue of 5.7 billion baht, up from 4.7 billion the year before.

Given its current capacity of 1.6 million tons per year, LafargeHolcim controls 44 percent of Sri Lanka’s total cement output of 3.6 million tons.

Some industry observers have questioned the deal, saying the price is too expensive. SCCC CEO Siva Mahasandana declined to comment to Asia Focus, while other executives of the company could not be reached.

Some analysts, however, say Sri Lanka’s need for infrastructure points to substantial cement demand growth in the future.

Currently, SCCC operates a cement plant in Sarabui with annual production capacity of 14.5 million tons and more than 4,000 workers. It also has operations in Indonesia and Cambodia. In 2003 it acquired two lightweight concrete block production plants in Singburi and Ratchaburi from Superblock Plc. “SCCC has invested slightly in the past couple of years but began to expand more aggressively this

‘Asean people should contribute toward community-building’

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UAL A LUMPUR—Asean people should not only benefit from Asean but also participate in and contribute toward Asean community-building efforts for the association to progress.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said a prerequisite to establish a true Asean community instilled a sense of belonging and identity within and across the people of its 10 nations.

“It is only then that we will have an Asean Community that is truly cohesive and reflects the aspiration of its peoples,” he said in a statement in conjunction with the 49th Asean Day celebration today.

While wishing Happy Asean Day to all Malaysians and the peoples of Asean, Najib said much remained to be done before Asean could truly consider itself a single and united community in practice, as well as in name.

Asean community-building is a continuous and evolving process, and the momentum must be maintained to ensure political cohesion, economic integration, and social and regional inclusion, he added.

“Our [Asean] community must be able to respond effectively to the emerging threats and challenges presented by the rapidly changing regional and global landscape,” the prime minister said.

Therefore, he said, the theme selected by Lao PDR as Asean chairman this year, “Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic Asean Community,” was timely and appropriate as it

Cranes operate at a residential construction site in Hanoi, Vietnam. Bloomberg NEWS

year,” said Napat Siworapongpun, an analyst with Asiawealth Securities, adding that a low debt-to-equity ratio gives SCCC the financial flexibility to expand capacity.

“We view this as a positive move

by SCCC to be more aggressive in business expansion. Sri Lanka needs more infrastructure so there is room to grow in cement consumption,” Napat said.

While Sri Lanka is relatively a small player, its per-capita cement consumption is similar to that of India, according to the Global Cement Directory 2016. Both markets have room for expansion. India has 310 million tonnes per year of capacity and with a population of 1.25 billion, a per-capita capacity of around 250 kilograms. Sri Lanka has 3.6 million tonnes of capacity and 20.2 million inhabitants, or 200 kilogram per capita or capacity.

“There is clearly room for growth in both of these figures and further projects could yet be on the horizon for Sri Lanka,” Napat said.

While SCCC is looking beyond Southeast Asia, the top local producer Siam Cement Group (SCG) continues to strengthen its presence across Asean. It completed capacity expansions in Cambodia and

reflected the Asean people’s collective will to continue to integrate its region and solidify its community.

Furthermore, Najib said almost five decades ago, Asean’s founding fathers signed the Bangkok Declaration that formally established the association, adding it was a historic day, marking a commitment by the Southeast Asian nations to work toward a future of peace, stability and prosperity for the region.

“As we celebrate Asean Day this year, we do so for the first time as a single community. For on December 31, 2015, under the chairmanship of Malaysia, the 10 Asean memberstates inaugurated the Asean community. “This was a significant milestone for the region, building on the resilience and dynamism that have been the hallmarks of Asean through its journey of nearly half a century,” he said, adding that Asean people should be proud of what was accomplished for almost 50 years.

PNA/Bernama

work on government megaprojects is helping fuel an economic upturn in Indonesia.

In Thailand, however, SCG has revised down its cement consumption forecast from 3-percent to 5-percent growth over 2015 to only 1 percent or even flat, given sluggish private investment. The group sells about 16 million tonnes of cement in Thailand and exports 4.5 million tonnes to Asean countries.

LafargeHolcim, meanwhile, said proceeds from the sale of HLL would be used to further reduce its debts. The Sri Lanka sale follows the divestment of Lafarge’s Indian operations to Nirma Ltd. announced in mid-July to comply with competition regulations when the two European giants merged.

After the merger announcement, Switzerland-based Holcim sold its entire 27.5-percent stake in SCCC to Singapore-based Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd. in 2015. SCCC posted total revenue of 31.5 billion baht last year, down from 32.2 billion in 2014, with net profit declining to 4.6 billion from 5.1 billion.

With combined net sales of 29.5 billion Swiss francs last year, LafargeHolcim employs 115,000 people with operations in 90 countries. TNS

Planter’s son turns worst Malaysia stock to best performer in 120 days

I Najib

Indonesia last year, and expects to finish building its Myanmar plant in the current quarter, while a plant in Lao PDR should be operational in early 2017.

SCG has cement-production capacity of 23 million tonnes in Thailand. The four Asean projects by next year will add 6.3 million, bringing regional capacity to nearly 30 million tonnes, President and CEO Roongrote Rungsiyopash said recently.

The group has also been in talks to acquire cement assets in Vietnam, where demand has been growing by double digits this year along with that in Cambodia and Laos. Demand growth in Myanmar is slowing down this year but is likely to pick up with a double-digit growth in 2017, Roongrote said.

“We see a bright future for markets across the region with steady growth rates,” he said. “Especially in Vietnam, demand for building materials has risen on the back of a booming construction industry, with several infrastructure, residential and industrial projects under development, as the country has become a key production base for the world.”

Cambodia also continues to see steady industrial growth, while

n Zakaria Arshad’s first four months at the helm of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd., the world’s top crude palm-oil producer has turned into Malaysia’s best stock from its worst.

While the company’s 28-percent surge this quarter makes it the best performer on a gauge of Malaysia’s top 100 companies, Zakaria, who took over as CEO on April 1, isn’t resting easy. The shares are still 57 percent below their listing price in 2012, when it was the world’s thirdbiggest initial public offering that year, a slump the 56-year-old says keeps him awake at night.

Zakaria, a plantation settler’s son, is pressing on with plans to sell assets and cut costs as drought reduces the company’s output of crude palm oil, used in everything from food items to cosmetics. While weather forecasters predict a La Nina may develop later this year, bringing rain to parched plantations, oil palms are still struggling to recover from one of the strongest El Niños on record that starved crops of water.

“I’m not satisfied with the share price, there’s still a long way more to go,” Zakaria said in his 45th-floor office at Felda’s headquarters opposite the iconic Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Towers. “My yields will be reducing, I have to look at my cost of production, and I have to cut all these costs.”

Felda posted a 65.5-million ringgit ($16.2-million) first-quarter loss

$16.2M The amount of losses posted by Felda in the first quarter of the year

from a 3.6-million ringgit profit a year earlier as dry weather hurt crops and production costs climbed.

The stock slumped 62 percent from 2014 until its removal from FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index on June 22, 2015, making it the worst performer on the nation’s benchmark gauge for that period. It’s set to release second-quarter earnings later this month. Shares closed unchanged at 1.95 ringgit in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, near a nine-month high reached on August 3.

Stressed trees

Malaysia’s first-half crude palmoil production was the lowest since 2007, according to Malaysian Palm Oil Board data. Even as output may increase 3.9 percent in July, it will still be the lowest for the month in six years. Malaysia is the world’s biggest palm grower after Indonesia and the two together make up around 86 percent of global supply.

Felda’s fresh fruit bunch production fell as much as 20 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier,

Zakaria said. The company’s full-year crude palm-oil output may drop by 10 percent to 15 percent this year, he said. Total Malaysian crude palm-oil production will be 17 million tons to 18 million tons in 2016, from a record 19.97 million tons in 2015, according to Zakaria.

“Production is catching up, though still slowly” after drought caused “very, very bad” stress to oil palms, he said. Zakaria grew up tending to palm trees in Felda Palong 1, one the company’s estates about 150 kilometers southeast of Kuala Lumpur. The estate is part of a government agency program mooted six decades ago to empower smallholders and promote agriculture activities.

Benchmark Malaysian palm-oil futures, which set the tone for global prices, may average 2,400 ringgit to 2,500 ringgit a ton in 2016, from 2,235 ringgit in 2015, according to Zakaria. Prices may rise further if an extreme La Niña forms and disrupts the supply of soybeans, a competing oilseed, he said. Futures rose 1.3 percent to 2,439 ringgit on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives on Monday, trimming this year’s decline to 1.8 percent.

Felda is continuing its plan to sell off noncore assets, including a stake in an insurance company, Zakaria said, without giving details, while also selling loss-making units and land that doesn’t complement its business. Bloomberg News

The W

Business

A6 Wednesday, August 10, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Japan protests to China over ships around disputed islands

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OKYO—Japan’s foreign minister summoned China’s ambassador on Tuesday and lodged a protest over the increased number of Chinese vessels in waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The move by Fumio Kishida comes as the number of Chinese coast guard ships around the islands has nearly quadrupled over the past few days to as many as 13, a record number since China started sending ships to the region in September 2012, after Japan nationalized the islands’ ownership.

Kishida told Chinese Ambassador Cheng Yonghua that the

ships must leave the area, saying their presence has escalated tensions between the countries. He said their repeated infiltration and unilateral attempt to change the status quo were unacceptable.

