Businessmirror december 13, 2016

BMReports

PHL coconut-rehab program in Yolanda-hit areas yet to bear fruit ROSALES: “We haven’t reached 50 percent of our target for intercropping, because the funds are not enough to sustain that activity.”

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcala @jearcalas & Elmer V. Recuerdo | Correspondent

Part Two

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ACLOBAN City And Manila—It’s been more than a year, but 54-year-old farmer Renato Empillo has yet to get into his new routine planting cacao.

Before the sun rises, Empillo makes sure the sun’s rays don’t shine directly on his cacao seedlings that would grow from land where once stood hundreds of coconut trees.

Continued on A2 The devastation caused by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) is seen from a Philippine Air Force helicopter in Eastern Samar on November 11, 2013. Government data revealed that about 42,343,905 coconut trees across three regions were damaged after Yolanda wreaked havoc on the Visayas region. AP/Bullit Marquez

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A broader look at today’s business n

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 Vol. 12 No. 62

Food firms take advantage of FNRI seal to boost sales

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By Manuel T. Cayon | Mindanao Bureau Chief @awimailbox

AVAO CITY—The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) has confirmed corporate moves to ascertain the nutritional efficacy of their food and juice products—especially after they were subjected to effects of packaging—apparently with the hope that salability of their products would improve tremendously with the agency’s “seal of approval” carried in their labels.

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Want to Bring Back Jobs, mr. president-Elect? Call Elon musk

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Tesla founder and chief executive elon Musk unveils the dual-engine chassis of the new Tesla D model, which is a faster and all-wheel-drive version of the Model s electric sedan at the Hawthorne airport in los angeles on October 9, 2014. Mark ralston/agence France-Presse/getty IMages

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By Andrew Ross Sorkin

and yet the group of business luminaries he named recently to advise him on “job creation”—which included Jamie Dimon of Jpmorgan Chase, robert Iger of Disney and mary Barra of General motors—was missing a key name: musk, the real-life Tony Stark behind Tesla, the electric car company; SolarCity, the solar power provider; and SpaceX, the rocket company. musk, 45, is arguably the one person in the nation more responsible than anyone else for generating a vision for the re-emergence of manufacturing in the united States en masse. and he is revered among most of his peers here in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

In the last decade, musk has created nearly 35,000 jobs among his various enterprises—and most of those jobs are classic manufacturing ones. His

Tesla Gigafactory, a 5.5-million-squarefoot battery factory under construction outside reno, nevada, is expected to employ 6,500 people in manufacturing jobs by 2020. after the factory is complete, 95% of the parts contained in Tesla vehicles will be made in the united States. His company’s leading-edge advances have pushed the entire auto industry to innovate, with rivals seeking to copy many of Tesla’s best features. This is the future of manufacturing—much more so than the 1,000 jobs saved at the Carrier plant in Indiana last week. and Tesla’s challenges are a microcosm of the trade issues that confound so many uS manufacturers: To sell its cars in China, Tesla faces tariffs and other disincentives that make its vehicles 40% more expensive than locally produced

on is denial of climate science. as for ‘subsidies,’ Tesla gets pennies on dollar vs coal. How about we both go to zero?”

Indeed, while musk gets painted as a benefactor of crony capitalism and the obama administration’s efforts to promote green energy, he is—perhaps counterintuitively—a prime example of everything we want our business leaders to be.

What other chief executive do you know who takes only $1 a year in salary and has never sold a share of Tesla except to pay taxes? Yes, he pays taxes—to the tune of some $600 million in just the past year. He has about as much skin in the game as any CEo in the country. (If you’re asking how he pays to live, he has taken out a series of loans from morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, using his shares as collateral. For some, that raises its own corporate governance concerns.

However, the loans represent only about 5% of his net worth, so unless shares of Tesla fall precipitously, he should be able to cover the loan amounts.) and when questions arose about whether Tesla would be able to pay off SolarCity’s debt after the two companies merged, musk declared, “I would pay it personally if need be.” That’s putting your money where your mouth is. as for the government subsidies offered to the electric car industry, musk has made a compelling case that he would benefit more if the subsidies didn’t exist.

“Ironically, if all incentives and subsidies were removed for Tesla, Tesla’s competitive position would increase,

not decrease,” he said recently at a shareholder meeting. “We do believe there should be government incentives for electric vehicles, but we believe they should be there for the good of the industry and to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport—not because Tesla needs them.” all that may be hard to square in the short term: Tesla turned a $22-million profit last quarter, in part after selling $139 million from zero-emission vehicle credits to other car manufacturers. But it is undoubtedly true in the long term.

Whether musk’s various businesses will succeed, of course, remains an open question. But it is his kind of businesses—which offer the chance to restore real manufacturing jobs in the united States, and which integrate meaningful technological innovation—that we should all be encouraging.

I sent an email to musk in hopes that writing this column wouldn’t be for naught. after all, when I had spoken to him at a Vanity Fair conference in 2015 about the election, he told me he was not a supporter of Trump’s candidacy.

In a note back to me, musk said he was heartened by Trump’s recent acknowledgment that human-driven global warming may be real.

Would he want to engage with the president-elect?

“I’d be happy to talk to Trump,” musk wrote.

businesssense

TOyOTa Motors President akio Toyoda, left, as he holds the key of a Tesla Roadstar handed to him

by Tesla Motors CeO elon Musk during the presentation of the car at Tesla Japan’s headquarters showroom in Tokyo on November 12, 2010. toshIFuMI kItaMura/agence France-Presse/getty IMages electric cars, according to musk. If you flip it around, China faces only a nominal tax to sell electric cars and parts in the united States. The situation is fairly similar in much of Europe.

Still, conservative groups and individuals have taken to the internet with a litany of real and fake stories attacking musk for the government subsidies Tesla receives, and for his vocal warn-

ings on climate change. robert E. murray, chief executive of murray Energy Corp., the largest privately owned coal company, called musk “a fraud” for accepting $2 billion in government subsidies for Tesla. musk, fighting back on Twitter, wrote of murray, a republican who doesn’t believe human activity is affecting the climate: “real fraud going

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© 2016 The New York Times

the mighty dollar

Cesar Montano (fourth from left), designated COO of the Tourism Promotions Board, pays a courtesy call on Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo (third from left) on Monday. Teo officially welcomed the multiawarded actor, director and film producer to the Department of Tourism family. Department of tourism

MONTANO TOLD: DROP MOVIE CAREER AND FOCUS ON TPB

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

businesssense

the entrepreneur Manny Villar

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resident Duterte’s independent foreign-policy initiative is expanding the playing field for the Philippine economy. In contrast to the past, when our sight was generally restricted to a small part of the world, particularly the western part, we now have a 360-degree view of the global market.

Continued on A10

See “Food firms,” A2

By VG Cabuag

onalD Trump: please think about calling Elon musk. president-elect Trump has spent a lot of time talking about how he plans to reinvigorate the manufacturing sector, repeatedly telling the public on the campaign trail, “We are going to bring back jobs that have been stolen from you.”

A more enlightened foreign policy

GERI to spend ₧5B for 640-ha Antipolo project

Want to Bring Back Jobs, Mr. President-Elect?

Call Elon Musk E1 Tuesday, December 13, 2016

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GARCIA: “We expect that it [FNRI study] would be used for marketing purposes.”

Engr. Rosemarie G. Garcia, chief of the FNRI, an agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), said her office has been commissioned by corporations, which she did not name, to conduct an independent and credible

2016 ejap journalism awards

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CTOR Cesar Montano has been asked to put his film career on hold if he truly wants to serve the Filipino people by joining the

PESO exchange rates n US 49.7790

government service.

This developed as Montano paid a courtesy call on Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo at the Department of Tourism (DOT ) building on Monday. The multiawarded actor, director and film producer See “Montano,” A2

@villygc

egaworld Corp. on Monday said its unit, Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI), is spending some P5 billion for the redevelopment of an expansive 640 hectares of land on Marcos Highway in Antipolo, with some of the areas overlooking Metro Manila’s skyline.

The property has its own 36-hole golf course and country club, which will occupy around 20 percent of the entire development. It is also known for its rolling terrains on the foot of the scenic Sierra Madre mountain range.

“This new community will allow Megaworld to further expand its presence in the popular area of Antipolo, which is very accessible to the major cities in Metro Manila. We capitalize on the scenic views and fresh air in this location, which can be the development’s key strengths,”

GERI President Monica Salomon said. The company is spending P5 billion to develop Eastland Heights in the next five to seven years. Aside from the golf course, the community will have residential, commercial and retail, and institutional components, such as a school.

“More than a hundred hectares will be allocated for residential villages.

But in the next few years, we will be adding some commercial and retail components to make this community more exciting,” Salomon said.

Eastland Heights will now be part of the growing roster of developments that Megaworld and its subsidiary brands—GERI, Suntrust Properties Inc. and Empire East Hold-

ings—have built and are continuously developing across the country.

Megaworld is also a major developer of office, residential and commercial buildings in Makati, particularly in the central business district. “Developments that only have residential, commercial and leisure components will form part of our ‘integrated lifestyle communities’. Those that offer the complete ‘live-work-play’ components will be under our integrated urban township developments,” Senior Vice President Jericho Go said.

“Our development mix will become more diverse to cater to every need and demand of a particular locality,” Go added.

This new community will allow Megaworld to further expand its presence in the popular area of Antipolo.”—Solomon

n japan 0.4318 n UK 62.6021 n HK 6.4159 n CHINA 7.2085 n singapore 34.7862 n australia 37.0555 n EU 52.4372 n SAUDI arabia 13.2726

Source: BSP (12 December 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, December 13, 2016

PHL coconut-rehabilitation program in Yolanda-hit areas yet to bear fruit Continued from A1

Since he inherited the 3-hectare farm from his parents over 25 years ago, Empillo said farming has always been limited to coconut, rice and a few banana until Supertyphoon Yolanda struck three years ago.

His farm is in the town of Santa Fe, some 25 kilometers from Tacloban City, ground zero of the storm surge that accompanied Yolanda.

“Ito na ang kinalakihan ko. ’Yung mga magulang ko ganoon din ang nakasanayan, maghintay na maging magulang ang niyog para pitasin at gawing copra [I grew up as a farmer. My parents have been used to wait for the coconut to ripen and cooked into dried kernel],” he told the BusinessMirror. “Ang palayan namin para lang sa konsumo ng pamilya [The rice we harvest for family consumption].”

When Yolanda struck, over 100 coconut trees on his farm fell while the remaining were badly damaged and may take up to five years to fully recover. “’Yung iba namumunga na pero maliit, hindi kagaya noon,” [The other trees are ripening, but the fruits are too small, unlike before.]

Empillo said.

Through the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Empillo was able to borrow a chainsaw for two weeks that allowed him to cut felled and crownless coconut trees into coco lumber. The latter he sold to a nongovernmental organization.

The PCA loaned hundreds to chainsaws to various farmers’ associations to expedite farm clearing and avoid possible rhinoceros beetle infestation.

Coconut meat

EMPILLO brought his eyebrows together and as he always did at the end of the day, reviews the viability of coconut farming as a source of income for his family.

All of his four children are going to school. “Hindi sapat ang kinikita sa copra para sa pangangailangan ng pamilya pero ito lang ang inaasahan namin [Coconut meat can’t sufficiently meet our family’s needs, I know, but these are our only source of income].”

After cutting down the last

of the coconut tree with a chainsaw, Empi l lo su r rendered to the fate Yolanda brought on his shoulders.

He converted a fourth of a hectare of his farm into a vegetable farm with seedlings provided by the PCA and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), replant some coconut trees. Beginning 2015, Empillo planted some cacao seedlings provided to them by different government agencies, the second component of the PCA’s Yolanda Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (YRRP).

