Businessmirror june 15, 2016

“Every time progress is made in the US, there’s a blow back and an increase in gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender violence.”—Seattle’s openly gay Mayor Ed Murray, who made the remarks on Sunday, after a gunman slaughtered 50 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando. Murray says the massacre is absolutely an attempt at intimidation and fear. He says the community will come together and will not be intimidated. AP

media partner of the year

United nations

2015 environmental Media Award leadership award 2008

“We should review our relationship with strategic height and long-term perspective. We should keep on expanding our consensus and cooperation, and properly handle and control our differences.”—Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on Beijing’s push to ease concerns about its assertions of sovereignty over the South China Sea, underscoring China’s desire to contain damage to its reputation over its assertive tactics in the highly strategic and resource-rich waterway. AP

“From my perspective, it matters what we do more than what we say.

And it mattered we got bin Laden, not what name we called him. I have clearly said we—whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, I’m happy to say either. I think they mean the same thing.”—Hillary Clinton, countering attacks from Donald Trump that she’s too politically correct to use the phrase “radical” Islam. AP

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Wednesday, June 15, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 249

Plan to end labor contractualization will affect SMEs

‘Job security good for PHL economy’

INSIDE

By David Cagahastian

T

@davecaga

he incoming Duterte administration’s plan to put an end to contractualization of labor will have a positive impact on the economy, but it could threaten the viability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that comprise the backbone of the Philippine economy.

Architecture and its role in nation building

According to the acting dean of the University of the Philippines’s School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP Solair), the plan to end labor contractualization will result to an increase in the expenses of SMEs within the range of P200 to P300 per employee per month.

See “Job security,” A12

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CHEMICAL EXPORTS SEEN HITTING $5B THIS YEAR AFTER RELEASE OF IRR

By Catherine N. Pillas

L

@c_pillas29

ocal chemical manufacturers on Tuesday said they now have better chances of hitting their $5-billion export target, following the release of the new i mplement i ng r u les and regulations (IRR) for controlled chemicals.

Gretchen Enarle, president of Samahan sa Pilipinas ng mga Industriyang Kimika or SPIK (Chemical Industries Association of the Philippines), said the “path is now clear” for the industry to reach its goals after their tiff with the Philippine National Police (PNP) has been

32

The total number of controlled chemicals that require additional permits from the PNP resolved. “With the issuance of the IRR, the industry was relieved, as the list of controlled chemicals has been reduced to 32,” Enarle said told reporters in a media briefing.

The IRR was released on Tuesday, eight years after See “Chemical exports,” A12

Tales of Independence

The Katagalugan Republic and the Cry of Pugad Lawin property

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Lamudi issues housing guide for students

property

E3

Shaping the future of human experience

Emilio Aguinaldo Suntay III views the oldest and first flag of the country’s First Republic. The flag, originally in the Aguinaldo-Suntay clan’s custody and later displayed at the Emilio Aguinaldo Museum in Baguio City, was last raised in 1898. Suntay is the grandson of Emilio Aguinaldo, considered as the President of the First Republic. Mauricio Victa

By Fil V. Elefante

property

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@elefantefil

Conclusion

VER the last several years, several historians have suggested that Andres Bonifacio, the leader of the underground movement that initiated the revolution against Spain in

PESO exchange rates n US 46.1460

₧400,000

The amount Emilio Aguinaldo received after agreeing to a truce with Spanish colonial authorities

1896, deserved to be recognized as the first president of a people aspiring to nationhood.

John Ray Ramos, a heritageconser vation advocate, said, “Bonifacio was the president of the Katagalugan Republic, the first government in our islands Continued on A2

n japan 0.4344 n UK 65.8642 n HK 5.9448 n CHINA 7.0086 n singapore 34.0661 n australia 34.0788 n EU 52.1173 n SAUDI arabia 12.3089

Source: BSP (14 June 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, June 15, 2016

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Tales of Independence

The Katagalugan Republic and the Cry of Pugad Lawin Continued from A1

organized to fight a war for independence against Spain.”

Claim

XIAO Chua, a faculty member of the De La Salle University history department, said the claim that Emilio Aguinaldo was not the country’s first president was first made in 1993, five years before the centennial of Philippine independence.

“These historians were Milagros Guerrero, Ramon Villegas and Emmanuel Encarnacion,” Chua wrote in an essay included in the book Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo.

According to Chua, the three claimed that when the Philippine Revolution ignited on August 24, 1896, the secret revolutionary society Kataastaasang Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK, or Katipunan) became the country’s revolutionary government. The historians concluded that since Bonifacio was leader of the Katipunan, Bonifacio was also the president of the new revolutionary government.

The historians also pointed out that the succeeding revolutionary government headed by Aguinaldo also emanated from the Katipunan.

Chua explained the historians’ assertions were supported by historical events. Bonifacio’s government came into existence in August 1896 while Aguinaldo only became president when a new government

replacing the Katipunan was established in May of 1897.

Evidence

CHUA said the historians based their claim on two historical documents. The first was an order dated April 15, 1897, designating Emilio Jacinto as the commander of all revolutionary forces located in the north of Manila. This document contained a letterhead identifying Bonifacio as president.

The second document was from a Madrid newspaper printed on July 8, 1897. The newspaper had a picture of Bonifacio, with the caption identifying him as “President of the Tagala Republic.”

Chua also wrote that the picture had an accompanying article identifying Bonifacio as “President of the Katipunan Republic.”

No symbolic state funeral

RAMOS, a history instructor of Far Eastern University in Diliman, Quezon City, explained the findings by historians cited by Chua led to calls asking for symbolic state funeral for Bonifacio as part of the events commemorating the first Centennial of Philippine Independence.

However, Chua said the National Historical Institute (NHI, and now known today as the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, or NHCP) issued a unanimous decision on July 7, 1994, declaring Bonifacio was not eligible for a state funeral.

According to Chua, the NHI believed that if Bonifacio was given a state funeral, such an act would contradict the verdict finding Bonifacio guilty of treason. That guilty verdict allowed a court organized

by Aguinaldo that sentenced Bonifacio to death.

Chua said the NHI’s refusal to hold symbolic state honors for Bonifacio effectively legitimized the Aguinaldo court decision branding Bonifacio a traitor for initiating the open revolt against Spain.

Documents in Madrid

RAMOS said another historian, Jim Richardson, found additional documents supporting the contention that Bonifacio was actually the first president.

According to Ramos, more than 150 historical papers were found recently in a military archive in Madrid, Spain. These documents, he added, were compiled by Richardson in Light of Liberty, a book published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press in 2013.

Ramos added that, before the discovery of the Madrid documents, only eight historical documents were available about the role Bonifacio and the Katipunan played in the Philippine Revolution.

Chua explained it was clear in the Madrid documents that the Katipunan was functioning as a central government during the revolution against Spain. It was not merely an underground movement that

initiated guerrilla warfare against Spanish colonizers.

The Katagalugan Republic

RAMOS said extant documents revealing that Bonifacio used the title “President of the Katagalugan Republic” could be confusing for a layman with only a cursory understanding of Philippine history.

“One intention of the Revolution was to do away with Spanish colonial practices,” Ramos said. “Bonifacio didn’t want to refer to his country with a name honoring a Spanish monarch. Instead, he used the term “Haring Bayang Katagalugan,” or the Katagalugan Republic.

Ramos said the term was clearly explained in the Kartilla ng Katipunan, or Katipunan Charter.

“There’s a footnote explaining the meaning of the word ‘Tagalog,’” he explained. “For the Katipunan, the words used were ‘tumutukoy sa lahat ng tumubo sa sangkapuluan na ito,’ or ‘everyone who grew up in these islands.’ Whether a person was born in the Visayas, Ilocos, Pampanga, Bicol or anywhere else in the archipelago, in the eyes of the Katipunan and Bonifacio, these folk were the Haring Bayang Katagalugan or the Sovereign Tagalog people.” “ T he K atipunan c learly explained what they meant when they used the word Tagalog,” Ramos added.

hated the cedula.

According to the Official Gazette, Spanish Gov. Gen. Primo de Rivera had issued a decree requiring Filipinos to report to Spanish authorities on or before July 10, 1896. The decree also forbade the people from leaving their towns or villages without first securing passes or establishing their identity by means of a cedula.

The cedula was the means by which the Spanish colonial government sought to control and restrict the people’s movements.

When the Katipuneros tore up their cedulas, they were symbolically breaking their ties to the Spanish monarchy.

Conflicting accounts

AN essay in the book Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo, Backstories to the Movie for Students and Teachers cited the memoirs of Carlos Ronquillo, a Cavite revolutionary who served as secretary to Aguinaldo.

A passage lifted from Ronquillo’s memoirs said the term Tagalog “has no other meaning but taga-ilog [from the river], which, traced directly to the root, refers to those who prefer to settle along rivers, truly a trait, it cannot be denied, of those born in the Philippines, in whatever island or town.” Additionally, the essay written by Guerrero offered a reason that distinguished Katipuneros from those who saw themselves as Ilustrados.

“Ilustrados regarded themselves as hijos del pais, while Katipuneros looked at themselves as mga anak ng bayan,” Guerrero w rote. “ T he latter d isdained to call their country Filipinas but used a term that truly gave them an identity, regardless of ethnoling uistic classification and origins. All those who grew up [tumubo] in the Philippines belonged to the Tagalog nation, or Katagalugan.”

HOWEVER, according to Ramos, “there is a problem with the historical accounts of the event.”

“Nobody really knows the exact date when [the Cry of Pugad Lawin] happened or the actual place where it occurred.”

“The accounts say that the Katipunan held a meeting on August 26, 1896, at the home of Tandang Sora, which is now in Quezon City,” Ramos said. “During the meeting, Bonifacio designated who among them were to be his top military officers, giving them the appropriate ranks. This was a council wherein they discussed if they were to open hostilities against Spain. The council decided that the fight against Spain was to push through.”

“After that, the cry for independence was made, and the Katipuneros tore up their cedulas,” Ramos said.

That was the basic tale. But there were other historical accounts that contained different details.

“There are other historical accounts that say this occurred in Balintawak or Bahay Toro,” Ramos said. “Maybe the Cry of Pugad Lawin was not just one event. Maybe it occurred in different places, one after the other, as word spread about the decision to fight for independence against Spain.”

“It could be that Bonifacio tore his cedula in one place,” he added.

“Then the word spread and the act was repeated in several other Katipunan encampments.”

“One thing can be surmised from the different historical accounts,” Ramos explained. “There was a series of events similar to the ‘First Cry’ in the general area. The places mentioned in the different historical accounts are almost adjacent to each other. These ‘cries’ occurred between August 26 and August 29.”

The Cry of Pugad Lawin

The attack on Manila

From the river

RAMOS said there is now a dilemma on when the Philippines should celebrate Independence Day. “Is it on the day it was bestowed by a foreign power to a colony? Or on the day a people declared that they are breaking the shackles of their colonial chains?”

However, Ramos pointed out he didn’t like “what-if historical scenarios,” which he explained was called historical counterfactuals. He, nonetheless, said it could be argued that if Bonifacio, instead of Aguinaldo, had survived the aftermath of the Tejeros Convention, “our Independence Day could have been celebrated on the day when the Cry of Pugad Lawin occurred.”

This was the moment in August 1896 when the members of the Katipunan openly defied Spanish colonial authority.

The ‘cedula’

AS proof of their determination to break away from Spain, they tore up their cedulas. The cedula, or residence certificate, was a piece of paper signifying that the bearer was under the authority of the Spanish crown.

