Businessmirror july 25, 2016

“Vote your conscience.”—Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who withheld his endorsement from Donald Trump as he addressed the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. AP

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“This measure is in no way against democracy, the law and freedoms.”— Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after declaring a three-month state of emergency following a botched coup attempt last weekend. AP

“It’s a great day for civil rights across America, and it’s a critically important achievement for voters throughout Texas who have as of late been routinely mistreated by state leaders.”—Houston lawyer Chad Dunn, after a federal appeals court ruled that Texas’s strict voter ID law discriminates against minorities and the poor, and must be weakened before the November elections. AP

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Monday, July 25, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 289

‘FOI as EO inadequate, act of Congress more potent’ By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM & Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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awmakers said Congress should enact the proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) measure into law, instead of as mere executive order (EO), to put more vigor into government efforts to fight corruption. “An FOI law will strengthen the right of Filipinos to information held by the government by full public disclosure of all government transactions,” First District Rep. Raul V. del Mar of Cebu City said.

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Del Mar said the proposed FOI Act he filed covers the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, including the national government and all its agencies, departments, bureaus, constitutional commis-

sions and mandated bodies, offices of the senators and representatives, the Supreme Court and all lower courts established by law. Local governments and all their agencies, regulatory agencies, chartered institutions, governmentowned or -controlled corporations, including wholly owned or controlled subsidiaries, offices and instrumentalities, government financial institutions, state universities and colleges will also be covered. Continued on A2

17TH CONGRESS OPENS

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No money-out option for govt

We still need a law as a matter of right.”—Pimentel

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perspective

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 36 pages | 7 days a week

PHL’s ‘archaic’ trade laws up for review

froome turns focus to rio olympics

PPP Lead Alberto C. Agra

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re implementing agencies (IAs) required to shell out money for publicprivate partnership (PPP) arrangements? What is the appropriate PPP modality for a no cash-out option on the part of the government? Why is this option popular for IAs, particularly local government units (LGUs)? Aside from cash, what can an IA contribute so that it will have a “skin” in the project? Continued on A14

4 No Money-Out Benefits

Fiscal Space

Less Dependency Hundreds of container vans are piled at the North Harbor in Tondo, Manila. According to a report, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry has prescribed short- and long-term solutions to address the congestion at the Port of Manila that is currently affecting the local business sector. ALYSA SALEN By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie @ReaCuBM

& Rea Cu

sports

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First of three parts

ttracting more foreign investments and encouraging more Filipinos to go into business would require putting in place the right policies. With this in mind, members of the 17th Congress vowed to prioritize the review

PESO exchange rates n US 47.1630

Aside from the Omnibus Investments Code, we will review all unresponsive laws.”—Quimbo

of “outdated” trade laws. Liberal Party Rep. Romero S. Quimbo of Marikina City said lawmakers will review the Omnibus Investments Code of 1987 to make it more attuned to the needs of investors. He said upgrading the country’s incentives regime, particularly the perks being offered by the Board of Investments (BOI), should be done “immediately”. Continued on A2

Fewer Cases Fewer Disallowances Author: Alberto C. Agra

n japan 0.4458 n UK 62.4202 n HK 6.0812 n CHINA 7.0640 n singapore 34.8066 n australia 35.3487 n EU 52.0066 n SAUDI arabia 12.5765

bm Graphics: Job Ruzgal

Source: BSP (22 July 2016 )

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17TH CONGRESS OPENS

PHL’s ‘archaic’ trade laws up for review Continued from A1

“I hope the DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] will provide the necessary strong push on this one [Omnibus Investments Code],” Quimbo said. “Aside from the Omnibus Investments Code, we will look into or review all unresponsive laws,” he said. The Omnibus Investments Code of 1987 integrates the basic laws on investment, clarifying and harmonizing their provisions to encourage and guide domestic and foreign investors. It was passed through Executive Order (EO) 226, which took effect on August 13, 1987. Earlier, a BusinessMirror report quoted former Trade Secretary Adrian S. Crtistobal Jr. as saying there is a need to amend the Omnibus Investments Code of 1987, because it has become “unresponsive to the way the world has changed.” He said the Philippine Economic Zone Authority—which administers the perks

being given to locators in economic zones— still has a competitive incentive package for exporter-oriented enterprises. For the BOI, however, Cristobal said the incentives should be “seriously reviewed” by the Duterte administration and the 17th Congress. Registered enterprises are allowed by the BOI to enjoy the duty-free importation of capital equipment and income tax holidays (ITH) ranging from four to six years, depending on the status of the projects. A review of the set of perks is also key in the promotion of nascent sectors, such as electronic commerce, Cristobal said. “It’s been 30 years since [the EO] was passed. It’s about time we review it because, for example, we want to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and digital start-ups, the ITH is not relevant to them, they need a different source of incentive,” Cristobal added. The DTI, together with private-sector stakeholders, launched the Philippine E-

Commerce Roadmap to promote wider ecommerce adoption in February. It seeks to encourage micro, small and medium enterprises to take advantage of the digital space in gaining a larger customer base. Aside from catering to local MSME enterprises, the road map also seeks to attract global e-commerce players to do business in the Philippines. “There is a need for the government to come up with policies and programs to nurture these digital start-ups, from the development stage up to the point when their ideas will become commercially viable and rolled out within the country,” the road map read. “This may require a good amount of investments. However, our existing investment policies and procedures are not conducive for foreign investments in digital start-ups,” it added. The need to update the 30-year-old incentives regime is also in line with the DTI’s push to reinvigorate the country’s manufacturing sector.

Economic ‘Cha-cha’

Quimbo said there is also a need to relax foreign ownership restrictions in the 1987 Constitution. “While I absolutely agree to review the Omnibus Investments Code, the other better thing to do is to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution that restrict ownership of foreign investors, because the Omnibus Investments Code will not be able to address this comprehensively,” he said. Outgoing Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr. has already refiled a measure amending the economic provisions of the Constitution or the economic charter change (Cha-cha). Belmonte’s resolution seeks to amend the 60-40 rule that limits foreign ownership of certain activities in the Philippines. He said the economic Cha-cha could help boost economic growth, as it would relax foreign ownership restrictions and make the Philippines more attractive to foreign investors.

Under Article XII of the 1987 Constitution foreign investors are prohibited to own more than 40 percent of real properties and businesses, while they are totally restricted to exploit natural resources and own any company in the media industry. In the 16th Congress, the House of Representatives did not push through with the expected voting on third and final reading of the economic Cha-cha, apparently due to the lack of affirmative votes. The chamber needs the vote of at least two-thirds of its membership, or 217 affirmative votes, to pass the Cha-cha measure. The voting has also been affected by the stance of former President Benigno S. Aquino III, who thumbed down the economic Cha-cha. The 1987 Constitution was crafted during the term of the late President Corazon C. Aquino. Last week Belmonte assured local and foreign businessmen in the country that he will push for the passage of his economic Cha-cha in the 17thCongress. To be continued

‘FOI as EO inadequate, act of Congress more potent’ Continued from A1

Del Mar’s proposed FOI Act will include law-enforcement agencies, such as the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. He said exceptions will be granted if the information may compromise national security or interfere with any legitimate militar y or lawenforcement operations. “Immunity from the act shall also be permitted if the information shall jeopardize the diplomatic and negotiating position of the Philippines. “The information shall not also be disclosed if it will expose identity of confidential sources, techniques, guidelines and procedures of law-enforcement investigations,” del Mar said.

Also, pieces of information that will constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, such as signatures, addresses, telephone numbers, identification numbers, family members, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and health education shall not be part of del Mar’s FOI Act. However, the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth of all public officials will be disclosed on an annual basis. Incoming Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III also said senators will still pass a FOI law embracing the entire bureaucracy, with additional sanctions. “The FOI law is still a go,” Pimentel said, explaining that “we still need a law as a matter of right.”

In a radio interview, Pimentel indicated that the FOI law will likely include stiffer penal provisions, in addition to the disciplinary and administrative sanctions awaiting erring public officials and employees who disobey Duterte’s EO on FOI. He said penalties will be imposed if the EO is not obeyed, but added that the lawmakers will pass a law imposing other sanctions. “The FOI law has reasonable limitations, but we will be transparent,” Pimentel said, recalling that President Duterte “abhors secrecy and seeks transparency.” Efforts to enact an FOI law got derailed, even as the Senate in the 16th Congress passed the remedial legislation on third reading, but

got stuck in the House during the Aquino administration. Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Information, thanked President Duterte for starting the move to unlock information of interest to the public “at least in the Executive branch.” However, Poe said she recalled hearing about “exceptions” in the implementation of the EO. “There were pronouncements that we need to wait for the actual exceptions by the Office of the Solicitor General [OSG] to look into that, what exceptions are there?” she asked. Poe said she expects the Palace to “say what the exceptions are and No. 2, they need to be clear what the penalties are for government offi-

cials who will fail to comply with this executive order.”

Exceptions

President Duterte, who signed on Saturday the EO, ordered the Department of Justice and the OSG to come up with an inventory of exceptions to the constitutional right to information to guide heads of agencies in determining whether the information requested is classified. While the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) lauded the EO, the two business groups said they would like to see the exceptions. PCCI President George T. Barcelon said the swift approval of the measure

was an encouraging sign for the group as it is a show of good faith on the part of the administration. “We take it in the positive light that he delivered what was promised. The process was likely [President Duterte’s] way of fast-tracking the measure, as it would have been prolonged in Congress like what happened in the previous administration where it was stalled in the House of Representatives,”Barcelon said. While PCCI expects the chief executive’s first state of the nation address on Monday to touch on EO and shed more light on it, Barcelon said its implementing rules and regulations must be clear on what it doesn’t cover. “Let’s wait for what the IRR [of the executive offices] will contain, [we can’t] say yet if a legislation, approved by Congress, needs to complement this,” he said. MAP President Perry Pe said it is “vital” for him to see the exceptions before commenting on the EO. “Bear in mind that the EO also recognizes privacy and the Data Privacy Act. So the key really is to see what will be contained in the exceptions list,” Pe said. “The EO is only for the Executive branch, therefore, it doesn’t apply to Congress or the Supreme Court. The Executive, I suppose, wants to lead the way, and it is, of course, good for the public,” he added. To access information within the Executive branch, a person must submit a written request to the government office concerned, stating the name and contact information of the requesting party, proof of identification, a description of the information requested and the purpose for the request. “No request shall be denied or refused acceptance unless the reason for the request is contrary to law, existing rules and regulations or it is one of the exceptions contained in the inventory or updated inventory of exception as hereinabove provided,” the order said. The request shall be granted or denied within 15 working days, and the denial shall set forth the reasons for such denial and the circumstances on which the denial is based. Failure to notify the requesting party of any action on the request within 15 working days shall be deemed a denial of the request. In case of denial or deemed denial of the request, the requesting party may appeal to the next higher authority in the government agency concerned within 15 calendar days from the notice of denial or the lapse of the 15-day period to approve or deny the request without any action on the part of the requested party. Upon exhaustion of administrative remedies, the requesting party may file the appropriate case in the proper courts. With reports from David Cagahastian

and Catherine N. Pillas

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CA junks petition to stop phaseout of old buses By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Court of Appeals (CA) finds it judicious to phase-out buses and minibuses more than 15 years old from their date of manufacture.

In a ruling penned by Associate Justice Maria Elisa Sempio Diy, the CA’s Twelfth Division upheld the constitutionality of Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Department Order (DO) 2002-30 issued on August 19, 2002, and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Resolution No. 2013001 dated January 11, 2013. DOTC DO 2002-30 mandates the phaseout of 15-year-old buses and minibuses, while LTFRB Resolution 2013-001 mandates the strict implementation of the DOTC order, even on holders of so-called roadworthiness and motor-vehicle inspection section certificates. The appellate court junked the petition filed by the National Confederation of Transport Workers and several other transport groups to declare the cited orders unconstitutional for violating the equal protection clause and due process. The CA said the cited orders were validly issued as part of the government’s police power promoting public welfare by regulating the use of liberty and property. The appellate court noted there have been numerous vehicular accidents that claimed the lives of passengers caused by old, dilapidated and defective vehicles. “This court recognizes the aim of the transport officials concerned to establish a modern transport system intended to make the public more safe

and secure while commuting. “The reason is obvious: Life is irreplaceable; property is not. When the State’s exercise of police power clashes with a few individuals’ right to property, the former should prevail,” the court said. Even the Supreme Court, according to the CA, has previously affirmed the State’s police power to regulate public utility vehicles by imposing an age limit. It cited the case of Taxicab Operators of Metro Manila Inc. v. The Board of Transportation, where the SC ruled that regulation phasing out taxi cabs more than six years of age is a valid exercise of police power, since it intends to promote the convenience, comfort and safety of the riding public. The appellate court also did no give credence to the claim that the LTFRB abused its power of discretion, when it expanded the scope of DOTC DO 200230 by refusing to renew the franchise of 15-year-old buses. It explained the certificate of public convenience issue to the petitioners “merely privileges subject to the regulatory power of the State.” The CA also rejected the claim the DOTC and the LTFRB issuances violated the equal protection clause in the form of special treatment to public-utility jeepneys (PUJs) by phasing out the PUVs. It pointed out t hat buses and jeepneys do not belong in the same category, considering that the former are

FVR accepts Duterte’s offer to lead negotiations with China–Abella By David Cagahastian @ davecaga

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alacañang has confirmed that former President Fidel V. Ramos has accepted President Duterte’s offer for him to head the country’s backchannel talks with China on joint exploration and exploitation of natural resources in disputed territories in the South China Sea. “FVR has indicated that he has received a clean bill of health, and has accepted the President’s offer to engage China in conversations germane to our common interests,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto C. Abella said in a statement. Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar said an important announcement will be made by Mr. Duterte in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) today regarding foreign policy in the territorial dispute in the South China Sea. Andanar said President Duterte had convened the National Security Council with National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr., Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus G. Dureza and Ramos regarding the territorial dispute. “That meeting was so productive, and that meeting led to a very important addition to the State of the Nation Address for the President that will be delivered tomorrow,” Andanar said in

a news conference. However, Mr. Duterte had already revealed that Ramos wanted the favorable verdict of the United Nations’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) to be set aside while the bilateral talks with China are ongoing. This is contrary to an earlier statement from Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr., who rejected China’s earlier offer for the Philippines to set aside the arbitration ruling as a precondition for starting any bilateral talks. Mr. Duterte said in a speech in Maguindanao on Friday night that Ramos wanted to set aside the arbitration ruling while bilateral talks are ongoing with China, because that would prompt Chinese investments to come in and the Mindanao region will “wallow in progress.” “I really pray that we are able to settle this China Sea [dispute]. Ramos said that it’s all right if we take out the arbitral judgment from the talks,” Mr. Duterte said. “If that’s the case, and if it’s really the will of the people, especially Congress, then we will wallow in progress here, because there will, indeed, be many investments that will come in because of the land. Because of the fertility of the soil and the fact that there is no typhoon to destroy the cycle of our crops and the cycle of the weather,” he added.

