Businessmirror august 22, 2016

“Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that. And believe it or not, I regret it—and I do regret it—particularly where it may have caused personal pain.”—Donald Trump, reading from prepared text at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina. AP

media partner of the year

“We apologize to our hosts in Rio and the people of Brazil for this distracting ordeal in the midst of what should rightly be a celebration of excellence.”—The US Olympic Committee, after Brazilian police’s stunning contention that American Ryan Lochte and three other swimmers had not been held at gunpoint and robbed after a night of partying, as he claimed. AP

“I’ve proven to the world I’m the greatest. This is what I came here for.

That’s what I’m doing. This is why I said this is my last Olympics—I can’t prove anything else.”—Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, who completed an unprecedented third consecutive sweep of the 100- and 200-meter sprints. AP

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2015 environmental Media Award leadership award 2008

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A broader look at today’s business n

Monday, August 22, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 317

PIMENTEL, BENITEZ SAY PUBLIC SHOULD BE FULLY APPRISED OF CHA-CHA’S BENEFITS

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 36 pages | 7 days a week

Averting PPP ‘turf clashes’

Nationwide debates on federalism urged ₧3.35T C T

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM & Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

he Duterte administration should jump-start debates on the Charter amendment and eventual shift to a federal form of government by rolling out a “massive” information campaign on these initiatives, according to experts.

INSIDE

Perspective BusinessMirror

By Roger Pe

illennials today may not recall Philippine national Bank’s (PnB) “Para kang nakasandal sa pader [like leaning on a sturdy wall]” ad campaign, but it was a blockbuster of a slogan during its time. The copywriter did a great job in crafting a catchphrase—street-smart, colloquial and brilliant. How else would you respond to a creative brief wanting to communicate stability? Wonderful.

By word-of-mouth appeal, the line was a huge success. In terms of brand acceptance and recall, it topped the charts. Perhaps, the only bank that could rival it then was Banco Filipino, with a similarly successful line, “Subok na matatag, subok na ma­ tibay.” No wonder it was named one of the 50 classic Filipino ads when the Philippine ad industry celebrated its silver anniversary.

This year the bank celebrated its 100th year and is already looking forward to its next with many programs and services geared toward giving the Filipino many firsts. One of the highlights of its centennial year was giving 100,000 Philippine Airlines (PAL) Mabuhay Miles to 100 lucky cardholders in a promotion called “100 Winners in 100 Days.”

Let’s travel back in time.

PNB was the de facto central bank of the Philippines as early as 1916 up to 1949. It established its first branch in Iloilo on July 24, 1916 and opened its doors to international banking when the New York branch was established in 1917. It put up five more domestic branches and another overseas branch in Shanghai, China, the following year. In 1955 it was authorized to operate as an investment bank, with powers to own shares and to issue debentures.

It launched the first online Electronic Data Processing System in the entire Far East when it transferred its head office in Escolta in 1966. Between 1967 and 1979, PNB continued to expand its operations by opening offices in London, Singapore, Jakarta, Honolulu and Amsterdam. Its domestic network also expanded, opening 14 more provincial branches.

PNB became the first universal bank in the country in 1980. It encountered operational difficulties in the mid-1980s as a result of the economic downturn triggered by the assassination of Sen. Benigno S. Aquino Jr. It was privatized in 1989 and became the first Philippine bank to reach the P100-billion mark in assets in 1992.

Also the country’s first universal bank and one of the first banks in the country to introduce the automated teller machine (ATM), PNB today continues to innovate and plans to introduce more banking “firsts” in the field of digital and mobile banking.

From a bank leader with a spectacular success, the bank suddenly had “fallen asleep,” stretching through the last three decades.

Whatever positive advertising mileage it gained seemed to have dissipated. Hardly visible in the last 10 years, why the noise now?

“Following the successful merger of PNB and Allied Banking Corp. in 2013, PNB wants to continue to position itself as a major player in the banking industry, being one of the country’s biggest banks,” says Lela Regala-Teodoro, assistant vice president, Marketing Services Division head of PNB. “For that reason, a need was seen for PNB to revitalize

See “Debates,” A2

Govt banks on highly paid cops, troops to clinch war for peace and order in PHL

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The bank that puts the Filipino first

M

For me r S e n at e P re s id e nt Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. said it is “very important” for the government to explain the merits of the proposed Charter change (Chacha) to the public.

BMReports

the bank that puts the filipino first E4 Monday, August 22, 2016

The proposed national budget for 2017

its image and appeal to younger generations. We launched a new campaign that aims to change public’s perception of the bank— from that of a government institution to that of a strong private bank that shows dynamism, as well as provides products and services that address the financial needs of our customers of all generations,” she says.

Selling PNB to Filipinos

TEODORO says PNB wants to be a part of the Filipino’s lives, from teaching the Filipino youth about financial matters up to the time they start working and having a family. “We want to be there and be their financial partner throughout the different stages in their lives,” she stresses.

“To help achieve our customer’s financial objectives, a full range of these services are made available in our branches, which include consumer loans, life and nonlife insurance, unit investment trust funds, business loans and credit cards, among others,” she explains. She reveals that, while PNB branches continue to be their primary platform for sales and service, there’s more to PNB’s dynamic and engaging service through online (PNB web site and social media) and mobile platforms.

She mentions that the bank’s communications thrust over the next few years is to make known that PNB aims to be the financial ally that Filipinos can lean on.

“Our innovation and beliefs are all rooted upon a customer-centric philosophy, which has gained a sharper focus across the organizations,” she says.

Teodoro takes pride in PNB’s unique bank services. “We pioneered a series of banking ‘firsts’ in the industry,” she says. “We launched the ‘Bank on Wheels’ in the 1970s to serve far-flung towns. We also did the ‘Bank on Wings,’ a program that featured PNB employees journeying to the province on Toyota Land Rovers and helicopters to provide service to the bank’s client-farmers,” she beams with pride.

By the end of 2015, the bank introduced an all-new and revamped Bank on Wheels for Filipinos—to provide banking services when and where they need them most.

PNB also engineered the ATMSafe, the first insurance product for PNB ATM cardholders that replaces cash stolen from ATM skimming or robbery. Similarly, it launched the first end-to-end online facility that offers clients the convenience of investing in and redeeming from their unit investment trust funds (UITFs) online.

PNB also recently introduced UITF ATM Facility, a service that enables clients to invest their money through PNB’s 954 ATMs nationwide. Another retail product that the bank first introduced was the HKP (“Healthy Ka Pinoy”) Medical Card, a low-cost healthinsurance program that caters to people who usually cannot afford this protection.

THE PNB marketing staff

a need was seen for PnB to revitalize its image and appeal to younger generations. We launched a new campaign that aims to change the public’s perception of the bank—from that of a government institution to that of a strong private bank that shows dynamism, as well as provides products and services that address the financial needs of our customers of all generations.”—lela Regala-Teodoro Image problems

WHEN the bank conducted focused group discussions and research, the summary findings revealed unsettling answers.

Some of them referred to it as “Ang bangko ng lolo ko,” associated with an octogenarian senator, etc.

This gave Teodoro and PNB Chief Marketing Officer Martin Reyes impetus to work on short- and long-term goals.

Reyes expressed the need for a strong branding visibility across all media platforms. He emphasized the need to make the bank more appealing to the younger audience. To make a lasting impact, he mentioned a conscious effort to align all the bank’s business units in drumming up a singular effort in cascading the bank’s “You First” campaign.

“We are Filipinos preaching to Filipinos,” he says. “As such, we need to rebrand and rebuild awareness, accessibility to bank’s loyal depositors and amplify our greatest strength—service to bank customers,” he says.

Teodoro also wants to correct the notion that the bank is completely or partially owned by the government. Contrary to the common belief, PNB is a private bank, she says. “PNB is the country’s fourth-largest private commercial bank in terms of assets and deposits. It has been privatized since 2007,” she says matter-of-factly.

In an environment where there are so many banks, why would Juan de la Cruz bank with PNB? Teodoro says the bank offers “stability, products and services that they need, matched with the

bank’s own brand of Filipino service,” she takes pride in saying.

In trying to make the bank relevant and more accessible to the Filipino, she says, “PNB wants to be there for our customers at every stage of their financial growth, from opening their first savings accounts to helping them own their first home.”

“Having pioneered many industry innovations in its 100 years of service, PNB plans to introduce more banking firsts to benefit new account holders, specifically in the field of digital and mobile banking,” Teodoro says.

She also notes that electronic platforms for financial transactions are the future trends in the Philippine banking industry.

“We look forward to providing more financial solutions for our customers through our Internet and mobile-banking services,” she adds.

customers can always lean on.

Serving them first unwaveringly for the next 100 years.

Teodoro wants to address the need for more PNB ATMs. If people don’t see that much PNB ATMs right now, that will soon be a thing of the past, she says. A major ATM expansion and upgrading program is currently under way.

An order placement of 1,000 new machines to replace and augment the bank’s current inventory is in the works. Aside from a higher operating system, the new PNB modernized ATMs will be equipped with anti-skimming device and compliant with Europay, MasterCard/Visa and other money-matter protocols.

How are PNB offices abroad doing? Teodoro says, the bank capitalizes on its strong international presence, having the widest global reach among Philippine banks with 70 branches and offices in the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. “We continue to enhance our financial services for our global Filipinos and their families by introducing more campaigns and programs that address their evolving needs,” she answers.

How would you like to see PNB in five years’ time? Teodoro answers: “When the bank celebrated its 100th anniversary on July 22, 2016, that was a very meaningful milestone for us, knowing that we have served at the very least, two generations of Filipinos and a multitude of companies, of all sizes, that have shaped the economic history of the country.

While we consider that as our

PNB badge an honor, it conversely demands from the bank the sustained responsibility of being a positive force in nation-building in the years ahead.”

Teodoro adds that “past successes provide the springboard for our future vision of a more reinvigorated PNB: a bank reaching out to serve the Filipinos first.

We have been investing over time to improve the bank and its brand, transforming it into a more agile, sales-driven and customer-centric organization.”

Most recently, too, PNB launched a thematic TV advertising campaign with a new tagline, “You First,” a collaboration with advertising agency partner IXM, Southeast Asia’s Independent Agency of the Year last year. It was a means to articulate our long-standing message of stability to our customers, embodying the company values of mapag­ lingkod [service orientation], mapagkakatiwalaan [trustworthiness] and mapagmalasakit [commitment],” she explains.

“At the heart of the bank’s services is our first and foremost instinct—to align our objectives to the customer’s needs. We adapt as necessary, with the aim of providing services that are not only effective, but are also caring and sincere. With this, the “You” in You First refers to PNB’s customers, making them the reason for service. “First” speaks about prioritizing the customer’s needs and making sure that the bank continues to be part of their lives’ firsts and milestones,” Teodoro punctuates.

perspective

PNB banking difference

AS the de facto central bank of the Philippines during its early days, Teodoro says PNB has always been the bank of the Filipino, surviving the challenges of growth and the ever-changing financial landscape.

“We have the most extensive international presence—70 overseas branches and offices among Philippine banks. In addition, we have a distribution network of 669 branches and 954 strategically located ATMs nationwide,” she says.

With PNB customers at the forefront and backed by 100 years of stability as its foundation, the bank, indeed, is the bank that

PPP Lead Alberto C. Agra

an a public-private partnership (PPP) project be undertaken by more than one implementing agency (IA)? How should turf issues be addressed and resolved? Which IA takes precedence? Who should undertake monorail, water, reclamation and bridge PPP projects?

The first State of the Nation Address of President Duterte outlined 10 projects that may be implemented through PPPs, i.e., roads, airports, bridges, tourism-related facilities, harvest facilities, public health, irrigation, rail, ferry systems and public Wi-Fi. Aside from these, this columnist has another list of 10— waste-to-energy/renewable energy, water supply, septage/sewerage, reclamation, rehabilitation centers, monorail, mixed-use land development, markets, terminals and smart city projects.

The question now is who is the appropriate IA. There are three levels of IAs—national, local government and state corporations. All IAs are part of the State who should recognize the indispensable role of the private sector in development. They have their mandates governed by their respective charters and all are duty-bound to serve the people.

Continued on A15

E4

Averting PPP Turf Clashes

rio olympics medal tally

Dialogue and Consensus

1 United States 2 Great Britain 3 China 4 Russia 5 Germany 6 Japan 7 France 8 South Korea 9 Australia 10 Italy 11 Netherlands 12 Hungary 13 Spain 14 Brazil 15 Jamaica 16 Kenya 17 Croatia 18 Cuba 69 Philippines

G S B T 43 37 36 116 27 22 17 66 26 18 26 70 17 17 19 53 17 10 14 41 12 8 21 41 9 17 14 40 9 3 9 21 8 11 10 29 8 11 7 26 8 6 4 18 8 3 4 15 7 3 4 14 6 6 6 18 6 3 2 11 5 6 1 12 5 3 2 10 5 2 4 11 0 1 0 1

system of Hierarchy This file photo shows members of the Philippine Army during a troop parade in Manila. The Philippine government under President Duterte believes raising the salaries of soldiers and policemen may intensify the fight against crime. NONIE REYES

By Rene Acosta

C

@reneacostaBM

Part One

AN the government pay its way to fight crime and for peace and order?

With the plan of President Duterte to hike the pay of policemen and soldiers, it appears so. Mr. Duterte, it seems, is wielding the powers vested in his office to ensure his centerpiece program of ridding the country of

PESO exchange rates n US 46.3060

crime, particularly illegal-drugs business, will succeed.

The Chief Executive has upped the pressure: He set a deadline of six months to accomplish his campaign promise.

One of the powers wielded by Mr. Duterte is by placing the Philippine National Police (PNP) under his direct command to produce results.

With the overwhelming number Continued on A2

₧14,834

(or $319.72, based on current exchange rates) the monthly pay of a policeman with the rank of Police Officer 1, according to Sen. Alan Peter S. Cayetano

first is Priority

presidential action Author: Alberto C. Agra

n japan 0.4637 n UK 60.9850 n HK 5.9728 n CHINA 6.9806 n singapore 34.5799 n australia 35.5862 n EU 52.5851 n SAUDI arabia 12.3519

bm Graphics: Job Ruzgal

Source: BSP (19 August 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, August 22, 2016

Govt banks on highly paid cops, troops to clinch war for peace and order in PHL Continued from A1

of arrests, and even dead bodies, something unprecedented in PNP history, it appears the whole police organization heeded the order of the Commander in Chief.

Citing official police data, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) has said an average of 10 persons a day is being killed as Mr. Duterte launched his war on illegal drugs.

PCIJ said on its web site that about 141 persons a day on average was arrested, based on PNP data from July 1 to 13 alone.

Foolproof plan

IN pushing policemen to accomplish the goal, which the President and PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa believed is doable, Mr. Duterte was making sure the policemen are “ foolproof ” for the campaign. The President said this could be done if the government ups the officers’ morale and welfare through a promise of increase of, doubling even, their salaries.

A fter all, the illegal-drugs problem has reached its unprecedented level because of some corrupt and crooked policemen who are on the take from drug lords by acting as coddlers and protectors.

Some were even acting as drug dealers themselves.

Dela Rosa said getting the full and direct support of the President in the anticriminality campaign is a great morale booster for the policemen. Receiving an extra pay or having a salary increase counts much more, he added. However, he said, as law enforcers, they are mandated to do their duties without added emoluments.

The PNP chief said the salar y increase should prod the

organization to work more and perform better. This is the reason I am also aghast every time I learn that a member of the organization is involved in illegal activity, he said.

As the “father” of the PNP, dela Rosa also vowed to take care of the morale and welfare of policemen by providing all of their needs.

“Dapat suklian naman ito,” the PNP chief said of the all-out support of the President to the organization.

Returning favors

DELA Rosa said the salary increase and other kind of support by the President to the PNP should be repaid by the policemen with a renewed sense of dedication to their mandated tasks, higher service to the Filipinos and excellent performance as law enforcers.

President Duterte has promised to increase or implement the doubling of monthly pay of every policeman until December this year.

Early last month, Sen. Alan Peter S. Cayetano filed a measure pushing for the increase in the salaries and other benefits of policemen and other law enforcers.

C aye t a no’s bi l l s ou g ht to increase the base pay and allow a nces of PNP person ne l , allowing a policeman with the rank of Police Officer 1 (PO1), the lowest rank in the PNP, to receive a gross minimum pay of P50,530 (about $1,089.07) a month, inclusive of benefits and allowances.

In contrast, a rookie cop in the New York City Police Department receive a base salary of $41,975 per year, which is roughly P150,000 a month.

Cayetano explained that “police personnel in the country do not receive adequate compensation from the government, despite

the risk to their lives brought by their profession.” The senator, who was Mr. Duterte’s running mate in the last election, also said the police force’s low wage “makes them vulnerable to the temptation of corruption.”

The senator noted that a policeman with the rank of PO1 only gets a monthly pay of P14,834. According to Cayetano, that amount is way below the monthly living wage of P27,510 for a family of five set by the National Wages and Productivity Commission.

“It is not enough that we punish and remove corrupt cops from the service,” he said. “Without just compensation, crime and corruption will only seduce what is left of the government’s honest, yet, impoverished police personnel.”

Arroyo bill

A similar bill was also filed before the House of Representatives by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Arroyo’s proposed bill seeks an increase in the salaries of not only policemen, but even members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Arroyo, currently the representative of the Second District of Pampanga, said her House Bill 304 responds to “the call to help the administration to lessen, if not end, the war in the country, as well as the eradication of corruption, drugs and criminality.”

