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Tuesday, January 3, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 83

Neda: No unsolicited bids for Manila airport By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

he National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) has advised against considering unsolicited proposals from parties interested in constructing the New Manila International Airport (NMIA).

The Neda made this recommendation in its letter to Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade dated October 27, 2016, signed by Neda Undersecretary and, at that time, officer in charge, Rolando G. Tungpalan.

inside

THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY www.businessmirror.com.ph

the futuRe of libeRalism

ReveRsal of

The Year of Living Dangerously

foRtune

President duterte gestures during a news conference shortly after arriving from singapore at davao international airport in Mindanao early december 17, 2016. ManMan Dejeto/agence France-Presse/getty IMages

OR a certain kind of liberal, 2016 stands as a rebuke. If you believe in open economies and open societies, in which the free exchange of goods, capital, people and ideas is encouraged and in which universal freedoms are protected from state abuse by the rule of law, then this has been a year of setbacks—not only over Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, but also in the tragedy of Syria, abandoned to its suffering, and in the widespread support in Hungary, Poland and beyond for “illiberal democracy.” As globalization has become a slur, nationalism and even authoritarianism have flourished. In Turkey relief at the failure of a coup was overtaken by savage—and popular—reprisals. In the Philippines voters chose a president who not only deployed death squads but bragged about pulling the trigger himself. All the while Russia, which hacked Western democracy, and China, which only last week set out to taunt America by seizing one of its maritime drones, insist that liberalism is merely a cover for

prosperity and equity. Rather than ducking the struggle of ideas, liberals should relish it. In the past quarter-century, liberalism has had it too easy. Its dominance following Soviet communism’s collapse decayed into laziness and complacency. Amid growing inequality, society’s winners told themselves that they lived in a meritocracy—and that their success was therefore deserved. The experts recruited to help run large parts of the economy marveled at their own brilliance. Meanwhile, ordinary people often saw wealth as a cover for privilege and expertise as disguised self-interest. Liberals, of all people, should have seen the backlash coming. As a set of beliefs that emerged at the start of the 19th century to oppose both the despotism of absolute monarchy and the terror of revolution, liberalism warns that uninterrupted power corrupts. Privilege becomes self-perpetuating. Consensus stifles creativity and initiative. In an ever-shifting world, dispute and argument are not only inevitable but welcome, because they lead to renewal. What is more, liberals have something to offer societies struggling with change. In the 19th century, as today, old ways were being upended by relentless technological, economic, social and

Western expansion. Faced with this litany, many liberals of the free-market sort have lost their nerve. Some have written epitaphs for the liberal order and issued warnings about the threat to democracy. Others argue that, with a timid tweak to immigration law or an extra tariff, life will simply return to normal. That is not good enough. The bitter harvest of 2016 has not suddenly destroyed liberalism’s claim to be the best way to confer dignity and bring about

political forces. People yearned for order. The illiberal solution was to install someone with sufficient power to dictate what was best—by slowing change if they were conservative or by smashing authority if they were revolutionary. You can hear echoes of that in calls to “take back control,” as well as in the shouts of autocrats who, summoning an angry nationalism, promise to hold back the cosmopolitan tide. Liberals came up with a different answer. Rather than being concentrated, power should be dispersed, using the rule of law, political parties and competitive markets. Rather than putting citizens at the service of a mighty, protecting state, this brand of liberalism sees individuals as uniquely able to choose what is best for themselves. Rather than running the world through warfare and strife, countries should embrace trade and treaties. Such ideas have imprinted themselves on the West and, despite Trump’s flirtation with protectionism, they probably will endure—but only if liberalism can deal with its other problem: the loss of faith in progress. Liberals believe that change is welcome because, on the whole, it is for the better. Sure enough, they can point to how global poverty, life expectancy, op-

portunity and peace are all improving, even allowing for strife in the Middle East. Indeed, for most people on Earth, there has never been a better time to be alive. Large parts of the West, however, do not see it that way. For them progress happens mainly to other people. Wealth does not spread itself, new technologies destroy jobs that never come back, an underclass is beyond help or redemption and other cultures pose a threat—sometimes a violent one. If it is to thrive, liberalism must have an answer for the pessimists too. During those decades in power, however, liberals’ solutions have been underwhelming. In the 19th century liberal reformers met change with universal education, a vast program of public works and the first employment rights. Later citizens got the vote, health care and a safety net. After World War II America built a global liberal order, using bodies such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund to give form to its vision. Nothing half so ambitious is coming from the West today. That must change. Liberals must explore the avenues that technology and social needs will open. Power could be devolved from the state to cities, which act as laboratories for fresh policies. Politics might

escape sterile partisanship through new forms of local democracy. The labyrinth of taxation and regulation could be rebuilt rationally. Society could transform education and work so that “college” is something you return to during several careers in brand-new industries. The possibilities are as yet unimagined, but a liberal system, in which individual creativity, preferences and enterprise have full expression, is more likely to seize them than any other. After 2016, is that dream still possible? Some perspective is in order. Brexit and a Trump presidency are likely to prove costly and harmful. Today’s mix of nationalism, corporatism and popular discontent is explosive. However, 2016 also represented a demand for change. Never forget liberals’ capacity for reinvention. Do not underestimate the scope for people, including even a Trump administration and post-Brexit Britain, to think and innovate their way out of trouble. The task is to harness that restless urge, while defending the tolerance and open-mindedness that are the foundation stones of a decent, liberal world.

received with regard to the development of the NMIA, you may wish to subject the project to a competitive bidding rather than through unsolicited mode, unless SMHC has been accorded by your department an original proponent

WHAT HOTELS CAN TEACH US ABOUT HOME DESIGN

Life

Break the grip of pride

EAR God, how tremendous Your love for Your people. In faith we pray: “God of love, hear our prayer.” Give Peace to the Holy Land and to all places ravaged by war or political unrest. Break the grip of pride, prejudice and fear that divide people from one another. Quicken the day when military men and women may be reunited with their families. May You bless us with peace in Christ and let us share in the glad songs of the angels this holy night. Amen. GIVE US THIS DAY, COMMITTEE ON DIVINE WORSHIP SHARED BY LUISA M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

A ROUGH GIG FOR A DIVA ON LIVE TV D3

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

PUT all the most memorable items in your life on display using SB Furniture’s Rubik Display cabinet. You can also opt for the SPAZZ Entertainment System with its multifunctional shelves.

❶

YOUR HOME CHECKLIST ESSENTIALS

❶ LOEWS

Hotels’ Pop Art Suite at Loews Regency New York in Manhattan. It launched a campaign of short how-to videos called “Loews Knows” to share tips from the hotel’s expert staff on decorating, cleaning, entertaining and more. AP

❷ BACCARAT

Hotel & Residences New York shows the Harcourt Wall at the Baccarat Hotel & Residences in New York. The Baccarat brand is famous for its crystal but illumination is one of the principle design concepts at the hotel. AP

What hotels can teach us about home design Y

BY BETH J. HARPAZ The Associated Press

OU know that feeling you get when you walk into a hotel room and you just want to fall on that big white bedspread with the fluffy pillows? Here are some tips from three hotel brands— Renaissance, Baccarat and Loews—on how to create that same serene and inviting atmosphere at home.

SURPRISE AND DELIGHT MARRIOTT opens the Renaissance NY Midtown hotel this spring in Manhattan. Its design concept involves creating moments of “surprise and delight” in public spaces, like the lobby and dining areas, as well as in guest rooms. For example, open a closet door and inside you’ll find bold graphics livening up a space that’s usually unadorned. Toni Stoeckl, vice president of Marriott’s Lifestyle Brands, offers these tips for a similar approach in home design: ■ Target all the senses, including “what you see, the music, the fragrance,” Stoeckl said. ■ Pepper the environment with “moments to love,” he said. But remember: “Less is more: If you have too much art, you can’t pay attention to any one piece.” Good interior design is “more about uncovering beauty and decluttering space.” ■ Keep design elements “real and authentic. No fake flowers, no fake candles.” ■ Change artwork periodically. “Have a few pieces of art that you rotate,” Stoeckl said. Consider using the seasons as a scheduling guide for when to change displays. ■ Showcase objects and art that have layers of interest or meaningful stories. For example, a large, bright red work of abstract art near the hotel’s front desk is comprised entirely of buttons, but you can’t

see the buttons until you get close. The button art was inspired by the hotel’s neighborhood: It’s in Manhattan’s Garment District, and many of its design elements are connected to the apparel and fashion industries, from little ceramic sewing machine decorations in guest rooms, to quotes from famous designers placed on coffee tables in the club lounge. Another large artwork displaying a quote from Diane von Furstenberg—“Attitude is everything”—is made from tiny pushpins. “We want you to look at the space, but there is another layer, and we want you to look again,” Stoeckl said. PAINTING WITH LIGHT BACCARAT is not just a famous brand of French crystal. There’s also the Baccarat Hotel & Residences New York, across from the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. Chandeliers, glassware and artwork made from Baccarat crystal are hallmarks of the hotel décor, but so is lighting. “The idea of illumination is one of the central reasons we created the hotel,” said Kemper Hyers, head of design for Starwood Capital Group, which created the hotel. Yet, lighting is sometimes overlooked in home design. Lighting your home isn’t just about finding the perfect lamp, Hyers said. It’s also about “painting with light. How do I bring this room to light?“ Some tips: ■ Experiment with tape embedded with LED lights. It’s inexpensive, easy to apply and remove, and widely available. The tape is not only handy for illuminating a shelf or dark corner, but it can also light a wall behind a piece of furniture or spotlight a work of art. ■ When you buy LED bulbs, “don’t go any cooler than 2700 warm white,” said Hyers, referring to the numerical scale used to measure bulb color. The higher the number, the whiter and cooler the light.

■ Bulb design improves every few months, so look for the latest options and “play with a mix of bulbs.” You can even buy LED bulbs shaped like classic “Edison bulbs with the long filament, perfectly done,” Hyers said. CLEAN AND COZY LOEWS Hotels launched a “Loews Knows” campaign last December offering short videos at www. loewshotels.com/loews-knows with “hints and hacks” from housekeeping managers and other staff. Topics range from cleaning to entertaining to creating the right ambience. Some tips: ■ For “insanely fluffy bed pillows,” toss pillows in a dryer with a tennis ball. ■ To dust “like a pro,” use a microfiber cloth (avoid terrycloth). Spritz cleaning solution on the cloth (not on the surface you’re dusting) and wipe in a circular motion from high to low. ■ To create a cozy ambience for a relaxing bath, light a candle, add essential oils and Epsom salts to the water, and provide accessories, both functional and decorative: sponges, stones, body wash and handmade soap. Place a drink and book tubside, with a fluffy robe and slippers. ■ To make a guest room welcoming, fold down covers, stand pillows up, put a bottle of water on one side and a glass of milk with cookies and sliced fruit on the other, close the shades and leave one light on by the bed. ■ To remove crayon from walls, spray WD-40 and scrub vigorously with a rag or paper towel. To remove coffee stains from fabric, blot with light beer, club soda, white vinegar or baby wipes, then scrub with a toothbrush. To remove a red wine stain, soak a cloth in white wine and blot gently. A second round of “Loews Knows” tips is expected this spring. ■

MOVING into a new home, the first space you can call your very own at that, is definitely a milestone. It gets even more exciting as you fill it with pieces of furniture and décor that speak of who you are. As a treat for the new year, SB Furniture (www. sbfurniture.com.ph), the home design expert known for making thousands of dream homes come to life, shares simply beautiful essentials to add on your first home checklist. ■ The right sofa. Look around your home and decide what size of sofa would fit just right in your living area. Another tip is to choose a sofa that is reflective of your lifestyle. Do you like inviting friends over? Or do you love lounging around with a good book or a movie? SB Furniture recommends their Jelly three-seater sofa. Cozy enough for intimate living areas; comfy and spacious for when hosting a little get-together. ■ The modern dining area. Your first home deserves a great dining area where you can comfortably eat after a long day at work, or even share a meal with friends and family. If you’d like your dining area to be intimate with a modern touch, choose a square-shaped table, like the Celine dining table. Match it with the BASK chairs for a comfy and trendy dining area setup. ■ A sturdy bed frame. Your bedroom is where you spend most of your time resting and relaxing, and the main piece in any bedroom is, of course, the bed. Thus, it’s important to choose a bed frame that is sturdy and functional. Invest in a European standard quality piece like the store’s SPAZZ bed frame. This is a multifunctional bed frame where you can safely keep some of your gadgets and books, and will surely last for a very long time. ■ A functional display cabinet. Your home reflects who you are, and you’d want to put all the most memorable items in your life on display—your graduation photo, diploma, a family picture or trinkets from your travels. Have them all displayed on the Rubik Display cabinet. Make it functional, as well, because this top-quality display cabinet can be used as a divider if you’d like to make each area of your home more distinct. ■ The entertainment area. Your home is also a place where you can enjoy what you love doing during your free time, like listening to music, watching a movie or reading books. You’ll need some space to safely keep all the things you enjoy and the SPAZZ entertainment system is the right addition to your checklist. This cabinet system is perfect for keeping your movie collection or books because of its finely spaced shelves and sturdy doors. With these simple and beautiful first home essentials on your list, your dream space is well on its way to becoming a reality.

LIFE

SICAT: MARKET TRADING MAY BE VOLATILE IN Q1

This December 9, 2016, photo shows a cargo ship moored at the Davao Sasa Port in Davao City, one of the many ports being developed by the government to boost cross-border trade between Mindanao and ports of other Asian countries. NONIE REYES

Companies

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • news.businessmirror@gmail.com

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 3, 2017 B1

Sicat: Market trading may be volatile in Q1

ARKET trading will continue to be volatile during the first quarter of the year, but the country’s economy will still be lifted by its strong consumer spending, Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) President and CEO Hans Sicat said. Sicat said investors will look for the budget disbursement of the Duterte administration relative to the coun-

try’s GDP. The figures will come out in this month or in February. “The [figures] will be a very strong

signal the infrastructure growth program is actually on its way. Right now, we hear what they want to do, but we haven’t seen the numbers yet. So we need to see the actual spend numbers, not just nominal but relative to GDP,” Sicat said. “If it does show that there’s a growth over what we’ve seen previously, then the plan of the economic team has a lot of leg. So that I think is the biggest play for the Philippines.” PSE Chairman Jose Pardo said the PSE is supportive of the government’s policies. “We are fully supportive of the

policies of the Duterte administration,” he said. Sicat, however, said it is very hard to predict how things will turn out both in the Philippines and abroad. “It’s very different from previous years when you would have an idea, let’s say governments and maybe even global central banks are signaling very clearly what they will do. Now, you don’t know which side is going to win this debate and that’s the biggest challenge,” he said. “The first quarter seems to be quite volatile. There are really a lot of countervailing forces at work.

I think what will continue for the Philippines is it’s still a consumer economy will not dissipate,” he said. Sicat said China, for instance, grew their economy by infrastructure spend over the last 20 years, having massive spending on roads, ports and buildings. “There’s always been political issues at how you look at China and, yet, the growth of the economy and the level of interest in terms of participating in the economy by global investors was very strong. So I think if we are able to push the program, the multiplier effect is massive,” he said.

New round of oil-price hike begins Tuesday, Jan. 3

N increase in petroleum products takes effect on Tuesday, oil fir ms announced on Monday. Gasoline prices will go up by P0.70 per liter, diesel by P0.60 per liter and kerosene by P0.55 per liter. The price adjustment is effective at 6 a.m. on January 3, oil firms said in separate advisories. “This is to reflect movements in the international petroleum market,” Seaoil Philippines said. Other oil firms that announced a price hike as of press time were Phoenix Petroleum, Pilipinas Shell and Flying V. Other oil firms are expected to follow suit. This is the first upward adjustment for local pump prices for 2017. Last Tuesday gasoline prices went up by P.50 per liter, while diesel prices jacked up by P0.25 per liter. This was

the sixth consecutive weekly price hike for gasoline and the fifth for diesel. Meanwhile, the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) also went up by P4.15 per kilogram for Liquigaz and Gasul on January 1. The price of Solane and Petronas also went up on January 2 by P4.18 per kg and P4.15 per kg, respectively. The Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (Ippca) said local fuel prices remain competitive even after the Middle East-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and other exporters led by Russia reached their first deal since 2001 to cut output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (mbd) to reduce in oversupply and prop up prices. Opec nations currently produce a total of 33.7 million barrels of oil per day. Under the deal, they would

Last year the size of the Philippine stock market expanded by 7 percent, as total-market capitalization ended at P14.44 trillion, from 2015’s P13.47 trillion. The stock offerings helped support this growth and offset the decline in prices in the market as the PSEi, the benchmark index, closed at 6,840.64 points, 1.6 percent lower than its close of 6,952.08 in 2015. For last year, total capital raised amounted to P170.12 billion, slightly lower than the P184.60 billion raised for the whole of 2015, the PSE said. VG Cabuag

By Manuel T. Cayon

Mindanao Bureau Chief @awimailbox

ROBINSONS BANK CAPS OFF 2016 WITH 120TH

bring that down to 32.5 mbd, with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait making the biggest cuts. Non-Opec producers have agreed to cut 600,000 barrels per day beginning in January, which will come on top of the 1.2 mbd cut from Opec. “Notwithstanding the Opec and non-Opec members’ consensus to cut output, an uptrend in world oil prices may not be sustainable, as demand is projected to remain weak owing to the increase in federal rates, among others,” said Fernando Martinez, Ippca president. Martinez said local fuel prices are still lower by as much as 30 percent to 40 percent compared to the price of petroleum products in June 2008 when gasoline and diesel prices reached as much as P60 per liter and P50 per liter, respectively. Lenie Lectura

BRANCH Before 2016 ended, Robinsons Bank opened its 120th branch on December 22, 2016. Located at 143 Maginhawa Street, Barangay Teachers Village, Quezon City, this new branch opened its doors as part of the bank’s ever-increasing branch network. The bank now has 211 ATMs nationwide and is continually expanding its reach in the Philippines. It is celebrating its 20th year of banking this year. As part of the JG Summit conglomerate, the bank is committed to making life better for every Filipino.