Three trees

THE replanting component of the YRRP aims to replace all totally damaged coconut trees using OpenPollinated Variety (OPV) tall variety of trees, documents from the PCA said.

The PCA said the new scheme also involves planting trees by group of threes in triangular pattern, particularly in upland and coastal areas.

According to the PCA, the project involves a grant-in-kind of 192 trees per hectare (in coastal and upland areas), or 100 trees per hectare (inland) area, plus P3,000 subsidy for labor. The PCA aims to replant around 10 million coconut trees in 100,000 hectares of devastated land, according to the Yolanda Updates Report of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) published in October.

O f t he t a rget re pl a nt i ng hec-tarage, the PCA has completed replanting 83,240 hectares, the Neda report said.

PCA Deputy Administrator for Operations Roel M. Rosales told the BusinessMirror around 8.5 million coconut trees have already been replanted. He added that the replanting started in-between the debris clearing operations of the agency.

But the major effort for replanting and intercropping was made only during the second half of 2015, Rosales said. Around P700 million was allotted for the agency’s replanting program for the post-Yolanda rehabilitation efforts, he added.

Fertilized soil

THE PCA eyed to provide grant-in-

kind fertilizers to affected coconutfarming families.

One scheme is providing a compact N+K fertilizer of 10 pieces per coconut tree, or 10 boxes per hectare with 100 coconut trees planted.

The other scheme is providing Coco-Gro at 3 kilograms per tree, or six bags per hectare. Other suitable fertilizers were also recommended to farmers, according to the PCA. “This is intended for slightly or moderately affected trees to hasten its recovery,” the PCA said. The project involves a grant of P3,000 labor subsidy per hectare, a PCA report added.

PCA documents show that the agency has already fertilized 27,529 hectares from 2014 to 2015, while some 13,620 hectares were fertilized this year, totaling to 41,149 hectares. The hectarage translates to around 4,114,900 coconut trees fertilized and 17,121 coconut farmers benefiting from the program, PCA document shows.

Rosa les said around P700 million was allocated for the fertilization component of the YRRP.

Intercropping tack

THE PCA also introduced intercropping to local farmers in the Yolanda-affected regions.

“Intercropping involves planting of leguminous crops, e.g., Mungbean and peanut to increase soil fertility; and also corn, vegetable, root crops, banana, coffee and cacao, among others,” the PCA said.

“This is to augment their income, enhance food supply and mitigate hunger and malnutrition.”

The PCA hopes coconut farmers in affected areas in the Visayas region would earn income from cash crops while waiting for new coconut trees to fully grow and bear fruit.

To date, the PCA has covered 82,964 hectares for intercropping since 2014 with around 81,024 farmers benefiting from the program. The Neda report shows that the PCA aims to cover 282,000 hectares for its intercropping program. Since 2014, the PCA has only covered 29.42 percent of its intercropping target.

“We are haven’t reach 50 percent of our target for intercropping be-

cause the funds are not enough to sustain that activity,” Rosales said.

The PCA allocated P650 million for the intercropping component of the agency’s YRRP, according to Rosales.

Underspending

ROSA LES ad mitted t hat t he P2.868-billion budget given to the PCA for the YRRP was not sufficient to address the problems of the affected coconut-dependent regions.

“If you speak about 100,000 hectares of totally devastated land that is a pittance [P2.8 billion],” Rosales told the BusinessMirror.

“That’s why, at some point, even from the DBM that it should be increased to P7 billion, because under the scheme of things, even just for the fertilization program alone, it will not suffice for the whole universe that we need to fertilize.”

According to Rosales, they were expecting “before President Benigno S. Aquino III stepped down—we thought all the while—that there would be another incoming budget release for the PCA. “But it [funding] didn’t come,” he added. “It was around P2 billion something.”

When asked why the DBM only released the P2.868 billion of the allocated P7.468 billion for the PCA’s post-Yolanda rehabilitation program, Rosales said it might have something to do with PCA’s underspending for the past four years. “I surmise that everything is still attached with the PCA’s underspending,” he said. Rosales added that, “Of course, there’s a bigger issue here that the PCA was unable to spend the money released to the agency [for YRRP] but also the moneys from 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.”

“So, the money accumulated to certain amount to which the PCA is unable to move forward or actually spend. That I like to surmise is the reason behind—there’s some doubt to the ability of the PCA to really absorb capacity,” he adds.

Of the P2.868-billion funding the PCA received for its post-Yolanda rehabilitation efforts in January 2014, P798 million remains with the agency, according to Rosales.

To be concluded

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Food firms. . .

Continued from A1

study on the efficacy of the vitamins “as supposed to be delivered in full in each product.”

“We all know, and the companies know, that Vitamin C, for example, is affected by heat, light and packaging, so the companies would like to know what happens to these nutrients after packaging,” Garcia told the BusinessMirror on Monday.

The companies have commissioned the FNRI to conduct the studies “because they wanted an independent and reliable agency to do it. Otherwise, they are apprehensive that the public would merely dismiss as self-serving if the companies would conduct the study by themselves.”

“We have the laboratory and the people [who were] trained to conduct scientific studies and we have the authority to conduct an impartial and credible study because we are in the government,” she said.

Six food companies have already commissioned the FNRI to make the studies for their respective food products. The studies ranged from six months to one year, “especially for products that would be used for feeding programs.”

“It would take longer if the food items are used for feeding [programs]. That would take about 120 days,” she said.

“The companies are aware and interested to know if their products could really deliver 100 percent of the supposed full vitamin efficacy after the food have been subjected to light, heat and packaging,” Garcia said.

She said some of the supposed vitamin potentials have been reduced to as much as half of the full effect compared to when they were not yet subjected to heat and light, and later by packaging.

Labeling

The result of the studies would guide companies in the labeling of their products in the portion of “Best before...” or in the expiration date, Garcia said.

“They can also assure their clients and the consumers of the trustworthiness of the findings because they come from a government agency,” she added.

In the case of the coconut sugar, for instance, the study that the FNRI

Montano. . .

Continued from A1

has been appointed by President Duterte as chief operating officer of the Tourism Promotions Board ( TPB), an attached agency of the DOT tasked with implementing crucial marketing programs to promote the Philippines to domestic and foreign tourists.

“Yes, I told him that [to divest from his films and private companies], as all of us have,” Teo told the BusinessM irror, “and to work really hard as this is expected from all of us [in public service].” Aside from his film productions, Montano also owns an Italian restaurant in Quezon City.

Sources said, however, the TPB board meeting, which is scheduled on Thursday, may not push through.

Sources in the agency and the private sector have already been told of the postponement of the board meeting to January 2017. Under Republic Act 9353, otherwise known as the Tourism Act of 2009, the appointment of the TPB’s COO has to be confirmed by the board.

This means, even if Montano has been appointed to his post already, he still cannot, under the law, issue directives and orders to TPB management and staff unless his appointment/nomination to the agency is approved by its board of directors, a government source stressed. Five of the TPB board directors are government representatives led by the DOT chief, and five are from the private-sector tourism stakeholders who had been nominated by the Tourism Congress of the Philippines.

did showing a low glycemic index “helped product proponents to raise the salability of the coco sugar.”

The glycemic index determines the rate at how certain foods contribute to the rise or fall in the glucose or sugar in the blood.

“Coco-sugar manufacturers have since attached the FNRI study in marketing their product and helped them increase the sale of coco sugar,” she said.

Continuing tests

Garcia believed that the testing would be a continuing trend to determine the efficacy of the vitamins and other nutrients in the food products sold by companies.

“For the most part, it would be commissioned for studies for specific food products, with one company asking the FNRI to test one of three of their products,” she said.

“Rather than send these products abroad for testing, why not do it here in the country,” she asked.

So far, no studies have been made yet as gauge in the efficacy of nutrients as supposedly contained in the packaged food items.

“Some companies or groups may use some of the result of certain products, such as the coco sugar, for example,” she said. “We expect that it would be used for marketing purposes.”

Street food

Elsie Mae A. Solidum, assistant regional director of the DOST in Davao City, said there has been a vast improvement in the hygienic and sanitary preparation of food in the Davao region and in the rest of the country.

This was contributed largely to the information drive by government agencies, both local and national, and as gadgets, machines and packaging materials have become affordable and accessible to smalland medium-scale entrepreneurs.

“We still have a lot of homework to do, however, but we are making improvements among our businessmen,” Solidum said.

Meanwhile, she still cautioned against consumption of street food, citing a study in 2012 that showed high pathogen level.

“As a rule, go for the heated food rather than those they prepared at home and had been there for several hours already,” she said.

Solidum said the DOST would continue to reach out to this sector to increase better observance of sanitary preparation of food.

A DOT source expressed confidence, however, that Montano would be confirmed by the board, “as that is what the President [Duterte] wants.”

According to his staff, Montano was supposed to receive his oath of office from Teo on Monday night at the SMX Convention Center, but as of press time, this had yet to be confirmed by the DOT chief and other officials. A government source had said the DOT chief wants to induct the 54-year-old actor “after his nomination as TPB COO is confirmed by the board.” The DOT was to hold its Christmas par ty at the SMX on Monday night.

Private industry stakeholders, including a former tourism secretary, had earlier reacted negatively to the appointment of Montano, questioning his exact qualifications to lead an important agency, such as the TPB. (See, “Montano’s Tourism Promotions Board appointment questioned,” in the BusinessM irror, December8, 2016.)

Commenting on Montano’s courtesy call on Teo, a DOT source said: “He came prepared. He brought his executive staff, even his lawyers.”

Another well-placed source said: “Basically, Teo welcomed him to the DOT family.” The same source added: “She also told him to divest from his private companies and go to work every day. Secretary Teo also explained to him that she wasn’t against his appointment as TPB COO.” At her confirmation hearing at the Senate on December 7, Teo told members of the committee on economic tourism and development of the Commission on Appointments that Montano was not her personal choice as TPB COO.

The Nation

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 A3

Noynoy gets reprieve from Senate

S

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

ENATE investigators looking into the P3.5billion government procurement of dengue vaccines are not yet ready to question former President Benigno S. Aquino III about alleged anomalies attending the transaction forged during the previous administration.

Sen. Richard J. Gordon clarified over the weekend that the panel has, instead, lined up medical experts to testify at the resumption of the inquiry being conducted by the Senate into the case of two children who died after being injected with Dengvaxia vaccines bought by the Aquino administration.

“There is no need as yet to invite former President Aquino to the investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the alleged anomalous procurement of P3.5 billion worth of dengue vaccines,” Gordon said.

Gordon, who chairs the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations, or blue ribbon, confirmed that among those summoned to testify in the next hearing are medical experts and officials from the Department of Health (DOH) and its attached agencies, and the Department of Budget and Management.

He added that Commission on Audit officials were also asked to appear before Senate investigators “to further clarify on the Dengvaxia vaccine attributes and testing methods-results to date in the Philippines, and how the procurement by

the DOH was processed.”

Gordon disclosed that “certain issues” were brought to the attention of Senate probers concerning the Dengvaxia vaccine.

“There are certain issues that have been presented, issues concerning the capability of the product, the manner of testing whether there were sufficient testing that had happened,” the senator reported.

He added: “It behooves us in the government to see to it that when we get this kind of medication, we get the best and we must see to it that we examine the test protocol and results and that we come out with all the due diligence required of a good father to a child.”

At the same time, Gordon clarified why Aquino is not yet being asked to appear for questioning.

“At this point in the investigation, we have not invited [former] President Aquino.

We are not trying to judge anybody here.”

“We are just saying, pumapasok ang gamot na bago, dapat tama ba na ganoon ang patakaran natin. Dapat bang baguhin natin?

Remember, we are here in aid of legislation.

We cannot prosecute anybody, we can only

recommend, but we are not even on that aspect yet,” he explained.

The Blue Ribbon Committee opened an inquiry on December 6, following reports that two children died after receiving the first dose of the Dengvaxia vaccine in April.

