Businessmirror june 12, 2017

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Monday, June 12, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 242

‘Loss of EU trade perks won’t harm PHL exports’ $11.66B P By Catherine N. Pillas

@c_pillas29

hilippine exports for the rest of the year will continue to grow at a steady pace, even if the country loses its trade privileges from the European Union, according to the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport).

Philexport President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said the Philippines has not fully taken advantage of the EU’s Generalized System Preferences Plus (GSP+) scheme,

which has been in place since December 2014. “We have not really taken advantage of the [GSP+ scheme], because from what I understand, only gar-

The amount of Philippine export revenues recorded in April

ments would really benefit from it. But it seems it’s not being used, so there won’t be much of a difference [if it is scrapped],” Ortiz-Luis told the BusinessMirror. While export receipts in the second quarter are usually “tempered”, Ortiz-Luis said he remains confident that shipments would post doubledigit growth by the end of the year. See “EU trade,” A2

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DUTERTE: REMEMBER OUR FOREFATHERS By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

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resident Duterte on Sunday called on the Filipino nation to look back at the country’s bloody history and take inspiration from its revolutionary past. In his Independence Day message, Duterte said thousands have offered their lives to ensure the present generation will live with the dignity and rights befitting a free nation. “The journey to freedom was a long and arduous one—which our countrymen paid for with blood, sweat and the ultimate act of selfless sacrifice. In spite of the insurmountable hardships, the patriotism and undaunted spirit of the Filipino led to our triumph against the shackles of slavery and abuse,” he said. Duterte added the resistance of Filipinos in the face of colonialism showed the colonizers and the rest of the world what the nation is made of. He said the present generation must look up to its

forefathers, who fearlessly fought and offered their lives to give the country its rightful independence. “Let us pay homage to their heroism by preserving our sovereignty and performing our own civic rights and responsibilities. After all, it is our inherent duty as citizens to ensure that the Philippines fulfills its destiny as a great and prosperous nation,” Duterte said. Known for his tough-talking rhetoric, Duterte repeatedly lambasted Spanish and American colonialism in his previous speeches. He was the first Philippine President to speak so publicly and fiercely about the violence of the United States in subjugating the Filipino nation in 1899. Also, the President’s battle cry for an independent foreign policy led the Philippines to distancing itself from the US, while establishing closer bilateral relations with China and Russia. Duterte is set to attend on Monday a flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremony in Rizal Park, Manila, to celebrate the Philippines’s 119th Independence Day.

FLAG DAY Workers at the Atlas Super Flags Store on Rizal Avenue in Santa Cruz, Manila, have their hands full as the nation celebrates National Flag Day and Independence Day today. The firm, owned by Lu Tan Gatue, has been making flags since 1910 and is one of the few flag manufacturers in the country accredited by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. NONIE REYES

SAN MIGUEL APPROVES OF GOVT PLAN TO IMPOSE NEW TAXES By VG Cabuag

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@villygc

he president and COO of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said the company has no qualms about government efforts to slap new taxes, such as the soft-drinks tax, and double the current excise taxes on cars. Ang, however, said the government has to be careful on how it would impose the new taxes as it may depress the market. He said new taxes may also be good for the company, as people tend to rush to buy the products

when there’s a threat of a tax increase. “We’re okay with the sugar tax. But they should tax everyone,” Ang said. San Miguel, which previously owned the rights to sell Coca-Cola in the Philippines, also makes carbonated drinks through its San Miguel Brewery Inc. It started its push in 2015 when it sought consent from its bondholders to shift its strategy to become a multibeverage company rather than just a beer and alcoholic-beverage firm. See “San Miguel,” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 49.5450

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Sharia courts: Then and now By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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Part One

HE creation of Sharia courts through Presidential Decree (PD) 1083 was significant. Otherwise known as Code of Muslim Personal Laws, PD 1083 was a significant recognition that Muslim Personal Laws, as the legal

system of the Muslims in the country, is part of the law of the land that seeks to make Islamic institutions more effective. But how do Sharia courts differ from the regular or ordinary courts, in terms of functions and composition? Where are these courts situated? How did they evolve since they were created four decades ago?

The Supreme Court has defined the Sharia court as one with limited and special jurisdiction to hear and decide cases and administer justice for the country’s Muslims. Article 307 of the Code provides for the establishment of Sharia district courts and Sharia circuit courts as part of the judicial system. The Code envisions the Sharia court to provide for an effective

administration and enforcement of personal laws among Muslims. This is in line with the state’s mandate “to consider the customs, traditions, beliefs and interests of national cultural communities in the formulation and implementation of state policies.” In 1989 Republic Act (RA) 6734, or “An Act Providing for an Organic Continued on A2

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Source: BSP (9 June 2017 )

A2 Monday, June 12, 2017

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Sharia courts: Then and now Continued from A1

Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao”, was signed into law. RA 6734 not only recognized and secured the continued existence of the two Sharia trial courts but expanded them, as well, through the creation of the Sharia Appellate Court.

Court structure

THERE are a total of 51 Sharia district courts distributed in various parts of Mindanao, six of these courts are in Sulu; eight in the province of Tawi-Tawi; 10 in the provinces of Basilan, Zamboanga del Sur and the cities of Dipolog, Pagadian and Zamboanga; 12 in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur and the cities of Iligan and Marawi; and 15 in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat and the city of Cotabato. A Sharia court differs primarily from the regular courts with regard to jurisdiction. The Sharia Circuit Courts have been given jurisdiction to decided cases involving offences as defined and punished under the Code of Muslim Person Laws of the Philippines. Furthermore, Sharia Circuit Courts have been given jur isdiction to hand le and decide a ll civ il suits bet ween parties who are Muslims or have been m a r r i e d i n v o l v i n g d i s p ut e s relating to marr iage, divorce, betrothal or breach of contrar y to m a r r y ; c ustom a r y dower,

disposition and distribution of property upon divorce, maintenance and support, and consolator y gifts; and restitution of mar ita l r ights. Meanwhile, based on the SC’s annual report, there is a Sharia district court for each of the five special judicial districts. The five juridical districts include the province of Sulu (First Sharia Judicial District); TawiTawi (Second Judicial District); Basilan, Zamboanga del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur, cities of Dipolog, Pagadian and Zamboanga (Third Judicial District); Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, and the cities of Iligan and Marawi (Fourth Judicial District); and the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and the city of Cotabato (Fifth Judicial District). As of 2006, the five Sharia district courts has yet to be filled up while the Sharia circuit courts has a total of 28 judges, with vacancies totaling to 23. W h i l e re g u l a r c ou r t s a re courts of general jurisdiction, which means, can decide civil and criminal cases brought before them, Sharia courts’ jurisdiction include cases involving personal, family and property and commercial transactions, in addition to criminal cases involving Muslims. Litigation process in the Sharia courts are pattered with the Revised Rules of Court, which commenced through the filing of a complaint or petition, then followed by service of summons to

the respondent. The respondent or defendant is given time to file an answer, which is followed by a pretrial conference. After which a formal hearing of the case is conducted unless an amicable settlement is reached at the pretrial. Last, there is the issuance of a judgment or decision on the case. Sharia court judges are required to be at least 25 years old and natural-born citizens of the Philippines. A judge must also have passed the examination in Sharia and Islamic jurisprudence given by the SC. On the other hand, a Sharia appellate court is composed of one presiding justice and two associate justices. “The justices of the Sharia appellate court should possess the same qualifications as those of the justices of the Court of Appeals and, in addition, shall also be learned in Islamic law and jurisprudence,” Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said. Specifically, Sharia appellate court justices should be naturalborn citizen of the Philippines; should have practiced law in the country or served as a judge of a lower court for 15 years; at least 40 years of age; learned in Islamic jurisprudence; and person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence. The Muslim’s appellate court together with the Sharia trial courts have been given jurisdiction over cases involving persons, family and property relations of Muslims in the country. To be continued

LOW PRESSURE AREA 375 KM WEST OF IBA, ZAMBALES (As of 5:00 AM - June 11, 2017)

San Miguel. . .

Continued from A1

The company is seen returning to the cola and carbonated drinks, more than a decade after it sold Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc. to Mexico’s Femsa SA in 2006. Ang, however, warned that when the government increases its excise tax on automobiles, it may not collect the intended taxes, as people may prefer tapping the gray market. “This means, people may bring in their cars themselves, using several tax-exempt rules,” said Ang, a known car enthusiast who started his career as a car trader. “The government may not collect their intended taxes and they may end up ruining the [automobile] industry.” If he were to ask what to do to collect more from luxury vehicles and cars in general, Ang

EU trade. . .

said the government could consider increasing the registration of every car bought to P1 million per year for the next five years. For the succeeding years after that, the government can just charge half of the amount. “That way, you also collect the taxes but in another way and you still keep the automobile industry growing,” he said. Ang recently confirmed he became one of the board members and part owner of Asian Carmakers Corp., the main distributor of BMW luxury cars in the Philippines. “Don Pepito and [San Miguel] Chairman [Eduardo Cojuanco] are very close. And he [Don Pepito] invited me. I am going to be a director this coming month [June] and an investor also,” Ang told reporters, referring to

Continued from A1

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and its attached agency, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), released data on the country’s trade performance last Friday, which showed that export receipts grew by 12.1 percent to $11.66 billion in April. Neda Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the government is optimistic of the country’s trade performance for the rest of the year due to “thriving exports and trade linkages”, especially to Europe and East Asia. “For exports, East Asia and the EU remain the top destinations of our products, accounting for 62.3 percent of total export receipts,” Pernia said in a statement. Exports to EU and East Asia grew by 36 percent and 10 percent in April 2017, respectively. “Despite global uncertainties, we remain upbeat that the country will sustain the strong performance of export and

trade growth recorded in the first quarter,” he added. Philexport credited the increase in shipments to the EU to Europe’s economic recovery. In April government data showed that sales of Philippine goods to Hong Kong (36.8 percent), China (26.4 percent), South Korea (18.9 percent) and Taiwan (26.4 percent) posted doubledigit growth, while exports to Japan declined by 16.6 percent. “We aim to deepen our engagement with our neighbors in the AsiaPacific region to enhance trade and investment links,” Pernia said. He noted the “positive contributions” of trade connections and cited China as an example, where merchandise exports increased by 27.7 percent from October 2016 to April 2017, compared with the 7.1-percent decline from January to September 2016. “Also worth noting

www.businessmirror.com.ph Jose “Pepito” Alvarez, who is also governor of Palawan. “I am sure that I will become a director and a shareholder. But how much will be my stake is, I don’t know yet,” he added. Ang, who started out as a car trader and a mechanical engineering graduate, said the luxury-vehicle industry is “very competitive” in the Philippines. The Duterte administration is pushing for the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, or TRAIN Act, a taxreform package that seeks to increase taxes on several products. It seeks to double the excise tax on cars, while slapping new taxes on sugary drinks. Studies showed it could push the prices of sugar-sweetened beverages by 2 percent to as much as 140 percent, if the bill that seeks to levy P10 per liter on volume capacity passes Congress. is the tripling of exports to the United Arab Emirates [UAE] and India in April. This was the third month that receipts to UAE tripled, and the second month for India,” he added. The Neda said exports to the UAE and India grew by 286.4 percent and 204.1 percent, respectively. “We see an opportunity to strengthen bilateral ties with India, as it becomes a major player in the global economy. Their large consumer base can be an important market for Philippine products,” Pernia said. Earlier, Senate sources told the BusinessMirror President Duterte’s decision to reject grants from the EU also put at risk the future of Philippine companies that depend on the tariff-free privilege they are enjoying in exporting to Europe. The GSP+ allows the Philippines to export 6,274 products to the EU duty-free. The Philippines’s duty-free exports to the EU were worth around €1.6 billion ($1.78 billion) in 2016, according to EU delegation data.

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Isis planning to expand in Philippines—military

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HE announcement of Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon’s designation as the “emir” of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) in Southeast Asia indicates that the group is planning to expand in the Philippines. This was revealed by Major Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for civil-military operations (J-7). “So another indication of [Isis planned] expansion in the Philippines, [is the appointment of] Isnilon Hapilon by [Isis leader] Abu Bakr alBaghdadi as the emir in Southeast Asia,” Feliciano said. He added Hapilon decided to go to Lanao del Sur because of the unrelenting military operations in the traditional Abu Sayyaf areas in Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu and he saw an opportunity to establish a “caliphate” in the province with the help of Maute Group and other local bandit groups. In a television forum, Rohan Gunaratna, a Singaporean analyst on security affairs, said Isis is looking at the Philippines, especially Mindanao, after its failure to establish a caliphate in Indonesia. The terror group’s expansion started in 2014 when Isis decided to go beyond the borders of Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Middle East and look into Africa, the Caucasus and Asia, Gunaratna added. “The Philippines was selected because they could not establish a caliphate in Indonesia,” Gunaratna said. Also, in the Philippines, Isis found local bandit groups willing to support its extremist cause. These include Hapilon’s group in Basilan, Abu Sayyaf subleader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan’s band in Sulu, the Ansar Khalifa Philippines in Central Mindanao, the Maute Group in Lanao del Sur and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters to name a few. With these new alliances, Gunaratna said Isis saw an opportunity to create a new threat landscape in the southern Philippines.

Red Cross sets up basic health-care unit in Lanao

THE Philippine Red Cross (PRC) set up a basic health-care unit (BHCU) in Balo-i, Lanao del Norte. This emergency medical unit can serve up to 3,000 evacuees and patients for one month. It has 20 cot beds for patients, mainly for observations and monitoring by PRC’s volunteer health-care professionals. “The health of our people is our main concern. Through this healthcare unit, we can serve thousands of individuals, giving them basic supply of medicines, consultations and other health-related concerns. Our Red Cross staff and volunteers will never falter in helping our brothers and sisters in Mindanao,” PRC Chair-

man Richard J. Gordon said. Concentrating on the health needs of the evacuees, medical consultations for children, pregnant women, and elderly, minor surgical cases, and normal spontaneous delivery for uncomplicated pregnancy can be accommodated instantly. Basic medicines supply are also in place for the evacuees who will need it. Along with the BHCU is the mobilization of PRC ambulances. To date, thousand are still staying in several evacuation centers.

Saving lives during Ramadan

MAR AWI CITY—“Kapag nakapagligtas ka ng buhay, malaking advantage iyan,” said Oshama Ali, a volunteer from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) working for the success of the Peace Corridor. MILF leaders have chosen Oshama to act as team leader for the Joint Coordination, Monitoring and Assistance Center (JCMAC)—the body that executes the Peace Corridor. The JCMAC is composed of volunteers from the government, MILF, and Non-Violent Peace Force tasked to provide a safe route for the trapped civilians in the city. Oshama has also been serving as member of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, a body that addresses criminality and terrorism in areas with MILF presence. On the last week of May MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim with the help of Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus G. Dureza met personally with President Duterte to discuss the concept of Peace Corridor. The President immediately gave his approval for the government and MILF panels to implement the corridor. The Peace Corridor was established in the three-kilometer Banggulo Bridge to Quezon Avenue to allow rescue and relief operations. Oshama is also observing Ramadan, a time for prayer and religious devotion for all Muslims. When asked if he can manage to do heavy work while fasting, Oshama answered right away, “Okay lang ’yan, no problem. Obligation naming maglitas ng buhay ng kapwa namin.” Despite of the difficulties in bringing the trapped civilians into a safer place, the JCMAC was able to rescue 179 trapped women, men, children and elderly during its first attempt on June 4. On its second attempt last Thursday, it was able to bring 38 more civilians to safety—making it a total of 217 saved people. “Lahat ay may takot, pero ang objective is to deliver humanitarian aid. Kasi kung maka-save ka ng buhay, malaking bagay na ‘yon para sa amin,” Oshama said emphasizing the importance of saving lives. PNA

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, June 12, 2017 A3

Senator eyes law vs sources of fake news

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By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

ongress is being asked to pass a law penalizing purveyors of fake news, including ranking Cabinet officials. Citing “false claims” made by beleaguered Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II linking some senators to terrorist activities in Marawi, Sen. Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva confirmed over the weekend that he is pushing the of remedial legislation to deter “those who maliciously create and intentionally spread fake news in print, broadcast or online”. Villanueva asserted that those

who purvey such lies and fake news should not be tolerated, “most especially when the public interest is at stake”. He affirmed that he is set to submit for Senate consideration and approval a bill that would “penalize any person who maliciously creates or intentionally spreads fake news in print, broadcast media or on the Internet, including social-media web sites.”

Asserting the need to find a balance between democracy and responsibility, Villanueva explained the proposed law is intended to “strike a balance between democracy and duty to promote a high standard of ethics, especially in public service”. Villanueva firmed up a decision to file the bill “following the false claims of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre implicating some opposition lawmakers”, including Sens. Antonio F. Trillanes IV and Paolo Benigno A. Aquino, among others, in the still-raging conflict in Marawi City that prompted President Duterte to impose martial law on Mindanao. Aguirre’s fellow Cabinet members cleared the senators of the terror links—Trade Secretary Ra-

mon M. Lopez vouched for Aquino, who he said had gone to Marawi to grace a GO Negosyo event where the Department of Trade and Industry was involved, and Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana was reported to have cleared Trillanes, a former Navy officer linked to the Oakwood Mutiny during the Arroyo presidency. While Aguirre later backtracked, claiming the report linking the senators was based on “raw information”, the Justice Secretary was later reported to have issued on June 7 a written order for the National Bureau of Investigation to mount an investigation and case buildup over the alleged destabilization effort against the Duterte administration by “some senators and other opposition leaders”.

ARMY troops take a wounded Marine inside a hospital in Iligan City, as skirmishes between state forces and the Maute Group continue. PNA

Legislators, religious leaders, human-rights advocates hold day of prayer for peace By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

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ORMER and incumbent legislators, Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders, humanrights advocates and concerned citizens are calling on the public to join a “National Day of Prayer and Action for Peace and Human Rights” on Monday. In Manila, a big interfaith prayerrally will be held at the Andres Bonifacio Shrine beside the Manila City Hall from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Simultaneous actions will be held

in other parts of the country. The rally leaders, among them former Sens. Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada, members of the Makabayan Bloc in Congress, as well as Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo and Fr. Rex Reyes Jr., National Council of Churches of the Philippines secretary-general, said in a Unity Statement: “On June 12, Independence Day, we concerned Filipinos from various faiths, sectors and political affiliations, will come together in a day of prayer and action to renew the call for peace and re-

spect for human rights amid the rising tide of terrorism, martial rule and impunity that threatens to rip the nation apart. “We extend our solidarity to the victims of the Marawi siege. We condemn the deliberate acts of terror by the ISIS-inspired Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups. We call on all people to come to the aid of thousands of internally displaced persons in Lanao del Sur and nearby areas. “Likewise, we gather to show our opposition to martial law in Mindanao and possibly other parts of the country. We call for an end to

the aerial bombardment of Marawi and other conflict areas. “As the Marcos dictatorship showed, martial law is not the answer to the complex problems of Mindanao. A regime that trades Filipinos’s human rights for vague, ever-moving law-and-order goals can only add fuel to armed rebellions and set back efforts to address the roots of the conflict. Martial law will further embolden law enforcers and state-sponsored vigilante and paramilitary groups to commit even more extrajudicial killings and curtail civil and political rights.

