“I’m trying to get back to my home and rescue my cat.”—Jack Miller, 60, to a police officer, who set up a roadblock in flooded Baton Rouge, Louisiana. AP
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“If we had controlled the oil like I said we should, we could have prevented the rise of ISIS in Iraq, both by cutting off a major source of funding and through the presence of US forces necessary to safeguard the oil and vital infrastructure products necessary for us to have the oil.”—Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who advocated seizing Iraq’s oil wealth in the aftermath of the US invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. AP
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Thursday, August 18, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 313
CPBRD SAYS EFFICIENCY, EQUITY SHOULD GUIDE CREATION OF STATES
House starts mirroring shift to federal system T By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
@joveemarie
he Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) of the House of Representatives has said the government should consider the topography, tradition and customs, ethnicity and income of every province in creating states under the proposed federal system of government. Continued on A2
INSIDE
Golden girl Sports
Sports
Biles ends historic olympics with 4th gold
GOLDEN GIRL
BusinessMirror
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| Thursday, augusT 18, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana
the United states’s simone Biles performs on the floor during the artistic gymnastics women’s apparatus finals. Biles won the event for her fourth gold medal in the rio games. AP
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By Will Graves The Associated Press
IO DE JANEIRO—Simone Biles starts each year by pulling out a notebook to write down her goals for the next 12 months. When 2016 dawned, for once she didn’t get too specific. Make the Olympic team. That’s it. Better to just leave things vague. Besides, who could have written this? Eight days. Five medals. Four of them gold. The last one draped over her neck following one final show-stopping floor exercise on Tuesday. Whether Biles will leave the games as the best gymnast of all time is up for debate, a topic she will happily leave to others. “I would never rank myself,” Biles said. “It’s weird.” She’d rather let her envelope-pushing performance at Rio Olympic Arena do the talking. Her final act was perhaps her greatest. On legs she joked felt like rocks, Biles put together 90 seconds of effortless joy. Her ceiling scraping tumbling and charismatic dancing—set to Brazilian-themed music designed for exactly this moment—ended with her bouncing off the mat before sprinting to the awaiting arms of longtime coach Aimee Boorman. The two embraced, their journey that began when Biles was 6 ending—at least for now—with history. Biles became the fifth female gymnast to win four golds at a single Olympic meet and the fourth to win them on the traditional events. Throw in the bronze Biles earned on balance beam on Monday and the 19-year-old will have a lengthy checklist when she gets to customs on her way home to Texas. “I think that she was really consistent, that was a big thing for her,” Boorman said. “That was the goal. Not to come in and win five golds but to show what she trained.” As for what comes next—besides the stardom that awaits back in the US—Biles is unsure. She’d like to go have a normal life for a bit, at least as normal as it can be when she gets back to suburban Houston. Turning one of the biggest sporting events in the world into your personal showcase has a way of changing things. “It’s kind of scary with this public eye being on me all the time,” Biles said. “It’s rewarding but I think we’ll get used to it.” If she needs advice, she doesn’t have to look far. All she has to do is ask good friend and “Final Five” teammate Aly Raisman. The 22-year-old team captain picked up her third medal in Brazil and sixth overall with silver on floor, a moment she wasn’t sure would arrive when she began her methodical comeback two years ago. “This time was harder than 2012, the training part of it,” Raisman said. “It was kind of hard to top [2012]. It’s nice that it was all worth it.” Raisman’s six medals are the second-most by an
American female gymnast at the Olympics. The nine medals the US women captured in Rio are the program’s most in an Olympic meet, a fitting sendoff for retiring national team coordinator Martha Karolyi. Husband Bela at her side in the stands, Karolyi fought back tears as the gymnasts she called “the Final Two” leave little doubt as to the widening canyon between the Americans and the rest of the world. Five days after going 1-2 in the all-around, Biles and Raisman did it again with their unparalleled floor routines that included some of the most difficult passes the sport has ever seen. “I’m so proud of these girls,” said Karolyi, who is stepping down later this month. “I’m going out very happy, very satisfied.” Whether Raisman is going to join Karolyi in retirement is uncertain. Raisman never thought anything could top London. Yet, there she was waving to the crowd on Tuesday afternoon, a gesture that doesn’t mean good-bye. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but for now Tokyo 2020 remains in play. “Maybe I’m getting better with age,” she said. For the first time in Rio, the US men’s team managed to keep pace with the women, thanks to Danell Leyva. A bronze medalist in the all-around in London, Leyva won silver on high bar and parallel bars within 90 minutes of each other. Heady territory considering Leyva only made the Olympic team after John Orozco went down with a knee injury last month. After finishing a disappointing fifth in team finals, the American men finished with three medals overall after Alex Naddour took bronze on pommel horse. “This was absolutely redemption, not only for me but for the team, as
well,” Leyva said. Men’s all-around silver medalist Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine took gold on parallel bars, followed by Leyva and David Belyavskiy of Russia. Fabian Hambuechen of Germany finally reached the top step of the podium in the Olympics by claiming the high bar title. A bronze medalist in Beijing and a silver medalist in London, Hambuechen’s score of 15.766 was clear of Leyva’s 15.500. Nile Wilson of Great Britain earned bronze. Ultimately, though, these games belonged to Biles, who planned to celebrate with pizza and some time off. After that, who knows? “It’s pretty insane what I’ve accomplished in my first Olympics,” she said. “I don’t know. It’s crazy.” Unforgettable too.
Olympic spirit lifted by 2 runners
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IO DE JANEIRO—New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin was lying on the track, dazed after a heavy fall and with her hopes of an Olympic medal seemingly over. Suddenly, there was a hand on her shoulder and a voice in her ear: “Get up. We have to finish this.” It was American Abbey D’Agostino, offering to help. “I was like, “Yup, yup, you’re right. This is the Olympic Games. We have to finish this,’” Hamblin said. It was a scene to warm the hearts of fans during a qualifying heat of the women’s 5,000 meters. Hamblin and D’Agostino set aside their own hopes of making the final to look out for a fellow competitor. It started when D’Agostino clipped Hamblin from behind and they both went sprawling with about 2,000 meters to go. Hamblin fell heavily on her right shoulder. D’Agostino got up, but Hamblin was just lying there. She
performances of Elaine Thompson (gold) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (bronze) in the women’s 100. Definitely motivational. “You see them go out and represent themselves, and represent their country, have fun—and they win. They harness medals,” McLeod said. “You want to do the same thing. It’s contagious. You want to feel how it feels. I felt how it feels.” So, could he turn into the Bolt of the hurdles. “We’ll see,” McLeod said. “The feeling is indescribable. I don’t know what’s going through my mind right now. I need to go back and just recite it a couple times, saying, ‘You’re an Olympic champion.’” To become a champion, he had to slow down a bit. That’s right, slow down.
See, he’s too fast for his own good sometimes, and was approaching the hurdles perhaps a little too quickly. He dialed it back a notch, worked on his timing and cadence and that led to a fast time—13.05 seconds, which was 0.12 seconds faster than Ortega. “I’ve learned to be patient,” said McLeod, who was sixth at the world championships last summer in Beijing. “I honestly played it safe for this. I was reserved a lot. All I needed to do, to be honest, was hurdle.” Ortega gave Spain its first medal in track and field since 2004. “I was just thinking, ‘Come on, go. Go finish,’” Ortega said. “I see the [big screen] TV and see my second place. I can’t believe this moment.”
appeared to be crying. Instead of running in pursuit of the others, D’Agostino crouched down and put her hand on the New Zealander’s shoulder, then under her arms to help her up, and softly urged her not to quit. “That girl is
the Olympic spirit right there,” Hamblin said of D’Agostino. “I’ve never met her before. Like I never met this girl before. And isn’t that just so amazing. Such an amazing woman.” As it turned out, D’Agostino probably needed more help: She soon realized she’d hurt her ankle in the fall. Grimacing, she refused to give up, though, running nearly half the race with the injury. Hamblin did what she could, hanging back with D’Agostino for a little while to return the favor and offer encouragement. “She helped me first. I tried to help her. She was pretty bad,” Hamblin said. She eventually had to leave D’Agostino behind and was certain that the American would have to stop. Nope. “I didn’t even realize she was still running. When I turned around at the finish line and she’s still running, I was like, wow,” Hamblin said. She waited for her new friend to cross the line— D’Agostino had been lapped—and they hugged. This time, it was D’Agostino who was in tears. As D’Agostino was about to be taken away in a wheelchair, she stretched out her right hand and the two runners gripped each other’s forearms for a few moments. In an Olympics that has seen a few unsavory incidents—the Egyptian judoka who refused to shake hands with his Israeli opponent, the booing of a French pole vaulter by the Brazilian crowd—Hamblin and D’Agostino provided a memory that captured the Olympic spirit. Olympic officials also decided that both runners, and Austria’s Jennifer Wenth, who was also affected by the collision, would have places in Friday’s final. “I’m never going to forget that moment,” Hamblin said. “When someone asks me what happened in Rio in 20 years’ time, that’s my story.... That girl shaking my shoulder, [saying] ‘come on, get up’.” AP
JAmAicA’s omar mcleod (center) wins the men’s 110-meter hurdles final ahead of dimitri Bascou (left) and pascal martinot-lagarde of France. AP
MCLEOD CAPTURES JAMAICA’S 1ST OLYMPIC TITLE IN 110 HURDLES R
IO DE JANEIRO—There’s one Jamaican who thinks he can beat Usain Bolt on the straightaway. A few minor details: Add 10 meters and 10 hurdles. Omar McLeod picked up a gold medal in the Olympic 110-meter hurdles on Tuesday night to add to his country’s haul in Rio de Janeiro. The 22-year-old topped Orlando Ortega of Spain and Dimitri Bascou of France for Jamaica’s first title in the event. Afterward, one question simply had to be asked: Could you beat Bolt if hurdles were added to the mix? “Yeah, I probably could then,” McLeod said, laughing. Add the hurdles to the growing list of things the tiny Caribbean Island is dominating. McLeod said he fed off the performances of Bolt in the 100, along with medal-winning
Sports He said it won’t take him long to get up to speed on the football field and that he’s already at his playing weight of 185 pounds (84 kilograms). But rest might be a good thing. “Jumping back in, it could work,” Allen said. “But maybe resting will make for a better athlete in the long run. Eventually, I’ll get back in there.” There were quite a few tumbles and falls in the hurdles on Tuesday. Like Haiti’s Jeffrey Julmis, who smacked into the first hurdle in a semifinal heat, tumbled over it and took the hurdle right along with him. Still, Julmis got back up and finished to a roar from the crowd. “It didn’t make sense to go down as a sore loser,” Julmis said. “The Olympic spirit—finish the race.” AP
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LOPEZ: PHL STILL KEEN ON JOINING U.S.-LED TPP By Catherine N. Pillas
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@c_pillas29
he Philippines remains interested in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is now looking into the feasibility of being part of the trade deal. DTI chief Ramon M. Lopez told the BusinessMirror that the country will continue to do its “due diligence” on the trade pact, even if the TPP hangs in the balance. “We have indicated our interest to join the TPP to be able to gain from trade opportunities in markets of other participating countries,” Lopez said. “We are studying the provisions and we’re making a feasibility study,” he added. T hou g h det a i l s of t he study were not disclosed, the DTI’s call for a status quo on foreign-trade policy is in line with the Duterte administration’s stance on maintaining the economic policies of the Aquino administration. Former DTI chiefs Gregory L. Domingo and Adrian S.
