Businessmirror july 07, 2016

“It was very shocking that such a thing happens in such a holy place for Muslims, the second-holiest place in the world. That’s not an act that represents Islam. People never imagined that this could happen here.”— Altayeb Osama, a 25-year-old visitor to Medina from Abu Dhabi, after a suicide bombing outside one of Islam’s holiest sites killed four Saudi security forces. AP

media partner of the year

“I personally know I have work to do on this front. A lot of people tell pollsters they don’t trust me. You can’t just talk someone into trusting you, you’ve got to earn it.”—Hillary Clinton, in a speech to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago about how her trustworthiness has dogged her for more than a quarter century. AP

BusinessMirror

United nations

2015 environmental Media Award leadership award 2008

A broader look at today’s business

www.businessmirror.com.ph

n

Thursday, July 7, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 271

power FIRMS CONFIDENT OF HURDLING D.E.N.R. CHIEF’S SCRUTINY

INSIDE

Life

A good confessor

LIVING WISDOM FOR EVERYDAY, REV. B. KELLY, C.P. SHARED BY LOUIE M. LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

❶

❷

❸

❶ MAYON

Volcano seen from the helipad above the 2006 lava flow.

❷

THE Oriental Legazpi

❸

JETSKIING and stand-up paddleboarding at Misibis Bay

❹ MISIBIS Bay ❺ ATV drive to

base camp

REELING: THE HONOR OF GOOD FILMS D3

BusinessMirror

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

Thursday, July 7, 2016

❹

@llectura

oal-fired power-plant operators are unfazed by the pronouncement of Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez that all investments in coal power plants will be strictly scrutinized, saying they have complied with all the requirements in securing the necessary permits. Continued on A2

luxury meets adventure at albay EAR Lord, we will be supremely happy if You lead us to a good confessor. We will take advantage of the holy recommendations and counsels that he will give us. We know, Lord, that a good confessor is a great gift from You. Help us to seek and find one if that is Your plan for us. If not, we trust that You will help us by other means. Amen.

D1

We feel that we operate within the standards set, so there should not be a problem.”

—Moraza

❺

Luxury meets adventure at Albay O

BY BENJAMIN LAYUG

UR four-day media familiarization tour to Albay ushered us into a world of luxury mixed with adventure. We also got there in style via a one-hour Philippine Airlines flight, foregoing the tiring and backbreaking 11-hour land trip. Our first and only night in the city was to be spent at the four-star, six-story The Oriental Legazpi on the top of Taysan Hill.

Formerly the Mayon Imperial Hotel which dates back to the 1970s, it has been upgraded and its name changed to The Oriental in 2009. From its infinity pool deck and each room’s balcony, we were offered spectacular views of Mayon Volcano. After a late lunch at Small Talk Café (where we sampled some Filipino and Bicolano cuisine with a touch of fusion), we spent the rest of our afternoon exploring the Cagsawa Ruins, Daraga’s Church of Our Lady of the Gate, Lignon Hill Nature Park and Legazpi Boulevard.

The next day, after a filling buffet breakfast at the hotel’s Jasmine Restaurant, the adventure truly began as were driven to Your Brother Travel and

Tours ATV Amusement Center in Barangay Pawa, the original all-terrain vehicle (ATV) service provider in Bicol. Here, we were welcomed by founder Cerilo B. Chan. Started in 2008 with just one ATV, it has now grown into a fleet of over 80, including three Can-Ams, with an 800 CC engine, each worth over P1 million. Zac Efron, Manny Pacquiao, Venus Raj and Aga Muhlach are just some of the many celebrities who’ve done the ATV tour.

There were different trails to choose from. We chose the 18-kilometer Mayon to base-camp tour, using three fully automatic, 350 CC ATVs that can seat up to two people. They have no gears but are very easy to operate, as they just have a thumb accelerator and hand brakes. A guide on another ATV was assigned to us to take our pictures. After attending a briefing

by Chan, signing a waiver and donning helmets and gloves, we began our bumpy drive along a route that took us along boulders and shallow streams.

Upon arrival at the base camp, we parked our ATVs, paid the P50 environmental fee and, with another guide, hiked and climbed up the lava flow from the 2006 eruption.

Photo-ops included one on a helipad built right on top of the lava front. On our way back, two of our compatriots chose to take, for an additional P300 per head, the zipline back to base camp. Back at the camp, we hopped back onto the ATVs and drove back to the main site to conclude the tour.

Back in Legazpi City, we had a late lunch at the 1st Colonial Grill (where we tried out its signature sili ice cream), then proceeded to Embarcadero, where a van awaited us to take us to Misibis Bay on Cagraray Island in Bacacay. The trip took all of an hour, with a stopover at a viewpoint overlooking the islands of Lagonoy Gulf. Upon arrival at the resort, we were welcomed by the resort staff, led by General Manager Sasha Zakharka. The resort currently has 90 wellappointed, luxurious suites and Asian-inspired villas, but another 60 are currently being built. All overlooking the Pacific Ocean and surrounded by mountains, they have large floor-to-ceiling windows to make the most of the sea or pool views.

All villas have a terrace or sundeck to relax and enjoy the sun, while the Luxury Villa has a plunge pool overlooking the sea. Our meals at the superb in-

P25.00 nationwide | 4 sections 28 pages | 7 days a week

Coal-plant owners unfazed by Lopez H C

By Lenie Lectura

D

“We had lot of dreams. I cannot believe my son was inside that restaurant, he was part of that. But that’s the reality now.”—Meer Hayat Kabir, father of Meer Sameeh Mobashwer, one of at least five attackers who killed 20 hostages in a popular Bangladesh restaurant over the weekend. AP

house Spice Market Restaurant featured a variety of local, Asian and Western favorites.

Sasha invited us to try out the resort’s must-try activities. Early in the morning, we tried out their own ATV ride (there are 10 ATVs available, plus twoseater buggy and single-seater motorcycles). This was to be no ordinary ATV ride, as our 6.72-km route was now uphill. From the sandy beach and asphalted road of the resort, we then drove on a rocky and muddy trail to the highest point of the island, located 863 feet above sea level. Upon reaching our destination, we took time out to rest, eat bread with butter, sip coffee, breathe the fresh air and take photos of all the breathtaking beauty that we saw. Come noontime, we hopped on the resort’s speedboat for a private picnic lunch of grilled delights at nearby Luyang Beach.

This was not the end of our adventures as, come afternoon, we tried out the resort’s other fun activities along the beach—jetskiing, kayaking and standup paddleboarding. We also observed the making of hats from coconut palm fronds. Come evening, after a delicious dinner by the beach, the ladies capped their day with a full-body massage. ■

The solution Free Fire Teddy Locsin Jr.

AVING analyzed the historical problem in just one paragraph, President Duterte now analyzes the proposed solution that won him the election. Is it the right one?

Well, nobody knows. Thaksin Shinawatra in Thailand proposed the same thing and killed 2,500 poor people, not half of them had even swallowed cough drops, let alone snorted cocaine. The Bangkok cops just settled scores.

“I know that there are those who do not approve of my methods of fighting criminality, the sale and use of illegal drugs, and corruption.”

Continued on A11

Cebu Pacific reveals Juan for Fun 2016 winners ❶ JUANTEAMPH with their adventure coach TV host and VJ Robi Domingo and Cebu Pacific’s Candice Iyog

❷

THE Juan For Fun 2016 University Teams

ENDLESS escapades, boundless discoveries and a whole lot of fun—this is what traveling around the Philippines is all about. Cebu Pacific showcased all these and more in the Juan for Fun Backpacker Challenge (www.juanforfun. com), which recently concluded its fifth and biggest year, yet.

For seven straight days, five teams from different universities nationwide traveled to exotic locales and conquered as many awesome adventures that the country has to offer within their given travel allowance worth P35,000. By the end of the challenge, #JFFJUANTeamPH was hailed as this year’s Ultimate Backpackers and received the most epic prize—a Travel-All-You-Can pass. This entitles each member to as many free flights to domestic and international short-haul destinations as they want within one year. They also got to take home gift certificates from Cebu Pacific’s partner brands: Tripologie travel store, Merrel shoes and Boreas travel bags.

Hailing from Bacolod,

❶ #JFFJUANTeamPH kicked things off in Iloilo, before making their way to Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Surigao and Butuan. For their final stop, they paid a visit to the majestic Mount Mayon in Legazpi, Albay.

Teammates Glenn Layola, Audrey Ramos and John Ray Blance, students of La Salle Bacolod, were guided by their adventure coach TV host and VJ Robi Domingo.

Placing second was #JFFTeamPura,

❷ composed of Marie Tuason, Karlo Carranza and Samantha Rice. To say that they had fun would be an understatement, especially with their itinerary covering Bohol, Cebu, Dumaguete, Siargao, Iloilo and Davao. Matching their boundless energy was their adventure coach, Bogart the Explorer.

In third place was #JFFTeamWork.

True to their team name, Serge

Calumpong, April Nacion and Jaysson Presores leveraged their years of friendship to conquer Laoag, Cebu, Bacolod and Davao.

Their adventure coach, travel writer Jude Bacalso, also made sure that the team succeeded and made unforgettable memories in each stop. Tied at fourth place was #JFFTeamPablo and #JFFTeamTAG. The former is comprised

of Brendan Tangan, Linus Pagulayan and Cherson Bariuan of Saint Paul University Philippines. They were welcomed by the pristine waters of Coron and Camiguin, and were wowed by the natural beauty of Iloilo and Cebu. With their adventure coach Saab Magalona giving them expert tips, the team was able to enjoy their adventure to the hilt. #JFFTeamTAG’s Tricia Quintero, April Baldovino and Gian Nicdao of University of the Philippines-Manila hit four of the country’s top tourist spots: Boracay, Cebu, Iloilo and Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Helping them make the most out of their time in these destinations was their adventure coach, musician Champ Lui Pio. The Cebu Pacific Juan for Fun Backpacker Challenge 2016 had Boreas Gear as the official travel gear, Merrell as the official footwear, and GoPro as the official camera.

The challenge was also supported by Wenger and Dan’s, and endorsed by the Department of Tourism and Commission on Higher Education.

life

BIZ GROUPS TO HELP GOVT SPOT REDTAPE IN AGENCIES

d1

L

health&Fitness

Yes, Gilas Can!

END OF RAMADAN Thousands of Muslim residents gather at the Rizal Park in Luneta, Manila, in celebration of Eid al-Fitr. The holiday, celebrated for three days, marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Republic Act 9177, signed into law in November 2002 during the Arroyo presidency, declares the first day of Shawwal, the 10th month of the Islamic calendar, a national holiday for the observance of Eid al-Fitr. ROY DOMINGO

Nickel falls most in eight weeks on concerns over mine closures

N

Sports

C2

ickel fell the most in eight weeks, on speculation that the government may take longer than expected to close mines that don’t meet environmental rules in the Philippines, the biggest supplier of ore to China.

The metal used in stainless steel advanced 12 percent last month, on concern that shipments from the Philippines to China will be disrupted as a new government enforces standards. While Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez said an audit of mining operations will be completed in three to four weeks, speculation mounted on the timing of any closures.

“Now doubts have arisen as to

PESO exchange rates n US 46.8330

4.8%

The drop in prices of nickel for delivery in three months whether those mines in the Philippines that are failing to meet the necessary environmental standards could really be shut down in the near future,” Commerzbank AG analysts, including Daniel Briesemann, said in a note. Nickel for delivery in three months slipped 4.8 percent to settle at $9,705 a metric ton at 5:52 p.m. on the London Metal Exchange (LME),

the biggest loss since May 9.

“It will take time for the Philippines to eventually shut the mines and cut supplies,” Jia Zheng, a metal trader with Soochow Futures Co., said by phone from Shanghai. “Ultimately, China can diversify by purchasing from regions like Africa.”

Copper for delivery in three months slipped 1.6 percent in London. Zinc, lead and tin also declined on the LME, while aluminum rose.

A gauge of 18 global base-metal producers tracked by Bloomberg Intelligence declined 3.9 percent, the first loss in more than a week.

Phoen i x-ba sed Free por t-McMoRan Inc. led declines, slipping 8 percent. Bloomberg News

ocal manufacturers and exporters are preparing their detailed list of regulations that they hope would be axed to improve trade facilitation, but underlined that this should done in compliance with existing laws.

Following President Duterte’s marching orders to Cabinet secretaries in his inaugural speech to remove redundant requirements and streamline processes, traders said they are expecting significant changes in the procedures being implemented by government agencies.

And they want to help the government in identifying these unnecessary regulations in the different state agencies. Jesus L. Arranza, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), said setting up a business, for instance, is still a protracted process due to the duplication of requirements in several offices.

“To secure a building permit for a business, for example, one should go to the homeowners’ association, then to the barangay, then to the municipal office, all of which ask for all of the same requirements…there should be a onestop shop for all of this,” Arranza said.

Further, the stringent monthly reporting of tax payment, which may include filing of percentage tax returns and monthly value-added tax declarations, is also proving to be a drag for small and start-up businesses.

“The Bureau of Internal Revenue [BIR] requires immediate tax reporting, even if the business isn’t earning yet.

We would want to have a grace period

for these small enterprises because, right now, only large companies with dedicated accounting divisions can comply with these,” he added.

Arranza said these proposals will be discussed by FPI in a board meeting on Friday. Exporters, meanwhile, have more concerns on BIR rules, saying the agency’s requirement for import clearance certificate should be done away with, since this is already being required by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“This is already redundant with what the BOC is doing. We feel that the BIR is doing this to collect taxes, which should be a separate matter,” said Ma. Flordeliza C. Leong, Philippine Exporters Confederation (Philexport) assistant vice president for advocacy and communications.

The Export Development Council, a public-private partnership agency headed by the Department of Trade and Industry and Philexport, will be convening its Networking Committee on Simplification to review the regulatory processes of the government agencies.

Cutting red tape in the government is the main task of the National Competitiveness Council, a publicprivate body that worked to repeal and/or amend 3,959 issuances across eight government departments in its Project Repeal program.

The council’s Project Repeal is an ongoing program that will involve more government agencies. It seeks to repeal not just executive issuances but also redundant laws by year-end.

n japan 0.4567 n UK 62.2457 n HK 6.0369 n CHINA 7.0265 n singapore 34.8123 n australia 35.2840 n EU 52.2563 n SAUDI arabia 12.4878

Catherine N. Pillas Source: BSP (5 July 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Thursday, July 7, 2016

Manila ready to talk to Beijing after sea ruling P

resident Duterte said on Tuesday that Manila is ready to talk to China, not go to war, if an arbitration tribunal rules in its favor in a case it brought against Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea. Mr. Duterte said the Philippines “remains optimistic that the tribunal will rule in our favor.” But if the ruling is not favorable, then the Philippines will accept and abide by it, he added.

“When it’s favorable to us, let’s talk,” he said. “We are not prepared to go to war, war is a dirty word.”

But he said the country will proceed accordingly after it obtains a copy of the judgment, and will base decisions on the Philippines’s greater interest.

The official China Daily reported on Monday that China is ready to start negotiations with the Philippines if Manila ignores the tribunal ruling, which is expected to be issued on July 12.

The Philippines brought its long-simmering disputes with China in the South China Sea to international arbitration in January 2013, after Beijing took control of disputed Scarborough Shoal following a standoff.

At his first Cabinet meeting after taking office last week, Duterte expressed the need for the Philippines to fully study the impact of the ruling, whether favorable or not.

New Foreign Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. made sensitive remarks about the territorial disputes that were broadcast live by the state-run TV network before it abruptly cut away from its coverage of the Cabinet meeting.

Yasay spoke about an apparent wish by some foreign governments for Manila to issue a stronger statement about the dispute if the tribunal rules favorably. “I am adverse to that idea,” he told Mr. Duterte and fellow Cabinet members. “There are lots of nuances that we do not know as yet,” Yasay said.

“But the bottom-line question is what will happen if the decision is in our favor,” Yasay said, adding that China could potentially “dig in and put us to a test.” If that happens, he said, “there is no point for us to yell.” AP

Davao. . .