Senators are also checking reports that the P3.5 billion worth of dengue vaccines were bought by the DOH during the past administration, even as there was no funding allocation. “While no appropriation was made for the purchase, funds were immediately made available toward the end of the year,” Gordon noted.

“That was a huge amount of money, which was taken from the savings, no appropriation from Congress.... It’s just like DAP [Disbursement Acceleration Program].... We really need to investigate this,” Gordon asserted.

He was also “baffled why the dengue vaccine was given priority when only 250 people per year died from the disease, with over 200,000 persons afflicted,” noting that “this only accounts for 0.01 percent of the population, and dengue not being among the top 10 health afflictions suffered by the people.”

Gordon also cited findings that “testing for the new vaccine had not been completed yet when the government procured it.”

He, likewise, intends to find out why the DOH started a new immunization program for dengue “when the country has not yet satisfied the immunization requirement for the Millennium Development Goal for other more deadly diseases.”

But even as senators are investigating the “apparent haste with which the antidengue vaccine was procured,” Gordon assured that lawmakers will not move to block government’s ongoing antidenguevaccination program.

Airline exec files syndicated estafa raps vs Tieng, Cavite pol

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N airline entrepreneur has filed with the Department of Justice a syndicated estafa complaint against Solar Entertainment Corp. Vice Chairman William Tieng, Mayor Dhino Carlo Chua of Noveleta town in Cavite and nine others in connection with their alleged “unfair takeover” of SkyJet Airlines in 2015.

The complaint was filed by Aneceto A. Mendoza, founder and former chairman of Magnum Air Inc., the company behind SkyJet, which is dubbed as the country’s first boutique leisure airline.

Aside from Tieng and Chua, also named as respondents in the complaint were Tieng’s children Ronald, John Eric, William Irwin, Charlene, Mark Andrew, Margaret Ann and James Gregory; lawyer Brigido Theodore Sarmiento; and Associate George Ventayen.

In his complaint-affidavit, Mendoza accused the respondents of conspiring to deceive and defraud him of his shares in SkyJet

without giving him just compensation. “...Respondents’ ind iv idua l over t acts show a unity of design and purpose in deceiving and defrauding me of my shareholdings in SkyJet—the company I founded and built through tremendous sacrifice and effort—absolutely without paying me a single centavo,” Mendoza said.

“Indisputably, respondents conspired and confederated with one another in defrauding me of my shareholdings in SkyJet,” he alleged.

It all started in November 2013 when Mendoza was informed by a friend that Chua was interested in SkyJet. At the time, Chua needed a popular or big-ticket project to boost his image and chances for the 2016 mayoral election in Noveleta, the home of Sangley Point Air Base, which was then being eyed as an alternative to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

After their first meeting, Chua became

aggressive in investing in SkyJet, while Mendoza appeared reluctant because he felt Chua had no knowledge about aviation.

At that time, SkyJet was estimated at P500 million over a five-year projection covering both physical and intangible assets. Chua then introduced Mendoza to his uncle, Tieng, who offered to acquire 50-percent stake for P100 million.

Tieng even caused the creation of a new company named Thunder Asia that would own the majority shares of SkyJet. Thunder Asia’s incorporators were Tieng’s children, including William Irwin, a former congressman representing the party-list group Buhay.

While Mendoza had no intention to sell his shares in SkyJet, he was later made to sign deeds of absolute sale for 60 percent and 20 percent in favor of Thunder Asia and Chua, respectively, but no actual payment was made. Under the agreements, Mendoza would remain as industrial partner and his shares will not be dilluted. PNA

Salceda: Institutionalize Balik Scientist Program

By Johnny C. Nuñez Philippines News Agency

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DP Laban Rep. Joey S. Salceda of Albay seeks to further strengthen and institutionalize the government’s “Balik Scientist Program” to encourage overseas Filipino scientists and technologists to come home, share their expertise and help speed up the country’s development.

Salceda recently filed House Bill 4366 in Congress, titled “Balik Scientists Act of 2016,” designed to strengthen and institutionalize the Balik Scientist Program (BSP) established under Presidential Decree 819 in 1975 and revived successfully during the term of former President Fidel V. Ramos.

The bill aims to “strengthen the scientific and technological human resources of academe, public institutions and domestic corporations to promote knowledge sharing and accelerate the flow of new technologies into the country.”

It also proposes better benefit packages for homecoming experts and tasks the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to promulgate the scheme and guidelines for it.

Salceda said the country needs to tap and utilize the expertise of expatriate Filipino scientists and technologists, a move deemed as a “vital component of the nation’s political,

Tatak Asul Sen. Richard J. Gordon, Philippine Red Cross chairman, receives the first “Tatak Asul

Alumni Homecoming Award” from the Ateneo Alumni Association (AAA) during its Grand Alumni Homecoming recently at the High School Covered Courts of the Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), Loyola campus. From left are Victor Y. Lim, College 66 representative in the AAA; Gordon; Melissa S. Reyes, AAA president; and Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin, AdMU president.

economic and social-development efforts.”

“Toward this end, any foreign-based scientist, professional, technician, or any person who is of Filipino descent, with special skills or expertise, shall be encouraged and allowed to share his or her professional expertise in the Philippines,” he said.

On account of the original program’s remarkable outcome and the presence of many highly trained overseas professionals who have expertise in the priority areas of agriculture, energy and nutrition development, Ramos revived the program through Executive Order 130 issued in 1993.

Economy

A4 Tuesday, December 13, 2016 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

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Ahead of Duterte infra binge, COMP hopeful of govt’s renewed support for mining industry

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

he Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) is hopeful of the government’s renewed support for the mining industry as the Duterte administration embarks on a “massive” infrastructure program.

COMP Executive Vice President Nelia Halcon said a massive infrastructure program would expectedly result an increase in the demand for mineral products and by-products.

Over the past six months since the Duterte administration took over, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), led

by Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez, a staunch environmental and antimining advocate, launched a campaign to weed out “irresponsible” mining operations.

So far, 10 mining companies have been suspended and 20 others have been issued show-cause orders for failing environmental standards based on an audit criteria imposed

by Lopez. The criteria includes social, environmental and biodiversity consideration in every aspect of mining operations.

COMP, which is composed of big players in the mining industry, currently operates major gold, copper and nickel mines, expressed concern over the adverse impact of such campaign to mining investment.

With Duterte’s recent pronouncement to embark on a massive inf rastr ucture prog ram, COMP sees a ray of hope for renewed government support to the industry besieged by the strict mining policy imposed by Lopez.

“We hope to see renewed support for the mining industry as the coun-

try goes on this bold move. There will be increased demand for mineral products and by-products and we could contribute significantly to these needs,” Halcon said in a news statement released on Monday.

Members of COMP took part in the Pilipinas conference initiated by the Albert del Rosario Institute and Stratbase, wherein Bases Conversion Development Authority President and CEO Vivencio Dizon presented the plans of the government to “ build, build and build” starting next year to bridge provinces and islands in the country to help spur inclusive growth.

The massive infrastructure program also aims “to solve problems of traffic congestion, inadequate masstransport facilities, air pollution and the lack of healthy, green and livable community spaces,” Dizon was quoted as saying.

Dizon stressed that the infrastructures are sure to bring in investments, employment and reduce the price of commodities.

Some of these projects include the Metro Manila Clark Railway, which will reduce travel time to an hour from the Metro Manila to Clark International Airport; the Metro

Manila Bus Rapid Train System to ensure on time trips along Edsa; and the Mindanao Railway to help bridge people and goods across Mindanao.

On the other hand, Halcon did not discount the challenges the mining industry needs to overcome before it could realize its full potential as being an economic driver of the country.

“In June, when the President laid his 10-point economic agenda, he already stressed the need to accelerate infrastructure spending to account for 5 percent [of] GDP with public-private partnerships playing a key role. We then highlighted that the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement and the Foreign Technical Assistance Agreement are public-private partnerships

[PPP], which will help drive rural development and employment in rural areas.”

The pipeline mining projects that are expected to be operational during the next six to 10 years, mostly in Mindanao are enough to change the development trajectory of the island.

However, Halcon cited that with Executive Order (EO) 79, there have been lost opportunities to contribute to the country’s economy.

“There remains the need to amend the EO by revoking provisions detrimental to the industry while retaining provisions that enhance the accountability and responsibility of companies developing the country’s mineral resources.”

We hope to see renewed support for the mining industry as the country goes on this bold move.

There will be increased demand for mineral products and by-products, and we could contribute significantly to these needs.”—Halcon

NTC aims for P5-billion collection goal this year

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

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Tax-exempt

Two female overseas Filipino workers (OFW) lug their balikbayan boxes upon their return at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. OFWs have a good reason to celebrate this Christmas season, after the government lifted the payment of taxes to incoming balikbayan boxes containing items worth P150,000 and below starting Christmas Day. NONIE REYES

he National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has breached its P4.83billion collections target for the year, and is aiming to top that to as much as P5 billion before the year ends.

According to Commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba, the agency has already collected P4.87 billion to date, zooming past the P4.83-billion target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) for 2016.

Cordoba said the achievement came from the NTC’s concerted efforts to strictly enforce stakeholders’ compliance in remitting administrative, spectrum and penalty fees.

“The NTC management is rallying its entire work force to try to reach the P5-billion mark before the year ends,” Cordoba said.

The agency regulates commercial television operators, broadcast radio stations, telecommunications companies and two-way radio operators.

“This last ditch effort is NTC’s humble way of contributing to various national government public-service programs pushed by President Duterte—priorities of which are on infrastructure, agriculture and rural development, as well as peace and order,” Cordoba said.

Duterte assures completion of Bicol intl airport in three years

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ARAGA, Albay—President Duterte has vowed to finish the construction of the P4.7-billion Bicol International Airport (BIA) in three years, with fresh budgets and a decisive push following years of agonizing delays.

Duterte led the groundbreaking rites for the BIA last Thursday in Barangay Alobo here, his first visit to Albay since becoming President, to assure local government officials, business leaders and residents that the BIA will be completed on target. The project is seen as key to the long-awaited economic growth of the province and the entire Bicol region.

Rep. Joey S. Salceda of the Second District of Albay, original proponent of the BIA, said Duterte’s speedy action has infused new enthusiasm to the project never before felt since its inception over a decade ago. Thanking Duterte for his “decisive action” on the BIA, he said he now feels confident the international airport will sustain the gains of Albay tourism attained during his term as governor,

which posted an impressive record of 339,000 foreign tourist arrivals in 2015, from a measly 8,700 in 2007.

He praised Duterte as a “good man who genuinely cares for his people — his heart is in the right place, his guts and gut feel honed by years as local chief executive, which make fit for the challenges of nation-building.”

Together with the new Southline component of the NorthSouth Railways Project, which was also approved recently by the Duterte Cabinet, Salceda said he is “convinced foreign tourist arrivals in his province can triple to 1.2 million by 2025, and, thus, make Albay an economic powerhouse.”

During the recent big assembly of Bicol political leaders of the Federalismo Alyansa Bicol, the President endlessly referred to Salceda, as his long time friend and one of the brilliant economic minds of the country, who should be working instead in Malacañang.

Salceda has conceptualized and pushed the BIA project since 2005 under then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, when he was still congressman of Albay’s Third District. He worked on it for nine years between 2007 and early part of 2016, as governor and chairman of the Bicol Regional Development Council.

Duterte, according to Salceda, was able to do in four months what the previous administration failed to do in three years: award Phase 2A, the land-side component of the project worth P780 million and bid out the passenger terminal building worth P1.8 billion.

The snail-paced implementation of the BIA project by the defunct Department of Transportation and Communications has so frustrated Salceda and compelled him to take what he referred to as “political action” during the May 2016 elections—to run as an independent candidate.