T SOLVING THE HOUSING RIDDLE Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo, the concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban
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The projected increase in exports shoud Manila join TPP
Cristobal Jr. were both vocal about the need to join the TPP so that the country would not miss out on foreign investments in manufacturing. The trade pact will remove 98 percent of remaining tariffs on trade in goods among TPP members, which will help Vietnam and Malaysia boost their exports to other TPP countries, notably the US—the world’s largest consumer market, as it accounts for around 30 percent of global consumption. Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Dr. Cielito F. Habito echoed the same sentiment in a recent forum, saying some companies in the Philippines are already eyeing to locate to Vietnam so they could enjoy duty-free access to the US market under the TPP. See “Lopez,” A2
Amid crackdown, miners urged to ‘walk the walk’
»
new Zealand’s nikki hamblin and the United states’s Abbey d’Agostino (left) after competing in a women’s 5,000-meter heat. AP
The top finisher for the Americans was Devon Allen, who wound up fifth. In a few days, Allen will be joining his University of Oregon football teammates on the practice field. The hurdler/wide receiver may take a few days off—it’s been a grueling track season—but he hopes to be ready for the season opener on September 3 against UC Davis. If not then, maybe Week 2 against Virginia or definitely for Week 3 in a showdown at Nebraska. “I’ll probably be the best-shaped athlete on the field right now,” Allen said, laughing. Allen had nine catches for 94 yards last season for the Ducks as he eased back into action after tearing a ligament in his right knee during the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2015.
rio olympics medal tally
1 United States 2 Great Britain 3 China 4 Russia 5 Germany 6 Italy 7 Netherlands 8 France 9 Australia 10 Japan 11 South Korea 12 Hungary 13 Spain 14 New Zealand 15 Brazil 16 Kenya 17 Canada 18 Croatia 19 Jamaica 20 Kazakhstan 21 North Korea 22 Cuba 23 Poland 61 Philippines
“They see the institution as racist, not the individual. Once you put on the uniform, you’re blue, and blue sees black as bad.”—Remy Cross, a criminologist at Webster University in Saint Louis, who believes that the race of police officers probably does not matter to many people in cities like Milwaukee. AP
Development Coordinating Council, delivers the keynote address at the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines-organized housing summit at the SMX Convention in Pasay City. According to Robredo, the country’s spending for housing was the lowest in Southeast Asia in the past six years. Story on A9. ALYSA SALEN
Govt eyeing ₧692.68-B six-year budget for 8 Luzon rail projects By Lorenz S. Marasigan
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@lorenzmarasigan
VER the course of President Duterte’s term, the government will likely invest more than half-a-trillion pesos to develop eight railway systems to build an integrated network of train lines that are envisioned to improve mobility in, out and around of Metro Manila and taper off the congestion that has been plaguing the capital for years now.
PESO exchange rates n US 46.3120
In a matter of six years the government and the private sector may spend close to P692.68 billion to develop several railway lines to address the need for efficient and modern mass-transport systems in Luzon. Tabled for implementation, according to Transportation Undersecretary for Rails Noel Eli B. Kintanar, are the following: Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1,2,4,5 and 6; Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 7; and the extension of the Philippine National Rail-
ways (PNR) to Clark and to Los Baños, Laguna. He admitted that such a list is a tall order, given that the Duterte administration only has six years to do this. But the official assured that these projects will see the light of day within the new government’s term. “It’s hard to say that the plan is viable. But what we do want to achieve is to get the process going regardless of what’s going to happen,” he said in a chance interview. See “Budget,” A2
oe the line. That’s the call from the mining association in the world’s biggest nickel- ore supplier, where members are facing a crackdown led by President Duterte, who said the Southeast Asian nation can live without the industry’s contribution entirely if need be. Members are being urged to “walk the walk” as far as environmental compliance is concerned, according to Ronald S. Recidoro, vice president for legal and policy at the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines. “As a professional association, that’s basically what we can do,” Recidoro said in an interview. Nickel has climbed after the n at ionw ide aud it bega n l a st month, with prices rallying to the highest in a year as some mines have been suspended. The interruptions to supply—as well as the potential for more dislocation—have boosted the bullish case for the metal, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS Group AG seeing scope for gains. Most of the cargoes from the Philippines, which accounts for about 20 percent of global mined supply, are sold to buyers in China to feed the
As a professional association, that’s basically what we can do.” —Recidoro
nation’s stainless-steel industry. “Pricing will depend on Chinese demand, especially given their slowing economy,” Recidoro said. “Prices will also depend on how buyers perceive the impact of the latest suspensions in the Philippines and the environment department’s decision not to issue any new permits.”
Price gains
Nickel traded at $10,205 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange at 3:51 p.m. in Singapore, after falling on Tuesday to the lowest close in five weeks as the Philippine Environment Agency said the checkup would be finished by the end of the month. Prices are still 16 percent higher in 2016, after sinking 42 percent last year. Continued on A2
n japan 0.4618 n UK 60.4186 n HK 5.9732 n CHINA 6.9887 n singapore 34.5689 n australia 35.6325 n EU 52.2399 n SAUDI arabia 12.3499
Source: BSP (17 August 2016 )
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A2 Thursday, August 18, 2016
House starts mirroring shift to federal system Continued from A1
The House leadership, meanwhile, has named the 12 deputy speakers that it sought to designate to simulate a scenario where the country has 12 federal states and test its political viability. Dr. Romulo Emmanuel M. Miral Jr., director general of the CPBRD, said efficiency and equity should be the primary concern of the government in clustering the provinces under the proposed new system. “The creation of states should be based on efficiency [including] ethnicity, tradition and culture, topography—like their mountains and seas—which somehow define their economic activities. We should also configure them based on the economic activities, which include trade or exchange of goods and services,” Miral said in an interview with the BusinessMirror. “The issues about poor and rich or the [economically selfsufficient areas] are different consideration,” he said. Miral said the government should design instruments that would address efficiency and equity separately.
“The efficiency and equity, they are not compatible, but you can actually address them both. But the best way is to design instruments that would address these two objectives separately. So if you want to promote efficiency, then you design a system that would promote efficiency, and if you want to design equity, then you design an instrument that would address equity,” he said. “The government should see these goals separately, then when they are not able to meet one of the objectives, at least they know what instrument is wrong,” he said. Miral said the CPBR D has started discussions with lawmakers on the shift to federal form of government, ahead of a study on federalism that it seeks to conduct soon. On Monday Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Congress is now considering the economic-viability combination of provinces in creating states. Meanwhile, the lower chamber has increased the number of its deputy speakers from five to at least 12 in preparation for the federal form of government.Rep.
Bai Sandra Sema of Maguindanao and Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez of North Cotabato completed the list of 12 deputy speakers that also includes Lakas Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Pampanga, Nacionalista Party Rep. Pia S. Cayetano of Taguig, PDP-Laban Rep. Gwendolyn F. Garcia of Cebu, PDPLaban Rep. Mylene Garcia-Albano of Davao City, Rep. Sharon S. Garin of AAMBIS-OWA party-list, Nacionalista Party Rep. Raneo E. Abu of Batangas, PDP-Laban Rep. Eric D. Singson of Ilocos Sur, National Unity Party Rep. Fredenil H. Castro of Capiz, Liberal Party Rep. Romero S. Quimbo of Marikina City and Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Mercedes K. Alvarez of Negros Occidental. According to House Majority Leader and Party-list Rep. Rodolfo C. Fariñas of PDP-Laban, the lower chamber is trying to divide and group themselves in harmony to the proposed federal states as a way of initially determining their political viability. “Since the thrust of the Duterte administration is into federalism, we look at the possible creation of
states under a federal system of government. So we came up with 12 [deputy speakers]. We will see, or, perhaps, we could try, if it’s viable here in the House. We will divide ourselves into 12 states to see everything,” Fariñas said. The leadership of the lower chamber is planning to change the country’s form of government from presidential to federal system via constituent assembly (Con-ass). “Initially, we will have 12 [like] states [from these 12 deputy speakers] under a federal system, among these states are Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Metro Manila or National Capital Region, Southern Tagalog and Bicol, with these we clearly divided the Luzon island,” he added. “In the Visayas there are three— western, eastern and central— while there are also three in Mindanao—western eastern and central, plus the Bangsamoro. So in total, we have 12 [like states],” Fariñas said. He said poor regions would not be independent states under the new proposed government. “We have to regroup them [regions] in such a way that there are rich and poor.”
Amid crackdown, miners urged to ‘walk the walk’ Continued from A1
Duterte, who took office on June 30, and Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez want to ensure that all mines comply with environmental and welfare standards, and so far eight nickel-ore mines have been suspended. UBS estimated that these accounted for about 10 percent of the country’s nickel output, or 2 percent of worldwide supply, according to an August 12 report. The future of the Philippine mining industry will depend on the audit, which will be fair and transparent, Leo L. Jasareno, en-
vironment undersecretary, told reporters in Manila on Wednesday. The Duterte administration has had a paradigm shift on mining, and the challenge for the industry is to show that it’s still relevant for development, Jasareno said, adding that stop orders against smallscale miners were being issued on a weekly basis.
Local processing
The chamber—which has more than 20 members, at least one of which, Berong Nickel Corp., has been suspended—is also raising concerns about a proposal to ban ore shipments entirely, in favor of
mandatory local processing. House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez backed the move in his inaugural address in July. “There is no problem with developing our industries but we need enormous capital,” said Nelia Halcon, executive vice president at the chamber. “I don’t think banning nickel-ore exports can be a step toward immediately building smelters and refineries. This has to be planned and programmed and there has to be a feasibility study that can be packaged and promoted to investors.” UBS has forecast nickel will rally, describing the metal as one
of its most-preferred commodities, amid projections for rising demand and a shift to global deficits. The impact of the Philippine crackdown may become apparent only next year should exports fail to pick back up after a seasonal lull, it said. Jinchuan Group, China’s biggest producer of the refined metal, is also bullish on nickel. Tightening global supplies because of the clampdown in the Philippines and rising demand from the stainless-steel industry in China will push prices higher, according to Chairman Yang Zhiqiang. Bloomberg News
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Budget. . .
Continued from A1
Kintanar also listed down the issues that his team will likely face. These are problems on project bidding, implementation and right-of-way acquisition. “The constraints are not in the construction, but the real challenge is on getting the contract tender right, and the acquisition of the right-of-way,” he said. Hence, his group is reviewing the aforesaid deals to determine which of them are most ripe for implementation. “We’re revisiting all the assumptions, making sure that contracts will work. We’re rushing them,” he said. “To revisit means to understand how we can do the projects as fast as possible. Some of the projects need work on how to do their tenders.” But initial indications suggest that the operations and maintenance deal for the LRT 2 might be on the government’s priority list for rails. This is being implemented under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program. “The first one in the pipe is the contract for the operations and maintenance of the LRT 2 and looking at expanding it to full PPP,” Kintanar said. Implementing the project as a “fully PPP,” he explained, means that the government will add the westward extension component to the deal. The said project aims to extend the line from its current end-station in Recto up to Pier 4 in the port area in Manila. “We will wrap the west extension, full rehab of trains, rehab of elevators and escalators to a whole project. We might also add a few more trains if we run from the eastward extension to the west. The fleet size will depend on the headway,” Kintanar said. Currently, the railway system is being extended to Masinag in Antipolo to the tune of P2.27 billion. It is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2017. Kintanar assured that the government will not only focus on the said project, but
will work in “parallel” to achieve its goal of building a network of railways in Metro Manila. Projects currently under different preconstruction are the LRT 1 Cavite Extension and the MRT 7. Light Rail Manila Corp., the concessionaire for the LRT 1 Cavite Extension, is still waiting for the delivery of the right-of-way for the whole line, which is envisioned to be an 11.7-kilometer extension from the present end point at Baclaran to the Niog area in Bacoor, Cavite. The P62.7-billion MRT 7 is currently awaiting the delivery of the remaining portions of easement before being constructed. It is also awaiting the final requirement of finalizing the location of the so-called common station in North Edsa. Also moving up its implementation phase is the LRT Line 6, a P65-billion railway system envisioned to run 19 km from Niyog, Bacoor, to Dasmariñas City in Cavite. Prequalification activities are scheduled in September. The P42.89-billion LRT 4, on the other hand, is at the conceptualization stage. It is a proposed 11-km rail line running west from the SM City in Taytay to the intersection of Ortigas Avenue and Edsa in Ortigas. LRT Line 5, or the P374.5-billion Mass Transit System Loop, is currently being revived as “there is demand for the service.” It was shelved by the previous administration due to issues on right-of-way. It is envisioned to connect the Bonifacio Global City, the Makati Central Business District and the Mall of Asia area in Pasay City under one circular line. As for the PNR extensions, which is under the North-South Railway Project, the transportation department is “currently reviewing” the contract. The previous administration has proposed to cut the two-phase deal into two different contracts instead of implementing them as one. “Railway development is not only limited to Manila. The President said he is looking at other major urban centers, to begin the program of mass transit there,” he said. President Duterte mentioned in his first State of the Nation Address his intentions to build railway systems in Davao, Cebu and Panay. The Philippines was the first country in the Asean to build an overhead mass-transit system more than three decades back. But despite this achievement, it is also one of the nations with the least number of train lines that run around the metropolis. Train lines are also not interconnected, making line transfer a hassle for the commuter, who also braces for long queues in stations due to undercapacity constraints. Data from the transportation department suggest that only 58.75 percent of the trains are running over the 79-km Metro Manila train network.