There was a reason why people

ACCORDING to Ramos, “August is a significant month for Philippine history.”

“That’s why [August] has been designated as Buwan ng Kasaysayan,” Ramos said. Additionally, August 29, 1896, is historically significant.” Ramos explained that was the day the Katipunan and Bonifacio designated as the day to commence their attack on Manila.

This attack was planned as a simultaneous offensive from different directions to overwhelm the Spanish defenders of the walled city. Unfortunately, Spanish authorities had discovered the Katipunan’s intention. The Spanish forces staged their own attack to preempt the Katipunan’s planned offensive. This resulted in a loss of coordination between the various Katipunan forces.

Because of the Spanish action, some Katipunan forces, such as the one headed by Bonifacio, stuck to the agreed-upon plan and attacked, but was repulsed.

Other Katipunan forces hesitated.

Their hesitation allowed Spanish forces the initiative. As a result, Spanish forces also defeated these delayed attacks.

Due to the ensuing confusion,

other Katipunan forces failed to attack at all. Among them were the forces that were based in Cavite, Aguinaldo’s home turf.

It was not a great opening round for the Katipunan. Despite the failure in Manila, the Katipunan did succeed in overwhelming isolated Spanish garrisons in the provinces, including Cavite.

Bonifacio’s death

SUBSEQUENT events led to a disagreement between Aguinaldo and Bonifacio. By May of 1897, Bonifacio was executed on orders of an Aguinaldo court.

The Katipunan, which wanted to remove every vestige of Spanish colonialism on the islands, was replaced by Aguinaldo’s government.

Chua explained that Aguinaldo’s supporters twisted the meaning of the term Haring Bayan. Aguinaldo made his supporters believe that the term Haring Bayan meant that Bonifacio was setting himself up as a monarch.

This was a wrong view, Chua said, citing as proof Apolinario Mabini’s use of the term “Haring Bayan” as another phrase for “republic.”

“Therefore, if Bonifacio was the President of the Haring Bayang Katagalugan, it can be said that he was President of the Revolutionary Government, the first national government of the Philippines,” Chua said.

Because of the backlash resulting from the news that Bonifacio was a traitor who was working in secret to support Spanish colonial rule in the country, the Katipunan was discredited.

As a result, the names, phrases and practices spawned by Bonifacio and the Katipunan were dropped.

Biak-na-Bato and the US arrival

A new government was formed, with Aguinaldo taking over the reins of the Revolution. But it was not to continue the fight against Spain.

Instead, the Biak-na-Bato government succeeded in obtaining a truce.

As part of the deal with Spain, a l l t hose who cont i nue d to fight against Spanish authority after the start of the truce were considered bandits.

The truce was signed on December 14, 1897. Thus ended the first phase of the Philippine Revolution.

In return for the truce, Aguinaldo agreed to go into exile in Hong Kong. He also received the sum of P400,000 from Spanish authorities as reparations for damages in the fighting. Most of the money was deposited in a Hong Kong Bank, while the rest was spent in the Philippines.

Then war broke out between Spain and the United States.

The US, which lacked sufficient soldiers to wrest control of the Philippine Islands from Spain, sought out Aguinaldo to resume fighting.

Aguinaldo agreed. This was the start of the second phase of the Philippine Revolution.

Spain was already in decline when the Spanish-American War broke out. Spain could not send any aid to its beleaguered forces in the Philippines, resulting to the collapse of Spanish resistance.

By June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo, who assumed the title of dictator, was able to declare the country’s formal independence from Spain.

This declaration also acknowledged the role the US played in the war Aguinaldo waged.

At the end of the declaration, Aguinaldo’s government acknowledged that the “independent” Philippines existed because of the “disinterested” protection of United States of America.

It turned out later that the US government would deny having made a deal with Aguinaldo.

Thus, the stage was set for the war between the US and the Philippine First Republic.

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Wednesday, June 15, 2016 A3

MVP vows improved customer service as PDLT and Smart unveil new logos

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

A

@lorenzmarasigan

long with revamp of the decades-old logo of the dominant telco provider in the Philippines is its vow of improving services through billions of pesos in infrastructure investments.

Monday night saw digital services provider PLDT Inc. and subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. bearing new logos, with the Greek alphabet Delta as its main symbol.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of the multimedia conglomerate, explained that the new logos for the two companies, whose only difference is the color, represent change.

“Well, a lot will be changed across t he board—net work s, service platforms, direction,” he said. “It’s not just the rebranding or ‘relogoing’ that’s needed. The whole network has got to improve; our services got to improve; our content and services have got to improve; so it’s not just the logo.

The logo is just one, actually a minor, component.”

PLDT and Smart have embarked on a three-year digital pivot that aims to transform its

networks into the country’s most data-capable infrastructure, delivering a growing array of compelling digital services.

This year alone, the group has allocated P43 billion for capital expenditures. Around $100 million more in capital will likely be earmarked following the acquisition of the telecoms business of San Miguel Corp., which included the utilization of the so-called digital dividend, the 700-megahertz (MHz) frequency band.

“We shall lead the digital revolution by embracing the smart life within the organization, pursuing digital innovations and enabling our customers to go digital in their own ways. The biggest winners will be our customers, who will have a growing range of choices at their fingertips,” Pangilinan emphasized.

The three sides of the new logo represent the company’s business

pillars, namely, “exceptional people, meaningful innovations and valuable customers.” ​“ Taken together, these three pillars create tremendous energy that will enable our customers to achieve their limitless potential.

The triangle’s three sides support each other. Thus, an inherent strength flows harmoniously among the sides to sustain the structure,” Pangilinan said.

For the new logo, Pangilinan said his company tapped Los Angeles-based ad company Ignited, whose clients include Sony, Jollibee, and Sanuk, among others.

“Anytime is as good as any.

PLDT’s logo needs to be replaced, and Smart’s bubble design is also ripe for replacement,” Pangilinan sa id. “ We’re t r y i ng to m a ke it look digital.”

T he new logo replaces the iconic 33-year-old PLDT logo, which was formed through a repetition of the abstract figure of the telephone receiver to complete four sides.

According to International Dat a Cor p. Ph i l ippi nes a n alyst A lon A nthony D. Rejano said the unveiling of the new PLDT and Smart logos represents the ongoing digital shift of the company.

“This conveys that they are introducing or rebranding themselves as a total service provider and moving away from being just a telco player,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Well, a lot will be changed across the board— networks, service platforms, direction. “It’s not just the rebranding or ‘relogoing’ that’s needed. The whole network has got to improve, our services got to improve, our content and services have got to improve, so it’s not just the logo. The logo is just one, actually a minor component.”—Pangilinan

He added: “We can tell that the company is really committed to providing new offerings that could cater to new businesses that leverage disruptive technologies—e.g., cloud, Big Data, mobility, social and Internet of Things—as their

competitive advantage.”

Hence, such a revamp would mean that the company is gearing up its business as a Third Platform Player, which, according to Rejano, is a “good sign.”

“From a customer perspective,

logos are very important, especially the aesthetic appeal, which could express the strengths and qualities of the company. The design could help attract and retain customers, as well as develop and maintain a competitive advantage,” he added Although a company logo is an effective tool of branding association and marketing campaign, Rejano believes customers won’t cut their subscription just because they dislike the design.

“The quality of the offerings will still be the main basis of customers in purchasing or subscribing to products and services,” he said.

Hopefully, this change will translate to a revival in profitability, Pangilinan noted. In the first quarter of the year, the company’s net income was at P6.2 billion, a 34-percent drop from the P9.4 billion reported the year prior.

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ADB keen on helping PHL tourism sector become more competitive

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo | Special to the BusinessMirror

T

@Pulitika2010

HE Asian Development Bank (ADB) remains committed to the Philippine tourism sector and is keen on extending more assistance to improve the latter’s competitiveness.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Kelly Bird, ADB director for public management, financial sector and trade for Southeast Asia, said: “Certainly, we remain committed to the Department of Tourism [DOT] and the tourism industry. Now that they have a human-resources [HR] strategy, over the next several weeks, we will sit down with the DOT and talk about continuing assistance.”

The DOT’s HR development (HRD) strategy was unveiled on Tuesday during the Tourism Skills Forum on Improving Competitiveness. It is the agency’s blueprint to increase visitor arrivals by upgrading the skills of tourism workers.

The HRD strategy was conceived, even as the Canadian government, via the ADB, extended assistance to the tourism industry through the $7.1-million Philippine Improving Competitiveness in Tourism (PICTourism) project, which focuses on improving quality standards of tourism through interventions in the areas of quality assurance and accreditation of the hotels and resorts, skills development and regulatory review of the sector.

About $1.24 million of said technical assistance was channeled to some 50 tourism enterprises in four pilot provinces—Bohol, Cebu, Davao and Palawan—to improve the skills of their work force. Since the grant scheme’s start in 2014, some 7,550 employees have benefited from the program.

In a separate interview, DOT

$7.1M The amount of assistance extended by the Canadian government, via the ADB, to the Philippine tourism industry

Undersecretary Maria Victoria V. Jasmin confirmed that they are seeking to roll out the skills grants program on a national scale, adding, “We are hoping to get additional funding, but it will still depend on Canada. We are preparing a project proposal to this effect.”

She declined to say the amount being proposed for the new assistance, explaining that “the HR strategy calls for investment from the [tourism] enterprises, as well, so it won’t be as much as the grant per enterprise.” Under the present program, tourism enterprises could tap as much as $100,000 under the grants scheme and were allowed to reapply as beneficiaries.

For his part, Bird said, “If we can support [the] DOT, we would want to go nationally, as well. It’s important to focus on the size, like Mindanao, in Palawan, where the prospects are very good, but also, we will not forget Luzon, as well.”

However, any national rollout, he said, “won’t be immediate. It will take four to six years to do it.”

Tuesday’s forum served as a

Representatives of tourism enterprises, which participated in the Asian Development Bank-Canadian government $1.24-million Industry Skills grant scheme, share their experiences on how their skills-upgrade training helped them and increase the service quality and profitability of their respective establishments. From left are Kim Virlyn Auxtero, pantry chef of Amarela Resort in Panglao, Bohol; Mercedita Luzon, treasurer of Cabugsay Tree Planters Association; Jan Ryan Casquejo, banquet supervisor of Skylight Hotel in Palawan; Rai Kristie Salve Gomez, education administrator of the Philippine Eagle Foundation; Michael Alfon, freelance tour guide; and Lucela Barriaga, chairman of the University of Mindanao's Hospitality Education department.

“graduation” of sorts for the beneficiaries, which participated in the skills development grant scheme.

Speaking at the same forum, Canada’s Ambassador to the Philippines Neil Reeder said the first tranche of grants, amounting to $850,000 was awarded to 26 recipients, benefiting some 5,200 employees of tourism enterprises, community-service organizations and industry associations. For the second phase of the program, some $400,000 in grants were extended to 23 tourism establishments.

The establishments who have benefited from the first phase of grants scheme were (Bohol) Amarela Resort Corp., Bohol Association of Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants, Metro Centre/OG Holdings Corp., South Palms Re-

sort Panglao, The Bellevue Bohol; (Cebu) Alpa City Suites, Cebu Association of Tour Operators, Cebu Parklane International Hotel, Cebu White Sands Resorts and Spa, Olango Island Eco-Tour Association, Marco Polo Plaza Cebu, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel; (Davao) Aquagem Travel and Tours, Eden Nature Park and Resort, Grand Menseng Hotel, Guide Union for Inbound Destinations and Ecotours, Microtel Inn and Suites Corp. Consortium, the Philippine Eagle Conservation Foundation, Samal City Resort Owners Association Inc., The Pinnacle Hotel and Suites, Villa Margarita Hotel Consortium, and Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao; (Palawan) Aziza Paradise Hotel, Calamianes Association of Tourism Establishments

Inc. and the Puerto Princesa Tour Guide Association.