COMPANIES

retire or fight back? The UFC’s biggest names offered strong opinions about Ronda Rousey’s future on Saturday, a day after Nunes punched Rousey into submission in less than a minute. Rousey (12-2), once the most dominant fighter in the sport, has now lost two straight bouts 13 months apart, looking unprepared and overmatched against both Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.

Sports RETIRE OR FIGHT BACK? BusinessMirror

| Tuesday, January 3, 2017 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

By Greg Beacham The Associated Press

AS VEGAS—Ronda Rousey is taking time off to ponder her future after her 48-second loss in her comeback fight at the Ultimate Fighting Championship 207. Amanda Nunes thinks Rousey must retire. Jon Jones believes Rousey should fight again. The UFC’s biggest names offered strong opinions about Rousey’s future a day after Nunes punched Rousey into submission in less than a minute. Rousey (12-2), once the most dominant fighter in the sport, has now lost two straight bouts 13 months apart, looking unprepared and overmatched against both Holly Holm and Nunes. After Nunes easily defended the bantamweight belt once held by Rousey, the champion encouraged Rousey to move on. “That’s it for her,” Nunes said on Friday night. “For sure, she’s going to retire. She can’t take it anymore. If she wants the rematch, I’m going to do the same thing, because she can’t take my punches.” Other major figures in mixed martial arts disagree. Jones was arguably the most feared fighter in the sport before failing a drug test last summer. The suspended former light-heavyweight champion took to Twitter on Saturday to encourage Rousey. “My advice to Ronda would be to pick yourself up and try again,” Jones wrote. “I think it’s important for Ronda to show her fans how great she truly is by displaying her courage and giving it another try.” Rousey declined to promote her comeback bout, and she refused to discuss her loss with fans or reporters after making a guaranteed $3 million along with undisclosed millions in

bonuses and pay-per-view revenue from the UFC’s year-end show. She issued a statement to ESPN on Saturday. “Returning to not just fighting, but winning, was my entire focus this past year,” Rousey wrote. “However, sometimes— even when you prepare and give everything you have and want something so badly—it doesn’t work how you planned. I take pride in seeing how far the women’s division has come in the UFC and commend all the other women who have been part of making this possible, including Amanda. “I need to take some time to reflect and think about the future. Thank you for believing in me and understanding.” Nunes acknowledged feeling sorry for Rousey after landing 27 punches on the former champion in just 48 seconds. Nunes believes the cumulative stress of Rousey’s first loss, her acting career and numerous outside-the-cage responsibilities combined to “pressure her too much.” Nunes spoke directly to a bloodied Rousey in the cage after the loss. “I told her, ‘You did a lot for this sport,’” Nunes said. “’Thank you so much. Now, take some time to rest and maybe do something else.’ Why should she keep doing this? She’s a millionaire already. Why would she want to keep doing this? She’ll hurt herself.” But Jones sees a ferocious competitor in Rousey behind the acting jobs and modeling gigs. “What she does next will truly determine her legacy,” Jones wrote. “I really hope she chooses to be...unbroken. Her story doesn’t have to be over here. I also still believe she beats 90 [percent] of the division. Lots of ass kicking still to be done, lots of money to be made.” Jones also joined Nunes and innumerable MMA figures in questioning the effectiveness of Rousey’s coaching.

Edmond Tarverdyan, Rousey’s coach, was widely criticized for his uneven, unusual coaching methods even before Rousey’s career faltered. Even Rousey’s mother, AnnMaria De Mars, has ripped Tarverdyan, but Rousey has remained fiercely loyal to her longtime guru. Jones is based at the Albuquerque gym of respected trainer Greg Jackson, the mastermind behind several UFC champions. Rousey’s striking has long been a weak spot for the Olympic judo medalist, and she was utterly unable to cope with Nunes’s punching ability, showing little growth in the past year from the weaknesses exposed by Holm. “Maybe she just needs to complement her coach with an MMA family,” Jones wrote. “Maybe she should join one of the bigger MMA teams.... Being around other bad asses and constantly sharing your spotlight could be good for you [in] so many ways. They can improve on your humility.” Rousey turns 30 years old in February, with several years of her ostensible athletic prime before her. While she has circled several major acting jobs after playing three supporting roles in recent years, she doesn’t appear to have any major film commitments. But Rousey took several months off after her first defeat, and she seems likely to be deliberate again. De Mars, who cradled Rousey as the fighter left the T-Mobile Arena cage, took to her blog Saturday to offer support. “She cares DEEPLY about winning to an extent that I don’t believe the average person can wrap his/her head around,” De Mars wrote. “I am very proud of my daughter.”

Serena’s engaged C

CAN Ronda Rousey still take more punches? AP

ROGER FEDERER says his “mind-set is for the long term” in assessing his tennis future. AP

OURT and spark: Serena Williams is tying the knot. The tennis great announced her engagement to Alexis Ohanian on Thursday, posting a poem on Reddit that she accepted the proposal of the social news web site’s cofounder. Williams’s agent, Jill Smoller, confirmed the engagement in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Ohanian wrote on his Facebook page, “She said yes.” Williams, 35, has been dating Ohanian, 33, for over a year. Her poem: “I came home/A little late/Someone had a bag packed for me/And a carriage awaited/ Destination: Rome/To escort me to my very own

“charming”/Back to where our stars first collided/And now it was full circle/At the same table we first met by chance/This time he made it not by chance/But by choice/Down on one knee/He said 4 words/And I said yes.” Williams in July won Wimbledon for the seventh time to tie Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles. In September she passed Roger Federer for most all-time Grand Slam match victories, winning her 308th in the US Open. No wedding date has been announced. AP

SERENA WILLIAMS announces her engagement to Alexis Ohanian. AP

sports

‘TWO, THREE MORE YEARS’

ERTH, Australia—Roger Federer said he hopes to play for at least another two to three years and that his “mind-set is for the long term” in assessing his tennis future. Federer, who has not played since reinjuring his surgically repaired left knee at Wimbledon in July, will make his tournament return in the January 1 to 7 Hopman Cup team event at Perth, representing Switzerland with Belinda Bencic. The 35-year-old Federer said he’s not sure of the form he’ll produce upon his return, but that retirement isn’t part of his thought process. “Only when I get asked do I think of things like this,” said Federer, who has 17 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any male player. “I don’t see it like this, that this could be my last Australian trip, even though it might very well be,” he added. “I’m really positive. I took these six months off so I would be playing for hopefully another

two to three years, not just another six months or so. So my mind-set is for the long term.” Federer hasn’t won a Grand Slam singles title since Wimbledon in 2012 and, with his injury, has slipped to No. 16 in the world rankings. “Winning titles is a beautiful feeling; rankings at the moments...completely secondary,” Federer said. “As long as I’m healthy and injury free I think I can really do some damage.” Federer and Bencic begin play against Britain, represented by Heather Wilson and Dan Evans, on Monday night at Perth Arena. CoCo Vandeweghe, meanwhile, gave the United States an early lead and Jack Sock clinched the Americans’ opening match on Sunday at the Hopman Cup mixed teams tournament. Vandeweghe beat Lucie Hradecka, 6-4, 6-2, before Sock defeated Adam Pavlasek, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, to clinch the match against Czech Republic. The two Americans also beat Pavlasek and Hradecka,

2-4, 4-2, 4-1, in the mixed doubles, which this year features the Fast4 format, including a tiebreaker at 3-3 in each set and no advantage on points. Hradecka replaced two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova after Kvitova was injured 10 days ago in a knife attack by an intruder in her home in the town of Prostejov. Kvitova is expected to be off the tour for up to six months. “I played a decently clean match, it’s always going to be a little bit interesting your first time out on the court,” Vandeweghe said. “A little prematch jitters but I thought I did a good job.” The United States has won the Hopman Cup a record six times in the tournament’s 28-year history. Defending champions Australia, represented by Russian-born Daria Gavrilova and Nick Kyrgios, lost the late match Sunday against Spain. Kyrgios beat Feliciano Lopez, 6-3, 6-4, in the opener before Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena defeated Gavrilova, 7-5, 6-1. Spain won the mixed doubles, 4-0, 4-2, involving the same players. AP

Perfect antidote to volatility

the entrepreneur Manny Villar

he move to appoint Amando M. Tetangco Jr. to an unprecedented third term as governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has been gaining support since President Duterte announced it last month. The President, according to news reports, told Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III that he would ask Congress to amend the law to extend Tetangco’s term beyond July 2017, when his current term expires. Continued on A10

Residential unit prices grow at slower pace By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

esidential real-estate prices continued its rise in the third quarter of 2016, but slowed to single-digit growth rates compared to the expansion pace seen in the second quarter of the year. This is according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) updates on the quarterly residential real-estate price index (RREPI)—a central bank initiative officially launched earlier in 2016. The RREPI measures the average changes in prices of different types of housing units over a period of time, where the growth rate of the index measures house inflation. The construction of the RREPI is based on banks’ approved housing-loan applications. The central bank’s third-quarter report showed residential real-estate prices growing significantly slower in the July-to-September period at 2.2 percent, from the 11.3-percent increase a quarter ago. The index, meanwhile, rose to 113.4 from 111 for the same quarter a year ago. In terms of types of hou s i n g u n it s , tow nhouses posted The average percentage the highest growth in prices—registering a hike in the prices of 4.9-percent hike for residential units in the the quarter. third quarter of 2016, This is followed by significantly slower than condominium units at 3.1 percent and single the 11.3 percent in same detached housing units period in 2015 at 2.4 percent. Continued on A3 residential real In terms of geographical location, property prices accelerated in areas outside the nation’s capital region with a growth rate of 4.9 percent. On the contrary, growth moderated in the National Capital Region (NCR) to 0.2 percent. “This is due mainly to the faster rate of increase in prices of single detached housing units and townhouses in areas outside the NCR compared to those of the NCR,” the BSP said. “Meanwhile, the prices of condominium units increased in both the NCR and areas outside the NCR,” it added. The central bank data further showed condominium units were the most common house purchases in the NCR, while single detached houses were mostly acquired in areas outside the NCR. Also, by region, the BSP said the NCR accounted for 46.3 percent of the total number of residential realestate loans granted during the quarter, followed by Calabarzon, accounting for 29.6 percent; and Central Luzon at 6.1 percent. These three mega regions were followed by areas mostly outside Luzon, including Central Visayas comprising 4.7 percent of the total, Western Visayas at 4.5 percent, Davao region at 3.4 percent and Northern Mindanao at 1.7 percent. Together, these seven regions accounted for 96.3 percent of total housing loans granted by banks.

2.2%

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Mindanao: Better days ahead after years of hits and misses

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The letter was sent by the Neda in response to the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) request to review the unsolicited airport proposal made by San Miguel Holdings Corp. (SMHC). “Given the numerous proposals

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HEN the government and business leaders kept their bets high on an unstoppable growth of Mindanao, they pointed at the significant improvement alone at its poorest region: the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm). What used to be a conflict-affected and graft-ridden area, the Armm has since demonstrated splendid growth since 2009. That fateful election year was when 57 persons, 32 of them journalists and staff of local news outfits to cover the filing of certificate of candidacies, were massacred. The first sign of development was when the Armm received the Red Orchids award from the Department of Health for an anti-tobacco campaign. About 2,000 midwives and doctors also went to the interiors of central Mindanao provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur and the country’s southern backdoor of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi

PESO exchange rates n US 49.8130

DEL ROSARIO: The synergy between the executive and legislative arms of the provincial government of Davao del Norte is crucial to the success of the development agenda being pursued by the new administration.”

to provide health services. The Armm also tapped into a P4million fund for medical equipment to give gadgets to its health personnel in the rural areas. To date, about 1.5 million residents in the Armm have also been enrolled in the government health care and welfare assistance program of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. The region has churned out other remarkable feats.

Education sector

THE Armm has allocated P13.2 million for education to help schoolchildren affected by the long-running armed con-

flict in Maguindanao following a bloody gun battle in Mamasapano town. The conflict erupted in September last year after the government mounted a massive search for the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan and Sulu. No less than 4,000 families were evacuated from the area. The Armm’s Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team reported having served their needs in the evacuation centers. The Armm has also allocated as much as P1 billion to hasten the construction of classrooms to meet the demand of the Grade 11 enrollment under the new K to 12 education program.

Investment flow

WHAT also used to be inaccessible would have a big boost when the regional government allots P10.1 billion for 2017 infrastructure spending. The bold budgetary move came in the years of successive surges in investment. A document from the Armm Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) said the region earned “a whopping P7.8 billion [worth of investments] from January 2015 to the present despite what Continued on A2

n japan 0.4251 n UK 60.8715 n HK 6.4212 n CHINA 7.1612 n singapore 34.3538 n australia 35.7757 n EU 51.8404 n SAUDI arabia 13.2806

Source: BSP (29 December 2016 )

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Mindanao: Better days ahead after years of hits and misses Continued from A1

happened a year ago.” The Armm RBOI was referring to the bloody Mamasapano tragedy on January 25, 2015, which was marked by the death of 44 members of the police’s Special Action Force. The incident also led the Bangsamoro basic law’s journey into limbo in Congress. Nevertheless, investments continued. The Armm RBOI reported it has approved P1.3 billion worth of investments for an oil palm plantation in Maguindanao to keep on track the annual multibillion-peso investments the region was already drafting since 2011. Armm-RBOI Chairman Ishak Mastura said the agency has set a conservative target though, at generating only P900 million worth of investments and 900 new jobs this year, even if it has already mulled approving the palm-oil project. The Armm RBOI also disclosed of new ventures in the pipeline, including an industrial wastetreatment facility in Polloc, Maguindanao, worth P45 million and a water facility worth P80 million.

Cross-border trade

THE year 2016 also saw efforts to revive the age-old barter trading at the main ports of Armm, especially in Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao, the region’s main international-standard seaport. Armm officials pointed to reforms implemented in the port as a springboard for the push to a cross-border trading. Armm officials also pointed to the income of P19 million in the first seven months of 2016 as ba-

sis for this move. An Armm document said the income showed Polloc Port in Maguindanao as the busiest among the sea ports in the region. The figure may be small compared to major seaports in the country. But based on the renewed effort of this poorest region, the earning for the first half is actually already a third higher than its earnings for the entire year of 2015 of only P12.6 million. The Armm’s growth and linkage further received a shot in the arm after regional Cabinet cluster members attended the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines East Asian Growth Area (Bimp-Eaga) Summit last November to drum up is bid for a Sabah cross-border trade with Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. Economic zones have been established on the island-provinces to firm up a three-country sea border security to stop pirates and to rev up a hassle-free trading with Malaysia and Indonesia. Armm Gov. Mujiv Hataman said ecozones were placed only in TawiTawi and Basilan. He explained Sulu was skipped due to the ongoing police and military action against the Abu Sayyaf Group. To show that Armm is more a region of peace than a war-torn area, municipal and provincial local governments have pledged P4.2 billion “to address issues of poverty, socioeconomic, security, disaster preparedness and infrastructure.”

Continuity

THE entry into the scene of the first President from Mindanao sent high hopes for the traditionally neglected areas in southern Philippines.

The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) announced its members are upbeat with the priority given to provincial road construction, which carries an P18billion budget. Davao del Norte Gov. Anthony del Rosario, the LPP’s executive vice president, said the budget would be for the implementation of the conditional matching grant to the provinces for road repair, rehabilitation and improvement of provincial roads. Del Rosario said they met with Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno “to explore the possible partnership between the LPP and the DBM [Department of Budget and Management] in carrying out the road-reform program to further strengthen meaningful devolution and local autonomy.” “The synergy between the executive and legislative arms of the provincial government of Davao del Norte is crucial to the success of the development agenda being pursued by the new administration,” del Rosario said. Del Rosario added their respective mandates in the executive and legislative branches would be best served if there is “better complementation and not competition.”

Compostela Valley

COMPOSTELA Valley Gov. Jayvee Tyron Uy has said he would elevate the Provincial Employment Service Office (Peso) into a provincial department “to address unemployment and poverty in the province.” Uy said the move could help jobseekers find better employment and provide accessory skills for

those who have no formal education. Compostela Valley has a population of 687,195 as of 2010. Although the province is one of the mineral rich areas in the Davao region, it remained tied to agriculture, raising rice and corn as principal crops and hosting the expansion of banana plantations from adjacent Davao del Norte. The devastation wrought by Typhoon Pablo in December 2012 f ur ther worsened pover t y in Compostela Valley as many family-sized and commercial farms were rendered unproductive for more than a year, relying mainly on relief goods. Current employment, though, has improved with 91.7 percent having various forms of employment. Its youth sector, though, recently received a P24.9-million allocation from the provincial government for a scholarship program (P17 million); youth development council (P1 million); special program for employment of students (P1 million); and for sports development (P1 million). Music literacy also appeared as an item in the project funding, with P551,000, as well as for the general item on provincial youth welfare, with P4.41 million. As anticorruption became a byword under the new administration, Compostela Valley also used its resourcefulness by using its 2014 seal of good governance cash award to finish two road projects in the first 100 days of the new provincial administration. The province said it also used P7-million award of its 2014 Performance Challenge Fund (PCF)

to build a barangay road in Nabunturan town and a connection road to a housing site in Monkayo town. The PCF is a cash equivalent or cash prize awarded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government to local government units that passed the “Seal of Good Local Governance”.