Lopez. . .
Continued from A1
Vietnam’s garments and textiles industry, in particular, is poised for further growth as investments have already began pouring into the country. However, Habito also pointed out that the 12-member trade deal has yet to be approved by the US Congress, and by their respective signatory governments. The approval process itself is seen to hit a roadblock, as both the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees have expressed aversion to the TPP. Citing a study by the University of the Philippines’s School of Economics, Habito said joining the TPP may increase local exports by 42 percent. Failure to join the TPP, he said, will allow Vietnam to lure in more investments and get more orders for textiles, garments and petroleum products. Currently, half of the Philippines exports go to countries that are signatories to the TPP, notably the US and Japan.
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Hope abounds for Manila’s main airport By Recto L. Mercene
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@rectomercene
Part One
IVIL Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla said there is an over concentration of air traffic in Manila, where 87 percent of all traffic is concentrated. “We’re studying ways and means to redistribut e t r a f f i c ,” h e s a i d , ARCILLA: “The adding that, “It doesn’t near-term mean we will curtail the solutions are growth of Manila, beexpected to cause Manila will continbring about ue to grow, but we have relief in the to make it sustainable.” congestion.” He noted that if going to Manila is inconvenient, “there’s no reason we should f ly to Manila.” Arcilla said there is a need to improve the travel experience in Manila. It will continue to grow, he said, but, at the same time, “we have to do something, in order to distribute economic activity and to support economic activity of outlying regions.” “We have an outstanding invitation for other airlines for some time now, everybody knows it, we have offered many incentives,” Arcilla said. “We continue to sweeten the pot to encourage the airlines, give them enticements, such as charging 50 percent less for charter flights, while Clark International Airport has offered reduced landing cost.” He said not to worry because near-term solutions are being addressed to allow the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) to increase its capacity “from 40 events per hour.” British company NATS is being asked to study the Naia congestion. The study should be finished this year and it is envisioned that NATS would be able to increase the 40 events per hour to 50 or 52 events per hour. Arcilla said the ultimate solution is a new airport, which is years away, “but the near-term solutions are expected to bring about relief in the congestion,” saying a new rapid-exit taxiway (RET) is being fast-tracked, including the installation of an Instrument Landing System (ILS) on Runway 13-13. The ILS guides pilot to safe landing even in bad weather, increasing runway capacity, Arcilla said. On the other hand, Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) Assistant General Manager for Operation Octavio F. Lina, an engineer, said a P340-million RET along Runway 06-24 starting at location “Echo” 2 to Echo 6 would be started this year and would be finished in 360 days once the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has released the money. “The money would come from the DPWH, but the Manila International Airport Authority will implement this project,” Lina said, adding that there would be two RETs involved. “One RET would serve those airplanes landing on Runway 06, while another would be for those airplanes landing on Runway 24.” He said there are existing RET on Runway 06-24, but these are for “small” aircraft, such as Boeing 737 or Airbus A-219. “The new RETs are for big airplanes,” he said, “such as A330, A340 or B777 and B787, or above.” Naia Terminal 3 Terminal Manager Ricardo L. Medalla Jr. told the BusinessMirror that the P452-million taxiway extension “November” on Runway 06-24, and taxiway “Charlie” on Runway 13-31, were inaugurated shortly before former Manager Jose Angel A. Honrado left office. The airport naming of taxiways and other spots on the runway are simply the phonetic equivalents of taxiways E, N and C, which is the alphabetical designations attached to several locations of taxiways extensions and crossings, Medalla said, adding that this is for easy communication between pilots and air-traffic controllers and for airport workers too. Medalla said the increase in the length of the taxiway along Runway 13-31 and activation of the RET on Runway 06-24, would do away with congestions that in the past forced aircraft to wait for as long as one hour. Travel taxiing time of the aircraft would also be lessened and wide-bodied aircraft has to wait for two to three minutes, instead of five minutes when pulling out of their parking berth at the Naia Terminal 3. Narrow-bodied aircraft, especially A320s, have to wait for about one-and-a-half minutes, instead of three minutes, avoiding the so-called hot spot near 13-31 and the taxiway Charlie, Medalla added. On the other hand, Arcilla said the activation of the CNS-ATM, the next-generation Communication and Air Traffic System, in 2017 would also add to the easing of congestion. Under this system, aircraft could be spaced closed together as much as 3-miles apart, unlike today, when separation is mandated at not less than 5 miles. Airplanes 3-miles away from the airport could touch down in one minute, while those at 5-miles away would take oneand-a-half minute to touch down. But Department of Tourism’s Robert Lim Joseph told the BusinessMirror during a recent interview the current crop of air-traffic controllers have to undergo new training. “The CNS-ATM is a new system and our air controllers have to train again to familiarize themselves, it
will take some time,” he added. On the other hand, Arcilla said: “Kaya nga kumukuha ng emergency powers para mabilisan na ang mga ‘yan [That is the reason emergency power is being requested, to speed up those projects].” Last month Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, speaking on radio, said the Filipino people are wasting so much time because of traffic congestion and the Philippine economy is losing P2.3 billion every day.
Tugade said the Philippines is also losing the trust and confidence of the international market because of traffic. “This is the reason a crisis exists in the republic,” he said in Filipino. “We need an extraordinary solution—special solutions for special powers.” Arcilla admits that the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. slots at the Naia have been filled up. The airport authorities have found out that peak
aircraft working hours at the Naia is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. of the same day. Most of the local airlines, such as Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, Airphil Express, AirAsia and Zest Air, usually depart at some provincial airports before sundown because those airports have no night operations. Since the flying hour to Manila from any point of Luzon is within two to three hours, these airplanes arrive at the premier airport at almost the same time, creating the congestion. To be concluded
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A4 Thursday, August 18, 2016
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Piñol eyes ‘time-deposit’ scheme to hike rice, corn farmers’ income By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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@arteliterary
he Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will partner with private firms to build grain silos to ensure the stability of the prices of rice and corn in the domestic market. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he is also keen on implementing a scheme that is similar to time-deposit accounts being offered by Philippine banks to increase famers’ income. “I will now make it my advocacy to invite rich friends to invest in grain silos to be established in key
production areas not only of corn, but also of rice,” Piñol said on his Facebook page. The privately owned silos would serve as a depository where farmers can store their produce while waiting for prices to peak, Piñol said. Farmers would still get a partial payment based on the current
market price of rice or corn. Farmers can go back to silo management and sell their produce when prices peak. They will then earn the difference between the partial payment and the final purchase price. “Say the price of corn at peak harvest would drop from P17 per kilogram to only P11,” Piñol said. “Under this scheme, the farmer could deposit his produce in the silos and get P11 per kilo, but he could come back later when the price would go up to say P17, and get the difference between P11 and P17 per kilo.” Piñol said a farmer who produces 4 metric tons of corn can earn an additional P20,000 even if he pays P1-per-kg storage fee for a period
of not more than six months. “This system would also ensure a steady supply of corn for the endusers, especially feed millers, who also have to suffer from the fluctuating price of corn every year,” Piñol said, adding that he came up with the scheme after corn farmers in North Cotabato complained about the drop in prices in the region. According to Piñol, the price of corn in North Cotobato slid to P11 per kg of corn on Tuesday, from P17 per kg. He said traders have stopped buying corn as their warehouses can no longer accommodate the additional volume. “A poor farmer literally had to beg for the trader’s kindness to buy his product even at a low price and simply because he could not keep
I will now make it my advocacy to invite rich friends to invest in grain silos to be established in key production areas not only of corn, but also of rice.”—Piñol his corn in his farmhouse for over one month,” Piñol said. He also said he has sought the help of his friends from the private sector to prevent farmers from incurring more losses. “A huge corporation is willing to absorb at thousands of metric tons a month starting immediately at a price which is definitely better than the cruel P11 per kg
being offered by the local traders,” he said. “Starting next week, the buying operations for corn with 14percent moisture content will start in several buying stations all over the province. This effort is expected to stabilize the price of corn not only in North Cotabato, but also in Central Mindanao,” Piñol added.
Luzon power supply seen tightening as 12 plants go offline from Aug-Oct By Lenie Lectura
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@llectura
ower supply in Luzon will be adversely affected when 12 power plants with total capacity of 4,004 megawatts (MW) will go offline for a specified period anytime this month up to October this year. The 12 generating units that will go offline on scheduled maintenance are from six power plants: Ilijan, Santa Rita, San Lorenzo gas plants; Sual and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. (SLPGC) coal plants; and Kalayaan. The power-generating companies that own and operate these plants have advised the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) that they will implement maintenance work, which means these units will be shut down on certain days. A scheduled plant-maintenance shutdown is necessary to carry out unit inspections and maintenance activities. Based on latest data provided by industry stakeholders, the following units will go offline: Kalayaan 1 (180 MW), from August 14 to 18; Ilijan Block B (600 MW) on August 4 to September 4; Santa Rita module 20 (250 MW), from July 23 to August 26; SLPGC (150 MW), from July 12 to August 26; Ilijan (600 MW), from August 4 to 28; Santa Rita module 30 (250 MW), from August 27 to October 1; Sual 2 (600 MW), from August 22 to September 27; San Lorenzo module 60 (250 MW), from October 1 to 8; Sual 1 (600 MW), from October 1 to December 1; and San Lorenzo module 50 (250 MW), from October 3 to 10. There is no threat of inadequate power supply—at least in the areas being served by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco). The utility firm distributes electricity mainly in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite
and Rizal, as well as parts of Batangas, Laguna, Quezon and Pampanga. Meralco has over 5 million customers. “It seems that we are already off the hook. The forecast is good. It’s just that the maintenance schedule of some plants that were originally set during the election period had to be moved to a later schedule,” Meralco Spokesman Joe Zaldariaga said when asked if the latest list of plant maintenance schedules will hamper the power supply in its franchise area. The Meralco official was referring to the simultaneous shutdown of 20 power plants that were on maintenance, on forced outage and others operated on limited capacity, for the period of July 26 to August 5. On those days, NGCP issued yellow- and red-alert status due to insufficient power reserves. Of the 20 plants, eight went on forced outage, while 12 were on scheduled maintenance shutdown. This resulted in the loss of more than 4,000 MW of capacity. Some of these plants were originally scheduled to implement maintenance shutdown during election period, but were requested by the Department of Energy (DOE), during the time of former Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada, to move this after elections.
No to postponement
ENERGY Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said his office is no longer inclined to postpone maintenance schedules of the power plants, as some of these facilities “cannot stretch anymore their operating schedule.” “The DOE does not like to postpone any maintenance and we would like to follow strictly the schedule. And that is what we are going to see forward—that they are followed,” the energy chief said during a Senate committee hearing held on Tuesday. Separately, in a text message, Cusi said any alteration in the maintenance schedule could only worsen the power supply situation. “It’s in the past and I don’t like to comment on it,” he replied, when asked if rescheduling the maintenance of plants was a wrong move. “Postponing planned outage only complicates or compounds the problem,” he said. For Meralco’s part, company President Oscar S. Reyes, in an interview, said the rescheduling of power-plant maintenance was a “contributing factor” to the supply deficiency recently experienced in the Luzon grid. “No one wants a power interruption to happen. Besides the scheduled shutdown of these plants there were also the incidents of forced
outage,” he said. He believes that one of the reasons some plants experienced unscheduled shutdowns is because these are either not properly maintained or have moved their maintenance schedule to a later date. “If you keep on moving the maintenance schedule, then the risk of forced outage is going to be higher,” Reyes said. “The real key here is to have more power plants and to facilitate the construction of new plants, as well as the processing of permits, regulatory approvals, etc. That is the solution to all of these,” he added. For Aboitiz Power Corp., which operates 45 generation facilities, it commended NGCP for “doing a great job at scheduling when plants need to come on preventive maintenance.” The generating companies submit to NGCP the maintenance schedule of their plants so that the grid operator can review this to make sure that supply will not be put at risk. According to AboitizPower President Antonio Moraza, the recent tightness in supply experienced in the Luzon grid was also caused by unscheduled outages. “Machines can break down unexpectedly. Recently, several at the same time,” he said. He also noted that the scheduled maintenance was “placed at this time of the year because demand was lower and hydro plants can compensate.”