For the second phase, beneficiaries were: (Bohol) Amarela Resort Corp., Baclayon Ancestral House for New Development Initiatives, Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort, Cambugsay Tree Planters Association, Hacienda Primera Development Corp. (Amorita Resort) and South Palms Resort Panglao; (Cebu) Cebu Association of Tour Guides, Cebu White Sands Resort and Spa, Costabella Tropical Beach Hotel, Montebello Villa Hotel, Olango Island Eco-Tour Association, Quest Hotel and Conference Center Cebu; (Davao) Association of Human Resources Manager in the Hospitality Industry-Davao chapter, Grand Menseng Hotel, My Hotel Consortium, Philippine

Eagle Conservation Foundation, Pinnacle Hotel and Suites, and Seda Abreeza Hotel; (Palawan) Calamianes Association of Tourism Establishments Inc., Coron Restaurant Consortium, Hacienda El Sol Development Corp. (Funny Lion Inn), Honda Bay Boatowners Association Inc. and Skylight Hotel Group Inc. In his welcome remarks, Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. said, “The positive impact of the industry skills grants scheme has made at a personal and professional and product level more visible with the increasing numbers of beneficiaries for the past years. There can be no question in our minds that investment in our people pays dividends at every level.”

Obama urges gun limits, calls shooting homegrown terrorism

P

resident Barack Obama characterized the killings of 49 people at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub as an act of homegrown terrorism and called for outlawing civilian sales of military-style weapons, like the rifle used in the attack.

Obama said on Monday the gunman, Omar Mateen, drew inspiration from extremist propaganda, but that there’s no sign he was directed by anyone overseas or was part of any larger terror group. The killer was the kind of homegrown extremist that authorities have long feared, the president said.

“It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was being distributed on the Internet,” Obama said, after a White House meeting with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Vice President Joe Biden and top counterterrorism officials. He said there was “no clear evidence he was directed externally” and “no direct evidence he was part of a larger plot.”

With his comments, Obama addressed the Orlando massacre for the second time in two days. The slaughter in a gay dance club in the Florida city early Sunday morning marked the worst mass shooting in modern US history and the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil since September 11, 2001.

Obama will travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay respects to the

families of the victims, according to a statement from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. He’ll also “stand in solidarity with the community,” he said.

Legally obtain

Obama said Mateen was able to legally obtain the weapons used in the shooting—a Glock pistol and an AR-15-style rifle—because he had no criminal record. The president said the US must ensure that it’s not easy for people who intend to cause harm to obtain the sorts of weapons Mateen purchased.

“The fact that we make it this challenging for law enforcement, for example, even to get alerted that somebody they are watching has purchased a gun, and if they do get alerted sometimes it is hard for them to stop them from getting a gun, is crazy,” he said.

The president was joined by Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee to succeed him, in urging stricter controls on gun purchases.

“Weapons of war have no place on our streets,” Clinton said during a speech on Monday in Cleveland. She said the threat from “radical jihadists” was “profound” and “metastasizing.”

Trump response

Their calls for more restrictive gun laws were derided on Monday by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who said

such measures would strip Americans of their self-defenses. During a speech in New Hampshire, he called Clinton clueless about the threat from Islamic terrorism and vowed to restrict immigration to prevent infiltration of extremists Senate Democrats said on Monday they may offer an amendment to a spending bill for the departments of Commerce and Justice that would prohibit people on the government’s terrorist watch list from purchasing guns and explosives. Under the proposal, the US attorney general could have placed Mateen on the list based on the FBI’s two interviews with him, if there was a “reasonable belief” he would use a gun in an act of terrorism, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who is cosponsoring the measure.

“In the wake of Orlando, we need to think of what kind of a country and what kind of a Senate we need to be,” Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said on Monday. “We’re going to push to finally close the terrorism gap once and for all.”

No-fly list

Senate Republicans blocked a similar measure last December, after a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people. Mateen was not on the government’s no-fly list, according to a US official familiar with the matter. It’s unclear whether he was on any other terrorism-related watch list at the

time of the shooting.

Obama said authorities don’t yet understand Mateen’s motive or why he chose to target a gay nightclub. Mateen was killed in a shootout with the police.

“Here’s what we do know,” he said. “Organizations like ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] or organizations like al-Qaeda or those who have perverted Islam and created these nihilistic, vicious organizations, one of the groups they target are gays and lesbians because they believe that they do not abide by their attitudes toward sexuality.”

FBI interviews

Mateen, 29, had twice been interviewed by the FBI. The agency said it interviewed Mateen in 2013 because it was told he had made inflammatory remarks about having terrorist ties, and again in 2014 because of a connection to an American who went to fight with Islamic State (IS), the terrorist group that has seized parts of Syria and Iraq.

Comey, speaking at a news conference on Monday, said the intelligence community was “highly confident that this killer was radicalized, at least, in part through the Internet.”

But in three phone calls between Mateen and 911 dispatchers during the attack at the nightclub early Sunday morning, he pledged loyalty to the leader of IS and also praised a follower of at least one rival jihadi group, as well as the Boston Marathon bomber, Comey said.

Obama is expected to discuss additional efforts to combat the IS on Tuesday during a visit to the Treasury Department, part of a regular series of trips to the departments and agencies across the government focused on combating the terrorist group.

‘Radical Islam’

IN his New Hampshire speech, Trump said a “politically correct response” would hinder the US and reiterated his call for a temporary ban of Muslim immigration. He said his policies to protect the US were more gay-friendly than those of Clinton, who, unlike Trump, supports samesex marriage.

Trump said in a post to Twitter that the president should resign because he has refused “to even say the words ‘radical Islam’” in connection with the attack. Trump has, in the past, questioned Obama’s nationality and faith. The president was born in Hawaii and is a Christian.

In an interview with Fox News, the presumptive Republican nominee appeared to insinuate that Obama may have identified with radicalized Muslims who carried out the terror attacks in Orlando and San Bernardino.

“Look, we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” Trump said. “And the something else in mind —you know, people can’t believe it.

People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the

way he acts and can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’

There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.”

‘Small’ comments

Earnest dismissed Trump’s comments as “small” and defended Obama’s record on combating terrorism.

“If you take a look at the president’s record—it speaks for itself,” Earnest said. “And that record includes a lot of dead terrorists.”

He also described Obama’s refusal to use the phrase radical Islam as intentional. “The president uses his language carefully—and we will not give in to the idea that we’re involved in a war between Islam and the West,” Earnest said.

The government is focusing on completing its investigation into Mateen and his possible links to terror groups. “We will leave no stone unturned and we will look all day and all night to understand the path to that terrible night,” Comey said.

The FBI director defended his agency’s earlier investigations of the shooter, saying there was nothing agents “should have done differently” in their handling of Mateen.

“Our investigation involved introducing confidential sources to him, recording conversations with him, following him, reviewing transactional records from his communications and searching all government holdings for any possible connections, any possible derogatory information,” he said. Bloomberg News

AseanWednesday BusinessMirror

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Emerging stocks set for longest slide in a month as Brexit looms

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E V E L O P I N G - nation stocks headed for the longest losing streak in more than a month as concern the UK will vote to leave the European Union (EU) roiled markets before central bank meetings in the US and Japan.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell for a fourth day, with nine of its 10 industry groups retreating.

Raw-material stocks declined the most as a gauge of commodities resumed declines, and energy shares retreated with crude oil. Benchmarks in the Philippines, Vietnam and South Korea declined, while those in Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan rose. The yuan drew closer to a five-year low, and the nation’s domestic equities fell for a third day before MSCI Inc. announces early on Wednesday whether they will be added to its global gauges. Risk aversion ahead of the June 23 UK referendum and this week’s monetary-policy reviews by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and Bank of Japan are fueling volatility in financial markets. A measure of 10-day price swings in the MSCI emerging markets gauge jumped to levels last seen in April as institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, warned of dire fallout if the UK becomes the first country to leave the EU.

Singapore achieves self-reliance in water, sees demand doubling

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INGAPORE has achieved selfreliance in water and is building more capacity to meet a projected doubling in demand in the next 45 years, a minister said.

The city-state, which has a contract to buy from neighboring Malaysia more than half its current daily water requirement of 400 to 420 million imperial gallons, has been able to meet demand even when dry weather reduced the Malaysian supply, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said in an interview last week.

Expanded catchment areas, water recycling and desalination have

helped the city-state overcome shortfalls from its Malaysian source, Masagos said. The island-nation needs to build enough catchments, reservoirs and processing plants to supply the 800 million gallons a day it will consume by 2016, when the agreement to buy 250 million gallons daily from Malaysia runs out, he said.

“Because we have enough capacity, we are able to mitigate for shortfalls,” the minister said. “That’s why

Singaporeans are able to see all our reservoirs full. They are totally disconnected from the fact that we are having a water problem” when parts of Malaysia have had to ration water in recent months, he said.

More plants

IN the southern Malaysian state of Johor, which supplies Singapore raw water under the bilateral agreement, dry weather prompted the local water authority to ask Singapore for additional potable water earlier this month.

Singapore plans to complete its fifth NEWater plant, which reclaims treated used water, by the end of the year, producing 50 million gallons of water per day. It is also building its third desalination plant, to be completed in 2017, with a fourth plant

Archaeologists say discovered ancient urban networks around Angkor Wat

‘Trifecta of uncertainty’

“IT’S a trifecta of uncertainty with Brexit, the FOMC meeting later this week, and the slump in liquidity typical from June to August, which would exaggerate market movements,” said Geoffrey Ng, who oversees about $238 million as a director at Fortress Capital Asset Management Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur. “With markets on a yo-yo, we are only taking trades that are within a range and are short term.

It’s still better to stay on the side of caution for now.”

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.2 percent as of 1:06 p.m. in Hong Kong, and has has lost 4.1 percent in four days, its longest slide since May 9. The gauge has pared is 2016 advance to 1.8 percent and is valued at 11.7 times the 12-month estimated earnings of its constituents.

That compares with 1.3-percent decline in the MSCI World Index, which trades at multiple of 15.7.

South Korea’s Posco dropped 2.1 percent, leading declines in a gauge of material companies. Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. fell to a 14-month low in Seoul, as units of Lotte Group, the nation’s fifth-largest family-run conglomerate slumped after South Korean prosecutors raided its offices, Yonhap News reported. The Kospi Index slid 0.3 percent.

Philippines, China

THE Philippine Composite Index fell 1.6 percent to a two-week low, while benchmarks in Vietnam and Malaysia dropped at least 0.2 percent each. The Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.3 percent and has tumbled 45 percent in the past 12 months, including a 20-percent loss this year. The yuan traded within 0.2 percent of its low set in January after slumping the most in a month on Monday, amid as concern over China’s economic slowdown a selloff in emerging-market assets. The Philippine peso fell 0.3 percent, the most in three weeks and the biggest drop among developing economies, as global funds pulled money from the nation’s stocks. Most emerging-market currencies were little changed.