Continued from A12

Not since the few weeks before the May 9 elections, and the weeks that followed did a surge in the inquiries and visits by top-level corporate leaders from abroad occurred. The BOI is currently receiving and processing the inquiry of an average of three foreign businesses each day.

“It’s very busy these days,” Dureza said.

This year the BOI already listed P886.7 billion in investment leads, or interest to pour investments in projects already in the corporate blueprints. He

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Coal-plant owners unfazed by Lopez Continued from A1

Aside from their compliance, officials of the power generators stressed that they only utilize the so-called clean-coal technology to mitigate the environmental impact of power generation using coal.

But according to Greepeace report, the so-called clean coal is merely an illusion. “Coal plants are the biggest source of man-made carbon-dioxide emissions.

This makes coal energy the single greatest threat facing our climate,” it said, adding that coal-plant emissions may cause over 2,400 premature deaths in the country.

It also said the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, a proposal to capture carbon emissions from power plants and bury these, won’t be ready for at least another 20 years. “By then, it would be too late to save the climate. The vague promises of CCS are being used to justify building new coal plants.”

Aboitiz Power Corp. President and COO Antonio Moraza defended the company’s coal operations. “We feel that we operate within the standards set, so there should not be a problem,” he said in a text message when sought for comment.

AboitizPower is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution, retail and power services.

In its annual report released in May, the company said its portfolio of generation assets accounts for 16 percent of the country’s installed generation capacity.

Of this, 1,957 megawatts (MW) are baseload coal and oil-fired power plants, while 1,217 MW are renewable energy (RE).

The power firm’s coal-fired power plants include the 300-MW facility of AboitizPower subsidiary Therma South

said the office receives an average of only between P10 billion and P12 billion actual investments, and maybe more than double of this number in investment leads. “The ambiance in investments these days is terrific,” he said. Bulk of the investment leads are from 12 or 13 big projects in integrated steel mill, petrochemicals, power generation and mass housing, he said.

The inquiries and prospects for investments were made by corporate owners or their representatives based in mainland China, Taiwan, India, the US and Europe.

“It’s not only in the Davao region, but

Inc.; the 700-MW Pagbilao plant of another subsidiary Therma Power and its partner; the 210-MW plant of AboitizPower and partners; and the 246-MW facility of AboitizPower and a partner.

DMCI Holdings Inc. President Isidro Consunji said Semirara Mining and Power Corp. and DMCI Power Corp. have secured the necessary permits from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for their various power projects.

“We have ECCs [environmental compliance certificates] to prove that we are compliant,” he said via text message when asked for comment.

Besides, he added, the company is yet to receive any new directive from the DENR. “We have not received any information on new instructions from the DENR. All I am saying is that we have secured ECCs as proof that we have complied with the government’s requirements,” Consunji said.

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi is aware of the Climate Change Commission’s stand regarding the continued use of coal-power plants, as well as the policy pronouncement of Lopez.

He said he was prepared to sit down and discuss this with the new DENR chief to find the “right balance,” since the country “can’t afford not to have coal.”

“If coal is not the solution, what is the alternative? You have to find that balance—the energy mix cannot all be renewable energy. If it’s RE, why not?

But we have to be realistic. We will discuss that. We have to help one another find the solution,” Cusi said.

Data from the DOE showed the Philippines will see nearly 5,000 MW of new power plants being built until 2020, of

Mindanao as a whole, where the projects are planned to be put up,” he said.

He said the life span of the project, from finalizing the location and securing the permits, to the construction and start of operation, “these manufacturing ventures like a steel mill, take three years, and petrochemicals, two years.”

The other sure winner is ​the tourism industry, Tamayo said, from the line of the first benefits to the long-term blessing of getting more investments “because of the hotels and restaurants, and destinations to see and visit for leisure.”

“People would be coming in big numbers and

which over 70 percent are coal-based.

Under the DOE’s current fuel-mix policy, the country should source 30 percent of its energy requirements from coal, 30 percent from RE and another 30 percent from natural gas. The remaining 10 percent will come from oil-based power plants.

Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (Acri) of the Alcantara Group, meanwhile, said its four power plants operate at emission levels that are even lower than those allowed by the DENR. “As Mindanao’s first and most experienced independent power producer, we, at Alsons Power, have consistently complied with the DENR and global standards for allowable emissions since the start of operations of our first power plant in 1993,” Acri Chairman Tomas Alcantara said in an e-mail reply.

He added that Acri is strongly supporting the Duterte administration’s policy of a balanced energy mix between renewable and traditional sources of power.

“We, at Alsons Power, also admire and share Energy Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez’s staunch advocacy and passion to preserve and protect our environment.

Alsons Power welcomes Energy Secretary Cusi’s statement that he is prepared to sit down with Secretary Lopez to discuss the need to strike the right balance between having adequate, reliable energy supply and a cleaner environment,” he added.

Among others, Acri is involved in the 210-MW Sarangani Energy Corp.(SEC) baseload coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani, and the 105-MW San Ramon Power Inc. baseload coal-fired power plant in Talisayan, Zamboanga City.

By 2019, Acri-affiliated power facilities will have around 588 MW of generating capacity, approximately 25 percent

more frequency as they take a look at this city and Mindanao,” Tamayo said. The bigger challenge to the investment surge is how to secure the macroeconomic fundamentals to absorb, or assuage, the investors, especially the big-ticket ones.

“We need to link roads and bridges to factories and agribusiness ventures to the ports. The lesser the traffic congestion, the better to attract them,” Tamayo said. “It’s about interconnectivity, transportation and logistics, that government must address as early as hereon.”

However, the tract record of Duterte, and his long-standing reputation to support business,

of Mindanao’s projected peak-power demand for that year. First Philippine Holdings (FPH) Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Federico Lopez said earlier that First Gen Corp. would not invest in coal-fired power plants.

“Today let me state unequivocally and for the record that the FPH and its subsidiaries will not build, develop or invest in any coal-fired power plant.

I’m certain that, without having to look too far, this country already has many alternatives that do not mortgage the future of our children and future of our planet,” Lopez said.

He said the Lopez Group would push for the development of geothermal-power plants, as well as RE. The company’s declaration against investing in coal-fired power plants would affect the company’s business prospects moving forward.

“It’s just a matter of shifting our focus elsewhere. It is quite liberating because we are going where the rest of the world is headed, and for me, it is important for the country to embrace this,” Lopez said.

First Gen earlier urged the government to increase the share of RE in the country’s power-generation mix to 50 percent to counter the damaging effects of climate change.

Lopez said the remaining 50 percent of the generation mix could be shared by other sources, including low-carbon emission power projects.

First Gen owns the 1,000-MW Santa Rita and the 500-MW San Lorenzo gas plants in Batangas City.

It is developing two more gas plants— the 97-MW Avion open-cycle and the 414MW San Gabriel combined cycle natural gas plant.

“basically makes this government now know the velocity of money, and where to put them to maximum use.”

“The main roads and bridges to the farm-tomarket roads ensure that farmers are not left out, and shows the balance of priority of Duterte to encourage business in order to provide more livelihood opportunities to the poor,” he said.

Vicente Lao, president of the Mindanao Business Council, has repeatedly assured foreign investors and diplomats who sought out his independent opinion about Duterte, “that Duterte is not known to interfere in the affairs of business.”

“He is after ensuring that there is peace and political stability, and by that, definitely it is good and ideal for business,” Lao said.

After hearing Duterte’s inaugural speech on June 30 in Malacañang, Lao believes the country’s business community “is happy with Duterte’s very clear pronouncement of his policies and the economic direction he wants us to go.”

“It’s the most assuring speech so far, and I believe he made one of the finer speeches in his inauguration,” Tamayo said.

A previous survey the UM Institute of Popular Opinion made in March to feel the sentiment of how to encourage business and ease of doing business in the city,“respondents did not specifically mention what type of businesses should the city engage in.”

“Respondents only stated the inconveniences like flooding, road traffic, interconnectivity and farm roads,” Tamayo said. “But what Mindanao should improve on is its absorptive capacity.”

“Mindanao has been getting already more than what it is contributing to the national gross domestic product, and yet a lot of what is allocated through the government agencies are only reverted back to the national coffers,” he said. “This is because of the lack of macroeconomic fundamentals in the island. We need to settle land issues, the lack of skills among its working population and property-rights issues,” he said.

Dureza said other government agencies have been tapped to help“ensure that these investments would end up investing in Mindanao than in other places.” Tapped were the Davao City Investment Promotions Center and the Mindanao Development Authority. “It’s a consolidated effort to bring them all here.”

“These are all big investments coming in, mostly in manufacturing, and we are not concentrating anymore on incentives, but on finding the landholdings they require,” he said.

To expedite their entry, these two government agencies prefer referring them to locate in the economic zones in San Miguel, Malita town and in Santa Cruz town in Davao del Sur, and in Panabo, Davao del Norte.

He said the requirement for land may be a bigger challenge six months from today “when we expect more investments in agriculture to come in.”

“We are fortunate right now the land requirement is not really much of a factor for investments,” he said. “Sooner, we have to find solutions to that.”

BMReports BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Thursday, July 7, 2016 A3

Philippine carriers vow to continue marketing collaboration with DOT

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

P

@Pulitika2010 Special to the BusinessMirror

IONEERING flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific Airways will continue to cooperate with the Department of Tourism (DOT), led by new Secretary Wanda Corazon Tulfo Teo, on the marketing and promotion of the Philippines.

PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime Bautista expressed the airline’s support to Teo at an intimate dinner he hosted for the new DOT chief and her team at the Century Park Hotel.

In his brief remarks, Bautista acknowledged Teo’s appointment as a “very important post,” adding that the airline is committed to help the DOT “achieve its tourism growth target for the country, as we transport people, cargo, mount new flights to spur travel, and modernize our fleet, to increase passenger capacity.”

He wished Teo good tidings in her new leadership role, heading a department he described as “most vital in serving an industry considered as one of the nation’s key economic drivers.”

Last year PAL f lew almost 12 million passengers, 25 percent higher than the 9.6 million in 2014.

Bautista said he has known

Teo, a successful travel agent in Davao, who later became president of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies, for quite some time.

In a press statement, Teo, addressing the PAL dinner participants, said: “Tourism is a shared res ponsibi l it y bet ween you r gover nment and the tour ism stakeholders.

“However big or small, we all have important roles to play in making tourism our countr y’s sunshine industr y. A nd there is no better time to pitch in your share to this momentum in tourism than now, as change has come.”

In a separate event at the Manila Diamond Hotel, Cebu Pacific (CEB) also renewed its commitment to the DOT and to Secretary Teo’s mandate to double visitor arrivals by 2022.

Candice Iyog, the airline’s vice president for marketing and dis-

David Lim (from left) of Philippine Air Line, Teo, and PAL President and COO Jaime Bautista Candice Iyog (left) of CEB and Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo

tribution, said the DOT is “no stranger to CEB,” as they’ve had a long-standing partnership.

“The DOT has been there since day one,” Iyog said, citing the agency’s important role in helping the carrier fulfill its mission to “highlight travel to and within the Philippines.”

The CEB executive said she

was looking forward to the continued partnership with the DOT, specifically in long-term planning, closely coordinating and actively coordinating with its regional offices.

Iyog added that she is hoping to work with the new DOT ad ministrat ion in adva ncing the country’s interest in its pri-

There is no better time to pitch in your share to this momentum in tourism than now, as change has come.”—Teo

ority markets, including Aust ra l i a, Japa n, C h ina, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.

“Access to real-time market data, such as inbound and outbound travel statistics, market profile and customer segments” is crucial to CEB in aligning its efforts and campaigns in the different international markets, she explained.

As the airline expands its fleet to fly “where Filipinos are” and to entice more foreign visitors to come to the Philippines, “we also expect the DOT will continue in giving us more of those island connections that would, in turn, help us expand our network and reach across the Philippines and within

the region,” she added.

CEB flew 18.4 million passengers in 2015, up 9 percent from some 17 million flown in 2014.

The DOT chief said earlier she would be meeting with different industry stakeholders, such as travel and tour organizations, associations, local government executives, the accommodation and transportation sectors, to find out what their problems are and how the agency could help them.

Teo, likewise, said these meetings will reinforce their commitments to help DOT achieve its tourism targets in terms of domestic and foreig n v isitor arrivals, tourism receipts and employment.

Sugar output of 2.235 MMT exceeds SRA’s forecast for current crop year

House leader backs govt’s ₧27-B stimulus program for carmakers

S

leader of the House of Represent at ives ha s t hrow n h is suppor t beh i nd t he gover nment’s program, which allows local car ma kers to enjoy incentives amounting to P27 billion.

Rep. Romero S. Quimbo of the Second District of Marikina, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means in the 16th Congress, said the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program is a “welcome initiative.”

“We’ve long been asking the Dep a r t m e nt o f Tr a d e a n d I n d u s t r y [DTI] to implement a genuine and e f fe c t ive automot ive m a nu f ac t u r ing incentive program,” Quimbo told the BusinessMirror.

“Incentives given under the CARS Program is welcome, unlike other incentives being granted to industries that do not deserve it anymore,” he added.

The CARS Program was implemented through Executive Order 182, Series of 2015.

The fiscal support program is aimed at reviving the country’s declining manufacturing sector by specifically targeting the auto industry, given its strong linkages to other industries and its so-called multiplier effect.

The program provides for P27 billion in fiscal incentives, or a budget of P9 billion for each enrolled vehicle model. The incentives will be given in the form of taxpayment certificates to offset any tax and duty obligations of CARS participants to the national government, which include excise tax, income tax, import duties and value-added tax.

The tax-payment certificates refer to nontransferable certificates, which will be used to defray the tax and duty obligations of participating carmaker to the national government.

Earlier, reelected Rep. Winston T. Castelo of the Second District of Quezon City said he wants to look into the

By Mary Grace C. Padin

@ _enren

ugar production for the current crop year has already exceeded initial estimates despite the onslaught of El Niño, according to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

Latest data from the SRA showed that the country’s raw-sugar production as of June 26 has reached 2.235 million metric tons (MMT), 4.44 percent higher than the 2.14 MMT projected by the agency.

However, the latest sugar production is 3.8 percent lower than the previous year’s record of 2.32 MMT. “The production target of 2.14 MMT was based on the prolonged El Niño last year, which extended until the first quarter of 2016,” SRA Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin told the BusinessMirror.

“However, some farms, especially in Negros, were having double crops at the onset of the rainy season in May to catch up with the planting of new canes for the next crop,” Martin added.

She said about 3,000 small-scale farmers, particularly in Negros provinces, harvested twice within the current crop year, which will end on August 31.

Martin said farmers took advantage of the rainy season and harvested the cane top of some plants to use as planting materials for the next crop season.

“It started to rain again so they felt they could harvest and plant new crops. They looked for planting materials, so they cut the top of the canes and planted those. The rest were milled,” she said.

Sugarcane grows and matures within a year before it can be harvested. Unless uprooted, the stubbles left from the plant can be grown and harvested again in nine to 10 months as ratoon canes. Sugar has two to three ratoon cycles, according to Martin.

SRA policy and planning officer Rosemarie Gumera said only Option Sugar Mill in Sagay, Negros Occidental, remains operational, but its output is expected to be “minimal.”

Farmer Felix S. Berou shows off some of the sugarcane harvested from his farm. Berou, who is from Bagontaas, Valencia City in Bukidnon, was named as National Gawad Saka Outstanding Sugarcane Farmer for 2014.

2.14 MMT

The projected sugarcane output of the Philippines for crop year 2015-2016 US quota

Philippine Sugar Millers Association Inc. President Francisco D. Varua said local traders have not yet shipped the additional allocation they obtained from the US Trade Representative (USTR) under the tariff-rate quota scheme.

“As of now, we are still studying the situation. We still have two months to decide whether to ship or not, and this has to be decided by the new SRA administrator,” Varua told the BusinessMirror.

Martin also deferred the decision concerning the shipment of the additional sugar allocation to her replacement. She said the new SRA chief may be appointed in the next two to three weeks.