The BIA was approved in April

President Duterte inserts the time capsule for the Bicol International Airport Phase 2 project during its groundbreaking in Barangay Alobo, Daraga, Albay, on December 8. Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade (left) and former Gov. and Rep. Joey S.Salceda of the Second District of Albay look on.

2005 by Arroyo, and was subsequently included in the Medium Term Development Plan. Its initial appropriation was made in 2006, when Salceda was chairman of the

House Appropriations Committee.

The project was affirmed by the succeeding administration, but work on it slackened due to slow releases of funds. PNA

Neda sets review of national land use policies

PERNIA: “It is important to improve the mobility of Filipinos by enhancing connectivity between urban centers and marginalized areas.

With improved connectivity, linking jobs and people can be done more efficiently.”

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

@cuo_bm

he National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) will be reviewing the country’s national landuse policies in line with the results of AmBisyon 2040.

In a news statement released on Monday, Neda said it’s National Land Use Committee (NLUC) was recently reconvened to review the National Spatial Strategy (NSS), among other land-use policies.

“It is important to improve the mobility of Filipinos by enhancing connectivity between urban centers and marginalized areas. With improved connectivity, linking jobs and people can be done more efficiently,” Neda Director General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.

Pernia added that, aside from improved connectivity, the objectives of the NSS also include managing the growth of large and environmentally constrained metropolitan centers, such as decongesting Metro Manila.

The Neda chief also said this will help reduce vulnerability by ensuring easy access to disasteraffected areas.

Recognizing the role of cities as growth drivers, in line with AmBisyon Natin 2040, or the country’s long-term vision, the NSS proposes a network connecting four metropolitan centers with regional centers and subregional centers with transport networks.

The NSS defines the country’s desired spatial structure based on population trends, economic activities and services.

The Duterte administration is positioned to increase public spending on infrastructure until 2022, allotting as much as 5.4 percent of next year’s GDP. Moreover, committe also discussed policy issues, such as the delineation of safe and unsafe zones. This will serve as the basis for locating rehabilitation and recovery projects, using maps produced by the Department of Science and Technology, National Mapping and Resource Information Authority and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

The NLUC also reviewed the revised draft executive order (EO) on the two-year moratorium on agricultural land conversion as proposed by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

The revised EO includes a new provision allowing the Office of the President to exempt certain government projects for energy development, socialized housing, economic zone development, tourism zone development and other necessary infrastructure projects from the moratorium.

While the Neda, in a signed position paper with the departments of Finance, Budget and Management, and Trade and Industry, and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, has been pushing for effective land- use regulation instead of banning agricultural land conversion, it, nonetheless, agreed to review the revised EO and submit its comments to the DAR.

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BusinessMirror

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

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BM-NOVEMBER 18 & 25, 2016

INTERNATIO OF BUSINESS

A BusinessMir

A6 Tuesday, December 13, 2016 | www.businessmirror.com.ph

INNOVATION DRI A

VERITABLE raft of the country’s CEOs, presidents, managing directors and visionaries extraordinaire were feted at the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) Philippines’s recent Communication Excellence in Organization Awards (CEO Excel Awards) for epitomizing excellent business communication and strategic rethink in their respective corporations, organizations or associations vis-à-vis the challenges posed by a constantly fast-changing world.

In more ways than one, these maverick leaders demonstrated an effective use of communication to navigate through an uncertain, out-of-control world, while achieving business, environment and community-development goals.

Keeping Filipino communicators globally competitive and doing away with ways that are no longer productive, these awardees inspired businesses, industries and most closely the people they regard as their team to innovate, motivated to excel and become a force of good to the world by, as Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Chairman Kevin Roberts puts it, keeping up with the speed and force of unexpected challenges, navigat-

ing through environmental uncertainties and rising above complex dynamics, and unravelling meaning behind ambiguity.

These 14 drivers of change were enshrined in the IABC roster of unconventional, square-peg-in-round-hole people who thrived in a world run by speed and instability of the times, maintaining their balance through the turbulence and answering uncertainties with superhuman ideas and energy that change the world around them.

“We honor and cheer these leaders whose vision and convictions have made lives richer for all of us. Not rich in the financial sense of the word, but rich because they pushed us to change,” 2016 CEO Excel Awards Committee Chair and IABC Philippines Vice President Belle S. Tiongco said. “They pushed us to experiment with new technology. They encouraged us to be always informed, they challenged us to stretch our vision and be brave, and explore new territories, especially in communication.”

With the new era of the communications industry indeed already at hand, IABC Philippines President Joe Zaldarriaga (assistant vice president, Manila Electric Co.) said: “With the technology advancements transforming how we interface and the globalization trend radically changing the business and consumer landscape, there is a great need for communicators to keep abreast of the latest and most effective communication models and practices.”

IABC Philippines Chairman Kane Errol Choa (Integrated Corporate Communications head, ABSCBN) added: “Unexpected circumstances arise and we are in dire need of leaders that can develop a balanced long-term and short term strategy, maximize growth and bring people together through compelling communications in this ever-changing landscape of business.”

IABC Philippines is the first country of the International Association of Business Communicators outside of North America.

IABC Philippines members include the best corporate communicators, public relations, and marketing professionals across different industries in both private and public sectors.

The organization continues to be at the forefront of business communications and embodies the sharing of best communication practices, ideas and experience among business professionals around the world. Aside from the CEO Excel Awards, IABC Philippines’s banner programs include the Philippine Quill and the Philippine Student Quill Awards.

D. EDGARD A. CABANGON ALC Group of Companies

MIGUEL CASTRO ENRIQUEZ RGMA President

CONCHITA CARPIO-MORALES Ombudsman

ERNESTO R. ALBERTO ePLDT President and CEO

MARIA MONTSERRAT ITURRALDE-HAMLIN Hamlin Iturralde Corp.

(Team Asia) President

STEPHEN REILLY Resorts World Manila Chief Operating Officer

LUCIEN DY TIOCO Philstar Media Group Executive Vice President

ONAL ASSOCIATION COMMUNICATORS

rror Special Feature

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Tuesday, December 13, 2016

IVERS JOHN C. BONGAT Naga City Mayor

MERLEE CRUZ-JAYME Dentsu Jayme Syfu Chief Creative Officer and CEO

ALEXANDRA PRIETO-ROMUALDEZ Philippine Daily Inquirer President and CEO

FURQAN AHMED-SYED Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc. President and Director

MICHAEL H. DEAKIN Lifeline Ambulance Rescue Inc. Managing Director

JOSE RAMON VILLARIN Ateneo de Manila University President

HON. MARIA LOURDES SERENO Chief Justice

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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

briefs

Candlelight vigil held for John Glenn

NEW CONCORD, Ohio—John Glenn’s hometown church in Ohio has held a candlelight vigil to celebrate the life and legacy of the hero-astronaut.

People gathered Sunday night at Westminster Presbyterian Church in New Concord, where Glenn was a lifelong member. The Zanesville Times Recorder reports they said prayers, sang songs and shared stories of the man many of them knew and loved.

Glenn became a national hero in 1962 when he became the first American to orbit the Earth. He then spent 24 years as a Democrat from Ohio in the US Senate. He died on Thursday at the age of 95.

Glenn is expected to lie in state from noon to 8 p.m. on Friday in the Statehouse Rotunda. The event will be open to the public. AP

Hong Kong finance chief quits, leadership bid expected HONG KONG—Hong Kong’s financial chief has resigned amid mounting speculation that he will make a bid for the southern Chinese city’s top job.

The government said on Monday that Financial Secretary John Tsang tendered his resignation.

The news comes after the city’s deeply unpopular current leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, said on Friday he would not seek a second term in office. Rumors and speculation have been swirling for months that Tsang was a contender to replace Leung when his five-year term ends in June.

Tsang has been dubbed “Mr. Pringles” because his moustache reminds many Hong Kongers of the potato chip’s mascot. Educated in the US, Tsang has been the city’s finance chief since 2007.

Hong Kong leaders are chosen by a 1,200-member panel of mostly proBeijing tycoons and elites. AP

Social Democrats easily win Romania parliamentary election BUCHAREST, Romania—Nearfinal results show Romania’s leftleaning Social Democrats easily won parliamentary elections a year after a major anticorruption drive forced the last Socialist prime minister from power.

Election authorities said on Monday that with 99 percent of the votes from Sunday’s balloting counted, the Social Democratic Party held about 46 percent and the center-right Liberals were second with over 20 percent.

Chairman of the Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, spoke on Sunday after exit polls were published showing similar results, saying: “There should be no doubt who won the elections. Romanians want to feel at home in their own country and I want Romania to be a good home for all Romanians.”

The Save Romania Union, a new party that ran on an anticorruption ticket, finished third, allowing it to enter Parliament. AP

Conservatives hold slim lead in Macedonia election SKOPJE, Macedonia—Nearly complete results in Macedonia’s national election gave the conservative coalition a slim lead over its left-wing rival early on Monday, though no bloc appeared headed to winning a parliamentary majority on its own.

The election was called two years early as part of a Western-brokered agreement to end a paralyzing political crisis in Macedonia, which gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

With 98 percent of polling stations reporting, the conservative coalition led by former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE party had 37.94 percent of the vote, while the leftist coalition headed by opposition leader Zoran Zaev’s Social Democrats had 36.63 percent.

Supporters of both big parties were in the streets claiming victory in Sunday’s balloting, which saw voter turnout at 67 percent, one of the highest in recent general elections in Macedonia. AP

The World BusinessMirror

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

Trump ties One-China policy to cutting a better trade deal

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resident-elect Donald J. Trump said his support for the decades-old One-China policy will hinge on cutting a better deal on trade and that other nations, especially China, shouldn’t be deciding whom he talks to.

“I fully understand the OneChina policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a One- China polic y, un less we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said in interview with Fox News Sunday.

“I don’t want China dictating to me,” he added, echoing his comment a week ago on Twitter, days after he broke with decades of protocol and spoke by phone with Taiwan’s president in a move that prompted a Chinese protest.

Last week, Trump told a crowd in Iowa that China would soon have to “play by the rules.”

The Republican threatened during his campaign to brand China a currency manipulator immediately upon taking office, and to slap 45-percent tariffs on its exports to the US. The US is being “being hurt very badly by China with devaluation,

45% The amount of tariff President-elect Donald Trump said he would slap on China’s exports to the US during his campaign

with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don’t tax them, with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn’t be doing, and frankly with not helping us at all with North Korea,” he said in the Fox interview, which was taped on Saturday.

T he comments come after Trump’s 10-minute phone call with

Tsai Ing-wen in early December, the closest a leader of Taiwan has come to getting formal recognition from Washington since the US established ties with the Communist government in Beijing almost four decades ago.

The One-China policy is an acknowledgment that Taiwan and China are part of the same China, even if they disagree on what that means. China regards it as a bedrock policy, not the bargaining chip that Trump suggested.

The Trump call, which helped Tsai draw global attention to the democratically run nation’s increased isolation in the shadow of a rising China, may have been a first step to upending the balance, weeks before Trump takes office on January 20.

Trump’s comments are significant because, while he suggests the US wants to include the One-China policy as part of broader trade discussions, the government in Beijing considers the arrangement nonnegotiable.

In fact, Chinese leaders define Taiwan as a so-called core interest, with the view the island belongs to China and will never be independent.

head of China economic research at UBS AG in Hong Kong. “For China, there is no balancing of trade and Taiwan—Taiwan is considered the utmost core interest of China, not for bargaining.”

The Global Times, a party-run newspaper, said in an editorial on Monday the One-China policy “cannot be bought or sold.”

“It looks like Trump only knows about business and thinks everything can be assessed with a price tag, and as long as he’s powerful enough, he could use force to buy or sell,” the paper said. China should make Trump “hit some snags” to show him it’s not “easy to bully,” it said. The policy was worked out in the 1970s as President Richard Nixon switched formal diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taiwan’s Kuomintang government, which fled to the island during a civil war three decades earlier.