“There seems to be very little interest in engaging new positions in Asian currencies, ahead of key event risks,” said Divya Devesh, Singapore-based foreign-exchange strategist for Asia at Standard Chartered Plc. “The overall risk sentiment is still quite negative, with recent polls showing a lead for the ‘Leave’ campaign” in the UK, he said. “In case we do have a Brexit scenario, none of the currencies will be insulated.” Bloomberg News

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Wednesday, June 15, 2016 A5

IN this July 14, 2014, file photo, tourists look at the view of the Angkor Wat temples at sunrise, outside Siem Reap, Cambodia. An Australian archeologist says he and colleagues have found evidence of previously undiscovered medieval urban and agricultural networks surrounding the ancient city of Angkor Wat. AP

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ONDON—An Australian archaeologist says he and colleagues have found evidence of previously undiscovered medieval urban and agricultural networks surrounding the ancient city of Angkor Wat. Using high-tech lasers to scan the Cambodian jungle, Damian Evans and colleagues say they found traces of extensive networks surrounding the monumental stone-temple complex at Angkor Wat. Evans said their findings could further our understanding of Khmer culture and throw into question traditional assumptions about the 15th-century decline of the empire.

Evans said a laser technology, known as lidar, was used to create precise maps of ancient networks that left only vague traces—invisible to the naked eye—in the landscape surrounding the temples.

“You could be standing in the middle of the forest looking at what appear to be some random lumps and bumps,” Evans said. “But they might actually be evidence of old excavated ponds or built-up roadways,” he explained. “All of these things left traces in the surface of the landscape that wouldn’t make sense

to you without a more detailed picture.”

To obtain such details, Evans said his colleagues spent 90 hours in a helicopter directing laser scans into the jungle surrounding Angkor Wat. He said the resulting images are so intricate “you can see objects lying next to a tiny anthill.”

The research was published on Monday in the Journal of Archaeological Science. It was the result of a joint project, including the French Institute of Asian Studies in Paris, the Cambodian national authority responsible for protecting Angkor Wat and the ministry of culture and fine arts.

For years, experts have assumed that the ancient Khmer civilization collapsed in the 15th century, when invading Thai armies sacked Angkor Wat, forcing populations to relocate to southern Cambodia. But Evans said their laser maps showed no evidence of relocated, dense cities in the south and that it wasn’t clear there was any such mass migration.

Chanratana Chen, a Cambodian academic at the University of Sorbonne in Paris, said the new findings had changed his own perception of the

Angkor Wat temple complex, which the Cambodian people commonly refer to as “the small city.” Chen was not involved in the new research.

“The new results [show] us that Cambodia was a much more advanced civilization than we thought, especially about the management plan of the city and irrigation system to improve agriculture in the area,” Chen wrote in an e-mail. Among the most noteworthy discoveries Evans and colleagues had found were proof of medieval sandstone quarries and traces of a royal road between various temple complexes, he said.

Evans doubted tourists would soon be flocking to see the unremarkable “mounds in the ground” that the lasers had decoded at Angkor Wat, but said he and colleagues have now pinpointed sites that might be fruitful for further excavation.

He said it was likely there could be similar such discoveries elsewhere in Southeast Asia, possibly in Burma and even the Americas, where archeologists might unearth more secrets about the remains left behind by the 6th-century Mayan Empire. AP

due to be ready toward the end of 2019. Construction of a fifth is being explored, the minister said in a speech in April.

Masagos’s ministry, which accounts for 2.6 percent of Singapore’s budgeted expenditure, has a planned 13.1-percent increase in spending this fiscal year to S$1.93 billion ($1.4 billion), compared with an overall 7.3-percent increase in total national spend.

Singapore’s Public Utilities Board, in charge of water supply, accounts for over a quarter of the ministry’s operating budget.

The city-state intends to keep using the Malaysian water supply that it’s allowed under the 1962 Water Agreement, as that’s a cheaper source than what it can produce from desalination or recycling,

according to Masagos. Domestic desalination plants fulfill about a quarter of Singapore’s water needs, but they remain expensive to operate.

The need for better water technology has driven innovation in Singapore, which has about 180 water companies and 26 private research centers. The city is holding the Singapore International Water Week in July.

Masagos said several of these outfits are currently working on prototype systems to cut the energy requirements at desalination plants by half or more.

“What was critical for survival became an advantage because we had to do a lot of research, including the discovery of how to process water,” Masagos said. Bloomberg News

Japan unswayed by increased pressure to disavow coal support

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APAN, faced with increasing calls from environmentalists to phase out coal, is standing by its support of the fossil fuel, saying it will help developing countries adopt the best available technologies for coal-fired power plants.

Pressure to rein in carbon-dioxide emissions is intensifying, especially after the Paris Agreement, a global deal reached last December to tackle climate change. Environmentalists have criticized Japan for being one of the biggest providers of coal financing among Group-ofSeven (G-7) nations and for being a laggard in switching to cleaner energy sources.

In response, Japan says it’s helping to develop more efficient coalfired plants that can cut carbon-dioxide emissions. The Asian nation’s financing of coal-fired projects is also helping to improve energy security in countries that still rely on the cheap fuel, officials say.

“It is not realistic to quit coal entirely,” Takafumi Kakudo, director of the clean coal division at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Meti), said in an interview.

“Environmental aspects alone can’t dictate the way countries set their energy policies.’’

Asian countries, such as India and Indonesia, are planning to add more coal capacity to meet growing power demand. Japanese companies, such as Toshiba Corp., have plans to supply equipment to such coal-fired plants, while the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation has provided loans for projects abroad.

Coal technologies

“WE want to make our contribution so these countries can reduce emissions,” Kakudo said, adding that Japan is also ready to provide support for gas-fired power projects.

The government has been promoting exports of technologies for coal- and gas-fired power. In a set of infrastructure export strategies adopted in May, the government said it will push for energy-related infrastructure, such as high-efficiency thermal power plants, and equipment to remove air pollutants.

Japanese companies are counting on demand for cheap electricity in developing countries.

“There is big demand for power in emerging economies and Africa, where industries have yet to emerge,” Takio Nishizuma, a senior executive vice president at Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Ltd., said at a seminar in Tokyo earlier this month. Mitsubishi Hitachi Power is a supplier of equipment to coal-power plants.

Japan plans to continue to rely on coal-fired power plants at home, too.

The country has plans for 48 projects totaling about 23 gigawatts in various stages of development, according to Kyoto-based environmental group Kiko Network.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, have been stepping up pressure on Japan to scale back on coal financing. Japan’s public financing of coal power plants and mining is larger than any other member of G-7 industrial nations, according to a report released last month by a collection of environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Financing pressure

THE Asian nation placed last among G-7 members in terms of efforts being made to phase out coal-power generation, according to a “coal scorecard” report from E3G, a non-profit group promoting a low-carbon economy.

Last November members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development agreed to scale back public financing for coal-fired stations in order to rein in emissions, with member-countries agreeing to provide subsidies only for coal-fired plants with so-called ultra-supercritical technology.

Even with advances in technology, coal-fired plants still emit more carbon dioxide than gas-fired stations.

Development of carbon capture and storage is needed to drastically reduce emissions, Meti’s Kakudo said.

“Japan needs to recognize it has a problem,” Chris Littlecott, program leader for fossil-fuel transition and CCS at E3G, said at a recent seminar on coal in Tokyo. “Japan is going to be under pressure.” Bloomberg News

Nok Air apologizes after pilot’s chat about crashing airplane

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ANGKOK—An airline in Thailand has apologized after friends of a pilot joked in a group chat about crashing the plane he was going to fly with a former prime minister onboard.

The screenshot of the chat, conducted on their phones on Sunday, somehow was leaked on social media, provoking widespread criticism of the airline, Nok Air. In response,

Nok Air CEO Patee Sarasin said in a tweet that “this kind of behavior is intolerable.”

“I will personally call Yingluck and apologize, Nok Air has no politics, I won’t stand this,” he said.

Yingluck Shinawatra came to power in a landslide election victory in 2011, but her government was ousted in a coup in 2014, after protracted political turmoil. She

remains popular in the countryside but many people in cities remain opposed to her family, especially her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister who also was ousted in a military coup in 2006. He now lives abroad in self-imposed exile.

On Sunday Yingluck was walking on the tarmac toward the Nok Air aircraft in the provincial town of Phrae when the first officer on the

plane took her picture. He posted it on a group chat with the comment: “There’s a prey onboard.”

A friend commented: “Oooh, go for it.” A second friend then said: “please do a CFIT” and a third person chimed in by saying: “Very, Very Important Person, land safely.”

CFIT is aviation jargon meaning “controlled flight into terrain,” or a controlled crash.

It was not known if the first officer’s friends were also pilots or in aviation. The acronym CFIT, however, is normally used by those in the business.

On her Facebook page on Monday, Yingluck said she hoped this incident would be an example of “not bringing in personal attitudes into professional services. Especially when it is about life and safety.” AP

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The World BusinessMirror

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

China, US hold talks to bridge differences on cyber security

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EIJING—Chinese and American officials said on Tuesday they’re committed to bridging their differences on cyber security, as they held talks on the issue amid complaints over China-based hacking operations that the United States says may have already cost US companies tens of billions of dollars.

2.2M The number of US federal employees, retirees and contractors whose information was accessed by hackers

Repeated meetings between the sides on cyber security indicate the seriousness with which

the Obama administration regards the issue, the US ambassador to China, Ma x Baucus, said at the start of the two-day talks in western Beijing.

“We’re here today to ensure implementation of agreements made by the two presidents, commitments that illustrate that we can work through areas of differences to reach areas of cooperation,” Baucus said, referring to an agreement that neither government will support commercial cyber-theft forged during Chinese

President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House in September.

Cyber issues are “an important element in our bilateral relationship,” the ambassador said. “Each step that we take enables us to have greater trust. We’re prepared to work hard with you to narrow our differences.”

Chinese Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun said China wants to “bring the discussions from policies on paper to actual implementation.”

“Both sides will continue to cooperate on cyber cases. I believe the leadership on both sides places emphasis on the issue and values participation. Xi Jinping has personally been involved,” Guo said.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Loretta Lynch were scheduled to attend the meetings, but withdrew following the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.

Although China denies sponsoring or permitting hacking attacks, a congressional advisory body said last year that China’s increasing use of cyber espionage has already cost US companies

tens of billions of dollars in lost sales and expenses in repairing the damage from hacking. It says in many cases, stolen trade secrets have been turned over to Chinese government-owned companies.

That body, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, is ty pically strongly critical of Beijing, and said the US response to the threat has been “inadequate”. It said China has also infiltrated a wide swath of US government computer networks.

Among the most serious breaches in which China is suspected was one last year against the Office of Personnel Management. Hackers gained access to the personal information of more than 22 million US federal employees, retirees, contractors and others.

China describes itself as a victim of hacking and says it is combating cybercrimes.

Along with cyber security, the two days of talks are also expected to deal with global supply chain security, combating transnational crime, illegal immigration, counterterrorism and maritime law enforcement. AP

Gabriel Swaidner of Gulfport holds a rainbow flag during a vigil near the lighthouse to honor the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando on June 13 in Biloxi, Mississippi. A gunman killed dozens of people in a massacre at a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. John Fitzhugh/The Sun Herald via AP

Making no promises, Obama struggles for solution on violence

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ASHINGTON—Was it homegrown terrorism, bigotry or random gun violence? Americans searching for answers after the Orlando shootings are finding no easy solutions from President Barack Obama, who is conceding that a deadly mix of extremism and easy gun access have made future tragedies almost a foregone conclusion.

In the days after the deadliest shooting in modern US history, Obama has offered no simple prescriptions or promises for new action—even as the candidates vying for his job put forward aggressive plans of their own. Instead, the president has suggested the root causes behind a “disturbed” man’s actions are difficult to determine and may be less important than a sort of “soul searching” about what to do about it.