The Japanese Coast Guard said at least two of the 13 Chinese vessels have been in the Japanese territorial waters around the islands despite repeated warnings

13 The number of Chinese coast guard ships alleged by Japan to be in waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea

for them to leave. Gun batteries were seen on several of the ships, officials said.

Hundreds of Chinese fishing boats have also been seen accompanying the coast guard vessels, just as a fishing season in the East China Sea opens. China also claims Japan-controlled Senkaku islands and calls them the Diaoyu islands.

Relations between Japan and China have long been strained over their wartime history, a sensitive topic during the summer because of end-of-the-war anniversaries.

Japanese media reports say the recent escalation in China’s activity around the disputed islands may be seen as a warning against planned visits by members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war criminals among the war dead, for the August 15 anniversary to mark the end of World War II. AP

MSF-supported hospital in Syria bombed, 13 killed

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EIRUT—A hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders and specializing in pediatrics in a rebel-held northern Syria province has been destroyed in a series of air strikes over the weekend that killed 13 people, including four staff and five children, the international medical charity said on Monday.

The group Médecins Sans Frontières, known by its French acronym MSF, said two of four air strikes directly hit the hospital in Millis, in the northern province of Idlib, and put it out of service. Six other hospital staff members were wounded in the broad daylight air strikes on Saturday. The bombing of the hospital that serves as a reference center specializing in pediatrics also destroyed the operating theater, intensive care unit, pediatric department, ambulances and a generator, the charity said.

It was not clear which government had conducted the air strikes and the MSF statement did not specify.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the US has not conducted any air strikes near Idlib.

MSF said the hospital attack deprives 70,000 people in Millis and surrounding areas of essential medical care. The hospital, supported by MSF since 2014, used to receive 250 patients per day, many of them women and children “The direct bombing of another hospital in Syria is an outrage,” says Silvia Dallatomasina, medical manager of MSF operations in northwestern Syria. She called for an immediate end to attacks on hospitals, pointing that four out of five UN Security Council members are participants in the war in Syria.

Hospitals, mostly in rebel-held areas, are regularly attacked. In July alone, the UN said it has recorded 44 attacks on health facilities in Syria. Syria’s government and Russia, a major ally that has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September, deny targeting health facilities. AP

Clinton attacks Trump economic proposal

K

ISSIMMEE, Florida—Hillary Clinton offered a simple reply to Donald Trump’s economic address on Monday: “Don’t let a friend vote Trump.”

At a rally in Saint Petersburg, Florida, Clinton said the plans Trump outlined earlier in Detroit would push the country back into recession, warning that his plans benefit the rich and do little to create jobs or boost the economy.

“His tax plans would give super big tax breaks to large corporations and the really wealthy,” Clinton said, characterizing the proposals, which include substantial tax cuts, as “trickle-down economics.”

“You know that old saying: Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me,” she said.

Clinton countered with her own economic proposals, saying she wants to invest in public-works projects and more educational opportunities and will tax top earners to pay for her plans.

She is expected to speak to the Detroit Economic Club on Thursday.

“I have said throughout this campaign I am not going to raise the taxes on the middle class, but with your help we are going to raise it on the wealthy,” Clinton said.

At a rally later in the day in Kissimmee, Florida, Clinton continued her criticism, saying that Trump “hasn’t offered any plans on infrastructure besides building a wall and having Mexico pay for it.” She also stressed her commitment to small businesses, asking “would you rather have a president who says you’re fired or you’re hired?”

Earlier Monday, Clinton toured a brewery as a way of highlighting her commitment to small businesses. She plans to campaign in Miami on Tuesday, as part of a two-day tour through battleground Florida, home of 29 electoral votes.

Clinton is focusing on jobs and the economy at campaign events. Aides say they hope to build on polls showing Clinton gaining ground on economic issues, which have made up the core of Trump’s campaign message.

“We are not interested in economic plans that only help the top 1 percent,” Clinton said in Saint Petersburg.

Clinton is putting a heavy focus on Florida with travel and television advertising. President Barack Obama narrowly won the state in 2012. At her Kissimmee event, she pledged to support Puerto Rico, saying she would do all she could to put it “back on a path of prosperity.” While there, Clinton also plans to meet with health professionals combatting the Zika virus. She said she would meet with people on the “front line of Zika” on Tuesday.

“Washington cannot keep ignoring the needs of the families of Florida,” Clinton said. The Republican-controlled Congress left Washington in mid-July for a seven-week recess without approving any of the $1.9 billion Obama requested in February to develop a vaccine and control the mosquitoes that carry the virus. Abortion politics played a central role in the impasse. AP

In this September 26, 2014, file photo, a Kurdish Peshmerga fighter uses binoculars to check on Islamic State (IS) group’s positions on the outskirts of Makhmour, 300 kilometers north of Baghdad, Iraq. Two years ago, just weeks after the fall of Mosul, an IS group push deeper into Iraq’s Kurdistan region triggered Iraq’s Peshmerga forces to retreat and the US-led coalition to drop the first air strikes in the fight against the militant group. Since then coalition planes have dropped more than 9,400 bombs on Iraq. AP

2 years of anti-IS air strikes have redrawn the Iraqi map

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AKHMOUR, Iraq—Two years ago the US-led coalition dropped the first air strikes on the Islamic State (IS) group, ushering in a deeper phase of intervention that dramatically changed the fight against the militant group in Iraq. Since then, more than 9,400 coalition air strikes have allowed Iraqi forces to slowly claw back cities, towns, supply lines and infrastructure.

But the fight—which continues to be largely waged from the air—has also leveled entire neighborhoods, displaced millions and redrawn the Iraqi map.

The US-led coalition estimates that since the air strikes began on August 8, 2014, IS has lost more than 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq. But while coalition air strikes paved the way for Kurdish and Iraqi ground forces to retake territory, in many cases the result is a ruined prize.

The first coalition strikes were spurred by an IS push from Mosul a few weeks after the group’s initial rampage across Iraq.

Makhmour base was just one of

a number of front-line positions overrun in early August 2014, bringing IS fighters within just 30 kilometers of Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region.

“Daesh was moving into this town and we were withdrawing up into the mountains,” said Ayoub Khaylani, a Peshmerga solider who was at Makhmour base with his unit just before the initial IS attack on Mahkmour. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for IS. After three days of air strikes, the IS advance on Irbil was slowed and Kurdish forces retook the base. Two years later the fight against IS has moved west across the Tigris River into Nineveh province and Makhmour has transitioned from an active front line to a sleepy support position.

“If it weren’t for the strikes and the heavy artillery [given to the Iraqi army by the coalition], we would still be up in the mountains,” Khaylani said, sitting in a small air-conditioned room hunched over his mobile phone on an overstuffed sofa.

“I will not allow the United

States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq,” said President Barack Obama when he announced the authorization for air strikes in Iraq in 2014.

“American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq.”

On Friday the Pentagon announced about 400 US soldiers will deploy south of Mosul to Qayarah air base to aid in the operation to retake Iraq’s second-largest city.

They are among the 560 additional troops that President Obama approved for the Iraq mission last month. The Pentagon says there are about 3,800 US forces currently in Iraq, not including hundreds who are on temporary duty and not included in the official count.

As the push to retake Mosul ramps up, the scars from two years of costly victories remain vivid.

Sinjar, the small mostly Yazidi town north of Mosul, was retaken

by Kurdish forces nine months ago, but it still lies in ruins. While Sinjar is technically “liberated” the vast majority of its residents still live in tented camps for the displaced scattered throughout Iraq’s north.

The Pentagon claims 55 civilians have been killed in Iraq and Syria since the air war against IS was launched. However, human rights and humanitarian aid groups insist that number is vastly underestimated. Air wars, a project tracking air strikes targeting IS, estimates that at least 1,568 civilians have likely died in coalition actions.

For Iraq’s Kurdish peshmerga forces, pushing back IS has also meant strengthening their hold on disputed territory. Closely supported with coalition training, intelligence sharing and air strikes, Kurdish forces have taken hundreds of towns and villages from IS that were previously claimed by both the Kurdish regional government and Iraq’s central government in Baghdad.

A mnest y Inter nationa l accused peshmerga forces of deliberately destroying thousands of homes in Arab villages taken back from IS in an effort to prevent Arab residents from returning to the territory, according to a report earlier this year.

Mosul residents who fled to Irbil in the summer of 2014 celebrated the first coalition air strikes on extremist militants, hoping the stepped-up intervention would quickly repel the militants and allow civilians to return home.

No w, m a k e s h i f t t e nt s i n church gardens and half-finished buildings have been replaced with neat rows of caravans on the outskirts of town that resemble f ledgling neighborhoods more than temporary shelters.

Across Iraq, more than 3.2 million Iraqis remain displaced from their homes, according to information gathered by the International Organization for Migration.

Kindi Hameed Majid, 30, fled Mosul with his wife in the summer of 2014. The young couple thought they would only be gone a few days.

Now more than two years later, he is still in Irbil and says he doubts he will ever return.

Even if Mosul is retaken by Iraqi forces, he said he worries the city will never be secure enough to be inhabitable again. “We see the future as dark and unknown.” AP

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www.businessmirror.com.ph | Wednesday, August 10, 2016

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United Nations support sought for South Sudan force

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Passengers wait at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on August 8 in Atlanta. Delta Air Lines delayed or canceled hundreds of flights on Monday, after its computer systems crashed, stranding thousands of people on a busy travel day. AP

After outage, Delta Air Lines seeks forgiveness with refunds, vouchers

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ALLAS—Delta Air Lines will be handing out refunds and travel vouchers as penance for the latest computer outage to knock a major airline off stride.

