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Friday, February 23, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 135

Boracay business owners oppose ‘state of calamity’

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

B BBB program to drastically cut losses due to traffic–Jica

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

USINESS owners, resort owners and sporting associations on Boracay Island on Thursday expressed alarm over the proposal of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for President Duterte to declare the island under a “state of calamity.”

Stop the chartered flights and cruise ships to allow the island to breathe, while they close and demolish the structures of violators with no proper permits.”—Graf

In a statement sent to the BusinessMirror, Elena Brugger, president of the 55-member Philippine Chamber of Commerce

A

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Rice, a politicized crop Edgardo j. angara

5

00 years ago, Ming Emperor Wan Mui Li (15731615) sent a special delegation to the Philippines who brought back kamote for Fujian farmers who were dying by the millions because of famine caused by severe drought. Fujian survived the drought and millions were saved from death on account of that Filipino humanitarian aid.

Continued on A2

Continued on A11

Maldives wants unlimited air-transport deal with PHL

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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@BNicolasBM

round P2.4 billion in 2012, P3.5 billion today, and P5.4 billion in 2035.

T hese f ig u res represent the daily economic losses due t o t he w or s e n i n g v e h ic u l a r traffic in Metro Manila, according to estimates made by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

The good news, Jica Chief Representative to the Philippines Susumu Ito said, is these figures will be “ drastically reduced,” as the government is taking a step in the right direction with the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB)

2016 ejap journalism awards

This drainage pipe spews out sewage and other untreated effluents from homes and establishments, turning the waters of Bulabog Beach a murky brown. Bulabog is where wind sports are traditionally held, and tourists have complained of rashes and itchiness after being in its waters.

Continued on A2

PESO exchange rates n US 52.1240

Image grab from D.O.T. video

@lorenzmarasigan

HE Maldives would like to sign an air-services agreement with the Philippines that spells out unlimited traffic rights between their capital cities, a move that may spur growth in tourism in the Southeast Asian nation.

Ibrahim Faizal, who chairs the Maldivian Civil Aviation Authority, said his group is keen on signing an open-skies deal with the Philippine government.

“We prefer open sky. It means everyone can fly without limits,” he told the BusinessMirror. “What we want is not based on seats per flight, as far as we are concerned, as the Maldives has an open-sky policy.”

According to Civil Aeronautics Board Executive Director

Carmelo L. Arcilla, the air talks will be scheduled soon, and is targeted to be held in the second quarter of 2018 in Manila.

“We were trying to firm up the schedule, which will be within the second quarter,” he told the BusinessMirror. “This is going to be basic agreement.”

While demand for travel from the Philippines to the Maldives is quite low, Arcilla said, signing an agreement with the country may prove to be beneficial for the local tourism industry.

“Connectivity is always a catalyst to growth. There might be tourists coming from the Maldives who want to visit another destination, say the Philippines,” he said.

The Maldives is a small islandstate famous for its beaches and

n japan 0.4842 n UK 72.5618 n HK 6.6614 n CHINA 8.2150 n singapore 39.3983 n australia 40.6932 n EU 64.0708 n SAUDI arabia 13.8994

See “Maldives,” A2

Source: BSP (22 February 2018 )

A2 Friday, February 23, 2018

BMReports BusinessMirror

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Boracay business owners oppose ‘state of calamity’ Continued from A1

Maldives. . .

Continued from A1

Communist rebels. . .

rich marine resources. Tourism is the country’s main industry.

“We want to forge an aviation relationship with them. We have nothing to lose,” Arcilla noted.

There is no existing bilateral agreement with the Maldives, as such, people coming from Manila will have to catch a connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Tokyo, to get to the Maldives, and vice versa.

For its part, legacy carrier Philippine Airlines is reviewing the possibility of launching flights to the Maldives from Manila. “The Maldives is still under review. Our focus is the introduction of new products and services, such as nonstop flights to New York and Brisbane.

We are also looking at flights to India, as well as additional routes to China and Japan,” Cielo Villaluna, the company’s spokesman, told the BusinessMirror.

negotiations to end the hostilities.

Duterte resumed peace talks with the guerrillas after he rose to power in 2016. He granted concessions by appointing three leftwing activists to his Cabinet, but the cordial relations rapidly deteriorated when he protested continuing rebel assaults on troops and policemen, along with guerrilla extortion of mining firms and agricultural plantations.

Last year he canceled Norwegian-brokered talks with the guerrillas and signed an order declaring the rebel groups as terrorist organizations, in a prelude to his government’s formal move on Wednesday.

Duterte has upped his rhetoric against the rebels in recent days, saying troops should shoot female communist rebels in the genitals to render them “useless” and suggesting troops could decapitate the rebels. The comments have drawn condemnation from rights groups.

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter

Continued from A12

Ong said the guerrillas were insincere in their talks with the government and only wanted to grab power.

If approved by the court, designating the communists as terrorists could serve as a legal weapon and basis for the government in securing court clearances to put rebel leaders and fighters under surveillance and freeze their bank accounts and assets, Ong said.

Companies paying the so-called revolutionary taxes to the rebels could be questioned, even though the military said such extortion demands have been done by coercion.

The communist rebel organizations are the second to be targeted by the Philippine government for proscription under a seldomused 2007 antiterrorism law. In 2015 a court approved a similar petition against the Abu Sayyaf, which has also been blacklisted as a terror group by the United States.

The communist rebellion has raged since 1969 and left about 40,000 combatants and civilians dead. It also has stunted economic development, especially in the countryside, where the military says about 3,700 Maoist insurgents are still waging a guerrilla war.

and Industry-Boracay, said: “We are finally glad to read that someone is coming up with a solution to the problems with the local government. I agree that certain officials have been appointed but are not able to perform their tasks, and it is a good idea to let professionals and a team with technical knowledge and expertise from the national government to perform that task instead.”

However, she said, the group rejects the use of the word, “calamity. ‘Calamity’ stands for an event causing sudden damage or distress and is often referred to as a disaster.”

She added that, while the group supports the demolition of properties that have violated several laws, they don’t support the demolition of properties that “do not have the proper paperwork, but are compliant with all the rules.” She pointed out that there are resorts, which have been operating “without an ECC [environment compliance certificate] just because of lapses of the previous DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] people.”

On Wednesday a DILG official revealed the agency’s proposal to fellow members of the interagency task force on Boracay, to declare a state of calamity in the island to allow national government agencies to clean it up, implement needed infrastructure programs and dismantle illegal structures. Other members of the interagency task force are the DENR and the Department of Tourism (DOT). (See, “DILG: Place Boracay under state of calamity,” in the BusinessMirror, February 22, 2018.)

For her part, Nenette Graf, a resort owner and president of the Boracay Windsport Association, also objected to a declaration of a state of calamity on the island, as it “will paralyze our industry.”

She suggested the government first “stop the chartered flights and cruise ships to allow the island to breathe, while they close and demolish the structures of violators with no proper permits.”

She added that, if only the national government had listened to the stakeholders of Boracay, as well as the local government unit, which had appealed to help Boracay, “agencies like the DENR that appeared to be deaf and blind when developers were destroying the forest, putting up needed infrastructure, and righting the wrong projects here, we wouldn’t have had to reach this dismal situation.”

She noted that her association uses the Bulabog Beach for their sporting activities, which is where sewage has been spilling out of a drainage pipe and dirtying the waters there. “For eight years we’ve been begging the Tieza [Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority] to solve the pollution issue caused by its unfinished and nonfunctioning drainage system, which it has been trying to complete for the 10 years!” Tieza, formerly the Philippine Tourism Authority, is the infrastructure arm of the DOT. Brugger cautioned the national government from taking over the management of the island: “[This] needs to be well planned and worked out.”

Under Republic Act 10121, or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, a “disaster” is described as a “as a result of the combination of: the exposure to a hazard; the conditions of vulnerability that are present; and insufficient capacity or measures to reduce or cope with the potential negative consequences. Disaster impacts may include loss of life, injury, disease and other negative effects on human, physical, mental and social well-being, together with damage to property, destruction of assets, loss of services, social and economic disruption, and environmental degradation.”

The law allows the declaration of a state of calamity even in the wake of a “human-induced” disaster. It can be declared either by the President, upon recommendation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, or issued by the local sanggunian, upon recommendation of a local disaster management council. (http://bit.ly/2oh6jlB) On Wednesday the secretaries of the DOT, DENR and DILG convened for a meeting to discuss efforts to rehabilitate Boracay, famous the world over for its white-sand beach. President Duterte had given the DENR and DILG six months to fix its problems, or he will have to close it.

“We are here to save Boracay, to restore Boracay to its original form, which used to be a paradise before,” said Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo in a news briefing after her closed-door meeting with Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu and Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año.

In 2017 Boracay received about 2 million tourists, half of whom were foreigners, while the rest were domestic travelers. The island generated some P56 million in visitor receipts for the tourism industry last year.

BBB program to drastically cut losses due to traffic–Jica Continued from A1

infrastructure program. “As you can see, the traffic cost is P3.5 billion a day in Metro Manila. If we do nothing, it will become P5.4 billion a day in 2035.

But with BBB, it will be reduced to P3 billion a day, with additional projects, it will be reduced to P2.4 billion a day,” Ito said this during his presentation in the 36th joint meeting of Philippines and Japan Economic Cooperation Committees at a hotel in Makati City.

These figures are based on the updated Transport Infrastructure Road Map targeted to be finalized by April, as it still needs the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Ito added that there is a continuing trend of rapid urbanization, and that the population in Metro Manila, including Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite (BLRC), or also known as Mega Manila, will increase to 38 million by 2035.

“So Mega Manila will be larger. It will be one of the largest [mega] cities in the world. Second, Metro Manila will be more congested, while BLRC will see more rapid growth,” he said. The current road map approved by the Neda in 2014 was also created with the then-Department of Transportation and Communications and the Department of Public Works and Highways to develop Metro Manila to reduce traffic congestion and improve the mass rapid transit for the benefit

of the commuting public.

Jica previously said the road map will result in vehicle operating cost and travel time savings worth P4 billion per day, or P1.2 trillion a year. It will also reduce public-transport fares to P24 from P42, and reduce trail time to 31 minutes from 80 minutes.

The road map aims to remove traffic congestion in Mega Manila; remove households living in high hazard risk areas; remove barriers that prevent seamless mobility; remove excessive transport cost burden for low-income groups and remove air pollution.

Greenhouse-gas emissions will also be reduced by 10,233 per day and provide the government additional revenues from tolls and fares equivalent to P397 million a day, or P119 billion a year.

Under the BBB infrastructure program, the government aims to roll out 75 infrastructure flagship projects.

It will also ramp up infrastructure spending from 5.4 percent of GDP in 2017 to about 7.3 percent of GDP in 2022, translating to P8.1 trillion over the medium term.

These flagship projects include 12 Pasig River, Marikina River and Manggahan floodway bridges; Panguil Bay Bridge; New Bohol airport; Mindanao Rail Project (Phase 1)-Tagum Davao Digos segment; Metro Manila Subway Project (Phase 1), MRT-LRT Common Station and the PNR South Long Haul.

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DOH readying civil suit against Sanofi–Duque

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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he Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday vowed to exhaust all legal remedies against drug firm Sanofi Pasteur, amid DOH’s preparations for the filing of a civil suit to be lodged against the French pharmaceutical giant.

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said that the DOH will bring Sanofi’s “misrepresentations to justice.”

The health chief added that they have received a letter on Monday dated February 15, 2018, from Mr. Thomas Triomphe, head of Asia-Pacific region, Sanofi Pasteur, declining the DOH’s demand to refund the used doses of Dengvaxia.

Sanofi had refused to return the amount of P1.6 billion and to set up an indemnification fund that will be used for the benefit of the Dengvaxia recipients.

“The DOH maintains that as per the terms of reference on the procurement of the dengue vaccines, the DOH made it categorically clear that it intends to use the dengue vaccine in a school-based immunization program for students regardless of whether they have been infected by the dengue virus

or not,” Duque said.

He added Sanofi Pasteur’s labeling “did not qualify the recommended use or risk on the serostatus at baseline of the intended recipient of the vaccine.”

He said that prior to the November 29, 2017, announcement, Sanofi Pasteur never issued a warning or precaution regarding the vaccine’s use among individuals who have had no prior dengue infection.

“It was only on this announcement that Sanofi Pasteur revealed that Dengvaxia poses a heightened risk of contracting severe dengue to seronegative individuals,” Duque added.

“It is regrettable that this crucial information was only made public by Sanofi Pasteur after the DOH has implemented the vaccine program to about 837,000 children,” he lamented.

Earlier Sanofi said that the refunding of the used doses of Dengvaxia “would imply that the vaccine is ineffective, which is not the case.”

“And at this time, there is also no known circumstance requiring indemnification,” Sanofi said in a news statement.

Sanofi also had agreed to refund the unused Dengvaxia vials worth P1.4 billion, but not the whole amount of P3.4 billion.

PHL slips 10 notches in 2017 corruption perception index

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@jrsanjuan1573

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GAG order has been issued b y t he Supreme Court (SC) sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) preventing the camps of former Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo from discussing the proceedings in connection with the election protests.

“Considering that the revision process is about to commence, the tribunal directs both protestant and protestee to observe the sub judice rule,” the PET said in a twopage order dated February 13, 2018.