FVR has indicated that he has received a clean bill of health and has accepted the President’s offer to engage China in conversations germane to our common interests.” —Abella

greater in size, have higher capacity and travel longer and farther routes than jeepneys. In fact, the CA said, “contrary to petitioners’ argument, the issuances of the DOTC and the LTFRB also mandate the phasing out of public-utility vehicles buses, school services, and Filcabs. “While we truly commiserate with the plight of the petitioners who are affected

by the assailed issuances, we cannot legally bar respondents DOTC and LTFRB from exercising their mandate of crafting and achieving the effective implementation of a comprehensive and rationalized national land transport plan,” the CA added. Conc u r r ing w it h t he r uling were A ssociate Just ices R a mon Bato Jr. a nd Ma nuel Ba r r ios.

This Court recognizes the aim of the transport officials concerned to establish a modern transport system intended to make the public more safe and secure while commuting. The reason is obvious: Life is irreplaceable; property is not. When the State’s exercise of police power clashes with a few individuals’ right to property, the former should prevail.” —Court of Appeals

Monday, July 25, 2016

China suspends 4 local officials after deadly floods

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EI J I NG —P rov i nc i a l authorities in northern China said on Sunday they have suspended four local officials for inadequately responding to floods over the past week that killed 114 people and left 111 others missing. The Hebei provincial government said on its official microblog account that it was suspending the head of a development zone in the city of Xingtai, the chief engineer of a city transport bureau and two other bureaucrats. The move comes as China’s government has been fighting massive flooding this summer that has also threatened embankments along rivers in central China, with authorities mobilizing troops and heavy equipment to fill the gaps. A lready, 576 people have been recorded as dead or missing nationwide in the first half of the year. President X i Jinping last week warned the countr y to be prepared for more hardship to come, and said officia ls found negligent in their duties wou ld be severely punished. I n Heb e i t he of f ic i a l s were being suspended “ for being ineffective in f lood prevention, and rescue and

relief work,” the provincial government statement said. X ingtai was among the province’s worst-hit areas, w it h f loods t here k i l l ing 25 people and leaving 13 ot hers m i ssi ng. Villagers complained that a Xingtai official tried to cover up the casualties in an interview last week by saying no one died or was hurt. Residents also complained that officials had failed to give them sufficient warning before the flood hit. “ T he v i l l a ge c h ie f i n formed us about the flood situation around 2 a.m. that day, but the floodwaters had almost arrived by that time,” said a villager who would only give his surname, Zhang, when reached by phone on Sunday. “We had no time to make preparations.” “We want the government to tell us the truth, including the death toll in our village,” Zhang said. Reports say eight people died in his village of Daxian. The city’s mayor, Dong Xiaoyu, made a public apolog y and bowed at a news conference on Sat urd ay, saying the government had underestimated the intensity of the rain and the risk of f looding. AP

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New Naia chief asking for more time to remedy airport’s problems W By Recto Mercene

@rectomercene

HEN the president of an airport-vehicle concessionaire group complained to then-Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) General Manager Jose Angel A. Honrado about the explosion of taxi operators at the premier airport to their detriment, he was confronted with a rhetorical question: “Bakit? Kayo lang ba ang diyos dito [Why? Are you the only gods here]?” Romeo Sayaman, president of the Airport Transport Concessionaire Association Inc. (Atcai) and now the group’s spokesman, tells of this encounter with Honrado to explain why there are 42 (not 88, as earlier given by the Miaa) vehicular companies serving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). “If Malacañang calls up Honrado and orders him to accept a new concessionaire, can he turn it down? If a congressman or a senator calls him to do the same, can he refuse? Of course, not,” Sayaman answered his own question. Add this to the fact the airport managers themselves have their own friends and relations to take care of, he said. He added that, as far as he could remember, any “big shot” could call up the sitting airport manager to demand accommodations of various kinds, including recommending a constituent to take part in the taxi concessions. “The airport manager cannot deny their requests. Our culture and political system would not allow it,” Sayaman said. When he started working at the airport more than a decade ago, Sayaman said there were only five vehicle concessionaires at the Naia. The number of today’s concessionaires would soon increase. Newly appointed Miaa General Manager Ed Monreal said he will allow the public entry of the so-called white or public taxi to come into the airport to ease the long queues. Currently, the Naia has the yellow metered taxi, which charges more than a regular taxi, a Limousine Service, Rent-a Car, a Premium Bus Service and Grab. Monreal said complaints about the white taxi being a source of harassment, like overcharging, would be addressed by issuing a piece of paper containing important data, such as the name of the driver, the name of the taxi company and the

license plate of the taxi concerned. Aside from the premium buses, the Miaa would also allow jeepneys to take passengers coming out of Naia Terminal 3 at a special place, located at the former Circulo del Mondo rotunda. Employees and passengers who do not want to take the limousine or coupon taxi would have to walk from the Naia 3 to Circulo del Mondo, a distance of about half a kilometer, and take the jeeps there coming from Sales Street in Villamore Air Base headed to Baclaran. However, there is no connection between Naia 3 and the area beyond because, currently, it is blocked by the construction of the Skyway leading to and from Macapagal Avenue. An access road would be built for the Naia 3 employees and passengers who cross the obstruction on the way to the jeeps. Last year more than 35 million arriving passengers went through the Naia’s four passenger terminals. This translated to about 97,000 passengers a month. Yet, despite the number of airport franchisees, there is a dearth of vehicles to efficiently transport the irate passengers to their homes. Every day, long lines of newly arrived passengers queue at the Naia Terminal 3 taxi stand, patiently waiting for their turn for a taxi that would take an eternity to arrive, the driver blaming it to the horrendous traffic in Metro Manila. Last year the Miaa a llowed Grab (formerly known as GrabTaxi), the mobile e-hailing vehicle, to pick up passengers at the Naia. Unlike any other major airports in the world whose transport systems are operated by one or at most three mega-concessionaires, the Naia remains stuck in Third-World mode. Despite attempts by authorities to streamline vehicular operations, small-time operators wanting to grab a piece of the action can get access to the Naia.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport

Hong Kong, for example, is served by three different types of taxis, distinguished by their color: The Urban taxis that connect Chep Lap Kok Airport with Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and other parts of town. New Territories taxis connect the airport with the New Territories. Lantau taxis connect the airport with the rest of Lantau Island. There is also a Citybus that delivers passengers from the airport to hotels in Tsim Hsa Tsui district. There are also the trains linking the airport to the heart of Hong Kong, all within a span of 22 minutes. The New Lantao Bus, Long Win Bus and Discovery Bay Transit Services operate 25 bus routes to the airport from various parts of Hong Kong. The bus companies also offer 10 overnight “N” services. At Chep Lap Kok, coach services (tourist bus) are available to major cities and towns in Guangdong Province, such as Dongguan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Yet, as pointed out, the 42 concessionaires at the Naia could only field 1,600 vehicles, according to Monreal. He said the 97,000 monthly passengers would translate to about 4,000 passengers a day, hence the lack of 2,400 vehicles daily. Those with 42 airport franchises are given a maximum of 120 vehicles to field, Monreal said, which should translate into 5,000 vehicles. But an operator of rolling stocks, Nonnie Manese, estimates that 20 percent of the 5,000 vehicles are on

42 The number of taxi companies currently serving the Naia

downtime due to repairs or are due for a date with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for license renewal. Hence, we still lack vehicles. Manese is the manager of Sunshine Tours, a limousine and taxi operator at the Naia whose owner runs Aloha Hotel and many other businesses. Sayaman said, “We should never compare the Naia with any other airports in the world because of our political system and ingrained cultural values.” He said small-time taxi operators are most often overseas migrant workers who returned to the country after saving P3 million to engage in the business. “These new operators can only afford maybe three to five taxis,” Sayaman said. “More than that and the LTFRB would make it very difficult for you to go on with your business.”

Sayaman did not elaborate. He said several airport policemen are also operating vehicles to augment their modest income. He said it is common knowledge that for years, some of these policemen have been engaged in petty misdemeanors, allowing the public taxi to engage at the Naia for some grease money. Sayaman said former Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II and Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya once offered them to compete in the bidding to run the Premium Bus service at the airport, but the floor price was P420 million. He said they were so insulted by Roxas and Abaya’s offer they all agreed not to vote for Roxas. “Only the elite in this country could afford to join the bidding,” he said. Eventually, the concession went to the owner of Air21, a freight forwarding service owned by Alberto D. Lina, the customs commissioner and brother of former Sen. Joey Lina. However, the Premium Buses remain mostly empty. Passengers have complained that the P300 being charged from the Naia to Makati or the Mall of Asia is equal to taxi fare from the airport to the same places. Sayaman has a big issue with Grab, which they would like Monreal to address. “All airport-vehicle concessionaires have to follow the Miaa directives, such as wearing uniforms and shoes for drivers. There are many other requirements that we have to religiously follow or we are fined,” Sayaman said.

One of these requirements is to be a member of the Transport Network Vehicle/Company (TNV or TNC). He said this was a directive by the LTFRB, which they follow. However, Uber and Grab are not members of either transport groups, Sayaman said, and they are allowed to engage in transport service at the Naia. He said they filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop Grab from competing with them at the airport, but he said the sheriff has difficulty serving the court order. “Paano pala, eh sa Singapore nakatira and may ari ng Grab [It turns out that the owner of Grab is living in Singapore],” Sayaman said with a laugh, adding that Grab’s lawyer said the owner is a foreigner and not subject to Philippine laws. Monreal said he understands the problem. He asked to be given more time. “Please give me time to streamline the operation of the many franchise holders at the Miaa,” Monreal said at his first press conference since assuming office on July 1. He added that he is allowing the public or white taxi to enter the Naia premises because of the lack of vehicles at the premier airport during peak arrival hours. He said being a newcomer, he has yet to review the issue concerning Grab. Monreal asked the media to forget about the past “and look toward the future,” promising that all previous complaints about the Naia would be addressed within a reasonable time.

G-20 countries pledge to boost growth, dampen Brexit shock

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EIJING—Finance officials of major economies pledged on Sunday to boost sluggish global growth but announced no joint initiatives and promised to defend against the shockwaves of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union (EU). In a joint statement after a twoday meeting, envoys of the Group of 20 also rejected trade protectionism, an issue that has risen in prominence as US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has talked about restricting access to American markets. The United States, China, Britain,

Germany and other governments at the meeting in Chengdu in western China pledged to use spending, monetary policy and regulatory reforms to strengthen growth. They promised to strengthen communication and cooperation but announced no joint action, as some financial traders had hoped. “We are taking action to boost confidence and promote growth,” said the statement. It promised to use “any and all policy instruments” to achieve “strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth objectives.” US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew

said ahead of the meeting that it was not the right time for coordinated action similar to that in 2008-2009 following the global crisis because economies face different conditions. The gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors took place against a backdrop of a weak global recovery, tension over Chinese exports of low-priced steel and Britain’s EU vote, which jolted global markets. Sunday’s statement called for a “close partnership” between Britain and its European neighbors in the event British leaders go through with plans to leave the trade bloc.

On Friday the director general of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde called for quick action to end uncertainty about the British-EU split. She said that turmoil prompted the IMF to cut its forecast of this year’s global growth by 0.1 percentage point. The referendum “increased global economic uncertainty,” said Sunday’s statement. “G-20 members are ready to actively respond to the potential economic and financial impact brought by the British referendum,” it said. “In the future, we hope to see Britain as a close partner of the EU.”

The envoys also pledged to avoid devaluing currencies to boost exports. “We will oppose all forms of protectionism,” the statement said. Trump, who was named the Republican Party’s nominee for president on Friday, setting up a race with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, has stirred alarm about trade by calling for measures to protect American industry, though he has given no details. Sunday’s G-20 statement also cited the importance of reducing excess production capacity in steel and other industries that has led to a glut of supply and depressed prices. That

is a source of tension between China and trading partners that accuse Beijing of exporting steel at improperly low prices, hurting competitors and threatening a loss of jobs. Beijing has announced plans to shrink its coal and steel industries, eliminating millions of jobs. The United States has imposed antidumping duties on Chinese steel and European officials have launched trade probes. Lew emphasized US interest in seeing progress on that during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Lou Jiwei, according to Lew’s department. AP

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South China Sea row

No Asean consensus—for now V

IENTIANE, Laos—Southeast Asia’s main grouping failed to reach a consensus on how to deal with China’s territorial expansion in the South China Sea, intensifying a diplomatic stalemate that officials said they hope to resolve in further closeddoor parleys on Sunday. The foreign ministers of the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) deliberated for about three hours, continuing the unfruitful discussions their senior officials had on Saturday, but with no result. “They haven’t completed their discussion,” Thai Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sek Wannamethee said. “ They are now having a working luncheon followed by an Asean retreat, so the issue will be discussed during the retreat.” Like all other Asean meetings, the foreign ministers’ conclave also traditionally ends with a joint statement. But the sticking point is whether to include a reference to the South China Sea. Asean’s cardinal principle is decisions by consensus, which means

any country can veto a proposal. This time, it is Cambodia, China’s close ally. In 2012 Cambodia also blocked a reference to the dispute, which ended with the ministers failing to issue a statement for the first time in the bloc’s history. Sek said the “joint communiqué is still being drafted.” In welcoming remarks earlier, Laotian Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith made no mention of the dispute. “Despite conflicts and challenges that have occurred in different parts of the world in general, peace, stability and development cooperation among nations remain the prevailing trend in this era,” Kommasith said. The Sunday talks are expected to deal with terrorism, economy, climate change, security, the impact

Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith (sixth from left) and Laotian Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith (sixth from right) join their hands with Southeast Asian foreign ministers (from left) an unidentified delegate from Malaysia, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, Vivian Balakrishnan of Singapore, Don Pramudwinai of Thailand, Pham Binh Minh of Vietnam, Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. of the Philippines, Brunei’s Trade Minister Jock Seng Pehin Lim, Sakhonn Prak of Cambodia, Retno Marsudi of Indonesia and Asean Secretary-General Le Luong Minh, as they pose for a group photo during the opening ceremony of the 49th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Sunday. AP/Sakchai Lalit

of Brexit and other issues. But all this has been overshadowed by the July 12 decision by The Hague-based tribunal in a dispute between China and the Philippines. The Permanent Court of Arbitra-

tion found that China had no basis for its expansive claims to territorial waters around the Philippines. China has similar claims against other Asean nations, including Vietnam and Malaysia, and the ruling

should have emboldened Asean to challenge Beijing more forcibly. That’s being prevented by Cambodia, said diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss

the matter with the media. They said the draft statement to be issued by the ministers on Tuesday left blank spaces under the heading “South China Sea” until a consensus can be reached. Lao PDR, which also is a China ally, has trod carefully and not taken sides because of its position as the host. A diplomat who attended closeddoor meetings told The Associated Press: “Cambodia is the villain déjà vu 2012. It’s really a loyalist of the big country C,” the diplomat said, referring to China. Another diplomat said the United States also did not push China during Saturday’s discussions, leaving Asean countries with little firepower. The US was more keen on getting the region’s support on chastising North Korea, and ignored the South China Sea during the discussions, the diplomat said. US and Chinese officials were meeting Asean ministers as part of broader talks. Tran Viet Thai, deputy director of the Institute of Strategic Studies, a Vietnamese government think tank, described the arbitration tribunal’s ruling as very important because, theoretically at least, it should help resolve disputes, uphold the law and clarify the stance of the parties. AP