Delta canceled more than 700 flights and had 2,600 others delayed, some for hours, after a power outage on Monday at its Atlanta headquarters caused many computer systems to crash.

The computer systems were working again a few hours later but Delta said it was still working to accommodate stranded passengers. Its challenge on Tuesday will be to find enough seats on planes during the busy summervacation season to accommodate the tens of thousands of passengers whose flights were scrubbed.

Last month the average Delta flight was 87-percent full.

The airline posted a video apology by CEO Ed Bastian. And it offered refunds and $200 in

2,600 The total flights delayed after a power outage on Monday at Delta Air Lines’s Atlanta headquarters caused many computer systems to crash travel vouchers to people whose f lights were canceled or delayed at least three hours.

For p a s s e n ge r s , h a rd s h i p from the early morning meltdown was compounded by the fact that Delta’s flight-status up-

dates weren’t working either. Instead of being able to stay home, many passengers only learned about the f light problems when they arrived at the airport.

“By the time I showed up at the gate the employees were already disgruntled, and it was really difficult to get anybody to speak to me or get any information,” said Ashley Roache, whose flight from Lexington, Kentucky, to New York’s LaGuardia Airport was delayed. “The company could have done a better job of explaining... what was happening.”

D e lt a S p o k e s m a n Tr e b o r Banstetter said after a power outage at the company’s Atlanta headquarters, some key systems and network equipment did not switch over to backup systems.

He said the airline’s investigation into the cause of the outage was continuing, but said there were no indications of hacking.

A spokesman for Georgia Power said the company believes a failure of Delta equipment caused the airline’s power outage. He said no other customers lost power. Delta declined to comment on the power

company’s report. Flights that were already in the air when the outage occurred continued to their destinations, but f lights on the ground remained there.

At 7 p.m. Eastern time, Delta said it had canceled more than 740 flights, and tracking service FlightStats Inc. counted more than 2,600 delayed flights.

Airlines depend on huge, overlapping and complicated systems to operate flights, schedule crews and run ticketing, boarding, airport kiosks, web sites and mobilephone apps. Even brief outages can snarl traffic and cause long delays.

That has afflicted airlines in the US and abroad.

Last month Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights over four days, after an outage that it blamed on a faulty network router. United Airlines suffered a series of massive information-technology meltdowns after combining its technology systems with those of merger partner Continental Airlines.

Lines for British Airways at some airports have grown longer as the carrier updates its systems.

Who is Naruhito, the next likely emperor of Japan?

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OKYO—Japanese Emperor Akihito’s video message this week, though subtle, suggested that he wishes to abdicate, and the attention now goes to his elder son, the first in line to Japan’s Chrysanthemum throne.

In his 10-minute recorded message on Monday, Akihito primarily cited his old age and concerns that it may become difficult for him to fulfill his duties, but some palace watchers say a hidden reason for his desired abdication might be his successor.

Like his father, the son, Naruhito, is a soft-spoken and smiley man. A bit stocky at age 56, he’s married to a Harvard-educated former diplomat, Masako, who has been ill for more than a decade and seldom appears in public.

But she is better known abroad and his presence is often eclipsed whenever she comes out.

Having a father who has tried to break down Japan’s ancient imperial traditions to bring his cloistered family closer to the nation,

Naruhito was raised as a new breed of royals who grew up in a family seen as a model for the nation. His name in Chinese character means a person with heavenly virtues.

His mother, Michiko, the first commoner to become empress, helped to bring in fresh changes to the palace in child-rearing and education. The couple eliminated a wet nurse for Naruhito, born on February 23, 1960, and his two younger siblings. When they went on official trips and left Naruhito behind, they handed his nannies a list of rules for the then-prince in what was known as a “Naru-chan Kempo,” or “constitution.”

Naruhito attended Gakushuin, a private school for former aristocrats. After graduating from college, he studied at Oxford University, living in a dorm for two years for the first time while earning a master’s degree in Thames River water-transport systems.

An avid hiker, skier and viola player, Naruhito first met Harvardeducated diplomat Masako Owada

at a party in 1986, but it took him eight years of waiting and two rejections before he won her heart in what is remembered as a modernday royal romance.

Their marriage raised expectations of adding a modern face to imper ia l institutions, but Masako is still recovering from stress-induced menta l conditions she developed after giving birth to their daughter, following criticism that she had failed to produce a boy.

The succession law allows only male emperors, so Naruhito’s only child, Aiko, 14, cannot inherit. Instead, Naruhito’s younger brother Akishino, 50, is second in line, and his son Hisahito, 9, is third.

Discussions on changing the law to allow female succession ended with the boy’s birth.

For more than a decade, Naruhito has mostly traveled alone while performing his traditional duties, unlike his father, who is almost always with his wife by his side. This raises a question

as to whether Masako can do even part of the work Michiko has done as empress.

Palace watchers and experts say Akihito wants to abdicate possibly to help smooth the transition, rather than waiting until the last minute to burden his son with such a heavy immediate responsibility.

Naruhito would be the 126th emperor in a line believed to date to the fifth century.

The emperor is a purely symbolic figure today, with no political power. A kihito is known as a strong proponent of Japan’s war-renouncing constitution, repeatedly showing support for the charter, which stipulates his symbol status. “[Akihito] reflects obviously the mistakes and the errors made earlier on in his father’s [Hirohito’s] reign,” said Robert Campbell, a University of Tokyo professor who is an expert of Japanese history and culture. “That’s something, I think, everyone hopes will be carried on into his son’s reign.” AP

On Mond ay i n R ic hmond , Virginia, Delta gate agents were writing out boarding passes by hand. In Tokyo a dot-matr i x printer was resurrected to keep track of passengers on a flight to Shanghai. Some passengers said they were shocked that computer glitches could cause such turmoil.

Others took it in stride.

Ryan Shannon, another passenger on the Lexington-to-New York flight, said passengers boarded, were asked to exit, waited about 90 minutes and then got back on the plane.

Once Delta cleared flights to take off, “we boarded and didn’t have any problems. There is always a delay, or weather, or something.

I travel weekly, so I’m used to it,” Shannon said with a laugh.

Delta said customers whose flights were canceled or delayed more than three hours could get a refund and $200 in travel vouchers. Travelers on some routes can also make a one-time change to the ticket without paying Delta’s usual change fee of $200 for domestic flights and up to $500 for international flights. AP

NITED NATIONS—A proposed United Nations (UN) resolution would establish a 4,000-strong regional force to provide security in South Sudan’s capital and deter attacks on UN sites where over 30,000 civilians have sought refuge from the fighting.

The draft resolution, circulated by the United States and obtained on Monday by The Associated Press, would make the regional force part of the UN peacekeeping force in Sout h Sudan and raise its strength to 17,000 soldiers and international police. The African regional bloc known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), announced late Friday that South Sudan’s government has accepted the deployment of a regional force, reversing its previous rejection.

The draft resolution calls for a vote on an arms embargo against the country if Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reports that South Sudan’s authorities have blocked deployment of the regional force.

A civil war in South Sudan began in December 2013, when government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battled rebels led by his former Deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the fighting and over 2 million people were displaced.

Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal in August 2015 under which Machar was to be first vice president, but fighting continued and last month hundreds of people were killed when army factions loyal to the two men clashed in the capital Juba. Machar fled the capital into hiding shortly after the fighting began and Kiir replaced him with Taban Deng Gai, who had acted as the rebels’ chief negotiator during peace talks. Mahboub Maalim, the head of Igad, said on Friday Deng Gai has agreed to step down if Machar returns to Juba.

The draft resolution would demand that South Sudan’s leaders immediately end the fighting and implement the cease-fire and peace deal. It would extend the mandate of the UN force, which expires August 12, until December 15.

There was criticism that some members of the force, known as UNMiss, did not act robustly to protect civilians when UN sites came under attack last month.

The draft resolution stresses that UNMiss’s mandate includes authority to use “all necessary means” to protect UN personnel and installations, and to take “proactive” measures to patrol and protect civilians from threats. It emphasizes that protecting civilians must be given priority in decisions about the use of peacekeepers. AP

Group helps turtles trying to cross Indiana highway

T

ERRE HAUTE, Indiana— Wildlife enthusiasts are helping migrating turtles cross an Indiana highway by collecting them in buckets.

The effort, organized through Facebook, also collects data for researchers in Indiana State University’s biology department, the (Terre Haute) Tribune Star reported.

Amber Slaughterbeck, naturalist for the Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department, said this time of year is a busy migration period for the turtles, which typically move northward from the south side of the Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area.

According to the group Wabashiki Turtle Research and Rescue, fewer turtles and other creatures have been killed on US 40 since the Indiana Department of Transportation installed a fence this summer. When the group arrived at the location on Saturday evening,

46 live turtles were rescued along the fence. Another team rescued 11 more on Sunday morning.

“The majority of those, if we hadn’t had the fence, probably would have been smashed on the road,” said Leah Dresdow, a member of the group.

Dresdow said five turtles were found dead. The live turtles are collected in buckets and taken to nearby Lazy L Lake. Members determine the species and gender of each turtle, record any remarkable physical characteristics and note the time of day and environmental conditions when they were found.

They also measure the reptiles.

“Once you start saving those little turtles, it’s kind of addictive,” Dresdow said.

