Businessmirror february 20, 2018

You need hackers!

By Henry J. Schumacher

W

YAKTHAI | DREAMSTIME.COM

hy? The future of human work is imagination, curiosity, creativity and resourcefulness.

Whether you believe it in many ways, ethical hackers are the model citizens of the digital era. They are creative, persistent and resourceful. They think in digital terms and have a curiosity and drive to figure out how technology works. They view every problem as an opportunity.

They stand up for what they believe in and they want the world to be a safer place.

Continued on A12

media partner of the year

United nations

2015 environmental Media Award leadership award 2008

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

www.businessmirror.com.ph

n

Tuesday, February 20, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 132

Duterte not diluting EO on contractualization

T

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

he Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday allayed fears of labor groups that the new executive order (EO) on contractualization to be signed by President Duterte will be a “watered-down version” of the draft they submitted.

Maglunsod: “The understanding of the President during the dialogue [with labor groups] is that this [laborendorsed EO] is the final version….”

DOL E Undersec ret a r y Joe l B. Maglunsod said that, as of Monday, Malacañang has yet to make any changes in the draft EO submitted by labor groups to Duterte during their meeting

A nice kind of problem Manny B. Villar

THE ENTREPRENEUR

F

or many years, and under different administrations, lack of jobs has been one of the country’s primary problems and a root cause of poverty that affects a fourth of the population.

Continued on A2

Continued on A10

Brownouts unlikely this summer in Luzon grid

PHL scales terrain of Swiss challenge and procurement

T

@ReaCuBM

Part Two

HE lowest offer in bidding may appear to be the surest way an agreement is sealed.

That, however, is not usually the case, especially in public biddings.

According to Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Executive Director V Dennis S. Santiago, the lowest-bid policy is not usually the route taken by the government for public biddings.

Santiago told the BusinessMirror that the government may award the project to the company that complies with the technical requirements even if it has the highest bid.

He cited as example a project with a P10-million approved budget. Three bidders submit their respective proposals: the first bid amounting to P4 million, the second at P6 million and the third at P9 million, Santiago explained.

Even if the first received bid is the lowest at P4 million, the proponent can be automatically disqualified if the bidder did not comply with the technical requirements of the project.

In terms of the third bidder with P9 million, if the company was found to have complied with the technical requirement, and

Republic Act 9184 was crafted to have the good laws and rules together, consolidate them to a singular legal framework; one law for government procurement in the Philippines. So just imagine, prior to RA 9184, because of so many issuances on procurement, sometimes bidders, even government agencies, will use a rule that is not the right rule.”

—Santiago is legally compliant and financially-capable, then the government awards the project to them, Santiago said.

“That’s the highest bidder, as a matter of fact. The President is right when he said we don’t want to award to the lowest bid because it really doesn’t go to the lowest bid,” he further explained. “What the President is saying is that we should award to the bidder with the quality offer. So, no matter how low Continued on A2

PESO exchange rates n US 52.0050

business news source of the year

P25.00 nationwide | 4 sections 24 pages | 7 days a week

BMReports

By Rea Cu

2016 ejap journalism awards

By Lenie Lectura

T

@llectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) on Monday said Luzon is now assured of an additional 570 megawatts (MW) of additional power-generating capacity, enough to thwart the issuance of red-alert notice within the grid.

First ‘Dog’ trading day Share prices climbed on Monday, the first trading day of the Chinese Year of the Earth Dog, as trading

activity accelerated in the region, while local investors picked cheaper stocks. The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 97.78 points to close at 8,710.22 points. Total volume of trade reached 7.35 billion shares worth P9.68 billion. The main index went as high as 8,757.83 points during midday, but profit-taking occurred at the afternoon trade, narrowing its gain. Nonie Reyes

Panel to craft ‘distinctly Filipino’ federal charter

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

P

@BNicolasBM

resident Duterte’s consultative committee on Charter change (Cha-cha) is targeting to submit the final draft of the federal constitution, which is targeted to be “distinctly Filipino,” on July 19, or days before the Chief Executive’s State of the Nation Address on July 24.

Retired Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, the panel’s head, told reporters after the committee’s first en banc session, at the Philippine International Convention Center in

Pasay City, the federal setup should be distinctly Filipino as there is “no model that will perfectly fit the Philippines.” He thus urged the 18 other committee members “not to plagiarize any federal model.”

“If we are to have a homogenous position, it is that we should not plagiarize any federal model, for our model should be distinctly Filipino, as it cannot be impassive to our past and indifferent to the present,” Puno said.

Puno also emphasized that the country would need a “cooperative” federalism and not “competitive” federalism, as not all

10,500 MW The peak demand in Luzon expected in May

regions would be ready to “take full steps” toward the shift in the form of government.

Puno’s committee also distributed assignments on Monday. The panel already requested the President to appoint experts from the field of economics, foreign relations and military.

“The additional woman-members may come from these fields of expertise,” he said, noting that he reiterated this request to the Executive Secretary on Monday morning, and that he was told that the appointments are forthcoming.

DOE Assistant Secretary Redentor Delola said during a briefing on Monday afternoon that two new power plants are already on line.

These are the coal power projects of SMC Consolidated Power Corp. in Limay, Bataan, and Pagbilao Energy Corp. in Quezon.

“Pagbilao is 420 MW; Limay is 150 MW. They are now connected to the grid and are now in the commissioning stage. They will continue to be commissioned all the way to commercial operation,” Delola said, when asked for the powersupply situation for Luzon during the summer months.

He added peak demand in Luzon is expected to hit 10,500 MW

Continued on A12

Continued on A2

n japan 0.4889 n UK 72.8850 n HK 6.6490 n CHINA 8.2027 n singapore 39.6591 n australia 41.0996 n EU 64.4914 n SAUDI arabia 13.8687

Source: BSP (19 February 2018 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, February 20, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PHL scales terrain of Swiss challenge and procurement Continued from A1

your offer [is] but you cannot comply with the technical requirements, your bid will not be accepted.”

Santiago was referring to the statement issued by President Duterte in January, when he said he wants to do away with the bidding process for public-works projects and instead opt for the Swiss challenge scheme. Duterte said he believes doing so could eliminate the chances of corruption and lessen chances of delay in major government projects.

Failures

THE Government Procurement Reform Act or Republic Act (RA) 9184 was enacted in 2003 with the goal of having a streamlined procurement process in the country. Its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) was issued in October of the same year.

According to the GPPB Technical Support Office (TSO), the law was created to consolidate numerous issuances and executive orders (EOs) before 2003 that caused confusion in government agencies and the private sector involved in public procurement.

“RA 9184 was crafted to consolidate all these, to have the good laws and rules together, consolidate them to a singular legal framework; one law for government procurement in the Philippines,” Santiago, also a lawyer, told the BusinessMirror in an interview. “So just imagine prior to RA 9184, because of so many issuances on procurement, sometimes bidders, even

government agencies, will use a rule that is not the right rule. This will then result to occasions of failures of biddings, a lot of unawarded projects because they failed to comply with the rules.”

Changes

DESPITE the effectivity of RA 9184 on applying uniformity in public biddings, its IRR have gone through two major revisions.

Duterte is seen to likely push for the amendment of the law itself in line with removing the lowest-bid rule.

“If there’s any change that we want to put in, we can basically put it in the IRR. Now, the GPPB is duty-bound under the law to review the law. It is our mandate,” Santiago said.

He, however, clarified the reviews conducted by the GPPB and the technical support office before did not entail the amendment of the law but the amendment of the IRR. Earlier, Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno also pointed out that if the government wants changes to be made to the procurement process in the country, a revision of its IRR will be easier than opting for an amendment of the law, which goes through Congress.

“We can change the IRR because it’s very hard to push for legislation,” Diokno has said. “We’re not sure what would come out of Congress.”

Context

SANTIAGO cited another example in solicited proposals for infrastructure.

In this case, the government usually invites the private sector to hand in their bids for certain projects the government has already planned or lined up, he explained.

An unsolicited proposal, on the other hand, takes effect when the government suddenly receives an offer from a private entity wanting to go into a public-private partnership (PPP) for the development of a project of their choosing.

“For solicited proposals, the government will invite bidders to bid,” Santiago said. “For unsolicited, you are not doing anything, you are just doing your own work then suddenly someone makes an offer.”

Around five infrastructure projects in the country were noted to have undertaken the Swiss challenge scheme. These projects include the Cebu-Mactan bridge by Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC), the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 by San Miguel Corp. and the Caliraya-BotocanKalayaan power plant by the Impsa Corp. of Argentina. Other projects are the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway connector road by MPTDC and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 by the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. “That’s why if you want changes in the law—it’s even the position of our chairperson Secretary Diokno—that we do not have to change the law; we can change the IRR,” Santiago said. “That’s all and it’s adaptable.”

According to the GPPB-TSO official, “the good thing about solicited proposals is that it coincides with the timeline of the govern-

ment while unsolicited proposal need more time as the government needs to study it thoroughly since it’s not incorporated in its initial roster of planned projects.”

“But as long as it will benefit the public, any of the two proposals prove to be beneficial.”

Criterion

ACCORDING to Santiago, “there are really good unsolicited proposals and there’s no reason for the government not to take it because it will benefit the public.”

However, he added, the country is better off with RA 9184 since it streamlined the procurement process and allowed no room for confusion in the system.

“The law provides for a single guiding framework, making it easier for both government agencies and the private sector in terms of project biddings.”

Since both parties are applying the same rules, chances for corruption can be minimized, if not eliminated, this makes procurement more predictable, stable and transparent, he added.

“We are far better off with the procurement law than without it,” Santiago said.

“Just the mere confusion that the old context provided, it will be hard to correct the procurement system if you look at random and various rules.”

The procurement law also did away with the use of a substantial-nonsubstantial method of awarding bidders. This was replaced by a “pass or fail” criterion for a more efficient and systematized processing.

To be concluded

Duterte not diluting EO on contractualization Continued from A1

earlier this month.

“The President remains committed to signing the executive order...based on our previous conversation, he is convinced about the sentiments of the workers. Hopefully, this will not change,” Maglunsod told reporters in an interview.

Maglunsod, however, admitted there is still a possibility that Duterte could con-

Pacquiao resort. . .

sider other versions of the EO, although he quickly added the chance for this remains remote.

“The understanding of the President during the dialogue [with labor groups] is that this [labor-endorsed EO] is the final version endorsed by workers and the Department of Labor and Employment,” Maglunsod said.

He also noted the draft EO has not received any official opposition from employers’ groups.

Continued from A12

The senator warned of an “impending ecocide” in Boracay if overcommercialization, pollution and other pressures are not mitigated. “Boracay is now at a crossroad because of overcommercialization,

pollution and overcrowding. These are already recipes for ecological genocide, and it’s waiting to happen if we aren’t able to prevent it.”

Binay cited a study made by the Japan International

Labor leaders are scheduled to meet with Duterte on March 15 anew to discuss the draft EO and other labor-related issues.

Maglunsod made the assurance on Monday after labor coalition Nagkaisa and militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno issued a joint statement opposing the “watereddown version” of the EO. Both labor organizations said they will be holding more mass actions in the coming days, including the launch of a petition

signing today to generate more public interest in the matter to compel Duterte to immediately sign the EO. Labor groups earlier said Duterte no longer has any reason not to sign their draft EO after they decided to recall their position banning all forms of contractualization.

Under the draft EO, contractualization will be prohibited except for certain professions, which will be decided by the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council.

Cooperation Agency, which warned of “imminent loss” of the island’s marine and coastal ecosystem if its current environment prevails. Filipino and Japanese scientists conducted the Jica-funded research on the island from 2010 to 2015.

The Coastal Ecosystem Conservation and Adaptive Management study added the island’s coral-reef

ecosystem has been seriously degraded by tourismrelated activities.

“Over commercialization has compromised the island’s natural beauty. But there is still hope. What we can do is to make Boracay a model of responsible tourism, and we should strive to return it to its pristine state,” she stressed.

In 2017 about 2 million tourists visited Boracay, named one of the world’s most beautiful islands or beaches by prominent travel publications and news blogs. Last year it generated some P56 million in tourism receipts for the economy.

Piñol. . .

Continued from A12

“When I assumed office as secretary, I found farm machineries and equipment amounting to billions of pesos, which were not distributed.”

President Duterte instructed Piñol to distribute the farm machinery and equipment. Furthermore, Duterte issued the directive that farmers should not be required to put up counterpart funding before receiving their desired farm equipment, according to Piñol.

Piñol said the“reformed”farm-mechanization program of the DA, which now offers loans instead of grants, is expected to improve the country’s farm-mechanization level.

“Allow the farmers to choose their own brand and own as many equipment and machineries as they need to serve their members or their communities,” he stressed. “Fast-track the implementation of the farmmechanization program to effectively make farming more efficient and prevent postharvest losses.”

Piñol added the reforms would also put an end to “torturous” government bidding process, wherein farm machinery and equipment are bought based on the least expensive instead of the farmers’ choice. This type of bidding process, Piñol noted, resulted in the acquisition of “poor quality” machinery and equipment.

“The Farm Machineries and Equipment Loaning Program will mark the start of a new approach in extending support to Filipino farmers, which will be done through a sustainable loaning program,” he said. “This time, farmers will no longer complain that they were neglected and deprived of farm machinery by government,” he added.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Brownouts unlikely this summer in Luzon grid Continued from A1

between the second and third weeks of May, with reserve expected at 1,500 MW during the period. Delola said the agency does not expect the issuance of a red alert by the grid operator, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

A red-alert notice is issued by the grid operator when the power reserve left on the grid is at a level considered as regulating reserve, or equivalent to 4 percent of the current demand. This means power interruption may occur.

“We are not worried for summer. Our worry is if the 570 MW will not come in and, simultaneously, there will be forced outage incidents. The worse could be yellow alert, but we do not expect that,” Delola said.

A yellow-alert notice means operating reserves have dropped below the required 647MW contingency in Luzon, or equivalent to largest unit in Luzon, which is the 647-MW coal-fired power plant in Sual, Pangasinan.

Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, meanwhile, has assured the public that no massive brownouts would happen this summer following the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) recently issued by the Court of Appeals against the suspension of four commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). “It’s a blessing that the four commissioners have returned for work, at least for the next 60 days, to resolve the pending cases,” Gatchalian said.

In December 2017 the Office of the Ombudsman served a one-year suspension to four commissioners of the ERC that were found liable for not implementing the Competitive Selection Process, thus unduly favoring certain distribution utilities. According to ERC Chairman Agnes Devanadera, the ERC received the memo from the Office of the President directing the implementation of the suspension on January 22.

The TRO provides a 60-day reprieve to the ERC to fully function as a collegial body in the approval of new requests and renewals of Certificates of Compliance (COC), as well as the granting of extensions of Provisional Authority to Operate and the crafting of important orders and resolutions concerning the power sector.

During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy last week, Gatchalian revealed that the demand for power increases by about 15 percent to 20 percent every summer. With the given period, the ERC expects the disposition and promulgation of 60 pending cases and the completion of the technical process for 40 new cases.

The ERC has recently approved two new COCs, while seven others are undergoing evaluation. Eight more COCs are pending for renewal, as they will be expiring by June 2018. Devanadera announced the body’s promulgation of a resolution for the adoption of rules to lower the cap on the allowable rate of system losses that can be passed on to consumers. The said resolution was promulgated on February 13.

Meanwhile, consumer-advocacy group CitizenWatch Philippines said the government must closely monitor and evaluate food, electricity and fuel prices to prevent arbitrary increases and profiteering.