It c a n b e r e c a l l e d t h a t both camps have been holding news conferences to discuss issues sur round ing t he election protest.

Lawyer Vic Rodriguez, counsel of Marcos, said they would comply with the order.

“Yes we have received our copy of the PET resolution. Essentially, it is just a reminder from the tribunal for the parties to observe the sub judice rule, which restricts

litigants and their lawyers to make comments and/or disclosures on a pending judicial proceedings so that the case be decided upon evidence presented before the court and the determination of such facts should be uninfluenced by bias, prejudice and sympathies. Fair and accurate reporting of what actually took place in open court are excluded from its coverage,” Rodriguez said.

Inthesameresolution,thePETalso directed Marcos’s camp to comment on the motion filed by Robredo to “withdraw any and all pending motions which may delay recount proceedings.” The PET also compelled Marcos to inform the tribunal whether it would also be filing a similar motion.

“Based on the records of this case, the tribunal finds that there are no such pending motions from protestee. Accordingly, the tribunal resolves to note the motion and require the protestant to submit his comment thereon and inform the tribunal if he intends to file a similar motion as that filed by protestee within 10 days from notice hereof,” the PET said.

Earlier,bothcampsagreedtowith-

Previously, the country ranked 101st out of 176 nations in 2016, and 95th of 168 countries in 2015.

The country’s latest index score is 34. Last year it was 35.

The index, which ranks countries and territories by their perceived levels of public-sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

“This year the index found that more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of 43,” a statement by Transparency International on their analysis of results read.

The country also placed at the bottom end of the spectrum for the Asia-Pacific region, placing 21st out of 31 countries.

draw all the motions they had filed before PET to be able to proceed with the recount.

The PET is set to begin the recount next month.

The recount would cover the three pilotprovincesofCamarinesSur,Iloilo and Negros Oriental, which were chosen by Marcos as the best provinces where he could prove the irregularities he cited in his poll protest.

Robredo’s counsel, Romulo Macalintal said the recount covering the three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental would commence on March 19.

In his election protest filed on June 29, 2016, Marcos claimed that the camp of Robredo cheated in the automated polls in May that year.

Marcos is specifically questioning election results in 132,446 precincts in 39,221, clustered precincts covering 27 provinces and cities. In his preliminary conference briefing, Marcos also sought for a recount in Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

Robredo w as declared winner in the 2016 vice presidential race with 14,418,817 votes, or 263,473 more than Marcos’s 14,155,344 votes.

Palace extends PNP chief’s term ‘indefinitely’

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

P

hilippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa, backed by a fresh presidential mandate to lead the police force, on Thursday declared that the “internal cleansing” of the PNP is set to go full blast in a process that will not spare erring members of the organization.

Dela Rosa said he will meet head on the perceived lack of discipline in the organization by having scalawag policemen arrested and fired from the service.

The PNP chief made the vow as he disclosed he had been told by Malacañang that his second extension had been made “indefinite.”

Dela Rosa added he has not thought of any other effective way to address rogue cops except arresting and removing them from the service.

“I have not thought of a more effective formula than what we are

Moral-recovery programs and everything has been tried, but somehow all those approaches have failed. There is no other way but to hit the problem directly. If there are erring policemen, remove them from the service. That is the solution.”

—dela Rosa doing right now, we hit the problem head on. If there are corrupt policemen, mulcting cops, arrest them, if there are complaints, entrap them,” he said.

To intensify the campaign, dela Rosa activated the PNP-Counter Intelligence Task Force, which is primarily tasked to go after rogue cops.

“Moral-recovery programs and everything has been tried, but somehow all those approaches have failed.

There is no other way but to hit the

@BNicolasBM

he Philippines slipped to 111th place among 180 countries in the 2017 report of the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International.

PET issues gag order on VP poll protest

By Joel R. San Juan

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, February 23, 2018 A3

problem directly,” he said.

“If there are erring policemen, remove them from the service. That is the solution,” he added.

According to dela Rosa, the President told him about his second extension on Wednesday afternoon.

“He told me, Bato, you will be extended because we still have a lot of problems in the PNP. [I said] yes sir, as long as you wanted me, I am willing to help you,” dela Rosa narrated.

This year New Zealand and Denmark rank highest with scores of 89 and 88, respectively, while Syria, South Sudan and Somalia rank lowest with scores of 14, 12 and 9, respectively.

Western Europe was named as the best-performing region with an average score of 66, while SubSaharan Africa (average score 32), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (average score 34) were the worstperforming regions.

Analysis from Transparency International also showed that the countries with the least protection for mass media and non-governmental organizations also tend to have the worst rates of corruption.

“Every week at least one journalist is killed in a country that is highly corrupt,” it said.

The analysis also incorporated data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which showed that more than nine out of 10 journalists were killed in countries that score 45 or less on the index.

In their regional analysis for countries in Asia Pacific, the group concluded that corruption in many countries is still strong, and even listed Philippines as among the “worst regional offenders” for scoring “high for corruption” and having “fewer press freedoms and higher number of journalist deaths.”

“Often, when individuals dare to challenge the status quo, they suffer the consequences,” it said, adding that some journalists, activists, opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies are threatened or even murdered.

Data from CPJ showed that a total of 79 journalists were killed from 1992 and 2018.

Transparency International also called on the global community to take action to curb corruption. The group suggested the following steps: governments and businesses must do more to encourage free speech, independent media, political dissent and an open and engaged civil society; governments should also minimize media regulations and ensure that journalists can work without fear of repression or violence; civil society and governments should promote laws that focus on access to information; activists and governments should take advantage of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to advocate and push for reforms at the national and international level and that governments and businesses should disclose relevant public interest information, including budgets, company ownership, public procurements and political party finances in data formats.

This year the index found that more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of 43.”

—Transparency International

Economy

A4 Friday, February 23, 2018 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

Slot for third telco player open until end of March

By Jun N. Aguirre Correspondent

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EW Washington, Aklan—With only a left before the deadline, the Department of Information and Communications and Technology (DICT) announced it is still accepting companies aspiring to be the third telco player in the country.

DICT Undersecretary Monchito B. Ibrahim said that already, some Chinese and New Delhi companies have expressed keen interest to compete in the Philippine telco marked dominated by Smart and Globe.

It could be recalled that President Duterte had set an end of March deadline to the DICT to encourage investor to become the third telco player in the country to ensure speed Internet connectivity and speed in the Philippines.

“We are doing everything to come up with a third telco. You already know what would happen to us if we could not meet the deadline,” Ibrahim told the local media at a news conference at Sampaguita Gardens here Wednesday night.

Ibrahim was here for the sixth Visayas ICT Cluster Organization (Victor) Conference. The conference, which carries the theme “Vying for Innovations in the Visayas and Aklan for a Digital Philippines,” will run from February 22 to 23.

The Victor will focus on three major national goals: helping local government units jump into the 21st century with egovernance initiatives, building sustainable start-up environments in different regions, and positioning local communities as prime spots for informationtechnology businesses.

The conference also coincided the pioneering event for the 48-hour game hackathon called Game Jam by the Game Developers Association of the Philippines. A fourth Creative Congress will also be held.

Supported by the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines, it will also be attended

by ICTs from the Visayas, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu and Bohol, among others.

Lawyer Jocelle Batapa-Sigue of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology expressed her group’s intent of creating regional arts center in the country.

These also include providing artistic tablets for the honing of talents on gaming.

For her part, Gabrielle Calizo-Quimpo, former congresswoman and chairman of the ICT-Aklan, said that the DICT has challenged the province to generate 5,000 new employment in the coming years.

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FPH exec sees virtual extinction of coal plants, dominance of RE

C

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

OAL power plants are likely to end up as underutilized or stranded assets in 10 years, or even less, given the rapid pace of renewables, a top official of Lopezled First Philippine Holdings (FPH) said.

Federico R. Lopez, chairman and CEO of FPH, First Gen and Energy Development Corp. said during the second Philippine Environment Summit that as more renewables come onto the grid, the shape of demand changes.

This is because renewable-energy (RE) technology, albeit intermittent, can adapt to these challenges unlike coal-fired power plants.

“Keep in mind that when someone tells you that renewable energy is intermittent and makes power

grids unstable, know that there are many technically and economically feasible ways to handle these issues, and progressive grids are already incorporating them into their day-today operations,” Lopez said.

Solar power, for instance, can only be utilized when the sun is out. But when storage batteries get cheaper and more ubiquitous, households will start defecting partially, or even totally, from the electricity grid.

“The momentum for more solar

PV’s [photovoltaic] installed and later on storage batteries will be unstoppable as the economics gets better in the coming years,” Lopez said.

He added that there are tools such as flex plants, HVDC transmission networks that expand the geographic coverage of wind and solar to smoothen out variability of sun and wind over wider areas.

“Coal-fired power plants can’t keep up with that kind of variability,” Lopez said.

He added: “Coal plants do not have the needed ramp up flexibility, they pollute more, have much higher carbon emissions and are now even more expensive than combined cycle gas turbines running on natural gas. It begs the question: Why do we even need to put up new coal plants?

Plants that we already know will be underutilized, whose exorbitant costs will be saddled on to captive utility consumers.”

Lopez lamented that, just a year ago, policy-makers around the world, including the Philip-

pines, were arguing that despite Global Warming concerns, coal was needed for economic development.

“What a difference a year can make. Coal is no longer cheap. It doesn’t have the flexibility needed for the inevitable penetration of RE sources into our lives. Even advanced coal plants have carbon emissions and pollutants double or triple that of the standard combine

cycle gas turbines,” he said.

“Economically priced RE is here, will only get cheaper and in due time will permeate our lives whether we like it or not. There is no stopping that. What we need to do is prepare for its effects on the grid. The solutions are out there for progressive utilities and grid managers committed to finding solutions instead of problems,” Lopez added.

Keep in mind that when someone tells you that renewable energy is intermittent and makes power grids unstable, know that there are many technically and economically feasible ways to handle these issues, and progressive grids are already incorporating them into their day-to-day operations.”—Lopez

Solon: Twin Senate bills assure EODB, price freeze

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

E

Rice dilemma

An elderly rice trader shoos away pesky flies at her store where several varieties of commercial rice are displayed with their corresponding price tags. Noticeable is the absence of the cheap rice variety previously being sold at P28 per kilo. ALYSA SALEN

DOLE orders PRAs to keep close watch on OFWs in Kuwait

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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he Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has instructed all Philippine recruitment agencies (PRAs) to closely monitor the condition of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) they have sent to Kuwait or face possible sanctions.

In an advisory, POEA Administrator Bernard P. Olalia said PRAs are now required to submit each week the status, exact location and contact number of their deployed OFWs. The report should also include information about the employers of the OFWs, particularly contact numbers and addresses.

Olalia said the PRA should send their reports at the POEA Welfare and Employment Office e-mail address: poea.kuwaitmonitoring@gmail. com every Thursday.

“Failure to comply with the reportorial requirements of this advisory shall be dealt with under appropriate provisions of the 2016 Revised POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Deployment of Landbased OFWs and Seafarers, respectively,” Olalia said in POEA Advisory 9 series of 2018.

The POEA issued the warning after the government drew criticisms for its initial response to the case of Joanna Demafelis, a deceased Filipino household service worker in Kuwait.

Demafelis’s remains were found in a freezer at her employers’ home earlier this month, a year after she went missing. The incident prompted President Duterte to order government agencies to impose a deployment ban in Kuwait and repatriate all distressed OFWs there.

Last Wednesday the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) vowed to prevent similar abuse to other OFWs in Kuwait through sev-

eral reforms. This includes imposing stricter regulations for PRAs. The POEA has sanctioned 11 PRAs, which have OFWs in Kuwait, for committing recruitment violations.

Olalia said this could still increase in the coming weeks once they conclude their investigation on other PRAs with pending recruitment violations cases.

In a related development, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in a radio interview they have already identified the recruitment agency, which deployed Demafelis to Kuwait in 2016.

The DOLE Information and Publication Service Director Rolly M. Francia said they are now coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation to go after the recruitment agency of Demafelis for failing to report her whereabouts after she went missing.

arly enactment of the Senate-ratified final version of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act is seen to effectively cut red tape and spare businesses from spending billions of pesos and millions of man-hours yearly to comply with government licensing procedures, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto.

Eve n a s t he pro - bu s i ne s s leg islation is ex pected to be prompt ly sig ned into law by President Duterte, Recto said he is readying three more congressional initiatives, including a freeze on fees, an anti-epal provision and exempting one-person proprietorships from paying fire inspection fees since these can be provided in the law’s implementing rules.

Affirming that “a price-freeze” must be implemented on business fees and permits issued on a shortened process, the Senate leader expects that after cutting red tape, “there will be less paper work and fewer signatories, then the cost should remain as it is, if not go down.”

Recto said that ease of doing business “should lead to easy-on-thepocket expenses,” adding that “it will be the height of absurdity if efficiency will be penalized with a higher price, considering the fact that in computing the cost of licenses issued by the government, the guiding principle is the mere recovery of the cost of preparation and not to profit.”

He added: “It can even be ar-

RECTO: “It can even be argued that if we cut the process, then we should also cut the price or, at the very least, keep the status quo.”

gued that if we cut the process, then we should also cut the price or, at the very least, keep the status quo.”