RWM brings in global security experts Security preparations set

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ESORTS World Mani la (RWM) has engaged the services of international security experts as part of its commitment to review and tighten its security and safety protocols. “We are determined to regain people’s trust after the tragic incident last week,” said Stephen Reilly, RWM COO. “Blackpanda’s breadth of experience covers over 1,000 missions across 50 countries in six continents. They have successfully conducted peacetime advisory operations and even counterterrorist combat missions,” he added. Blackpanda specializes in crisis response, risk management and security consulting. It is comprised exclusively by individuals who have served at the highest levels of military special operations units in the US, Canada, New Zealand and the Philippines. The private security company

will comb through RWM’s security and safety protocols and practices to identify areas for improvement, recommend risk-reduction measures and guide RWM through its implementation. “ The recent breach in our security and the resulting loss of lives is truly regrettable, and we cannot let it happen again,” Reilly continued. “We will rebuild and make Resorts World better and stronger. A big part of this is to bring in world experts. We are going all out to reassure everybody—our nearly six thousand employees and their families, and the millions who come to visit—that their safety is our priority. Last week a lone gunman was able to enter the premises of RWM, engaged some scurity guards in a shootout and started a fire. Thirty-eight people, including the gunman, were killed in he incident.

DOH to local govts: Ensure for Independence Day rites safety of food in schools

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HE police in Metro Manila went on full alert starting last Sunday in preparation for the 119th Independence Day celebration on Monday. When full alert is declared, policemen are required to be at their posts at all times, and all leaves and furloughs are cancelled. Chief Insp. Kimberly Molitas, spokesman for the Metro Manila police command, said all security preparations “are now in place to ensure a peaceful and orderly observance of the holiday”. “Security protocols will be followed during the traditional [Independence Day] celebration at the Luneta Park and all other events area in the Metro [Manila] area,” Molitas added. She said that “protocols set by

the Southern Police District and event organizers during concerts shall be implemented”. With this, the National Capital Region Police Office encouraged the public to cooperate with authorities and remain vigilant in order to thwart acts of terror. “We wish to emphasize that the success of security in any event is a collective effort, hence, cooperation is requested from all stakeholders,” Molitas added. Meanwhile the three overhead train systems will offer free rides at peak hours on Monday. Light Rail Manila Corp., the Light Rail Transit Authority and the Department of Transportation separately announced that rides will be free from 7 to 9 a.m., and from 5 To 7 p.m. Lorenz S. Marasigan with PNA

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HE Department of Health (DOH) last Sunday reminded local governments to ensure that ambulant food vendors outside school premises will not be selling unhealthy foods to students. DOH Program Manager for Nutrition Luz Tagunicar said local governments should do their part in ensuring that unhealthy and unsafe food often sold by ambulant vendors will not be offered to students. “LGUs [local government units] should be the ones that would regulate these [ambulant vendors], as the these areas outside the campus are already outside the jurisdiction of school authorities,” Tagunicar said. She added safety and cleanliness of food cannot be assured among ambulant vendors, since the source

of water and even the ingredients used for the food and handling were not actually monitored prior to selling. “They don’t have access to clean water needed to cook food and wash their utensils. There is higher risk of having food poisoning or contaminated food that will be harmful to the children,” she said. She added that foods sold by some ambulant vendors like ready-to-eat food products should be monitored, since these may be lacking the necessary nutrition for children. Oftentimes, she said, they are either too sweet or too salty, or are very oily. Taguicar, a nutritionist-dietician, added excessive sugar and salt and other ingredients are being used to prolong their shelf life. PNA

Economy

A4 Monday, June 12, 2017 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

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House OKs bill allowing in-city resettlement

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

he House of Representatives has recently approved on final reading a measure establishing a local government resettlement program that will implement an onsite, in-city, or near-city strategy for informal-settler families (ISFs). In the proposed Local Government Unit-led On-Site, In-Site or Near-City Resettlement Act, House Committee on Housing and Urban Development Chairman and PDPLaban Rep. Alfredo Benitez of the Third District of Negros Occidental, principal author of the measure, said the proposal seeks to help the 1.5 million ISFs in the country, of which almost 600,000 are found in Metro Manila. The bill mandates that the relocating local government unit (LGU) shall provide other basic services and livelihood components in favor of the recipient LGU. It refers to “in-city resettlement” as a relocation site within the jurisdiction of an LGU where the affected ISFs are living. It refers to “nearcity resettlement” as a relocation site within the jurisdiction of an LGU, closer to the original location of the affected ISFs, with minimal transportation cost based on their income profile and adjacent to the LGU that has jurisdiction over their present settlement. The bill said a “People’s Plan” will be formulated by the beneficiaryassociation, in coordination with the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) with or without the support of civil-society organizations (CSOs), which shall contain a site-development plan to conform to the Comprehensive Land-Use Plan of the LGU whose jurisdiction the project site is proposed to be located.

The People’s Plan is a tool that recognizes the need for adequate consultation and participation of the beneficiaries themselves in planning their resettlement. The bill said the relocation action plan should ensure safe, affordable, decent and humane condition of relocation, incorporating therein appropriate disaster risk-reduction management and climate-change adaptation standards. The plan should also provide adequate social preparation while preventing forced eviction. Provided that primary consideration shall be given to the housing-financial scheme suggested in the plan. “On-site development” refers to the process of upgrading and rehabilitation of blighted slum urban areas with a view of minimizing displacement of dwellers in said areas, and with provisions for basic services. The bill also mandates government agencies dealing with the provision of skills and livelihood training, development of livelihood programs and grant of livelihood loans to give priority to the beneficiaries of the program. These are the departments of Labor and Employment, Social Welfare and Development, and Science and Technology, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Philippine Trade and Training Center. The bill said the LGUs, in co-

IN this file photo, residents of Estero Tripa de Gallina in Pasay City voluntarily demolish their houses in compliance with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) 3-meter-off-the-creek rule. The MMDA removed squatters near the creek to ease flooding in the metropolis.

ordination with the PCUP and concerned government agencies, should afford program beneficiaries an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process over resettlement matters. Program beneficiaries would be encouraged to organize themselves into an association for accreditation as beneficiaries or awardees of ownership rights under the resettlement program, community mortgage program, land tenure assistance program and other similar programs in relation to a socialized-housing project actually

being implemented by the national government or by the LGUs. They should also assist the government in preventing the incursions of professional squatters and members of squatting syndicates into their communities. Under the measure, the association, with the assistance of CSOs and government agencies, including the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), PCUP, National Housing Authority (NHA), City or Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office, Social Housing Finance Corp. and LGUs, should

agree on how to develop and implement the People’s Plan. The bill also seeks to amend Section 26 of Republict Act 7279, as amended, so that “urban renewal and resettlement shall include the rehabilitation and development of blighted and slum areas and the resettlement of program beneficiaries in accordance with the provisions of the Act”. The measure indicated that the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Department of Finance-Bureau of Local Government Finance should

formulate the implementing rules and regulations on the cost-sharing mechanism necessary to fully implement the provision of such other basic services and facilities. In addition to the funding sources provided under the bill, the allocation for the basic services and facilities may be taken by the LGU implementing the relocation or resettlement from the 20 percent of the internal-revenue allotment appropriated for development projects as mandated under the Local Government Code of 1991.

Govt to spend ₧10 billion for Marawi rehab–Abella ‘Bill seeking to institutionalize By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

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@alyasjah

S the government inches closer to clearing Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, of Islamist militants, it is now shifting its gear toward rehabilitating the devastated municipality. In a news briefing last Saturday, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto C. Abella said an executive order on the recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation of Marawi City, dubbed “Bangon Marawi”, is awaiting the signature of President Duterte. The rehabilitation program, designed by the Department of National Defense (DND), is a multiagency effort amounting to

P10 billion. Working alongside the DND are the departments of Trade and Industry, Education, Social Welfare and Development, Public Works and Highways, Energy and Information and Communications Technology, among others. “This will be in conjunction with the disaster-risk reduction cluster [of the Cabinet]. It should take a minimum of [about] six months and may begin after clearing the city, which should take about at least a week or two,” Abella said. Under the watch of a yet to be named undersecretary, Bangon Marawi will be carried out by the engineering brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with the purpose of assisting residents and the municipality recover from the atrocities of war. Asked why the DND was handpicked to lead the charge, Abella said its engineering brigade is the most equipped to rollout big-ticket rehabilitation programs. “Basically, they have the wherewithal in order to implement the rehabilitation program, which the President wants to be done as soon as possible,” Abella said. In spite of government troops nearing to regain the whole of Marawi City, he said its central business district will still have to undergo stringent clearing operations. Last week Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said the military encircled Marawi City’s financial borough in a bid to neutralize Maute Group terrorists nesting within. “We assure you that the President is deeply concerned for the city, the region and the island’s wellbeing. He is very hands-on to ensure that normalcy will be restored at the soonest possible time and serve people’s aspirations for a comfortable life for all,” Abella said. However, Abella did not mention where the government intends to source out the P10 billion it will use for the rehabilitation program. Also, it is not clear if the government’s Bangon Marawi is in line with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM) “Unified Plan for Marawi City”, a three-phased recovery and rehabilitation plan crafted by regional leaders. Last week Gov. Mujiv S. Hataman said the ARMM is set to roll out a rehabilitation program for Marawi City as soon as the conflict is over. The initiative, in coordination with the local government of Marawi City and the provincial government of Lanao del Sur, will run in three phases: early recovery and reconstruction (three months to one year); medium-term reconstruction (one year to six years); and long-term rehabilitation and development (six years and beyond). Hataman said the ARMM’s rehabilitation program would be culture-sensitive, as Marawi City is known to be an Islamic municipality. He said, “While the process would welcome inputs from external experts and partners, a significant part of the output would be generated through participatory planning, using tools such as focus group discussions and workshops with local communities and resources persons.”

telecommuting must be prioritized’

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he vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations urged the leadership of the House of Representatives to prioritize the passage of a measure institutionalizing the work-fromhome or telecommuting policy when session resumes on July 24. Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of Camarines Sur made a statement after the Senate has passed its own version of the bill on final reading before the 17th Congress’s adjournment sine die in May. In filing his House Bill (HB) 5630, which seeks to allow work-from-home or telecommuting policy, Villafuerte said telecommuting should now be an available option for workers, given the detrimental effects on health of spending long hours on traffic jams. He said the measure also seeks to help solve the worsening traffic congestion in Metro Manila and other urban centers. HB 5630 was reported for first reading before the House plenary and referred to the Committee on Labor and Employment. According to Villafuerte, the telecommuting work arrangement will “enhance” productivity among employees and improve public health in light of studies pointing to long commutes as a cause of chronic stress and other health disorders, such as higher blood pressure levels. “A results-oriented management technique proved to be effective in managing employees. On the side of the employees, increase in the effectiveness of workers is expected. It allows them to manage the boundaries between work and family better, as well as maximize the use freed up time from commuting,” Villafuerte said. “On the side of the employer, businesses can cut costs from electricity to office supplies,” he added. Villafuerte said adopting the telecommuting arrangement in the workplace will “offer fuller employment by increasing

the employability of circumstantially marginalized groups, such as work-from-home parents, the disabled, retirees and people living in remote areas.” Citing a CNN report on a 2012 study by the Washington University in Saint Louis, Villafuerte said long commutes are associated with higher weight, lower fitness levels and higher blood pressure—all strong predictors of heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer. “The study notes that being exposed to the daily hassles of traffic can lead to higher chronic stress that makes people vulnerable to other diseases and depression,” he said. Also, the lawmaker, citing a separate study conducted by the Japan International Coordination Agency (Jica), said traffic crisis has also been taking its toll on the economy. He said traffic costs in Manila will increase to P6 billion a day by 2030, from P2.4 billion per day in 2015. “Thus, institutionalizing new and alternative modes of working made possible through the use of modern technology is very timely in light of the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila and the increasingly unpredictable weather,” Villafuerte said. Under the Senate version, the bill ensures that work-from-home employees get fair treatment by compelling employers to provide them the same workload and performance standards, regular and overtime-pay rates, extra monetary benefits, access to training and career growth opportunities, and collective rights being received by others working in their respective employers’ premises. “We hope that our colleagues in the House would be able to act swiftly in approving this bill when the 17th Congress resumes its Second Regular Session in July as this would, on top of its many advantages, also benefit employees who have mobility restrictions, such as those with physical disabilities,” Villafuerte said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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OSG comment on martial law in Mindanao expected filed before SC By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is expected to submit on Monday its comment on the petitions filed before the Supreme Court (SC) assailing the constitutionality of Proclamation 216 placing Mindanao under martial law and suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus after the attacks by local terror group Maute in Marawi City on May 23. In an interview over the weekend, Solicitor General Jose C. Calida said the government is confident it would be able to justify before the 15-man High Tribunal the imposition of martial law in Mindanao. The High Court had ordered the consolidation of three petitions challenging the constitutionality of Proclamation 216. In a separate four-page order dated June 10, 2017 signed by SC Clerk of Court Felipa B. Anama, the SC ordered to consolidate the separate petitions filed by local Mindanao leaders, namely Lumad leader Eufemia Campos Cullamat and Women from Marawi led by Norkaya S. Mohamad, with the first petition filed by opposition lawmakers, led by Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, asking the SC to nullify the declaration of martial law in Mindanao. Named respondents to the petition were Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea, Defense Secretary and Martial Law Administrator Delfin N. Lorenzana and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff and Martial Law Implementer Brig. Gen. Eduardo M. Año. “I am confident we will be able to prove there was substantial basis, factual basis in declaring martial [law] and the petitions will be dismissed,” Calida said. Calida, who will represent the respondents in the petitions, added he would submit to the High Court on Monday his office’s comment to the three consolidated petitions seeking to strike down the proclamation. The SC set oral arguments on these three consolidated petitions from June 13 to June 15, and will also hold a preliminary conference on Monday to lay down the issues to be resolved. Two other petitions were filed by separate groups led by former Sen ators R ene Sag u isag a nd Wigberto Tañada, both seeking issuance of a mandamus that

would compel the Senate and the House of Representatives to convene jointly to review the declaration, as mandated under the Constitution. The SC has yet to act on these petitions. The two groups assailed the actions of the Senate and the House of Representaties to issue separate resolutions expressing support to the martial-law declaration. Calida said the questions raised in all petitions against the declaration of martial law were baseless. “Their denial that there is an ongoing rebellion by the combined forces of the Maute group and the Abu Sayyaf, heightened by the participation of foreign jihadists to make Mindanao a caliphate of ISIS [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria], is like saying the sun does not rise from the east. This is a symptom of psychosis since they are detached from reality,” he said. Calida also refuted the petitioners’ argument that the proclamation should be annulled, because the President acted alone in declaring martial law without consulting his Cabinet. “Nowhere in the Constitution does it state that the President’s declaration of martial law needs the recommendation or concurrence of the Defense Secretar y, or any cabinet official,” Calida added. Under Article VII Section 18 of the 1987 Constitution, the President may declare martial law and suspend the writ of habeas corpus only “in cases of invasion, rebellion or when public safety requires it”. It also provides that “Congress, voting jointly, by a vote of at least a majority of all its members in regular or special session, may revoke such proclamation or suspension, which revocation shall not be set aside by the President. Upon the initiative of the President, Congress may, in the same manner, extend such proclamation or suspension for a period to be determined by Congress, if the invasion or rebellion shall persist, and public safety requires it”. The same provision also allows the SC to “review, in an appropriate proceeding filed by any citizen, the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ or the extension thereof, and must promulgate its decision thereon within 30 days from its filing”.

2 NPA fighters surrender in Ilocos Sur

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WO members of the New People’s Army (NPA) surrendered to the Army’s 81st Infantry (Spartan) Battalion over the weekend at its headquarters in Santa Cruz, Ilocos Sur. Lt. Col. Eugenio Julio C. Osias IV, commander of the 81st IB, said they were temporarily withholding the true names of the rebels pending the processing of their integration into the government. Osias said the rebels, whom he identified through their aliases as “Gunman” and “Batman”, surrendered one M16 rifle and an M1 Garand rifle. Both are residents of Barangay Tabacda, Tubo, Abra. “Gunman” is the team leader of Squad Uno, Kilusang Larangang Gerilya (KLG) Montes that operates in the tri-boundaries of Abra, Mountain Province and Ilocos Sur. “Batman” is the team leader of Squad Dos, KLG Montes. “What drove Batman to surrender was that the protracted people’s war for almost five decades now, with the future of thousands of young people sacrificed and wasted on that war,

is now purposeless,” Osias said. “He said the government’s development projects are now gaining its momentum under the Duterte administration.” Recently, the 81st IB also facilitated the surrender of five other rebels. “Spartan Battalion will continue to advocate a peaceful resolution to the internal security problem. Despite the ongoing crisis in Mindanao, we will not cease our efforts in neutralizing the NPA rebels here in Northern Luzon in any way we could,” Osias added. Osias said 10 former rebels who surrendered in 2016 were awarded with Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) benefits amounting to P807,000 at the Ilocos Sur Provincial Capitol in Vigan City by Gov. Ryan Luis V. Singson. Sevent h Infantr y Div ision commander Maj. Gen. Angelito de Leon said the snowballing of surrenderees was a result of the persistent efforts of the soldiers in Northern Luzon for a peaceful solution to the Communist insurgency. Rene Acosta

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Monday, June 12, 2017 A5

1,379 civilians still trapped in Marawi City’s war zone By Manuel T. Cayon | Mindanao Bureau Chief

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AVAO CITY—More than 1,000 civilians are still trapped in Marawi City, which remained a war zone even as government soldiers fanned out across the city and into the crammed community at the edge of Lanao Lake to take out the strongholds of the Maute Group fighters.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Crisis Management Committee (ARMM-CMC) placed the number of trapped residents at 1,379 as the armed fighting entered its third week. The number was estimated from accounts of evacuees, rescued residents and distress calls from inside the stronghold areas of the Maute Group. The ARMM’s Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (ARMM-HEART) said it res-

cued more than 4,000 civilians in Marawi City, the day after an initial group of 40 Maute Group fighters swooped down into the city and burned buildings, including the Catholic Saint Mary’s Cathedral. Rescuers from the ARMMHEART, formed into a seven-person team, were experienced in rescue and retrieval operation, and their operations were coordinated with the region’s CMC in Cotabato City and the Provincial Management Committee of Lanao del Sur.

The rescue operations were mostly undertaken following several distress calls received and processed through the ARMM-CMC emergency hot line. The CMC said the trapped civilians in Marawi City “are vulnerable to attacks from both the terror groups and government troops”. Among those recently rescued were Aminola Disonimba, 40, and 10 other civilians who fled the Padian business district, an area controlled by the militants. “They managed to escape the peril of being trapped in the battle zone last Friday night,” the CMC added, and quoted Disonimba as saying they “braved the heavy firefight, intermittent air strikes and the strong current of the Agus River to make it to the waiting rescuers”. Disonimba’s group crossed the treacherous Agus River by swimming from Padian to the Buadi Sacayo district. “We were scared we would be hit by the next bomb. We felt secured only after we crossed the Agus,” he said in the dialect. Disonimba and his wife, Delma, 48, were in Marawi for a vacation during the month of Ramadan. The couple was staying at the house of

Disonimba’s brother in Padian. The clashes entered their 19th day last Sunday, the ARMM said, and destroyed key places in the city, including its business district. Around 240,000 individuals have also been forced out of their homes. The evacuees are mostly staying at their relatives’ houses, while some are in different evacuation centers. Disonimba’s wife said they ran out of food and had to rely on the rain for something to drink and fill their stomach. She realized they had to make the escape; otherwise, they might die of starvation. They were sent to the Lanao del Sur’s provincial capitol, along with 2,465 other evacuees, where they received medical and relief goods from the ARMM and the provincial government. Aside from the CMC in Cotabato City, the ARMM has set up operation centers in the cities of Marawi and Iligan and in the town of Malabang in Lanao del Sur “to coordinate the region’s humanitarian response to the ongoing crisis”. The ARMM said the more than 200,000 evacuees receive relief packs from the regional government every three days to four days.