Citing the 4-percent inflation recorded last week, the consumer group warned that it is only the beginning of the ripple effect caused by the enactment of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, with fuel and power hikes coming up next.

“At the end of the day, it’s the ordinary Filipino consumers who are left with no choice but to carry the burden of the increase in prices, especially in fuel costs and electricity rates,” said CitizenWatch Philippines convenor lawyer Hannah Viola.

The first tranche of hikes in petroleum prices already took effect last month, including P2.97 per liter for gasoline, P2.80 per liter for diesel, P3.36 per liter for kerosene and P1.12 per kilo for liquefied petroleum gas, according to figures from the DOE. For electricity rates, the direct impact of the projected increase will be reflected on the blended generation charge attributable to additional excise tax on fuel and the transmission charge, which is now subject to valued-added tax. For this month, there will be an estimated P1.08-per-kilowatt-hour power-rate increase, or a total of P216 increase in the electricity bill for a typical household that consumes 200 kWh.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

BIR reveals ‘discrepancies’ in CJ Sereno’s tax records

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

he Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Monday said it has found some “discrepancies” in the tax records of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno.

During the continuation of the impeachment hearing, BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa, however, declined to reveal his initial findings before the House Committee on Justice.

“We have made some observations, findings on the tax declarations of the Chief Justice, and there are some discrepancies, but we cannot yet divulge the figures,” Guballa said.

“We are still waiting for the approval of the Office of the President wherein we are barred

by Section 270 of the Tax Code,” Guballa said.

On February 7 the House Committee on Justice ordered the BIR to investigate the earnings and income tax returns of Sereno when she worked as legal counsel of the government in the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) case. “ We w ill be susceptible to charges if we just give information,” Guballa said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Henry S. Oaminal of the Second District of Misamis Occidental has moved for the issuance of subpoena duces tecum to secure the findings of the BIR probe.

“We have to issue a subpoena duces tecum so that the BIR also has some documents to immediately consult their legal adviser, which is the Office of the So-

licitor General, and that would trigger the immediate procurement of the documents,” Oaminal said.

For his part, Rep. Vincent P. Crisologo of the First District of Quezon City said there is nothing illegal if the BIR will release its findings.

“This is not an unlawful revelation because this is an impeachment hearing. It cannot be unlawful. What prevents you from giving those data is if it is unlawful. But this is not unlawful,” Crisologo said.

But House Justice Committee Chairman Reynaldo V. Umali of Oriental Mindoro reminded members of the lower chamber to read the tax code provisions to understand the BIR. In the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Larry Gadon, the complainant said Sereno misdeclared some P37-million earnings for serving as legal counsel in an arbitration case and that she did not pay the corresponding taxes.

According to Gadon, the Chief Justice earned P37 million in defending the government in an arbitration case against Piatco.

However, Sereno, in her verified reply, said she earned P30 million and not P37 million in the Piatco cases.

The impeachment complaint filed by Gadon contains four grounds, including corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes. The complaint also alleged 27 acts constituting the offenses charged against the Chief Justice.

We have made some observations, findings on the tax declarations of the Chief Justice, and there are some discrepancies, but we cannot yet divulge the figures.”—Guballa

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, February 20, 2018 A3

Defense officials clear Duterte’s top aide in ₧15.7-B frigate deal

D

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM & Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

efense officials, under questioning by Senate probers on Monday, sought to clear Palace Special Assistant Christopher “Bong” Go from allegations of anomalies linking President Duterte’s trusted aide to the controversial P15.7billion purchase of two missile-capable Philippine Navy frigates.

The frigate acquisition was initiated by the Aquino administration in October 2015 to beef up the country’s territorial defense, as well as disaster response capabilties and “reinforce the Navy’s capable warships, including two former US Coast Guard ships.”

Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. recalled that a huge amount was initially earmarked by Congress for the Navy acquisition, but added: “something went wrong in this deal to procure [naval assets].”

“Did Bong Go have any interest on behalf of his principal?” Lacson asked pointblank, to which Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana promptly replied: “No, your honor.”

Former Navy Chief Adm. Ronald Mercado, who was relieved for “insubordination” amid controversies surrounding the acquisition of the frigates combat management system (CMS), also affirmed to the senators that “Bong Go never approached me as Flag Officer in Command to favor one of the bidders.”

Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr., meanwhile said, Malacañang is set to present documentary evidence today that Mercado made

several trips to the Thales Tacticos office in the Netherlands.

Mercado and the Navy’s technical working group members pushed for Thales Tacticos of the Netherlands as contractor for the CMS of the Navy’s frigate acquisition project, while Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), which bagged the 18-billion contract for the delivery of two new frigates, selected Naval Shield of Hanwha Thales of South Korea as the CMS contractor.

Roque said it “was very clear” that Go did not intervene on the controversial frigate deal.

Perhaps tomorrow, I will get the documentary evidence that his interest in Tacticos goes beyond the reputation of Tacticos, that he has actually made several trips to the corporate headquarters of Tacticos. And of course, we don’t know why he made these trips to the Tacticos office,” he said at a Palace news briefing.

In filing Senate Resolution 584, minority senators asked the Committee on National Defense and the Congressional oversight panel to open an inquiry into the P331.62

billion Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program of which only P63.39 billion was released.

T he resolut ion noted t hat the amount of P25 billion was alloted in the 2018 budget, the same amount appropriated in last year’s budget for the AFP modernization program, which included funding for the acquisition, among others, of brand new attack helicopters, tanks and other military hardware.

The resolution added that the first military contract signed under the Duterte administration, seen as the biggest item in the AFP modernization program, is the completion of the acquisition of the two navy frigates that was initiated by the Aquino administration.

However, Sen. Gregorio B. Honasan, Senate Defense Committee chairman, voiced concern that the Department of National Defense (DND) steering committee formed

by Lorenzana to oversee the frigate acquisition, chaired by DND Undersecretary Raymundo Elefante, was dissolved in the first week of 2017, amid allegations that the formation of the panel violated the Government Procurement Law which did not provide for such a steering committee, but for a technical working group to serve as technial arm for the bids and awards committee composed of technical, financial and legal experts.

The resolution recalled that an October 20, 2017, a DND report on the status of the frigate acquisition project confirmed four companies participated in the bidding with Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers submitting the lowest calculated bid of P15,047,704,000 and HHI at P15,744,571,584 as second lowest bidder.

Lorenzana, under questioning

by Lacson assured Senate probers

that soon after he took over the Defense post, the DND conducted further review and proceeded to greenlight the project.

“When we arrived, it [frigate deal] was almost done, so we signed the award,” he told senators, adding “there was presumption of regularity.”

The defense chief added they will proceed to implement the AFP modernization program, including the acquisition of defense assets “because it is a perfected contract.” He added that the frigates are expected “to be delivered next year.”

Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV, insisted, however, that Go and Lorenzana would not have proceeded with the project, indicating the two officials “ will not act without order from the top.”

For his part, Go told senators he attended the Senate inquiry “to clear my name so people will know the truth [that] I did not intervene in the acquisition of the two frigates and I am ready to face my accusers.”

This developed as Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto recommended on Monday that the Philippines should consider building its own warships since the country is already considered as the world ’s fourth-big gest shipbuilder.

Recto noted, for instance, that the shipyards in Cebu are “very big.”

The senator found encouragement from former Navy Chief Vice Adm. Ronald Joseph Mercado, who said the contract on the two frigates from Korea, in fact, stipulates a turnover to Philippine side of the design plans used for the frigate, “so we can use these if we want to reproduce our own ships.”

Sen. Richard J. Gordon, in backing the idea, agreed that Filipinos have the capacity to ramp-up the Philippines’s shipbuilding industry.

NFA rice shortage worries Eastern Visayas residents

By Elmer V. Recuerdo Correspondent

T

Breeze maker

A street merchant expecting to cash in on the demand for native anahaw fans with the onset of the dry summer months at his front yard along Asuncion Street in Tondo, Manila. He sells each fan P20. ROY DOMINGO

ACLOBAN CITY—The Eastern Visayas regional office of the National Food Authority (NFA) has suspended selling rice to its accredited retailers due to diminishing rice stocks.

NFA regional director Henry Tristeza said there is now a “very limited” supply of rice, prompting the local NFA office to stop replenishing the supply of its some 5,000 accredited retailers and reserve the remaining rice stocks to government relief agencies and local government units.

Tristeza said that, as of last Friday, rice stocks in different warehouses in the six provinces of Eastern Visayas was only 52,000 cavans, which is equivalent to 1.7 days of regional consumption.

He added that industry stocks for the whole region is good for 38 days, which is expected to be replenished on the third week of March when the harvest season starts.

“What we need is food-security stock at least for eight days, or a minimum of 240,000 bags,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Only a handful retail stores are now selling NFA rice, which sells at P27 to P32 a kilo, a lot lower that the commercial rice that sells at P40 to P50 a kilo.

“This is a big dent on our budget,” says Rowena Cariaso, a fish vendor in a Tacloban’s flea market and a mother of eight children. She said that her family of ten consumes at least 2 kilos of rice a day.

“We have tried many stores already, but we cannot find NFA rice,” she said. The last time she was able to buy NFA rice was Monday last

week, with 10 kilos that lasted only for four days. “We allot an additional P40 a day to our budget on rice, which is equivalent to half of what our daughter gets as her daily allowance,” she added.

Tristeza said that, as much as they want to accommodate marginalized families in their remaining rice stocks, he said that it may not be enough.

Adding pressure to NFA’s rice stocks is the number of typhoons passing through the region, which has become more frequent in recent years. Last week many parts of Eastern Visayas were flooded due to typhoon Basyang, which left at least four people dead in the region.

“It is our problem on how to sustain the food-security needs of poor families who can only afford to buy cheaper rice,” Tristeza said.

Suspected ISIS ‘commander,’ Filipina partner nabbed in Malate police raid

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

A

N Egyptian, who is reportedly a “commander” of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and his Filipina partner were arrested by security forces during a raid in Manila last Sunday. The duo yielded a firearm and bomb parts.

National Police chief Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa said

the arrest of of Fehmi Lassqued alias John Rasheed Lassoned, a native of Syria, and his Filipina companion, Anabel Moncera Salipada, 32, thwarted possible terror plans in the capital city.

Lassqued and Salipada were nabbed at Room 409 of Casa Blanca Apartment along M. Adriatico Street, Malate, Manila, during a search conducted by operatives of the Regional Police Intelligence

Operations Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office.

The operation, which was joined by the Armed Forces’ Joint Special Operations Group, was backed by a search warrant that was issued

by Judge Benjamin T. Pozon of Branch 139 of the Regional Trial Court in Makati City.

“Lassqued and Salipada were promptly placed under arrest upon the discovery of assorted firearms,

ammunition and components for [an] improvised explosive device, such as electronic circuits, resistors, capacitors, batteries and pipe fittings,” dela Rosa said.

The PNP chief presented Lassqued during a news conference, where he also announced that an ISIS flag was recovered during the raid.

The Egyptian, whose presence in the Philippines was sounded off to the government by foreign intel-

ligence agencies, entered the country via Iran in 2016 through a fake Tunisian passport.

“His link with [the] Marawi [siege] is still being determined, but suffice it to say that we learned his presence through our foreign intelligence counterparts,” dela Rosa said.

Until his arrest, the Egyptian had been passing himself off as a recruiter for migrant workers.

Dela Rosa said that Lassqued was

a former negotiator between the “ISIS leadership and local government officials in Syria and Turkey.”

“He is a former ISIS commander in [the] Syria-Turkey border, so he is a commander of ISIS. In fact, there was an ISIS flag that was taken from his possession during the implementation of the search warrant,” dela Rosa said.

Lassqued is still undergoing a debriefing by policemen.

Economy

A4 Tuesday, February 20, 2018 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

DOTr, vehicle makers sign accord for delivery of 3K modern jeepneys

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

T

RANSPORT groups and vehicle manufacturers have signed an agreement for the delivery of over 3,000 modern jeepneys in three months, as the government intensified its thrust to remove old and dilapidated public-utility vehicles (PUVs) on the road and replace them with new ones.

A tot a l of 19 t ra nspor t groups have signed ref leeting deals with manufacturers Eco Dy ip Inc. and MCCI Connection Transport Ser vices Cor p., accord i ng to De pa r t ment of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretar y Thomas M. Orbos.

With this, the young Orbos said, commuting experience would gradually be improved in the next few months.

“Our directive is to hasten the deployment of new public-utility vehicle for the public to immediately feel the comfort and convenience of our modernization program,” he said.

Orbos also assured that his group will assist transport groups

by easing the requirements in securing financing for their refleeting programs.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Martin B. Delgra III noted that his group is now in the process of readying the local public transport route plans, “in order for the agency to issue franchises to various transport operators.”

Land Transportation Office Chief Edgar Galvante added his agency will fast-track the issuance of license plates for the new vehicles.

Among the 19 groups that struck agreements with manufacturers are the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines and Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers’ Association of the Philippines.

The PUV modernization program has been criticized by other transport groups—like the Pinagkaisahang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide—as anti-poor, as this will “displace and dispossess” a huge chunk of the 209,124 jeepney drivers nationwide.

Under t he sa id prog ram,

Our directive is to hasten the deployment of new public-utility vehicle for the public to immediately feel the comfort and convenience of our modernization program.”­—Orbos

jeepneys 15 yea rs a nd older are required to be phased out due to their environmental and safet y hazards.

The policy, which has been floated since the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, intends to provide the riding public more safe and secure transportation means by 2020.

Often described as a progressive transportation agenda, the modernization of PUVs in the Philippines is a six-year program that has multiple facets and, when completed, will help Filipinos enjoy a better public transportation experience.

At least, that is the expectation.

Under the program, the LTFRB is tasked to undertake reforms in regulation through the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines. The program also mandates the regulator to implement new jeepney-vehicle standards, rationalize routes and assist in a proposed scrapping program, among others.

Other government agencies will be involved in the agenda’s implementation. The Department of Trade and Industry will help extend the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy Program, which provides vehicle manufacturers with incentives.

The Department of Finance, on the other hand, will help the land transportation regulator to implement a financing program for the proposed refleeting of public-utility jeepneys.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DENR’s Cimatu vows to lift ban on small-scale mining operation

I

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

N his bid to legalize and regulate small-scale mining operations, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has vowed to fast-track the processing of Minahang Bayan applications starting with those wishing to operate in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) chief recently visited areas in Itogon, Benguet, which has a pending application for Minahang Bayan by small-scale miners. These include the Antamok, which is covered by the patented area of Benguet Corp., and the Gold Creek area, which falls within Gold Creek Mining Corp.’s mining patent.

There is still no Minahang Bayan in the CAR, an area with a rich gold deposit in Luzon.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)-CAR, showed there are currently 65 pending applications for Minahang Bayan in the region.

Some of these have been endorsed to the MGB central office, while some still have documentary requirements that are yet to be completed.

There are numerous requirements for Minahang Bayan application. These include a petition for Minahang Bayan, an area status and valuation report from the MGB; results of initial review of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and MGB; proofs of notice to mining tenement holders, private landowners, to the host local government units (LGU), and to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP); proof of posting; and proof of publication.

Applicants are also required to submit a certification from the City or Provincial Mining Regulatory Board that there is no protest filed against the application and/or that favorable decision is final and executory; endorsement by the majority of LGU council members; certificate of nonoverlap and certificate of compliance with corresponding memoran-

Special Order 53 The order issued by Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu mandating the creation of the National Task Force on Mining Challenge.