At the same time, China has been willing to allow Taiwan almost complete unofficial sovereignty. The US has sold billions of dollars in weapons to the Taiwan government over the years, while China’s own trade with the island has risen steadily.

‘Price tag’

Ambivalence, ignorance

“It seems pretty clear that Trump wants to use the One-China policy as a bargaining chip—the risk is real and present,” said Wang Tao,

“For over three decades, Washington’s interactions with Taiwan have been the most sensitive, contentious, and choreographed aspects

of US-China relations,” Derek Chollet, a senior adviser at the German Marshall Fund and former member of the Obama administration, said last week. “The fact this call happened and the way it was reported out either reflects ambivalence or ignorance about that history—or maybe both.”

China may use the phone call as leverage in interactions with the US, he said. “They may use this as an excuse to find some way to respond, to stick it to us,” Chollet said. “China unquestionably considers the years to come as a huge opportunity, when the US will likely be embroiled in domestic crisis and pursuing policies that will leave it more isolated in the world, so this move, whether intended or not, gives them a grievance to pursue.”

While it emerged that former US Sen. Bob Dole, acting as a paid lobbyist for Taiwan’s government, connected Trump’s staff with Taiwanese officials in advance of the call, Trump defended his decision to speak with Tsai. He said he accepted the call, which was made by Tsai. Claims from his own advisers that he was considering the move for weeks were “all wrong,” he said.

“Why should some other nation be able to say I can’t take a call?”

Trump said. “It actually would’ve been very disrespectful, to be honest with you, not taking it.”

Bloomberg News

Bomb kills 25 at Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral

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AIRO—The Sunday morning Mass was drawing to a close at the chapel next to Saint Mark’s Cathedral, the seat of Egypt’s ancient Coptic Orthodox Church, when Magdy Ramzy said there suddenly was a “shattering explosion like nothing I had ever heard before.”

A bomb ripped through the chapel in the cathedral complex in central Cairo, killing 25 people and wounding another 49, mostly women and children, one of the deadliest attacks on the country’s Christian minority in recent memory.

“It felt like the world has turned upside-down,” said the 59-year-old Ramzy, who was wounded behind the ear by shrapnel. He frantically searched the wrecked chapel, and then outside, for his wife, Sabah Wadie. Only later did he learn that she was killed, and his daughter-inlaw and three of his grandchildren were wounded.

Ramzy sobbed uncontrollably at the hospital as he leaned on relatives for support.

“This is one of the acts of terror that we used to watch on television.

Now, we saw it with our own eyes,” he told The Associated Press (AP).

The bombing of the Boutrossyia chapel—and another one on Friday that killed six policemen—were grim reminders of Egypt’s struggle to restore security and stability after nearly six years of turmoil.

Egypt has seen a wave of attacks by Islamic militants since 2013, when the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi, a freely elected leader and a senior Muslim Brotherhood official. Many of his supporters blamed Christians for supporting his ouster, and scores of churches and other Christian-owned properties in southern Egypt were ransacked that year.

Since 2013, authorities have waged a sweeping crackdown, outlawing the Muslim Brotherhood, jailing thousands of mostly Islamist dissidents and killing

Security forces examine the scene inside the Saint Mark Cathedral in central Cairo, following a bombing on Sunday. The blast at Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral killed dozens of people and wounded many others on Sunday. AP/Nariman El-Mofty

hundreds in street clashes. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday’s attack.

One of the worst previous attacks against Christians by Islamic militants was a 2011 bombing at a church in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria that killed 21.

The Islamic State (IS) group also has targeted Christians in the Sinai Peninsula, where it primarily goes after security forces.

Most IS attacks in Egypt have been confined to security personnel and judicial officials.

Friday’s police bombing was claimed by a group that authorities say is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. That group—called “Hasm”, or “Decisiveness”—distanced itself from Sunday’s attack in a statement that said it does not as a principle kill women, children, the elderly or worshippers.

The Brotherhood, in a separate statement, condemned the attack.

The bombings are almost certain to undermine the modest recovery

in recent months by the vital tourism sector after years of slumping that followed the 2011 popular uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

They also could bolster the argument used by the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that stability and security are top priorities if Egypt is to prosper economically and avoid sliding into the kind of chaos and violence now seen in countries like Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Sunday’s bombing was condemned by government and religious leaders, and drew calls for unity between Egypt’s Muslim majority and Christians, who account for about 10 percent of the country’s 92 million people.

W it n e s s e s s a i d t h e b l a s t probably was caused by a bomb planted in the chapel. Bishop Moussa, a senior cler ic, said there were unconfirmed reports of a woman posing as a worshipper leaving a bag in the women’s

section before slipping out. AP reporters who went in the chapel noted that the side where women are routinely seated suffered the worst damage. Pews were smeared with blood and stained glass windows and wooden cabinets were blown out. A broken pair of glasses lay next to a girl ’s boots with leopard spots and a pink ribbon. A chandelier dangled precariously and a wall clock was stopped at 9:57 a.m.

“I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene,” said church worker Attiya Mahrous, who rushed to the chapel after the blast. His clothes and hands were stained with blood and his hair was matted with dust.

Men and women wailed and cried outside. “I saw a headless woman being carried away,” Mariam Shenouda said as she pounded her chest in grief. “Everyone was in a state of shock.”

“There were children,” she added. “What have they done to deserve

this? I wish I had died with them, instead of seeing these scenes.”

Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt’s Orthodox Christians, cut short a visit to Greece to return home.

State TV broadcast appeals by hospitals for blood donations, and el-Sissi declared three days of mourning.

“The pain felt by Egyptians now will not go to waste, but will instead result in an uncompromising decisiveness to hunt down and bring to trial whoever helped—through inciting, facilitating, participating or executing—in this heinous crime,” a presidential statement quoted him as saying.

Several hundred angry people gathered outside the cathedral, chanting antigovernment slogans and calling for the firing of the interior minister, who is in charge of security.

“We sacrifice our soul and blood for the cross,” some chanted. Others sang hymns and, raising their hands, shouted, “Lord, have mercy.”

Scuffles broke out when protesters tried to push police lines to move closer to the cathedral, but there were no immediate reports of arrests. Police in full riot gear arrived later.

Egypt’s Christians have long complained of discrimination, saying they are denied top jobs in many fields, including academia and security forces.

The church and many Christians have rallied behind el-Sissi, although there have been growing voices of dissent in the community.

They say little has changed under his rule, with authorities failing to halt attacks on their churches and property.

“This government must resign, and if the president insists on keeping it, then he’d better resign as well,” said Gerges Wadie, the brother of Ramzy’s wife. He said he initially supported el-Sissi, but now sees him as a “failure.” AP

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ANA plans to start Myanmar flights in 2018 via new venture

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NA Holdings Inc. has invested in a new airline venture in Myanmar that aims to start international flights in 2018, as the Japanese carrier seeks to capture demand in Asia’s fastestgrowing economy.

ANA has a 49-percent stake and a local company holds the remainder, Shinya Katanozaka, CEO of Japan’s largest airline, said in an interview in Tokyo on Monday.

The companies made a combined initial investment of $150,000 in the venture, he said.

The Japanese carrier is expanding abroad, as more people take to the skies in developing economies such as Myanmar, which the International Monetary Fund forecasts will expand 8.1 percent this year, the quickest pace after Iraq.

ANA is making a bet on international travel from the Southeast Asian nation after the carrier in 2014 cited intensified competition in Myanmar for its decision to cancel a plan to buy 49 percent

of Asian Wings Airways Ltd., a domestic airline.

“Myanmar’s economic power is growing,” Katanozaka said. “We want to help contribute to the boom in business and overseas holiday travel from the new middle class.”

ANA, which bought a stake in Vietnam Airlines Corp. this year, is also considering adding flights across the globe, Katanozaka said.

The Myanmar venture will start with a couple of airplanes and plans to increase the fleet, he said. ANA’s investment will rise as the venture adds aircraft, the CEO said.

ANA joins companies, including Coca-Cola Co. and Unilever Plc., in expanding in the nation, after the US eased sanctions in Myanmar four years ago as the country moved toward democracy following five decades of military rule.

The carrier restarted flights to Myanmar’s Yangon airport in 2013, and is the only airline to offer direct flights between Japan and the country. Bloomberg News

Singapore casinos are so 2015 as tourists go shopping instead

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ingapore’s casinos are so 2015. After luring tourists for half a decade, they’re now losing out to the mall.Shopping has overtaken gambling as the biggest earner in Singapore’s tourism industry for the first time since 2012, surging 44 percent in the six months through June from a year ago, official data show. It’s most likely thanks to first-time Chinese visitors, according to HSBC Holdings Plc., as the nation’s travelers continue to fuel growth in Singapore’s tourism industry. Some 2.1 million Chinese visited Singapore last year, more than double that of 2009—the year before the citystate opened the first of its two casinos. Among all visitors, those from China, Indonesia and India were the top 3 spenders in the second quarter of 2016, clocking up 40 percent of all tourist receipts. Shopping comprised a quarter of total spending, from 18 percent a year earlier.

Devoting a large chunk of one’s visit for shopping expenses is “what first time visitors do,” said Erwan Rambourg, global cohead of consumer and retail research at HSBC in London. Casinos have been a major drawcard for Chinese tourists to Singapore and it remains to be seen whether shopping will continue to outpace gambling.

They are still the biggest spenders, forking out $1,205 each in the citystate last year, just ahead of Thai visitors. Chinese travelers spent a whopping S$1.15 billion ($807 million) shopping in Singapore

$807M

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Tuesday, December 13, 2016 A9

China embraces Asean as US turns protectionist

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hina is embracing Southeast Asia with a renewed trade and investment push, a trend that’s set to accelerate as the region grapples with the prospect of a more protectionist US under Donald J. Trump.

Aside from courting Southeast Asian nations with a proposal for a trade pact, China has almost doubled foreign direct investment (FDI) into the six biggest nations in the region this year, according to estimates from Credit Suisse Group AG. The world’s second-largest economy is already the top trading partner for most of the countries in the region.

“China has a clear angle, they know what they want from this kind of mutually beneficial growth,” said Santitarn Sathirathai, an economist at Credit Suisse in Singapore. “But it’s not only government to government anymore, there’s also a rise of private companies taking a bigger initiative.”

The Philippines and Malaysia have already made more explicit moves to align themselves with China. On his first visit to Beijing in October, President Duterte said he wants to cut the cord with the US, a key military ally, and pivot to China.

During a trip to Beijing in November, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak signed about $30 billion

$16B

The projected Chinese FDI in the six largest Asean economies this year, according to Credit Suisse

worth of deals from energy to rail infrastructure. He said China and Malaysia have a special relationship based on a shared culture and mutual respect, and ties between the two countries are set to reach new highs.

While the US is the largest investor in the Philippines, China is poised to take that title next year with $24 billion of hard and soft investment and $2.5 billion in inflows, according to estimates from HSBC Holdings Plc. China unveiled a range of steps to strengthen economic ties with the Philippines, including boosting

agricultural imports, encouraging companies to invest there, financing infrastructure projects and lifting restrictions on foreign investment.

Indonesia surge

Credit Suisse estimates Chinese FDI in the six largest economies in the Asean will reach about $16 billion this year. China already accounts for 30 percent of all FDI into Thailand, and 20 percent into Malaysia, according to the bank.

In Indonesia, Asean’s largest economy, Chinese investment has surged following five meetings between President Joko Widodo and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the past two years. China is now the No. 3 investor there behind Singapore and Japan, with FDI rising to $1.6 billion in the nine months through September from about $600 million for the whole of last year. Beijing is not alone in seeking closer economic ties with Asean countries. Taiwanese and Japanese companies have also been beefing up operations in the region to take advantage of lower local wages and strong economic growth.