“We can only hope that the administrator will be as transparent and as diligent as the past administrator,” Varua said.

In March the USTR reallocated 12,194

metric tons raw value (MTRV) of sugar to the Philippines, after some countries failed to meet their quota.

Another 19,336 MTRV have been added to Manila’s allocation in May, when Washington decided to add 127,006 MTRV to its minimum TRQ volume committed to the World Trade Organization.

These are on top of the original volume of 135,508 MT allocated by the USTR for the current fiscal year.

The Philippines initially imported 170,000 MT of sugar to displace the 135,508 MT exported by local traders and to stabilize local supply and prices.

The SRA recently allowed the importation of an additional 100,000 MT to stabilize domestic sugar prices.

Martin said the agency is hoping that sugar output in the next crop year, which will begin on September 1, will recover. “(Planting) is going to be delayed because of the late onset of the rains. The cane’s gestation period may take longer, maybe a month or two. Despite the delay, we see it will have an improvement on production,” she said.

At this point, PSMA said it is “still too early” to project sugar output in the next crop year.

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

A

Incentives given under the CARS Program is welcome, unlike other incentives being granted to industries that do not deserve it anymore.”—Quimbo

implementation of the CARS Program when the 17th Congress starts session this month.

“The government can, instead, use the P27 billion for the construction of thousands of rooms and to feed malnourished children. The fund can also be allotted for the medical needs of the people and other social services of the government,” Castelo said.

Castelo is the chairman of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development in the 16th Congress.

Besides Congress, Quimbo said the DTI, through the Board of Investments (BOI), has the power to grant tax incentives to several industries.

“The CARS Program is being carried out under the power of the DTI, through the BOI, to grant tax incentives. It finds basis in the law. The BOI is given the power to grant incentives to industries based on the investment priorities plan,” he said.

The BOI has said it has approved the application of Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. and Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. for incentives under the government’s P27-billion manufacturing stimulus program.

Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez earlier said the Duterte administration is not planning to shelve the program.

BMReports BusinessMirror

A4 Thursday, July 7, 2016

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Will US, China fall into the Thucydides Trap?

T

By Recto L. Mercene

@rectomercene

HE spat between the Philippines and China over isles and rocky features at the South China Sea (SCS) may result in a confrontation between China and the United States.

China, as a growing economic and military giant, is flexing its muscles to make its presence felt in the world.

After suffering a hundred years of humiliation under Western powers, it is poised to challenge America, the most powerful country on the planet at the moment.

China’s rise is inevitable, while the US decline is predictable and the two countries are predicted to be at parity, militarily and economically, within two decades, While the most populous country in the world stand as one over the SCS, however, the Filipinos remain divided on the issue. And this immediately apparent when the Duterte administration, by its acquiescent, repudiated six years of labors by the Aquino administration, challenging China’s claims.

The Tapatan media forum has exposed the division in Philippine society, split between the views expressed by Albert Encomienda, former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Maritime Affairs Desk, and Rommel Banlaoi of the Center For International and National Security Studies (CINSS).

Banlaoi said our petty quarrel would be for nothing, after all. There is fear among military strategists that if there happens a misencounter or miscommunication, the United States and China might eventually fall into the Thucydides Trap—the feared unintended clash of giants.

Banlaoi said he was in Washington, D.C. two weeks ago where following an assessment, experts like him had concluded that the United States will still be the major power in the foreseeable future. He sees the foreseeable future—15 years from now, after which there may be another power rising.

“We are in that transitioi period and China, in that power transition, is very, very, serious in projecting that power in the SCS,” Banlaoi said.

But for the US, he added that that kind of projection is threatening because the Scs, which used to be “an American lake,” would now turn into China’s lake.

“For the US, as an established power, that is not acceptable and when it comes to freedom of China and the US they have different interpretation of the meaning of freedom of navigation that the US insists it should enjoy.

“To China, freedom of navigation is only limited to economic activities, but when it comes to military activities, particularly to the EEZ, then military activities should be limited.”

On the other hand, Banaloi said the US considers the Scs was part of international waters, where freedom of navigation should be enjoyed, not only for economic, but also for military purposes.

“But when it comes to military aspects for freedom of navigation, China is very wary of American role, China says ok, you can navigate for military vessels, but only for innocent passage,” but if that military vessels are conducting surveillance and military activities and other military operations of freedom of navigation for military operations, for China that is not acceptable.”

This way, Banlaoi said the Scs is not only an issue between China and the other claimants, “but an issue between two competing major powers.”

“And this might provide the proverbial Thucydides trap that might ignite future conflict between China and the US and that is why there is tremendous efforts on both side to promote military dialogue in order to prevent unintended military encounter in the SCS.” In the light of the latest developments, China’s mouthpieces— Global Times and People’s Daily— said: “Beijing must prepare for ‘military confrontation’ in the South China Sea,” as China began naval drills in the area ahead of an international tribunal ruling over the maritime dispute.

On Tuesday China began a week of naval exercises at the waters off Paracel Islands, that are also being claimed by Vietnam.

However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei when asked about the editorial in Global Times and China Daily said the government was committed to peace.

“China will work with Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries to safeguard the peace and stability of the South China Sea,” he told a daily news briefing.

However, Encomienda said that for his part freedom of navigation is not a part of operative facts on the ground.

Encomienda said that freedom of navigation has not been disturbed in the SCS and “50 trillion tons of trade in the SCS, has never been disrupted under the Aquino admininistration.”

“When the US undertook freedom of navigation operations within 12 nautical miles of the Chinese installations, was it ever challenged by China?” No.” However, from the Chinese point of view, those acts are very provocative, Encomienda said.

IN this May 6 file photo, soldiers from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy watch as the USS Blue Ridge arrives at a port in Shanghai. AP

And this might provide the proverbial Thucydides Trap that might ignite future conflict between China and the US, and that is why there is tremendous efforts on both side to promote military dialogue in order to prevent unintended military encounter in the SCS.” “Let me repeat, I’m not for China or against the US. I am for the Philippines. I love the Philippines but it is a fact that the US has its own hegemonic agenda. No less that Hillary Clinton said the US wants to maintain the status quo in the world through a rules-based modality.”

Encomienda said that whatever China is doing in the SCS, “it is only trying to establish its natural sphere of influence that it has enjoyed for more than 2,000 years.”

“Just as the US having aspirations for world hegemony there is nothing wrong with Chinas aspirations.”

“The thing is in the present situation, the US cannot accept that China will exercise hegemony in the SCS,” Encomienda added.

He said, “if we examine the mutual defense treaty with the US, it is applicable only when there is an armed attacked against the US and the Philippines and in the Pacific area.”

Encomineda said that in World War II America’s definition of the Pacific is very clear, but today, it now includes the SCS and the IndoPacific area.

“So, again…I said this in another forum and went viral, all against

me, but all I said was, “The US following itself, is doing everything right for itself, pursuing its national interest, China is doing everything right for itself, pursuing its national interests.”

Now the problem really is, if I may so, the Philippines is caught in the middle and I’m not sure whether we are on the right track siding with the US,” Encomienda added.

“Because any minor incident can trigger a major war that both two powers do not want to occur,” Banlaoi said.

Banlaoi’s views were put into clearer perspective in the Atlantic.

“More than 2,400 years ago, the Athenian historian Thucydides offered a powerful insight: ‘It was the rise of Athens, and the fear that this inspired in Sparta, that made war inevitable.’ Others identified an array of contributing causes of the Peloponnesian War. But Thucydides went to the heart of the matter, focusing on the inexorable, structural stress caused by a rapid shift in the balance of power between two rivals. Note that Thucydides identified two key drivers of this dynamic: The rising power’s growing entitlement, sense of its importance, and

demand for greater say and sway, on the one hand, and the fear, insecurity, and determination to defend the status quo this engenders in the established power, on the other.”

“In the case about which he wrote in the fifth century BC, Athens had emerged over a half century as a steeple of civilization, yielding advances in philosophy, history, drama, architecture, democracy and naval prowess. This shocked Sparta, which, for a century, had been the leading land power on the Peloponnese peninsula.

As Thucydides saw it, Athens’s position was understandable. As its clout grew, so too did its self-confidence, it’s consciousness of past injustices, its sensitivity to instances of disrespect, and its insistence that previous arrangements be revised to reflect new realities of power. It was also natural, Thucydides explained, that Sparta interpreted the Athenian posture as unreasonable, ungrateful, and threatening to the system it had established—and within which Athens had flourished.”

“War between the US and China is more likely than recognized at the moment. Indeed, judging by the historical record, war is more likely than not,” the authors of the article argued.

“Thucydides chronicled objective changes in relative power, but he also focused on perceptions of change among the leaders of Athens and Sparta—and how this led each to strengthen alliances with other states in the hopes of counterbalancing the other. But entanglement runs both ways. [It was for this reason that George Washington famously cautioned America to beware of ‘entangling alliances.’] When conflict broke out between the second-tier city-states of Corinth and Corcyra [now Corfu], Sparta felt it necessary

to come to Corinth’s defense, which left Athens little choice but to back its ally. The Peloponnesian War followed. When it ended 30 years later, Sparta was the nominal victor. But both states lay in ruin, leaving Greece vulnerable to the Persians.”

The lessons of history seems not to be lost on China’s Xi Jin Ping, who said, shortly after his meeting with President Barack Obama in the United States: “There is no such thing as the so-called Thucydides Trap in the world. But should major countries time and again make the mistakes of strategic miscalculation, they might create such traps for themselves.”

The f lagship newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party on Wednesday warned Washington that there would be a “price” to pay if it crosses China’s “bottom line” by meddling in disputes over the SCS. The People’s Daily editorial comes as Beijing ramps up efforts to assert its stance ahead of a ruling by an international tribunal in a case filed by the Philippines challenging China’s claims to most of the SCS. China is boycotting the case before The Hague-based court, and says it will not accept the verdict.

The paper said bilateral ties and regional stability were at stake, and that the US should recognize that “there is a bottom line with every issue, and a price will be paid if that line is crossed.”

“If the US, regardless of the cost, chooses the path of ‘brinkmanship’ that pressures and intimidates others, there will be only one result, that is, that the US bears all the responsibility for possibly further heightening tensions in the South China Sea,” the editorial said. With AP

With promise of reforms in bidding process, DOTC projects seen to attract more bidders

T

he process of tendering key infrastructure deals is “too tedious” that the previous administration found it difficult to fast-track the system, but with the promise of reforms, the Duterte administration may find itself winning the interest of more investors.

Currently, the transportation department has eight infrastructure deals that were left in limbo by its previous officials. These projects— ranging from airports and seaports to railways—have a cumulative value of P127.5 billion.

Former Transportation Undersecretary for Operations Edwin R. Lopez said the new administration must craft meaningful ways on how to address the issues that have caused a huge backlog in the award and implementation of public-private partnership (PPP) projects. “ These projects, because of

These projects, because of [their] technical complexity and several components, do take a while to be rolled out. The new administration should find solutions to make acquisition less laborious.”—Lopez

[their] technical complexity and several components, do take a while to be rolled out,” he told the BusinessMirror. “The new administration should find solutions to make acquisition less laborious.”

Lopez said the transport department must engage interested parties and ease bidding rules to receive interest from more parties. “We do have very strict rules and many re-

quirements that cause some bidders to lose interest,” he said.

The largest of the pending deals is the P108.2-billion contract for the development of five airports around the country. The program aims to address the growing demand for air connectivity around tourist spots and business hubs.

The previous administration had decided to bundle the con-

tracts into two to make it more enticing to investors.

The first package consists of the Bacolod-Silay Airport (P20.26 billion) and Iloilo Airport (P30.40 billion), while the second bundle is composed of the New Bohol or Panglao Airport (P2.34 bill ion), L a g u i nd i nga n A i r por t (P14.62 billion) and Davao Airport (P40.57 billion).

The other deals in limbo are the P19-billion deal for the modernization of the Davao Sasa Wharf, which aims to improve trade access to Mindanao and the Philippines by providing a dedicated containerized port in the region; the P298-million project for the modernization of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board’s information-technology infrastructure; and the contract to operate and maintain the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT 2).

The DOTC enjoys the lion’s share of the P1.5-trillon pipeline of PPP deals “giftwrapped” by the previous government to the new.

It also has the most number of projects awarded.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said the “presumption of regularity” edict will be applied on projects that were awarded during the past administration.

“We have to move forward with the contracts that were signed and executed [by the previous leadership],” he said.

Out of the five awarded transport deals during the past administration, only the automatic farecollection system was completed.

The others are in different phases of construction.

Case in point is the LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension deal, which was awarded to Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC).

Under the deal, the LRMC group, jointly led by the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., will be responsible for the extension of the oldest urban light-railway train line in Southeast Asia to Bacoor, Cavite.

The company is currently at the preconstruction stage, while, at the same time, renovating and upgrading the whole system. It promised to let passengers “feel the real benefit of an improved train system” by 2017.

Construction for a new terminal at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport is ongoing, as well. Megawide Construction Corp. has promised to meet its June 2018 target completion date.

Other projects that have ongoing construction and preconstruction activities are the Integrated Transport System South and Southwest facilities. Mia Rodriguez

Asean

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Asia matters–for Europe. And Europe matters–for Asia.

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Thursday, July 7, 2016 A5

Thai government rules out death penalty for rapists

Asean-EU Perspective

HENRY J. SCHUMACHER

I

T is with this simple premise in mind that the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) was created in 1996 and why it has since become a key forum for dialogue and cooperation between Europe and Asia, with an ever-growing number of partners involved. Asem currently has 53 partners (more than double from the original 26 in 1996) and is representing nearly 60 percent of the world’s GDP and more than 60 percent of the world’s population.

Asem is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2016. The celebrations will culminate at the 11th Asem Summit held in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, on July 15 and 16. As the hosts and chairman of the last, 10th Asem Summit in Milan in October 2014, as well as the 12th Asem Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Luxembourg in November 2015, which paved the way to the 2016 Summit, the European Union (EU) and its member-states, have a special responsibility in moving the Asem process forward and, thus, further contributing to strengthened cooperation between Europe and Asia. Asem provides a unique platform to bring Europe and Asia—and, of course, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)—closer together on a number of issues of global importance, be it revival of economic growth worldwide, climate change, or the post-2015 development agenda.

In this context it is unfortunate that President Duterte has decided not to attend this important event, which would have brought him in direct touch with European and Asian leaders. He has decided that the Philippines will be represented by new Foreign Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. This is even more unfortunate, as the summit is expected to tackle the South China Sea conflict and political, economic and sociocultural issues of common interest.

What was handled at Asem 2014 in Malaysia?

Responsible—both Europe and Asia should act responsibly, abiding by their joint commitment to environmental protection, social dialogue, eradicating poverty, promotion and protection of human rights, etc.

Partnership—Asem is increasingly moving toward a broader-based partnership to address jointly global and regional challenges.

Sustainable growth—We have an interest to strengthen our economies and to pursue structural reforms, both in Europe and Asia, to underpin economic growth. We are committed to strengthening mutual trade and investment.

Security—There is no growth/development without security in the broader sense—maritime security, nontraditional security, social security, food security, nuclear security, etc. The EU will emphasize its ambition to be seen as a constructive and reliable player in the evolving regional security architecture.

A key element of the summit agenda in Mongolia is Asia—Europe connectivity in its broadest definition. The concept has particular relevance for Asem, be it physical connectivity—through air, sea or land, but also about connectivity of flow of goods, services, investments and people. It is hoped that connectivity will constitute a powerful mobilizing concept to take Europe-Asia cooperation further.

Connectivity is already a part of the EU agenda, while the Asean has its own connectivity master plan. China has come up with the ambitious “One Belt, One Road” strategy for promoting Asia-Europe connectivity.

The EU and China have launched a joint connectivity platform. The Asem summit in Ulaanbataar can bind these initiatives and take them further.

Certainly, the focus on trucks, trains, ships and airplanes is justified.

Business and trade are the backbone of Asia-Europe relations, and the establishment of new and faster connections will boost trade, facilitate investments and create “Asem At 20—The Challenge of Connectivity.”