The task force would ensure strict implementation of existing mining policies and regulations, as well as other related environmental laws dum of agreement from the NCIP; and consent from the landowners or companies who have claims over the area being applied for Minahang Bayan. In case of areas with indigenous peoples, a Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is a must.

According to Engr. Alfredo Genetiano, chief of the MGB-CAR’s mine management division, the prerequisites for the FPIC and the FPIC process itself are the most challenging to comply with as the documentary requirements for the conduct of FPIC are too technical for small scale miners while the FPIC process takes time.

Earlier, Cimatu led the blasting of 18 mine tunnels at Sitio Basa, Camp 4 in Tuba, Benguet as part of the campaign against illegal smallscale mining operations in the area.

In a news statement, Cimatu vowed to implement the law as he vowed to ensure that no small-scale mining activities will be allowed outside a declared Minahang Bayan.

Small-scale mining under Republic Act (RA) 7076, or the Small-

Scale Mining Act, operation of small-scale mining is only allowed within a declared Minahang Bayan.

Cimatu noted that some smallscale miners continue to use sodium cyanide which is highly toxic.

In addition, he lamented that small-scale miners do not have in place safety hazard control measures.

“I sympathize with these people. Their practice is very dangerous. I hope they could find other ways to earn a living other than illegal mining,” he added.

The mine tunnels ordered closed

by Cimatu had intruded the military reservation of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). Illegal mining operations in the reservation persisted despite a stoppage order issued by the MGB-CAR in 2013.

Relevant to the crackdown, the DENR chief has issued Special Order 53 creating the National Task Force on Mining Challenge (NTFMC).

The task force would ensure strict implementation of existing mining policies and regulations, as well as other related environmental laws.

The task force cracked down on illegal small-scale mining activities within the vicinities of the PMA; Barangay Kias in Baguio City; and Camp 4 in Benguet, which led to the closure of several adits and confiscation of mineral products, chemicals, and several equipment used by small- scale miners.

The task force would help the DENR and the MGB in implementing not only mining rules but also other environmental laws, such as those on pollution and illegal logging, which mining operations may have violated.

“Mining operations affect such a huge part of our environment, and are often covered by many interrelated environmental laws that cannot be addressed by the MGB alone,” Cimatu said.

The NTFMC, which now serves as the enforcement arm of the DENR, is expected to roam around the country to shut down illegal mines which do not only pose threat to the environment, but also to the lives of small-scale miners.

The task force will also run after illegal importers, retailers and distributors of explosives and cyanide which are commonly used in smallscale mining operations.

House approves measure on creation of EC standby fund on third reading

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

he House of Representatives has endorsed for Senate approval a measure creating a standby fund for electric cooperatives (ECs).

This after the lower chamber recently approved on third and final reading, House Bill 7054, or the proposed “Emergency and Resiliency Fund for Electric Cooperatives” which shall be used in disaster prevention, management and mitigation measures of ECs and for rehabilitation of their infrastructures damaged by force majeure or fortuitous events.

The bill mandates the government to support and assist all ECs affected by force majeure to immediately restore power service. This will facilitate and assist efforts by local government units (LGU) in rendering aid, reconstruction and rehabilitation of devastated areas.

The measure provides for orderly and continuing government financial assistance to ECs in the form of grants for disaster mitigation, preparedness, restoration and rehabilitation of damaged facilities.

It also provides for additional powers and functions to the National Electrification Administration (NEA). Under the bill, NEA can now direct ECs to

submit their respective comprehensive and integrated disaster-management program such as, but not limited to, Vulnerability and Risk Management and Emergency Response Plan and, thereafter, shall establish, administer and monitor the implementation of the same.

The NEA can also now receive donations, in form of funds, materials, or equipment, which are intended to restore ECs infrastructure damage by fortuitous event or force majure.

Under the bill, ECs shall implement the rural electrification program nationwide under existing laws and ensure the protection, preparedness and mitigation of the adverse impact of any fortuitous event or force majeure on their infrastructure. They shall also ascertain the ability of their manpower to undertake emergency response for the immediate restoration or rehabilitation of their damaged infrastructure after a catastrophe.

ECs shall also prepare plans and programs, and compliance with all requirements so that funds are allocated to implement the objectives and provisions of the law.

The Emergency and Resiliency Fund for ECs shall be managed and administered by NEA in consultation with other government agencies, ECs, and end-users. These entities

shall submit quarterly reports on the program implementation and fund utilization to the Department of Energy, the Joint Congressional Power Commission and the Office of the President.

The bill said the initial fund shall be taken from the present appropriation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management fund until it has been in included in the following year’s General Appropriations Act. Any donation in the form of materials, equipment or cash, local or international shall be administered

by NEA subject to existing auditing rules and regulations and shall be exempted from all duties, taxes, fees and other charges.

It added the allocation of funds shall be divided accordingly: 30 percent for the ECs’ disaster prevention, disaster preparedness and disaster mitigation measures as approved by NEA; 60 percent for the restoration and rehabilitation of infrastructures of ECs damaged by catastrophe; and 10 percent for the settlement of expenses incurred by ECs during restoration and rehabilitation of infrastructure damages. In case of fund deficiency, NEA may seek the allocation of a supplementary budget subject to the approval of the President of the Philippines.

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jun B. Vallecera • Tuesday, February 20, 2018 A5

Peso plunges to fresh 11-year low

T

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

he local currency on Monday shed more than a third of its value at the close of trading to P52.34 per dollar, its weakest since mid-2006.

The fall was the result of a 34 centavos diminution during the day from last week’s P52 per dollar closing rate.

The peso has not been this weak since July 19, 2006, when it hit P52.745 per dollar.

Trade volume had been frenetic as this almost doubled from Friday’s $578.5 million to $1.025 billion on Monday.

Just last week the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) pulled a surprise by cutting the banks’

₧

deposit reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 1 percent, effectively releasing some P70 billion to P90 billion from its vaults.

The peso’s plunge on Monday, ING Bank Manila Senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said, tangentially relates to the adjustment in the deposit reserves that loosely puts a dovish bias on the

The millennial investor

New Greek loans prove elusive as talks near on post-bailout life

H

ow great is it to be young and being able to invest?

The Filipino millennial is spending mounds of money on experiences, with the availability of so-called Piso fares, coupon promos, app discounts and others, local young professionals go to fancy places and eat at the newest food hot spots available. Just take a look at Facebook and Instagram posts of young people. Hashtag LaBoracay. Hashtag VitaminSea. Hashtag YOLO. The list goes on. This just shows we have more disposable income, and the spending would only get bigger once we get used to the new tax law.

But how are spending power and disposable income related to investing?

With every purchase, we exchange money for them. More money equates to greater purchasing power. The more purchasing power we have, the more we feel secure about our finances. Sadly, being able to maximize this potential to make us secure financially is almost always the least of priorities among young professionals early on in their careers. This is not saying we must avoid or neglect enjoying what life has to offer. Rather, being able to create other sources of income and being able to properly allocate money from these sources to live life in full while preparing for life’s uncertainties is what we as millennials should focus early on. From there, we could grow our financial portfolio and generate more income from various sources from different instruments.

However, one must not be too focused of just growing money. Protecting and conserving financial growth is the most neglected aspect of investing and financial planning. Everyone forgets that those hooked on just making money but stumbles quickly finds all his resources gone.

Proper allocation of one’s financial portfolio is crucial to becoming financially secure. There is not one investment instrument that fixes all needs. A combination of asset types is necessary as this mitigates the risks involved in investing.

A word of caution: Be vigilant with investment offers as there are no guaranteed investments.

Risk is relative to gain as more risk equates to higher growth potential and vice versa. Do not

part of the BSP. Cuyegkeng said this was one reason the market turned away from the peso.

The economist also added the market has interpreted the BSP decision as a show of tolerance for a slightly weaker local currency.

“We are looking for some re-

lief next month with combined capital inflows from stock rights issuances and seasonally higher remittances,” Cuyegkeng said.

“But the relief could be temporary considering the wider trade deficit and policy rate increases in the US, which market expects to be left unmatched by BSP or BSP lags,” he added.

The local economy has since been feeling the effects of a weaker peso that translates to higher prices in imported goods, such as oil.

The manufacturing sector has also been feeling the impact of the weakened peso, saying this leads to higher production and materials costs that weakens industry growth down the line.

Don-Don Crisostomo

personal finance be tempted by such offers and always keep your emotions in check when looking over for financial instruments and businesses. Remember the very definition of investment: It is a purchase of an asset with the expectation of profiting from it overtime. From the definition itself, investments are not guaranteed. Let us always remember that we do not stop from growing our funds. Regularly reviewing funds requires planning, from accumulating assets to protecting and conserving it for use of next of kin.

As a millennial, we have to be financially secure early on in life. Being able to create several sources of income provides opportunities not only for ourselves but also for others looking to create opportunities for themselves, as well. We become better in our community by contributing to the economy that brings us the services and commodities we want for our own enjoyment. While we may not start out big, these small steps would bring us toward our dream goals. Living life to the fullest is the mantra not only of millennials but of all generations to come.

It is great to be young and being able to invest.

It is not too late. Investing money only requires consistency and discipline. By doing it regularly, we build a foundation that enables us to accumulate more. And by having more, we provide the financial security not just for ourselves but also for our family.

Don-Don Adolfo Crisostomo is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about financial planning, join the 68th RFP program this March 2018. To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph, or text <name><e-mail> <RFP> at 0917-9689774.

G

REECE is not expected to get its next slice of financial aid just yet, as a couple of key reforms linked to the bailout loans remain outstanding, according to a report obtained

by Bloomberg. The delay comes as the debt-ridden state seeks to convince investors and creditors it will soon be able to finance itself in markets without external help.

The final audit of the country’s up-to €86-billion ($107-billion) bailout is set to start later in February, less than six months before the program runs out in August. While Athens still has to complete two outstanding reforms before it receives the fresh loans, officials hope Greece will get the money within coming weeks, as talks are now centering on what arrangement the country should get after the the end of its eightyear financial supervision.

The two issues holding back Greece’s next slice of aid worth €5.7 billion have to do with a court decision to allow the privatization of an old airport to move ahead and progress on auctions of foreclosed property, according to the report. European Union and Greek officials hope the overhauls will be resolved ahead of the next bailout audit set to start on February 26.

An EU official said the new loans may not be made available until mid-March, partly due to the scheduling constraints of a German parliamentary committee that has to green light the disbursement.

They key question that looms, however, is whether Greece would be able to fully stand on its own

feet once its bailout runs out, especially if the current global economic upswing weakens. A delay in the country’s latest bond sale due to sharp trading volatility and the recent spike in Greece’s 10-year bond yields, highlight the country’s vulnerability to external market conditions, EU officials say, raising questions about how it will fare without any external assistance.

Greece’s government aims to reach an agreement with its creditors on some kind of post-surveillance regime based on the model of Portugal or Cyprus, which will contain frequent reviews but no policy conditionality, a Greek government official familiar with the talks said, speaking of condition of anonymity.

Concern among creditors also stems from the fact that the end of the cash-for-reforms regime could chip away at Greece’s refor m moment u m— espec i a l ly ahead of elections in 2019. In order to prevent Athens from reversing agreed reforms and boost spending to lure voters, creditors hope to establish an enhanced surveillance mechanism, whereby Greece’s progress with outstanding overhauls and fiscal discipline will be closely monitored.

“Privatizations need to continue, as do reforms of the public administration,” said Klaus Regling, managing director of the euro area’s crisis-fighting fund. “It would be a shame if the progress made so far were to soften at the end of the program,” Regling said in a February 15 interview with German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine. Bloomberg News

As Treasuries slip on rate fears, bond funds seek refuge in Asia

T

he Treasuries rout is making emerging Asian bonds look even more attractive.

Higher yields, buoyant economies and a slower pace of rate increases in Asia suggest that sovereign debt in the region will outperform Treasuries, said Adam McCabe, head of Asian fixed income at Aberdeen Standard Investments. Indonesian, Chinese and Indian bonds offer value, according to Aberdeen, State Street Global Advisors and Amundi Asset Management.

“The fundamentals are still very strong in Asia from an economic perspective, and the adjustment from a policy perspective is larger in the US than it is in Asia,” McCabe said in an interview in Singapore.

“Those policies weren’t adopted in Asia, so the room for bond yields to move should be less.”

As the Federal Reserve (the Fed) moves to dial back its stimulus and the market starts to consider a quicker pace of interest-rate increases, the 10year Treasury yield has surged to a four-year high with debate raging over how far and fast it will advance. While Asian central banks are also starting to tighten, the expectation is for a more gradual increase, according to State Street.

The yield on Indonesian government notes due in a decade has climbed 10 basis points in February to 6.42 percent, while that on Indian securities rose 15 basis points to 7.58 percent. In China yield on the 10-year bond is down 3 basis points to 3.89 percent.

In comparison, the 10-year Treasury yield has increased 17 basis points and reached a high of 2.94 percent last week. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has warned that it may reach 3.5 percent

in the next six months. The Bloomberg Barclays EM Local Currency Government Asia Index has slipped 0.2 percent this year versus a 2.2-percent drop in the Bloomberg Barclays US Treasury gauge.

“On the whole for Asia, we’re seeing a bit of a slow normalization of interest rates,” said Ng Kheng Siang, Singapore-based Asia Pacific head of fixed income at State Street, which oversees $2.67 trillion. “We’ve seen that action taking place in Korea, Malaysia and possibly the Philippines may be next. We’re not seeing a major policy change.”

Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2011 last November, and a Bloomberg survey of economists suggests it will tighten once this year.

Bank Negara Malaysia left the door open to further policy

normalization after increasing the key rate in January. The Fed has flagged that it expects to raise rates three times.

Once the recent volatility eases, local-currency China and Indonesian government bonds may offer buying opportunities, according to Ng. China is attractive due to the prospect of the nation’s inclusion in major bond indexes while economic reforms, domestic consumption and infrastructure spending will support Indonesia’s outlook, he said.

Amundi is similarly keen on Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, which won upgrades from two rating companies last year on the back of improving finances and accelerating growth. Global funds have bought $1.1 billion of rupiah sovereign debt so far this year, after pumping in $12.1 billion in 2017.

“We still like markets that have increased credibility in policy-making and improved structural inflation dynamics,” said Wan Howe Chung, Amundi’s Singapore-based head of Asian fixed income. “These include Indonesia which very much falls into this bucket. With this sell-off, we’re potentially adding some risk. It’s not cheap but there will be a point that we’ll feel that it’s cheap enough.”

For Amundi and Aberdeen, Indian bonds are a standout, thanks to their relatively high yields and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy initiatives.

“We see the reform effort as being ongoing and the direction of travel is very clear,” Aberdeen’s McCabe said. “As these reforms take shape, what you’ll find is that the country risk premium should decline.”

Villar cites ₧9-T infra budget over five years

A

s much as P9 trillion of the national budget for 2018 has been earmarked for infrastructure over five years under the government’s “Build, Build Build” program, according to Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar.

Addressing the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) 140th anniversary last Wednesday, Villar said the huge allocation will finance such projects as railway system and interisland bridges that will spur development in the provinces and decongest Metro Manila.

Villar congratulated MWSS Chairman Franklin J. Demonteverde and Administrator Reynaldo V. Velasco for what MWSS has achieved in just a year to ensure clean, affordable and sustainable water for the 20 million customers in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Serving as guests of honor for the event were former President Fidel V. Ramos and Villar who officially represented President Duterte.