The average turtle collected from the area is 5 inches long, but some are as large as 10 inches. The most common species found are painted turtles. AP

A8

The World BusinessMirror

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

briefs

Thailand’s junta leader vows to hold polls in ‘17 BANGKOK—Thailand’s junta leader says he will hold elections in November next year, under a newly approved constitution that will ensure the military’s control over the next government. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the army chief who took power in a coup in 2014, has insisted before that he will hold elections in 2017, but until now had not given a specific month. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he dismissed a journalist’s suggestion that the polls could be postponed to 2018. AP

Catholic diocese ends migrants’ 5-week protest

BERLIN—A Roman Catholic diocese in Bavaria says it has ended a fiveweek protest at a church building by migrants from the Balkans. Some 50 migrants started camping out at Regensburg Cathedral early last month, demanding the right to stay in Germany and protesting the Balkan nations’ designation as safe countries. A few days later, most moved to a vicarage across town. The Regensburg diocese said that, after three weeks, some of the migrants embarked on a hunger strike and later started threatening to kill themselves and their children. AP

Turkey: U.S. musn’t ‘sacrifice’ alliance over Muslim cleric

ANKARA, Turkey—Turkey’s justice minister says the United States would be sacrificing its alliance with Turkey to “a terrorist” if it were to refuse to extradite a US-based Muslim cleric whom Turkey says is behind the July 15 failed coup attempt. Minister Bekir Bozdag also told state-run Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that anti-American sentiment in Turkey had reached “its peak” over the issue of cleric Fethullah Gulen’s return. Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding the coup attempt and wants him returned to Turkey to face trial. Washington has said it would need evidence of the cleric’s involvement, and says the regular extradition process must be allowed to take its course. AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Ortega back to his old ways in Nicaragua’s ‘dictatorship lite’

G

UATEMALA CITY— Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is slipping back into a 1980s mind-set—cracking down on opposition, amassing power and locking horns with the United States It’s “dictatorship lite,” said Adam Isacson, senior associate for regional security policy at the Washington office on Latin America.

Just in the last few days, Ortega loyalists in the Supreme Court ordered the removal of 28 opposition lawmakers, and the president named his wife as his running mate in November’s presidential election. Foreign observers are banned from the vote.

“It is a total, complete concentration of power and the elimination of any checks or constraints on his authority,” said Michael Shifter, president of the InterAmerican Dialogue. “It’s taken what has been under way for a long time to an extreme and that has caused a lot of concern.”

Almost four decades after his Sandinista movement overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza and fought a civil war with

US-backed Contras, Ortega remains a critic of the “Yankees” to the north who he blames for much of strife in the impoverished Central American nation. This week the US said it is “gravely concerned ” about Nicaragua curbing democracy and had earlier issued a warning of potential violence during the November 6 election. In June the government expelled three US State Department officials. The presidency didn’t reply to a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.

Radical changes

BILLBOARDS with the 70-yearold leader’s por t ra it f i l l t he countryside with maxims such as “long-live the revolution” and

“Nicaragua: Socialist, Christian and in Solidarity.” During a July 19 speech commemorating Nicaragua’s revolution, thousands gathered in the country’s capital city of Managua, chanting Ortega’s name.

Speaking after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Cuban Vice President Miguel Diaz, Ortega said his government “was born of the people, and is within the people. It’s a revolution that’s alive because it made radical changes.”

Ortega w ill seek his third consecutive and fourth overall term in the November election and led a recent poll by Borge y Asociados, with 44 percent of voter preference. None of his rivals had support that reached double figures, the poll found.

Not everything is going Ortega’s way. Long allied with his administration, the country’s private sector has criticized recent political maneuvers.

In a statement posted on their web site, the private business chamber said the recent court rulings “weaken representative democracy, political pluralism and the division of powers.” The chamber President Jose Adan Aguerri expressed concern over the expulsion of the US embassy officials and has urged the government to invite international observers for the elections.

Toned down

ORTEGA’S reelection bid may receive a boost from the economy.

While his allies, Maduro and Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, grapple with economic slumps amid falling oil prices, Nicaragua is an oil importer and benefits from cheaper fuel. Ortega has toned down his socialist policies of nationalization and land reform, though that hasn’t led to a thawing of relations with the US. “The economy has been doing very well, and part of that is because Ortega has been very good at coopting potential sources of opposition, both economic and political,” said Christopher Sabatini, professor of international policy at Columbia University.

“It seems a foregone conclusion that Ortega will win.”

T he $12.7-billion economy will grow 4.5 percent this year, according to an International Monetary Fund forecast, while the economy of Latin America as a whole contracts 0.5 percent.

Even so, Nicaragua remains the poorest country in the Americas after Haiti.

“Nicaragua could go in a number of different directions,” Shifter said. “I would not underestimate Ortega’s ability to hang on.

If he’s proven anything over the last decade it’s that he is a survivor and politically very shrewd.”

Bloomberg News/TNS

Pakistan lawyers mourn colleagues slain in Quetta

QUETTA, Pakistan—Pakistani lawyers are mourning colleagues slain in a shocking suicide bombing the previous day in the southwestern city of Quetta that killed 70 people, mostly lawyers.

Senior Atty. Mohammad Ashraf said on Tuesday that lawyers will also stage rallies across Pakistan to condemn the assault. Monday’s attack came as lawyers had gathered at a Quetta hospital after the body of a prominent colleague—Bilal Kasi, the president of the province’s bar association—was brought there. He had been gunned down just hours earlier. The Pakistani bar association has called for a boycott of the courts in protest over the attack. AP

Chinese ambassador warns relations with U.K. at crossroads

LONDON—China’s ambassador to Britain has warned relations are at a crossroads following the new government’s decision to delay a decision on the Hinkley Point nuclear project. In an article for the Financial Times on Tuesday, Liu Xiaoming made a direct link between the future of relations and the fate of the $23-billion project, describing ties as being at a “crucial historical juncture.” The ambassador said he hoped the United Kingdom will “keep its door open” to China. AP

Germany welcomes Turkish-Russian thaw, assures NATO unity

BERLIN—Senior German officials say a thaw in relations between Turkey and Russia is a welcome development, and they don’t see a danger of Turkey turning away from North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is visiting Russia on Tuesday for talks with President Vladimir Putin. The German government’s coordinator for relations with Russia, Gernot Erler, told Deutschlandfunk radio there is “a European interest in this ice age between Turkey and Russia being ended, because it also hinders progress in resolving conflicts” in Syria and the Caucasus. The Turkish-Russian rapprochement comes as relations between Ankara and the West are strained. AP

This file photo shows vehicles with Lyft drivers who are doubling their efforts as Uber drivers as they drop off riders in front of Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport.

Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Lyft allows riders to add stops in trip S

AN FRANCISCO—In another move to encourage people to carpool, Lyft added a feature to its ride-hailing app on Monday that will let passengers add a stop along the way to their final destination.

The feature, which will be tested with select Lyft users before a

nationwide rollout, is the first of its kind on a major ride-hailing platform. Previously, if two or more people wanted to share a ride with different drop-off locations, they’d have to tell the driver ahead of time or change the end destination once they got to their first stop.

The new feature streamlines the process. A Lyft spokesman said about 5 percent of trips cur rent ly involve passengers manually updating the destination after the first drop off, which represents hundreds of thousands of rides each month.

T he feature is available only

with classic Lyft rides, Lyft Plus (which has larger vehicles) and Lyft Premier (which has highend vehicles). It is not available on Lyft Line, in which the company’s algorithm creates carpools by matching passengers headed in the same direction.

Los Angeles Times/TNS

Led Zeppelin loses fight for fees in ‘Stairway’ case

L

OS ANGELES—Led Zeppelin may have won the copyright war over its creation of “Stairway to Heaven,” but it lost its battle on Monday to recoup nearly $800,000 in defense fees. Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled that the band’s songwriters, record label and associated companies were not entitled to legal fees and other costs, because the copyright lawsuit against them was not frivolous.

$800K

The legal fees that Led Zeppelin wanted to recoup after winning a copyright war over its creation of “Stairway to Heaven”

A Los Angeles federal jury in June found that guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant did not lift the introduction of “Stairway” from an obscure instrumental written by the late Randy Wolfe, founder of the band Spirit.

The trust for Wolfe, better known as Randy California, claimed Page and Plant were familiar with his work and stole a riff from the short tune “Taurus” that repeats throughout the first two minutes of their 1971 classic rock anthem.

Wolfe’s trust had been seeking credit for the song and millions of dollars in damages. But jurors found the tunes were not similar enough for Led Zeppelin to have violated the 1968 copyright protection of “ Taurus.”

Attorneys for Led Zeppelin sought legal and other fees totaling $793,000 after insurance compa n ies rejec ted cover i ng such an old claim. They argued the lawsuit was f r ivolous, it was intended to shake down the rock stars for money and that awarding defense costs would deter future meritless copyright claims. K lausner rejected those arguments, saying he had found the lawsuit had enough merit to go to trial and there was no evidence the plaintiff “harbored nefarious motives.”

While Led Zeppelin demonstrated a need for compensation after winning and showed that the plaintiff’s attorney behaved badly, Klausner said it was at his discretion whether to award fees. He said the scales tilted more in favor of Wolfe’s trustee.

The judge, however, had strong words for plaintiff ’s attorney Francis Malofiy, who is currently serving a three-month suspension for serious misconduct in a copyright case over Usher’s “Bad Girl.” A Philadelphia appeals court recently upheld the sanction for ethics violations in that case. AP

Survey: Young Americans favor LGBT rights on adoption, more

W

ASHINGTON—Young people in America overwhelmingly support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights when it comes to policies on employment, health care and adoption, according to a new survey. The GenForward survey of Americans ages 18 to 30 found that support for those policies has increased over the past two years, especially among young whites. But relatively, few of these young adults consider rights for people who are LGBT to be among the top issues facing the country.