“We know that at some point there are going to be, out of 300 million, there are going to be some individuals who find for whatever reason that kind of horrible propaganda enticing,” Obama said on Monday. “And if that happens, and that person can get a weapon, that’s a problem.”

Solidarity

THE comments were Obama’s most direct acknowledgment yet that the attacks like the one in Orlando may be a new fixture of

American life—the sort of observation that could only be delivered by a second-term president with seven months left in office.

Obama’s two-prong message, delivered with weary resignation to reporters, was unlikely to quell the fears of those hoping such attacks will never happen again.

But the president has seemed to embrace his end-of-term role.

He’s also mindful that his administration has overseen the dawn of a new era of domestic attacks and it is incumbent to try to explain the forces at play.

The White House began pointing in various directions on Monday, defending the administration at each turn while announcing Obama would travel to Orlando on Thursday to “stand in solidarity with the community.”

gun legislation. Though he declared the president was not resigned to accept the outbreak of mass violence as normal and described considerable “presidential frustration,” he did not outline any new push for gun control measures.

T he Orlando attack comes as the W hite House had begun touting new progress against the Islamic State (IS) group, one of the groups that Mateen claimed to follow as he carried out the attack.

Last week the US envoy to the anti-IS coalition argued that the group’s morale was “plummeting” and its funding and recruiting were drying up. Brett McGurk said that IS had lost half its territory in Iraq and that the US and its partners were killing an IS leader about every three days.

Crazy

Juxtaposition

THERE appeared to be no missteps at the FBI, which had interviewed presumed shooter Omar Mateen in the past, Obama said. Although Mateen wasn’t on any watch list at the time, Obama blasted as “crazy” a system in which law enforcement officials weren’t alerted when he purchased the assault rifle and handgun used in the attack.

White House Spokesman Josh Earnest revived the White House’s oft-repeated critique of Republicans for blocking “common-sense”

OBAMA had planned to echo that message publicly following a National Security Council meeting on Tuesday that will now take on a much less sanguine tone.

The juxtaposition has illustrated that “going after terrorists over there,” as Obama put it last year, has not seemed to lessen the risk of terrorism at home. That’s especially true when it comes to so-called “homegrown extremism” or “lone wolves”—phrases used to describe instances where

individuals in the US, inspired by groups like IS, take it upon themselves to plan and execute deadly attacks at home.

“It is a perverse reaction to the success that we are having on the geographic battlefield,” said Wendy Sherman, Obama’s former undersecretary of state. “As a result, ISIS is looking to show that it still is powerful, and one of the ways it does that is to claim ‘lone wolf,’ because they don’t have to come to Syria or Iraq or Libya.”

Tacit

OBAMA has long conceded that there’s no surefire way to detect those attacks in advance, tacitly putting Americans on notice that some level of violence is inevitable. The FBI said last month it was monitoring more than 1,000 people who are potentially at risk for radicalization and violence.

Though the US has made countering extremist ideologies—especially online—a key component of its anti-IS strategy, the effectiveness of those efforts is called into doubt by continued attacks by people found later to have been inspired by IS from thousands of miles away.

“It is, that if we have self-radicalized individuals in this country, then they are going to be very difficult oftentimes to find ahead of time,” Obama said. AP

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In Orlando, the ‘Happiest Place’ confronts a sad reality

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RLANDO, Florida—Coloradans Randy and Tammy Harris had been planning the trip for 10 months. Seven-yearold son Jackson had his heart set on Space Mountain; his 4-yearold sister, Anabelle, was hoping to meet her namesake from Beauty and the Beast.

They’d come to experience what’s billed as the “Happiest Place on Earth.” And then, just a few miles away, there was another superlative: The deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

The Harrises are certainly not insensitive to tragedy. They live in Aurora, Colorado, where a man dressed in black body armor rampaged through a movie theater in July 2012, killing 12 and wounding 70 others. “There is no place that’s completely safe anymore,” said Tammy Harris, a middleschool writing teacher. “Absolutely no place. These things happen in theaters, in schools, etc. It is just pervasive, unfortunately.”

Sunday’s massacre at Pulse Night Club in downtown Orlando was another reminder. That’s what she’ll think about as she remembers this trip, she said as she slathered her daughter with sunscreen in the Magic Kingdom’s parking lot.

“Unfortunately, it’s just becoming a bit of the norm now where these tragedies happen.”

Though they didn’t know anyone killed or wounded in the Aurora shootings, as members of the community, they felt the effect.

Randy Harris said it takes time to absorb what happens in mass shootings. And for “people from Orlando, maybe even a year from now, would give more insight.”

From all over the world, people come to central Florida’s theme parks to enjoy themselves and to escape from reality, if just for a few hours. But around 2 a.m. on Sunday, the police say, Omar Mateen entered the Pulse club, a gay venue, with a rifle and pistol and opened fire. When the shooting was over, Mateen and 49 others were dead, and 53 more were wounded.

Like any other major US city, Orlando is no stranger to violence.

Last December leaders created the City of Orlando Nightclubs Task Force to study the sometimes unruly crowds spilling from its venues. Two months later, two people

died and 10 were injured when a gang feud erupted in shooting at another nightclub packed with 300 patrons. Not long before the Pulse incident, 22-year-old singer Christina Grimmie, a former contestant on NBC’s The Voice, was shot dead while signing autographs. The shooter then killed himself.

But to people around the world, Orlando represents America at its most fun. In 2015 a record 66 million people visited Orlando, making it the most visited tourist destination in the US. Laura Hakami of Norton, England, said her family had saved three years for their dream vacation to the Magic Kingdom. They followed the news all day on Sunday, but they never even considered not going to Disney World on Monday.

“Oh it’s horrible, isn’t it? ” Hakami said as her children, Oliver, 7, and Amelia, 5, fidgeted by the car. “But I think our good memories will still stand out more than what happened.” Despite the blistering heat on Monday morning, Jessica Gunter of Teaneck, New Jersey, stood in line dressed in an orange and black “Tigger” costume. “He’s my favorite character,” she said of Winnie the Pooh’s bouncy buddy. “I like to go as full Disney as I can.”

But behind her beaming smile and blue-green hair was a faint shadow of guilt. She confessed to worrying that the park might be closed because of the shootings, or that the experience might be somehow changed.

“Not to make it all about us and, ‘I don’t want our trip to be ruined,’“ she said. “It’s a horrible thing to have happened.”

Even these purveyors of fantasy and magic were not immune. Luis Vielma, 22, worked at Universal Studios’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Author J.K. Rowling tweeted a photograph of Vielma wearing a sweater vest and tie of a student at her fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. “I can’t stop crying,” the author wrote. Whether Mateen’s rampage was born or radical Islam, mental illness, antigay feelings or some combination of the three remains unclear. But Orlando has wrapped its arms around the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. AP

Shanghai evicts ‘polluters’ for new Disney theme park

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H A NGH A I — A ut hor it ies have evicted hundreds of Shanghai residents and dozens of businesses to clean up the air and make way for the newest Disney theme park, which opens on Thursday. Residents were paid for lost homes but hundreds of employees of shuttered factories say they don’t know where their next jobs will be.

“You can find low-paying work.

But jobs that pay better you can’t get,” said a 50-year-old equipment inspector at China Xingyue Group, which makes small utility vehicles and motorbikes. He would give only his surname, Chen.

The story has been repeated thousands of times across China over the past two decades as the communist government removed farmers and small businesses for construction of factories, office towers, hydroelectric dams and other projects.

Authorities who used to turn out residents with little compensation have gotten more sophisticated about smoothing the transition. But the outcome is the same: A community uprooted to make way for economic development.

In the district near the Disney site, at least 153 factories were ordered to close this year to cut

pollution, according to the local government. Most are workshops that employ 10 to 20 people producing goods ranging from clothing to chemicals. Shanghai’s air pollution isn’t as bad as Beijing’s eye-searing smog but regularly exceeds levels the World Health Organization says are safe.

Qin Lijun’s home was demolished in 2013 to make way for Disney construction. She prefers her new, 70-square-meter (700-square-foot) apartment, one of three given to her extended family, where she lives with her dog, Harry.

“The surroundings of the village, it doesn’t compare to now.

You would be working in the factories there during the day, and then tending to your land when you got home,” Qin said. “Here, you walk out and it’s all greenery and flowers. The surroundings are so much better.”

Xingyue Group plans to relocate its factory to neighboring Zhejiang province but some of its 200 employees have no plans to go along.

“Some people have been here full-time for more than ten years,” said a welder who would give only his surname, Cao. “We’re just going to have to find other work.” AP

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

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Efficient transport and logistics to raise competitiveness of PHL enterprises

By Meneleo Carlos

STUDENTS from different schools and representatives of local manufacturing companies attend a Doing Business in Free Trade Areas information session on June 9 at the Department of Trade and Industry’s-Export Marketing Bureau office on Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City. ROY DOMINGO

Chairman, Networking Committee on Transport and Logistics, Export Development Council

DBFTA info sessions focus on export program for MSMEs P

RODUCTIVITY and competitiveness of Philippine enterprises is not only based on labor, but also on the efficiency of transport and logistics. To address this, the Philippine Export Development Plan (2015-2017) highlights programs and projects that can help improve the efficiency of our country’s transport and logistics services.

I

N its continuing effort to increase public awareness about the benefits of Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA), one of its major advocacy programs, the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) held 49 information sessions during the first three months of 2016.

The number is on track to fulfill the DTI-EMB’s goal of conducting 200 information sessions nationwide this year alone.

Mostly held in its offices at the DTI International Building on Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City, the DBFTA sessions seek to infor m loca l manufact urers—especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)— wishing to venture into the export business about the benefits they can avail themselves of from the various free-trade agreements (FTAs) the Philippines has signed with its trade partners worldwide.

The sessions present the various product categories enjoying zero tariff or ver y low duties on products local manufacturers can produce and export to the different countries or geographical regions the countr y has signed FTAs with. The sessions also present the unique re-

quirements, product needs and business opportunities each of t he countr y’s trade par tners has that local manufacturers can explore.

Also part of the sessions are topics on product upgrade, labeling standards, documentary requirements, and programs, facilities and services the DTIEMB has in place to help local manufacturers and service providers improve the quality and the pricing of their focused products to help them venture into the overseas markets.

At present, aside from its fta with the nine-member states of Asean, the Philippines is also a signator y to Asean’s FTA with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

It also has a bilateral agreement with Japan and recently signed an FTA with the European Free Trade Association, composed of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway

RESOURCE speakers from the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) discuss the DTI-EMB’s Doing Business in Free Trade Areas program on June 9 at the bureau’s office on Gil J. Puyat Avenue in Makati City. The speakers are (from left) Gina Yap, senior Trade and Industry Development specialist of the Market Innovation Division (MID); Justinne Marie Santos, Trade and Industry Development specialist from the MID; and Rafaelita Castro, MID division chief. ROY DOMINGO

and Switzerland, which is still undergoing ratification.

In December 2014 the Philippines was granted preferential rates by the European Union under its Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) program.

Last year the Philippines started to enjoy again the privileges provided for under the reinstated GSP of the US. The Philippines is also a beneficiary of GSP tariffs from other donor-countries, including Canada.

The sessions conducted during the first three months of the year included those focusing on special product segments, like coffee products and the coconut sector, Philippine education opportunities and services they presented in an education fair in Indonesia, EU GSP+; US GSP;

doing business with Canada and the US; halal food products for Muslim markets in the Philippines and abroad; nontariff measures to stimulate local interest in exporting; and doing business with Switzerland.