Singapore, Myanmar seek opportunities during Yangon chief minister’s first visit

I

nternational Enterprise (IE) Singapore hosted Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, who is on his first visit to Singapore since his appointment in March, in a closed-door dialogue and dinner to seek business opportunities, the trade promotion agency said.

IE Singapore revealed that 11 senior representatives from Singapore companies with expertise in urban planning and development, hospitality, energy and utilities, as well as transport and logistics solutions, discussed key priorities of the Yangon government and exchanged ideas on areas of partnership between the private and public sectors of Singapore and Myanmar.

At the dialogue and dinner, Lee Ark Boon, CEO of IE Singapore, said Yangon chief minister noted Singapore companies’ international track record and welcomed them to collaborate with the Yangon government in the infrastructure and urban solutions sectors.

Lee added that IE Singapore’s Yangon office, which has been set up in April 2013 to facilitate Singapore companies’ entry into Myanmar, will work with the Yangon authorities on suitable projects.

“Myanmar and Singapore enjoy strong bilateral ties and we welcome companies from both countries to continue forging business relationships for mutual success,” Thein said.

Since the start of a wave of political and economic reforms in 2011, Myanmar has generated strong interest from Singapore companies.

The growth outlook in Myanmar remains positive under the new administration led by President U Htin Kyaw.

Based on figures collated by the Myanmar Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, Singapore is the second largest investor in Myanmar after China. Bilateral trade between Singapore and Myanmar has increased 9.6 percent from 2014 to reach S$3.5 billion ($2.6 billion) in 2015. PNA

Members of the New Democracy Movement group arrive in custody with a police escort at the military court in Bangkok on Tuesday. Human-rights groups expressed their concerns that the students were arrested for exercising their rights to the freedom of expression ahead of the August 7 referendum on the draft constitution. AP

T

hailand’s Justice Ministry says it has no plan to execute rapists who murder their victims, saying such a harsh penalty would provoke more rapists to kill.

The ministry’s third-ranking official, Tawatchai Thaikyo, posted the comments on Monday on his Facebook page amid growing outrage over the suspected rape and murder of a 27-year-old teacher, whose alleged attacker was a convicted rapist who lived in her apartment building. The woman’s death has prompted calls for harsher penalties for rapes and capital punishment for fatal rapes.

Capital punishment is legal in Thailand for 35 different crimes, including drug offenses, terrorism, national security crimes, murder and fatal rapes. But in practice, the death penalty is rarely used. The last execution was carried out in 2009 for two drug traffickers.

“If raping equals the death penalty, it would encourage rapists to kill all victims to shut their mouths,” Tawatchai said. “Wouldn’t it be better if we require all convicted rapists to undergo a rehabilitation program and give them support to prevent them from committing such crimes again?”

Part of the public anger is over the prison system’s failure, in this case, to rehabilitate. The main suspect

in the attack on Friday is a 27-yearold factory worker who was released from prison last August after serving less than two years behind bars for raping a friend’s wife.

He initially told the police that he lived a few doors down from the teacher and knew her apartment door was broken, so he sneaked in late on Friday with the intention of raping her but she fought back so he killed her, local media reported. He later changed his confession to say he had no intention of raping but only wanted to rob the teacher. Another neighbor found the woman’s naked body, her throat slashed, the day after the attack. The suspect, identified as Chatree Ruamsungnoen, was arrested on Saturday and the police canceled a subsequent reenactment of the crime, which is common in Thailand when suspects confess, over concern he would be attacked by angry mobs.

The head of Thailand’s military government also commented on the case, saying he disagreed with the calls for capital punishment.

“Look at what other countries are doing globally. Human-rights laws have stopped capital punishment in many countries around the world,”

35

The number of crimes punishable by death penalty in Thailand

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said, adding that severe penalties alone won’t prevent rapes. Even if the punishment were “three executions,” it still might not be enough to deter criminals, he said.

“Society has to help pressure them,” Prayuth added, saying public condemnation could be a greater deterrent than the death penalty.

Rights groups say rape in Thailand goes largely unreported and unpunished, partly because the police often don’t take complaints seriously.

Thai police receive about 4,000 rape complaints a year and make about 2,400 arrests, according to the Thailand Development Research Institute, a public policy research institute that gets data from the Justice Ministry. The number of unreported rape cases is estimated at 30,000 per year, the institute says, amounting to a case every 15 minutes.

The victim’s father added his voice to the calls for capital punishment at a news conference after his daughter’s death.

“I don’t want to see laws kill a

person,” the father said on Monday.

“But if we let such a bad guy go free, he will kill again.” A court in Thailand on Tuesday ordered the release of seven students who were arrested last month for distributing leaflets urging people to vote against a proposed new constitution in a referendum next month.

Meanwhile, the Bangkok Military Court ordered their release because the police have completed their investigation of the June 23 protest, said an observer for the legal aid group iLaw, Yingcheep Atchanont. They still face several charges pending prosecutors’ acceptance of the case.

The August 7 referendum is on a constitution drafted under the military government that took power in a May 2014 coup. Critics say the draft is undemocratic, but are constrained from campaigning against it by very restrictive laws that could send them to prison for 10 years.

Despite the threat, opposition to the draft charter has risen in recent weeks, with supporters of the civilian government that was ousted by the army taking a prominent role. The government has issued many threats against such critics, but not acted consistently against them. The students are to be released on Wednesday.

Suspects may be held a maximum of 48 days pending prosecution, but the police must seek an extension from the court every 12 days.

Thirteen people were arrested for the protest by the New Democracy Movement in a Bangkok suburb, but six were freed earlier on bail. The seven others refused to post bail, insisting they did not recognize the legitimacy of the legal proceedings.

The protesters were arrested on charges of violating bans on political gatherings of more than five people and campaigning against the draft constitution. They were also charged with refusing to be fingerprinted and not showing their national identity cards when arrested.

They remained defiant outside the court on Tuesday in brown prison uniforms and shackles. “Voting no is a right, not an illegal act,” they shouted on their way inside after being brought by a van.

“They have voiced their opinion on the weakness of the constitution, which is the same thing that many politicians have done, same as what the military has done, same as what the Election Commission has done,” said Krisadang Nutcharas, the lawyer representing the seven students.

Outside the court, a large group of supporters handed out pamphlets and stickers urging the authorities to drop charges against the students.

Observers from foreign embassies and a number of human-rights organizations attended the hearing. AP

Vietnam GDP target under pressure as economy faces headwinds

V

ietnam is struggling to achieve its target of 6.7-percent economic growth in 2016, amid slow economic expansion in the first half of the year.

According to the country’s General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam’s economic growth in the first half of 2016 reached a low level of just 5.52 percent, compared to 6.32 percent logged in the same period a year earlier. To achieve the 6.7-percent GDP-growth target for the whole year, economists maintain the country needs to post an economic-growth rate of 7.6 percent in the six remaining months.

“This is a challenge as the country is facing numerous difficulties.

If the government does not imple-

ment active measures it is very hard to fulfill the target of economic growth in 2016,” Nguyen Bich Lam, general director of GSO, said in an interview with Vietnam’s state-run news agency. As such, it will impact the plan of socioeconomic development in 2016-2020 period, Lam said.

Growth of the country’s agricultural, forestry and fishery sector saw a decrease of 0.18 percent year-onyear in the first half of 2016.

The slowdown in growth of the farm sector is attributable to the severe weather situation, including snow in the northern region and drought and saline intrusion in the south, especially the Mekong Delta, the main rice bowl of Vietnam, the GSO said. The agriculture area alone

is estimated to shrink 0.78 percent year-on-year in the first half due to the reduction of rice output.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Index of Industrial Production is expected to rise by 7.5 percent year-on-year, lower than the 9.7-percent increase booked in the same period a year earlier, according to the GSO. Regarding the GDP target, Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment said during a regular cabinet meeting held last week in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi that it is a relatively high growth level to reach, especially in the context of there being no more room for further easing of fiscal and monetary policies.

The decrease of economic growth, if it happens, will adversely affect

other targets of expenditure and public debt, the ministry assessed.

The government’s determination is to act drastically and prioritize handling bottlenecks to restructuring the economy in a practical manner, while creating a solid foundation for long-term growth, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.

The prime minister put forward a series of measures in order to create “more room” for economic growth, including equitisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), SOE divestment, improving business climates, supporting farmers in restoring production and taking advantage of export markets, as well as the domestic market. PNA

TheBroa

Business

A6 Thursday, July 7, 2016

Palawan: PHL’s ‘Last F

I

By Jonathan L. Mayuga & Roger Pe

T’S called the country’s last ecological frontier.

From time to time, Palawan, an island-province in Luzon, is showcased because of its rich biodiversity, as well as natural wonders that are threatened by various human activities.

Much has been written about Palawan. A number of blogs have featured trips to its secluded hideaways, stunningly white, pristine beaches, and spectacular rain forests. Many have sang hosannas to its paradise-like havens. From the sublime to the cheesy, various travelogues have been penned about the Philippines’s “Last Frontier.”

And they keep on coming.

A global serial reality-television show has made Palawan as a backdrop, and Hollywood movie The Bourne Legacy made a stunning sequence of El Nido toward the latter part of the movie. YouTube has plenty of videos about Palawan in varying degrees of production quality—good, better and bad.

Every single visitor to the province has taken “selfies” about its famous landmarks or must have encountered any of these—Palawan Mynah, Green Parrot, cashew (in all its forms), Lamayo, Bear Cat, Armadillo, White Cockatoo, Pheasant Peacock, Coron and Calauit.

But the clueless has not probably heard of the insect-eating Pitcher plant or the bird of Ursula.

They may have never been to Onuk Island, Punta Sebaring, the bowels of Mount Mantalinggahan, the inner sanctum of the Underground River, terrains of Cleopatra’s Needle, Malampaya Sound marine sanctuary, into the depths of Tubbataha, Pleistocene-age caves of Tabon, Fireflies tour of Iwahig River, desolately beautiful Cagayancillo Island, or the summit of Mount Victoria. The list is untiringly endless.

From north to south, the province is adventure spelled with a bold, capital “A” with plenty to spare.

You can’t possibly cover Palawan in a day or a week to fully grasp its uniqueness that is akin to Borneo. If you are a lover of that wonderful island beneath the Philippines’s largest province, you must love Palawan. After all, they were connected millions of years ago, and the similarities are very pronounced.

Topping all provinces

PALAWAN currently tops all provinces in the country in terms of forest cover, according to the 2013 Forestry Statistics report released by the Forest Management Bureau (FMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Of its 1,489,626 total land area, 692,288 hectares are covered with forest.

Because of its thick forest cover, Palawan is known to host a diversified flora and fauna, including native birds that are unique or endemic to the Philippines.

The size of Palawan’s forest cover is almost twice that of Isabela province, which ranked No. 2 in the top 10 provinces in terms of forest cover area, with 378,272 hectares of the total land area of 904,026 hectares.

However, Palawan recently lost its title of having the most densely covered forest. It now ranked as No. 6 in the top 10 provinces with high-density forest cover, at 46.47 percent forest cover. Previous records show it has 53-percent forest cover.

Topping the list with high-density forest cover are Quirino, 67.48 percent; Apayao, 55.59 percent; Surigao del Sur, 49.82 percent; Nueva Vizcaya, 49.62 percent; and Lanao del Sur, 48.56 percent.

In earlier interviews, Director Ricardo Calderon of the DENR’s FMB said Palawan hosts the most diversified species of native trees in the country.

The country’s top forestry official said Palawan has the most number of commercially viable trees, including narra, which is the most sought-after tree species by commercial loggers.

Heritage sites

PALAWAN, the largest province in the Philippines, is a complex ecosystem that serves as refuge to more than a hundred marine and many other indigenous species of flora and fauna.

Conservation International describes it as the Philippines’s “last biodiversity frontier,” because it still retains more than 50 percent of its original forest cover and harbors vast stretches of old growth forests on its mountainous slopes.

It is home to two United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) World Heritage sites. These Unesco sites are the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, which includes the world’s longest navigable underground river; and the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, the spectacular, uninhabited coralreef atolls with thousands of abundant manta rays, whale sharks, marine turtles, sharks and more than 400 species of fish.

Rapid urbanization, consequent increases in utilization and high migration rates, however, are creating tremendous pressure on its upland forest and coastal areas, resulting to encroachment into sensitive areas where resources are exploited in unsustainable and destructive ways.

Off-limits

SECRETARY Regina Paz L. Lopez of the DENR vowed to make Palawan “off-limits” to destructive development projects, underscoring its importance as the country’s last frontier.

Early this year, former Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje declared Palawan to be offlimits to new coal projects, heeding the call of communities and other stakeholders to protect the country’s last frontier.

Lopez vowed to continue such policy, and said it will also be off-limits to new mining projects, as well.

An environmental advocate, Lopez in an interview said Palawan’s rich biodiversity should be protected against destructive development projects.

As the chief steward of the country’s environment and natural resources and alter-ego of President Duterte in the DENR, Lopez wants to turn Palawan into the No. 1 island-destination on the planet.

Lopez said she wants Palawan to use clean energy in the province, in lieu of coal-fired power plants, and stop projects that threaten its terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Likewise, she said mining in Palawan will have to stop if it will adversely affect people and the environment.

Lopez said she is meeting with the officials of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to discuss the Duterte administration’s mining policies.

“We are going to stop all destructive projects in Palawan. If the mining is destructive, we will

stop it,” she said.

Several mining companies that operate in Palawan, such as Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp.

(RTNMC) and its sister company, Coral Bay Nickel Corp. (CBNC), are currently operating in the town of Bataraza for decades.

The two companies boast of implementing environmentfriendly mining of nickel and recently showcased progressive rehabilitation. The CBNC, for instance, showcased its 90-hectare Tailings Dam 1, about 20 hectares of which have been successfully converted into agro-forestry plantations and food production area, while the rest are now covered with grass and shrubs. Another area, a 25-hectare portion of mined-out area of RTNMC, is now covered with native trees, vegetable farm and a portion planted to high-value crops.

But Lopez said there is more to mining than rehabilitation. She earlier vowed to stop the operations of irresponsible mining companies that brought suffering to people and communities.

“Iyong mga ilog, iyong dagat at iyong kalusugan ng mga tao, importante [Palawan is very important and we will see to it that it will be protected],” she said.

Revisit laws

DIRECTOR Theresa Mundita S. Lim of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), meanwhile, said for her part that the richness of Palawan in terms of flora and fauna has been recognized since the 1960s, when the entire province was proclaimed as a Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary.

“This proclamation, and eventual boundary amendments, consequently placed Palawan or portions of Palawan as initial component of the National Integrated Protected Area System [Nipas],” she said.

Other laws and regulations have also been issued since, including Republic Act 7166, or the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan Act, which aimed to strengthen protection of the remaining natural areas of Palawan.

“Although we appreciate the good intentions in the declaration of the entire province as a World Conservation Area, we should also take some time to review all the past issuances and layers of proclamations that have covered Palawan through the years and assess why the state of biodiversity in Palawan has turned out to become the way it is now, to even warrant another declaration for conservation,” she said.

“If it does get declared again, this time, then all of us, the various sectors across levels of governance, must have a concerted effort to make sure that it shall be implemented and operationalized in order to achieve what it seeks to achieve, for the benefit of the Palaweños and of the entire country,” she added.

Protected areas

THERE are several protected areas (PAs) in Palawan, including the world-famous Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, which have been declared as Unesco World Heritage Site.

In addition, the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) was voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in 2012.

The other more famous PAs in Palawan are the Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary; Coron Island Protected Area; El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Areas; Malampaya Sound Protected Landscape and Seascape; and Ursula Island Game Refuge.

Some of these PAs were included on a list of 100 PAs sought for stronger protection measure by a bill filed by Sen. Loren Legarda, called the Expanded-Nipas Act.

While the bill passed through smooth-sailing in the Senate, it was, however, stalled because of debate over inclusion of several PAs in the province in the House of Representatives, with the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) standing against the proposed measure’s enactment.