11% more tourists visited PHL in Q1 By Ashley Manabat Correspondent

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FLAG CARETAKER The caretaker of the Emilio Aguinaldo Museum in Baguio City is busy preparing a Philippine flag for display on June 12 to mark the country’s Independence Day celebration. MAU VICTA

CA denies petition of residents to issue writ of kalikasan in Zambales

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HE Court of Appeals (CA) has denied the petition filed by the Concerned Citizens of Santa Cruz, Zambales (CCOSZ) for the issuance of a writ of kalikasan with temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) against all mining operations in the province. In a 15-page decision penned by Associate Justice Renato Franciso, the CA’s Former Special 14th Division also lifted the provisional writ of kalikasan issued by the Supreme Court in June 2016. The CA ruled the closure order issued by then-Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez against the operations of five mining companies in the province had rendered the petition moot and academic. “With the closure of the mining operations, there can be no unlawful act or omission that may be committed by respondent mining companies that would result in actual or threatened violation of petitioner’s constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology,” the decision read. “More important, the principal relief sought in this petition has already been accomplished, thereby

rendering the controversy moot and academic. There, thus, no more actual controversy between parties and no useful purpose can be served in passing upon the merits of this petition,” it said. In its petition, the CCOSZ claimed their constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology is being violated by five mining companies, namely Benguet Corp., Nickel Mines Inc., Eramen Minerals Inc., LNL Archipelago Minerals Inc., Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. and Shangfil Mining and Trading Corp. The petitioners said the activities of the mining companies are destroying the irrigation system and the ecosystem in Santa Cruz, Zambales and the neighboring municipalities of Candelaria, Zambales, up to Infanta, Pangasinan. The “unsystematic” practices of the mining companies, the petitioners said, are causing water, air and soil pollution, as well as heavy laterite siltation of river systems, coast, farmlands, fishponds and residential areas. Forest denudation caused by mining could also result in soil erosion and exacerbate flood prob-

lems, the petitioners said. The livelihood of residents is, likewise, adversely affected, they added. In opposing the petition, public respondent the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through the Office of the Solicitor General, invoked the joint suspension order dated July 2016 issued by the DENR, Mine Geosciences Bureau Region 3 and the Environmental Management Bureau in Central Luzon, which immediately suspended the mining operations of all respondent mining companies; thus, the application for Tepo has been rendered moot and academic. With regard to the petitioners’ allegation of violation of the DENR closure orders, the CA said the matter can be brought before the DENR, which has primary jurisdiction for the full enforcement of environmental standards in mining. “This Court, inept with specialized knowledge and expertise of the DENR, cannot be expected to render a better resolution of the purported violation by respondent mining companies, in this present recourse for writ of kalikasan,” the CA said. Joel R. San Juan

L A R K F R EEP OR T— A n 11.4-percent growth rate was noted in tourist arrivals during the first quarter of this year at 1.784 million compared to the 1.6 million tourists during the same period last year. “We can attribute this growth in arrivals to the 160,000 airline seats that were added this year with new direct flights connecting local secondary airports to China and South Korea,” Tourism Assistant Secretary Frederick M. Alegre said last Friday at the “Balitaan” media forum organized by the Capampangan in Media Inc. (Cami), in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), at the Bale Balita (House of News) here. He added that among these new f lights are the Kalibo to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu; Cebu to Wuhan, Chongqing and Chengdu, all in China; and Clark to Incheon, South Korea. Alegre said in less than a year, “We [the Philippines] already inked tourism deals with China, Cambodia, Thailand, Turkey and Russia.” He noted Chinese tourists’ arrivals in the Philippines had grown by 30.3 percent at 240,354; and US tourists grew by 11.6 percent at 258,097. Alegre said South Koreans still top the list of tourists in the Philippines with 440,865 visitor arrivals. Arrivals from Taiwan reached 64,896 or an increase of 24.6 percent; and India showed a marked improvement in arrivals by jumping 21.63 percent to 26,905, he added. Ot her top tour ism-market sources for the Philippines included Japan at 106,251, which noted an increase of 15.8 percent; Canada at 60,838 up 14.2 percent; and Germany at 29,301 tourists’ arrivals going up by 2.38 percent, he said. Alegre allayed fears of a downtrend in tourist arrivals describing the Marawi incident as “contained“ and the Resorts World Manila tragedy as an isolated incident and “just a temporary setback”.

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Agriculture/Commodities

Monday, June 12, 2017 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

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PHL seen importing more rice, meat By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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mated output of 12.11 MMT. The UN unit pegged the global milled-rice production this year at 502.6 MMT, higher than the 499.3 MMT recorded in 2016. The Department of Agriculture is targeting to produce 18.57 MMT of paddy rice this year, 5.33 percent higher than last year’s output of 17.63 MMT.

@jearcalas

he Philippines is projected to import at least 1.5 million metric tons (MMT) of rice this year, 53.33 percent more than the estimated 700,000 metric tons (MT) the country purchased from abroad last year.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) made this estimate in its latest biannual report, titled “Food Outlook: Biannual Report on Global Food Markets”. The FAO attributed the increase in Philippine rice imports to the expected expiration of the World Trade Organization’s waiver on rice this year. It also said the country will be one of the main drivers for the sustained trade of the grain in Asia. “Asia is anticipated to account for nearly all of the forecast growth, importing a total of 21.3 MMT, up 11 percent year-on-year,”

the report read. “The expansion is expected to be facilitated by the removal of import duties in various countries in the region or the reengagement of governments in imports in an attempt to keep domestic quotations under control or refurbish reserves,” it added. Aside from the Philippines, the FAO said Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are expected to expand its grain purchases this year. The United Nations unit forecasted that the total volume of rice that would be traded this year would reach 43.6 MMT, 4.81 per-

One of the top 10 urban innovations: Urban farming

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eople continue to be drawn to cities by the economic, social and creative opportunities they offer; large cities are more productive than rural areas, producing more patents and yielding higher returns on capital. However, urbanization also presents major challenges. The world’s fastest-growing cities have seen problems adjusting to growth and industrialization, choking under the burden of pollution, congestion and urban poverty. In Metro Manila we suffer from these effects on a daily basis. Urban settings magnify global threats, such as climate change (I am glad to see that almost threefourths of the US do not share the decision of Trump and will continue to implement climate-change options), water and food security and resource shortages, but also provide a framework for addressing them. If the future of cities cannot be one of unsustainable expansion, it should rather be one of tireless innovation. The World Economic Forum (WEF) came up with 10 Top Urban Innovations: n (Digitally) Re-Programmable Space n Waternet: An Internet of Pipes n Adopt a Tree through Your Social Network n Augmented Humans: The Next Generation of Mobility n Co-Co-Co: Co-generating, Coheating, Co-cooling n The Sharing City: Unleashing Spare Capacity n Mobility-on-Demand n Medellin Revisited: Infrastructure for Social Integration n Smart Array: Intelligent Street Poles as a Platform for Urban Sensing n Urban Farming: Vertical Vegetables. Many of these solutions are scalable, replicable and can be adapted to a variety of specific urban environments. Some are possible only due to new technologies, while others apply technology to ideas that are as old as the city itself. Let me focus on Urban Farming today, an innovative urban approach today, also in Manila: The UN predicts the world’s population will reach 9 billion by 2050, most of this extra 2 billion will live in cities. Feeding all these new urban residents is going to require a complete rethink of the global food system. The current system is hugely wasteful. The Ellen McArthur Foundation found that 45 percent of perishable vegetables grown in Europe are wasted before they reach the table, much of this is due to long and inefficient supply chains. Supply-chain management is an area that we have to address in

Henry J. Schumacher

europe Beat the Philippines also; I have already written about it and made suggestions. A simple way to cut a lot of waste out of the system is to move the farm. The roofs of buildings and even the walls can use soil-less, hydroponic systems to grow food right on the consumer’s doorstep. Hydroponic systems feed nutrients straight to the roots, using up to 10 times less water than traditional means. Advances in LED lights, which are now highly efficient and emit specific wavelengths for plant growth, mean that urban farms can be inside and stacked. Systems, such as Aero Farms, stack multiple trays of veggies, yielding up to 100 times more per square meter than traditional farms. Ot her compa nies, suc h as Freight Farms, upcycle shipping containers, delivering a plug and play fully working urban farm all controlled from your smartphone. They can be placed in redundant space such as car parks and stacked, instantly scaling urban food production. Aquaponic systems used by companies such as Sky Greens take the waste products of fish farms to fertilize the plants, turning fish food into carp and lettuce. In the original design for London, an area of farmland was preserved around this city. This “green belt” was conceived as a way to preserve nature while ensuring food security for the burgeoning metropolis. The new wave of urban farming can be seen as a new vertical green belt feeding the populous while also bringing nature to the city center. While we are studying these approaches and evaluate which make sense for Metro Manila, we are presently more focused on using under- and un-utilized land areas in the various cities of Metro Manila and try to make them productive to feed the street dwellers and deliver vegetables to the hotels and restaurants in the neighbourhood. We finally signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Social Welfare and Development on June 5 and get closer to the implementation of our ideas. Our initial targets will be Quezon City and Antipolo. If you want to join our endeavours, contact Schumacher@mca.com.ph

Meat imports

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cent higher than the 41.6 MMT recorded last year. The FAO also noted that the price of rice for exports has started to go up after the Philippines and Bangladesh have sent signals that it would import more rice this year. “Quotations of the most-widely traded Indica rice proved more stable during the first quarter of 2017, but have since gathered speed, amid seasonal tightness and prospects of a return of im-

portant buyers to the market, in particular Bangladesh and the Philippines,” the report read. In a separate report, the Agricultural Market Information System (Amis) reported that the increase in the price quotas of rice exports in the region was prompted by the sudden announcement of the Philippines that it would import 250,000 MT of rice. Amis is the FAO’s marketing outlook arm.

“In addition to shipments to near East Asia and parts of Africa ahead of Ramadan, underpinning came from expectations of nearterm buying interest from the Philippines, where National Food Authority stocks were at close to three-year lows,” Amis said in its “June Market Monitor” report. The FAO estimated that Philippine milled-rice production this year would reach 12.14 MMT, slightly higher than its 2016 esti-

In the same report, the FAO projected that Philippine meat production in 2017 would expand by 3.4 percent to 3.612 MMT, from 3.493 MMT recorded last year. FAO data showed pork would accou nt for more t h a n h a l f, or 53.98 percent, of the country’s total meat production this year. The countr y’s hog-meat output this year is expected to reach 1.95 MMT, 4.5 percent higher t han t he 1.866 MMT produced last year. Despite this, the FAO projected that the Philippines would purchase more meat from abroad this year. Data from the FAO showed that the country would import 552,000 MT of meat, 6.97 percent higher than the 516,000 MT it purchased last year.

DENR backs creation of bamboo coordinating agency By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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he Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has thrown its support behind a proposal to create a bamboo coordinating agency so the Philippines could seize a sizable share of the $20-billion global bamboo market. In a statement released through Growth Publishing, the Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) said the DENR supports the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 1478, or the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Act (Philbida). SB 1478 aims to create the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC). The ERDB is promoting the massive cultivation of bamboo. Being a country endowed with rich freshwater resources, the attached agency of the DENR said the Philippines has the potential to grow bamboo and establish plantations for its commercial and industrial use. Bamboos usually grow and thrive along rivers and around lakes, or any area where there’s adequate water. The Philippines has 412 principal rivers, including 18 major river basins. It also has 113 proclaimed watersheds. Bamboo poles are used for construction, while processed wood can be used for furniture and deco-

rative floors or walls to add value to a building’s interior design. The ERDB is also conducting various research and development activities to help boost the application of bamboo technologies in the Philippines. Sen. Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, the author of the bill, said the bamboo industry can generate numerous jobs and be a top exporter and dollar generator. “With only a handful of countries competing in the bamboo industry worldwide, there is a great potential for the Philippine bamboo industry to get the bigger pie in the world market and be on the top export products of the country,” Zubiri said. He added the absence of a government agency focused on bamboo hinders the development of the industry. “Currently, there is no institution that is dedicated to oversee the development of the bamboo industry. Among the impediments to realize a bamboo industry in the Philippines are the dispersed programs, unsupportive policies and lack of incentives to attract investments,” Zubiri said. SB 1478 will also create under PBIDC the Bamboo Industry Research and Development Center (BIRDC), which will promote establishment and management of bamboo nurseries, plantations and processing facilities that would ac-

celerate the production and commercialization of bamboo and various bamboo products and promote market access of its technologies and products. BIRDC will also evaluate the performance of industry programs and projects; partner with the private sector and other government and non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Philippine Bamboo Roadmap (PBR); accept grants, donations and contributions from local and international donors; and conduct capability-building initiatives for farmers, processors, designers and other 10 stakeholders. According to the ERDB, many enterprises are still using wood working, machines which are not suitable tools for processing bamboo. There is also a growing shortage of supply of bamboo raw materials. The ERDB provided technical inputs into the proposed measure through the Technical Working Group supported by bamboo experts and scientists of the ERDB, led by its director Dr. Henry A. Adornado. SB 1478 was proposed by the Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship jointly with the Committees on Finance, and Ways and Means. Zubiri said during a hearing on May 30 that Philbida is based on the targets in the PBR, which

includes scientific propagation, processing, utilization, business development and commercialization of Philippine bamboos. The PBR requires bamboo to take at least 20 percent of the annual planting materials needed in the National Greening Program. It mandates the use bamboo in the manufacture of at least 25 percent of desks and chairs in public primary and secondary schools. Zubiri said bamboo growing has important environmental benefits, absorbing carbon dioxide better than trees and provides 35 percent higher oxygen than trees. It also aids in riverbanks stabilization and erosion control. After the sponsorship speech on May 30 by Zubiri, Sens. Richard J. Gordon and Loren B. Legarda expressed their appreciation of the bill. The country’s bamboo roadmap targets expansion of bamboo nurseries with quality planting materials. It ensures propagation and breeding, site species matching and plant nutrition, soil and water- conser vat ion pract ices and encourage bamboo backyard farming. Twenty-three bamboo propagules of kawayan kiling, kawayan tinik, giant bamboo, yellow bamboo, iron bamboo and variegated bamboo, including information materials were distributed by ERDB to the senators.

Target planting seeks to save local abaca industry

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A NIL A—T he gover nment must invest in 2018 at least P731 million for planting activities aimed at helping avert the Philippine abaca industry’s projected crash in five to eight years from cutthroat competition other nations are posing. Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFida) Executive Director Kennedy Costales gave such assessment, hoping the budget department will approve such proposed amount for planting abaca next year in almost 44,000 hectares of land to meet projected local demand for this crop instead of ultimately losing the domestic market to other abaca-producing countries. “Our abaca industry will be dead in less than a decade if we don’t act now,” Costales said last Friday at PhilFida’s fourth anniversary

celebration in Metro Manila. He added local demand for abaca at present is about 90,000 metric tons (MT) and is expected to grow at around 12 percent per annum in the next five years. He noted the Philippines is only able to produce some 55,000 MT, leaving a deficit of 35,000 MT. “Abaca is a tertiary crop in the Philippines,” he said. “About 95 percent of our abaca is just intercropped with coconuts, rubber, fruit-bearing trees and other species. The abaca is shaded, resulting in this crop’s weak growth. We’re lucky to even harvest twice a year.” In Indonesia, he said, abaca is a primary crop that farmers there are able to harvest three to four times annually. Unless the Philippines shapes up, he added, Indonesia and other countries that are increasingly

producing abaca will eventually step in to meet local demand for the crop. “That’s what I want to prevent,” he said. The opportunity for other countries to conquer the Philippine market will further increase with continued decline in quality of locally grown abaca, he continued. “Something must be done to address problems plaguing our abaca production,” he said. According to Costales, the target planting of abaca must be completed by December 2018, so harvesting can begin by January 2021. It takes 18 to 24 months to initially harvest abaca, he noted. According to PhilFida, the abaca plant (Musa textilis) is indigenous to the Philippines. Abaca fiber is obtained from abaca’s leaf sheath and is consid-

ered as the strongest of natural fibers, PhilFida continued. The fiber is known globally as Manila hemp and is processed into cordage, ropes, twines, fibercraft, textiles, handmade paper and other items, PhilFida noted. PhilFida said abaca is mainly produced in Catanduanes, Leyte, Northern Samar, Davao Oriental, Sulu, Surigao del Sur, Bukidnon, Southern Leyte, Davao del Sur and Aklan provinces. Citing Philippine Statistics Authority data, PhilFida said the Philippines’s January-to-December free-on-board export earnings from abaca fiber and manufactures rose 13.5 percent to $130.34 million last year, from $114.79 million in 2015. Among the country’s abaca markets are Europe, Asia and the US, added PhilFida. PNA

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Police apply force in anti-Kaczynski protest

Qatar state oil producer says not impacted by Gulf crisis

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UBAI, United Arab Emirates—State-run Qatar Petroleum sought to reassure the public last Saturday, saying its production of oil and gas has not been impacted by tensions in the Gulf that saw several Arab states block their airspace, ports and shipping lanes to Qatar. Qatar Petroleum said it “immediately mobilized all available resources” to mitigate the impact of any action that could hamper its energy supplies to customers around the world. More than a third of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade comes from Qatar, making it the world’s largest producer and exporter of LNG. Countries across the world—including Japan, China, Pakistan, the UK, France, Turkey, Brazil and Argentina—rely on the state-run corporation for much of their energy needs. Most of Qatar’s gas exports go to Asia via sea—72 percent, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Analysts have said there are no signs that Qatar’s neighbors want to escalate the spat by blockading its ships. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries member’s daily production of oil is relatively small, around 0.6 million barrels, compared to its neighbors like Saudi Arabia, which typically produces some 10 million barrels each day. Qatar Petroleum said it “wishes to affirm that it is conducting business as usual,” adding that it remains committed to being a stable energy producer. “We are closely monitoring and assessing all developments, and are prepared to take the necessary decisions and measures, should the need arise, to ensure that we always honor our commitments and obligations to all our customers and partners locally, regionally, and internationally,” the statement said. Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain unleashed a raft of punitive measure against Qatar, severing diplomatic ties and accusing it of supporting terrorism in the region. Saudi Arabia also sealed Qatar’s only land border, a key passageway for food imports. Qatar denies it has backed extremist groups and says the allegations are based on fabricated news and politically motivated. Despite the standoff, Qatar’s gas supplies to Egypt and the UAE have reportedly not been interrupted. Qatar is extremely wealthy, generating most of its income from natural gas. The small peninsula nation is also a regional financial and aviation hub, and set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar shares control of a vast underwater gas field with Iran, which lies on the other side of the Persian Gulf. The two countries maintain diplomatic relations—a source of contention for Saudi Arabia, which views Iran as its regional foe and has worked to line up allied Sunni Arab states against it. In April, Qatar Petroleum’s President and CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi told The Associated Press that Qatar and Iran “have an excellent political relationship” as well as an “excellent technical relationship.” He also heaped praise on US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, calling him a “good friend” that Qatar had gotten to know well during his time at the helm of Exxon Mobil. AP

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ARSAW, Poland—Polish police forcibly removed dozens of people staging an antigovernment demonstration last Saturday in Warsaw, including a hero of the anticommunist Solidarity movement.