According to the findings, 92 percent of young adults support HIV and AIDs prevention, 90 percent support equal employment,

and 80 percent support LGBT adoption. Across racial and ethnic groups, broad majorities support training police on transgender issues, government support for organizations for LGBT youth and insurance coverage for transgender health issues.

GenForward is a survey by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of the country’s most diverse generation.

In the past two years, support

has increased from 69 percent to 84 percent among young whites for policies such as allowing gays and lesbians to legally adopt children. Support among this group for employment equality for LGBT individuals rose from 84 percent to 92 percent.

The poll also suggests support for allowing adoption by gays and lesbians has increased among Hispanics over the past two years, from 65 percent to 75 percent. Christie Cocklin, 27, a self-identified multiracial American from Providence, Rhode Island, says LGBT rights are just common sense.

“People who don’t identify as heterosexual are human like we

are, and should be entitled to the same kind of rights,” she said. “I have friends who are LGBT and I feel that it’s discrimination to not allow them adoption or employment or whatever.”

Young Asian-Americans, African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to support insurance coverage for transgender health issues, in general, than when certain specifics are mentioned.

Eighty-three percent of AsianA mericans support insurance coverage for transgender health issues, but only 63 percent say so when gender reassignment surgery and hormone treatments are specifically mentioned.

Similarly, support for insurance

coverage drops from 69 percent to 57 percent among African-Americans, and from 74 percent to 57 percent among Latinos. Sixty-two percent of young whites favored insurance coverage of transgender health issues regardless of whether that specifically included gender reassignment surgery and hormone treatments.

While young Americans favored LGBT rights on every issue in the poll, only 6 percent, including fewer than 1 in 10 across racial and ethnic backgrounds, consider the LGBT rights one of the top issues facing the country.

Among those who self-identified as LGBT, 17 percent said it is one of the country’s top issues. AP

news@businessmirror.com.ph

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Wednesday, August 10, 2016 A9

DTI, IdeaSpace launch the QBO Innovation Hub

T

Kathleen Joyce Bondoc

he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) and IdeaSpace Foundation, the leading early-stage technology incubator and accelerator in the Philippines, on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment and launch of the QBO Innovation Hub at the DTI International Building, Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue, Makati City, for startups and innovation entrepreneurs.

The hub aims to link innovators, explorers, investors, academic institutions, start-up mentors, funders and enablers, as well as a broad spectrum of partners and stakeholders from both public and private sectors, to convene in constructive interaction, and is the DTI’s support to the start-up community, particularly targeting start-ups with viable business propositions.

“This initiative is DTI-EMB’s way of providing relational form of assistance that boosts the climate of collaboration within the start-up community, private sector, academe and the government,” DTI-EMB Director Senen M. Perlada said.

In line with the Strategy No. 8 of the 2015-2017 Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP), which states the enhancement of the innovative capacity of the export sector through an efficient system of na-

tional innovation, QBO Innovation Hub will also serve as an avenue to urge more micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) to collaborate and explore opportunities that disruptive technologies can offer.

“We hope to open more opportunities for market access and capital, and mentorship for our start-ups, especially the growing number of young entrepreneurs,” Perlada added.

The QBO Innovation Hub is under the Negosyo Center Plus operating model, although it will be more selective and focus on more mature start-ups. As a flagship initiative of DTI to encourage entrepreneurship in the country, the over 250 Negosyo Centers across the country are equipped with materials and resource supports that will assist entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. As the

Trade, IdeaSpace launch innovation hub for local startups. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon M. Lopez (third from right) and IdeaSpace Chairman of the Board Manuel V. Pangilinan (third from left) led the signing of memorandum of understanding between DTI and IdeaSpace Foundation establishing QBO: Innovation Hub, a hub catering to the startup and innovation sector in the country. Also in photo (from left to right): Rene “Butch” Meily, QBO Innovation Hub Manager and Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation; Diane Eustaquio, Executive Director of IdeaSpace; Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado of DTI Industry Promotion Group and Senen M. Perlada, DTI Export Marketing Bureau Director. Little Wing Luna/DTI

agency adds more services catering to the needs of the start-up community, more centers under the Negosyo Center Plus model will start assisting those in the start-up and innovation sector.

“We hope that this is just the beginning of a larger initiative from public-private collaboration that will enhance our local entrepreneurs’ ability to network, to exchange ideas and to create and innovate products and services that could bring our Filipino brands in the global market,” Perlada urged.

“As a strong supporter of the start-up ecosystem in this country since we launched IdeaSpace a few years back, we are glad that many other players have emerged to help build and grow such startups. As the old saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child.

We note with appreciation that the government has shown a keen interest in collaborating with private-sector partners to help raise the Philippine start-up scene to global standards through the QBO Innovation Hub,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, head of IdeaSpace, PLDT and First Pacific.

“Our hope is that the hub will help spur the Philippine start-up ecosystem and trigger the spirit of innovation, risk-taking and creativity that will give birth to new companies, new jobs and wealth for entrepreneurs, their partners and their employees. We aim to be as inclusive as possible and to collaborate with both local and international business groups and funders to produce game-changing breakthroughs to rival businesses around the world,” said Rene Meily, who will be leading

the QBO Innovation Hub. Katrina R. Chan of IdeaSpace will serve as executive director of QBO. Meily also heads the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), a private-sector vehicle for disaster management that has become a role model for the United Nations’s Connecting Business Initiative and includes many of the country’s major corporations.

Aside from the DTI and IdeaSpace, the innovation hub was made possible with the support from the Department of Science and Technology and JP Morgan Foundation. It takes its cue from the rise of innovation districts around the world—the likes of Silicon Valley in the United States, Block 71 in Singapore and Tel Aviv, the center of “Start-up Nation” in Israel.

QBO Innovation Hub is a natural

Japanese companies visit PHL to set up joint ventures on food

By Gina G. Yap

Senior Trade and Industry Development Specialist

A

Japanese consortium, led by a 14-man team, arrived in the Philippines and made a courtesy call to Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez on July 29 at the Board of Investments (BOI) office.

An investment and trade briefing was conducted by Director Angelica Cayas of the BOI and Assistant Director Agnes Perpetua Legaspi of the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) for the visiting heads and officials of the Japanese group of companies.

The consortium is composed of major players in the food and storage industry in Japan and will partner with Philippine groups in Mindanao and Luzon as part of their food-material sourcing, processing, storage and export to Japan.

The Japanese consortium was headed by Naoyuki Ishikura, president and CEO of Nisshin Food Material Co. Ltd. Ishikura was joined by

Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez (left) shakes hands with Mr. Naoyuki Ishikura, president and CEO of Nisshin Food Material Co. Ltd., who led the Japanese consortium that visited the country recently for an investment and trade briefing. The Consortium, which plans to partner with Philippine groups, is composed of major players in the food and storage industry in Japan. With them is former Rep. Renato V. Diaz (right), now the chairman and president of RVD Management Services Inc. and Philippine Aquamarine Resources Inc., team leader of the Philippine group. alysa salen

top officials of Ajinomoto Co. Ltd., MC Food Specialties Co. Ltd., Marui Packaging Co. Ltd., Fukuyama Brewery, North Trade Japan and Yuasa Trading Co. Ltd.

Former Rep. Renato V. Diaz, now the chairman and president of RVD management services and Holding Co. Inc. and Philippine Aquamarine Resources Inc. (PARI), was also pres-

ent and led the Japanese consortium during the meeting.

Diaz said the Japanese consortium is willing to invest $500 million in the Philippines to set up facilities to export unagi (eel) and other seafoods to Japan. The PARI is the prime mover for joint-venture arrangements with the Japanese consortium to set up plants in General Santos and Davao (Mindanao); Clark Freeport in Pampanga; and Cagayan economic zone in Cagayan.

Initially, the focus will be on aquamarine products, which will involve a backward integration of the supply chain form fishing (deep sea and offshore) and aquaculture, both in freshwater and seawater. This will also involve the latest technology in processing, latest technology in storage and freezing (minus 70 degrees centigrade), cooking, packaging and shipping.

Fruits, such as mangoes, coconut, pineapple and bananas, will be the initial exports. Other agricultural products, such as vegetables, fruits and nuts, are also being developed.

PECP provides guidelines for trading companies to conduct correct export procedures

By Jae Denise Adolfo

Special to the BusinessMirror

T

HROUGH its initiative in reaching out to local exporters and traders, the Department of Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) welcomed representatives of trading companies on July 28 at its headquarters for a seminar about export services.

The seminar was conducted under the DTI-EMB’s Philippine Export Competitive Program (PECP) and has two sessions.

Speakers for the first session were Senior Trade and Industry Development Specialist (STIDS) of DTI-EMB Marilyn T. Gregorio, who discussed the guidelines of EMB services; and Trade and Industry Development Specialist of DTI-EMB Franclem Pena for the overview of export procedures.

STIDS for the Bureau of Internal Trade Relations of DTI-EMB Cheska C. Enriquez discussed the Asean freetrade agreements and the self-certification scheme, while Bureau of Customs (BOC) Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group Head Vincent C. Maronilla explained the accreditation process for certified exporters.

“For this seminar, we invite companies from the top 100 exporters in the Philippines because we are now doing targeted consultations, compared before when we went to different places and talked to chambers and business councils,” Enriquez told the BusinessMirror.