“In order to enhance the general welfare, commitment to service and professionalism of the members of the PNP and the AFP, the monthly take-home pay of its personnel shall be doubled,” Arroyo’s proposed measure reads.

Arroyo said the funds for the salary increase should be taken from the “appropriation for savings” of the PNP and the AFP, with the ad-

justment to be incorporated later in the national budget.

“The implementation of the Act shall be undertaken in staggered phases, but not to exceed five years taking into consideration the financial position of the national government; provided, that any partial implementation shall be uniform and proportionate for all ranks,” Arroyo’s bill said.

Base pay

UNTIL last year, the base pay of a policeman with a rank of PO1 was P13,492 a month, while a police inspector was receiving P28,839 monthly. On the other hand, a police senior inspector was getting P31,251 a month.

The monthly salaries of policemen only increased this year following the implementation of EO 201, issued by then-President Benigno S. Aquino III on February 19. That EO ordered the implementation of a modified salary schedule for civilian personnel and additional benefits for military and uniformed personnel over a four-year period starting 2016 until 2019.

The first tranche of the monthly provisional allowance for uniformed police personnel ranges from P342 for a PO1, P2,651 for a senior police officer (4, P4,092 for a police inspector and P9,708 for a police chief superintendent.

The hazard pay of policemen also increased to the monthly rate of P390, from the former P240, with subsequent annual increases up to P840 in 2019.

Police officers with ranks of senior superintendent up to director general were also entitled to monthly officers’ allowance ranging from P1,000 to P9,000 in the first tranche of implementation.

To be continued

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Debates. . .

Continued from A1

“The government should make sure the idea is spread and debated throughout the country, even if the revision of the Constitution will be done through Constitutional Assembly [Conass],” Pimentel said.

“Members of Congress and their committees should go around the country and conduct public hearings and listen to what the people are saying. They should not revise the Constitution according to their preconceived ideas,” he added.

Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez of the Third District of Negros Occidental said the government may ask all lawmakers to conduct an information campaign on federalism in their legislative districts.

“Lawmakers can do a public information campaign regarding Charter change in their respective districts,” Benitez said.

On Tuesday the BusinessM irror and European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines will conduct a forum on federalism with Pimentel and Benitez as guest speakers.

A nationwide survey revealed that 44 percent of Filipino respondents are against Cha-cha.

House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, however, said once Filipinos understand the merits of the proposed Cha-cha, the majority of them will support the initiative. “It’s only a matter of explaining [federalism] to the people, especially in the regions,” Alvarez said.

He added that a shift to a federal form of government would bring a “long-lasting” solution to the centuries-old problem of poverty, because the regions’ growth had been “stifled” under the unitary form of government.

By shifting to a federal form of government, Alvarez said these regions or states can now manage their own economy, manage their own natural resources and create opportunities for their residents.

Reducing poverty incidence to 17 percent, from the current 26 percent, by 2022 will only be possible under a federal form of government, according to Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of the Second District of Camarines Sur. “President Duterte’s vow to create

economic zones and spur development outside Metro Manila, which would help bring down the incidence of rural poverty, should prompt both chambers of Congress to fast-track the switch to a federal form of government,” Villafuerte said.

“I do not doubt the government’s resolve under President Duterte to reduce the poverty rate to 17 percent six years from now. But this can only be done if we expedite the shift to a federal system of government,” he added.

Earlier, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the economy grew by 7 percent in the second quarter and expanded by a cumulative 43 percent from 2009 to 2015. However, poverty incidence fell by only 2.3 percentage points, from 28.6 percent in 2009 to 26.3 percent over the six-year period. Citing Neda Director General Ernesto M. Pernia, Villafuerte said the government traced this situation to the “imbalance in the distribution of the benefits of this economic expansion, across regions as well as across sectors.”

Congressional priorities

Senate and House leaders agreed to give priority to passing the P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017 before tackling pending proposals to amend the Constitution and the shift to a federal system of government favored by President Duterte.

Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III said senators and congressmen deferred fixing a timetable to pass a separate law enabling them to meet as a constituent assembly to focus legislative efforts on approving the 2017 budget bill before the year-end to avert a reenacted budget.

“There was no agreement during our first breakfast meeting,” Pimentel told the BusinessM irror, when asked if lawmakers reached a consensus to front-load the Palace-favored Cha-cha in their legislative agenda this year.

He intimated that fixing the “Chacha for federal” timetable was only relegated to the back burner for the meantime, but the proposal to set a date for plenary deliberations on it can still be taken up in subsequent meetings of the leaders of the two chambers.

“Maybe in the next one, we can come up with an agreement,” the Senate President added.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto, who also attended the SenateHouse leaders’ meeting, confirmed Pimentel’s disclosure. “[Yes], we agreed to start discussions [on Cha-cha] after the budget bill is passed,” Sotto said in a brief interview with the BusinessMirror over the weekend. Pimentel and Sotto, however, did not provide details on the closed-door budget talks between leaders of the two chambers.

Rep. Karlo Alexi Nograles of the First District of Davao also said there will be no pork-barrel fund in the 2017 budget.

Nograles, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, said “[the Duterte administration] cut out the pork and trim out the fat to ensure that we have the budget that is totally responsive to the need of people.”

“There’s no post enactment, no PDAF [Priority Development Assistance Fund] or pork barrel in the budget, we will do this budget hearing to ensure that there will be no pork and no fat in the budget,” he said.

However, Nograles admitted that lawmakers have still requested projects for their districts, which have been included in the proposed 2017 “budget for real change.”

“During the NEP [National Expenditure Program] turnover, [Budget] Secretary [Benjamin E.] Diokno also said there’s no pork in the budget. So it’s really not included in the proposed GAA [General Appropriations Act].

Before, there’s really a section in the GAA for PDAF but now, there is none,” Nograles said.

“Each congressman has recommended projects to different government agencies and it’s now the decision of the agencies whether to include their projects on their recommended project to the Department of Budget and Management and it was the DBM’s decision whether to include the projects in the proposed GAA,” he added.

Nograles said these lawmakers’ projects were proposed upon the consultation with the Local Development Council and the Regional Development Council.

BMReports BusinessMirror

A3 Monday, August 22, 2016

MRail starts seeking partners for ₧10-B cargo-rail project

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

he freight railways unit of Metro Pacific Investment Corp. is preparing its war chest for the possible approval of its proposal to revive the cargo-train system in the capital’s ports, even as it scouts for a partner or two to implement the P10-billion project.

Already, MRail Inc. is keeping tabs with suppliers of locomotives and wagons for the future Manila-Calamba Cargo Rail Line.

“We’re now finalizing all the terms of references for the locomotives and the wagons,” Ferdinand G. Inacay, the company’s president, told the BusinessMirror.

He added: “As soon as we put that out, we might talk to potential suppliers if they can reduce the delivery from 24 months to a shorter period to implement the project faster.”

Inacay explained that his group started sourcing and negotiating with the supplier to “waste no time” in launching the facility.

“So any time the fat lady sings and

There are Asian and European interests, and we’re keen to talk to them.”—Inacay we signed up, the order’s there,” he said.

“We’re very serious about this. Our other partner is very keen in taking this to move forward.”

The Metro Pacific unit partnered with International Container Terminal

Services Inc. (ICTSI) to propose the construction of a P10-billion cargo-rail system that will connect the ports of Manila to Calamba, Laguna.

Under its proposal, MRail will make use of the tracks of the Philippine National Railways to transport containers to and from Calamba, Laguna, and Manila. The company will pay track-access fees to the government on a perkilometer basis. Inacay added that the group is open to accommodate foreign partners.

“We are talking to a few other potential partners. Some of the mature rail countries are actually touching base with us,” he said.

“There are Asian and European interests, and we’re keen to talk to them.”

“But we are also exploring the possibility of talking with other countries which we haven’t reach out yet, like Australia,” Inacay added. The private company now awaits the final approval of Transport Secretary Arthur P. Tugade. The project is up for review, and Inacay is confident that his group will receive the go signal to start with the project during the administration’s first 100 days.

The cargo railway project will aid in improving the country’s competitiveness, especially in the advent of the Asean integration “by creating a more efficient and seamless port to industrial zones and industrial zones to port cargo movement.”

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Who are PHL’s communist rebels?

C

ommunist rebels in the Philippines have fought one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies. Although less numerous and less violent than Muslim separatist rebels in the country’s south, the Maoists have outlived successive Philippine administrations and held out against constant military and police offensives, relying on clandestine cells to pass on orders from exiled leaders.

President Duterte has made peace with the rebels a priority, and a new round of marathon peace talks brokered by Norway opens in Oslo on Monday.

A brief look at the rebels and their struggle: The rebels trace their roots to a communist party whose guerrilla wing helped fight Japanese occupation forces in World War II. After the liberation and the Philippines’s independence from the US, however, the leftists were politically sidelined and armed rebels crushed. In 1968 the Communist Party of the Philippines was reestablished on Mao Zedong’s birthday, proclaiming as its goal “the protracted peoples’ struggle” modeled on China.

The rebels’ranks swelled after dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972. The armed wing of the Communist Party, the New People’s Army, set up jungle camps all over the sprawling archipelago as launching pads for raids targeting the military and police, large agricultural and mining estates, as well as US forces, which maintained big overseas bases until 1991.

The insurgency has left about 150,000 combatants and civilians dead since it broke out, drawing support from the ranks of those dissatisfied with economic inequality and the Philippines’s alliance with the US. It also has stunted economic development, especially in areas of the countryside where the rebels are active.

The rebels missed an opportunity to win wider political clout when they boycotted a historic 1986 snap election, which was dismissed as a sham and led to the overthrow of Marcos in a “people

power” revolt and restoration of democracy. President Corazon Aquino freed the rebel founder Jose Maria Sison from prison and opened peace talks.

However, Sison fled into exile in the Netherlands and the talks broke down. In 1987 the rebels killed three American soldiers in separate attacks near Clark Air Base. In 1989 they assassinated US Army Col. James Rowe, who was providing counterinsurgency training to Filipino troops.

By the early 1990s, differences over strategies led to a split in the rebel ranks and a bloody internal purge that left hundreds dead, further weakening the rebels, whose numbers dwindled to a few thousands from a peak of 25,000. The remaining fighters have relied on so-called revolutionary taxes for survival—extorting money from businesses, or blowing them up if they refuse. The government accuses the rebels of kidnappings and providing guns-for-hire, saying they’ve become bandits and a spent ideological force.

Peace talks started again in 1995, and made progress with the government pledging immunity from arrest and safe movement for rebel negotiators. The two sides later reached another agreement on the respect for human rights and humanitarian law. The negotiations again broke down, and resumed in 2001. However, the rebels withdrew from talks when the US government, followed by the European Union, placed them on a list of terrorist organizations.

Under President Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno S. Aquino III, peace talks stalled over the government’s refusal to heed a rebel demand for the release of some captured guerrillas who were to serve as peace talks consultants. Mr. Duterte, however, has agreed to the release of rebels who are involved in peace talks, and appointed two allies of the guerrillas to Cabinet posts in concessions that fostered the resumption of talks. AP

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A4 Monday, August 22, 2016

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Court of Appeals revives PLDT’s bid to bar rivals from operating in BGC

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By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Court of Appeals (CA) has revived the bid of Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to exclude other telecommunication companies from providing high-speed network and connectivity in several parts of Makati City, particularly in Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

In a 21-page decision penned by Associate Justice Ramon Cruz, the CA’s Seventeenth Division reversed and set aside the order issued by the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City on October 14, 2013, which dismissed the complaint filed by PLDT seeking to enjoin the implementation of National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Memorandum Circular 05-05-2002, entitled “Rules and Regulations on the Provision of High Speed Networks and

Connectivity to the IT Hub Areas.”

Instead, the appellate court reinstated the case filed by PLDT and remanded the same to the RTC in Quezon City for further proceedings and for it to resolve the issues with dispatch.

“In sum, prior exhaustion of administrative remedies is unnecessary because plaintiff-appellants’ complaint essentially assails the validity and constitutionality of MC 05-05-2002, which is well within

the jurisdiction of the courts. It is but proper, therefore, that this case should not be dismissed but be allowed to continue,” the CA ruled.

The memorandum declared as “free zones” parts of Makati City, specifically the BGC and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) bounded by Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Edsa, Kalayaan Avenue, Lawton Avenue, McKinley Road (Edsa), Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road) and Chino Roces (Pasong Tamo).

These free zones are described as areas where any telecommunications firm with a valid franchise are allowed to provide related services.

In its complaint before the trial court, PLDT asserted that MC 0505-2002 is void, as it contradicts Republic Act 7925, which mandates NTC to give priority to the areas that are not yet served in cases of expansions of telecommunications network.

Likewise, PLDT said its implementation is unfair and arbitrary because the information-technology hub areas were declared as free zones without the benefit of public hearing and consultation.

More important, PLDT said the

Our Constitution expressly vests the power of judicial review or the power to declare a law, treaty, international or executive agreement, presidential decree, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation in the regional trial courts.”

—Court of Appeals

memorandum circular violates its memorandum agreement (MOA) with Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC) in 2002 for the acquisition of Smart Communications Inc. and FBDC’s shares in Bonifacio Communications Corp. (BCC), a communications infrastructure provider.

The MOA between FBDC and PLDT for the acquisition of FBDC’s shares in BCC provides a condition that PLDT will be the sole provider of basic telecommunication and related services in the areas declared

by NTC as free zones.

Despite this agreement, BCC

Duterte declares all govt appointive positions vacant

By David Cagahastian @ davecaga

P

resident Duterte yesterday declared as vacant all appointive positions in the government, as he acknowledged that more than 50 days into his assumption of office, there is still corruption.

“You know my mouth is, as they say, lousy. But I would like to issue a warning that on Monday, I would declare all positions in the government that were presidential appointments or if you are there because of the presidential appointments, I will declare all your positions all throughout the country vacant,” Mr. Duterte said on Sunday.

He added that the directive includes all presidential appointees made by him and by his predecessor, former President Benigno S. Aquino III. Mr. Duterte justified his decision to rescind all political appointments, including those he made during his term.

“You know why? Until now, in my provincial visits, I still hear corruption being committed by people, especially in the regulatory agencies,” he said.

He added that the declaration of all appointive posts vacant is based on the appointing authority’s loss of trust in the respective occupant’s capability to discharge the functions of the office.

It is not clear, however, whether the positions as high up as department heads and the occupants of which he had affirmed as being of the highest integrity would be considered as vacant as of Monday.

He singled out the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) as corrupt agencies.

“I would like to point out one, the LFTRB, I forgot his name, to come to me and see me in Malacañang,” he said, apparently referring to LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgra III.

Duterte

“The LTO and those who are appointed to the LTO except the career, consider your positions vacant as of this hour. All of them. It will number in thousands, consider yourself in the crucible of the truth about corruption in this country,” he added.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador B. Panelo said the directive of President Duterte to declare all appointive positions vacant may also apply to the appointments he made and even to those positions as high up as department secretaries.

But Panelo clarified that all Cabinet secretaries have acknowledged that they all serve at the pleasure of the President.

“Even if [the directive] becomes general, even if it refers to the previous appointments or to the present ones, there’s still no problem because that’s the right of the President. All presidential appointees serve at his pleasure,” Panelo said.

Panelo added that there might be

Until now, in my provincial visits, I still hear corruption being committed by people, especially in the regulatory agencies.”—Duterte some appointees who might not have been vetted properly and were appointed by Mr. Duterte, and the declaration of the vacancy of all appointive positions would require them to secure reappointment papers.

“I think so,” Panelo said, when asked whether the occupants of those positions declared as vacant would need to be reappointed.

“Perhaps there were appointees who were not screened properly, then there are reports that those appointees should not have been appointed.”

Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar said the new appoin-

tees to Cabinet positions are not included in Mr. Duterte’s directive to declare all appointive positions vacant.

Andanar added that the government bureaucracy will still function even if all the appointive positions are declared vacant, since there is a system wherein an officer in charge of a government office can discharge its functions even in the absence of a formal appointment from the President.

Mr. Duterte said in a press conference on Sunday that the appointive positions that will be vacated may be filled temporarily by deputies and their assistants.

discovered in 2007 that Innove, a subsidiary of Globe Telecom, illegally installed and constructed its own communications infrastructure within the area reserved to BCC. To assert its rights under the agreement, BCC sent several demand letters to FBDC, Globe and Innove to desist from impairing the contractual rights of BCC. This prompted Innove to bring the matter to the NTC, asking the latter to enforce MC 05-0502002 within the BGC. PLDT then questioned NTC’s decision to side with Innove by filing a

complaint before the RTC in Quezon City with a prayer for the issuance of a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the subject circular.

The RTC in Quezon City, however, dismissed PLDT’s complaint for being premature.

The lower court held that PLDT failed to exhaust the administrative remedies before elevating the matter before the court.

In reversing the RTC’s ruling, the CA noted that the principle of exhaustion of administrative remedies does not apply in the case, because the issue raised by PLDT is the constitutionality and validity of MC 0505-2002 issued by NTC, and not an act performed by the latter pursuant to its mandate.

“Our Constitution expressly vests the power of judicial review or the power to declare a law, treaty, international or executive agreement, presidential decree, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation in the regional trial courts,” the CA pointed out.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Marlene Gonzales-Sison and Henri Jean Paul Inting.

‘War on drugs could make it difficult for PHL to retain EU-GSP privileges’

By Catherine N. Pillas @c_pillas29

T

he Commission on Human Rights (CHR) again warned that the government’s war on drugs could cause local businessmen to lose the duty-free privileges provided by the European Union (EU).

CHR Commissioner Jose Luis Martin C. Gascon said the Duterte administration must protect human rights if the Philippines hopes to keep benefiting from the EUGeneralized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+).