The demonstrators attempted to block a group led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the ruling conservative Law and Justice party, as it moved from a church to the presidential palace to commemorate the 2010 plane crash that killed Kaczynski’s twin brother President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. Protesters held white roses and chained themselves together to protest what they believe is the use by Kaczynski of the crash for political purposes. Police used bolt cutters to cut the chains and hauled off dozens of protesters, including Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, a leading figure of the anticommunist opposition in the 1980s. The plane crash, which occurred in Russia, is the worst tragedy to strike Poland in modern times, wiping out a swath of the political and military elite.

Official Russian and Polish investigations determined the crash was an accident, but Kaczynski has encouraged a theory that the Russians acted intentionally to kill his brother and the others. He also accuses Donald Tusk, then-prime minister and today a top EU leader, of failing to ensure a proper investigation. Amid a new investigation some of the victims have been exhumed, with revelations emerging of body parts mixed up in the wrong graves. President Kaczynski’s grave was found to include the remains of two others with him, while another grave held the remains of eight separate individuals. “The exhumations show the immensity of Russian barbarity, but also the immensity of the barbarity of the Polish authorities at the time,” Kaczynski said in a brief speech. He leads a similar ceremony evening

Polish police forcibly remove protesters staging an antigovernment demonstration in the center of Warsaw, Poland on June 10. The demonstrators gathered in an attempt to block the movement of a group led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the ruling conservative Law and Justice party, commemorating the 2010 plane crash that killed Kaczynski’s twin brother President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. AP

month, using it to denounce those he describes as enemies and traitors of Poland. Pawel Kasprzak, who heads a social movement that organized the demonstration, Obywatele RP,

said his group opposes what he called the “obnoxious” way Kaczynski has transformed an act of mourning into a “political meeting of hatred.” He said he was among more than

100 protesters forcibly removed by police, taken to a side street and told they were being charged with the misdemeanor of blocking the protest. AP

Boris Johnson denies plot to topple UK Prime Minister Theresa May

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ONDON—British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has denied plotting to topple Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been weakened by the Conservative Party’s disastrous election result. But May’s hold on power remained tenuous Sunday as she tried to finalize a deal with a small Northern Irish party to prop up her minority government. Former Treasury chief George Osborne—who was fired by May last year—called her a “ dead woman walking,” and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was ready to contest another election at any time. Johnson, one of the Conservatives’ most popular politicians,

tweeted that an article in the Mail on Sunday newspaper headlined “Boris set to launch bid to be PM [Prime Minister] as May clings on” was “tripe”. “I am backing Theresa May. Let’s get on with the job,” he said. The Conservatives lost their parliamentary majority in Thursday’s election. May called the snap vote in a bid to strengthen her mandate ahead of exit talks with the European Union. Instead, she has left Britain’s government ranks in disarray, days before the divorce negotiations are due to start on June 19. May’s party won 318 seats, 12 fewer than it had before the snap election, and eight short of the 326 needed for an outright majority. Labour surpassed expectations by win-

ning 262. Many senior Conservatives say May should stay, for now, to provide stability. But few believe she can hang on for more than a few months. “I think her position is, in the long term, untenable,” Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry told Sky News. “I just don’t see how she can continue in any long-term way.” To stay in power, the Conservatives are seeking support from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party. May’s office said Saturday principles of an agreement had been reached, but the two sides later clarified that they are still talking. “We have made good progress but the discussions continue,” said DUP leader Arlene Foster. Downing Street said it hopes to finalize the deal next week, after

Kosovo votes amid issues of border, talks with Serbia

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RISTINA, Kosovo—Voters in Kosovo were casting their ballots on Sunday in an early general election for the new 120-seat parliament. At stake are thorny issues including a border demarcation deal with Montenegro that brought down the previous government, and the approval of another deal with Serbia giving more rights to the ethnic Serb minority. The continuation of fraught talks with Belgrade—which denies Kosovo’s existence as a state—is also a key concern. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The new state has been recognized by 114 countries, including the United States and most of the EU members, but not by Belgrade. Nineteen political parties, five coalitions and two citizens’ initiatives, all promising to secure economic growth and ease Kosovars’ travel restrictions to the European Union, have nominated candidates. Among the contenders is a coalition of three major parties run by former rebel commanders. They have proposed Ramush Haradinaj, still regarded by Serbia as a war criminal, as prime minister. Others include Prime Minister Isa Mustafa’s party, which nominates former finance Minister Avdullah Hoti for leadership, and the Self-Determination Movement, the biggest opposition party to shun pre-election coalitions, which put forward their founder Albin Kurti as a candidate for prime minister. Ethnic Serbs and other minorities have 20 out of 120 seats in the parliament.

Valdete Daka, head of the Central Election Commission that manages the electoral process, called on Kosovars to vote “to show to the world we are part of democracy and know how to hold elections properly” after casting her ballot at a polling station in the capital, Pristina. “I invite all citizens, regardless of their political or ethnic affiliation, to take part in the election and vote for their future,” said President Hashim Thaci. Local and international observers are monitoring the vote. “My expectations are for free fair election in Kosovo,” said US Ambassador Greg Delawie at a polling station. Kosovo is the only western Balkan country whose citizens need visas to enter the EU’s Schengen zone. To join, Brussels insists Kosovo’s parliament must first approve a border demarcation deal signed with Montenegro in 2015. Opposition parties say that deal meant a loss of territory, over 8,000 hectares, or less than 1 percent of Kosovo’s land. The former Cabinet, international experts and the country’s Western backers dispute that claim. The Self-Determination Movement and others also oppose another deal signed in 2015 that gave more rights to the ethnic Serb minority. A further issue is the prospect of former ethnic Albanian senior rebel commanders facing prosecution in the newly established war crimes court. The court in The Hague is expected to shortly issue indictments for crimes committed against civilians during and after the 1998-1999 war with Serbia. AP

Parliament resumes sitting. The two sides are looking to form a “confidence and supply” arrangement. That means the DUP would back the government on confidence motions and budget votes, but it’s not a coalition government or a broader pact. The alliance makes some modernizing Conservatives uneasy. The DUP is a socially conservative group that opposes abortion and same-sex marriage and had links to Protestant paramilitary groups during Ireland’s sectarian “Troubles.” Conservative lawmaker Nicky Morgan told ITV that she could support a confidence and supply arrangement with the DUP, but any closer deal would be “a step too far.” The government does not have long to ink a deal. It is due to pres-

ent its platform for the next session in the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament on June 19. The speech will be followed by several days of debate and a vote—and defeat would almost certainly topple the government. Corbyn said Labour would try to amend the Queen’s Speech to include its own commitments to end austerity and boost public spending. Without the amendments, he said Labour would try to vote down the speech. “I don’t think Theresa May and this government have any credibility,” Corbyn said, predicting that there could be another election within months. “I’m ready for another general election,” Corbyn said. “This is just the first step.” AP

Macron faces test in parliamentary elections

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ARIS—French voters are choosing lawmakers in the lower house of parliament on Sunday in a vote that is crucial for newly-elected president Emmanuel Macron. A total of 7,882 candidates are running for 577 seats in the National Assembly in Sunday’s first round of the two-stage legislative elections. Top vote-getters advance to the decisive second round June 18. Polls suggest the elections will strongly favor Macron’s party and dramatically shake up French politics, punishing the traditional left and right parties and leaving no single strong opposition force. Macron’s year-old centrist movement, Republic on the Move, is seeking an absolute majority to be able to implement his campaign promises, which include simplifying labor rules and making it easier to lay off workers in hopes of boosting hiring. The government outlined the main themes of a major labor reform that has already angered French unions and is likely to prompt tensions over the summer. Macron also plans to quickly pass a law to strengthen security measures — effectively making the state of emergency permanent, after multiple Islamic extremist attacks in France — and another one that he says will put more ethics into French politics. The government needs a new Assembly in place to vote on the bills. Macron called on French voters to give him a “majority to make changes” on the night of his victory May 7. “That’s what the country wants and that’s what it deserves,” he said. A minimum of 289 seats is required to secure an absolute majority. According to the latest polls, Macron’s movement appears in a position to win potentially as many as 400 seats. The candidates of Republic on the Move include many newcomers in politics, like a retired bull-

fighter, a fighter pilot and a mathematical genius. Half of them are women. Candidates from the conservative Republicans party are expected to arrive in second position, and other parties with possibly more than 100 seats. The Socialists, who dominated the last Assembly, are expected to suffer a stinging defeat and win just a few dozen seats. In the wake of far-right Marine Le Pen’s qualification for the presidential runoff, the National Front party is expected to get its highest-ever score — but does not appear able to become the major opposition force Le Pen had hoped for. Polls project it could win about a dozen seats, in part because of a voting system that favors the biggest parties. Le Pen herself is running for a seat in HeninBeaumont in northern France. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came in a strong fourth place in the presidential vote with nearly 20 percent support, is running for a parliamentary seat in the southern city of Marseille. His movement could obtain between 10 and 20 seats. Parisian voter Thibault Gouache says he’s keen to see fresh faces in the parliament. “The most important thing is changing the people that do politics,” he told The Associated Press. Many candidates have already served multiple terms and “are disconnected to the reality of what we live on a day by day basis.” The turnout rate is expected to be low for France, with possibly only half of the voters going to the polls. To win in the first round, candidates need an absolute majority and support from at least a quarter of the district’s registered voters. Otherwise, all contenders who get at least 12.5 percent of the votes of registered voters advance to the second round. The French Parliament is made up of two houses, the National Assembly and the Senate. The legislative elections don’t concern the Senate, which is currently run by a conservative majority. AP

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Monday, June 12, 2017

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Puerto Rico mulls over status in new referendum

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AN JUAN, Puerto Rico—Puerto Ricans are getting the chance to tell the US Congress on Sunday which political status they believe best benefits the US territory, as it remains mired in a deep economic crisis that has triggered an exodus of islanders to the mainland. Congress ultimately has to approve the outcome of the referendum that offers voters three choices: statehood, free association/independence or the current territorial status. Many expect statehood supporters to crowd voting centers because three of Puerto Rico’s political parties are boycotting the referendum, including the island’s main opposition party. Among those hoping Puerto Rico will become the 51st state is Pedro Pierluisi, the island’s former congressional representative. “Let’s send a loud and clear message to the United States and the entire world,” he said in a statement last Saturday. “And that message is that, we, Puerto Ricans not only want our US citizenship, but we want equal treatment.” The referendum coincides with the 100th anniversary of the US granting US citizenship to Puerto Ricans, who are barred from voting in presidential elections and have

one congressional representative with limited voting powers. Many believe the island’s territorial status has contributed to its 10year economic recession, which was largely sparked by decades of heavy borrowing and the elimination of federal tax incentives. Puerto Rico is exempt from the US federal income tax, but it still pays Social Security and Medicare and local taxes but receives less federal funding than US states. Nearly half-a-million Puerto Ricans have moved to the US mainland in the past decade to find jobs and a more affordable cost of living as the island of 3.4 million people also struggles with a 12-percent unemployment rate. Those who remain behind have been hit with new taxes and higher utility bills on an island where food is 22 percent more expensive than the US mainland and public services are 64 percent more expensive. Those who oppose statehood warn that Puerto Rico will struggle

In this July 29, 2015, file photo, the Puerto Rican flag flies in front of Puerto Rico’s Capitol in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico’s governor is pushing ahead with his top campaign promise of trying to convert the US territory into a state via a referendum to let voters send a message to Congress. AP

even more financially because it will be forced to pay millions of dollars in federal taxes. Many also worry the island will lose its cultural identity. Sen. Eduardo Bhatia of the opposition Popular Democratic Party plans to boycott the referendum.

“To not vote in a process that has not been validated by any party in Puerto Rico, or by the US government or by anyone outside the New Progressive Party is to respect oneself,” he tweeted last Saturday. A spokesman for the US Justice

Department told The Associated Press the agency has not reviewed or approved the ballot’s revised language. Federal officials in April rejected the original version, in part because it did not offer the territory’s current status as an option.

The administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossello added it and sent the ballot back for review, but the department said it needed more time and asked that the vote be postponed, which it wasn’t. Sunday’s referendum is the fifth one for Puerto Rico. AP

To little fanfare, Muammar Trump-Comey standoff prompts alert on Russia hand Qaddafi’s son is freed in Libya

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AIRO—A son and the onetime heir apparent of Libya’s deceased former dictator, Muammar Qaddafi, was quietly released last Friday by the militia that had held him captive since the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, which ended his family’s brutal rule. In an online statement last Saturday, the militia, the Abu Bakr Sadeek Brigade of the northwestern city of Zintan, said they allowed Seif al-Islam Qaddafi to leave the city last Friday. Qaddafi’s release was a direct challenge to the extradition efforts by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, which has said Qaddafi should stand trial on war crimes charges at The Hague. He was convicted of such charges in 2015 by a Libyan court in the country’s capital, Tripoli. Friday’s move highlights the turmoil that has gripped Libya since the Arab Spring uprising. The country is mainly divided between three factions: an internationally recognized but weak government in Tripoli; a rival Islamist body, also in Tripoli; and an anti-Islamist government in the east. The chaos has turned the North African country into a criminal hub for human trafficking and weapons smuggling. Its beaches were a departure point for many of the estimated 180,000 migrants who illegally reached Italy last year. The Abu Bakr Sadeek Brigade captured Qaddafi in November 2011, a month after his father, who ruled Libya for 42 years, was publicly killed. Last Saturday the group announced that it released Qaddafi to comply with a new law issued by Libya’s eastern government, which rights activists say seeks to rehabilitate and return Qaddafi-era figures to political life. In its statement last Saturday, the militia, which says it no longer recognizes the authority of the Islamist government in Tripoli, urged other armed groups holding “political prisoners who fall under the jurisdiction of the law” to follow its lead. According to the new law, Libya’s eastern government can no longer pursue political figures such as Qaddafi, said Saleh Hashem, one of the lawmakers who helped write it, adding: “The state has given up the right to prosecute, but people can still sue them.” News of Qaddafi’s release was received with a collective shrug in Libya, where people are still struggling to cope with the effects of the uprising and the civil war that followed. Water and electricity are cut off in many parts of the country; fighting between armed groups continues to break out in some cities; and the currency has collapsed, sending prices of basic commodities higher than ever. The silence was in stark contrast with the jubilation across Libya when the son of the former dictator was seized. At that time, thousands of Libyans poured out of their homes to shoot fireworks into the air in celebration. Qaddafi’s current location and his future plans remain unclear. The Abu Bakr Sadeek Brigade could not be reached for comment. Several local news reports in Libya, however, said Qaddafi was headed to the city of Bayda, where the eastern government is based. The Bayda government is a close ally of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. They, along with Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations, seem to have been emboldened to act against their political enemies by President Donald J. Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia last month, during which he aligned himself closely with them. Just days after the visit, those three countries, along with other Arab countries, abruptly cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, a small, oilrich Arab nation they claim funds terrorism in the region. New York Times News Service

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ASHINGTON—Lost in the showdown between President Donald J. Trump and James B. Comey that played out last week was a chilling threat to the United States. Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) testified that the Russians not only had intervened in last year’s election but would try to do it again. “It’s not a Republican thing or Democratic thing—it really is an American thing,” Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “They’re going to come for whatever party they choose to try and work on behalf of. And they’re not devoted to either, in my experience. They’re just about their own advantage. And they will be back.” What started out as a counterintelligence investigation to guard the US against a hostile foreign power has morphed into a political scandal about what Trump did, what he said and what he meant by it. Lawmakers have focused mainly on the gripping conflict between the president and the FBI director he fired with cascading requests for documents, recordings and hearings. But from the headquarters of the National Security Agency to state capitals that have discovered that the Russians were inside their voter-registration systems, the worry is that attention will be diverted from figuring out how Russia disrupted American democracy last year and how to prevent it from happening again. Russian hackers did not just breach Democratic e-mail accounts; according to Comey, they orchestrated a “massive effort” targeting hundreds of—and possibly more than 1,000—US government and private organizations since 2015. “It’s important for us in the West to understand that we’re facing an adversary who wishes for his own reasons to do us harm,” said Daniel Fried, a career diplomat who oversaw sanctions imposed on Russia before retiring this year. “Whatever the domestic politics of this, Comey was spot-on right that Russia is coming after us, but not just the US, but the free world in general. And we need to take this seriously.”

No evidence

COMEY’S willingness to discuss the

threat in public was something of a change of heart. As FBI director, he supervised counterintelligence investigations into computer break-ins that harvested e-mails from the State Department and the White House, and that penetrated deep into the computer systems of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Yet, President Barack Obama’s administration did not want to publicize those intrusions, choosing to handle them diplomatically—perhaps because at the time they looked more like classic espionage than an effort to manipulate American politics. Comey’s special agents failed to react aggressively to evidence of the breach of the Democratic National Committee, spending nine months exchanging phone calls and vague warnings with young information-technology specialists at the committee while Russian intelligence agencies cleaned out the organization’s e-mails. Only when e-mails from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign began showing up on WikiLeaks and other sites did the bureau recognize the scope of the operation. Last October Comey declined to sign a statement publicly accusing Russia of meddling in the election—not because he doubted the evidence, aides later said, but because it would seem too political so close to Election Day. Now many members of Obama’s national security team say they wish they had raised the alarm about Russia earlier. And there is no evidence that the Russians have stopped. The NSA suspects that a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers, which has published tools used by the agency to breach foreign computer networks, is a front for Russia, probably the GRU, the military intelligence arm.

Central concept

THE recent leak of a classified NSA document, for which a contractor has been arrested, provided evidence that the GRU was trying to penetrate a company that provides software used to check voter registrations at polling places, perhaps to wreak havoc. That data may be useful in future races. The Homeland Security Department is also looking at new evidence of computer code buried in the electrical power grid. Russia is

believed to be behind two major attacks on Ukraine’s grid, and there are warnings that those techniques could also be turned on the US. “This is part of what the Russians call ‘new generation warfare’,” Heather A. Conley, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and an author of The Kremlin Playbook, said on Thursday. “It’s a strategy of influence, not of brute force.” The strategy’s central concept, she said, refined in attacks on Eastern European countries, is that it is “better to collapse a country from within”.

Relative ease

ERIC S. Edelman, who was an undersecretary of defense under President George W. Bush, said Russian information warfare capabilities were highly developed. “In the Cold War, the Soviet efforts in this regard were ham-handed and could be countered with relative ease,” he said. “Today, the Russians are much more sophisticated, and they see things like disinformation, propaganda and what we used to call ‘active measures’ as part of a suite of capabilities.” Graham Allison, a longtime Russia scholar at Harvard, said, “Russia’s cyber intrusion into the recent presidential election signals the beginning of what is almost sure to be an intensified cyber war in which both they—and we—seek to participate in picking the leaders of an adversary.” The difference, he added, is that American elections are generally fair, so “we are much more vulnerable to such manipulation than is Russia,” where results are often preordained. In Washington, however, the issue has become partisan, because Trump insists that any discussion of Russian meddling in the election is an attack on his legitimacy. He has dismissed the Russia inquiry as “fake news” generated by Democrats to explain their defeat. He repeated that during a news conference last Friday. “That was an excuse by the Democrats who lost an election that some people think they shouldn’t have lost,” he said.