She added, “We have adjusted our way of reaching out to small companies. In the first seminar, we conducted using this new tack, we realized that we covered only a very small portion of small companies. We now invite more

companies for our seminars.”

The speakers made it easy for the attendees to understand the topics through examples and graphs, and consecutively answering the queries.

They also distributed important forms and materials with guidelines, for the exporters to understand more clearly the requirements in applying for different certificates and clearances needed for the export industry.

Participants to the seminar said reaching out to them is a big help for the exporters, as they can voice out their concerns, comments and suggestions on how to improve the government’s services—in making it easier and less expensive to import to other countries.

“The process for domestic application is faster than before. Because now, the Bureau of Customs is familiarizing the participants with procedures. The approval time was lessened to seven

days compared to over a month before for just the accreditation,” Enriquez said.

She said the required documents in applying for accreditation, certificates and clearance were also lessened. She added that the BOC is now reviewing its regulations in reducing the required criteria for exporters.

In addition, the exporters also share their experiences about trading in other countries and the problem they usually encounter, especially on the delay and the expenses they encounter.

For the next session, Enriquez said, “We will be handling and encouraging the micro, small and medium enterprises, and the small and medium enterprise champions to attend the seminar.”

The DTI-EMB’s seminar is held every second and last Thursday of the month at the DTI International Building, 375 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City.

progression in the efforts of IdeaSpace to help promote start-up technopreneurship in the country, aside from providing equity-free funding, incubation and acceleration through its national start-up competition held annually since 2012.

A nonprofit foundation, IdeaSpace is supported by the following companies: First Pacific, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., PLDT, Smart Communications, Meralco, Indofood, Philex Mining, Maynilad, MediaQuest and TV5.

During the event, the DTI also announced its plan of establishing a food innovation hub at the Philippine Trade Training Center later this year to strengthen its advocacy of advancing the innovation and entrepreneurship agenda.

The DTI noted that initiatives like this would support the realization of the Philippines’s ambition to be known as Asia’s trendsetter in export products and services.

For the past six months, the DTI had been active in tapping the private sector and academe to further enhance the innovative capacity of Filipino entrepreneurs and to encourage more investors in the start-up, innovation and creative-services sector. Several events such as SlingShot Philippines, carried out a series of dialogues to accelerate the development of the start-up and innovation ecosystem in the country.

Named after the iconic kubo, as it reflects the modern reimagination of the traditional Filipino home and community space, and developed, in partnership with the BBDO, creative agency, the DTI hopes that the QBO Innovation Hub will usher in a new breed of start-ups that will thrive in the innovation economy.

upcoming events Compiled by Louise Kaye G. Mendoza DTI-EMB Knowledge Processing Division

AUGUST 9

Event: Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA) for the Tourism Sector

Attended by Maria Teresa Loring, Albin Ganchero and Gina Verdeflor

Venue: Dinagat Island

AUGUST 10

Time: 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Event: DTI Innovation Circle Ideation and Prototyping Session Venue: Negosyo Center Plus: QBO Innovation Hub, DTI International

Building, 375 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City

AUGUST 10

Event: TID Updates Venue: Board of Investments, Industry and Investments Building, 385 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City

AUGUST 9-11

Event: Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA) for the Tourism Sector

Attended by Maria Teresa Loring, Albin Ganchero and Gina Verdeflor

Venue: Surigao del Norte

AUGUST 11

Time: 1:30 p.m.-3 p.m.

Event: Philippine Export Competitiveness Program

* Overview of EMB Services and Export Procedures * Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA) * Updates on Strategic Trade Management Act (STMA) Venue: Penthouse, DTI International Building, 375 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City

AUGUST 12

Time: 1:30 p.m.-3 p.m.

Event: ROG Briefing on the Innovation Hub and SEDP Venue: Negosyo Center Plus: QBO Innovation Hub, DTI International

Building, 375 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City

AUGUST 15

Time: 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Event: Training on Tradeline PH Statistical Component (internal) Venue: Philippine Trade Training Center, Pasay City

AUGUST 16

Time: 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Event: Training on Tradeline PH CMS (internal) Venue: Philippine Trade Training Center, Pasay City

AUGUST 18

Event: Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA) for Catapulting Businesses for the Global Market

Attended by Josephine Sabas, Ingrid Javalera and AD Agnes Legaspi Venue: Cagayan de Oro City

A10 Wednesday, August 10, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

South Africa votes for change

S

outh Africa’s voters have long had plenty to complain about. In municipal elections last week, they gave voice to their grievances. In what amounted to a referendum on the national government’s performance, they called for change.

Big wins by opposition parties in key municipalities could, with luck, push South Africa’s democracy away from racialism and outdated revolutionary rhetoric toward the overdue basics of good government.

To be sure, the ruling African National Congress still commands the loyalty of most South Africans: It won 54 percent of the overall vote. But its total slipped below 60 percent for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.

And it has lost support in urban centers. The opposition Democratic Alliance—crudely slurred by the government as the party of whites—attracted enough ANC defectors to become the biggest party in three cities, including Port Elizabeth and Pretoria, the seat of the executive branch.

Voters have reason to be unhappy. South Africa’s economy won’t grow this year. Unemployment has risen to 27 percent. The proportion of people living in poverty has fallen since the days of apartheid, but massive inequality remains. White households still earn more than five times as much as black ones.

Since taking office in 2009, President Jacob Zuma has plumbed the depths of scandal, injustice and incompetence—misappropriating taxpayer money to upgrade his country estate; favoring friends and family with contracts, mishandling violent strikes and protests; flouting international law and South Africa’s constitution; and roiling markets with his erratic decision-making.

Zuma overcame an impeachment vote in April, but seems unlikely to step down before his term ends in 2019. Yet, critics within the ANC increasingly recognize that to avert worse losses in the next general election, the party must focus more on helping the country and less on helping itself at the country’s expense. A critical test for both the ANC and the opposition will come with this October’s appointment of a new public protector, whose job it is to investigate any improprieties in government.

A more immediate task is to stave off a downgrade of the country’s credit rating to junk status. Public debt, as a percentage of GDP, has nearly doubled since 2008. Public-sector salaries eat up almost half of tax revenue, which could, otherwise, go toward badly needed infrastructure.

South Africa also needs to spur private investment and growth by improving its competitiveness. On that measure, it has fallen way behind: Between 2008 and 2016, its ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index sank almost 40 places. Bloomberg Editorial

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The importance of updating SSS employer records Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security

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ime and again, Social Security System (SSS) members are reminded to update their personal records with the SSS, to avoid delays in the processing of their current and future benefits. This is an obligation that holds true not only for individual members, but also for employers or company members who are bound by law to provide social protection to their employees.

One way to ensure their employees get their SSS on time, employers have to maintain and update their corporate records with the SSS. By submitting the appropriate form and documents required, employers can avoid potential problems in the future, both for their companies and their employees.

Employers should know that there is only one form used for any changes in their data. The Employer Data Change Request form, which must be filled out in two copies without erasures and alterations, applies to all requests for amendments, ranging from changes in business name, legal personality or nature of business, business address and ownership, among others. This can be secured from any SSS Branch or downloaded from the SSS web site.

The Employer Data Change Request form should be duly signed by the required signatories and supported by the original or certified

true copy of appropriate documents, and duly notarized, except if it is for a change or addition of address, e-mail address and telephone or fax numbers, before submission to the SSS for processing.

The following are the signatories for the following types of businesses: for single proprietorship businesses, the owner; for partnerships, the managing partner; for corporations, the president, general manager or corporate secretary; for a foreign-owned corporation, the designated Philippine representative as shown in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration or the head of the corporation or company; and for cooperatives, the chairman or corporate secretary.

Below are the required documents that the employer needs submit for every requested change: For change of business name or legal personality or nature of business:

n Certificate of registration of business from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), or n Certificate of filing of articles or amended articles of partnership/ incorporation/cooperation from the DTI/the SEC/Cooperative Development Authority.

For change of business address—proof of billing or in its absence: n Deed of sale of property/lease contract. n Barangay certificate evidencing transfer to the new address For change of name of owner/ managing partner/president/ chairman—any of the following documents, whichever is applicable: n Deed of sale/assignment duly signed by concerned parties with the new owner’s DTI registration or business license n Deed of donation n General information sheet duly received by the SEC n Minutes of general assembly (for cooperatives) For change of date of coverage: n SS Forms R-1/R-1A (superseding initial submission) n Affidavit of employee/s attesting to the actual date of his/their employment, if still employed with the employer n Certification from the municipal/city treasurer’s office or the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) For temporary suspension: n Notification of suspension of operation duly received by the BIR within the prescribed period

China isn’t a threat to world order

A

By Zhu Feng | Bloomberg View

bit of China-bashing is inevitable in any US election year.

Over the past month, though, after China roundly dismissed an arbitration ruling that rejected its claims in the South China Sea, a chorus of voices has angrily denounced the country as an international outlaw. Western pundits have likened China’s reaction to imperial Japan’s decision to quit the League of Nations, which eventually led to war in Asia, or even to Hitler’s trampling of the global order.

This is pure, unwarranted hyperbole. And it’s no more helpful than eruptions from Chinese right-wingers, who see the ruling as part of a conspiracy to hem in their country’s rise. If the West wants to change China’s attitude, it also needs to reexamine its own.