The DTI-EMB also hosted entrepreneurship students of the Tabaco campus of Bicol University and briefed them on the DBFTA program. T he EM B -D T I a l so conducted an EU GSP+ session with members of an EU delegation in Central Visayas (Region 7) and visited the DTI office in Northern Mindanao (Region 10) to celebrate One Services Week.

Attending the 49 sessions were 3,009 participants representing local government units, academe, the media and 721 companies, including 290 exporters.

e.m.b. corner

Strategy 1 of the Philippine Export Development Plan

T

HE 2015-2017 Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) will implement a two-track intervention to identified sectors named as key and emerging export sectors. These sectors have been identified as having at least one of the following criteria: Those that significantly contribute to exports, have high growth potential, and with competitive and comparative advantages.

Key export sectors are those that have met one or several of the following criteria: (1) at least more than $1-billion export revenues in 2014; (2) substantial impact on employment; and/or (3) high-growth potential or remarkable export performance.

The key export sectors include electronics, motor vehicle and parts, coconut oil, information technology and business-process management sector, technical and computer and information

services, and processed food and beverages. Emerging exports are those products for which global demand has been increasing and for which Philippine exports has been growing faster than world demand since 2006. Emerging export sectors include chemicals, activated carbon, metal components and fish, both preserved and fresh.

The intervention in the next three years would focus leveraging on the comparative strengths of the country and in exploiting the opportunities presented by fast-growing markets. Strategy 1 of the PEDP designs comprehensive packages of support for these key and emerging sectors.

The packages of support aim to address vulnerabilities of a particular sector, increase production capacity and provide solutions to cope with the challenges in the global marketplace.

Support packages could include

Business Beyond Borders

Investment and marketing promot ion , bu s i nes s m atc h i ng , training and capacity building, financing options, and support for innovation, product development and design.

Programs will be formulated based on a global value-chain a n a ly si s of s pec i f ic sec tors.

Among these are the implementation of Phase 2 of the Product and Technolog y Holistic Study Program: cluster ing industr y road maps; sector global value-chain analysis workshops; business matching; investment and marketing-promotion programs, which include participation in various trade fairs, road shows, e x positions and business missions in the countr y and abroad; reverse trade fa irs for industr ia l products and branding programs.

In terms of capacity-building, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) spearheads the

Regional Interactive Platform for Philippine Exporters Plus, a program to handhold companies in exporting by providing consultancy services, along with various training programs to enhance their competitiveness.

There will also be active support programs, for innovation, product development and design, which includes a proposal for advanced materials technology testing laboratory for the electronics sector, development of national standards and research a nd de ve lopment a ssi st a nce from the Department of Science and Technology, Commission on Higher Education, academe, and the Technical Education Science and Development Authority. To ensure all the programs’ effectiveness, a system of monitoring and evaluation will be implemented by the DTI, the government agency taking the lead on this initiative. RD Velasco

The major program is the National Logistics Master Plan to advance Philippine competitiveness through an efficient logistics sector. The master plan was developed to serve as a guide for the national government in developing seamless intermodal logistics corridor. It will assist the government in identifying the key transport and logistics bottlenecks, both on soft and h a rd i n f r a s t r uc t u re. It w i l l also provide direction in future inf ra st r uct u re developments and policy issuances the government w ill make, and ser ve as catalyst for better project coordination and implementation among the line-agencies, pa r t ic u l a rly for t he projects identified under the plan.

A major logistics concern is the traffic congestion near Manila ports. Hence, the Terminal Appointment Booking System (TABS) is implemented by port operators in Manila to help ease such traffic. TABS regulates the number of trucks plying Metro Manila going to and from the ports to avoid the recurrence of port congestion; and addresses cor r upt ion a nd e x tor t ion of some brokers/fi xers. TA BS is a collaborative solution of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and supply-chain sta keholders in pa r t nersh ip w it h Au st ra l i a’s One-Stop Connections Pty. Ltd. in response to the truck ban and road policies introduced by the loca l gover nment in 2014 to combat the congestion in Manila. Trucks registered under TABS are exempted from the truck ban imposed by the MMDA at limited hours.

To further reduce logistics costs in the domestic shipping, the efficiency of the roll-on, roll-off (Roro) network will be

enhanced by the recent approval of Executive Order 204, expanding the Roro network policies to chassis Roro, or simply Charo.

With Charo, the cost of cargo handling will be lesser by 15 percent to 20 percent, and will allow truckers to be more productive, since their trucks will not go with the container in the Roro vessels anymore. Further, export and import cargoes from and to local ports can now be co-loaded by foreign ships under the newly approved Foreign Ships Co-Loading Act, or Republic Act 10668, and its implementing rules and regulations. This will eliminate costs for the transfer of these foreign cargoes from international vessels in international ports to domestic interisland vessels in local ports.

For air transport, the Dual Airport Policy, such as the Ninoy Aquino International A ir port (Naia)-Clark, will be pushed to the next administration. Also, the lighting of secondary airports will spread f lights to latenight or predawn hours to decongest air traffic in three terminals of the Naia.

The creation of the proposed National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be endorsed to the 17th Congress. The proposed board is tasked to conduct special studies concerning transportation safety and recommending improvements in transportation safety. Last, air transport and logistics need the strengthening of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines as the airport and aviation regulatory authority, separating its operational functions from development functions. n Send your feedbacks or comments to exportunlimited@dti. gov.ph.

upcoming events Compiled by Louise Kaye G. Mendoza | DTI-EMB Knowledge Processing Division

June 15-17

Event: SEIPI Philippine Semiconduct and Electronics Convention and Exhibition Venue: SMX Convention Center, Pasay City

June 15

Event: Doing Business in Free Trade Areas Information Session To be attended by: Ma. Jaena Go-Aco, Justinne Marie Santos and Rudolph Jay Velasco

Venue: Quirino

June 16

Event: Doing Business in Free Trade Areas Information Session To be attended by: Ma. Jaena Go-Aco, Justinne Marie Santos and Rudolph Jay Velasco

Venue: Nueva Vizcaya

A10 Wednesday, June 15, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

The gumption of these drug lords

N

ow that we know the identity of the drug lord who put up a bounty of P50 million each on the heads of President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte and his newly designated chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Gen. Ronald M. de la Rosa, what’s next? The drug lord is said to be Peter Co, and he is sitting in one of the cells of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

Co is said to be one of the “high-value” inmates who were found to be living like kings in the NBP. A kubol (hut) once occupied by Co had a sauna, widescreen television sets and air conditioners. Found among Co’s belongings were five firearms, five cell phones, money-counting machines, laptops, a projector and P1.4 million in cash. The hut was equipped with closed-circuit cameras.

Also seized from his hut were documents that contained lists of names with corresponding cash amounts and dates.

Co is said to be the drug lord who raised the ante. Finding there were no takers when the bounty was P10 million each, he promptly raised it to P50 million each.

The PNP has expressed readiness to provide additional security to de la Rosa and, for that matter, to President-elect Duterte.

Prison manuals for the handling of hard-core criminals are not wanting in punishments appropriate to incorrigible ones. Why not apply one of these punishments to Co beginning as soon as possible? Let’s start with solitary confinement, also called the bartolina. As the name makes clear, the prisoner will be placed in total darkness for a very long period of time, isolated from everything, until he goes bananas. If he survives the ordeal, well and good for him, he will be ready for the next round. NBP officials should be ready to administer that next round.

Our prison system is the most efficient that money can buy. Co was said to have been exiled away in the Visayas sometime earlier to prevent him from carrying out his nefarious trade, but before anybody could cry “shabu,” he was back in Muntinlupa, king of all he could survey. And they are telling us that no PNP general is involved in the drug trade. Duterte knows better. He has called on three police generals to resign before he shames them in public.

The death penalty, when reinstated, will not apply to prisoners like Co, whose conviction took place when the death penalty was not in effect. Still, there has to be a way of dealing with these criminals, providing additional security to their prospective victims being one of the more pathetic ways.

The prison system is not to “reform” criminals, whatever sociologists and other bleeding hearts tell us. It is to “punish” criminals for acts they have committed against their fellow human beings, repentant or not.

What’s next? The man is sitting right where we want him. Let’s not waste time figuring out what to do with him.

Since 2005

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SSS accomplishments during the last six years: Accessible coverage for all Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security Part Two

S

ocial insurance is a basic right of every working Filipino.

Regardless of the nature and place of work, the Social Security System (SSS) reaches out to all workers, whether they are in fishing communities or farmlands in remote areas of the Philippines, or in domestic and professional jobs abroad. Universal and equitable social protection, part of the SSS vision, means providing social-security coverage that is accessible and meaningful to all sectors of society.

In 2010 the SSS had about 28.8 million members. Five years later, membership has grown to 33.6 million, with more than 5 million new members added. Of this 5 million, about 818,000 come from the informal sector (IS), which has been a special focus of this administration.

Cognizant of this sector’s employment generation and economic contribution-capacity, the SSS deemed it urgent and necessary to extend social-security coverage to IS workers. But to do so would require creative approaches that recognize the irregularity of their incomes and the nature of their businesses; require partnerships with organized informal-sector groups (ISGs) so that there are identified and shared responsibilities; and allow for “wholesale” social-security coverage, instead of going after individual workers on a piecemeal basis.

Several coverage and collection programs have been implemented over the recent past years, all aimed at making the payment scheme affordable for this vulnerable sector.

n Reaching out to the informal sector through the AlkanSSSya Program. The name AlkanSSSya is derived from the term alkansya, meaning coin bank, with a triple-S to connote the SSS as the implementing agency. It is a micro-savings scheme designed to instill and develop the financial discipline of saving, and is intended to fit their way of life by making saving for monthly contributions affordable at only P11 a day. Under the program, the workers are registered as self-employed members and required to meet the P3,000 monthly salary credit (MSC), which translates to a P330 monthly contribution. However, whenever affordable, these workers can declare a higher monthly income than the required minimum, and contribute at an MSC level higher than P3,000.

Various ISGs, such as tricycle drivers, market vendors, golf caddies and so on, have join the program.

Since the start of the AlkanSSSya Program up to end-2015, the SSS

has been able to partner with 1,306 different groups and successfully registered 115,768 members thus far, with many more workers identified as potential coverable members. In terms of contributions, at least P267 million has been collected, with an average monthly collection of about P7.42 million. n Reaching out to cooperatives and microfinance institutions. The SSS expanded its membership coverage by forging partnerships with non-governmental organizations whose members are eligible for coverage. Since 2012, close to 30 memorandums of agreement have been signed with various cooperatives/associations/microfinancing institutions (MFIs) to become servicing partner agent (SPA) and/or collecting partner agent (CPA) of the SSS. The SPA agreement involves cooperatives and MFIs enjoining their members to register for SSS membership, and perform related services, such as registration and reporting and other noncollection services.