Palawan is known to host unique species of flora and fauna, which makes this biodiversityrich province important for conservation.

Plagued

CLEMENTE Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, said Palawan is plagued with several environment-destructive projects and activities, including large-scale mining operations, palm-oil plantations and militarization.

According to Bautista, Palawan is the remaining island in the Philippines with large forest cover, rich biodiversity and bestowed with bountiful natural resources.

aderLook

sMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, July 7, 2016

Frontier’ under siege The Philippines’s forest figure n Forest cover, total forest area: 7,162,000 hectares (24 percent) n Primary forest cover: 829,000 hectares n Land area: 2.8 percent n Total forest area: 11.6 percent. n Annual change in forest cover (2000-2005): 157,400 hectares n Annual deforestation rate: 2.1 percent n Total forest loss since 1990: 3,412,000 hectares or 32.3 percent.

Source: Rhett Butler

already converted around 6,000 hectares of forest land in the municipalities of Soforino Española, Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, Rizal, Quezon, Aborlan and Narra.

“The plantation not only destroyed our forest, but also displacing communities and losing local livelihoods,” he lamented.

Conservation

In 1990 the Unesco declared it Man and Biosphere Reserve. It is adjacent to Tubbataha Reef, a globally important marine ecosystem.

But decades of mining operation, establishment of palm-oil plantations, proliferation of military bases and exercises are making Palawan the last frontier no more,” he said.

According to Bautista, the large-scale nickel-mining operation by Zamora-Sumitomo-owned Nickel Asia Corp. is ravaging the

forest in Rio Tuba and damaging the nearby river and marine ecosystems.

“More mining operations are denuding the forest in different parts of Palawan. Citinickel is clearing the forest in Sofronio Espanola.

It was suspended because of mine spill in 2013 in Narra, Palawan, but was allowed again by the DENR to operate in 2015,” he said.

Another problem plaguing Palawan, Bautista said, is the palm-oil plantations, which have

CHUCK Baclagon of the group 350.org said the urgency to protect Palawan’s ecosystem from destructive industries, like mining and coal, can never be overemphasized.

He said protecting Palawan’s ecosystem is vital not only because it hosts two Unesco World Heritage sites, but more so because Palawan’s plight is a microcosm of the current crisis that besets the Philippine environment: known for its biodiversity, the island-province’s pristine environment and abundant natural resources could supply the needs of its denizens for generations to come.

“Unfortunately, commercial interests of extractive industries have turned it into a battlefield where economic and political interests are waging a war over its economic and geopolitical value,” he said.

According to Baclagon, Palawan’s pristine environment, the top reason many visitors come to the province, is under threat by the planned construction of DM Consunji’s 15-megawatt coal-fired power plant that has moved to three different proposed sites because of community opposition since 2013.

“Carbon emissions from energy production are the largest source of greenhouse gases that cause global warming,” he said.

Coal comprises 35 percent of the country’s energy mix. But without intervention, the Philippines is looking at 70-percent dependence on coal from 2030 to 2050, Baclagon stressed.

“Palawan is one of the top megadiversity hot spots in the world. We cannot let a coal plant add to its growing list of threats.

It is home to different indigenous groups whose lives will be directly affected.

“As well as a refuge to hundreds of marine and terrestrial

endangered species, the constant threat that looms over the island is but a reflection of the current profit-over-people-and-ecosystems conflict that besets the Philippines. We cannot afford to have corporations with poor environmental track records destroy our last ecological frontier,” he said.

West Papua

ARTHUR Rodriguez Ventura, former director of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, wants Palawan to follow West Papua’s footsteps.

The Indonesian province was declared World Conservation Province by The Coral Triangle and the World Wildlife Fund in October last year—a first for both Indonesia and the rest of the world.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the honor was “symbolically important in ensuring the future health of the province’s astonishing ecosystems.”

“Besides its rain forests, West Papua is the world’s epicenter of marine biodiversity, boasting more species than anywhere else on the planet,” the WWF said.

Almost half of Indonesia’s biodiversity is contained within the two Papuan provinces. Its forests and coasts are rich in climate-stabilizing carbon and untold biological resources.

Gaining such declaration would make Mother Nature happy for Palawan, but it will be a declaration of war against greedy businessmen, their protectors and powerful politicians.

Ventura way

AS a kid, Ventura was already a lover of nature.

Understandable, because he was born and grew up in Coron, one of Palawan’s tourism jewels and where many of its lakes are considered the cleanest and greenest in the Philippines up to now.

Ventura loved watching Tarzan movies, mesmerized at seeing Johnny Weismuller cling from one vine to another with his panther friend, swim in a refreshingly clear river, and imagined basking in a very clean environment with his lovely Jane. He longed to be lord of the jungle.

In the days of Tarzan, poachers already existed in the forest, killing elephants for their ivory tusks, hunting tigers, lions and trapping birds to be sold. But Tarzan emerged as their protector, as well as of Africa’s flora and fauna.

He once fought against businessman-poachers who erected seaweed-farming structures in the Tubbataha Reef, now a World Heritage Site. The stilts have now been demolished.

Lonely war

VENTURA ran for governor of Palawan in the May 9 elections and lost against money and power.

Today he is still fighting a lonely

war but, like Tarzan, is hoping for a Divine Intervention so that the wanton abuse of Palawan’s natural resources could be contained.

He wants Palawan be like what it was used to be—abundant, rich in forest and marine resources, and indigenous peoples are happy.

Along with many Palaweños who are concerned about environmental plunder in the province, Ventura hopes that the E-Nipas Act of 2015, providing protection for the country’s declared protected areas in the country, be passed soon.

It will give double protection for five fragile Palawan PAs, he said. These PAs include the following: the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Malampaya Sound Protected Land and Seascape, Rasa Island Wildlife Sanctuary and the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape. He hopes that some lawmakers connected with mining and other interests in the province should not exclude them out of the bill.

Ray of hope

AT age 6, Ventura was already helping augment the family income at a time when hardship was still being felt because of World War II. His father was a school principal and his mother president of a women’s club that put up the town’s first puericulture center.

At age 15, Ventura worked as an attendant, assisting a doctor, like a midwife, sanitary inspector and nurse, rolled into one, doing all medical work like prenatal care, autopsy, vaccination, injection and minor operation.

After graduating in high school with academic honors, his father let Ventura and his brothers and sisters find their own fortune, confident that he had instilled in them his disciplinarian ways to face the world.

He did many odd jobs in Manila, like working in a restaurant just so he can enter college. He lived with her older sisters, moving from one sister to another to get free board and lodging. Then his first ray of hope came.

The Mapúa School of Engineering had announced a qualifying chess game. Top finishers will get an athletic scholarship and be included in the school’s varsity team.

Chess game

VENTURA would win and even go further—bag the national intercollegiate championship.

He was on cloud nine when a newspaper article bannered his triumph: “Unknown from Palawan beats intercollegiate champion from UST.”

Chess had paid off for Ventura, a game that was a family pastime.

“I thank my father-mentor and brothers for that,” he said.

After winning the champion-

A7

ship, Far Eastern University (FEU) took interest on him and offered him a scholarship he cannot refuse.

Apart from a college scholarship, he was offered an employment at the university’s accounting department during that time, a big extra bonus that allowed him to help his other siblings Caesar, Lyn and Patricia to finish their own college degrees.

He, too, helped struggling Palaweños at the FEU. As soon as he graduated with an Economics degree, he enrolled for a Master’s in Marketing and, some two years later, entered law.

Ventura married Marilou Galman Cruz after only 20 days of courtship. The two met on the FEU campus while the latter was securing academic records to comply with her UST thesis as architecture student. Cruz would eventually pass her thesis defense with flying colors, even topping the architectural board exam.

Ways possible

THE couple settled in Palawan and continued to help the people in many ways possible.

Their willing hand extended to regional sports meet in order for Palawan to perform well in the Southern Tagalog Regional Athletic Association.

They went out of their way to finance and find funds for medicines of sick friends and neighbors.

Love for each other gave them four children: Pamela, Fiona, Justine and Joshua, and grandchildren Lian and Zia.

Ventura went into the gas station and burger-chain business to be able to sustain his civic-mindedness. His wife contributed by squeezing funds from her professional practice.

As the saying goes: “When you help, don’t expect something in return; when you are in a position to share, do share.” Ventura took this seriously.

Perhaps, that was the reason the late President Corazon Aquino appointed him as vice governor of Palawan (officer in charge) after the Edsa People Power protest in 1986.

Legacy building

AS one who champions progress without abusing Mother Nature, Ventura wants to leave a legacy of protecting Palawan’s environment.

He longs to see the Last Frontier as the first frontier in wellmanaged resources and developing renewable energy, not coal power plants.

As a longtime environmentalist, Ventura wants Palaweños to distance themselves from destructive mining and promote the tourism industry sustainably. He continues to fight against land grabbing done with use of force or deceit, and these lands returned to their rightful owners.

Ventura wants people to respect the rule of law, for nobody is above the law.

As in a chess game, Ventura has made his move and wants people together in one chess team—to protect Palawan’s precious natural resources. As a true Palaweño, he fears that plantation agriculture, especially oil palm, could emerge as the newest threat to Palawan’s remaining forests.

“The continuing disappearance of Philippine wildlands is of great concern. In this respect, we should save Palawan from plunderers and make its forests proudly intact,” Ventura said. “We were voted, and continue to be vote, as the best island-tourism destination worldwide in many magazine polls year after year. This is effort, not luck.”

Ventura said Palawan has “made it this far as icon for the Philippines as a prime tourist destination.”

“Let us not destroy it.”

The World BusinessMirror

A8 Thursday, July 7, 2016

Islamic State tightens grip on women held as sex slaves

K

HANKE, Iraq—The posting in Arabic is chilling. A girl for sale: “Virgin. Beautiful.

12 years old.... Her price has reached $12,500, and she will be sold soon.”

The advertisement, along with others for kittens, tactical gear and weapons, appeared on an encrypted Telegram app and was shared with The Associated Press (AP) by an activist with Iraq’s persecuted Yazidi community, which is trying to free an estimated 3,000 women and girls still held as sex slaves by Islamic State (IS) extremists.

As the IS group loses control of one city after another in its self-styled caliphate, it is tightening its grip on its captives, taking the Yazidis deeper into its territory and selling them as chattel on popular encrypted apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp, The Associated Press has found.

The extremists are targeting smugglers who rescue captives for assassination and are deploying a slave database with captives’ photos and owners’ names to prevent escape through checkpoints.

Muslims worldwide cope with a bloody Ramadan

Pursuit

ONE of those girls is Lamiya Aji Bashar, who in March made her fifth attempt at escape, running to the border with IS fighters in pursuit. A land mine exploded, and two Yazidi girls who were accompanying her were killed. The bomb left Lamiya blind in her right eye, her face scarred by melted skin.

Speaking from a bed at her uncle’s home in the northern Iraqi town of Baadre, the 18-year-told AP that despite being disfigured, she did not regret her perilous escape from her jailers. “Even if I had lost both eyes, it would have been worth it,” she said, “because I have survived them.”

The Yazidis have been targeted by IS because they practice an ancient faith combining elements of Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism, and the Sunni extremists view them as infidels. The Yazidis’ pre-war population in Iraq was estimated at 500,000.

Their number today is unknown.

Finery

US State Department Spokesman John Kirby told the AP that the US continues “to be appalled by credible reports that Daesh is trafficking in human beings, and sex slavery in particular.” “This depravity not only speaks to the degree to which Daesh cheapens life and repudiates the Islamic faith, it also strengthens our resolve to defeat them,” he said.

The photos obtained by AP depict girls dressed in finery, some in heavy makeup. They stare somberly at the camera. Some are barely teenagers.

Not one looks older than 30.

Nazdar Murat is among them. She was about 16 when she was abducted along with more than two dozen girls and women who fled their home in Iraq’s Sinjar area when IS took over. AP

I.S. pressured after Turkey tightens jihadi route

G

AZIANTEP, Turkey—Along the border near the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, a wall of giant concrete blocks is going up as Turkey tries to seal off a region that for years was a jihadi highway through which thousands of extremist fighters flowed to join the Islamic State (IS) group in neighboring Syria.

Turkey has always denied permitting the movement of IS militants into Syria and insists it has been doing its best to stop the transit, even before construction on the massive wall began late last year. Documents obtained by The Associated Press (AP), however, tell a different story, showing a pattern of porousness along Turkey’s 911-kilometer-long border with Syria that has been vital for the extremist group’s expansion as it built its self-declared “caliphate.”

911 km

The length of Turkey’s border with Syria

Conscripted

THOUSANDS of Kurdish-speaking Yazidis were taken prisoner and thousands more were massacred when IS fighters overran their northern Iraqi villages in August 2014. Since then, as the Yazidi captives have been conscripted into sexual slavery, smugglers have managed to free 2,554 women and girls. But by May, an IS crackdown reduced those numbers to just 39 in the last six weeks, according to figures provided by the Kurdistan regional government.

The AP has obtained a batch of 48 head shots of the captives, smuggled out by an escapee. The portraits appear to be the same as those used in a database to prevent the captives from slipping past checkpoints, or for barter and sale on popular apps.

Mirza Danai, founder of the German-Iraqi aid organization Luftbrucke Irak, said the slave database documents the captives as if they were property.

“They register every slave, every person under their owner, and therefore if she escapes, every Daesh control or checkpoint, or security force— they know that this girl has escaped from this owner,” said Danai, using a common acronym to refer to IS.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

In this July 4 file photo, provided by Noor Punasiya, people stand by an explosion site in Medina, Saudi Arabia. As millions of Muslims around the world celebrate the end of Ramadan, many are struggling to come to grips with what has been a particularly bloody month of attacks that killed more than 350 people and spread terror across continents. AP

B

EIRUT—As Muslims around the world celebrate the end of Ramadan, many are struggling to comprehend a wave of attacks that killed 350 people across several continents during the holy month and made urgent the question of what drives the militants to ever more spectacular violence against civilians.

The diverse, high-profile targets—including one that struck the heart of Islam in the month’s final days—underline the warnings of many experts: the Islamic State (IS) group, especially when on the defensive at home, will metastasize far beyond its theater of operations.

The extremist group has always sought attention and recruits through brazen terrorism. The projection of daring, operational competence and utter disregard for the norms of its enemies has proven a winning strategy among its disenfranchised and angry followers around the Muslim world.

Battlefield humiliations

BUT having lost the key city of Fallujah in recent weeks, capping a series of setbacks in Iraq, the group is pushing to project strength while also diverting attention from its battlefield humiliations.

“ISIS is waging an existential fight,” said Fawaz Gerges, a Londonbased scholar of jihadi groups, using an alternate acronym for the militant group. “The future of the Islamic State is on the line, and it is trying to maximize the cost for its adversaries and also to inspire this particular segment of young men and women who subscribe to its ideology.”

If the militants needed to send a message, the onset of Ramadan provided a convenient context.

Although the month is a holy time meant for introspection, peace and piety, it has been transformed

in the hands of the extremists who have thrived during the recent decades of turbulence around the region, particularly in war zones like Iraq, Afghanistan and more recently in Syria.

Although the vast majority of the faithful regard Ramadan as a time for prayer and forgiveness, militant Muslims and hard-line clerics have been touting the month as a time for victory in jihad, or holy war.

Blurred lines

WEEKS before Ramadan, IS called for its supporters to strike wherever possible. In a digital age where statements on the internet quickly proliferate, those calls appear to have found resonance among some circles of disenchanted Muslim youth around the globe.

From Omar Mateen, who pledged allegiance to IS as he shot and killed 49 people at a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12, to the militants who killed 44 at Istanbul airport, to the young men who killed 20 hostages at a popular restaurant in Bangladesh on July 1, such violence highlights how radicals across the world can carry out attacks that are instantly attached to IS, even when the Syria- and Iraq-based group does not formally claim responsibility.

They also underlined the increasingly blurred lines in which attacks, even those stemming from local grievances, could be assigned to IS and be transformed into a global cause. The bloodshed, targeting

Muslims and non-Muslims alike, also demonstrates the difficulty in neutralizing a threat that is often inspired and not necessarily directed.