In reality, China’s objections to the tribunal established at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague hardly constitute an earth-shattering rejection of the global order. The tribunal judges may have rebuffed China’s argument that the case brought by the Philippines involved sovereignty issues, and hence, fell outside their jurisdiction. But it’s not crazy to think that, at least, part of the Philippines’s motivation was to improve

its sovereignty claims over parts of the South China Sea. Nor is China’s rejection of the tribunal’s final ruling unprecedented. Both the UK and Russia have ignored similar awards that they didn’t like. And the US doesn’t exactly boast a strong record of adhering to international rules. It still hasn’t ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and it simply rejected the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice when it ruled against the US in a case brought

by Nicaragua in the 1980s. More recently, of course, the US launched its 2003 invasion of Iraq without any international authorization, then proceeded to abuse prisoners of war at Abu Ghraib against

commonly accepted rules of war. Rather than branding the US a rogue nation, China has actively participated in reconstructing Iraq and done what it could to help stabilize the country.

China’s critics are right about one thing: The country has benefited greatly from the rules-based order in place since the end of World War II—and indeed, from the US security presence in the Pacific, which has given China the space to concentrate on its economic development. Why would it want to overturn that order wholesale? Its respect for other global rules and institutions—since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China won 21 of the 36 WTO arbitration cases it’s brought—should be obvious by now.

At the same time, China is clearly groping for a way to integrate into the current global order while also being accorded the respect and influence it feels it deserves. Frictions are inevitable. That doesn’t mean each is an attack on the preexisting system, or part of some master plan to overturn it and place China at the head of a new one. It does mean that the system itself needs to be open to evolving, instead of being treated as

n Audited Financial Statements and income-tax return showing nonoperation/no earnings for the applicable period/s filed with the SEC or the BIR within the prescribed period n Board Resolution approving the suspension of business operation adopted within the prescribed period and duly acknowledged/received by regulatory agencies (e.g., the BIR, the SEC, etc.) n Employment report (SS Form R-1A) n Certification from the fire department/concerned unit of the municipality/city, in case of destruction of corporate facilities due to fire/ fortuitous event n Notice of Strike duly received by the Department of Labor and Employment with a certification that there was no operation/employees during the strike n Lease contract/joint affidavit of termination of lease contract n Certificate of nonrenewal of business license from the municipal/ city treasurer’s office It always makes good business sense to comply with the law and update corporate records with the SSS at all times!

For more details on SSS programs, members can drop by the nearest SSS branch, visit the SSS web site (www.sss.gov.ph), or contact the SSS call center at 920-6446 to 55, which accepts calls from 7 a.m. on Monday all the way to 7 a.m. on Saturday.

Susie G. Bugante is the vice president for public affairs and special events of the SSS. Send comments about this column to susiebugante.bmirror@gmail.com.

an inviolate structure that can’t possibly be questioned.

Judging China by whether it implements the award 100 percent, immediately, is, therefore, neither fair nor wise. The tribunal’s ruling is a genuine setback, both legally and diplomatically, and China can’t be expected to give up all its claims overnight. Instead, the goal should be to create space so that China can gradually and gracefully conform to the ruling over time, through a process of developing new norms in maritime Asia.

The priority for now should be to ease tensions and find a set of rules upon which everyone in the region can agree.

Fortunately, this realization seems to be sinking in, with the US encouraging talks between the Philippines and China, and refraining from conducting more provocative naval operations near islands controlled by China. Such talks should proceed without preconditions on either side: China can’t be expected to accept the ruling first, nor the Philippines to abandon it. Instead, the two sides should concentrate on less-controversial issues, such as fishing rights and infrastructure development, just so they can start talking again.

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Opinion

Manuel Gotianuy

Immunity

BusinessMirror

Atty. Dennis B. Funa

Teddy Locsin Jr.

INSURANCE FORUM

M

anuel Gotianuy, together with Jose Leyson and Lim Bonfing, founded Union Surety and Insurance Corp. on July 14, 1931. A month later, it would be renamed Visayan Surety & Insurance Corp. It is, as of 2016, an 85-year-old nonlifeinsurance company. Leyson was later executed by the Japanese Imperial Army; his remains were never found.

Manuel was born in 1888. His father was the equally renowned business leader Pedro Lee Singson Gotiaoco, who founded Gotiaoco Hermanos Inc. together with his brother Go Quiao Co. Gotiaoco Hermanos engaged in the trade of abaca, rice and copra. Manuel married Alicia Wong in 1911. In 1918 Manuel founded the Cebu Shipyard and Engineering Works. When his father Pedro passed away in 1921, Manuel found himself taking over the helm of the family business. In 1931 Manuel founded the Visayan Surety & Insurance as an affiliate of a Shanghai-based marine insurance company. He was the president of the Cebu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and was the richest businessman in the Visayas.

Perhaps more colorful was the life story of his father. Pedro Gotiaoco, or Go Bun Tiao, was born in Fujian, China, on June 30, 1856. A story goes that he was also the illegitimate father of Sergio Osmeña Sr., who was born on September 9, 1878, when Pedro was 22 years old. The mother was Juana Suico Osmeña. This story has remained unconfirmed. He was also the father of Doña Modesta Singson Gaisano from a third wife. Modesta would become the matriarch of the Sy-Gaisano family.

Pedro married Go Disy and produced three sons: Go Chiong Wei, Manuel Gotianuy and Kong-Uy Go. Go Chiong Wei would be John Gokongwei Sr.’s father. When Gokongwei Sr. died, Gokongwei Jr. was sent to Manuel Gotianuy who took charge of John Jr.’s education. According to John Jr.: “Then my dad died, and I lost all these [small businesses]. My family had become poor—poor enough to split my family. My mother and five siblings moved to China where the cost of living was lower. I was placed under the care of my granduncle Manuel Gotianuy, who put me through school. But just two years later, the war broke out, and even my Uncle Manuel could no longer see me through.”

Pedro allegedly traveled to the Philippines after accidentally shooting a cousin. He would become Cebu’s greatest philanthropist and largest taxpayer. Among his descendants would include the Gokongwei family.

John Gokongwei Jr. is Pedro’s patrilineal great-grandson. On June 26, 2010, the remains of Pedro were dug up from Fujian Province and re-buried at the Gokongwei family Mausoleum at Manila Memorial Park. John L. Gokongwei Jr. remarked during the occasion to writer Wilson Lee

Perhaps more colorful was the life story of his father. Pedro Gotiaoco, or Go Bun Tiao, was born in Fujian, China, on June 30, 1856. A story goes that he was also the illegitimate father of Sergio Osmeña Sr., who was born on September 9, 1878, when Pedro was 22 years old.

The mother was Juana Suico Osmeña. This story has remained unconfirmed.

Flores: “I hope our entire clan and my children will remember Gotiaoco and his legacy, his life struggle and traditional Confucian values, that we shall always honor his memory and give our respects to him.” His other descendants would include the Gotianuy clan, the Sy-Gaisano clan and the Gotianun clan. John Gokongwei and Andrew Gotianun (founder of the Filinvest Group of Companies) are distant cousins.

Pedro Gotiaoco was baptized into the Christian faith under the sponsorship of Don Mariano Singson, he later incorporated his sponsor’s name into his own. In 1914 Don Pedro would build the Gotiaoco building, now one of Cebu’s heralded landmarks. It was the first building in Cebu that had an elevator and an air-conditioning unit. It stands along M.C. Briones Avenue behind Cebu City Hall. He would pass away in 1921 in Quanzhou, Fujian, China, at the age of 64.

Going back to Manuel, one of Don Manuel’s son was Jose Go, also known as Jose “Joseph” W. Gotianuy, who was born on December 5, 1914, in Cebu City. Joseph finished his intermediate course at De La Salle College in Manila. He later worked as an insurance agent for Visayan Surety & Insurance. In 1949 he would be finally granted Filipino citizenship by naturalization before the Supreme Court after being opposed by the Anti-Chinese League of the Philippines (GR L-1563, August 30, 1949). He later became chairman of the Visayan Surety & Insurance.

He has recently passed away.

Another son, lawyer Augusto W. Go, is the founder and president of University of Cebu and chairman of Toyota Cebu City. He served as an appointed vice mayor of Cebu City in 1987. His only daughter Candice G. Gotianuy is currently a chancellor at the University of Cebu. A street in Cebu City near the Redemptorist Church is named after Don Manuel.

Don’t bash the Games

By Carl Lewis | TNS

T

here have been few moments in my life as memorable as competing in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The chance to represent my country was a distinct honor, as was being part of the community of the Olympics—an event with the rare power to unite the world in the common spirit of competition and athletic excellence.

The attention, hopes and energies of the global community uniquely fall into sync during the 17 days every two years, when the best athletes in the world gather to compete. It’s what makes the Olympic Games so special to so many.

As the 2016 Summer Games unfold in Rio de Janeiro, I fear the focus has been skewed too heavily on challenges facing the Games, rather

than on what they can accomplish.

Scandals, real and hyped, dominate what we’re hearing about the Olympics, sensationalized stories fueled by the 24-hour news cycle, social media and even geopolitics: the Zika virus, construction delays, athlete doping and bans. The shine of the Games is being lost.

It’s important and natural to discuss and debate how the Games are run, to investigate the successes and stumbles leading up to the opening ceremony, and the controversies that might follow. But a singular fixation on potential shortfalls and problems ignores what the modern Olympics is able to accomplish. The Games can suspend the troubles of the world, so people everywhere can come together, however briefly, to root for the underdog, the veteran athlete and their home team.