Recto confirmed his second proposal is for an Anti-Red Tape Authority to order that the design of permits be “institutional in nature and not personalistic.”

The senator noted that “one ludicrous imposition in many areas today is for business owners, be they grocery owners or ukayukay sellers, to buy every year as a business permit a thin metal or hard plastic plate featuring the name and the likeness of the issuing authority.”

He l a mented t h at i n t h i s country, “there are no available vehicle license plates, but sarisari stores have them.” Not only that, Recto added, these business plates are required to be replaced yearly. “Why do business permit holders need to buy new ones every year?”

In a statement, the senator suggested that local governments should just “adopt the same practice in registering cars and just plaster a sticker on the plate or permit as proof that it has been registered for the year.” Better still, Recto added: “Honor the receipt as the permit itself and do away with burloloys.”

Neda chief says FTAs to boost PHL-US trade, investment ties

By Leslie Gatpolintan Philippines News Agency

T

he country’s chief economist sees the need for the Philippines to explore more free-trade agreements (FTAs) with the United States to boost trade and investment ties between the two countries.

“Even though we already have a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement with the US, it is still important to establish an FTA to

gain access for more exports from the Philippines to the US market,” National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Director General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said on Wednesday.

Pernia highlighted the intention of the Philippines to keep its current trade with the US in positive territory and further improve trade between both countries following upbeat trade performance in 2017.

pernia

“We have a positive trade balance with the US, and we want to keep it that way,” he said.

“Now is an opportune time to strengthen ties with our foreign partners,” Pernia added, emphasizing the recovery of global trade as an opportunity for Philippine exports to grow.

The Philippine exports to the US reached $8.5 billion, while imports registered $6.4 billion from January to November last year.

The Neda chief further said discussing and exploring FTAs with the US is also imperative in fostering investment opportunities.

He identified food production, agriculture, renewable energy and services as sectors that can be further explored as trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.

Investment commitments of the US reached P5.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2017,

focusing mainly on administrative and support activities and manufacturing.

Pernia said opening up more sectors to foreign investments and amending the Public Service Act to engender competition and improve information communications technology infrastructure, would open more trade opportunities in education, telecommunications, transportation and construction.

Agriculture/ Commodities www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

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Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Friday, February 23, 2018

Bar private traders from importing rice–solon

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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@joveemarie @joveemarie

lawmaker on Thursday called on the National Food Authority Council (NFAC) to disallow private traders from importing rice and to set a ceiling on the retail price of the staple.

Amid the current “artificial” supply problem, Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of the Second District of Camarines Sur said the NFAC should consider setting up a separate body that would monitor the supply and prevent the retail prices of rice from spiraling out of control. This, he added, is similar to the government’s regulatory control over vital services like electricity, to protect consumers.

“In the same way that there exists regulatory control on the cost of electricity, there should also be regulatory control on the price of rice to prevent the profiteering schemes of unscrupulous traders

from upsetting the supply of the staple in the domestic market,” Villafuerte said in a statement.

Villafuerte filed House Resolution 993 last year, amid the thenunstable rice price and supply scenario in his province, several months before the current situation has become a nationwide problem.

“We need to fix the existing system to shield both farmers and consumers from the shady practices of private traders that have left the National Food Authority [NFA] helpless in carrying out its primary task of ensuring the stability of the price and supply of rice in the market,” he added.

“Clearly, the present setup doesn’t work, as greedy grains traders have managed to game the system by cornering domestic supply through imports and heavy purchases of locally produced stocks and, in the process, managing to influence and dictate retail prices through a seemingly ‘artificial’ supply deficit,” he said.

Under the current system, the NFA has the sole authority to import rice, but the NFAC allows private traders to similarly purchase stocks from abroad through the food agency attached to the Office of the President.

Villafuerte said the NFAC, the highest policy-making body of the NFA chaired by Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr., should do away with the current system of allowing private traders to facilitate rice importation. “ This setup obviously does not work in the face of the recent price spike of the grain in the retail market, which could apparently be traced to the hoarding done by unscrupulous businessmen that has created an artificial supply shortfall,” he said.

He added the rule of thumb is

that unmilled rice bought from farmers should only have a 100-percent markup once milled and sold as rice in retail outlets.

“At the current average farmgate buying price of P20 per kilogram [kg] of palay, regular-milled rice should be sold at around P40 per kg only. But right now you can see that regular-milled commercial rice sells for around P43 to P50 per kg in retail outlets,” he added.

Based on the NFA’s presentation during the recent House hearing on the rice-supply situation, as of February 14, the total remaining NFA rice stock is equivalent to only 1,122,376 bags. This consists of 90,253 bags of palay in rice, 52,697 bags of local rice and 979,426 bags of imported rice.

At a daily consumption rate of 640,260 bags, the NFA’s stockpile would be enough for only 1.7 days.

“Although belatedly the NFAC authorized the NFA to import 250,000 metric tons of rice, this is already too late to influence price movements in the market because the stocks would arrive only in July,” Villafuerte said.

NFA support price

The National Movement for Food Sovereignty (NMFS) said the government should hike the buying price of the NFA for palay to P22 per kg, from the current P17 per kg, so it could buy more paddy from lo-

cal farmers in the coming harvest.

The NMFS, a coalition of local farmers’ federations, nongovernmental organizations and consumer groups, said this would allow the NFA to resume selling government-subsidized rice in the market.

“Many have expressed alarm on how rice prices could go up suddenly despite the record bumper harvest in December that until now has left more than 3 million tons still being kept in private warehouses and households, even as the harvest season in March is fast approaching,” the NMFS said in a statement on February 22.

“What has been depleted according to the NFA is its 15-day rice buffer stock, which constrained it from continuously downloading cheap rice to the local market. The NFA should raise its buying price of palay to P22 per kg in order to get a bigger chunk of the coming harvest,” it added.

However, the NMFS argued that the food agency’s low buying price for palay is not a justification for the NFA not to fulfill its mandate of stabilizing the price of rice in the market.

“While partly true, the NFA’s claim that it cannot procure from local farmers because of its low buying price of P17 per kg of palay cannot be an argument coming from an institution mandated to

stabilize rice prices and supply,” it said.

“In fact, the NFA’s history shows that there have been years in the mid-1980’s and 1990’s when its domestic palay procurement had reached as high as 10 percent to 15 percent of total palay production and which evidently improved farmers’ income and enabled the agency to distribute cheap rice to the market,” it added.

NMFS also said the government should be designated as the sole importer of rice even after the quantitative restriction on the staple has been lifted.

The group added that it opposes any executive or legislative actions that seek to privatize the NFA. “So long as the government is bent on further stripping the NFA of its functions that could strengthen its intervention in the market, the danger of price volatility and speculation remains. Far worse scenarios maybe expected if the government persists on adopting its free market policies,” the NMFS said.

“Stable rice prices are crucial, especially in a country like the Philippines where rice is the primary staple food and where tens of millions still live in abject poverty.

It cannot be understated that the stability of rice prices can directly affect whether a family goes hungry or not,” it added.

Average retail price of dressed chicken declines slightly ₧398-M DA-PRDP fund to boost Mindanao priority commodities

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he average retail price of dressed chicken as of February 21 declined by 2.24 percent to P145.42 per kilogram (kg), from the previous week’s quotation of P148.75 per kg, according to the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

BAI Assistant Director Simeon S. Amurao Jr. told the BusinessMirror that this was due to the increase in chicken supply after raisers harvested their stocks.

“The supply is increasing so the price is expected to decline. This is seen in the lower inventory of chicken in local cold storages,” Amurao said. “And the price could go down further by March if local raisers have totally resumed normal loading stocks.”

BA I d ata obta ined by t he BusinessMirror showed that the latest price quotation for fully dressed chicken is slightly lower than the P145.92 per kg recorded in the same period last year.

The latest data from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) showed that, as of January 29, the country’s total dressed-chicken inventor y reac hed 17,242.22 metric tons (MT), 12.65 percent higher than the previous

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Bloomberg

week’s 15,306.23 MT. The bulk of total inventory, or about 61.32 percent, consisted of locally produced chicken. Local poultry during the period amounted to 10,573.95 MT, 41.38 percent higher than the 7,478.93 MT recorded a week ago.

The average retail prices of various chicken parts in the market

also posted declines during the period, BAI data showed.

The price of chicken wings declined by P2.58 to P155.25 per kg, while that of chicken breasts fell by P2.09 to P151.33 per kg. Also, the average retail price of chicken drumstick as of February 19 was pegged at P155.08 per kg, P2.17 lower than

the previous week ’s quotation of P157.25 per kg.

However, the average farm-gate price of chicken was unchanged at P95.44 per kg, according to BAI data.

The average prices of dayold-chick and medium eggs also remained at P36.40 and P5.32, respectively. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Soybeans could dethrone corn as US crop king after 35 years

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or the first time in 35 years, soybeans are poised to steal the crown of United States crop king from corn.

American farmers are set to increase their soy plantings to a record 90.69 million acres, according to the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 21 trading firms and analysts.

Corn sowings are forecast to drop to 90.12 million. The last time soy surpassed corn was in 1983, when government payments were based on idling acres.

If it feels like we’ve been here before, you’d be right. This time last year analysts were expecting the great soybean steal to happen because the crop was already offering better premiums. And while growers did sow more of the oilseed than ever before, the plantings came in just

shy of matching corn as temperate weather favored the grain.

So what’s different this year?

Drought.

About 16 percent of the corn belt is already experiencing drought conditions, with more dry weather forecast into the start of the growing season.

Soybeans, wheat and cotton are all more drought-tolerant than corn.

Price premiums

Prices are also still favoring soybeans, with futures for this year’s crop trading about 2.5 times higher than corn contracts. This is the fifth straight year that the oilseed is offering better returns.

After years of depressed crop prices, those premiums are more important than ever—just ask Julie Burgod. The 52-year-old farms

4,500 acres and raises calves near Ipswich, South Dakota, with her husband and son. They already plan to slash corn acres in half to make way for soybeans, because the grain “doesn’t pay the bills.” Burgod also owns a crop insurance agency and said many of her clients are echoing the sentiment.

“Soybeans are king, and corn is queen,” Burgod said. “We also are skittish about the dry soils coming into 2018.”

The US Department of Agriculture will release its first planting estimates for the season at its annual outlook conference that begins on Thursday in Arlington, Virginia.

Plains drought

Dry weather is most acute in the northern Great Plains. In North Da-

kota drought conditions cover 65 percent of the state, compared with zero last year, according to the US Drought Monitor.

The arid soils are limiting planting options, according to Jim Diepolder, a farmer and seed and farm-chemical dealer near Willow City, North Dakota. The conditions reduce the chances of corn crops generating the yields needed for farmers to break even.

Barley is also less attractive after a string of bumper crops boosted inventories, prompting beer companies to cut supply contracts.

Diepolder is planting no corn this year, 50 percent less barley and replacing those acres with another grain that’s forecast to see planting gains: wheat. He’ll also seed more canola.

Both crops are considered drought resistant. Bloomberg News

avao C it y—T he De par tment of Ag r icu lture’s Philippine Rural D e v e lo p me nt P ro j e c t ( DA PRDP) boosts Mindanao’s champion commodities by frontloading funds for enterprise development.

PRDP’s Investment for Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Productivity (I-REAP) Mindanao portfolio has allotted P398.63 million for 84 targeted projects.

Of the figure, 77 projects have been approved with an allocation of P363.16 million. The remaining seven subprojects are still on process for approval.

Mindanao champion commodities include abaca, banana (Cavendish, Cardava, lakatan), bangus, cacao, cassava (chips and granules), coconut (virgin coconut oil, fiber and peat, sugar), oil palm, coffee (green coffee beans), dairy (cattle), goat, mango (fresh), rice (organic), rubber (crumb, sheet), seaweeds and swine.

Region 12 has the highest approved enter prise cost of P123.49 million for 11 projects, according to the recent project report. These involved expansion and enhancement on the production, processing and marketing of the region’s priority commodities. “ Through this project, we hope that the value of coffee farming and the lives of coffee farmers in the province will be elevated. Hopefully, with PRDP, coffee growers in the entire South Cotabato would benefit and gain appreciation on the value of coffee as commodity,” said Marcos Gabat, president of Tupi Coffee Growers Association Inc. (Tucogai) in Tupi, South Cotabato. Tucogai is a recipient of a P6.9-million

project on enhancement of production and marketing of dried green coffee beans.

“The marketing aspect of our cacao enterprise would boost the income of the farmers, as co-op would be buying cacao beans at the price of dried beans. This way, the P13.39-million project on cacao production and marketing package 1 with input provision and cacao production would be able to help the farmers augment their income,” said Dexter Patron, cacao enterprise manager of Facoma in Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte.

Region 13 ranked second with P69.57 million for nine projects; followed by Region 10 worth P62.10 million for 33 projects; Region 11 with P56.30 million for seven projects; Region 9 with P28.43 million for seven projects; and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with P23.26 million for 10 projects.

T h e I - R E A P c o m p o n e nt strengthens the communities’ capacity in business development through efficient value chains of key agricultural and fishery products and by providing technical, financial, and infrastructure support to the farmers and fisherfolk. It also aims to strengthen the collaboration between the DA and the local government units and the private sectors.