Velasco and Demonteverde led employees in welcoming guests from the water agency’s three concessionaires: Manila Water, Maynilad and Luzon Clean Water Development Corp.; former MWSS officials; and dignitaries during the launching of the MWSS coffee-table book From Carriedo to Balara: Celebrating 140 Years of MWSS and Ensuring Water Security at the new world-class MWSS Multi-Purpose Hall, which was blessed and formally inaugurated along with the new cafeteria and the presentation of the Palafox Master Plan for the MWSS Water Eco Tourism Hub. The commemorative book, authored and published by Media Touchstone Ventures, Inc. president Melandrew Velasco, was among the major highlights of the MWSS 140th anniversary celebration.

In his welcome remarks, Velasco recalled that the 140th anniversary celebration coincides with his first anniversary at the helm of the water agency. “What a year it has been after being plucked out from retirement to serve this great water institution under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte,” he said.

Vel a sco ac k nowledged t he presence of Ramos, the acknowledged father of the MWSS privatization. The successful publicprivate partnership is now 20 years old and is being replicated in other parts of the country and in countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

Apart from the book launch, other activities for the 140th anniversary celebration included the unveiling of the MWSS multipurpose gymnasium and c a feter i a m a rkers, present ation of water ecotourism master plan and the presentation of the MWSS/concessionaries flagship projects.

Velasco thanked the concessionaires Manila Water, Maynilad and Luzon Clean Water Development Corp. represented by President and CEO Ferdinand de la Cruz, President and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez and Engr. Edgar Dona, respectively.

The gymnasium and cafeteria are anniversary gifts of Maynilad and Manila Water to MWSS, which, according to Velasco, are “done anchored on corporate social responsibility and in the spirit unity, solidarity and teamwork, or UST, to borrow FVR’s credo of nation building.”

The two concessionaires also funded the MWSS water ecotourism hub whose master plan was developed by world-famous architect Felino Palafox Jr. The transformation of the old Balara picnic grove into a modern water eco-tourism hub will make it environmentally compliant.

A6

The World

Tuesday, February 20, 2018 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

BusinessMirror

Survivors of deadly school shooting lash out at Trump

P

ARKLAND, Florida—Student survivors of the deadly Florida school shooting who hope to become the face of a revived guncontrol movement are on a potential collision course with President Donald J. Trump.

Several of the students have criticized the president, whose election was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and who ran on a platform opposing gun control.

Trump spent the weekend at his estate in South Florida, only an hour’s drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were fatally shot last week.

His only mentions of the massacre came in tweets last Saturday, contending that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was too focused on the Russia investigation to respond to warnings about the alleged shooter and mocking Democrats for failing to pass gun control.

“You’re the president. You’re supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us,” said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“How dare you,” he added.

After more than a day of criticism from the students, the White House said the president would hold a “listening session” with unspecified students on Wednesday and meet on Thursday with state and local security officials.

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to the February 14 attack that killed 17 people. Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of first-degree murder.

In a TV interview, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida legislature to allow courts to tempo-

rarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil at the First Church Coral Springs, blocks from the shooting site. He is expected to announce a legislative package with GOP lawmakers this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student survivor, gave an impassioned speech at a weekend rally with a stinging citation of the NR A’s $30 million in expenditures on Trump’s behalf in the presidential election. Last Sunday she cited Trump, Rubio and Scott by name in a warning to politicians backed by the NRA. “Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet,” she said on Meet the Press.

Seeking to increase pressure for gun control, the students plan to visit the state capitol in Tallahassee this week to demand immediate action. They are also calling for antigun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities March 24.

Organizers behind the Women’s March, an anti-Trump and female-empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14.

Chris Grady, a 19-year-old senior at the Florida school, was one of several students at last Sunday’s rally near the campus.

“The kids in Newtown were too young to understand what happened and were too young to have their own voice,” Grady said, referring to the 20 first-graders killed in the 2012 Connecticut

S

dangerous and threatening, and despite repeated police visits to his home.

Red-flag legislation has been introduced by Democratic state lawmakers, but it hasn’t been heard during this year’s session, and its fate is uncertain in a state Legislature controlled by Republicans, who generally favor expanding gun rights.

After last Wednesday’s shooting, Republican Gov. Rick Scott said he will work to make sure people with mental illnesses don’t have access to guns, but offered no specifics.

Florida’s GOP Sen. Marco Rubio—facing criticism from support he has received from the National Rifle Association—is going a step further now.

Rubio said on a Sunday morning show that state legislators should “absolutely” consider enacting a law enabling family members or law-enforcement officials to ask a court to remove guns from a person who poses a danger. Rubio, who once served as Florida’s House speaker, told Miami CBS affiliate WFOR that it’s an “example of a

briefs

Israeli PM Netanyahu to Iran: Don’t test Israel’s resolve

MUNICH—The nuclear deal with Iran has emboldened Tehran to become increasingly aggressive in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last Sunday, warning that Iran should “not test Israel’s resolve” as he showed off what he said was part of a downed Iranian drone.

Netanyahu said that if the United States decides to scrap the 2015 nuclear deal, which he has long opposed, “I think they’ll do nothing.”

But Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, appearing two hours later at the same Munich Security Conference, fired back that Netanyahu’s comment was “delusional thinking.”

“I can assure that if Iran’s interests are not secured, Iran will respond, will respond seriously. And I believe it would be a response that means people would be sorry for taking the erroneous action they did,” he said. AP

All 65 aboard plane feared dead in crash in southern Iran People light candles at a makeshift memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty were killed in last Wednesday’s mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, on February 18. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder last Thursday. AP/Gerald Herbert

school shooting. “We want to be the voice for those kids and thousands of others.”

Not every student at the Florida school was calling for more gun control. James Ciaramello, a freshman in the school’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program, was heartbroken by the massacre but skeptical firearms regulations could have prevented it.

“He’s just messed up,” Ciaramello said of Cruz, another JROTC member. “I mean, tighter gun control, it’s not gonna help. There’s always a way around it.”

School and government records obtained last Sunday show Cruz was diagnosed as developmentally delayed at age 3 and had disciplinary issues dating to middle school. In February 2014, while in eight grade, Cruz was transferred to a special school for children with emotional and behavioral issues. He stayed there until 10th grade, when he was transferred to Stoneman Douglas. Last year Cruz was expelled.

On September 28, 2016, an investigator from the Florida Depar tment of Chi ldren and Families (DCF) visited Cruz and his mother, Lynda Cruz, after he posted video on Snapchat show-

You’re the president. You’re supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us.”­—Hogg ing him cutting himself.

The report showed that Cruz had written a racial epithet against African-Americans and a Nazi symbol on his book bag, which his mother had forced him to erase. The investigator said Cruz was suffering from depression and on medication and had told Lynda Cruz he planned to buy a gun, but she couldn’t determine why.

A school counselor told the investigator that Lynda Cruz had always tried to help her son and followed through on his therapy and medication, but the counselor was concerned about the youth’s desire to buy a gun.

A crisis counselor told the DCF investigator he had visited the school and that he did not believe Cruz was a danger to himself or others. The case was closed, with the investigator concluding that Cruz was receiving help from his mother and counselors, and “no other referrals or services were needed.”

After Lynda Cruz died last November, Cruz moved into the

home of a teenage friend. The friend ’s parents told the SunSentinel newspaper they had no idea the extent of Cruz’s issues.

“We had this monster living under our roof and we didn’t know,” Kimberly Snead told the newspaper in an interview published last Sunday. “We didn’t see this side of him.”

James Snead added: “Everything everybody seems to know, we didn’t know. It’s as simple as that.”

The teen kept the AR-15 he allegedly used in the massacre locked in a gun safe with a few other firear ms. James Snead thought he had the only key to the cabinet but says Cruz must have had another key. The family kept their own rifles, bought after a burglary a few years ago, in a separate locked cabinet.

They told Cruz he needed to ask permission to take out the guns. He had asked only twice since November. They said “yes” once and “no” once. AP

Few states let courts take guns from people deemed a threat A C R A M E N T O, C a l i f o r nia—The warnings around Nikolas Cr uz seemed to f lash like neon signs: expelled from school, fighting with classmates, a fascination with weapons and hurting animals, disturbing images and comments posted to social media, previous mental-health treatment.

In Florida that wasn’t enough for relatives, authorities or his schools to request a judicial order barring him from possessing guns.

Only five states have laws enabling family members, guardians or police to ask judges to temporarily strip gun rights from people who show warning signs of violence. Supporters of these measures, deemed “red-flag laws” or gun-violence restraining orders, say they can save lives by stopping some shootings and suicides.

Florida, where Cruz is accused of using an AR-15 assault weapon to kill 17 people at his former high school, lacks such a law. He was able to legally own the semiautomatic rifle, even though his mother, classmates and teachers had at times described him as

www.businessmirror.com.ph

state law” that could have helped prevent the Florida shooting.

In 2014 California became the first state to let family members ask a judge to remove firearms from a relative who appears to pose a threat. Its legislature took action after a mentally ill man, Elliot Rodger, killed six students and wounded 13 others near the University of California, Santa Barbara, before killing himself.

California’s law also empowers police to petition for the protective orders, which can require authorities to remove firearms for up to one year.

Connecticut, Indiana, Oregon and Washington also have some version of a red-flag law.

More than a dozen others, including Hawaii, New Jersey and Missouri, are considering bills to enable family members or police to petition the courts to take weapons away from people showing signs of mental distress or violence.

The Florida shooting has revived debate about whether teachers and school administrators should have that authority, as

well, given that people at Cruz’s high school witnessed much of his erratic behavior.

California lawmakers voted to expand their law in 2016 so that high school and college personnel, coworkers and mental-health professionals can seek the restraining orders, but Gov. Jerry Brown called the effort premature and vetoed it.

State Assemblyman Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat, said he plans to reintroduce the bill.

“We need to make sure that when people see signs, they have every ability to do something about getting guns out of the hands of mentally ill and dangerous people,” Ting told The Associated Press.

Circumstances similar to those in Florida played out seven years ago in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. Jared Loughner had become increasingly disruptive and erratic at his community college in the months leading up to the shooting, frightening students and causing teachers to request campus police officers be on hand during his classes.

Eventually, the school threatened

him with suspension.

Soon after, he went to a gun store and legally bought the weapon he used to attack Giffords as she met with constituents, shooting her in the head and killing six people.

Without red-flag laws, the main recourse available to family members is to have a troubled loved one committed to a psychiatric institution. Federal law permanently bans anyone who has been involuntary committed from owning guns, but such actions are more difficult to carry out than redflag laws, which are intended to be quick and temporary and have a lower standard of proof.

Without such a commitment, formal adjudication of serious mental illness or a felony conviction, many people can pass background checks and possess guns they already own.

The red-flag laws act as a sort of timeout, so someone in psychological distress can get counseling while their fitness to possess a gun is evaluated, said Laura Cutilletta, legal director of the Giffords Law Center. AP

TEHRAN, Iran—An Iranian airplane brought back into service only months ago after being grounded for seven years crashed last Sunday in a foggy, mountainous region of southern Iran, and officials feared all 65 people on board were killed.

The crash of the Aseman Airlines ATR-72 was yet another fatal aviation disaster for Iran, which for years was barred from buying necessary airplane parts due to Western sanctions over its contested nuclear program.

Its nuclear accord with world powers allows it to get those parts and the country has made deals worth tens of billions of dollars for new aircraft. The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down near its destination of the southern city of Yasuj, some 780 kilometers south of the capital, Tehran, where it took off. AP

Russia: 5 dead in church shooting; police kill suspect MAKHACHKALA, Russia—A gunman opened fire with a hunting rifle on churchgoers leaving a service in Russia’s Dagestan region, killing five people and wounding four others, then was shot and killed by police, authorities say.

The shootings took place last Sunday evening in Kizlyar, a town of about 50,000 people on the border with Chechnya.

Four people died at the scene and a fifth died at a hospital, regional Interior Ministry Spokesman Ruslan Gadzhiibragimov said. The gunman was a local resident, and his wife has been detained for questioning, he added. The motive for the attack was not immediately known.

Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea. Following two separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya, an Islamist insurgency spread to Dagestan. AP

What will Meghan wear? Royal wedding dress a top U.K. secret LONDON—Where does one shop for a wedding gown set to be the dress of the year—an outfit chic enough for a fashion-loving bride but suitable for a church so regal it’s the burial place of monarchs?

Everyone at London Fashion Week—and elsewhere—is dying to know. With only three months to go before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s May 19 wedding at Windsor Castle, both the fashion and bridal worlds are abuzz with talk of who the bride will pick to design her dress and what kind of look she would go for.

“It’s going to be the greatest fashion commission of 2018. There’ll be millions of eyeballs on it,” said Jade Beer, editor at the British edition of Brides magazine. “It’s her major fashion moment.” AP

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Japan’s exports grow 12% as trade recovers

J

apan’s trade recovery powered into 2018, with exports and imports registering strong growth.

The increase in imports resulted in the first monthly trade deficit since May 2017.

The value of exports rose 12.2 percent in January from a year earlier (forecast 9.4 percent). Imports grew 7.9 percent (forecast 7.7 percent).

The January trade balance was a deficit of ¥943.4 billion (forecast negative ¥1 trillion). Export volumes rose 9.2 percent from a year earlier.

Japan enjoyed a strong export recovery in 2017 that helped push the nation’s economy to the longest expansion in nearly 30 years.

Rising imports, a sign of improving domestic demand, indicate the Bank of Japan is making progress in its efforts to generate a self-sustaining economic recovery. A surging yen, though, is a risk. It will make imports cheaper, weighing on inflation, while cutting into exporters’ profits.

“An increase in imports shows that domestic demand is healthy,” said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. in Tokyo. “We should focus more on export trends rather than the trade balance to get an idea of economic growth, and in that sense Japan’s doing well.

Exports are growing both in price and volume, so we can say that we’re seeing strong results.”

“Exports remain strong, as the global economy is going well and demand in China is strong,” said Masaki Kuwahara, senior economist at Nomura Securities Co. “I think exports will continue to do well for a while.”

“The trade balance tends to be in the red in January,” Kuwahara added.

“This isn’t a surprise in that sense and I think the deficit will be temporary.”

Japan’s adjusted trade balance showed a surplus of ¥373.3 billion (forecast ¥143.9 billion).

Exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, rose 30.8 percent in January from a year earlier.

Shipments to the US rose 1.2 percent. Those to the EU increased 20.3 percent. Bloomberg News

Tuesday, February 20, 2018 A7

US-led group mulls over Asia infrastructure amid China push

A

ustralia, India, Japan and the US are discussing a joint infrastructure plan, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said, as China’s own building initiative deepens its economic clout across Asia.

Senior officials from the four Group of 20 nations have discussed “a range of opportunities and challenges,” Bishop told Sky News in an interview that aired on Monday ahead of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s White House visit later this week.

“There is an enormous need for infrastructure, particularly in our region,” she said.

The talks suggest a possible new economic front in efforts to counter China’s rising influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

W hile President Donald J. Trump withdrew the US from a massive trade regional pact including Australia and Japan last year, the National Security Strategy he released last December called for policies to answer Chinese and Russian infrastructure-building efforts.

Chief among those is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road” initiative (BRI), a global plan to build or expand highways, railways, ports, pipelines and power plants that Morgan Stanley forecasts could grow as large as $1.3 trillion over the next decade.

Australia, India, Japan and the US, which have also discussed a regional security partnership known as the Quad, have yet to join China’s plan.

Bishop played down any rivalry with China, telling Sky News that any new “infrastructure initiative need not be at the expense of any

other initiative.”

Last month China lodged a formal protest with Australia after Turnbull’s minister for international development, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, said the Belt and Road plan risked building “useless buildings” and “roads to nowhere.”