“It’s important to sustain humanrights gains to maintain good standing in GSP+, over time. If the gains in human rights are not sustained, it may undermine prospects later,” Gascon said.

The EU-GSP+ is a preferential trade scheme given to select, developing countries to expand their access to the markets of membercountries via tariff cuts.

Under the trade scheme, the EU slashed the duties on some 6,200 tariff lines of Philippine products to zero. The Philippines was granted this privilege in December 2014.

Shipments of Philippine products to most countries went down last year, but the country’s exports to the EU grew by 19 percent in January to September 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.

The value of Philippine exports covered by the EU-GSP+ rose by 27 percent to €743 million, from €584 million in January to September 2015. In exchange for enjoying the GSP+ privileges, beneficiary-countries must have ratified and continue to observe 27 core international conventions, including the United Nations Conventions on Human Rights, and agree to cooperate in monitoring their implementation.

Sought for comment, head of trade and economic section at the European delegation in Manila Walter van Hattum said: “The GSP+ is reviewed regularly and we don’t speculate on the results of the next review. But, of course, we look very much to continuing our dialogue on this, including the conventions.”

Countries’ observance of the conventions is continuously being monitored by the EU and comes out with

a report every two years.

The first monitoring report of the European Commission, covering the period of 2014 to 2015, showed that in the first six months of 2015, the Philippines’s GSP+ utilization rate was at 62.8 percent.

Of the €1.08 billion worth of Philippine products eligible for GSP+, the actual imported value was at €681 million.

“Over the next reporting period [2016 to 2017], the commission will continue to monitor beneficiaries in a structured way. By the next review, it will consider response actions, if required, including the possibility to open an investigation should a beneficiary fail to comply with its GSP+ undertaking,” the report read.

European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines President Guenter Taus, in a separate interview, downplayed the possibility of the GSP+ privilege being revoked, saying this could have a detrimental effect on the country’s economy.

“If [the GSP] will be revoked, that will certainly have an adverse impact on doing business between the Philippines and the EU, but at this point in time, I doubt if such drastic steps will be taken,” he said.

Last year Thailand lost its EUGSP+ privilege on some 6,000 products. The Siam Commercial Bank estimated that Thai businessmen lost $2.2 billion. The lost of GSP privileges came after the military took over Thailand.

On Sunday the President Duterte has threatened to withdraw his country from the United Nations in his latest outburst against critics of his antidrugs campaign, which has left hundreds of suspects dead.

Mr. Duterte ridiculed the UN as inutile, and lashed at US police killings of black men.

He pointed to the haunting image of a bloodied child pulled from the rubble of a missile-struck building in the Syrian city of Aleppo to hit the UN and US’s inability to stop such deadly conflicts while, he said, he comes under fire for the deaths of criminals.

Duterte also pressed allegations against a Philippine senator and critic, accusing her of having an affair with her driver whom he linked to illegal drugs. With a report from AP

news@businessmirror.com.ph

AseanMonday BusinessMirror

Monday, August 22, 2016 A5

China, Myanmar vow closer ties as Suu Kyi visits Beijing

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hina and Myanmar said on Saturday that they have pledged to forge closer ties as “blood brothers,” as Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi got set to wrap up a visit to Beijing, her first diplomatic trip since taking power in March.

The neighboring countries also said in a joint statement that they would strengthen trade and cooperation on issues along the border, where fighting between Myanmar government forces and rebels have occasionally spilled over. There was no mention of progress, however, on a stalled $3.6-billion dam project in northern Myanmar primarily funded by Chinese energy interests, which was a key concern during the visit.

China has been on a diplomatic charm offensive in the past year toward its fast-growing neighbor, while Myanmar under Suu Kyi has shown a willingness to embrace its top trading partner and major investor.

The five-day visit, concluding on Sunday, is the second trip to China in 15 months for Suu Kyi, who was imprisoned for more than a decade

by Myanmar’s former Beijing-backed military junta.

Suu Kyi has indicated that she will seek more balanced relations with China and the United States compared to Myanmar’s previous government, headed by former

President Thein Sein, who initiated political reforms and built ties with Washington.

Suu Kyi met on Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to strengthen ties that have been challenged by Myanmar’s democratic reforms and the suspension of Chinese projects in the country.

Xi said he hopes Suu Kyi’s fiveday visit will boost “strategic cooperation between our two nations.”

“China attaches great importance to developing relations with Myanmar,” he said in the meeting at a government guesthouse in western Beijing. “We should adhere to the correct direction, to push for new progress of bilateral relations and to bring tangible benefits to the two peoples.”

Suu Kyi replied that “both sides are advancing relations and deepening mutual understanding and friendship.”

The fate of a stalled $3.6-billion dam project in northern Myanmar, funded primarily by Chinese energy interests, has been a key concern during the visit. Overwhelming local op-

23 killed by ordnances in Cambodia in 7 months

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) and Myanmar’s State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (left) hold a talk at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, on Friday. AP

position to the Myitsone dam project led Myanmar’s previous president, Thein Sein, to suspend it.

Chinese officials have pushed for Suu Kyi to restart construction.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday that the two countries agreed to try to find a “proper solution.”

Speaking to reporters earlier Friday, Suu Kyi said she had nothing new to announce concerning

the dam, which is to be reviewed by a recently formed commission on hydroelectric projects along the Irrawaddy River.

The dam is one of several Chinese-backed projects stalled due to protests by Myanmar citizens newly emboldened to speak out following democratic reforms, part of a larger backlash against China’s economic domination of its poor southern neighbor.

Suu Kyi leads Myanmar’s government with the title of state counselor after her party won elections last year.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent more than 15 years in detention, mostly under house arrest, under Myanmar’s former military junta, which was supported for years by the authoritarian Communist Party-led government in Beijing. AP

w ent y-thr ee Cambodians were killed by land mines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs) during the first seven months of 2016, remarkably up from only 12 deaths over the same period last year, according to a government report on Sunday.

However, the number of people wounded or limb-amputated declined 43 percent to 36 during the January-to-July period this year, from 63 over the same period last year, said the report from the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority.

Some 50 accidents were recorded in the seven months of this year, representing a decrease of 11 percent compared to the same period a year earlier, it said. “Sixty-six percent of the victims were men, 24 percent were boys, and the rest were women and girls,” the report said.

Cambodia is one of the worst land mine-affected countries in the world.

An estimated 4 million to 6 million land mines and other munitions were left over from nearly three decades of war that ended in 1998. PNA/Xinhua

A6

Monday, August 22, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Congo electoral commission says vote should be delayed

K

INSHASA, Congo—Voter registration for Congo’s November presidentia l election will not be completed until next year, the electoral commission president said on Saturday, suggesting that the vote should be delayed.

Independent National Electoral Commission President Corneille Nangaa said a voter register cannot be ready until at least July 2017, because of logistical problems in registering more than 30 million voters, and because of a lack of funds.

The electoral commission started the registration process in Congo’s northwest on July 31.

The opposition has expressed concern that President Joseph Kabila would delay the November 27 elections in order to remain in power beyond his mandate, which ends in December.

Kabila, who has held power since 2001, is barred from running for a t hird ter m under Congo’s constitution. The constitutional court in May said the president should remain in office until a new leader is elected.

Kabila has not spoken out about his political future.

“The electoral commission does not intend to be in violation of the constitution and took action by launching a revision of the electoral roll,” Nangaa said.

The delay is likely to cause further tensions with opposition parties, which have been calling for on-time, free and fair elections.

Jean-Baptiste Bomanza, the deputy coordinator of a coalition of opposition parties, called for the publication of an electoral calendar that “respects the constitutional deadline.”

An African Union-appointed mediator, Edem Kodjo, said dialogue would begin on Tuesday on a new electoral timeline.

The opposition parties put forth requirements for their participation in a national dialogue on elections, including the release of political prisoners.

Congo’s minister of justice on Friday pardoned 24 people whom the opposition considered political prisoners. Since Congo won independence from Belgium in 1960, there has never been a peaceful, democratic transition of power. AP

Fight vs parasites may force closure of Yellowstone River for months

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ILLINGS, Montana—Closures on a 183-mile stretch of the Yellowstone River and hundreds of miles of other waterways could continue for months while biologists try to prevent the spread of a parasite believed to have killed tens of thousands of fish.

The closures will remain until the waterways improve and fish stop dying, according to officials from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The ban includes all fishing, rafting and other river activities.

Officials are now worried the fish kill could have a lasting impact on the Yellowstone’s reputation as a world-class trout fishery that draws visitors from around the world.

The closures extend to hundreds of miles of waterways that feed into the Yellowstone, including the Boulder, Shields and Stillwater rivers.

No dead fish were found inside Yellowstone National Park, where a celebration of the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary is set for next week and no closures were planned there. AP

The World BusinessMirror

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Chinese ships, planes hold war games in Sea of Japan B

EIJING—Chinese planes and ships held war games in the Sea of Japan last week, the military said, during which Beijing displayed its latest-generation frigate at a time of bitter territorial disputes with Asian neighbors.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement on its web site late Saturday the long-range exercises staged on Friday pitted a red army against a blue one in a simulated bomber attack on a naval task force.

It quoted the commander of an unidentified flight wing under the East Sea Fleet, Zhang Wenzhong, as saying the planes found, identified and struck their targets in a “radically short time.”

The statement made no mention of what sort of conflict the exercise was intended as a response to, prospective foes or why the Sea of Japan was chosen as the location of the drills. However, China has grown increasingly assertive over its claim to a chain of uninhabited islands controlled

by Japan, recently dispatching more than a dozen coast guard vessels as Chinese fishing vessels swarmed the surrounding waters.

The ministry said the main ships involved in the exercise were the Jingzhou, a latest-generation type 054A class stealth frigate of which China is planning to deploy more than two dozen, and the

type 052C destroyer Xi’an. The ministry said aircraft were guided to their targets with the aid of early warning planes.

Other ty pes of aircraft involved weren’t identified, although China has been touting the capabilities of its latestgenerat ion long- ra nge H- 6K strategic bomber equipped with the DH-20 land-attack cruise missile, giving it the ability to hit targets as far away as Australia. Only Russia and the US are currently able to launch cruise missiles from the air.

Along with its island dispute with Japan, China is involved in an intense rivalry with the US over military dominance in the region.

Tensions in the South China Sea have also risen after China refused to accept an international arbitration panel’s ruling invalidating its claim to virtually the entire strategic water body. China plans joint naval exercises with Russia in the South China Sea next month, a move criticized by the head of the US Pacific fleet as increasing instability in the region. AP

In this July 8 file photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a Chinese missile frigate launches an air-defense missile in the waters near south China’s Hainan Island and Paracel Islands, as the Chinese navy holds a week of military drills around the disputed islands. AP

30 killed, 94 hurt Turkey PM open to Assad’s Officials: in wedding attack in Turkey role in Syria transition phase A 2.7 million I STA NBUL —Turk ish Pr ime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday his country is willing to accept a role for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a transitional period, but insisted he has no place in Syria’s future.

T he comments came after Assad’s forces began attacking Kurdish positions this week, leading some Kurdish officials to speculate that a Syrian-Turkish rapprochement was under way at the expense of Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria.

“There will be concessions on the Kurdish question,” said Nasser Haj Mansour, an adviser to the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, which expelled the Islamic State group from their northern Syrian stronghold of Manbij this month. “I do not know where this will lead.”

Turkey is one of the main supporters of rebels fighting to overthrow Assad, and hosts more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees.

But Istanbul is concerned about the growing power of US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces across the border and opposes any moves toward Kurdish autonomy or independence. The Syrian government, too, has grown uneasy with the Kurdish forces in the north, who enjoy close relations with the US government, an open antagonist of Syria’s Assad.

Damascus has largely refrained from attacking its homegrown Kurdish forces, which have successfully defeated the Islamic State group in multiple battles while expanding their own autono-

The total number of Syrian refugees in Turkey

mous footprint. However, on Friday the Syrian military’s General Command released a statement referring to the Kurdish Asayesh internal police force as the “military wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK].”

The military’s statement appeared to be a concession to the Turkish government, which is battling its own Kurdish insurgency in the southeast and has long pressed the Syrian government to label the Syrian Kurdish political movement as an extension of Turkey’s outlawed PKK. Speaking to foreign media representatives in Istanbul, Yildirim said Turkey would aim to become more of a regional player with regard to Syria in the next six months.

“Could Syria carry Assad in the long term? Certainly not,” Yildirim said. “The United States knows and Russia knows that Assad does not appear to be someone who can bring [the people] together.”

“There may be talks [with Assad] for the transition. A transition may be facilitated. But we believe that there should be no [Kurdish rebels], Daesh or Assad in Syria’s future,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

“In the six months ahead of us, we shall be playing a more active role,” Yildirim said. “It means not

allowing Syria to be divided along ethnic lines...ensuring that its government is not based on ethnic [divisions].”

Fighting erupted between the Kurdish Asayesh forces and the Syrian military this week over control of the northern city of Hasakeh, with Syrian warplanes raiding Kurdish positions inside the city, a first for the five-yearlong Syrian war.

The escalation prompted the US to scramble jets to protect International Coalition forces embedded with the Kurds. The US has 300 special operating troops embedded with the Kurds, according to the US government.

US Navy Captain Jeff Davis said on Friday the US would do what was needed to protect coalition forces.

“The Syrian regime would be well advised not to do things that would place them at risk,” he said.

Mansour said Syria’s Kurdish forces have not received any official protection guarantees from the US government. However, the US is known to use three airstrips in the predominantly Kurdish northern Syrian territory, while a top US general, Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command, visited Kurdish forces there in May. Fighting continued in Hasakeh on Saturday with Kurdish forces attempting to push the Syrian government’s National Defense Forces militia out of the city’s center. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported 26 people had been killed in the fighting, among them 10 children and four women. AP

NKARA, Turkey—A bomb attack targeting an outdoor wedding party in southeastern Turkey killed at least 30 people and wounded 94 others, authorities said on Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said the “ barbaric” attack in the city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, on Saturday appeared to be a suicide bombing. Other officials said it could have been carried out by either Kurdish militants or Islamic State (IS) group extremists.

Photos taken after the explosion showed several bodies covered with white sheets as a crowd gathered nearby.

The Gaziantep governor’s office early Sunday raised the death toll from 22 to 30. It said the number of wounded remained at 94.

Turkey has been rocked by a wave of attacks in the past year that have either been claimed by Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party—known by its acronym PKK— or were blamed on IS. In June suspected IS militants attacked Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing 44 people.

The attack comes as the country is still reeling from last month’s failed coup attempt, which the government has blamed on USbased Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers.

Earlier this week, a string of bombings blamed on the PKK that targeted police and soldiers killed at least a dozen people. A fragile, two-and-a-half yearlong peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed last year, leading to a resumption of

the three-decade-long conflict.

Simsek, interviewed on NTV television, said, “This was a barbaric attack. It appears to be a suicide attack. All terror groups, the PKK, Daesh, the [Gulen movement] are targeting Turkey. But God willing, we will overcome.” Daesh is an Arabic name for the IS group.

Simsek later traveled to Gaziantep along with the country’s health minister to visit the wounded and inspect the site of the attack.

“This is a massacre of unprecedented cruelty and barbarism,” he told reporters in Gaziantep. “We are united against all terror organizations. They will not yield.”

He told reporters it was too soon to say which organization was behind the attack.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned the bombing that turned “a wedding party into a place of mourning” and vowed to prevail over the “devilish” attacks.

“No matter what this treacherous terror organization is called, we as the people, the state, and the government will pursue our determined struggle against it,” he said.

A brief statement from the Gaziantep governor’s office said the bomb attack on the wedding in the Sahinbey district occurred at 10:50 p.m.

Mehmet Tascioglu, a local journalist, told NTV television, that the huge explosion could be heard in many parts of the city.

The police sealed off the site of the explosion and forensic teams moved in. Hundreds of residents gathered near the site chanting “Allah is great,” as well as slogans denouncing attacks. AP

A BusinessMirror Special Feature

FARM TOURISM

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, August 22, 2016 A7

Farm tourism turns farming into fun, creative and profitable business A

By Leony R. Garcia

out without a big, well-marketed launch. Do a one-time event—a tasting, a farm-to-table dinner, a fall hayride—and see how it goes over. Start small and build one attraction or event per year or season. Be flexible so that you can achieve your goals with the least amount of capital invested.

gritourism, now more popularly known as farm tourism, means diversifying and adding any income-generating activity conducted on a working farm for the enjoyment and education of visitors.

This could mean anything from pony rides to having guests stay in cottages on the farm and help with chores. Here are more ideas and activities that can be done in farm tourist sites: horseback riding, wildlife viewing, winery/chocolate/ milk and cheese-making tours, forest tours, camping, fishing, exotic farm animals, petting zoo, roadside stand, festivals and fairs, bed and breakfast, agricultural products exhibits, wagon rides, school tours, game preserve, youth camp, corn maze and hiking trail.

Thanks to the former Tourism Secretary Mina Gabor and her school, the International School of Sustainable Tourism (ISST), which, over the years, has promoted farm tourism in the country through the farm tourism conferences it holds every year. In fact, the fourth Farm Tourism Conference and Farm Tourism Market Festival held from July 14 to 16 this year in Tagaytay proved to be the largest in terms of attendance—with over 500 farm owners, farmers, wannabes, suppliers, educators, hobbyists, community workers and local government units (LGUs) leaders and representatives in attendance to further develop their properties and communities as a sustainable tourism product.