These subprojects are materialized through PRDP’s enterprise development and it is expected that the agriculture and fishery sector will achieve raise in rural incomes, create employment and improve their competitiveness through a value chain, market-oriented and integrated delivery approach.

Joy M. Montecalvo/ PSO Mindanao

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Editor: Lyn Ressureccion

Number of Myanmar tourists rise despite Rohingya crisis

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yanmar tourist arrivals rose 18 percent last year to 3.44 million visitors, despite international condemnation over the treatment of its Rohingya Muslim population.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism said it had expected around 3.5 million visitors last year, after arrival numbers dipped to 2.9 million in 2016, from 4.7 million in the previous 12 months.

“I think the figure increased as we held many promotional events, and the government has allowed tourists to travel previously restricted areas,” U Myint Htwe, deputy director general at the ministry, said in an interview. Yet, reliable data in Myanmar can be difficult to obtain. Last December the quality of the country’s banking statistics was called into question by the World Bank.

Around 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State to neighboring Bangladesh since August last year, when militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked 25 police and army posts, killing a dozen security officials.

The military responded with what it calls “clearance operations,” with reports of security forces and Buddhist vigilantes indiscriminately attacking the Rohingya and burning their villages.

Last November US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya as “ethnic cleansing.”

“We expected 3.5 million in 2017 but we only received 3.44 million due to natural disaster and H1N1,” Myint Htwe said, adding that the impact of the conflict in the northern part of Rakhine state was limited because it’s a not a major tourist destination. “We expect more than 3.44 million this year,” he said.

In 2015, the World Travel and Tourism Council estimated that Myanmar’s travel and tourism sector would grow by 8.4 percent by 2025 to become the country’s No. 1 contributor to GDP. A 2013 report on Myanmar by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that tourism could contribute $14.1 billion to Myanmar’s economy by 2030 and employ around 2.3 million people.

“Tourism in 2017 was definitely impacted in the overall market, particularly with regard to visitors from Europe,” said Enrico Cesenni, CEOof Myanmar Strategic Holdings Ltd., which has investments in Myanmar’s hotels and tourism sector.

“The good thing is that we’re experiencing more visitors from Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries,” he said. “North Asia countries, such as China, Japan and Korea, are also bringing in more tourists.”

Bloomberg News

The World BusinessMirror

Friday, February 23, 2018

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Fed’s Quarles: US economy in ‘best shape’ since crisis F ederal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles delivered an upbeat assessment of the United States economy and endorsed a “gradual” path for raising interest rates in his first public speech on monetary policy since joining the central bank last October.

“The US economy appears to be performing very well and, certainly, is in the best shape that it has been in since the crisis and, by many metrics, since well before the crisis,” Quarles said in prepared remarks on Thursday in Tokyo.

“With a strong labor market and likely only temporary softness in inflation, I view it as appropriate that monetary policy should continue to be gradually normalized,” he said.

The views appear to align Quarles on monetary policy with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who testifies next week before Congress for the first time as central bank chief.

His comments follow the release of minutes from the Fed’s January 30 and 31 policy meeting that showed confidence growing among policy-makers that growth in 2018 may exceed their December forecasts and justify additional rate hikes this year.

Of f icia ls have penci led in three hikes in 2018, according to their median projection released last December.

Quarles, who was named to the central bank’s board by President Donald J. Trump, said recently enacted tax changes and bipartisan budget deals could help sustain the economy’s expansion by increasing demand and spurring business investment.

He also drew attention to capital investment data that had already improved in 2017.

‘Drought’ fading

“It might be early, but it is possible that the investment drought that has afflicted the US economy for the past five years may finally be breaking,” he said.

On the riddle of lower-than-expected inflation in 2017, Quarles said it was likely due to “transitory factors that will fade through 2018.”

“A deviation from our target of a few tenths of 1 percentage point, especially one I expect to fade, does not cause me great concern,” he said.

Quarles, who’s also the Fed’s vice chairman for supervision of financial institutions, said he hoped to improve the regulatory framework the Fed and other agencies spent a decade putting in place after the financial crisis of 2008-2009. His appointment to that role has spurred warnings from Democratic lawmakers not to dismantle postcrisis reforms.

“Given the breadth and complexity of this new body of regulation, it is inevitable that we will be able to improve them, especially with the benefit of experience and hindsight,” he said.

Rates hike

U.S. central bankers sent a strong message on Wednesday that an expansion with “substantial underlying economic momentum” could sustain additional increases in interest rates this year.

Aerial view of the Bay Area as the city seeks break from rising rents Bloomberg

Federal Reserve officials’ collective position on inf lation, meanwhile, remained one of cautious optimism that it will move toward their 2-percent target in the medium term.

Stocks reversed gains and bond yields rose after the minutes revealed a more hawkish posture among Fed officials.

The S&P 500 Index ended the day down 0.6 percent after being up as much as 1.2 percent earlier.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose to 2.94 percent—a four-year high—at 4 p.m. in New York.

The Fed’s minutes also marked the end of Chairman Janet Yellen’s tenure at the central bank, as she turned the reins over to Jerome Powell in early-February.

Economic reports since the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) last met are unlikely

The US economy appears to be performing very well and, certainly, is in the best shape that it has been in since the crisis and, by many metrics, since well before the crisis.”

—Quarles

to change the message from the January policy statement that said “further gradual increases” in interest rates are in store for the economy.

Data released after the Fed meeting showed the unemployment rate holding at 4.1 percent in January, while the consumer price index, excluding food and energy, was 1.8 percent for the 12-month period. Retail sales unexpectedly declined from the prior month.

The key question facing policy-makers is now one of pace— whether three hikes or four will be sufficient to keep supply and demand in balance as corporations take advantage of lower tax rates and aggressive incentives to ramp up investment resulting from the fiscal stimulus signed into law last December.

“The Fed is finding more confidence in their baseline outlook,” said Harm Bandholz, chief US economist at UniCredit Bank AG, who is forecasting three more rate increases for 2018. “ The risk of four” rate hikes “is higher than two.”

Fed officials estimated economic growth at 2.5 percent for 2018 last December. Private analysts have boosted their outlook to 2.6 percent, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.

Stocks peaked on January 26 before tumbling at the start of February, and longer-term government bond yields began to climb on the prospects of larger amounts of Treasury issuance.

Financial risks

Participants also discussed numerous uncertainties about the out look, the minutes showed. Severa l cautioned that “ imbalances in financial markets may begin to emerge as the economy continued to operate above potential,” the minutes said. Fed officials also speculated on whether the ta x cuts would translate into higher compensation for employees.

“It was noted that the pace of wage gains might not increase appreciably if productivity growth remains low,” the minutes added.

“That said, a number of participants judged that the continued tightening in labor markets was likely to translate into faster wage increases at some point.”

The January meeting opened with staff presentations on inflation. The central bank has missed its 2-percent inflation target for most of the past five years. “Participants emphasized the critical need for the FOMC to maintain a credible longer-run inflation objective,” the minutes said. Bloomberg News

Japan crime hits postwar low as joblessness declines

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rime in Japan is dropping amid the longest economic expansion in almost three decades, making one of the safest nations even safer.

T he nu mber of recorded crimes fell to 915,042 last year, the lowest level in the postwar era, according to data released by the National Police Agency earlier this month. That came as the nation’s economy had its

longest run of sustained growth in almost 30 years, which drove the unemployment rate down to 2.8 percent. “ T he economic recover y is helping crimes go down,” said Akiyoshi Takumori, chief economist at Sumitomo Mitusi Asset Management Co. “The need to steal goes down when you have a secure job.”

There may be other factors for

the drop in crime—closer coordination between local volunteers and the police, and the wider use of surveillance cameras have helped prevention, according to the National Police Agency.

But it’s not just the reduction in crime that’s making people feel safer. Suicides are at their lowest level since 1991, and odds of getting back lost money are rising in Tokyo.

Still, it’s not rosy everywhere.

Masayuki Kiriu, a professor of social psychology at Toyo University in Tokyo, said the forms of crime might be changing. Instead of robbing a safe or bank, criminals are trying to take advantage of the increasing number of old people, who generally have more financial assets.

There’s been an increase in so-called grandparent scams, in

which a criminal calls an elderly person, pretends to be a relative (often a child or a grandchild) in distress, and asks for money.

“Those who commit crimes figure a bank robbery doesn’t make sense considering the costs and benefits,” said Kiriu, who used to work at a national research institute for police science. “They are acting rationally in their view.”

Bloomberg News

The World

BusinessMirror Florida shooting survivors, parents face-to-face with Trump A6

Friday, February 23, 2018

Editor: Lyn Ressureccion | www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘Let’s never let this happen again’ W ASHINGTON—An anguished father mourning his 18-yearold daughter vented his anger and pleaded for safer schools.

A fear-stricken student who watched classmates die last week wept openly as he called for banning assault weapons.

A mother who lost her 6-yearold son in a school shooting a little more than five years ago warned that more parents would lose their children if President Donald J. Trump did not act, adding, “Don’t let that happen on your watch.”

One by one at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, survivors of school shootings and the family members of victims shared their stories and their calls to action.

The extraordinar y public exchange w ith the president gave voice to an intensely emotional debate over how to respond to the latest g un massacre in a US school.

A week after a gunman opened fire with an AR-15-style assault rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Park land, Florida, killing 17 people and prompting a rash of student-driven lobbying for new gun restrictions, Trump met for more than an hour with grieving people in search of solutions.

News cameras captured the unusual listening session, revealing an emotional give-and-take between a president and private citizens that is typically shielded from public view.

Trump used the event to pitch his own ideas about how to prevent such debacles in the future, polling the group about whether they supported allowing teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons, an idea he said could have halted the carnage in Parkland.

“That coach was very brave, saved a lot of lives, I suspect,” Trump said, apparently referring

to Aaron Feis, a coach at Stoneman Douglas who reportedly died using his body as a shield to protect students. “But if he had a firearm, he wouldn’t have had to run. He would have shot and that would have been the end of it.”

Trump said he would press to strengthen background checks for people buying guns and for enhanced mental-health measures.

“We’re going to go very strongly into age—age of purchase,” he added, appearing to refer to a proposal to set an age threshold for buying certain weapons, including the AR-15.

But in a session that began as a subdued conversation and sometimes descended into tears and shouting, policy proposals were overshadowed by raw expressions of fear, anger and sorrow.

“We’re here because my daughter has no voice—she was murdered last week, and she was taken from us, shot nine times,” sa id A nd re w Pol l ac k , whose daughter Meadow was one of the 17 killed in Parkland. “How many schools, how many children have to get shot? It stops here, with this administration and me, because I’m not going to sleep until it’s fixed.”

Most of the students and parents invited from the school appeared to support Trump, many of them prefacing their comments with praise for his leadership. But even fans of the president vented anger and desperation, laying the challenge of responding to the tragedy at his feet. “ It shou ld h ave be en one school shooting, and we should have fixed it—and I’m pissed,” said Pollack, the only parent of a child killed in Parkland who was at the session, raising his voice as he looked at Trump.

President Donald J. Trump greets attendees before a discussion that included survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, on February 21. Tom Brenner/The New York Times

“Because my daughter, I’m not going to see again.”

Samuel Zeif, 18, told of texting his parents and brothers from the second floor of the high school, believing that he would be killed, and dissolved into tears as he begged the president: “Let’s never let this happen again—please, please.”

“I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an AR,” Zeif said, referring to the AR-15 rifle. “How is it that easy to buy this type of weapon?

How do we not stop this after Columbine, after Sandy Hook? I’m sitting with a mother who lost her son. It’s still happening.”

Trump, who has often struggled to express empathy in the face of tragedy, appeared moved

by the personal stories, even as he asked repeatedly whether anyone in the ornate room at the White House knew how such horrors could be prevented.

“I know you’ve been through a lot—most of you have been through a lot more than you ever thought possible,” Trump said, seated in a circle with students and parents. “All I can say is that we’re fighting hard for you, and we will not stop.”

“I grieve for you,” Trump added. “To me, there could be nothing worse than what you’ve gone through.”

During the session, Trump held a card that appeared to remind him of the basics of compassion when dealing with grieving survivors.

It should have been one school shooting, and we should have fixed it—and I’m pissed. Because my daughter, I’m not going to see again.”

—Pollack

Macron planning to take on all Europe E mmanuel Macron’s v ision for Europe is unbound by borders, traditions and cultures. But his push to remake the political order is on a collision course with reality.

T he 40 -year-old president, who won in France with a movement he built from scratch within a year, is planting the seeds of a post-party political system in the European Union (EU).

With the EU holding parliamentary elections next year, Macron sees an opportunity to usher in a new era of pan-European governance and disrupt the traditional political parties by tapping into his maverick roots.

Macron, often compared to the 19th-century conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte, is mak ing his move as Europe’s strongest nations consider paths of further integration and as a broad economic upswing lends them political momentum. But within the EU’s corridors of power, M ac ron’s st rateg y i s v ie wed with skepticism, with no clear plan to navigate the continent’s sometimes-hostile patchwork of political systems.

The head of his “European Task Force”—the tiny group in charge of the strateg y within Macron’s Republic on the Move

party—said in an interview that “the political restructuring has already started.”