“Framing the Quad in economic and infrastructure terms instead of as a security relationship is something new and makes a lot of sense because it may make it appear less confrontational toward China,” said Bates Gill, a professor in security studies at Macquarie University in Sydney. “It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration is prepared to do the diplomatic heavy lifting that would be necessary for such a partnership to work.”

Turnbull was expected to discuss the idea in talks with Trump, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday, citing a senior US official it didn’t identify. The plan was nascent and no announcement was imminent, the newspaper cited the official as saying.

‘Strategic competition’

“Between the four countries, we are exchanging opinions about mutual interests on various occasions, including the Japan-US and the Japan-US-India, Japan-Australia-India trilateral frameworks,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday in Tokyo. “I would like to

Construction binge in Asia Bloomberg

There is an enormous need for infrastructure, particularly in our region.”—Bishop refrain from discussing details of specific discussion topics. Anyway, it’s not the case that this is in opposition to China’s One Belt, One Road plan.”

Before v isiting China last November, Trump signed two deals with Japan, pledging cooperation on infrastructure projects in the region.

Infrastr ucture cooperation with the three Asia-Pacific nations would dovetail with the Trump’s administration evolving national

security policies, which have cast the US as in “long-term, strategic competition” with China and Russia. US officials have begun referring the region as the “Indo-Pacific,” reflecting their desire of the US for India, the region’s third-largest economy, to play a bigger role in its security matters.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman didn’t respond to a call and text for comment on Monday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is already investing in road

and rail links on its northeastern frontier—near Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Nepal— under his “Act East” policy.

Modi’s government has objected to China’s decision to fund infrastructure projects in Pakistanadministered Kashmir that pass through territory claimed by India.

“China has tapped into a deepseated desire for infrastructure in the region and in large parts of the world,” said Harsh Pant, an international relations professor at King’s College London. “If you want to challenge China, you have to challenge China on BRI, or have an alternative to BRI. It’s a natural step, if the Quad wants to articulate a different vision.” Bloomberg News

UK Prime Minister May’s vision starts to emerge for post-Brexit reality

A

S Theresa May retreats to the countryside with her Cabinet to thrash out differences on Brexit, it’s starting to become clearer what the prime minister wants the divorce to look like.

Some in Brussels will call it cherry-picking, but May wants to stay very close to the European Union (EU) in some areas, while breaking free in others. With trade talks round the corner, a picture is emerging after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson kicked off a series of big speeches last week.

Next up is the United Kingdom (UK)’s chief negotiator. Last time David Davis spoke, he said very little would change after Brexit and that the important thing was just to win the freedom to ditch EU rules if a future government chose to.

With just 13 months until Brexit Day, here’s where we are:

May wants to pick and choose EU rules

May wants to drop EU rules in some areas immediately, for example financial services and agriculture, according to officials familiar with her thinking. But in other areas, alignment with the EU is favored in the longer term.

Johnson, the face of the Brexit referendum campaign and a potential rival to May, offered some support to this idea by giving concrete examples where sticking to the same regulations would make sense: manufacturing goods, such as vacuum cleaners and hairdryers.

When it comes to data, May was clear she doesn’t just want alignment—she wants the UK to keep

its role in making the rules. Data is key for businesses, as well as security and defense—where May also wants a tight relationship.

Rules are important because trade ultimately depends on it: keeping them should mean better access to the single market. But the EU says countries can’t pick and choose which bits of the single market they want access to—it’s all or nothing.

a deadlock in talks, May promised that no hard border would emerge on the island of Ireland after Brexit.

To guarantee that, she pledged that if no other solution was possible, the rules of Northern Ireland will remain aligned with those of EU member Ireland so that no border is needed. But she also promised that there would be no border between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain—suggesting that the whole of the UK would have to keep its laws aligned.

Ireland continues to remind May of her promise, and no one is any closer to figuring out how the two mutually exclusive pledges can be kept. The only obvious way is to stay in the single market or customs union, which May has ruled out.

The Cabinet is now fighting over Northern Ireland, as Brexit backers think pro-EU ministers are using the specter of a return to violence as an excuse to keep the UK tethered to the EU forever.

Merkel indicates a tolerance for cherry-picking

German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated last Friday that seeking a tailor-made deal after the split doesn’t necessarily mean “cherrypicking.” While the commission says May has to choose between the kind of relationship Norway has with the bloc—close economic ties but following rules it has no say in making—or the trading relationship that Canada has, Merkel opened the door to something in between.

The latest fight is over enforcement

What the Cabinet is fighting over now is how the future relationship between the EU and UK should be enforced or policed, according to officials. It’s controversial because breaking free from EU institutions and courts was a massive issue in the referendum campaign—where a big selling point for Brexit was “taking back control.” But a close trading relationship will probably require European regulators to have some say in enforcement, even if only indirectly.

Ireland is still a riddle

LAST December, in order to break

Brexit backers are soft on immigration

United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Theresa May Bloomberg

We do not want to haul up the drawbridge; and we certainly don’t want to deter the international students who make such a huge contribution to our economy, with 155,000 Chinese students alone.”

—Johnson

Johnson is often referred to as a Brexit hard-liner—and he can be—but not on immigration, where his views are much more aligned with pro-EU elements in the Cabinet, such as Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

In his own words on February 14: “We do not want to haul up the drawbridge; and we certainly don’t want to deter the international students who make such a huge contribution to our economy, with 155,000 Chinese students alone.”

So who is the outlier? May, who

as the former home secretary was under huge pressure to bring net migration below 100,000 a year (a goal that still stands and has never been met).

She believes the referendum result was primarily about immigration and was quite clear recently in saying something needs to change for EU citizens in the UK after Brexit.

The government has yet to set out the immigration policy it wants after Brexit, to the frustration of businesses trying to plan ahead.

Labour is also groping its way to Brexit clarity

It’s not just the Tories who need to get specific, the pressure is mounting on Jeremy Corbyn to abandon a strategy of constructive ambiguity. He’s been a lifelong euroskeptic but many in his party, as well as Labour-leaning voters, are pro-EU. The party leadership is staging its own “away day” this week (May’s is on Thursday) and the person who would hold Johnson’s job, Emily Thornberry, gave one of the clearest indications yet of what kind of trading relationship Labour would pursue for a Brexit that would put “jobs first” and also solve the Irish border conundrum.

“We’ve looked at it and we cannot see a way forward when it comes to Northern Ireland or to tariff-free trade across Europe without us being in some form of customs union that probably looks very much like the customs union that there is at the moment,” she said on ITV’s Peston on Sunday. Bloomberg News

The Regions

Tuesday, February 20, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

A8

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Japan finances ¥1.2-B Coast Guard communication system

By Manuel T. Cayon

D

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—The Japanese government turned over a modern communications system for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) installed at the Central Visayas station in Cebu City.

Japan turned over on February 12 the communication facilities it developed under its Project for Enhancement of Communications Systems at the headquarters of the PCG District Central Visayas in Cebu.

H i roto I z u m i , s pec i a l adv iser to the Pr ime Minister, and Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda led the turnover cer-

emony that was also attended by Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade.

Tugade expressed his deepest appreciation for this support from Japan.

The Japanese Embassy said the Japanese gover nment financed the project amounting to ¥1.2 billion (P500 million).

The project was the installa-

tion of the Satellite Communication System that would now connect t he headquar ters of the PCG, its district offices and its vessels.

The facility would also house t he Ve s s e l Tr a f f ic M a n a ge ment System in Cebu’s Mactan Channel, “where many ships pass through to support their s a fe n av i g at io n a nd d e t e c t suspicious ships.”

The project would enhance the PCG’s capabilities for law enforcement, prevention of maritime accident and quick-rescue operation, and contribute to the overall improvement of maritime safety in the Philippines, the Japanese Embassy said in a statement on Monday.

The facility would be expected “to further reinforce the strategic partnership between the two countries, as well as contribute to the sustainable development of the Philippines,” it added.

Bridge linking Bohol, Cebu seen completed by 2020

By Charles R. Pepito Correspondent

C

IVIL works on the BoholCebu Fr iendship Br idge (BCFB) may start in 2020.

This was the Valentine’s Day gift of National Economic and Development Authority Undersecretary Rolando G. Tungpalan to Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado of the (Second District of Bohol).

During his visit to Tungpalan’s office to follow up on the funding for the bridge, the latter informed him the project’s feasibility study (FS) would be funded with a loan from the A sian Development Bank (ADB).

Aumentado said that according to Tungpalan, the FS is slated to start this year—for completion in six months to 10 months.

If feasible, he added, the bidding may be scheduled in 2019 and the construction, if viable, in 2020.

Aumentado said he is confident the bridge would be feasible due to

the several pre-feasibility studies and consultations conducted during the incumbency as governor of his namesake father and immediate congressional predecessor Erico Boyles Aumentado.

The BCFB, as his father envisioned, will be a 24-kilometer series of bridges and causeways that will link Getafe in Bohol with Cordova in Cebu. It will have several exits along the way to several islands between the two provinces.

The senior Aumentado had nicknamed the structure a “threein-one” bridge, as it will also carry cables that will bring more electricity from Cebu province to Bohol. At the same time, a pipeline will straddle it to bring potable water from Bohol to Cebu.

Lately, former Cordova mayor, Secretary Adelino Sitoy, also introduced studies conducted by his consultants incorporating a railway component into the bridge. This would bolster the string of endorsements the bridge

has so far earned.

Sitoy is now the Presidential Adviser on Legislative Affairs and the head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The solon said the BCFB has “a soft spot in his heart” because it recognizes the efforts of his father. The elder Aumentado had the project endorsed by the Provincial Development Council, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the Central Visayas Regional Development Council.

The study will comprise preengineering work to be the basis for the preparation of the detailed engineering design.

“I will see to it this dream of my father will see fruition,” the son vowed.

At the same time, he expressed gratitude to Tungpalan, President Duterte, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr. and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia for their support.

DPWH cautions landowners from relying on private firms for Davao ROW problems

D

AVAO CIT Y—Owners of private lands lying along the path of a multimillionpeso road bypass project were cautioned against falling into the lure of private firms and individuals promising higher compensation for the affected lands.

In his January 31 letter to Mayor Sara Duterte, Public Works Undersecretary for Unified Project Management Office-Right-of-Way (UPMO-ROW) Task Force Operations Emil K. Sadain disclosed to the mayor the activities of “certain companies or groups from Davao that have been negotiating with landowners in the 18 barangays covered by the bypass road project.”

He told the mayor the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had already informed owners of lands that would be affected by the construction of the P40-million Davao City Bypass Project “to directly coordinate with the agency instead of using the services of third parties.”

Sadain did not identify the groups or the companies, however, but said “they were offering their services by promising that landowners would get more cash than the actual value of their properties.”

“They were offering services to represent landowners with regard to the sale of property, promising

protruding values with a 60-40 scheme [60 percent for the said company and 40 percent for the landowners],” he told Duterte in the letter.

Sadain said the DPWH “has strongly discouraged landowners from transacting with third parties, which have vested interests, because the agency would not tolerate their interference.”

He said the DPWH has asked the help of barangay captains in Sirawan, Marapangi, Bato, Lubogan, Alambre, Bankas Heights, Mulig, Bago Oshiro, Mintal, Tugbok, Tacunan, Matina Biao, Magtuod, Waan, Tigatto, Cabantian, Communal and Indangan to help the DPWH disseminate the information.

Sadain’s office was created through Department Order 203 issued by Secretary Mark A. Villar in 2016 to monitor road right-ofway issues “that would affect the implementation of UPMO road, bridge and flood-control projects nationwide.”

In Tagum City, meanwhile, local government officials and business leaders were introduced to the future of Metro Davao, as the leading architect in the master plan gave them the overview of the project and solicited suggestions from local leaders to be incorporated to further improve the master plan.

The Mindanao Development

Authority went to Tagum City, 52 kilometers north of here, to hold the second consultation on the Metro Davao Master Plan at the New City Hall Atrium, where Felino Palafox Jr., the president and founder of Palafox Associates and Palafox Architecture, told them of the “huge potential of the Davao Region” for economic development.

Palafox, the leading architect for this master plan, said a welldeveloped Metro Davao may “likely be a potential candidate for the largest airport in the world and Davao Gulf could become one of the largest, if not the largest, harbor in the world.”

“With Tagum City’s strategic placement in the intersection of two major road networks connecting the city to other major destinations, this master plan proves to be an effective and efficient way to increase foot traffic in the city,” the Tagum City information office said.

It said the city aimed at becoming an independent highly urbanized city “and this development could give it the edge to maintain its luster in the globally competitive arena.”

Palafox said local government leaders with strong political will and visionary leadership would turn the metropolitan area “invested in agriculture, tourism, culture, and diversity.” Manuel T. Cayon

HOMEMADE BOLOS A motorist drops by a makeshift stall selling bolos along the national highway in Larion Bajo, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. Using mostly recycled steel, the local bolo industry in the area provides jobs to local residents. LEONARDO PERANTE II

Crocodile conservation Weaving a hub expected to rise in future for Isabela State University Davao del

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

T

HE protection and conservation of the endangered Philippine crocodile in Cagayan Valley will be getting the much-needed boost.

There are two species of crocodiles found in the Philippines— the freshwater crocodile and the more aggressive saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus).

The Philippine crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis) is a freshwater crocodile found only in the Philippines.

The Department of Environment and Natura l Resources (DENR) has recently forged ties with the local government unit of San Mariano, Isabela State University (ISU) and Mabuwaya Foundation Inc. for the establishment and management of a crocodile conservation center in the region.

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed along with the groundbreaking ceremony on February 15 at the ISU San Mariano campus.

Regional Director Gil A. Aromin of the DENR Region 2 Office said he expects the population of the endangered crocodile to recover with the establishment of the conservation center, the first in the region. “ The DENR is the primar y government agency mandated to protect and conserve our wildlife.

However, we lack the technical and financial capabilities and facilities for the conservation of the Philippine crocodile,” Aromin said in a statement.

Under the MOA, the LGU shall provide sand, gravel and boulders, and heavy equipment for the construction of the facility; designate an information and tourist officer and caretaker; promote the Philippine crocodile breeding facility as a tourist attraction; and provide additional funding for the management of the facility.

The ISU shall allow the use of the designated area of 4,000 square meter; provide security during the construction period; and involve students and staff in the development of the facility as a crocodile head start and breeding center.

The provision of funding for the main construction of the

facility, including technical supervision of the building and management of the facility, shall be shouldered by the Mabuwaya Foundation.

It shall also provide technical supervision of crocodile husbandry and handling, and continue to source funding for the facility after the year 2022.

As a requirement for the establishment of wildlife centers, the DENR issued the wildlife-farm permit on November 13, 2017.

The DENR shall also provide logistics, technical assistance, and other related services in the establishment and maintenance of the facility.

The monitoring of the facility will be jointly undertaken by LGU San Mariano, ISU Echague, Mabuwaya Foundation and the DENR. The Philippine crocodile is considered a very rare crocodile species and classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

“Let the Philippine Crocodile Conservation Center in this region be known and be the exempl a r y conser vat ion center throughout the country,” he said.

The Philippine crocodile was listed as critically endangered in 2008. Crocodile conservation is being undertaken by the government, in partnership with nongovernmental organizations.

Both Philippine crocodile species are threatened with extinction because of several factors, particularly hunting for meat, skin and harvesting of eggs, and habitat loss and destructive fishing method, particularly dynamite blasting.