Biggest landfill

IN General Santos City, waste disposal became easier when it opened for official use its new P219-million sanitary landfill, dubbed as Mindanao’s biggest. T he c it y go ve r n me nt a n nounced that the landfill began accommodating waste from households and industries after it was inaugurated on May 2. By June, the local government started closing the previous dumpsite in Barangay Tambler. The current dumpsite is in the outskirts of Barangay Sinawal, with an area of 63.3 hectares. The city information office has claimed that at its size, it would be the biggest in Mindanao and the only one of the few cities with a sanitary landfill. The opening of the dumpsite came two years after the World Bank granted P4.46 million to the Mindanao State University-General Santos City and Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines Inc. for a project study on solid-waste management that included the livelihood benefits to residents depending on the garbage poured into the previous dumpsite.

Water system

GENERAL Santos City’s far-flung

western village was set to finally have its own reliable safe drinking water system. Sitio Balnabu, a small community in one of the hills of San Jose district in General Santos City, was granted P1.3million allocation. The four adjacent villages of Sitio Balnabu—Aspang, Maligaya, Banwalan and Shuttle—would also benefit from the project. These areas have no reliable and safe water supply since it was formed into a settlement from the land donated by tribal brothers Abing Mok and Dalsik Pandian. Local leaders said residents in these areas have to fetch water from neighboring purok using plastic gallons and containers. Besides, residents of Balnabu have to travel at least 5 kilometers to reach Poblacion San Jose, which is still 16 kilometers from downtown General Santos City. Balnabu Purok Chairman Wewe Duon said the residents have long waited for the project. More improvement was promised, as General Santos City Mayor Ronnel Rivera said he wants the comprehensive land use plan to be updated as a priority activity to find and provide services in the relocation sites, improve the services of the city hospital, attract investors and craft a comprehensive transport plan. The city ranked 17th in the 2015 annual Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) among the 142 highly urbanized cities that competed for the title. The city also earned P1.24 billion in 2013. To be concluded

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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

ARTHALAND SEES A GREENER 2017 tor’s continued growth driven by the demand from the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry. The expansion of home-grown industries is also seen to drive the demand for space. The demand for sustainably designed residential developments is also seen to increase as property investors and residents become more aware of its impact on savings, health, and the environment. For ArthaLand, the sector’s growth is on track to reflect the dynamism of the country’s economy. The Philippines is seen by analysts to continue its growth trajectory given the government’s efforts to speed up infrastructure developments, especially in the provinces.

World - class Green

RTHALAND, the property company known for its green and sustainable projects, is bullish of the sector’s sustained growth this year as the market continues to look for high quality, welldesigned, green developments.

The company released earlier its growth plan, aiming to quintuple its business over the next five years with an estimated investment of about P20 billion pesos. ArthaLand recently listed P2B perpetual preferred shares in the Philippine bourse to further strengthen its financial position. Encouraged by the market re-

NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO INVEST IN CEBU The Cebu IT Park area remains to be a viable location for information technology and business process management industry as shown by the global locators operating in the district.

EBU is growing and the best time to invest here is now. This is what ArthaLand believes this is why it will start to build its P8 billion Grade A green office project in the Queen City of the South this 2017. Driven by tourism and IT-BPM industries, Cebu has been one of the major contributors to the country’s gross domestic product. It has a rich pool of talents with a literacy rate of 91.45% owing to the good number of schools, colleges, and universities within the city and province. Cebu has one of the more advanced infrastructures among the key cities outside of Metro Manila. The Mactan - Cebu International Airport received the second largest share of visitor arrivals at about 20.16% as of August of 2016, serving direct flights to key destinations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Seoul, Narita, Doha, and Los Angeles among others. The construction of the $364 million Terminal 2 is also underway to accommodate more passengers. The government and the private sectors are well on the way to improving and building more infrastructure in Cebu to further support growth. Cebu, being located at the heart of the Philippines, is a strategic location for business growth. Outside of Metro Manila, it is the preferred destination of national and multinational enterprises when expanding to the Visayas and

Mindanao markets. The city and province host several economic zones that churn products exported to different parts of the globe. All these contribute to Cebu’s viability for investment.

Major Investment

For its part, ArthaLand’s Cebu Exchange that is soon to rise along Salinas Drive at the IT Park area is seen to contribute at least Php 7.2B in annual income for a potential of 40,000 IT-BPM employees of locators that will choose to hold office in the project. This is apart from the economic multiplier effect of up to three to four jobs created per BPO employee. Cebu Exchange is registered under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program as well as in the Philippine Green Building Council’s Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence (BERDE) rating program. It is the first and only development in the Visayas and Mindanao region to be on target to achieve dual green building certification. Certified green buildings benefit both the landlords as well as the tenants. Cebu Exchange is designed to be resource and operations efficient and to provide healthier working environment to boost productivity and profit. Based on reports by global industry analysts, larger companies prefer to locate in green buildings

because of these reasons. To ensure resource efficiency for the building’s locators, Cebu Exchange will feature green elements such as efficient building envelope, water efficient plumbing system, low-energy air-conditioning system, efficient lighting system, use of low-emitting materials, and allocation for Low-Emitting & Fuel Efficient Vehicle (LEFEV) parking. With its strategic location, the project is well connected to the rest of the community, thus requiring less use of motorized vehicles.

IT-BPM hub

The Cebu IT Park area remains to be a viable location for information technology and business process management industry as shown by the global locators operating in the district. This is proven by the low vacancy rate within the hub. In a recent publication by the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), the industry is set to grow from 12.6% global market share in 2016 to 15.5% by 2022. It eyes to employ 1.8M Filipinos and earn as much USD 38B by the end of the period. According to the organization, while North America remains to be the core market, established and recognized brands from Middle East, Europe, Australia, and the Pacific have come to rely on the expertise of the Philippine IT-BPM industry.

ception of its newly launched project, Cebu Exchange, ArthaLand sees dynamic market activities to take place in areas outside of Metro Manila. Other than Cebu, the company also recently acquired an 8.1 hectare prime property in Laguna. According to the company’s senior management, they see the office sec-

ARTHALAND is a world-class developer of boutique and sustainable projects. Its flagship residential project is Arya Residences, the country’s first United States Green Building Council LEED Gold certified development in its category. In the office sector, it is on target to deliver the premium grade ArthaLand Century Pacific Tower, a LEED pre-certified development. Both projects are also registered under the Philippine Green Building Council’s Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence (BERDE) certification program. Arya Residences and the ArthaLand Century Pacific Tower are both located in Bonifacio Global City, currently the country’s prime

business and lifestyle district. Its entry to the fast growing Visayas and Mindanao markets is through its IT-BPM - geared Cebu Exchange which is set to break ground this year. It will rise along Salinas Drive at the Cebu IT Park area in Lahug district. The P8 billion project is seen to accommodate at least 40,000 agents for three shift operating BPO locators.

Solid Foundation

ARTHALAND is a listed company led by the Po family of CPG Holdings, Inc. (CPGHI), the group behind the country’s leading canned food company in the Philippines which owns market leader brands such as Century Tuna, 555, and Argentina, among others. The Po family also leads the country’s top pizza chain, Shakey’s. ArthaLand’s other major shareholder is international investment firm, AO Capital. The company is led by a solid team of real estate experts with over a century’s worth of cumulative experience. For its projects, ArthaLand has been working with major national firms, Aidea and GF & Partners as well as international architectural groups such as Crone of Australia, SOM New York, and Architects International of San Francisco. ArthaLand’s core business philosophy is rooted on sustainability. This dictates that all its projects will adhere by national and globally recognized standards in green building. The company is also recognized by peers for its leadership in design and quality.

ARTHALAND RECOGNIZED BY NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BODIES FOR DESIGN, QUALITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY

HEN ArthaLand launched its first project in 2010, only a handful knew of this boutique developer. Today, the ArthaLand brand has become synonymous with sustainable developments here in the Philippines and across the South East Asian region. When the company started to campaign for sustainable living back then, the awareness of the idea seemed low for most Filipinos. It was thought then that to go green, one needed to be a die-hard tree hugger, living a rustic way of life so as not to hurt the planet. Some also thought that going green would be very expensive, relying only on solar power, and using rocketscience technology to work. Some even thought that only by having green garden patches, one is already living sustainably. ArthaLand debunked these ideas and helped educate the market to accept that green living is a must, and doing so needs careful planning, design, implementation, and management. A green lifestyle can easily be done with the right partner who understands what it really needs to be truly green. With its projects, ArthaLand has been able to demonstrate that through calibrated measures of green development, we can optimize the benefits of living sustainably.

Green projects

ARTHALAND’S flagship residential project is Arya Residences in Bonifacio Global City. This two tower top-tier condominium development is the first and only in the Philippines to be awarded by the United States Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program with a Gold certification. It is also on target to achieve multiple stars from the Philippine Green Building Council’s Building BERDE (Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence) rating system. Its premier office project, ArthaLand Cen-

tury Pacific Tower, is rising along 5th Avenue at the corners of 30th Street and 4th Avenue, also in Bonifacio Global City. Similar to Arya Residences, the premium grade office tower goes through the stringent measures of LEED and BERDE. In fact, the project is already LEED Gold pre-certified. Once completed, it will be the home to the headquarters of multinational companies in the financial, pharmaceutical, FMCG, and IT and Knowledge Process Outsourcing industries. Further expanding its reach, ArthaLand recently launched Cebu Exchange as its first foray in the rich Visayas and Mindanao markets. Completely imbibing the developer’s corporate DNA, Cebu Exchange is the first and only BPO-designed office tower in Cebu that is on target to achieve dual green building certification from the USGBC LEED and the PHILGBC BERDE programs.

Multiple awards

OTHER than the two green building certifying bodies, ArthaLand and its projects have also been recognized by both national and international bodies composed by well-respected peers and experts. Citations have been given for design, quality, and sustainability. In 2013, the Philippines Property Awards recognized ArthaLand as the Best Boutique Developer in the country. In the same year, BCI Asia identified the company to be among the Top 10 Developers in the Philippines. WWF - Philippines has conferred the company the Environmental Leadership Award every year since 2011 for its staunch advocacy on sustainable education engaging communities, local government units, and elementary school children. ArthaLand’s corporate social responsibility programs have been recognized in the Asia Responsible Leadership Awards in the Green Leadership Category in 2015 and 2016. It has earned a citation for its Best Practice

in Supply Management: Procurement Strategies for Green Building in 2015. The Urban Land Institute – Philippine Green Building Council Awards cited ArthaLand as the winner for Business Leadership in Sustainability this year. Arya Residences has also received numerous awards including Best Residential High Rise in the Asia Pacific Property Awards for 20142015. It also won as the Best Residential Development (Philippines) 2012 and the Best Condo Development (Philippines) 2013 in the South East Asia Property Awards among many others. Most recently, the ArthaLand Century Pacific Tower earned several recognitions from the South East Asia Property Awards 2016. The award-giving body named the SOM New York-designed project as the Best Office Architectural Design (Philippines) winner. It has also conferred the premium-grade tower with the Best Green Development (Philippines) and Special Recognition in Sustainable Design (South East Asia) awards.

The country’s green developer builds world class, sustainable, and future-proof projects in the residential, office, and retail segments. All of its projects go through rigid standards set by the Philippine Green Building Council and the United States Green Building Council.

A4 Tuesday, January 3, 2017 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

Infra investment to boost GDP growth to 7 percent this year–BPI economist By Leslie D. Venzon Philippines News Agency

he delivery of key infrastructure projects and programs can lift the Philippine GDP to around 7 percent in 2017, an economist said.

“Probably [GDP can increase by] 7 percent once again, especially if the promised infrastructure programs are delivered,” Emilio Neri, chief economist at the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI), said in an interview. He expects public spending

mainly boosting this year’s economic growth. The government is ramping up public infrastructure spending to a record high P890.9 billion this year, or 5.2 percent of the countr y’s GDP. It targets to raise infrastructure spend-

i ng a s a sh a re of GDP to 7 percent by 2022. The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) projects the Philippine economy to grow 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent this year; and 7 percent to 8 percent in 2018. Neri emphasized that growth is not an issue with the Duterte administration. “I think the bigger issue is managing the fiscal accounts because, so far, the numbers that [the] BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] show seems to imply that the collections are trailing the growth of the economy,” he added. Neri said the Department of Finance-proposed tax reforms can enhance the existing administra-

₧890.9B Infra spending target set by the Duterte administration for 2017

tive efficiency of the BIR. The economist noted the government, thus, needs to enhance its ability to fund in the next six years its ambitious infrastructure programs, under the so-called Golden Age of Infrastructure of the new administration. GDP is estimated to have grown 7 percent in 2016. It accelerated 7 percent in the first three quarters.

Population count expected to reach 105.76M by Dec By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

he number of Filipino women of reproductive age and adolescent girls will continue to increase until 2022, according to the Philippine Population Commission (Popcom). This year, the Popcom added, the number of women on reproductive age, or those between 15 and 49 years old, will increase to 27.29 million, while adolescent girls between 10 and 19 years old will increase to 10.08 million. “The figures for women of reproductive age and adolescent girls continue to be the highest numbers on record. This trend is expected to continue up to 2022, when the numbers of women of reproductive age are expected to peak at 29.1 million and adolescent girls at 11.3 million,” the Popcom said. Popcom also estimates that the number of schoolchildren, the labor force and senior citizens will increase to 31.5 million, 66.7 million and 5.2 million this year. This year, at the rate of 3.22 births per minute, Popcom estimates there

will be a total of 1.69 million births. This will increase the country’s population to 105.76 million by December 31, 2017. Meanwhile, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recently released data on household population, number of households and average household size (AHS) of the Philippines based on the 2015 Census of Population. The household population of the Philippines reached 100.57 million persons in 2015. This is 8.47 million higher than the 92.10 million household population reported in

2010, and 23.96 million more than the 76.61 million household population posted in 2000. “The household population comprised 99.6 percent of the total Philippine population, while the remaining 0.4 percent is comprised of the institutional population or those residing in collective or institutional living quarters, such as hospitals, orphanages and military camps; and Filipinos in Philippine embassies, consulates and missions abroad,” the PSA said. T he PSA noted, however, that the AHS has continued to

The figures for women of reproductive age and adolescent girls continue to be the highest numbers on record. This trend is expected to continue up to 2022, when the numbers of women of reproductive age are expected to peak at 29.1 million and adolescent girls at 11.3 million.”—Popcom

decrease from 2000. Data showed the AHS decreased to 4.4 persons in 2015, from 4.6 persons in 2010. In 2000 there were 5 persons, on average, per household. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) registered the highest AHS of 6.1 persons, followed by Region 5 (Bicol) with 4.8 persons. The lowest AHS was recorded in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Region 11 (Davao), both with 4.1 persons. In the ARMM, the province with the highest AHS was Lanao del Sur, with an average of 6.5 persons per household. The municipality with the highest AHS in the province and nationwide was Tagaloan II with 7.6 persons per household. The ARMM province with the lowest AHS are Basilan and TawiTawi, with 5.8 persons per household. The city with the lowest AHS was the city of Lamitan, with 5 persons per household. In the National Capital Region, the cities with the lowest AHS are Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasay at 3.8 persons per household. The city with the highest AHS was Marikina at 4.6 persons per household.