All of the six largest Asean economies, aside from Singapore, are expected to grow more than 3 percent this year.

Tourism is another industry that’s set to benefit from Chinese demand, said Edward Lee, an economist with Standard Chartered Plc. in Singapore. According to his estimates, about one in four of all tourists in Thailand now come from China,

Bloomberg News

The amount spent

by Chinese travelers for shopping in Singapore last year

last year, which compares with S$112 million for Japanese and S$175 million for Indians. They also spent the least on food and accommodation, a trend that’s little changed so far this year.

Tourism is helping Singapore at a time of uncertainty for the trade-dependent country, whose economy grew at the slowest pace since 2009 last year. However, the growth in overall receipts is coming at the expense of average spending per tourist, which declined slightly in the first half from a year earlier.

That’s partly down to the growing crowds of Chinese traveling on the cheap. The number of them on budget tours who are entering Singapore by land from Malaysia is rising at an annual clip of around 55 percent, said Deborah Aitken, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.

“This news is not all good. Some of these tourists are on overland tours and therefore taking in cheaper markets, as well as Singapore’s high-end malls, unlike the higher-spending visitors who arrive by air,” Aitken said.

Bloomberg News

IN this December 2 file photo, protesters burn a mock American flag during a protest against the planned joint US-Philippines military exercise in central Philippines in front of the US Embassy in Manila. AP

Indonesia nabs woman, others in thwarted Jakarta bomb plot

I

compared with 5 percent as recently as 2008. Similar trends are clear across the region, with the number of Chinese tourists into Asia as a whole growing by a factor of 10 since 2000, he said.

“Chinese tourism is pretty big for Asean now, and all the countries rely on Chinese visitors to keep coming and keep spending,” Lee said by phone. Thailand is one of a handful of Asean countries that offer Chinese tourists visas on arrival, while Malaysia has waived the need for visas for trips shorter than 15 days.

Indonesia waived visa requirements for Chinese tourists last year.

The economic ties belie political tensions that stem from competition in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Asean nations, including the Philippines and Vietnam, have overlapping claims in waters where China has reclaimed thousands of acres of land and increased its military presence. Tension has also risen between Indonesia and China about access to the waters.

“Countries have to bite the bullet,” Harry Sa, a research analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said by phone from Singapore. “The fact of the matter is that China can do wonders for the economy and the countries in the region understand.” Most of them “do welcome that, even the countries that have tensions with China,” he said.

ndonesian police said they safely detonated a bomb on the outskirts of the capital after arresting a female would-be suicide bomber and other suspected Islamic militants who were allegedly planning to attack the presidential palace this weekend.

The thwarted plot is likely to cause particular concern in Indonesia because of the possibility that women with militant network associations are now being recruited into more active roles, including plotting and carrying out attacks.

“This marks a new chapter of terrorism in Indonesia, where the suicide bombing was to be carried out by a woman,” terrorism analyst Ridwan Habib said in an interview with Indonesian TV.

Umar Surya Fana, the police chief of Bekasi, a Jakarta satellite city, said the militants were followed by a police counterterrorism squad as they drove to Jakarta from Solo in central Java. The city is known for its radical mosques and Islamic boarding schools.

The police said two men were arrested after dropping the 27-year-old woman at the boarding house with the pressure-cooker bomb. A fourth suspect, a man, was arrested in Solo, said Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono.

The bomb potentially could have caused damage within a wide area, Yuwono said.

People living within a 300-meter (yard) radius of the boarding house were evacuated during the police operation on Saturday.

Police believe the militants were planning

to bomb a presidential guard-changing ceremony on Sunday that is a tourist attraction in Jakarta, Fana said.

The woman’s will, which was retrieved by police after the group stopped at a post office to mail it to her family, stated her desire to take part in amaliyah, an Arabic term used by extremist groups for attacks or suicide bombings.

“They deliberately chose the target on a Sunday, when many families are hanging out around the national monument and near the palace, with the intention of causing a lot of casualties,” said Habib, the analyst.

The police said those arrested are suspected to be part of a militant network responsible for a bomb-making lab raided

last month in West Java province that was operating under the direction of Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria.

He was linked to the attack in January in Jakarta that killed eight people, including the attackers, and several unsuccessful attacks in Indonesia since then.

Those arrested in last month’s raid planned to bomb targets in Jakarta, including the parliament and the Myanmar Embassy.

Muslim-majority Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since the 2002 bombings on the tourist island of Bali by al-Qaeda-affiliated radicals that killed 202 people. But a new threat has emerged in the past several years from IS sympathizers. AP

A10 Tuesday, December 13, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

What exactly are you fighting for?

F

orgive these questions, but we can’t help but ask them of this country’s so-called revolutionaries in the New People’s Army (NPA). Recent “revolutionary” activities of the NPA, the latest in a very long list of questionable, if not outright, atrocious acts, make us wonder what kind of guerrilla war they are really doing. So we ask, whose side, which people (in its acronym) and what kind of ideology are they really fighting for? And when do rebels become just plain bandits and criminals?

During the recent inauguration of a new power plant in Bukidnon, President Duterte asked NPA rebels not to damage energy and communication facilities in the country if companies refuse to pay their so-called revolutionary tax.

In a story published in this paper last week (“Cease-fire not working for banana plantations in Mindanao”), banana growers in Mindanao complained about the extortion activities being conducted by NPA rebels against them and other agricultural plantations, bus companies, private contractors, quarrying operators, public-market stallholders and small entrepreneurs, seemingly taking advantage of the government’s unilateral cease-fire.

“The amounts range from as low as P5,000 to as high as P5 million a month.

If we pay, we will lose our shirts and would be forced to close shop; if we refuse to pay, our lives and that of our family members will be in danger,” said a businessman in Toril, a district in Davao City.

The hardest-hit are banana plantations, with one banana company having to close its plantation in Surigao del Sur a few months ago after losing more than P20 million to the NPA’s burning of their equipment and packing plants since the start of its operation in 2010. The firm’s decision expectedly resulted in worsening of joblessness in the area.

Dole-Stanfilco had also shut down its plantation and packing plants in Surigao del Sur after the NPA torched container trucks early this year, because the company refused to pay revolutionary taxes.

We are sure its leaders have an elaborate explanation about their notorious activities, but let’s face it, as much as they want to divert it to other issues, this has everything to do with money. It’s plain extortion, which the NPA has gotten very good at over the years.

Their extortion activities have hurt the economy and have made investors and businessmen wary of operating outside the country’s urban centers because of the risk of insurgent attacks. Ironically, these are the poorest areas that need the most investment and development.

Could it be that the NPA wants to keep these areas poor so they could keep blaming and fighting the government, in order to justify their continued relevance and existence?

Surely, the NPA can’t hope to win any kind of sympathy or solidarity to their cause by burning farm equipment, buses, power lines and cell sites. And surely, the NPA can’t hope to get any respect for their armed struggle if they launch offensives and hit businesses, both big and small, that ordinary workers depend on for their livelihood and everyday existence.

Such extortion activities certainly put the name of their revolutionary movement in a bad light. If these are all what its “revolution” is about, then the NPA rebels are no different from thugs, gangsters, terrorists and anarchists.

By the way, where do their so-called revolutionary taxes go anyway? Does even a portion of the money they get from politicians and businessmen go to, say, financing livelihood projects or the construction of water wells, schools, hospitals or any kind of project to help the poor masses they are supposed to be fighting for? Because if it just lines the pockets of their cadres, then, again, it is plain and simple extortion, a protection racket—“pay us and you won’t have any unfortunate accidents.”

The NPA keeps blaming the government for stalled peace talks, but, like the late rap artist Francis Magalona said in his iconic song “Kaleidoscope World”, you can’t talk peace and have a gun.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

A more enlightened foreign policy Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur Continued from A1

A

S part of the new policy on dealing with other members of the international community, President Duterte has also adopted a “Look East” policy, which encourages us to take a fresh appreciation of the countries in the same geographical location as the Philippines, like China and Japan, and new markets like Russia.

During the early 1980s thenMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad adopted the Look East policy to accelerate economic growth by focusing on Japan and South Korea instead of on the developed countries in the West.

Today, Malaysia is classified by the World Bank as an upper middleincome economy, with a per-capita income of $26,891. The Philippines, on the other hand, is categorized as a lower middle-income economy, with a per-capita income of $7,358.80.

In pursuing an independent foreign policy, the Philippines is keeping, not abandoning, established

relations with traditional partners, like the United States and Europe, but is forging new or strengthening existing ties—more like enlarging its circle of friends.

For the Philippine economy, in particular, this move is opening new markets for exports and more sources of investments and tourists.

The first official trips of the President abroad have already shown some of the benefits coming to the domestic economy.

During the first eight months of 2016, net inflows of foreign direct investments totalled $5.4 billion, coming mainly from Japan,

Fake friends, fake investment advice

ack in the day when I first started in the financial world, there were two sources of information. The first was the Wall Street Journal, which in the 1970s was actually a source of accurate information, unlike newspapers today. The Journal was where you found corporate and financial data, company disclosures and commentary about that information.

Revenues, expenditures and resulting profits or losses were counted, not manipulated or massaged.

Now investors turn to that golden fortress of truth, honor and integrity for their stock information—Facebook.

Everything that was right about Barron’s genuine financial journalism is wrong with Facebook.

“Secret” information on listed companies is about as accurate and secret as information on your favorite celebrity’s perversions. As with everything else on FB, nothing is subject to any sort of factual scrutiny.

Every stockbrokerage office in the country had a copy. You could tell who the senior brokers were; they had their own on their desks every morning. The rest of us had to wait until the office copy was handed around the floor.

Every Monday morning, the bible of the stock market came out. This was Barron’s, a weekly newspaper published since 1921. While also relaying the numbers, Charles Barron’s newspaper created what we now call —and generally incorrectly—financial journalism.

Here, the best journalists followed, reported and commented on the stock market. These were journalists who had worked their way

as a “blind item”. If the information was factual and reportable, it deserved reliable sources. Rarely would a company complain because they knew Abelson wrote the truth. The US Securities and Exchange Commission monitored Barron’s to make sure that Abelson and the others were not profiting from their columns or engaging in stock-price manipulation.

Abelson was sued several times and, to the best of my knowledge, was always vindicated.

Now investors turn to that golden fortress of truth, honor and integrity for their stock information—Facebook (FB). Everything that was right about Barron’s genuine financial journalism is wrong with Facebook.

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Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States and Taiwan. China, the world’s largest economy, is not even among the top 10 foreign investors in the Philippines.

Duterte’s recent trip to China should change the investment picture. Actually, China, one of the world’s largest sources of tourists, almost immediately lifted travel restrictions on Chinese travelers to the Philippines while the President was still in Beijing. China is also reportedly planning to import $100 million worth of fruits and other agricultural products from the Philippines.

To strengthen the renewed friendship between China and the Philippines, the DTI is working out the details of a Joint Commission on Economics and Technical Cooperation, which may be organized early next year.

The first meeting between President Duterte and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the sidelines of the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Leaders’ Meeting in Peru resulted in a commitment to strengthen bilateral ties.

Russia, according to Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, promised to import $2.5 billion worth of fruits and other farm products from the Philippines (current Philippine

B

up, many from being “copy boys”, reporters, and then having their own byline, learning the trade the hard and right way.

A favorable mention in one of the premier columns could add millions to a company’s stock value.

The opposite was also true. Barron’s hit the newsstands in New York City before dawn and was airfreighted around the country and the world. So important was the information that stockbrokers bribed copy boys, typesetters and truck drivers for a copy before other brokers got theirs.

The most famous with his Up and Down Wall Street column was Alan Abelson. There was no such thing

exports to Russia amount to only $46 million a year) within the next 12 months, and offered trade and investment partnerships in infrastructure, railways, energy and machinery engineering, among others.