For CPA arrangements, the cooperative or MFI receives payments for contributions and loans so that their members do not need to go to banks or other third-party collecting agents. In return, the SSS compensates its partners with a service fee for each successful transaction for their members. These arrangements help decongest SSS branches from crowds of transacting members and, at the same time, free up branch personnel from screening members’ documents or conducting fact-of-death investigations for funeral claims. n Reaching out to farmers and emergency workers through contribution-subsidy program. In the interest of economic and social justice, the SSS came up with a contribution-subsidy program, initially

with farmers as the pilot target sector. Under the program, the farmer-member will shoulder 50 percent of the contribution, and the government or non-governmental the entity matches this with a corresponding 50-percent share. n Reaching out to job order and contractual workers in government. In the past, coverage of this type of workers has been on an individual basis, and although mandatory under the social-security law, membership has been on a voluntary, or “as they come” basis. In 2013, in order to reach out to more JO/C workers more effectively, the SSS decided to partner with government agencies that engage the services of the said workers under the KaltaSSS-Collect Program. According to the Civil Service Commission 2010 Inventory of Government Personnel, there are about 110,000 job order and contractual workers engaged by government agencies. n Reaching out to workers in unbanked areas. After expanding its network of tie-ups with the informal sector, MFIs and cooperatives, the SSS then rolled out new linkages with local government units (LGUs) in “unbanked” areas or provinces that do not have accessible banking systems and payment facilities. Called MuniSSSipyo-Collect Program, this is an alternative means to sustain active SSS membership by making regular payment of contributions and loans convenient and within reach. The partnerships with LGUs, especially those on island-provinces and farflung areas, strengthen the campaign to provide social protection to workers and their beneficiaries regardless of geographic location and economic status.

To be continued

Extortion and deportation at the hands of the Philippine Bureau of Immigration

By Michael Brown Conclusion

M

y life, which I had planned to spend in the Philippines, has been ruined. I have been victimized, not only by my crooked business partner, but more important, by the Bureau of Immigration (BI), an agency of the Philippine government. In addition, my ability to seek justice in court to regain my stolen company has been denied, which was, I believe, my business partner’s real purpose in filing the deportation complaint. The BI allowed itself to be used for this purpose.

I don’t know if the people involved were actually in the BI commissioner’s office, but I know that my communications were all with

his office. And I know that he had the power and the duty to prevent it.

First, the deportation complaint itself was obviously malicious, and I

believe the original dismissal should not have been overturned. Along with the allegation of “working without authorization,” the complaint was filled with other unsupported allegations, including a claim that I had threatened the complainant and others. The complainant presented no evidence, yet the allegations were accepted without investigation, forming the basis for the BI’s ruling that I was “undesirable.” I was convicted solely on the complainant’s word. I understand that the BI operates under very casual guidelines regarding evidence and legal procedure, but I believe

it was improper to find me guilty without evidence. Any legal system that allows a person to be arrested and confined in horrible conditions without need for rules of evidence is an unjust system.

Second, I do not believe my volunteer assistance to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) could possibly be considered “employment”. Employment has a clear definition and specific criteria, including, among other things, pay and some form of control. I was not paid, I came and went according to my own See “Brown,” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Pandi’s forgotten past; Why the present deprives it of its future Michael Makabenta Alunan

on the contrary

A

s we celebrated the 118th Philippine Independence Day, or ignored it for whatever tinge of patriotism is left in us, it is worth remembering a vital point in our history that has long been forgotten, and why the government’s mere incompetence has unwittingly disregarded the rights of the people of Pandi town in Bulacan, thus effectively depriving them of their future.

Rizal’s ‘optical’ metaphor. Our

great national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, who was also an optometrist, optician and ophthalmologist, among other multiple skills, had a clear vision of the future, but ironically advised that “those who do not know how to look back to where they came from will never get to their destination.”

Rizal’s quotation preceded and must have probably influenced a similar quotation of poet-novelist George Santayana, an American with strong fascination for his Spanish roots, who said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Thus, it is important to bring back to memory historical facts that have long been forgotten, and specifically take the case of Pandi, the youngest town in Bulacan established only in 1946.

Pandi, seat of first Katipunan?

Despite being the youngest, many do not know that Pandi was, at one time, the first and truly organized seat of the Katipunan revolutionary government, even preceding or antedating the more famous historic Malolos and Biak-naBato Republic. This Pandi-based revolutionary seat of government was then called the “Kakarong Republic,” based in Barangay Kakarong de Sili, where the municipal government is now located. It was established immediately after the cry of Balintawak, and it is said about 6,000 Katipuneros from various towns of Bulacan converged and set camp here, led by Gen. Eusebio Roque, better known as Maestrong Sebio, according to National Historical Commission records.

Huge tracts of land, covering the towns of Santa Maria, Balagtas and parts of the municipalities of Bustos and Angat, formed part of what was then called the Santa Maria de Pandi Estate. At its center were high and massive walls similar to the Walls of Intramuros in Manila. Teodoro Kalaw, former director of the National Library and author of the biography of Gen. Gregorio del Pilar entitled Life and Death of a Boy General, wrote in his book that there was a fort at Kakarong de Sili like a “miniature city, with streets, an independent police force, a musical band, factory of falconets, bolos and repair shops for rifles and cartridges.”

“Pandi-monium in history?” Although the Kakarong Republic appeared solid complete with officials, like Canuto Villanueva as supreme chief and Maestrong Sebio as captain general of the Army and an Intramuros-like fort, it crumbled when bombarded and totally destroyed on January 1, 1897, by a large Spanish force. National hero Gregorio del Pilar was only a lieutenant then when he experienced his “baptism of fire” in this battle. Succeeding wars during the American and Japanese Occupation destroyed further the ruins.

The site of the Battle of Kakarong de Sili is now part of Pandi’s Barangay Real de Kakarong, where a monument of Inang Pilipina has been erected in 1924, in memory of some 3,000 Katipuneros believed to have died in that battle, although some accounts report 1,200 perished here. No less than President Emilio A. Aguinaldo paid his last respects on this historic sacred ground in the late-1950s.

Dumping ground? Today Pandi is a dumping ground of urban-poor dwellers evicted mostly from Quezon City and other areas. Thus, from an original population of about 66,000, Pandi’s residents have ballooned to almost 100,000.

And because jobs are not readily available in Pandi, over 6,000 still commute back and forth to work and to school in Metro Manila. In the absence of direct bus rides, they are forced to take multiple rides and pass through the narrow crowded chokepoint exit of Santa Maria

for their bus rides to Manila.

The clamor, therefore, for a bus service led to the Pronvincial Council allowing the private sector to set up the proposed bus service. It has been endorsed by its mayor Enrico A. Roque and Mayor Herbert M. Bautista of Quezon City, where most of the relocatees came from; and backed by the National Anti-Poverty Commission and the people’s organization Akbayan, which has members among affected settlers.

From the usual one-and-a-half to two-hour ride to get to Pandi from Manila and back, mainly because of the traffic at the Santa Maria exit, where a 2.3-kilometer stretch can even consume at least 45 minutes, the proposed bus express will cut travel time by half by going through a different exit to North Luzon Expressway in Borol, Balagtas, and passing through Mindanao Avenue, to its destination at TriNoma; and, thus, avoid the traffic-heavy Edsa Balintawak.

Prompt no matter how long it takes? The proponent Pandi Bus Express Liner applied for a route franchise in June last year, but got the usual runaround despite submitting all the requirements. The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) studies the route measured capacity to ensure it is profitable for the applicant, while not affecting gravely existing transport operations.

But why should the DOTC worry if it makes money or not, that’s the private sector’s risk to take. And being a developmental route with new demand from settlers, it affects no one. Moreover, it complies with the DOTC’s own policy encouraging point-to-point express buses.

After complying with all basic requirements, Transportation Assistant Secretary Sherielysse R. Bonifacio for Planning insisted in her November 18, 2015, letter the submission of more details, some of which are too ridiculous, like the “daytime and nighttime population by barangay in the proposed route; list and maps of public-transport routes; and descriptions of all transport routes along the way (i.e., public-utiliy bus, public-utility jeep, UV Express, tricycles), citing specific streets, barangay names, route distance, operating hours per unit, turnaround time, travel time, average frequency/headway per route per day, number of lanes per direction and average travel speed...etc.” Whew!

After enumerating the long list she needs, Bonifacio had the nerve to say: “We hope we have clarified our position on the matter,” although it added more confusion than clarification. Apparently, she proverbially wants every tree counted, although being in charge of planning, it seems she could not see the forest. Sarcastically, the government, indeed, offers prompt service, no matter how long it takes.

Vanishing nationalism? It is ironic to note that Bonifacio bears the surname of our national hero. Indeed, we must heed Rizal’s advice to look back, but we must not reverse the wheels of change and sit on them flat.

As J. Leahcim Nanula said, “Where there’s a wheel, there is a way.” I can only say, however, nobody goes far on a flat tire. Indeed, it takes “wheel power to trigger change, as history has shown that transportation has helped trigger growth being literally the vehicle and wheels to progress. After all, transportation moves people and goods.” But you need to revive the sense of nationalism as your fuel to go beyond selfish motives to push for the common good, otherwise, if you miss your mission (“miss ’yun”) at present, you will cause dire consequences on the people’s future.

You may reach Michael Alunan at e-mail mikealunan@yahoo.com.

Oceans in peril

to prevent a similar problem by recently declaring as water-quality management areas Coron Bay in Palawan and Sabang Bay in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.

The two bays—found along the 1.14-million hectare marine corridor called the Verde Island Passage—are among the country’s top diving sites and have supported the local tourism of the adjacent communities.

However, it appears human activities are posing significant risks to the reefs. During a World Wide Fund-sponsored event along the Verde Island Passage in commemoration of World Oceans Day and Coral Triangle Day (June 9),

participants noted that the waters they swam in were heavily littered with plastic. Numerous studies have shown that such waste damages and poisons marine life.

Last year a study by Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment determined that more than half of the plastic waste leaking into the ocean comes from only five countries.

Alarmingly, the Philippines ranked as the world’s third-biggest dumper of plastics, next only to China and Indonesia, and ahead of Thailand and Vietnam. Of the 2.7 million metric tons of plastic garbage the Philippines generates each year, up to 521,000 tons (or 20 percent) somehow end up in the ocean.

Each of the five countries recently benefited from significant surges in GDP, reduced poverty and improved quality of life. However, this growing economic strength, the study pointed out, has also generated an explosive demand for consumer products without the commensurate waste-management infrastructure in place.

Overfishing and pollution are among the man-made hazards

our oceans immediately face. But as The Economist pointed out in February, higher levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere pose even greater threats to our ocean’s health. Scientists have demonstrated that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to a warmer, more acidic ocean, which results in “coral bleaching,” where entire reef ecosystems are unable to sustain marine life.

Such bleaching has already been observed here, particularly on Snake Island (Kalumpang) in Honda Bay, Palawan. Earlier this month, marine experts estimated that up to 90 percent of the corals in the sites they visited were affected.

As an archipelagic nation, our lives are dependent on the waters that surround us. Ironically, we are among those who pollute, damage and destroy these vital sources of life. What happens on land ultimately affects even the deepest parts of the oceans—and vice versa.

When the ocean’s health is imperiled, so are people’s lives and livelihood placed in jeopardy.

to give me even basic details? That seems to be designed to put me in a hopeless situation, as a prelude to the extortion.

Fifth, if those warrants were real, why did the BI allow me to leave the country? The BI detention center is filled with foreigners under deportation orders who cannot leave until local cases against them are resolved.

And, finally, if my P25,000 payment was for an official penalty, why was the amount not specific (“about” P25,000 to P30,000), and why was no receipt issued? And why would I be made to pay a second fine (P58,000), which I’m told must be paid before the blacklist order can be lifted? The BI order approving my request to return made no mention of that first payment.

Everything about my conviction and detention seems designed to create a basis for extortion. I have little proof of my story, and the friend who helped me is afraid to testify or name names, but even a simple inquiry would confirm the discrepancies. My motion for bail and my written appeal were discussed and denied in a regular meeting of BI commissioners. I’m sure the minutes of that meeting, and the records

of my arrest and deportation, would show clearly questionable acts. My attorney in the Philippines has direct knowledge of the facts, as I have described them, but is afraid to put his name on a complaint, fearing it might jeopardize the other foreign clients he represents in BI filings.