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Lawmaker lists 12 top events driving PHL optimism for ’17

ilipinos have witnessed how the latter half of 2016 ended on a positive note, both on sociopolitical and economic aspects. The Philippines registered its most significant gains in 2016 under President Duterte, as the fastest-growing economy in Asia—a 7.1 percent third quarter growth, its most robust in three years, which even surpassed China’s 6.7 percent and Vietnam’s 6.4 percent. Looking forward this time, what significant developments could drive Filipino optimism for 2017, as noted in a recent survey report? Noted economist and Albay Rep. Joey S. Salceda, a member of the Duterte economic team, lists a dozen economic developments and events this year, on which the man on the street can brightly look forward to, as growth drivers. Salceda’s list is topped by the Philippine chairmanship and successful hosting of the Asean summit which, he said, “drive the Filipinos’ optimistic outlook for 2017.” The Philippines accepted last September 2016 the Asean chairmanship, which has adopted the theme “Partnering for change, engaging the world,” a reference to Duterte’s campaign slogan, “Change is coming.” The Philippines’s Asean chairmanship coincides with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the 10-member regional bloc. “During the Philippines’s chairmanship, we will highlight Asean as a model of regionalism and a global player, with the interest of the people at its core,” Duterte stressed. “We will pursue initiatives and enhance cooperation with global partners to ensure that Asean citizens live in peace, stability, security and growth, all the while retaining Asean’s centrality, unity and solidarity, that we will maintain for all times,” he added. Second in Salceda’s list is the completion and launch of 2017 to 2022 Philippine Development Plan (PDP) earlier this year. The PDP will translate AmBisyon Natin 2040 and the administration’s 0+10-point socioeconomic agenda into strategies, policies, programs and activities that emphasize “Malasakit at pagbabago tungo sa patuloy na pagunlad” (Concern and change toward continuous growth). AmBisyon 2040 represents the collective long-term vision and aspirations of the Filipino people for themselves and for the country in the next 25 years. It describes the kind of life they want to live, and how their country will be by 2040. As such, it is an anchor for development planning across at least four administrations. Seen as third most important economic event in 2017 is the approval and implementation of the proposed traffic

and congestion crisis plan, that gives Duterte emergency powers to solve the debilitating transport problem and save the country billions of pesos in daily loses. Fourth is the enactment of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion, or Train, which will reduce the personal-income taxes of ordinary working Filipino families by P156 billion. Supporting this is fifth on the list: the initial implementation of the Tax Administration Act, or Tara, which paves the way for the government’s efficient tax-collection strategy. Both measures were sponsored by Salceda in the Lower House. Likewise, among the top of these 2017 events are the Final Peace Agreement with the National Democratic Front Comprehensive Agreement on Socioeconomic Reforms, or CASER, and the creation of Bangsamoro authority by legislation. Salceda said these will ease up the government peace and order campaign, resulting in improved economic conditions. The year 2017 also jump-starts the “Golden Era of Transportation in the Philippines,” the eighth significant event, which includes the rapid development of international airports in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, Daraga in Albay and Panglao in Bohol. This also includes the kick-off of the Mindanao Railways and the Southline component of the North-South Railways Program; the implementation of the bridges between Matnog, Sorogon and Allen, Samar, and between Leyte and Surigao. The list puts in ninth the implementation of the 42 industry road maps, Manufacturing Resurgence Program, small and medium enterprise in global value chain development and the new Investment Priority Plan of the Duterte administration. In 10th spot are the business trophy investments from Japan, including $25 billion committed by Marubeni and the big-ticket infrastructures funded by loans from China, seen to push further the country’s economic growth. Capping these developments that drive Filipino optimism for their truly brighter future, is the submission to Congress of the proposed federal government set up for the Philippines and the convening of the Constitutional assembly, which is not only historic but also opens doors to a broad prospects of economic growth. Salceda stressed that providing solid support to these developments, the 12th on his list, is the strong leadership and united front by the Executive, Legislative, local government units and civil-society organizations against poverty and strategic alliance for global competitiveness.

Lopez orders audit of ₧1-billion air-quality monitoring devices By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

E-trike power A quality-control personnel inspects a fleet of E-trikes in Intramuros, Manila, during the holiday season. E- trikes

have evolved to be a mainstay of public transport in the Walled City, along with the traditional horse-drawn cart, the calesa. A project of the Intramuros Administration, the E-trike project promises to be a more economical and practical solution the city’s transport woes. ROY DOMINGO

nvironment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez has ordered an audit of the air-quality monitoring devices acquired by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). In a text message, Lopez said she was not happy with the performance of the machines because “it showed that polluted areas have clean air.” The audit came as the Coalition of Clean Air Advocates of the Philippines (CCAAP) and the United Filipino Consumers and Commuters (UFCC) reiterated their call to the DENR to probe the alleged anomalous purchase of the devices, which they claim was either obsolete or not working properly. CCAAP and UFCC claimed that

the alleged anomalous acquisition resulted in the inaccuracies in the DENR’s “real time” air-quality monitoring reports that are supposed to be issued regularly by the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB). However, Lopez noted that the complaint was addressed to the previous DENR leadership “so we will check up on it, if there is corruption.” According to Lopez, “heads will roll” if there is proof or evidence of corruption on the part of the officials involved in the acquisition. DENR-EMB Director Juan Miguel Cuna could not be reached for interview as of this writing. He also failed to respond to interview request made by the BusinessMirror to shed light on the issue. “If there is corruption in getting the machines…that is evidence of

corruption because a lot of money is involved. I have zero tolerance for corruption. If there is proof of monkey business, people [will] go,” she said. In a news statement, CCAAP and UFCC said the recent New Year’s eve revelry revealed “a very unhealthy and hazardous air-quality forecast for the entire Metro Manila based on EMB New Year’s celebration aftermath air-quality monitoring.” “This is a clear case of graft and corruption. We are questioning a total of roughly a billion pesos worth of purchases of air-quality monitoring instruments or equipment by the DENR [in a given period of time] after discovering that these same air monitors where purchased at the gross disadvantage of the Philippine government,” UFCC president Rodolfo Javellana said.

House eyes passage of comprehensive tax-reform package proposal by June

o help the government to finance the 2018 national budget, the House of Representatives is eyeing the passage by June of the proposed comprehensive tax-reform package, which seeks to lower personal income-tax (PIT) rates and impose additional taxes on certain commodities. House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and PDP-Laban Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua of Quirino said he is set to file the new version of the tax package this week. “I am targeting to file the bill when

government offices resume [on January 3] after the holiday break,” Cua told the BusinessMirror. The said tax package was resubmitted to Congress by the Department of Finance (DOF) last December 14. The House of Representatives and other government agencies are set to resume office on January 3. However, the Congress’s session will start on January 16. Earlier, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the proposed tax-reform measures must include compensatory measures, making it

feasible to finance the national budget. The tax-reform package involves foregone revenue of around P200 billion, but at the same time, will generate around P566 billion for the government. “I agree with Secretary Pernia. That’s why we will give this [bill] priority when session resumes. So my plan...the House Committee on Ways and Means will conduct a weekly hearing to tackle this tax reform until its passage at the committee level,” Cua added. According to Cua, the tax-reform

package will pass the panel this January and the plenary in the middle of 2017.

Exemptions

Meanwhile, like the finance agency’s first proposal, Cua said only workers with a monthly salary of P20,833, or P250,000 annually, will be exempted from PIT under the new DOF proposal. This runs counter to the proposal of President Duterte and some lawmakers, who want the DOF to exempt workers earning P25,000 monthly, or P300,000 an-

nually, and below from PIT. In the current setup, those earning P10,000 or less per month pay a 5-percent income tax, while those with yearly earnings of P500,000 and above pay a 32-percent income tax. Also, the lawmaker said the DOF also maintained its proposal removing the value-added tax (VAT) exemptions for senior citizens and people with disabilitys (PWDs). “But this is not final yet, we can still change it,” Cua said. He, however, refused to give further details of the new bill. The imposition of excise

tax on petroleum, removal of VAT exemptions for senior citizens and PWDs and ad valorem tax on automobiles are among of the offsetting measures being pushed by the DOF in their first proposed bill but opposed by lawmakers. Cua added the lower chamber will still push the inclusion of a provision on revenue-collection efficiency in the tax-reform package instead of removing the VAT exemptions for senior citizens and PWDs as the DOF wants. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Tuesday, January 3, 2017

NFA allows groups, firms to import rice

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

he National Food Authority (NFA) said it has approved the request of 210 traders to import rice, which would come in at a higher duty under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme.

As of December 21, 2016, the NFA has allowed 210 farmers’ organizations and private firms to import 692,340 metric tons (MT) of rice, 110,160 MT less than the country’s annual MAV of 802,500 MT. The NFA list available on its web site also showed that 194 qualified rice traders, including AgriNurture Inc. and Pilmico Foods Corp., will import 642,340 MT of rice under the country specific quota (CSQ). Of the total rice to be imported under the CSQ, 293,100 MT of rice will be bought from Thailand and Vietnam. Meanwhile, 16 qualified applicants will import a total of 50,000 MT of rice under the “omnibus origin” category, according to the NFA list. Under the importation guidelines released by the NFA, rice traders are allowed to source from countries with specific quota and from omnibus origin or from any country.

210 The number of farmers’ organizations and firms allowed by the government to import rice under MAV

Rice traders and farmers’ groups can import 293,100 MT of rice from Thailand and Vietnam. They can also import 50,000 MT of rice from China, India and Pakistan; 15,000 MT from Australia; and 4,000 MT from El Salvador. An additional volume of 50,000 MT is allowed to be imported from any country. The NFA said it allows each organization or firm to import

Caraga’s agri office reports successful rice program as year closes

utuan City—The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) office in the Caraga region has reported a successful rice program this year. The office’s spokeman, Emmylou Presilda, in a forum dubbed as “Knowledge Sharing and Learning for Local Media and Awarding of Partners” held at a convention center here, bared that the program this year was able to deliver and distribute a total of 372,520 kilogram of high-quality seeds (HQS), benefiting some 3,862 farmers. A total of 110 rice farmers associations were able to avail themselves of the intervention package that includes hybrid/ certified seeds, inorganic fertilizer, zinc sulphate and various chemicals for pest and disease control. The program, according to Presilda, also dispersed 88,600 kg of rice seeds; 370,000 kg of inorganic fertilizer; 3,400 kg of zinc sulphate; 3,000 liters of fungicide/bactericide; and 500 kg of rodenticides. Some 30 farmer field school demonstration sites were also established. Meanwhile, P23.6 million was allocated for the construction and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities in the region. A small water-impounding project was installed at SSDSU, San Miguel, Surigao del Sur, while a diversion dam was built in Ubodubod, Butuan City. A small farm reservoir was constructed in Maharag, San Miguel, while three diversion dams in Lanuza, Surigao del Sur, Bacuag, Surigao del Norte; and Buenavista, Agusan del Norte, were rehabilitated. The program was also able to distribute three 4WD tractors, eight hand tractors, five floating trailers and three transplanters that help farmers during land preparation and planting. In support of farm mechanization, the department was able to distribute seven rice reapers and 20 threshers that help farmers reduce postharvest losses during harvesting, as compared to manual harvesting, according to Presilda. The activity was participated in by regional agriculture officials and personnel led by DACaraga Regional Technical Director Nicandro Navia Jr., and local media practitioners, among others. PNA

Bloomberg Photo

20,000 MT. The rice imports by the qualified traders must arrive in the

country not later than February 28, according to the official guidelines of the NFA.

Currently, the government allows rice imports within the MAV scheme to enter the country at a

lower tariff of 35 percent. Imports in excess of the MAV are slapped a higher tariff of 50 percent.

SRA implements partial hike in service fees T he Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said it has finally implemented a partial increase in the fees for some of its frontline services starting on January 1. The attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA) released Memorandum Circular (MC) 11, which authorized the increase in the clearance fee for imported molasses and shipping permit fee, on December 23. Under MC 11, SR A administrator Anna Rosario V. Paner said the clearance fee for imported molasses is now set at P450 per metric ton (MT) from the previous P400 per MT. The shipping permit fee is now pegged at P1.50 per

kilogram bag (LKg) from P1 per LKg. “The partial increase in fees and charges is hereby implemented and shall be gradually increased until the maximum/full increase is attained,” Paner said in MC 11. “All other fees and charges currently being charged and collected and not covered by this memorandum circular shall continue to be collected,” she added. The SRA said the increase in frontline services fees is indicated in General Administrative Order (GAO) 1 issued on May 11, 2011. However, the provisions of GAO 1 were deferred by MC 1 and 1-A, series

of 2011-2012 issued on August 26, 2011, and September 29, 2011, respectively. “The increase in fees and charges of the frontline services in the exercise of the regulatory mandate of SRA, pursuant to Executive Order 18 to regulate the schedule of charges, are hereby imposed and collected as part of the SRA’s regulatory function,” GAO 1 read. Under GAO 1, 20 frontline services of the SRA are covered with the fees and charges increment. For example, the clearance fee for imported molasses will be increased to P600 per MT, P150 higher than the new fee. However, MC 1 deferred the incre-

ment in the fees and charges of seven of the 20 frontline services covered by GAO 1. T hese are clearance fee for imported molasses, clearance fee for export of muscovado/application, premix clearance, regular swapping fee, monitoring fee of all sugar covered by raw sugar quedan, shipping permit and milling permit. In MC 1-A, then SRA chief Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin said the deferment of the increment of fees in the seven frontline services of the agency was made in response to request of some stakeholders of the sugar industry. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

US issuing new rules to curb illegal fishing, seafood fraud

ORTL A ND, Maine—T he Obama administration is issuing new rules it says will crack down on illegal fishing and seafood fraud by preventing unverifiable fish products from entering the US market. The new protections are called the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, and they are designed to stop illegally fished and intentionally misidentified seafood from getting into stores and restaurants by way of imported fish. The rules will require seafood importers to report information and maintain records about the harvest and chain of custody of fish, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. The program will start by focusing on “priority species” that are especially vulnerable to illegal fishing, such as popular food fish, like tuna, swordfish, Atlantic cod and grouper. The government hopes eventually to broaden the program out to include all fish species, NOAA officials said.

“It sends an important message to the international seafood community that if you are open and transparent about the seafood you catch and sell across the supply chain, then the US markets are open for your business,” said Catherine Novelli, a State Department undersecretary. Estimates of the economic damage of illegal fishing vary, but conservation group Oceana reported in a 2013 study that illegal fishing causes more than $10 billion in global losses every year. Some other estimates are higher. The rules will help make sure that importers are able to supply “the who, what, why, when, how of fishing,” said Beth Lowell, a senior campaign director with Oceana. “For the first time ever, some imported species will be held to the same standard that domestic wild caught species are,” Lowell said. The new rules are an outgrowth of a presidential task force established in June 2014 to crack down on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and seafood fraud.

In this June 18, 2015, file photo, an ahi tuna sits packed in ice waiting to be auctioned at the United Fishing Agency in Honolulu. AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File

NOAA officials said the new requirements will allow regulators to trace seafood from its point of entry into the US to the point when it was harvested from the sea. The information submitted by importers to comply with the rules will be kept confidential, and there is not a consumer labeling component. The National Marine Fisheries Service, an

arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will administer the program, NOAA officials said. The rules go on the books on January 9 and compliance from importers is expected by January 1, 2018. Shrimp and abalone are included in the plan, but implementation for those species will come later because of gaps in availability of information, NOAA officials said. AP

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North Korea preparing to test ICBM, Kim says

Hamid Malaji stands outside his looted home with his wife Amina Hamawy (left) and his daughters Radia Malaji (right) and Nisrin Malaji, in the Hanano district of eastern Aleppo, Syria. It’s a painful homecoming shared by hundreds of Syrians who are returning to areas devastated by years of war and then retaken from the city’s embattled rebels in a recent government offensive. AP/Hassan Ammar

Hundreds flee fighting near Syria’s capital despite truce

EIRUT—Hundreds of civilians fled a mountainous region outside the Syrian capital on Sunday, where government forces were battling several insurgent groups, including an al-Qaeda-linked outfit excluded from a recent nationwide cease-fire.