Add business activities to traditional farming to develop new sources of income

Farm tourism can provide many benefits to the small farmer. It can help with his or her cash flow, especially if he can run the

business during the typical off season. It can also help with networking and community building. It can help establish him as an expert in the area.

Farm diversification can be a complex process but can be very rewarding. If you are wondering whether to diversify, and how you might do so, you are advised to seek independent advice. The ISST can help you on this. You can also receive professional advice from a government adviser or community agriculturists.

Other benefits of diversifying your farm include making better use of your farm’s physical resources and characteristics, finding new uses for your existing skills, integrating your farm with—and recycling money within—the rural economy.

You will need to decide from the start what benefits you hope diversification will bring.

There are few limits on the kind of businesses you can diversify into. They can be either agricultural or non-agricultural, such as livestock products (producing and selling carabao or goat milk and cheese); crop products (growing and selling speciality flowers, pharmaceutical, herbal, or organic crops and related products, energy crops); retail outlets and catering (opening a farm shop); training and promotion of rural crafts (offering dry stone walling workshops, pottery); opening facilities for craft making and retailing; and tourism (opening land up for camping or a bed and breakfast).

Think of your visitors

One key to having a successful farm tourism business is to consider who your ideal customer is.

Do you plan to offer school tours?

Are you looking to lure in seasonal travelers to the area? Do you want motorcoaches and large tour groups to come to your farm? Or are you looking to create U-pick for locals to frequent? These are the key questions for you to answer.

Make sure someone who enjoys interacting with people and who is friendly, enthusiastic and energetic is the lead person for interacting with visitors. Most important, you have a clean rest room complete with clean water and other amenities.

More tips for success

Gourmet Farms, Inc., has always been a staunch advocate of the welfare of Filipino farmers, the promotion of Philippine coffee, environment care, and healthy living.

Make a plan

Once you’ve figured out what farm tourism activities you are going to start with, you need to make a busi-

A farm tour like no other at the Gourmet Farms

I

’ve been to Gourmet Farms at least three times and I always find something new each time I visit. Of course, there’s always the cool breeze, healthy cuisine and peace and quiet nourishing mind and body of any visitor, owing to its location on Aguinaldo Highway in Silang, Cavite, 45 kilometers or about two hours’ drive from Manila.

Gourmet Farms offers activities that will rekindle your appreciation of nature and its bounty. The place sits on a sprawling 10-hectare estate, six hectares of them devoted to organic farming. Romaine and green ice lettuce compete for space alongside culinary herbs tarragon, curry parsley, flat parsley, lemon balm, citronella, dill and basil.

Mondays through Fridays, students and professionals can opt for a farm tour that includes lettuce picking and herb planting a salad demonstration from professional chefs at Gourmet’s main restaurant, The Dining Room; free drinks, and a 5-percent discount on Gourmet Farms Inc. products at the old Cafe, now known as the Country Store.

The estate used to be an orchid farm until it was turned into a coffee-roasting facility in the early 80s. From 1980 to 1985, the company behind the estate was the biggest coffee trader in the country. The owner, Escaler Company Inc., decided to develop the taste for fine coffee in the Philippines by roasting it and telling people to drink brewed coffee.

At the back of the estate, a coffeeroasting facility was built to help farmers affected by the diminished demand for coffee in the global market. ECI would be buying the raw coffee beans from farmers, roast and package them for sale.

Today, roasted coffee, organic lettuce and herbs, as well as salad dressings, pasta sauces and indigenous tea, have become household names under the Gourmet’s and Kitchen Exclusives brands—all of which are also available at the Country Store by the roadside of Gourmet Farms.

The Country Store, which remains a favorite stopover for pasalubong, also serves salads, sandwiches, pastries and, of course, the famous Gourmet’s brewed coffee.

Aside from coffee and pasta, a doyour-own veggie salad are highly recommended in this place.

It was on my third visit that I discovered St. Joseph Sanctuary or simply The Sanctuary—a landscaped compound composed of a 10-room guest house, a chapel, a conference center and an outdoor pavilion.

The sight of trees, flowers, plants, grass lawn, a duck pond and meandering streams in the area is guaranteed to soothe one’s nerves.

The Sanctuary is the venue of a weekend program called “Solitudo,” a spiritual retreat combined with the wellness aspect of physical detoxification. The idea is to create a spiritual and physical experience of cleansing to jumpstart the body into a healthier lifestyle and a clean spirit.

A Jesuit priest presides as retreat moderator, while meals consist of loading up on vegetables and juices for the physical detox. Arrangements can also be made for groups of 10 to 15.

Indeed, a visit to Gourmet Farms, whether for a few hours or a weekend, is satisfying for the mind, body and soul. Leony R. Garcia

ness plan around this new aspect of your small farm business. Word of mouth can be very helpful with farm tourism, so don’t neglect this

as a potential marketing tool.

Also, you don’t have to launch big. You can do a “soft opening,” where you start trying ideas

Here are some key things to think about when planning your farmtourism business: nMatch up the time, talents and resources on your farm with an agritourism idea nDecide who will be the main person on the farm who makes the plan nPlan the activities thoroughly before offering them to the public nKnow who your ideal customer is and what they expect nSet goals for income to measure your progress over time nStart small and grow a little each year nConsider all the risks and plan for emergencies

A8 Monday, August 22, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

briefs

Authorities grab 604 kg of cocaine in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador— Authorities in El Salvador have seized 604 kilograms of cocaine from a go-fast boat and arrested the two men aboard following a lengthy highseas chase. The Salvadoran navy was assisted in the operation by antinarcotic police agents. A man from Honduras and another from Ecuador were detained on suspicion of drug trafficking.

The Defense Ministry said on Saturday that the seizure was carried out the previous day in Salvadoran waters in the Gulf of Fonseca, which it shares with neighboring Honduras and Nicaragua. AP

Brother of Syrian boy wounded in Aleppo dies

BEIRUT—Opposition activists say the brother of a wounded Syrian boy who gained international attention has died. The Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that Ali Daqneesh, 10, died the day before from wounds sustained in the same air strike on a rebel-held neighborhood in Aleppo. Syrian activists released haunting footage showing Omran Daqneesh, 5, rescued from a partially destroyed building in the aftermath of the air strike on late Wednesday in the northern city, which has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks. Omran was treated and later discharged. AP

Gunmen kill two policemen in Egypt

CAIRO—Egypt’s state news agency says gunmen have shot and killed two policemen at a checkpoint north of Cairo.

MENA said another three police and two civilians were wounded in the attack early Sunday in the Nile Delta governorate of Menoufiya. No armed group immediately claimed the attack and the authorities said they were investigating. Egypt saw a wave of attacks mainly targeting security forces after the military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. The violence has diminished in recent months, but an Islamic State affiliate still operates in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. AP

8 dead bodies reported dead in Veracruz field

MEXICO CITY—Mexican authorities say that eight dead bodies were abandoned in a field in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. A statement from state prosecutors says security forces were in pursuit of several vehicles in the city of Alto Lucero on Friday. It says the bodies were “abandoned” along with 12 vehicles and the scene was placed under military guard. The unidentified dead include seven men and one woman. There were no arrests. The prosecutor’s office statement did not say on Saturday whether there was a shootout or give further details. AP

Prize-winning author Joyce Carol Thomas dead at 78

STANFORD, California—Joyce Carol Thomas, a prize-winning children’s author and champion of multiculturalism, has died. She was 78. Thomas died on August 13 at Stanford University Medical Center in California of cirrhosis of the liver stemming from a bad blood transfusion decades ago, according to her sister, Flora Krasnovsky. Thomas was best known for her debut book, Marked

by Fire, an autobiographical novel set in her native Oklahoma that won the 1983 National Book Award and the American Book Award, which highlights diversity in literature. Other works included Bright Shadow, Broomwheat Tea and The Blacker the Berry. AP

Trump campaign doubles spending, not ground game

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ASHINGTON—Donald Trump’s campaign expenses more than doubled last month, even as the Republican presidential nominee held his payroll to about 70 employees, aired zero television advertisements and undertook no significant operational buildout across the country.

Instead, about ha lf of the c a mpa ig n’s $18. 5 m i l l ion i n spending was vacuumed up by Gi les-Parsca le, a Web desig n and marketing firm new to national politics, Federal Election Commission filings show. It’s a crossover vendor from Trump’s real-estate organization.

T he c a mpa ig n pa id Gi les Parscale $8.4 million in July, about twice what the San Antonio firm had collected from it over the course of the preceding year.

Brad Parscale, the president, is the campaign’s director of digital marketing. The big expense came as Trump put a new emphasis on online fundraising, after paying for his primary run mostly out of his own pocket.

Mil lions more went to air travel. The campaign paid about $2 million for private jets other

$8.4M The amount Donald Trump’s campaign paid in July to Giles-Parscale, a Web design and marketing firm new to national politics

than Trump’s own TAG Air, which also collected $500,000. Some of Trump’s consultants are also mysteriously well-paid.

Chess Bedsole, the campaign’s Alabama state director, was paid $64,000 last month for field consulting. His last campaign payment was for $15,000 last December. Yet, the campaign’s payroll remained thin, and there

did not appear to be much new in the way of office leases across the country, including in critical battleground states, such as Ohio.

Trump has relied heavily on the Republican National Committee for conventional campaign infrastructure. And he’s boasted of holding the line on his campaign spending. But he’s running critically low on time to build an operation that can compete with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

In addition to being ahead of Trump in polls in key states, Clinton has maintained a staff of about 700 for months, opened up offices across the country and already spent $67 million on general election ads. Trump put out his first ads days ago, spending $5 million to air them in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Her campaign spent $38 million in July, about double his spending.

Clinton can afford to spend more than Trump, the July campaign finance reports show. Her campaign raised $52 million, while his brought in $37 million for the month, including a $2-million contribution from Trump himself.

T he c a nd id ates a l so ra i se money for their parties, enabling them to ask for contributions far higher than the $2,700-perdonor limit to the campaigns.

Overall in July, Clinton raised $90 million for her campaign

and Democratic partners, while Trump raised $80 million for the campaign and Republican groups. Trump did bring aboard some new campaign consultants in July. He paid $100,000 to Cambridge Analytica, a deep-dive data firm that did business with GOP opponent Ted Cruz. Hedgefund billionaire Robert Mercer, who contributed $2 million to a pro-Trump super political action committee in July, is an investor in Cambridge.

The Trump filings also show some old ties.

Two weeks after the ouster of campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign cut his firm, Green Monster Consulting, another $20,000 check. That’s about the same amount it had paid him each month while he was running the campaign.

At the time of the latest payment, Lewandowski was already on the payroll of CNN, where he is a political contributor.

The campaign also paid Trump Organization employee Meredith McIver, who has worked as a Trump ghostwriter over the years. She took credit—and then blame—for writing Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention that included similar lines from Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The campaign valued McIver’s time, accounted for as payroll from the Trump Organization, at $356.01. AP

The W

Business

1995 China talk helped Clinton forge identity on world stage

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EW YORK—Flying across the Pacific on an Air Force jet bound for Beijing, first lady Hillary Clinton huddled deep into the night with a few aides and advisers, honing her speech for the UN Fourth World Conference on Women.

It was 1995, and it had been a bruising first few years in the White House: Troopergate, Travelgate, Whitewater.

Not to mention the failure of her own high-profile effor ts—unprecedented for a first lady—to reform the nation’s health-care system.

Even her trip to China provoked controversy. There were objections in some quarters to a first lady wading into tricky diplomatic waters and addressing issues, like human-rights abuses. Some in Congress called the conference “antifamily” and felt the United States shouldn’t be attending at all. Some feared offending the Chinese with criticism; others feared the hosts might use the US participation—and the first lady’s—as propaganda.

In the end, Clinton decided to make the trip, hoping to “push the envelope as far as I can on behalf of women and girls.”

“All eyes were now on Beijing, and I knew that all eyes would be on me, too,” she writes in her memoir, Living History.

But as she rose to the podium, and even after she had stepped down to thunderous applause, Clinton had no idea the impac t the moment would have, she says. More than two decades later, that 21-minute speech—with its declaration that “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights”—remains one of her signature moments in public life.

It also stands out as a moment Clinton began to truly forge an identity as a public figure on the world stage apart from her husband. “It gave her a platform that was instantly recognizable, one that she could utilize in a very efficacious way to make a difference,” says Melanne Verveer, Clinton’s chief of staff at the time. AP

This volatile Haiti slum is undergoing a makeover P ORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti— At the top of the hill where an old colonial fort overlooks the immaculate grounds of a razed presidential palace, newly built sidewalks and widened alleys lead into new residential communities being shaped by tree-lined courtyards, indoor plumbing and towering condominium-style apartments.

Below, bulldozers move listlessly from one partially built concrete structure to another along a once battered Rue Estime, as construction workers beat back scorching heat and hammer as fast as they can. “Imagine if all of the houses were like this,” Ulrick Gilles, a 40 year-old unemployed husband and father, said from the confines of his newly constructed, government-subsidized, second-floor apartment in one of this capital’s most quakeravaged neighborhoods. “Even if you couldn’t call it a paradise, it would still allow people to live better lives.”

A haphazardly built and volatile slum that foreign donors and international aid groups once shunned, Fort National is getting a long-overdue makeover courtesy of a little-used coproperty law that finally allows Haitians like Gilles, who lost his house in the cataclysmic January 12, 2010, earthquake, to be homeowners again.

Disaster zone

THOUGH the law initially came into existence in 1974 and was strengthened in 2009, it wasn’t until former President Michel Martelly issued more protections in a 2011 executive order that the government and international community dared use it. “ You’re s low ly s e e i n g t he transformation of a neighborhood,” said Claude-Andre Nadon, senior program manager with the United Nations Office for Project Services (Unops), which has built 600 new housing units and repaired more than 1,200 in eight

the chaotic landscape of vacant plots and sweltering tin and tarpcovered shacks to be transformed.

“Haitians are no different from a guy in Miami or Canada. They want to live in a decent home,” Nadon said. “[Eventually] they understood that in order to have something like this, you need space. You need space to put septic tanks, you need space to have water pipes coming in, you need space to have the trees. After a while they get it.”

Rural mode

Fritzner Oriol’s two-story tin shack sits in a courtyard of newly constructed concrete houses in Fort National, Haiti. He says a sister refused to agree to getting the house rebuilt. United Nations-hired workers did, however, repair his home. Jacqueline Charles/Miami Herald/TNS

neighborhoods since the earthquake left 1.5 million homeless.

“This place was a disaster zone.”

Fort National’s transformation comes as 61,302 Haitians continue to live underneath squalid tents, and as Haiti and foreign donors continue to face enormous challenges in providing permanent housing amid dwindling aid dollars and a deepening political crisis.

Completely changed

THE country’s failure to replace the 100,000 houses leveled by the quake by all accounts has been the biggest failure of the reconstruction response. Haiti and US-financed housing projects have been slammed for shoddy construction and unaccountable contractors, while both governments also have come under fire for failing to follow through on housing goals.

But if there’s anything close to a

model of the lessons learned over the years, it is Fort National. The construction of almost 300 single and condo-style units, installation of streetlights and the rehabilitation of water kiosks and streets may seem small. But supporters note that it’s changing the façade of an informal settlement, and providing employment and training to locals in proper and antiseismic construction techniques.

“I am not just hiring five guys; I am hiring everyone from the neighborhood,” Nadon said. “So when that guys asks for an extension [on his single unit] he’s going to ask the foreman and that foreman now knows how to do it properly. Their way of building has completely changed.”

Clement Belizaire, executive director of Haiti’s Housing and Public Buildings Construction Unit, said: “The housing is very nice; well-built. The engineer-

ing? A-plus. But the real success of Fort National and everything that has had to do with housing is the change of mentality.”

Decent home

NADON and his team first visited National in 2011.

They spent three years negotiating with gang leaders and community residents to launch the project, and then with skeptical residents to give up their plots and shacks—sometimes barely larger than a bedroom—in exchange for decent corridors, public spaces and a 376-square-foot apartment.

“In lot of cases people didn’t want to move,” he said. “All would say, ‘Haitians don’t like living on the second floor; they don’t want to live together.’”

Eventually, many would agree.

Some would even donate as much as 80 percent of their land back to the community in order to allow

BELIZAIRE, the housing czar, said the coproperty law makes a lot of sense in a densely populated Haiti, but “the social mobilization to get people to think rationally and not selfishly” is quite a challenge.

“We’re living in the city and we want to live in rural mode,” he said. “Everybody wants to have their own yard; everybody wants to have their own house; nobody wants to share walls with neighbors. When you share a wall, you cut the costs. We have to start thinking multlevel housing.”

T he concept first surfaced months after the quake when t he n - P re s id e nt R e ne P re v a l vowed to rebuild Fort National.

Preval dispatched government bulldozers to remove r ubble.

He a l so a sked i nter n at ion a l aid organizations to redirect cash-for-work dol l a rs to t he slum, and he tapped the head of his state construction agency—and eventual presidential pick—Jude Celestin to bui ld 2-by-3-feet wide units for 6,000 d ispl aced fa m i l ies. Celest i n, an engineer who is once more seek ing t he presidenc y, pro posed constructing multistor y apartments instead. Some $174 million was approved for Fort Nat iona l ’s reconstr uct ion by the parliament as part of the budget, and the no-bid contract was given to a firm owned by powerful Dominican Sen. Felix Bautista. Miami Herald/TNS

World

sMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Monday, August 22, 2016

A9

Tunisia’s PM replaces finance minister as new Cabinet talks wrap up

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unisia’s Prime Minister-designate Youssef AlShahed elevated a former business development official to the post of finance minister, as weeks of consultations on a new national unity government in the North African nation wrap up.