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BusinessMirror

Monday, July 25, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Venezuela first lady’s nephews confess to drug deal

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The World

ARACAS, Venezuela—Two nephews of Venezuela’s powerful first lady allegedly confessed to trying to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine into the US following their arrest last year in Haiti, according to prosecutors in the politically charged case. The court filings on Friday by prosecutors shed new light on the case that has sounded alarm bells about high-level corruption and drug trafficking by Venezuela’s political elite at a time of increasing economic and political turmoil in the South American nation. Efrain Campo and Francisco Flores were arrested last November in Haiti in a sting operation coordinated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). They were then flown to New York, where they are in jail awaiting trial for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the US. Both have pleaded not guilty. The documents filed on Friday seek to refute a motion by the defendants’ attorneys to suppress their post-arrest statements to DEA agents on their way to New York because they allegedly hadn’t been informed of their rights and were coerced after being taken into custody by armed men in ski masks in what they at first thought was a kidnapping. Prosecutors allege Campo and Flores hatched the drug deal in about two months. They said it was first brought to the attention of the DEA by a wheelchairbound cooperating witness nicknamed “El Sentado,” who met Campo and Flores in Honduras and ended up killed three weeks after their arrest. As part of the DEA investigation, confidential sources were sent to Caracas to meet with the two young men. The court documents include photographs allegedly taken from a secret video of those meetings that prosecutors say show Campo examining a brick of cocaine with plastic gloves as Flores looks on. Campo allegedly said the narcotics came from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. During the meetings, Campo allegedly brags about owning several Ferraris and being at “war” with the US and Venezuela’s opposition. He also describes high-level connections with the government that will make it easy to move drugs through Caracas’s international airport and prevent any cocaine-laden plane from being followed by law enforcement because, he said, “it departs as if...someone from our family was on the plane,” according to a statement by US attorneys for the southern district of New York. In the court filings, Campo first suggested to agents that the cocaine deal was to fund Cilia Flores’s congressional campaign. “I know I said that, but, in reality, it was for me,” a court document quotes Campo as telling a DEA agent. “Campo stated that friends in the drug business had told him to be careful not to get robbed, so he made the statement regarding his mom’s campaign for protection,” the DEA agent wrote in his postarrest report. Cilia Flores, who President Nicolas Maduro calls the “First Combatant,” is one of the most influential members of Venezuela’s socialist government and a constant presence alongside her husband. The single time she commented on her nephews’ case in January she said they had been kidnapped by the DEA, which was kicked out of Venezuela a decade ago, in an attempt to destabilize her husband’s rule. In reality, Campo said he was struggling financially, earning just $800 a week from a fleet of taxis he owned in Panama, according to the documents. He also described being rebuffed by his cousin, Erick Malpica-Flores, then-finance director of state-run oil giant PDVSA, in a plan to charge commissions to businesses trying to collect on debts owed them by the company. Campo, 29, said he wanted to make $20 million from multiple drug shipments, enough to go live in the US with his wife and child. He said his family would “kill him” if they knew what he was up to, according to the documents. Campo’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment. AP

Clinton-Kaine ticket hits Trump’s dark vision of US

5,000 The number of people who attended the Hillary ClintonTim Kaine rally

Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat-Virginia, points to the audience as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at Florida International University Panther Arena in Miami on Saturday. Clinton has chosen Kaine to be her running mate. AP/Mary Altaffer

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resumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton joined hands with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine on Saturday, introducing her running mate to a national audience and promising that the pair offered “a very different vision” from that of the Republican Party. “Tim Kaine is everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not,” Clinton said at Miami’s Florida International University. “He is qualified to step into this job and lead on day one. And he is a progressive who gets things done.” Clinton lauded Kaine’s “backbone of steel” and for his having been “a leader who cares more about making a difference than making headlines.” Their hourlong rally, before a raucous crowd of more than 5,000, presented a study in contrast between the Democratic ticket and the Republican one. Trump, the Republican nominee, first appeared with his running mate Indiana Gov. Pence at a Manhattan hotel ballroom a week ago, where a hand-picked audience of about 250 had a muted response. The pair barely shared time on stage. Clinton and Kaine, who also served as governor of Virginia and mayor of Richmond, spent several minutes walking the stage together and waving, and each sat on a stool, attentive, as the other spoke. Their message, too, was aimed at putting the two tickets’ messages in stark relief. “America is not built on fear,” Kaine said during a speech that included occasional asides in Spanish, which animated the heavily Hispanic crowd. “America was built on courage and imagination.”

Discussing immigration laws and Trump’s comments on Hispanics, Kaine asked naturalized citizens in the room to raise their hands. Hundreds did. “Thanks for choosing us,” he told them. “Bienvenidos a todos a nuestro país, porque somos Americanos todos,” Kaine told the crowd at another point, “welcome all to our country, because we’re all Americans.” Much of the joint appearance was focused on starting to introduce Kaine, 58, to voters. Clinton extolled the Midwestern values she shares with the senator, who was born in Minnesota and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, noting that both had fathers who ran small businesses and taught them about “the dignity of work.” A “lifelong commitment to social justice” was a “shining example of faith in action,” Clinton, a Methodist, said of Kaine, a Roman Catholic, who spoke similarly, saying their “creed is the same: do all the good you can.” Taking the microphone after sharing a peck on the cheek and pat on the back with Clinton, Kaine said he was “feeling a lot of things today, but mostly gratitude.” “For many of you, this is the first time you’ve heard my name,” Kaine said in a speech that was heavy on biography of himself and of his wife Anne Holton, Virginia’s

secretary of education. “I’m excited for us to get to know one another.” Kaine reflected on his life’s arc, including his decision to take a year away from Harvard Law School to work at a technical school in Honduras with Jesuit missionaries. “My time in Honduras changed my life in so many ways,” he said. He also celebrated Clinton while jabbing Trump. “She doesn’t insult people. She listens to them,” he said. “What a novel concept.” Clinton and Kaine shared a stage just over a week ago in northern Virginia, where the former secretary of state tested the chemistry with her potential running mate on his home turf. “Hillary’s ready to be president. Hillary’s ready to make history,” Kaine said then, introducing Clinton in Annandale. After she spoke, the two shared a fist bump. The vice-presidential announcement came on Friday night via text and Twitter messages, and set off waves of praise from many Clinton allies. “It’s a testament to Hillary’s character and integrity that she chose a man like Tim Kaine,” President Barack Obama said on Saturday in a fund-raising e-mail sent to Clinton’s list. “Tim is a good man. He’s a true progressive. And he will make a great vice president.” Kaine learned that Clinton had selected him during an evening phone call that came in as he holed up in a rope-and-tackle-adorned office in Newport, Rhode Island, where he was fund-raising with Sen. Jack Reed, said an aide traveling with Kaine. A small team of Clinton staff, including campaign chairman John Podesta, senior aide Matt Paul, speechwriter Megan Rooney and Podesta aide Sara Latham, traveled there to meet him, brief him and start preparing the speech he gave on Saturday, a Clinton official said. The group had initially planned to return to Kaine’s home in Richmond, Virginia’s state capital, on Friday night, but instead headed directly to Miami. On the way to

the airport, Kaine got a call from Obama, his aide said. On the flight and again on Saturday morning, he worked on his speech with Rooney. He used a teleprompter but also adlibbed as he spoke at the rally. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of the choices Clinton considered for the ticket, said in a statement that Kaine “brings an incredible depth of knowledge and experience to what is already the most qualified presidential ticket in my lifetime.” Facing a disappointed voter on Twitter, another candidate, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker celebrated the pick. “Sincerely, Tim Kaine is one of the most honorable men in politics. I admire and am inspired by him, give them your vote,” he wrote on Saturday. Across the aisle, Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, tweeted on Saturday, “Trying to count the ways I hate @timkaine. Drawing a blank. Congrats to a good man and a good friend.” Flake has clashed with Trump, and in June urged Republicans not to endorse the billionaire following Trump’s criticism of Gonzalo Curiel, a federal judge of Mexican origin, presiding over a fraud case involving Trump University. While many of the candidates on Clinton’s short list have voiced support for Kaine, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been notably quiet thus far. Warren, a favorite among progressives, appeared with Obama on Saturday in the weekly White House radio and Internet address, discussing the progress of the administration’s Wall Street reforms. Aides for Clinton’s chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have declined to comment on the pick and his first post on Twitter after the announcement was about his opposition to fracking, which Kaine supports. Sanders will surely be unable to dodge questions about Clinton’s pick on two scheduled appearances on Sunday political talk shows. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which considers itself the voice of the Warren wing of the Democratic Party, expressed disappointment because of Kaine’s past vote in support of the TransPacific Partnership. (He has since said he opposes the final version of the trade deal, which awaits ratification by Congress.) “The mood of the country is a populist one,” Stephanie Taylor, group’s cofounder, said in a statement. “The center of gravity in the Democratic Party has shifted in a bold, populist, progressive direction—regardless of who is selected by Hillary Clinton as vice president.” AP

‘South Africa’s economy in low-growth trap’

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outh Africa’s economy is in a lowgrowth trap and the central bank is unable to assist its recovery, according to Gov. Lesetja Kganyago. “We are concerned about what has been happening with the growth outlook,” Kganyago said in a interview with Bloomberg TV at the Group-of 20 meetings in Chengdu, China, on Saturday. “The slowdown in the economy has nothing to do with technical factors that have to be dealt with by monetary policy.

The slowdown in growth has to do with structural impediments.” The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left the benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 7 percent on July 21, as it slashed its 2016 growth forecast for Africa’s most-industrialized economy to zero percent. The nation’s economic outlook has deteriorated due to weak export demand, the worst drought in more than a century, low commodity prices, and most recently,

the United Kingdom’s vote to quit the European Union. The MPC raised the key rate by 125 basis points since last July to steer inflation back toward its 3 percent-to-6 percent target band. The rand has strengthened 8 percent against the dollar this year, after losing 26 percent of its value in 2015. Inflation below forecasts gave the central bank room to pause its interest-rate increase cycle, Kganyago said. While price growth could surprise to the down-

side if the rand sustains its recent strength, the central bank stands ready to act on interest rates if necessary, he said. Inflation quickened to 6.3 percent in June and will probably return to the target band in the third quarter of next year, according to central bank forecasts. If a high inflation rate becomes the norm, observers may think the central bank is happy to tolerate price growth outside the target range, Kganyago said. Bloomberg News

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Migrants brave heat to Serbia, Hungary border

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NDJIJA, Serbia—Around a hundred migrants and asylum-seekers braved scorching heat on Saturday to continue a march toward Serbia’s border with Hungary, meant to draw attention to the plight of thousands of people facing closed borders after fleeing war and poverty. Some wore towels on their heads to ward off the sun as they slowly moved, stopping occasionally to rest in the shade along the road leading north toward the European Union (EU). Their feet bruised from walking, dozens have given up and stayed behind. Some 300 young men and boys set off on Friday from Belgrade toward the Hungarian border 200 kilometers away, to protest its decision to keep the border closed for most of the asylum-seekers, which has left a few thousand stranded in Serbia. Hungary has recently strengthened antimigrant controls on its southern border with Serbia, admitting about 30 people a day, mostly families with small children, and pushing back those caught trying to cross illegally. Hundreds of migrants have been staying in makeshift camps along the border with almost no facilities. Some of those marching to Hungary wore T-shirts reading: “Stop the war if you want to stop refugees,” or “Open borders.” Most said they were from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and stand little chance of crossing the Hungarian border into the EU. Some said they will stage a hunger strike once they arrive at the border. “We want to be in the limelight so we could deliver the messages to the global leaders what is happening with the refugees,” said Roohul Amin Afridi, 33, from Afghanistan. Faced with a pileup of refugees, Serbian authorities also have announced stricter joint army and police border controls with Bulgaria and Macedonia, where migrants mostly enter Serbia. AP

briefs

India asks 3 Chinese journalists to leave NEW DELHI—The Indian government has asked three Chinese journalists working for official Xinhua News Agency to leave the country this month, refusing to extend their visas. An Indian official on Sunday declined to disclose reasons for refusal to renew the visas, but said Xinhua could send their replacements. The official said the three journalists had received several visa extensions and one of them has been in India for the past seven years. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters. A Hindu newspaper report on Sunday said the three travelled to southern Indian city of Bangalore recently and met exiled Tibetan activists, which became an issue with the Indian government. AP

Swedish ex-PM Falldin dead at 90

STOCKHOLM—Thorbjorn Falldin, a pipesmoking sheep farmer who became prime minister in Sweden’s first nonsocialist government after World War II, has died at the age of 90. Falldin, who had led the Center Party, died on Saturday evening at his farm in eastern Sweden, Center Party leader Annie Loof said. As head of the agrarian party, he led a center-right coalition to power in 1976, ending 40 years of Social Democratic rule. Two years later the government collapsed amid disputes over nuclear power, which Falldin’s party strongly opposed at the time. Falldin was born on April 24, 1926, into a family of farmers in northern Sweden. He is survived by his wife Solveig and three children. AP

Tigers maul woman to death in Chinese wildlife park

BEIJING—Siberian tigers at a wildlife park in Beijing mauled a woman to death and wounded another when they stepped out of their car in an enclosure, a Chinese state-run newspaper said. A tiger pounced on one of the women after she got out of a private car in which she was touring the Beijing Badaling Wildlife World on Saturday, the Legal Evening News reported. The second woman was killed by another tiger that leapt at her after she stepped out of the vehicle to try to help her companion, the report said. AP

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Monday, July 25, 2016

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Drugs, vanishing jobs strain rural America in RNC’s area

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annah Harmon’s children are playing outside the clinic in southeast Ohio, where she gets family counseling twice a month. Staff keep an eye on them as the parking lot fills up with patients seeking dental fillings, pain pills and sympathy.

Harmon has five children now: This month she took legal custody of three more kids, siblings from a relative’s family wrecked by drugs. The government agency helping fund the clinic Harmon visits? The US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Created in the mid-19th century to ensure the future of farming, it’s becoming Uncle Sam’s lead tool to fight a social emergency— soaring drug use, rising suicide rates and deepening poverty—spreading across the heartland. “We’re charged with the responsibility of filling the gap to make sure rural America hasn’t been forgotten,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says. That’s a daunting task at a time of many-headed crisis for largely white, rural communities, like Pomeroy, a town of about 1,800 people about 200 miles south of Cleveland, where the Republican convention gathered this week. The opioid epidemic has accompanied an ebbing-away of jobs and,

among some demographics, an unprecedented drop in life expectancy. Any Norman Rockwell idyll of whitepicket fences and unlocked front doors has long since been upended by globalization. What’s more, the tapping of the Department of Agriculture for the job underscores a broader point: The government, like the wider culture, is much more attuned to the problems of urban areas where most Americans live. That’s why Donald Trump’s message—repeated at the Republican National Convention up the road in Cleveland, where he accepted the nomination last night— of fighting for the small-town folks has resonated so much in rural parts of swing states, like Ohio. “Most people in cities are now several generations away from life on the farm, and some even think of rural areas as our dumping ground,” said Daniel Lichter, a sociologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. “It’s where we send our prisoners, our garbage and our toxic waste.”