Still, many of the attacks appeared to have involved careful planning, spaced out with targets clearly meant to induce fear and shock across continents.

Second Hiroshima

IN Yemen, where suicide bombers and other militants carried out at least seven simultaneous attacks in the southern port city of Mukalla against security targets on June 27, 43 people were killed. In one of the attacks, a bomb was concealed in a box of food brought to soldiers at a checkpoint to break their dawn-todusk Ramadan fast.

In the capital of Bangladesh, where attackers killed 22 people at a popular restaurant in an upscale Dhaka neighborhood frequented by diplomats and foreigners, witnesses said the attackers tortured some of the hostages before killing them for failure to recite from the Koran.

In Baghdad residents hardened by years of war said the July 3 bombing was like no other, trapping shoppers in an inferno of fire that killed at least 175 people in one of the deadliest single attacks since the 2003 USled invasion.

“This is a second Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” said Ammar al-Khafaji, a 50-year-old local from Karada district of Baghdad, where the attack happened. His son lost three of his friends in the bombing.

Losing strongholds

THE wave of attacks culminated on Monday with triple suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, including one outside the Prophet’s Mosque in the city of Medina, one of the holiest sites in Islam that killed four security troops. The nature of the attacks and their apparently coordinated timing suggested the Islamic State group could be to blame, although no one claimed responsibility.

The attacks come as the IS group is increasingly on the defensive in both Syria and Iraq. Its hold on territory has shrunk in both countries, after losing key strongholds, including the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Ibrahim Bayram, a Beirut-based

political analyst, said the attacks aim to dispel the notion that the organization is going to vanish or shrink.

“With such attacks, it is proving that it is still capable of crossing borders and conducting attacks” everywhere, including in the holy sites in Saudi Arabia, he said. That is a key for the group, which seeks to boost its credentials and recruitment.

Red lines

THE attack in Medina outside the sprawling mosque grounds where the Prophet Muhammad is buried, however, sparked particular disgust.

Millions of Muslims from around the world visit the mosque every year as part of their pilgrimage to Mecca. Across social media and on channels used by the IS group, supporters appeared to be grappling to explain or come to terms with the attack, quickly labeled by opponents as an attack on Islam itself.

This might partly explain why there was no responsibility claim.

Mohammad Ballout, writing in Lebanon’s daily As-Safir newspaper on Tuesday, said the attacks in Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia aim to send a direct warning to the Sunni-led nations that the undeclared truce with them may collapse if they don’t revise their strategies toward IS and halt their support for the war on the group.

Gerges said the Medina attack was not surprising. “There are no red lines anymore,” he said.

Arrayed against

IT is also possible that the radicals are seeking to goad the US-led coalition arrayed against them to take them on in their strongholds of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.

Those are the prizes, yet the Iraqis seem reluctant to move on their second-largest city, lost two years ago.

In Syria there is almost no ground war to speak of: with the coalition reluctant to ally with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, it has sufficed with air power, leaving the fight on the ground to Kurdish militias and smaller groups. The two cities offer the prospect of a bloody, house-to-house fight that many jihadis calculate would be worth losing, if only because it would cost their enemy so dearly. AP

The AP analyzed 4,037 “entry documents” logged by the IS group for its fighters entering from Turkey into Syria between September 2013 and December 2014. Around three-quarters of them entered through three particular crossing areas.

Those fighters alone would make up between 25 percent and 40 percent of the estimated total of IS’s foreign recruits, and they likely do not represent all fighters that entered through Turkey during that period. According to CIA estimates, IS had 20,000 to 31,500 fighters by the end of 2014, around half of them foreigners. The documents were leaked to a Syrian opposition news site, Zaman al-Wasl, which provided them to the AP. A deadly bombing of Istanbul’s international airport on June 28 that killed 44 people raised fears that Turkey is paying a price for IS’s free movement through its territory. Some analysts believe IS struck in revenge for Turkey’s support for the US-led coalition against IS, its tighter border controls and its backing for rebels working to recapture the last stretch of the border that the extremist group still holds on the Syrian side.

The ease with which militants crossed into Syria from Turkey has long brought accusations that Ankara’s determination to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by backing Syrian rebels trumped any concerns over fueling the jihadi movement. The relatively open border was crucial for rebels, including ones backed by the United States, and the fighters used Turkish territory as a crucial rear base and supply route. It was also a life-saving escape route for some 2.75 million refugees who fled into Turkey and an avenue for humanitarian aid to opposition-held areas of Syria.

Under scrutiny

“UNTIL the rise of ISIS in 2014, Turkey was basically turning a blind eye to radical foreign fighters who were crossing into Syria,” said Turkish analyst Soner Cagaptay, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, referring to the group by its former acronym. “Not because Turkey was in favor of radicals or supported radicals but because they thought they were war-hardened fighters who could accelerate the demise of the Assad regime, helping Turkey toward its final objective.”

A Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, rejected the claim Ankara ever knowingly allowed jihadi fighters to cross into Syria.

He pointed out that Turkey arrested thousands of foreign fighters and sent them back to their home countries.

He argued that source countries that allowed such dangerous elements to head to Turkey should be the ones under scrutiny. He said Ankara’s requests to other governments, including in the European Union, for intelligence sharing about these suspects were not taken seriously until late 2014. AP

BusinessMirror

World The

A9 | Thursday, July 7, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

P

YONGYANG, North Korea—North Korea, one of the last bastions of free, unhindered smoking, a country where just about every adult male can and does light up almost anywhere he pleases and where leader Kim Jong Un is hardly ever seen without a lit cigarette in his hand, is now officially trying to get its people to kick the habit.

It’s a battle Pyongyang has tried before and won’t easily win, especially since, beyond some stepped-up propaganda, it doesn’t appear to have a lot of funding. But this time around, the effort does have one big thing going for it: the increasingly vocal support of North Korean women, virtually none of whom smoke.

Ri Yong Ok, a 57-year-old pharmacist whose heavy-smoking husband nearly died of lung cancer, is leading the charge.

“I’ve been on TV, my whole family has been on TV, so everyone knows who I am,” Ri, flanked by no-smoking posters, told The Associated Press during an interview at the small antismoking center she manages in Pyongyang. The center, one of only 11 in all of North Korea, has something you almost never see in the North—a no-smoking sign placed prominently above its entrance.

“I’m optimistic that we can get people to stop,” she said. “Our goal is education.”

Fueling speculation

THE potential health benefit to North Korea could be tremendous.

Ri estimated about 54 percent of adult male North Koreans smoke—a higher figure than the 43.9 percent given by a World Health Organization report released at the end of 2014. Smoking is a social taboo for women and it’s illegal for anyone under the age of 17.

North Korea has toyed with the idea of pushing harder to get smokers to kick the habit before—Ri’s humble antismoking center has been around since 2007. But it has stepped up its effort to at least provide more education of smoking’s health risks since an antismoking decree was made by Kim in April. AP

Ark of biblical proportions ready to open in Kentucky

W

ILLIAMSTOWN, Kentucky—A 510-footlong, $100-million Noah’s Ark attraction, built by Christians who say the biblical story really happened, is ready to open in Kentucky this week.

Since its announcement in 2010, the ark project has rankled opponents who say the attraction will be detrimental to science education and shouldn’t have won state tax incentives.

“I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history,” said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built the ark.

Ham said the massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-of-the-world warning from God about a massive flood, will stand as proof that the stories of the Bible are true. The group invited media and thousands of supporters for a preview on Tuesday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure.

“People are going to come from all over the world,” Ham said to thousands of people in front of the ark.

Before dinosaurs

THE ark will open to the public on Thursday and Ham’s group has estimated it will draw 2 million visitors in its first year, putting it on a par

$100M The total cost of the replica of Noah’s Ark at the Ark Encounter theme park

with some of the big-ticket attractions in nearby Cincinnati.

The group says the ark is built based on dimensions in the Bible.

Inside are museum-style exhibits: displays of Noah’s family, along with rows of cages containing animal replicas, including dinosaurs.

The group believes that God created everything about 6,000 years ago—man, dinosaur and everything else—so dinosaurs still would’ve been around at the time of Noah’s flood. Scientists say dinosaurs died out about 65 million years before man appeared.

An ark opponent who leads an atheist group called the Tri-State Freethinkers said the religious

theme park will be unlike any other in the nation because of its rejection of science. “Basically, this boat is a church raising scientifically illiterate children and lying to them about science,” said Jim Helton, who lives about a half-hour from the ark.

Tax incentive

HAM said the total cost of the ark surpassed $100 million, a far cry from a few years ago, when fundraising for the boat was sluggish and much larger theme park plans had to be scaled back.

Millions of people first learned about plans for the ark during a debate on evolution between TV’s Bill Nye “the Science Guy” and Ham in early 2014.

A few weeks later, a local bond issuance infused tens of millions of dollars into struggling fundraising efforts. And earlier this year, a federal judge ruled the ark could receive a Kentucky sales-tax incentive worth up to $18 million while giving a strict religious test to its employees.

Months later, the tax-incentive ruling still has some opponents of the boat scratching their heads.

“It’s a clear violation of separation of Church and State. What they’re doing is utterly ridiculous and anywhere else, I don’t think it would be allowed,” Helton said.

Rebates

THE court ruled in January that Kentucky officials could not impose requirements on the ark that were not applied to other applicants for the tax incentive, which rebates a portion of the sales tax collected by the ark. That cleared the way for the

group to seek out only Christians to fill its labor force. New applicants will be required to sign a statement saying they’re Christian and “profess Christ as their savior.”

Philip Steele, one of the thousands who got an early preview of the ark on Tuesday, echoed Ham’s often repeated comment that the sales tax generated by the ark wouldn’t exist if the ark was never built.

“I just don’t think they understand it,” Steele said of the ark’s critics. “They’ll be able to keep a portion of [the sales tax] to further their ministry, but so be it.”

When Ham was asked about the tax incentive at the Tuesday event, he drew loud cheers when he proclaimed no taxpayer money was used to the build the ark.

Bond offering

AS much of a boon as the $18-million tax break would be, Bill Nye’s agreeing to debate Ham may have helped turn the tide of years of sluggish fundraising.

Nye, a high-profile science advocate and former TV personality, debated Ham on evolution and drew a huge online audience. Nye later said he didn’t realize the attention it would draw and said he was “heartbroken and sickened for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

The video of the debate posted by Answers in Genesis on YouTube has 5.4 million views.

About three weeks after the debate, Ham announced that a bond offering from the city of Williamstown had raised $62 million for the project, and a few months later Answers in Genesis was breaking ground at the site of the ark. AP

American colleges woo foreign entrepreneurs who need visas

B

OSTON—He came to America on a student visa, earned a master’s degree from Babson College, and is now starting a new business, but Abhinav Sureka worries that he’ll have to return to India. To stay, he needs an H-1B visa, a temporary work permit typically obtained through a lottery with lower odds of winning than a coin toss.

To help foreign students like Sureka beat those odds and keep their companies here, Babson and at least five other US schools are using a new approach that critics describe as exploiting a legal loophole.

The H-1B visa is the primary work permit for foreign nationals, reserved for employees with at least a bachelor’s degree who work in specialty occupations, such

as math or technology. Workers must be sponsored by an employer to enter an annual lottery for the 85,000 visas awarded by the US. This year 236,000 workers applied.

‘Seemingly unlawful’

BUT employees of universities—or outside workers who provide services to universities—are exempt from the cap and can obtain H-1B visas directly.

Using that exemption, schools are creating “global entrepreneur in residence” programs that let some graduates work part-time on campus, often as mentors, while they develop their businesses. That allows the graduates to say they’re providing a service to a US university, which can

M

EXICO CITY—Mexico’s 8-percent tax on highcalorie snacks has been successful in reducing junk-food purchases, but only by a small amount and only among poor and middle-class households, a study said on Tuesday.

The report, published in the online journal PLOS-Medicine, showed an average reduction of 5.1 percent in purchases of items subject to the tax, which was implemented in 2014. The reduction equaled only about 25 grams (0.88 ounces) per month per person.

Poorer households bought 10.2-percent less junk food, while medium-income households bought 5.8 percent less, according to barcode analyses based of consumer-tracking data. Higher-income shoppers showed no impact at all from the new taxes. The tax applies to processed foods having more than 275 calories per 100 grams of product.

The study did not indicate whether families reduced calorie intake, bought healthier foods or simply switched to cheaper street food—important factors for Mexico, which is plagued with high obesity rates.

Beans

Visitors pass outside the front of a replica Noah’s Ark at the Ark Encounter theme park during a media preview day on Tuesday, in Williamstown, Kentucky.

The long-awaited theme park based on the story of a man who got a warning from God about a worldwide flood will debut in central Kentucky on Thursday. AP

North Korea urges people to kick habit of smoking

Study: Mexico’s junk-food tax cuts purchases by 5.1 percent

qualify them for the exemption and a smooth route to a visa.

“This movement came about because of challenges that student visa holders were beginning to face when they had completed a program,” said Bill Stock, a Philadelphia attorney and president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “There really aren’t a lot of other visas that would allow someone to work temporarily.”

Congress created the exemption partly to help colleges hire researchers, prompting some critics to say that schools are now exploiting a loophole. In a February letter to the US immigration chief, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa blasted the practice as a “backhanded attempt” to

skirt federal rules. He called it a “seemingly unlawful” interpretation of the law.

More flawed

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Donald Trump has broadly opposed H-1B visas, saying they take jobs from American workers and should be banned.

College officials say they’re simply using flexibility in the law’s language to address a growing problem. As more international students come to US schools, many want to stay in the country to start their own businesses. But with few legal routes beyond the H-1B lottery, entrepreneurs are routinely forced to go home.

“Every year we figure Massachusetts says goodbye to over 1,000 graduate students who otherwise want to stay and

start a company,” said William Brah, who leads a program to help foreign entrepreneurs at the University of Massachusetts’ Boston campus. “I mean, it’s stupid. You couldn’t come up with a more flawed immigration system if you tried.”

Jobs created

THE UMass program is open to graduates from any US college. Since it started in 2014, it has helped 20 graduates get visas, and their businesses have created 260 jobs, the school says.

Smaller programs have recently formed at the University of Colorado-Boulder, the University of Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University, which accept a combined six graduates per year. Babson is now taking applications for up to 10 entrepreneurs. AP

THE study was conducted by researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who said future studies “should explore how these shifts are linked to changes in the nutritional quality of the overall diet.”

Nutritionist Julieta Ponce of the Center for Dietary Orientation said the study’s finding only open the debate on how to substitute empty calories in Mexicans’ diet for better-quality food. For example, the junk-food reductions noted in the study could be replaced by eating a single tortilla or a third of a cup of beans.

Ponce said the question is how to return such foods as fresh fruits and vegetables to the average Mexican’s diet on a larger scale.

“Obesity and adverse metabolic effects are also the result of the loss of the traditional diet, not just the consumption of junk food,” Ponce said. “At the moment, Mexico lacks a broader policy on eating well. For the moment, there are just emergency measures to limit the damage.”

Critics

THE study is in line with a paper released late last year suggesting another Mexican tax on sugary soft-drinks had achieved an average 6-percent reduction in some purchases.

That tax is 1-peso per liter. Critics of the fast-food tax have suggested that poorer Mexicans, faced with higher pass-along prices on processed snacks sold by major companies, may simply switch to nontaxed similar foods sold by unlicensed street vendors. The country’s streets, especially outside schools, parks, bus stops and subway stations, are crowded with vendors selling no-brand or homemade snacks that often have salt, sugar or fat counts as high as name brands.

Even name-brand chips are sometimes made worse at street stands, where vendors will open a bag of chips and douse them in an infinite variety of salty, sugary or spicy sauces.

‘Substitution’

SUPPORTERS of the tax agree that those practices, known as junk-food “substitution,” could blunt the gains of tax-induced reductions, but insist they won’t erase the improvements.