Now, we have a more enlightened foreign policy that can, in fact, improve the Philippine economy. Multilateral lenders, like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, as well as credit-rating agencies and international banks are raising their growth forecasts for the Philippines, which is already being hailed as the fastest-growing major economy in Asia.

We must not forget, however, that volatilities in the global economy, like the Brexit, continue to pose risks to growth.

Thus, we should be more aggressive in pushing trade with other countries, like Russia and China, without sacrificing the US, which I believe will continue to be a major trade partner of the Philippines.

For the economy, pursuing a more enlightened foreign policy will further strengthen and brighten growth prospects.

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

“Secret” information on listed companies is about as accurate and secret as information on your favorite celebrity’s perversions. As with everything else on FB, nothing is subject to any sort of factual scrutiny. The people behind many—not all—of these FB pages use the same credibility-creating techniques as the people running the latest pyramid scheme. And what do they get for giving you all their wonderful free advice?

If you lose money listening to FB wisdom, take note—nobody cares and you have little if any recourse.

As genuine as most of your FB friends, so also is most of the stockmarket advice you will receive. But for the same reason, people take pride in their 832 FB friends, they are honored for being allowed to join these FB groups. It is much easier to have FB friends than invest an effort to have genuine relationships. It is much easy to join a FB stock group than to do any real investment work, too.

On a personal note, happy birthday to my wonderful wife Ada who has given me her love, her time and our four sons, having made my life worthwhile.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Ninoy’s letter to Mrs. Marcos

A glorious Manila Cecilio T. Arillo

database

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HE book, A Country Imperiled-Tragic Lessons of a Distorted History, written by this writer and published recently

by Amazon, one of the world’s largest publishing houses, reconstructed the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino Jr.’s politically meaningful activities as a self-exile.

The composite picture was woven from published accounts, properly acknowledged. Fresh material, much of it firsthand, was furnished

by Martin “Noy” Brizuela, who was very often with Ninoy from October 1980 until he boarded the China Airlines plane that flew him to his death, from Taipei to the Philippines, on August 21, 1983.

Aquinophiles insist that it was only because Ninoy Aquino was in grave danger of dying from a non-romantic disorder of the heart that former President Ferdinand E. Marcos relented to allow the death convict to leave prison, and only temporarily, for a heart bypass operation in Texas. Some even allege that Marcos waited until Ninoy was on the verge of death, before letting him leave for treatment.

Ninoy did little to correct this malignant lie, for why should he publicly acknowledge that the Marcoses, too, were capable of humanitarianism and generosity?

In fact, Ninoy himself authored this canard, when he charged President Marcos in August 1980: “I faced death in your detention camp when your army doctors diagnosed my heart ailment as mere muscle spasm, only to be told by doctors in the United States that I could have died from the heart attacks while I was languishing in your jail.”

In private, however, Ninoy did admit the truth to at least one friend, veteran writer-journalist Vic Barranco. In the first week of January 1980, or four months before Ninoy actually left for America, he told Barranco: “Marcos has offered me the status of an exile.” Ninoy was then enjoying the comforts of home, on the last days of an extended “furlough” from detention for the Yuletide break and the belated celebration of the 25th anniversary of his marriage to Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco.

Barranco recalled: “He said he was considering the president’s [Marcos] offer very carefully. Ninoy has received scholarship grants from several universities, like Harvard, Princeton, Montreal, University of California, Los Angeles, Tokyo Imperial University and Oxford.”

“It’s a likely go for me. I want to take that scholarship in political science, probably in Harvard.”

It was after the furlough, back in detention in Fort Bonifacio, that he felt chest pains while exercising. This was already in March 1980. On May 5, 1980, he was taken to the Philippine Heart Center for Asia, one of the edifices he had maligned so much for

In private, Ninoy did admit the truth to at least one friend, veteran writer-journalist Vic Barranco. In the first week of January 1980, or four months before Ninoy actually left for America, he told Barranco: “Marcos has offered me the status of an exile.” Ninoy was then enjoying the comforts of home, on the last days of an extended “furlough” from detention for the Yuletide break and the belated celebration of the 25th anniversary of his marriage to Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco. being a project of then-First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos. There, he was diagnosed as having a heart disorder that required a triple bypass operation. As was characteristic of Ninoy, privacy was the rule in those rare times that he felt compelled to give credit to any or both of the first couple. On his discharge from the Heart Center for Asia, he left a handwritten letter addressed to Dr. Jesus Aventura, the hospital director. The letter read: “In the past, I’ve been most critical of the First Lady’s project. Now that I’ve seen what she has done here at the Heart Center, I take back all my harsh words, hoping that I do not choke. Mrs. Marcos deserves all the credit for giving our people such an institution like your Heart Center. It is indeed ironical that one of her bitterest critics would be a beneficiary of her foresight. When the ultimate mist of controversy is melted by the rising sun, her works for our people will find final recognition.”

As Barranco pointed out, Ninoy was just waiting for the presidential order for his exile, when the cardiac problem supervened. In that event, it would have been unseemly for Marcos to issue the exile order. The world would have been aghast, for wasn’t it enough that Ninoy had been sentenced to death by musketry, and now was facing death from a fatal disorder? An exile order would have been taken as a supreme cruelty, and a superfluous one at that. And so it was made to appear that Ninoy went to America only on medical leave.

The exile order never came. With the three-month medical leave about to expire, an exasperated Ninoy finally had to publicly declare himself a self-exile on August 4, 1980, in the course of addressing the Asia Society in New York.

To be continued

Edgardo J. Angara

I

n my December 4 Manila Bulletin column “Erap, the Heritage Conservator”, I suggested that Mayor Joseph E. Estrada, with his background and proven support for the Arts, is cut out for the role.

My column was about recapturing Manila’s former glory, amid the reported conversion of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex (RMSC) into a mall. It elicited several reactions from historians, heritage conservationists and netizens. Some are critical, others helpful.

One of those who sent quite detailed constructive suggestions was Dr. Augusto de Viana, chairperson of the Department of History at the University of Santo Tomas and former head of the Research and Publications Division of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). “…Mayor Estrada was reported to have planned to build a shopping

mall to replace the Rizal Coliseum.

Though Manila already has a lot of malls, it needs the revenue and jobs for its citizens. One does not have to oppose such a mall, as long as the historic structure is preserved.

“Many historic buildings were actually reborn while keeping their old historic structures. In New York the old Chelsea Pier, which is no longer used for its original purpose like

W

hen Donald J. Trump becomes president next month, he will inherit a long war that risks becoming a permanent one.

George W. Bush began it after 9/11, when he called it the “war on terror”.

Barack Obama has tried and failed to end it. “Democracies should not operate in a state of permanently authorized war,” he warned in his last major national security speech on Monday. In this spirit, he laid out a series of principles he believed should guide America’s counterterrorism efforts.

For the most part they make good sense. Keep the war lawful. Keep the threat in perspective. Drone strikes are the least worst option for taking terrorists off the battlefield. That kind of

thing. But when it comes to understanding the aims of the enemy, Obama makes the same mistake as his predecessor.

“The whole objective of these terrorists is to scare us into changing the nature of who we are and our democracy,” he said this week. This is the president’s version of George W. Bush’s “they hate us for our freedoms.”

On this point, Trump has an opening. The truth is that the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other jihadists do not hate us just because of our freedom. Their objective is not to provoke an over-reaction where America ceases to be a democracy. It’s much more straightforward.

These groups want to force the nonMuslim world—what they call the Dar al-Harb, or the house of war—to submit to Islamic rule. Jihadists seek conquest.

Trump doesn’t know a lot about

the loading and unloading of cargo, is now an upscale shopping and dining facility. The old shop houses along the Singapore River are now restaurants for tourists. The old warehouses used to store spices in Malacca and Penang in Malaysia are now shops and restaurants.

“We do not have to go very far, the old dungeons at Fort Santiago are now tourist shops and the Old Tutuban train terminal is now a bustling mecca for consumer goods.

“Mayor Estrada can do a lot in preserving heritage and at the same time making the city conducive to business by undertaking adoptive reuse of the old historic sites. At the same time, he can do a lot by improving the peace and order condition of the city.

“There are many sites in Manila that can be revived through adoptive reuse. These sites are the Port Area, which can be revived like New York’s Chelsea Pier, the old Central Market, and various buildings and city blocks in Manila which [have] gone to seed. The good mayor should com-

Six months on, Duterte digs in Ernesto M. Hilario

ABOUT TOWN

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he nearly six-month-old Duterte administration insists there is a covert attempt by opposition forces to destabilize it and oust it from office, using the recent Marcos burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and alleged human-rights violations in the ongoing war on drugs as a convenient platform to do so. The Liberal Party (LP) has denied it is behind any destabilization conspiracy.

Nevertheless, Duterte supporters are circling the wagons to protect the administration from what they describe as “sinister plots”.

Any destabilization plot at this point may be doomed to fail for a number of cogent reasons.

First of all, the war on drugs, a key platform of President Duterte, is supported by more than 80 million Filipinos, according to a recent opinion survey. That can only mean that Filipinos recognize the serious danger posed by the drug menace to society, especially since the lists of those said to be involved in the illegal-drugs trade as coddlers of drug traffickers include public officials from the national down to the barangay level, as well as judges and police officials, raising the specter of the possible emergence of a narco-state controlled by big-time drug lords. The donation by a Chinese businessman of a P1-billion mega rehabilitation center in Nueva Ecija for the treatment of 10,000 drug dependents also shows foreign support for Duterte’s antidrug campaign, this time focusing on the health or rehabilitation aspect that’s an equally important component as law enforcement.

Second, Filipinos are now beginning to realize that the Duterte administration meant business when it promised early on that change is coming. As indeed it has in the form of, among others, the resumption of peace talks with the communist movement, as well as the Moro Islamic Liberation

Front and the Moro National Liberation Front; the issuance of an Executive Order on Freedom of Information; the creation of a Presidential Task Force on Media Security; efforts to put an end to contractualization in the labor sector; the increase in the monthly pension of retired members of the Social Security System; and a similar increase in the benefits of Philhealth members.

T hird, Duter te’s independent foreig n-polic y stance is reaping immense dividends. During his threeday state visit to China in October, Duterte managed to secure more than $23 billion in soft loans and grants from the Chinese government, as well as investments by Chinese state firms and private companies in various projects in the Philippines. Japan, the country’s largest foreign investor, is also willing to expand trade with us. Russia has promised to conclude some $2 billion worth of agricultural deals, allow more overseas Filipino workers access to their labor market and is willing to help us in modernizing our military.

While Philippine-American ties were strained by US President Barack Obama’s critical view of Duterte’s war on drugs, the advent of the Donald Trump presidency signals a reboot in our longstanding bilateral relations.

Duterte and Trump were reported to have had a lengthy telephone

How Trump could finally win the war on terror

By Eli Lake | Bloomberg View

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 A11

foreign policy. But he does understand this. Obama and Bush do, as well. But they also deliberately tried to define the enemy in the long war as un-Islamic, as murderous charlatans who defame a great religion.

This was a smart strategy. Many Muslims who believe the state should penalize adultery and blasphemy oppose terrorism. Also, states like Saudi Arabia have been important tactical allies against terrorists, particularly in recent years. Yet, ideologically, the Saudis and other Gulf states are still committed to a vision of political Islam for their own societies. An ideological war waged recklessly would alienate them.

At the same time, the impulse to narrow the definition of the enemy has ironically exacerbated the risks of

permanent war. Obama should know.

He authorized the raid that killed the head of al-Qaeda’s snake, Osama bin Laden. After this, he tried to unwind the long war, arguing the threat had receded. And yet he leaves office with US forces fighting al-Qaeda’s affiliates, spinoffs and fellow travelers all over the Muslim world.