The Syrian military said some 1,300 people fled the Barada Valley region since Saturday. The region has been the target of days of air strikes and shelling despite the truce, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey and appears to be holding in other parts of the country, despite some reports of fighting. The truce went into effect early on Friday, and the government and the opposition are expected to meet for talks in Kazakhstan later this month. Russia, a key military ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, a leading sponsor of the rebels, are acting as guarantors of the agreement,

1,300

The number of Syrian people who fled the Barada Valley region since Saturday which excludes the al-Qaedalinked Fatah al-Sham Front and the Islamic State (IS) group. On Saturday the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution supporting efforts by Russia and Turkey to end the

nearly six-year conflict in Syria and jump-start peace negotiations. The military said those f leeing Barada Valley were relocated to safer areas and their names were registered by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the opposition’s Britain-based Syri a n Obser v ator y for Hu m a n Rights, said there were buses in the region ready to evacuate civilians but could not confirm how many people had left. He said the Barada Va l ley region is not part of the ceasefire because of the presence of Fatah al-Sham Front, formerly known as the Nusra Front. The Barada Valley Media Center said Lebanese Hezbollah militants were firing on villages and towns in the water-rich region as Russian and government aircraft carried out raids for the 10th consecutive day on Saturday. The Lebanese militant group has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to bolster Assad’s forces. The Barada Valley is the primar y source of water for the capital and its surrounding region. The government assault

h a s coi nc ided w it h a se vere water shor tage in Da mascus since December 22, 2016. Images from the valley’s Media Center indicate its A in al-Fijeh spring and water processing facility have been destroyed in air strikes. The government says rebels spoiled the water source with diesel fuel, forcing it to cut supplies to the capital. The Observatory and the Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, meanwhile reported government airstrikes on rebel-held villages near the northern city of Aleppo, which was recently returned to full government control. State news agency Sana said two suicide attackers blew themselves up in the coastal city of Tartus, killing two security officers who had stopped them shortly after midnight, as residents were celebrating New Year’s Day. A news web site close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, meanwhile, said Gen. Gholam Ali Gholizadeh, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, was killed fighting in Syria. It did not provide further details. Iran is also closely allied with Assad. AP

EOUL, South Korea—North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, said on Sunday his country was making final preparations to conduct its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile—a bold statement less than a month before the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. Although North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests in the last decade and more than 20 ballistic missile tests in 2016 alone, and although it habitually threatens to attack the United States with nuclear weapons, the country has never flight-tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In his annual New Year’s Day speech, which was broadcast on the North’s state-run KCTV on Sunday, Kim spoke proudly of the strides he said his country had made in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. He said North Korea would continue to bolster its weapons programs as long as the US remained hostile and continued its joint military exercises with South Korea. “We have reached the final stage in preparations to testlaunch an intercontinental ballistic rocket,” he said. Analysts in the region have said Kim might conduct another weapons test in coming months, taking advantage of leadership changes in the US and South Korea. Trump will be sworn in on January 20. In South Korea President Park Geun-hye, whose powers were suspended in a parliamentary impeachment last December 9, is waiting for the Constitutional Court to rule on whether she should be formally removed from office or reinstated. If North Korea conducts a long-range missile test in coming months, it will test Trump’s new administration; despite years of increasingly harsh sanctions, North Korea has been advancing toward Kim’s professed goal of arming his isolated country with the ability to deliver a nuclear warhead at the US. Kim’s speech on Sunday indicated that North Korea may test-launch a long-range rocket several times this year to complete its ICBM program, said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute in South Korea. The first of such tests could come even before Trump’s inauguration, Cheong said. “We need to take note of the

fact that this is the first New Year’s speech where Kim Jong Un mentioned an intercontinental ballistic missile,” he said. In his speech, Kim did not comment on Trump’s election. Doubt runs deep that North Korea has mastered all the technology needed to build a reliable ICBM. But analysts in the region said the North’s launchings of threestage rockets to put satellites into orbit in recent years showed that the country had cleared some key technological hurdles. A fter the North ’s satellite launch in February, South Korean defense officials said the Unha rocket used in the launch, if successfully reconfigured as a missile, could fly more than 7,400 miles with a warhead of 1,100 pounds to 1,300 pounds—far enough to reach most of the US. Nor th Korea has deployed Rodong ballistic missiles that can reach most of South Korea and Japan, but it has had a spotty record in test-launching the Musudan, its intermediate-range ballistic missile with a range long enough to reach US military bases in the Pacific, including those on Guam. The North has also claimed a series of successes in testing various ICBM technologies, although its claims cannot be verified and are often disputed by officials and analysts in the region. It has said it could make nuclear warheads small enough to fit onto a ballistic missile. It also claimed success in testing the reentr y technolog y that allows a long-range missile to return to the Earth ’s atmosphere without breaking up. Last April North Korea reported the successful ground test of an engine for an intercontinenta l ba l listic missi le. At the time, Kim said the North “can tip new-type intercontinental ballistic rockets with more powerful nuclear warheads and keep any cesspool of evils in the Earth, including the US mainland, within our striking range.” Last September 9 the Nor th conducted its fifth, and most power f u l , nuc lea r test. K i m later attended another ground test of a new long-range rocket eng ine, ex hor ting his gover nment to prepare for another rocket launch as soon as possible. Last November the UN Secur it y Council imposed new sanctions against the Nor th. New York Times News Service

Massacre in Istanbul exposes Turkey’s deepening fault lines I STANBUL—When a lone gunman murdered dozens of New Year’s revelers early on Sunday, he targeted a symbol of a cosmopolitan Istanbul that is increasingly under threat: a dazzling nightclub where people from around the world could party together, free from the mayhem and violence gripping the region. It was there, at the Reina nightclub on the Bosporus—a hot spot for soap opera stars and professional athletes, Turks and well-heeled tourists—that those hoping to move past a particularly troubled year died together. The assault was the second in two weeks in Turkey, and it further exposed the fault lines in a country that is increasingly tearing apart amid terrorist attacks and political instability. With the gunman on the loose on Sunday night and a nationwide manhunt under way, the killings brutally highlighted a dilemma for Turkey’s authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Even though he has cracked down on opponents and put in place security measures to bring stability to his rattled country, the attacks keep

mounting. “I don’t know what to say,” said Zeynep Ozman, whose brother, Ali, was wounded in the attack. “I don’t want to say anything political, but this can’t be accepted as the new norm. Terrorism is everywhere now, and the government has no control. Something needs to be done. There is no life left in Istanbul.” Turkey has been reeling for several years now, as it has been increasingly drawn into the Syrian civil war. By opening its borders to foreign fighters trying to reach Syria, critics say, it inadvertently supported the rise of the Islamic State (IS) group, which is carrying out attacks within Turkey. Then, in 2015, a stalled war with Kurdish militants was renewed, and this summer, Turkey suffered from an attempted coup.

To diminish democracy

The attack on Sunday morning— a strike on the Western, urbane face of Istanbul—is likely to further diminish Turkey’s democracy by giving Erdogan a freer hand to expand his crackdown on opponents, which accelerated after the coup attempt.

It is also likely to erode the country’s economy, which has already suffered because of a decline in tourism and foreign investment. “Nothing that the government is doing is helping make Turkey more secure,” said Asli Aydintasbas, a prominent Turkish writer and fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “The crackdown on domestic dissidents is further destabilizing the country, and when it is not destabilizing, it is increasing the dangerous polarization here.” On Sunday Erdogan vowed in a statement that the fight against terrorists would bring the country together. “They are working to destroy our country’s morale and create chaos by deliberately targeting our nation’s peace and targeting civilians with these heinous attacks,” he said. “We will retain our coolheadedness as a nation, standing more closely together, and we will never give ground to such dirty games.” As it had after other recent attacks, the government imposed a news blackout, saying news outlets should report only official statements.

Many threats

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 39 people, including at least 25 foreigners, according to Turkey’s state news agency. But threats against Turkey from the IS and its supporters have increased, and a senior US official said on Sunday that the emerging assessment of both the American and Turkish authorities was that the IS was responsible for the attack, or had at least inspired the gunman. Still, the IS, which Turkey is fighting against in Syria, is just one of many threats the country faces. Even before the Arab Spring revolutions six years ago, Turkey sought to set itself apart and shape events around the region with its “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy. Now, a l l that has changed. Turkey, a member of Nor th Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been eng u lfed by the dark and destabi lizing forces g r ipping the Midd le East and the surrounding regions, where ever ything seems to converge: terror ism, the migrant cr isis and the r ise of author itar ianism.

Terror

The renewal of a long war between the Turkish government and ethnic Kurdish militants has left cities in the Kurdishdominated southeast in rubble and brought terror to the heart of Turkey’s cities. A bombing at a soccer stadium in Istanbul last December that killed dozens was just the latest attack claimed by a Kurdish terrorist group. The government pinned last summer’s failed coup on the followers of a rival to Erdogan, the Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania. That was followed by a countercoup engineered by Erdogan, in which tens of thousands of people he said were linked to Gulen—police officers, soldiers, teachers, civil servants and others—were either arrested or purged from their jobs. And less than two weeks before Sunday’s attack, an off-duty police officer assassinated the Russian ambassador to Turkey at an art gallery in Ankara, saying he was exacting revenge for Russia’s role in bombing civilians in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. The killing came amid a rapprochement

between Turkey and Russia, which had indicated that Erdogan, instead of continuing to push for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, was leaning on Russia, Assad’s most important ally, to bring peace to Syria.

Questions on intelligence forces

The assassination and the deadly nightclub attack have raised questions about how able Turkey’s intelligence forces are to keep the country safe. With such a harrowing year coming to a close, many Turks were eager for New Year’s Eve, as if turning the page on the calendar might signal a fresh start. In Istanbul, where a video on social media before the shooting showed well-dressed partyers at Reina ringing in the new year with sparklers, Champagne and confetti, the gaiety lasted just a little more than an hour. At about 1:15 a.m., the gunman, armed with a rapid-fire rifle, killed a police officer guarding the club before going on a shooting rampage. In the ensuing panic, some clubgoers jumped into the Bosporus, which separates Europe from Asia. New York Times News Service

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

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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

India manufacturing shrinking as cash shortages continue

private gauge indicates that India’s manufacturing sector will shrink for the first time in a year as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unprecedented clampdown on cash hurts demand. The Nikkei India Manufactur ing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was at 49.6 last December, a report showed on Monday, the lowest since December 2015. A number below 50 indicates a contraction. “Shortages of money in the economy steered output and new orders in the wrong direction, thereby interrupting a continuous sequence of growth that had been seen throughout 2016,” Pollyanna De Lima wrote in the report. “Cash flow issues among firms also led to

reductions in purchasing activity and employment.” A continued slowdown will strip India of its position as one of the world’s fastest-growing big economies and risk a political backlash against Modi. PMI data is due from India’s key services sector on Wednesday before focus shifts to the government’s first official growth estimate for the year through March. New work and production fell slightly but recorded the first decrease in a year Payrolls decreased marginally; vast majority of panelists signaled unchanged workforces Input cost inflation accelerated “January data will be key in showing whether the sector will see a quick rebound,” de Lima said. Bloomberg News

Trump’s Twitter age brings chaos, reviving gold as haven

he Donald J. Trump era is marking a new age for gold as an investor safe haven. While the precious metal has always been hoarded in times of trouble, a bevy of political and economic surprises in 2016 sparked a surge in buying that sent bullion to the first annual gain in four years. Prices may rally about 13 percent in 2017, according to a Bloomberg survey of 26 analysts. Fueling the bullish outlook is the risk of chaos on multiple fronts: a possible trade war from America’s fraying relationship with China, the alleged Russian hack of US political parties, the UK’s complicated exit from the European Union, and elections slated in France, Germany and the Netherlands that may see a rise of nationalist groups. A nd then there are Tr ump’s f r e q u e n t Tw i t t e r p o s t s , i n which the US president-elect feuded w ith r iva ls and made declarations that unsettled a llies even before he ta kes office on Januar y 20. “One hundred fourty characters of unfiltered Trump is likely to create tensions with America’s largest trading partners,” Mark O’Byrne, a director at broker GoldCore Ltd. in Dublin, said by e-mail. “Markets that are already shaken by the fallout from Brexit, the coming elections in Europe and, indeed, the increasing specter of cyber warfare could again see a safe-haven bid.” Gold for immediate delivery is up 8.9 percent this year to $1,155.12 an ounce, halting a three-year slide. More than two thirds of the analysts and traders surveyed from Singapore to New York said they were bullish for 2017. The median year-end forecast was $1,300, with the year’s peak seen at $1,350. Two, including O’Byrne, said the metal may reach $1,600. Demand for bullion would get a boost if elections in Europe see gains by anti-establishment parties, according to Commerzbank AG analysts led by Eugen Weinberg. Increased protectionist policies and the potential for a trade war between Trump’s administration and China may also help push gold higher, they said. In a growing number of countries, “there are nationalistic tendencies, more isolationist tendencies,” sa id Peter Marrone, the CEO of Toronto-based Yamana Gold Inc., which owns m i nes i n C a n ad a a nd Sout h America. “ That will create geop ol it ic a l a nd so c io e conom ic volatility, perhaps instability, cer t a i n ly r i sk .” T hat doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons to

be bearish. After starting 2016 with the biggest first-half rally in four decades, prices fell from their peak in July and investors have cut back on bullion holdings. That was mostly because an improving US economy and higher interest rates made other assets more attractive, including equities. Four of the analysts in the Bloomberg survey predicted bullion would drop below $1,000 in 2017, particularly if the Federal Reser ve (the Fed) raises interest rates three times next year and Trump makes good on his pledge to boost infrastructure spending to spur economic growth. Holdings of the metal in exchange-traded funds (ETFs)— which had reached a three-year high in October—dropped for 33 straight days after the US election on November 8, the longest slide since 2004, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts said in a note on November 21 that the bulk of new investments in gold-backed ETFs are losing money and that further selling in ETFs could exacerbate price declines. Citigroup Inc. also cited downside risks from a potential selloff in gold ETFs, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch said the metal is in the doldrums as the economic policy outlined by Trump push rates higher. Si ng ap ore - ba se d O ve rse a Chinese Banking Corp.’s Barnabas Gan, an economist whose prediction was the most accurate among gold forecasters tracked by Bloomberg in the third quarter, sees the metal falling to $1,100 by the end of 2017. Still, signs of optimism remain. A poll by Bloomberg Intelligence on November 10 showed 42 percent of respondents predict gold will be the best-performing metal in 2017. Ronald Stoeferle, managing partner at Incrementum AG and the most-accurate among the precious-metals forecasters tracked by Bloomberg last quarter, said the metal will rally to $1,422 because the Fed may turn out to be more dovish than expected, which would mean an acceleration of inf lation that boosts the appeal of gold. “Gold is mania-prone, both on the upside and the downside,” said Christopher Cruden, who oversees $350 million as CEO of Insch Capital Management in Lugano, Switzerland. His gold fund is up 39 percent this year. “It’s irrational, but that could be used to your advantage,” Cruden said. “If you are on the right side of the irrationality, you can do well.” Bloomberg News

A Chinese man collects recyclables. Bloomberg News

China central bank adviser calls for 6%-7% growth target range

hina should set a more flexible 2017 economic growth target to give policy-makers more room to enact reform, according to Huang Yiping, an adviser to the People’s Bank of China. He proposed a range of 6 percent to 7 percent for this year, compared with the 6.5-percent to 7-percent objective in 2016, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Last year’s target, the first range in two decades, was down from 7 percent for 2015. T he countr y’s leaders a lso have a longer-term objective. President Xi Jinping has said he wants expansion to average at least 6.5 percent in the five years through 2020 to achieve the Communist Party promise of building a “moderately prosperous society” by that year with GDP and income levels double

6.5%

The percentage of economic expansion that President Xi Jinping has said he wants to average in the five years through 2020

those of 2010. “ T he 6.5 -percent t a rget is just a n average rate,” Huang, an economics professor

at Pek ing Universit y, told X inhu a in a n inter v iew publ ished late on Sunday. “A s long as employ ment is st able, a sl ight ly w ider g row t h t a rget ra nge in t he shor t ter m w i l l reduce t he need for progrow th efforts and g ive pol ic y-ma kers more room to foc us on refor ms.” Huang said a large number of “zombie companies” remain economically inviable, yet still manage to survive on government and bank assistance, bringing down the overall efficiency of resource allocation in the economy.

Smooth rebalancing

In addition to slowing growth and rising debt, top officials are also trying to manage a smooth rebalancing from the old growth drivers, such as manufacturing and construction as new ones, like consumption struggle to compensate. Meanwhile, policy makers are focusing more on safeguarding the financial system. Preventing and controlling financial risk to avoid asset bubbles

will be a priority for 2017, along with deepening supply-side structural reform, top party officials said recently after their annual gathering of the Central Economic Work Conference to decide on policy goals. Xi is open to growth below the 6.5-percent target due to rising debt and concern about an uncertain global environment after Donald Trump’s US election win, a person familiar with the situation told Bloomberg News last month. Hitting the target isn’t needed if doing so is too risky, said the person, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. China is poised to abandon its longer-term growth target in the next two years as leaders push to contain asset bubbles and financial leverage, Yao Wei, chief China economist at Societe Generale SA in Paris, wrote in a report last week. She said the 6.5-percent goal would likely be lowered to a range of 6 percent to 6.5 percent, or even 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent. Bloomberg News

Venezuela military trafficking food as country goes hungry

UERTO CABELLO, Venezuela—When hunger drew tens of thousands of Venezuelans to the streets last summer in protest, President Nicolas Maduro turned to the military to manage the country’s diminished food supply, putting generals in charge of everything from butter to rice. But instead of fighting hunger, the military is making money from it, an Associated Press (AP) investigation shows. That’s what grocer Jose Campos found when he ran out of pantry staples this year. In the middle of the night, he would travel to an illegal market run by the military to buy corn f lour—at 100 times the government-set price. “The military would be watching over whole bags of money,” Campos said. “They always had what I needed.” With much of the oil country on the verge of starvation and malnourished children dying in pediatric wards, food trafficking has become big business in Venezuela. And the military is at the heart of the graft, according to documents and interviews with more than 60 officials, company

owners and workers, including five former generals. As a result, food is not reaching those who most need it. The US government has taken notice. Prosecutors have opened investigations against senior Venezuelan officials for laundering riches from food contracts through the US financial system, according to several people with direct knowledge of the probes. No charges have been brought. “Lately, food is a better business than drugs,” said retired Gen. Cliver Alcala, who helped oversee border security. The late President Hugo Chavez created a Food Ministry in 2004. His socialist government nationalized and then neglected farms and factories, and domestic production dried up. When the price of oil collapsed in 2014, the government no longer could afford to import all the country needed. Hungry Venezuelans began rioting, and so Maduro handed the generals complete power over food. The government now imports nearly all the country’s food, and corruption drives prices sky-high, said Werner Gutierrez, agronomy professor at

the University of Zulia. “If Venezuela paid market prices, we’d be able to double our imports,” Gutierrez said. “Instead, people are starving.” In large part due to concerns of graft, the three largest global food traders, all based in the US, have stopped selling directly to the Venezuelan government. One South American businessman says he paid millions in kickbacks to Venezuelan officials as the hunger crisis worsened, including $8 million to people who work for the food minister, Gen. Rodolfo Marco Torres. The businessman insisted on speaking anonymously because he did not want to acknowledge participating in corruption. He explained that vendors like him can afford to pay off officials because they build large profit margins into what they bill the state. A single $52-million contract of his to import yellow corn last year, seen by AP, included a potential overpayment of more than $20 million, compared with market prices at the time. Marco Torres did not respond to requests for comment by phone, email and hand-delivered letter.