Recommendations
Cusi, during the hearing, presented the agency’s short- and long-term measures meant to prevent the recurrence of similar situations in the future. One of the short-term solutions is to facilitate the entry of new power plants. Cusi cited the issuance of certificate of compliance from the ERC to the 100-MW Avion gas plant, 450-MW San Gabriel gas plant, and the 82-MW Anda coal plant—with a total of 632-MW committed capacity. These plants are already ready for commercial operations. The Energy Regulatory Commission, Cusi added, must also resolve the dispute between Meralco and Millennium Energy Inc. “This will add at least 90 MW to the Luzon grid,” Cusi said. Other short-term measures include the streamlining of the process for granting permits and endorsements to generating companies; conduct of a technical audit; intensify the Interruptible Load Program and encourage participation beyond Meralco franchise areas; and review the reserve policy with NGCP and the distribution utilities. For the proposed long-term solutions, the DOE wants to revisit the protocols on planned maintenance schedule and add more power-generating capacity via a proposed 200-MW new gas plant that will be spearheaded by the Philippine National Oil Co. The DOE also wants NGCP to fast track the construction of new transmission-line projects, which include the integration of the Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao grids, and remove line congestions. The chair of the Senate Energy Committee, meanwhile, said the DOE needs to improve on a lot of things. “There’s a lot of room for improvement. For one, the DOE needs to improve its technical capability so that it would no longer outsource experts to conduct an audit in the power sector,” Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian said.
HOP, HOP, HOP
A commuter hops onto stones for a fee to avoid getting wet as heavy rains continue to inundate low-lying areas on Saturday in Manila. Heavy rains continue to dump in Metropolitan Manila and nearby provinces, forcing some residents to evacuate to higher grounds. AP
High food prices, fast population growth contribute to poverty incidence—Neda By Cai U. Ordinario
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@cuo_bm
illions of Filipinos remain poor because of high food prices, Luzon-centric development and the fast pace of population growth, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). Neda Director General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said that while the economy grew 43 percent, the country’s poverty incidence only declined by 2.3 percentage points between 2006 and 2015. “Clearly, economic growth was uneven. But the biggest criticism is that the benefits of economic growth have not been felt on the ground,” Pernia said. Pernia added that economic growth did not reach regions, such as the Cordillera Administrative Region, Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Rombon, Palawan) Eastern Visayas and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. He added that food prices, particularly rice, increased by almost 30 percent between 2009 and 2015. Former Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan said the high price of rice was one of the main reasons why the country’s poverty incidence rate in the first semester of 2015 increased to 26.3 percent. University of the Philippines School of Statistics Dean Dennis Mapa earlier explained that the poorest Filipinos are very sensitive to food prices. Mapa said this can be explained by the difference in the inflation felt by all households and the inflation experienced by the bottom 30 percent, or the poorest Filipinos. He explained that the weight of food in the basket of goods used for the computation of the inflation experienced by the poorest 30 percent is 70 percent, against 39 percent for all the households. “The significant increase in food prices, particularly of rice, also pushed up the poverty line by almost 30 percent over the last six years,” Pernia added. Pernia also said another factor that contributed to poverty is the country’s large population.
The significant increase in food prices, particularly of rice, also pushed up the poverty line by almost 30 percent over the last six years.”—Pernia This is the reason the Duterte administration aims to push the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) law. The RPRH Law is included in the Zero-plus-10 agenda of the Duterte administration. Pernia earlier said the RPRH law will enable couples, especially the poor, to have informed choices on the number and spacing of children they can properly care and provide for. Apart from increasing the budget, Pernia said the Duterte administration is also working on addressing the temporary restraining orders issued by the Supreme Court on RPRH-related programs. “The fast pace of population growth, with an additional 10 million Filipinos in just six years, also makes poverty reduction more challenging,” Pernia said. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed poverty incidence among Filipinos in the first semester of 2015 was estimated at 26.3 percent. During the same period in 2012, poverty incidence among Filipinos was recorded at 27.9 percent. On the other hand, subsistence incidence among Filipinos, or the proportion of Filipinos whose incomes fall below the food threshold, was estimated at 12.1 percent in the first semester of 2015. In the first half of 2012, the subsistence incidence among Filipinos is at 13.4 percent. Subsistence incidence is often referred to as the proportion of Filipinos in extreme or subsistence poverty.
Asean
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Logistics strengthens Asean’s global reach Asean-EU Perspective
HENRY J. SCHUMACHER
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N an archipelagic region that includes some 24,000 islands spread across 5,200 kilometers east to west and 3,400 km from north to south, Southeast Asia is defined by the sea. The maritime sector is crucial to Asean countries’ connectivity, with shipping services, ports, shipbuilding and seafaring core activities in vast parts of the region. For centuries the region has been a crossroad of global seaborne trade, a fact reflected in the scale of Asean’s maritime industries. Singapore is the fifth-largest register of shipping in the world, with some 3,339 vessels carrying that country’s flag with a total of almost 90 million tons. Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand operate some 8,233 seagoing merchant vessels. The Philippines ranks as the largest single supplier of manpower to the global shipping industry with an estimated 1.5 million Filipino seafarers, comprising one of the country’s largest sources of remittance earnings at some $4.8 billion a year. The Philippines is now looking at the “blue economy” and we are working on making the Philippines a center for businessprocess outsourcing for ships, too, with focus on ship management and crew management. Additionally, the Philippines is considering to become a register/Philippine flag country also. Recent decades have seen a growing focus on shipbuilding in the region, with Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines as major players. There are around 120 shipbuilding and repair facilities in the Philippines, and some 45,000 working in the industry. The country’s yards are capable of building a wide range of vessels up to 180,000 tons. The creation of the Asean Economic Community is based upon the free flow of goods and people. This, in turn, depends on the establishment of an efficient and integrated maritimetransport sector in the region. Possessing access to the world’s oceans is little advantage without modern ports, sound logistics and effective management of maritime facilities. There are many areas requiring improvement in order to promote a safe, modern, efficient and competitive shipping sector in the region. There are growing pressures to enhance port facilities, particularly container-handling capacities. Container ships carry an estimated 52 percent of global seaborne trade in terms of value. Modern container vessels are also increasing in size. In less than a decade container ships have almost doubled in size. Ships able to carry 18,400 containers have just entered service. Larger Asean ports have to address pressures on their existing container-handling capacity. The new management of the Philippine Department of Transportation is focusing on ports, looking at Batangas and Subic as alternatives to Manila, would like to see Cebu Port to improve and see three ports in Mindanao of importance: Cagayan de Oro, Davao and General Santos. It is a method of maritime connectivity, when accompanied by investment in roads and railways, which can stimulate a range of economic sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, by creating much larger markets for private enterprise. In archipelagic nations, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, maritime economic corridors are seen as having considerable domestic impact and are set to have an even wider influence as they begin increasingly to carry over maritime borders. The concept has already proved its worth in the Philippines, where the Asian Development Bank concluded that the approach and experience warrants serious consideration for the whole region. The advantages are that large up-front capital investment is not needed and an entire system can be built up gradually, including port facilities and road connections. Nautical highways have also revealed new markets for agriculture and fishing produce by making it viable to reach new areas in a cost-effective and timely way, reaching clients easily through roll-on, roll-off shipping networks.
Tin may extend gains as Myanmar ore output seen flat then down
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in, this year’s second-best performer among base metals, may extend gains as ore output from the No. 3 producer Myanmar is set to decline next year, according to the International Tin Research Institute (ITRI). The nation’s output this year may remain little changed around the 50,000 metric tons of contained metal mined in 2015 before falling in 2017 by as much as 5,000 tons due to the depletion in resources and drop in grades, according to Cui Lin, chief China representative of the institute, citing its estimate based on Myanmar’s exports to China, which accounted for the majority of its shipments. Tin slumped to the lowest level in more than six years in January, as Myanmar increased its production by more than tenfold in the three years to 2015, according to the ITRI. The metal, used mostly as solder for electrical circuits, has gained 25 percent this year on expectations for the biggest deficit in almost two decades. “Myanmar’s tin-ore industry faces a development bottleneck,” Cui said in a telephone interview from Beijing. “Their production costs are also rising as they move to underground from open-pit mining. That involves a lot of fixed-asset investment.” Bloomberg News
Editor: Max V. de Leon • Thursday, August 18, 2016 A5
Singapore export decline deepens as currency falls
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ingapore’s exports plunged the most in four months, as orders from China, Indonesia and the US dropped. The local currency fell as the report provided more evidence that the economy is slowing.
Nonoil domestic exports dropped 10.6 percent in July from a year earlier, worse than the median estimate of a 2.5-percent decline in a Bloomberg survey of 15 economists, a government report showed on Wednesday. That compares with a revised 2.4-percent decline in June. Singapore this month cut the top end of its 2016 growth forecast after the
Indonesian flees Filipino captors, ends up in fishnet
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n Indonesi an sailor escaped on Wednesday from his Abu Sayyaf abductors in the southern Philippines after they threatened to behead him, officials said. Sixteen other foreign hostages, including nine Indonesians, remain captives of the violent Muslim extremist group in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. Maj. Filemon Tan, a regional military spokesman, said Mohammad Sayfan, 28, escaped in a mangrove area in Sulu province after he was threatened with beheading. He was rescued by local residents who found him floating and trapped in fishnets along the shoreline. Sayfan was one of seven crew members abducted from a tugboat near the Philippine border in June. Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed in May to carry out coordinated patrols. The three are concerned the kidnappings, piracy and other crime could undermine commerce in the region. A total of 24 Indonesian have been kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf this year, highlighting weak security in the Celebes Sea that borders Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Ten of the hostages were freed after ransoms were reportedly paid. The Philippines says it has stepped up a military offensive against the militants, who earlier this year beheaded two Canadians it had held since September. Tan said that besides the Indonesians, five Malaysians, one Norwegian, a Dutchman and at least five Filipino hostages are still in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf. AP
economy expanded less than previously estimated in the second quarter. The island nation, a financial center and major trading hub, said the world’s prospects have weakened since May, with the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union adding uncertainties and China’s economy at risk from a potential spike in debt defaults.
10.6% The drop in Singapore’s nonoil exports in July
Still, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) signaled it’s not ready for a second round of easing after an unexpected move in April, saying on August 11 the “current stance of monetary policy remains appropriate” even as additional downside risks in the global economy remain. “I’d thought the MAS would stay
on hold in October, but the risk of a downward recentering is rising, considering the GDP forecast revision last week, weakness in exports and sluggish consumption,” said Hirofumi Suzuki, an economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. “The Singapore dollar is still strong and continues to hit exports.” T he Singapore dol l ar fel l as much as 0.13 percent to S$1.3418 against its US counterpart after the report, set for its first decline in three days. Electronics shipments contracted 12.9 percent in July from a year earlier, while petrochemical exports fell 35 percent. Sales to China slid 17 percent, those to the US declined 19 percent and shipments to Indonesia plunged 23 percent. Bloomberg News
TheBroa
Business
A6 Thursday, August 18, 2016
PHL-China trade stable By Catherine N. Pillas
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c_pillas29
N business there are no temporary enemies, only permanent interests. That may apply to trade between countries—a dictum tested between the Republic of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China.
According to a May 2015 study of the United States-China Economic and Security Review, China consistently appears among the top 5 trading partners of each of the Asean countries. Menon said he expects this pace of trade to continue “irrespective of any slowdown in China because the final demand is outside the region.” “I don’t think this kind of trade will be affected by economic and political factors,” he said.
Ramos link
PROC consisting largely of electronic components. Even if the Hague ruling has been forecast by analysts as cause for an even deeper rift, Menon sees that there is enough mutual economic benefit to keep trade relations on an even keel. T h is was ev idenced by t he proposa l to rest a r t t he C h inaPh i l ippi nes Joi nt Economic a nd Trade Comm it tee du r ing t he 4 8t h A sea n Econom ic Ministers’ Meeting in LaoPDR . A ccord i n g to C h i n a ne w s agency Xinhua, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) chief Ramon M. Lopez met with Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng this month, where talks to revive the joint consultation mechanism were initiated. The DTI also participated in the China-Asean Workshop on E-commerce last July in Beijing, China. According to a news statement from the Office of the President, this workshop was organized by the Department of International Cooperation-Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the PROC. The three-day workshop was attended by Asean member-states ,which include the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The present administration’s friendlier stance with the PROC is seen to mitigate the rising tension between the countries that was at its peak during the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III.