Shahed retained the incumbent ministers of defense, justice, foreign affairs and tourism in his new Cabinet, which still needs the parliament’s approval. Obaid Briki, a former labor union activist, was named minister of public service and governance. Prime Minister Habib Essid was dismissed by lawmakers in July amid criticisms of his government’s weak economic performance.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab spring, has avoided much of the unrest that hit neighboring Arab countries since 2011, and has been applauded internationally

for embracing democratic policies.

Still, economic growth remains elusive and unemployment is high, especially among young people, given the slow progress of economic reforms and a tourism industry hammered in 2015 by Islamic militant attacks that killed dozens.

The new finance minister, Lamia Zribi, 55, is the first woman to hold the post. She has served in the ministry for development and investment, and a director of Tunisia’s state bank focused on financing small and medium enterprises.

At a news conference, Shahed said the restr ucturing would help Tunisia fight against terrorism and corruption, and to balance security with development.

The new government more than doubles the number of women in senior roles, to eight from three, and has five members under 35.

Bloomberg News

New York farmers seek tax credit for donations to state’s food banks

In this July 11, 2012, file photo, a farmer holds a piece of his drought- and heat-stricken corn while chopping it down for feed in Nashville, Illonois. Scientists have connected man-made climate change to extreme weather, including deadly heat waves, droughts and flood-inducing downpours. AP/Seth Perlman

A

LBANY, New York—Each year New York farmers give millions of pounds of apples, squash, corn or other agricultural products to the state’s food banks. Now they’re looking to get some credit for those good deeds—a tax credit.

Legislation awaiting action by Gov. Andrew Cuomo would offer farmers a tax break of up to $5,000 a year for donations to the regional food banks that serve hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters around the state.

Many farmers often donate surplus fruits and vegetables or products they can’t sell because of a superficial imperfection. Sometimes an apple is too small, a melon is too big, or a squash has a slight blemish.

“You can’t sell it, but it’s still a good squash and somebody can use it,” said Larry Eckhardt, who grows pumpkins, corn and other crops on his 1,100-acre farm in Rensselaer County. “To me as a farmer, and as a fellow resident of Earth, we need to help out whenever we can. Because there are some truly needy people out there.”

The federal government already offers a tax credit to farmers who donate goods to food banks. Several states have created their own tax credits, including California, Oregon and Colorado.

Food banks welcome the donations, which give struggling New Yorkers access to healthy fresh fruits and vegetables. Last year farmers donated 12 million pounds of food in New York, and advocates for emergency food programs say there’s an appetite for more. “ T here is w idespread need for fresh fruits and vegetables in New York ’s food emergency system,” said Susan Zimet, executive director of Hunger Action Network of New York State, which advocates for the state’s food banks. “Unfortunately, it is

often prohibitively expensive for farmers to donate their food due to steep harvesting, processing and transportation costs.”

An estimated 2.3 million New Yorkers rely on emergency food programs like the ones offered by food pantries, and more than a third of them are children. Nearly 3 million households in the state participate in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown poorer families are less likely to have access to fruits and vegetables, a cornerstone of a healthy diet.

Republican Sen. Rich Funke, the sponsor of the tax credit, said the tax credit seems like an obvious way to put the state’s agricultural resources to work.

“It’s a small thing that we can do to encourage farmers to donate,” he said. Lawmakers passed the tax credit last year, but it was vetoed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo for technical reasons, because lawmakers chose to handle it outside of the standard state budget-writing process. Supporters say the tax credit won’t cost the state more than $800,000 each year—a tiny fraction of the state’s $156-billion state budget. The credit remains a priority for the state’s Farm Bureau, which represents the state’s 35,000 farms.

Cuomo hasn’t weighed in on the bill so far this year, though his administration has taken other steps to give poor New Yorkers access to the state’s agricultural products. The state has expanded programs, allowing SNAP benefits to be used at farmers markets and has funded projects to locate farmers markets in low-income neighborhoods. The state is also working to use more New York farm products in school lunch programs. AP

Olympics head confirms no public money used for Rio after bailout

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he head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), wading into a sensitive domestic issue in recession-weary Brazil, said no public funds had been used to pay for the Rio de Janeiro Games, even after local and national officials stepped in to bail out the organizers.

“There is no public money in the organization of this Olympic Games,” IOC President Thomas Bach said at a news conference on Saturday, a day before the Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday. “The budget of the organizing committee is privately financed; there is no public funding for this.”

Bach’s comments seemed to be at odds, with a pledge this week of additional financing from Rio’s mayor, and come amid a cash crunch for the committee staging the event. Organizers had said the entire 7.4-billion reais ($2.3-billion) budget for the Rio Olympics and the Paralympics in September would be funded by private sources, including sponsorships, ticket sales and a grant from the IOC. Mayor Eduardo Paes this week pledged 150 million reais from

$2.3B The budget for the Rio Olympics and the Paralympics in September that was funded by private sources

Rio de Janeiro, and the government said state-owned companies would provide a further 100 million reais in emergency funding following severe budget cuts that threatened the Paralympics. That event will take place on a reduced scale, with some sites and media facilities scrapped.

Rio’s organizing committee

didn’t separate the budget for the two games, and has been on a cost-cutting drive for much of the past year to ensure it could keep to a promise to remain privately funded. The scale of the crisis was made public by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in recent days. The group said the participation of more than 50 nations was in doubt because a travel stipend of $8 million to participating nations had been delayed by more than a month.

‘Never before’

“Never before in the 56-year history of the Paralympic Games have we faced circumstances like this,” IPC President Philip Craven said on Friday. “Since becoming aware of the full scale of the problem, we have focused all of our efforts on finding solutions to the problems.”

Rio has spent billions on new stadiums and transport infrastructure to prepare for the first South American Olympics, with a final bill expected to be about $15 billion.

Those funds have come through a mix of private and public spending.

The games are winding down in a political and economic climate that no one envisioned when Rio was awarded the quadrennial sporting extravaganza in 2009.

President Dilma Rousseff has been suspended and is headed

for an impeachment trial in the Senate, and Brazil is mired in its worst recession in decades.

The host nation will beat its best gold medal tally if it can claim a sixth win. The Brazilian men’s soccer team plays Germany in the final on Saturday for gold.

It previously won five golds at the 2004 games in Athens. Assured of at least a silver in soccer, Brazil will equal to its record medal haul from London in 2012.

‘Much better’

Bach said the games provided a boost to Rio, adding that the city and its residents, known as Cariocas, had been largely ignored since the nation’s capital was moved to Brasilia in 1960.

“Imag ine if t h is sit u at ion would have continued like this,” Bach said. “Then imagine where Rio would be today. So this is why I am absolutely convinced that history or maybe the Cariocas from tomorrow will talk of the Rio de Janeiro before the games and the much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games.”

Spending on the event hasn’t pleased everyone, and pregames polls showed most Brazilians were opposed to stag ing the Olympics. The event has passed off without major incident, although ticket sales were sluggish at many venues. Bloomberg News

Uber tells investors it won’t pay above $2 billion for Lyft

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s Lyft Inc. was gauging interest from prospective acquirers, executives from Uber Technologies Inc. told investors in the past few weeks that the company wouldn’t pay more than $2 billion to purchase its main US ride-hailing competitor, people familiar with the matter said.

Uber didn’t make a formal offer, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. Uber had previously considered purchasing Lyft as far back as 2014, and the two San Francisco companies have discussed the prospect informally, one of the people said.

Despite executives f loating the $2-billion price tag, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has said

privately that he would not support such a deal because he believes it would face intense regulatory scrutiny, the person said.

Regardless, Lyft wouldn’t consider $2 billion to be a credible offer, another person familiar with the matter said. Recode reported on Friday that Lyft sought as much as $9 billion, but failed to secure serious interest. As fierce rivals, Uber has every incentive to downplay Lyft’s value to investors and has done so in the past. Lyft and Uber declined to comment.

A n i nvest ment f rom General Motors Co. early this year valued Lyft at $5.5 billion. GM and Lyft have held informal discussions about an acquisition in the past few months, people

familiar with the matter said.

GM suggested a price of at least $5.5 billion, but the talks never amounted to a formal offer, the people said. The Information, a technology web site, reported last week that Lyft rebuffed an approach from GM. The automaker declined to comment.

Ly f t has been work ing w it h Qat a ly st Pa r t ners to sol ic it i nt e r e s t f r o m p o t e nt i a l a c qu irers, people fa m i l i a r w it h t he mat ter sa id. In add it ion to U ber a nd GM, Ly f t held infor m a l t a l k s w it h A lph a b e t Inc., A ma zon.com Inc., Apple Inc. a nd C h inese r ide -ha i l ing g iant Didi Chu xing, the people sa id. T he New York Times re por ted on t hose d isc ussions

ea rl ier on Fr id ay.Last month Didi said it will acquire Uber’s China business after a costly, two-year battle. The deal is expected to breeze past Chinese regulators, which approved a merger last year of Uber’s two largest competitors there.

The antitrust environment in the US is far different. Competition between Uber and Lyft has made rides more affordable for Americans. Lyft has managed to claw market share away from Uber in major US cities this year, but at significant financial costs.

Lyft currently has $1.4 billion in cash, a person familiar with the matter said. That gives the company time to continue fighting independently. Bloomberg News

Tourism&Entertainment A10

BusinessMirror

Monday, August 22, 2016

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

AAP, Petron swing through Bohol B ohol i s o n e o f the countr y’s most sought-after tourist destinations because of its postcard-perfect Chocolate Hills powdery beaches, the iconic tarsier, and the picturesque Loboc River lunch cruise, to name a few.

The Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP), the country’s national auto club, swung through these exciting sights and sounds in the recent AAP-Petron Fly-Drive Caravan, themed “Exploring the Wonderland of Bohol.”

The event is the 13th of a tour series organized by AAP through its subsidiary firm AAP, Travel, and Petron Corp., which has been partnering with the group in its tours by providing its latest product, most notably the breakthrough fuel Petron Tri-Activ.

According to AAP President Augusto Lagman, the caravans have been touring various provinces to rediscover the countryside as part of promoting drive tourism, one of the auto club’s major thrusts.

He said the four-day southern sojourn provided the participants an amazing blend of natural wonders

and cultural marvels; colorful local flavors and ecological endeavors; and a profusion of heritage sites.

Supported by the provincial government of Bohol and the Department of Tourism’s Tourism Promotions Board, the caravan drove through the province’s major and emerging tourist spots.

The fly-drive junket is also supported by the municipal government of Batuan and Philippines AirAsia as the official carrier.

Day one took participants to the refreshing sight of unspoiled sleepy shores at the posh Bohol Beach Club, A AP’s home away from home, where they were welcomed by Panglao Municipal Mayor Leonila Montero.

The group forayed into the Raffia Loomweaving Room in Tubigon town, which produces exquisite home furnishings and accessories.

The visitors got a taste of the signature Boholano hospitality, with the welcome dinner and cultural show tendered by Gov. Edgar Chatto at the Abatan River Village in Cortes, a showcase for successful community-based ecotourism program.

The group later underwent the firefly cruise in the Abatan River, which abounds in lush mangroves.

On Day two, the caravaners motored to the all-time favorites, the Tarsier Sanctuary and Chocolate Hills, and were treated to a farmthemed organic lunch at Balay sa Humay, hosted by Batuan Mayor Antonino Jumawid.

The participants also experienced the much-talked-about lunch cruise at the scenic Loboc River, which puts together a countryside feast, onboard entertainment and a cultural encounter with the townsfolk.

T he g roup a lso sw ung by the Blacksmith Station and the 167-year-old Clarin Ancestral House in Loay, the Blood Compact Site in Tagbilaran City, Pamilacan Island in Baclayon, Hinagdanan Cave in Panglao, and the century-old parish churches of Baclayon and Dauin, which are undergoing restoration after the 2013 earthquake.

AAP will hold its year-ender caravan in a Cordillera swing in Benguet as part of the province’s founding anniversary celebrations in November.

The Automobile Association of the Philippines Caravan participants at Petron station

Loboc River Cruise participants dancing tinikling

Bohol beach club

Life in the South just got better with Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila

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o matter the season, there’s always a reason to visit the South’s scarlet gem: Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila.

Marcomm Manager Michael Anthony Sagaran (from left) and Executive Chef Martin Bower.

This August and September, experience the best of Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila: five-star accommodations, world-class service and sumptuous culinary creations.

We sat down with Executive Chef Martin Bower and Marketing and Communications Manager Michael Sagaran of Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila to tell us more about what’s in store for guests and diners this quarter.

‘Rain or Shine’ accommodation packages

If there’s one thing that Southerners do well, it’s the subtle art of relaxation.

Experience the laid-back lifestyle of the South at Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila with Rain or Shine accommodation packages starting at P3,999.

Relax, enjoy and recharge with an overnight stay or two in any of top-of-the-line guest rooms or suites with refreshing welcome drinks, buffet breakfast for two at Café Eight, and a 30-percent discount voucher on any of the Food & Beverage outlets—The Lobby Lounge, Deck Bar and Café Eight.

All availing guests of Rain or Shine staycation promo get a chance to win special vacation for two featuring a three-day, two-night stay at the luxurious Crimson Resort and Spa in Mactan City, Cebu, with roundtrip airfare for two. Booking online? Crimson’s Michael Sagaran has a tip: “Make sure to use the promo code ‘RainOrShine’ to avail yourself of our special rates and offers online at crimsonhotel.com/manila or simply call reservations at 863-2222, and look for AJ for more personalized

The Baby Barangay enjoying Rain or Shine staycation BABY BARANGAY AND CARLO LADESMA

assistance.”

Rain or Shine staycation promo is until October 31.

Wine and cheese to your heart’s content

Some people believe grapes were made for one reason, and one reason only: to make fine wine.

At Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila’s The Lobby Lounge, guests may avail themselves of the Unlimited Wine@The Lobby Lounge package and perfect the art of relaxation with soothing piano music all Fridays and Saturdays.

Savor free-flowing wines from the Land Down Under with a complimentary platter of imported cheese every day, from 7 to 9 p.m. Choose between two of the finest Willowglen wines—smooth yet complex Cabernet Merlot 2015 from Southeastern Australia, or light and fruity Chardonnay 2015 from Australia’s Riviera Region.

Michael Sagaran shares, “If you love deep berry flavors with a hint of oak and chocolate, go for the Cabernet Merlot. If you prefer a lighter drink with a fruity and refreshing tone, the Chardonnay is perfect.

But whichever bottle you choose, both wines go beautifully well with our complimentary cheese platter containing an irresistible array of imported cheeses, like savory and tangy Emmental from Switzerland, luxuriously creamy Camembert from France and all-time favorite Cheddar.”

In case you need more reasons to love wine and cheese, wine has been proven to have natural health benefits, like lowering one’s risk of cardiovascular diseases and brain de-

Rain or Shine staycation promo lowest at P3,999

cline. Meanwhile, all-natural cheese is rich in calcium and low in sodium, which contributes to stronger bones and helps prevent diabetes. How’s that for a healthy indulgence?

Enjoy the Unlimited Wine@The Lobby Lounge promo for P750 net per guest until September 30.

More delights from The Lobby Lounge

Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila’s homage to England continues with Afternoon Tea at The Lobby Lounge. Relax with tea from its wide selection of imported, high-quality flavored teas, and enjoy an assortment of British treats like canapés, sandwiches, pastries and scones with jam and clotted cream.

Afternoon Tea is available daily from 3 to 6 p.m. for P650 for two guests.

Looking for something sweet to go with your afternoon tea? The hotel is highly recommending trying out Cake of the Months at The

Lobby Lounge. For August, the Choco Mint Cake—made of mouthwatering chocolate sponge cake with dark and white chocolate glaze—takes center stage; then Cake of the Month for September—the lavish Cookies and Cream Cheesecake—will satisfy sweet tooth—a succulent cheesecake, chocolate sponge cake, topped with cream, white chocolate plus cookies and cream.

Café Eight feeds your culinary wanderlust

Guests are always in for an unforgettable treat at Café Eight, the heart of Crimson Hotel Filinvest City Manila’s Food & Beverage division.

For the entire month of August, let Café Eight take you on a flavorful trip to exotic Thailand with the Thai Food Festival. Enjoy timeless dishes from the “Land of Smiles,” like Pad Thai and Tom Yum, which will definitely put a smile on your face. To perfectly complement your Thai culinary experience, quench

Sabores de Mexico at Café Eight, to highlight favorite Mexican food for the whole month of September

September cookies and cream at The Lobby Lounge

your thirst with Thai Iced Tea for only P150 (net) per glass or try the Drink of the Month for August: Apple Bottom Gin. September sizzles muy caliente with the vibrant and robust flavors of Mexico with Sabores de Mexico.

Feast your eyes and tummies with festive Mexican favorites, like fajitas, burritos, tacos and more. The authentic Mexican fare goes well with Minted Lime Agua Fresca for only P150 (net) or Drink of the Month for September: Jack & Ginger.

Savor the flavors of Thailand and Mexico—plus over 50 other international dishes—only at P1,226 (net) for the lunch buffet and P1,533 (net) for the dinner buffet.

Weekends are extra special at Café Eight. The Family Sunday Brunch features multiple excellent culinary stations, where each family member will surely enjoy.

Famous for its unlimited US Wagyu Beef, the Café Eight’s Family Sunday Brunch is offering 50plus mouthwatering international dishes. The British Executive Chef Martin Bower shared that diners are treated to well-curated stations, like their Chinese station with hearty noodle soup and warm dim sum; the cold cuts station, featuring imported items from various parts of the world, like Serrano ham from Spain, Saucisson sausages from France and Salami from Italy; a pasta station, where you can create your very own pasta dish of your choice of sauce and toppings; and the sinfully delicious dessert station that’s hard to miss and absolutely impossible to resist.