When the Pomeroy facility first opened, according to Hopewell Chief Executive Mark Bridenbaugh, clinicians spent much of their time extracting teeth from people who’d never seen a dentist. Since then it has grown, expanding mental-health services for addicts—and for their relatives, people like Harmon, whose lives have been turned upside down. “It was us or foster care, and we have to give it the best shot we’ve got,” the 26-year-old said. “I’m exhausted from the time I get up to the time I go to bed. There have been times when I didn’t want to live. But I have to, for these kids.” On the Friday she visited the clinic, staff were turning away patient after patient asking for pain pills. Judy Sisson, a retired court clerk and treasurer of the local Republican Party, remembers when the drugs arrived. It was when the jobs left. Meigs County’s economy is traditionally farm-based. Sweetcorn and tomato harvests were under way this month, piling up on roadside stands. It also experienced a mining boom, before shutdowns in the 1990s took away 2,000 jobs, almost one-tenth of the population.

‘Parents stealing’

The rise of fracking cushioned the blow. Harmon’s husband got a job as manager of wastewater at a fracked well. Still, one-fifth of Meigs residents—and a third of under-18s— live in poverty, both figures slightly above the national rate. “When those mines went down, it was a blow to all of us,” Sisson said. “The kids grow up, they don’t have a future here, and they need instant gratification. And now you see par-

work on the building blocks: health care, education, infrastructure.”

‘He’s scary’

Vice-presidential running mate Gov. Mike Pence (right) listens as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a good-bye reception with friends and family following the Republican National Convention on Friday in Cleveland, Ohio. AP/Evan Vucci

ents stealing their kids’ Ritalin.” Such social problems have changed the government’s conception of rural development, says Vilsack, who’s under consideration by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as a possible running mate. Five years ago, “we might have made a grant for a fire station,” he said in an interview. “Now it might be a substance-abuse center.” On Friday, speaking about the opioid crisis in Missouri, Vilsack urged local health managers to make use of USDA nutritional programs for women and children as part of their efforts “to stem the tide of this epidemic.” He also called on Congress to boost funding for addiction treatment.

‘Building blocks’

It’s telling that the USDA, created primarily to help farmers, is taking the lead, according to Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural

Strategies in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Past efforts were much broader: President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, which targeted Appalachia, and President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal both had prominent rural components. “When your government is based on the assumption that the country is going to be 90-percent urban, you’re going to concentrate resources on urban areas,” Davis said. “The USDA becomes the ‘rural’ agency that’s left with this wide mandate, even if it’s not always the best fit.” With federal help, Meigs County is gradually reinventing itself, according to Perry Varnadoe, its director of economic development. A community college has expanded into Pomeroy, and new stores have opened there since the mining crash: The main street along the river is nearly full of businesses. “That big new plant isn’t just going to show up,” Varnadoe said. “You

Rural America’s political clout is declining with its population, as district lines are shifted. But this year, heartlanders may be slightly over-represented—and more likely to vote for Trump than their city counterparts. For the Republican to have a chance in crucial states, like Ohio, Pennsylvania or Iowa, he’ll have to dominate among rural voters, Davis said. In the March primary, even though Ohio Gov. John Kasich scored his sole victory in his home state, Trump won Meigs County, 47 percent to 33 percent. Sisson, the retired clerk, says area voters are ready to throw out what they see as self-serving politicians. “I like Trump because he’s never held political office,” she said. “He’s scary, but he’s making people say ‘Oh my, we can’t do business as usual’.” For Harmon, business as usual has gotten harder with more mouths to feed. Some weeks she spends $500 on groceries; some days the laundry piles high. She’s discovered that hand sanitizer gets magic-marker scribbles off the wall. Other problems are tougher to erase. The kids she took in—twin 6-year-old girls and a 9-year-old boy—have behavioral problems, scarred by their parents’ drug use. “Before they moved in, we never had holes in the wall of our house,” Harmon said. “Now we have three. I look at them and I just cry, because we worked hard for that home. But it’s not their fault. There was no one there to teach them.” Bloomberg News

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Monday, July 25, 2016

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Coup attempt in Turkey raises a nuclear concern

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Afghans help a man who was injured in a deadly explosion that struck a protest march by ethnic Hazaras, at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. AP/Rahmat Gul

Deadliest attack in 15 years

IS Kabul attack kills 80 people

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ABUL, Afghanistan—The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a peaceful protest in the Afghan capital on Saturday that killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 200, marking the first time the extremists have struck Kabul and raising fears of their growing strength and capability in Afghanistan.

The attack was the deadliest to hit K abul in 15 years of civil war. It struck a demonstration by Afghanistan’s Hazara ethnic community, who were marching for a major regional power line to be routed through their home province. The Hazaras are Shiite Muslims; most Afghans are Sunnis. Footage on Afghan television and photographs posted on social media showed a scene of horror and carnage, with numerous bodies and body parts spread across the square. Bloodied survivors were seen being dragged clear for help, others walked around dazed or screaming. Two suicide bombers had attempted to target the demonstrators, but one of them was shot by the police before he could detonate his explosives, according to Haroon Chakhansuri, a spokesman for A fghan President Ashraf Ghani. He said three city district police chiefs were injured and another three security personnel were killed. Witnesses said immediately after the blast, security forces shot in the air to disperse the crowd. Secondary attacks have been known to target people who come to the aid of those wounded in a first explosion. Roadbloc k s t hat had been setup overnight to prevent the marchers accessing the city center or the presidential palace hampered efforts to transfer some of the wounded to the hospital, witnesses said. Angry demonstrators sealed some of the area around the square, and prevented the police

200 The estimated number of people wounded

and other security forces from entering. Some threw stones at security forces. Outside hospitals, huge queues formed as the public offered to donate blood. The Afghan Interior Ministry said 81 people had been killed and 231 wounded in the bombing. The ministry’s deputy spokesman, Najib Danish, said the blast was the biggest in Afghanistan since 2001, when the Taliban launched their brutal insurgency after they were toppled by the 2001 US invasion. A ccord i ng to P reside nt i a l Spokesman Chakhansuri, the organizers of the march had been warned of the possibility of an attack. “We had intelligence over recent days and it was shared with the demonstration organizers, we shared our concerns, because we knew that terrorists wanted to bring sectarianism to our community,” he said. Senior Hazara leaders were notably absent despite having attended a similar protest in May. The organizers could not be immediately contacted for comment on Chakhansuri’s allegations. IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its

news agency, Aamaq. IS has had a presence on Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan, mainly in Nangarhar province, for the past year, but this is the first time the extremist group has struck the Afghan capital. The bombing raises concerns over IS’s growing capabilities in Afghanistan. Officials believe the fighters are made up of disaffected Taliban insurgents and members of Pakistani militant groups, and that they receive some funding and arms from IS in Syria and Iraq. In Nangarhar they have fought Taliban fighters, as well as Afghan security forces, sometimes seizing control of whole districts in the east of the province. A surge in the number of attacks worldwide linked to the IS group has been seen as an attempt to distract from a string of battlefield losses suffered by the extremists in Syria and Iraq, where the borders of their self-styled caliphate are shrinking. During the holy month of R amadan—which ended at the start of July—a series of attacks, most linked to the IS group, killed nearly 350 people in eight countries. Ghani has announced an upcoming military offensive in Nangarhar, expected to start within days, aimed at eliminating IS from the country. The Taliban issued a statement denying involvement in Saturday’s attack, describing it as an attempt by IS to “ ignite civil war.” The statement may, i n pa r t, ref lect t he a n i mosity between the two militant groups; Hazara were especially persecuted during the Taliban’s extremist Sunni rule between 1996 and 2001. Ghani declared Sunday a day of national mourning. He ordered a commission be set up to investigate the incident and described the attack as a clear effort to divide Shiites and Sunnis. The Interior Ministry issued a ban on “any kind of public gathering and demonstration” for the next 10 days. The move could be aimed at controlling any outbreaks of sectarian animosity. The second-most deadly attack to hit Kabul since 2001 also targeted Shiites and was seen as an attempt to stoke sectarian

violence. In 2011 a suicide bomber attacked worshippers marking Ashura, when Shiites commemorate the death of the prophet Mohammed’s grandson, killing 70 people. That attack was linked to a Pakistani militant group. The commander of US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan, US Army Gen. John Nicholson, denounced the attack. He said in a statement, “We strongly condemn the actions of Afghanistan’s enemies of peace and remain firmly committed to supporting our Afghan partners and the National Unity Government.” The US embassy in Kabul also issued a condemnation. In Washington White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said the “heinous attack was made all the more despicable by the fact that it targeted a peaceful demonstration.” He said the US and the international community stand firmly with the Afghan people and their government “to confront the forces that threaten Afghanistan’s security, stability and prosperity.” The head of the United Nations assistance mission in Afgha nist a n, Tad a m ic h i Ya mamoto, called the attack a “war crime” because it had specifically targeted a large number of civilians. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called it a “despicable crime” that “targeted citizens peacefully exercising their fundamental human rights.” Violence had been widely feared at the Hazaras’s demonstration, the second to take place over the electric power line. The so-called Tutap power line is backed by the Asian Development Bank with involvement of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The original plan routed the line through the Hazara heartland of Bamiyan province, but was changed in 2013 by the previous Afghan government. Leaders of the marches have said the rerouting was evidence of bias against the Hazara community, which accounts for up to 15 percent of Afghanistan’s estimated 30 million-strong population. They are considered the poorest of the country’s ethnic groups, and say they suffer pervasive discrimination. AP

little more than 100 miles from the territory held by Islamic State (IS), there is a little piece of Americana. It has an eight-lane swimming pool, a baseball diamond and housing tracts built on carefully manicured cul-de-sacs. The Incirlik Air Force Base in Turkey has some other American assets: several dozen B61 thermonuclear warheads. The base has been a linchpin in North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (Nato) southern flank for more than half a century, the staging ground for US antiterrorism missions and the fight against IS. But the failed military coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has increased long-standing concerns about the military usefulness and security of the Incirlik armory, America’s largest foreign stockpile of nuclear weapons. Security remains at the highest level. Electrical power was restored on Friday after a weeklong blackout that strained living conditions at the base. The 3,000 US service personnel stationed there have been ordered to remain inside the gates. Hundreds of dependents were sent home months ago because of fears of a terrorist attack. The base was an operational center of the attempted coup. Its commander and his subordinates were arrested on suspicion of trying to overthrow the Turkish government, leaving junior officers in control. The developments have shocked US military experts who say they demonstrate a worrying level of instability in Turkey’s military command close to the B61s. Defense officials have never acknowledged the existence of these weapons on the base and refused at news briefings after the coup attempt to answer questions about them. Lt. Col. Christopher K arns, an A ir Force spokesman for US Central Command in Qatar, said the electricity cutoff had forced water rationing and a slight reduction in bombing missions against IS, but operations were returning to normal. The weapons are in underground vaults in a mile-long security

zone at the base, protected by an Air Force guard unit with attack dogs. The nearly 12-foot-long weapons have devices that are supposed to prevent unauthorized detonation, but experts are divided on the effectiveness of those controls. Unlike the strategic weapons that the US deploys in missile silos, submarines and intercontinental bombers, the B61s at Incirlik are tactical weapons that can be deployed at low altitude in the battlefield. Any decision either about keeping or withdrawing the weapons in Turkey is fraught with political and military risks. “Turkey was much more stable two years ago and ISIS [Islamic States in Iraq and Syria] did not stand where it is today,” said Philip Coyle, a former national security adviser for the Obama administration and a top Defen se De pa r t ment e xec ut ive during the Clinton administration. “It’s all the more reason to pull the weapons out of Turkey.” Wesley Clark, a retired four-star general and Nato’s supreme allied commander in the late 1990s, said he would not rule out a closer examination of Nato’s placement and policies on nuclear weapons, noting that he has “deep concerns” about Turkey’s situation. But he said a wholesale withdrawal of the weapons is not necessary. “They are very secure,” Clark said. They could be extracted quickly if the situation deteriorated and the electronic locks on the bombs would render them useless, he said. “If you captured them, it would be like having a block of concrete.” The B61s are broadly considered more a political symbol of US commitment to the Nato alliance than a military asset. The US does not have aircraft at Incirlik qualified to deliver the weapons. The B61s are the last US tactical nuclear weapons based in Europe, originally placed there as a deterrent to a ground invasion by the Soviet Union. The bombs, an early 1960s design and the nation’s oldest model, have variable explosive power, randing from the equivalent of 300 tons of TNT to 170,000 tons. Los Angeles Times/TNS

Munich shooting fits familiar pattern, but not for Germany

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U N I C H —Th e s c e n a r i o h a d a nightmarish familiarity: the pop of gunfire, people casting fearful glances back as they fled, a massive police dragnet, heartbreaking appeals on social media for word on the fate of missing loved ones. But on a continent where the narrative of the past 18 months has veered sharply toward jihadist-linked assaults, this attack in Munich—a city whose reputation rests largely on beer-loving revelry—played out in more classically American fashion: a gun rampage by a troubled teen that left nine people dead and 27 hurt. Within hours of the attack early on Friday evening in Germany’s third-largest city, law enforcement officials were painting a portrait of an 18-year-old gunman who had drawn inspiration from other mass shooters, a depressed youth with no apparent ideological motive, a socially isolated student who’d been bullied in the past by peers. Seven of the dead were teens like him, hospital officials said. Mass shootings of this kind are rare in Germany, which has strict gun laws. A key line of investigation was how the shooter—who did not have a gun license—had obtained a Glock 9mm pistol and 300 rounds of ammunition, which were recovered along with his body after he apparently shot himself in the head about half a mile from the scene of the attack. Germans have a difficult time comprehending the ease of gun ownership in the United States, said Daniela Schwarzer, analyst and director of the Berlin office

of the German Marshall Fund. “This attack looks more like the kind of attack you see in the US,” she said. Munich, a city of 1.4 million people, came to a virtual standstill for hours following the shootings at a McDonald’s restaurant and the Olympia shopping mall, with a large and efficient public transport network shut down and people ordered to stay indoors in case there were more attackers. The gunman—a Munich native of Iranian descent, identified by authorities as David S. and whose family name was Sonboly, according to German news reports—apparently acted alone, the police said. The Munich police chief, Huber tus Andrae, told reporters that investigators who searched the attacker’s home overnight found literature about mass shootings, including an academic study of students who kill, and no sign of any connection to Islamist extremism. Andrae described the teenager as “obsessed with shooting rampages” and suggested he had drawn inspiration from the massacre five years ago in Norway of 77 people by a far-right extremist, Anders Behring Breivik. Investigators were focusing on the gunman’s activities in the hours before the attack, including whether he had deliberately lured victims to the McDonald’s in question by hacking into a woman’s Facebook account and posting a message offering a free meal as an inducement. Neighbors of the gunman—who lived in an upscale apartment complex near a Maserati dealership—described him as quiet and withdrawn. Los Angeles Times/TNS

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BusinessMirror

Monday, July 25, 2016

A9

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

A10 Monday, July 25, 2016

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Farm tourism in Cavite at its best By Leony R. Garcia | Photos by Mel Cortez

W

ho says farming is never fun? Over 500 farmers and farm enthusiasts, farm owners and workers, local government executives, municipal tourism and agricultural officers, barangay officials, entrepreneurs, community stakeholders, start-up business owners and farmer wannabes from all over the country, plus local and international experts, gathered for three days in Tagaytay to learn from each other and discuss about farm tourism.