“Political groups are divided over what they want for, and f rom , Eu ro p e,” P ie y re - A le xandre Anglade, 31, said while traveling on the train between Paris and Brussels, where he lives and does lobbying work.

“Our ambition is to set foot in several countries and create a European-level ambition for a reforming agenda.”

New political front

M acron h a s l a u n c h e d a 15 -month campaig n to build support before elections to the European Parliament in May 2019. This is a key pillar to bolster his plan to make Europe work for voters and to stem the anti-EU populists who brought about Brexit and want the bloc to fail. W hile he isn’t seeking to recreate his party in other countries, Macron is searching for allies and supporters to spark a grassroots movement.

Macron will seek to discuss his idea of pan-European politics with other EU leaders at a summit on Friday in Brussels that will include German Chancel lor A ngel a Merkel, whose domestic party belongs to Eu-

rope’s Christian Democrats, and Italian Pr ime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who caucuses with the Socialists.

But neither the Christian Democrats nor the Socialists—the two largest blocs in the EU parliament—are willing to change a system that underpins their power.

In fact, earlier this month the EU Parliament distanced itself from the Macron-backed idea of having the empty legislative seats created by Brexit set aside for pan-European lawmakers, a move that would have given his plan a significant boost.

Structural hurdles notwithstanding, Macron is the first French president to take an interest in the 28-nation Parliament and to seek to tap the potential of the EU machine for his own political purpose. And while his infantry is working the base he’s pushing leaders to join his drive for reform.

Macron is focusing his efforts on Poland, Greece, Ireland, Slovakia and the Baltics, according to Anglade, adding that Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium and Spain have been historic French allies, while it has been more difficult making inroads with Germany, the Netherlands and Hungary.

Contacts are made either by

Macron himself, Anglade or the party chief, Christophe Castaner.

Pinch of salt

In Ja nu a r y Macron conv inced Spain, Greece, Por tuga l, Ma lta a nd Cy pr us to sig n on to h is id e a s on a c lo s e r Eu ro p e a n monet a r y u nion.

These proposals track closely with a September speech he made at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he argued for closer European cooperation on defense, migration and climate change policies, with the aim of laying the foundations for more financial integration within the euro area.

Macron’s party is also planning a march across Europe with members of his political party, expected to last for more than a month. While traversing 25 member states—the Netherlands and Hungary may not participate— they’ll aim to raise awareness for his group and plant the seed of impending change.

But EU watchers and politicians take the Macron plan with a big pinch of salt and have expressed doubts as to whether he can accomplish his maverick trick in Europe like he did in France: To blow up the traditional party system and jump start an era of panEuropean politics. Bloomberg News

“What would you most want me to know about your experience?” one handwritten note on the card read, captured in photographs of the event. “I hear you,” another read.

Pollack said he did not favor adopting new gun restrictions but pleaded for Democrats and Republicans to come together to create new school-safety measures.

“It’s not about gun laws right now—that’s another fight, another battle,” he said. “We need our children safe.”

Yet the subtext of the discussion was a contentious debate over gun restrictions and an all-too-familiar cycle of outrage, activism and promises of action, and then the inevitable inertia of Washington because of the opposition by the National Rifle Association and its allies.

Trump has come under immense pressure to endorse new gun limits after the Parkland massacre, which has prompted a wave of youth activism that has reverberated from South Florida to Washington, where hundreds of students gathered outside the W hite House gates

on Wednesday before the listening session, chanting, “Enough is enough!” and “Hands up!— Don’t shoot!”

Mark Barden, who lost his 7-year-old son Daniel at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, said it was futile to believe Congress would act on new policies.

“We tried this legislative approach,” said Barden, a founder and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit advocacy group created after the massacre. “I’ve been in this building before many times, wringing our hands, pleading with legislators— ‘What can we do?’—until we finally said we have to go home and do this ourselves.”

He and Nicole Hockley, who lost her 6-year-old son Dylan at Sandy Hook, pressed Trump to consider prevention programs that train schools and educators to identify students in crisis and intervene before they attempt to harm themselves or others.

“Rather than arm them with a firearm,” Hockley said of teachers, “I would rather arm them with the knowledge of how to prevent these acts from happening in the first place.”

One of Pollack’s sons, Hunter, said he would prefer that educators carried weapons, arguing that more firearms on campus would lead to safer schools.

Yet it was the emotional appeals that appeared to have more influence on Trump.

Barden pulled out a photograph of his son showing a gaptoothed grin. Pollack spoke movingly of “my beautiful daughter I’m never going to see again.”

Hockley implored the president not to allow another massacre of children on his watch, s ay i ng : “Con side r you r ow n children. You don’t want to be me—no parent does.”

As he ended the session, Trump promised their stories would not go unheard or unaddressed.

“Thank you for pouring out your hearts,” he said. “Because the world is watching, and we’re going to come up with a solution.”

New York Times News Service

Questions swirl as Melania’s parents obtain green cards

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ASHINGTON—The parents of the first lady, Melania Trump, have obtained lawful permanent residency in the United States, a lawyer for the couple confirmed on Wednesday, but it remains unclear how or when the couple received their green cards.

The lack of clarity about when and how Viktor and Amalija Knavs obtained their legal residencies raises questions about whether the couple secured their residency through family-based immigration, which President Donald J. Trump calls chain migration and has said he wants to restrict.

Immigration experts said it would have been the most direct, and most likely, way for Melania Trump’s parents, formerly of Slovenia, to get their green cards.

Their immigration lawyer, Michael J. Wildes, declined to offer any details.

“It’s a privilege to help this family, but I have to respect their privacy, as well,” Wildes said in a brief interview.

“Immigration is in our DNA,” he added.

“We have to take great pride, no matter where somebody hails from, in that legacy.”

Stephanie Grisham, a spokesman for Melania Trump, wrote in an e-mail that she would not comment on the first lady’s parents because “they are not part of this administration, and deserve their privacy.”

The Washington Post first reported the Knavses’ immigration status.

Under family-based immigration, adult US citizens can petition for residency for their

parents, adult married children and siblings.

Trump would limit that to parents and children under 21.

In the Knavses’ case, Melania Trump, who became a citizen in 2006 after obtaining a green card, would have sponsored them.

“It would be odd if she sponsored her parents and didn’t want to talk about that because it’s a fairly routine thing,” said Hiroshi Motomura, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who specializes in immigration law. “It only becomes sensitive if her husband is taking a position against this.”

Both of Melania Trump’s parents have been seen at White House events, celebrated Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, and reportedly spend much of their time with the Trump family.

Questions about their immigration status were raised in recent months as the administration emphasized stricter immigration reform.

About 7 million of the 11 million immigrants who obtained green cards between 2007 and 2016 did so through familial relations, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security.

“In some ways, lawful permanentresident status is the best of all visas,” said Kevin R. Johnson, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Davis, who has taught immigration law. “It’s the Cadillac of immigrant visas because it allows you a path to citizenship.”

New York Times News Service

Banking&Finance

A8 Friday, February 23, 2018 • Editor: Jun B. Vallecera

BusinessMirror

LandBank net income up 4 percent in 2017

S

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

tate-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank)on Thursday reported a 4-percent rise in net income in 2017, indicating continued growth prospects this year.

LandBank reported net income of P14.05 billion for the year, up from P13.58 billion in 2016. The 4 percent expansion equates to P470-million worth of net earnings.

“With our solid performance in 2017 further reinforcing the bank’s foundation, we are confident with sustaining growth in 2018,” LandBank President and CEO Alex Buenaventura said.

LandBank, whose business is focused on providing loans to small farmers, fishers, cooperatives and local government units, said its core revenues increased in double digits as income from loans rose by 12 percent to P26.8 billion. This was P2.9 billion more than in 2016 when its income totaled only P23.9 billion.

Gross loan portfolio also surged by 30 percent to P674.3 billion.

Its income from investments also expanded significantly by, 28 percent to P21.17 billion in 2017. This was P4.68 billion higher, from only P16.49 billion in 2016.

LandBank’s investments portfolio also posted a double-digit increase of 25 percent to P580.65 billion during the year.

“Our core objective is to continuously grow the net income in order to expand support to our priority sectors, especially the farmers and fishers, cooperatives, microenterprises and SMEs [small and medium enterprises],” Buenaventura said.

Its deposit base grew by 15 percent, or P189 billion, to P1.42 trillion as government and private-sector deposits increased.

LandBank’s return on equity in 2017 averaged 14.8 percent. Its total capital expanded by 23 percent to P104.59 billion.

Primer Group partners with AUB for WeChat Pay

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sia United Bank (AUB), one of the fastest-growing universal banks in the country, recently added the retail and distribution Primer Group of Cos. to its roster of accredited merchants for the mobilepayment facility WeChat Pay. WeChat Pay is the mobile wallet inside Chinese social-messaging app WeChat, which allows Chinese tourists in the Philippines to conveniently and seamlessly make cross-border payments. Launched in the Philippines in November last year, WeChat Pay is a fast, secure and convenient way to pay for shopping, dining, hotel and airline bookings, and other tourism-related activities of the Chinese, now the second-largest inbound tourists in the country.

Founded in 1985, the Primer Group has diversified and expanded its portfolio from premium-branded consumer goods to airconditioning, textile printing and manufacturing, digital printing, ecotourism, hospitality management and “green” (environmental) consultancy. With presence in 13 countries in

Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Primer Group has over 150 premium brands and around 500 free-standing stores in the world.

On the retail front, the Primer Group carries established brands, such as Columbia, Delsey, Dr. Martens, FitFlop, Fox Racing Herschel Supply Co., Jansport, Quiksilver, Roxy, The North Face, TUMI and Victorinox, as well as the concept stores Bratpack, Flight 001, GRIND, Ladybag, Recreational Outdoor eXchange (R.O.X.), Res|Toe|Run, Sneakpeek and The Travel Club.

“In the dynamic and fiercely competitive retail sector, it’s a must to cast a wider net and allow shoppers to purchase at their utmost convenience or at a mere click of a button,” said Mags Surtida, head of AUB Credit Cards Business. “WeChat Pay is all about that: catering to a steadily thriving tourist base with an innovative, flexible way to pay.”

The Chinese tourism market in the Philippines has enjoyed a tremendous growth of more than 30 percent in recent years, trailing

Koreans in the number of visits to the country. In 2017 Chinese tourist arrivals reached almost 1 million.

The Chinese tourist segment is the largest user base of WeChat, which has 963 million active monthly users as of its most recently reported quarter. Developed in its home market of China by developer Tencent, WeChat has gone beyond popular voice- and text-messaging features to include games and mobile payment.

“We are pleased to partner with AUB as this alliance paves the way for us to deliver superior customer experience through convenient, seamless and secure mode of payment.

By taking advantage of opportunities offered by new payment gateways, we are better poised to strengthen our position as one of the leading authorities in the retail industry, given our deep basket of travel and outdoor gear brands composed of both heavyweight and up-andcoming labels,” said Jimmy Thai, president and CEO at Primer Group of Cos. said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BDO unit reports profits of ₧570 million in 2017

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DO Leasing and Finance, the listed leasing and financing subsidiary of local banking giant BDO Unibank Inc, reported steady net income for 2017 on a larger loan portfolio and fewer operating costs.

The leasing and finance unit on Thursday reported income of P570 million last year, unchanged from the P570 million net profits in 2016.

Its net income could have been larger were it not for higher funding and operating costs that tempered its bottom-line performance for the year, BDO Leasing said in a statement.

Its gross revenues was up 11 percent to P3.2 billion, from the previous year’s P2.9 billion, on account of a 9-percent rise in gross lease and loan portfolio totaling

P34.3 billion for the year.

The firm ended 2017 with an asset base of P42.8 billion, 10 percent higher than only P38.9 billion worth of assets in 2016.

For this year, the leasing firm’s strategy is to continue leveraging on its parent company, BDO Unibank Inc., and use its extensive market reach to intensify its provincial thrust to tap fast-growing and rapidly urbanizing areas outside Metro Manila.

Among the firm’s main services offering include providing customers with direct leases, real-estate leases, sale and leaseback arrangements, as well as receivables factoring.

It also provides operating leases through its wholly owned subsidiary BDO Rental Inc. Bianca Cuaresma

Valentin Araneta, 69, passes away

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onetary Board member and former Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) President Valentin Araneta passed away on Wednesday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) confirmed.

Araneta, 69, was appointed Monetary Board member in July 2014.

Prior to his appointment, Araneta served as PDIC president from 2011 to 2014.

He was a career banker, having served as independent director at Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and as president and

COO of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. from 2000 to 2003 Araneta was also senior executive vice president and COO of the Philippine National Bank (PNB) until 1998.

The BSP will hold a Requiem Mass and necrological service on Friday, February 23, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, at the BSP Assembly Hall in Malate, Manila.

Araneta’s inurnment will be on Sunday, February 25, at the Saint Therese Columbarium, Newport Boulevard, Pasay City. Bianca Cuaresma

Case clippings

By Justice S J Ranada Jr.

CERTIORARI–petition treated as an appeal The general rule that an appeal and a certiorari are not interchangeable admits of exceptions. In the case at bar, the interest of substantial justice warrants the relaxation of the rules, and the petition for certiorari should be treated as an appeal, considering that the certiorari was filed within the 15-day period for appeal. In previous cases where certiorari was not deemed an appeal, the remedy of certiorari was filed beyond the 15-day period.