TENSIONS may have eased as Mr. Duterte sent to China former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos to begin talks with the Asian economic giant. The Associated Press (AP) reported that Ramos on Friday, said China has welcomed him to visit Beijing for discussions in the wake of last month’s international arbitration panel’s ruling in favor of the Philippines over China’s South China Sea maritime claims. Ramos said in a statement that he met in Hong Kong with the Chinese legislature’s foreign affairs chief Fu Ying and a leading government-backed scholar on the dispute, and agreed on t he need to reduce tensions through talks. Ramos “expressed the Philippine government’s desire to hold formal discussions, with the Chinese government on issues of mutual concern and interest at the appropriate time to explore pathways to peace and cooperation,” a statement said. However, Ramos told reporters at a br ief news conference that the r u ling had not been d i re c t ly d i sc u sse d a nd g ave no indication of when the Beijing ta lks might be held and sug gested another negotiator might ta ke his place. The July 12 ruling by the panel in The Hague, the Netherlands, ruled China’s maritime claims had no basis in international law. R amos said there wou ld be ample oppor tunities for ta lks bet ween the t wo gover nments at a ser ies of upcoming internationa l gather ings. Mr. Duterte has also been reported by the AP as saying he is adopting a softer approach in resolving the long-simmering disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea. “We’re not in a hurry to wage war; we’re in a hurry to talk.”
Asean-China
Balancing act
Philippines’s trade with China Year 2012 2013 2014 1st Semester 2015
Total trade (in billions of $ US) $12.85 billion $15.09 billion $18.33 billion $7.812 billion
Share of total trade 13% 12.7% 14.3% 13.1%
PSA data
Indeed, two issues continue to cast a shadow on diplomatic relations between the Philippines and China: the latter’s aggressiveness over disputed waters and links of Chinese nationals in the illegal-drug trade. Nonetheless, trade f lows between the two countries are seen to remain unaffected as China’s economic prowess in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region still makes it a crucial trading partner. In fact, President Rodr igo Roa Duter te said in a speech on Wed nesd ay welcomed investments from countr ies like China. T he Chief Executive’s statement is a nod to the “attractive silence” strateg y after the Philippines emerged v ictor ious in a lega l batt le the prev ious administration waged at the United Nations. That lawsuit at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) marked the transition in Philippine politics in the first half of the year. That period proved the most tumultuous period in the two nations’ row over the South China Sea, culminating in the PCA’s arbitral award favoring the Philippines. While that added fresh fuel to the fire, remained silent on the trade front. According to Jayant Menon, the absence of noise in the trade between China and the Philippines is expected. Menon, lead economist for trade and regional cooperation at the Asian Development Bank, underscored the absence of any move by China to impose trade sanctions as a solid reassurance. “I don’t think that the diplomatic issues are affecting trade yet, because there’s no trade war,” Menon told the BusinessMirror. “W hat we’re actually seeing is that China continues to be an important trading partner not just for the Philippines, but for the region as a whole.”
Growing trade
DATA gathered from the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that bilateral trade in goods has gradually been increasing between the two countries even after 2013, when the Philippine formally filed a complaint against China before an international tribunal at The Hague in the Netherlands. The PROC has risen from being the Philippines’s third top trading partner to the second spot, in merchandise trade, in 2014. Based on the same data, the Philippines has had a growing trade deficit with China—signalling an increasing trade dependency— in the period covered, with both imports from and exports to the
ASEAN-China trade exhibits a similar trend: the PROC stands as the second top trading partner of the bloc as it has been for a decade, with total trade value surpassed only by intra-Asean trade. Data from the Asean showed that China’s share of Asean’s trade has been gradually climbing: from an 11.7-percent share in 2011 to 15.2 percent in 2015. T his comes as no sur pr ise as China remains to be a manufactur ing powerhouse in the region, positioning itself firmly in reg iona l production networks and ensur ing a steady f low of trade in inter mediate goods w ith A sean neighbors. “The thing with the Asean-China trade is that a lot of it is part of the regional supply chain of the global production network,” Menon said in an interview with the BusinessMirror. “These parts and components are being valueadded in the region, then finally being assembled in China to be exported to the rest of the world. It’s not real trade in actual goods, but in parts and components.”
BUT as much as Asean needs C hina to st imu l ate g row t h amidst a lingering slowdow n i n g loba l t r ade, t he world ’s second-big gest economy a lso needs its smaller neighbors in its endeavor to shape the economic order in the region: the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). T h e Pe o p l e ’s R e p u b l i c o f China should continue the balancing act between asserting its claim over the South China Sea and ameliorating trade ties with Asean if it hopes to push its economic agenda, the RCEP, to a successful conclusion. W h i le not h ing sig na ls t he h a lt to negot i at ion s on t he RCEP, wh ic h just w rapped up it s 14t h rou nd t h i s Aug u st , Menon s a id d iplom at ic ten sions in t he reg ion must not be a deter rent in rea l i zing t he f ree -t rade a rea (F TA). “If things take a sharp turn on the political front of course the economics will be affected but, hopefully, we can avoid that,” Menon said. “Right now, there’s
15.2% The percentage share of the People’s Republic of China in trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2015 (2013: 11.7 percent)
enough mutual benefit to pursue economic relations, and to allow the political issue to take its own course.” “I think China will realize that Asean needs to be a strong partner in the world,” he added. “It will realize the strong relationship in Asean is worth preserving.”
TPP survival
THE opportunity to move the RCEP forward couldn’t come at a more favorable time for China as the fate of the US-led rival trade deal, in the form of the TPP, has come under a cloud of uncertainty. The approval of the TPP is now in the hands of the US Cong ress, c u r rent ly preocc upied with the run-up to November’s US presidential elections. Moreover, the issue of the AsiaPacific trade deal has been a hotbutton issue during the campaign of the two leading presidential nominees. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have expressed anti-TPP rhetoric to curry favor with the voters. “Asean countries are keen to conclude the RCEP this year,” Menon pointed out. “The Philippines has stated the intention to join the TPP, but that lies with the US Congress, and given the highly politicized nature of the situation there, the TPP will have to survive [on its own] first.”
Largest FTA
ANALYSTS see RCEP as China’s attempt to carve out a sphere of economic influence in Asia, along with its “One Belt, One Road” strategy—both of which will require deeper cooperation with Asean neighbors, The RCEP’s significance cannot be understated: volumes of GDP (gross domestic product), trading and foreign investments of the 16 participant-states account for nearly one-third of the world’s total. It is currently the largest Asian FTA under negotiation. The RCEP will cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property, competition, legal and institutional matters, and other issues. In good s t rade, t he RCEP seeks to harmonize tariff schedules and rules of origin requirements for Asia’s expansive global supply chains. Projections by the ADB indicate that the RCEP provides global income benefits of about $260 billion. As talks on the RCEP progress, so must the amiable relations between and among countries in the region persist. Asean members have already impl ied its desire to rema in impar tia l fol low ing the Hag ue tribunal ’s final award favoring the Philippines on the South China Sea issue, this past Ju ly. A sean foreign ministers decided to leave out the issue in its joint statement. The Philippines dropped the request to include the UN court’s ruling on the joint communiqué, after Cambodia disagreed with the wording of the statement.
This August 17 photo shows a woman at a shop selling Chinese ornaments and charms in Binondo, popularly known as the Philippines’s Chinatown. Trade between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China, dating back to the early 14th century, remained stable amid the political noise from China’s aggressive activities in the West Philippine Sea. NONIE REYES
G-20 agenda
A N A P re p or t q uot e d a s e n ior C h i nese d iplom at a s s ay i ng t h at B e iji ng w a nt s ne x t mont h ’s meet i ng of leaders of t he Group of 20 (G -20) m ajor econom ies to avoid pol it ic a l i ssues suc h a s it s ter r itor i a l d i sputes w it h it s neighbors i n t he Sout h C h i n a Sea . Deputy Foreign Minister Li Baoding said China wants to avoid sensitive diplomatic issues at the September 4 and 5 summit that it is hosting in the eastern resort city Hangzhou.
T he consensus among members is to “ foc us on econom ic development a nd not be d ist racted by ot her pa r t ies,” Li s a i d o n Mo n ay w he n a s k e d about ter r itor i a l d isputes in t he Sout h C h ina Sea. “The Hangzhou summit must focus on economic issues,” Li added. “This is what people want to talk about most at the summit.” Li gave similar responses to questions about China’s opposition to South Korea’s deployment of a US missile defense system. A desire to avoid a showdown
aderLook
sMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, August 18, 2016
A7
e after UN court victory
at the G-20 summit was seen by some as moderating China’s response to the July 12 ruling by an international arbitration panel in The Hague, the Netherlands, that invalidated China’s maritime claims to virtually the entire South China Sea. However, speculation has also risen that China might make even more assertive moves after the meeting, including possibly launching reclamation projects in new areas or declaring an airdefense identification zone over the crucial waterbody.
PCA notes
THE Philippines is not the only country that has cried foul over China’s activity in the contested maritime areas. In the 501-page PCA Case 2013-19 document, the arbitral tribunal said it also received a request from Australia to observe the Hearing on the Merits. “As one of the original States Parties to [the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea], Australia has an abiding national interest in promoting the rule of law regionally and globally, including through the peaceful settlement
of disputes in accordance with international law,” page 22 of the document read. According to the tribunal, the Philippines did not object to the Australian request. The country’s issue with China dates back to the mid-15th century, the document revealed. “The Philippines also notes that, for periods of the 14th century and for much of the 15th and 16th centuries, the Imperial Chinese Government actively prohibited maritime trade by Chinese subjects.” China, however, has repeatedly asserted
its sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal. “According to China, its nationals have historically engaged in navigation and trade in the South China Sea and the activities of Chinese fishermen in residing, working and living among the Spratly Islands ‘are all manifestly recorded in Geng Lu Bu [Manual of Sea Routes], which was passed down from generation to generation among Chinese fishermen,’” the document said. With additional reporting from the Associated Press and Dennis D. Estopace
I don’t think that the diplomatic issues are affecting trade yet, because there’s no trade war. What we’re actually seeing is that China continues to be an important trading partner not just for the Philippines, but for the region as a whole.”—Menon
A8 Thursday, August 18, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion
The World BusinessMirror
news@businessmirror.com.ph
Turkey to free 38,000 prisoners, make space in jails for plotters
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NKARA, Turkey—Turkey issued a decree on Wednesday paving the way for the conditional release of 38,000 prisoners, the justice minister said—an apparent move to reduce its prison population to make space for thousands of people who have been arrested as part of an investigation into last month’s failed coup.
The decree allows the release of inmates who have two years or less to serve of their prison terms and makes convicts who have served half of their prison term eligible for parole. Some prisoners are excluded from the measures: people convicted of murder, domestic violence, sexual abuse or terrorism and other crimes against the state. The measures would not apply for crimes committed after July 1, excluding any people later convicted of coup involvement. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on his Twitter account the measure would lead to the release of some 38,000 people. He insisted it was not a pardon or an amnesty but a conditional release of prisoners. The government says the July 15 coup, which led to at least 270 deaths, was carried out by followers of the movement led by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen who have in-
filtrated the military and other state institutions. Gulen has denied any prior knowledge or involvement in the coup, but Turkey is demanding that the United States extradite him. The Turkish government declared a state of emergency and launched a massive crackdown on Gulen’s supporters in the aftermath of the coup. Some 35,000 people have been detained for questioning and more than 17,000 of them have been formally arrested to face trial, including soldiers, police, judges and journalists. Tens of thousands more people with suspected links to Gulen have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs in the judiciary, media, education, health care, military and local government. The government crackdown has raised concerns among European nations and human-rights organizations, who have urged the Turkish government to show restraint. AP
A pedestrian passes under a Turkish flag in Istanbul on August 14. Turkish authorities have prepared an official request for the temporary arrest of United States-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen over his alleged involvement in the coup attempt on July 15, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said on Saturday. AP
Romances by women authors in Nigeria challenge traditions Hawaii authorities urge
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A NO, Nigeria—Nestled among vegetables, plastic kettles and hand-dyed fabric in market stalls are the signs of a feminist revolution: Piles of poorly printed books by women that advocate forcefully against conservative Muslim traditions, such as child marriage and quick divorce. They are part of a flourishing literary movement centered in the ancient city of Kano, in northern Nigeria, where dozens of young women are rebelling through romance novels. Hand-written in the Hausa language, the romances now run into thousands of titles. Many rail against a strict interpretation of Islam propagated in Nigeria by the extremist group Boko Haram, which on Sunday posted video showing dozens of the 218 girls militants abducted from a remote school in April 2014. “We write to educate people, to be popular, to touch others’ lives, to touch on things that are happening in our society,” says author Hadiza Nuhu Gudaji, whose views have gained a recognition unusual for women in her society.