No fuzz

TRUMP has rarely expressed concern about Russia’s role last year or its continuing efforts in Europe. Under questioning at the Senate panel hearing last

Thursday, Comey said the president never asked him after taking office what the government should be doing to protect against future Russian intervention. “There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever,” Comey said. “The Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. They did it with purpose. They did it with sophistication. They did it with overwhelming technical efforts. And it was an activemeasures campaign driven from the top of that government. There is no fuzz on that.” He added, “That’s about as un-fake as you can possibly get and is very, very serious.” Comey’s warning about the Russian threat was overshadowed by his confrontation with Trump, who fired him last month. “What we didn’t talk enough about was the purpose we were there, about Russia’s involvement and Russia’s intent, how doggedly that they tried everything humanly possible and they will continue to keep trying and hitting on us to change how we do business in America, how we elect our officials, the confidence we have in our government,” Sen. Joe Manchin III, Democratic-West Virginia, said last Friday on Morning Joe on MSNBC.

Two ways

SIMILAR warnings have been issued by others in the intelligence community, led by James R. Clapper Jr., who has sounded the alarm since retiring in January as director of national intelligence. “I don’t think people have their head around the scope of what the Russians are doing,” he said recently. But few doubt that the Russians have concluded that their attack on the American system was successful beyond their dreams—they started a scandal that has consumed the American political process. “They can win two ways,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Democratic-Rhode Island, who has been investigating the election hacking through the Senate Judiciary Committee, said last Thursday. “They can do it” trying to influence votes, “or they can get caught doing it,” and undercut confidence in the American electoral system. New York Times News Service

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Trump seen waging battle vs climate-change policies

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ASHINGTON—While President Donald J. Trump’s beliefs about global warming remain something of a mystery, his actions make one thing clear: He doesn’t consider it a problem for the federal government to solve. Trump’s recent decision to pull out of the Paris climate deal was just his latest rapid-fire move to weaken or dismantle federal initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, which scientists say are heating the planet to levels that could have disastrous consequences. Trump is waging war against efforts to curb US dependence on fossil fuels. He’s done that through executive orders targeting climate-change programs and regulations, massive proposed spending cuts and key appointments, such as Scott Pruitt as chief of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To what degree Trump will succeed remains to be seen. De-

spite the fanfare of his Paris announcement, including a pledge that his administration will halt all work on it, formally removing the US from the accord could take more than three years. Rescinding the Clean Power Plan, President Barack Obama’s signature measure to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants, likely would require three years. Trump’s budget, which would slash funding for climate research and assistance to cities preparing for weather-related calamities, needs approval from Congress, where resistance is strong. Sti l l, the shar p change in course is being felt in ways large and small, down to the scrubbing of climate-change information

from federal agency web sites. Environmentalists are predictably outraged. Even some Republicans are taken aback. “This is a repudiation of 45 years of steady improvement in the enforcement and rigor of laws to protect the environment in the US,” said William K. Reilly, who led the EPA under President George H.W. Bush and is chairman emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund. Trump’s administration reversed Obama’s moratorium on leasing federal lands for coal mining, joined with Congress to kill protections of streams from coalmining waste, stopped tracking the federal government’s carbon emissions and withdrew a requirement for more emissions data from oil-and-gas facilities. A rollback of automobile fuel-economy standards is under consideration. His proposed 2018 budget would cut climate and energy research spending in numerous agencies, including a two-thirds reduction at EPA. Trump is hardly the first president accused of favoring businesses over the environment. His belief in easing the regulatory burden on them is firmly in the Republican

mainstream. What sets him apart is his zealousness and public dismissiveness of the scientific evidence showing the Earth is warming and manmade carbon emissions are largely to blame. “This is more extreme than any previous Republican president— this is their old set of sentiments on steroids,” said David Doniger, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “There’s no orderly, reasonable inquiry into whether something makes sense and should be left in place.” At one point, Trump labeled global warming a “ hoax” concocted by the Chinese to gain an economic edge over the US Aides recently have sidestepped questions about whether he accepts the widely held scientific view about climate change. A White House statement issued this past week in response to questions from The Associated Press did not specify whether Trump believes the planet has been steadily warming, or say to what extent human activity, such as burning of fossil fuels, is responsible. “The president believes that

the climate is always changing— sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Pollutants are part of that equation,” the statement said. “The Trump administration is laser focused on clean water and clean air but also on better jobs for more and more Americans”, it added. “America cannot stand by and have the rest of the world take our wealth and tax dollars to clean up their own environment while American businesses and American families suffer the consequences in the form of lost jobs and a diminished quality of life.” Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who led the administration’s EPA transition team, said Trump and key advisers don’t necessarily reject climate science but don’t believe the threat “should be placed in the list of the top 50 things we should be worried about”. Frustrated climate researchers say the opposite is true. They point to record-setting high temperatures, melting glaciers, rising sea levels and increasingly violent storms—trends that models suggest will only worsen. But attacks on such findings

from climate-change doubters have taken their toll. Public trust in mainstream science and other institutions has eroded, and lines between fact and ideology have blurred, said David Victor, a Brookings Institution specialist on energy security and climate. Trump could encounter trouble if his retreat from the climate fight doesn’t restore lost jobs in coal mining and energy production, Victor said. The president has made reversing the decades-long decline in coal mining the central tenet of his environmental policy, blaming federal regulations for job losses. Federal statistics show coal mining accounted for only 51,000 jobs nationally at the end of May, up just 400 jobs from the prior month. Many economists say technology and cheap natural gas are the biggest causes of the coal industry’s slump. But Trump’s focus on regulations remains popular in coal country. “We support the direction the administration is going,” said Betsy Monseau, CEO of the American Coal Council. “It’s very important to us over the longer term to preserve a path for coal and coal utilization in this country.” AP

Rallies vs Islamic law draw counterprotests across US China ponders public morality

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EATTLE—Demonstrators at small, but raucous, gatherings around the country last Saturday raised the specter that extremist interpretations of Islamic law might somehow spread across the US, but many of the rallies drew even more boisterous counterprotests by people who called such fears unfounded. Hundreds of counterprotesters marched through downtown Seattle, banging drums, cymbals and cowbells behind a large sign saying “Seattle stands with our Muslim neighbors”. Participants chanted “No hate, no fear, Muslims are welcome here” on their way to City Hall, where dozens of anti-Shariah protesters rallied. A phalanx of bicycle police officers kept the sides separated during the sanctioned events, but authorities said a large fight broke out after the gatherings concluded. The police used tear gas to disperse rowdy demonstrators and arrested three people for obstructing law enforcement.

Scuffles break out

IN front of the Trump building in downtown Chicago, about 30 people demonstrated against Islamic law and in favor of President Donald J. Trump, shouting slogans and holding signs that read “Ban Sharia” and “Sharia abuses women”. About twice as many counterprotesters marshaled across the street. A similar scene played out in a park near a New York courthouse, where counterprotesters sounded air-horns and banged pots and pans in an effort to silence an anti-Shariah rally. In Saint Paul, Minnesota, state troopers arrested about a half-dozen people when scuffles broke out at the close of competing demonstrations at the state Capitol. “The theme of today is drowning out racism,” said New York counterprotester Tony Murphy, standing next to demonstrators with colorful earplugs. “The more

booth to give rally participants on either side a chance to speak with a Muslim. “American Muslims support the American values and freedoms we all cherish,” said Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The marches come amid a rise in reports of anti-Muslim incidents in the US, including arson attacks and vandalism at mosques, harassment of women wearing Muslim head coverings and bullying of Muslim schoolchildren.

Handful of cities

A woman holds a sign that reads “My Sharia Knows No Hate” during a counterprotest to an anti-Islamic law rally on June 10 in Seattle. Rallies against Islamic law have drawn larger counter-rallies in some US cities. AP

racists get a platform, the more people get attacked.” The rallies, held in more than two dozen US cities, were organized by ACT for America, which claims Islamic law is incompatible with Western democracy. The organization said it opposes discrimination and supports the rights of those subject to Shariah. However, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, calls it the largest American antiMuslim group. “I don’t believe Islam can peacefully coexist with the Constitution,” said Seattle anti-Shariah demonstrator Aaron Bassford, 29. “We need unity in this country under no ideology and no banner except the Constitution of the United States of America.”

Only a few

BUT the overwhelming majority

of Muslims don’t want to replace US law with Islamic law, known as Shariah, and only “radical extremist groups” would call for that, said Liyakat Takim, a professor of Islamic studies at McMaster University in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Ontario. Shariah, Takim said, refers to guidelines or principles—how Muslims should live. Fiqh refers to jurisprudence, or specific laws. The values embedded in Shariah do not change and are shared among Muslims, he said, while fiqh is open to interpretation and change, and in fact differs among Islamic sects and communities. “The Koran allows slavery. So does the Old Testament. That doesn’t mean we allow it today, too,” Takim said. “Laws are amenable to change.” In Seattle activ ists set up an “Ask an American Muslim”

IN California small, but raucous, demonstrations were held in a handful of cities, including San Bernardino, where a husband and wife inspired by the Islamic State group killed 14 people and wounded 22 in a 2015 shooting attack. Clusters of protesters and counterprotesters gathered on four corners of an intersection at a memorial to the slain, yelling and waving American flags and posters proclaiming various causes. Anti-Islamic law demonstrators marched past the building where the shootings occurred. “There’s an anti-Trump, a proTrump, anti-extremists, so there are a variety of messages here,” San Bernardino police Spokesman Eileen Hards said. “There are so many messages going on that I’m not sure who’s who.” Anti-Islamic law protester Denise Zamora, 39, said she and others in her group were not opposed to all Muslims. “We’re anti-Shariah. We’re antiradicals,” the Upland woman said. She added, of Shariah: “It’s coming in very slowly, and a lot of the refugees are bringing that ideology here. All of it is just barbaric.” About 300 people attended San Bernardino’s rallies. Three were arrested on suspicion of vandalism for smashing windows of two cars, Hards said. AP

after video of gruesome death

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EIJING—A speeding taxi knocks the pedestrian off her feet, sending her hurtling through the air. Dozens of people stand gawking or walk past, as if the young woman sprawled in the busy intersection simply doesn’t exist. A full minute passes, and another speeding vehicle, this time an SUV, tramples the prone woman. Her unconscious body churns under its large wheels like a lumpen sack. After a grainy video of a traffic accident in the city of Zhumadian surfaced on Chinese social media this past week, the initial reaction was one of outrage directed at the more than 40 pedestrians and drivers who passed within meters of the woman, all failing to offer help. But for many Chinese, the video was something more: a 94-second reminder of their society’s deep rot. Even as China presents itself outwardly as a prosperous rising power, around kitchen tables and in private WeChat groups, Chinese citizens routinely grumble about a nation that’s gone bankrupt when it comes to two qualities: suzhi, or “personal character”, and dixian, literally “bottom line”—or a basic, inviolable sense of right and wrong.

Zhumadian incident

HERE, the common refrain goes, is an unmoored country where manufacturers knowingly sell toxic baby formula and fraudulent children’s vaccines. Restaurants cook with recycled “gutter oil” and grocery stores peddle fake eggs, fake fruit, even fake rice. Many Chinese say they avoid helping people on the street because of widespread stories about extortionists who seek help from passers-by and then feign injuries and demand compensation—perhaps explaining the Zhumadian incident.

“It’s a problem with the entire country: our moral bottom line has fallen so low,” Tian You, a novelist based in the southeastern city of Shenzhen, said by phone. “If I’m truly honest, I wonder, would I myself have dared to help the woman?” After the Zhumadian video surfaced this week, garnering more than 5 million views in its first 24 hours before being censored, local police were forced to disclose that the accident took place weeks earlier, on April 21. The woman, surnamed Ma, died, while the two drivers who hit her were held under investigation, the police said, without giving further details.

Polluted haze

THE news swept through social media and even state media outlets. The Communist Youth League, an influential party organization, circulated the video on its Weibo account, urging its 5 million followers to “reject indifference”. An opinion column on china.com, a state media organ, asked citizens to “reflect” on the tragedy. Others used the episode as a starting point to vent about social ills. “Like the polluted haze facing our country, we see boundless corruption, left-behind children, medical disputes and so forth,” a columnist in the Chengdu Economic Daily wrote. “Have our society’s morals gotten better or worse in the last 10 years? What about our future, are you confident about that? Don’t ask me, because I’m not.” Public concern about China’s morals has reached back decades and across age groups. Ever since China began its free market reforms in the 1980s, older citizens have frequently griped about its moral decay and profess nostalgia about a more innocent socialist era, while younger, worldly Chinese wonder why fraud and fake products aren’t as rampant in other countries. AP

Police release photos of London Bridge attackers’ fake bomb belts

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ONDON—The London Bridge attackers wore fake suicide belts to create “maximum fear” as they carried out their rampage, the police said last Sunday. The Metropolitan Police released photographs of the blood-splattered belts, which were made from plastic water bottles wrapped in duct tape.

Attackers Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba wore the belts when they mowed down pedestrians on London Bridge then stabbed people in nearby Borough Market on June 3. They killed eight people before being shot dead by the police. Police Commander Dean Haydon said the attackers may have worn the

belts because they planned to take hostages, “or it might be that they saw it as protection from being shot themselves”. Geoff Ho, a Sunday Express journalist who was stabbed and injured in the attack, described in the newspaper how he tried to stop the attackers entering a bar packed with people.

Ho said “their eyes were full of rage”, and he feared they were about to blow themselves up. “I couldn’t just attack,” he wrote. “If I charged at them, maybe I could take out one or two. But one of those animals could detonate and kill us all.” Ho was stabbed in the throat by Butt. He credited his martial arts

training with being able to fight off the attack enough to avoid being killed. The police are still appealing for witnesses as they piece together details of the attack. They say the attackers may have planned even worse carnage. Butt tried to rent a 7.5-ton box truck, but his payment was declined and he

rented a smaller van instead. The police found petrol bombs and blowtorches in the van, which crashed on the bridge. The police are questioning six men over suspected links to the attackers, Pakistani-born British citizen Butt, Moroccan Redouane and Zaghba, an Italian national of Moroccan descent. AP

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Toshiba to cough up $3.68 billion for Westinghouse reactors in US

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IN this January 30 file photo, a man walks past an advertisement of Toshiba Corp.’s products in Tokyo. The future of Toshiba Corp. is imperiled, as the 140-year-old Japanese energy and electronics colossus mulls over selling its prized computer-chip operations to stay afloat. AP

OKYO—Money-losing Japanese nuclear and electronics company Toshiba Corp. will pay $3.68 billion toward the construction of two reactors in Georgia by its US unit Westinghouse, which has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Tokyo-based Toshiba said last Saturday that the payment, under agreement with the operator of the Vogtle plant, will be made from October through January 2021. Toshiba said the expense has already been figured in its earnings.

Toshiba reported a ¥950-billion ($8.6-billion) loss for the fiscal year ended March. Paul Bowers, chief executive of Georgia Power, the utility working with Westinghouse to expand Vogtle, welcomed the deal.

briefs three u.s. soldiers killed, 1 wounded in AfghanistaN KABUL, Afghanistan—Three US soldiers were killed and another was wounded last Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, the Pentagon said. An Afghan official said the deaths and injury stem from an attack by an Afghan soldier, who also died. In a statement from Washington, the Pentagon didn’t provide details about what led to the deaths of the US soldiers. It said the incident was under investigation. A spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar province, Attahullah Khogyani, said in a statement that the attack took place in the Achin district. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. AP

gulf nations seen to let some qataris stay amid diplomatic rift

DOHA, Qatar—Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have signaled they may allow some Qataris to stay in their countries amid a diplomatic rift with the Gulf nation. The three Gulf nations said early Sunday that officials would consider “humanitarian cases” as a deadline looms for Qataris to return home. On June 5 the countries cut diplomatic ties to Qatar and ordered all Qataris out within 14 days. Qatar has issued an overnight statement saying residents living in the country from those nations that severed ties would have “complete freedom” to stay. AP

gunmen kill two police in pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan—The police say gunmen have shot and killed two officers and wounded two other people in a hit-and-run attack in southwestern Pakistan. Police Spokesman Shazada Farhat says two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire last Sunday on a police post in Quetta, killing one officer on the spot and wounding two others before fleeing. He says one officer died on the way to hospital while the other is in critical condition. Farhat says a bystander was also wounded. AP

greek village evacuated after lignite mine collapses

THESSALONIKI, Greece—Dozens of villagers in northwestern Greece have evacuated their homes after a lignite mine nearby collapsed. All 182 inhabitants of the village of Anargyroi have been housed in hotels after leaving their homes, some of which are already collapsing in the unstable soil, a village official told The Associated Press. The government had warned six years ago that the mine posed a threat and the village should be relocated. State-owned electricity company PPC said last Saturday the mine had been in operation until June 3, when it was shut down for safety reasons. AP

“We are pleased with today’s positive developments with Toshiba and Westinghouse that allow momentum to continue at the site while we transition project management from Westinghouse to Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power,” he said, referring to his company and its parent. Costs in the nuclear industry have ballooned since the March 2011 nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan, as safety requirements get tougher and the construction of the Westinghouse reactors has fallen behind schedule. Toshiba is still in similar talks over a South Carolina plant about such payments. Toshiba’s shouldering Westinghouse’s costs was part of the initial 2008 reactor construction deal, and the latest agreement sets the maximum for the payment, according to Toshiba. Toshiba’s earnings reports have failed to get endorsements from its auditors, given the company’s precarious finances over the US projects. The reports are being given as projections, not results. To stay afloat, Toshiba has been trying to sell its lucrative computer-chip business. Even that effort has not gone smoothly. Toshiba is wrangling with Western Digital of the US, which has acquired some SanDisk operations, including a joint venture with Toshiba in Japan. Toshiba President Satoshi Tsunakawa has acknowledged the company strategy based on Westinghouse was a mistake, but has stressed he doesn’t think Western Digital can block Toshiba in the chip sale. Nuclear power will continue to be a major part of Toshiba’s shrinking business. It is still responsible for more than a dozen plants in Japan, including decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where three reactors sank into meltdowns after the 2011 tsunami, in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. AP

Dutch police on car incident: No indication of terror attack

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RUSSELS—A car struck pedestrians around Amsterdam’s main train station last Saturday, injuring eight people. There was “no indication whatsoever” it was an extremist attack, the police said. Six of the injured were hospitalized, with two of them in serious condition, police Spokesman Marjolein Koek said. “There is no indication whatsoever that this is a terrorist attack,” Koek added. Amsterdam police later tweeted that, apparently, the driver had been unwell. “Talked to the suspect. Doesn’t appear to be intentional, rather getting sick. Obviously we continue the investigation to exclude other options”. The police said the driver was parked in a place where he wasn’t allowed to stop and drove off when approached by police and ran into a wall. The incident received immediate widespread attention after several extremist attacks in Europe over the past year involving vehicles, including one in London last week. The first images from the Amsterdam incident area showed a major police presence around the railway station with first aid responders treating one person. A black car was shown to be slightly damaged against a low retaining wall close to the station. AP

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AseanMonday BusinessMirror

Thai prosecutors confident of catching Red Bull heir

In this image made from video, Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, whose grandfather cofounded energydrink company Red Bull, waits to enter a London residence on April 5. AP

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ANGKOK—Thai law-enforcement officials say they don’t know where the son of one of the country’s wealthiest families has escaped, but they’re confident they’ll catch Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya before the statute of limitations runs out in a deadly hit-and-run case. Prosecutors held a news conference last Friday to assure the public they’re going after the highprofile fugitive whose grandfather cofounded the Red Bull energydrink brand. The case has prompted public fury over the appearance of corruption and impunity. The attorney general’s spokesman, Prayuth Bejraguna, said his agency cannot allow the case to have a negative impact on the country’s judiciary system. But Prayuth offered no specifics about how they will go about finding Vorayuth, and Amnat Chotchai, the head of the attorney general’s foreign division, said, “While we do not know his whereabouts, there are documents that we could prepare in advance.” He was referring to papers filed by prosecutors in a criminal case. Authorities delayed prosecuting Vorayuth after the 2012 hit-and-run

that killed police Sgt. Maj. Wichean Glanprasert until earlier this year, when The Associated Press (AP) published an expose showing Yoovidhya had been enjoying his Bangkok-based family’s jet-setting life for years, flying around the world on private Red Bull jets, staying at $1,000-a-night resorts and keeping a black Porsche Carrera at his family’s luxury vacation home in London. Since the report, authorities issued an arrest warrant, revoked his passport and promised to ask Interpol to issue a “Blue Notice” advising officials in 190 countries that Vorayuth is wanted. The police have yet to submit the request, and would not answer questions on Friday. Yoovidhya refused to comment earlier this year when AP asked him why he hadn’t shown up for court dates in Thailand as required. He flew to Singapore just before an arrest warrant was issued, and has reportedly since left that country. When asked if authorities in Singapore know where he went, Prayuth said last Friday that making any details public could negatively impact their ongoing investigation. The hit-and-run charges expire in September. AP

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Monday, June 12, 2017 A11

Asean celebrates five decades

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ANOI—A sense of regionalism was one of the greatest achievements of the Asean over the last five decades and will remain critical for its integration in the future, experts said during an international workshop named “Geo-political transition in the Asia-Pacific and the half-century road of Asean” held in Hanoi on Friday.