Free fire Continued from A1

S

uperbugs kill 700,000 people every year, lots more in the poor parts of the planet. In 10 years, more people will die from drug-resistant bugs than from cancer. Common medical procedures, like treating wounds, giving birth, or undergoing surgery, will be fatal. So all the more must inpatients pay up front.

Deadly bugs piggyback on less lethal drug-resistant bugs and take on their immunity to antibiotics like copycat killers.

They get around via the food

chain; more likely from organic than inorganic produce.

Why? Because nature is organic and this is nature’s way of telling humanity it is taking back the

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 A11

function of population control.

Superbugs also travel through the transport chain and by medical tourism. Oh, yes, the Holy Grail of hospital profits, medical tourism, is the gravy train to the graveyard. Foreigners come to you with money and their incurable and contagious infections.

But scientists say the answer is not just to rush forward with new antibiotics, but also to pull back from abusing antibiotics in humans and animals.

Every time I go on pilgrimage, starting with a 16-hour flight, I breathe in what everybody else is breathing out. I get sick. Even if I have nothing to pray for before boarding the plane, I do when I get there. I pray to be cured from whatever I caught onboard.

My wife won’t give me antibi-

otics, even when I am coughing up black phlegm. It is for my own good; I might develop immunity to antibiotics.

But, I am thinking, if I never develop immunity to antibiotics because I do not take them, what would be the point of that if I die from infection, anyway? Or is that the point?

The Germans have come to the rescue. The University of Tubingen has discovered that nose-dwelling bacteria, Staph-lo-co… anyway it’s found in boogers and it works even against the strongest pathogens. And it does not develop resistance in the strain of the bug it kills.

So next time you are surprised contemplatively picking your nose, an activity that conduces to a meditative mood, just say: I am cultivating immunity. Want some?

Road-transport policies still antipoor, antibusiness

‘Emperor’s new clothes?’ In fact, it is these decades-old transport-policy biases that is causing the traffic that no one seems to notice, just like the classic “Emperor’s New Clothes” story, whereby everyone was made to believe the emperor was wearing the best clothes crafted by the best tailors, but it had to take an innocent boy to puncture the veneer of truth over the zarzuela of pretensions when he shouted the emperor was not wearing any clothes.

Our emperor’s tailors here are our experts who ill-advise our leaders, including Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, into implementing policies that may appear sound from their perspective, but do not augur well for public transport and the riding public.

Recently, the utility vehicles (UV) Express vans and FX were banned from Edsa for allegedly contributing to traffic and that many are illegal colorums. This is grossly unfair when Uber and Grab taxis, containing fewer passengers, mostly one or two, are allowed on Edsa, while the UV Express carrying 10 to 18 passengers are banned.

Uber and Grab may provide a market niche, but this lopsided policy is antipoor. Only for fairness, why not ban Uber and Grab, as well, from Edsa and let them take the side streets as their passengers are willing to pay premium rates anyway.

Even experts can’t see problem? Even economists from the Philippine Institute of Development Studies can’t seem to see the

problem when they declared in their February 2, 2015, Business World article that “there are too many buses [12,595 buses] operating within Metro Manila run by 1,122 operators, a total contrast to only four bus consortiums plus the Metro Manila Transit Corp. in the 1970s.

They recommend that “the first necessary step is to limit the number of buses in franchised routes,” implicitly noting the proliferation of colorums in excess of passenger riding capacity. It is ironic that the same brand of economists recommended three decades back the liberalization of public transport that led to the proliferation of buses.

Their arguments are flawed on two counts. For one, they cannot be fixated on a static number of buses, as commuter demand is dynamic and relative. In fact, if motorists suddenly leave their cars and take the bus to help ease traffic, you will need more buses.

More important, what escapes their attention, which is causing the traffic, is the dominance of private cars, which only carry an average of 1.2 passengers per car, says a Department of Transportation and Communications study.

In contrast, buses carry as many as 60 seated passengers and maybe an additional 20 standing. This means one bus is equivalent to at least 50 to 60 cars of road space.

Again, Tugade was ill-advised in requiring “speed limiters” alone, when advanced technology now is the “Mobile Communication

Control System, which not only records speed, but captures moving locations, and costs only P500 per unit compared to speed limiter of P6,000 to P7,000, says my friend Dave Garcia.

Sense of the common. Why many “experts” do not often get it is because they see things from the comforts of their cars, and would, thus, tend to blame others than themselves for the traffic.

In contrast, commuters and public-transport leaders may not be articulate, but they see reality on the ground and have more common sense. Ronald Baraoidan, chairman of the National Jeepney Federation for Environmental Sustainable Transport, for instance, argues “why is there a moratorium on public transport, but none on cars.”

This means it is the cars, not the buses or the UV Express vehicles and vans, that is causing mainly the daily “Gordian-knot” of a traffic and P2.4 billion a day in increasing costs and opportunity losses, says a Japan International Cooperation Agency study. Sales of four-wheeled vehicles, mostly cars, hit 330,000 units in 2015 alone, with 60 percent likely registered in the National Capital Region , Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

So why penalize buses and the “FX-AUV” Express vehicles, which cater not to private individuals, but to the public. Perhaps, Tugade must not rely totally on his “ivory tower” experts, who are devoid of reality, but learn “common sense” directly from the people as Duterte does.

W hen gover nment cracked down on colorums, it caused many commuters stranded. Why not limit the number of cars and legalize all colorums to absorb the spillover effect.

Truck ban offers no real solution. As to truck bans, which penalize business as these constrict the volume flow of goods and services, thus affecting prices and supply availability, this should be overhauled. Getting rid of trucks during rush hours may help reduce

The athletes and their efforts on the track, at the pool and in the arena should come first. They should be what we are discussing and debating. Our expectations and our cheers for their efforts create a powerful and important force, in the stadiums and at home around the television. The roar of the crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the 1984 Olympic venue for track and field, is a sound, a feeling, I will never forget.

As spectators and fans, we shouldn’t be tearing down host countries but raising them up. The awesome task of hosting the Games is a true national investment in treasure, creativity and ambition.

Brazil’s critics overlook that the Rio Games will be historic by several measures—the first Olympic Games in South America, the

first time golfers will compete for Olympic medals in more than 100 years, and the first to see professional boxers in an Olympic ring.

The naysayers aren’t spotlighting Brazil’s much-anticipated chance to redeem itself in soccer, or China’s record-setting opportunity in diving, or whether Jamaican Usain Bolt will be unbeatable—again— on the track.

The attacks are not new and aren’t limited to Rio. Japan is already facing domestic criticism and media scrutiny as Tokyo prepares to host the 2020 Summer Games.

But athletes and fans have reason to be hopeful about the future of the Games, especially when you consider the Olympic histories of Tokyo and of Los Angeles, which is bidding for the 2024 Games.

Tokyo in 1964 became the first

city in Asia to host the Games. The event represented Japan’s return to the world stage as a peaceful and prospering country following World War II. And, in spite of ambitious Olympic infrastructure development in the form of highways and the introduction of Japan’s now-famous bullet trains, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics are also considered to have been the most economical.

LA has a unique Olympic heritage. It hosted a successful Summer Games in 1932 despite the Great Depression, and again in 1984. In 1984 the city relied on private funding, the revenue from TV and other licenses and sponsorships, and the ingenious use of existing venues.

The Games were wildly popular and financially sound.

As in Tokyo, LA’s bet paid off in the long run. Even today, both

Michael Makabenta Alunan

on the contrary

T

he government’s road-transport policies remain antipoor and even antibusiness, owing to the bias in favor of private cars over public transport, and the restrictions on the flow goods of business through the truck bans.

traffic, but do not really solve traffic as they tend to buildup massively, and start rushing in mass once the bans are lifted. Imagine, there are over 400,000 registered trucks nationwide, a bulk of which pass through Metro Manila. How other countries solve this problem is to program trucking 24 hours of the day to spread out the volume. Time slots may be drawn for fairness.

A pricing mechanism can also be adopted, whereby fat incentives be granted to deliveries at night and extremely exorbitant fees for daytime deliveries. This same congestionpricing system can also be adopted for private cars.

Congestion pricing on cars. A similar congestion-pricing scheme can be adopted for cars, which can be captured through higher parking fees, the proceeds of which can be used for bigger mass-transit infrastructure, like Francis Yuseco’s Intel-track system. And because public roads were built by public funds from people’s money, priority must be given to public transport, not cars. The idea to sell cars only to those who have garages is also wrong as anyone has the right to own property. They may own cars, but have to park them in parking buildings that can emerge as new businesses.

Another temporary but innovative instant solution to the traffic monster is to require buses to remove their seats, except for a few for the elderly and disabled, so as to allow 50 percent to 80 percent more passenger volume, faster loading and unloading in the absence of narrow aisles, and faster turnovers.

Also encourage massive private shuttle services by companies, cooperatives, homeowners’ associations, which their car-owning members can patronize together by leaving their cars behind.

All the above measures can solve traffic immediately, while reversing the perception policies are antipoor and antibusiness.

Angelenos and American Olympic hopefuls continue to benefit from the surplus funds generated by the 1984 Los Angeles Games. That positive experience from 32 years ago represents a big part of what has made Los Angeles a finalist for 2024, and why its bid—again based on private funding and existing venues—enjoys 88-percent public support from Angelenos.

The potential for success in Rio, and for every Olympics, is being overtaken by Games-bashing. In hosting the Olympics, as in running track, there is always room for improvement. If the 2016 Games end as I hope they will—with the declaration, “The best Games ever,” it will be because they made things better by bringing the world together.

That is the enduring power of the Olympics.

E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com

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