A s a st rateg y, t he DENR , through the Biodiversity Management Bureau, is promoting crocod i le far ming under t he strict guidelines of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

There are currently eight commercial crocodile farms where crocodiles are bred and raised as livestock. Crocodile skins are exported, while fresh and processed crocodile meat is sold in select supermarkets.

As a condition, the crocodile farms are encouraged to release back into the wild a small percent of the crocodiles bred in farms.

Sur tribe

V

I V ENC I A M amites i s a cra f tswoma n a nd a n esteemed weaver of inabal, the traditional fabric of the Bagobo-Tagabawa Tribe in the Philippines.

She is the eldest of five siblings and grew up living in the province of Davao del Sur during difficult economic times. She is the mother of three children. However, as a young woman, Vivencia was auspiciously chosen to be one of the five tribeswomen who was handed down the age-old technique and knowledge of making inabal.

Inabal is a traditional ancestral cloth of her tribe with a special weave. This cloth was customarily used as the garment for ancestral royalty. Vivencia learned inabal weaving from a national folkmaster craftswoman, Salinta Monon, identified and awarded for her legendary weaves by the National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCCA). What is beautiful and intangible is usually handed down from one generation to the next. Vivencia’s grandmother also taught Vivencia the special weave, the designs of which were usually the grandmother’s interpretations of the heavenly skies.

Carefully and industriously, Vivencia recreated a total of 11 inabal handwoven designs. Unfortunately, one can only sell so much when constantly selling in the same locale. No new buyers and markets ever saw her beautiful textiles. She hoped her goods would be discovered by new eyes in trade shows, which were unfortunately scheduled sporadically and were too few and far between.

However, Vivencia’s gentle, almost shy demeanor, soft dark eyes and hesitant smi le d isguised an attitude of patience and perseverance.

Vivencia’s life has since changed when she was taken under the wing of the GREAT Women Project in its first phase, and now ongoing in Phase 2 (until 2020). GREAT Women is a development and enterprise platform in partnership with the governments of the Philippines and Canada with privatesector support.

Global Eye BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Now bots are trying to help populists win Italy’s election

By Chiara Albanese Bloomberg

S

hortly after midnight on January 24, the home-made device David Puente built to catch fake Twitter accounts in the act started rumbling.

In just over a minute, more than 150 users sent out the same tweet extolling Italian anti-euro populist Matteo Salvini, a contender in next month’s presidential election.

It was obvious to Puente, a computer programmer, that they were bots, or automated accounts that masquerade as real people and are used increasingly as a tool to sway political opinion.

“Monitoring the accounts of all the candidates is a civic duty for me,” said Puente, 35, who often stays up until 3 a.m. tracking social-media activity from his home in northern Italy while his family sleeps.

Fake accounts on Twitter and Facebook that have lain dormant since a 2016 referendum campaign are springing back to life before the Italian ballot on March 4. Polls indicate no clear winner, leaving plenty of room for different factions to exploit social media to try to swing more votes their way.

Findings of the digital forensic research lab at Atlantic Council in Washington suggest the campaign could be vulnerable to manipulation using these robot accounts. Such concerns were validated just last week when United States special prosecutor Robert Mueller detailed a sweeping conspiracy orchestrated by Russia to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election, with social media a key to the effort. Bots—which follow, tweet, retweet and like content— can exaggerate the support for smaller factions and spread false or inadequate information.

The use of bots isn’t illegal, but they can have a real effect on voter intentions, according to Maks Czuperski, a director at Atlantic Council lab who’s part of a team traveling to Italy next week to monitor Internet activity in the run-up to the vote. “We are detecting an attempt to popularize the more extreme parties, both right and left,” he said.

The council is keeping an eye on election-related activity on social media with the help of volunteers like Puente, who developed a program in his spare time that allows him to identify how a tweet is generated.

By analyzing the underlying code of the suspicious tweets sent in January, he traced them to the web site of Salvini’s Northern League and linked to the party’s official Twitter feed, @LegaSalvini.

Puente quickly posted his findings on his blog and then to his more than 7,000 followers on Twitter. He tagged Salvini in the tweet, which

lamented the use of automated accounts to spew propaganda. It was retweeted almost 350 times.

Salvini’s press office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Salvini is a longshot to become Italy’s next prime minister, but his coalition with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, head of the centrist Forza Italia party, gives his party more of a chance.

W hile Berlusconi has shot down ally’s views on the euro, the a nt iest abl i sh ment Five St a r Movement also questions the benefit of European Union membership. That’s one reason some analysts suspect Russia may try to meddle in the vote to expose fissures in the EU. A report by the US Senate last month highlighted Italy as a potential target for the Kremlin, and the Atlantic Council found evidence tying Russian hackers to fake online activity leading up to Germany’s general election and Catalonia’s struggle for independence from Spain last year.

“Italian elections are crucial for Russia,” said Michael Carpenter, former US deputy assistant secretary for defense, now senior director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy. “If Russia can help achieve its desired electoral outcome, it will try.” Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a research group that advises the Kremlin, slammed the allegations. “Everywhere there’s an election, we’re accused of intervening. In this case, there’s no point at all because, in Italy, traditionally all political forces are positively minded toward Russia.”

“It is also about fomenting animosities and fueling political divisions.”

The use of bots, which by one estimate account for 15 percent of Twitter’s approximately 330 million users, to further political agendas has been on the radar since the election of Donald J. Trump.

Automated tweets accounted for 19 percent of election tweets leading up to his 2016 victory, according to findings of the University of Southern California.

Italians are worried about being duped. A poll published by La Stampa newspaper on February 5 found that about 80 percent of respondents believe that falsified reports have the power to swing the vote. About half said they’d been fooled by fake news over the last 12 months.

Facebook Inc. has taken out ads in Italian newspapers asking users to flag suspicious activity. Italian police are on alert, too, encouraging users to report suspicious posts —and there’s even a portal where users can submit dubious material for police checks.

“It is not all about changing voters’ minds,” said Carpenter, of the Penn Biden Center.

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Tuesday, February 20, 2018 A9

Once Opec’s oil-price dove, S. Arabia takes a harder line

transformation plans.

The Saudis are seeking “a bridge price, to get you where you’re comfortable with deeper reform,” said RBC’s Croft. “If you’re willing to start a revolution in your country, and shake it to its core, is an oil price of $27 really where you want to be?”

Dove to hawk

Attendees stand on an escalator as they move through the interior of the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture during a tour of the project in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on November 25, 2016. When completed, the project designed for the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. will contain diverse cultural facilities, including an auditorium, cinema, library, exhibition hall, museum and archive. Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

F

A more hawkish Saudi stance on prices is a sharp contrast with their attitude in previous years.

In the 1970s, then-Minister Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani warned fellow Opec members that their wave of oil-price hikes would backfire.

He was proved right, as consuming nations developed energy reserves in places like Alaska and the North Sea, and the group’s market share stagnated for years.

When oil surged to almost $150 in 2008, attempts by Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi to cool the rally also faced opposition from other Opec nations eager to enjoy soaring revenues. Prices slumped the following year during the Great Recession.

The dynamic is showing some signs of reversing. After Brent crude shot above $70 late-January, Oil

By Grant Smith | Bloomberg

or decades, Saudi Arabia was the voice of moderation within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), pushing back against the urging of members like Venezuela and Iran for higher oil prices. That role seems to be shifting.

Thanks to Opec-led production cuts, crude prices are double their level two years ago and bloated oil stockpiles are almost back to normal.

Yet, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih wants to go further.

Producers should keep cutting for the whole year, even if it causes a small supply shortage, Al-Falih said.

“If we have to overbalance the market a little bit, then so be it,” he told reporters in Riyadh last week.

The changing stance reflects the unprecedented pressures Saudi Arabia faces as Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman embarks on a program of sweeping economic reforms, including the potentially record-breaking initial public offering of its state oil company.

“If you’re Mohammed Bin Salman, and trying to radically reinvent your country,” then “you need a certain price to make it work,” said Helima

Croft, head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets Llc. Previously content with oil at $60 a barrel, Al-Falih is now seeing $70 as the level where crude prices should trade, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information was private.

For the past year, the Opec and Russia— once fierce oil-market rivals —have led a coalition of 24 producers in output cuts aimed at clearing the supply glut unleashed by United States shale-oil drilling. Their objective of reducing oil inventories to their five-year average is finally in reach, but the two energy giants now suggest modifying that goal as they encourage fellow producers to keep supply constrained.

Changing targets

The motivation could simply be that

the Saudis “recognize the limitations of the inventory target” which has been skewed by years of oversupply, said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA. To “err on the side of rebalancing” will ensure that the process is complete.

Yet, going beyond the initial targets, and keeping prices supported, also serves a number of internal purposes for the kingdom.

Higher crude prices could help secure a valuation for Saudi Aramco closer to the $2 trillion envisaged by Prince Mohammed, a figure some analysts consider unrealistic.

The extra revenues may also allow more gradual reductions in the generous subsidies and public-sector jobs that underpin the Saudi economy. As prices rebounded, Prince Mohammed already retreated on some attempts at austerity in the face of discontent last month, renewing state handouts as he tries to win popular support for longer-term

Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh of Iran—an Opec producer that often used to agitate for higher prices— said that $60 was sufficient.

Risky strategy

Emboldened by the success of their strategy so far, the Saudis are now pursuing price levels that will ultimately lead to failure, said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodity market research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt.

Crude’s recovery is stimulating record shale-oil output from the US, which is on track to surpass both Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s biggest crude producer this year, according to forecasts from the Department of Energy. A new flood of supply could easily send prices lower again, according to Weinberg.

“The Saudis got overconfident,” Weinberg said. “Their goal has become higher prices, no matter the cost. But that won’t work in a market like this.”

Shares of India’s government-owned banks still dropping as fraud impact widens

By Subhadip Sircar | Bloomberg

S

hares of India’s government-controlled banks fell on Monday as more lenders disclosed exposure to one of the nation’s biggest frauds.

UCO Bank tumbled 7.5 percent as of 9:26 a.m. in Mumbai—set for the steepest plunge since September 2016—after it said it has exposure of $411.8 million in the nearly $2billion bank fraud allegedly perpetrated by billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi against Punjab National Bank. PNB dropped 2.4 percent, its fourth straight day of declines.

PNB was leading losses among state-run peers on the 10-member Bankex, which was up 0.1 percent. The main S&P BSE Sensex Index was little changed.

Risk of loss

UCO Bank’s Hong Kong branch granted loans against letters of credit issued by PNB, UCO Bank said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange late Saturday. Other banks, including State Bank of India and Union Bank of

India, are also said to be at risk of loss.

In all, Indian banks could take a hit of more than $3 billion from loans and corporate guarantees provided to diamond companies allegedly involved in the fraud at PNB, Reuters reported last Saturday, citing the tax department. In its complaint to the Central Bureau of Investigation, PNB alleged that the fraud was led by Modi, who’s dressed Hollywood actors, including Kate Winslet, and Bollywood actors, such as Priyanka Chopra. Modi, 47, is No. 85 on Forbes’s 2017 list of India’s richest people.

Modi hasn’t spoken publicly about the allegations. He is in New York City, and the ministry of external affairs last Friday suspended his passport, The Times of India reported.

The CBI has arrested Gokulnath Shetty, a former deputy general manager at PNB, and Manoj Kharat, a so-called “single window operator” at the lender, CBI Spokesman R.K. Gaur said last Saturday.

Hemant Bhat, an authorized signatory of the Nirav Modi Group of firms, has also been held, Gaur said.

Indian 2,000-rupee banknotes are arranged for a photograph in Mumbai, India, on January 30. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a tough balancing act in this week’s budget: maintaining fiscal prudence or handing out cash to placate rural voters ahead of next year’s election. Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

A special court in Mumbai late Saturday remanded the three suspects to the CBI’s custody for 14 days, saying the case has “consequences for the economy of the nation,” the Press Trust of India reported.

Raids were being conducted across India by the Enforcement Directorate, and included the seizure of about 56.7 billion rupees ($883 million) in diamonds, gold, precious stones and jewelry, the Press Trust of India said in a separate report last Saturday.

PNB last Friday told the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange that it has also filed complaints against Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Group of companies. PNB alleges that Modi and Choksi worked with Shetty, who was posted at a PNB branch in Mumbai from where the fraud originated.

The bank claims they used fake PNB guarantees worth $1.8 billion to obtain loans from the overseas branches of Indian banks, claiming to need the cash to import pearls, according to documents made public or seen

by Bloomberg.

A10 Tuesday, February 20, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Our fair share

R

ecent statements from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) have again brought crucial public attention to the urgent need for transparency and accountability in the management of our country’s natural resources.

Our country has an abundance of natural resources, particularly nonrenewable rich mineral deposits and even oil and gas deposits like those in Palawan.

However, so far, only a small cabal has been able to maximize the financial benefits from these.

The rich revenue streams from extractive activities like mining have failed to boost, in particular, the wealth of the people and the communities where these natural resources are located.

According to a recent story written by our reporter Jonathan L. Mayuga, the government will soon come out with a proposal that will promote a fair revenuesharing scheme between the government and its mining contractors, thus, requiring an amendment to the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.

Jonas R. Leones, spokesman of Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, said the DENR believes that an amendment to the current mining law is needed to ensure that the government gets its fair share in the minerals being exploited by the mining contractors.

“If you see the Mining Act, it is not that good, in the sense that the sharing between the industry and the government is not clear. Under the Mining Act, we only get 2-percent excise tax and 5 percent if the activity is undertaken in a mineral-reservation area,” he said.

“The President wants the community to be protected and well compensated, so that is our direction,” he added.

Leones noted that, in other countries, the government’s share in mining profits could even reach anywhere between 50 percent and 60 percent.

Indeed, mining’s contribution to the country’s economic development seems minimal, even with the 2-percent increase under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, thus now imposing a 4-percent excise tax on the value of mining companies’ production, aside from the corporate taxes they pay.

We agree with the President’s assessment that the country is still not getting value for money from our mineral resources, justifying perhaps the Duterte administration’s moratorium on new mining contracts.

We have published many stories about farmers, fishermen and indigenous peoples from all over the country whose communities hosted mining companies, and their experience, in general, have been less than positive, as well. It seems all kinds of mines, whether legal or illegal, small- or large-scale, have negatively affected their land. The tailings from mines would seep into the soil and kill microorganisms that help their crops grow. Water for irrigating their farms has been contaminated. Their forests have been denuded, their rivers polluted. They suffered health problems and, at times, had to leave their communities.

There are studies that say poverty incidence in the mining sector has gone up, and there are those that say mining actually has a positive impact on poverty reduction. However, the experience of provinces like Marinduque warns everybody about the environmental and social costs of mining. We have seen how Marcopper’s mining activities killed the Boac River in 1996 and left a trail of destruction so devastating that a United Nations assessment mission declared it one of the worst environmental disasters, and one that has not been remediated to this day.

We acknowledge that responsible mining companies have helped and could continue to help provide people in rural communities a basic platform to improve their way of life; that they could help the country achieve sustainable growth.

However, we also do not take it against the Duterte administration if it wants to make sure all miners do so, by putting everything on paper, so to speak, through an implementable amendment in the Mining Act. It is no secret that huge flows of money from natural resources have fueled corruption in the public and private sector. There are widespread opportunities for shrewd and unscrupulous politicians, government officials and businessmen to plunder natural resources, lining their pockets without any care for the country and the people in the rural communities who will have to pay the price.