Visitacion v. People 10 Jan. 2018

GR 194214 Martires, J

PDIC issues claims guidelines Faith, farm, sports and storm tourism, anyone? for creditors of closed banks T

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he Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) recently issued guidelines for the creditors of closed banks on the filing of claims against the assets of a closed bank. Creditors refer to any individual or entity with a valid claim against the assets of a closed bank and include depositors with uninsured deposits that exceed the maximum deposit insurance coverage of P500,000.

Republic Act 3591, as amended, or the PDIC Charter, provides that claims against the assets of a closed bank must be filed with PDIC within 60 days from the date of publication of the notice of closure of subject bank. Claims filed beyond the prescribed 60-day period are disallowed.

Creditors whose credits are secured by a duly registered real-estate mortgage or chattel mortgage or duly constituted pledge are no longer required to file their claims against the assets of the closed bank. In addition, depositors who have filed their claims for deposit insurance within 60 days from the date of publication of the bank’s notice of closure are no longer required to file a claim for the uninsured portion of their deposit against the assets of the bank.

When filing claims, creditors must accomplish the prescribed claim form and attach photocopies of supporting documents to substantiate the liability of the closed bank. These documents include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) Statement of Account; 2) Billing Statement; 3) Promissory Note, Rediscounting Agreement, Loan Agreement; and 4) Pertinent contracts or agreements, such as lease contracts, subscription contracts, consultancy agreements and engagement agreements. For creditors who will file a claim for the uninsured portion of their deposits, supporting documents include passbook, certificate of time deposit or proof of deposits. When applicable, PDIC may also require other documents to validate and establish the liability of the closed bank. The original documents

shall also be presented to PDIC for comparison. For claims filed through mail or e-mail, presentation of original supporting documents to PDIC shall be required prior to release of payment/s.

Once PDIC receives the Claim Form and supporting documents, it shall send an acknowledgment letter to the creditor.

A notice of documentary deficiency will be sent to the creditor in case PDIC finds the supporting documents to be incomplete or insufficient to determine the liability of the closed bank. Upon receipt of said notice, the claimant shall have 15 working days to submit the supporting documents or documentary deficiencies. On meritorious grounds, the period to submit the documentary deficiencies may be extended for a maximum period of another 15 working days upon written request of the claimant.

If the claim is verified by PDIC to be valid, a Claim Certificate shall be issued in favor of the creditor. If the claim is disallowed by PDIC, the creditor shall be notified in writing of the reason for the disallowance of his/her claim. Creditors whose claims are disallowed may file their claims with the liquidation court within 60 days from receipt of PDIC’s final notice of denial of claim.

Claims may be filed either personally at the closed bank’s premises during PDIC’s takeover operations, or directly at the PDIC Public Assistance Center, third Floor, SSS Building, 6782 Ayala Avenue corner V.A. Rufino Street, Makati City, Monday to Friday, from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Claims may also be filed through mail addressed to the PDIC Public Assistance Department, sixth Floor, SSS Building, 6782 Ayala Avenue corner V.A. Rufino Street, Makati City. Last, claims may likewise be filed via e-mail sent to pad@ pdic.gov.ph. A Claim Form against the assets of the closed bank may be downloaded from the www.pdic.gov.ph. PDIC also advised creditors to transact only with authorized PDIC personnel.

ourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Tulfo-Teo reads the future correctly that the fate of tourism anywhere lies in addressing sector-specific wants.

Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 7 Director Sha Tamano cites faith, farm and sports tourism as generating extreme interest, for instance. Of the three, faith-based tourism exhibits the most promise considering the 90 million Catholics in the country and 6 million more from among our neighbors like the Koreans where 5 million are Catholics, 800,000 in Malaysia, 500,000 in Japan and 185,000 in Singapore.

We are reminded of the statistics provided by the United Nations World Tourism Organization that 330 million people worldwide go on a “religious tour” every year that generates $18 billion worth of business worldwide. This explains the tremendous popularity of places like Mecca, Rome and Jerusalem.

The DOT says plans to secure a budget to rehabilitate and develop religious and heritage sites in the country in line with the forthcoming 500th anniversary of Catholicism by 2021, coinciding with the day Ferdinand Magellan first landed in Mactan, Cebu, bearing both cross and sword in 1521. Secretary Teo said that at the recent Sinulog Festival in Cebu, 2 million visitors were recorded. Not only were tourists attracted by the historical and spiritual aspect of the tours but were there also to “experience religious tradition dating back to the pre-Spanish era.” The DOT is developing tour packages from the pilgrims’ eyes point of view.

After the Catholic routes, the focus will shift to Muslim, non-Catholic Christian and even the indigenous people markets. Right now, the most visited pilgrims’ sites are the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino in Cebu, the Padre Pio Shrine in Santo Tomas Batangas, the Divine Mercy Shrine in Cagayan de Oro City, the Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan and Our Lady of Piat in Cagayan.

Bohol h a s enough her it age a nd

Finex free enterprise Zoilo ‘Bingo’ Dejaresco III nonheritage churches in almost every town. The centuries-old churches destroyed by the recent earthquake have become attractions themselves. The fabulous islet of Panglao has been developed into a devotional enclave for the healer, Padre Pio, by businessman Ramon Rodriguez and is fast-becoming a major come-on for tourists. What about our colorful processions and self-flagellation rites during Lent?

Sen. Cynthia A. Villar is championing the passage of the “Farm Tourism Development Act” to institutionalize “farm tourism” in the country given the agricultural nature of most of our rural economies. Ta x incentives are being crafted by developers to encourage growth.

In fact, there already are 100 accredited tourism farms mostly found in Luzon.

Organic plants, medicine and perfumery development are also part of the so-called nature tourism that now accounts for 20 percent of the total tour business. There are now coffee tours in Cavite and the so-called “coffee crawls” in metropolitan cities like Manila. Davao has its fruits and cacao farm tours.

Farm Tourism is not just about farm produce but also farm experience. A tourist actually harvesting corn and witnessing coconut husking, fishing on rivers for fish, shrimp, crablets, shells and cooking them in a nipa hut are examples of a farming experience.

Culinary treats and delights, as well as fiestas are two of the country’s trademarks—after all, we are a melting pot of various cultures.

Finally, sports tourism. Because of the nation’s excellent diving spots and shores for snorkeling, blue waters for jet skiing and the like, we are not behind in this category. We also now have adventure tours inside mysterious caves and mountain trekking. Tour-bike contests along picturesque highways fronting the oceans and dragon-boat competitions are slowly evolving into major attractions. Mactan, Cebu, hosted the 2017 Cobra Triathlon international event that drew close to 3,000 participants from 52 countries.

But the newest craze in town for select countries is the so-called bad weather tourism. There is now a market for people looking to experience tempestuous weather. Examples are watching the vast Pacific Ocean in British Columbia and how, in bad weather, 30-foot waves, driving rain and rolling thunder are witnessed. These are activities that lifted from 30 percent the occupancy rates of hotels there in the rainy season to over 50 percent today. Big storm tourism, this is. Add to that is West Australia’s most active lightning spots and Namibia’s spectacular larger-than-life sandstorms.

The list goes on.

The low cost of oil has fueled tourism and travel in the world in a major way.

Thus, there is the challenge for countries to actively segmentize their tour markets in order to stay competitive.

(Announcement: The St. Theresa’s College Manila’s grand homecoming will be held on February 24 [Saturday] at the Harbor Garden Tent of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza with the theme “Better Than Ever—Theresians Celebrate Wellness.” The featured artist is Basil Valdez. You may contact Carmen Serina, STC Alumnae Foundation president).

Bingo Dejaresco, former banker, is a financial consultant, media practitioner and book author. He is a lifetime member and chairman of the Broadcast Media of Finex.

His views here, however, are personal and do not necessarily ref lect those of Finex.

E-mail: dejarescobingo@yahoo.com

The Regions BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Friday, February 23, 2018

A9

DENR asked to probe Surigao Sur flooding that killed 5

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

HE Philippine-Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI) on Thursday threw its support behind the call of Bishop Nereo Odchimar of the Diocese of Tandag for a thorough investigation into the recent flooding in areas of Cantilan and Carrascal in Surigao del Sur.

The massive flooding occurred after Typhoon Basyang on February 13, when several houses were swept away and rice farms destroyed. Five people, including children, were reported killed.

The incident prompted the Diocese of Tandag to release a pastoral letter highlighting the “untold suffering” of those affected by the flood.

PMPI said Cantilan and Carrascal are home to mining companies that have been the subject of many complaints by indigenous communities and civil-society advocates due to the destruction of the environment and indigenous culture in these areas.

Three of these mining companies were suspended by then-Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez, but were back in operations right after the rejection of Lopez by the Commission on Appointments (CA), the group said.

According to the pastoral letter, many residents were baffled at how the flood rose so fast and why in several areas logs and

trees were swept downstream, destroying houses and structures on their path.

“Could the reason be due to massive mining operations that denuded the naturally forested mountains and watersheds of Cantilan and Carrascal?”

Odchimar asked.

A social and development network of civil-society organizations, peoples’ organizations, non-governmental organizations and faith-based organizations, PMPI joins the call of its partner-communities and the bishop of the Diocese of Tandag for an investigation into the illegal-logging activities in the area and alleged claims that siltation ponds in some mining sites collapsed and contributed to the flooding in the Carcanmadcarlan area, especially Carrascal and Cantilan.

“The government can’t be complacent, deaf or blind in the midst of disasters happening in the country. Mining activities make communities more vulnerable to disasters. It is high time and urgent that the impact of mining activities in

Aqua Planet opens in Clark

By Ashley Manabat Correspondent

C

LARK FREEPORT—The much-awaited commercial opening of the biggest water theme park in the Philippines is finally set on Saturday, February 24. This developed after Aqua Planet passed the third-party certification last week, which means it is now on apar with international standards in terms of safety.

BBI President Dr. Irineo Alvaro Jr. said everything is automated inside the water park, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

BBI is the developer of the 10-hectare water theme park located in the northwest section of this free port and the grand Midori Hotel and Casino nearby.

Alvaro said waterproof wrist bands that have embedded RFID microchips are given to every guest before entering the water park. This can then be loaded at designated booths and used for practically everything inside.

Alvaro said two wave pools—one for children and one for adults—9 feet deep, are among the attractions of the P2.5billion water theme park.

Aqua Planet had a three-day ceremonial lighting and soft opening event from

November 23 to 25 last year.

First to relish the Aqua Planet’s 25 state-of-the-art water attractions were Ayta children, as well as 100 children from three orphanages in Pampanga.

Aqua Planet General Manager Rafael Soarez said some of the water facilities include the Spiral Slides, Octopus Racers, Aqua-Loop, Tornado, Wave River and Flow Rider.

The Aqua Planet water theme park is about 10 minutes away from the Clark International Airport here.

Aqua Planet tickets are available at the gates or at Midori Hotel and SM malls at P900 for adults and P700 for kids.

Aqua Planet aims to cater to both local and international tourists “with its endless fun and adventure.”

Meanwhile, Soarez said the world’s largest swimming lessons will happen in every water park around the world.

He said Aqua Planet is now aiming to hold the biggest swimming lessons for thousands of kids to break the Guinness Book of World Records.

But Soarez said Aqua Planet’s version will have a “twist” because “special kids” will be invited to join.

“This would be a worldwide affair,” he said.

H2O water business to be transferred to another Jolly Ting water company

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HILIPPINE H2O Ventures Corp., a company owned by businessman Jolly Ting, said it is selling its water business to Tabuk Water Corp. for P442 million, as part of the company’s cleanup measure with the sale of the entire business to the company led by Davao businessman Dennis Uy. Jolliville Holdings Corp. (JOH), the company owned by Ting, is the parent company of both H2O and Tabuk.

H2O’s water business refers to all of its shares and interests in Calapan Waterworks Corp. consisting of 137.04 million common shares representing 99.75 percent of the company.

The shares and interests of H2O in Calapan Waterworks represent all of H2O’s existing business, noncash assets and liabilities, the company said i n it s d isc losu re to t he Ph i l ippi ne Stock Exchange.

Calapan Waterworks is the owner and operator of the local waterworks system of Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, and

is engaged in the business of developing and utilizing water resources to harness, produce and supply water for domestic, municipal, agricultural, industrial, commercial and recreational purposes.

The sale of water is part of the memorandum of agreement of the firms controlled by Ting and Uy signed late last year.

Uy ’s Uden n a De ve lopment Cor p.

(Udevco) is buying Ting’s 62.006-percent stake in H2O, but part of the deal was to spin off all of its existing business and assets, allowing for a backdoor entry for Udenna or one of its companies.

“Please be advised further that JOH board approved an additional subscription in Tabuk Water Corp. of 440 million common shares at P1 per share, on the condition that the [agreement] between JOH and Udevco shall be consummated.

The additional subscription will be paid in full pending approval of the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] of the increase in capital application of Tabuk,” it said. VG Cabuag

communities becames a primordial concern of the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] and the President of the Philippines. The mining audit and the subsequent cancellations, suspension orders, and show cause orders by then-Secretary Lopez was a good start.