“Familiar food items, such as mini beef burgers, mac and cheese, lava cake and chicken nuggets, are given a healthier twist, as the chefs prepare these from scratch using only natural preservative-free ingredients and more,” Chef Martin explains.

Families can bring their young ones and let them lose inside the especially designated play area, where Crimson Hotel’s trained staff will look after them while the grownups savor the dozens of delicious options laid out for the tasting. Face painting, balloon-twisting and kidfriendly films showings await kids at Café Eight.

“Children are given special treatment with a cool selection of kiddie treats to tickle their palate,” Sagaran said.

Aside from its fantastic feast and fun activities for the kids, diners will also get access to Crimson Hotel’s pool and deck area, where they can have more fun as a family—all of this for just P1,600 per guest.

Just minutes away via a smoothriding experience at the Skyway, located at the laid-back South of the Metro, where a balance of city living and lush green spaces can relax you in many ways, is the Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila refuge. For more information and reservations, crimsonhotel.com/manila. Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila is inside Entrata Urban Complex, 2609 Civic Drive, Filinvest City, Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Monday, August 22, 2016 A11

Bird’s Nest

WHEN YOU ARE IN BEIJING ‘W

Story & photos by Henrylito D. Tacio

hen you visit China, its vastness is difficult to comprehend. It is as large as the United States, but with four times as many people,” All-Asia Travel Guide says.

I have been to both countries and I can say that the description is apt. It is especially true in Beijing, China’s capital and the country’s political, economic, cultural, educational and international trade and communication center.

As one of the six ancient cities in China, Beijing has been the heart and soul of politics and society throughout its long history and, consequently, there is an unparalleled wealth of discovery to delight and intrigue travelers as they explore the city’s ancient past and exciting modern development. Italian explorer Marco Polo described its magnificence in glowing terms.

I had been to Beijing twice. The first time in 2015, when I joined a group of journalists who won in a journalism contest. The most recent one was two weeks ago. In each visit, I always found something new. So, here are some of the things you can do when you are in Beijing:

Get lost at Tiananmen Square. If you don’t pay attention, you will definitely get lost in the vastness of people around you. Thousands are scattered all over the place and so, don’t go too far from your group. The square contains the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.

Tia na nmen Squ a re, if you care to know, is within the top 10 largest city squares in the world (440,500 square meters).

The square, which means “gate of heavenly peace,” has great cultural significance, as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.

Take a closer look at The Forbidden City. Now called Gu Gong,

or Palace Museum, it covers an area of 100 hectares (extending 750 meters from east to west and 960 meters from north to south) and is surrounded by a moat. Just remember that when you go inside, you cannot come back; you have to finish the walk until the other end.

Constr ucted from 1406 to 1420, it ser ved as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years.

It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is listed

by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) as the largest collection of preser ved ancient wooden structures in the world.

Learn basic history at the Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420, dur-

ing the reign of Emperor Yongle, it covers an area of 2,730,000 sq m.

This was the site where emperors

Museum of Chinese history

Great Wall of China

Inside of the Forbidden Palace

of the Ming and Qing dynasties offered sacrifices to Heaven, prayed for rain and a good harvest.

The Temple of Heaven was inscr ibed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1998 and was described as “a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design, which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world’s great civilizations...” as the “symbolic layout and design of the Temple of Heaven had a profound influence on architecture and planning in the Far East over many centuries.”

Know Beijing well, its past, present and future. Due to the

construction of high office towers, the Olympic Water Cube and the Bird ’s Nest, Beijing is now known for its monumental architecture in novel shapes. But by visiting the Beijing Planning Ex hibition Ha l l, you can see what the city might look like in the near future. Opened to the public on September 9, 2004, it

features a scale model of the entire Beijing metropolitan area, as well as multimedia exhibits on the history, current situation and future of urban planning in Beijing. You can also learn about the city’s past. In fact, there are historical exhibits, maps and displays that instruct on the history of Beijing.

Watch the Legend of Kung Fu.

The Legend of Kung Fu: Return of the Dragon made its first appearance on the Beijing stage on July 15, 2004. Ever since, the show has received numerous awards and become a world-class spectacle known around the world.

Produced by China Heaven Creation, it tells the story of a young boy who dreams of becoming a Kung Fu master and to reach the sacred goal of enlightenment. He takes the path of a monk, in which he must face many obstacles, both from this world and his own mind, to overcome his fears and to become a true master of Kung Fu.

Pay the Bird’s Nest a visit. “Wonderfulness is right before you.

Bird’s Nest is always with you,” proclaims a sign at the entrance to the still magnificent 2008 Olympic Stadium. Since the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Bird’s Nest has become a new landmark for Beijing.

“One of the key engineering marvels in the world today,” the Bird’s Nest is the world’s largest steel structure and the most complex stadium ever constructed. The requirements for its design were that it had to be inspiring and be able to withstand an earthquake.

Scale the Great Wall of China.

“The Great Wall is one of the greatest feats of human engineering in the history of the world,” All-Asia Travel Guide notes. “The actual length of the wall is disputed, for, in fact, there is no single Great Wall of China. But in all there are some 20,000 kilometers of wall.”

Although it is far from the city proper, visiting this historical monument is worth it. Known to

TEMPLE of Heaven

the Chinese as the “Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li,” the formidable defensive structures built to ward off invasion of the Celestial Empire by barbarians. In 1987 the Great Wall of China was included by the Unesco in its World Heritage List.

AUSTRALIAN TRAVEL BAG PACSAFE LAUNCHES FIRST INTERNATIONAL FLAGSHIP STORE IN PHILIPPINES

F

By Marane A. Plaza

ilipinos today, especially millennials, have become even more adventurous and into travel—thanks to cheaper travel costs, more attractive local and international tourist destinations, and the social-media lifestyle that we all enjoy these days. Safety, including the protection of personal valuables, is and must always be a primary concern whenever one goes traveling, and that’s one thing that Filipino millennials know and prioritize.

“Millennials today travel a lot and most of them are backpackers from the BPO [business-process outsourcing] industry,” said Eros Enqiruez, marketing manager of Pacsafe Philippines. ” They are the type to go on short travels on weekends, and sometimes too tired from work and have the tendency to sleep inside public jeepneys while backpacking. That’s why they appreciate the safety features of Australian travel gear Pacsafe, because our bags truly make their holidays safer and more hassle-free,” Enriquez said.

This growing demand made the Philippines the top bag seller of Pacsafe travel essentials among other retailer locations in the world. Moved by this overwhelming patronage, Pacsafe has finally decided to open its first flagship store at the Glorietta 5 Ayala Malls in Makati City.

Pacsafe’s global presence

Top travel gear brand Pacsafe has been famous globally for its commitment to creating bags with explicit security features.

Built on the aspiration of safe travel by Australian Founders Rob Schlipper (CEO) and

Magnus McGlashan (president, Sales and Marketing), Pacsafe has been the pioneer of the travel security category since 1998.

The global brand has successfully trotted all over the globe with its direct sales strategies, delivering on its brand promise as the world’s most secure antitheft travel gear.

Being the only brand that focuses solely on travel security, Pacsafe has steadily moved up and gained solid industry leadership throughout the years, thanks to its trademark innovations like the eXomesh, followed by a series of award-winning technologies that are the core strengths of its ingenious product engineering. Pacsafe’s renowned reputation as a highly reliable travel gear brand made it a top choice among Filipinos.

The newly launched boutique—the company ’s first in the world and in S o u t h e a s t A s i a — w i l l i n c re a s e t h e availability of the company ’s range of products, which include adventure backpacks; urban and leisure bags; wo m e n’s b a g s ; p h o t o g r a p h y b a g s ; luggage and travel accessories, such as straps, cables and locks, all specifically designed to ward off pickpockets and bag slashers. Through this milestone store opening development, more Filipinos can now confidently look forward to safer and worry-free trips with Pacsafe smart travel gear made accessible in one convenient location.

“We are ver y happy and excited that, finally, we have opened our first flagship store in the world right here in the Philippines. Our avid supporters here and their strong reception to Pacsafe have been truly overwhelming, which

Phil Hayes, EVP, Product and Marketing (from left), Pacsafe HQ; Marion Charreyre, Creative Director, Pacsafe HQ; Dustin Lim, CEO, Pacsafe Philippines; and Graceson Craig, acoustic performer from I Love OPM

Pacsafe flagship store in Glorietta 5

is why we didn’t think twice in choosing the Philippines as location for our maiden outlet,” says Roshiela Sun, COO of Pacsafe Philippines.

#GoFearless with its antitheft advantage

Designed and engineered to protect your important stuff day and night, at work or play,

Pacsafe lets you unpack the stress of protecting your gear and, instead, pack peace of mind.

“We simply want people to have more fun.

By helping to keep your valuables secure, we free you from what’s holding you back, so you can focus on getting more out of now, and go anywhere, fearlessly,” notes Phil Hayes, (EVP, Product and Marketing, Pacsafe).

And because every travel is unique

a n d re q u i re s ex t ra p ro te c t i o n a n d detailed attention, Pacsafe has divided its product offerings into three categories to complement every individual endeavor: Adventure Collec tion (designed and engineered to help savvy globe trotters keep their valuables safe from the prying hands of pickpockets, and the “blink and you’ll miss ‘em” bag snatchers and slashers); Urban Collection (for city dwellers and people on the move who take fearlessly on the challenges of the concrete jungle— from the daily commute and power lunches with colleagues, to dinner and drinks on the town and business trips); and Leisure Collection (for consummate travelers and jet-setting vacationers who constantly want to enjoy regular time-outs as a way to relax, recharge and rejuvenate).

Designed to not only be one’s essential travel companion, Pacsafe travel gears are also designed to protect prized belongings from shady characters. “In fact, even seasoned travelers can still fall prey to petty criminals, like pickpockets and thieves. To minimize such risks or to avoid such unfortunate incidents from happening, one must always develop smart travel habits and, of course, invest in travel gears with built-in, fool-proof security features, as part of Pacsafe’s proud heritage, we continue to evolve both our technology and designs, so not only are our products engineered and tested to outsmart thieves and stand up to the rigors of travel, they’re simple and stylish enough for everyday use,” McGlashan says.

Sustainability efforts

As a way of giving back to the inspiration

where its adventure began, Pacsafe has extended its company’s global marine-turtle conservation advocacy in the country.

Pacsafe is donating a substantial amount to Bataan Peninsula Tourism Council Foundation Inc. for the preservation of the Pawikan Conservation Center in Morong, Bataan. The aid, according to Enriquez, is the brand’s sincere contribution to help protect and propagate safe and healthy oceans, coastlines and other environments that support marine life, most especially endangered sea turtles worldwide.

“At Pacsafe, the sea turtle symbolizes the intrepid, global traveler. The Pacsafe Turtle Fund, the CSR [corporate social responsibility] arm that supports various conservation advocacies by providing annual funding grants, perfectly represents our heart-felt tribute to this amazing marine animal,” Eros says.

To sustain the campaign in the country, Pacsafe is exploring various platforms to sponsor programs through partnerships with other conservation organizations.

So whether basking the great outdoors, exploring the world, or just bracing the daily hustle and bustle of modern city living, go fearless in your pursuits with Pacsafe smart travel gear.

Exclusively distributed in the countr y by United Limsun International Trading Corp., Pacsafe smar t travel b a g s a n d a cce s s o r i e s a re ava i l a b l e at the flagship store at G/F Glorietta 5 , Aya l a M a l l s, M a k at i C i t y. K n o w more about Pacsafe by visiting w w w. pacsafe.com or like its official socialm e d i a f a n p a g e o n Fa c e b o o k a n d Instagram: PacsafePH #GoFearless.

Science Monday

A12 Monday, August 22, 2016

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

Like an opioid without dangerous side effects

Scientists design a drug that relieves pain

OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vermont. AP/Toby Talbot

W

hat if you could design a drug that has all the pain-relieving power of mor phine, but none of its dangerous or addictive side effects? Scientists have spent years trying to do just that and on Wednesday they unveiled one of their most promising compounds yet—a chemical concoction they dubbed “PZM21.”

When tested in mice that were placed on a hot surface, PZM21 offered nearly as much pain relief as morphine and lasted for up to three hours. That’s “substantially longer” than morphine or other experimental drugs, the scientists wrote in the journal Nature.

Mice treated with PZM21 did not find it addictive, as evidenced by the fact that they were no more likely to return to a place where they got the drug than to visit a similar chamber where they could get a saline solution.

Plus, while the animals became hyperactive after a dose of morphine—considered a sign of the drug’s addictive power—they remained perfectly calm after getting a comparable dose of PZM21.

They also were less constipated, a side effect of opioid drugs.

But the drug isn’t perfect.

Like morphine and other opioids, PZM21 caused mice to slow their breathing to dangerously low levels. However, their breathing improved before the drug’s painkilling properties wore off. That’s in contrast to morphine, which continues to cause respiratory depression even after it allows pain to return.

The researchers, led by Dr. Aashish Manglik of the Stanford University School of Medicine and Henr y Lin of UC San Francisco, found their way to PZM21 by searching for a compound that would precisely fit a specific ty pe of opioid receptor in the brain and spinal cord.

T hey used power f u l computers to test more than 3 million

compounds, each in an average of 1.3 million configurations.

The top 2,500 contenders—representing 0.08 percent of the possible candidates—were checked manually. Among these, 23 were selected for further testing, of which seven were deemed most promising. The researchers then tested 500 analogs of three of them and narrowed the field to 15, then seven, then, finally, one.

But they weren’t done. They tweaked this compound, rearranging the atoms in the molecule to get the best possible fit. Their creation was PZM21.

In the tests with mice, the higher the dose of PZM21, the more pain relief they felt. Ultimately, the compound ameliorated 87 percent of their pain, compared with 92 percent for morphine, according to the study. Although their computer-assisted approach wasn’t able to find the optimal drug—one that had no effect on breathing—it did allow the researchers to create something that is tantalizingly close.

The need for such a drug is clear. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sales of prescription opioids, like morphine, OxyContin and Vicodin, have quadrupled since 1999, and so has the number of overdose deaths.

By 2014, the number of annual overdose deaths in America reached 14,000. The drugs send more than 1,000 people to US emergency rooms every day.

“An ideal opioid would kill pain potently without producing morphine’s harmful respiratory effects, would show sustained efficacy in chronic treatments and would not be addictive,” mole c u l a r biolog i st Br i g it te Kieffer, an expert on opiate receptors, wrote in an essay that accompanied the Nature study.

PZM21, she added, represents a step “toward this perfect drug.”

Los Angeles Times/TNS

2016 Best Invention awardee Melchor Heñosa (center) with lawyer Marion Ivy Decena (left), division manager of Invention Development Division of the Department of Science and Technology-Technology Application and Promotion Institute, and Redentor Noche during the signing of the memorandum of agreement for a financial assistance.

Best 2016 inventor gets DOST’s aid to commercialize invention

A

jeepney driver from Silang, Cavite, who found a solution to leaking brake fluid got a backto-back award from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) this year.

After bagging the Outstanding Invention (Tuklas) award for 2016 in July, Melchor R. Heñosa received another award in the form of financial assistance from the DOST-Technology Application and Promotion Institute (Tapi) for the commercialization of his invention named “Leak Sealing Valve [LSV] for Brake System of Motorized Vehicles.”

T hrough a memorandum of agreement (MOA) sig ned bet ween the DOST-Tapi, represented by Director Edgar Garc i a , a nd Heñosa , DOS T-Tapi w il l grant Heñosa P726,000 to cover the cost of raw mater ials and die-cast mold for the pro duction and commercialization of 40 sets, or 160 units, of his invention-product.

The project falls under the Invention-based Enterprise Development (IBED) and Industrybased Invention Development (IBID) Assistance programs. The MOA orientation was led by lawyer

₧726K The amount of the financial assistance given to inventor Melchor R. Heñosa through the memorandum of agreement he signed with the Department of Science and Technology-Technology Application and Promotion Institute

Marion Ivy Decena, division manager of Tapi’s Invention Development Division, with Mechelle Balboa, IBED program manager, and Redentor Noche, who witnessed the recent signing ceremony held at the Tapi Conference Room.

Meanwhile, as the beneficiary, Heñosa is responsible for the care and security of the production

facilities, raw materials and finished goods; provide the site and other facilities needed to implement the project; and allow designated staff of Tapi to access his workshop and other relevant information to assess the development and progress of the project.

Earlier, Heñosa bagged the Tuklas Award for Outstanding Invention during the DOST ’s 2016 National Invention Contest and Exhibit and brought home P150,000 cash, certificate and plaque, as well as the World Intellectual Property Organization gold medal.

This IBED project is Heñosa’s third from the DOST. Previously, Tapi and the DOST’s Metals Industry Research and Development Center provided him assistance for 70 pieces of LSV prototypes for testing purposes. Currently, the project is on its Component 2 for commercialization.

The idea began when Heñosa, who was a driver for almost 15 years, experienced and observed brake-fluid leakage while driving. Knowing the danger posed by such condition, he developed an anti-loose brake device to be attached along the fluid pipes of each wheel assembly, particularly for public-utility vehicle.

When a leak occurs, he said the device will automatically lock the damaged assembly and cut off the supply of brake fluid to it. Meanwhile, the remaining undamaged

wheel-brake assemblies continue to function.