A countryside scene from the Motag Living Museum in Malay, Aklan.

Sen. Cynthia A. Villar at the Farm Tourism Conference

Organized by the International School of Sustainable Tourism (ISST) and supported by the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), the departments of Agriculture (DA), Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Trade and Industry (DTI), the provincial government of Cavite, the municipal government of Tagaytay and the private sector, the three-day confab put the spotlight on the unique fusion of farming and tourism. This emerging tourism sector takes center stage during the fourth Farm Tourism Conference set at the Summit Ridge Hotel in Tagaytay, from July 14 to 16. The BusinessMirror was invited as media partner, as well as to witness the momentous event and take part in the farm tour of the city. And to say that we rubbed elbows with some millionaires and entrepreneur farmers and farm owners in the country is an understatement. ISST President Dr. Mina Gabor and her team were ably supported by local and foreign stakeholders, who also served either as resource persons or speakers for the highly successful conference. Among them were Cathy Turvill of Nurture Wellness Village and Robert Yupangco of the Zoomanity Group, two entrepreneurs, who blazed the trail and helped mainstream farm tourism in the country, Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, a panel of experts on honeybee propagation, officers from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), plus local and international experts in the field of agriculture and farming. Gabor noted that this year’s conference is special because it coincides

Facilities, such as the nursery, at the Gourmet Farms teach visitors the basics of farming.

Nurture Farmacy tour guide talks about medicinal properties of plants.

ISST President Mina T. Gabor

Farm animals are kept in neat enclosures at Paradizoo.

Indeed, farms have metamorphosed from being simple plantations to unique travel destinations showcasing the country’s fertile soil where everything can grow. And among the highly successful farms in the region include “Costales Farms in Majayjay, Laguna, the first DOT accredited farm-tourism establishment and the first certified producer of organic pork and processed meat Certified by Negros Island certification; Kahariam Farms in Lipa City, the biggest supplier of vermicast in the country; Moca Family Farms who specializes in small farm management learning and rabbit meat; Forest Wood Farms in San Pablo City offering an extraordinary farm to table dining like no other; Flors Garden in Antipolo City, an integrated farm of organic vegetables and horticulture; Gourmet Farms in Tagaytay City whose farm not only specializes in organic vegetables, but on different varieties of coffee, like arabica, robusta and kapeng barako; Terra Verde Farms in Maragondon, Cavite, an integrated farm and our first RC Resort in the Philippines; Nurture Wellness Village and Amadeo Nurture Farm also in Tagaytay, combining health and wellness spa with organic farming; and Ato Belen, besting itself on orchard farming with a little bit of everything.” Day Two of the much-anticipated event was devoted to an in-depth discussion on the newly signed Republic Act 10816, known as the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016, by no less than its author, Villar. Signed by the former President

Benigno S. Aquino III on May 19, the law recognizes that “tourism, coupled with agriculture extension services, can disseminate the value of agriculture in the economic and cultural development of the country.” Currently, the country has around 100 to 150 farm sites with about 50 of them accredited by the DOT. Accreditation by the DOT officially recognizes a farm-tourism camp as having complied with the minimum standards for farm tourism. Farms are also assessed by the DA to ensure that the farm engages in organic cultivation to promote health and wellness with high-quality farm-produced food. Farmers with accreditation are eligible for loans to support research, investment promotion, training for staff and management, and marketing and promotion, among others. Third day of the confab was the visit to model farms in Cavite, namely, Nurture Wellness Village, The Flower Farm, Paradizoo Residence Inn and Gourmet Farms, to offer participants a firsthand experience on innovative activities and products they offer. Indeed, the integration of tourism and farming allows more efficient resource utilization, which can provide jobs, increase income, business opportunities and reduce urban migration. With many among the Filipinos, including the millennials, in the recently concluded conference, we can say that farm tourism is fun! See you again on the fifth farmtourism edition in Davao next year.

Asian Apiculture Associate President Siriwat Wongsiri

with the celebration of the FAO International Year of Pulses (or dried beans) that would help heighten public awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food production aimed toward food security and nutrition. “Farm tourism attracts visitors and travelers to farm areas, generally for educational and recreational purposes that encourage economic activity to provide farm and community income. It is one of the country’s sunshine industries, which can be developed because of the agricultural nature of the economy,” she noted. The local government of Cavite, led by Gov. Jesus Crispin Remulla, as well as DOT Region 4A Director Rebecca Villanueva Labit, were thankful for having their province chosen as venue of the fourth edition of farm tourism. “We thank Dr. Mina Gabor for choosing Region 4A as a venue for this conference for the second time, as we take pride with the initiatives of our private sector and local government units in farm tourism. As far as the Department of Tourism is concerned, the region [Region 4A] has the most number of DOT accredited farm-tourism sites in the country,” Labit said.

Bee farming at Paradizoo in Mendez, Cavite

At Paradizoo, the vegetable farm is one of its attractions.

Paradizoo is a must-visit for both nature and animal lovers.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

TPB lends a helping hand

Monday, July 25, 2016 A11

How a lady wooed Koreans to the Philippine Islands

TPB employees at the Pope Francis Complex Center for the Poor

MARICON BASCO EBRON, Tourism Promotions Board OIC and deputy chief operations officer, Marketing and Promotions of International Market, former Tourism director and attaché of the Department of Tourism Korea, is the first and only Filipino to receive the Honorary Citizenship award hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government for her exceptional merit.

Feeding activity with the orphans and underprivileged children of Tacloban

TPB takes part in mangrove planting to help rehabilitate Leyte’s coastline.

A show of respect and appreciation for history at the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park

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he Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) recently visited Leyte, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program to help the province recover from the aftermath of the disastrous Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) that hit the country in 2013. Leyte was one of the hard-hit areas in the Visayas. It was engulfed by a deadly storm surge and hundreds of families were badly affected, especially those living along the coastlines. Even after three years, the province is still recovering from the disaster, as thousands lost everything—their shelter, livelihood and families. TPB started their outreach program by bringing cheer to the orphaned and underprivileged children from the Social City Welfare, as well as the elderly from the Pope Francis Complex Center for the Poor. TPB employees donated school supplies, toys, books, canned goods, toiletries and clothes to the children and elderly. To help in protecting the coasts of Leyte from another fortuitous event, TPB employees also planted mangroves along the shores. To cap off their charitable mission, the employees visited some of Leyte’s tourist attractions, such as the Santo Niño

Church, Palo Church, Santo Niño Shrine and Museum, San Juanico Bridge, MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park and the Leyte Provincial Capitol. They also visited MV Eva Jocelyn, one of 17 cargo ships that was washed ashore by the storm surge during Yolanda from the waters of the Port of Tacloban City to a side of a hill in Barangay 37, which was turned into a monument and a minipark; and the Tzu Chi Great Love Village in Palo, a Taiwanese Buddhist foundation that provides livelihood and shelter for the victims of the typhoon. “Apart from promoting the country’s wonderful tourist spots, we, at TPB, are also committed to help communities and preserve the environment. We hope that in our humble efforts, we not only protect our natural wonders, but more important, uplift the spirits of our fellow Filipinos,” TPB COO Domingo Ramon III said. TPB’s visit to Leyte is the second leg of its CSR program this year, which started in Occidental Mindoro and will conclude in Palawan. They also had similar activities in Boracay, Bohol and Camiguin last year. By setting an example, TPB’s charitable works hope to inspire not just its employees, but also other agencies and the general public to help the country in restoring its beauty and making the Philippines more fun.

F

By Marane A. Plaza Part One

or four consecutive years now, Koreans remain the Philippines’s top tourism market, with its 1,031,155 travelers in 2012—the first time ever that a single tourism market registered more than a million tourists in a single year. The record is still unbeatable to this day, as Korea remains the only single tourism market in the country that continues to attract more than a million inbound travelers annually. “There are three additional airlines currently applying to be able to fly in and out of the Philippines and Korea, aside from our existing eight airlines that offer flights on the same route. The existing ones are AirAsia, Asiana Airlines, Cebu Pacific Airlines, Jeju Airlines, Jin Airlines, Korean Airlines, Philippine Airlines and Air Busan, while the applicant airlines are T Way Airlines from Korea, and PAL Express and Jetstar from the Philippines,” said Maricon Basco Ebron, the former Tourism director and attaché of the Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT) Korea. The aspiration of these huge airlines to offer flights in both countries is a solid proof that the high demand for aerial transports from Korea to the Philippines is indisputable. That means the PDOT for Korea is doing more than an excellent job in promoting the country’s tourism to these South Korean travelers—an achievement that made possible because of the leadership of Ebron. Ebron has been running this tight ship since 2007, when the Department of Tourism (DOT), led by then-Secretary Ace Durano, decided to market the Philippines to our neighboring nation South Korea and open our doors to its traveling citizens. “At first, it was challenging, as the Philippines, at the time, did not have a very good reputation among the South Korean holiday-makers. So we had to gain their attention and trust in strategized ways,” Ebron said. And she did just that and more.

Humble beginnings

To maintain and further increase the presence of the Philippines in Korea, the first ever Philippine showroom was opened in July 2012.

A graduate of Mass Communication Major in Speech Drama at the Far Eastern University in 1977, Ebron discovered her early inclination toward travel and tourism, when she followed passion for foreign lan-

guages. “I was really fond of learning foreign languages. I enrolled myself in the Japan Information Center for free Japanese language lessons when I was a college student and even attended foreign-language classes at the Foreign Services Institute in Department of Foreign Affairs [DFA]. At the time, I did not know that such passion for foreign languages was actually the start of my career path in tourism, as I have always wanted to be a writer.” After college, Ebron worked on a temporary basis at the DFA Protocol Office for a year, with a monthly salary of P460. “The meager salary I was getting at the time did not stop me from cherishing what I had because that job opened a lot of doors for me. We were then posted at Philippine International Convention Center where we handled huge foreign trade events and allowed me to meet people from the Philippine Convention Bureau [PCB]. At the time, all these government agencies were relatively new, so it was an exciting time. I didn’t think of my career path, yet, when I accepted the job from PCB and I was more attracted to the financial and traveling opportunities. I started as a contractual employee, but I was earning a whooping P3,500, which was a big deal at that time, because it was several times higher than my previous monthly salary,” Ebron shared. At PCB, Ebron started as a trainee for supposedly six months contract, but just after first three months of hard work and determination, she was entrusted with an item as convention services officer, and from there, she steadily rose from the ranks. “I started handling huge foreign conferences and huge trade events, which served as our exposure, as PCB was tasked to market the Philippines as a convention destination at the time. We did promotions out-

The Philippine showroom served as a venue to promote travel to the Philippines, where briefing with Korean media is being conducted regularly.

Maricon Ebron with Honorable Mayor Won Soon Park of Seoul City during the Seoul Metropolitan Government awards ceremony for the Honorary Citizenship to non-Koreans who have demonstrated their outstanding contribution and dedication to the city of Seoul.

side of the country to invite foreign organizers to hold their conferences in the country, and even the nittygritty of event management, as well. I became department manager in 1989 and held that position until 2007 when I transferred to the DOT,” Ebron said. In the late 1980s PCB was transformed into the Philippine Convention & Visitors Corp. (PCVC), a nonstock, nonprofit government corporation attached to the PDOT, tasked with promoting the Philippines as an ideal tourism, convention and incentive travel destination. “During the foundation of PCVC, our scope of work as a government agency became larger as we were not just handling conventions, but were also tasked to take care of visiting corporations and helping them with their business. We would handle travel trade promotions and trade shows all over the world, setting up themed booths, inviting private sectors to invest and practically selling in the Philippines. I was handling travel, trade and consumer promotions all over the world, which was challenging because the market was really big. My counterparts were assigned to handle sales missions and domestic market for all over the world, as well. Later on, we divided the focus on various markets, and I was assigned to handle the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Oceania regions.” During this period, all the sales missions, trade shows and consumer shows were held by territory. “That, in itself, was huge. That time the Philippines was not that known yet, so we were introducing the Philippines abroad. My strategies were under the ‘Where Asia Wears a Smile,’ ‘Bring Home A Friend,’ ‘Rediscovery,’ ‘Wow Philippines’ and ‘Fiesta Islands’ cam-

paigns, all of which were created by the department secretaries at the time. It was really about following directives of these different leaders, and then I incorporated my own strategies,” Ebron added.

Turning point

“All of the tourism secretaries focused on different strengths of the each campaign. [Then-Secretary Richard J.] Gordon was huge in grand promotions, while Mina [T. Gabor] was all about the status of tourism and elevating the marketability of the country on a higher plane. Out of all the tourism secretaries I worked with throughout the years, I really appreciated the marketing tactics of then-secretary Ace Durano,” Ebron shared. Then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hired global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to conduct a study on international tourism market trends. The results revealed that the Philippines had great tourism potential in the Bread Basket market that included the countries, such as Japan, China and Korea. Durano then focused the department resources in capturing the said markets. Durano assigned Ebron to handle the South Korean market and opened its first tourism office in Seoul immediately after. It was here that Ebron took the challenge head on and made strides in opening up the Korean tourism market. ”It was truly like rearing a child from infancy. Right from the start, I saw the problems, so I thought of ways on how to address the issues and came up with strategies. What I did first was to study closely the key players in the industry, our competition and our targets. Of course, it also entailed learning the Korean culture and what would attract them to considering traveling to the Philippines,” Ebron revealed.

Green Monday BusinessMirror

BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, July 25, 2016

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

‘PHL voice at UN key to global climate pact’

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

he Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC) on Thursday urged the Philippines to continue to engage in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiating process in order to influence the level of ambition, targets and rules of climate action that benefit vulnerable countries.