Stiffer measures and accountabilit y are needed now, including upholding

the suspension orders,” Yoly Esguerra, national coordinator of PMPI, said in a statement.

“We can’t help but think that if the cancellation and suspension orders were enforced to the letter, the impact of Typhoon Basyang wouldn’t be this massive,” she added.

PMPI also called for the creation of a multistakeholder, multidisciplinary inves-

tigation team to investigate not just on the logging, but also on the mining activities in the affected areas.

“We call on the DENR to conduct a thorough investigation and exact accountability from the culprits whose activities caused the denudation of forests and watersheds of these municipalities,” the group said.

A10 Friday, February 23, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Reaching a tipping point

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very child has probably played a game stacking pebbles on the ground or expensive Lego building blocks so high that the tower eventually falls over. The stack reaches the “tipping point”, which, in physics, is simplistically the point at which an object goes from “stable equilibrium” to a state that is completely the opposite. The standing stack falls over.

In sociology, a tipping point is when a group of people changes and adopts a previously rare behavior or attitude. The implications for a society are remarkable.

Studies have shown that if 10 percent of the population holds an absolutely unshakeable belief in something, the majority adopts that same belief. In 2009 61 percent of Americans were opposed to same-gender marriage including 25 percent against any sort of legal recognition. Thirty-three percent approved.

By 2011, though, the group wanting “no recognition” fell to the 10-percent threshold, and from that time, approval steadily climbed to the current 64 percent in favor of same-sex marriage.

The point is that a small but adamant group thinking all the same way has great influence on what the rest of the people think.

A post on social media caught our eye the other day, which could reflect the view of a group that unfortunately might be nearing the 10-percent mark. “Why am I always angry? I think the better question is: Why aren’t you?”

There is a biological reason to track “bad news” as it alerts us to danger. We could also want to be angry at the fact that we have to put up with so many negative situations and conditions around us from every outside source. We see wrongs that we want to be made right.

However, listening to every “everything sucks” headline and comment is also dangerous.

Consider that if every day you practice being mad and pessimistic, you are going to get really good at it. That is exactly what the darkest forces of society want us to feel. If things are hopeless on an individual level, then obviously the only alternative is “Big Brother” government taking control, which may be from where the anger originated in the first place.

Here are some facts to keep in mind every time the media, politicians and the people around you start dragging you into the pit of despair.

Globally, an average of 130,000 real people have been lifted out of poverty every single day since 1990. The job is not finished and we may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. But humanity is moving forward. In 1820 94 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty. Less than 10 percent live in extreme poverty today.

Wealth is not a zero-sum game of winners and losers. Grow some vegetables in your garden and see how wealth is actually created.

Freedom creates wealth and must be guarded. But tyranny feeds on anger as easily as it feeds on complacency.

Sometimes, people get caught inside a bubble and only consider the negatives that we are facing. This thought deserves remembering.

“Fear of the sheepdog is what makes the sheep run to the slaughterhouse. The worst thing you can do is believe all the fear mongering coming from the media and politicians.”

Fear is how they control you. When the tipping point of a negative attitude by the 10 percent is ever reached, then we really will be in trouble.

Since 2005

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

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No matter how divided we remain James Jimenez

spox

T

hirty-two years ago today, Filipinos responded to the call for freedom, unwittingly coopting a planned coup d’état, and ending up dislodging a dictatorship.

That the Edsa revolution started as a planned coup attempt by disgruntled members of the dictatorship’s ruling mechanism is a matter of historical record—admitted by the prime movers themselves. Contemporaneously, former President Corazon C. Aquino even referred to them as a “third force,” entering a power equation that had previously included only her and the dictator.

It was, again according to the historical record, a Prince of the Church who had convinced her that this third force could be enfolded into her movement, and thus sweep her into power.

According to Jaime Cardinal Sin, Aquino had spoken to him on the morning of the 23rd of February, say-

ing, “We have a big problem. There is a third force.” Sin, of course, had already spoken with then-Minister for National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile who had pleaded for help; the night before, Sin had already, in fact broadcast a call to the people to “fill the spaces around [Camps] Crame and Aguinaldo.” Now, with Aquino’s ear, the Cardinal spoke without hesitation.

“I told her,” Sin recounted, “‘No. I am sure they are staging this because they want you to be the President.

Go there and thank them. Without this, you could be demonstrating every day and you will still not be President. But now, you will be. You can see the hand of God. This is the answer to our prayers.’”

Mere hours later, Aquino called on the Filipino people to rally behind the “reformists,” and told “decent elements in the military” to join the defectors and side with the Filipino people. In the same message, she asked the dictator to step down for the sake of a peaceful transition in government.

Consummate pragmatists, this third force—which had already previously considered an alliance with Aquino but under a decidedly different dynamic—knew that it would be in their best interests to welcome the new arrangement, and so went with the flow. If they hadn’t, there was a very real possibility that the people flocking to their cause—in her book, Impossible Dream, journalist Sandra Burton wrote: “[t]he predominance of yellow in the crowd was clear evidence that the people perceived the reformist forces as supporting Cory—would disappear, taking with them the protection they afforded.”

Individually, Aquino, Enrile, Ramos and even Sin were merely acting, as the unfolding situation demanded, all with an eye out for their own interests—some of them unquestionably noble, others perhaps not so selfless. Regardless of their motivations, however, Edsa

The trolling of the American mind

T

By Ross Douthat | New York Times News Service

here are two Russian scandals connected to the 2016 campaign. One deserves the attention that it’s getting. The other is closer to—what’s the term I’m looking for?—fake news.

The real scandal involves the Russian hacking operation against the Democratic National Committee (DNC). This was a genuine crime—a meaningful theft, which led to a series of leaks that were touted by the Republican nominee for president often enough that we can assume that Donald J. Trump, at least, thought they contributed something to his victory.

The fact that members of his family and inner circle were willing and eager to meet with Russians promising hacked e-mails, the pattern of lies and obfuscation from the president and his team thereafter, and the general miasma of Russian corruption hanging around Trump campaign staff—all of this more than justifies special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, and depending on what his team ultimately reports it might even justify impeachment.

But alongside and around this real scandal you have the other Russian efforts to influence the election and its aftermath, the outlines of which have been apparent for some time, but which have earned a new wave of agitated attention, thanks to Mueller’s battery of indictments

against a Russian troll farm and the various goblins, kobolds and boggarts it employed. Their efforts added up to a lot of social-media activity and a few events in meatspace, in which the Russians had the clever idea to organize demonstrators on both sides of our great American divide. Memes were distributed, millions of dollars spent, fake accounts employed—all to encourage not just the specific political goal of elevating Trump (and Bernie Sanders) and discrediting both party establishments, but the broader ambition of widening our internal fissures, inflaming our debates and making our imperium more ungovernable at home and, thus, weaker on the global stage.

Such conduct is certainly worthy of indictment, legal and rhetorical.

What it is not worth is paranoia and hysteria, analogies to Pearl Harbor and the September 11 attacks, and an “America under attack”/”hacking our democracy” panic that give the Russian trolls far too much credit for cleverness and influence and practical success.

Because on the evidence we have, nothing they did particularly mattered. The DNC hack was genuinely

important because it involved a real theft and introduced a variable into the campaign that would not otherwise have been present. But the rest of the Russian effort did not introduce anything to the American system that isn’t already present; it just reproduced, often in lousy or ludicrous counterfeits, the arguments and images and rhetorical tropes that we already hurl at one another every day.

And the scale of the effort—set against the scale of campaign spending and online activity and political frenzy from domestic partisans— meant that any real influence was necessarily negligible, swamped by the all-too-American sources of our national derangement.

A scan through The New York Times’s accounting of some of the Russian operations should serve to illustrate the point. The pro-Trump ads the trolls sponsored during the campaign were just clumsy variations on ubiquitous right-wing themes (“Hillary is a Satan, and her crimes and lies had proved just how evil she is”). The protests and counterprotests they ginned up after the election were marginal imitations of the all-American crowds that showed up for Trump rallies and later for the Women’s Marches.

And the operatives’ surprise at American credulity—“I created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people”—was itself

would not have turned out as it did without the indispensable participation of the fourth force—the Filipino people.

But that was how the predominant narrative of Edsa was established—and, to my mind, why Edsa has never truly become the unifying moment it could have been. Instead of understanding Edsa as a movement of the people, we’ve allowed it to be portrayed almost exclusively as the closing act of a pitched political battle against a dictatorship; a victory of one side against another, when it should be commemorated as a triumph of all the people who, regardless of their own allegiances, demonstrated what sovereignty truly meant.

If you’re going to commemorate Edsa, that is what you should remember about those four days in February. Edsa belongs to all of us, no matter how divided we remain.

Despite the political accretions since then, what shouldn’t be forgotten is that we may have taken different routes to get to Edsa and we may have marched under various leaders, but in the end, we stayed because we—as a people—wanted to take back what we took a long time to realize we had lost.

a testament to the essentially imitative quality of their work: People believed the trolls were real Americans because so many totally real, born-in-the-USA counterparts were saying exactly the same things.

And the people who believed them, by and large, were probably not the nearly 78,000 Midwestern swing voters who officially determined the election’s Electoral College outcome, since on the evidence we have most fake news is political pornography for hyperpartisans— toxic in its own way and deserving of concern, but something driven more by panting, already-polarized demand than by nefarious, medianvoter-manipulating suppliers.

In this landscape, the people obsessing about how Russian influence is supposedly driving polarization and mistrust risk becoming like J. Edgar Hoover-era G-men convinced that communist subversives were the root cause of civil-rights era protest and unrest. There were Soviet agents bent on encouraging racial conflict, just as there are Russian trolls today. But then as now obsessing over Russian influence can become a way to deny or minimize American realities that are far more important than some provocateur’s Hillary-for-prison meme.

And that is the danger for a liberalism (or an anti-Trump centrism or conservatism) that’s forever wringing its hands over how surely, surely See “Douthat,” A11

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Opinion

Rice, a politicized crop

If hope springs eternal, where does it come from?

BusinessMirror

Friday, February 23, 2018 A11

Tito Genova Valiente

annotations

Edgardo J. Angara Continued from A1

I

N a reciprocal gesture in 2000, Prof. Yuan Long Ping, inventor, transferred the hybrid-rice technology to the Philippines. He said he’s just paying back that utang na loob (debt of gratitude) China owed the Philippines.

One must carefully monitor the rice situation and avoid sending mixed messages to the public that, on one hand, there is enough domestic production and supply and, on the other hand, repeated pronouncement of impending rice importation.

This mixed messaging is good news either way to the Binondo rice traders and to the rice-exporting countries, such as Vietnam and India. The Binondo rice traders are benefited by advance news of a shortfall in domestic production. The riceexporting countries are immensely delighted by news of the Philippine importation because Philippine purchase in the international rice market almost always drives up the price of rice.

Rice has played an interesting role in Philippine politics. Several incumbent presidents were beaten by the opposition on the issue of rice shortage.

The National Food Authority Council (NFAC) through Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr., announced last Monday that the NFAC has greenlighted the NFA’s purchase of 250,000 metric tons (MT) of imported rice via “government-to-private” (G2P) scheme.

Earlier on, the National Economic a nd De ve lopment Aut hor it y (Neda), Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas thumbed down the proposal of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol to increase the buying price of palay to P18 to P20 from the current P17 per kilogram (kg). The reason the economic managers rejected the increase of the buying price of palay was its resulting higher inflation.

Then as now the message is indeed important.

What can the President and Congress do—and must.

Under a reformist Duterte presidency, the chances of getting the NFA’s role redefined and the support to agriculture redirected, are much greater.

First, the NFA should be limited to being a regulatory agency, not at all engaged in importation of rice or fixing of buying price of palay.

Limiting the NFA to a regulatory body means the NFA’s sole authority is to issue license and permits to rice outlets selling imported rice to the local market, whether through

Douthat. . .

continued from A10

Russian interference might have been enough to shift those crucial 78,000 votes and make Trump the president. Because even if you believe that the interaction between the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton, the hacking and the WikiLeaks drip-drip did swing those votes— I’m quite sure the memes and fake accounts did not—the proper question should still be: How was it that close to begin with?

A new Cold War is not an answer to that question. (Especially since, for all the talk of Trump-the-traitor, he has moved our military posture somewhat closer to the policies the Russia hawks demand.) Neither is a theory that obsesses over tens of thousands of voters when the Americans who switched from Obama to Trump, in the Midwest and elsewhere, probably number in the millions.

The bottom line is that liberal mandarins in the West—not just in the United States—face a hard

“government-to-government” or government-to-private sector” arrangement. It means that there will be no cap on the buying price of paddy palay to prevent private traders from buying ahead of NFA at a higher price.

That’s what is actually happening today and that is the reason why NFA perennially runs out of buffer stock.

Second, under the Agricultural Tariffication Act (RA 8178), the quantitative restriction on imports of rice should be converted into regular tariffs. The tariff proceeds should go to assist farmers engaged in agriculture, aquaculture and dairy production. That way, government will have a source to pay for the farming assistance, without having to pass new taxes. And will probably ensure sufficient supply of rice in the country, making rice more affordable.