“We are really promoting safety on the road. Because personally, as a driver for several years, I already know what the problem is, so I looked for a way to solve it,” Heñosa said in Filipino in an interview. The inventor also intends to upscale the project with the DOST-Technology Innovation for Commercialization Program for possible funding assistance. The planned upscaling would test and develop the LSV to be used for other types of vehicles besides jeepneys and automobiles, which are the current target market of the product.

Along with the MOA orientation, a Certificate of Completion was also awarded to Heñosa for completing the project “Pilot Production-cum-Market Testing of Leak Sealing Valve.”

Tapi is the DOST’s lead agency in providing technical consultancy and financial assistance to technolog y-based projects based on the institute’s mandate on technology transfer and commercialization. One of the policies recently instituted by Tapi for newly approved projects is to hold the signing of the MOA to orient proponents regarding their critical role in ensuring the successful implementation of the project as stipulated in the agreement. Alexandria Dennise

S. San Juan/S&T Media Service

Research, development works awarded at Los Baños SyenSaya

E

xceptional research and development (R&D) works were recognized at the recent SyenSaya, the Los Baños Science Hub, through its Los Baños Science Community Foundation Inc. (LBSCFI).

Recognized were the papers “Mapping and Monitoring Rice Areas in the Philippines: The Prism Project Experience of the International Rice Research Institute” and the “Bio-ecological Character ist ics of Mig rator y Waterbirds at Priority Wetlands in Relation to Climate Change” of the Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau.

The papers were awarded the Philippine Agriculture and Resources Research Foundation Inc. Research and Development Award and the F.S. Pollisco Award, respectively. Two new LBSCFI awards, the Youth Science Award and the Outstanding Research for Los Baños Development Award were also launched during the closing

ceremonies of the weeklong event.

Also highlighting the closing ceremonies was the turnover of LBSCFI stewardship by its outgoing president, Dr. Casiano S. Abrigo Jr. of the UPLB Foundation Inc. to Dr. Alexander R. Madrigal of the Department of Science and Technology, Region 4A. Jim Leandro Cano, Philippine country representative of the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development, key noted the event. Cano underscored the important role of science and technology institutions and their partners in changing the society through R&D initiatives, including the prompt delivery of their results to intended beneficiaries.

“Lack of knowledge is the cause of suffering among many of our people. The best measure of success of research is the number of lives that we have uplifted with the research output that we have developed,” Cano said. Dr. Danilo C. Cardenas, DOST-PCAARRD

deputy executive director for Administration Resources Management and Support Services, found significance in the holding of the National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) this year being the first among several things.

This year’s NSTW was the first to be held simultaneously in several locations (the four science communities in Bicutan, Taguig; Los Baños, Laguna; Quezon City; Manila; and 16 DOST regional offices) so that the DOST and its various agencies could efficiently reach its clients. For the first time, SyenSaya was celebrated during the NSTW and was held outside the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

More than 7,000 guests from various organizations, including academe, joined the event at the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) Complex that featured the DOST-PC AARRD

Innovation and Technology Center as a venue for showcasing of agri-aqua technologies following its initial opening in March of the Sipag Fiesta. Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora, DOST-PCAARRD acting executive director, lauded LBSCFI’s common effort, which has drawn the organization to a higher level of cooperation, commitment and aspirations for the common good.

Ebora summed up LBSCFI’s numerous accomplishments in terms of bringing science to the people of Los Baños as one of the tools of livelihood opportunities and for having helped in instilling in the youth the love for science.

E bora c h a l lenged t he L os Baños Science Community to explore the endless frontier of science as a source of vast opportunities for the Filipinos, particularly in determining what aspect of human activity can be made more convenient and productive through innovations.

The International Rice Research Institute team receives the Philippine Agriculture and Resources Research Foundation Inc. Research and Development Award. With them are Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora, DOST-PCAARRD acting executive director; and Dr. Casiano S. Abrigo Jr. of the UPLB Foundation Inc. Victor Oro

The Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau receives the F.S. Pollisco Award. Victor Oro

“PCAARRD continually rises to the challenge of community empowerment by addressing poverty through the needed science

and technology interventions for the agriculture, aquatic and natural resources sectors,” Ebora said.

Ricardo R. Argana/S&T Media Service

Green Monday BusinessMirror

BusinessMirror

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

Monday, August 22, 2016 A13

‘Let the Paris Agreement not be forgotten’

By Marilou Guieb Correspondent

‘W

here does your President [Duterte] stand on this [the Philippines’s pledge to the Paris Agreement on climate change]?” Frank Jotzo, deputy director of Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, popped this question during his lecture analyzing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by Asian countries in a recent climate-change forum held at the School of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

It is well known that after taking his oath, President Duterte had rather scathing remarks on climate change, saying that he had no intention of abiding by the pledges because the country is just beginning to industrialize.

In effect, he was saying the Philippines need to have a larger carbon footprint compared to other advanced countries that had squandered carbon emissions while developing their industries. President Duterte said he was not the one who signed the agreement. But a significant ideal given by Jotzo’s lecture may well have neutralized the defiance of Mr. Duterte, even before he had expressed them.

“No one likes to reduce economic growth.

What everyone wants to do is to take the pollution out of economic growth—have a decarbonized system. We want [economic] growth, but we want green growth.” Jotzo said. And the matrix that gets directly to that objective is the ratio of emissions to GDP. Each country has its own scheme to reach the agreed temperature and net emission by mid-century well-below 2° Celsius.

Jotzo said China and India have defined their targets in this matrix, as they are uncertain about their future rates of GDP growth.

“If it turns out that they grow really fast in years to come, then this kind of commitment gives them room in their emissions,” he said. “There are different value propositions based on what is politically, economically and socially feasible for every country and government,” Jotzo added.

Besides the ratio of emissions to GDP, another scheme is for all countries to have only so much emissions per capita. Each of the 189 countries that have made commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement have pledged to the global emissions reduction at 2°C by 2030 starting in 2020, and claim that they are consistent with the target. But because of the different values and schemes, most individual country pledges are not compatible with the 2°C expected outcome when all the pledges are added up.

“It comes out at 3°C,” Jotzo said.

“There’s a mismatch,” Jotzo said, adding that there’s a need to make every country understand that more needs to be done—and can be done.

Jotzo gave as an example his chosen home country, Australia. He said Australia is usually in the category of “not enough” because there is a commitment to reduce emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent.

“That, by itself, is a significant ambition.

However, Australia is the highest per-capita emitter among the major countries and also among the richest countries in the world and, therefore, will be easy for them to pay for some action,” he said.

Australia also uses a lot of coal energy, even while it has unlimited potential for renewable energy—wind solar, wave, biomass. But this will cost a lot of money so politicians are reluctant, he said. Each government looks into different schemes and chooses one that has them doing very little. It’s a typical political process, Jotzo said.

Fair share

But Jotzo also stressed the significance of fair share, as in the case of the Philippine pledge.

The key aspect of the pledge, he cited, is that the country recognizes its responsibility to contribute its fair share to global action, and fair

share presumes that richer countries will have to do more. Jotzo recommended that the right way to do this is to consider the country’s growth and development and start from a consultative process to determine the peak in its emissions.

He said he particularly likes the view of the Philippine pledge because it explicitly recognizes that it is the start of a journey and not the end.

“It is not like saying ‘Ok we have submitted our documents to the UN [United Nations] so we have done our part.’ This is saying this is the starting point for national and policy conversation about where we should go. The country views this as a transition as early as it can for resilient, efficient, adaptive sustainably clean-driven economy,” Jotzo said, in praise of the Philippine pledge.

He also viewed that the 70-percent reduction of the Philippine pledge is certainly ambitious, especially in the light of the fact that the Philippine per-capita emission, compared to other countries, is somewhere at the bottom, while Australia is at the very top. He cited that the Philippine per-capita emission stands at 2 tons per person. Coincidentally, this is where the world needs to be around 2050.

Recognizing that there is no ethical basis for equitably allocating the space left in the atmosphere or for saying that one country should dispose less emissions into the atmosphere than another, the comparison nevertheless gives a glaring comparison that shows, which countries have to do more to come down to the level of the Philippine per-capita emission.

Jotzo also pointed out that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) member-countries, including the Philippines, have explicitly stated that their pledges will rely on financial and technological aid. He considered this as a reasonable condition because their capacities to leverage all the required investments may not exist on the domestic level. Also, it offers a lot of opportunities for international investment, such as in energypower generation and transport systems.

Many climate-change goals are linked to development goals, like for the 38 ADB membercountries, including all ADB developing countries, for which these goals, are conditioned on external financing. But Jotzo said seemingly, collaboration among countries lean heavily on the need to get money from other countries and that there is very little talk on opportunities on working together on research and development and on schemes to implement the pledges and programs.

He cited, for example, that among the ADB nations, 19 countries have renewable-energy targets, with some aiming for 100-percent shift to renewable sources of power. But in many of these cases, there are low-class grids, which can be seen as either a problem or an opportunity for countries to work on together, because there can be an option to work on something between islands. “You have renewables on low-class grids that sends specific problems but also specific opportunities because renewables are scalable infinitely compared to coal plants,” Jotzo said.

He added that ambitious as the Philippine pledge may be, it is what countries should be aiming for. “Clearly you have an ambitious target here dependent on international support. Try to get that international support and channel it to different sectors,” Jotzo advised the audience, including members of academe, scientists, environmentalists and urban planners. “Let’s remind our government [Philippines’s] of the Paris Agreement. Let it not be forgotten,” he urged.

It is important to note that President Duterte, in his first State of the Nation Address last month, softened his stance on climate change and said global warming will be a “top priority” of his administration. “Addressing climate change shall be a top priority, but upon a fair and equitable equation. It should not stymie our industrialization,” Duterte said in his speech.

“I have to protect the country.... The interests of the country must come first.”

A wildfire burns in the Cajon Pass in San Bernardino county, California, on August 16. The wildfire that began as a small midmorning patch of flame next to Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass had by Tuesday’s end turned into a 28-square-mile monster that burned an untold number of homes. Will Lester/The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via AP

Fires, floods and scorchers

Earth destroys another heat record

A

s more than 100,000 Americans flee destructive wildfires in California and floods in Louisiana, Earth sends yet another reminder that the worst is yet to come: a new record for planet-wide heat.

Last month wasn’t just the hottest July on record for the surface of the Earth. It continued the longest-ever streak of record-breaking months—15, according to data released on Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

July followed the hottest June, May, April, March, February, January, December, November, October and September, along with last August, July, June and May.

The extremes of recent months are such that we’re only midway into 2016, and there’s already a greater than 99-percent likelihood that this year will go down as the hottest on record, according to Gavin Schmidt, who directs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Nasa and NOA A maintain independent records of the earth’s temperatures, and both agree

that last month was a scorcher.

“July 2016 was absolutely the hottest month since the instrumental records began,” Schmidt wrote on Twitter.

An interactive chart shows Earth’s warming climate, measured by land and sea, dating back to 1880. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, days of heavy rainfall caused water to overrun levees along several tributaries this week. About 40,000 homes in southeastern Louisiana have been affected by the floods, and at least 11 people have died.

In California more than 80,000 people fled out-of-control wildfires after the state’s fifth year of drought turned forests into tinderboxes. Wildfire season typically doesn’t begin until fall.

The July heat was experienced differently across the globe, but was felt to some degree almost everywhere. The dark red swaths

on the map show areas that set new records.

Some of this is still the result of El Niño, which releases heat from the Pacific that typically lingers for months after the underlying conditions subside.

Last year’s powerful El Niño may soon shift to a cooling La Niña, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. The agency gives a 55 percent to 60 percent chance of a La Niña pattern developing in the fall or winter. That, however, doesn’t change earth’s long-term trajectory.

This year is on track to be the third consecutive year to set a new global heat record. So far, 15 of the hottest 16 years ever measured have come in the 21st century. Results from the world’s chief monitoring agencies vary slightly, but all agree that the extremes of 2016 are unrivaled— for now. Bloomberg News

Small-scale wind farms to future-proof Philippine economy

A

Filipino researcher is developing a tool to aid in decision-making for the placement of small-scale wind turbines in cities across the Philippines to meet the country’s growing energy demand.

Sherdon Niño Uy from Cauayan, Isabela— and affiliated with the Manila Observatory— has secured a prestigious PhD scholarship at the Birmingham City University to undertake this research as part of a PhD in Engineering, cofunded by the Department of Science and Technology under the Newton-Agham PhD scholarships Programme.

At present, energy demand in the Philippines is not being met adequately. Rotating brownouts—where electrical power is reduced or restricted in a particular area—have been a common occurrence, especially in southern parts of the country. Recently, a 12-hour brownout hit Siargao Island due to the installation of

new relay posts and servicing of equipment.

Meanwhile, in April, the Luzon grid was placed on “red alert” when peak demand reached an all-time high of 9,746 megawatts.

It is thought that dwindling energy reserves and a spike in demand due to the summer heat may lead to rotating brownouts around the capital area. Renewable energy—such as wind power—can address the growing demand for electricity, which is needed to ensure future economic development for the Philippines. Wind power can also avert the use of power barges, which are both costly and unsustainable. However, wind energy as a power source must be implemented with small-scale wind turbines at strategic locations within a metropolis, where wind resource is at its strongest, yet space is limited.

Uy’s research aims to develop a decision support system for wind-resource assessment

that is useful for cities, such as Manila, in order to aid in decision-making for the placement of small-scale wind turbines within an urban area.

“My research will have clear implications for the economy of the Philippines, as it will highlight the need for more reliable, sustainable, clean and cheaper energy generated at the source of fuel,” Uy said. “As well as attracting investment and creating new jobs to build and maintain, small-scale wind farms will reduce the problem of brownouts, fuelling the future economic development of the Philippines, as well as in similar developing countries in Southeast Asia.”

He said the multicultural and researchoriented study plan of the United Kingdom is conducive for a PhD programme. “Exposure t o s u c h a n e n v i ro n m e n t w i t h v a r i o u s backgrounds will enrich me as a person and

make me become aware of the broader world.

Since the focus is on research, I will develop practical skills and craft research studies that are useful to society. Thus, I will be trained to solve real-world problems,” he added.

“My super visors, colleagues and administrators at Birmingham City University are always ready to offer any help that I might need, whether in academic or personal matters. I made new friends in the first few months I have been studying here and I look forward to many more great experiences that will come during my stay here.” The Newton Fund is providing £3 million yearly from 2016, including PhD scholarships, which the Department of Science and Technology will match with a total of over P90 million to develop science and innovation partnerships that promote the economic development and social welfare of the Philippines.

A14 Monday, August 22, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

The web is breaking

T

he Duterte administration’s battle against illegal drugs and crime is ugly and bloody. It is dangerous in that it could lead down a road of increased government control where none of us want to go.

It has cast the Philippines in a poor light not only for the “solution,” but for the “problem”.

While there are those who would like to focus public attention on the “outrage” of the solution, there are many, many more who are outraged at the size of the problem.

Apologists for the previous administration are pointing to statistics showing the large amount of illegal drugs confiscated, and how many were arrested. But what people are seeing on their nightly newscast tell the full story.

A brother of former Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala surrenders after having been on the wanted list for years. A prominent radio personality is arrested and charged with drug trafficking. A small-town mayor there and a few barangay executive here are all arrested in buy-bust operations, prompting a comment from one social-media user: “I’m kind of still awestruck there is a huge drug problem that existed!”

That is the revelation that many of us are having. We trusted the government to give us the facts about our nation’s problems. We are not children, and we can handle the truth. But then, we come to realize that things are not what we are being told that they are.

There are those who firmly believe the “war on drugs” is nothing more than a smoke screen by President Duterte to move the nation to a declaration of martial law to increase and cement his grip on power. While this may be meaningless speculation, nonetheless, at this point, can we really trust anyone?

The lyrics of the 1971 song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by the English rock band The Who read as follows: “The change, it had to come; we knew it all along. Then I’ll get on my knees and pray, we don’t get fooled again, don’t get fooled again.”

President Duterte recently said he is trying to destroy the drug-trade infrastructure, the web of drug production and trafficking, if you will. The President has also vowed to destroy the same web of corruption that is rampant in the government by replacing all political appointees. There are those who will say all these moves are mere symbolism, as has been some of President Duterte’s more outrageous statements about the United Nations, for example. But symbolism can be just as important as substance to press a point that needs to be made.

The people have been lied to for too long about many issues. And as a result, there is going to be some negative blowback. In the recent film Batman v Superman, the character Alfred says, “The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men...cruel.” The Filipino is now realizing the powerlessness that comes from trusting the government too much.

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Hidilyn Diaz: Heart of a champion Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

W

e join all Filipinos and sports fans worldwide in wishing Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz the warmest congratulations for her silver-medal win in weightlifting at the 2016 Rio Games.

As she entertained members of the press at her family’s home in Mampang, Zamboanga City, honors were showered upon her by her hometown. She showed the reporters her Olympic silver medal in a custom wood case, displayed prominently on a table at her home, along with a framed news clipping and medals won in other competitions.

Her victory is the first for the country since boxer Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco’s silver in Atlanta in 1996. She is also the first Filipina to win an Olympic medal. Although Arianne Cerdeña won a gold in Seoul in 1988, it was for bowling, an exhibition sport, not counted in the official roster.

Diaz was rewarded with a commendation from Congress and P5 million from the government under Republic Act 10699, or the National Athletes and Coaches and Trainers Benefit and Incentives Act. She received another P2 million from President Duterte and P500,000 from her hometown Zamboanga City. A house and lot from the private sector will also be awarded to her, courtesy of 8990 Holdings Inc.-Deca Homes.

It is only right and appropriate that Diaz be honored for representing the country well. The bonuses serve as an incentive for the future—she plans to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Games, she

Diaz is a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as an airwoman second class of the Philippine Air Force.