The iCSC said the Philippines’s voice at the United Nations is very important it being the current leader of Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 50 countries that suffer most from the impacts of climate change. The Philippines took over the presidency of Climate Vulnerable Forum on January 2015. Francis de la Cruz, associate for Energy Policy at the iCSC, issued a statement following President Duterte’s pronouncement that he will not honor the country’s commitment under the Paris climate deal in December 2015. “It is important to clarify that, when the Philippines signed up to the Paris Agreement, it was primarily driven by the interests of vulnerable countries to create

$328.9B

The highest-ever figure of clean-energy investment, which surged in 2015, up 4 percent from 2014

a resilient future for our people. In order for countries like the Philippines to survive the devastating impacts of climate change, and stay below dangerous levels of climate change [stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius], global emissions need to be reduced,” he said. According to de la Cruz, the carbon-reduction commitments

remain differentiated respecting national conditions, and taking into account the development needs of developing countries. The Philippine targets contained in the country’s national plan or are mostly “conditional” and contingent on financial support from the international community, he added. iCSC said President Duterte’s sentiments and decision “to instead put the spotlight on the hypocrisy of industrialized nations, which should carry much of the climate burden,” is understandable. However, the group said the Philippines should keep demanding that industrialized nations ag gressively cut their greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions and provide financial and technical support with a sense of urgency so developing countries could adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilient economies using climate-friendly and resilient energy infrastructure. “As we’ve seen over the years, it is developing and poor countries that suffer most from the devastating impacts of climate change—impacts on both our people’s lives and our economies,” the group added. According to iCSC, clean energy should not just be a preserve of rich countries. Sadly, however, iCSC believes the Philippines has lagged behind many Asian countries in profiting from the renewable-energy investment boom. “The Duterte administration

can provide much-needed leadership in thinking differently about the way we produce and consume energy. It is possible to meet poverty reduction and development objectives through cleaner, safer and more sustainable technologies and initiatives,” de la Cruz said. He added that such investments create jobs, improve local environmental quality, and help curb GHG emissions. Clean-energy investment surged in 2015 driving the world total to its highest ever figure of $328.9 billion, up 4 percent from 2014’s $315.9-billion total investments, the group said, citing a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report. The Philippines is currently ranked 22nd in the May 2016 edition of Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index by Ernst and Young, beating South Korea and a host European countries in the ranking based on a number of macro, energy market and technologyspecific indicators, iCSC noted. “It is time for the Philippines to leapfrog to a low-carbon future starting with a comprehensive review of our energy policies to signal to investors that we are ready for climate-friendly investments. It is high time for the country to welcome capital resources knocking on our doors,” de la Cruz said. The group is looking forward to engaging the Duterte administration as it formulates strategies

that will serve thwe interests of Filipinos impacted by the adverse impacts of climate change. “The new administration should use its immense political support to carry through reforms that bring lasting change using the right climate and energy investments,” iCSC said.

Ratification of climate agreement

At the UN, France’s environment minister, who was in charge of global climate negotiations, said on Wednesday she and SecretaryGeneral Ban K i-moon will be pressing governments to speedily ratify the historic agreement on climate change reached last December. Segolene Royal told reporters after meeting the UN chief that they want the agreement ratified by the time the parties to global climate talks that led to the Paris Agreement hold their next meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, from November 7 to 18. She said she will write again to all world leaders to get their timetables for ratification and will return to Africa to talk to heads of state and government to push for speedy action. The agreement will enter into force once 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions have formally joined it. To spur action, Ban said on Tuesday he is inviting countries to deposit their ratifications on September 21, during the annual ministerial meeting of the General Assembly.

He told a high-level meeting promoting the new UN goals to tackle poverty and inequality, and preserve the environment that 178 countries have signed the agreement and 19 have deposited their ratifications. But he said the 19 countries account for less than 1 percent of GHG emissions. The secretary-general encouraged at least 40 countries who committed to ratify the agreement by the end of the year—including major emitters like the United States, China, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico and Argentina—to do it sooner to accelerate its entry into force and progress on addressing climate change. “We cannot wait any longer,” Royal said. “It’s time for actions. This year will be the hottest in history. Last year was the hottest in history and next year...would be the hottest.” Under the agreement, countries set their own targets for reducing emissions of carbon diox ide and other GHG. T he targets are not legally binding, but countries must update them every five years. Already, states face pressure to do more. Scientific analyses show the initial set of targets that countries pledged before Paris don’t match the ag reement ’s long-term goal to keep global warming below 2°C (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), compared with preindustrial times. Global average temperatures have already climbed by almost 1°C. With AP

California’s huge trees cloned to fight climate change Viability of natural attractions tied to sustainability practices C AMP NELSON, California—At the foot of a giant sequoia in California’s Sierra Nevada, two arborists stepped into harnesses then inched up ropes more than 20 stories into the dizzying canopy of a tree that survived thousands of years, enduring drought, wildfire and disease. There, the arborists clipped off tips of young branches to be hand-delivered across the country, cloned in a lab and, eventually, planted in a forest in some other part of the world. The two are among a cadre of modern-day Johnny Appleseeds, who believe California’s giant sequoias and coastal redwoods are blessed with some of the heartiest genetics of any trees on Earth—and that propagating them will help reverse climate change, at least in a small way. “It’s a biological miracle,” said tree climber Jim Clark, firmly back on the ground and holding a green sprig to his lips as if to kiss it. “This piece of tissue...can be rooted, and we have a miniature 3,000-year-old tree.” The cloning expedition to Camp Nelson, a mountain community about 100 miles southeast of Fresno, was led by David Milarch, cofounder of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive. The Michigan-based nurseryman preaches the urgency of restoring the Earth’s decimated forests. In two decades, he says his nonprofit group has cloned 170 types of trees and planted more than 300,000 of them in seven countries with willing landowners. “It’s really a race against time,” Milarch said. “If we start right now, we can go after climate change and reverse it before it’s too late.” Sequoias growing in the Sierra are among the biggest and oldest trees on Earth, some nearly 300 feet tall and up to 3,000 years old. Relying on common sense that he says is being borne out by science, Milarch, 66, believes their size and robustness make them ideal for absorbing greenhouse gases that drive climate change on the planet. He likens them to people who drink and smoke all their lives, yet thrive well into their 90s. One skeptic is Todd Dawson,

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Arborist Jim Clark inches up a giant sequoia to collect new growth from its canopy in the southern Sierra Nevada near Camp Nelson, California. Clark volunteers with Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a nonprofit group that collects genetic samples from ancient trees and clones them in a lab to be planted in the forest. The group believes the giant sequoias and costal redwoods are blessed with some of the heartiest genetics of any trees on Earth and that propagating them will help reverse climate change. AP/Scott Smith

a professor of integrated biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He admires Archangel’s creative efforts but says it’s unclear whether the towering trees have superior genes or whether they were simply lucky not to meet the fate of a logger’s saw. Chances are slim, he said, that cloning and planting a limited number of trees will cool the warming planet. He favors more sweeping approaches, such as curbing the use of fossil fuels and protecting vast rainforests. “That’s one of the things about global warming—it’s a global problem,” Dawson said. “You’re going to have to plant a lot of trees to combat global warming.” A team of about a dozen expert tree climbers from across the country volunteered for the expedition in May to restock Archangel’s store of genetic samples.

They risked their lives to climb to the ends of massive limbs, starting in the southern Sierra sequoia grove and winding up nearly 500 miles away in Northern California, where they carefully collected additional samples from coastal redwoods—a taller, thinner cousin of the giant sequoia. Clark wrapped the clippings he gathered in damp newspaper, placed them inside ice-filled duffel bags and boarded an overnight flight to the Archangel’s lab across country in Copemish, a rural village in northwestern Michigan. There, Clark and another propagation specialist snipped off some 2,000 shoots a few inches long and planted them in small containers of a peat-and-gel mixture. Another 1,000 fingernail-sized bits of greenery were placed into jars containing a blend of seaweed-based gelatin and growth

hormones. T he samples grow beneath pur plish f luorescent lights under humidity and temperatures designed to encourage rooting. Cloning ancient trees is tricky business, lab workers say, and many samples don’t survive. Later this year Archangel ’s team will come west to plant up to 1,000 sequoia and redwood saplings in a cool, damp region of Oregon, where the trees will have the best chance to grow. Bill Werner, a horticulture consultant based in Monterey, California, who has worked with Archangel, says in the face of global warming, it’s easy to dismiss the efforts of a “renegade” group that relies heavily on donations and volunteer nurserymen and arborists. “That’s not fair,” Werner said. “It may be a drop in the bucket, but at least somebody’s doing something.” AP

op travel destinations that top bill natural attractions are more likely to retain their appeal and remain economically viable by adopting sustainable practices, according to studies. This has certainly been the case for the four island properties of El Nido Resorts in Northern Palawan. Since its establishment in the 1980s, the marketing and operations plans of El Nido Resorts have always revolved around conserving its natural attractions, z z including the 855 species of marine fish, 400 species of corral and five species of marine turtles of Bacuit Bay. Structures in Miniloc, Lagen and Pangulasian in Bacuit Bay and in Apulit in Taytay Bay strive to blend in with the environment and are restricted to the height of the coconut trees. Moreover, each island resort has its own waste-treatment plant to decrease as much as possible the impact of these properties on their surroundings. “El Nido Resorts has been aware from the get-go that its long-term viability is tied up with the conservation of its surrounding,’’ according to Marketing Director Joey Bernardino. The resort was named in 2015 by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (Pata), the leading travel organization in the region, as a business that “demonstrates excellence in social, environmental and economic sustainability in tourism.” El Nido Resorts topped resorts in Thailand, Malaysia and the rest of the region in the Best Branded Accommodation category of The Tourism Inspire Awards organized by Pata. Consequently, it’s main thrust has been to make visitors appreciate the unique setting of the resorts mainly by making all its frontliners undergo extensive nature interpretation courses. ‘’Most of our frontliners, who are native Palaweños, are trained to make our guests fall in love with this piece of paradise,’’ he said. They are mostly successful, indicate El Nido Resorts TripAdvisor reviews, which even mention the names of frontliners. As news about El Nido continues to spread over digital and other media, courtesy of reviews from highly satisfied guests, in tandem with awards from travel authorities, like Conde Nast, the best time for travelers based in the Philippines to visit is now, Bernardino said. Nevertheless, great deals, which

travelers from the Philippines are in the best position to maximize, continue to be offered throughout the year by the resort in its elnidoresorts.com web site and through its Facebook page. Bernardino recalled that Bacuit Bay, where Miniloc, Lagen and Pangulaisan are located, first caught the attention of international travelers in the 1980s, when Japanese scuba enthusiasts, who were mesmerized by its unique topography, decided to set up a dive camp in the area. Since then, the firm, which today is wholly Filipino owned, has largely influenced the growth of tourism in Bacuit and Taytay Bays. Unique to Miniloc and Lagen are the inclusion into the room rate of popular tours, like visits to the iconic Big and Small Lagoons, Snake Island, Sunset Cruise. Pangulasian guests, as a rule, prefer customized packages while Lagen guests can choose an all-inclusive rate or one with customized tours. El Nido Resorts properties are distinguished from all other hotels in the area by their guest-activity coordinators who plan day activities for the guests, including tours, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, visits to beach clubs exclusive to El Nido Resorts guests at no extra cost to them. The arrangements cover boat rides, tour guides and equipment. A guest said the deal is so good that many guests—even nonswimmers—are persuaded by reassuring guides to snorkel for the first time and see for themselves the marine life that has been lauded by travelers from all over the world. Bernardino relates that El Nido Resorts practices what it preaches about conservation even in its menus. In all the properties, endangered species, like lapu-lapu and lobster, are not served. To limit its food miles, majority of the ingredients, including pork, are sourced from El Nido Resorts’ farm in El Nido town. To make up for the limited ingredients, three of the properties feature extensive buffets with salad, dessert and grilling stations, on top of four to five more main dishes. Apulit and Miniloc include the buffets into the room rate, while Lagen gives the guest the option to choose a full-board rate or to order ala carte—the preferred mode of Pangulasian guests.

Science Monday

Monday, July 25, 2016 A13

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

Prof. Fortunato de la Peña now at the helm of D.O.S.T.

Challenge: Deliver science to ordinary citizens

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By Stephanie Tumampos & Lyn Resurreccion

c at c h i n g u p. A nd t he re a re t y pes of R&D that are rea l ly addressed to solve problems or to enhance productiv it y. But I wou ld like to input the aspect of being relevant to specif ic reg ions, what are the needs, what are the potentia ls in specific reg ions. In that respect, I wou ld ex pect our institutions to be more active and par ticipative in that process, like in identif y ing which R&D can be more useful to their respective areas or reg ions.

he Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will be holding its 2016 National Science and Technology Week (NSTW), with the theme “Juan Science, One Nation,” starting on July 25.

This will be the first NSTW to be held under the less-than-a-monthold Duterte administration. And this time, it will be led by Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, who has previously served at the DOST as undersecretary for 13 years, from 2001 to 2014. Below are excerpts of the BusinessMirror’s interview with de la Peña and some of his insights on the prospects of the government’s S&T program under his helm at the recent news conference with science reporters.

Reaction to President Duterte appointing him as science secretary:

It was mixed. I had a lot of anxiety, but, at the same time, I was telling myself this must be some kind of a plan from above. If you are called to serve, you should serve.

S&T on the Duterte administration’s 10-point agenda:

There has been no specific pronouncement yet on how or what the President would like to see in S&T, except that he did include it on his 10-point agenda: Promote science, technology and the creative arts to enhance innovation and creative capacity. It is an important announcement to me that it has been included on the 10-point agenda of the present leadership. If I listen to the President’s pronouncements, I often hear his emphasis to sectors like agriculture, education and, of course, industry. More important, we should listen to his pronouncements that he wants every department to see and to look at how it can serve the ordinary citizens. I see this as a challenge to the S&T community, to find out how we can deliver science to ordinary citizens and to provide good services to them. At the same time, we were given

information that we will have to prepare our inputs to the new Philippine Development Plan, which will be covering the years 2017 to 2022. I am hoping and praying hard, and will work hard, that we will have a chapter on S&T. President Duterte also wants the regions to develop faster. That challenges us to look into ways by which our [DOST offices] in the regions will be enhanced, expanded and be more relevant. This is where we are focusing our attention. I have met with all the regional directors of the DOST and, happily, there has been many programs that have been started or accumulated over the past administrations.

Prospects under his leadership at the DOST:

I think a lot of achievements, breakthroughs can be achieved through synergy. In other words, we don’t have to work as, what the private business sector says, agencies should not work like separate silos. The whole government approach should really be practiced. I would really subscribe to that, and I know that there will be a lot of, shall we say, increase in benefit-tocost if there will be collaboration among the agencies, not only with other government agencies, but with the industry-academe linkage. Collaboration is very important.

Budget requirements:

We requested for P23 billion, in addition to P16-billion regular budget [for 2017]. What we got was only P14 billion from the regular [budget], because the Department of Information and Communications Technology was already created, so the budget for ICT [information and communications technology] was removed from the DOST. For the additional P23 billion, so far half-a-billion pesos is okay. We are not losing hope. We are getting additional amounts,

Proactive projects:

While we are doing certain services now, we may have to project beyond what will be needed some years from now, so we will not only be reactive when the need is already there, and be prepared and work on what services will be needed in the future.