Around 70 scholars and diplomats of Asean nations discussed and exchanged their views on what the largest bloc in the Asia-Pacific region has achieved since its establishment in 1967 and what challenges await it in the future. The workshop was jointly organized by the Asean Institutes for Strategic and International Studies, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Researcher Andrew Wiguna Manton from Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies

said the Asean helps maintain stable regional order, pulling great powers, like the United States or China, into the regional habits and ways of communication, while at the same time creating a sense of regionalism. Asean was originally formed of only five countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, at a time when disputes and conflicts shadowed the Southeast Asia region. “But all 10 countries now hold hands together in a single organization: Asean”, said Vu Khoan, former

Vietnamese deputy prime minister. It marked one of the biggest changes in the region compared to half-a-century ago, when the region was doomed under Indochina wars, until 1991 with the Paris Peace Accords marking the end of the Cambodian war, Khoan said. “The picture was completely changed then. There were no longer wars between countries in the region,” he said.

Asean outlook

ASEAN as a whole, Khoan said, would face economic hurdles in the near future. Members of the regional bloc had enjoyed fast growth since the end of the 20th century, due to their quick integration into the Third Industrial Revolution, restructuring their economies with the boom of information technology while embracing regionalism and taking advantage of globalisation trends, the former deputy prime minister said. “With the upcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution, the question is whether Asean can get a hold of change when inventions and innovations are largely unseen in the region,” he said. “Asean, which has benefited much from open economics, will also have

to figure out their economic stance, as protectionism is surfacing as a new global trend.” Dr. Suchit Bunbongkarn, a senior fellow at the Thailand’s Institute for Security and International Studies, pointed out that Asean is now trapped in a world of security uncertainties, with the heated Korean peninsula conflict in the Northeast Asia, the South China Sea dispute, the threat of terrorism, particularly the spread of the Islamic States in the Philippines and cyber security. The uncertainty of the US security role in the Southeast Asia and the rise of China were among the top security concerns for Asean nations, he said. “On one hand, Chinese investment is beneficial in economic terms to the Southeast Asian mainland. On the other hand, it raises a serious concern among Asean members over the possible Chinese economic and cultural domination,” Bunbongkarn said. In such context, Khoan said, Asean members must try to balance their national and common interests. “In the times of conflicts, we should reach a common voice, a common interest. We all are on the same Asean boat. If the boat sinks, we all sink together,” he said. VNS

Two new cases of Zika confirmed by Singapore

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INGAPORE—Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) said last Friday two locally transmitted Zika virus infection cases have been confirmed at Parry Avenue. The Zika cluster was notified on Tuesday, and vector control operations are being carried out, according to the NEA. Residents and stakeholders are urged to maintain vigilance and continue to eliminate mosquito-breeding habitats, as there could still be asymptomatic or mild, undiagnosed cases which might result in further transmission of the virus if there are mosquitoes in the vicinity. The NEA has been conducting

preventive inspections in the vicinity before the cluster at Parry Avenue was notified to detect and destroy any potential mosquitobreeding habitats. Residents are requested to allow NEA officers to carry out inspections and indoor spraying of their homes. The NEA urges all residents and stakeholders to maintain vigilance and take immediate steps to eliminate mosquito-breeding habitats. Zika is a virus transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which could cause birth defects for pregnant women. As of Friday afternoon, Singapore has recorded 37 reported Zika cases in 2017. Xinhua

Cambodia charges Australian with spying for using drone

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HNOM PENH, Cambodia— An Australian filmmaker in Cambodia was charged with espionage last Friday after being arrested for flying a camera drone over an opposition party campaign rally. James Ricketson was charged with collecting information prejudicial to national defense, which is punishable by five to 10 years in prison, Phnom Penh Municipal Court Spokesman Ly Sophana said. Ricketson, 68, was arrested on June 3 after filming the last day of campaigning for local elections a day earlier. The ruling party of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen won a majority of the commune council seats.

It was unclear until Friday whether R icketson had been arrested for flying a drone without official permission, breaking immigration laws, or violating the national security statute. The article under which he was charged defines his offense as “Receiving or collecting information, processes, objects, documents, computerized data or files, with a view to supplying them to a foreign state or its agents which are liable to prejudice the national defense”. The government has been critical of media it considers sympathetic to the opposition, and Ricketson was known for filming the activities of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. AP

ARTS FEST Women in traditional dress wait for a parade during the Bali Arts Festival in Bali, Indonesia, on June 10. A monthlong annual festival started last Saturday. AP

Church: Papua riot sparked by military burning Bibles

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AKARTA, Indonesia—A major church in Indonesia’s predominantly Christian Papua province said a riot in the provincial capital last month was sparked by the military burning Bibles, contradicting the police account of events. A report by the Evangelical Christian Church in Papua said a priest and another man from a local congregation took photos of burnt New Testament Bibles at a military base in Jayapura and took several away as evidence. It said the two men and city officials unsuccessfully tried to calm the crowd that gathered outside the base on May 25 after reports of Bible burning spread on social media. Protesters threw rocks, burned tires and blocked a road as they demanded that soldiers be handed over to them for punishment. At the time, the police said the soldiers had burned rubbish and distributed photos of a mass of burned materials that included a book on theology that they annotated with text saying “this is not the Bible”. The militar y’s spokesman in Papua, Teguh Pudji Rahardjo, on Thursday acknowledged that Bibles had been burnt but said it was an accident that was still being investigated. He said some bibles and theological books that had been brought from Java for

distribution to Christians in Papua were inadvertently mixed in with rubbish that was cleared out of the base’s mess. “Like all Indonesians, we as members of the Indonesian Military are religious people, and we respect all religions,” Rahardjo said. The incident is indicative of the tensions that simmer in Indonesia’s two easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua, which are culturally and ethnically distinct from the rest of the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago, the world’s most populous Muslim nation. A low-level insurgency and resentment at Indonesian rule has endured since the 1960s, when Indonesia annexed the region. It restricts foreign journalists from reporting in both provinces. Jayapura’s chief of police was bruised in an attack by protesters, and his aide was hospitalized with stab wounds and an injured nose and jaw, according to both church and police accounts. Three protesters suffered gunshot wounds when police and troops dispersed the crowd. The police statement said a water cannon was used, but the church’s report said two armored vehicles from the military base had fired at the crowd. The Evangelical Christian Church in Papua has about 600,000 members and dates its origins to German missionaries in the 1850s. AP

Indonesia sentences Singapore suspects

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AKARTA, Indonesia—Six Islamic militants accused by Indonesian police of plotting to fire a rocket at downtown Singapore from a nearby island were sentenced to prison last Wednesday on charges of harboring and training extremists. Judge Tarigan Mudalimbong said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the rocket plot. Instead, the court found the men guilty of violating Indonesia’s antiterrorism law by hiding two Chinese Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs), who were trying to join an extremist group in Poso on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and by setting up a jihadi training camp. The group’s leader, 32-yearold Gigih Rahmad Dewa, was sentenced to four years in prison, and the other men were each sentenced to three years. Mudalimbong said the defendants’ actions were an “inexcusable attack on society”. The six men were arrested last year on Batam island, about 25 kilometers southeast of Singapore. Police said instant messaging chats between them and Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian fighting with the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, indicated they wanted to fire a rocket at the predominantly Chinese city-state. But the police failed to establish that the plan was more than talk. Naim has been linked to numerous plots and attacks in Indonesia, including a May 24 double suicide bombing in Jakarta that killed three police officers and the two bombers. Mudalimbong said the six men had pledged allegiance to IS group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and set up a jihadi training camp in Batam in an attempt to expand their extremist group, which was known as Katibah Gonggong Rebus. AP

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A12 Monday, June 12, 2017

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With U.S. President Donald Trump’s exit from the accord in Paris to curb climate change

PHL may depend on China for support

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

he Duterte administration may have to bank on its newfound friendship with China for financial and technical support to combat climate change, after US President Donald J. Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement.

“It will have a big impact. Globally, [besides] China, the United States is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse-gas emission. The US is also one of the biggest contributor in terms of funding for the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change]. With US President Donald J. Trump withdrawing, it means the US will not be forced to cut down its carbon emissions and its development track will continue. This also means that the funding for the UNFCCC may be withdrawn by the US,” said the Philippine official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on behalf of the Philippine government on the issue. The official, who is familiar with the Paris Agreement, added the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impact of climate change. No less than the Philippines’s C l imate Change Commission (CCC), the countr y’s climatechange coordinating body, said in its official statement the Philippines is deeply troubled by the decision of the US to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. According to the official, the Philippines, which has among the least contribution to greenhousegas emission, will benefit from financial and technical support promised by developed countries under the Paris Agreement. The deal aims to reduce carbon emission to limit global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees between 2020 to 2030, and provide support to nations that are highly at risk to climate-change effects. “If the US signs and ratify the Paris Agreement, vulnerable countries, like the Philippines, can demand for financial support from

the United States. Without the US, we will have to depend on China for financial and technical support,” the official said. What the Philippines and other vulnerable nations can do is pressure the US to honor the Paris Agreement, he added. The official said that with Trump’s withdrawal to the UN climate treaty, other countries, even China, might eventually withdraw commitment to the Paris Agreement. “If that happens, the treaty collapses,” the official warned.

Appeal to US

Appealing to the US government to reconsider its position, the CCC said the US, one of the world leaders, would have played a key role in creating the muchneeded global paradigm shift toward a more climate-resilient and climate-smart future. “The Philippines, as one of the most vulnerable countries to the adverse effects of climate change, affirms its commitment to the Paris Agreement. We recognize the need for all countries to work together to address the increases in global temperature, which have resulted and will continue to result in more intense and frequent typhoons and droughts for the Philippines, threatening the security of our people, the food and water needed to sustain them, and their livelihoods,” the statement read. Early last week civil-society organizations led hundreds of Filipino communities on the forefront of the climate crisis to assert the protection of human rights and the environment in time for the celebration of the World Environment Day. The Green Thumb Coalition (GTC), a network of local and

Protesters gather outside the White House in Washington on June 1 to protest President Donald J. Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate-change accord. AP/Susan Walsh

national groups for the environment, organized a “green freedom space” on Timog Avenue Rotonda in Quezon City, where various organizations and individuals expressed their calls concerning the environment, the climate and development. In a media statement, Norie Garcia, head of the GTC Secretariat, enjoined the public in affirming their constitutional right to a healthful and balanced ecology, and urged the government to fulfill its mandate and prioritize the welfare and livelihood of the Philippines in its policies. After a motorcade depicting the current status of the planet and various issues affecting the people, the activity culminated in an assembly in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources building. “We challenge the government to silence the doubts concerning the rejection of former Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez by continuing the initiatives pursued by the [environment] department, not just on mining, but also on other issues, like curbing emissions, clean energy, waste management, protecting biodiversity and reforestation,” Garcia added.

The group also criticized Trump for walking out of the Paris climate agreement, saying it was a blatant neglect of the US’s historical responsibility in the climate crisis.

Vulnerable communities

Pascualito Ilagan, a Tacloban resident and survivor of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), in a statement, expressed his frustration over the US’s exit from the climate accord. A me mb e r t he Ph i l ip pi ne Movement for Climate JusticeTacloban (PMCJ Tacloban), he said climate-vulnerable communities are still paying for the cost of the destruction of the climate, four years after Yolanda, one of the world’s strongest and deadliest typhoon, hit the Philippines. “We suffered death and destruction due to Yolanda, followed by poverty and displacement due to the failed rehabilitation efforts from the part of the government. Now it seems that justice is still [out of touch] for the people devastated by Yolanda, as the primary culprits of this deadly climate are walking out from their responsibility,” Ilagan said. “The US exit is unacceptable, as it has not finished delivering reparations for us and for many others

who have suffered from [effects of] climate change,” Ilagan added. Gerry Arances of the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development said the backlash of the international community and world leaders after Trump’s announcement of the US’s Paris deal exit was a reflection that decision runs contrary to the international consensus on climate and energy. “Globally, the price of solara nd w i nd- energ y tec hnolog y have drastically gone down because of an upsurge in investment on renewables,”A rances said. “And there’s the shifting energ y policies from coa l by countries across the world, with the US even responsible for a significant part of the 64-gigawatt retirement of coal plants from industrialized countries.” “ This exit is a blatant denial of the reality of climate change, and will ser ve not even US citizens, who also face widespread pollution and climate disasters in their countr y. This will only serve coal companies which feel threatened by decreasing investments and support for fossil fuels,” Arances added.

Group dares Duterte

GTC noted President Duterte,

who has previously bashed the US and other developed countries for their historical role in contributing to the climate crisis, signed the Paris climate deal last March, giving in to the pressure from affected communities, civil society and voices within the government. Sa n l a k as Secret a r yGenera l At t y. A a ron Ped rosa d ared Duter te to condemn Tr ump’s move. T he US chief executive had prev iously praised Duter te for h is “u nbel ievable job on t he d r ug problem” in t he Ph i l ippines. “If President Duterte is on the side of his constituents in the issue of climate, we urge him to demand from the US to honor their obligations to the climate [agreement] and the Philippines, [which is] still among the top f ive most c limate-v u lnerable countries,” Pedrosa said. “By w ithdraw ing from the Paris Agreement, the US has once again turned its back on its responsibility to the Filipino people. In doing so, Trump has signed a death warrant for vulnerable countries, like ours, who are at the receiving end of the r ich countr ies’ unabated GHG [ g reenhouse-gas] emissions,” Pedrosa said.

Trump’s claim that US is cleanest lacks support from studies W ASHINGTON—President Donald J. Trump said the US “will continue to be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly countr y on Earth ” as he announced a US pullout from an international accord designed to curb climate change. But facts muddy that claim. Data show the US is among the dirtiest countries when it comes to heat-trapping carbon pollution. One nation that has cleaner air in nearly every way is Sweden. “The US is well behind other countries in having the cleanest and most sustainable environment,” University of Michigan environmental scientist Rosina Bierbaum said in an e-mail. The US emits more carbon dioxide (CO 2) than any other nation, except China. In 2014 the US spewed 237-times more carbon dioxide into the air than Sweden, according to figures by the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“O n pret t y muc h a ny c l im at e - r e l at e d i n d i c at o r, t h e US w i l l not look good,” said Glen Peters, a Nor weg ian climate scientist who is par t of the Globa l Carbon Project that ranks worldw ide emissions. The US is No. 2 in per-person CO 2 pollution, behind Luxembourg, among 35 developed nations, plus China, India and Brazil, Energy Department data show. That’s 19.1 tons (17.3 metric tons) of CO 2 per year for the average American, compared with 4.9 tons (4.5 metric tons) for the average Swede. Taking into account economics, the US ranks 10th highest in carbon pol lution per GDP behind China, India, Russia, Estonia, Poland, South Korea, t he C z ec h R e publ ic , Me x ico and Turkey, according to the Inter nationa l Energ y Agenc y. The US spews almost five times more CO 2 per dollar in the economy than Sweden. Because CO 2 stays in the atmosphere for more

237 The volume of carbon dioxide the United States spewed into the air more than Sweden

A plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, New Hampshire, in this January 2015 photo. AP/Jim Cole

than a century, scientists and regulators say it’s more important to look at historical emissions. Since 1870, the US has produced about one-quarter of the world’s carbon dioxide—twice as much as China—and that makes it the biggest polluter in the world by far, Peters said.

In some traditional air-pollution measurements, the US is cleaner than most nations, sa id W i l l i a m K . R ei l ly, who headed the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Republican President George H.W. Bush. But “when the problem he is

dealing with is CO 2 , we are notably not better than the rest of the world,” said Reilly, adding that Trump is “ just wrong”. The US is better than most of the world when it comes to dangerous soot or fine particles. Among industrialized countries, the US tied for sixth cleanest, according to the Health Effects Institute. It’s also tied for sixth smoggiest in the world with Turkey, according to the institute. “There are a number of countries that have cleaner air in

terms of major industrial nations. We are cer tainly in the top core,” said Dan Greenbaum, the group’s president. “Clearly, countr ies like China and India a re muc h, muc h worse t h a n we are.” The US leads in helping people fight for a clean environment by having laws and procedures that allow citizens to sue to enforce pollution protections and get information, said Princeton University climate scientist and international affairs professor Michael Oppenheimer. Other countries are far ahead of the US in cleaner energy, especially Germany, which on occasion is fueled fully by renewables, Oppenheimer said. Reilly, the former EPA head, recalled how the US took environmental leadership 25 years ago this month as it became the first industrial country to ratify the first climate treaty. “Now we turn the page,” Reilly said. “We’ll see where it goes.” AP

Biodiversity Monday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Monday, June 12, 2017 A13

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

Tañon Strait celebrates 19th year as protected area

Bantay Dagat, or fish wardens, watch over the country’s 1.7 million fishers. Gregg Yan/Oceana

T

añon Str ait is celebrating its nearly two decades as a protected area. The 161-kilometer strip, which separates the islands of Cebu and Negros, is rich in biodiversity— hosting 62 percent of the country’s coral species, plus 14 species of whales and dolphins. Declared as the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape (TSPS) by then-President Fidel V. Ramos on May 27, 1998, the area provides seafood and jobs for 42 towns, cities and municipalities. Sadly, the strait was threatened by commercial fishers who illegally enter and fish—ignoring a ban on commercial fishing for both municipal waters and protected areas. The various lawenforcement agencies have since conducted regular joint sea-borne operations to stop the plunder of our marine resources in the area. Figures released by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Region 7 showed increased fish landings since 2014. Ma r ine conser vat ion nonprofits Oceana Philippines and R are Philippines are working with the government and local fisheries champions to end illegal commercial fishing in the strait and ensure effective conservation and sustainable fisheries management for this part of the Coral Triangle. Vessel monitoring measures are being pilot tested and local enforcers are being empowered. The famed Bantay Dagat system began in the 1970s, augmenting gover nment capacit y to protect coasts. “Members are draw n from loca l fisherfolk who undergo three days

of standardized training. Upon graduation, they are issued ID cards sanctioned by the BFA R and the local municipality, giving them a three-year w indow of aut hor it y to e n force t he Fisher ies Code when operating in their respective areas,” ex plained Mar y A nn Sa lomon, former head of BFAR’s Fisheries Reg u lator y and Law Enforcement Div ision. The province of Cebu recently passed a policy granting a P2,000 monthly incentive for Bantay Dagat operators in coastal communities. For the fishers to qualify to receive the incentive, they should be registered fisherfolk, have at least three years of experience in enforcing fishery laws and must submit a monthly report of their accomplishments to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist. An added requirement is for the local government unit, from which the Bantay Dagat operates, is active in the enforcement of fisheries law. “Stronger law enforcement is a necessar y tool to deter illegal fishing. We commend the province of Cebu under the leadership of Gov. Hilario Davide III for providing this much-needed incentive system to strengthen the resolve of those who protect our seas by empower ing our Bantay Dagat, the local guardi a ns of ou r ocea ns,” Ocea na Philippines Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo R amos said. The concerted efforts of government agencies, civil society and local champions are essential to protect the Tañon Strait and ensure that it brings life and livelihoods to millions of people.