“There will be a discussion about ‘substitution,’ but I don’t think any [street] product has the distribution network that these [name-brand] products have,” said Alejandro Calivillo, director of the advocacy group The Power of the Consumer.

“There could be substitution in some cases, but I don’t think it would be anything significant.”

Mexico is among the fattest countries in the world. Just under one-third of adults are obese, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. AP

A10 Thursday, July 7, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

What’s happening to our country, generals?

O

ne day before he was sworn into office, President Duterte warned three unnamed police generals to retire and should not wait for him to be inaugurated as their new Commander-in-Chief because he will only make them suffer public humiliation. Apparently, the President’s warning went unheeded. And, true to his words, in a speech during the 69th Philippine Air Force anniversary on Tuesday, Duterte surprised the country by naming not three, but five, police generals involved in illegal drugs: Gen. Marcelo Garbo Jr., Gen. Vicente Loot, Gen. Bernardo Diaz, Gen. Joel Pagdilao and Gen. Edgardo Tinio.

“I am compelled by my sense of duty to tell you the police who contributed to the deterioration of law and order in this country. At this time, I order them relieved from their assignments and report to the [Philippine National Police] director general who would like to talk to them, but certainly I would expect the National Police Commission [Napolcom] to do their thing,” Duterte said after his shocking revelation. The President’s marching orders for the Napolcom is loud and clear: Investigate these police generals and search for the truth.

What is frightening about the Duterte revelation is the fact that our police generals are, indeed, sleeping with the drug lords. This explains the rampant use and peddling of illegal drugs even in public places. With high-ranking police officers as their protectors, drug syndicates can operate in the country with impunity.

In a sense, the Philippines is lucky to have a president who has zero tolerance on drugs. Duterte has promised to drastically reduce, if not completely eradicate, the illegal-drugs menace within the first three to six months of office. Fast action is needed, considering the seriousness of the problem. Published information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the country’s lead agency against illegal drugs, show that some 8,629 of the country’s 42,065 barangays are considered as drug-affected. Certain quarters, however, believe that more than half of all barangays have been affected by the illegal-drugs problem.

Now that the President has identified the police generals involved in protecting drug lords, a decisive and swift investigation is in order. The accused must be given their day in court, and all the chances to clear their names. On the other hand, if the evidence warrants their arrest and incarceration, so be it. They need to pay for the crime they committed. We cannot afford a long-drawn-out probe this time. And we certainly want to avoid trial by publicity.

We hope the President will also tell us who else are coddling or protecting the drug syndicates: Be they mayors, congressmen, senators, justices and others who have benefited from the money generated from the sale and distribution of illegal drugs. We have seen that the President’s decisive campaign against illegal drugs and criminality has resulted to a massive flood of users and small peddlers surrendering voluntarily for fear of their lives from erring police officers, who are also determined to silence them. What we don’t want to see are the drug lords escaping the wrath of Duterte’s anti-illegal-drugs campaign.

Since 2005

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

Publisher Editor in Chief Managing Editor Associate Editor News Editor City & Assignments Editor Senior Editors

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Jun B. Vallecera Max V. de Leon Jennifer A. Ng Dionisio L. Pelayo Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Efleda P. Campos

Online Editor Social Media Editor

Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Angel R. Calso

Creative Director Chief Photographer

Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes

Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP-Corporate Affairs VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

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

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

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

regional offices n DXQR -93dot5 HOME RADIO CAGAYAN DE ORO E-MAIL ADDRESS: homecdo@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Archbishop Hayes corner Velez Street, Cagayan de Oro City CONTACT NOs.: (088) 227-2104/ 857-9350/ 0922-811-3997 n DYQC -106dot7 HOME RADIO CEBU E-MAIL ADDRESS: homecebu@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Ground Floor, Fortune Life Building, Jones Avenue, Cebu City CONTACT NOs.: (032) 253-2973/ 234-4252/ 416-1067/ 0922-811-3994 n DWQT -89dot3 HOME RADIO DAGUPAN E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeradiodagupan@ yahoo.com ADDRESS: 4th Floor, Orchids Hotel Building,

Rizal Street, Dagupan City CONTACT NOs.: (075) 522-8209/ 515-4663/ 0922-811-4001 n DXQM – 98dot7 HOME RADIO DAVAO E-MAIL ADDRESS: home98dot7@gmail.com ADDRESS: 4D 3rd Floor, ATU Plaza, Duterte Street, Davao City CONTACT NOs.: (082) 222-2337/ 221-7537/ 0922-811-3996 n DXQS -98dot3 HOME RADIO GENERAL SANTOS E-MAIL ADDRESS: homegensan@yahoo.com ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Penamante Clinic Tiongson Street, General Santos City CONTACT NO.: 0922-811-3998 n DYQN -89dot5 HOME RADIO ILOILO E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeiloilo@yahoo.com

ADDRESS: 3rd Floor, Eternal Plans Building, Ortiz Street, Iloilo City CONTACT NOs.: (033) 337-2698/ 508-8102/ 0922-811-3995 n DWQA -92dot3 HOME RADIO LEGAZPI E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeradiolegazpi@ yahoo.com ADDRESS: 4th Floor, Fortune Building, Rizal Street, Brgy. Pigcale, Legazpi City CONTACT NOs.: (052) 480-4858/ 820-6880/ 0922-811-3992 n DWQJ -95dot1 HOME RADIO NAGA E-MAIL ADDRESS: homenaga@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Eternal Garden Compound, Balatas Road, Naga City CONTACT NOs.: (054) 473-3818/ 811-2951/ 0922-811-3993

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

The old rule when playing poker is, if after playing for 20 minutes you haven’t discovered who the sucker sitting at the table is, the sucker is you. It is not the prices that are manipulated, it is the investors. Do not be greedy. Know how the game is played.

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

T

he people that complain the most about the stock market are usually those that have the least experience. Find someone that grumbles about stock-price manipulation and you might be talking to a person that lost money because of simple greed and ignorance.

We frequently hear about a comparison to trading the market with playing the game of poker.

This is correct to the extent that money-management techniques in that card game apply well to the stock market.

The classic song “The Gambler,” made famous by Kenny Rogers with the lyrics “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em; Know when to fold ‘em,” is the core truth of successful investing. But what about the idea of stock-price manipulation? What should an unwary

investor look for to avoid being caught in a price trap of “buying high and selling low”?

One of the earliest recorded scams is the “cat in the bag,” where a buyer is offered a price-discounted young pig that, when the bag is opened, is found to be a cat. Do you understand the business of the company you are buying? Have you ever looked inside the company’s financial statement? A company whose stock price keeps going higher while its stockholders’ equity, revenues and diluted earnings are all going

lower may not be the gold mine you are told that it is.

Stock prices are not manipulated to go higher. Investors are manipulated to buy at higher prices. We can take a lesson from horse racing “touts”. If the race has six horses, the tout tells six different people to each bet on one different horse and to share the winnings. There are then five losers and one winner, but the tout always wins. You will see two or three stock issues starting to move higher but only one catches on, with the public buying it up. You may have gotten a hot tip on one of the losers. Don’t wait. Get out.

One of the wealthiest gangsters

No good-byes; just smiles

Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Frederick M. Alegre Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Dante S. Castro

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror

HOM

Stock manipulation for dummies

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

C

ritics of the Aquino administration will choose to remember the incidents, such as the Luneta hostage-taking of Hong Kong tourists, Mamasapano and SAF 44, the Zamboanga siege, the controversies surrounding the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), Metro Rail Transit-related miseries, and Supertyphoon Yolanda.

On the other hand, admirers of the past administration will focus on the socioeconomic gains of our country during the past six years, as indicated by our steadily increasing gross domestic product, the implementation of the K to 12 Program, the promulgation of the reproductive-health law, anticorruption measures, prudent fiscal management, and all the economic indicators, which regained for the country the respect of our neighbors and the confidence of businessmen and investors, both foreign and local. Weighing the good and the bad, I would say that the P-Noy administration was a success.

However, success without a successor is a failure. A good leader

knows that his “reign” is ephemeral and so he takes steps to ensure that whatever he has achieved in the present will not end when he leaves. He trains future leaders as his successors and he instills in them values and principles which he himself holds true. In this way, he leaves one of the best things he can leave behind—a part of himself.

In his Law of Reproduction, bestselling author John Maxwell said that followers and institutions do not make leaders. It takes a leader to know one and make one. In Maxwell’s informal survey, he discovered that leaders became leaders, 10 percent from natural gifting, 5 percent as a result of crisis, and a whopping 85 percent due to the

Whenever a leader leaves behind a successor in the person of someone whose life he has touched, whose values he has influenced and whose principles he has helped strengthen, there is no good-bye. A leader should just leave with a smile as he anticipates the positive results of what he has left behind come to fruition. I did. I am sure P-Noy did, as well. No tearful goodbyes; just happy smiles. influence of other leaders.

Whatever leadership abilities I had in the Bureau of Immigration for four-and-a-half years, I owe to other leaders I discovered in the process.

Whenever people ask me about legacy, I say that I left the bureau with the personal fulfillment that I used my brand of leadership to influence others in government service. Leaders like Ledesma, Manahan, Gevero, Vitan and Villalobos influenced me as much as I hopefully influenced them.

Whatever legacy I (and the aforementioned leaders) left cannot be found anywhere in the bureau, except in the hearts and minds of a few good men and women who were recruited, trained, selected

in US history, gambler Arnold Rothstein, manipulated the odds on horse races to his advantage. A great horse was entered in a race which made the odds more favorable on Rothstein’s horse. Then, suddenly the great horse was taken out or “scratched” for the race. In the market, it works this way. A stock price suddenly starts falling without a good reason. This scares people out.

The price then works its way back up by 10 percent or 20 percent, for example. Former holders start buying usually at a higher price than they sold out before, driving the price way up from the recent bottom.

The old rule when playing poker is, if after playing for 20 minutes you haven’t discovered who the sucker sitting at the table is, the sucker is you. It is not the prices that are manipulated, it is the investors. Do not be greedy. Know how the game is played.

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.

and empowered to do what is right for a better bureau and for a better Philippines.

By leaving a bit of his self in the hearts and minds of others, a leader can take comfort in the thought that he has left a successor to complete his mission. In the case of now former President Benigno S. Aquino III, I am certain that he eagerly ended his difficult, albeit fulfilling, term when he turned over the presidency to his successor, President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

In the words of former Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr., “Your obligation as a public servant is to be happy only to have become part of the beginning. You have no business trying to stick around for the ending…. I am one of those leaders in government whose ultimate job is to leave you with something worth continuing, a vision worth completing and a dream worth fulfilling.”

Whenever a leader leaves behind a successor in the person of someone whose life he has touched, whose values he has influenced and whose principles he has helped strengthen, there is no good-bye.

A leader should just leave with a smile as he anticipates the positive results of what he has left behind come to fruition. I did. I am sure PNoy did, as well. No tearful goodbyes; just happy smiles.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Philippines in dire need of a world-class international airport Val A. Villanueva

Businesswise

T

he announcement of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) to revive its proposal to build a massive Manila Bay international airport under the Duterte administration comes at a most opportune time.

SMC currently owns and manages the Caticlan Airport near Boracay Island. It also made an unsuccessful bid for the Mactan Cebu International Airport with partner Incheon Airport of South Korea.

Two years ago it proposed to the outgoing Aquino administration the same airport concept, but was careful not to offer to build the project itself because of the Aquino government’s bias against uninvited proposals. SMC then only shared plans for a potential public bidding. Even then, the project never took off.

Also in the last two years, the Department of Transportation and Communications, under then-Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya, tapped the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) to find a suitable location for a new international gateway. The country’s infrastructure woes, brought mainly by the underspending of the Aquino government, are serious enough to warrant an intervention from the private sector through clearer and resolute guidelines covering the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program, which President Duterte has vowed to strengthen.

Time and again, the country suffers from the “world’s worst airport” tag.

Just like the seemingly unsolvable traffic along the country’s major thoroughfares, airport congestion can no longer be ignored. The problem, at worst, causes economic bleeding and embarrassment to the country as a whole.

SMC aims to address this concern to boost the country’s tourism and trade.

SMC President Ramon S. Ang plans to showcase a world-class international airport, costing around $10 billion, which he says can be erected for less.

A possible unparalleled collaboration among the country’s biggest corporations, including Manuel V. Pangilinan’s group, Henry Sy’s SM Group and the Zobel-led Ayala Corp., has also been tabled.

The planned airport would nestle on a 1,600-hectare reclaimed land.

Ang says the other viable venue, the Sangley Point in Cavite, will cost $20 billion to build, while his proposal only needs an equity between $2 billion and $3 billion.

But some experts believe that the cheapest way to solve the airport congestion is to develop one, which already has the facilities and an area huge enough to accommodate the expected airport traffic, yet, is still close enough to Metro Manila. Former Finance Secretary Roberto F. de Ocampo says the Philippine government could make the “Dulles-Reagan” airports in the US as models for the development of the Clark International Airport (CIA) here, which he describes as second to none.

He says the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, and the Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, are worth emulating. Both airports are administered by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

Former Clark Development Corp.

Chairman Emmanuel Y. Angeles proposed the idea of an aerotropolis to transform Clark into a highly urbanized city, with the airport igniting economic growth and development in Metro Clark and the Central Luzon region. The idea is to build a subregion, where the layout, infrastructure and economy are centered on an airport serving as a multimodal “airport city” commercial core. It is similar in form to a traditional metropolis, which contains a central city with a business center and commuter-linked suburbs.

Such idea is not limited to Clark. It could be replicated in any place with the capacity to accommodate humongous structures, similar to where SMC plans to build its proposed airport.

The aerotropolis concept of development is an airport-driven growth of expansion that will transform cities and trading areas into globally competitive urban centers. The concept also enables cities to be ready for time-based competition, and demand for efficiency and reliability in the movement of people and products.

Both the Manila Bay reclamation and Clark have that inherent capability to accommodate a world-class modern aviation complex, which could cater to the needs of the electronic commercedriven world trade. But whichever location the Duterte administration chooses to build a new airport, it will definitely spur the country’s economic development. A new airport and related infrastructure would solve the country’s lingering air-traffic problems and serve as a catalyst for improving economically depressed areas in Metro Manila.

I urge the Duterte administration to act with dispatch in anticipation of the fruition of the Asean Vision 2020, which is intended to reinforce the foundation for a prosperous, peaceful, integrated and stable community of Southeast Asian nations. This will allow the freer intraregional movement of goods, services, skilled labor and capital. It would be disastrous for our country to still have “one of the world’s worst international airports” by that time.

All of the developments in the world had been centered on transportation— from the seaports and railways to the expressways, and now the airports. We cannot hope to compete against Asia’s emerging economies, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and even Vietnam, if we insist on making the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 our door to the world. An aerotropolis is a concept based on the fifth wave of transportation-triggered developments, next to seaports and waterborne transport of the 18th century the railroads of the 19th century, and the automobiles of the 20th century. For the 21st century, I believe that international gateway airports will be the springboard for major and comprehensive economic developments.

For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com

The solution Teddy Locsin Jr.

Free fire Continued from A1

Y

es, in his view, crooks in government are on the same level as drug dealers and drug users; they, too, are addicted—but to stealing and, in my view, social climbing. They are those he vows to kill because they “hurt my people.” So expect Cabinet vacancies. I told you, there will be room for Leni after the question of Bongbong’s vanishing 1-million-vote lead is answered.

Applying it to oneself Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

I

N his lament amid all his afflictions, the psalmist believes that God in His kindness will heed his plea and he will glorify God with thanksgiving, the God who hears the poor and His own (Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37). To belong to God in covenant means to love God above all and to be loving to anyone who needs you (Luke 10:25-37).

Turn toward me in Your mercy IN his personal experience of severe afflictions and agony, the psalmist with profound faith cries out to God in lament acknowledging God’s power to rescue and help him.

He begs for “the time of favor” and salvation (Isaiah 49:8); he appeals to God’s faithfulness and loving kindness (hesed) and constant help; he pleads that God turn to him in mercy and compassion (rahamin), with the passionate love of a mother for the child in her womb. He cries out to God for deliverance as a member of the covenanted community promised His divine love. Surely, God will turn toward him and answer him and help him and protect him.