Love literature
GUDAJI’S novellas are so popular that she is invited to give advice on radio talk shows. She describes how she was able to influence the future of a 15-year-old who called in, begging the novelist to persuade her father not to force her into marriage. “We said: ‘The father of this girl, you are listening to us, you hear what your girl is saying,’” Gudaji recounts. “‘If you force her, maybe the marriage will not end so well, maybe the girl will run away and come to a bad end.’” A few weeks later, the girl called to say thank you, and that she was back in school—a striking example of the kind of power the author wields. The novellas are derogatorily called littattafan soyayya, meaning “love literature,” Kano market literature or, more kindly, modern Hausa literature. Daily readings on about 20 radio stations make them accessible to the illiterate. “It’s a quiet revolution,” says Ado Ahmed Gidan Dabino, a male novelist, essayist, actor and head of the Kano branch of the Nigerian Writers’ Association. “Nothing hard-hitting, but small, small and
gradually challenging.” They have become so popular that young girls call in to say they’re learning to read because they want to follow more stories. That is no minor feat in a region that has more children out of school than almost anywhere on earth.
Boko Haram
IN northeast Nigeria, the birthplace of Boko Haram, only one in five girls has had any formal education. Parents routinely pull 13- and 14-yearolds out of school to get married, and even the name Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful.” Boko Haram denounces the Western influences that are inextricably entwined with the romance genre—an argument Gudaji firmly rejects. Her 16-year-old son was blinded in one eye and took seven bullets during a 2014 Boko Haram attack on Kano’s Grand Mosque. Boko Haram has also kidnapped girls from the Chibok school and married them off to militants. “What they are preaching and doing is not in the Koran, it’s unIslamic,” she says, waving a hand with a flower painted into the palm in violet-colored henna. “They are not really against education—their problem with the education of girls [masks] their own agenda.” Although the romance industry caters largely to women, it’s often men who profit. The best-known reader on the radio is a man, journalist Ahmad Isa Koko, who raises his voice an octave to imitate a woman’s.
Book sale
BOOK hawker Adamu Said buys 70 novellas at the market one recent day, boasting that he can deliver them via motorbike to villages inaccessible by car. He purchases them for about 130 naira (65 cents) and sells them for 200, and has been doing so for 12 years. “I make a comfortable living,” says the 30-year-old, who makes enough to support his wife and 6-year-old boy. The Maharazu Bookshop has piles of paperback novels reaching to the ceiling, some gathering dust on the floor. Two teenage girls look at posters of just-published books but are unable to read the titles. They say they just like the pictures. Owner Suleiman Maharazu is
going through a list from a middleaged woman reader who is too shy to be interviewed without the permission of her absent husband. They have titles that translate as The Importance of Love, Big Tragedy, Your Face is Your Passion, The Beauty of a Woman is in Cooking and The Woman Who Lost Control. “I don’t read them, I just sell them,” Maharazu says.
Islamic soap
ONLY a couple of the Hausa novels have been translated into English. Sin is a Puppy that Follows You Home was translated by Indian publishers and subsequently made into a Bollywood movie. The book is available on amazon.com, which describes it as “an Islamic soap opera complete with polygamous households, virtuous women, scheming harlots and black magic.” Author Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, a veteran founder of the movement, was herself a child bride twice, after her first husband returned her to her family, and she only learned to read and write as an adult. Critics say the novellas give girls unrealistic expectations, inspire rebellion and are un-Islamic. The most famous disgraced book is Matsayin Lover, about lesbian love at a girls’ boarding school, dating back to 1998. Abdulla Uba Adamu says his own friends and fellow writers forced him to remove the book from the market, though he insists it reflects reality. The books may sound dramatic, but they often mirror life. In one recent Kano court case, a prosecutor sought the death sentence for a girl forced into marriage at 13 to a 38-year-old man whom she poisoned and killed. A human-rights lawyer managed to get the girl freed, but her family rejected her because they had to return the bride price paid for her.
Violent reaction
SOMETIMES the reaction is violent. Last year one young writer was badly beaten. Young men gangraped another in her home after she published a book about women’s rights in politics, according to Gidan Dabino. Some books are also banned or censored for steamy content. Gudaji says the Censorship Board has seized many books from the
market. She hasn’t had problems because she’s careful. “If I want to write about a husband and wife, there is a limitation,” she explains. “A kiss is allowed but nothing deeper, or I will be fighting with that Censorship Board.” Gudaji has an iPad and smartphone, but says she writes best by hand, lying on her stomach on her bed. The completed story is taken to a business center, where a clerk types it up and puts it on a memory stick. With that, she’s ready to go to a bookseller or publisher and bargain. Sometimes, a bookseller will buy a book and have it published himself. Often, however, the writers pay a printer and then take the books to a seller. The romances are cheaply printed with covers of Photoshopped stars from Nollywood, Nigeria’s burgeoning film industry, or Bollywood, the Indian variety some writers are accused of plagiarizing. Many writers end up losing money.
‘Cinderella’ story
GUDAJI’S first novel challenged a tradition where poor rural parents will send a child to family members in the city, hoping the child will be educated. Often they are turned into domestic slaves instead, ill-treated and raped by men in the home. Her second novel addresses the scourge of divorce and how to deal with problematic husbands. In northern Nigeria, a man can divorce a woman simply by pronouncing three times, “I divorce you.” When that happens, the former wife leaves alone and may not know what has happened to her children. Not all the romances challenge the status quo. They range from the universal Cinderella story of a poor girl marrying a prince to how to behave when your husband takes a second wife. And even for Gudaji, tradition still holds. Happily married, she still has to seek the permission of her husband to allow two male journalists into her home. She was not a child bride, she insists, though she is 38 and her oldest daughter, Khadija, is nearly 21. Khadija is studying physics at Kano’s Northwestern University. Gudaji explains the role of a dutiful daughter when parents want to arrange an unwelcome marriage. AP
awareness of food risk
H
ONOLULU—Hawaii authorities are urging diners to be aware of the risks of eating raw and undercooked food after they traced a hepatitis A outbreak to frozen scallops served raw at a sushi-restaurant chain. State Department of Health Sanitation Branch Chief Peter Oshiro said on Tuesday he and others in Hawaii like to eat food raw. But he said people should have their “eyes wide open” about such foods and understand there’s a possibility they could get sick. “Obviously, I am an enjoyer of raw foods also, and I am at risk just like all of you. This is not going to stop me from eating it because I recognize that it tastes good,” Oshiro said. The department on Monday ordered Genki Sushi, a popular restaurant chain that serves sushi on a conveyor belt, to close 10 restaurants on Oahu and one on Kauai. The restaurants must dispose of their food supply and disposable items, like cups and napkins, and disinfect the facilities before they reopen, Oshiro said. The outbreak has sickened 168 people so far. The disease can cause fever, loss of appetite, nausea and other ailments. The department said the tainted product is called Sea Port Bay Scallops distributed by Koha Oriental Foods. They were shipped frozen, but Genki Sushi served them raw. The box says the scallops are from the Philippines. US Food and Drug Administration Spokesman Lauren Sucher said the agency is working to confirm the source. People can contract the virus by eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water, close personal contact or sex. The company immediately complied with the department’s order, said Mary Hansen, Genki Sushi USA chief administrative officer. “We continue to work with the Department of Health to ensure we’re in compliance, so we can reopen our restaurants as soon as possible,” she said.
168 The number of people reported to have fallen ill after eating raw and undercooked food at a sushi restaurant chain in Honolulu, Hawaii
Genki Sushi patrons select their sushi items by taking them off a conveyor belt that moves around tables and counters. Maui and Big Island restaurants aren’t being ordered to close because state health authorities haven’t verified the scallops were delivered there. The state health department first announced the hepatitis A outbreak on July 1, but it struggled to identify the source because of the disease’s long incubation period. It’s been difficult for those infected to remember everything they ate and all the people with whom they had contact. Sarah Park, the state’s epidemiologist, said one key piece of information was that 70 percent of those infected had eaten at Genki Sushi, but only 22 percent to 23 percent of those who replied to a department survey had. She said health officials didn’t get a response like that for any other restaurant, food chain or grocery store. Park said the department is concerned the scallops may have been served or distributed to places other than Genki Sushi, because a small number of patients say they didn’t eat at the chain. Park said the distributor said it only provided the scallops to the Genki Sushi. Park sa id t he hea lt h department has notified other US health agencies so doctors around the country can consider travel history to Hawaii if their patients report hepatitis A symptoms. AP
A BusinessMirror Special Feature
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Thursday, August 18, 2016 A9
Philippine housing budget lowest in Southeast Asia
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By Cai U. Ordinario
HE Philippines spending for housing was the lowest in the Southeast Asian region, according to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). In a presentation, Vice President and HUDCC Chairman Maria Leonor G. Robredo said the government only spent an average of 1.135 percent, or P23 billion, of the national budget annually in the past six years. Robredo added that between 2000 and 2014, the government only spent 0.12 percent of GDP for housing, the lowest among Asean countries. “Pinapalitan namin ang mindset. Iyong mindset before, basta nakapagpagawa ka ng bahay, OK na iyon. Sa amin hindi,” Robredo said in a briefing in Davao on Wednesday. “Dapat kapag nakapagpagawa ka ng bahay, naiahon mo na rin sila sa kahirapan, kasi kung nagawan mo nga sila ng bahay hindi naman sila naalis sa kahirapan, hindi iyon accomplishment,” she added. Robredo said that, in the 2016 budget, the government only accounted
for 1.11 percent, or P33.38 billion, for the housing sector. This was only the second-highest budget appropriation between 2008 and 2016. The highest was in 2014, when the government allocated P37.668 billion, or 1.66 percent, of the budget in that year. Solving the housing crisis also means resolving the growth in the number of informal-settler families (ISFs). There are currently 1.4 million ISFs and 40 percent of them are residing in Metro Manila. “The growth of the slums is estimated at 3.4 percent every year,” Robredo said in the presentation. “Access to affordable housing remains a key major development challenge.” Robredo said that, based on the 2011 National Housing Authority (NHA) Survey, there are 584,425 ISFs living in Metro Manila.
There are also 221,284 ISFs in Region 4-A, or Calabarzon, and 117,670 ISFs in Region 3, or Central Luzon. “Ngayon kailangan talaga ng isang polisiya at mukhang nagkakatugma kami doon ni Presidente. Nagkakatugma kami in the sense na pareho ang paniniwala namin at nabibigyan ng mas maraming tulong iyong mga mahihirap talaga. Pangalawa, mas in-city,” Robredo said.
Tax breaks for socialized housing developers
ONE way to fill the housing-budget gap is to pursue a comprehensive and integrated approach to solving the housing crisis by wiping out the housing backlog. To do it, Robredo said the government should partner with the private sector by offering a tax break for socialized-housing developers. As per figures by the HUDCC, the housing backlog currently stands at 5.7 million, which means the government and the private sector must build 2,602 homes per day in the next six years. “The problem we are faced with is urgent, huge and difficult,” Robredo said. “The only way we can solve it is together.” Some 2.2 million ISFs make up Robredo’s initial estimate of the housing backlog, higher than the 1.5 million estimated by the National Housing Authority in 2011.
Vice President Leni Robredo (center) keynotes in a housing forum at the SMX Convention in Pasay City on Tuesday. Robredo accepted the position as Housing secretary offered by the president after the elections. In photo with Robredo are (from left) Republic Cement President Don Lee, Senator Jayvee Ejercito, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) President Guenter Taus and ECCP Executive Director Florian Gottein. ALYSA SALEN
Apart from tax breaks for private companies, the vice president also plans to impose “stiffer penalties for squatting syndicates.” She said this will contribute to efforts in relocating ISFs on account of that many ISFs prefer to go back to being squatters because livelihood opportunities are scarce in relocation areas. “We will not relocate families if the homes waiting for them are not total solutions to shelter needs. That means there will be no demolitions. You may also be interested in our
plan to aim for stiffer penalties to squatting syndicates,” Robredo said. According to Robredo, the HUDCC will focus on on-site, in-city relocations to address the problem of squatting. Under Republic Act 7279 (Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992), professional squatters or members of squatting syndicates will serve a jail time of six years or a fine of no less than 60,000, or both depending on court discretion. Robredo also stressed again the need for “sufficient information” to
start a housing program that will benefit millions of homeless Filipinos, saying that even the 5.7 million housing backlog needs to be recalculated based on updated data. The estimate is only based on data gathered by the HUDCC in 2015 from local-shelter plans of local government units. Robredo said that only when the numbers are established can the government identify a suitable housing program model that will meet the needs of homeless Filipinos.