Partnerships: We will also

Science Secretary Fortunato M. de la Peña (left) answers questions from the media at a recent news conference held in Quezon City about the National Science and Technology Week 2016 starting on July 25. Also in the photo are Director Richard Burgos (center) of Science and Technology Information Institute and Scientific and Technological Services Undersecretary Rowena Guevara. Stephanie Tumampos

depending on discussions with the agencies.

cou ld be on var ious projects like drug development.

Manpower needs:

Continuation of the available projects and services:

On manpower, every time we ask for additional support on this aspect, it will depend on the decision of the national leadership for the budget allocation. We hope the legislative bodies will be very supportive, and we also hope the other contributors outside the government doing their own research and development (R&D) can raise the statistics up.

Possible big-ticket R&D projects, like the train or the Diwata satellite:

We are still not planning bigticket projects. If we will have [to plan], we will work with some line agencies that want us to do them, because I don’t want to do something that will not be used later. The train is for utilization already. I like the model in health, for example, wherein we always agree what we have to research, and they would even transfer to us [DOST] even their own money for research. This

In the late-1990s we had the technology-transfer commercialization program of then-Secretary Ceferino L. Follosco that was also focusing on different regions in the country. Under Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro, we have SETUP (Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Program), which was intended for the development of regions. Secretary Mario G. Montejo introduced the program called Community Empowerment through Science and Technology, which ranged from nutrition, sanitation and education to livelihood, and disaster preparedness to benefit our ordinary citizens. Now we are just looking at how to continue, how to expand these services. For example, in enterprise development, if we have been assisting companies that have already been operating for at least three years, we will look into how to assist start-ups that will be using technology as their

Filipino scientists, regulators look into GMO perceptions Conclusion

PHL regulations on GMO and the Bt ‘talong’ case

In the field of agriculture and genetic engineering, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have already been studied and tested with careful investigations by renowned scientists. So far, the only available GMO that has been planted in the Philippines is Bt corn. According to Benigno Peczon, chairman of the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines Inc., the Philippines is considered a leader in Asia when it comes to biotechnology guidelines. He said in an interview, “We are the first in Asia in terms of how to do with biotechnology, and other countries even come here to learn from us on how we regulate our biotechnology.” Maria Theresa Cerbolles, Food Drug Regulation Officer III of the Food and Drug Authority, noted there has been no evidence of GMOs’ negative health effects to humans.

She said in an interview with the BusinessMirror: “None that we know of, and even with DOH [Department of Health], in our epidemiology bureau, there’s no direct data that would implicate GMO products to any diseases that we have right now.” Yet, the issue on regulations surged when Bt talong was marked with concerns and disputes. “It did not follow the National Biosafety Framework on GMOs, which required the involvement of the five agencies set by the NBF,” she told the BusinessMirror. The five agencies include the departments of Agriculture (DA), Science and Technology (DOST), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Health (DOH) and the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Hence, the Supreme Court stopped the field trials of Bt talong.

Precautionary principle

The other basis of the ruling was the precautionary principle. According to lawyer Edgardo Carlo Vistan, OIC of the Institute of

International Legal Studies, the Supreme Court considered various events, like studies or perhaps reports, journal articles, published scientific studies, and also the testimonies of various experts who were made to testify in one hearing all at the same time, and the Court of Appeals justices who were assigned to hear the case, asked them questions as if they were just in a roundtable. He told the BusinessMirror, “Based on that, the Supreme Court was not satisfied that the data they had and the evidence presented of the proponents of the GMO use would negate the uncertainty or the danger that were feared that were used by the GMO crops.” Currently, the Department of Agriculture Administrative Order 8, which was the guidelines followed in GMO research and testing, has been nullified by the Supreme Court. However, a joint department circular has been signed by the five agencies of the DOST, DA, DENR, DOH and the DILG, which states clearly the general provisions “for research, development,

handling and use, transboundary movement, release into the environment, and management of GM plant and plant products.” Beyond this order, scientists are still concerned on how the perceptions of GMOs are seen by the public. “I think the scientific community and the government need to collaborate,” Vistan said. “The problem is we have very limited number of scientists, and most of them are the proponents and, of course, they can’t work with the government because of the conflict of interest.” Vistan added, “But, perhaps, that’s why we need more scientists to work with the government to come up with rules that our scientists and biotech industr y will appreciate, and we must have legal parameters that will allow our government to accept products or methods that are 100 -percent cer tain to be safe, and by doing that we will encourage our science and industr y stakeholders to develop new applications and technologies.” Stephanie Tumampos

basis for operations or services. That will be one level lower than the Set-up, since this will be at the start-up level. The business-incubation programs will belong to that and other interventions to encourage entrepreneurship, particularly with technology start-ups. I am suggesting to have a program that is one level higher. Those who have graduated from SET-UP, or the medium-sized projects, should be given assistance, so they will be more competitive and more globally oriented, so we can meet the objective to contribute more to the economy and provide more employment.

R&D to catch up:

I would like to emphasize the orientation of R&D activities to the needs and potentials that we have in every region. While continue to carry out R&D projects designed to, shall we say, No. 1, do our contribution to the generation of new knowledge; and No. 2, to help us catch up. We need to do cer tain t y pes of R&D that’s rea l ly more of

try to maximize the benefits we will get from partnerships, because we cannot, in the government, do all by ourselves. We need partners in development work wherever they are—with line agencies, the business sector, the local government units and also with the people who may have expertise both here and abroad, whether Filipinos or not, who can contribute to our development here. There is already a program at the DOST called “Juan Expert,” wherein experts in different sectors, in different areas, are registered and the interested parties may need the services can see them on the web site. But I would like to be more formal about it. I would like to have a pool of experts who are going to devote time. That means I would like them to be formally designated, even if they will work pro bono, they will have some identification that they are DOST S&T volunteers.

Aboitiz CSR and Starbooks:

Aboitiz’s power plant is operating in Toril, Davao City, and so its corporate social responsibility [CSR] is in Toril. It adapted two national high schools and committed to construct and to renovate the rooms and to put in the hardware. Our [DOST] role is to supply the content, the Starbooks. I would like to use that as a model to entice other companies to have their CSR project channeled to S&T-related activities.

S&T week kicks off July 25

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he country’s premier science institution, the Depar tment of Science and Technology (DOST), will hold its annual National Science and Technology Week from July 25 to 29, with the theme “Juan Science, One Nation.” From exhibits to open-house laboratories, the Science and Technology Week will not just highlight locally developed technologies and breakthroughs, but also encourage and give awareness to the public that science is, indeed, of national importance. “Every year, since 1990, we have been holding what we then call the science and technology fair,” new Secretary Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña said. He has served as DOST undersecretary from 2001 to 2014. In a news conference held in Quezon City, de la Peña recalled that it was the former Secretary Ceferino L. Follosco who initiated the activity in 1990 through a science fair held at the Philippine Trade Training Center. “In 1993 a proclamation was made, Presidential Decree 169, that we will celebrate National Science and Technology Week every year during the third week of July,” de la Peña said. According to DOST Science and Technology Information Institute (STII) Director Richard Burgos, Presidential Decree 160, Series of 1993, mandates that “the country should be celebrating science and

technology over a period of one week.” Burgos emphasized that one week is not enough, “because science is not a day-to-day thing and, with science and technology, we can hope to be on the bandwagon to development and success.” The weeklong event is a simultaneous chain of activities across the country. “We have 20 sites [all over the country] for our event this year,” Undersecretary for Scientific and Technological Services Rowena Guevara said. Guevara said during the same news conference that besides the fora, “all of our laboratories, facilities and all of DOST agencies in Bicutan will have an open house.” Guevara also said cutting of ribbons will be done altogether in 20 different locations nationwide. “We will use the technology to open the event simultaneously by Secretary de la Peña in the venues of our event, which are in Bicutan, Manila, Quezon City and Los Baños, and the 16 different regions in the country.” In Manila the science community will have exhibits and fora at the SM Mall of Asia Atrium. “They will have an exhibit at the SM MOA Atrium not just only about health but S&T interventions,” Guevara said. There will be fora on natural products, nutrition survey, cancer biobank and nutrigenomics, to name a few. Stephanie Tumampos

A14 Monday, July 25, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Come to PHL; but not Manila?

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he Philippines has gone a long way from Spanish Jesuit missionary Fr. Juan J. Delgado in 1751 and Dr. Jose Rizal in “Mi último adios,” referring to the Philippines as the “Pearl of the Orient/Pearl of the Orient Seas (Spanish: Perla de oriente/Perla del mar de oriente). Sadly today, when Filipinos talk to potential foreign tourists, they seem to constantly say, “Come to the beautiful Philippines, but stay out of Manila.” The city may not be the “gates of hell,” as author Dan Brown seemed to say in his novel, but we are embarrassed by the Metro area. What other country in the world discourages people from coming to its capital city? It is hard to defend the city of Manila and the National Capital Region, as most of us who live here are constantly complaining. When was the last time you heard anyone say, “I am glad I live in Metro Manila.” “Traffic, pollution, crime, poor infrastructure and nothing to do but shop” might be the tourism slogan as written by most Manileños. But is our negative view about greater Manila justified? Name one major city the size of Manila—or even smaller—that does not have all the same problems? Back in 2010, Time magazine, in its travel section, wrote this: “For many folk, Manila remains a city less traveled, because its myriad attractions are obscured by a flawed public-relations machine.” The article goes on to identify specific tourist attractions, including Intramuros, Binondo and Malacañan Palace. Another travel guide talks about how interesting and unique Corregidor Island and Fort Santiago are. Among the potentially big tourist attractions could be the many churches around the metropolis, from the Manila Cathedral to Malate Church. “Church tourism” is big business in Europe and we have done almost nothing to put our churches on the tourist map. Struggling through Manila traffic and traveling in the shadow of urban poverty is unpleasant for tourists. But to say that there is nothing unique for them to experience about Filipino history and culture is wrong. Instead of emphatically telling tourists to stay away from Manila, we should be just as strongly telling the government—and the private sector—to clean up our city. Improving the tourist environment is not going to happen overnight, but we have to begin sometime. Right now we are like someone that invites a person over for a visit but tells them to stay in the garden because the house is untidy and dirty. Telling potential tourists to close their eyes and get out of the airport to the provinces as quickly as possible is a ridiculous solution to problems that can be solved with some political will on the local and national level and genuine concern by the people.

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PCSO has new ASAP desk partners Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

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he board of directors of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) approved on June 22 the requests of six more hospitals to be partners of the agency for the PCSO At Source Ang Processing (ASAP) Program.

This brings to 37 the number of hospitals around the country working with the PCSO to bring the agency’s services closer to its clients. Of the 31 hospitals currently providing ASAP services, 25 are in Metro Manila and six are in the provinces. The PCSO’s new partner-hospitals are the Philippine General Hospital, Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center, Makati Medical Center, JP Sioson General Hospital and Colleges Inc., Medical Center Manila and Mother Teresa of Calcutta Medical Center. ASAP partners undertake to establish and maintain a PCSO Desk, which will be manned by a social worker or other personnel of the hospital trained by the PCSO on how to evaluate requests for assistance under the PCSO’s Individual Medical Assistance Program. Now, patients or their family and friends can submit their requests directly to

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Ermita’s Tazo de Oro Restaurant— artists, such as National Artists H.R. Ocampo, Cesar Legaspi, BenCab and Ang Kiukok. But beyond the likes of Onib Olmedo, Justin Nuyda, Agustin Goy and Juvenal Sanso (whenever he was in town from Paris), the Saturday Group also appealed to writers and curators—including Lorna Montilla, Lily Amansec, Rod Paras-Perez and Leo Baesa. Currently, the Saturday Group still holds regular sessions at Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City, under its president, artist Migs

Villanueva. The venue was the site of their 48th anniversary exhibition, Dimensions: 48 Years of the Saturday Group, held from July 18 to 24. Villanueva employed a multidimensional approach for this exhibit, and divided members into four groups, each led by past Saturday Group Presidents Lydia Velasco, Buds Convocar, Anna De Leon, and herself. Each group was challenged to create individual works, as well as a collaborative piece. Our particular group—“SG Gruppo Dos”— with Anna de Leon, Aner Sebastian, Roel Obemio, Inna Vitasa, Daisy Carlos, Carlo Ongchangco and myself—adopted the theme “Life is a Circus”. Thus, our works vibrated with kinetic energy, lights and color, with unusual artworks, such as Sliders made of painted puzzle pieces that can be moved up, down and sideways; a mobile of butterflies; a rocking horse; and cabinets that open to reveal masks and figurines. The Saturday Group continues to blaze a trail in visual art, particularly with the members’ penchant for creating collaborative works, and future exhibits will surely regale art lovers with fresh and innovative pieces. n n n Atty. Rojas is vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

No money-out option for govt By Alberto Agra

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the PCSO Desk at partner hospitals; they no longer need to go to PCSO offices for this purpose. The six additional hospitals to the ASAP Program will still have to prepare for the implementation of the program on their premises, and we look forward to their participation and sharing in our work of extending charity services to our kababayan. nnn There are few institutions as important in Philippine art history as the Saturday Group. Founded in 1968, the Saturday Group is comparable to other prolific artist groups, such as Eduouard Manet’s bohemes that met at the Café Guerboi in 19th-century Paris, or the Cedar Bar Group of New York in the 1950s that had the likes of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko. The Saturday Group attracted an entire generation of artists to

The PCSO’s new partnerhospitals are the Philippine General Hospital, Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center, Makati Medical Center, JP Sioson General Hospital and Colleges Inc., Medical Center Manila and Mother Teresa of Calcutta Medical Center. ASAP partners undertake to establish and maintain a PCSO Desk, which will be manned by a social worker or other personnel of the hospital trained by the PCSO on how to evaluate requests for assistance under the PCSO’s Individual Medical Assistance Program.