Hopefully, her victory will lead to other, better, opportunities for her, perhaps in product endorsements, celebrity appearances and other venues where she will be able to promote her sport and a lifestyle of wellness through exercise. told the media upon her arrival from Rio at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport—and as a reward for going through all the preparation, training and competition that shone a spotlight on the Philippines.

Beginning her weightlifting training at 11 years old, at 25 she competed in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. She also participated in the London 2012 Olympic Games. They say third time’s the charm, and sure enough it was for Diaz, who finally won a medal this outing.

Diaz is a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as an airwoman second class of the Philippine

New accountancy tracks forthcoming Joel L. Tan-Torres

DEBIT CREDIT

G

ame-breaking changes are forthcoming in the area of accountancy education and the licensure examination process. These new accountancy tracks for the accountancy profession are among the revisions of the accountancy law that the Board of Accountancy (BOA) will be submitting soon to Congress for its legislation.

The new tracks start with the taking of any of the four accounting programs in college. The accounting courses that will be available by school year 2018-2019 include BS Accountancy, BS Management Accounting, BS Internal Auditing and BS Accounting Information System.

The Commission of Higher Education (Ched), in coordination with the BOA, will be issuing before yearend the necessary Ched memorandum order to provide the details of these accountancy programs. These programs will provide different options for the accounting student to pursue depending on his or her interest.

In addition to these forthcoming changes in the accountancy education, there will also be a reformatting of the professional licensure examination process. The licensure examination of the future will include

two levels of tests. The graduates of the four accounting programs will have to take the first-level Certified Accountant (CA) examination. This examination consists of five core accounting subjects, to include financial accounting reporting, advanced financial accounting reporting, management advisory services, taxation and regulatory framework for business transactions. The examinees will have to pass this CA examination to work or practice accountancy. The passers of the CA examination will be authorized to work as accountants in the government, public practice and private sector, except to sign auditor’s certifications and to teach as accounting educators.

Those who want to pursue the aforementioned exempted accountancy work will have to pass the second-level Certified Public

Accountant (CPA) or Certified Professional Accountant (CPA) examination, depending on their educational specialization or attainment. There will be a CPA examination for each of the four accountancy courses or specialization. There will be a CPA examination dwelling for each of the accountancy specialization of auditing, management accounting and accountancy information system. The CPA examination can be taken optionally after three years of meaningful work experience. Once the examinees have passed the CPA exam, they can now be signatories of the external audit certification, while passers of the Certified Professional or Public Accountant exams can qualify as accounting teachers.

The new licensure examination consisting of both the CA and CPA examinations are expected to start by year 2023.

The changes being made are intended to address the demands and requirements of industry and the accountancy profession of having accounting professionals. There is now the need for accountants to have specialized skills and a more practical experience and mind-set.

These changes will also provide more focused options for those desiring to pursue accountancy education and careers. Unlike the present situation where there is only one option of taking the BS Accountancy course as the first step in being an accountant, the academic and licensure track of the future will present

Air Force. Hopefully, her victory will lead to other, better, opportunities for her, perhaps in product endorsements, celebrity appearances and other venues where she will be able to promote her sport and a lifestyle of wellness through exercise.

One of Diaz’s plans, she told the media, is to set up a weightlifting club. This echoes Manny Pacquiao’s establishment of a boxing gym in General Santos City. For many young dreamers who have had to struggle with poverty to achieve greatness, these gyms represent a chance to transform their lives for the better.

The significance and importance of the Olympic Games cannot be overexaggerated. Diaz’s victory is historical in its impact. As Dawn Fraser, three-time Olympic winner, said: “The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself.”

Congratulations again, Hidilyn Diaz, and sincere thanks for bringing honor to our beloved Philippines! We look forward to your future exploits with pride.

Atty. Rojas is vice-chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

more options to cater to the interest and competence of the future accountant.

With these changes in place, our future accounting professionals will be more qualified and prepared to meet the growing demands of the local and global community.

These changes are in line with the objective of the Six-Point Expanding Horizons Strategic Plan (EH Strategic Plan) of elevating the Filipino accountant and the accountancy profession to a level that exceeds global standards.

The measures under the EH Strategic Plan are: n Institute quality and governance measures. n Effectively reg u late the profession. n Enhance image and reputation of the accounting professional. n Enhance stakeholders’ involvement and cooperation. n Institute structural changes. n Provide communication and assistance mechanisms.

Joel L. Tan-Torres is the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy. He is a Certified Public Accountant who placed No. 1 in the May 1979 CPA Board Examinations. He is concurrently a tax partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co., CPAs. He was the former commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2009 and 2010.

This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Contract of carriage Averting PPP ‘turf clashes’ and the diligence required

By Alberto Agra

PPP Lead

Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

legally speaking

V

iral videos are so common these days that they have already become an integral part of our culture. Every now and then, acute or hilarious viral videos circulate in our socialmedia stream, which instantly bring entertainment to our day. However, to be realistic about it, not all of them are as entertaining as we want them to be. In fact, a good number of these viral videos usually involve accidents and the like.

Which leads us to this particular viral video circulated sometime last month, wherein two women were seen alighting from a moving bus in the middle of the intersection of the street and, as they disembarked, one of them lost her balance and fell from the said bus. As bad as it already is, what struck me the most was on how the bus driver simply continued driving, despite clearly witnessing the accident.

After seeing that particular video, a basic discussion on the concept of the relationship between common carriers, such as buses, jeepneys, etc., and their passengers is proper, in light of the circumstances.

First and foremost, the relationship between the common carrier and the passenger is a contractual one, and corollary, in a contract of carriage, the carrier assumes the express obligation to transport the passenger to his destination safely and observe extraordinary diligence with a due regard for all the circumstances. Consequently, any injury that might be suffered by the passenger is right away attributable to the presumed fault or negligence of the carrier.

No less than the Civil Code of the Philippines mandates that common carriers, from the nature of their business and for reasons of public policy, are bound to observe extraordinary diligence in the vigilance

over the goods and for the safety of the passengers transported by them according to all the circumstances of each case. The intention of the law is that this extraordinary diligence required of common carriers is calculated to protect the passengers from the tragic mishaps that frequently occur in connection with rapid modern transportation. This high standard of care is imperatively demanded by the preciousness of human life and by the consideration that every person must, in every way, be safeguarded against all possible injury.

Applying the principle in the leading case of Dangwa Transportation v. Court of Appeals, it is the responsibility of the common carrier to fully stop in order to give sufficient time for passengers to board or disembark before accelerating. This is consistent with the extraordinary diligence required of common carriers in ensuring that passenger safety is of paramount consideration at all times. In this regard, to ensure the safety of passengers, common carriers must always see to it that the loading and unloading of passengers must only be made at the designated stops, and that sufficient time should always be allotted for the same.

For comments, you may e-mail me at lpkapunan@kapunanlaw.com.

How to make child care affordable

D

onald Trump and Hillary Clinton agree on this much: The federal government should do more to help families pay for child care.

They’re surely right. In many parts of the US, putting children in a day-care center has become the single greatest expense parents face, exceeding the cost of housing. And it’s growing: From 2009 to 2016, the cost of child care and nursery school jumped 21 percent, nearly twice the rate of inflation overall.

Trump’s proposed solution is to allow parents to deduct the average cost of child care from their taxes.

That may sound like a generous offer, and it would, indeed, be expensive.

The trouble is, it would do nothing for families most in need of help. After all, the median household pays just $9,000 in federal taxes; 45 percent pay no federal income tax at all.

In theory, Clinton’s strategy would help many more families.

She promises to limit the amount parents pay for child care to 10 percent of their income. But her campaign hasn’t said how she would achieve that goal, or at what cost.

Some expansion in federal assistance is certainly needed. The existing income-tax credit for child-care costs is limited to $600 to $1,050 per child, depending on income. Yet, the average price of home day care for an infant ranges from almost $5,000 a year in Tennessee and South Carolina to twice that in Florida, New York and Massachusetts. Child-care centers are typically even more expensive: In many states, the annual cost to cover an infant and a 4-year-old together is more than $20,000.

Beyond enlarging the tax credits, the federal government should pay

them in advance—much as Obamacare provides subsidies for healthinsurance premiums at the time they need to be paid. And as with Obamacare subsidies, child-care tax credits should be paid directly from the government to child-care centers.

The Center for American Progress has proposed such an approach. Its plan would offer tax credits of as much as $14,000 per child, and limit families’ spending on child care to 12 percent of their income.

Any changes in federal policy would do well to also raise the quality of child care. The country’s 285,000 child-care workers earn less than $21,000 a year on average; even so, only a third of infant-care settings meet the staffing ratios that experts recommend. And more than onethird of workers at home-based childcare centers have only a high-school degree or less. While a four-year college degree isn’t always required, workers ideally should study child development and early childhood education—ourses offered at many community colleges.

Trump’s child-care tax deduction wouldn’t directly affect quality. Clinton says she would improve things with a separate effort to subsidize the pay of child care workers.

A better approach would be to also give day-care centers an incentive to perform well. Louisiana, for example, gives them a tax credit tied to their state quality rating. It also gives child-care workers a separate credit that increases with the amount of training they complete.

Another approach is to make it easier for parents to get information about staff training before enrolling their children in a day-care center.

Bloomberg View

Continued from A1

A

ll IAs are now scampering for PPP projects. Take, for example, monorail for adjacent cities and municipalities. At the national level, the Department of Transportation may assert its authority, since the transport project traverses more than one local territory. If the monorail project is in Metropolitan Manila, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority may opt to be the IA. Two government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) may also lay claim. The Philippine National Railways and the Light Rail Transit Authority, in advancing their respective powers, may

demand exclusivity. The cities and municipalities may pursue the monorail projects themselves. One city may pursue its own intracity monorail, then connect with the adjacent monorail project. The

Monday, August 22, 2016 A15

local government units (LGUs) may even enter into an inter-LGU arrangement for an inter-LGU monorail project.

This “national-versus-LGU” dilemma arose in the third bridge PPP project. While there is no issue that a third bridge connecting two islands is needed, an issue was raised regarding who is the proper IA. Is it Cebu City and the municipality of Cordova jointly, or should it be the Department of Public Works and Highways?

A similar situation may arise in water-related PPP projects in supply, distribution, irrigation, hydropower, septage and sewerage. Water districts, which are GOCCs, have no exclusive rights over these projects.

LGUs, under the Local Government Code, may also put up these systems.

The National Irrigation Administration can also be an IA. For Metropolitan Manila, the Metropolitan

Waterworks and Sewerage System can come into play.

Reclamation projects are not shielded from possible turf clashes.

Provinces and cities, the Philippine Reclamation Authority and the Laguna Lake Development Authority can all reclaim land.

How do we, therefore, avert these conflicts? First, there must be dialogue and consensus. A system of hierarchy and priority may be adopted. If there is a conflict among the three levels of IAs, either national government or LGUs may prevail. This columnist subscribes to the latter. A “first-come, firstserved” approach may be developed, where priority is given to that IA who starts the selection process first. Presidential action and intervention may also be resorted to.

We hope that these turf clashes can be addressed soon. Pro-people development cannot wait.

The silver lining in China’s gold drought Adam Minter

BLOOMBERG VIEW

A

fter Monday’s closing ceremonies, critics will have plenty of time to dissect all that went wrong with this year’s Games in Rio—from pool water that turned mysteriously and dangerously green, to empty stands, even for premier events. A different, but no less agonizing, debate is likely to take place in China. Just a few weeks ago, international and local analysts were predicting that the country would repeat its recent success as a dominant No. 2 in the medal tallies. Yet, entering the final weekend, Chinese athletes are far behind their pace for gold in the last two Olympics—and in real danger of coming in third in the standings behind Great Britain.

For a country that’s long viewed success on the Olympic medal platform as a proxy for its international standing, the prospect is causing consternation. Earlier this week Xinhua, China’s official news agency, tweeted the medal table and a horrified question: “Are you kidding me?” In truth, though, China’s Olympic slump may be something for the country to celebrate.

China’s rise as an Olympic superpower was as quick and unexpected as its economic renaissance. The 1984 Games in Los Angeles were the country’s first since 1952, and yet it managed to notch fourth place in a medal table that lacked the boycotting Soviet bloc. What made that result possible was a massive staterun athletic program launched in the 1950s. The goal was simple: Use the funds and power of the Chinese state to find the best athletes and train them up to world-class standards.

Over the years, China developed thousands of sports schools that accepted kids as young as 4 years old for training. Administrators scouted some potential stars; others were enrolled by their parents. For many

rural Chinese especially, the schools offered a route—for some, the only one—out of the countryside and to a better life. The benefits could be considerable: China’s gold medalists are rewarded with large cash bonuses and even real estate.

At the same time, the downsides of the system were obvious. Young athletes were stretched, pulled and pushed to limits that verged on abuse—and more than occasionally exceeded it. Parents are regularly kept far away from their kids, often for years. Worse yet, the “school” part of sports school is typically downplayed, leaving graduates unprepared for a life after sports. In recent years, there’s been a steady stream of stories about graduates— among them Olympic champions— who are destitute and unemployable.

At one level, the system worked handsomely, culminating in China’s record haul of gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But even at its zenith, the central factor that made that success possible—a large pool of parents desperate for better opportunities for their kids—was disappearing.

Over the last five years, rural incomes have grown faster than urban incomes, while China’s falling birthrates—and greater economic opportunities—mean that Chinese parents are less willing to gamble their child’s future on the slim chance of Olympic success. The impact on China’s sports schools has been debilitating. As of May, there were 2,183 sports schools in China, producing 95 percent of Olympians.

While that might sound like a lot, in 1990 there were 3,687 such schools.

In just one sport—table tennis— enrollment has declined 75 percent since 1987.

Given the smaller set of athletes to choose from, and fewer schools in which to train them, China’s medal table was bound to fall off. This year the Chinese gymnastics team—a traditional powerhouse—failed to produce a single gold medalist. Other usually successful squads, such as those in badminton and shooting, have also turned in disappointments.

With luck, a disappointing medal tally could inspire the government to rethink its Olympic ambitions.

Making sports academies more humane—and improving their academic credentials—would attract

Fed’s effect on Black Americans

By Narayana Kocherlakota Bloomberg View

T

HE US Federal Reserve (the Fed) appears to be paying more attention to how its policies affect black Americans.

This is a wise move, because blacks stand to gain a lot more than others from the Fed’s efforts to support economic growth.

The minutes of the Fed’s July policy-making meeting noted that officials had discussed unemployment rates and other measures of labor utilization for specific groups, including black Americans. It’s a subject worthy of attention: The black unemployment rate has been about 1.9 times the overall rate for more than 40 years The black unemployment rate isn’t always exactly 1.9 times the overall rate. What matters, though, is that the ratio between the two is

much more constant than the difference. This means that—even though the reasons for the long-term unemployment multiple are almost certainly beyond the reach of monetary policy—the Fed’s choices can have a very different effect on black Americans than on the economy as a whole.

Imagine we’re in the midst of a severe recession. In deciding how aggressively to respond by lowering interest rates or buying assets, Fed officials must weigh the risk of unduly high inflation against the benefit of reducing unemployment.

That benefit will be much greater for blacks, because recessions hit them about 1.9 times harder than others.

At the same time, any policy that reduces the overall unemployment rate by one percentage point is a lot more beneficial for blacks, because it reduces their unemployment rate by nearly two percentage points.

The differential impact also matters now, as the Fed contemplates

The black unemployment rate isn’t always exactly 1.9 times the overall rate. What matters, though, is that the ratio between the two is much more constant than the difference. This means that—even though the reasons for the long-term unemployment multiple are almost certainly beyond the reach of monetary policy—the Fed’s choices can have a very different effect on black Americans than on the economy as a whole.

removing stimulus. With the central bank running out of tools to fight adverse economic shocks, many (including myself) have argued that it should raise rates slowly (if at all) to ensure that the economy is as resilient as possible. The need for caution is even more important for blacks, because recessions are so much more harmful for them.

more willing candidates. More important, China needs to find a way to open up its national teams to athletes who train outside of the state system. The surprisingly talented basketball players found at many downtown Shanghai parks not only lack access to high-school-level coaching, there aren’t any meaningful high-school or college athletic programs in which they can play and be noticed by professional and national team coaches.

The good news is that China already has a model for how to fix some of the problem. This year the government designated thousands of non-sport schools as “soccer academies,” where soccer-specific training will be available to students. The best prospects can then move up through the system to China’s burgeoning professional leagues and eventually the national team. While such schemes won’t work for every sport, they’re a start in the long-term process of spreading athletic resources and training more widely throughout schools and communities. Ultimately, that’s going to be the best way for China to cement its place atop the medal podium.

By keeping interest rates low, the Fed is learning more about how far the unemployment rate can fall without causing undue inflation.

This, too, can provide an outsized benefit for black Americans. Fed officials now think that they can safely shoot for a long-term unemployment rate of 4.8 percent—about 0.8 percentage point lower than what they were targeting just three years ago.

If they’re right, that reduction in the overall long-term unemployment rate translates into a 1.5-percentagepoint improvement in the long-term unemployment rate for blacks.

The Fed rightly aims to pursue policies that are best for the economy as a whole. But I don’t believe that it will be seen as truly representative of all Americans unless it understands the differential impact of its policy choices on key demographic subgroups. It’s good to see from the minutes that the central bank is engaged in doing so.

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23 August 20162016 | 8:30 a.m.-12 nn |nn Marriott Manila 23 August | 8:30 a.m.-12 | Marriott Manila 7:30-9:00 a.m. registration & Breakfast 9:00-9:10 a.m.

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