In the past, he has said he will not be lured into fights with an unpatriotic opposition. Some contracts go to companies that have no experience dealing in food or seem to exist only on paper. Financial documents obtained by AP show that Marco Torres did business with Panama-registered Atlas Systems International, which has all the hallmarks of a shell company. Another government food supplier, J.A. Comercio de Generos Alimenticios, lists on its website a nonexistent address in an industrial city near São Paulo, Brazil. The two companies transferred more than $5.5 million in 2012 and 2013 to a Geneva account controlled by the brothers-in-law of the then-food minister Gen. Carlos Osorio, according to bank and internal company documents seen by AP. Osorio, recently appointed to oversee transparency in the military, did not respond to requests for comment, but in the past dismissed charges of corruption as personal attacks from the opposition. The socialist administration says it takes graft seriously. AP

The World BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

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

In banning ivory trade, China to benefit too

EIJING—China’s vow to shut down its commercial ivory trade by the end of this year was welcomed by environmentalists as a turning point in the fight against poachers. Activists cheered the government’s pledge for swift action, and the state-run news media called it a “monumental win for elephants.” But in making the decision, announced on Friday, to bring the world’s largest ivory market to a halt, the Chinese government also saw benefits for itself. The ban reinforced President X i Jinping’s campaign against corrupt officials, who have been know n to use ivor y products as bribes. It galvanized support among African allies, which have long pressed Beijing to help curb poaching, as China looks to expand its influence on the continent. And the decision allowed China to burnish its image as a global guardian of the environment, at a time when advocates have raised doubts about the ability of the United States to lead on environmental issues. Peter Knights, the executive director of WildAid, which lobbied heavily on the ivory issue, said Chinese leaders had come to realize that taking action on environmental matters, like climate change and illegal wildlife trade, was essential to cementing China’s place as a global superpower. “With power comes responsibility,” said Knights, whose organization has spent $3 million over the last four years on an advertising campaign in China

100k The estimated number of elephants killed over the last decade

against the ivory trade. “ They know it’s not worth damaging China’s international image to be involved in this business.” For years, Chinese leaders resisted taking strong action to curb ivory sales, convinced that conservationists were overstating the country’s role in fueling a trade that has, by some estimates, killed more than 100,000 elephants over the last decade. Ivory carving is considered a fine art and cultural tradition in China, and sales on the mainland have thrived for decades. But attitudes among top leaders shifted over the last several years, advocates said, as a wave of bad publicity revealed the nefarious activities of Chinese smugglers and as evidence mounted that China’s economic

An elephant walks through the bush at the Southern African Wildlife College on the edge of Kruger National Park in South Africa. The Chinese government said in a statement on December 30 it will shut down its official ivory trade at the end of 2017 in a move designed to curb the mass slaughter of African elephants. AP/Denis Farrell

boom had led to a surge in demand for ivory. (The stockpile of legal ivory in China is estimated at about $150 million, according to advocates.) Env ironmental activ ists in China, many of them affiliated with American organizations, including WildAid, led a concerted effort to raise awareness about the issue, investing in subway ads and television documentaries. Celebrities, like Yao Ming, the basketball player, spoke out, urging the government to ban sales of commercial ivory. Still, there were doubts among Chinese officials about the need for more forceful action, and some argued that the problem was not booming sales of ivory in China but lax enforcement in Africa. “ T heir position was, ‘It’s not our problem, it’s the A fr ican countr ies’ problem, and we’re

doing ever ything we can,’” said Susan Lieberman, the vice president for inter nationa l polic y at the Wild life Conser vation Societ y in New York. But it became increasingly clear to Chinese officials that smugglers were bringing ivory into the country illegally and marketing it as a legal product. Ivory had become a status symbol among the rapidly growing middle class, used in products like necklaces and table lamps. Wealthy businessmen and officials were purchasing elaborate carvings as luxurious gifts or, in some cases, bribes. In 2014 the Chinese ambassador to Tanzania, in an unusually public rebuke, denounced Chinese citizens in the country for “bad habits” and said officials worried constantly about people being arrested on suspicion of smuggling.

As China forged closer ties with African nations, its role in enabling the ivor y trade provoked resentment, with some of f ic i a l s acc u si ng B eiji ng of contr ibuting to v iolence and terrorism in the region. It did not help that in 2014, reports emerged that members of Xi’s entourage had, on a presidential visit to Tanzania the year before, bought thousands of pounds of poached tusks to take home. “China became quite aware that even in their ‘legal market’ there was tremendous laundering through an illegal system,” Lieberman said. “They didn’t want to be the ones to blame.” Chinese leaders seemed eager for a change. Officials burned stockpiles of ivory on the mainland before phalanxes of news cameras, and they began discussing the possibility of imposing

a ban on ivory imports. At the same time, the US was pressing China to join forces to combat poaching, and in 2015, President Barack Obama and Xi announced that they had agreed to shut down the markets in their respective countries. For Xi, who has pushed the idea of creating an “ecological civ i l i zat ion” in C hina in re sponse to severe air, water and soil pollution, the idea of closing the domestic market brought several advantages. It dovetailed with the president’s vigorous nationwide campaign against corrupt officials, who have traded exotic wildlife in money-laundering and graft schemes. It also allowed China a chance to show compassion toward allies in Africa, a continent whose oil, gas and copper reserves it is increasingly dependent on. “It’s a good image-enhancing exercise,” said Martyn Davies, a managing director for Deloitte in Johannesburg who specializes in emerging markets. “People are looking for a visible clampdown in China and results in terms of arrests and prosecutions.” China’s eagerness to act, analysts say, also reflected a desire by the government to raise its profile on environmental issues. China has already emerged as a global power broker on climate change. Now, advocates say, it might look to other concerns, such as illegal wildlife trade. Lin Li, a Chinese environmentalist who leads the Beijing offices of the conservation group World Wildlife Fund, said China seemed more willing to tackle international matters under Xi. “The top leaders are really looking to be environmental leaders,” she said. “They want to mobilize the masses, not just within China.” New York Times News Service

Destroyed by Islamic State, Syria’s cultural sites rise in France

ARIS—When the Islamic State (IS) was about to be driven out of the ancient city of Palmyra in March, Yves Ubelmann got a call from Syria’s director of antiquities to come over in a hurry. An architect by training, Ubelmann, 36, had worked in Syria before the country was engulfed by war. But now there was special urgency for the kind of work his youthful team of architects, mathematicians and designers did from their cramped offices in Paris: producing digital copies of threatened historical sites. Palmyra, parts of it already destroyed by the Islamic militants who deemed these monuments idolatrous, was still rigged with explosives. So he and Houmam Saad, his Syrian colleague, spent four days flying a drone with a robot camera over the crumbled arches and temples. “Drones with four or six rotors can hover really close and register structural details, every crack and hole, and we can take very precise measurements,” said Ubelmann, who founded the company Iconem. “This is the stuff architects and archaeologists need.” They need it in a new push for virtual preservation that scientists, archaeologists and others, like Ubelmann, are compiling on a large scale. The records could be used to create computer models that would show how monuments and endangered historical sites might one day be restored, repaired or reconstructed. Of special interest today are ancient sites in Syria, and also Iraq, that have suffered from war, looting and the IS. “Palmyra was very difficult,” Ubelmann said. “The terrorists were uploading videos with them blowing up

monuments and smashing statues to manipulate public opinion,” he said. “We felt the best response was to magnify the pictures of these places and show their splendor and their importance to the culture. It became a war of images.” The latest front in that war is in the exhibition halls of the Grand Palais in Paris, where, through January 9, many of the 40,000 images he and his team took at Palmyra have become the basis for displays. Called Eternal Sites: From Bamiyan to Palmyra, the show aims to draw attention to the rising threats to global heritage. To u nderscore t he e x hibition’s political importance, it was opened several weeks ago by President François Hollande of France, who described it as “an act of resistance” against terror and intolerance. Showing the beauty of the Middle Eastern heritage, he said, “is the best answer to the Islamist propaganda of hate, destruction and death.” Jean-Luc Martinez, the director of the Louvre and the lead curator of the show, said the sites had been chosen because “all are under threat from pillaging, neglect or destruction and are not accessible to the public.” He said it aimed to mobilize public opinion “in the face of the devastation of unique heritage.” Besides images from Palmyra, the multimedia show projects enormous 3D photographs and videos, immersing visitors in different eras, including the ancient Iraqi city of Khorsabad around 700 BC, an eighth-century mosque in Damascus and a medieval Christian citadel. Ubelmann dismissed any criticism of collaboration with the government of the Syrian president,

Visitors inspect Eternal Sites: From Bamiyan to Palmyra, an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris on December 23. More than 40,000 images taken from Palmyra highlight the threats of war against global heritage. Dmitry Kostyukov/The New York Times

Bashar al-Assad. “We were working pro bono, not for any government, but to help the archaeologists,” he said. They shared their work with the Syrian archaeologists, he said, adding, “We also train our colleagues so they can later do this on their own.” What is paramount is memory and potential restoration. In the last year, his team has flown drones over some 20 historic sites in Syria. Recently, it moved into Kurdish-held zones in Iraq, close to the front line in the fight against the IS. The team is now analyzing the war’s effects on

the remains of once thriving cities dating back some 3,000 years, including Nineveh, Khorsabad and the thrashed temple and palace of Nimrud, where the government drove out the jihadis in November. In 2015 Islamists sent out videos showing militants using sledgehammers to break reliefs of human figures and mythical winged bulls as part of their antiidols campaign. “Nimr ud was probably the most splendid of the Assyrian cities,” Layla Abdulkarim, a Syrian architect, said as she analyzed aerial photographs. Using

drones in archaeological work is not entirely new, specialists say, but at a recent gathering in Paris researchers from Europe and the Middle East said they were now having to practice “war archaeology,” that is, collecting reliable data from off-limit areas. The images from the drones in war zones had proved immensely valuable. But these were barely scratching the surface. Before the war, close to 150 archaeological projects were under way, just in Syria, researchers said. Experts from many countries are trying to assess the damage

in Syria’s old cities but also in the area where the IS held sway that is straddling Iraq and Syria, the region that is seen as central to human history and often called the birthplace of modern economics and writing. There is an outcry for data about the havoc wreaked in Yemen by Saudi bombing. “People are exchanging satellite images and data on blogs and other research platforms, but we have no real assessment yet because so many ancient sites are not accessible,” said Pascal Butterlin, a professor of archaeology at the Sorbonne in Paris. Time is of the essence, even in the case of 5,000-year-old ruins, Butterlin said. He has led expeditions for more than 20 years to Mari, near Syria’s border with Iraq. Before fleeing, the guards at Mari reported that looters had come from Iraq, he said. “We need to know what places need to be stabilized and how looters have altered the sites,” he said. “Important evidence, like clandestine pits, can disappear very quickly through sandstorms and erosion.” C hei k h mou s A l i, a Sy r i a n archaeologist based in France, who founded the international group the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeolog y, said reports of organized pillaging continued. A first wave of looting began in 2012, Ali said, and looting has accelerated since 2014 with the arrival of the IS. W hile jihadis were more motivated to destroy the artifacts, they had also allowed looters to operate in exchange for money. Ali said he kept an ever-changing tally of museums bombed, objects carted off and safes stolen. New York Times News Service

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Editor: Max V. de Leon • Tuesday, January 3, 2017 A9

17 still missing in boat fire that left 23 dead

search resumed on Monday for 17 people reported missing after a ferry fire off the coast of Indonesia’s capital, which left at least 23 dead, officials said.

The victims died on Sunday when the vessel, Zahro Express, carrying more than 260 people from a port near Jakarta to Tidung, a resort island in the Kepulauan Seribu chain, caught fire, officials said. Most of the passengers were Indonesians celebrating the New Year holiday, according to local media reports. Dito, an official from the Jakarta Search and Rescue Agency, said at least five ships and a number of speedboats and rubber boats were deployed in the search. Of the 224 passengers who were rescued, 32 were being treated at three hospitals, said Dito, who uses a single name. Seply Madreta, an official from the Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the fire gutted about half the vessel, and that 23 bodies had been recovered. Twenty bodies that were found inside the vessel were burned beyond recognition and were transferred to a police hospital for identification, said Col. Umar Shahab of the Jakarta

police health department. Witnesses told MetroTV that the fire broke out about 15 minutes after the ferry left the port of Muara Angke. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. Some passengers told local media that they first saw smoke coming from the ferry’s engine. The director for sea transportation, Tonny Budiono, said the initial suspicion was that the fire was “most probably caused by a short circuit in the engine room.” He told a news conference the short circuit might have led to the fuel tank exploding. TV footage showed people in the water with the ferry in flames in the background. A woman in the water can be heard screaming “Ya Allah! Ya Allah!” or “Oh God! Oh God!” Another woman told the TV station that she and other passengers were rescued by a small boat. Despite the high number of people who were rescued, the ferry’s manifest showed that only 100 were registered as passengers,

People inspect charred personal belongings of the passengers of a ferry that caught fire off the coast of Jakarta, at Muara Angke Port in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday. The vessel was carrying more than 230 people from Jakarta’s port of Muara Angke to Tidung, a resort island in the Kepulauan Seribu chain, when it caught fire, officials said. AP

along with six crewmen, said Denny Wahyu Haryanto, head of the Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Bleak exports haunt Asean economies bracing for Trump

he prospects for Southeast Asia’s exports— which have powered growth for decades—are looking bleak. With global growth under pressure and the US threatening to turn more protectionist under Donald J. Trump, the outlook for the export-dependent region is faltering. Nations that are poised to handle the downturn best are those with growing consumer populations. “With political support for free trade fading and antiglobalization sentiment rising, Asia’s export outlook in 2017 remains highly uncertain,” said Khoon Goh, the Singapore-based head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “Asian economies that are most dependent on exports will continue to underperform. Those that are more domestically focused, or derive a greater share of their exports from services, are likely to fare better.” Unlike in 2016 when central banks, including in Indonesia and Malaysia, unleashed stimulus to shield growth, the expectation of a strong US dollar and the threat of capital outflow may deter policy-makers from cutting interest rates this time. What to watch in 2017. The Winners: The Philippines is anticipated to post the strongest growth of any major Asian economy in 2017, building up on a solid run in recent years. “The Philippine economy starts 2017 from a position of strength and can better withstand the impact of rising external risks than most other countries in Asia,” Nomura Holdings Inc. said. “Domestic demand should remain the overarching driver, particularly investment spending, which we still expect to rise and offset the negative contribution from net exports,” Nomura wrote in a report, noting that the Philippines may be the only country in Asia to hike interest rates in 2017. Vietnam, a low-cost producer, is one of the few economies in Asia still posting export growth. Foreign direct investment from China and elsewhere should keep driving output, but relatively high inflation, a large budget deficit and low foreign reserves remain a concern, said Beatrice Tanjangco, an economist at Oxford Economics. “While posting a deficit is not necessarily bad, especially for a fast growing country, like Vietnam, the deficit is driven by current spending while, at the same time, government investment has been falling,” Tanjangco said. “With government debt close to the legal cap, room for maneuver is currently limited, calling for containment of current spending.” Indonesia, which has the largest population in Southeast Asia, is expected to benefit from any recovery in commodity prices after its mineral and natural gas producers took hits in

recent years. Capital outflows are a concern after the prospect of higher rates in the US recently triggered a sell off in Indonesian bond markets, and this may curtail policy options for the central bank if growth falters, United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) said. “With the market looking for a faster pace of rate normalization in the US next year and greater uncertainties in the euro zone, we believe Bank Indonesia will have limited opportunity to cut interest rates further,” UOB said. The losers: Malaysia’s economic growth has eased this year amid weaker exports and slower government spending. Financial markets remain highly exposed to a global turmoil with the Malaysian ringgit among the worst-performing currencies in Asia in 2016. Malaysia’s trade with the US is highly vulnerable to any possible US turn toward protectionism, as 74 percent of its exports are machinery and transport equipment that the US may produce at home, HSBC Holdings Plc. said. In addition, Malaysia’s firms are closely linked with Chinese exporters selling products to the US, it said. Thailand is similarly exposed to the US market as it sells higher value-added products than neighbors, like Vietnam, including cars. Like Malaysia, it’s expected to hold a general election in 2017—anticipated to be in the second half of the year—and has been affected by political uncertainty capping domestic spending. “The extended mourning period for a year following the passing of His Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is likely to depress consumer sentiment and put a lid on consumer spending in the fourth quarter of 2016 and first quarter of 2017,” Morgan Stanley said. Singapore is anticipated to post the slowest economic growth of any country in the region, after its economy contracted in the third quarter of 2016 from the previous three months. The city-state faces a presidential election that must be called before August, which will serve to gauge popular support for the long-ruling People’s Action Party. “Faced with the onset of poorer economic prospects and job market, weaker consumer confidence had resulted in a collective ‘tightening your belt’ situation among residents,” UOB said. “We hope that this does not start the vicious cycle where lower investments today results in lower potential GDP growth in the next period.” Bloomberg News

He said the vessel’s captain was under police investigation over the incident.