It is very easy to say that our country could benefit from its natural resources and that the huge revenues from these could go toward improving the lives of our people. However, we have yet to see this in the Philippine experience. We keep hearing promises of bonanzas and blessings but, so far, we have seen only cautionary tales about corruption and environmental catastrophes.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business ✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher

T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor in Chief

Jun B. Vallecera

Managing Editor Associate Editor News Editor

Max V. de Leon Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug

Senior Editors

Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Angel R. Calso

Creative Director Chief Photographer

Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan Loida S. Virtudazo

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025.

(Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807.

(Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news@businessmirror.com.ph.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Printed by brown madonna Press, Inc.–San Valley Drive KM-15, South Superhighway, Parañaque, Metro Manila MEMBER OF

Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur Continued from A1

I

N fact, the lack of employment opportunities gave birth to what was initially described as a phenomenon—the exodus of Filipino workers to different countries—but which is now an important source of jobs for professionals, skilled and unskilled workers. The overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been the choice of many foreign employers because of their skills, work ethics and English proficiency, making the Philippines a major source of migrant workers.

In a report published online in December 2015, the Migrant Policy Institute said that 1.8 million OFWS left to work in more than 190 countries.

The report, titled “Shortage Amid Surplus: Emigration and Human Capital Development in the Philippines,” cited an estimate by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas that, as of end-2013, migrant Filipino workers totaled about 10.2 million.

In the past few years, however, the growing domestic economy has increased job opportunities here, as new industries and businesses like business-process outsourcing (BPO) emerged, and existing investors expand their operations.

For example, the results of the 2015-2016 Integrated Survey on Labor and Employment module, entitled “Occupational Shortages

and Surpluses,” show that, of the 12,926 establishments surveyed, 51.6 percent reported as wanting additional workers. Of the total vacancies reported, 460,069 or 65.8 percent were regular positions, and the remaining 238,614 were nonregular positions.

With the Philippines being hailed as one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, the worker shortage has become more apparent. The Duterte administration’s flagship “Build, Build, Build” program alone will require millions of additional workers—from professionals like engineers to skilled workers like heavy equipment operators to ordinary workers.

The Department of Trade and Industry has estimated that the administration’s flagship infrastructure program will need 2.5 million more workers.

PSE: Backdoor listings

Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Efleda P. Campos Dennis D. Estopace

Online Editor Social Media Editor

Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager VP HR and Admin

A nice kind of problem

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

F

or the past weeks, investors have been waiting for Moses to come down carrying a stone tablet engraved with the name of “The Third Telecom”. Almost every company that could possibly be connected with providing a vehicle for a foreign company has seen its stock price skyrocket.

There is no easier way to become a listed company than through a “backdoor listing,” buying a public company and putting in assets to make a new company. Maybe the most famous—or infamous— example is BW Resources, which was to help Macau gambling magnate Stanley Ho set up shop here.

The general misconception is that finding a company for a backdoor listing is as simple as—forgive my crude analogy—paying a bar fine at your

favorite Roxas Boulevard nightclub.

Having helped out companies wanting to enter the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) this way, it is more like trying to find two matching socks in the dark while hurting from a massive hangover.

Backdoor listings in various forms are not only to enter the market but for corporate restructuring. The SM group did something similar when its SM Prime Holdings took control and consolidated its previously listed

Aside from the program, which is being implemented mainly by the Department of Public Works and Highways, the department is also undertaking other road-construction projects in the provinces. One only has to go on a tour in the provinces, including Mindanao, to see so many roads being built outside Metro Manila.

The robust growth of the economy continues to attract investments in many industries and, with the increasing purchasing power of consumers, even the economies of many provinces are booming.

The projects being undertaken by the private sector, such as mall development, office buildings for the BPO industry and residential communities add to the increasing demand for workers.

The condominiums undergoing construction now are already committed because these have been sold three to four years ago, so new projects are being lined up and placed on the market.

My businesses under Vista Land & Lifescapes alone are in need of as many as 18,000 workers for its new and expansion projects. In the retail business, Vista Land intends to increase its portfolio to 60 malls by the end of 2020 from the current 22 malls.

The company is also focused on the development of “communicities,” which are integrated urban development projects that combine lifestyle retail, prime office space, university town, health care, themed residential developments and leisure components.

Other players in the property

industry are pursuing their own expansion projects in Metro Manila and urbanizing areas in the provinces. With the big demand from the government and the increasing demand from the private sector, contractors are now facing difficulty in hiring workers.

According to news reports, the Department of Labor and Employment plans to hold job fairs overseas to encourage OFWs in the Middle East who have been displaced to return home and take advantage of the job opportunities here. Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III was quoted as saying hundreds of OFWs in Qatar and Saudi Arabia have lost their jobs because of the diplomatic crisis in the region and the drop in oil prices.

Local employers also have to compete with foreign companies in countries other than those in the Middle East, contributing to the demand for workers.

This is a nice kind of problem, and it would be good for the government to improve and expand its training programs to train the unskilled workers to fill the demand of employers.

We cannot stop Filipinos from seeking employment abroad but, with adequate training programs and our large population, we should be able to turn out enough workers to support the booming economy.

Eventually, Filipinos will realize that it is better to have decent jobs here than leave their families to try their luck abroad.

company SM Development Corp.

But the common use is to find a listed company that might be suspended from trading for various reasons, buy out the existing shareholders, and put in assets. It is not as easy as you think. Most often these are “troubled” corporations. One suspended company is carrying P2 billion or P8 billion in unpaid debt depending on who is doing the spreadsheet. Another recently delisted company would have been a great backdoor, except no one could even find a spreadsheet listing its debt.

The ideal backdoor candidate— although not as cheap as a failed company—would be currently operating, making money and with industry credibility. The company should also have assets that would be more desirable and profitable for a new owner and management.

Most of the shares would be closely held so dealing with the owners would be uncomplicated. Debt obligations should be reasonable. A company that is debt-free would

be a “princess” that would attract many wealthy suitors.

Existing owners that had not been concerned about the stock price would be an advantage to the buyer, especially if the price was near a long-term low. Further, the seller might be motivated if there was only a small, if any, chance that the company was looking at a big future. Boring is best. There are currently a few companies that fit these parameters.

A potential suitor should be cash rich and looking for a new corporate vehicle for quicker expansion in a complementary business. The assets of the takeover company would have to fit cleanly. The purchase price for the stock would have to be sensible, allowing for profitability of the purchased assets.

While the market is looking at backdoors for the telecoms, note that the Villar group just “backdoored” Bria Homes into Golden Haven. This may be a better corporate structure than the somewhat one-size-fits-all See “Mangun,” A11

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Opinion

The Marcos trilogy

The fall of two casino moguls

BusinessMirror

Ernesto M. Hilario

Cecilio T. Arillo

database Part Five

The Philippine Communist Insurgency, ‘…the most brutal in the world’

I

N the words of Mr. Ross Munro, a well-known political observer of Southeast Asian politics and author of the article “The New Khmer Rouge”, “The Philippines is saddled with a communist insurgency that is the fastest growing, most threatening and…the most brutal in the world today.”

Jose Maria Sison and Bernabe Buscayno, chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines and chief of the New People’s Army, respectively, together with some 450 others belonging to the second and third echelon of the Philippine Communist Party leadership were captured during my administration.

They were later released by Madame Aquino in 1986 in compliance with her campaign promise. This tactical alliance with the Left was confirmed by her Press Secretary Teodoro Benigno in a press statement issued by him: “During 1986 campaign the Aquino party entered into an agreement with the Left for the purpose of defeating Marcos in the polls.” It now presents a very grave and growing threat to the nation and neither the incumbent political leadership nor the Armed Forces are takings steps necessary to avert the danger of an ultimate Communist takeover.

Political analysts were unanimous in their conclusion: “The rise of the communist insurgency in the Philippines was primarily brought about by the strong ties the Aquino administration has forged with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the implementation of a failed cease-fire agreement, which gave the insurgents the breathing room to regroup.”

Ms. Elizabeth Barnes, writing for the Detroit News, said in her article “20,000 Filipinos Suffer in Aquino Family Farm” that: “There are very strong evidence indicating that both the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army were organized in Hacienda Luisita.”

An intelligence report, which was part of the voluminous evidence used on the rebellion and sedition case filed against Benigno Aquino Jr., clearly showed that the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) were organized in Hacienda Luisita on December 26, 1968 and March 29, 1969, respectively; and it was determined that Benigno Aquino Jr. was spearheading the formation of the CPP-NPA hoping to use it in the 1972 presidential election. Apparently the late Benigno Aquino Jr. forgot the very instructive Chinese proverb: “He who rides the tiger ends up in the belly of the tiger.”

This partnership was interpreted by some critics, “that the president [Mrs. Aquino] has made a Faustian bargain with the communists: She has traded the soul of her government—democratic commitments—in exchange for its continued life.” Thus, the 1987 Philippine Constitution provided for the legalization of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the removal of American military facilities.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, and its military arm the New People’s Army, “has an

effective influence in 62 percent of the countryside,” according to Gen. Fidel Ramos and Mr. Richard Armitage, secretaries of Defense of the Philippines and the United States of America, respectively. On the other hand, Gen. Richard Stillwell, former US undersecretary of defense and retired commanding general of the United States forces in South Korea, boldly said: “The Philippine Communist is the only force…that has its act together. It is highly motivated, and tightly disciplined.”

The J-3 (Operations) Report

The military intelligence report, which was leaked to the press, revealed that the Philippine military is losing its war with the insurgents.

The J-3 report, a highly classified counterinsurgency operations report to the Chief of Staff, Gen. Renato de Villa, stated that: “The Armed Forces of the Philippines lost all major battles but one, and won only minor ones with the New People’s Army in the first quarter of 1988.”

A report prepared by the US Congressional Research Service, entitled “Philippines Under Aquino (Updated October 26, 1987),” pointed out that “the [Aquino] government has had less success in the countryside. Few NPA rank and files have surrendered. The NPA, in fact, grew by an estimated 9 percent in 1986, and the number of infiltrated barangays continued upward.”

A number of conditions persist in the countryside that created opportunities for the communists. “These include high levels of unemployment and poverty, the breakdown of traditional social and support institutions; weak local governments; ineffective local police and security forces; a military hampered by inadequate resources and training; and the absence of cooperation at the local level among the civilian governments, the military and civic leaders.”

Comparatively during my administration, despite a cut of almost 20 percent on the defense budget from 1982 onward, the counterinsurgency situation was described by senior military officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as follows: “Reduction on the defense budget did not lead to the reduction of antiinsurgency activities of the Armed Forces. We successfully contained the CPP-NPA activities not only through purely military and combat operations but also by maintaining a high and effective level of cooperation among civilian and civic leaders through the organization of Peace and Order Coordinating Councils at the regional, provincial, municipal, and village or barangay levels.”

To be continued.

To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.

ABOUT TOWN

O

nce upon a time, casino moguls Kazuo Okada and Steve Wynn were formidable business partners. It was Kazuo Okada who saved Steve Wynn when he invested $260 million to build the foundation of the current Wynn Resorts in the year 2000, after Wynn was ousted from Mirage Resorts Inc. in a hostile takeover.

Okada and Wynn were not only business partners, but best friends. They worked together and became the key players in the casino industry.

However, in 2012, Wynn betrayed Okada when he ousted him as the vice chairman of Wynn Resorts and forcibly bought the 20-percent stake of Wynn Resorts held by Universal Entertainment Group by issuing a promissory note at a 30-percent discount of the current market price.

Wynn exiled Okada to rebuild his empire. That event led to a string of lawsuits between the two moguls until the present.

But the fates of these two best friends-turned-bitter-enemies are quite intertwined.

Wynn was the undisputed King of Las Vegas and may have created and paved the way for the success of his empire. However, he recently

continued from A10

property company Vista Land. It is possible that more corporate changes are in the works.

Ayala Land is also a property conglomerate with the full range of its property offerings under one roof.

Yet, its Arca South project is so diverse from every price range condominium and office and commercial space, and has a development cost of

P80 billion. It could stand completely alone as a publicly listed company.

This would be a fresh corporate structure to maximize shareholder value for the mother company, as well.

Backdoor listing can be a form of merger and acquisition. We may see more of these corporate moves in the future.

Please e-mail questions and comments to mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www. mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets.

Holdings Limited, he was not the sole decision-maker.

However, as the delays in the project completion started to be apparent in 2016, an investigation on Tiger Resort Asia Limited (TRAL) and TRLEI was conducted. This resulted in the discovery of many acts of fraud, mismanagement and manipulation allegedly perpetrated

by Okada himself to the prejudice of UEC. The investigation showed that Okada had funnelled company funds, through TRAL and TRLEI, for his personal interests and done without prior knowledge of UEC (the company) or the board of directors.

The following were the results of the investigation conducted by the Special Investigation Committee of Universal Entertainment Corp.

To save the company, Tomihiro Okada (son of Kazuo Okada) who holds 43 percent of Okada Holdings Limited, and Hiromi Okada (daughter of Kazuo Okada) who holds 9 percent of Okada Holdings Limited, banded together and exercised their right to vote on May 12, 2017, and dismissed Kazuo Okada from Okada Holdings Limited.

His dismissal from the holding company set in motion his ouster from the other companies. On May 23, 2017, UEC held a Special Meeting of the Board and issued a suspension order on Kazuo Okada.

In June of 2017, Kazuo Okada was dismissed as the director of Tiger Resort Asia Limited. Kenshi Asano

and Takako Okada were nominated as the Directors of Tiger Resort Asia Limited. TRAL, as the 100-percent shareholder of TRLEI, the owner and operator of Okada Manila, removed Kazuo Okada from the board of directors and as the Chairman and CEO of Okada Manila.

On June 29, 2017, Universal Entertainment Corp. held its annual stockholders’ meeting where Kazuo Okada was dismissed as one of the directors of the board of UEC. Kazuo Okada was completely removed from the Universal Entertainment Group.

The company and family members of Kazuo Okada made a decision to take a stand in making things right. This change has also been welcomed by the market. The shares of UEC have nearly doubled since the dismissal of Kazuo Okada.

Kazuo Okada, however, has been making attempts to regain his footing in Okada Holdings Limited using his own daughter Hiromi to claim he is staying on as the dominant shareholder. But nothing could be further from the truth, as his cases are still under litigation in various courts in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

He is also facing various criminal charges in the Philippines.

The fates of these two disgraced casino tycoons serve as cautionary tale that, in crime, nobody really gets away because the truth will always find its way out.

E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

How hard do workers work?

Paul Donovan

T

he average German worker shows up for 35 hours per week, as does the average Swiss worker. The average Greek worker shows up for 42 hours per week. A US citizen is at work for 38 hours, while Mexicans work 43 hours. Koreans work almost 44 hours a week. Does this mean that Koreans work the hardest? Not necessarily.

The number of hours worked is not a very good economic indicator.

The important question is how hard a worker works when at work. A long workday punctuated by regular tea breaks and hours surfing YouTube may not produce much that is of economic value1. A short workday of discipline and focus can produce higher output with fewer hours at the workplace.

How hard one works is what economists call “productivity.” Productivity is an attempt to measure the economic value of what a worker does. Productivity will be influenced by the skills of the worker.

If you are good at your job, you are likely to do more per hour worked.

Productivity will be influenced by the quality of the tools available to the worker. A day spent shouting at a computer helpdesk in a vain attempt to get your laptop to work does not add much economic value.

Productivity will also be influenced

by the enthusiasm of the worker. A motivated worker will do more than a demoralized worker.

Productivity is hard to measure.

It is also getting harder to measure as structural change and the rise of the service sector alters the economy. What is an economist’s output worth? Obviously the value of an economist’s output is almost beyond price. It is hard to put a precise number on it. How many hours does an economist really work? Is it the eight hours a day of their contract?