Selling price of rice pegged by government at P38 to P40 per kg represents 9.30 percent to 9.78 percent of the ordinary Filipinos daily wage of P408.80. A family of six probably consumes around 2 kg of rice a day, or spends P76 a day for rice alone.

Third, the tariff proceeds augmented by and from annual appropriation to the DA, should suffice to fund research and development in high-yield and climate-resistant varieties of rice. The China hybridrice technology produces between 9 tons and 12 tons a hectare. The Philippine certified seed variety produces between three and three-and-half tons per hectare. Our traditional palay seed produces from 1.5 tons to 1.8 tons per hectare.

Consequently, investing in food security, particularly rice, is an investment for future growth.

AFTER NOTE: In March 1985, Edgardo Angara helped establish what would become the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRICE). In May 2008, during the 16th Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, Angara called for the elimination of export subsidies and reduction of domestic subsidies of rich countries, citing that in 2005, OECD countries’ combined agriculture subsidies amounted to $385 billion—which was twice the Philippines’s GNP in 2007.

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

choice when it comes to the populism that gave us Trump, Brexit and right-wing parties and governments in Central and Eastern Europe.

Should this reemergent nationalism be conciliated and co-opted, its economic grievances answered and some compromises made to address its cultural and moral claims? Or is it sufficiently noxious and racist and destructive that it can be only crushed, through gradual demographic weight or ruthless polarized mobilization? The Russia fixation, at its worst, is a way to make the second choice without admitting that you’re making it—to pretend that in trying to crush your fellow countrymen you’re really fighting traitors and subversives and foreign adversaries, to further otherize the domestic out-group by associating them with far-off Muscovy.

Trump’s election was, indeed, a sudden shock in a long-running conflict. But it does us no good to pretend the real blow came from outside our borders, when it was clearly a uniquely hot moment in our own cold civil war.

The Love Column has prompted some friends to ask for other topics. A poet-friend who claims he has not fallen in love has asked that I write about hope.

I

F one is to draw a line to show where the act of hoping happens, one should do a straight line. One hopes for something to come, for that which is coming. Out there is hope, out there in that horizon.

When one thinks, one touches the brow. And when one feels, there is the heart to bother with the strongest touch of the heart. The corporeal supports the most ephemeral of thoughts, the most abstract of longings. Hope is not blessed with a bodily part to link it.

There are no senses to support our act of hoping. We cannot hear hope; we cannot touch it even. There is no sound of hope as in the beating of heart for that which touches our desire.

Languages fill the domain for hope. We often hear people say how one’s hopes have been dashed. Hope is unseen and yet, it can be shattered. When that happens, does hope disappear?

Hope belongs to each of us and each of us shall have the manner to dispense it or ruin it. But one hope dashed does not render hope lost.

We can be hopeless but that hopelessness is to an instance, a moment.

From that straight line can come

again that which we hope for.

Hoping is not wishing. When one wishes, one needs an object, an element to bear the wish or wishes. The wish can be on a star. We can wish by throwing coins or petals into a well. We can throw our despair and sadness into a pit and wish them to disappear.

When our loved ones die, we hope to see them again. We may question what our faith attempts to teach us about life after life, but hope assures us the reunion somewhere, on lands that are not even marked by boundaries. Border and markers are made by humans. Hope out there is not human. It becomes limited only when it is received by humans. When something that we hope for thus, we do not even know or feel it has already arrived from that horizon upon which we locate hoping.

It is easier to grieve because we can look down on the grave or look at the ground. It is even much

easier to be happy because we can look up and invent the heavens as if the clouds, the vanishing but real skies, can witness us below.

In Tagalog, hope is pag-asa. The same name has been given to the organization that predicts for us path of winds, storms and typhoons. As citizens of this island-republic, we know we are hopeless when it comes to weather forecasting. The name therefore is a combination of an act of faith and hope that, somehow, we can survive that we do not hope for.

The Tagalogs can be heard also saying—may bagong pag-asa, as if hope can be replenished.

In the Island of Ticao, hope is paglaum. For some reason, I only learned the poetry of the word through its negative use. Ayaw pagpalaum is commonly uttered when one makes a vow or promise. The worst a Tigaonon (the name given to those living in the island) can is to be pinalaum, one who has been

promised something and thus hoped for it. The person who had hoped is not to be pitied. He is not even an object of pathos. He is the noble party because he has placed his belief in the promise. To hope is to trust in this island or in the bigger peninsula and archipelago. The criminal is the one who has planted the hope in the other.

If hope springs eternal, where does it come from? It comes from the possibilities that could go on forever.

We love and then hate. The love vanishes but we hope it comes back, in whatever form and persuasion. We hate and pray that we change that to desiring. We die and, believe me, we hope, in the dark recesses of our disbelief, that we live again.

Hope, Kristian, is a sleight of hand, a trick that wonderfully produces lights and truths, and sometimes, the loveliest of lies.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com.

All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

I

N observance of Lenten season, we challenge the faithful to be conscious of his environment, the ethical, spiritual and physical benefits of observing No Meat Friday. It is one good way of being responsible stewards of the Lord, by taking good care of what He has blessed us with our body, the environment and all His creations.

The No Meat Friday campaign is a powerful habit to test our discipline this Lenten season, and a spiritual habit to practice good stewardship. “It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles” (Romans 14:21).

Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the

prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Scientifically, we are aware that many of our health problems like

chronic diseases are a result of excessive meat consumption. In addition, abstaining from meat is good for the environment as it can help lower the 6 billion tons of greenhouse gases from animals.

Instead of meat, we are encouraging all the Catholic faithful to eat the healthiest food, which is really plantbased, more of vegetables and fruits.

It helps strengthen our self-control from the temptations of the world and pay attention to our faith for a moment, which is good for spiritual renewal.

Also, abstaining from eating meat should become a prayer prompt. It’s also about praying more and drawing close to God. The little sacrifice of giving up meat should also remind us about the third aspect of Lenten sacrifice—alms giving.

When we give up flesh meat, we should be reminded to give up permanently all the sins of the flesh.

Giving up meat therefore should help us set our minds on things

The small-rocket revolution

By Adam Minter Bloomberg View

W

hen SpaceX’s 230-foot Falcon Heavy blasted off on February 6, it became a global sensation. But a much quieter launch three days earlier may turn out to be more important. That’s when a 31-foot rocket known as the SS-520-5 took off from Japan’s Uchinoura Space Center. It’s the smallest rocket ever to place an object into Earth orbit—and it could be a harbinger of big changes to come.

For decades, getting anything into space has been risky, expensive and time-consuming. Even SpaceX commonly faces delays and accidents, and its reusable rockets can take months to press back into service. In the past few years, though, dozens of other companies have been trying to develop diminutive rockets that could reduce the cost and risk of satellite launches. If they succeed, they just might transform the space business.

Smallsats, defined as satellites

weighing less than 1,100 pounds, have been around since the 1970s.

They grew more practical in the 1990s, as engineers started incorporating cheap, off-the-shelf electronics, such as phone sensors, into their design. Small satellites were less expensive to launch and often more up-to-date than their bigger counterparts, which could take more than a decade to develop. Perhaps most important, smallsats could be inexpensively replaced when they failed.

Entrepreneurs quickly saw the opportunities. Shoebox-sized satellites with solar panels and cameras can now be used for reconnaissance work, weather and climate observations, disaster monitoring, and much else. As costs have fallen— customizable smallsats go for as little as $11,000 these days—business opportunities have expanded.

Planet Labs Inc. now operates more than 200 Earth-observing smallsats for governments, agricultural companies, investment firms and others. With some 6,200 smallsats

expected to launch over the next two decades, the possibilities seem almost limitless. At the moment, most smallsat operators buy space on rockets carrying bigger and more expensive gear. Last year Planet Labs packed 88 smallsats onto an Indian government rocket carrying a big reconnaissance satellite. But this approach is far from ideal: It means being at the mercy of space agencies or private operators that may have different priorities (and schedules).

Plus, smallsat operators may be looking to place a probe into orbit at an altitude that a given rocket can’t reach.

Smaller, cheaper rockets would be one obvious solution to this problem. But small payloads also make it harder to turn a profit. SpaceX’s Falcon 1 program promised smallsat launches for $6 million starting in 2006. Just three years later, the company concluded that it “could not make Falcon 1 work as a business.”

Yet, demand for smallsats has soared since then—and so has investment in small rocketry. Rocket

above and not on this world.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all remember that if “you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well” (Acts 15:29). The specific Catholic rules on fasting are not an end in themselves, but a prompt to get us to examine the real reasons and ask the right questions and discover the real point of it all.

May God continue to bless and prosper your sacrifices for Him this Lenten season.

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit and follow us on Facebook: CaritasManilaInc. For your donations, please call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857. Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph and follow its twitter and instragram accounts @veritasph and YouTube at veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

Lab Inc.’s Electron rocket, which will be able to carry up to 500 pounds for as little as $4.9 million, had its first successful launch in January.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit and Tucson-based Vector Space Systems are planning launches of competing products later this year. Meanwhile, the US Air Force is requesting $193 million over the next five years to develop launch vehicles for smaller payloads. At least 35 such vehicles are in the works worldwide.

Many of these rockets won’t get off the ground. But those that do should reduce the cost and time needed to take a satellite from idea to orbit, and allow for smaller ones to be quickly upgraded or swapped out. For the military, that could mean the rapid replacement of a navigation satellite that’s been destroyed in combat; for a commercial operator, it could be an opportunity to guarantee uninterrupted service. But perhaps most important, small rockets will allow scientists and inventors to rethink what’s possible in space.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Friday, February 23, 2018

S&P sees PHL growth slowing anew this year 6.5% I

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

nternational credit watcher S&P Global Ratings said the Philippine economy will likely expand below the government’s ambitious growth target anew for the year, as trade numbers contribute less to the real economy.

In its Asia Pacific Economic Snapshots—a review of economic drivers across the region—S&P said the local economy could post a 6.5-percent growth for 2018, slightly slower compared to the 6.7-percent GDP expansion in 2017. In 2016 the economy grew by 6.8 percent.

A 6.5-percent growth for the year is also way slower than the government’s target range of 7 percent to 8 percent for 2018. “We expect a return of traditional GDP

growth drivers—consumption and investment—as the leaders of a decent 6.5-percent growth,” S&P said.

“As the fourth-quarter figures show, the resurgence of private household spending came just in time, as electronics exports were no longer able to prevent the usual negative contribution of net exports to growth,” it added.

S&P sees growth gradually rising in the next two years to 6.6 percent in 2019 and back to 6.7 percent in

The projected economic growth of the Philippines this year, according to S&P Global Ratings, slower than 2017’s 6.7 percent and 2016’s 6.8 percent

2020. Both are, however, still below the government’s targets.

“We continue to watch the current account, given slower remittance inflows, higher energy prices and rising imports.

Although we do not expect a significant widening of the deficit under our baseline, such [a] scenario would increase the Philippines’s exposure to potential sudden capital outflows in times of market panic,” S&P said in its report.

The credit watcher is also of the view that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will start raising its

rates this year and will be carried on up until 2019.

In particular, S&P sees the BSP’s main policy rate—which is currently at 3 percent—rising to 3.75 percent by the year’s end.

Another 50-basis-point rise is in S&P’s baseline scenario, as it sees the main policy rate moving further up in 2019 to reach 4.25 percent.

In its first meeting of the year, the BSP held its rates at unchanged levels, despite raising its 2018 inflation forecast to 4.3 percent, indicating an expected breach in their annual inflation target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for the year.

BSP officials, however, brushed off the elevated inflation path, saying the inflation surge—which already started at 4 percent in January—is partly due to the temporary effects of the tax reform and rising global petroleum, and expects a return to the target band by 2019.

Second-round effects of the rising inflation is also said to be “manageable” as of the moment, according to BSP officials.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

COMMUNIST REBELS REJECT TERROR TAG, STILL OPEN TO TALKS C ommunist guerrillas said on Thursday that a gover nment court petition to have them designated as terrorists is a desperate attempt to alienate them from the people, but insisted they are still open to talks to peacefully settle one of Asia’s longest-raging insurgencies.

Regional rebel commander Jaime Padilla said by telephone that President Duterte would fail like past leaders to defeat the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, so he’s resorting to “fake news” to undermine the Maoist guerrillas, who have managed to wage an insurgency for nearly half a century with what he said was the people’s support.

The Department of Justice asked a Manila court on Wednesday to formally designate the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing as terrorist groups. It cited deadly attacks and violence committed by the insurgents, including bloody internal purges of suspected

mi l itar y spies, in seek ing the designation.

Padilla rejected the assertion that the NPA was similar to extremist groups notorious for beheadings and other atrocities.

“The Abu Sayyaf is heaven and Earth different from the NPA,” Padilla said, referring to the brutal Islamic militant group blacklisted by the United States and Philippine governments. “Labeling the revolutionary movement as such is a big, crazy act.”

He added rebels att ac k government forces who raid or infiltrate guerrilla zones, but the guerrillas do not assault innocent civilians or ransack their properties like the Abu Sayyaf.

“If they withdraw the petition that will be good because it’s baseless,” said Padilla, who leads a rebel force that has a presence southeast of Manila.

Despite the government legal offensive, Padilla said the rebels remain open to a resumption of See “Communist rebels,” A2