Ferry accidents are common in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic nation, with more than

17,000 islands. Many accidents are blamed on lax regulation of boat services. AP

Orangutan expert says now is the time to visit Indonesia

IN an undated handout photo, Biruté Mary Galdikas sits with orangutans on a feeding platform in Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesia. Galdikas, the president of Orangutan Foundation International, said tourism benefits both the primates and local people. OFI via The New York Times

T was the orangutan’s eyes that first struck Biruté Mary Galdikas. “They look very human,” said Galdikas, an anthropologist and the president of Orangutan Foundation International. “They have a very strong gaze that will penetrate you,” she said. “It’s almost hypnotic.” In the early 1970s, Galdikas traveled from Los Angeles to the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan on Borneo island to study the red-haired primates. She has spent much of the last 45 years on the island, researching the orangutan and fighting to protect its habitat. For decades, Galdikas was one of the few travelers to the region. Government investment in the region and a smattering of eco-lodges and expedition companies are changing that. The draw for most visitors is Camp Leakey, the research and education center in Tanjung Puting National Park that Galdikas established and named for her mentor, Louis Leakey. Below are edited excerpts from a conversation with Galdikas. How has the Kalimantan changed? In 1971 when I first went there, it was one of the wildest places left on earth. There were still headhunters on the interior. There were no roads. Rivers were the only highways. How has tourism changed? Tourism began in this area only

You get very intimate encounters with the orangutans at Camp Leakey.” —Galdikas about 20 years ago. I remember a pamphlet that the government issued that told people what a tourist was, what you did with a tourist. One of the wonderful things about Indonesia is the warm, gracious people. They treat tourists as guests. We have encouraged tourism. We wanted to bring tourists to increase awareness of the orangutans. At Camp Leakey, we see up to 15,000 a year from all over the world. The local people saw them coming in and built up the tourism industry. The good thing is that the money stays in the area. The cooks are local. The guides are local. The boats are local. That’s one of the reasons the local people are so supportive. What do visitors do or see at Camp Leakey? After you go into the education center, you can walk to the feeding station. Once a day, the orangutans are provided with fruit, and they usually come

through the trees to the feeding platform. The feeding lasts two hours, and some people watch them the whole time. The time to come is now. I went to see the gorillas in Rwanda, and there are only a limited number of visitors allowed. There are very strict rules. It’s wise. The national park at Tanjung Puting has investigated what it would take to set up a system like that. There’s no limit at this point. It’s not necessary yet. You get very intimate encounters with the orangutans at Camp Leakey. Besides increasing awareness, how has tourism impacted the orangutans? So far, it’s mainly been good. The tourism is controlled. You can only come to the feeding [at Camp Leakey]. You’re not allowed to wander alone in the forest. It enhances the value of the park to the local people, and then they will fight for it. Tourism directly benefits the orangutans. It makes the local people want to protect them. The main issue for orangutans in Southeast Asia is palm-oil plantations. The forest needs to be cleared completely for the plantations. Orangutans spend 90 percent of their time in the tree canopy. When you cut down the trees, they have nowhere to go. We’re headed toward a point where most of the orangutans we see will be in captivity or at Tanjung Puting. New York Times News Service

A10 Tuesday, January 3, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Always hopeful

rust the Filipinos and their optimism. The year 2016 saw a lot of Filipinos turning social-media sites into cesspools of vitriol, negativity and aggression.

From various branches of government, we saw our leaders and officials practice the politics of division and hate, the tactics of lies, mudslinging and muckraking. We saw the horrifying extent of the illegal-drugs problem in our country, its damaging and corrupting effects on every sector of society, our government, our political institutions, even our fragile democracy. We saw the double-edged nature of President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs claim lives, drawing complaints of impunity and human-rights violations. Yet, despite all the bad things that happened in 2016, an overwhelming majority of Filipinos are still welcoming the new year with hope, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll. The SWS survey, conducted from December 3 to 6, showed 95 percent of adult Filipinos saying they are hopeful of 2017, with only 5 percent saying they are rather fearful. It noted optimism for the new year had improved three percentage points from 2015’s 92 percent. Optimism has always been the majority sentiment among Filipinos when welcoming the new year. Since the SWS first surveyed it in 2000, optimism has always been measured between 87 percent and 95 percent. Overwhelming majorities of the population across geographic areas and socioeconomic classes express hope, not fear or apprehension, when a new year arrives. The 2016 SWS survey showed optimism in Luzon at 97 percent; followed by the National Capital Region and Mindanao at 95 percent; and the Visayas at 92 percent. SWS noted new-year hope in Mindanao had usually been lowest among all the areas, but this year it reached its all-time high record from the 88 percent recorded in 2015. New-year hopefulness was measured at 99 percent among upper to middle classes or ABC; 95 percent among those in class D or the masa; and 93 percent among the very poor class E. Of course, when the SWS survey was conducted, Typhoon Nina had not yet wreaked havoc on the Philippines. The typhoon, the strongest to hit the country since Yolanda in 2013, left vast sections of the Philippines in ruins when it slammed into our coasts on Christmas Day. It cost P4 billion in damages, ruined thousands of tons of valuable crops, left at least seven people dead and several missing, stranded thousands of holiday travelers and displaced more than 600,000 people, many of them farmers. We doubt, though, if Nina could have sunk the Filipinos’ spirit or changed our hopeful mood about the new year. We are just a happy, hopeful people by nature. Even after being hit by one tragedy after another, Filipinos remain unsinkable. We said in a previous editorial how Filipinos are able to celebrate Christmas no matter the circumstances. It is the same for each incoming year, as well: hope has always won out and has been pervasive among our people at high levels. Filipinos dare to be optimists even in trying times. It is not that we see less than our despairing brothers and sisters in other countries. It is, rather, that we see more. We see more hope in times of despair. We see more redemption in the offing when we’re down and out. We may have felt fear, anger, confusion and grief because of all the political and corruption scandals and the divisive war against illegal drugs in the past year. We may have lost loved ones along the way. A strong typhoon may have destroyed so many homes and livelihoods on Christmas Day. Still, hope has not diminished among us Filipinos. There’s something valiant and beautiful in our unwillingness to surrender our hope that things will eventually turn out for the better. And even if it’s misplaced optimism, even if the euphoria lasts only for the few weeks or months of the new year, it is still worth it, it is still uplifting.

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THE Entrepreneur Continued from A1

etangco was first appointed to a six-year term in 2005, and to a second term in 2011. Under the New Central Bank Act of 1993, the BSP governor may only serve two terms.

US, resulted in estimated losses of more than $1 trillion for American and European banks. Some giant financial institutions collapsed as a result of the crisis, including Merrill Lynch, which was taken over by Bank of America, and Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt. American International Group, which operated globally, received $40 billion from the US government to prevent its collapse. A few Philippine banks absorbed some losses, but the impact on the domestic banking system was minimal because of the reforms initiated by the BSP under Tetangco, including adequate capitalization and prudent lending practices. The financial crisis of 2008 is

PHL’s friends and enemies John Mangun

Jun B. Vallecera

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Perfect antidote to volatility

OUTSIDE THE BOX

‘T

he enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a concept first found in a 4th-century BC Sanskrit text on statecraft. Likewise, then, “The friend of my enemy is my enemy.” But those concepts depend on the lines between friends and enemies being clearly defined, and this is the 21st century, when little is simply black and white.

In a recent conversation I had with the Philippines’s new ambassador to the United Nations, Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr., he said: “I was stunned to read that the UN has no real power or much initiative but can only go as far as the Big 3 let it,” the Big 3 being Russia, China and the United States. The relationship among those three countries has been fluid over the decades with national self-interest deciding who was a friend and who was an enemy. The three-legged table never wobbles but can more easily be tipped over than one with four legs. Most governments operate on a triumvirate system of checks and

balances. Presidential systems usually balance between the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. Parliamentary systems have strong opposition parties and an entrenched government bureaucracy to maintain power “equality”. The leaders of the Soviet Union played the Communist Party, the KGB and the military off one another to keep control. President Duterte’s move to more independent and self-serving foreign relations has created an existential crisis among some of our thinking class, perhaps because they rely on that “enemy of my enemy…” idea. Neither Russia nor the United States wants to see China take a dominant role in the Middle East,

Congress is currently deliberating on proposed amendments to the BSP law so it is a good time to include in its deliberations the President’s proposal to extend Tetangco’s term. If comes to worse, we have competent deputy governors who can succeed Tetangco should Congress decides not to extend his term. over, but volatilities in the global economy, which present risks to the Philippines, remain. Tetangco’s presence at the helm of the BSP provides comfort that the economy, in general, and the banking system, in particular, will be able to hurdle new challenges from the external environment. Tetangco himself has identified developments in the global economy in 2016 that could impact on the Philippines this year. One is the decision by the United Kingdom to withdraw its membership in the European Union (EU). Its direct impact on the Philippine economy is limited because trade and investments from the UK is less than 1 percent of the

Regionally, a warm-water port in Southeast Asia would change the military balance and has been a goal since Russia left Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay in 2002. Vietnam will not allow it to be a “Russian base” because Russia refuses to pay rent after having spent multimillion dollars expanding the facility. But what about the Philippines? Both China and the US would go crazy at that possibility. even as the two vie for leadership. China may seemingly be close to Russia but wants both the US and Russia to stay out of its South China Sea backyard. The US needs Russia and China to keep North Korea in check. Russia needs China’s backing economically and geopolitically to fight off its perceived threat from the US-European alliance. China needs Russia to advance its “One Belt, One Road” trade initiative. Regionally, a warm-water port in Southeast Asia would change the military balance and has been a goal since Russia left Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay in 2002. Vietnam will not allow it to be a “Russian base” because Russia refuses to pay rent after having spent multimillion dollars expand-

Philippines’s total trade and foreign direct investment, respectively. Tetangco says the Philippines needs to be concerned about the secondround effect: how Brexit will affect growth in the EU. In addition, other European countries are holding elections next year, so the Philippines needs to watch whether other countries will also break away from the EU. The Philippines should also be vigilant over possible changes in tax laws, immigration policies and financial and business regulations when Donald J. Trump assumes the presidency this month, which might affect remittances and investments from business-process outsourcing companies. A third risk is the rebalancing of the Chinese economy, which is transitioning from being exportled to being services and domestic consumption-driven, which could impact on Philippine trade. I am supporting the move to extend Governor Tetangco’s term because he represents stability against the backdrop of a very volatile external environment. In my view, he is the perfect antidote to volatility. For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

ing the facility. But what about the Philippines? Both China and the US would go crazy at that possibility. The US does not want to sell military equipment to the Philippines. The Russian ambassador asked government officials to provide a wish list to determine what kind of assistance could be provided. China’s offer to sell is, “Pay us when you get the chance, say, in 2040, if that’s all right.” Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said, “America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.” This is a lesson that the Philippines may be learning for the first time. While it may be a harsh reality, other nations have not taken the Philippines seriously. The US was confident in the Philippines doing what it was told. Other nations believed that the US-PHL alliance was permanent, regardless of what might be in the Philippines’s best interest. But beyond the geopolitics, there is also the geo-economics of a country’s alliances. What might our “friends” and “enemies” have in store for the future that would affect the Philippines? E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

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Opposing ‘sin’ tax law amendments smacks of double standard Cecilio T. Arillo

database

he House of Representatives last December 13 overwelmingly passed on the third and final reading House Bill (HB) 4144, which seeks to amend Republic Act 10351, or the “sin” tax law, voting 176-30 with two abstentions. Under the sin-tax law, a unitary tax at P30 per pack would be imposed effective on January 1, 2017, on all cigarettes to be sold in the domestic markets regardless of the price per pack. Currently, cigarettes sold in the local markets are taxed at P25 for those with net retail price (NRP) of P11.50 per pack and at P29 for those with NRP of more than P11.50 per pack. Under HB 4144, a tax rate of P32 per pack for low-priced brands and P36 per pack for premium brands would be imposed, with an annual increase of 5 percent every year. With this proposed amendment, the current two-tier cigarette-tax rates would be maintained instead of the impending unitary-tax rate. With its passage in the lower house, opponents of HB 4144 vented their ire on the media, saying the bill will defeat the revenue purpose envisioned under the unitary-tax rate and will be an obstacle to the government’s policy of reducing the number of smokers. On the first argument, opponents of the bill are of the position that retaining the two-tier tax rates would result in less revenue collection for the government. This is wrong and a short-sighted notion, as it turned a blind eye on the very provisions of the bill. Retaining the two-tier tax rates espoused by HB 4144 would not result in less revenue collection, but would rather earn much more revenues for the government than under the unitary-tax rate. As stated in the bill, brands belonging to the first tier would be taxed at P32 per pack and P36 per pack for second tier brands, with a 5-percent annual increase. Comparing these rates with the unitary P30 rate championed by the bill’s opponents, it is not hard to discern which of the two will generate more revenjues for the government. Enough of this intentional ignorance and fallacious interpretation of the unitary-tax system. As to their second argument, opponents are saying that retaining the two-tier tax rates would result in the increase of cigarette prices and, at the same time, will encourage the manufacturing of more cheaper brands. On this assumption, another assumption was made (double assumption), saying that price-sensitive smokers will shift to cheaper brands, down-shifting from premium to nonpremium brands. With regard to this opponents’ argument, this smacks of double standard. There is a double standard, clear at that, because in espousing against the two-tier tax rate in favor of the unitary rate, opponents ostensibly wanted to

decrease the number of smokers only by killing the manufacturers of nonpremium brands while doing no harm to the manufacturer of premium brands. With the imposition of unitary-tax rate come January 2017, cigarettes, irrespective of brands whether premium or nonpremium, will be taxed at the same rate. Imposition of uniform rate will narrow the price gap between the premium and nonpremium ones, whereby smokers will be shifting (up-shifting) from nonpremium to premium brands brought about by the negligible, if not entirely irrelevant, price difference. Opponents of the bill are afraid of their conjured down-shifting scenario but are perfectly OK with the up-shifting of smokers that would result from the imposition of the unitary-tax rate. Either scenario may result in the increase of cigarette smokers, but, by apparent double standard, opponents only wanted to punish the tobacco farmers, manufacturers and smokers catering to the nonpremium ones. If good faith does exist, then, to equitably reduce the number of smokers, premiums and nonpremium brands must be equitably taxed and regulated. The proposed amendment and retention of the two-tier tax rates will tax and regulate cigarettes equitably, according to its category—premium or nonpremium. On the other hand, imposing lock-stock-and-barrel the unitary rate to both premium and nonpremium brands is not an equitable taxation and regulation in the sense that only the nonpremium ones will be adversely affected. Cigarette products and the entire cigarette industry have long been demonized left and right by different groups, including various governments, who are playing active part on it. Notwithstanding thereof, governments are raking in hundreds of billions of money annually from cigarette taxes. This, in itself, is an act of double standard akin to denouncing a thief but with openarms, partaking with the thief’s loot. In espousing the two-tier tax rate under HB 4144, the proponents only wanted to ensure more revenue collection for the government, safeguarding the government’s policy of reducing the number of smokers by equitably increasing the taxes of cigarettes without sacrificing the plight of our poor tobacco farmers; and most of all, in ensuring that the law, even in its harshest face, will continue to manifest equality and equity.

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

America becomes a stan Paul Krugman

New York Times News Service

n 2015 the city of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, was graced with a new public monument: a giant gold-plated sculpture portraying the country’s president on horseback. This may strike you as a bit excessive. But cults of personality are actually the norm in the “stans,” the Central Asian countries that emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union, all of which are ruled by strongmen who surround themselves with tiny cliques of wealthy crony capitalists. Americans used to find the antics of these regimes, with their tinpot dictators, funny. But who’s laughing now? We are, after all, about to hand over power to a man who has spent his whole adult life trying to build a cult of personality around himself; remem-

ber, his “charitable” foundation spent a lot of money buying a 6-foot portrait of its founder. Meanwhile, one look at his Twitter account is enough to show that victory has done nothing to slake his thirst for ego gratification. So we can expect lots of self-aggrandizement once he’s in office. I don’t think it will go as far as gold-plated statues, but really, who knows? Meanwhile, with only a couple of weeks until Inauguration Day, Donald J. Trump has done nothing substantive to reduce the unprecedented— or, as he famously wrote on Twitter, “unpresidented”—conflicts of interest created by his business empire. Pretty clearly, he never will—in fact, he’s already in effect using political office to enrich himself, with some of the most blatant examples involving foreign governments steering business to Trump hotels.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017 A11

Asean and the Trump presidency Edgardo J. Angara

onald J. Trump’s surprise election last November is, perhaps, the most significant political upheaval of 2016, with far-reaching impact on Asean’s 10 members—Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Without doubt, Trump has yet to reveal the specifics of his foreign policy toward the Asean. His “America first” campaign rhetoric and subsequent behavior cast doubts on whether America’s Asian pivot will continue—let alone prosper— under a Trump presidency. Serious questions also linger on how adept President Trump will be in handling diplomatic relations, illustrated by a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen that immediately earned the ire of Beijing officials. The US president-elect then openly questioned the US’s “One China” policy of considering Taiwan as part of mainland China, a cornerstone of US-Sino relations for nearly four decades. He said in a TV interview

that the US does not have to be bound to this policy, unless part of a future deal with China covering other things, including trade. Chinese state media have since said the One China policy is not up for negotiation. Such uninformed behavior appears to be eroding US credibility, even driving Asean members straight into the arms of China. Of course, some in Asean have long been on China’s side, even before Trump’s election. But what appears to be pushing even longtime US allies to China’s side are Trump’s protectionist views on free trade. A particular point of contention is his vocal opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)— the complex free-trade deal that

Crooked paths Ernesto M. Hilario

ABOUT TOWN

f the Philippines has earned an unsavory reputation as the thirdmost corrupt country in the world, it is not undeserved. After all, corruption seems to be taking place everywhere—especially at the immigration, customs and internal revenue bureaus, even at the Land Transportation Office and Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board, two attached agencies of the Department of Transportation—that President Duterte has reiterated his policy of zero tolerance for monkey business in the bureaucracy.

covers 12 nations (four of which are Asean members) roughly accounting for 40 percent of global GDP. Negotiations for the TPP lasted for a decade, as it was seen as a keystone to President Barack Obama’s Asian pivot and a boon for Asean’s export-driven economies. Trump won on a platform that tapped into the American working class’ anger with free-trade policies—like the TPP—that shipped out to countries with cheap labor like those in Asean tens of thousands of blue-collar jobs in the United States. After his victory, Trump posted a message saying that he will issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the TPP, describing the deal as “a potential disaster” for the United States. He said that, instead, he will push for bilateral trade deals that ensure that the jobs once shipped out will return to the US. Around the same time, after staunchly advocating TPP, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced that Vietnam’s legislature would no longer ratify the agreement on account of political changes in the US. Officials have since said they will pursue alternative deals, following an economic agenda built on achieving prosperity via trade.