What about time spent thinking about economics at home? Surely that is work, even if it is not part of the hours in their contract? In a team environment, the productivity of one worker may also depend on the productivity of other workers.

Despite being hard to measure, how hard workers work is very important to an investor. If a company’s wage bill rises 5 percent, but workers work 10 percent harder,

the company is getting a lot more for its money. Workers who work harder in this way produce bigger profits. As global labor markets get tighter, the question of whether workers are working harder becomes more important. This will determine profit and price inflation pressures. Profit matters to equities. Price inflation pressures matter to central bank policy and bond markets.

Normally a company staffed by lazy workers will struggle to survive. Workers who do not work very hard will generally be high cost, and this will eat away at profits.

The very low interest rates of the last decade may have given lazy companies a lifeline. Research on large and medium-sized companies by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggests that low interest rates have let lazier, unprofitable companies cling to life. A normal interest rate cycle would have killed off more of such companies. A lazy, unprofitable company has also clung to life for longer than in the past. A normal interest rate cycle would have killed these companies off far sooner.

Lazier, unprofitable companies clinging to life will drag average productivity lower. It also means that average productivity in an economy is less useful as a guide to how hard workers in good companies are working. OECD economists have found a productivity gap between leading companies and

lagging companies, across all sectors of the economy. When it comes to productivity, those that are good are very, very good; those that are bad are mediocre. Since 2001 productivity growth in the top 5 percent of manufacturing companies has been almost five times that of the rest of the sector.

What does this mean? It means that average productivity—how hard workers work on average in an economy—is less and less useful to investors. An investor in a really good company should find that the workers are working harder, and that profits are better. Wage increases in a really good company need not produce higher price inflation, because hard work offsets the wage increase.

Conversely, low interest rates may have deluded investors in a lagging company. Average productivity will understate the laziness of the workers. nnn

This is not always true. Time spent surfing my YouTube videos may produce much economic value.

1

Paul Donovan is the managing director and deputy head of global economics of Zurich-headquartered UBS. He is responsible for formulating and presenting the UBS Investment Research global economic view, drawing on the bank’s worldwide resources. Donovan took up philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.

He holds an MSc in financial economics from the University of London. In the Philippines his column will appear exclusively once a month in the BusinessMirror.

BOJ watchers see risk of yen pushing taper further away

By Toru Fujioka & Masahiro Hidaka Bloomberg

Mangun. . .

bowed out as chairman and chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts after allegations of sexual misconduct were leveled against him. He has joined Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinsten and other powerful men who have been disgraced by sexual misconduct cases.

Okada has suffered the same fate, although not involving sexual misconduct but alleged business fraud and mismanagement.

In 2012 Okada started his project in the Philippines with a vision of setting the gold standard for fivestar integrated luxury resorts. Indeed, with his multibillion-dollar investment, he gave the country’s tourism and entertainment industries a big boost.

Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI) is the developer, owner and operator of Okada Manila. While Kazuo Okada was the majority shareholder of Okada

Tuesday, February 20, 2018 A11

P

rime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision to stick with Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda indicates that powerful stimulus will continue, and the yen’s recent advance could make policy normalization even more remote.

That’s the message from a Bloomberg survey of 26 economists following Abe’s nomination of Kuroda and new deputies Masayoshi Amamiya and Masazumi Wakatabe. Only three say the appointments will change the course of central bank

policy. Many cited currency markets as a problem for the BOJ. The yen touched 105.55 versus the dollar in Tokyo trading last Friday, the strongest level since November 2016. The move prompted the finance minster, the chief cabinet secretary and the nation’s top currency official to all express concern about the foreignexchange market. Speaking in parliament, Kuroda last week said the central bank needs to persist with its monetary easing.

“The rapid appreciation of the yen increases the chance of a delay in raising the 10-year bond-yield target,” said Atsushi Takeda, chief

economist at Itochu Corp. “If the yen breaks through 100 to the dollar, additional easing becomes a possibility.”

The yen was little changed at 106.22 as of 9:44 a.m. in Tokyo, having gained 6 percent this year.

Takatoshi Ito, a professor at Columbia University who was considered a contender for one of the top three spots at the BOJ, said on Monday that the central bank “must have thought” a growing spread between United States and Japanese interest rates would weaken the yen and help generate inflation.

“That is not happening,” Ito told Bloomberg TV, adding that the

current pace of monetary easing would continue.

Economists surveyed broadly agreed that Wakatabe, an academic and staunch reflationist, and Amamiya, a BOJ veteran who’s spent almost four decades at the central bank, won’t have any immediate impact in changing policy.

Still, Wakatabe could push for a faster increase in the monetary base if the yen gains abruptly, said Yuji Shimanaka, chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley.

“My concern is that there’s a risk of a separation in the leadership—between Wakatabe and the other two —Kuroda and Amamiya,” he said.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Alleged Pacquiao resort on Boracay Island not cleared to operate–DOT

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

T

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

HE controversial West Cove Resort on Boracay Island, once identified as owned by Sen. Manuel Pacquiao, is not accredited by the Department of Tourism (DOT).

In a press conference in Davao City last Friday, DOT Spokesman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Communications and Special Projects Frederick M. Alegre said “it has not been issued an accreditation by the DOT, and [we are] now checking who gave the permission for it to operate.”

The resort was put in the spotlight by a broadcaster in 2012, after complaints arose about it building structures on limestone rock formations. Pressure from media pushed the Department of Envi-

ronment and Natural Resources (DENR) to demolish portions of the resort that were found to be environmentally unsound. The resort, located on Diniwid Beach and styles itself as a posh fourtstar resort, resumed its operations after the demolition.

“We were told that the resort allegedly put cement structures on the stone formations by the beach.

So definitely this is something the interagency task force between the DOT, DENR and the DILG [Department of the Interior and Local

ALEGRE: “It has not been issued an accreditation by the DOT, and [we are] now checking who gave the permission for it to operate.”

Government] is now checking on,” he added.

DOT Undersecretary for Public Affairs, Communications and Special Projects Katherine de Castro clarified that “Senator Pacquiao is no longer connected to Boracay West Cove; it’s now owned by a private entity. We’ve already received complaints about Boracay West Cove and we’ve already submitted this to the DENR. So now it’s for the DENR to decide if it’s going to close it or they’re going to investigate it further.”

As this developed, Sen. Nancy Binay called on her colleagues to investigate the actions of the local government of Malay, Aklan,

to see how it is implementing environmental laws on Boracay. She, likewise, urged fellow lawmakers to promote a “zero-waste” tourism policy on the island, popular the world over for its powdery whitesand beach.

In a news statement, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Tourism said: “The threats of inefficient waste management on the environment, especially on tourist destinations in the country, still persist,” as she filed Senate Resolution 313. The Senate Committees on Environment and Tourism will jointly hear the resolution, with a committee hearing scheduled for March 2 on Boracay Island.

“It’s been said, ‘what happens now determines what will happen to the world.’ That is why it is imperative to conduct a multilevel inquiry on what is being implemented by the LGUs for us to strengthen environmental laws in line with the current environmental conditions facing the country,” she added.

See “Pacquiao resort,” A2

Panel to craft ‘distinctly Filipino’ federal charter Continued from A1

Constitutional member and former Senate President Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. also pointed out that six other members of the committee should come from the women’s sector and indigenous people’s groups.

Duterte chose 19 people from different areas for the consultative committee to review the Constitution as part of the administration’s Cha-cha push as a buildup to a shift to a federal type of government from a unitary one.

Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea urged the committee to ensure that the new Constitution would reflect the will of the people.

Asked on whether this draft would be presented to the people, Puno said they will, and “we should be able to convince them that this is our best proposition for them and that we have to take into account the opposition to this proposed Constitution.”

The country’s largest business group, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), decried the lack of “voice from the business sector” in the review of the Constitution. In an earlier interview with the BusinessMirror, PCCI Chairman George T. Barcelon expressed concern that the committee filled with lawyers might focus on political changes rather than economic reforms.

But lawyer Susan U. Ordinario, the lone female member of the consultative committee, said all provisions related to business and investments will be reviewed.

Last December Duterte signed Executive Order 10, which created the consultative committee under the Office of the President. The committee is mandated to “study, conduct consultations and review the provisions of the 1987 Constitution including, but not limited to, the provisions on the structure and powers of the government, local governance and economic policies.”

LULUGAYAN FALLS Numerous waterfalls cascade down the Calbiga River in Samar, including this scenic part of Lulugayan Falls and Rapids, now becoming a favorite destination for challenging aqua sports, according to the Philippine Information Agency. GEORGE TAPAN

World Bank: PHL’s holding rate appropriate for now

T

he World Bank said the Philippines’s monetary-policy stance is appropriate for now, even as inflation is set to breach the Central Bank’s target this year.

“Keeping the interest rate flat for now is presently the most appropriate response,” Birgit Hansl, a World Bank economist in Manila, said in an emailed response to questions last week. “If inflationary pressures build rapidly and, most of all, if they persist over a few months, a rate adjustment would be appropriate—also given that there is ample domestic liquidity.”

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. has taken a cautious approach to monetarypolicy tightening, keeping the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3 percent earlier this month, even as he forecast inflation will exceed the 4 percent upper limit of the inflation target this year. Most economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast the Central Bank will start raising its key rate next month. The BSP is waiting for signs that price pressures are becoming more entrenched before raising rates, the governor said this month.

“The BSP is aware it must adjust its policy setting soon to avoid falling behind the curve,” said Emilio Neri, an economist at Bank of the Philippine Islands in Manila. “Markets could become less orderly if inflation in the coming months surprises

on the upside and compels the BSP to hike more aggressively.”

Weak peso The peso, which dropped to its lowest level since 2006 last week, has lost about 4 percent against the dollar this year, the worst performer after the Argentine peso among emerging markets.

A new tax law raised the cost of fuel, sugary drinks and cigarettes, putting pressure on inflation, which the Central Bank estimates will average 4.3 percent this year. Its target is to keep inflation at an average of 2 percent to 4 percent from 2018 to 2020.

“There is a possibility that inflation may remain elevated around the upper bound of the inflation target,” Aekapol

Chongvilaivan, an economist at the Asian Development Bank, said in an e-mailed reply to questions last week. Oil prices, the weak peso and strong economic growth may put pressure on prices, he said.

The impact of the tax law should be temporary, and “it’s not expected to drive inflation pressure for longer periods this year,” the World Bank’s Hansl said, echoing similar comments by Central Bank officials.

With economic growth exceeding 6 percent annually, among the world’s fastest, authorities must invest more to prevent price pressures building, she said.

“The Philippine economy is currently growing at potential growth, so there is a risk of overheating if new productive capacity is not being created through investment,” she said. Bloomberg News

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PIÑOL ANNOUNCES P400-M FARM MECHaNIZATION LOAN PROGRAM

T

he Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said it has launched a P400-million loan program in its bid to mechanize the farm sector by providing affordable credit to farmers in the country.

“The DA, through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council [ACPC], has opened a new loaning window, which offers funds so farmers’ cooperatives and associations could buy the equipment and machineries they need,”Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said in his Facebook page published on February 19.

“The Farm Equipment and Machineries Loaning Program, which was approved by the ACPC Executive Board last week, offers an initial P400-million fund, which could be accessed by the farmers with a 6-percent interest every year payable in eight years,” Piñol added.

The ACPC governing council, which is chaired by Piñol, is com-

prised of the heads of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, and the National Economic and Development Authority.

Piñol said the new loaning program is part of the DA’s effort to “improve the implementation of the farm-mechanization program of the country.” The DA procures farm equipment and machineries, which are being distributed to farmers’ groups.

However, the agriculture chief pointed out that, in the previous administration, farmers’groups were required to put up a 10-percent equity before they could get tractors, planters and harvesters.

“This prevented many farmers from acquiring machineries and equipment that they needed to lower the post harvest losses, which, according to the data, amount to 16 percent of the harvest,” Piñol said.

See “Piñol,” A2

You need hackers!

Continued from A1

That’s why it is so important for companies to start cultivating the hacker mind-set inside their own organization today. Not only can it change the way employees view and value cybersecurity, which leads to better security across the entire organization, but it can also help your work force become more curious and resourceful—two of the most valuable skills in a future with widespread artificial intelligence and automation.

Remember, humans are strategic, machines are tactical. The more technical work, the more technology can accomplish it. On the other hand, work that requires a high degree of imagination, creative analysis and strategic thinking, is harder to automate.

Accenture Strategy, in its report “Reworking the Revolution,” posed the question: Are you ready to compete as intelligent technology meets human ingenuity to create the future work force?

Here are a few ways companies of any size can start teaching their workforce to think like (ethical) hackers: ■ Encourage employees to attend hackathons—even if only to observe or learn. These events give people a chance to take a step back from their day-to-day work for a moment and think creatively to solve problems, which is what ethical “hacking” is all about.

Acting out a breach scenario can help employees, technical or not, better relate to organizational risk and inspire a new level of mindfulness when it comes to cybersecurity.

■ When you break down the silos that exist across teams in so many companies (still) today, it helps build community and create a shared purpose, which are powerful defenses when it comes to cybersecurity. It helps create a more vigilant work force that is more likely to detect and respond to threats. This is especially important with security teams. When there is an incident, they should debrief a broader group on what happened and how they responded.

■ Even if your security team is the best in the business, the reality is that all humans are fallible.

When the same people are looking at the same code-base or dashboard every day, it is only a matter of time before something important gets overlooked. That’s why the most security-conscious organizations look for help outside themselves, i.e., inviting talented and trusted outside security experts to help identify vulnerabilities.

Before you start hiring hackers, it may be worthwhile to look

at the “2018 Hackers Report” that surveyed 1,698 respondents. Here is what the authors of the report found interesting: ■ On average, top-earning hacker/researchers make 2.7 times the median salary of a software engineer in their home country.

■ Money is one of the top reasons why bug-bounty hunters hack, but it’s fallen from first to fourth place. Most of the participants say their motivation is the opportunity to learn tips and techniques. The second-most popular reason was evenly split between “to be challenged” and “to have fun.”

■ Over 35 percent of the participants consider vulnerability hacking a hobby. Of those surveyed, 12 percent have an annual income from bug bounties of $20,000 or more, with 3 percent earning more than $100,000 per year, and 1 percent making over $350,000 annually.

■ India (23 percent) and the US (20 percent) are the top 2 countr ies represented in the survey group.

■ More than half of the respondents studied computer science at an undergraduate or graduate level, with 26 percent studying computer science in high school.

■ Nearly all of the members of the Hacker community are under the age of 35, with a majority (45 percent) between 18 and 24 years old.

Back to the Accenture Strategy Report: it makes three recommendations for business leaders: The first: Reimagine work— Assess tasks, not jobs; then allocate tasks to machines and people, balancing the need to automate work and to elevate people’s capabilities.

Second: Unlock new forms of value—Encourage an open culture and experimentation, which allows people more autonomy and decision-making power, and foster a “new leadership DNA,” which will create leaders out of employees at all levels.

Third: Scale up “new skilling,” using a suite of innovative digital learning methods—Prioritize entering the new world where human ingenuity meets intelligent technology to unlock new forms of growth; understand that workers are impatient to collaborate with artificial intelligence.

As I said, you need hackers!!!

As our data privacy and cybersecurity teams are digging deeper in exposing the gaps and recommending how to close the gaps, the focus on ethical hackers gains importance.

Where to we find them, how do we attract them?

Comments are welcome; contact me at Schumacher@eitsc.com.