A10 Thursday, August 18, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso
Opinion BusinessMirror
editorial
Let’s help Duterte kill the ‘signature industry’
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ilipinos have endured for the longest time the blatant inefficiency of government services. Everybody knows how long it takes for the government to process an application. Whether it is for a business permit, license, clearance, passport, loans or claims, it’s the same old story: Each process will test your patience. President Duterte himself has denounced the system where a government agency will require you to go to another government office for a document needed to process your application, only to find out that you need another form from another government agency for that one piece of document. Dealing with the government is frustrating. With so many forms and so many signatories, the system has spawned a huge underground “signature industry” powered by “grease money”. For decades, the signature industry flourished because people just gave up all efforts to fight a corrupt system. Private business had little choice but to resort to bribing to expedite, otherwise, protracted procedures in obtaining a license, permit or registration. Greasing the wheels that get documents signed is much easier than swimming against the current. Ironically, we have the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 (Republic Act 9485) that is supposed to ensure efficiency in our bureaucracy. It’s unfortunate that the government has done nothing to promote the spirit of the law. On the other hand, most Filipinos are not aware of the available rights and privileges they have when they transact business with the government. Luckily, we now have a President capable of killing the signature industry. Mr. Duterte can energize the government bureaucracy to make all agencies work efficiently the way he did in Davao, where processing of government documents is limited to 72 hours. To get rid of redundancies in government offices, the President said he will simplify the system and reduce the signatures required for a permit to be issued. This solution is a simple exercise in common sense. It never had a chance to succeed before because corrupt government officials have managed to embed in the system a profitable moneymaking scheme. Now, the corrupt bureaucrats find it difficult to let go of these perks. Change, however, is fast overtaking them. For example, on August 15 the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) responded to the President’s orders to streamline and speed up government operations by opening the first one-stop service center for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The service center, located on the ground floor of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency in Mandaluyong City, aims to reduce transportation expenses of OFWs and shorten the processing time for their documents by including representatives from various agencies with services that are all relevant to OFWs. To be replicated in the regions, the one-stop service center would help eliminate red tape in the government. The challenge for all of us is how to help sustain the momentum of the President’s agenda for meaningful change. We can help him bury the signature industry.
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OUTSIDE THE BOX
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he last 100 years have been like no other century in history. Global human-life expectancy at birth was virtually unchanged for 2,000 years. Between 1900 and 2010, it more than doubled from 31 years to 67 years. It took 123 years for global population to go from 1 billion to 2 billion and 32 years to gain another billion people. Currently, it is taking 12 to 13 years to add 1 billion humans. Not too long ago, the world was a much simpler place. There were two superpowers, “super” because of their massive military and their capability to buy or bully other countries into being their respective allies. The world used to be neatly divided into categories of “First World Capitalist Paradise”, “Second World People’s Paradise” and “Third World Hellhole”. The last category included nations that neither the United
States nor the Soviet Union wanted to pay all the bills for, except as might suit an immediate need. The Philippines was sort of in that third group during the US-Vietnam War. Countries that were too big to ignore, like India, Indonesia and China, tried to chart their own independent course. Indonesia massacred about 1 million of their citizens to fight communism; China executed many millions to advance communism. India went with “socialism,” which
MBWA degree Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.
THE PATRIOT
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n the past few days, President Duterte visited a lot of military camps and police installations. While there, he unequivocally expressed his support to those who will help him in his campaign against drugs, criminality and corruption, but delivered a stern warning to those who will abuse such trust and support.
These visitations and small-group meetings are akin to a management style aptly called MBWA, or Management By Walking Around. MBWA has been attributed to former United States President Abraham Lincoln who is said to have invented this management style when he informally inspected the Union Army troops in the early part of the American Civil War. In a corporate setting, MBWA entails practically walking around the workplace, unannounced and in a much unstructured manner, to interact with employees, to inspect facilities and equipment, and to get direct and instant feedback from colleagues. In his book, The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day, John Maxwell said a leader builds trust among his followers by having competence, connection and character. With regard to connection, I think servant-leaders can truly connect with people only through the heart
and at a very personal level. Connection is attained when people build relationships within and outside the office. One effective way of getting very connected is MBWA. When I was in the bureau, I believe I was able to build connections with some of my coworkers by simply walking around, making myself visible even without any official agenda. When I visited the Finance Division of the bureau, a high-ranking official remarked that it was just the second time in her more than 30 years with the agency that a commissioner actually spent some time inside her room. In one of my field inspections, a rank and file employee walked up to me, almost in tears, just to say thank you for her recent promotion despite having no backers, which she thought was absolutely indispensable for promotion in the government. During our short conversation, she happily told me that she was surprised to
was kind of a lukewarm version of both Communism and Capitalism. That way India was able to play both superpowers against the middle. But now, everything is confused and the old labels do not mean what they used to mean. What does it matter what the economic system might be as long as you can use your MasterCard? A Third World Hellhole is now a country that doesn’t have a Novotel, Hilton, or Sheraton hotel. A “superpower” had to have the ability to project military might to any corner of the globe through the latest weapon technology. Now someone with a third-grade education, an automatic rifle produced 70 years ago, and explosives made in someone’s kitchen can promote an ideology almost as effectively as a naval task force. This is not your father’s geopolitical world. Neither is it your father’s geoeconomic world. In less than a decade, the entire global banking and financial system has been turned upside down. This is 21st Century banking/ government monetary policy. You
have a personal interaction with a commissioner, something she never experienced in her 13-year career. In my current workplace, Office of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) President, Mr. Jaime J. Bautista is doing his own version of MBWA. Adored by our employees, Mr. Bautista, also known as JJB, spends his time talking to people as often as he can, visiting workplaces and participating in office-related activities—be it a social event to recognize or award service providers, Monday flag-raising ceremonies and even after-office videoke sessions with staff. Like a rock star, people would flock and take photos and even selfies with JJB every time he visits any of our offices or during PAL events. By walking around, JJB can actually sense the morale of the work force, directly observe whether the organizational objectives and strategies, which top management set in place, are actually done on the ground, and get immediate feedback from those who are supposed to implement the policies the company has formulated. To complement his MBWA degree, JJB makes himself so accessible to the extent that almost any person can walk up to him and make a complaint, suggestion, or any recommendation about the company. One thing I immediately noticed about him is that he always keeps his office door open all the time. When time permits, JJB even personally responds to customer complaints sent to him via e-mail, SMS, Viber and Facebook.
go into Jollibee to order your onepiece ChickenJoy and are given your meal and P50. If you order a two-piece meal, you receive P100 with your food. You must pay the Japanese, German, Swiss and Swedish governments to loan them money. One of the largest Dutch banks, ABN Amro, has now warned its business clients a negative interest rate on the business accounts is in the works. It is just as unrealistic to believe that the banking system can survive under these conditions anymore than Jollibee can survive by paying you to eat its food. But here is where the wheels fall off the car. This is not happening in the previously designated Third World Hellholes. This is going down in the First World Capitalist Paradises. The economic zombie apocalypse is still way down the road. But it is coming.
E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.
I think this open door, easy-access management style not only allowed JJB to promote transparency in the company, but also helped him hone his intuitive skills essential for crucial business decisions. A servant-leader will maximize “incidental interaction,” as well as “anecdotal feedback,” negative or positive, knowing that these inputs allow him to assess, adjust and act accordingly. Both incidental interaction and anecdotal feedback provide leaders that connection necessary to build and reinforce trust. A leader can never underestimate the importance of a candid, unadulterated and real-time status of things as they happen on the ground. A leader must always listen to his people. Leadership author Stephen R. Covey said “most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” So, instead of waiting inside their offices for status and update reports from the field, servant-leaders will understand the true state of the company by just walking around, making themselves accessible and listening to all with the intent to understand. Effective leadership is never about having an LL.B., MBA, or even a PhD; a mere MBWA degree, with the intent to listen and understand, is more often than not, more than enough. Starting next week Siegfred Bueno Mison’s The Patriot column will come out regularly every Friday. For questions and comments, e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com
Opinion BusinessMirror
opinion@businessmirror.com.ph
Why the mining industry Inclusive salvation is in such a mess Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.
Alálaong Bagá
Val A. Villanueva
Businesswise Conclusion To those readers who called my attention to some glitches in the initial publication of the second part of this column, my apologies for the confused jumble. Here’s how this second instalment should have been printed.
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ntimining activists often refer to the province of Zambales as a prime example of why mining should be completely banned in the country.
Images of murky rivers and ruined parts of the mountain range in the province, they point out, serve as a testament to the environmental dangers posed by the industry. In the first part of this series, we wrote that the destructions featured in the media are not caused by legitimate mining companies, which are bound by mining laws to preserve the eco-system in areas where they operate. It has been documented that those responsible for environmental degradation in Zambales are seven Chinese companies, which had gouged out the area, using nickel mining as pretext. Yet, the mining sector in the province had been demonized. Townsfolk, agitated by antimining groups whose members are mostly not even Zambales residents, have been led to complain against mining activities for allegedly polluting their, otherwise, pristine river channels and turning the water’s color reddish brown. Then-Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. did not even issue a warning against the seven Chinese firms, but had immediately ordered the closure of the legitimate mining companies LnL Archipelago Minerals Inc., Benguet Corp. Nickel Mines Inc. and Eramen Minerals Inc., in the municipalities of Santa Cruz and Candelaria. Last year, however, the Office of the Ombudsman found probable cause to charge him with graft and usurpation of duty in connection with the alleged anomalous issuance of permits to a small-scale mining firm. Ebdane later on allowed some of these legitimate mining companies to reopen in exchange for their participation in building “haul roads,” which was allegedly brokered by a certain Antonio Marfori. Veteran newsman and blogger Philip Lustre wrote on his Facebook page that Marfori—who has no legal identity to represent Ebdane, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) chief Leo L. Jasareno and Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje in the aforementioned negotiation—was the one who made the rounds to convince these mining firms to chip in to a fund for constructing these socalled haul roads. In a Senate hearing on September 23, 2015, MGB OIC Regional Director Danilo U. Uykieng supported earlier findings of local geologists that there was no nickel contamination in the rivers of Zambales. Upon questioning by the Senate’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Francis Escudero, Uykieng stated that, “… For the record, Your Honor, there is no actual nickel contamination in Zambales. However, there is impact on the sedimentation because of natural erosion.…” Studies by local geologists had revealed that what caused the color of the Zambales rivers to turn reddish-brown was soil erosion, which occurs during heavy rains. These experts claimed that the soil in the mining areas is rich in nickel laterites, which render the area inhabitable by large trees. Trees are a natural deterrent to soil erosion. Even without mining, the geologists explained, the soil will
The Philippine mining industry could be the world’s most regulated industry. Unfortunately, help from the government, if and when needed by the industry, has been disappointing if not utterly dismal. Mining firms are left to fend for themselves in cases where they are harassed and given the circuitous rounds by the local government units in which they operate or explore for minerals. cascade downstream causing the waters to turn reddish-brown. This phenomenon has been occurring for centuries and cannot be attributed to mining, they said. It would be recalled that the operations of LnL Archipelago Minerals Inc., Benguet Corp. Nickel Mines Inc. and Eramen Minerals Inc. in the municipalities of Santa Cruz and Candelaria were shut down because mineral leakage supposedly from their operations had turned the color of downstream river waters reddish-brown. As a precondition to their reopening, Ebdane and Paje required them to chip in to the cost of building haul roads. But with the MGB concluding that there is no nickel contamination of the Zambales rivers, such precondition becomes irrelevant, geologists point out. The Philippine mining industry could be the world’s most regulated industry. Unfortunately, help from the government, if and when needed by the industry, has been disappointing, if not utterly, dismal. Mining firms are left to fend for themselves in cases where they are harassed and given the circuitous rounds by the local government units (LGUs) in which they operate or explore for minerals. The Philippine Mining Act has enough teeth to ensure that these mining companies toe the line. But too often, provisions of this law become inferior to the ones enacted by antimining LGUs, thus, frustrating the industry’s effort to maximize the economic benefits the country could get from the industry. These firms are also not required by law to build roads. They are already heavily invested in building infrastructure and taking care of the indigenous people. The mining sector in Zambales is now in a quandary after being closed twice, even though no direct contamination has been confirmed by the MGB. What is happening in Zambales is not an isolated case. Local laws— even if they are directly opposed to the spirit of the Philippine Mining Act (which is supposed to be superior to local ordinances)—have been constricting the growth of the country’s minerals industry. Not only is the industry heavily regulated; it is also heavily taxed. Legitimate mining companies are levied corporate, excise, withholding, customs duties, value added and mineral reservation royalty taxes, among others. No wonder then that the mining industry in the country is in such a mess! For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com
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ll nations and all peoples are invited to praise and glorify the Lord (Psalm 117:1-2). People from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south will enter the kingdom of God (Luke 13:22-30).