The Bureau of Immigration, for instance, has been shaken to its very foundations by the alleged involvement of some of its top officials in extorting P50 million from Chinese gambling operator Jack Lam after authorities raided an online casino in Clark, Pampanga, and found more than 1,300 undocumented Chinese nationals working there.

Upon assuming office, Duterte vowed to eradicate corruption in his government and assured businessmen that there will be no extortion under his watch. “I assure you, businessmen, not only in Makati but throughout the Philippines, all the Chinese here, there will be no extortion either from customs or the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue],” he said. The Bureau of Immigration (BI), for instance, has been shaken to its very foundations by the alleged involvement of some of its top officials in extorting P50 million from Chinese gambling operator Jack Lam after authorities raided an online casino in Clark, Pampanga, and found more than 1,300 undocumented Chinese nationals working there. Unscrupulous BI personnel are also believed to be selling fake

entry visas at a staggering amount of P500,000 each to foreigners who want to come here for good or engage in illegal businesses. Tens of thousands of foreigners enter the country yearly this way. Corruption in the immigration bureau is said to be well-entrenched, with a lawmaker claiming a group in the agency may turn out to be the biggest and the most organized crime syndicate in Asia whose moneymaking schemes may even dwarf that of any terrorist group or drug cartel in the region. The customs bureau is another den of corruption. Last October the agency relieved the officer in charge of the Enforcement Group after Duterte himself mentioned in a speech that he wanted an official of the bureau, whom he did not name, sacked for corrupt activities. A ranking Malacañang official

during the previous administration disclosed that corruption in the bureau is definitely a contributing factor for the recent congestion in the Port of Manila. Meanwhile, newspapers recently reported the involvement of several high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in the illegaldrugs trade. Less known by the public is that erring officials of the NBP are said to demand money from inmates applying for parole. The police force has not been spared either from the contagion of corruption. At least 100 police officers from Metro Manila accused of extortion or having links to the illegal-drugs trade will be sent to Mindanao, the National Capital Region Police Office disclosed recently. Duterte has said some people in the government abuse their power because they know that our judicial processes take too long. This is the reason, he said, that he would order the immediate removal of corrupt public officials and the National Bureau of Investigation to focus on graft and corruption cases.

This means that Trump will be in violation of the spirit, and arguably the letter, of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bars gifts or profits from foreign leaders, the instant he recites the oath of office. But who’s going to hold him accountable? Some prominent Republicans are suggesting that, rather than enforcing the ethics laws, Congress should simply change them to accommodate the great man. And the corruption won’t be limited to the very top: The new administration seems set to bring blatant self-dealing into the center of our political system. Abraham Lincoln may have led a team of rivals; Trump seems to be assembling a team of cronies, choosing billionaires with obvious, deep conflicts of interest for many key positions in his administration. In short, America is rapidly turning into a stan.

I know that many people are still trying to convince themselves that the incoming administration will govern normally, despite the obviously undemocratic instincts of the new commander in chief and the questionable legitimacy of the process that brought him to power. Some Trump apologists have even taken to declaring that we needn’t worry about corruption from the incoming clique, because rich men don’t need more money. Seriously. But let’s get real. Everything we know suggests that we’re entering an era of epic corruption and contempt for the rule of law, with no restraint whatsoever. How could this happen in a nation that has long prided itself as a role model for democracies everywhere? In a direct sense, Trump’s elevation was made possible by the Federal Bureau of

Investigation’s blatant intervention in the election, Russian subversion and the supine news media that obligingly played up fake scandals while burying real ones on the back pages. But this debacle didn’t come out of nowhere. We’ve been on the road to stan-ism for a long time: an increasingly radical GOP, willing to do anything to gain and hold power, has been undermining our political culture for decades. People tend to forget how much of the 2016 playbook had been used in earlier years. Remember, the Clinton administration was besieged by constant accusations of corruption, dutifully hyped as major stories by the news media; not one of these alleged scandals turned out to involve any actual wrongdoing. Not incidentally, James Comey, the FBI director whose intervention almost surely swung the

Malaysian Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed similarly said that, as the possible collapse of the TPP looms, his country will focus on wrapping up negotiations on other multination trade pacts. Trump’s announcement, coupled with US lawmakers’ widespread apprehension about the TPP, scuttled the deal’s prospects. It also opened even wider the opportunity for China to push its Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)—a trade deal which covers all of Asean but markedly excludes the US—and its “One Belt, One Road” initiative as alternatives. In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping did just that during the recent Apec forum in Lima, where participating leaders vowed to fight any form of protectionism. These developments, with a growing membership in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that now includes all of Asean, points to the realization of China’s long-term dream of having the entire Southeast Asian region under its sphere of influence. And while many factors have been at play to bring Asean closer to Beijing, Trump’s triumph may just have provided the turning point.

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

It’s not just in the government but also in the private sector that corruption appears pervasive. A case, for instance, has been filed against a certain Ronelo Villanueva before the Regional Trial Court Branch 69 in Pasig City for alleged extortion of a large sum of money from a reputable and established insurance broker in the country. Villanueva, a resident of Parañaque City, and his cohorts are alleged to have visited numerous government agencies to file a complaint and, thus, impugn the integrity of the insurance broker. The group would claim before authorities that the insurance broker operates in the country without license and other pertinent papers, and must, therefore, be shut down. A few days later, a “ranking government official” would call the insurance broker to tell him that his business operates without a license, and then demand a huge sum to let him off the hook. Villanueva is also facing a charge of grave threats for hounding the insurance broker for the past three years after he refused to give the amount being asked by the group. It was learned that Villanueva’s group has been operating for the past three years and their modus operandi takes place not only in Metro Manila but also in other parts of the country and even abroad. Will the Duterte administration put its foot down and go after the corrupt with the same zeal that it is now going after drug pushers? E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

election, had previously worked for the Whitewater committee, which spent seven years obsessively investigating a failed land deal. People also tend to forget just how bad the administration of George W. Bush really was, and not just because it led America to war on false pretenses. There was also an upsurge in cronyism, with many key posts going to people with dubious qualifications but close political and/or business ties to top officials. Indeed, America botched the occupation of Iraq in part thanks to profiteering by politically connected businesses. The only question now is whether the rot has gone so deep that nothing can stop America’s transformation into Trumpistan. One thing is for sure: It’s destructive, as well as foolish to ignore the uncomfortable risk, and simply assume that it will all be OK. It won’t.

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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

BOI beats growth target for new project approvals

he country’s main investment promotion agency, the Board of Investments (BOI), has exceeded its target of increasing new project approvals by 7 percent in 2016, notching a 20.4-percent growth to P441.8 billion.

In a statement, the BOI reported this was the second-highest level based on value since 2000. The investment haul in 2013 remains as the record year for the BOI at P466 billion. Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez credits this achievement to the new administration’s numerous investment road shows and state visits

₧441.8B

The value of fresh investment commitments approved by the BOI in 2016, up 20.4 percent

undertaken in the last four months. “With the investment missions that we are doing, investors have gained greater awareness of the Philippines’s strong and growing economy,” Lopez noted in a statement. President Duterte’s successive international trips with trade and investment-promotion components were in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore. The total investment approvals in 2016 were generated from 377 projects and are expected to create about 67,615 new jobs when these new projects become fully operational. The investments registered were mainly from local companies, taking an 80-percent share, or P352.5 billion. The rest of the 20 percent, meanwhile, came from committed investments of foreign firms amounting to P89.3 billion.

But the foreign-investment pledges this year are higher by 50 percent compared to the P59.5 billion in 2015. Per sector, power industries took the lion’s share of investment pledges with (P209.9 billion), followed by real-estate activities (P65.8 billion), construction (P62.3 billion) manufacturing (P49 billion), and transportation and storage (P23.4 billion). Investments in construction and manufacturing clocked in the fastest growth year-on-year, with growth rates reaching 644.8 percent and 81.3 percent, respectively. On the basis of employment potential, the real-estate sector is seen to generate the most number of employment with 32,055, followed by the manufacturing sector, which is expected to provide fresh jobs and income to 17,067 Filipinos. Catherine N. Pillas

Russian Navy ships visit Manila

WO Russian Navy ships docked in Mani la on Monday for a four-day goodwill visit. Russian Navy ships Admiral Tributs, a submarine hunter, and Boris Butoma, an oiler, docked at Pier 15 in the Manila South Harbor, The warships will leave on Saturday. A customary meeting ceremony was held followed by a welcome ceremony was rendered by the Philippine Navy. Among the activities lined up for the visit are courtesy calls, tour to historical places in Manila and Cavite, capabilit y demonstration, goodwill games, wreath laying and shipboard tour. The port visit was made following announcement by President Duterte of his intention to break the country’s military and economic ties with the United States in favor of Russia and China. Admiral Tributs is an Udaloy c lass destroyer t hat was launched in March 1983 and commissioned into the Russian Navy service in December 1985. It caught fire in 1991 but was repaired and returned to service. It is assigned to the Russian Pacific Fleet.

status,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by the BusinessMirror. With the current administration’s openness to unsolicited projects, there are at least five groups keen on undertaking the construction of the NMIA. These groups include SMCH, which is reviving its $10-billion airport proposal in Bulacan under the Aquino administration; the DM Wenceslao group, which proposed a combined airport and shipping port project in Sangley; and the Sy and Tieng group, which proposed a $50-billion airport and economic zone in Sangley. The Neda also said the New San Jose Builders group has also proposed to include an airport in its Manila Bay flood defense project, while the Okada group is looking to increase its investments in the country by participating in the bidding

Senate prepares for rigorous review of pending bills By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

ENATORS are poised to pass, after a rigorous review, at least five major bills soon after Congress reconvenes sessions in mid-January, following a four-week Christmas recess. Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III said high on the list of priority bills already lined up for plenary consideration is the long awaited freedom of information (FOI) bill. The FOI bill is one of the longest pending pieces of legislation being processed in Congress. It is meant to substantially provide access to citizens on all government records and transactions following the spirit of transparency and accountability mandated in the 1987 Constitution. Sotto confirmed that Senators are also set to resume plenary deliberations leading to approval on second reading of proposed amendments to tighten the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla). The Amla amendments submitted to Congress by the Department of Finance for early enactment aims to plug loopholes in the existing law that were exploited in a scheme using local banks to launder part of the loot from the $81-million Bangladesh Bank cyber heist in New York. Sotto reported that also up for plenary approval on second and third reading at the end of the period of amendments are pending remedial legislations to update existing laws on the coconut-levy

PIMENTEL: “We should pass only those bills which are needed by the country and not pass bills just for the sake of having passed bills.”

funds, the anti-wire tapping law, as well as a bill expanding coverage of the “media shield law” authored by his grandfather, Sen. Vicente Sotto Sr., protecting journalists, to include online media in its coverage. He added that more controversial bills also in line for the senators’ plenary consideration are the amendments to the death penalty and “sin” tax laws. But Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III assured there are no plans to railroad the passage any of the pending bills in the upper chamber, indicating that proposed legislations will undergo rigorous review before these are put to a vote on third and final reading. “We should pass only those bills which are needed by the country and not pass bills just for the sake of having passed bills,” Pimentel told the BusinessMirror. He affirmed the Senate leadership’s stand when asked about pending bills likely to be passed quickly when lawmakers return to work after their Christmas vacation.

Metro Pacific ready to spend P17.75B for new expressway to Sangley Point By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

Admiral Tributs

It was named after Admiral Vladimir Filippovich Tributs, who commanded the Russian Baltic Fleet. The Russian Navy last appeared in the waters of Manila, particularly at South Harbor, in January 2012, when the destroyer Admiral Panteleyev, escorted by oiler Boris Butoma and the rescue tug Fotiy Krylov made a port call.

The Navy frigate BRP Rajah Humabon, received the Russian ships in welcoming rites. The visit of the two Russian ships followed the recent visit to Russia of Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. Russia has offered to sell a submarine to the Philippine military along with drones and equipment in support of the

Armed Forces’s capability upgrade program. However, Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said the country cannot afford the submarine but it is looking at Russian drones and sniper rifles. The government is also looking at acquiring small arms, night vision googles and other military equipment from China. Rene Acosta

Neda: No unsolicited bids for Manila airport Continued from A1

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for the NMIA. If the DOTr decides to conduct competitive bidding for the project, this means that the performance requirements or project specifications will be drawn up by the government. These requirements may include components, such as the capacity of the terminal, the number of runways, access to and from the airport, and other key aspects that will allow the NMIA to meet the country’s needs. The DOTr will also have to finalize the bid parameters, such as sovereign guarantees or premium payments and the award will be granted to the group that offers the highest net present value. This means that if sovereign guarantees were chosen, the government will award according to the lowest subsidy sought. In terms of premium payments, the award will go to the company/group that will provide the highest offer.

Going through a competitive bidding for a project will also promote transparency and prevent naysayers from claiming that the choice of the unsolicited proponent was made through a “sweetheart deal.” The unsolicited proposal, if the DOTr will push through with this mode, will still require a Swiss Challenge, a process by which other private groups could match the bid of the proponent. However, the primary actor in the NMIA is still the DOTr. Whether it decides to implement the NMIA through unsolicited or solicited mode, the fact remains that the country is already in dire need of a new international airport to decongest the Naia. “They have not made a decision yet, that’s the problem. In the last two Infracom [Infrastructure committee] meetings, we were forcing the issue already because we need to decide on an international air-

port because we need one,” a Neda source told the BusinessMirror. The Neda estimates that building a brand-new international airport will take over five years to complete. This is mainly because of the extent of civil works and the standards needed to be met to make the airport up to code. The Neda said the development of the NMIA was identified by the DOTr as one of its Core Investment Programs and Projects through the Public Investment Program Online. Earlier, Tugade said he is open to allow the private sector to build airports. He said the only condition is for the private sector to undertake the project on their own without asking the government for guarantees or funds to build the airport. The SMHC proposal was initially pitched to the Aquino administration three years ago. However, San Miguel’s proposal was shot down by the Cabinet.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. will have to shell out roughly P17.75 billion to build an expressway to the proposed international airport in Sangely Point, Cavite, documents from the company showed. Tagged as Segment 5, the alignment will connect the ManilaCavite Toll Expressway (Cavitex) to Rosario and Sangley Airport in Cavite. According to company documents, it’s a 9.8-kilometer, four-lane divided expressway that will replace the original Segment 5 alignment, which was taken over by the Department of Public Works and Highways. The original alignment is now called the Centennial Road. The alignment is divided into three phases: Segment 5.1 costs P3.85 billion and has a length of 4.1 km; Segment 5.2 costs P7.38 billion at 6.1 km; and Segment 5.3 costs P6.52 billion at a length of 5.7 km. The documents also showed that the public works department has issued no objection to the said proposal. The company is now preparing to submit the project to the Toll Regulatory Board. Metro Pacific has finished the prefeasibility study for the project. Solar Group-led All-Asia Resources & Reclamation Corp. has proposed to the government the construction of a $1.3-trillion airport and seaport complex in Sangley Point to replace the aging Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) and help decongest the ports in Manila. All-Asia, controlled by the Tieng Family, has partnered with Belle Corp., part of Henry Sy’s SM Group, and China Communications Construction Co. to invest in a $20-bil-

lion airport in Sangley. Its plan involves the reclamation of 2,500 hectares of land near a naval and air base at Sangley Point. The project includes a new airport for up to 90 million passengers per year. The existing Naia airport will be replaced by new urban development. According to a study conducted by Danish consulting engineering company Ramboll Group, the new airport, when built, will have two parallel runways to secure future capacity, three terminal spaces and reserved space for cargo and maintenance facilities. Naval Station Sangley Point, surrounded by Manila Bay and occupying the northern portion of the Cavite City peninsula, was a former communication and hospital facility of the United States Navy. The naval station has a runway that was built after World War II, and was used extensively by US Navy patrol planes as late as the Vietnam War. The station was eventually turned over to the Philippine government in 1971 and is currently being used by both the Philippine Navy and Air Force. The group is also ready to shell out P1 billion to rehabilitate the Danilo Atienza Airport, a military airbase in Cavite, to support the existing air hub in Manila while a new and larger facility is being constructed nearby. All-Asia plans to develop the military airbase into a commercial airport for low-cost carriers as an immediate solution to the airport congestion in Manila. Currently, the P1-billion proposal is with the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board, which is chaired by President Duterte. It was submitted August last year.