For a period, Obama’s narrow war led to a bizarre phenomenon. When new outfits sprung up in Libya after the fall of its dictator, waving the black flags of jihad and promising to impose strict Islamic law in their areas of control, Obama’s White House did nothing. When the Muslim Brotherhood and more radical parties took control of Egypt’s government after the country’s first real elections, the Obama White House saw an opportunity to advance

conversation last week, and appeared to have started a friendship that bodes well for bilateral ties in the years ahead. In sharp contrast with Duterte’s somewhat antagonistic attitude toward the previous American envoy, he is reported to have extended a very warm welcome in Malacañang for new US Ambassador Sung Kim last December 6.

Fourth, protest actions against the Duterte administration as a result of its approval of the burial of the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos appear to be tapering off because of lack of broad public support for their cause. The so-called Yellow Army, consisting of die-hard supporters of the Aquino administration, could manage to mobilize only a handful rather than their hoped-for hundreds of thousands.

Does this mean that we can safely write off the LP from the political landscape even past 2022?

Related to this, I don’t think the resignation/dismissal (or was it dismissal/resignation?) of Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo as Housing secretary is likely to have any adverse political fallout for Duterte.

In a way, she practically begged to be dismissed as she launched broadside after broadside against Duterte on many issues. Unlike the Left-nominated Cabinet secretaries who also had contrary opinions, but wisely kept these to themselves out of respect for the appointing authority, Robredo chose to openly defy Duterte, even as she repeatedly says she wants it to succeed.

5 years on, road builders still seeking compensation

“Build, build, build” is the Duterte administration’s mantra as it recently unveiled an ambitious infrastructuredevelopment program with a mindboggling P8-trillion budget over a sixyear period to build or upgrade roads, bridges, airports and mass transport.

The private sector has been more than willing to take part in the government’s infrastructure build-up. For instance, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has submitted an unsolicited proposal

US interests by working with them.

This miscalculation was an example of what Andrew McCarthy, the former US attorney who prosecuted the first case against the World Trade Center bombers, calls “willful blindness.” By defining the enemy in un-ideological terms, Obama was unprepared to take on groups like Libya’s Ansar al-Sharia or the Islamic State before they became powerful enough to seize territory. By trying to end the long war, Obama let threats gather and prolonged it.

There is of course a risk in taking the ideological approach too far. If, say, Trump begins purges of suspected Muslim Brotherhood operatives inside the US, he will be trampling on constitutional protections for American citizens. He will also be sowing the seeds of his own political ruin, because this

pel the property owners to renovate their properties according to the city master plan or lose them.”

Professor Emilio Ozaeta of the UP College of Architecture underscored the importance of public awareness.

“The academe must educate and remind people of the extreme importance of remembering our past through our heritage architecture.”

The UP faculty is prepared to hold such public awareness workshops.

Paulo Alcazaren, a noted Heritage Conservationist, is ready to help Manila draft a master plan for preservation and conservation.

Urban Planner Nathaniel “Dinky” von Einsiedel, a pioneer Urban Planner in Asia, heads a top-notch list of experts on all forms of heritage— built, natural and intangible.

As mentioned in the column that sparked this enlightening public debate, there are many persons and philanthropists ready to rally behind making Manila glorious again.

E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com, Facebook and Twitter: @edangara

to build an elevated toll road on the Circumferential Road 5 and the Connector Road linking the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) with the South Luzon Expressway. MPIC subsidiaries are also spending P2 billion to upgrade the SubicClark-Tarlac Expressway over the next three years and are expecting completion of the P10.5 billion Nlex Harbor Link running from Valenzuela City all the way to Circumferential Road 3 by the first half of 2017.

The MPIC has seen it fit to fully support the Duterte administration’s inf ra projects, despite pend ing arbitration cases it had filed against the government before the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in Geneva, Switzerland, and another in New York to compensate it for roughly P5 billion in foregone revenues as a result of the previous administration’s inaction on its long-due petitions for toll increases for the 84-kilometer Nlex and the 14-kilometer Manila-Cavite expressway (Cavitex). For MPIC, P5 billion in foregone revenues isn’t peanuts. The delay in the resolution of the pending toll fee adjustments of the Nlex and Cavitex operators—which, in fact, are provided for in their operation and maintenance contracts with the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB)—puts at risk the viability and sustainability of MPIC’s ongoing projects.

The TRB has yet to act on the new toll rate petitions of MNTC and Cavitex Infrastructure Corp., even if these were filed successively since 2011.

Last May, MNTC President and Chief Executive Rodrigo Franco said he was open to an out-of-court settlement on the arbitration case involving the firm’s compensation claim. It is now up to the government to take up Franco’s offer of an out-of-court settlement.

The continuing inaction by the TRB, it seems to us, runs counter to the Duterte administration’s determined efforts to accelerate spending on infrastructure in order to attract foreign investors, achieve sustained economic growth and create more jobs for Filipinos.

E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

is the kind of thing that will provoke fierce opposition from the courts, press and many in his own party.

If Trump is not careful in how he defines the threat, he risks alienating allies he will need in the fight against the terrorists. Finally, Trump would be making a mistake if he gave leaders, like Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a blank check. It’s true that Sisi has called for a reformation within Islam, which is much needed. But he has also failed to distinguish between his legitimate political opposition and the radicals that briefly thrived in his country after the revolution. This will not end well for Sisi. As Egypt’s history proves, the Muslim Brotherhood thrives as a secret society. Its more radical adherents murdered Anwar Sadat when the group was largely underground.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

September FDI inflows declined by 69.3%–BSP $5.875B L

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

ong-term foreign investments fell by 69.3 percent to $469 million in September, from $1.52 billion recorded a year ago, according to the latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The BSP’s data on foreign direct investments (FDI) showed that equity placements recorded the biggest decline, from $1.15 billion last year to just $157 million in September.

Reinvested earnings also declined from $51 million to $35 million, while debt instruments slumped from $880 million to $296 million this year.

Equity capital placements in September, according to the central bank, were sourced mainly from Japan, Taiwan, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.

By economic activity, equity capital infusions were mainly channeled to manufacturing, real estate, wholesale and retail trade, financial and insur-

The amount of FDI inflows in January to September

ance, and administrative supportservice activities.

Despite the strong decline during the period, the overall FDI in January to September was still 25.3 percent larger than the level recorded in the same period last year.

In particular, the FDI inflows in the nine-month period hit $5.875 billion, up from $4.69 billion in the previous year.

The BSP said the still stronger FDI inf low for the entire three quarters of 2016 is a reflection of “investors’ confidence in the coun-

try’s economy on account of sustained growth prospects and strong macroeconomic fundamentals.”

Economists have also earlier expressed their confidence in the current administration’s ability to ramp up FDI inflows.

“The shift in foreign policy is likely to bring in more FDI and tourists as gains in both flows from China outweigh the potential decline in flows from the US, at least in the near term,” Credit Suisse said.

Credit Suisse added that around $1 billion to $4 billion, out of the total $15 billion, investment pledges from China could “have the potential” to start in 2017. “This implies a twoto sixfold increase in current investments from China, and compares with the Philippines’s typical annual total FDI inflows of $6 billion to $ 8 billion,” Credit Suisse said.

Dole Philippines backs DA’s Piñatex project–Piñol

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

D

@jearcalas

ole Philippines has thrown its support behind the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) pineapple-based leather-production project for the poor, according to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol.

P i ñol sa id Dole Ph i l ippi nes w i l l i n k a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the DA to formalize the multinational firm’s support for the livelihood project.

“Top officials of Dole Philippines have pledged to donate to poor families pineapple leaves from their 18,000-hectare plantations all over Mindanao,” Piñol said in his Facebook post.

“In a meeting on Sunday with officials of Dole Philippines led by Carlos H. Mandujano, senior vice president for worldwide agriculture and research, I asked them to allow poor families to gather pineapple leaves after the fruits are harvested,” he added.

Piñol said the DA is keen on signing the MOA in the presence of President Duterte within the month.

Under the MOA, Dole Philippines will provide pineapple leaves to poor families living near the plantations while the DA will provide technical support and decorticating machines, including dryers. Hijosa’s group will buy the decorticated pineapple fiber, Piñol said.

18,000 hectares The size of the pineapple plantations of Dole Philippines in Mindanao “With over 18,000 hectares of pineapple plantations, Dole Philippines’s support to the Piñatex natural leather production could lift thousands of farmers from poverty,” he said.

“Hopefully, I will be able to convince the other companies involved in pineapple production, such as Sumifru and Del Monte, to follow the example of Dole Philippines,” the DA chief added. In a meeting with Piñol on December 7, UK-based textile brand Ananas Anam presented their products made from pineapple leaves and pulp.

Ananas Anam Founder Carmen Hijosa, who is a scientist by profession, developed a technology which processes pineapple leaves into leather used by shoemakers, furniture designers and car manufacturers.

“The ‘green leather’ produced from pineapple leaves fiber is called Piñatex, and Dr. Hijosa’s company is buying decorticated fibers from pineapple farmers,” Piñol said.

“Her company is now buying pineapple fibers from farmers in Labo, Camarines Norte, at P1 per kilogram of leaves. She, however, said that, if the leaves are decorticated, her company could buy the fiber at P300 per kg,” he added.

The DA chief said pineapple leaves and pulp are usually left to rot in the field before huge tractors are fielded to prepare the area again for the next planting season.

Piñol said Hijosa’s company wants to buy more fibers from the Philippines, particularly those sourced from big plantations.

According to the DA, the Philippines is the top exporter of juice concentrates and pineapple juice.

Most of the pineapple products shipped abroad comes from Mindanao. Pineapple is processed into puree, dried, juice concentrates, canned products and fruit cocktail in syrup that is intended for export.

The Philippines is second to Thailand in terms of processing. The DA said 85 percent of processing belongs to companies like Del Monte and Dole.

There are 28 processing plants in the Philippines. The DA said native Philippine red or Spanish red when processed is an excellent source of piña fiber.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

World Bank bans more PHL contractors

By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

T

he World Bank will no longer allow five Filipino firms and individuals to participate in the bidding for projects it would finance after they were included in its debarment list.

Based on information from the World Bank’s online database, it has debarred the two firms and three individuals under the cross debarment list of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The two firms in the World Bank’s debarment list are LPF Trading based in Marikina City and One-Chem Industrial Sales Philippines based in Laguna, while the three individuals are Rafail Ace Fresnoza Lim, Angelita Banal de Leon and Lorena de la Paz Flores.

“Cross debarment in accordance with the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions dated April 9, 2010, which, as of July 1, 2011, has been made effective by the World Bank, ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank and African Development Bank,” the World Bank said.

The World Bank debarred LPF Trading and One-Chem Industrial’s from September 2016 to February 2023.

Based on the records, Lim was permanently banned from bidding for World Bank projects starting on November 2016.

De Leon and Flores, meanwhile, were banned from

participating in World Bank projects starting September 2016 until February 2023.

“These firms and individuals violated [our] integrity principles and guidelines and procurement guidelines on corrupt and fraudulent practices,” the ADB said.

In 2010 the ADB together with other multilateral development bank (MDBs), agreed to implement cross debarment for firms found guilty of corruption, fraud and other violations in projects.

In an interview, ADB Office of Anticorruption and Integrity (OAI) Auditor General Peter Pedersen said the agreement was signed in Luxembourg, Germany, by the ADB and other MDBs, such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Inter-American Development Bank Group.

Pedersen said, however, the cross debarment of firms is not retroactive. Firms and individuals that were debarred prior to 2010, when the agreement was signed, are not automatically disqualified from bidding in projects of other MDBs. On the part of the ADB, Pedersen said not all firms it has sanctioned will be subjected to cross debarment.

He said the ADB has two lists of sanctioned firms and individuals and that only the second list of firms and individuals that were sanctioned is made public. This list includes those who were already sanctioned but continued to bid or participate in other ADB projects.