Praise the Lord, all you peoples IN this shortest of the psalms with only two verses, we have two invitations to all nations to praise God, and two reasons given for that praise. This model hymn of praise has a universal viewpoint: all nations and all peoples are separately called upon to give praise and glory to the God of Israel. And the reasons for extolling the Lord are two references to particular qualities God has manifested in His beneficent dealing with His people: His loving kindness (hesed) in delivering them from destruction, and His fidelity (emet) in His subsequent commitment to protect and guide them. “Exult, O earth...for the
Lord has comforted His people, and will have compassion on His suffering ones” (Isaiah 49:13). Why will all the nations extoll the Lord for the blessings bestowed upon Israel? Have not these same blessings redounded negatively on some of these nations who are enemies of Israel? It is God’s gratuitous goodness that is here spotlighted against the background of Israel’s relative insignificance. In the undeserved election of Israel, its blessings are not intended for that nation alone; rather as an instrument of divine goodness, other people are to see in Israel a lowly nation that became greatly blessed though the mercy of
Thursday, August 18, 2016 A11
God. Israel was chosen to deliver this good news of universal salvation to the world. “I come to gather nations of every language; they shall see my glory. I will set a sign among them” (Isaiah 66:18-19).
Some are last who will be first
There has always been differing opinions not only among the Jews, but also among other peoples about the number of people to be saved. Instead of directly answering the query of the man, Jesus turned the focus from curiosity about others into concern about one’s own salvation. His story begins with “do your best, that is what is expected of you,” like an athlete in a competition. To be strong enough, do not shy away from what seems arduous and tiring. Otherwise, you may end up excluded from victory with the door shut on your face. Salvation is not promised exclusively to only a few and not to some; it is offered to all. But it is not easy; efforts are necessary to be able to enter—the real gate is narrow and demanding that leads to the banquet hall. Some not taking the invitation seriously come too late. Or they presume that their superficial and
passing relationship with the Lord is enough. And those who are expected to be admitted are turned away; their lack of genuine faith shows that they are not really from God and cannot be called “God’s children”. But amazingly, those who are considered not to qualify according to some human standards will be seen sitting at the table in the kingdom of God! Alálaong bagá, our salvation is based on God’s mercy. As the psalmist sees it, “Steadfast is His kindness toward us” all. Saint Paul, in turn, proclaims that God’s steadfast love in reaching out to save all peoples is fulfilled in Jesus Christ who became a servant-victim in order that the gentiles might glorify God for His mercy as Psalm 117 among others explicitly states (Romans 15:11). Divine mercy is stronger than the people’s sins, and even when as in the case of God’s people called to be a sign of God’s goodness to all but not measuring up to it, God’s promise and His covenant of universal salvation in Jesus Christ endure for ever. Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on dwIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.
Understanding tax evasion in the corporate setting Atty. Jared C. Vicencio
Tax law for business
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ne of the more emphatic battlecries of the current administration is its drive against tax evasion. This particular trajectory may not be something new, given the relentless pursuit in which the previous administration embarked on. Albeit the approach of the two bears obvious differences, the thrust remains the same: go after tax evaders. In light of this recent turn of events, saying that there is a need to understand the crime of tax evasion may come off as an understatement. Just as it is important to know what constitutes the crime of tax evasion, it is similarly vital to understand who may be held liable for the offense. Section 253 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997, as amended, lay down the general principles governing the law on tax evasion, including the persons who may be found responsible for the crime. Of particular interest is paragraph (d) of the
said provision, holding responsible certain officers and employees of offending juridical entities. What makes this particular passage of law interesting is the way it is worded, along with the currently prevailing interpretation of the courts. It reads: (d) In the case of associations, partnerships or corporations, the penalty shall be imposed on the partner, president general manager, branch manager, treasurer,
Trampled upon by Trump Ariel F. Nepomuceno
DECISION TIME
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N a typical tyrannical speech, United States Presidential candidate Donald Trump recently chose to articulate the bottom line of his immigration policy by branding immigrants as “animals and refugees from terrorist nations.” He proposed that they be barred from entry to the land of promise. The main rationale is the difficulty of vetting who are terrorists and who are not. Lately he also suggested a ludicrous “values and ideological” test for those who wish to visit or stay, even as tourists. As if to add to his flair for tactless talk, he personally picked on Filipinos as a prime example of the animals that cannot be allowed to set foot on US shores because the Philippines is a terrorist state.
Across the board racist branding
OF course, this is not his first time. He earlier accused other immigrants, the Mexicans, in particular, as drug traffickers, rapists and criminals. All these in order to stop Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the surge of radical Islamic terrorism around the world. But he did not stop there. He also opted to attack communists, socialists and all other sectors that have ideologies opposed to his extreme right wing world view. In short, he lumped all nonwhite persons in his list of undesirables that
should be included in his proposed ban. The Ku Klux Clan will pale in comparison to his sweeping generalizations. Clearly a desperate attempt to put Hillary Clinton and her glass ceiling down the drain.
Risky foreign-policy strategy
The evident gap in Trump’s strategy stems from his stark ignorance of the lessons of history, which show that acts of racial elitism, hatred and scorn only foment more reactionary acts of violence and retribution. His open antiMuslim sentiments would increase militancy and further catapult ISIS as the redeemer of persecuted Muslim nations around the world. What about the US and other world leaders’ efforts to stop the protracted war in the Middle East? His very own soldiers, diplomats, professionals who are all scattered and sacrificing in the Middle East and Europe are now at risk with his very dangerous
officer in charge and the employees responsible for the violation. The way the provision is written gives one the impression that the officers, as enumerated in it, are liable should a juridical entity be found in violation of the Tax Code, regardless of participation. Such an interpretation is not farfetched, given how the courts view the same. In the case of Tan v. People of the Philippines (CTA EB Crim. Case 022 & 023, November 14, 2014), the Court of Tax Appeals ruled that it was sufficient for the accused to occupy the office of president (one of the enumerated positions in Section 253[d]) to sustain his conviction. This is despite the fact that the prosecution failed to establish his collusion with the company employee directly responsible for the violation. The decision is not, however, unanimous. Three of the nine justices dissented from the main opinion. Of note is the dissent penned by Presiding Justice Roman G. del Rosario, where he opined that it would be unfair to hold a person liable under Section 253(d) of the NIRC of 1997, as amended, solely on the basis of
his or her position. The presiding justice emphasized the need for evidence linking the official to the punishable act. It is important to note at this point that the prevailing doctrine is still the principle embodied in the main opinion, i.e., that it is sufficient that one occupies any of the positions as enumerated in Section 253(d) of the Tax Code as amended to be held liable for tax evasion. If there is anything to be learned from this decision, it is that officers of corporations, partnerships, or associations carry with them a burden of responsibility, which makes ensuring proper tax compliance all the more crucial.
and incendiary statements. And he arrogantly calls this his foreign policy.
Historical alliance disregarded
Wrong politics
Mr. Trump is absolutely clueless about how to effectively woe solid voters. Before making discriminatory remarks, he should have ordered his team to check how many Filipino immigrants there are in his country. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the Philippines is one of the top countries of origin and was the fourth largest in 2014, accounting for 4.5 percent of the 41.3 million total immigrant population in the United States. The Filipino community leaped from 105,000 in the early 1960s to 1.85 million in 2013. This increase can be attributed to the stable and harmonious economic and sociopolitical relations between the US and the Philippines. This migration was further increased with the opening up of academic opportunities for Filipinos in many of its major universities. The US government, and no less than President Barack Obama, cited the talent and skills of Filipinos. And he also recognized their contributions to the growth of his country’s economy and protection of its security. Many Filipinos diligently work in the service sectors, the military and in government. Mr. Trump’s failure to recognize the huge potential of Filipinos to rally around his candidacy is a grievous campaign strategy error. Now he has antagonized the bulk of them and others of the same sentiments. Perhaps, other Asians would sympathize and rally behind their racial brothers.
The author is a junior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices, a member-firm of World Tax Services Alliance. The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed, as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported, therefore, by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at jared.vicencio@ bdblaw.com.ph.
Finally, it bears stressing that the Philippines is one of the most avid supporters of the US in the military, political and economic fronts. The current Visiting Forces Agreement, joint military exercises, the Terrorist Interdiction Program, law enforcement-cooperation activities and the continuous flow of military assistance to the country is a testament to the solid cooperation between the two countries to combat terrorism and other forms of security threats on a global scale. We have valiantly fought side by side during the desperate moments of World War II and the succeeding Korean War. We stood by them during the long decades of the Cold War against the Russians. We provided them with the largest naval and air force bases outside their mainland. The Filipinos were consistently loyal to the Americans—almost to a fault. It is simply incredulous for a world power to allow animals from a terrorist country to engage in its own antiterrorism initiatives. A paradox. But maybe, just maybe, Mr. Trump does not understand what a paradox is since he proudly escaped and dodged joining the US military when he had the chance to serve. He probably just understands what is plainly obvious to the senses. And nothing beyond that. Case closed. Let us see in November. We trust that the Americans will not make the mistake of electing him. Otherwise, they will put the entire world at risk and shame the national values that kept their country great.
BusinessMirror
Federal Philippines P rising? resident Duterte, in his first State of the Nation Address (Sona); Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III, in his inaugural speech; and Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, in his acceptance speech, made reference to a federal form of government to boost the Philippines’s bid for inclusive economic growth. Alvarez outlined that “Federalism will allow the autonomous regions to realize their full potentials as self-governing units that are directly answerable to their respective constituents.” We are aware that there are several “models” of federal states, such as Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the United States, Malaysia and many more; and that there are forms of parliamentary systems with strong “presidents,” like France (Mr. Duterte referred to that in his Sona, too). There is no doubt that much more information is needed on the various forms of federalism, and what federalism will do to the way business is done, interaction with government is done on a national and local level, and how federalism will affect the attractiveness of the Philippines as a destination for foreign investment. It is in this context that the BusinessMirror, the leading business paper in the country; and the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), being the bridge between European business and Philippine business—in both directions— since 1978, have partnered to start the dialogue/discussion/ information process on federalism/on “models” of federalism/on best practices and on “bad” practices, with the aim that there will be better understanding where we are heading, what timeframe is realistic, and to what extent business will have to adjust.
Federalism/Presidential Parliamentary System/ Decentralization: What Will It Do to Business 23 August 2016 | 8:30 a.m.-12 nn | Marriott Manila
PROGRAM 7:30-9:00 a.m. Registration & Breakfast 9:00-9:10 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks BusinessMirror/ECCP 9:10-9:30 a.m. Keynote Address Rep. Pantaleon D. Alvarez Speaker of the House of Representatives 9:30-9:45 a.m. Case Study—Federal Republic of Germany Benedikt Seemann Head Konrad Adenauer Foundation 9:45-10:00 a.m. Case Study—Canada Julian Payne President Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Laurent Le Godec 10:00-10:15 a.m. Case Study—France Deputy Head of Mission Embassy of France to the Philippines 10:15-10:30 a.m. The Philippine Scenario Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. Former Senate President 10:30-10:45 a.m. The Philippine Scenario Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez House of Representatives 10:30-11:30 a.m. Panel Discussion/Open Forum Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. For inquiries/registration, contact Julie Coronado at 845-1324 or e-mail Julie.coronado@eccp.com