Continued from A1 The government has the option to or not to contribute cash; extend subsidy; provide viability gap funding; guarantee, or give equity to a PPP arrangement. Depending on the modality, priority, governing law or viability of the project, the choice partakes of a legal, political, socioeconomic, even a leadership question and challenge. Under the build-operate-transfer law, the government may provide for a direct government guarantee, subsidy or equity for solicited projects. Depending on the modality, lease payments and grantor payments from the government may be part of its contractual obligations. For the School Infrastructure Project and South Integrated Transport System Project, the government will make such payments to the

private-sector proponents (PSPs). The annual budget to be approved by Congress must provide for an appropriation for these payments. For the Naia expressway, LRT Line 1 Extension and Cavite-Laguna Expressway projects, the awards were given to the PSP that offered the lowest cash support from the government. For the 12 water supply and distribution joint-venture projects entered into by water districts, there is no money out from these government-owned and -controlled corporations. The water districts, for granting concessions, will be entitled to revenues. This no-money-out, money-in approach is more popular with LGUs. In consideration of the noncash contribution of the government, such as the grant of concession or franchise, authority to use public property or the prerogative

Under the build-operatetransfer law, the government may provide for a direct government guarantee, subsidy or equity for solicited projects. Depending on the modality, lease payments and grantor payments from the government may be part of its contractual obligations. For the School Infrastructure Project and South Integrated Transport System Project, the government will make such payments to the privatesector proponents. The annual budget to be approved by Congress must provide for an appropriation for these payments. to reclaim land, the government, in turn, under the PPP contract, shall be entitled to concession fees, lease rentals, share in the revenues, dividends and land. For the terminal projects in Batangas, Legazpi and Tarlac Cities; and the ferry terminal in Iloilo City; and for the Davao City, Ma-

nila, Parañaque, Pasay, Laguna and Cordova and Consolacion municipalities; with Cebu province reclamation projects, these LGUs, under a joint-venture arrangement, shall enjoy a steady stream of revenues and land, respectively. Additional revenues can lead to less dependency on national government support, such as the internal revenue allotment for LGUs. More resources will be made available for social services, which may not be viable under a PPP scheme. More land translates to land for a government center, hospitals and evacuation centers, among other facilities. No public money-out also yields other advantages. Fiscal space will be created for the IA; since it can use its resources for some other purpose. Chances of lawsuits from taxpayers may be reduced. There could be fewer disallowances from the Commission on Audit. Not to be accused that the government is only into PPPs for the money, money is not the be-all and end-all of PPPs. Public good is. For the government, public advantage and better quality of life are the real reasons for PPPs. PPPs are for us.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

When are association dues not due?

New CPAs reminded on oath as professionals Joel L. Tan-Torres

Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

legally speaking

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n the past, people strive to own a home to free themselves from the hassle and burden of paying monthly rent. However, in the advent of subdivision and condominium developments, gone were the days when purchasing your own residential unit will mean an end of monthly payments. Nowadays, every square inch of your precious home is assessed in order to contribute to a common fund for the common benefit. I guess this is the modern concept of bayanihan among neighbors. The only difference is there is one “property manager” who is tasked to collect the dues to defray all the community expenses.

Subdivision and condominium developers cannot be faulted for collecting association dues from the homeowners. Just like taxation, which is the lifeblood of the government, association dues are the lifeblood of a homeowner’s association to ensure the maintenance of the building, the roads and the community amenities. Don’t fret though, because there are certain laws that aim to protect homebuyers from unscrupulous practices of developers. One of these is Presidential Decree (PD) 957, Regulating the Sale of Subdivision Lots and Condominiums, Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof. Section 27 of the said law specifically provides that “[n] o owner or developer shall levy upon any lot or buyer a fee for an alleged community benefit. “Fees to finance services for common comfort, security and sanitation may be collected only by a properly organized homeowners association and only with the consent of a majority of the homeowners actually residing in the subdivision or condominium project.” Thus, dues for the common benefit may only be collected only by a properly organized homeowners association and only with the consent of a majority of the homeowners actually residing in the subdivision or condominium project. What will happen, however, if the homeowners fail to organize a homeowner’s association? Instructively, Section 30 of PD 957 puts the burden on the owner or developer of a subdivision project or condominium project to initiate the organization of a homeowners association among the buyers and residents of the projects for the purpose of promoting and protecting their mutual inter-

Section 27 of PD 957 provides that “[n]o owner or developer shall levy upon any lot or buyer a fee for an alleged community benefit. Fees to finance services for common comfort, security and sanitation may be collected only by a properly organized homeowners association and only with the consent of a majority of the homeowners actually residing in the subdivision or condominium project.” est and assist in their community development. Thus, until and unless there is a properly organized homeowners and majority of its actual residents consented to the assessment and collection of association dues, no developer or subdivision owner shall collect and assess association dues, lest they be charged with unjust enrichment. In the case of Filinvest Land Inc., vs. Abdul Backy (GR 174715, October 11, 2012) the Honorable Supreme Court held that the principle of unjust enrichment essentially contemplates payment when there is no duty to pay, and the person who receives the payment has no right to receive it. While it may be a little taxing and burdensome to comply with the above requirements, it is still a law that needs to be complied with. On this note, be reminded of the penal clause provided under Section 39 of PD 957, which provides for a fine of not more than P20,000 and/or imprisonment of not more than 10 years for violations of this particular law. You have been warned. For comments, you may e-mail lpkapunan@kapunanlaw.com.

Monday, July 25, 2016 A15

DEBIT CREDIT

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he season of the oath taking for those required to undertake this very hallowed practice has passed. What comes to mind immediately on this is the recent inauguration of the incoming elected officials led by President Duterte, and the new Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) who recently passed the licensure examinations. However, there are a number of these new CPAs who have not been able to go through this ritual. They are reminded on their legal obligation to take their oath as a requirement for them to practice their profession. Section 19 of the accountancy law provides that “all successful candidates in the examination shall be required to take an oath of profession before any member of the board or before any government official authorized by the commission or any person authorized by law to administer oaths upon presentation of proof of his or her qualification, prior to entering upon the practice of the profession.” T he Board of Accountancy (BOA) had oath-taking events for the new CPAs in Manila, Cebu, Davao, Baguio, Legazpi, Cagayan de Oro and Iloilo. Most of the new CPAs took their oath as

professionals on June 20, at the Philippine International Convention Center. Those who will not be able to attend this should take their oaths with government officials authorized to administer this. The Revised Administrative Code provides the list of officials authorized to administer oath. Section 21 and 41 of this code provides that the following officers have general authority to administer oaths: “President; Vice President; members and secretaries of both Houses of the Congress; members of the Judiciary; secretaries of Departments; provincial governors and lieutenant governors;

city mayors; municipal mayors; bureau directors; regional directors; clerks of courts; registrars of deeds; and other civilian officers in the Philippine public service whose appointments are vested in the President of the Philippines and are subject to confirmation by the Commission of Appointments; all other constitutional officers; and notaries public. A person who, by authority of law, shall serve in the capacity of the officers mentioned above shall possess the same power.” Republic Act 10755 was signed on March 29, authorizing the punong barangay or barangay chairman to administer the oath. Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Resolution 2006-313 also allows Filipino professionals based outside the Philippines to take the oath in the presence of the Philippine Embassy or Consulate and affix a passport photograph (colored with white background) to the oath form. The new CPA is required to go to the PRC to personally sign the Registry Book of Professionals as soon as he or she arrives from overseas or completes taking his or her oath from other government official. The CPAs who had their oath by these alternative means will have to submit a copy of their “Panunumpa ng mga Propesyonal Lupon ng Accountancy” that is duly signed by the CPA and the

government official who administered the oath to the Chairman of the BOA in the PRC in Sampaloc, Manila. A Facebook page h a s a l so been created by the BOA that is exclusively devoted to the new CPAs who recently took their oath as professionals at Proud2016NewCPAs. Copies of the official souvenir program containing the names of all successful examinees of the May 2016 CPA Board Examinations (and other prior years examinations) are available for purchase at P100 per copy. Those interested can contact boa.secretariat@gmail.com for payment requirements and notification of where the souvenir program will be sent. Joel L. Tan-Torres is the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy. He is a Certified Public Accountant who placed No. 1 in the May 1979 CPA Board Examinations. He is concurrently a tax partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co., CPAs. He was the former commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue between 2009 and 2010. This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.

Educating young minds remains a daunting problem

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By Luzviminda G. Guzman

ducation remains an inaccessible right to millions of school-age children in developing countries, like the Philippines. It remains a fact that some third-world countries are not prioritizing education in their program of government. Because of this, many children are denied their right to basic education.

Some children are also torn between boundless inequalities linked to poverty, gender issues, cultural problems and the like. School-age children, like those in war torn Mindanao, always f ind t hemselves r unning for their lives, instead of running and playing in school grounds. These children are inevitably placed on the margins of the educational system. They do not benefit from education, which is vital to their intellectual and social development. At the same time, lack of

financial resources has affected the quality of teaching in some third-world countries. Teachers do not benefit from basic teacher training while the overf low of children in some classrooms normally result to poor learning. As a result of poverty and marginalization, more than 70 million children around the world remain unschooled. According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 47 percent of these children are never expected to enter school, 26 percent at-

tended school but left, and the remaining 27 percent are expected to attend school in the future. Children living in a rural environment are twice as likely to be out of school than urban children. Additionally, children from the wealthiest 20 percent of the population are four times more likely to be in school than the poorest 20 percent. In the Philippines, although our government has eliminated the biggest obstacle to enrollment by abolishing school fees in public schools, other financial barriers, such as uniforms, and exam fees prevent many of the poorest children from going to school. The good news is that the Duterte administration is bent on eradicating or minimizing the number of out-of-school youths, including displaced or jobless teachers around the country. Education Secretary Leonor M.

Briones said President Duterte’s marching order is to eliminate the increasing number of outof-school youths and assist them with the full implementation of the K to 12 Program. W hile basic skills development and work force preparation skills are important in our educational system, a paradigm shift must take place recognizing that in order to be truly globally competitive, we must be globally competent. To be globa l ly competent, we must not cease in developing young minds, give full support to our educators, both in public and in private schools, while the government must confront all problems affecting our learning system. T h e a u t h o r i s t h e O IC a t Cabiraoan National High School in Gonzaga, Cagayan

Remarks made by Sartaj Aziz, adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs

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Kashmiri people cannot be condoned under the alleged pretext of terrorism. The just struggle of the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination cannot be equated with terrorism.

Following his death, India imposed curfew in IoK to prevent large protests. Despite curfew, it has been reported that around 200,000 people attended, back-toback 50 funerals, of Wani. People are protesting in huge numbers since his death. The Indian occupation forces have unleashed a reign of terror on the civilians to deter them from protesting. The Indian armed forces are using live ammunition on the mobs, which has caused many civilian causalities. Around 50 people have been killed and more than 3,500 people injured. It is being reported that around 400 injured are in critical condition and more than 70 of the injured may have become permanently blind. This figure is increasing every day due to the continued protests and severe injuries. Firing by the Indian forces on peaceful protesters is not acceptable under any circumstances. The victims of indiscriminate firing include women, children and elderly. Curfew remains imposed in most parts of the Indian-occupied Kashmir

International reactions The UN secretary-general has taken note of the situation and regretted the loss of dozens of lives and the injuries to many others. The secretary-general has also offered his “good office” if both parties agreed to mediation. We have welcomed the secretary-general’s offer. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretary-general and the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission have strongly condemned the Indian brutalities in the IoK. US State Department has also expressed concern on the violence. China has expressed concern over the casualties in IoK. The Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also issued statements on the grave human-rights situation in the IoK. Even within India, there are strong voices over the brutal use of force in IoK and the uprising has been referred to as indigenous. A team of Indian eye surgeons has visited IoK recently due to unprecedented eye injuries. The leader of the team said “It is a warlike situation. We have never seen injuries on this scale.” The government of Pakistan has provided and will continue to provide

urhan Wani, a 22 year old Kashmiri leader, was killed by the Indian Forces on July 8. He was immensely popular among the masses in the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IoK), particularly with the youth. Extensive use of social media by Wani, inviting Kashmiri youth to resist against Indian occupation made him an icon of the resistance movement in IoK.

valley. Mobile and Internet services remain suspended in the valley. University and school examinations have been postponed. Due to curfew, people have been denied access to food and basic emergency services. There have been incidents of violence, harassment and teargas shelling in hospitals to prevent access to hospitals and movement of ambulances. It is a clear manifestation of stateterrorism to suppress Kashmiri’s voice for the right to self-determination. The use of lethal force against the innocent civilians, protesting peacefully over extrajudicial killings, is deplorable and constitutes blatant violation of International Human Rights and Humanitarian laws. The Hurriyat Leadership has been arrested or is under House arrest. Through their messages, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mir Waiz Umar Farooq have appreciated Pakistan’s principled position. The spontaneous and wide-spread uprising proves that Kashmir struggle is indigenous and rejects the Indian accusations against Pakistan of stirring troubles in IoK.The killings of innocent

diplomatic, political and moral support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the realization of their fundamental right to self determination in accordance with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. Every possible effort would be made to draw international attention towards Indian brutalities in the IoK and to resolve the dispute. In the past 10 days: The prime minister issued a strongly worded statement expressing “deep shock” at the killings of innocent people and deploring the “excessive” and “unlawful” use of force against civilians. The foreign secretary summoned the Indian High Commissioner and lodged a strong protest condemning killings and human rights violations in IoK. Ambassadors of the permanent members of the UNSC were briefed by the foreign secretary and subsequently the ambassador of the European Union and OIC Contact Group members on Jammu and Kashmir (Azerbaijan, Niger-through Niamey, Saudi Arabia and Turkey) and the African Union. The prime minister presided over a special meeting of the Federal Cabinet in Lahore on July 15. The cabinet reviewed the situation in the IoK and condemned the human-rights violations. The cabinet has decided to observe July 20, as a Black Day in order to draw attention of the international community towards the brutalities and human-rights violations being committed by the Indian forces in the IoK.

In line with Cabinet’s decision, I wrote letters to the UN secretary-general, president of the UNSC, OIC secretary-general, High Commissioner for Human Rights and the foreign ministers of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir. On July 18, the Pakistan Senate passed a strongly worded resolution. Kashmir Black Day was observed on July 20 in the whole country and Pakistan missions abroad to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir. Prime Minister issued a message on Black Day. All Pakistani missions abroad have been instructed to approach the host governments and highlight the humanrights violations in the IoK. Conclusion The spontaneous and wide-spread uprising proves that Kashmir struggle is indigenous and rejects the Indian accusations against Pakistan for stirring trouble in IoK. The Indian attempts to claim that the deteriorating human-rights situation in IoK is an internal affair of India is factually incorrect, legally untenable and indeed a violation of international law and UNSC resolutions. Such a brutal use of force is a blatant violation of fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people especially the right to life. It is a clear manifestation of Stateterrorism to suppress Kashmiri’s voice for the right to self-determination. Pakistan has strongly condemned

the Indian brutalities in the IoK and the same has been conveyed to the Indian government and the international community. Our response has been welcomed and appreciated by the Hurriyat leadership in Kashmir. It is our conviction that by suppressing the voice of Kashmiris people for their right to self-determination India will not be able to legitimize its occupation in the IoK. The only plausible solution would be the early implementation of UNSC resolution, i.e., a fair and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices. The Government of Pakistan has provided and will continue to provide diplomatic, political and moral support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the realization of their fundamental right to self-determination in accordance with the UNSC resolutions. Pakistan will approach the Human Rights Council of the United Nations on its own behalf and on behalf of OIC Contact Group on Kashmir to (i) send a fact-finding mission to Indian-occupied Kashmir to investigate the slaughter of innocent civilians (ii) impose a ban on the use of pellet guns for dispersing people exercising their right to protest. We call upon the international community to condemn these blatant human rights violations and play their role in ensuring the realization of human rights of the Kashmiri people through fulfilling its commitments towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir under the UNSC resolutions.