World Environment Day a celebration of biodiversity

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orld Environment Day is celebrated every year on June 5 to bring attention to environmental problems such as illegal wildlife trade, climate change, habitat degradation, biodiversity loss and many other challenges. “The celebration of this day provides us with an opportunity to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment,” according to the United Nations. Since it began in 1972, citizens from all over have launched thousands of campaigns to encourage others to contribute in implementing positive environmental action. This year’s theme, “Connecting People to Nature”, invites people to think how they are part of nature and how intimately they depend on it. “We, at the Asean Centre for Biodiversity [ACB], join people everywhere in celebrating World Environment Day. We call on everyone to look at the interconnectedness among humans, plants, animals and other species in the web of life, and think of ways to be part of the solution in addressing environmental challenges,” ACB Executive Director Roberto V. Oliva said. According to ACB, there are a number of ways by which people can connect with nature. “Be a biodiversity hero by knowing more about the web of life and the hundreds of things you can do to conserve biodiversity. Plant a tree. Initiate a cleanup activity. Start a simple biodiversity education activity in your community. Be a citizen volunteer in an environment protection group. Every step— big or small, counts. We can be biodiversity

heroes not only during World Environment Day, but every day,” Oliva shared. On August 7 Asean will introduce 10 Asean Biodiversity Heroes to represent Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Asean Biodiversity Heroes are outstanding individuals from the Asean region who not only have connected with nature, but also have contributed significantly to biodiversity conservation and advocacy efforts in their respective countries. One of the commemorative activities for the Golden Anniversary of Asean, the Heroes project is supported by the Asean Secretariat; the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs; the European Union through the Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in Asean project; and Hari Foundation Inc. (HFI), the corporate social responsibility arm of Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (Hari). The ACB serves as awards secretariat. The ACB is an intergovernmental organization that facilitates cooperation and coordination among the Asean member-states and with relevant national governments, regional and international organizations on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, guided by fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of such natural resources. It is the sole Asean center being hosted by the Philippines. For more information about World Environment Day, visit http://www.un.org/ en/events/environmentday/. To know more about the Asean Biodiversity Heroes, log on to heroes.aseanbiodiversity.org.

Plastic materials lie among other debris washed ashore on the Indian Ocean beach in Uswetakeiyawa, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe

UN chief warns: Oceans are ‘under threat as never before’

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NITED NATIONS— Secretary-General António Guterres opened the first UN conference on oceans on June 5 with a warning that the seas are “under threat as never before”, noting one recent study warns that discarded plastic garbage could outweigh fish by 2050 if nothing is done.

The UN chief told presidents, ministers, diplomats and environmental activists from nearly 200 countries that oceans—“the lifeblood of our planet”—are being severely damaged by pollution, garbage, overfishing and the effects of climate change. The five-day conference, which began on World Environment Day, is the first major event to focus on climate since US President Donald J. Trump announced on Thursday last week that the United States will withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement—a decision criticized by Bolivian President Evo Morales and other speakers on Monday. Guterres said the aim of the conference is “to turn the tide” and solve the problems that “we created”. He said competing interests over territory and natural resources have blocked progress for too long in cleaning up and restoring to health the world’s oceans, which cover two-thirds of the planet. “We must put aside shortterm national gain to prevent long-term global catastrophe,” Guterres said. “Conserving our oceans and using them sustainably is preserving life itself.” General Assembly President Peter Thomson, a Fijian diplomat, said, “The time has come for us to correct our wrongful ways.”

730

The number of commitments received by the UN conference from governments, UN bodies and civil-society groups to take action to improve the health of the oceans “We have unleashed a plague of plastic upon the ocean that is defiling nature in so many tragic ways,” he said. “It is inexcusable that humanity tips the equivalent of a large garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute of every day.” Guterres cited a 2016 World Economic Forum report on “The New Plastics Economy”, which said the best research estimates there are over 150 million tons of plastics in the ocean. “In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain 1 ton of plastic for ever y 3 tons of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish [by weight],” the report said.

Thomson also warned that illegal and destr uctive fishing practices and harmful subsidies for fisheries “are driving our fish stocks to tipping points of collapse.” And, he said, the increasing human-caused carbon emissions tied to climate change are causing rising sea levels by warning the oceans and harming marine life by making the seas more acidic with less oxygen. Thomson said the conference probably represents the best opportunity ever “to reverse the cycle of decline that human activity has brought upon the ocean” and spur action to meet the UN goal for 2030 to conserve and manage the ocean’s resources. The conference asked governments, UN bodies and civil-society groups to make voluntary commitments to take action to improve the health of the oceans. So far, over 730 commitments have been received, most on managing protected areas, conference Spokesman Damian Cardona said. Gabon’s president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, announced the creation of Africa’s largest marineprotected area, a network of nine new marine parks and 11 aquatic reserves. It extends the Mayumba National Park to the 200 nautical mile limit of Gabon’s exclusive economic zone, which experts say will protect a large area of habitats and marine life. At the end of the conference on Friday, nearly 200 countries will issue a “call for action” addressing marine issues, which Cardona said has already been agreed. It urges nations to implement long-term and robust measures to reduce the use of plastics, including plastic bags and counteract sea-level rise that threatens many island nations, as well as rising ocean temperatures and increasing ocean acidity. Micronesian President Peter Christian said Pacific islanders

are concerned that the ocean has been “left to heal itself ” after being used as “a dumping ground for industrial waste” and a weapons testing ground, and being polluted by humans on shores and ships at sea. Stressing the importance of all countries being part of the Paris Agreement, Christian said in an apparent reference to Trump’s decision: “While some may continue to deny man’s culpability for the damaging effects of climate change on islands and islanders... no man, no island, no village and no nation can deny that trash in our oceans is of man’s own doing.” “And for this, man must clean up his mess,” he said. Bolivia’s Morales was more direct, telling the conference that the government of the US, one of the world’s “main polluters”, decided to leave the Paris agreement, “denying science, turning your backs on multilateralism and attempting to deny a future to upcoming generations”. This “has made it the main threat to mother Earth and life itself,” Morales said. Baron Waqa, president of Nauru, the smallest UN member with just over 10,000 people and a single island of just 21 square kilometers, said the nation’s exclusive economic zone is over 15,000 times larger and its economic survival depends on tuna. W hi le Naur u and seven neighboring islands have taken action “to sustainably manage our tuna”, Waqa said tuna fishing is still threatened by illegal, u nrepor ted a nd u nreg u l ated fishing which he said “is a criminal act, akin to piracy, and must be addressed with urgency”. Waqa urged governments, businesses and civil society to support the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration to ensure that all tuna products can be tracked from the vessel where the fish is caught to the final buyer. AP

A14 Monday, June 12, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

More dangerous than ‘fake news’

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hat is “fake news” and why are some politicians, pundits and people in a near hysteria about it? On August 2, 1964 while gathering intelligence in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam, press and media reported the USS Maddox was attacked with torpedoes by three North Vietnamese patrol boats. Two days later, the Maddox said it was involved in another sea battle. Then-US President Lyndon Johnson used this second incident to receive from Congress a blank check to pursue the war.

But the August 4 attack never happened. The Maddox knew within several minutes that there was not a threat: it was ‘ghost radar’ images. Further in the first incident, the Maddox fired first. It was all fake news from the US government; all lies. The media cannot be blamed for reporting information that they had no means to verify. But more recently, during the impeachment of the late Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, the media reported false bank account information that they might have been at least partially proven or disproven. In 64 B.C., during a fire that destroyed 70 percent of Rome, then-Emperor Nero was publicly accused by his political enemies of watching the city burn and doing nothing. Surviving records show Nero was in fact 35 miles away at his villa in Antium. When the fighting in Marawi broke out, some detractors of President Duterte questioned on social media why the president was not on the scene or making statements, conveniently ignoring the fact and not mentioning he was 8,000 kilometer away in Moscow at the time. Fake news can be distorted or incomplete information. Do you believe that man landed on the moon in 1969? There are thousands of web sites offer proof that it was a hoax. Are those web sites spreading fake new’s and should be avoided or banned? Or are they the ones exposing ‘fake news’? All media must decide which stories to run and how to frame them. And this is done with unavoidably normal human-opinion bias. But Merrimack College Assistant Professor Melissa Zimdars says media bias is also fake news. A recent study from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government showed that in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency, on cable news network CNN, 93 percent of the stories was negative about the Trump administration. On the Fox News Channel, 52 percent of the stories were negative. Which network was showing ‘fake news bias’? And who gets to decide that question? Zimdars says news from groups that are categorized by ‘various organizations’ as being hate groups should be considered fake news. Should the lay-run Roman Catholic apologist web site catholic.com be considered a fake newshate site by writing “The Catholic Church has always condemned abortion as a grave evil” if some ‘various organizations’ say that is hate speech? “Fakeblock” is a browser plug-in that “flags fake news when it appears on your newsfeed. As a reader, you can report dubious sites here. Then, an independent team of journalists will review and vet the sites.” Does the public need politicians and well-meaning experts to protect it from fake news? Cable news host Mika Brzezinski said this about President Trump: through his messaging, “He can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job.” British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden was quoted in 1916 as saying “Truth is the first casualty of war.” If so, we are at war and we must defend ourselves and not depend on others to do so. The cure may be worse than the disease.

What the Bible says about independence

S we celebrate the day of independence for the Filipino people, it is good to also reflect on what the Bible says about freedom. This is a recurring theme in the holy book, and as we are presently in the middle of several challenges as a nation, we can also look at the Bible for wisdom and guidance.

“To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:6) Let us not forget God and the people who sacrificed their blood so we could enjoy the freedoms we have now. The Bible teaches us to be grateful, to be respectful and to never forget.

In the Bible, people are brought into freedom (from slavery) for one specific purpose: to serve and worship God, and bear witness to his greatness. In the same way, our independence brings with it this same responsibility—our freedom must never be abused, but instead the used to move towards the greater good. From the sacrifices of our heroes, we are now free so that we may serve our country and our countrymen.

“To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:6) Let us not forget God and the people who sacrificed their blood so we could enjoy the freedoms we have now. The Bible teaches us to be grateful, to be respectful and to never forget. “Live as people who are free, not

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

A

Allow me to share four Bible verses that talk about freedom or independence. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Galatians 5:13) Being free is never an excuse to do anything we want. The essence of true freedom is service: we are made free so that we may serve our countrymen.

The truth behind the diarrhea outbreak at the New Bilibid Prison

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Food served by Mang Kiko could not have been the cause of the diarrhea outbreak. Three tests were conducted by the City Health Office of Muntinlupa, under the supervision of the Department of Health on May 29, May 30 and June 2. The result in water sampling for bacteriological analysis showed that Mang Kiko passed all three tests.

Suspecting foul play, Mang Kiko retained my law firm for legal advise/representation and to assist in uncovering the irregularities in the bidding for catering services and corruption in BuCor. What we uncovered, albeit shocking, was not a surprise. The corruption and irregularities in BuCor has been reported by media in connection with the drug trade inside. But what should also be investigated is the rigging of bids in BuCor, the disgusting and inhuman living conditions of the inmates, the contaminated water supply from ancient corroded water pipes, affecting inmates close to 30,000 at the NBP in Muntinlupa. I am compelled to share in this column the truth about Mang Kiko as there is a public interest involved here. Food served by Mang Kiko could not have been the cause of the diarrhea outbreak. Three tests were conducted by the City Health Office of Muntinlupa, under the supervi-

Cor for the catering services in the penal colonies of Leyte, Davao, Zamboanga and Palawan for 2017. Mang Kiko won those public biddings. To date, Director General Benjamin C. de los Santos, head of BuCor, refuses to act on the notices of award and contracts due to Mang Kiko without any legal or factual justification whatsoever. Mang Kiko requested for the release of said notices of award and contracts, but de los Santos ignored Mang Kiko’s request. There was a scheduled bidding last May 8 at the NBP. Mang Kiko was ready to join the bidding. Without any clear basis, the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of BuCor cancelled the bidding in the afternoon of May 5, in clear violation of Section 22.5.2 of the IRR of RA 9184. Mang Kiko complained about this cancellation, but the BAC insisted on its decision. Mang Kiko was notified on May 11 that there is a blacklisting procedure against it. De los Santos claimed Mang Kiko breached its contract with BuCor in January 2017 because Mang Kiko allegedly

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using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” (1 Peter 2:16) Aside from serving country and fellowmen, let us use our democracy to serve our God. There are people who use freedom as an excuse to do evil—don’t be this person. Cherish the freedom we have been given and commit ourselves to true service. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17) The Bible also teaches that freedom can be found in God. If we are feeling restrained, let us reach out to Him for deliverance. This means putting God in our hearts so that His Spirit dwells in us. My fervent wish today is for Filipinos to enjoy true democracy and real independence. And as we do so, may we never forget the responsibilities that go with the freedom we are given. May we also learn to be grateful for this blessing, and also learn to serve, like real patriots, our country and our fellowmen.

Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

legally speaking

N May 27 there was a reported diarrhea outbreak at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), which resulted in the hospitalization of an undetermined number of inmates. Without any basis, the officers of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II immediately blamed Mang Kiko Catering Services Inc. for the incident. sion of the Department of Health on May 29, May 30 and June 2. The result in water sampling for bacteriological analysis showed that Mang Kiko passed all three tests. The timing of the diarrhea outbreak is actually very suspicious. BuCor’s recent bidding for catering services were marred with irregularities. There is an apparent attempt to favor a new caterer who cannot even satisfy the minimum requirements of Republic Act (RA) 9184 (The Government Procurement Reform Act). Blaming Mang Kiko for the diarrhea outbreak appears to be part of a vicious and concerted effort to destroy the good name and reputation of Mang Kiko, to ensure that it will be blacklisted as food caterer, and to bring in a favored caterer in BuCor in complete disregard of the provisions of RA 9184. It is important for the public to know the events preceding the diarrhea outbreak. As far back as last year, there were public biddings held by Bu-

substituted a pork viand for a scheduled beef viand and it allegedly did not present its food for prior inspection. Mang Kiko answered right away the false accusations against it, and BuCor issued a certification on April 6 which confirmed that Mang Kiko’s catering service during the alleged period of the “breach” was found to be “very satisfactory”. BuCor even proceeded to engage Mang Kiko’s catering services for the second quarter of 2017. Mang Kiko complained about this baseless blacklisting procedure against it, but de los Santos ignored Mang Kiko. This blacklisting procedure was allegedly instituted because of a complaint filed against Mang Kiko. Mang Kiko on May 16 asked de los Santos for a copy of the complaint against Mang Kiko which was said to be the basis of the blacklisting procedure. Up to this time, de los Santos refused to give Mang Kiko a copy of said complaint. 5. In the meantime, left with no other recourse, Mang Kiko sent a letter to President Duterte dated May 15 informing him of the irregularities in BuCor and furnishing him all the documentary evidence of said irregularities. Mang Kiko is not aware if the letter has reached the President. 6. Without resolving any past legal issues relating to the May 8 bidding, as well as the blacklisting procedure, the BAC of BuCor called for another bidding last May 18. 7. In complete disregard of the RA 9184, the BAC of BuCor showed partiality in favor of another bidder See “Kapunan,” A15

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Opinion

Art of detachment

Institutional changes in the accountancy profession

BusinessMirror

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

Joel L. Tan-Torres

THE PATRIOT

DEBIT CREDIT

ritish author and novelist C.S. Lewis once said, “Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” Well-grounded leaders have peace in their hearts and minds, allowing them to let go and move forward after any given situation. But to have inner peace is easier said than done. It takes the art of detachment, says Pierre Yves Cote, a former client of mine in Malcolm Law.

here are several institutional measures that must be changed in the accountancy profession. The profession in the Philippines has been formally put in place way back about 94 years ago with the enactment of the Accountancy Act of 1923, when the Board of Accountancy (BOA) was created and the first set of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) licensure examinations were given. Over the years there have been developments in the country that mandate revisions in the accountancy framework.

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According to Cote, whenever we want for something, it is human nature to do anything to get it. Our mind tells us to do whatever it takes to attain what we desire, no matter the cost. However, as said to me by Cote, we have to let go to be able to get what we want in life. It seems counterintuitive, but remember: when squeezed too tightly, a bird in your hand can die. I have known Pierre Yves Cote for 20 years now. He built a small but reputable coffee business which earned about P20 million a year. Due to a failed transaction, the company suffered business losses, which forced Cote to cease operations for nearly two months now. While looking for an investor to restart the business, Cote trained his mind to practice the art of detachment. According to him, the more you want something, the more it will get away from you. While he still practices the power of positive thinking, Cote visualizes what he wants but doesn’t sweat on things beyond his control. When things happen contrary to his vision, he simply allows the situation to run its course. He says, “If an event does not go your way, let go.” Once you’re stressed, your mind will be preoccupied with the short term and potentially negative effects instead of focusing on the long term, positive vision of your goal. Cote further postulates that when you are detached, the powers of the universe will ultimately conspire to give what you desire without even knowing it. When you are detached, the things you want will be more attracted to you. When you are detached, the struggle within ends. However, striving and struggling in life will not cease the moment we reach the state of detachment or letting go. Successful business leaders do not attain their financial status by doing nothing. Believers in Christ cannot have eternal life by sitting around and waiting to die. I learned that some believers struggle unnecessarily due to their lack of faith in God. In the case of Cote, when he experienced financial ruin and the separation from a loved one, he perhaps failed to fully understand that we have a gracious God. As Romans 8:28 says, “God works all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Cote admits that he does not know God. When faced with trials, nonbelievers will always struggle.