And he will be singing praise to the name of God and he will glorify Him in thanksgiving.

The psalmist alludes to himself as an afflicted one, one of the lowly ones whom he summons to be glad and rejoice; he identifies himself with the poor who seek God and whom God hears. He believes in God’s “preferential option for the poor;” they, who have nobody else to turn to, are called particularly to experience the goodness of God. In His covenant of mercy, God promises to care for the needy, even as His covenant partners are to care for one another. The psalmist believes that when one in the covenant community is not cared

Thursday, July 7, 2016 A11

for by the others, God in His justice and mercy will intervene to redress the imbalance, because God “spurns not His own that are in bonds.” In a final expression of his faith, he trusts in the restoration of “Zion” and that those who truly “love the name of God shall live in it.”

Go and do likewise

Putting Jesus to a test, an expert of the law challenged his knowledge of the law as to what the lawyer must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus made the man answer his own question.

The lawyer’s correct answer, quoting from Scripture that we must love God with all our being (Deuteronomy 6:5) and love our neighbor as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18), received Jesus’ approval and his follow-up advise to the lawyer to do that and he will live. To justify himself that he really has a profound truth to stress, the lawyer further asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus’ anecdote stresses what it means to be a neighbor, a loving and compassionate person, recasting the lawyer’s question and shifting the focus from who deserves my love and who shall be privileged to receive my love. The priests and the Levites were temple people very concerned with ritual purity. Their

dilemma was if they help the victim, they could incur ceremonial defilement and would be excluded from their temple duties. The Samaritan, considered by the Jews already unclean, responded to the situation with love and compassion, demonstrating his mercy with works and going out of his way to help the victim. The Samaritan was a neighbor to the stranger.

Alálaong bagá, in my own needs and afflictions, I can ask for and trust God’s mercy and loving kindness because I am in covenant with Him. I am compassionate as my heavenly Father is compassionate.

What does it mean to be a person of compassion and mercy? Instead of being concerned as to who deserves my love or who do I accept as a neighbor, I need to concentrate on how do I become a neighbor to others—putting aside prejudices, in order to reach out to my fellow human beings, especially those in need. I will not miss an opportunity to love because I decided already anytime and anyhow to be a neighbor assigned by God to those with me and around me.

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on dwIZ 882, or by audiostreaming on www.dwiz882.com.

AEC’s feat depends on local empowerment

Our local entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which make up 99 percent of the Philippine economy, are faced with a phenomenon that the national government has chosen for them. There is no other way to succeed but upgrade their capabilities and build upon their competitive advantage. The LGUs stay at the fulcrum in this endeavor—the key for the Philippines’s success in AEC depends on them.

Among the Asean members, it is only Cambodia and Myanmar that maintain significant agricultural output as percent of their GDP at more than 30 percent. Advance economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand each have less than 15 percent, while Brunei at 0.70 percent and Singapore at 0 percent. The glaring implication is that who will ensure food security in the region? In contrast, industry and services sectors are booming at rapid 30 percent to 50 percent.

While this trend signals industrialization, it, likewise, poses threat to human survival as food production becomes extinct—simply there’s not enough to feed a population of 600 million.

At the backdrop of this reality is the promising opportunity for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

(ARMM) to directly supply agricultural products within Asean. Currently, it is only ARMM that produces more than 60 percent of its regional accounts coming from agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing. However, is ARMM fully equipped to develop its huge potentials?

Has our national government aided its LGUs toward such direction? And, most important, do local traders in ARMM know about AEC and its promises for a larger market?

These questions are not isolated for ARMM alone, but common to all 144 cities and 1,490 municipalities that are directly affected by intense competition within the region. Perhaps, few exceptions with those LGUs in Metro Manila, which have direct access to national resources. But the local businessmen and traders in our countryside need assistance and robust support from our national government in terms of information dissemination, investment counseling, market identification and boosting their competitive advantages against hundreds of cities in Asean.

So how do we ensure that our LGUs are systematically aligned with the vision of the national government in benefiting more from AEC? Ultimately, whatever gain or burden may arise from

AEC redounds back to the local community. Indeed, the Board of Investments (BOI) was quick to identify important steps for LGUs to implement.

First is to scan the local environments. Similar to what the national government is doing in terms of identifying key sectors for growth, LGUs must do the same at their own respective jurisdictions. Be able to recognize which industries that are most competitive, and which industries that need drastic government intervention. Basic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis would be very much helpful. This exaggerates the importance of having a local investment ordinance that complement with the Omnibus Investment Code and Investment Priorities Plan, among others. With the assistance of national agencies, there’s need to scan the Asean environment. LGUs must be able to recognize the countries where their local outputs are most competitive.

Second is to be mindful of repetitive procedures in doing business. LGUs must be able to streamline their local processes in accepting business applications. AEC means a possibility of investment influx to your locality due to improved access and direct trade, but such remains a “possibility” when redundant procedures are in place discouraging prospective businessmen.

Competition is much stiffer today; we race not only with the 18 regions of the Philippines, but against the other nine countries of Asean. As much as possible, setup online applications and maintain a web site that contains all the necessary requirements when doing business with your locality. In this age and time, it is easier to market your goods and services anywhere in the globe with the use of technology. Adopt a one-stopshop business registration facility and replicate the “no red tape, only red carpet” policy of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

Duterte goes on: “There are those who say that my methods are unorthodox and verge on the illegal. In response, let me say this: I have seen how corruption bled the government of funds, which were allocated to uplift the poor from the mire they are in. I have seen how illegal drugs destroyed individuals and ruined family relationships.”

That’s actually what graft and corruption do: steal the lifeline of those mired in poverty, and that’s actually what illegal drugs do: destroy individuals and families. This is why the speech resonated so strongly. He was speaking about our own experiences of graft and drugs; about their impact on people around us and on our families.

“I have seen how criminality, by means all foul”—note the play on the expression “by fair means or foul.” Here there is not

the smallest chance of fairness. “I have seen how criminality by means all foul snatched from the innocent and the unsuspecting the years and years of accumulated savings, years of toil”—the word is from Lincoln’s second Inaugural—“and then, suddenly, they are back where they started.” With nothing.

“Look at this from that perspective, and tell me that I am wrong.”

Wow! He just opened our eyes to what we see and made us aware of our own experiences. And you wonder why the speech worked?

“In this fight, I ask Congress and the Commission on Human Rights [CHR], and all others similarly situated”—what a quaint way of putting it—“to allow us a level of governance consistent with our mandate…. As a lawyer and a former prosecutor, I know the limits of the

power and authority of the president. I know what is legal and what is not. My adherence to due process and the rule of law is uncompromising.” Then comes the killer statement, “You mind your work and I will mind mine.”

Is that right? It is wrong. Or so it seems. The work of Congress and the CHR, not to mention the Court, is to mind the President’s business, so he does not step out of the bounds of authority and law. But note what he said before that: he knows and has practiced law, as a prosecutor no less.

The Supreme Court itself ruled a while back, when the Ombudsman was filing cases left and right based solely on the notoriety of the accused as a Marcos crony, a prosecutor’s first duty is to ascertain if there is any evidence—and to weigh if it is sufficient to constitute prob-

Kent Marjun Primor

Driving Momentum

S

ince the Bali Summit in 1977 that yielded the preferential trading agreement followed by the 1992 signing of the common effective preferential tariff scheme that marked the way toward the Asean Free Trade Area, the success and failure of the post-Asean Economic Community (AEC) 2015 will always be measured as to how local government units (LGUs) prepare and participate.

Finally, cultivate a strong partnership with the local business community.

Essentially, it is the private sector that drives investments, while the government is the enabler of growth. LGUs must work hand in hand with the local business organizations in crafting ordinances, improving ease of doing business, exploring opportunities, as well as strengthening industries. For instance, the city of Valencia in the Province of Bukidnon has made significant progress in local economic legislation due to collaborative efforts and shared responsibility with its local business community. Businessmen do not only speak up on their concerns but also elaborate on the possible alternative solutions to be undertaken. It is noteworthy to point out that our government does not have answers to every challenge. Hence, entrepreneurs and local traders must advise their LGUs on aspects relating to their sectors and industries. Such established mechanism has effectively produced a fiscal-reform policy in a span of only 1.5 years. This could possibly be a benchmark for other LGUs in the Philippines.

At the national front, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) should monitor and proactively conduct regular briefings and provide technical expertise to MSMEs and LGUs in remote areas. While the National Competitive Council ranks competitive cities and municipalities, the DTI and DILG should monitor their compliance, performance and readiness towards the AEC. Surely, the country’s success or failure in AEC depends largely on the competitiveness and capabilities of our local businessmen and local governments.

able cause with the same impartiality as a judge—before filing a case.

Duterte knows constitutional limitations, even as Congress, Commission, and Court know the law and their respective limitations. So respect his knowledge, he says, and he will respect theirs about the right way of going about things. That’s perfect constitutional law, fully consistent with separation of powers, which is not about one branch second-guessing another but each respecting the others’ discretion and sense of responsibility. It is only after discretion is exceeded or the sense of responsibility is abandoned, that the other branches will stop the president short: by congressional investigation or judicial review. But before then allow him, he says, a level of governance consistent with his mandate.

Mr. Kent Marjun Primor serves as the Market Research and Communications Specialist at the Nordic Business Council of the Philippines (NBCP).

For comments and inquiries, please direct it to kent.primor@nbcp.com.ph.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Thursday, July 7, 2016

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Traffic mess to persist sans planning overhaul

T

By Maisie Joven

Special to the BusinessMirror

RANSPORT and mobility woes in Metro Manila is seen persisting without a restructuring of power and authority and sound urban planning.

Experts in the transport sector are pushing for a more comprehensive and viable master plan to alleviate the perennial problem in Metro Manila: traffic congestion in all forms.

Segundo Romero Jr., a member of nonprofit transportation organization Inclusive Mobility Network (IMN), believes “the current system doesn’t work anymore.”

For him, Metro Manila has to be transformed “into a single metropolitan area with a single metropolitan government,” instead of having different cities and a municipality under it.

“Without the restructuring of power and authority, the transport and mobility problem will continue to be addressed at the municipal level when the appropriate level of analysis and action is at the

4

The number of Philippine cities that already has a population of over 1 million each metropolitan level,” Romero told the BusinessMirror.

He said the centralization of

The skyline of Ortigas and Shaw Boulevard shows the continuous development of Metro Manila that, experts say, is causing mobility problems because of the absence of proper urban planning. NONIE REYES

powers will be a large step toward comprehensive urban planning in growing cities, one of the transportation solutions proposed under the Kwentuhang Bayan Agenda, which he and other transport experts support.

Political empowerment program Kwentuhang Bayan (KB), farmers, urban poor, overseas

workers, indigenous groups and other marginalized sectors crafted the agenda, which included remedies to transportation and mobility issues, such as urban planning, mass-transit systems, private vehicles and persons-with-disability (PWD) mobility.

“Many of the cities in the Philippines, especially Metro Manila, are not being planned properly to accommodate the growing population and increasing urbanization.

This can be seen in the state of traffic that we have, the lack of mass transportation, problems when it comes to housing and even issues of flooding,” KB Program Officer Karlo Abadines said.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed Quezon City, Manila City, Davao City and Caloocan City already have populations of more than 1 million each, as compared to the country’s largest municipalities, which only have more than 300,000 people each.

A dded to t h is a re poorly

maintained and underinvested roads, which lead to poorly integrated road networks, according to Asian Development Bank’s National Urban Assessment in 2014.

Mass-transit systems are also a daily problem for Filipinos. KB wants the new administration to pursue immediate investments in the Light Rail Transit (LRT), Metro Rail Transit (MRT), Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and other systems.

The Department of Transportation and Communications under the Aquino administration introduced new modes of transport—such as the point-to-point buses—in addition to extending LRT lines and acquiring new lightrail vehicles for the MRT. Romero said BRTs be placed along C-5, Quezon Avenue and Commonwealth. “The secret is to get consultants who will design and implement the system right, based on the successful experience of other countries,” he said.

“Critical to the process is competent and experienced contract manage-

ment on the side of government.”

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade told the BusinessMirror talks are ongoing among the government, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Ayala Corp., MRT Holdings Corp. and other parties regarding mass-transit issues.

Along with better public transport, KB also hopes for privatevehicle ownership regulation by taxation and other methods.

“This would also mean having policies where you can own a car only if you can prove you have a garage to house it,” Abadines said.

IMN Vice Chairman Karen Crisostomo said this would lead to an increase in nonmotorized transport (NMT), such as walking and cycling, which is favored over motorized transport in Section 9 of Executive Order 774.“Fix the road infrastructure and public-transport system to allow better mobility for pedestrians, PWDs and people on bicycles,” she said.

She added that there must be “proper width of sidewalks, respect of the pedestrian cross walks, bike lanes and accessibility for PWD.” The PWD sector asked for better mobility in the KB Agenda, through PWD-accessible infrastructure as mandated by the accessibility law.

In fact, many public spaces and buildings still lack ramps, Abadines said. The accessibility law requires public and private buildings, streets and public-transport vehicles to provide ramps, wide spaces, audiovisual aids and facilities designed specifically for the PWD. Transport experts expect an improved BRT in two years, while other solutions may take longer.

The agenda has already been supported by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and Sen. Risa Hontiveros. KB aims for more government officials, especially President Duterte and Vice President Ma. Leonor G. Robredo, to support the agenda.

Other issues tackled in the agenda are poverty, education, peace and security, labor, drugs, env ironment, corr uption and good governance, agriculture, human rights and elections.

DAVAO TO FEEL ECONOMIC WINDFALL FROM DUTERTE’S POLL WIN IN 2017

By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CIT Y—T he economic mannat for this city and the rest of Mindanao as a consequence of the election to the presidency of this city’s Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte is expected to be felt strongly next year, although significant trickles can be already coming this year.

Dr. Adrian Tamayo of the University of Mindanao’s sociopolitical survey unit, the Institute of Public Opinion, said the influx of foreign-corporate investors immediately before and after the May 9 elections indicates the level of confidence of the global corporate world on the no-nonsense drive of Duterte against public corruption and the spread of narcotics abuse in the country.

“The big ones, the manufacturers and the factories, are expected to take longer to operate, but many of those are coming if you look at the profile of those doing courtesy calls with the President while he was here, waiting to be sworn in as the 16th President of the Philippines,” Tamayo said.

“The year of impact and significant change to the economy and lives of residents here and that of Mindanao, is 2017, at the earlieast,” he said. Yet, the economic rainfall could already be seen in the horizon ahead of 2017.

​​₧886.7B The investment leads the BOI has listed this year

“The first to benefit are the real-estate developers, as investors look for locations and the construction sector will be busy, as investments prepare the infrastructure and fixtures from which to operate,” he said.

Different labor surveys indicate the construction sector is one of the most labor-intensive and, therefore, can easily provide the immediate livelihood opportunity for those constantly kept out of the inclusive-growth targets because of low educational attainment and poor financial credibility to acquire loans.

“The construction sector needs between 76,000 and 100,000 workers, and can radiate the impact to 20,000 to 30,000 more people, who put up tents and vend cheap meals to workers, cigarettes, water and other consumer and household items,” he said.

The primary workers construct buildings for factories, build roads and bridges, terminals and ports, and even farm roads to open new production areas for plantations.

The second to benefit are the education and health sectors, for obvious skilled manpower and middle-level managers who are young and trainable.

The health sector will also get the appropriate attention “in line with the strong bias of the Duterte administration for social services and other pro-poor priority.

So, we may see more hiring of barangay health workers to look into the concern of residents in the communities, and especially to those areas that may see transformation of the surroundings with the entry of businesses,” Tamayo said.

Gil Dureza, chief of the domestic investments promotion service of the Board of Investments here, corroborated Tamayo’s view of bigger investment windfall but within the next three years.

“A lot of investors interested to come in are into manufacturing, and their number has put us in a very busy state right now,” he said.

See “Dava0,” A2