To be honest, I think that is a legitimate fear.

I am now in the United States and unable to file a complaint in person. So I wrote to the Ombudsman and, again with the help of a friend in the media, submitted my letter. I had hoped the Ombudsman would investigate my report of extortion, but instead, it simply forwarded my letter to the BI as a “request for assistance.” I am a retired law-enforcement officer, and I can tell you that is definitely not the right way to handle a criminal complaint.

Of course, the BI replied to me by e-mail, saying that the deportation was conducted properly, but it was silent on the extortion complaint. I never got a reply from the Ombudsman. In fact, since then, I have written dozens of e-mails to the Ombudsman asking for a formal reply, but I get no response at all.

The Philippines has been my

home for the last 16 years. I would like to return someday but, for now, I do not believe it is safe to do so.

As a final note, I reported the details of the extortion to a number of people in the government, including the aforementioned person in Malacañang and other senior officials. I received help with my request to be allowed to return to the Philippines, but every one of those people turned a blind eye to the extortion. I also sought help from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on the question of whether my volunteer assistance to the MMDA was really “employment,” but amazingly, it told me DOLE was “not in a position” to assist.

I love the Philippines, but I am deeply saddened by this. To me, it proves that daang matuwid was never really anything more than a slogan. Justice in the Philippines is broken beyond repair and, to be honest, nobody seems to care.

Edgardo J. Angara

L

ast June 8 (World Oceans Day), the Haribon Foundation and Newcastle University released a study that described the alarming decline of 59 reef-fish species in Philippine waters.

The study, first published in the journal PLOS One, attributed the fast disappearance of species like groupers (lapu-lapu), parrotfish (loro), pompano (talakitok) and humphead wrasse (mameng), to decades of unsustainable fishing— spurred on by the demands of a fast-growing Philippine population.

These fish are essential to keeping reef ecosystems balanced and healthy enough to sustain a wide array of marine life. The upshot is that the fishermen, who are dependent on these species, are imperiling their livelihood by overexploiting these so-called elephants of the ocean.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) tried

Brown. . .

continued from A10

desire, and I was not under any contract or agreement. The MMDA chairman himself certified in writing that I was helping as a volunteer. Jurisprudence is filled with cases in which the existence of a state of employment is determined by these criteria.

Third, in the year before my arrest, I extended my tourist visa every two months, and each time I received a clearance stating that the BI had found no derogatory information against me. In fact, a few months before my deportation, I secured a BI-directed National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance, which showed no pending cases.

Those clearances contradict the BI’s later claim that it found warrants of arrest allegedly pending against me somewhere in the Philippines.

Further, when the BI approved my appeal to have the blacklist order lifted, and cleared me to return to the Philippines, there was no mention of those supposed warrants.

Fourth, if the BI actually did have knowledge of warrants of arrest, why would the agency refuse

Wednesday, June 15, 2016 A11

E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.

Michael Brown is a retired member of the US Air Force, and has lived for over 16 years in the Philippines. He writes on English, traffic management, law enforcement and government.

Follow him on Twitter at @M_i_c_h_a_e_l, or e-mail him at mr.brown.michael.d@gmail.com.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Wednesday, June 15, 2016

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Yellow power alert in Luzon continues

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

WO power plants in Luzon are still on shutdown, prompting the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to issue a yellow alert in the Luzon grid.

Job security. . .

Continued from A1

“We think that it’s a small price to pay [for companies] in exchange for the overall beneficial effect that will redound to the economy as a result of the job security of workers,” Prof. Ma. Catalina Tolentino told the BusinessMirror.

Contractualization in the Philippine context refers to the practice of some companies to hire labor from labor suppliers.

Tolentino said the additional expenses for companies will be in the form of employer contributions to government-administered funds that give out benefits to their employees, such as the Social Security

System, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and the Home Development Mutual Fund.

Other benefits due to regularized workers include the mandated service incentive leaves of at least five working days convertible to cash for employees who have rendered at least one year of service, and the mandatory 13th-month pay.

Contractualization statistics

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s biennial survey on employment indicated that more than a quarter of the total establishments in the country employ nonregular workers.

In the latest survey conducted in 2014 among establishments with at least 20 workers, some 1.336 mil-

“At 1227H [12:27 p.m.], Luzon grid was put on yellow alert from 1301H [1:01 p.m.] to 1500H [3 p.m.] due to insufficient operating reserve brought by the outage of Sual 1 and QPPL [Quezon Power Philippines] and high system-demand forecast,” Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) Spokesman Joe Za ldar r iaga said in an interview when sought for an update.

Zaldariaga said Meralco has advised Interruptible Load Program participants to prepare

and be on standby in case Manual Load Dropping needs to be implemented.

A yellow alert is issued by the power-grid operator, NGCP, when contingency reserve is less than the capacity of the largest synchronized unit of the grid. In Luzon this is equivalent to 647 megawatt, or one unit of the Sual power plant.

On Monday at least 1,887 mW of power have been shaved off from the Luzon grid after four power plants went on forced shutdown.

If there is security of tenure, then the job satisfaction of employees will go up. There would be lesser strikes and work stoppages, thus, there would be more productivity.”

—Tolentino

lion workers, or 29.9 percent, of the total work force of 4.472 million are nonregular employees.

This represents a big jump of 16.3 percent in terms of the actual number of nonregular workers existing in 2012.

Half of the 1.336 million nonregular workers in 2014 are contractual or project-based workers.

In terms of industry share in employing nonregular workers, the construction industry recorded the biggest share, with 59.2 percent of the total employees in the construction industry being non-regular workers.

Need for amendments

I ncoming L abor Sec ret a r y Silvestre H. Bello III has vowed to end the practice of labor contractualization in the Philippines, which has been one of Duterte’s campaign promises.

Bello said earlier he would move to repeal the laws allowing contractualization of labor.

Tolentino, however, cited the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Department Order 18-A that defines the process by which labor contracting and subcontracting may be done by corporations.

Under the law, labor-only contracting is not allowed, but she said the department order allows contracting and subcontracting by agencies that have sufficient capital to do so. The sufficient capital required is merely a minimum investment of P3 million in facilities, equipment and cash, allowing many agencies to act as contractors and subcontractors.

“Unless they repeal that department order, I don’t think they can end the practice of contractualization of labor. Maybe they can revise it, improve on it, or repeal it,” Tolentino said.

Benefit or threat?

Tolentino said the position of UP SOLAIR is to promote the job security of workers and provide them with security of tenure as mandated by the Constitution.

“If there is security of tenure, then the job satisfaction of employees will go up. There would be lesser strikes and work stoppages, thus, there would be more productivity,” Tolentino said.

Albay Gov. and incoming Albay Rep. Joey S. Salceda agrees with this view that the job security of workers will redound to economic development, since job security will give workers strong motivation to work for what will benefit them in the future, giving them a chance to plan ahead.

However, a prominent labor lawyer said any increase in wages and benefits to the employees must be studied carefully, because even a small increase would have repercussions on the expenses and operations of a corporation.

“Even just a P1 increase in daily wages approved in the collective bargaining agreement could translate to millions of pesos in additional expenses to the corporation, especially if it employs hundreds of employees,” Purisimo S. Buyco said, a named partner in the Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos Law Offices.

Separately, NGCP said on Tuesday that the yellow alert took effect from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“This was due to insufficient contingency reser ves brought about by an adjusted higher demand forecast,” the grid operator said, when sought for comment.

The power outlook for the grid as of 1 p.m. stated that Luzon would have an available capacity of 9,921 mW as against a peak demand of 9,115 MW. This leaves 806 mW in power reserve.

Zaldarriaga said some 647 mW

of power was not delivered to the grid by Sual 1 and about 460 mW for QPPL. Sual 1 and QPPL were among the power plants that suddenly conked out on Monday. The other two are Calaca 1 (480 mW) and GN Power (300 mW).

Team Energy, which operates the 1,200-mW Sual power facility, said Unit 1 went offline at 11:58 a.m. on Monday owing to boiler tube leak.

Meanwhile, Ca laca 1 went on forced shutdown owing to a problem with the primary fan.

TOYOTA, MITSUBISHI QUALIFY FOR P27-B CARS PROGRAM

By Catherine N. Pillas

T

@c_pillas29

he Board of Investments (BOI) said on Tuesday it has approved the application of Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. and Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. for incentives under the government’s P 2 7- b i l l i o n m a n u f a c t u r i n g stimulus program.

Outgoing Trade Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. affirmed the eligibility of the two auto companies under the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program in a news briefing on Tuesday.

“It’s just a matter of formalities now. I understand from BOI Managing Head, Trade Undersecretar y Per r y Rodolfo that it’s just a matter of granting the certificate of award to car manufacturers that have qualified for the CARS Program,” Cristobal told reporters.

The CARS Program is a government stimulus program aimed at boosting the country’s manufacturing sector by specifically targeting the automotive industry.

It provides for a government support fund of P27 billion, or a budget of P9 billion for each enrolled vehicle model. The CARS Program is a core strategy of the government’s Manufacturing Resurgence Program (MRP).

However, Cristobal said the third slot is still up for grabs, as no other car manufacturers have expressed interest in joining the program as the guidelines for it are still being crafted.

Earlier, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced that it may tweak the CARS Program, as some leeway is provided in the law, to accommodate a third player.

“It is possible to tweak it as long as it is not unfair to the first two applicants. Tweaking of pro ce du res m ay b e done to improve the process, but not to relax requirements,” Cristobal said in an earlier interview.

It has been noted by observers that the program’s ambitious requirements, specifically the production hurdle of 200,000 units over the program’s lifetime, have rendered some car players ineligible for the program.

However, Cristobal said it is possible that one of the two qualified auto players can enroll a second model to fill up the third slot.

The DTI chief said the resolution of this issue, as well as the Philippines’s ongoing row with Thailand on tobacco imports, will now be in the hands of incoming Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

President-elect Rodr igo R .

Duterte announced late on Monday the appointment of Lopez as the new head of the DTI.

Tweaking of procedures may be done to improve the process, but not to relax requirements.”

—Cristobal

Chemical exports. . .

Congress enacted Republic Act 9516, which amended Presidential Decree (PD) 1866. PD 1866 codified the laws on the illegal sale, manufacture or possession of explosives or instruments used in the making of firearms or explosives.

The PNP crafted the IRR together with sectors affected by tighter chemical regulations. The joint crafting of the IRR and its immediate release were sought by local manufacturers of chemicals and semiconductors.

Last year electronics makers were forced to secure additional permits and procedures and pay more fees after the PNP tightened its regulations on controlled chemicals.

Also, the PNP added 41 new chemicals to the master list of controlled chemicals, bringing the total to 101.

Electronics and chemical manufacturers said this caused production delays as they had to wait for the issuance of permits for imported chemical substances, which they need for their factories.

Continued from A1

Smaller companies importing common household chemicals have also been affected by the government’s tighter regulations.

Under the IRR, the list of PNPcontrolled chemicals was reduced to 32, from 101, and procedures for obtaining permits and licenses were streamlined, with the approval period reduced to 10 days, from 20.

Also, the PNP will no longer collect hefty “escort fees” in the transport of chemicals. This would allow the chemicals industry to save some P9 million.

In April the chemicals sector increased its output by 5.3 percent year-on-year and was one of the top contributors to manufacturing growth in the first quarter of 2016.

As of 2015, there were 1,405 chemical manufacturers in the countr y, w ith 170,000 direct workers employed. However, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that chemical exports reached only $1.9 billion in last year, 17 percent lower than the $2.3 billion recorded in 2014.