Kapunan. . .

continued from A14

during the bidding held on May 18. At the onset, representatives of Mang Kiko were told that they cannot give any comments or observations about the bidding process nor the bidding documents of the other bidders. The BAC departed from the established protocol of opening and reviewing first the technical and eligibility documents in order to ascertain the bidders’ qualifications, before opening the financial documents. The BAC opened the financial documents without prequalifying the bidders. In the end, the BAC, headed by Dr. Cynthia Andrada, considered the bid of the bidder who failed to comply with the eligibility requirements. This said bidder failed to

Successful business leaders do not attain their financial status by doing nothing. Believers in Christ cannot have eternal life by sitting around and waiting to die. I learned that some believers struggle unnecessarily due to their lack of faith in God. In the case of Cote, when he experienced financial ruin and the separation from a loved one, he perhaps failed to fully understand that we have a gracious God. As Romans 8:28 says, “God works all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Believers who rarely spend time reading His Word will struggle as well, amid the hardships in life. But there is a silver lining in struggling. Struggles teach us to be stronger for future hardships. Struggles are designed to test our faith. Struggles tell us to let go and let God. Some people might hold tightly to something they are comfortable with. And that is understandably part of human nature. We might ask ourselves, “Why give up a good thing? Why not keep the things that make us happy? Why not keep the possessions that make us successful?” On a personal note, I have experienced quite a few failed relationships, at home and at work. I still have to learn Cote’s art of detachment. Whenever I do my practices in the Bikram yoga studio, I slowly gain the abilities of letting go. A few months ago I could not execute a few postures, such as the Camel and the Rabbit. After doing more practices, I have been able to execute more postures as I gradually learned how to surrender everything and focus on nothing except breathing. I worry less about my back or my knee; I just let my mind flow with the movement, as far as my body will allow it. Cote’s art of detachment—or what most people know as “Let go and let God”—entails two things: trust more, worry less. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Matthew 6:34 says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” These two powerful verses can even be summarized in a millennial poster: Keep calm and carry on. meet the requirement in Section 23.4.1.3 of the IRR of RA 9184 which stated that a bidder for services must have completed a single contract that is at least 50 percent of the approved budget contract (single largest completed contract requirement or SLCC). Since Mang Kiko was the only qualified bidder that satisfied all the requirements, Mang Kiko vehemently objected to the irregularities during the May 18 bidding. 8. Instead of considering Mang Kiko as the winning bidder during the May 18 bidding, Director de los Santos, on May 24, declared a failure of bidding relating to the May 18 bidding. Mang Kiko was shocked to learn that de los Santos’s basis for declaring such failure of bidding was that there was supposedly “prima facie evidence of collusion that tends to restrict, suppress, or

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These include the upward rationalization of the audit threshold, the establishment of a fully staffed and funded accountancy regulatory office and the revision of the Republic Act 9892 (Accountancy Law of 2004). The audit threshold rules in the Philippines, as provided for in the National Internal Revenue Code, provide essentially that all enterprises that have annual gross receipts or revenues exceeding P600,000 shall be required to have their financial statements audited by an independent external

auditor. There is a need to revise or rationalize this low and outdated threshold requirement that has resulted in undue financial burden to the small enterprises as well as in low quality audit work rendered by external auditors resulting in questioned credibility in these audit reports by regulators, including the Bureau of Internal Revenue, etc. The Department of Finance and the other regulators, including the BOA, have started looking into this matter. The regulation of the accountancy profession and accountants

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in the Philippines is presently the sole responsibility of the BOA. The BOA is mandated by law to regulate over 175,000 CPAs presently in the rolls of professionals, as well as give examinations to qualify persons to become CPAs. Annually, the BOA administers the examination to around 20,000 examinees. The BOA is severely handicapped in the performance of its various mandates. It does not have sufficient resources (in terms of budget, personnel, operating systems and tools, etc.) to handle the many requirements of regulation of the profession, including the accreditation, administration of Continuing Professional Development requirements, conduct of Quality Assurance Review, and handling complaints against the accountants and its many stakeholders. Global best practice dictates that a fully staffed and budgeted regulator is key in ensuring the good standing of the profession. Hence, the strengthening of the accountancy regulator should be addressed. The Accountancy Act of 2004 (accountancy law) has been in place for over 13 years. The environment where the accountancy profession and its many stakeholders operates has undergone so many changes

over this period. The BOA has experienced difficulties in pursuing its mandate because of the shortcoming of the obsolete and inadequate provisions of the accountancy law that have been overtaken by the passage of time. Last year the BOA initiated the gathering inputs from its stakeholders in revising the accountancy law to make this more relevant and responsive to the needs of the profession. An updated charter or the law for accountants will go a long way toward uplifting the profession in the Philippines. Once these measures are put in place, the accountancy profession and the professionals of the Philippines will be able to better address their many important mandates and responsibilities. Chairman 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 from 2009 to 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

The Qatar crisis: Will Doha hold or fold? Ricardo Saludo

DIPLOMASIA

Where is this going?

Before figuring out what’s ahead,

let’s see how we got here. It’s no secret that the Saudis and other Sunni Arab states have been unhappy with Qatar’s cordial ties with Shia stalwart Iran, and its funding of Islamist groups like Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which have extremist leanings and links. Thus, Qater hosts America’s biggest air base in the region and the nerve center of its air campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria. But its neighbors and Washington have long disdained Doha’s funding for Islamist movements following the 2010 “Arab Spring” uprisings and including Palestine’s Hamas radicals, who like rocketing Israel. Still, the Obama administration preferred to avoid Arab discord, especially one that could disrupt ties with Qatar, especially its hosting of the sprawling US Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base, America’s largest military facility in the Middle East, with 11,000 personnel, 120 aircraft, the region’s longest runways, and control of air operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and 17 other nations. Then the Donald blew into the desert, and told the GCC to turn the screws on terrorism and its supporters. Apparently even Qatar, despite

ments during the May 18 bidding and it should have been declared as the winning bidder. Further, de los Santos unfairly concluded that since Mang Kiko has been catering for BuCor for a long time, it was the only one who could meet the SLCC requirement. Obviously, he is now “setting up” the stage to lower the single largest completed contract requirement from 50 percent to 25 percent so that the favored bidder can qualify. Again, Mang Kiko objected to de los Santos’ wrong declaration of failure of bidding. 9. Mang Kiko has sent several letters asking Secretary Aguirre to immediately investigate and supervise closely the bidding process in BuCor. In a live interview, the Secretary recently assured Mang Kiko that it will conduct a thorough investigation into claims of Mang Kiko of irregularities.

Mang Kiko has been providing catering services to the inmates of NBP for the past 11 years and record will bear out that there has never been any incident of food poisoning associated with the food served by Mang Kiko. Mang Kiko follows the strictest food-safety policies and highest food quality standards, employs sanitation guidelines for food handlers and for physical processing operation of food to ensure safe, nutritious and quality products. With an efficient catering staff of over 200, it has maintained highly competent food operations managers, food technologists, nutritionists and culinary specialists, all with solid industry experience. This story is not unique to Mang Kiko. Similar instances have occurred when winning and qualified bidders are not awarded the contract simply because they are incorruptible

and do not want to give the 15-percent to 30-percent kickback. Bidding rules have been arbitrarily changed to favor a fraternity brod, relative, classmate, dummy company. In the case of Mang Kiko, we request that Secretary Aguirre finally clean up the anomalies/irregularities in the BuCor. He showed his political will in cleaning up the Bureau of Immigration, even if the persons of interest are Lex Stallioni fraternity brothers. He should show the same determination with the BuCor (the principal actors being his Lex Stallioni brothers, as well). And, it is time that RA 9184 (the Government Procurement Reform Act) be revisited. We call on the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. This is one instance where “investigation in aid of legislation” (not election) may actually be a good use of government resources and people’s time.

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nullify competition”. The declaration of de los Santos is anchored on the reservation clause (Section 41, Rules and Regulations Implementing RA 9184, as amended). However, it is long-standing principle of the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) that “when the HOPE exercises its power under the Reservation Clause, he must be able to clearly show the existence of the ground/s relied upon. Moreover, the same is not without any sanction if exercised capriciously” (GPPB NPM 141-2015). There was no showing of collusion during the May 18 bidding and there certainly was no evidence to substantiate this malicious allegation of collusion. Aside from being patently untruthful, de los Santos’s declaration of collusion is so bare and sweeping that it is no doubt capricious and whimsical. The fact is that Mang Kiko satisfied all the technical and eligibility require-

its crucial role in America’s military operations. And so the Saudis and their friends turned the screws, cutting diplomatic and transport links with Doha. Given the high stakes and the giant players, with Russia almost surely waiting in the wings for any opportunities to gain clout and advantage from the geopolitical tussle, will Doha fold, or will it hold, banking on Istanbul, Teheran, and maybe Moscow for needed supplies? And what of America’s billion-dollar mega-base 32 km from the capital? Well, for all their protestations, Turkey and Iran simply are too far away to be much help with logistics, and Russia even more so. And they, too, want funds to stop flowing to terrorists. And if the US Congress enacts tough sanctions, the financial and economic impact would be even more debilitating for Qatar. Hence, Doha will probably scale down its support for Islamists, especially those with hard-to-hide terrorist associations. Plus: it would rein in most, if not all, 59 personalities and 12 institutions linked to it and blacklisted by Riyadh, Cairo and Abu Dhabi. That should reopen the closed diplomatic and transport channels, and most important, keep the Al Udeid base bustling as usual and dispatching B-52 bombers, F-16 fighters and E-8C reconnaissance planes in missions against IS. But don’t count the terror groups out. They and their backers, including those in Qatar and even Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states, will find ways. And they’ll be angrier than ever.

he Trump administration’s confusing statements and actions say it all. In the latest dissonance last Friday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the Riyadh-led coalition of Arab Sunni-majority states to relax its land, sea and air “blockade” of Qatar. It was constricting food supplies, he said, and hampering the war on Islamic State (IS). Then, over an hour later, President Donald J. Trump declared at a White House news conference that Qatar had “been a funder of terrorism at a very high level”, and should cease doing so. He said the blockading nations—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab of Emirates and Bahrain—spoke to him after his recent Middle East visit about “confronting Qatar over its behavior”. When the closing of embassies, borders, shipments and flights was announced two weeks ago, Trump allowed that his speech to the Gulf Cooperation Council could have spurred it. Last week he called the Emirs of Kuwait and Qatar. The Kuwaitis visited Doha, but got no deal. His host, meanwhile, decided not to see the Donald in DC at the President’s invitation. If that’s not fun enough for analysts of Washington’s Middle East policy, last week it emerged that lobbyists and agencies representing Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel—yes, Israel—gave more than $1 million to 10 American congressmen who filed a bill in the US House of Rep-

It’s no secret that the Saudis and other Sunni Arab states have been unhappy with Qatar’s cordial ties with Shia stalwart Iran, and its funding of Islamist groups like Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which have extremist leanings and links.

resentatives mandating sanctions against Qatar. Yup, the Saudis, the Egyptians and the Israelis ganged up on the Qataris on Capitol Hill. The Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act of 2017 proposes to ban exports of arms and defense technologies to Qatar, as well as financing above $10 million. There’s more: Turkey has taken Qatar’s side, calling for sanctions to end, even as its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed Qatar and Syria with Secretary Tillerson. Also on Doha’s side is Teheran, whose good relations with the beleaguered Arab state is one reason for the discord. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pledged support for Qatar, approving a law to send troops there, plus a military training accord. He told Bahrain’s foreign minister that the crisis should be resolved before Ramadan ends on the evening of June 24. And Turkey promised food and water for Qatar.

How did we get here?

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A16 Monday, June 12, 2017

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DOT to review RWM accreditation as casinos beef up security measures By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

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NTEGRATED casino resorts are beefing up their security measures on the heels of the lone gunman attack on Resorts World Manila (RWM). This developed as the Department of Tourism (DOT) said it would review the accreditation of RWM, as well as the security protocols of tourism establishments of similar nature—integrated resorts that house hotels, casinos, restaurants and malls in one complex or property. At a recent news conference, Tourism Spokesman and Assistant Secretary Frederick M. Alegre said the agency has not yet decided if it would revoke the accreditation of RWM, pending the completion of the investigation report of the Philippine National Police (PNP). “We are awaiting recommendations and the final report from the PNP hierarchy, before we take concrete action [on RWM’s accredi-

tation]. But definitely, the security protocol there has to be improved.” He added that Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo also wants to upgrade the training of tourism frontliners to include security preparedness. “The DOT is involved in training personnel for tourismenterprise areas. We have like 5 million involved in the tourism industry. With this recent incident, there must be a [training] module there that tackles security consciousness and security alertness, because they should also be involved in the duty to secure all tourists.” In a statement sent to the BusinessMirror, Okada Manila, located in the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) Entertainment City in Parañaque

City, said: “In the light of the incident [at Resorts World], we have intensified our rigorous security operations to ensure the safety of our guests and personnel.” It added: “We have also sought cooperation of our employees and guests to be vigilant at all times, and take part in reporting any suspicious observations to our security team.” Also located at the Entertainment City, the City of Dreams (COD), which houses three hotels and a number of casino areas, restaurants and activity areas across its integrated property, said it has “strict security measures around and in our property” to protect its guests, staff and management. In a separate statement, COD assured the safety of its guests. “We have security presence at every entrance that is also supplemented with metal detectors, and/or X-ray machines and canine support. We conduct bag checks, car inspections and even pat down guests at the entrances. In addition, we have armed guards at the perimeter of the property, inside the garage and near or inside entryways.” For its part, Solaire Resort and Casino said it has already upgraded its security measures since

the bombing of the Davao market last September, and raised these further since the clashes between government and Islamic jihadist forces in Marawi City started in late May. On the sidelines of its stockholders meeting last Thursday, Bloomberry Resorts Corp. Chairman Enrique K. Razon Jr. told reporters: “We’re very conscientious of our security. We have a security force of close to 400 people. We have external security. We have even water-side security. We have perimeter security in the entrances. We have security that watches over the security. We also have K-9 units, surveillance systems and surveillance control rooms.” Bloomberry is the parent firm of Solaire, likewise located in the Entertainment City. He stressed that “[security] is an extremely sensitive [matter], because it’s a hospitality business. You have a hotel, food and beverage outlets…. We have to make sure [the guests] feel safe when they’re within the property”. Police investigators said the attack on RWM was made by a disgruntled gambling addict, Jessie Carlos, who tried to steal casino chips from the establishment. He

torched the casino floor, which resulted in 38 deaths, including that of the gunman. Of the fatalities, 25 were hotel guests who suffered from smoke asphyxiation, along with 13 casino staff. Meanwhile, A legre rejected notions that the agency was remiss in its accreditation of Resorts World. “A facility like that needs our accreditation. Alam ko dumaan sa amin. The security aspect is part of the requirements you have to present to show preparenedness to operate the facility.” But he added: “I don’t think [we were remiss in our accreditation process]. It’s just that type of person that entered the facility calls for a review of security measures [because it’s the first time this kind of incident happened]….

Secretary Teo has ordered security protocols, especially of facilities similarly situated, of that size, to be reviewed. It’s not just a hotel, it’s a mall, it’s an eating area, casino-hotel in one.” He said the DOT’s Tourism Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation sector, which is in charge of accrediting tourism establishments, “would have to discuss this [review of security protocols] with the hotels and casino operators in the hotels”. Part of the accreditation process, according to Alegre, is for the establishment’s owner “to submit their capabilities to run it. The DOT also inspects the facility. We have a very stringent process in reviewing all applications for accreditation.” With a report from VG Cabuag

The DOT is involved in training personnel for tourism-enterprise areas. We have like 5 million involved in the tourism industry. With this recent incident, there must be a [training] module there that tackles security consciousness and security alertness.” —Alegre

‘MODEST’ GROWTH IN PHL CONSUMER SPENDING SEEN C By Bianca Cuaresma

waiting for prayer time Muslim kids run around the Golden Mosque in Quiapo, Manila, before their prayer starts. ALYSA SALEN

Investment pledges up 25% in January-May By Catherine N. Pillas

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@c_pillas29

nvestment pledges registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) in January to May rose by 25 percent year-on-year due to an increase in real-estate projects and construction activities, according to the Department of Trade and Industry. Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon M. Lopez said in a statement that registered investments in the five-month period rose to P174.5 billion, from P137.3 billion in the same period last year. The number of projects during the period also rose by 70 percent to 218, from 128 recorded last year. These projects are expected to generate 51,847 jobs, according to the BOI.

₧174.5B The total amount of investment pledges registered with the Board of Investments in the first five months of 2017

The increase in the value of investments was due mainly to the approval of real-estate projects with a combined investment amount of P68.743 billion, followed by construction and public-private partnership projects with P48.467 billion, energy and power projects with P28.311 billion, manufacturing projects with P15.749 billion and transportation and storage projects

with P9.594 billion. In terms of investment source, the top five foreign investments projects from January to May, were from Singapore, which accounted for P2.124 billion; the US, P483.25 million; the Netherlands, P445.22 million; Denmark, P320.84 million; and India, P207.35 million. Trade Undersec ret a r y a nd BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo Jr. said the agency is on track in meeting its P500-billion investment target for the year, as more investment projects are expected to come in with the upcoming approval of the 2017 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP). “We are seeing a bullish first full-year local and foreign investment inflows with levels to reach at least P500 billion from P441

billion achieved in 2016,” Rodolfo said, adding that the new IPP will drive the robust growth of investments, especially manufacturing investment projects. Projects adopting inclusive business models will also be qualified, especially those sourcing from micro, small and medium enterprises. The manufacturing sector generated a total of P49 billion investments in 2016, or 11 percent of the total investments last year. In the first quarter of the year, the sector recorded a triple-digit growth, with investment projects reaching P15.42 billion, from only P4.776 billion recorded in the same period last year. Investments in the sector are expected to generate at least 3,038 in new jobs once these business projects are operational.

@BcuaresmaBM

onsumer spending in the Philippines would likely expand at a slower pace in the near term, as Filipinos try to scrimp due to rising consumer prices, according to an international think tank. BMI Research—a research group under the umbrella company of the FitchGroup Co.—said household spending in the Philippines will experience a “modest deceleration of growth in 2017” due to faster inflation. “We forecast household spending to grow at an annual average rate of 9.3 percent between 2017 and 2021, increasing from P11.7 trillion to P16.6 trillion over the same period,” BMI Research said. In dollar terms, the think tank added household spending growth will experience a “significant deceleration” to 0.8 percent in 2017, from 6 percent last year, as it expects the peso to depreciate against the greenback this year. “With that said, household spending will grow at an annual average of 8 percent between 2017 and 2021, reaching $337 billion up from $232 billion in 2017,” the research group said. Domestic consumption has been one of the country’s growth pillars, shielding the Philippine economy from major growth slowdowns amid turmoil in trade across the globe in recent years. While its effects are not yet seen to translate to a deceleration in real growth, trend will likely be affected by the moderation trend, as real growth is seen to experience modest growth at an average annual rate of 5.4 percent between 2017 and 2021. Spending on the essential will continue to account for the majority of household consumption in the medium term, according to BMI, as a result of low average incomes and a large rural population, while food and nonalcoholic drinks, housing and utilities and transport will continue to account for the majority of household retail spending. BMI also said as real wages are steadily on the rise, it should boost spending in the nonessentials sector over the long term, and will prompt consumers to upgrade to higher quality essentials. The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) last Friday maintained the growth prospects for the medium-term, with inflation assumptions remaining stable at 2 percent to 4 percent for 2017 to 2022. The DBCC also said GDP growth will remain unchanged at 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2017 and 7 percent to 8 percent from 2018 to 2022. The DBCC also raised the goods-export growth assumptions from 2 percent to 5 percent in 2017, 5 percent to 7 percent in 2018 and from 7 percent to 9 percent in 2019. With a report from Rea Cu